Heartless, right?

Chapter Twenty Four

Mabel jumps out of the bus and immediately tackles Dipper. They both fall to the ground, hugging each other tightly.

"I've been so worried about you." She sits back, inspecting her brother for injuries. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, really, Mabel." He smiles, but it doesn't quite reach his eyes. Eyes that have dulled from sleep deprivation.

Mabel pokes the dark circles beneath Dipper's eyes roughly. "Mason Pines, I swear to Hypnos if you don't start taking care of yourself I will force to see a doctor."

Someone by the car laughs quietly, a vaguely familiar laugh. Mabel glares at the blonde.

"What the fuck is he doing here?" She asks her Grunkles.

"Yeah, Ford, what is he doing here?" Stan grumbles, it's obviously not his first time asking.

"It's just a precaution, Mabel."

Mabel looks at her twin for an explaination, but he's shaking his head sternly at the man. She glances back at Bill, who is watching Dipper. But the look in his eye isn't murderous. It's the exact opposite, protective. He looks away, acting bored when Dipper turns.

"It's a long story." He turns back to Mabel and helps her up. "I'll explain later, I promise."

Mabel just nods, the less he knows about whatever the dream demon has going on the better. Stan and Ford join the two, asking what the plan is for the weekend.

"Tim Burton and Friday the 13th." Mabel grins.

"Who and when?" Stan asks.

"It's tradition, we watch all the Tim Burton claymations and Friday the 13th the night before Halloween, and invite friends over for the weekend closest to Halloween." Dipper explains.

"Eh, as long as it's not another musical. I still have Hell is Forever stuck in my head."

Mabel giggles, but doesn't respond as they get into the car. Ford motions at Bill and the demon snaps his fingers and disappears. Dipper once again looks at Ford like an annoyed father tired of his child's immature stunts at school. What the hell is going on here?

●●●●●

Bill watches the family for a little bit before losing interest. He remembers Tim Burton, they guy was very fun to inspire; not that Dipper would want his tradition ruined by the knowledge that most of The Nightmare Before Christmas was his idea.

He's too distracted marking one of Ford's maps to notice Mabel.

"Are you still planning to kill my brother?"

He jumps slightly, turning towards the girl. "No, something came up. Don't you have movies to watch."

"The Stans feel asleep and Alex called Dipper."

"Okay? Maybe this Alex wants to talk to you too. I'm kind of in the middle of something." What the hell is she doing?

"Alex is Dipper's friend, but mine. What the fuck is going on?"

Bill sighs, "Dipper said he'll tell you about it."

"And you may have noticed that he downplays his problems so that people won't worry about him."

"Listen, he's got a lot in his plate and the last thing is needs is to feel coddled. Dipper is more than capable of taking care of himself."

She crosses her arms and smirks, "You gonna go down on that hill?"

"What?" This is getting ridiculous. "Okay, what do you to hear?"

"I want to know if my brother is in danger."

Bill hesitates, "Any danger he gets in isn't posed by me."

Her staring intensifies, making Bill uncomfortable. "Get your shit figured out before you hurt him. I mean it."

Bill shakes his head as she leaves. He has no idea what she's on about and honestly, he doesn't really care. But after a few minutes, one of Ford's devices shrills. Gods, this guy is paranoid, no wonder Dipper's anxiety is so bad. With a pang of unsolicited guilt, Bill realizes that he's also to blame for the boy's fragile mental health. But that guilt is suddenly replaced by anxiety of his own, on the screen of the device a red horn symbol shows up. No Phaeloxian has gotten this close to the Shack. He runs up the stairs and sees Mabel at the edge of the woods talking to one of the hell demons. Dipper shows up a moment later from his room.

"Stay here, I'll get her." Bill orders. He teleports next to her. "What's going on here?"

"Nice one, Cipher. I was gonna let her live. You always make things so much more difficult." The demon growls, pulling out a dagger.

Phaelox is getting desperate sending their top warriors with cursed blades. He only has time to push Mabel out of the way, putting himself in the line of fire. This sucks, a lot. As the metal sinks into his shoulder, he grabs the demon before him. Before his powers are completely drained, he teleports Mabel back to the gift shop. This is going to get messy very quickly, and Dipper will kill him if his sister gets traumatized by his methods.

"What the fuck is going on?" Mabel screams as the dream demon returns, covered in blood. "Who the hell was that guy? How does he know you?" She points at Bill, then turns to Dipper, "And why did he want to talk to you so badly?"

Bill starts to answer but Dipper stops him, "I'll talk to her, just take care of that." He gestures at the dagger in Bill's hand before taking his sister upstairs, mouthing a thank you before turning the corner.

Stan and Ford enter the gift shop just as the attic door shuts. Both of them erupting with questions and complaints about his appearance.

"Shut up, just shut up for five minutes." Bill groans. "We need to talk about Dipper."

"What do you mean by that?" Stan asks, offended.

Bill sighs, "I think there's more to the blessing, that we haven't realized. I knew that he has some supernatural abilities, but it's a lot more complex than I originally thought." He looks towards the attic when he hears Mabel screaming. "I have a few theories, but we're gonna have to wait to find out for sure until she's calmed down."

While they wait, Bill shares their encounter with Rift and Void. How Dipper was able to see through their illusions. The fact that Dipper knew something was going on despite being in his room, his reaction to the cursed blade. Even bringing up how easily he raised the dead when he was twelve.

"So, you think that the stars gave him some sort of powers?" Ford asks, rubbing his chin in thought.

"Not exactly, more of a sixth sense and an immunity to the effects of using magic. They gave him an advantage, a fighting chance. And he's going to need it, things are just going to escalate more, and we won't be able to protect him much longer."

The older Pines twins nod hesitantly, and Stan grabs the chaos god's injured shoulder. "If you're wrong and he gets killed, I will personally kill you. And I promise you won't enjoy it."

Bill nods, but he doesn't need to be threatened. Dipper will be safe.

AN: Sorry for the late update. I had to rewrite this chapter three times. But I promise things are gonna start getting good soon. On a side note, I will be starting another fanfic that you guys should enjoy just as much (hopefully).

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