Chapter Text
His whole body was tingling. Dipper was getting used to it again after being incorporeal. Even though he had spent almost all of his life in his body, in that moment it felt ill fitting. Gravity was exhausting and he couldn’t wait until he got used to it again.
Dipper felt so stupid. Why did he think, even for a second, that Bill would hold up his end of the deal? Well, that was the problem, he didn’t think. He had been so close to the author, so close to the deep mysteries of gravity falls that he got carried away. Now everything was lost. He clenched his hands, the whole thing frustrated him.
Back at the shack he didn’t even look at the broken computer, too downcast. They had technically won, he supposed. Yet he had no more leads to the author and Mabel’s puppet show was a failure. Since the day was so fruitless he decided to head to bed and deal with everything tomorrow.He retreated under his covers, definitely not sulking, with a blacklight and the journal.
There must be something more about Bill or demons, something he could use next time. The only new thing he found was a page on magical deals, the picture showing a burning handshake not unlike that of Bill. While the page only gave superficial information at first glance, the blacklight revealed more.
"While the individuals that enter the deal can break the terms agreed beforehand, they should not. In such a case, the wounded party may invoke a ritual to equalise the loss. This kills humans, as their energy is limited, however demons should only be wounded, which lessens their power considerably."
The ritual was scribbled in the margin. Dipper hesitated. This could hurt Bill significantly, but it could also draw his ire. But it might throw a wrench in any of his future plans. Dipper continued to think it over, constructing elaborate and improbable situations in his mind. Since internal and convoluted discussion was to Dipper what counting sheep was to normal people he fell asleep after around twenty minutes.
"Rise and shine Dipster." Mabel shouted. Dipper woke with a start, tumbling out of his bed and onto the floor. "We’ve got pancakes and Mabel juice."
"Mabel juice is poisonous." Dipper groaned out, more out of reflex than actual thought. By the time he got dressed, Mabel had already skipped downstairs and probably eaten a few pancakes already.
He sat down at the kitchen table. Grunkle Stan was nowhere in sight, possibly attempting to create a new scheme to scam tourists. Mabel had placed a pot of coffee on the table for Dipper, which made him thankful that Stan wasn’t one of these adults that cared about proper nutrition. He put a few pancakes on his plate, watching Mabel devour hers with a big smile.
"Hey, Mabel. I need some advice." Dipper said, ignoring the small voice in the back of his mind that said trust no one. "There’s this thing i could do. It might protect us, but it also could make things worse."
"I’m not really worried Dippinsauce, i trust your judgement." Mabel answered through the pancake in her mouth, glancing over the slumped form of her brother, his face almost buried in his coffee.
"You’re right Mabel." Dipper felt as though the metaphorical lightbulb just lit up over his head. He then downed the coffee."I’m going back up, you can eat the rest of the pancakes."
"I was going to anyway." She shouted at his retreating back.
Dipper knew the solution to his dilemma. You couldn’t just have a discussion with only one person, could you? Luckily, the old copy machine remained exactly where it was last summer, the only change being a new ink cartridge. He climbed on top and pressed the button. Whirring and clicking accompanied the printing.
He looked at his printout. The paper wobbled. Dipper gazed at the emerging form, the arms emerging first, followed by the rest of the body. Then there he stood: his double. Tyrone. He looked shocked, probably mirroring Dipper’s expression.
"I missed you." Dipper whispered. Tyrone didn’t answer at first, not saying what they were both thinking ‘i’m not even the same person i was a year ago’; ‘neither am i’, the whole internal conflict useless. Tyrone smiled.
"You do realise that we have the same opinion." Tyrone added. Dipper nodded. "Of course since we both have the same opinion, that is to say no clear opinion, we might cancel each other out."
They both started muttering at each other, pacing in a circle. Unsurprisingly, they agreed on the same points and had the same doubts. A few arguments and convoluted plots later they had agreed on a plan of action. Tyrone grabbed a pen and drew a circle on the floor, after drawing his signature 2 on his cap. Dipper felt more secure after having discussed the whole ordeal. Apparently you always had yourself to listen to your problems.
A candle was placed on the floor and lit. Dipper’s heart was racing. This was all going so fast. He wasn’t sure what he was doing or if what he was doing was right. He looked up at Tyrone, taking in his supportive smile and thumbs up. With a deep breath, Dipper steadied himself and placed his hand over the candle flame. It was hot.
"I, Dipper Pines, invoke retribution for the violation of my deal with Bill Cipher. Knowledge was not granted, harm was inflicted, a debt is owed. So let it be." The flame glowed blue for a second and Dipper felt his heart skip a beat. Then, it was over.
"Was that it?" Tyrone asked from where he sat on the printer. Dipper couldn’t help but think the same thing, he had feared Bill himself would emerge out of the fire to murder him or something of the sort. The whole thing was kind of underwhelming. Only now he realised that he had to deal with his clone. Tyrone would probably come into contact with water sooner or later, but Dipper didn’t want to accelerate his demise. The thought of watching his other self die once again was displeasing. Still he had to explain the whole thing to Mabel and maybe also to Grunkle Stan. That’s going to be fun.