Posted originally on the Archive_of_Our_Own at https://archiveofourown.org/
works/4079713.
  Rating:
      Explicit
  Archive Warning:
      Underage
  Category:
      M/M
  Fandom:
      Gravity_Falls
  Relationship:
      Bill_Cipher/Dipper_Pines
  Character:
      Bill_Cipher, Dipper_Pines, Mabel_Pines
  Additional Tags:
      Romance, Fluff, Smut, NSFW
  Series:
      Part 1 of Unforeseen_Consequences
  Stats:
      Published: 2015-06-05 Completed: 2015-10-11 Chapters: 9/9 Words: 41128
****** Unforeseen Consequences ******
by JunebugPancakes
Summary
     There are some mysteries that the journal just can’t solve, but
     Dipper won’t let that stop him from learning all the secrets of the
     universe. Time to make a deal with the dream devil.
Notes
     I’ve been listening to a fuckton of Owl City lately and while this
     fic was not originally inspired by it, it and all its chapters were
     greatly influenced by the songs “Up All Night” and “Plant Life.”
***** For What A Soul's Worth *****
Dipper Pines had a brilliant idea.
This idea was going to get him all the answers he could have wanted and then
some. It was, albeit, degrading and he was going to later hate himself for
this, but it was worth it he decided.
The preteen worked diligently, dragging his nervous yet nimble fingers across
the aged floorboards. More than a few times he would have to go back and re-
saturate his fingers with the ‘paint’ so he could continue; the ‘paint’ was a
small bowl of his own blood that he’d drawn from his arm when carving
protection runes into his skin. The initial intent was just to use the blood
for the portal but the idea of defensive runes came to him after the first cut,
and he was going to need all the protection he could get.
Dipper connected the lines at three points, effectively painting a triangle in
the floor. He then grabbed the black and yellow candles set aside with the
blood bowl and placed them at each of the vertices, carefully making sure that
they were all perfectly centered on the tips. It wasn’t yet time to light them-
-that came last for longevity purposes. Next, he picked up the sketch he’d done
earlier that evening, which had really just been him tracing the lines out of
his journal (because he wanted to make sure he got everything just right! Any
flaws in his plan could lead to unforeseen and undesirable consequences), and
placed it in the center of the diagram. Then came the black mirror, the dark
glass was the gateway into the realm where the demon dwellt. He placed it in
the center next to the sketch, making sure not to scuff the blood drawing as he
reached over it. Taking a deep breath he stood back and mused at his handiwork.
From what he could tell, it was flawless, but just in case he still had the
runes on his arms, which he promptly checked again for accuracy.
This was it, do or die.
Or both.
A grating sound came as Dipper struck a match across its matchbook, and a
sizzle sounded as the ember flared up and settled, burning small and bright. He
started with the two bottom candles--the yellow ones--that were closest to him.
First the one on the left, then the right. Finally, taking a deep breath, he
leaned forward on his knees and brought the flame to the wick of the black
candle peaking the image. As it caught, he muttered to himself a small
protective incantation just to be safe. The boy scooted back and looked down
into his journal. He had written this summoning setup into the book on his own,
as it was a more generic, flexible summon that would likely work for various
types of demons. But Dipper wanted one demon in particular.
“Triangulum, entangulum,” he spoke very clearly, keeping his voice strong and
unwavering. “Veneforis dominus ventium. Veneforis venetisarium.” His eyes began
to glow and radiate cerulean flame-like waves. He doubled over, grasping his
stomach tight. His entire body shook from end to end. After a brief moment, he
unclenched and bent backwards, involuntarily chanting incomprehensible
gibberish in a stream of hypnotic muttering.
A sourceless thunder crashed and the world around Dipper promptly drained of
colour, the greyscale racing along the walls until the entire room had faded
into a sea of grey tones. A slow, maniacal laughter that made Dipper’s skin
crawl reverberated through the room. The boy stared intently ahead into the
black rift that had appeared, suspended in midair. Then, everything fell
silent.
“Aw, Pine Tree, did ya miss me?” a, rather obnoxious, voice sounded from
nowhere in particular. Dipper made no response. The rift suddenly fabricated a
bow tie and a top hat. Arms and legs popped out on either side of it while a
white bubble appeared in the blank area just above where lines formed in a
brick-like pattern. A sliver of black rolled in from the top of the white
bubble and stared down at the preteen boy on his knees. “Of course you did, why
else would you’ve called me here?” The yellow, triangular demon floated down to
meet Dipper’s height. “To make a deal? Not you, right?! Ha ha, you’d never be
so dumb as to make a deal with ‘Bill Cipher’!” He made air quotes with his
fingers when he spoke his name. After another moment of Dipper’s silence, Bill
leaned back and crossed his arms behind himself, then crossed his legs. “Pine
Tree, I’m insulted,” he said. Dipper knit his brows and cocked his head
slightly. “This summoning alter is so basic. You could call something as weak
as an imp with this. You couldn’t even trouble yourself to find my summoning
alter in that lame journal of yours?” Dipper took a deep breath and spoke.
“It wasn’t in here.”
“Well, you at least could have lo--”
“Listen, Bill, I called you here for a very important reason, not to make idle
chit-chat.” Bill crossed his arms and stared at the kid with a mild irritation
at being interrupted. Dipper got to his feet. He stood up straight and tall,
cheeks blossoming with a pinkish blush, and cleared his throat. “Bill Cipher,”
he began.
“Y’ello,” Bill responded cynically.
“I want you to...” Dipper choked on his words and cleared his throat again. His
stomach was twisting into what felt like a million knots.
“Get on with it, kid, I don’t have all millennium.”
“I want you to--I-I think we should,” he sputtered, tripping over his words.
This was harder than he thought it was going to be. No matter how many times he
had rehearsed this scene in his head before starting, he still managed to make
a fool of himself. There was no way he could look at Bill while he said this.
“I summoned you so we could...do it.”
Bill blinked and dropped his arms.
This kid.
Dipper slowly turned to look back at the dream demon levitating in front of
him. Bill was just staring at him completely silent. His gentle bobbing was the
only movement he made; he didn’t even blink. Dipper swallowed hard, but
whatever was stuck in his throat would not go down. He swallowed again,
broadening his shoulders and trying to look as brave and confident as possible.
Bill said nothing.
“D-Did you hear m--”
“You want me to fuck you.”
Dipper swallowed yet again and after a second, nodded. Bill furrowed his brow
at him and held his arms out wide.
“Seriously, kid? Jeez, I know meatbags your age get curious, but this is a new
low even for you, Pine Tree.” Dipper fixed a glare on him, his face was beet
red and his ears felt like they were on fire. He shuffled a bit at his feet and
rubbed a hand on the back of his neck. Bill crossed his arms again and brought
himself to eye-level with Dipper. “What’s in it for me, huh? Why should I help
you get off when you humans seem perfectly capable of doing it yourselves?”
Dipper sucked in a breath and steadied his voice, facing Bill entirely again
and staring him dead in the eye.
“I offer my soul as sacrifice.”
Wow, Bill looked more surprised than Dipper could have ever explained to
anyone. His eye was as wide as a saucer and his pupil had narrowed down so thin
that Dipper could barely see it. It was like a needle less than the girth of a
poppy seed. He wasn’t even looking at Dipper, he was looking through him.
Silence stilled over the room, and Dipper wasn’t sure but the room maybe even
felt somewhat colder.
“Kid, do you realize what you’re sayin’?”
“Yes.”
“You’ll be stuck with me for eternity, you know that, right?”
“Yes.”
“You won’t be getting it back, Pine Tree. You’re overpaying.”
“Yes, Bill, I know. I’m not stupid. Now, do you want it or not?” Bill relaxed
back down to his normal state and shrugged. If that was the way he wanted it...
“Alright, kid, if you insist.” Bill set his hand ablaze with blue flames and
extended it out to Dipper. The preteen boy felt a chill run down his spine.
Remembering what this was all for, he shook it off and accepted the deal.
Immediately, Bill burst into a villainous laughter. It echoed through the room
and quaked through Dipper’s body. The demon bent back and clawed his hands.
Light energy shone bright from him until it was a blinding white that engulfed
the entire room from corner to corner. Dipper couldn’t see anything, but he
forced his eyes to stay open anyway. Momentarily, black tendrils shot out of
the brilliance and snapped a hold on Dipper’s arms. Another set of them coiled
around the preteen’s legs. A third set constricted against his neck until he
could barely breathe.
“Bill,” he choked out desperately.
“Quiet, Pine Tree, you wanted this.” Bill came into view. He was not yellow
anymore, he was a solid shade of obsidian black, his eye a narrow red dagger in
a sea of chaos. A pair of hands reached out where his bow tie normally was and
for just a moment, Dipper would have sworn he could see a vicious set of shark-
like teeth ripping through his form.
The hands came to press against Dipper’s chest. They rested there for no longer
than two seconds before phasing through his flesh and delving deep into his
being. Dipper grimaced, he could feel them moving around inside him, searching.
They grazed his lungs which where strangled for air, his heart which was
pounding almost out of his chest, and finally came to a halt when they touched
something that made Dipper’s entire body jolt with a surge of liquid agony. He
bit down on his lip in attempt to direct the pain somewhere else, but this was
nothing like a physical pain. It was otherworldly in a way, something that hurt
on an inexplicable level. Bill released a pleased hiss and took hold of the
thing. He began retracting it from the boy’s chest and the excruciating burning
sensation that overtook Dipper could be described as nothing less than hellish.
Dipper could not stifle his pained scream, it could have woken the dead. It
probably did. Bill’s wicked chuckle signified his satisfaction with the find.
Finally, when the item was successfully pulled out of the kid’s body, he
grinned at it and hastened it into its new prison where it would remain for the
rest of forever, just like Pine Tree agreed.
Suddenly, the pain stopped all at once. In fact, his body felt hollow and
light, like he was nothing but a shell. Bewildered, Dipper unscrewed his eyes
and his scream slowly died out. He blinked hard at the sight in front of him.
Bill held up a glass jar, capped with a soft leather cloth and tied with a
silvery string which was long enough to be worn as a necklace. A blue-white
mist swirled and bobbed within--his soul. He gulped.
How many people could say that they’ve seen their soul right before their eyes?
How many people even believed souls were an actual part of a living body? This
whole thing was surreal, but there it was.
The tendrils loosened around him until eventually they vanished, piece by
piece, into thin air. Bill’s image faded into nothingness and eventually, the
endless white dissolved back into Dipper and Mabel’s bedroom where he had drawn
the summoning alter.
When Dipper’s feet were finally on the ground again, he collapsed to the floor.
***** Beginner's Latin *****
All was silent and still. Fields of darkness stretched out in an endless
expanse; existence was an illusion, time was indefinite.
...
A shrill cry of horrible agony tore through the dead air, followed by a
deafening static crack and waves upon waves of pure torture.
Dipper’s eyes popped open. The first thing he noticed was that everything was
grey. No surprise. Above him, a colourless Bill hovered with indifference
plastered obviously across his face; he blinked once. Wait a
second...colourless Bill? Even in the dreamscape, Bill usually retained his
bright yellow pallor. The pair stared silently at each other as seconds ticked
by, and nothing could have felt any more awkward than this.
Finally, when he could bear it no longer, Dipper made a move to sit up.
“Augh, what happe--” his sentence was cut short by another charge of
electrifying pain that caused his body to convulse and writhe against the hard
wooden floor. It was as if a torrent of hellfire blazed through his veins from
the inside--out, wracking him limb from limb.
When it was finally over after those few ungodly seconds, the boy panted
furiously and clutched a hand over his heart--halfway out of reflex, and
halfway to make sure it was still beating.
“What the heck was that?!” he snapped, glaring up at Bill.
“Oh good, you’re awake. I just thought a couple thousand volts of pure
electricity might help you come to, no need to thank me.”
“I was awake before you nearly killed me, thanks,” he groaned as he sat up.
“It’s not like you were staring right at me or anything.”
“Pfft, semantics,” Bill shrugged. He rolled his eye. Dipper shook his head and
ran a hand through his now-frizzy hair, rubbing it back down to how it should
have been.
“How long was I out?” he asked.
“Hm, ’bout a year.”
“What?! Oh my god, no way. What am I gonna do? A year, seriously?”
“Shooting Star found herself a boyfriend, Stan Pines is dead, Red moved to
Portland, and Gideon declared himself the new dictator of Gravity Falls; things
are pretty great!”
“Ugh, cut the act, Bill, I know it’s not true.”
“You’re right, Shooting Star actually keeping a boyfriend is hilarious!” Dipper
rubbed his eyes at this and grimaced (but he did have a point).
“Alright, Bill, time to pay up. You have my soul,” which, now that he mentioned
it, Dipper noticed that the jar containing his soul was draped around Bill’s
being and dangling just below his bow tie, “now it’s your turn to...pay me
back.”
“To fuck you, you mean!” the other responded in his usual cheery tone, which
made it only a hundred times more uncomfortable. Dipper actually cringed at the
remark as he stood up and dusted himself off. He stumbled a bit, unused to his
body feeling so empty and light. His legs felt like wet noodles under a
weightless torso.
“Whatever. Let’s just get on with it.”
“Let’s get it on, you mea--”
“Just come on!” Dipper growled, balling his fists and marching angrily past
Bill towards his bed.
“Yeesh, kid, at least let me work you over first!” Bill laughed, following
behind him. Dipper decided not to dignify that with a response. Stupid
triangle.
A tiny part of himself deep down wished he could take it back, play it off as a
joke, but it was way too late to turn back now. Still, he knew he had to do
this even if he could go back, it just sickened him is all. Hopefully, this
would be over quick.
When he reached the bedside, he spun around to face Bill and glared harshly at
him through hollow eyes, wide and devoid of life. He crossed his arms at his
chest and huffed.
“Yikes, what’s with the attitude, Pine Tree? Isn’t this what you wanted?” Bill
squinted.
Dipper didn’t respond, he just heaved out a sigh and relaxed his shoulders.
Sitting back on the edge of the bed, the preteen began to disrobe--shrugging
off his vest first, then removing his hat. His shirt came next, and promptly
after he kicked off his shoes and was tugging at his socks when Bill approached
him.
“Seems to me like you think this is a chore, are you having second thoughts
about our little deal?” he pondered, twirling his finger in the silvery string
of the ornament.
“No, I’m not. I...I want this,” Dipper struggled to say. The words tasted awful
in his mouth, like sour dirt and gym socks. He took a deep breath and pulled on
the waistband of his shorts. He shakily pulled them down and strained, “I’m
just nervous. It’s my first time.”
The moment those words left his mouth, he instantly regretted them. Bill broke
out into a humiliating laughter so thunderous, the room shook.
“Pine Tree, you just get more and more pathetic, don’t you?”
“Give me a break, I’m twelve!”
“Ha, no, it’s not that. It’s just funny that you’re going through all this to
get laid by a demon. You’re really somethin’, aren’t you?” Dipper chewed on his
tongue until he thought he might bite clear through it. He wanted to make a
remark, to give the jerk what-for, but there wasn’t anything he could say
without saying too much. Instead he just rolled his lifeless eyes and shook his
shorts off from around his ankles. “Also, ‘I heart BABBA’ boxers, kid? Really?”
Dipper slapped a hand over his forehead. Why didn’t he remember to change
before getting into this? “What, do they say ‘Disco Girl’ on the back, too?”
Yes.
“Can we please just stay focused?” Dipper groaned, cheeks dusting over with
blush. He sat back into the mattress and fixed his attention on Bill. The demon
hovered just in front of him with an amused crinkle to his eye. “And stop
staring at me like that!”
“What? But you said to stay focused and that’s what I’m doing,” Bill chuckled,
placing a palm against Dipper’s clothed crotch. Dipper jumped slightly and grit
his teeth. That felt wrong on so many levels. “Or did you mean for me to focus
on other areas of you instead?” A chill ran over him as Bill’s warm hand began
to move in slow motions, causing him to let out a stifled breath. His body
began to feel numb and slightly tingly as the blood rushed towards his abdomen.
“Do you like that, Pine Tree?” He was not going to answer that question, but
his body wasted no time in an eager response. Under Bill’s hand he was growing,
and it was giving him an uncomfortable nausea to even think about it.
Bill removed his hand to hook his thumbs under the other’s boxers and edge them
down his waist until his semi was free. An unpleasant shiver passed over the
preteen’s body. He stared down at himself with shame, pondering his own body’s
reactions to Bill’s touch.
“C-Can you do more?” he asked somewhat breathily. It was shameful, but
necessary.
“You humans are so needy,” Bill said with snark, rolling his eye. He took hold
of Dipper’s half-hard on and gave it a experimental squeeze...maybe a little
harder than he should have.
“Ow!” Dipper jumped, clenching the muscles in his stomach at the pain. “Not
like that!”
“Well, pardon me, Pine Tree, but I don’t go around giving handjobs to preteen
boys recreationally, if you can believe that.” Ugh, it was like every word that
came out of him was making Dipper’s stomach twist that much more. Did he really
have to be so point blank?
“I’ve never done this before either, alright, so don’t act like you’re the
victim.”
“Ha ha! No, you’re definitely the victim. All your life!” Bill doubled back in
laughter, releasing Dipper’s cock. Dipper clapped a hand over his face and
shook his head, groaning. What was even the point? Maybe he was wrong and this
wasn’t worth the humiliation. But then, Bill stopped and straightened up with
yet another look that spelled trouble. “Say, Pines, how’d you like to learn a
bit of Latin?”
“I--what?”
“Yeah! It’ll be great,” Bill chuckled, grabbing Dipper’s length again. “Every
time you say a word correctly, I’ll reward you.” He gave the other an enticing
stroke to offer an example.
“What? Wait a minute, you’re supposed to be doing this in return for my soul; I
shouldn’t have to work for it!”
“Oh, c’mon, just think of it like a little extra. You’re learning Latin and
still getting what you want. Frankly, you should be thanking me for being this
generous.”
“You know what, I’m not even surprised right now. I literally should have seen
this coming.” Bill gave a small snicker and stroked him once more at that last
part. “Alright, I’ll play along. Whatever gets this moving faster.”
“You make it too easy for me to make fun of your words, kid, it’s losing its
charm.” Dipper rolled his eyes. Maybe if he got bored, he’d shut up.
Out of thin air, Bill fabricated a booklet and moved it towards Dipper. The
preteen grabbed it from the air, propped himself up on his elbows, and flipped
through the pages to see every page was filled from top to bottom entirely in
Latin. It didn’t much look like a vocabulary book or even an information guide
of sorts. In fact, it read like sort of like a story. He flipped back to page
one and took a breath.
The first sentence must have flowed perfectly because Bill gave him a few
successive strokes. A few of his leg muscles tensed at the feeling, but he
continued without much hesitation. The next sentence was difficult to pronounce
and it resulted in Bill giving Dipper another unpleasant squeeze.
“Ow!”
“Try again, Dipstick.”
“This is stupid!” Dipper said shaking his head.
“Hey, if you wanna go back on our deal...” Dipper frowned.
“No,” he grunted. Bill gestured for him to continue.
Growling under his breath, Dipper repeated the sentence a few times, getting
both strokes and squeezes from Bill, until he was getting nothing but smooth
motions against his cock. A short gasp pushed through his teeth and he kept
going.
Word by word, he read on, turning pages until his mouth got dry. Taking a brief
moment to wet his lips, Dipper glanced up from the book to see Bill with his
eye shut, radiating a light aura different from how he would have said was the
norm. He couldn’t quite tell for sure because everything--even Bill--was hued
in various shades of grey, but he would say Bill was a bit darker, maybe
perhaps what would have been a redish colour? Or perhaps pinkish? And said
light wave was glowing in pulses. Dipper cocked his head a bit and squinted at
the sight, then looked down to his cock to see Bill still stroking it
absentmindedly, but still he was still only half hard. This was a disaster,
there was no way he was going to get far enough if this kept on like it was.
“Don’t stop, Pine Tree,” Bill rasped, opening his eye half-mast. Gears in
Dipper’s head turned and rutted against each other until finally it clicked. Oh
god.
The booklet went flying across the room as Dipper flung it as far away from him
as he could. That was utterly disgusting! Goosebumps rose on his flesh, blood
running cold. Oh god, oh god, oh god.
“No! No way. No, no, no, no, no, no, and no. I am notdoing that,” he
floundered, scrambling to cover himself up. A hand caught his wrist. Bill
looked angry, if the glint in his eye was any indication.
“Here’s the thing about that: you leave me halfway and I’ll leave you halfway
and keep your soul.” The book levitated via magical influence back over to
Dipper where it floated patiently beside his head. Something told Dipper that
he was going to leave this situation halfway no matter what he did, but
something else told him that Bill was going to be a lot more unhappy than that
if he left Bill halfway; and while he wasn’t very phased by that threat, Bill
taking his soul and just leaving would be crushing the rest of his plan and
that was unacceptable. So reluctantly, Dipper snatched the book out of the air,
keeping a glare on Bill all the while, and sighed, continuing from where he’d
left off.
Pages later, Bill was audibly moaning at each risqué syllable trickling from
the boy’s lips. And after lots of rewarded jerks to his stubborn and shy cock,
Dipper was finally hard. He’d even grown used to the, now disturbingly
satisfying, pain of Bill’s squeezes; which, if he was honest, is probably what
was finally enough to get him up. He hid behind the booklet, gripping the paper
so hard it crumpled beneath his anxious hands. His face burning, he realized he
was very, very wrong before--things definitely got incredibly more awkward.
Whatever he said next was enough to make Bill give a long, drawn out moan and
tighten his grip on Dipper’s cock. The preteen arched his back and bucked into
the clutch as a short, breathy gasp was pulled from between his teeth. He
instantly clapped a hand over his mouth with wide, mortified eyes. Did that
sound just come from himself?
“Kid, I gotta admit...you have a way with words,” Bill breathed, staring down
at the motions he continued to make around Dipper. “Your tongue is very
talented.” A rush of heat, manifested in a violent shiver, raced to Dipper’s
groin. His cock twitched in Bill’s hand, causing the other to give an satisfied
glance at him. The aroused sigh that left him was just plain sinful. “So
listen, I hate to say it, but...I can’t say I know much about human
reproduction. It’s gross.” Dipper pursed his lips. Seemed to him like Bill was
rather enjoying himself. “Human sex ends with male ejaculation, right?” Wow,
that made him cringe. His entire body tensed up and shuddered.
“I--yeah. Usually, I think,” he replied, “That’s what Mabel said Grunkle Stan
told her.” Bill didn’t respond to him, lost in his own (probably demented)
world. A few silent moments pass before he spoke up again.
“Keep reading,” he said. Dipper studied his face before nodding and looking
back down at the pages.
He’d picked up a pattern with the way letters were pronounced, so most words
came across far more smoothly than they were when they started. He was also
fairly sure he knew which words did the most to Bill, so he made sure to say
those with a little extra gusto when they came about. When he did, Bill usually
involuntarily gripped harder, which is exactly why Dipper did it. Still, the
words ‘this is so wrong’ repeated in Dipper’s head like a broken record, the
further he went.
Finally, Bill stopped him. Dipper looked up from the pages, half-confused,
half-dazed. Every bit of his face was flushed over, the rise and fall of his
chest erratic.
“Ahh, that’s the stuff,” Bill exhaled. Dipper averted his eyes. “Now, this is
important, so listen up: I need you to say my name and then ‘expletio’, you
dig?”
“Why?” the preteen questioned, flipping pages in the booklet. “It doesn’t say
anyt--”
“Just--just do it, kid!” Bill insisted.
Against his better judgment, Dipper obliged.
“Bill Cipher...” he began hesitantly. Bill looked up at him through his lashes,
eye filled to brim with lust. “expletio!”
Light grey flames exploded from Bill’s body, encompassing both himself and
Dipper below. Surprisingly, they didn’t burn at all, just like when he shook on
deals. His grip on Dipper’s cock was released as he was cast into the throes of
his orgasm, shaking and emitting a brilliant light that nearly blinded Dipper.
The preteen below shielded his eyes with his forearm. Something similar to a
shrill pterodactyl screech flooded the room, causing a ringing in his ears.
And then it got quiet.
The sound of a thud hitting the floor made Dipper uncover his eyes. Bill had
fallen back and landed flat on the floor, arms and legs spread like a starfish.
He seemed spent. Dipper raised an eyebrow at him.
“Whew, that was fun,” he said in a steady voice. “Tell ya what, kid, I got some
place I need to be here in a sec’. I’ll catch a raincheck on that male
ejaculation of yours.” Ugh. “So pretty much, you’ll be getting double what you
asked for, plus that whole Latin thing,” he chuckled at that, “sound fair to
you?” Dipper opened his mouth to protest the idea of having to do this all over
again--and the fact that Bill stillleft him halfway after he kept going--but
before he could get any words out, Bill cut in. “Great! Well, it’s been a real
riot. Smell ya later, Pine Tree.”
And with that, he vanished in a fireball of malevolence, leaving Dipper alone
in his shared bedroom.
It was silent.
And everything was grey.
***** A Cup of Gravi-tea *****
Maybe a shower would clear his rampant thoughts, Dipper thought as he closed
the bathroom door behind himself. He leaned against the aged wood and breathed
a stressed sigh, peeling off his pyjamas after a few silent moments. His dream
the night before had been anything but pleasant. After his whole exchange with
Bill, he didn’t exactly expect to have sweet dreams anyway, but that didn’t
make him feel any better about it.
Each article of clothing he stripped off his slightly sweaty body dropped
carelessly to the floor as he traversed the room to the tub. He ran a hand
through his damp hair as he stepped in and drew the curtain shut. The warm
water on his skin allowed his muscles to relax. He took a cleansing breath.
With the sound of the strong water current filling the room, Dipper couldn’t
help himself from breaking into song.
“Disco girl, coming through! That girl is you!♪”
Twenty song-filled minutes later, the preteen stepped out of the shower feeling
refreshed with a smile on his face. Before he could even reach for a towel, a
light grey figure sprang from the mirror  leaving behind a ripple effect of
dimensional dark matter. Dipper’s heart skipped a beat and he nearly jumped out
of his skin. He stumbled back with a shriek, tripping over the edge of the
bathtub and landing flat on his butt inside. Bill burst out into laughter.
“Boy, you have the grace of a drunken ox with two left feet!” he mocked,
pointing and laughing. Dipper grumbled and pulled himself back to his feet. “So
what’s up, Pine Tree?” He hesitated a moment, eye flicking down between the
other’s legs and then back up to his face. “Clearly not you.”
Face flushing red as a cherry, Dipper gasped and scrambled to cover up. He
yanked a towel down from the rack and hastily wrapped it around his waist.
“Seriously? What are you doing here?”
“Just thought I’d drop in on my little pet,” said Bill, examining his
figurative nails.
“Pet?” Dipper protested, “No way, do notgo around calling me that!”
“Would you prefer slave?”
“No!”
“How ‘bout underling? Minion?”
“None of the above! What’s with these degrading names, anyway?”
“Degrading? Wow, rude. You’re the minion of an all-knowing, all-powerful dream
demon, and you think being my pet is degrading? Jeez, kid, where did you learn
your manners?--or lack thereof, for that matter.”
“Ugh, whatever. Did you have to schedule your visit for just as soon as I got
out of the shower?”
“Accidents happen, yanno.” Dipper rolled his eyes.
“So did you come to finish paying me back finally?” he asked.
“Yeesh, is your mind in the gutter twenty-four-seven?”
“Bill,” Dipper lashed, extending his arms emphatically, “why are you here?”
“I suppose I was curious about why you were so desperate last night that you
were willing to exchange your soul for a good time,” Bill drawled in response.
“If it were any other adolescent fleshbag I wouldn’t be surprised, but
you...what’s your motive, kid?”
All of Dipper’s muscles tensed back up, jaw slacking agape. He went wide-eyed
and blushed again.
“O-oh,” he stammered. What was he supposed to say? For some stupid reason, he
hadn’t expected Bill to see through his façade and was ill prepared for
confrontation. He squeezed his eyes shut, balling his fists at his side. A frog
leapt into his throat and without even thinking about it, blurted out the first
thing that came to mind. “Well, y-you see the truth is that I sorta” he bit his
lip, “have a crush on you.” All his blood ran cold.
Wow. Nice one, Dipper thought, mentally slapping himself.
Bill burst out into a roaring laughter. In-fucking-credible! He didn’t think he
could laugh any harder. He clutched his body tight, kicking his feet wildly. A
tear even ran from the corner of his eye. As much as Dipper wanted to look
angry--repulsed, even--he kept a calm outward appearance, putting on a nervous
grin and twiddling his thumbs.
“Yeah, heh heh,” he muttered, wringing his hands. He brought a hand up to rub
the back of his neck, glancing around the bathroom in search for his next
words.
“You’re a new kind of pathetic, Pine Tree!” Dipper bit back a growl and
transformed it into a soft whimper, displaying a look of defeat. Bill wiped the
tear from his face and spoke through his chuckles, “Thanks for the laugh, kid,
but I’ve gotta be going. I’ll be back later, so try not to be shower fresh next
time.” And with that, he was gone back through the portal from whence he came.
Dipper gave a few last shaky laughs before dropping his shoulders and groaning.
“I hate my life.”
“Not your life anymore!” Bill said, popping back in and vanishing just as
suddenly as he’d appeared. Dipper balled his fists and threw a hairbrush at the
mirror.
“And I hate you!”
...
Breakfast that morning with Mabel was incredibly more awkward than Dipper was
expecting. Silence hovered in the air between them, creating a tension too
strong to ignore. He couldn’t look his sister in the eye, but she was staring
at him like a hawk.
“Why aren’t you eating your Stancakes?” she asked, gesturing to Dipper’s
untouched breakfast. He didn’t respond, keeping his eyes averted and tapping
his fork absentmindedly against the plate. He stared out the window into the
forest, chin in hand. “Dipper, is everything okay?” For a split second, he
glanced at her. Mabel’s face was a blend of concern and confusion, and seeing
her dismay made Dipper feel a little guilty. He didn’t get the chance to
respond to her because in the next moment the television on the counter chimed
with breaking news.
“Gravity monster ravaging Gravity Falls!” the reporter announced. The twins
turned both their attentions to the screen to see an invisible force pulling
the trees and bushes sideways. Shingles stripped off the tops of houses and
leaves and branches were torn from their trunks. The camera shifted then to the
beast. It was an angular demon who hovered above the ground on one narrow spike
that increased in girth upwards to become its body. Thin, needle-like arms
dangled on either side of the creature as a set of translucent crystals orbited
its body. It raised its lithe arms and let out a warped, high-pitched screech;
trees were ripped from the ground, cars lifted from the streets, and rooftops
severed from their bases. “Police are attempting to get the monster under
control,” said the reporter as the TV depicted sheriff Blubs and deputy Durland
nervously pitching a lasso at the large creature. It wrapped around one of the
revolving crystals and the sheer unyielding force of its obit jerked the
officers off the ground and began spinning them around wildly like fan blades,
their screams echoing through the streets. The camera shifted back to the
reporter. “Officials tell us all to keep calm and not pani--woaaahh!” Their
sentence was cut off as the reporter was swept off their feet and dragged into
the beast’s gravitational pull. Seconds after, the display started tumbling and
then cut to static, promptly followed by a TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES screen image.
The twins looked at each other. Mabel’s jaw was dropped open.
“Dipper, we gotta go stop that thing!” she said, raising her voice and pointing
to the television. Dipper brought a hand up to his neck and rubbed it
nervously.
“I don’t know, Mabel, I’m not quite feeling like myself. I’m not sure if I can
do it,” he replied with hesitance.
“What? But you always know what to do! If we don’t help, the town will be
destroyed,” Mabel reasoned. Dipper rubbed his arm, eyes flicking around the
kitchen in thought. With Bill liable to turn up at any given moment, it was
going to make monster fighting a lot more risky; but on the other hand, this is
almost exactly the type of situation he had in mind when he decided to make the
deal. Still, he couldn’t shake the bad feeling he had about this one.
“Well...” he pondered, scratching his head, “I guess we should at least try.”
“Yay!” Mabel cheered, raising her arms and kicking out her feet. She reached
across the table to scruff up Dipper’s hair affectionately. “I’ll go get my
grappling hook!” she said, hopping down from her chair and speeding off
upstairs. Dipper watched her with a weak smile. After she was out of sight, he
sighed and went to go find his journal.
...
Sirens blared and reverberated through the streets, echoing through the
alleyways and reflecting off houses. Streets were blocked off by debris and by
police cars.
The twins arrived at the scene, weapons in hand and dressed for success. They
glanced at each other through shaded eyes and nodded, sly smirks adorning their
faces. Mabel’s hair was pulled back in a ponytail, tied with a yellow scrunchie
and accented with a star-shaped hairpin. Her lovely sweater-of-the-day was a
lavender knit depicting Issac Newton and captioned ‘I could sure go for a cup
of gravi-tea’. She wielded her grappling hook with pride, standing tall and
proud with her hand on her hip.
Dipper didn’t go quite as overboard, opting for his usual attire (though the
sunglasses were pretty cool, he had to admit). His journal tucked under his
arm, he too stood tall and proud.
Two sets of steel-toed boots clunked in sync against the asphalt as the pair
strutted their way through crowds. They approached (a very bruised and
scratched up) sheriff Blubs. He was standing with fists balled at his hips,
glaring at the gravity demon from afar. One of the lenses of his sunglasses had
popped out and the other one was majorly cracked. Dipper straightened his back
and poked out his chest; he tapped on the officer’s shoulder. Blubs turned to
face him. Mabel crossed her arms and squared her shoulders.
“Pardon me, officer,” said Dipper, “we’re here to help take care of the gravity
monster situation.” He and Mabel fist bumped. Blubs gave them elevator eyes,
looking them over and raising an eyebrow.
“Aren’t you both a little too young to be fighting dangerous monsters?” he
questioned.
“Yes we are,” Mabel stated proudly, earning an elbow in the side from her
brother. “Ow!” she recoiled. Dipper hissed her name under his breath and Mabel
shrugged apologetically.
“Look, we’re totally qualified to do this,” Dipper explained. “We’ve fought
plenty of other things like this and come out alive. This is no problem.”
“Well,” Blubs pondered, rubbing his chin, “if that’s the case then I don’t see
why n--”
Just then, deputy Durland rocketed by and crashed face-first into a pile of
trashcans, making a loud clatter that caught all of their attentions. He pulled
himself out of the accident and stumbled over to the others, seeing stars.
“Hey y’all, what’s goin’ on over here? Did ya see the way I gave that no-good
baddie what-for?” he boasted.
“You were great,” Blubs praised, putting a hand on Durland’s shoulder. “After
this, we should treat ourselves to a nice hot latte.”
“Uh, excuse me?” Dipper interjected, extending his arms in confusion.
“What’re a couple of kids doin’ in town when there’s a monster on the loose?”
asked Durland.
“They say they’re qualified to take the beast down.”
“Oh no, no kids gonna get themselves hurt on my watch! You all go home and play
dollies. Where’re your parents?” Durland ordered, extending an accusatory
finger at the twins.
“What?” Dipper protested, “But you justsaid--”
“You heard the man,” Blubs affirmed, crossing his arms. “You all go home now.”
“Come on!” Mabel spoke up. “We just wanna help!”
“No, no, and no! Now, get!” Durland commanded, waving his arms at them.
“But--”
“Don’t make me have to use my nightstick!”
The twins sighed and turned away, dropping their shoulders in defeat. Man, it
sucked being twelve. This was totally unjust. But wait--Mabel stopped walking
and grabbed Dipper’s sleeve. He glanced back at her curiously. All hope was not
lost.
“There’s gotta be a way we can get to that thing without going through them,”
she said. “Let’s look around.” Dipper nodded in agreement. Scanning the scene
for any entry way possible, the twins searched for anywhere that was not
blocked off by either debris or barricades. Eventually, Mabel tugged on
Dipper’s vest and pointed to an alleyway at their right where an uprooted tree
had fallen, slumped against the buildings on either side, leaving a passage
just big enough for a couple of mischievous kids to fit through.
Dipper winked at his sister and took her hand, waiting until Blubs and Durland
had occupied themselves with another flawed attempt at harnessing the monster.
He followed her lead through the narrow ingress. They stooped down, ducking
their heads beneath the trunk, and squeezed through. Dipper managed to wedge
himself in the hole, needing help to get free. Mabel took his hands and tugged
her brother free. Landing askew on the ground, they scrambled to their feet and
pressed forward.
The digital-sounding screech of the monster nearly deafened them both as they
approached it. Both siblings clapped their hands over their ears and grit their
teeth. It was a grating sound that rattled their bones and even shook the
ground beneath them. They peeked out from around the corner of a building just
before where the monster’s path of destruction began. Their hair rose to their
cheeks, gravitating towards the monster’s pull. Mabel frustratedly tried
pushing it back behind her head while Dipper frantically scoured the pages in
his journal for an entry on the demon.
“Alright, this thing is called a ‘Tangle’ and it says that when it gets mad, it
increases its gravitational pull. ‘Make sure to wear steel-toed boots’,” he
read. He and Mabel clicked their boots together.
“Check!” Mabel smiled.
“‘and wear earplugs to avoid going deaf’.” Mabel pulled two sets of earplugs
from her pockets and handed a pair to her brother. They put them in and gave
each other a thumbs up. They could still hear each other if they needed to, but
they would have to shout at pretty much the top of their lungs, so they would
mostly be using body language to communicate. Alright, it was time to move.
Dipper nodded to Mabel and earned a nod in response. The pair sped off,
following in the wake of destruction.
As they were running, old ‘bad news’ himself decided to make yet another
appearance. Of course.
“Hey kid!” Bill greeted in his usual chipper tone. Startled into existence,
Dipper tripped over his own feet and face-planted into the mud. Bill broke out
into laughter. “Nice grace, Tripper!” he howled in stitches. Dipper grumbled
and dug his nails into the dirt, trying to redirect the anger. He took a deep
breath and got to his feet again just as Mabel turned to see if he was alright.
“Whoa, Dipper! You okay, bro-bro?” she asked. Dipper panicked, side-stepping to
try and hide Bill’s form.
“Uh, yeah! Sorry, I just tripped over a rock, no big deal!” he lied, giving her
a thumbs up. “Come on, let’s keep going,” he said, running past her. She
followed suit.
Bill tailed behind Dipper until he caught up to his side.
“You know she can’t see me, right?” he told him plainly.
“What? How are you even talking to me right now? I have earplugs in!”
“Mindscape, kid,” Bill stated, moving to face Dipper. He reclined back and
crossed his legs, still keeping pace with the pair. “Great place. You should
visit again, sometime.”
“As if. Ugh, Bill, can’t you come bother me some other time? I’m trying to save
the town here.”
“Oh, I’m not gonna interfere. You do your little ‘save the day’ thing. I’m just
here to watch,” Bill said, fabricating a tub of popcorn and tossing a handful
of kernels towards his face. They phased into his body and disappeared. Did he
just absorb them? Creepy. Dipper rolled his eyes and did his best to ignore it.
They were gaining on the demon when it screeched again, shaking the earth
below. Both twins had to stop in order to keep their balance, holding their
arms out to steady themselves. When they stabilized, they shook their heads and
made sure each other was okay before continuing.
Finally, they came to a stop a few yards before the demon. It had its back to
them and was uprooting more trees when Mabel called out.
“Hey, you big dumb meanie, stop destroying the town!” The beast turned to
acknowledge her shout. Surprisingly, it did not retaliate. It simply stood
there and stared down at the twins, waiting for their next move. “Oh,” she
said, confused, “thanks.”
It was all too soon, as in the next moment the tangle screeched again--this
time knocking them both off their feet and back onto their butts--and tore all
the surrounding trees from the ground threateningly. It launched one at them
both. Scared gasps left the twins and each of them rolled in opposite
directions to avoid being crushed. The impact of the tree smashing into the
ground gave them both a shock of terror, but they were not discouraged. They
got to their feet and joined up again at the tree’s roots, a little closer to
the monster.
Dipper flipped open his journal and combed through the text to find a way to
defeat it. All the while, the tangle was uprooting houses and amassing cars to
fling at them. Mabel looked over Dipper’s shoulder to see what he was reading.
“‘Important note: the crystals circling the tangle’s body are a critical point
in fighting the demon. Four green crystals and a red crystal can be seen
orbiting the creature. It is crucial!!! that the opponent--’” Dipper’s reading
was cut off by the wrath of the tangle growing so violent that the journal was
ripped out Dipper’s hands. “No!” he cried, reaching out in a fruitless attempt
to grab it.
Bill burst out in laughter.
“Take that, Pines! That’s what you get for costing me my deal with Gideon!” he
belted out, shaking a fist at the twins. Dipper felt a rage boil inside him
that was inexplicably intense. He balled his fists and grit his teeth together
hard enough to hurt.
“Dipper, aim for the red one!” Mabel shouted, shaking her brother by the
shoulders. Dipper snapped out of his enraged trance and reached down to grab a
rock. His eyes flicked between the crystals. He hesitated on pitching the
stone, trying to decide which one of the translucent light grey crystals was
the red one.
“Where’s the red one? I-I can’t tell!” he responded.
“What? Dipper, it’s right there!” Mabel said, pointing ahead of her. Yeah. That
helped. Sucking in a breath and hoping for the best, Dipper wound back his arm
and let the rock fly.
Wow.
“Now that was just pathetic, Pine Tree,” he heard Bill say from behind. He
opened his eyes to see that the stone had barely flown three feet. Dipper’s
face flushed beet red. Mabel groaned and pushed her brother to the side,
snatching the rock and pitching it at the beast herself.
Bullseye! Mabel landed a direct hit on the red crystal causing the tangle to
freeze, all of its possessions dropping to the ground.
“Yes!” she cheered. Dipper pushed past her and darted towards the direction
where his journal had landed. He made it about halfway before the demon let out
a bone chilling screech that brought Dipper to his knees. “Dipper!” Concerned
for her brother, Mabel ran after him. It was then that the beast began
emanating a shadowy aura and all that had dropped was gravitated back into the
air. This time, however, the twins had gotten too close in proximity and not
even the weight of their boots could prevent them from being lifted up off the
ground.
“Whoaa!” they synchronized, flailing their limbs wildly. Dipper continued
trying to reach for the journal but it was out of his reach. Now the beast was
pulling its collections in towards its body. Dipper screamed and thrashed
about, doing his very best to avoid being sucked in. Suddenly, Mabel wrapped
her arm around Dipper’s chest and held on to him with all her strength.
“Grappling hook!” she beamed cheerfully.
“Wha--ah!” Dipper’s breath was partially knocked from his chest at the sudden
halt. Mabel had shot her grappling hook behind them and locked it around a pipe
that was sticking out of the ground from where one of the houses was stripped
away. Thank god for Mabel, Dipper sighed with relief.
“Looks like Shooting Star’s got a much better handle on the situation than you,
Pine Tree,” Bill snickered. “Seems to me you’re pretty much useless without
that journal, huh?”
Ouch.
Dipper’s mouth came agape and he stared forward in shock, eyes going unfocused.
Images flashed through his mind at all the times he’s saved Mabel and kept them
both safe. All the danger he had gotten her into, and still managed to get her
out of alive all because of the journal. Were they going to die now? Was this
the end? His eyes welled with tears and spilled over.
“Dipper?” Mabel said, looking over her brother’s shoulder to see if he was
alright. “Dipper! Dipper, what’s wrong?” He didn’t respond; he didn’t hear her.
“Dipper, snap out of it!”
“What’s wrong, Pine Tree?” Bill asked with a sing-song voice. “Feeling
defeated?” he mocked, fading into view in front of Dipper’s face.
“Feeling...weak?” He twirled his cane between his fingers, a crinkle of
satisfaction in his eye. A screen opened up where his bow tie was; it depicted
a headstone that read R.I.P. MABEL PINES.
Dipper furrowed his brow and frowned.
“No,” he growled.
“Huh?” Bill dropped his arms and lost the amused expression.
“Ominis exiliaris!” Dipper shouted. Bill went still, eye opening wide enough to
see traces of blood veins. “Ominis exiliaris!” he repeated, eyes illuminating a
searing white. Mabel’s jaw dropped open, staring up at her brother with awe.
“Pine Tree, don’t,” Bill said very quietly, voice barely a whisper. It sounded
like he was pleading. Dipper lowered his head and smirked.
“Ominis exiliaris!” he shouted at the very top of his lungs.
The twins watched as the tangle erupted into charcoal black flames with the
vigor and brilliance of a supernova. Bill instantly did the same, engulfed by
what Mabel saw as cerulean flames and what Dipper saw as grey flames.
A swirling black and red void opened up in the skies resonating a low humming
sound as Bill and the tangle were both stretched and sucked into the black
hole, emitting shrill screeches of pain and terror. When every particle of
their beings was consumed, the void closed up and vanished, causing all the
gravity to return to normal.
The twins screamed as they came crashing to the ground below, landing hard in
the mud. Dipper rubbed his head, groaning as he turned over onto his back,
staring up at the once again clear sky. He checked his hand for blood and sure
enough it was there; he must have landed on a rock.
“Mabel, are you alright?” he grunted. He waited a few seconds for her to
answer, but got no response. “Mabel?” he said again, glancing over to his side
where she landed. Still no response. Ice shot through his veins, stomach
dropping to his feet. “Mabel!” he panicked, scrambling over to his sister and
turning her over on her back. He shook her shoulders and shouted her name
again, but he received nothing but silence. Her face was scratched up and
bloodied where she had landed on a thorn branch from one of the bushes the
tangle had thrown haphazardly about. Dipper frantically glanced around to see
that police cars and paramedics were coming to surround  the two of them, and
he saw that Grunkle Stan’s car was there too.
His eyes flicked back down to his limp sister draped motionlessly in his arms.
He embraced her as tightly as he could, tears streaming down his cheeks. “Mabel
wake up,” he uttered softly. “Please be okay.”
He jumped slightly, feeling a hand on his shoulder. Grunkle Stan was standing
over him, concern written all over his face. He leaned down to wrap his arms
around the twins, comforting Dipper who was hysterical with worry and cradling
Mabel’s inert frame.
Sirens blared and reverberated through the streets, keeping everyone on their
toes as they rushed to save a little girl’s life.
***** Hey, Soul Sister *****
Purgatory was a boring place.
The long, sorrowful moan of a wandering soul chilled the empty air.
Not to mention it was damn annoying.
Bill sighed, perching atop a dreary building. He needed a moment to think.
Running his fingers across the cracks in the weathered cement, he stared
blankly at the moss and ivy growing down its greying structure. A hollow wind
whispered amongst the shattered windows, breezing past Bill. He put a gentle
grip on his hat so that it wouldn’t blow away.
Exile.
Pine Tree exiled him. Sure he didn’t intend to direct it at him, but still that
was just plain uncalled for and downright sloppy. Bill furrowed his brow and
balled a fist. After all, he was just teasing him a little. No harm done! Pine
Tree was not weak, he knew that. Not mentally, anyway. His physical strength,
however...
Bill couldn’t help but chuckle. He kicked his feet lightheartedly.
Still, something about the exile made him feel strange in a way he didn’t
comprehend. He wanted it to stop. The way Pine Tree looked when he’d chanted
the command, he couldn’t get it out of his mind. A stray finger tapped against
the jar containing Dipper’s soul that was draped around his shoulders. He gazed
up at the taupe sky, filled with tortured and lost souls looking for expiation.
Somewhere out there was the dumb tangle that caused all of this. Nuts to him,
but at least the nuisance was gone. There was no chance of him getting out
without a bounding element (at least not for a very long time) like a foolish
human’s pathetic soul.
The way Pine Tree’s lips curled into a smirk with the third chant of the
command had Bill captivated. The look of determination and power in his eyes
was as enthralling as the incantation itself. It was...annoying. Bill grunted
and swiped a stone from the rooftop, pitching it as far as he could into the
endless void of lost hope. Goddamn Pine Tree and his sudden revelations. He was
actually kind of impressive. In a disgusting and irritating sort of way.
And what Pine Tree had said earlier that day, that had become significantly
less hilarious by now, Bill realized. He replayed the scene over and over again
in his memory.
He was stuttering, struggling to find the proper words that he wanted to
express. Biting his lip and shifting his weight around were clear signs of
discomfort and nervousness.
“Well, y-you see the truth is that I sorta have a crush on you.”
Stupid. Not funny, stupid. It made him feel a sort of sickness in the pit of
his core to think of it. A pressurized tingling that made his limbs feel lax
and tense at the same time, which was absolutely illogical and completely
unsolicited. He wanted to block it out and focus on other business, but no
matter how hard he tried, Pine Tree would not leave his mind. His body began to
redden, trembling with anger. He clenched a fist on the roof edge so tight it
sent small cracks running down the building a short distance.
He needed to go for a walk. Metaphorically, of course. With a frustrated groan,
he reeled back his hand and dusted the cement particles off. Picking himself up
from the roof’s edge and launching into the air again, he moved in no
particular direction as he wandered through the endless abyss.
The air was filled with the souls of the damned--stranded between what the
humans called ‘heaven’ and ‘hell’--and various other airborne demons who’d been
condemned to this forsaken realm as a permanent banishment. Permanent. Pine
Tree knowing such a spell by heart was not only surprising and mildly
terrifying, it didn’t make sense. Sure, it was just a bit of Latin, but where
most people fall short is realizing the effect it has on a vast majority of
demons, himself included. And due to the fact that most simpletons don’t even
believe the supernatural, it was not common knowledge to know exactly how to
banish a demon. He would have had to been researching it or otherwise expecting
the need to use it. While research wasn’t above Pines, it was still heavily on
the unlikely side.
Bill let out a sigh and allowed his anger to dissipate. He looked around,
taking in the sights. The last time he was in purgatory was before Gideon had
summoned him back. He hadn’t had a link to the overworld and without that,
there’s little to no hope to return for any demon trapped in this realm. This
time he was blessed with a much more fortunate occurrence, which drastically
reduced his resentment.
He slowed a bit to examine the ornament around his shoulders, tilting the
container to see the misty blue and white inside. It was calm and rested, which
was typically unusual for a soul in purgatory, but because it was shielded by
the jar around it, it remained at ease. Bill looked up from it and glanced
around at all the other souls floating around aimlessly through the void. He
vaguely recognized some of them as people he’d encountered in the past--some of
which dating back a few millennia. Most of them had a greyish center, others
had black centers, and there were those, rather few in numbers in comparison,
with white centers. The surrounding hue was a defining colour from somewhere in
the spectrum that, when combined with the middle colour and the sound it made,
identified the soul to the person it belonged to.
Distracted by all the passing wisps, he was caught off guard by a sudden
tapping noise. He looked back down to see a white and lavender spirit knocking
against the glass jar persistently. It caused the one trapped inside to stir,
emitting a warmth and a low glow. It began swirling around its confinement,
seemingly trying to get to the other soul.
This soul belonged to Shooting Star.
“Shooting Star, what are you doing here? Or better yet, how are you here?” Bill
questioned. The spirit responded with a high pitched ringing noise, similar to
the way a silver bell sounded. “Hm,” he pondered, looking back to Pine Tree’s
soul. “You would be drawn to Pine Tree, wouldn’t you? Wonder what caused you to
end up here.” The wisp circled him twice before tapping on the glass again and
making another pitched cry. It was pining to merge with the soul inside, as
twins do when they reach ascension. That is, unless one soul were to be
condemned to hell without the other. (If one soul were meant to go to hell and
the other to heaven, both souls would remain in purgatory even after merging.
Unable to separate, and unable to decide where the singularity belonged, they
would be left to wonder for the rest of eternity. The only rare exception to
this rule would be if a double resurrection was preformed successfully and both
souls were given the chance to change their ways before death again).
Bill stared at the lavender spirit, the gears in his head turning in thought.
Shooting Star was probably missing this thing. She hadn’t traded it away, or
else it would be in captive just as Pine Tree’s was. And where Shooting Star
was, Pine Tree was likely to be within a hundred yards proximity at least. He
squinted hard at the soul.
And he was really dying to know how Pine Tree learned that command. Maybe he
could annihilate the pest too, while he was at it, for consuming his thoughts
like this.
He took hold of the wisp and examined it, then a devious expression lit up his
face.
“Come on, Shooting Star, hows about we get you back into your body?” he chimed
cheerfully. Clutching the jar in his other hand, he gave it a pulse of energy
and was warped to the soul’s source.
...
Hospital seats were cold and uncomfortable. Dipper shifted his weight in the
wooden chair across from Mabel’s bed. Holding his legs up to his chest, he
rested his chin on his knees and breathed out a sigh. Staring at his sister’s
unconscious body was not exactly the way he had planned to spend his weekend,
nor was it exactly exciting. Anxiety swirled in the pit of his gut, making him
feel nauseous and lightheaded. This was all his fault for losing his grip on
the journal and not knowing how exactly to take out the demon. He slammed a
fist down on the table beside him, gritting his teeth and glaring down at the
marble tile. He should have read the entry before they even left! The one time
he didn’t plan in advance and it nearly cost his sister her life.
The doctor said the impact had knocked her unconscious and in the time it took
them to get the her to the hospital (stupid police officers too busy yelling at
them for sneaking past and taking on the beast against their permission), she’d
slipped under and into a coma. Her chances of a quick recovery looked good, the
doctor said, but that didn’t make Dipper feel any better when he still had to
gaze upon his sister’s bandaged head and scratched up face. Utterly powerless
to do anything, he was reduced to sit back and wait for her to come to on her
own.
Grunkle Stan put a hand on his shoulder. He looked up from his seat and rubbed
the back of his head.
“Sorry,” he said, realizing his small outburst was seemingly unprovoked. “I
just wish she’d wake up so I can apologize for being so reckless.”
“Look, kid, you did the best you could do. Sure you should have thought it
through a little more...”
Dipper blinked expectantly. When Stan didn’t continue after a moment, he spoke
up.
“Yeah?”
“What?”
So much for making him feel any better. Dipper rolled his eyes and shook his
head, shifting his attention back to Mabel.
He felt so bad about this.
But at the same time, he couldn’t help but wonder what exactly happened to
Bill. He’d looked surprised and almost scared even as the Latin words leapt
from his mouth. A twinge of shame twisted in his gut recalling the incident. No
part of him had voluntarily spoken the chant that day. It was practically
instinctual, like an ingrained automatic response to his twin being in danger.
Perhaps it was generational.
“You keep an eye on your sister, okay?” Stan said, breaking the awkward silence
that had settled in the room after the previous conversation, “I’m gonna go
yell at the receptionist until I don’t have to pay the hospital bill.” He got
up and moved toward the door. “If the doctor asks where I’m at, I was never
here.”
“Got it,” Dipper muttered with disinterest. The door clicked shut and Dipper
rested his cheek against the palm of his hand, staring into space with eyes
half-mast. The only sounds in the room were the beeping of the heart monitor
and Mabel’s gentle breathing. Light streamed in from the window, beaming onto
her face. The glare from the sun on the glass was reflecting into Dipper’s
eyes; he kept trying to shield them but his arms would get tired and eventually
he just decided to move seats.
They’d been there for hours already and he was starting to get a bit tired,
yawning every few minutes and almost drifting off. He stretched out his arms
and rubbed his eyes until he saw stars. As the staticy haze disappeared, he
blinked a few times.
And then almost experienced a cardiac arrest.
He shrieked when he opened his eyes and saw Bill hovering in front of him with
a piercing gaze locked onto him as though he’d been there for the entire time.
His first instinct was to throw a fist at the other. It fell against Bill’s
body and Dipper quickly retracted his hand and shook out the pain that had shot
though it.
“Ow! Gosh, your body is like an actual brick wall!”
“Thanks, kid, I try. Now tell me how you know the banishing spell or I’ll turn
your hands into tarantulas.”
“But tarantulas aren’t deadly to humans, I would have thought that you--”
“You’ve got ten seconds,” Bill ordered, extending a finger and emitting some
sort of magical spark that Dipper knew was a threat.
“I-I don’t know! It just sorta happened, I guess.”
“Strike one. Seven seconds.”
“Bill, I’m serious, I honestly couldn’t even tell you what it was that I said--
in Latin or in English!”
“Strike two, kid. Four seconds. You better spill it.”
“There’s nothing to spill!” Dipper retorted, throwing his hands up in emphasis.
Bill didn’t seem at all moved, continuing to glare at him and finally igniting
his hand with silver tongues of flame. “You know what, whatever; turn my hands
into tarantulas. Or replace my guts with venomous snakes or whatever it is your
sick mind tells you to do, it’s not like I care anymore.”
“Pine Tree,” Bill said, unmoving.
“What?” Dipper shouted, raising his voice. “I don’t know what you expect me to
say! I already told you, I have no idea how I knew any banishing spell or
whatever it was I did. It just happened.” He crossed his arms and cast his eyes
at the painted white brick walls. Bill stared him down for a full minute,
silence chilling the air between them, before finally Bill extinguished his
hand and relaxed backwards a little. He dropped his arms and rolled his eye.
“Alright. So you don’t know how it happened; you spoke from your subconscious.
I’ll buy it for now,” he resigned. Dipper knit his brow harder and tightened
his crossed arms to his chest. “I’m actually kind of impressed, you know.”
Dipper glanced up from his peripherals and raised an eyebrow. “That kind of
thing isn’t exactly common knowledge, and you seem to have a knack for
surprising me in the most unexpected ways. In other words, that was actually
pretty great, kid, but don’t ever do it again or I’ll make sure you never have
another dream that’s not a nightmare again. And in addition, I throw in a
permanent spot in lowest level of hell where you’ll spend eternity suffering in
the most cruel and unusual ways.”
Dipper was unimpressed at Bill’s attempt to threaten him, but was still gaping
at the fact Bill had went from seemingly wanting to destroy him for chanting an
exile command, to complimenting him for it. His jaw was practically on the
floor, head cocked, and eye twitching.
“Huh?” he quirked. Bill rolled his eye again and put each balled fist on his
sides.
“What you did was impressive, but do it again and I’ll--”
No, no, I heard what you said. I just can’t believe you actually said something
nice to me. A-are you trying to get me to lower my guard? ‘Cause it’s not gonna
work!“ Dipper exclaimed, tensing his shoulders and clenching his fists at the
other.
“What? No! Ugh, listen Pines, I don’t have the time or energy to lie to you
right now. I have somewhere else I need to be here soon, but I’ve been thinking
about it and I’m gonna let you off the hook just this once. In fact...” He
tapped a finger against his face, turning to glance at Mabel.
“Don’t you touch her!” Dipper yelled, jumping to his feet and chasing after
Bill as he hovered over to her bedside. “If you’re gonna take it out on anyone,
take it out on me, not her!” Bill quickly spun around to face Dipper, who was
quaking with a mixture of fear and anger.
“Relax, kid, you look dumb like that,” Bill told him, snickering a bit.
Dipper’s cheeks reddened slightly. He bit his bottom lip, but didn’t retaliate.
“I’m helping!” he beamed.
“Not likely, triangle.”
“Hey, watch your mouth,” Bill snapped, shooting a glare at him before returning
his attention to the unconscious body below. He materialized a jar identical to
the one in which he was carrying Dipper’s soul. Dipper couldn’t tell the
difference between them, even the contents looked identical. He was curious to
ask, but remained silent under the uncertainty that if Bill actually was well-
intentioned, he might ruin his chances.
His eyes were trained on Bill, watching carefully as he retrieved the wisp from
its container and tossed the jar into oblivion. He extended his arm down
without moving and phased it through Mabel’s chest, rummaging around a bit
until he found the right place. His eye widened, and then quickly shifted to a
satisfied crinkle as he snapped his arm back into place (something similar to a
tape measure, Dipper thought). Bill stared down at Dipper with the same jolly
expression and Dipper quirked his head curiously, squinting suspiciously at
him, before shifting his attention to his sister. A still moment was all but
too long, hopes flickering weakly in Dipper’s chest. Another still moment
passed, and then another and another.
Dipper’s smile faded, his eyes filling with sadness as Mabel still showed no
signs of consciousness. His shoulders drooped, attention falling to the floor.
Rubbing a hand against his metaphorical chin, Bill stared down at Mabel and
suddenly it clicked.
“Whoops! Forgot the most important part!” he said cheerily, snapping his
fingers at the realization. Leaning down, he placed both hands on the girl’s
chest and in an instant, she was home to a few thousand volts of pure
electricity. Her body writhed beneath Bill’s hands, jerking and thrashing in an
involuntary response to the agony it was put through. Dipper was floored. In
his mind, he reacted by lunging at Bill and tackling him to the ground, but he
failed in the execution, shocked into immobility.
Finally, Bill removed his hands and Mabel’s body stilled. The rise and fall of
her chest greatly accelerated and limbs twitching with aftershocks. And at
last, she stirred.
Her eyes fluttered open, blinking a few times, before looking around the room
to assess herself. Vision blurry, she reached an arm up that felt like it
weighed a ton to rub her eyes clear again. When she could see, the first thing
she noticed was Bill hovering over her, an amused stare written a hundred times
across his face. She shrieked weakly and defended herself with her feeble arms.
“Rise and shine, Shooting Star! Someone’s here to see you!” Bill chimed,
gesturing to Dipper beside him who had the widest grin on his face. “Close your
mouth, kid, you’ll catch flies,” he teased, placing a hand on Dipper’s chin and
shutting his jaw for him. Dipper reflexively swatted at him.
“Mabel!” he exhaled in desperate optimism. “You’re awake!” Mabel rubbed her
throbbing head.
“Ugh, what happened? Where am I?”
“Northwest Memorial Hospital. You wouldn’t wake up after that fight with the
tangle, so we got you here as fast as we could, but Blubs and Durland stopped
us to complain about us fighting the monster after they told us not to and then
you slipped into a coma and we were super worried about you, but then Bill came
along and did god knows what and now you’re awake! Oh gosh, wow, are you
feeling alright? He gave you a pretty rough start, I know what that feels like,
trust me.” Mabel stared at him with her brows furrowed in confusion. He was
talking way too fast for her to understand in her state. Most of it was hard to
take in, but she just nodded and attempted to sit up.
“How long was I out?” she asked.
“Almost a week. The doctors said you would wake up, but I didn’t believe them.
To me, you didn’t look so good. Oh god, you scared me so much,” he answered,
tearing up slightly at the last bit. She looked up at Bill and squinted.
“Are you sure he helped? I don’t trust him.” Bill’s face dropped. The nerve.
“Who cares? You’re awake!” Dipper said in a sharp inhale. He reached out and
practically attacked his sister with an embrace. Mabel lit up a smile and
hugged him back, rubbing his back reassuringly.
“Can you do me a favour, bro-bro?” she asked him gingerly.
“What’s up?”
“I reallyneed some chocolate or something after being out that long. Could you
go get me a snack or something?” Dipper smiled and nodded, turning for the
door.
“Of course. Be right back, Mabes.”
Naturally, Bill followed him out. He hovered along at Dipper’s side, staring at
him with crossed arms.
“Well?” he said, breaking the silence.
“What?”
“I still haven’t heard a ‘thank you’ for resurrecting your sister.”
Dipper suddenly stopped in his path.
Not expecting it, Bill had to move backwards to reunite with him. The pair
locked eyes and Dipper actually smiled.
“Thanks, Bill, for saving Mabel.” Bill was a bit surprised at how sincere it
was, coming from him of all people. He was silent for a moment, arms dangling
limp at the statement. Only when Dipper turned and continued walking down the
corridor did he snap back into the present.
“It...It was nothing, alright? Don’t read into it.”
“So how’d you do it anyway? It looked like you were putting a soul back into
her.”
“You’re pretty sharp, huh? Yeah. I met up with her in purgatory--you know, that
place you banished me to?” Dipper lowered his head a bit and kept from making
eye contact. “Her soul was drawn to yours, as it should be. Y’know, twins and
all.”
“And you went through all the trouble to bring it back? That’s not exactly like
y--”
“It was on the way, alright?” Bill huffed defensively, balling his fists and
jerking his arms downward.
“Oh,” Dipper responded, “Well, thank you anyway for doing that.”
Stupid Pine Tree, Bill thought, face radiating a warmer energy than usual.
When the pair reached the snack machine, the area was barren except for Grunkle
Stan standing at the reception counter, laying waste to the poor secretary.
Dipper rummaged around in his pockets and pulled out about a dollar fifty in
quarters. He plugged it into the machine and punched in the code for Mabel’s
favourite chocolate, ‘Hirschy Bar’. While he waited for it to fall, he turned
to Bill and rubbed the back of his neck.
“Say, Bill...if, uh, you’re not doing anything later...”
“I already told you, I’ve got somewhere to be soon.”
“I mean, after that I guess. If you’re not busy, would you wanna maybe...hang
out?” he shrugged and grinned nervously, pink blossoming over his cheeks. Bill
gawked in disbelief and sheer surprise. What he couldn’t exactly decide,
though, was whether he was more shocked at Pine Tree for suggesting such a
thing or at himself for wanting to say yes. Rendered unresponsive, Dipper
elaborated. “I just would kind of like to thank you for saving Mabel.”
“You just did,” Bill said, confused.
“Well--yeah, I guess I did, but I mean in a different way. Kind of like...I
don’t know, sorta maybe kinda not really but I guess partially like--”
“Spit it out, kid.”
“...a date?” Dipper bit down hard on his bottom lip as nausea bubbled up in his
stomach again. He couldn’t believe he was saying that. His blush spread
further, heating his ears and running across his face like a paintbrush had
swiped over it.
No fucking way. Pine Tree did not just ask for that, there was no way. He had
to have misheard it. Without saying anything, he fabricated a fruit and held it
out in the palm of his hand to the other, his own face starting to change
colour.
A date. An actual date. Was this Bill’s form of rejection? He panicked a
little, so he attempted to clarify.
“No, no, I mean like...” he anxiously ran a hand through his hair and rubbed
his arm, “spending time with someone you really sorta like kind of a lot.” He
flushed even harder, becoming almost entirely cherry red.
Nope, he didn’t mishear. The fruit was incinerated instantly with a flash
flame, and Bill dropped his arm again.
They stared silently at each other as seconds ticked by. The sound of Stan’s
yelling had become a numb ringing, the clock’s ticking seemed so loud it echoed
through their heads. Neither one of them moved an inch. Dipper felt like his
chest was about to explode and he realized he was holding his breath, but was
too scared to release it. Sweat beaded under his arms and in his palms, his
legs were like noodles beneath him.
Finally, Bill spoke.
“We’ll see.”
And with that he was gone, vanishing into thin air with a small fireball.
Dipper released his breath in a rush and nearly lost his balance. He steadied
himself with his arms and shook out the anxiety. Taking a moment to rub the
ringing out of his ears, he looked back at Grunkle Stan just to make sure he
was really still here and that he wasn’t as out of place as he felt.
But then again, to anyone else it would have looked like he was asking the wall
on a date. Luckily, no one else was around and Grunkle Stan was too wrapped up
in skipping the bill to even notice Dipper had wandered into the room.
He breathed a sigh to relax his nerves, and reached in the vending machine for
the chocolate.
Two bars came out.
***** For Afflictions of the Heart *****
Dipper wondered if Bill was ever going to show up again. It had been three days
since he’d thanked Bill for his help with Mabel and asked him on a date. Mabel
was going to be discharged soon and it was starting to get really annoying how
Bill was avoiding him.
He clenched his fists at his sides and chewed on his bottom lip. Bill still
hadn’t fulfilled his end of the deal...not that that was a problem per se, but
it was just getting on his nerves that Bill wasn’t taking him seriously. It was
bothering him more so that Bill was staying gone for long periods of time
because at this point he was losing opportunities.
He pushed open the door to Mabel’s room without bothering to knock. She looked
up from where she was lying upright against her pillow, knitting a new sweater.
It was something creative for her to do while she was in the ER that didn’t
involve turning the room into her personal art studio.
“Hey Mabel,” he greeted lowly. Her response was delayed and in the hesitance,
Dipper looked up at his sister to catch a massive grin spread across her
blushing face. Her eyes seemed to sparkle.
“Hey bro-bro, guess what!” she beamed.
Dipper raised an eyebrow and turned slightly more toward her. “Is...everything
alright?”
“Oh, it’s better than alright! How do you think this looks?” she turned her
magenta creation around to show her brother. The design was a red cross with
pink hearts in the four inner corners. The caption read ‘Love Doctor’. “Do you
think Nurse Cullen will like this?” she asked.
“I...what?” Dipper questioned, face twisting in confusion. He dropped his
shoulders and cocked his head.
“He’s so cute and I think I totally have a chance with him!”
“No offense Mabel, but don’t you think he’s a little too old for you?”
“Hush, I’m almost finished with this,” she silenced, bringing a finger to her
lips. She then continued knitting furiously as if her life depended on it.
Dipper rolled his eyes and sat down in one of the chairs across from her bed.
He pulled out his journal from under his arm and began flipping through it. As
he scanned the pages, searching through obedience spells, truth spells,
compulsion spells, and other manipulation techniques, he tapped a finger
against his cheek and rolled his tongue in his mouth.
The air was quiet between them aside from the occasional clicking of Mabel’s
knitting needles and the soft rustling of pages turning. The golden rays from
the evening sunlight streamed in from the window and warmed the room, the low
chatter from the hospital television allowing for a bit of atmosphere.
Soon a knock came on the door, followed by the squeak of the hinges turning. In
waltzed Mabel’s caretaker, Nurse Cullen. A happy gasp rushed from her lips as
her eyes grew to the size of dinner plates and twinkled. As he approached her
bedside, his skin seemed to glitter in the velvet rays.
“Miss Pines, how’re you doing this evening?” he asked with a lidded gaze. His
voice was low and somewhat breathy. Dipper rolled his eyes; pretty boy.
Mabel hid her work-in-progress sweater behind her back so that her crush
wouldn’t see it. She smiled even wider, if that was possible.
“Better now that you’re here,” she flirted. The nurse smiled and shuffled his
clipboard around in his arms. He pushed back his overly gelled hair and
broadened his shoulders.
“I’m glad to hear it, Miss Pines, because you’re being discharged tomorrow.
Congratulations on your full recovery!”
And in an instant Mabel’s face dropped from overjoyed to heartbroken. Her mouth
fell agape, eyes filled to the brim with horror. She scooted forward and sat up
on her knees so she could put her hands on his shoulders.
“Tell me it’s not true,” she begged, pleading with her puppy eyes.
“Nope, you’re all stable and there shouldn’t be any more problems.”
“But--but I made you this sweater!” she protested, pulling out her unfinished
project from behind her back and presenting it to him in a desperate attempt to
quickly win his favour.
“Oh, that is lovely, Miss Pines! I’ll give it to my little sister, I’m sure
she’ll love it. She wants to be a nurse just like her big brother,” he said as
he took the unfinished product from her to observe it.
“No! I-I mean, I made it for you,” she blushed. His face seemed to drop a
little, brows scrunched at her suggestion. He put a hand on her shoulder and
breathed out a sigh as he looked into her eyes.
“Listen Miss Pines, you’ve been hitting on me the entire time you’ve been
here,” he began, shrugging his shoulders a bit, “and I just don’t really feel
the same way. I’m quite a bit older than you, you see. Besides, you’re being
discharged tomorrow and we’d be apart again.”
“We could stay in contact!” Mabel said, clinging onto his coat. He frowned and
shook his head.
“I’m sorry Miss Pines.”
“Please...” she breathed theatrically, lowering her voice to a whisper, “call
me Mabel.”
“Uh-huh...” Nurse Cullen muttered, eyes darting awkwardly around the room.
“Anyway, I’ll see you tomorrow when it comes time for you to go home.” He moved
to exit the room. “Have a good evening, Miss Pines.”
The light left Mabel’s eyes as the door clicked shut. A small whimper saddened
the air. Dipper rolled his eyes again and pushed his nose back into the
journal. His sister’s love affairs were the last thing he wanted to worry
about, but in the back of his mind he just knew that somehow Mabel was going to
ask for his help.
And strangely enough, that time never came. She just sat there in her bed,
staring down listlessly at her unfinished sweater and clenching the blankets in
her fists. The room was silent and somewhat tense. Dipper started to low-key
hope that maybe she had learned to be less dramatic over her failed romances.
Oh, how he was wrong.
Evening came and in the later hours of the night, Mabel snuck out of bed. She
peeped both ways down the hall to make sure no one was around before slipping
away toward the staircase. As she was staring down the flight, clenching her
fists and biting her lip nervously, a familiar voice came from behind her.
“Hey Shooting Star! Thinking about taking the plunge?” Bill said in a cheery
voice, swinging his arms gaudily. Mabel yelped in surprise and nearly ended up
tumbling down the stairs. She caught herself on the railing and managed to pull
herself back to her feet, her heart pumping at ninety miles-an-hour.
“Bill!” she shrieked, “What are you doing here? Do you know Dipper’s been
looking everywhere for you? What’s going on between you guys?”
“Whoa there, easy with the questions, kid.” Bill made a show of being run
through with arrows in the shape of question marks, theatrically dying and then
quickly reanimating with no arrows in him. “I’m aware Pine Tree’s been waiting
for me, but I’m a busy guy, y’know. Got places to be and people to torture, you
dig?” He spawned his cane and pointed the end of it at her. “I can’t spend all
my time on him,” he shrugged, twirling his cane around his fingers.
“You still haven’t said what you’re doing here. If you’re so busy, how come you
can make time for me but not for him?”
“Sheesh, it’s not like I’ve been spending days at a time with him or anything,
right? He’s had enough of my time. I wanna hang out with you for a change!”
Mabel squinted at this remark, “Why?”
“Is asking questions all you ever do? I don’t have to explain myself,” Bill
grouched, turning his back to her to hide the small blush that came over him.
He crossed his arms, cane hovering on its own beside him, and huffed. Mabel
also crossed her arms, squinting even harder at him.
“I don’t trust you.”
“Good,” he said, turning back to face her. “ You shouldn’t. But believe it or
not, I’m not here to cheat you.” Mabel shook her head slowly in disbelief. “I’m
just looking to help. You want that boy, right?” She raised her eyebrows in
surprise before casting her eyes away and twiddling her thumbs.
“I’m leaving tomorrow and he still hasn’t realized that we’re meant to be
together.”
“Exactly. I can fix that! But you can’t get something for nothing, you know.
What’s in it for me?”
Mabel crossed her arms pompously, “I won’t tell Dipper I saw you tonight.”
“You drive a hard bargain, kid,” Bill hissed, pointing an accusatory finger at
her, “but I’m gonna need more than that.”
“I’ll knit you a sweater, too; final offer.”
Bill stared her down for the next ten seconds without a word before Mabel threw
her arms up and started to walk away.
“Alright, I guess I’ll go tell Dipper you’re here to--”
“Wait!” Bill halted, holding out a hand in her direction. Mabel kept marching.
“Okay okay, I’ll take your dumb sweater, just don’t tell Pine Tree anything.”
“Yay!” Mabel delighted, running back over to Bill with her arms wide. As she
jumped in to hug him, Bill reflexively split in half so she ended up sailing
right through him and onto the cold, hard floor face-first.
“If you value life, don’t even think about trying that again,” he warned,
melding back together. Mabel frowned and tidied up her hair as she got back to
her feet.
“No wonder you’re so evil. You’ve never been hugged before!” There was a moment
of hesitance before Bill spoke again.
“Move back over here,” he ordered. Mabel took this as a cue to try hugging him
again and opened her arms. She took one step toward him before he ignited his
hand and chucked a ball of blue flames at her. Mabel ducked in time to dodge it
but the hairs on the back of her neck stood as she stared wide-eyed at him. “To
the stairs. And F-Y-I, I don’t miss twice.” She got the hint. Repositioning
herself at the top of the stairs, she looked up at Bill to see him extending
his flaming hand to her. They shook, sealing their little deal, and in the next
moment, Bill’s hands were on her shoulders.
“Have a nice trip!” he said all too enthusiastically. He shoved her backwards,
sending her crashing down the staircase. She went screaming with her hands
clasped over her head in defense. It didn’t help much in the end when she still
ended up with a splitting headache and bruises dotted all over her body.
At the bottom, her motionless body lay staring up at the ceiling dizzily. A
pair of Bills hovered over to her where she could see them and gazed down at
her with an obvious delight. Mabel lifted a finger at the two.
“You never told me you had a twin,” she mumbled. Bill chuckled and rolled his
eye.
“Seeing double, huh? That should be good enough for the white coats, what do
you think?” Mabel squinted at the double vision-induced Bill twins and cocked
her head a little bit.
“Wha...?”
Moments later, doctors came stampeding down the hallway. They rushed to Mabel’s
side, checking her vitals, asking her a slew of questions that she felt way too
dizzy to answer, and finally helping her to her feet so they could get her back
to her room. Taking a moment to figure out what was going on around her, she
took notice that one of the doctors at her side was her caretaker, the one and
only, Nurse Cullen. She mentally fist pumped and whispered ‘yes!’ to herself
before turning to look back at Bill. He held his arms behind his head with
satisfaction in himself and Mabel mouthed a ‘thank you’ to him before her squad
turned a corner and they were out of sight.
“Well, now that that’s out of the way...” Bill dusted metaphorical dirt off
himself and straightened his bow tie and hat.
“Bill hecking Cipher!” a pubescent male voice called out.
Ah hell.
Bill dropped his shoulders and glared in the direction where Pine Tree was
stomping toward him, a trail of rage in his wake. There was practically fire
following his footsteps. His fists clenched at his sides, teeth grit, and
posture hunched, he stormed up to Bill and pointed an accusatory finger
directly in his face.
“Oh my god, I don’t even know where to start with you, you filthy freaking
cyclops!” the boy snarled, shaking his head.
“Hey,” Bill said, crossing his arms, “that was totally uncalled for. Excuse
you, but I’m nothing like a cyclops. Have you met those guys? They have
absolutely no sense of civility.” Bill put a hand over his imaginary heart and
closed his eye. “I prefer to be called a mono-optic being of pure energy.”
“The only thing I’m calling you right now is a liar and a scoundrel,” Dipper
hissed. “You got my hopes up about that date and it’s been three darn days.
Where were you?”
“I said ‘we’ll see’, kid. I never said yes. Don’t take it personally,” he
defended, examining his nonexistent nails, “I’m a busy guy; I had places to be.
I can’t babysit you all the time, Pine Tree.”
“Babysit? This is unbelievable!” Dipper fumed. He ran both hands through his
hair, clutching it tightly in anger, and then threw his hat to the floor. “Bill
Cipher, you have a deal to fulfill. It’s not about hanging out or dating, if I
really have to spell it out for you. I commissioned you a deal--you get my
soul, and I get to...get off. And you haven’t finished your end of the deal.
You do know what happens to demons that don’t uphold their end of the deal,
don’t you?”
Bill recoiled in shock. Who was Pine Tree to tell himabout what happens to
demons who break their deals? The very gall was offensive to say the least. All
he could do was just stare the other down for a few moments while he decided
what was appropriately evil enough of a response. Nothing came to mind.
Dipper continued speaking since Bill had been rendered speechless.
“And you know what else?” he said, “I just watchedyou push Mabel down the
stairs. What the heck, man?! That’s my sister!”
“Now wait just a second, that one wasn’t my fault. She was asking for it!”
“Bill, I swear to god...”
“No, I’m being serious. She was literally asking for it. Shooting Star seems to
think that if she stays here longer, she can convince ol’ white coat to fall in
love with her.” Bill chuckled, “but she’s gonna need more than that if she
wants his attention, let’s be real here.”
“Look, it doesn’t matter whyyou pushed her. You know Mabel doesn’t put her own
safety before her feelings! You could have killed her!”
“Alright, casanova, what do you suggest to help Shooting Star win the boy’s
heart?” he asked, juggling fabricated human hearts in his hands. Dipper reached
out and fanned them away, to Bill’s disappointment. Bill put his hands on his
hips.
“I-I don’t know. Isn’t there some kind of, uh, love spell or potion or
something? Anything has to be tamer than pushing her down a flight of stairs.”
“Hm, come to think of it, Pine Tree, you’re right. There are a few things you
could try, but personally I think this was much easier and way more fun,” Bill
laughed.
“Ugh, well whatever,” Dipper groaned, pulling out his journal. He flipped
through the pages, trying to find anything that seemed to have an effect on
influencing emotions with no such luck. Bill hovered just over his shoulder,
staring down into the book with him.
“Looks like you’re outta luck, kid. Nothin’ much in there except for a whole
lot of hooey.”
“There’s gotta be something in here, right? You said there were a few things to
try.”
“I figured you already knew! Don’t tell me you haven’t tried this out already
on Red.” Dipper’s face flushed beet red and he clapped the journal shut as hard
as he could. Spinning around to face Bill, he tucked the book into his vest and
crossed his arms.
“There’s...nothing in there about love potions or whatever.”
Stroking his metaphorical chin, Bill hummed and then reached down to Dipper’s
vest, only to have his hand slapped away by the other. Bill looked hurt. Dipper
gave him a look that said ‘try that again and next time I’ll take off your
hand’.
“Trust me, kid. I just wanna help.”
“Why on Earth should I trust you? You’ve given me no reason--”
“Look, I know you don’t have a lot of reasons to trust me, but I’m not trying
to dupe you right now.”
“Forget it.” Bill rolled his eye.
“Well, if you don’t want my help, then I guess I’ll take my leave.”
“Wait, I never said that. I want your help, but you aren’t allowed to touch
this journal. Besides, you still haven’t upheld your end of the deal--and
frankly, I’m getting tired of waiting--how can I trust you if you can’t even
keep your end of our deal?”
“How do you expect me to help if I can’t look through the journal for the
spell, genius?”
“You’re Bill freaking Cipher, you don’t need to look through the journal to
know a spell or potion.”
Bill had no response since Pine Tree was right. He wasn’t actuallytrying to do
anything malicious, but he can’t deny the fact that there was a very real
chance that he would have taken the opportunity to do something evil with the
journal had he gotten the chance to take it. But if Pine Tree was going to play
like this, there was little he could do. And he did aspire to help the kid, for
whatever incomprehensible reason.
“Alright,” he admitted, “ya got me. I do know the recipe for a potion off-hand
but don’t expect me to do your dirty work. She’s yoursister, pal.”
“I’m not your ‘pal’, man.”
“I’m not a man, meatbag.”
“Just come on, mister mono-optic being of pure annoying,” Dipper grumbled,
marching away.
“Do you even know where you’re going?”
“Back to the shack. If I’m making a potion, I’m gonna need alchemy supplies.”
Bill stretched out and wrapped an arm around Dipper’s torso, stopping the kid
from walking any further. He reeled him back until the younger was against his
body. On contact, Bill blushed a tiny bit; Pine Tree was soft. He relaxed ever
so slightly against the child, shamefully enjoying the plush fleshy feeling
against his front.
“Now hold on there, Pines,” Bill said brightly. “Why would you wanna walk all
the way back there when there’s a gold mine of alchemy supplies just lying
around this place?”
“What? I can’t steal from a hospital! That’s wrong and not to mention illegal.”
“Like you cared about legality when you fought the tangle.”
“I...shut up.”
“Come on, Pine Tree!” Bill urged. He pushed the other lightly, but enough to
nearly knock Dipper off his balance. As the preteen was steadying himself, Bill
soared off down the hall.
“Bill, wait!” There was no way he could let Bill Cipher roam free in a building
full of sick and defenseless people. God only knows what he’d do to anyone if
he got his grubby little hands on them. Mutilation? Grand theft internal-
organs? Replacing people’s tongues with slugs? Undoubtedly. A shiver passed
over his body; he didn’t want to think about it. He shook his head and followed
swiftly after the demon.
The pair came to a stop at the corner just short of the lab. Dipper peeked his
head around to see if the coast was clear, only to see Bill already coasting
down the hall without a care in the world. Doors blew open as the triangle
passed by them, swinging open to reveal the patients asleep inside. Oh for the
love of...Dipper grumbled as he tailed behind, shutting each door and muttering
a quick apology to every patient inside, despite whether or not they were
asleep.
Suddenly, Bill came to a halt and took a sharp turn at the next door. A small
world of tubes, flasks, and vials unfolded before him. This should do nicely,
he figured as he moved over to a counter top of choice where he stood until
Dipper entered the room as well. He spawned his cane and strolled leisurely
along, dragging the straight end along the glass tubes. As they clinked against
the tip, Dipper bit his bottom lip. He rubbed his arm nervously.
“We shouldn’t be in here. We might break something.”
“What, you mean like this?” Bill said all too gleefully, making Dipper cringe.
He picked up one of the flasks and threw it forcefully against the hard
linoleum floors, causing it to shatter into a million pieces.
“Bill! That’s not funny!”
“Lighten up, Pine Tree, yeesh. No one’s gonna find us, probably.” He added the
last word just to give the other goosebumps, which happened to be a rousing
success, much to Bill’s delight. He chuckled at Dipper’s discomfort.
“Whatever. Let’s get this potion made and back to Mabel before we get caught,”
Dipper commanded, marching into the kitchen and selecting the utensils he
intended to use. “Alright, what’s first?”
“Heh, well let’s see... The base of the potion is simple! First things first,
y--” Bill froze mid-sentence. He stood there on the counter top, eye fixed
intensely on Pine Tree so strong that he was practically burning a hole into
him. And then he was. The twinge of burning pain made Dipper yelp and pat at
the ovular hole seared into his side by Bill’s pupil. Bill’s fists clenched and
trembled slightly at his sides. He realized that he was about to willingly give
out free, no-strings-attached information--to Pine Tree, no less! An abnormal
heat radiated off of him, one that was a mix of frustration, confusion, and
another emotion he was just going to pretend he wasn’t experiencing. A pulse of
mana energy emanated off his being and rippled through the air. It caught
Dipper’s attention and he turned to see Bill glowing brightly and visibly
shaking. He opened his mouth to ask what was going on, but decided he didn’t
know how exactly to ask the demon and still live too, so he flicked his eyes
around the room, avoiding eye contact and hoping that Bill would continue his
sentence or explain or something. Instead, he asked Dipper a question.
“How are you doing that?” he ground out, the beginnings of an angry shade of
(what Dipper assumed was) red blooming over his shape. Dipper glanced at the
wall then back at Bill. His gut twisted, shoulders tensing in fear.
“Uh...doing what?” he dared to ask back, inwardly prayed that inquiring that
would not cost him his life.
In a flash, Bill lept from the counter and grew to twice Dipper’s size. Veins
cracked on either side of his pitch black eye. He pointed an accusatory finger
at Dipper and glared down at him.
“Don’t play dumb with me, Pines. You know what you did. How did you do it?” he
thundered. Dipper jumped in his skin and curled inward a little.
“Uh...uh...I-I don’t know what you’re talking about! What did I do?” Dipper
stammered. A rectangular white box opened up on Bill’s body and depicted, on
the far left, an X. Bill shot a laser next to where the kid was standing.
Dipper shrieked and jumped the other way, where he was then backed up against
the counter where he was getting ready to work.
“Strike one. Manipulation? Compulsion? Speak up, brat! I saw you researching
those spells in that dumb journal of yours! How did you almost make me tell you
the recipe?”
“What? Dude, I asked you! What’s your freaking damage?” Bill fired again, this
time shattering the glass tubes beside him. Another X appeared inside the box.
“Geez, what are you, like, my mother? Why are you always counting down like I’m
just a kid? Bill, I didn’t do anything! Did you ever stop consider that just
maybethe problem is you?”
Bill wanted to say that he should crush him like an ant for that, but he
couldn’t get it out--let alone actually do it. He stood speechless for a few
moments more before shrinking back down to normal size, deleting the box and
Xs, and restoring his former colour.
“Y’know something, Pine Tree, I’ve been shockingly nice to you lately and I
can’t figure out why.”
“Yeah,” Dipper chuckled nervously, averting his eyes, “neither can I.”
“I think I’m gonna help you with this love potion, but don’t get used to
handouts, kid.” Bill gestured to his eye with one finger and then added a
second finger when pointing at Dipper’s eyes, “I’m watching you.”
Dipper grinned wide. His eyes lit up with a joy that would have been
surprising, had Bill been human and understood social abnormalities. This was
the second--or maybe third, since Bill didn’t kill him for suggesting that they
start dating--instance of solid proof that all his hard work and patience was
paying off. And more importantly, it was the first time he actually received a
fraction of the end-game. It wouldn’t be long now, he thought.
“Wow, thanks Bill!” he beamed. He started to say more, but he stopped himself
on the thought that he might accidentally say too much, so instead he just
nodded at the other and turned back to his workstation. As he was reaching for
new supplies, the broken ones suddenly seamlessly repaired themselves. The
utensils that had been blown to the floor levitated back up to their original
positions. When Dipper glanced back to the demon, he saw a smile in Bill’s eye.
He looked proud of himself. Instead of verbalizing it, Dipper tilted his head
and communicated his gratitude with his eyes. The gesture made Bill flush over
again, but not in anger this time. He simply stared back at the kid, eye wide
with a billion secrets behind it.
“Forget-me-nots,” Bill said eventually.
“Huh?”
“You need forget-me-not flowers, dried jasmine and rose petals, cinnamon
sticks, fresh spring water, and vanilla bean pods.”
“That sounds like something you’d make in a kitchen, not a lab.”
“Yeah, well,” Bill pretended to examine his nails, “I wasn’t exactly going to
be so nice at first, but lucky for you and your sister, I changed my mind.
Besides, alchemy was born in the kitchen, Dipstick.” Dipper rolled his eyes and
offered a friendly smile. “Okay, okay, that’s enough. Go on and get this show
on the road,” Bill said, pushing Dipper out the door. When they got out to the
hallway, Dipper suddenly grabbed Bill’s hand, causing the demon to reflexively
ignite his hand in a blue flame.
“Come with me.”
Whoa.
Whoa.
Bill didn’t know how to respond to that. He was struck speechless. Without
realizing it, his body faded away; going transparent, only his outline was
visible to Dipper. But he still hadn’t let go or tried to pry the younger off.
After a moment, he even started to gently squeeze back.
That was Dipper’s cue to start pulling him along down the hallway. Bill was
silent all the way to the hospital entrance. When they stepped outside into the
humid July night, he finally found his voice.
“Pine Tree...” he uttered. Dipper glanced back at him; he still hadn’t reverted
back to his usual opaqueness. Bill extended his other hand and a tiny glimmer
sparked the spontaneous growth of a single branch of fresh jasmine from the
center of his palm. “You won’t find these anywhere in Gravity Falls, so here.”
Something went wrong. Dipper felt his heart thud in his chest. A small blush
came to his face at the sight of an emotionally-conflicted Bill Cipher handing
him flowers that he (technically) grew himself. His blood ran hot as an
unsteady hand reached out to take the offering. Part of him expected Bill to
incinerate the blooms before he could take them. Part of him wantedBill to
incinerate the blooms before he could take them; so that he could get mad and
storm away and help Mabel all by himself, cursing Bill under his breath and
himself for being so stupid as to momentarily forget his ultimate goals in
light of Bill’s uncharacteristic kindness.
But Bill did no such thing. He waited patiently for Dipper to retrieve the
flowers and then dropped his hand back to his side without another word. His
eye locked on the younger, Dipper couldn’t meet the gaze to thank him silently,
so he just whispered a polite thanks and pressed forward into the hot evening.
The pair made their way down the sidewalk from the top of Northwest Memorial
hill, holding hands all the way into town. Bill allowed himself to be led along
by the other to a small, twenty-four-hour country store at the bottom. About
halfway down, he finally snapped out of his trance. He held a balled fist to
his face and made a noise, as if clearing his throat, and turned back to his
normal pallor. They came to a stop in front of the store where Dipper pondered
whether or not he’d be able to get what he needed from there. Bill’s gaze
didn’t leave him for a second. Only when they walked through the door did he
finally slip his hand out of Dipper’s grasp.
“You think potpourri will work for the dried rose?” Dipper asked, finger
tapping his cheek.
“Pfft, yeah. If you wanna poison your sister.”
“I don’t exactly have time to dry fresh ones,” Dipper frowned. Bill waved his
hand dismissively.
“Don’t worry about it, just get fresh ones.”
“Well, alright.” Dipper searched the isles until he came to a small floral
section in the back of the store. Red, pink, and white roses wrapped up in a
plastic bouquet were soaking in a large vase. Dipper grabbed the red ones,
believing them to be the most potent based on the deep shade of grey they were.
Tucking them under his arm, he then browsed the isles for cinnamon sticks.
He was taking a long time and Bill was getting bored, so he decided to take
matters into his own hands. Well, actually more like into Dipper’s hands. A
crinkle of amusement in his eye, he twirled his finger around and then spoke in
a tone of shock so loud it startled Dipper into goosebumps.
“Pine Tree, you seem to be experiencing the spice of life,” he said. “Your tiny
flesh sticks look like fresh sticks...of cinnamon... Whatever. No good jokes
come to mind,” he grumbled, rolling his eye and dropping his arms out in front
of him.
“Huh?” Dipper held out his hand to see that his fingers had been transformed
into rolls of cinnamon. He shrieked and shook his hand wildly in a fruitless
attempt to make it go away. “Bill! Ugh, I’m tired of your dumb little pranks!
I’m trying to help Mabel, here, and you’re not taking it seriously!”
“Ooh, ouch! Looks like your barkis worse than your bite, huh kid?” the demon
said, bursting out in stitches of laughter. Dipper shot him a glare. Grumbling
under his breath, he carefully plucked each of the cinnamon sticks growing from
his palm, leaving empty spaces behind (he desperately hoped his fingers would
grow back). Bill watched, satisfied with himself, as he did. And knowing the
kid’s boundaries, tamely grew the digits back after all the spices had been
removed.
Dipper bit his tongue. He knew he would have to swallow his pride if he wanted
to stay on Bill’s good side, which he did. Half of him wanted to yell at Bill
because Bill had proved that if he wanted, he could just spawn all of the
ingredients they needed in an instant, but Dipper knew not to push his luck.
Things were finally looking up; now was not the time to ruin it before he got
what he wanted. So, amassing as much confidence as possible and putting a cork
on the bottle of his pride, he let out a small chuckle. His eyes would not meet
Bill’s for fear that it would give away his lie.
“That was actually pretty funny,” he admitted. Bill stopped cold, ceasing all
laughter at once. It was almost chilling how quiet it was without Bill’s
obnoxious laughter.
“Say what?” he asked monotonously.
“You have a pretty good sense of humor when it comes down to it,” Dipper
replied, forcing out another fake laugh. “I mean, cinnamon sticks for fingers?
Only you could help out that creatively! And I am lovingthat ‘bark’ pun.”
Once again, Bill had no response. Pine Tree actually likedhis teasing? That was
a first. It was also the first time anyone at all had complimented him on his
teasing. For a moment, he wondered if he should play it off as another joke and
say that he himself loved it too, but for once, part of him on the inside told
him not to ruin the moment. Instead he just shrugged and looked away. It was
the only other thing he thought to do.
Dipper smiled to himself; it was working. He stood up straight with pride and
turned to go pay for the items.
...
The last two, the forget-me-nots and the fresh spring water, were going to be a
royal pain to collect. According to Bill--in Gravity Falls, the flowers only
grow next to the spring water which is located at the top of the cliffs
somewhere off the trodden path to where the waterfall begins. It was a long
walk that, to make it worse, had started with them on the opposite side of
town. Not to mention, it was already very dark out. Dipper was inclined to ask
Bill to be merciful and either teleport them there or carry him since he was
endowed with levitation, but Bill snapped back with a response that he was ‘not
a taxi service’ and would do no such thing. Dipper wasn’t surprised--his plan
hadn’t reached that stage yet--but it was worth a shot.
It took them an ungodly amount of time--about three and a half hours--to make
it to the top of the cliffs on foot. How Dipper had managed to drown out all of
Bill’s incessant talking and pranks was no less than a miracle of nature.
Though they’d had numerous close-calls including coyotes, raccoons, and
stomach-faced ducks (those bastards), the duo had at last made it to the trail
that lead alongside the river feeding into the waterfall. Not a moment too
soon, Dipper thought as he rubbed the bruises on his arm.
“Alright, we’re finallyhere so what now?” he asked in a snappy tone. Bill shot
his eye toward the other angrily. He clenched his fists and then crossed his
arms.
“Easy with the attitude, Pine Tree, we still have a ways to go and,” he held up
two fingers on each hand and made quote motions, “‘god’ forbid I start getting
annoyed with you.”
Dipper bit his lip so hard it left teeth marks in the skin. He fought to keep
his blood from boiling over the top, taking a deep, cleansing breath and
pressing forward, expecting Bill to keep up.
“Yeah,” he grumbled. “God forbid.”
Not another word was spoken for the longest time. Bill simply floated alongside
Dipper as they walked the path with his gaze fixed sharp on him. Dipper was
walking with his eyes pointed straight forward (most likely keeping an eye out
for any more of those stomach-faced death machines), and it honestly amazed
him. For hours on end, Pine Tree had put up with his obvious attempts at
breaking his spirit without so much as a shush. He’d roll his eyes from time to
time or mutter things under his breath but that was honestly just about the
tamest form of disgust he’d ever received. In a way, he really appreciated it
and in that moment, if he could have smiled physically, he would have.
Tensions started to decrease and Bill dramatically sighed.
“You know something, Pine Tree,” he began, breaking the silence, “I give you
such a hard time. And even though it’s all on purpose, and I have no intention
of stopping, I’m actually kind of flattered that you put up with all of it
without fuss.” Dipper turned to look at the demon as they--as he--walked. “I
get it; when we first met, you treated me how you would have treated anyone
trying to steal your great uncle’s memories.” There was another one of Dipper’s
famous eye rolls. Bill passively dismissed it. “But I must admit, you have me
officially puzzled. Why the sudden change of heart, kid?”
A breath of relief in Dipper’s mind that he had planned an answer to this
question from the very start on the narrow chance that his plan actually work
and not get him slaughtered. He put on a show of being mildly nervous, rubbing
the back of his neck and clearing his throat, so that he would appear genuine.
“It’s something you wouldn’t understand.”
Bill gave him a deadpan glare as though that was the stupidest thing he’d ever
said. He was the all-seeing eye, and there was little to nothing that he didn’t
understand. Dipper forced a blush and looked away.
“I-I mean because it’s a human thing.”
“Intestinal gas?”
“Oh my god,” Dipper recoiled, locking his fingers in his hair and shaking his
head. If ever there was a time he would like to un-hear something, it was now.
“No!” he corrected. “No...it’s different than that.” He rolled his eyes again
and muttered lowly, “but sorta just as embarrassing.”
“Oh, you mean human existence entirely!”
“Bill.” They exchanged amused and annoyed expressions respectively. “Just
forget it, man.”
“Alright alright, geez kid. No fun allowed, huh?”
They continued in silence for the rest of the way until Bill showed Dipper
where they needed to veer off the path. It wasn’t a very long walk from there
until they reached the freshwater springs from which to gather the water.
Bill moved over to it and pointed, “right here.”
“Great, now we can finally finish the po--” the younger was cut off by the
branch he was pushing out of the way swinging back and hitting him in the face,
knocking him to the ground. Bill cracked up in laughter.
Dipper approached the spring and dipped in his water bottle. As he was waiting
for it to fill up, the otherwise gentle movement of the water began to stir. He
squinted at the surface, watching ripples appear in the current.
Just as he was opening his mouth to ask Bill if what they were doing was
entirely safe, a webbed claw reached out from the pond and jerked him under.
His hat was left floating along the surface. Bill laughed again, going over to
circle the area where Pine Tree had been abducted.
Reflexively, Dipper started to scream, letting out most of the air from his
lungs. Right away, he realized that was a mistake and shut his mouth tight.
Everything was blurry, but he forced his eyes open, doing his best to focus on
the outline of the creature that he was dealing with.
Its claws were digging into his skin, releasing some of his blood into the
water. And from what Dipper could make out, it was not a siren or a dragon of
any type. It’s shape was more like that of a salamander but with more of a
mermaid-like tail. Soon, it had all four of it’s arms wrapped around Dipper and
hugging him tightly to its chest as it swam to the bottom of the pond and
rested against the floor. It was going to drown him.
Dipper fought against it, struggling to get out of its grasp. He tried to worm
his way out, but seeing as that didn’t work, he then tried clawing it back.
Still no response. Sinking his teeth into the beast, he resorted to biting it.
This earned him a strangling choke hold from the beast, and with his lungs
already screaming for air, he knew it wouldn’t be long. Chills ran all over his
body, and human instinct took over as he flailed to find air. The last of his
breath reserve was released in large bubbles, netting him a few more seconds
before he would be struggling again for the final time.
Suddenly there was a light. Followed suit by an obnoxious voice.
It was Bill.
“So listen, fish breath,” he began, “I noticed you’ve got something of mine.
And I’m only going to ask nicely once for you to give it back.” He added a
small chuckle to emphasize his point. “And I’m not a guy you want to see mad,
you can ask Pine Tree there--the one you’re currently drowning.”
The beast opened up it’s jaws, revealing it’s needle-like teeth and screeched
at him, holding tighter onto Dipper in a nearly crushing grip.
“Suit yourself,” Bill shrugged as he snapped his fingers. The beast instantly
dropped unconscious into a forced slumber. The demon then extended his arms and
pushed it out the way, rescuing the trapped preteen and quickly dragging him to
the surface.
He dropped the boy to the ground and Dipper promptly started heaving deep
breaths. His head was spinning at a nauseating rate and the whole world seemed
fuzzy. The air around him felt freezing cold to his saturated clothes. Bill
hovered silently behind him, his arms crossed as he waited for Dipper to regain
his composure.
“It was that easy?” he uttered with his head hung. Bill said nothing. Dipper
shook like a leaf as he stumbled to his feet. “I was nearly drowned and
crushed, and you could have saved me that easily?” he said, raising his voice
to a shouting tone. “Bill, why didn’t you tell me there was a monster down
there?”
“What do you think makes the water so special?”
“Ugh! I can’t believe you! You--you...” He started to pace the ground, fingers
tangled in his hair with rage, before slowing to a stop. He looked at his
hands, the world felt surreal. “You saved my life.”
“Huh?”
“Bill, I almost died down there. Without you, I’d be dead.”
“You don’t have to rub it in,” he said with a slight blush, making an effort to
hide the fact.
“No no, that was amazing! I can’t believe you actually rescued me! Bill...”
“Kid, it was an impulse reaction, don’t get too--” he was silenced by Dipper
lurching forward and wrapping his arms tight around him. His triangular shape
didn’t exactly make the best for hugging, but all the same, Dipper couldn’t let
go. His heart beat fast as he smiled against Bill’s textured body. This time,
Bill didn’t--reflexively or otherwise--attempt to dodge. His eye went
impossibly wide and he put off a heat that nearly singed Dipper’s arms, but the
preteen wouldn’t let go. In fact, he held on even tighter.
And then slowly, sure enough, Bill lifted shaky hands to the child’s back and
returned the hug.
...
It was too late to return to the hospital, so the two of them found themselves
back at the Mystery Shack. On the way home, Bill had generously flash-dried
Dipper’s wet clothes when he noticed the boy shivering.
They would have to get the potion to Mabel first thing in the morning, before
she was released. How they were going to get it to the nurse was a whole
problem on its own, but first things first, they needed to brew it.
Dipper made sure Stan was sound asleep before heading into the kitchen. He
retrieved a sauce pan from the cabinet under the counter and turned the stove
up to a simmering heat. The spring water went in first and then he turned to
Bill to see what next to do. The demon was staring at him wordlessly and didn’t
seem like he had the intention to speak any time soon, so Dipper spoke up
first.
“Alright, so I’m supposed to simmer the spring water first. What should I do
while it’s warming up?”
Bill’s light dimmed a little bit, but enough for Dipper to notice. He wasn’t
sure he was exactly comfortable with giving out any more free information,
especially not after what happened up by the springs. He knew now that he was
getting in too deep; going soft. Pine Tree already knew too much and especially
without giving anything in return. On the other hand, he enjoyed the warm
feeling he got when pointing the kid in the right direction. It was like no
other feeling he had ever experienced. Warm and smooth, somewhat like bubbles
forming in his core.
The paintings on the walls started rumbling. Drawers shot out and cabinets
swung open. The chairs slid out from under the table, began levitating, and
spun in mid-air. The kitchen lights then started flickering. Dipper’s eyes
widened, his stance dropping to a cautious one. Bill’s bright aura turned black
around him and his pupil narrowed.
“Whoa, whoa! What’s going on? Bill, is everything alright?”
The chaos continued a few seconds more and then it all stopped at once.
Confused, Dipper remained on edge. He flicked his eyes away and then back at
Bill like he was expecting something else to happen at any moment. But it
didn’t. Bill pointed to the vanilla beans.
“Split them length-wise,” he stated, never taking his eye off Dipper. Nodding,
Dipper moved slowly and took a knife out of the already open drawer. He held
the beans still and cut them all one by one. Chills raced up and down his
spine. Bill was hovering behind him so close that, if he breathed air, he’d be
breathing on Dipper’s neck. His eye was so wide that the veins were visible,
but Dipper did his best to ignore it. His shoulders were tense, but he made
sure to cut slowly and carefully so that he didn’t accidentally hurt himself.
He dare not ask Bill what just happened. The halves made tiny splashing noises
as they plopped into the pan.
Next, Bill gently moved Dipper out of the way so that he was in front of the
flowers. He held his hands out over the blooms. With a magical influence, the
flowers rose up into the air. A crack of static charge split the silence and
all petals detached from their stems, fluttering down to the counter top while
the stems were reduced to ashes under an intense heat that Bill puppeteered.
Below, the petals were flash-dried in the same way he’d done to Dipper’s
clothes earlier. The demon moved back and let the other resume the recipe.
“Nice!” Dipper praised as he chucked the dried petals into the brew. Bill’s
light brightened. “I know you told me not to worry about it, but I wasn’t
expecting that! It was really cool to watch!” Brighter. “Thanks, Bill!”
“Don’t mention it, kid.” He crossed his arms and kept his back to the other.
Dipper couldn’t help a smirk creeping onto his face, but wiped it off as
quickly as he could.
“Do the cinnamon sticks just go right in?” he asked without looking at Bill.
“What do you think?” the demon muttered, pulsing waves of mana in a fashion
similar to accelerated breathing.
The smirk returned and evolved into a grin as he dropped the sticks into the
water and gave the mixture a light stir. Perfect.
“Okay, all we have to do is wait a bit for the stuff to drain out of the
elements and then strain it, right?” Bill didn’t answer him. “So what do you
wanna do while the potion’s brewing?”
“I’ve got places to be and people to torment, Pines, you really think I wanna
stay here and babysit you?” Bill snapped. An icy stream of discouragement
chilled Dipper’s veins, but he kept a steady voice and replied.
“Do you?”
Oh.
Um.
There was a long silence before Bill spoke again.
“What do you wanna do, anyway?”
Joy, pride, and satisfaction coursed through Dipper’s body like a vivacious
electrical current. Unbelievable! He actually had a chance to make this work.
He was unable to hold back his giddiness, but tried to make as little noise as
possible. Now, as long as he didn’t botch it up, there was plenty of hope.
“Well, it’s almost morning. It took so long getting all the stuff we needed
that the sun is about to come up.” Dipper stood on his tip-toes to look out the
window and then turned back to Bill, rubbing his tired eyes. “You...wanna maybe
catch the sunrise?” he drawled.
“What’s so great about seeing a ball of fire light up the Earth? You humans and
your stupid sentiments.”
“I mean, I’m sure it’s nothing all that great to you, but we never did get to
have our date...if you still wanna do it, that is. The morning fairies will be
out soon, we could throw some rocks at them if you’d like.”
“Hm, Pine Tree suggesting we go torture innocent creatures; I never thought I’d
see the day! Tell ya what, kid, I’ll take you up on that offer. Those stupid
sun pixies owe me money,” Bill said with mild irritation.
“Great!” Dipper grinned. He took off running out of the kitchen, taking Bill’s
hand on the way and pulling him along. It surprised the demon and his first
instinct was to detach his arm. Dipper looked back, confused and seemingly a
little hurt. Bill’s eye was wide and narrow, face dusting over with colour.
Without meeting Dipper’s eyes, he retrieved his severed arm from the kid’s hand
and attached it back to his body.
That was awkward.
A silent agreement not to talk about it came to pass between shifty eyes. The
demon moved in closer and this time, he took Dipper’s hand. Willingly.
Another numbing thud pounded in Dipper’s chest at the tender contact. He
couldn’t help a small blush. This was all very new ground to him. Mabel was the
casanova, not he. And certainly not with a demon. Both of them stared at their
interlocked hands for seconds before Dipper eventually slapped himself mentally
back into the situation at hand. There was still work to do and even though it
was quite obvious Bill was starting to grow a soft spot for him, he had to
remain cold and focused as ever or he would lose all direction, sacrificing
everything he’d worked for, and never get to solve the boundless mysteries
Gravity Falls had in store for him. And that was not going to happen.
The preteen looked up and gave Bill a smile, but the demon didn’t seem to
notice. He was far too lost still staring at the contact between them to
realize his surroundings. Slowly, Dipper urged them toward the stairs. He led
them upstairs and outside onto the room to watch the daybreak. The world was
mute, chilling morning dew blanketing over the earth and dampening Dipper’s
shorts as he sat down on shingles. Bill was paying no attention, still
entranced by his choice to take the younger’s hand, but Dipper didn’t mind. It
was actually kind of nice to not hear his voice running non-stop. Peaceful.
They sat together in silence for seconds-turned-minutes until the land grew
lighter. The sun was beginning to peek over the hill, filtering between the
trees. Dipper pointed ahead and broke the silence.
“Okay, here it goes. The fairies should come out any moment now.” Bill’s gaze
rose from their hands to the morning sun and as they watched, little glimmers
of fairy dust twinkled in the golden rays. Soon, tiny bodies began fluttering
in front of the sun, casting small shadows onto the shack.
“There’s those jerks,” Bill grumbled, glaring at them. He held his unoccupied
hand to his imaginary mouth. “Hey, sunspots,” he shouted, “time to pay your
bill!” And in a friendlier tone, he looked to Dipper and chuckled with a smile
glint in his eye, “Get it, Pine Tree? Bill? Cause that’s my name!”
Ugh.
Dipper cracked up laughing, squeezing Bill’s hand.
“Good one!” he congratulated. The moment Bill turned his attention back to the
fairies, Dipper stuck his tongue out in the other direction and noiselessly
gagged. The fairies seemed to ignore Bill’s presence entirely, fluttering on
their merry way and collecting sunlight pollen.
“Stupid pixies think they’re better than everyone else. I’ll show them!” He
stretched his arm all the way down to the ground and collected a handful of
rocks to pitch at them. As he was reeling back to throw one, Dipper stopped
him.
“Wait, let me throw the first one,” he asked.
Bill agreed, handing Dipper the stone. The preteen excitedly wound back his
pitching arm and let hell fly.
It barely went twelve inches.
Bill broke into laughter.
“Shut up!” he snapped, quick as a whip. That only made Bill laugh harder. He
kicked his legs wildly  and got louder and louder until the fairies stopped
dead in their tracks and all turned to face the pair. Dipper raised his
eyebrows at the sight; Bill’s laughing disturbed their work and now they were
mad. “Bill, shut up, the fairies are upset. We got their attention.” The demon
straightened up and wiped a tear from his eye.
“Hey, twinkle-toed freaks, time to pay up!” he demanded only to be met by angry
chattering so quiet and fast that Dipper was unable to catch what they were
saying...if they were even speaking English, that is. “Look, I don’t care about
your dumb sun rays just pay up or Pine Tree and I are gonna have some fun with
you guys.”
Synchronized growling shook the air at a resonating pitch that gave Dipper a
splitting headache. He clapped both hands over his ears and grit his teeth.
Annoyed at their resistance, Bill materialized a television remote and clicked
‘mute’, causing all fairy growling to go silent.
“See what I mean, Pine Tree? They don’t think they owe anything to anyone.
Entitled little fucks, aren’t they?” Dipper hesitantly removed his hands from
his ears. Bill dropped some of the stones into Dipper’s lap. “Maybe you can hit
the close ones. At least get some practice, kid, you’re just pathetic.”
Humph.
Fairies scurried and panicked as an avalanche of pebbles and stones flew their
way. Some of them hit, knocking the tiny bodies out of the air. Other fairies
retreated to their homes in the tree tops. Bill and Dipper shared genuine and
ungenuine laughs respectively. Finally, after five or so minutes, Dipper landed
a hit.
“I got one!” he exclaimed, jumping to his feet with excitement.
“Nice job, kid. Keep working on it.”
Wow, Bill complimented him. Dipper smiled, looking down at the demon. There
were first times for everything, he supposed.
After a while, all of the fairies were either downed or had forfeited; and Bill
and Dipper were left sitting with their feet hanging over the edge of the roof,
watching the sun climb higher into the sky. At some point, without even
realizing it, they had ended up leaning against each other, Dipper’s head
resting on Bill’s side. All was quiet between them for the time being after
Bill had noticed that Dipper drifted off to sleep on his shoulder.
He watched him snooze soundly for a while until eventually, as much as he
didn’t want to, he gently shook Dipper awake.
“Kid, it should be about time for that potion to be done,” he told him. Dipper
stretched his arms and yawned.
“What time is it? Am I late for school?” he asked, still half-asleep. Bill
thought about it for a moment and then responded.
“Yeah, you better get downstairs and get your breakfast.” It got Dipper up and
moving, though a little sluggishly. As they got downstairs, Dipper had woken up
a little more.
“Wait a second, it’s summertime. I don’t have school. Bill!” Bill chuckled.
Dipper shook his head. “What a relief, actually,” Dipper smiled as he was
pouring the brew into the strainer. A small vial topped with a funnel rested
underneath to catch the juices. When it was near brimming, he sat the pot with
the remaining brew back on the stove and turned off the heat. He corked the
potion bottle and marked it with a tiny red heart.
“There,” Bill said. “Much easier than dealing with the love god. Hate that guy.
The only reason he got his powers is because no one else would take a job so
stupid.” Dipper grinned and shook his head.
“That, I would believe. Come on, let’s head back to the hospital,” he mumbled,
halfway interrupted by a yawn. As he was staggering toward the door, Bill,
making a snake-like motion with his arm (for kicks), put a hand on Dipper’s
chest.
“Whoa there, kid. Speaking professionally as a dream demon, you need sleep. You
won’t make it halfway there before you drop.”
“But I’ve gotta get this to Mabel before she leaves today.”
“Trust me, she won’t be leaving anytime soon. I made sure of that.”
“Oh yeah,” Dipper recalled, a little annoyed at Bill’s choice of actions.
“Well...” he pondered, turning the bottle over between his fingers. “I guess it
could wait.”
“Good!” Bill chimed, removing his hand and smiling with his eye. “Now off to
bed with you!” The demon pushed him along toward the stairs.
“Wait, you’re not trying to trick me, are you?” Dipper asked, digging his heels
into the ground.
“Now why would I do that? What reason would I have, Pine Tree, tell me that.”
While ‘Trust no one’ kept chiming in his head, Dipper went against his better
judgment. Sighing and deciding it would be beneficial to put some faith in the
other, he stopped resisting.
“Alright, Bill, I trust you.”
“Wow, really kid?” Bill made a show out of it by materializing a sign with
flashing lights that pointed an arrow at Dipper; it read ‘Finally gets it!’. He
fabricated a microphone with a cord that plugged into himself at his side. It
brought a whole new meaning to ‘being of energy’. “And tell me, Mister Pines,
what made you decide to go against that stupid journal, finally?” Dipper
swatted at the microphone that was pointed at his face and the setup
deconstructed into a smoke that diffused in the air.
“Cut that out,” he said. “You saved my life, Bill, I really have no reason not
to trust you. Thanks again for that, by the way.” Bill rubbed a hand behind his
head and shrugged.
“Like you said, I haven’t finished my end of our deal. I need you alive. If you
die before I finish my end, it spells big trouble for me and that’s all I have
to say about it. I’ll get back to you on it eventually, kid. I have my reasons
for putting it off which you don’t need to know.” Bill couldn’t meet Dipper’s
diligent eyes, trained on him and listening attentively. He put his hands back
on Dipper’s shoulders and pushed him toward the stairs again. “Now get upstairs
and go to bed, I’m very late for something and I can’t stick around anymore.”
As much as he’d like to. Dipper glanced back at the demon for a second and gave
him a tiny smile before turning and heading up to his room.
Bill watched until his door clicked shut and then closed his eye. He held each
of his hands out to his sides, orbs of light glowing in either one.
“Sweet dreams, Dipper.”
And then he vanished.
***** Magic *****
Chapter Notes
     Sorry this took so long! Serious case of writer's block. I knew what
     I needed to write, but not how to go about doing it. So I took a more
     poetic approach but I'm not sure that did it any justice, so I'd like
     to apologize in advance for any bleeding of the eyes that may occur.
See the end of the chapter for more notes
“You’re gettin’ in too deep,” Bill muttered to himself as he pressed his palm
flat against his forehead.
“Hm? Sorry, what was that?” Dipper asked, looking back at the demon following
behind him.
“I said you didn’t get enough sleep,” Bill replied, raising his voice a little
and changing his tone to a slightly more annoyed one.
“Oh, sorry. I really wanted to make sure I got this to Mabel as soon as
possible.” The preteen turned the potion over in his hand. He hoped it would
work for her sake. At least then she would get what she wanted after taking a
nasty spill down the stairs for that dumb guy.
“Yeah, well…” Bill crossed his arms and blushed. He averted his gaze from the
other. “Not sleeping enough will make you sick, and you don’t get a lot of
sleep as it is.”
“Why do you care anyway?”
“What?”
“Why do you care how much sleep I get? Last time I stayed up late, you tricked
me into making a deal with you so you could steal my body.”
“Your, ah, your dreams,” he mumbled, flicking his eye around the hallway and
just anywhere but the kid staring him down. Dipper raised an eyebrow. “Your
dreams get…your energy gets all messed up when you don’t sleep and it throws
off…you don’t…Get off my back!” And with that, Bill made a dramatic exit in a
ball of silver flames.
Dipper stopped walking for a second to process what had just happened before
turning back and continuing along with a wide grin spread across his face that
was almost villainous.
When he reached Mabel’s room, the door was already wide open and welcoming of
visitors. Dipper had only managed to get about three hours of sleep before
heading off to the hospital again, so it was still very early and Mabel was
having her breakfast.
“Good morning, sister beast,” he greeted with high spirits.
“Looks like someone’s in a good mood today,” Mabel replied. “What’s the
occasion?”
She wouldn’t get to know the real reason why, but Dipper hoped the potion would
be a good enough answer for her.
“Guess who’s getting the boy of their dreams?”
“Is it you?” Mabel giggled. “You havebeen spending a lot of time with Bill
lately!”
“What? No!” he groaned; though it was technically true if she wanted to think
of it that way. “Mabel, I stayed up all night working on a love potion for you,
see?” He took his sister’s hand and passed the vial to her. She reeled back,
eyes lighting up as she examined the lightly tinted orange fluid and the little
red heart drawn on the front. But she then furrowed her brows and looked back
up to her brother, clutching the bottle tightly in her hand.
“Are you just messing with me, bro-bro?”
“Unless the recipe was wrong,” which was entirely possible considering the
unreliable source, “I’m one-hundred-percent guaranteeing you that that potion
will work wonders.”
“Aw Dipper,” Mabel cooed, opening her arms wide, “awkward sibling hug?” Dipper
smiled, a light blush colouring his cheeks.
“Awkward sibling hug,” he accepted. After a few seconds, Mabel pulled back to
look at her brother again.
“But wait, how are we supposed to get this to Nurse Cullen? There’s no way he’s
just gonna drink some questionable fluid on his own.” Dipper frowned and
shrugged his shoulders.
“I don’t know, Mabel. In case you haven’t noticed, I’m not exactly swarming
with girls,” he said, crossing his arms and puffing his cheeks.
“That’s because you’re a big dork!” Mabel teased, falling back into her pillows
and kicking her feet with laughter.
“Yeah, whatever,” he groaned. After all his work, she still continued to pick
on him. “Anyway, I’m sure you could probably spike his coffee with it or
something. Whatever works, I guess.” He turned to leave, but Mabel stopped him.
“Dipper wait,” she said. “Come on, bro-bro, I need your help.”
As Dipper was opening his mouth to retort, there came a knock to the door,
followed by the squeak of the hinges turning. Nurse Cullen. Of course, who
else? In one hand, he had his morning coffee and in the other was a clipboard
that he held pressed up against his chest. Somehow, he seemed even more
obnoxiously glorious than normal, but maybe Dipper was just being bitter about
the whole situation. But then, he almost gagged once the smell of his cologne
hit him. It was sickeningly overpowering and nearly choked him. He went to
cover his mouth and nose, but Mabel shot him a look that told him to stop being
rude. Begrudgingly, dropping his hands again, he practically glued them to his
sides as the nurse walked past and stood at Mabel’s bedside. She inhaled deeply
and held her hands clasped together up to her face, giving him the sweetest
puppy dog eyes she could muster.
“Is that your cologne I smell?” she asked dramatically. Ugh. Dipper rolled his
eyes; her flirting was smelt as bad as his overdone cologne. He eyed the door,
thinking about how he was going to make his escape. Mabel’s voice sounded
again, “Hey, look over there!” she shouted. The nurse foolishly turned to look
where she was pointing and in the brief moment his eyes were off her, she
uncorked her vial of love potion and emptied its contents into his drink. The
whole thing went in there in barely enough time before he turned back around.
Mabel snapped her arms back to her sides, hiding the bottle under the blankets
and feigning a grin. She gave a nervous laugh and watched as he raised an
eyebrow at her. “Whoops, guess I’m seeing things. Must still be dizzy from
taking that fall down the stairs.”
“You should get some more rest,” the nurse said. “It’ll be good for you.” Mabel
was watching him intently as he lifted the white styrofoam to his lips and took
a sip of his coffee. A wide grin spread across her face, eyes twinkling with
anticipation.
There was a silence.
Eventually, he simply nodded to her and told her that if she needed anything to
buzz in for him. After that, he gave a polite nod to Dipper and left the room.
Dipper didn’t nod back, only stared with disgust.
“Dipper,” Mabel griped, throwing her arms up, “why didn’t it work? You one-
hundred-percent guaranteed it would work!”
“Maybe it’s the fates saying you don’t actually belong together, you ever
thought of that?”
“Where did you find this recipe anyway, somewhere on the internet?” Mabel
accused, crossing her arms.
“Hey, my source may be unreliable, but I’m not that dumb!” Mabel responded with
a silent glare. “Look, maybe you should just give up on this dumb guy. He’s
like, a million years older than you and he’s your nurse. There are plenty of
other dumb guys to obsess over when you’re out of here, you know.”
“Well, if he’s a million years older than me, then at least he’ll have to be a
vampire.”
“Or a zombie!” Dipper corrected snappily, prompting Mabel to roll her eyes and
shake her head.
“Why don’t you just leave me alone, Dipper,” she muttered, casting her eyes to
the floor beside her.  “Thanks for nothing.”
Ouch.
For a moment, Dipper stared at her with his mouth agape, completely shocked she
would say something like that after all he’d went through to get it for her. He
huffed out a breath and squared his shoulders.
“Fine.” Dipper straightened his vest and left the room in a small fury. He
didn’t need her anyway. He’d been wasting all this time coming to visit her and
making sure she got the guy she wanted when he could have been making sure
everything fell into place with his plans. He hoped it wasn’t too late.
As he marched down the hallway towards the vending machines, he balled his
fists, glanced around to make sure no one was watching, and then shouted out,
“Bill!” He waited a few moments and when the demon didn’t show up, he spoke in
a quieter, but still just as hateful, voice, “Bill, I know you can hear me, get
over here right now!”
Like magic, the painted white bricks in the wall next to him reshaped to
display a discoloured equilateral triangle. A half-moon crack appeared in the
clay and opened up to reveal Bill’s eye. He said nothing, but just stared at
Dipper half-annoyed.
“No, I said get over here. Don’t half ass it, you ignoramus.”
The triangular shape popped from the wall, leaving no visible indication it had
ever been a part of the structure, and regained its pallor, spawning in a top
hat and cane. Bill had a bored expression on his face as he stared down at
Dipper, and the younger noticed that he was dripping with water.
“Colourful words for a colour blind kid. Make this quick, Pine Tree, I’m a
little bit busy at the moment.”
“Why didn’t it work?” Dipper snarled, pointing an accusatory finger at the
demon. “Did you lie to me? I mean, I wouldn’t be surprised, but come on, Bill I
thought we–” he cut himself off and clammed up. His face grew hot suddenly and
he broke eye contact with Bill. After a quick second of deliberating with
himself, he figured it might actually be beneficial to say it and looked back
at him. “I thought…I could trust you. I thought we were…I thought we were close
last night.”
Bill’s eye widened and his pupil narrowed. Alarms blared, bells rang, whistles
screeched, red lights flashed, and flags palpitated. Outwardly. Each warning
object hung in the air around Bill’s saturated body, wailing their hysterical
song, and Dipper gaped in disbelief. The boy threw his arms out in front of him
and gave Bill a look that said “seriously?”
“Sorry,” Bill said. He reached out to grab the each item and then forcefully
stuffed them back inside his non-physical body, never taking his eye off
Dipper, “that just sort of slipped out.” Dipper squinted and crossed his arms,
rolling his eyes. There was a few moments of silence between them where Dipper
just shook his head and wouldn’t meet Bill’s stare. “Look, kid, did you think
it was going to work instantly?” Dipper looked back at him through the corners
of his eyes, refusing to give him the satisfaction of his full attention.
“Ugh,” Bill slapped a hand to his forehead, “you called me here just for that?
Pine Tree, you have to let it get in the fleshbag’s system, like one of your
human antidotes or whatever. Unlike the love god’s phoney bologna ‘love’
potion, this one purifies emotions instead of making your puny brains
chemically unbalanced. Get it?”
“I–”
“Good. Don’t bother me again. I’ll be back.” Poof, he was gone. Dipper blinked
and shook his head. He groaned and ran a hand through his bangs. With an added
sigh, he headed back for Mabel’s room…without watching where he was going and
managing to slip on the puddle of water Bill’s questionably dripping wet body
had left behind, crashing backwards with a shriek and a thud.
Stupid triangle.
As Dipper pushed open the door to Mabel’s room, the sound of lovey-dovey
giggling made him suddenly nauseous. He paused halfway through opening it,
contemplating if he even wanted to know what was going on behind that door.
After a moment, he gave it another light push and peeked inside.
Mabel and her nurse were cuddled up together in her bed, giving each other
eskimo kisses and arguing over which one of them was cuter. Gross. Corny
romance movies were showing on the hospital TV, and he could hear the sloppy
onscreen make-outs from where he was standing.
“Oh nurse Cullen,” Mabel cooed, “you make me the happiest girl to have ever
slipped into a coma and fallen down the stairs!”
“Please,” he replied breathily, “call me Edwin.” Mabel giggled and snuggled
closer to him. “Did it hurt when you fell for me, my love?”
“Yes! Yes it did!”
“Nope.” Dipper backed right the way out of there and threw his hands up,
frowning as hard as he could and furrowing his brows. “I’m gonna barf. Nope,
nope, nope. Goodbye. Going home.”
But deep down, Dipper’s heart smiled that his sister had finally gotten what
she wanted–a vampire boyfriend. And on his way home, he slowed to a stop,
looked back, and patted himself on the back for doing all of that for her. She
sure was happy. Thank goodness.
…
‘Believe in Yourself 2: Believe Harder’ was the only thing on TV that afternoon
that was worth watching. Much better than the first movie, this one had machine
guns and sunglasses and explosions, which is probably why Mabel refused to buy
the DVD when they saw it at the movie store. Not that Dipper really cared for
warfare in movies, but the Used to be About History Channel wasn’t showing
anything supernatural today, instead they were showing historical events. Pfft,
like anyone would want to watch historyon the Used to be About History Channel.
Seemed like at that point, they were just trying to get views. Lame. And
everything else on TV was soap operas and those awful romances that…Edwin…and
Mabel were watching at the hospital and that was honestly the last thing he
wanted to think about right now.
Dipper patted his lower stomach and muttered a ‘be strong’ as he curled a hand
around his ice cold can of pitt cola and raised it to his lips. For once in
weeks, he could relax.
“Hey kid! Got a present for ya!” Bill said in a chipper, enthusiastic voice as
he appeared in an instant; for once, not making an over-dramatic entrance. He
watched as Dipper seemed to be flailing excitedly below; must be really excited
to see him! He was pounding on his chest and making short, breathless gasps,
and turning red in the face, and even tearing up.
One final blow to the chest with all his strength and out of his mouth flew a
peach pit that bounced as it hit the floor and rolled under the TV. Dipper sat
there gasping and shaking and wiping away the tears from his face. He gazed
helplessly up at Bill, a little angry that Bill did nothing to help, and  had
an amused and cheerful expression on his face the whole time. Now he seemed
offended.
“Gross, Pine Tree. Spitting is a dirty habit.” Dipper opened his mouth to
retort, but Bill interrupted him before he even began. “Anyway, here, I got
this for you,” he said as he held out the disembodied, fanged head of the
spring water monster that attacked and nearly killed Dipper. He plopped it down
at Dipper’s feet and hovered directly in front of him, between him and the TV.
There was a distinct smile in his eye, and the hint of pride in his demeanor.
“A head that never screams.”
No way.
Dipper’s heart rate sped up as he stared at the soaking wet and bloody mess
laying before him. The way Bill seemed so proud reminded him of the way cats
will bring dead birds and mice to their owner’s doorstep as a gift. Bill was
the cat; the head was the gift. A warmth washed over Dipper. He couldn’t hold
back the smile-turned-grin that crept onto his face.
The preteen sat up straight in his armchair and reached down to pet the course
fur of the beast. It was dead. It was really dead. It tried to kill him and
Bill avenged him, even when after he’d already saved him once. On one hand he
should be a little mad because he didn’t get the chance to record it in his
journal while alive, but he just couldn’t bring himself to be upset after this.
It was really dead. He hung his head over it and tears started falling from his
eyes, dripping down onto the deceased creature.
“Pine Tree, why are you crying? I did this for you because I thought you would
be happy.”
“Bill,” he said in a shaky voice, “is this why you were dripping wet earlier?
And why you didn’t want to fully visit me? You were in the spring…killing this
thing?”
“You hate it, don’t you? Figures. After all the effort I went through for you,
you ha–”
!!!
Oh.
This was…unexpected.
Bill stared wide-eyed down at the boy who had lunged for him, pressing his
warm, fleshy human lips to the space just above his bow tie. His arms wrapped
tightly around the demon, tears flowed down his cheeks, vanishing as Bill’s
body absorbed them on contact.
Bill said nothing, did nothing, thought nothing. His mind was as blank as the
void.
Dipper adjusted his position, settling on his knees and moving his arms away
from Bill’s sides, instead taking his hands and lacing their fingers together
so that their palms pressed together. Bill made no indication of resistance.
For the longest time, he allowed Dipper to kiss him until finally…
Finally…
Bill kissed back.
His eye fell shut and he squeezed back on the grip Dipper had on his hands. He
relaxed and centered his core body heat to where Dipper’s lips were against him
in an attempt to simulate lips of his own. He leaned into Dipper’s touch, all
of this making Dipper’s heart thud against his chest. His skin was tingling,
mind dizzy with love and awe. Butterflies fluttered in his stomach, a frog
leaped into his throat, his palms got sweaty and he low-key hoped that Bill
wouldn’t notice or mind. And they stayed like that for a full minute before
they separated again.
Their eyes were locked in each other’s gaze, neither one of them saying a word.
Dipper praying that Bill wouldn’t leave him after that and Bill wondering what
move to make next.
Silence.
They stared and stared and stared at each other wordlessly. An embarrassed
blush eventually came over Dipper’s face and upon seeing his reaction, Bill’s
body began to turn pink as well, right in his center.
Finally, Bill broke the silence.
“It’s a Bunyip,” he stated. It immediately became obvious to Dipper that he
wasn’t going to talk about what just happened between them. And he was okay
with that. Because Bill kissed him back. And that meant he had him right where
he wanted him. “They’re only native to Australia, so you were pretty unlucky to
come across one here.”
But then again, Dipper thought, hekissed Bill first. And not just a peck on the
cheek, with the conscious intent of swaying him into liking him. It just
happened. Without giving it a second thought–or even a first thought for that
matter–he jumped at Bill and panted a kiss right where his mouth would be if he
had one.
And that was a problem. He was losing sight of the endgame, what he really
wanted in the end from Bill, and why this whole thing had even gotten this far.
He would have to fight it, to remind himself why he was doing this, but the
more that he thought against it, the larger the fire in his heart flared up and
burned his resolve away.
Bill was staring at him. Uh oh, he needed to say something, but he only caught
the first part of what he had said. Quickly, he hosted a nervous grin and gave
Bill’s hands another squeeze.
“I’ll go get my journal!”
Peeling his hands away from Bill’s, he got to his feet and raced upstairs to
his shared bedroom. The moment the door slammed shut behind him, he fell to his
hands and knees and wept. He liked Bill Cipher. He likedBill Cipher! It tasted
sour on his tongue to mutter it silently to himself, but he could not lie to
himself. Dipper found himself hopelessly in love with Bill freaking Cipher.
This was going to put a major damper on all his plans. Not that it would make
it impossible, but how could he allow such a careless mistake to distract him
from his answers? Weeks had passed and he’s only learned about one silly
creature and Bill killed it. At this rate, the summer was going to be over and
he will have learned nothing at all because he was too wrapped up in that
stupidtriangle’s charming personality.
He raised an arm and wiped away his tears and snot, a stormy look taking over
his face as he crawled over to his bed, lifted the mattress, and pulled the
journal out from under. Grabbing a pen from off his nightstand, he got to his
feet, took a deep breath, and headed back downstairs.
Bill was still in the living room, sitting in the armchair and surrounding
himself with open books that hovered around them in a circle. The pages
fluttered as he read through them and Dipper feigned a look of utter excitement
before approaching him.
“Hey Pine Tree, did you know that as of a few years ago, at least one thousand
five hundred Earth species have shown signs of homosexual behavior?” he said,
giving Dipper a snarky side glance. Dipper wasn’t going to answer that.
“So you said it’s a Bunyip, right?” he asked, feverishly scribbling down a
doodle of the severed head laying on the floor. “And they’re native to
Australia?”
“You got it, kid. And usually, they live in swamps, so that one was a real fish
out of water!” Bill broke into stitches and Dipper couldn’t help a genuine
smile at his antics.
“That was really bad, Bill,” he said with a short chuckle.
“Actually, I think it was pretty good! Where’s your sense of humor, Pine Tree?”
he snickered, shutting all the books around him and dropping them all into a
chaotic pile beside him. “Hey, you know, you actually look pretty cute all
excited about that journal and stuff.” What harm could it do anyway? The thing
was already dead and Pine Tree sure was a sight for sore eye with the way he
was hastily writing things in the pages of that dumb book.
“Oh,” he mumbled nervously, a tiny chuckle escaping him, “thanks. You…you wanna
maybe go for a walk?”
“Only if you’re doing all the walking, ground-bound,” Bill chimed as he jumped
off the couch and was airborne again. Dipper laughed and nodded.
“Of course,” he smiled, “so is that a yes?”
“Do I have to spell it out for you, kid?” Bill remarked, doing a cartwheel in
mid-air as he boredly waited for Dipper to lead the way. “Let’s get going!”
Dipper blinked slowly, gazing at Bill somewhat dreamy-eyed. He tucked his
journal under his arm and turned to hold the door open for Bill.
“Okay.”
…
While Dipper conjured up a mockup of the particularly fluffy and floppy eared
jackalope before him, Bill made himself comfortable on a nearby tree branch and
watched. Something about the way Pine Tree’s face lit up when he saw a new
creature was addictive to say the least. Bill relaxed against the shaft of the
tree, a wave of contentment washing over him.
“So what’s the deal with these guys, Bill? How did this even happen? How could
two creatures in totally different animal kingdoms produce this?”
“Didn’t happen like that, kid,” Bill said without hesitance. “Jackalopes are
some sorta genetic mutation from a virus that got embedded in their DNA back in
the eighteen hundreds.”
Dipper feverishly wrote down every fact, occasionally glancing up to make sure
the creature hadn’t run off. It was enjoying itself with a patch of wild
carrots, so he figured he had time.
“Actually,” he continued, drawling the word a bit, “it wasn’t until the
nineteenth century that it was documented as just a germ, but you know how you
humans like to deny the supernatural.” Dipper rolled his eyes. That was the
ugly truth. “But that’s why I like you, Pine Tree!” The boy’s writing slowed to
a stop as his attention moved to where Bill was in the trees. “You’re not
ignorant, and you’re not dumb. And, hah, I gotta admit that I was intimidated
by that at first,” the memory of Bill crushing his laptop and making efforts to
steal the journal flashed through his mind, “but you know, it’s actually
impressive and I’m starting to think that not killing you wasn’t such a bad
mistake after all!”
Dipper rubbed the back of his head and blushed, averting his eyes. It wasn’t
the most conventional compliment, but he’d take it. Because coming from Bill,
that had to mean a lot.
And when Bill taught Dipper how to properly approach a hippogriff without
getting horribly maimed, an undeniable light shone in Dipper’s eyes. And as
Dipper was drawing a sketch of the beast whilst sitting atop its back, Bill
thought he would be cute and gave it a start by striking it on its flank; which
in turn caused it to rear up and take off. Dipper’s reflexes chimed in and he
dropped the journal, quickly grabbing onto Bill’s wrist. Bill’s sadistic
laughter was replaced by screaming as he became an unexpected passenger of the
flight.
But he couldn’t be mad. Not at Pine Tree.
He was pulled into the sky along with Dipper, soaring high over the Gravity
Falls treetops. Once they had stabilized, Dipper glanced back to see Bill
fluttering around in the slipstream, eye twisted into a crooked swirl. Dipper
couldn’t help cracking up at the sight. He was probably incredibly dizzy. But
who wouldn’t be if they were beating like a flag on a voyage at high altitudes?
With time, Bill managed to pry his wrist out of Dipper’s grasp. Dipper wrapped
his arms around the hippogriff’s neck and laughed at Bill’s utterly peeved
expression when he moved around to the side. Sure, he looked upset, but how mad
could he be if he was still flying along with them? Bill rolled his eye. He’d
let it slide. For Pine Tree.
And as they delved deeper into the woods, a gorgeous unicorn–possibly the most
gorgeous–stood next a pond where the trees separated into a small clearing
where it caught Dipper’s attention. He became entranced at the illustrious
sight and he knew he had to get a closer look.
Without a word to Bill, he changed course and made his way through the
underbrush that stood between him and the stallion. The closer he got, the more
it seemed to sparkle and glint in the rays  that shone between the filtering
leaves. It stopped drinking as he approached it, turning to look at him with
shimmering eyes, making no indication that it was apprehensive of his approach.
He came to a stop a few feet from it and started to draw its image. Sleek
silvery hair, strong and built body, glimmering horn–it was…really beautiful.
Maybe it would let him ride it.
Setting the journal down at his feet, he carefully pressed the pads of his feet
forward into the mossy clearing. The unicorn kept its eyes fixed on Dipper’s
hand he had held out to pet its muzzle.
So close, he muttered in a low voice, “Shh, I’m not gonna hurt you,” and made
one more step towards it.
“Pine Tree, do not touch that horse!” Bill’s voice rang out as he came crashing
through the trees. Dipper immediately froze.
The unicorn reared up, swinging its hooves in the air and stamped down hard,
making Dipper fall backwards. He gazed on with horror as the gorgeous image
that had drawn him in melted away to reveal a black-as-tar demon with no back
legs and an aquatic tail in its place. It started to crawl forward to seize
Dipper, waving its tail wildly behind it to help propel itself along.
Immobilized by terror, chills ran over Dipper’s entire body as it got closer
and closer to him, whinnying in a warped bay. His eyes grew wide as dinner
plates, body stiffened, heart rate near nonexistent.
Thank God (or maybe Satan?) for Bill.
An electric crash of lightening struck the beast right in the face, knocking
out a portion of its skull and sending crashing to its side. Another bolt
struck its ribs, blowing a hole where its innards should have been, but nothing
except black goop seeped out of its body. It scrambled to get back to its
hooves and made a u-turn for the pond, the tail nearly slapping Dipper in the
face and missing him by just centimeters. He felt the wind.
“Eat nightmares!” Bill thundered, his glowing red form passing Dipper and
following the beast back into the pond, throwing wave after wave of brilliant
thunderbolts at it. It barely escaped into the pond alive, but evidently that
wasn’t good enough for Bill.
Seething with rage, he plunged into the water after it.
A moment of stillness allowed for Dipper to shake himself of fear and get to
his feet with wobbly knees. He stared into the motionless pool, watching with
wonder and awe as he waited for something to happen.
A disembodied voice echoed through the trees, seeming to have no source, but
the voice was unmistakable.
“Pine Tree
“is
“mine!”
Suddenly, the forest was illuminated by a photon of brilliant light where the
pool of water shot off electricity that went straight up into the sky,
connecting to nearby clouds and creating a static that made Dipper’s hair stand
on his head. And neck. And arms. He had to shield his eyes from its light, and
when he eventually peeked out, the pond had been reduced to a steaming ditch in
the ground.
Dipper tiptoed up to it cautiously and glanced down into the pit where he saw
Bill’s body surrounded by a blazing aura of fiery rage and quaking with
ferocity. He watched him silently for a few seconds until finally, the fire
died away and Bill’s arms dropped to his sides again. Without even turning to
meet his eyes, he broke the silence.
“Don’t fuck with kelpies, kid.”
Dipper swallowed hard and reached for his journal. He would have to rewrite his
entry.
And when Bill was dragging Dipper along through the trees, telling him to stop
dragging his feet or they would miss the reincarnation, Dipper knew it had to
be the same feeling Bill got when he was caught in the wind behind the
hippogriff flight and he couldn’t help a tiny laugh. His grip tightened on
Bill’s hand and at gazed at him with warm cheeks.
They finally came to a stop at a large ash pile that seemed out of place where
it was in the woods and Dipper squinted at it in disbelief.
“A pile of ash–”
“Hush, Pine Tree, here they come!”
Dipper followed Bill’s eye up into the sky as the midday sun was gradually
being blotted out by a cloud of blackness. The sky grew dark as though it were
an eclipse and slowly, light came back to the world. Seconds ticked by and
Dipper began to notice ashes trickling down in front of his eyes into the heap.
“Phoenixes only reincarnate once every thousand and a half years. I couldn’t
let you miss this!”
Feint chirping manifested from the greyness and out popped hundreds of baby
phoenix chicks. Dipper’s eyes twinkled at the sight and a wide grin spread
across his face as he began flipping through pages in the journal for a new
entry. Bill side-glanced at him with a delighted glint, proudly putting his
hands on his hips.
“You’re welcome,” he said smugly. Dipper looked up to him with bright eyes.
“This is incredible, I can’t believe it! I’m seeing the mass reincarnation of a
flock of phoenixes right before my eyes! Bill, you’re–you’re amazing!”
“Sure am,” he gloated, moving over to the ash pile-turned-nest and settling
himself between a few chicks. The babies surrounding him started to peck at his
body. “Hey–hey, Pine Tree! Get a load of this–I’m a chick magnet! Draw me, Pine
Tree!”
Returning a smile, Dipper happily obliged.
Not long after watching the fiery display in the sky, Dipper was starting to
feel peckish. He turned to Bill with a hand over his stomach as it growled.
“You think maybe we should call it a day? I’m starting to get a bit hungry.”
“Geez, Pine Tree, I slay a bunyip anda kelpie for you and all I get is a three
hour date? Yeesh, chivalry is dead.”
“Sorry man, but unless there’s a burger joint right around that willow tree
over there, I’m about starved.”
Bill put his hands over his face and pointed in the direction of the willow
tree.
“Oh wow,” he spoke in an obviously feigned tone of surprise, “what is that over
there by the old willow tree? Could it be? Is that a burger joint I see?”
Dipper smiled and rolled his eyes. He looked to where Bill was pointing and
sure enough, Bill had conjured a mockup burger joint.
“‘Bunyip Burgers,’” he read out loud as he approached it, “‘made from real
fresh bunyip!’ Seriously?” he laughed.
“Step right up!” Bill said showily, summoning his cane and twirling it around
behind the counter. “Just slaughtered a fresh one this morning. Gave the head
to some kid who nearly died to it. Real cute kid, got a nice head on his
shoulders. Kinda fleshy though. I think he’d look better as a demon but that’s
just my opinion.” Dipper crawled onto one of the stools at the counter and
pushed his bangs out of his face. “What’ll ya have?”
“You’re really something else, aren’t you?” he teased, resting his cheek
against his hand. A crooked smile painted across his face as he stared lovingly
at Bill with half-lidded eyes. “What you got?”
“Hm,” Bill pondered, rubbing a hand against his nonexistent chin. He snapped
his fingers and a portal appeared beside him; it swirled and out through it
wriggled a few tentacles but Bill still reached in, rummaging around through it
until he pulled out what looked like a banana sunday except that the ice cream
was replaced by a giant snail whose body seemed to be composed of pistachio ice
cream and his shell out of a giant lollipop. And where those twizzlers for
eyes? “How about some escargice-cream from dimension fourty seven apostrophe
backslash?” Ugh, and it was still moving. One of the eyes drew back into its
body as it looked at Dipper. Gross.
“Uh, I think I’ll pass. Got anything a little less…y’know, alive?”
“Picky, picky. Alright what about…” he reached his hand in again and was nearly
dragged into the portal by whatever was on the other side. Jerking his arm
back, he put his feet on the edges of the portal and pulled hard until it
finally came out, throwing him back onto the ground. He jumped back upright and
set a plate out with what looked like mud and rocks and out of it was a flower
that was making snapping noises. Dipper leaned back in his seat to avoid its
jaws. “Snapdragon surprise!” He put a hand to the side of where his mouth would
be, “the surprise is that it eats you first!” Well that made his stomach turn
upside down. “This is considered a delicacy in dimension asterisk hyphen twenty
eight, where the gelatinous plasma people are eaten by it and then cause an
astronomical implosion that turns themselves inside out and puts them back on
the outside of the plant where it’s then inside theirstomachs. Very exclusive
stuff. You’d need a lot of gold to buy this! But instead here I am, giving it
to you. Enjoy!”
“Um…that’s not less alive.”
“Don’t tell me you’re not going to eat this either. What about the rocks? Do
humans eat rocks?”
“Not exactly.”
“Not even if they’re sautéed in a little mud?”
“Bill, I appreciate it, I really do, but maybe just something simple would be
enough. Man, I’d kill for a–”
His sentence was cut short by Bill snapping his fingers and materializing a
peanut butter and banana sandwich right before him.
“Done. Now, about that kill…”
“It’s a figure of speech. Besides, do you really think I’m capable of killing a
guy?”
“Well, he’s not a guyper se, more like an ogre.”
“I’ll catch a rain check on that,” he said through a mouth sticky with peanut
butter and banana. “I would kind of rather be spending the day with you, to be
honest.”
A feint blush came over Bill and he tapped his fingers on the counter top,
averting his eyes from the other.
“Yeah, well…the feeling’s mutual, kid.”
Dipper swallowed and smiled at him, resting his cheek on his hand again. His
eyes locked on Bill in a gaze of affection as the demon fabricated an ice cream
float made with pitt soda and slid of across the counter to him. This whole new
side of Bill was unlike any mystery he could have expected to find in the
forest. It captivated him.
“So, there are other dimensions besides ours?”
…
They went on like that for hours. Delighting in each others quirks and poking
fun at each other, pressing buttons and getting on each other’s nerves, but
nothing ever felt so right to either of them. They had become close and content
with each other. Bill seemed to have no hesitance explaining to Dipper the
secrets of the mysteries he’d come across, and Dipper never once had even the
slightest feeling that Bill might be lying to him or leading him to death. It
was bliss.
The world had grown dark, the sun had long since set and neither of them had
any intent of returning home. Walking hand in hand through the trees and gazing
fondly at each other, Bill set the mood by creating small glowing orbs of blue
light that circled above them, following them along through the woods and
illuminating the scene. In the back of Dipper’s mind, he wondered if they had
been wondering souls, but he shrugged it off. That was just Bill’s way. And he
had come to love that about him. Through the trees, the forest hummed a song.
Each note made Dipper’s heart feel warm and at ease. The rustling of the
leaves, the crickets chirping in the sleepy grass, even the moon’s lullaby all
harmonized at once. And in that moment, the whole world around them seemed to
disappear.
“You know, if other demons knew I was being this benevolent to a human, they’d
say I’ve gone soft. Make fun of me, probably have me ripped from existence as
we know it,” he said, twirling his hand as if it were no big deal. “But I think
I’m okay with that, actually. It’s worth it.”
“You’re insane to be okay with that,” Dipper chuckled. Bill moved around to
hover in front of his date as they walked, meeting his heartfelt gaze.
“Do you want to know why I’m insane?” he asked, taking both of Dipper’s hands
in his and swinging them rhythmically to the soft melody of the forest.
“Believe it or not, there’s a pretty good reason.” Dipper squeezed lightly on
his hands in return, making a swift turn so that they swapped positions and he
was walking backwards while Bill moved forward.
“Enlighten me.”
“It’s because of you.”
“Oh really?” he snickered.
“Well, because of humans like you. Ones who I’ve taken pity on and…perhaps even
got a bit closer than I should have.” Dipper’s smile fell. “They all die
eventually. And here I am, immortal. I live forever, Dipper, I’ve had to watch
every single mortal I’ve ever cared about–human or not–get old or sick or
injured and die. It starts to take its tole after a few thousand years, you
know? And after a while,” he shrugged and cast his gaze to the ground, “I just
sort of got used to it.”
“Bill…” Dipper muttered, unsure of what else to say. He hoped the sorrow in his
eyes would say enough.
“That’s why I’m okay with this, Pine Tree. History repeats itself. You’ll die,
I’ll lose another piece of my sanity, and move on. Maybe I’ll get found out and
have my existence terminated, who knows? But I’ve accepted this.”
“…You used my name,” he finally was able to squeeze out. Bill squinted at him.
“Were you even listening?”
“Wh–yes!” he said, nodding. “It’s just that…you’ve never called me by my name
before. It’s nice.” He offered a nervous smile. Bill kept a glare on him for a
few moments longer before snaking an arm around Dipper’s body and coiling it
tight as rope. With a quick jerk, he sent the boy spinning. And as soon as he
retracted his arm, he used it to catch him just before he tumbled backwards and
hit the ground. The opportunity was open; he pressed his lipless face to
Dipper’s mouth and closed his eye. Dipper stared up wide eyed at the gesture.
Amazing. He smiled into the kiss and wrapped his arms around the demon.
They could have stayed like that forever and never parted, keeping in each
other’s embrace for eternity, but a light rain put a stop to that. Bummer.
Dipper pulled back and put his hands over his head.
“Stupid rain,” he grumbled. Bill waved it off and summoned his cane.
“Not a problem. Leave it to me, Pine Tree.” He flipped his cane upside down and
out from the straight end popped an array of wires that quickly strung together
with a translucent pink material and handed it to Dipper. The younger smiled as
he took it and offered his other hand to Bill, who managed to successfully take
it without igniting his hand in flames. “I think I’m finally used to this hand-
holding thing.”
The rain started to come down harder as they made their way through the forest
back to the mystery shack and as Dipper was looking up at the umbrella, a his
stomach dropped.
“Is…is this made out of human skin?”
“Sure is! Hand crafted! Literally. It’s made from hands.”
“Bill!”
“Thought I’d give you a handand get you out of the rain!” he blurted as his
laughter rang through the trees. Dipper shot him a glare. “I’ve gotta handit to
you, Pine Tree, it’s a good look on you!”
Dipper slapped a hand to his forehead and shook his head.
“Give it up, kid, you gotta love me.”
It felt weird to hear Bill say that. But it was true. He was having a hard time
fighting his feelings after everything that had happened, all the times Bill
had protected him and all the help he’d been. He could have never prepared for
this, but he wondered if it was possible to love Bill Cipher andhave all the
answers to the journal.
And he hoped.
That maybe,
Just maybe,
He could do both.
Chapter End Notes
     Next chapter is porn. Ready your dongers ヽ༼ຈل͜ຈ༽ﾉ
***** Advanced Linguistics *****
“Say Bill,” Dipper began as he pushed open the door to the Mystery Shack,
holding it open for Bill to go first, “why do you wear the jar containing my
soul around your…body?”
“It’s called ‘style’–look it up some time,” Bill replied as he passed, giving
the other a glare brimming with sass.
“Come on, I’m serious! Shouldn’t you have eaten it like a long time ago?”
“First of all, demons eating souls is a myth usually not practiced,” Bill
explained, following Dipper into the kitchen. “I mean, there are some
exceptions for the oddball demon, but that’s a huge stereotype. Second of all,
I prefer my souls aged before eating them and yours is barely a decade old (the
best souls tend to be the ones left to wander purgatory for many centuries. If
you reach millenniums, you’ve gone too far.)” Dipper smiled as he poured
himself a glass of Mabel Juice that his sister had made fresh before they
fought the tangle. He pulled up a chair at the table and rested his chin in his
hands, sipping on the glittery drink with a dreamy gaze in his eyes. He and
Bill clearly had weirdness in common and that’s really all he could have asked
for in a relationship. “And third, I like your soul. It’s blue and that matches
my hellfire flames, don’t you think?” Bill boasted flamboyantly, igniting his
hand for comparison. Before Dipper had the chance to respond, Bill continued.
“Oh right, you’re colour blind–you wouldn’t know bismuth from bronze,” he
shrugged and extinguished the fire.
“Speaking of which, how do you know I can’t see colour? Do souls have an effect
on colour vision?”
“Uh, duh. Geez, I thought you were the smart twin, why with all the questions?
You’re just like Shooting Star.” Bill sat opposite of Dipper, hovering above
the seat of the chair so that he was eye-level with the other.
“I like hearing you talk,” he admitted. “You know pretty much everything, and I
mean, wowdude, listening to you explain things is straight up fascinating!” The
smile on Dipper’s face grew wide and he let out a small squeak of excitement.
“Sure I guess I could figure things out on my own but I just…sorta like it
better coming from you.”
“Well, it’s been fun, kid, I’ve gotta admit,” Bill said with uneasy acceptance.
There was no denying the warm, soft feeling at his core for Dipper. Pine Tree
was his now and if he wanted to spoil the kid, then really what harm could it
do? After all, he already had his most precious possession and could rip his
conscious away at any time if he wanted to so it couldn’t really be that big of
a deal. “A big step up from spending my weekends changing intestines to
snakes.” But still, there was the nagging feeling in the back of the demon’s
mind where knew he was setting himself up for disappointment. He had accepted
Dipper’s impending death, but there were further consequences he knew he would
be facing quite sooner down the road. “And that’s a pretty good time, if I do
say so myself.”
“What do you do on the weekdays?” Dipper asked, glancing away and then back to
Bill with a look of worry.
“Glad you asked! Usually I’m making deals with unsuspecting kids desperate for
answers. Or mixing hydrogen fluoride into people’s bathwater, whichever comes
first.”
“Wow, rude,” Dipper grumbled and took a sip of his juice.
“You think you’re the only brainiac kid who’s obsessed with mystery? Pfft, I
once knew this six-fingered freak dumb enough to open a portal directly into my
home dimension. Hm, I guess he was a bit older than you, though, come to think
of it,” Bill reminisced. “It’s been like thirty years and I haven’t been back
since. Got out of there the first chance I got,” Bill declared, slamming a fist
down on the table and casting his glare out the window. A hateful surge of red
flared up in him and then quickly dissipated, regaining his guise of composure.
“There’s havoc to be wreaked elsewhere besides that boring place,” he promptly
added. “So I don’t know, he’s probably dead or something. Maybe his eyes boiled
out of their sockets or his brain disintegrated the moment he came through.
Humans need their brains to live, right?”
“Yeah,” Dipper said after a moment of hesitance. He awkwardly sipped at his
drink and avoided looking at the demon. Bill seemed somewhat sullen, like he
was putting up a front. A quiet hum bubbled up in Dipper’s throat, the gears in
his head turning until they finally clicked. “Hey um, do you want a drink? Can
I get you something? I sorta forgot to ask when I was ge–”
In an instant, Bill produced a shaker, various types of alcohol, and…a
disembodied, screaming infant head? Dipper squinted and watched in astonishment
as Bill waved a hand, compelling each bottle to empty into the shaker, and held
the crying baby head–by its thin layer of hair–over the opening for its river
of tears to cascade down into the drink. He then used his magic to shake the
mixture in the air next to him while in his hands, the flesh of the baby head
seemed to disintegrate into small bead-like bubbles that garnished the rim of
the margarita glass he spawned. They sat in a wordless silence while the ice
rattled in the shaker. When Bill deemed it done, he unscrewed the container
manually, filled the glass to its brim, and immediately poured it straight into
his eye.
Dipper chewed his bottom lip, pondering whether or not to question Bill’s
methods. Curiosity got the best of him.
“A baby head?”
“I’m having children’s tears on the rocks,” the demon said, setting his glass
back down and refilling it. He had an agitated air about him, but maybe it was
just the way he was glowering vacantly at the table with one cantaloupe-sized,
bloodshot eye. Or the way he snapped his fingers and lit the drink on fire
before imbibing another brimming glass.
“And…demolecularizing it?”
“It’s a metaphor,” Bill hissed, “for what I’d like to do to that obese,
bombastic, diaper-wearing tyrant, Time Baby! I mean, what’s the point of being
the last of an extinct race of time giants if you don’t even have object
permanence and get distracted by jingling keys?” He reproduced a scaled model
of Time Baby before them both in the center of the table and glared at it. “He
thinks he’s so great,” he raised his voice, throwing his arms into the air
angrily, “just because he rules the future and is the last time giant to exist?
Time is a stupid linear concept that’s completely obsolete and inaccurate. Dumb
kid knows it’s more of a fashion trend in the future than anything else.” Bill
slammed both fists down on the table and stood up in his chair. “The whole
reason the time giants are extinct is because natural selection weeded them out
like the pathetic race they were.”
A light bulb went off in Dipper’s head and he retrieved the journal from where
it was tucked away inside his vest. He clicked his pen and flipped open to the
first blank page, which was wayin the back after their date that evening. Maybe
if all went well, he’d be able to start a new journal–his own journal. Wow,
that would be cool.
The pen smoothed swiftly across the paper as Bill continued to rant, jotting
down notes about Time Baby and the extinct time giants race.
“And you know something else?” Bill asked rhetorically as he was filling up
another margarita from the shaker, “those other jerks would be lucky to be on
good terms with me! Especially Kryptos. Molecular disassembly would be too good
for that five-pointed, polychromatic, ostentatious windbag! If I could get my
hands on him, I’d make him into a pentagonal, polygon cone and serve him at
children’s parties with a lethal dose of sodium chloride!” Bill shouted and
downed another full drink in his rage. His fourth glass was poured a bit
messily, some of the liquid splashing out onto the table and dripping to the
floor. “They don’t know who they’re messing with. I’ve got big plans coming and
they won’t kick me around anymore once they see what I’m capable of. I’ll have
them rue the days they used to call me ‘soul muncher’ and ‘flesh fucker’.”
Dipper’s writing slowed to a stop. He moved his gaze up to the tipsy triangle
sitting across from him, spilling another margarita into his eye. A cold
feeling knotted up in his belly. Bill was starting to be even more loose lipped
than he was expecting. This was straight past ‘answers’ and right into ‘deeply
personal’, which went without saying, made Dipper highly uncomfortable and
admittedly a bit sympathetic.
“They called you names?” he asked softly, dropping his shoulders and sitting
back in his chair. Bill wiped his eyelid and shrugged.
“Told ya, kid, demons don’t eat souls. Most don’t, anyway.”
“And, flesh…the flesh one?”
“Humans,” Bill stated, circling a finger around the rim of his glass
listlessly. “They know I’ve got a thing for ‘em.” Dipper’s eyes fell to his
half-written page about Bill’s secrets. “In your species, it’d be the same as
screwing a rabid stray dog of the same sex–not exactly the most idolized
thing.” The boy let out a sigh and cast his eyes to the floor, shutting the
journal and tucking it away again. He couldn’t bear to look back at Bill.
“I guess we’re the same then,” Dipper mumbled.
“Whoa whoa, too much information, Pines!” Bill scrambled to cover his imaginary
ears.
“No! Not about the dog, Bill, I’m serious!” Dipper snapped, pointing dagger
eyes at the other. “I mean…about having feelings for someone outside your
species,” he confided. Bill was struck speechless, staring in bewilderment at
the child rubbing his arm and hiding beneath his hat. “When I summoned you, I
just wanted one thing. But after everything we’ve done together,” he said,
rubbing the back of his neck and shifting his eyes back up to meet Bill’s, “I
can’t say my motives haven’t changed.”
“Pine Tree…” Bill squinted in disbelief. He took a swig from his drink and
wiped his eye, staring with astonishment and maybe a little bit of hope at
Dipper. “That’s gay,” he finally said with a self-amused smile in his eye.
Dipper scowled and chucked his hat across the table at Bill, hitting him dead
in the face and causing him to fall out of his chair into the floor. Bill was
howling with laughter and Dipper just groaned.
“I changed my mind; you’re the worst!” he grumbled, crossing his arms and
slumping in his chair. Bill jumped back into the air and split into five
smaller versions of himself, circling around Dipper’s head.
“Aw,”
“Come on–”
“Pine Tree.”
“Ya gotta–”
“Love me!”
“Stop!” Dipper swatted at the flock of Bills and covered his face with both
hands.
“You humans–”
“Like swarms of things,”
“Right?”
Dipper slipped from his chair, under the table, and emerged on the adjacent
side where he crawled out into the middle of the floor and stood with arms
crossed, staring grumpily at the swarm of demons (…or demon?) Bill reassembled
to his default form and hovered with a goofy expression across his face, arms
dangling in front of himself and top hat crooked on his head. He was drunk.
Which, actually, wasn’t much different from being sober.
“Pine Tree,” he said again, moving closer to the kid and putting both hands on
his shoulders. Dipper leaned away awkwardly from him. He smelled like liquor;
it was both parts intoxicating and revolting. He blinked and flicked his eyes
between Bill and the door. Then, Bill went upright as a ringing sound came from
his bow tie. He stretched open a pouch from himself similar to that of a
kangaroo and pulled a reallyold fashioned cell phone out.
“Y’ello?” he answered. Dipper stood frozen in place, still eying the door and
contemplating his chances of making it out alive. Bill laughed into the phone
and then made an agreeing noise before hanging up and dissolving the phone to
ashes on the spot. He stared at Dipper happily without a word until the kid was
finally made uncomfortable enough to ask about the caller.
“Who was that?”
“Myself. I was just letting me know that I’m ready to fulfill my end of our
deal!”
“You–I…what?” Dipper stammered, dropping his arms and raising an eyebrow. “But
I thought you said–”
“Fuck the other demons,” Bill growled, seizing the collar of Dipper’s shirt in
his hands and jerking him in for a sudden kiss. When he pulled back, Dipper
could see the fire blazing in his eye. It sent a chill down his spine. “Fuck
me.”
A good chill.
…
It didn’t take another word before Dipper was locked in a fierce and passionate
kiss with Bill, all inhibitions lost. They stumbled their way out the kitchen,
nearly tripping over each other while going up the stairs, Bill’s fingers
curled tight in Dipper’s hair and Dipper’s hands exploring Bill’s body in a
flurry of desire. Before they even reached the bedroom door, Dipper’s clothes
were already being shed.
His vest went first, abandoned on the railing of the stairs where it slid off
to the floor below and lay unwanted. Then, as he was reaching behind himself to
find the doorknob, Bill’s hands found their way underneath his thin shirt and
angled to tug it off over the boy’s head. Their kiss broke off for all of a
nanosecond while the shirt passed over his lips before they were connected
again in another ravenous make out session.
The door swung open behind them and the pressure with which Bill was forcing
his body against Dipper’s nearly knocked him to the ground. He stumbled back
and managed to catch his balance before kicking the door shut behind them. Too
lost in Bill’s thrall to be bothered locking it, he hoped no one would come
home and hear them and then decide to investigate.
When the backs of his knees hit the bed–his or Mabel’s, he didn’t know–he
collapsed backwards, dragging Bill down with him. The fevered flesh of his back
colliding with the cool sheets made his skin prickle all over and he kicked off
his shoes with a slight shudder as Bill ran his thumbs over his firm nipples.
His back arched and a breathy gasp escaped his lips under the demon’s touch; he
was warm and smooth and a little bit staticy–probably from arousal, Dipper
thought. Somewhere in the midst of things, Bill had also done away with the
obstructive jar containing Dipper’s soul. With an obvious lack of mouth or
genitalia, Bill decided to improvise. He traced his fingers all along the dips
and curves in other’s body, rubbing circles into his skin and adding a twist of
magic to give him a little bit of zest. Tiny blooms of red surfaced across
Dipper’s chest in the spots where Bill dotted his magic touch, earning more
stifled breaths and a bit of squirming from the other.
“Bill…” Dipper breathed as the demon began pinching and rolling the sensitive
flesh between his fingers. Bill grinned internally and sent a quick pulse of
mana through his skin, forcing another gasp from his pet, the sound of which
made him tingle with avarice that could only be described as demonic.
His head thrown back into the mattress and a hand clenched tightly in his
bangs, Dipper uttered a stream of archaic words jammed together in a rush. Bill
squeezed his eye shut and moaned lowly. Pulses of light spread through his
body. His aura grew more intense with each rushed word that fell from Dipper’s
experienced lips, the luminance brightening and dimming in waves. His hands
snaked upwards to the boy’s throat, coiling around it finger by finger until
his grasp was tight enough that he could feel the air coursing beneath with
each erratic breath he took. A flood of chills ran over Dipper at the
invigorating feeling.
He recited another line of Latin from memory that Bill had taught him before,
his voice breathy and weak with arousal. As he spoke, his hands shot down to
his shorts where he hastily undid the button and tugged at the zipper before
maneuvering out of them and kicking them across the room wherever they may
land. He toed out of his socks and reached for the waistband of his underwear,
but Bill stopped him before he could go any further.
Moving one hand down from his neck, Bill’s hand came to a rest on the clothed
bulge. He gave it a few fluid rubs, making Dipper take a breathless gasp.
Opening his eye half-mast, he gazed down at the kid panting heavily beneath
him; waiting, wanting, craving his mercy. If Bill had lips, he would have
licked them at the sight. It was delicious–his Pine Tree quite literally
piningfor him–and he couldn’t help but to glide his hands down the boy’s
stomach, making his way lower and moving back until he was sitting just before
Dipper’s growing erection. Dipper rolled his head to the side, watching with
lust-filled eyes as Bill palmed the hardening growth.
The world felt like a dream, like he was drifting indefinitely though a
weightless vacuum. Dipper’s head felt empty and light. His nerves were
hypersensitive to everything Bill was doing. Each touch felt surreal, hypnotic.
Bill took hold of the waistband, tugging slowly downward. What a tease, Dipper
thought, but Bill had only meant to savour the sight of the slow reveal; of
Dipper’s now fully hard cock springing free into the cool air. The feeling made
the boy shudder. Bill discarded the garment somewhere behind him, dropping it
to the floor without a care, and marveled at the erection before him. He
wrapped his fingers around the base and lazily dragged his hand up and down.
Dipper let out a soft moan and shifted around slightly in the bed. A thought
crossed the demon. He inspected his hand for a brief moment before deciding to
lubricate it via magic influence. Another smooth motion over the boy’s cock
made Dipper buck up into his hand, his whole body jerking shakily. He breathed
out a sigh and reached a hand down to caress Bill.
Which made the demon jump. Dipper’s hand landed softly on Bill’s side, sliding
gently down his edge, and Bill arched into his touch. His core flushed over and
a minute whimper managed to escape him. Pausing his movement, Dipper chuckled
at Bill’s reaction to his touch.
“Are your sides sensitive?” he asked with a smug grin. Bill cast his eye away
shyly. If he hadn’t been as drunk as he was, he may have snapped back at the
boy with an obvious and snarky remark, but Dipper felt empowered by the lack of
response and ran his thumb down Bill’s side again. Bill shivered, resting a
hand of his own over Dipper’s. His hand was trembling, Dipper noticed. The
demon visibly took a breath, despite not needing to breathe, and moved Dipper’s
hand himself. Seeing Bill shiver and blush as he pleasured himself with
Dipper’s hand made the boy’s cock twitch. He let out a faint gasp and used his
other hand to stroke himself.
“Ah–Pine Tree!” Bill choked out as Dipper’s thumb brushed against one of his
corners. A light bulb went off in Dipper’s head and he lit up with a grin,
taking control and gently gripping Bill’s corner. He gave it a soft squeeze and
the sound Bill made was…well, Dipper didn’t think there was a sweeter sound in
all the universe. It compelled him to do it again. He sat up and pulled Bill in
close, pressing him up against his torso, and pinched both of Bill’s lower
corners between his indexes and thumbs.
There was that sound again. So desperate and pleasured. It sounded nothing like
Bill, more like an inhuman shriek, demonic, but at the same time it was clear
that Bill liked it. His mind had blanked and his humanistic facade cracked,
allowing a bit of his true self to bleed through. As Dipper continually rubbed
Bill’s vertices, drawing more and more sounds out of him, Bill began to lose
control of his magic. His body became translucent, then–what Dipper could only
assume based on the multiple hues of grey–he cycled through an assortment of
colours. A variety of pictures, probably memories, then flashed over his body.
Surprisingly, a lot of them were of Dipper. Sleeping, playing with Mabel,
watching TV, singing in the mirror, getting…changed, having dinner, Bill was
always watching and it seemed he was very enamored with him. Dipper smiled. He
leaned forward and rested his chin against the demon.
Bill gazed down at the erection pressed to his body. He could feel it twitch
against him with every sound he made. Gingerly, he reached both hands in front
of himself and took hold of it. Dipper let out a small gasp as Bill slid his
hands along the shaft. In return, Dipper gave another light squeeze to Bill’s
corners. And then squeaked as Bill’s body began to vibrate.
It was faint but definitely there. Dipper clapped a hand over his mouth,
embarrassed at the noise he made, but his back was arching and he was
trembling. The feeling that shot through him was like ice and ran over his
being from head to toe.
“Ah!” he gasped, squeezing Bill tighter than he had meant to. Bill squeezed
back, his body tensing.
“Pine Tree,” he rasped. Dipper glanced down at him with teeth grit. “Say more,”
he pleaded, relaxing against the other’s chest again. A bit afraid to open his
mouth in fear that something embarrassing might come out again, Dipper scoured
his hazy mind for more Latin. When he finally found it, he opened his mouth to
speak and sure enough another pleasured groan came out. His face flushed over,
but he didn’t let it stop him from speaking the phrases for Bill. Word by word,
he ground out filthy commands impaired by his moaning. Bill’s inadvertent
vibrations became stronger as he progressed. The language combined with
Dipper’s moaning and stimulation on his corners was ruining him.
When Dipper finished the second line, Bill stopped him, placing a palm flat
against his chest.
“Kid…” he breathed hoarsely, “lay back.” Dipper did as he was told and relaxed
back into the bed once again. Unable to hover due to his loss of control on his
magic, Bill scooted back off of Dipper on his knees. He got between the boy’s
legs and lifted them up. “Hold them,” he ordered. Dipper did, locking his hands
underneath his knees. He watched Bill from over his heaving chest. The demon
had one hand on his cock and the other on his own vertex. After a few moments
of stroking, the hand on his corner abandoned its post and pressed a slick
finger to Dipper’s entrance. Dipper let out a small whimper. “Is this okay?”
Bill asked, surprisingly considerate.
“Y-Yeah,” Dipper exhaled, nodding his head (not that Bill was paying attention
to anywhere above his waist). With consent given, Bill let his finger gently
slip inside. A spark of pleasure coursed through Dipper and he abruptly spat a
rush of Latin, tightening around Bill’s finger and bowing his back.
Somewhere in the background of Bill’s moaning, a succession of thuds made
Dipper jump out of his skin. He hastily propped himself up on his hands to see
that some books had fallen off the bookshelf across the room (he also noted
that, thank god, he was in his own bed and not Mabel’s). Confused and curious,
he looked down at Bill who had his eye shut and was still a mess of colours,
images, vibrations, and moans. A thought crossed him and he decided to test
something.
Speaking another line of Latin phrases in an intentionally seductive voice, he
watched as a cup containing his writing pens mysteriously tipped over and a
waterfall of them crashed against the ground. He spoke again, reaching down to
rub against one of Bill’s corners. Bill moaned loud and this time, the lights
in the room flickered on and off. Bill’s magic was going awry. He was too drunk
and too pleasured to control it. Dipper started to grin and say another stream
of words, but was caught off guard by Bill’s finger curling inside him. He
collapsed back into the bed, squirming and moaning louder and louder as Bill
moved his finger in and out. The demon stroked his cock in time with the smooth
motions. After a moment he decided to add in another finger into him. He had
Dipper mewling and writhing under his touch, completely wrapped around his
finger.
But Bill wasn’t done.
A void space opened up at his core and a slew of black tendrils slithered out.
Wriggling in each direction, a pair of them reached out to grasp Dipper’s cock.
The boy jumped and tried to sit up, but another of the tendrils coiled around
his throat and forced him down. It throbbed against his throat, sending shivers
of pleasure down his spine. He bucked his hips into the touch of the ones at
his groin as another pair wrapped around each wrist, pinning him to the bed. A
gurgled moan bubbled up from his throat as the tendril wrapped around his neck
slithered into his mouth and down his throat, stretching it wider.
Bill mused at the sight. Finally, he removed his fingers from inside the kid,
making Dipper shudder, and quickly replaced the emptiness with another
tentacle, the thickness of which tore a moan so loud from Dipper that it could
have woke the dead. His entire body convulsed, seizing up and–the tendril
around his cock wrapped tighter, almost hurting.
“I’m not quite done with you,” Bill said, “you can’t come yet.” Dipper whined
around the tentacle in his mouth in protest. “Don’t worry, just a little bit
longer. You look great, kid…just so you know.” Dipper’s toes curled; he felt a
bit shy on display like that.
Both his hands free, Bill began stroking himself. Gliding all up and down his
sides, he watched as Pine Tree was pleasured at his will; his holes filled,
pinned down, strangling for breath, red in the face–in all Bill’s time, he
wasn’t sure there was a more glorious display than this.
Suddenly, Dipper bit down on the tentacle in his mouth. Bill sharply retracted
it from his mouth in pain and the moment he did, Dipper blurted out a long,
unending verse of the filthy Latin that made Bill so hot. Books, papers, pens,
stuffed animals–all kinds of random items in the room began swirling around the
room in the air. Pictures on the wall shook, the window panes rattled, an
incredible mess was made. Before his very eyes, Dipper watched as Bill pulsed
brighter and brighter, flashing through a wide array of visuals, before he
started to come apart piece by piece. Dipper’s jaw dropped open momentarily
before he regained his composure and continued reading from memory. His eyes
were wide with awe; Bill’s bricks split apart, leaving only a semblance of his
former shape behind. He was moaning loud and digging his nails into Dipper’s
thighs, making Dipper ache even harder with the need to come. Each piece of the
demon, aside from the piece containing his eye, began spinning independently as
if they each had a mind of their own. Which, actually, wouldn’t be the least
thing possible considering it was Bill Cipher.
Finally, he could stand it no more. Dipper needed to come. Watching Bill come
literallyundone like that was too much to bear. He swallowed hard and commanded
in a powerful voice, “Bill Cipher, expletio!”
The room burned a searing white as Bill’s hellfire enveloped them both, sending
a tidal wave of a hot static coursing through Dipper’s entire being. The
tendrils around his throat and wrists tightened, the one inside him pushing in
deeper and stiffening up. He bit his lip and desperately worked to free one
wrist. Unable to peel it off, he strained against the force, managing to reach
down to his cock and give it a few last strokes that pushed him over the edge
and released the torrent of pressure that had welled up inside him.
The light faded. Bill’s minced form crumbled to the floor, pieces of his body
spilling everywhere in disarray. Dipper panted hard, his head dizzy and body
limp with rapture. Neither one spoke, both too busy bathing in the afterglow of
their sex. It was simple. It was bliss.
…
Dipper was the first to come to, sitting up with a jerk as a knock came to his
door. Some more of Bill’s pieces were nudged off the bed by the movement.
“Dipper,” Grunkle Stan’s voice sounded. Terror surged throughout Dipper when he
remembered that he hadn’t locked the door behind them.
“Don’t come in!” he reflexively shouted, scrambling to cover himself with a
mess of blankets. Bill’s eye opened halfway, watching the door lazily without a
care. It didn’t matter to him whether or not he was seen like this, he was too
hungover to give a damn. Glancing at the clock on his nightstand, Dipper
realized he and Bill had fallen asleep where they finished and it was now early
the next morning. Stan was probably wondering why he hadn’t gotten ready for
work yet. “Dang it, Bill, I slept in,” he muttered quietly, not actually
directing the words at the other. Bill didn’t respond anyway.
“Why are your clothes scattered everywhere around the shack? We gotta open
soon! Get out here and pick them up.”
“Uh, in a minute! I-I’m kinda–I’m not ready yet!” he yelled back. He floundered
to get out of bed, tripping over some of the bedsheets and face-planting into
the floorboards. Bill snickered at his blunder and Dipper shot him a glare.
The sound of the doorknob turning made Dipper’s heart just about entirely stop.
In a last-minute panic to hide the scene, he grabbed a handful of blankets and
threw them over the pieced up remains of Bill’s body, leaving himself mostly
exposed.
His great uncle barged in and immediately shielded his eyes.
“Ah! Geez, kid, you could have said you were indecent!”
Dipper internally sighed with relief, at least he was front-side down and Bill
couldn’t be seen.
“I’m sorry. I tried to warn you.”
“Whatever. Just get ready. We’re open in twenty minutes and Mabel’s not here,
so you gotta fill her spot,” he said as he turned and slammed the door shut.
Crisis averted.
He untensed and dropped his head, mumbling into the floorboards about what an
idiot he was.
“Cheer up, Pine Tree,” Bill said, pushing the covers out of his face, “you just
had the time of your life! And you didn’t get caught.” Dipper frowned. “I don’t
know about you, but I feel pretty great right now! Besides this hangover
anyway.”
“Bill, you should go.”
“Rude.” Out of thin air, Bill spawned a pine cone and hit Dipper in the face
with it.
“Ow! Dude, what the heck?”
“Now you are pregnate!”
“Pregnant–what?” he examined the pine cone and gave Bill a look of utter
confusion. “This is a pine cone.”
“And you’re a pine tree! Pine trees grow from pine cones. And human sex ends
with reproduction, right? You are pregnate.”
“I…whatever. Anyway, I don’t mean to be rude. It’s just that I’ve gotta get to
work or…I’d ask you to stay,” he admitted with a tiny smile. Bill smiled back,
moving his disembodied arm over the space where his chest would be if he was a
singularity.
“How sweet, I’m touched! Well, I think you’re more touched than I am,” Bill
laughed. Dipper rolled his eyes and shook his head lightheartedly. “Alright,
Pines, I’m outta here. Let me know when you wanna see me again, I’ll be looking
forward to it!” His form snapped back together, making him whole again, and the
jar returned to its rightful place around his center. He stood on his feet and
walked over to Dipper. Leaning into his ear, he whispered, “Look, kid, you’re
important to me, okay? Just remember that.” Then, he lept back, pointed finger
guns at him, chimed “later, sucker!” and vanished.
The deal was finally done and by the look of it, he had Bill exactly where he
wanted him. It was somewhat of a relief, but he couldn’t help being a bit sad
that the main event was over. Still, now that he had Bill wrapped around his
finger, he had hope that there would more in the future. And he wanted that.
Bill had become important to him too.
Sighing, he picked himself up off the floor, scratched at the release that had
dried on his belly overnight, grabbed a fresh set of clothes, and headed for
the shower.
***** Nightmares Without Insurance *****
Chapter Notes
See the end of the chapter for notes
The shack was once again filled with laughter and optimism. Mabel had come home
the day before. She’d run through the house bouncing off the walls and
screaming excitedly about her new vampire boyfriend. Dipper couldn’t help but
roll his eyes when she hung her hand-made frame with his number, written on a
napkin and glued right in the middle, on the wall right above her headboard. It
was a very Mabel thing to do and honestly, he missed it more than he was going
to let on, but it was a lot. She was happy and despite her overkill, he
wouldn’t have had it any other way. Besides - he looked over to the bunyip head
sitting on his nightstand and smiled, a light blush coming to his cheeks - he
had little room to speak.
Today, they were laying head-to-foot across the couch and watching the first
installment of ‘Believe in Yourself’ at Mabel’s request. Dipper didn’t have any
reason to argue, he was just glad to have his sister back home. He reached an
arm around her and pulled her into a tight hug, which seemed out of nowhere to
Mabel. The girl stuck out her tongue and made a bleating noise until he let go
and then she laughed and ruffled his hair in response.
“What’s up, bro-bro?” she said after pausing the movie.
“It’s nice to have you back,” he admitted, casting his eyes to the ceiling
which was suddenly more interesting.
“Yeah, but I’m gonna miss seeing Edwin every day.” Dipper shook his head.
“I know,” he grunted. There was a pause where Dipper flicked his eyes back to
his sister’s and furrowed his brow in thought before he spoke again. “But
taking on that demon was a bad idea without some sort of back up plan. I mean,
you got seriously hurt, don’t you think that was kind of a wake up call?”
“Aw come on,” Mabel chuckled, “it wasn’t that bad.”
“Mabel, you could have died back there!”
Dropping her cheerful demeanor, Mabel sat up in her spot and frowned at him.
“Dipper, you could have died. We could have died fighting Gideon, we could have
died fighting Bill - none of what the Mystery Twins do is ever safe! Why are
you making a big deal about this now?”
“I guess because this time, you actually really did get hurt. Mabel, I supposed
to protect you and I failed at that. I can’t let that happen again, I can’t
lose you. What do you say we get a little insurance?”
“What kind of insurance do you mean? You’re not thinking of making a deal with
Bill, are you? You know how he tricked you la-”
“Yes,” Dipper cut in snappily, stabbing her with an icy glare. His sharp tone
made Mabel jump. She stared wide-eyed at him and blinked with surprise. “I know
how he tricked me last time,” he grumbled, “but I’m not going to make a deal
with Bill for this. I’ll look into another demon. But we have to make sure this
doesn’t happen again.” He hesitated before continuing. “Because next time...
next time you might not make it back alive.”
Mabel’s face dropped, the realization hitting her like a brick. Dipper had to
turn his attention away from the look of shock, horror, and sadness in her
eyes. She stared at him for a few moments before looking down at her brother’s
fidgeting hands and heaving a sigh.
“But what about you? You’ll get protection for both of us, right? I don’t wanna
lose you either,” she said, lowering her voice and taking her brother’s hands
in her own, but Dipper still didn’t look back at her.
“I’ll be fine, I promise.”
“But Dipper--!”
“--Just... trust me, okay?” He glanced down at his arms where the scars from
the protection runes he carved for Bill’s summoning had healed over and left
feint discolouration in their place. “I’ll be fine.” Mabel squeezed his hands,
giving a short breath of relief. Her trusting nature was a blessing at times
like this, he wouldn’t have to explain himself. Where would he even start if he
did? He for sure would have to exempt the... explicit details.
Eventually, he looked back up to his sister who was giving him a tiny
reassuring smile, which he then returned, before Mabel blurted out “awkward
sibling hug!” and jerked him into a suffocating embrace. After the initial
surprise, he quickly hugged her back and chuckled.
They shared a smile and Mabel unpaused the movie.
...
Later that very night, Dipper’s bed was empty. Shadows crept along the walls as
the silhouette of a young boy obscured the moonbeams streaming through the
windows. He stealthed through the house, tip-toeing down the stairs and out the
back door. With Mabel home again, he didn’t want to risk her finding out what
was going on between them. Whether or not she could see Bill was irrelevant, he
needed to keep their relationship private, especially after her remark earlier.
It was obvious to him that she still believed Bill was their enemy.
Once he was outside, Dipper released the breath he didn’t realize he was
holding and readjusted his vest. He reached inside to make double-sure he’d
brought the journal, straightening out his back when he touched it, and set off
into the forest.
After a bit of walking, he settled down in a small area and went to fix his
hair. A light blush fell over his face along with a little smile. He brushed
some stray hairs back into place, made sure his hat was on straight, and
checked over his outfit before snatching a sharp rock off the forest floor and
etching a triangle into the bark of a redwood. As he drew the eye, he felt his
heart thump in his chest and body tingle with anticipation.
“Bill?” he said, rubbing the back of his head and staring at the ground.
Butterflies fluttered in his belly, his smile widened to a grin. “I’d like to
see you again, i-if you’re not busy or anything.” His thumbs twiddled as he
stepped back from the carving to give the demon a little space to come through.
It caught him by surprise when Bill darted out, grabbing his face with both
hands, and pressed against his lips for a kiss. It nearly knocked him backwards
off his feet; as he stumbled to catch himself, his hands wrapped around the
demon’s body and pulled him closer. Bill’s body was so warm.
It felt like home.
It made everything alright.
They didn’t speak for a few drawn out moments, relishing in each other’s
presence and embrace. Dipper smiled into the connection. The kiss tasted like
love.
Bill was the one to break away first. He gazed at Dipper with a happiness that
was unlike any he’d ever worn. It was practically hypnotic, Dipper thought as
he gazed back.
“I gotta admit, kid, I was sorta waiting for you,” he chimed, threading his
fingers between Dipper’s.
“Oh yeah?” Dipper smiled, feeling another thump in his chest.
“Well, I gotta keep myself busy, but the moment I heard your voice I dropped
everything and jumped right into your dimension,” he said, extending his arms
excitedly. “That lady is probably not going to be too happy that I left her
husband half-resurrected. But what do I care? I’ve got places to be. Zombies
aren’t so bad once they devour your brain. Then you can’t feel the pain as they
shred open your insides for the main course!”
Dipper shook his head and rolled his eyes - there was no changing Bill, but he
wouldn’t have it any other way.
“You’re really something else, Bill,” he laughed.
“She said she wanted her husband ‘alive again’ and he technically is, so I held
up my end. I don’t see the problem there,” the demon shrugged smugly.
“Yeah, well... anyways, there’s sort of something I wanted to ask you.”
“Shoot,” said Bill as he reclined back into the air and floated in circles
around Dipper’s head.
“It’s about Mabel. You see, she came home the other day - which I’m sure you
already knew - and... I don’t know, I’m kinda worried about her. I don’t want
something like that to ever happen again to her, you know? I’ve got you
protecting me, but what about her?”
“I can watch Shooting Star too, no problem,” he replied simply, spawning his
cane and twirling it in his fingers.
“I don’t know, man... it’s just-” he rubbed the back of his head and stuffed
his other hand in his pocket, “she doesn’t trust you, and I don’t think she
would understand - you know... us.”
Bill stopped in front of him again and straightened up.
“She’s gonna have to find out sooner or later, Pine Tree, and she’ll have to
get used to me.”
“I know, but it’s just - not now. I’m not ready for that. She wouldn’t
understand, especially while she doesn’t trust you. Just give me some time to
ease into it, okay? For now I think we should ask-”
“Pine Tree, I’m beginning to think you’re embarrassed of me,” Bill interrupted,
crossing his arms and strengthening a glare on him. “You knew Stan couldn’t see
me the other day and you still covered me up before he came in. Don’t say you
didn’t know because I explicitly told you before that no one besides you can
see me, I’m a mindscape demon.”
“What? No! Look, Bill it’s not about that, okay, I just want to get protection
for Ma-”
“And you know what? I got over my problems with the other demons to be with
you, so I think you can grant me the same respect.”
“Okay, okay, I’ll tell Mabel about us sometime next week, but right now-”
“Next week?! Do you think this is a game, Pine Tree? Because I can assure you,
I am very serious right now.” Bill was slowly shifting colours. A shadowy
colour that Dipper identified as red was beginning to come over him.
“No, okay? I’m sorry, I didn’t mean make you think I’m ashamed of you. I swear
it’s not about that.”
“Then what is it about, huh?”
“That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you!” Dipper shouted. He realized he’d
raised his voice when Bill squinted at him even harder and quickly tried to
redeem himself by lowering it again and running a hand through his bangs. “I’m
sorry. I’m just worried about Mabel, okay?”
“I said I’d watch the brat, so what’s your next excuse?”
Dipper took a deep breath to calm his nerves before continuing, “I want to get
a different demon to protect her.” He immediately regretted saying that,
however, because Bill’s entire body ignited in tongues of flame. Strangely
enough, though, he didn’t act on his obvious rage and instead continued staring
down at the kid.
“Alright, and what do you suggest? Not many demons have influence on your world
like I do, and even still I need a body to do anything worthwhile.” Dipper
pulled out the journal from where it was tucked away in his vest and flipped
open to a page depicting a menacing looking demon with horns like a ram and
morning stars dangling from cuffs around its arms; instead of hands were claws
and its body was like smoke. He pointed at the image for Bill.
“I read here that the demon Bartemaus is one of the most powerful and feared
demons, but his summoning ritual is too complex for even me. Plus, it says he
doesn’t take too kindly to... ‘whimpy’ looking summoners,” he grumbled at the
last bit and bit the inside of his cheek. “So I thought maybe you could help me
out and vouch for me.”
For an awkwardly long time, Bill was silent. His flame extinguished and he
dropped his arms, staring at Dipper with a look of disbelief. Finally, Dipper
was unable to stand the silence and questioned him. Bill lowered to be level
with Dipper’s eyes. He was uncomfortably close - which was something Dipper
never thought he’d have to say about Bill again.
“You’re asking me to go back to my dimension and ask one of the very demons
that had their fun making my existence miserable to do a job that I could do
myself for a fleshbag I honestly couldn’t care less about? Are you fucking
kidding me right now? Because there’s no way you’re serious.”
Dipper was speechless. His face paled and his stomach dropped clear to his
feet. The night had suddenly become terrifyingly silent as if Bill’s anger had
caused every animal and insect to drop dead all at once. The very trees
themselves seemed shocked at the exchange.
“You can’t even answer me. I don’t believe this.” Bill threw his arms up and
turned away. His hands balled into fists and he grounded, tapping his foot
aggrivatedly on the forest floor. “Pine Tree, I’ve been alive a long fucking
time and this is single-handedly the most selfish thing I have ever seen in all
of my existence.”
“Bill, I... I’m sorry-”
“You’re sorry? Oh, you’re sorry - well, that just fixes everything, doesn’t it?
You can forget about me watching over your brat, that’s for sure. Call the jerk
yourself if you’re so desperate for help.”
With those words, a knife wrenched into Dipper’s gut. His blood felt hot like
he’d never felt before, his stomach was queasy like he might throw up.
How dare he.
“I’m selfish?” he spat, “You’re willing to let my sister die all because you
can’t face your bullies!” Bill’s eye opened wide and he turned around to face
the kid once again, his pupil narrow as a needle. Dipper’s fists were clenched,
his face was as red as a beet, and there was a fire in his eyes burning hotter
than the deepest pits of hell. “You think you’re an ‘all knowing, all powerful’
demon, but you’re scared. You pick on humans because you have this desperate
desire to dish out the same kind of suffering you can’t stand up to yourself.
You pick on us because you can’t handle knowing that you’re exactly what they
always told you you were. You’re weak and you can’t even admit it. All I needed
was for you to do one little thing for me - for my sister - because I’m not
always strong enough to protect her. I told you that she doesn’t trust you and
that I’m not ready to explain our relationship yet but never think of anyone
but yourself. You’re more ashamed of me than I am of you, you hypocrite! What
the heck is wrong with you? You weren’t like this before! You would do anything
for me, tell me anything I wanted to know - why are you being so selfish about
this now?”
Like a walking volcano, venomous words erupted from Dipper’s mouth. He marched
back and forth in a line, swinging his arms around wildly in his fury. Bill
said nothing, didn’t even move. He watched Dipper use the sharp rock he’d used
to carve his image into the tree before to deface the image now, scratching
lines through it and stabbing it and finally pitching the rock deep into the
forest - a throw like he’d never been capable of in his life. And then he said
the meanest thing he could think of, something that bubbled up in his chest and
exploded from his mouth like a nuke.
“You’re nothing but a nightmare!”
And when Dipper turned around to glare down at Bill again, expectant of a
response...
It clicked.
Any semblance of anger that Bill had had, faded in an instance. He dropped his
arms and stared silently back at the kid. Too angry to notice the flicker of
emotion in Bill’s eye, Dipper threw his fists down and barked “well?!” at him
in attempt to pull a response - anger, indifference, defensiveness, anything -
from him. But Bill remained without a word, the only indication he made that
he’d even heard him was crossing his arms and furrowing his brow at him.
“Oh great, and now you’re giving me the silent treatment. Just what I need -
more secrets. You know, just a minute ago you were upset that I didn’t answer
you but now when I want a response, you can just stand there and look
disappointed at me like it’s no big deal. More hypocrisy!”
“I have nothing to say to you, Dipper,” Bill finally said. He looked down at
his palm and curled his fingers. Casting his eye away into the dark forest, he
made a decision. One he wished he didn’t have to make. Taking one last look at
the fuming boy adjacent to him, he rolled his eye and vanished in a puff of
smoke.
“Bill! Bill Cipher, get back here!” Dipper shouted. He turned to talk to the
drawing on the tree but was hit with an icy reminder when he saw that it had
been desecrated. He looked up to the treetops, staring at the half-moon high in
the sky above him. “Bill I’m not done with you! Bill!” A chilly breeze washed
over his shoulders, the leaves rustling at its passing. “Bill...” Dipper
uttered, calmer. Frost formed in his blood, he shivered at the realization of
what he just did. His attention turned back to the ruined carving. The longer
he stared at it, tears began to form in his eyes. “Bill, I’m sorry,” he said,
voice barely a whisper. He rubbed an arm over his eyes, wiping the tears away.
He wouldn’t let them fall - there was still time to fix this, to make it up to
him. Bill just... needed a little time, that’s all. Yeah.
Dipper gathered himself and turned on his way back to the Mystery Shack. It was
late, he needed to get some rest. Something told him, though, that he was going
to be up all night.
Chapter End Notes
     Bartemaus is a reference to the trilogy ;) high five if anyone got
     that!
***** Unforeseen Consequences *****
Chapter Notes
See the end of the chapter for notes
Dipper laid on his back with his hands crossed over his stomach, staring up at
the knotted wooden beams over his head. He watched as flies buzzed around and
listened to the rustling of the trees in the warm summer winds through the open
window. Mabel left it open for him to ‘get some fresh air’ while she hung out
with Candy and Grenda.
It had been days.
He’d waited and waited, the seconds seemed to take eternity to tick by. There
was no sign of Bill. Dipper had hardly moved from the spot he was in except to
use the bathroom and occasionally to get yet another can of pitt soda or
another mini-tub of ice cream. Mabel used every trick in the book to get him
out of bed - encouragement, threats, bribery - but nothing worked. He would
just roll over and put a pillow over his head, and if she tried to remove it,
he would just turn back and stare at her with a chillingly empty gaze until she
gave it back or left. His eyes burned with exhaustion but no matter how hard he
tried, he couldn’t sleep longer than five minutes at a time. Part of him hoped
this was Bill’s doing, but he knew that if that were true, he would instead be
having an endless stream of nightmares instead of insomnia.
He turned his head to the side and reviewed his desperate attempts to get
Bill’s attention; the walls were scratched and lined with drawings and carvings
of Bill, papers scattered across the floor with his image drawn in pencil, pen,
marker, highlighter - he tried anything he could get his hands on. The flurry
of emotions he felt were enough to make him wish a zombie would drop by and rip
his brains out.
At first he was scared - he knew he’d royally messed up and there was a looming
terror that Bill would exact his revenge on him eventually, or even worse that
he would never come back and it would ruin all of Dipper’s hard work along with
breaking his heart.
Then he was overcome with sadness - it didn’t take a professional to know that
Dipper was in a rut of depression. He couldn’t eat and anything he tried to
hold down would just come back up five minutes later. He hadn’t slept more than
a wink since that night and he feared he was going to die of exhaustion any
moment.
But the worst of it was anger - Bill was so selfish for refusing to help him
get protection for Mabel and then refusing to do it himself! Something had
changed in that demon recently and whatever it was was downright infuriating.
Some of the drawings Dipper had done to try calling him back were shredded up
or scribbled out and, on occasion, burned. Wherever Bill had left to, he took a
piece of Dipper’s sanity with him. And without his guidance, the world around
him seemed foggy and humid. There was nothing Dipper hated more than the
unknown and Bill left him without a clue. Secrets, secrets, and more secrets.
The house shook as Dipper pounded a fist against the wall. His arm was shaking
- no, his whole body was shaking. His teeth were grit and his breath cut short
and stifled. Sweat beaded at his forehead and under his arms. This had gone on
long enough, it was time to have a word with that hateful triangle one way or
another.
He assembled every ounce of fight he had left in him and pulled himself out of
bed. Still a bit wobbly on his feet, he shook off the dizziness and hunger
pangs to go search for the materials needed to make a summoning alter. This
time, he was going to use Bill’s alter, if he had to slay Gideon to find out
what it was.
Luckily, all he needed to do was ask Soos. Since the handyman had been there
the day Gideon called Bill back into the world, he was able to explain, in
startling detail, what he’d seen. Candles, a chalk wheel, a photo of a target
with the eyes crossed out, and of course he would need to use the chant. A
chill passed over his body, those words were going to taste sour in his mouth
but he was ready to sacrifice an arm and a leg to talk to Bill again.
It was fortunate enough that Mabel was out all day with her friends as he
wouldn’t need to venture out into the forest someplace private to get this
done. Once he had all the supplies (his picture of choice was one of himself),
he spread everything out on the floor and began drawing the Cipher wheel that
was depicted in the journal. It was somewhat sloppy in the end despite his best
efforts. His dexterity was at an all-time low between the sleepless nights,
unwillful starvation, and his emotional suffering. But it would have to do. He
lit the candles haphazardly and ended with the one directly in front of him,
then began to recite the chant.
“Triangulum entangulum,” he began. The words nearly made him gag at the sheer
bitterness. He felt his eyes well with tears that he fought to hold back.
“Veneforis dominus ventium.” This time he did gag, doubling over into the
circle and clutching his stomach with an unsteady hand. He was so angry and
scared and nervous and regretful, and it was like every single emotion was
trying to break out of him all at once. This was worse than any kind of hell
Bill or any other demon could possibly put him through - it was worse than when
his soul had been pulled from his body; this pain would never go away unless he
fixed this. Wiping his eyes, he sat back up and took a deep breath, speaking
with a wavering break in his voice, “Veneforis venetisarium.”
Miraculously, he began to feel the familiar shock of static coursing through
his brain as he was overcome with an energy that took hold of him and
puppeteered his body, throwing him back and forcing a stream of ciphered Latin
to pour from his lips. A few everlasting moments later, there he was - Bill
Cipher - in the... well, not exactly in the flesh, but there in front of him.
His arms were crossed and eye cast to the wall, a clear flood of hatred burning
in his gaze. He spoke not a word.
“Bill!” Dipper called out, his voice cracked with anger and sadness and relief
and fear. The demon didn’t acknowledge him, he continued to hover above the
alter with a disgust that could have killed. “Bill, I-”
He choked on his words, unsure of what he wanted to say. Despite the countless
hours he spent cursing him and sobbing over him and pleading for forgiveness,
he never really thought of what to say when - if - he ever saw Bill again. He
had to pause, eyes shifting between all of Bill’s features - his texture, his
eye, his hat, bowtie, arms, the jar containing Dipper’s soul draped around his
shoulders... never did any of this seem so surreal and distant. He swallowed
hard and sat back on his knees.
“Bill... I’m sorry,” he finally muttered, hands clenched into fists on his
thighs. The brim of his hat shadowed his face as he bowed his head.
Bill said nothing. Didn’t even shift his gaze.
“Bill, please. I need you. You’re my clarity, I swear. You aren’t a nightmare,
you’re the best daydream I’ve ever had. It’s...” he gulped down a frog that had
lept into his throat and released a breath, “It’s magic when you’re beside me.
I just can’t get you off my mind.” Dipper knelt forward in a position of
worship, his forehead resting against the floorboards. Tears began to flow down
his cheeks and onto the old wooden floors. He felt like an angel with no wings,
held down and bound to the Earth craving liberation to fly with his, for lack
of better words, god. “I haven’t eaten or showered or slept in days. I miss our
talks; you would tell me anything I wanted to know. I wrote all of it down in
the journal! I want... I want that back.”
“Yeah, Pine Tree?” Bill finally - finally - said with a chilling calmness.
Dipper snapped up at the sound of his voice, eyes bright with a spark of hope
yet still saturated with tears. Bill was staring down at him, nothing but
unmistakable disappointment in his eye. He continued, “Is that what you want?
You want me to be your open book so you have free access to anything you want
to know? Is that it? That's all you care about.” Dipper’s jaw dropped wide
open, horror spilled like ink in his eyes. This was it, he blew it. At some
point, Bill had realized his true intentions from the very beginning and now he
was going to lose so much more than he’d ever thought he’d gambled for.
“No,” he sputtered, scrambling to his feet frantically, “no no no no, Bill, I’m
sorry! I-”
“Yeah, you are sorry. You're just another sorry fleshbag who'll do anything to
get answers. Well you know what? I'm sorry too. I’m sorry I wasted my time
pitying you.”
“Bill, please don’t do this! You mean so much more to me than any answers I
could ever have. I-I didn’t know you back then like I do now, it’s different!”
“It is different. You could have told me the truth at any time after that, but
you still wanted your answers to your stupid mysteries. Everything these past
weeks has been nothing but a joke to you. You used me. And for once, I’m tired
of playing games.” Bill jerked the jar off his body, snapping the string in the
process. He looked into it with pure, unyielding hatred. “I shouldn’t have
expected anything less from a human. Those other demons are right, humans and
demons aren’t meant to mix. We’re just too different, and I was stupid to ever
think otherwise.” Dipper was struck speechless, gaping at the other with
disbelief. His veins were like ice, mind screamingpleas for Bill to stop, to
forgive him and go back to the way things were. Tears fell like waterfalls from
his eyes and he stumbled back with an oof as Bill chucked the jar at him,
hitting him right in the gut. Dipper reflexively caught it and held it where it
struck, never looking away from the demon. “Take your stupid soul back;
refund's on me.”
“Please, Bill, don’t go! I don’t want to say goodbye, I... I love y-”
“And don’t ever summon me again,” Bill snapped, smashing the alter with a bolt
of his lightening and singeing his entry in the journal with the flick of his
hand. Dipper fell back, startled by it, and quivered in his place.
Bill gave Dipper one last solemn glare, arms crossed and light dimmed.
“I really thought you were different, Pine Tree, I really did.”
A short moment of grief and he was gone. This was it. The end.
For at least five minutes, Dipper didn’t move. He was frozen solid with an
almost lethal amount of shock. Chills ran up and down his spine, spreading
numbness over his whole body while twinges of pain flickered every time his
heart beat. When he did finally move, he hunched over, arms wrapped tight
around his stomach, and wept with the same open-mouthed face of terror he’d had
while it was happening. Staring down at the jar containing his soul in front of
him, he watched as the center of the wisp darkened from a brilliant white to a
smokey grey.
What had he done?
After another good five minutes when his eyes began to dry simply because he’d
run out of tears to shed, he reached forward and took the container in hand,
undoing the cap and allowing the spirit to flow back into the body. It was a
warm, sweet feeling like a summer breeze. Slowly, the world began to fill with
colour again and there could have been nothing more bleak.
Despite his best efforts, Dipper Pines was suffering unforeseen consequences.
Chapter End Notes
     Aaaand scene! Girlf said I should scrap the last line but fuckit bc I
     personally like title drops! Watch out for the sequel to this fic
     coming soon! (Soon as in, I already have the prologue written and am
     halfway done with chapter 1. But I'm gonna let this fic marinate for
     a while). This fic is complete; please please PLEASE let me know
     detailed thoughts on it as it is my first write-as-I-go fanfic that
     I've ever fully completed, aaand because I really appreciate comments
     hehe. Constructive criticism is welcome. Thanks for reading!
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