Prompt: What about Dipper getting fatally hurt and Bill has a complete breakdown but eventually gets himself together and saves Dipper at the last minute?

Darkest Hours

"Pine Tree? Get up, Pine Tree!"

No answer.

"You're not fooling anyone, kid! Answer me when I talk to you!"

Again, no answer.

The words are short and sharp, Bill's aggravated and letting it show. His eye was flickering to red as he floats down toward the ground, and the body lying on it. When Dipper didn't answer him, just remained lying face down like a puppet with its strings cut, Bill's barking tone faltered and he simply moved faster to the kid's side. Something akin to worry was festering in the area where humans had stomachs.

"Ohh, c'mon. Don't be like that. Face it now, William." Chided a voice, thick with accent and obvious glee. Bill spared a half hearted glance in Gideon's direction as the man-child sauntered out of the smoke trails. The ones Dipper had just been blasted from, thrown like a rag doll against a thick oak with hardly a warning from Gideon's attack.

It hadn't been a fair shot, Cipher knew that. He wished he'd been closer to the kid, so he could have warned him, or reflected the attack or maybe even taken it. He wished he didn't have to see Dipper hit the bark so hard, or hear his body crunch sickeningly or the little grunt of pain Dipper uttered, eyes knitted shut. Then, Dipper's face had relaxed and his eyes had rolled up. And he'd fallen, dropping lifelessly to the grass and tree litter, without much fanfare. It wasn't dramatic it was terrifying, to be honest. Dipper shouldn't be down just from one little hit, should he?

Either way, Dipper was still where he'd fallen, on his stomach with his head turned to the left, face half buried in the grass and breathing shallowly. Shouldn't humans breathe a little more than that?

Was he…was he dead?

Bill was over him now, and managed to rally his anger at Dipper's fault. He did his best to keep the fear from his tone. Demons did not feel fear. Cipher hadn't been scared like this since, since…

"Dipper! Stop playing games—that's my job! Who said you could get hurt, huh kid!?" He tried again. He shifted subtly, as if he could block Dipper's prone form from view from Gideon. He was a bit see through, but the demon's posture remained protective and threatening.

The child only giggled, and Bill hated the sound. He turned back to his little fragile sapling and stretched out a boneless arm to shake Dipper's shoulder. Gently at first, then with growing unease. He didn't like this. He didn't like this one bit. Normally, this action obtained some sort of response when Bill tired to wake him in the morning. Even if it was an arm swatting at him, it was still something.

Now, though.

"Didn't you hear me?! I SAID GET UP!" On the last shout, his voice turned deep and demonic, rumbling like the voice belonged to a massive hulking monster instead of the two foot tall glowing triangle that was the dream demon's outer form. Despite his most commanding, horrifying tone, this did nothing to rouse an answer from the unmoving boy.

He moved around Dipper to try and see his face, at the same time pushing on his left shoulder a bit. This time, Dipper's body moved up and his head half moved. When Bill let go, Dipper slumped back down into place and remained a crumpled little form on the forest floor.

Something deep, deep inside Bill's chest, flared with anxiety. And he couldn't think quite right. He couldn't focus, and if he had to breathe he's pretty sure he wouldn't be able to do that either.

This overwhelming feeling, this rushing noise he heard—what was this? Was this a panic attack?

Demons didn't get panic attacks. T-that was a weak human flaw. One of the many.

"…kid….no. This isn't…" Bill tried to explain something. Exactly what, not even he knew. No matter what it was, Dipper clearly wasn't in a position to hear it.

Gideon heard his suddenly soft voice, and saw the way his arms started to hang listlessly. The child decided to capitalize on it, because why not? He could use a little icing on his cake.

"My, my. Lost that angry streak you used to be famous for, didn't we now? I think you've failed in protecting your little mystery protégé, you've failed him quite enough. Why, you'd be lucky if he were to ever wake up again." Gideon's tiny lips turned upward into a vile little sneer.

Bill didn't answer. Or move. He wasn't in floating in place.

"You've underestimated the human body a'once more Bill! But this time it cost you more than a deal, didn't it? Cost you your little pet there. Shame. I am sorry it had to come to this." Gideon tsked, not sounding very sorry at all. He used his words to test the reaction of the demon. Bill's one eye was wide and unseeing, staring down at Dipper's back, covered in dirt and soot and blood.

Despite his mocking, Cipher didn't respond, not even a twitch. Gideon felt pride swell inside him, and he rubbed his piggy hands together, knowing he'd won. The Dream Demon was effectively distracted, and it wasn't like Pines was going to do anything to him now.

Gideon strode closer and bent down to scoop up the 3rd journal. It was half under Dipper's pale hand, fingers stretched out. When Dipper had tumbled from the trunk, he'd just managed to keep a hold on the journal that ended when he'd hit the ground so hard. And Bill was still hovering over him, clearly trying to process just what was wrong with the boy. (My, if only he knew, the little idiot.) Despite the proximity of the dangerous monster, Gideon snagged the book quite easily and lifted it. Cipher was half aware at that point. He managed to refocus, as he watched with a dead eye what happened. Pine Tree's hand lifted, and slid down the cover and slumped quietly back to the earth without so much as a noise from Dipper. His hand made a soft 'paft' sound when it met the dirt. That was it.

Bill could only think one all-consuming thought:

Dipper never let that book out of his grip.

This was it then.

Dipper was…gone. And Bill had failed.

"I always knew ahh'd haveta pry it from his cold, dead—"

A bolt of blue fire slammed into Gideon's body and the kid went FLYING.

Well, if Dipper was gone, then Bill Cipher literally had nothing left to lose, now did he?

The demon let out a noise between a bellow and a roar and gathered more of his energy. Drawing on his reserves, he became solid, and very real. It's not every day you see your nightmares come to life. Though Bill had no mouth, it was obvious his look was one of fierce delight and rage as his circle swirled into life around him, spinning erratically.

There was a low, deadly growl coming from somewhere above Gideon. Gideon managed to crack open an eye from the rubble into which he'd been slammed into; lifting his chin an inch to see what was making such an ungodly noise. He immediately wished he hadn't, because the last thing he saw was fire, red, claws and teeth.

And not necessarily in that order.

For a long, blinding moment, there was no God in Gravity Falls.

And then there was the tiniest of noises, a pathetic little cough, and everything froze.

Bill turned, his entire body flaring crimson and his fists engulfed in destructive blue fire as he tracked the noise behind him, to his right. He still had a hand raised, preparing to send the full backlash of his power down on the human and the land around him. He half intended to raze Gravity Fall's forest to the ground, with little care of what happened to himself if he wasted so much energy. But now, with his sharp hearing picking up a familiar noise, the Dream Demon hesitated in his nightmare giving because of what he saw over his shoulder.

Dipper was moving. Dipper was moving!

Well, not very much. Still! The boy shakily shifted onto his side and then his back, giving soft noises of pain that made something in Bill's chest ache in what appeared to be sympathy. Dipper sounded weak and pathetic Cipher made a mental note to never let the boy out of his sight ever again.

There was a noise before him, and Bill was distracted momentarily. What had he been doing? Ah, yes! What he was good at—

"….B-Bill?" Followed by the weakest of moans from behind him. Dipper voice was small and thin.

…but what Bill Cipher was good at, was very different from what he wanted to be good at, the Dream Demon realized then.

Abandoning his flames and the current task at hand, Bill switched targets and was literally a blur back to Dipper's side.

"Pine Tree?!" He tried not to sound too excited. What, was he 500 years old again? Lame! He needed to put up a better front than this.

Dipper, bless his little heart, looked up and saw him, and managed a tiny smile. "I need…I really need a hospital, man." Now that he was awake and had shifted, Bill saw the damage better. Something in Dipper's chest clearly wasn't doing what it was supposed to. The boy's lips were a little blue, and getting worse. There were bruises forming in crops, and scraps and cuts that required some form of antiseptic.

It looked a little too much like the time Bill had taken over Dipper's body, and the demon felt guilt threaten to swallow him up. Dipper must have seen the downright scared look on his 'face' because the kid shivered and reached a shaking hand up. It rested on Bill's front, showing no fear in touching such a deadly monster. A monster that had, not that long ago, hurt him worse than Gideon just had.

Despite this, Dipper showed no fear. And it gave Bill the tiniest feelings of hope, and a sudden rush of affection for this trusting little kid.

"H-Hos…" Dipper rasped out again, trying to remind him. Bill jerked to life and nodded, eye widening.

"Okay, okay. I hear ya." Cipher did his best to sound soothing. It worked, or maybe because he'd started pulling them in the Dreamscape to shift the scene. Either way, Dipper relaxed trustingly in his hold and sighed in exhaustion and clear pain.

"Uh, everything will be okay, yeah? I'll get yer sister, and you can sleep for a weak—and, look, I saved the journal!" He tried, hoping for an answer that was words and not scrawny, pained little gasps as Dipper tried to catch his breath. Whatever was wrong in him, it must be hurting bad.

Dipper knew the next time he was pulled from the Dreamscape into Reality, it would be before Gravity Falls General.

Eyes fluttering closed; the boy managed one weaker smile of gratitude before passing out.

He missed Bill's uneasy glance away from him, or the way the demon refused to leave his side once they actually did get to the hospital.

Better Dipper didn't know. Few believed the loyalty of a demon, after all.