Chapter Text
He headed out. At least he knew Tony was back. And Bill, too. He felt sick to his stomach, but he was currently totally updated on where everyone was and where they were going. More or less.
He started toward Dr. Chiu’s office. She looked up when he opened the door.
“There you are. Sooner than expected.” She sat aside her folder. “Have a seat.”
Dipper sat down, feeling a little dizzy. “Thanks.”
“Are you feeling alright?”
“Sure, you?”
“Fine. No vomiting, headaches, dizziness?”
“All of the above, actually. I had to throw up before I came here.”
“Well, you don’t sound alright to me. Honestly, Dipper, I’m already certainly that you are almost definitely concussed.”
Dipper nodded. “So, rest up, relax?”
“Yes. Just take it easy.”
Dipper grinned. “Trust me,” he lied. “I’ve got no plans to do anything else.”
Wendy and Soos has ushered Dipper out and told him to sleep, but he was outlining the next season of his show with his phone in the cafeteria. He'd just thought up a really funny episode title when Gideon called.
“Hey,” he answered.
“Dipper, it's me, Gideon. I just got up for a snack and I saw that you called. Is Mabel okay?”
“Yeah,” Dipper said. “No, actually. Honestly, things are kind of bad. Can you and Pacifica maybe meet me at the hospital at nine?”
“I'll call her right now! I'll be right there.”
“Sure,” Dipper said. It was five in morning.
“Dude.” Dipper turned at Wendy’s voice, setting down his phone. “No sleep for you? Fine, I'll get us some coffee.” She breezed past him and to the counter. A moment later, she sat down two black coffees.
Dipper couldn't stomach black coffee.
“Any updates?” he asked.
“Mabel-Bill is still out. No movement all night. I think I'll have to clock out soon, my shift today starts at seven and I might need to go home and change. Will you be good here? And dude, will you sleep?”
He nodded. “Paz and Gideon should be here to help.”
“Ain't that dandy. Alright, stud, since you've got things covered I'll head back to my place.” She took his hand. “And Dipper, Mabel will be fine. This will all work out. Just call me when you need me again, I'll be here ASAP. And take care of yourself!”
Wendy stood up, leaving her coffee on the table. Dipper rubbed his eyes and pulled up Mabel’s backpack. She'd had some of his books on her when Bill possessed her, and some of Ford’s, but even stranger, she had a thick folder he'd never seen before. It was labeled PRIVATE PROPERTY OF STAN PINES. DO NOT TOUCH. THIS MEANS YOU, PAL so Dipper could probably guess who the original owner was. He opened it. Just some Polaroid photos, the rest was just papers, probably stuff about tax evasion or revenue. He couldn't take his eyes off the photographs. One was of the portal- Stan had written Day Zero, and had blueprints for the portal. Why did Mabel have this? Why did Bill have this?
The other file was one he recognized. Ford had shown it to him when he was like, twelve. Dipper flicked through it, but found nothing new, so he opened Stan’s folder again.
“Dipper!”
Dipper looked up. Pacifica, in slippers, pajamas, and near perfect makeup, was running towards him. Gideon was jogging behind her, looking… short. He closed the file and waved.
Pacifica went to get them more coffee while Gideon sat down.
Dipper slid the Cipher file to them. “Problem number two is Bill. He's a reality-bending demon whose powers are mostly based in your Mindscape and dreams, but he's always looking to expand. His end goal is the end of the world. Or I guess the world as we know it.”
“Hey!” Pacifica held up a diagram of the Zodiac. “Isn't he the guy from your tattoo?”
“... No.”
Dipper snatched the diagram. “Gideon, you have a tattoo of Bill?”
“... No?”
“If that's problem two, what's problem one?” Pacifica asked.
“Tony.” Dipper picked up his phone and found a picture of him. “Mabel's ex. Normally he looks like this but we think he can shapeshift. The biggest immediate problem right now is that he has the paper with the chant to follow Bill into the Mindscape. Gideon. Did you see it?”
Gideon began to pick at his nail. “I saw it, but I couldn't tell you what it said. I hardly read it. Gosh, I haven't looked at that page since-”
He sighed. “I didn't think so.” Dipper lifted up Mabel’s backpack and poured some of the books in it onto the table. “Guess we better start looking through these.”