A/N: Btw, I have like the first 5 chapters all outlined and ready to go so expect content in a somewhat timely manner, lol.

Chapter 2: Of Demons and Deals

To say that Cipher was pissed was the understatement of the century. He wasn't just angry, he was absolutely livid with fury. Not only had the Pines family manage to seal the damned rift, not only had he missed the chance he had foreseen to grab power, but on top of that he discovered that if he didn't scrounge together a plan b quickly the whole world was going to burn because of some OTHER apocalypse that was being thrown together.

When he initiated the race with the local god he had done so knowing full well that he would have plenty of opportunities that coming summer to break into the dimension and win their little bet. And damn if it didn't cost him a couple favors that people owed him and a lot of mojo just to make that conversation a reality.

Now however, he was practically out of time and his main key to Weirdmaggedon just got sealed. Oh how furious he was and he vowed when he got there, and oh boy would he find a way, he was going to make the lives of the Pines every definition of hell he could for failing to do what he needed of them.

Yet he had to regain his composure, he had to remain focused. His plans would mean nothing now if he couldn't just calm DOWN!

It was hard, very hard but he tampered down the raging volcano of his ire and glanced through the various windows into the next realm. He could no longer see into the mystery shack which was an admittedly huge disadvantage but he could see outside it.

He needed something, anything, he could use to get back on track and either derail the coming rise of good old Luci, or another way of tearing open a rift.

From the trees, he stared into the still nighttime air of the shack. After a while he almost passed by it in favor of gazing elsewhere when he noticed a small figure stealing out into the night. Upon closer inspection it was Shooting Star who seemed to not have a care in the world. Yet Bill knew that wasn't the case for he could see what was inside her. Black smoke clung to her figure from his vision and her eyes were as dark as pitch.

A demon was taking her for a joy ride.

As obnoxious as that was, there was nothing Cipher could do about it in his current state. If he tried to enter her mind he would be detected immediately by the possessing entity before he could possibly strike a deal with the girl.

Watching as the demon steered its meat suit into the woods, he realized this must not have been the first time this happened.

The thing riding the girls flesh knows where its going and its clearly on a mission.

A seal then most likely, but what seal could… they-

Oh… OH ho ho!

Bill leaned back and let loose a loud obnoxious laugh, so that's what they were going to do huh? Well maybe this would work in his favor after all. If only he could get one of those damn twins to make a-

And just like that, he noticed a second figure stalking along the darkened path. Noodle limbs and short height meant it could only be the girls brother.

If Cipher had a mouth he would be grinning, maybe things were going to start looking up after all.

Reaching out to Pine Tree's consciousness he felt the erratic paranoia on his mind and how it fractured and rebuilt itself. So fragile, all he had to do was give it a nice firm pull.

xxXXxx

The light was dim in the forest thanks to the lack of moon. It wouldn't be long till the small silver in the sky was completely gone and plunge the entire world into darkness. The Pine tree's loomed larger than usual, the ominous feeling usually accompanying the wilderness increased ten-fold. Even if the stars were out they would have been hard to see from the stretching canopy of the tree's.

Dipper internally groaned to himself as he tripped over a root for the third time already. Mabel seemed to have absolutely no problem going along the barely lit path way and skipped along the forest trail to... somewhere. The young boy was certain that she had heard him following behind, but there was no indication that the girl knew she was being followed which just filled him with more anxiety. This felt suspiciously like a trap but Dipper had no clue what kind of trap nor how to spring it. He could always just give up the goose and call out to her but he had to know just where the heck she was heading this late at night in the darkness.

Yet has he wandered he began to feel drowsy. Rubbing his eyes he almost had a heart attack when he realized he had lost sight of his sister. Before he could truly start to panic his vision swam and he collapsed on the ground.

"W-what-" Was all he managed before he felt a tug on his mind and suddenly the color drained out of everything. Grey tones stared back at him as Dipper struggled to get back on his feet. His earlier exhaustion left him in favor of adrenaline as he realized what just happened. He was outside the protective barrier around the shack and now unconscious...

There was a brilliant flash of light and laughter rent the air. Dipper growled in frustration, of course this would happen!

"Bill!" The boy shouted as the triangle lit up the surrounding area.

"HEYO PINE TREE, LONG TIME NO SEE!" The dream demon sneered back, twirling his cane in his fingers. Dipper briefly wondered how much worse his luck could get before squashing it just in case karma decided to come back and bite him.

"What do you want, I'm kind of in the middle of something!" The boy tried to keep the desperation out of his voice but failed miserably. His sister was getting further away, he was unconscious in the middle of the forest at night and who knew what was out there that could possibly prey on him. Nervously he fiddled with his hat, his stress levels rising to new heights because of this new predicament.

"OH, I CAN SEE THAT!" Bill chuckled slightly. "SHOOTING STAR HAS BEEN ACTING KINDA WEIRD HASN'T SHE?"

Dipper winced, so he wasn't the only who thought so after all. His grunkles hadn't noticed yet their enemy had? Somehow that seemed very wrong and entirely too creepy.

"I'm sure it's nothing, Mabel's just-" Before he could finish he got wacked on top of the head. Immediately he curled up with a loud "Owch!"

"WRONG! TRY AGAIN."

"What?" The boy moaned in pain, shaking his head to get his bearings.

"LOOK I'M ALL FOR WEIRD BUT, THIS ISN'T HER USUAL BRAND OF WEIRD."

"Well if it's not you then what else could it be?" Dipper asked, genuinely fed up and wanting answers. Taking off his hat he shoved his hands through his hair checking for a goose egg he was sure was there only to find nothing. Oh, right, mindscape.

Bill was silent for a moment watching Dipper and it made the boy squirm as he readjusted his hat.

"WHAT WOULD YOU THINK IF I TOLD YOU A DEMON POSSESSED HER?"

Dipper was silent for a long moment as he unpacked that statement. How could she be possessed by a demon? Did she make a deal? Why did the barrier not work or was it only for Bill? Did that mean that he wasn't a demon? Did this mean hell was real? Was there are afterlife then?

Question upon question suddenly assaulted the boy as he tried to wrap his mind around that one reality shattering statement. Truthfully it shouldn't have hit him so hard after all he had experienced during the summer. Aliens were real, manotaurs were real, monsters were real, why not the after life too? Why not demons, after having dealt Bill he totally could believe that. But why would his sister let something so wrong inside of her, what kind of deal could she have made? He was brought out of his sudden introspection by Bill who was laughing again, at what Dipper wasn't sure- oh wait, he could read minds too while here.

"AHH PINE TREE YOU CRACK ME UP! MOST DEMONS DON'T NEED TO MAKE A DEAL TO POSSESS YOUR FRAGILE MEAT SUIT, THEY JUST TAKE IT."

"Then why do you?" Dipper found himself asking before he could stop himself. The boy had a feeling that if Bill was able to possess anyone at any time the world would have ended a long time ago.

"WELL, UNLIKE OTHERS, I DON'T ACTUALLY EXIST IN YOUR DIMENSION." The triangle spoke with a grudging annoyance. It was obviously a point of contention for the being of almost unlimited energy and no weaknesses. "BUT THAT'S NOT THE POINT. THE POINT IS, IF YOU WANT TO DO SOMETHING ABOUT YOUR SISTER, I'M IN THE MARKET FOR A DEAL!"

"No way!" He had made a deal with the crazed triangle once and that experience was way more than he bargained for the first time. He would not be dumb enough to make another deal.

"MAYBE YOU DON'T APPRECIATE WHAT SHOOTING STAR IS GOING THROUGH." Bill hummed for a moment, "SHALL WE TAKE A LOOK?"

With that, Cipher seemed to grab onto nothing but air before he ripped open a rift in the mindscape. The tearing sound was hideous and Dipper felt himself cringe away before peering into the gaping tear suspended in the air. For a moment he wasn't sure what he was looking at as it seemed like the rift opened up into a black fog but slowly the choking mist cleared just enough to see Mabel surrounded by the dense black mist. It holding her suspended in the air as she cried out. The girl didn't look too good either. She had multiple scratches and bruises from what Dipper could see and her sweater was nearly shredded.

The boy stood dumbfounded and gaping as he watched his sister seem to notice something away from the rift and renewed her struggles only for a thicker cloud of mist to double back and sock her in the stomach causing her to scream in agony. Not able to take anymore Dipper made to move forward to get to his sister when he felt something grab onto the scruff of his neck.

"Mabel!" He struggled in the dream demon's hold while he watched his sister get brutalized as she futilely tried to get out of her restraints.

"SORRY PINE TREE, NO TOUCHING."

"Let go of me, I have to get to her!" The boy managed a rather impressive snarl for someone his age but it was still about as threatening as a kitten to one like Bill Cipher.

"THIS IS JUST A WINDOW INTO HER MINDSCAPE, HER REAL BODY IS OUT IN THE WOODS SOMEWHERE DOING WHO KNOWS WHAT." Cipher let go of the boy and Dipper looked back into the rift feeling useless. Mabel had stopped screaming and was limply hanging in the hold of the demon, while it seemed to be whispering to her. "THOUGH I GOTTA SAY, THAT DEMON HAS ITS HOOKS PRETTY DEEP, IF ITS NOT TORN OUT SOON I DOUBT SHOOTING STAR IS GUNNA LIVE THROUGH IT."

"No!" Dipper stopped himself from moving again no matter how much he wanted to. With a gulp of dread he turned to the three sided monster, ice slowly churning in his veins. "You said you were in the market for a deal, what did you want?"

"WELL I'M SO HAPPY YOU ASKED!" Bill seemed to brighten, literally, he was actually getting hard to look at. "YOU SEE I'M LOOKING FOR SOMEONE TO RUN A COUPLE OF ERRANDS FOR ME. IN EXCHANGE ILL GIVE YOU THE FULL KNOWLEDGE OF HOW TO TRAP AND EXORCISE DEMONS. NOT THAT IT'LL WORK ON ME OF COURSE."

Dipper frowned as the triangle tacked on the last sentence almost as an after thought. Of course the insane creature wouldn't hand over the key to getting rid of him so easily, but that once again made Dipper wonder at the deference between him and other demons...

"Just a few errands? You aren't going to use me as a puppet again?" The boy asked slowly, eyes once again straying to his sister who looked like she was on the verge of tears.

"NAH, YOU'D NEVER AGREE TO THAT. SO YEAH, JUST A FEW ERRANDS AND YOUR FREE AS A BIRD."

Silently Dipper weighed his options, he needed to save his sister but doing Ciphers dirty work didn't seem like a good idea. Noticing his hesitation, Cipher spoke up.

"TICK TOCK KID, I DON'T GOT ALL DAY, AND NEITHER DOES SHOOTING STAR BY THE LOOK OF THINGS."

As if to emphasize his point Mabel let out a shrill cry again as the black mist seemed to start squeezing the life out of her. In a sudden panic and spike of adrenaline Dipper shot his hand out before he could even process what he was doing.

"Fine, it's a deal!" The boy practially yelled in his sudden surge of panic.

Quickly the demon took the boys hand with his own flame covered one. Dipper fearfully expected a tug on his soul again, wondering if he had just been tricked into giving control of his body again but nope, this time it was worse. Knowledge slammed into him like a fright train, pictures and images swimming through his mind as well as words and phrases he could only begin to understand. It was too much and just went he thought his head might explode from the sudden influx of information everything mercifully went black.

A/N: I had written this conversation to go a little differently in the outline and I even daydreamed it differently another time but it ended up like this. I might come back and edit it in the future. I actually wasn't going to add the Cipher section in the beginning but the muse demanded it so I obliged. Feedback welcome as always!