A Puppet With Strings by Drean-Leaf-Alex

OOC: Most of this chapter is kind of like the first half of the episode. I really dislike doing chapters like this, so thank god this is an AU. .-. Just as a side note, of course. But whatever. After this, it will all be my own dialogue and ideas! Enjoy, guys. 3

"Oh come on!" Dipper groaned, as once again, the red flash showed up on the screen showing that once again, he had gotten the password wrong. It seemed like every password that Dier deemed possible failed. Was it a word? A bunch of letter? Numbers? Or something totally random? It seemed that he tried everything, from 'Journal 3', to 'Overlord', and to 'vomiting.'

And to Dipper, it seemed the laptop was taunting him. Every beep it made, every red flash it made, was making Dipper more and more determined to get the password finally right. But was all...

"Wrong password! Wrong, wrong!" Dipper groaned softly, almost willing to take the laptop and fling it across the room in his anger. But that won't do any good. Dipper let out a frustrated sigh as he leaned back, head propped against his pillow as his eyes closed. Come on Dipper, think, think! There has to be some solution.

"Don't stay up all night, Dipper! Last time you were this sleep deprived, you tried to eat your own shirt." Mabel's voice rang out, making Dipper snap out of his thoughts... and made him realize that he was chewing on his own shirt. Spitting it out quickly, Dipper blushed slightly as he wiped the wetness off it. One of his embarrassing childhood habits that had still hung on him.

"Just a few more tries," Diper said as he looked over towards Mabel. Her expression of disbelief made him sigh, relenting a bit. "I promise Mabel! I won't stay up all night on this mystery."

"You better not! Otherwise you won't be able to help with my sock puppets tomorrow!" Mabel called cheerfully, before she pulled the covers over her head, and with one arm reaching out, turned down her lamp. "Goodnight, Dipper!"

Like you were supposed to help me with the laptop's password? Dipper silently shot back, before he caught himself. No, she's just being Mabel; obsessed with one boy at one time, and does everything she can to get him to like her. Dipper snorted softly to himself before leaning back against the wall to get another look at the screen. TIme to face his biggest challenge; figuring out the password.

"Ugh, I can't take that sound anymore!" Dipper muttered as he stared at the computer screen, still showing him the blank eight spaces, ready to be filled up with the right combination of letters and numbers. Okay, maybe it had been more than a few tries since Mabel went to sleep. Maybe... about fifty. He rubbed one of his eyes, which had slowly began to droop down to the stare of closed.

"One more try..." For the billionth time, Dipper typed in another eight-lettered word. Beep. 'I. Hate. You. Sound!" Dipper said, as he started to repeatedly bang down on the laptop's keyboard, before stifling an upcoming yawn. Maybe moving outside wasn't the best idea Dipper had thought it would be. He had thought that maybe, the cool fresh air would make his head a bit more clear, but now it was only sharpening his annoyance, and it was just keeping him trying and trying.

Maybe Mabel's right, and I should just get some sleep... Dipper thought, rubbing his head tiredly. But... "There has to be some shortcut or clue... Who would know about secret codes?" As if on cue, a gust of cold wind blew past him, so strong that it shut the laptop closed, and it nearly fell off his lap.

Gripping it tightly so it wouldn't fall, Dipper slowly got up All around him, leaves were blowing in the wind and the trees were shaking hard. "Something is going on..." Dipper muttered as he eyed the space around him, before a sudden beam of light shot down on him from behind.

What he saw when he turned made Dipper gasp. On the moon, one straight line was leering down on him. Is that... an eyeball? Dipper thought briefly, before suddenly, a blue light flashed, coming together to form... a triangle.

"I think I know a guy!" Bill said cheerfully, as he floated above Dipper. "Well, well, well, you're awfully persistent Pine Tree. Hats off to you!" And with that, Bill took off his hat, and suddenly, the world began to tilt, making Dipper gasp as he slid on the roof, bumping against the top of the Mystery Shack thankfully, before Bill put his hat back on, which made gravity return to normal.

Breathing coming in short gasps from that short scare, Dipper felt himself back up a bit, bumping against the window of the Shack. "You again!"

"Did you miss me?" Bill said, as he floated closer towards Dipper, before he squinted his eye as if he was grinning. "Admit it, you missed me!"

"Hardly! Dipper narrowed his eyes slightly on Bill. "You worked with Gideon! You tried to destroy my uncle's mind!"

"It was just a job kid! No hard feelings!" Bill chuckled slightly, winking his one eye. Before a 'serious' expression came upon his eye. "I've been keeping an -" Suddenly Bill's eye got really big and red, as if the blood veins were ready to burst. "- eye on you -" Bill's eye immediately shrunk back to it's original size, and got white as the moon again. "And I must say I'm impressed!"

For a moment, part of Dipper's suspicion melted away. Bill of all people is noticing what I'm doing around here? "Really?" Dipper said questioningly, raising one eyebrow.

"You deserve a prize…" Bill said, tapping his bowtie with one finger, before his eye widened a bit. "Here! Have a head that's always screaming!" With a clap of his hands, suddenly, a large head, about the size of Dipper dropped on the ground in front of Dipper… and immediately started to scream.

Does he always have to be so literal? Dipper thought as he shied away from the repeatedly screaming head, before it disappeared into the air by first it's skin, then tissue, followed by muscles and bones.

Bill floated down, before sitting (Could you even call it that? Dipper thought to himself for a moment.) on the ledge of the roof. "The point is, I like you. How about you let me give you a hint, huh?" With one hand, Bill pushed Dipper closer to him. "I only ask for a small favour in return." For a moment, Bill's hand and eye lit up with a brillant blue fire at the mention of 'favour', but as quick as it came, it disappeared.

Dipper had to ask himself sometimes if he really was seeing everything he thought he was.

"I'd never do a favour for you!" Dipper said, backing away a bit as he still clutched the laptop in his hands. "Don't forget who defeated you last time!"

"Right…" Dipper blinked, and realized that Bill was now not in front of him - he was behind him! "You 'defeated' me." Bill said, making quotations with his hands to emphasize the point. "But if you ever change your mind, I'll be ready for you! Ready to make a deal!"

Dipper opened his mouth to respond, but before he could, Bill quickly said. "Hey, wanna see my impression of you in about three seconds…" And with that, he let out a scream, snapping Dipper right out of the dream.

… And making him scream like that himself as he woke up. Sometimes, he really hated Bill.

"Mabel, listen to me! Last night I had a dream with Bill in it!"

"Wait, hold up… the triangle guy?"

"He'd said he'd give me the code to the laptop if I gave him something… like I'd actually trust Bill, right?"

"Don't worry Bro, today's the day the Mystery Twins are back in action! I'll help you crack that code!"

"Wh-Wh-Woah! Mabel! You said you were going to help me!"

"Dipper! This sock-crias just bulked up to a code argyle! The laptop can wait!"

"Mabel, do you seriously think your random quest of the week is more important than uncovering the mysteries of this town? You're obsessed!"

"I'm obsessed? Look at you! You like like you're a vampire! And NOT the hot kind!"

"But you said you were going to help me today!"

"Well I can help you, with tickles!"

"Hahahaha,- arrgh! Okay, fine! You know what? I'll do it on my own!"

"Passwords… passwords…" Dipper muttered under his breath as he typed away on the laptop. Okay, maybe he was obsessed. But this was important! This was to find out what was actually going on at Gravity Falls! Instead, she was swooning over this new guy and…

"Ugh. Mabel. Is. Useless." Even that didn't work. A yawn slowly escaped his jaws as he stared at the screen. If she helped… then he wouldn't be so sleep deprived! Couldn't she see that? "Aw man…"

"TOO MANY FAILED ENTRIES. INITIATE DATA ERASE, IN FIVE MINUTES."

"No! No, NO!" Dipper gasped as he stared at the screen. It couldn't be happening. Everything would just blow up if he didn't get the password right in one more try. "I'm gonna lose everything… one more try isn't enough!"

Suddenly, the room around Dipper became gray, it's color melting away. Eyes widening, he jumped off the window sill, just in time to see Bill appear. From the triangular-shaped window. "Well, well, well. Someone's looking desperate!"

"I thought I told you to leave me alone!" Dipper said, backing away a bit from Bill.

"I can help you kid, you just need to hear out my demands!" Bill said, his cane appearing, and he carefully pointed out at the computer. A minute down already.

Dipper bit his lip. It couldn't be too hard to HEAR out his demands? If it was something crazy… well he wouldn't agree, that's all. "Ugh… what crazy thing do you want, anyway? To eat my soul? To rip out my teeth? … Are you going to replace my eyes with baby-heads or something?"

"Yeesh, kid, relax!" Bill said, eyes narrowing for a second. "All I want is a puppet!"

"A… puppet?" Dipper's gaze flickered over towards the tons of puppets Mabel had lined up in her room. What could Bill possibly want with any of those? "What are you playing at?"

"Everyone loves puppets!" Bill said, before pointing his cane at the stack of puppets lined up. "And it looks to me, you have a surplus!"

Okay… that didn't sound like the worst trade-off. One of Mabel's puppets for the password to unlock so much? But… he took a second glance over at the puppets. "I… I-I don't know, man. Mabel worked really hard on these…" Dipper said, shifting uncomfortably.

"Seems to me that one little puppet is a small price to pay to learn all the secrets of the universe!" Bill said, poking at one of the puppets eyes. "Besides..." He said, now floating over towards Dipper. "What's your sister done for you lately? How many times you sacrificed for her, huh? And when has she ever returned the favour?"

Dipper wanted to shout out at Bill, and say that's not true, and defend her. But… honestly he couldn't. He was still ticked off with Mabel, and it was true… his eyes shifted from the puppets to the computer. Thirty seconds left… it was now, or never.

"Tick-tock, kid!" Bill said, reaching out a hand towards Dipper.

"... Just one puppet … fine!" Dipper said, as he reached out his hand, and grasped Bill's, and together they shook, making a blue fire ignite.

"So… what puppet are you going to pick anyway?" Dipper said, raising his eyebrow. Honestly, he was curious. What could a dream demon want with a puppet anyway?"

"Hmm… let's see…" Bill said, his gaze seemingly going towards the puppets. "Eenie.. meanie… minie... YOU!"

"Wait, what?" Dipper said, trying to shake Bill's now firm grasp on his hand. With that, an electrical charge ran down his arm.

"See what happens now, kid!" Bill's voice rang out as suddenly, black dots began to appear on his vision, and soon, Dipper succumbed to the blackness.