It was a beautiful night-a cloudless sky full of stars, warm pine-scented summer night air blowing through the open windows, crickets chirping a waving peaceful song, the moon nearly full and lighting the way… and Steven knew he wasn't going to make it to the next major town.

He had scheduled, he had planned, but the roads here were so filled with distractions that he couldn't drive a few miles without stopping at the World's Largest Yarn Ball, the World's Largest Corn Maze, the Upside Down House… and now, he would have to cancel his reserved hotel room fifty miles ahead. Steven yawned and rubbed his eye with one of his hands, the other resting on the steering wheel. Should he see if there was a motel at this small town… 'Gravity Falls?' He slowed down somewhat. At this time of night there weren't many cars on the road, and his eyes were drifting shut on their own. Not good. Microsleep while driving was just asking for a car crash.

Forget going to town… I'm going to have to find a parking lot and camp out there for a night. He thought, squinting at a sign he drove by that pointed the way to 'The Mystery Shack: Grand Reopening!'. He seriously hoped that it was some sort of hotel… and if not, he'd just park outside on the dirt road leading up to it.

There was no gate at the shack's entrance, and the S was completely crooked. The whole shack like it was falling apart, and if it wasn't for the lights and the movement inside Steven would've thought this place had been abandoned. There were also various cracks across the ground- like it had been split open recently. It sort of added to the mystery of the place!

He turned to pull into the parking lot, wondering if he should just power through his road weariness and ask where the nearest hotel was since there were still people awake inside, when- CRASH! Something was heading towards him, fast. He responded faster than he could think- stomping on the brakes and lifting his arm to create a pink bubble as a hooked metal device crashed through his car's windshield, shattering right through it.

Everything seemed to pause, then slow down. Steven lowered his arm, only to see a distinct pink afterimage, his entire body lighting up the car. He let the bubble pop, put the car in park, turned off the ignition, got out of the car as pieces of glass started to fall towards him, and gently closed the door. He looked at his pink hands and took some breaths- in, out, in... out… the speeding-up sound of shattered glass letting him know he was slowing down back to normal, and his pink glow faded. Having so much adrenaline pump through him was still terrifying, and he might have even felt annoyed by it if his eyes wandered to the viciously curved hooks.

He looked up to see an old man wearing a hat with a tassle outside with a key, and frowned at him. Was he just attacked? What was their problem?

"Ah. Hello! Welcome to the Mystery Shack, weary traveler!" The old man greeted with a winning business smile, hands clasped in front of him, "Don't be shy, come on in!"

Steven spotted some more movement, and looked up to it. Two children were peeking out the broken window at him. The boy quickly ducked out of sight. The girl waved and called, "Sorry mister!" until her twin pulled her out of sight.

"It's fine! It was an accident!" Steven called, forcing a smile of his own. At least, he hoped it was an accident. He shook that paranoid thought off. He walked up to the mystery man, who ushered him inside. They were around the same height, the old man slightly taller.

"Well, do you want some refreshments after your long journey? Some souvenirs for you to take home?" The old man said, taking Steven by the shoulder and leading him around the gift shop.

"It's fine, I can sleep in the back seat of my car. I was just wondering if I could use your parking lot for the night? I really don't think I should be driving this late-"

"You're going to sleep on broken glass, kid?" The old man suddenly broke character, frowning, but laughed it off and said, "We can work out the details later, you can take the couch until the morning."

He was going to clean it off, of course... "Oh. You live here?" Steven asked, looking around. The inside did look a little better than the outside…

"Yup! Home sweet home!" The old man said, eyebrow twitching. Whoops… Steven might have struck a nerve there. He was about to apologize but jolted when the old man put a hand on his back and led him into the 'employees only' section, "Come on in, traveler!" Forced cheer, he might have messed up on his first impression?

"I don't think I've introduced-" Steven started out politely, but that only seemed to irritate the old man further as he interrupted;

"Introductions can also wait until morning!"

"Oh, okay?"

"By the way, Stan Pines, man of mystery. Call me Stan!" Stan proudly said anyway, leading him into a seperate room and brushing off some chip crumbs off the couch with a grumpy expression that promised retribution for whoever ate cheetos on the couch.

"You can call me Steven." Steven put his hands in his pockets and re-checked his wallet and phone were in the usual pockets, and looked around the room. It had two couches and a table with a coffee maker, a few charging cords, a pile of various chip bags, a fridge, and some styrofoam cups. Maybe this was the break room.

"Alright, Steve! Goodnight, don't steal anything- well, it's not like you have a car to drive off with!" Stan barked out a laugh as he exited and went up the stairs. His voice was really loud, but Steven didn't really mind it… not as much as he minded being called 'Steve'. Was it so hard to end with the 'n'? Still, it was nice enough that this man was letting this stranger in after hours. Steven sat on the couch, took off his coat, folded the coat up to use as a pillow, kicked off his shoes, and laid on the couch on his back. He folded his hands near the bottom of his ribcage as he looked up at the rafters on the ceiling. In the silence, he could hear voices from upstairs.

"It was an accident, Grunkle Stan!"

"Don't worry about it. What you should worry about is whether or not this kid steals any of my stuff or sues me. He's sleeping downstairs in Soos's breakroom, and usually I don't care about what you kids do but keep it down just for tonight, alright? Having him well-rested might put him in a good enough mood to not charge me money. Heck, I might even make a profit!"

A chorus of 'okay's came from two children upstairs. Was money tight for Stan? Steven wondered if he really should let the old man off easy, but from what he gathered Stan probably wouldn't accept anything resembling pity. The car would have to be fixed up, which would take a few days… Yeah, he would have to reschedule this, and that... Steven's eyes shut as he mentally went over his calendar, and road weariness eventually turned those thoughts off.

But only for a moment. Something goes bump, something tingles across his skin, he felt something like water heating and cooling in a wave against his skin, and Steven jolted awake, his adrenaline pumping once more as he curls into a crouch on his seat and identifies the threat as a… pink pig? The pig snorted at him cheerfully and Steven released a breath he forgot he was holding. He reached out and held out his hand for the pig to sniff, and patted the pig on the head.

"Hey, friend… I'm a little jumpy tonight, do you mind staying with me?" He asked, petting the pig's head, and then picked him up to put on his chest. The pig seemed used to being picked up, and quickly settled in the crook of his armpit. Steven smiled and closed his eyes, petting the pig's head and back, his arms getting heavy until he let his arm fall to the side. He briefly heard someone in the hallway- light footsteps, maybe one of the children here? The pig didn't stir so neither did he. He heard a squeak of joy, felt a camera flash of light, and then heard some giggling as the-girl, probably, from the voice- ran up the stairs.

She was just curious. It's safe here, it's safe here, we're okay. It was a lullaby that Steven often thought to himself, to put his frayed nerves at ease enough to drift off again, fast enough to feel like he was falling-

The familiar sensation of hot sand beneath his sandals was the first thing he noticed, before opening his eyes to see a hot summer day on the shore of Beach City. The sweltering sun, the smell of fries and sunscreen, they gave him both a sense of nostalgia and deep sadness. He wondered what he was doing here- this wasn't right, he had… just fallen asleep, right? A nudge to leg made him look down to see the pig from before, looking up at him with sparkling eyes. He felt a distinct sensation of 'otherness', similar to when he encountered another mind...

"Ah, I must have pulled you into my dream, right? I haven't done that before… hm." Steven shrugged it off, it wasn't like he could know everything about himself, and sat besides his unwilling dream companion, who snorted and rolled in the sand. "I'm dreaming, huh? Usually my meds prevent this. I'm probably going to have to have my psychiatrist adjust them again. I'm sorry I got you involved in this… well, it's not like you can tell me your name, right?"

The pig's pink skin turned into something like a computer screen, showing a curved screen of the girl he saw peeking out the window holding out her arms and calling cheerily: "Waddles!"

"Waddles, huh?" Steven decided, and the pig looked up at him, turning pink again. Steven summoned a bottle of pig-friendly sunscreen, and was rubbing it on Waddles' back when the surroundings suddenly got dark, and dropped about thirty degrees. The ocean frothed and rolled in a restless manner, and the sky rapidly filled with clouds. A sudden torrent of wind making Steven squint up at the center of the lowering spiral, which flashed and rumbled with lightning. Waddles snorted in discomfort, pressing against Steven's side.

"Shhh, shhh." Steven comforted the pig, picking him up and summoning a pink bubble around them that would protect them both from the incoming rain. It was probably one of his own problems acting up again… "I don't know how to send you out of this dream so please hang in there. I'll keep you safe." He told Waddles quietly. Waddles trembled and hid his snout in his shoulder, quickly becoming transparent.

Rain fell in a torrent around them, so much so that water pooled up around the bubble, rising up to engulf them both, and Steven fell back to sit down while the current took them out into the open ocean. He shut his eyes, holding Waddles as tightly as he dared, not wanting to be influenced by this nightmare and make it worse with his own innate fears and doubts- if not for his sake, then Waddles'!

But instead of sinking, they went… up. Steven looked around to see a glowing net around his bubble. He had been saved by a ship with a pair of giant white wings, which was flapping up towards the clouds and right through a hole through them, where the sun was shining and things were relatively peaceful even with thunder rumbling in the distance all around.

'OH WOW. WHAT A CATCH! IT'S NOT EVERYDAY I GET A HUMAN-PIG MARBLE WITH THEM STILL IN SEPARATE BODIES.' A voice shouted cheerily, and Steven looked behind him to see a glowing yellow triangle with a single eye blinking back at him with a mirrored sense of astonishment, holding a fishing pole. The net lowered and fell apart around him, settling him and Waddles on the ground. Steven let the defensive bubble pop and looked up, then around, a bit overwhelmed.

'HEY. AREN'T YOU GOING TO THANK YOUR SAVIOR?' The triangle glowed with every enunciation of his words, putting the fishing pole he caught Steven with behind his back and out of existence, 'THE NAME'S BILL CIPHER. PLEASURE TO MEETCHA!' Bill raised his tophat to him. Steven had a familiar 'otherness' sensation. Like Waddles, this mind had been dragged into his dreams!

"Hey, I'm Steven Universe. And this pig is Waddles." Steven greeted, "Sorry for dragging you into my dreams. My powers are acting weird again." He smiled sheepishly, petting Waddles back and trying to get the pig to stop shaking. He had given his sleeping companion a nightmare, hadn't he? The storm clouds rumbled around him.

'DID YOU WANT TO TORTURE THAT ANIMAL'S MIND? HEY, I'D BE HAPPY TO HELP OUT WITH THAT.' Bill offered, summoning a giant frying pan that floated on some blue fire.

"No!" Steven snapped, mortified, "I just want him to get out of my dream and back into his!"

'OH, THAT'S PRETTY EASY. HERE, LET ME HELP OUT.' Bill threw the frying pan off the ship carelessly and snapped his fingers, and Waddles sprouted tiny wings that fluttered and lifted both him and Steven off the ground.

"Whoah whoah whoah where are you sending him?!"

'DON'T BE SO PARANOID UNIVERSE! TRUST ME WHEN I SAY THAT HE'LL BE FINE.'

"Waddles, wake up. You can wake up. Come on powers, listen to me…" Steven muttered, pressing his forehead to Waddles's snout and shutting his eyes as he held the pig tight. A pink bubble formed around the pig, and Steven decided to try tapping the top of the bubble. Waddles blinked and he and the bubble disappeared. Steven found himself lightlyl landing right on a lawn chair, one that was much like the tourists used on the beach, and Bill was on another chair besides them, a umbrella and a jug of strawberry lemonade between them. Bill waved his hand and the jug poured a tall glass of the drink, topping it with a strawberry on the side that appeared out of nowhere and a glowy umbrella with a swirly straw. It floated over to Steven, who took it.

'ANYWAY, I'M HERE BECAUSE YOU'VE CAUGHT MY INTEREST. I'VE NOTICED YOUR DREAMS ARE TROUBLING YOU. I CAN HELP YOU WITH THAT, CALM YOUR FEARS SO YOU DON'T GO CRAZY.'

"Wait, I didn't drag you in here? You've got the power to dreamwalk, too?" Steven asked. The only person he knew who could do something like that was Garnet!

'WELL, DUH. DREAMS AND THE MIND ARE KIND OF MY THING. AMONG MANY THINGS.'

Steven processed Bill's offer, and sipped the lemonade through the straw thoughtfully. A cool and calming sensation went through him, making him release tension that he didn't know he had. Blue Diamond's clouds. He thought. Bill probably could calm down his dreams. That sounded nice. He wondered why someone's mind would take a triangle with an eye as a form, but he wasn't about to judge.

"What do you want in return?" Steven asked, swirling the lemonade with the plastic swirly straw, "I guess you wouldn't accept dream-currency, since it isn't real…" He joked lightly.

'HAHA! NO.' Bill twirled a small black cane, 'YOU'RE THE FIRST OF YOUR KIND THAT I'VE EVER SEEN. I JUST WANT TO LEARN MORE ABOUT YOU! LET ME IN, SEE WHAT YOU'RE MADE OF, YOU KNOW! CAN'T HELP BEING CURIOUS'

Steven put the lemonade aside, sitting up and crossing his legs. Honestly he was a little curious about this triangular dreamwalker, too. He seemed a little loopy but he's definitely met worse.

"Aren't you a human?" Steven asked. Bill blinked a few times and then burst out laughing.

'HAHAHAHA! YOU'RE HILARIOUS! NO. I'M NOT A HUMAN. I'M NOT WHAT YOU ARE, EITHER. BUT FORGET THAT. I WANT TO PROTECT YOUR DREAMS, AND IN RETURN YOU'LL LET ME IN TO GET TO KNOW YOU! THAT SOUNDS LIKE A DEAL, RIGHT?'

"No!"

It was a new voice that shouted this, two children that fell out the sky and landed on the boat.

"Get out of his mind, Cipher!" The boy shouted, standing in front of a confused Steven. The girl grabbed his arm and pulled him out of the chair insistently. Steven felt that sense of 'otherness' from them, and gave her a confused look as Bill and the boy glared at each other. More dreamwalkers?

"We've got to banish him! Kitten Death Canon!" The girl insisted, dragging Steven behind her and summoning a glittery purple bazooka that she fired at Bill. The boy summoned a giant energy sword and charged at Bill, raising them high to slash him in half.

'YOU KIDS ARE REALLY A HASSLE.' Bill growled, his friendly demeanor turning into something more sinister as the scleras of his eyes glowed bright red, and started to grow in size as the ship he summoned turned black and full of teeth-

Giant pink bubbles around Bill and the children stopped the fight in its tracks. All eyes turned to Steven, who was holding out his hand to everyone in a 'stop' gesture.

"That's enough. If you want to talk to me, then just do it outside my dreams. I-"

'HOW DARE YOU TRAP ME. LET ME GO IMMEDIATELY. I HAVE SOME KIDS I WANT TO TRAUMATIZE, THIS'LL BE REAL QUICK UNIVERSE, JUST LET ME AAAAAAH-'

Steven lifted his hand and tapped the bubble, and it glitched for a moment, and Steven had to concentrate and pour more energy into it, but eventually it disappeared-pushing him right out of his mind. The bubbles containing the flabbergasted twins dissolved and Steven ran forward to catch Dipper out of the air out of habit.

"Wh… whoah! That was AMAZING!" The boy gasped, tossing his swords aside as the ship crumbled beneath everyone's feet, and everyone started to fall with a mess of fangs and dark wood and eyeballs falling with them. Steven was quick to grab Mabel in his other arm, and the twins clung on to him for dear life.

"AAAAAH!" The twins screamed while Steven simply looked at where they were going to land-and woke up to Waddles drooling on his face. The twins were kneeling by his side, the boy trying to catch his breath and the girl holding onto his sleeve tightly. A ritualistic semicircle of extinguished candles were around the couch Steven was resting on.

"Hi, um, so I'm Mabel, that's Dipper, and this is Waddles!" The girl suddenly introduced cheerfully, picking the pig up off of Steven, "But you can call us your dream saviors!"

Dipper caught his breath."We have… a lot to explain. Sorry about, invading your dreams and stuff. But Waddles woke up Mabel, and then the TV in the living room showed your dreams, so we acted as quickly as we could! Listen, I don't know what it wants with you but that demon is bad news-!"

The door opened suddenly, making Dipper scream and scramble to stand upright while Mabel looked up to Stan walking in with bright eyes. Even Steven sat up.

"Morning! Time for Dipper to make breakfast! Mabel leave our poor guest alone! Waddles! Stop chewing on that! Steven, I'm sorry that these knuckleheads interrupted your slumber with their weird ritualistic kiddie stuff! Seriously, kids, right?"

"But Grunkle Stan I really need to… to…" Dipper trailed off as Stan gave him a long staredown and grumbled, picking up a book and stomping off into the kitchen with a sigh. Steven was somewhat reminded of when Garnet used to do that to him when he was younger. It didn't work on him now, though. Not after putting his wills and wits against the Diamonds for years.

"I'll clean up the candles and erase the pentagram!" Mabel volunteered cheerfully.

"I'll go help him." Steven decided, getting up and following after Dipper.

"He doesn't need help!" Stan called.

"Oh come on, surely I can at least help out with breakfast! It's my favorite meal of the day!" Steven called back.

"Bah, do what you want!"

Steven had a faint hope that he had just dreamed up that Bill person and it would be a normal day otherwise...