A/N:

So hi! How are ya?

You're probably wondering - why are the recent chapters much better quality than the rest?

...No?

WELL, I'll tell you anyway! :D

It's because I'm just getting better at writing. Simple.

I might go back and edit the other chapters...

...nah I'm too lazy XD

Anyway, enjoy!

*Dipper's POV*

Bill was there.

In a physical form.

With me in his grip.

I paled.

Why did he save me? He has no reason to.

I couldn't read his expression because he had no expression.

He was a triangle, how was I supposed to have a guess at what he was thinking if I couldn't see his expression?

You stupid idiot, I thought. Why am I wondering about what he's thinking or why he saved me when I should be wondering how he got in a physical form?

I paled even more at the realization.

He's in a physical form.

And since he saved me, he can affect the physical world.

OH NO.

I was as white as a ghost, trying to look around for any way to get out of his grip, to do something to get away, to warn the others-

Wait. I can't go back. I thought. I'd hurt them.

I stopped struggling.

Then another thought came to me.

Why hasn't Bill done anything?  I thought. He'd at least say something, right?

Then I realized - my hand had been glowing and tingling this whole time.

I looked up in the sky and saw that the birds were stuck in the air mid-flap.

I'd stopped time.

That explained things.

I had all the time I needed to come up with a plan now.

I calmed down, but then I realized that if I did then time would start again-

I was too late.

Time returned, the birds flapping, the sun starting to rise, and Bill's grip on my shirt tightening.

His hand grazed the back of my neck, his touch so chillingly cold that I shivered.

"Guess what, Pine Tree?" Bill said, his voice stone cold.

He wasn't usually like that... usually he liked playing mind games and was always fits of manic laughter.

This side of him was scary.

He didn't seem like he was going to continue until I responded.

"U-um, yeah...?" I asked, stammering. Dang it, I was hoping I'd sound more brave. Now he knew I was scared.

Well, that ruled out bluffs. And couldn't he read minds anyway?

Wait.

I'm so stupid, he can hear this.

"That's right, I can." Bill said, only wedging that fact further into my mind.

"And lucky you," He said. "You get to live."

What? Why?

"Wouldn't you like to know?" Bill asked.

I racked my brain. Why would he want to keep me alive?

I was only twelve years old, I didn't see how I could be of any help to a trillion year old dream demon...

Wait.

My magic.

He wants me to use my magic.

For what?

I shuddered at the thought of what he might ask me to do.

"You're on the right track there, Pine Tree," Bill said. "But you're missing one detail."

"W-what's that?"

Bill giggled. Ok phew, he's back to normal.

"You don't know how to use your powers." He said, giggling as if it was funny that I had no control.

"What, you think there's some magical school like Hogwarts or something that I could go to? Besides, its summer, and I didn't get my powers until now." I shot back, somehow feeling insulted by his laughs. Why was I so offended...?

Bill immediately burst out into his usual manic laughter at hearing my last sentence.

"W-what's so funny?" I asked.

"You really think you didn't have magic from before you arrived in Gravity Falls?" Bill snickered. "What about that memory you saw?"

"That was something you made up. I would've known if something like that happened." I said confidently.

But his laughs made me doubt.

"You are adorable, kid. How you always cling on to your precious hope." Bill said.

Wait, why was Bill even wasting his time talking to me when he'd probably just want to go about inflicting chaos on Gravity Falls?

"Good idea, Pine Tree! Almost forgot!" Bill said happily, snapping his fingers.

OH NO.

I SHOULD HAVE JUST SHUT UP.

Bill let go of me and I dropped on the grass.

I got up to my feet and I was about to run to the Mystery Shack-

Bill snapped his fingers and I grew drowsy.

Trying to fight the sleep, I fell down on the grass, trying to scramble my way away from him...

But before I knew it, I was being levitated into a blue ball engraved with a pine tree, chains surrounding it as I was forced to succumb to sleep...

*Mabel's POV*

After me and Ford put out the fire, I'd rushed outside to find where Dipper landed-

I hid behind a tree.

Dipper was in Bill's grip, but then he suddenly let go of him.

When he got up to his feet, he tried running towards the Mystery Shack but Bill snapped his fingers and I saw Dipper's eyelids grow droopy and he fell to the floor, crawling to get to the Mystery Shack, but he was levitated into a blue orb with a pine tree on it, wrapped in chains.

What does Bill want with my brother?!

Then, Bill looked in my direction.

Swallowing down my fear, I charged at him from behind the tree, shooting the grappling hook at his eye.

But he snapped his fingers and the grappling hook snapped in two.

"NO!! GRAPPLING HOOK!!" I said, looking at my grappling hook sadly.

"MABEL, LOOK OUT!!" Ford yelled.

Before I knew what was happening, Bill pointed at me, looking at something above.

I looked up and saw a flying eyeball with bat wings, a red glow surrounding me as I screamed, turning into stone.

*Ford's POV*

Mabel was turned to stone.

"NOOOOOO!!" I yelled, Bill turning to me as the eyeball carried Mabel's statue towards what looked like a giant floating pyramid hovering below a large 'X' in the sky. The Nightmare Realm.

I glared at Bill.

"Well, well, well, Fordsy. Looks like you can't even stop me from Weirdmaggedon in this dimension." Bill said. "Where the townspeople aren't dumb."

As I thought more about it, the townspeople wouldn't be dumb because the memory-eraser wouldn't exist, because Fiddleford wouldn't be working with me to build a portal.

"How did you gain a physical form?!" I yelled. "There's no rift for you to break!"

"Are you sure? Then how did you get to this dimension, Brainiac?" Bill teased.

I grunted. He was right, I came through a portal. During the time where we were chasing after Dipper he must have broken the rift.

But how? He'd need a physical body!

Dipper was able to use a makeshift physical form when he was trapped outside of his body in the mindscape.... right?

And Dipper was less experienced. WAY less experienced.

Why means Bill would be able to do it without a problem.

"Exactly! Boy, I wish I'd come up with that sooner." Bill said with a laugh.

I glared at him. Using Dipper's own trick against us...

I didn't expect things to turn out this way.

*Bill's POV*

Using Dipper's own trick against us...

After hearing Sixer say that, I held in my laugh.

He had no idea how much that sentence forshadowed my plans.

"Well, Sixer, I have some business to attend to. See ya!" I said, snapping my fingers as a cool convertible was manifested.

I jumped in and drove to my lair, my friends from the Nightmare Realm jumping in along the way.

This was going to be fun.

*Dipper's POV*

I was laying on something soft.

Something soft an comfortable, covered in something warm and cozy.

My eyes were closed, and for the first time, I felt...

Relaxed.

Not worrying about anything anymore, not striving for a mystery - just smiling serenely in a peaceful world.

...Until I remembered what had happened before I fell asleep.

I shot up in bed, my eyes wide open.

I was in a room. In a queen-size bed with curtains, made with mahogany wood and made with white fabric, a blue pine tree engraved on the blanket.

I got out of bed-

The first thing I noticed was that my injuries were gone. Completely healed without a trace.

Weird... I thought.

The room was spacious and open-plan, with very little furniture in it. There were bookshelves with mystery novels, a desk with some notebooks and a laptop, along with a lamp...

A giant pine tree was painted on the oak plank floor in blue.

I was very confused.

First of all - why would Bill ever do something nice for me? He was a dream demon who called humans meatsacks.

He wouldn't even genuinely say something nice about us, let alone give one of them a big, comfortable bedroom just how they'd like it.

My guard was up. This was too good to be true. There had to be a catch.

My stomach rumbled.

Then the door to the room opened, and Ford came in, holding a tray of breakfast food. He set the tray down on the floor and clapped twice, the room being filled with light, as he held the tray again.

"W-Wha?! Ford?!" I said, surprised.

"Hello, Dipper." He said with a smile. "You finally woke up. Here, I got breakfast for you."

"Wait- I thought you were in the Mystery Shack putting out the fire-"

"What fire?"

My head was spinning with confusion.

"Anyway, I was thinking that we should continue our investigation on the weird painted stones in the forest after breakfast. Head over to my office when you're done eating and getting your stuff." Ford said, leaving the room.

It took me a while to process what he said.

Investigation?

Weird painted stones?

OFFICE?!

I was very confused and racked my brain for an explanation.

I decided to look to my memories prior to waking up here.

The last thing I remembered was Bill locking me in some blue orb with chains and the pine tree symbol.

Bill had me in his clutches...

...so why am I here?

From an open window a hummingbird flew in, wearing tiny glasses, a letter in its beak.

It landed in my lap and dropped the letter, then came out the way it came in.

Confused, I opened the letter.

The only words words that were on it were 'For Answers, Go To Your Desk'.

Contemplating whether I should listen to a letter delivered by a hummingbird like some rip-off of Hedwig from Harry Potter, I decided to just do what the letter told me to. More believable that the hummingbird was right than Bill being nice to me.

I walked towards the desk, realizing I was barefoot (luckily the wooden floor felt like a fluffy carpet, I'm weirded out but grateful) and that I wasn't wearing my signature pine tree hat.

As I looked around I saw it on my bedside table.

I took it and put it on, heading to my desk and noticing the laptop wasn't in the same position as before, off to the side. In its place was a black leather-bound book.

In silver letters, it said 'Answers for Pine Tree'.

I got Bill vibes from the title.

But I remained hopeful, sitting at the desk and opening the book carefully:

Hey Pine Tree! :)

It's me, Bill, your favorite triangle!

Since I knew you'd be full of questions when you woke up, I made this book so you don't go whining about where you are or whats happening and whatever.

So if you take a pen and write a question, the answer will pop up below it.

Oh yeah! Also, if you chew on the pen and it breaks, the ink is actually snake venom, so don't  do that, Pine Tree!

See ya!

Ugh, of course Bill would do something like that.

But I was still confused as to why he even bothered to make me feel comfortable.

I took a pen, keeping in mind that it was poisonous so I didn't get into my bad habit of chewing them when thinking, and I started to think of questions.

I decided to just choose the most basic one:

Where am I?

Then, as if typed, the words came in, character by character.

You're in a fake world  of fantasy that I created, kid! Originally I was gonna make it as a trap for Shooting Star, but I wanted you to get comfy before training you.

...

That's not it, I thought. It has to be another reason for why he put me here. He just wants me to be vulnerable. He's gonna yank the rug from under my feet once he gets the chance.

I thought for a bit for what my next question should be. I thought of an idea, but I was contemplating whether I should write it down.

I sighed and just decided I would.

Why are you being nice to me?

I held my breath, waiting for the answer.

It never came.

I just snapped the book shut and sighed.

He was just toying with me, wasn't he?