Chapter Eight

Dipper sighed, counting the money they'd made that day. A bit less than the day before, but what had he expected from a blazing hot Sunday afternoon? It was still summer, so they were sure to make enough to keep themselves afloat. And if they didn't somehow, he could always take a bit of money from Stan's hidden supply. The man had billions. Might as well put it to good use. And Bill had gold. Yeah, Dipper doubted they'd have any money issues for a long time. Or at all, to be honest. "I could probably live my whole life without even working on the money Stan's got locked away," Dipper muttered to himself, amused. Which reminded him...

How would his uncles respond when they saw Bill?

Dipper's eyes widened in realization, and he quickly picked up their earnings and shoved it into the safe. He ran off to find Bill, who was eyeing some stupid attraction in the gift shop. Dipper grabbed his arm and he spun around. "Pine Tree. What's got you looking all edgy?" Bill asked with a raise of his brow.

Dipper frowned. "They said they'd be back in a month. It's already been lo-"

"GRUNKLE STAN! GRUNKLE FORD!" Mabel shrieked from the other room. Dipper felt his eye twitch. Fantastic. Just what he needed. What was he even supposed to say when they saw Bill? Ford would probably pull a gun on him. And Stan... Would likely get out those stupid brass knuckles. Bill seemed to understand this, but he didn't look very worried about it.

From the hall, Dipper heard his uncles greet Mabel. Bill leaned into the brunette's ear. "I've got this, kid. Don't stress it," he whispered, spinning on his heel. Mabel led the two older men into the gift shop by their hands, grinning cheerfully. "And then we got a new housemate. And Dipper got a new boyfriend," she cooed joyfully, gesturing towards Bill. Did she really not understand how horrible a situation this was?

"Housemate?" Ford asked suspiciously, eyeing the smirk on Bill's face.

"Wait, boyfriend?" Stan thankfully seemed oblivious to anything else that had been said. "Since when are you gay?"

Bill snorted in an effort not to laugh, glancing at Dipper, whose face was scarlet. He rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. "I'm not. I don't really... care about all that," he mumbled, avoiding eye contact. He really preferred keeping the whole figuring out that he didn't mind genders in college. Or how, for that matter. "Can we not talk about that?" Bill raised his brow. He could hear Dipper's thoughts pretty clearly, and boy was he shocked.

"Damn, kid. Never would've guessed you of all people would be the type for-" he made little quotations with his fingers. "Experimentation."

Dipper forced himself to smile, jabbing his elbow hard into Bill's ribs. The blonde laughed at the pain, rubbing that spot with a hand.

Ford narrowed his eyes. "Who is this, Dipper?" he asked, one hand in his pocket. Both Dipper and Bill were well aware that he'd recognized the demon's voice.

So Bill didn't even bother hiding it. He placed a hand on his chest, feigning a hurt expression. "Already forgotten about me, Fordsy? I'm wounded," he said with a fake pout. Dipper grabbed Bill by his arm just as Ford pulled his gun out of his pocket, yanking him to the side. Ford grit his teeth.

"Why the hell did you bring a monster into the Shack?!" Stan questioned, watching Bill's bored expression with suspicious eyes. "It was hard enough to get rid of him before!"

Dipper shook his head. "It's not like that! He's human. Or... mostly human," he defended, placing a hand over Ford's gun so he didn't do anything rash. "And the deal was he could stay in this realm so long as no one gets hurt. And he's obligated to answer all of my questions. I've got him under control, alright?"

Bill frowned. "I wouldn't say that I'm under-" Dipper stomped on his shoe, smiling nervously. The blonde jolted, this time not quite so amused by the pain. Ford watched them with uncertainty. He still didn't trust the demon.

He lowered his gun. "Alright, Cipher. Why'd you make an agreement like that in the first place? There must be some sort of benefit for you," he said quizzically, raising his eyebrow.

Bill crossed his arms, grinning. "I only have to answer questions Pine Tree asks me. That was the deal," he retorted slyly, sure he was annoying Ford to no end. Which didn't really help his case, but like hell he was going to tell that stupid old man that he may actually be deteriorating every second he was there. He wouldn't give Ford the satisfaction of knowing such information.

Ford narrowed his eyes, finger tightening around the trigger of the gun. Dipper noticed this and pressed his palm against the barrel, fingers coiling around it. "Completely under control," he said again, anxious.

Mabel picked then to pipe up. "Yeah, Grunkle Ford. He hasn't even tried anything bad. And he's been super helpful in the gift shop, too. The customers love him!" she exclaimed, beaming brightly. She nudged Stan's side. "You should see all the money he's been bringing in with his dumb magic-y eye thing."

Stan's expression it up. "We're keeping him," he said quickly, his attention immediately caught by the mention of money. Most of it went to Soos now, but it was the principal of the thing.

Ford spun around to face him, gun held down at his side, and much less threatening now that it wasn't pointed towards Bill. "But Stan. He's a-"

Stanley waved a hand. "If Dipper's got it handled, he's got it handled," he said with a shrug. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna go unpack our loot." He turned, grabbing his suitcases off the ground and hauling them upstairs. Mabel followed after him, helping him out some. Ford looked back at Bill disdainfully, pocketing his gun. He took a step forward, pointing an accusing finger at the demon.

"I've got my eyes on you. You may have fooled everyone else, but I'm not falling for it," he hissed, expression cold. Bill just grinned, giving a slight shrug in response. Dipper laughed anxiously, grabbing the blonde's arm and leading him away. Ford just wouldn't let that be the end of it, though. "I can't believe you're letting him trick you again. Don't you remember what he did to the town last time? What he did to Mabel last time?"

Dipper froze, eyes darting towards Bill for a split second before focusing straight ahead again. He rolled his shoulders back, forcing himself to stay calm. "Perfectly, actually," he snarled, hand tightening around Bill's arm, which the demon quickly took note of. How dare Ford shove that into Dipper's face? How dare he even insinuate that Dipper would ever put Mabel in danger? There was a long few seconds of silence before the brunette stomped away, still dragging Bill along with him.

He let go of the blonde's arm as soon as they were in their room alone. Dipper forced himself not to slam the door before he collapsed on his own bed, too annoyed to do anything else that day. Bill sat down on the edge of the bed, fingers toying with Dipper's hair. "You wanna rant about it?" he asked with a teasing smile. "You might as well. You're kinda yelling in that head of yours already."

Dipper groaned, rolling onto his back. "Trying to tell me that I'm gonna get Mabel hurt..." he grumbled, brows furrowed. "Who the hell does he think he is?"

Bill laughed, leaning down so he was only an inch or two away from Dipper. "Well, do you think I'm gonna do anything terrible to Shooting Star?" He grinned.

Dipper rolled his eyes. "You can't even if you wanted to," he replied, a hand on the blonde's shoulder.

"Then I guess it doesn't matter, huh?" Bill cooed, letting his lips brush against Dipper's. The brunette's eyes fluttered closed and he pulled Bill further into the kiss. He was still rather angry, but he felt his nerves winding down pretty quickly. For someone that knew exactly what buttons he needed to press to piss Dipper off, Bill was fairly good at calming him down as well. He leaned back slightly, eyes narrow and focused on Dipper's own, which opened to meet his.

Dipper sighed, pulling the demon down by his shirt. He buried his nose into the other's neck. "I'm going to try and sleep.." he muttered softly.

Bill raised a brow, quietly letting Dipper do what he was doing. He supposed this was affection, something he still found rather strange, but pleasant nonetheless. "Kid. It's ten thirty," he replied in amusement, leaning downwards so Dipper was pinned beneath him. "And anyway, I can think of a couple things more enjoyable than sleep right now."

Dipper whistled. "Smooooth, man. Really," he retorted, chuckling. "Is sex just constantly on your mind?"

Bill tilted his head from side to side, as if giving the question some actual thought. "Well, to be honest, I still haven't quite gotten used to these human hormone things. The whole 'sometimes I want to tear you apart and other times I have zero drive to do anything of the sort' thing is extremely annoying. It's really starting to make sense why people are all so irrational and impulsive," he said with a slight shrug. "But hell, can you blame me? I've watched mankind obsess over it for an eternity and I wanna know what all the fuss is about."

Dipper shook his head. "Then you'll find out some other time. I wanna sleep," he mumbled, pushing Bill off of him to grab the blankets. Bill rolled his eyes, flipping the light switch near the bed and lying down beside Dipper.

"I guess it's a good thing we never bought another bed, huh?" he asked, getting comfortable where he lay. Dipper hummed, turning onto his side and closing his eyes. Now if he could just go one night without another one of those dreams.

But he wasn't that lucky.

Dipper opened his eyes, noting the fact that he was in the woods outside the Shack. He sighed. This again. Every night, it was the same thing, just in various other places. Once even in his dorm, and another time in the house he'd lived in as a child. This time, though... This time seemed different. He saw his sister, young and alone, sitting against the bark of a tree. She pulled her sweater down over her knees, shoving her head inside and sobbing quietly. Dipper stepped towards her, a hand reached out. "M-Mabel...?" he asked, voice barely audible. Her crying seemed to stop, and she shifted.

"Dipper?"

He rubbed the back of his neck. "Yeah." He knew he shouldn't trust this. He knew this had to be a trick. And he was right.

Laughter erupted from his sister, and she pulled her sweater down to reveal her face. She was the same as always, except for her eyes, which were pure white and piercing into Dipper's own. He knew that she wasn't his sister. He stepped back, and she stood up. "Finally gonna apologize for what you did? You know, it's you're fault I ended up in that bubble in the first place," she growled, another voice echoing beneath Mabel's. Dipper knew both of them well.

He shook his head. "Shut up," he hissed, eyes narrowed with hatred.

"I just kept crying. And crying. And crying. Wishing you'd chase after me, wishing you'd come promise never to leave me," the voice of Mabel purred contemptuously, grinning wildly. Dipper covered his ears, eyes closed and body shaking with rage. It did him little good. Her voice simply grew louder. "At the beginning of the summer, he would've followed me to the edge of the earth. And now he won't even follow me outside of the house."

"Stop it!"

"What kind of brother are you, anyways?!"

"I SAID STOP IT!" Dipper cried, his voice ringing out in the otherwise calm woods. Laughter emitted from Mabel's mouth, chaotic and shrill. There was a piercing sound and Dipper's eyes opened. He looked up to see Bill in his now human form, teeth grit and holding Mabel up by the collar of her sweater. He had two or three of his fingers jammed in one of her eyes. Her mouth hung open in shock for a split second before she screeched in agony, deafeningly loud. She clawed at his arms, fingers lengthening into obsidian claws that cut deep into his skin.

He hissed in pain, digging his fingers further in. Dipper felt like he might vomit, his stomach churning at the mere sight, and he pressed a hand against his mouth to stop it. Bill yanked his hand back out with a blood-curdling snap, some sort of black sphere in his palm that oozed what appeared to be tar. Mabel, or rather, the demon inside of her, went silent. Her body hung limply from Bill's hand, single eye still glowing while the other had gone dark, empty and dripping thick black liquid. "Kid, did I ever tell you that the eyes are the literal gateway to the soul? Yeah, that's why it's just about the one thing I can't copy outside of the Mindscape. This-" he dropped the vile onyx sphere on the ground. "isn't a soul, but I'm sure you'd already figured that out."

Bill let Mabel's body fall to the ground, looking just as sick to his stomach as Dipper. The black goop seemed to seep into the ground, which began to rumble loudly, trembling. The blonde's eyes met Dipper's. "I pissed her off. Wake up," he ordered, stepping forward. Dipper blinked, feeling the ground shaking violently beneath him.

He swallowed the lump rising in his throat. "How?!" he asked, still frazzled from earlier.

Bill placed his hands on Dipper's shoulders, one of them stained black with the tar he had pulled out of the demon's eye, and the other bleeding heavily. "Calm down, kid. I can't be here any longer, so you've gotta wake up, alright? Just concentrate. I'm the master of this stuff," he assured.

Dipper took a deep breath. There was a shriek, and flames erupted from the ground near his feet. "Get your hands off him! HE'S MINE!" the shadow's voice cried out. Dipper flinched, his heart beating a thousand miles a minute. He couldn't keep his breathing level. Everything around him seemed to instill a new terror within him, one that he'd never experienced. Guilt buried for ten years resurfaced, mingling with the fear of impending death.

Bill shook him. "Kid! Look at me. Focus on me. She's been using these nightmares to chip at you until you break. You can't let her do that. You can't just let her beat you. If it were that easy, you wouldn't still be here," he yelled over the wailing, pointing towards his eyes, which kept fading from gold to gray, then back to gold. "Keep your eyes right here." He grabbed Dipper's wrist, pulling him away from the swirling flames attempting to swallow him whole.

"DON'T TOUCH WHAT DOESN'T BELONG TO YOU!"

Dipper forced his breathing to stay level, gaze focused on the blonde's. Bill grinned, looking proud. "And then you just-" He snapped his fingers.

Dipper shot upwards in his bed, gasping for air. He held one hand against his chest, heaving. Panicked, he turned his head back to see Bill still laying there, his eyes twitching beneath his lids and his jaw clenched, teeth grinding together. He held tight against his arm in his sleep, which quivered from the pain. Dipper reached a hand out towards him, only to realize the wounds were still bleeding and Bill didn't seem to be coming to. He darted up out of the bed, horrified. "Mabel!" He called, making a break for the bathroom to find something he could use to patch Bill up. Gauze. He made an uncertain face. It'd have to do for a bit, but if any of Bill's veins had been severed, he'd be done for if Dipper couldn't get him to the hospital.

"You alright, b-" Mabel froze as soon as her eyes landed on Dipper, who was desperately trying to apply enough pressure to get the bleeding to stop. "I've got this. You just help me get him into the car, alright?" she ordered, picking up the gauze and shoving Dipper out of the way. He nodded, watching her sit down beside the bed and start wrapping Bill's arm. He groaned, finally opening his eyes. They were a deep gray, almost black, and his face was a sickly pale.

He watched Mabel do her thing, eyes blurred and barely able to stay focused on her. "I've officially decided..." he rasped, shivering when Mabel tightened the gauze around his arm. "That pain isn't nearly as funny as it used to be.."

Dipper forced a slight laugh before Mabel gestured for him to come closer. "I'm gonna go start the car. You think you'll need any help getting him there?" she asked, looking up at her brother. Her expression was dire, more serious than either Bill or Dipper had ever really seen her. Something about people being in pain always brought that side of her about.

Dipper shook his head. "I'll be fine," he said, and she stood up to dart for the door. The room was silent for a moment, Bill just staring blankly at the wrap around his arm, which was already stained red. Dipper coiled an arm over his shoulders, helping him upwards and leading him towards the hallway. Bill staggered, dizzy from both magic drainage and blood loss, but Dipper did his best to keep him steady. Getting him down the stairs wasn't an easy task, though, and the brunette was forced to practically carry him out the door. Bill chuckled, voice clearly strained. "Hey, look who lost the noodle arms," he pointed out, eyes hardly even open.

Dipper helped him into the car. Mabel was already in the driver seat, the engine running and her fingers tapping the wheel anxiously. "I told Stan and he said he'd make sure Ford didn't make an ass of himself about it once we got back," she said with the slightest laugh. "And that's just about a direct quote." Dipper hummed, buckling his seat belt and closing the door. Bill furrowed his brows, eyes flickering between gold and gray. Dipper grit his teeth. Things were really starting to look bleak for the blonde.

"You told them you tried to commit suicide?!" Dipper whisper-yelled angrily, jaw clenched.

Bill shrugged, running his fingers along his injured arm. "Kid, my wrist was slit. What was I supposed to say when they asked?" He tilted his head to the side. "That a little demon girl grew claws and sliced open my arm when I ripped the essence out of her body?"

Dipper opened his mouth to argue, but had no response. He crossed his arms over his chest, grumbling to himself. "Great to see you acting like yourself again," he muttered, looking the other way.

Bill laughed, raising his brow. "Aww, were you worried for me?" he asked, one hand over his heart, as if touched. "That's sweet, Pine Tree. Really." Sarcasm dripped from his voice.

Dipper glared. "Fuck you," he hissed, grinding his teeth.

Bill leaned back against the hospital bed with a loud groan. "God, I wish," he huffed, waving his uninjured arm. "Seriously, it's getting horribly frustrating to keep putting effort into that whole situation while you're either A) completely oblivious to it, or B) avoiding it altogether." He frowned, eyes meeting Dipper's.

The brunette then noticed that his eyes had yet again changed. Where they'd still had a glimmer to them before, they were simply yellow. No gold and no glow to them anymore. Almost like a cat's, Dipper mused. He chose to ignore Bill's comment. "You need to stop using your powers."

Bill scoffed. "I didn't really have a choice this time, kid."

Dipper raised his brow. "And why's that?" he questioned, tapping his foot impatiently.

Bill ran his thumb along the bandages on his arm, not looking up at Dipper. "For the past month, she's been toying with you, trying to see what makes you tick. And she knows she's hit the nail on the head with Shooting Star. In simple terms, she's been playing you like a violin, and you've been letting her. The thing about it is, though... Only a dream demon would be able to do what she's done, yet I've never seen her before, let alone heard of her. I'm thinking now that after I was kicked out of the Nightmare Realm, she was created to be my replacement. But she's acting fast, maybe even irrationally. She's impatient, I can tell. The whole dimension must be in shambles by now, and if she can't get her hands on this one soon, it'll implode entirely and there will be nothing left of it," he explained, a hand on his chin. He had a distant expression on his face.

"But last night.. She was slipping into your head through that little dark place in your mind. All she had to do was get you so distraught that you'd break down right in front of her, and she'd take that as an opportunity to turn you into her personal puppet, pulling strings and using you as a means of taking this place over." Dipper glared at him when the word 'puppet' came into conversation, but remained silent and allowed him to continue. "That's why I intervened. She was breaking into the part of your head you don't want anyone to see, the part all you humans have. All your anger and jealousy and guilt; she was tapping into it. And it was working. You don't think it was strange that you couldn't wake up until I showed up? Usually you would've, because she hadn't damaged you enough to get in your head. But last night..."

Bill paused, running his fingers through his hair. He didn't look Dipper in the eye. "Pine Tree, you were well on your way to falling into a coma when I stepped in."

Dipper's eyes widened, jaw hung slightly agape.

This could not be happening.