Bonjour, mes chers! This week's poll has drawn to a close and once again my patrons decided to bring the voting to a tie. If this is a dastardly plot to get both stories updated at the same time then... That's actually quite genius, if that's the case. Or perhaps it's just a bitter war between two of my patrons who wish to see their favored story completed. Either way, it's very interesting for me!
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Chapter Three
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"Hey, Bill. I have something I think you're going to like. Something that might make up for trapping you here. I want to make a deal. How does my soul sound as the price?"
"We aren't friends, we aren't partners, and the only thing we are is enemies. Listen. You hate me, I hate you, and neither of us want anything to do with each other. You get my soul out of this, but you have to pay your own price. Get it?"
"Why are you always like this?! It's all death and destruction and hate with you! Why do you even exist when you're nothing but a monster that needs to be destroyed!"
"You… You saved me."
"You didn't save me just so you could have my soul. I'm not an idiot, Bill, and you're not a complete monster. You can't be, so why are you pretending to be one?"
"Hey, Bill… Do you think that if things had been different that we could have been friends?"
"Bill- Bill! I finally did it! I finally used magic! Hey, now we can go around scaring Mabel and I can impress Grunkle Ford and everyone's going to be so impressed- Why are you laughing at me?"
"Come on, Bill, don't tell me you've never watched a cartoon before. You're supposed to be all-knowing and you can't even predict what's going to happen next in Ducktective?"
"What's it going to be like? When I don't have my soul anymore, what am I going to be like? Will I forget everyone and everything like with the memory gun? Or will I just forget what they meant to me?"
"Hey, Bill. Do you remember when I asked what it would be like if the two of us were friends? I think I might have figured it out."
"If you have my soul after this then that means a part of me will always be near you. Kind of weird to think about, huh? I don't think I'm so upset anymore, though. I mean, maybe this way you won't be as lonely. You'll always have a friend with you."
"Stop it, stop it, just stop it! Stop acting and pretending like this! Why are you being so nice and going around and pretending like you're human? You're a demon- No, you're Bill Cipher. The All-Seeing Eye of Providence, isn't that right? You're above such petty things like feelings. So why do you keep pretending? Just another way to mess with those beneath you, isn't it?"
"My soul wasn't enough for you, was it? No, you had to go and steal everything you could. Well, congratulations. You win. This is all going to be over, the day's going to be saved, you get my soul, and you also get to go back in stone. So you know what? I still win. It doesn't matter what you've done to me because I win."
"Bill… I'm- God, Bill, I didn't mean- I'm- Bill!"
"Right where I left you." Strictly speaking, there wasn't anything like sleep in the mindscape. There were things like meditative states, getting lost in your thoughts, and even just getting stuck on remembering one bad thing after another. Sleep, however? That was the one thing that couldn't be done, no matter how much power one used to possess. "Still rattling around in that nice little cell of yours, Cipher?"
"Go to hell." Words never made it through, either. If they had, then maybe things would be a bit better than they were. As it was, Bill was forced to do nothing but listen and watch (it was what he did best). "Can't you see I'm highly busy at the moment, Sixer? Really, I've just got a ton of things to do today. I'm afraid I just don't have the time for you."
"It must be lonely being out here all by yourself. Then again, you're probably used to being alone, aren't you?" Stanford Pines had never been what one could consider kind, but he was a bit of a bumbling, clueless idiot when Bill first happened across him. Years of rage, betrayal, and travelling dimensions, however, toughened even the kindest of souls. Even now, there was still so much bitterness and rage coating Stanford's soul. "Aw, what? No happy smiles at seeing your dear old friend?"
"You know, Sixer, we're more alike than you think." Such a bitter soul (he had chosen well). "We both hate to lose and we both want nothing more than to kick our enemies once they fall at our feet. Isn't that right?" As always, no one heard a word of what he spoke. Bill could only silently float above the statute that kept him chained to this existence. Unlike before where he could at least roam around the mindscape as much as he pleased, he couldn't even wander away from his statute for too long without experiencing pain.
"Well, you might be glad to know that I'll be spending the summer here. Just like old times, huh?" Stanford took a step forward and Bill couldn't stop himself from floating back. Stanford had proven long ago he was a threat for a reason. "If you come near my home and my family again I will not hesitate to destroy whatever's left of you."
"Still bitter that he once chose me over you?" God, he wished his words could be heard. He wanted nothing more than to see that sharp stab of betrayal shining in Stanford's eyes and to watch as he fell to his anger. "How fickle children can be over their once heroes, hm?"
Stanford stared down at the stone statue that contained Bill's physical body before walking away without a word. Why would he say anything else? All his threats had already be made. Stanford had nothing else- "If you're still around… If you can even see through that prison we made you, then maybe take a look at him when you get the chance. See for yourself how far he's come."
"Leave." Bill didn't stick around to see if his words got through (they never did) before he was leaving the area as quickly as he could. Already he felt the pull on his very being to return to his body, but like hell he was going anywhere near that spot when Stanford was still there. There was only so much he could handle of that man these days. Any more and… Well, Bill still had power in other ways.
His physical body may have been trapped and his spirit tethered to a piece of land that would forever haunt his memories, but he was still here. They didn't destroy him like they wanted to (like they should have). Instead he was there and not quite dead. Not living, not dead, but trapped. He was trapped somewhere even deeper than the mindscape, it felt like.
Oh, yes, he knew he was in the mindscape (how could he not when he had been tethered there so long), but he knew he was trapped between layers of how it should be. It was like being pressed between the pages of a book. A story on either side of him but no way to see how to get there - or how to go back.
So what, though? He was trapped somewhere that was deeper and harder to find, but so what. He could still see, couldn't he? (That's what he had always been best at.) He could see which meant he could watch. They couldn't take that away from him (not that he'd ever let them).
For years, ever since blue flames had consumed his soul, he had wandered around the town and forest, watching and planning for his revenge (how much things had changed since then). Even these days, he still watched just because he could. That was the one thing they could never do. They would never be able to take his sight.
No one would.
So he wandered and he watched. He watched the town members grow and learn and make so many mistakes (it was beautiful and revolting all at once). Years passed as he watched the tiny shack that no longer housed twins (it would now) and the town that once more flourished as it lived alongside the supernatural. If only he could be here to see it… Maybe he would.
"You know, you're going to die in twelve years." Bill chatted at an aged man that hobbled down the street towards a familiar dinner. A pack of gnomes were already outside and gnawing on some old pies, Bill rolling his eye. Greedy little cretins were fond of anyone who fed them. "Should probably change your will up a little. Your daughter is trying to poison you to kill you faster but your other brat is pretty okay."
Terrifying mortals with his vast stores of knowledge wasn't all that fun when they couldn't hear him. Sighing (not even air made it to this realm), Bill wandered to the outskirts of town, looking for anything to catch his interest. He could already feel the pull of his physical body screaming out for the pain of separation to end- For the pain of it all to end. Bill ignored it. He was good at that.
Yawning, Bill closed his eye and let himself drift. It was only when he felt a sharp sting to his entire being that he jerked up, staring at the innocuous little church house that was in front of him. Seeing people drifting in and out, Bill scoffed. "Your god is a lie and a sham and hates you all." Interestingly enough, there was a genuine shiver from one or two of them when he drifted close enough. Susceptible to the Sight, then? Hm… One could be understandable (this was Gravity Falls it attracted the weird and the wild), but three or four?
"Your kind is not welcome here." Spinning around, Bill saw an aged man - the pastor? - stare straight into his eye. "Remove yourself from these holy grounds." Ah, that explained the sting. Not just a filler church, then.
"Or what? You'll exorcise me?" Hm. The pastor could probably only seen a vague outline-
"If necessary." That had Bill going silent, the demon slowly laughing as he let himself drift closer.
"You can see me." Interesting. This was interesting! Not even Stanford possessed Sight enough to see him when on this forgotten realm. This man, however? Oh, this holy man saw it all.
"I can see that you are trespassing on God's sacred grounds. Be gone, demon!" Shocked back at the raw holy energy that hit him, Bill gritted his teeth at the pain that assaulted his senses. For a moment, there was nothing but pain and hatred that made him feel as if he was being torn apart at the seams.
"You don't know who you're dealing with, child." Energy rippled and spiked around the man. He was aged, but he looked no different than any other human. Brown hair that greyed at the temples, a weathered face, and… Oh. The eyes were what held the difference. They were swirling with power and might and raw hate.
"I believe that it is you who does not know who they're dealing with, Bill Cipher." (Danger.) "Next time I will not be merciful."
"Funny, I thought you lot were all about that." It would figure that the first person who can hear and see him in years would be the religious nut. His luck. "Have fun preaching about death and hellfire and all those fun things. I'm sure I'll see you down there!" Petty, but worth it.
Figuring Stanford had left the clearing by now, Bill allowed himself to follow the pull that led him towards his body. At least now he had someone new to annoy for however long that church would be there. Churches tended to not last long in a place like Gravity-
...Even the land welcomed him home. (Such familiar magic and it would be so easy to get lost and to shadow him and beg-) Hm. It seemed both sets of the Pines twins would be back for the summer.
It looked like he had something to look forward to after all.
