The Life of Sammy

by I'mABigBoyNow

Gravity Falls may seem like a normal town, but in reality, it holds some of the most powerful and dangerous secrets in the entire world. Sammy didn't expect much excitement when he first moved into Gravity Falls. But when he starts work at the Mystery Shack and meets Dipper and Mabel for the first time, he will soon realize one universal truth: life is always unpredictable.

29. Chapter 29: Sock Opera (Part 2)

It was taking a while for the show to start. In fact, it was supposed to start ten minutes ago. Most of the audience were murmuring and shuffling in their seats impatiently, wondering what was taking so long. "What's taking them so long?," Stan grumbled, crossing his arms and tapping his foot impatiently. "Did Mabel go use the toilet and fall in or something?"

"Maybe she's having stage fright," Soos suggested. "Come on, Soos. Mabel? With stage fright?," said Wendy. "She's been the most excited out of anyone for this show. She's probably still getting things ready." She then glanced at Sammy, who was looking around worriedly. "You looking for someone?," she asked. "Yeah, I'm looking for Dipper," said Sammy, sounding slightly worried. "I haven't seen him around since he and Mabel had that fight. I was hoping he'd show up at the theatre… but I don't see him anywhere." Stan turned his head to look at Sammy. "The kids had a fight? When did that happen?," he asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Earlier this morning," sighed Sammy. "It was… pretty bad. I took Mabel's side during the argument, but now I'm wondering if I should've handled it better. What if Dipper's still upset with me and Mabel?" "Hey, look on the bright side, dude," said Soos, trying to cheer him up. "At least Mabel seems to have gotten over it. She seemed pretty happy a while ago."

"Yeah… She was…," Sammy murmured, pondering over that. Now that he thought about it, Mabel seemed a bit too happy. It wasn't that long ago when she and Dipper had that big fight, and she ran away crying right after. But from the way she talked and acted on the car ride to the theatre, nobody would've guessed that she had been upset at all. It was… odd.

Meanwhile, Gabe was sitting at the front of the audience with his hand puppets. He had been eagerly waiting for Mabel's puppet show to start, but after ten minutes of waiting, he began to believe that Mabel had abandoned the project, or she wasn't as serious about puppets as he had been led to believe. Sighing in disappointment, he was about to get up and leave when the lights overhead suddenly turned off, bathing the entire room in utter darkness.

The entire room was filled with whispers of confusion. Then, a giant spotlight shone on the stage in front of them. "Oh, cool! It's finally starting," said Soos. At first, nothing seemed to happen. Then, the curtains opened up, revealing a version of the Mystery Shack that was made entirely out of cardboard. There were bushes and trees also made of cardboard.

However, it immediately became clear that something was… off. The backdrop of the Mystery Shack looked like it had been hastily repainted at the last second, with colors that didn't quite match and cardboard cutouts taped sloppily to the back wall. One of them, a poorly drawn pig that was supposed to represent Waddles, was already starting to peel off.

Candy, stylishly dressed as David Bowie, took her place at a keyboard. She could be seen squinting down at her sheet music, then at the new lyrics scribbled in the margins. From her point of view, the writing was messy and frenetic, which only confused the Korean girl even more. She knew that Mabel didn't have the best handwriting… but this was something that one would've expected from an inmate in an insane asylum! She nervously glanced at "Mabel", who was standing behind the curtains with that eerie grin on her face. "Read it," she mouthed silently. Candy looked back at the lyrics, took a deep breath, and started playing the notes.

"Gather round, and let us sing," she sang, her voice carrying an edge of uncertainty,
"of a girl who had everything… AND TOTALLY DIDN'T MESS IT UP!" Most of the audience reared back in their seats in surprise. They didn't expect Candy to suddenly shout at the top of her lungs, and they certainly didn't expect those to be the actual lyrics. They didn't even rhyme! Then, she was rolled off the stage so harshly that she nearly fell on her butt, and her instrument tipped over with a loud clunk. Meanwhile, the audience shifted in their seats and whispered to each other in confusion. That wasn't the fun, upbeat tone they were expecting.

Then, a sock puppet version of Dipper popped out of a lopsided cardboard window, its googly eyes slightly crooked, one barely hanging on. "Look, it's Mabel!," it announced, though the voice sounded too eager, like a used car salesman trying too hard. A Mabel sock puppet popped up next to it, grinning widely. A little too widely—her smile had been drawn on with marker in a stretched-out, almost unhinged way. "That's right!" Puppet Mabel declared. "It's me, your favorite girl in the whole world! The main event! The toast of the town! The girl who's got it all!" A Soos sock puppet popped up next, flopping a little too loosely as its felt mouth wobbled open. "Did you say… UNSTABLE?!," Mabel's voice rang out, way too enthusiastic.

The Stan sock puppet followed, its "glasses" made out of two bottle caps clumsily taped onto its face. "No, he said Mabel! And boy, is she a catch!" With some clumsy shuffling, the sock puppets lined up and began to sing. Their movements were stiff and imprecise, almost like none of it was even rehearsed. Either that, or it felt like it was deliberately awkward.

"Who's that girl with the pig and the braces?," all the puppets sang. "She makes friends in ALL the wrong places! She's got pizzazz, she's got style—" A sock puppet mayor suddenly slid onto the stage. His sash simply read "MAYOR?" in crayon, as if it wasn't even clear if he was the mayor or not. "And she has made… SOME… CHOICES!," the mayor puppet declared dramatically before toppling over. There was a long, awkward pause afterwards.

The silence stretched just a little too long before Puppet Mabel awkwardly shrugged. "Thank you, mayor, for that totally normal endorsement!" She turned to face the audience. "But what is happiness without success? What is a dream without ambition? What is love...?" The stage suddenly went dark except for a single, overdramatic spotlight on Puppet Mabel. "AN ILLUSION!" Then, a puppet that was supposed to be Gabe was hoisted onto the stage, though it was so defaced that you couldn't even tell it was supposed to be him. The googly eyes were ripped off, there were stains and scribbles all over it, and there was even a label on it that said "GENERIC LOVE INTEREST" in bold marker. It loomed over Puppet Mabel as she let out an exaggerated, cartoonishly forced gasp. "Ohhh, my dReAmY lOoOvE iNtErEsT!," Puppet Mabel swooned dramatically, flopping backwards. "Surely your ENTIRE EXISTENCE doesn't revolve around being a pretty face for me to pine over, right?!" The Gabe puppet flopped forward and unceremoniously landed on Puppet Mabel, covering it from the audience.

"TOO BAD!," Mabel's voice shouted gleefully. "BECAUSE THAT'S ALL YOU'LL EVER BE!" Then, a large cardboard sign that read "EMOTIONAL FULFILLMENT NOT INCLUDED" was hastily dropped onto the stage. The puppets all stared at it in silence…

Then Puppet Mabel got out from under Puppet Gabe and turned to the audience. "Anyway, who wants to see a TRAIN WRECK?" With that, a tiny toy train was pulled onto the stage and immediately crashed into a pile of rubble. A poorly timed explosion sound effect played from offstage. Nobody cheered. Nobody laughed. Nobody clapped.

Stan furrowed his brow, arms crossed tightly. "Okay… What the actual heck am I lookin' at?" He gestured at the stage, then turned to the others near him. "Am I losing my mind, or did she just throw romance into a garbage disposal and call it art?" Wendy slouched in her seat, blinking at the train wreck of a performance. "I mean… yeah. Pretty much." She let out a small, bewildered laugh. "I don't know if I'm supposed to be impressed or worried."

Soos, who had started the play with an eager grin, now looked like he wasn't sure if he should be enjoying himself. He rubbed the back of his neck. "Haha, classic Mabel, always mixin' it up! Haha… ha… Wait, is this a joke? Are we the joke?!," he cried, gripping his cap in worry. "I don't understand…," Sammy said worriedly, staring at the frankly atrocious performance playing in front of them. "Why is Mabel doing this? She's worked so hard on that play… and now she's basically mocking it!" A frightening thought formed in his head. Was it possible that her earlier fight with Dipper had finally pushed her over the edge? Was this the result?

Gabe sat at the front of the audience. He was frozen, his posture stiff as he stared at the stage. His own hand puppets were completely forgotten, laid down on his lap. His expression was completely unreadable. Was it shock? Confusion? Existential dread? From an outsider's perspective, it was impossible to tell what he was thinking, but he wasn't laughing.

Meanwhile, Grenda was standing backstage, watching it all from the shadows. The look on her face said it all. Candy was standing right next to her with that same look. They looked at each other, and they both had the same thought: Something was wrong with Mabel.

As the audience remained stiff and silent, the sock puppets awkwardly swayed in place, as if waiting for some kind of response. But when no response came, Puppet Mabel suddenly flopped forward. "Alright, tough crowd! Time for a thrilling new act! A story of power! BETRAYAL! And totally accidental misfortune!" Then, a brand new prop was rolled onto the stage. Strangely enough, it was a cardboard replica of the water tower. A new, hastily made sock puppet was dropped onto the tower. It was another Dipper puppet, only this one had a sock body that was noticeably lopsided, with his hat drawn on with marker, and his face had been stitched into a wide-eyed, vaguely panicked expression. "Hey, it's me, Dipper!," Puppet Dipper announced in an exaggeratedly whiny voice. "I sure am a buzzkill!" There was a long silence.

And then, from behind the curtain, a loud, exaggerated boo was suddenly heard.

Puppet Mabel moved up onto the water tower and leaned toward Puppet Dipper as she wiggled dramatically. "Aww, don't be like that, best brother in the world! I'd never do anything bad to you!" She patted Puppet Dipper on the head… then immediately shoved him, sending him tumbling off the water tower. Right as the puppet landed on the floor, a loud splat sound effect played from offscreen. "Whoopsie daisy! Guess he should've watched his step!," Puppet Mabel sang, shaking from side to side in an exaggerated dance. The audience remained frozen, unsure whether to laugh or be deeply concerned. "Oh well! Life goes on!," Puppet Mabel said, grinning. "And hey! With that walking frown factory outta the way, now there's nothin' stopping Mabel Pines from finally getting EVERYTHING SHE HAS EVER WANTED!"

From somewhere offstage, a drum roll played. Then, another puppet appeared, this one resembling another sock version of Mabel, but with a shifty, slanted smile and an evil-looking mustache poorly taped onto its face. Puppet Mabel gasped dramatically. "Wait a second! If I'm here… then who's that?" Mustache Mabel wiggled side to side. "Oh, don't mind me! I'm just the NEW and IMPROVED version of you! No guilt! No rules! No Dipper to ruin the fun!"

The original Puppet Mabel let out a long, exaggerated gasp. "WHAT?!," she cried. "But that's TERRIBLE! What happened to the old me?!" Then, Puppet Mabel turned to the audience, pausing just long enough for the silence to stretch. "Golly! Guess we'll never know!"

With that, Mustache Mabel dramatically kicked Puppet Mabel off the tower. Another splat sound effect played as Puppet Mabel joined Puppet Dipper at the bottom of the tower.

Once again, there was silence. "Welp! Guess it's time for an intermission!," said Puppet Mabel, suddenly getting back up as though nothing had happened to her. "I sure hope y'all are enjoying this as much as I am! Oh, and to the boy with the puppet fetish… PFFT!"

The curtains closed back up and the lights turned on. The moment the intermission started, a majority of the audience immediately got up and went towards the exit doors as they grumbled angrily, thinking that they had wasted their money just to see a deranged child's sick fantasy brought to life in a puppet show. Only a small group of people stayed behind inside the theatre, and surprisingly, Gabe was one of them. He immediately went backstage.

Meanwhile, Stan, Wendy, Soos, and Sammy stayed seated, staring at the stage even though the curtains were closed. They were too shocked to say anything. Then, it was Wendy who broke the silence. "Whoa, whoa, whoa! What?! Hold on, what just happened?!," she cried, bolting up from her chair while waving her arms around madly. Stan's face twisted into a deep scowl, though there was deep worry in his eyes. "That was the worst puppet show I have ever seen. And I remember watching one about a clown who only spoke in screaming."

Soos was gripping his armrests, his eyes darting around as if trying to find any logical explanation for what was happening. "Haha… what a goofy lil' play! Haha… ha…" His laughter trailed off, his expression growing more anxious. "Wait. Is Mabel, like, okay?"

"No… No, she's definitely not okay," said Sammy, standing up from his chair. "I don't know what's going on with her, but I intend to get to the bottom of it." "I'll come with you, kid," said Stan, about to get up as well. But Sammy shook his head. "No, it's better that I confront her alone," he said. "I don't want her to be overwhelmed. She could be dealing with some things." The conman clearly didn't like that idea, if the frown on his face was anything to go by, but he hesitantly nodded and relented. "Fine, I'll let you talk to her yourself. But if something happens, you fetch me right away, got it?," he said sternly. Sammy nodded and went backstage to find her. The others stayed seated, though they were clearly just as worried as him.

Backstage, Bill wasted no time. The second the curtains closed, he spun on his heel and strode away, cracking his knuckles as he went. "Welp! That's my cue, ladies! Time for a totally normal intermission while I– Uh, I mean, we prepare for the grand finale!" He started walking away, intent on finding the journal, when Candy and Grenda suddenly stopped him. "Hold on, Mabel," said Grenda, reaching out and grabbing him by the arm. "We gotta talk."

Bill froze and glared down at Grenda's hand touching him, like it was the filthy limb of an unimaginable disgusting creature. But it only lasted for a very brief moment before he looked up at the two girls with a forced grin. "Listen, I'd love to talk to ya, but I kinda need to–"

Grenda ignored him as she proceeded to drag Bill through the corridor and into the dressing room, with Candy trailing close behind them. Once they were in the dressing room - just the three of them - Grenda shut the door and made sure to stand guard in front of it just in case Bill tried to make an escape. Candy placed her hands on her hips. "Mabel, we need to talk. You've been acting really strange," she said. But Bill let out an over dramatic gasp, clutching his chest like he'd been mortally wounded. "Moi? Acting strange? Pfft! That's just showbiz, baby!" He gave a finger-gun gesture before trying to side-step around Grenda. "Now, if you'll excuse me…" Grenda didn't budge. "Oh no you don't. You're gonna sit here and explain why you made us rewrite the whole play just to turn it into… whatever that was," she said angrily.

Candy adjusted her glasses, her expression scrutinizing. "And why you've been acting so different," she said. Bill felt something sharp and hot flash through him. An instinctual spike of frustration, of impatience. He was so close. He could practically taste the next step of his master plan, the journal within reach, the twins' fate already sealed! And these buffoons…

…They were slowing him down. Preventing him from reaching his ultimate goal.

For a split second, the Mabel act cracked. His shoulders dropped. His fake peppy smile flattened into something blank. Expressionless. His body went eerily still, and when he spoke, his voice was calm. Too calm. "Y'know… people change," he said with a shrug.

Candy and Grenda stiffened. Bill tilted his head, studying the two like they were insects under a magnifying glass. His smile returned, but it was sharp and predatory.

"Maybe I got bored of playing the same old role. Maybe I decided, 'Hey! Why not spice things up a little?'" He leaned in slightly, just enough to make it uncomfortable. "Or maaaybe… you're just imagining things." Candy swallowed, glancing at Grenda with fear in her eyes. But her friend was much braver than she was, and the large girl's frown deepened.

Then, just as quickly as it had disappeared, the Mabel persona snapped back into place. Bill let out a forced laugh, throwing his arms up. "Hah! Just kidding! Wow, you guys really are wound up, huh? You should try smiling more! Makes ya live longer. Or so I hear!"

The only response he received from them were simultaneous glares. No matter what, neither of them were budging. Bill groaned, throwing his head back. "Uggghhh, fine! You wanna know why I changed the play? Here's the deal!" He spun around and flopped onto the dressing room's couch. "The original script? Awful. Gross. Absolutely dripping with so much sickly-sweet romance, I felt like my brain was melting!" He made an exaggerated gagging noise, sticking his tongue out. Grenda stared at him in disbelief. "But… you love romance," she said.

Bill's expression twitched. "You've been obsessing over Gabe for days," said Candy. "The whole reason why we're doing this puppet show was to impress him!"

Bill blinked. Then he let out the fakest laugh yet. "OH! Uh, right! Pfft, of course I do! Haha! Silly me!" He smacked his forehead with his palm. "Just, uh… wanted to try something different this time, y'know? Thought it'd be hilarious to, uh… subvert expectations!"

But Candy and Grenda didn't look convinced. Bill groaned. "Alright, look! I get it, okay? You're concerned. I'm acting a little different." He shrugged, giving them a lazy grin. "But is that really such a bad thing? Maybe I just woke up this morning and realized that I didn't wanna be boring!" Candy hesitated. "I mean… I guess people can change, but…," she said uncertainly. Bill clapped his hands together and jumped to his feet. "Exactly!," he said. "People change! People evolve! And me? I'm evolving into someone so much better!" There was something too eager about the way he said it. Bill wasn't just improvising anymore. He really meant it.

Candy still wasn't convinced, but Grenda finally sighed. "Well… as long as you're still you, I guess." Bill grinned, clapping her on the shoulder. "Yup! Same ol' Mabel! Nothing to worry about! Now, if you'll excuse me…" Before either of them could protest, he slipped past them and bolted down the hall, leaving the two girls standing in silence. After a really long pause, Candy glanced at Grenda. "Okay," she said, adjusting her glasses, "That was not her."

Grenda nodded, frowning deeply. "Yeah. No way," she agreed. Candy hugged herself, her stomach twisting uncomfortably. "So… who was that?," she asked nervously.

Grenda huffed, crossing her arms. "I dunno, but we have to do something about it! But what are we supposed to do, though? Tie her to a chair and interrogate her?" Candy considered it. "...That was my first idea," she admitted. Grenda nodded approvingly. "Nice."

Before they could start making a list of available rope-based resources, a very familiar voice cut through the room. "H-Hey, girls?" Both girls froze. Their heads turned slowly toward the makeup table, where, against all logic, a sock puppet of Mabel was rising into the air like a ghost. Its googly eyes stared at them unblinking, its felt mouth moving stiffly.

"I-It's me! Mabel! Don't freak out, okay?" the puppet squeaked nervously.

Candy and Grenda looked at each other. They proceeded to freak out anyway.

"AAAHHH!" Candy screamed, throwing a powder brush like a ninja star. The puppet ducked just in time, the brush smashing harmlessly against the mirror. "OH SWEET CORN ON THE COB, IT'S A DEMON PUPPET!" Grenda bellowed, grabbing a chair like a gladiator who was preparing for battle. Mabel yelped, jerking her sock puppet form back. "Wait! No! Grenda, stop—" "YOU CAN'T HAVE OUR SOULS, SOCK BEAST!" Grenda roared, swinging the chair overhead. Mabel barely dodged before Candy threw a can of hairspray like a grenade, missing by inches. "LISTEN TO ME, I'M NOT EVIL!" Mabel wailed, desperately flailing her tiny puppet arms. Candy gasped in horror. "IT KNOWS OUR LANGUAGE!," she cried.

Grenda slammed the chair down where the puppet had been a split second ago, the impact rattling the vanity table. "BEGONE, THREAD FIEND!" Mabel scurried onto a hat rack, gasping for breath. "STOP ATTACKING ME! IT'S ME, THE REAL MABEL!"

The girls hesitated, eyes narrowing in suspicion. "Prove it," Candy demanded, holding a curling iron like a weapon. "Yeah," Grenda growled, gripping the chair tightly. "Say something only the real Mabel would say." Mabel frantically thought, her tiny sock body trembling. Then, with all the confidence a possessed sock puppet could muster, she cried out, "I make cute cat noises in my sleep whenever I'm stressed or upset!" Candy and Grenda gasped.

"No way," Grenda whispered. Candy adjusted her glasses, horrified. "That actually explains so much." Mabel waved her stubby sock arms. "See? It's me! I'm stuck like this! You guys have to help me!" The girls finally lowered their weapons, stepping closer.

"Okay, so, wait," Grenda said, eyes still squinting in suspicion. "If you're supposed to be the real Mabel…" She pointed toward the door. "Then who's the one out there?" Mabel stiffened, suddenly looking very, very small. "That's… a very long story," she sighed.

Suddenly, there was a knock at the door. "Hey, Mabel, do you have a moment?," a voice asked from the other side of the door. Mabel's puppet body stiffened. "Oh my gosh! It's Gabe!," she cried in a panic. "I-I can't let him see me like this! Hide me, Grenda!" Then, she proceeded to fly into the nearest hiding place that she could see: Grenda's big mouth.

Perhaps if Mabel hadn't been so panicked and rattle-brained, she would've realized that trying to hide in someone's mouth was a stupid and disgusting idea, especially if your body was literally an old wool sock. Nevertheless, she tried to do so anyway, and it caused Grenda to start choking and gagging. Candy quickly reached in and tried to pull Mabel out.

That was how Gabe found them when he entered the room, holding some flowers in his hand. "Mabel, I just wanted to–," he was about to say, before stopping in his tracks and staring at the sight in front of him. From his perspective, it seemed that Grenda was trying to swallow a sock puppet whole, while Candy was trying to pull it out. The two girls also froze in place. They stared back at Gabe, completely mortified by the predicament they were in.

"I'll… leave you ladies alone," Gabe said uncomfortably, quickly walking out and closing the door. There was an uncomfortable silence afterwards as Gabe's footsteps soon faded away. Then, Candy managed to pull Mabel out of Grenda's mouth. The former girl possessing a sock puppet flopped onto the makeup table like a fish gasping for air. "Well, that was disgusting," she wheezed. Grenda coughed, patting her throat. "Bleh. Tasted like old yarn and bad decisions," she said. "I'm mostly made of felt right now," Mabel mumbled. "Not my fault if I taste like a craft store." Candy adjusted her glasses, looking between them. "Okay, let's get this all straight first. Mabel's soul is inside a sock puppet, her body is being controlled by… something, and we're in the middle of that something's play." "Yeah," Mabel groaned, pushing herself up on her stubby puppet arms. "You remember when I told you girls about that triangle demon me and the others fought in Grunkle Stan's mind?" "Oh, yeah!," said Grenda, her eyes going wide. "That triangle guy! You said you guys beat him before, right? Why don't we just do it again?"

Mabel shook her head. "It's not that simple, Grenda," she said. "He's way worse than we thought he was! We need to–" Suddenly, the door swung open, and Sammy stepped in, pausing mid-stride as his eyes flicked over the bizarre scene: Candy holding a sock puppet like she had just rescued it from a garbage disposal, Grenda clutching her throat like she'd just been choking on said puppet, and both of them seemingly talking to it just before he came in.

He blinked. "…Okay," he said carefully, clearly puzzled. "I'm not even going to ask what you two have been doing. Have any of you seen Mabel?" Mabel saw him, and her googly eyes widened in relief. "Sammy!" She scrambled forward, struggling with her stubby puppet limbs, before giving up and simply flopping onto the vanity in exasperation. "I'm so glad you're here!" Sammy stared at the living puppet in shock, his mouth agape. "M-Mabel?!," he gasped, having recognized her voice immediately. Candy and Grenda quickly shuffled aside as Sammy stepped closer, now taking in the sock puppet fully. "Yeah, it's me," Mabel said, her voice a little wobbly. "It's a really long story." "Yeah, I'll bet," Sammy murmured, still trying to process the fact that one of his friends was now a puppet that was… covered in drool for some reason?

"Wait a minute," he murmured, his eyes going wide. "If that's you…" He pointed behind himself at the door. "Then who's running your play right now?!" Mabel then lowered her head in shame, which only looked more sad and pitiful as a puppet. "Bill," she murmured.

Sammy gasped sharply and covered his mouth in shock. "Bill!," he whispered. "Dipper told us that he was visited by him in his dreams! He came after you too, didn't he?" Mabel took a deep breath - or at least, she tried to, before remembering sock puppets didn't have lungs. "He came to me in the woods," she started to explain. "So… I kinda… made a really bad deal with him…" Sammy stared at her. "You made a deal… with Bill?," he said in disbelief.

Mabel flinched. "Yeah. I-I know how bad it sounds, but… He tricked me! He said he'd help me with Dipper… a-a-and mom and dad…" Sammy's gaze softened. "Mabel…" Mabel's little felt hands clenched against the tabletop. "I was so stupid!," she shouted.

"Mabel!," Sammy said again, not wanting her to blame herself. "He tricked me! He made me think he just wanted to help me, and the second I shook his hand, BAM! Next thing I know, I'm stuck in puppet purgatory while he hijacks my body!," Mabel ranted, her voice growing more and more shrill. Sammy gasped when he came to another realization. "Those bruises and cuts I saw on his face… Was he injuring your body the whole time?!," he asked angrily.

Mabel nodded. Sammy exhaled slowly, standing back up and rubbing the bridge of his nose. "That little…" He cut himself off, his jaw tightening for a brief second before returning his attention to her. "Okay. What's his endgame?" "He's after the journal," said Mabel. "He hasn't found it yet, but he will if we don't stop him." Sammy's entire body tensed. "The journal? But… why? Why would he want the journal?," he asked. "He said he wanted to destroy it," said Mabel. "I don't remember that well… but I think he said something about having 'big plans', and that we were too close to figuring them out. He already destroyed the laptop earlier…"

"He destroyed the laptop too?!," said Sammy. "Wait a minute… Dipper was working on that laptop when we last saw him, and I haven't seen him around since! Did Bill do something to him?!" He was already working himself into a panic. "No, no! Sammy, calm down! Dipper's fine! Well… Okay, not really," Mabel sighed. Then, she proceeded to explain what happened to him after she was possessed by Bill. How Bill destroyed the laptop right in front of him, then socked him in the face and drove him away, crying. How she later found him all by himself at the top of the water tower, and how he was blaming himself for what happened with Mabel.

After she finished, Sammy was more livid than ever. "That… little… punk," he growled, baring his teeth with rage. The last time he was this angry, Mabel was afraid of him, but now, she was in agreement and fully on board with teaching that triangle a lesson.

"And he rewrote my play into some weird messed-up version of it," Mabel added quickly, her tone flustered. "Like, really weird. The audience thinks I wrote all of it, but I didn't! You know me, Sammy! I would never make fun of love!" "I know, Mabel," said Sammy, smiling at her and gently picking her up. "Honestly, I should've realized it sooner. The real Mabel would never have made a play like that. Only Bill would've made something so twisted and… weird."

"What do we do, though?," asked Candy. "How are we going to get Mabel's body back?" Sammy turned to face her and smiled, but it was a cold and dangerous smile that sent shivers up her back. "Simple, really. We find Bill… and take back Mabel's body by force."

"YES!," Grenda cheered, pounding her fists together. "Beat him up! Beat him up!" "No, we don't want to go that far," Sammy warned her. "Remember, even though Bill is possessing Mabel's body right now, he doesn't care what happens to it. He'll even purposely hurt himself just to get some sick thrill out of it." In his hand, Mabel couldn't help but shudder.

"We'll find and catch him first," Sammy continued. "And we'll keep him restrained so he doesn't end up hurting Mabel's body even more. Hopefully, once that's taken care of, we'll be able to find something in the journal that'll get Bill out of Mabel's body for good."

"I like that plan even more!," said Grenda. Candy just smiled and gave a thumbs up. Sammy looked at Mabel, who looked back at him with her big googly eyes. "Are you ready, Mabel?," he asked. "Ready!," Mabel said confidently. "Let's get my body back!"

Meanwhile, Bill had been searching high and low for that stupid journal, tearing through every possible hiding spot. He'd checked behind curtains, under stage props, and even rifled through the costume rack, finding nothing but itchy sequins and crushed dreams. Finally, tucked haphazardly among the play's set pieces, he spotted it. The journal, disguised as a prop book in one of the puppet scenes. With a smug grin, Bill grabbed it, clutching the worn leather cover like a prize. "Ha! I finally found you! Now I just need a lighter and some gasoline…"

"Oh! Mabel!," a voice called out to him. Bill's entire body stiffened. Grinding his teeth, he turned, slapping a wide, mockingly sweet grin on Mabel's borrowed face. "Gabe! Buddy! Wow, crazy timing, huh?" Gabe beamed, approaching him eagerly with some flowers in his hand. "I just wanted to say… that show was incredible!," the puppet enthusiast cried.

Bill faltered, his prepared insults momentarily dying in his throat. "…Come again?"

"The play!," Gabe gushed, eyes practically shining. "I've never seen a puppet show take such a bold, unsettling direction before! The way you twisted expectations and added that eerie unpredictability, the lurking dread—so avant-garde!" Bill blinked. His first instinct was to call the kid a moron. Or, better yet, light his socks on fire for wasting his time. But instead, he just stood there, momentarily thrown off by the sheer genuine enthusiasm radiating off Gabe.

"…Huh." Bill tilted his head, squinting at him like he was an abstract painting he couldn't quite figure out. "You actually liked it?" "Liked it?," Gabe scoffed. "I loved it! Honestly, if you had written a typical love story, I wouldn't have been nearly as impressed. Almost anyone would've expected something like that, but you made something different! You gave them all existential terror! The way you framed reality itself as fragile and meaningless? Genius!"

Bill just stared. For the first time, he had nothing to say. Nobody ever liked what he did. They screamed, they cried, they begged for mercy. But this guy? This nerdy puppet-lover? He was practically swooning over the madness Bill had thrown together on a whim.

If Bill still had a heart, it would've been almost endearing. Almost.

Gabe clasped his hands together. "I have to ask. Were you inspired by Polish surrealist theater? Or was it more of an absurdist approach, like Ionesco meets classic horror?" Bill's right eye twitched. He had been fully prepared to roast this kid into oblivion. But now? Now he was just... baffled. "…Sure. Let's go with that," he finally muttered. Gabe gave a delighted nod. "I cannot wait to see what you come up with next! And if you stick the ending, well, maybe later you could join me for a biscotti?" In your nightmares, puppet boy, thought Bill.

"Uh… sure," Bill muttered. Gabe smiled. "I'll be waiting," he said before leaving. And just like that, he was gone. Bill just stood there, tapping the journal against his palm…

Then he burst out laughing. "Oh, that's rich! 'Avant-garde,' he says! Pfft! Kid, if you knew what I really had planned, you'd be wetting your little pants!" He shook his head, still grinning. A stray thought suddenly slipped into his mind. Maybe I should let that kid live…

He considered it for less than one trillionth of a nanosecond. "Eh. Nah," he snickered, rolling his eyes. Once his plan was complete, once this body had served its purpose, everyone was going to be reduced to nothing but ashes. Including that puppet-loving nerd.

But just when he was about to leave with victory close at hand… "Hold it right there, you fraud!," a voice cried out. Bill barely had time to turn before something massive came barreling toward him. Grenda lunged like a linebacker, aiming to tackle him to the floor. With a surprised yelp, Bill twisted out of the way at the very last second, sending her crashing into the coat rack instead. Hats and scarves rained down as Grenda groaned from the floor, dazed.

Sammy, Candy, and Mabel had also arrived on the scene, with Mabel's sock puppet body floating next to them. "Give it up, Bill!," Sammy said angrily. "Mabel told us everything! So hand over the journal, and give Mabel her body back, now." "Yeah! Nobody gets to possess my best friend and get it away with it!," said Candy. Bill groaned dramatically. "Oh, boo-hoo! So I conned Shooting Star outta her body. Who hasn't made a few bad deals?" He shrugged and tapped his chin. "Tell ya what. Let's just call it a learning experience!" Sammy stepped forward then, arms crossed, giving Bill a piercing stare. "Get out of Mabel's body and give us back the journal. Or else." Bill scoffed. "Or what, Mother Hen? You think you can just–?"

Sammy lunged at him. With a startled curse, Bill barely dodged, ducking under his outstretched arm. Candy grabbed for the journal, but Bill yanked it back, spinning on his heel and taking off down the hall. "Later, losers!," he hollered back at them tauntingly.

"AFTER HIM!," Mabel cried, her puppet form flopping through the air in pursuit.

The chase was on. The group sprinted after him, having to run around or push past chairs and props that Bill knocked over to slow them down. They tore through the backstage area. Bill was frustratingly quick, as Mabel's body was small and agile, letting him slip through gaps and dodge obstacles with ease. But his pursuers weren't about to give up.

There was just one problem, though. They were quickly running out of hallway.

Meanwhile, the audience sat waiting, their murmurs growing louder. The intermission had already ended a while ago, yet the show wasn't starting back up. Gabe was the only one who seemed eager, anxiously waiting in his chair with a smile of anticipation on his face. But the same could not be said for literally everyone else in the audience. Other than Stan, Wendy, and Soos, there were only a few handful of people who decided to stay just out of morbid curiosity for how this train wreck of a puppet show was going to end. Stan tapped his fingers impatiently on the armrest. "What's takin' so long? I thought intermission was supposed to be a break, not a sabbatical," he snarked. Wendy leaned back in her seat. "Eh, maybe Sammy and Mabel are still talking. It sounds like they both need it." She had to stop and yawn again. "Okay, even I don't get that tired, and I'm old enough that any moment of sleep I can get is precious. What's goin' on with you, Wendy?," asked Stan, raising an eyebrow. "It's nothing," Wendy mumbled, rubbing her eyes. "Like I said, it was just a couple of bad dreams. Seriously, I'm fine."

Soos, sitting between them, stroked his chin thoughtfully. "Maybe they're taking so long because Mabel got possessed by a demon and they're trying to exorcise her?," he suggested. Wendy opened her mouth to refute that and comment on how ridiculous that was, but stopped when she also considered it. "You know, considering that train wreck of a puppet show we just watched, that makes a weird amount of sense. How do you even keep coming up with things like that, Soos?," she asked. The handyman just shrugged. "Yeah, right," Stan snorted. "What's next, are the kids gonna come crashing through the curtains right now and—"

CRASH! Right on cue, the curtains flew open as Bill, Sammy, Grenda, Candy, and Mabel burst onto the stage in a chaotic pile-up. "...Well, alright then," Stan murmured.

The rest of the crowd gasped in shock. Bill tumbled forward but miraculously landed on his feet, still clutching the journal. "Ugh, perfect," he groaned, seeing all the people in the theatre staring at them. "Just what I needed. An audience!" The others scrambled to their feet, ready to grab him. But Bill had the advantage. With Mabel's smaller frame, he darted between them all, weaving past Candy and ducking under Sammy's grasp. Mabel tried to block him, flopping her sock puppet body in front of his face. "GIVE ME BACK MY BODY, YOU THIEF!"

Bill merely swatted her away. "Ha! What're you gonna do? Pummel me to death with your fragile little sock body?" Mabel went flying, screaming the entire way.

Grenda tried to tackle him again, but Bill slid across the stage on his knees, just avoiding her crushing grip. Candy made a grab for the journal, but Bill yanked it back. Sammy lunged at him, but Bill twisted around him in a way that no normal person could've done.

Stan, watching this chaos unfold, was initially shocked by what was going on. Then, he grinned. "Now this is entertainment!," he laughed, taking out a camera to film it all. "Kids fighting on stage? Shoulda done this from the start! I can sell this." Wendy and Soos - yes, even Soos - just looked at him with deadpan expressions on their faces as if to say, "Seriously?"

Meanwhile, the rest of the audience sat in stunned silence. A few scattered whispers ran through the crowd. "Is… Is this part of the play?" "I dunno, but it's a heck of an improvement, if you ask me." "What's with the floating sock?" "Must be CGI." "...In real life? Really?"

Despite their superior numbers, Bill was frustratingly fast, moving around like a cat. If he could just reach the other side of the stage, he could bolt out the exit door… Aha! There was his chance! He slipped past Candy and Grenda, heading straight towards the exit.

Not happening, Bill!, thought Sammy, snatching the back of Mabel's sweater, jerking Bill backward mid-step. Bill yelped, momentarily losing his grip. The journal went flying.

"NO!," screamed Bill. With a desperate leap, Grenda snagged the book out of the air. "HAH! GOT IT!," she bellowed triumphantly. Bill's eye twitched. "Oh, COME ON!"

Sammy tightened his grip, holding Bill in place. Candy and Mabel rushed forward. "UGH, FORGET THIS!," Bill snarled. Before they could stop him, he kicked off the floor, twisting out of Sammy's hold with an acrobatic spin that definitely wasn't normal for Mabel's body. Sammy lunged again, but Bill ducked under his arm and took off by jumping off the stage.

The crowd gasped again. Bill landed hard, stumbled, but recovered, sprinting down the aisle before anyone could react. "AFTER HIM!," Mabel screeched. Sammy, Mabel, Candy, and Grenda jumped off the stage and ran after Bill, running out of the theatre.

After they left, the only people left in the theatre were what remained of the audience, who were too baffled by what just happened to say or do anything. "...Okay, we all just saw the same thing, right?," asked Wendy. "Do you think we should go after them?," asked Soos, only to receive an angry "What do you think?" look from Wendy. "Come on!," said the redhead, quickly getting up and running down the aisle. Soos ran after her, and so did Stan.

…Okay, Stan first made sure that his camera caught the entire fight - he totally wasn't going to rewatch it and tease the kids about it later - and then he ran after them.

Meanwhile, Gabe was still in the theatre, sitting at the front of the audience. But unlike before, he was not pleased in the slightest. His arms were crossed and his lips pursed in deep disappointment. He had come expecting a groundbreaking, avant-garde masterpiece, a bold new era of puppetry. And what had he received? A mess! Where was the narrative cohesion? Where was the tragic climax? The play had been building up something truly gripping - a tale of power, madness, and horror through the lens of puppetry! He had been hooked!

But then… The third act had been nothing but an unstructured, chaotic brawl. Where was the thematic resonance?! Where was the satisfying conclusion?! Gabe let out a dramatic huff, shaking his head. "What a complete and utter travesty." He stood up from his seat. "Come, my puppets. We are leaving." As for the rest of the audience who stayed behind, in the end, the puppet show wasn't the most bizarre thing they had ever witnessed. It was seeing Gabe storm out of the theatre while passionately making out with his own hand puppets.

Meanwhile, Sammy, Candy, Grenda, and Mabel were chasing Bill out of the theatre. It was already dusk, and the streets of Gravity Falls were bathed in the glow of streetlights. They sprinted through town, chasing Bill in alleyways and cutting across roads, but at some point - somewhere between Lazy Susan's diner and the mattress store - they lost him.

Sammy skidded to a stop near a lamppost, breathing hard. His fists clenched as his eyes scanned the streets. "He's gone," he muttered, frustration in his voice. Candy doubled over with her hands on her knees as she panted heavily. "How does someone in Mabel's body run so fast?," she gasped. Grenda punched a nearby mailbox with enough force to dent it. "UGH! He's weak and tiny! We should've been able to grab him! No offense, Mabel," she said.

"None taken," Mabel muttered, hovering in place, her sock puppet body twitching with frustration. "This can't be happening…" They had been so close. If they had just been a little faster, a little sharper, they could have stopped him. But now, Bill was loose in town, with her body, and they had no idea where he went. "Well, at least we got the journal back," said Candy as she gestured to Grenda, who still had the book clutched tightly in her hands.

"Yeah. Yeah, you're right. Let's look on the bright side, girls," said Sammy. "We were able to stop Bill from destroying the journal. But…" He frowned again. "...he's probably going to try something else. We need to find him. Now where could he have run off to…?"

As they all brainstormed and tried to figure out where a triangle demon possessing a little girl would most likely run off to, Mabel was replaying something in her mind, a scene from the play Bill had written. At the time, it just seemed like more nonsense. But now…?

"Alright, tough crowd! Time for a thrilling new act! A story of power! BETRAYAL! And totally accidental misfortune!" Then, a brand new prop was rolled onto the stage. Strangely enough, it was a cardboard replica of the water tower. A new, hastily made sock puppet was dropped onto the tower. It was another Dipper puppet, only this one had a sock body that was noticeably lopsided, with his hat drawn on with marker, and his face had been stitched into a wide-eyed, vaguely panicked expression. "Hey, it's me, Dipper!," Puppet Dipper announced in an exaggeratedly whiny voice. "I sure am a buzzkill!" There was a long silence.

And then, from behind the curtain, a loud, exaggerated boo was suddenly heard.

Puppet Mabel moved up onto the water tower and leaned toward Puppet Dipper as she wiggled dramatically. "Aww, don't be like that, best brother in the world! I'd never do anything bad to you!" She patted Puppet Dipper on the head… then immediately shoved him, sending him tumbling off the water tower. Right as the puppet landed on the floor, a loud splat sound effect played from offscreen. "Whoopsie daisy! Guess he should've watched his step!," Puppet Mabel sang, shaking from side to side. "Oh well! Life goes on!," Puppet Mabel said, grinning. "And hey! With that walking frown factory outta the way, now there's nothin' stopping Mabel Pines from finally getting EVERYTHING SHE HAS EVER WANTED!"

From somewhere offstage, a drum roll played. Then, another puppet appeared, this one resembling another sock version of Mabel, but with a shifty, slanted smile and an evil-looking mustache poorly taped onto its face. Puppet Mabel gasped dramatically. "Wait a second! If I'm here… then who's that?" Mustache Mabel wiggled side to side. "Oh, don't mind me! I'm just the NEW and IMPROVED version of you! No guilt! No rules! No Dipper to ruin the fun!"

The original Puppet Mabel let out a long, exaggerated gasp. "WHAT?!," she cried. "But that's TERRIBLE! What happened to the old me?!" Then, Puppet Mabel turned to the audience, pausing just long enough for the silence to stretch. "Golly! Guess we'll never know!"

With that, Mustache Mabel dramatically kicked Puppet Mabel off the tower. Another splat sound effect played as Puppet Mabel joined Puppet Dipper at the bottom of the tower.

Her sock body stiffened, a horrifying thought sinking in. "Oh no," she whispered. The others turned to her. "Mabel?," Sammy asked, his expression immediately shifting to concern. Mabel's googly eyes stared straight ahead, unblinking. "The play… the scene where puppet me gets rid of puppet Dipper…" Candy's brows furrowed. "Wait, the part where he got thrown off the puppet-sized water tower?," she asked. Grenda frowned. "Yeah, and then he went splat on the ground. What about it?," she asked. Mabel turned to them, her puppet arms flailing wildly. "That wasn't just a joke! Bill was telling us what he was gonna do!" The air felt heavier.

"...What are you saying?," asked Sammy, his voice going quiet. Despite asking that, he already knew what Mabel was talking about. He just didn't want to believe it.

Mabel gulped, her small fabric form trembling. "Bill's gonna push Dipper off the water tower," she whispered, scarcely able to believe the words that were coming out of her mouth. There was silence. Then… "WHAT?!," screamed Candy, her face draining of color. Grenda stomped her foot on the pavement in anger, bellowing words that no one expected a girl of her age to know. Neither Candy nor Grenda knew Dipper that well, but just the thought of someone doing something so vile and horrific to him… It was more than they could take.

Sammy was more angry than he had ever been, but unlike the others, he didn't bother wasting any time. He turned on his heel, already preparing to sprint in the direction of the water tower. "We don't have time to waste," he said, his voice urgent. But before they could take off, a familiar voice rang out behind them. "There you are!" They whirled around to see Stan, Wendy, and Soos running up to them, having finally caught up to them from the theatre.

Stan looked irritated. "What the heck happened?! One second, I'm watchin' you kids fightin' on that stage - great entertainment, by the way - and the next thing I know, you all bolt outta there like you robbed the place!" Wendy gave them a confused look. "Yeah, what's up? You guys look… weirdly panicked," she said. Soos, meanwhile, was squinting at the floating sock puppet. "…Dude, how is that sock moving on its own?," he asked, pointing at it. "It's me!" Mabel blurted out. "It's Mabel!" Stan froze mid-step. Wendy's mouth fell open. Soos tilted his head. "Huh?" "Guys, I know this is hard to believe, but we don't have time to–!," said Sammy, before Stan interrupted him. "Wait. Hold on. Hold on," said the conman, staring at the floating sock puppet while blinking rapidly. He squeezed his eyes shut, then opened them, as if making sure he wasn't imagining things. "You are telling me… that you, the sock puppet, are actually Mabel?" Mabel frantically nodded. "Yes! It's me! Bill took my body! He tricked me into making a deal, and now he's running around as me!" Stan took a slow, deep breath. "Okay, WHAT?!," he shouted in bewilderment. Wendy ran a hand through her hair. "Wait, wait, wait. Bill? You mean that triangle guy you told me about? The one who tried to invade Stan's mind?"

"Invaded my mind?! When did that happen?! And who the heck is Bill?!," yelled Stan, more confused than he had ever felt in a long time. Everyone else tried to explain it to him, but they started talking over each other, resulting in a chaotic cacophony of voices.

Finally, Mabel couldn't take it any more. "Everyone, SHUT UP!," she screamed at the top of her lungs, or the puppet equivalent of lungs. The others went silent and stared at her. "This is not the time right now, people! If we don't stop Bill, he's going to… to…" She was too broken up to finish her sentence. "...He's going to murder Dipper," Sammy said darkly.

"...He's going to what?," growled Stan. The conman's face darkened, his fists clenching at his sides. "Why? Why would he do that?," asked Soos, unable to comprehend such a level of cruelty. "Because he's a screwed up little psychopath, that's why!," Wendy snarled. "Where did he go? I'm gonna teach him a lesson myself." "He's going towards the water tower," Sammy said. "We don't know for certain, but we're pretty sure that's where he's heading."

"Well, that's all I need to hear," Stan growled. "No more screwin' around." He cracked his knuckles, his usual gruff attitude replaced with something deadly serious. "We're gonna find that punk, we're gonna stop him, and I'm gonna personally make him regret ever touchin' my family." "Then let's move!," Sammy barked, already taking off toward the water tower.

The others didn't hesitate. They followed after him, hoping that it wasn't too late.

Meanwhile, Dipper sat at the edge of the water tower, arms resting on his knees, staring out at the town below. His thoughts were tangled, looping over and over again around one thing: his fight with Mabel. For a long time, he replayed their words like a broken record.

"You always throw me under the bus anyway. It was stupid of me to think you'd changed." Dipper winced, his gut twisting. He knew he had been harsh. Too harsh. But it wasn't like Mabel hadn't hurt him too. All summer, he had been chasing the truth, solving mysteries, uncovering secrets, trying to find the author, to do something that mattered. And every time, Mabel had treated it like a joke, like it wasn't important. Like he wasn't important.

He sighed and rubbed his face. Maybe he should apologize. Maybe he should at least talk to her. Then he thought about what happened after that. About the laptop.

Of course. How could he forget? Mabel had destroyed it.

His hands clenched into fists as a cold, bitter anger rose in his chest. It had been his one lead, the only clue he had left about the author… and she had destroyed it right in front of him. Why, though? Was it just to prove a point? Or was it just to get back at him?

Dipper shook his head. No. That wasn't like her. Mabel was impulsive, sure, but she wouldn't do something like that. Except… she did. In fact, he saw her do it with his own eyes. So why…? Dipper groaned. He could already feel a migraine coming on.

His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of someone climbing the ladder. Confused as to who it could be, he turned his head around and saw her. The last person he expected to see right now. His sister, Mabel. She climbed up the ladder, then stood on the platform, hands clasped behind her back, her face unreadable. Dipper's first instinct was to look away, still too upset to meet her eyes. But something was off. Mabel wasn't… doing anything.

She just stood there. Watching him. Smiling at him with that giant freakish smile.

"Mabel," Dipper muttered, politely acknowledging her. Bill tilted his head slightly. "Hey there, bro-bro," he said, taking a slow step forward. "So. Here you are. All alone. At the top of the world." Dipper scoffed, looking back over the edge. "Yeah. Finally getting some peace and quiet," he muttered angrily. "You're not still mad, are ya?," Bill asked, inching closer. "Come on, Dipper. We're family! Siblings fight. It's, like, a rule or something." Dipper let out a humorless laugh, then glared at him. "You destroyed the laptop, Mabel," he said accusingly.

Bill blinked. "Oh yeah. That was hilarious," he cackled, with no remorse at all.

Dipper stared at him incredulously, then scoffed and looked away again. "I can't even look at you anymore," he muttered. "I mean, what's gotten into you, anyway? You're not usually like this!" He went on, his voice growing louder in frustration, not knowing that Bill was adjusting himself right behind him. "You seem so much… crueler! And it just came out of nowhere! Heck, it's almost like you came out of those woods a different… a different… person…"

He stopped. A horrible realization came over him. He slowly turned around to see that Mabel's face was an inch away from his own. Only now he knew better. It was Mabel's face, but the person wearing it was not her. The new personality, the cruelty, the callousness, the yellow eyes, the smile… How could he not have seen it sooner? It was so obvious!

"…Bill," he whispered. Bill's face stretched into a wicked grin. "Took you long enough, Pine Tree." Before Dipper could react, Bill's hands slammed into his chest.

His world tilted. The sky flipped upside down. And suddenly, he was falling.

Dipper barely managed to grab onto the railing, his fingers locking around the cold metal as his legs dangled over the empty air below. He gasped, his heart thundering against his ribs. He looked up. Bill loomed over him, peering down with a smirk that looked completely alien on Mabel's face. "Whoopsie!," Bill chirped. "Looks like you're in a real pickle, huh?"

Dipper gritted his teeth, struggling to pull himself up. "Aw, what's the matter, Pine Tree? Wishing you've done more pull ups? Guess all that training with the manotaurs didn't do diddly squat for you, huh, kid?" He leaned forward, his tone dripping with utter glee. "You know, I gotta admit, I thought you'd catch on sooner. But no, you just let me waltz around in your sister's skin, playing with you all day. And I thought you were supposed to be the smart one!"

Dipper's breath came in short, panicked bursts. His grip was already slipping.

"Man, your sister was way too easy to manipulate," Bill taunted. "So desperate for that perfect fairytale ending." He snickered. "Kinda pathetic, don't ya think?" Dipper glared up at him. "Shut up," he growled. "Don't talk about her like that!" "Ooooh, touchy, touchy!," Bill laughed as he wiggled his fingers. "But I haven't even gotten into the specifics of that deal we made! You wanna know why she accepted it? Wanna know what I offered?" Dipper just glared at him and didn't say a word. Bill decided to tell him anyway. "I offered to make sure that your parents won't split up!" Dipper gaped at him, shocked by what he heard. That shock quickly turned into anger, however. "You did what?!," he yelled. "Yep, you heard it right!," Bill gloated. "I told her that I was gonna help her family stay together. So you can see now why Shooting Star was so eager to accept my deal. Though it's not like I was actually gonna go through with it, so…"

Needless to say, Dipper was more than a little outraged. "How could you do that to her?!," he cried. "How could you just… just… toy with her feelings like that?!" "Hey, don't hate the player, Pine Tree! Hate the game!," Bill retorted. "Now before you fall to your death and hit the ground at speeds fast enough to make you explode into a pile of chunky meat, you wanna hear something fun? After you go splat, everyone will think you were murdered by your own sister! Headlines will be wild!" He threw up his hands. "LOCAL GIRL SNAPS! PUSHES TWIN BROTHER TO HIS DOOM! So tragic, so sad, so juicy! Shooting Star will go to prison for the rest of her life, and the Pines family will never be the same again! HAHAHAHA!"

Dipper's fingers were slipping. He tried to pull himself up again, but Bill stepped on his hand. Pain shot through Dipper's fingers, forcing him to loosen his grip. "No," he whimpered, terrified out of his wits. Bill grinned wider. "Bye bye." He stomped on his hand.

Dipper fell. He looked up and saw Bill looking down at him, waving at him in a mocking manner. Wind roared in his ears. The ground rushed up to meet him. Dipper squeezed his eyes shut, and in his mind, he apologized to Mabel for everything he had done to her…

Something caught him. Strong arms. A blur of movement. A jarring stop.

Dipper gasped, sucking in a deep breath as he realized he wasn't dead. He was cradled in Sammy's arms, with Soos and Candy right beside them. "You okay?," Sammy asked, his face tight with concern. Dipper's heart was still hammering, his body shaking, but he nodded weakly. "Y-Yeah… I–" His eyes widened in panic. "Mabel—! Guys, Bill possessed her an–!"

"Don't worry, dude. We already know," said Soos. "And Bill won't be escaping," Sammy reassured him, gently setting him down. "Because we've got some backup."

Up on the water tower, Bill glared down at the sight below with rage. He couldn't believe what just happened! Pine Tree was about to fall to his death! He figured that if he couldn't get rid of the journal, then he might as well get rid of one of the twins. And then these… dirty little flesh bags arrived and saved his life just in time! Nothing was going his way today!

But it was about to get much worse for him. He heard a sound behind him and turned around, only to see three figures climbing over the railing. Stan, Wendy, and Grenda. Bill barely had time to react before Grenda tackled him like a freight train. He hit the platform hard, the breath knocked out of his lungs as Wendy grabbed his arms and Stan pinned his legs down. "Get OFF me, you human meat bags!," Bill snarled, thrashing wildly. But even he knew that it was a fruitless endeavor. He was in the body of a little girl, and he was being held down by three people who were each far stronger than him. "Oh, I don't think so," Stan said with a vindictive grin. Wendy smirked. "What's the matter, 'Mabel'? You seemed real eager to fight when it was a scrawny twelve-year-old," she said. "Now get out of my friend's body or I'll pummel you!," yelled Grenda. Bill struggled some more, but he knew that he had no other choice.

He quickly left Mabel's body, and Mabel's spirit was quick to take it back. She dove back in, and once she was back in control of her physical body, she took in a deep gasp, breathing heavily. Immediately, she was assaulted by agony that she had never felt before. All the injuries and wounds that Bill had sadistically sustained while in control of her body all came back to her, and the pain from them washed over her like a tidal wave. She started screaming.

Alarmed, the others quickly got off her. "Mabel, is that you? Like, really you?," Grenda asked fretfully. "Kid, what's going on? Talk to me!," Stan cried worriedly. But Mabel was in so much pain that she couldn't even speak, only scream. "This is very, very bad! We gotta get her to a hospital!," said Wendy. "You guys, what's going on up there?!," Sammy hollered up at them. From the point of view of those who were at the bottom of the tower, they couldn't see what was going on up there, but they could still hear Mabel's screams of pain. "Why is Mabel screaming?! Did Bill do something to her?!" At first, there was no response. But a few moments later, Wendy looked down at them from the balcony. "I-it's really bad!," she hollered back. "We thought she just had some scratches and bruises on her face, but Stan just took off her sweater and… i-it's so much worse than we thought. That bas*d… He basically tortured her!"

That was the last thing that anyone wanted to hear. Sammy felt an overwhelming sensation of rage mixed with grief. How could he have been so blind? All the clues were right in front of him the entire time! If he had just caught on sooner, he could've prevented all of this! He thought he learned this lesson with Hutch… but he couldn't have been more wrong.

Soos was in a similar state of emotions. The handyman was usually a very forgiving and chill guy, and it was incredibly rare for him to get angry at anyone. But this was perhaps the first time he felt genuine hatred towards another person. He thought Bill was bad enough when he tried to invade Stan's mind… but this was a new level of depravity for the demon.

Candy was more horrified than anything. How could this day have gone so wrong so quickly? One moment, they were having fun working on the puppet show together, and the next moment, she found out that not only was one of her best friends possessed the whole time, but she had been put through physical and psychological trauma that Candy couldn't even imagine, otherwise why would Mabel be screaming like that right now? It was too much!

Suddenly, the three of them heard maniacal laughter next to them. They looked down and saw Mabel's puppet sliding and flopping towards them, but they knew, just from the sound of that laughter, that it wasn't Mabel. It was Bill, the cause behind this whole mess.

"Oh, boohoo! Are you all sad 'cause I hurt poor little Shooting Star while taking her body out for a joyride?," Bill taunted. "Well, if you think that was bad, just imagine what I'm gonna do in the future! You think this is the end? Big things are coming! You can't stop m–!"

Suddenly, Candy ran over to Bill, grabbed him, and started ripping his sock body apart with her bare hands. She even tried tearing him apart with her teeth like a rabid dog. Then, she threw the pieces down and stomped on them. Even when it was clear that Bill was no longer in the puppet's body, Candy didn't stop. She jumped up and down onto the remains of the puppet, screaming in Korean while tears were streaming down her face and fogging up her glasses. It got to the point that Soos had to physically restrain her so that she didn't end up hurting herself by accident. Meanwhile, Sammy took out his phone and called for an ambulance.

On that day, they learned something. The rest of the summer was never going to be the same. Before, the mysteries they solved were dangerous, but still simple and even lighthearted in nature. But it seemed that ever since they discovered that underground bunker, everything had been taking a turn for the worse. They had stumbled onto something big, big enough that other players like Bill Cipher, the government, and the Horsemen were getting involved. And they were treading into waters that may be too deep for any of them to handle.

Before, it all felt like a game to them. But this… This was no game.