Hurt.

Everything hurt.

But considering that the lack of pain would have meant that Dipper was dead, he would take it.

He lay on the ground, heaving and panting, struggling to take in air.

His ribs hurt and his chest and his throat and everything hurt.

But it was over, it was done, Bill hadn't won. In fact-Dipper looked over to where the massive backlash of energy had knocked the demon out of the air-Dipper thought he may even be…dead?

Well, if not dead, then dead soon.

He moved his head back where it was before, keeping his sister firmly in his line of sight. Mabel had gotten a knock on the head and was currently passed out but otherwise was fine.

Dipper was…he had a feeling he wasn't as fine. There was an awful lot of blood on him and he was scared to even think about moving, but neither did he actually think he was dying.

Sure the world was, from what Dipper had gathered from Bill's ranting, drastically changed and life as he knew it was pretty much over and a new world order would be in place, but other than that everything was going to be okay and-

"Kid, you look terrible."

Dipper knew better than to sit straight up because he was pretty sure one or more of his ribs were broken, but he turned his head towards the direction of that voice.

It was Bill. But he looked…well, he looked terrible too. He wasn't bright shining gold any more, more like a tarnished, sickly looking yellow-green. There were massive holes in his body, bricks fallen out and drifting away from him, and his eye was half swollen shut. His hat was missing and his bow tie was askew.

"So…so do you," Dipper managed to get out.

Bill looked over him, floating over to Dipper though he was almost touching the ground.

"Hmmm…five broken ribs, broken leg, significant blood loss, future lung cancer…nothing I can't fix however."

"Wha-Bill, face it, you lost."

Bill laughed, ugly and grating against Dipper's ears. It was a shadow of his former laugh, without its echoes, but somehow it scared Dipper more than it ever had before.

"Pine Tree, let me tell you something you still haven't gotten through your puny brain. I͚̥.͖̺̝̞̣ ̰Ṉ͜e̹͎̖̲͉̻͇v͍͚̰̥͚͉e̺̩͕̩͇͠ͅr͉̪̯̖̤͈̤.̶̪̙͕̬̣̥ ̵̙͙̱͍̫̳̦L̦͔̞ͅo͜s͔e̦͎̠͚̦. ̯͇"

He was hovering above Dipper now. "And your body would be a perfectvessel for me to use! You fleshy types don't really appreciate your connection to this realm any way."

"You…you can't do that! We don't have a deal!"

This did seem to give Bill pause for a second, and Dipper thought (perhaps foolishly, but he had lost a lot of blood) that he was safe.

But Bill shrugged and Dipper's blood ran cold. "Maybe not, but I need that body more than you."

Then Bill thrust his hand into Dipper's chest, and tried to rip the soul from Dipper's body.

Tried being the operative word because Dipper refused to budge.

"Kid, just give it up and le͟a̷v̧e̢ already."

Dipper spat at Bill in response.

Bill phased into Dipper's mind, sending them both to the Mindscape. Sure the kid had a point about the contract and this probably wouldn't work but he was dying, him, an immortal being of terror and might and he coul-

Bill's train of thought was interrupted by a punch to his eye.

Bill fell to the ground and Pine Tree stood over him.

"It's over Bill."

Bill put his hands (such as they were) and sunk roots deep into Pine Tree's mind, into his body, rooting himself in to this vessel. The human in front of him began to flicker on and off, losing grasp of his body despite his best efforts (and Bill could feel them, like a frantic bird beating against the bars of a cage.)

Bill felt his confidence begin to come back. Sure he was only mere moments from death, but so was Pine Tree moments from vacating the premises and letting him in. Bill had this!

"Don't worry Pine Tree!" he sing-songed to the soul in front of him. "I'll take good care of everyone while you're gone. Especially that sister of yours. I owe her for that circle she drew earlier. I'll take real ̨͎̼̬̪̗͚̞g̦͔͈̠ͅoo̗̣̺̮͕ͅd̮̲͎͓̲ ͈͕̣͚̲c͇͍͕͚̜͖ͅa̩͍̟̦̪͍r̬̱̙͙̱ͅe̟͚͘ ͓̜̗͓̼̩͟ơ͙̘͈̯̤̰̖f̩̲̻ ̙̱̀h͉è̲̠͙̠͉̱̥r̩͎̠̖̯̫̀.̲́"

Dipper froze and despite Bill's confidence, a trickle of doubt trickled down their spine (because Bill was too rooted in this body now to escape, even if he could, it was now or never, possession or death).

Dipper looked around him, almost as if realizing for the first time where he was. He looked at Bill's hands, and then his own.

Bill had to put in roots, he could feel them in their body, dark and twisted and wrong.

But this was his body first.

And he would never let it or Bill or anyone else ever, ever hurt Mabel.

Dipper wasn't sure how to describe what he did, even afterwards, all he knew was that he began to pull.

Bricks began to fly away from Bill's façade, and Bill's swollen eye turned red.

"N̘̬̱̪̦ͮ̐̚O̰̬̦̣͂ͬͩ̅̍!"

Distantly, Dipper felt Bill try and dig deeper, insert himself more into their body, but for every root Bill put down, Dipper pulled again, pulled and pulled even as he felt distantly blood pool out on the ground in the real world, heard like echoes underwater the sound of Mabel coming to, saw Bill disintegrate faster and faster in front of his eyes.

Dipper was probably going to die doing this.

But if it meant ridding this new world of Bill once and for all, meant keeping Mabel safe, then it was worth it.

Dipper gave one last, almighty pull and tore Bill's soul out of their-no, his-body.

(the last thought Bill Cipher had before death was less a thought and more a look ahead of what lie in store for Dipper Pines. If he had time he would have laughed himself sick. As it was, he went into the dark satisfied that he had possibly unleashed even more chaos on the world than if the possession had actually worked.)

Dipper fell back onto the ground, sitting up and watching with satisfaction as the remnants of Bill melted into a puddle.

Then the puddle sunk into the ground, into the dirt, into his body.

Too late did Dipper remember about the changes that Bill had been pushing through his body, the new pathways and channels coursing through him, and then that and-

Suddenly, it felt like everything was burning and Dipper knew no more.

(Mabel never, ever spoke about the Transcendence. The actual event itself.

To her dying day she remembered the screams that had ripped out of her brother's throat.

She never wanted to hear anything like that ever again.)