Darker Perspective

Chapter 21

Dipper composed himself before turning the corner into the great hall, straightening his suit and brushing his hair back. His birthmark was now in full view, and he found he let it stay that way.

Pushing Grunkle Stan's final words to the back of his mind forevermore, he turned the corner and opened the obsidian doors.

He was greeted with shrieking laughter and the distinct smell of smoke. Sure enough, as Dipper entered the room further he spotted something burning on the floor with a circle of demons laughing around it.

"Pine Tree! This is the best part! Come watch!" Bill beckoned him, and shouts of agreements came from the other demons. With a roll of his eye accompanied with a smirk, Dipper joined the circle. He looked around, his eye eventually locking onto the source of their amusement.

He found himself staring down at none other than the doll of Li'l Gideon Gleeful, which was burning in a haze of blue flame. Strangely enough, the doll was burning slowly – nowhere near as quick as wood should do.

The painted doll also has a few limbs missing and it's eyes had been scratched off. Blood was leaking from its joints, dripping down into a pool beneath it.

Through the crackling of the flames, Dipper could still hear the child's rapid heartbeat. If he listened close enough, the noise was also accompanied by a long, pained scream.

Good. So he was still alive in there.

"You thought you could just betray me, did you?!" Bill shouted down at the doll. He slammed his cane down onto the doll's chest, burning a hole through it. "Sorry to tell you, but that didn't work out well did it?!"

With a snap of his fingers, the flames died. Bill grabbed the doll, his form shifting into a red pyramid with a blazing eye.

"And now you're going to have to stay with me forever..." Bill growled, his voice deep and echoing.

A moment later he was back to his usual form, shoving the doll under his hat.

"Anyway, now back to business." Bill said casually, straightening his bow tie. He turned to Dipper. "You dealt with Fez?"

Dipper nodded.

"Gone." He replied shortly.

"And Shooting Star?"

"Here." Dipper pointed to his pocket, where the doll's head was showing. "She watched everything you just did too."

"Brilliant!" Bill cackled, floating into the air. "You know what that means, right?" He asked the demons around him. They all began to chatter, glowing in excitement.

"It's time to spread this chaos worldwide!" Bill announced happily. He broke a hole in the ceiling of the pyramid. "So please, knock yourselves out! The world is ours!"

Dipper joined the demons as they flew into the sky, letting himself smile. Below him, Gravity Falls was burning, stuck in a purgatory of chaos and ruin. He grinned, his pointed teeth glinting in the red light that had consumed the town. His next stop would be his hometown, of course, and he would slowly expand outwards –

"What?!" An angered shriek was his only warning before he almost slammed into the rest of the demons. Eye narrowing, he looked up, spotting the problem.

A thick, glowing barrier was stopping any of them from leaving Gravity Falls, causing half the demons to slam into the wall unexpectedly. Dipper gritted his teeth, tracing the barrier with his hand. Ruins flashed warningly at his touch, burning his fingertips slightly.

He was so engrossed in studying it that he didn't realise Bill had made his way over to them, glowing a dangerous red. He grew several arms and, in his anger, began to slam all fists onto the wall in an act to break it. A gruesome mouth opened up in the centre of his body and shot a blast of fire with a snarl.