Chapter 4: Meeting Magum
Her first year was a tough one, her trying to find her father and trying to make sure that she was safe.
Finding edible food was the hardest thing at first, she couldn't decide what was good or bad, so she swallowed her pride and ate whatever she could. She had slept mainly in alleyways until one day she had stumbled a secret alcove that she could tell her father had created., finding old blankets and pillows for her to sleep comfortably on.
But one thing that she always saw all around her were symbols of a triangle with a single eye in the center.
Layla's mind had ached terribly at the sight of those, as if she had seen them before. A cackle always echoed in the back of her mind, a sarcastic yet sadistic laugh.
As she saw the symbols during the course of the year, she saw another one. It was a symbol of what looked like a silhouette of a head with large branches coming from the head, almost looking similar to a representation of the Devil. For some reason it almost felt familiar to Layla as well.
One night as she passed by an alleyway she once again saw the devilish symbol on the walls, but she saw something written in some kind of code beneath it. Over the course of the year she picked up the various language of her surroundings, even picking up a few books so she could learn how to read and write. She had read that they were odd codes, and after racking her brain she discovered it was a simple Caesar Cipher and she cracked it within a few minutes. Layla read the message, discovering that it was a meeting to join something that was against Bill Cipher.
"Bill… Cipher…?" she echoed to herself. The name sounded so familiar yet it didn't at the same time. Once she deciphered it she discovered it was at a local bar-type of area. Of course she was under-aged, she was seventeen years old, but then again… this was a different dimension.
Layla finds the area within a few hours, her pulling scraps of a blanket close to her to cover herself from odd stares. Inside there were many different creatures, from insect-looking beings, to large snakes that spoke in a hissy tongue, and even humanoid looking persons with brightly colored skins. She automatically felt discouraged, her looking so extremely different, but she pushed herself through the crowd, her bumping to the patrons.
Apparently she was at an important meeting as the leader of the group was there. He looked tall and poised, him having a pale complexion with soulless white eyes, but he had smile on his face as he explained his plans. He spoke fast and eloquently, as if he knew just what to say and what the patrons wanted to hear. He mostly spoke in a various amount of languages, trying to catch the ears of those who listened.
Layla felt entranced by his words, although she didn't understand fully. She figured this Bill Cipher was a bad character, the name had left a foul taste in her mouth from when she spoke it earlier, and if these people were against him…
They can help me find my dad and help us home…!
That awful memory flashed in her mind, the pain that left a large scar underneath her jet black hair on the left side of her temple. She shakes her head, trying not to think about it.
Everything settled down just as fast as it picked up, the meeting being adjourned. Layla looked around, clutching her makeshift cloak around her as the patrons bumped into her rudely. She felt awkward standing there, but she had no other place to go, she wanted to figure out how to join this group.
"My, you're a human aren't you?" a silky sounding voice erupted from her right side, causing her to jump from the sudden sound. "Ah, and a jumpy one at that." She gets a good look at him and it was the same man (was he a man? She couldn't tell really) that was giving his speech.
Layla shakily replied, "Y-yes, I am human…" She clutched her cloak tighter, making her already pale hands becoming stark white at the knuckles from gripping so tightly.
There was a soft chuckle, "Ah, there aren't many female humans in this part of the multiverse." He then offers his left hand. "My name is Magum, Magum Cerebrum. I know it is human culture to shake hands."
Layla looks at his extended hand, it in a black glove. It looked human enough… She grasps it with her left hand, showing her symbrachydactlyly. "Layla Bartek…" she softly says her name as she shook his hand.
"Layla…?" Magum commented. "That sounds pretty… just like your eyes."
Layla arches a brow. "Pardon?" she asks, not fully understanding.
"Do you not know what a compliment is?" Magum laughs, showing a large, almost wolf-like smile. The girl shrugs. "Oh… that's sad…"
"I guess," Layla deadpanned, her particularly not caring.
Magum then gestures to outside with a hand, escorting Layla out of the establishment. They were outside in the chilly air when he asked her, "Did you understand what I was saying in there?"
"Somewhat," she replies honestly. "You mentioned about summoning… a wheel…? An axolotl… that's a salamander so I have no idea what that is supposed to mean."
Magum gives a large smile. "My! You are very keen and intelligent aren't you?" he exclaims happily. "I need that kind of thing in this group… you seem like a girl that can pick things up quickly." Once again Layla shrugs. "Oh, come on now, Layla, I can tell you are lost… are you trying to find someone?"
She softly replies, "My father… I just want to go home."
Magum gives her sad look, which was hard to accomplish with his soulless eyes, but he managed. "Unfortunately, Earth is not easily accessible… you'd need a large interdimensional portal-"
Layla's head aches terribly as a sharp pain rushed through her. She nearly faints to the ground if Magum hadn't caught her. Visions of her past engulf her. Blue electrical lights flashing, the metal going into her head, the sensation of being pulled everywhere at once…
"You probably need rest…" Magum comments gently. "There is a nearby warehouse that is mine and has my quarters, you can rest there if you would like."
"Please…" Layla rasps in pain, tears stinging her eyes. "My head hurts so bad…"
Magum raises a hand and gently caresses her head. After a moment he gives a frown and then puts both of his hands on her head. His frown deepens. "Odd…" he whispers as he lowered them.
"What…?"
"I'm a telepath… usually I can help, but for some reason I can't with you…" Magum explains almost wistfully. He then gently takes her hand to guide her through the unfamiliar streets. "Come along, Layla, you need some rest."
Layla couldn't tell where she was being taken to, her mind was nothing but a painful blur as her vision began to darken. She stumbles in her steps, but Magum helps her not to fall. What seemed like an eternity she felt her body finally hit something soft and instantly felt her body relax as she fell asleep.
A cackle echoed in her mind as she suddenly felt herself jerk upwards, her sitting in what looked like her bedroom back in Gravity Falls, Layla's blue eyes darting around frantically.
"Hello…?" she calls out, her body trembling.
There was a sound that sounded like electricity buzzing all around her as the cackling grew louder. Suddenly there was a triangular shaped hole as one eye opened. The hole then turned yellow as something came out of the hole, wearing a top hat, having a brick-like pattern on its lower half of its body, wearing a bow-tie, and had black arms and legs that would've looked hilarious of its cackle didn't sound so… demonic.
"Well, well, well, look who I happen to stumble upon in the Dreamscape!" the triangle laughed shrilly, its eye taking on that shape as if it were smiling. "Little Layla Bartek, Barty's daughter!"
"W-what!?" Layla shouted, her trying to take a step back but she ended up tripping over her own feet and ended up hitting the back of her head against the wooden frame of her bed. "How do you know my name!? How do you know my father!?" she screams, her clearly frightened.
The triangle laughed as his body took on what looked like still pictures of her father and even herself. "You can't be that dumb, girl! I know you're smart! How about I give you a little… hand?" He held out a hand, it engulfed with a blue fire.
Layla looked at it, her mind and heart racing. Somewhere in her mind she knew it was a bad idea, but at the same she knew something was wrong with her mind… how was that she didn't remember certain things in her life? Layla's face scrunches up with determination as she tightly takes the hand of the triangle, her hand becoming engulfed in the blue flame.
Pressure builds up in her head as various images and scene flashed in her head. She screams loudly as she felt her body collapse to the floor, the triangle's shrill laugh being in the background. She saw her mother's dead body, she saw the triangle with her father as they brought people in and being chopped up and injected with various serums, and she saw how her father's eyes glowed yellow with a black slit pupil.
"Wasn't that fun, Layla?" she heard the triangle, Bill Cipher, laugh loudly. "Want another round of painful memories?"
"GET AWAY FROM ME!" Layla roars in anger. "GET OUT OF MY HEAD YOU DEMON!"
"Don't you get it? Your father drugged you so much to suppress your memories that this overload is practically killing you!" Bill laughs, his body glowing like gold. "Oh, man… now if I can just access the part about Ma-"
Layla bolts upright, her blank hair matted to her head with sweat, her heart pounding loudly in her chest as she heard the blood roar in her ears.
She panted, her electric blue eyes darting around frantically, trying to make sense of where she was. The young woman had been so used to sleeping on the streets or under anything that looked like it would block her from the elements that she was shocked that she was in an actual bed. The bed had silky feeling sheets, something she has never felt underneath her palms. Even the bed itself was the most comfortable thing she has ever been on, her bed back home was hard and lumpy, making her back ache every morning when she woke.
Layla puts a hand to her head, it throbbing painfully with her heartbeat. She felt the sheets wrapped around her small body, and she tugged them closer to her, frightened of what was in her dream.
More like a nightmare…
Did all of that really happen?
The flashes go through again, this time a lot more clear. She remembered going into town at the age of thirteen and running into a man, and later that same day she saw her father chop of a hand and saw a river of scarlet heading towards her.
They are real…!
You're trying to see the good in him when there isn't!
"Rick was right… I am delusional…" Layla cried to herself softly, bringing her knees to her chest, still covered with the sheet, and her chin rests on her satin covered knees, the tears making dark droplets into the fabric.
A small click of a door and it was opened causing Layla to jump and throws the sheet over her. She then scoffs at herself, thinking that it was too childish for her and removes the sheet. Stepping inside was Magum, him shutting the door behind him softly. He then turns and notices that Layla was sitting up in the bed.
"Oh, good," he says with light smile. "You're awake." He walks up to the bed and stands next to Layla, his gaze lingering on her a little too long.
The girl stammers, "H-hello…"
"Is your head feeling better?" Magum asks with concern, his head tilted slightly.
"Yeah…" she lies, it still aching painfully. "But… there was something weird that happened…"
Magum then sits next to Layla. "And what was that?" he then asks curiously.
"There was… a floating triangle… with one eye…" she puts a hand to her head as it ached. "He… he knew my father and they did… terrible things… like killing people…" her voice shook more as she spoke, her finally coming to realize that her father was truly a terrible person. Or was he manipulated to be this way…?
"Bill Cipher," Magum's voice and face hardened. "That… that demon stops at nothing for death and destruction."
"That was what was on that poster with the cipher on it…" Layla remembers. "He really sounds bad… he manipulated my father…"
Without Layla noticing a wolf-like smile spreads across Magum's features. He knew something she didn't, and he was going to keep that to his full advantage.
"Layla… how about you join us?" Magum offered. "We can train you on how to fight and defend yourself, that way you can find your father."
The girl whips her gaze to him, her mouth slacked with disbelief. "Are… are you serious? Me? Fighting? I can't do that… I'm too scared…" she squeaks out. She then holds up a trembling hand. "I can't even get my hands to stop shaking…"
Magum then puts his hand over both of hers and stops the trembling. "You will learn," he insists. "Now… I've noticed something on why I can't help your mind…" he gently puts a hand to her head and gives a soft tap, her hearing the clang of metal. "A metal plate… how did that get there?" he wonders aloud.
Layla's memory flashes as she remembered the sharp bit of a drill going into her skull. She puts a hand to her temple and felt the bump of where scar tissue was. It had been about a year and it was still painful, it often feeling warm to the touch and she noticed pus in her hair from it. As she touched it she felt the ooze on her hand, making her face grimace.
"You're sick, aren't you?" Magum assumed, gently removing her hand and noticing the infection. "That has been spreading for quite some time… that's why you have a grayish complexion and why your head is warm…" He then noticed her small stature, her stature making her almost looking childish. "And your growth looks like it has been stunted from malnutrition from your young childhood. His eyes however lingered toward her chest, noting that part of the development department did its part. "You need to see one of my healers, they will help you."
Layla nods enthusiastically. She wanted all the aches and pains to go away from what she was feeling. "Will there be edible food too?" she asks childishly, her voice going higher with hope.
Magum gives a laugh. "Yes, I will make sure that you are fed as well. Maybe we can boost some nutrients into you," he tells her.
Layla gets out of the bed and was led to a different part of that large building she was in. Stares burned into her skin as the other members glared at her, a few hateful looks from females. Layla ignored it for the most part, but still felt uneasy. Finally she was put into a small, white room, where a being that looked similar to Magum, but with glowing purple eyes, gave her a series of injections.
She was used to needles poking into her flesh, she had countless small scars on her hands from her father's serums and such. A few of the injections instantly made her feel better, the ache in her head disappearing, but an echo of a cackle remained in the back of her mind. Layla was also given a bottle of something that resembled pills, a various amount of colors, and was instructed to take one a day when she woke up until they were gone.
"It will help with your nutrition," the purple-eyed being explained as she handed the bottle.
Once she was done with what she assumed was a doctor she was escorted by Magum to a room filled with tables and patrons eating from bowls. Some used utensils while others used their appendages to scoop of the lumps of their meals into whatever orifice was used for eating. She sat on a bench next to a large patron that looked similar to a blob of green goo, using a trunk to suck up whatever was in the bowl in front of it. A bowl was placed in front of Layla, the contents filled with what looked like oatmeal, but it was a dark green in color with bits of orange.
She grimaces at the contents, it reminding her of her vomit from when she had been sick. However, she once again swallowed her pride and used a spoon-like utensil and scooped a spoonful into her mouth. Her grimace turned into a satisfied smile, to her it tasted like her favorite thing in a world, a crisp green apple.
"This is designed to tap into your brain on what your favorite food is," Magum explains to her as he noticed her smile. "It then registers to your taste buds and you recognize it."
"That's an amazing idea…!" Layla cheers happily as she takes another spoonful. "Wish Earth had something like this…" A burst of green apple flavor fills her mouth. Growing up she rarely had one unless her father remembered to buy some at the store or if Rick had stolen some for her when he snuck out.
"It is also filled with nutrients," Magum tells her as he watched her eat. "It'll help you like the medicine you received will."
Layla nods happily as she finished up her green apple flavored slop. "Can I have more?" she begs, her electric blue eyes big and pleading.
Magum shakes his head, Layla's face crestfallen. "Sorry, only one bowl for you. Too much will make you sick," he informs her as he pushed the bowl away from her. "Now come, I will show you your permanent sleeping quarters during the course of your training."
Layla follows Magum through a door that led to a long white hall, various doors lining the walls. She assumed this was the residential area of the warehouse they were in. The door were a solid black against the stark white walls, them almost looking like voids. They finally stopped in front of one and Magum opens the door, the inside a small room that fit a twin sized bed and a dresser for clothing.
The ravened haired young woman steps inside, it feeling warm against her bare skin. She sits on the bed, it feeling soft beneath her, although not as soft as the bed she was previously in. The sheets weren't as silky as the one she was in before, and she had to choke back a sound of disappointment at the sheets.
"How will I remember this is my room?" Layla questions, her confused how she would find the place when the hallway had all identical doors.
"What is your favorite color?" Magum then asks her, tapping on the dresser.
She automatically responds, "Purple."
He then gestures to the door. "Take a gander," he tells her.
Layla does as she was told and walked outside the room to see the door. She gasps in surprise when she saw the door was a deep purple, her name scrawled in the center in golden letters. She rushes back inside, her face pink with excitement.
"It will only look like that to you," Magum smiles at her. "That's how you will know this is your room. The door has a special property that taps into your brain, similar to the food, and finds what you will recognize the most."
"That's interesting…" Layla comments. As much as she read on things, psychology or anything with the brain wasn't her strong suit. "How do you know so much about the brain?"
Magum gestures with his hand to her head. "I am a being that is psychological, I am an expert in brain functionalities. The only thing I can't do is access dreams and nightmares, which is a different role entirely to a certain race of demons…" his words clipped at the end with anger.
"Does… that have to do with Bill Cipher…?" Layla questions fearfully, her head beginning to ache once again.
Magum gives her a hard look, a look that made her flinch. "Yes," he replies curtly. "He is a dream demon, the last of his kind, like I am the last of mine."
Layla decided not to ask any more about it, the look on Magum's face frightening her greatly. He looked as if though he wanted to kill someone.
"Well, um," Layla nervously whispers. "Thank you, thank you very much for helping me. I really appreciate it!" Her voice got stronger towards the end, her having a large smile on her face. "How can I repay you for this?"
Once again Magum gives a wolf-like smile. "Oh, there will come a time for that," he says nonchalantly. "But for now, you are welcome, my dear Layla."
"But I do have a question…"
Magum raises a brow in confusion. "Yes?"
"Where do I go to the bathroom and bathe?"
A look of realization passed over his features. "Oh! I had forgotten that humans required that…" he laughs. He then leads her to a small switch on the wall by where the bed was. He presses it and a small hiss sounded as a latch was released. The bed moves slightly to reveal a hole with a ladder leading down. "Down there is a small facility… not many creatures require this kind of service, so most don't know this feature exists."
"Yes… I can finally take a shower…!" Layla sighs happily, a relaxed smile on her face.
"I will send clothing her for you," Magum notifies. "Clothing that is appropriate for training. There are also basic products in the chamber as well, do tell me if they do not satisfy your needs and I can get you new ones."
Layla then jokes as she points to her head, "What you don't have soap that links to my brain to make it whatever scent I want?"
Magum then narrows his eyes. "That is ridiculous…" he insists. "Although…" he then gives a smile. "I can look into that. See you later, my dear Layla." He then leaves the room and leaves Layla alone.
Alone.
Being alone was now an odd sensation, she was so used to his company. Before tears could fill her eyes she descends the ladder into a chamber that was a pale blue, it actually looking like a normal bathroom with tiled floors. There was a large class box that was the shower, it with multiple shower heads and various soaps.
The girl strips off her clothing, it feeling like she was peeling off a layer of disgusting skin, and drops the items to the floor. She turns on the water, waiting for the perfect temperature, seeing steam slowly filling the room. A sigh of satisfaction escapes her as she goes under the water, feeling the heat relax her muscles.
Layla washed her hair a total of three times, each time taking a layer of filth off of her hair follicles. She scrubbed her body, feeling as if she was peeling layers and layers of dead skin. Dirt and grime turned the water that dripped off her body into a disgusting gray color, proving on how filthy she was. She had found a special product removed unwanted hair and she puts the lather on the appropriate parts of her body.
Once the water was shut off Layla stood in the box as water dripped off of her body. The droplets hit the floor with soft taps, her taking deep breaths and letting the warm air fill her lungs. It was the first time she has truly felt clean in over a year, her body smooth and nearly glistening. She leaves the shower chamber and finds a white towel, wrapping it around her body as she climbed the ladder back into her room.
As she stepped out of the hole she hit the switch she saw Magum hit and the bed moved back into its regular position. She saw on the dresser there were multiple pairs of clothing sitting on top folded neatly. Pairs of underwear and bras were sorted between black and white, all surprisingly her size. There were also pairs of socks for her, a pair of solid black boots, and many pairs of black pants. There were shirts of various dark colors, mainly dark blues and purples.
"This is odd…" Layla comments as she dressed herself. "It's like he measured me in my sleep or something…"
The clothing felt soft against her clean skin and she smiles. She opens a drawer and finds a brush and begins to brush her jet black hair. Her hair was significantly longer than her short hair she had a year ago, her hair waving and feathering around her face. When she was done she sets the brush on the dresser and crawls into her bed, the lights automatically turning off.
Layla scoffs a laugh, "I bet this connects to my brain and knows when I'm tired." She felt her body relaxing into the bed, surrounding her and supporting her back. A smile crossed her face as she closes her eyes, feeling sleep greeting her.
Her dreams were triangle free.
A/N: The beginning of Magum and Layla's relationship! We know how this ends, but now we can see how it all began! He is trying to act sweet and caring, but we all know he is a jerkface like Bill.
Thanks for reading as always and sorry about the long wait!
~Skye Hendersen~
