Author's Note- Happy Halloween! Climax time, people! No one voted, at all, so I'm just going to do whatever I want. We're in the home stretch! Whoo-hoo!

Also, grab your tissues, and I warn you- this contains some gore. But all is not lost! Don't worry, love will prevail!

Mabel's POV

Bill turns toward the Cipher Wheel. The demons cackle, wickedly, knowing what is coming. My eyes are full of tears. I can hardly see.

"William…" I try to say, but it comes out a whisper. He turns to me, and pulls me in for one last kiss. It's passionate, and desperate, and we both put everything we have into it. I never want it to end. I want to stay, suspended in this moment, forever. It has to end, though, and after only about a minute, William has to break the kiss.

"I will always love you," he tells me.

"Don't go," I whisper.

He smiles at me, and faces the Cipher Wheel. "You want me? Come and get me!"

I can't believe this is happening. I can't… this is so wrong. William might not be innocent, but he's a good person, or at least trying to be. Isn't that all anyone can do? Try?

Bill's POV

I'm going to die, and all I can think about is the first time I saw the Pines twins. Dipper, with his star baseball cap and video game, and Mabel, with her pretty brown eyes that sparkled in the light… and her long brown hair… and her spunky, fearless view of the world… so young… so happy… so perfect.

That spunky, pretty girl grew up into a smart, funny, kind, and beautiful young woman. The woman who I'm dying for. I lied, when I said I was doomed either way. I could have probably survived the other demons. I just… wouldn't want to. I wouldn't have been able to protect Mabel from all of them. She would have been killed.

I won't let her die before me. I won't.

"End of the line, Cipher," Pine Tree hisses. "Ready to die?"

"Not really," I say. "But I don't exactly have a choice in the matter."

"William, please, no!" Mabel cries behind me. Ugh, why is this so damn hard? I don't want to die, and now she's making this even more difficult. Emotions are killing me. The thing is, I'd rather die loving her than live in apathy. Stupid. All too true.

The circle is surrounding me. The problem? They can't kill me without Mabel. She won't do it. She's struggling.

"Come on, Shooting Star, just kill me already," I say sarcastically.

"Not going to happen," she says. "William, please! Just get out of here!"

"If I could I would," I tell her. "Mabel, if you love me, please. Don't keep me alive. I should have died a long time ago."

"You have a really twisted idea of the word 'love,' William," she says, through tears. "I can't do it."

"You can," I tell her. "Just take one step forward."

The rest of the circle is bewildered. I don't know why, but I feel it rolling off them in waves.

"Dipper…" she appeals to her brother. "Please. I'm not being controlled. You have to believe me."

"I… I'm starting to…" he says. "But he's Bill Cipher! He's a psychotic murderer!"

"You're wrong!" Mabel screams.

"He's right," I say. "I'm not sane. I have killed. I have done horrible things. I deserve to die."

Mabel's POV

I can't do it. I can't kill him…

Suddenly, it isn't my choice to make anymore. Grunkle Stan grabs my sweater and hauls me into the circle. Golden bands encase us, and William screams in mortal agony. I can't get out of the circle, and it's the worst kind of torture imaginable. I want so badly to go back just an hour or so and stop all of this… but this goes back further.

William was doomed the instant he met me. I killed him. It's my fault.

Only, he isn't dying. He's agonized, tortured even, but he isn't dead. What is going on?

Light and blood pour from his eyes, mouth, nose, pores in his skin even. This is horrible to watch. I wouldn't wish it on anyone. Then, it stops, the golden bands disappear, and William falls to the ground.

I think he's dead.

Dipper's POV

Mabel's scream is silent. She rushes to Cipher, and crouches over him, sobbing. I pull her away, and she sobs into my shirt. Then, she seems to realize that it's me, and she pulls away, and I see her eyes.

Shock, horror, immense pain, torment, and hatred are just a few of the emotions hidden there. She turns and runs into the forest, faster than I've ever seen her, and disappears.

"I don't get it. How could she care about a frikin' demon?" I ask Wendy. She's just as shocked as I am. E both thought that once we defeated Cipher, whatever spell he had my sister under would be lifted, and everything would go back to normal.

Maybe we were wrong.

Maybe she really did love him.

Bill's POV

It's bright. Way too bright. Huh. I'm still conscious. I wonder where I am. I never really believed in any particular religion, although reincarnation always sounded cool to me.

If I'm even dead that is. Something's off. I feel air in my lungs, and a pulse in my veins. And yet, I can't be alive. They killed me. Mabel was forced to kill me. I guess she's pretty upset right now… I hate it when she's mad; it's never pretty… I mean, it is, she's really hot when she's angry, and it's just well, bad for me.

I'm starting to see around me. I'm in the forest, laying on the ground, alone. Huh. They just left me lying here? Unattended? And if anyone came across the body and freaked out, no biggie?

It's funny how dumb they are.