But know this... A darkness approaches. A day will come in the future when everything you care about will change. Until then, I'll be watching you! I'll be watching yooooooooooouuu...

Dipper rubbed his eyes, suppressing a yawn. It was nearly three in the morning and he was exhausted. He lay awake in his bed, unable to fall asleep.

Dipper pulled the covers up over

his head, turning to face the wall.

Just a few hours... Anything.

Dipper had been more than a little sleep deprived recently. He often found himself struggling to keep his eyes open or even stand upright during the day. Of course, Grunkle Stan hadn't allowed him to take any breaks, so he'd barely had a moment's rest.

As he tried to drift off to a dream where maybe things would be a bit better than they were in real life, Dipper's mind actually became more and more active.

Memories raced through his brain, laced with little broken, incomprehensible thoughts.

He had to get to sleep.

No, sleep was impossible.

Dipper eventually found himself returning again to the thought of the dream demon that he tried so often to block out. The triangle had said that he had "big plans coming." He was after the journal and was intent on keeping the Pines twins in the dark about whatever larger conspiracy was happening in Gravity Falls.

But why? What was he planning, and what role would the Pines family play in all of it?

It was so hard to try to predict what Bill Cipher's end goal really was. He was just so hard to read, to understand, and he possessed so much power. He seemed to know exactly where to strike so that you would feel so close and yet so far to the answers.

The boy had been tricked by the demon the last time they had met. It was all a bit of a blur after the show, really- Dipper had been rushed away to a hospital and had woken up a few days later back in the Mystery Shack, not exactly sure of what had happened.

But the glowing yellow of those reptilian eyes set where his should have been remained fresh in his mind.

Sometimes Dipper would be able to fall asleep for a while, but he was always visited by nightmares and would wake feeling completely unrested. Other times he wouldn't sleep at all for fear of his dreams.

But one thing was for sure- Bill was watching and scheming, and would not leave any time soon.

Dipper couldn't do anything without his thoughts wandering back to the dream demon. He was almost obsessed.

Mabel hadn't known how right she was when she had said that.

Dipper glanced over his shoulder at his twin sister, who was deep into a dream of her own. She looked so peaceful, muttering occasionally but otherwise remaining completely still. She looked so... Content.

Contentment. That was something that Dipper hadn't felt in a long time.

The boy rolled onto his back and stared at the ceiling of the attic. He felt his eyes flutter shut, but they shot open again mere moments after. He couldn't force himself to fall asleep, not when he knew of the impending horrors that would surely arise as a result. No matter how tired he was, he couldn't allow himself to go through that yet again.

Dipper decided instead to go out for a walk. The woods surrounding the Shack always helped calm him down, even when he knew about all the mysterious and often dangerous secrets they contained.

He grabbed his journal from off the bedside table as he walked past. He wasn't going to risk anything happening to it while he was gone.

He knew there was someone else who wanted it.

~~~TIME SKIP~~~

Dipper leaned back against the trunk of an oak tree and sighed. Dawn was beginning to break, and the sunrise had started to spill its colors over the tops of the mountains.

Dipper didn't know where he was. He had just walked on, eventually losing himself entirely in thought and not even watching where he was going.

He had been gone for a while. It had been dark when he had left. He decided that it was time to go back; Mabel would start to worry if she woke up and he was gone. She hadn't forgotten the puppet show incident either, and was intent on keeping Dipper safe.

Slowly, Dipper got to his feet and trudged off in what he thought was the direction of the Mystery Shack.

~~~TIME SKIP~~~

When Dipper finally made it back to the Shack, it was about half an hour until it opened for business. He shoved the screen door aside and shuffled into the gift shop area, feeling rather like a zombie, more dead than alive. Any blissful and soothing feelings he had obtained from wandering in the woods had vanished as soon as the building came back into view.

He passed his sister, who was sitting behind the front desk playing with Waddles.

"Hey, Mabel," he practically whispered. She looked up, then bolted around the edge of the desk and trotted alongside him as he made his way into the area marked "Employees Only."

"Hey, bro-bro. What's up?"

She noticed the bags under his eyes and the glossed-over look they bore. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Just need some rest. And breakfast." His stomach growled, and he headed towards the kitchen.

Mabel skipped after him and took a blender out of a cupboard. It contained some sort of pink, shimmering liquid and was labeled "Mabel Juice." Dipper shuddered. He knew what his sister had in mind.

"No, Mabel, I'm not going to drink any of that."

"C'mon, Dipper! You need something to wake up; we have to go out today, remember?"

Oh, right. Stan had run out of glue to make his stupid attractions, and was apparently going to be too busy to go into town and buy some more. Hordes of tourists were starting to gather outside the Mystery Shack, eager to enter and throw away a few hundred dollars while they were at it.

Mabel poured the concoction into two cups and slid one across the table to her twin brother. She guzzled hers down in a matter of seconds, but Dipper couldn't bring himself to push his away. Lethargy had taken control over his entire body, slowing his movements and slurring his thoughts.

Seeing that Dipper was clearly not in the mood at all for the Mabel Juice, Mabel took his cup and gulped it down herself. Then she ran to the pantry and brought out a box of cereal.

As she raced around the kitchen, humming to herself and preparing breakfast for the two of them, Dipper wondered for the millionth how she managed to possess so much boundless energy. Mabel hadn't been having nightmares, he supposed, but it still seemed ridiculous.

That was the thing about Mabel- she remembered all their misadventures, but was never haunted by them afterwards. Dipper could never let go. Those experiences were like shadows that had latched onto him, weighing him down and corrupting his spirit.

Bill was the worst of all.

The boy's focus snapped back to reality when his sister set a bowl of cereal down in front of him. He once again tried to find enough energy to move his arms, but couldn't.

Eventually, though, hunger won out over exhaustion and Dipper choked down his breakfast with considerable effort.

"Well, let's get going." Mabel proclaimed about five minutes later as she finished off the last of her cereal. She grabbed Dipper's wrist and dragged him from his chair, through the Shack, and out the door into the morning air.

The sun hadn't reached its peak yet, and the sweltering heat that came with each July day was still a few hours away.

Nevertheless, the trip into town passed very slowly. Dipper was forced to move along by his sister, struggling to maintain his balance as he was pulled behind her. He was barely aware of anything besides the distant sensation of his heels skidding along the ground and Mabel's tight grip on his wrist.

How long had it been since Mabel's disastrous puppet show? Days? Weeks? Months? Dipper was losing track of time, and even beginning to lose his hold on sanity. Each morning he would wake from the terrors he knew were caused by the triangular dream demon with a heavy feeling in his chest and an emptiness shrouding his soul from the light. He was filled with constant numbness, inside and out, but also knew that the whole thing was breaking his heart and his mind. He was beginning to buckle. Soon he would shatter, and no one would ever be able to put him together again.

Fingers snapped in front of Dipper's face, bringing him back to the world.

"Hello? Earth to Dipper?" It was Mabel, her expression full of concern. "What's the matter?"

"I'm just... Really tired. Don't worry. Everything's fine." He replied, giving her a weak smile.

But he was lying, and they both knew it.

Hey, readers! I kinda forgot to leave an author's note at the beginning.

Anyway, I was working on another fanfiction (a Reverse Falls one) but there haven't been many comments, so I don't know if I'm going to continue that one...

Even if I do, though, I had an idea for this one and decided I'd try it out. This one I will continue no matter what, unless I go into a creative slump, so expect an update every couple nights or so.

Thanks!

~ Three