A/N Thanks for making it this far! Before we get started on this next chapter, can we all just take a moment to appreciate how awesome Dipper is? I personally loved writing this chapter because Mystery Twins is best character so I'm glad to finally get Dipper off the sidelines and get him more actively involved. Speaking of Dipper, I hope to get my companion story that I announced in chapter 4 (I think) uploaded soon because Dipper, well other Dipper has his own story to tell, and I want to tell it and I will! That's the thing with writing about two alternate realities, I want to see them both.

Shout out time!

Sally: I assume you're asking about the companion story, it'll be up soon as I just mentioned. :-)

RockSunner: Yeah, I'm glad to (partially) resolve that issue here finally. Thanks as always for reviewing every chapter. You have become one of those constants that I can count on and I always look forward to what you have to say for each new chapter.

Nelli3: Thanks for the lovely reviews! I'm so glad you like this and thanks for following this story faithfully and I hope you stick with me for the long haul!

gravityfalls22: Funny, I don't see how a site dedicating to reading and writing stories based on various fandoms that aims to entertain and/or help build writing skills as social media. I wish I could help talk sense into your dad because while I understand why he'd want to be overprotective about internet safety, and totally respect that, in my opinion there's gotta be a middle ground somewhere. This site is a far cry from Facebook, Twitter, Instagram etc. Well, if you have email that you're allowed to use and want to chat and your dad will allow it, my email is my username at yahoo dot ca and I use it just for fanfiction. Seriously, your reviews make me want to discuss things and I can't keep it up like this! Well I can, but...yeah. I'm so glad you like the Wraiths, it means I'm doing my job correctly. Yay! I don't go on Reddit (spoilerphobe here so I avoid things that might potentially spoil me) so I didn't even know there was a Bill AMA on Reddit so I don't know what this Bill AMA is all about, but I see Bill as a Trickster like demon who might be super evil, but is far too complex to be put in a box and could be an ally if it suited his needs. Hence why he saved Mabel, because he needs her to keep her end of the deal, you're spot on there. Love that you picked up on the anomalies returning since I glossed over them last chapter and I LOVE your theories about it. I wish I could explore Stan and the other characters more thoroughly, but that's the problem with choosing to write a story from one character's POV. And yes, I've been in the ER on more than one occasion. It comes from being severely asthmatic. The one experience I drew on most for this was when I was hospitalized with severe pneumonia when I was 10, I almost died. It was scary. I got better though. Obviously. There's more I wanted to mention, but I can't think of it now... hope you like this chapter. There's even a little page mentioned that I was going to put off until later but...

NinNin618: I'm glad you like this story. And there is something very scary about having to stay in the hospital, having a roommate does help a lot. Hope you were OK.

Journals

As Dipper wheels her through the automatic doors and into the sun, Mabel can't help but smile, breathing in deeply as she basks in the warmth of a beautiful summer day. It's so good to be out of that room and out in the warm fresh air. She closes her eyes and for a moment can imagine that everything is right with the world, despite the ache that throbs deep in her bones and the anxiety that won't leave her alone.

"This is nice," she sighs.

"Yeah, it's a really beautiful day," Dipper agrees, "so where to?"

"The Mystery Shack?"

"Ha ha, nice try," Dipper snorts with amusement, "there's a little courtyard over there, looks quiet."

Mabel looks in the direction he points and sees a quaint little area decorated with flowers and a few park benches, "Mabel approves. Go for it bro-bro."

This side of the hospital is nice and quiet, away from ER traffic and there's surprisingly no one around which makes it a perfect place to talk. Mabel's still not sure how much she should tell her brother, but she knows that if she told him everything, she would be putting him at risk. He would do anything to protect her, no matter how crazy or rash, and that scares her. He jumped off a cliff onto a giant Gideon-shaped robot to save her once, and in hindsight, it was miraculous that he didn't get himself killed. They got lucky on so many occasions, and she's afraid of what might happen when his luck ran out. She couldn't live with herself if Dipper got hurt or worse trying to protect her from her deal with Bill or the Wraiths in the other timeline.

"The nurse said you need to be back in half an hour. I guess you have more tests scheduled?" Dipper says as they enter the little courtyard, stopping at one of the benches where he sits down to face her.

"Ugh, more tests," Mabel grouses, blowing a raspberry petulantly, "Boo!"

"Well hey, maybe this time they'll show that you're getting better and let you go home," Dipper points out.

"I hope so," Mabel sighs, "but I don't know. After last night?"

"What exactly happened anyway? Apparently you tried to get up and passed out again?"

"S-something like that," she replies, absently rubbing her shoulder. "I…I thought I s-saw something and…and wanted to check it out. Turned out to be a very bad idea."

"What did you see?"

Mabel looks at the Journal in her lap, closes her eyes and takes a deep breath, OK, here we go…"A ghost? Maybe?"

Dipper leans forward, his interest levels peaking, "Wait, what? There's a ghost in your room?"

"I don't know," she shakes her head, "I might've imagined it. But is there a way to be sure?"

"Well, yeah," Dipper nods, "I can check and see if there's any readings no problem, I just need the right equipment and stuff." He pulls out Journal #3 from his inside vest pocket, flipping it to the section about ghosts, instantly in ghost hunter mode, "Do you know what kind of ghost it was? If it's a level one or two type ghost, I think we can just get rid of it without me having to get my stuff from the Shack…I'd just need salt and a white candle…"

Something tells me it's not a level one or two…

"I'm not sure," Mabel says, reaching for the book, "maybe I'll know it if I see it?"

"Oh, OK," Dipper hands her the Journal, trading it for Journal #2 that still sits on her lap.

Mabel skims through the pages, Wraith, wraith, wraith…it's not in here! She flips quickly through from the beginning, not nearly as familiar with the third journal as her brother, "Is that the only section on ghosts in here?"

"Yeah," he replies, startling suddenly when Mabel snatches #2 from him and returns #3.

Come on, come on, it's gotta be in here! She thinks, I want to see what it says about them before I potentially freak Dipper out or something if they're one of the really bad ones.

"You look like you know exactly what you're looking for," Dipper comments, watching her flip through the pages madly.

"These pages aren't making sense!"

"Because you're hardly even looking at them," Dipper retorts with a slightly amused chuckle, but then his expression quickly turns serious, "Hey are you OK? I'm sure I can help you look…"

Mabel sighs in frustration, running her hands down her face when Dipper gently takes the book back. "I tried to look through it last night but…I was, I don't know, too tired and…and…I'm not good at this like you are but…"

"Why are you suddenly interested in the journals anyway?" he asks softly, "Mabel what's going on?"

What to tell him… what to tell him…? Hey bro, there's like a whole other timeline, one where I let the Portal open which freed the Author who happened to be a jerk who never wanted to be saved, destroyed the Mystery Shack and maybe more of the town, and oh yeah, my other self is dying and possessed by an entity that wants to eat my soul so it can use me to end the world. Any questions? Mabel shakes her head, Oh yeah, that would go over so well if I said that.

"Mabel?"

So anyway, since I pretty much doomed everyone, I made a deal with Triangle Guy! You remember Bill Cipher, right?

"Hey," Dipper leans forward, resting his hand on her arm, his eyes rich with concern and support which somehow makes her feel worse.

Yeah, he gave me a do-over and now I owe him a huge favour and I'm terrified that whatever it is he wants me to do will still manage to doom us all. I'm still not sure why he wanted me to shut off the Portal, but I know it can't be good so no matter what I'm completely screwed! Oh and you wanted to know why I'm sick? It's because I'm still connected to the other timeline where I'm dying, and the entity that's latched onto me there can still somehow attack me here.

"I just told you," Mabel winces, knowing full well that she's skirting the issue, "there's a ghost in my room."

"Mabel!" Dipper groans, "That's not what I mean and you know it! Maybe if you just started acting weird and stuff this morning, I'd believe that was all this is about, but you haven't been yourself since the Portal. It's like…like night and day! You were perfectly fine and healthy before the Portal, and now look at you!"

"Dipper I'm…"

"Don't you dare say you're fine!" Dipper cuts her off, getting himself worked up, "You look so frail! It's not right! Something happened to you down there, and I don't know what! Something that made you mysteriously sick and paranoid and afraid and not yourself! If you don't want to tell me what happened, that's fine I'd understand so just say so and I won't push you anymore."

He tenses clenching his fists as he turns away for a second, clearly fighting back tears. She can easily see what kind of stress she'd inadvertently put him through and Mabel lowers her gaze guiltily as he continues, "But no matter what, I'm going to find out somehow, I'm going to look for answers—not to be nosy, but because you're my sister and I'm scared for you and I want to help because I can't stand to see you like this! So if you don't want to tell me, that's OK and I mean it, but it won't change a thing on my part. But it would make my job as your twin brother who cares about you a whole lot easier if you would just trust me and let me in and just tell me, because I would so much rather work with you on this than on my own!"

She blinks, realizing that her eyes are watering with tears again. Oh she wants to tell him so badly, so she won't have to deal with everything alone but that would be so selfish of her. She needs to protect him, him and Grunkle Stan both from the truth because it could hurt them so much, in more ways than one and she can't do that. But she has to stick with the plan and say something, because she needs his help and expertise, but more importantly, she owes it to him to not shut him out completely, especially now that she can see what it's been doing to him.

"Aw, Mabel," Dipper relents apologetically when tears fall stubbornly down her face no matter how hard she tries to keep it together, "don't cry, please? I just want to help."

"I know," she sniffs, wiping at her eyes, "and I trust you, always, I just…I don't know what to say exactly. I wish I knew what to tell you but…I'm really not sure…"

"Well, can you try?" Dipper asks, "Maybe we can figure this out together."

Mabel sighs, flashing him a tired smile, "OK. You're right." She pauses, thinks for a moment—so how much do I tell him? —and then asks, "Um, I know places can be haunted and stuff, but can people be haunted?"

"Yeah, it's possible," Dipper frowns, furrowing his brow in thought, "why? Do you think you're haunted?"

She shrugs uncertainly, "Maybe."

"Why…what makes you think you're haunted?" Dipper asks quietly, his voice is thick with worry and she can almost see the gears turning in his head as he processes this information.

"Wh-when the Portal opened…" she starts, but stops to back up a bit, realizing she almost accidentally said too much already, "I mean when I stopped it from opening," she corrects herself, "I…it was…I saw something."

"What did you see?"

"I don't…I don't know how to describe it," she replies, wincing because she hates lying to him, and while it's the truth because she doesn't know how to describe it, it still feels so horribly dishonest because she knows she's merely misleading him from the real truth. "Can I see those journals again?" she asks. He hands them to her with a shrug and she takes a deep, calming breath and tries again but this time flipping through the pages a little slower. Journal #2 has a section on ghosts as well, though it's not as thorough as #3 but this time she does stumble across the word Wraith. She gasps softly, and Dipper frowns with curiosity, standing up to read over her shoulder.

"What?"

"Uh…I don't know, this might be it," she says, handing it to him, feeling sick to her stomach at what she had read already.

"Wraith: often considered a synonym for 'ghost', a Wraith is actually different from your typical spirit. I've been unable to find much information about these particular creatures save one rather disturbing account. I believe, due to how rare they are that they are not originally of this Universe," Dipper reads, his voice getting shakier the more he learns, "It is my opinion that these parasitic spirits are more akin to demons than ghosts and I hope to never personally encounter one. From what I could gather, Wraiths are parasitic by nature, they will latch onto a host and feed on their life force and are considered harbingers of pain and destruction."

"Please tell me you're joking," Dipper says, shaking his head in disbelief.

"I wish I was," Mabel murmurs, taking the journal back, looking at the small, crude, yet surprisingly detailed sketch of a person with a tall, menacing and smoke-like creature standing over them. The person's eyes in the sketch are blank and the diagram describes the eyes as looking like glass marbles filled with smoke, just like she had seen when it had mirrored her image. Next to the picture he notes that the smoke-like appearance can shift to take on any form it wants. Stanley had a few minor details wrong from what she had observed so far, but there's no mistaken that this is the passage she'd been looking for.

"OK," he says nervously, "let's see if it says anything else….are you sure this is what you saw in the Portal?"

"Maybe?" Mabel shrugs uncertainly, even though she knows it's right, "It's the way he describes the eyes, exactly like how I saw it."

"It's parasitic by nature," Dipper frowns, "it didn't… it didn't latch onto you, did it?"

"I don't think so but…" Oh Dipper, how do I say this without freaking you out? "But I saw eyes like that last night and…and it looked like me."

"It looked like you?" Dipper raises a brow, in thought. He skims the short passage quickly, then takes Journal #3 and skims through it again. To her surprise, he relaxes, "OK, so there's a type of ghost in here that likes to mirror its victims. It's usually benign, likes to mess with people with mostly harmless pranks and…"

"Dipper," Mabel stops him, not wanting him to get his hopes up too much, "Dipper look." She holds up #2 and points to the passage about how Wraiths can shapeshift. "It's the eyes, Dipper. This is it, I know it is. I watched it change from its smoky form to look like me."

He takes the second journal back and skims the page a few times and can practically see the colour drain from his face as it all sinks in, "It…it explains a lot actually. Why didn't you say something in the first place?"

"I didn't want to worry you?" Mabel ducks her head and tries her best to look completely innocent and adorable, knowing that it's the weakest excuse possible. Dipper glares at her, though he's clearly trying to suppress the panic that clearly building within him. "I know," she sighs, "I know it was silly of me to do that, because obviously keeping quiet about it was enough to make you worry but I…I wasn't sure! There was so much going on, there still is and I wasn't entirely sure whether or not I imagined it until I saw it again last night."

Dipper skims the page again and flips through a few more, "It doesn't say anything about getting rid of it…if it's latched onto you I…I don't know how…"

"I don't think they have, but I think they're trying to," Mabel says. Because they're stuck with the other me, but I'm the version that they need…

"They? There's more than one?"

"I don't know, but it/they, whatever spoke to me and said 'us' and 'we' even though it seems like just one being," Mabel shrugs, absently rubbing her shoulder before she slowly starts to push herself to her feet.

"What are you doing?" Dipper exclaims, partially standing up to be in a better position to catch her if she falls.

"Relax brother," Mabel rolls her eyes, motioning him to scoot over on the bench as she climbs out of the chair and eases down beside him, "just thought it would be easier to look through the journals together if I sat next to you. I may be a gimp and a little shaky but I'm not completely helpless you know."

"And how many times have you passed out again?" Dipper quips, somewhat exasperated.

"That's just it, for the most part I really do feel fine," Mabel tells him, "honest. A little weak and sore maybe, but not so much that all this," she motions to the IV, oxygen and wheelchair before finally pointing at the hospital building with her hand, "feels necessary."

"I think that's where we need to agree to disagree Mabes," Dipper frowns, "because if the doctors are baffled and worried about all your test results, than I am too, especially now that I know about this whole ghost thing. I don't know if it's these Wraiths that are making you sick, or if it's because of the Portal or both or something else entirely, and I realize you don't want to stay here any longer than necessary, and who could blame you? but I'd prefer to play it safe."

"But I don't want to be alone, this place it…it freaks me out," Mabel says quietly, the thought terrifying her, "I was alone last night and then…you know!"

"Actually, I don't," Dipper points out, "not entirely. It attacked you, didn't it?" He tilts his chin towards her shoulder, "It's why there's a bruise on your shoulder shaped like a handprint, am I right?"

Mabel bites her lips, feeling her eyes well up yet again but she wipes them dry and nods. You're totally right, but there's so much more to it, much, much more… I am in so much trouble and I'm so scared that I'll drag you all down with me…what am I going to do?

Dipper shudders and wraps his arms around her, "Oh man, Mabel you're shaking. I'm so sorry I wasn't there to help you."

"Not your fault," she chokes out as she tries not to cry again. She feels as though a weight has been lifted now that Dipper knows about the Wraiths at the very least, but somehow it makes the burden of everything she left out that much heavier.

"Well, that changes now," Dipper says, "there's no way one half of the Mystery Twins should have to deal with a ghost problem like this alone." Mabel huffs a small laugh, grateful for his help. "If these Wraiths or whatever are after you for some reason I'm sure there's a protection spell or something that can keep it/them away from you until we can figure out how to banish them back to wherever they came from. Maybe that will help you get better so they'll let you come home."

Mabel watches quietly as Dipper flips through the pages of Journal #2 but when something catches her attention her eyes widen, "Hey stop! Go back!"

Dipper looks at her curiously and flips back a few pages until Mabel sees it again but he goes too far. Mabel just takes back the book from him and finds the page again herself.

"Hmm, another page about Bill Cipher…" Dipper muses.

"Not that," Mabel says, though it's what initially caught her attention, "these symbols surrounding Bi—Triangle Guy, look familiar?"

"Whoa," Dipper takes the book from her to look at them closely, his eyes wide, "It's gotta be a coincidence."

"Remember what he called us?" Mabel asks, "When You, me and Soos went after him into Grunkle Stan's mind? Pine Tree, Shooting Star and Question Mark," she points at the symbols as she says them, a little unnerved to see her favorite sweater design sketched onto a page about Bill Cipher, "And that's the design on Grunkle Stan's fez, and Gideon's Tent of Telepathy logo…looks like a lot of coincidences to me."

"But this was written before we even existed," Dipper continues to stare at the symbols in awe, "so how is this possible? The only one I can see making sense is Grunkle Stan's fez but even then…and that one's on Robbie's hoodie…oh man, oh man…do you know what this means?"

Mabel shakes her head, terrified. What's you're endgame Bill?

"I think it might be a…a prophecy or something," Dipper says, flipping through the pages of the journal again, holding the spot with his thumb. "But a prophecy for what?"

"Hey uh…remember when Bill possessed you and tried to get your journal?"

Dipper visibly tenses and puts the book aside, "How could I forget?" he asks, suddenly quiet as he absently rubs his wrist.

"What did he say to you?" Mabel asks gently, "Why did he want the journal so bad?"

"Said I was getting too close to getting answers…he said he had big plans and didn't want me getting in his way."

Mabel swallows hard, worried about what those 'big plans' truly are, "Do you think he was referring to the Portal?"

"Probably. I mean it makes sense, right? That thing could've torn the universe apart if it opened but…" Dipper pauses, frowning, "but if he wanted the Portal to open, which seems like something he'd want, why destroy the journals? They held the key for making it work…"

"Unless he never wanted the Portal to open in the first place," Mabel says with a shiver. As bleak as things look in that other timeline, maybe this is worse even if it doesn't seem like it yet. Oh you stupid, horrible evil triangle what do you want? "Which means I helped him, I did exactly what he wanted."

"Hey, you didn't know and we may not even be right about this," Dipper says, "but if he didn't want the Portal opened, the question is why. If this was what he was talking about, what game is he playing at?"

"I don't know," Mabel sniffs, chewing on her hair again.

"I think it's time we head back. Don't worry about Bill and whatever this page means right now, just concentrate on taking it easy and getting better. I'm going to see what I can do about your ghost problem, that's the biggest issue at the moment. Don't worry, I'm not going to let those Wraiths or whatever might be haunting you hurt you anymore. They're not going to take you if I can help it. We'll get through this," Dipper says reassuringly, though his eyes betray his worry and doubt.

Mabel wraps her arms around him, getting all emotional again, "Thank you."

"No problem," he grins, returning the hug, "I mean, not to brag or anything, but I'm becoming quite the ghost hunter. Remember who defeated a level ten ghost just two nights ago? Me. This should be no problem."

"Actually, I thought that was Pacifica who defeated the level ten," Mabel smirks, even as tears fall from her eyes. Dipper pulls away from the hug and rolls his eyes at her in mock irritation, playing along with the tease. "Of course she couldn't have done it without you so…"

"So those Wraiths don't know who they're dealing with. They're going to learn the hard way that no one messes with my sister and gets away with it!" Dipper exclaims with determination.

Mabel flashes him a small smile, unable to shake her worry.

"We'll figure this out together," Dipper adds, clearly catching onto her uncertainty, "Mystery Twins forever, am I right?" he holds up his fist. "Come on sis, don't leave me hanging…"

She chuckles softly and bumps her fist up against his, "Bloop."

"C'mon, let's go," Dipper sighs, climbing to his feet and taking her hand to help her back in the chair. Mabel is halfway in a standing position before suddenly the energy around them shifts dramatically. The beautiful sunny day has darkened as the sky is filled with a smoky haze, and its hard to breathe. She freezes, unable to move as she sees charred remains of trees and nearby buildings, some of them are still on fire. The hospital looks crippled as well, though still standing. The vision fades in and out, shifting between the chaos of the other timeline and the calm of this one and Mabel gasps as pain strikes her in the chest where the Wraiths had first attacked her before she made the deal with Bill and her shoulder throbs as though it were burned. "Mabel?" Dipper exclaims shaking her slightly, "Mabel what's wrong?"

She can't answer though. Overcome with weakness her eyes roll back and her knees buckle. Dipper catches her before she can hit the ground but it quickly becomes clear that she wouldn't hit the ground anyway. She gasps breathlessly, realizing she's hovering three feet off the ground and climbing.

Dipper acts quickly, taking her hand and grabbing the bench with the other. The bench seems to be bolted to the ground therefore unaffected by the sudden anomaly and acts as their anchor. Mabel closes her eyes in panic at the familiar feeling of gravity trying to pull her in the wrong direction, up, up and away and she has to hold on tight, "Don't let go, Dipper! Don't let go!"

"I won't," Dipper grunts, tightening his grip on her hand as best as he can while struggling to keep his hold on the bench.

The anomaly is over about only thirty seconds after it begins and the twins crash to the ground. "Are you OK?" Dipper asks, a little frantic.

Mabel can't answer though, she can hardly breathe through the thick smoke that only she can perceive. Somehow she detached from her IV again as well as the oxygen cannula that had been in her nose. Her eyes flutter and she curls into herself, wanting the vision and the pain to stop.

"Mabel!" Dipper cries.

She nods as she gasps for breath and the pain begins to subside. The visions fade away and all that remains is a deep throbbing but tolerable ache in her chest and shoulder and the faint smell of sulphur. "I…I'm OK." It's over…for now.

And then the earth begins to quake.

A/N Well, thanks for reading, please let me know what you think! Always love to hear any thoughts, theories, predictions or criticisms you might have. Also, I know it's probably paranoia on my part, (I'm like that sometimes) but I'm worried that I've lost readers (especially since chapter 5) and I get it, sometimes people are too busy with RL or whatever, but some people who had been pretty consistent with leaving comments have stopped. It's OK, I don't expect people to review, and I understand if people have lost interest because it happens, but if you've made it this far, please give me a shout so I know you're still here. Feedback of any kind means a lot and definitely keeps me motivated. No pressure but I'd love to hear from you! Either way, whether you choose to leave a comment or not, thanks so much for reading this far and I hope y'all stick with me for the long haul.