"Mable, I'm scared." To say that Mable was worried about her brother was an understatement. He hadn't had a good night's sleep in days because Bill had been messing with his head. Ever since she was freed from her prison, actually. "Everywhere I go, I see that damned sleep demon."

"We'll figure this out brobro." Mable pulled his brother into a hug; it must be hard admitting to someone that you think you're going crazy. The least Mable could do was believe him. Besides, Dipper would never joke about something this serious.

Well, he wouldn't joke about a lot of things. Dipper wasn't really one for things that made people laugh, he was more into science and nerd stuff.

"You don't get it Mable." Dipper was pulling at his hair. His wild brown eyes contrasted sharply against the deep purple under his eyes. "He won't leave me alone. I can just hear his laughter over the winds. It's so quiet that I wonder if I'm imagining it, but then I see his eye in the forest.

"I think he's finally found us – that he's here to kill us, but he just disappears instead. Like he was never there at all." Dippers nightmare was scaring Mable. She knew that this would be in her dreams now, but she wouldn't abandon her brother in his time of need.

"It doesn't make any sense, why would he target me?"

"Who knows why Bill does anything?"

"Bill may be a snake, but he always has a reason for everything he does." Dipper pulled out of the hug and looked Mable in the eye. "think about it – everything Bill has done has been to free himself from the Nightmare Realm and raze the universe. How does playing mind games help him?"

"Maybe he views you as a threat?"

"I don't think so," Dipper said, "He could've killed me or taken me prisoner like he did with Ford. In his eyes, I was nothing. He didn't even seem concerned when I was able to escape."

"Until you freed me." It all clicked into place. Dipper wasn't a threat by himself. They'd always defeated Bill as a team. "I think Bill is messing with you to keep us from being at our best because…"

"He knows we can beat him together!" Dipper finished.

Hehe, Mable loved twin moments.

"Exactly!" Mable beamed as she saw a glimmer of hope strike in her brother's eyes for the first time in days. "You're a genius Mable!"

"Aww, thanks." Mable pulled her brother into another hug before shoving him towards the temporary bedrooms. "Now, go try and some sleep. We attack at dawn!"

Dipper laughed at his sisters antics and Mable beamed. She loved how she was always able to put a smile on her brothers face, no matter what color the sky was.

When he was out of site, Mable headed back inside to make sure everything had been put together according to the plan.

After a week of planning and building, the Mystery shack robo-gladiator thing was complete. Mable wasn't sure what to call it if she was being honest with herself.

Mable headed up to her former bedroom and central command station. Dipper's bed was replaced by gears and pipes; the whole room smelled of burnt oil too. Where McGucket actually got the supplies to transform the Shack was beyond Mable.

She decided it was best not to ask.

Behind the command center was the communications center. Mable was proud to say that she was the genius who suggested that they use string cans to get messages across the war machine. The Multi-Bear was put in charge of relaying messages across the house.

The front wall had been knocked out and replaced with a big looking glass. Couldn't defeat Bill if you couldn't see him. Mable had already taken the time to write some inspirational messages with a dry erase marker on it.

A little positivity could go a long way in this bleak world.

The right side of the room that used to be where Mable slept was now full of tubes. They reminded Mable of the tubes in those old mail rooms where the mail was pushed like a torpedo towards people's offices.

When Bill became distracted, the final attack force would be launched from the total pole cannon into the sleep demon's palace. They could only launch a few people or there wouldn't be enough left behind to face Bill.

From there, the main extraction team would free Gruncle Ford along with the rest of the townspeople. Dipper had told her that Ford knew of another way to defeat Bill, so he was the groups number one priority.

Star and Mable, however, had been allowed to pursue a different goal. When Mable had heard about what became of Marco, she vowed to help Star get her friend safe. Once that was through, Star had promised to help in any way she could.

Mable couldn't wait to see what the magic wand could do.

Star had seemed apprehensive about using her magic. Something about the way her eyes flashed, as if she wasn't being completely upfront with her powers. Mable wasn't sure why Star was so worried; Bill wouldn't be able to keep up with the magic spells she had heard of. They reminded her of the time she used her imagination to defeat Bill with kitten fists.

Maybe Star was planning on abandoning ship once Marco was out of harm's way. Leaving everyone else to fend for themselves.

Mable shook her head. She didn't think that Star would leave once her friend was safe, she just wasn't that type of person. Mable would know, she was an excellent judge of character. Besides, those two came here on their own to help the situation, they could've left the second Bill crossed over. No, Star would fight until the end.

Maybe she just felt bad that her hands were tied at the moment. All she could do was talk about him and his history, something Dipper had been very interested about (classic Dipper).

Maybe Mable would make her a sweater to make her feel better. Something to warm her up and hopefully put a smile on her face.

Actually, thinking about it, everyone seemed apprehensive about tomorrow. She should make everyone a sweater.

"What a great idea." Mable mumbled to herself. She'd need to start working if she wanted to have them all ready by tonight's campfire.

AN: Hey guys! Hope you guys enjoyed the new chapter. I thought about getting to a fight scene soon but I thought it'd be better to dive into what's going on with Dipper and Mable instead. Next chapter will probably focus on Star and Bill.

I also just realized that this will be kind of a shorter story, maybe somewhere in the 20 – 25k range. Don't worry though, I have a few ideas for a sequel if you guys want it.

Anyways, see y'all next week!