Darker Perspective

Chapter 17

Dipper, with the snap of his fingers, shot the floating objects down at the three in front of him. With a yell, they ran behind him, still in shock.

"The rift Pine Tree!" Bill reminded him sharply from where he had been watching the events unfold. Dipper didn't move, eyes fixed on a (for once) speechless Ford.

"As much as I would love you to burn them to hell right now, I would really like to be there with you!" The demon said. Dipper turned to him, giving him a nod.

"Where is it?" The teen didn't float back to the ground, but relaxed slightly as the last of the pain faded away. His head felt foggy, however, and his vision blurred at the edges.

"Just tear the thing down!" Bill replied with a cackle. Dipper grinned at the suggestion, raising his fist.

"If you insist."

"Dipper wait –" Stan yelled but it was too late; Dipper slammed his fist full of fire onto the wooden floorboards, watching in glee as they splintered and burned. Mabel screamed, Stan cursed and Ford ran to the other side of the room, pulling his family with him. Dipper watched them go with a frown.

"We'll deal with them later. Trust me." Bill growled, eye growing black dangerously. With a small grin, he turned his attention away from them and towards the gap in the floor.

Dipper slipped through the hole that made way to the third floor. Already, all of Ford's research was burning into piles of ash and ember. Dipper walked through the flames casually, scanning the room for the object desired.

"Wow, he really hordes stuff doesn't he?" Bill commented, peering through the boxes. "I can't believe I made a deal with this guy."

"You made a deal with Ford?" Dipper asked in surprise, stopping his search to look at the demon.

"That was a long time ago. And a big mistake." Bill hummed. "Though it almost worked."

"What happened?" The teen asked curiously, tossing a box to the side and moving in to another.

"The usual." Bill suddenly made his voice sound remarkably like Ford's: "this is never what I wanted! The deal is off!" Bill scoffed. "As if you can break a deal with me!"

"What was the deal?" Dipper hovered over to the shelves, eying the artefacts curiously.

"That I would help him in his research, and in turn he would help me. Of course," Bill laughed, "like everyone he thought that the second part would never come to pass."The dream demon suddenly gave a loud cackle, rocking back in the air. "And then he tried to take control when my end of the deal came into play! Can you imagine?!"

"So what happened next?" Dipper asked curiously, searching as he listened.

"You see, we were working on a portal that would be the key to the universe. My universe." Bill continued. "And when old Sixter sussed out my plan he shut it all off, cut production completely. That was, until he invited his dear brother to the shack for help."

"Stan?" Dipper asked in surprise. "Really? Him?"

"For some emotion reasons I guess." Bill shrugged. "Even if he had no clue what was going on." Bill laughed loudly. "But that completely backfired, and old Sixter was launched into the portal after a few accidents." Bill turned to Dipper. "And all these years Stanley has been trying to get him back. When he did, the portal left some rift material behind. That's exactly what I need."

Dipper nodded, turning back to the task at hand. The fire burnt around them, but not as quickly as he would've liked. It seemed like it was getting stopped by something.