Mabel spends a very troubled night. As much as she tries, she's unable to get more than a few minutes of sleep at a time. And every time she suddenly wakes up, she hopes to see Dipper peacefully sleeping at the other side of the room... But it's never the case.
She remains awake when sunrise starts showing, with very little rest obtained, still keeping a strong grasp on that puppet. And a little over an hour later...
"Mabel! Please... Please come down!" Stan's voice is telling her that as something very important, and she gets really hopeful, coming down with a smile. But then she's greeted by a serious Stan. "We... we found Dipper... And..."
"Where is he?" She keeps her smile on until she noticed Soos and Wendy's somber expressions in the living room. Right behind them on the couch is Dipper's cold and soaked body, which is completely lifeless. "... Dipper...? Bro bro...?" She runs to him to get a closer look.
Stan explains the best he can, trying not to let sadness get the best of him. "We have no idea why or how, but... he... he spent the night inside the water tower... and... he drowned..."
Mabel's reaction is to take it as a joke. "Whaaat? No way...! This is just a silly prank he's doing because I forced him to wait until the play was done... Right, Dipper...? This was really funny, but you can wake up, now! ... Please..."
Wendy speaks to her, fighting back tears. "Mabel, I'm sorry, but... this isn't a joke... He..."
She keeps her denial despite all of that. "Aww, he got you into that prank too? Silly Bro-bro..."
Then she hears a sobbing voice... "Mabel, this isn't an act. Dipper is... he's not with us anymore..." Soos said that... And that is when Mabel starts thinking... It might actually be serious...
"No, it cannot be... He's pulling a joke... Wake up, Dipper..." Her mind, however, keeps telling her this is an act as a defense mechanism. "You are going to wake up, right...? You've always been a great pretender, but this is new..."
But the more she speaks, the more reality starts hitting her and she gets tears that she's denying... "Dipper...? You hear me, right...? Wake up, Bro-bro!" Her despair grows more and more, she's shaking her brother's body in hope of a reaction and she's not letting go of it. "Wake up! Please, Dipper... Bro-bro... WAKE UP!"
She started gently slapping his face out of desperation. But then, she almost about to get more violent. It takes Stan, Soos and Wendy's combined efforts to get her off him. Mabel cries in Stan's arms until exhaustion. While he goes to put her in her bed, Soos and Wendy lay Dipper's body back on the couch.
Soos asks when Stan comes back. "So, what are you gonna do, Mr. Pines...?"
Stan is very solemn about it. "I'm gonna have to prepare an explanation to tell his parents tonight. And ensure that they get the body for a funeral. I'm really gonna need time to think about it..."
"Do you want us to handle the Shack alone today?" Asks Wendy.
"... No... I don't care if some visitors come... There are more important things to think about today..." He answers that before locking himself in his office.
While this happens, the main timeline Bill decides to check the scene closer after he manages to pause it away from himself. "... Pinetree...?" He goes to poke the boy's face. "Are you really...?" He seems silently stunned as he stares at the body. Before he's able to process it fully, the scenery starts to change in order to continue his desire for answers.
Mabel fell asleep from exhaustion and strong emotion, and while her dreams are usually very positive, she's finding herself in a solemn setting... A dark outside area with an empty playground. A cold breeze causes a screech to come from a moving swing nearby.
She feels desperate and tells herself. "This... This doesn't feel right... Where is Dipper...?"
Her attention gets attracted by a ball just rolling around to her feet. She grabs it out of curiosity. "What's this doing here...?"
She gets jumpscared when it suddenly starts turning into an eyeball with a slit pupil and she throws it in fear. It then starts floating while Bill's body builds around it to make a proper entrance. "Hello, Shooting star!"
To say that Mabel is unhappy is an understatement. "Bill? You stupid isosceles, I don't want to deal with you!"
"Well, isn't that the welcoming committee!" Bill jokes before approaching. "I thought you'd be more happy to see a familiar face!"
Mabel answers with a very strong annoyance, and the demon loves to see it. "What do you even want?"
The demon keeps his composure while starting to answer. "I know what's troubling you, Shooting star... You've heard about your brother, uh...?" Just saying that is making her switch from anger to despair in seconds, before he continues. "I got to speak with him, the night before it happened."
"He told me, yes... You wanted to help him find the password or something? I don't believe it! You must've had a motive!" She gets annoyed and is not prepared for what she's about to hear.
Bill holds his cane as he answers. "Yes, as a matter of fact, I had a reason... You..."
Mabel looks very confused.
"Think about it, Shooting star. Your brother and yourself went through a lot in your quest for answers... And you got in danger to get that laptop. But then, comes the moment where he needs your help for something as simple as researching a password... what do you do? You abandon him for a boy and force him to focus on a sock puppet play..."
Mabel defends herself, reminding what she told him then. "But... I did promise him... That as soon as it would be done..."
"Oh, yeah, you did... You had to guilttrip him into accepting... And you kept pushing back your help while he was starting to get really exhausted by your fault!"
She's silent as she recalls the past week... She remembers her exchanges with Dipper.
"Don't worry, Bro-bro, with our combined focus, we'll get this password in no time... What is that?" She suddenly leaves to speak to Gabe.
A little later, when she tells about the play...
"Mabel, you can't be serious!"
"It happened so fast! If you help me with the play for a few days, I promise I'll do everything to help you with the password! Please! In the name of love..."
Then she recalls how angry Dipper got the previous morning. "Hold on, what about the password? You seriously think your crush of the week is more important than getting the answers of all the mysteries of this town? You're being so narrow-minded! Screw it, I can do it without your help!"
Bill knows how to hit where it hurts with his words, as this allows Mabel to reflect on how miserable Dipper was because of her actions, and she starts crying. "You... You are right..."
Bill adds. "Your brother got his mental health ruined because of you... And he lost his mind... This is why he's now... you know..."
She cries more and more, and Bill doesn't stop.
"It's not just the past week, though... Tell me... when was the last time you did something big for him...? Against all the things he did for your sake... He kept putting you before himself... And as grateful as you might be everytime, you never repaid the favor... You caused this since your arrival in this town. He kept giving up things for you, and this lead to his frustration growing, his mental health deteriorating... All because of you... And that puppet show story while he was forced to focus on the password without your help was the last straw to break his sanity..."
Mabel just breaks down as she realizes this. "W-what have I done...? Dipper..." She sobs for a while. "There's no way I could ever repay him now..."
Bill says. "You know, maybe there is..."
She looks at him, she's so desperate that she might actually accept a deal depending on the offer. But she remains wary.
"There is a way for you to make things even, Shooting star..." He leaves a blank for a little bit before saying... "Join him!"
Mabel is obviously freaked out before he continues his explanation, which he presents as a positive thing. "The only way for you to make up for your mistakes... And reunite with him... Is to join him... Follow the same fate as him... So you'll be two spirits of the same age, forever... You'll never be apart this way..."
She cries, finding the statement to be insanity. "I... I can't possibly go through that..."
Bill gives a final point before vanishing. "If that's so... Then answer me this... Is your life even worth living without your brother...? And will you be able to handle this guilt for the rest of your life? Think about it, Shooting star..."
And so the girl finds herself alone in the place again. Or so she thought... She suddenly feels an arm on her shoulder. She scaringly turns around and recognizes Dipper's wet body, but then...
The kid's body raises his head and shows to look more like a zombie, creepily saying "your fault..." The sight is enough to scare Mabel awake with a big scream.
Mabel wakes up in a panic, feeling fear, guilt and sadness at the same time. And in that state, she can't help but feel that Bill is completely right, and that everything that happened is her own fault...
So, with a lot of tears, her first action after dressing up is writing a note and leaving it in the bedroom. She gives Waddles a giant cuddle, she knows it'll be the last one she'll ever give him, but the pig doesn't. She manages to exit the Shack without being noticed and runs away in tears towards the water tower... Once at its feet, she says what she wants to be her final words in this body... "I am really sorry, Bro bro... I... I will make things even... For you, Dipper..."
After a couple of hours, Soos gently knocks at the bedroom's door. "Mabel...? Are you awake...? Did you get enough sleep...?" He opens the door silently, trying to see if she's sleeping, but she's not on her bed. He looks around the bedroom and finds the note written in pink ink. And he has a terrifying realization...
Stan's writing is interrupted around 30 minutes later, when Wendy and Soos knock on the door with solemn expressions...
Without words... Soos shows Stan the note, and Wendy expresses with a sad stare that it is true, and that she's next to her brother's body now. They take the decision to let Stan digest the news, which he does by breaking a vase with his bare hand.
He breathes, thinking about how both kids are gone, and some of the other things that happened to his family members. And he tells himself... "I really am a curse for this family..."
He finishes writing what he has to say to the kids' parents... Dialing the number very painfully in the evening, not daring to speak up for a little bit...
The main timeline Bill witnessed everything that happened. He looks at the bodies of the twins and is speechless. He does recall his desire to do bad things to Dipper for getting in his way... And the worst part is that he did consider doing something like that. Which he takes without any hint of pleasure.
But then, without realizing that he caused that to happen... Something in his mind causes the scenery to change.
The next day, at Samuel's home, after a happy lunch on a sunny day, the boy tells his parents that he's going to do a bike stroll to enjoy the weather. He leaves cheerfully, and just after he left, the home's phone starts ringing...
Samuel comes home around an hour later. He did a very pleasant stroll and got himself some tasty ice cream against the heat when he made a stop. He attaches the bike and is ready to go inside, humming to himself. Definitely not ready for what he'd see once he opens the door.
He enters, cheerfully saying "I'm home!" But he is greeted by his parents having a somber expression, and looking worried about how to tell him things.
His father speaks up first. "Hi, Sammy, how was your time outside?"
His mother continues. "Do you need some water? I'll get it for you!"
His dad then reaches for him and leads him to the armchair. "Please seat, you must be exhausted..."
"Um, okay..." Samuel grabs the glass of water as he watches his parents.
"We need to talk..." They take turns trying to break the news to their son. "While you were away... We got a call from the Pines..."
Sammy takes this as a good news at first. "Oh, that's neat. Did they invite you for something?"
Some awkward silence follows this, as they give an honest answer while hiding the direct truth. "It turns out that Mason and Mabel are coming back to Piedmont sooner than expected..."
The news sounds exciting to their son, but not having the circumstances makes him a little worried. "Oh? But didn't they have to stay with a relative for the whole summer...? I hope nothing wrong happened there for them..."
This causes another silence, one that's even more painful...
His parents get closer and try physical contact.
"Sammy, your friends... Mason and Mabel... they..."
"They left this world..."
Samuel is shocked and scared to hear that. "What...?"
"The reason they're coming home early... is because their relative wanted their parents to arrange their funeral... After he made his own eulogy..."
"So they'll be here sooner than you thought, but... After that, you'll never get to see them again..."
Samuel stays silent, and then says. "This is when you say "sike", right?" He tries to be hopeful. "... right...?"
"Samuel, you know we wouldn't lie to you about this..."
"I'm sorry, but... this is real..."
Sammy starts breathing incontrollably... And he starts having watery eyes like a fountain... "My friends... My friends are no longer here...?" Both his parents give him the warmest comforting hug they're able to, while the boy is very close to having a panic attack. Then, they kindly escorting their son to his bed so he could have some time to deal with his feelings.
Alone in his bedroom, Sammy just silently lays down on his bed. He looks emotionally drained. Next to his bed is a nightstand where he always kept a framed picture of him with the twins. All three of them are smiling and looking very close. But now it's a painful reminder that there's no coming back to this. So he just silently stares at the ceiling, for what feels like hours.
His parents go check on him regularly, but there's no way to make him react. He's just laying there, looking dead inside.
His mother asks. "So... How is he...?"
His father concludes. "It's very hard for someone to lose contact with someone you care about a lot... Especially at a young age... So when this is doubled with both being his only close friends... I'm sure he'll be fine, but I'm afraid he's going to need a lot of therapy to fully recover."
Bill, as a spectator, realizes that he accidentally caused this scenario to play off to him because he asked himself the question of how Fuzzball would've reacted. And he feels... terrible...
"I... I almost caused this...?"
And then, the scenery changes again... It shows the Nightmare Realm, and alternate Bill watching the dimension he's looking to seize in the future. And he reacts to his trickery and manipulation of the twins, to their demise, and to the reactions of that new with a loud, satisfied evil laugh. "This is what it costs to be spanners in my work!" He resumes his extremely sadistic laugh.
Main timeline Bill screams of horror, exiting the area, returning to the reality to find Samuel still sleeping. He feels horrified, though. "Fuzzball, you are alright, aren't you...?" The boy is asleep, unable to respond, but his state does calm Bill a bit.
The triangle still feels a little paranoid, so he uses the fact that Samuel is asleep to possess him. But as he does, starts standing up and opens his eyes, he observes. "Ow gosh, what is this feeling...?" Using a human body in that state of mind, Bill is able to feel a very negative feeling in the stomach, but an even worse one on the throat. He's experiencing utter disgust over what he just saw, and how he would've enjoyed all of this a couple months back...
Bill grabs Samuel's cellphone and checks his chatting history... Because his state of mind makes him doubt about what was real from what he just saw. Seeing calls and messages to and from Dipper and Mabel dated of August and beyond allows him to calm himself a bit. "Yes, they are alright in reality..." Bill sighs of relief in the body, trying to catch a good breath before making Samuel laying back down on the bed before exiting the body.
The triangle left the human feelings behind, but he still fights with his own mental troubles. He tells himself... "I almost caused this... If Pinetree didn't manage to warn his sister that day... I would've gotten away with this, and gotten a great pleasure out of it..." He says that with a lot of loathing towards himself.
He thinks about that time Mabel said he was "no longer a bad guy". She may not have realized how much the demon's revenge plan backfiring on him affected him. He floats away, observing the calendar, and claiming to himself. "I suppose... next year will be my first ever one without wanting evil... I can do this! I hope..."
Author notes: There we go, the teased second part that I hope satisfied your expectations.
We've already seen Bill exclaiming regrets about some of his past actions, and I thought it'd be good to have him confront one of these to have him reflect on himself. Which would thankfully have him turn the page thanks to this little introspection.
Also I've included a bit of Samuel's parents in this, which isn't something I planned to do at first for either them or the Pines parents at first. So maybe I'll break this rule a little bit, but to the extent of those characters whose presence is so minimal/secondary that you don't get to see them fully. (If that analogy makes sense)
Thank you for reading!