Episode 1: Make a deal.
Arc: "Devil's Deal"
Opening: Shiver – Gazette.

. . .

"Hey, Dipping-sauce, are you awake?" Mabel asked as she nudged her brother gently. Dipper groaned lightly, and then stood on a sitting position on his bed. "Dipper, you won't believe it, but I had a very strange dream!" Dipper groaned again, rubbing the back of his hand against his eyes. Mabel usually would wake him up for stupid reasons, but this was beyond all of them. With a quick glance at the clock on his bedside, he noticed it was 3 in the morning.

"And is it so important that you had to wake me at 3 in the morning?" The boy asked, not feeling like hearing stupidities so soon. Maybe later he could handle Mabel, but not when he felt so sleepy. Mabel jumped next to him, causing the bed to creak in protest, and nodded.

"Yes, it was so weird."

"Did you have any smile dip before going to sleep?" Asked Dipper, as if he was trying to ask himself what would cause Mabel to have a weird dream, though all of her dreams seemed to be very strange with unnecessarily colorful high school boys whose dream was to create a band and conquer their dreams. Oh, the nicest cliché for women.

"Nope, that thing is evil! I'm never buying it again! Well, I was dreaming and you and I were hunting monsters and stuff, when that triangle guy came and took you with him. And somehow you wanted to go with him. And then I saw a monster come and attack me. I called out for you, but you didn't come, even though I called for you for, like, two whole minutes! Then the monster went to bite me, but a wolf came and attacked the monster. And then the wolf came to me, but everything got blurry and everything I saw after I woke up was the strange wolf looking at me with glowing red eyes." Dipper had to admit, that dream was surely strange. Mabel usually had dreams about lands of candy and such, but never a dream like that. With Bill Cipher, no less!

"It's just a dream, Mabel. I'll never go with that demon, and much less abandon you when you need me." Dipper said, trying to comfort his sister. He put a hand on her shoulder. "We are the mystery twins, aren't we?" He asked, nudging Mabel playfully. Mabel smiled at him and nudged him back, and then both did that for a few more seconds.

"Yeah, I think it was just one of those stupid dreams." She assured, but said this more to herself than to her brother. "Sorry to disturb you in the middle of the night, bro. I think I'm going back to sleep." And then she jumped off his bed and made her way to hers. Dipper laid down back on his bed and watched as his twin sister slowly fell asleep again. He just wished that his sister didn't have any other bad dreams, but then he discovered that he couldn't sleep. Mabel's dream was intriguing, for sure. Why would she think he'd join Bill Cipher? And why would she think he wouldn't help her when she was in danger? And what did the wolf with glowing red eyes mean? Dipper knew only one thing of all that: he would never join Bill Cipher.

With that last thought, he fell asleep.

…

"Hey, wake up, sleepy head." Dipper heard someone call him, but couldn't understand correctly what the person had said because the voice was distorted and blurry. He opened his eyes, and then found out that everything was black. Had he became blind? No, it couldn't be. Dipper rubbed his eyes, trying to keep himself awake, and then he opened his eyes again, hoping to see the attic, his sister in front of him, wearing a ridiculously funny sweater and calling him for breakfast, and Waddles oinking behind her. But he saw none of that, all he saw was black. Dipper stood up, and then realized that he wasn't blind. He could stand up, he wasn't feeling his pillow, and wasn't feeling his bed either. Still, he was fully dressed on his clothes, even his pine tree hat. Dipper looked around.

"Hello?" He asked, trying to find someone in that creepy place, and then he stopped on his tracks. That place looked slightly familiar… I have an idea, thought Dipper. He closed his eyes for a moment, and then thought of something simple. He thought of a pebble. And then that pebble he was thinking in appeared in front of him, and then fell to the ground, or something similar as it disappeared from his sight. Dipper growled. Of course! He was in the dreamscape! And who else would be in the dreamscape with him other than him? "Quit the hide-and-seek game, Bill, I know you're in here." Dipper announced as he looked at all directions, trying to find a psychotic triangle-shaped guy with a bowtie. A few seconds later, said triangle appeared in front of him.

"Well, well, Pine Tree." The triangle said, with a maniac laugh. "Looks like we meet again. How amazing, isn't it?" Dipper growled louder. Bill was trying to fool him, but he wasn't born yesterday. He knew that the triangle guy meant danger, and danger meant the triangle guy. It was logic. Dipper pointed at him.

"I know what you're up to! You're the one who gave my sister that strange dream!" He shouted, just to make clear that he had caught Bill in his own game.

"Oh, Pine Tree, so you actually caught me." Bill laughed. He was thoroughly enjoying playing with Dipper. However, Dipper felt mad because he knew that Bill was just toying with him. "You know, Shooting Star isn't as intelligent as you. She is gullible, though. And since you've 'defeated'me once, I actually thought we both could work out here." Dipper narrowed his eyes. He suddenly understood what the dream demon was up to.

"I am definitely not making a deal with you, demon." Dipper spat coldly.

"Oh, Pine Tree, but you haven't even heard my proposal yet." Bill interrupted, while circling Dipper. "Here's the deal: you have a strong mind. If you become my apprentice, I'll show you how to control your own mind. And I might even show you some of the Gravity Falls mysteries as well." Dipper narrowed his eyes even more. He wasn't falling for that demon's tricks or his manipulation.

"And what makes you think I will accept your deal?" The preteenager asked, as he knew Bill Cipher very well to know that the deal wasn't going to be fair. If Bill had a mouth, he'd surely be grinning right now.

"Ah, Pine Tree, you're so naïve…" Bill said, as he rolled his black cane in his hands. "Well, if you don't accept my deal then I'll either force you to, or go to your stupid sister's mind and torture her. Also, I can torture your whole family for eternity." He explained. Dipper gaped at him, so it was going to be like that… "Close your mouth, you're drooling." Dipper closed his mouth. "So, Pine Tree… What will it be? Will it be by choice, or force?" Bill asked, emphasizing the last word, as his hands glowed with blue fire. He extended his hands, which were surrounded by blue fire by now. Dipper just stared at his hand. He didn't know what to choose. "Come on, Pine Tree, I can't stand like that all night." Dipper closed his eyes, breathed in and out, and then shook Bill's hand.

"I will accept the deal." Dipper said, his eyes were still closed. "But leave my family alone." Bill seemed to think about it. "Please." His voice was barely a whisper. Dipper felt like his strength was being sucked out of his body. He crumbled to the ground, exhausted. Somehow, he knew it had to do with Bill. "What did you do to my energy?" He asked, not even feeling like standing up and facing Bill. The triangle-shaped demon laughed lightly.

"Oh, you humans are so predictable. You're waking up, you idiot." Dipper used his strength left to look around. In fact everything around him was changing, the blackness around him was crumbling and being replaced by white light, and he in fact was waking up. "So, see you next night. And remember: reality is an illusion, the universe is a hologram; buy gold, bye!" Dipper's eyes widened. So Bill was going away like that?

"Wait!"

…

"Ah!" Dipper shrieked as he woke up, his breath was shallow and his heart was hammering inside his chest. He had dreamed about him and Bill Cipher making a deal, but a question crossed his mind: was it really a dream? He stood up, ignoring the dizziness he felt, and then went to find his shoes and navy-blue vest. Somehow, Dipper already had his pine tree hat on. This just made his question, about the dream being real or not, intensify itself. Dipper sighed as he walked downstairs, and found Mabel eating breakfast with her pet pig, Waddles, at her side. At noticing Dipper, she waved at him.

"Hey, Dipper!" Shouted Mabel excitedly. "Come eat with us!" Dipper felt his headache getting worse, but sat next to Mabel. She handed to him a plate of pancakes which shone more than all of Mabel's glittered sweaters together. "I made this specially for you! It's made of extra shiny sprinkles!" She explained, while taking a bite of her own pancakes. "Come, have a taste!" Mabel handed him a fork.

"Uh, thanks." Dipper took the fork and gave a bite to the pancake. He felt his headache get much worse when he swallowed the pancake. "Ugh." He moaned as he pressed his head against the table, and tangled his fingers between his brown hair locks. Mabel noticed this and then thought it was her pancake that made him like that.

"Dipper, are you ok? Were my pancakes bad?" She asked, concerned.

"No, your pancakes were good, Mabel." He lied, he could barely taste anything. Everything was tasteless. Even his own saliva. "It's just some stupid headache." He stood up, and tried to get up. "I'm going to the attic, if you don't mind. I want to lie down." But as he took his first steps he stopped. He felt his muscles relaxing, as well as his body going limp. The next thing Dipper knew before going unconscious was that he was falling to the ground with Mabel screaming behind him.

…

"Oh, Pine Tree, can't I leave you alone for a second and you already get yourself into trouble?" Dipper heard a voice say. He gritted his teeth to fight against the pounding in his head. With much willpower, he opened his eyes, just to face one big eye. He looked around, everything was black. Definitely he was in the dreamscape. "Oh, you woke up, then." Dipper winced at the demon's high-pitched voice. His headache was getting worse, but why did he have a headache just when he woke up. "You must be wondering about your headache, right?"

"How…?" Dipper didn't have the strength to ask the rest of the question.

"I read minds, kid. And I'm on your mindscape now. I don't have to make any effort to read your mind. Everything you think comes right to me." Dipper knew that he had to be careful about what he'd thought next to Bill Cipher. But… not thinking about something was the same as avoid the unavoidable. "So, how did you end up here?" Bill asked. Dipper rolled his eyes. Was Bill trying to act naïve or what…?

"Aren't you all-knowing? Why don't you answer it yourself?" Dipper asked, standing up and ignoring the dizziness. Bill rolled his cane in his hands. He tried to hit Dipper playfully with a small shot of light but Dipper, even with a headache, avoided it and then hit Bill back with a shot of light from his finger, right on Bill's bowtie; he knew counter-attacking the enemy was dangerous, but he was tired of this all. Bill looked at the hole on his chest surprised, then he filled the hole like nothing had happened. He looked at Dipper, who was growling at him.

"Feisty, aren't you?" The demon asked in a mocking tone, which just made Dipper grow louder. "Oh, you haven't noticed then…" Bill said loudly, which made Dipper's frustrated expression turn into a curious one. "Ah, you're interested." His mocking tone was back. Dipper was still frustrated but he'd rather die crumbled than die of curiosity.

"What do you mean I haven't noticed?" Dipper asked, narrowing his eyes.

"Have you ever growled like this before? Or felt anything like this, pure anger?" Bill asked, and Dipper felt like he was giving the answer to him. Dipper had never growled the way he did, with such anger. Dipper gulped, what was happening with him? He closed his eyes one more time, and focused on his anger, for everything and everyone that had made him mad. He felt a growl unwillingly dying on his throat, and then he went to touch his face, or, more specifically, his teeth. When he touched them with his tongue, his eyes widened. They were sharper, at least his canine teeth.

"What is happening to me…?" Dipper whispered to himself. "I'm becoming a monster..."

"Yeesh, kid, you're just awakening inside." Bill answered. Dipper's eyes widened even more, and he looked around. Everything around him was fading. He had learned that this indicated that he was waking up. Dipper looked at Bill one more time. His mind had one simple question: what did Bill mean? The demon seemed to have read Dipper's mind again. "Everything will be answered tonight, kid." And then Bill snapped his fingers. In one blink, he was gone.

"HEY! WAIT!" That was Dipper's last shout for Bill before everything faded to white.

A/N (Also a symbol for my name *smile*): Hello, everybody!

For those who don't know me, my name is Niwana. Well, that's not my real name, but why does that matter anyway?! So, to the important part. I'm brazilian, which means that I don't speak english as well as a north-american. But I think I'm good at writing anyways. This is my first story, and it'll be separated in episodes instead of chapters, like an episode inside of your mind. I present you Cipher Secret! Uh, I'm so lame. Anyways, here's the first episode. I hope you like it. I also hope you like the story's background. Wolfchildren lovers will either love or hate me (I don't blame them, Ookami Kodomo no Ame to Yuki is also my favorite movie ever). The feelings, dude, the feelings...

For those who haven't watched it, I'm not giving spoilers here, but I suggest that if you like romance and wolves, you should watch it. Honestly. If you're wondering what this movie has to do with this fanfiction, you will know soon. Just a tip: two things about it are related to the movie. I'm so lame (again saying that). See you in the next chapter!

Awakened Niwana, off.