Prologue:

"Ah!" Dipper screamed. "You're not real!"

For once in his life, paranoia had been to his benefit. The initial excitement that Wendy had finally returned his full affections had blinded him, but only for a moment; Wendy did not wink. Wendy, or rather this recreation of Wendy, did not move at this accusation. Her face, at first lively and loving, slowly drained itself of energy, and finally into a sigh. She stood up and stretched. Dipper squinted in cautious confusion, before he jumped back, as her visage morphed before him, clothes and flesh as one, seemingly slithering back inside a skin. Then a glow seemed to emanate, and it grew brighter, until Dipper could not perceive this phantom under the light. With a jittering suddenness, the glowing ceased, and Dipper could see what had become of "Wendy." Gone was the copy, and a new woman was there, one he did not recognize. It was the figure of an older woman, probably in her mid 30s, covered entirely below her neck by a robe of passionate red, with no sight of her arms or legs. The face, the only human feature of whatever this was, had a kind, worldly smile on its face, not unlike a teacher, or a nurse. It had coal black hair, angelically white skin, and an element of motherly affection in its apple green eyes, which stared back at Dipper warmly; he returned only a look of distress and perplexity.

"Well," it said gently, smiling as if embarrassed, "You caught me!" This ghost seemed entirely unconcerned about having being discovered. "That wasn't really Wendy. She's off vandalizing that silly school like she dreamed of every class, and having quite a good time too. Apart from that, it was pretty much her a while back, or rather, your ideal version of her."

"No, no it wasn't!" yelled Dipper defiantly. "That wasn't Wendy! That can never be Wendy! It was just a made up fantasy, like…whoever you are!"

The illusion snickered childishly. "Your fantasy! Oh trust me, there are plenty of things you fantasize about with Wendy that I'm somewhat thankful we didn't get around to."

Dipper froze, before starting to burble an attempted defence. His face fried under the heat of his embarrassed blushing.

"Ha! Relax," she said reassuringly. "Your dreams are pretty PG for a boy who's nearly 13. They're rather cute, honestly."

"You can read my mind?" asked Dipper suspiciously.

"No, but I can read your heart."

"Who are you?"

She looked around the world she was surrounded by, like one would look at their child. "I'm the caretaker of Mabel's fantasy world, but you can call me Eve. I'm always here, and I'll always show up whenever you feel down to make you feel better. It's my mission to give you whatever your deepest dreams and desires may be."

"Well thanks, but I already know what my deepest desire is," Dipper pointed accusingly. "Getting Mabel to leave this stupid place, and stopping Bill!"

Eve shook her head slowly, with a smile still locked on her face. "Oh Dipper, don't think you can convince me so easily. You can't lie to me. I know absolutely everything about what you want, and what's more important, I know what you want in your bleakest moments. You want to stop Bill, sure, but there are deeper reasons for it. You think you're doing all this out of altruism? I can see into your heart Dipper Pines, and I know that is not the case."

Dipper stared in anxious confusion. What did it mean? What else was telling him to save the world, other than it just being right? Was it a trick? He looked around nervously, fearing a surprise attack.

"Relax, Dipper," said Eve, in a voice so soothing it was probably the only tone that could have stopped him sprinting out of this place. "The last thing I want to do is hurt you. Indeed, I literally cannot hurt you; pleasure is the only thing this Bubble was made for. With me, you can only get what you want. How many times in your life have you wished for a moment like this? To hold in your palm the chance to do anything you want, get anything you want, be anything you want?"

Dipper shook his head. "Look, whoever you are, Eve, Wendy, whatever, you can spare the sales pitch. I'm leaving, and my sister's coming too!"

Eve registered no concern on her face, still acting like the solemn mother. "Dipper Pines, if there's anything that's true about you, it's that you always want to get to the bottom of things, right?"

Dipper was worried that this "Eve" knew so much of his personal motivations, but he gave a thoughtful nod.

"And you say there is no way that you could possibly fall for all this temptation?"

"You got that right!"

She walked up to him, and leant over, now eye-to-eye. "Let's make a little wager, alright? You come with me, and I show all the things that you crave for, right down to your deepest desire of all. If you refuse them all, I will cease to function, and will let your sister go. The best part? If you fail, then you still get everything you ever want."

Dipper was stunned by the offer, and could barely process it.

"Look," she said, in a human, earthly tone Dipper assumed would be foreign to her, "I'm only doing my job here. I'm not Bill Cipher's minion, here to trick you and destroy you. My job is to make you happy, and do whatever I can to make you a better, stronger version of yourself. You can walk away right now, and try to get your sister another way, but I know some things about you Dipper Pines, and I know you love to be challenged."

Dipper entered intense mental combat between the two competing arguments. On one side was his reason, that he had to leave this place immediately, and on the other was his desire, to know what he truly wanted most of all. And then came the thing that tipped the balance; arrogance. Arrogance told him that, having already rejected temptation beforehand, he was a lock to survive whatever nonsense the Bubble threw at him next. Not to mention, he was only tricked into buying that copy of Wendy, and now he'd know it was all a fake. He liked these odds.

Dipper smiled overconfidently. "So I've just got to walk around a little bit, and you let Mabel go? Alright, let's see what you've got."

Eve smiled thankfully. "Oh Dipper, you've made the best decision of your life."

She turned and walked down the creek. Dipper followed in confusion, wondering where she was going. He looked beyond her, and could see an uncharacteristic fog in the distance, which devoured everything before it. He was going in that? Eve stopped at the precipice, and gave a playful point of the head, a disarming enough response to encourage Dipper to walk into the mist. He reluctantly entered this ether.

"I'll be right beside you all the way, Dipper," she assured him. "You deserve that much."

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