All right let's get cracking

I still own nothing

"So this thing can read my thoughts?" Dipper fidgeted, glancing up at the large screen.

"Mm hm, it'll encrypt your thought processes so Bill won't be able to intrude on them." Ford lifted up a strange helmet of sorts. "It'll take a bit but it'll provide a safeguard from Bill's influence and it should let us get a peek into your head to see if there's anything we should be on the lookout for."

Dipper hesitated just a moment but nodded, sitting himself down on the chair Ford provided. Stan said nothing which Ford took as approval, the six-fingered scientist placing the helmet onto Dipper's head and activating the machine.

Dipper stared as words began to flash on screen, reciting his thoughts. For the most part it looked basically as one would expect: snippets of song lyrics, questions about Gravity Falls, multiple conspiracy questions, little bits and pieces about Wendy…

"Uh, you can just ignore that last one," he chuckled awkwardly.

"Hm, well Dipper it looks like everything is fairly normal in your mind so far- oh my."

"What? What is it? What's wrong?" he asked, the machine echoing his questions.

The words on screen began to move more rapidly until they were a blur, crisscrossing each other and shooting off into different directions. Static began to crack the screen.

"I'm guessing that's not good, right?" Stan tensed, eying the screen.

A triangle flashed on the screen and the machine abruptly exploded into a rain of glass shards and mechanical parts.

"Kid!"

Stan threw himself at Dipper, shielding the boy with his body against the shrapnel. Inadvertently this action caused both of the pair to crash against the wall, knocking down the coverings on it.

"Grunkle Stan-!" Dipper yelped, alarmed.

"You okay, kid?" Stan smiled weakly. "Sorry, I didn't mean to knock you over."

"I- are you okay? Grunkle Stan I-…what….the…?"

Stan frowned and followed the boy's gaze. The boy's eyes were wide, the color bleeding from his face. The revealed walls were covered with images of Bill Cipher, excessively to the point of cult-like fascination. Stan said something, but he couldn't hear him. What was all this? Ford was trying to help them, why was- unless he wasn't. Maybe he was working with Bill, not against him; maybe Stan had been right to be untrusting of him, after all, how could any of them just ignore this?!

"Dipper, Stanley, listen to me." Ford said, holding his hands out. "None of this is what it looks like, just give me a second to explain-"

"You're on Bill's side!" Dipper yelped. "You- what were you really doing?! What were you doing to my head?!"

"Dipper, calm down-!"

Stan had gotten between them and Dipper's pulse was pounding in his ears. He had been so stupid, trusting Ford right away. Why did he trust him?! Why did he trust anyone?! The guy had nearly shot him, maybe he only stopped so he could- what did that machine really do? Was it really just to read his thoughts? What about Mabel- had he sent Mabel off to some kind of trap?!

Stan and Ford were yelling at each other and in a blur of motion one twin tackled the other. It all happened so quickly after that. It couldn't have been more than a few seconds yet somehow it escalated to the point Ford had removed some kind of needle from his coat and jabbed it into Stan's side. Stan collapsed like a bag of bricks. Ford panted, slipping away from his unmoving brother. The boy stared in stunned silence, his pounding heartbeat seemingly caught in a moment in time just as his breath was caught in his throat. Stan wasn't moving, he was on the floor in a heap and he wasn't moving. Ford had stabbed him and now he wasn't moving. He had hurt Stan- what had he done? What had he done to Stan- this was all his fault. Stan got involved because he was worried about him and he had been too stupid not to be suspicious of Ford.

"What did you do to him?" Dipper asked, his voice oddly flat and calm.

Ford took a deep breath, rubbing his arm.

"Dipper, just listen to me-"

Ford was suddenly much shorter, and lighter. Dipper had his hands around Ford's neck and had lifted him off the ground and pinned him up against the wall.

"What did you do to him!?"

His voice was a deafening roar, echoing in the air. A snarl rumbled in his throat and his teeth were too long to fit comfortably in his mouth, gnashing against one another.

"He's just sedated!" Ford choked, trying to pry clawed hands off his throat. "Dipper, stop this! Listen to me, you're losing control!"

"Why should I listen to you?! I'm not blind, you're on Bill's side, aren't you?!"

Dipper slammed Ford against the wall again for good measure.

He was burning inside his chest and literally burning outside his body as well. His hands were on fire yet he and Ford seemed immune to any damage from the flames. The old man had enough issues to deal with at the moment anyway, given how desperately he was attempting to loosen the grip on his throat.

"Dipper- I can't-"

Dipper snarled and released his grip on the aging scientist, though he remained suspended against the wall. Ford inhaled sharply and rubbed his neck, eying his assailant with a mix of fear and fascination. He began to speak and his arms were abruptly pinned to his sides, unable to move.

Dipper turned away from Ford and knelt by Stan, looking him over. The conman's eyes were glazed but he appeared to be breathing.

"I just sedated him, Dipper. He'll be okay in just a bit. So please, calm down." Ford said slowly. "I know this all looks bad but I can explain."

Something on his back twitched and he realized he had a pair of wings. That thought broke through his fervor and he realized he had changed. He hadn't even realized it but- but what did it matter? Really? He didn't care what he looked like right now, he wanted answers and he was going to get them. The glowing yellow eyes turned and locked on Ford.

"Then start explaining." He growled.

"I did used to work with Bill, I once considered him my friend." Ford admitted, still attempting to move from his spot on the wall. "I discovered a mural about a being with answers and I summoned him, he assisted me with my research. I eventually discovered that he was actually planning something that'd destroy this world and I cut ties with him. So yes, I did work with him once but that's all in the past! Please, Dipper, I'm just trying to help you and your sister."

He was hiding something. Every fiber in Dipper's being was yelling this at him. Ford was keeping something from him, something important. His jaw clenched, a low growl building in his throat. What was it? Something- something in glass, something important-

He twitched and images began to race through his vision. The basement, the portal dismantled, Ford there- and he was there, too. He was there, normal, not even a brand around his eye, and Ford was showing him something, something in a glass ball- Then the visions became a blur of nightmarish scenes. The sky was ripped open, people were turning to stone, a river of blood flowed into the sky, Mabel was in a bubble and Bill was laughing and and and-

AnD aNd andandandndnadndndna-

He was gripping his head, his eyes twitching as they stared off into the stream of information from another plane of reality. Ford was pale, struggling against the force that held him against the wall with little to show for his efforts. While Dipper was becoming detached from their existence, Stan was coming back to it. The old man's eyes eased back into focus, shutting tightly and then opening again to process what he was seeing. A pair of flaming wings attached to the back of a young man who was jerking about and quite literally clawing at his head. Strangled, gasping sounds intermingled with whimpers harmonized with Ford's own struggling noises and Stan forced himself up to his feet.

"Stanley!" Ford exclaimed, finally catching sight of his twin. "Stanley, he's-!"

Stan picked up the desk chair and slammed it against Dipper's head. The fledgling demon dropped like a load of bricks, his wings dissipating into the air like a wisp of steam. Ford stared in shock and abruptly was dropped back onto the ground as well, managing to land on his feet despite his state.

"S…Stanley? What did you-?"

Mr. Mystery ignored his twin in favor of turning Dipper onto his back, scanning his ill-fated nephew. His eyes were closed and his breathing was shallow; however his teeth and nails had dulled back to a normal human length.

"It's nature's snooze button." Stan replied gruffly.