Dipper, Can You Hear Me? Ch6

(Chapter Note: Events that take place in the mindscape are bolded)

Stanford sighed softly as he tucked his niece in, brushing her hair out of her face gently and slamming his eyes shut when he thought of his nephew. He leaned down and pressed a gentle kiss to her forehead before turning and making his way out of the living room, heading straight for the porch. As he stepped out the door a blast of cool air hit him, and he backtracked only slightly to grab another blanket.  When he stepped out again he welcomed the cool breeze and swung the door closed behind him so the house wouldn't cool off.

He turned and his gaze landed upon Bill, whom was seated on the porch-swing, gaze locked on the forest, hat held tightly in his hands. Stan tilted his head slightly as he watched, surprise registering briefly in his mind when he realized he could recognize the mind numbing panic in the demons eyes. He cleared his throat, and Bill made no move to acknowledge his presence. The older man sighed and made his way over, shaking out the folded up blanket before draping it around Bill's shoulders.

He was silent as he took a seat beside the demon, gaze falling upon the forest, and he flinched in surprise when the man beside him started talking

"Do you think we'll find him?" Stanford didn't have an answer for that. The demon continued a few minutes later "Do you think that we'll ever see him again?"

Stan heaved a sigh

"I think the kid is an idiot for wandering out there alone. But I'm going to tell you the same thing I told Mabel" he turned to look at the demon as he spoke "We're going to get him back. When we have him back, we'll nurse him back to health and then beat the living snot out of him for being such an idiot"

Bill cracked a small smile

"And then nurse him back to health again?"

Stan chuckled softly

"We'll see. Depends how angry I am when we find him" he stood and headed toward the door, pausing halfway into the house "You coming, Cipher?"

Bill shook his head and his grip on the hat in his hands tightened

"No. I'm going to wait for him a bit longer" he heaved a sigh "Thank you for the blanket"

Stan nodded and headed inside, leaving the door unlocked so Bill could come in when he was done waiting for Dipper. As he walked through the house he allowed himself to think over the details of the day, one detail sticking out more than the others. He paused as he walked through the living room, gaze falling on Mabel as her terrified screams from earlier that day rang through his mind.

"That's his hat!" the scream was hoarse as she dropped to her knees and grabbed the item, crushing it to her chest and hanging her head

"Dipper!?" Bill screamed, taking off into the brush and leaving Stan and Pacifica standing in the clearing with Mabel.

"Mabel honey, what's wrong?" Pacifica asked worriedly, crouching beside the brunette and placing a hand on her shoulder

"Pacifica it's his hat!" she wailed, stuffing the fabric into the the blondes hands

Before the blonde could say a word Stanford has grabbed the hat, breath halting as he stared at the dirtied hat his nephew always wore. He swallowed thickly and took off in the direction Bill had gone. It didn't take him long to catch up with the demon, and skidded to a stop beside him on a thin path, dread settling in his stomach when he realized the puddle he was standing in wasn't water.

Stanford sighed heavily and made his way to his bedroom, closing the door firmly behind himself and climbing into bed. He hadn't told Mabel about the blood, deciding the girl was terrified enough for her brother without adding that on top of it. Pacifica had gone home shortly after they returned from their expedition, promising to keep her phone on all night so that if she was needed they could reach her. Stan had snorted; if Mabel needed her she would probably take Stan's car and floor it to the Northwest mansion.

The old man sat up slightly when he heard the front door open and then close, relaxing only when the click of a lock was heard, deciding Cipher must be coming in to go to bed. Sure enough a few minutes later he heard Bill making his way toward Dipper's room. Where normally he felt annoyance at the demons presence he intead felt pity; depite his distaste for the demon, Stan wasn't blind, and he knew very well that they had feelings for each other. And he knew that those feelings were the reason Cipher wasn't still power crazy and trying to demolish Gravity Falls. He had fallen in love.

Though Stanford couldn't surpress a small amount of bitterness that of all the people the demon could have fallen for, it had to be his nephew. Despite the bitterness, however, he did acknowledge that deep down he wasn't surprised. He remembered how Cipher had treated Dipper when they were all inside his mind. He knew even back then that the demon had a soft-spot for his nephew. Dipper had always had a soft spot for the supernatural, and when they made the deal that Bill would stop being a nuisance in exchange for Dipper's help with everything he needed to do -as long as it wasn't evil- Stan knew it wouldn't be long before Dipper fell for the demon.

Stan sighed heavily and pulled himself further up the bed until his head met a pillow. He tucked his arm under it and tugged his tie off with his other hand before closing his eyes, hoping to get some sleep.

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When Mabel woke it was after 3am. Her head still hurt from her earlier headache, and within seconds of waking she was gripped with fear over her brother once more. With a heavy sigh she pulled herself off the couch and made her way to Dipper's bedroom, stepping through the opening and freezing when she spotted someone in the bed.

"Shooting Star?" Bill asked softly

She was silent, and the triangle sat up on the pillow and patted it welcomingly. As she walked over, he turned back into his human form, earning a greatful smile as she climbed into bed next to him.

"I'm worried about Dipper" she muttered

An image of the blood stained path flashed through Bill's mind, and he forced it away as he lifted his arms to encircle her

"So am I" he admitted

"Hey, Bill?" she asked after a moment, continuing when she recieved a curious hum in response "Why aren't you acting all... Demony?"

He was quiet for a moment

"Go to sleep" he eventually responded "I'll show you in the mindscape"

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Mabel looked around curiously as she walked, stopping only when she spotted Bill on a swing. She watched as he swung back and forth for a few moments, and when he raised a brow she spoke was was on her mind

"This is really different from when we were in Grunkle Stan's mind"

"Because this isn't technically a mind. It's the mindscape. I control everything in it. And I pulled you in here from your mind. It's way too colourful for you to be able to listen to me"

She giggled sheepishly

"I like colours"

A smirk tugged at his lips

"I'm aware"

He hopped off the swing and took on his triangle form once more, floating ahead of her and indicating that she should follow. They walked for some time, until their surroundings were void of everything but trees and dirt. He stopped floating, and she stopped beside him

"So, you want to know why I'm not like I used to be, right kid?" she nodded enthusiastically "Alright. That's kind of a long story, so get ready to listen. I can sum it up with one easy sentence, but you'll have a million questions. You of course remember when we were all in Stanfords mind?"

As he spoke the area behind him warped and became a vortex, the center of said vortex showing an image of what they remembered from being in her Grunkle's mind. Her eyes watched the images flash past, completely enraptured, and nodded her head, noticing certain details seemed highlighted. After a moment, she realized those details all surrounded any interactions between himself and Dipper.

"You left before hurting Dipper" she muttered

"I left before hurting Pine Tree" she knew if he was human, he would be nodding. He lifted his arm and swung it around like a clock, and the image changed to the days she had been trying to create a Sock Opera for Gabe.

Once again the memory played on with certain details highlighted, only this time she didn't understand why he was showing it; he still physically abused Dipper's body, and tormented his consciousness. Bill held his hands up, signalling that he understood and would explain. Once again he lifted his arm and swung it in a circle once like a clock, and the memory changed to him posessing another man. One that looked alarmingly like the man taking care of her and Dipper.

"Is that Grunkle Stan?" she breathed

Bill hesitated

"More or less" he shrugged

She forced herself not to question it, and instead watched how much more violent and unforgiving he had been with this man, sudenly understanding why moments from Dipper's posession were highlighted. Before she could comment he swooped his arm around yet again, and the memory changed to the night after the Sock Opera. She watched, completely enraptured as Bill appeared to Dipper and healed his injuries as the other slept and left without a word.

For quite some time she watched in silence as Bill showed her various memories, changing them each time with a swoop of his arm. It went on like this for what felt like hours, and she took in every detail he shared with her, eyes wide in fascination. Finally he spoke once more

"Last one, and everything should make sense" he murmured, arm swinging for the final time

When the memory was over, she finally understood. Her gaze turned upon him, eyes wide in shock, and he floated closer, stopping when he was at eye level.

"You gave it up for him"

He shrugged slightly

"More or less" he admitted "I can still go back to it but I don't want to" he sighed heavily and turned, floating away from her, and she scrambled to her feet to follow "Your brother has always fascinated me, Shooting Star. He was always so righteous, and never wanted to make deals for himself; it was always for the benefit of others. Eventually I got sick of trying to play him; it wasn't fun to hurt him anymore. He kept calling though, asking for favours, or even just asking for company when he was out later than he meant to be and was worried he would be killed while he was gone"

"When did you decide to give it up?"

"I never really decided" he admitted "It just kind of happened. One day it just hit me like a ton of bricks that I wasn't having fun being me anymore" he turned to meet her gaze "I wasn't always like that, Shooting Star. I didn't like being evil, or being treated like a pariah. I mean, I am an asshole, but theres a lot of people that are. Being evil wasn't something that I intentionally did, I just got sick of pushing around, and decided to push back"

"I understand" she nodded

"When Dipper offered a way out, I took it. Probably because it was him" he looked away "He said he would take me in, help me be human, let me stay with you, and help me with any non-evil activities that I wanted, as long as I stopped antagonizing people and gave up evil" he paused "I let him think I wasn't already going to give up, and accepted the deal. So yeah, I'm still an asshole, but I'm an asshole with feelings now"

"I thought demons don't have feelings" she muttered in confusion, hurriedly adding "No offence!"

"Most don't" he nodded "We have a mental on/off switch. If we don't want to feel remorse, or longing, or anything at all, we simply turn our emotions off with a flick of the switch"

"When did you turn it back on?" she asked curiously

"About a week after the deal. I realized living with people and not being emotionally sensitive probably wasn't the best plan. So I turned my emotions back on, and got the worst headache you could ever possibly imagine. Having emotions helped manage the human body however. Being emotionless apparently isn't good for human bodies"

She nodded her head and obediently took a seat on the swing he conjured behind her. He took a seat on his own and both lamely rocked back and forth in a companionable silence, that -of course- Mabel was the one to break.

"So you love Dipper?"

"Yes"

"Love how?" she prompted, hoping for more than a one-word answer

He chuckled softly

"I think you already know the answer to that, Shooting Star. But since you so desperately want to hear it out loud, I'm in love with Pine Tree"

Mabel's grin widened impossibly, and Bill was curious how she could smile like that and not hurt herself. He brushed it off however, and hopped out of his swing, floating over and offering her a hand. She took it and allowed him to help her off hers, and both set off once again, returning to the same area they had started off in.

"You're going to wake up in a few moments" he replied to her unspoken question "We can talk then"

"Okay. And Bill" she paused, looking up at the triangle with a grateful smile "Thank you"

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