"Wait! I surrender," Stan said in a remarkable impression of Ford.
"Good choice." The plan seemed to working. Bill didn't notice that he was actually-
"But you're not the one I want, are you, Stanley?"
Ford's stomach churned. Bill caught on to their ruse.
"Your family's tricked me for the last time." Bill snapped his fingers and Stan crumpled to the floor.
"Grunkle Stan!" The kids screamed.
"No, Stanley!" Ford pressed his fingers on Stan's neck. No pulse.
"Now, where was I?" said Bill. "Oh yeah, a shooting star was about to fall."
"No, please," said Mabel. "Don't kill me."
Bill snapped his fingers and Mabel too fell limp.
"Mabel!" Dipper screamed.
"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO THEM, BILL?" Ford screeched.
"The same thing I'm going to do to Pine Tree here if you don't take my deal."
Ford watched helplessly as Dipper, his only surviving family member, struggled to escape the hand the held him and his now-dead sister. "I'll…I'll do anything you want. Just don't take him away from me too."
Bill dropped the kids. Dipper grabbed his sister's body and wailed over her oblivious to everything else.
"It's a deal." Bill held out his hand. Ford stepped forward and took it praying that Bill will show an ounce of mercy and keep his promise to spare Dipper.
"Oh, there's one last thing I want you to see before you die." Bill stretched out his hand to snatch Dipper away from his sister's body.
"No, Bill! We had a deal!"
"You should know better, IQ."
"Help me, Grunkle Ford. Don't let me die." Dipper pleaded with a terrified look on his face.
"Please…" Ford begged. "Please, Bill, take my life instead."
Bill snapped his fingers and the last of his family fell dead. He let out an evil laugh the echoed through the walls of the Fearamid.
"No!" Ford had just doomed the whole world, and he didn't care. His family, his whole world, was gone.
Ford awoke with a start. He took in his surroundings and realized he was in the shack sleeping on his couch. With the nightmare still resounding in his mind, he had to remind himself that his family was still alive. Together, they had defeated Bill.
Silly as it was, though, he would feel better seeing the children with own eyes.
He went up to the attic and peered inside. He panicked when he saw Mabel wasn't in her bed. His eyes darted over to Dipper's bed and was relieved when he saw that Mabel was sleeping with her brother.
As he approached the bed, he noticed they were holding on to each other. He supposed he wasn't the only one having trouble sleeping tonight.
Ford heard footsteps charging towards him from the attic door. He spun around and pointed his gun at the threat ready to defend the children behind him with his life.
Instead of seeing an intruder, however, he found himself face to face with his own brother. "Stanley?"
"Ford?" Stan dropped the fist he had intended to slam into the face of the dark figure he saw standing over his niece and nephew.
Unfortunately, the commotion had woken up the kids.
"What? What's going on?" Dipper slurred as he tried to get his senses back fearing they were in danger. But the exhaustion accumulated from the last few days kept him from coherence.
"Dipper, what happened?" Mabel was just as out of it as her brother.
"It's alright, kids." Ford said as he knelt by their side. "It's nothing. Go back to sleep."
Even in his stupor, Dipper's first instinct was to throw his arm in front of Mabel to protect her. She clung to him for security.
"Shh, go back to sleep. You're safe." Ford gently pushed their heads down. Recognizing and trusting their uncle's voice, they let him guide their heads back down to their pillows. Ford pulled the comforter over them and tucked it tightly around them.
Satisfied that they were both safe and asleep, Ford followed Stan out of the children's bedroom. Outside their door, both men leaned against the wall and slid down to the floor to recover from the adrenaline rush of confusing each other for a threat.
"Sorry," said Ford.
"Me too," said Stan. "What were you doing in their room anyway?"
"I had a nightmare. Bill found out about our plan and…punished me."
Considering Ford felt compelled to check on the children, Stan could guess what punishment Dream-Bill had given him.
"Whatever happened in your dream, it wasn't real." Stan gave his brother the same mantra he had been giving himself after his own nightmare that compelled him to check on the kids as well.
"We almost lost them, Stanley."
They both remembered Bill threatening to turn their kids into corpses. They remembered them trapped in Bill's hand completely at his mercy. They remembered him playing Russian roulette with their lives like it was some kind of game. They remembered the shooting star symbol in his eye sentencing their innocent niece to death and Bill's fingers about to snap to carry out that sentence.
"Hey." Stan needed to snap them both out of their horrific memories. "Remember, the kids are sleeping in their beds safe and sound. We saved them."
"You saved them," said Ford. Stan was about to protest until Ford said, "I almost lost you too."
Stan put his arm around his brother and pulled him close. "I'm right here, Sixer. I'm right here."
Ford rested his head on Stan's shoulder. Neither wanted to get up, so they stayed outside the kids' room keeping guard over them while taking comfort in each other's presence.