Dipper wasn't just mad, he was outraged.

Go figure that he would get distracted and ruin the plan again! This is Weirdmagedon all over again! He started thinking Izuku was a threat, and now his sister is gone. And the worst part of this whole thing? It took him two whole days to even notice she was gone! How had he not noticed sooner? She sleeps just across from him, she stays by his side, and she is always talking (asking, pleading, begging for it to stop-) but suddenly she went quiet and he didn't even ask why.

When he finally came back to camp, he saw the signs of a scuffle and panicked. His computer was wiped clean, his notes stolen, his sister gone, and a note was lying on her desk where her journal should have been. Bill not only kidnapped Mabel, but he even had the gall to brag about it. He didn't even read the note. He saw the words "Pine Tree" and stormed out of the tent, gun in hand. Laws be damned, he was going to save his sister from that demon.

And in his rage, he failed to read the warning that Bill left him.

. . .

Mabel was carefully dining on her favorite meal: a three-meat pizza fresh from the stone oven. It was a god-tier pizza and blasted away all her expectations. She was having the time of her life, right up until a shiver went up her spine and a small headache tickled her temples. Her sibling senses were tingling. Dipper was about to do something stupid and she had to stop him. But... didn't Bill tell her he would take care of it? But what if Izuku got hurt? Sure he's a ghost but that gun can send anything it touches into The Void. And from what little she knows of the empty nothingness, it's a prison dimension that not even Bill deserves- much less that poor little baby.

If Bill was trying to antagonize Dipper, then that meant he was focusing attention on himself, forcing Dipper to pay attention to him and not Izuku. It's kind of sad, really. Dipper did that many times for her too when they were younger, but now he won't even look in her direction. And she doesn't know why. She tried to be better, she tried to be kind, patient, and calm- but none of it worked. Dipper was so obsessed over something that ended a long time ago that he abandoned the future that was waiting for him. Sure she had nightmares of those days too, and the trauma still lingered, but she was moving on. Dipper wasn't. He didn't want to move on. He wanted revenge on someone whom had long given up on his wicked ways.

Only now, after she had been separated from him once more did he finally start worrying about her. Only now, after he had lost her did he start to care. Maybe it was best for her to pack her things and leave. She gave Dipper a million chances to turn around and go home, to forget this whole thing and live his life, to grow up and get some help, but he chose violence. She can't run back to him anymore. Not when he's like this. Not when he's so cruel. Mabel finally began to understand what Bill meant when he said "I know how he's been treating you." Bill was trying to warn her of her brother's madness. And, as much as she wanted to hold him in her arms and tell him it was going to be okay, she just couldn't. She was going to back off, for good this time.

"Excuse me, Miss, I need to speak with Bill, please."

. . .

"Thank you for everything, Bill, but I think I want to go back home now," she told him. Bill tilted their head in curiosity at the bleak look in her eyes. "You aren't going to wait for Pine Tree?" they asked. Mabel shook her head, "I have waited for him long enough. You were right, and I should have left much sooner. Hopefully, he'll follow me when he's ready to stop fighting this meaningless war, but I just can't stay here any longer. I want to go back to my family," she solemnly replied. Bill understood. How could they not? Their brother did the same thing after they fought, so Bill can understand her feelings. "Well, can I get any information on Pine Tree before you go and pack your belongings?" She nodded and told Bill everything.

Bill didn't think they'd have to open the portal so soon. But hey, at least now they know what they're up against. Mabel wrote a letter for her brother and left it on her nightstand along with her journal. Bill gave her a new journal- "to remember him by"- and politely waved as she walked through, new bag and journal in hand. She came with her brother, and she left without him. What a familiar sight. The portal closed and he was left with a new plan of action. Pine Tree was definitely going to try and kill him now, but at least they have time to prepare.

The Void, huh? Man, it's a good thing that Bunny kept his promise. They do not want him to get caught up in this.

. . .

Izuku was getting stir-crazy.

Uncle Tad and Hisashi had done a good job distracting him for a while, but that train table showed him everything. Bill was starting a war, and Izuku was being left in the dark about it. Izuku was glad to see one of the siblings leave, even though it was because of unfortunate circumstances. And considering it was Mabel who left, there was a chance that Dipper would finally come to his senses, but that chance was very very slim. Izuku wasn't about to break his promise, not unless there was no other choice, so he'll do as he was told: wait this one out and hope for the best. And so Izuku continued to watch from above as Bill got to work on a cool new weapon.

Izuku really doesn't want to break his promise.

. . .

Dipper made it. It took forever to get there with all the guards in the area, but he made it. The clones were mapping out the areas he couldn't reach and making their way around the mansion. Unbeknownst to Dipper, this was a suicide mission. By the time he finally found the room Mabel was held in, it was too late and she was gone again. He opened the comms to check on everyone's progress. None of the clones were responding and he began to fear the worst. He wasn't wrong in his assumptions, though. His clones were all being picked off like flies and none of them had a chance to call out for help before they were cut down.

But Dipper didn't have time to look for the clones, he had to find his sister. Her journal sat on the desk alongside a note. He read the note first, and then wished he hadn't. After reading and re-reading it several times, he panicked and flipped through her journal. Dipper collapsed to the floor as he finally came to the realization that his sister had left him there. And he couldn't even blame Bill this time. It was true what she said. Her journal entries were made before her kidnapping, so there was no way that Bill wrote that. She gave up on him. She abandoned him.

"I'm sorry, Dipper. But I can't watch you destroy yourself like this any longer. Goodbye."

. . .

Bill saw Dipper's crumpled form and knew that it was time. The clones were dead, and the only thing between Bill and victory was Dipper himself. Dipper heard them coming, and in his grief, he pointed the gun and fired. A portal opened up in front of Bill and tried to suck him in. Bill was prepared to absorb it, but they weren't counting on a rear attack. And it was because of that that Bill lost again. But this time, it wasn't their pride that they lost, it was their child.

Izuku was gone.

.

.

.

Izuku opened his eyes to meet the oh-so-familiar black void that he saw all those years ago. He hadn't known what hit him, only that he took the attack and died again. Izuku wanted to apologize for breaking his promise, but he couldn't. How could he apologize for that? His friend- no, his family was in danger. He had to do something, and sitting there wasn't it. Bill was no doubt destroying everything right about now, but Izuku couldn't say for sure.

After all, the only thing he could feel right now was the countless eyes reading his every thought.

Wait, reading? Where is he? What is this place? He couldn't be going insane already, could he?

<Ability Unlocked: Fourth-Wall Break>

What? A new ability? Fourth-Wall? Hold on, hadn't Bill mentioned something like that once? Yeah, something along the lines of "reality is an illusion". Did this place let him see past the illusion? So, if this realm is beyond the illusion of his reality, then those eyes are watchers- no that's not right. Weren't they reading his thoughts? Yeah, that's right. They aren't watchers, they're readers! Which means...

"Hey... creator... are you there?"

[... yes]

Izuku gasped. They actually responded! Bill was right! There was more to this universe than he thought! Whatever this place was, it opened up a whole new world for him! He could see everything! The eyes looked as excited as he was about this. Could he hear them too? He wanted to talk to all of them, but there were so many! He looked around the void and saw a screen. He could see Bill, he could see Dipper, he could see the heroes running to the mansion engulfed in blue flames, and he could see a crying Mabel running to her parents, friends, and Gruncles to tell them everything as they all came up with a plan to stop Dipper.

Izuku watched as his world burned. Hisashi was trying to break out of the mindscape after learning of his son's disappearance while Uncle Tad held him back with promises of knowing where he was and how to get him back, Toshinori was already joining the battle with arms swinging, and Bill was repeatedly reviving and healing Dipper for the sole purpose of making him suffer even more.

"Well, this is a mess..."

. . .

Mabel walked back into the portal with her family fully prepared to stop Dipper from going mad only to gawk at the carnage of every hero in the area beating the shit out of Dipper while Bill brought him back only to torture him further. "I WAS GONE FOR TEN MINUTES! WHAT HAPPENED?!" she cried in shock. Aizawa, who just arrived at the scene, stood next to her, capture scarf in hand. "We don't know how, but that villain just killed Izuku. We think he has some sort of quirk-altering gun that separated the two of them and shattered Izuku's soul in the process. And with how close Bill was to Izuku, I'm not surprised at how Bill responded to losing his best friend."

Everyone else in the area was shocked at the news. Ford was shocked that Bill had a friend, Stan was horrified that Dipper killed a child, and Mabel was shocked that he actually went through with it. "No... no no no, oh Izuku, I'm so sorry! It's all my fault!" Mabel sobbed. Gwenda and Candy were quick to comfort her and tell her wasn't true but it didn't help. "I knew I should have gone back to stop him! I knew I should have stayed! Why didn't I fight back? He's gone and it's all my fault!" Aizawa squatted down in front of her, looking her in the eyes with a stern expression. "Ma'am, I don't know how you know Izuku, but whatever happened between you two wasn't your fault. That villain killed him of his own volition, not yours."

"Of course, it's my fault! That villain is my brother!"

. . .

Dipper regretted every choice he'd ever made. Weirdmageddon was nothing compared to this hell. His selfish obsession had driven him mad and chased his sister away, his grief for his sister had made him violent and he killed an innocent child, his bloodlust and rage had come back to haunt him and he was now being beaten into broken bloody bits by the number one hero only to get healed and handed off to another hero to get punished some more only to repeat the process again. He thought he heard his sister crying again, but he knew it wasn't real. Why would he be thinking of her tears now when he had ignored them oh so many times before? He didn't deserve her tears, he didn't deserve her pity, her love, her concern. He had lost that chance now.

Why had he chased Bill? Why had he fought him? Why couldn't he have just left him alone from the very beginning? Why was he even doing this anymore? Why couldn't he just give up? Now there's a thought. "Give up". How many times had Mabel said those words now? Ten? Twenty? A hundred? A thousand? Probably millions at this point. He should have listened. He should have just given her words some thought. He should have just let it all go. But he didn't and now he's here.

His body was paralyzed as it lay against a concrete wall. His grip on the gun was long gone and his will to fight no longer burned. His sister left him, his family probably hated him, and he doubted his friends wanted anything to do with him now. There was no more reason for him to fight. Bill knew it, Dipper knew he did, but he also knew how much pain the other was in. Just as Dipper had lost his sister, Bill had lost his long-time best friend.

There was only one way to fix it, and that option lay right at his feet. Bill saw the gun and picked it up. He set it to reverse, pointed it upwards, and pulled the trigger. A portal opened and pushed out like a leaf blower. A few seconds passed before they saw it. A green and black blob was falling through the darkness and into the light. The blurry figure fell out of the portal and it closed behind him. Something was off about it, though. Bill knew it was him, but it felt different now. Their bond was reconnected, but it was stronger somehow. Additionally, Bill wasn't the only one looking at the boy now. Everyone was staring at Izuku. They can see Izuku.

Izuku was finally back.

-----------------------------------------------------

(Woo! Two chapters in one go! I woke up today and decided that "Okay, it's time to get this done! I have an idea, and I don't know what happens in between, but I know how it ends and I have to write it!" so I sat down and the words just kinda dumped everywhere. I bring to you, this masterpiece.

And yes, Izuku can now break the fourth wall! Readers can interact with the story now, and the ask box is open! There is one on my Tumblr as well, it's in my profile description. But yeah! Izuku can now talk to the readers! I always wanted Bill and Izuku to just casually break the fourth wall every chance they get, but I couldn't get Bill to do it without teaching Izuku how to do it too, so here it is!

Good golly I cannot wait for this to go through. Thank you all for reading and I'll see you soon!)