(The song 'Shots' by Imagine Dragons for this chapter.)

Later that evening, everyone was still tense and uneasy among each other. Sharp glances and stiff postures easily expressed the tension. Wendy and Soos had excused themselves early and went home. The family didn't tell each other, but everyone felt close to breaking.

During dinner, no one seemed hungry. Mabel pushed the food around her plate with her fork, Ford stared down, deep in thought. Stan tried to not dwell on days past. Dipper hid his face in Journal 3. They couldn't go on like that forever though, it was only a matter of who broke the silence first.

Stan cleared his throat, Ford furrowed his brow, Mabel glanced up, and Dipper turned a page.

"So," Stan began, "I'm... I'm sorry about earlier Ford. I shouldn't hav--"

"No, you shouldn't have." Ford said, meeting his brothers eyes.

"It wasn't your fault, Okay?"

Hearing his Grunkle's words, Dipper muttered, "Yes it was."

What they didn't know was that he hadn't meant to say that aloud. He hadn't even meant it to them, instead remembering his own faults.

"Bro bro?" Mabel said, aghast.

"What is it Mabel?" He said, turning another page.

Shocked, no one said anything. They had known that Dipper's trust had been shaken when Mabel had left the portal open, but this seemed a bit much. Ford, knowing that it would be bad to start arguing again, decided to speak up.

"I was going through all the possibility on how Bill might have found out about the shield, and I realize that I was probably wrong."

"You're not wrong." Said a voice so quiet, that for a moment they though they had imagined it. It was Dipper.

 
Not sure they had heard him right, no on turned his direction. After a moment is silence, Ford carried on. Dipper didn't listen. No, he knew that he was somehow tied into this is a way that not even Ford would ever understand. Bill wanted something from him. The Dream Demon seemed to always choose to mess with him whenever the time arose.

Surely his nightmares couldn't be tied into all of this? The dreadful feeling in the pit of his stomach did not lessen. No, Dipper knew that the nightmares were more than what he assumed. Bill certainly had other means and ways of getting the information, but sending and invading Dipper's nightmares would only get him further into his plan.

Especially since Dipper couldn't tell anyone about the Rift, in fear of endangering their reality. It wasn't that he didn't trust them, he just... Suppressing a growl of frustration, he ground the heels of his hands into his eyes, massaging his temples. Everything would work out in the end, it would have too. If it didn't, well, then they wouldn't have much time left anyways, now would they?

Silently, he decided to drop back into the conversation.

"We're protecting everything within close proximity to everything inside the Shack," Ford was saying, "but outside, it is a different game. Bill can do whatever he wants outside. Anyone could be a pawn, and no one would know."

"But Grunkle Ford!" Said Mabel. "We have friends out there! What about Candy and Grenda?"

"Look kid," interrupted Stan, "I know that your friends are important. But we have to protect ourselves. Then we can--" He turned to his brother. "What are we gonna do then?"

"Then," Stanford said, "We find a way to send Bill back where he came from."

"How do we do that?" They seemed surprised that Dipper had finally spoken up.

"We'll figure it out bro bro! Don't worry!"

Dipper looked at Ford, waiting for an answer.

"There is one way I can think of," Ford said, turning to Dipper, "but we'd have to tell them."

About the Rift? That didn't seem very safe, did it?

"What?" Dipper interrupted, "But Grunkle Ford!"

"No, no Dipper. They need to know now. If I'm right, this is the only way that it will work."

"What is it?" Mabel said, her eyes dancing with curiosity.

"Yeah," Stan added, eyeing them, "What have you two been hiding?"

Dipper swallowed, and kept his mouth shut. Ford would be the one explaining this, not him. It was his Grunkle that had kept the secret. So he was going to be the one to tell everyone about it.

"After the portal broke," he began, "it left behind a very unstable tear in the fabric of space."

"But what does it do?" Mabel asked.
Ford sighed, picking up the chart of the different realities. Folding it, he showed how their reality could link perfectly to the Nightmare Realm.

"It does exactly that," Ford said, "by eliminating the process of crossing through the Mindscape, Bill can enter our world. From there, he can bring anything in the Nightmare Realm here as well."

"You've waited to tell us this very important fact until now?" Asked Stan. "Why?"

"It was dangerous for you to know! We didn't want the information out there for anyone!" Stan snorted at his brother's reply.

"Grunkle Ford?" Mabel said. "How are we supposed to stop him?"

"We have to open the Rift."

"But if we do that then--" cried out Dipper.

"--Then Bill will have succeeded." Ford interrupted. "I know. That is why we'll have to close it as soon as he goes back through."

"How are we going to get him to go through it?" Dipper asked him.

Ford sighed. "I don't know Dipper. We'll have to figure it out soon though. I don't think the shields around the Shack will last much longer."

As if on cue, another loud boom echoed through the the house. It wouldn't hold much longer.

"I thought you said it would be safe?" Dipper accused.

"It was," Ford said, "until Bill found out what we did."

"What happens if he breaks it?" Mabel asked, hugging Waddles close to her.

"Then we will no longer be safe." Ford said, tuning to look out a window. "This is why we can't leave the Shack."

"You mean it's not safe out there?" Dipper said.

"No." Ford replied, "it's not anymore."

"But Grunkle!" Mabel said, Stan and Ford both turned to her. "We have friends out there! We can't leave them!"

"They're in danger!" Dipper added.

He started to turn to the door to go and tell everyone, but Ford stood in his way. "Dipper, think this over. If you go out there, Bill can find you."

Dipper tried to move around him. Ford blocked his way again.

"Bro bro!" Mabel cried, starting to stand up from the table. Stan did the same.

"We have to help them!" Dipper said.

"You can't Dipper!" Ford said. "Don't you see that!"

"No! I don't!"

With that, he ducked under his Grunkle's arms and took off. Dipper ran through the hall, swung the door open and ran down the porch and into the grass, where he froze. The line where the portal stopped protecting everything was visible. The edges of it were curling up off of the ground, and the grass was starting to yellow outside. Before, it had never been visible, now, it flickered into existence every now and again.

"Dipper!" Ford yelled, emerging from the Mystery Shack. "Wait! Stop! Don't go anywhere!"

Dipper glanced around frantically. He had to help their friends. More than that, he just wanted to be left alone for a while.

Ford would catch up to him in the open with ease. There was only one option left.

The forest.

For a moment, he hesitated. The ground shook as the portal flicked again, rebounding an attack. Dipper supposed that that meant that Bill was around somewhere, but he had no choice. If he went back, they would just put him somewhere where he wouldn't be able to get out.

Turning, he shot past the protective wall and ran.

Behind him, Ford called to Mabel and Stan, telling them to stay put no matter what happened. Then, he followed after Dipper.

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