Never Trust Your Demons

57

"The end of the world...." Wendy, Dipper and I sit on the roof of the mall. "Man, those death metal album covers got it shockingly right."
"You know, I used to think I could get out of anything, but this?" Dipper's taking all of this hard. "The journals are destroyed, Ford is captured and I can't find Mabel or Stan anywhere," I'm just waiting for him to say "I don't even know if I can trust Connie." I know he's thinking it. "Bill said it himself, there's no room for heroes out here. We lost."
"Look, dude, it's not over yet," Wendy tries to encourage him. "You've beaten Bill twice before, why is this time any different?"
"'Cause then I had Mabel," Dipper sighs.
"Then you need to get Mabel back," She insists. "Look, this summer, I've seen some amazing things, but nothing as amazing as you and your sister. I don't know if it's dumb luck or yin and yang, or whatever, but when you two work together, there's like nothing you two can't accomplish. You just need to make up, and team up, and save the universe."
"But how will I ever find her?"
I start to mention the bubble, but we're all distracted by a monster ripping a billboard out of the ground and eating it. When it's gone, we can clearly see to the UFO cliffs, including a bubble with Mabel's shooting star on it.
"The shooting star from Mabel's sweater!" Dipper gasps. "She's in there. I know it."
"Whoa," Wendy laughs. "Is that like twin ESP?"
"No, we don't have that....but we do have this thing where our allergies totally act up at the same time," I smile slightly at his small sneeze. "Mabel needs us. But how are we gonna get out there without being caught?" He asks, slightly frustrated.
Wendy smiles. "I have an idea. Wait here, I'll go get Toby," She heads back down into the building.
There's a minute or so's pause before I decide to break my silence since coming up here. "Dipper..." I sigh, sitting on the edge of the roof, letting my legs dangle.
"What, Connie?" His voice is slightly cold, but I'm probably only hearing that because I'm looking for it.
"I... I'm sorry about not telling you about Bill. I was so dumb, and....I can't help but feel like this whole thing is my fault," I groan, falling back, not even bothering to catch myself as my back crashes to the roof. "If I'd just told you guys about Bill earlier, we might not be in this mess..." I sigh. "Bill had me tricked all summer, and I realized it when Ford told us how dangerous he was...." I leave out the whole "He actually might've been sincerely liking me and I'm still super confused by him and I'm sort of still liking him back." I don't think Dipper would be okay with that.
"It can't be all your fault," Dipper responds. "Listen, I'm sorry too. Bill's tricked me before too, but not this huge," He gives a short laugh. "I can't believe he tried to convince you a sadistic triangle was capable of love."
"Either he was really good or I was pretty dumb, because I actually was convinced," I laugh as well. "Though it was still a better relationship than with KC!" I joke.
We both laugh as Dipper sits next to me on the edge of the roof.
"I can't say I blame you for not trusting me after that..." I sigh again, sitting up. "Heck, I can't believe Ford did trust me, even though he knew that whole time!" Dipper smiles at me.
"Hey, it's okay," He assures me. "What's important is we need to stop him. If you say you're on our side, that's good enough for me."
I smile back as he hugs me. 
"By the way," He starts. "How are you not stone? And how'd you escape Bill?" He asks.
"Well..." I hesitate, wondering how to put it. "Bill... thinks I still trust him, so he insisted I join the party," I shrug. "But demons who play a strange version of spin the bottle that involves eating another player," I shudder. "Aren't exactly the people I'd party with."
We both laugh again.
"C'mon guys," We turn and see Wendy. "Let's go. I'll tell you the plan on the way."

A few short minutes later, we've successfully reached out destination.
"The abandoned auto-mart," Wendy says with a grin as we all-Toby included-climb over the fence. "Free cars right for the hot-wiring. We just found our ride to Mabel." I look around at the defaced vehicles. "I wonder if they have a tank," Wendy continues. "I've always wanted to drive a tank!"
"I can't believe this place is just abandoned," Dipper muses.
"Ooh, an air freshener! Finally I'll smell like a person!" Toby says excitedly in his whiny voice. "Stealy stealy..."
"Remind me again why we brought him?" I ask Wendy off to the side as I tighten my hair tie.
Out of nowhere, a dart flies past us, lodging itself in his head.
"It's gonna take more than one dart to keep me from-" He starts to speak, but several more darts hit him-in the head, might I add-and he collapses.
"Oh no! Tony!" Wendy exclaims. "Was it Tony?" She hesitates. "I can never remember his name..."
Three car headlights turn on, revealing we're surrounded. We can just make out the drivers-intense, tough looking men, most of them buff with tattoos and piercings-some of whom I half recognize from the whole pirate adventure as part of the "late" Captain Cipher's crew.
"Well, well, looks like we got ourselves a pair of ground walkers!" One laughs.
"Heheh! Ground walkers!" Another repeats in a screech. "Heheh! Ain't got no wheels!" They all laugh.
"What now guys?" I mutter to my companions.
"Listen Discount Auto Warriors!" Wendy shouts.
"We just wanna make it to that bubble out east," Dipper continues. "We have no quarrel with you!"
Then one of them climbs out on top of him car. He's slightly bigger than the rest appear to be, and he speaks in a low, booming voice and a western accent. "Oh, but that's where you're wrong! Hands where I can see 'em!"
None of us resist, immediately putting our hands up.
"Y'all fellers ain't goin' nowhere."
"'Y'all'?" Wendy questions.
"'Fellers'?" Dipper snorts. "Wait... Gideon!?"
"Gideon?!" I don't remember him being that...folk-sy when I met his other-dimensional counterparts.
Then again, there's that "other-dimensional" part.
"That's Sheriff Gideon!" He moves a megaphone away from his mouth as the headlights illuminate him. "Under the authority of Bill Cipher," He continues in a squealing, little kid's voice that's more annoying than Toby's.
"Ugh, I don't remember his voice being that squeaky as a first mate or a Pines..." I grumble.

"What?!" They other two look at me in confusion.
"Some other ti-"
"SILENCE!" Gideon shouts in a higher pitched voice.
"Don't ever do that again," I shake my head. "I like my ears functional and non-bleeding, thanks very much," I snort.
"Quiet you!" He continues again, thankfully in a less squeaky voice. "Under the authority of Bill Cipher, I place you three under arrest!" Then he stops. "Oh, hi, Wendy! Have we formally met? And I don't think I know you..." He points to me.
I give him a fake salute, purposefully letting a few purple sparks jump from my fingertips."Name's Pines. Conifer Pines."
"Oh, another Pines..." He grumbles.
"Wait, since when could you do that?" Wendy asks. "Is that the purple fire we saw when you first came into the mall?!"
"Er... since sometime this summer, and yes."
"Well, then look what the apocalypse dragged in!" Gideon continues. "Y'all are in a twelve-piece bucket of deep fried trouble now! Ghost-Eyes! Spittoon!" He snaps his fingers and spits out his gum in the mentioned vessel.
"'Twelve-piece bucket of deep fried trouble'?" I snort. "Where did that even come from?"
"Well he's gotten folksier," Wendy comments.
"Ma' old pal Bill figured you might try to rescue Mabel," Gideon continues to ignore us. "So he appointed me, master of these wastelands, and keeper of the bubble! My sweet precious Mabel's trapped inside and I HAVE THE ONLY KEY!" He pulls out a golden key, decorated with the same shooting star from Mabel's sweater.  "Wrapped around my... well I wouldn't call it a neck exactly...wrapped around this little pocket of fat under ma' head?"
"Gideon, you have no right to keep her in there!" Dipper growls.
"Yeah, let her go!" I demand.
"Bill explained it to me nice and simple: she was always destined to be mine! And now that I have her in a cage she'll learn to love me! I have an eternity to wait! Ghost-Eyes! Ready to escort our friends to Bill's dungeon?"
"Hey!" I protest as Ghost-Eyes somehow picks all three of us up at once.