"YOU SON OF A BITCH!" Before I knew what was doing, I charged Cipher. He opened up his arms as I tried to strike him, and I flew inside him and out through his front.

As I fell to the ground, I didn't care that I couldn't hurt him physically. All I cared about was that he was here, he was hurting me and my family again, and I wanted him dead now. "WHERE IS SHE?!"

He flew down towards me, toting his cane, taunting me. "Cool out, Pine Tree." Cipher laughed again. "You REALLY haven't changed. Itty bitty Dipwad lost his precious!" For a creature without a mouth, the dream demon was obviously grinning with malicious delight.

Mabel helped me to my feet, blazed bullets into the triangle's eye. "Why are you here, Bill? HOW are you alive?"

Suddenly he was inches away from my twin's face. "You oughta take a chill pill too, Shooting Star. Interrogation isn't really your strong suit." He expanded to three times his size, turning a furious red. "ALL WILL BE REVEALED." The triangle shrunk back down to normal. "Buuuuut, I guess I can answer that first question of yours."

He floated back and pointed at the both of us with his cane. "You two were a huge wrench in my plans. If it wasn't for you kids and your little Grunkles too, I could have brought freedom to this stupid, bland, FLAT universe." He pointed out his 2-D figure. "I might not be as stable as I could be, but I'm still powerful enough to make your lives hell, starting with you, Pine Tree."

Cipher circled us, twirling his cane and adjusting his bowtie. "I'm feeling like being a good sport today, so, if you want to see Pine Tree's arm candy again, you'll have to come on my turf."

I gaped at Cipher as what he said hit me. "You have her in the Nightmare Realm?"

He snapped his fingers and winked at me. "Bingo, Dipstick. Come to the Nightmare Realm. I'll give you 12 hours to get her. Wait too long, and I'll see if there's a small molecule of her left for you. I'll be waiting," he sang.

We snapped out of the trance that he had us in. We fell to the floor, shaken, scared to say anything. The stone body was now in pieces.

Mabel and I looked at each other. Both of us got up and ran back the way we came.


We swung the door of the Mystery Shack open, out of breath, to a shocked Soos and Wendy. I went right for the couch and slumped into it as Mabel relayed what we had just seen. When she was done, they came over to me.

I stared at the ceiling. When I looked at them, each of them looked back mirroring my hopelessness. I could tell they felt bad for what had transpired earlier. I smiled at them. "I'm sorry." They started to perk up a little bit. "I was letting my emotions get the better of me. I shouldn't have taken that out on you guys."

Mabel was the first to respond. "It's fine, Dipper. I would've done the same in your position."

Any tension in the room relaxed after she said that. I waited a bit longer before continuing the conversation. "We need a plan. Bill's got her in the Nightmare Realm, and before we can do anything we need to take stock of the situation."

Wendy nodded. "First problem, how do we get to this Nightmare Realm, or whatever?"

I looked at Mabel and Soos, knowingly, then turned to Wendy. "The portal. It's our only shot."

She looked a bit confused. Soos said, "You remember that one time I kept you up until 3 in the morning to tell you about what happened in the basement?" The look on her face told him she did. "That's the portal you mean, right, Dipper?"

I nodded, and said "I know it's risky, but it's our only shot at getting Pacifica back."

"Didn't it get destroyed when Great Uncle Ford came through the portal?" Mabel reminded me.

"Damn. I forgot about that." I wrinkled my nose at the major setback. "Maybe there's something in the journals about it."

I went into my bag and brought out three binders. After Cipher destroyed the original journals, we all thought they were lost forever, even Ford. It was only when Grunkle Stan remembered that he had copied down each of the pages, including the third journal I had for a while, that we breathed a sigh of relief. After Weirdmaggedon, Ford and Stan went on their expedition around the world for strange and mysterious creatures, and took the journals with them. I was disappointed, until, on Mabel's and my 18th birthday, they showed up as a surprise, and gave to me these binders, containing further copies of the journals. Without these journals, I wouldn't have gone on the path that I had.

All four of us flipped through the journals, specifically trying to find the pages that, when aligned correctly, formed the schematic to the portal. We found the pages, and put them in order. "You think you can translate this, Dipper?" asked Mabel.

I looked at the schematics, thinking hard. "I think so. I've studied all of these journals for years, I should be able to get this working again." I faced the others. "You guys are up for this?" Their confident smiles answers were enough for me. "Then let's get down to work."


She couldn't cover her ears. The insults kept coming, cutting into her like hot knives.

"You're still a slave to your parents."

"You don't deserve your boyfriend's love."

"Once a Northwest, always a Northwest."

"SHUT UP!"

The tears would've burned Pacifica's eyes if she had any left. The humanoid figure before her sneered at her.

"Honey, I'm HOOOOOOME!"

The triangle kicked down the door. Pacifica locked her eyes on his. If he had a mouth, he would be smiling right now. "Take a break, buddy. I need to talk to Llama myself."

"Don't take too long, Bill, I'm not even close to being finished." The figure slipped into the shadows of the room.

The room was a cylindrical shape with a very high ceiling. Outside the door was a fiery red wasteland that smelled like sulfur. Pacifica was shackled to the walls by chains that cut into her wrists and ankles. Cipher twirled his cane as he came closer to her. "How we doing here, princess?"

She said nothing and just stared daggers into him. He laughed. "Silence and glaring. You remind me of Fordsy sometimes, kiddo." Cipher brought up a chair and sat down. "Just talked to Pine Tree. He should be here in a few hours or so."

Pacifica's eyes widened, but she still didn't say a word.

Cipher's eye narrowed in glee. "That's right, Llama Girl. He's coming here just for you. And if I'm not mistaken, he's bringing Shooting Star too, at least. And you, my dear…" He flew right in Pacifica's face. "You'll get to watch them all die."

Pacifica summoned up all of the saliva in her mouth and spat it in Cipher's eye. He screamed in pain. "BILL DAMN IT!" A sharp pain shot across her face as Cipher slapped her. "Get the bell," he snarled at the figure in the dark.

The humanoid walked out of the shadows. Dipper Pines pulled a small dinner bell out of his pocket as Cipher cackled.

Ring.

Ring.

Ring.


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