They had beaten death. Against all odds, they had fought a Grim Reaper and won. The deaths that had been plaguing the world since January would finally end and they could also reverse them because they now had the Soul Box. They could bring back Robbie's uncle and Wendy's family. Bill could get his magic back and erase the memories of everyone again. Nothing bad would happen this time and, on the off chance something still did, they would deal with it. There was a certain amount of pride and confidence to be found in the knowledge that one had contributed to ending two different apocalypses but more so in the fact that they had helped outwit death.
"Robbie—" Dipper shouted and rushed to the young man's side.
The former groaned and held his head heavily, "Did…did it work…?" he muttered. Rather than answer, Dipper grabbed his face and pressed their lips together in a fit of joy. Robbie stiffened but melted into the contact quickly. He pulled away reluctantly. "I'll…I'll take that as a yes…"
"Are you…are you okay?" Dipper asked. He was so relieved and so happy.
"Yeah." Robbie smiled, "Are you?"
"Yes." Dipper breathed and they stared at each other for a moment.
"Who knew you two were an item?" Mabel smirked as she pranced over. She then looked at her brother, "You never mentioned him to me."
Dipper suddenly felt guilty. He always told his sister everything, she had just been a little different during the given summer. "I-I…sorry…" he muttered, "But we're not dating."
"We're…not?" Robbie asked.
"Oh, this suddenly got awkward." Mabel snorted.
Dipper flinched and blushed, "N-no…?" he asked unsure and incredibly flustered, "I mean…I'm not against it or anything…"
"Well, maybe we can just talk about it later." Robbie said and smiled.
"Yeah, okay…" Dipper sighed.
"Sixer…" Bill called and weakly. He picked himself from the ground and moved to him. "Hey…"
Ford laid on his side with the Soul Box tightly clasped in his hand. However, he was unmoving.
"Ford…?" Stan called from further away, worry filling his voice.
"Did he get knocked out…?" Mabel asked nervously as she glanced over, "I mean, he fell back pretty hard…"
"Sixer!" Bill repeated more urgently and began shaking him. "Hey, wake up!"
"Damn it, Ford!" Stan yelled and despite having been weaken by the spell, he ran to his brother's side. "Come on buddy, open your eyes! This isn't the time to mess around!"
Soon, they were all crowded around Ford. It was hard to tell if the man was in a bad condition or not with Bill shaking and hovering over him anxiously. Stan eventually had to hold him back for Dipper to be able to look for a pulse. The brunet pressed two fingers into his great uncle's neck and waited. Nothing. He felt nothing no matter how much pressure he applied. The horror he felt must have been evident on his face because everyone became deathly silent.
"No…" Bill finally muttered, "He…he can't…"
"Oh my God…" Mabel gasped and tears filled her eyes.
"No, he's not—" Stan tried to shrug off nonchalantly. His tone was heart breaking. He swatted Dipper's hand away to measure the pulse himself, but he found the same thing his nephew had: nothing. His shoulders began sagging from the weight of the realisation and his expression fell as well. "He…he can't…"
"No, no, no—" Bill repeated frantically, "That's not…this isn't how this is supposed to go!"
"The Soul Box!" Dipper remembered, "Open it!"
"Right, Bill can get his powers back—" Mabel nodded and grabbed the metal box. "—and fix everything!"
She pried the lid open and white orbs suddenly began ascending towards the night sky. It was beautiful but none of them could care at the moment. A blue gas-like substance left the box last and floated towards Bill. The demon absorbed his magic and his eyes glowed for a brief second and the wound in his shoulder suddenly healed.
"It's all going to be okay…" Mabel muttered beneath her breath, "We're all going to be okay…"
Bill moved his hand over Ford's eyes and took a deep breath. He seemed to focus for a moment and they all waited. But nothing happened. The demon frowned and tensed, as if focusing as hard as he possibly could but nothing was happening. No one understood why and Dipper suddenly remembered how the Grim Reaper had threatened to banish their souls into the Void. Now the teen didn't actually know much about the Void in question, however, from what the Grim Reaper had said, it was likely beyond Bill's power to retrieve souls. And what that meant was crushing.
"Why isn't it working!?" Bill hissed, "Come on, Sixer, wake up!"
"Bill, stop…" Dipper advised with a shaky voice.
"No!" Bill growled and he gripped at Ford's shirt with his other hand, "I-I got this—" but nothing happened. "Damn it, I can do it—"
"Bill…" Stan said softly, shoulders slumped and head hanging.
"I-I have to—" the demon continued, sounding more frantic.
The sight of him so desperate had Dipper's heart clenching painfully. Mabel held in a sob and covered her mouth though tears began streaming down her cheeks. He couldn't look at her for too long because he would start crying as well.
"Bill…" Stan repeated and placed a hand on his shoulder to get him to stop. The blond gasped and stiffened. "He's…he's gone…we're not getting him back this time…"
"No…" Bill muttered, but his tone was weak and sorrowful. "He…he can't…"
Then Stan did something rather unexpected. He pulled the other into a tight embrace and began sobbing. At that point, there was no way for Dipper to contain his own sadness and he cried as well. His hand wandered to Mabel's while the other intertwined itself with Robbie's. It wasn't meant to end like this – it wasn't meant to end with one of them dead. Especially Ford; the guy that had been spirited away for thirty years and beaten by so many things. He had only really gotten the chance to be truly happy for a full year before his life came to an abrupt and unexpected end. They never even got the chance to say goodbye. None of them had the chance to tell him how much they loved him one final time.
And no one had thought they would ever have to. Ford was meant to outlive them with Bill. Dipper always expected his great uncle would, one day, take care of his kids and grandkids and so on.
"No!" Bill started shouting and thrashing, "I can't! He's not—I won't let him!"
The demon pulled away from Stan's embrace and they could see he was crying as well now. He collapsed onto Ford's corpse and grabbed his shirt tightly as he buried his face into his chest. He begged and screamed for him to wake up – no one had ever seen Bill so weak. It was heart breaking because no one – except for Stan, maybe – could understand just how devastated he felt. They all wanted him to stop, but none of them could bring themselves to voice it. Stan just regarded the blond with empathy and eventually looked away when then pitiful sight became too much for him.
"I'm not giving up!" He cried, "We were meant to spend eternity together!"
And with that final cry, Bill suddenly disappeared with Ford. Everything was deathly silent aside from the sobs of the remaining Pines family.