SHARONA | part V.
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SHARONA | part V.

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i thought they were doing good why were they attackedš MAXIMUS JUST DIEDš
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To conclude after the final model makes her way down the runway strip, CYNTHIA comes out with her son Micah on her hip joined by Melody, as she blows kisses and waves her thanks.Ā āThank you guys so much!ā She finally heads back stage.Ā
samsteve and thortony double date

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496??
Still higher!
Chapter 5: A Party That Never Ends With a Host That Never Dies
[in which Kida makes a stand and things come to an end]
Get up to date: Chapter 1: News Cycle (Hellscape) Chapter 1.5: A Weird-Form Interlude Chapter 2: The Master of My Own Domain (Dreamscape) Chapter 3: Whats in the booox? (Lifescape) Chapter 4: Help From Another World Chapter 4.5: Interlude: The Other World Reaction
[tw: violent imagery but nothing gory? its a showdown guys, use your judgement here. know your limit, play within it || Word count: 5170]
@thedipster
KIDA
Kida knew better than to jump through a box-portal and not bend her knees to brace herself for impact. After all, she hadnāt been born yesterday, but that didnāt mean the landing still didnāt hurt. She didnāt get how a sphere so close to the ground could still seemingly spit her out from so high-up, but that was beyond the point. Cause she was back in Swynlake. Beautiful, partially-2D, torn-sky Swynlake. It wasnāt exactly the home sweet home she had been hoping for upon her return. But that was fine. She still had a plan. More like the outline of a plan, really.
See, there wasnāt a sphere in the sky that she hadnāt ventured into yet. They were all accounted for. Over the buildings she could make out the two first spheres she had come from amongst the bobbing heads of too-tall-to-be-fair demons. One of those heads happened to be heading in her direction, actually, which meant it was time to go. Where, exactly? Kida wasnāt 100% sure. But if she had learned anything from what had happened so far, her best bet was probably the pyramid in the sky. That, of all things, looked like the climax scenario she had been anticipating.
The little side street she had been spat out onto spilled directly onto the road running towards the pyramid in the sky. She turned the corner, figuring that once she got closer sheād be able to figure out a way to climb onto it but--that didnāt seem to be necessary. Where the main road met the avenue that ran perpendicular to it, a doorway had seemingly opened up out of thin air.
Every ounce of Kidaās rational instincts screamed TRAP! TRAP! TRAP! TRAP! and it was probably right.
But what did she have to lose? Three triangle runes in her possession and she was gonna get scared away by an ominous looking staircase? No. Definitely not. The sound of footsteps drew nearer to her and without a single doubt, Kida barrelled down the street at full speed. She crossed the threshold onto the first step, and immediately her body was her own again. Just as immediately, though, the doorway closed behind her, and the only way left to go--was up. With less of the bravado that she had bared just moments ago, Kida climbed all the way up until the stairs levelled out into a singular playing field. Not blank, but not completely full, either. Just seemingly formed by the great tear some ways off in the distance. And for a moment, Kida was seemingly--alone. Alone-ish.
BILL CIPHER
Someone had been chosen.
Bill was aware of this the moment it happened and he knew that she would be coming. He knew that she would collect the runes, knew that she would do it successfully. Knew that in the Other World, someone would be pulling the strings. Knew that, ultimately, he would be defeated, everyone would clap, and he would be but a memory.
But dammit, if he wasnāt going to make this a helluva time.
And dammit, if he wasnāt gonna try to stick around.
He sat atop a great throne, in the Mindscape heād formed from the collective consciousness of all those involved in this process--the ones in this world, and the ones controlling them in the Other World.
The throne hovered and below it was Dipperās still body.
Bill sat, spindly legs crossed, spindly fingers tapping on the arms of his throne.
And towards the edge of the Mindscape, he felt a tug. Someone had entered. It was Her--the Chosen One. Like, literally, they chose her.
He narrowed his eye--well, as well as he could narrow his eye--and with a snap of his fingers, he and Dipperās body shimmered in their current plane, reappearing in front of the girl.
āWell, well, well,ā said Bill, growing larger in size and hovering over the girl. He wriggled his fingers, studying his opponent. He wondered why sheād been chosen, of all of them, but he didnāt question the forces behind the Other World; they had more power than him, ultimately.
āI thought youād come with a trident or a sword or somethināā cackled Bill. āThatād be a way to do it--stab me in the eye, eh?ā The chuckled turned into a low growl. āBut no. Just you, Kiddo. Get it--ācuz thatās almost your name? Hahaha, I crack myself up.ā
Now truth be told, Bill didnāt know as much about this one as he knew about Dipper or as much as he knew about some of the other citizens of this world. And as he tried to scan for more information, tried to read the old posts, he found he was drawing a blank.
It was those tasks.
They were serving as a blocker. He couldnāt read all her information. He couldnāt find a weakness. He couldnāt hack her.
But he wasnāt gonna let her know that.
āSoooo,ā he said, shrinking down a little smaller and bobbing right in front of her. āWhatās it gonna be, Princess? You got a secret blaster or somethinā? Gonna spin some magic on me? Iām excited for this.ā
KIDA
The more she looked, the more Kida thought she could make something out in the distance. But before she could figure out what exactly it was: it was gone. Disappeared in a shimmering light--and then reappeared. Right in front of her.
So thatās what she was up against, huh? That was⦠You know, arguably not as scary as the other demons that had been roaming around Swynlake since the beginning. Off the bat, Kida wasnāt terrified, or anything. But then she got to thinking about it, and well, really the point wasnāt that this thing was particularly scary, it was about what it could do. If this was the source, then it had torn the sky open and set hell upon the town. The triangle in front of her wasnāt scary, but that--all of that--was. Kida got that. But she didnāt move a muscle.
Standing there, for the first time, the runes were heavy in her pocket. Sheād need them eventually. But not yet.
Kidaās eyes flicked around, following the triangle as it talked. As it entertained. Cause thatās what it felt like. Like he was some kind of host, as if Kida was just part of the show.
āYeah-- uh, no.ā She replied, cutting it off before it launched into the second act of its speech. If there was gonna be exposition, it was gonna be on her own terms, thanks.
āIām not really theā¦ā Kida lifted a hand up, let it fall back down against her thigh. āFighting type, if I can swing it. Iām here to--to talk, actually.ā
BILL CIPHER
Bill blinked. (Or was it winked--really, he only had one eye, so was it winking or blinking?)
He bobbed a bit in the air, then rested his hands on the lower part of his form (his hips, one could say, if he did have hips), eyeing this...girl. Character. Person. Thing. Carbon-based lifeform. Sack of meat. Pixels on a screen. Formless creature made up only of words and thoughts. Animatorās sketch. Cells of paint.
She was a lot of things to Bill, but he while he could see all of those, he couldnāt look closer at the one that actually mattered. Which was, really, NOT FAIR, cāmon.
āAlright,ā said Bill, lowering himself a little. āLetās talk.ā He let out a low chuckle. āDo you realize my game yet? Thatāll be my one regret if you do defeat me--that no one figured it out. No one saw their true potential.ā He bounced a bit, circling around her slightly, but keeping his distance.
āBut, maybe Iām having too much fate in you--alright, letās hear it, what do you wanna say thatās gonna make me tremble?ā
KIDA
Kida didnāt know what she was getting herself into. Figuring her way out of those orbs, walking up those stairs, she had imagined that it was at this point that things were gonna start making sense. Things like this were supposed to fit together like puzzle pieces, werenāt they? The rip in the sky and the demons and the spheres, they were all supposed to come together with one grand speech, but it felt like this thing was just speaking in riddles. Riddles, for the record, that didnāt make any sense to her. In a way it felt just like⦠Chatter.
That being said, that was why she was here to talk. There was always sense to be found in something and if nothing else--if she was gonna die here, as unlikely as that was, she wasnāt going to go out without having at least edged her way towards the truth.
As it circled her, she didnāt hurry to keep it in her sights, instead only lazily moving her head to spot it as it passed. She hoped she wouldnāt need much more than that.
Kida laughed a bit, just lightly enough to convey her amusement. Cause she was amused, mainly by the impression this thing seemingly had of her.
āThatās still not my goal,ā She corrected, shaking her head. āBut since youāre giving me the chance, I guess weāll start with⦠Whatās the point?ā
Kida paused, raised an eyebrow. āOf this. To be clear. Not whatās the point of life--unless you happen to have answers for that, too.ā
BILL CIPHER
āThere is no point, thatās the point!ā cackled Bill. āAll of this--pointless. Weāre just wasting our time here, all of us, you and me and this bag oā meat down here.ā He swooped down to Dipper, who stirred feebly.
āNone of it has meaning, Kida-Kiddo,ā he said, rising back up again. āNot my grand scheme, not the words that are writing out your life right now--everythingās just for the fun of it. Might as well have fun, ya know, if your very existence literally is just for plot purposes, amirite?ā
<<Thatās right. Thatās not just from me to Kida--itās me to all of you suckers there on your laptops and on your phones--your existence means nothing. Might as well have some fun, eh? (that āehā was for you, Sam, get it, itās Canadian)>>
āWeāre all gonna die--even me. Iāll fade out from imagination, one day, and be a memory of a memory. Yāall will too. Maybe theyāll think of us from time to time, games they played in their younger days. But we will cease to exist.ā He turned away from Kida, now, looking up into the Mindscape--the twisting pathways that led to nowhere (though it could very easily be a foggy cloud of consciousness, though it could very easily be black nothingness, it just depeneded on what was written)--then swiveled back to Kida.
āSo the point? To have some fun.ā
KIDA
Kida narrowed her eyes at this thing as it spoke. Not maliciously, but more like she was doubtful of what it was saying. Cause, plainly, she was.
That kind of thinking irked her. And not just the whole nothing matters part of it--for which she had literally hundreds of years of teaching telling her otherwise--but just all of it. The bleakness of it up unto the driving force and the actions that came of it just didnāt make sense to her. If there wasnāt a point, wasnāt the joy of life arguing with the very fabric that said so? If there wasnāt a point, why did that seemingly justify terrible actions? If there wasnāt a point, did that mean that you shouldnāt have morals? That because nothing mattered, you were excused for your actions?
She didnāt think so.
āI--alright. To have fun. Thatās fair.ā Kida stepped forwards, not following it per se, but making her own path towards the nothingness beyond them. There wasnāt anything out there, was there? She--could ask that later. Maybe. Didnāt matter right now, since apparently nothing ever mattered anyway, right? Wrong.
She glanced over at the body on the floor--and then up at the triangle.
āBut, of all things--why have fun like this? Why not something lessā¦ā She waved a hand vaguely through the air. āEnd of the world-y?ā
BILL CIPHER
āHey, no oneās dead--or even dying, might I add. Everyoneās having some fun! Got cool powers and new forms. Far as Iām concerned, this is the best apocalypse you guys have had in the past three years.ā
If he could narrow his eye, he wouldāve. Instead, it sorta just crinkled up slightly, and he drifted higher in the air, like a balloon that slipped out of a small childās hand. He rose about a full Kidaās height above Kida, a full Kidaās length distance away from Kida, and grew to a full Kidaās size larger than Kida.
āIs this your plan, kiddo? Get me talking about my grand master vision? Not that I donāt mind talking--love it, in fact. I could talk about myself all darn day!ā He cackled, rubbing his fingers together. āIām gonna miss this--sheās gonna miss me, ya know? You all are, when this is done and over.ā He sighed, dropping his hands down and hanging in the air for a moment.
He blinked, then shimmered a little, for no other reason than he wanted to shimmer for one last time possibly.
āPlease tell me youāre gonna whip out that trident now,ā said Bill. āIād rather this was quick and gloriously gory.ā
KIDA
Yeah, Kida thought, I sure was having a lot of fun watching my kingdom be destroyed over and over and over again. That--she was still painfully sour in regards to that. It was the kind of vision that required a letter home and whole bunch of extra money in express postage but that was besides the point. The point had to stay in the present. She couldnāt afford to have it go drifting off into the ether where this thing was likely to find a way to scoop it up and use it in its favour.
She didnāt want to be doing it any favours. Didnāt feel like it deserved that much.
Course, neither did she, which was why this whole thing was such a pain.
It rose into the air, and Kida--sat down. Making herself comfortable. As far as anyone watching could tell, she was unperturbed. Unsure, maybe, but not worried about it. She leaned back onto her hands and stretched out her legs in front of herself, crossing them at the ankles. Kida disregarded its last requests and tilted her head up at it.
āWhoās she?ā
BILL CIPHER
āIād tell you, but then Iād have to kill you,ā cackled Bill. He peered at Kida, drifting a little closer. Maybe heād indulge her.
āThereās forces beyond what you and your tiny one-dimensional brain can understand here,ā he said. And if his voice could be kind, it dipped sorta-kinda into it now--not in an actual kind way, but like she was some small child and he was showing her how to do a basic task. āThereās dimensions within your own--then thereās ones that go above and below and all around. You can cross the ones in your own, but not above or below--if you even think about them too much, your tiny little mind will explode.ā
He chuckled a little, swerving a bit down for dramatic effect.
āThis was my way of pulling those above and below worlds to intermingle with yours, kinda, sorta,ā he said, then turned back around. āThat answer your question, kiddo?ā
KIDA
Kida hummed under her breath. That was better than expected, actually. Two answers for the price of one--and extensive ones at that. This thing spoke of dimensions and higher powers and twisting all of these things to play along with its own sick little game. From where she sat, it seemed like it fancied itself some kind of god.
Was it, though?
Kida doubted an answer that simple.
āMm, more or less.ā She conceded, keeping most of her suspicions veiled inside of herself.
This thing was a--demon, probably. Given the runes and given the, well, the other demons running around Swynlake as she spoke, but it wasnāt anything like those.
(And for a fraction of a second Kida wondered if she had bitten off more than she could chew.)
āWhat about--ā She jerked her head back towards the seemingly lifeless body on the ground. āWhatās with the kid?ā
BILL CIPHER
Bill had actually forgotten about Dipper. He glanced downwards, his body tilting slightly at an angle, his luminous pupil dipping towards Dipperās still form.
āOh, him? Yeah, well I needed a way into this world and Dipper here wonāt admit it, but he wanted to know all about the aboves and belows and inside-outs and what not.ā Bill straightened back up, eye crinkling, and shrugged his little black arms.
āA dealās a deal, ya know? He gets infinite knowledge, I get to exist. We might be tricksters, but we hold up our ends.ā
This was not entirely the truth of the matter; technically this time around, Milo had summoned Bill. Still, heād gotten what he wanted -- his dead girlfriend. The first time round, Dipper had gotten what heād wanted -- infinite knowledge. Never mind that it faded away when Bill had been banished. Dipper still had a sense of it though, a craving for something he could never quite know and never would know (which was enough to have kept the remnant of Bill there in the first palce, which was how the summoning this time had been easier; he just needed someone particularly desperate enough).
But enough exposition--
āHeāll be fine,ā said Bill, dropping a little closer to Dipper, who let out a small murmur, and reached a hand to pat him on the head. āJust overwhelmed with infinite knowledge, ya know?ā
He bobbed back up.
āAnyway, you a therapist or something? Tryinā to psychoanalyze my plans for universal domination?ā
KIDA
She shook her head.
āNo, Iām just trying make sure I have all my bases covered, you know? The whys and the whats and the immediate courses of action and things like that...ā The list of things like that Ā ran pretty straight forwards in her head as she compiled information.
Use the runes to do whatever the runes were used for-- because there had to be some point to them. Nothing appeared and disappeared out of nowhere to only ever be used at mantel decorations or coasters.
Take out the triangle (this one was still kind of wishy washy, though Kida wasnāt completely without ideas. It just kind of depended on number 1.)
Probably watch the plane disintegrate around her
Tend to the kid if he needed tending to, which, if he did, Kida hoped that that thing had at least been truthful in that he wasnāt that poorly off. Really though, why did she have any reason to trust it?
āSo just to make sure I got this straight, you used the kid to get here, and upon arrival you took the world that was yours for the taking because--why not? Thatās a uh--hell of a story. Itāll make for great content, you know?ā Kida wasnāt actually considering posting any of the nitty gritty of this on her blog. It didnāt feel--quite right. Sheād write it down for herself to remembered, but publishing things like this took tact that she didnāt have, and a open-book policy that she couldnāt quite uphold.
Maybe this one was just hers, for once.
She pushed herself off of her hands and crossed her legs in front of herself. She slipped one hand into her pockets, and came right back out easily with the three runes in the palm of her hand.
āYou said infinite knowledge, yeah? Any idea how it all ends?ā
BILL CIPHER
Bill did, in fact, know how it was going to end. Heād known from the moment he popped into this universe back in August -- no, even before that, when he was just a passing thought being pulled into creation. There was always going to be an end for him.
Thatās how it had been in his first universe, how it had been in the ones after that (there were some weird ones out there, though, where that was not the case, but he sorta preferred the ones where it was), how it would be in this one.
Bill knew that everyone was expecting an epic showdown--lasers and lights and loud noises and the like.
Bill knew that it would end, not with a bang, but with a whimper.
And that he would be added as a footnote when they explained what happened to someone new. That they would talk about him still and they would say they missed him, but ultimately, he would just be words on a screen.
āIt ends,ā he said, simply. āI end.ā He cackled a little, eye drifting up to the space of the Mindscape, the fixed it right on Kida. āMake it a good one, eh? Worth a read, make āem talk about us.ā
KIDA
In hindsight, she shouldnāt have expected anything less. It took more than a conversation to get to know someone, but when this thingās M.O seemed to be anything goes--Kida shouldāve expected the same, here. She shouldāve expected the solemn words, even as she had been hoping for the opposite. It was much easier to take someone out if you couldnāt find any sympathy. Kida had too much of it for her own good, she figured, but not enough to think twice about her plan. There was a pang, for just a moment, and then there were many more for the people still in town--for the rest of the world.
The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few and this thing had no right to take the world for itās own just because it could.
Kida could feel itās bulging eye staring down at her as she laid the runes on the ground all the same. There were three triangles on the ground, and one in the sky. How convenient. She clicked them together like a dream, and from the puzzle came a single triangle, with a perfect space in the middle.
āI canāt make any guarantees.ā She said.
The runes began to glow with that same dull light as the spheres, and Kida took that as her sign to back up. She scrambled up onto her feet at the runes expanded and expanded and slowly righted themselves until they stood tall in the void, at which point they began to rise.
BILL CIPHER
There were things he could do to delay her.
He could conjure up a swarm of neon-colored squirrels, swirling in tornado formation and chewing up the very fabric of this reality into a million-trillion-gazillion squirrel-chewed pieces. He could call upon a storm of past-selves and current-selves and future-selves and alter-selves and a-whole-lotta other selves and overwhelm them all with the sheer selve-ness of the whole situation. He could blast them into a total other reality where theyād be suspended in time and space and words and not be able to move or think
or act or anything because they didnāt belong there and would not ever belong there, so theyād be in an eternal state of half-existence, existing in one reality but being in another.
But he couldnāt really do any of those things, because right as he decided on the squirrels, the final piece of it all -- the one that Kida didnāt know about, couldnāt know about -- was completed and in another reality, he felt himself violently shaken and tossed and in this one, he froze --
And Kida completed the triangles.
āAw shit!ā Bill cried, as the triangles locked together and rose into the air. His one eye grew wide as the triangles closed in around him, trapping him in the space between them. He let out a scream, low at first, but growing rough and loud, ripping through the air, through time and space, reverberating in the collective consciousness of the Mindscape.
(Feel that chill? The one you get out of nowhere in the middle of the day, when the air is otherwise warm? Thatās Bill Cipherās scream echoing through time.)
As he screamed, his lines bled to his main coloring, the yellow turning black, the black lines of his curves turning red--his eye inverted, the white turning black, the black turning white and expanding and flashing red as he struggled between the bonds.
āYou donāt know what this world is,ā he sneered and his eye flashed white-red-black-white-red-black-white-red-black. āYouāre all just pathetic puppets used by them and theyāre gonna leave you one day and you will cease to exist and this was your chance -- all of your chances -- to wake up to your bleak reality--ā
His voice was cut off, as the runes closed in tigther and he was shook again in the other world (seriously? twice?)
KIDA
Kida shielded her eyes from the rapidly blinking light above her. Could whole planes shake, or was it just her? Was that the universe trying to burst at the seams or was it her heart breaking free from her chest? Either way, it felt like a lot. Kida was feeling a lot and that made it hard to focus on the task at hand.
The demon--and Kida was sure it was a demon now, she could feel it in the waves of energy rippling through her crystal. It was trying to protect her. She appreciated it--screamed and itās voice rang out louder than anything she had ever heard before. It was inside her head and all around and in the air and running through the ground and nothing would ever be quiet again, she figured. So long as this thing screamed and struggled and cursed her out, there would not be quiet. The world would not be safe. If she stood there and did nothing, the world would not be safe. Not for herself, not for the kid lying half-dead on the ground, not for anyone.
She had to remember that and--try to do something.
Her crystal rumbled around her neck. There was strong magic in the air, and it could feel it, which meant that Kida could feel it too. It hummed through the Heart all the way back to her and from it there was a lingering sense of peace. One that told her, you know what to do.
Kida stepped forwards, and brought her hand down from where it shielded her eyes to wrap it around her crystal. She tugged and the chain broke loose.
āWhy should I care?ā She yelled out, holding the crystal tighter and tighter until the ruff edges dug into the palm of her hand. Ā āYou said it yourself! Thereās no point! Nothing matters! Not even you! So itās about time you go back to where you came from!ā
Kida opened her fist, and just like the day her mother had--gone, the light that spilled out of her crystal was blinding. She turned her head away and closed her eyes, but kept it pointed at the demon.
āGo HOME!ā
DIPPER
Billās grip on Dipper loosened and the blackness that heād slipped into for the past week or so started to melt away. He felt the ache in his body first, creeping from his sides, to the very center of being, then up to his face -- have you ever felt your face ache? Like not just your head, but your face --
There was a light. It was so strong that Dipper had to blink to see and then he heard that scream.
Heād heard that scream before--
The last time, when Uncle Ford and Stan and Mabel had blasted into the cave and wrangled Bill out of this plane.
(They hadnāt done it properly, but that had been the plan the whole time)
He scrambled to his feet.
There was a girl there and he didnāt know who she was but the light was coming from her.
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The voice echoed through Dipperās head and he pressed his hands against his ears--he wanted it out, wanted it out.
He had sudden images of horrible memories--of Meridaās face, her eyes wide in fear; of Mauiās eyes wide in confusion; of writhing and spitting and holy water splashed in his face; of Professor Thatchās desperate voice; of blood--blood from him, blood from Terence, blood from Maui--
sĢ”Ģ̻̹t̶̼̹oĶĢ£ĶĢ Ģ̤P̺̯̄ĢĢĢÆĢ ĢH̤ĶĶĶĶe͔̺ĢĶR Ņ̤̣̣ĶĢŖoĶĶĢ Ģ̬RĢ Ģ“ĶĢĶĢYĶĢĶ̰̩̼ĢĶO̵ĶĶ̼̣ĢU̵̹̮̮Ķ̫̱ ̳̰ĶĢ̱ĶWĢ®Ķ Ģ«ĶĢ̼̺IĢĢĢĢ«ĢĢ£ĢLL̤ĢĶĶĢĶ̰ ̪̄Ģ̹ĶĢBEĢĢŗĢĶ̰̄ Ķ¢IĶ̳̯̹ĢNĶ̲Ģ̰̹ Ķ̼̩̯̳̫ĶTĶ̹Ķ̫̳̣H̰̩̼EĢĢŗ Ķ̩̪DĢ̱ĢA̲̻ĶĶĢ„ĢRŅĶĢ©k̵̳̄
There were things he also saw--he saw three girls, a bit older than him, they were on a train. He saw laptop screens. He saw himself, too, and Mabel, too, in Gravity Falls, except everything was different, everything was the same, not really. He saw a man drawing. He saw business meetings (why did he see business meetings?)--
He could see all that and--
What was the point? Why did he need that? He had this reality and that was what mattered and he could discover all there was about this one and he had all his life to do that and there was no point in doing that now, not this way, not in this way--
He stood next to the girl and he looked up at Bill--the runes around him closing in smaller and smaller.
āLeave ME ALONE!ā he yelled, voice hoarse, but loud and strong and echoing through the Mindscape. āIāVE HAD ENOUGH.ā
Billās eye flashed back to white, his body flashed to yellow and the eye widened and--
If it could have looked sad, right now, it did.
But it was only a moment, could have been a trick of Dipperās eye, something that the light altered, something that the hammering of his chest made him feel, something that the ties between him and the demon made him think, something that Bill was doing to make Dipper feel bad.
It was only a moment and Bill let out a wail as he was sucked into the space between the runes, which swirled a deep, bottomless, black.
And then, for a moment, it was quiet. It was still. Dipper took a shaking breath and for the first time in nearly ten years, his head felt silent.
And then, there was a loud sucking noise--the black portal between the runes swirling as all the weirdness, all the disasters and demons and chaos flew to the portal, getting pulled within, vanishing into the nothingness.
The place they were shimmered around them, as if it were fighting between being here and not being here.
And then--as if nothing had happened at all, Dipper and the strange girl were standing in the middle of Professor Thatchās flat, sunlight streaming through the window, birds chirping outside, a clock ticking from somewhere he couldnāt place. There were noises--noises of life: the radiator in the corner, those birds, that clock, the pipes somewhere, the floorboards.
But his head, it was quiet.
He took a deep breath, his arm reaching for the back of neck, and turned to the girl.
āSo, uh, that was weird.ā







