"Steven…"
"Oh, Steeeeeveeeeen…."
"Steven!"
Steven groaned, slowly opening his eyes to find a trio of silhouettes hanging above him. At first, he thought they were Dipper, Mabel, and Connie. Only for his vision to clear, leaving him shocked at who had actually found him instead.
"Wha–Garnet, Amethyst, Pearl?" he sat up, looking between the trio with wide eyes. "What are you guys doing here?" He glanced past them, almost just as caught off guard by the vast array of doors and stairways that surrounded them. The Gems, however, didn't seem to be anywhere near as disoriented by any of it.
"We came down to the shack and noticed that you and all your friends were gone," Garnet explained.
"And we found the journal, opened up to some sort of spell allowing you to enter someone else's mind," Pearl continued, frowning. "So we put the pieces together and assumed that you all decided to venture here into Stan's mind, for some reason."
"So we decided to roll on in here ourselves and join you guys for whatever weird and wacky thing you've got going on this time," Amethyst finished, smirking as she hung her arms behind her head. "Isn't that like, super cool of us?"
"Yeah, it is," Steven allowed himself a relieved smile. "I'm so glad you guys are here! Gideon's trying to get the code to Mr. Pines' safe, so he summoned this triangle guy named Bill to come in here and steal it for him. That's why we followed him in here, to try and stop him, but he-"
"Now, now, Steven," Pearl cut in, shaking her head. "What did we tell you about making up tall tales like that?"
"Yeah, seriously, a 'triangle guy'?" Amethyst scoffed. "Get real, dude."
"B-but it's true!" Steven protested. "We all saw him! He blasted Dipper's arm away! He made these two super colorful guys appear for Mabel! And he even said he knew Mom! We've gotta-"
He cut himself off when he felt Garnet rest a gentle hand on top of his head. "Steven," she began, calmly and firmly. "Even if what you saw was real, I'm sure it's not as serious as you're making it out to be. But… if it makes you feel better, then we can look around for the combination to that safe."
"We need to find everyone else too!" Steven insisted, anxiously hugging Garnet's leg. "I think we were all split up somehow. And this place is huge ; they could be lost in here–or worse! Please, you guys, we have to-"
"Ugh, geez, fine ," Amethyst groaned, annoyed. "If it'll get you to stop whining, then we'll keep an eye out for 'em."
Steven pouted as Amethyst passed him by, roughly bumping her shoulder against his. He was more than used to her brand of teasing, but something about this felt… different in a way he couldn't quite place. A way that he wasn't entirely sure he liked.
"Come along now, Steven," Pearl urged, already leading the way ahead. "We're not going to wait for you if you start to lag behind in here."
Now that was strange too. On every mission he'd ever been on with the Gems, they'd been nothing but patient with him, knowing he wasn't quite at the point where he could keep up with them yet. But now… all three of them were acting like they didn't want him here at all. Like he was a burden instead of an equal.
And the strangest part was Steven had no idea why .
Still, he hoped that by following their lead, he might find out. Just as he hoped he'd find that safe code along with his friends. After all, he'd never had any reason not to trust the Gems before, and as far as he was concerned, he wasn't about to start now. Even if they were acting a bit odd or off. Even if some small part of his mind was screaming silent warnings at him. Even if his instincts were begging him to see that something about this wasn't right .
Even if he knew he was already lost before they even began.
Dipper couldn't hold back a frustrated shout as he tried and failed to open a particularly stubborn door. This wasn't the first time this had happened since their search had started, to the point that he'd gone as far as kicking a few doors to try in vain to open them. It all added up to make what he viewed as an already aggravating mission even more so. But at least there was one bright side; at least he didn't have to wander the maze-like halls of the mind shack on his own.
Once again, Connie caught him off guard when she reached forward and opened the door for him. Dipper sighed, looking away as he let out a soft, exhausted, "Thanks."
"Don't mention it," Connie offered him a small, supportive smile. With that, they both turned to see the memory behind the door, showing Stan on a dinner date with Lazy Susan.
"So, uh… your eye is weird," Stan awkwardly began. "Let's… let's talk about that." Lazy Susan merely let out a loud laugh, and Stan halfheartedly joined in as his thoughts narrated over the memory. "Ugh, this is going terrible. I can't think of anything to say and she… she looks weird up close. Think of a way out!" Stan's "way out" came in the form of him standing up from the table and shouting, "Non-specific excuse!" And with that, he shoved everything off the table and took off for his car outside.
"Yeesh," Connie cringed, swiftly shutting the door.
"Ugh, this is taking forever ," Dipper said, thoroughly annoyed. "We must have opened at least a hundred doors by now, but we're still not any closer to finding that code or any of the others."
"You're right," Connie agreed. "But there really is no other way to go about doing this. All we can do is keep going and hope that we stumble across that code before Bill does."
"Right…" Dipper sighed as he followed after her. It wasn't long before he stopped short, however, as they passed by a door simply labeled: "Dipper Memories". "Whoa, hey, Connie, check it out! Memories about me!"
Connie frowned as she watched him reach for the doorknob. "I don't know if that's such a good idea," she said, nodding to the "Keep Out" sign on the door.
"Listen, I just want to know what the old guy really thinks of me."
"I get that, but that's not what we're here for" She caught him off guard when she grabbed his hand and purposefully pulled it away, pulling his focus back on her in the process. "Come on, Dipper, let's just go," she urged gently, earnestly. "We still need to find Steven, Mabel, and Soos, remember?"
Though he hesitated for a beat, Dipper ultimately nodded, letting Connie lead the way away from the door. Still, he found himself glancing back at it as his pace slowed, finally coming to a stop once Connie turned the corner ahead of them. He hated to leave her on her own like this, but he had to look. He had to know.
Which was why he turned on his heel, hurried back to the door, and ventured inside of it alone.
What awaited was another hallway, one that was far more narrow than all the rest. Most of the doors were already open here, allowing Dipper to see glimpses of several of Stan's memories of him. None of them were all too surprising; plenty of familiar scenes of Stan mocking him, criticising him, or barking orders at him lined either side of the hall. Dipper paused at one of the more recent memories, one from only about a week or so ago.
"No buts!" Stan harshly exclaimed as he pointed to a pile of wood in the yard. "Now go and chop that firewood already!" With that, he sent Dipper on his way, though not before adding injury to insult by smacking him on the head with a rolled-up newspaper. From there, Stan returned to his spot on the couch alongside Soos and Amethyst to supervise the chore from a distance.
"Dude, Stan, I've been meaning to ask you," Soos began with a concerned frown. "Why are you so hard on Dipper all the time?"
"Yeah, seriously," Amethyst agreed after wolfing down another empty soda can. "I mean, yeah the kid's a nerd, but you pick on him like, a ton . Can't say it isn't funny though, 'cause it totally is."
From his spot at the door, Dipper rolled his eyes, though he did lean in closer to hear more as Stan began to explain. "Listen, you two. I'm gonna let you in on something."
"What, about how you wet the bed until you were like, thirteen?" Amethyst smirked. "Too late; you already let that one slide to me, Stan."
"N-no! And I never said anything about that!" Stan exclaimed, flustered. "Just… ugh, look. You really wanna know what I think?"
At first, Stan dropped his voice down to a whisper that only Soos and Amethyst could hear. But once Dipper was able to clearly make out what his uncle was saying, he quickly wished he couldn't. " The kid's a loser. He's weak! He's an utter embarrassment! I just wanna get rid of him."
That was all Dipper needed to hear. In one fell swoop, every last one of his suspicions, his fears , had been all but confirmed. He wasn't sure what else he'd expected to find here, but he hadn't thought he'd hear Stan say it so bluntly, so plainly. And as much as it might have hurt–and god, did it hurt –if nothing else, at least now, he finally knew.
He knew just how much his own uncle didn't care about him. He never had and never would.
"Um, so," Steven cleared his throat. He'd been trying to start a conversation with the Gems for a while now, but strangely, none of them seemed all that interested in talking. "How'd that mission you guys just got back from go?"
"It was fine," Garnet said shortly, simply.
"Yes," Pearl agreed. "It went very smoothly with just the three of us."
Steven flinched under the withering, almost critical look Pearl sent his way. Amethyst only managed to double down on that with what she had to say next. "I bet this mission would be a lot easier if it were just the three of us too."
Steven shrunk back, unsure of what to even say as he fell to the back of the group. This was just one of several cold comments he'd gotten from the Gems since they found him earlier, and each one only stung more than the last. He'd seen each of his guardians in a bad mood before, but he'd never seen anything like this from any of them before. So much scorn, so much contempt, so much disdain, all aimed solely at him. And even worse yet, he had no idea what to do about any of it.
He didn't try striking another conversation after this. Instead, he followed after the Gems in solemn silence, joining them in briefly opening and closing doors in search of the safe combination. After a while, Steven noticed that the Gems were staying true to their word about leaving him behind as they pressed further ahead into the halls at a quick pace. Not that he minded the distance that much–especially when he happened upon one intriguing memory in particular.
Steven was surprised when he opened a seemingly random door, only to find his mother on the other side of it. Rose stood across from a younger Stan in dark space Steven didn't recognize. The pair fixed each other with a sharp set of steadfast scowls and when Rose spoke first, Steven was taken aback by just how serious she sounded. A far cry from the gentle warmth he'd heard from her tape just a few nights ago.
"I can't—I wont't let you do this," she said, shaking her head. "We need to stop this thing from causing any more harm than it already has-"
"So what? You're gonna try and stop me, pinky? Is that how this is gonna be?!" Stan bristled in raw, genuine anger. Though exactly where that anger was coming from, Steven had no idea.
"...I'm sorry, but… yes," Rose sighed, but the determination in her voice was more than clear. "I'll do whatever I have to keep you from reopening it. It's the least I can do for him after… after everything."
Steven leaned a bit forward, curiosity practically overwhelming him. He had no idea what either of them were talking about, who the "him" in question might've been, why both of them were so upset. But if he kept on watching this mysterious memory unfold, maybe he might just be able to fill in all of the holes in a story he'd never known anything about until now.
"B-but you don't understand, I-"
"No, YOU don't understand!" Rose fiercely cut Stan off. "I've given up so much to keep this planet safe; I won't let anything happen to it as long as I'm around! We should have never built this thing in the first place, but it's too late to take that back now. But it's not too late to stop the very worst from happening. Even if… even if that means we'll never see Fo-"
Steven nearly jumped out of his skin when the door suddenly slammed shut, starkly cutting the memory off. He glanced up to find Garnet's hand resting against it, barring him from seeing any more. Her expression was unreadable as he stared down at him, a bizarre, almost golden glow reflecting from her glasses.
"What do you think you're doing, Steven?" she asked, her voice low and stern.
Steven swallowed hard as he backed away from the door. "I-I… I was just-"
"Just sticking your nose where it doesn't belong?" Amethyst chimed in, leaning out from behind Garnet. "Better be careful, Steven. You might end up seeing something you're not supposed to."
"Uh… like what?" Steven dared to ask, even though he knew he probably shouldn't.
Pearl stepped up to stand alongside Garnet as all three Gems shifted into a set of smiles, unnaturally wide and eerie to the point that Steven took another step back from them. As they pressed in after him, he wondered if they could hear the sound of his heart pounding in his chest. If they could tell just how frightened they were truly making him.
"You really want to find out?" Pearl asked, her twisted grin deepening.
"I…y-yes. Yes, I do." Steven squared his shoulders, putting on as brave of a face as he could. He'd finally reached his breaking point; as far as he was concerned, enough was enough. "I want to know why you guys have been so weird all day. What's going on with you three? Why aren't you acting like yourselves?!"
The Gems were silent for a moment, but their wicked smiles still remained as they shared a low, unnerving laugh. "Aw, that's a shame," Garnet sneered. "I thought for sure you would have been able to figure it out by now."
"Your mom used to be able to see right through me back when we used to play these kinds of games," Amethyst let out a haughty, playful chuckle.
"But it looks like you're nowhere near as bright as she was," Pearl finished, grinning gleefully. "Are you, Rosebud ?"
Steven froze, his eyes wide as he watched the Gems come together, their forms fading into nothing more than pale light that soon took on an all-too familiar shape. The shape of a triangle, to be exact.
Bill let loose a wild laugh as he shifted back into his usual, singular form. That laughter only turned louder and more teasing when he caught sight of the utterly shocked look on Steven's face. "I-it's you!" he exclaimed, aptly alarmed.
"No, duh, kid, who else would it be?" Bill proudly adjusted his bowtie. "And here I thought I'd be a bit rusty after all these years, but nope! I've still got just as much of a knack for pulling off a few convincing Crystal Chump impressions now as I did back then, if I do say so myself."
As confused as Steven was by that, he didn't let that get the better of him. He knew all too well that a threat was floating right in front of him, which was why he held his arm out defensively in front of him. Unfortunately, his shield was just as stubborn about showing up as ever, even now, when he needed it most. "W-what do you want with me?" he asked, eyeing the demon nervously.
"Aw, ease up, Rosebud!" Bill encouraged as he hovered a quick circle around Steven. "I just wanna chat! You like chatting with your friends, don't ya?"
"Uh, yeah, with my friends ," Steven winced away from him. "But not with bad guys like you!"
"Bad guy?" Bill asked, feigning surprise. "That's a little harsh, don't ya think, Rosebud?"
"No, it's not," Steven sternly asserted. "You're working with Gideon to help him steal the Mystery Shack! You blasted Dipper's arm off for no reason! And you pretended to be the Gems just to trick me! All of that sounds pretty bad to me."
"Yeesh, kid, don't take it all so personally," Bill shrugged, unconcerned. "I'm just messing around–that's what I do. Now, your mom? She got my sense of humor right off the bat. Do you think someone as 'good' as Quartzy would have hung around with me if I was really as 'bad' as you think I am?"
Steven hesitated when he heard this, unsure of what to think. "You… really were friends with my mom?" he asked, uncertain. Because if it were true, then the Gems would have brought Bill up at least once… right?
" Good friends," Bill assured, and he sounded surprisingly earnest. At least as earnest as someone like him could be. "And you know, Rosebud, we could be friends too, if you'd like! I'm bound to be a much better pal for you than any of those Crystal Chumps anyway."
"What do you mean?"
"Don't act like you haven't noticed; the way they treat you like you're just some dumb kid, like they're someone they need to babysit instead of a true, blue member of the team?"
"You mean like how you treated me while you were pretending to be them?" Steven accused, crossing his arms.
"Well, yeah, but was I really that far off?" Bill asked. To prove his point, his flat surface began projecting more than a few moments of the Gems counting Steven out or leaving him behind. Moments that stung far more than he'd like to admit. "Face it, kid. They don't really see you as one of them, and really, who can blame 'em? See, most space rocks like them come outta the ground primed and ready to go into any fight, but you? You had to start from square one with those powers of yours. And I bet you still haven't gotten the hang of them either, right?"
"Well…" Steven looked down at his feet. "I-I mean… I have healing spit and I can sometimes summon a bubble and my shield, but I-"
"But you're still waaaaaay behind all the rest of those chumps," Bill cut in. "Who knows, Rosebud? At the rate you're going, you might never catch up…"
Steven tensed at such a dreadful thought, though it certainly wasn't one he was a stranger to. How many restless nights had he spent, wondering when his time would finally come, when he'd finally turn into the Crystal Gem he always longed to be? How long would it take for him to even come close to living up to his mother's lofty legacy? How much would he have to struggle just to stand alongside a team he knew might never truly be a part of?
But then, as if he was reading his mind, Bill continued. "Still, it doesn't have to be like that…"
"It… doesn't?" Steven blinked, stirring himself out of his own worrying, racing thoughts.
"Nope," Bill pulled out his cane and leaned against it. "Being one of the last-remaining guardians of an entire planet is an awfully big burden, but who says it has to be your burden, Rosebud? I mean, think about it; you're just a kid. These are the best years of your life and you deserve to enjoy them instead of always being dragged around on big, life-threatening missions, don't you think?"
"Um… well, I mean… I never really thought about-"
"About any other options? Well, you've got 'em, kid!" Bill brightly proclaimed. "Or at least you could if you let me help you out. All I'd need is a little something from you in return. So…" He held a hand out, ignoring the way Steven flinched when blue flames sparked to life over it. "What do ya say, Rosebud? Why don't you let your new friend make all your 'magical destiny' woes disappear–once and for all?"
Needless to say, Steven had plenty of questions, but before he could ask any of them, Bill suddenly started ringing . The demon himself seemed caught off guard by the intrusion as his eye twitched and his form briefly flashed a sharp shade of red. Without warning he spun away from Steven to answer the "call" that was coming in with a tap of his bowtie.
" WHAT?!" he growled down the screen that appeared below his tie.
On that screen was none other than Gideon, eagerly anticipating the latest news from his so-called "minion". "Bill! Did you find the memory with the combination yet?"
"Geez, hold your horses, short stack," Bill rolled his eye, annoyed. "I'll take care of it later. I'm in the middle of something waaaaay more important than some silly old safe code."
"More important?!" Gideon scoffed in disbelief. "What, prey tell, could possibly be more important than-"
"Oh wow, look at that, gotta go," Bill boredly brought the conversation to a hasty end. "See ya!" He abruptly hung up before Gideon could get another word in edgewise. "Pesky little freak. Now, where we were, Rosebud?" he asked, turning back to Steven–
Only to find that Steven was gone .
Even so, Bill couldn't help but laugh. "Well, what do you know, Quartzy?" he mused as he eagerly began to give chase through the colorless halls. "Maybe your little brat isn't as boring as I thought he was…"
After everything he'd heard earlier, Dipper couldn't find much of a reason to stay in Stan's mind any longer than he already had. Any dwindling desire he had to help his uncle in any way burnt out entirely the second he saw that last memory. All he wanted to do now was find the others and find a way out of here.
And as for what might happen to Stan, honestly, Dipper couldn't really care less anymore.
Still, finding a way out would have been a lot easier if the mind-shack wasn't a maze in and of itself. After countless twists and turns, he still hadn't caught sight of a single sign of anyone else. His fruitless search felt like it was set to go on forever–until his foot happened to catch on something, sending him tumbling to the ground.
"Ugh, what now…?" Dipper glared back at what had tripped him up. He found a rug that had been shoved aside in his fall, revealing the hatch to another door that had been tucked away underneath it, built into the floor. While Dipper didn't really care to see any more of Stan's memories, his curiosity ultimately got the better of him as he decided to take a quick peek behind this bizarrely-placed door.
This memory was a short and simple one, featuring Stan in his office. In his hand was the deed to the Mystery Shack, which he carefully placed inside of his safe. " There ya go," he said, shutting the door. "And now to input the code. 13, 44, and finally-"
The memory door fell shut as its handle slipped out of Dipper's grasp. "Oh my gosh!" he gasped. "Here it is! The safe combination! I can't believe I found it-"
"Neither can I!"
Dipper let out a frightened cry as he spun around to find none other than Bill casually hovering right beside him. The demon simply let out a laugh at his alarm, hardly seeming to care when Dipper rushed to protectively stand before the door on the floor. "W-what do you want?!" he asked far more anxiously than he would have liked.
"What do I want?" Bill echoed, scoffing. "Haven't you been paying attention, kid? What I want is that code sitting right behind you there. Now, I could always just do this the boring way. You know, where I pass you by without any effort at all, snag that memory, and there'd be nothing you could to do to stop me."
To prove his point, Bill seamlessly teleported behind Dipper before he pulled the entire door from the ground with just a flick of his wrist. "Wait, no!" Dipper reached for it, panicking. Only for Bill to yank it high out of his reach.
"What's the matter, Pine Tree?" Bill asked, spinning the door on his finger. "I thought you were mad at ol' Fez. Why are you suddenly so set on trying to save his skin after everything he said about you?"
"I-I'm not!" Dipper exclaimed before he could think better of it. "I mean–I'm just… Stan isn't-"
"Well? Make up your mind, kid!" Bill urged. "Your uncle's sure made his mind up about you it seems, but you already know aaaaaall about that, right?"
"D-don't-" Dipper started, tensing up. The last thing he wanted to hear was any of that again, but of course, Bill was all too happy to remind him.
"Now, what did he say again? That you're weak, an embarrassment? That he just wants to get rid of you? I mean, I can't really blame him for being right, but you sure can! After all, it's only fair you'd want a little payback after how he's been treating you lately."
"Payback?" Dipper asked, not following. "What do you mean?"
"Oh, nothing too crazy," Bill assured with a nonchalant wave of his hand. "Heck, you don't even have to do anything really! Here's how it'll go: I go ahead and take the memory of this combination and you just stand there and look the other way. Nice and easy, right, Pine Tree?"
Dipper bristled when he heard this "plan", quickly remembering exactly who he was dealing with here. "Yeah," he scoffed, his remaining hand curling into a fist at his side. "Nice and easy for you to go off and hand that combination over to Gideon so he can steal the deed to the shack! I know what you're up to, and I'm not about to fall for it! The journal said to never trust you and I-"
"Oh yeah, 'cause that dusty old journal is soooo reliable," Bill deadpanned, rolling his eye. "Listen, kid, that book you found was written by a certified crackpot. Take it from me, I know– knew him well; really well."
"Y-you did?" Dipper started, suddenly overwhelmed with curiosity. With questions he almost asked… until he caught himself, until he remembered every claim the author had made about Bill. A monster made up of nothing but deception and lies.
"Sure, but who cares about any of that right now?" Bill brushed the matter off anyway. "Let's get back to what really matters here: making your uncle regret every harsh word and annoying chore he's ever sent your way!"
"I… I don't know…" Dipper said, looking away. As much as he hated to admit it, what Bill was suggesting did sound at least a little tantalizing. Especially when he thought about what Stan had said, about how, even before that, he'd treated him like he was a failure, like he was worthless, like he was the weakest link their family had to offer. He'd not only treated him like that, he'd made him feel like that.
So who was to say Stan didn't deserve to feel that way, just this once?
Bill continued that same line of thinking aloud as he smoothly glided past Dipper, knowing he had him right where he wanted him. "What's the harm of letting your uncle take a bit of a fall? Wouldn't it be soooo refreshing to see him have a rough time instead of you? Wouldn't it be nice to watch him be taken down a peg, just a little, so you can finally-"
"Stop," Dipper suddenly cut him off. He stiffened as he closed his eyes, taking in a sharp breath as he tried to bite back the guilt that swelled through him when he said, "Just… just take it."
That should have been the end of it. It should have been easy, no matter how wrong it might've felt. Except–
"Dipper?"
"Connie?!" Dipper gasped when he found that, sure enough, there Connie was, standing at the end of the nearby fall. Exactly how long she'd been there, he had no idea, but from the shock taking shape on her face, clearly, it'd been long enough.
"What are you doing?" she demanded, stepping closer.
"I… I was just-"
"Oh, don't worry, Sword Swinger!" Bill chimed in, popping up in the space between the two of them with the memory door still in hand. "Pine Tree here was just in the middle of handing over the code to Stan's safe over to me. Isn't that just so swell of him?"
Connie started when she heard this, completely taken aback. "You what ?!" she peered past Bill, looking at Dipper in disbelief.
"No, Connie, it's not like that," Dipper quickly tried to clarify. "I was only-"
"Anyway," Bill interrupted as he flew high above them both. "As much as I'd love to stick around and watch you two nerds duke it out, I've got places to be and codes to cash in. Thanks again for all your help, Pine Tree!"
With that, Bill rushed off down the nearest hall, taking the memory of the code along with him. As fast as he was going, neither Dipper or Connie could hope to catch up with him as he disappeared around a corner. Not that one of them even really wanted to.
"Please tell me he was lying," Connie spun back around to face Dipper. "There's no way you'd ever actually give him the code… right?"
Dipper simply glared away from her, not answering. He didn't really need to either; his silence alone was more than enough to fill in the gaps for Connie. "Seriously, Dipper?!" she sharply exclaimed. "What were you thinking?! You know Bill's just going to hand that code over to Gideon and once he gets it, Mr. Pines will lose the shack!"
"Yeah, I do know that," Dipper surprisingly, bitterly agreed. "And you know what? I don't care . And you wouldn't either if you'd seen what I had. Stan's always picked on me and now I know why; he hates me!"
"I'm sure he doesn't-"
"He does . He basically said so himself in one of his memories. Which is why I'm not helping him, not this time."
"Yeah, no, obviously not," Connie scoffed. "Instead, you just go and help the literal demon we came here to stop! I feel like you just don't understand how bad that-"
"No, you don't understand!" Dipper snapped, frustrated. "Stan never cuts me any slack on anything I do, he never lets up on ordering me around, he never even bothers acting like he cares about me! You have no idea what that feels like!"
Connie fell into stark silence when she heard this. She looked away from him, rubbing her arm as she quietly muttered, "I have some idea…" She sighed, letting her former anger fill back in as she shook her head. "Still, none of that makes what you did right. You can't just sell out your entire family just because of what you thought your uncle said about you. You're not "getting even" with him; you're just being selfish !"
"You can call it whatever you want," Dipper coldly turned away from her. If only to hide the growing remorse on his face that he wasn't so sure he'd be able to suppress otherwise. "It's too late now anyway."
For a long moment, all Connie could do was stare at him, dumbfounded and disappointed. As much as she might hate to admit it, she was just wasting precious time here. His mind was made up, every bit as much as hers was. "Maybe it's too late for you ," she turned her back on him. "But it's not too late for the rest of us." Without another word, she headed off down the hall, leaving Dipper behind.
Only in the empty silence that followed did the weight of what he'd just done start to sink in. And under that weight, suddenly any reasons he might've had to justify it didn't seem to make sense anymore. Suddenly, he realized, it was indeed far too late, to stop Bill, to stop Gideon, to stop any of this.
Suddenly, in the colorless shadows of the mind of the uncle he'd just betrayed… Dipper had never felt more alone.
Connie wasn't sure if she was fast on her feet or if luck was on her side today. Still, it didn't take her long to realize she was close to catching up to Bill when she heard his loud, unmistakable voice ringing out from a nearby hall.
"Y'ello?" he greeted upon answering yet another call from Gideon.
"Bill!" he snapped, clearly still fuming from being hung up on earlier. "My patience is wearin' mighty thin! Do you have that combination or not?"
"Yeesh, relax," Bill said, pulling the memory door into view. "I got it right here."
"Perfect!" Gideon exclaimed, grinning. "Now, give it to me and we'll finish our bargain."
From her hidden vantage point behind the nearest corner, Connie knew she had to do something, and fast. Fortunately, she found a solution just in time, in the form of a decorative ax hanging from the wall next to her. As she took it from its perch, she knew painfully well she'd only have one shot at this; which meant she had to make it count.
"Finally!" Bill exclaimed before referring back to the memory behind the door. "It's–you got a pen there? It's 13, 44-"
Just before he could read the final number off, an ax slammed straight into the door, sending it careering out of Bill's grasp. Its short journey through the air came to an end when it collided with a nearby wall, where the wooden door–and the coveted memory hiding behind it–both shattered to pieces.
Bill spun around, his eye blown wide with shock that swiftly shifted to fury the second he spotted where that ax had come from. "Whoa," Connie let out an incredulous laugh, quite surprised herself. "I can't believe I actually did that. Much less that it actually worked ."
Gideon, on the other hand, perfectly matched Bill's stunned fury. "The combination! It's gone!" he exclaimed, quickly turning his frustration back on his "minion". "The deal's off!"
"Wait!" Bill protested, suddenly panicking. "No! Wait!"
"I should've known this wasn't gonna work!" Gideon snapped, scowling. "I'm switchin' to plan B!" With that, the screen on Bill's flat surface abruptly shut off. In turn, the rest of his triangular body began to crumble like broken glass. It reformed just as quickly, though this time, in a sharp shade of scarlet red to match the raw rage filling the demon's blackening eye.
"SWORD SWINGER!" Bill practically screamed as he charged over to her. Connie stumbled back, still unsure of why he was calling her that, though that was the least of her concerns right now. "Do you have ANY idea what you just cost me?!"
Despite her nerves, Connie steadied herself before her fear could get the better of her. "W-well, whatever it was," she began as firmly and as curtly as she could. "It looks like you're not getting it now."
"Oh, wow, you're sooooo clever, kid," Bill harshly scoffed. "I'd almost say I was wrong about you being the least interesting one out of all four of you Mystery Twerps. If there wasn't about to be one less of you after I tear your molecules apart for that little stunt you just pulled!"
As soon as she saw piercing blue flames flicker over both of Bill's open palms, Connie didn't doubt that threat. But by now, she'd managed to back herself against a wall, leaving her without much in the way of an escape.
Fortunately though, she wouldn't need one.
Instead, a sudden battle cry sounded just as Bill threw his flames down. Connie didn't even have time to glance over before someone barreled straight into her just in time, knocking her out of the way. They both landed safely on the ground some distance away, allowing Connie to see exactly who her unexpected savior was.
"Mabel?!" she exclaimed, surprised.
"Connie!" Mabel pulled her into a tight hug before she could even properly sit up. "Are you ok?"
"I'm fine," Connie couldn't help but chuckle as she returned the hug. "Thanks to you."
"All right!" Xyler cheered as he popped into view behind Mabel. "Mabel to the rescue!"
"She's rad and fantastic!" Craz chimed in alongside him. "She's rad-tastic!"
"Oh, great," Connie deadpanned as Mabel helped her up. "They're still here."
"Mabel?" Soos called as he rounded the corner. He breathed a sigh of relief when he spotted the girl, who had run on ahead just a few moments ago. "There you are, hambone! And you found Connie too! Oh." He stopped short, eyes wide with alarm when he noticed Bill hovering nearby. "A-and Bill too, I guess. Uh… nice?"
"That's it!" Bill snapped, angrier than ever after this intrusion. "I've had it with you annoying meatskins getting in my way! You think you've got the upper hand now that the stupid combination memory is gone? Well, that's only 'cause you haven't seen me WHEN I'M MAD!"
Mabel, Connie, Soos, and even the dream boys struggled to keep their bearings as the ground suddenly started to rumble beneath them. As Bill brought his hands up, the floor rose up right along with it, revealing what he'd conjured underneath of it: a massive stone effigy of Stan's head. As it got ever higher, the black and white halls of the mind shack soon gave way to a dense starscape. Not that the change in scenery offered any of them much comfort as Bill grew to tower dangerously over them all.
"So I guess he gets really mad when he's mad," Soos noted stiffly to the startled girls beside him.
That seemed to be exactly the case as Bill leered over them, more than ready for the violent onslaught he was about to unleash. "EAT NIGHTMARES!"
Steven wasn't sure how long he'd been running. He did know he'd lost track of Bill a while ago, but he still didn't want to stop so long as his friends were still missing somewhere in the mindscape. And he had all the more reason not to stop after the downright unnerving conversation he'd had with Bill earlier.
He tried his best not to think about any of that as he navigated through the mind shack's twisting halls. Despite his best efforts, he still hadn't spotted a sign of any of the others, to the point that he was starting to wonder if he'd ever find them at all. As distressed as he was, he barely even noticed one of the friends he was trying to find until he'd almost passed him by completely.
"Dipper?" Steven gasped, stopping short. He spun around, sure enough finding Dipper sitting against a wall, his knees hugged to his chest with his face buried in them. He did glance up, however, when he realized he wasn't alone anymore.
"S-Steven!" he exclaimed, surprised. It wasn't lost on Steven when he hastily wiped his face dry, as if he'd been crying for some reason. "What are you doing here?"
"Uh, looking for you and everyone else," Steven frowned as he took a seat next to him. "Are you ok? You look like you're… kind of upset about something…"
Dipper sighed, running a hand through his hair as he looked away. "To be honest? No, I'm not ok. I… I messed up, Steven. I messed up really badly and made a huge mistake, all because I was mad at Stan."
"Aw, come on," Steven encouraged, resting a hand on his shoulder. "I'm sure whatever you did wasn't that bad-"
"I basically handed the memory of the safe combination over to Bill."
"...Ok, that is pretty bad," Steven couldn't help but agree. "B-but maybe we can still fix this! If we can catch up to Bill before he gives the code to Gideon, then-"
"I appreciate the thought, Steven," Dipper said as he got up from his spot on the floor. "But it's probably already way too late by now. I thought getting even with Stan would feel good after how he treated me, but now I only feel even worse . Connie was right," he sighed again as he lightly leaned against a nearby door. "I really am selfish…"
While Steven wanted to protest that, he didn't get a chance to. Instead, anything he planned on saying fell away when Dipper accidentally leaned a little too heavily on the door behind him, unintentionally pushing it open. Curious, both boys peered inside to see what memory might await.
"Aw, this again?" Dipper huffed at the sight of the same memory he'd seen earlier. He scowled as he watched Stan order him to chop firewood before he coldly condemned him all over again.
"He's a loser. He's weak. I just wanna get rid of him," Stan said, every bit as callously as he had before. Steven frowned as he watched the way Dipper bristled at these comments, ready to close the door so he wouldn't have to listen to them any more. Until…
"Heh, yeah. Those were all things people said about me when I was a boy."
"Huh?" Dipper pulled the door back open. He exchanged a surprised glance with Steven as they both leaned in to hear more.
"It was terrible," Stan went on. "I was the biggest wimp on the playground!"
Suddenly, another door right behind the boys creaked open to reveal another memory. This one featured Stan as a child, being pelted in the face by a ball thrown by bullies. He ran off in tears, embarrassed in a way that neither of them could ever imagine the Stan they knew being.
"So one summer, my pop signs me up for boxing lessons." Another door swung open, showing Stan taking those lessons and losing as his father stoically watched from the sidelines. "It was even worse than the school yard!" The boys winced as they watched Stan take a brutal swing straight to the face. "Y'know, at the time I thought my pop was trying to torture me."
Yet another door opened, revealing Stan as a teenager, waiting in line for the movies. "But wouldn't you know it? The old man was doing me a favor all along!" Suddenly, behind Stan, a shady man walked up to a young woman and began trying to snatch her bag away from her.
"Gimme that bag!"
"Help! My purse! Help!"
That was more than enough to prompt Stan into action. "Left hook!" he cried, spinning around. He landed a strong uppercut to the thief's jaw, knocking him out cold. The surrounding crowd erupted into cheers while the girl rewarded him with a grateful kiss on the cheek, much to his delight.
"Geez, Stan," Amethyst chuckled back in the first memory. "You sounded like you were a major loser back in the day. Like, even more than you are now, if that's even possible."
Stan shot her a look but ultimately took her teasing in stride. "Yeah, well that's exactly why I'm so hard on Dipper," he concluded. "I don't want him to be a loser like I was. I'm trying to toughen him up. So when the world fights, he fights back."
"Do you think it's working?" Soos asked.
Stan simply grinned as he nodded over at Dipper, who finally managed to chop the block of wood he'd been working on for a while now. "I-I did it!" he exclaimed with a small, triumphant grin. "Yes!"
"He's really comin' along!" Stan's smile turned a touch warmer. "When push comes to shove, I'm actually proud of him. Just don't ever tell him I said that. His head is big enough as it is."
Outside of the memory, Dipper found himself sharing his uncle's smile. He'd never really heard Stan say anything like that before, much less about him. But to know he'd been wrong, that his uncle actually did care about him, that he'd been trying to help him grow and come into his own all along… it changed everything .
And yet… for as uplifting as it all may have been… it also only served to make him feel even worse for what he'd done.
"Aw, Dipper! Did you hear that?!" Steven brightly exclaimed, grabbing him by the shoulder. The suddenness of it startled Dipper to the point that he stumbled forward–straight through the threshold of the door and into the memory itself.
He froze when he caught himself, realizing three new sets of eyes were resting on him. Back on the other side of the door, Steven gasped, his hands covering his mouth out of shock. Strangely though, Stan didn't seem to be as surprised as either of the boys were.
"Whoa, kid, what are you doing here?" Stan frowned as he looked between this Dipper and the one that belonged in this memory. "Looks like you're missing something there. Let's fix that up." All Stan needed to do was point at Dipper's left side and then, in an instant, his arm reappeared, as if Bill had never blasted it away to begin with.
"W-what the-" He grabbed his returned wrist to confirm it truly was back after all. "How did you do that?"
"Word to the wise, kid," Stan smirked. "We're in the mind! You can do whatever you can imagine in here." To prove his point, he conjured a can of Pitt Cola out of thin air before taking a sip.
"Huh. Well how about that?" Dipper smiled, glancing back at Steven. Their relief was short-lived, however, as a loud crash sounded from somewhere else inside of the mind shack. Followed by a set of worryingly familiar screams.
"Oh my gosh!" Steven cried, alarmed. "Connie, Mabel, and Soos! They sound like they're in trouble!"
"It looks like you were right, Steven," Dipper turned to him, resolved. "There might just be a way to fix this after all. And it starts by stopping Bill. Come on!" He stepped out of the memory, grabbing Steven by the hand as they raced down the hall together to do what they could to turn this around. To save their friends from perhaps the most dangerous, cunning foe they'd had to face yet.
"Huh," Stan grinned to himself as he watched his nephew run headfirst into the fray with all of the courage he only wished he'd had when he was his age. "Fighting back."
"One nightmare, coming up!" Bill snarled from his spot high above his foes. With no way to escape and no way to fight back, Connie, Mabel, and Soos could only huddle close and anticipate the worst when it came to the demon's wrath.
"Nightmare?" Soos frowned. "Hope it's not that British dog man I'm always dreaming about…"
Of course, at that exact moment, the very dog man in question appeared right next to him, cockney accent and all. "'Ello, 'ello, 'ello! Who's crike for a stick in the pudding?" he exclaimed, poking Soos with his cane.
"Ah!" he screamed, taking cover behind the girls. "It's everything I've ever feared!"
"You're next!" Bill exclaimed, fiercely setting his sights on Xyler and Craz.
"Cool! We're next!" Craz grinned as he and Xyler obliviously began to dance. Their partying came to a quick end, however, when Bill blasted them both off the platform. In the empty void of space surrounding it, the already illusory pair burnt up before dissolving away entirely.
"My dream boys!" Mabel cried, distraught over their demise.
Connie, on the other hand, was far less upset to see the pair go. "Finally…" she said, smirking. That smile didn't linger long when Bill turned his attention on her and Mabel as fierce blue flames began to intensely burn over both of his hands.
"And last but not least, you two." He raised those flames even higher, ready to bring them down upon the girls in a deadly torrent. In the face of their impending doom, Mabel and Connie clung tightly to each other, unable to do much else.
At least until help arrived right when they needed it most.
"Hey, Bill!" Dipper called as he flew up to the platform. Steven glided in alongside him, offering the demon a teasingly cheery wave.
"WHAT?!" Bill started at their sudden arrival.
"Think you could give me a hand ?" Dipper taunted as he took his opportunity to get even. Making good on Stan's advice, all he needed to do was imagine a powerful laser blasting from his eyes and it happened, shooting one of Bill's arms clean off. The furious shriek the demon let out was only cut off as a familiar pink shield slammed straight into his eye courtesy of Steven.
"Wow!" He exchanged a smile with Dipper. "I wish it was that easy to summon all of the time!"
"Steven! Dipper!" Mabel shouted up at the pair, relieved.
"Guys, we just learned you can conjure whatever you can conceive in Grunkle Stan's mindscape!" Dipper informed as he and Steven hovered down to their level.
"What?" Connie raised an eyebrow, confused.
"Just think of cool fighting stuff and it'll happen," Dipper clarified. "Like this!" He swiftly aimed another blast at the British dog man, finally ending his reign of terror over Soos.
"Heh, he's dead now," he said, letting out a relieved laugh.
"What?!" Bill asked, his eye wide with alarm. "Who told you that?! Don't listen to him!"
"We can do anything?" Mabel asked with an eager smile. "Like have kittens for fists?" As soon as she said this, her hands turned into pink kitten heads, which she was more than happy to fire off at Bill. "P-pow! P-pow!" She chuckled as the kitten heads hit their mark, furiously gnawing on their beleaguered target.
"Um… I'll take another ax, I guess?" Connie shrugged. She gasped when the weapon appeared in her hand, but she quickly decided to take it a step further. "Bigger." She grinned as the ax grew, never getting any heavier in her hand, even as she brought it up to a massive size. " Bigger !"
Once the ax was twice as big as she was, Connie chucked it straight at Bill. It caught him off guard, slicing him straight in half. While he quickly pulled his body back together, the blow was still more than enough to disorient him, along with what Soos came in with next.
"Soos love stomach beam stare!" A colorful question mark beam fired straight from his shirt, powerful enough to almost knock Bill over the edge of the platform entirely. Before he could try to come in with any kind of counterattack, however, Mabel made the next move.
"Rise, Xyler! Rise, Craz!" At this call, both dream boys rose from beneath the platform, fully revived as they jammed out on a synth drum and keytar.
"No!" Bill shouted, horrified. "Synthesized music! It hurts!"
"And now to imagine your worst nightmare!" Dipper boldly proclaimed. "A portal out of Stan's mind!"
"Out of Stan's mi-ind!" Mabel sang along to Xyler and Craz's synth music.
"Let's do this! Together!" Steven rallied the others. He raised his hand, letting energy brim around it as he smiled over at Dipper, who did the same. The others joined them in imagining a gaping, swirling vortex directly under Bill, which quickly began to pull him in.
"No, no, no!" He struggled against it, only for a moment, before he put a sudden end to the tides turning against him. "ENOUGH!"
All at once, the world turned into little more than a still white void. The portal disappeared as Bill readjusted his hat and regathered his bearings. "You know, I'm impressed with you guys. You're more clever than you look. So I'm gonna let you kids off the hook for now. You might come in handy later. In fact, I know at least a few of you definitely will…" He paused, only for a second, as he sharply set his sights on Steven and Dipper in particular. Almost as if he could see something none of the others could.
"BUT KNOW THIS," Bill suddenly changed his tune. He held his hands up as the symbol of a six-fingered hand, much like the one on the cover of the journal, appeared between them. "A darkness approaches. A day will come in the future when everything you care about will change. And when it does, I won't be the only one you'll have to worry about…" At this, the hand shifted into four diamonds stacked together, with a noticeable crack torn across the bottommost shape.
"Until then, I'll be watching you!" Bill cheerily finished his final warning off as he rose high into the air. Once again, countless images flashed through his flat form, far too quick for anyone to catch. Not that the demon gave them much of a chance to as he made his fast and flashy exit. " I'LL BE WATCHING YOU…"
And just like that, Bill was gone. For now, at least.
In the aftermath of his defeat, everyone shared a triumphant cheer. Soos pulled the kids together into a relieved hug over a hard-won victory, but a victory nonetheless. One that was short-lived as they all noticed a strange shift rippling across the mindscape.
"Whoa…" Steven frowned as he stole a glance at his hand. "What's going on? We're getting all fade-y."
"Stan must be waking up," Dipper concluded.
"Will I ever see you guys again?" Mabel pouted as she turned to her dream boys.
"In your dreams," Craz said, grinning.
"Good one, bro," Xyler solemnly nodded. "Good one."
"I'm gonna miss them so much!" Mabel sniffled, turning away.
Connie couldn't help but roll her eyes, patting her on the back as they drifted out of the mindscape altogether. "You'll live."
When the group awakened, none of them were too surprised to find themselves back in the shack's den. Despite how harrowing their trip through Stan's mind had been, they'd somehow managed to find their way back to reality, safe and sound once more.
"Woo!" Mabel loudly, happily cheered. "We did it!"
"W-what?" Stan groggily asked. He'd only just woken up, but was clearly still a bit out of hit as he leaned back a bit in his chair. "Did what? What are you all doing here? And why was I dreaming of two brightly colored and radical young men?"
"Grunkle Stan, you're ok!" Dipper exclaimed, relieved. He hurried over, climbing onto Stan's chair as he warmly wrapped his arms around his neck. After hearing his uncle's true, touching thoughts on him earlier, how could he not?
"What is this?" Stan asked, confused. "A hug?"
"Nope!" Dipper smirked as he suddenly, playfully tightened his hold around Stan's neck. "It's a choke hold!"
"Heh," Stan chuckled. He got back at Dipper by pulling the brim of his hat down over his eyes. not bad, kid. Not bad."
Once that heartwarming display came to an end, Connie piped up, rubbing her arm remorsefully. "Um, hey, Dipper? I just wanted to say… I'm sorry for calling you selfish earlier. I was just mad and-"
"Nah, you were right," Dipper admitted with a sheepish smile. "I was only thinking about myself. I was just so angry and I guess I couldn't see beyond that anger until it was almost too late. I'm the one who should be sorry."
"Well, for what it's worth," Connie grinned as she elbowed him. "I think you more than made up for it by coming to our rescue like you did. You really put Bill in his place."
"Heh," Dipper rubbed the back of his neck, blushing. "I-it was nothing-"
"Aw, this is so nice!" Steven suddenly popped up between the two, throwing his arms over their shoulders. "Everyone's happy and getting along! I love it when everything turns out great in the end like this! Just like it always does."
"I'm just glad Gideon didn't get into the safe," Mabel added just as warmly. "I really love this old shack."
"Group hug!" Soos exclaimed. He held his arms out wide, only for none of the others to join him. "No? I never know the right time!"
As satisfied as everyone was that they won the day, that illusion was all too quickly broken. Without warning, the nearby wall was brutally, violently blasted straight through. The resounding explosion briefly sent everyone flying before they all landed in a heap in the remains of the now-ruined den. As the dust began to settle, an all-too familiar figure approached, smugly standing over his disoriented foes.
"Oh, I'm sorry, Pines family," Gideon flashed them a sharp, knowing grin. "Did I wake you?"
"But… but we defeated Bill!" Dipper protested, confused.
"Bill failed me!" Gideon harshly snapped. "So I resorted to plan B: dynamite!"
"What? Bill?" Stan cut in, completely out of the loop. "What are you guys talking about?"
"Spoiler alert, Stanford: I got the deed!" Gideon's devious smile widened as he held up his prize. "The Mystery Shack belongs to me ! So get out of my property!" He didn't spare another word on any of them as he turned, issuing orders to Bud over his walkie-talkie on the way out. "Daddy? Bring it 'round front."
"Uh… so I wasn't the only one who didn't see any of that coming, right?" Steven asked, bewildered.
"Right," Connie stiffly agreed.
"D-don't worry, guys!" Dipper anxiously tried to reason. "It's just part of the dream! We're gonna wake up any second now, right? Right?!"
He was quickly proven wrong when they all peered out the front door. Sure enough, Bud was driving a bulldozer straight to the shack. It was enough to force everyone outside as the wrecking ball smashed right into the Mystery Shack's iconic sign.
"Someone pinch me, dude…" Soos muttered, shaking his head in disbelief.
Even still, none of it felt real for any of them. At least not until what little was left of the shack's sign came crashing down right in front of them, proving this was far from a dream.
It was a nightmare.