Here comes Chapter 3! Please enjoy!

I don't own Gravity Falls.


Dipper threw a crushed can of cola to the floor, next to the pile of others. It had been two days since Bill had come to him in his mind, and it had been two days since he'd slept. He'd been avoiding Mabel, Grunkle Stan, and Great Uncle Ford for the last day and a half. He didn't want them to worry about him, but it seems liked that wasn't going to work. Mabel came along every hour or so and knocked on the door for about ten minutes, trying to coax him out. He'd been sneaking out at night to grab food and go to the bathroom. He was starting to get used to holding his bladder until night time came, and considering how much cola he was drinking, it was a feat and a half. He'd decided to wait to shower until a day when his family left to get more groceries.

He snatched up another cola from the bedside table, pulling the tab and sipping it slowly as he pulled up a corner of the mattress to grab the little notebook and pen underneath. He'd forgotten he'd packed the notebook away in his bag when they'd left Gravity Falls, but when he found it while he had been searching for clean clothes yesterday morning he'd been pleased. He'd stolen the pen off of the kitchen counter last night, and already, just a day and a half later, the journal had become his best friend. It was one of the few things that let him think rationally. Putting his feelings down on paper just made everything so much easier to handle. It made Mabel and her worrying easier to handle. It made the encounter with Bill easier to handle. It made Stanley and Stanford less of a conundrum.

Most of all, it helped him stop stressing out. It listened to his theories and his fears, without telling him he was stupid, or trying to convince him to doing something differently.

God. An inanimate object was his best friend. He must have lost it.

Dipper set the can down on the side table, rubbing his eyes with one hand and pulling the pen from the spiral binding of the book.

He poised his pen to write, but stopped, staring at the previous entry.

GREAT UNCLE FORD WAS RIGHT ABOUT ONE THING BILL ISN'T TO BE TRUSTED, NOT EVER. I CAN'T EVEN TRUST MY DREAMS ANYMORE, HOW CAN I EVER TRUST ANYONE ELSE?

The entry went on, but it was mostly just rambles about needing to pee, and he really didn't feel like reading about his bladder issues.

Dipper bit his lip. He was as mad as Stanford. The very thought made him let out a breathy laugh. Maybe they were right to mistrust him-

The pen snapped in his hand, and he stared down at the ink running across his hand in dawning horror.

That was it. They didn't trust him. It wasn't just concern. It was distrust. Did Mabel feel the same way? Was she wary of him, too? What if she was?

Oh god, why hadn't he seen it before?

"Stupid!" He hissed to himself angrily, hitting himself in the head with his book.

He guess he'd thought about it before - that they didn't trust him, but he'd pushed it to the back of his mind. For the first time since he'd locked himself in the room, he wondered if he was just strengthening that feeling they had by hiding away.

And then he thought of when this had all started, when he'd started to notice these things.

When Great Uncle Ford came back.

Yes, admittedly, he'd kinda screwed himself over by telling Mabel to push the button and shut down the machine. But there hadn't been time. All the evidence had pointed to Grunkle Stan being some crazy wacko bent on starting the apocalypse. He let out a long breath, throwing the pen away and grabbing a dirty shirt to wipe the ink off his hand. Was it too late to go out and apologize for his behaviour? Maybe he should-

"Dipper." Mabel called out from the other side of the door, knocking ferociously on the wood like her life depended on it. He tensed up at the tone of her voice. It was different from the annoyed, worried tone she usually used when trying to coax him from the bedroom. This time, he could hear the trembling in her voice, like she was trying not to get too upset.

He slid off of the bed, walking to the door. He rest his hand against the door but didn't say anything. He heard her hand rest against the door with a small thud.

"Dipper...Great Uncle Ford and Grunkle Stan want to send us home." She said in her shaky voice. She was really broken up about this.

Dipper stared at the door, his eyes wide.

What?

He unlocked the door not even a moment later and she snuck in, closing the door behind her. She barely registered the mess of cans and clothes, before launching herself into her brothers arms and whining into his shoulder, "I don't wanna go home!"

He rubbed her back awkwardly. "It's...it's okay Mabel." Despite her fretting, he had relaxed. She trusted him. And...maybe going back to Piedmont wasn't such a bad thing? The further away from Bill he was, the better.

It wasn't that he wanted to leave Gravity Falls for the rest of the summer - he loved the little Oregon town. It had been so much more than he had thought he would ever experience in such an out of the way place. He'd never regret the time he spent there.

But...he understood where they were coming from. It wasn't safe for them anymore. One of them could get seriously hurt - or worse.

If only things had worked out better than this.

"I don't even get to say goodbye to my Candy and Grenda, Dipper." She said into his shoulder.

Dipper couldn't really relate that much. He knew he'd miss Wendy for sure - he'd moved past his crush of course, but she was still his friend, and it made him sad thinking about leaving without getting to say goodbye. It made him wonder what they were all thinking right now; if they were wondering where the Pines family had gone.

"I mean...maybe...maybe once this mess is sorted out...there might be chance we can come back?" Dipper said slowly.

"You really think so?" She seemed to perk up a little at that.

"Yeah, of course Mabel. Why would I lie to you?"

A smile replaced the frown marring her face as she straightened up a little. "You wouldn't. You're the best little bro-bro ever."

"Don't ruin the moment, Mabel."


True to Grunkle Stan and Great Uncle Ford's word, they boarded a bus from Chester's Peak, Oregon, back to Piedmont, California the next day. Grunkle Stan had said that they'd sort out this mess and they'd see them in Gravity Falls again soon. Under the harsh exterior of his Grunkle's face, Dipper saw that like Mabel and himself, Stan didn't want them to go. By soon, Dipper assumed he meant in a summer sometime in the next year or so. Mabel hugged and held onto Grunkle Stan as tightly as she could and for as long as she could before he pried her from her arms. She hugged their Great Uncle just as tightly, and although Dipper could tell she wanted to cry, she didn't. She was strong like that. Unlike him, her heart was too big, and she felt too much - not that he didn't feel or anything. But it was evident to whoever they met who was the biggest wacko. He knew that if it were him in her place, feeling like she was being forcefully pulled away from this new life she'd made, he'd break under the pressure. But Mabel pulled on a strong look, smiled, and told them she would see them next year - that she'd make sure of it.

Dipper had awkwardly shaken Grunkle Stan's and Great Uncle Ford's hands, looking at the six fingers on Stanford's hand because he'd never actually gotten the chance to stare at them before. It was weird, in an interesting sort of way, but he never said anything. When he turned to walk away, he swore Stanford said something to him, but when he turned around his great uncle was looking in the other direction, so he turned back away and boarded the bus. Mabel trailed behind him with Waddles in her arms. Dipper thought she was lucky to have gotten away with bringing the pig on the bus. He guessed maybe the bus driver had taken a look at her crumpled face and decided she'd already had a rough enough day.

Dipper walked to the very back of the bus, taking a seat. He put his bag next to him as Mabel sat beside of him and got onto her knees to look out the window, palms against the glass, Dipper rubbed Waddles head where he'd sat on the seat. The pig oinked.

"Good pig," he murmured as he turned his head to look out the window. He could just make out Grunkle Stan's fez but couldn't see his face. Mabel was waving frantically at them as the bus pulled away.

Dipper swallowed the lump in his throat, lifting his hand in a small wave before turning back to stare at the front of the bus. On one hand, it was sad to be returning home. He'd gotten so much more than he'd bargained for when their parents sent them off to Gravity Falls. He'd assumed it would just be a summer of working for his Grunkle in his tourist trap of a business in the sweltering Oregon heat.

But it had been so much more than that.

Finding the journal had been a life changer. Suddenly he had a mystery - he had something to solve, something to use his brain for. The things he and his sister had done were unbelievable. No one would ever believe them - and he was totally okay with that. Gravity Falls felt like his and Mabel's place, and he didn't want to share that with anyone. He didn't even want his parents to know.

On the other hand he was glad to be leaving. It didn't even really have anything to do with the tension that had developed between him and his relatives. That was a thing that surely would pass over time.

It was a danger thing.

It felt like he and his sister were constantly running from something, or trying to kill something, or trying to get the upper hand in some bizarre situation in the hope that they weren't going to be killed. It was too much for grown adults, let alone a pair of twelve-year-olds.

And not to mention Bill. Bill Cipher was most definitely the worst thing that they had seen come out of Gravity Falls. The dream demon was manipulative, evil, and just plain chaotic. He hadn't seen him again since their last altercation, but that probably had to do more with him not sleeping than anything else. Last night in particular had been hard for him, because Mabel and Waddles had been with him. Thankfully, Mabel hadn't said anything about his haggard appearance. He wondered if she'd been too upset to notice.

While she'd slept, he'd drunk another two cans of Pitt Cola (his last two), gone toilet, and had the quickest shower he could to freshen himself up for his parents. When he'd looked at himself in the mirror before they'd gone to the bus station, he'd realized just how terrible he looked. Hopefully his parents would put it up to staying up way past his bedtime rather than because he was scared to go to sleep. He could fake a smile to them if he really had too.

"...per?" Mabel was saying quietly, jabbing him in the arm, having returned to her seat. He glanced at her, blinking.

"Sorry? Did you say something?" He asked.

"I just wanted to know that I know you haven't been sleeping. What's up?"

"I guess I'm just stressed out, Mabel," he said, shrugging as he scratched behind Waddles' ear. He should have known he couldn't hide it from her. "I mean, with everything that went on with Grunkle Stan and..."

"Yeah." She said, nodding with understanding. She smiled weakly. "It was crazy, huh?"

He nodded. He knew she was just talking so she didn't have to think about leaving Grunkle Stan and Great Uncle Ford, so he let her ramble on, her mood changing as she began to talk about the latest celebrity she was obsessing over. Tuning her out, he rest his head against the window of the buzz. The side of his head felt funny from the vibrations of the bus, but even so, listening to her ramblings made him sleepy. He fought against the feeling, but before he knew it his eyes were closing drearily.

Not even a moment later, a voice in his ear startled his eyes open.

"Piiiine Treeee. Wake uuuup." Dippers brows twitched. He recognised that voice, and it didn't bode well with him at all.

Bill floating above him was the last thing he wanted to see. Everything else was drained of color. He turned his head slightly, but the bus was empty of all other passengers - in fact, it looked like the bus was driving itself along the road.

Damn it. Damn it damn it damn it.

"How are you here?" He felt like a broken record - hadn't he already asked that before?

Bill was seating himself on top of one of the bus seats in front of Dipper, or, well, floating above the bus seat. He ignored Dipper's question. Again. "Pine Tree, you never gave me an answer."

"Yes I did. I said no."

"Not the answer I wanted to hear."

"And it hasn't changed. No. I said no, and I mean no." His tone was stubborn, but Bill was having none of it. He leaned forward, hitting Dipper's knee with his cane.

"I don't think you do. You're just as interested in learning magic as I am in teaching it to you," Bill said. Dipper glanced away, jaw working. Bill laughed. "Oh my, Pine Tree, you've sure thrown yourself through a loop, haven't you? All conflicted about what you want?" Dipper followed Bill with his eyes as the demon floated down the bus aisle to the front of the bus. He grabbed onto the handle of the wheel and jerked hard. Dipper grunted as he fell forward off of his seat, hitting the floor. Bill jerked it the other way, and Dipper's head hit the seats as he went sliding down the aisle towards the front. His arms got the worst of the hits as he used them guard against the impact, wincing and gasping against each hit. When he stopped moving, he lifted his arms to peer at Bill, who Dipper was sure would be grinning if he had a mouth. "I can make this a very easy decision for you," he said, holding his flaming hand out to Dipper.

Dipper stared at the black appendage. What was Bill going on about? Of course he didn't want to accept his deal. He wasn't stupid.

Oh god. He was considering it.

Had he really been thinking about it this whole time?

Maybe it was just another one of those things he suppressed until someone dredged it up from his subconscious. And Bill would know all about subconscious thoughts.

His hand twitched, and he felt it raise up as if against his will. He felt like he was almost in a trance, and god did he want to just shake and get it over with. Bill looked positively gleeful.

"No!" Dipper suddenly gasped, snatching his hand backwards as he scrambled away. "I won't. I said no the first time, and I'll say it again and again until you finally get the message! Get out of my head!"

"Now, now, Pine Tree, don't be ridiculous. You know what you want."

"Get. Out. Of. My. Head!"

The demon let out a hiss of air, twirling his cane. "Okay, kid, yeesh, but don't think this is the end of this conversation. You think real long and real hard about what you have to say next time I come and see you." Bill grew in size, burning red. Dipper shrunk against the seat, terror churning in his gut despite the fighting expression he tried to keep on. "It'll be the last time you see your sister alive if you disappoint me again, you hear?"


The world snapped back into focus, and Dipper jolted awake with a gasp, feeling as if he'd just broken out beneath waves of ice.

"Dipper? Dipper, are you okay?" Mabel asked, shaking him by the shoulder. He looked at her dazedly, at the green of her sweater, and then at the blue bus seats.

Rubbing his head, he said, "Yeah...I must have just dozed off there for a second." His hands knotted in his lap to stop them from shaking. He was okay. All it was was a dream. It was just a dream.

But of course with Bill it was never just a dream.

"Are you sure, Dipper-"

"I said I'm fine, Mabel!"

Mabel withdrew her hand from his shoulder, looking shocked. She turned back in her seat and pulled Waddles to her chest. "Okay, gosh. Sorry for asking bro-bro."

Dipper closed his eyes, pinching the bridge of his nose and breathing in and out slowly to relieve himself of the tight knot in his stomach. It wasn't her fault. None of this was her fault. God. Why did he have to be such an idiot? He opened his eyes and glanced at her.

"Sorry for snapping," he murmured, bumping his hand against hers. She didn't say anything about the way it was shaking, and he was glad for that. Bill had threatened Mabel's life. He didn't know what to do. He didn't know what to think. All he knew was that he needed to protect her because no way in hell was Bill Cipher getting anywhere near his sister.

"It's okay," she said, smiling warmly at him. He forced a smile back to her, and they gave each others hands a squeeze before releasing.

But it wasn't okay.

It really wasn't.


Next chapter; Piedmont!