The beginning of the winter vacation is here. It has almost been 4 months since the Pines kids have returned home from the summer break, and since Bill attempted revenge on Samuel for having his big plans foiled.
The more time passed, the more Bill's relationship with the three humans has become positive after he has shown his weaker side with human emotions. Much to the surprise of the demon himself. Which he has in mind as he is now going to be alone with his vessel for a few weeks.
On the first evening, they have a little conversation. As always, Bill only shows himself in Samuel's bedroom, when he's away from the parents.
"So, are you glad to be done with school days for now, Fuzzball?" Bill has always had a bit of a condescending tone and attitude to him, but with time, he also grew some levels of genuineness to his speech to humans.
The boy thinks about it. "Yeah, of course! Breaks are welcome, but the holidays will be a bit of a busy time home. And I'll have some school work as well, so..."
Bill groans inside, just the thought of having to follow so many obligations in that dimension annoys him greatly. So he switches the subject. "Aren't you gonna miss Pinetree and Shooting star?"
"Yes, I'll miss my friends, but that's alright!" He answers sincerely. "I know they're busy too, but we'll reunite." He then says something Bill wasn't expecting to hear. "And besides... I have you!"
His eye gives a feeling of genuine confusion, with some silence of surprise on his end.
"You're my friend too, after all! You've been doing a great job proving that you're worthy of our trust. Dipper and Mabel are both really impressed about that too. And it couldn't be possible without you being so good at pulling the effort. So... thank you for that, and... congratulations for succeeding." He gives a slight honest smile, much to Bill's shock.
"I'm still a little lost as to why you three trust me. You're aware of what I did to your best friends a couple months back, right? And how I've tried to avenge my friends by messing with you!" Bill looks away, seeing a frown form on Sammy's face as he mentions that.
"But you didn't go through the worst you could've done in the end... I know you had bad intentions towards them, then me as a result, but... today, they are safe and well, and that's what matters the most to me. So don't be too hard on yourself for that. If they managed to forgive you, you should be able to forgive yourself..." Again, Samuel tries his best to be encouraging and sincere. While he appears naive to Bill, he's also genuinely convinced and trustful towards him.
A couple of hours after this exchange, early into the night, Samuel is sleeping rather deeply, leaving Bill alone with his thoughts.
"Despite what I tried to do to his friends, uh...?" He can't help but think back to some of those days. And a question raises to him, his eye showing a question mark and lights up a spot of the bedroom.
With that, Bill managed to open a small portal for himself that leads to him visiting an area where he can see alternate futures. And so he raises the question... What would've happened if he succeeded back in late July, the day of the puppet show?
Raising the question was enough to put the entire scenario that Bill can stare at like he was watching a dream or a memory. And so Bill sees himself as the entity that Mabel named as "Bipper", sitting at the Gravity Falls theater, pulling a great act.
"Say, Sis, where did you put the Journal?" Asking that innocently, Dipper's face has a creepy grin and blinks his two eyes out of sync.
Mabel doesn't suspect a thing while she answers. "I'm using it for the wedding scene. But I'm still not sure who's gonna do the reverend."
Bill jumps on the occasion while keeping his act. "Oh, I can do that! After all, I'm the most capable for holding the journal..."
Again, Mabel doesn't suspect anything. "Awesome! Follow me, I'll show you!"
Dipper's spirit sees everything, but he's completely helpless, as only Bill can see and hear him. "No, wait! Mabel!" Alas, as he already experienced, asking for help in this form is pointless as the two go backstage...
And unfortunately for him... He can't figure out any way to make himself heard. As Bill said "without a vessel to use, you're basically a ghost". He is completely helpless, and the panic prevents him from thinking of a solution in time...
Meanwhile, alternate Bill got himself in the reverend attire, telling to himself. "Boy, this looks great. I feel a lot better in that black attire than these stupid short pants and pinetree cap!"
AU Bill has to pull the work for act 2 of Mabel's play, much to his embarassment. He thinks to himself "Ugh, the things you have to do... Shooting star's stuff is so cheesy... But..." He turns away with a grin, seeing the journal in the cake. "You are mine, now, and I will NOT let you go..."
The play goes flawlessly and it does get a good amount of applause. With the applause being over, Mabel thanks her friends for helping, and then... goes to hug who she thinks is her brother. "Thank you so much, Bro-bro... You're the best!"
Alternate Bill dislikes the contact and tries his best to keep the act, but his patience starts running thin. "Hey now, Shoo..." He catches himself just in time. "Shouldn't you be talking to blondie boy over here?" Distracting her allows him to keep a grasp on the journal without seeming suspicious.
"Oh right, Gabe..." She lets go of the hug. "Still, thank you! I promise I'll help you with the password until we find it as soon as tomorrow!"
She leaves a couple of steps to have a short conversation with Gabe. They do speak about hanging out, but then the guy says. "So how about a goodbye kiss?"
Mabel blushes, really surprised. "What, already?"
"Sure, I'll start!" He starts kissing his bee and book puppets on what they have for lips, much to Mabel's discomfort.
Mabel awkwardly concludes. "I'll call you soon for hanging out, okay?" She feels very uncomfortable, and decides to gently avoid contact with him again.
Bipper tries to exit the theater, but Stan corners him. "You did great on stage, kiddo! You sure this was your first time pulling a show? Because you have the makings of a great con artist!"
Alternate Bill tries his best to get rid of him without raising suspicion. "Well, thanks, Grunkle! But if you don't mind, I'm gonna need some fresh air after so much confined time. Don't worry, I'll be home before curfew, or whatever!"
Mabel joins the group quickly to say. "Dipper, I feel a little bad for making you wait... I was kind of a fool to do that... I promise, first thing tomorrow in the morning, I'll stick by your side! You can even chain me up to you if you want, that's how serious I am!"
Dipper's spirit is both touched and scared. "Oh, Mabel... I... forgive you... I was the bigger fool here..." He says that, seeing his body being used by someone else.
Bipper couldn't care less and hides his frustration, as hard as it becomes. "Sure, Sis, I'll be glad! But right now, I really need that stroll!" He loudly says. "Later, y'all!"
With that, he starts walking away as fast as he can, looking at the journal with a very satisfied grin. "Finally out! I thought they wouldn't stop bothering me! Those fools!" He leaves out a giggle while Dipper's spirit follows him.
Bipper tries to reach an empty area of the forest near the town, knowing full well that he's followed by Dipper's spirit. "Bill, stop this!"
Bipper stops walking, catching some breath. "Just so you know, Pinetree, I'm only stopping here because those weak sticks you have for legs are growing too tired for me to continue much further!"
Dipper frowns, and then... Bill's voice gets an extra layer of sadistic playfulness in its tone. "Now then, I knew it was going to be a delightful time for me to destroy this journal... But to be able to do it in front of your very eyes while you're unable to do anything..." He lets out a sadistic cackle. "This will make it aaaaaaaall the more pleasant..."
He makes a very creepy grin to Dipper as he starts ripping a couple of pages. And then goes absolutely nuts with the rest, using the human hands he has to completely shred all the content of the journal like an animal. He has a very loud and satisfied evil laugh as he does so, especially as he gets to hear Dipper's screams and sobbing of despair as he forcefully witnesses the whole thing. With the act done and nothing but shreds remain, he proudly declares with his giant grin. "Game over, Pinetree!"
Dipper is out of his mind. "OKAY, YOU GOT WHAT YOU WANTED! GIVE ME MY BODY BACK!"
Bipper smirks. "No can do... You've enjoyed the show... Now..." He points at the nearby water tower with sadism. "It's time for you to enjoy the finale..."
Spirit Dipper freaks out. "WHAT? WHAT ARE YOU SAYING?"
Refusing to answer with words, Bipper starts climbing the water tower, his creepy smile being stuck on his face, while ignoring Dipper's questions until the last moment, as he manages to open an access to the inside of the tower.
"I'm not gonna let you get your body back, Pinetree! But now that it's no longer useful to me... It seems it ran its course, didn't it?" He says that, while that grin never leaves his face.
Dipper gasps of horror when he realizes. "No... You can't mean..."
Bipper lets himself fall on the water like a brick, landing face first and laughs while keeping the head underwater. Dipper's spirit tries to solve the situation to no avail... Bipper keeps laughing inside the water, and soon enough... the boy's body stop producing those bubbles... And Bill exits the body with a laugh. "Enjoy your new life as a permanent ghost, Pinetree!" He does a hats off gesture. "Later, sucker!" He vanishes completely, leaving Dipper's spirit with an unusable body.
Several hours later, sunset starts showing, and the people at the Shack are really starting to get worried, as Dipper has yet to come home.
Mabel in particular is really panicking. "Where is he...? It's so unlike him not to be home at this hour..."
Stan is very worried as well, but tries his best to keep his composure, partially for his pride, but also in hope that it reassures her. "Maybe he just fell asleep while he was taking his stroll. After all, he looked very tired this morning. Soos and Wendy told me they were going to patrol around town, and we've also warned the authorities and people around town about a missing child. I'm sure we'll hear good news soon enough..." He tries his best to make her feel not as worried.
"You're probably right, but..." She looks at her plate. "Sorry, Grunkle Stan, I'm not hungry right now... I think I'd rather try to get some sleep..."
Stan sighs. "I'll leave the plate here if you get hungry during the night and want to microwave it." He stays quiet for a bit and grabs her shoulder comfortably. "Try to sleep well, princess. I promise, it'll be okay!"
Mabel tries her best to give a hopeful smile, but it doesn't last. She goes to sleep, giving Waddles a tiny hug, but the sight of Dipper's empty bed pains her greatly. She holds the sock puppet to her brother's likeness very close, crying to herself. "Where are you, Bro-bro...?"
TO BE CONTINUED...
Author notes: So... I'm not really sure what to say here due to this narrative being a two-parter. As a result, I don't wanna give away too much about it outside of the fact that it's an appetizer for things to come.
Outside of that, I'll stick with the usual genuine "Thanks for reading!".