Chapter 22

Meanwhile Mabel and Dipper were still at the shack.

"Let me get the car keys" Mabel proposed.

"No need, just follow me" Dipper said as he pulled her out of the house to the bottomless pit.

"Um... Dipper what are we... ?" before she could finish her sentence Dipper pushed her into the pit and jumped in after her. After a few minutes of continuous falling the dropped out of another pit Bill made near his statue.

"How did we just do that?" Mabel asked.

"Don't know, don't ask, Bill tore a new wormhole so he wouldn't have to walk... " Dipper answered.

"I can understand him, he never had to walk!" Mabel exclaimed.

"Come on Mabel... we don't have time for this " Dipper said as they kept walking in the direction the markings were made on the trees. At some point they were able to hear Bill screaming.

"Is that Grunkle Ford's voice?" Mabel asked.

"Oh no... " Dipper started running towards the direction of their voices, the path cleared and Dipper was able to see his Grunkle with Bill tied to chains, bleeding and somehow still mocking Stanford.

"Grunkle Ford stop!" Dipper yelled from a far.

Stanford heard that and immediately turned around to see Mabel and Dipper running toward them.

"What are you kids doing here?!" Stanford yelled "It is dangerous stay away!" He demanded.

"Pinetree... " Bill said in a hurt voice, he barely could lift up his head.

"Oh my..." Mabel said as she covered her mouth with her hands.

"Ford what did you do?!" Dipper yelled as he ran past Stanford and rushed to Bill.

"Only what was necessary Dipper" Stanford replied.

"Shut up and back off for a moment!" Dipper yelled at him as he inspected Bill's wounds.

"Dipper listen to yourself! Don't you see how he has been manipulating you?!" Stanford argued back.

"Grunkle Ford... Please just back up a little" Mabel said as she pulled him by the arm.

"Bill are you ok?" "Dipper asked.

"If this is what ok looks to you kid you seriously need some help..." Bill smirked.

"You are still being an asshole so it can't be that bad" Dipper uttered as he pulled down his collar "Come on bite" Dipper offered.

"I can't move with this shit on me... " Bill exclaimed looking at the chains.

Dipper tried to break the chains, but those burned him to the touch "Ford put down the chains!" Dipper demanded.

"Grunkle please... " Mabel said as well puppy eyed.

"No! It is my job to keep you kids safe... No matter what it takes, so I hope you will forgive me one day" Ford said as he pulled out the memory gun and set the date.

"Grunkle Ford stop that! Please!" Mabel begged as she tried to pull the gun out of his hand.

Meanwhile Dipper was in disbelief... Falling to his knees as Ford pointed the gun at him.

"Ford you don't have to do this! You don't understand!" Dipper yelled.

"Dipper you are the one unaware of the situation! He wanted to use you as his new body! He doesn't care about you at all! You are only a pawn in his wicked game!" Ford argued.

"No you listen to me for once... " Dipper said as tears started to leave his eyes and the ground started shaking, leaving Ford out of balance.

"What's going on?!" Mabel yelled as she almost fell to the ground with the shaking.

"Dipper... " Ford said in a worried voice as he was pushed to the ground by an unknown force. Trees started breaking in half and everything that wasn't glued to the ground started levitating around Dipper.

"Dipper… what's happening?! Mabel shouted.

"Fuck…Pinetree calm down!" Bill yelled as he tried to reach for Dipper but the chains restrained him from moving any closer "Shooting star he can't hear us! Break the chains! Get that fucking journal!" Bill demanded as he kept trying to free himself.

She nodded and took the journal which fell next to Ford who still was being pressed to the ground by some force Dipper was creating unwillingly. She started reading the breaking incantation, trying to avoid the objects that were being torn from the ground.

The chains finally broke as Bill was trying to break them by force because of Mabel, he was bleeding and had some broken bones, even then he still managed to move through the storm of objects that were surrounding Dipper kneeling to his level and hugging him, with that everything stood still around them.

"Mason… calm down… I'm here" Bill said as he pulled Dipper even closer "Calm down… my Pinetree" He said as he kissed Dipper's forehead… after a few seconds everything felt back to the floor and Ford was released, grasping for air.

"Dipper!" Mabel yelled as she threw herself into the hug, the three of them kept hugging for a few seconds trying to calm Dipper as Ford kept his distance.

"I'm so sorry guys…" Dipper finally spoke "I don't know what happened there… I lost myself…" The hug loosened.

"You were out under too much stress…" Bill sighed "Partially it's my fault… but I didn't knew this could happen" He lamented.

"No… I've been very emotional for the past days… not need to take it upon you…" Dipper said as he wiped his faced and noticed Bill's wounds "That must hurt… I'm so sorry… This is all my fault" Dipper said as he pulled his collar down. Mabel moved a little further away as she knew they would need a little space. Ford was just perplexed watching…

"I'm ok… no need for that right now… this isn't your fault… Just a few scratches" Bill smiled.

"Liar…" Dipper said.

"Guys… seriously… we've seen worse things around here" Mabel said as she started rolling on the ground.

"Now…" Dipper said in a demanding voice.

Bill leaned in closer to Dipper's neck, before fully leaning in he made a turning hand gesture, with that Ford was turned into a direction away from them. He didn't hesitate before biting, the pain he had was too much to handle even for him, the bullets really did their job pretty well.

"I'm sorry…" Bill uttered as he loosened the bite and licked it one last time as he always did.

"God… if you are out there… thank you" Mabel said as her eyed sparkled.

"Mabel not ok…" Dipper said.

"Mind letting me lose now?" Ford said in a pissed tone. Bill snapped his fingers allowing him to move again and turn toward them.

"Ford… " Dipper faltered "Do you even know what you just did…"

"Dipper I'm still only doing what I think is the best for you" He argued.

"The best?!" Dipper started yelling.

"Calm down…" Bill said as he stood up "Everyone head to the Shack there is a mob a people heading towards this place right now… We can finish talking later"

"Wait..? What?" Mabel asked.

"There were trees flying around here a minute ago… people will come" Bill rephrased.

"But…" Dipper tried to protest.

"Just head to the pit, we will meet at the Shack" Bill demanded as he tried to get the teens away, both just obliged and headed back, they could already hear the voice of people nearing from a far. Bill neared himself to Ford whispering something into his ear… he stretched his hand out as blue flames lit it. Ford took the deal without hesitation and without exchanging more words… Ford ran back to the Shack as he didn't understand what they had done to the pit. Bill just opened a rift and stepped into it leaving the destroyed place behind.

Mabel, Dipper and Bill met back at the shack, Ford would still need some time since he probably went there on foot.

"What are you up to? You went into the lab didn't you?" Stan asked as he approached them.

"Grunkle Stan... Let's just not talk about it... " Mabel sighed.

"We just had a 'small' fight with Ford..." Dipper uttered.

"What a nice definition of small Pinetree" Bill mocked as he raised his eyebrow.

"Ford tried to erase my memories again... " Dipper sighed.

"He did what?!" That's it! Whenever he gets home I'll talk to him this madness has gone too far" Stan yelled.

"I already took care of that... " Bill added nonchalantly.

"What?!" Dipper and Mabel yelled in sync.

"No big deal" Bill yawned "He won't do anything to harm you anymore... Or to 'save' you as he believes... He didn't mean bad Pinetree, he only wants the best for you... "

"I know he does... But would harm to listen to me...?" Dipper lamented.

"Dipper..." Stan sighed "Don't be mad at Ford, as the triangle said he wants the best for you... And I still don't trust him either" He looked at Bill "But I believe you can make the right decisions even if it's with him"

"Grunkle Stan..." Dipper murmured "Wait... MABEL DID YOU TELL HIM?" Dipper yelled.

"Whoops... " She said as she ran away and Dipper followed her.

Stan and Bill didn't exactly want to be left alone and just followed Dipper and Mabel who were fighting.

"You kids are turning twenty can't it hurt to behave like twenty?" Stan asked.

"No he still is my little brother!" Mabel exclaimed yanking his hair.

"Mabel... By 5 minutes!" He yelled as he wrestled her back to the ground.

Bill just stood there with a sad smile on his face. Dipper noticed this of course.

"Bill what's wrong?" Dipper asked still fighting his sister on the floor.

"Nothing... Let's just... take a break from everything and enjoy the next days" He smiled and invited Dipper to go upstairs. Mabel didn't follow as she thought they might need some privacy.

They went upstairs and laid down on Dipper's bed hugging each other.

"Bill what's wrong?" Dipper asked once more.

"I'm fine Pinetree" He replied as he kissed Dipper's forehead "Just tired..."

"Liar... " He uttered, but he noticed Bill was stressed so he stopped talking.

"What do you want for your birthday?" Bill asked out of nowhere.

"For my birthday?" Dipper was surprised "It's still a month away..."

"I want to buy you something nice so I've to start looking" He said as he hugged Dipper tighter"

"I can't think of anything right now... I don't really need anything... I'm happy " Dipper whispered as he smiled.

"Then leave it to me" Bill smiled and gave Dipper a peck on the lips. "I need to go to the mall in the morning want to come? Mabel said she would bring her friends"

"Woah… No thank you... I will just ask Wendy if she has time I still owe her an explanation… because YOU COULDN'T WALK HOME LIKE A NORMAL PERSON"

"Quite funny for you to be thinking of me being normal" Bill smirked. They spend the next minutes interlocked in each other's arms.

In the meantime Ford got back home and explained Stan everything that happened and how he had to apologize to Dipper... Both just headed to the porch and drank some beer after a while Dipper went out with them.

"Ford... Can we talk please this needs to stop... " Dipper said straight away.

"No... Dipper I'm the one who owes you an apology..." Ford resented.

"Wait what...?" Dipper was perplexed.

"Bill already talked to me... And Stan did as well... I know just an apology won't be enough, but let's talk some other time about this…" Ford said as he ruffled Dipper's hair... "Let's just calm down for the next days... And enjoy the summer, I'm too old for this" Ford said as he sat down next to Stan.

"What did Bill said that made your mind change so badly?" Dipper asked.

"I can't tell you... Yet… that was a part of the deal" Ford replied.

"What deal?" Stan asked.

"Can't tell you either" Ford added.

Dipper only sighed... "I can't get angry, I can't get angry" Dipper repeated to himself as he went back in.

Everyone spend a quiet evening awaiting a new day.

Woo... Let's calm down guys~