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He didn’t understand, he didn’t want to understand, he had merely wanted away, and the next thing he knew, he had been. He wasn’t sure where he was, but he was clearly out of Gravity Falls, all he knew was that it was some city. The buildings that seemed to touch the sky above him. He sighed and just started walking. He didn’t care where he was going, he just needed to walk and think for a bit. He glanced down to notice that he was in a black suit with a navy blue vest, as well as a bow tie. He didn’t recall changing outfits, but he also didn’t recall going to some city so he supposed he couldn’t really be to baffled by it. He ran his fingers through his hair, subconsciously wondering what he had done with his hat when he had…jumped? Teleported? Ugh, he didn’t even know what this counted as anymore.
He briefly glanced up at the buildings, easily moving through the crowd, barely registering the people around him. He had a lot of information he needed to try and digest, and he didn’t really want to have to deal with the others around him, so he just ignored them, and they seemed to do the same. He didn’t even get any odd looks for his getup, was this part of his powers now? Could he alter the perception of those around him, of the very space time itself? He-ugh he didn’t get it. How did Great Uncle Ford expect him to react when he had been given such information. Probably not to transport himself, where ever he was.
He just kept his light stride as he fell deeper and deeper into his thoughts. There was no way that what he had said was true right? It just couldn’t be! But how else could he have done what he had. There were plenty of weird things in Gravity Falls though, its entirely possible he had an unintentional interaction with one and picked up something. That’s, that has to be it! He told himself, and if that were the case, then he probably couldn’t be that far from Gravity Falls itself, he just needed to see if he could figure out where he was, then he could try and get in contact with Gruncle Stan, see if he could work out a ride or something. He would know what to do, definitely.
Dipper finally stopped and looked around, finally truly taking in stock his surroundings. There were numerous people moving around him, and the buildings all towered above him an almost humbling way. Truly though, he still had no idea where he was, he just didn’t recognize anything. The very air felt different, having been in the country for so much time in the country, the relatively pollution free air, that this polluted, city air felt heavy, dirty, he almost felt like he could feel the toxins around him.
He gave a huff, and tried to see if he could find something that identified where he was. He started wandering in a random direction, he figured if nothing else, he would be able to find a street name, anything useful to serve as an indication as to where he was, and some way of contacting everyone back at the shack. He still didn’t understand though, how had he jumped from there to, where ever he was. He was sure that he couldn’t have jumped very far, the magic and science and everything else in Gravity Falls almost never spread beyond it, Great Uncle Ford had explained just as much when they had first met. That had to mean he was close by to Gravity Falls. The furthest he would put himself would be roughly one-hundred miles, absolute max. He wasn’t familiar with the state of Oregon, but he didn’t think Gravity Falls was closely located to any major cities, but if he was really that close, then Gruncle Stan could be here in no time, a couple of hours at the most.
Dipper was so lost in his thoughts that he didn’t notice until he was halfway up. Literally, that is. He wasn’t sure how he had managed to defy gravity in such a way, but he found that he was standing parallel to the ground, and was about halfway up the side of a skyscraper. He didn’t understand it, not because he couldn’t, but because he want to. He had an explanation, but it couldn’t be right, he wouldn’t accept that it was right. There had to be another explanation, there just had to be. Maybe whatever it was that enabled him to jump in such a way had just decided to say “screw it” to all the laws of physics instead of just one.
He gave another sigh, and went ahead on up the building, used to the strangeness of it all by now. Truthfully, the sensation didn’t really bother him like he had thought it would, but he supposed to some degree it was no different than lying down, there was just a larger gap between him and the ground was all. He wondered vaguely if this was breaking any sort of private property laws, but then again he was breaking the laws of physics, so it couldn’t be that bad.
He finally made it to the top and sat down on the edge, looking out across the city, just taking it all in. He really and truly didn’t recognize the view before him, but that didn’t change that it took his breath away. He was always partial to the city, and the technology that was held within it, despite the mysteries and adventure that could be found within the woods and the country, which undoubtedly had glorious views to them as well, but the city, the lights of buildings and street lamps, with the constant stream of traffic from the cars, all of it with a large body of water behind it, and the moon hanging high in the sky. It truly was a peaceful sight, even if he didn’t know where he was.
“Pine Tree?” A familiar, high pitched voice asked from behind him.
“Bill,” Dipper replied evenly, not surprised by the dream demons appearance.
“You’ve learned then?”
Dipper sucked in his breath and whipped his head around to face the demon, only to see a tall man in a yellow and black suit instead of the yellow triangle that he had been expecting. The trademark hat, bow-tie, and cane were all there, but other than his suit, the only thing about him that was yellow had been his hair, which was a golden blonde. He had bright blue eyes, pale skin, almost vampire pale actually, and stood at what almost seemed like seven feet to Dipper. Even after his growth spurt, he still wasn’t taller than Bill?
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Dipper finally skulked after gawking at Bill for way to long. He prayed that his cheeks weren’t as visibly warm as they felt.
Bill frowned and floated over in front of Dipper, standing in the middle of the horizon, and Dipper was actually a little shocked to see some concern etched onto Bill’s face. “Pine Tree, you know exactly what I mean. How else could you jump from one side of the country to the other?”
“What?” Dipper asked confused. There was no way he had moved that far. That shouldn’t be possible.
“Kid, we’re in New York City,” Dipper blinked owlishly at him, but didn’t respond, so Bill continued. “You’re powers, they’re intense. I actually lost you when you jumped, had to revert back to some more rudimentarily forms of tracking before I finally caught on to your magical signal, and you are brighter than a Christmas tree!”
“Is that another Pine Tree joke?” Dipper huffed with a raised eyebrow.
Bill stopped for a moment before he chuckled, and Dipper felt his heart actually flutter slightly at the sweet noise. “Not an intentional one.” His frown returned before he said, “Now’s not really a time for jokes.”
Dipper fell back and kind of, hovered above the actual roof, as he was still sitting on the edge. “So it’s really true then?”
“It is.”
Dipper raised a hand before his eyes and studied it, as though this acceptance of new information would change the way he looked. Truthfully, he didn’t know anymore, he wasn’t sure if he knew anything anymore. His life, with just a few simple words from his Gruncle, and this confirmation, it felt as though his whole life had caved around him, and he had to gather the pieces together.
“That’s why you were forced out of your body when I took it actually,” Bill continued, causing Dipper to sit back up.
“What?”
“A possession is not normally the removal of one soul in place for the other Dipper,” Dipper was slightly taken aback by the use of his preferred name, “It has such adverse effects on the body because its not designed to handle two souls inside of it, not two whole ones anyway. I had hopped in expecting to have to fight you the entire time I was trying to destroy the journal, not to get the body all to myself. It definitely made my plans both easier, and more difficult at the same time.”
Dipper thought back to the Sock Opera ordeal, and shuddered slightly, remembering what it had been like to be outside of his own body, to watch it move without his commands. He looked back up at Bill, who had not moved from where he had been floating earlier. “What do you gain from telling me all of this?”
Bill shrugged and said, “A possible ally. Truthfully, I’m not hoping for anything here.”
“Then why help in the first place?” Dipper asked, eyeing the other suspiciously.
“Because you’re special Dipper. You’re different, you know it, and you embrace it. Even now, you’ve been told life changing news, and you’re taking it in stride like it’s just another day of the week. You’re already back to your normal, paranoid self, wondering what I’m here for. There are not many beings anywhere that can handle such a thing, even the others that were there when we tried to take Gravity Falls.”
“You almost killed me then!” Dipper shouted suddenly, his anger suddenly spiking as he remembered all of the nightmares that he had seen during Bill’s invasion.
“I never had any real intention of killing you kid. Everything I threw at you I knew you would be able to handle, and look at you now, you came out the better for it,” Bill said with a shrug. “I definitely can’t argue with my own results, that’s for sure. Besides, I knew for sure when you survived everything what you were. Planned on telling you after I figured out how to get out of that town.”
“You’re not bound there now though,” Dipper commented, the question hanging in the air unspoken.
“My physical form was trapped, I could slip into the mindscape and go where ever I wanted to,” Bill gave a shrug, “Once I recollected my power, I was back in the mindscape, but could jump into the physical realm at will, with certain limitations, as you can see.”
Dipper frowned, a thought occurring to him that admittedly should have sooner. “How are you back at all? I thought we erased you when we erased Gruncle Stan’s memories.”
Bill chuckled and said, “Sorry Pine Tree, but it takes a lot more than that to take me down. You didn’t destroy my true form.”
“What do you mean? You were in the mindscape, you were out of your physical body! If that wasn’t your true form than I don’t know what it could possibly be!”
“Easy kid, no need to shout,” Bill commented with raised hands in a surrender type fashion. “My true form is the triangle, as you and your sister so enjoyed calling me by. However, when that was brought into the physical world, my form…split, for lack of a better word that you would understand. I had to forms that held all of my power within them, though admittedly my physical had more to it than I thought it would, my other was the one that was necessary for truly making deals. You managed to take down my other form, leaving me with just the physical, which was stuck turned to stone. I spent the next five years gathering my energy, and finally managed to escape it back into the mindscape around the time you and your sister came back for the summer.”
“So, you consistently have a safe point you can come back from?” Dipper asked, trying to wrap his mind around the idea. It wasn’t really any different than a checkpoint in video games he supposed, but on the other hand, that’s pretty bizarre.
“Yes, and no. I don’t know if there are only so many times I can use it or not. Even it only has so much power to it, and I have no idea if I can do that same trick more than once. The amount of effort the first time, kid you understand that I only got out of there a couple of weeks ago right? You defeated me years ago, and that body still had plenty of energy to it. I’m not interested in trying that again, even if it can manage, so if it boils down to it, I won’t risk my life.”
Dipper blinked at him, processing though all of the information. “You tracked me down, to offer to train me?”
“I originally tracked you down because I was worried about you, but I am willing to teach you if you would like me to.”
“What if I say that I don’t want you to teach me?” Dipper asked, suspicion.
Bill gave a shrug and said, “Then you don’t get taught by me and we go our separate ways, simple as that.”
“You don’t want to seek vengeance?”
Bill sighed and put his head in his hands, rubbing at his forehead for a moment before saying, “I know pine trees are normally dense, but seriously Pine Tree? I just said I wouldn’t put my own life at risk. Seeking vengeance on you and your family would put me on practically the shortest path there is for my own death. If I really wanted to die I would just stop floating.”
Dipper frowned, but found that he could not argue with the logic the blond has given. “So, you just want to teach me, what exactly?”
“How to use your powers without killing yourself obviously. We can discuss you learning the more advanced, and admittedly dangerous stuff later, but at first, it would just be basic control, that sort of thing. In return, I want a chance to talk with Stanford.”
Dipper gave the demon an odd look and said, “Didn’t you just say that you didn’t want to die.”
Bill huffed and said, “This is a calculated risk Pine Tree. There are safer places that I could go to, but none of them offer me the opportunities that come with your family. I’m not expecting him to welcome me with open arms or anything like that, the only thing I want is to know I can try to talk to him without him shooting me on sight. That makes my whole, not dying thing a lot more difficult than it has to be.”
“That’s not a fair deal! If he kills you, then you got your end, but you didn’t teach me anything.”
“Fine, I’ll teach you how to teleport, this doesn’t breach the deal, you got your lesson, and I get my conversation. Sound fair enough?” Bill asked as he extended his hand to the younger, his signature azure flames igniting around it.
Dipper eyed it closely for a couple of moments before he sighed, grasping the hand, “Deal.”