Recoil

Grunkle Stan wiped his hands off as he shook his head in irritation. Occasionally he sent an inspecting look back at the two twelve-year olds seated by the window; it wasn't a pretty sight, to say the least. Mabel was absentmindedly twirling her long locks of curly brown hair between her fingers while one of her girly magazines rested, unread, on her lap. The girl was much more focused on staring with a sorrowful—almost PITYING—expression at her twin brother next to her.

Dipper Pines was almost impossible to look at.

The boy hadn't bother to talk to his elder relative about whatever it was that happened, but the old man could easily tell that something had definitely gone wrong. Maybe it was with that weird girl who had been hanging around so much lately—Grunkle Stan made a face. He had definitely not appreciated when the cops had shown up at the Mystery Shack asking about disappeared little girl. It had taken his best lies to chase them and the (suddenly incredibly unpleasant) little girl off his porch without ending up with a search warrant. Truly the last thing he needed at the time…

That wasn't the issue right now, though. That had all blown over fairly quickly. It wasn't like the town didn't regularly think the Mystery Shack was a shady joint ANYWAYS. No, the important issue right now was his sulking relative—and man, was Dipper sulking. He'd seen the kid sulk plenty of times before (the boy twin simply wasn't as mindlessly cheerful as the girl twin) but Dipper seemed damn near seething with anger at this point. Like someone had spat in his dinner or something, or like he had gotten dumped by a girl or something.

Stan snorted knowingly. He seemed to remember picking fun at the kid about the girl who had gotten dragged back to Nevada. So Dipper was irritated about THAT. The old man shook his head and returned to leading the tour—it was just a stupid childhood crush. It wasn't like the kid wasn't capable of getting over something like that. After all, he had to get over his crush before that.

So he left the kids to their own devices, letting them stare out the window together in hushed and awkward silence.

Mabel picked at her painted fingernails, occasionally glancing up from the shimmering pink bone to look at her twin. The brunette boy just stared listlessly out at the still rainy landscape with his hand on his cheek—for some reason, Mabel's old game of following the raindrops with her fingers didn't seem so fun anymore. And to think that usually, bright painted nails would make it even MORE fun. Now, however, she just found the joy clouded out by that endless feeling of worry for her twin brother.

He had explained the issue of Wilma and Bill to her shortly after Sally Poole had left.

She didn't believe her brother at first. At first, Mabel had been convinced that her brother was making up an excuse to NOT have a crush on Wilma. Then Sally Poole had stomped over to the twins with a merciless expression and a cruel attitude—she reminded the perky girl a bit of Pacifica before they had established their shaky friendship. Nothing like the bizarre, book obsessed preteen that had walked through the door of the Mystery Shack and sought out the attention of the twins. If anything this 'Sally Poole' wanted nothing to do with either of them. Not that Mabel could BLAME the girl since she had basically been dragged across a state by a demon.

All to get at the twins.

Mabel almost shivered. No…not all to get at the twins…all to get at Dipper. Her dark eyes focused back on her twin—the boy hadn't been too specific about what Bill had said to him about the whole fiasco but at this point she was figuring it was pretty bad. And as perky and upbeat she tended to be, she didn't want to see Dipper like this. She NEVER wanted to see Dipper like this. The boy was her twin brother, for crying out loud—in a way, what hurt him…well, it hurt her too. Even if it didn't hurt as hard.

She pursed her lips. No, she couldn't allow this to go on. The brunette girl looked down at the magazine in her hands, dark brown eyes scanning the articles on the cover—finally she stopped on one with a smile on her chubby cheeked face. Hands flipped the newsprint booklet open and, with a broad smile that displayed her shining braces, she shoved the glossy article in Dipper's direction. Her smile faded slightly when her brother didn't even turn towards her. Mabel Pines hadn't ever been one to give up, though.

"Dipper! Look, look!" She said ecstatically. Her twin finally looked up at her with lidded, almost irritated eyes. One hand was still rested firmly against his cheek. "Teen Vague has a neat article here this month! Your Always Helpful, Never Useless Guide to Getting Over a Crush! It's a neat article, don'tcha think?" Dipper didn't respond, so Mabel raised the magazine to her own face. "Step one, let it out and let it go! Step two, out of sight and out of mind! Step three, learn a little! Step four, hey! You're great!"

"Mabel…"

"Being obsessed is no good! Better to let it go instead of dwelling on it." Mabel chipped. "If it's really bothering you then talk about it. It WILL make you feel better, and it'll help you get over the affection you feel for that person—"

"Mabel, STOP." Dipper groaned, placing both hands on his face and drawing his knees up to his chest. She looked up from the article with concern painted all over her expression. "You don't get it, Mabel. I…I really appreciate your concern but you don't get it. This isn't ABOUT getting over a crush or some teenager magazine junk like that."

"Well…" Mabel paused hesitantly. "…then tell me what it IS about so I can help."

Dipper glanced at his sister for a moment then sighed deeply. "I…It's about what all HAPPENED. That I met a person, and yeah, I liked that person…but that person wasn't REAL. No. Worse than that. Not only was she not real, she was Bill Cipher. And I fell for it, Mabel. I fell for it hook, line, and sinker and just ran around like Bill's little puppet until he got tired of it and burned the Journal."

"Dipper, you're smart. You can survive without the Journal." Mabel said quietly. "It'll be harder, but we can do it."

"Maybe…maybe so." Dipper smiled weakly. It was nice to see that his sister had so much faith in him. Then his smile faded away. "…But that doesn't change that I fell for his trick like a little baby. Wilma was..."

He went silent. Mabel sighed.

"Oh Dippingsauce…" She tapped her painted nails thoughtfully against the wood of the windowsill. Then she slammed her hand down so hard that it shocked Dipper away from the glass a bit; he stared at her with incredulous eyes. She just winked cheerfully. "I got it! How 'bout this, brobro? How 'bout instead of sulkin' around about some weeeeeirdo girl who ain't good enough for a PINES TWIN anyways, how about we go out and find you a real girl who IS good enough? A real Wilma!"

"A real…Mabel, I dunno." Dipper replied, rubbing his arm nervously. Mabel shook her head—the massive shining smile had returned in spades. Judging by her attitude at the moment, the brunette twin was pretty sure he wasn't getting out of this one.

"I love you the most, Pine Tree."

Dipper snapped to immediate attention with wide eyes looking at the room almost fretfully. His sister watched him in unmasked confusion, lips slightly pursed as she assumed he was simply trying to act weird to get out of her plan. He looked up at her nervously; he wasn't exactly sure how she would take her brother stating that he had just heard a voice that she could not. Much less when that voice was the voice of Bill Cipher. Hell, HE didn't even know how to take that he was hearing the voice of Bill Cipher.

So, stubbornly, the boy decided he was just deluding himself.

He just…didn't want to deal with it right at the moment.

"Dipper?"

"Huh? Oh. Uh, sorry, Mabel. I wasn't paying attention." Dipper replied, attempting to take on a joking tone. His twin simply crossed her arms and stared at him curiously, but after a few moments she finally let it go and grabbed the boy's wrist and dragged him out into the center of the gift shop. "Mabel, hey, don't hold on so tigh—"

"Whoo, lots of lovely ladies today!" Mabel commented brightly as she ignored her twin brother. Dipper simply sighed loudly, though he was well aware it wasn't about to get him out of his sister's attempts at some 'fantasy romance' that had crossed over her mind as a solution to Dipper's current problems. He supposed at this point the best thing to do would to just ride it out until Mabel got tired of her efforts.

"I love you the most, Pine Tree. Don't forget that."

Dipper's head shot up again as he glanced nervously around the room in search of the owner of the voice—unfortunately, in Mabel's eyesight, his glance apparently landed on a blonde girl in the corner with her mother. Short trimmed hair tied in pigtails, thin rimmed glasses, and a long blue dress that matched bright blue eyes. She was flipping through some pamphlets on the supposed 'local wildlife'. The standard nonsense on rabbits with snake bodies and three headed cats, but it was something to fill the shelves with and the customers seemed at least a little intrigued by it.

"Her?" Mabel shook Dipper back and forth by the shoulder, the expression on her face clearly saying that she was not about to take no for an answer where this was concerned. Not that Dipper wasn't USED to dealing with that from his sister. "Well come on! Let's go take a closer look, hmmmm?"

The tired, aggravated brunette boy didn't really like how she said that but he obliged her anyways. Mabel dragged her sibling over to the pigtailed girl, who looked up curiously (though with a slight smile) at the twins through her glasses—the frames seem much larger up close but Dipper supposed she was okay to look at. Not that looks were really his biggest concern…no, he was more concerned that she wasn't as dumb as a stump and ignorant enough to ignore the surreal happenings around her.

"Uh, hello?" She greeted in a quiet tone.

"Hello there!" Mabel replied perkily, pushing her brother in front of her. Dipper gave the girl a nervous, uncomfortable smile. "We work here at the Mystery Shack and we're interested in YOU! What's your name?"

"Way to be subtle." Dipper muttered under his breath. Mabel shrugged, no apparent care in her eyes. To Dipper's surprise the pigtailed girl just sent a warm grin in their direction, putting her pamphlet back and turning towards them with her hands placed behind her back.

"Hi there! Who are you two?"

"Uh…." Dipper stumbled on his words a bit. If anything, he thought bitterly, he was successfully feeling like a complete dolt. "Uh, well, I'm Dipper. Dipper Pines. And, uh, this is my siste—"

"I'm Mabel Pines, the one and ONLY Mabel Pines!" The girl interrupted her brother quickly as she posed dramatically in front of him. Dipper snorted; so much for this being about introducing him to some 'new girl' besides Wilma. Not that he particularly regretted Mabel's forward behavior. It kept him from, once again, getting dragged into her Teen Vague nonsense when she tried to make a new friend.

"Why, Miss Mabel, you have such a pretty sweater." The pigtailed girl smiled softly. Mabel clapped her hands in glee. Dipper, on the other hand, was really quite thrown off by how quiet she spoke. It was almost a bit difficult to hear some of her words. "I…I suppose it would be rude to let you two introduce yourself…and then just stand here quietly myself."

"Oh, my brother is DYING to know your name." Mabel snickered. Dipper cast an annoyed glance at her but she paid no mind. The blonde in front of them simply placed her tiny hand over her mouth, seemingly to cover an amused chuckle.

Dipper had to admit. She was kinda cute.

"I love you the most, Pine Tree."

The brunette boy immediately bit his lip—there it was again, the echoing voice that bounced incessantly around his skull as if mocking him. That sound high pitched tone that seemed to carry a haughty laugh in every single word, yet seemed to be filled with harsh and painful truth. That same voice that had harshly teased him as one of his most prized possessions erupted into burning flames.

Dipper bit down harder on his lip.

"My name is Willow Braun." Dipper's attention was drawn away from his thoughts of the echoing voice when he realized the pigtailed girl was looking straight at him. Her face was blessed with a wide and friendly smile—it was just as pleasant to see as the curious look on her face when they approached her. "It's so nice to meet you both. Uhm…"

"Question?" Mabel interrupted, fingers laced underneath her chin. Willow blinked and her smile faded for a moment, but it quickly returned to her features.

"Well, you both said…uh, Pines, was it?" Willow placed a finger on her chin contemplatively. Mabel nodded. "Ah, yes. Are you two related? You definitely share a family resemblance…"

"Yep!" Mabel wound her arm around Dipper's shoulder and dragged him towards her, patting him the arm. "We're twins! The Pines twins, the Mystery Twins!"

"Mystery Twins? That's so cute…" Willow giggled. Dipper raised an eyebrow; he wasn't quite sure how to take that. It could easily mean a lot of things. "I remember when I was in school, we had a supernatural club for a while…but it got closed because there weren't enough members. It was such a shame! Not being able to go to the club anymore was the saddest thing that ever happened…"

"You were one of the members?" Dipper asked. Willow reddened a bit.

"Oh! W-well, yes…no one IMPORTANT in the club, b-but always a member." She stuttered nervously as one hand played awkwardly with her left pigtail. "I-it's just a little hobby of mine, that's all. That's why my mom agreed to take us here for a visit this summer…b-because we'd talked about it a lot in the supernatural club."

Mabel waggled her eyebrows at her brother with a large grin plastered across her face; he himself just stared at the girl in awe. It was surprising to find someone so quickly that was so interested in the odd happenings around the area—even if she was obviously a little bit embarrassed about her hobby. Normally he wasn't into shy girls but Willow seemed nice, smart, and pretty cute to top it off…

"Is this the game you wish to play, Pine Tree? Because it can be played. I can play it, and I can win without fail. I always get what I want, Pine Tree. Especially because I love you the most, Pine Tree."

"W-what…? What's that supposed to mean…?" Dipper inquired, turning around to look around the room with clear discomfort on his face. Willow's face turned even redder, simply assuming he was referring to her supernatural club, and Mabel shot him a clearly concerned expression. "What…what game are you talking about…?"

"Dipper, are you feeling alright?" Mabel asked, immediately regretting the words the second they came out of her mouth. Of course he wasn't feeling okay—the last few days had been pretty awful for him. But he didn't respond to the obviously terrible question. No, the brunette simply stared with an open-mouth at Willow.

Mabel directed her gaze back to the blonde visitor and gasped.

The pigtailed youth had collapsed onto the ground, body convulsing rapidly for a few moments. Her pupils had disappeared, with all of her eyes replaced with a shimmering bright blue light. Drool slowly flowed out the side of her wide, open mouth as her shaking body slowly stilled before them—both twins stared in complete horror as Willow's eyelids fell shut over the bright flaming orbs.

"I shall not do this so slow that I lose to you again, Pine Tree, nor shall I lose to Shooting Star. I've won already! And I'll win every time."

"Oh my god!" Mabel shrieked as her brother stood, still and wordless, in front of the two girls. His twin had chosen to instead crouch beside the blonde girl and grip at her arm frantically. "Dipper, she doesn't have a pulse! I…Dipper, I think she's dead!"

"This…was the game…?" Dipper breathed out. Mabel glanced up at him with horrified eyes. "This is what you meant to win…?"

"Dipper…?" Mabel said uncertainly as Willow's motionless wrist dropped from her fingers. Her brother didn't respond for a moment, focused on staring blankly into the space in front of him. Store-goers of the Mystery Shack were starting to gather around the motionless girl as to whisper quietly to each other about her unexpected collapse.

"Mabel, this…this thing." The brunette boy took off his hat and placed it on his chest. Mabel rose to her feet and walked over to her brother and placed one hand on each shoulder comfortingly. Dipper simply shook his head. "This thing with pursuing girls…it's got to end, now."

"But we've barely even started…" Mabel glanced over to Willow's body uncomfortably—she couldn't blame Dipper for wanting to stop now. Hell, SHE wanted to stop at this point but she felt like she had to be the upbeat one in this situation. She couldn't let Dipper dwell on the events of last week…

"No, Mabel." He replied, the grip on his hat tightening. Mabel stood there, silently grasping her brother's shoulders and waiting for an explanation for his behavior. He ALWAYS explained to her…that was just THEM. No secrets kept.

But nothing came.

They just watched on quietly as the police arrived in the Mystery Shack to collect the dead body of the girl they had just met.

"I love you the most, Pine Tree. The very most."

()()()()()()()()()

Night had to come at some point, as did sleep. It was an act usually so comforting and sweet but right now it gave Dipper Pines no feeling of calm. Now all he could do was stare with wide and tired eyes at the ceiling of the attic that they dwelled in. Across from him, Mabel lay on her side with her face to the wall; Dipper couldn't tell if she was awake or asleep. Since Mabel usually snored once she hit deep sleep, he could only assume she was still awake…or at the very least, just barely falling into the clutches of slumber. He couldn't blame her if she wasn't stuck in the latter—today had been trying. Even the most cheerful of people would be emotionally struck by seeing a young girl drop dead in front of them.

Dipper sighed loudly.

If it hurt his sister to see Willow kick the bucket, it easily hurt Dipper even more. After all, he was gripped constantly with the knowledge that he was somewhat responsible for the death. He had a slight feeling that Mabel knew that Bill Cipher was somewhat responsible for the sudden termination of life, but he doubted that his sister had any idea what Dipper had to do with it. SHE hadn't heard the constant voices, after all. To her, it was just another reason to hate the triangle demon.

Dipper shivered—fear coursed through him at the possibility of being hated by his family if they knew his involvement in the earlier fiasco. He wasn't sure if there was enough forgiveness in the WORLD to make them not be upset at their relative for being partly responsible for the death of a young girl who couldn't be older than twelve. No older than his own twin sister.

No older than him.

"You're really letting this get to you, huh, kid?"

Dipper shoots up out of his bed and looks around frantically—the world has gone to complete grayscale and to his horror, Mabel is missing from her bed. Above him, floating at the near perfect center of the ceiling, is the bright yellow triangle. The boy could've sworn that if the demon had a mouth, he would be grinning maliciously down at the preteen as he twirled his ebony cane.

Quickly, the boy realized what had happened. "I fell asleep…"

"Oh, good judgment there, Pine Tree!" Bill laughed loudly, drifting down from the ceiling to float in front of Dipper. The brunette boy glared at the demon hatefully. "What'cha so mad about there, Pine Tree? I complimented you! Hey, I even bothered to take time out of my busy day to visit you in your dreams! I would think you would appreciate that, kid. You're awfully hard to judge sometimes, I gotta say."

"Oh, shut up!" Dipper snapped, pointing at the demon with a shaking arm. Bill only snickered in response. It wasn't like the preteen was going to be able to threaten him in any way. "Why would I be happy to be visited by you? You're out of your freakin' mind, Bill! You've pulled all sorts of horrible stuff on me and my family! You ACTUALLY went out of your way to kill a girl today!"

"Hey, a lot of the stuff I did to you all was business. Nothing personal." Bill replied, clearly still amused by Dipper's tantrum. The boy stomped his foot stubbornly and balled his hands into fists.

"POSSESSING me wasn't personal? KILLING A LITTLE GIRL who did NOTHING TO YOU wasn't personal?" Dipper snapped.

"Oh that. Yeah, that was personal." Bill laughed, slamming his cane down on the wood planks of the floor. "Hey, you know, I know plenty of people who would be really charmed and impressed that I went out of my way to kill someone for them! You're a real pain in the butt to please, Pine Tree, you really are."

"She was a KID!"

"So?" Bill replied as he checked his tiny hands, eye only half opened. The demon didn't even seem interested in the boy's words. "Not my problem that she didn't decide to grow up a little more before getting in my way. Kids, really, they can be the most absentminded pains in the ass sometimes. Just never know when to quit."

"If that's what you think then why are you following me around?!" Dipper hesitated for a moment. "…Then why are you going on about how you LOVE ME THE MOST?!"

Bill was surprisingly silent for a moment. Then he snapped his fingers. A bright light shone across the entire room, causing the brunette boy to step backwards a bit and cover his eyes. When the light faded away and Dipper could look up again, he was more than a bit dismayed to find that the demon was no longer his usual triangle shape—no, he had once again taken on the shape of the short haired blonde with the old-fashioned dress. The short haired blonde that had decided to invade his life.

Little Miss Wilma Cipher.

Dipper supposed her real name was Sally Poole, but that wasn't the name he had grown accustom to. He hadn't learned to be friendly with this girl under the title of the snobby tart from Nevada who thought she was better than everyone else—no, he had learned to befriend her under the name made up by a slick, cruel, and absolutely obnoxious demon that had decided to bludgeon his way into Dipper's life under the disguise of a pretty girl.

He felt like he shouldn't react, COULDN'T react, and yet he still found himself weakening at the knees as a fire of anger burned up in his stomach. Of course Bill could assume the form of this girl again in the mindscape. He practically ruled the mindscape, for crying out loud. He could probably even manipulate the 'Wilma' form into something even crazier if it so struck his interest.

"It's not even a probably, Pine Tree." Bill interrupted Dipper's thoughts as the demon absentmindedly played with the folds of 'Wilma's' dress. "I could do whatever I pleased with this form. But I don't really care to at this moment."

"…So what do you want?" Dipper finally said. He didn't really want the answer but he was also pretty sure he wasn't going to wake up anytime soon. The demon laughed heartily, a cackling and loud laughter that rung against all the walls in the room, and balanced his temporary form against his cane. Dipper noticed briefly that one of Wilma's eyes, now a striking yellow, was covered with a triangle-shaped eye patch. He hadn't noticed it at first, and wondered if Bill was just more comfortable with one eye.

"I am." Bill supplied. Dipper growled.

"Stop doing that!"

"Stop doing what?"

"That…that thing! Where you read my mind or whatever! Just answer my question!"

"Or whatever, that's cute. It's not like you're completely easy to read." Bill snorted in amusement. "As for your question…what do I WANT? You know, Pine Tree, I was under the assumption that you were fairly intelligent. But that's just a flat out dumb question. I'm almost offended, really. I mean, I would think by now my goal was pretty obvious. Especially after all that effort I went through!"

"As if I'm going to believe that you 'love me the most'." Dipper gritted his teeth. Bill snickered.

"I guess it isn't really the most believable right from the get-go, is it?" Bill shifted Wilma's weight to one side, thoughtfully placing one gloved finger on the side of her pale face and twisting it through the blonde hair. The other arm rested its weight against the yellow clad dress on Wilma's hip. It was all very discontenting to see the demon so easily manipulate a body that Dipper knew didn't belong to him—he had to constantly remind himself that they were in the mindscape and Bill could do what he wanted.

Such as sauntering forward to stand in front of the preteen brunette—far, far too close for comfort. Right in front of Dipper with his borrowed form's nose scraping delicately against the boy's, one gloved hand resting delicately against his cheek. The other hand rested against Dipper's red shirt. The blonde head tipped slightly to the side, a crooked smile painted across Wilma's—Bill's—full lips. One booted shoe tapped impatiently against the back heel of the other boot.

"Sometimes I lie, Pine Tree. Frequently I lie, in fact." The demon whispered against the brunette's cheek. Amusement laced every single word, sending shivers of fear down Dipper's spine. "But there are times when I tell only the truth, and now is one of those times. I shan't lie about this, my dear boy…never ever. I love you always, Pine Tree. As long as you shall live, I love you always."

"Why?" Dipper breathed against the demon's faked lips. Bill laughed quietly.

"Because, Pine Tree. Rarely do I run into such intelligence, and rarely do I run into a mortal human so capable of outsmarting me." Bill replied, just as quiet in his speech. "Oh, how interesting it is—you have your stupid moments, boy, no doubt, but I know what you are capable. Oh, how fascinating…how intriguing. How endearing. How interesting it is to be outsmarted by one of a species so consistently stupid and purposefully ignorant."

"I—"

"I don't need your words, boy." Bill chuckled. "I don't even need your confirmation. Because I don't ever not get what I want…I can wait. I can wait damn near forever. But I cannot let you play this game with another, especially not with an ignorant human mortal. So just remember that, Pine Tree. After all, you remembering that could keep many of your own kind in safety."

"You're insane." Dipper whispered. This time, Bill's laughter was loud and raucous. He ceased only when both lacey, gloved hands delicately took the boy's face and pressed 'Wilma's' full lips against the young brunette's. Dipper was too shocked, too out of it, too unsure, to respond to the action—so he just stood there stupidly and let the demon present him with a kiss in his stolen form. Slowly, a minute or so later, Bill pulled away with a satisfied expression plastered on his face.

"Sure I am." The demon murmured darkly in the preteen's face. "What about it?"

And with that, Dipper woke up abruptly.

He shot up sharply, breathing deeply with one hand planted firmly on his chest. As soon as he gained a more complete awareness he looked over to his twin sister—to his relief, she was now laying asleep in her bed. Small, quiet snores emitted from her as she grasped tightly at a plush toy under her covers. The grayscale universe had disappeared around him, replaced by the dark colors of the night attic bedroom.

He was back home.

But he knew it was all real. The thought made him shiver. Yes…it had all been real. And as crazy and joking as Bill Cipher was, Dipper was quite sure that the demon was serious in quite a few things that had been said in the mindscape only seconds before. He had meant every word and…considering how serious and forward Bill had been with his borrowed form, it wasn't something that he would ever give up on, either.

Dipper buried his face in his hands. Then he grit his teeth

Bill wouldn't give up…but dammit, Dipper wasn't about to give up either.

With that thought coursing through his mind, Dipper was sure he heard a loud and maniacal laugh ringing out through the room. One that apparently only he could hear since Mabel didn't even twitch from her bed. The boy looked around with narrowed eyes and a bit lip, doing his best to exert stubbornness from every bit of her expression. The laughter only grew louder at the action.

"I love you the most, Pine Tree…even if it takes forever for you to give up."