Dipper's world had turned over and fallen apart at the seams all in the span of thirty seconds. But if Mabel could be brave about it, then he could be too.

He clutched the Journal to his chest as he and Mabel listened to Bill make his way up the stairs. Each slow, deliberate step shook the air. Dipper's mind raced with options, but there didn't seem to be many. Jump down from the spots into the house and probably break his leg. Jump down from the stairs and probably break his leg. Fight Bill and probably break Mabel's leg. None of them sounded good.

Before Dipper's mind could land on a good solution, Bill was at the top of the stairs.

Except it wasn't Bill. It was Mabel. Mabel, dressed all in black, her hair loose from her headband and curling around her face and shoulders. Mabel, with slitted, bright yellow eyes.

"I'm here!" Bill-Mabel announced. It was Mabel's voice — Mabel's voice, but layered like Bill's.

She — he, this wasn't Dipper's sister, not really — stepped into the spotlight alcove and did a little twirl. "Do you like it? I wanted to dress the part. You know, of the backstage people. Plus, I think I look good in black, don't you? It accents my eyes."

"I think I'm gonna be sick," said Mabel.

Bill-Mabel's eyes saw her and lit up. "Pine Tree! How clever of you! I love birds. It's so easy to snap their tiny little necks."

Dipper took a protective step in front of his sister.

Bill-Mabel laughed. "You're so endearing, Shooting Star. It's too bad you're not surprised to see me, though. Little Pine Tree ruined it, didn't she? Oh well. I do look like her, don't I? Do you think you would've been fooled?"

"No," Dipper said. "You're not my sister. You're Bill-Mabel."

His eyes narrowed. "MaBill."

Bill-Mabel shrugged. "I prefer Babel." He took a step forward. "Now, if you'll excuse me, you have something I need."

Dipper hugged the Journal tighter.

Babel snapped his fingers. "Yes, that! Just give it here, I'll destroy it, and then I'll leave your sister's body. How's that for a deal?"

"No!" Mabel shouted.

Babel turned his creepy eyes to her. "Your voice is adorable."

"That's it!" Dipper set the Journal onto the ledge next to the chandelier and rushed for Babel. He grabbed his arms and slammed him against the wall, glaring straight into his yellow eyes. "Nobody calls my sister adorable but me."

Babel laughed in his face. "Oh, yes! Oh, do it again, that was wonderful!"

"Dipper, he likes pain! D-don't hurt me!"

Dipper's heart sped up as he realized what he'd done. Everything he did to Babel. . . he was doing to Mabel's body. He couldn't hurt Bill without hurting Mabel.

Suddenly it was rather hard to breathe.

"Realized your dilemma yet?" Babel asked. He twisted and slipped out of Dipper's grasp. Dipper lunged for him, but he danced away across the alcove. "Come get me, Shooting Star."

Dipper saw red. He rushed forward.

Babel dodged him and ran past. By the time Dipper skidded to a stop and turned around, Babel was reaching for the Journal. Mabel hopped over it and reached for Babel's hands with her beak. Babel laughed and turned away from the Journal, instead trying to grasp Mabel with his other hand. "C'mere, little birdie! Let me get my hands around that neck of yours!" Mabel flapped wildly away from him.

Dipper ran for the Journal and swiped it right before Babel could. "Mabel! Get out of here! He'll kill you!"

Mabel fluttered up into the dark recesses of the ceiling. Dipper wasted a precious second watching her and nearly got the Journal taken right of his hands by Babel. He twisted away, his back to the chandelier.

"All I need is that book, kid. Are you really going to risk hurting your sister over it?"

Dipper glanced up towards Mabel, then back down at the Journal. He took a deep breath and gave the answer he knew Mabel would want him to give.

"Yes."

Babel grinned. "So be it."

He lunged forward. Dipper jumped back onto the chandelier, swinging around the column and balancing on the arms on the other side. It was the chandelier for a scene in the musical; Dipper was supposed to release it from the spots so it would swing down and crash into the stage.

And now, he realized with a sinking feeling, he was trapped on it.

If he slipped, he'd plummet down into the house. He couldn't safely climb around it back into the alcove, or Babel would intercept him and take the Journal.

One look at Babel's grinning face told Dipper he knew exactly what predicament they were in.

He started climbing slowly, ever so slowly, onto the chandelier. "Do you know," he said conversationally, "why I chose the name Babel?"

Dipper didn't answer. His mind raced for ideas.

"The ancients once tried to build a tower to heaven," Babel said. "The Tower of Babel, they called it." His foot braced itself on the chandelier. "They were so certain it would work." His hand gripped a candle-holder. "But the higher they got. . ." He pulled himself up. "The more unstable the tower became."

His weight shifted onto the chandelier, and the entire structure shook.

"And the more unstable the tower got. . ." Babel opened his wide, yellow eyes and smiled at Dipper. "The easier it was for the devil. . ."

He reached up and grabbed the rope that held up the chandelier.

"To drag them down."

Babel pulled.

And the chandelier fell.

Dipper only had a second to yell in surprise, a second to grip the column with as much strength as he had, before they crashed into the stage. Dipper's bones rattled as they hit, and for a moment he couldn't feel anything at all. Then his hand slipped, and he fell from the chandelier and onto the set piece they'd smashed.

Babel was laughing. That was all Dipper could hear. He struggled to his feet, pushed back the pain, focused only on the Journal in his arms and the demon in his way.

Babel rushed him.

Dipper ran. He ran in circles around the stage, dodging surprised actors who scrambled off the stage as soon as Babel started shoving them roughly to the ground.

"Dipper! Dipper!" Mabel's high parakeet voice carried to him. He had no idea where she was. He was just running. "Dipper! I'm tired!"

What?

"My body! My body is tired!"

And then he understood.

And he ran faster.

He skidded around a post and ran up the stairs on the set. "Gee, Bill!" he shouted. "Aren't you getting tired down there?"

Babel ran up the stairs after him. "What are you talking about?" he said with a laugh. "I'm a being of pure energy! I never get tired!"

Dipper jumped from the set right as Babel reached him, landed on his feet, and kept running. "But you're not pure energy anymore!"

Babel followed Dipper's actions, wobbling on his feet as he landed.

"You're in my sister's body now!" Dipper yelled. "And she's uncoordinated! She can't run for very long, either! And you know what else?"

Babel let out a high-pitched scream and pushed over a backdrop. Dipper leapt out of the way right before it landed on him and scrambled on top of it so he could see Babel.

"She hasn't gotten a good night's rest for almost a week! It's a miracle you haven't keeled over yet!"

"Ha!" Babel started to climb up after Dipper. "My powers of the mind will always prevail over these weak fleshbags!"

Dipper yawned hugely.

Babel blinked. "What — "

Then he yawned too.

"Ha!" Dipper mimicked. He scoffed down at Babel. "Do you really think you can defeat my sister's physical weakness?"

Babel growled and climbed faster. His foot slipped on a shard of Styrofoam.

Dipper ran up the slope of the backdrop and jumped up onto the set. He shoved the backdrop away, and it fell, taking a chunk of stair banister with it. Babel fell back onto the stage.

"For a mind demon, you're pretty dumb!" Dipper shouted down at him. "Possessing my sister? It might be your mind, but it's her body! And she's exhausted!"

He could see Babel shaking from up here. It seemed to be working.

"You insolent little — you're getting it now!"

"Am I?" Dipper taunted. "I bet you can't even make it up the stairs!"

Babel shrieked in rage and ran for him. He didn't even make it onto the first stair, however — he ran into the banister.

"Agh! That wasn't right there a second ago!"

"Your vision is going! You're shutting down!" Dipper yawned again, for effect.

Babel slumped down onto the stage. "No — no! Get up, you useless meat sticks!" But every time he tried to stand, he wobbled and fell down. His eyes drooped.

"No!"

Dipper left the Journal on the set and ran down the stairs, standing over Babel. Babel kicked at him, but could do nothing to stop Dipper from pinning him down onto the stage.

"You're so tired, aren't you?" Dipper asked in a syrupy voice. "Wouldn't it be nice to just give up?"

"No!" Babel tried to spit in Dipper's face, but only managed to get drool on his chin. "No! You'll never get rid of me!"

"You mean," Dipper said in mock surprise, "that if you fall asleep, you have to leave my sister's body? Oh boy — " He yawned again. " — you better not fall asleep, then."

Babel yawned. "N-no — so. . . tired. . ."

Dipper put his face right up next to Babel's and stared into his half-shut eyes. "Now," he said firmly. "Get out."

With a final jerk, Babel lost consciousness.

Dipper waited a full two seconds to make sure he was really unconscious before scrambling away and yelling, "Mabel, now!"

He couldn't see her, but he thought he felt a rush of air right before her body jerked again. Dipper stared down with bated breath as her eyes fluttered open.

They were brown.

"Mabel!" Tears came to his eyes, and he threw his arms around her.

She coughed. "Ow. Ow. Ow."

He jumped away. "Sorry! I — do you want — "

She feebly reached out a hand, and he took it, helping her into a sitting position.

"I think I'm gonna pass out," she mumbled.

"No, Mabel, stay with me. Stay awake. You can do it. I didn't mean all those things I said to Bill, I was just trying to goad him, you're strong, stay with me."

Mabel laughed, but it came out as a cough. She leaned against Dipper and closed her eyes.

"Stay awake," Dipper pleaded.

"I will," she murmured.

He held her close as a tear ran down his cheek and into her hair.

"Pines!"

Dipper and Mabel both jumped, making Mabel wince in pain. Dipper looked through the fourth wall of the stage and out into the audience, where he'd forgotten any other world existed.

William Bartosic was shaking with fury. The actors around him were staring at the stage in horrified shock. There was a dreary silence as Dipper slowly looked around the stage and realized what he and Babel had done.

The stage was in ruins.

The chandelier had broken apart on impact with the set, which wouldn't have been there if Dipper had dropped the chandelier at the right time. The Styrofoam backdrop was cracked and jagged. Chunks of broken stair banister littered the stage.

"Dipper?"

Her voice was small, but Dipper recognized it immediately, and his heart fell to his shoes. Gabby. She was standing at the front of the house, staring up at him, tears welling up in her eyes.

Mabel pointed a limp finger at Gabby. "Your bird," she said. "Her bird. I left it. . . I left it in the second row."

Her voice was so quiet that Dipper barely made it out. "Okay," he said. He helped Mabel lean against the stair banister, got to his feet, took a deep breath, and addressed the crowd.

"I am — so — sorry. I'll find some way to fix this, I promise. But my sister needs medical attention as soon as possible and I have to help her. Robbie?"

"Right here," came his voice. Dipper couldn't see him through the stage lights.

"Do you have your truck? We need to get Mabel to Ford right now."

Robbie came running up onto the stage. "Yeah, I have my truck." He crossed over to Mabel. "What happened?" He was pale, and his voice shook.

"It's a long story. Can you carry her?"

Robbie bent down and lifted Mabel carefully into his arms.

"Ow," she mumbled. "I think my everything is broken."

Dipper climbed up onto the set, grabbed the Journal, and then ran down into the audience as Robbie followed slowly. He maneuvered past a shell-shocked Mr. Bartosic and dove into the second row of seats, finding the parakeet and scooping it into his free hand right as its eyes fluttered open.

Its eyes were yellow.

"You should've just let me destroy the Journal, Shooting Star," Bill said through the parakeet. "The pain you and your sister went through today is miniscule compared to what will come if you continue on your path."

Dipper stared evenly at the possessed bird. He was so done with this.

He took a breath and smiled pleasantly. "Your voice is adorable."

The bird's eyes widened in anger, and it started tearing at Dipper's finger with its beak. It hurt, but not enough to make him let go. Dipper laughed. "Give it up, Bill, you're a parakeet. You can't hurt me, and you can't hurt my sister. Not anymore."

The parakeet stopped pecking him. "You'll pay for this."

"You've already humiliated yourself. Just go home."

Dipper didn't know there could be murder in a small bird's eyes before, but he saw it now.

"Fine. Goodbye, Shooting Star. I'll see you in your dreams." It was obvious Bill was trying to sound menacing, but the bird's voice was too adorable for it to really be scary.

The bird went limp in Dipper's hand.

Dipper picked his way out of the chairs and over to Gabby, who was looking at him like he was crazy.

"Is that my bird?" she asked slowly. "Were you talking to it?"

Dipper didn't know how to respond to that, so he just held it out to her. "Here. Mabel had to — borrow it. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I have to go."

He made sure the bird was safely in Gabby's hands before turning and sprinting after Robbie.

He stopped, though, at the door to the theater, and turned back. His heart seared with guilt as he saw the wrecked stage and the actors who stood and gaped at their ruined world.

But he couldn't worry about that right now. Mabel was what mattered right now. Mabel was what had always mattered, even if Dipper couldn't always see it.

He turned and went to his sister's side.