Stan awoke to quiet snorting. He opened his eyes, but everything in his field of vision was a flat pink. He shifted slightly, and a curly tail poked into his nose.

Waddles' butt was in his face.

"What the heck! Get out of here, you stupid pig!" Waddles ran from the room snorting. Stan pushed himself into a sitting position, stretching his stiff back. Why am I on the floor? His sleep-bleary brain remembered the incident from the night before.

No. Not him. He didn't get them. He can't have. Maybe I can mark them first. Then he won't be able to hurt them. Please let them be okay. Please. He stood up, still in his pajamas, and shuffled down the stairs. He rushed around as quickly as his sore, decrepit body could take him. He searched the entire floor, and even went into his laboratory.

Their bedroom. Of course. He wondered why he didn't check the bedroom first. It was closer to where he had awakened and they were more likely to be in their room than in his lab. Stupid, stupid, stupid. So he raced back upstairs.

The twins were asleep in their own beds, wearing their clothes from the night before. Stan quietly crept over to Dipper, and checked in all of the usual spots. He checked Dipper's palms, arms, legs, and feet. He (very carefully) checked Dipper's forehead and the back of his neck. He even checked underneath the boy's chin. A warm relief stole through him. They were still unmarked-wait. A sliver of black poked out from the collar of Dipper's shirt. Stan lightly grasped the edge of Dipper's shirt and pulled it down. The image of a small, snappily dressed triangle sat on the left side of Dipper's collarbone, staring back at him with its single eye.

He was too late. He rushed over to Mabel, and looked under her sweater collar. The same black image was there, on the right this time, leering from at him from her clavicle.

I have to get them away from here. But there wasn't anywhere to go. Bill knew where the lab was, and it was torn to shreds anyways. He couldn't hide in somebody else's home; everyone hated and distrusted him. He couldn't drive long distances without falling asleep, so he couldn't leave Gravity Falls. That left only the forest. The energy there might help him hide the twins. But he had nowhere to take them. He couldn't stay with the gnomes, as they would try to kidnap Mabel and hated Dipper for tricking them. The manotaurs were out too; they were too likely to accidentally kill them in a brawl and, like the gnomes, hated Dipper. The kid seems to alienate magical creatures everywhere he goes. He shook his head. I don't have time to think about this. I'll just take them into the woods. Somebody out there has to be willing to hide us.

He gently shook Mabel awake. "Hey. Mabel. Get up. We have to go. Now." "Whuuh? What's going on?" Mabel sat up in bed, rubbing her eyes. "Get up. We have to go."

"Huh? Grunkle Stan? What's going on?" Dipper had awoken when his sister did. He looked at Stan, confused and exhausted. " We're leaving. Now."

"Why?" Mabel was as bewildered as Dipper was.

"We're going into hiding so Bill can't get you."

"But Bill isn't bad! He kept you from making the universe go all sploosh!"

Stan sighed irritably. "One good deed doesn't make a good person, alright? Now come on!" "What about Waddles?"

Waddles can come too. Just hurry up!"

"What's going to happen to the Shack?"

"It's going to be closed for a while! Now come on! We have to go!"

Dipper and Mabel reluctantly followed their grunkle to the front door. Mabel retrieved a lead for Waddles from the coat rack, and fastened it around his neck. Waddles, meanwhile,busied himself with chewing happily on the corner of Dipper's vest. Stan opened the door, left the "Closed" sign as it was, and led the twins into the woods.

It was a warm, humid day, but the dark grey clouds hung low, threatening to rain. The light was dim, and only grew dimmer as they plodded into the forest. A raindrop fell onto Mabel's hairline, despite all of the leaves blocking the precipitation. The rain began to fall more quickly, sliding down the leaves and colliding with the exposed dirt under the canopy steadily. Thunder rumbled in the distance.

After a short time, the rain stopped falling. It was still raining heavily all around them, but it no longer hit the trio. The water on their clothes evaporated under a warm yellow glow. Dipper looked to the sky and released a startled shout. A large, black eye was staring at him. Bill was floating over them, as wide as the spread branches of a tree.

"Hi there, kids! Thought I'd get you poor saps out of the rain. Don't want you to get a cold!"

"Oh. Hey there, Bill."

"Getting used to me already, I see. Great!" His enormous pupil moved to stare, unblinking, at Stan."Thank you for bringing me my assistants, Stanford. It's a little odd to bring them out into the woods, though. The Mystery Shack would've been a perfectly decent meeting place. Now run along, and don't get into any more trouble, okay?"

"I didn't bring them over for you, I was taking them far away from you! All you'll ever do is hurt them! Come on kids, let's go!" He took each of their hands in his own and began to lead them forward.

They went in the other direction. Bill was pulling them back to him, though not with his powers. A bluish glow could be seen plainly through Dipper's orange tee shirt. Mabel's glow was mostly obscured by her thick sweater, and was barely visible. They floated up to Bill's side and hung there.

Stan was still hanging on to their hands, legs dangling in the air. He wasn't going to release his niece and nephew without a fight. Bill pulled him away as if he were a burr clinging to their jacket.

Stan dropped to the ground with a grunt. "It's a bit late for that, Stan. You had your chance to mark them, and you didn't. I saw a chance and I took it. They belong to me now, fair and triangle." Bill's tone was calm and firm. He had won. The fight was over (not that there ever was one in the first place), so there was no need to get emotional.

Stan did anyway. "No…" He was wilting, slumped over. "Not them…please". His grief at even the concept of losing his niece and nephew was genuine and powerful. Bill could see Stan's sorrow. It was coming off of him in waves, washing the color and life out of Stanford's personal reality in mere seconds. Bill sighed, shutting his eye in annoyance.

"Get up, idiot, and stop snivelling like that. It's pathetic, and I've already won, so there isn't any point to it. They're going to be fine. They're actually going to be better for the experience! Their eye will be opened."

Eye? Stan looked at Bill, fear and worry on his face. "Don't do that. That will ruin their lives! They could go insane!"

"People only go insane if they do it wrong. I'm a master of the mind! A head is my modeling clay. They can't possibly go insane." And then the twins were gone.

"WHERE DID THEY GO? WHAT DID YOU DO?!" Stan went from forlorn to frantic in a flash.

" Calm down! They're back at the Mystery Shack, you senile old fool. I don't need them until tonight. And remember this." Bill drew closer to Stan, until he was nearly touching Stan's face.

"You may have pushed me away, but I still own you, and I will always own you. I will mark the entire Pines family, even the entirety of Gravity Falls if I have to. I control the universe. I am king, and if you don't do as I say, there will be consequences. I only let you slip away because it amused me. Defiance is a fool's game. I always know what you're thinking, and I always know where you are. It will be easier on everyone if you just let yourself be controlled. Find your pig, go home, and relax. Run the shop, continue your life, and let me do my well and you might get back into my good graces." Then he was gone.

Stan was too stunned to move. He stared into the forest, mind blank and overflowing at the same time. He was emotionally weak and tired. He just wanted to go to bed and forget that anything was happening at all. Yet, at the same time, he couldn't will himself to move.

Stan heard a nearly imperceptible sigh. His body began to move of its own accord, retrieving Waddles and walking him back home.

Dipper gasped as he fell from midair to his bed. He bounced once, then fell to the floor. "Ouch!" He rubbed his head with his palm. Mabel had soundlessly bounced onto her bed, coming to a stop face first in her pillow. Dipper looked at her in envy. Why does she always get the comfy landings?

"Ugh...what happened?" Mabel was pushing herself back up.

"Bill did."

Mabel's eyes went wide, and she pointed across the room at her twin. "Dipper! Your shirt is glowing!"

"Huh? Whoah!" A blue glow still emanated from underneath Dipper's shirt collar. He raced to the bathroom to try to catch a glimpse of it in the mirror before it faded. He stood in front of the mirror and tugged down his shirt collar. His scream could be heard all throughout the house.

Mabel came racing into the bathroom. "Dipper! What's wro-whoah." She quickly pulled off her sweater. The glow was now readily apparent, shining brightly through her light pink tee shirt. She pulled her shirt collar down past her collarbone.

Black lines composed images of Bill Cipher, staring back from the twins' chests.

"Tattoos," Mabel breathed. "Mom and Dad are going to kill us."

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