Hello! This is my first Gravity Falls story ever so I hope its okay. I got the idea 'Pines Hunts Solo'. You should go read it too!

Disclaimer: sadly I am not Alex Hirsh or Disney and I don't own Gravity Falls.

The house was large and dark, double story like the Shack and no less safe. It was surrounded by forest which seemed to be happy and full of life just a few minutes ago but was now empty and cold. It reminded Dipper of a set for a B-grade horror movie that had been long abandoned.

Why would Ford ask him to come all the way out in the middle of nowhere and to a creep house no less?

Although Dipper had turned down Ford's offer of an apprenticeship the man still enjoyed Dipper's company. They could often be found together under the Shack researching different little anomalies around the town of Gravity Falls. It was something that neither Stan nor Mabel had much interest in so they preferred to stay upstairs.

Ford had been away for the past week and no one had heard from him. It was normal for the old explorer to go out searching for new mysteries, but he would usually take Dipper with him as a helper or at least tell Stan where he was going. The twins had been worried sick trying to find the old author even his brother was beginning to look worried. Stan and Ford had become closer than the younger twins could have ever imagined after they came back from their trip on the Stan-O-Wars II. They would have love to keep going on adventures on their beloved boat but with Stan's failing memory they thought it was best to set their sailing aside to go back to somewhere more recognisable for Stan's sake.

Dipper had been surprised to find a note inside the latest crime fiction novel, on his bedside table, instructing him to go to a house in the woods that Dipper hadn't even known was out here. He thought he had traversed every inch of Gravity Falls, but then again Ford had lived in the Falls for more than a summer.

The twins were turning fourteen at the end of the summer. They had come back to the quiet town in Oregon share the summer with their grunkles. Their second summer in Gravity Falls was proving to be less eventful without the looming threat of the Oddpocalypse, which they were thankful for.

Dipper opened the front door curiously; jumping as it creaked loudly. It echoed through the empty corridors of the shack as it swung on its hinges.

"Um, hello? Great-uncle Ford? Are you there? I got your message… I think…" He stuttered, stepping inside. It was like the house didn't want him to sneak around it; every time he stepped forward a loud creak break the silence he and scare him half to death. He decided that trying to be quiet as he walked further into the darkness was futile.

"You're here Dipper… Good… Good… Come up stairs." The voice made him jump; it was coming from the dark void of the upstairs rooms. Dipper smiled as he recognised the voice. Ford sounded gruffer than usual as if he hadn't had sleep in days which knowing him that was probably the reason.

"Great-uncle Ford! I'm so glad you're here, we've all been worried sick; even Grunkle Stan has been wondering where you are and we-"

"Yes, Dipper come up here, I want to show you something." Dipper could tell the man was getting irritated, the older twins weren't known for their patience.

"What did you find Great-uncle Ford?" Dipper asked, making his way up the stairs. Though he peered into the darkness intently, he still couldn't see any sign of the older man. He was a disembodied voice in the gloom.

"Come and see. I found something really…interesting… come on, Pine Tree, it's about Bill."

Dipper stopped in his tracks, that last part didn't quite sound like his oldest Grunkle. He began to run theories through his head trying to think of a reason his Grunkle would sound so out of character. Only one person he knew called him 'Pine Tree'; Bill Cipher. It made Dipper's blood run cold at the thought of the deranged dream demon. He took a step down the stairs, gripping the baluster like a drowning man.

"Erm, I think Mable and Grunkle Stan will want to see it too. You know how Mable is when she gets kept out of the loop." He called up laughing nervously as he crept backwards down the stairs. "So I'll just…"

Ford appeared at the top of the stairs, a grin spread across his face. In the darkness Dipper couldn't made out the man's eyes but he was sure now that they were yellow, snake-like eyes. Ford never smiled like that.

"Where are you going, Dipper? I wanted you to come up here." He drooled taking one slow deliberate step down the stairs his smile unwavering.

"Gr-great-uncle Ford, I don't like this, it's not funny; can you stop… Please?" Dipper stuttered taking a few more steps down.

"But Dipper, pain is hilarious." The voice hadn't change, he still sounded like Ford but those words were all too familiar. A shriek of laughter filled the air. The words that had come out of his Grunkle were wrong. Grunkle Ford would never say that pain was funny or that anything else that dire was anywhere near amusing. Dipper stumbled back in shock, the staircase tilting as he almost tumbled the rest of the way down. Fortunately, he still had hold of the handrail to steady him. "Whoa, careful there, Pine Tree, wouldn't want you to crack your skull open." Ford laughed sinisterly. "I need that brain."

There was no longer any doubt that Bill had taken control of his Grunkle. But how? There was no point in figuring it out now. He had to get the hell out of here.

He turned and ran down the few remaining steps, leaping to the bottom and making a sprint for to door, which was still open.

He didn't make it very far.

Despite his Grunkle's old age, Bill forced Ford's body to leap over the banister to land in front of the boy. Dipper fell back in surprise and immediately tried to scramble backwards.

The man in front of him was huge from this angle. Dipper had never really noticed how much bigger Ford was in comparison to his brother. All those years fighting inter-dimensional monsters had made him solid and stern-faced. But now his face was split in two by a wide toothy grin making him look like a mad man, which was exactly what he was with Bill in control.

Dipper's mouth was dry and he felt like he was going to wet himself at any time. All to do with the natural reflexes of fight or flight, Ford would say if he were really here.

The man laughed as Dipper went to stand up after scrambling backward a few feet. He only had to take a few steps forward before he was on top of the boy yet again.

Dipper let out a high pitched squeak as Bill planted Ford's foot on his chest forcing him back down onto the ground. That made Bill laugh even harder.

"Bill? I-"

"Yeesh kid, you look like you've seen a ghost. Don't tell me you thought I was dead!"

"How did you-"

"Possess poor old Sixer? Easy, he said our deal would last from now until the end of time. For someone who's supposed to be smart he was so gullible, it was little killing a Time Baby." Bill laughed at the memory.

Dipper wanted to yell at Bill to tell him to stop interrupting him; he hated it when people wouldn't let him finish. He decided against it when he remembered the dangerous situation he was in.

"But you died!" He blurted lamely.

"Ha! You think you and your family of meatsacks can kill me? I can't be killed. Well, not by you at least." He shrugged.

"Why are you here? What do you want?"

"Oh, I was waiting for that question." His grin grew even wider. "You meatsacks drag on with pointless questions with obvious answers. You see I want to-"

"I'm not making a deal with you, Bill!" Dipper spat, regaining his courage.

"Don't interrupt me!" Ford's eye's flashed red as he plunged a knife, that Dipper hadn't realised he had been holding until now, into his own thigh laughing hysterical at the pain. Dipper screamed, struggling under the leg that held him to the ground. "Do it again and I'll have to end Sixer's life earlier than planned, got it Pine Tree?"

Dipper nodded his head so violently that his head thunked against the hard floor. He had to close his eyes for a time to stop the world from spinning.

"Good. As I was saying, I want to make a deal with you." Blood dropped down his leg in crimson rivers to pool on Dipper's shirt, staining it brown.

"I don't- I don't want to!" Dipper screamed; shaking his head eyes still closed.

"If I had my way Pine Tree you wouldn't have a chose but hear me out, I will give you back old Six-Fingers here, as unharmed as you have allowed him to be, and in return you will stay with me, without complaining. So what do you say?"

"N-" Dipper began.

"Think about whose life is at stake before you answer, Pine Tree." Bill pulled out another knife and held it to Ford's throat, giggling as he began to press the blade deeper into the old man's neck. Where that hell was he giving all of these knives?

Dipper went to stop it, raising a hand out to grab the knife before Bill could break the skin but he was stopped by the fact that he was still held down on the floor, unable to reach his arm fell limply to the ground.

Bill was right. Dipper was being selfish; he couldn't let Ford get hurt because he didn't want to make a deal; that wasn't what heroes did. Ford would want him to be a hero but at the same time Dipper knew that Ford wouldn't want Dipper sacrificing himself for his Grunkle.

"Can I talk to him for minute?"

"Nope. Good old Sixer is out of commission. If I brought him back now he would pass out from the pain you caused." Bill said, shaking his Grunkle's head and gesturing to the knife that had been buried in the old man's leg.

"But I can't decide without him!" Dipper pleaded his face scrunching up as he looking up at his Great-uncle's face which was devoid of sympathy.

"Yes, you can Pine Tree; it's your decision to give up your life, you have a right to give it up if you want. Choose wisely because I don't like time wasters and time is running out." He smiled evilly, tapping his wrist with the blade of the knife even though the man wasn't wearing a watch.

At that moment Ford's foot was lifted off his chest allowing him to take a large gulp of air that he didn't know his needed.

"Thanks." He muttered getting to his feet. No sooner had he done so, however, a hand clamped strongly around his shoulder so that he couldn't get away even if he wanted to.

If he went with Bill and let Ford go back to the Shack he could find a way to rescue him later, it was better than Ford being killed outright, in front of him, no questions asked. No goodbyes said, just like before. If he went with Bill, there was a chance that everyone would survive so that they could use the Cipher Wheel on him.

"Why do you want me?"

"I want you because at least you're interesting!" Bill said, rolling his borrowed eyes. "I can't say the same for any other meat-sack in this stupid town. Look happy kid, I just gave you a compliment." He uttered gruffly, giving the boy a deadly glare.

"Will you hurt me?" He hated himself for sounding so scared and useless.

"Not if you do what I say."

"And Great-uncle Ford will be safe?"

"Not if you keep asking stupid questions and wasting my time. Now do we have a deal or not, Pine Tree?"

"Yes, I'll take the deal." Dipper held out his hand reluctantly; he saw no other way to get out of this.

Bill cackled hysterical as he stuck out his Grunkle's hand to seal the deal. There wasn't any fire like there had been when he last made a deal with Bill, this time he wasn't in the mind-scape. The larger hand wrapped tightly around Dipper's smaller five-fingered hand and a weird sensation filled him, making him feel warm and floaty. Bill erupted out of Ford's body as Dipper landed in the mind-scape, the dark wallpapered halls of the house becoming grey and misted. Ford's body landed twisted and unconscious on the grey floor.

"Let me take him back to the Shack for medical help and then I'll go with you, please?"

"Whatever you say, Pine Tree, you couldn't pick Sixer up on your own even if you tried, not with your noodle arms." Bill laughed loudly, floating backwards as if he were falling over in mid-air."You're a hoot, kid."

"Hey!" Dipper complained angrily, he didn't feel like being bullied by a triangle wearing a bow-tie. "Like you can talk about noodle arms!"

"Okay, okay, I get your point kid," he said, wiping giant tear from his bulbous eye. "But I'm coming with you."

"But how are…?"

Before he could finish, Bill disappeared in a flash of light so bright that he had to shield his eyes. The dreamlike feeling vanished and he was back in the real world, lying next to his Grunkle's body. He looked over at where Bill had been in the dream-scape but instead of the yellow triangle the boy had grown accustomed to seeing in his nightmares he saw a human.

"What the fu-"

"Language Pine Tree, I don't want you to be foul mouthed."

The human-looking thing had messy dirty blonde hair, was wearing a neat yellow dress shirt and black dress pants. Dipper notice that the top hat, bow-tie as well as the shirt, all gave the distinct impression that Bill really liked the way he looked when he was a triangle. He looked like someone trying to cosplay the demon. The thought of someone wanting look like Bill made Dipper's nose wrinkle in disgust.

"Don't just stare at me! How do I look?" The demon asked eagerly, waiting for his opinion even though it would amount to nothing, spinning around to show off his 'amazing' new body.

"Well… um… you look really…" Not for the first time Dipper wondered if he was dreaming but he was sure that if this really was a dream he either would have woken up screaming by now or peed himself. It was the kind of thing that happened to him when he had dreams like these. Dipper had no idea what the hell to say much less comment on what he was looking at. His brain was still yelling at him for making a deal with the yellow demon, again! You would think he had learnt the first time.

"Well you're useless aren't ya? How. Do. I. Look?" Bill was beginning to sound frustrated and Dipper didn't really feel like being on the receiving end of his rage.

"Are you a boy or a girl?" Was that the first thing that came out of Dipper's mouth? Yes, and he was mentally kicking himself for it.

"What do you mean? I'm neither, kid! Demons have thousands of sexes and millions of genders, Pine Tree. I can't remember what I am, I don't really care." Bill dropped the bomb of knowledge like it was no big deal.

"Um…" Dipper didn't really know what to say to that, he thought they were the same thing. He looked down and realised that Great-uncle Ford was still unconscious in the ground. "Can you help me left Great-uncle Ford…? Please. He needs help."

"Sure thing kid, whatever you want! But first you have to answer my question." Bill wiggled a finger in his face annoyingly. "Do I look good?"

"I don't care what you look like, Bill! It's not about what you look like! You could look like Wendy and I would still hate you! You're still a sadistic demon triangle! Great-uncle Ford is blooding to death and you're worried about how you look?!"

"Oh, I'm hurt, you left out my insanity. If changing bodies wasn't so draining I would take you up on that 'Wendy' comment." Bill winked, looking pleased that he could do itnow that he had two eyes. With a click of his fingers his Grunkle was lifted into the air and floated gently next to Bill as he stepped towards the open door. "Are you coming Pine Tree?"

Dipper didn't like the fact that he could now see the smirk that went with the demon's smug voice, it made him look even more evil, if that were even possible.

"What makes you think I'm not going to run away?"

"You made a deal with me for your uncle's life. Think about that before you make another half-assed attempt to escape. And don't ask stupid questions!" Bill snarled, not even looking at him as they walked out into the afternoon sun. Dipper gulped.

"How are you in the real world? I didn't give you a body."

"Better. It didn't take me long to find my real body in the forest, right where I left it. I just went back to get it and made some outwards alterations."

"Your real body was still in Gravity Falls?" Dipper was shocked, they hadn't even thought about the demon's body after the town was back to normal, they were all just happy no one died.

"Yes, no one even went looking for it when my plan failed, even though you all saw me go into Stan's mind. You humans really are stupid!" He laughed as if it were a hilarious joke.

"All this time, and none of us even thought to look for it." Dipper mused, absentmindedly.

"Yeah, as I said- you're all stupid!"

They kept walking in what Dipper thought was a very uncomfortable silence, for a few kilometres, until Dipper stopped dead in his tracks. His mind had been wondering when a horrible thought struck him. It made his blood turn to ice and his feet to lead.

Bill had taken a few more steps forward by the time he realised that Dipper had stopped. When he turned to look at the boy he was smiling knowingly.

"What did I give you?" He was holding his breath; he could believe that he hadn't asked him before shaking his hand.

"Yourself." The man's eyes seemed to stare into Dipper's soul as his smile grew wide and his eyes filled with greed.

"What do you mean?" He knew exactly what he meant and there was no escaping it, not without killing everyone he loved.

"Your mine now, Pine Tree."