Chapter 6:

That night Dipper dreamed. Dreamed of candles and blood. Symbols kept appearing in his mind's eye. Predominantly over and over he kept seeing the symbol of a pine tree. Like the one on his cap. Latin words hummed through his mind and Dipper was shocked to find he understood their meaning. They were calling him. He didn't wake up so much as suddenly became aware, almost as if he hadn't really been sleeping at all... it took him a moment to realize that he wasn't in the room but on the roof.

Images of the moment Bill tried to take him over flashed through his head. He sat upright. Looking around shocked. "I'm a dream demon." He said staring at his sneakers his mind suddenly going blank. Summoning circle... He frowned. There was a strange feeling flowing through him. Like... a sudden purpose rushing through his body. He coughed blinking back to reality as he realized the summoners would be calling for the demon called Dipper. How embarrassing.

He fussed over it quietly the whole day. Worrying and fretting. Mabel noticed. "What's wrong bro bro?"

"I had a kind of dream last night." Dipper said.

"'Bout what?"

"My summoning circle." Dipper said seriously.

"The summoning circle?" Mabel asked. "Should we go talk to Grunkle Stan? Try it again?"

"Maybe later." Dipper said off handedly. "If people learn of my summoning circle they'll be calling on Dipper the Dream Demon. Even though the triple D is kinda nice I don't think anyone's going to take the name Dipper seriously. That wouldn't be good for a demon ya know."

"Um..." Mabel looked a bit unsure. "And... this is important to you right now?"

"Of course. A demon's name means everything! First impressions are very important!" Dipper spun to face her enthusiastically. Speaking of which his jeans needed to go. He snapped his fingers and the blue material and his worn sneakers were replaced by dress pants and shoes.

Mabel sighed. "Okay." Her voice was a little sad as she watched her brother examine his new pant's and shoes. Finley he straightened his hair readjusting his hat and settled into a crossed legged state looking to her expectantly. She smiled weakly. "I'll help you come up with something better."

Even though Mabel had seemed unsure at first she really got into the whole name thing after a while. Dipper stopped suddenly fully conscious of what was happening and started freaking out. "Mabel what are we doing?"

"Coming up with a new name for you?"

"Why?"

"Because you said Dipper wasn't cool enough for a demon."

"Mabel! What's wrong with you?"

Mabel shrugged. "What? You wanted a cooler sounding name- I thought it was a good idea."

"You just... played along with me as- as I went completely off my rocker?"

"Well it seemed harmless enough." Mabel said not looking at him as she wrote down another name.

"Harmless?" Dipper asked. "Mabel you're helping me create a name that people will fear! What's harmless about that?"

Mabel glared at him. "You're not creating a name to be feared. You're not Bill."

Dipper frowned. "I... I know..." He rung his hands nervously not looking at her.

"You are not Bill." Mabel said again. Dipper looked to her shocked at how serious she sounded. "You're Dipper Pines, my brother who thinks he has all the answers, when in actuality he's really a gargantuan nerd who is supper lovable."

Dipper went silent looking at anything but her. Looking down he decided to look at some of the names she'd picked out. "Terror the Terrible?" Dipper asked lifting a brow. "That name is… well, terrible. I'd be better off keeping the one I have."

"Yeah... I figured that one would fly right into the wastebasket." Mabel grabbed the sheet and crumpled it up.

Dipper moved a few sheets and picked one of the pieces of paper up. "What's this?" He asked. "Mizar and Alcor?"

"Well that one I kinda like because I'd get a name too!" Mabel smiled. "It's the names of the twin stars from the big Dipper constellation."

"Really?" Dipper asked staring at the paper legitimately surprised. "That is kinda cool. Twin stars you say?"

"Yeah."

"Mizar... Alcor... I like those names."

"You do?" Mabel asked. "I just kinda wrote them down randomly." She said laughing lightly as she pushed an astrology book under the pillow she was leaning on. "I mean... would you really be okay being named after a star?"

"What?" Dipper asked. "I- It sounds cool enough, what's it matter if its a star or a tree? Besides stars are really cool."

Mabel laughed. "Only a nerd could say that so heartfelt!"

"Shut it!" Dipper said blushing a bit embarrassed. His emotions he'd noticed were really easily tipped lately.

"It is kinda suiting..." Mabel said her head tilting slightly as she looked at him.

"What are you looking at?" Dipper started to brush at his shirt.

"Nothing." Mabel said smiling a bit. "Just looking."

Dipper blinked as the paper fell through his hand fluttering down onto the others. He looked to the piece of paper studding it intently. It hadn't even occurred to him that it was odd that he was able to hold it till just then. The foreign realization made him tremble. "Mabel..." Dipper said slowly a deep frown coming to his face. "I... I don't know... how to... what if I... what if I'm really ... not... Dipper anymore?" Dipper gripped his pant leg tightly as his fist shook.

"Dipper."

"But... I am Dipper!" He cried his eyes closing tight. "I am!" His shoulders were shaking now as he opened his eyes to look at his shaking hands. "Arn't I?"

Mabel scooted over to him on her knees and took his hands into hers. "Yeah. You're Dipper. I can feel it."

Dipper stared at her for a moment. "Mabel-

"Though on the other hand you are also an all powerful Dream Demon now." She said with an exaggerated voice. "I guess technically speaking you can be whoever or whatever you wanna be!"

"What?" Dipper blinked at her confused. "Dream demon?"

Mabel looked equally confused. "That's what you called yourself earlier..."

"Oh..." Dipper sighed recalling that he had during that period where he'd forgotten himself. When he'd woken that morning he knew exactly what he was. He knew what had happened to himself and Bill. That he wasn't human anymore. No... he was a demon. A dream demon... with the conciseness of a 13 year old boy. He was so shell shocked by it all he couldn't even laugh it off. How was he going to explain this to Grunkel Stan, to his parents? He blinked looking to his sister. "Wait... You know... that I'm a demon? I don't get it... why aren't you freaking out?"

"Whoa." Mabel said waving her hands around. "I'm majorly flipping my wig inside, but..." She settled placing her hands back on top of his. She looked away from him for a moment before giving him one of the most sincere looks he'd ever seen on her face. "I know that no matter how freaked out I am right now... you're probably twice- no a thousand times more freaked out."

"When did you..."

"Well... I kinda thought... from the beginning... that you weren't exactly normal Dipper..." Mabel confessed. "I was hoping that we could turn you back to normal. I'm still hoping... but... even if we can't it doesn't change anything. You're still you, you're still my brother. No matter what. I can't just abandon you." Then she elbowed him. "Plus, the whole summoning circle and deal thing was a big clue."

Dipper sniffled and lifted his arm rubbing his eyes into his white dress shirt trying to stop an onslaught of tears. "I- I- Thank you Mabel!" He sobbed. He hadn't known how scared he'd been till that moment. Hearing that Mabel had his back lifted a heavy pressure off of his heart, and he just couldn't hide his relief.

Mabel stood up and pulled him into a bear hug. "I got your back bro." She said quietly and Dipper could only cry harder in response.

After a long while Dipper dried his eyes and made a face as he noticed the snot on his sleeve. "Ew.." He whined.

"You better?" Mabel asked.

Dipper nodded giving his shirt a sad look. "Mabel... I don't think that this can be fixed. I think... I'm stuck like this..." He sighed. "I'm sorry."

"Why are you apologizing to me?" Mabel asked. "I... had a feeling... the moment you started calling yourself a demon that this whole thing might be... ya know... permanent. That's why... I helped you today. Because I know things are going to be really hard for us both soon." Mabel's bottom lip trembled. "I know you're a little different, but you're still Dipper. Your still my little brother! Still, I'm scared... are you going to stop wanting to be around me? I am just a human after all. Are you going to leave to be all demon-y? To go hang out with some kind of demon click?" Mabel was crying now.

"Uh..." Dipper stared at her a bit startled by her train of thought, then he began to laugh, because that's exactly the way she always though. "Mabel! You're amazing you know that?"

Mabel sniffled. "Of corse, I know that."

Dipper gave her a hug. "I'm not going anywhere."

Mable honked into a glittery handkerchief. "'Kay."

Author's Notes:

Man... I don't really know if I'll be adding anything else to this story... it was just kind of an experiment to begin with anyway...? And because of the nature of the Transcendence AU this story could probably go on indefinitely... so maybe I'll continue... but as of right now... I'm going to put this story to a halt...

Thank you for reading this much of it... sorry if this last chapter is lacking... I kind of ran out of inspiration to be honest...