Chapter 25

The morning came, for a change Bill woke up earlier than Dipper who was still sleeping under his arm.

Bill couldn't help but look at Dipper for a while… simply enjoying the moment as a tear left his eye. He stood up without waking Dipper, he was really beat, it was no wonder after what they did last night.

He got dressed and materialized a box in his hand it wasn't really big, but he left it next to Dipper with a note on it. He left the cabin with Dipper still sleeping as he was ready to head into the woods Wendy caught him leaving.

"Hey weirdo where are you going so early?" She asked.

"I prefer king of weirdness if you are going to use that term" He smirked "Sorry redhead I'm not in the mood to talk" He said as he lit a cigarette with his hand.

"Did you fight? If you hurt Dipper I will be sure to send you back to oblivion myself" She threatened.

"No, I just need to visit a place..." He exhaled the smoke "I'm just getting nostalgic that's all" He answered as he kept walking.

He headed into the woods as he usually did when something bothered him, this time walking as there wasn't any pit nearby and he wasn't feeling good enough to open a rift.

He walked for hours before he arrived at his statue, he forgot how long it actually took to get there without the pit. He moved closer to it... Inspecting how much it had already decayed, looking at the graffiti it had on, he sat down on the floor and leaned against it. "When did I turn so pitiful…" he thought to himself as he closed his eyes.

Meanwhile Dipper was still asleep in the cabin as Wendy knocked on the door. Since no one answered she entered.

"Hey sleepy head" She said as she threw his shirt at him which was laying on the floor "Wake up its midday"

"No..." He said as he covered his head with his pillow.

"Don't make me pull the blankets" She threatened.

"I'm awake...agh…" He sat up slowly as he noticed the pain in his hips.

"You ok?" Wendy asked as she raised her eyebrow.

"My hips hurt... " He replied without thinking as he was still half asleep.

"Ah... Yeah that will hurt for a while..." She replied.

He then realized what he said and blushed "No…no no no no, oh gosh forget I ever said anything!" He face palmed.

"Don't worry Dipps" She smiled "But hey... Put a leash on that boyfriend of yours, he left hours ago and hasn't returned" she exclaimed.

"Bill what?" Dipper asked.

"Yeah he sneaked out early in the morning, he said something like he needed to visit a place and how nostalgic it was, I don't know, just make sure he doesn't cause any trouble" She said as she exit the cabin.

Dipper laid back again as he was in pain… he noticed the package that was lying next to him. He took the note on top of it and read it.

'Pinetree please don't open it until your birthday'

"My birthday?" He thought to himself "It's still over one month away, what the heck?" So he decided to open the package anyway, revealing a small black journal with a golden triangle in the middle. Dipper took the journal out and read the note on the first page.

'I never break a deal Pinetree, here is everything you've ever asked me, everything I could think about myself. It has a spell on, it will only reveal it secrets to you, to others it will look like a blank journal, I trust you won't tell anyone about what you will read in here'

He couldn't understand what was going in, then it him as he flipped through the pages.

He almost fell as he stood up and got dressed, leaving half if his stuff in the cabin, he had to hurry...

"Wendy!" He yelled as he exit the cabin.

"What?" She yelled back from behind the house as she was cutting wood.

"Where exactly did Bill say he went to?!" He shouted.

"Bill? He didn't say" She recalled "As I said when I woke you up he said 'some nostalgic place' and then walked into the forest" she pointed the way he went.

"When was that?!" He yelled again, he couldn't calm himself he was fearing the worst.

"Puh… about 3-4 hours ago?" She recalled.

"He is already there if he went on foot…" Dipper mumbled to himself "Wendy I need to borrow your truck!" He exclaimed.

"My truck?" She was baffled.

"Please it's important!" He begged once more.

She took out the car keys of her jacket and threw them at Dipper "If there is one scratch on it, Pines I swear…"

"Yeah yeah, thank you Wendy!" He interrupted her and ran to the truck.

Dipper started the truck and drove off as quickly as he could, he knew Bill was at his statue, it was the only place that had some kind of meaning to him in Gravity Falls.

There was no way to reach the statue by car, the only way was parking on the nearest road to it and it still was about 20 minutes walking from there. As he arrived at the usual spot, he parked his car where he always did when visiting that tomb.

Dipper ran, he ran as fast as he could, something wasn't right Bill was an asshole but he wouldn't leave just like that… would he?

He ran… to the point where he almost collapsed but it wasn't far he had to keep running… smiling as he saw Bill sitting leaned against his statue.

"BILL!" Dipper couldn't help but yell. Bill slowly opened one eye as Dipper collapsed in front of him.

"What are you doing here Pinetree…? You opened the package didn't you?" He said annoyed.

"Of course I did… and what I'm doing here…?" Dipper answered as he panted "You are the one who left a freaky note and ran off… What's up with that?"

"Please just… go back…" Bill begged.

"Why? Tell me why you are here in the first place?" Dipper said as he stood up.

Bill followed the example and stood up as well, it seemed to cost him a lot of energy.

"Pinetree… go now" Bill demanded.

"But…"

"JUST GO!" Bill yelled as his eyes turned red and a ring of blue fire surrounded him, which made Dipper step back.

"Bill…" Dipper murmured.

"I don't want you to see this…" Bill exclaimed as his eyes turned back golden.

"See what?! Goddamit what the fuck is going on?!" Dipper yelled in anguish.

"I told you this body wouldn't hold long… and thank to those bullets six fingers made the process was sped up" Bill explained as he sighed.

"What… What do you mean process?" Dipper asked confused.

"Means this body has been decaying since the first day it was created, a human body or semi-human can't hold my ethereal form for long… I did hope for it to last through the summer though" Bill answered with a sad smile on his face.

"Wait… what about the blood? Take my blood that always helped!" Dipper offered.

"It won't help any longer, I guess you humans like to call it the point of no return" He laughed.

"How can you laugh right now…" Dipper threw a rock at Bill in anger.

"So in short it means you are… dying…?" Dipper asked as tears started leaving his eyes.

"…That's why I didn't want you to be here…" Bill uttered as the flames extinguished, he neared Dipper to wipe his tears off"

"Is there really nothing we can do about it…?" Dipper asked as he hugged Bill.

"No those bullets did their job pretty well, but don't blame six fingers, for the stuff I did to him I deserved this… So there is no need to cry" He smiled as he kissed Dipper's forehead.

"Like shit… you have no idea how I feel" Dipper ranted "You are leaving me… you were not planning on even saying goodbye, do you have an idea how much it hurts?!"

"I do…" Bill kissed Dipper as tears left his eyes as well.

"You fucking moron… why didn't you tell me…" Dipper sobbed against Bill's chest.

"And make you worry? How would that help?" Bill remarked.

"Still… is this why you were so nice to me yesterday…?" Dipper sniffed.

"I wanted you to have a least one good memory of me" Bill replied as he tried to put on a smile.

"Just… Don't leave me… that's the only thing I need" Dipper cried.

Bill separated from Dipper and took the golden ring off that he was wearing "This is for you…" he said as he took Dipper's hand and slid it on his ring finger "This should help you keep the demonic energy under control... so don't take it off…or at least have in with you…" Bill explained.

"Bill…" Dipper couldn't help but cry.

He only smiled as blue flames engulfed him… they didn't hurt Dipper they only seemed to take Bill in.

"NO! Please don't go…" Dipper fell to his knees sobbing as he watched Bill being devoured by his own flames.

"There is no need to cry…" Bill wiped the tears off Dipper's face as he crouched as well " L… my time has come to burn… I invoke the ancient power that I may return" He chanted the incantation he once did 6 years ago "We will meet again Pinetree…" Bill said as he leaned in for one last kiss as the flames finally took him, leaving Dipper behind as Bill had never been there.

Dipper kept crying, sobbing on the ground… he couldn't help it… he looked at the ring on his finger and held it to his mouth "Please come back…"

At some point after hours of sobbing he decided to head home, he arrived at night time… He left the truck at Wendy's place took his stuff and headed to the Shack. As he arrived Mabel greeted him with open arms.

"Bro bro where were you?" She asked as she hugged him "Did go well? How was the food? Where is Bill?" She smiled as she let go.

He realized she was talking about yesterday and how she set them up…

"It was great…" He smiled as tears left his eyes and he hugged his sister.

"Dipper...?" She was confused but she hugged him back.

In that moment Ford came up from the lab, he noticed Dipper crying so he immediately turned around.

"FORD!" Dipper yelled as he let Mabel go "Get back here! You knew didn't you?!"

"What the heck is going on?" Mabel asked confused.

Ford only sighed as he turned around to face Dipper "Yes I knew, that was the deal I told you about"

"Explain now!" Dipper demanded.

"After you two left Bill came to me, telling me how my plan worked and he would only have a few more days… " Ford explained.

"And what kind of deal was it then?!" Dipper raged.

"He wouldn't kill me in the spot if I didn't tell you and well not try to erase your memories again…" Ford replied.

Dipper only looked away as he didn't know how to respond…

"That is the moment I realized if Bill wanted to kill me… he could have done it so many times" Ford looked down "But you were right… he changed… I should have trusted you Dipper… and I'm sorry for that, I know there is nothing that will make this better…" Ford lamented.

"I don't want your apologies… he told me not to blame you so I won't… I need some time alone" Dipper exclaimed as he headed to the attic.

Mabel and Ford were left alone "So… Bill is gone?" She asked.

"Yes…" Ford replied as he left and went back to the lab.

I'm so sorry for this...