Author's note: This chapter is dedicated to dog1056 for cracking the riddle first.

Chapter 15

Will woke up with a splitting headache which was becoming accustomed to. His experience with the twins and their magic had happened several days ago but it was still fresh in his mind. When he had woken up the next morning from the experience, he had thought it had all been a dream: but Mabel told him otherwise. Will still hadn't believed it but then Dipper, Stan and Ford confirmed it. The twins (younger) even showed him some of their magic to confirm it. Bill went to work that day in shock but did his best to hid it.

This morning held the same anxiety as that day. The fear of the unknown, or in this case, the fear of the known, terrified Bill...Will.

After a week of just pretending that everything was perfect, Will finally broke.

He decided as he watched his kids sleep peacefully that they would move out of Gravity Falls. This town was far too dangerous, even with their powers. He just had to get them away from it all.

…

Will had come home late that night, around two in the morning. He did his normal routine of preparing for bed: changing into a white tank top and a pair of navy blue sweats, brushing his teeth, and finally checking on Mabel and Dipper before falling asleep on the downstairs couch. Only, when he went to their room, he found that Dipper was not in his bed.

Panic quickly set in. He quickly searched every room in the house and couldn't find him. He was about to go into Ford's 3 floor basement to look for him, but then he got a feeling to go check on the roof of the building.

Will quickly located the ladder to the roof and climbed up. Once on the roof, he looked around, looking for any sign of Dipper.

There he was, at the edge of the roof, his legs hanging over the side. It was clear that he had been crying because his eyes were completely red.

"Hey..." Will said, walking over to him. "What are you doing up here?"

"Just...just thinking." Dipper said, starting to stand up, "I'll get inside, Mabel's probably looking for me."

"It's nearly 3 in the morning." Will said, "your sister is fast asleep."

"I...I guess I just lost track of time." Dipper said, now on his feet.

"You can stay here for a little while longer." Will said, his parental feelings kicking in. "A few more minutes can't hurt."

Dipper sat back down and Will sat down next to him.

"How's school?" Will said, not really sure of how to start the conversation.

"Fine." Dipper said, "it always has been. Heading over to the high school for certain classes is tiring though."

"You're...you're taking geometry, right?"

"As well as biology, and human geography." Dipper said, "honestly the only middle school class I'm taking is P.E."

"You're really intelligent, aren't ya?"

"I guess so." Dipper said, "I know that Ford wanted to make me his apprentice. Ford says that, if I'd like to, I could become home schooled by him. it's...it's what me and Mabel argued about before...well before school started."

Will could tell that there was something more to it...something that Dipper refused to talk about. What had happened before the summer ended?

"I told her that I wasn't going to go back to school." Dipper said, "Ford had asked me to join him in exploring the world on a scientific exploration. I was planning on saying yes. I mean, I love Gravity Falls, and my sister and Stan. But I knew that there was something more out there."

"Why did you say no?" Will asked.

"Something...something happened." Dipper said, "I just figured out that I can't be away from Mabel: she has always been there for me and I always want to be there for her. She can be irritating sometimes, but I still love her. Though I would still have loved to see the world."

"Is Ford still planning on leaving?"

"I don't think so." Dipper shrugged, turning away from Will.

"Why not?" Will asked, trying to get a bit more information out of him as well as try to provide comfort.

"Well...because of you."

"Yeah, Ol' Fordsie doesn't seem to like me, right Pine Tree."

Dipper cringed at his nickname.

"I did it again, didn't I?" Will said.

"Did what?"

"Remember something I'm not supposed to." Will said.

"Uh...um...what would give you that idea?" Dipper stammered.

"I lost my memory, not my brains." Will said, his eye brow cocked, "Why do you panic when I call you Pine Tree?"

"Because...because that's…"Dipper tried to explain the situation without causing more damage. "Because that's what the old you called me."

"The old me?"

"See, when you had your accident," Dipper said, telling the truth but not all of it, "your personality changed: you changed. You are a better person now and the last thing I want is for you to go back to being…"

"Neglectful?"

"Yeah...that."

"Did I go by 'Bill' before the car crash?"

"Yeah."

"Bill Cipher." Will said, "Kinda catchy. But I'd prefer to be called Will Pines."

"You want to use my mom's last name as your own?" Dipper said, a bit shocked.

"Yeah why not." Will said. "I can't remember who I was before, and I honestly don't want to. And by the looks of things I was a horrible person. I don't want to be whatever man I was before. Might as well show it by changing my last name. As long as it's fine by you of course."

"I...I guess I'm ok with it." Dipper said. "And I'm sure Mabel will be alright with it. Ford on the other hand…"

"Yeah." Will said. "I must have done some pretty awful stuff to make your grunkle hate me as much as he does."

"You have no idea." Dipper said under his breath, inaudible to Will before gaining volume. "I'm...I'm going to go to bed."

"Wait, kid." Will said, grabbing his arm. "Look...I know I've hurt you. But I don't want you to avoid me anymore. Don't think I haven't noticed that you hate being around me. I want to make it up to you, whatever I did."

"You aren't the reason I come out here at night." Dipper said.

"You come out here every night?"

"Well...well yeah." Dipper said, "I just...I just can't sleep. But it's not because of you."

"Hm…"Will said, not really believing him. "Look...just...just go try to get some sleep."

The two of them went back into the shack and off to their separate rooms. Neither slept that night.

Will was too concerned about Dipper and his apparent insomnia.

Dipper's mind was too plagued with guilt to allow him to rest.