A/N: I'm back with yet another chapter! woot! and I'm introducing yet another original character here who will only be a one-shot but may appear again later. As for the voice, think a pre-Boom Tails.
Also, I must warn you. This chapter contains hinted gore and definitely some feels!
Now, enough of what I've gotta say, read what that's gotta say! XD

Chapter Themes
1. Escape the Fate - Losing Control
2. Coldplay - Lost


Beg.
12/9/2015
1:32a


Chapter Two: Turmoil

Bill was elsewhere now, both in slight spirit and definitely in location. He sat awkwardly, curled up and leaning against a crumbling yet sturdy wall, still trying to gather his bearings.

Finding Nasla's blanket wasn't the only reason he vanished from her sight. The demon, apparently erroneously, thought that this feeling would go away once he was away from her...

It didn't...

Bill shut his eye and clutched at his "head", still struggling against this foreigner of an emotion. His mind was reeling in pain from the mental squabble, and, worst of all, he was still losing.

He found himself questioning, after a while however, whether he was actually winning and something else was losing. It kinda felt like that, but, after proper debate, he dismissed it as preposterous.

The demon kept some thought of it though, because, maybe...

Just maybe...

It might not be so far-fetched at all...

Bill stood up, kinda woozy, and soon realized he wasn't levitating; he fixed that quickly. He heard shuffling noises, like a large hand dragging its body across the street. The dream demon narrowed his eye at hearing the creature's polite requests for people to get in his mouth, followed by some screams and running footsteps, and then rolled his eye. He honestly could never get that guy, whom he called the "Head".

The Head scooted himself halfway past the alley in which Bill had appeared, but he soon caught sight of that yellow triangle floating mere inches above the ground.

"Oh, hey, boss," the Head greeted, and the dream demon subtly cringed for a reason unknown.

Bill pulled himself together and smirked, "Yello, Head."

"Is there any reason people ignore me?" he asked, skipping the formalities, "I just want... I just want people to... to get in my mouth. And it's not working."

The three-sided polygon resisted the urge to facepalm and drag his eye off his face, "Eh... wish I could help, but I've got a... a deal to fulfill," and the Head seemed disappointed. For some reason, he now felt uncomfortable with saying the word "deal".

Or was it perhaps lying?

It felt strange, because lying always had been a part of his life...

Bill thought on this for a while, looking at the ground, and then he heard, "Well, okay, boss," as the Head dragged himself away, "I'll... I'll see you later."

The demon simply waved him off, rubbing at his "head" again.

Well, he sighed, best get this over with... the sooner I get this done, the sooner I can get back to ruling this... this primitive town...

Again, he had no idea how wrong he was.

He floated out from the dark alley as soon as he heard that the Head had gone elsewhere. Bill took in the surroundings once more, and he tried crushing even the smallest spark of sympathy that resulted from the sight. He had some luck, but it wasn't even near complete. The demon settled for this, and then set out searching for Nasla's blanket, checking the empty, rundown buildings. He looked through shoddy drawers that had been knocked over and about, for a steel green fluffy sheet.

Bill couldn't really understand what made this blanket so important to that fleshling that she seemed so eager to cry and to somehow trap him into getting it back to her with no fee.

He couldn't understand it at all.

It made no sense, none of it made sense, which was mind-blowing to him because he was the epitome of nonsense and of all mystical, random phenomena.

Ugh... stupid humans and their stupid materialistic attachments... he complained as he floated out yet another ransacked building. Bill had no idea why he thought that complaint instead of outright saying it aloud.

Perhaps he was afraid someone might hear him...?

But why should he care about some flesh bag getting his or her feelings hurt?

Hell, why should he care about their well-being at all?

If nothing stopped him from breaking his supposed and one-sided contract with Nasla, he'd most certainly and gladly sever the thread. He wasn't even getting anything in return for finding her blanket, so why else was he going through all this trouble?

Bill exited another building, somewhat defeated, and sighed. The demon almost let his feet touch the ground, but, with a brief shriek, he brought himself higher than a few mere inches off the ground. He looked around, and found with dismay that the sight depressed him in this weird, sympathetic way, but he quickly crushed it once more; the rundown town didn't bother him now.

Bill didn't know how long it would be before he started showing compassion, he now knew, again, for not even this was permanent, but this surely kept his wits about him and allowed him to search thoroughly with ease, without suddenly bursting into tears or just being struck with emotions like that dreaded compassion threatened to do to him.

Three buildings later, no blanket was found, and hope was slightly lost. Three of the demon eye bats fluttered past him and they nodded at him in a sort of greeting as they did, but the dream demon only grunted, growing exasperated, in reply. He thought back to Nasla and how on earth he'd get out of this godforsaken "deal" without finding her blanket.

Bill promptly pushed it aside, knowing that it was impossible, and eyed yet another building next to the one of which he just came out. The isosceles monster briefly wondered if the girl was and would be okay, and even whether leaving her alone in a place like this was all right.

He realized and growled again, forcing those thoughts to the back of his mind where he thought they belonged.

"She's fine! she'll be fine!" he yelled, and then he grumbled, "why do I even care...?"

Despite his shout to the heavens, he still felt that bit of concern eating away at him. If he had teeth, he'd be gnashing them as he squashed that feeling too, but not before he promised himself he'd go see if she's alright after this next rummage, despite recalling that he'd head back after her blanket was recovered. He didn't want nor care to check on Nasla, but he thought maybe this concern for her would finally die away once he did.

The demon released a "breath", and entered this next building. Paint was peeling off the scratched up walls, and the furniture had been knocked over, save for the ones bolted down.

Bill could already tell the blanket wasn't here, so up to the second floor he went. Most of the rooms, to his surprise, and slight relief, which was promptly crushed, still remained undamaged in spite of the shockwave that crashed throughout town when Weirdmaggedon began. He had searched through these rooms, but came up with nothing.

Just before he turned to leave the last room he looked through, something caught his attention out of the corner of his eye. This "something" was on a dresser, and, curious, he floated towards it. It was a frame, but he knew a mere frame wouldn't cause him to drop what he was doing.

And he was right, for this frame held some sort of picture.

Bill picked it up, narrowing his eye at it, and tilted the frame delicately all kinds of ways as he took this photo in from all sides and angles. It was of a dark-skinned woman, a light-skinned man, and a little light-skinned boy, standing in their once unravaged backyard, and the back of their once pretty two-floor house brightened the background.

What's more?

They were all smiling, blissfully unaware that this terrible event would come to pass. There was a slight twinge in his heart, something he thought no longer existed, and, his eye now half-closed with a sad regret, he put a finger on the protected photo and slowly traced their smiles, their joyful, brilliant smiles.

This was a family... and he could tell that they had been closely knit and cooperative, not just by his half-omniscience.

And in one fell swoop, he had torn it all apart for his own selfish desire.

Frankly, it took him a lot not to break down right then and there, not only because he had a repute to upkeep, but because he had been trying to crush this compassion for a while now, and giving in he knew would make it worse. He closed his eye, and for a moment only he and this picture he was holding existed...

...until he heard a soft thump by the open door.

Bill's eye shot open, reality settling in once more, and he felt the overbearing compassion, urge to cry and apologize relent, for which he was briefly grateful. The demon then heard whimpering, and his eye narrowed, this time with annoyance and slight frustration. He could tell the sounds belonged to a child meat-sack, and he wasn't willing to deal with more children, but he really had no choice, unless he wanted to scare the kid by teleporting out of here in the creepiest way possible.

Oh, wait―he did, but something was stopping him...

Bill set the frame down surprisingly gently, choice words forming already, and turned to the fleshling, but no sooner did he see his face that those words immediately fled his mind. This boy, albeit slightly older, was the same as in the picture, but, instead of smiling, he looked downright miserable. The demon squashed the sympathy once again, and the two just stared at each other. Finally the boy spoke, "What are you doing here?"

Bill Cipher's nonexistent brow furrowed, and he snapped, "None of ya business!"

The boy flinched, but nonetheless replied, "But this is my home..."

"And I can enter and exit it any time I please!" he interrupted, wanting to get this over with so he could leave with no incident, "you're not the boss of me, Isaac!"

"I didn't say y―"

"Implied, it was all implied!" Bill dragged out the word "all", throwing up his arms, "if anything, I'm the boss of you!"'

Isaac, looking at the finger the demon had used to point at him, didn't say anything this time; in fact, he now wondered how this strange triangle knew his name.

As if reading his mind, and he did, Bill laughed wryly, dropping his arm to his side, "You kids really are clueless..." but he didn't say he knew lots of things because he had the nagging suspicion that Isaac was inclined to curiosity, and he really couldn't waste another minute here.

The boy didn't even get offended; instead, he groaned slightly, and the isosceles demon rolled his eye. He had a flicker of a thought to just kill this boy, to put him out of his misery so to speak. This way of euphemizing the word "kill" didn't ease his growing conscience. If anything, this seemed to anger it, for it still knew what the phrase really meant and it wouldn't stand for it to be put into action. Bill growled, and stopped entertaining the murderous thought, and this appeased his conscience.

The demon huffed, and the boy had been staring at him, silently confused. His eye narrowed once more, and he snapped halfheartedly, "That's none of ya business, either!"

This seemed to quiet the boy's thoughts on this matter, and Isaac then looked at the picture, muttering, "I miss them..."

Bill Cipher chanced a look at the photo too, a sad regret forming on his eye once more, and then gazed at the boy, who was now tearing up. Sighing, he could only watch, not knowing how best to comfort people at all; he'd try, but he might make it worse.

He glanced at the photo again, and suddenly he remembered.

Memories that involved this boy's parents, recent memories, flashed through his already slushy mind. It was during his first night on the town, shortly after his weird apocalypse touched down. Some of the townsfolk were still cautiously roaming, and, at first sight of him, they ran. Bill let them run for reasons then unknown to them, but, when they found themselves slowly turning into stone, they knew why.

The demon then heard muffled noises behind him, and his back changed into his front. He saw two people trying desperately to get away from one of his minions, who had them in a firm hold. The isosceles grinned maliciously, summoning his light yellow cane and twirling it as he floated closer to the man and the woman. They grew frightened of him, just as he liked it.

"Well, well, well, look who we have here," he chortled as he poked them in the ribs with his cane. "Robert and Maria Donslova (Dawn-slow-vah). You two are really, really dumb to be out in such a mess," he faked concern for their well-being, when he actually relished that they weren't doing so well, and he especially relished the flinches when his cane prodded their ribs.

The two exhibited a fleeting shock that he knew their names, but Robert, a soft-spoken man, moved on and tried to explain why they were out, but Bill interrupted with a dramatic flourish of his hand, "Oh, I know. You ran out of food and ran out to get more, hehe. You couldn't have picked a worse day," and then his voice took on a sadistic glee, "and now you'll pay the price~!"

Maria started crying, "W...what will you do...?" and tried to escape once more, but the creature kept tight hold on her arm.

"Oh, suck it up!" Bill bellowed, and Maria stopped crying out of fright, and Robert was outright glaring at him; the demon merely chuckled, the wrinkles around his smiling eye showcasing his happiness, "and I'll be doing the usual," and he gestured to the demonic eye bats, who were now heading their way, "but you two seem to be a bit too... resilient for me liking."

Robert's heart skipped a beat, and his wife blanched, and the man reluctantly asked, "Then... then what?"

The dream demon laughed evilly, and the laughter echoed throughout Gravity Falls, and it soon died away before, leaning closer, he replied, "I'm gonna have to cut you down a few sizes!" still as giddy as ever...

Their faces at his comment... which had once given him sadistic satisfaction... now gave him the most sickening feeling in his "stomach".

He remembered torturing them personally, right at that spot, and the methods gradually got worse, until their resilience was finally done in to his liking, which didn't really take long. Bill then let them wander around, wounded and broken, until they finally got petrified and taken away by the demonic bats, who had been ordered to wait a while beforehand.

The dream demon nearly keeled over, remorse and nausea overtaking him. Try as he might, he couldn't crush them, and he bit back a sob, setting his feet on the floor and wrapping his arms around himself as he drooped. The boy grew concerned and asked Bill if he was okay, but the dream demon didn't seem to hear. Isaac soon figured how stupid that question was; obviously, the creature wasn't okay. Gratitude that he didn't hear the question filled him for a moment, but it was soon washed away with concern. Isaac, more loudly, asked another question, "Are you going to be okay?"

Yes.

This inquiry satisfied him, and this time the triangle heard him. Shock was visible in his eye as he pulled himself together and started levitating once more, and then the emotion dissolved into halfhearted contempt and utter frustration.

"Yeah, yeah! I'll be fine, kid!" he lied as if it was the truth, but he knew he wasn't going to be okay. Isaac restrained asking for his certainty, deciding to take the demon's word for it.

Truth was, he knew it was a lie, but he didn't call him out, or else this entity might do something horrible to him. The boy yawned, and Bill Cipher noticed and tilted himself in slight confusion. That yawn could mean a lot of things―boredom, exhaustion, drowsiness, etc―and the dream demon worried that Isaac was growing bored of him. This worry almost slid into anger, but the young man soon muttered, "I'm sleepy..." and the emotions vanished, replaced with relief.

When Isaac did nothing to deal with his drowsiness, however, Bill's frustration shoved his relief aside and he snapped, "Then stop standing around and go to bed or something!"

The boy barely reacted and kept staring at the demonic triangle, and the latter's frustration mounted as he put two and two together. The demon furrowed his brow and shook his head, crossing his arms, "I'm not your dad, kid."

Isaac continued to stare, and Bill tacked on, "I'm definitely not your mom, either."

The boy merely giggled, "I know you're not my mom," and then poked his bow-tie and top hat, and the demon simply smacked his hand away both times, growing increasingly irritated, and levitated higher and out of reach; it bothered him surprisingly little that a human had touched him.

Isaac pouted, but it was only for a short time, for he yawned again, and Bill then inquired sharply, "So why don't you just mosey along to bed?!"

The good mood dissipated from the boy's face, and he looked down at the floor, shuffling his foot. The three-sided polygon felt somewhat bad, and once again he tried crushing it, but the bad feeling only got worse when he heard, "Because my parents usually walk me to bed... and I'd had to do it alone for quite a long time..."

"Oh..." was his only reply.

Bill had an inner debate, a rather short one, and he sighed, Well, I guess it wouldn't hurt to help... to walk him to bed...

He levitated out of the room without a word, and the boy followed him. The demon took a left turn and floated down the darkened hall, which was only illuminated by the bright crimson of the sky in the medium-sized window at the end, and by his own golden glow. He felt the boy was still behind him, but he still turned every so often so he could truly see.

Soon, Bill willed the door open and ushered the boy in, but the boy just turned around and stared at him. The triangle raised an eyebrow at Isaac, hands on his "hips", and pointedly glanced over at the dark green bed. He surely wasn't expecting to do more than walk this boy to bed, but then the light-skinned child murmured, "My parents usually tuck me in too..."

Bill rolled his eyes and complained, "Eugh, your parents pamper you far too much!" but he did what Isaac wanted anyway, levitating the boy into bed and fixing the blankets onto him via his magic, and the boy was awed and amazed by this display.

He suddenly had the thought to strangle him, or at least smother the boy, with said blankets, but this was barely entertained. The demon waited a bit, his arms now crossed, for yet another request, but Isaac had said nothing, and then Bill turned to leave.

That was when the boy said, "They also read me a bedtime story..."

The triangle's eye nearly crackled with anger, and he growled, "This is where I draw the line! I'm not reading you a bedtime story!"

Isaac fell silent, more so than usual, and then tears began to well up in his eyes. Had Bill not met Nasla, this wouldn't have fazed him one bit, but he could already feel his anger fading and his look softening. Bill glanced about the room and soon beheld a bookshelf. He scanned all the books, searching for a suitable story.

The demon himself had plenty of stories to tell, he knew, but all of them would traumatize the kid at best, so he settled for looking through these storybooks.

He found a good one and it started glowing a deep blue. It soon teleported into his hand, and he couldn't keep his eye off the title―The Ugly Duckling―even as he worked his way to the other side and settled upon a stool beside Isaac's bed. Isaac stared at Bill as Bill stared at the book, and finally, after a few long minutes, the triangle opened it and began reading, in a surprisingly soft voice.

The boy thoroughly enjoyed the reading, as his sleepy smile and the spark in his sleepy eyes could attest. In other circumstances, he would have been mentally and verbally scathingly criticizing the simple words and simple, short constructions, but this time no such words were thought of.

In fact, he found that he somewhat, he hated to admit, enjoyed this, if only because he was comforting someone else.

Near the end of the story, he looked up at Isaac, and found that the boy was fast asleep. A shade of a smile worked its way onto his eye, and Bill touched the child's forehead with his index, and the crown of his head glowed. The grin grew as Isaac's own smile got slightly bigger and even showed some teeth.

He had bestowed upon him good dreams, and now the light-skinned boy looked like how he was in that picture again, only asleep. Bill felt a pang in his mind again, and suddenly he now wanted to leave the boy with nightmares, and it turned into another, albeit minor, scuffle with his thoughts.

His eye narrowed with halfhearted contempt yet again, and looked down at the book, as he rubbed at his "head". The demon couldn't help finishing the pages, and then closed the book gently; he levitated it back to its spot in the bookcase and thought for a bit.

"Lost, eh...?" he quietly mused, getting off the stool and making his way to the door, "that describes me so well right now..."

Bill chuckled sadly, spared one last look at Isaac, and left the room, and, soon, the building altogether to get back to Nasla...

He just had to hope that he'd get found soon, just like that duckling at the end.

It was all he could do...


Fin.
Dec. 28, 2015
5:25p


A/N: And there we go! and, if you guys caught that one massive, plot-important reference ((it actually kinda covers the whole latter half of the chapter - that's how massive it is!)) to a classic movie I love, then you get a mountain of cookies! but, unfortunately, they'd all have to be virtual... =T
Now, that this chapter is done... ONTO LE NEXT! WOOOO!