Bill's POV

Shooting Star told me that her parents weren't home right now so it was safe for a while. She gave me a tour of the house and where everything was. Human houses were a lot different then where I had lived, which had only been two places: the Nightmare Realm and a floating castle. She seemed happy to let me here, or maybe she was trying to get on my good side so I didn't beat her brother to a bloody pulp. Who knew, really?

Once we were done with the tour, Shooting Star sat me down at a table in the dining room. "You want something to eat? Searching through 'time and space' sure to have made you hungry?"

Honestly, I wasn't hungry, I never needed to eat. I only ate that one time with Arrow and that was to make her happy about having a feast. I lied anyways. "Uh, sure." I narrowed my eye and glared at her as soon as she turned away. I was in the house of the enemy. Surely this was frowned upon? Or was I following that whole 'keep your friends close and your enemies closer' rule?

Shooting Star turned around with a bag of Doritos. (Yes, I did the thing, I know, hehe) She sat down at the table with me awkwardly and looked around. "Sorry about my brother. He is being rude," her gaze hardened, "but you were being a little weird with him."

I rolled my eye. "Oh well, your brother's praise is not on my bucket list." I sighed and she opened the bag.

"What's with the eye patch? Are you, like, cosplaying as a pirate or something?" She ate one of the chips and offered to me. Reluctantly, I took one out and held it for a moment.

"No... It's hard to explain." I wasn't going to tell them about who I was or else I'd never be able to get them to hand Arrow over.

Shooting Star studied me. "Is it a medical condition?" She continued to ask questions.

"Sure." I replied bluntly and ate the Dorito. It did actually taste good.

Shooting Star sighed and called out, "Dipper!"

Pine Tree shouted back from his room. "What?!"

"Come and hang with me, bro!"

Pine Tree was silent before he marched out huffily. "I don't want to hang out with this guy who was strangling my wrists." He spat.

Shooting Star shrugged. "I think he's just hungry and tired, Dipping Sauce, come and be a good friend."

Pine Tree took a deep and irritated breath before stomping over and sitting in the chair next to me since Shooting Star was sitting in the only chair across from me.

I could see the agitation in his eyes and it made me laugh. Pine Tree may have not been my cup of tea, but seeing him being driven crazy was definitely entertaining. I flashed a smile at him and he just looked away. I shrugged and took another Dorito. "So," I started, "how'd you and Eleanor meet?"

Pine Tree crossed his arms. "Here, in California."

"I ask how not where." I growled.

Pine Tree seemed instantly intimidated and straightened up. "Well, it is kind of a weird story..."

Shooting Star scooted closer. "Yeah, its crazy."

Pine Tree shook his head at Shooting Star's comment and continued. "When I was twelve when I went up to Gravity Falls for the summer, a girl came up to me when I was going to go hammer up signs."

I grew confused. I thought she changed the past so she never went? I blinked and listened to him.

"She saw me and started crying and hugged me, saying that I was ok and stuff - it was really weird. She was all cut up and bloody like she had been through a war. I was totally confused and she was just acting like she was so happy to see me, though I've never seen her before." Pine Tree didn't notice my face go white.

 "She gave me some advice - stuff I don't know how she had known - and gave me this hat she was wearing because I liked it. She was really off key. The girl kissed my forehead and told me that if I met a girl named Eleanor when I returned to Cali that I should say hi, because Eleanor would appreciate it. It was bizarre and she ran away without telling me anything after that. I actually still have the hat." Pine Tree smiled at the memory. "So, when I came back at the end of the summer, I went to school and there was a girl there too, I'd never actually seen her before - but it was Eleanor. I went up and said hi and she smiled all bright and happy and we became friends after that. It was the strangest thing, ever."

I clenched my hands into tight fists and my knuckles turned white. No. Arrow was the reason that Pine Tree and this-timeline-Arrow got together. "You mean...- was she wearing a shirt with an arrow on it?"

Pine Tree thought for a moment. "Yeah, actually, how'd you know?"

I took a shaky breath. "Can I see the hat?"

Pine Tree leaned away, baffled. "It's kind of important to me. I don't-"

"Please." I said through gritted teeth.

Pine Tree slowly rose to his feet and went in his room to grab it. When he came back out, he was holding it. "It was totally destroyed and was just a mess, but I kept it hidden and took it home. I don't know...I didn't want to clean it 'cause it feels..." Pine Tree seemed slightly confused, "special." He finished.

Gingerly, I took the hat and held it by the bill. It wasn't white, more like light brown, and on one side of the hat there was now old and dried up blood spattered along it. I bit my bottom lip, feeling a twinge of regret for doing what I had done. I had refused to revive him, because I knew that Arrow would have gotten back together with him if he were alive. Since he was dead then, there wasn't anything in the way. I brushed my finger over the bloody side, my hand trembling. I couldn't believe I had killed him...

I looked up at Pine Tree. His brown eyes were confused and concerned. But he was alive, like Arrow had wanted. Maybe it was better that he was alive now so I didn't have to feel regret. "I-um..." I cleared my throat, "sorry. I was just reminiscing a few things." I handed the hat back to him hastily and he took it back. "Why-why didn't you wash it? There's blood all over it." I said in a low and mournful voice.

"I wanted to keep it as the girl had given it to me." He said slowly.

There was something sickening about how he was holding the hat he had died in, covered in his blood. If he were to do DNA testing on it, it would show up as him. Pine Tree would have to never find out that I had murdered him. Ever. Even the faint idea of it is unsettling and disturbing. I nodded and clasped my hands together. "Thanks for showing me..." I said unsteadily.

Pine Tree looked me over once before returning to his room to put the hat back up.

"What was that about?" Shooting Star whispered.

"What was what?" I murmured in return.

"You acted like that hat was symbolic to you." She said.

I shrugged and acted like it was nothing, even though it wasn't. "I think I might have known that girl who gave him the hat."

Shooting Star blinked, confused. "How?"

I decided to lie, knowing that the question would come up sometime soon. "Because I lived in Gravity Falls." That was easier than saying, 'I was created before the existence of your universe and before I could play with you humans like marionette puppets' because I didn't think that could come off as normal.

Shooting Star nodded. "Oh, that makes more sense. All the people there are boring."

I chuckled to myself at her incompetence. "Oh, really?"

She nodded again. "Yeah."

"What about your Uncle Stanley?"

"Stanley?"

I inhaled sharply at my mistake. "I meant Stanford, Stanford." I didn't want to say Ford's name anyways....

"Oh...he's normal and boring too. Wait, how'd you know about him?" She raised an eyebrow.

"I lived in Gravity Falls, remember?"

Shooting Star thought for a moment. "It was probably the most boring summer I had ever experienced."

"Did you find any new...family members?" I asked slowly.

Shooting Star shook her head and blinked. "No..."

I waved a hand at her. "Never mind."

Pine Tree came back out. "So, what's your story? You on drugs or something, because Eleanor says she had never seen you before."

I cringed when he said it aloud. "It's-it's...I can't explain it. You guys would never understand - I promise you that."

Pine Tree scrunched up his nose. "Why? Maybe you've got the wrong girl?"

I slammed my fist onto the table and the twins both jumped. "No! I don't have the wrong girl! I know who that is: Eleanor Gennings." I hurt to know in this world we weren't 'married' or even together. I hurt like a dagger to the heart. I clenched and unclenched my hands irately. "Look, you just don't know what happened before. It's complicated. You just have to believe me."

"Eleanor doesn't remember you, man." Pine Tree insisted. "In fact, I think you terrified her. She's coming over tomorrow so you can reintroduce yourself, but I'm with her. Not you."

I took a deep breath to control my anger. "Fine, Pine- I mean - Dipper..."

"Why do you keep calling me Pine Tree?" He asked annoyed.

"Again, that's a long story. Let's just say...I used to know you too." I slouched in my chair and rested my head in my hands. I never would have guessed that a human girl would drive me this crazy or make me go to such lengths for her heart. She stole my heart and now I was trying to get her back with it.

Shooting Star and Pine Tree exchanged a concerned glance.

"I think you need to rest..." She said, standing up and directing me to the guest bedroom. "Lock it from the inside so my parents don't wander in when they return. Maybe you'll feel better tomorrow..."

I was actually pretty tired from making the portal and then actually using it. I let Shooting Star lead me to the room and Pine Tree, slightly baffled, waved bye. Shooting Star closed the door behind her and I walked up to the bed, flopping down on it. I'd eventually win her back... It was just going to take longer than I thought.....