Gaaah! I need to stop starting new fanfictions!

Welcome to 'Fallen Dream' everybody! This probably won't be updated as frequently as my Skulduggery Pleasant fic until said fic is finished, so don't hate me if there's a sudden lack of updates here. I ain't gonna bother doing a disclaimer, because only an idiot would accuse me of claiming that I own Gravity Falls on a website dedicated to fanfiction. Although I do own Alter. But other than that, I don't own anything else.

Enjoy!

~hrhowling

Chapter 1 – It's Over

Stanford Pines couldn't believe it.

It was over.

Bill Cipher; triangular, cane-wielding, one-eyed, brick-patterned, top-hat-wearing, conniving, sociopathic dream demon; was gone. Defeated, powerless, his plans null and void. The world was safe once more.

And all it had taken was another dream demon. True, she'd been somewhat nuts herself, but it was a different kind of crazy compared to Cipher's. More of a playful, curious and childish insanity; one that was insightful, prone to sporadic ideas and somewhat kinder with a strong belief in redemption. Stanford had been pretty damn lucky to be presented with her on his first attempt at a summoning; there were so many dream demons out there, the chances of meeting her first were less than one in a million. Not only had she been reliable, but she'd been powerful, too. Yep, Stanford had gotten lucky on this one.

"G-g…" Bill Cipher stuttered dumbly, the priceless look of confusion and hopelessness in his eye being enough to bring a triumphant smirk onto Stanford's face.

"It's over, Cipher," Stanford announced. "You've lost."

The nutcase didn't respond; simply gripping large tufts of the grass beneath him as his form shook violently. This wasn't happening…

Satisfied with the results, Stanford turned to leave.

Only for a familiar set of alternating eyes to materialise in front of him.

"What do you want?" Stanford asked irritably. The demon had won, she could leave now. Why wasn't she going?

"You may or may not have forgotten your end of the deal," the white apparition said simply, no emotion showing in her eyes.

Stanford's shoulders sagged. Of course. Just like Cipher; Alter was bound by deals. Deals she didn't forget. Deals that she made sure all parties upheld.

"I know you don't like it," Alter continued, "but it's either that, or I don't uphold my end of the deal. Fail to meet my requirements, and you have to deal with Bill Cipher all. Over. Again. And this time, I won't be helping you."

Stanford winced. He really didn't want to suffer that consequence. "Why couldn't you have destroyed him and be done with it?" he protested. "You told me that that's what usually happens when a Challenge is initiated between dream demons."

Alter shrugged nonchalantly. "I want to be entertained. And watching people grow, change and develop into something more complex than what they originally were is something that entertains me. Besides; the only reason the losers of Challenges are normally destroyed is because the winners are too boring and unimaginative to come up with anything better to do with the husk. According to those almighty toffs; a defeated dream demon doesn't make a very interesting pet. They're usually quite miserable and dampen the mood at a party."

Sighing, Stanford rubbed his forehead impatiently. Alter had won, there was no point arguing with her. She was really stubborn when she wanted to be, and it probably wouldn't do to let her grow bored. Apparently, if she got bored, she'd daydream – or as close to it as she could get seeing as how she resided in a world of dreams – and her imagination would run wild and wind up affecting the physical plane.

"Okay, okay," he consented, looking back up at the white dream demon in annoyance. "But only until the end of the summer; then he's on his own. That's the deal."

A delighted; but thankfully not toothy; smile met Alter's long face. "Wonderful!" she chirped. "Of course, you can always keep him if you wind up having second thoughts…"

"Not happening. End of the summer, and then I don't want anything more to do with him. Capiche?"

"Alright; capiche. Now go on, take him home and get some ice on his head or something." Alter took a moment to look at the defeated dream demon. "I think I might have hit him a little too hard."

A cursory glance told Stanford that Alter was right to presume so. Cipher was on his knees and trembling so violently that it wouldn't have been much of a surprise if he'd started a small earthquake there and then. His eye was wide; the pupil a mere pinprick in its surface; but lacking any sort of tangible emotion. An iron grip still held tight onto the grass beneath him.

"You okay, Cipher?" Alter asked; genuine concern in her voice.

That was all it took for Bill to snap.

"Give it back!" he screeched; mad rage filling his eye as he suddenly rose to his feet, only for his lower right leg to twist and buckle beneath him at a nasty-looking angle. It didn't stop him from shrieking at Alter in outrage. "Give it back, you… you… you cheating little-!"

"Hey, I won fair and square, Triangles," Alter said defensively; raising a clawed hand to emphasize her point and firmly swiping Bill over the back of the head with her long tail. "You should be thanking me for not simply decimating your near-empty husk instead of letting you live to insult me the way you are now. And that I'm getting Six-Finger here to look after you for a while."

Heedless of any sound argument Alter used to try and quell his anger, Bill continued to scream profanity at the greater demon and demand that she gave him back his power 'right this instant'. He went on for precisely twelve minutes, four point three-two seconds (yes, Stanford timed him. For research!); spewing language so colourful that if Stanley had been present, even he'd have cringed. Bill's rant wasn't even restricted to English, either. Multiple languages poured forth into his words, including Pig Latin, Greek and some sort of gibberish that McGuckett was often caught mumbling.

When Bill was finally out of breath, everything about him sagged, and he slumped over, gasping for breath. He was spent of everything now; his power, his rage, and his ability to expel that rage. Now he just looked pathetic.

"You done, Cipher?" Alter deadpanned.

A hiccup-like, choking sound was the only response she got as Bill curled in on himself and tried to make himself smaller. His actions confused Stanford. What was he doing? Was he trying to go back into the Mindscape? Had Alter inexplicably double-crossed him?

"Well, I'd best be going," Alter announced, seemingly unaware of Cipher's actions. "I have some new territory to explore." She gave her wings an experimental flap to test the air, and she liked what she got. Then she returned her attention to Bill and Stanford. "Look after him for me, 'kay? You don't have to like him, but keep him alive at the very least."

Stanford nodded silently, and Alter immediately took off to the skies, the fierce beats of her wings making noise but not disturbing anything in reality.

"Remember!" she yelled over her shoulder. "Reality is painful. Imagination and dreams are an escape. You can build anyone out of someone! Bye!" And with that, she disappeared into the Mindscape, leaving Stanford to deal with Cipher. The psychopath was now rocking back and forth, muttering unintelligibly.

"Alright, Cipher," Stanford grunted apathetically. "Come on; on your feet."

Bill didn't move from his hunched position on the ground, but lifted his head to look up at Stanford with uncharacteristic fear in his eye. "Huh..?" he mumbled vacantly.

"If you believe I'll be carrying you, then think again, nutcase."

The defeated entity stared at him blankly, but a stern look from Stanford prompted him to haul himself to his feet. The odd angle of his leg suddenly increased with a sickening noise that sounded like a mix between a squelch and a snap, making Stanford feel understandably sick. Immediately, Bill screamed in agony, the high-pitched sound splitting the air as he fell to the floor, twisting his leg even more.

"Holy…" Stanford breathed. "You sure can scream."

Bill didn't formulate a comprehensible reply, because much to Stanford's surprise, he burst into tears and started wailing pitifully. "It hurts!" he sobbed. "And it's not hilarious anymore! Please, I want it to go away!"

Unwelcome pity tugged at Stanford's chest as Cipher continued to bawl uncontrollably; his pained ramblings mainly focusing on how pain wasn't as funny as he'd thought. The crazy demon was so wrapped up in it that he didn't notice Stanford walking up to him and lowering himself to his knees. Clearly, his leg was broken very badly, and was likely going to cause permanent damage if it wasn't looked at soon.

"Fine," Stanford grumbled. "I'll carry you."

Carefully, he took a hold of Bill's leg and straightened it out as well as he could. Understandably, this made the demon cry harder as the pain increased.

"If I don't straighten it out now, it won't heal correctly and it will never top hurting," Stanford threatened when Bill tried to scramble away. "So do yourself a favour and hold still."

Pathetic, hiccupping sobs still escaped Bill, but he complied and allowed Stanford to straighten his leg out and hold it still with the help of a makeshift splint fashioned from sturdy sapling branches and some strips of bark. There was no way to tell if the damage was a clean break or something worse. Once he was done, he carefully hooked an arm underneath Bill's legs; careful not to agitate the broken one any more than was necessary; and slipped the other around his back, lifting him up bridal style.

"Come on, you little twerp," Stanford muttered. "Let's get you home."

When the light show faded, Stanley was left with the bitter taste of anxiety in his mouth. Who'd won the Challenge? If Alter had won, then was she staying true to her word? Was Stanford alright? These questions and many more stampeded through his mind as he fretted over the battle's outcome. Eventually, he came to the conclusion that whatever had happened; he wouldn't be any help if he was too nervous to think. Therefore, he chose to sit in front of the TV with a can of Pitt Cola in his hand.

Half an hour later, the sound knocking at the door caught his attention.

"Stanford?" he called out, hoping that it was indeed his twin brother. "Are you alright?" Quickly, he got up and headed for the door, where he could see the blurred form of Stanford through the window. He appeared to be carrying something in his arms.

"I'm fine," Stanford grumbled from the other side of the door. "Mind opening the door? I've got my hands full."

Immediately, Stanley complied and allowed Stanford to sidle in with the bundle he had wrapped in his coat. He was visibly irritated, if the lines on his forehead were any indication.

"What've you got there, Ford?" Stanley enquired as he closed the door.

"Alter's new pet," Stanford grumbled. "Lee, meet Bill Cipher."

Begrudgingly, Stanford pulled away the fabric of his coat to reveal the small, shaking young boy beneath it. Long, yellow-gold hair flopped over his left eye; and the hair on the crown of his head was a glossy black colour. His visible eye was baby blue in colour and glistening with recently shed tears that had seeped into the fabric of… what was he wearing? Some sort of flowy, silky-looking suit jacket that shimmered gold and black dress pants made of the same material. Whatever it was, it looked ridiculous.

"I expected a moody triangle," Stanley said, slightly confused. "Not a whiny-looking kid. That whacko demon seriously expects us to look after him?"

Stanford said nothing, and the shivering Bill Cipher whimpered softly, burying his face into the older man's chest. "Still hurts," he whined. "Still ain't funny."

"What's he going on about?" Stanley questioned.

"His leg's broken pretty badly," Stanford explained. "I straightened it out, but he's going to need to go to the hospital to get it x-rayed."

"Great, we have a cripple on our hands. I'm just glad he'll be gone by the end of the summer-. Oh… Oh, that's gonna be a problem."

"What?"

"Dipper and Mabel are staying this summer."

"Oh. That is going to be a problem."