Chapter Sixty-Three: Old Habits Die Hard
Matthew's head was pounding, his throat dry and his limbs aching. He grunted, his eyes fluttering open.
"Wake-y, wake-y!" a familiar voice said.
Matthew blinked, willing the blurriness away from his eyes. Hovering over him was Bill Cipher, a gleeful look in his eye. Matthew's orbs scoured his surroundings, landing on a familiar setting, dark bricks and a piano, there was a fireplace with a painting of Bill in a crown over it….
Oh god.
Suddenly, memories came flooding back. Shifty, Wendy, the babies, The Rift…
Pacifica…
Matthew growled and attempted to sit up, and that's when he realized that he was chained spread eagle to the ground.
"Oh ho, don't even try it, Sleeping Beauty!" Bill giggled. "You're not going anywhere!"
Pulling harder on the blue chains, Matthew gagged, a manacle was around his neck, most likely to stop him from using magic.
"Where are they?" Matthew growled.
Bill shrunk in size, created a stool and sat next to Matthew's head. "Where are who?" He drawled.
"My siblings, where are they?" Matthew snapped.
"Oh! You mean Lover Boy and Shooting Star!" Bill waved an uncaring hand through the air. "Don't worry, they're alive—for now. At least I think, have no idea where Pine Tree is. But he's probably alive."
Figuring that was the only he was getting out of Bill, Matthew didn't ask more about his siblings, closing his eyes and rearranging his thoughts. "What do you want with me?" He asked finally.
"There you go! Now you're asking the right questions!" Bill laughed, floating away from his stool, going back to hovering over Matthew.
"This is close to the part where I'm somehow defeated, isn't it?" Bill said, lowering himself closer to the teen. "How?"
"Ha!" Matthew laughed. "Like hell I'll—."
The Memory Gun.
They didn't have it in this timeline, heck, they didn't have a non-broken McGucket in this timeline (plus he was in jail, unless some form of Bill's magic let him out), they didn't even have the unicorn barrier.
Matthew's heart plummeted, and he swallowed thickly.
Bill giggled at this. "Oh, so things aren't going per script, is it?" He said and clapped his hands together. "That's lovely!"
No, it most certainly wasn't. They needed McGucket and the Memory Gun and only Matthew knew it. There was a chance that a rebellion would form again, but he couldn't just leave that to chance, he had to escape.
"You know, you should be happy about all this!" Bill continued. "I know your priorities have changed drastically in fifteen years being poisoned by the Pines, but you gotta feel some thrill!"
Matthew didn't feel the tiniest bit of thrill, he just felt dread. Dread that everything was going to end, just like that…
No, Ford. Ford had half of the equation, the other half was in the Emerald Chronical, Bill didn't know that yet. Even if Ford somehow broke under torture, Bill would still be stumped here without the other half.
It was some relief, but not that much; again, he needed to get out of here.
"Yeah, you're right," Matthew said suddenly. "I do know what killed you."
"Lovely; now I won't make the same mistake twice!" Bill held his hand out, his cane appearing in his hand, using it to tilt Matthew's head upwards. "So, you going to tell me? Or am I going to have to rip it out of your mind?"
"It was simple, actually," Matthew said, his jaw pressing on the cane as he spoke. "You see, I—you were under the 'Magic Flu',"
Bill lowered his eyebrow. "What?" He demanded.
"Yeah, you have it right now," Matthew said with a grin.
Bill removed his cane, patting himself down with a panicked expression on his face. "What? what's going to happen?!"
"Oh, nothing, just when you need your magic the most it'll fail you," Matthew said. "That's how you lost, you couldn't stop the Pines with your magic and they beat you with sticks until you died."
"Well?! WHAT'S THE CURE?!" Bill shrieked hysterically, grabbing Matthew's collar, the boy grimacing as the manacle pressed against his throat.
Matthew had to stop himself from laughing. Was the Bill from this timeline just dumb? Did the prospect of an embarrassing defeat scare him that much? Or was he so determined to win that he'd believe pretty much anything?
"There's only one cure," Matthew said in a fake solemn voice. "Someone has to dance for you," he said, before adding, "Willingly."
Bill paused, dropping Matthew to the floor. "Ah, I see, you're trying to escape, aren't you?" Bill crossed his arms and clicked his non-existent tongue. "Can't believe I almost believed you! Stress, I tell you, ahaha!"
"Hey, you asked how you were defeated," Matthew shrugged.
"There's no way you're telling the truth," Bill snapped.
"No? Go see for yourself!" Matthew grinned. The more he kept up the charade, the more ideas continued to assault his mind.
Bill narrowed his eye, his body becoming stone as he went into the mindscape, going into Matthew's mind.
Matthew put the false memories at the forefront of his mind, making sure they had a lot of detail.
The blonde then smirked, for a second later, Bill came back out, a distressed expression on his face. "I died because I was beaten with sticks…" He croaked.
Matthew once again, felt he had cracked multiple ribs trying not to laugh.
"Well? Dance!" Bill yelled angrily, snapping his fingers.
The chains began to lengthen and became slacker, allowing Matthew to stand up. "Uh, hello?" He demanded. "I'm still chained."
"What? You think I'm going to unchain you? I'm not stupid, y'know!" Bill said creating a velvet sofa chair and a martini. "Well?"
"You expect me to dance while I'm chained?" Matthew asked.
"They're slack."
"I could trip!"
"And if I unchain you, you could use your powers!"
"If you don't, you'll be beaten by your Magic Flu and get killed by sticks!"
The two incarnations of Bill Cipher glared at each other, the triangle sitting back in his velvet chair and humming, sipping from his glass.
"Okay, then," Bill said, snapping his fingers again. The chains around Matthew's arms and legs disappeared, but the manacle around his neck became tighter, Bill gave a gleeful tug and Matthew fell forward, gagging.
"Just a precaution," The demon said. "Now, dance."
"And why should I?" Matthew said staggering to his feet.
Bill held out his hand, a blue whip appeared. "Because I have a whip that I'm dying to use!" He said gleefully.
Matthew visibly tensed at the sight of the weapon, but he needed to be completely free from the chains, he needed his magic.
"Get rid of the thing on my neck," Matthew said.
Bill's eye flashed dangerously. "You better dance, kid."
"Not until—."
"You know what? I don't even need you to dance!" Bill said, leaning back in his chair with a smug expression Matthew didn't enjoy. "Why does it have to be you? I could take this lovely whip and force Pine Tree to dance instead! I'm sure some dancing would be good for his despondent soul!"
Matthew paled. "No, don't-!"
"Then, DANCE!" Bill boomed, slapping Matthew's thigh with his whip.
Mathew gritted his teeth at the sharp sting, the fabric of his jeans tearing and blood painting the pale skin.
Wondering why he couldn't've thought of a less embarrassing cure, Matthew began to dance awkwardly, swishing his hips and bobbing his shoulders up and down.
He felt incredibly feminine…
"Aw, boo!" Bill said, whipping near Matthew's feet, the teen grunted in annoyance and danced faster.
"There we go!" Bill cackled, leaning back in his chair and taking yet another sip from his beverage.
Matthew realized there wasn't as much pressure on his neck, not enough to reach his powers, but it had loosened. The cause of this, he realized, was that fact that Bill was no longer holding the chain; it lay there on the velvet sofa since both Bill's hands were preoccupied with the whip and his martini.
The teen licked his lips, his mind going wild. He just needed a way out…
"So, how's the town been treating yeah?" Matthew said in-between pants of breath, his legs were beginning to burn.
"Who cares? I turned 95% of them into statues, and then used said statues to form my throne of Human Agony and—hey! No breaks!" Bill whipped Matthew's shin this time after he dared to take a break.
"Okay…how's the transformation?" Matthew said. "You know, the re-modeling?"
Bill crinkled his eye in delight. "Oh golly! The things I've done surpass the very meaning of phenomenal! Wanna see it?!"
Matthew nodded eagerly while forcing himself not to stop dancing lest he get whipped again.
Bill hovered off the couch, this slight movement making the end of the chain slide closer to the edge. Matthew bit his lip nervously. He couldn't have Bill's attention be brought back to the chain, it'd throw his whole plan out the window.
Spreading his hands apart, an image outlined in red appeared, it was Gravity Falls.
Just with the weirdness factor amped up to one million.
The sky was a bright crimson red, buildings either on fire or in ruins, once adorable creatures turned horrendous and ghastly.
"Hmm, yeah…I don't—don't believe you," Matthew said, risking a break and controlling his pants of breath.
Bill glared, not even caring that Matthew had stopped dancing. "Excuse me?!" He demanded.
"How do I know that's not just an image you conjured up? I gotta see it with my own eyes," Matthew said, crossing his arms.
Bill narrowed his eye and hummed in annoyance. He then floated to the brick wall and clapped twice.
A triangular shaped hole appeared, showing Gravity Falls in all its apocalyptic glory.
"There you see? All of my genius—!"
Matthew ran as fast as he could and jumped through the hole.
Bill didn't have time to process anything as he saw the teen falling through the sky and into the thicket of trees below.
He blinked slowly. Was he cured? He was using his magic just fine so…yes?
Bill peered down, once more, before batting a hand.
"Bah, I'll kill him later," he grumbled, slightly annoyed that he'd been played.
…M-A-T-T-H-E-W…
Mabel woke up in a similar fashion as her brother had, except she was chained to a lavish bed instead of the floor and was wearing a bright pink dress.
The dress was nice, and so was the bed, which was also pink with roses all over it. That wasn't the problem, it was more the "chained to the bed" and the "what the what is this place?! Who uses black bricks?!" thing.
"Hello, Mabel!" A voice said chirpily.
Mabel blinked twice, gasping at the familiar shock of white hair and blue eyes.
"Gideon?!" She cried, tugging on the chains. "What're you doing here? Let me go!"
"Mm, sorry, can't do that, pumpkin," Gideon said with a smile. "At the very least, you're comfortable, no?"
Mabel scowled then paused, memories coming back to her.
"Wait, where's my brothers?" She exclaimed.
"Oh, them? They're okay…I think, not important!" Gideon giggled sitting on the bed. "What matters is you and moi!"
"No! I want my brothers, let me go!" Mabel said struggling again.
"Mabel," Gideon sighed. "I'm sorry, but I have orders. Plus, this works in our favor, no? We're together!"
Mabel scowled. Letting all her anger swim through her fingertips.
But there was no light.
She looked down at her hands, with a furrowed brow.
"Oh, are you looking for this?" Gideon held up a familiar bow barrette.
"That's mine!" Mabel said, trying to lunge for the item, but falling short do to the chains.
"Damion says you can have it as soon as you agree to help him convert Matthew," Gideon said with a smile.
"Ugh! This again?!" Mabel demanded, throwing her head on the bed, rose petals jumping into the air and floating. "Tell him, 'no, I'm not turning my brother into that poop-face that is Bill Cipher!'"
"Now, Mabel…"
"No! Don't, 'now Mabel' me! Let me go and get me to my brothers!"
"I told you, you wouldn't convince her, Gideon," another voice said. This one, belonged to another shock of white hair, the one woman who had her commit murder.
Paige, stood by Mabel with a smirk, Mabel glaring back.
"You can leave," she told Gideon who eyed her warily.
"What're you goanna—?"
"I said, leave," Paige said with a tight smile.
Gideon gave Mabel a worried look and shuffled out of the circular brick room, up a flight of odd stairs.
"I was just like you, once Mabel," Paige said, tilting her head to the side. "I may not have biological brothers, like you, but Ford was as good as a brother to me."
Mabel's eyes widened, and before she could stop herself demanded. "How old are you?!"
Paige laughed lightly, her violet eyes twinkling. "I'm ageless, dear," Paige said. "Just like a toy—a polished, perfect toy that is."
Before Mabel could aske why Paige had used a toy metaphor, but the demoness—or whatever she was—continued before she could.
"Anyway, I was tasked with doing something similar to what Damion has tasked you to do, hurt your brother to make him happy in the end," Paige smiled. "And I did. I did, and Ford is so happy now, don't you think? Don't you want your brother to be happy too?"
"Yeah, and I won't make him happy by turning him to a monster!" Mabel cried. "What did you do to Grunkle Ford?"
Paige smiled but said nothing.
"He's happy, though. That's what matters, no?"
"Mattie would be so much happier without you guys trying to turn him evil all the time!" Mabel said, clenching her fists.
"We just want to give him a happy ending, don't you want him to have that? Doesn't he deserve that?"
Mabel furrowed her brow and looked away.
"Come Mabel, help us!" Paige said, squeezing Mabel's arm.
"Can I say something?" Mabel said.
"Why of course—"
"NO!"
There was a flash of pink light that exploded through the room, Paige was slammed against the wall viciously, staring up in surprise when the shackles around Mabel's arms and legs began to melt away against her bright aura.
"No!" She repeated. "I'm not hurting Matthew anymore, I won't make him sad anymore, I won't play Damion's game anymore! No, no, no!"
The magenta hands from before thrust through the wall, going straight through Paige's chest.
Mabel gasped, not because she had stabbed Paige; that had been her intention, morality be dammed. But there was no blood.
Paige snarled, pulling herself free of the hand and falling to her knees. As she stood up, something fell out of her.
Plastic?
"Soooo…." Mabel muttered awkwardly. "That's what was with the toy metaphor?"
Paige's nails began to lengthen into talons, and she lunged forward.
Mabel yelped, dodging at the last minute, tripping on the high heels she had been given, running up the stairs two at a time, the—toy thing following after.
On about the fifth stair Mabel tripped once more. She quickly took them off, throwing them at Paige's face. Unfortunately, it had little to no effect; it just made Paige more upset.
As Paige was in range, Mabel punched her in the face, the force shoving both females back. Paige tumbled down the stairs, Mabel fell of the side which unfortunately had no railings.
She yelped, grabbing on to the ledge, below her—far below her—were more awkward stairs, and platforms and oh…she was getting dizzy…
Where had that sudden blast of magic come from, where did it go, and how could she get it back?!
"Well, well," Paige purred, walking up the steps slowly. Mabel gasped in horror, Paige's face now had webbed cracks along it.
The girl's feet stopped near Mabel's hands. "Farewell Mabel—."
Mabel grabbed Paige's leg, using it to hoist herself up and pulling her enemy towards the abyss at the same time.
As Mabel scrambled upwards she heard Paige scream. Looking down, the brunette saw Paige's form fall, down, down, down…
Mabel gasped and covered her mouth when she saw the plastic shatter into a million pieces.
She just killed, again…
'It's OK, she's a poop face,' Mabel reminded herself, swallowing the bile in her throat and running up the rest of the stairs, in search of her brothers.
…M-A-T-T-H-E-W…
"I've been trying to contact you for a while, Dipper," a voice said.
The boy opened his eyes into what looked like a white background, he had no idea where the voice had been coming from, but it seemed to reverberate around the room.
"Who are you?" Dipper asked with a furrowed brow.
"I'm The Axolotl," the voice replied.
Dipper's brow furrowed even more, where had he heard that name before?
Wait.
"You're the one who reincarnated Matthew!" Dipper said. "You know, as some sort of redemption project."
There was a pause.
"Hello?"
"Mm, sorry, my boy, lost in thought you see."
"Oh," Dipper responded, looking around. "Where am I and—speaking of Matthew where—?"
Dipper's eyes widened. "Bill! Bill broke that strange perfume bottle thing, and everything went white and—are they okay?!" Dipper asked hysterically. "Did he do to them like he did to—?"
Pacifica? His brain added.
His heart clenched painfully, and his bottom lip trembled.
"Your siblings are safe for now," The Axolotl said
"How long have I been…here?"
"Hm, I'd say three hours? But, we have more pressuring matters to attend to."
"Like? Whatever hell Bill unleashed?" Dipper muttered, crossing his arms. "We should've stopped him sooner…"
"Even more pressing," The Axolotl said, his voice continuing to echo throughout the pure white landscape. "Your uncle and his plans."
"Ugh, Damion," Dipper grumbled, unknowingly having the same reaction to him as Mabel did. "Yeah, he's been trying to make Matthew some Demon King? And I think he did something to Mabel, I'm not sure."
"Yes," The Axolotl said. "It would seem I was mistaken in seeing if your brother could change his path."
"What do you mean?" Dipper asked. "Matthew became a better person, didn't he? I mean—why am I even asking that—of course he's a better person!"
"It does not matter, unfortunately," The Axolotl said solemnly. "Like last time, it seems reverting to his old ways is inevitable."
"Huh? You mean…what do you mean 'like last time?'"
"This isn't the first time your brother has experienced, 2012," The Axolotl said.
"Yeah, I know, he used to be Bill Cipher."
"No," The Axolotl said. "Not Bill, your brother. Matthew. This isn't his first time re-living his life as a human."
Dipper paused. "Wait you mean, there are other Matthews in other timelines?"
"Precisely, and all of them ended up taking the road your brother is going down, the Road of Demon King." The Axolotl said.
"He won't!" Dipper exclaimed. "I won't let him, I'll make sure—!"
"Said every Dipper in every timeline with Matthew in it," The Axolotl sighed. "I have to deal with Matthew before his fate becomes out of my control and I destroy another timeline."
"What do you mean, 'deal with?'" Dipper asked skeptically.
"Oh. Kill him, of course," The Axolotl said calmly.
"WHAT?!" Dipper demanded.
"His fate is sealed, if I let him continue on as he is now, your world will be destroyed—no, your entire multiverse will be destroyed eventually." The Axolotl sighed again. "I am sorry Dipper. I know this must hurt, but I require your help with this."
"No!" Dipper said, dramatically swiping a hand across his chest. "You're crazy if you think I'm killing my brother! Absolutely insane! Worse than Bill Cipher, and that's saying something!"
The Axolotl sighed yet again (Dipper was beginning to figure that was his favorite thing to do), and said, "Ever so naïve."
The whiteness disappeared, making way to hellish landscape. Dipper blinked twice and rid his eyes of the little dancing caterpillars, and slowly dropped his jaw.
There was so many things wrong that it took a while for his brain to comprehend what was going on, flames everywhere, red sky, eyeballs with bat wings—where that the water tower? Walking?!
Once snapped out of his horror, Dipper quickly hid behind a bush, surveying the scene in front of him, the legs of the water tower passed so close that he could touch it if he reached out far enough.
So, where were his siblings? Most of all, where was Matthew? If The Axolotl was so certain Damion would corrupt him…
A hand clamped across Dipper's mouth and he let out a muffled scream as he was pulled deeper into the undergrowth.
"Hey, easy!" A familiar voice snapped.
Dipper stopped struggling and paused. "Matt?"
Matthew loosened his grip on Dipper and stood up, the younger boy cringing when he noticed the blood staining his brother's jeans.
"Don't worry about it," Matthew said with a careless wave. "Help me with the cargo."
"Cargo?" Dipper repeated, peering behind Matthew and seeing two tied up sacks full of two struggling…somethings.
"You can grab McGucket," Matthew said calmly, tugging the larger bundle.
"McGucket? Old man McGucket? What's he for?" Dipper demanded, glancing at the smaller back which, now that he listened, was full of screams and something about "Corn hornets" or something.
"Yeah, I'm sure you remember he's and engineer?" Matthew said, pushing past a pair of bushes.
"Uh…so, what's in that one?" Dipper asked, pulling McGucket and nodding at the bag Matthew was pulling.
"Celestabethabellabell the unicorn," Matthew replied. "We need her hair and she wouldn't come willingly."
"What about Mabel and Stan and Ford? Where are they?"
Matthew's jaw tightened. "Haven't found them."
The two brothers walked in silence, only penetrated by the sound of McGucket's gibberish and Celestabethabellabell's high pitched threats.
Then, there it stood, in all its gothic glory, Harrison Manor.
Matthew kicked the door down. "I'm back," He called, dragging the unicorn inside. Dipper meanwhile dragged in McGucket and looked around him.
There were a bunch of gnomes and other supernatural creatures, there were also what appeared to be all the Corduroys clustered in one corner, one of Wendy's babies were crying.
Soos sounded like he was reciting things to do in an apocalypse, Candy and Grenda hugged each other and Penelope was in another corner, lamenting over a broken nail, causing Dipper to role his eyes.
They all looked up to see the two boys.
"Dipper!" Wendy said with a smile. "Hey, glad you're okay."
"Dude!" Soos exclaimed, running up and hugging the younger boy who wheezed.
"Matthew!" Penelope said, getting up and squeezing Matthew around the waist.
Matthew flinched gently pushing Penelope off him. "Uh, too close," He muttered.
"I'm never too close," Penelope purred, sliding a finger down Matthew's lips. Matthew smacked her hand away. "Yeah, you are. Like right now." He stepped around the succubus, who in turn, became flushed red in anger.
Dipper smiled at that, and from the corner of his eye, he saw Wendy did too.
"Please tell me you have a plan to beat that damn triangle," Manly Dan demanded, a lot of the creatures muttered in agreement.
"Alas, I do," Matthew said proudly. "First," the blonde walked forward and untied the bag containing McGucket. "He helps us."
"What in the Jigger Mugger?!" McGucket cried, looking around frantically.
"We need him?" Will demanded.
"He's called crazy for a reason, Matt," Wyatt muttered.
"Yeah, he won't help us fight a crazy demon," Walter said.
The three elder Corduroys looked equally skeptical.
"Matthew says he's an engineer," Dipper said. "If he says so, we have to trust him."
Matthew gave his younger brother a thankful smile and turned to McGucket. "You think you can turn the house into a fighter robot?" he asked.
"Eh?" McGucket scratched his head, squinting at everything. "I s'pose so."
"Good, you get to work," Matthew commanded, and the old man scuttled off. "As for you…" Matthew opened the bag with Celestabethabellabell.
"This is as travesty!" the unicorn cried. "I do not deserve such treatment!"
Dipper had never seen the unicorn in person, but he was quite positive that one of the defining traits of a unicorn was its horn.
This unicorn, seemed to be missing one.
"Look, we need your hair, okay?" Matthew said calmly.
"NO! NO, NO, NO! NOT AFTER WHAT YOU DID TO ME!" She shrieked shrilly.
"Are you going to engage in another unicorn battle?" Wendy asked, rocking the baby with the dove on her neck. "'Cause if you are, I'm participating," Wendy handed the baby to her mother who excepted the bundle and glanced at the two teens worriedly.
"Ah, is now a good time to—?" She began.
"Oh! You want to fight again?!" Celestabethabellabell demanded. "Because if you do—!"
Matthew lunged forward and let out a battle cry, punching C Bell in the face. Wendy cheered and followed her boyfriend in, Dipper quickly stepping backwards as the Corduroys (minus Alex who looked rather pale) and the creatures began cheering, forming a circle around the brawl and chanting "Fight, fight, fight, fight!"
Dipper sighed, electing to sit beside Alex and the babies. One of the babies, blinked sleepily from her nap at the commotion, the other swiveling around as if wondering what was happening and why one Earth she wasn't invited.
"Kids these days, am I right?" Alex said, smiling at Dipper.
"Yup," Dipper sighed, being brushed aside by McGucket who had some how found a bunch of wooden beams.
Soos sat beside the two. "Brawls can be fun, but that sounds…super painful," he muttered nervously.
"Boys and their rejection of gorgeous girls," Penelope sighed, sitting beside the three of them. "Am I right?"
Alex, Soos and Dipper scooted away from her quickly.
Penelope huffed and whipped her hair.
…M-A-T-T-H-E-W…
Mabel had no idea where she was going.
She had no idea where Gideon had gone to, or anybody that was remotely humanoid. Thrice, she had avoided an eye bat, and twice she had to avoid what looked like a hovering rhombus with legs and arms and a bowler hat, muttering something to himself.
It was only after three more flights of stairs (one of which allowed her to walk upside down) did she make it to the throne room, gasping in horror at the sight before her.
"Oh, come on, Sixer!" Bill said cheerfully, hovering in front of said Grunkle whom was chained on the ground.
"Don't you wanna keep Fez safe?" Bill clasped Stan's jaw, who was in the same position as Ford, but his eye thoroughly bruised and his lip bleeding.
Ford squeezed his eyes shut, turning away and shaking his head no.
Bill shrugged and gestured towards a creature with 8-balls for eyes. He punched Stan in the stomach causing him to grunt in pain, Ford clenched his fists and flinched, letting out a shuddering breath.
Mabel sucked in a sharp breath while the Henchmaniacs laughed. She glanced desperately to her hands willing the pink glow back, she needed to save her—.
"Hey!" A voice said.
Mabel looked up, horrified as she saw the Rhombus from before, a surprised look on his face. She hiked up her dress, trying to run but Kryptos snatched her, holding her up to his single eye. He grinned.
"Hey! Look what I found!" Kryptos said happily floating into the throne room with a squirming Mabel.
Stan and Ford looked up, both men gasping while Bill cackled gleefully. "What have we here?" He said, hovering up to Mabel and tilting her chin up, turning it this way and that.
"I thought Gideon let you out!" Bill continued. "Looks like you were telling the truth, eh, Gideon?" Bill called behind him.
Mabel gasped, Gideon dancing in a birdcage and sweating. Judging by the look on his face, the young boy was doing this against his will. "Y-you see! I didn't let her go!" he panted.
"I know that now," Bill said. "But I'm going to keep you dancing anyway! Just in case the Magic Flu didn't go away completely!"
Gideon whimpered loudly. "C-can I at least have some water?"
"What do you think guys?!" Bill called to his friends. "Give him water?"
They laughed in response.
"It's a no, kid!" Bill said gleefully.
Gideon looked like he wanted to cry.
"As for you," Bill turned to Mabel with his eerie mouthless smile. "What should we do with you?"
"Bill, I swear if you do anything…" Stan growled from below.
"I'm sorry," Bill said. "You're not in any situation to be making threats, Fez!"
Bill then turned back to his Henchmaniacs. "Okay, guys, lets have a vote! Disease, Strangulation, or Electricity?!"
Mabel squirmed harder in Kryptos' grasp.
Bill's eye then landed on Ford as the Henchmaniacs gleefully started casting votes.
"Last chance, Sixer, Give me the Equation!" He said gleefully.
Ford swallowed thickly, lowering his head, before nodding.
"Love—!"
The wall exploded behind them.
"I swear if it's the Time Police—!" Bill threatened.
"Knock, knock!" a voice said. Matthew stood before everyone with his hands behind his back and a giant grin, Dipper, Soos, McGucket and Wendy stood beside him with weapons. Penelope was behind them, filing her broken nail and trying to even it out.
Behind her, was the robo-fied Harrison Manor.
Mabel beamed, Stan grinned warily, and Ford's face flushed in relief.
"WHAT?! Why isn't anyone looking out? Clara, why aren't you looking out? WHERE'S CLARA?!" Bill shrieked shrilly.
"So, Bill," Matthew said, stalking forward. "In case you didn't know, this is the part where you die."
"Bahaha! Yeah, no," Bill said cheerfully. "I've got Gideon dancing," Bill gestured to said boy who was now purple from dancing. "My Magic Flu is gone!"
"Yeah, about that. I lied," Matthew said with a larger grin.
Bill's eye widened in shock, before he growled. "Of course, you did, how did I fall for that?!"
"What can I say?" Matthew shrugged. "I'm a sucker for bad habits, and apparently, so are you." Matthew lit his hands with flames and charged forward, smashing the face of Keyhole who stumbled back rubbing his nose.
Bill's eye glowed red and he snapped his fingers. Mabel and her two Grunkles where encased in a sphere of magic that hovered high in the air.
"What are you doing?!" Bill snapped at Kryptos. "KILL THEM!"
Wendy was locked in a battle with Pyronica, Dipper and Soos teamed up against 8-ball, trying to hit him with two old bats.
Hectogram tried to lunge for Matthew but was blasted by the Harrison Manortron, courtesy of Candy, Grenda and the rest of the creatures inside.
Matthew used Kryptos' head as a spring board and jumped atop an eye bat, floating high enough to punch Bill directly in the eye.
Bill screeched and pawed at the air, missing Matthew who jumped over him, landing on the throne of human agony.
"Matt!" Mabel exclaimed from in front of him, wiggling in her restraints.
"MATTHEW!" Bill boomed shooting a beam of light towards the throne, there was an explosion of light and Matthew was thrown back into a throng of bodies.
He gasped, moving to his knees as the people, now freed from the statue began to run and scream.
Matthew grabbed a fleeing Robbie's arm. "Dude, I need you!"
"What?!" Robbie demanded.
"Join the fight you idiot!" Matthew snapped, shoving him towards McGucket as he cackled happily, using a gun he had created in minimal time.
"You. Little. I hate you!" Bill yelled. "I hate you! I HATE YOU!" He had regained his sight, and was throwing blast after blast at the blonde, trying to find another way to get to his family.
Matthew rammed his shoulder into 8-ball, who was just about to pummel Soos in the face.
"Thanks, dude!" Soos said cheerfully.
Matthew nodded and blocked a fiery claw from Pyronica with a sword he made appear as she attempted to hit Wendy, before kicking her in the face.
"Hey, Wendy!" Matthew said slashing an eye bat behind her and pulling her out of the way of Bill's blast of magic.
"Yeah?" Wendy called, slashing Kryptos in the eye. He screamed and float backwards.
"So, after all this is over, wanna get married?!" He called, grabbing Wendy's waist and twirling her away from another attack from Bill.
"Uh, yeah! Totally!" Wendy grinned, kicking Pyronica in the chest when she tried to advance once more.
"Yo! Guys!" Matthew called up to the Harrison Manortron. He pointed at where his family where, hoping they wouldn't explode and die…
The giant robot rose its guns, firing at the hovering sphere.
Turning around, once more dodging a blast of light from Bill he saw the two Stans and Mabel, falling through the air and screaming.
At the last minute, Matthew created a large mattress under them, softening their fall.
Quickly, he left Wendy, shot a fire ball at Hectogram who was attacking McGucket and Robbie, and found his way to where Gideon was still dancing, Matthew pointed at the cage, hoping this bit of magic was still usable—and shot a beam of light.
"Huh," he grinned. "What do you know?"
Gideon screamed and fell on his face, panting for breath. "Th-thank you," he gasped.
Matthew nodded distractedly and dashed towards Ford, grabbing his arm. "Ford. Zodiac. Now."
"What do you—" Ford stopped, then nodded in understanding. "Mabel," Ford said urgently. "Do you have paint?"
Mabel produced a paint can from nowhere, grinning as Ford took the offered gift and ran to an empty area of floor, making a rushed zodiac sign.
"Hey! Bill!" Matthew called. "You still don't know how you're going to lose, and guess what? I'm not telling!" He laughed and dashed down a hallway.
"WELOME MATT!" Bill roared, running after the laughing teen. Wendy paused in her fight with Pyronica to watch her boyfriend being chased by a psycho demon.
Shoving Pyronica aside, she ran after him, only to be stopped by someone she felt she recognized.
"Hello, granddaughter," Clara cooed, standing in front of Wendy her hand sparking with magic.
"Clara Harrison—?" Wendy yelped as she ducked under a beam of magic, growling as she slashed at Clara's face. The witch produced a barrier, twisting her arm telekinetically and throwing her on her back.
Wendy snarled and kicked at Clara's stomach, the older girl not expecting this, staggered backwards and gasped, Wendy swung her axe again, but Clara grabbed her wrist and stopped her, pointing a finger at her face, ready to cast another spell—
From behind the witch, a bat swung and hit her over the head, she stood, stunned, Wendy kicking her in the face, causing her to slam against the wall, a sickening crack echoing throughout the room as she slumped to the ground, either unconscious or dead.
Wendy grinned. "Thanks, Dipper," she said, ruffling the boy's hair.
Dipper grinned, but it slowly dropped. "Where's Matthew?" He asked.
"Being chased by Bill, last I checked," Wendy said worriedly.
"PENLEOPE!" Matthew yelled from nearby.
Penelope, who was still filing her nails looked up. "Matthew? Babe, is that you?" she called back.
Matthew punched through the front, quickly followed by the livid Bill. "BE THE LLAMA!" He called.
Penelope blinked twice. "Excuse me? I am not—!"
"The Llama!" Ford exclaimed. "You're the Llama!"
"I don't—!" Ford grabbed Penelope's arm viciously and tugged her towards the sloppily painted Llama on the zodiac.
"Dipper! Here! NOW!" Ford boomed. Dipper quickly ran towards the man, yelping as he was roughly placed on the Pine Tree.
"Mabel, Shooting Star! Stan, Fish thing-y! MOVE IT!" Ford said.
"Soos Question Mark!" Matthew continued dodging Bill's fists. "Wendy, Ice! Robbie Heart, Gideon eye symbol thing! McGucket glasses! Ford Hand!"
Bill, suddenly realizing what was going on, turned to the Wheel.
"NO!" He yelled, running towards it. Matthew blasted the demon with fire, Bill cried out as he crashed against another wall.
"Keep going!" Matthew called.
Luckily, it seemed Penelope's role as the Llama was accepted, for the circle glowed brightly.
"NO! NO! NOOOO! Bill screamed trying and failing once more due to Matthew's magic to destroy the circle.
"STOP THEM!" Bill yelled at his allies.
They tried to run towards the Zodiac, but there seemed to be an invisible barrier in front of it.
"Matthew, tell them to stop!" A voice growled.
Matthew turned, his blood running cold as he saw Damion, his dark hair billowing in the magical wind the Zodiac created. Above him in a giant orb where his parents.
"Tell them to stop," Damion repeated. "Or else!"
Matthew's father had his hands pressed against the orb, looking as if he was hyperventilating. Ellie too, had her hands on the orb, and she was staring at her son intensely, firmly shaking her head.
"This is wrong, Matthew," Damion continued. "You're a demon!"
"You are part demon," Ellie said. "But you're also part human!"
"You have a demon soul," Damion said. He held out his hand.
"Come, Matthew," he smiled, holding out his hand, "Except your role, do it."
The Zodiac was glowing brighter, the occupants hovering slightly as they held hands.
"Penelope! Get out of that stupid circle!" Bill yelled.
"Um…my hand is stuck, sorry!" Penelope called. "Literally won't budge!"
"Matthew," Damion said firmly. "Tick-Tock."
Matthew closed his eyes, took in a deep breath, and made his choice.
…M-A-T-T-H-E-W…
AN: Okay, I lied, there is ONE MORE CHAPTER
An Epilogue to be exact, with a Good Ending AND Bad Ending!
Happy Birthday to ME!
Happy Gravity Falls day to YOU!
Epilogue coming maybe tomorrow!
Fantasy Fan OUT!