Chapter 10

Batter spewed out of the bowl as the brown-eyed girl whisked ferociously. It had been two days since Dipper returned from the dead, and Mabel, internally, hasn't been handling the idea that Bill has a plan for the twins well. She felt like an idiot knowing that she should have never made the deal with Bill. What else did Bill have planned for them? Were some of the tragic events in her life caused by his hands? His hands…they felt so…human.

Thinking back on the night of the deal, she remembered the way the mesmerizing blue fire felt surrounding her small body. Warm. The way her tears felt as they rolled down her face. Warm. The way he held her weeping body close in his arm, pushing her to his chest. Warm. The way his gloved hand felt as he grabbed her neck and slammed her into a wall. Warm. And the way his hand held her chin to his face, making her stare upon her deceased brother. Warm. STOP! Mabel blinked out of her thoughts and shook her head. Bill never made any sense to everyone else, but that makes sense, he is Bill Cipher. The one who killed her brother.

Getting tired of attempting to make a cake while she was in a tornado of thoughts, she decided to dump the batter. After cleaning up her mess and grabbing her phone she marched her way upstairs. Each step led a new thought to travel in her head. How much has Bill learned about the twins since Weirdmageddon? Did he know her Grunkles when they were kids? What is going to happen to the Shack? How long will they live here? Why did her parents have to leave? Did...Bill kill her parents? With the last question she stopped. A single tear falling out of her eye. Not even a second later, Bill appeared on the next step, towering over her, catching her fallen tear in his palm. The drop sizzled in his hand and he smiled wickedly.

"Evening, Star." Mabel kept an unfazed scowl on her as she looked up at him. Bill frown and shook his head.

"I must say Star; I need to "step up" my game when it comes to startling you." Bill chuckled at his stupid pun. "Anywhoooo….how has the lovely Shooting Star been on this day? How's your brother handling life again? I know death can be a hard thing to handle, believe me, it was hard for me when I died."

Mabel squinted in confusion at his words. When was Bill ever considered alive? Her thoughts were snapped out when Bill grabbed her chin. Mabel smacked his hand away. "Why do you feel the need to do that?!" Mabel yelled looking him deep in his eye fiercely.

"Hm, it's amazing how different your eyes look when they are angry, or when their sad or even when they are full of pain." Bill paused as he watched Mabel's eyes widen and slightly back away. "I've always wondered what they look like when there is no life to look into." His blank stare slowly turned into a strange smile. "I wonder if they look the same as Pine Tree's did."

"How. Dare. You." Mabel said darkly, it was a voice that very rarely ever left her throat. That was all Mabel needed to hear from Bill's insensitive words; she grabbed his shirt pulling him towards her, and threw him down the stairs with all her strength. Before Bill was off the floor, he yanked Mabel's wrists with him and the two tumbled down the many steps, colliding head frequently. Upon reaching the end of the steps, the two tumbled down with Mabel landing on Bill, earning of groan from within his chest. Mabel closed her eyes, trying to ignore the pain that was growing on her body, when she felt a hand rubbing her back, almost knowing she was in pain.

"Good idea, Star. Throw the demon down the damn stairs and attempt to break your own neck. What caused you to do such a thing, was it my pun?" He spoke sarcastically as he continued his massage. Mabel immediately jumped off, but was yanked down, causing her to land harshly on him, earning yet another groan. Her hands were yanked above her and she was rolled over looking up at Bill. The situation she was in caused her to roll her eyes. Are you kidding me?

Bill smiled. "Today I have received amazing scowls from you that could kill a mortal, and got to get tickled by a flight of stairs that was caused by you hand. But I must admit, if I get to be in this position with you ever time I visit, well then you're gonna be seeing me a lot more!" Bill laughed loudly in her ear, causing her to cringe.

"Oh for heaven's sake, WHAT is it with you and always making my day annoying?" Mabel asked looking up uncomfortable at his weight.

"Toots, annoying is my 4th middle name. Along with powerful, handsome, and especially weird." Bill grinned widely. "And what is it with you and always thinking about me, hmm?" That made Mabel look up.

"If you think that any of those thoughts were good, then you are definitely wrong." Mabel retorted still not looking him in the eye.

"Oh, is that so?" Bill smiled knowing she was lying. "Well either way you're still thinking about me, I find in funny that I'm always in your head figuratively and literally!" Hearing him say that he is always in her head made her shiver. Bill loved her reaction to everything he says. He craved to feel her reactions, from a shiver up her spine, or her body tensing to pain. He wanted her reactions. Eventually he will find a loop hole and take over her body. He just needed time

"Oh wow! Look at the time, it seems that I have some things I need to do. It was fun falling for you, or well actually falling with you, ha! I'm quite excited to see those bruises form on you." Bill paused and smiled at her uncomfortable expression. "Well, I'll torment you later Star!" The wicked demon poked her nose and disappeared, leaving her on the floor to her thoughts. Then she remembered that feeling. Warm. Ugh, Mabel stop letting your girly-ish mind get to you, she thought to herself. Dusting herself off, she cursed Bill in her head and continued her journey to her room, plopping down on her bed. Looking over to her left she saw her dresser. Almost forgetting that Dipper didn't sleep there.

A little golden flower with a red gem in the middle rested on the dresser shimmering under the light. Grunkle Ford gave that to her. Sighing, Mabel closed her eyes and drifted into thought. She needed to find a way to be free from Bill forever. Free her and Dipper.

XxX Flashback XxX

Inside the shack, Mabel sat on the floor in Sweater Town. She was thinking about Bill, and with all her soul, she believed he was never truly gone, that he was always watching. But what caused her to have such fear was her family. Ever since Bill was "destroyed" her whole family has been tense. Stan still looks over his shoulder and sleeps with his brass knuckles in hand. She almost got punched in the face with them when she woke him up telling him there were strange noises outside the shack. Ford still goes to his lab and checks for signs of Bill anywhere in the world and puts charms on the house when he feels suspicious. And as for Dipper, he would leave in the middle of the night and check on Bill's statue. He refused to read the journals after their parents died, but he still went exploring. All of her family's focus on Bill led her to become stressed and scared that he was back.

Shifting her body to get comfortable, her foot touch her grappling hook. Through time people began to notice that she always had it with her. Almost as if fear had taken over her. Maybe that's what Bill wanted, her fear. Hard footsteps rang in her ears, sounding closer and closer. Mabel shuddered slightly as a big hand softly landed on her shoulder, almost too afraid that she would break at their touch. Slowly lifting her head, she sighed in relief at her Grunkle Ford.

"Bad day in Sweater Town?" Ford smiled slightly kneeling down to her level. Mabel looked down in her sweater and nodded.

"Bill is back, isn't he?" Mabel questioned while looking down at Ford's boots. Shocked at her response he gave her a knowing smile and patted her head.

"Of course not."

"Then why is everyone so stressed about Bill? I can't have one day without hearing Bill's name!"

"That's not true! I'm not stressed about Bill!" Ford exclaimed clearly knowing that he was lying. Mabel looked at him with sad eyes.

"Grunkle Ford, you forgot about Waddles science competition! I called your name but you were busy in the lab. You said you would meet up with us, then you never came! We almost won 1st place. When I got back, I heard you in the basement mumbling about Bill's possible ability to travel through alternate universes, and how you had to figure out if he could." Mabel spoke, her voice raising slightly. "I really wanted you to be there for Waddles…"

Ford looked down at the sad girl he'd grown to love unconditionally. He closed his eyes, sighing to himself. He cursed himself for being such an ass to this little child. Her watched her sink down in her sweater. She was so small compared to him. Although she wasn't interested in science as much as Dipper was, she always reminded him of the daughter he never got to have. He wanted to put her out of danger as best as he could. And ever since the kid's parents passed, he made sure him and Stanley were the best parental figures for the kids as they could be. To him, he failed every day to do that job. He wasn't much of a parent; especially to a teenage girl. He sighed, getting off the floor and walked down to the basement. Mabel sighed in disappointment as she heard the footsteps leave her.

After a minute, the footsteps return and she felt the hand pat her head again. She looked up, her chocolate eyes full of emotions. Ford knelt down and held a tiny metal flower at the tips of his fingers. Watching her marvel in confusion at the item.

"I was in my mid-twenties when a woman I was exploring a cave with gave me this little thing. She grabbed my hand and looked me in the eyes, saying that I was always full of fear. I didn't understand why she told me this, or why she gave it to me, but I carried it with me. Now I will give it to you to carry around with you." He placed the object in her tiny hand. "I won't lie to you Mabel. I don't know if Bill is back, but I am still…suspicious. But I shouldn't let fear get control of my life, same goes for you." His eyes looked at her grappling hook. He grabbed her hands in his and looked her in the eye. "Mabel, I am truly sorry for missing an event that was so important to you…"

"And Waddles." Mabel included.

Ford sighed. "And Waddles. It was wrong of me to always be in my lab and let my mind forget my family. I promise that as long as you don't let fear control you, I won't let it control me. Could you ever forgive me?" Ford stared at her deeply. Mabel just smiled and wrapped her arms around his neck.

"Oh, I'm not even really mad, I was just a bit upset." Mabel said as she remembered she was in Sweater Town for about 6 hours. "How could I ever be mad at this face?" Mabel beamed grabbing Ford's slightly flabby cheeks and playing with it. He laughed and shook his head, hugging the girl again.

"But you have to make the same heart-felt speech to Waddles." Mabel said, still hugging Ford. Ford just laughed and rolled his eyes.

"Deal."

XxxxxX

A.N.- HEYYYYOOOOOO! What's up guys? I'm back at it again! Sorry to have taken SUCH a long time updating. I was cursed with a huge writer's block to forever stick in my head. I wrote chapter 10 several different times and I didn't like how they were turning out so I gave up a bit. Then I started thinking of ideas that could happen later in the story even though I needed to think about what would happen now in the story. Ugh. Anyway, there may or may not be a new character introduced in this later on in the story ;D Hope you are liking the story so far, and hopefully I will updated again soon. Till next time, see ya. :D

*waves goodbye as a tornado of bunnies swifts me away*