Song: Unsteady by Ambassadors

I hope you enjoyed that fluffy chapter. Now I have no need to write anymore fluffy chapters.
Back downhill here we go.

Everyone, say goodbye to the canon Transcendence AU storyline! We're not following that thing anymore!

Da chapter:
(WHAAAAT?' DIPPER'S POV?!)

It was stupid really. He had known that Mabel and Ford had been there watching two days ago. He should have just let Lily go and not bothered. Instead he'd been an idiot and now Mabel was acting pushy and Ford seemed to keep an even closer eye on him. At least Stan acted the same, which wasn't saying much.

They still didn't let him see anyone else, and didn't let him go around without one of them. Honestly, it wasn't that bad, but he was certainly starting to get bored. He never paid attention to how boring a place could be when your family didn't let you do anything.

Not that he blamed them. They certainly had their own reasons.

Ford still avoided him, he expected that. When they ran into each other, neither would say anything unless someone else spoke up. Mabel was still Mabel, she tried to help them get along, but she couldn't do much.

So that led Dipper to where he currently was, sitting on the stairs to the attic and trying as hard as he could to ignore the pull of another summons. Even if he didn't want to answer it, some part of him did, it felt like his very being was being yanked to it. It was getting harder to ignore.

He'd ignored quite a few, as opposed what Ford thought. But most of the people trying either messed up the circle or where so far away that they didn't really bother him. So he knew he didn't have to answer them.

But this summons wasn't just stronger then most, it seemed much closer. Even closer than the summon that had led him to saving Lily--he was sure that small group would never try anything ever again--and that was what worried him. Who could be so near and try to summon him? And how could he have been so stupid to let his circle become fairly common knowledge?

Dipper could always use his partial omnipotence to simply see who it was, or what might happen, but digging through all that information that was suddenly at his fingertips always left him feeling overwhelmed. He had no idea how Bill had ever been able to handle it, even if the Dorito had been millions of years older.

He sucked in a breath as the summons yanked on him again. Stronger that time. He didn't even know how that was possible. Usually be just knew someone wanted to summon him, he'd never actually felt one pull at him. Except that one time in Piedmont, but he would rather not bring any of those memories to surface.

Sighing, he finally gave up and let himself be yanked, rather roughly, to whoever his circle had been drawn by.

Dipper was certainly surprised when he found himself on the second floor of the lab under the Mystery Shack, looking at Ford, who sat on the outside of the circle before him. It also appeared that a Snickers bar had been used to summon him.

"How did you know that would work?" Dipper asked, motioning to the candy on the floor. It wasn't an important question, but he couldn't help it.

"Mabel accidentally summoned you one time." Ford said. At Dipper's imploring look, he continued. "I wouldn't expect her to use anything other. Would you?"

Dipper couldn't really say that Ford didn't have a point there. It was a good guess, and he'd turned out correct.

"So, what do you want?" Dipper asked.

"To ask some questions, that's all."

"And here I was, starting to believe that you were beginning to trust me." He glared at Ford. "I should have known better, really. You can't let go of the past, can you?"

"It's not the past, it's the future. I'm making sure nothing happens."

"Well, you've done a great job so far."

Ford sighed, pulling out the fourth journal he had started. "Dipper, we're still missing the other journals after Bill took them. I need them back. We also need a way to get you back to normal."

Wait, get him back to normal? Dipper actually had to hold in a laugh at that. At the look Ford have him though, he must have failed.

"Look, Sixer, you can't get me back to how I was, okay? It's too late for that, and it's not like it would suddenly make you trust me again or anything so just give it up. You're just trying to get my hopes up so I'll give you answers."

Ford looked at him for a few moments. Dipper glared, placing his feet on the ground, refusing to float. Maybe if Ford could understand that Dipper wasn't everything he thought he was, he could get over whatever was bothering him.

"You don't like being a dream demon, do you?" Dipper started at the unexpected question, trying to keep a straight face.

"What kind of question is that?" He snapped. "Just ask whatever questions you wanted to ask and get it over with."

"How do you know that that wasn't one of the questions I wanted to ask?" Ford said, looking like he was enjoying how annoyed Dipper had become.

Risking it, Dipper momentarily opened up his mind to all the knowledge he could have, and scrambled to find an answer. There it was! He grasped at it.

"You wanted to know about the journals, and wanted to know a few other things as well, you didn't summon me to ask personal questions."

"You're getting better at that." Ford remarked, opening the journal up to a page that had questions written on it.

Dipper was confused. How had Ford known that he had been looking for an answer? Maybe he'd stood there too long, trying to find it, and Ford had figured it out.

Trying not to scowl, Dipper moved forward to sit beside Ford. He'd prefer to look at the questions written and think before answering. "Just ask the questions already and--"

He bumped into an invisible wall. Looking down, he noticed that he had come to the edge of his circle. That was strange, most of time the barrier there was easy to break, sometimes nearly nonexistent. When he pushed on this one, it was completely immobile.

"Now how did you do that?" He asked. "You summoned me with a Snickers bar, and yet the barrier here is stronger than the others."

Maybe the other times he had just had more power or something. This barrier was probably just as strong as the others and he was just too weak at the moment. He hated the idea that Ford  had the ability to summon him with a weak object and hold him there with ease.

"You're still a new demon, Dipper." Ford said, writing something in the journal. "You can't get away with everything. And you aren't as powerful as Bill yet, you can't break out."

"Yet."

"What?" Ford said, looking up.

"You said yet."

"So I did." He looked back down.

Dipper kept his mouth closed. Obviously, Ford knew a lot more about this than he did yet, so he could as well just go with it and stop questioning it. Once he got a hold of his powers though, he wouldn't let Ford, or anyone, know more than him or hold him down. What is Mabel ever needed help and he couldn't get to her?

"Your questions?" He huffed, sitting himself down and floating a few inches off the ground. His clothes brushed the ground every so often.

"Dipper, you understand that I'm trying to help you, right?"

"What. Are. You're. Questions."

Ford sighed, looking back down. "Look, I'll let you out, okay? But you have to promise that you won't run off."

"So a deal is what you want."

"Yes, that." Ford seemed to not like that idea, and Dipper knew that making deals would always bother his Great Uncle.

"I don't leave and you get your answers. But what do I get?"

Ford pulled out another Snickers bar.

"You think I'll make a deal over that? I'm not stupid, that's terrible!" Dipper laughed.

"When was the last time you ate something then?" Ford said, looking Dipper evenly in the eyes even as the demon found himself at a loss for words. "That's what I thought."

Ford tossed him the Snickers bar, then reached out to shake Dipper's hand. A flash a blue flame and suddenly Dipper knew that the little barrier was down. He sat the candy down and floated to the inside edge of the circle, waiting for Ford to ask him something.

Ford raised an eye when Dipper ignored the food and stayed inside the summoning circle. Dipper hoped that it was worth it and that Ford would finally figure out that he wasn't half bad.

"So," Ford began, "First off, exactly how old are you? I know that time runs differently in the Nightmare Realm."

"264. Still young for a demon." Dipper said without a moments hesitation. He honestly had no idea where that answer had come from, or if it was even correct.

"Okay, and even with all that time, you haven't figured out your powers yet?"

"It isn't like I don't know them." Dipper said. "I've just never worried about them, I didn't exactly have someone teaching me everything. And again, I'm still young for a demon, you know."

Ford muttered as he scrawled something else into the journal. He looked up when he had finished. "And I've seen some of those little sheep that show up when you call them, what are they?"

"They aren't sheep." He said. "They're demons too, could you not tell from their glowing eyes, horns, and wings? Next question."

"Where do they come from?"

"The Nightmare Realm. Where else exactly do you think I would find them?" Dipper said, reaching back and finally taking a bite of the Snickers bar.

"Where are they now?" Ford said, an edge of worry creeping into his voice.

Dipper focused momentarily. Sometimes he could tell where they where. The flock wasn't hard to find. "Still the Nightmare Realm, why is this so important?"

"Dipper. You said they come from the Nightmare Realm, and you say that that's where they are now." Dipper nodded, confused by the way Ford was being so serious. Then he understood.

Sitting up straight, he looked at Ford. "Wait, how did I get them here? I can't pull things over from there, can I?"

Ford shook his head. "Maybe eventually, but not right now, you don't have enough experience."

"But then how--"

"You're the one with all of Bill's abilities! You could know anything! Think about it!" Ford snapped, he had stopped writing in the journal, closing it with a snap.

Dipper did as Ford said. He had never had to search for answers this often. Every time he did, he always remembered a little more of everything. Still, he searched for the answer. Finally he found it, buried deep. They weren't supposed to know the answer yet.

It was laid out that they weren't supposed to know, but Dipper decided that he couldn't risk it. He knew he ran the risk of messing something up, but he needed to know. He reached out and grabbed the answer, taking care to remember it.

He opened his eyes, dizzy, how long and he taken? Ford was gazing at him intently, waiting. Waiting for good news so they could fix the issue and carry on with their lives.

"There's a leak into this world."

"What?"

"You heard me! When the rift closed, it didn't deal completely! Something else happened that day and that's why the world has changed so much. Why Gravity Falls doesn't hold weirdness in anymore, that barrier is gone too."

"How did you knows about the barrier around Gravity Falls?" Ford said.

"I don't know!" He said, standing up, flapping his wings a few times to raise up a little more. "But we need to fix this! I don't know what might find its way back here!"

"That's how you got here, isn't it?" Ford asked. "You found a leak and slipped through, then didn't even bother to tell anyone about it!"

Dipper frowned. Had he? He couldn't remember. He was sure that he had been summoned straight from the Nightmare Realm to Piedmont. He had been so confused that he had lost it, but what if Ford was right and he had found his own way back?

Ford growled at him. "It doesn't matter. Dipper, if there's a way to the Nightmare Realm, and that's where the journals are, I can get them myself. I don't have to make a deal with you to find them."

"What? No! That's to dangerous! You could completely ruin everything! The rift could open again!" Dipper said.

Ford stood, tucking the journal away. Dipper moved to block him but Ford walked through him. Wait, what? He wasn't in the Mindscape, what was going on?

"There's a barrier around this floor." Ford said. He turned around, looking right through Dipper like he couldn't see him. "You can exit here. I'm going to find the journals, and then we can try to reverse whatever has happened to you."

Ford turned and left. Dipper shouted in outrage and reached for him, but once again he moved through him. Ford didn't even flinch. So it was true, he was in the Mindscape. But he wasn't, was he? Nothing was gray and everything felt normal.

Unless Ford had summoned him with the intent of trapping him and left some type of barrier up to weaken him. How had he not noticed? Had he been slowly fading from view the entire time? He should have noticed!

He slammed a hand on the closed door, but something pushed him away from it, flinging him back nearly to the center of the room.

Growling, he flung himself at it again. There had to be a way to break the barrier so he could get out. Ford could put Mabel in danger by trying what he was about to try. Not only that, but everyone else as well. The barrier flung him back again.

He kept trying, even as he felt the hours slip away. It was morning when he had been trapped, he could tell the sun would be going down. It was dusk. He needed to get out. He needed to get out.

They needed to stop. Everything needed to stop. He couldn't let Ford go through with his plan, he had to stop him. Stop Ford from going through with his plan. Stop Stan from helping Ford. Stop Mabel from helping them. Stop everyone. They had all messed up.

He launched himself at the barrier again, it flung him away. Tossed him away like a cat swatting away a fly. Enough.

He felt different. Was he changing shape? Why did he feel different? Did he only have one eye? He was sure he had two, didn't he? Did he?

Since when had he had thin little black arms like Bill? Where had his legs gone? There they were, they looked like his arms. Was he yellow? He had always been, why was that so surprising? He still had wings, hadn't he always had those as well? Had he always been like this?

It didn't matter, the barrier. He needed to break the barrier trapping him, where was he? He was somewhere. He needed to go somewhere else. To stop someone, who? Ford or Sixer? Stan or Fez? Shooting Star or Mizar? Who was who and why did they all had so many names?

Why did he have so many names? He thought his name was Dipper, but that certainly didn't seem correct. Was it Alcor, Alcor the DreamBender? No, neither name was complete, that was why he had so many names.

Stopping Ford, that's right. He had to stop Sixer from opening the rift again on accident. Mizar would end up getting hurt from that, so would her family. Wait, Mabel didn't have a family yet.

That didn't matter. He just had to escape and stop them, find them. He needed to save them from opening up the Nightmare Realm. Was that really that bad though?

No, focus. He didn't like this new form, it had changed other than how he looked. He knew too many things. So many thing. Lots of things.

He knew how to get rid of the barrier trapping him, he could help them! All of them! But how could he help all of them if he was hurting others like him? Why did nothing make sense anymore?

Why did he know so much? He had always tried to never know too much as a demon, he didn't want to be omniscient, Bill had been like that. He didn't want to look like that demon, but he didn't look human anymore, he knew it.

He still had to stop them. But he knew everything. Everything. The barrier shattered.

*Waves goodbye to Dipper's sanity*
This is what happens when you suddenly know everything, people. As Alcor demonstrates, it isn't very fun.

I'm sure he'll eventually be fine. Probably.
If he can keep everyone's names straight and fix how he looks now. Ford isn't going to like him with how he is now.

Heheh. This was a fun chapter to write.

So yep.
Toodles!
~Aza