Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

I was running. To where, I didn't know. From what? Now that's a different question. I was running from Bill Cipher. I was running throughout the Fearamid, hoping he wouldn't catch me. He had caught the rest of my family, but I wouldn't be caught. I couldn't be.

I kept running until I hit a dead end. 'Shoot' I thought, turning around. Bill Cipher stood in front of me. He was red and nightmarish.

"Well well well, Pinetree's run out of places to go." He said. Then his expression changed. "Would you look at that, you're still my little puppet!"

I froze. 'No...' I thought. But then everything went blurry. And when I could see normally again, I was a ghost in the mindscape, and my body had bright yellow eyes with slit pupils.

"Hah! This is perfect! I'll force Sixer to give me the way to break the barrier, in exchange for your body!" He said, laughing. I just floated there in shock as he walked away.

Tears threatened to spill at my ghost eyes, but I wiped them away. I floated after him just in time to watch the encounter between Bill and my family.

"Dipper!" Mabel squealed, running to the edge of the blue cage. "You're okay!"

"Actually," He said, menacingly. "I'm someone else." He opened his eyes to reveal the yellow ones we've all learned to hate. Everyone gasped.

"What did you do to my brother!" Mabel yelled. Bill just laughed.

"Nothing, yet." Bill added, making all their expressions change. "But that might change, depending on if you give me what I want or not."

"I'll never give you the way out of Gravity Falls!" Ford yelled angrily.

"Shame, we wouldn't want anything to happen to Pinetree's body, now would we?" He said.

"Grunkle Ford, just give it to him!" Mabel pleaded, turning to face her grunkle.

"You don't understand, he would be able to expand his reign of terror to all aspects of the globe!" Ford argued. "If I give it to him, billions of people could die."

"But if you don't, Dipper will die!" Mabel argued back. Ford looked conflicted. Save the world, or save his favorite great nephew (I may or may not also be his only great nephew).

"Alright." Ford says sadly. "I'll give you the equation of the Grand Unified Theory of Weirdness." He looks at Bill.

"Finally!" Bill exclaimed. "I'll give you his body back after you give it to me."

"You give us his body and we'll give you the equation." Ford replied. Bill looked angry.

"Like I'd fall for that. Give me the equation first, or do you want to watch as Pinetree's body falls from the water tower?" Everyone froze. Ford glanced at Mabel, then somewhere else, but it was too quick to catch where.

"Alright..." He sighed, holding his hand out of the cage. Bill grabbed it and blue flames engulfed both of their hands.

"Now gimme the equation!" Bill demanded. Ford reached into his jacket and retrieved a small, folded piece of paper.

"It's written down on this." Ford said. Bill snatched it from his hand, and opened it.

"Finally, I- what?" Bill started. I flew a bit closer to get a good view of what it said. Written in big, bold letters, Turn around. Bill turned, and Stan punched him in the face. I cringed, knowing that it would hurt when I was back in my body.

Bill was thrown to the floor. The shock was enough to send him flying out of my body. I took my chance and flew towards it.

I opened my eyes, my nose was bleeding and I had a massive headache.

"O-ow, did you have to punch him that hard?" I asked quietly, attempting to sit up. Instead, I just fell back onto the floor.

"Dipper!" Mabel and Stan yelled at the same time. Stan came down and hugged me, while Mabel slipped under the bars, ran up, and tackled both of us in a hug.

"I'm glad you're okay." Ford said, walking up to us. "Now, we need a way to finally defeat Bill. I have a feeling he isn't gonna stay away for more than a couple minutes, so we should hurry."

Mabel helped me stand up. There was about 20 seconds of silence before someone finally spoke.

"Can't we redo the circle thingy?" Stan asked. "That'll stop him, right?"

"We need to rescue the others first. It won't work without them." Ford replied. He began making a plan on how to save them.

Suddenly, there was a sharp pain in my eye. "Ah!" I exclaimed, and held my hand over it. The others looked at me.

"Are you okay, Dipper?" Ford asked me. I nodded my head.

"My eye just kinda hurts." Not true, it really hurt.

"A side effect from Bill possessing your body, it should be okay." Ford responded. "Okay, everyone got the plan?" We all responded 'yes' in unison. We got this.

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We didn't get it. A couple of the demons chased us out before we could finish. It was getting hard to think about anything but my eye.

"Where do you think Bill went?" Stan asked, clearly trying to grasp at any kind of conversation. We were in a room off to the side, where no one would find us. Hopefully.

"Doesn't matter. Let's just hope he doesn't come back for a while." Ford said.

"Maybe we scared him away!" Mabel suggested optimistically. I felt a dark presence, then the pain stabbing at my eye grew sharper. Then I felt something wet. I drew my hand away from my face to see it coated in red. My eye was bleeding, a lot. Everyone expressed great concern, but I wasn't listening.

"Here, sit down." Ford suggested, motioning to an upside down chair? I don't know, man. I sat down, kinda, and Ford asked me to open my eye. I did, and half my vision became red and blurry. It also kinda.

He looked at it for a minute before deciding it was most likely going to be alright. He then turned back to the other two, and started revising the plan. I was being left out of planning. I just sat there, staring at the floor. I was just causing problems. They came to an agreement, and Ford and Mabel ran out of the room, leaving me with Grunkle Stan. He pulled up a chair and sat next to me, as best he could with it being upside down.

"You alright, kid?" He asked. I looked at him and nodded. There was a bit of silence between us. He turned and grabbed something from a counter, then turned back around.

"Here for your eye." He handed me a tissue. I took it and thanked. Within seconds that spot of the tissue was completely red. We suddenly heard footsteps and went quiet.

"Yo guys, come on!" Wendy said, sticking her head around the corner.

I jumped out of my seat and yelled, "Wendy!" I ran up and hugged her. I don't have a crush on her anymore, I don't think. I thought I might be Bi, but I'm just plain old gay I guess.

"What happened to your eye, man?" She asked as we walked to the others, Stan following behind.

"Bill stole my body for a minute and apparently this is a side effect. I think I remember this in the journals-"

"There you are, hurry up." Ford said. He had the Zodiac Wheel all drawn out with spray paint. We quickly went to our places, and held hands. It lit up magically, and we lifted into the air. The fearamid started dissolving, and I could see Gravity Falls citizens floating safely down to the ground. The rift started lifting all the demons into the sky, and back to their world. The sky returned to normal, and my eye stopped bleeding.

'It's working!' I thought. We floated safely back to the ground, still holding hands, and the townspeople started clapping and cheering. It's finally over. We won.

Chapter Text

I flip my book closed. I finally finished the reading assignment for school. I stretch, then put the book in my bag to return later. I stand up and walk to the other side of my room. I look in the mirror and fix my hair. Then I open the door and go downstairs. 

"Hey, bro-bro!" Mabel says when she sees me. "Mom and Dad made breakfast." I grab some pancakes off the counter and sit down at the table. Mabel is talking about something random, probably boys. I'm not really listening. I'm thinking about my book.

"What do you think?" Mabel asked, snapping me back to reality. 

"What?" I asked. I didn't hear a single thing she said prior to this. 

"I said I think I might be Pansexual." She repeated, making my eyes grow wider. She's only ever shown interest in guys her whole life. 

"Really? That's great!" It would actually be really nice to have another gay person to talk to. 

"Maybe? I don't know!" She said. She's clearly spent some time thinking about this. I put my hand on her shoulder.

"Well no matter what," I started. "I'll support you."

"Well of course you will, you gay man." She said, giggling. I smiled. I like it when she calls me a man, or bro-bro. It's kinda dumb, but it makes me feel good about myself. Like I'm a boy. Like I always have been one.

We finish our food (with lots of giggling) and I go back upstairs to make sure I have all my stuff for school. I walk past a mirror, then freeze. Slowly, I take 2 steps backwards, so I can see my reflection. If you were any normal person, it might look normal. But to me, I can clearly see what's wrong. My eyes are bright yellow, with slit pupils. I rub my eyes and look back, but they're normal. 

"What the..." I mumble aloud. I stay there for another minute, until I realize the bus will get here any minute. I grab my backpack, and run down the stairs. I put on my shoes and get outside just as the bus pulls up. Mabel goes and sits with her friends, and I find a spot near the end of the bus. I sit down and set my bag next to me.

'What was that?' I thought to myself. 'It's been six months, why did I see that? We're not even in Gravity Falls.' I was going over possible answers in my head, when I was interrupted. 

'You wanna know?' I whipped my head around in every direction, but no one was near me. 

'What?' I asked, although I didn't say it aloud. It was more to myself.

'Hey, Pinetree.' It said. I froze. It couldn't be.  

'It is. Did you miss me? Admit it, you definitely missed me.' I looked behind me, but he wasn't there.

'Did you really think I was just gonna be right there?' I can tell he's watching me atleast.

'I'm not exactly watching you. Look at the window.' Slowly, I turn my head to the window, but I don't see anything except cars and buildings. 

'Not out the window, at the window. Learn to follow directions better, Pinetree.' Instead of seeing the passing scenery, I now see my reflection in the window. The reflection's eyes turn yellow.

"There we go. that wasn't so hard, now was it?" This time, I didn't just hear the words, I saw him, in my reflection, speaking to me. 

"W-what..?" I silently ask. I'm at a loss for words.

"Haven't you realized by now?" He said, crossing his arms. "I. Never. Left." I was frozen with fear. 

"But we got rid of you! Didn't we?" I asked. I felt sick.

"When? When did you get rid of me? When you kicked me out of your meatsack body?" I then realized we never saw Bill get sucked back into the rift.

"That's right, Pinetree. You never got rid of me. I was just waiting for the right time." I was scared and confused. Why now? But then I realized something worse.

"Ha, that's right! We've been sharing a body since that day!" I felt like I was gonna puke. 

"I-I saw you get flung out, though!" I said. "How are you still-" 

"I have my ways. And now, you're stuck with me." There is no way I am spending the rest of my life sharing a body with Bill Cipher. 

"I mean, there is a way for me to leave." He said ominously. I rolled my eyes.

"There is no way I'm making a deal with you." I'm not that dumb.

"It's not a deal, really. If you give me control of your body, just for a couple seconds, I can leave, and you'll be free." I almost laughed.

"Really? You think I'm actually that dumb?" There's no way I'm doing that.

"That's a shame. Guess I'm stuck here forever then." I had an idea.

"I'll just tell Grunkle Ford. He'll know a way to get you out of my head." It's genius.

"Just one problem. What if he finds the only way to get rid of me is by getting rid of you? What if he locks you up and lets you die of hunger? What if he forgets all about you, rotting away in a cell?" That's now all I can think about. The terrible things Ford would do to me if he learns that I have been sharing a body with Bill?

"Maybe that's not the best plan. Which brings us back to Plan A. Let me have control." I know what he's doing.

"You're trying to make it look like I have no other options, but I do. I have one more that you forgot about." I say proudly. He cocks an eyebrow.

"And that would be..?" He asks, clearly intrigued. 

"To keep you here forever." I say. His face falls. 

"What!? You can't do that! You'll never have any privacy, any quiet, any peace. I'll always be there, no matter what!" I laugh. 

"The thought of you being free in the world is more scary than me never having any peace." I say. "If that's the price I have to pay, so be it." He actually looks scared. No, not scared. Concerned? Shocked maybe. But then his expression changes. 

"Alright. Have it your way. I'll talk to you later." And then my reflection was just me. I looked and we were nearing the school. I grabbed my backpack and got off the bus. 

"You okay?" Mabel asked. I looked over and gave her a weak smile. She didn't look very convinced. 

'You smiled like someone was forcing you to be in a picture.' Bill pointed out, laughing. This is gonna be a long forever.

Chapter Text

It's been a month. I might be going insane. Bill has an opinion on every little thing I do. He comments on everything, and it bugs the crap out of me. He knows it, too. When I sleep, he enters my dreams, still haunting me. Whatever I'm dreaming about, he interrupts it half way through and makes fun of me. I just can't-

"Mason Pines!" I hear, breaking my train of thought. I cringe, then raise my hand and say 'here'. The teacher wrote something on her clipboard, then continued on with other names. 

'Hah, your teachers call you by your real name?' I hear. I've considered actually telling Ford, despite what might happen.

'You wouldn't do that. Not to me!' God, I hear the stupid grin that would be on his face. 

'You know it!' I put my head down onto the desk and sigh. Why me? Why?

'Cause you're my favorite!' Oh, really?

'It's also because your sister has too many dumb songs constantly stuck in her head for me to possess her.' For once, I think I agree with Bill.

"You're not wrong." I mutter. Lately she's been humming a song that died five years ago. If Bill doesn't get to me, Mabel will.

'I swear, that's my one weakness.' Quickly followed by 'I mean, nothing. You didn't hear that.' I try hard to hold in my laughter. I then notice the teacher has been giving a lesson. I haven't heard a word of it. 

"There will be a quiz on this, so I hope you're paying attention." Shoot. I look around and almost everyone is writing stuff down. 

'Whoops.' The bell rings and everyone gets up. I grab my bag and walk out. 

"This is just fantastic." I mutter under my breath. 

'If it helps, I could assist you on the quiz?' I almost rolled my eyes. 

"And what kind of insane thing would I have to do for that to happen?" I asked quietly. I open my locker and gather my stuff for my next class.

'You know me so well.' I rolled my eyes. Called it.

'You know, I can hear your thoughts just fine. No need to speak out loud.' Alright. I close my locker and get to my next class.

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I flopped face first onto my bed. School is terrible. 

'Just wait for next year.' I groaned. 'Can I think of anything without you commenting on it?' I asked him.

'Nope.' I groaned again. I laid there for a good 20 seconds, then sat up and got out my laptop. I wasn't sure if I wanted to procrastinate or do homework, but I'll choose one. 

'That's not a very effective strategy, Pinetree.' Shut up. I opened my laptop and entered my password. I cringed. My lock screen hasn't changed since I first got it. I hear him snickering. 'Don't even.' I say.

'I wasn't gonna say anything.' Uh huh, right. I roll my eyes and open google.

'Why don't you change it to a picture of me?' I roll my eyes again. 'Because I don't have a picture of you.' I say. 'Even if I did, I still wouldn't set it as my lockscreen.' 

'So you would keep it and admire my beauty secretly?' I sighed. 'No offense, but I'm not attracted to doritos.' I say.

'How dare you, I'm so hurt.' There were fake sniffling sounds. 'If I put the background as a bag of doritos, will you stop fake crying?' I ask, giving up.

'Yes.' I sighed. I looked up 'doritos bag' and chose the first picture. I set it as my background and asked, 'Better now?'. There was silence for a moment.

'I love it.' I hear in a whispered tone. 'Does that mean you'll shut up for now?' I ask. I hear nothing, and take that as a yes. I start working on my school project, and keep working on it until 10:00 PM.

(I am aware that that's not t hat late, but he's 13. He probably still has a bedtime.)

I suddenly heard Bill laugh. It shook me out of my motivational state. 'What's so funny?'

'Nothing.' He responded almost immediately. I brushed it off and looked at the time. "Shoot-" I started. I plugged in my laptop and went to sleep. 

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"Get up, Pinetree." I hear. I open my eyes and am immediately blinded by yellow glowing light. I shield my eyes and sit up. I open them slowly, and see a guy standing over me. He's tall, pale skinned, and well dressed. He's wearing a yellow tailcoat with a checkered pattern. The pants were also black, with tall black boots. He has yellow medium length hair that fades into black. Yellow, not blonde. He has a little top hat floating above his head. One of his eyes is covered by a black triangle shaped eyepatch, but when I saw the other eye, I knew exactly who it was. 

"Bill?!" I asked. He grinned.

"Hey, Pinetree." I was in shock. I look around me. We're in some kind of forest, I think.

"That is technically true." He says, intruding my mind. He smirks, and leans on his black cane (Where did that come from?).

"We're in your mindscape, Pinetree." He says in a tone that insinuates I should've known. 

"Why?" I ask, looking up at him. He's really bright, it feels like I'm looking at the sun. As if on command, he goes 'from burning my eyes out' to 'a normal human brightness'.

"Because I wanted to show you my new look." He says while smiling. If I didn't hate him with every fiber of my being, he would almost be kind of attractive. Almost.

"Aww, thanks!" I stand up. He's taller than me by a few inches. "Though, I do recall that you said you weren't attracted to me?" He smirks, and I blush from embarrassment. 

"I said I wasn't attracted to doritos." I say, matter-of-factly.

"So you admit you like my new look?" I blush again. 

"I didn't say that." I finally actually take in my surroundings. There are row trees on both sides, with doors in them. There's a blue sky above, filled with a small amount of scattered clouds. It goes on for quite a while, but in the distance I can see something else. A dark area. (Literally just imagine Willow's mind from The Owl House fading into the Upside Down from Stranger Things.) Bill chuckled randomly again. Then went serious.

"That over there is my mind. That means you stay out of there, got it?" I nodded. I didn't want to go there anyways. 

"Good."

Chapter Text

It's been 2 years since Weirdmageddon. I just turned 15. In the past year and a half, me and Bill learned to mostly get along. Just about every night I wake up in the mindscape. He's there the majority of the time. I don't know where he goes when he isn't though. There aren't many places he can go. I've tried sneaking into his part of the mind before, but he always catches me. Whatever, I honestly don't care. He's still annoying, to say the least, but I've gotten used to it. Mostly.

"Dipper, guess what!" Mabel asked as I came downstairs. She had on her shooting star sweater, and her hair was in a braid. It was a Saturday, so I was still in what I wore to sleep.

"What?" I responded nonchalantly, grabbing cereal. I could guess from her happy excited tone that something 'cool' happened. We have different definitions of cool, however.

"I convinced mom and dad to let us go back to Gravity Falls!" I turn to her wide eyed.

"Wait what!?" I exclaimed. After telling our parents what happened, they told us it would be an incredibly long time before we go back, if ever at all.

"Yep, isn't it great! I can't wait to see all my friends again!" She says, joyfully.

"But how?" I ask. "Weren't they totally against going back?"

"They were, but we both know they can't resist my puppy dog eyes." She answers, grinning. I roll my eyes.

"Ah yes, I forgot you're the favorite." I say, half jokingly. I really wouldn't be surprised if she was the favorite. She's all outgoing and lovable, and I'm just the antisocial wierdo who can't change in the school locker rooms. 

"Even if that's true, which it isn't, you're still my favorite!" She says sweetly. I mean, come on. Tell me that doesn't sound like something the favorite would say.

"Anyway, they were only convinced to let us go because school hasn't started yet, and we could go to school there." She adds, moving on. "I think we're leaving in 3 days."

"How long are we staying this time?" I ask. She taps her finger to her chin in thought. 

"I think the whole year this time." She answers. Then she sees our cat, Mr. Cuddles (she chose the name), and starts petting him while speaking in that voice that's only used for pets and babies. I'm actually surprised at how well he and Waddles get along. I thought it would be a bit more disastrous. Turns out it's fine. I finish my cereal and go upstairs to get dressed. 

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Me and Mabel wave bye to our parents as the bus starts to leave (and Waddles, Mabel's holding up his hoof to make it look like he's waving). I sit back and close my eyes. I'm wearing Wendy's hat so I can give it back to her. I take my phone out of my pocket and look at the time. It's 10:30 in the morning, so we'll probably get there around 11 pm. I put away my phone and closed my eyes again. Might as well sleep since I can't do much else.

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"Goddammit." I say as I find myself in the mindscape. All I wanted was a peaceful sleep. I sigh, annoyed. I quickly realize it's different however. The sky isn't blue, it's black. There are stars and a moon, why is it night? It's sunny in the real world, still being summer and such. Wait. If I'm normally here at night, and it looks like day, and now it's day, but it looks like night, does that mean time is like, switched? I'm almost embarrassed at how long it took me to figure that out. 

"Hey, Pinetree." I hear from behind me. I turn around and he's there, like always. I groan.

"I just wanted to take a nap!" I exclaim in frustration. I don't want to deal with Bill right now. 

"Okay, fine." He says. He snaps his fingers and everything goes black.

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I wake up next to Mabel on the bus. It takes me a minute to realize what happened. Did Bill just actually let me take a peaceful nap? I check the time. It's 6:13. I've been asleep for 8 and a half hours. Or to be precise, 8 hours and 43 minutes. That's like, a full night's sleep. Holy shit. 

'Oh, so you're swearing now?' I flinch at his voice, even though I'm used to it. I'm honestly baffled. (Mental note: Add 'baffled' to the list of funny sounding words.)

 'I'll remind you later.' What is going on?

Why are you being- nicer than normal? I ask confusedly.

'I thought you said we got over our hatred for each other?' I blink slowly. That isn't at all what I said.

'You said we could mostly get along, same thing.' I squint my eyes. No, it's not.

'Yes, it is.'

It's not.

'It is.'

It's not though.

'It basically is.'

It basically isn't.

'Which means there's at least a fraction of it that is.' I give up. 

"Oh bro-bro, you're awake." Mabel notices, pulling me back to reality. She's on her phone texting someone, though I can't see who from this angle. She's wearing a new sweater she made with Waddles on it (He's wearing a matching one), and her hair is in a low ponytail. "Did you have a good sleep?"

I nod. "Yep. It was actually better than normal." Suddenly, I remember something. Gravity Falls' Natural Law of Weirdness Magnetism. It doesn't let Bill leave Gravity Falls. But he did. For the past 2 years, Bill wasn't in Gravity Falls. He was with me. Then I think of how powerful he might be in Gravity Falls. He might be able to take control of my body. 

"Dipper!" I snap back to reality. I look at Mabel, who's looking at me with concern. I then realize she was talking to me that whole time.

"Sorry Mabel, what were you saying?" I respond. We both accidentally do that to each other from time to time. 

"Are you okay? You looked scared?" She asks. I smile and nod.

"I'm fine, I just got caught up in a thought." She only looks half convinced. 

'Wow Pinetree, ignoring your sister to think about me? I'm flattered.' I ignore him.

"Anyway, you were saying?" I ask Mabel. 

"Oh yeah, aren't you excited? I can't wait to see Stan and Ford and Candy and Grenda and Pacifica and Wendy and Soos-" She goes on for a while, listing the people she wants to see, then the ones she doesn't. "-Gideon, Robbie- is that it?" I internally sigh. Mabel talks a lot. I look out the window. The fast moving terrain. The cloudy sky that's starting to darken, just barely. Somehow, I was still tired.

"I'm gonna go back to sleep." I say. I lean my head on the window. 

"Goodnight!" I hear Mabel say. I close my eyes and quickly fall asleep.

Chapter Text

I wake up hours later. The sky has darkened now, and outside the bus looks... calm. Like everything's alright in the world. I look over to my left. Mabel's asleep, with Waddles on her lap. I pull out my phone and check the time. 10:06. We're almost there. Ahead, I can barely make out the sign. Welcome to Gravity Falls. I take a deep breath. After what feels like an eternity, we're back. The second the bus crosses into Gravity Falls, I hear laughing in the back of my head.

'Oh, Gravity Falls, it is good to be back!'

Shut up. I'm trying to enjoy my life without you butting in every 5 minutes. I was shocked by my reply. But it worked, and he was quiet the rest of the way.

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"Kids!" Stan yells as we get off the bus. 

"Grunkle Stan!" Me and Mabel yell simultaneously. We jump off the bus and run to give him a hug. 

"Where's my hug?" Ford asks, standing next to Stan. Both me and Mabel look at each other then tackle him in a hug.

"Alright, alright. It's pretty late. Let's get going." Stan says. We grab our stuff, get in the car, and head off to the Mystery Shack. The whole car ride I'm thinking about what I said earlier. I don't know why I snapped at him. I mean, he did try to kill us, so I guess it's fair. But still, it was kinda uncalled for. Especially since he let me sleep for once.

Hey, Bill? Um, I'm sorry for snapping at you earlier. Dammit, why am I apologizing? 

'I don't know Pinetree, why are you apologizing?' I internally sigh. I don't know. Maybe I want to have a conversation without one of us ridiculing the other. 

'That could be cool. Since we're going to spend the rest of eternity together, I guess we should try to get along. At least a bit.' There was a second of silence, followed by 'Or you could let me out.' I almost actually rolled my eyes. 

How many times do I have to tell you? I will never let you take control of my body, and I will never make a deal with you. 

'Have it your way.' Then silence. I sigh and join the conversation happening in the car. When we finally got to the shack we were shown our rooms, unpacked just enough, and went to bed. 

I couldn't sleep though. No matter what I tried, I just couldn't get comfortable. I tossed and turned for a while. After an hour, I groaned and sat up. I get out of bed and walk out of my room. I don't know where I'm going until I get to the roof ladder. I climb up onto the roof and sit down. I look up at the stars. I sat there for a while, just stargazing.

I ended up falling asleep and waking up a couple hours later. I went back inside and to bed. I was cold from sleeping outside, so my bed felt more warm than it was. I fell asleep much quicker this time. 

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Ford tells us we're meeting up with Wendy, Soos, Melody, and whoever Wendy's bringing at Lazy Susan's diner. 

"I think it's gonna be Wendy's boyfriend!" Mabel guesses on the way.

"How do you know she likes boys?" I reply, raising my eyebrows playfully. It was mostly a joke, but Mabel takes it seriously. 

"What if she likes girls!?" Mabel asks dramatically. I grin, and take the chance to mess with her. 

"Mabel, you can't just assume she's a lesbian." 

"I- but- you just said- "

"Look, we're here!" I say as the car pulls into the parking lot. Perfect timing. We hop out and go inside. We're spotted by Wendy, Soos, and Melody and waved over. 

"Hey dudes!" Soos says enthusiastically, waving.

"Hey! You kept the hat!" Wendy points out. I nod.

"I wanted to give it back to you." I say, embarrassed. The four of us sit down across from them. On our side it's Stan on the far left (my left), Ford middle left, me middle right, and Mabel far right, next to the window. On their side it's Wendy left (still my left), Soos middle, and Melody right. 

"Man, I should've brought your hat! We could've traded." Wendy says, exasperated. 

"You can give it to me later." I say, taking off the hat and holding out to her. She takes it and puts it on her head. 

"Hey, sorry I'm late!" a feminine voice shouts out. I turn to see a tall girl with long dirty blonde hair in a ponytail running over. She has a dark complexion and hazel eyes. 

"Hey!" Wendy shouts as she walks up. "Olive, meet Dipper and Mabel. Guys, meet Olive, my girlfriend." Mabel gasps as Olive sits down.

"I told you, Dipper!" Mabel yells, pointing at me. 

"You two are twins, right?" Olive asks. I nod. "I'm a twin too! Crazy how over half of us are twins."

"What kind of twin do you have?" Melody asks, leaning over. 

"I've got an identical twin brother." She says casually. Almost everyone at the table looked confused. 

"I've got one of those too!" Mabel shouts out, elbowing me. 

"But you two aren't identical." Ford points out. I go silent. 

"Yeah we are!" Mabel says, making the hole deeper. I sink into my seat. Everyone at the table looks from me to Mabel in confusion.

"That's not possible. Identical twins can't be different genders." He looks at Olive. "How do you have an identical twin brother?" It's official. I'm dead. 

"They could if they wanted to be." She said, then added "Tell 'em, bro-bro!" I was about ready to slap Mabel. My face felt really hot. I felt everyone staring at me. 

"U-um..." I stutter. I didn't want them to know. It could've been fine. They could've not known, and everything would've been great. I feel tears prick in my eyes. I glance over to Olive. She's looking at me with a certain look in her eyes. Like there's a question she wants to ask, but won't. I know the question, and I give a slight unnoticeable nod. She smiles. 

"Hey, did I tell you about that one time-" Olive mentions, changing the subject. I sigh a breath of relief. The conversation shifts, and I look back at Olive. She gives me a wink. I smile. 

'Pinetree! Listen, something bad is about to happen-' I roll my eyes. If this is another one of your lame excuses to try and let me give you control it won't work. I'm not as stupid as you think. 

'You're right, you're even worse. Pinetree I'm being dead serious. You need to give me control!' No, what you need to do is fuck off. 

'Normally I would comment on such language, but I don't have the time. Something is going to happen, but I can stop it.' Yeah, you can stop it by shutting the fuck up. 

'Pinetree, if you don't give me control, someone is going to get hurt.' No Bill, that's what's going to happen if I do give you control. 

'I know I've tricked you before, but this isn't a trick-' And how am I supposed to trust that? Did you really think I would just immediately trust you? After everything you've done to us, did you think I would just casually hand over my body? Fuck you.

'Stop being so-' he sighed 'Fine. Have it your way. Don't come crying to me when Gideon appears and kills you all.' And on cue, there was a loud rumbling sound. Everyone looked around trying to figure out where it was coming from. I looked out the window to see the sky turn bright red. Then me, Mabel, Stan, Ford, Wendy, and Soos levitated out of our chairs. 

"This isn't normal, is it?!" Olive yelled. A glowing portal looking thing opened and we floated towards it. 

"What's going on?!" "Why are we flying?!" "What the hell is this?!" Everyone started yelling as we got closer to the portal, and then pulled inside.

Chapter Text

We pop out the other side of the portal. Before I can adjust to where it took us, we fall.

"Is everyone okay?" Ford asks after we hit the ground.

"I'm good." Wendy replies.

"Me too." Says Soos.

"I'm okay!" Mabel.

"Sure." Stan.

"Yeah, I'm fine." I respond. I sit up. We popped out in a little clearing deep in the forest. It's a place I've never seen before. There are only trees and bushes as far as the eye can see. We all get to our feet. The portal is gone. We start talking.

"Why are we here?"

"Where is here?"

"Why weren't Olive and Melodie taken?"

"What's going on?"

"Well, well, well." said an ominous southern voice. "If it isn't the Pines family. Plus Soos and Wendy." We all collectively groaned. Gideon. He walked out from behind a tree. His eyes looked like they were glowing.

"What do you want, ya twerp?" Stan asks. Gideon chuckles.

"Oh, I'm not Gideon, I'm someone else who's come for revenge." He says. Then I realize his eyes are glowing. They're a strange dark red, different from his normal light blue eyes. Is he possessed? I feel Bill inside me tug at the control of my body, but I stay in control.

"Who are you?" Ford asks assertively. Not-Gideon shrugs.

"Little bit of this, little bit of that, doesn't matter." He states matter-of-factly. "What does matter is that you think you're better than everyone else." With the blink of an eye he goes from in front of us to behind us. He shoots a green fireball at Ford, who falls to the floor unconscious.

"No-!" Stan yells, before he's blasted with a fireball.

"Mr. Pines-!" Soos yells. Then he's hit. Then Wendy. Then he turns to us.

"Goodbye." He says with a creepy smile. He shoots a fireball at Mabel. In that instant I felt something. Something inside me shifted. I held out my hand, and my own ball of blue fire shoots out, heading towards not-Gideon. He jumps out of the way, and gives Mabel just enough time to barely dodge his green flames. I'm frozen in shock.

Did I just do that? I think to myself. I look down at my hand. It ignites in blue flames. The same ones that Bill Cipher has.

'Kid, I don't know how you did that, but you have to give me control, now!' I slightly shake my head.

"N-no..." I mutter, looking down at my right hand, engulfed in flames. I look up to see Mabel staring at me. She looks scared. I feel tears prick the corners of my eyes.

"How the hell did you do that!?" Not-Gideon yells. When I don't answer, he raises his hand, and I start floating. Then all of a sudden I can't breathe. It's like he's force choking me. I grab at my neck, but there isn't anything there.

"Dipper!" Mabel yells. She looks up at me with absolute fear in her eyes.

'Pinetree, you know I'm not lying, give me control!' I feel myself losing consciousness. I can't... My vision starts to fade to black. Suddenly, as if on autopilot, I shoot a fireball at not-Gideon. He gets hit, and I fall to the ground. I gasp and cough. Mabel runs over.

'Pinetree, I can get you out of this, you just have to trust me!' I feel a tear fall down my cheek. In my peripherals I see not-Gideon standing up. I think he's saying something along the lines of 'you will regret this'. I see Mabel start to float, but I'm too drained from being choked to move. I try to stand, but fall. I hear not-Gideon laughing.

'Please Pinetree, let me help you!' I look from Mabel to not-Gideon. I can't do this myself. I realize.

'Do you want your sister to die?' That's what gets my attention. I feel more tears fall down my face. Okay... Just, please save her. I can practically hear his smile.

'It's a deal.' He says. I take a deep breath, and feel my consciousness shift. My body starts moving. It's like I'm watching life through someone else's eyes. I see and hear and feel everything he does, but it's like I'm a spectator. It feels different than I thought it would. It feels strange. My body is moving on its own. I watch as Bill easily takes down not-Gideon and knocks him out. The sky turns back to its normal blue color.

"Dipper?" Mabel asks. He turns towards her and her face darkens. "You're not Dipper."

"I'd love to stay and chat Shooting Star, but I made a deal and I intend to keep it." And with that, I feel myself fade back into control. I stumble a bit, then stand up.

"That was so weird..." I mumble to myself. Then I look at Mabel. She looks horrified. I then realize that she knows now.

"Dipper-" She starts, but gets distracted by Ford sitting up.

"What happened?" He asks groggily. Mabel starts to explain that Gideon was possessed, but that I saved us. Ford asks how I saved everyone, and Mabel freezes.

"Well- uh-" She says unsurely, but I jump in.

"I punched him in the face." I lie. Ford looks at me puzzled.

"You did?" He asks. I nod, and look over to Mabel for confirmation.

"Yes, he did." She says, lying terribly. Still, Ford believes it.

"Great work!" He says. Everyone else starts to wake up, and we tell them the same story. Each time, Mabel looks at me, like she's expecting something. I'll have to explain what happened later.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Gideon explains what happened. This red, human looking demon possessed him to try and take us out. We believe him, and try to find the way back to the town. After an hour, we make it back to the diner. Everyone's back together, when-

"Oh. My. Gosh." Exclaims Mabel. "Is that what I think it is?!" She points to Melody's hand. On it is a silver band wrapped around her finger, completed with an aquamarine stone. Melody's face turns red.

"Yep!" Soos says with excitement. "We're engaged, dawg!" Everyone gives them congrats.

"Hey." Olive walks over to me.

"Oh, hey." I reply. I wait a couple seconds to add "Thanks for that earlier. When you changed the subject."

"No problem, man." Then leans down and adds in a hushed voice "Us trans people gotta stick together." She gives me a wink. I nod.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As soon as we get back to the Mystery Shack, I run up to my room and flop onto my bed. After sitting there for a moment, I get under the covers and close my eyes. There's been some remodeling since the last time we were here. There are more rooms now, so we can all fit. Soos and Melody have a little cabin not too far from here.

I'm abruptly pulled out of my thoughts by entering my mindscape. I sigh. It's still the same. Including the spot over on the left where it fades into Bill's mind. Wait, what? I do a double take, and sure enough, Bill's mindscape is still there. Didn't he leave?

"Nope, still here." I turn around to face him.

"Why? Weren't you supposed to leave after you possessed my body?" I ask. He fakes thinking thoughtfully.

"Actually, I don't recall that being part of the deal." I groan.

"You could have left, which is what you've been bugging me about this whole time, but instead you just decided to stay?" I ask furiously. He simply nods.

"I've grown fond of this. Making you want to kill either me or yourself. It's quite fun."

"No, absolutely not, get out." I demand.

"You'd have to give me control again." He smiles smugly. Either way, he wins. Instead of continuing on that, I ask something that's been bugging me.

"Why did I have your magic?" He stops smiling and shrugs.

"Contrary to your belief, I don't actually know everything."

"So you don't know?" He nods. There's an awkward silence. Suddenly, everything fades into white.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Dipper." I hear, opening my eyes. Mabel stands over me, with a certain look on her face. I can tell what she wants to ask. I sit up and look at her.

"Yes?" I say, waiting. She looks down hesitantly.

"What- happened back there?" I sigh. I have to tell her. I take a deep breath.

And so I tell her. I tell her about how Bill never actually left, and he's been here the whole time. How I made a deal with him. She's silent throughout the whole thing, which shows she's paying attention.

"So uh, yeah... That's it..." I finish. She stays quiet for another minute. Then she hugs me. One of those really tight hugs where you can't breathe. I hug her back, and then we do the standard pat-pats. We pull back, and she looks at me sadly.

"Why didn't you tell me?" She asks. I stay quiet. She asks me again and I look away in shame.

"He convinced me that you wouldn't want anything to do with me..." I whispered. I felt stupid. Why would I listen to Bill? I honestly think for a second that I hear him agree.

"Dipper..." She says quietly. After a moment of silence she adds "I won't tell anyone." I look up at her.

"Really?" I ask. She nods. I feel a tear fall down my cheek.

"I do think we definitely shouldn't tell Ford." I nod in agreement. I hear a small 'told ya so' in the back of my mind.

Chapter Text

After a week of being in Gravity Falls, school finally starts. It's finally here. I'm the kind of guy that loves school, so I'm pretty pumped about it. And it's a totally new school, and no one knows about me being trans, and no one will ever know. I should probably tell my teachers I don't like the name Mason.

'Kid, calm down. It's just school,' I roll my eyes. You don't know what it's like.

'I know everything, Pinetree,' I scoff. You told me you didn't. He makes an offended noise.

'Okay, fine. I don't know everything, but I do see everything.' I'm confused and he doesn't go on.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Okay, school isn't as good as I thought. The teachers are mean and the classes are boring. Except ELA. And math. The others suck though. I have 7 classes in total. The others ar-

'You might wanna go somewhere else.' He disrupts my train of thought.

Why? I respond as I grab my stuff from my locker. I see a group of really tall, strong looking guys at the other end of the hall walking in my direction. There's 5 of them, all equally gross looking. I don't pay attention to them and continue to grab my stuff. Only then do I realize everyone else in the hall is gone.

"Hey, faggot!" I freeze. Very slowly, I turn around. Immediately, I'm met with one of the guys fists slamming into my face. I fall back onto the floor. I can't even register what's happening. Two of the guys grab me by the arms and lift me off the floor, dangling me in the air. Two of them take my backpack and dump out all its belongings, and then tear them up.

The last one, the one I think punched me, gets really close. My vision's all blurry so I can't see who he is. I hear a slight ringing in my ear, but it's quiet enough to be able to hear him spit out "Trannies like you shouldn't exist."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I wake up in the nurse's office. I must've blacked out or something, because I can't remember anything after that. I feel sore all over, and my vision is still fuzzy. I see a blurry figure standing over me. She's yelling my name. I think it's Mabel. My vision comes into focus a couple seconds later, and I see the familiar brunette.

"-the hell happened?!" she blurted. I blink a couple times before trying and failing to sit up. She gives me a sad, concerned look.

"Bro bro, what happened?" She asks sternly. I avoid her gaze.

"I'll tell you later." I whisper. She opens her mouth to say something, then closes it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Though school had ended 2 and a half hours ago, Mabel and I walk out of the nurse's office together. I currently have a pretty nasty bruise on my face. We walk a small distance in silence before Mabel breaks it.

"Can you tell me what happened now?" she asks. I stay quiet. "Dipper." she nagged. When I don't answer she walks in front of me and stops. I stop walking to not hit her.

"What happened?" she asks again. I sigh, and tell her what I remember. Her face looks like she's about to commit a murder.

"That's all I remember." I finish. Mabel mumbles something and I ask what it was.

"Oh, I just said that doesn't really make sense." she repeats, "Didn't you say you remembered everything last time?" I gave her a confused look.

"What last time?" I ask. She looks like she realized something.

"Last time- uh- last time he- did that..." she dances around the answer. I get even more confused. I haven't ever seen any of those guys before. Wait, how did they know I was gay?

"Last time who did what?" I ask again. She looks kind of like she doesn't want to answer.

"Lasttimebilltookoveryourbody." she answers really quickly. My mild confusion turns to shock.

"He- he did?" I ask quietly. Mabel nods. I look at the floor. Neither of us speak for a while. Then I say something.

"What- what did he do?" I whisper. I look back at her.

"He uh, sent some people to the hospital..." she explained. My eyes widen in shock. She nods. "I'm gonna make a wild guess. I think he was trying to protect you." I don't even know how to respond.

I-is that true? I ask. I get no response. I think for a second that he left, but then I feel his presence. He's still there, just really quietly. Which is odd.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As soon as we get to the Shack, Stan and Ford bombard us with questions.

"Where were you?"

"What happened to your face?"

"Who do we need to beat up?"

Which was met with "Stanley, I'm sure there's a reasonable explanation."

"Dipper was bullied and called slurs and beat up." Mabel says quickly. Our grunkles' faces change.

"So about beating someone up-" You'd think Stan said this, but it was actually Ford.

"You don't have to-" I started, but got cut off.

"What did they call you?" I froze. I'm not out to them. At all. They think I'm a straight cisgender male. Mabel's face shows that she understands she messed up.

"Just like, normal swears." I say a bit too slowly.

"Like what?" And I'm screwed. I'm dead. I don't know what to say and panic. "A tranny and a fag." I realize only after I said it that I shouldn't have. Stan and Ford share a confused look.

"Kids are stupid these days." Ford starts, "Using that as an insult, especially when you aren't even gay." Stan nods in agreement. I stay quiet. "I mean, what's so wrong with being gay?" he continues. "You know, Fiddleford is gay. Everyone always thinks that gay people are in love with them, but I've never once thought that. And if he is, so what? I don't mind. I would be honored to know that Fiddleford knows me well enough to think of me like that, even if I didn't share his feelings. I actually-" Ford realizes he's still talking and pauses. Everyone's quiet. He does an awkward cough.

"Sorry, I got a bit side tracked." he says quietly. I almost wish he continued. What was he about to say? It's probably just wishful thinking, but it sounded like he was going to say something about how he might be gay.

"Anyways, who bullied you?" Ford asks, trying to get back on topic. I open my mouth to speak but Mabel beats me to it.

"We don't know. Just random people." she says.

"I'm gonna go take a nap." I say in an attempt to leave this conversation. I turn and start walking upstairs.

"Goodnight, kid. We'll find out who did this." I hear Stan's voice behind me.

"Night." I reply. I walk up to my room and flop down on the bed. I almost instantly fall asleep.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I can tell even before I open my eyes. I'm in the mindscape. I look around at the trees and up at the stars. I walk over to a tree and sit down. I lean against it and close my eyes.

"Whatcha doin'?" I hear from above me. I open my eyes and groan.

"I was trying to sleep." Bill responds with a laugh.

"You can't sleep in the mindscape, Pinetree. You're already asleep. That doesn't make sense." He laughs again.

"And the rest of this does?" To which he nods.

"To me it does." I roll my eyes. Then I remember what happened earlier.

"Bill-" Before I can say anything, he grabs my arm, pulls me off the floor, and suddenly we're somewhere else. The part of the mindscape I've never been to. His. It's all dark and old. The only color is hints of yellow here and there. We're standing in front of a large door, except it's two-dimensional.

Bill waves his hand and it opens. The only thing behind it is a blinding white light. He lets go of my arm. "Do not get lost in here." he says seriously. I nod. He walks through the door and disappears. I quickly walk after him. I close my eyes cause of how bright it is.

"You can open your eyes now." I hear. I open my eyes and my jaw drops in shock. We're in a small garden with beautiful plants of every color. The plants have little colored orbs floating above them. Bill walks over to one flower with a red orb floating above it. He motions for me to follow. I walk over and stand next to him.

"Touch the memory," he says. I lightly touch the red orb and suddenly I'm back in the hallway with the bullies. I can see them beating me up. Bill stands right next to me.

I watch the bully get really close and call me a slur. Then my eyes change from brown to yellow. My face changes from scared to angry. My hands erupt in blue fire and the guys holding me up jump back and drop me. No, not me. That's Bill. He falls to the floor, and immediately gets back up.

"You guys don't have anything better to do with your sad, pathetic lives?" he says. The bullies all back away. Suddenly he's behind them.

"Leaving so soon?" The bullies turn around and try to back up the other way. Bill shoots a blue flame behind them, and it turns into a net. They back into it and get stuck. He walks closer while laughing maniacally.

"What? Not gonna beg for your life?" All 5 of the bullies try desperately to break free. "You're not getting out of that. Now let's see how long you can last before your feeble little bodies give up and you die." He ignites his hands again. I look away, I don't want to watch what happened next. I hear screams of pain.

"Dipper?" I look back at the memory and see Mabel standing behind Bill. In front of him are several bloody masses. Bill turns around and Mabel sees that it's not me. She looks sick.

"What did you do?" she whispers. Bill looks at her before his eyes change back to mine and I collapse onto the floor. The memory stops and we're back in the garden.

I stand there in shock. It's quiet for a moment, the only sound being the wind.

"I- um." he starts. I turn to face him. "I'm sorry, I think." I can't help but laugh.

"What do you mean you think?" I ask in between laughing. He looks mad in a joking way.

"I don't know! I haven't experienced human emotion for a long time, okay?" he yells. I continue laughing. "So, could we be like, friends?"

I stop laughing and look at him. "I could protect you from those guys, if you give me control of your body every now and then?" I sigh.

"I don't really have a choice, do I?" He shakes his head. I sigh again. "Alright, you can have control when I'm asleep, if you promise not to hurt anyone or tell them that it's you." A big grin spreads across his face.

"It's a deal." He extends his hand, which lights up with blue fire. I remember something I had said before.

I will never let you take control of my body, and I will never make a deal with you.

I extend my hand. The blue flame joins my hand with his.

Chapter Text

"Now if you don't mind," Bill says, letting go of my hand, "I'm gonna go take your body for a spin. Remember, reality is an illusion, the universe is a hologram, buy gold, byeee!" And just like that, he's gone. I stand there for a moment, staring at the air where he was just seconds ago.

Did I make the right choice? What if he does something with my body? Damnit, I should've said he can't hurt me in the deal. I take a deep breath. It's too late for that now. I look around at Bill's mind.

I can't believe how beautiful it is here. I expected it to be dark and scary. I walk around admiring the beauty of it. I glance at some of his memories, but only one of them catches my eye. It's bright red and blue, and the flower looks sad and wilted. I reach out to touch it.

I find myself looking at a 2-dimensional world like it's a screen. It's mostly black and white, except for the people- no, not people. Shapes.

This is the dimension where Bill's from, isn't it? I was seeing everything from above. There were three triangles, one yellow, one blue, one red, all of them having one eye in the center, all walking together.

Another purple triangle walked up to them and started talking. Or, I think it was scolding? Anyway, the yellow one (Bill, obviously) got really mad, turned a shade of red, and suddenly everything was on fire.

It happened so quickly I couldn't tell what was going on. Before I had any idea of anything, I was back in the garden, standing before the wilted flower.

'Really, Pinetree? You go snooping through my memories?' I hear coming from all around me.

"I wasn't planning on it. But what was that?"

'My old dimension.'

"And those triangles?"

'Me, my brothers, and my mother.' He didn't elaborate and I didn't ask him to.

'You know I have countless memories of murder and destruction and chaos?' I very quickly walked out of his mindscape and into my own.

'That's what I thought.' I roll my eyes.

"Can you see me right now?" I ask, "Cause it seems like you can." 

'I told you, Pinetree. I see everything.' I stand there awkwardly for a minute.

What should I do now? I think. For once, Bill doesn't answer for me. I realize that I can do anything in the mindscape, so I read a book.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next day at school, the guys who bullied me are absent. Makes sense, they're probably still in the hospital. It's a good thing there aren't any cameras in that hallway. I would definitely get in big trouble. 

"Hey bro-bro!" I turn around and see Mabel running towards me. 

"What's up?" I ask. She's blushing really hard and looks very flustered.

"iaskedoutpacificaandshesaidyesandsoiguesswerekindalikedatingnowandivehadacrushonherforawhilenowimsorryididnttellyoubutomgicantbelievethisishappening!" She spoke so quickly I almost couldn't tell what she said. But I've known her our entire lives, so I was able to make out what she said.

"Wait- really?" She nods excitedly. "That's amazing, Mabel!" Pacifica walks over with her head down and her hands covering her face, but she's blushing so much you can still see it.

"Hey Pacifica." I say casually. 

"My parents are gonna kill me..." She mutters under her breath. Suddenly, Mabel grabs her by the wrists.

"No one is killing anyone." She says, "I won't let them." Pacifica (somehow) blushes even more. I walk away, not wanting to watch this.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It's second period, and I'm on the verge of falling asleep. I can't focus on anything that the teacher is saying, and I can't think about anything other than staying awake. 

"Everyone understand? Good," She says, not waiting to for an answer. "Now I'll give you your tests." She starts to go from desk to desk handing out test papers. Everyone groaned. 

"You can't give us a test on the second day of school!" One kid yelled out. The teacher just ignored him.

Shit, I can't take a test, I'm half asleep! I think of ways to get out of it somehow. It doesn't help that this teacher is insanely strict, and doesn't even let you go to the bathroom during a test. 

'I can help.' I almost laugh. Why would you do that? 

'Because we're friends.' I pause. I'm gonna need a lot more help than you just telling me the answers. He's silent for a moment.

'I can take the test for you, if you want.' Like, take control of my body and do the test yourself? 

'That's what I said.' I didn't know how to respond. I felt myself losing consciousness. He would take over my body either way, so I agreed. Before I knew it, I was asleep in the back of my mind.

☆~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~☆

I finished the test quickly, and sat there doing nothing for 50 minutes. As soon as the class was over, I quickly got up, put my test on the teacher's desk, and walked out the door. About three seconds later, Shooting Star was right next to me. 

"Hey bro-bro, how was class? Wanna walk to third period-" I looked at her and she stopped. Her eyes widened in fear. 

"Wh-what are you doing?" She asked quietly. I smiled. 

"I'm temporarily taking over for Pinetree, but don't worry, he'll be back later." I saw in her eyes that she definitely did not trust me, so I added, "We made a little deal. He's basically asleep right now, and I took his test for him." She looked at me skeptically.

"I don't believe you..." I shrug. 

"Ask him when he wakes up."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Around lunchtime is when Pinetree finally woke up. He took control instantly, and I slipped back into the darkness of his mind. Shooting Star immediately started interrogating him. It was very fun to watch. 

"But why?!" 

"I didn't really have any other choice!"

"This is why you need a full nights sleep-"

"That's not how it works! I fall asleep, then I go into the mindscape! Being in the mindscape isn't actually sleeping-"

"Then don't go there!"

"I can't control it! Bill makes me-"

"Why hasn't Bill left already? Did you make a deal you're not telling me about?"

"No! I've told you everything! I don't know what he's planning-"

"Can't you just look at his thoughts?"

"No, because he won't let me!"

"What does that even mean?"

"I don't know!" It went on like this for a while. Very entertaining. Eventually they both stormed off in different directions, with the excuse of needing to go to class. Class didn't start for another ten minutes.

♡~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~♡

I didn't talk to Mabel for the rest of the day. Why wouldn't she listen? I know what I'm doing! 

'Could it be because the first time I possessed you, I stabbed you with forks, threw you down a flight of stairs, threatened to kill you and frame it as suicide, and threatened to do the same to your sister?' I pause. Good point. 

I start thinking about what happened that day. And that note Mabel found. That was... That was just terrible. Who the fuck writes that kind of shit? (rhetorical question, I know it's Bill). I realize as I'm thinking about this, Bill is being uncharacteristically quiet.

Bill? You still there? I wait a second, then get a response.

'Yes, Pinetree, where else would I be?' Sorry, you're just strangely quiet. It's weird.

'Oh? I thought you didn't want me to talk all the time?' Yeah, well you're annoying voice is better than my annoying thoughts, so... I smile while thinking this. There's a couple seconds of silence, then he speaks.

'Pinetree?'

Yeah?

'Are we... friends?'

I mean, I guess so. I felt a shift in the atmosphere. It was like after I said that, some of the weight holding onto us let go. Not all of it, but it was easier. 

Maybe we could actually be friends...

Chapter Text

The next day after school, Mabel talked to me.

"I'm sorry bro-bro. I was just really scared. He could have hurt you, or someone else, or something could have happened, and it would have been my fault for not helping you-"

"Woah, woah, woah," I interrupted. "It wouldn't be at all your fault." 

"Anyways, I saw how he protected you when you were getting bullied, and he also helped with Gideon, and- what I'm trying to say is if you trust him, I do too." 

I don't know how to respond. "Thanks." She smiled. She opened her arms, and I hugged her.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The bullies showed up at school a week later. They looked terrified. Everytime they passed me they would turn and walk the other way. I think they've been late to class by taking the long way to avoid me. 

I've gotta be honest, it feels good. The way their faces go completely pale when they see me. I'm starting to think I picked up some psychotic tendencies from Bill.

Actually, speaking of Bill... Bill?

He responds immediately. 'Yes, Pinetree?'

Can you teach me magic? He's quiet for a moment, as if in shock.

'And why do you want that?' 

Well, I wanna be able to protect myself, and it's kinda cool. Silence. Then I see my bedroom walls fade into white. I'm in a completely blank room. 

"Okay, I'll teach you." I turn around to face him. 

"Um, where are we?" I ask quickly. He rolls his eyes playfully. 

"We're in a dream controlled by me." He explains, "The mindscape would be too easy, and I can't exactly help in the real world. This is the next best thing."

"Right," I say. "And why can't you help in the real world?"

"I don't physically exist."

"Oh yeah."

"Now, you know how to make fire. Try shaping that fire. Turn it into a square, or a circle." As he says this, he makes the shapes appear next to him.

I try and force the flames to physically shape into a circle, but it doesn't work. Bill laughs at me.

"Not like that!" He walks over next to me and grabs my wrist. "You have to feel magic. It's not a wild animal to be tamed. It's something that's inside you." With his hand on wrist, the fire forms into a perfect sphere. He lets go and it goes back to normal.

"Now try again," I think about how the magic, his magic, is flowing through me. I close my eyes and focus, putting all my energy into this.

"Not bad, Pinetree," I open my eyes and the fire is formed into an oval like shape. 

We spend hours training me on how to use magic. I'm definitely not as good as Bill, but I'm not bad either. I could definitely defend myself.

Chapter Text

"Bill?" I ask outloud. I touch my arm where it lies.

"Yes Pinetree?" He answers, sounding amused.

"What is this?" On my forearm there's something embedded in my skin. It's a little mini picture of Bill.

"It's my mark." He explains. "Because I've possessed you before, it tells all creatures in the area that you belong to me." I try not to blush at that last part.

"Why didn't I notice it before?" I run my fingers over the picture.

"It only shows itself when there's a possible threat nearby." That sentence sends a shiver down my spine.

"So there's something in Gravity Falls that's as powerful as you?"

"Maybe." I think for a moment.

"What if it's the same thing that possessed Gideon?" I can feel Bill thinking.

"It might be." Then he quickly adds "Don't you worry, Pinetree. I'll keep you safe from this monster." I roll my eyes so hard.

"Sure Bill, sure."

Chapter Text

"No, not that one." I scribble out my newest idea. Bill yawns in boredom.

"Pinetree it doesn't matter-"

"If there's something in Gravity Falls that could rival you, it probably matters."

"Well it's nothing to worry about. Atleast not for now."

"Wait, you can see the future, right?"

"I can see possible futures."

"Can-"

"No, Pinetree, I can't tell you what the thing is. Besides, most of the possibilities are ridiculous."

"Like what?"

"Like the Invisible Wizard. That guy's a joke! How is he as powerful as me?" I close my journal full of ideas and stretch. Someone knocks on the door.

"Come in!" I yell. Mabel opens the door and steps into my room.

"Hey Dip, Stan wants you to put up some flyers around town." I groan.

"He's not even the owner of the shack anymore, why does he want me to work?"

"I don't know, he said something about 'teens these days need exercise'." I groan again.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I get serious deja vu as I walk through the forest, hanging up flyers all saying some random thing about the Mystery Shack. Now that it's run by Soos, it's a lot less fake. It's still fake, but not as much as before.

"But that takes away the fun!" I roll my eyes.

"You want my grunkle to scam people out of their money?"

"It's funny." I sigh. 'And here I thought you were having progress.'

"Hey!" He takes control and makes me slap my arm playfully.

"Owww!" I say rubbing the spot he hit even though it didn't hurt. And that's when I realized I'm completely lost and have no idea where I am.

"Um..." I mumble, looking around to try and get an idea of where I am. "Bill?"

"Don't ask me." I sigh. Just great. I start walking. After a while, I come across a clearing.

"Whoa, this is where we fought Gideon!" I exclaim.

"I, Pinetree. I fought him. You did nothing." I ignore him.

"I think I remember how to get back from here." I start walking before immediately stopping. 'No fucking way...'

"Pinetree?" I turn around and take a couple steps backwards. I'm standing in the exact spot I was when we fought Gideon. I now take a few steps forward and left, and turn my head to the canopy.

"This is... this is my mindscape..." I let out a single breath. The place in my brain where I'm taken every night is the same spot where I first used magic (minus the glowing memories). I ignite my hand, realizing how far I've come in such little time.

"Axolotl, did you not realize that before?" He laughs wildly.

"Okay, what's with you and axolotls?" He starts laughing harder.

"Have I not told you?? The Great Axolotl?" I shake my head. I suddenly see a flash of memories I can't entirely decipher. A floating pink axolotl chanting something. Many triangles, a mark on someone's skin. I feel dizzy.

"Was that too much? Whoops, haha." I can hear his fake grin. "Baaaaasically, The Great Axolotl is an all seeing, all knowing god that gave me the ability to stay alive after Weirdmageddon." The end is partially cut off, as if he didn't mean to say it.

"Wait, The Great Axolotl gave you the ability to stay alive after Weirdmageddon? It's what let you into my body!?"

"Yes?"

"Why? Why mine?"

"It knows I had already possessed you before, so it was able to easily put me in." I'm not sure how or why, but I know what he's saying isn't true. I decide to leave it alone for some reason.

Chapter Text

"And... go!" I take off, sprinting through the track. A dummy appears in my path before a shot of fire knocks it down. As I run past it, an arrow just misses my head. 

"You said no weapons!!" I yell as I continue to run.

"It's a dream weapon, it can't really hurt you." I swear and keep running. I glance over to where Bill is standing, orchestrating the dream. 

Every couple nights I enter a controlled dream where Bill helps me practice magic. I don't need to, but I want the knowledge just incase. It's almost exhilarating. The feeling of the magic flowing through me. 

Bill takes my distraction as an opportunity to suddenly form a giant concrete wall infront of me. I'm going too fast to stop. On an instinct, I put my hands down and push. A cloud of blue flames shoots out, propelling me up and over the wall.

"Oh my god!" I cried. I stop moving to catch my breath. "That was so-" A giant boulder falls directly on top of me.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I shout as I jolt awake, clenching the bedsheets. It takes a moment for me to remember I was in a dream and that a boulder did not crush me.

'What the hell?!' Bill sighs dramatically. "You should've watched where you were going, Pinetree." 

'I was preoccupied with the fact I just learned something new and cool!' I lay back down and close my eyes.

"Wanna go again?" I take a moment to think.

"Nah," I mutter aloud, "I'm too tired. You can go sacrifice babies or whatever the hell you do with my body." Bill chuckles.

"Nighty night Pinetree!" I'm already asleep.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Wake up!" That's the only thing I hear before getting slapped across the face.

"Ow!!" I sit up and rub my cheek. "The fuck?"

"Finally, you're awake." Bill looks almost nervous. It scares me. He reaches out his hand and I hesitate before taking it. He pulls me to my feet.

"I thought you can't sleep in the mindscape." I say, rubbing the sleep from my eyes.

"We aren't in the mindscape, Pinetree." He says in an obvious tone. I look around and realize I have no idea where we are.

"Where are we?" There's nothing. Literally nothing. A gray slab that seems to stretch endlessly in every direction, and a blank white sky.

"Weeeell," He does a fake laugh, "You know that all seeing, all knowing god thing I was talking about? Hah, we may be where he normally lives. Haha."

"You mean the Gre-" 

"SHH!" Bill whisper shouts. He puts his finger to my lips. I'm tempted to bite it but I refrain. "Don't say his name." He slowly takes his finger away.

"Why do you look so scared? How bad can an amphibian be?" 

"Last time I was here he was NOT pleased with me." Bill laughs and tosses his hair. "I'm just irresistible." I roll my eyes.

"Sure. But why was the Great Axolotl not pleas-" I'm cut off by a blinding light. I shield my eyes and hear Bill swear under his breath.

"Bill Cipher. What are you doing here?" I open my eyes and am completely stunned. I don't know what I was expecting, but it was NOT this. 

The Great Axolotl is, well it's an axolotl, but humongous. I realize where we are also changed. It's some endless void of sparkles and pink dust. I look beneath me and realize I'm floating.

"Heeeyy, love what you've done with the place!" Bill talks like he's catching up with an old friend, but the tone in his voice suggests he's terrified. The Axolotl turns and looks at me.

"Dipper Pines." It blinks at me as I sheepishly smile.

"Um, hello?" I muster. It turns it's attention back to Bill. 

"Answer me." Bill gulps and laughs nervously.

"I honestly have no idea, haha. Trust me, I don't want to be here anymore than you want me here." I suddenly feel all of Bill's emotions at this moment. I feel panic and worry and anxiety. "Why don't ya just send us on back and we'll be out of your way? Sound great okay thanks!" Bill smiles as if he's trying to impress someone.

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves now." He looks back at me. "As I'm sure you're aware, I am the Axolotl. I am all seeing, all knowing. I'll allow you one question to ask me."

I freeze under the pressure. What do I want to know? Secrets of Gravity Falls? How to become a trillionaire? An idea pops into my head.

"Why did you bring Bill back inside of my head?" The Great Axolotl almost seems amused at my question.

"Pinetree, I already told you-" I look at Bill with a stare that hopefully conveys what I want. I know he's lying. He stops talking.

The Axolotl's eyes start glowing, and he speaks. 

"To find the answer you want known,

A true bond must be shown.

A relation that will withstand time.

A partner who can do no crime. 

Only then can you put to test,

What strengths you have, the worst and best."

Both me and Bill look absolutely dumbfounded. "What the hell does that even mean??"

"That's two questions. I can only answer one. I am sorry." It smiles softly. "I will see you again. For now, goodbye."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I wake up again in bed. "Bill what the fuck was that." For once he's silent.

"Well, I think the Great Axolotl gave us a premonition Pinetree."

"Is that good or bad?? And what did it even mean? True bonds and strengths? What the hell?!" 

"I tried to tell you Pinetree. He may seem nice, but the Great Axolotl is a cold bitch."

I jump out of bed and hurriedly grab a pencil and my notebook. I write down what the premonition said word for word before I forget. I then re-read it over and over.

"I think it's saying we have to show a 'true bond' and be best friends or something?" I hear Bill groan excessively. "It also says something about a test? What test?"

"It doesn't matter, Pinetree. It doesnt mean anything and there's no test and no real answer."

"You sound cranky. Did you take your nap today?" "Haha, so funny. You're hilarious."

Something about the way he's speaking is telling me there's more than what he's saying. He really does not want me to find out why the Axolotl put us together. I am going to find out.