This chapter is weird. Like, kinda awkward I guess? Eh, you'll see.

July 19th

Things just keep getting crazier around here. Today, Cupid and Icarus showed up by the old rock quarry. We all went to see what was going on and, suddenly, a rift opened and a dragon called Shade stepped out of it. He was possessed and lashed out at us.

He basically killed Amy, but luckily, she ended up being okay. Still, it was scary, and Bill was so angry and devastated that he turned into his dragon form. It looked different though; he was all red and both eyes were open and black with red pupils. These weird red spikes or nails drove into him and he started attacking everyone.

According to Teeth, Shade is a hybrid of a beast dragon and something called a puppet master. Some beings can control others' minds, but puppet masters control their body instead. However, it only works if they catch them in a weakened or vulnerable state. I guess that's why he attacked Amy; to get to Bill.

Amy told us later that she ended up in Sava and met her mom, Flora, Tranquility (Ghost and Crusade's mom), and even Valor. They stopped her from actually dying and sent her back to us, something Cupid said later was "extremely against the rules". But since Valor did it, I guess Ouroboros doesn't mind much.

Anyways, a strange dragon called Aurora had shown up along with Dionysus, and Amy woke up after Aurora healed her. When she got up, Amy used her magic to block Bill's fire and protect all of us before shouting for him to stop. I guess he recognized her voice because he froze and stared at her for a long time before lowering his head down to her. The weird nails disappeared and he turned back into human form to hug her.

Meanwhile, Shade looked surprised (and a little sad) before something left him and he suddenly regained himself. Amy said that Valor told her it was Atë who had possessed Shade and made him attack us. That's how Shade knew to go after Amy, because Shade himself had never met Amy nor did he even know who she was.

We're not sure where Atë went, the coward, but I'm sure she'll be back. Ford says he has something in store for her when she does, but he needs Ghost's help to finish it. So, tomorrow, Ghost is going to come over to see what he needs. It's something to do with Ghost's powerful sealing magic. Amy says she can't wait for Atë to come back because she has "a few choice words" for her. That'll be fun to hear.

Man, and I thought Bill couldn't be any clingier towards Amy, but now he's REALLY going to stick close to her. Guess Mabel was right all along. He really does love Amy. I wonder if he's going to admit that now?

Cupid is supposed to bring us a Phantom Amaranth when he comes back in a few days. They only grow in Sava. Meanwhile, with nowhere else to go, Shade is going to stay in the old barn with Teeth. He didn't seem too excited about staying in a barn with a bunch of animals and hay, but he and Teeth seem like really close friends so he's okay with it since Teeth is there. Like Teeth, Shade can't turn himself into a human or any other form, so he's too big to fit in the house.

Shade –

Puppet Master/Beast dragon hybrid. Has qualities of a giant moth.

Smaller than the other dragons like Crusade and Bill. About Teeth's size.

Has a total of six limbs (four arms, two legs). Walks around on all of them sometimes but usually is on his hindlegs like a person.

Giant pair of brown and orange moth wings. Kind of reminds me of a lo moth crossed with an atlas moth. They fold onto his back when not in use.

Pair of feathery antennas on his head. They twitch and quiver sometimes. I want to figure out what they're reacting to.

Large green orbs/capsules over his eyes in place of eyelids. Like a snake.

Body is covered in feathery brown and gray "scales" like a moth.

Weird, but kind of cute.

Shade can't talk because Ragnarok took his voice from him a long time ago. I wonder what he did that THAT was his punishment? He's super nice though, but a bit timid. Curious, too. He seems to like Bill a lot, kind of like Teeth does; views Bill as his "boss". Acts like a big goofball with Teeth.

Just found out that Shade only eats/drinks things like nectar and honey. He has this weird, long, skinny, black tongue like a hummingbird that he uses to drink. It's adorable. Interestingly, Bill claims that Shade is a really good cook.

July 22nd

It's six in the morning and I just woke up to the sound of something breaking and Dionysus shouting a bunch of swear words. It sounded like it came from the kitchen… I guess I'll go check it out. Mabel's still asleep.

Amy said yesterday that she plans on sleeping in late today. Dionysus is going to regret it if he wakes her up. Then again… He might regret it more if she finds out about whatever it was he just broke.

…

Dipper rubbed his eyes as he walked through the dark hallway towards the living room. He turned the corner around the fish tank wall into the kitchen and halted as he stepped in water. "Aw, wet socks! What the heck is –" He looked up to see Dionysus staring curiously at him from across the kitchen.

The faucet was on the floor and the sink was spurting water out between Dionysus' fingers as he held his hands over the spot where the faucet belonged. Judging by all the water on the floor, the sink must have been spraying like a geyser before he decided to try and hold it back with his hands.

"Oh, Dipper!" Dionysus looked slightly relieved. "Thank goodness. I thought you might have been Amy…" He yelped as the sink spritzed water at him then he tightened his grip.

"What did you do?!"

"Shh! Be quiet!" He whispered. "I… I'm not entirely sure what I did."

Dipper began taking off his soaked socks. "What do you mean?"

"Er, I-I don't want to talk about it! Anyways, you gotta help me!"

"What? What am I supposed to do? Why don't you just use magic to make it stop?"

"My magic is very specific. There are only certain things I can do and plumbing is not one of them!"

"There must be a way to turn off the water supply to the sink. H-Hang on." He made his way over through the lake of a puddle forming on the floor and bent down to open the cabinets and look under the sink. "Maybe if I turn this… Did that work?"

"Yes! Yes!" Dionysus jumped back from the sink with a smile. "Oh, thank goodness! Oh man…"

Dipper stepped out from under the sink and stood up to look around. "That sure is a lot of water." He picked up the faucet and examined it. "Hm. This thing's busted. I don't think it'll go back on. Amy's going to need to buy a new one."

Dionysus flinched. "What?! No, no, no. We're going to get a new one."

"We?"

"And Amy will never find out!"

"I think she's going to know by the lake in her kitchen." He threw a hand out to gesture at the water.

"Wait, wait!" Dionysus hopped awkwardly around the water to leave the kitchen. He returned a minute later with a mop and bucket. "Er…I'm going to hurry up and mop up as much of this as I can. You go get dressed so we can go to the hardware store."

"Why do I have to go?"

"Because you know how a place like that works. At least, better than me you do… I don't buy things."

Dipper made a face, internally questioning that last remark, but he said nothing and walked off back to his room. Mabel was still sleeping with Waddles at the foot of her bed. When Dipper returned to the kitchen, Dionysus was using a towel to pat dry the rest of the floor.

"Okay." He picked up the broken faucet. "Let's go."

The store was just opening when they got there and it had a strong smell of fresh lumber as they entered. Dionysus took in a deep breath through his nose and sighed.

"Mm, that's nice… All right! Where are the sink parts?"

Dipper sighed and shook his head. "Come on." He led the way.

…

Amy watched her breath fogging the crisp air as she walked through the woods. It was silent, aside from the soft crunch of snow with every step she took. Everything was white, with the dark trunks of trees being the only thing otherwise and a bit of dark green from the evergreens. She focused her eyes ahead now as she neared the hollow old tree she liked. Despite its hollowed-out body and the gray, leafless appearance, she knew the tree was alive. Though, she did not know why she liked it so much or why she always dreamt about it.

"This dream again?"

She turned at the sound of the voice and saw no one. When she turned back to the tree, Bill was there, a glowing yellow triangle floating about a foot or two off the ground. "Haven't seen that in a while," she remarked about his appearance.

He shrugged and leaned back, as if lounging in a reclining chair, and even crossed one leg over the other. "What's with this place? Why do like it here so much? And why is it always winter?"

"I thought you would know the answers to things like that," she teased.

It was nice to hear him talk, since he had been so quiet lately. Ever since Shade had appeared, Bill had spoken very little the past few days. He also had not been spending any time in the round window of her room. Instead, he followed her everywhere and kept pretty close to her.

"It's been a while since you've decided to bug me in my dreams. Were you bored?"

"Of course I was bored!" He changed shape and turned into a large yellow and black rhinoceros beetle roughly the size of Bud and flew over to cling to the tree. "You're sleeping too late!"

"I told you and everyone else that I was going to sleep late today." She watched him claw his way along the bark. "I'm tired. What time is it anyway?"

"Seven-o-three."

"Eh, I'll probably wake up in an hour or something."

He opened his wings and flew from the tree with wingbeats so powerful they sounded like a jackhammer, then he changed back into his previous form and crossed his arms. "Yeah, well, I thought you should know that Dionysus broke the kitchen sink. It was like a swimming pool in there."

"What?!"

"I mean," he shrugged and rolled his eye, "he cleaned it, and Pinetree turned off the water to the sink. They left to go get a new faucet, but they won't find one that matches. So, they're gonna get a similar one and hope you don't notice. But you would notice even if I didn't tell you, so there you go."

She stared oddly at him for a long moment before shaking her head. "Ugh. That idiot… And you sure are talkative again all of a sudden."

"What do you mean?"

"Normally you talk a lot, but you've been really quiet the past few days."

"Oh, that… I've just been thinking, is all."

"Do you not do that normally?"

"Very funny."

She smirked.

Amy stepped around him and crouched to enter the hollow tree's trunk. The inside was devoid of any ice or snow but was cushioned with dead pine needles and dry moss. She sat down and pressed her back against the wall so she could face the gap to the outside. It was dark in the tree but the outside was brilliantly white. It was almost blinding. With one hand, she reached out and brushed the tips of her fingers along the edge of the gap and her magic forced the trunk to seal itself shut. She was left in the dark until Bill popped in, smaller now, and lit up the tree with his glow.

"It's been a while since I've seen this form." She prodded his center with a finger. "What's under there anyway?"

"Under my exoskeleton?"

"Exoskeleton," she echoed. "How lovely…"

He waved a hand dismissively. "You know, just a bloody, fleshy mass of mouths, teeth, tentacles, my other eye, and…other things…"

"Other things?"

"Yes…"

"Wait. Did you say mouths, as in, more than one?"

"Uh-huh. Want to see?"

"Yeah."

He flinched. "I was joking."

"I'm not."

"It's probably not the best idea…"

She shrugged. "I bet I've seen worse. Have you ever seen a cow birth out her own uterus inside-out?"

"…I have now. Thanks."

She shrugged again. "It's not my fault you have weird omnipotent sight and it's been working better lately."

"A cow's inside-out uterus is not nearly on the level of disturbing and nightmarish that what's under here is." He pointed a thumb at himself. "Last human that saw this went insane."

"McGucket has a fragile mind," she said. "He always did. Besides, I'm not really human now, am I? At least, not technically."

"Perhaps."

"How does it open anyway?" She leaned over and pressed her hand against him.

"Hey! What are you –?" He tensed and shivered as she stroked her hand down along the front of his body, trailing her fingers along the sealed spaces between carapace plates. "Stop that!" He disappeared then reappeared on her other side.

She looked surprised for a moment before a mischievous smile came across her face. "Are you sure? For a moment, it looked like you liked it."

He crossed his arms and hunched his shoulders like an annoyed child. Just now…it was that same weird feeling he felt when she placed her hand on his hip once in the old barn. A wave and rush of warm, fluttery ecstasy. Though it was admittedly pleasurable, it was not something he was used to and it made him feel vulnerable. He greatly disliked feeling exposed or vulnerable; though, maybe it wasn't too bad when he was alone with Amy…

Before he realized what was happening, she turned and grabbed him, forcing him to shrink so she could cup him in her hands like a caught firefly. She sat back against the wall, pulled her knees up, and held her cupped hands in her lap. Carefully, she lifted her top hand to look at the annoyed, now four-inch-tall Bill.

"Seriously?" He was sitting in her palm with his arms and legs crossed. "Taking full advantage of lucid dreaming, are we?"

She chuckled. "Aw, look how cute you are." She carefully used the first knuckle of her index finger to rub the front of his body.

"Stop treating me like a pet hamster." He grabbed her finger with both hands but found the interaction so enjoyable that, instead of trying to escape, he relaxed and leaned back a little to let her continue.

"I'm not treating you like a hamster," she said. "I'm trying to get you to open up. Literally. Clams are easier to coax out of their shell."

"This is a bit more than a shell," he muttered.

"I'm just messing with you."

"Clearly." He looked away but continued to allow her to rub against him. Eventually, he just sighed and gave up. "Fine. Do what you want."

"Haven't I always?" she teased.

…

"None of these looks like the one we need," Dipper said as he looked over the selection of faucets for sale. "We'll have to try another store."

"Another store?!" Dionysus threw his arms up. "This hillbilly trash town only has one hardware store!"

"Well, we could order it online, but that'll take at least a few days to come in."

"A few days!? No, no, no. We need one now." He quickly looked over the selection then snatched up the closest resembling faucet he saw. "Maybe she won't notice…"

"I doubt that," Dipper told him. "Whatever. Just go pay for it."

"Pay? I don't have money."

Dipper facepalmed. "You came to a store to buy something without money?!"

Dionysus stared at him. "…Who said I was going to buy it?"

"Wait, what?"

He glanced around a bit to look for any people or cameras before tossing the faucet up; it vanished with a pop.

"What the -?" Dipper jumped a little.

"I stored it in my little pocket dimension," Dionysus explained. Suddenly, he jabbed the boy in the chest with his finger. "You saw nothing!"

"R-Right."

"All right, let's get the hell out of here." He straightened up and smoothed his shirt.

"Guess that explains where you're always getting alcohol from…"

…

Amy woke up and stretched a little in her bed. She laid there on her side for a while, dreading going downstairs to see the damage Dionysus had apparently caused while she was asleep. How did he even manage to do that? Never mind. She didn't want to know. Instead of getting up, she turned over onto her other side and propped herself up with her elbow.

Bill was laying on his back beside her and staring absently at the ceiling. When she moved to turn over, he turned his head to look at her.

"What time is it?" she asked.

"Eight-o-two."

"I was a minute off…"

"Twelve seconds, actually."

"Still," she sighed. She climbed halfway on top of him and laid her head down on his chest. She enjoyed the sound of his heartbeat and felt warm and excited when he placed his hand on her back.

"You know," he said after a while, "I was originally planning to off you once this deal was over. Of course, that was a long time ago now…"

She laughed a little. "I figured as much, so I'm not really offended. Still, that's a funny messed-up thing to say. So then, what's your plan now? Ragnarok intends to kill you like the rest of us."

He did not respond.

"Are you going to leave?" Amy asked.

"I don't know."

"Do you want to?"

"Not really… At least, not without you." He thought for a moment. "I…feel safe with you."

"Mm. Well, good." She lifted her head up to look at him and smiled. "I don't want you to leave anyway."

He blushed. "Amy… I'm in love with you."

"Really?" She mocked surprised then giggled and pressed her forehead to his. "I'm in love with you too."

He let out a short laugh, feeling awkward but happy, then brought their lips together and kissed her deeply.

…

"Did you turn the water back on?" Dipper asked.

"Yes!" Dionysus nodded.

They were standing in the kitchen and staring at the new faucet from a distance as if it was some wild animal that was going to attack them. Both of them were startled when Amy suddenly walked in, though Dionysus was clearly more frightened than Dipper was.

"Oh, morning, Amy," Dipper said casually.

Amy paused and looked at them, taking in Dionysus' demeanor as she secretly looked over the floor. It was dry and undamaged. "Morning," she replied. She walked over to the cabinets, grabbed a cup, brought it to the sink and filled it with water, then turned to face them while she drank from it. She took her time drinking, staring calmly at them the whole time. When she finished, she placed the cup on the counter and said, "How much did that faucet cost?"

"I stole it," Dionysus said without thinking.

Dipper facepalmed.

Amy's expression did not shift but the disappointment in her tone was clear. "Of course you did."

To be continued…

Funny, weird, awkward, cute, all of the above? You decide.

Why did Bill turn into a giant bug in Amy's dream? Because he was...bugging her. Ha! ...Okay bye.