Dipper showered and redressed his injuries that night before attempting sleep. He was exhausted beyond belief but ended up laying awake in his bed all night just staring at the ceiling. Bill tried to help him sleep in his own weird way but it only served to keep him awake. He didn't trust Bill, if he wanted him to sleep then Dipper couldn't give him that.
Early the next morning he went back to the hospital to see Mabel. She was still weak and very sore but happy to see him. Dipper had snuck Waddles into the hospital in his backpack which brought Mabel great joy. He smiled as she lovingly cuddled her pet pig. More than once Bill tried to spoil the mood with his usual quips but Dipper managed to ignore him. He was so happy to see Mabel smile that nothing Bill could say could ruin this moment.
"Oh Waddles, your just the pick me up I needed, OW!"
Dippers smile faded, "Mabel!"
"It's ok," Mabel cringed. "I just hurt my, well, everything." Mable chuckled softly.
"Here I'll get Waddles off..." Dipper offered reaching out to lift the pig from her injured body.
"No!" Mabel cried, "I'm not done cuddling!"
"Mabel, I really should take him home, he's not supposed to be here in the first place." Dipper tried to reason but Mabel's teary eyes and puppy dog pout softened him.
"Alright," He conceded. "But just a few more minutes."
"Yay!" Mabel squealed, hugging the fat pink pig.
Suddenly a voice came from the doorway, "Dipper Pines?"
Dipper turned to see lady doctor with oval glasses. The doctor adjusted her glasses, she looked as though she was about to say something but stopped.
"Is that a pig?"
"Uh-Oh," Mabel looked down guiltily, "Busted."
"I'm sorry, I'm the one who brought him in I thought it might help..." Dipper stammered.
The doctor stopped him a moment, rubbing the bridge of her nose in frustration. "Just don't worry about it for now, we'll deal with it later."
Dipper was a bit confused but waited patiently to hear what could be of greater importance.
"It's you're uncle," the doctor explained. "He's awake and he's asking for you."
Dipper was excited for a brief moment but was quickly struck with dread. He turned to Mabel for solidarity. Mabel nodded, and without another word Dipper rushed to Stan's room.
Stan's room was poorly lit, a bulb had burnt out on one side of the room and simply hadn't yet been replaced. Dipper stopped at the door. Seeing Stan in the hospital bed, weak, hooked to a dozen machines, it was unsettling.
"Gruncle Stan?" Dipper asked hesitantly as he stepped closer.
"Dipper," Stan reached out and placed a hand on his shoulder, eyes wide. For a moment he simply stared at him wide eyed, almost as if he couldn't believe what he was seeing.
"My god," he muttered. "My god," his eyes began to water as he gripped Dippers shoulder like his life deepened on it. After a moment of shaky frantic tears, he shot up and took hold of Dipper's other shoulder, shaking him slightly.
"Mabel! Where's Mabel!" He demanded. His eyes were wild and frantic. The beeping of the monitors steadily grew louder and faster.
"She's fine Gruncle Stan," He assured, trying weakly to comfort his great uncle. "Everything's fine now, Bill's gone."
"You're such a lair pine tree, I'm so proud."
"Bill!" Stan growled. His brow furred with pure, unadulterated, rage and hatred. "Where is he?!" Stan roared. The beeping grew faster still.
"Where's Ford?" Dipper demanded, desperate to change the subject. The beeping grew faster still and it was starting to send Dipper into a panic.
"You didn't," Stan cringed, clutching his chest and gritting his teeth. "You didn't..." He stammered through twisted agony as the beeping reached its crescendo.
Before Dipper could get another word from him a flurry of doctors and nurses rushed in. They tore Dipper from Stan's grasp, brushing him to the sidelines. Dipper simply stood there numbly looking on. The noise of the room seemed to fade away.
Stan had suffered a major heart attack but the doctors were able to get him stable again. The doctor told him it had been caused by over due stress.
"Eh, old people, what can you do." Bill dismissed as Dipper lay awake in his bed back at the Mystery Shack. Dipper had ignored Bill's remarks all afternoon. His family was dying all around him. Nothing Bill could say could hurt him now. After all what else could Bill take from him.
Mabel was still recovering but it didn't seem likely she would ever be quite the same again. Stan nearly died in from of him from fear and shock alone. And Ford... Ford. He was probably already dead.
Dipper wanted to cry but he was to exhausted, every inch of his body longed for the sweet relief of sleep. His eyes burned and his mussels ached. How long had it been since he slept? Forty eight hours, round about.
Eventually despite himself exhaustion consumed him and he let sleep take him.
"I don't know about you, but I'd call this a job well done." Bill boasted as he sat at a small table across from Dipper. The table seemed to float about in the abyss of the dream as Bill sipped from a translucent teacup.
Dipper stood silently watching. "What's a matter pine tree, not impressed?" Bill asked.
Dipper had no comment merely stood silently.
"I can always up the ante if need be," Bill said coolly.
"I don't see how," Dipper confessed. "Gruncle Ford is dead, Mabel's been traumatized, and Gruncle Stan." Dipper began to find the tears he had been unable to muster in the waking world. "I don't know..."
"Hey take it easy kid," Bill soothed as he hovered about Dippers shoulders. "I wouldn't worry about it to much. They'll both be dead soon." Dipper looked up at Bill. His freakish eye staring holes in him. There was a cold smile to his tone.
"You're lying." Dipper stated weakly. There was little conviction to his words however. Bill knew things, thing's no one else could possibly know.
"You think so?" Bill teased. Dipper merely backed away, horrified. He pulled his hat down and clung to it tightly. The hat Wendy gave him at the end of his first summer in Gravity Falls. It served as a symbol of all the things he loved in this little town and the last piece of that summer he had left.
"You wanna call my bluff pine tree?" Bill asked.
"No..." Dipper mumbled through his tears.
"There is a way you can make things easier for them." Bill offered.
Dipper looked up at him expectantly. He didn't want Mabel or Stan to suffer. Not anymore than they already had.
"How..." Dipper asked.
"I'll show you," Bill said before vanishing. The void around him began to spin widely in a flash of light and color. Dipper shut his eyes tight to fight the vertigo. After a moment or two he found himself standing in the hospital again. He looked up at the sign on the wall. Mabel was in this hallway. Dipper rushed a few rooms down to find Mabel right where he had left her. She was sleeping soundly. All but her face and hands seemed completely wrapped in bandages. Despite it all she looked comfortable.
Dipper breathed a sigh of relief as he stepped into the room. He walked up next to the bed an placed a gentle hand on her face. Lightly caressing her cheek. He felt a weight in his other hand. He looked down to find a knife.
Without much hesitation he pulled the knife up to Mabel's throat and pulled it slowly across her flesh. Mabel woke and began to scream.
"No, no don't scream!" Dipper dropped the knife and wrapped his hands around her bloody throat. He tightened his grip until her screams were reduced to gasping breaths. Her warm blood gushed over his hands, he could feel her pulse beneath his palms beating so fast it felt as though her very veins were kicking at his hands in some desperate attempt for freedom.
Suddenly Dipper was struck with a wave of self awareness.
"No!" He screamed, horrified. He couldn't loosen his grip, he's hands were acting of their own volition. He was was merely a puppet.
"God no!" Dipper let out one last blood curdling scream which woke him from the terrible nightmare.
He opened his eyes to the bright night sky. The moon was full and the sky was cloudless. He shivered as the night air cut through him. Where was he. He looked around. He was standing in his pajamas outside the Gravity Falls hospital. He stared up at the large circular drive and the bright red cross above the entrance. He was on the side walk next to the brick wall which separated the front lawn from the street.
At first he was simply relieved to be away from the nightmare. That is until he looked down. In his hand he held a kitchen knife.
He held it up in front of his face, gazing at it confusion. He was growing numb and it was scaring him just how little he felt.
"Don't ever think I can't take more from you," Bill threatened.
Dipper regained feeling once more as his heart began to race. Infuriated he slammed his left hand against the brick wall and drove the knife into his own flesh. He fought back screams of agony as he drove the knife in deeper, wiggling it about just so as to get through the bones and tendons, until the blade came out his palm. The metal hit the bricks with a light "clink,".
For a while Dipper simply stood there seething, examining his own bloody work. "I won't let you hurt them again." He vowed through gritted teeth. He pulled his hand away from the wall and began to pry the knife from it. "I'll run away, far way. I'll kill you, whatever it takes." If he never slept again, if he never saw Mabel's smile again for as long as he lived it would be well worth it to deprive Bill of the revenge he sought.
"I'll kill you."