Maybe a shower would clear his rampant thoughts, Dipper thought as he closed the bathroom door behind himself. He leaned against the aged wood and breathed a stressed sigh, peeling off his pyjamas after a few silent moments. His dream the night before had been anything but pleasant. After his whole exchange with Bill, he didn’t exactly expect to have sweet dreams anyway, but that didn’t make him feel any better about it.

Each article of clothing he stripped off his slightly sweaty body dropped carelessly to the floor as he traversed the room to the tub. He ran a hand through his damp hair as he stepped in and drew the curtain shut. The warm water on his skin allowed his muscles to relax. He took a cleansing breath. With the sound of the strong water current filling the room, Dipper couldn’t help himself from breaking into song.

“Disco girl, coming through! That girl is you!♪”

Twenty song-filled minutes later, the preteen stepped out of the shower feeling refreshed with a smile on his face. Before he could even reach for a towel, a light grey figure sprang from the mirror  leaving behind a ripple effect of dimensional dark matter. Dipper’s heart skipped a beat and he nearly jumped out of his skin. He stumbled back with a shriek, tripping over the edge of the bathtub and landing flat on his butt inside. Bill burst out into laughter.

“Boy, you have the grace of a drunken ox with two left feet!” he mocked, pointing and laughing. Dipper grumbled and pulled himself back to his feet. “So what’s up, Pine Tree?” He hesitated a moment, eye flicking down between the other’s legs and then back up to his face. “Clearly not you.”

Face flushing red as a cherry, Dipper gasped and scrambled to cover up. He yanked a towel down from the rack and hastily wrapped it around his waist.

“Seriously? What are you doing here?”

“Just thought I’d drop in on my little pet,” said Bill, examining his figurative nails.

“Pet?” Dipper protested, “No way, do not go around calling me that!”

“Would you prefer slave?”

“No!”

“How ‘bout underling? Minion?”

“None of the above! What’s with these degrading names, anyway?”

“Degrading? Wow, rude. You’re the minion of an all-knowing, all-powerful dream demon, and you think being my pet is degrading? Jeez, kid, where did you learn your manners?–or lack thereof, for that matter.”

“Ugh, whatever. Did you have to schedule your visit for just as soon as I got out of the shower?”

“Accidents happen, yanno.” Dipper rolled his eyes.

“So did you come to finish paying me back finally?” he asked.

“Yeesh, is your mind in the gutter twenty-four-seven?”

“Bill,” Dipper lashed, extending his arms emphatically, “why are you here?”

“I suppose I was curious about why you were so desperate last night that you were willing to exchange your soul for a good time,” Bill drawled in response. “If it were any other adolescent fleshbag I wouldn’t be surprised, but you…what’s your motive, kid?”

All of Dipper’s muscles tensed back up, jaw slacking agape. He went wide-eyed and blushed again.

“O-oh,” he stammered. What was he supposed to say? For some stupid reason, he hadn’t expected Bill to see through his façade and was ill prepared for confrontation. He squeezed his eyes shut, balling his fists at his side. A frog leapt into his throat and without even thinking about it, blurted out the first thing that came to mind. “Well, y-you see the truth is that I sorta” he bit his lip, “have a crush on you.” All his blood ran cold.

Wow. Nice one, Dipper thought, mentally slapping himself.

Bill burst out into a roaring laughter. In-fucking-credible! He didn’t think he could laugh any harder. He clutched his body tight, kicking his feet wildly. A tear even ran from the corner of his eye. As much as Dipper wanted to look angry–repulsed, even–he kept a calm outward appearance, putting on a nervous grin and twiddling his thumbs.

“Yeah, heh heh,” he muttered, wringing his hands. He brought a hand up to rub the back of his neck, glancing around the bathroom in search for his next words.

“You’re a new kind of pathetic, Pine Tree!” Dipper bit back a growl and transformed it into a soft whimper, displaying a look of defeat. Bill wiped the tear from his face and spoke through his chuckles, “Thanks for the laugh, kid, but I’ve gotta be going. I’ll be back later, so try not to be shower fresh next time.” And with that, he was gone back through the portal from whence he came. Dipper gave a few last shaky laughs before dropping his shoulders and groaning.

“I hate my life.”

“Not your life anymore!” Bill said, popping back in and vanishing just as suddenly as he’d appeared. Dipper balled his fists and threw a hairbrush at the mirror.

“And I hate you!”

Breakfast that morning with Mabel was incredibly more awkward than Dipper was expecting. Silence hovered in the air between them, creating a tension too strong to ignore. He couldn’t look his sister in the eye, but she was staring at him like a hawk.

“Why aren’t you eating your Stancakes?” she asked, gesturing to Dipper’s untouched breakfast. He didn’t respond, keeping his eyes averted and tapping his fork absentmindedly against the plate. He stared out the window into the forest, chin in hand. “Dipper, is everything okay?” For a split second, he glanced at her. Mabel’s face was a blend of concern and confusion, and seeing her dismay made Dipper feel a little guilty. He didn’t get the chance to respond to her because in the next moment the television on the counter chimed with breaking news.

“Gravity monster ravaging Gravity Falls!” the reporter announced. The twins turned both their attentions to the screen to see an invisible force pulling the trees and bushes sideways. Shingles stripped off the tops of houses and leaves and branches were torn from their trunks. The camera shifted then to the beast. It was an angular demon who hovered above the ground on one narrow spike that increased in girth upwards to become its body. Thin, needle-like arms dangled on either side of the creature as a set of translucent crystals orbited its body. It raised its lithe arms and let out a warped, high-pitched screech; trees were ripped from the ground, cars lifted from the streets, and rooftops severed from their bases. “Police are attempting to get the monster under control,” said the reporter as the TV depicted sheriff Blubs and deputy Durland nervously pitching a lasso at the large creature. It wrapped around one of the revolving crystals and the sheer unyielding force of its obit jerked the officers off the ground and began spinning them around wildly like fan blades, their screams echoing through the streets. The camera shifted back to the reporter. “Officials tell us all to keep calm and not pani–woaaahh!” Their sentence was cut off as the reporter was swept off their feet and dragged into the beast’s gravitational pull. Seconds after, the display started tumbling and then cut to static, promptly followed by a TECHNICAL DIFFICULTIES screen image.

The twins looked at each other. Mabel’s jaw was dropped open.

“Dipper, we gotta go stop that thing!” she said, raising her voice and pointing to the television. Dipper brought a hand up to his neck and rubbed it nervously.

“I don’t know, Mabel, I’m not quite feeling like myself. I’m not sure if I can do it,” he replied with hesitance.

“What? But you always know what to do! If we don’t help, the town will be destroyed,” Mabel reasoned. Dipper rubbed his arm, eyes flicking around the kitchen in thought. With Bill liable to turn up at any given moment, it was going to make monster fighting a lot more risky; but on the other hand, this is almost exactly the type of situation he had in mind when he decided to make the deal. Still, he couldn’t shake the bad feeling he had about this one.

“Well…” he pondered, scratching his head, “I guess we should at least try.”

“Yay!” Mabel cheered, raising her arms and kicking out her feet. She reached across the table to scruff up Dipper’s hair affectionately. “I’ll go get my grappling hook!” she said, hopping down from her chair and speeding off upstairs. Dipper watched her with a weak smile. After she was out of sight, he sighed and went to go find his journal.

Sirens blared and reverberated through the streets, echoing through the alleyways and reflecting off houses. Streets were blocked off by debris and by police cars.

The twins arrived at the scene, weapons in hand and dressed for success. They glanced at each other through shaded eyes and nodded, sly smirks adorning their faces. Mabel’s hair was pulled back in a ponytail, tied with a yellow scrunchie and accented with a star-shaped hairpin. Her lovely sweater-of-the-day was a lavender knit depicting Issac Newton and captioned ‘I could sure go for a cup of gravi-tea’. She wielded her grappling hook with pride, standing tall and proud with her hand on her hip.

Dipper didn’t go quite as overboard, opting for his usual attire (though the sunglasses were pretty cool, he had to admit). His journal tucked under his arm, he too stood tall and proud.

Two sets of steel-toed boots clunked in sync against the asphalt as the pair strutted their way through crowds. They approached (a very bruised and scratched up) sheriff Blubs. He was standing with fists balled at his hips, glaring at the gravity demon from afar. One of the lenses of his sunglasses had popped out and the other one was majorly cracked. Dipper straightened his back and poked out his chest; he tapped on the officer’s shoulder. Blubs turned to face him. Mabel crossed her arms and squared her shoulders.

“Pardon me, officer,” said Dipper, “we’re here to help take care of the gravity monster situation.” He and Mabel fist bumped. Blubs gave them elevator eyes, looking them over and raising an eyebrow.

“Aren’t you both a little too young to be fighting dangerous monsters?” he questioned.

“Yes we are,” Mabel stated proudly, earning an elbow in the side from her brother. “Ow!” she recoiled. Dipper hissed her name under his breath and Mabel shrugged apologetically.

“Look, we’re totally qualified to do this,” Dipper explained. “We’ve fought plenty of other things like this and come out alive. This is no problem.”

“Well,” Blubs pondered, rubbing his chin, “if that’s the case then I don’t see why n–”

Just then, deputy Durland rocketed by and crashed face-first into a pile of trashcans, making a loud clatter that caught all of their attentions. He pulled himself out of the accident and stumbled over to the others, seeing stars.

“Hey y’all, what’s goin’ on over here? Did ya see the way I gave that no-good baddie what-for?” he boasted.

“You were great,” Blubs praised, putting a hand on Durland’s shoulder. “After this, we should treat ourselves to a nice hot latte.”

“Uh, excuse me?” Dipper interjected, extending his arms in confusion.

“What’re a couple of kids doin’ in town when there’s a monster on the loose?” asked Durland.

“They say they’re qualified to take the beast down.”

“Oh no, no kids gonna get themselves hurt on my watch! You all go home and play dollies. Where’re your parents?” Durland ordered, extending an accusatory finger at the twins.

“What?” Dipper protested, “But you just said–”

“You heard the man,” Blubs affirmed, crossing his arms. “You all go home now.”

“Come on!” Mabel spoke up. “We just wanna help!”

“No, no, and no! Now, get!” Durland commanded, waving his arms at them.

“But–”

“Don’t make me have to use my nightstick!”

The twins sighed and turned away, dropping their shoulders in defeat. Man, it sucked being twelve. This was totally unjust. But wait–Mabel stopped walking and grabbed Dipper’s sleeve. He glanced back at her curiously. All hope was not lost.

“There’s gotta be a way we can get to that thing without going through them,” she said. “Let’s look around.” Dipper nodded in agreement. Scanning the scene for any entry way possible, the twins searched for anywhere that was not blocked off by either debris or barricades. Eventually, Mabel tugged on Dipper’s vest and pointed to an alleyway at their right where an uprooted tree had fallen, slumped against the buildings on either side, leaving a passage just big enough for a couple of mischievous kids to fit through.

Dipper winked at his sister and took her hand, waiting until Blubs and Durland had occupied themselves with another flawed attempt at harnessing the monster. He followed her lead through the narrow ingress. They stooped down, ducking their heads beneath the trunk, and squeezed through. Dipper managed to wedge himself in the hole, needing help to get free. Mabel took his hands and tugged her brother free. Landing askew on the ground, they scrambled to their feet and pressed forward.

The digital-sounding screech of the monster nearly deafened them both as they approached it. Both siblings clapped their hands over their ears and grit their teeth. It was a grating sound that rattled their bones and even shook the ground beneath them. They peeked out from around the corner of a building just before where the monster’s path of destruction began. Their hair rose to their cheeks, gravitating towards the monster’s pull. Mabel frustratedly tried pushing it back behind her head while Dipper frantically scoured the pages in his journal for an entry on the demon.

“Alright, this thing is called a ‘Tangle’ and it says that when it gets mad, it increases its gravitational pull. ‘Make sure to wear steel-toed boots’,” he read. He and Mabel clicked their boots together.

“Check!” Mabel smiled.

“‘and wear earplugs to avoid going deaf’.” Mabel pulled two sets of earplugs from her pockets and handed a pair to her brother. They put them in and gave each other a thumbs up. They could still hear each other if they needed to, but they would have to shout at pretty much the top of their lungs, so they would mostly be using body language to communicate. Alright, it was time to move. Dipper nodded to Mabel and earned a nod in response. The pair sped off, following in the wake of destruction.

As they were running, old ‘bad news’ himself decided to make yet another appearance. Of course.

“Hey kid!” Bill greeted in his usual chipper tone. Startled into existence, Dipper tripped over his own feet and face-planted into the mud. Bill broke out into laughter. “Nice grace, Tripper!” he howled in stitches. Dipper grumbled and dug his nails into the dirt, trying to redirect the anger. He took a deep breath and got to his feet again just as Mabel turned to see if he was alright.

“Whoa, Dipper! You okay, bro-bro?” she asked. Dipper panicked, side-stepping to try and hide Bill’s form.

“Uh, yeah! Sorry, I just tripped over a rock, no big deal!” he lied, giving her a thumbs up. “Come on, let’s keep going,” he said, running past her. She followed suit.

Bill tailed behind Dipper until he caught up to his side.

“You know she can’t see me, right?” he told him plainly.

“What? How are you even talking to me right now? I have earplugs in!”

“Mindscape, kid,” Bill stated, moving to face Dipper. He reclined back and crossed his legs, still keeping pace with the pair. “Great place. You should visit again, sometime.”

“As if. Ugh, Bill, can’t you come bother me some other time? I’m trying to save the town here.”

“Oh, I’m not gonna interfere. You do your little ‘save the day’ thing. I’m just here to watch,” Bill said, fabricating a tub of popcorn and tossing a handful of kernels towards his face. They phased into his body and disappeared. Did he just absorb them? Creepy. Dipper rolled his eyes and did his best to ignore it.

They were gaining on the demon when it screeched again, shaking the earth below. Both twins had to stop in order to keep their balance, holding their arms out to steady themselves. When they stabilized, they shook their heads and made sure each other was okay before continuing.

Finally, they came to a stop a few yards before the demon. It had its back to them and was uprooting more trees when Mabel called out.

“Hey, you big dumb meanie, stop destroying the town!” The beast turned to acknowledge her shout. Surprisingly, it did not retaliate. It simply stood there and stared down at the twins, waiting for their next move. “Oh,” she said, confused, “thanks.”

It was all too soon, as in the next moment the tangle screeched again–this time knocking them both off their feet and back onto their butts–and tore all the surrounding trees from the ground threateningly. It launched one at them both. Scared gasps left the twins and each of them rolled in opposite directions to avoid being crushed. The impact of the tree smashing into the ground gave them both a shock of terror, but they were not discouraged. They got to their feet and joined up again at the tree’s roots, a little closer to the monster.

Dipper flipped open his journal and combed through the text to find a way to defeat it. All the while, the tangle was uprooting houses and amassing cars to fling at them. Mabel looked over Dipper’s shoulder to see what he was reading.

“‘Important note: the crystals circling the tangle’s body are a critical point in fighting the demon. Four green crystals and a red crystal can be seen orbiting the creature. It is crucial!!! that the opponent–’” Dipper’s reading was cut off by the wrath of the tangle growing so violent that the journal was ripped out Dipper’s hands. “No!” he cried, reaching out in a fruitless attempt to grab it.

Bill burst out in laughter.

“Take that, Pines! That’s what you get for costing me my deal with Gideon!” he belted out, shaking a fist at the twins. Dipper felt a rage boil inside him that was inexplicably intense. He balled his fists and grit his teeth together hard enough to hurt.

“Dipper, aim for the red one!” Mabel shouted, shaking her brother by the shoulders. Dipper snapped out of his enraged trance and reached down to grab a rock. His eyes flicked between the crystals. He hesitated on pitching the stone, trying to decide which one of the translucent light grey crystals was the red one.

“Where’s the red one? I-I can’t tell!” he responded.

“What? Dipper, it’s right there!” Mabel said, pointing ahead of her. Yeah. That helped. Sucking in a breath and hoping for the best, Dipper wound back his arm and let the rock fly.

Wow.

“Now that was just pathetic, Pine Tree,” he heard Bill say from behind. He opened his eyes to see that the stone had barely flown three feet. Dipper’s face flushed beet red. Mabel groaned and pushed her brother to the side, snatching the rock and pitching it at the beast herself.

Bullseye! Mabel landed a direct hit on the red crystal causing the tangle to freeze, all of its possessions dropping to the ground.

“Yes!” she cheered. Dipper pushed past her and darted towards the direction where his journal had landed. He made it about halfway before the demon let out a bone chilling screech that brought Dipper to his knees. “Dipper!” Concerned for her brother, Mabel ran after him. It was then that the beast began emanating a shadowy aura and all that had dropped was gravitated back into the air. This time, however, the twins had gotten too close in proximity and not even the weight of their boots could prevent them from being lifted up off the ground.

“Whoaa!” they synchronized, flailing their limbs wildly. Dipper continued trying to reach for the journal but it was out of his reach. Now the beast was pulling its collections in towards its body. Dipper screamed and thrashed about, doing his very best to avoid being sucked in. Suddenly, Mabel wrapped her arm around Dipper’s chest and held on to him with all her strength.

“Grappling hook!” she beamed cheerfully.

“Wha–ah!” Dipper’s breath was partially knocked from his chest at the sudden halt. Mabel had shot her grappling hook behind them and locked it around a pipe that was sticking out of the ground from where one of the houses was stripped away. Thank god for Mabel, Dipper sighed with relief.

“Looks like Shooting Star’s got a much better handle on the situation than you, Pine Tree,” Bill snickered. “Seems to me you’re pretty much useless without that journal, huh?”

Ouch.

Dipper’s mouth came agape and he stared forward in shock, eyes going unfocused. Images flashed through his mind at all the times he’s saved Mabel and kept them both safe. All the danger he had gotten her into, and still managed to get her out of alive all because of the journal. Were they going to die now? Was this the end? His eyes welled with tears and spilled over.

“Dipper?” Mabel said, looking over her brother’s shoulder to see if he was alright. “Dipper! Dipper, what’s wrong?” He didn’t respond; he didn’t hear her. “Dipper, snap out of it!”

“What’s wrong, Pine Tree?” Bill asked with a sing-song voice. “Feeling defeated?” he mocked, fading into view in front of Dipper’s face. “Feeling…weak?” He twirled his cane between his fingers, a crinkle of satisfaction in his eye. A screen opened up where his bow tie was; it depicted a headstone that read R.I.P. MABEL PINES.

Dipper furrowed his brow and frowned.

“No,” he growled.

“Huh?” Bill dropped his arms and lost the amused expression.

“Ominis exiliaris!” Dipper shouted. Bill went still, eye opening wide enough to see traces of blood veins. “Ominis exiliaris!” he repeated, eyes illuminating a searing white. Mabel’s jaw dropped open, staring up at her brother with awe.

“Pine Tree, don’t,” Bill said very quietly, voice barely a whisper. It sounded like he was pleading. Dipper lowered his head and smirked.

“Ominis exiliaris!” he shouted at the very top of his lungs.

The twins watched as the tangle erupted into charcoal black flames with the vigor and brilliance of a supernova. Bill instantly did the same, engulfed by what Mabel saw as cerulean flames and what Dipper saw as grey flames.

A swirling black and red void opened up in the skies resonating a low humming sound as Bill and the tangle were both stretched and sucked into the black hole, emitting shrill screeches of pain and terror. When every particle of their beings was consumed, the void closed up and vanished, causing all the gravity to return to normal.

The twins screamed as they came crashing to the ground below, landing hard in the mud. Dipper rubbed his head, groaning as he turned over onto his back, staring up at the once again clear sky. He checked his hand for blood and sure enough it was there; he must have landed on a rock.

“Mabel, are you alright?” he grunted. He waited a few seconds for her to answer, but got no response. “Mabel?” he said again, glancing over to his side where she landed. Still no response. Ice shot through his veins, stomach dropping to his feet. “Mabel!” he panicked, scrambling over to his sister and turning her over on her back. He shook her shoulders and shouted her name again, but he received nothing but silence. Her face was scratched up and bloodied where she had landed on a thorn branch from one of the bushes the tangle had thrown haphazardly about. Dipper frantically glanced around to see that police cars and paramedics were coming to surround  the two of them, and he saw that Grunkle Stan’s car was there too.

His eyes flicked back down to his limp sister draped motionlessly in his arms. He embraced her as tightly as he could, tears streaming down his cheeks. “Mabel wake up,” he uttered softly. “Please be okay.”

He jumped slightly, feeling a hand on his shoulder. Grunkle Stan was standing over him, concern written all over his face. He leaned down to wrap his arms around the twins, comforting Dipper who was hysterical with worry and cradling Mabel’s inert frame.

Sirens blared and reverberated through the streets, keeping everyone on their toes as they rushed to save a little girl’s life.

{ Da da da daaaaaa! (Legend of zelda reference btw) Anywhale, anotha for ya! Gtg now, I've got math class now, cya!
Signing out,
Metallicana-scale~