Heartless, right?

Chapter Seventeen

Ford watches as Dipper desperately searches for and explaination. "Dipper, what deal?" He asks again.

"The day Mabel found out about Bill, I made a deal with him. As long as he leaves everyone else alone, he can do whatever he wants to me. But" he pauses, "it was a trap. His plan was to get me to try to protect everyone. Once I'm dead, he's convinced you guys will break."

"What?! Why would you make that deal? Did you really think that he'd just kill you and call it good?" Ford tries his best to keep himself calm, but there's too much to process.

"This has to be his plan." Stan says. "Push Dipper, make a deal, and get his reward when the job's done."

"The deal's frozen until his 'personal matters' are taken care of." Dipper shakes his head and looks at Ford. "I know making a deal with Bill was risky, but I had to try something." He starts to say something else but stops. "What prophecy was he talking about?"

Now it's Ford's turn to feel guilty. He recites the prophecy for Dipper. But his nephew doesn't react the way he expects. The boy simply nods, deep in thought.

Stan grabs his arm, "Let's give him some time to process."

Ford reluctantly agrees with his brother and leaves Dipper alone. He'll have to talk Dipper out of whatever he's planning later.

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"tadrep xom menoitar cnah cenod ruteurf oitanev te sutnevda suie tupac repus oitalletsnoc muutrom tiuf lemes douq tnecideneb eallets sutanitsed murclupes da sunu sirtam oretu ni iilif oud"

Dipper stares at the crumpled paper. He had seen these words in a nightmare a few years ago, but gave up after failing to find a translation. But Ford's prophecy felt familiar, just like those words. Thankfully he'd kept the page.

He sits at his desk and looks over the words again. Of course, how did he miss it before, the phrase is backwards. Do all demons speak backwards? Once he rearranges the phrase on another page Dipper can immediately translate the Latin. The translation is a loose match to the prophecy.

"Gotta hand it to you, kid. You don't give up. This is going to be fun." Bill's voice rings out through his mind.

"Why did you call a truce? I thought you wanted me dead."

The demon laughs. "I want to see Phaelox fall, and you are obviously the key."

Dipper rolls his eyes, "Cool, I'm so glad I can be of service."

He blocks the demon from his mind and calls Mabel. Maybe talking to his sister will help him feel better.