"Mabel! Where are you?"

Dipper ran through the forest, following the sound of what he could only assume as his twin sisters screams in agony coming from somewhere in the now dark forest. Dipper passed through the areas that him and his sister had gone mystery hunting over the fantastic summer spent in the sleepy town, Gravity Falls. The home of the gnomes. The Unicorns magical hut. Dipper even passed a particular tree, which held a slightly crooked nail and a broken MYSTERY SHACK sign at the base of the tree trunk. The journal tree. Dipper almost wanted to stop, to feel the tree trunk with his fingers, to try the lever that had opened up a hole which had revealed a book of magical secrets. A book which had lead to the best summer of their lives. Dipper heard the screams again, even louder than before. No. It had secretly unlocked a key leading to the worst summer ever, and Dipper was paying for it now, and so was Mabel. The screams grew louder and louder until they sounded like full on wails. Dipper took one last look at the tree, face full of terror, and ran towards the wails faster than he had ever run in his life. Running. Dipper felt like he had been running for hours on end. His legs hurt, his lungs burned, and exhaustion clawed at him like one of Mabel's humanicaticictures. He kept running. Suddenly, after what seemed like hours upon hours of running to the beat of screams, it stopped. Dipper ran into a clearing and skid to a stop.

"No, no, NO!"

There was Mabel, clinging onto a tree for dear life, her screams becoming louder and louder as a mysterious bubble laid in front of her, trying vigorously to suck her in.

"MABEL!" Dipper ran to his twin sister, if she was going in this bubble, then he was going to.

"Dipper?" Mabel cried out weakly, the sight of her twin brother looked almost like an illusion to the weak girl.

"It's ok Mabel, im here..." Dipper paused for a moment to pull Mabel and himself back to the safety of a nearby tree, where Mabel immediately latched on, and some of the color seemed to return to her face. Was the bubble zapping her strength? Dipper yelled for Ford and Stan to help them, before continuing cautiously to Mabel.

"Mabel, what happened? Who did this to you?"

Mabel sat up straight against the tree trunk. Her and Dipper sunk further into the shadows of the tree as the mysterious bubble started to grow chains, which began to slowly seep out of the bubble and snake itself around trees, looking for the frightened twins. Mabel shuddered. She had to tell him, before it was too late.

"Dipper, it was me-"

"WHAT!" Dipper screamed but saw the horrified look on his sister's face as some of the chains turned their way before continuing their search. He let Mabel continue, an apologetic look on his face. Mabel shuddered before continuing, the twins could both tell that there wasn't much time now.

"Bill tricked me in the form of Blendin. He said that summer could last forever if I gave him this time thingy."

"Mabel, no..." Dipper whispered, realizing the mistake she made.

"I thought that it was one of Stans snowglobes and handed it over, thinking that we could both be Ford's apprentices, and I wouldn't have to go back to California! Until I remembered what Ford had told us one day over breakfast, how he had shown us the rift and told us how Bill had wanted it so badly, how it must never come into his possession." Mabel shuddered a bit and continued, "He wiped my mind Dipper. Temporarily, but he still did it. I saw the look of satisfaction on his face as he realized that I was remembering, and proceeded to smash the rift on the ground. I tried to save it, but I wasn't fast enough." Mabel held up her shaking hands and Dipper noticed for the first time that there were glass bits stuck to her hands, a result of trying to catch the rift. Dipper proceeded to pick the glass out of her hands as Mabel cried.

"Mabel, im not going. I'm going to stay with you, and once this is all over, were going to go to high school where I can see your awkward teen years in full swing." Dipper cried. Both twins were sobbing now, hugging each other close and knowing that everything between them was all right. That they would always be together, and there for each other, one fight between them couldn't ruin that. He was the strawberry, and she was the biscuit, two peas in a pod. Nothing would ever tear them apart. Until two pairs of pink chains pulsing with Bills energy did just that.

"MABEL!!!!!"

"DIPPER!!!!!"

 --------------------FORD'S AND STAN'S POV------------------

Ford ran with his brother Stanley through the forest after a pair of small footprints, which were slapped into the mud as though the person was in a hurry. And they had no doubt in their minds whose footprints those belonged to. Dipper, their only nephew.

"Can you go any faster, ya old geezer?" Stanley exasperatingly said to his own twin Ford.

"I'm trying Stanly, I'm trying." Stan decided to shut up after he heard that, his brother just looked so... broken, like he knew this whole thing was his fault. And it probably was. Ever since his nerdy brother had told him of Bill, he felt weary of the guy, especially now that he knew Gideon had tried to use him to get into his mind to steal the combination for the shack. If it weren't for those two kids, he didn't know what he would have done. Those kids...

"STANLY! S T A N L Y!!!"

Those kids were right there. He looked at them, held by some chains, forcibly being pinned to 2 nearby tree trunks as they struggled to get free

"Stanly! Come on what are you doing staring into space like that- oh, OH HOT BELGIAN WAFFLES! Kids! Hold on, I'm coming for you! Stanly, come on! HELP ME!"

Stan tried to move his legs, but, he just couldn't. He failed. He couldn't even care for 2 kids, let alone save the world!

H E    W A S    N U M B

Suddenly, Stan was snapped out of reality when Dipper said weakly, "Watch out!" Stan and Ford tried to jump into the clearing nearby, but, as they leaped up in the air, the chains pulsing with energy grabbed them from behind and pinned them to trees as well. Stan and Ford immediately started struggling, but Stan, never having interdimensional travel under his belt or a metal plate installed in his head, started to succumb to the chains powers like Dipper and Mabel did, slowly growing weaker.

--------------------DIPPER AND MABEL'S POV------------------

Dipper and Mabel cried out to their Great Uncles as they were to enslaved by the dark pink chains. Dippers strength was zapping faster and faster now, and so was Mabel's. They could barely stay awake now, their eyes dilating from one family member to the next, slowly, and finally back to each other.

"WELL WELL, WELL ISN'T THIS A FUN SURPRISE! ALL THE PINES IN ONE PLACE! BOY TO WHAT DO I OWE THE PLEASURE!"

That voice. Mabel and Dipper looked at each other, terrified on the inside but too weak to show it.

"BILL CIPHER!!! YOU DID THIS! YOU HAVE the RIFT, WHAT ELSE COULD YOU POSSIBLY WANT?" Ford screamed with rage, "LEAVE THOSE KIDS ALONE! TAKE ME INSTEAD!"

Stan, with little of his remaining strength, managed to get out a little, "Ditto!" Before collapsing against the tree again, breathing heavy.

"OH FORDY FORDY FORD! YOUR RIGHT! I HAVE EVERYTHING I'VE EVER WANTED BUT I STILL WANT MORE! I WANT TO RUIN YOUR LIVES TO, AND I FIGURE, WHY KEEP ALL THE PINES TOGETHER, WHY NOT TAKE 1 FOR A PRIZE!"

Dipper and Mabel were shocked. Weekly, they turned to look at each other, and without having to say it out loud, they were both thinking the same thing.

"I can't lose you"

"SO, WHO'S IT GONNA BE? NOT SIXER, HE'S NO FUN. AND THE OLD ONE IS JUST WEIRD. GUESS IT'S BETWEEN SHOOTING STAR AND PINE TREE... AHA! AT THE BEGINNING OF ALL THIS, I WAS JUST GOING TO TAKE SHOOTING STAR. CONSIDER IT A THANKS FOR HELPING ME START THE APOCALYPSE! BUT SINCE PINE TREE RAN IN, I'LL TAKE EM BOTH!"

Suddenly Dipper and Mabel were forced to stand at Bill's side, still chained and still losing energy. Bill grinned, lighting both his hands with his signature blue flame.

"SO HERE'S THE DEAL!" Bill looked at Dipper and Mabel. They were terrified, "PINE TREE, SHOOTING STAR, YOU COME WITH ME AND I WON'T HURT YOUR FAMILY-" Dipper and Mabel weakly glared at Bill, "FINE. I WON'T HURT YOUR FAMILY OR YOU FRIENDS OR YOU! NOW DO WE HAVE A DEAL, BECAUSE I'M A VERY IMPATIENT DEMON!"

Mabel looked at Dipper. Dipper looked at Mabel.

"For our Family." They said in unison, and each grabbed one of Bill's outstretched flame lit hands, and cried "Remember us."

Then they fainted, and the chains dragged them into the bubble.

"KIDS!" Stan and Ford cried, but they were too late. In a flash, Bill was gone, laughing maniacally. The twins were gone. Everything was gone. The chains released them and the bubble vanished from sight.

Soon the twins woke up to find themselves in their attic bedroom. They had no memory of the previous deal with Bill. Nor did they realize that they were not actually in the Mystery Shack, but in a bubble wrapped in chains floating high above the town, marked by a Pine Tree and Shooting Star. And they didn't know that every day they would wake up to relive the same fateful day that everything went wrong, but with different outcomes. Some days Dipper would die, other days Mabel. Sometimes Waddell's would be eaten by the face monster, or Bill could fail and they watched movies until they fell asleep. But every day they woke up with no memory of the previous day. And the cycle continues.

--------------------BILL'S POV------------------

Bill looked out at the giant bubble hanging in the middle of the town. 3 months into the apocalypse and still no sign of Sixer and Fex to save Shooting Star and Pine Tree. But that was alright, everything was still in place. They were probably miserable out there, and Shooting Star and Pine Tree still had no idea of their capture. And if they can't even remember what happened to them, how could anyone remember them?