(Mindscape- plane of existence where you are not physical, and can only be seen by a powerful creature(such as Bill) or by possessing something
Dreamscape- a persons dream world
Memories-a persons memories(not mind)
Mind- a persons mind)
I am a cliche.
The girl sat in her room, ignoring the shouts coming from through the paper thin walls. The bare white and uncanny neatness of the room complemented the decorations scattered all over the girl's skin on the form of red and purple bruises.
"-you-!" She clenched her arms tighter around her knees.
"Get out here brat!"
She stood. Her loose night gown doing nothing to hide protruding knees, ribs, and elbows.
"Y-yes?" She asked, standing outside her door. Trash littered the hall and living room. Bottles and glass scattered on the floor, making it a mine field. Crushed bills and test papers littered the floor around the trash overstuffed with rotting food. Walls were littered with cracks, and bare light bulbs hung from the ceiling.
Her father grabbed her arm and pressed her to the wall. Drunk breath pressed heavily against her face, and her aversion of eyes did nothing to help her ignore the overflowing hate coming from the man restraining her.
"What happened to the money I gave your [mother]?" The girl flinched at the harsh language used, though she should have grown used to it by now.
"I don't know."
"Liar!" He through her to the ground, where she stared up at him with wide eyes around hazel irises. There was no wall for her to press against, and no corner to hide in. Her father grabbed her wrist, ignoring the whimper he caused by pressing on broken blood vessels.
"I'll teach you to lie you-"
He kneeled on her elbows, and grabbed her exposed shoulder with his left hand. With his right he pulled out a switchblade.
"N-no. Please. Don't ..."
He couldn't hear her screams as skin was split.
She shivered on her bed. Her left arm was draped over her body as she lay fetus on her right. She couldn't feel her arm, not because of broken nerves, but because of the infected iron sweeping through her arm. Tetanus shots were expensive, and not something her parents were willing to spend money on.
I'm dying. She thought as black dots swum in front of her eyes. Her vision refocused over and over until lids shut over bloodshot eyes.
"Kid, wake up." She couldn't though. And her father would never call her kid...probably a dream. She could ignore a dream.
"Kid, I'm talking to you." She traced her fingers over her palm.
"That's it."
"Ah!" She sat up as electricity sparked through her body, setting her hair on end.
A triangle was in front of her. She looked closer and found that her eyes could focus. She looked down at her left arm and found the blood gone. Her skin was pearl white, clear of cuts or bruises.
"Kid, will you look at me?"
She looked back up at the one eyed triangle. He was very classy, with a black top hat and bow tie that complemented his yellow complexion, if triangles could have complexions.
"I'm flattered kid. Truly." The triangle field one hand up to his 'chin' and peered at her with his eye.
"Who are you?" She asked tentatively.
"Thanks for not saying 'what' kid. And the name's Bill Cipher. I know who you are, question is, do you?"
She looked at him blankly.
"Alright kid. Let's start with something more simple. Can you come with me?" He snapped and her feet were covered with black Mary Janes. She looked down at them.
"Come on kid, you're not getting any younger. Ha." He chuckled at his joke. She stood and opened the door to the bedroom, only to find a place much different from the house she was used to. It was the same home, but clean of any glass or trash.
"Nice subconscious you've got here kid."
She caught his use of words. "This is...my mind?"
"Hey, it may not look like much to you, but believe me, for what you've gone through, I'm surprised this place is even stable."
"Okay..." She said, walking behind the floating shape.
"Alright kid." She stopped behind him. "Open this door."
She peered around him to look at the door.
"I can't. That's my parents room."
Bill sighed and shook his head.
"Kid, you're in the mindscape. Rules don't matter in here! Besides, they're asleep." Bill moved to the side and gestured for her to step forward.
She took the handle and pushed. The door swung open with a click, and revealed a black world that was most definitely not her parents rooms.
Bill clapped his hands together.
"You did it kid! You passed the test!"
"What did I do?" She asked.
"Alright, look kid. I'm gonna be straight with you. This is your fathers mindscape. And you got to it! Something that humans aren't supposed to be able to do."
"So, what does that mean?"
"It means that I'm willing to make a deal with you kid. A very good deal, for both of us." He snapped his fingers and the walls were replaced with an empty blueness, and two chairs scooped them up across a table with human figurines.
"So this is you kid." Bill held up one of the figures. He placed it among two others which had been sculpted to look like her parents.
"You're currently stuck with these two flesh bags." He picked up the two figures representing her parents. One between each pair of fingers.
"I take you away from them, and in return, you become my assistant. A physical body that I can use. And I'll take you under my wing and help you learn how to use your abilities."
"So, I'll be your apprentice?"
"That's one way to put it kid. But it's more like adoption."
"What?"
"You humans don't do apprenticeships anymore do you? You won't have to pay me, and your parents won't be involved. Call it a kidnapping or an adoption, but that's what it is."
She looked down at the table with the figurines. She picked up the miniature version of her and placed it next to the triangle.
"So kid, do we have a deal?"
"Deal." The fire from his hand was warm, and lit up her broken soul.
"So what's your name, kid?"
"I don't know."
Bill blinked at her in surprise.
"What do you mean you don't know."
"I forgot it. My parents never call me by my name."
"What about about school."
She shook her head.
"I don't have any friends."
"Sheesh kid. Tough life."
"I'm a cliche."
"Cliche's exist for a reason kid. Everyone likes them."
"Not me."
"Okay kid, lesson number 1. Don't go wallowing around in your own guilt. If you've got a bad past, rejoice in it! Be proud! Not everyone can say that they've survived the abuse you have."
"Mm."
"Work with me kid. How old are you?"
"Eight."
"Sheesh, you're even younger than I thought. How 'bout I give you a name."
"A name?"
"Sure kid. If you're gonna be working under me, you'll need a name. How about Belle."
She smiled. "That's just the feminine version of Bill."
"What do you care? Do you want it or not?"
"Okay." Belle smiled. The world flickered around her. "What's going on?"
"You're waking up. Guess you're not dead after all." Bill stood up and dusted himself off. "Time to hold up my end of the deal. I'll get you out of there as soon as you wake up. Okay kid? There's just one thing I need from you."
"What is it?"
"Ya got any photos of your dad?"
"I can find one."
"'Kay. I'll need you to cross out the eyes on that photo in red, and place it in a circle of nine lit candles. I'll handle the rest. You think you can do that?"
"Okay." Belle could find nine candles. And there were lighters all over the house.
"Just remember dear daughter of mine," she looked up at the unusual term that had never been used to address her. "You'll be in a lot of pain when you wake up. Work through it and then I'll help you. Got it?"
Belle nodded, and the blue faded to black and then to burning red. Bill was right, she was in pain. But she had to do what he had asked her. Belle opened her eyes and looked at her left arm. It was red and swollen, and hard to the touch. She picked herself up with her right arm and tiptoed out of her room, left arm dangling by her side.
She heard her father's loud snores and snuck past the room, confident that he was asleep. Luck was on her side, and she was able to collect nine candles and a lighter with ease. The last part was harder. She opened the door to her parents room and slinked over to her father's side of the bed, where he kept his wallet. Belle felt around until she found his drivers ID, which she pulled out. She froze when he turned over, but relaxed when she saw he was still asleep.
Once Belle had crossed out her father's eyes on the ID and set the candles alight, she began the chant Bill had told her.
"Triangulum, entangulum. Vene foris dominus mentium. Vene foris videntis omnium. Semsdraw Kcabega, semsdraw kcabega, semsdraw kcabega!"
"Good job remembering kid!" The room turned from white to grey and Bill appeared in front of her. He ruffled her hair, making her flinch.
"Woah, sorry kid. Good job summoning me though. I'll be able to posses your dad and get you out of this joint now."
"Posses him?" Belle gasped.
Bill peered at her from the side of his eye. "You're not telling me you actually care for the old man after all he's done to you, are you?"
"I-I guess not. But how will possessing him do anything?"
"Kid, today is one of the rare days I can leave Gravity Falls. My hometown on Earth, you could say. All I'm going to do is posses your dad, drive you up to Gravity Falls, and then join you with my physical body. You'll need to set up some spells though."
"Spells? I can't do that!"
"Don't worry kid, you'll get some help from me and the magical creatures in the forest."
"There are magical creatures in the forest?! What kind?"
"Lots kid. Manotaurs, dragons, gnomes, unicorns...and you'll get to meet them all! Seeing as I'm the most powerful creature in the area, I can introduce you to all of them!"
"That's amazing!"
"You're finally acting your age kid! Well, time to go posses a couple of old people! Later kid!" He lifted his hat and zoomed out of the room backwards. The room went back into color, though Belle didn't notice it. A whole new world with magic and mystical creatures seemed like something out of a fairy tale for her! And her new father was their king! Belle thought to herself, would she have to call Bill "dad" now that he was adopting her?
Just then the door opened, and she saw her father's eyes looking through the crack in the door at her. She wrapped herself in the blankets and cowered on the bed.
"Woah kid, relax! It's just me!" Her father spoke to her, but the words coming out of his mouth were definitely Bill's.
"B-Bill?" Belle asked tentatively, pulling the covers a little bit away from her face.
"Yep!" Bill opened her father's arms, "Come over here kid and I can get you out of this place."
Belle stood up and got out of her bed, but as she started to walk towards Bill, her vision faded, and she felt herself tilting towards the floor.
"Geez kid, you're in worse shape than I thought." She felt her father's arms lifting her up, and then Bill was clutching her against his chest, looking down at her with her father's eyes.
"Looks like it's time to get out of this place, kid."
Belle was aware of Bill moving, but was only aware of the throbbing pain in her shoulder until she saw that she had exited the apartment. Bill took her to the elevator and carried her downstairs until they reached her father's car. She felt Bill shift her and heard the jingle of things in her father's pocket before Bill took out a key and opened up the card over, placing her in the backseat.
Belle shifted in and out of consciousness as the car drove over cobblestones and gravel.
It must have been hours, but Belle could barely register the time passing. She wove back and forth in and out of sleep, until she woke up in a place she was unused to.
A long dark hallway, with doors lined up side-to-side on either side. Some were colorful, some were dark, some had intricate designs on them, and some were clean smooth mahogany.
"Welcome to the dreamscape kid."
Belle turned to see Bill floating behind her, and she could see the hallway continuing behind him.
"Or, the access point to them." He chuckled.
"Whose dreamscape is this?"
"All of them, kid! You can access people's dreams! If you hone that ability, eventually you'll be able to go into their minds. That's one of the things we'll be working on, once we get to Gravity Falls."
"Gravity Falls..." Belle recognized it from when Bill had previously mentioned it, "where is that?"
"It's in Oregon, kid. We're crossing over the border."
"I've never been."
"Well, it's your home now! Once we get there, I'll be able to move you in."
"What is your house like?"
Bill chuckled. "I live in another dimension kid, so I'll have to make a new one for us. Now that I have your father's body, once we get there I'll just push the boundary of the rift, make us a castle, and then I'll return your father's body to where he came from!"
"What rift?"
Bill peered at her through a lidded eye. "You sure like to ask questions, don't you kid. You're lucky I'm in a giving mood. Although I guess I'll have to get used to it if I'm raising a human child!"
Belle watched as Bill seemed to debate with himself on how to answer her.
"There's a rift in Gravity Falls that lets creatures from another dimension into yours. I can't do much, but I'll be able to make the rift approximately the size of a house, which is where you'll live."
"And you too?"
"Sure kid."
"Okay." Belle smiled.
And she fell into her own dreamscape.
This is my first written Gravity Falls fanfiction. How do you like Belle? I didn't realize that Belle Cipher was an actual AU until after I named her, but by now, the name has stuck with me. Does anyone have any suggestions? Please give feedback, as I am still unsure about my writing style. Thank you for reading my story, I am writing the other chapters as I post this!
Shizuki