Episode 8: Re-Union
So, plans have changed. I've decided to go in a different direction than usual. Thus, I may go back on certain promises which I made. That's just the reality of it, I hope that you guys are still happy with how everything turns out.
"Every parting gives a foretaste of death, every reunion a hint of the resurrection." –Arthur Schopenhauer
[0]
Someone was praying.
It was Father Nathaniel, at his left. But it was also Tambry, she was on his right, choking down sobs. Funny, considering that she had never shown the inclination towards religious views before this.
Robbie opened his eyes and glanced between them. They sat on either side of his hospital bed, with Tambry clutching his bandaged hand. He was in too much pain to speak, but he hoped that his eyes conveyed his confusion.
Apparently, they didn't because neither chose to explain why Father Nathaniel was there.
Tambry's wet eyes focused on him and she began speaking. Robbie could barely hear her, but could tell that she was relieved at his awakening. Had she thought he would die? No, she hadn't called for Father Nathaniel, out of fear he would need someone to say some words over his body. The man must have been the one to find him, a gagged, bloody mess. Nathaniel did stop by the mortuary every now and again, mostly unwanted.
No, she was crying because this was the third time, wasn't it? She was crying because she didn't think she could deal with this anymore. It was too much for her.
He should have known that. He should have broken it before she got her heart broken, when he inevitably fell out of his league.
After a little while, Nathaniel insisted that she get some sleep. It was the middle of the night. Of course, how could Robbie not have realized that earlier?
Robbie closed his eyes as they moved to the doorway, and the image of Dipper grinning up at him, returned to mind. He shuddered and opened his eyes rather than face the demon again.
Nathaniel shut the door and returned to Robbie's side. He took a deep breath and removed his Bible. "Do you remember any of the things I preached when you were only a child?"
Robbie shook his head and winced at the crick in his neck created.
"Well, I believe I mentioned something about demons and angels…and of course…I believed every word I said. Now, I need you to tell me where the demon who did this to you, went."
Robbie's eyes widened. Nathaniel sighed and ran a hand over his forehead before speaking. He suddenly looked twice as old, and twice as pained. "Let's just say…I've seen this torture enacted before. It's heathen…it needs to be stopped. Now…where is the demon?"
Robbie swallowed and looked away.
"It must be stopped before it does this again…or worse."
Robbie couldn't bear that thought.
"Stan Pines' house." He croaked, refusing to look Nathaniel in the eyes.
Nathaniel nodded. "Do not worry. This is not the first time that we have been forced to exorcise a demon from a soul."
Robbie wetted his mouth and remembered his sister's words. Her specific warning. It was most likely too late, Bill would have already released whatever power was going to destroy the world.
He had failed. He was unable to save Dipper, to save anyone for that matter. He was useless.
He closed his eyes and released the tension in all his muscles. Sleep didn't come early quick enough.
[0]
Dipper opened his eye. He was sitting in the pantry, tied to one of the kitchen chairs. His hands were bound to hurting, and a bright light shown from the kitchen into his dark cell. He could see Stan's kitchen past the light.
Wave of pain was spreading through his body, making it hard for him to articulate words. So, he spat up a little, winced a little more, and then mumbled out a warning. He'd been given a temporary reprieve from the insanity of his mind co-existing with Bill's, was enough for him to collapse against his restraints.
His head felt like the victim of a jackhammer. His fingers and toes felt numb. His ear canals ached from exposure to that toothed nightmare which Bill had summoned inside the SBE building.
The spot where McGucket had shot him with a dart hurt even more than his stabbed eye socket. This was because had been treated with so much anesthetic that the strange energy and shapes he'd seen while commanded by Bill, had mixed with hallucination. It was a piercing pain that refused to leave.
He swallowed and rocked half an inch. Whoever had tied him up, they had done it with biting care. Sweat trailed from Dipper's bandaged skull, causing the injury to itch more than ever.
He ceased his escape attempts when he heard his sister's muffled voice. She was talking with someone…someone who should have been familiar.
Stan. Of course, the old man had the same loud rasp of anxiousness and exasperation which Dipper had come to know from his many arguments.
He could discern what either of them were saying, but he could tell that Stan was scared. That was never a good sign.
It occurred to him as he listened, what a terrible idea it was to attempt escape. If they now knew of Dipper's deal, then Bill would have no need for them. Dipper didn't feel like thinking at the moment, but he especially didn't feel like thinking about how Bill might get creative with torturing his uncle and sister.
The ropes around his wrists might be the only reason that he still had some family to speak of.
Dipper spat out a little more blood and raised his head to peer at the chipped door in front of him. He didn't feel like thinking. He didn't feel like being alive in fact.
There was too much pain. Too much to think about. Too much to regret.
He lowered his head and let out a splintered sob. "I'm sorry Wendy…"
The argument was paused, and Mabel opened the pantry door. She stared inside, and her sympathy was crushing.
He didn't deserve it. He looked away from her.
"Dipper…" She called in such a broken and weary voice that Dipper felt his heart skip a beat.
"…why?" She asked.
A familiar tingling began to creep through his body, and Dipper only got to whwimper before Bill forced himself back into Dipper's body.
The wisps of energy, the brimming thoughts, and the warped view of reality returned to sight and Bill played Dipper's vocal chords and moved his lips to answer Mabel's question.
"I guess I just got tired of listening to you bitch about everything." Bill replied with a grin.
Mabel didn't look shocked at Bill's answer, she just repeated her question, now addressing the demon. "Why? Why are you doing this to us? What did we ever do to you?"
Bill giggled but didn't answer.
Stan pulled Mabel away from her twin, and Dipper instantly missed her warmth and comfort. Then Stan knealt in front of his nephew, forced his jaws open, and stuffed a rag inside. He tied the rag around the back of Dipper's skull, and stood back up. Without another word, he slammed shut the pantry door, plunging the room into darkness.
Bill chuckled.
[0]
"We can't keep him locked up forever!" Appealed Mabel.
Stan closed the kitchen window shudders and turned to her with a scowl. "Alright then, why don't you tell me what we're supposed to do with him!"
Mabel shrunk and lowered her eyes at his bite. Stan's rage decayed, and he took a deep breath. Then he moved to her side and wrapped his arms around her.
"Don't worry. We'll think of something. We'll think of something…"
Mabel shook her head against his chest. "This is my fault…this is all my fault…I'm so, sorry…"
"No, it's not. I'm the adult in this situation, I should have known when something was wrong." Stan responded.
Mabel sniffed. "But I let him burn the books…I helped him. If we had them…maybe…"
Stan shook his head. "You couldn't have known."
He pulled back. "Why don't you go lie down. I'll call a few people who might be able to help."
Mabel didn't feel like sleeping. She didn't feel like eating either. And she was afraid if she lay down, she might never wake up.
But she nodded and retreated upstairs. As she lay down, she stared at the spot where Dipper's bed had once been. Now he was locked up like an animal. Now she was afraid he might break free and hurt himself even more.
McGucket had brought him in, sedated and restrained, speaking in such a stone-faced manner, that she knew Bill must have done something else terrible. She hadn't dwelled on the fact that McGucket was working with the people who had kidnapped Dipper and shot her grandfather. He had left within five minutes, claiming that he was need "back at the base."
Stan had been more distressed about this than her, after all, the two were each other's only friends. But Mabel had seen something in the man's eyes, something which would not argue.
He had wanted to kill Dipper.
He had seen what Bill had done in Dipper's body (something terrible, something that made her feel queasy when she involuntairly imagined what it was) and he refused to allow that horrible thing to occur again. If not for his friendship with Stan, she was sure he would have outright killed her brother and made it look like an accident.
She realized as she stared at the ceiling, that there was only one person left in her life, who she could call to help them. Robbie wasn't picking up, while Brenda and Candy were god knows where. She dialed the familiar number, and chewed her lip as she held her phone to her ear.
"Hi! You've reached Pacifica Norwood. Leave a message and I'll catch you on the flipside!"
The beep which followed felt eternal.
"Hi, Paz…it's Mabel…I wanted to call and I…I need to apologize for what I said to you…I need to…I need to talk to you. Dipper did something awful and I…" Her voice cracked.
"…Dipper needs your help. Please come soon." She closed her phone and covered her face and felt a new wave of agony strike as the words she had yelled at Pacifica echoed in her head.
You make me feel physically ill.
She shuddered, clutched her head, and prayed for the blonde to arrive soon.
A knock came at the front door. Good. Better to move, to be forced to interact with the world out of fear than to lie in place and contemplate her own weakness.
As she descended the stairs, she heard Gabe's voice. He was worried. Very worried.
That was natural. A natural person would have been absolutely shaken by watching a boy stab his own eye.
That was the worst bit. That Mabel had seen so much wrongness, that this didn't crush her. Instead, it only bruised. Everything felt like a bruise now.
Stan replied to Gabe's questions in a tired reassurance, and Mabel realized she didn't want to come down and hug him. How could she? Her brother was being tortured by a demon right now, and her attraction to Gabe, was connected to the reason.
So, instead of coming closer to either of them, she sat down at the base of the staircase and listened. When the front door closed (there was no way that Stan was letting Gabe inside while Dipper was in the other room), Mabel felt something in her break free.
She stood and moved through the kitchen and down the back hall. Dipper must have had notes. There had to be some way to end this.
Yes, Bill probably would have destroyed those notes too. But Mabel had to try before anything else.
[0]
McGucket moved through the chaos, his eyes fixed on one of the prisoners who had surrendered themselves immidetely. It was a young man, with a familiar haircut and square jaw. He was nervously glancing back and forth at his fellow inmates, and occasionally asking the nearest guard about the monster which Bill had used to escape.
Everyone was confined to the fourth level now, stuffed with the plants and fungi held there which were not in need of a cell and the testing areas where they were normally experimented on. Reinforcements were on their way, to help deal with the monstrosity which had caused the prison break to begin.
But whatever panic Fiddleford should have felt at watching everything unravel, was ignored as he drew closer to the man. A smile spread across his wrinkled face as a name popped to mind.
"FORD!"
The man looked up, not because he recognized the name, but because Fiddleford was dashing towards him. Fiddleford stretched his thin arms around the beefy man as tears came to his eyes.
Everything came back to him as his aged body clung to Ford's equally old body. All the sleepless nights they had spent working on things that they had only ever dreamed of in college. Everything that they discovered, forcing them to expand their collective understanding of the universe. Everything that they had unleashed, forcing them further and further apart.
That bit had been mostly McGucket's doing.
There was still a blank spot, years still missing from his memory. But Fiddleford didn't care. He was drowned in love, sorrow, and self-hatred. And all that came out in his broken voice.
"I thought Bill had killed you…" Fiddleford whispered as he struggled with the urge to burst into tears.
The man stood, and when Fiddleford stepped back, embarrassed by the sweeping emotion which had taken hold. Ford smiled.
"Fiddleford…" He looked Fiddleford up and down and blinked a couple times, before starting to speak. "I…I…the last thing I remember was…feeling a bullet…enter my head. I was in a cell…Fiddleford…I don't know how long…"
Fiddleford shook his head, pulling his best friend back into an embrace. He didn't need to test him to make sure. This wasn't some trick, some dream. This was Ford.
The nightmare was over. Everything was as it should be.
"Shhh…shhh…we'll talk about all that in due time." He guaranteed, hating the idea of the blossoming optimism in his chest to be stepped on by the harsh reality.
It didn't matter anymore. All of it.
Ford was back.
[0]
Mabel was still digging through Dipper's room when Stan got the call. She was getting more and more desperate, so it was probably best he started screaming.
But not in fear or rage like usually. This was the first time that Mabel had heard her uncle scream in joy. And it was joy. He sounded like a man stuck on a desert island, watching as a ship approach his sandbar.
He burst into Dipper's room and hugged her, laughing and crying all at once.
"He's alive! He's alive!"
Mabel waited for him to return her to the ground, to ask who "he" was.
Stan was laughing his ass off when she asked, but when he finally processed the question, he must have doubled in happiness. "Your uncle. Your other uncle…my brother…FORD! He's alive! I don't know how but he…he's at the compound"
Stan took a deep breath and his joy was replaced with concern. "I need to go get him. I need to make sure he's safe."
He grabbed her shoulders. "You can watch after your brother until I get back…right?"
Mabel nodded.
"Don't let anyone in. Call me if anything goes wrong or anyone comes by. I'm sorry…I just…"
"You need to make sure he's safe." Mabel ended.
Stan smiled.
"Yeah. Yeah, thanks, kid. I knew I could trust you."
He entrusted her with a magnum pistol and kissed her lightly on the cheek. And Mabel understood. Ford would know what to do. Ford would know how to save Dipper.
She watched Stan pull out of the driveway, and speed through the parking lot and onto the road. She was broken from her daze, only when a knock came from the backdoor.
She brought the magnum to her hip and moved to the door, knowing that whoever it was, must have been waiting for Stan to leave.
As she inched to the door, she called out trying to sound threatening.
From the other side, came one of the most pitiful voices she would ever hear.
"It's Brenda! Please, Mabel…I…I screwed up…I need your help."
Mabel let out a breath and slid the chain on the door open. She opened the door a crack and then stepped aside to allow Brenda inside. The taller girl had tangled hair and back spots beneath her eyes. The flesh on the inside of her split lip was revealed by the light fixture which illuminated the room.
She nearly collapsed at the kitchen table, her voice cracking as she admitted being in over her head. "I didn't want it to be this way, Mabel…I don't want Candy in the asylum…but I can't take care of her anymore. She's scared of me…she's scared of everything. I can't keep working for Tate either…every day I end more of a mess…"
Mabel sat down next to Brenda and tried not to allow the heat in her throat to speak for her. She could place some of the blame of Dipper making a deal with Bill, on Brenda's shoulders for attacking him and kidnapping her girlfriend.
But when she looked at the taller girl she saw somebody trapped, someone who was still her friend.
"I'm sorry I didn't come in earlier…I was afraid your uncle might shoot me…or call the cops." Brenda admitted, her bandaged hands twitching against the table.
Mabel took a deep breath, before speaking. "My other uncle…he...he's alive. If he doesn't have a cure for what Candy is experiencing…then it's time to put her in the hands of professionals. And if you need to hide from some people…I'm sure that Stan will help you make a new life in a different town…if I talk to him about it."
Brenda licked her lips. She wanted to reject the plan, for how much it gave up. But when she turned to speak, Mabel continued.
"You need to retreat sometimes, Brenda…you need to let go."
Brenda swallowed and then nodded solemnly.
Mabel lead her sleep deprived, aching friend, into the living room, and allowed her to collapse on the couch.
And it was as she pulled a blanket over Brenda, that a knocking came from the front door.
Pacifica. Mabel thought as she dashed towards the front of The Shack.
When she opened the door, a bald man, in a blue shirt, was standing there, watching her from behind his futuristic goggles.
[0]
Stan was allowed inside the compound under "Special Permission." He was only restricted from running through the halls of the SBE building by the guards to either side of him. He had to move at a moderate pace so that his escorters were able to keep up with him.
They brought him into the elevator, and both remained silent as he stood in the center of the moving platform, panting with anxiety like a dog. He dove out of the elevator and charged through the crowded temporary holding area.
There in the center of the room, stood his brother, accompanied by McGucket and Agent Lockhart. When Ford saw him, his face lit up. He looked just like he had, the day he'd died. His gray hair was messy, his eyes inset, and his lips were cracked. He was wearing a pair of jeans which must have been provided by the SBE, as his pants were always dirty and unkempt. Ford had never liked to focus on anything other than work, and if Stan had a nickel for every time he called the movement of wash a "waste of brainpower" then he'd drive a much more recently constructed car.
Stan paused in front of him, at a loss for words.
Then he grabbed him by the arms and pinned him against the wall of a cubical. Ford's eyes widened and he gagged as Stan applied the side of his arm over his brother's throat.
"I don't care if you're a demon or some undead thing or a robot. But you've got five seconds to reveal yourself because I watched my brother die and I buried him." Stan said in a harsh whisper.
Ford smiled. "It's great to see you too."
"Please, he's the real thing!" Fiddleford claimed, pulling uselessly against Stan's arm. "I know it's hard to believe but-"
Stan ignored his friend. "No! I'm not going to be tricked, not ever again."
Ford's smile disappeared. His eyes grew a glassy look to them and he spoke in a low tone. "I'm sorry Lee…I should have known how tough things would be for you. You used to love visiting the old ship…you know…the one that we named 'Stan-O-War.' You always beat me in checkers, but I could always beat you at chess. You had a wife named Carla…you haven't spoken with her in decades; that's my fault. I was naive and I allowed myself to be taken advantage of." Ford swallowed. "You probably spent the last few years blaming yourself for me dying. That's your problem, you always convince yourself that you must be the responsible one…probably because dad treated me like shit and mom always told you to watch out for me, because you're older by five minutes."
Stan released Ford's arms, and the shorter man gave a simple smile. "You first tried weed when you were sixteen and you spent the rest of the day scared of your own hand."
"Shut up, Sixer." Stan insisted as he hugged his brother for the first time in years.
Ford smirked. "You didn't think you'd get rid of me that easily…did you?"
Stan pulled away and wiped his eyes. "What the hell is going on?"
Ford shrugged. "I have no idea…but I remember a man…he helped me out of my coffin and then he hit me on the back of the head. I woke up in a cell. Besides when these people-" He gestured all around him. "-raided that man's house and brought me here, I don't remember much. But I suspect that a resurrection incantation might be involved."
Stan's eyes glowed like fire. "The bastard kidnapped you?"
A smashing sound echoed up from beneath their feet, and Stan nearly lost his footing as the lights flickered and the floor shook. Stan turned to Lockhart, who was getting some futuristic gun ready. "What the hell is going on? What was that?!"
Lockhart scowled. "I don't know how to describe it; I've only seen the security footage. It's a monster…we're waiting for reinforcements to help take it down."
Ford stepped to Stan's side. "May I see the security footage?"
When Lockhart frowned, he spoke up for himself. "I hunted these things for years. I was briefly trapped in a nightmare dimension. I think that I can handle whatever it is…and point out its weaknesses."
Fiddleford nodded when Lockhart glanced at him for confirmation of this fact, and Stan wondered what association the two of them had.
"Alright, you two follow me then," Lockhart ordered.
[0]
Brenda sat up when she heard a banging noise coming from the closet. Confused, she glanced towards the front of the house, where Mabel was refusing to allow someone come inside.
She stood on shaky legs, allowing the blanket Mabel had placed over to strike the floor. She gripped the kitchen doorway for support and watched as the closet door rattled. There was something inside, trying to get out. If it was a monster, Mabel would have said.
Which meant that Mabel couldn't have been Mabel.
She felt a chill run down her spine. She remembered how easily she had been tricked by The Shapeshifter.
Her hand shook as she closed it around the doorknob, and she opened the door a crack. Horrified, she flung open the door, and fell to her knees, tearing at the restraints which bound the begging Dipper.
As she removed the gag, she spoke in a harsh whisper. "What happened? Is it The Shapeshifter again?"
Dipper's desperate look disappeared, and he slid his hands around her neck. His grip was like iron, but it was not nearly as surprising as his cruel smile.
Brenda clawed at his fingers with her own bleeding ones, but he didn't show an ounce of pain on his face. If anything, he was relishing watching her struggle. As everything began to go black, however, she heard the front door close. Dipper removed one hand from her neck and grabbed the rope which she had just freed him from.
He tied the rope around her hands and gagged her. He giggled as he stood, and spoke as he eased the closet door closed. "Relax, I'll be back later…and then you and I can have some fun."
The door closed, and Brenda was plunged into darkness.
[0]
Ford's eyes moved like a cat's as he re-wound the footage of the gigantic many-mouthed creature which had allowed a jail break.
Lockhart tapped his shoe, glancing at Fiddleford every few seconds. Fiddleford wasn't paying his impatience any heed, however. He was too busy watching Ford and enjoying the man's personal ticks.
When Ford started his fourteenth rewind of the footage of men getting trampled and devoured, Lockhart couldn't stand it any longer.
"That's it! You clearly don't know what you're talking about!" Lockhart insisted.
Ford didn't look up, and his brother came to his defense. "Relax, these things take time," Stan stated, more than a little forceful with the bastard who he considered responsible for his brother's brief imprisonment.
Lockhart reached for his gun. "Now, see here; I'm not going to spend one more seco-!"
Ford stood up. "You need toxicants. You need to find it and shoot it with tranquilizer darts. Elephant ones. You need to fill the vents in the lower levels of poison."
Lockhart's eyebrows twitched. "Are you crazy?"
The room rocked as the monster smashed into something new and Ford put a hand on the computer desk to keep himself steady. He spoke with one hand outstretched to make light gestures. "It has too much flesh for you to hurt it with bullets. You need to get it paralyzed, and I'll shoot it with a special device I made."
"What? What device?"
"I believe you have it in your archives." Replied Ford. "It's a large gun, with several pieces sticking out on metal rods. It has crystals growing inside of it."
Lockhart took a deep breath. He glanced between the Ford and Fiddleford, before admitting defeat. "Fine."
Stan shared a smile with Ford. His genius had not ceased to befuddle people.
[0]
Bill leveraged a chair beneath the closet doorknob, before ducking into the stairway. Mabel was approaching, mentioning something about a weird man who had wanted to see Dipper.
He grinned and moved into Stan's office. There on the wall, was a rifle, behind a case of glass.
Bill raised Dipper's hand to smash the glass in one scarring motion but was interrupted by a sudden voice in the room.
"Hello, Dipper."
Bill turned, and found an obese man in a blue shirt, watching him with a troubled expression. Bill smiled.
"Blandon. What brings you here?" He asked as he licked his lips and slowly made his way to the rifle case. He already knew, due to his mind reading, but he wanted to hear the time traveler spit it out before getting shot in the stomach.
Blandon sighed. "I…I'm sorry Dipper…I just don't see any other way?"
The man was so wrapped up in his guilt that he didn't even notice the teen's bizarre behavior. "I'm sorry…but I have to do it."
"Have to do what?" Bill asked as he pressed his hands to the glass. 3…2…
"I have to kill your great uncle. I'm sorry, but if he wasn't alive, then McGucket never would have moved his family to Gravity Falls."
Bill paused, suddenly intrigued. "What? I don't…understand…" he pretended.
Blandon took a deep breath and turned on the little device on his wrist watch. "I knew you wouldn't…I just had to warn you before I did anything…"
As he began to shimmer, Mabel entered the room and dove at him. Blandon was blindsided, falling backward, with Mabel atop him. They both vanished in the same instant, Mabel pulled into the hole by touching the initiator.
Bill smirked. This was going to be fun.
[0]
Stan struggled at first, to get the gas mask on properly. He had refused to allow Ford to face the monstrosity alone, even with a gigantic gun which only he knew how to operate. Ford had smirked at his protectiveness but not refused the help.
Neither had Lockhart attempted to stop him. The man seemed happy that Stan was putting his own life in danger in fact. It was one less thing for him to worry about.
Stan followed procedure however, staying beside Ford always as a swarm of soldiers led them out of the elevator and onto the attacked floor. The gas released clouded the immense hallway, but Stan could still make out the holes in the wall which had been created, as well as the corpses which lay strewn on the floor. Most of them were prisoners. Many had been untouched by the otherworldly being, and Stan realized the morbid coldness of Ford's plan.
For those who had been left behind in the rush to evacuate and seal off the monster, the sudden flood of toxic air must have been relatively painless, but none the less hellish.
The sound of stomping echoed through the destroyed facility, sparks from the broken fixtures lighting up the torn open cells. The soldiers raised their guns, and Stan glanced at Ford. He wasn't nervous in the least.
Stan swallowed and turned back towards the broken door at the end of the hall way. It was steel, and thick as the side of a ship. It now looked like a piece of paper reduced to strips.
THOOM! THOOM! THOOM! It was getting closer.
Stan was reminded of who had called the thing as they passed a disturbing symbol drawn in blood. His eyes darted up as the creature pushed through the hole it had made in the door. It staggered towards them, the sound of its many lungs working in random order disturbing and maddening.
No order needed to be given. The tranquilizer darts were fired the moment that the mass of brown flesh and bleeding maws stumbled into this section of the prison. The monster roared and swung a tree branch sized arm at the nearest soldier. He ducked out of the way and tripped backward.
Ford removed the tripods of the gun and placed them, his hands steady as he aimed the weapon. Stan aimed his own gun and fired twice to draw the creature's dazed attention. It growled and limped forward. It opened all it's mouths at once, revealing hundreds of gnashing teeth, some of them sideways, and some of them bleeding.
Ford pulled the trigger.
A beam of energy shreds through the air and slammed into the monster. It shrieked, and yellow guts poured out of the side of the monster as it collapsed and liquified.
Ford stood up as if what they had just witnessed was nothing, and brushed the knees of his jeans off. He spoke on the telecom in his helmet. "So…when do I get to see my niece and nephew?"
[0]
Tate checked his watch. Brenda still had not returned from "getting a beer." He took a deep breath and rolled his head around a couple times. Three guesses where she's hiding, He thought as he moved down the hall of Norwood Lake Estate.
He grew still when the door to Candy's room eased open a couple inches. The amnesiac poked her head into the hall and glanced back and forth. Tate was shrouded in darkness; one of the policies of the Idionists was that as few lights as possible were to be hung inside the estate.
He smirked at her bravado. There weren't many teenage girls who would attempt such a daring escape, while as mentally broken as this one.
In only her nightgown, she shuffled out of the room and headed for the nearest hall. Tate followed at a steady pace. He had no intentions of losing his bait for Brenda, one of his finest worker bees.
It turned out, he didn't need to grab her, himself. She was cornered by a couple middle-aged, naked "worshippers."
He turned the corner and watched as he asked her what she had underneath the gown. She clearly didn't understand a word of their innuendo and covered her head as if about to be attacked.
One of them spotted him. The mayor's assistant, Tate guessed.
"Hey! McGucket! Do you want to help rock this one's world? She seems a little shy."
Tate tensed. In that moment, watching the messed up little girl crouching beneath the girth of two sex-crazed idiots, invited to help rape her, he realized how much he hated them all. Norwood most, but all of her lazy ass, misanthropic friends, who made five figures' a year and would most likely have funerals full of people in it for the inheritance.
He hated them, so very much.
The same voice which had told him to found the Idionists, and which had been with him ever since he attempted to drown himself in the lake on which he had gone fishing with his father, returned to him.
Makethemunderstandhrottlethemthrowtheminthelakefeedthemtothehoundsfillyourlungswiththeirbloodmakethemunderstand-
McGucket hissed at a headache which came with the insightful voice. "No." He muttered.
The mayor's assistant frowned, and looked even more like an idiot.
Tate let out a long hiss and opened his eyes. "She's mine." He insisted, as he grabbed Candy by the arm and dragged her back to her room. Neither disagreed, neither had any intention of messing with him.
He was scrawny, but rich assholes were terrified of people like him. He held Candy's wrist as tightly as he could without breaking it and spoke in his harshest whisper. "Listen up, ducky, do not leave this room. Don't. Understand?"
Tears welled in her eyes and Tate's flash of anger turned inwards. Of course, she didn't understand. She didn't belong here. This had never been part of the plan, to kidnap innocents.
How had he fallen this low?
Tate shook himself and turned away from her. He locked the door to the room from the outside, unwilling to allow any perverts inside or for her to get herself any more damaged then she already was.
"Boss? What's the plan?" Asked Bruno, his right-hand man in all matters requiring physical intimidation.
"We're going to get our star pupil." He said in a gravelly voice as he marched towards the exit of the estate.
[0]
Everything was rushing by. Everything was peeling apart and melting in front of her. She couldn't comprehend whatever it was, that was lurking overhead.
Mabel had never understood Dipper's existential dread, but she got a good idea of what it was like, watching the world spin back decades. It was more then she could handle, more than she wanted to handle.
She felt like she was going to start vomiting, but if she let herself, she might never stop. She also felt like there was a vice tightening on her brain. Together, these two feelings made her wish she was no longer alive. Not dead, but no longer exposed, no longer so vulnerable.
Mabel opened her eyes. She was lying on a beach, next to the man who had broken into her house. He was staring her with utter shock.
He shook, and the spell was broken. "No! No! NO!" He chanted, scaring her with how much his voice shook with a temper.
Mabel sat up. "What the…where are…" Words were difficult. They scraped against her throat, and they didn't make much sense in context to what she had just witnessed. Like in a dream, when your subconscious tells you it doesn't make sense to do something which would have a basis in life.
She looked him up and down, her eyes locking on the device around his wrist. It glowed like she imagined a piece of alien technology would. And it shimmered as if it wasn't completely inside reality.
She raised her eyes to his face, where his head was blocking the hot sun from view. "What did you do?"
The man grabbed her by the collar. "No! I am not letting you mess this up!" He knelt and grabbed her by the hands, pushing her face forward into the sand. Mabel tried to scream, but his hand had already circled her mouth. She mumbled into his callous palm as she kicked at his shins.
"Stop struggling! Stop it!" He yelled, his teeth bared. "IF YOU DON'T STOP THEN I WILL SEND YOU BACK BEFORE THERE WERE ANY PEOPLE!"
Mabel paused. His claim was insane, but he clearly believed it. And she knew better than to claim she knew what was and was not possible.
He removed some wire from the pocket of his pants and wrapped it around her hands. "I'm sorry…I'm really…really sorry…" He admitted, his breath shaky. "But I need to do this. I've tried everything else…the only way to save them…the only way to make things right is to kill that kid."
Mabel's eyes widened and she regained her voice. "What? What are you talking about?"
The man took a deep breath. "I won't touch your grandfather. But the only way to make things right is to make sure your great uncle never meets McGucket…and I've tried everything else."
He looked away and Mabel struggled to say something besides voicing her further confusion. "I'm sorry." He finally said, and turned away.
Mabel struggled against the wire as she watched him run down the beach. The metal bit into her wrists as she rolled about on the sand. She didn't know what the man had done, or if he had totally lost his mind. But she knew that the device on his hand was possibly her only way back to Dipper. Her only way to stop Bill.
"Are you alright?"
She rolled over at the young voice and found a boy with blonde, thick locks staring at her. He was dressed strangely and holding a kite.
Mabel gave her best smile. "No. I need to be untied…can you help me?"
The boy frowned. "Are you a criminal?"
Mabel shook her head.
"Are you from the city?" He asked with lit up eyes.
"Could you please get me out of this and then ask me?" Mabel suggested.
The boy grew ecstatic. He began talking about his favorite radio show as he did as commanded, thrilled to be able to come to the rescue for someone.
Mabel ignored the strangeness of his enthusiasm and spoke as she stood up. "Umm…where am I?"
"Glass Beach. It's like, the lamest town in the world."
Mabel felt a chill run down her spine, despite the warmth of the sun. "Uh…what year is it?"
"1958…are you high?" The boy asked, starting to doubt her sanity.
Mabel swallowed and turned away. Alright. Not such a big deal. She had dealt with weirder things…probably.
"And…do you know where the Pines' family lives?" Mabel asked, her thoughts racing.
"You mean where the freak with six fingers lives? On Pent Street." The boy responded.
Mabel glanced back at him and tried not to show her annoyance at his choice of phrase. She didn't have any more time to chat, however, if half of what the boy was saying was true, then she needed to follow the bald man.
She raced up the beach, moving from one block to the next, and attempting not to be disturbed by how different everything looked. The cars all looked like they belonged in a museum, and everyone was dressed in plain clothes.
Pent Street had about nine houses on it, and Mabel glanced between them, and ran up to the first one, knocking quickly on the door. A woman in an apron opened it and looked her up and down with eyes as narrow as almonds.
"What do you want?" She asked, with her hand on the doorway.
Mabel realized that she must have looked extremely immodest and colorful in her sweater and green-black skirt. "Can you tell me what house…on this block is the Pines' family house?"
The woman frowned. "You one of Phillip's girls?"
Mabel blushed and shook her head. "I'm a friend of the family." She claimed with an uneasy smile.
The woman pointed down the street, and Mabel smiled, before turning away and racing towards the house. Her feet ached, her stomach felt ready to turn inside out, and her head hurt. She desperately needed sleep, or at least, food.
But she dusted herself off on the front porch of the house and knocked rapidly on the door.
It was opened by a massive man in a golden suit. The man wore sunglasses and had a bushy mustache beneath his swollen nose. He gaged her and sniffed the air in disgust.
"Are you Mr. Pines?" She asked, wondering why the man was so inherently intimidating. There was something mean in just the way he looked at her.
"Yup." He answered in a gruff voice. "Are you selling something?" He asked, trying to contain a smile.
He was on the edge of laughing, his stoic expression had disintegrated, replaced by an amusement. He knew…something that she didn't and that made her feel twice as nauseous.
Mabel shook her head. "I'm from the school…I need to talk to Ford and Sta-Lee. Umm, I need to talk to them."
His smirked. "You're looking for the bald fella, aren't you?"
Mabel's heart skipped a beat. "What? How do you-"
He sniggered. "The boys are down by the old ship…I told the bald man they were at the ice cream parlor and sent the sheriff his way. He wanted to do them harm, no?"
She got the feeling that he already knew the answer to that question, but Mabel nodded anyway.
Stan's father checked his watch, before folding his arms and speaking with a raised eyebrow. "You better hurrying up if you want to get to them before the bald guy figures out I tricked him."
Mabel didn't know why Stan's father was so unsettling, or why he seemed to understand why she was here, better than she did herself. But she had no intentions of disagreeing.
[0]
Leland had been in the middle of showing Ford how to use his slingshot, when he heard the out of breath woman yell at them. They were sitting atop the ridge of their turned over fort, and both glanced down at her in surprise.
Ford immediately shrunk behind Leland on seeing the disheveled woman calling for them to come down and follow her.
Leland stood up. "Who are you? This is our fort! It doesn't belong to anyone else!"
The woman shook her head. "There's a man coming for you two…please you have to go inside where it's safe!"
Leland glanced at Ford before he glanced back at the woman. She was a girl, he now realized. She just had that exhaustion which adults always seemed to have, tugging at their faces.
When he looked at the girl, he felt something indescribable curl inside. He didn't know why or how to describe it. But she looked trustworthy.
"C'mon Ford," He said, tugging on the cuff of Ford's shirt. "Let's go inside.
Ford gave a shaky nod, and Leland slid down the side of the "Stan-O-War", his boots striking the ground and dislodging quite a bit of sand. Ford stood up to follow, and the most horrifying moment of Stanford Leland Pines' life up until the point where his brother mutilated himself, occurred.
A bald man, drenched in sweat and wearing a strange blue shirt, materialized behind his brother in a flash of blue. He wrapped his muggy hands around Ford, causing the boy to start screaming and struggling. Leland watched, unable to move, as the man spoke with a mixture of pain and rage.
"Must. Be. Undone."
At his belt, was a gun. Leland had only ever seen one other gun, and it was the one his dad loved to polish in the living room while he watched news. This gun was larger, and it evoked twice the terror because it was held by someone who wanted to kill his twin.
The man screamed at Ford to quite struggling, and Ford obeyed.
The girl scooped him up, as if to shield him from harm and tried to meet eyes with the heaving, sweat soaked man. She spoke in a quiet, low tone. "Please…please don't do this. I know you don't want to…otherwise you would have gone further back."
Leland didn't know what the girl was talking about, but he spoke with tears brimming in his eyes. He couldn't help himself, he couldn't fight the water. "PLEASE STOP!" He yelled.
The man's labored breathing paused.
And a gun went off.
Blood spread across the man's arm, and he pivoted forward, collapsing on the sand. Ford lay there beside the man's howling body, too afraid to move.
The sheriff ran up to the man, handcuffed him, and forced the man to stand up. Ford ran over to Leland and wrapped his arms around him. Leland shook himself out of his stupor, and he made a promise to never freeze up again.
Not when Ford needed him.
Their father slinked up to them, and gripped their shoulders as he knelt and spoke. "You two need to swear to me that you will never tell anyone about this, alright?"
They nodded without hesitation. When their father told them to do something, they did it.
Leland never saw the girl again, but he didn't disagree when Ford later theorized she might not have been human. Their father ignored the existence of the girl, and so did the sheriff.
If she hadn't been an angel, Leland wasn't sure what she could have been.
[0]
Pacifica packed her bags quickly. She didn't want to have the time to question whether this was a good idea, whether she was ruining her life.
Not to mention, she didn't want to mentally prepare herself for telling her mother she was leaving. She need to be rid of it, once and for all, sooner rather than later. Otherwise she might put it off. She might wiggle out of coming to Mabel's aid.
Then she might spend another night, in the house where her father had made her life a living hell. Inside the place where he had died.
This was it. There was no turning back.
Pacifica descended the twin staircase with a sick stomach, one which grew sicker as she listened to her mother address a room full of people who worshipped the demon which was tormenting Mabel.
"We must do whatever it takes, to ensure that his coming is one which cannot be disputed." Her mother claimed. She sounded so much like a dictator, addressing her army of willing monsters.
Whatever it takes.
This was the right thing to do, the thing which she wished she had enjoyed the strength to do before she had used Dipper and Mabel. Before all this ugliness.
"Now that the almighty is inside one of the twins, we must make sure that the byo is liberated as soon as possible!" She insisted, her hand banging against her podium.
Pacifica froze.
Oh, god no.
The sudden idea, of Mabel being possessed by Bill, was like frostbite. It made her go numb, and feel like her limbs were about to snap off. Just the idea of Mabel's uniqueness, all her optimism and strength, being replaced by a malicious smile, was paralyzing.
She would be worse than Pacifica's father. She would kill everyone.
Pacifica ran right then. She didn't bother to give her mother the big confrontational speech. She ran out the front door, she darted into the garage, leaped inside her car and streaked in the direction of The Shack, praying that her mother was mistaken.
That she wasn't too late.
[0]
"Rooobbie! Yoo-hoo! Robbie wake up!"
Robbie opened his eyes and saw the person he least wanted to see in the world, standing in the doorway of his room.
It was a woman, in her late forties, with bleached blonde hair and pink eyeshadow. She wore massive hoop earrings and necklace formed of metal shingles which dropped down to her sizeable breasts. She had massive tan lines around her brown eyes, which looked red in a certain light.
Darlene.
"It's time to pay up." She stated with a gleam in her eyes.
Robbie felt the amber necklace around her neck stated to feel heavy around his neck.
[0]
Bill finished arranging the pentagram of candles on the floor and took a step back to admire it. He turned, and flung open the closet door, smiling at Brenda. He grabbed her by the collar and dragged her into the center of the geometric shape.
He removed a knife from the kitchen cabinet, put down his gun and turned to her vulnerable body.
Mabel pushed him to the ground. She held his hands down, and tossed the knife into a corner of the room. Bill started chuckling.
"Did you have a fun time with Mr. Conciense-Stricken?"
Mabel ignored him. She tied him up with the wire that the man had used on her and then turned to Brenda. She released a deep breath and untied her slowly, hushing her as she whimpered and struggled. She led Brenda to the living room and spent the next few minutes patching her up and making sure that she was alright.
"Why are you doing this?" Mabel asked for what felt like the millionth time as she strolled into the kitchen, still nauseous from her return journey.
Bill raised his head and smirked. "I thought it might be fun."
Mabel had only ever hated one person before. And that person was Gideon.
But right now, she hated not just the smiling demon, but her own brother. She didn't understand how he could do something so stupid.
She removed the device which the man had used to move through time, and which she had used to return. It was sliver and had a little keypad for putting in the date and hour.
Maybe she could find out. Maybe she could stop this from ever happening. From her brother ever losing his eye.
Bill's smirk widened. "I knew that you'd try and fix things like you always do."
Mabel raised her face and her knuckles turned white against the device in her hand. "Shut the fuck up." She demanded.
He chuckled. "No…you go right ahead…mess with time…this should be fun to watch."
Mabel turned away. She marched into the living room and sat down in front of Brenda. "I need you to watch him. He is being possessed…by Bill. I'm going to be back, very, very soon, but right now, I need you to make sure he absolutely cannot escape. Alright?"
Brenda nodded. She watched then, as Mabel moved back into the kitchen and with a hiss and cerulean flash, disappeared.
The front door opened and someone charged through the front.
Brenda leaped to her feet grabbing the nearest weapon she could see, a chair. Not her finest moment, but she had used more useless objects to defeat her opponents before.
She lowered the chair when Pacifica appeared around the corner and came to a halt. "What do you want?" Brenda asked without lowering the chair any further, unwilling to trust the daughter of the person who worked with Tate.
As far as she was concerned, she had more reasons to fall back on for her suspicion. First, the blonde had basically tortured Candy. Second, she had lied to Mabel and manipulated her. And third, Brenda just didn't like her.
She was too smart for her own good.
Pacifica took a deep breath. "Mabel called me, I…I heard that Bill might have…" She took a deep breath. "That Mabel made a deal with Bill."
She looked desperate for reassurance to the contrary, and Brenda lowered her chair, realizing that she didn't have much moral high ground to stand on.
"Follow me." She instructed, before turning and moving into the kitchen. Pacifica gasped when she saw Dipper.
"Bill possessed him. Mabel had to go do something." Brenda stated, not quite understanding the situation herself. "She'll be back soon…I'm sure."
"What happened to his eye?" Pacifica finally asked, after looking him up and down.
Bill raised Dipper's head and gave them both the creepiest leer which they would ever see. He spoke in a low voice. "I stuck a needle in it. I'd be happy to show you…just loosen these bindings."
Pacifica recoiled, and Bill started laughing. "
Brenda glanced between them both before taking the initiative. She grabbed the gag which he had used on her, and tried to stuff it into his mouth. He wouldn't allow that, preferring to attempt to bite her. Brenda growled struck him hard in the stomach, forcing his mouth open. She stuffed the gag in and watched as he scowled at her.
"Was that necessary?" Pacifica asked, still standing in the doorway.
"Do you want to listen to him all night?" Brenda responded with a glare.
Pacifica held her tongue and turned away. She forced herself to move past Dipper and lean against the kitchen counter. She waited patiently for Mabel to return with her hands crossed at her waist. She looked anywhere but at Dipper, her face white with what was either disgust or shame.
Brenda sat down in the chair in front of Dipper, watching Bill's every smug move.
Pacifica coughed. "Umm…where's Stan?"
Brenda shrugged.
"Then…where did Mabel go?"
Brenda stood up. "Please stop talking. I'm sure she'll be back soon."
Wrinkles appeared on the blonde's cheeks and her hands clenched at her sides. Brenda was sure she was going to say something insulting. But the blonde took a couple deep breaths and looked away. Bill glanced between the two of them and seemed to smile.
A sharp knocking came at the kitchen door, and Pacifica and Brenda shared a panicked look.
"One moment!" Pacifica called, while Brenda dragged Dipper's chair back into the closet.
Pacifica cast a glance back towards Brenda, and when she received a thumbs up, she opened the kitchen door. A muscular hand planted itself against the door and pushed it further open. A muscular Polynesian man, with a tattoo of a dragon on his left cheek, stepped inside. He was holding a wooden baseball bat and had wrappings around his palms. He was bald and wore a black wife beater and camo pants to match his boots.
He was followed by a chubbier and shorter man, holding a shotgun, and wearing a coat with several missing buttons. He was older and wore sunglasses. He, like his friend, moved out of the doorway, to allow his boss to move inside.
Tate McGucket marched in with the biggest smartass smile which Brenda had ever seen him wear. He was dressed in a hunting jacket, and his eyes were hidden behind his thick oak bark hair. In his right hand, was a revolver.
"Hi, girls…what were you two lovebirds gossiping about?" Tate asked as he glanced between them with a snicker.
Brenda, felt her stomach plunge.
[0]
"Robbie…we've been over this too many times for my taste." Darlene stated in her obnoxious Bronx accent as she played with the snow ball on the bedside table. Her eyes fixed on his and Robbie felt the amber necklace around his neck start to burn. "So, I'm going to say this one last time…"
Her hokey smile disappeared and was replaced by a look that made everything hurt even more. She stepped up to his bed and crushed the snow globe with her bare hand without flinching. The shards didn't pierce her skin.
"Where's. My. Tribute?"
Robbie swallowed. "I…I just need more time."
Darlene's smile returned. "Really? Because…I've given you more time, I believe I'm more than overdo my prize."
"Please…I just-"
Darlene put a finger to his lips. "Nope. I don't want to hear any more excuses…you know…I've heard excuses my whole life from men like you. Men who think that they can take advantage of me because I look like a ditz. Now…" Her voice changed. It became scratchy and buzzing. "…where's the tribute you promised me?"
She put a hand against his throat, and Robbie's skin crawled at her touch. All the hairs on her hand were twice as stiff and long as usual, and they stabbed into his pours.
It was around this point, that Darlene started to resemble a mannequin. Her face grew seams, and her skin felt plastic. Her eyes started to shine like they were marbles, reminding Robbie of the Cathy's old dolls, the ones which used to creep him out.
The door opened. "Robbie, I'm sorry I didn't come back sooner, I-"
Robbie's eyes widened at Tambry's voice. Darlene smirked and turned towards Tambry. She revealed her teeth as she moved towards Robbie's girlfriend.
"You must be the love bird whose been distracting this little prick from making me my tribute. Heh, well…I guess since he doesn't have anyone else who gives a shit about him…you'll do well enough as motivation."
Darlene moved like a snake. She grabbed Tambry by the neck and held her two feet off the ground, gagging and wriggling against the wall. Her headed turned a full 180 to meet Robbie's gaze as he desperately tried to get out of bed.
"Please! I'll make it! I swear I will! Just please leave her alone!" Robbie begged.
Darlene looked unimpressed and sighed when the pain became too much for Robbie, and he fell to the floor. She spoke as she tugged Tambry (still gagging) along with her, towards the window. "You know Robert, most guys…I can just beat the answer I'm looking for out of them. But you're special. You've experienced more physical trauma then most people…so," She cast a smirk back at him as she tore the window open and dangled Tambry out the window. "You have until 2 PM to get me my tribute."
With that claim, she leaped out of the window. Robbie scrambled to the windowsill, and watched with bug eyes as she strolled along the darkened street, dragging Tambry behind her like a sack of flour and whistling "Itsy Bitsy Spider."
[0]
Tate was in the middle of inspecting Stan's silverware, when Pacifica felt the need to speak up. "Could you please leave? Stan's going to be home any second."
Tate raised his face and gave her a toothy grin. She could tell that he was small potatoes compared to the old man who had threatened to kill her if she broke Mabel's heart. Tate knew that too, he must have.
Stan had beaten up her father inside the family mansion. He had escaped government custody, and as far as everyone was concerned, he was responsible for Gideon never being seen or heard from again.
Tate wasn't fazed however. "Is he now? Well, I'm sure he'll be more than willing to turn my prize worker-bee over to me." He grinned. "I hear that he's not a big fan of harboring kidnappers under his roof."
His gaze stuck on Brenda, who had fallen deathly quiet and grown as pale as a ghost. Pacifica glanced at Brenda, remembering the brunette's crime. She closed her eyes and stepped between Tate and Brenda.
"You can't take her anywhere against her will." She stated, trying not to be disgusted by how close he was. Realizing how weak her word was against the well-armed individuals, she added: "I'll call the police."
He smelled like the lake and she couldn't tell the last time that he had showered.
Tate's face scrunched up, as if he was trying to solve some incredibly complex problem. Then he smiled wide enough to disturb Pacifica.
"You're going to call the police? Well…I'm sure they'll put us in our place…" He moved past her, but instead of heading for Brenda, he leaned against the wall, next to the closet. Brenda shot Pacifica a look, and Tate's face wrinkled in further satisfaction. "…I'm sure they won't touch your friend, Mabel…or her family…" He stated as he put his hand on the closet door knob.
He eased the door open, and glanced inside, at the pleading Dipper. He paused for a moment on seeing Dipper like that, and Pacifica thought she saw something in his lack of words.
Pity? Fear?
No, it was recognition. He was recognizing Dipper. As if he'd never actually seen him before, and now that he was seeing him…it was stirring up something forgotten. Something that filled him with loathing for his current position. That threw him for a loop, and sent him in a scramble to reestablish his dominance over the situation.
Tate forced away any guilt as he closed the door. turned to face her. "I'm sure the police will take the word of a runaway…" He locked eyes with her. "…and an obsessed kidnapper." He swerved to face Brenda, and she shivered.
When neither of them said anything, he made a noise which indicated that he had won. "Grab our reigning champion boys…she's going to make history tonight." Tate insisted.
Brenda didn't struggle. She got to her feet and allowed Tate's goons to stand to either side of her, and walk her outside, to their truck.
"Why do you even want her? Surely, you have other people who can sell drugs for you!" Pacifica called as Tate reached the doorway.
Tate stopped and moved back to her with a wickedness in his step. "You think she sells drugs for me? Oh, wow…Mommy really must love you to have never taken you to her little house on the lake."
Pacifica blushed at his mocking laughter and only looked up when Tate grabbed her wrist. "It's a shame Mommy isn't here to bail you out this time."
He dragged her out the back door, his gun placed against her stomach.
"You want to grow up to be a rich bitch? I'll allow it…but first-" He stomped up the ramp extending out the back of the truck and threw Pacifica inside, next to the quivering Brenda and tall, tattooed man. "-you're going to learn about the family business…up close and personal." He spat, his eyes burning.
The ramp slid up with a clank, and Tate smashed the back of the truck closed.
[0]
Dipper listened from inside the closet, as a mob of people dressed in red hoods chanted outside The Shack, armed with torches and rifles. Bill was showing him their hatred, their determination, and their fear.
It was overpowering.
Bill was also showing him that, at the front of the horde, was an eighty-year-old man, with one eye missing. A man named Ivan, who was intent on getting rid of Bill, whether that meant curing Dipper, or killing him.
Don't worry PineTree, Bill assured as the cultists began to kick down the front door. I won't let them hurt you…too badly.
[0]
Message: Sevlesruoy eraperp. Revo tsomla si yrots ruo.
Comments:
RestlessCollector:
The only gripe I had with the show was The Deal and that it was a weapon, not a gamble. The Deal Should be a Double-Edged Sword, Bill having to in some way shape or form, through word traps and hidden clauses, fulfill his end of the if he doesn't? who knows? Such Punishments are not within our tongue.
Don't worry. The deals are always completely fulfilled in my story. Bill is already exposing Dipper to information and he will continue to do so in more and more forceful ways.
Coldblue:
2) Who are Txfyu'nt, Ne'zzevs, and Pvtx'qn that Bill Cipher sensed? Will they appear briefly, be allies of Bill Cipher or do they go by other names?
They are other demons. I can assure you that at least one of them will appear before the finale.
Agent Lockhart:
It rather interesting to read what can he do. Not much. Like Robbie Valentine, even if Lockhart resources. He is not in control of anything and does not know what he dealing with. Bipper or Bill Cipher mention there are no Gods or Demons, at least not around Gravity Falls. Gods and Demons do exist it seems, but Dimensional Beings are God/Demonic-like beings as well so it means nothing.
Lockhart is out of his element.