Three years ago, if one was daring enough to traverse a lonely forest road for miles, one might have found Wilson P. Higgsbury, hiding away in his little house from prying eyes. This journey was required to see the man's face, except for the lucky. The lucky saw him in a small English town a lengthy distance from his home, purchasing the essentials for survival and nothing more. He would always duck his head and walk away quickly as if he didn't want to even try to socialize. One might be offended by this until learning that was just how he acted around everyone. He had a fear of crowds, social gatherings, and people in general, they were told. After that, one might have tried to put him at ease, as many of the townsfolk did. It would have slowly but surely have worked, and he would have diverged from his routine of hiding himself to flash you a small smile, a nod of the head. Three years ago, one would consider him no longer a stranger, but a rather peculiar friend.
But that was three years ago. Now, however, one would have considered him dead, as he had been missing for the past three years. But he wasn't dead. Not at all dead. However, he wished he was dead. If he was dead, he wouldn't have to suffer any longer.
He stifled a sob and gazed off into the blackness of his prison. It was a bleak place, nothing but a few shaded pillars with flames atop, a small stone wall, that accursed gramophone blaring a deceptively cheerful tune, and the "throne" on which he was held captive. There was nothing to see, nothing except the blank eyes of his jailers. They did nothing, just watched. Watched him yell, scream, cry, beg. Watched him attempt to stop the flow of knowledge into his brain. Watched him accept his sad, solitary fate as the Puppetmaster, the King. Watched him watch survivors run around, fight off monsters, perish. Watched him create new elements, creatures. Never revealing Themselves, never speaking, never even blinking. He had done so much in this realm. The world below was so different now, so much more deadly. The way Their eyes expressed glee at the survivor's grisly fates showed Their pleasure. He even swore once he had heard clapping over the ragtime after a particularly gruesome death at the hands of one of his more lethal creations, the Dragonfly.
And yet They still wouldn't let him go.
Tears burned at the corners of his eyes and threatened to pour down his face. He shoved them back, because he knew once he started to cry, he would feel the natural impulse to close his eyes. He knew this was a bad idea from the first time he had wanted to get some shut-eye. What had greeted him was simultaneously amazing and terrifying. Normally when you closed your eyes, all that was there was black. In Wilson's case, however, there had been knowledge, white symbols and text against a black backdrop. He had been awed by this at first, his inner scientist coming out of him for the first time in what felt like decades to figure out how this was possible. After a few minutes of this, however, the euphoria faded away. He didn't want this knowledge. It had no use to him, and it was annoying at best, agonizing at worst. But there was nothing he could do, except try to keep his eyes open. His will was weakened, however, and soon the salty droplets began to fall. He accepted his fate and let the sadness carry him away. The knowledge was shoved into his mind, and he just let it happen. He wasn't paying attention to any of it, he … he didn't want to try anymore. Maybe, if he just sat here and did nothing, They would get bored and get rid of him. Even if getting rid of him led to his death. He no longer cared.
Despite his misery, something caught his attention. It didn't look like anything he'd seen before. It seemed like it was some kind of incantation. He ignored it, but unlike the other pieces of information, which faded away over time, this one kept pushing itself into his vision. Perhaps They wanted him to say it? He couldn't think of any other reason. It looked, well, demonic, but he was so desperate, he would try anything.
Slowly, keeping his eyes shut so he wouldn't forget it, he spoke aloud. His voice was so weak and clogged up with tears he had to cough and try again for it to make sense. "Triangulum, entangulum. Meteforis dominus ventium. Meteforis venetisarium!" A sudden pain stabbed into his chest. He tried to stop it by doubling over and twisting around, but it didn't work. His mouth started to move on its own, shouting the words "Asetnoheptus Asetnoheptus Asetnoheptus Asetnoheptus Asetnoheptus!" Before he could wonder what was happening to him, a bright light flashed in his vision, blinding him. His eyes were still shut, so all he could do was squeeze them harder in an effort to shield his eyes.
The first thing he registered was silence. Sweet, sweet silence. He sighed in relief. The second thing was that he wasn't sitting up anymore, he was lying on the ground. No shadows gripped his wrists and ankles. The realization dawned on him slowly. He was, inexplicably, unexplainably, free. As it finally hit him, he began to cry tears of joy, curling up into a small ball. He couldn't believe it. That incantation had freed him after all this time. His happiness was interrupted by a loud voice echoing through the space. He sat up, wiping away tears, and confusion washed over him.
He was still in the Nightmare Realm, but the little color there was had faded to a dull gray. The only shift in the color scheme besides himself was a… thing floating about five feet off the ground. It was a yellow triangle with a pyramid pattern on its lower half, its body softly glowing in tune with its voice. It had skinny black arms and legs, and a black top hat accompanied by a small black bow tie. A large, singular eye occasionally blinked. It was shouting at the top of its (probably nonexistent) lungs, swirling around in glee. "OH THANK CHAOS! I THOUGHT I WAS A GONER! WOOPEEE!" It then saw him and flew towards him. He could only gaze at it with perplexement. He couldn't even tell if he should be afraid or not, it was so… weird. "HEY! YOU'RE THE GUY WHO SUMMONED ME RIGHT?" It asked.
"Um… I guess?"
"THANKS BUDDY! IF IT WASN'T FOR YOU, I'D BE STUCK IN THE REMAINS OF A DESTROYED MEMORY FOR ALL OF ETERNITY!"
"Er… What?"
"ANYWAYS, I GUESS I OWE YOU ONE!" It looked around at the surrounding area, swiveling as it did so. "HEY, I REMEMBER THIS PLACE!"
Wilson backed up slightly. "How do you know about this place?" he said, trying to hide his fear with an accusatory statement. By the look in the triangle's eye, he could tell it hadn't worked.
"OH, I KNOW LOTS OF THINGS." It got closer, and its body started flashing a bunch of seemingly random images. "LOTS OF THINGS." It said in a dark tone. He squeaked and ducked behind a pillar, clenching his head. "HEY, WHAT'S WRONG? I'M NOT EVEN TRYING TO BE SCARY!"
He started to shiver. "I don't want it…"
It bent its shape to the side slightly, as if to mimic a human cocking their head to the side. "WHAZZAT?"
"The knowledge! Keep it away from me! Please…" He began to rock back and forth, a familiar burning sensation coming between his eyes.
"WOAH THERE! OKAY OKAY, SORRY. DIDN'T REALIZE YOU WERE SO SENSITIVE." It patted him on the head. "YOU'VE BEEN STUCK IN HERE A LONG TIME, HUH?" He glanced up and nodded, sniffling. "NO PROBLEM! I CAN GET YOU OUT."
"Aren't… Aren't we already out?" He gestured towards the gray landscape.
"NAH. THIS IS THE MINDSCAPE, KID! IT'S PRETTY COOL IN HERE, Y'KNOW! HEY, CHECK THIS OUT!" It snapped its fingers and instantly, his filthy, torn clothes were replaced with fresh, clean ones. He gasped. "NICE, HUH? BUT SADLY, THIS ISN'T THE REAL DEAL. IN THE REAL WORLD, YOU'RE STILL STUCK ON THE THRONE. REALITY SUCKS."
"Oh…" He looked at the triangle. "So… Are you real?"
It laughed. "REALITY IS AN ILLUSION, PAL." He winced at the use of the nickname. "BUT BY A HUMAN'S DEFINITION, I'D SAY I'M RELATIVELY REAL. HEY, THAT REMINDS ME! I FORGOT TO PROPERLY INTRODUCE MYSELF!" It levitated high into the air and tipped its hat. "BILL CIPHER, DREAM DEMON, AT YOUR SERVICE!"
"You're a demon?" He retreated into himself more, his grip on his shoulders tightening.
"HEY, DON'T BE SCARED. I'M NICE. ESPECIALLY TO THE GUY WHO SAVED ME FROM OBLIVION! NOW, ABOUT BREAKING YOU OUT." A cane popped into existence and flew into its hands. "HERE'S THE TERMS OF OUR DEAL: I HELP YOU BUST THIS JOINT, BRING YOU BACK TO THE ISLAND, AND IN EXCHANGE, YOU LET ME INHABIT YOUR MORTAL BODY WHENEVER I PLEASE!" Suddenly, its right hand became engulfed in blue fire. "WE GOT A DEAL?"
He stared at its hand. One one hand, this whole "letting it into his body" thing seemed incredibly fishy. He noted that a similar situation had landed him in this mess in the first place. On the other hand, he would be free… "Um… can I have some time to think it over?"
"NOPE. GOTTA ACT NOW. I'M A BUSY GUY, GOT PLACES TO BE. IT'S NOW OR NEVER, KID!" He hesitated. He wanted to take the deal, so badly it hurt, but his logical mindset kept getting in the way, telling him don't do it this is a terrible idea you can't trust it. His hand hovered halfway between his body and Bill's hand, not willing to move in either direction. Finally, after what felt like years but was only about 15 seconds, it pulled its hand back. "FINE, SUIT YOURSELF. ENJOY BEING THE KING OF NIGHTMARES FOR ALL ETERNITY!" A bright glow appeared behind the creature as it began to chant. "THE U.S. GOVERNMENT FAKED THE MOON LANDING NONE OF THIS IS CANON BUY GOLD-"
"WAIT!" The glowing light slowly dissipated as it raised its eyebrow at him. "I'll… I'll make a deal with you. Just please don't leave me here."
If the demon had possessed a mouth, it would have been smiling. "GOOD CHOICE." It floated down to his height and stuck out its hand, once again covered in blue flame. Gulping, he raised his hand, gripped the demon's, and shook once. "It's a deal." He said miserably.
"HEY, WHY SO SAD? THIS'LL BE GREAT! THE MINDSCAPE IS AWESOME! YOU CAN DO ANYTHING! AND I ALWAYS ENJOY INHABITING A HUMAN BODY. LIKE RIGHT NOW, FOR INSTANCE!"
The last thing he saw was the demon yanking his hand out of his body somehow, and the last thing he heard was his own scream.
Bill yawned and stretched as well as he could while stuck to the throne. In the corner of the meatsack's vision, "he" (it enjoyed thinking of itself as a male) could see its previous inhabitant, floating in the mindscape, unconscious. The transfer had been too much on his fragile mind. He had passed out instantly. He was still alive, at least. Otherwise, he would be stuck in this dumb body forever. "HEY! GUYS! IT'S BEEN A LONG TIME!"
Suddenly, the Nightmare Realm came alive with ghostly whispers and snickering. In a collective voice that sounded like Satan himself, They addressed him. "BiLL CIPheR. wE SEE THaT yoUR WOrLD DoMInaTIOn pLAN DiDN't gO So WEll." More snickering. He laughed along with Them, even though he was still pissed off about it.
"HEY NOW, CAN'T YOU SEE I'M ALREADY ON MY WAY BACK?" He smirked, showing off his current physical form. "NOW. ISN'T IT ABOUT TIME YOU LET ME OUT OF HERE?"
"We DO OwE YOu A FavOR, CIPheR. oH wELL. ThAT WAs sUcH A FUn OnE TO BReAk. tOO bAd We DIdN'T HAvE A HoStaGE LikE LAsT TiMe!" They engaged in a sadistic bout of laughter, and Bill joined in, so that the space rang with the sound of their cruelty. The shadows uncurled from his arms and legs, and he stood up.
"OH, COME ON! DUMB MEATSACK IS REALLY HARD TO MOVE… C'MON NOW… WHOA THERE! HAHA!" He was stumbling around, the vessel weak from lack of motion. He giggled maniacally. "OH, THE PINES FAMILY ACTUALLY THINK THEY GOT RID OF ME! BILL CIPHER! WELL, HAVE I GOT A SURPRISE FOR THEM! HAHAHAHA!" He looked in the general direction of Them. "Y'KNOW, YOU COULD ALWAYS JOIN ME. I'D VALUE YOUR SERVICE. AND BESIDES, THAT DUMB BABY'S FORCES WILL FIND YOU ONE DAY. CAN YOU HANDLE THEM?"
"WE CaN tAKE THem. yOU KILLeD TiME BAbY DurING YoUR BRIEf REIgN, dIDN't YoU?" He nodded in conformation. "it sHOuLDn'T BE ToO HarD tO FEnD OfF ANy TImE PoLIcE THeN. wE ARen'T aS INtO WorLD DOMinAtION As YoU, sO We'LL JUsT STaY HEre. cOngRATuLATioNs On A CLeaN KiLL, by ThE WAy."
'Wilson' grinned. "THANKS! WELL, I'D BETTER BE HEADING OFF NOW."
"wE CouLD JuST RETurN YOur PUPpeT To thE EArTH DimENSIoN... MaKE YOuR DoMInATIon QUIckER."
"NAH. IT'S FUNNER THIS WAY."
"WE'rE glAD We AgrEE ON SOmEThiNG."
A swirling black and white portal opened beneath him, and he slowly dropped into the puppet's world. "BUY GOLD BYYYE!" As he descended, he snickered evilly, and left the body, pushing Wilson's sleeping spirit into it. It fell on the soft grass, making a small thump. He groaned and rolled over in his sleep. Good. If he could exit the mindscape so easily, then that meant he was already recovering. Bill rubbed his hands together, then entered his mind. He hadn't been careful enough when he had entered Stanley's mind. If he wanted to avoid detection, he'd have to stop himself from manipulating the mindscape in Wilson's brain. He sighed and twirled around. It was so fun messing with someone's mind, but he wanted to go unnoticed for now. Give him a good scare later. Besides, he wasn't done with this puppet quite yet.
He chuckled softly. He'd only been revived for a few hours, and already the pieces were falling into place. At this rate, Weirdmageddon 2.0 would be upon the universe in no time. By the time Time Baby came back, there would be nothing to take back.
Beware, Pines family. I'm coming...
Another crossover, yay! So this is just a collab of crossover AUs with Gravity Falls and Don't Starve. They will only be three-shots at most, so it's not a full story. If you want to make any of these a full story, though, feel free! Just please message me first.
