Disclaimer: I do not own GF
Sorry this is late! I had a family emergency and, well, wasn't in the mood to write. Everything's okay now, however so enjoy the chapter!
~~0~~0~~0~~
"B...Bill...?" He groaned, leaning his head against a familiar, sturdy warmth. A headache ravaged his head and he felt...odd. Like he just forgot something, paired with the oddest sense of déjà vu. Dipper opened his bleary eyes, seeing nothing but gold and white.
Bill's arms wrapped around his smaller form, his cheek pressed against his hat, dragging the bill down some.
"Are you okay, Pine Tree?" Bill mumbled sincerely.
"Mentally, emotionally, or physically?" Dipper slurred back, ignoring his heart for now.
Bill rolled his eyes, but curled around the boy tighter, breathing in his natural scent. "All three."
"Terrible, weird, and okay." He answered, squirming a bit. His face felt too-hot and weird thoughts were flashing through his mind, half-formed and quickly dismissed in slight fear.
Bill chuckled at that and slowly unwound himself. Dipper sat up in Bill's lap, no longer using him as a bed like before. Sitting right between the god's legs, Dipper rubbed his eyes with the back of his hand. Blinking away sleep, the brunet finally focused in on his sister who was still collapsed on the ground, looking like she always did.
"Mabel!" Dipper gasped, scrambling up and over to his sister and crouching by her side.
She...looked exactly the same. Like nothing had changed.
"She's healed, right? No more allergies?" The boy asked the god, worry creeping into his tone.
Bill smiled and nodded. "No more allergies." He repeated.
Dipper threw the god a grateful grin before turning back to his sister, lightly shaking her shoulder.
"Mabel? Mabel, wake up!" Dipper called.
Brief panic shot through him. Why wasn't she waking up? Shouldn't she be fine? Did something go wron-
A large groan interrupted his hysteric thoughts. Mabel let out another grunt as she wriggled a bit, eyelids already fluttering.
"Dipper-?" She mumbled, sounding just like he felt; Exhausted.
"Mabel!" Dipper answered, tugging her up in a tight hug. "How are you? Are you okay?"
Mabel blinked groggily. "'M fine." She slurred. "My head hurts a bit, but besides that I feel better than ever."
Dipper broke off the hug to look at her. "Good. That's...that's good."
Mabel yawned. "Wh- What happened?"
"Well...you no longer have allergies..."
Mabel snapped awake at that, finally recalling what had just happened.
The price of the pills.
Going off into the forest.
Meeting Bill.
And then...then...
"Dipper, that was my deal to make!" She snapped. Her brother already made one deal with the god. Another, though? Two deals? That was just...she couldn't even put how bad that was into words.
Dipper shook his head. "You didn't have anything to offer."
"So what did you give up now?" She questioned, worry seeping into her voice and heart to fester.
"Don't worry about it, Shooting Star. Pine Tree here just has to visit me more often is all. Nothing more." Bill lied easily, his one golden eye flickering over Dipper, telling the boy one thing.
Don't.
Dipper chewed on the inside of his cheek as he nodded along to Bill's statement. "Nothing more. Nothing bad." He agreed, stomach twisting itself into knots, heart stabbing itself over and over again.
He was lying to his sister.
He was lying to Mabel.
But there wasn't a choice now, was there? The deal had to be made, and if Mabel realized what he just did...gave his mind to the god behind him...well...
She would be furious.
Mabel didn't need to know the details. She was safe now, and that's what matters.
The end justifies the means, right? Or something like that.
Mabel looked over her brother's face, trying to discern any trace of blackmail being used or lingering threats, but Dipper's expression was as smooth as always, with a small cheeky grin paired with tired eyes.
She gave him a watery smile. "Okay then. But I'm still mad about it!"
Dipper sighed. "I'll go buy you some ice cream at the mall? Any size, flavor, and toppings."
"Unlimited toppings?'"
"Unlimited toppings."
Bill rolled his eyes at the discussion happening before him.
"Well, okay. But we're still going to talk about this later!" Mabel huffed, trying her best not to eye Bill, who was watching on with an amused expression plastered on.
Creepy.
"Fine, fine. Well, Bill. Thanks for everything I guess." Dipper said, turning back to the now standing blond.
"It was no problem whatsoever, Pine Tree." Bill stepped back over to Dipper easily, hugging him close. "Come back soon."
Dipper blushed and quickly broke off the hug. Did Bill really just slip his fingers into his front pocket?
What was that for?
"Well, I guess we're off! Bye, Bill." Dipper said hurriedly, his face burning once more. Not looking at Mabel's expression, he grabbed her by the arm and started to drag her the way they came.
"Goodbye Pine Tree. It was nice meeting you, Shooting Star. Maybe I'll see you again sometime, hmm?"
Mabel glanced back at the sly smirk the god sported, shivers running up and down her spine with cold fingers.
Bill...She had been right. She had been right all along.
So why didn't Dipper see it?
The girl quickly caught her footing once more and slipped out of Dipper's grasp. She eyed her brother's red face and the way his eyes shifted left and right.
Oh no. nononononono. She thought. This- does Dipper have a crush on Bill? Nonononono!
Mabel bit her bottom lip. She wanted to say something...anything.
However, the feeling of being watched still prickled her skin, haunting around her like a ghost.
No, she couldn't ask here.
But that didn't stop the hysteria in her mind.
No, Dipper couldn't have a crush on Bill...Right? He's never liked another boy and he said so himself that he wasn't gay or anything. Plus Bill isn't even human so Dipper couldn't have a crush on him...
Mabel nodded along with her denials. Yeah, Dipper didn't have an actual crush on Bill. He liked Wendy!
Right?
That was still a thing.
Then again, Dipper wasn't muttering about her under his breath anymore...nor did he get all moony-eyed when she was around...
"Okay, I don't see Stan anywhere. What we have to do is run out of the forest and back to the shack as fast as possible. None of the windows are pointing this way so we should be good."
Mabel blinked at Dipper's sudden interruption to her thoughts. "Okay." She said, focusing her mind back to the task at hand: Not getting caught.
The two twins gave each other matching, nervous looks before bolting out of the forest and to the back of the shack, hugging the wall as close as they could once there.
"D-Do you think anyone saw us?" Mabel asked, panting a bit.
Dipper breathed in deeply. "I don't think so."
"Good. Now then..." The girl turned to her brother and promptly punched him in the arm, causing him to actually stumble back.
"Mabel!" Dipper cried out, wincing and rubbing the spot with his opposite hand. "Ow, that hurt!"
"Good! You shouldn't have gone and made deals without me! This was my problem, Dipper!"
"So? And besides, you had nothing to offer!"
"Like you do? You already go into the forest at least twice a week! Are you going to live there now?" Mabel sniffed, her unshed tears born of both anger and fear.
"No, of course not! But...if making more time for Bill means you get to live a happy life then I'll gladly give my time up! It's not like I had a choice in the matter either."
Mabel pouted and crossed her arms, still miffed about the entire situation. "Fine. But I'm still not happy."
Dipper sighed. "What's done is done now all we gotta do is tell Stan an-" Dipper blanched, breaking off his sentence as a shiver raced up his spine.
He had totally forgotten about Stan.
Mabel paled herself, piecing together his unfinished sentence and sudden horrified look. "H-How are we gonna tell him? Nose goes!" She quickly slapped a finger over her nose, staring at him with wide, liquid chocolate eyes.
"Mabel! I- ugh! How are we going to tell Stan this?! We can't tell him about Bill! He'd kill us and then how would I fulfill the deals?"
Mabel worried her bottom lip. "I-I don't know." She admitted. "Maybe I can accidentally skip taking a pill and when nothing happens, realize that I got over my allergy...or something?"
Dipper slapped his hand over his face, rubbing his cheeks furiously. "That's a terrible plan."
"You got any better ones?"
He sighed and shook his head. "This- This isn't going to end well, is it?"
Mabel shook her head. "This has went from not good, to bad, to absolutely terrible very, very fast."
Dipper voiced his agreement.
The two of them leaned against the outside wall of the shack, old wood biting into their backs as the twins got lost in their own worries and fears.
Mabel turned her head up to the sky. "Hey, were the clouds always that green?"
Dipper took his own sight off his shoes and up to the firmament above, watching lazy clouds swirls in an impossibly slow dance.
"Huh. They look greener than before."
Mabel cocked an eyebrow. "Since when were they green in the first place?"
Dipper shrugged. "I don't know. I noticed it yesterday, but it wasn't really noticeable."
"That's weird. Think it has to do with that blood magic miasma thingy?"
Dipper furrowed his brows, an epiphany hitting him. "Maybe..." The boy quickly pushed himself off the house. "I'm going to the library."
"What? But it's a Saturday! And we still have to tell Stan about the pills!"
"I haven't been to the library in over a month. And we can tell Stan...later."
Mabel pushed herself off the side of the house as well and took one last glance at it.
"Yeah...later would be better, I think." She admitted. "So...why are we going to the library?"
Dipper cocked a brow at the inclusion of we, but continued nonetheless. "I want to look up some more information about this miasma thing. Something...something's not adding up." Dipper turned and walked to the front of the shack and started down the dirt road to get to town. If he fast-walked, he could make it in record time.
"Huh? What's wrong? Was the doctor wrong or something?"
"No, but if you always cough around here because it's in the air, then why would just the current shifting slightly make you have such a violent attack?"
Mabel walked faster to match his quickened pace and shrugged. "I don't know. You're the smart one!"
"Exactly, it doesn't make sense." Dipper continued on, agreeing with himself. "So we're going to find out why."
~~0~~0~~0~~
"Ugh, this is so boring."
"You're not even helping!"
"Of course I'm helping! I'm getting books off the high shelf for you."
"Mabel, you're only one millimeter taller than me. It doesn't make a difference."
Mabel snorted. "Of course it makes a difference. It decides who's the alpha twin. Alpha twin! Alpha twin!" She started chanting.
Dipper scowled at his sister and quickly slapped a hand over her mouth. "You're going to get us kicked out!"
Mabel rolled her eyes and dragged her tongue across his palm, making sure to get as much saliva on it as possible.
"Ew! Mabel, gross!" Dipper protested, dropping his hand to wipe it off onto his shorts.
Mabel made a face. "Ew, do you ever wash your hands."
"You're fault for licking my hand."
"You're fault for trying to take the alpha twin's place! Gotta be born into it, Dipping-sauce."
Dipper sighed and closed the book he had been flipping through, adding it to the stack on his left. They had been sitting at this table for nearly an hour now and have, so far, not found anything pertaining to what they needed.
It also didn't help that he kept getting side-tracked.
"I think we're going to need to get the more advanced books."
Mabel groaned and slapped her head down onto the table. "UGH!" She whined.
Dipper pinched the bridge of his nose. Mabel being here wasn't really helping matters. She ate up even more of his time.
Dipper frowned and glanced out the nearby window. Green clouds still passed by above, large and fluffy.
Miasma...like currents in the ocean...
Dipper blinked as realization came over him.
Of course. That's what he needed! Why was he being so stupid?
"Mabel, I need to go run and ask the librarian for something. You go grab those advanced books!"
Before she could reply, Dipper stood up from their table and scurried away, excitement in his eyes.
As soon as Dipper left, Mabel shot to her feet and ran to the section of the library titled Magical and Occult History.
"Okay raccoon section. Don't let me down." She whispered as she scanned the shelves for the familiar books she grabbed last time.
Fishing out a heavy black tome with Latin writing on it, she balanced it in her hand while flipping it open. Books weren't really her thing, but hearing Dipper mutter under his breath about this particular book stuck in her mind like flies to honey. Or was it spiders to honey? Something like that, at any rate.
Sinking to the floor, she laid the book flat and hurriedly skipped to the C section.
Cipher...
Was Cipher spelled with a Y or an I?
Starting at the very front, she quickly leafed through the section, doing her best to ignore the weird drawings and strange ramblings.
One thing was for sure- this book was freaky. No doubt about that.
It was almost as creepy as Bill Cipher himself.
Almost.
Flipping faster and faster, Mabel almost though she missed his page until a giant wall of rusty brown greeted her, along with the faint scent of dried blood.
Mable stared at the page she flipped to in disgust, eyes flickering over the words Bill Cipher printed neatly at the top, along with the title major god of dreams. Stomach rolling and twisting, she tried her best to read what the page said, but had little success. All she read was stuff Dipper had already muttered about while writing in his diary at night, as well as things she had already found out herself by just meeting him.
However, three words smashed into the corner did grab her attention. Leaning her head in closely, the brunette narrowed her eyes, trying to make out what she was reading.
End.
Ally.
Stra.
End, ally, and stra?
Well, she knew what end and ally meant, but what was stra?
Straw?
Strawberry?
Straight?
Strategy?
Strange?
Mabel didn't know, and she didn't understand how any of those words could fit into end or ally.
Who was Bill friends with? It couldn't be Dipper, for obvious reasons.
And end...
End of what? The color blue? Pigs being kept as pets? Capitalism? The government? Civilization? The world? The universe itself?
Maybe it was the end of strawberries. She didn't have a clue.
She scowled at the bloody book, which was probably done by Bill himself somehow to hide whatever evil plans that he had.
Stupid god.
Stupid Dipper.
Stupid...situation.
Mabel snapped the book shut, frowning heavily as she placed it back on the shelf where it belonged.
Turning to the left, she dived down the next aisle of books in the section, grabbing random advanced magic books as she ran back to the table. She had no clue if any of them actually dealt in this weird mia-whatsit stuff Dipper was so suspicious about, but whatever. As long as she had something to show for because, after all, if Dipper wasn't going to look into this Bill Cipher...
Well, then she'd have to do it for him. To protect him.
That's what older sisters did for younger brothers.
That's what the alpha twin does for the, uh, not alpha twin.
Yeah.
Reaching their shared table, Dipper nowhere in sight, Mabel released a breath she didn't even know she was holding.
Dropping the books onto the table loudly, she grabbed a random one out of the chaotic pile and swung herself back into her chair, cracking the book open to a random page.
Before she could even start pretending like she was reading, a whisper-shout of "Mabel!" Called out to her from her right.
Mabel glanced up as Dipper fast-walked back over to her, grinning like a loon, something large rolled and tucked away under his arm.
"Look what the librarian found for us in the archives!" Dipper said, voice dripping in pure excitement. He reached her easily and shoved all the books on the table to the side, including the one ahe was about to pretend to read.
Dipper urged her to stand up and after kicking the chairs away, unfurled what appeared to be a giant map, though not like any map Mabel had ever seen.
Sure, it had those...what where they called?
Latitude and longitude lines. Though which was which Mabel wasn't so sure.
Besides that, and the normal continents and oceans in places, nothing was normal about the map. Hand-painted colors of all kind swirled in every direction, some long and thick and others short and thin. Some colors wrapped all the way around the planet multiple times, such as the giant pink strip, and others were only small lines in random locations, such as they sky-blue streaks over Canada, Alaska, and...Greenland, apparently. On the sides, a huge key was placed, directing every color to a different type of magic miasma. Just staring at the onslaught of information gave her a headache!
At the every top of the page, in faded letters, was written Magic Miasma tracking- 2000. Right over it were the initials, N.M.A.
"What does NMA stand for?" Mabel asked, cutting off the conversation Dipper was having with himself. She sworn she'd heard it from somewhere, though she couldn't quite remember where.
"National Magic Administration? They're in the news all the time, Mabel!"
She shrugged. "But the news is so boring! All they have on is a bunch of old guys who like to complain a lot!"
Dipper shook his head at her condescendingly.
"Yeah...anyways, all we have to do is find the blood magic color in the key, then find it on the map. I'll take the left side and you take the right."
"Okay! This should be easy! I'm great with colors."
Dipper smiled warmly and dived right into work.
It was, of course, Mabel who found the color after a few moments; a striking crimson.
"Of course it would be red." Dipper muttered, rolling his eyes as he hunted for the strand.
After bumping their heads together painfully a few times, leading them both to rubbing sore foreheads and laughing about it a few seconds later, Mabel once again came through and found the current. It was thicker than what both would've thought it would be, but then again, blood magic was popular in the past.
The strand wrapped around the entire Earth and seemed to taper and get thicker around places such as Egypt, Greece, where Rome once was, and was surprisingly thick around Japan, Germany, Russia, China, and North Korea.
However, the strand also swirled around the United States as well, thin in some places, and thicker in others.
However, the nearest thin current to Gravity Falls passed by Portland, way up north to where they were.
Mabel and Dipper looked up at one another, alarmed.
If the miasma in the air hadn't caused Mabel's reactions, then what did?
"This doesn't make any sense." Dipper muttered.
"Maybe it moved or something?" Mabel suggested weakly.
He shook his head. "No, the books said that the miasma is very slow moving. It wouldn't shift across Oregon in twelve years."
"But Dipper...that would mean that someone here is preforming blood magic."
Dipper nodded tersely. "And for years." He finished.
~~0~~0~~0~~
The methodical walk home was tense, both twins quiet besides the rare back and forth of rehashing information the other already knew.
Both could feel their guts tightening into knots. They had just stumbled into something big...both could feel it, weighing heavily on their hearts.
"So...are we still telling Grunkle Stan that I missed taking the pill?" Mabel asked slowly as the Mystery Shack slowly faded into sight as they walked around the bend.
Dipper kicked up some dirt into the air, letting his feet drag a little. "It's our only option. Though, now that I think about it, we could also tell Stan that the strand is nowhere in the air here, so it was something else."
"I- I guess so. But- oh, this was a terrible idea."
Dipper sighed. "But what else could we do?"
Mabel didn't reply.
The two stared up at the Mystery Shack, up at the green clouds swirling above.
Mabel's heart pounded in her chest, beating against her ribs in a desperate attempt to break out of it's dark confines.
Dipper found himself rubbing his arms once more, unable to stay completely still as nerves shot through him. His mind froze a little, trying to go through every possibility that could happen, his imagined future getting worse and worse.
Exchanging uneasy glances, the twins leaned closer to one another, hands brushing against each other as they walked up into the shack. Chimes jingled all around them, small bells and metal tubes tolling against one another in the light wind.
"Ready?" Dipper asked.
Mabel sighed. "As I'll ever be."
Then she opened the door.
The two entered the shack, uneasily noting the absence of both Soos and Wendy.
Dipper glanced down at his watch.
The shack had closed up thirty minutes ago.
Mabel and Dipper padded through the store part of their home, slipping through the back door easily and into the living room.
Stan was where the twins thought he'd be- sitting in his favorite chair, bowl of Chipackerz sitting in his lap as he watched the new episode of Baby Fights.
The twins turned and glared at each other, shouldering the other to start talking.
Dipper grunted as Mabel elbowed him hard in the stomach. In retaliation, he tickled her sides.
She slapped him away quickly, doing her best to hide his giggle behind a single hand. Glaring vehemently at him, she turned back to a disinterested Grunkle Stan and cleared her throat.
"Hey, Grunkle Stan..." Mabel muttered, forcing a smile to cross her face and giving a little wave.
"Hey kids. Where have you been all day? And have you taken your pill yet?"
He aimed the last question at Mabel, tearing himself away from the television to turn and stare at the two.
Mabel blanched. "N-No." She stuttered. "I-I forgot."
Stan froze and stared at her.
"What?"
"But I'm okay! No coughing here, see! Wow, what a miracle okaygreatseeingyounowlet'sgoDipper-"
Stan shot up from his seat. "What do you mean you didn't take it?! Mabel!"
The girl, who had turned to run off, tensed her already stressed shoulders and whipped back around, eyes stormy.
"And you!" He pointed at Dipper, causing the young boy to flinch. "Why didn't you remind your sister?"
"I-uh..." He stuttered, staring at the ground.
"We-We went to the library today and did some research." Mabel cut in smoothly.
"You? Research? That's weird but hardly matters. You need to take your medicine-"
Mabel stomped her foot some to catch his attention. Meanwhile, Dipper continued Mabel's cut off thought.
"The blood magic miasma isn't around Gravity Falls! The map said so itself! Which means someone here in town is doing magic- and has been for years!"
Stan froze at that, standing in the middle of the living room, staring at the two with wide eyes. Something seemed to click in his mind later as he shuffled a bit, crossing his arms and rolling his eyes.
"No one in town is smart enough to do blood magic." He scoffed.
"And everyone in town is stupid enough to try." Dipper finished easily, causing both Mabel and Stan to raise a slightly impressive brow at the come-back.
Stan shook his head angrily. "So what, just because she's okay today doesn't mean she'll be fine tomorrow."
"How about we just wait then or something?" Mabel cut in. "We'll wait, see how it goes, and I'll take one when I need one."
Stan stared at them with hard, suspicious eyes.
In that moment, everything was still and silent. Dipper felt as if his Grunkle was reading every thought he was, or really, in this case, wasn't thinking. Reading him like an open book, cover to cover with ease. In that second, Dipper was convinced that Stan knew everything. About Bill. About the forest meetings. About Mabel's cure. Heck, even about Ace Moonlighter.
Stan sighed.
The imaginary spell broke and Dipper's thoughts rushed back in, a huge hot mess of worries and relief and conspiracies.
"Go up to your room. The both of you. I need time to think."
Nodding somberly, Mabel took the lead, slipping out into the hallway and up the stairs.
Dipper stared at Mabel's sweater-clad back, mind wandering nowhere in particular. At this point, he felt exhausted from the day's events, having made another deal, researching the afternoon away in the library, and generally just being stressful since breakfast this morning.
Dipper slipped his hands into his pockets lazily and without thought, slightly shocked when he felt a folded slip of paper brush against his finger.
Curling his hand around the mysterious note, Dipper finally made it to the top with Mabel and slipped into their shared room right behind her.
Mabel padded over to her bed and collapsed onto it. Waddles, being the wonderful pet that he was, hopped up next to her, gently nosing her head before settling down at her side, oinking in a way even Dipper had to admit was kinda cute.
Dipper, meanwhile, stayed standing in the middle of the room. Taking the sheet of paper out of his pocket, he briefly remembered Bill slipping his fingers into there earlier.
He had been giving him this.
Slowly sinking onto his bed, Dipper unfolded it and nearly gasped at what was printed on it in neat, sprawling script.
Ace Moonlighter.
Tonight. Moon rise.
Dipper hurriedly glanced out the window, staring out at the deepening night as the moon already peeked through the tree line, greeting the world in it's sullen yet beautiful day as it always did.
Dipper glanced back over at Mabel.
Then the window.
Then stared down at the note itself.
Tonight. It was happening tonight.
Bill hadn't given him much time to get ready, not that he even knew how to get ready in the first place. He didn't have any of the tools needed to kill a god and on top of that, would he even be able to kill her once he saw her?
Dipper had never really killed anything before Sure, the stray fly every once and a while. Plus, he had set those mouse traps...
Dipper subconsciously rubbed his fingers.
Yeah. Mouse traps.
But he'd never taken a life before.
The brunet shook his head, feeling that overwhelming hate rear up once again.
Ace Moonlighter wasn't innocent.
She was a monster.
A goddess, who had lived for thousands- no, millions- of years.
And she killed his and Mabel's parents.
Dipper looked over at Mabel, who had by now simply fallen asleep with her clothes on, too exhausted and drained by the day to change or even move from her sideways position on her bed.
He stuffed the note back into his pocket.
Standing up carefully, Dipper tip-toed to the her side, making sure not to step on any loose and squeaky floorboards.
Standing over her, Dipper sighed and briefly swiped off his own hat to run a hand through his hair.
She- She would never have to know.
And he'd be back before she even woke up.
Dipper lightly ran his fingers through her hair, watching her shudder slightly at the unexpected touch.
Maybe Mabel didn't need this.
But he did.
And he even had a choice. But Dipper had to admit that his die had been cast even before Bill had asked him that question in the fire fly clearing under the starlight.
Dipper had his answer right when he heard the goddess's name spoken for the first time.
The young brunet yanked his heat back on, low over his eyes this time. Giving Mabel one last lingering look, he turned and followed his muscle memory, stepping only where it was safe, and slipping out his bedroom door and down the stairs.
Right. Middle. Left. Left. Middle. Right. Right. Edge. Middle. Right. Edge. Middle. Left.
Ground floor.
Glancing around, Dipper noted the lack of light coming from anywhere. The television was silent in th background, turned off.
Stan had already went to bed.
Whipping around to the right, Dipper kept on his toes as he made his way to the front door.
Taking one more nervous glance behind him, he creaked open the door and shuffled out into the cool night, chimes still ringing in the light wind, their laughter the only true sound heard in the deepening night.
Dipper gasped in a single breath...
And sprinted.
As he ran across the lawn into the dusty forest beyond, all Dipper could here was the blood rushing through his ears.
His heart crashing inside his chest.
His stomach twisting up into knots; from sickness or excitement he couldn't decipher.
His legs pumping beneath him, slamming against the parched ground, kicking up a little dirt as he did so.
Much sooner than expected, Dipper broke through the dark tree line and started to slow down, twigs already tearing at his long-abused but scar-less legs, scratching them up and causing beads of blood to bubble and dribble down in rivulets.
Dipper finally came to a stop. Putting his hands on his thighs, he bent over himself, trying to catch his breath.
Whether he was panting or hyperventilating, he couldn't tell.
Slowly, he straightened back up, staring out at the dark woods that stretched beyond. Daunting, but not terrifying, strangely enough.
"Bill?" He whispered, voice hoarse from the lack of saliva in his mouth.
A few beats passed, causing Dipper to tense up and worry to spike though him again.
Then, a familiar pair of arms wrapped around his middle, crushing him against a familiar and warm body.
"Hello, Pine Tree." Bill greeted, voice barely a hissing, yet smooth whisper.
Like poisoned honey.
Dipper shivered at the contact, cheeks already dusting with a hint of a blush.
"Are you ready?" Bill continued, his fingers tracing lazy circles on his sides.
It was oddly comforting.
Dipper could feel his blood freeze and turn into ice, could hear his heart pump madly as ever, and yet have no emotion by every erratic inflation and deflation of the organ.
Dipper straightened his shoulders and very carefully, turned around in Bill's arms, wrapping the god up in a hug of his own.
"Yeah." He answered.
"I'm ready."
~~0~~0~~0~~
Ah~ So short!
Well, not really. But this chapter and the next were supposed to be one, but this chapter kinda got away from me. Parts were in it that I didn't originally plan for and things went on longer than expected. Plus, I got to a really good cut-off point.
This means, however that this fic will now probably be 28 chapters unless I fuse two chapters in the future together.
Eh, might happen.
Wildtail of Wind- Haha, you're excited! Well, hold on tight! Next chapter is Dark!Dipper, as you can tell! And thank you so much! I think you give me too much credit, but I'm flattered nonetheless :3
Just-Gold- Thank you so much! I'm glad you're liking my stories and thank you for reviewing this one!
Dada- Thank you! 3
Guest- I used to be able to barely lick my nose, but I actually practiced! I loved Lilo & Stitch the series when I was a kid and I trained myself to lick my nose. Can't do it anymore though, but it's really cool that you can actually do that (and elbow...) And thank you!
yaoifangirl1232- Hm, hm! Story's not over yet, and Dipper's in pretty deep...;) Who know's what will happen
TheJokerMan95- Haha, whether that's good or bad, who knows! Glad to see you're liking it, however!
crabbySeer- Ahhhgh! You're smart! Have any theories for the future now, however ;)
The Keeper of Worlds- oh my god XD
random name- No one's innocent in this word...except perhaps Waddles!
Anyways, I hope you guys enjoyed this late chapter!
And, as always, thanks for reading!