Gravitational Phantoms

Chapter Twenty-One

"I would agree to your terms..." Bill paused, and Danny froze as if he had just been zapped by Frostbite. They were seriously gambling with his life-with everyone's life. The fate of this entire town was resting on the shoulders of two twelve-year-olds with a 38 sided die. "But I don't just want Gravity Falls."

Dipper and Mabel braced themselves against the ledge that they stood on, narrowing their eyes and looking as if they were about to attack the triangle demon with their bare hands. Until Danny's mouth opened again, and Bill spoke. "I want the world."

For a moment, the twins were frozen, and Dipper squeezed his dark brown eyes shut. Then he opened them again, and they glimmered with determination-and terror. He squeezed his sister's hand tightly. "Fine."

Danny slid in front of them, even though the humans couldn't see it. "And I'll-I'll give you the Ghost Zone."

Inside, Danny was well aware that he had no right to use the afterlives of those in the Zone as bargaining chips.  But hopefully the twins knew what they were doing, because if not... they were all doomed. Human, monster, ghost, and Halfa would all burn indiscriminately in Bill's horrific nightmare world.

And that was a pretty freaking big "hopefully."

Danny watched as his own mouth twisted into a sneer. "Hmm. That's a pretty big offer, DP. Are you sure that you can match it? At least if Pine Tree and Shooting Star try to back down, I can always just take the rift myself. And something tells me that the ghosts aren't going to be very pleased with you."

Danny nodded. "Yes. I-I'm positive."

Bill-in-Danny's-body stared straight through his ethereal form and into the twin's eyes. "Deal."

Danny's hand lit with blue fire, and Dipper shook it. Mabel slid up next to him, carefully keeping her balance as she did the same. 

Ford was shouting protests up to them from down on the ground, and soon Wendy and Soos joined him. But that didn't matter anymore; all that mattered was that Dipper and Mabel had the fate of the world and the Ghost Zone in their hands.

"Right," Mabel said. "We can only get a fair dice roll on a flat surface, so we're going back down."

Danny floated beside them as they scrambled through the ruins. Dipper was... chewing something? Danny didn't know what, but the former Halfa wasn't sure why he didn't just spit it out.

Bill-Danny alighted on the ground, frowning as the unfamiliar feeling that was exhaustion ran through his body. 

"Alright," Dipper clapped his hands. "Mabel?"

His sister pulled out a large, flat piece of metal from the mound of collapsed building next to her. Wow, that girl was strong. She plunked it down in front of them, and the possessed Halfa sat down across from them. Danny crossed his legs and hovered in midair. 

Danny had quickly gotten used to being constantly intangible; it helped that he had a great deal of practice when he first got his powers in the portal accident. It was still odd being unable to will himself back into normal, human, solidity, however.

"I hope you have a plan," he murmured to them, even though they couldn't hear it. "Because I just used an entire alternate dimension full of ghosts as a gambling device."

Dipper held up the die. Danny stared at it. So, this small, insignificant object was going to decide the fate of the world. 

Danny reached out, and his translucent fingers brushed the die. Dipper shivered, and Danny wondered if he could feel him.

Mabel puffed up her chest, even though there was fear shining in her eyes. "Okay! One roll of the dice, winner takes all. But only if it lands on a thirteen will we win. You got that, you isosceles yellow dorito?"

"Fine, fine. Just get on with it, Shooting Star," Bill hissed irritably. He seemed confident that he would win, and it worried Danny immensely.

Mabel set her hand on top of Dipper's, then grabbed the other that held the die. They looked at each other. 

"Together?" Mabel said, and Danny realized just how much responsibility had been put on the shoulders of two twelve-year-olds who had been through more than any other child ever should.

"Together." Her brother agreed, giving her a small, sad smile.

"One, two, three!"

The two tossed the die up in the air, watching it spin in the air. Danny leaned forward in anticipation, as the object spun in the air. When it landed he closed his eyes-

Only to open them when he heard twin whoops of joy that rose above the destroyed town. 

The die read thirteen.

Danny stared at it in shock, not quite believing his eyes. How had the twins known?

There was an awful sound like metal screeching on metal, and then Bill started to... come undone.

Danny's body started to leach blue, yellow, green, red, white, and black energy, as he was forced from the skin against his will. The energy started to form a shape that looked like an awful monster.

Oh. So this abomination was Bill's true form.

It didn't look anything like the yellow, snappily dressed triangle that Dipper and Mabel were accustomed to. Instead, it was a shapeless, pulsating beast that oozed with viscous liquid. Ugly, feathered wings rippled in the air, and a flesh-rendering screech came from a mouth filled with razor-sharp teeth. 

" N̸̛̻̹̙̭͖͈̱̭̳͇͔̳͉̪͕̹͈̈́͒̊ͪ͊̔̎̂ͧ̇ͭͧͤ͛̿̾͑ͫ͆O̴͎͉̬̗̦̘͉͐͗͗̋̏͐͊͌͒̇̍͌̈̄͞! " He screamed.  "I̵̸̢̘͍̬͍̰̳̳̫̟̎̀̍ͬ̀ͫ̐̕͞ ̶̳̲̱͖̹̙̥̱͋̈ͮ̂ͯ͘͢͜ͅw̬̺̙͓̥̖̽͒ͮͯ̊ͥ̿̽̅͆͐͐̒̾̋ͣ̀͘͢i̓͐͑̐̓̑̃͆͌͆͒̾ͤ̚͜͏̛͓̝͍͍̫̹̲̰̰͙͕̤͙̠̮̮͚͖̀͞l̴̵ͨͦ̒̾̈́̿̑͏̛̙̱̤̦̯̙̹̯̬l̵̩͎̼̫̝͕̗̼͖̒̈͗̚͢͝͠ ̴̺̗̹͍̔͌͗̌̄ͬ̔͑͊̃͢͢͠n̉ͪ̈́ͤͧ̆̈ͧͦ̈́ͭͧ̀̊͛ͩ̊̑҉̦͙̬͕͎͠o̴̰̱͇̮̞̫͔̭̲̹͈̰̝̞͚̺̫ͦ̋ͪ̆ͪͧ̿ͣͣ͑̉͂̂ͧͪ́̚t̠͙̳̹͑̌͐ͦ̓ͧ̇͗̐͊ͫ̆̂̄̋͑̓̚̕͞ͅ ̸͎̱̰̺͍̾͐͐ͥ̃̎͜͡b̛̙͎̣̬̙̖̣̝̹̎͐̈ͯ̐̅ͩ̽̿̈̀̊̿ͭ́̚̚ȩ̵̵͖̼̠̺̭̖͎̣͚̥̣̥̇̌ͮ̓͛́̌ͤ͌̄̿̆̒ͪ͂ͥ̾ͭ̏͜͞ ̪͇̣̗̜̗͍͓̣͙͚͔̼̗ͧͥͤͪ͐ͩͫͬͦ̏̑͘̕͡d̀ͮͦ̉̿ͫ́̍ͯ̂́҉̨͖̞̟͍̞̘̬͉e̶̷̟̜̺̰̖̲͈͍͓ͧ̐̋́ͮ̆͊ͨͣͦͧ̈͆͊ͥ̅͐̽̉́͢͟n̷̷̷̷̢̤͎̻̹̘͚̞̠̯͓͇̄̅̍̊ë̸̸̶̢̦͙̟͔̠́͂̔͆ͫ͐̍ͫͩͣ̉̚d̨̥̪̬̮̝͎̪̝̣ͤͣ̓͑̊́̿͐ͬ͊̎ͫ̈́̆̾́̊ͭ͜͝!"

Ford appeared from out of nowhere and tried to shield his great-niece and nephew as Bill reached desperately for the dimensional rift. But the demon's fingers dissolved before they could make contact, and he screamed again. 

"N̗̫̺̯̥͓̥̮̔ͭͤ̇ͧͩ̆ͬ̐̽́ͣ̀́͡͝O!" 

Realizing that his body was now empty, Danny's spirit dove into it. A horrible dizzying sensation overtook him, and then there was a feeling as if something inside of him that had been off for far too long had finally settled into place.

Then he tried to rise to his feet, but even that small motion was much too tiring for him.

The universe went dark as Bill disappeared into a swirling inferno of energy, and the twins grabbed his wrists before he could hit the ground.