To the anon who keeps sending me the same question even though I've already answered it; this story will update every day until it's done. Please stop pelting me with the question.

There had only been so much Ford could have done to fix the Shack. The extent of his abilities limited him to fixing the structure and making sure it wouldn't collapse on itself. Dipper reckoned it was sturdier than it had once been. They walked inside the building carefully. What wasn't singed and reduced to ashes had been melted. Regardless, debris covered every surface and Dipper sighed heavily. Everything was destroyed. Everything—

"Oh no…" Dipper muttered and Ford looked back at him, "The journals…There's no way they survived."

"You would have been right had I not charmed them." Ford said as he continued trudging through the house. "It was Bill's idea…I think it was to keep me from destroying them if I ever learned he intended to betray me."

He sounded distant.

"That's one good thing." Dipper muttered, but he didn't actually believe in his words.

The data they had collected on fantastical creatures had been saved, they wouldn't need to restart from nothing, admittedly, that was a win. However, the Warlock had still gotten Bill. He had still managed to break through the ward almost effortlessly and destroy the Mystery Shack – or rather an important portion. The fact that the information they had gathered had been spared meant nothing in the face of all the bad that was coming their way. They had twelve hours to find Bill and the Warlock. If they failed, Bill would die and the world would be in for a new apocalypse or something as equally terrible.

"Did you contact Stan and Mabel?" Ford asked.

"Yeah, they're on their way." Dipper said and he checked his phone for any new texts from his sister.

Nothing.

They walked into what used to be the living room and Dipper accidentally kicked the handheld console Bill must have been playing with when the Warlock attacked. The machine was broken, the plastic melted, and the screen cracked. It had his heart throb painfully. Guilt was washing down on him. Had he not have left with Ford, had he resisted the man's pressure to come view the security footage, maybe Bill wouldn't have been taken.

Dipper supposed he couldn't have known. Ford had been so sure the ward kept them safe. Sure, the Warlock had found a way to get through it once, but the odds he would be able to do so again were too low. Or so they had thought. Then again, he hadn't sneaked his way in that time, rather he broke through the ward when everyone was far away enough that he would have enough time to get Bill and flee. They had never been truly safe. Not really.

"Bill…" Ford muttered and Dipper looked up.

He glanced at his uncle and then to what the man was staring at. He was surprised he hadn't noticed before. Though the wall against which the sofa sat was blackened by the purple flames, blue scratches were still very visible and Dipper recognized the markings as Bill's magic. He had left them a message that read: "I told you so" and there was an equal amount of humour and reproach etched into the words.

"Did he fight back?" Dipper asked.

"I think he did." Ford said, "He might have been weaker than ever but I don't think Bill's the type to abandon himself to his fate. Even if all hope was lost, he would still fight tooth and nail."

"But he still lost." Dipper said and his heart gave another painful throb.

Had he been there, maybe things would have gone differently.

"He's not dead." Ford said with a tone of conviction, "He's not dead, at least, not yet. We have to find him."

"How?" Dipper asked, dismayed, "We don't even know who the Warlock is let alone where he established his secret lair."

"We're going to have to pick up the pace." Ford said like the answer was as simple as spoken words.

They were all exhausted. There was only so much coffee and energy drinks could do to keep the bodies awake. It didn't matter that they overloaded their systems with caffeine every few hours to keep from falling asleep, it was gradually having less effect. Because of that, their minds were fogged and didn't function as well as they should. The only solution Dipper could think of was to sleep and allow themselves to rest thoroughly. But none of them would, not that they had the time.

Sleep didn't feel safe. It also didn't help that the ward had been shattered.

Stan's beat up car pulled into the parking lot noisily. Dipper wandered to the living room window and watched as his great uncle and sister left the vehicle running. They were at the door in no time and gasped upon seeing the destroyed interior. It took them by surprise and how could it not? Dipper hadn't given them much detail in terms of what to expect and the Shack looked perfectly fine from the outside.

"What happened?" Mabel asked as she led the way to the room in which Ford and Dipper stood.

"I don't know how much my insurances will cover." Stan huffed and glanced around regrettably.

"We've got more important problems, Stanley." Ford said grimly as he turned to face them. "Bill was taken."

"How?" Mabel asked.

"I…we…" Dipper started, he didn't know how to tell the story. "It was my fault. I left him alone."

"No, it wasn't. Don't put that weight on your shoulders." Ford said and pressed a comforting hand onto his shoulder, "It was my fault. I was angry. I was stupid. And now he's gone. This is all on me."

"Look, we'll decide who's to blame after." Stan cut in, "Tell us what happened."

So Dipper told them. He told them how he and Ford left for Maria Morgan's shop, how they had just finished watching the security videos when the Warlock attacked. He told them how they raced back home as fast as they could but had still returned too late. He told them how they found the Mystery Shack engulfed in purple flames and how Ford had fixed a lot of the damage inflicted.

"Damn it." Stan groaned.

"So we were never safe." Mabel concluded.

"He couldn't have known." Dipper said, defending Ford.

"No, that's not what I meant." Mabel said, "If we were never safe and the Warlock could have broken through the ward at any time he wanted; why did he wait?"

"He was waiting for us to screw up." Dipper said. "And we did."

"But what difference would it have made?" Mabel asked, "Dipper, Grunkle Stan, and I can't wield magic. He would have had no trouble killing us. The only person left to deal with would have been Grunkle Ford and, no offence, but if he took down Bill he could have taken you down too. He wasn't outmatched but he decided to wait anyways."

"She's right." Stan said, "What was the point?"

Dipper thought for a moment. He thought back on the discussion he had had with Ford when they watched the security footage of Maria Morgan's shop. His uncle had said he didn't think the Warlock was benevolent.

"But what if he was…" Dipper mumbled to himself.

"What?" Mabel asked.

"What if the Warlock was benevolent?" Dipper asked, turning to Ford, "You said you didn't think he was because he's a creature of evil, but what if you were wrong? Warlocks live among people and pretend to be normal."

"Yes, and they hate people." Ford insisted.

"But that's my point." Dipper said, "I hated BABBA but after listening to them for a long time, albeit against my will, I began to like them. Heck, now I love them – and I'm not ashamed to admit it. So what if the same thing happened to him? What if he lived among people for so long he began enjoying it and caring for his community? That would mean he might really have intended to just borrow the tools he stole and, later, give them back."

"Wouldn't that mean the Warlock didn't attack because he cared about us – or at least one of us – enough to not want to have to kill us?" Mabel concluded.

"So the Warlock is someone close to us." Stan nodded, "But who?"

"Not Soos." Mabel said, "He didn't even know Bill was alive and he's not good enough of an actor to pretend. He wears himself on his sleeve."

"Not Robbie." Dipper added, "I'm not even sure he came to the party and Bill said the Warlock showed him a memory from that time."

"And Gideon doesn't live in Gravity Falls anymore." Stan said.

"Tad Strange." Ford said and he narrowed his eyes towards his brother. "It's Tad Strange."

"What? No it's not!" Stan barked in his friend's defense. "Tad's the most normal guy in the world!"

"Most of the friends all of you have are women." Ford pointed out, "Tad Strange is close friends with you, Stan, and he gets along with Mabel fairly well too. He's the only one who would care enough – aside from Soos."

"W-well, how do we know the kids are right?" Stan stuttered, desperate to mount a defense, "They were just spit-balling. You said so yourself, Warlocks hate people and Tad loves them."

"I understand this is hard for you, Stanley," Ford started slowly, "But you have to think about it. At the Book Club, when the storm first started, Tad was there. Tad was also the last one to get to the party."

"He was also at Maria Morgan's shop the day of the theft." Dipper added.

"And didn't you say Tad gossiped a lot about Robert Chang?" Mabel asked, "Because he had a lot of European relics with Enochian stuff. If he did have the bowl, which we can't confirm, then Tad would have known."

"Only because that guy kept inviting him over." Stan stated.

"Exactly." Dipper said, "So he would have known."

"You've got to admit the odds aren't in favour of his innocence." Ford said.

Stan frowned and glared at the ground. "I'm not going to believe it until I see it." He stated. "I'm going to need more proof."

"Like what?" Ford asked.

"Like…like the dagger being in his possession." Stan snapped. "Something completely irrefutable."

"Then let's go to his house, right now." Ford suggested.

"Fine."