It wasn't too long before Dipper and the dream demon crested the rocky hill and found themselves on a well-worn dirt path winding through the shadowed trees. The brunet noticed a long wooden gate that would have been blocking their path, if not for the fact that it stood wide open. He likely wouldn't have even seen the gate, if not for the metallic "No Trespassing" sign that glinted in the moonlight, holding on by a single rusted nail to the weather-worn wood.

Dipper wondered how Bill found this place... and how many laws he'd broken to call it his home... Before the brunet could think on the matter any longer, though, the dream demon stopped moving. Startled, Dipper nearly ran into him, as the other had been pulling him along for most of their journey up the path.

"Is everything okay?" he whispered, his head whipping back and forth as he tried to figure out what had halted the blond so suddenly.

"Hm? Oh, yeah, sorry," Bill replied, scratching the back of his head with his free hand, seeming a bit embarrassed. "This is the border of Gravity Falls," he explained, making Dipper furrow his brow.

"Right," he agreed. "And...?" Bill shook his head with a huff, giving the other a thin smile.

"This part is always just a little unpleasant," he conceded. Before Dipper could inquire any further, Bill continued. "Shall we?" He lead the brunet onwards, gripping his hand a little tighter than before.

Apprehension gripped Dipper's chest like a vise as he wondered what it was about passing the border that bothered the dream demon so. They stepped froward past the gate and Dipper held his breath nervously, preparing for possibly another sensation like when they'd teleported.

Strangely enough, though, all Dipper felt was a slight chill. The hairs on the back of his neck raised as a shudder ran down his spine, but it passed in an instant and left the brunet more confused than uncomfortable. Was something supposed to have happened?

Bill squeezed Dipper's hand almost painfully, causing the Mystery Twin to turn to him in surprise. The dream demon's face had gone a bit pale, one eye squeezed closed, like he was fighting off a splitting headache. Bill took a deep breath, his free hand resting against his head, as if to keep it from spinning.

"Oh," he muttered breathlessly when he realized how hard he was gripping the other's hand, "sorry." Dipper pursed his lips in concern as the dream demon let go of his hand.

"It's fine; I'm more worried about you," he admitted. "Are you alright?" Bill waved his hand dismissively.

"Yeah, it's nothing," he insisted with a small smile to alleviate the other's concern. "It'll pass soon." Dipper wanted to protest that Bill certainly didn't look okay. His skin looked clammy, almost sickly in a way. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he recalled the last time the dream demon had look this way...

Before he could say anything though, he noticed that the color was already returning to Bill's face, the ill-looking shadow across his face fading into his usual devilish expression. Dipper furrowed his brow, relieved yet confused by what had just transpired.

"What was that? Was it some sort of spell at the border, or something?" he wondered. Bill shrugged vaguely, hoisting Dipper's bag back up onto his shoulder from where it had slipped down his arm.

"Wish I could tell you, Pine Tree, but I never did manage to get that information out of ol' Sixer. And even then, I'm pretty sure his answers are all just speculation."

"What do you mean?"

Bill gestured to the path before them, implying that they should walk while they talked. The dirt path was wide enough and well-worn to the point that they didn't have to worry too much about tripping over any roots or anything. Dipper was grateful for that fact, seeing as it was growing so dark that it was difficult to make out the features on the blond walking beside him.

"Turns out that, for whatever reason, all of the 'weirdness' in Gravity Falls is actually confined to Gravity Falls. Back when I..." Bill faltered for a moment before clearing his throat and continuing. "Back in Weirdmageddon, there was this, I don't know, barrier of sorts. It kept us and all of our chaos from spreading outside of the town limits. Sixer wouldn't tell me anything, no matter what I did, so I never really found out why or how the barrier exists." Dipper didn't have to see the blond's face to know what his expression was. There was hollowness to his voice, a dark undertone of pain that accompanied any mention of his life before taking on a human form. Dipper winced in guilt at the fact that a part of him always felt relieved at the pain in the other's voice. He felt terrible for it, but it was true... It was confirmation that the dream demon had changed, that he regretted what he did, that he knew it was wrong.

Or maybe he's just bitter that it didn't work out...

Dipper scowled at himself, taking care to internalize the words this time as he snarled at that nagging voice in the back of his head: Shut up...

Out loud, he clarified, "So, this 'barrier' around the town keeps the weird from getting out. That does explain a lot... I always wondered back then why you never messed with my dreams when I was home in California." Dipper took a moment to process the information he'd been given before speaking again. "But you can cross the barrier now... because... you're human? Or, at least, in a human form, right?" Beside him, Bill nodded silently. Dipper pursed his lips. "It didn't seem all that easy for you, though... you looked like you were going to throw up." Bill chuckled grimly at the brunet's words.

"It's kind of complicated," he admitted. There was a pause in which Dipper worried that the other wouldn't offer any more explanation. The silence only lasted for another moment, though, and Bill took a deep breath before continuing. "My understanding of it is that, when in Gravity Falls, it's more like I am 'in a human form,' rather than being truly human. I still retain the majority of my abilities; at least, the ones that coincide with this dimension's realm of possibilities. I'm more anomaly than human, honestly. An imposter in your world; human enough to exist in this plane, but too much of demon to be anchored completely." Dipper didn't say anything, but his heart wrenched at the other's words and the bitterness with which they fell from his lips.

"When I re-entered this realm with a new human form after 'dying' last year," Bill continued, "I needed some place where I could keep an eye on you while being un-reachable by magic, lest you and your sister try to find me. So... I tried crossing the border of Gravity Falls. The first time I tried, well... Honestly, I thought was going to die. Or at least tear myself between realities. It was surprisingly painful... Fascinatingly so, actually. As unpleasant a sensation as it is, it never ceases to intrigue me. See, the nature of existing in your world by means of a human form essentially means I have one foot in either realm. A part of me is always connected to the mindscape, clinging to the places where the fabric of reality has been worn thin. But when I cross the barrier, I'm stripped of my magic, of my connection to the realms. I still have a general attachment to the mindscape, as it's a subconscious realm within this dimension, but I can't manipulate it like I usually can. It's more like I'm simply aware that it's there."

"Wait," Dipper interrupted, "okay, so... no magic, that part I get. Makes sense, but... what do you mean by your 'connection to the realms?'" Bill ran a hand through his hair, lips pursed in thought.

"How can I explain this in a way that makes sense," he muttered under his breath. "Think of it this way... For pretty much all of your life, you've relied on spoken word as a means of communication, correct? Now, what if one day you woke up and nobody in the world could speak, including you. What if verbal communication as a concept was simply unfathomable. Nobody had ever spoken, ever produced a sound from their vocal chords... Only you seemed to be aware that something was different. Only you seemed to need that ability to truly be able to converse with the people around you. Sure, you have non-verbal communication, but there's a gap in your own ability to connect to the world around you, a gap that nobody else seems to suffer from."

Dipper's lips curled into a pout as he tried to imagine what that would be like. He'd thought, before, about what it might be like to be blind, or deaf, or mute, or any combination of the above, but something about what the blond was describing felt different... To suddenly go blind in a world that had no concept of sight, to lose your hearing in a world with no sound, to lose the ability to speak in a world where spoken word wasn't a thing... To rely on and connect so deeply with something that, in the world you found yourself in, wasn't even a possibility... To be missing a part of something so integral, something that didn't exist in that world...

"I... think I understand...?" Dipper voiced uncertainly. Bill chuckled beside him.

"I wouldn't blame you if you didn't," he confessed. "It's hard to explain, and even I don't fully understand it yet, but..." he shrugged. "All I know is that crossing the barrier at the edge of town, well... it hurts. Every time I do it, I can feel pieces of me being ripped away. But even as that part of me is split and pulled apart, there's another part of me that is threaded so deeply and completely into place, anchored so fully in this reality that I... I feel more human, more complete than I ever thought I would, even as I know a part of me is missing."

The two of them fell into silence, though not as tense as the one they had been accompanied by earlier that night. Dipper's mind was racing, twisting up with questions and theories, realizations and understandings welling up among the enthusiastic turmoil of his thoughts. Was the cold chill he'd felt perhaps been an effect of the barrier? Since he had only a superficial connection to magic, that would make sense, right? He tried to recall if he'd felt that chill when leaving Gravity Falls last year... He winced as he recalled the end of last summer. He'd spent almost every waking moment with a cold and trembling heart; he doubted he'd be able to remember something as inconsequential as a sudden chill. Bill suddenly let out a laugh, startling the brunet out of his thoughts.

"I'll never forget the panic I felt when I first crossed the barrier and realized what had happened," he recalled with another laugh, shaking his head and smiling thinly. "Thankfully, crossing back over the barrier seems to, uh, 'put me back together,' you could say."

As the two of them rounded a bend in the trail, the warm glow of porch lights bathed the path in an inviting yellow light. There was a slight flutter in Dipper's chest, a twist in his gut that simultaneously warmed his heart and chilled his blood.

"At last, we arrive!" Bill announced with a grin. It seemed to Dipper that he was a little too eager to move on from their conversation... The dream demon ran ahead a few steps then turned to face Dipper, spreading his arms out to either side of him, Dipper's bag swinging wildly at his spin. "Welcome, Dipper Pines, to la casa de Bill!" Dipper rolled his eyes good-naturedly at the other's antics, but he couldn't shake the nagging voice in the back of his head, reminding him that he shouldn't be enjoying himself, that he was supposed to be upset with Bill...

Dipper let out a small sigh as Bill lead him up the wooden steps of the old hunting cabin, humming to himself as he fished around in his pocket for what Dipper assumed was a key.

Just talk to him... he thought to himself, chewing his lip. You can't keep doing this...

By the time Bill had unlocked the door and stepped inside, holding it open for the brunet to walk through, Dipper had made up his mind. Before the night was over, before either of them went to bed...

They were going to talk.

No more secrets.

No more lies.

They were going to fix things between them before it was too late...

GQFFIJ: TI BIIG ND NAWU...

CQWW: AO, LD NOQL QL NOI FJQYAW FABQE AGDWILEIBN OPYABL LFIAU DK...

(It's a long one, so please let me know if there are any errors!!)

A/N: Well, I am very behind on my sound editing assignment now, haha! The love and support you all gave me last chapter was so overwhelming that I just had to get another chapter out to you guys before I lost the motivation! Being able to interact with you all again really made my day, and even though I'm probably going to regret not working on my project, oh well! It's too late now, haha!

Sorry that nothing really happened in this chapter either... I wanted to get something out to you guys before we get into the real stuff, ya know? Cuz within the next few chapters... we're going to be hitting the gas, my guys, gals, and non-binary pals, haha!

Anyway, I hope you liked this chapter, as uneventful and short as it was! I probably won't be able to update again for a little while, but that's to be expected, since the last few weeks of this quarter in school are quickly approaching! Please let me know what you all think, I really do appreciate the feedback, as it helps me provide the best content I can for you guys!

Never forget that you are so deeply loved, so incredibly important, and beautifully valid! I love you all to the moon and back! I'll howl to you later!