With the thought of the strangely comforting encounter on your mind, you threw on your hoodie and cautiously came out of the dusty room.  As much as you wanted to leave immediately, you had to at least thank Mabel for letting you stay one night. You couldn't strain her hospitality by accepting her offer full time.  After nearly tripping down the entire flight of steps, you carefully walked into the kitchen, where the twins were making coffee.  Dipper's eyes widened at the sight of your horrifying bedraggled self.

"Can you please explain why there's a wild Y/N in our home?!"

Mabel casually rolled her eyes at her brother's reaction. "Stop being so dramatic, broseph. I offered her a job in the Mystery Shack as a cashier, and she's being paid mostly with room and board."

He blinked a few times as his sister's words gradually sunk in, his face growing a deep shade of crimson. "Are you crazy, Mabel?! Stan's not going to be jumping for joy when he finds out you've hired another employee! Do we even have room in our house?"

Mabel released a huff, indifferent to her brother's irritation. "What about the room that used to have the ugly carpet? It's not like we're using the space."

"You're missing the point!" He angrily gripped his coffee mug, knuckles going white.

Mabel's cool demeanor finally snapped the moment her brother had raised his tone. "No, you're missing the point! Whether you like it or not, Y/N is a friend, and friends help each other out. Stan can chew me out for it later, but even he recognizes common decency! Y/N's staying, and that's not negotiable." Mabel left a threatening finger at his chest.

You stared blankly at the ground, more uncomfortable than ever. "I can see when I'm not wanted, I'll see myself out," you mumbled, slightly hurt.

Dipper held his head in his hands, releasing a provoked sigh. After he allowed for himself to calm down, he shot me a glance with a softer expression. "Look, Y/N, you can stay, just understand I'm not happy about it."

"Isn't that how all of our conversations have gone?" You replied, carefully crossing your arms together as to not hit the burns.

A muffled groan escaped him at your comment, and Mabel quickly hopped in by nudging his shoulder. "Hey, at least we now got one more person to help solve the ancient laptop."

"Ancient laptop?" You handed Mabel her cup of coffee as you shot her twin a questioning look.

Dipper shook his head at the flashback running through his head. "It's a hunk of junk we found when we were exploring the bunker in the woods. As old as it is, it might solve the mystery of the author's identity."

Your throat suddenly felt very dry as you remembered the memory in Stan's mind. "The author?" You managed, an eyebrow subconsciously raising.

"Yeah, the author of the journals," he confirmed, pulling the mystical red journal out of a pocket in his hoodie. "Listen, I'm only showing this because you already know this town's not normal after the little mind adventure. But this," he slid it across the table formed to investigate, "documents everything."

You gave him a quick glance before your gaze drew back to the scarlet book, carefully picking it up and lightly flipping through the aging pages. It was filled with a plethora of documents in the oddities of Gravity Falls, from a Plaidypus to the Hide Behind. Although one page sent a shiver down your spine: Bill Cipher.

Your heart pounded against your rib cage as you scanned over it. Apparently, Stan's twin had the same opinion as the time travelers. He seemed to hold Bill in a high esteem at first, but every compliment was hurriedly scratched out and replaced with ominous messages.

What the hell did you do?! You concentrated and sent the thought to Bill as your eyes raced across the page. 

You double-cross them one time, and they never let you forget it, a haughty voice complained in back of your mind.

I think we both know it was a little more serious than that, considering there's blood speckling the entry, you replied.

And you automatically assume that was me?

Was it?

Bill mysteriously stopped talking after that remark, and at this point you knew there was more he wasn't telling you.

Dipper abruptly snatched back the book, standing to his two feet.  "Let's go."  Without another word, the impatient boy took his uncle's keys off the table and walked out the door, leaving you and Mabel to awkwardly follow after him. You drove to the library in a tense silence, although the atmosphere seemed to lighten once you arrived.  He brushed off a coat of dust on the rusting surface of the computer, treating it with even more reverence than he did the journal. 

"Today's the big day."

"Oh, I'm ready, baby." Mabel grabbed a pop-up book and flipped to a cutout of an infant. "Mama," she imitated.

Dipper rolled his eyes playfully at his sister's antics before drawing his gaze back to the laptop and lightly flipping it open.  After a beat of hesitation, the ancient monitor hummed to life and displayed a startup screen. WELCOME.  "It worked!" Dipper chuckled in surprise.

Immediately afterwards, an infuriating buzzing noise blared. UNAUTHORIZED ACCESS FORBIDDEN.

"Ugh! Of course, a password."  Dipper furrowed his brows, slumping in his seat and crossing his arms as if a pouty child.

Mabel reassuringly put a hand on his shoulder.  "Don't you worry, bro bro. With your brains and my laser focus, there is literally nothing that can distract us from..." Her voice trailed off as she listened to music fade in from across the room. "Did you hear that?"

You glanced around the room for the source of the sound before your eyes landed on a man in his early twenties with blonde hair and blue eyes.  He was attractive in the way men in magazines were: blonde hair, blue eyes, too fake to be real.

And who would you consider an "all-natural" attractive male, doll? Someone who takes residence in your mind, perhaps?

You couldn't help but roll your eyes at the teasing voice echoing around your mind, a light pink appearing on your cheeks.

I notice you're not denying it.

You shook your head to shut Bill up, not bothering to answer his question.  "He looks like a genderbent Pacifica," Dipper mumbled.

Mabel, on the other hand, hadn't even blinked as she eyed down the handsome blonde.

"Oh, boy," Dipper groaned, sliding farther into his seat as Mabel jumped excitedly and ran over to go see him,  "This is going to be a long day."  He halfheartedly typed "password" on the laptop, only to be greeted by the irritating buzz. 

You raised an eyebrow as he shrugged.  "Worth a shot."

It was only a couple of minutes before Mabel nervously made her way back to her seat.  "Dipper, Y/N, how hard do you think it'd be to write and compose a sock puppet rock opera with lights, original music and live pyrotechnics by Friday?" she spoke quickly, poking her fingers together in anticipation.

It was your turn to groan as you banged your head against the chipped wooden table. "Are you kidding me?!"

She ran her hands through her hair anxiously. "I-I don't know what happened! I got lost in his eyes and his ponytail, and I'm gonna be so embarrassed on Friday if I don't have anything!"

Dipper rubbed his temples, before meeting with Mabel's eyes. "What about cracking the passcode? You know, Mystery Twins?"

You crossed your arms at the conversation passing back and forth, trying not to feel excluded as they bickered.

"If you help me with this for just a couple of days, I promise I'll help with the password! Please, pretty please!"  Her eyes went wide and shiny in the cutest way possible. "It's for love, Dipper," she whispered.

He stared down Mabel as he contemplated her words, finally releasing a surrendering sigh as gradually closed the computer and threw up his hands. "Alright, alri-"

"Yes! Thank you! This guy! He's number one!"  Mabel excitedly pointed at her brother while shouting at the top of her lungs, earning her some nasty looks from the quieter visitors.

Dipper looked like he wanted to die of embarrassment, but he quickly agreed with his sister to make her quiet down. Afterwards, he packed up their stuff and you all stood to leave the chilled building. "I can't wait to get to the bottom of this laptop. We're close to something big here, I can feel it," Dipper's voice trailed quietly from in front of you, lagging behind the pair as they exited the library.

Just as you were about to pass through the mechanical doors, you felt the temperature dip slightly as a shadow passed across the wall.  It was too indistinct to make out, but there was no mistaking the singular eye.

You suddenly paused in your steps.

Bill! Where are you? Answer me! You thought, paying attention to any little noise that you heard.

But for the first time since he invaded your mind, there was no reply.