Dipper stared blankly at the control panel in front of him. Not really seeing it. He was (as he was frequently) reliving the last few minutes after the countdown reached zero. What could he have done to save her? Not for the first time, he wished that it had been him who had been sucked into that strange other dimension 5 years ago, in Mabel's place.

He was snapped out of his reverie when someone placed their hand on his shoulder. He turned around in his chair. It was Pacifica.

"Hey there, how are you?" She asked, the same as every other day. Dipper replied with his usual lie."I'm fine, I'm good, I think I might be close, just another few weeks, and I think I can make it work".

"That's good. Dipper, I uh-brought someone to see you." Pacifica looked down sheepishly, and continued. "Before he comes down here, can I ask that you keep an open mind. He feels so guilty, and he lost his twin brother as well as Mabel."

Dipper lost it. "He can't be forgiven! He hasn't seen his brother in 35 years! Ford was the reason this whole thing happened! If he hadn't built this stupid piece of junk!" He kicked the side of the machine. "Then none of this would have ever happened. Stan put everyone at risk, he knew that, and he still did it, and now Mabel is gone! Lost in another dimension! I've lost my twin! Pacifica! That feels as if someone just chopped me in half!".

Pacifica moved to one side, and Stan wheeled himself out of the elevator. He looked as if he hadn't slept. "Dipper, I know that there's nothing I can say, but I need you to listen to me, don't be mad, I'm telling you this because I thinks that it's whats best for you. I-I think that you should quit trying to reactivate the portal. It could destroy the universe! There's no guarantee that you'll get Mabel back, and even if you do, we don't know what's in that other dimension. We have no idea what her state of mind is, it might be better if you remember her how she was, instead of being obsessed with getting her back, and being let down when she's not how she used to be."

Throughout his entire speech, Dipper grew more and more enraged. "What?! What do you mean don't try to save her? Why would I want to leave her in that place! I don't care what you think! You think that it's whats best for me? Well I know better! She would do everything to save me. I'm going to do the same for her. Get out. Get out and let me do my work. You too, Pacifica."

Pacifica cast her eyes down and turned to leave the room, wheeling Grunkle Stan out as well. Dipper returned to his work, and didn't say a word.

Weeks had passed since Dipper last spoke to another person. He had barely left the basement at all. But the day had come. He felt sure that the portal would work, it was all fixed up. Today was the day, Mabel would be back by tonight. Dipper walked over to the button that would start up the portal (he had ditched that 24 hour countdown). His hand hesitated over the switch. Was Stan right? Did he really want to do this? He shook off his doubts. It was Mabel, he had to save her. He checked his harness, there th ensure he didn't get sucked in, and pressed the button.

The machine sparked and the portal appeared inside the triangle. It lifted him off of his feet. Mabel crashed through the storm of light and colour, Dipper shut it down, and wiped away his tears. His feet came back to the ground.

Mabel was curled over in the center of the room. Shivering slightly, Dipper ran over to her, and found her alive and awake, albeit quite shook up. "Mabel? You ok?" Mabel turned over, her eyes wide. "Dip? Is-is that really you?" Dipper nodded silenlty, and they hugged each other fiercly. Mabel whispered in her brother's ear as silent tears poured down her face. "Thank you…thack you so much!"

Leaning on Dipper's shoulder, Mabel made it to her untouched bed, collapsing on it, uncaring about the plume of dust that swirled around her. She was asleep before her head hit the pillow.

In her dream, she wandered through a dense forest. All of the trees looked exactly the same, and there seemed to be no end them. Suddenly, all colour was drained from the dream-forest. From the bleakness, a familiar yellow triangle appeared in the sky. "HELLOOO SHOOTING STAR! Long time no see! How are ya? Good? I'm GREAT!"

"Bill, what are you doing here?" Mabel sighed. "Well, that's certainly no way to treat the demon that saved you from that other dimension now IS IT? I am here because I fulfilled my end of the deal, and now it's YOUR turn.I believe the terms of the deal were that I get you out of that dimension and reunite you with your beloved brother! In return, YOU give me total and utter control over your soul!" And if all goes to plan, I should get Pine Tree's as a little bonus. This last part was just in Bill's head. He had to admit, he was super excited about this deal. He had a soft spot for the Pines twins. It had been unbelievably dull these past few years! What was the fun in messing with someones mind when they were nearly insane anyway? This would all be worth it though. He couldn't wait to see the look on Pine Tree's face when he realized what was going on…

Mabel looked queasy, "Yeah.. I guess I did say that.." She spoke slowly. Bill placed his little black hand on the top of Mabel's arm, and began the painful process of soul claiming. Mabel screamed and fell to her knees. "HAHAHAHA, your pain is even MORE hilarious than Pine Tree's!" Bill removed his hand, and left Mabel to scream some more.

Mabel awoke in her bed, sweaty and cold at the same time. She frantically pulled up the sleeve of her tattered shirt, and found , to her horror, that she had been branded. A little Bill had been seared into her flesh. What had she done? She'd sold her soul to BILL! Of ALL the demons she could have sold her soul to, she sold it to the one with a love of torture and driving people insane, who also had a vendetta against her family! Her panicking had awoken Dipper. He looked across to her, concerned, and she hid her new mark under her sleeve. " Mabel, are you ok?" Mabel considered telling him what she had done. She opened her mouth to explain, but she found that the words that she spoke were not her own. "Yeah, fine Pi- I mean Dipper, just a bad dream." Mabel cried inside. Of course, of course she couldn't tell him.

In the dreamscape, Bill was bent over laughing. This was going to be even better than he had anticipated!

WELL, I was very proud of that last chapter. Unfortunately, there may be a few mistakes that I failed to notice, because my spell check isn't working, and so there will be some that made it through editing. I will be writing again soon, I'm sure. Until then, here's a little code to break.

PWI XYZVM LOEK AWJ RRFY IATSJV EWHX PQC ULEI

Clue – CIPHER

Use the grid…