Laura: Okay, a little anxious cause this is more than just drabbles feelsy stuff. I'm sorry if anything's out of character, I can't really figure Bill out. This is picking up after whatever spit calms down AFTER Not What he Seems. Stanley and Stanford are on talking terms, government is thrown off their trail again. Dipper still has some issues with the family and stuff. I just.. I couldn't actually bring myself to figure out all the plot details of how to get rid of their impending apocalypse, so it's a little AU. Still, I hope you like it!
Dipper looked down at his reflection in some scrap metal. He sighed again. It seemed all he can do at the moment. His chest was heavy and uptight with troubles. They had just finished one of the most spectacular adventures yet, and he still hurt about what had happened. Another sigh escaped him, trying to ease the pain in his chest, when he heard the gravel and dust shift from the door opening behind him.
'Probably come to tell me how sorry he is..', Dipper scoffed in his mind as he curled up more in his spot. 'Like that's really gonna help..'
The footsteps echoed and Dipper's sharp observation already declared in his mind it wasn't Stanford, whom he was having trust issues with, or Mabel whom he got into a fight with earlier about the Journals.
"Can I talk with you, Dipper?", Stanley's voice asked.
Dipper couldn't really refuse, so he gave a shrug. It was amazing, finally meeting the author of the Journals. It was a bit unnerving though that the same man was his grandfather and more so, shared the same name as his grunkle. Dipper and Mabel both had to really be careful not to accidentally get the two confused.
Stanley sat down next to him on the floor in the bottom of the basement. Pieces of the machine still laid about. Dipper just wanted to be away from everyone for the moment. They sat in silence for a moment, taking time to compile thoughts.
"...What're you thinking?", Stanley asked gently.
"...I don't wanna hear that Grunkle Stan was just trying to look out for me..", Dipper allowed himself to be bitter as he looked away. "I don't understand how his lying to the whole world, to Mabel and I after he PROMISED he wasn't gonna keep a bombshell secret from us, was supposed to be 'looking out for me'."
"Stanford does have a hard time really showing how he cares.", Stanley agreed with a slight nod. "But did you really stop to consider what he had to put up with for thirty long years?"
In the attic, Mabel was tired. She had been running around town all day getting the government guys off their tails, and with the emotional fit of finding relief in her grunkle for not really being an evil guy, and a new family member to love, and then fighting with Dipper. Her heart was heavy as she sat on her bed and was knitting up an apology sweater.
What was worse was that Mabel also kept having the nagging feeling of what would've happened had she pressed that red button at the start of it all. She was just getting past the band of the waist when tears formed up again in her eyes. She sniffled, trying not to cry. But the idea of practically killing off her Grandpa Stan, and leaving Grunkle Stan alone and heartbroken forever, was one of the worst things she could think of at the moment. But even though she had done the right thing, it meant fighting with her twin brother.
More tears spilled over onto her work as she sat there. Her fingers stopped moving the needles and she trembled and sniffled, unable to stop herself from crying a little. Her head throbbed with the emotional work-up of things and her throat felt clogged up tight from choked-back sobs. She held both and laid back on her pillow, trying to ease the pain. Mabel looked over at the bed across from her and thought of how mad Dipper was with her right now. She closed her eyes and curled up tight.
"I wish I could think of some way to make this better...", she uttered quietly to herself.
As if by magic, the windows bursted open with a strong gust of wind. Several of her posters and loose papers fluttered through the room and Mabel sat up with a gasp, looking around.
With a bright flash, Bill Cipher suddenly appeared in the triangular window above their beds.
"Heeeeeyyyyy Shooting Star!", Bill greeted cheerfully before floating down into the room. "How ya been, kid?"
"What're you doing here?", Mabel frowned at the demon.
"Hm, just curious to see what my favorite Pine Twin was up to.", Bill leaned on his cane casually. "Sounds like you and Pinetree are having a hard time!"
"You mind your own business, you weird-o demon guy!", Mabel growled a little. "Don't think you can try making a deal with me, cause I already know not to listen to you!"
"Hm. Did you learn that on your own, or from the last time your brother got in over his head and made a deal with me?", the illuminacho asked.
The question surprised Mabel a little.
"Umm.."
"Sorry if it seems like I'm prying there, Shooting Star, but you gotta admit. Your brother does get pretty wrapped up and desperate in all that paranormal stuff.", Bill pressed on. "If he wasn't, then you wouldn't have had to fight me and ruin your puppet show. Actually, it's pretty weird if you ask me.."
"Wh-what's weird?", Mabel asked.
"Lots of things, like this!", Bill quickly snapped his fingers and snakes appeared around Mabel's feet.
Mabel screamed and jumped up to her feet while the snakes wrapped up around her legs and then slithered up her body into her hair.
"Get them out! Gett'em out gett'em out gett'em out!", Mabel fussed with her hair, trying to throw the snakes out in fear. "Ew! Ew! Ew! Ew!"
The snakes hit the floor but then quickly turned to balls of yarn as they did so. Mabel panted a little from the sudden scare while Bill laughed at her.
"Nah, I'm just messin' with you, Shooting Star!", Bill wiped his eye of a nonexistent tear. "Honestly what's weird is that your brother is always looking out for you, trying to keep you out of trouble, when he's the one who gets himself AND you into it more often than not!"
"Huh? Dipper doesn't..", Mabel started to argue.
"Dipper doesn't, what?", Bill interrupted. "Doesn't make a deal with me just to find the password to a silly old laptop? Or drags his sister and friends into the middle of the woods to find gremoblins and shape-shifting monsters?"
"...W-well...", Mabel hesitated. She couldn't think of a good retort to that.
"Shooting Star, you poor thing..", Bill said with an odd tone of comfort and pity to his voice while one of his arms snaked its way around her shoulders, making her shiver and step away from it. "You try so hard to take good care of him, it's a shame Dipper doesn't trust you anymore.."
Tears shimmered in Mabel's eyes, thinking back to their last argument. She hid them, trying not to cry again.
"Maybe if he did, he wouldn't be putting himself in such life threatening danger!", Bill went on. "I wonder why he doesn't trust you?"
"Put yourself in his shoes for a moment.", Stanley went on to say. "What if Mabel was in that portal?"
Dipper's eyes widened a little and for a moment, his heart clenched at the thought. Mabel? Lost for thirty years?
"Now say you were working on this with Soos and Mabel was lost in the portal. Soos shut it down, trying to keep the world safe..", Stanley pressed on. His eyes glazed a bit as he looked into the past, the earlier conversations with McGucket and his memories of Stan piecing together what was likely to have happened after he was lost. "But when you asked him for help to get her back, he said no. He said you were crazy to want to turn it on. You lost your sister, you lost your friend. You lost the funding and brains to recreate it. You couldn't get her back. You have to raise the money on your own, but if you told anyone about it, they would all say you were dangerous and crazy."
"...But Mabel and I would've been understanding..", Dipper tried to argue. "If he even showed me, I would've been more willing to share with him Journal number 3."
"But then you would've been part of this dangerous machine your uncle is building.", Stanley pressed on. "And you would've been arrested too."
Dipper's eyes widened as that news sunk in.
"Oh..."
"Even if you just HEARD about it, those agents would peg you to be working with Stan. You would've been made a primary target and enemy.", Stanley pulled out the book and held it out. "And just because you heard about it, and you gave him Journal number 3."
Mabel thought about it, she remembered Dipper showing her the Journal the very first time.
"...The Journal did say to trust no one..", she uttered quietly to herself.
"Really?", Bill pretended to be surprised. "Wow! You mean the SAME journal that told your brother about all those paranormal dangers he gets himself into?"
Mabel looked back at him, a little fearful, but more hurt than anything to think of her brother being in danger. Bill rolled his eye and shrugged.
"Oh wow, isn't this awkward then? Ha ha!", he laughed a little. "I just had a perfect idea but I doubt you wanna listen to me!"
"What?", Mabel asked, rising to the bait. "I wanna help Dipper!"
"And all I've ever wanted was to get rid of those Journals!", Bill turned away a little. "That's what I was trying to do when I was in Dipper's body but... Too bad you had to tire me out instead of just innocently handing the book over to me when I asked you to. If I had a body, it'd be a cinch to get rid of the Journals and then Dipper wouldn't ever have any leads on a dangerous monster hunt ever again!"
He started to float away now as the thought settled into Mabel's head.
"...Wait!", Mabel called out, earning the demon's attention as he turned to look back. She hesitated and rubbed her arm. She knew she had to be careful about how to word this. "What if...I got rid of them?"
"Hmm... Sounds like a proposition..", Bill said slowly, rubbing his chin. "How do I know that you'll stick it out all the way through though? What if you only ripped out one or two pages? All three Journals need to be destroyed to keep Dipper safe."
"I promise.", Mabel smiled confidently. "The Journals will be destroyed to keep Dipper from going on another monster hunt and not trusting anyone."
"I like it!", Bill seemed more happy with this and then held out his hand in the general form of deal-making. "But just to hold you to your word..."
"Ugh! I can't believe how stupid I've been..", Dipper groaned a little and buried his face in his hands. "And then I had to go and fight with Mabel because she wouldn't press the button... Because I felt like I couldn't trust her or Grunkle Stan."
"Dipper.", Stanley sighed and opened the Journal. "Remember when I wrote to trust no one?"
Dipper looked up and Stanley had it opened to that page. But then he flipped forward, more towards the end of the book.
"When you gave the Journal back to me, I found something remarkable..", he opened to a page Dipper instantly recognized. Stanley cleared his throat and read aloud. "'This Journal taught me that there was no one in Gravity Falls I could trust. But when you battle a hundred gnomes side by side with someone, you realize they pretty much always have your back.'"
Stanley stared at the page a long time before slowly sighing. Dipper felt the guilt tear at him and make him feel worse for fighting with Mabel at all.
"Dipper... I had top grades in school.. I've been to college. I corrected a Nasa scientist in his research about mathematics and have been studying paranormals for years...", Stanley and Dipper met each other's gaze. "...That's what these Journals contain. A lifetime of knowing almost everything... And this page.. This one piece... Contains more wisdom than anything I've ever written in all my years."
Dipper was taken aback. It was monumental to hear, of all things, that his young age had lead way to wisdom that even Stanley Pines admitted to.
Stanley kept his thumb in place of the page and then flipped back to the other page of trusting no one. He frowned and then did something that made Dipper shudder in shock.
*RRIIIIIIIIIIIP!*
Dipper and Stanley stared at the page from the book. Stanley looked at Dipper who hesitated but then looked back at him, and then crumpled the paper in his hand.
"Dipper... All I have left to ask you is this..", he dropped the paper and closed the book. "Would you give up the world for Mabel? The WHOLE world?"
Dipper was about to answer with a flat-out YES, but then paused. The WHOLE world? He thought of exactly what Stanford had to go through. He lost trust with his family. He watched a friend go insane. He lived a long lonely life of breaking laws. He could've destroyed the whole planet, every last person in it, and he knew it. All for his twin. Would he?
Mabel took a deep breath as she paced back and forth in her bedroom. Wide awake now, though she could swear she'd still see the triangular shadow on the wall.
"...I just gotta talk with Dipper..", she told herself. "It's all to make sure he's safe.."
She took another deep breath and started for the door when it already began to open. Dipper came in and the two stared at each other for a moment.
"Uh.. Hey Dipper.", Mabel gave a small grin. "Um... Can I ask you something?"
"Yeah, of course Mabel, anything.", Dipper nodded with a small smile of his own. "But first there's something I wanna tell you."
"Well actually I'd REALLY like to look at the-"
"I'm sorry.", Dipper interrupted.
Mabel paused and looked back with genuine surprise.
"..What?", she asked.
"I'm really sorry I've been a jerk to you.", Dipper apologized, looking guilty. "It was stupid of me, acting like you betrayed me or anything, cause you listened to Grunkle Stan. I was talking with Stanley and he told me how I should always be able to trust family. And well..."
Dipper pulled out the journal and Mabel swallowed a large lump in her throat as she stared at it.
"...I shouldn't have listened to this silly Journal at all..", Dipper concluded, shaking his head a little. "I'm really sorry Mabel.. I should've trusted you and Grunkle Stan more.."
Mabel's heart melted listening to him. This heart-felt apology...Mabel began to feel guilty herself. Dipper sighed with relief.
"I'm so glad we've got that settled..", he smiled more, earning a more forced one from Mabel as she nodded. "So, what did you wanna ask me?"
"Umm...", Mabel shuffled a little. "I uh.. I-I was wanting to ask you if I could um... Can I see the Journal?"
"Yeah, of course!", Dipper handed it over. "Anything for you, Mabel."
Mabel took the book from him and looked at it. Her face reflected with the hand on it. She felt the guilt gnaw at her, this real sense of betrayal she was about to take part of. She hesitated.
'I can't do it...', she thought to herself.
'I hoped so...', Bill's voice echoed behind her.
Mabel felt his hands grasp her shoulders and suddenly a hard jerk. Dipper gasped as Mabel's body fell over.
"Mabel?!", Dipper dropped to his knees. "What's wrong? Are you okay?"
'Wh-what happened?!', Mabel asked in the mindscape as she floated there. 'Dipper! Look out!'
Slowly her body stood up, grasping the Journal tightly. A dark chuckle rumbled from her throat.
"Mabel?", Dipper asked, a little uneasy. "Are...are you okay?"
"Oh... I'm MORE than okay, PINETREE!", Mabill looked up, the largest grin plastered on her face.
"Pinetree..?", Dipper asked quietly before gasping again. "BILL!?"
"FINALLY I can get rid of these Journals!", Mabill turned the book over in her hands and started to open it.
"Give me that journal!", Dipper quickly lunged forward for it and the two tumbled into the floor and a couple of boxes as they wrestled for the book.
Dipper managed to yank it from Mabill's grasp and took off running.
"GIVE ME BACK THAT JOURNAL!", Mabill screamed at him as she took chase.
"Never!", Dipper ran out of the room and down the stairs "Stan!"
Mabill was in hot pursuit but Dipper reached the bottom of the stairs just as both Stans came up.
"Kids, what's wrong?!", Stanford asked.
Dipper rushed past them and hid behind Stanley's legs.
"That's not Mabel, she's being possessed by a demon that wants the Journals!", Dipper quickly explained.
"GIVE ME THAT BOOK!", Mabill tried to run past them too, but Stanley quickly took hold of the back of Mabel's sweater and pulled the child up off the ground.
Mabill wrestled in Stanley's grasp as she tried to break free, dangling by her sweater.
"Let me go!", she growled. "Dipper's not sharing with me!"
Stanley got a better grasp on her and kept Mabill at arm's length.
"Dipper, what's going on?!", Stanley looked down at him. "What's gotten into Mabel?"
"Bill Cipher did and he's trying to destroy the Journals!", Dipper backed away, holding the Journal close. "It's not Mabel!"
"You're gonna regret this Pinetree...", Mabill scowled at him coldly.
"Pinetree?", Stanford echoed.
Lee and Ford looked at each other with worry.
"...Let's get him tied up.", Stanley stated. "We need to get Mabel back..."
"Yeah..", Stanford quickly nodded.
They hurried off while Dipper caught his breath. After a moment, he then looked around.
"Mabel.. Mabel!", Dipper stood back up and tried to guess where his sister's dreamscape-ghost could be. "Mabel, listen carefully, you can talk with me through anything that has a face on it! A-A puppet or something!"
Dipper backed up, starting to head for the stairs but bumped into something and turned around to find one of Mabel's floating stuffed toys. A tiger with really long, floppy legs.
"Dipper, I'm so sorry about what happened!", Mabel's voice echoed through the toy. She sounded like she was in tears.
"No. No no no no, Mabel it's not your fault..", Dipper started to say out of the knee-jerk reaction to comfort her.
"But it IS my fault!", Mabel insisted, the doll covered its eyes in sorrow. "I promised Bill I would destroy the Journals because I wanted to keep you safe! But I didn't want to after you apologized and then he took over my body!"
The words sunk in deep in Dipper's mind. He wasn't really sure which emotion to feel for this. He was scared that Bill had twisted Mabel's words and made a deal with her. But he was hurt that she would destroy the Journals for it. He was touched she didn't want to from his apology and she just wanted him safe. Over all the remaining emotion was worry of finding a way out of things and watching this puppet reflect her sobs.
Gently he took the puppet, guessing his sister was standing somewhere there, and hugged the air.
"Mabel.. It's my fault..", Dipper said quietly. "If I wasn't mad at you... Bill wouldn't have had a chance to get at you.. I'm sorry.."
"Dipper...", Mabel's voice echoed sadly.
"No. I'm gonna find a way to get him out of your body.", Dipper was a bit more firm as he backed up. "We're gonna get him our of your body and keep you safe."
"...Thanks Dipper..", Mabel's voice sounded appreciative.
"Dipper we've got Mabill's body tied up to the table and-", Stanley came into the room and stopped short of seeing Dipper standing there with a floating tiger toy. "..Mabel?"
"Grandpa Stan, I'm really REALLY sorry about what happened...", Mabel apologized. "I made a deal with Bill that I would destroy the Journals to keep Dipper safe..."
Stanley's surprise melted with gentle concern and love. He knelt down to the puppet's height.
"Don't worry, Mabel. Bill Cipher is really clever with lies.", Stanley reassured her. "But we're gonna find a way to get him out of your body, so don't worry, okay?"
"...Thanks, Grandpa Stan..", Mabel said with a small smile to her voice.
"Do we have a spell or something to call out his spirit?", Dipper asked.
"Well..", Stanley scratched the back of his neck. "Umm... It's a bit more difficult than that Dipper.. I don't have a lot of research on Bill Cipher."
"O-Oh?", Dipper asked, his hope starting to weaken.
"And the dreamscape is different than the spiritual scape..", Stanley continued. "I can conjure souls and ghosts. No problem. I... I don't really know about conjuring someone's mental being."
"Sooooo...", Mabel was sounding equally discouraged.
"...I don't have anything written down exactly about how to get Bill out of Mabel's body.", Stanley admitted finally with a heavy sigh. "I can try looking into things, I'm sure there has to be some way but.. I can't just go performing exorcism on Mabel's body. If her body dies, her mind dies away too. And she just becomes a ghost."
Mabel sighed sadly, the puppet lowered a little to reflect her discouragement.
"Well.. Well can we get him to fall asleep and come out like he does with us?", Dipper asked in desperation.
"I don't know, Dipper.", Stanley rolled his eyes a little. "That's the problem. I don't know. I don't have ALL the answers. I was still the middle of studying him when I disappeared. I don't know if he WILL fall asleep, he might just try to drive Mabel's body to stay awake as long as possible."
They retreated to another part of the house to begin researching. Once in a while, they'd check in on Mabill, readjusting the restraints if need be. Bill would shout curses to the Pine's name but they were empty threats, Stanley reassured.
All day long, they searched online, through some of Stanley's old research books. Nothing could be found. By the time the sun began to set, Dipper could barely stand it.
'There's gotta be something I can do to save Mabel's body.', he thought to himself as he paced back and forth in his bedroom. 'But what? Bill won't leave her body on his own. I don't want her life to accidentally be taken away!'
Dipper stopped and looked at himself in a mirror. It was too easy to just see Mabel standing next to him and the agony was almost something to die for.
"...I gotta do something.", Dipper sighed to himself. "But what can I do to get Bill..."
He saw the binder of Journal #3 in his vest. Suddenly a thought dawned on him and his eyes widened with insight.
"That's it!", Dipper exclaimed and then raced downstairs.
Some hours later, Dipper was sent to bed. He tossed and turned.
It felt like forever, but every time Dipper turned to look at the clock, only five minutes would pass. His mind was racing as he laid there.
Half an hour after he went to bed. He figured it was as good of a time as any.
Dipper carefully tip-toed downstairs quietly. The Stan twins were probably still pouring over the Journals in Stanley's room, but he didn't want them to know he was still up. He carefully slipped to the kitchen and hesitated. His heart thumped as he thought about what he was about to do. But if it meant Mabel's safety.. He swallowed and stepped in.
There he saw her body, tied up tightly to the kitchen table. She'd lift her head and drop it on the table, giggling quietly to herself, until the door was closed behind Dipper.
By the sound of the knob clicking into place, the head dropped one last time before slowly turning to face him, the large creepy grin etched into her now. Dipper could look at her and know it wasn't Mabel.
"...Well well well.. Look who thought to come by and check up on me..", Mabill's voice crowed. "Think you've got some sorta cute exorcism spell you can throw on me?"
"No.", Dipper's voice remained firm as he stepped closer. "...I wanna make a deal with you."
Mabill raised a curious eyebrow.
"Hmmm... I dunno, Pinetree..", she shrugged as best as she could, rolling her eyes and looking away from him. "I'm still kinda in the middle of this deal with your sister."
"I know.. But what if I gave you something better than Mabel's body?", Dipper asked.
"Like what?", Bill asked curiously.
"...What if I gave you my body?", Dipper offered.
This earned him a curious look from the demon-possessed child.
"I'm listening..."
"We'll share my body.", Dipper repeated and then pressed on to explain. "You can come in and out of it whenever you want, I won't try to stop you. You wanna stab it? Fine. Go ahead. You.. You wanna make me fall off the roof? Okay. You can possess it for however long you want, when you're done I get it back. But you can always come back any time you feel like it. Door's open man. And I won't possess anything either."
"What's the catch?"
"You can't hurt my friends or family. You can't attack them in my body, you can't give them nightmares, you can't harm them in any way.", Dipper frowned a bit more. "And to be specific, when I say family I mean Stanford Pines, Stanley Pines, Mabel Pines, Wendy Corduroy, and Soos Ramirez...a-and Waddles. You can't hurt Waddles either."
"Hm, I see you were thinking for once this time.", Bill commented dryly. "But what would I want with your body?"
"Well for one it isn't chained up to the table.", Dipper pointed out.
"What if the others just tie up your body?", Bill accused. "You gotta throw in that they can't immobilize me."
"Fine man. Whatever.", Dipper rolled his eyes. "They can't tie you up. But if you wanna go kill someone I haven't mentioned, that's your business and they're free to stop you. What's more is that by having my body, you can be in the physical world whenever you want. And if you can get your hands on the Journals, that's your business too. I can't stop you."
"Ah, now THAT'S more like it.", Bill gave a wide, toothy grin. "Alright, Pinetree. I'm bought. Just shake my hand and the deal's sealed."
Mabill stretched out her hand as best as she could. Dipper looked at the invitation for a moment. He thought back earlier to his grandfather's question and knew his answer. He'd give up everything to have Mabel back.
Dipper took a breath and reached for the hand.
"I thought I heard talking..", Stanley's voice said through the kitchen door before he opened it.
Lee, Ford, and Mabel all gasped seeing Dipper shaking hands with Mabill.
"DIPPER!", they cried out.
Dipper groaned a little and felt to his knees. The toy suddenly dropped to the floor and the twins groaned as they collected themselves.
"Kids! What-! Wh-Who's?! Dipper what did you?!", Stanford gasped as he and Stanley rushed in and looked between them.
"Mm..", Dipper rubbed his head and opened his eyes. "Mabel.. Mabel!"
He gasped and stood up, looking at his sister's body.
"Mabel, are you okay?!", he asked panicked.
"Dipper...?", Mabel groaned and opened her eyes. She gasped too and then quickly became panicked. "DIPPER WHAT DID YOU DO?!"
Dipper sighed with relief and leaned his head on the table. Stanford quickly took to untying Mabel.
"Okay, you're safe.", Dipper said to himself. "You're safe, you're fine. It's okay now.."
"No, what did you do?! What did you say to him?!", Stanley demanded to know. "What was the deal, Dipper?!"
Mabel sat up and leaned close as everyone waited for Dipper's answer. He closed his eyes and took a breath.
"...Bill promised he would never harm any of you guys again..", he answered. "..in return for sharing my body."
"WHAT?!", Stanford and Mabel gaped in unison.
"Kid!"
"Dipper!"
"No, guys listen!", Dipper backed up a little before Ford tried to tie him down. "You can't immobilize the body. You can't tie him down or that breaks the deal and he could still try to hurt you guys."
"What's to stop him from attacking us while he has your body?", Stanley asked pointedly.
"...Well then he'd be breaking the deal..", Dipper's voice got quiet and his eyes lowered to the floor. "And if he breaks the deal... Guys.. I want you to promise me that if he breaks that deal... Someone.."
He took in a deep breath and looked to his right. Eyes narrowed though tears showed, he looked straight at Bill who had been hovering by, waiting to hear this.
"...Someone has to break the body.", Dipper finally finished.
It took a moment for everyone to catch on. Slowly, their eyes widened.
"...Dipper...", Mabel breathed. "You.. You don't mean..."
"Yeah. I do..", Dipper looked back at Mabel. "I mean BEYOND repair. ...Kill the body."
'WHAT?!', Bill exploded next to him.
"YEAH BILL!", Dipper shouted back, being the only one able to see him because of the deal. "I will fight you for the body and I will do everything I can to make sure neither one of us has it! They can always summon back my spirit, but you'd be lost in the dreamscape again till you find another victim! I THOUGHT THIS THROUGH CAREFULLY!"
"Dipper...!", Mabel started to sob a little.
"No, Mabel!", Dipper held his hands up. "I'm okay with this... I would rather die than let my body hurt any one of you! Even if you tied Bill down, and you could, the whole deal would be off, he would still be a threat. I don't want him to hurt you. Any of you."
Mabel broke down to tears. Dipper sighed, and started to make his way to comfort her, but suddenly he flinched, his eyes shut tight, and he stepped away.
"Dipper?", Stanley asked in slight fear.
Mabel looked up and a smile spread across Dipper's face. Bipper looked back at the three of them with a dark chuckle.
"Guess again, Glasses.", Bill teased.
Mabel and Stanford backed up to Stanley while Bill practiced closing and opening his hands a little, getting used to the body once more.
"Even if you guys do kill off Pinetree, that'll be a bonus for me!", Bill cackled. "If I can get my hands on the Journals, I don't care what happens to the rest of our contract! So where is it Pinetree? You said I could have them for this little game!"
"Dipper said if you could FIND them, they're yours.", Stanley stated quietly, something clicking in his mind.
"Yeah, so where'd you hide them this time?", Bill checked his vest pockets. "I thought I saw you tuck them in here a few times..."
He frowned and took off the vest. Bipper turned it inside out and shook it, waiting for one if not all three to come falling out. All that did was a black light.
'I told you, I thought about this CAREFULLY.', Dipper warned. 'I don't have the Journals with me.'
"WHERE ARE THEY?", Bill's temper started to flair as he threw down the vest on the floor.
"With me."
Bipper slowly turned to look and Stanley had Journal 1 in his hand. His eyes widened as Stanley tucked it away in his trench coat along with the other two.
"You...", Bill breathed quietly.
"Dipper gave me Journal 3 a few hours ago.", Stanley looked down at the ground as things clicked into place in his mind. "..he made sure I had all three and told me not to ever give it or the other two back. He said he was scared how much they influenced him but... I see he's picked up a few tips on acting and lying."
Bipper's breathing became heavy as the anger built up inside of him. He screamed and grabbed a nearby knife and ran at them. Mabel screamed and Stanford and Stanley instinctively crouched around her, but the knife stopped cold in its tracks. Mabel looked up, the knife was only a breath away from her. Bipper's eyes dug deep into her's. Utter rage and hatred reflected her fear and despair.
Finally Bipper screamed and backed away, swiping the knife across his chest. Mabel gasped and Stanford pulled her close protectively. Bipper groaned a little from the sudden sharp pain and dropped the knife, but looked about the rest of the kitchen.
He growled and screamed again, grabbing a chair and throwing it across the floor and banging his hands and head on the table and counters. He slammed the drawers and cabinets as hard as he could into the limbs and screamed some more.
Mabel buried her face into Grunkle Stan as tears began to spill. He gently stroked her hair and tried his best to soothe her.
"Shh.. Shh... It's okay, Sweetie..", he said softly into her hair. "He can't do any permanent damage, and he knows it. It'll be okay..."
Dipper's ghost simply stood there, unable to do or say much of anything as he watched Bill hurt his body. He had a feeling Bill would do this and dreaded the rude awakening when he would leave the body for Dipper to deal with the left over throbs.
Bipper finally banged his fists on the counter one last time and panted from the tantrum. He then grew very quiet and still as he slowly calmed down. Mabel turned a little to watch. After a moment, Bipper ran a bruised hand through his hair, accidentally pushing off the hat, and then turned back around. His eyes were wide and crazy and Mabel worried if he was gonna try to kill them anyway. Instead, he marched over and scooped up the knife again. He flopped back into a kitchen chair and it tipped over, but caught at last second on the table.
Slowly, he took a deep breath, placed the knife along his left arm, and then quickly swiped it across. Mabel felt her guts jump as the knife came across and Bipper gasped with pain. He gave a long, shakey, sigh of both relief and delight, a chuckle escaping as he melted back into the chair a little more.
"Ooooohhho ho ho ho.. That's what I needed..", Bill smiled his old wide, psychotic, toothy grin. "Clean, sharp, bloody, stainless steel pain.."
Dipper's ghost sighed and rolls his eyes.
'I'm gonna need that arm tomorrow..', he groaned.
"I know, Pinetree. Relax. I'm not gonna stab it and make it useless.", Bill chuckled. "Though it'd be nifty to see what trouble I can get you into at a hospital, huh?"
He swiped it again, a little further down, and then laughed even more. Mabel shivered, watching him, and Stanford turned her away again while he and Stanley kept an eye on the possessed child.
"You know, this IS still pretty nice..", Bipper commented to himself. "Nothing makes you feel more alive than feeling pain and watching your life drip down your body."
Again he sliced his arm, just working his way on down the length of his arm.
"But what can I do with your body? Yeah, you said I could get my hands on the Journals..", Bipper mused to himself, casually waving the knife around as if it was his hand. "But I can't get to it... YET..."
He swiped himself one more time. Stanley couldn't help but groan a little. Half the boy's arm was covered in blood now, and he could smell it from where they stood.
"B-Bill, come on..", Stanley grimaced some. "Do you have to, really?"
"Shut it, old man!", Bipper pointed the knife at him and his eyes narrowed. "It's MY body right now and I can do whatever I want with it!"
'Don't you DARE throw that knife!', Dipper warned with a growl.
"Pinetree, get off my back!", Bill scowled back at him and tossed the knife into the air. "I'm not gonna, I already know not to! Geez, when did you become my MOTHER?"
He caught the knife with his left hand by the handle.
"Now I'm gonna think of anything I wanna do with this body and I'll take as long as I wanna with it!"
'Hm, you could just NOT possess the body for now!', Dipper argued with a slight smirk.
Bipper's face slowly twisted into an almost pleasant smile that made Dipper regret the sass he just gave.
"...Did I ever tell you I was right handed?", Bill asked sweetly before placing the knife at the shoulder of his right arm and slowly dragging it down the entire length of the arm. It jagged and twisted, unsteady in his left hand.
Both Stans and Dipper all groaned, earning a nice cackle from the demon.
"Now...", Bipper placed the blade of the knife against his cheek, giving a cruel sneer at Dipper. "CAN I still have fun with this body? HMMMMM..."
It was obvious he was already, but he took to making a show out of Dipper's stupidity and arrogance.
'Alright, alright, I get it! you can still use my body and make me miserable!', Dipper growled. 'At least there's that!'
"...yes...", Bill hissed quietly, tapping the blade along his chin now. "I can still make you miserable.."
He finally sat up, an idea struck him. He placed the blade in his hand again and looked over at the Pine's family, considering them.
'...What are you thinking, Bill?', Dipper asked.
Finally Bill's stern consideration lightened up to another smile and he swiped the blade again.
"Yeah. I can still use this body.", he chuckled darkly.
Stanley and Stanford swallowed hard and Bill twirled the knife in his hand, scraping it up a bit more, so he held it by the tip. He leaned forward, sat the chair back on the floor, and then stepped up onto it.
"I just don't need to use it right now.", he went on, stepping up onto the table now.
'You mean you scratched up, caused potential scarring, to my whole body, JUST to say you'll come back later?!', Dipper groaned.
"Yup!", Bipper smiled back at him. "I REALLY needed to ease up the nerves of being left in this puny childish body."
Bill threw down the knife into the table, causing it to stick straight up.
"Hmm..", he paused to look over the blood on his arms and scooped up a handful of the stuff.
Dipper sighed and floated up closer to the body.
'PLEASE don't tell me you wanna EAT the stuff...', Dipper grimaced.
"Pfft. I'm not STUPID, Pinetree. Blood's just got the same warm, salty taste every time. Not really my style. I have no idea why vampires like it.", Bipper rolled his eyes and then pressed both his hands together and stretched it out. The warm sticky goop stretched between his fingers. "I just thought it was funny how blood looked like puppet strings..."
Dipper shuddered, watching, but then Bill spun around and saluted the Pines family.
"See ya later, Pines!", he exclaimed, stepping back a little.
Bill flew out of Dipper's body and it fell limply to the floor.
'All your's Dipper!', Bill chuckled, floating up to Dipper's ghost. 'Better hurry. Body will probably die in about 10 minutes without one of us.'
'Yeah. Thanks..', Dipper rolled his eyes and floated back to it. 'As if you haven't nearly killed it already..'
'Next time you wanna make a deal and not nearly kill yourself, give the demon what he wants and just leave it at that.', Bill scoffed while Dipper quickly got into his body.
"Dipper!", Stanley exclaimed and quickly came over to check up on him as his body hit the floor.
"Dipper?", Mabel looked back in slight fear.
Dipper's body groaned as reality sunk into his sore, stinging body and slowly he picked himself up.
"Dipper, are you okay? Anything broken?", Stanley asked.
"Ugh.. No I don't think so.. At least this time..", Dipper rubbed his body.
Stanford and Mabel quickly came over too.
"Dipper, I'm sorry I'm SO SO sorry!", Mabel was crying as she knelt onto the floor with him and buried her face in her hands. "This is all my fault!"
"No... No, Mabel, don't say that..", Dipper shook his head. "I did it on my own. I thought the whole thing out and I did it on my own. But it's alright."
Mabel looked back at him. Her face was stained with tears. Dipper tried to reassure her with a smile. Though the overall affect mad him looked deranged as he sat there, holding his bleeding chest in pain.
"Mabel, if it means keeping you safe... It's worth it..", Dipper stated, firm in his mind about this.
"..Is it?", Mabel asked quietly.
Stanley didn't hear her and Dipper barely did, but Dipper was already being helped to his feet by Lee.
"Come on, Dipper, let's get you cleaned up..", Stanley said gently.
Dipper was whisked away to the bathroom and taken care of. When he and Mabel got to bed, he was sore and worn out, but the two almost didn't dare to go to sleep.
"...Dipper...", Mabel began in the still darkness. "...I'm sorry..."
"It's okay Mabel.. You and Bill actually were right. Those Journals were getting to me.. I should've trusted you and Grunkle Stan more. You're my family.. If anything ever happened to you...well...", he tried not to say he would die and took a moment to think of a better answer. "...Well let's just say that even though this is gonna get a little rough to live with at first, we'll get through it. And Grandpa Stanley is still looking for a way to get us out of this. As long as you're safe, that's all that really matters to me right now."
Mabel didn't know if it was just cause he was tired, or if it was just her ears because she didn't want to think so, but judging by the sound of it, Dipper didn't really believe it either.
Laura: Please review! (Ha ha ha ha ha! I love the knife scene. X3)
Amber: *Back from the dead* AW MAN, IT'S GETTING REAL! XD (Awww, poor Mabel, precious baby! ;~;) Btw, we promise not ALL chapters will be this long. xD;;;