He floats, somewhere between waking and dreaming, somewhere in the middle of the pendulum's swing. Who—who exactly is he? He can't remember how he got here, to this place between places and this thought between thoughts. He must be dreaming. That makes the most sense—because nothing makes sense right now at all. Where has he come from before this?
Was it a park? Or was it a burning city?
No. Don't think about that city. Don't think about the city.
How does he know about the city? He has never been there. Or has he?
Which one is he?
"Well, well, well! What do we have here? Not a lotta people can find their way here, even by accident!"
A voice. He remembers voices, but not one like that. This voice is unfamiliar—but it breaks through the haze and he stares out at a world that does not make sense. Trying to understand the swirling shapes and signs in the sky makes his stomach turn and bile rise in his throat, so he stops trying and turns instead to look for the source of the voice.
"Up here, tomato-head! Or are you the eggplant? Huh! Looks like you're both today! Isn't that something!"
He looks up to see something small and glowing float down before his face. The thing is triangular, glowing, yellow, with a small top hat and bow tie tied beneath its singular large eye. He knows, somehow, that this is not a normal sort of being, but in the dream it seems perfectly logical. He groans, then, as his head roars with pain and he has to look down.
"Having a bit of a headache there, tomatoplant? Well, that's what happens when ya try to overlay your souls before you know what you're doing!"
"I...what...?"
"Still figuring yourself out, huh? Can't blame ya! You've got two sets of memories to try and figure out before ya can decide who's who again."
He looks up at the little triangle again, squinting.
"Do I...know you?"
"Nah, not yet, anyway! Name's Bill, Bill Cipher, and you're Sakaki Yuya—or maybe Yuto—or maybe both! That's something you've gotta decide, isn't it? Better do it quick before your souls get all mixed up, and then ya might not know who you are anymore?"
He shakes his head, groaning again. Bill floats closer to him and taps him lightly on the forehead with his cane.
"Although, I might be able to lend you a bit of a hand, if you want!"
He squints at the being again.
"...really?"
"Sure! Course, I'll be asking you to do a little favor for me—nothing too hard, you're already kind of on your way to do that kinda thing anyway!"
"I...what?"
Bill's large eye widens for a moment as though in place of a smile—it's a frightening expression and he shudders.
"Well the way I see it," Bill says, taking a large circle around his head that makes him turn in a circle to follow him, "you're already in the middle of this little dimensional war, right? So it's not gonna be too much of a bother. Just one little thing, I'll talk to you about it later."
"And...and you'll help me figure myself out, then? What—who I am right now?"
"Sure! It's not hard at all! Just shake my hand, kid, and I'll take care of things from there."
He hesitates at the long extended arm and the tiny hand, which comes aflame with blue fire. His head spins. Who is he? Yuya, Yuto, both, neither? He needs to know. He—he needs to know.
"Just...just one favor later?" he says
"Yup! Won't even be hard, I promise, Mr. tomatoplant."
He hesitates a brief moment longer. Then his hand tentatively raises up, tentatively reaching for Bill's fiery hand.
Yuto stops him. Yuya gasps as he realizes that—he can sense the difference between himself and Yuto now.
"Wait," says Yuto. "I—I don't know. What do you want with the dimensional war?"
"Hey, don't worry too much, kid. Just a little favor. Tiny. And later. You wanna figure out what's up with you, right?"
Yuto draws his hand back. Yuya isn't sure and keeps it half raised.
"I...I need to know exactly what I'm agreeing to," says Yuya.
"Are you going to make this war worse, or do you want to end it?" asks Yuto.
"Heyyy," says Bill, but there's a strange waver to his voice—nerves? Irritation? "I'm just trying to help ya out."
He flinches then at another pain in his head. He has forgotten again, which is which. The brief separation vanishes and he is lost in his own brain again.
"I—I don't know," he says again.
"Doesn't it hurt? I can help it stop hurting, you know."
"I..."
He does—he does want it to stop hurting, he wants it to make sense. It's just one favor. Just a tiny thing, Bill says. Okay. It's enough, it's enough to be worth understanding what he is now.
He reaches for Bill's hand.
And then the pendulum swings, and there is a crystal apple hovering between his hand and Bill's.
Yuya cannot be sure but he thinks he hears Bill swear, a guttural sound in a language that Yuya doesn't know.
Yuya—he remembers that he is Yuya. Yuto is somewhere in here but that memory is fading as the dream starts to break apart. Bill swears again as that crystal apple grows between them and Yuya cannot reach for his hand. He snaps to reality and gasps as his eyes open and he is staring at his own bedroom ceiling.
Mieru hovers over him, her crystal apple cupped in her hands. She smiles, breathing out with relief.
"There was some kind of darkness in you for a moment there," she says, pushing his bangs out of his eyes. "Are you all right, darling?"
The dream is fading. He can't remember what just happened but...but he is Yuya. He remembers that now. Is there—is there another soul inside of him?
He doesn't remember. He doesn't remember.
It's okay.
Well. That was a bust. Bill hums with a bit of irritation to himself as he peers between the worlds at the tomato-headed kid sitting up on the bed, and that crystal apple bitch that got in between him and a very lucrative deal.
Well. He'll have another chance. That kid's got a storm coming for him soon enough, and he'll be desperate for even the thinnest spider's thread to grab onto.
And when that happens...
Well. The walls between the dimensions won't be so wallish anymore.
