Light.

The first thing Dipper saw was light.

Even with his eyes closed, it blinded him. He could feel it on his skin, see it through his eyelids. A big, bright, light.

He felt himself floating, slowly at first, but moving steadily faster. The light faded as he fell. He opened his eyes and saw himself falling fast toward an endless black abyss. Dipper opened his mouth, preparing to scream, but a strong, wrinkled hand got to him before he could.

Stanford stood on his hands and knees on the edge of a massive cliff. He looked tired, worn down, but he held onto Dipper's hand as if his life depended on it. He pulled Dipper over the edge of the cliff with all the strength he had left. After he was sure Dipper was safe, his muscles gave out and he collapsed onto the ground.

Once Dipper was back on solid ground, he rolled onto his back and stared at the sky, trying to catch his breath. It didn't really help much. The sky was a dismal gray; looking at it seemed to drain any happiness from Dipper. Not that there was much happiness in him to begin with.

Once some of the shock had worn off, he stood up and looked around. Most of the land surrounding him was barren wasteland, with any signs of civilization burned and grazed to the ground. Some of it was still giving off light smoke, as if it had just been demolished about an hour ago.

Out of the corner of his eye, Dipper noticed Stanford rising to his feet next to him. "You okay, kid?" Stanford asked, placing a hand on Dipper's shoulder. "That was quite a fall you had."

Dipper shrugged away from Stanford's grip. "We have to get moving," he said urgently. "There's no way Mabel can survive in a place like this."

The gray box in Stanford's hand began to buzz with static, and from within it a voice could be weakly heard. Stanley's voice. "Dipper! Ford! Do you read me?"

Stanford raised the box so he and Dipper could hear. "Loud and clear, brother," he said.

"Good. Now, I've got some readings on where the girl may be, and-"

"Where?" Dipper interjected.

"That's the issue. I know every inch of the Dreamscape, and she's in a very unsafe and very suspicious place. The Center Castle."

"Wait, what do you mean, suspicious?" Stanford's brow furrowed in confusion.

"See, here's the problem. If Mabel had been sucked in accidentally, like I was, she would have ended up someplace completely random, nowhere near the Heart of the Dreamscape. If my assumptions are correct, it was no coincidence that your sister was brought there. They need her for something, God only knows what, and my advice is get to her before they find that something in her."

Dipper quietly began to panic. Mabel was the sweetest and most innocent girl he knew. What could someone in this horrific place possibly want her for?

Stanley's voice cut through Dipper's thoughts once again. "OK, I have to go for a minute. The communicator will help you find Mabel. DO NOT LOSE IT, I cannot emphasize that enough. And remember to wear the cloaks, both of you. They'll protect you."

"Alright, Stanley. Over." Stanford put the cloak over his head and placed the communicator in its pocket. Dipper put on his cloak as well, pulling it close to him like a security blanket, and the two set off into the wasteland.

Dipper and Stanford's journey was not one that was filled with much conversation at first. Stanford tried to liven up the walk, but whenever he tried to initiate conversation, he earned little more than a scowl or a grunt from his nephew. He understood why. Dipper had lost everything that day, and Stanford was largely the reason why. Dipper had every right to hate him; it was rational to assume he would never trust him again.

Up ahead, Dipper noticed something rather strange happening. The air seemed to collapse in on itself, creating a sort of wormhole that emitted a harsh darkness, one that made it hard for Dipper to stay on his feet. A yellow, triangular demon wearing a top hat burst from within the wormhole, laughing vindictively as it closed behind him. Dipper felt an anger and hatred growing inside him, for he recognized the demon as one who had manipulated him and his family all summer- Bill Cipher.

"Pine Tree!" Bill laughed maniacally, as if Dipper's distress was the funniest thing in the entire world. "Didn't think I'd be seeing you here!"

"Bill!" Dipper yelled. "I know you know where she is! Tell me now, or-"

"You are a RIOT, Pine Tree! Do you really think you can hurt me?" He was now laughing so hard, tears were streaming out of his singular eye. "I'm a DEMON, for crying out loud!"

"I don't have time for your games, Bill! What have you done with Mabel?!"

"Geez, re-LAX, Pine Tree! Shooting Star's right here!" The demon snapped his fingers, and Mabel appeared in front of him in a flash of smoke. She was unconscious, but she looked relatively unharmed, aside from a gash on her cheek.

"Mabel!" Dipper ran as fast as his legs could carry him toward his sister. He stretched his arms toward her, ready to grab her, but much to his surprise, Dipper ran right through her. He stared down at his empty arms in shock, and turned to Bill with rage in his eyes.

Bill laughed and snapped his fingers again, making Mabel disappear in the blink of an eye. Dipper's reaction only seemed to please him more. He laughed hysterically as the twelve year old boy screamed in rage and charged toward him, and he shrieked in laughter as Dipper merely passed through him.

"What did you do to her?" Dipper hissed in a venomous tone.

"Oh, don't worry, Pine Tree, I haven't done anything to her... yet." The demon spoke in a voice that Dipper had never heard before. It was evil, it was vindictive, but most of all, it was the voice of someone who was plotting the end of everything.

"You monster! If you so much as touch her, so help me, I will-''

"You'll do what, Pine Tree? Kill me?" Bill had changed tone to a mocking voice. "I'm IMMORTAL, you moron! The only thing that can hurt me is another demon! Face it, you have about as much of a chance of killing me as you do of getting Shooting Star back, kid. Besides, it's not me you should be worrying about. It's my boss."

"Your boss?" Dipper furrowed his brow. What kind of hideous creature could possibly be worse than Bill Cipher, who was basically the devil himself? "What is your boss planning?"

"Sorry, kid. As much as I'd looove to help you out-" Bill rolled his eye sarcastically in Dipper's direction as he spoke. "-I can't. Sayonara, Pine Tree." He created a blue flame in his hand and was about to throw it into the air when he turned back to Dipper. "Man, it must suck that your sister is going to die thinking that you hate her." Bill laughed evilly, throwing the flame into the air and floating into the wormhole that came from it.

Dipper opened his eyes wide and inhaled sharply. He looked around frantically for any sign of Bill, but the triangular demon was nowhere to be found.

"Dipper!" Stanford shouted at him. "Are you OK? What just happened? We were just walking, and out of the blue you just sat down and closed your eyes! What was that?"

Dipper tuned his grunkle out, staring at the spot where Bill had been for a long time. He turned Bill's words over in his head again and again, trying to make sense of them. What was Bill's big plan? Who was Bill's boss? And, most importantly, would Dipper be able to stop Bill before it was too late?

Dipper was finally pulled out of his thoughts by Stan's hand dragging him along as he ran for his life. "Stan, what's going on-" he turned around and what he saw made his blood run cold. Behind them were a dozen or more cat- no, tiger- like creatures running at the speed of lightning. They were as dark as the night, and they looked possessed, with hollow, yellow eyes, and foam dripping from their mouths. Dipper turned to Stanford and shouted, "Hurry hurry HURRY!"

They ran and ran and ran until their legs could carry them no further. But whoever created the creatures chasing them must have forgotten to give them the ability to tire out, as they just kept running and they only seemed to speed up. Dipper and Stan kept running until they came across the base of a cliff within a ravine. This was no ordinary Earth-cliff; it seemed to reach a million miles high and there was no way of climbing up it. As their pursuers raced closer, Dipper and Stan braced themselves, preparing for the end, when a voice called to them from a cave next to them.

"Hey!" the voice called. It was a very deep, manly voice. "C'mon if you don't want to be torn to shreds!"

Without skipping a beat, Dipper and Stanford rushed into the cave and watched the animals from afar. They reached the cliff, and seeing no sign of their targets, they turned around and sprinted into the distance.

In the dim light of the cave, Dipper saw their rescuer, a tall man with short dark hair and a muscular build, forcing some rock away from the wall. The rocks tumbled to the cave floor and gave way to light, and the man gestured for Dipper and Stan to follow him. Once they were out of the cave, they saw a vast forest of gray trees burnt to the ground and towering mountains as far as the eye could see. Dipper saw the man walking away, and Dipper tripped on his own two feet trying to catch up.

Dipper cleared his throat. "So um... thank you for saving us."

The man grunted in acknowledgement, pulling the hood of his cloak over his eyes.

After a silence, Dipper said, "What were those things?"

"They're called the Dreamwolves," the man said in a low voice. "I'd be careful, they're everywhere in this godforsaken dimension."

Dipper kicked a rock that he passed while he walked. "Anyway, I'm Dipper. That-" he pointed at Stan with his thumb, "- is my great uncle Stan."

"Oh really?" The man chuckled. "I had a great uncle way back when. He was a good dude. Oh, I'm Terrence, by the way."

The three reached a door made of solid rock in the middle of a clearing. Terrence knocked three times on its surface, and then knocked another five times. The door swung open almost inaudibly to reveal a barren plateau filled with small shacks and families of all shapes and sizes. It may have looked worthless, but to Dipper it seemed more homey than he would probably ever experience in the Dreamscape.

Terrence laughed at Stan and Dipper, who were staring with their mouths agape. "Welcome to the Remains, gentlemen," he said contently. "My home."