"Get some sleep or your head'll get bigger." Mabel beamed as she climbed back into bed.

"My head isn't big."

"Your head is so big that your silhouette is like a mushroom."

Dipper chuckled and gave his sister a friendly shove. "Jerk. It's because there's so much brain in there."

"More like because you blush so hard when Pacifica is round. It's like a giant blood balloon!"

"...Gross."

"Hehehehe. Yeah… I just made myself feel a little sick. You want some popcorn?"

"Shhh…"

"Oh, oh right. Sleeping beauty." Mabel giggled as they stepped into the room - only to be confronted by Stan in a rocking chair, snoring with his mouth open, a thick string of drool dripping down his stubbled chin.

The two tried not to crack up as they returned to their respective beds. Dipper eagerly cosied up to Pacifica and smiled - only to notice Mabel watching with a huge smile on her face.

"Y'know, it's nice seeing you so happy." His sister chimed in. "I know it's scary, Dip, but I'm glad you've got her."

"I just hope she doesn't get hurt." He frowned, stroking her hair - feeling a subtle pang of pride over his braiding skills.

"She's tough. A lot tougher than you'd expect from a prissy valley girl."

"Heh, yeah."

"Do you really think Preston's gonna do something dumb?"

"I think that Preston would do anything to get his daughter back, Mabel."

"And you'd do anything to keep her, right?"

He flushed red and looked at his sister. "I- I mean-"

"Exactly, then you're even!" Mabel grinned, throwing back into her mattress eagerly as if it was the most important checkmate ever. "You won't let anything happen to her, just like you wouldn't let anything happen to me! Do you have any idea how strong the power of love is?"

Dipper snorted. "I dunno if this is gonna be that kind of fairy tale ending."

"Dipper, trust me. I know you. I know you like, super well! And I know you won't go down without a fight. If Preston McRichface McStupiddude tries to take Pacifica by force, I bet you'd take her back ten times harder."

"And what about the town?"

"Kevin could probably like, throw Preston. He's super tough."

"There's more to the town than Kevin, y'know."

"I mean - psh - yeah, obviously, but he's still super tough."

"It's nice seeing you so happy too, Mabel. Even if we are in a bit of a…"

"In a shitstorm?"

Dipper threw a pillow at her. "Hey!"

"Tell me I'm wrong!"

"Yes, it's a shitstorm. But still… shh."

"What, is a high-pitched demon mouse gonna come out of the ceiling and censor me?" Mabel scoffed. "Look, just chill out, Dipper. No matter what happens - we're gonna kick ass."

"Mabel!"

"I started now. Now I can't stop swearing. This is like a rite of passage for m-" She broke out into giggles as Dipper threw popcorn at her. "Alright, alrigh- ow, sprinkle in my eye…"

"I suppose we'd better get some sleep. Maybe it'll make more sense in the morning."

"Me swearing, this popcorn having sprinkles, or Preston McCrappants and his book?"

"Eh, maybe all three?" He chuckled and wrapped his arms firmly around Pacifica, trying his hardest not to wake her.

Mabel grinned as her brother gained back that big, wide smile, and curled up in the duvet. "I'm proud of you, bro-bro."

"Goodnight, sis."

"Goodnight, Lord Dorkington of Dorksville."

He threw another piece of popcorn at her before slowly drifting off to sleep. As if, somehow, getting at least a sign that something was going on was enough to calm his mind. If only somewhat.

Did Dipper just…crave adventure?

He didn't even know anymore.

By the time his mind had ceased tripping over itself, he was firmly in slumber. The sensory deprivation of the earplugs, Pacifica being curled up next to h- was that her breath on his neck? Oh god-

Darkness enveloped him.

Silence.

Sweet, sweet silence. The warmth disappeared. A thin, blue glow seemed to envelop a distant horizon. His mind seemed to stay deadly still, as a feeling of complete relaxation and elation waved over him.

He took a deep breath as he felt the unbridled comfort of interdimensional beanbag chairs. He had the horrible feeling that it was one of those dreams…

"Mason Pines. "

Yup, there it was. No fluffy clouds. No beautiful, colourful layers of cosmic dust. Dipper was, instead, surrounded by empty, pitch-black darkness. An eternal darkness with no visible horizon, no features, no landscape.

"I'm sorry, that's still really corny. Mabel and Mason? Mabel and Mason Pines? I'm still waiting for an answer on that one."

"What do you want, man?"

"I am no man. I am time and space unbridled. I am the beast that sits in the land, water and air of the eternal plains. I am the freshwater beast of all that exists, all that generates, all that dines upon fine aquarium gravel-"

"The Axolotl. I know."

"My interdimensional name is Larry."

"Look, just - you can see everything, right? Can't you just get to the point of what's going to happen?"

"You know, young Dip,
Where my sight lies.
I can't loose-lip
Upon your lives.

A man of generations past,
Long-since lost, long-since passed,
Is soon to return to your plane,
And thenceforth, all will change.

A creep of shadow, a glowing blue,
And a beast within a top-hat too,
Will soon be freed by wicked hands,
And try to end this pleasant land.

But 'fore you judge, 'fore you mind
Remember anger makes a heart blind,
Destruction is not what Northwests seek,
Their fury is what makes them weak.

I cannot halt this wicked wrath,
For you must travel down this path.
But should you try to beat back all,
Remember that all empires fall.

Perhaps it's simply natural pace,
And as you peer upon my face,
I promise you, with heart held dear,
That your doom always marches near."

"Okay, okay, okay. Number one, that last line? Creepy. Didn't need that. Number two, Bill Cipher's coming back?"

"That, Mason, is not quite true.
I think his natural life is through.
That which will soon meet your eyes,
Is a product of his lies.

You see, my child, or you oughta,
There is something in the water.
Something seeps from deep below,
And weirdness is what it doth sow.

Your court trial is but a shroud,
Of problems deep, and much more loud.
Dimension lines are sure to break,
Thanks to what's within the lake."

The enormous, colourful beast appeared behind him, peaking over an invisible horizon, its bright, gleaming glow illuminating everything - yet absolutely nothing at all. Which was fitting, considering his increasingly cryptic poetry.

Its blue, stardust-studded tail swept behind it, elegantly dancing and lighting up the darkness in that all-too-familiar blue that seemed to have tormented the Pines for an entire summer. Dipper stepped back as, behind the decidedly pompous god-thing, apparitions of enemies past and present began to sew together from layers of cosmic, interdimensional dust.

A giant facade of Curzon Cankerblight joined behind, along with one of Bill Cipher himself. They were skewed and stretched into nightmarish impressions of themselves, horrendously detailed and foul.

Fennel filled his senses.

The creature's slick tongue lay upon the floor, dumbly. His empty, black, beady eyes stared, his mouth fixed in that permanent, silly smile that was created by his naturally ovular profile.

Things were only worsened by the sights of the careening locomotive. The sight of Cornelius's remains. The harsh, furious stare of Preston Northwest. Of the increasingly unhinged, filthy Quentin Trembley.

Eyeballs. Geese. Curzon's cigar puffing thick, noxious smoke. The train roaring towards them, its headlight illuminating the emptiness ahead of it. It grew louder and louder, becoming more and more of a cacophony.

And all the while, the Axolotl stared in its expressionless way, frozen in its nub-nosed smile.

"W-wait! Can't you help me?!"

"I cannot intrude."

"You captured Bill Cipher!"

"And it was interfered with. What happens now is fate."

"You need to intrude! You need to help us! What's in the lake?! What's happening?!"

"Mason Pines. Mason Pines… Mason… Pines… Man that's so corny. Honestly, I mean-"

Dipper started awake in a cold sweat, to the sight of Pacifica eating a slice of toast. It was morning. And for now, at least, he was still none the wiser about what was going to happen.

He stared at her, his eyes so wide they looked painful.

"Whoa. You okay?"

"I- I- I-"

"Hey, hey, hey, calm down, Dipper, it's just-"

He threw himself at her and held her tightly. "We need to talk. We really, really need to talk."

She swallowed and held him with a reassuring smile. "You got it. Anything else?"

"M-maybe a towel." He replied, wiping moisture from his brow.