"Grunkle Stan…I trust you."

Dipper narrowed his eyes in the darkness, his head still pounding from the day prior. Mabel's quiet voice still echoed in his mind, her teary face imprinted in his eyes as she broke the bond that he thought was unbreakable.

"I trust you."

Not him. Stan.

Dipper wasn't usually the one to hold grudges; in fact, he found them annoying and pointless. But the way Mabel was now acting as if nothing had happened was frustrating to say in the least. Someone who he would trust with his life never trusted him back as much as a man they had only met a few months ago.

Dipper sighed, tearing his gaze away from the dark ceiling to look at the stars. They calmed his racing heart a little, slowed his churning thoughts. He always had liked stars, ironically matching his namesake. He closed his eyes for a while, relishing in the sweet silence of the night. He wondered how big the universe was – after all, Grunkle Ford has been to many places he never knew existed. He reminded himself to ask his relative tomorrow, amongst all the other questions he had carefully written down for that moment.

Despite his sinking mood, he felt himself lighten up at the thought of finally meeting the author in person. Ford hadn't spoken much throughout the rest of the evening, but Dipper figured that it was because he was so tired. He had talked about this meeting over and over with Mabel –

And just as quickly as it began, his slightly more optimistic mood faded at the mention of his twin. Dipper looked away from the stars, twisting the hem of his shirt.

Mabel gave a small snort in her sleep, breaking the silence that Dipper was relaxing in. He glared over at her, hurt and betrayal still glistening from his eyes in the darkness. His sister wasn't even having trouble sleeping like him. Did she know what she had done? Does she realise how much she hurt Dipper?

Of course she does, Dipper thought guiltily, shifting in his bed. His sister knew him too well to know that (he hoped). But then, why hadn't she brung it up? Why wasn't she staying up, like Dipper, and thinking about what had happened?

The thoughts hurt Dipper's head, so he quickly tried to remove them. He stared up into the darkness again, eventually falling asleep to the steady ticking of the clock.

Dipper knew he was in the mindscape as soon as he opened his eyes. He cursed under his breath, kicking the greyscale ground. He hoped that the demon wouldn't show up as the time dragged on, but a loud shout echoed through the room from behind him.

"Pine Tree! Long time no see!"

Dipper jumped, stumbling backwards as Bill rose from the ground. The triangle was twisting his cane, which was ignited with blue fire.

"Get away from me Bill!" Dipper shouted. He aimed to sound braver, but he even knew that he failed miserably. Bill laughed, the ground trembling with the noise.

"That's funny! It almost sounded as if you were in control there! Ha!" Bill flipped in the air and hovered over to Dipper. The brunette tripped on his own feet, falling onto the ground as Bill floated above him. The demon was giving him a strange look, as if he was being x-rayed. Dipper felt his arms begin to tremble.

"I don't want anything to do with you!" Dipper yelled. Bill only laughed louder.

"Come on! I'm giving you the deal of a lifetime!"

"I don't want any deals Bill! You always trick me!" Dipper spat, getting to his feet.

"This is a good deal, I promise." Bill tried to persuade. "Just hear me out."

"No." Dipper replied firmly. Bill gave a chuckle, smacking his cane on Dipper's head.

"You didn't have a choice." The demon's eye turned red as his voice grew deeper. Dipper sprang backwards, but in the next second Bill's eye has turned back to normal.

"You see kid, like it or not I'm actually trying to help you here." Bill began. A chair suddenly appeared out of thin air and he sat on it. Dipper watched as the demon twirled his cane around in his fingers, leaning back. "You have potential. Lots of it."

"You just want to use me!" Dipper snapped. Despite his attitude, he felt a small part of his curiosity grow. Bill wasn't the type to admit things like that, and Dipper was left wondering what the demon actually wanted in the long run.

"Me?! No way!" Bill said, rolling his eye. "Have a little faith." Dipper glared at Bill, rolling his eyes. "Okay. I see where you are coming from. I guess possessing you isn't a nice introduction?"

Dipper didn't answer, glaring harder.

"Look, my point is that I want to teach you magic." Bill said, crossing his arms.

"No way!" Dipper cried out, shaking his head. "I know how this is going to end! You get me to do your dirty work, betray my family then leave me once you've done!"

"No way!" Bill replied unconvincingly.

"You just want me to put my family in danger so you can gain more power!" Dipper watched as Bill narrowed his eye. He floated back into the air, the chair bursting into flames under him.

"Why shouldn't you betray them?" He asked quietly. Dipper, caught off guard by this question, stuttered over his words.

"Because they care about me - they're family –" Bill interrupted with a loud cackle.

"You think they care?! Really?! Mabel sure has a strange way of showing it!"

The mindscape suddenly tilted and flicked, the surroundings changing before Dipper's eyes. They were now in his shared bedroom, staring down at Mabel's sleeping form.

"She doesn't even realise that she betrayed you Pine Tree." Bill said. "I can bet you anything that tomorrow she'll act like nothing happened, that it's okay." Dipper stared down at his sibling, and was shocked to find anger and hurt bubbling inside him. She looked so peaceful, and in that moment he couldn't help but agree with Bill, because he knew what would happen. He already did, but wanted to believe that she would change.

"But this isn't the first time, is it?" Bill asked. His triangle body began to project each time Mabel had put her needs before his, the times he dropped everything to make her smile. He watched as Mabel did the same thing over and over again, not even thanking Dipper for his sacrifice.

He turned his gaze back to the sleeping Mabel, his thoughts running wild.

"If I've learnt anything from watching your small life unfold it's that your twin over there isn't really standing by your side like you promised each other." Bill said, watching her beside him. Dipper shook his head suddenly.

"You want me to feel this way – Mabel does care about me! Of course she does! It's just sometimes she can be kinda…"

"Selfish? Arrogant? Meddling?" Bill suggested. Dipper didn't reply.

Their surroundings flickered like a dying television screen, and suddenly they were standing outside the shack, beside a lake.

Bill spoke again into the silence.

"The universe is a large place Pine Tree." He began. "A large place means larger betrayals to your own universe. You can either try and ignore it, keep your universe going and thriving, only to get it ripped away again. Or you could just eliminate the source altogether. Just know this: at the end of the day, no one will know the full impact of their actions on yourself." The demon gave a chuckle. "Oh, they'll try, they'll say they do - but when it comes to the crunch, they'd rather just bury their heads in the stars."

Dipper looked up at the stars in the sky, watching them fade as the sun began to rise.

"The answer is still no Bill." Dipper said, looking back down at his own reflection in the pond. He watched his features harden, eyes narrowing. "I don't trust you. You're just trying to manipulate me." He said. Bill shrugged beside him.

"Suit yourself. But you'll see." The world began to crumple around them, the ground shaking under their feet.

"They always do." Bill whispered, eye flashing red again.

The ground beneath Dipper caved in, and the teen yelled as he began falling through the air. Bill was gone.

Dipper gasped as he woke up, limbs flailing. Breathing heavily, he was pleased to find himself back in his room. He let out a sigh of relief, flopping back into his bed. It was then he noticed an untidy scrawl on the back of his hand that hadn't been their the night before. It was written in red pen.

Trust No One.