Memories through the Mindscape
Bill/Fem! Danny
By Allietheepic7
The day everything changed was the day Bill Cipher found a glowing ball of ectoplasm on the edge of the Nightmare Realm.
How weird. Bill floated around the bright green sphere that contrasted harshly with the blacks, and reds, and the burning-flesh-colors of the background. Ghost—and ectoplasm—couldn't survive for long in the Nightmare Realm, just as demons couldn't survive in the Ghost Zone (what a stupid name!). Ectoplasm burned demons and disrupted their ablities while demonic powers dissolved ghosts. So Bill had no idea how this thing had gotten here.
He placed a hand on the ball and it pulsed like a flesh bag's heartbeat. Bill giggled as the limb began to sizzle from the ectoplasm and removed it, trying to peer inside. There was something humanoid in it, still alive if the pulsing meant anything. As he watched, a small piece of the sphere broke off and dissolved.
It was probably some ghost who did something inexcusable in the eye of the Observants (get it? Because they only have one—never mind.). They did that sometimes as a form of execution—place a ghost in a few years supply of ectoplasm and toss them in the Nightmare Realm to rot—though as far as Bill's extensive knowledge knew, they had stopped doing that in the early 900s, by human years. Oh, well. Not like it mattered, really.
As Bill turned to leave, he felt a presence. It wasn't demonic—he was Bill Cipher after all, no demon could seek up on him. And demons couldn't sense ghosts so it couldn't be Glow Bug over there. It almost felt like…
…a sleeping human.
The corners of Bill's eye turned up in the triangle's version of a smirk. There was no way even he could feel a sleeping human, deep in their Mindscape, from here unless… He turned back to the ectoplasmic sphere. It was a good bit bigger than him in his normal form. Just big enough to fit a human curled up into a ball.
How fantastic! He tittered to himself as he circled the ball again. While humans could survive in the Zone for a while, they couldn't exactly—what's the word? Oh, yes—breathe pure ectoplasm. Perhaps it's some sort of dream ghost? No, he still wouldn't be able to sense it then.
Curious, Bill faded into the not-ghost's Mindscape.
Its Mindscape was weirdly…normal. Bill wasn't sure what to expect—maybe some bloody lair with human meat hanging off hooks. Or even the Ghost Zone, all empty space and doors. Not some human dwelling with what looked like an alien space ship perched dangerously on the top. If it ever fell off, it could kill some people.
Not such a bad design detail after all then.
Bill phased through the front door. The house was eerily quiet, not that Bill minded, and the grey monotone of the 'scape did nothing to abate the creepiness. Bill shivered with joy.
He floated into what humans call the "living room" and found the occupant of the ecto-bubble. She looked human enough (at least Bill thought it was female. That one incident with Pyronica stuck out in his mind), with all her limbs and non-scaly, pale skin, and a full head of black and white hair that trailed down to her waist. But she was surrounded by a pure white aura. Plus, she was sitting about a foot in the air off the human butt rester.
"Hey there, Glow Bug!" Her head snapped around so fast, it cracked. Bill cackled, deleted. Oh, her weirdly colored eyes—one light blue, the other ecto-green—were filled with shock and fear, though those emotions quickly faded into wariness. He floated up so they could be eye to eyes.
"Oh, a demon." She was trying hard to sound indifferent, Bill could tell. But she couldn't hide the caution in her voice…or the curiosity. Bill would have smirked if he had a mouth. "Interesting. Your kind have been trying to get into my capsule for years, but you're the first to come here."
"That's because I'm no normal demon, sweetheart! The name's Bill Cipher, dream demon!" He held out his hand in an invitation to shake it.
She eyed the offered limb but kept her arms wrapped around her legs. "Phantom. Danny Fenton-Phantom, halfa."
Bill appraised her, slightly impressed though he'd never admit it. While halfas were technically possible for both ghosts and demons, they were near impossible to make. No immortal actually wanted to make one with a human since it was going to die almost immediately, and even if they did, it was extremely unlikely to happen. So Glow Bug was probably created scientifically.
He looked around the room. It was the normal meat sack design—seriously, did they have no creativity?—but sometimes the walls would turn green and swirly. On the entertainment box screen, two human children were laughing silently along with a younger version of Glow Bug with less unusual features. Bill flew close the glass and tapped it. "Aw, you were pretty cute back then…you know, for a bag of flesh, blood, and squishy internal organs."
"Well, that's one way to put it," she said drily. Calmly, Danny flipped upside down and sat on the ceiling. "Do you have a reason for invading my Mindscape?"
"Nope!" Bill cheerfully popped the 'p' at the end of the word. "I just got curious about what a ghost could do to get banished into this hellhole to gradually dissolve to death! It takes a lot to piss off the eyestalks enough to warrant a slow execution!"
"Ah…do they do this often?"
"Not as often as they used too, the stupid one-eyed pencil pushers. I'd love to replace all their cores with processed meat! Ha!"
Danny looked vaguely ill. "That's disgusting."
Bill shrugged. He hated people who though they had authority over him. Especially Time Baby. Fuck that kid! "So what'd ya do? You had to do something. No matter how moronic they are, the Observers don't execute someone without a reason."
Sighing, she laid back on the ceiling. "I was supposed to destroy the world. I'm not sure how they figured a 14 year old would do that, but I didn't exactly get a chance to ask before they threw my ass on trial and into this horrible place—no offence."
Bill's eye widened. Fourteen was young, even for humans. What were those annoying green beans thinking!? "None taken. Hell's hell, even for demons. Why else would we always be trying to get out of here?"
"You have a point."
"No, I have three. Ha! Triangle humor!" She laughed and Bill was feeling fairly proud of himself when he felt that Gideon kid summoning him. An irrational annoyance swelled and was swiftly crushed. "I got to get going, Glow Bug, but I'll be back~! Remember, reality's an illusion, the universe is a hologram, buy gold, byyyyyyeeeeeeee!"
D/_\P
Bill wasn't angry anymore when he went to visit Danny after he "surrendered" to Pine Tree and Shooting Star. Sure, it was a bit degrading that a couple of human children made him fall through on a deal, but holding grudges was for lesser demons. And he'd totally get revenge on them later, so whatever.
"I'm back~!" Bill practically sang as he materialized on Danny's head. He jumped down to her shoulder and prodded her cheek. "How's my favorite halfa? Did ya miss me? Admit it, you missed me."
"Like a brain misses a tumor," she said in a monotone, but Bill noticed the hint of a smile.
"Glow Bug, you flatterer! Oh, I think I'm blushing!" he pretended to swoon and earned a small snicker. "So, how's it hanging?" A small snap later and Danny was sporting a wonderful new necklace.
Danny phased the noose off. "I'm just…reminiscing." She glanced at the television, which was paused on a red-headed girl. "It's all I really do anymore."
"Well, that sounds boring. Meanwhile, I invaded a senior citizen's mind and beat up a couple of kids!"
Her head snapped around and she stared incredulously. "What!?"
"Oh relax! We were in the old man's Mindscape, they weren't hurt…a lot. Physically. Mentally is debatable, but who needs sanity? Besides, they managed to "defeat" me. I let them win, of course."
She snorted. "Of course you did, you crazy megalomaniac. Why were you invading some guy's head?"
"It was a job. This fake physic with a horrible accent made a deal with me. If I got the code to Fez's safe, Gideon would help me with a project I have. But since Pine Tree, Shooting Star, and Question Mark stopped me, I'm going to have to think of something else."
"I'm just going to assume you give everyone vague and annoying nicknames."
Bill tried to pout, but as usual forgot he had no mouth. "They're not nicknames," he whined. "They're soul names. Humans rarely name their spawn accurately, but the names I give people reflect who they are." As Bill spoke, he floated towards the TV. "Hey, change this to when you were banished. I wanna see!"
"No. I only keep my good memories in the TV. If you want to see the bad ones, you have to look for them."
"Yay! Treasure hunt!" Bill flew to the middle of the room and looked around. "If I was a traumatizing memory, where would I hide…?"
There was a random box in the corner and Bill decided that was a good enough place to start. He opened it and—
"I am the Box Ghost!"
SLAM! "What was that!?" he asked.
"Did I forget to mention that I created copies of every ghost I've ever met to guard my memories? The stronger they are, they worse the memory."
D/_\P
"Viva la revolution!"
"AHH! GHOST WEINERS!"
D/_\P
"Don't you have any demons friends to bother?" Glow Bug asked, reading a book this time. This was new; in all his visits, she was always watching her memories. Now she was reading about…the solar system?
"Nope. Demons don't really have friends. Allies and enemies, sure, but friends are for the weak." Bill perched on her head, his favorite place. "Besides, I'm much too busy with my plans to visit with others of my kind."
"Yet there is always time to laze about with me."
"Of course! You're my favorite halfa!" Leaning down, Bill pointed to one of the star systems in the book. "They got that one wrong. There are actually 13 planets circling that sun, not 9."
She traced the star with a finger. "Really?"
"Yep! Geeze, you humans are horrible astronomers! There are so many inaccuracies!"
"…Tell me more?"
D/_\P
"Hey, Glow Bug! You'll never guess what I did to Pine Tree today!"
"I'm sure it's very horrifying and upsetting."
"Well now I don't even want to tell you."
A sigh. "…What did you do to Pine Tree today, Bill?"
"I possessed his body and nearly killed his twin!"
"What."
D/_\P
He'd finally found it, the reason why his Glow Bug was trapped in the Nightmare Realm. Bill flew over the bubbling corpse of the blue vampire and into the memory. Who would have thought it was hidden in the wrapper of a fast food place?
Bill watched as an Observant called the court into order. How stupid. If this had been the Nightmare Realm, the defendant would have been ripped to shreds by now.
A younger Glow Bug with pure white hair and both eyes green was dragged forward by two generic ghosts. She was…crying, Bill realized in a shocked daze. And she was scared. It was weird and unsettling, since he had only ever seen Danny passive or pissed. Never…terrified.
He didn't like it.
Danny flinched away from the glaring eyestalks. "W-who are you!? Why did you kidnap me!?" she shouted, trying to force her fear back with bravo. It didn't work.
"Danielle Sage Fenton-Phantom!" boomed one of the Observants, obviously the leader. "We are the Observants, the ones who make sure history continues as it should, and you have been arrested for crimes against the Ghost Zone!"
"But I haven't done anything!"
"Not yet," it said ominously. "Do you or do you not plan to cheat on the CAT standardize test?" A picture of a human version of Glow Bug appeared above the main eyestalk's eye. She was flipping through a stack of papers suspiciously.
"Well, yes, but—"
"So she admits it!" one of the Observants cried out. "She admits to the act that will cause the end of the human realm and, worse, the destruction of the Ghost Zone!"
"How does cheating on one test do that!?" Danny screamed as the Observants began shouting insults at her.
"SILENCE!" the head Observant roared. "Phantom, while these events haven't come to pass, we cannot discriminate from the present and the future. The immediate future is the one you destroy and we must protect the Zone. Your punishment is banishment to the Nightmare Realm, where you will spend the next 3 years alone and in pain before your inevitable death." All the Observants raised their hands in unison and they glowed green.
Danny's lip trembled and Bill found himself enthralled by the action. "B-But…I'm innocent…"
"For what you were doing to do, you cannot be considered innocent."
And the room exploded in light.
D/_\P
Bill was seething. Demons of all kinds and strengths stayed far away from the furious dream demon. No one wanted to mess with him. He towered over everything, bright red and distorting the energy around him, but always kept Glow Bug's bubble directly below him.
They had dared! They had locked away his Glow Bug, condemned her to die here for such a stupid, made-up reason! She was going to cause the world to end!? BAH! Bill threatened the universe's existence on a daily basis yet those idiotic fucks had never dared to bother him!
And they won't. Not after he rips their cores from their chests and eats them.
Bill wasn't going to drag the Nightmare Realm into the human one just for the apocalypse anymore. He was going to save Glow Bug too. And once she was all healed up, they could go massacre the Observants together!
Gradually losing his red pallor, Bill shrank back to his normal size and his eye glinted evilly. It was a date then!
D/_\P
"You haven't visited for a while," Danny said when Bill was able to return without destroying her entire Mindscape. She looked sad and Bill hated it. She wasn't dying. He wouldn't let her. "I take it you saw."
"Yes."
"Are you going to leave?" She sounded scared. She didn't want him to leave. Bill glowed with warmth and sat on her head.
"Never. Hey, you'll never guess who popped up from an inter-dimensional portal right in front of Pine Tree!"
Her eyes sparkled and she smiled. "Who?"
"Sixer!"
"That guy with 12 fingers you tricked 30 years ago?"
"You remembered! Anyway, Pine Tree was totally shocked. It was hilarious! He had no clue that Fez was rebuilding the portal. In fact, he didn't know there was a portal at all!"
"You're kidding! You'd think Fez would at least try to tell him and Shooting Star."
"I know, right? Anyway…"
D/_\P
"I think I wanna visit Sixer."
A page turned. "That's nice, Bill."
"In his dreams."
"Mmm-hmm."
"And threaten his family."
"Bill, no."
"Bill, yes!"
D/_\P
With a snap of his fingers, Shooting Star fell unconscious. Bill left the time traveller's body, cackling as he went. It was here! Finally the time was here! "AT LAST! AT LONG, LONG LAST! The gateway between worlds has opened! The event one billion years prophesized has finally come to pass! The day has come! The world is finally mine!" A maniacal laugh bubbled up from his throat as the rift tore through reality, into the Nightmare Realm. Finally, they were free!
"Welcome to Weirdmageddon!"
D/_\P
Deep in her Mindscape, Danny sighed and curled up tighter in the air. Bill…he hadn't visited in a long time. Was he ok? She blinked away a tear. "He said he'd be back," she mumbled, the silence of the Mindscape overwhelming. "He promised. He's going to come back."
End of Part 1