The next day in the afternoon, Dipper and Samuel are having a friendly banter as they exit their last class of the day.
Dipper is finishing a conversation about his summer. "... And then I said: you're making sounds only dogs should hear!"
Samuel can't help but laugh. "You can be pretty funny when you're angry! ... That must've been an odd compliment, uh...?"
Dipper shrugs. "Eh, it's alright, I'm not offended..."
His friend feels relieved from that. "Well I'd better be going, I have an eye exam to go to this evening! Tell Mabel I wish her a good evening, okay?"
"Sure thing!" Dipper looks at his friend very much storming off. He hears Mabel's footsteps less than a minute later. "Hey Sis, guess..." He immediately changes expressions when he takes a look at her clearly upset way of walking. "Are you alright...?"
Mabel gives a very frustrated stare, making her brother worried. "Did I do something wrong...?"
Following that concern, his sister tries to not sounding . "No, it's not you... Did I ever tell you about that annoying classmate of mine?"
"I think so, yes. Once or twice, maybe..." Dipper answers, before being more straightforward. "Or way more than that. Why?"
Mabel sighs frustrated. "He didn't do his history homework that was due today and he pretty much forced me to give the answers to him at the last minute..."
"What? You can't do that. Not only will this encourage him to continue being lazy, he's gonna continue to pester you if you don't stand up for yourself."
Mabel yells. "YOU THINK I DON'T KNOW THAT?" Dipper gasps, and she tears up from frustration a bit after that. "Sorry, Bro-bro... I just... I can't with this guy sometimes..."
Her brother grabs her shoulders with an encouraging smile. "It's okay... We'll figure this out... Plus I have some news to cheer you up!"
She wipes the final tear before sounding more cheerful. "Oooh...? What is it? Tell me tell me tell me..."
He says with a brighter smile. "Sammy and I decided to plan another sleepover this week-end! And not one that will end up like... that problematic last one..." He frowns a bit thinking about what Bill had done to them then, thinking on the back on his mind that he still can't trust the demon completely yet. But he leaves those thoughts away from the conversation. "So it'll be our first good one since before our vacation!"
"No way, that's awesome, I can't wait!" She can barely stand in place after hearing that.
"Now there's the Mabel I like to see!" Dipper then adds. "Well, at times..."
"What's that supposed to mean?" She feels insulted from that last part.
Dipper giggles a bit. "Nothing..." He easily lets her know with his stare that it was just a jest, so she doesn't argue as they make their way home.
And so, it took a full week of anticipation, but Samuel arrives at his friends' house on the Friday evening. The family welcoming him for a night has been something regular since the three became friends. And unlike the very weird one from two months before, there won't be any oddities happening.
Sammy enters the bedroom, seeing like always that the twins have ensured that he'd have a mattress and all the comfort he needs. They were really looking forward to hanging out with him. And like it happens regularly, Dipper is giving back Samuel's notebook after he got and shared the studies about Bill. With that out of the way, they only have some fun times ahead.
Early on in their discussion, Mabel asks Samuel for a refresher...
"Say, Sammy, you said you travelled a little during the summer. But I forgot... Where did you go again...?"
Her friend answers. "Oh, yes, I did, for a couple of weeks. I went to New Jersey, because I have relatives there."
Dipper gives a small "see, told ya!" stare at his sister, while she looks surprised.
"Did I miss something?" He wonders why his friends are having a private nod to each other.
Dipper explains calmly. "As it turns out, we learned during our vacation that our family also has roots from New Jersey!"
"No way! What were the odds?" Samuel is impressed at the coincidence.
"What's the place like?" Mabel asks with curiosity.
"Well... It's a nice seaside area with good weather... I'm not sure what else I could say..." He then recalls. "Oh, we went to a neighboring city a couple of times that has an amusement park on a wharf, which was quite fun. It was next to an avenue full of shops. And I remember fondly a restaurant there that made great burgers!"
Just the notion of food makes Mabel hungry as she recalls something herself. "Dipper and I also went to a restaurant regularly during our vacation. The food there was so good..."
"Oh come on, now you guys are getting me hungry too..." Dipper giggles embarrassed.
So Mabel stands up after that. "Okay, I'll go prepare evening snacks!" She starts walking out, but then she stops in her tracks with a worried look.
Dipper notices from seeing her back. "What's wrong...?"
"... This situation feels familiar... In a way I don't like..." She confesses, as she suddenly has a bad memory of the previous time they had a sleepover all together and left for that purpose.
Dipper understands when he sees her turning around with her worried stare. And Samuel realizes what she meant too.
"It'll be okay! Remember what we all went through since then with, well... him..." Her brother doesn't feel like naming the demon directly, but he doesn't refer to him with hatred either.
Samuel adds. "You have nothing to worry about, Mabel! Didn't you say yourself that we no longer have to fear from Bill?"
Hearing that, she feels guilty. "Yeah, you're right... I guess I just had a bad sense of familiarity when I shouldn't... Sorry..."
"It's alright! I get it!" Sammy doesn't judge at all.
"Let's get these snacks together if that reassures you, Sis!" Dipper leaves the room with her to get the task done as quickly as possible.
Samuel is left alone in the bedroom for a couple of minutes. He thinks about his friends and what just happened. Then suddenly, he gets surprised with a voice from behind.
"Can you blame them, Fuzzball?"
The boy turns around, a little surprised and wondering since when he was there and how much he's listening to all of these conversations.
"Based on the stories you and them told me... No I can't..." Sammy admits.
"See...? May be a lost cause to have me be something else than..."
Dipper re-enters the room first to realize. "Oh... Bill..." He frowns as a reaction, but is quick to retract it. "Sorry, didn't expect to see you out in the open. But I don't mind." He thinks. "This will prove to Mabel that he's not gonna do anything wrong if we can see him too..."
Mabel tries to be a little more encouraging when she enters. "Hey Bill! Sorry about earlier, I just had a bad flashback, but I trust you, you know?"
Bill just stays quiet, with a neutral expression. He's not mad at them, but he's still lost about how exactly he ended up in that situation.
Mabel then suggests. "I've been thinking of something we might do..."
Sammy gets curious. "Oh? What is it...?"
"How about we make rounds telling what you'd consider your biggest regret?"
"Um..." Dipper gets a bit uncomfortable, but doesn't object.
"Okay...? I'll have to think first..." Samuel crosses his arms to search in his memories.
"Take your time!" Mabel says with a smile.
After some time of silence, he says... "Really, no big one cross my mind... I suppose there were a couple times where I wanted to cheat for some parts school exams... And some fights I got into for really childish reasons... I'm sorry, these are lame answers, I bet..."
"Oh, don't worry..." Then she looks at her brother. "What about you, Bro-bro?"
Dipper sighs painfully. "I know exactly the one..." He looks at his friend for a second. "Sammy, I told you about that girl I met during my vacation, Wendy?"
"Yeah, you guys told me about her and your other friends. Why?"
Dipper says. "I... used to have a crush on her at first... Even though she had a boyfriend. And when she broke up with him and was heartbroken... I..." He starts sounding really shaky from the guilt. "I was completely inconsiderate and tried to get involved with her immediately instead of leaving her some space..."
Sammy gasps a bit. "That's... kinda cold..." He says that, but doesn't seem angry. He knows that his friend means well and isn't that type of person.
Dipper almost gets teary-eyed. "Yeah, I... I really hated myself for that... She forgave me and we remained great friends, so I shouldn't feel guilty about it. But..."
Samuel grabs his hand with a comforting smile.
"We all make mistakes, Bro-bro, and you know it ended up well with Wendy." Mabel reassures him too. "Speaking of mistakes... I have a worse one than that... One I never got the courage to tell you before, Dipper..."
Dipper rubs his eyes before looking at his sister with curiosity. Then it's her turn to sound really guilty.
"So, it's about..." She looks at Bill for a quick second, even though he is not contributing to the discussion at all. "... Weirdmageddon..."
"Bill's ideal world?" Sammy asks.
"... Yeah... In case you didn't have all the details, Sammy... Bill entered this dimension thanks to a dimensional rift... A rift that Dipper had and that I accidentally got my hands on..." She's not looking at them...
Dipper is confused. "Just because you accidentally brought it outside the shack doesn't mean it's your fault, Sis..."
Mabel almost yells the truth out. "I gave it to Bill!"
Both her brother and her friend gasp. Meanwhile, Bill barely reacts.
"The truth is, he tricked me by possessing that time traveller guy and lying about the rift's use, saying it was some time bubble or something... But still... It's my fault Bill got his hands on it... And... I never got the courage to tell you, Bro-bro... I'm... I'm so sorry..." She tears up from the guilt.
Dipper goes closer to her. "Hey Sis... It's alright... In the end, it all worked out... Everything went back to normal and you repaired your fault by contributing to Bill's defeat..."
"But... But still, it's my fault it happened... If I didn't fall for Bill's lies..."
"Grunkle Ford fell for Bill's lies too long ago, and he hated himself for it... Even I fell for his lies with that password stuff..."
Samuel then adds. "... and I fell for it too, when he tricked me into that deal after making you believe you were a bully, Dipper..."
"Exactly, Bill is just too good at this game..." Thinking about the subject's presence in the room and the recent events, he prefers to say. "Well, he was good at getting his ways with words. Yes, we can blame ourselves for not having been careful and thoughtful enough... But it's not completely our faults if bad things happen... So don't blame yourself too much, Sis, okay?"
Despite having been the one to suggest the activity, Mabel has been the most affected by the reveal turntable.
Surprisingly, Bill gets closer after this, looking at Mabel directly. "Indeed, Shooting star... I usually love to taunt and torment the ones that fall victim to my tricks! But from an outside perspective, there is no use in blaming the victim who was carried away by her feelings! I'm the one who should get the hate for having tried to cause an apocalypse for so long."
"Oh, um..." She tries to grow a smile. "Thanks, Bill..." Then she says something very unexpected. "What about you? What's your biggest regret?"
The question comes as a huge surprise in a room, since not only was Bill not expecting it, Dipper and Samuel are also surprised to see that she considers him as part of the roundtable.
"W-what...? Why do you wanna know?" Bill acts a little nervous from the surprise.
"It's a friend sleepover? And we're supposed to be on friendly terms now, don't we?" She tries to be encouraging.
"She... kind of has a point..." Sammy says, after thinking about it. "You've shown that you desire to change, and you're counting on our help. So... It's fair for you to be included in this group."
"This is quite awkward..." Dipper says. "... but it's also kinda true..."
"Well, uh..." Bill panics a bit. "I suppose my past evil actions? Tricking Fuzzball, Pinetree, Sixer... Trying to take over the dimension... You know, that stuff?"
Mabel nods, but she adds. "Well, we know all of that, and you've already said your apologies about it. Isn't there anything we don't know about? Something that stands above all the rest?" Her question is very encouraging, despite how pressuring it sounds.
Bill is stuck, his pupil is going back and forth as he looks at the three kids waiting for an answer. And he gives up. "Alright... I'll tell you my biggest regret of them all..."
The triangle sits, and is about to talk about some very heavy stuff. He closes his eye because he feels like the stares would cause some mental block. "I did mention to you briefly, about my home dimension... Didn't I?"
Dipper answers. "Yeah, you did, through Sammy's body. Saying it was destroyed and you can't return there." He says that with feeling some level of sympathy.
"Did you do something bad during your time there...?" Samuel, hearing of this for the first time, is asking with genuine curiosity.
"This world was known as the second dimension. Where everything was flat."
Mabel looks confused. "Flat...? How could that work...?"
Bill tries to explain that. "Think of it like it's a giant alive painting. There is space, you can more around, but there is no depht."
"Oh, like a drawing, or an animated picture... I think I get it!" She nods.
The triangle continues to speak. "This is where I was born, many, many... years, centuries, milleniums, however you wanna count it! As you might guess from my looks and powers, I come from a species of magical and thin creatures." Bill suddenly decides, it's best to use his eye to illustrate his speech with a rough 3D video. All three kids are surprised to see him able to do that.
The video shows a representation of a tiny Bill, who was already wearing his trademarks top hat and bowtie, surrounded by two taller figures that embrace him.
"My parents... They were..." It gets heavier and heavier for him to speak. "They were always looking after me and my best interests. They gave me all their love, they were always there for me, and taught me everything I know."
"Aww..." Mabel squees a little.
Dipper can't help but smile a bit too, finding Bill's humanity to be a pleasant sight.
Bill's tone changes. "Then came the day... I mastered my powers at a young age..." The representation of Bill is shown to be moving around, trying to find something without success. "I was very eager to have fun. But as I looked around..." Every representation that the Bill figure is encountering is moving away. "No one had any ambition or desire for mischief. I felt alone. And when I've shown that..."
The representations of his parents appear to be scolding him. And Bill's voice gets heard answering: "THEN PUNISH ME! I DON'T CARE!"
The three kids are being completely silent in spite of their very conflicted feelings and desire to ask questions. They know it's a heavy topic and don't want to interrupt.
Bill continues. "It really soured our relationship, even if they still did their best loving me for who I was. Meanwhile, I was using my knowledge day after day for a very long while, trying to figure something out in secret. It took quite some time, a very long time. But then, one faithful day..."
The representation of Bill, who is now carrying a cane, is shown leading his parents to some sort of dead end. And then he is shown to open some kind of wormhole away from the dimension. Again, Bill's voice gets heard. "We can exit this world, and we can go explore other universes! So many travels, so many possibilities and things to discover..." Then he sounds more sinister. "... So many tricks to pull thanks to our powers... What do you say?"
But the representations of his parents are shown to be politely disagreeing. This causes the Bill representation to leave out his frustration. "You DON'T want to support me? I'm your child and you're supposedly loving me! But NOOOOO! You aren't ANY BETTER than all those idiots who have no desire to use their powers to make their lives exciting! You ALWAYS want to follow those silly made up rules that are there to prevent our lives from being fun! What I want to do isn't being evil, it's HAVING FUN!"
Then the representation grows taller... "THAT'S IT! I'VE HAD IT! YOU'RE GONNA FOLLOW ME WHETHER YOU LIKE IT OR NOT!" Then comes this fire from his powers. "I'M GOING TO MAKE THIS DIMENSION BETTER! I'M GOING TO MAKE IT FREE FROM IT'S DULLNESS!". With that, he's using that against the landscape, creating an increasingly irrepearable fiery destruction with a lot of glee. He starts to laugh as he does this. "BURN, YOU STUPID RESTRICTIVE WORLD! BUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUURN!" Bill leaves out a loud cackle for the first time, an evil laugh that would soon become his trademark.
He looks at the destruction with pleasure and gives his parents an ultimatum. "I am out of this dimension, and going to have my fun now! You better follow me, because once that wormhole closes, there is no escape from the imminent full destruction of this stupid dimension! Support me in my fun, or you're goners! SEE YA!" Bill floats out of the dimension as he listens the sounds of the destruction, which are music to his... hearing.
On the other side of that wormhole, which would give him access to other dimensions, Bill floats facing away from the destruction, hearing the wormhole closing and the ultimate explosion signifying that world is no more. Holding his cane, he starts talking aloud. "I knew you'd do the right decision!" He starts turning around. "Now, let's get goi..." He stops suddenly, as he finds out... There is no one there. He realizes what this means: he destroyed his world, and his parents prefered to be gone alongside it than support their son's evil ways.
For a couple of seconds, Bill's eye appears to be worried and regretful, and he holds his cane very tight. But it doesn't last. Soon enough, though, this changes for a look of anger. "It's not my fault! This world was full of unimaginative beings who didn't know what fun is. I was the only one in there, to be smart enough to realize the extent of our powers! It's my parents' fault if they're gone from this world's destruction instead of doing the logical thing for survival! Well I'll say... GOOD RIDDANCE!" Then he turns excited, rubbing his hands together. "I can't wait! So many worlds to discover... and to mess with..." He gives an evil laugh as he moves away without looking back. And with that, the projection ends.
Before anyone speaks, Bill makes his cane appear. "You've seen me with this little thing many times before, right? And noticed I held it on that fateful day?" Bill starts speaking slower. "This cane... It was a gift from my parents, right before that happened. So it's the only thing I got from them to remember them and this world by... I kept it closely at all times..."
Looking at the stunned and also judgemental stares of the kids, he reacts before anyone says anything. "I know, I know... See, you didn't believe me, but I'm not deserving of your efforts to try to make me a better person. You might've undone the damage of Weirdmageddon. And the ones from my deals. But my entire history, including this start... It won't ever get erased..." He concludes. "I shouldn't be here right now... I shouldn't have been resurrected... I should've stayed dormant in that statue forever... It's all I deserved..."
Mabel breaks the silence. "Bill..." She looks very serious and sounds commanding. "Come here!"
"Um..." The triangle is a bit worried to see her like that. "So you can yell at me, call me a monster? I'd deserve it... I definitely lost your trust now that you know... And..."
"QUIT YOUR TALKING!" Mabel yells, while Dipper and Samuel aren't sure they've ever seen her look so serious before. "COME HERE, RIGHT NOW!"
Bill approaches by floating, ready to be insulted, punched, or in the best case scenario, being told that he's going to be outdone again.
But then, Mabel jumps in front of her to grab him in her arms very tightly, and she cries huge tears of sorrow and sympathy that she tried to hide at first. "You poor triangle dude..."
Bill starts freaking out. "What the heck are you doing, Shooting star?"
Samuel is just as weirded out by this as the triangle. "Mabel, are you...?"
Dipper doesn't really get it either. "Why would you...?"
She calms down a bit to look at Bill. "I... I'm sorry you've had to live for so long with such a heavy regret..."
Bill's negative thoughts of himself come back immediately. "Why would you feel sorry? I'm a monster, a creature of pure evil that wouldn't deserve sympathy for all the things I've done!"
"Bill, Bill... BILL!" She's screaming at him so he'd stop talking and listen. "I'm very well aware that all the things you've done... they... really aren't pretty... But..." Mabel takes the time to look at her brother and her best friend, thinking about what was just said. "As we've all taken turns here... Every living being makes some kind of mistake that they end up regretting dearly... You can't always completely fix your biggest mistakes... But you can try your best to make amends for them. Like all we all tried to do with the examples we've given. The important thing besides that is being able to forgive yourself."
Surprisingly, she manages to convince Dipper and Samuel with this little emotional speech, even if what Bill did during his whole existence, and especially as a villainous start, were not things to be proud of.
Bill starts ranting again. "But what's the point? It won't bring back my world!"
Mabel sighs in sadness. "You are right... Maybe I'll say something silly, but... You realizing you did something really bad... Maybe your family won't be brought back by it... But know that you'd make them proud by changing your ways..."
Dipper is very conflicted, like always when it comes to trusting Bill completely and learning all of this. But then he makes a logical observation. "Besides... If you kept this cane ever since that happened... It means you do show regrets and didn't want to completely leave this life behind..." Bill looks at the cane in his hands. "I'd say you keeping it is a proof that you have strong regrets about it... so... the fact that you want to keep the memory alive means you want to honor them..."
"And..." Samuel wonders. "... maybe doing your best to change your ways, like you've done so far... might be a way...? Even as late as it is..."
Mabel gives an encouraging smile. "Don't you feel better now that you let it out? I felt scared Dipper would be angry at me for giving you the rift accidentally, but letting the truth out to those you care about helps maintaining a good relationship. That's how human feelings work."
Bill is just awestruck and silent... And puts a facade. "Okay, I'll believe you. Thanks for your words, Shooting star." He turns around. "And thanks to you two as well..."
Then he floats upwards. "It's best I stay away a bit for now, I brought enough sadness in a night where you three are supposed to have fun, didn't I?"
"Um, it's okay, Bill... Thanks for being considerate." Samuel states.
"Yeah..." Dipper lets out this, feeling more and more surprised by what he's been seeing from Bill's behavior for the past two months.
"Just one question, if that's okay..." Samuel asks. "You said you were a demon, did you not? Does that mean your dimension of origin was...?"
Bill rolls his eye in deception since he's unable to hide this anymore. "... I am not truly a demon... But it's a title I gave myself for my legacy and notoriety across your world. You know, so your intelligence level could comprehend what I'm able to do without complicating the explanation too much"
Dipper thinks an annoyed "... and he's back...", but answers. "Yes, thanks... We won't bother you anymore for now..."
When no one is looking, Bill is floating facing a wall, looking at his cane in his hands. He did in fact keep it with him his entire existence as a reminder. Then he thinks for a moment about Mabel's sudden embrace, which brings back something to his mind. He's never been hugged since his life in his home dimension, and he felt for the first time love and comfort that he hasn't felt since he lost his parents. He feels really confused from all that, fighting his thoughts for a good part of the night while the kids have their sleepover games and stories.
Author notes: Wow, I knew this chapter would be a heavy one in content, but it's my longuest yet by quite a wide margin... So a few things to talk about here.
First, there is a bit of a nod towards a different show and I didn't want to make it too obvious so some wouldn't be too off the loop.
Second, my intention with Mabel here (and the whole story, in fact) is to show that unlike what that imo awful episode said, she isn't stupid just because she isn't book smart and naive. I interpret her as someone who has her own logics and is more skilled with emotional smarts than Dipper is. And it definitely shines the most here now that Bill completely came clean about everything he's ashamed of.
And lastly, this is definitely where this storyline will be the most "headcanony" about events from the show, given how vague they were about it.
Hope you enjoyed, thanks for reading!
