"Ah."

Bill outstretched his hand, looking through the transparent material in the darkness. Pathetic, really. He's waited a whole year after being recovered, feeling rather miniscule over his ending. How embarrassing. Him, a dream demon, defeated by a small memory gun of all things.

At least the humans were just as pathetic as he was. They were so entranced in losing their beloved Stan that they forgot that bringing him back would, in turn, bring back Bill. He quickly detached himself from the mind of the worthless old man, now hovering in the spaces between reality. The dimensional crack was still there, but his form was so weakened that he couldn't dare to risk taking over a town. His demon friends also were defeated, so at least he wasn't alone in a shameful appearance. They'd return, soon.

His powers were almost entirely back, but he'd need a new plan. All of the citizens were known to his tricks and plans, he couldn't just strike a deal with any of them. And sure, he could leave through the rift, but deals gave power, certainty. Without that stupid equation, nevertheless, he couldn't conquer anything but Gravity Falls. The old geezer that had that darn equation left, on an adventure with his brother. It would have been a relief to have them gone, they were major thorns in his side, but one of them held his only escape.

Dipper would never even dare to search for that equation, so that wasn't an option. Mabel was still in her boy phase, she was only 13, that wouldn't be over for awhile. Wendy herself was a clever teenager, but that came in quick brute force and fighting, not in meticulous equations. And that type of equation could only be found by an adult, he doubted any child could find it. It'd be best to build the rest of his strength before even revealing he was still alive.

Bill mindlessly swiped through images of the crack, exploring the town of Gravity Falls. Another world opened to it a few months back, he had noticed that before, but didn't really care. In fact, he was jealous. They were monsters, as he saw by the King, being a tall, broad goat man with a beard and horns. They were born with magic, though, not by the madness that demons were created from, effectively making them able to bypass the barrier. Annoying. Bill didn't pay attention to them, they served him no purpose. He saw they had a Royal Scientist, and he had been excited for a small period of time when they first escaped, but discovered she had no expertise in quantum physics. She was an engineer and biologist. Which, of course, only made Bill's return more difficult. It was hard to come by scientists as it was, or anyone even remotely smart enough to get to the levels of a scientist nowadays.

Stanford, within himself, was practically a blessing. Demons were creatures of power, not logic. Any science field always would fly over their heads, so Bill could never hope to even try and figure out an equation. And since he would forever be sealed to the small town of Gravity Falls, he couldn't go out and hunt down a scientist from a laboratory, he needed them to come to him. That was naturally a problem within itself, the town was desolate of any lures for scientists. The chances of one arriving, even within the next hundred years, was so small it'd be easier to just give up. Yet he persisted.

Maybe he could convince Dipper and Mabel to get the old geezer back before the heart attack age. The guy had another solid thirty years at the very least, that'd be plenty of time. All he'd have to do is plant some sort of problem that'd require a quantum physicist, get them to bring Sixer in person. Then Bill could exit, force him to make a deal with a hostage or something. That could work.

Now, where were they now?

He swiped his view again, narrowing in on the twins. Spending time with the monster scientist. What was her name? He called her glasses. Glasses was sitting with Shooting Star, eagerly discussing their favorite shows. Looks like they got along quite well. Bill would have to learn who liked who, but that was easily done.

Now, what kind of equation should he leave? Oh, he knew. Something that'd force them to need help. Break one of the machines, make a part only repairable by having a certain knowledge set. Seal it off in a similar fashion to the boarder entrapping Bill. So Sixer will have no choice but to come back.

Perfect.

Alphys sighed, pulling back from the machine. Toby Fox, it was unfixable. She didn't know what happened to it, but it was as if something just warped inside of the machine. Nothing worked anymore. The worst part was this machine was Mettaton's charging station, it took months to build. He would be out of commission in a day if it wasn't fixed.

"He won't die, right?" Mabel asked.

Alphys glanced over at the teenager, watching her bounce with anxiety. The machine's been broken since yesterday, and nothing seems to be helping. No amount of trial and error amounted to anything, the science was simply different than her field.

Mabel was a nice friend, easily becoming friends with many of the monsters. Alphys and her shared a passion for shows and girly things, so they became good friends. Mabel often came to her for romance trouble, since she and Undyne had a steady relationship, and Dipper often came to be her lab assistant. They came in today to check the situation on the machine, worried about the robot they've come to see as a friend.

"No, he won't," Alphys muttered, "It'll just trap him in his body, or he'll have to go back to being a ghost. But I can't figure out what's even wrong with it. I might have to build a whole new machine."

"I can help!" Dipper said.

"That'd be great, but still, it'll really delay Mettaton's show, and I know Pacifica was really excited to be on it..."

Alphys crossed her arms. It'd set back her own schedule as well. She wouldn't be able to help Papyrus with the restaurant, either. Well, shoot. She had to at least figure out why the machine broke.

"Should we call Grunkle Ford?" Dipper asked, picking at the large lab coat that dragged on the floor behind the boy.

"No, no, he's on his trip, I don't want to... to bother him," Alphys said, "I know someone else. He might be able to fix it."

"Someone else?" Mabel asked.

~~~~~~

"Heya."

Dipper peaked out from around Alphys, staring at the short skeleton monster before offering a wave. He knew Sans, he was Papyrus' older brother. A bit odd, considering their height, but it made sense. Sans once acted as Dippers guardian when Dipper couldn't play Dungeons, Dungeons, and more Dungeons without one at a convention, so he was pretty cool.

"Thanks for coming, Sans," Alphys breathed, pushing open the door.

"Sup," Sans said, winking at them.

"Sans? I didn't know you knew science!" Mabel said.

"Eh, used to be a scientist. Not really one anymore" Sans stepped inside, shutting the door behind him. "And tibia honest, I was just an assistant."

Alphys quickly ushered him to the machine the moment he finished. It was brought out into the middle of the room, lights occasionally glitching from the problem. Mabel held Waddles, twisting back and forth on her feet as she stared at the problem.

"I'm not sure what's wrong with it!" Alphys said nervously, starting to pace back and forth. "I mean, it worked fine, but suddenly the console is broken! It doesn't transfer the data, so it just charges the machine but it doesn't bring the power to Mettaton's battery! And -"

"Done."

The three people's jaws dropped as Sans stood back up, hitting the side of the machine. Finally did it spark to life, jolting with power.

"Really?" Alphys asked.

Sans nodded, pulling away and scratching the back of his neck. "Yeah. For some weird reason your console created a miniature... I guess barrier is the right word. It basically warps the power into it and kept it there, I dunno how you even managed to get that to happen, that's some quantum physics stuff right there. It was an easy fix."

"Oh thank Toby, I didn't want to - I mean - we almost -"

"Alph, it's fine, ya can always call me if this happens again. It's a real easy fix. Once you know the equation you just fill in the numbers for the situation. It's kinda... it's real similar to the one around the town, the one your Grunkes warned me about. Maybe Gravity Falls just has a habit of creating those."

Dipper winced at the reminder of last summer. He knew his Grunkles had a conversation with the King of monsters when they arrived, no doubt about the warnings put in place. Bill was gone, yes, but they still had to be careful, and make sure monsters knew about the weirdness force field, about their history. To never trust demons.

With a sigh, he pushed back his hat. "Maybe," Dipper muttered.

He ignored the bad feeling in his gut. Bill was dead. It'd be fine.