You guys better be ready for drama. The end is nigh.

Chapter 18: Requiem of the Fall

Her eyes twitched in her sleep. My hand stilled on her back, just cradling the fragile human weight in my arms. She was going through so much. That promise I made, I yearned to break it just as much as I felt compelled to uphold it. Mabel, at least, would be safe.

"Keep dreaming, Shooting Star." The curls of her hair tickled my lips. "Keep dreaming and never awaken."

My power surged forth in sheens of gold and orange, lifting her from my hands and anchoring her wounded figure within. It was like watching a pillar of amber form. The reality bending 'magic' stretched and branched as her mind grew through it, providing a inner light that hurt to look directly at. Like a star had fallen to earth and from it sprung a tree. A pine tree.

I felt my face quirk slightly. Not quite a full on leer, but not a kindly smile either. I shot out through the window, watching from a distance as the tree of Mabel's dreams rapidly began to overtake the shack. The growth was no longer under my control now, anything swallowed by the gnarled roots and expanding canopy dissolving into the tree itself, becoming part of Mabel's dream. She once wished for a summer that never ended, now she would have a whole world for her mind to shape. He was not so foolish as leave the 'bark' soft. No one would get to his precious Shooting Star if he had anything to say about it.

Even Ford's underground lab had likely been overtaken by the dream now. Sixer was never coming back... he was safe.

Stan though. Stan watched as well, having fled the building just in time and fallen some distance back into the woods. The old man wore an expression of horror and shock before casting his gaze up to me. Then, then he fell to his knees.

I smiled, part of me truly pleased at his loss of all will. The turf beside him was soft underfoot, it would have been a pleasant place to linger had I not known air to be much softer.

"What have you done?" Stan crocked, his heavy hands wrapped around the natural tree roots beneath him.

"What did you think I would do when one of the circle found out about me? The rest of those repressed memories should come flooding back, but without the full zodiac, I won't be losing any power at all." I eyed Stan from the side, smile spreading to that impossible, inhuman width that Bill seemed to love so much. "I eliminated a threat. Shooting Star will never wake again."

"You bastard!" Stan shouted, surging to his feet to grab my collar. All powerful dream demon I may be, but I still had the same physical mass as a human twelve year old. Or at least, it's the form I preferred. With my feet dangling in the air and gravity still at work, I settled into a calm and detached manor.

"It's really too bad, Stan. All you had to do was get her to last through the summer. You had the script, you knew the lines. It seems you just suck at improv." My eyes flashed blue and the human let out a frustrated snarl.

"I'll rip you apart, you smug little-"

"And be killing both of your charges in the process."

Stan froze, it seemed that his anger had burned into an everlasting heat, but at least he kept his head this time around. "...What?" He had the stage whisper down at least.

I chuckled, letting my flight kick in again. I crushed both of Stan's hands, changing the angle of this encounter so I was staring down on him. "It's funny how many times I've seen this, Stan. You get better each time, but you still can't seem to keep a lid on that anger of yours."

"Each time?"

I reveled, if only a little, in the confused, horrified eyes. One could practically see the pieces falling into place.

"I- I've lived all this before. Even this moment... and... and... Oh god, Ford."

I let his go as he fell back to the earth, looking with a tearful snarl on what had once been the Shack.

"Weirdmagedon is coming back, Stan. You should prepare for the battle ahead." I let my feet touch down again, observing how Mabel's dream flourished under the reddening sky."

"Don't you still need Ford, otherwise you're still stuck in Gravity Falls?"

Oh that desperate hope in his voice made me flinch. "Don't be silly, Pines. I don't need anyone, not when I've read all of his research and even taken lessons from the man in a past life." His smile wasn't broad and insane this time, it was a small warm shape that felt more natural for this face. "I haven't needed him before, and I've had quite a long time to figure it out."

"H-how many times have we done this?"

I looked at him, defeated and old and sad. It hurt. "I've lost count..." A sigh pulled from my chest, the glow of my coat marking the trees as I slowly rose to the sky. "Far too many times. This one... this one will be the last I think."

This one will be...

My arms spread into the air, black crawling over my form, the hard lines of my figure glowing in a myriad of colors, bright like a star and the sphere of reality formed around me. Six arms, my body separated into segments, if only for a moment. It hurt, but in a good way. The fissure formed in the sky, painting it fully in shades of red and pulling wide, over the whole side of the earth. Sky turned to stone, the Fearamid in all it's glory taking position directly beneath the fissure's apex.

The minions that Bill once had at his beck and call landed before me, and I surveyed my army. A smile broke over my face, the golden glow of my pupils flicking over them each in turn.

"Bipper!" They knelt before me.

"This one will be The End!"