Bill wiped the last of the deer's blood off of his fingers, smirking down at the perfect circle he had drawn on the forest floor. He looked out past the trees- noting that the sun was just about ready to disappear behind the horizon- and tossed the used handkerchief to the side. Tick tock, Bill. He wasn't nervous. He was sure everyone turned to the Devil at some point in their lives.
He stepped over the carefully drawn lines to the center, checking that his offerings were all arranged according to the instructions. A dark purple candle burned steadily, surrounded by five blood-soaked deer teeth at the points of a small, inlaid pentagram. Bill nodded, then retreated to just outside the edge of the circle. He silently ticked off the steps on his fingers, realizing that all he had to do now was correctly incite the right demon. Now, how did that thing go…?
"D-daemon, esto subjecto voluntati meae!" Ooh, he probably shouldn't have stuttered. The wind kicked up, and Bill hoped it was a coincidence, because he didn't really feel prepared to meet a demon. He needed this, though. And who cared about their soul anyway? Not him. Though eternity in Hell was a hefty consequence. But Bill promised himself years ago that he'd do whatever it took to get power. No exceptions. No takebacks.
Darkness swept fully over the forest, and the background hum of ambience dimmed to nothing. Bill's hair stood on end. The candle erupted, and Bill stumbled back, colliding with the trunk of an old oak. He watched, wide-eyed, as a figure slowly took shape in the roaring flame, and the teeth somehow turned to ash, while the grass stayed unlit. And as suddenly as it began, it stopped. Floating over the now smoking candle wick was a figure not much taller than Bill, eyes closed. His brown hair was messy, and covered his forehead. Near-golden antlers stretched from either side of his head. He wore a plain black suit, formal but not overly so, emblazoned on the front pocket with a bright blue pine tree.
As Bill took in the sight before him, the demon opened his eyes. They were orange, and seemed to flicker like actual fire. Bill's mouth felt like a desert, and despite the persistent breeze, he felt unnaturally heated.
"What are the conditions of your contract?" He asked as he touched down to the grass, and Bill was surprised by the warmth. Bill was unsure how to proceed. He only read up on how to summon a demon. Not how to make a contract. He didn't want to get swindled.
"I want power. Lots of it. I don't care how I get it." Bill stated, staring down the demon in front of him.
He smiled softly. "Dangerous words, friend. Phrasing is important here. I'll give you one more shot."
Bill reddened, and rethought his desires. How much power could one man hold? "I want you to make me the most powerful person ever. I want to be a God."
The demon's eyebrows raised, and he scoffed. "Lofty goals. This is gonna take time, something that I don't give easily. It's going to cost you." He crossed his arms, and approached the edge of the circle.
Bill blanched a little. "More than my soul?"
The other laughed. "The soul is a fixed fee. In reality, they aren't worth much, and besides, you've already forfeited yours by summoning me. The payment can be discussed in full later, if you want. But I'm going to need a deposit. Something physical."
"Physical?" Bill asked aloud. "Like those teeth?" The demon smiled widely, and showed off his own fangs in confirmation.
"But your own, of course. I can pull them easy with only a little bit of pain, though that'll make the deal even harder to follow through with."
Bill tilted his head. "Why?"
"Teeth, I can get from any omnivore. It's not much of a sacrifice, so it doesn't mean much. The more personal or individual the first payment is, the more I'll want to collect the final payment. If this works properly, the down payment will increase my interest in completing our deal over time. Otherwise, I might kill you and take your entire body for myself, though it means more if it's freely given."
"Not that you need a physical form." Bill said, and the demon nodded.
"But a change in perspective is always nice." Bill laughed breathlessly, running an inventory of all his most valuable items. He really didn't have anything worth giving. This wasn't going as well as he'd hoped.
"This isn't gonna cost me an arm and a leg, is it?" Bill asked, more to himself than anything, but the demon chuckled.
"Arms and legs are boring. Everyone has an identical pair. I like teeth, because they're fun to pull, scalps, skin- oh, especially skin with freckles and things like that." Bill felt goosebumps crawl up and down his arms at the thought of being scalped, or skinned. He brought a shaky hand to his forehead, pushing his bangs that hung in front of his left eye behind his ear. Then his fingers froze. He gulped. Then spoke.
"What about one of my eyes." It wasn't a question, and Bill struggled to keep his tone even.
The demon's eyes narrowed. "Now why would I want one eye? Especially if they're both…"
"Identical?" Bill smiled, blinking slowly. "Don't worry. They're heterochromatic." The demon looked enthralled as Bill stared on. His right eye, the one he left uncovered, was a dark brown that he preferred to its other, bluer counterpart. That's why he cut his hair to cover it, and then dyed the hair blonde, because colored hair was less gape-worthy than heterochromia. The demon nodded slowly.
"Alright. Which one, though? They're both so pretty! Can I have both?" He asked excitedly, and Bill cringed.
"Well, I'd like to be able to see. Can you pick... just one?" His eyes tingled with phantom-pain, a sort of pins and needles, and he wondered how much this would hurt.
"Alright. I've always wanted brown eyes. I can settle for one. Besides, I'd like to look at the other one for a bit longer. It looks beautiful against your skin tone." Bill blushed. He'd always thought the blue made his dark skin look awful in comparison, or vice versa. He shook his head.
"Whatever. The brown one, then. I'll have to restyle my hair to see, though." The demon shrugged, then held out a hand across the border of the circle. It lit with bright orange fire.
"World domination for one eye, a soul, and a future payment. Sound good?" The demon grinned, and Bill stepped forward. He wanted this. He needed power. He was sick of being small, being ignored, disregarded. Well, those days were over. Bill was gonna reach the top if it killed him. Which, he thought with a shiver, it might. Before he could change his mind, he shot out his hand and gripped the demon's flaming one. The demon's eyes flashed gold, and Bill felt like he was being seared from the inside out. And then he was at his house, alone, on the couch.
He sat up, and his head spun with vertigo. He felt groggy. Was it... could it have been a dream? He looked around, and pushed his hair back, frustrated. Was that all for nothing...! He gingerly felt at his face, sliding up over his cheekbone, to the hollow feeling on the right side of his face.
"You might wanna get an eyepatch for that. And I cut your hair for you, so you're welcome." A voice right next to his ear had him shooting up off of the couch and onto the floor. He struggled to manage his new lack of visibility. He scrambled to his feet and turned, looking around for the demon he was now contracted to.
"Over here. You might not recognize me, but it's easier to move around this way. I can even fit in your pocket!" The familiar voice, if not shriller with a bit of an echo, led his eye to a small blue figure floating above where he was before. His demon was now in the shape of a small pine tree, like the one on his suit. He had one eye in the center of his new body, focused on Bill.
"Are you an air freshener?" Bill wondered aloud, and then blushed as the other's eyes narrowed. "H-hey, at least our eyes match!"
The demon brightened instantly. "Yep! By the way, I'm Dipper Pines. You can call me Mr. Pines, Master Pines..."
"How about Pine Tree?" Bill suggested instead. "It's cute. Plus, you actually have Pines in your name?"
"I'm not cute, kid. I'm a demon." Dipper huffed. "Then I'll call you Cipher. We'll be working together for a while, so we might as well get to know each other." Bill nodded, and reached up to card through his hair. He didn't have bangs anymore, so that his blue eye showed clearly. It was shorter now, and coiffed up from his forehead. And it was even shorter on the sides, where his dark hair was un-dyed.
"Your hair looks great, by the way! Now, all we need is that eyepatch..." Dipper glowed for a few seconds, and he snapped his fingers. Bill felt something place itself over his eye-socket.
"Any color preferences? How about a skull n' bones!" Bill shook his head.
"I'm not a pirate. And my favorite color is yellow." Dipper rolled his eye, and Bill pursed his lips.
"Yellow is so tacky, kid." He sighed, "Next you'll want it shaped like a heart."
"A triangle." Bill said suddenly, gears turning. " I want it to be a yellow triangle."
Dipper sighed again, but complied. "And worst idea goes to Bill Cipher, everyone."
"Shut it, Pine Tree. Hey, how do you know my name anyway?" He asked as he walked briskly to the bathroom, his vision pricing itself together.
"I know everything about you I need to know. I'm connected to your mind, so I can access any information." Dipper replied, watching curiously as Bill entered the bathroom, scouring the cabinets.
"That seems a bit invasive." Bill said, bringing out a couple of choice tools from his stash.
"Well, it goes both ways, so you can contact me or tell me things through the connection. It's a staple of any substantial contract." Bill hummed, and started to apply thick eyeliner around his eye. He remembered, vaguely, a trip he took in the second grade to a history museum. Nothing appealed to him, until they reached the Egyptian exhibit. He never knew that there could be people so beautiful with his skin tone. Kohl eyeliner, glittering gold, bright blue sapphire. Pharaohs who were Gods come to Earth. That'd be him. He'd be his own trinity, God in a mortal form. Dipper stared, enthralled, as Bill shaped himself in that image. As he looked in the mirror, he could almost taste it.
"There. What do you think, Pine Tree?" He spun to face his demon, gazing up at him. Dipper floated closer, and his eye crinkled at the corners.
"Genius." He murmured, and snapped his small fingers again. "Now look. You're supposed to be a God, right?" Bill complied, and grinned at his reflection. His eye was strong, and beautiful, and his eyepatch... Dipper had made it a triangle, yes, but it was now a pyramid, with a single eye emblazoned on it.
"The All-Seeing Eye. The Eye of Providence. We'll make you a God, Cipher. And you'll be marvelous." Dipper gloated, seeming to grow a few centimeters. Bill laughed, and smirked at his reflection. He looked powerful, and he loved it.