Once at home, Samuel sees Bill show up with his hands on his... well, the closest thing he has of hips. "Aren't you humans bothered by all those stupid obligations? So much time wasted at school or work..."

The kid has his own logic about this statement. "Yeah, I understand that point of view... But in a way, it makes the moments of free time and joy all the more precious. Don't know if you can understand that, but I see it this way."

The demon just rolls his eye. "Anyway, do you know why Shooting star is so interested into visiting the park tomorrow?"

"Well, I don't... Maybe we'll just have some good time hanging out, maybe she has something in mind... She can be kinda sneaky at times... But we're going either way!"

"Do as you please, Fuzzball... I'm not gonna stop you..." Bill doesn't object directly and just vanishes in annoyance.

The next afternoon, the three kids reunite at the park. For a Saturday in October, the weather gives a generous breeze that doesn't feel cold. Mabel is very much leading the conversations between the three of them, with her brother shrugging about it. She leads them to a park bench that's near a cotton candy stand. And she seems really intrigued by it.

Dipper gets an idea of what's going on. "Oh, Mabel... If you're hungry, I don't know if our parents gave me enough money for some cotton candy for the three of us."

She gets her mind distracted for a bit as the information is making her interested. "You got money for that?" She shakes her head, saying to herself "Focus...". "Well truth be told, I wanted to stick around here because... I have an idea."

Samuel wonders. "What is that...?"

She claims. "Earlier this week, I heard a classmate being devastated. Her little sister came here and she got enough money for cotton candy, but then... Some bullies caught her and stole it from her."

Dipper feels a little angry after listening to that. "It's awful! But why do you bring this up...?"

Mabel explains. "Well I thought, if they had not been caught, it's possible that this is something that can be repeated. And so I thought we should check on that and that we... well, Bill could do something."

Both boys answer with "What?"

She explains her idea with confidence. "If we see the culprit, I thought... maybe Bill could use his magic and weirdness to scare them away and discourage them from doing something like that again. Without revealing himself."

Dipper is very concerned. "Mabel, that'd be horrible! And evil!"

But then his sister insists. "No, I thought about this... If it happens to someone who deserves it, then it's not being cruel... It's making things right! As long as the magic just drives them away, that is..."

Samuel wonders. "I have to agree, Dipper... Mabel makes a good point... We can't let someone get away with this if we see it happen..."

Dipper sighs and gives up on his objections.

He then look at her friend. "So you want Bill to... use his magic. That'd probably be through me since he can't show himself in plain sight..."

Mabel feels some embarassment. "Yeah, sorry, Sammy, that's the only issue... He'd have to use you, and... I couldn't think a way around it..."

He reacts in a fairly reassuring way. "Hey, it's alright. It's crazy to think about, but Bill and I actually got used to switching when it's needed, and we got to a decent understanding about it. So I don't mind..." Just as he says that... Bill takes control in one second.

Dipper gets startled for a little bit, forcing Bill to speak through Samuel. "Come on, Pinetree, this is pathetic! You should be used to that by now..."

He gets frustrated. "Excuse me, but you didn't show yourself to us all day and you take control of my friend with barely any warning, I think I have the right to get surprised!"

Mabel feels both amused from the banter and annoyed that the two don't get along much better yet. "I'm guessing you're aware of the situation, aren't you?" She finds something on the spot, which she says with a gentle smile. "Sammill!"

This causes Bill to react with a specific memory awoken. "Oh, again with the portmanteau names, Shooting star?"

Dipper raises an eyebrow in confusion. "... What...?"

Mabel answers. "Oh, well, you weren't there to hear it, but back when Bill possessed you, I called the result "Bipper". You know, Bill and Dipper... And now, it's "Sammill", Sammy and Bill!"

Her brother frowns. "This feels extremely discomforting... Anyway, how can we be sure that the culprit would even come back today?"

Mabel shrugs. "I don't know, maybe we'll just get lucky." Dipper isn't convinced, yet, barely a minute later... She gasps. "Look at that!" She discretly brings their attention to group of teens who looks at the kids waiting in line.

Bill observes and says. "Yup, I can recognize someone who's up to no good when I see one." He looks at Samuel's hand. "So you really want me to...?"

Dipper interrupts. "Not now... We need to wait and see if they're gonna do something..." With that, the three of them try to get closer without being noticed, hiding behind nearby bushes.

Bill actually feels some unease. "But... I don't know if I can do this... I've tried using my magic to do bad stuff recently, and..."

Mabel repeats her words. "This isn't doing bad stuff... It's punishing someone who deserves it, and it's gonna affect them only for a couple of minutes... It's a noble cause!"

Through Samuel, Bill grows more and more anxious. "But maybe I've grown too weak... to use my powers... and to enjoy it... The last time that worked out... Was the day of the deal with Fuzzball..."

While he's debating with himself, one young kid carrying a teddy bear and the cotton candy starts going back to his family when he gets interrupted by the suspicious group in a currently unsupervised area of the park.

"Hey kid, nice cotton candy you got there."

The kid is concerned, while also naive. "Um... thanks...?" He then gets his plush taken. "HEY!" He starts tearing up. "Give it back..."

"Give me that cotten candy and the plush is yours again."

The kid is about to obey, starting crying. "This isn't fair..."

Mabel gasps. From the bushes, they're the only ones to witness the scene. She whispers. "Bill, you must do something..."

Through Samuel, Bill... actually feels panicked. "But... but... I don't know if I can do this..." He tries to get his fingers to snap and use his magic to create chaos like before, but... He has flashbacks. Flashbacks of when his powers of evil weren't good enough to ensure his success. Flashbacks of his failures haunting him. Coupled with the fear of not being able to enjoy using it, he feels shaky. "I... Will it work...? I'm not... I can't..."

As the forceful trade is about to happen, Dipper whispers both angrily and supportively. "Bill, do it... Now!"

Bill takes a quick breath... and snaps his fingers. Suddenly... The teen feels a massive rash on the arm carrying the plush.

"Uh...?" He rolls up his sleeve to see the skin of his arm being awfully damaged, like a terrible sunburn. And it stings, everywhere... So he yells of pain and drops the plush, running to the nearest water point to try and appease the pain.

"What was that?", says one of his friends, clearly freaked out. Right after speaking up, that one got a giant pimple on his palm, which causes the rest of the group to run away.

The plush falls back on the boy's hands, who doesn't understand anything, but feels very thankful for this turn of events. With his plush and his cotton candy in his hands, he runs back to his family before something else occurs.

Bill, through Samuel, giggles of satisfaction. A giggle that brings awful flashbacks to Dipper, but he knows it's not like in the past situations he's heard it.

Mabel cheers. "Bill, you did it!" She hugs Samuel as congratulations.

Bill shows up as himself, sitting between the kids and the bushes so he's not noticed by someone else. "Oh, gross, don't hug me for that! But..." He continues giggling. "That was amazing! I was scared I wouldn't ever feel this feeling of excitement and satisfaction again!" He concludes his laughter.

Samuel goes back to his senses. "So... he did it?" He concludes yes solely based on Mabel's face.

Dipper is genuinely impressed. "Wow, Bill... I never thought you could..." He can't believe what he's about to say. "I'm proud of you, Bill..."

The demon might love praise, but given the heroic reason behind it, a part of him feels like he doesn't want to be the center of attention and he exclaims. "Oh, cut it out! I made it because I wanted to feel that thrill and adrenaline of messing with people again! I'm so glad it's still here." He resumes cackling loudly.

Samuel gets nervous. "Sshhhh... Someone might pass by and get scared."

Bill frowns. "Oh you and your stupid rules... Fine, you won't get to enjoy it!" He vanishes.

With that being taken care of, the three kids stand up and prepare to leave for a stroll around. But then...

"Um, hold on a bit, okay?" Dipper moves to the cotton candy stand. He has enough money to pay for one.

Samuel observes. "Uh, I guess all those events made him hungry."

Mabel nods and she's almost drooling. "Can't blame him, these smell so good..."

Then her brother comes back a few minutes later, and, out of nowhere... "Here Sis, for you!"

Mabel gets surprised. "What? Why?"

Dipper admits with a smile. "Your idea right there was amazing... The way you wanted to give a punishment to some jerks... The way you helped Bill to get a new spark of joy in the process... You helped him feel good about himself again, with a good cause... You have a big heart, Mabel, so... you deserve it!" He hands over the cotton candy with a big smile.

Mabel grabs it and has true happiness in her eyes. "You're the sweetest, Bro-bro..."

Dipper looks away in embarassment. "Don't mention it..."

"Still, I'd feel bad about eating the whole thing in front of you... So here!" She grabs shares to give to her brother and her friend, a gesture they're thankful of, before starting to eat. They both smile and eat their small share.

And while she eats the core of the cotton candy, Samuel takes his notebook. He's definitely writing how he used his powers for something that can be called heroic. And as always, he agrees to let Dipper make a scan of his notes to send to Ford periodically.

Dipper noticed the gap in pages. "Um... Why are pages missing...?"

Sammy only answers. "It's Bill... I don't know what he removed. All I know is that it's something he did himself."

Obviously, the idea that Bill hides something causes Dipper instant worries. "Oh no, has he removed some bad stuff. Stuff we shouldn't know about?" He starts feeling some unease again. "Should we get worried...?"

His friend is honest. "He promised me he'd show me when he feels ready. It's apparently something that makes him insecure. I promised him that I wouldn't reveal it to you, but..." He stops midsentence. He thinks about how sincerely worried Bill was when he asked, and if he was to reveal anything to Dipper, he would fail his promise. "... Forget that last part, please."

The brown-haired boy gets a little worried, but remains hopeful. "I'll keep it tonight and I'll definitely share the information. Thank you for your trust." Those missing pages do hurt his curiosity and desire for truth. But for now, he focuses on the sincerity of Sammy's words, the happiness of his sister and how Bill did something actually heroic while appearing to enjoy it.

After a while, they go home, and on the evening...

At the twins' room, Mabel fell asleep quickly after the satisfaction of a day well done. Dipper, meanwhile... He isn't too nervous, but he gets fascinated by the notebook. He can't help but read it through and through. It brings back memories of when he overanalyzed the journal and its contents. So it seems that the more things change, the more things stay the same.

And so he reads the beginning again, it's Samuel telling his point of view on everything.
Dipper sighs... "Sammy, you're a bit of a naive one with your kindness... It could've ended way worse... But I'm thankful you wanted to protect us and our friendship..."

He skips a few pages and reads about the more recent events... The ones he witnessed still confuse him... "Bill, a good side...? I never could've believed it."

He skips pages again, reading snippets.

Dipper lets all the info get to his head. He keeps reading about how Bill has been since he returned. Regardless if he was there to witness it or not... Maybe Bill has changed. His personality is the same, but it appears... He doesn't want to or can't enjoy doing evil anymore. The boy then just falls asleep the notebook in hand as he was thinking too hard.

Author notes: Well, starting the second act with something big here, settling a new status quo for the group. So you can expect a lot of different and new dynamics.

Thanks for reading!