[ He's still breathing. He's still alive. The spirit could have easily moved Carbink to cream both him and Steven right then and there, but it didn't. It was hesitating, which meant it could be reasoned with - it wasn't so far gone that it only wanted to destroy them. It could still feel.

And they'd burned one away.

Dipper kneels down, too, bowing his head in a complete show of surrender. ]

You've probably been down here for a long time. And even before being stuck down here, you probably went through some awful, horrible things. [ We have, too. ] This world is...cruel, and we never asked to come here. But we can change that. We can fix this, so you can finally be at rest. We can fix this, so no one else has to ever go through what you've been through.

We can make things right, but if you kill us now, we probably won't ever be able to find this place again. We were brought here for a reason, and now I believe that reason...was to help you.

[ There's tears at the corners of his eyes, crystallizing. His pleading is real. For his sake, for this group's sake, for these ghosts' sake. ]