"Bill!?" Mabel stared at the yellow demon in shock. Her legs might have given out if there was anything actually supporting her weight. Or if gravity hadn't seemed to have been suspended.

"Aw! You remember me! I'm touched, kid. Really. I mean, you're only one of four key people that foiled my entire plan for bringing Weirdmageddon global. I could completely understand how something like that could slip the tiny mind of a human though."

"H-How did you survive? We erased you inside my grunkle's mind." This was bad. This was so bad.

"After getting over my seemingly eternal rage and hatred for your family, I can admit. That was a clever plan your uncles came up with." Bill threw his stick-like arms up casually with a shrug. "But that wasn't my first interdimensional mind rodeo and it certainly won't be my last!" he sang.

Bill floated down to Mabel, hands behind his back as he circled her. Unnerved by the idea of allowing him out of her sight, she tried and failed to turn with him, her body unaccustomed to the anti-gravity she was experiencing. It was like the invisible solidity under her feet shifted, feeling as stable as concrete one moment then like she was trying to swim through honey the next.

"I gotta say though. I didn't recognize you at first. Boy, have you grown up, Shooting Star." His eye shut as if he was smiling, oozing condescension.

"Thirteen years of being free from your ugly three-sided mug will do that!" she spat back defensively.

In the face of her old enemy all of her previous instincts rose to the surface. Emotions she'd just thought to herself moments ago were nonexistent and unnecessary now rushed through her on a base level of need to protect herself. They were in the mindscape and there was no telling what he could do to her, but at the very least it was all in her mind. He had no physical form otherwise he likely wouldn't be wasting his time with her.

"Thirteen years?" Bill rubbed his hand over where his chin might have been thoughtfully. "I've been out of the game longer than I thought."

"So you are stuck here!" Mabel concluded with a smirk.

Bill turned to her, furrowing his brow in annoyance. "Oh, where are my manners leaving my first guest in ages hanging?"

"Wait, wha-?"

With a snap of Bill's fingers gravity seemed to return as a floor materialized and Mabel fell roughly on her behind, knees bent as her legs were sprawled out at her sides.

"Ow…" she groaned, rubbing her sore rear. She barely had time to recover before she was in the air again and heard another snap.

In the next instant a table and two chairs appeared in addition to a set of tea, cups and a tray of snacks. Mabel grimaced as she was placed in one of the chairs rather roughly. It might have been in her mind, but it still hurt all the same.

Bill laughed heartily at the misfortune he'd caused her before taking the other chair across from her and casually sipping tea from one of the cups through his eye. "Talk tough all you want, but remember that this is still my realm. In my body." He crossed his small legs as he leaned back, the tea cup floating in midair as he hovered over the chair rather than sitting in it.

"W-We're in your body?" Mabel stuttered, looking around curiously as she gripped the seat of her chair. Mabel couldn't help the need for some kind of anchor in the space that bent to the demon's will. As futile as it was, it still gave her some sense of security even though Bill could be throwing her around like a rag doll if he wanted.

"What did you expect after chipping off one of my fingers?" Bill asked before pausing mid-sip of his drink, appearing pensive. "There's a joke I could be making here, but I can't quite put my finger on it... Oh! Because you broke it off!" he shouted with a cackle. "There it is…" he said, affectionately shaking his head.

"That… was an accident," Mabel grumbled, distracting herself with the spread on the table, eyeing it cautiously.

"Eh." Bill shrugged. "Damaged goods. Only one more thing to add to my list of complaints about this body. I gotta say. I liked it a lot more when it was shiny, new and uh… what's the word? Mobile," he deadpanned.

"You should be grateful you even still exist after what you did." Mabel crossed her arms. There was obviously no exit for her, but maybe she could get him to throw her out. He couldn't leave or he'd have already done so and that alone was at least reassuring.

"Grateful? Ha! You're the one who should be grateful that I still exist, Shooting Star," Bill spoke coolly, setting his tea down and placing his hands behind his head again. He floated from his chair through the air on his back like he was on an invisible raft, circling the young woman.

"What? Why?" Mabel was baffled, watching him glide past her. Maybe the dream demon was getting delusional in his solitary confinement.

"If it weren't for me, your "grunkle" wouldn't know his alphabet from his soup." He crossed his stick legs before letting out a cry when Mabel snatched him from the air and held him in front of her.

"What do you mean by that?" She stared at him intensely, demanding an answer. "You're not making any sense."

"Let me guess. After you all thought you erased me from existence Stan remembered everything like that." Bill snapped his fingers for effect, but Mabel still had to prevent herself from flinching, knowing what a simple snap of the demon's fingers could do.

"Yeah…" Mabel gave the triangle an uncertain look. "How did you know that?" She tilted her head suspiciously.

"How about I spell it out for you, Shooting Star? Has anyone who's had their memory erased by that gun gotten their memories back on their own? Ever?"

Mabel was silent. Her mind was cast back in time to so long ago when they'd encountered the Society of the Blind Eye and tried to jog Old Man McGucket's memories, believing him to be The Author. Even after he'd watched a video of his old self, he still hadn't remembered. No one had. Not even those who hadn't used the memory gun excessively.

"Well, it was only used on my grunkle once." So of course he wouldn't be as bad off as the crazed scientist.

"To erase his entire life clean from his mind," Bill pointed out.

"I showed him my scrapbook full of important memories." And Waddles had annoyed his memory back.

"I'm not hearing a yes," he drawled. Bill appeared bored as he thrummed his fingers against one of her hands that held him as he propped himself up on an elbow.

Mabel frowned. "What did you do?"

Bill's cryptic demeanor was nothing new, but this was about her grunkle, whose memories and mind might not be as okay as she once thought. Sure, nothing had happened for the last thirteen years, but knowing Bill, he could've done something horrible. For all she knew the next eclipse could make her uncle wake up and think he was a talking, hot dog-loving skeleton with a glowing blue eye and telekinetic powers.

"Aw, don't sound so suspicious. Just because I bare a deep-seated grudge against you and your family for defeating me and sending more than a millennia of work and deals down the drain, you automatically assume that I-?"

"Just tell me!" Mabel began to shake the triangle demon up and down like a magic eight she used to own. Emphasis on "used to" since she broke it. By accidentally sending it flying out a window.

"Hey! Watch the corners!" Bill growled. His eye turned an angry, menacing shade of red. "ENOUGH!"

Before she could stop him, Bill snapped his fingers. In an effort to get away from him, Mabel tried to skid her chair backwards, but a weight pressing down on her instead made Mabel and her chair topple back onto the floor. Mabel yelped as she fell on her back roughly and her head smacked against the hard ground in the process, leaving her groaning and rubbing the slowly forming lump.

"Two can play at this game, Shooting Star." The familiar voice sounded slightly different. It was less warped and loud, like it was being broadcast from speakers all around her. For once, the voice had a singular source.

She blinked blearily, black spots forming and fading from her vision due to the fall. As the grey world came back into focus, the brunette found herself inches from a bright, golden eye that seemed to shine dangerously.

"Now are you going to play nice or should I start showing you why they call me Bill the Heartbreaker?"

As he leaned back a bit from where he sat, straddling her sternum, Mabel took in the new view fully. He had a short mop of stylishly messy blond hair which covered one of his eyes completely, leaving only the one to stare at her expectantly. His black bow tie and top hat remained, the latter floating casually above his head. Trailing down, he wore a white billowy dress shirt whose sleeves were rolled up at his elbows underneath a yellow patterned vest with black buttons. His black leather gloves matched his black dress pants and shoes, the former of which was held up by a pair of suspenders.

His attire was sharp, just as it was when in his triangle form, but this, Mabel could actually take seriously. Likely the most inhuman and unusual characteristics were the slightly pointed ears sticking out of his golden locks and the partial sleeve tattoos on his forearms, wrapping around in rings of varying lengths with ancient looking symbols and markings on each band.

"They call you Bill the Heartbreaker?" she struggled out, breathless at his new appearance. And because she was pretty sure he was sitting on top of her lungs. She could see why he'd been called that as his face was smooth, refined and would be easily considered attractive, but then the moniker didn't really fit Bill's personality.

"Actually… not anymore since I tore out the heart of the last person who could recall that I was called that and broke it into a million flash-frozen bits. Heh. Heartbreaker." He shrugged, looking down at her. "And I know what you're thinking. It's all in your mind. I can't hurt you." He raised his gloved index finger in front of her. "But in light of that, just me doing that heartbreaking thing right now in front of you would probably be enough to send you into shock and I've got nothing to lose!" He grinned.

"So is it a deal or what?" He received a hurried nod from Mabel and seemed to realize only then that he was cutting off her air supply. He still took his sweet time in getting up though.

Mabel gasped for air as he scoffed at her. No one needed to breath in the mindscape. Her mind just made her think she needed to.

Once she felt she got her breath back, Mabel sat up on the ground and stared at Bill wide-eyed. "You… You have a human form?" she questioned him, astonished.

"Oh, this?" He looked down at himself curiously as if seeing it for the first time himself, leaning his arm on a cane Mabel hadn't seen him materialize. "I've had this form for ages. Been a while since I dusted it off though." He used his cane to hit his chest and a puff of dust flew off of his body like an old mattress causing Mabel to cough and wave away the dust.

He then smirked. "Why? Like what you see, Shooting Star?" He threw his arms out as if to put himself on display.

Mabel resisted the urge to roll her eyes, giving him a stoic frown before standing and dusting her pants off. She was not amused.

"What? If I recall correctly, and I always do, this form isn't far off from those dreamy boy-toys you used to fawn over. Of course, I look way cooler. And better dressed," he added importantly with a grin.

"Is there a point to this? Why did you even bring me here?" For nothing good, she was sure, but ignorance was more dangerous than knowing when it came to the demon.

"Is it so wrong of me to cater to the first visitor I've had in more than a decade…? Apparently?" he added as an afterthought. His sense of time was even worse there than it normally was. "You humans are always criticizing my naturally linear shape, but then I conform to look more like you and you're still not happy?" He clicked his tongue, shaking his head as if disappointed. "There's just no pleasing you fleshbags. I don't even know why I try." He wiped a fake tear from the corner of his eye, sniffling as violin music played in the background. On the world's smallest violin, Mabel was sure.

"If you want to make me happy, then let me out of here so I'll never have to see your face again." Everyone would start worrying about her eventually and the last thing she wanted was for them to get drawn in there with her.

"Really, Shooting Star?" Bill asked skeptically, his countenance uncharacteristically stolid. "That would make you happy?"

"Like a tornado in a trailer park," she articulated tersely.

Bill grinned. Obstinate as she was, the girl had his sense of humor.

"Oh? Then what was that whole "I wish we understood you more" spiel from earlier?" His sly grin broadened as her face fell at the realization that he'd heard her. "Just lip service for the passing squirrels?" He placed the cane on the ground behind him and leaned back expectantly.

Mabel scowled at him bashfully, fixing him with a glare. She'd been completely honest when she'd said that, but the longer she hung around the real Bill the more she was starting to remember why she wouldn't want to have anything to do with him. He was cunning, unapologetic and talking to him was like talking to a trampoline. He just bounced everything back at her with few to no straight answers. She'd had conversations with more progress with Waddles! Who was way better company anyway.

"Even if I did mean that, it's not like you would care."

"Oh? What makes you think that, Shooting Star?" he asked coyly.

"When was the last time you cared about anyone other than yourself?" she shot back.

"… I believe we're getting ahead of ourselves. My point remains. You want something from me. And I want something from you." He pointed his cane at her with a smile. "Surely, we could make some-"

"I'm not making a deal with you, Bill," Mabel interrupted flatly as the demon visibly deflated.

"Since when did Pine Tree keel over and start possessing you? The years sure have made you a killjoy." He leaned against nothing as if an invisible wall was behind him, twirling his cane with a disgruntled frown.

With a sigh, Mabel turned her back on the demon and put the fallen chair back up before taking a seat. This was clearly getting her nowhere fast.

Picking up a cookie from the tray, she sniffed it and contemplated if it was safe to eat. The last time she'd been in this situation, trapped in her bubble prison, consuming the food had had no ill effects, but she was still wary of anything and everything in the mindscape.

"It's not poisoned, ya know." The brunette shivered in surprise from hearing Bill's voice directly beside her ear, a hint of amusement in his tone. It was force of habit as she'd spent the vast majority of her life in reality, so she was still caught off guard when the laws of reality didn't make apply, like someone making sound when they moved.

When she didn't even turn to look at him, he grabbed the wrist holding the cookie causing her to tense. His grip was firm but gentle as he took a bite of the sweet in her hand as if to prove his point and promptly let go. He walked over to take a seat in the other chair, chewing casually and Mabel couldn't help staring at the mundane act of the demon eating.

She'd once asked Dipper what it was like when Bill had been possessing his body and he'd reluctantly divulged that the triangle was quite clumsy with it, stumbling as he walked and pouring soda over his face when he drank. She wondered if his skill with a human body had changed or if it was just different because they were in the mindscape.

"Even if it was poisoned, it wouldn't do much. This place is just my mind after all," he said with his mouth slightly full before swallowing.

"This is your mind? I thought we were in the mindscape. Or your body. Or… another dimension." Mabel tossed the half eaten cookie on the tray, wiping the crumbs from her hands.

"Well, a pocket of it, anyway," he told her when Mabel looked around curiously. Probably not what she expected the mind of a demon to look like, but then, she was only looking at the smallest piece of the picture. "Mind, body, dimension, it's all about the same thing at this point. It wouldn't be worth it to explain." He crossed his arms and kicked one of his legs up on the edge of the table to balance back on the hind legs of his chair.

Silence reigned between them. A little surprising since she was sure he'd try to squeeze some deal out of her, but Mabel wasn't complaining.

After a while, however, she began to grow agitated with the silence and finally spoke up. "I still don't understand how you survived. Or why I should be glad that you did."

"I think that should be a story for another time and place. Don't you think?" She swore his visible eye seemed to gleam at that, as if he knew something she didn't.

"I'm still not making a deal with you," she stated firmly.

Bill glanced at her like he didn't know what she was talking about. "No one said you had to. That's why it's called a deal, not a demand. Though, I must say, the latter is much more fun make in my opinion."

"Then I'm done here." She rose dismissively.

"Desecrating, dining and dashing, Shooting Star?" Bill stretched his palm to face her, his thumb curled in as he wiggled his ring finger, the one that had broken off of his body in the real world. "While I completely approve, I didn't think that was your style."

Mabel pursed her lips, abashed. "I didn't mean to and I was going to fix it," she grumbled. "And as fun as catching up with the nightmare from my childhood has been, I need to get home."

"'Nightmare from your childhood'? Kid, you're gonna make me blush," Bill teased in a façade of embarrassment.

"Bill. The exit?" Mabel pressed at the demon's (likely intentional) short attention.

"I'm afraid you can't leave, Shooting Star." Bill spoke as all humor drained from his expression.

Mabel's heart dropped to her stomach and she took a step back on shaky feet, the picture of a doe in headlights.

"Ha! Just kidding! The exit's over there." He jerked his thumb over his shoulder to where a door appeared in the grey void. "The look on your face though! Never gets old." He cackled to himself as he let the chair fall forth onto all four legs and smacked the table as his shoulders shook with laughter.

"And you're just… letting me leave?" Mabel was still suspicious. Even if he didn't have a reason to keep her there, he was being unusually helpful even if it was simply by showing her the way out. She'd sooner expect him to hold her there against her will until she made a deal with him that would set him free.

Bill's snickering ceased abruptly as he looked up at her and rested his chin in his hand, propping his elbow on the table. "Why? Did you miss me? I bet you missed me. Wanna spend some quality time with your favorite demon?"

Mabel gave him a tired, knowing look as she crossed her arms. When Bill didn't yield in their staring contest, she caved.

"You can cut the act. We both know that nothing is free when it comes to you."

"Be that as it may, life and everything in it isn't free either, so feel free to give that bitch the cold shoulder too." Bill stood with his cane draped over his arm and tipped his floating hat off to her, giving Mabel an even smile. "Also, consider the finger a gift to commemorate our little reunion, Shooting Star. Smaerd ruoy ni retal uoy ees."

Bill snapped his fingers.

Mabel's eyes shot open, staring up at the sky of soft pinks, yellows, oranges and purples that melded together like a river of colors.

Clenching her hands, she felt the smooth stone in her hand and sat up, looking at it pensively. Her gaze wandered to Bill's statue that was just as still and frozen as it had always been, but she knew he was still watching her from within.

With a hard look, she gave him a finger of her own and stood, walking off back to the Mystery Shack, hoping it wouldn't get dark before she returned. Despite her less than affectionate parting with the remains of the demon, she slipped the stone piece into her pocket. If nothing else, it would help remind her of just what she was dealing with.

After all, what kind of demented gift was a severed finger?

(1) This and Bill's human form were heavily inspired by an artist whose work I love dearly. Link will be in my profile.

Author's Note: So miraculously, I've found the plot! Believe it or not. XD I'm not very good at figuring out how long stuff will take me to write or how long something will be but, but rest assured that this will not be as short as it seemed like it would be before! It was great to finally get to the meat of this, meaning the stuff I really wanted to write. Mabel and Bill are so much fun and I can't help loving how well they play off of one another.

Also, thanks for the reviews, favorites and follows, guys! They always make me eager to post the next chapter. *hint, hint* ^_~ Let me know what you think!