#my gf says it looks like pee but its supposed to be cool :[ its like the city of maharba is in his shadow

[casually-salad]

todays prompt is from the fungertober list by rotten_eros, the prompt was forgotten!

[nataliedanovelist]

GF - How A Star Is Born ch.III

A Hercules AU, founded by @evaroze, whom this fic is a gift for. I hope y’all like it!

ch.II - ch.IV

AO3 link

~~~~~~~~~~

Drenched and wet thanks to the rain and thunderstorm, Dipper entered the Temple of the Gods in the middle of the night for some privacy. He was immediately faced with a giant statue of someone who was more of a fable to him than a belief: Ruler of the Gods and god of Intelligence and Ingenuity, the six-fingered immortal Stanford.

With his large stature on a throne fit for a king, his square chin, flowing toga, and stern look, Dipper felt a little intimidated by the ruler of the gods. He entered the temple quietly and moved his focus to the paintings and vases on both the left and right walls. Stories and legends were told and Dipper happily followed the fables down a hall, on the right of the giant statue, and into a huge room full of more statues and paintings and vases.

“Wow,” He breathed, his voice echoed, and he moved to the center of the room and rested on his knees. Got to start somewhere, right? “I pray my pleas be heard in this place.” Dipper prayed. “Please, someone tell me who I am, where I belong.”

“Wow, look at you!” A cheerful voice rang, making Dipper jump to his feet and look around wildly. “You look just like me! We’re like twins! Oh, wait.” And then there was laughter.

“Hello?” The twelve-year-old boy called. “Who’s there?”

“Oh, right, sorry.” The voice said, but Dipper still had no clue where it was coming from. “Hi! I’m Mabel! I’m a muse! Well, muse in training. Still working some stuff out, but so are you! Go figure!”

“A muse?” Dipper repeated. “A goddess of the arts?”

“You got it!”

“So… where are you?”

“Try looking down at the art, genius.” The voice giggled and he looked down at a vase with a girl his age waving at him. The painting on the vase was waving at him. “Hi!”

Dipper yelled and fell on his feet, scooting away. “What the…?!”

“What, never seen a vase before?” Mabel giggled and twirled around. “Pretty cool, right? Hold on, let me find something bigger to work with, I’m cramped in here.”

“I-I-I don’t understand.” Dipper scurried to his feet and watched Mabel’s painted form move from one vase to another. “Y-Y-You said… D-Do you know who I am?”

“Course I do!” Mabel said from a skinny vase, then the tile floor, then a painted pillar, still finding a comfortable place to talk. “Well, I only learned about you a few weeks ago, but I always knew something fishy was going on. It’s pretty sad, no wonder Grunkle Ford didn’t wanna talk about it, but now you’re old enough to know the truth and I think I can help you!”

On a painting the same size as Dipper, the girl appeared and popped her back and twirled, feeling her new space. “Ah, much better. Hi! Still kinda scared?” She asked kindly, though she was bouncing and giggling.

Dipper smiled. Mabel the Muse did look a lot like him. Same eyes, same button nose, same hair. The only difference really was the fact that one was male and one was female. Dipper bet that if Mabel cut her hair to match his they would be identical. “No, not really.”

Mabel calmed down a little and said sincerely, “Glad to hear that, brother.”

“Brother?!” Dipper gasped and stared at her with wide eyes. “I… I have… I’m…”

“Yup!” Mabel cheered from inside the painting. “Surprise! You got a twin! Now tell me EVERYTHING! What’s your favorite food? What’s your favorite color? What’s your favorite animal? Do you like sports? Do you wanna be my friend?!” She asked all quickly.

“Now, hold on, hold on.” Dipper said, trying to piece this together. “If… If you’re my sister, that would make me…”

“A god.”

“A god… A GOD?!”

“Hey, you’re the one who wanted answers, Dip-Dip.” Mabel said with a shrug. “BTW, Dipper is a way better name than Mason, good choice.”

“Uh, thanks.” Dipper raised an eyebrow. “How do I know it’s true? I mean… I’m not a god.”

“Well, okay. No, you’re not. But only cuz someone stole you from us and turned you mortal. See, that’s why you’re down on Earth and not up here with us.”

Dipper shook his head. “I’m sorry, but… but this doesn’t make sense.”

Mabel giggled and gave him her Skepticals. “C’mon, bro-bro, ever wondered why you’re super strong and super smart? Ever wondered where you got your necklace?” And Mabel pulled out her’s from around her neck and showed him her name and symbol.

Dipper stared, slowly pulling his matching one out and looking at it. This was crazy. This was stupid. There was no way Dipper was a god, had a family that actually wanted him, but… but…

Mabel had no real gain as to lying to him, not that Dipper saw. Maybe he was stupid for buying it, but just this once Dipper wanted to feel like he belonged somewhere. So he took in a deep breath and said shakingly, “I… I think I believe you.”

Mabel smiled and then gasped. “Oh! I forgot! I have something for you.” She reached behind her back and pulled out a book, a navy blue journal with a golden forest on it, filled with beautiful pinetrees. “This is yours. Grunkle Ford kept it safe for you.” And the painting pushed it through and Dipper was shocked when a real-life journal was being held out to him.

He took it and smiled down at that beautiful cover. A twinge of remembrance came through him, but he didn’t dare believe it.

“Uncle Fiddleford says Grunkle Ford gave you that when we were born. And he gave me this music box.” Mabel pulled the box out and wind it to hear the music. She hummed and asked, “Isn’t it pretty?”

Dipper bit his lip. Okay he definitely remembered that lullaby. “I remember…” He whispered to himself, and then asked his sister, “Wait, Grunkle Ford? Isn’t y-y-your great-uncle…?”

“Stanford, yeah.” Mabel said proudly with a grin. “He’s your grunkle, too! He’s the best! He misses you, like a lot, since you can’t live on Olympus with us. He tries not to show it, but I can tell.”

Dipper sighed. This was great, he had a family, but what was the point if he couldn’t be with them. “And you guys can’t do anything?”

“We can’t,” Mabel answered with a grin. “But you can!”

“I can?” Dipper repeated, allowing himself to believe it. The evidence was overwhelming. “What is it? I’ll do anything to have a family again! Name it and it’s half-done!”

“If you can become a true hero on Earth then your godhood will come back!” Mabel cheered excitedly.

“Okay, great!” Dipper replied. “Uh… How do I do that?”

Mabel’s face suddenly dropped. “You know what, I have no idea.”

“Mabel!”

“Well, hey! I’m not the god of all-knowing, am I?” She laughed, then gave the matter some serious thought. “I heard a rumor that there was a Trainer of Heroes on an island… Crete? No, Paros. A Trainer of Heroes on Paros. He should be able to help you.”

“Got it!” Dipper punched the air and said proudly, “I can do it! I’ll become a true hero so I can come home!”

“That’s the spirit!” Mabel cheered. “I know you can do it! Go on out there!”

Dipper started to run out of the room, but he stopped at the doorway and turned, looking at his long-lost sister gloomily. “I… I don’t wanna say goodbye.”

“Aw, Dipper,” Mabel sighed happily and pointed to the journal in his hands. “Remember, I’m a muse! If you wanna talk to me, just draw a picture or create something in your book and I’ll be there.”

“Can’t I beseech you? Can’t you come see me?” Diaper asked; he had been taught that gods can pretty much do whatever they wanted.

“Believe me, I’d love to.” Mabel huffed and blew some loose hair out of her eyes. “Grunkle Ford won’t let me leave Olympus; he’s convinced he’ll lose me, too.”

“Oh.”

“But don’t worry!” Mabel encouraged. “I know you can do it! I believe… oh crud!” And she was gone. She must have been caught doing something she wasn’t supposed to be doing.

Dipper laughed and hurried out of the temple and was on his way for Paros.

~~~~~~~~~~

Out at sea, Dipper looked for a way to the island. Though he was super strong, he doubted he was strong enough to swim all that way. No, he would probably have to wait for a ship to come by and to offer work in exchange for a ride. The boy walked alongside the same as seagulls screeched above him, when something out of the corner of his eye caught his attention.

At the mouth of a small cave, a sail flew in the breeze. Dipper grinned and grabbed some old rope and began to pull. Up from the dark cave and the damp sand was an old, busted sailboat with its name scratched out by a sword. Dipper grinned at the sailboat and examined it, trying to find a hole or a deficiency, but found none. Why would someone leave a perfectly good boat?

Dipper pulled the boat up onto the water and climbed on. He was beyond pleased to find it floated and he sailed onward for his goal.

After a few hours of peaceful sailing, Dipper came across a rocky island covered in pinetrees and fog. It was cold and unwelcoming, but the kind of place a Trainer of Heroes would swell, to test the bravery of hopeful young trespassers. Dipper quickly docked the sailboat and began to explore, a little surprised to find a triangular house on the top of a small hill, right outside the woods and a few safe feet away from the sea. The boy decided to try his luck there, but as he approached, he was bewildered to see a large yellow and red sign that seemed to shine through the fog.

“Mystery Shack?” Dipper read out-loud to himself. “What the heck is a Mystery Shack?”

The dethroned god opened the door labeled the main entrance and awed at the room filled with statues, but not of gods and goddesses or even humans. Of some of the weirdest monsters and frightening creatures the boy had ever seen. Dipper, oddly enough, was intrigued and excitedly entered.

“Wow, check all of this stuff out!” He gasped. “A six-pack-a-lope, a Gremloblin, and is that an opposite sphinx with a head of a lion but the body of a human?” Dipper paused at the more normal looking statue in the room.

An old man with his long gray hair kept back with a ribbon bore metal plates on his shoulders and a cape with his tall sandals, leather-padded skirt, and puffy shirt. Dipper peered at it closer, wondering why something so normal was among the abnormal, making it the most abnormal thing here. He reached to touch the statue, but he suddenly slapped him and growled, “Hands off the merchandise!”

Dipper screamed like a little girl, cleared his throat, and tried to scream a little more manly, all the while the old man stepped down from his tiny stool and dusted himself off, his tie red and his eyes a warm, sparkling brown, his snooze a strange orange color and his cloak was red, as well.

“Ah, the old mistaken-for-a-grotesque-lifeless-statue gag! Works every time! Welcome to the Mystery Shack, kid! Got any gold? If you throw some into this Sack of Mystery, I’ll give you a tour of the greatest, creepiest, deadliest creatures known to Greece!”

“Uh, no thanks.” Dipper said as he lightly shoved the Sack of Mystery out from under his nose. “Listen, you know where I can find a Trainer of Heroes?”

“Sorry, no one’s on this island but me.” The old man grunted. “So either pay to look at Snake-Haired Lady or beat it.”

“Come on, you sure no one else is here?”

“Listen, knucklehead, I’ve been here longer than you’ve been alive.” The guy growled as he walked towards the Employee Only door. “There ain’t no Trainer of Heroes here. Do yourself a favor and try Sparta, I hear it’s nice this time of year. Now scram before I find a big three-headed dog to chew you up and spit you out.” And the grumpy old man was gone.

Dipper rolled his eyes in annoyance. There were only two possibilities: either Mabel, a muse and probably the sweetest person Dipper had ever met, was lying, or a creepy old conman was lying, so Dipper decided that he wasn’t leaving the island until he found the Trainer of Heroes and he decided to investigate.

This place was filled with things heroes might fight, so maybe there was an exhibit full of heroes, and maybe there would be some information as to who trained them. So Dipper looked around and saw a doorway that had a big messy sign that read “Closed For Remodeling.” But a good inch of dust was on the door. Another lie?

Dipper turned the knob, but it was locked. He turned it again, his super strength coming into play, and he accidentally broke the handle off. Oops, at least the door was unlocked. Dipper let it swing open and he was delighted to find a big room filled to the brim with artifacts and old relics from past heroes. The boy slowly walked in, unaware of the log of wood over his head, and he bumped into it.

“Hey, HEY!” A loud voice rang and the old man was back, this time only in boxers, not even wearing a top to cover his round, hairy chest, and he growled, “Watch it, that was part of the mast of the Argo!”

“No way!” Dipper gasped as the old man shoved him out of the way angrily and moved into the room. “The Argo?”

“HA! Who you think taught Jason how to sail? Noah?!” The old man laughed harshly as he walked past paintings and vases. “I trained all those would-be heroes. Odysseus, Perseus, Theseus, a lot of -euses. And every single one of those knuckleheads managed to screw up! But then, oh boy. There was that Achilles guy. Now there was a guy who had it all! The build, the speed, he could not only throw a punch but take it and keep on coming for more! BUT THAT STUPID HEEL OF HIS! Barely gets nicked there once, and he’s done and out of the count.”

Dipper blinked a few times, letting this story sink in. “Y-You?! You’re the Trainer of Heroes?!”

The old man sighed tiredly and leaned against a wall. “Call me Stan, kid.”

“Listen, I need your help!” The boy said and hurried to him. “I wanna become a hero, a true hero! Please, teach me!”

Stan snorted. “Haven’t you been listening to me, boy? There are no trainers on this island.”

“C’mon, please!” Dipper begged. “I have to do this. Haven’t you ever had a dream? Or just wanted something so badly you’d do anything?”

Stan looked down at the boy kind of weird for a moment or two, but then looked away, his eyes down like his hopes. “Yeah, I had a dream once. That I was gonna train the greatest hero there ever was. So great, the gods would hang a picture of him in the stars.” But Stan shook his head, like a dog clearing water out of its ears. “I ain’t training no more. Guy can only take so much disappointment, you know?”

“Stan, please, I can do it.” Dipper pleaded. “I have to! If I don’t, I’ll never be with my twin sister.”

That made Stan’s eyes flicker to the boy, trying to detect a lie. “You got a sister?”

“Yeah,” Dipper sighed. “Her name’s Mabel. I only talked to her for five minutes my whole life, but she’s amazing. She and my Great-Uncle Stanford, too, I guess, are the only family I’ve ever known, and I’ll never be with them until I can become a true hero and get my godhood back.”

Stan snorted and held his breath. Dipper looked at him and then scowled. Was this jerk trying to not laugh? “H-Hold it, kid. Stanford, Ruler of the Gods and all that and a bucket of grapes, is your uncle, right?”

“That’s what Mabel told me.” Dipper said. “She’s a muse. Well, okay, a muse in training, but…”

Stan was covering his mouth as he tried not to laugh, but he was failing miserably. “St-Stanford? The big guy?! He’s your UNCLE?! Haha!” Stan beat his fist against the wall a few times as he howled with laughter. “Mr. Lightning Bolt! Haha! P-Poindexter and Poindexter Junior! AH, HAHA! ‘Read me a book, would ya, Gwunkle?’ HAHA! Th-Then Sixer goes, ‘Once upon a time…’ AH, HAHAHA!” Stan was wiping tears from his eyes at this point as he laughed and held his ribs, down on his knees.

“It’s true!” Dipper yelled and stomped a foot in anger, his face red.

“Oh, please!” Stan growled and stood up as he cleared his throat. “If that genius really is your family, why hasn’t he sent you here sooner, eh? You think that big jerk cares about family, or that any gods care about family for that matter? Take my word, kid, they don’t.”

Dipper shook his head. “Well, Mabel does. She wants to help me get home, so she sent me here. I’m gonna be a true hero and I’ll work as hard as I can to get there, and I’m gonna see her and be with my family.”

Stan crossed his arms over his chest and glared at him. “You’re really willing to sacrifice everything you got for some dumb sibling?”

Dipper glared back and nodded.

A slow, slightly-creepy grin grew on the wrinkly face until it ranged from ear-to-ear. “That’s what I wanna hear! Okay! I’ll do it!”

“Wait, what?”

“You wanna be a hero that bad? Fine, I’ll train you.” Stan said and led the way out of the door and through the museum for the outdoors. “I’m giving you one shot to prove to me you can take it, so show me whatcha got. Anything.”

Dipper grinned and hurried to a nearby tree that looked like it was dying. “Watch this!” He grabbed it like he was hugging it, pulled, and with very little effort the boy yanked it out of the ground and threw it into the ocean, where it splashed far out of eye-sight.

“HOLY HERA!” Stan yelled with a grin and slapped his forehead. “Alright, pipsqueak, listen up, here’s the deal. You’re a scrawny little twerp who could use a good slap from puberty, but lemme tell you, you got potential. You’re stubborn and crazy strong and that’s good enough for me, so here’s what’s gonna go down. I’ll train you, but fair warning: this’ll be the hardest thing you’ll ever do ever. I ain’t gonna be soft with you. I’m talking waking up before dawn and not falling asleep well past sundown. I’m talking potential broken bones and internal bleeding if you fail courses. You might even wish that blasted Underworld will come and getcha already. But if you can handle my training, you can handle anything. If you’re up to it, your training starts right now. Oh, and you’ll have to work for me in exchange for a bed and some food, got it?”

“Deal!” Dipper said and shook his hand without a second’s hesitation. “I’ll literally do anything you want.”

“You’re gonna regret saying that, kid.” Stan smirked and threw a broom into his hands. “First task, clean the museum. If I see a single speck of dust you’re going without dinner tonight. Now get to work.”

Stan walked back into the Mystery Shack, disappearing behind the Employee Only door again, but the moment he was safe from hiding, he held his face in his hands and swore under his breath. “Damn you, Sixer, you really made me miss the birth of my own niece and nephew? Fuck you.”