Heartless, right?

Chapter Twelve

Dipper retacts his hand quickly, disgusted with both the demon and himself. He wipes his hand on his jeans, hoping the feeling of Bill's skin will go away.

Of course, Bill laughs at his expense. "Catch you later, Pinetree." He smirks, preparing to dissappear.

"Wait!" Dipper demands. "Your plan?" He prompts.

"This." Bill waves his hand. "Or, more specifically, you trying to protect your family."

Dipper's chest clenches, and he struggles to breathe. "What?"

"I've been in your mind, kid. All you ever do is sacrifice for your family without a second thought. It was just a matter of time before you pulled pulled some stunt to keep them safe. Although, I'll admit, I was quite surprised when you decided to make a deal." The chaos god pauses, grinning at Dipper. "Once you're dead, the rest of your family will fall apart and either kill themselves or let me kill them."

Dipper falls back slightly, gripping his desk as he tries to ground himself. How could he be so stupid? He fell right into Bill's trap? And now there's nothing he can do. His vision tunnels as he forces his breathing to regulate. He can't give Bill the satisfaction of a mental breakdown.

He doesn't realize how close the demon is until he feels the man's fingers on his chin. Dipper allows his head to be pulled up as Bill grins sadistically, "I am going to enjoy this."

●●●●●

Pacifica watches Mabel carefully as the girl paces the bedroom. She's been distracted all night, and the minute the Northwest girl mentioned her twin, Mabel all but snapped.

"I don't even want to think about him! I mean, you'd think that he'd be smart enough to tell me shit, but no, he goes and pulls something like this!"

She goes on for five minutes before Pacifica grabs her and sits her on the bed.

"Mabel, what exactly did he do?"

"Bill Cipher is back, and he wasn't gonna tell me until I was back home!"

At the demon's name, Pacifica freezes. She understands why Dipper wouldn't say anything, but at the same time, this is the very demon who destroyed her home and traumatized her almost as badly as her parents.

"What? Why?!"

"He said that it was because Bill was only messing with him. Supposedly, the bastard said that if Dipper told me, then he'd kill me. But Dipper told Grunkle Ford? What the hell!?"

"Wait, Bill said he was gonna kill you?" Of course, Pacifica thought, he's not gonna say shit if it means protecting Mabel.

"Something like that, Dipper said he had a dream. But why should that matter? It's been happening since we got back. He had time to tell me before the dream."

Hearing this, Pacifica takes a deep breath and looks at Mabel. "I know you're gonna hate this, but just hear me out, okay?" She continues when the twin nods. "You know how Dipper is. Always putting others before himself. Telling you that he is back would have upset you. This is your guys' week to have fun and be carefree, so instead of ruining your birthday week, he tried to protect you and keep you from worrying. I'm not saying that what he did was okay, but you've gotta understand what he was thinking."

Mabel sighs and glances at her. "I just wish he didn't feel the need to throw himself in danger just to keep me safe."