"So… You guys know what's been bringing Mabel down? I mean, she's been locking herself away in her room since she got back," Wendy questioned from her spot sitting against the counter of the Mystery Shack Gift Shop.

"She seemed fine when we all met up a couple days ago," Candy noted, not looking up from the comic she was drawing on her tablet.

"Nah, girl, I get what you mean," Grenda said, handing the last tourist their change and sending them on their way. "She went out the day after we met up and when she came back she was like that. She ran down into the secret basement then locked herself up in her room with a bunch of notebooks and journals. Even Pacifica had a hard time getting her to come out so they could go to lunch together."

"That doesn't sound like Mabel," Candy said, finally looking up with a frown.

"Right? Sounds more like…" Wendy trailed off, glancing over towards the shelf of hats that Stan kept out purely for sentimental reasons (no matter what he'd say to the opposite, he never let anyone aside from Wendy actually buy one).

"She went to visit him. You don't think…"

Ding ding

"Welcome to the My- Oh wow!"

Candy and Wendy looked up to see what caught Grenda's attention and were floored. The young person standing in the doorway seemed to be Wendy's age, or maybe a year or two younger, with fluffy blonde hair at the top of their head and shaved, black hair around the sides. They wore an open yellow button up over a black shirt that read something along the lines of "TOUCH ME AND I'LL BURN YOU ALIVE!" A pair of black skinny jeans, knee-high yellow Converse, and a necklace with a top hat pendant finished off the look.

They were also pretty firmly standing in the androgynous zone so none of the girls could tell if they were a man or woman, not that it mattered to Wendy.

"Hey there, hot stuff, welcome to the Mystery Shack!" she said, hopping up to greet the tourist.

They turned to look at Wendy. Wendy assumed they held her gaze for a moment - though they could have been checking her out; she couldn't know since their eyes were covered by a pair of dark sunglasses - before smirking and letting out a snort. "I'm looking for Mabel Pines."

"You know she's taken right? Unlike me," Wendy teased, winking.

"I am single as well," Candy added before saying something in Korean.

The stranger's nose wrinkled up before he replied in what Wendy assumed was also Korean.

Candy sighed and went back to her comic, mumbling something that sounded like, "Gay or taken, gay or taken."

Wendy raised an eyebrow and the stranger pulled their hand out of their pocket to reveal a band sitting snugly on their wedding finger.

"Oh, right, well Mabel's not here. Can I take a message?"

"No. Where is she?"

"She's out with her girlfriend."

"Where?"

Wendy frowned. "Out, I don't know. Can I ask why it matters?"

"You can." The stranger then huffed. "I don't have time for this," they muttered before crossing the gift shop and heading towards the employees only area.

"Hey, you can't go back there," Wendy said, cutting them off.

"I'm just heading up to drop something off in her room. You're unneeded."

"If you want to leave her something then you can leave it with me."

"Yeah, I don't think so."

"What's going on in here?" Stan stepped through the door to the employee's only area and eyed up the stranger.

"This guy's trying to go up to Mabel's room."

Stan narrowed his eyes. "Who're you?"

"What's it to you?"

"I don't let boys up in Mabel's room."

"Oh please, as if there's never been a boy in her room before."

The others gaped at the stranger. Stan's fists clenched. "Wendy, get the shotgun."

"Right."

The stranger raised an eyebrow before laughing. "Wow! What's with your kind and jumping to stupid conclusions?" Wendy returned with the gun and the stranger laughed harder. As she handed the gun to Stan, they asked, "Oh, what's that supposed to do?"

Before Stan could respond, probably by shooting the stranger in the head, the door to the gift shop slammed open.

"She totally went crazy! You should have seen her- Wait, what's going on in here?" Pacifica glanced around the shop before rolling her eyes. "Mabs, your crazy uncle's acting like a hillbilly with the gun again!"

"GUNKLE STAN!" Mabel burst through the door, half-shoving Pacifica out of the way. "We've talked about this! You can't shoot customers just because they won't buy something!"

The stranger spun around with a big smile. "Shooting Star! Just the bag of insanity and glitter I wanted to see!"

Mabel froze, her eyes widening. "You?"

"I've got a delivery for you from Pine Tree. Well, it's more for Pine Tree, but whatever," the stranger said, pulling a rolled up piece of paper out of their back pocket and walking up to Mabel. "Just tell Pine Tree it's from me so he'll stop being all red about what I did."

Mabel glanced down at the paper and hesitantly took it. "What did you do?" she asked, looking up at them with the same look she had given the paper.

"Just call him and ask. I don't have much time left and Sixer will be coming up soon." The stranger tapped the paper before stepping around her. "See you later, Shooting Star. Say hi to Pine Tree for me!" They slipped out the door and disappeared from sight.

"Woah, what's up with that loser?" Pacifica asked, glancing out the door and frowning when she didn't see the stranger.

"Mabel, you okay girl?" Grenda asked.

The others watched Mabel as she unrolled the paper partially. She went wide eyed and immediately shoved the paper in her purse. "Candles! I need candles! And chalk! I've got chalk in my purse! A knife? I can use a needle! I have needles in my purse! And matches! Candels! I just need candles!"

They all watched in shock as the brunette dove behind the gift shop counter.

"Wait, you have needles, matches, and chalk in your purse?" Pacifica asked in shock, though not entirely surprised.

"Of course! I also have emergency birthday candles, but I need- Ah ha! There they are!" Mabel popped up with a box of votives in her hand. "These'll work. Sorry Grunkle Stan! I'll repLACE THEM WHEN I GET BACK!" She shouted as she ran out of the Shack.

"Emergency birthday candles?" Pacifica snorted, shaking her head fondly.

"Um, should we go after her?" Wendy asked, a little worried over how quickly everything had gone.

"Eh, I'm sure she's fine," Stan said, though he looked a little worried himself.

"STANLEY!" The vending machine suddenly swung forwards as Stan's twin brother Stanford barreled out of the secret passage, laser gun blazing.

"Woah, Bro, What's going on?"

"Demon! One of my sensors just went off. It's old and I haven't had a chance to run maintenance on it, so there was a bit of a delay, but there was or is definetly a demon here. We need to batten down the hatches."

"Demon! Uh, guys, you don't think…"

Pacifica groaned, rubbing her nose. "Well, that would explain why Mabel suddenly needed candles, chalk, and needles."

"Wendy grab the bat," Stan said, shouldering the shotgun and running out of the Shack after his niece.

"Yes sir," Wendy said, grabbing one of the emergency bats that were hidden around the shack and following her former boss out the door, Pacifica right behind her.

"Uh, where are they going?" Ford asked, lowering his gun and staring at the door to the Shack.

"That demon you were talking about gave Mabel something and after taking one look at it she grabbed a pack of candles and took off running so their tailing her to make sure she doesn't do something horror movie worthy," Candy said, not looking up from her comic.

Ford gasped and chased after his family.

Mabel blew a lock of hair out her face and glanced over her work, down at the sheet of paper she had been copying from, and back at her work. "Perfect!" She patted the chalk off her hands and grabbed her sewing kit out of her purse.

"Blood should work right? It doesn't really need a sacrifice right? Nah." Mabel pulled out a few candy bars from her emergency stash and tossed them into the middle of the summoning circle. "Just in case~!" Then she grabbed the thickest needle she had. "Please let this work, Dip-dop," she whispered and pricked her finger.

"MABEL!"

Mabel flinched and turned to see Stan, Ford, Wendy, and Pacifica running up. "Oh, uh, hey guys!" She waved her hand, not noticing when a few drops of blood flew off and landed in the circle.

"Get away from there!" Ford grabbed her arm and pulled her away from the circle. "What did you think you were doing?"

"Gunkle Ford-"

"Seriously, kid, are you trying to give me a heart attack."

"Grunkle Stan-"

"Did you learn nothing from my past with Bill?"

"Grunkle Ford, can you loosen your grip a-"

"I thought you were smarter than this, Mabel."

"Gunkle Stan, if you guys would just-!"

"You can't trust demons, Mabel. You shouldn't have anything to do with them!"

"Ow, seriously, Grunkle Ford-"

"Mabel, you-"

A cough. "Excuse me, Mr. Looks-like-Stan. If I were you, I would LET HER GO NOW!"

The group turned to see a teenage boy standing in the center of the circle. Correction: he was floating a few inches above the center of the circle. He was also glaring down at Stanford with glowing, bright red eyes.

Ford glared at the demon and stepped in front of Mabel. He raised his laser gun at them. "Stay away from my niece you monster!"

The demon held Ford's gaze before rolling his eyes. Red shifted to green as the demon looked around Ford. "Mabel, who is this guy?"

"Oh, uh," Mabel stepped to the side to better see the demon. "This is Stanford, Grunkle Stan's twin brother."

"Stan… ford? But i thought…" The demon turned to Stanley.

"No, Grunkle Stan is Stanley. Grunkle Ford is Stanford."

"Uh, right… Should I know this already?" The demon frowned as he glanced between the Stan twins.

"Well, no. I mean, I don't think so. I only learned about it last year, so…"

"Oh, good." The demon leaned back, shifting so it appeared he was sitting in an invisible chair. "So… Why did you summon me? And how did you summon me? I didn't even think I had a personal summoning circle." The demon glanced down at the circle. He frowned and lowered his foot to tap a symbol that looked vaguely like a triangle with an eye. "That figures. If he thinks this will make up for what he did he's got another thing coming."

Mabel raised an eyebrow. "And what exactly did he do?"

"Mabel," Stanford growled, stepping back in front of her. "Stop talking to it."

"Relax Grunkle Ford, he's harmless," Mabel huffed and shoved her great uncle aside. Then she frowned. "I think," she mumbled, her hand slipping up to her neck.

The demon dropped to the ground and his eyes paled to an almost white blue. "Mabel, I'm… I swear if I had known who you were I never would have…. I'm sorry."

"Sorry, about what? Mabel have you dealt with this demon before?"

"It's okay, but why didn't you remember me? Is it because of Bill?"

"Bill? As in Bill Cipher?"

"Yeah, but not in the way your thinking. See-"

"Stop!"

Mabel and the demon turned to Ford. The demon's eyes, which had slowly been fading back to green, flared red.

"You aren't welcome here, dem-"

"Look, apparently your Stan's twin so-"

"Leave now and I won't-"

"But if you don't get lost-"

"I've delt with your kind bef-"

"You're not the one I want to talk to and you're seriously getting on my ner-"

"I'm not afraid of you!"

"You should be! Nothing about you is the least bit interes-"

"He's the author of the Journal."

The two turned to Mabel. The demon, who had been slowly floating up so that he could glare down instead of up at Ford dropped down to eye level with Mabel.

"Wait, you mean the Journal!"

Wendy narrowed her eyes. Wait a second.

"Yep," Mabel said, smirking as the demon turned to Ford with eyes the yellow-green color of sunlight through pine needles.

The demon stared at Ford with wide eyes before he frowned and his eyes flickered red for a second. "I'm going to kill Bill for keeping this from me. But that can wait," He floated to the edge of the circle, as close to Ford as he could get without exiting the circle. "You really wrote the Journal?"

"Um, yes?" Ford frowned at Mabel, silently asking her where this was going. Then his eyes widened. He glared at the demon. "Wait, you've read my journals?"

"Journal-s! As in more than one!"

"There's three!" Mabel chuckled.

The demon dropped down to the ground, staring up at Ford with wide eyes. "That's why there's a threeonthecover!Ofcourseit'ssoobvious!Wherearetheothers?CanIreadthem?"

"No."

The demon frowned at Ford.

"In fact this conversation is over." Ford moved his foot forward to swipe at the chalk.

"Woah now." The flames of the candles suddenly burst upwards, growing to about three feet tall and flickering bright green.

The entire group, minus a demon, jumped backwards.

"I'm here to talk to Mabel."

"My niece wants nothing to do with your kind."

"I think that's her decision."

"And she definitely doesn't want anything to do with anyone who works with Bill Cipher."

"Ford, he doesn't work with Bill," Mabel scoffed.

"Well, that's not exactly true."

"Wait, what?"

"I thought you knew that already. Wasn't he the one who gave you the circle?"

"Yeah, but, it's Bill! The jerky demon who broke into Stan's mind-"

"He did what now?" Stan asked.

"- and turned you into a human sock puppet!-"

The demon's eyes flared pink and he tucked his head down. "I - Yeah, but - I mean-"

"- and trapped Grunkle Ford in an alternate dimension or whatever!"

"Wait, Bill did what?" The demon frowned and turned to Ford. "Bill trapped you in an alternate dimension?"

"What, your boss never told you about that?"

"He's not my boss, he's my… It's a long story." The demon's eyes shone a brilliant hot pink and he glanced away. "And no, he never even mentioned you. Bill has a lot of explaining to do when I get back home.

"Look," the demon sighed. "I know Bill's a jerk, but you have nothing to fear from me. Trust me, I would never hurt Mabel or Stan or anyone."

"He's right, Grunkle Ford. He couldn't hurt anyone even if he wanted too," Mabel added, rolling her eyes.

"I wouldn't go that far," Dipper muttered, glaring at her.

"She's right, Ford. Look at the runt! I've seen twigs thicker than him and I'd bet Candy is taller than him."

"You can't judge demons by their form, Stanley," Ford scoffed.

"Yeah, Mabel. You do realize I used this form because I thought it would be calmer for you."

"Oh please, like your real form isn't absolutely adorable," Mabel teased.

"Mabel," Ford warned.

"Reality is an illusion, Mabel. I can look like whatever I want. That form is just the easiest to hold. I could look terrifying if I wanted too."

"Oh please! You couldn't scare me if you tried."

"Mabel," Ford growled as the demons eyes and the candles' flames flared blood red.

Suddenly the demon smirked. It's skin began fading to black in patches as its smirk spread across its face. The black soon became speckled with stars making it appear a human shaped hole had been cut into reality leading directly out into space. Meanwhile, its smirk had completely cut its head in half, leaving the top half floating slightly above the bottom with sharp, bloody teeth surrounding the hole on both the top and bottom. It's green eyes were the only other noticeable feature, looking like large, bright stars. Flaming green limbs resembling those of trees sprouted from its back and formed claws that scraped at the border of the circle before shifting back to rest behind it like a pair of malformed wings.

The aura of power and danger that radiated off the beast sent four of the five humans' hearts racing and they subconsciously took a few steps back.

Mabel rolled her eyes. "Are you done?"

The demon turned its eyes on her.

"I'd give you an seven out of ten. It's still missing something though. Horns maybe. Ooh! Or a tail!"

The demon snorted and then just like that he looked human once more. "Don't be ridiculous, Mabel. Adding horns or a tail would look stupid."

"We'll come back to the tail, but you might be right about the horns. If you're all blacked out like that they might be mistaken for ears and you'd look like a bunny or cat.

"Ooh! Do you still sneeze like a kitten?"

Sneeze like a kitten? Why did that sound familiar to Stan?

"First of all, I never sneezed like a kitten-"

"Yes, you did!"

"- and you have no proof to the opposite. Second, I don't breath so I don't sneeze."

Mabel narrowed her eyes. "You look like your breathing."

"I look like I'm breathing."

"Mabel, stop talking to that thing. It's dangerous."

"Ford, I've known him all my life. He's as harmless as a puppy."

"Mabel, I'm a demon. Stop comparing me to tiny animals."

"Never!"

"All your li- Mabel, who is this?"

"Oh, where are my manners." The demon pulled his hat off his head and bowed. "The names Pine Tree, Looks-Like-Stan. Though I also go by the Pine Demon, the Dream Star, Dipper Cipher-"

"Dipper!" Stan and Pacifica shouted at the same time Ford and Mabel yelled, "Cipher!"

"- the Star Bear, Ursa's Dream, and the Dream's Mate."

"Called it," Wendy chuckled.

"Cipher? What's with the Cipher, Bro-Bro?"

"I'm more curious about the Bro-Bro part, Mabel! Did you know about this?"

"Of course I did, Grunkle Stan. Why else would I have summoned him?"

"And you didn't think to mention this to any of us?" Pacifica asked, side-eyeing the demon and trying to connect him to the tiny boy that had been one of the first people she'd ever really become friends with.

"I wasn't entirely sure I hadn't just dreamed it until Bill showed up. And even then I wasn't sure if…"

Pine Tree squirmed. "I'm really sorry, Mabel."

"You can make it up to me by explaining the Cipher part."

"Hold up, kiddo. How about we start from the beginning?" Stan said, putting a hand on her shoulder.

"Yes, that sounds like an excellent idea," Ford agreed, completely lost on why everyone except himself seemed to recognize the demon.

"I don't know if we can go all the way back. I don't exactly have much longer on this plane," Pine Tree said. He gestured towards the candles, which were nearly burned out. "Once those are gone the summoning ends and I won't be able to stay in this plane after unless I make a deal."

"How long do you have?" Mabel asked.

"Five minutes?" He frowned and his form flickered before being replaced by his shape form. "Make that three."

"How much would it take to let you stay?"

"Well -" Pine Tree disappeared.

Mabel blinked before turning to Ford.

The man picked his foot up off the candle he had crushed and frowned at the melted wax that had splashed onto his boot.

"What was that for?" Mabel huffed.

"I wasn't going to just sit back while you made a deal with that monster. Have you learned nothing, Mabel?"

"Dipper's not a monster!"

"Stanford," Stanley said. He stepped between his brother and great niece. "Enough you two. Let's get this stuff cleaned up and head back to Shack. Once we've calmed down a little, then we'll talk this out."

"Stanley -"

"Later, Sixer. Mabel, I know… I understand how you feel right now, but let's leave summoning Dipper again until after we've talked. Puh - ugh - Pl-ea-se?" Stan groaned out the last word.

Mabel gave a half-hearted chuckle. "Well, since you went through the pains of asking nicely."

"Thank you."