Gravity Falls had been Dipper's home the moment he stepped off that bus for his first summer in that sleepy town in Road Kill County, Oregon. The town made itself clear that it was unkind to strangers and would literally eat them alive, but Dipper was no stranger. He'd always loved the strange and supernatural. It felt like a part of his blood. For a kid that had once spent most of his days in his room glued to a book or game console, he found he had a much easier time falling asleep under the stars than he thought he ever could outdoors.

Even when Dipper began his supposed "life of crime", he never felt truly worried about what would happen to him. Sure, the fears would flash in his mind during the actual job, but his friends and family assured he'd never be left alone. The Manitaurs promised to punch the throats of any foes that dared bind him. Stan always bragged that he had his Columbian buddies on speed dial in case they needed to plan another break out. And Mabel always did whatever she could to be right there next to him, even if she couldn't physically be there. He felt safe in Gravity Falls not despite the monsters and things that went bump in the night, but because of them. They'd all gone through rough tides together, and it had forged a bond between man and monster.

Yet somehow whenever Bill showed his face, it felt like the town was closing in on him. The man reminded him that there was still so much he didn't know. He made him feel like he was still a twelve year old boy that could get swallowed up by the trees all over again from one wrong step. That it didn't matter who he thought was around him, that he was truly alone. That there was no one he could trust. He was only getting radio silence from Mabel, and the Great Uncle he thought he was reuniting with after all this time seemed to be the one turning him in. The look in Bill's eye as he approached made Dipper feel like he was dealing with a power greater than he could ever hope to live to face.

…And yet it wasn't directed at him.

"Stanford Pines. Well, well well… Quite the shocker to see you around these parts. So nice to get your call. I almost thought you'd forgotten all about me!" Bill teased as he strutted up toward the elder Pines.

The rest of the officers gave Bill funny looks as he approached the silver haired gentleman. When you were the oddball in an office that included officers that regularly tested police equipment to see how buzzed you could be on the inside and out as well as having a police Instagram where they showed off pictures of crime scenes before even the press got them, you knew you were certainly the strangest of the strange. And it was a title Bill held proudly. In a town where they got calls about anything from giant bats to peoples' cheese coming to life and eating rats in the night, being able to surprise them was a much more satisfying badge of honor than the piece of tin he wore on his uniform.

Bill reached out to adjust Stanford's trench coat, but the man pushed him back before he could get too close.

"I wish I could forget about you, William. But you've made it clear that you don't want to remain ancient history." Ford spat out with bitterness in his voice. He'd never forget what Bill had done. What he had done. And he'd go to the ends of the Earth to correct his mistake.

Bill let out a chuckle. "Awe, Fordsy- why you got to be so formal? I've told you before. Call me Bill!"

With a quick motion, he went to flick Ford's big red nose. It earned him a literal slap on the wrist, which Bill only seemed to laugh off.

"Tisk, Tisk. I thought you were smarter than that, Poindexter. I can totally nail you for assaulting an officer for that." Bill insisted waving his hand.

Ford rolled his eyes. "You provoked it. Besides- You know very well I didn't call you here for any games."

Dipper gulped as he found a six fingered hand placed on his shoulder. He still had no idea what game either Bill or Ford were playing. But both of their attention was now aimed on him.

"We're settling this tonight." Stanford insisted. "The abnormal activity in the area, even more so than usual for Gravity Falls. I can't let it continue. No matter what the source."

"Great Uncle Ford…" Dipper began, although he wasn't even sure how to begin explaining it. All of Dipper's close friends and family knew about his activities. And perhaps if Ford had come to him first, he would have explained it to him too. Not everything in Gravity Falls needed to be contained. Some of it needed to be protected.

But Ford shook his head. "I wish I was able to be here sooner… but I had to be sure. I had to collect the evidence for myself."

Dipper could sense the hostility coming off of Ford. He found it hard to catch his own breath. If he did leave a trail behind on any of the crime scenes, this was the man that would ensure the police had all the hard evidence they needed. Had Ford been watching and tailing him for a while now? He was supposed to be family. Why didn't he just confront him with it first?

But with Dipper's anxiety, a twinge of guilt came over Ford. "I'm sorry it had to come to this. I didn't want to bring the fight here." But his gaze turned from Dipper to Bill. "But he's the one that started it."

Bill crossed his arms. Of course he expected as much. "Really? 'He's the one that started it.'" Bill said doing a grumpy low impression of Ford that sounded more like Stan coming from his off-putting voice. "Who's the child now, Sixer?"

"Cut the games! I know what events you've set into motion! And I won't let you play your games! Especially not here!" Stanford yelled out extending a finger at Bill.

Dipper's gaze shifted between the two of them, finally releasing the breath he was holding onto. They certainly seemed to be sizing each other up from the beginning. Was the focus here really not on him then?

"So… why exactly did you call everyone here then?" Dipper asked his great uncle skeptically. He tried to let his heart rate decrease, but he knew he wasn't out of hot water just yet. Whatever was happening here had to be serious.

"I'd like to know what all this hullabaloo is about too." A voice spoke up from behind. Sheriff Blubs stepped forward, scratching his head perplexed.

"We got a call in about a potential burglary? And yet you go around finger pointing?" Blubs asked confused.

"Yeah!" A young voice that seemed like it came from a rookie. But Deputy Durland would simply eternally appear to just be that green to the job. "No matter how weird Pines is, that doesn't give you any right to go picking on him!"

"Uh… I'm not that weird." Dipper admitted in his defense. Or at least, not compared to the rest of the things in this town.

The deputy shook his head. "No, not you. The other Pines…"

"Me?" Ford questioned, confused how it made sense in the context of the sentence. Then again, the young man did seemed to not be all there.

Sheriff Blubs chuckled. "Huh, I guess there are a lot of Pines out tonight. Some kind of family reunion of yours, Officer Pines?" He said patting Bill on the back.

"WHAT?!" Dipper exclaimed, praying this was some sort of elaborate joke.

"You kept my name?!" Stanford shouted out with a mix of rage and confusion.

Bill let out a chuckle, enjoying seeing Dipper's reaction so much more the second time. And Fordsy's outburst was just icing on the cake as well.

"Why not? Lot of useful benefits! Citizenship, insurance, and man do you have a great credit score state side, Sixer! I owe my sweet set of wheels to you!" Bill exclaimed as he put his arm around Ford. The man tried to shrug him off, feeling extremely uncomfortable with his constant attempts at contact.

Meanwhile Blubs punched the air. "Ha! Knew it! Pay up!" Blubs declared as he collected a twenty dollar bill from one of the officers in the back for his little office bet.

"Darn… I was so close…" Durland mumbled disappointed.

Blubs shook his head. "Awe, don't worry about it too much. You were just a bit too specific. You just got to play it simple- 'Older men', and now I'm $20 richer! A bearded brunet body builder with tattoos and an eye condition is a good guess and all, but you got to go with what's most likely to be true, not what you want to be."

"But they would look so perfect together…" Durland admitted sadly.

Blubs put his hand on Durland's chest. "You romantic you…" Blubs turned to Bill. "Pines! You really should take his suggestion! Durland is a wonderful matchmaker."

Bill groaned at all this talk of office bets. Especially when none of them knew the full story. "If I need a hook up from hell, I've already got enough screw balls on the list."

Dipper was still shell shock as he glanced between his Great Uncle and Bill. "What… What happened between you two?!" He wondered wanting to pull his hair out here and now.

"That's not important right now." Ford grumbled trying to shove Bill off him once again. "What is important is what Bill has been doing in Gravity Falls this past few months."

Bill let go of Ford and shrugged. "What? I'm just earning an honest living! More than I can say for the rest of our family…"

Dipper stumbled uncomfortably. Did he really have to bring that up just to get back at Ford? But Ford seemed way too irritated at Bill to consider what he really meant.

"Don't you talk about Stanley like that! And it's not our family! After what you did, I thought you proudly bore the name Cipher." Ford spat out like it was a curse word.

Bill only shrugged. "Different names for different occasions… Believe me, Cipher's definitely the most fitting one, but Pines? There's still a certain sweetness to it. Remember when I was your little Billy Pines-"

The cracking of bones that pierced the air managed to shut Bill up for once. Ford's fist swiftly connected with the smug cop's nose, leaving a trickle of blood over his knuckles. If there was one good thing that came out of his father's mandatory boxing lessons, it was that Ford still remembered how to throw a mean left hook.

"Don't… you… EVER use that name again." Ford panted.

Dipper gulped, never having seen his Great Uncle so stirred up before. No wonder Bill seemed to be good at messing with him. It seems like he had a lot of practice with Ford. Yet the punch did seem to shake up Bill as well, and not for the physical blow dealt either.

"Yeah… I get the message." Bill mumbled quietly as he wiped the blood off his face. So Sixer was really still set in stone on that matter, huh? Bill turned to his fellow officers. He didn't want to pull this card, but Ford was really testing him now. "Alright, a broken nose counts as assaulting an officer, right?"

One of the officers behind him nodded. "Definitely a few years of jail time." The one that paid up the bet replied. The rest of them were enjoying the drama too much.

Bill wiped the small amount of blood on his hands off on his pants and looked toward Stanford with a glare. "So, tell me Sixer- you didn't call us all up because you wanted to see the inside Gravity Falls Maximum Security Prison for yourself. Potential burglary? You wouldn't have gotten half as many cops here if it weren't for the promise of free donuts. You knew where I was, and you wanted me here. State the rules of your little game, IQ so I can turn them on its head."

Ford took an old fashion handkerchief out of one of his trench coat pockets to wipe the blood off his knuckles. Jail time or not, it was worth it. Bill loved trashing every rule and convention he could get his hands on, but he crossed a line there. After what happened in Egypt… No. He couldn't let his mind go back there. He couldn't think of Bill in the same way anymore. He was a monster now. And what better place for a monster hunt than Gravity Falls, Oregon?

"I haven't just been hunting you down, Bill. I've been researching you. And I believe I have something you want." Ford insisted. Turning behind him he opened the door to the warehouse.

What was once filled with old Gideon Gleeful merchandise was now looking like a scene from a spy thriller. Metal panels lined every inch of the warehouse, set to deploy all kinds of nasty surprises for those that ventured in. Trip lasers, pressure traps, dart cannons ready to fire- even a few magical defenses. Dipper recognized some of the runes on the wall. It would prevent some basic magical artifacts from working from mystic amulets to shrinking and growing crystals. This wasn't a trap to catch a common criminal. It was for someone with magical knowledge. Someone like him. And yet at the center of all of this in plain sight was the bait that Ford left.

"Uh, Fordsy? I don't know what kinds of kinky things you think I'm into, but a knocked out tied up broad in the middle of some kind of death trap is not my idea of a wild and crazy Saturday night. Maybe on a Thursday…" Bill admitted as he sized up the scene.

Dipper's eyes widened as he looked at the center of the trap. "That's not just anyone, that's Mabel!" Dipper shouted worried.

He didn't have to ask what she was doing there. She was supposed to scout ahead. She probably crawled in here to investigate and got herself caught up by whatever this trap was. And while his sister was competent, they had absolutely no preparation time to face what Ford had whipped up.

"Ford! Get her down from there!" Dipper immediately demanded.

"Yes, of course…" Ford said turning to a tile on the wall and removing it. Ford wasn't too happy about doing this in front of Bill, but he wasn't going to leave Mabel up there either.

Keeping his back to the rest of the officers who were making their way into the warehouse, he began keying in a long string of code. The net holding Mabel seemed to be on a track whirred from the center of the room toward where the entering party was. The net then lowered closer to the ground, dropping its prisoner in front of the cops and Pines. Either the warehouse used to be a factory at some point, or Ford had been making extensive modifications. How long had he been planning this for?

"Well, at least I know it works…" Ford mumbled as he leaned over toward the nets to set Mabel free. "She should be out cold for about an hour, but there shouldn't be any negative side effects."

Dipper quickly approached as well to make sure his sister was alright. Pulling all the netting off her, he immediately went to her wrist to check her heart rate. A little on the slow side for her, but judging by the rise and fall of her chest, there didn't seem to be any impaired breathing. Nothing that pointed to a concussion either. So far, it looked like she was just out cold. Dipper let out a sigh of relief as he tried to prop his sister up in a more comfortable position against the wall.

A few of the tranquilizer darts were sticking out of the back of a blue sweater with a smiling red fish on it. Dipper began to pluck the darts out, but they were pretty deep in there. The heavy knit should have helped to keep some of them off her, but they pierced her skin just the same. Plus, Mabel wasn't exactly some clumsy kid easily taken down. For one, she was a lot more flexible than he was. Out of the two of them, she was much more likely to last when thrown in a surprise trap like this. She joked that her sweaters acted as some kind of ninja weight training, and could easily shed her 'skin' like a snake if cornered. But the dart seemed to come at a high enough velocity to pierce through heavy clothing and fast acting if she wasn't quick to toss off her sweater to get rid of the tranquilizers. She didn't radio him back either. The warehouse might have blocked her signal, or it might have happened so quickly she didn't get a chance to fill Dipper in. Either way, it must have caught her by surprise if she was caught this quickly.

Dipper could see the twinge of pride on Ford's face. Mabel was probably 'small game' in his eyes, but just seeing that his elaborate trap worked so efficiently, without them even getting as much of a peep from outside was proof of his handy work. Dipper found himself glancing all around the warehouse for cracks and weaknesses. One of the windows high above them was probably where Mabel made her entrance. It looked easy to get in through, but they probably only led their quarry into a swift round of tranquilizers. Probably would have been safer to go through the front door. After all, there had to be some delay for Ford to enter the code. It looked pretty long with how many keys it took him to input, so lifting the fingerprints off each keystroke wouldn't be too helpful. Chances were, he may not have even used normal digits but instead some range of alchemical symbols or something of his own code. Thinking back to the security room puzzle in Stanford's bunker, just a simple little keypad wouldn't have disabled the entire trap either- just controlled a small piece of it. It might take a while to get the full run of this place before properly infiltrating it.

…Wait, what was he doing? He didn't need to break in! He didn't even know what Stanford thought was so valuable to protect with all this mess! Bringing Ford's ego down a peg or avenging Mabel was no excuse to bring down whatever this entire operation was!

Bill smirked as he could see the wheels in Dipper's head turning. Perhaps he'd be a useful asset in all of this. The kid was just as easy to manipulate as Sixer. Tug at his pride some, spin a sob story, bring up some of that obvious family drama going on, and boom- he wouldn't have to lift a finger to get what he wanted. Although… he probably should see what prize he was playing for first.

Bill's eye tried to focus in on what was in the little glass case of the center of the room. Some kind of tablet or carving? It was hard to make out with all the smoke and lasers in the way.

"Ugh, if you're going to try and dangle a carrot over my head, Poindexter, you got to bring the bait a little closer to that." Bill complained. Bill squinted and put his hand over his eye trying to get a better look. "What's that, a cave painting?"

Ford folded his hands behind his back as he turned toward his adversary. Now he had him. "Hieroglyphics. From Narmer's tomb." Ford answered calmly. But he knew the weight behind his words. Bill had unsettled him enough for tonight. It was Ford's turn to wipe that smug look off his face.

Something in Bill snapped at the mention of that location. "All that time… it was YOU?!"

Bill angrily punched a steel panel on the wall. It probably hurt him more than the structure, but a few red lights sounded. Ford quickly tried to settle the alerts, going to another different panel on the wall. But it was worth it. He had what he wanted. Bill was angry. And with any luck, much more likely to do something incredibly stupid.

"HOW MUCH MORE DO YOU PLAN ON TAKING FROM ME?!" Bill shouted with a look in his eye like he was ready to strangle Stanford with his bare hands.

Most people's eyes would go bloodshot with the rage Bill experienced. Yet instead, Bill's seemed to look a little jaundiced even. Was that a faint yellow glow in his eye Dipper spied? And his pupils… they weren't constricting from a rush of adrenaline. They were widening, yet not dilating. They looked like a misshapen straight line. Dipper had seen the signs enough times before. They were the look of a man possessed. The signs of a demon.

"Finally showing your true colors, Cipher?" Ford taunted. "It's incredible how you've been able to blend into the physical plane for so long. But you can never hide what you truly are from me."

Bill's hand traced over the scars of his right eye. Sometimes they felt like a sick joke from a lifetime ago. But it was times like these that the scratches felt as fresh as the day they were made. He could feel them pulsing. Screaming at him. They were begging him to make it stop. To let Stanford know how wrong he was. To tell him everything in hopes that he'd understand. That he'd be able to help. That he'd be able to make things right again.

No.

That was all stupid human thinking. Stanford Pines had made his feelings clear long ago. He'd never see him as anything more than a monster. A demon. It was much easier to fight him that way. There was no going back. And why would he want to? This was who Bill was now. Who he'd always been. Why bother trying to cling to a lie?

Deputy Durland tried to approach his colleague that seemed to be slowly going insane. Blubs shook his head, silently urging him not to get any closer, but the naïve deputy pressed on anyways. He didn't know much about this weird stuff going on, or the history between these two. All he saw was one of his rookies in a lot of pain.

"Are you going to be ok, buddy?" Durland asked in a meek voice as he put his hand on Bill's shoulder.

Bill flinched from the touch. Wha? Someone like that trying to comfort him? Man, he really must be losing it! He gave a light chuckle as he looked back up at Stanford and reassessed the situation. Oh man, had he been looking at this all wrong.

"Haha… why would I need to hide from you?" Bill remarked as the yellow began to fade from his eyes, and his pupils returned to a normal shape. "You can look directly at me, and you still wouldn't even begin to imagine what I am."

But Ford refused to let Bill get his second wind. "You're a beast. A demon. A monster in human clothing."

Bill scoffed. "Boring old words. Can't even begin to manage to do the job properly. They suit you well enough though. Tell me, how much have you told your new little apprentice there?"

Dipper hadn't been sure what to make of most of this conflict between the two of them. It didn't seem like he could fully trust either of them, but at least Ford was family. Even if he was distant, he couldn't believe that he'd try and manipulate him or toy with him like Bill did. But hiding things? That definitely sounded like Ford.

"Don't bring him into this…" Ford insisted. "I was just waiting for the right time-"

"So squat then!" Bill interrupted. "You like to horde all those 'secrets' to yourself, but you really don't get it, do you?"

Ford raised his eyebrow. Bill had to be bluffing. What was he playing at?

Bill gestured around him. "Was this your big ingenious plan? Nab something I want, and then put it on display in your death trap gallery? Bring your family to watch so they can praise you for succeeding over an enemy you didn't even tell them existed and get yourself a new sidekick? Turn me into the cops for breaking and entering once I'm all tied up in one of your little nets? What, were you planning to hand them a list of special instructions for containing a 'demon' like me? Can't imagine they'll spray holly water on me every hour or so or properly draw any fancy circles! Not that it would work or anything, even if they did listen to your stupid demands. Even assuming that all worked, getting me arrested for theft would get me, what? Five years tops? Then what Sixer? I wait it out and walk off to carry on with my supposed big plan to blow up the planet or whatever you think I'm doing. Let me know when you can get the charges for that to stick!"

Ford's gaze shifted between Dipper and the cops. They were all looking at him strangely. Any concern they had for Bill going crazy and strangling him had now shifted toward confusion at the mad scientist that whipped up an unnecessarily elaborate trap. And frankly, Dipper was wondering about some of the problems in Ford's plan as well.

"That wasn't the entire plan…" Ford insisted. "But what's your point?" Ford stammered as he adjusted his glasses.

Bill rubbed his temple annoyed that Ford was too prideful to own up to his mistake. "What, do I need to spell it out for you, Sixer? You spent too much time playing with your gizmos and trying to go on a monster hunt that you didn't think this one through! Maybe if you had run your crazy scheme by some friends or family, they'd have pointed out the flaws sooner. Oh wait, you're short on those now, aren't you?"

Ford clenched his fist. He knew Bill was trying to rile him up. And he knew exactly what buttons to press. Ford's mind began to reminisce between them: Stanley… Fiddleford… even Bill himself. All the mistakes he made and people he pushed away- could he really beat Bill alone? No, this was exactly how Bill wanted him to feel.

"It's simple, Bill." Ford said trying to stick with the original plan, despite all the holes he'd need to work out. "I have something you want. Try and retrieve it. I implore you to see what happens."

Bill shrugged. "Oh, I'll get everything that's coming to me. And not in one of those ironic 'Ack! I'm dying in a cruel and unusual way because I was a bad person and kicked puppies!' kind of coming to me either. I'd go into detail, but it's more fun to watch you imagine what I possibly could want."

Bill then glanced around the room. But besides the glass display case and the death traps, he wasn't seeing anything of interest.

"Now, where's those donuts you promised? They're the only reason any of us paid attention to a crackpot call like this." Bill insisted smacking his lips together. He didn't care if they were stale or poisoned, he just wanted to eat it right in front of Stanford's stupid face.

All of the cops began to grin and nod behind him, preferring the promise of pastries a lot more to the drama that was going on. Stanford rolled his eyes annoyed as he leaned down to another panel. He was hoping that his big reveal would impress the cops enough that they wouldn't remember why they came. Ford had even written up a big fancy speech that he didn't get a chance to use. But he still had the two boxes of variety donuts just in case all this did go over even the Gravity Falls PD's heads. Pulling them out of the hidden compartment, he reluctantly held them out for the cops.

Bill snatched one of the boxes out of Ford's hand and began passing it around to the other officers.

"Alright, we all did good work here today! Time for the spoils!" He said as he passed it around, although he was quick to slap the hand of anyone that got too close to the kind he wanted.

"Especially you kid- I know how you like your sprinkles." Bill said hanging the pink frosted donut on Deputy Durland's elongated nose. Maybe he'd keep the idiot around once things really started cooking.

After making his round, Bill took the remaining saved Boston Cream donut for himself, tossing the empty box behind him. It passed through a few lasers, searing holes in the box.

"I will admit. It's a cute trap you've got together. A professional even might have trouble with it." Bill said with his gaze falling on Dipper. Despite all this, Bill still had plans to swoop in and get his prize. If anything, just to rub it in IQ's wrinkled face.

"But you're not up against some mindless beast or some run of the mill demon. You're up against Bill Cipher. And your limited fleshy meat-sack can't even come close to keeping me from what I want." Bill bragged. Devouring his own donut in a few swift bites, he left a mess of cream and chocolate all over his gloves.

Most of the cops were too busy digging into the second round of donuts to notice Bill's manner of speech. But Dipper didn't need Bill's blatant admission to know that Bill looked down on all of them. He didn't know exactly what Bill was, but he knew he wasn't human. He doubted Ford would tell him the full story, but whatever Bill wanted, it couldn't be good. Maybe Dipper needed to help Ford fine tune his traps so someone like Bill wouldn't be able to squeeze through, or maybe he'd be capable of discerning Bill's true motives himself. Despite all of the conflict between Bill and Ford, not much had changed for Dipper. Bill was still a mystery that he planned on getting to the bottom of.

"Don't forget about me, Bill!" Dipper interjected. "I'll figure out what you're planning, and I'll put a stop to it!"

Bill chuckled as he momentarily reached into the fray of wrestling cops to pull out a powdered one. "No way I'm leaving you out of the equation, Pine Tree." He said as he shoved the donut in Dipper's mouth.

"Pine Tree?" Ford questioned quietly as he tried to weigh out the meaning behind the nickname in his head.

"If anything, I'd put more money on you figuring it out faster than Fordsy over here!" Bill admitted as he scuffed up Dipper's hair getting the powder, bits of cream and chocolate all over his chestnut locks. "But you're not going to stop me. If anything, you might want to join in on the party!"

Between Ford and Bill, it seemed like both sides of the equation were overly arrogant. Too much to take the thoughts of other people into account. They both thought they were smarter than everyone else. Only while Bill enjoyed manipulating people, Ford relied more on his inventions and intellect. Dipper on the other hand wasn't too prideful to reach out to people. Spitting the powdery mess out of his mouth, Dipper shot Bill a glare.

"Do you ever take things seriously?" Dipper wondered.

Bill shrugged. "Eh, serious is over-rated. What do you even have left in you? Another 'I'll get you and your little dog too' spiel?"

Dipper opened his mouth, but the words froze in his throat. Was there really was anything he could say that would get Bill to stop looking down on him? Probably not. But Ford managed to get him off his guard for a second, even if it did seem to backfire.

Dipper looked at the distant tablet under a glass display that was still hard to make out from here. For all they knew, it was a decoy and the real thing was elsewhere or didn't exist at all. Yet somehow, it was enough to set Bill off anyways.

"You don't have all the answers either, do you?" Dipper pointed out. "You talk a big game, but do you even know what you want? All this talk of planning… did you even think things through?"

Bill had a witty remarked planned, but let it sink beneath his lips. Kicking the spit up bits of powdered donut on the ground, Bill only let out another shrug.

"It's a flexible plan. But the end goal has always been the same. A party that never ends with a host that never dies. No more restrictions. No more laws. Not quite the doomsday I'm sure Sixer will pitch- much better than that." Bill admitted as he tried to flick some of the sugar off of his overly messy gloves.

"No… I can't imagine any of your parties being much fun for anyone but you." Dipper admitted quietly. Bill didn't paint himself as a hero, but he certainly seemed to believe that his path was the most 'fun' one. And he kept thinking that it was only a matter of time before others joined him. But at the rate he was going, he'd be walking alone. He'd stop this mess before it even began.

Author's Note: More and more I see this version of Bill diverging from cannon Bill in more ways than just backstory. Not sure exactly how he'll end up, but he's still more than enough of a jerk for Dipper to handle. I'm interested in hearing all of your thoughts on Bill and Ford's history! Let me know how you're enjoying things so far too!