Prompt: A situation (maybe Monsterfalls?) where Dipper and Mabel have to protect Bill for a change.

Note: Monsterfalls is an AU where the cast has become monsters. Dipper is a deertaur, Mabel is a mermaid, Grunkle Stan is Garygoyle, Wendy is a werewolf, etc. Cipher, already being a monster, just seems to be capable of being human, but he's still a demon.

Give Em Hell

Bill Cipher's day just wasn't going well at all.

First, he hadn't gotten much for breakfast. And breakfast for him was between the hours of 12 and 9 am, when most of the creatures in his territory were asleep and dreaming. Dreaming delicious, lovely morsels, from thick salty nightmares that kept him fed for months, to velvety rich wish-fulfillment dreams that had dollops of hopes and wonder topped on them like heavy cream. On a good night he'd get to gobble a veritable buffet of every kind of dream there was, leaving nothing but black inky darkness in his wake and a wonderfully full core that thrummed with power. And since you didn't know when another good dream would come around again, Bill often wasn't picky. And last night he'd had nothing to be picky over, and as such when the sun had risen Bill had nearly yawned himself back into the Dreamscape. Ordinarily, one night of no juicy dreams wouldn't much matter to the all powerful being. But after a solid four days of nothing of much substance to consume, even Bill was feeling a little green around the gills.

He'd stumbled a bit even, glancing down at the hopelessly long legs his human form had and frowned deeply at them. Hardly enough power to hover, too. Mhm. Not good at all.

As was his luck, his day started going downhill from there.

The lake monster wasn't appreciative of his presence in its territory (silly beast) but Bill didn't have the energy or patience to deal with it, so he'd left it alone. That clumsy sculpey Soos had slammed him with clay so heavy the thin Bill had toppled right through a wall in the Shack. Cursing and shouting did nothing, and Bill honestly felt a headache coming on. Stan had stomped through the door and yelled at Bill for the mess, since the last thing someone wanted to deal with was a gargoyle that felt its house or inhabitants were being endangered in anyway. (Bill was only grateful it was the Shack's shitty wall and not one of the twins. He didn't feel like being punched through three walls and into a tree.) After a losing battle against that gray oaf, Bill had growled and left. There was no rest for weary.

So he stalked into the woods. Maybe he could find an easy meal there. He wondered vaguely where the twins were, and what they might be up too, but by the time he got well into the nice familiar territory, he was too sleepy to care about anything but rest. His body was shutting down. This wasn't good, but Bill couldn't quite remember why exactly.

That tree looked nice.

The Dream Demon stumbled over, letting his black legs tumble from under him and his back hit the bark. His skin was graying and his normally bright yellow eye was a faded, soft pastel of its normal color. Even his hair probably looked lighter, feh. Cipher considered letting his body simply melt into the Dreamscape but decided the trip into it wouldn't be worth the trouble, and before he could think about it too much, his heavy eyelids had drooped closed.

He slept. It wasn't a very good sleep. Sleeping for demons like him was a slightly scary sort of floating, you felt nonexistent. You floated in an afterthought of existence, a sort of lingo where you were nothing. You felt small, and weak and helpless, and most demons did anything to avoid their powers sinking that low. If Bill had more energy, he'd probably be regretting it.

Suddenly the ground shuddered. The motion jerked him from the brink of nothingness, (for which he was actually relieved) and soon he was blinking in dreary confusion at the forest and the huge hulking behemoth stalking much to close. His relief caved way to annoyance and a touch of fear. He did not have the energy to combat this thing. He honestly wasn't even sure he could out run it now.

"Hn—what?" He managed, trying to get to his feet. Bill failed miserably, and only managed to get the beast's attention more. It growled and slobbered around massive jaws, teeth long than Bill's arm and thicker than his waist. It picked up pace, loping toward him, at full energy.

"…futuo." The Demon groaned as he forced his protesting body up and scrambled behind a tree as the claws came swiping. Bark flew and the tree shook, but Bill only swayed uneasily and clutched his throbbing head. No power. No way to move fast.

A quick save like that wouldn't save him again.

Suddenly something grabbed his arm and pulled him deeper between the trees into the darkness. He stumbled back, ending up bent over to fit inside what appeared to be a close little thicket. Sunlight hardly made it through the leaves, mottling the forest ground in dapples of light. It was dark, and it was comforting. Not because of the place, but because of the long brown legs he saw behind him when he turned, still on his knees.

Now he knew right away who it was that had saved him. Only one creature was that silent, it was like they weren't there at all. (Unless they were scared and bolting away from something clumsily, which was honestly the funniest thing Cipher had ever seen.)

"Pine Tree?" Bill managed incredulously as the skinny buck looked down at him with clear concern.

"Bill? What happened to you? You look awful, man. Normally you'd have eaten a monster like that already." The deertaur's voice was a soft little whisper. Bill gave a mild glare and rallied his bark, since they both knew right now he had no bite.

"Oh, is this how you greet your friends? Love to hear what you think of your enemies, PT."

Dipper gave a look, one that silently warned him not to revoke the hiding spot Dipper was offering him. Bill tried not to frown—it was very hard—and instead looked back into the small opening. He could still hear the beast, but it seemed rather distracted by something. Or someone. There was the sound of moving water and familiar giggling.

"Is-is Shooting Star out there? What in seven hells is she doing?" If he had the energy to get up from his knees he'd storm out there right now and toss the monster so far from the tiny mergirl they'd have to pump sunshine to it. No one touched his kids.

"Doing what she does best." Dipper smiled wryly.

Bill considered this and decided to relax a little. He sat on the forest floor with his palms behind him bracing his arms up and gave a look at one of his kids.

"Ah. Making a lot of obnoxious noses and being distracting?"

"Yep." Dipper sounded proud as his big ears pricked to listen, making sure his pseudo-twin was still alright. The giant hamster ball filled with water Grunkle Stan had gotten them was surprisingly tough, so even if she did let it swipe her she'd harmlessly bounce a bit before 'swimming' back over to it.

Honestly, Bill felt a bit sympathetic for the monster at that point. He wasn't at all surprised when something came crashing through the underbrush, trampling leaves and bushes in its wake.

"Coast is clear!" Mabel's voice trilled happily.

"Mabel, be a bit more careful." Dipper whined as he stepped out with much more grace than his sister possessed, glancing sadly at the crumpled leaves and thistles leading toward the safe little thicket. He liked having little hiding spots nearby, even if they did all sleep in the shack under their Grunkle's protection.

"I am being careful; I only rolled over a few gnomes today. That's a new record." She grinned then blinked, pressing her hands to the inside of her moving 'fishbowl.'

"Hey Bill, what's eating you? You're all gray-ie and see through." Her tail flicked before she decided, "It's weird."

"Mabel's right Bill. Have you been eating enough dreams?"

"Huh? Oh. Dun worry'bout it you two." Cipher slurred, rubbing his face, eyes half mast or closed. The twins shared a worried look. Bill never slurred.

"C'mon, Bill." That was Dipper, grabbing the black gloved hand of the demon, fearless of the deadly claws trying to poke through the laytex. He tugged a bit, guiding the tall figure through the woods back toward the Shack.

The demon only yawned, and followed with surprising obedience.

The next thing Cipher knew he was on the couch in Mystery Shack and his head was on something soft. Upon further realization, and turning his head a fraction to the left, he saw thin brown forelegs of a deer hanging over the seat cushions, back legs tucked up neatly. His pillow was moving as Dipper breathed in and out, nose buried in the journal. The deertaur was tucked into the sofa side and Bill was lying on his back with his head on the boy's lower torso. It was unexpectedly comfortable.

"Why didn't you just take some of our dreams, you silly dorito?" Mabel, now in her tank by the sofa and hanging over the side, patted her tail happily in the water.

"Hn?" Bill turned to look up at her, half listening to Dipper's distracted mumbles and the tv which was on in the background.

"Oh. Uh. Well. S'kinda considered rude you know. ….To take dreams from…creatures you don't absolutely loathe."

Mabel blinked, and then realization dawned upon her face and she beamed.

"Don't hate—so you like us?! Awww, Bill!" Mabel blew the demon a kiss and swam to the bottom of her tank where she curled up, saying she'd go to sleep so Bill could get some food in him properly. And she wouldn't take no for an answer mister!

Bill heard Dipper chuckle, the noise reverberating in his stomach. The demon threw them an empty glare and simply rolled onto his right side, facing the back of the couch. He listened to the background of Mabel's tank, Dipper soft mumblings as he worked, and felt himself relax. Within moments he was asleep, and Dipper knew the demon was following his sister into her mind to do as she requested.

Dipper meanwhile, quietly wrote in Journal 3, on the page behind Bill's section.

Dream demons show they like you by not eating your dreams.

He underlined 'not' twice and smiled softly at the page. Wonders never cease.