The sun hung low in the sky, its golden crown just peaking over the tops of the trees on the mountains. It was a beautiful summer sunset by anyone's standards; the sky was clear of clouds and reached up in a gradient of oranges, pinks, and reds that ended in a deep, royal blue that promised night. The sight of it made Dipper's stomach clench.
He sat alone on top of the lop-sided Gravity Falls water tower, resting against the side. He had spent the entire day frantically zooming around the town and surrounding forest looking for himself, but it had been simply too much ground to cover with too little direction. As the day had worn on, Dipper had found it increasingly harder to stay airborne and focused on his task. He kept thinking of all the things he should have or would have done with his life. Like writing a book, becoming a detective, kissing a girl, owning up to all of the gym classes he had skipped or maneuvered his way out of… Eventually he had lighted on the tower hoping a short rest would give him more energy. It was the worst thing he could have done, because momentum had been the only thing keeping him going. His exhaustion eventually swallowed his panic and he had settled down to watch the sunset.
Dipper looked down at his hands resting on his lap and saw right through them to the wooden platform below. Only the faintest outline and tinge of tan and blue indicated he was there at all. Maybe he wasn't actually there. Maybe this was what being nothing felt like. He closed his eyes, feeling oddly like he was controlling a character in a videogame rather than himself.
"Aww, feeling a little faint?" What was obviously Bill snickered at his own joke. Dipper unwillingly opened his eyes to stare at the triangle.
He didn't have the time of energy for this. Bluntly, he asked, "What do you want now? You already won. I'm done."
"Haha, your despair is sustenance for my immortal soul! But seriously, don't be so glum. There's a silver lining here!"
"How could there possibly be anything good about this situation? You getting to watch?" Dipper shot back caustically. He surprised himself with the amount of energy he was able to put behind it.
"I'm hurt! No, no, falling tree, I'm just trying to say that you can rest easy knowing that your body doesn't have to suffer the same fate as you. If you forge a quick deal with me, right here, right now, I promise I'll find that pesky meat-suit of yours and put it to good use. I'll even return to that tourist-trap, act like you, sweat like you," The demon floated a little closer, making Dipper press against the wooden wall. Bill spoke in a lower tone, "Your family doesn't even have to know you left. And you wouldn't want to make that Shooting Star of yours cry would you?" Images of Mabel, Stan, Soos, Wendy, even his parents all flickered over the golden surface of Bill's body, all taken straight from Dipper's memories. "Wouldn't that be nice? I know you're worried about them…" Bill almost sounded understanding as he extended his palm. Dipper blinked away from Bill to stare at the hand in front of his face.
That actually didn't sound so bad. He was obviously done for, and for some reason, that didn't bother him anymore. But the thought of the pain his death would cause his twin and the rest sent a terrible jolt through him even through the fog of apathy. At least, this way, they wouldn't have to hurt after he was gone.
But, it wouldn't really be that way, would it? They were bound to figure out that it wasn't really Dipper with them eventually. Especially given the demon's apparent understanding of human behavior. And what else would Bill do with his body? Hijack the journal and likely anyone's only chance at stopping him, certainly. Kill people? Summon unspeakable evils upon Gravity Falls, neigh, the world? No, this was all wrong. Everyone would be better off in the long run if Dipper just left cleanly.
Dipper turned his head away with what energy he had left and didn't see the demon's eye flash red as he did so. "No… You can keep your deal. You can't pull me off anyway. Besides, I'd just be helping you with whatever crazy plans you have."
"Kid, you can't even pull you off!" Bill huffed, but pulled his hand. Dipper didn't respond and opted to close his eyes and wait for the demon, or his soul, to leave. Whichever happened first.
After almost a minute of silence, curiosity overcame Dipper, and he cracked open an eye. The demon had drifted back, arms crossed and body tilted so he could stare fixedly at the ground. After a few more seconds of this, he apparently came to some sort of conclusion and straightened. He grumbled something to himself and snapped his fingers.
Dipper gasped and tensed as energy coursed through him as if he were an electrical circuit. It started at his forehead and traveled downwards, making the tips of his fingers then toes tingle almost painfully. His entire body bloomed with color, becoming more solid, if still transparent. It felt magnificent. He felt ready to run a marathon. Dipper whipped his head up to look at the demon, who was busy examining his fingers as if they were recently manicured.
"D-did you just-"
"Yeah yeah yeah, don't get all sentimental on me, Pine Tree."
"I wasn't." Dipper shot back, getting to his feet and then floating upwards. He hung there awkwardly for a moment, unsure what to say or do. "Thank you, I guess. But… why?" Then, with misgiving, "What do you want from me now?"
"Nothing… much," Bill replied, blasé. Dipper gave him a look so filled with cynicism that it made even Bill backpedal. "So, ok, it turns out I actually need a little assistance to fix this problem we're all going to be having soon. If your body's off the table, then I'll just have to make due. To speed things along, I'm gonna need to take a little… dip into your mind. So how 'bout it?"
Dipper crossed his arms. Anything that Bill considered a problem may or may not be a good thing for him and Gravity Falls. And who knew what he meant by taking a 'dip'.
Exasperated, Bill slapped a hand to his eye. "C'mon, don't you want to help solve something? You love solving problems, you lie awake at night trying to solve problems! This should make you happy. Besides, you'll even get your body back out of it."
The thought of Bill possibly watching him sleep was disturbing, but that last part caught his attention. "You'll give me my body back?"
"For the last time, kid, I had nothing to do with that. But I can find out where it is real quick if you just let me do a little digging. It won't even hurt that much!"
None of this sounded like a good idea, but Dipper couldn't see any other ways out of this horrible situation. With a steeling breath, Dipper agreed, "Fine," he hesitated, "Just promise this isn't going to do any permanent damage."
"No mental scarring, promise!" The demon chirruped and then plunged his sharp little fingers directly into the center of Dipper's forehead. Horrifyingly, it felt exactly how being stabbed in the head looked. Dipper's entire body went ram-rod straight and his eyes rolled to the back of his head. Images started to flash through his mind: rolling up the bumpy gravel road of the Mystery Shack for the first time in his parent's Accord, laughing with his sister and friends at a movie last summer, studying for a test, flipping through the worn pages of the Journal late at night. Then things he couldn't remember happening: fighting with his sister over a stuffed animal as a toddler, his first wobbly steps, a sinuous black figure approaching in the dark, being born, lying prone amidst a circle of black-glowing ruins.
Bill abruptly removed his clawed hand, making the rapid-fire imaging stop. Dipper clutched at his head and doubled over. "Oh god."
"Ahahaha, don't worry, you'll forget most of that again if you try hard enough." Bill materialized his cane and tapped the back of Dipper's head with it. "Let's move!"
Suddenly they were beside a little creek a mile of two outside of town, one that Dipper hadn't seen before. He had no doubt that it fed back into Lake Gravity Falls at some point. A quaint, moss-encrusted cobblestone bridge crossed the water and connected the dirt roads on either side. In the dusk, he at first couldn't see anything particularly unusual about this scene. But then his eyes traveled downwards, under the bridge, and his heart leaped.
"My body!" He zoomed away as fast as he could, ignoring Bill who pretended to have his top hat blown off his head. As he neared, he could see that his body, seemingly intact, was thrown amongst the rocks along the bank. More disturbingly, black symbols that Dipper didn't recognize had been painted onto the smooth surfaces of the rocks around him, forming a rough circle. He shouldn't have been able to see them in the darkness, but they seemed to stand apart with how absolutely pitch black they were. Around them, the rest of the night looked absolutely sunny.
A bad feeling overcame him, and Dipper slowed down, hovering just outside of the circle. Bill caught up and stared down at the scene with Dipper.
"Well! That explains something," Bill announced to himself. Dipper looked over at him, perplexed.
"Well, it doesn't to me! What's going on?"
Bill eyed him with an unimpressed expression. To Dipper it seemed as if he were weighing whether or not an explanation was worth his time. Apparently not; Bill stretched out a thin black arm and pushed Dipper into the ring.
Dipper yelped and curled into a ball, expecting anything from lightning bolts and explosions to a thousand year curse. When nothing at all happened, he uncurled, feeling a little silly.
The smirk could be heard in Bill's voice. "Go ahead and take that precious body of yours back, kid. That ritual already did its job."
Dipper gave the demon a dubious glance, but then turned back to his body. His left arm was twisted awkwardly underneath him, and his head was tilted back due to the uneven terrain. And he had been like that all day. Dipper winced. Feeling as ready as he ever would, he dove in.
Before he could even open his eyes, he felt almost every nerve ending in his back and neck screaming at him. Smooth and sharp rocks dug into his body. It was like a slap to the face after spending all day without physical sensation. Anything that wasn't in pain was completely numb.
He painfully sat up, and his limbs (especially the one that had been trapped under his body) erupted in the worst case of pins and needles he had ever experienced.
"Oowww," He rubbed at his legs, unable to get to his feet. Looking around, he couldn't see any sign of the triangle. He called out the demon's name but the only answers he received were the steady rush of water and the chirping of summer crickets.
Well, good riddance.
Finally getting to his feet, the first thing he did was kick one of the painted rocks to disconnect the ritual circle. The mere sight of the symbols sent a shiver down his spine. He made a mental note to check the Journal for them when he got back. The symbols were etched, deep black, into his memory, and he was reminded of a brief image of a black figure. First he had to get home, somehow.
He scrambled up the slope of the bank, which was more difficult than it should have been because he felt oddly off-balance and the loose rocks kept slipping from under his feet. Once up, he was faced with the dilemma of figuring out which direction to head in. He squinted into the darkness of the night. The dirt road stretched into almost identical walls of forest in both directions.
With a weary sigh, Dipper started down the road in the direction he hoped would take him back towards Gravity Falls.
...
After about a half hour of walking, the road led him directly to the Lake Gravity Falls docks. To his relief, he could see the lit windows of the ranger station just a short walk along the water's edge.
Ranger McGucket allowed him inside to use the phone with a minimum of grumbling. Dipper went to wait on the front porch, and within fifteen minutes El Diablo rumbled up the road. Mabel, Grunkle Stan, and Soos all piled out.
"Dipper!" Mabel roared and launched herself at him, nearly sending them both to the porch floor. Dipper was exhausted and hungry, and he barely managed to stay standing under even her slight weight. After a brief but suffocating hug, Mabel released him. "Where have you been all day? Don't tell me you did something awesome without me." Mabel perched her sweater-engulfed hands on her hips, waiting for an answer.
Dipper gave her a tired smile, and kept his voice low, "Look, it's been a really weird day. We'll talk later, ok?"
Mabel nodded, and flashed him a metal-filled grin. "That's fine, bro-bro. We've been really worried though."
Just then Soos and Grunkle Stan walked up the porch steps to join them. Soos physically lifted Dipper into a rather pillowy hug before setting him down again.
"Dude, I was starting to get like, really worried." Soos chuckled uneasily. "I've been stress-eating all day."
"The vending machine's mostly empty now," Mabel explained.
"Well at least he paid for all of it," Grunkle Stan spoke up, then aggressively rustled Dipper's hair. It was only then that Dipper realized he had been missing his hat the entire time.
"Kid, you nearly made me call the police, and that's an absolute last resort for me."
Dipper tried to look apologetic, but only really managed to look vaguely nervous. "I'm sorry guys, I guess I got a little lost while I was, uh, exploring. Got carried away, you know!" He shrugged and tried to laugh it off, rather unconvincingly. There was no way he was going to explain what had really happened, especially in front of Grunkle Stan. As far at the old man was concerned, Dipper had sworn off anything supernatural.
"Yeah, well don't let it happen again," Grunkle Stan groused. "Now everyone in the car. We're going back for tv dinners and reruns!"
The all gave a little cheer, and Dipper settled happily between Mabel and Soos in the backseat.
Hope all you Americans had a nice Thanksgiving. I was thankful for you guys who reviewed last chapter :)