Sorry it took me a while, I wasn't really sure where I wanted to go with this fic, like where to put it in the Gravity Falls timeline exactly. I think I've got it all worked out now, though.

Disclaimer: own nothing

"That's not fair-!" Mabel shouted.

"Again. Demon. Not fair. Hello?"

Dipper trembled, staring into space. His eyes darted around the frozen world, lingering on Wendy, whom was apparently frozen with it, then scanning the rest of the area. He and Mabel were the only ones who could move or witness anything, apparently. Bill kept a grip on them both and Dipper tried to resist the addicting surges of power that kept pulsing through his being. The shock was yielding away to pleasure again, to delight and giddiness. It made everything seem great, it even made Bill being their parent seem fine, or Mabel- wait, Mabel.

"Don't do anything to her," he said, looking at Bill.

"Oh? Why not, Dippy?" Bill cackled. "Doesn't it feel good? I bet your sister would love it, and it's just not fair that she's the only one in the family that doesn't get phenomenal cosmic power, am I right?"

"Because she doesn't want to become a demon!" Dipper snapped. "Maybe date one, knowing her weird tastes but not be one!"

"I resent that! I'd only date a demon if he was hot!" Mabel pouted, then attempted to wriggle out of Bill's grip. "But no! I don't want to be one but Dipper doesn't either! Right, Dipper?"

Dipper fell silent, looking at his sister hesitantly. His first impulse was to agree, of course, but…it was getting a little hard to think again. Or rather, not think, there were so many things to think about, so many things-

"…Right?" Mabel repeated, looking more unsure.

"Why not? See? It works out, doesn't it? He's enjoying it, and you're enjoying not going through it, and I'm enjoying it! We all win! So then it's settled, eh?" Bill ruffled Dipper's hair. "Daddy gonna teach you all the tricks of the trade, and he'll be nice to Shooting Star and not warp her entire existence as a human being!"

"Leave him alone!" Mabel snapped, struggling frantically against Bill's grip.

"You wanna swap places, Shooting Star? I can work with that, if you insist. But why bother? I mean, he's getting what he wants, more than anything." He cackled, ruffling Dipper's hair. "All that knowledge, all that existential enlightenment or however you want to put it. Oh and the power, of course, gotta love the power."

"But-"

"Meh, I'm getting bored." Bill slipped away from them both, twirling his cane. "I'll pop up again to check on you two later. Think it over, m'kay? Now, both of you be good while Daddy's gone! Play nice!"

A white flash temporarily blinded them and then the world was back to its usual self. Wendy shook her head, exclaiming her confusion while Mabel fretted over her brother, whom apparently gravity had decided to work on again and had crashed onto the ground.

"Dipper-!"

"Ow-! Damn it I'm getting really sick of falling!" he groaned, rubbing his rear end.

"Annnnd you've got sharp teeth and weird ears," Wendy pointed at him, a mix between exasperated and surprised. "Well that's great. Here, wear my hat to cover the ears and just- I dunno, keep your mouth shut until we get somewhere people can't see you."

Dipper twitched as Wendy pulled her hat over his head, the flaps covering up his ears.

"Are you okay, Dipper?"

He ran his tongue along his teeth, feeling their sharpened shape. With a frown he pushed up to his feet and brushed himself off, looking down at his sister.

"I'm okay, do I look- does anything else look weird?"

"Besides that scar on your eye, no," Mabel said. "We're gonna have to snatch one of Stan's eyepatches- no that wouldn't cover it."

"You don't really have to cover it, I mean it's weird but people might think it's a tattoo." Wendy frowned, scanning him. "Nothing else looks out of the ordinary. Though you being taller than me is kinda freaky in itself, I guess…"

"Y- yeah, it is." He cleared his throat, his gaze downcast.

He felt the heat flush to his cheeks but even that sensation seemed to be fleeting, quickly pushed aside by the encroaching temptation of existence. What could he do with that concrete? That streetsign, that building, that car? Ooooh he could probably turn the car into a monster, that'd be fun, to unravel the tires into legs and crush and twist the carriage into-

Mabel kicked him in the shin.

"We have GOT to find a way to keep you from spacing off like that!"

"OW! Damn it, Mabel-!" Dipper hissed, hopping up and down on his good leg while griping the injured one.

"Well you know I'm right!"

He growled under his breath but sighed, looking at her.

"Yeah, you're right. The second I get distracted by something I just slip off." He bit his lip. "I gotta resist it. I'm not going to do what Bill wants."

"But…if you do that what's going to happen to Mabel-?" Wendy began.

"Nothing's gonna happen to Mabel." He said flatly, a determined look in his eyes. "I'm not going to let Bill use her. I guess that means I'll be stuck like this but…but just because I'm stuck like this doesn't mean I have to do what he wants me to, right?"

"But…Dipper, we can't leave you like this!" Mabel waved her arms frantically. "We can't just let you like, transcend the limits of mortality! What if you like, end up living forever and then years from now you're overlooking my grave and you still look the same and people start summoning you like they summon Bill and sacrifice humans to do it and you go all nuts dishing out poetic justice on them because you feel responsible and immensely guilty for their deaths?!"

Dipper stared at her.

"What-?"

"Holy crap, Mabel, calm down!" Wendy threw her hands up. "We don't know for sure if any of that- just wow, how much fanfiction do you read?!"

"Well you can't be sure that won't happen!"

Dipper rubbed his face, groaning in exasperation.

"I'm not just giving up, I'm still going to look for a way to undo this. I'll just have to deal with it for a little bit so Bill doesn't target you, that's all…"

Mabel glomped him, slamming him into the ground yet again.

"Mabel-!"

"BRO-BRO! You shouldn't be worrying about me!" she shouted. "I'll help you okay?! I promise!"

Dipper stared at her, unsure exactly how upset his twin was over all these developments. She was worried, of course, but his sister had her 'normal' worried where she could still be a goofball, and then she had her 'serious' worried.

He noticed she was trembling.

Oh crap.