Well, here we are, at the end of the story.

It's been a great run. I've never published anything before I joined this website. Feedback and the knowledge that people out there are reading my story and awaiting more with anticipation help motivate me to do the best I can.

Now it's time for Fatal Attraction to come to a close... I hope you enjoy reading the grand finale!

~ Three

There was nothing harder that Bill Cipher had ever had to do before, in his hundreds upon thousands of years of existence. He had faced so many challenges, and he even thought that apologizing to Pine Tree would be the hardest thing he would ever have to do.

But that wasn't the way the universe worked. It made you think that the worst was behind you, and then it would spring a trap and you'd be caught, completely unaware that anything was wrong until you were captured.

Bill had been completely, hopelessly unprepared for this. Sure, he had always had a little soft spot for Pine Tree, but it had never been anything like this.

This childish love was new, and it swept Bill off his feet in more ways than one.

Everything was usually expected for Bill. When you can see everything, you tend to know what's coming your way. But this? This was something he hadn't been able to foresee.

And now this swirling storm of emotions was battering him from all sides, stretching every little fabric of his being until it was frayed and worn. Most thought he was insane before then, but now he was truly broken.

Bill stared at the shadow that was his reflection in the mirror that was a part of the dresser in the Mystery Shack attic. He was still in his human form, tall and thin, clad in gold, with his one icy eye.

He felt that eye twitch ever so slightly. His fingers followed suit.

He was coming undone, unravelled. This mortal had much more power than he could have ever conceived. To shatter a demon like this, especially one who ruled over others' minds and knew all? That was truly unique.

But now was not the time to revel in the glory that was Pine Tree's incredible uniqueness. Now was the time to put a stop to it.

This world had to end. Who said that Pine Tree shouldn't end with it?

Bill thought back to his actions the previous night, when he had almost choked the life out of the boy with his very own hands. He groaned and slouched forward, gripping onto the top of the dresser for support. Guilt... Guilt was one of the worst emotions to come.

The demon glanced back up at the silhouette in the mirror, but remained still. Everything seemed silent and peaceful for a brief moment...

Before that same maddening ticking noise started up again.

Bill ground his teeth together as the sickening sound continued, growing louder and louder, swelling until it filled the air with a deep, penetrating pounding. Bill clutched the sides of his head and pressed his palms over his ears, trying to drown out the noise, but it was relentless.

Bill saw cracks spread across the reflection on the surface of the mirror. The shadowy version of him wavered and shook, then literally fell into pieces before him, the silhouette breaking into shards.

And that was it.

Bill let out an ear-piercing scream that cut above the ticking. It ripped through the demon's throat painfully. He whipped the pocket watch out from his coat, snapped the chain in half with one swift yank, and threw it across the room. It smashed on impact with the wall, little gears and springs flying all over the place. The remains of the machine fell to the floor in the corner of the room.

Bill sunk to his knees, tears streaming down his cheeks, holding his head and trying to catch his breath.

He was gone. He was broken.

~~~TIME SKIP~~~

Each minute seemed to crawl by, and each hour felt like an eternity.

Dipper slept whenever he could just to escape the dreadful lull of reality, where time seemed to have crept to a near standstill. He would shut his eyes and drift off into a dreamless sleep, which never seemed to help speed things up.

It was like the universe had frozen in place and caused the world to stop spinning.

Customers came through the Mystery Shack as usual. Stan led them through on the tour, Wendy "worked" at the front desk in the gift shop, and Soos did odd jobs around the building. Mabel was nowhere to be found, which wasn't surprising, but was a bit disappointing. Dipper felt like she would make things a lot more interesting. She always seemed to brighten up a room.

So Dipper dragged himself through the endless days, and almost all of the everlasting summer season. In almost no time at all, he and Mabel would be headed back to California.

When had it all gotten away from him, and why had it slowed so suddenly?

Was this Bill's doing, or was this just a groove his brain had gotten into?

Regardless, it was almost painful to have to go through life like this.

Dipper thought for a while about the whole situation, with Bill nearly strangling him the other night. He had been so confident that things just might be alright, what with the demon's reassuring attitude and the pleasant dreams that he gifted to Dipper. But now it was like he had lost his infinite mind, and had somehow become even more insane than he had been in the first place.

But Dipper didn't get it. Why was Bill beating himself up so much over this?

Suppressing a yawn, Dipper trudged out of the Employees Only area and into the gift shop, trying not to think too hard.

~~~TIME SKIP~~~

Mabel finally reappeared that evening, offering no clues as to where she had been. But Dipper didn't ask. He figured it was none of his business, and he wasn't really that concerned anyway.

But she certainly seemed to be. When she burst into the attic, loudly announcing her return, she discovered him laying on the floor and staring off into space.

Mabel was almost always positive. She seemed to constantly have a smile on her face, and it was usually contagious. Today, however, her normal infectious joy was not present.

"Hey, Dip, what's wrong? You don't look so good." She dropped down onto the floor next to him, hugging her knees to her chest.

Despite his best efforts, Dipper had completely overthought his current dilemma with the demon. He hadn't stopped thinking about it all day long, and was still running over the same old thoughts.

Heaving a sigh, Dipper sat up and looked into his twin's worried eyes. "I don't know, I've just been kinda stressed lately..."

"Aw, you can tell me anything, bro. I'm here for you." Mabel gave him a caring smile and set her hand on his shoulder.

It was times like this when Dipper really appreciated having a sister.

He took a deep breath and went back to the start.

Dipper explained everything, from the nightmares to Bill's attempt to kill him in the mindscape. As he spoke, he watched Mabel's expression shift from mortified to ecstatic to sorrowful several times. When he finished, her face was drained of color. She stared at him with wide eyes, then pulled him into a crushing bear hug. He could hear her softly crying into his shirt.

"Oh, Dipper... I'm so sorry..."

Dipper patted Mabel on the back and let her cry until she was done. She shuffled away from him and wiped her eyes with the sleeve of her sweater, sniffling.

"Well," she stammered, "I r-r-really hate to tell you this, Dip, but t-t-this might n-not be something we c-c-can fix... I mean, you really can't stop doomsday once it's set in motion, can you?" Mabel looked up at her brother, pain swirling around her features.

Dipper felt a catch in his throat as that comment sank in. When Mabel said that there wasn't a bright side to something, then it really was shrouded in utter darkness.

"Yeah, but-" Dipper sighed and looked down at the floor. "Oh, I don't know... I was just hoping that there was something we could do about it. I mean, I know things are bad if both you and Bill say that there's nothing to be done, but... I don't want to lose hope, not yet."

"Hope can be hard to find, Dipper," Mabel said, one solitary tear rolling down her cheek. "I know I make it seem like it's always bright, and shining, and right within your reach, but the fact is that usually life takes more than it gives. Sometimes there's no way to keep it from doing that, and sometimes the only way- the only way is to just give up."

The twins both sat there for a few moments, then locked each other in a tight embrace. Dipper felt Mabel's hands gripping the back of his vest tightly, her fingers digging in hard. He didn't care, though, and he hugged her back with all of his might.

Sometimes it felt like they were alone in the world...

In a world that would soon cease to exist.

~~~TIME SKIP~~~

Dipper rubbed his forehead and sighed quietly. He wasn't sure if he was ready for this...

He was feeling confident that Bill was watching him. Maybe he was even listening in on his thoughts, but if he was, it wouldn't matter. This was something that Dipper needed to say, for his own sake, even if Bill didn't need to hear him speak to know it.

Dipper inhaled deeply, trying to say something.

"Bill? Bill, if you're listening to this, which I'm sure you are, pay attention. I've got some pretty important things to tell you...

"Look, I know that the apocalypse is just over the horizon, and I know that the thought of that makes you happy and proud. You've been working towards this for much longer than I've been alive, and much longer than Gravity Falls has even been on the map.

"But... I also know that it makes you scared, and that it's more than you've ever had to deal with before. You're not good with emotions. You don't understand them, and don't know how to keep them under control. And you let them be manipulated by the love of a twelve-year-old boy."

Dipper paused, looking around the empty attic, praying silently that Bill really was listening.

"That love has been slowly infecting you, unwinding you, ripping you apart... And now you've finally given in. You've finally fallen. It's taken you under. But you know what? You aren't alone, Bill... You aren't alone. I'm here... And I'll be here until the final day..."

Dipper snapped at that moment. He buried his face in his hands and sobbed- but this didn't stop him from talking.

"Bill, I love you. I love you more than life, more than anything, and I would give anything for you to be happy. So please, just one more miracle, for me... Just come back..."

He couldn't speak anymore. He was broken, just as broken as Bill himself.

The demon was, of course, standing directly in front of Dipper. He had been watching the whole thing from the security of the mindscape, and had started sobbing just as Dipper had.

Bill sat down on the bed next to the boy as they cried, trying to get a grip but failing miserably. He took hold of Dipper's hand and pulled him into his plane of existence.

When Dipper saw Bill appear beside him, he turned to the demon and tried to force a smile. It just came out looking like a horrified grimace, and brought on another onslaught of tears.

Bill raised Dipper's hand to his lips, pressing the back of it to them softly. "I love you too... You know that, right?"

Dipper nodded, but said nothing. He leaned against the demon's shoulder and continued to cry.

He felt Bill's hands caress his hair and clutch him tightly. Despite how fantastic it felt to be held close like this, Dipper couldn't deny that the same weight he had felt at the beginning of this was settling itself on top of him once again.

He was going back to the start, back to a time when he honestly wished that he would rather just end his life than have to suffer through it.

Bill knew it, and he felt the exact same way. But he was immortal, and the images of the future would never go away, so there was no escape from him.

He had been slipping into insanity, and this was the final push over the edge.

He couldn't stay. He vanished into thin air, forcing Dipper to wake up and sending a whole new wave of pain crashing over both of them.

~~~TIME SKIP~~~

There was nothing left, not a single ray of sunlight amidst the black of the endless night. There was not a single spark of warmth to be found in the freezing cold of the permanent winter that seemed to plague Dipper's very soul.

It seemed to rain each day, forcing everyone to remain indoors.

Not that Dipper wanted to go out. He hadn't gotten out of bed for nearly five days, except to go to the bathroom. He hadn't had more to eat or drink than the few bites and sips of water that were forced down his throat by either Stan or Mabel. He hadn't spoken in that whole time.

There was no point in getting out of bed. There was no point in continuing. Dipper had nothing left to give, and he would end where he began, enclosed in depression and a relentless sense of impending death.

Things weren't much different for Bill. He wouldn't do anything except linger around the rafters of the attic, trying to cope with the barrage of images he saw with every passing second.

Stan and Mabel decided to take Dipper to the doctor on the sixth day since he had spoken. They had simply taken him out of his bed and shoved him into the car.

He didn't fight back. He didn't even make a sound, he just kept his eyes squeezed tightly shut.

The doctor made the other Pines family members use an IV to get food and fluids into Dipper's body, since he refused to ingest anything. They were happy to oblige, to do anything that might help the boy.

But he was beyond their help. He was lost.

As the humans were all scrambling around like lunatics trying to coax Dipper out of this depression, Bill was constantly checking the clock. He became frantic and panicky, anxiety overrunning sorrow. There were only a few more days left...

And he needed to act. If he thought this was bad, there was no way he could possibly handle what it would be like for him after Dipper was dead.

Bill knew that there was only one thing left for him to do, and it wasn't to get rid of the kid himself. No, he was past that. That was unreasonable, illogical, and just plain stupid.

This wasn't the nuclear option, but was something Bill had seriously hoped wouldn't have to happen. Drastic times called for drastic measures, though, and Bill was beyond desperate.

So he would make himself forget. He would erase all recollection of these toxic feelings from his memory, so that he could proceed through the apocalypse without a care.

It was entirely possible for Bill to do this. Sure, it would take a lot of energy... But it was worth it. This was the one way he could put himself back together, even if it still meant that Dipper would fall apart.

~~~TIME SKIP~~~

"Dipper...? There's... There's something I need to tell you..." Bill seemed to be stumbling over his own words. However, he was silently weeping but otherwise completely straight-faced.

Dipper looked up at him, his eyes filled to the brim with penetrating sadness. He was sitting cross-legged beside the dream demon, on a large cliff overlooking a vast ocean.

"I've finally realized that there is more that I can do to fight this, and without killing you. There's one more option for me, and I am more than willing to act this way than to suffer anymore. Kid, you and I have been through so much... Because of each other, and this deadly, blind ambition known as love. But I can't do this anymore if I am to make it through the apocalypse. If it's hurt me this much just knowing it's almost here, how bad will it be when it's actually upon us?"

Bill turned to face Dipper, grasping his hands and resting his forehead on the boy's. He shut his eye tightly and tried to slow his breathing and his heartbeat.

"I... I've made a decision... I'm going to make myself forget."

"What?!" Dipper's sudden exclamation made Bill jumped. The child sounded beyond scared, beyond shocked.

"I can't bring myself to kill you. I'd never be able to live with myself. I can't commit suicide, since I'm an immortal demon who belongs to the mindscape. This is the only way for me to get past this. I'm sorry."

"No, no, no, you can't do this. Please, don't. Please." Dipper's voice was becoming more and more panicked. He grabbed the sides of Bill's head and forced the demon to look into his eyes. Something inside him wrenched when he saw the tears residing there, and he felt identical ones spring up.

"You're all I have left..." The boy smashed his lips against the demon's roughly, desperately, trying to cling onto his last tether to sanity. Neither backed away, not for a long time.

When they did, Bill tried to speak. It came out as a cracked whisper.

"I-I'm so s-s-sorry, Dipper... I know this won't h-help you, but I c-c-can't continue l-l-like this... Maybe... Maybe we can start over, in another life... In another universe... One where we'll have more time..."

Bill shoved Dipper off of him, forcing the kid to land on the ground hard. The dream demon pressed his fingertips to his temples and began chanting something in an unknown language. It slowly became louder and louder until Bill was practically shouting.

Dipper scrambled to his feet and tried to run to the demon's side, but he collided with something invisible and fell again. He knelt on the ground, pounding his fists on the wall that divided the two of them, hysteria overtaking him.

"NO! STOP IT! BILL, PLEASE! STOP IT! YOU CAN'T!" Dipper screamed at Bill until his throat was raw and each word ripped through it and burned it like acid. He sobbed, pleading with the demon to stop, but he wasn't listening.

Bill's single eye rolled back in his head, and he collapsed to the ground.

The dream shattered around them.

Dipper shot upright in bed, screaming as loudly as was possible. The attic door flew open, and Stan and Mabel rushed into the room, worried expressions on their faces.

"Dipper! What's wrong? Are you alright?" Mabel sunk down so she was at eye level with him and took his hand. He was shaking and gasping, his hands and forehead slicked with cold sweat. He was still sobbing, his heart torn to shreds and his entire body feeling weak and lifeless.

Bill was gone. Bill wouldn't come back.

Bill wouldn't remember.

Dipper felt nothing anymore.

When the fire and the shadows came, he let them take him away. He let them take him back to the start, where maybe, just maybe, he could find something better.

~EPILOGUE~

A wicked, twisted smile curled the corners of Bill's lips upwards, and his eye burned brightly with cobalt fire.

The sounds of screams and the images of the world below being destroyed ran through Bill's mind, causing a great pride to swell in his chest.

Finally, after hundreds of thousands of years spent working, waiting, watching... Finally, his plans were complete.

His vision of a nightmare world had come to pass, just like he always knew it would. It was truly glorious. It was the dawn of a new era, in which he reigned supreme over this dimension and was feared by the inhabitants of all others.

As Bill surveyed his work with great glee, he couldn't help feel a slight pang of... Something shoot through him. What was that? It certainly didn't feel right.

Puzzled, Bill opened his eye, returning from his viewing of the universe being demolished and reappearing in the mindscape of its closest neighbor.

This was what he had wanted all along. This was his greatest achievement, his greatest prize, and he should have been enjoying the sweet, sweet taste of the most ultimate victory...

If he finally had everything he had ever wanted, then why did he feel so empty inside? It was like there was a void, a gaping chasm that had appeared inside of him, like something was missing.

But what was it, and why did it hurt so much?

Bill shook his head to try and clear it of these thoughts, resuming his little show.

It ate away at him, melting him from the core.

It gave no signs of what it was that had been lost.

It intended to stay hidden.

It hurt.

Please comment and review on this chapter, and don't forget to vote on my next story! I've only received two votes so far, both for different things, and I need a tiebreaker.

I've had so much fun writing this story and hearing what you all think of my work. I love you all, and I can't wait to see you next time around with a brand new story.

Catch you later!

~ Three