Dipper's POV:

I stared down at Bill's ex-henchmaniacs as I floated a bit over them. I then looked at tad's purple form on the throne of the throne room of my Palast in the Nightmare Realm. He looked really tired and worn-out with his purple hair masking his purple eyes. Is he like that because of my absence? Does he really have that much work to do?

"What do you want?" He asked tiredly with his head resting in his hand.

"Where is our Emperor?" asked Keyhole back.

"He is currently unavailable" He said not wanting to give more information and rubbing his fingers on his temples.

"What does that mean?" asked Pyronica, while lighting her rosa cigar with a flick of her finger engulfed in rosa fire.

"It means that he can't be here for the moment" He sighed resigned.

"And?" She nagged, wanting to have more details and taking the first intake of her cigar. She then blew the smoke out and most of it came right at me. The slight rosa smoke came in contact with me. Even in my spiritual form, I could sense it and couldn't stop a cough from escaping me while I almost died because of the thick smock. She lifted her head up, squinting her eyes to try to see past the smoke where I floated. Damn smoke. If because of you I can't even eavesdrop my subordinates, I will forbid everyone to smoke inside the castle... I thought irritated by it. But Pyronica couldn't see me and redirected her attention at Tad as he spoke again.

"And he isn't here right now so please stop bothering me. I already have a headache because of you" He said clearly not wanting to answer.

"Tad, you may be our temporary ruler but you can't fool us. What is going on? Why isn't he here with us or doing something useful like maybe... I don't know... something like conquering a dimension as was prophesied?" She said, releasing again a thick cloud of smoke and this time before it could reach me I floated out of the way, nearer Tad but still completely invisible and undetectable.

"Are you doubting him?" He exclaimed glaring at her. "Are any of you doubting him?" He said turning his glare at every one of the henchmaniacs. "He is our Emperor. We won't and can't doubt him. If we don't believe in him then who would? We are the demons he trusted to assure everything works out here while he is temporarily absent due to some business he had to finish." He stood up from his throne, straightening up. "He is the most powerful demon we ever saw. He is the demon who will lead us and show us a new way of living. The one with whom we will be able to conquer dimension and show to all of their inhabitants how to really live." He paused.

"Do you really doubt him so much? This demon, who is our Emperor, who helped the Nightmare Realm to be more organized, to stop our little 'civil wars' from happening?" He stared at them, no one daring to say anything, not even Pyronica who stopped smoking. "That's better. Now leave I have things to do." He said ushering them out and again sitting on his throne. He really must trust me. Sure I helped the Nightmare Realm out, but this... He sounded just like a politician from the human world. I thought, grinning a bit, still invisible and waiting for the last of the henchmaniacs to go out of the room.

As the door closed behind Pyronica, I could hear Tad mumbling. "I hope he is okay. Maybe did something happened while he was in the Mindscape with Bill or he couldn't finish what he wanted. Or..." He continued to mumble tiredly as he passed his hand on his face.

"Or I'm still very alive and listening to you right now." I said, letting him hear me but not seeing me.

"Your majesty? Is that you?"

"No it's the tooth fairy"

"Really?" I sighed and nearly face palmed.

"No you moron! It's really me, Dipper, your Emperor." It was almost like a light bulb shone up above Tad's head and he bowed down on his knees.

"Excuse me please" I sighed.

"Ah, I pardon you this time." I shook my head and made a forgiving gesture with my hand. "Now on to business. I'm a little blocked right now."

"Blocked?"

"I... uhm... How should I put it? Betrayed and imprisoned in a giant magical gem?" I tried to summarize up. I could see in Tad's eyes, as he lifted his head up, that he didn't understand. "I went a bit too far as I exacted my little revenge on my ex-sister. So Bill feared for my sanity and believed that I was completely corrupted by the magic of this dimension." I couldn't continue, seeing the scene unfolding again in my head.

"And he thought that the best way to help you was to imprison you in a magical gem?"

"Yes, just like the one he was in when I found it. He thinks that it will 'purge' me of all the 'nefast' influence of the Nightmare Realm." I scoffed.

"And that's not it, right?"

"Absolutely. It can only imprison me, it can't even begin to try to 'purge' me. The magic I absorbed from this dimension became mine and mine only. It can't influence me in any way."

"So you can't free yourself?"

"Exactly. It traps my physical body there, in the Pines underground. Only my spirit could escape it and here I am." I made myself visible, before Tad, hovering a bit over the ground. "So I need you to free me." I said smiling at him.

"That's impossible." He said lowering his head.

"What? Are you refuting my order?" I asked feeling some anger veiling up inside me.

"No absolutely not your majesty!" He assured, panicking slightly.

"So what?" I asked intrigued now as to why he couldn't free me.

"I can't appear there with a physical form. No demon can travel from the Nightmare Realm to the Physical Realm unless he is summoned there or a rift or portal is opened."

"Oh I forgot that little tiny detail." I sighed again, depressed by this news and rubbing my head with my hand.

"I'm sorry your majesty but no one here can save you." I didn't answer, thinking intensively and almost pacing by floating a bit from one end of the room to the other. Tad just watched my antics curiously.

"Hum... I can't find a way right now to free myself, I need more time to think about it. Don't tell the people yet what happened and continue to say I'm unavailable. In the worst case, if they really plague you, say I'm doing some scouting with Bill in other dimensions. Tell them it's some sort of extended honeymoon."

"That will be done, your majesty. But what about you? What will you do?"

"I will teleport back to the shack and see if I can find a way to free myself." I nodded curtly at him and disappeared with a snapping of my fingers.

I teleported right before Bill's sleeping form in Grunkle Ford's study. He seems so peaceful when he sleeps like that... I walked forward to touch him and his blond hair, but stopped myself, shaking my head as if to clear it from traitorous thoughts. Even if I touched him, he wouldn't be able to feel me. I'm just like any other spiritual thing that roams around here... I have no influence whatsoever on the physical realm. Maybe if I... I shook my head again. Even if I'm able to speak with him, he still wouldn't understand me and would try to 'repair' this damn gem. And then I would be even more blocked than I am right now. I took some steps back, sitting on a chair, looking at Bill's handsome sleeping face.

After a while, I got bored and tried to feel where everyone else (meaning Grunkle Ford and Grunkle Stan) were. That's until I felt an energy that shouldn't even exist anymore. Shooting Star? I thought incredulously. But I killed her! How? Why?

I snapped my fingers and teleported to the attic. I could barely see her in this obscurity, but it was definitely her. But I crushed her to death with all her friends! How can she even be alive? No I'm certain she died. I paced/ floated around the room, hoping to find some answer. She died, that's sure. So she had to come back from the dead... Only one person, not counting me in, is powerful enough to bring her back: Bill. He must have made a deal with the Pines. Something like her life against the forgiveness that he longed for so dearly from the Pines. I half muttered under my breath my last thoughts.

I stared intently at her and her sleeping form and then paced again. How could you do that to me, Bill? All I wanted was to knock some sense into her. Maybe I want a little overboard... Still, it's not reason enough to imprison me. I stopped again, this time staring at my old bed, who was still in the same place, even years after they told everyone we knew that I died, not wanting to explain I turned into a such hated demon. I then saw some photos of her and me when we were still young and innocent, the first time we came here in Gravity Falls. Did you do it also for me? Perhaps you thought I would miss her or something like that. Or maybe you thought I would feel guilty about killing her. I stopped dead in my tracks. Do I feel guilty? I watched her sleeping soundly. Possibly a little. I would still have missed her a bit and all I wanted was to make her understand her mistakes not killing her. I wonder if she understood now. It would be nice to try to speak with her again and maybe apologize. But for now I can't speak with her, I'm still in this damn gem. If only someone could convince a human to help me and release me from it. Wait... This is it! I smiled deviously, having found how I would break free and I snapped my fingers.