Too many failed attempts, commencing data erase. "No, no, no!" Dipper yelled, desperately trying to stop the laptop. He's spent too much time, came too far just to quit now. But what was he supposed to do? There was simply no way he could've figure out the password in one try. The boy put his hands to his head, slightly hyperventilating. "No, this is my only chance to find out who the author is! What am I gonna do?!" The room suddenly went grey, as heard a familiar voice. "Maybe I can Help you out with that, Pinetree." The yellow, triangular demon spoke, casually twirling his cane. "I heard you needed a little help with a laptop. All you have to do is make a deal." Dipper knew it was probably a bad idea to listen to Bill, all he's ever done to his family was hurt them and made them lose the deed to the mystery shack. But Dipper was torn. What if he could help him solve the password? Is it worth it? These thought ran through the boy's mind before he finally came to a conclusion. "What's the catch?" Dipper asked. "Simple, all I need is a puppet. You seem to have plenty." The demon said, as he picked up one of the sock puppets Mabel made for her opera. Dipper knew the risks. Despite the fact he wasn't a fan of trusting Bill, his desperate determination to find the author overcame his cautiousness. "Alright, we have a deal." The boy held out his hand. "I knew you'd make the right choice, Pinetree. It's a deal!" The demon shook his hand, engulfing his hand in a blue flame. "So, uh, which puppet do you want?" "Hm, let's see. Eeny, meeny, miney, YOU!" The demon's eye turned red. "What?!" The boy barely had enough time to yell, as he felt his soul being ripped out of his body. the boy watched in shock, as he saw his body rise up, golden eyes glowing instead of their usual white. "Sorry, kid, you're my puppet now!" The demon laughed maniacally, smashing the laptop into pieces. "No! We had a deal, why're you doing this?!" The boy asked, panic written all over his ghostly face. "You were getting too close to figuring out some major answers, kid. I've got big plans coming and I don't need you getting in my way." The demon then stumbled around as he got used to walking around in the body. He then came across a knife within one of the brown cabinets in the room. "Hey, Pinetree, although I'm really liking the whole, two eyes thing, I think it's a bit overrated, though. How about we fix that?" Bipper raised the knife to his right eye, his grin spreading impossibly wide. "Wait don't!" The demon thrusted it into the eye, making Dipper gasp in shock. Bipper soon ripped it out, a fountain of blood pouring from the socket, cackling like a madman. If Dipper had a stomach, he would've puked at the sight. "HAHAHAHA! Man, pain is hilarious!" The demon then pointed to the knife to his arm and sliced, causing a large gash to appear in his arm. "Now here's the question. How long can this body hold out before it bleeds to death? Let's find out!"
"This sock opera's going to be the best!" Mabel squealed, cheerfully walking into the house. "Hey, sweetie, go tell your nerdy brother it's time for dinner. If he doesn't come, I'm giving it to Soos!" A gruff voice called from the kitchen. "Okay, Grunkle Stan!" Mabel called back. She began to run up the stairs as she went to go knock on her brother's door. "Dip dop, it's time for dinner! You can work on your nerd stuff later." The girl waited for a few seconds, receiving no response. "Dipper?" She knocked again, still no response. "That's strange, he usually answers after the second knock." She thought to herself, getting a bit worried. She then turned the doorknob, finding out it wasn't locked, frightening her even more. Dipper always had the door locked when he was working on the journal. "I'm coming in Dip!" She opened the door, walking into the dark room. "Dipper, are you oka-" She cut herself off with a gasp, staring wide-eyed at the scene. There was blood, EVERYWHERE, covering the walls, floors, and even the twins beds. She also managed to spot the broken laptop on the floor. But that's not what she was worried about. She was worried about the fact her brother, her younger twin brother, was lying against the wall, covered in a pool of his own blood. She felt tears swell in her eyes, as she could feel a knot form in her throat. "D-DIPPER!" She screamed, running to her brother, falling to her knees as she tried to stop anymore blood from flowing out of his wounds. She almost threw up when she took a look at his face and saw that his right eye was missing. There was a banging sound as her Grunkle ran into the room. "What happened! Are you alright?!" He then turned his eyes to his niece, as she desperately tried to keep her brother alive. "God...I'll call 911, stay with your brother!" Stan quickly ran out of the room. Mabel heard a quiet grunt, looking at her brother as he managed to slightly open his other eye. "M-mabel…?" The girl calmed down a little, greatly relieved her brother still had a chance. "It's gonna be okay, Dipper. Grunkle stan called the ambulance, they'll be here soon. It's gonna be okay." Mabel repeated, trying hard not to break down in front of her twin. The boy lost consciousness, as he heard the sound of alarms.
Mabel sat in the waiting room, tears running down her face. Her Grunkle tried to comfort her by rubbing circles on her back. "Don't worry, sweetie, he'll be fine. Your brother's strong, a lot stronger than anyone gives him credit for." The door opened up. The doctor then walked out of the room where Dipper was. "Is he okay?!" Mabel ran up to the doctor, terrified for her brother. The doctor removed his glasses as he gave the news. "Your brother will be fine. We almost lost him at times, but he kept going. He's a real fighter, that boy." Mabel sighed, feeling like a huge weight was lifted off her shoulder, regaining the ability to breathe. "He will need plenty of rest, and will have to wear something to cover his right eye. You may see him if you wish." That was all Mabel needed to hear, rushing into the room to see her twin. "Dipper!" She practically pounced on his bed, as she engulfed him a tight hug. "Ow, ow, ow." The boy exclaimed, as the girl quickly loosened her hold. "Sorry." She apologized. "It's cool. Nice to see you, too, Mabel." The boy replied, softly. "Happy to see you, too, dork." Mabel replied, wiping away the spare tears and snot from her face. The two sat and joked around together for a while before Mabel suddenly went quiet. "What happened to you, Dip? Did someone do this to you?..." She asked in a quiet tone, putting on a serious expression, which she rarely made. The boy remained quiet, seemingly hesitant to tell his sister the story. "Dipper, please tell me, what happened? I'll keep it a secret between us. I won't tell anyone else, if that's what you want." She asked again, placing her hands atop of his. Dipper sighed, squeezing his twin's hands in his own. "Remember that triangle guy who made a deal with Gideon? The one who went inside Grunkle Stan's mind?" Mabel recalled him quite easily. "Bill?" "Yeah, that guy." Mabel put on a concerned face as she looked over her brother's injuries, scars laying all over his body. "What does he have to do with this?" The boy recalled to the memory, as his expression became more fearful and sweat poured from his face. "While I was trying to solve the password to the laptop, during my last few attempts, the computer began this data erase thing that would happen in five minutes, unless I got it right on the next go. I started panicking, and then Bill came along and said he could help me if I gave him a puppet. Stupid me thought, hey, what harm can he do by becoming a sock puppet? Apparently, He wasn't referring to the socks. He was referring to me." Mabel looked on in slight confusion. "Wait, he possessed you?" The boy nodded in response. "After taking my body, he decided to go and smash the laptop. He said something about me getting to close to finding out some big answers or something. He wandered around our room and found one of my knives I use for self-defense when I go on one of my adventures. And he…he." Dipper's breathing sped up, as he found it more difficult to breathe as he went on. "He stabbed me in the eye. He then went on to laugh about about it, like it was the funniest joke he ever heard. He said the pain was hilarious! And that's not all, no, far from it. He decided to keep going! Cutting my arms, my legs, smashing into objects, he even destroyed the window between our beds by banging my head against it! It eventually got to the point where my body couldn't stand up anymore, he was about to finish me by slicing my throat, but he said it'd be more fun to watch me slowly bleed to death! He then put me back in my body as he left. It hurt Mabel, it hurt so much! I thought I was gonna die! I-I was so scared…" He was in tears at this point, having a full-blown panic attack. While his sister stared in shock, feeling massively guilty for not helping him when he asked and ignoring his warnings about Bill. While also feeling furious, wanting to make sure the isosceles jerk never hurts her brother again. She placed her arms around him, as she gently tried to calm him down, rubbing circles on his back. "It's okay, Dip. it's okay, I'm here for you. Big sis Mabel is here. I promise, I won't let anything hurt you again. If he wants to get to you, he'll have to get through me." Dipper began to catch his breath, calming down as he began to hug his sister back. "Thanks, Mabel, I really needed that." His twin laughed lightly as she kept her hold on him. "No worries, Dip dop, anything for you." Her hold slightly loosened as her expression changed to one of guilt. "I'm really sorry, Dipper. Like, REALLY, really, sorry. I shouldn't have abandoned you for some weird puppet guy. I promise, from now on, if you ever need me, just call me, heck, just shout my name and I'll drop everything to come and help you. You've been doing that for me all summer, and it's about time I finally pay you back." The boy looked touched, as the two continued to hug. "Aw, you don't have to do all that for me, Mabes." "Yeah, I do. Besides bro, you should know by now that, once I've made up my mind, there's no going back." The two chuckled, finally releasing each other from their hold. Dipper yawned, as his eyes grew drowsy. "I'm starting to feel a bit tired. Mind if I take a quick nap, Mabes?" Her twin ruffled his hair as she gave him a soft look. "Have all the rest you need, bro, you deserve it." The boy then allowed his eyelids to drop, taking him into the sweet relief of sleep. His twin continued to sit at the edge of the bed, leaning in to give a quick kiss to his his birthmark, like that of a mother, ruffling his hair. "I promise, bro, I won't ever abandon you again, I swear on my life." And at the end of the day, despite all his injuries, he's never felt safer than ever before.