The new episode inspired me to get off my lazy ass and finish writing this. It's meant as a companion piece to "A Deal's A Deal", but can be read as a standalone. I'm going to be writing more to accompany this piece, but they'll be snippets of ideas rather than a cohesive chapter story. Then again, that might change. Anyways, I hope you enjoy reading this! Also, the title was inspired by the song "Dressed In Black" by Sia, which is a good song that you should go listen to right now.

Dedicated once again to awesomenesshasar.

Dipper stared at the figure in front of him, his mind whirling faster and faster with each passing second. Stan's brother. The first cohesive thought that came to mind was that this man was his grandfather. He had never met his grandparents. Now he understood why.

Stan's brother let out a heavy sigh. He adjusted his glasses, surveying the scene. He took in the destruction behind him and the children in front of him. "Stanford," he finally said. His voice was tentative and, dare he say, suspicious.

Stan got to his feet, shakily dusting himself off. He coughed, unsure of what to say. Dipper's eyes flicked between the two men, unsure of whom he was more afraid. "Good to see you, Stanley," his great uncle finally said.

"I can see you ignored my advice, as usual, and opened the portal." He didn't seem the least bit bothered the possible end of the world. Just annoyed that his brother didn't listen to him. He pulled the journal from his cloak and thumbed through it idly. Dipper noted his six-fingered hand, the same hand on the front of the journal. "This place is certainly a mess, too."

"You're... Stan's brother?" asked Mabel softly.

Dipper had forgotten about his sister. He turned around and saw her staring at Stanley, open-mouthed and teary-eyed. Stanley smiled and returned the journal to his cloak, then outstretched his hand. "Who might you be?"

The boy acted fast, slapping the hand away from his sister. He stood in front of Mabel, fists clenched and eyes narrowed. "Stay away from her," he seethed.

He was so angry that it was melting every bone in his body. This fiery rage was consuming him. He wasn't sure where it was coming from, but the longer he looked at the brothers, the more furious he became.

"Dipper, calm down, Stanley would be the last person to hurt anyone, much less your sister." Stan assured him. "Trust me."

Dipper laughed, loud and long. "You're serious?" he near screamed. "You expect me to trust you?"

Mabel grabbed Dipper's hand. "Dip, please. We could just hear him out."

"You!" He spun around to Mabel. "How could you? This thing - this thing is a doomsday device! Or do you not get that? We're all gonna die, because of that stupid machine! Because of you!" He swatted her hand away, ignoring the hurt in her eyes. "And you!" He pointed at Stan. "For the good of this family? That's hilarious! You couldn't care less about Mabel and me! I knew it when I saw that memory, and I'm glad to see I was right about that! You couldn't care less about me!"

Dipper wanted to cry, scream, get louder and louder until the whole cavern burst. The sadder he became with joyful memories flooding his mind - late night movie marathons, mischievous pranks, helping out around the shack - the more he channeled that into his anger. It was kindling for the fire of betrayal; Stan had soaked it in gasoline and set the whole thing ablaze.

"Dipper, please!" Mabel exclaimed, tearing up once more. "We're both okay, we're here, we're okay! What's important is that we are both alive. If we just give Stan a chance, maybe-"

"Your sister's right, Dipper," Stan said quietly. "Give me a chance, okay?"

"I'd love to hear about this," Stanley said with a nod. "How badly did you screw up this time, Stan?"

"Shut your mouth," he snapped. "I didn't just risk everything just for you to be mouthing off at me for saving your life and dragging you out of there."

Stanley scoffed. "May I remind you that it was your fault I got stuck there in the first place?"

"Stop fighting, please," Mabel said wearily. "It's not getting us anywhere."

The clamoring, the arguing, it was all getting to his head. He was suffocating. He couldn't trust anyone here. Not Stanley, not Stan, not even Mabel. And then, someone got too close. Someone laid a hand on his shoulder or grabbed his hand or something and those memories overloaded him with emotion and his heart was shattered and the world was crumbling around him and Dipper

l o s t

h i s

m i n d

.

"Stay the fuck AWAY from me!" Dipper screamed. His vision went white. He heard his screaming echoing through the cavern. He wanted them all to disappear. He wanted to get away from here. He wanted it all gone.

When he next opened his eyes, all he saw was fire. Blue fire. Crystal blue flames flickering in front of his hand. No, on his hand. He was actually on fire - but it didn't hurt. Numbed him, yes, but that was all. He appreciated being unable to feel. He noted the flames spread across the rest of his skin and body and gathered at his feet in a small circle, surrounding him. Closing him in. It was a barrier between him and the rest of the world and made him feel better, somehow.

He stared up at the faces around him. Mabel was completely shocked, struggling to form words. Stan was silent, staring between Dipper and his brother. Stanley stared at Dipper. An unnamed fear crept into his eyes. He looked around the hideout wildly, calling out, "Where are you?"

Dipper was confused. Where was who? There was no one else here, except...

Dipper turned around to see Soos face down on the floor, unmoving. He had the urge to wake him, but was afraid of what the blue flames might do if he touched someone or something else other than himself.

Soos rose on his own, however. He turned around and faced Dipper. There was a strange look in his eyes. In fact, the eyes themselves were strange. Too wide, pupils thin as slits of paper, and a strange off-white color that wasn't just due to the lighting of the cavern.

"Bill," he said.

Instantly, the person in front of him became a blur of white. Dipper forced himself to watch as his friend changed into some unnamed man. He had dark skin and golden hair, matching his suit. He clutched a hooked cane, leaning heavily on it - Dipper wasn't sure if it was because he had to or if he was trying to fake them all out. A black eyepatch covered his left eye.

"Something's missing," the man said with a frown. The occupants of the cavern turned and gasped.

"Bill," Stan and Stanley said at the same time.

"Dipper!" Mabel said, grabbing her brother's arm and pulling him away. The blue flames remained on his body, but wherever Mabel touched, they disappeared, he noted with a frown.

"That's it!" He snapped his fingers and produced a tall top hat, placing it gently on top of his head. Bill smiled widely at the Pines family. "Good to see you all! Never thought I'd have the pleasure of being in the same place with all of you at once. Especially Stanley!"

He laughed and pushed Mabel and Dipper apart, forcing the latter behind him with his cane. Almost... protectively. "Stanley, you lucky bastard! Not many spirits can escape the Dreamscape. I certainly wouldn't think someone as spineless as you could." He raised an eyebrow at Stan. "You helped him, of course. I'm sure he's very grateful."

"Shut your mouth!" Stan snapped. "What happened back then doesn't matter now."

"Really? I'm sure Stanley is still sore about it." Bill grinned widely. "Stanley, what do you say? Want to take revenge on Stan and then let me take revenge on you? Revenge fest! All in good fun!"

"I don't trust my brother one bit." Stanley said after a long pause, "However, I trust you even less. My brother must have called me back for a good reason, if he was willing to risk so much."

"Ah, yes. Risking the well-being of others without their consent. Seems to be a Pines family trait, huh? Among other things." Bill tapped his cane impatiently against the ground.

"What do you mean?" Dipper and Mabel asked at the same time.

"Well, it's simple," Bill said with a shrug. "Your great uncle sold out his brother for the powers he possessed. Stanley lost his physical form and was banished to the Dreamscape."

Dipper tried to wrap his head around it. He knew it should be shocking, but he really couldn't muster the strength to process or even begin to care about it. "So what? Stan is a scumbag? I already knew that, thanks."

Bill let out roaring laughter. "This is why I like you, kid, you make a lot of sense. Well, of course, that's not all there is to it... Stanley had a family before that happened... They were devastated about the news. Especially his daughter. She spent a long time grieving. Eventually, though, she found a husband and decided to start a family, to carry on the Pines legacy. And wouldn't you know it, those powers that belonged to Stanley? They passed down to her. And then to her children. They were twins. However, the power only manifested in one of them... So far. Then some years passed, the mother decided to reach out to his brother and bury the hatchet, blah, blah, blah, and those kids came to stand right here and be have their lives unwillingly wagered in this mess!"

Bill's grin widened so that it split his face into a grimace. "Aren't grown-ups great?"

"What did you do to Soos?" Mabel demanded.

Bill frowned. "Star, I just exposed that your great uncle basically killed his brother for demon powers, and now Dipper has them. Aren't you the least bit interested in that?"

"I'm interested in whether or not my friend is okay. Now tell me that he is."

Mabel's demeanor didn't surprise Dipper. He was at least relieved to know one person in the family had the capacity to care about people, and not just in a way that benefited themselves.

"Oh, I sent him on a detour. He'll be occupied for a while. Just long enough for me to explain all this and leave with your brother."

Dipper finally registered this news. "Leave? Where?"

"You aren't going anywhere with him!" Stan exclaimed. "Dipper, don't listen to him."

"Okay," he said. "I'll just trust you, who tried to kill your brother, stole nuclear waste, lied to me all summer, and turned my sister against me. Definitely, I'd love to go back to the Mystery Shack after this, get some Pitt Cola, and have a water balloon fight."

"Dipper, I'm not against you!" Mabel stormed past Bill and grabbed her brother's hand again. "We're all on the same team, aren't we? We're... we're family, Dipper. There are memories you can't ignore. You know that Stan loves us, right? He does! Please, we just have to hear it from him."

"I'm sure he loved his brother, too," said Dipper coldly. He retracted his hand from Mabel and stepped back behind Bill.

The Dreamer smiled, laying a hand in Dipper's shoulder, ignoring the way he tensed at the touch. "Are we done here?"

"You don't know what you're doing, Dipper," Stanley said gravely. "You're about to make the biggest mistake of your life. Stan has done terrible things-"

"Hey!" Stan protested. "Whose side are you on?"

"But he isn't heartless. Listen to your sister, if you won't listen to either of us."

Dipper looked at Mabel. She was smiling, faltering, holding out her hand to him. He stared at Stan, whose jaw was clenched, resolute, preparing himself for what was to come. Stanley was devoid of emotion, a passive bystander, he knew that he couldn't impact his decision.

Dipper thought of the journal, tucked away in Stanley's cloak. He thought to the first pages he had ever read.

Trust no one.

"Mabel," he said softly. "I can trust you. Right?"

Tears welled over in her eyes and she thrust her hand out, more desperate than ever. "Of course you can, Dip. I'm your sister." She clenched her hand into a small fist. Shakily, she said, "Mystery Twins?"

He looked between Bill and his sister. He laughed quietly. "Mystery Twins." Dipper bumped his fist with Mabel's and the blue flames finally receded. But he didn't step any closer to her. When she tried moving toward him, in fact, he backed away from her and closer to Bill.

Mabel frowned at him. "Dipper...?"

She noticed his other hand, finally. It hung at his side, his fingers gently crossed. "I guess brothers doing this kind of thing runs in the family," he said.

He grabbed Bill's hand and the world around him went dark. Screams echoed in the air. He wasn't sure if it was Stan or Mabel or some other unknown force inside Dipper's head, crying out in protest. He just tried to block it out.

Dipper stared at the darkness ahead of him. Everything around him was coated in an inky blackness. Tendrils of shadow flickered around his feet, much like the demonic flame from earlier. He looked up at Bill, the only light for miles softly emanating from his uncovered eye. "Why are you doing this?"

"I'm just holding up my end of the deal," the Dreamer replied. "Don't leave my side. The Dreamscape is dangerous. It's no place for a mortal."

"I'm not mortal, though, am I?" Dipper laughed. The trembling in his hand got worse. His whole body began to shake. He felt weak and scared, second-guessing himself and his decisions. Perhaps he should've gone back with his family.

"It's too late to turn back," Bill said, perhaps reading his thoughts. "All you can do now is make the most of this. Come on." He tugged gently on Dipper's hand and began to walk into the darkness.

"For the record, I don't trust you." Dipper felt as though he had to make the point of saying that.

"Good instincts," Bill replied with a smirk. "I wouldn't trust me, either."

Despite it all, Dipper smiled as he descended into the dark, holding Bill's hand tightly, and listening to thump of their footsteps and the rhythmic thump of Bill's cane at odd intervals.