Chapter 4-Pandora's Box

"Mabel... Sweetie..." Stan said to her, now more concerned than frustrated after witnessing the look of hurt and betrayal on his great-niece's face. When she backed away from him like a frightened puppy, it just about broke his heart. "I know your confused Mabel, we all do, but you need to let me explain..."

"It's official..." Mabel whispered, clearly not listening to a word her Grunkle was trying to convey to her. "I can't trust anybody... Not even Stan... You're all just hateful vengeful monsters... Nothing I could've done had any chance of succeeding... You've all been plotting against us from the start..."

"Mabel, please settle down..." Stan bent down and helped Mabel to her feet, holding her by the arms so she couldn't take off running. While Mabel quite possibly didn't care to hear a word Stan had to say, something was compelling her to at least listen to his excuse... To understand what the twins possibly could've done so heinous that their own great-uncle would turn on them.

"I'm sorry I popped ya one pumpkin, but you were near hysterics, and needed some sense knocked back into you!"

"I don't care about that!" Mabel sobbed. "Why would you do this to us Grunkle Stan? Why would you help them hurt Dipper?!"

"Mabel honey... I would never do anything to hurt you or Dipper... Not on purpose, and you know that."

"Well, you could've damn sure fooled me! This mob wants to burn him 'til he's ash in case you haven't noticed, and not only have you not done a damn thing about it, you appear to be one of the ringleaders too!"

Stan continued to hold Mabel by the arms, pulling her close to him and forcing her to look at his grizzled old face. "Listen to me Mabel.. And I need you to really listen and hear what I'm actually saying instead of what you want to hear okay?"

"What the hell are you talking about?!"

"That's what I'm trying to explain, now shut it and listen!" Mabel did, if for no other purpose, just because she wanted to hear an actual reason for why he betrayed them. "Pumpkin, now's the time to start payin' attention. That 'thing' you've been protecting all these years... The thing you're willing to throw your own life away for!... He's... He's not your brother Mabel!"

Surprisingly, Mabel didn't react particularly shocked by Stan's accusation. She was still stubborn enough to disagree though. "What the hell are you talking about?! Of course, he's my brother!"

"No Mabel, he's not... Your brother died six years ago... You got tricked it's true, but a lot of us got duped that day... Cipher played us all for chumps, so the mess he created when he got out was on all of us, not just you! Dipper however... Found a way to put Bill back in the box so to speak... Dip pulled it off, but Bill managed to get off a parting shot before being banished, and Dipper took the entire brunt... He didn't make it sweetheart. That creep strapped to the cross here is nothing but Bill Cipher in a Dipper meat suit! You were so distraught over what happened, and you blamed yourself so much that when this obvious phony showed up, you almost immediately bought into him as the real deal despite all the red flags that somethin' wasn't quite right! Take it from a life-long professional grifter Mabel, I know a con when I see one!"

"But you're wrong! How could I not recognize my own twin?! Besides, if Dipper stopped Bill, how could he have returned almost immediately disguised as Dipper!"

"If we knew the answer to that, we would've taken care of this problem years ago Mabel," said another familiar voice, as another hooded individual walked up to Mabel. He removed his hood to reveal the twins other Grunkle. Mabel was passed the point where anything could shock her at the moment. Her own parents, God rest their souls, could be somewhere in that crowd decked-out in cult-themed cosplay and she wouldn't be surprised. "When we found... What was left of Dipper's body, the DNA results left little doubt of who the remains belonged too. Further tests on this impostor when he first appeared days later revealed a well-designed but flawed copy with Ciphers fingerprints all over it! Bill just didn't have enough understanding of how the human genome works to create a perfect copy…"

"But… You said yourself that your tests weren't entirely conclusive! That there were anomalies with some of the testing you were never able to explain away!"

"That… Is regrettably true," Ford admitted, though the scientist in him wanted to get defensive. He couldn't deny it though… Those anomalies in the testing had given him pause too, back in the days when this version of Dipper first showed up on the scene. "Those anomalies can easily be explained away though, by whatever chaotic forces Bill utilized to create this copy of Dipper…"

"Mabel don't listen to them! Of course I'm your brother! You know that, I know that..."

"No, she needs to stop listenin' to you and start hearing our voices for a change!" Stan shouted at the allegedly faux Dipper, then turned his attention back to Mabel. "Don't you find it strange Mabel? How his personality changed after he got back... How he seemed confused and angry all the time? How he could remember the simple things like us and the Shack, but couldn't remember anything about his past? He couldn't even tell you your parent's names!"

"Because he has amnesia! Caused by the trauma he suffered after what Bill put him through!"

Ford shook his head. "Selective amnesia is a real thing, but no grade of memory loss is quite as selective as his supposed case Mabel. Bill had to build this body doubles personality traits as he perceived Dipper, but the memories were even trickier. That's why all the memories this Dipper retained were almost exclusively from his time in the Falls, because that's what Bill was familiar with. The reason he has no memories of your past before Gravity Falls wasn't due to amnesia... It's due to the fact that he never had those memories to begin with!"

"No! It has to be amnesia... I'd know if he was a fake!... If I can't even recognize my own twin, how am I supposed too... How am I?..." Mabel babbled, no longer sounding sure of herself.

Wendy came up behind her and put a hand on her shoulder. "Mabel... Don't you think I wanted to believe that this bastard was Dipper when he first showed up? I wanted to believe he was back more than anything... But it barely took a day for me to realize that this thing wasn't my Dipper... And I think deep down you've always known that too... I know it hurts... I know you miss him... But you can't replace him with this phony!"

"Believe me Pumpkin... If we had even the slightest doubt at all that this schmuck wasn't Dipper, we wouldn't be going through with this," Stan added. "You're protecting this guy out of guilt and desperation, not love. Come on kid, when the entire town disagrees with you, you have to start asking yourself, maybe I'm the one looking at things the wrong way? It's time to move on Mabel... It's time to let go."

"I... Grunkle Stan..." Mabel was struggling to keep up the fight... Because deep down she knew that they were right, and always had been. It was just so much easier though... To give in to the pain, the sadness, the guilt and try to turn this version of Dipper into something he wasn't. She still had that one lingering pang of doubt that she needed to hammer out before she could accept the truth. Dipper looked absolutely mortified as Mabel walked over to him. The twins gazed into the other's eyes, one set filled with desperation and fear, and the other with sorrow and regret.

"Mabel don't listen to them! You know it's me... Literally every person I've ever known has turned their back on me... Please, I can't lose you too! Don't let them turn you against me!"

"Dipper... You know, someone once told me that if you're trying too hard to convince everyone that you're right when everyone else is telling you that you're wrong, odds are that deep down, you'll realize it's really just yourself that you're trying to convince…"

"And who the hell would tell you something stupid like that?!"

"You did Dipper... But I guess you can't remember that either..." Tears in her eyes, Mabel reached a hand down the collar of her sweater and left it there. "There's something I have to ask you Dipper... A question I've been afraid to ask, because I was terrified of the answer I might get... I don't care how sketchy his memory might've gotten! My brother would know the answer to this!"

"I'll... I'll try to answer your question if that's what it takes to convince you..." Dipper muttered, sounding desperate.

"Just answer me one question Dipper..." she sobbed, hand still covered by the collar of her sweater, fiddling with something. "What did you get me for our tenth birthday?"

"What? How... How am I supposed to remember that Mabel?! It was years ago, and those birthdays run together after a while... Even without the fog clouding up my brain, it would still be hard to remember one specific birthday!"

"Not this one it wouldn't! This gift was special Dipper... It was the first gift you bought me with your own money, that you saved up from your allowance. It was a treasure I saw in the store and really wanted months before by birthday but couldn't afford it at the time… You remembered and saved up all that money for it... That meant so much to me, and it was probably my favorite present that I ever received on my b-day, and that's saying something! So, answer me Dipper... If you are my brother you would know this."

Dipper searched his memory, but as usual, came up with nothing. He hung his head momentarily, before a glimmer of hope flashed in his brown eyes. It was a shot in the dark, but perhaps his guess would be good enough. "It was your first sowing kit... From when you first started knitting your own sweaters and getting into all that artsy stuff. I'm pretty sure that was your tenth birthday, yeah..."

"Oh... So close Dipper," Mabel laugh-sobbed, as she removed her hand from her sweater and displayed a necklace dangling from her neck, one with a very familiar image on it. "But I took up knitting when I was eight... This necklace is what you gave me Dipper... In the shape of a shooting star... The one I loved so much that I used this exact image to craft my favorite sweater back when I was 12... How... How could my brother not know that?"

"But... I did! I just got the birthdays confused, that's all! The locket was going to be my second guess!"

"It's not a locket... And even if you couldn't remember the exact year, which Dipper would have, you should've known what I was talking about... Dipper never would've forgotten that..."

"Fine then... I see where this is headed!" Dipper spat bitterly, his demeanor towards his sister morphing suddenly. "Join the mob then Mabel! Enjoy watching me burn! You were always worried about being Little Miss Popularity anyway! You never gave a damn about me or everything I've suffered through! Ever since we were kids all you've ever cared about was yourself!"

"That is not true! You... You..." Before she could sputter out a coherent response, Stan grabbed hold of Mabel, and locked her in a ferocious hug, making sure her face was buried in his shoulder as his niece began to sob uncontrollable.

"Don't let him get to you sweet-heart... That's just Bill's true colors bleeding through... He's panickin' because he realizes he's losing control over ya.. Just don't look, it'll all be over soon... Wendy, whenever you're ready!"

Wendy more than was. She hastily tossed the torch onto the pyre which erupted into flames almost immediately. Dipper struggled against his restraints, screaming and begging, but it wasn't long before the flames traveled up to his feet, and not long after that before he could feel the kiss of the flames singe the skin of his legs. While the mob of onlookers watched intently, there were no cheers of celebration. Just hard stares all watching the greatest monster they'd ever known be burned alive. Stan tried his best to cover Mabel's ears so she couldn't hear him scream... Those screams that sounded so much like her brothers. As more and more of Dipper's body was engulfed by the flames, something strange happened. The screams of agony suddenly stopped... Replaced by a sinister laugh that the town of Gravity Falls knew all too well. Dipper's eyes suddenly turned yellow, and with shocking ease, he freed himself from his restraints. He began to float up into the air, his human form still very much on fire. With a single snap of his fingers, the flames poofed out of existence, leaving a singed looking but otherwise intact and floating Dipper Pines with glowing yellow eyes.

"Good evening Gravity Falls! You folks sure know how to throw a guy a welcome back party, I tell you what! This party is pos-i-tive-ly smoking!... Oh wait, that was just me! Ah, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!"

Needless to say, most of the amassed crowd started to panic and tried fleeing the area, only for many to run smack into an invisible wall. They tried to paw, kick, and punch their way out to no avail. "What's the rush everybody?! The night is young! I'm back, and I've conveniently got all my favorite peeps gathered together in the same place! And to think, you guys made it all possible by acting like a bunch of vengeful, blood-thirsty hooligans! I'm so proud of you guys, it almost brings a tear to my eye… Kind of makes me sad too that I'm going to have to horrifically murder all you guys one-by-one, but then I've always been the kind of guy to choose fun over sentiment!"

While most of the town panicked, a select few who'd expected something like this to happen stood firm. In fact, they'd counted on it, and were setting plans into motion. Ford nodded over to Stan, who understood his twin's signal immediately. "Come on Mabel, I need your help with something..."

"Oh my god..." Mabel marveled up at her levitating brother. "It really has been Bill this whole time..."

"Worry about that later Pumpkin... Now listen up, I need to fill you in on something big we got cooking up..."

"Cipher!" Ford challenged, standing directly underneath the floating visage of his great-nephew. "You've done so many reprehensible things in your time but using my nephew's image, and manipulating my niece is a loathsome low even for a degenerate being the likes of yourself! Only one thing puzzles me... Six years... Why wait so long to make a move now?"

"Well, isn't it obvious Fordsy? I underestimated Pine Tree just a bit and there were complications… This guy here had a surprising amount of will power, even after all his friends and loved ones basically told him to go take a long walk off a short pier... Did I use that expression right?... I'm not even sure what a pier is... Ah who cares, I'm back baby! And it's all thanks to you dumb-dumbs!"

"What are you babbling on about Cipher?!" Ford grumbled, not liking at all what Bill was implying.

"You really have to ask Sixer? The super, ultra, mega-genius?! I'd think what I'm implying would be obvious to you! Yes, I locked myself away in this body, but that's the beauty of it! This actually was the body of your precious little Pine Tree! That's right, you just tried to burn your favorite mystery loving dork alive!"

"No..." Wendy's eyes widened, looking horrified. "That... Can't be true! It can't..."

"Don't believe a word he says Wendy," Ford encouraged her. "Remember, if Bill Cipher's breathing, then he's lying! We found Dipper's remains... This body is a convincing facsimile to the untrained eye, but a fraud is a fraud no matter how you look at it! Nothing but lies."

"Oh, come on Sixer, you know me better than that! Sure, I admit I'm prone to tell a fib now and then, but why would I lie about something so deliciously hilarious as this?! Especially after what a pain-in-the-ass old Pine Tree here has been for me. He just kept fighting, preventing me from taking total control for all these years, even after all the hell you lovely people put him through! It took you guys trying to murder this little twerp before he finally became desperate enough to allow me to take complete control over this body! To think, I have all you fine morons to thank for it! Not only did you clowns basically resurrect my butt, but you've conveniently gathered everyone who's ever annoyed me in one spot, which is going to make it so much easier to eradicate every last person in this crap-water little town! Oh, the fun we are about to have tonight!"

"Well, I'm afraid the jokes on you Bill... You see, the plan all along was to lure you out of that costume of my nephew that you've been wearing. We've got a little surprise cooked up for you."

"Really Pines? Is that so? Why don't you show me? If it's actually half-way interesting, I might reconsider turning you inside-out and using your ribs as a xylophone!" Bill floated down towards Ford but stopped when he noticed something that unnerved him. While he'd been busy posturing, he'd failed to notice that a small group of the townsfolk had formed a circle... That he now found himself in the middle of, and they were all holding hands. Bill recognized most of the participants. Shooting Star, Red, both the Stans, that Gideon goofball he once manipulated to work as his servant, the llama girl, some grumpy looking guy wearing a black hoodie, the old hermit that was a friend of Ford's, the fat guy with the question mark shirt, and a final smaller figure whose face was still obscured by his hood.

"Well, how original!... We're not seriously going to try this dance again are we Sixer? Didn't you embarrass yourself enough the first time? The Zodiac is not going to work on me…" Bill paused when the symbols drawn in chalk on the street began to glow. Only mildly concerned, the demonic nacho in human form decided to casually float away from the center of the circle... Only to discover that he was frozen in place. "What the hell?... I can't move any part of my body!"

"I'm afraid this is the end of the road for you Bill... We're all completely unified in our opposition to you... Nobody's letting go this time under any circumstance! Everyone, hold the hand of the person next to you tight, and don't let Cipher get into your head! Mabel, are you positive you can go through with this?"

"I'll make it through somehow Grunkle Ford... If this thing really was Bill pretending to be my brother this entire time, then by all means, lets send him back to where he came from!"

Ford nodded, and then began chanting an incantation in a language nobody else in the circle could recognize. The being trapped inside the circle did understand however, and the proceedings were starting to make him nervous. He tried to retreat back to the relative safety of the stage, but found he could still scarcely move, like some invisible force was holding him in place. As Ford continued to chant, the symbols of the Zodiac began to glow brighter, and the more luminous they became, the more restricted Bill's movements became, to a point he could hardly wiggle his fingers.

"What kind of trick are you pulling on me Sixer?! There's no way the Zodiac could possibly work! You don't have a Pine Tree anymore! Don't you remember? I left him a char-broiled husk out in the middle of the woods!"

"Now who's trying to con who?" Stan asked in place of Ford so his twin could focus on finishing the incantation. "Did you hijack Dipper's actual body, or did you burn it to a crisp? It can't be both!"

"Sure, it can! You just need a little imagination Stanley! Besides, it doesn't even matter! Either way, you guys don't have a Pine Tree, so your little circle is worthless! Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!"

"Yuck it up freak, because the jokes on you! Dipper might not be with us anymore, but we do have someone to fill in for him." Wendy looked passed Stan and smiled at the smallest member of the Zodiac group. The figure shook her hood off her face, revealing a miniature looking version of Wendy... Wearing a very familiar trucker's hat.

"Am I doing good Mama?"

"You're doing great sweet-heart... Just don't let go of those hands until Ford is done with the ritual."

Bill, in Dipper's guise, stared at the little girl in horror... And for only the second time in his existence did he feel real fear that he was about to be wiped out of it. He couldn't move anything but his head and his lips at that point, so he resorted to the only options he had left, which just happened to be some of his old standbys. Lie, cheat, manipulate, threaten... Any dirty trick he could pull that might stop Ford from finishing the Zodiac ritual. His first target, the one person amongst that group that probably hated him the most. "Hey Red, I've got a riddle for ya!"

"Save it Bill, I'm not interested in playing any of your games!"

"Oh come on, you'll appreciate this being a lumberjack's daughter and all! Now, riddle me this! If a Pine Tree falls in the forest does it make a sound?" Wendy tried to ignore him, hell she tried not to even look up at him as she somewhat understood what he was trying to do. "Give up? The answer is a resounding yes! So much screaming and so many wails of agony, especially after you set him on fire! Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!"

Wendy's knees buckled, causing her to nearly fall to the ground on top of them. Both Soos and Stan helped pull her back to her feet, both looking concerned, especially Stan who could feel Wendy absolutely vibrating with rage. Tears stung at her eyes, brimming with a barely restrained rage that left little doubt she'd love to rip Bill limb from limb regardless of what form he was taking.

"Wendy you gotta calm down. Remember what Ford said, he's gona try to mess with your head! Don't let Bill goad you into breaking the circle!"

"I'm fine! I just wish Ford would hurry up, so we won't have to listen to the bastard run his fat mouth!"

"Hmm… So that's what this over-produced carnival sideshow is all about! This makes total sense to me now Red! Why you wanted to literally lite my fire so bad! Poetic justice, is that what you humans call it?" Wendy refused to even acknowledge Bill by this point. Frustrated at Wendy's ability to control her temper, and rapidly running out of time, Bill changed tactics. He'd go after the entire group… He only needed one, to put enough doubt in that person's head that they might just put a stop to the ritual voluntarily or otherwise. It didn't really matter to him which. "You guys don't really want to do this! This really is Dipper's body, so if you banish me to the void, you're dooming him to an eternity right there beside me! Do you really want that for your friend? Your nephew? Your brother!" Bill used what strength he had to turn Dipper's head in Mabel's direction, the person he deemed the likeliest to crack. "Are you sure about this Shooting Star? Once this ritual is complete, your brother is gone for good! Can you really live with yourself knowing you've doomed him to such a miserable existence for all eternity? It's really easy Star, all you have to do is let go of those hands and all this ends. Your brother will be safe, but if you hold on, Dipper is gone forever!"

Mabel's grip loosened as Bill's pleas were tempting... Though only for a matter of seconds, as Mabel steeled herself and tightened her grip, a silent plea to the hands she was holding not to allow her to let go under any circumstances. "No Bill... No more lies... Not from you... And not to myself... This is where we say goodbye."

And just like that, Bill Cipher's last chance for salvation crumbled into dust. Seconds later, Ford had finished the incantation for the ritual. Almost immediately, Bill-Dipper's entire body stiffened and turned bright yellow. Bill's voice screamed in agony as a purple hole, seemingly ripped right through time and space, appeared over his head. Bill-Dipper's body bent and folded in ways that were a direct insult to the laws of physics, and just like that, Bill was abruptly sucked inside the void. The hole closed immediately, leaving the bulk of the population of Gravity Falls staring into the sky in utter shock. Silence dominated briefly before the amassed crowed erupted into cheers. The long nightmare caused by the demon known as Bill Cipher was finally over.

Several members of the Zodiac Circle dropped to their knees from exhaustion, Mabel being chief among them after having endured the equivalent of an emotional smack-down. Wendy rushed to comfort her daughter who appeared understandably mortified by what her little eyes had just seen. Pacifica, struggling to catch her breath, looked over at Ford with a moderately perturbed look.

"Explain to me again why we had to wait until Bill went into full psycho mode to do this? I know you were afraid just killing the body would release Bill prematurely, but don't you think all this hoopla was a little extreme?!"

"Perhaps, but necessary. The Zodiac reacts to Bill's demonic energy, so the only way to ensure the circle would work properly was to draw Bill out and put some of that energy on display." Ford smiled and adjusted his glasses. "An intense situation I know, but well worth the effort… Bill has been banished from this reality, and this time it's for good!"

"Well, I sure hope you're right about that this time! Because you've been wrong about it before, and the last time people we love wound up dying because of it!"

"I'm aware… That's why we took so many precautions this time around and bided our time… I promise you, all the effort wasn't for nothing…" A slight hinge in Ford's voice hinted he might be trying to keep a small trace of doubt from creeping in there. "It can't be… Not this time…"

"Pumpkin... You doing okay?" Stan asked as he knelt down next to Mabel.

"No... No I'm not Grunkle Stan... I'm gona need some time to wrap my head around this..."

"Of course, of course... Let's get you outta here though... Don't exactly trust all the mooks in this crowd not to try anything stupid with you."

"Thank you Grunkle Stan... I just... Really want to go home right now."

When Bill came too, he found himself back in a familiar body. The yellow pyramid shaped body that the entire multiverse feared. He found himself surrounded by emptiness... A rocky Mars like expanse that stretched on forever underneath a black starless sky.

"So this is oblivion huh? Eh, I don't see what the big deal is... Especially when I can make my own entertainment!" Bill snapped his fingers, hoping to make something completely chaotic and random appear just to amuse himself... Only for nothing to happen. Annoyed, Bill snapped his fingers again, and then again with the same result... Squat and bupkis. Confused, Bill tried to fly, or float rather, but his feet stayed firmly planted on the ground.

"So my powers are gone... Big deal, I'll just... Bill took several steps forward, and slammed into something that felt akin to glass, knocking his little hat off the top of his pointy head. All he could see in front of him though, was an endless expanse of nothing, and certainly nothing that should be impeding him from exploring the emptiness. "What in a gremgoblin's butt-crack is going on around here?..."

"I'm afraid you won't be going anywhere Bill," said a familiar voice, yet something different and off-putting about it for Bills liking. He wasn't sure how he hadn't noticed the young man approach until he emerged from the shadows, now towering over the poster-boy of weirdness seeing as Bill could no longer float. He had a bit of stubble on his face and wore a strange suit that was nothing like Cipher had ever seen him wear before. If it wasn't for that tiny portion of a familiar birth mark peeking out from his messy hair, Bill may not have recognized him. "Get used to it, you'll be calling this place home from now on. If you ask me though, you're getting off easy..."

"Pine Tree... So, I guess I really am dead huh? How nice of them to send you to greet me! Guess whoever runs the afterlife has a sense of humor hey? I can appreciate that!"

"Yes, you're as dead as someone like you could possibly be... This is your final judgment Cipher... To spend the rest of eternity behind invisible walls, staring out into nothing... No powers, no one to torment... Tell me Bill, do you think it's possible for someone who's already insane to lose their mind?"

"You might want to leave the riddles to me kid," said Bill, his one eye furrowing slightly. "There's no way my powers can be gone completely. The Zodiac's a bitch, but it's not that powerful! I'll find a way out of here eventually!"

"You just keep dreaming Bill... Did you really think you could cause so much chaos, destroy so many lives, and not have to pay the price for it someday? We've all gotta pay for our sins Bill, and you've committed more than most."

"Yeah, that was kind of my thing! Speaking of sins, what hum-dinger did you pull-off that got yourself stuck here hanging out with little ole me?"

"Oh, this isn't my punishment Cipher... I'm just doing my job..."

Bill scoffed, losing much of his good humor and growing more agitated. "And what job might that be exactly?"

"Oh, just to check in on you once in a while... Make sure you stay in check, kind of like I've been doing for a while now. Only difference now is I'll only have to check in maybe once a decade or so..." Dipper looked Bill square in the eye, wearing a grin that would've been better suited for the king of weird himself, if only he'd had a mouth to smile with. "You can just call me Warden... That should keep things simple enough."

"You?! My personal prison guard?! Hah, I'll be out of here in a couple of days, tops!" Bill tried to get under Dipper's skin, but the warden wasn't listening. He was walking away, vanishing into the abyss as if the uncanny Bill Cipher meant absolutely nothing to him. Bill could tolerate a lot but being made to feel insignificant wasn't one of them. "Don't walk away from me Pines! I burnt you into a smoldering husk once, and I can do it again! Get back here, I'm not done berating you! Pine Tree!"

It was too late though. Bill found himself alone in his invisible prison, no powers, no minions, and nobody around to hear or appreciate his witty reportage. It was going to be a long eternity.

Two days had passed since the townspeople of Gravity Falls had banished Bill from their dimension, this time for good. Mabel Pines was not doing particularly well... She'd cycled through a number or emotions. Sadness, anger, regret, shame, guilt, resentment, distress... Basically, if it was a negative emotion a human being was capable of feeling, Mabel had experienced them all throughout the past 48 hours. To make matters worse, Mabel couldn't even be certain just how much of an active participant she'd been in Bill Cipher's game. Was she really so plagued by guilt after her brother's death that she gladly lied to herself and went along with the con? Was she just that stupid, that she blindly accepted Bill as her brother despite all the obvious signs pointing towards something not being quite right with this particular version of him? Likely, the answer lay somewhere in-between.

Mabel tried to lock herself away in her home, but her attentive Grunkles and close friends refused to allow her to face her new reality alone. No one really felt Mabel was suicidal, but they didn't want to take any chances either. Stan had insisted she stay with him for a few days until things calmed down, an offer Mabel politely refused. Her loved ones were determined though, and persisted on, breaking Mabel down until she eventually caved and agreed to spend a few days with Soos and his family at the Mystery Shack... One of the few places in Gravity Falls that still held fond memories for her. It was a calculated risk, considering that place would undoubtedly bring up memories of Dipper, and all the summers they spent together in that old attic... That's kind of what Mabel wanted though... To remember her brother for who he was, and not the person Bill had tricked her into believing he was.

She did grow weary of both Soos and Melody's hovering, so Mabel did eventually have to put her foot down and demand some time to herself. Time that she was getting and was now regretting asking for. Gave her too much time to think and come to terms with just how stupid and gullible she'd actually been. She was behind the counter of the old gift shop, trying to make a penny spin like a top, when the bell to the gift shop door unexpectedly opened. Before she could mutter the words, the shop is closed, she found herself assaulted by an adorable mess of red-hair and freckles.

"Auntie Mabel, Auntie Mabel!" the girl shouted before launching herself at the brunette. "You've been gone for like, forever!"

It had only been two days, but for a girl Amy's age, it might as well have been weeks. Mabel couldn't help but smile. It was hard to stay sour with this level of cute in your face. "Sorry sweetie, Aunt Mabel just hasn't been feeling well... I'll be better soon though, I promise."

"I hope so... Hey, I made this for you!" Amy handed Mabel a drawing she'd made herself, in that signature style every child her age on Earth seemed to share. A Crayola masterpiece complete with stick figure versions of her and Mabel in a grassy field and a big yellow sun overhead. Of course Mabel reacted as if it were the most beautiful portrait ever put to construction paper.

"Awe, it's so beautiful! Thank you Amy... I'll be sure to hang it up on my fridge as soon as I get back home!"

That news seemed to make the youngster happy. Meanwhile, her much taller doppelganger walked up from behind her. "Have any room left? Last time I was by your place, your icebox was basically a gallery for grade-schooler art."

"There's always room for one more," she told Wendy, without looking up from the picture... When she noticed something she hadn't at first... In the large red square Amy had drawn to represent a house, there was a figure looking out one of the widows. The drawing wasn't anymore distinguishable than the stick figure representations of Amy or Mabel, but clearly it was meant to be another person. "Hey Amy, who's this person looking out the window?"

"Oh, that's my friend! He makes me feel better when I'm sad, so I thought maybe he can help make you feel better too!"

"Imaginary friend," Wendy clarified with amusement, as Mabel looked up at her.

Amy shook her head. "Uh-uh... Just because you can't see him doesn't mean he's imaginary... He's just invincible that's all!"

"You mean invisible sweet-heart?" Mabel asked with a cheerful smile.

"That's what I said!" The befuddled look on her face almost sent Mabel into a cuteness induced coma.

"What's his name?"

"He says he can't tell me," Amy frowned, though quickly started to beam as she spoke about her 'friend'. "He visits me sometimes! He says it's his job to watch over Gravity Falls and make sure kids like me stay safe... He won't say it, but I think he's like an angel or something... He kind of looks like that man from the other day, but Mama and everyone else said he was bad man, so I guess it can't be him because my friend is really nice!"

Mabel's smile was gone, as she stared back at Amy in stunned silence. Wendy, wary of the delicate road this otherwise innocent conversation over a picture was headed, gently pulled her mini-me off of Mabel, and shooed her out of the gift shop. "Why don't you go find Mr. Soos' kids and play? Let Mom and Aunt Mabel talk about some boring grown-up stuff?"

Wendy's daughter wasn't hard to convince, as she nodded and quickly dashed off in search of potential playmates. As soon as the little one was out of earshot, Wendy spoke up. "Look, I know what that sounded like but Amy's..."

"Just a kid, I know... With a very active imagination." Mabel smiled ever so slightly. "Then again, this is Gravity Falls, so who knows right?"

Wendy ignored the observation and changed the subject instead. "How about I whip us up some fresh tea, and we can talk over anything that needs discussin' over a cup."

"That… Sounds nice actually," Mabel accepted. Perhaps she could use some company after all… There were some things she needed to get off her chest before she suffocated.

A few minutes later, Wendy and Mabel were seated across from each other at the dining table in the shack's smallish kitchen. Mabel was absently stirring her drink with a straw when Wendy finally broke the silence.

"Forgive me for asking the obvious question, but how are you holding up?"

"Like a fool whose been living a lie for half a decade..." Mabel sighed, as she rested her chin against the counter. "Do I look as pathetic as I feel?"

"You're not pathetic Mabel... You were just taken advantage of by a total creep!"

"Then why was I the only one who fell for it?! When... When Bill came back, how long did it take you to recognize that it wasn't Dipper?"

Wendy sighed, not really wanting to answer that question for the answer would only reinforce Mabel's self-doubts, but still felt she owed her an honest answer. "Not long to be honest... I could've bought the memory loss thing, it happens, but there were just... Things he shouldn't have forgotten no matter how bad his brain got busted... Kind of like your deal with that necklace. I think I knew for sure when he couldn't stop calling me Red... Dipper knew I hated it, and there's only one person I ever met whose ever even called me that..."

"And yet, his own twin invests into the lie completely..." Mabel sighed. "Or maybe I just tried too hard to ignore it..." Mabel looked thoughtful for a moment. "Hey… You don't think… What Bill said about using Dipper's actual body was true do you? I mean, Ford even admits there were problems with the DNA test… It is a possibility…"

Wendy went completely blank for a moment, before taking a sip from her cup. She had the look of a person who clearly didn't want to even entertain the thought that was just thrown out there. "We can't think that way Mabel… We saw him go into full Cipher mode… It had to be all Bill… For our sanity's sake, it had to be…"

"But why did it take so long to draw Bill out then? What was all that talk about Dipper fighting him off and refusing to let Bill take full control? Let's just assume my brother is dead… What if the body Bill created still had a mind and personality of his own that didn't even know Bill was a part of him? Or was actively struggling to repress him? If that's the case, did we just help murder a completely innocent person?"

"That's… A lot to unpack," Wendy admitted, and took another sip of her tea. "That's the problem with living in Gravity Falls Mabes… There're always going to be unanswered questions. Logic has never seemed to play much of a role in this town… Would you admit that you could possibly be overthinking the situation in order to justify your relationship with Bill's version of Dipper all these years?"

"Yeah… That came to mind too…" Deciding she no longer wanted to participate in this line of questioning, all the thinking was making her brain hurt, Mabel decided to change the subject. "So, are you going to tell Amy about her father now? There's really no reason to keep it from her anymore…"

Wendy looked thoughtful as her mind wandered to her daughter and her well-being. "No, not yet… Not directly at least. If she asks me, I won't lie to her anymore… Until she starts gettin' curious again though, I'm just gona continue letting her be innocent as long as I can."

Mabel saw no reason to argue with Wendy's decision. She didn't disagree with her at all. "Hey Wendy... There's something I really need to do... It's the only way I'm ever going to get passed this and accept that Dipper's gone..."

Wendy's eyes widened. "You don't mean?..."

"Could you go with me please?" Mabel practically pleaded. She didn't dare face this challenge on her own. "I don't think I could go through with it if I'm by myself..."

"Sure, no problem... Just lemme check with Soos, and I'll ask if he can look after Amy for a little while... Then I'll give you a ride up to see him."

"Can we stop at the florist too?... There's something I need to pick up... It's long overdue."

"Of course... Now, let's get going Mabes... Before you change your mind!"

It wasn't a long drive up to the cemetery. A quick ten-minute cruise from the shack if the local traffic behaved itself. It was a decent sized graveyard too, being the only official cemetery in town, the one attached to the Valentino Funeral Home. Mabel often wondered why Robbie never got involved with the family business, but Robbie would tend to get agitated whenever Mabel asked about it, so eventually she stopped prying. Upon mentioning the situation to Wendy in passing, her chauffeur for the afternoon joked that, despite the grungy heavy metal persona Robbie liked to put forward, he was secretly creeped out by dead bodies as well as most of the other ghoulish details involved with his parents profession. Kind of ironic coming from a guy who had named his high school band the Tombstones. Mabel wasn't there to wonder about Robbie though, or his participation in his family's business. She was dropping by to see someone, a visit she'd been stubbornly putting off for almost six years.

His grave wasn't hard to find... Stan had purchased a nice chunk of land in the northeast corner of the cemetery, big enough to cut out plots for each member of the family that wanted to be buried there. It was a lonely section of the graveyard, highlighted by one solitary tombstone that stood in memory of the one member of the family to have passed. It was a lovely headstone, made of pure marble. Stan had purchased it himself and, for once, spared no expense. It was grayish in color and carved in that long tall obelisk style that everyone agreed Dip would most likely appreciate. The name Mason 'Dipper' Pines was etched in the center, with the customary dates of his birth and subsequent death. Just above his name was an engraving of a Pine Tree... A symbol and moniker Dipper had grown to appreciate over the years, as the symbol itself became a representation for his love of mystery and adventure. They had all agreed Dipper would appreciate the subtle shout-outs to his favorite past-time more so than any of the flowery generic words you'd see etched onto most people's headstones. Mabel felt an intense rush of guilt that she hadn't been back to visit the grave since the day of the funeral... Seeing as not long after the service, Bill arrived on the scene wearing Dipper's skin, and ever since, Mabel had refused to believe her brother was actually buried under that dirt.

From the moment Mabel first approached the grave, it was impossible not to notice she wasn't the only person who had visited recently. Flowers, reefs, and other offerings adorned the well-kept grave site. Her brother seemed to be loved, that was for sure. She looked at her own bouquet of daisy's that she'd bought, and suddenly felt the gift was inadequate, or at the very least, redundant in comparison. "Wow, it's so pretty... Who did all this?"

"Lots of people in town," Wendy said proudly. "Your brother's the town hero Mabel... And I think everything that happened with Bill recently reminded everyone of what Dipper tried to do for us all those years ago. I wouldn't be surprised to hear that half of Gravity Falls has probably been up here since the other day just to say thanks again."

"I guess I'll just add these to the pile then," Mabel chuckled sadly, as she laid the bouquet of daisies down atop a pile of other assorted flora. She stood there, clutching her arm as tears began leaking from her eyes. "Bro-bro... I'm so sorry it's taken me so long to visit... But it's taken me this long to stop pretending that you're not with us anymore... I can hope, and pretend, and lie to myself all I want but... I miss you so much Dipper, but I'm never going to be able to get on with my life if I can't finally admit to myself that you're really gone and you're not coming back! First I get you killed, and then I played along with Bill so I could keep pretending I didn't fuck up both our lives... You must be so ashamed of me..."

"Dipper never would've been ashamed of you Mabel!" Wendy barked, as she put her arm around Mabel's shoulders, pulling her into a tight embrace. Mabel eagerly accepted and started balling into Wendy's shoulder. "This is exactly what he would want you to do. Accept that he's gone and try to live out the rest of your life as happily as you possibly can... Just like the rest of us..."

Mabel sobbed one last time, before looking up at Wendy red-faced and teary-eyed. "He's probably been having a blast up there in heaven... Probably has the answers now to every mystery he's ever wondered about..."

"I'm sure he's solving them all," Wendy laughed, tearing up herself. "We should probably go... If we hang around here too much longer, I'm going to lose it, and you don't want to see that... Trust me..."

"Yeah, let's go... Maybe we should pick up Amy and go out for some ice-cream... Nothing chases the blues away faster than seeing that kid with her face covered in chocolate!"

"Yeah, I couldn't agree more." Wendy knew the real reason Mabel wanted... No needed to spend the afternoon with her daughter. She wasn't going to bring it up through, nor disagree or deny her it. What the pair of women didn't realize, or perhaps on some level they did, as they left the cemetery, a vigilante set of eyes was watching over them. A wisp from the past waiting and biding his time just in case he was ever needed again. This was Gravity Falls after all, and you could never tell what was around the corner.

While her visit to the cemetery wasn't the total closure she might've been hoping for, honestly she hadn't really expected it to be, it was still a much-needed step in the right direction. She at least felt confident enough to leave the safety net that was the Mystery Shack and return to her home. Wendy and Amy hung around for a while, long enough that Wendy was confident Mabel was in an okay enough place before reluctantly giving her friend the space she was insistent she needed. Mabel took some time to reflect, and once she got tired of that, tried to flush out her brain with some good old Gravity Falls public access Television. It didn't help much, but at that point and time for Mabel, even a slight distraction was a good one. Exhausted both mentally and emotionally, the sun had barely set and all she really wanted to do was go to bed and sleep for a week-and-a-half. When she finally convinced herself to go to bed, she didn't immediately retire to her bedroom. Instead, she headed directly for her guest room… The room her brother, or whoever was trying to pass himself off as Dipper, had spent his last night on this Earth.

Mabel knew it was probably a terrible idea, and she'd never be able to explain what drew her to that room but here she was. She sat down atop the bed Dipper had so thoughtfully made the morning of Pacifica's party… When reality had insisted once-and-for-all that Mabel could no longer ignore it. Her eyes scanned the room, taking notice of the few worldly possessions that Dipper had brought with him on his trip. She'd need to dispose of those as soon as possible. If she was going to possess any mementos to remind her of her brother, they were damn sure going to be from a time when she was certain it was actually him. While she mused over that, she noticed something Dipper had certainly not brought with him on his trip… It was a small white box, shoebox shaped, placed atop the dresser. The box Mabel knew Robbie had gifted him for some reason, but Dipper had remained strangely private about its contents. Mabel hadn't pried at the time, since her goal was bringing who she thought was her brother back to her, not to drive him further away… Well, there was no reason to protect that privacy anymore.

Mabel grabbed the surprisingly light feeling box off the dresser and sat back down on the bed. With only mild trepidation, she removed the lid, looked inside and found… Old photographs? Not a lot of them either, maybe a dozen or so. It was the subject of those pictures that really stumped her. They were all pictures of Amy at various stages of her life, including some birthdays and holidays, and even a couple that included Wendy. Why would Robbie had given these to Dipper?..."

There was only one thing to do, get the answer straight from the source himself. Mabel whipped out her phone and immediately dialed Robbie up. He answered almost immediately, a surprised but cheerful tone in his voice as he greeted her. "Hey Mabes! Um, kind of late to be calling, is everything alright? You doing okay?"

"As good as could be expected," Mabel replied bluntly, doing her best to play it straight and not immediately start throwing out accusations like she probably would've done when she was younger.

"That's good… Hey, I'm sorry I haven't called to check up on you yet or anything… I just kind of figured you'd have enough people crowding you right now, so I thought it would be better if I hung back until things calmed down.."

"No, it's fine Robbie," Mable said softly, wearing a genuine smile. Who'd have thought Robbie Valentino would grow up to be the thoughtful sort if you knew anything about him as a teenager. "I actually appreciate the space right now, so thank you… I'll call you once I get my head right, and we can get together sometime… I did have a reason for calling you though… I opened the box you gave Dipper when you visited the other day."

Robbie audibly gulped on the other end of the line. "Oh, you did huh?"

"Yeah, not a lot of point in respecting this privacy now that I know what I know… I still have to ask though Robbie… Why did you give him those photographs? Wendy would neuter you if she knew you gave him those pictures…"

"I know, but… I'm not going to pretend I knew Dipper very well, but you knew him, he was your twin brother for heaven's sake! I guess I figured that if you thought this guy was your brother even despite what the rest of the town was saying, I thought I should at least give him a chance… So when he asked me for the photos I just…"

"Wait, wait, wait, wait!" Mabel interrupted, her heart-rate rising. "He asked you for those pictures?! When?!"

"I dunno… About a year ago maybe, when he called your house and I answered… Trust me, I thought it was weird too, but he asked that if he ever worked up the nerve to return to Gravity Falls, if I could smuggle him some pictures… I'm not even sure why exactly I agreed, it just felt like the right thing to do at the time…"

"That… Makes no sense," Mabel muttered in a hushed town. "Thank you Robbie, but I just got a whole new can of worms to open. Thanks for everything Rob-o… I promise once things calm down that I'll be in touch okay?"

"I can respect that," Robbie offered, though sounded every concerned. "If you need anything you know you can reach out anytime…"

"Of course I know… Later Robbie…" Mabel disconnected the call and stared blankly at the wall. Dipper asking Robbie for those pictures made no sense… He technically shouldn't have even known who Amy was until the day he met her in Greasy's parking lot. Sure, Dipper did know Wendy had a kid, but Wendy had basically threatened to end their friendship if Mabel conveyed even the slightest bit of information about her daughter to that version of Dipper. Mabel took the threat seriously, so Amy remained a relative mystery to Dipper for much of her life. Robbie's revelation, however, was telling… Someone, who had virtually no contacts in Gravity Falls outside of her, somehow suspected or at least felt there was a connection there, at least enough of one that it was worth exploring. It really made her wonder how conscious that Dipper was to who he really was, or who he was supposed to be. Damn, maybe it was just Bill doing research.

Removing that lid to reveal those pictures was like opening Pandora's box, throwing everything Mabel thought she knew into question. She started going over every strange event that had happened around Dipper, every strange word that came out of Bill's mouth. His claim that he was using Dipper's actual body, that Dipper had been fighting him over control of that body for years… Were they all really lies intended to put doubts in their heads? Half-Truths maybe, or was even the tiniest grain of truth at all present? That certainly sounded like a game Bill would play, even while staring death in the face. As a matter of fact, who really was this person she'd been calling her brother for the past six years? Was it really Bill in control all along, manipulating her the entire time until finally getting what he ultimately deserved? Could Bill have seriously been using Dipper's actual body? If that were true than the ramifications of what happened were obvious and horrifying. Even if her brother was really dead, did his soul even need to be part of the equation in order for Bill to make use of that body?

There was also that third option she discussed briefly with Wendy. What if this version of Dipper was neither Bill nor Dipper? What if he was just some poor clone, a copy with a sense of who he was supposed to be but no memory of the life her brother previously lived. A separate entity with no real idea there was a demon lurking inside of him, and whose only real crime was existing in the first place? If so, this poor soul basically spent his entire existence knowing nothing but hatred and scorn, and if true, this was a different kind of tragedy in its own right. How could one small shoe-box with a handful of innocent pictures throw her entire perception of, what was already a fiasco, clear on its head?

Mabel was far too exhausted for any further attempts to wrap her head around what she'd learned. She would discuss this revelation with her family and friends in the morning, get their opinions. She could already imagine they'd all be different based on what everyone wanted, or maybe even needed to believe. As confused as she was just minutes before, Mabel smiled softly as she defied the thralls of exhaustion by settling on her own personal belief. She thought back to little Amy, the picture she drew now hanging proudly on Mabel's fridge, and her enigmatic 'imaginary' friend peering out the window. Was it too fantastical to think, to hope that maybe her brother was still out there in some form watching over her?… Watching over all of them. Mabel laid down atop the sheets and fell asleep in her guest room, that very thought running through her head. It was the best night sleep she'd had in years.

The End.

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Always like to have a little bit of light at the end peeking through the dark. Whether you loved it or hated it, I'd like to start by thanking everyone who gave my little story a read. Especially those of you who supported it from beginning, an entire generation spanning two weeks ago. You were few but mighty. I found some of the reviews and opinions I received for the first three chapters very interesting. A couple of you were really, really, close… A couple of you even picked up on a couple of the hints I left, and one of you interpreted that hint almost exactly the way it was intended. Really made me feel like I was doing something right. I realize I left a few questions unanswered, but for a story like this one, it's sometimes better to leave certain things ambiguous. Let the readers decide what the answers are supposed to be instead of spelling it out for them. Even though I heavily implied some of the answers, I avoided confirming them outright, and I stand by that decision. I don't think I need to explain what I was trying to do here in any further detail. Mabel already did an excellent job explaining it for me in the last act.

This story was partially inspired by internet horror web-series that try to make the viewers interpret what they're seeing on the screen instead of giving any clear decisive answers. Don't know what possessed me to try and take a crack at something like this on digital paper without the writing skills of Stephen King, but here we are. My main goal though was to try and create a story someone could read twice and potentially invoke different emotions out of that person each time they read it after they have all the facts, or in some cases what the reader interprets as the facts. That's also one of the reasons I kept this story relatively short, to make it more palatable for multiple reads, and I encourage anyone who enjoyed this story to give it another read now that you have context. See if the clues I left scattered around this story are more obvious, if the way certain characters act is more understandable, and if scenes that might've confused you before make more sense, or see if the overall tone or mood of this story changes for you based on what you now know or believe. Just take Mabel for example. The first read through she comes off kind of bratty and almost selfish in the way she lures Dipper back to Gravity Falls knowing she's potentially putting him in danger. Once you figure out she's doing all this mostly out of guilt and desperation, the context of her actions change. In fact, you start to realize you may have spent the first three chapters of this story sympathizing with the wrong twin, especially if Dipper really is what Gravity Falls thinks he is.

I was considering including a little spoiler section at the end of his chapter, highlighting all the little clues I left throughout this story, for those of you who don't really want to reread a story you just read, but ultimately decided against it. If a writer is worth anything, they shouldn't need to explain themselves anyway, their work should do the talking for them. I might post it at a later date if there's any demand for it, but for now, I think I'll just let the readers ingest the work in the way I intended. I really did enjoy working on this story, it's one I'm going to miss. Thanks to all of you who gave my little tale a chance. It shouldn't be too long before you hear from me again.