TWIN DEITIES

For one trillion years, Bill Cipher had plotted and planned. For all those long eons, he waited, longing for the chance to get free, to wreak the chaos for which he was meant on another dimension. For the last billion of those trillion years, he had devised the perfect plan, followed every step of it with the greatest precision.

The mortal fleshbags were so easy to manipulate, and Bill watched with the greatest satisfaction as everything fell into place, laughed with glee as the family that tried so hard to stop him instead played right into his hands, felt the rush of pure demonic glee as Shooting Star gave him exactly what he needed without even knowing it, then finally had the satisfaction he had so long been craving as he broke open the rift, his ticket to freedom.

It tore a hole in the fabric of reality itself, and finally, finally he had what he wanted, what he had always wanted, and he knew satisfaction unlike any he had ever known. He tore the world of these mortals to pieces, reigned supreme as he unleashed his chaos onto the earth. His victory has been so sweet, so joyous. A demon couldn't ask for better than this. But then, it all feel to pieces. The family who he had toyed with for so long fought back, and they won. Bill was defeated, his chaos vanishing from this world, his power breaking with every second. Pine Tree and Shooting Star stood before him, filthy, bloody and battered, but victorious. He had been bested by tiny apes vomited out by evolution only a few million years ago. And he was furious. Furious that he hadn't seen the fatal flaws in his plan, furious that he hadn't covered his weaknesses better. Furious that everything he had worked so long and hard for was being undone, his fun being brought to an abrupt and sudden end. His whole form turned black and red, his eye bulging.

"YOU MORTAL FILTHBAGS", he howled, "YOU'VE RUINED EVERYTHING".

The twins quivered under the force of that voice, feeling every inch of Bill's demonic essence pouring vitriol and hatred into every word. But they pressed on, and Bill, despite his demonic fury, could do nothing to stop them now. Except for one last little thing. It would mean his death, but all he wanted was to exact his revenge. Cackling furiously, Bill latched onto the rift just before it closed and changed it, altered its course until it lead not to the nightmare realm, but to something else, the place where Bill would enact his final revenge. Using his crumbling power, Bill tore himself and both of the twins into the rift. He laughed joyously at the looks of horror on their faces, cackled gleefully as the elder Pines screamed and cried out for their niece and nephew, unable to do a thing to save them. Bill and the twins vanished into the rift, and at long last it closed, sealed forever.

Dipper and Mabel awoke to find themselves surrounded by a reality beyond their comprehension. All around them were clusters of universes, forming impossible shapes in impossible colours, hanging, climbing, twisting, distorting, each cluster connected by threads of yet more universes. Reality as they knew it simply didn't exist here. The twins stared into one another's eyes, unable to speak in this bizarre world, unable to breathe. Yet somehow, they were still alive. Then, to their horror, Bill coalesced before them.

"Hey kids", he cackled, somehow able to speak and create sound in a world where such concepts didn't exist. "Welcome to the Nexus".

They stared at him questioningly, the fear in their eyes bringing him ever more joy.

"It's the world between worlds", he said, "the world linking all universes together. You little shits beat me, but I've got one more trick up my sleeve. Here in this dimension, there exists more energy than in any single universe. My power's breaking, but I've got plenty more to take in here. Check this out".

Bill let out a unearthly scream, Dipper and Mabel only able to watch as the power of the Nexus coursed into Bill. His form cracked, threatening to shatter, but the demon sealed up the wounds as his entire form became a startling white.

"The power here is greater than me", Bill said, "Too much for me, and it's gonna kill me. But you know what, so long as I get to take the two of you little skin puppets down with me, THEN FINE".

The twins grabbed hold of one another, clinging to each other as fear coursed through them. They had been so close, so close to a total victory, only for Bill to one up them one final time. Hatred coursed through Dipper like none he had ever known, fury greater than that any human should ever be capable of. But he could do nothing. Nothing to stop Bill. Nothing to save Mabel. At the very least, he had the satisfaction of knowing they had still won, had still saved the world, had still beaten Bill.

Then, Bill unleashed the power of the nexus on them, and all they could do was hold onto one another as agony beyond any that the human nervous system was capable of tore through every fibre of their being, ripped into their very souls. Bill cackled with sadistic glee, and as the two little mortals writhed before him, he sent nightmares worse than any the human mind could ever endure into their heads, and his laughter only grew louder as he watched the terror spread yet more across their agonized faces. He was very quickly feeling the cost of the power, however, knowing that any minute now he would slip, the power overwhelming and destroying him. Time to finish the job.

With one final flick of his wrist, he disintegrated them, destroyed them utterly. He laughed louder than he ever had. He was still defeated, but at the very least he had had his revenge. The power of the Nexus now began to tear him apart, his very essence being consumed by it.

But then, something that should have been impossible happened. Dipper and Mabel were dead, yet still they existed, somehow holding onto reality, desperately clinging to the Nexus. Their souls were not ready to give up yet, their energies entwined as they held one another even in death.

As they held onto the fabric of space-time, their souls latched onto each and every one of the universes surrounding them. It shouldn't have been possible for mortal souls, yet still they felt the power of each and every single one of the infinite dimensions pouring into them. They imbibed it, absorbed, allowed it to flow into every last inch of their souls. As they fed on this immense power, they gained a connection to each and every single one of these infinite worlds, the entirety of the Nexus becoming a part of them.

They transmuted into an entirely new state of being, becoming something beyond anything conceivable. And now, sustained by the energy of the multiverse, they restored the bodies Bill had destroyed. The demon stared in shock as they reconstituted, as he saw what they had become. Their entire bodies glowed more brightly than every star in existence, an unearthly light that would have destroyed the minds and bodies of mortals. But they were no longer mortals. They could both feel the knowledge of everything coursing into their minds, the power of all worlds becoming theirs to do with as they pleased. They knew everything, could see everything, could do everything. Reality was nothing but their plaything now.

"W-W-WHAT!?" Bill cried out.

Their movements synchronising, Dipper and Mabel lightly flicked their wrists, and the power of the Nexus was torn out of Bill, until he was as he had been before, his death as he had wished it taken away from him.

"H-HOW!?" the demon roared.

"What's the matter Bill?" the twins said, their unearthly voices speaking together in unison. "Scared?"

The two of them looked at the horrified demon and laughed. The being that had once seemed so terrifying and powerful to them now seemed nothing more than cute.

"THIS SHOULDN'T BE POSSIBLE" Bill cried. "YOU'RE JUST MORTALS, HOW DID YOU DO THIS!?"

"The power of every universe gave us new life", they said. "We are beyond reality, beyond time, beyond all that is. We are greater than you ever were, or ever will be. You will never have your revenge. You will never hurt our family again. You will die and become nothing more than dust".

Bill stared at the transformed twins, and for the first time in the countless eons of his life, he felt fear, true, unbearable fear.

"What are you?" He said. "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU!?"

"We are your death, Bill Cipher".

And without another word, they coursed their gargantuan power into Bill, and the demon screamed in horror and agony as his very existence was erased, his form turning to dust, his energy scattering through the infinite dimensions. And just like that, Bill Cipher was gone. Dead. His very soul was no more, and it was as if the demon had never been. Dipper and Mabel gave one another a glance, then transported themselves back to their home dimension.

Dipper Pines burst into consciousness with a deep, gasping breath. His heart was thundering, his head swimming. Looking around himself, he realised he was out in the middle of a forest. Were they still near Gravity Falls? Of that he was uncertain. He slowly, uneasily got to his feet, and inspected himself. He was back to normal, or so it seemed. Here he was, in his small, twelve year old body, wearing his shorts and his puffy vest and his pine tree trucker hat. He was Dipper, pure and simple. Right? His mind thundered with a million questions. What the hell was that? What had he and Mabel become? How had they been so powerful? Where was Mabel? That question took centre stage the second it entered his mind.

"Oh no, Mabel", he gasped.

He began to run through the forest.

"Mabel", he called. "Maaaaabeeeeellll".

He began to panic. Where was she? Was she okay? Was she…

"Dipper", her voice rang out.

Relief flooded him.

"Mabel, stay where you are, I'm coming", Dipper yelled. "Keep doing something with your voice so I can find you".

"Okay", she called back. She began to sing in a weak, quavering voice. Dipper followed the sound, running toward her, and finally, he found her. She was stood in a small bed of flowers, her back turned to him. He took a moment to check her over, but she too was seemingly back to normal. There she stood in her sweater and her skirt, her long hair flowing down her back.

"Mabel!" he cried out, tears stinging his eyes.

"Dipper!" she called, turning to face him.

The two of them stared at one another for a moment longer, then promptly burst into tears and threw themselves into one another's arms, giving each other just about the tightest hug they could muster. Neither of them spoke for a long while as they held onto one another as if their lives depended on it, sobbing into one another's shoulders. Finally, as they calmed down, the two of them ended the hug, but held onto each other's hands, sitting down in the flowerbed.

"You're okay", Dipper said in a watery voice, smiling.

"So are you", Mabel said. "I… I can't believe we're alive, bro. I really thought we were gonna die back there. I mean… we DID die. But then… then…"

"Yeah", Dipper said darkly.

"What… what in the heck happened to us bro-bro?"

"I don't know", Dipper said, and he meant it. Just a short while before, he had known everything, but that knowledge was gone now, and he had no clue what had happened to them, how they had done what they had done, what they had become in that final decisive battle.

"I didn't even feel like me", Mabel said, her eyes bulging. "I felt… so different".

"Yeah", Dipper said. "I… I felt so powerful. I mean, we took the energy of every universe basically, but how? Even Bill couldn't do something like that, but somehow, WE did".

"I'm kinda freakin' out right now Dip", Mabel said, her breathing rapidly speeding up. "I don't think we're totally back to normal. I mean we look normal, but I can feel something bro. I feel like something's changed inside of me".

"Me too, actually", Dipper said, realizing for the first time that he felt it too. He didn't know how to describe the feeling, but he could feel that he was irrevocably changed, his very soul transmuted into a different state of being. Something was different, something was forever changed, and the same held true for Mabel. They weren't the same as they had been before, and they both knew it. What they had become in the Nexus was now a part of them forever

"Sis, I…" he began, before cutting himself off.

"What?" Mabel said, her voice quaking nervously.

"I don't think we're human anymore".