seven years later

Dipper and mabel stepped off the bus, and Dipper winced as mabel squealed
“EEE! Candy! Grenda!” Mabel hugged her best friends
“Mabel! It’s so good to see you!” Grenada said.
“Yes! We missed you mabel!” Candy said. Grenda picked up both mabel and and candy up as she hugged them. Grenda set them down and the three of them talked as they walked back to the shack. She hadn’t changed much at all.
“Yo, Dipper,” A voice came from over to the right.
“Wendy!” Dipper said. Wendy strolled over.
“Sorry I was a hot sec late, I was talking to someone, C’mon, they wanna see you.” Wendy smiled. Dipper and her walked deep into the woods.
“So, who wants to see me?” Dipper asked
“Shh.. Keep quiet, I told ‘em your bus was delayed an hour. I wanna scare em.” Wendy whispered.
“Okay” Dipper whispered back. The two of them snuck through the trees, making very little noise. They came to the edge of a clearing, where, in the center of witch, was a triangular bill cipher statue. Ford was prodding the stone with some gadget, while Stan was sitting on the grass, with a pitt soda in his hand.
“Ready?” Wendy asked
Dipper nodded. The two of them jumped out of the bushes
“SURPRISE!” They yelled, Ford almost dropped his gadget, and Stan sprayed soda in his face. The stan twins looked at Dipper and wendy
“Dipper!” Ford said “You’re here!” He set his gadget down on the grass and walked over to him, he gave him a brief hug, then turned to Stan. “Come give dipper a hug you lazy oaf.”
“Alright, alright” Stan said, standing up and walking over to them. “Good to see you kid.”
“You too.” Dipper said. “Whatcha doing?”
“We’re- I’m examining bill’s statue.” Ford said.
“I’m helping!” Stan said.
“No, you’re not.” Ford said “Come see what I’ve discovered dipper.” Ford briskly walked towards the statue, dipper right behind him.
Ford explained various observations he’d found, from varying energy levels to the dirt around the statue.

3 WEEKS LATER

Mabel was over at candy’s house, Wendy was out with her friends, soos was busy running the shack, and Ford and Stan were off on the island in the middle of the lake. Dipper was alone. He walked into the bathroom and stared at the birthmark on his forehead. He swore it was slightly bigger than it was yesterday. Dipper dropped hair and flattened it against his forehead.
He was about to turn and leave, but as he did, he felt a burning on his forearm. It began to sting, but dipper couldn’t move his arm to look at it. He couldn’t move at all. Dipper stood there, facing the hallway, unable to move as his forearm began hurting more and more. Dipper grunted in pain, trying not to scream to scare the tourists downstairs, a single tear of pain escaped his eye. After a few agonizing minutes, he dropped to his knees. Clutching his right forearm. The pain subsided while dipper sat there. Dipper swiped at the trail the tear had made, stood, and turned on the sink, running cold water over his forearm. It felt good, so he let it run for a while, staring at his arm. He shut off the water and grabbed a towel, as he dried off his arm, he noticed a mark appearing on his arm where the towel touched. The same Bill Cipher prophecy  he thought he was done with seven years ago.

“What-” Dipper said to himself, He shook his head, and grabbed the first aid kit under the sink. And began to cover the mark with bandages, just as he finished, he heard the creaky front door slam open and footsteps, obviously mabel’s came thudding up the stairs.
“DIPPER!” She yelled “You’ll never guess what just happened!” She burst into the bathroom through the open door,
“Woah, woah, woah, Mabel, calm down, who died? Dipper asked
“I. have. A. DATE!” Mabel yelled, ignoring dipper’s plea for her to calm down.
“What? With who? We’ve only been here for three weeks!” Dipper said.
“It doesn’t matter with who, all that matters is, I need to borrow your suit.” Mabel said.
“Wait- My suit?”
“Yes.” mabel said
“Why do you need it?” He asked
“For my date dipper, is it just me or have you gotten dumber?”
“What kind of date are you going on?” Dipper asked.
“A dinner date.” Mabel said
“Does your boyfriend need it?”
“No, I do, just stop asking questions or i’m gonna ask about the bandage.” She said
“Fine you can use it,” Dipper said
“Coolieo, bye brobro.” Mabel ran into the shared room, and walked out a moment later, wearing Dipper’s suit. Then she walked down the stairs, dipper waited at the top, listening in.
“You actually had a suit?” Pacifica, who was standing just outside the shack said,
“No, I stole dippers.” Mabel said.
“Does he know about the date?” Pacifica asked
“Yep!” Mabel said
“Does he know I’M your date?”
“Uh…. No, I Dunno how he’d react if he found out his sister’s lesbian.”
“I’m pretty sure he’d be fine with it, if he’s not gay himself.” Pacifica said.
“Yeah, maybe, Hey, if he ever gets a boyfriend, I’ll let him use my dresses.”
“That’d be funny.” Pacifica said. “Come on, the reservation’s waiting.”
“Mabel’s gay huh?” Soos said, appearing behind dipper
“AH! Soos! Where’d you come from?” Dipper said, nearly falling down the stairs.
“The break room, duh, being mr. mystery is exhausting dude.”
“I can only imagine.” Dipper muttered.
“Anyway dude, I gotta go, there’s another tour waiting for me.” Soos said, “The great mr. Mystery AWAY!” Soos said, running down the stairs.
“I guess I’ll just go for a walk then.” Dipper said to himself, He grabbed his shoes from his room, then putting them on while walking down the stairs, he walked outside.
Dipper strolled through the woods, subconsciously walking back to the clearing with bill’s statue. He immediately turned and walked away from it, only to find himself walking back to it again. And again, and again.
“What the heck.” Dipper muttered, then he walked over to bill’s statue.
“Do you have something to do with this?” he asked the statue, It didn’t move.
“You know, even though you single handedly ruined what was supposed to be a normal summer, I kinda enjoyed the mystery of it all,” Dipper said. “Wouldn’t mind beating you again, Cipher” Dipper closed his eyes, the warm sun, the soft grass the slight sound of wind rustling leaves, it made dipper sleepy, so, naturally, he fell asleep.
“Pinetree” Someone said, smacking dippers face, “PINETREE!” Dipper opened his eyes. Leaning over his face was a tan, blonde boy about his age, with a triangular eyepatch and an absolutely gorgeous yellow eye.
“Wh-What? Who are you? What’d you call me?” Dipper asked the boy,
“Pinetree! Wake up!” The boy said again, Dipper shot upright, waking up from the bizarre dream.
“What. was that.” Dipper asked himself, he turned around, Bill’s statue was gone. “Crap.” Dipper stood up, and was very disoriented. Normally he’d walks in the direction of bill’s outstretched hand to get home, but now he was lost. No one would hear him if he yelled, except, maybe…
“BILL!” Dipper yelled, he heard a bit of noise from just off to his left, ao that’s the way he went. He found the boy from his dream, bleeding almost everywhere, and beaten half to death, laying in the shrubs, the boy was barely conscious.
“Pinetree.” he coughed.
“Bill?” Dipper asked
“Yessir. I understand if you leave me here to die, but… hello again. Glad I got to see you one more time before my inevitable death.” Bill said, weakly.
Dipper stood there for a moment, thinking, before he slowly picked up bill and continued in the same direction. “I’m lost is this the way to the shack?” Dipper asked, straining with the weight of Bill.
“Unless you moved it, Yeah.” Bill coughed. Surprise and pain in his one visible eye.
“Great, now shut up. I hate your voice.” Dipper said. Bill nodded, when they made it back to the shack, dipper carried him upstairs, dropped him on his bed, and went into the bathroom, grabbing the first aid kit.
“Move and I’m pushing you off the roof.” Dipper said. Taking Bill’s shirt off and cleaning his cuts.
“Why are you helping me?” Bill asked
“I don’t know, would you rather me leave you there to die?” Dipper asked.
“N-no.” Bill hissed as dipper touched one of bill’s deeper cuts with a cotton ball.
“I said don’t move.” Dipper said.
“Sorry.” Bill aid, Dipper paused for a moment, before continuing.
“Did you just apologize?” He asked.
“Yeah. want me to do it again?” Bill asked “Sorry for the weirdmageddon, and also all of the crap I pulled that summer.” Dipper was quiet for a moment, before he asked.
“How and why are you human?”
“You’re asking a lot of questions”
“And you’re gonna answer them, or I’m gonna kill you permanently,” Dipper said.
“I don’t know to be honest.” Bill said. “You’ll have to ask the axolotl.”
“The what?” Dipper said “isn’t an axolotl a fish?”
“The galactic axolotl Pinetree, the giant immortal fish that lives in the first universe.” Bill said “Don’t you know anything about it?”
“No.” Dipper said, then, upon finding another deep gash in bill’s tan skin asked “What in the everloving heck happened to you?”
“I’m sure some of it was Kill’s doing, some wolves, being scratched with branches, stuff like that.” Bill winced. “Sorry” he muttered.
“Kill’s doing?”
“My brother, He got mad at me when he found out I failed at conquering a mere town and the moment I was back he released is famous anger on me.”
“You have a brother?” Dipper asked
“Two. Kill’s my older brother, Will’s my younger.”
“What are they like, Dipper asked as he unrolled the bandages and began wrapping them around bill’s chest.
“Kill’s always angry.” Bill said “And much more powerful than me, he’s kind of a tyrant. Will on the other hand is a big softie, he’s about as strong as I was, but he’s too shy, kind, and emotional to use his power. Haven’t seen him since he got himself stuck in the -226th universe.” Dipper rolled up the remaining bandages.
“Be right back.” dipper said “Don’t move if you can. If you do, you’re dead.”
“That’s a lot of death threats from pinetree.” Bill muttered to himself. Dipper walked into the bathroom and took off his now blood-stained bandage, washed his hands, and cut himself a new bandage. ‘Maybe I should ask bill about it.’
“Hey, Blue,” Bill said “Stay out of Pinetree’s mind.”
<BILL CIPHER MY FOURTH WALL!!!>
“Who are you talking to?” Dipper said, walking into the room.
“No one,”
“Tell me.”
“I can’t they might kill me.” Bill said. The door slammed open.
“DIPPER!” Mabel yelled from downstairs again.
“Stay.” Dipper ordered, and left the room.
“MASON PINES!”
“I’m coming I’m coming!” Dipper walked down the stairs “What’s up?”
“You’ll never guess what happened on my date.” Mabel said.
“Um… you got pacifica to wear one of your sweaters.” Dipper guessed.
“No- Wait, Pacifica?”
“Yeah, that was your date wasn’t it?” Dipper asked
“I-How’d you know?”
“Saw her in the doorway, So, what happened?”
“I pushed her in the lake” Mabel said proudly. “Oh, and there was this absolutely massive fish that almost ate her. Maybe… We could check it out one day?”
“Sure Mabel, that sound like fun.” Dipper said.
“Are you.. Mad at me?” Mabel asked.
“About?”
“Being lesbian?” Mabel hid her face.
“‘Course not,” Dipper said. “Now, the stain on my suit i’m a little mad about, what is that?” Mabel smiled softly.
“It’s pacifica’s chocolate ice cream.” Mabel said
“You’re washing it.” Dipper said.
“I know.” Mabel said. Suddenly there was a loud thud then
“DIPPER! I FELL OFF THE BED!”
“Who’s that?” Mabel asked
“An injured idiot I found in the woods.” Dipper said, walking up the stairs
“Is he cute?” Mabel asked
“Mabel you have a girlfriend.”
“I”m asking cuz pacifica thinks you’re gay.”
“If you find a needy, very bloody, blonde boy cute than yes.”
“Can I see him?”
“No” Dipper said immediately.
“Why not?”
“No.”
“It’s my room too.”
“Still, no.” Dipper said standing in front of the door. He walked inside and closed the door behind him. Locking Mabel out. Bill was on the floor, face down, and dipper could see, just the top of the same symbol as on dippers arm, but bigger, from above the bandages on bill’s back.
“What is that?” dipper asked
“You don’t recognize it?” Bill asked, dipper picked him up and put him back on the bed.
“I do, but I don’t know everything about it.” Dipper said “Ford called it a prophecy.”
“Well, it sort of is, sort of isn’t.”
“So what is it?”
“It’s a depiction of what could happen if everything happened in certain way. One of the things that was supposed to happen was I was supposed to rule over all of the people around the circle. That didn’t happen,”
“So now that it’s void, what’s the purpose of it?” Dipper asked
“Well, now aside from being a cool tattoo, It’s my demon mark, whoever has the other one is basically my boss.” Bill said. Dipper touched his bandage behind his back.
“Well that’s wonderful” Dipper said sarcastically. “Do you know who has the other one?”
“It’s gonna be someone who I’ve made a deal with before, and they’ve gotta be alive, so… the little annoying kid, gideon, I think, Sixer, Stanley, or you pinetree.” Bill said. “Can I know what the bandage is for?”
“It’s a cut from this morning before I found you.” Dipper lied.
“Alright then.” Bill set his head back. “How do you humans deal with pain?”
“We either don’t get hurt, or get used to it.” Dipper said.
“Everything hurts Pinetree.” Bill whined “I don’t like being human.”
“If you’re just gonna complain, I’m gonna leave.” Dipper said, uninterested.
“But it hurts…” bill whined.
“And i’m leaving.” Dipper said, he left the room, closing the door behind him, and walked down to the kitchen and started making a sandwich.
“Dipper?” Mabel asked, walking into the kitchen.
“Yeah?”
“Why is Bill Cipher in our room?”
‘Play dumb Mason’ “Who’s Bill Cipher?” ‘Not that dumb!’
“Dipper!” Mabel yelled “You brought that monster into our house?!”
“Mabel, he’s hurt.” Dipper said, “I couldn’t stand seeing anyone as hurts as he was. He would have died!”
“GOOD!” Mabel yelled “He was supposed to be dead seven years ago! Dipper he could kill you, you know that, right?”
“Actually mabel, I don’t think he can. He fell off a bed and couldn’t get up on his own.”
“Why didn’t you just kill him when you found him?!”
“T-That’s not fair mabel.”
“Fair?! Since when was Bill Cipher FAIR? He’s always lying and deceiving to get his way.”
“But he did always hold up his end of the deal, didn’t he?”
“Well, I- I guess,” Mabel said “But he still tried to take over the world!”
“And believe it or not, he apologized for it.” Dipper said.
“Don’t tell me you’re going to forgive him!” Mabel said
“I never said that! And I don’t think I can forgive him yet, but mabel, He’s a son, and a brother, he’s a real, complicated beings, not some character in a video game you can kill and face no consequences!”
“Dipper he almost killed us!”
“And we almost killed him!” Dipper said “Don’t you think we’re even?”
“We’re not dipper, He’s not human, he has no feelings.”
“He may not have been human then, but he is now, and now he regrets his decisions, you can hate him all you want, but you aren’t allowed to hurt him.”
Mabel paused. “Fine. But I swear if he hurts you I will kill him.”
“Thank you.” Dipper said, then, after a moments silence “Can you hand me the chips?”
“Yeah, here.” Mabel said, still kinda mad at dipper. Dipper took the chips and put some on his sandwich, and closed it.
“Ew, don’t put chips in a sandwich.” Mabel said.
“Try it before you tell me that again.” Dipper smiled, taking a bite of his sandwich. After he swallowed, he said “Want to help me ignore Bill for a few hours?”
“Yes, Yes I do.” Mabel grabbed a styrofoam box out of the fridge and opened it, stuck it in the microwave, and started it.
“Is that from your date?” Dipper asked
“Yep.”
“And you’re eating it now? Only an hour later?” Dipper asked
“Actually we went to the restaurant, then the movies, then the lake, so about four hours ago.”
“Dang, you two were out for a while.
“What were you doing aside from assisting a criminal?” Mabel asked, taking her chicken out of the microwave.
“Well, I went for a walk, wound up at bills statue, fell asleep, woke up about 2 ½ hours later, found bill, brought him here, patched him up, you know the rest.”
“Really?” Mabel said “you slept?”
“Yeah.” Dipper said, taking another bite of his sandwich.
“BORING!” Mabel yelled,
“What?” Dipper said, after swallowing,
“Ya boring brobro.”
“Wendy was busy, you were buys, Grunkle stan and ford were at the lake, soos is running the shack, what did you want me to do?” Dipper asked
“I dunno, get a boyfriend”
“W- Mabel! Just because I don’t hate you for being gay doesn’t mean that I’m gay.”
“But you are.”
“No, No I am not.”
“Double negative~” Mabel taunted
“That’s not how a double negative works.” Dipper stated
“Just admit you’re gay.” Mabel said
“No.”
“So, you’d rather stay in the closet?”
“Yes- Wait, Mabel, No, I’m not gay.”
“Yes you are. You just proved it.” mabel said.
“I’m leaving . Dipper said, standing and leaving his half eaten sandwich on the table. Mabel followed him, begging him to come back. As they walked down the driveway, Stan and ford ran up to them, Stan was out of breath. Both of them were panicked.
“Kids.” Ford said “Bill’s statue is gone.”
“We know.” The twins said in unison
“Witch means he’s back.”
“We know.”
“And we don’t know what condition he’s in.”
“We know.”
“Alright, what happened, Did you find him or something?”
“Or something” Mabel muttered
“What happened.” Ford demanded.
“Long story short, he’s human, very very injured, and in our bedroom.” Dipper said “and completely powerless.”
“He’s WHERE?” Stan asked
“In our room.” Mabel said, with the tone of someone who was telling on their sibling. “Dipper won’t let me see him.”
“Dipper, Is this true?” Ford asked.
“Yeah, you’re not seeing him either.” Dipper said.
“Dipper you can’t keep him here, you need to let me kill him for the safety of everyone.” Ford said.
“That’s why none of you can see him, You’ll kill him!” Dipper said
“Dipper, He’s brainwashed you.” Ford said.
“Idiot, He can’t even get off the floor on his own.” Dipper said.
“Mason pines did you just call me an idiot?” Ford asked
“Well you’re acting like one,” Dipper said, Ford raised his hand to smack dipper, but suddenly bill was between them, managing to teleport, Ford smacked bill in the face.
“What the-” Ford said, Bill fell to the ground, whining.
“Idiot.” Dipper said, looking down at bill.
“I have to defend you pinetree, you know that.” Bill said.
“And now I have to carry you back inside.” Dipper said, annoyed.
“THAT’S BILL?” Everyone except dipper and bill yelled
“Yeh. He’s pathetic.” Dipper said.
“Screw you too Pinetree. Help me.”
“Maybe I should leave you here and let the wolves have you again.
“Please no, it really hurt the first time.” Bill said.
“Mhm.” Dipper said. Ford snapped out of shock.
“Dipper, Back away from him, he’s dangerous.”
“Him, dangerous?” Dipper said “Doubt it” He stepped on Bill’s Side.
“Ow, ow, OW! Pinetree! That HURTS!” Bill whined.
“Alright ya big baby.” Dipper said. He picked him up. “You’re really heavy, you know that?”
“Dipper-” Ford started
“Not now ford, I gotta go set him down. Dipper said, walking back to the shack. When he came back down the stairs, Ford, Mabel, and Stan were sitting in the living room, ford on the chair, stan at the table, and mabel on the skull.
“Dipper” Ford tried again.
“Yep?”
“What did bill mean when he said he had to protect you?” Ford asked.
“Alright, hold on.” Dipper grabbed the Chair adjacent to Stan, and dragged it to the middle of the room. “Okay, so, Ford, you remember the prophecy, right?”
“Yes.” Ford said
“It’s not true anymore, it wasn’t true the moment bill made a deal with grunkle stan, the prophecy shows Bill ruling over us all, he would have had world domination, the end of humanity as we know it, Probably.” Dipper said.
“So what does a invalid prophecy have to do with this?” Stan asked.
“Now that the prophecy is void, the symbol is Bill’s demon mark,” Mabel said.
“How’d you know?” Dipper asked
“You really think I didn’t listen through the door, after you told me to go away?” Mabel asked
“Good point.” dipper said.
“So now it’s his demon mark so what?” Stan asked
“Whoever has the matching mark is something like Bill’s boss.” Dipper said.
“So who is it?” Ford asked
“It has to be a living person bill has made a deal with, soo….”
“Me, Stanley, Gideon, you and maybe a few other people?”
“Yep.”
“It’s not me, I don’t have this mark anywhere.” Ford said.
“Same here, and if it’s gideon we’re in trouble.” Stan said, Dipper unwound the bandage on his arm. Showing the mark to his family.
“He can’t touch me, and if I tell him he can’t touch you, he can’t. Dipper said. “And it’s not Gideon so that’s good.”
“So, Bill’s under your control dipper?” Ford asked.
“As of this morning, yes.” Dipper said.
“He can stay.” Ford said after a moment’s silence
“W-What?” Stan said “Ford, I am not letting this monster stay in my house!”
“It’s still legally my house Stanley.” Ford said “Bill can stay so long as he doesn’t hurt anyone.”
“Why?!” Stan asked
“Mostly because I have questions, partly because we need to keep an eye on him. Make sure he’s not planning anything.” Ford said
“Alright.” Stanley gave in.
“Hey… Dipper?” Mabel asked
“Yeah?”
“When he heals up a bit, do you think… I could choose a new outfit for him?” Mable asked
“Sure sis, when he’s more stable, you can play dress up with him.” Dipper said “in fact, why don’t you make it a girls night?” Dipper said mischievously,
“YAAAS!” Mabel said
“Just don’t kill him.” Dipper added.
“We’ll try.”
“Dipper.” Ford said with a warning tone. “You just signed him up for three hours of constant torture.”
“He deserves it” Stan and dipper said.
“You’re not wrong,” Ford chuckled. There was a loud thud and then
“PINETREE!”
“AGAIN?!” dipper yelled. He got up and walked up the stairs.
“What happened?” Ford asked, slightly panicked.
“Bill fell off the bed.” Mabel said.
Dipper opened the door.
“How do you fall off the bed TWICE?” Dipper asked
“Well the first time I was trying to see if I could move, this time I wanted your attention.” Bill said.
Dipper threw Bill back on the bed. “What did you need?”
“I don’t quite know why, but my stomach is making these weird rumbling noises.”
“And I thought you were supposed to be smart.” Dipper said.”You’re hungry bill, I’ll go get you some food. No more falling off the bed, Okay?”
“Ok.” Bill said, Dipper walked downstairs.
“It’s like taking care of a baby!” Dipper complained as he walked through the living room.
“What?” mabel laughed
“What should I feed the demon?” Dipper asked.
“Let ‘em starve.” Stan said
“If he hasn’t eaten anything, probably something small, or liquid like soup or maybe a fruit.” Ford said.
“I am too lazy to make him anything.” Dipper grabbed an apple and walked back up the stairs, he walked into the room and handed Bill the apple.
“Here, eat it, but not the stem, base or seeds, those go in here.” Dipper moved the trash can next to the bed. “Understand?”
“Mhm” Bill said, biting into the apple, he apparently had short fangs, longer than normal Cuspids, but not long enough to be vampire fangs. Dipper left and walked back downstairs.