AN: Happy International Women's Day to all me fellow gal readers/writers!

Yeah, so, I'm going to start replying to reviews through PM because I REALLY want you guys to know how much your support means to me!

Though Lord Demolitions, I must say that is quite a grand idea you got there! There is one part of your idea that I have already plotted out; that with certain powerful beings being opposites of one another to keep universal balance, but you have given me a lot to think about! If I use any of your ideas, I'll be sure to credit you!

Anywho, I had more POV jumping in this chapter because about a year ago I read (and hated everything about) Rick Riordan's "Trials of Apollo" and know from experience that while it can be entertaining at first, after a while, being trapped in the mind of an egotistical whiny god throwing a never-ending pity-party can REALLY grate on the nerves.

Anyway, hope you enjoy my Faller brethren! Let us start, chapter seven!

Chapter Seven: A Plethora of Questions

The week that followed was a mixture of good and bad.

On one hand, to say that Buer hadn't seriously shaken Bill up was an understatement. The demon had reluctantly gone to school the day after and was paranoid of the teacher tremendously. He was sure this man wasn't a demon, but it didn't stop Bill from masking his intelligence—something that annoyed him a lot—but he wasn't dumb enough to put pride before safety.

His paranoia didn't stop at the school though; Bill had started sprinkling salt on the doorways and window sills, hanging crucifixes in and around his bedroom, wearing his clothes inside out, tilting the picture frames on the wall, burning a log in the fireplace 24/7, and keeping rowan berry in his pocket at all times. All of it would repel a good 98% of his enemies, but it was the other 2% that had him sitting awake at night.

Although on the other hand, Bill had tried making a habit of calling Emmett "Father" and had even extended the courtesy to Ellie, calling her "Mother". Strangely, the woman had burst into happy tears, hugged him tighter than ever before, bought him five new toys, and gave him cream sugar strawberries and cake for dinner.

Then there was his progress on making the twins his minions. Yes, it was slow progress, but it was still progress. Shooting Star finally had learned that grabbing Bill's hair was a no-no thanks to a few angry looks, shouting, and leaving her alone in random rooms as punishment—the household learned early on the if Mabel was left alone anywhere she'd cry in despair until someone came for her.

Pine Tree was more stubborn, but he'd some around eventually.

On top of all that, Bill had a whopping ten good deeds on his notepad. If he could get the Axolotl to come, Bill would have his magic back and it would go back to the way things were before!

Currently, Bill was on his stomach watching Boy Meets World on the television, trying to ignore the smell of Ellie changing the twins' diaper on the nearby sofa. Couldn't she do it someplace else? Yeesh!

He wanted to give her a piece of his mind…but, he would refrain from doing so; he was sure holding his tongue was also a good deed. Bill then lit up and wrote his eleventh deed, "Didn't comment on annoying habits".

"So, Matthew," Ellie sad suddenly. "I'm sure you're aware that your Dad's been slightly mistrustful of you ever since the knife misunderstanding a year ago." Ellie finishing with Shooting Star's diaper and kissing the baby on the forehead. The baby gurgled in response.

Bill rolled his eyes and looked over his shoulder to see the woman placing the twins on the carpeted floor.

"So? I don't care what he thinks," Bill said, moving his leg away from Pine Tree's biting mouth.

"Well, I do! I want our family to happy and the only way to do that is to have absolute trust and love between all of us; that includes you and your father, m'kay?"

The demon sighed and turned back to the television, putting the volume up with the remote. "Again, I couldn't care less about Em—father's happiness," Bill said, flinching a little. That still sounded weird to say. Father. Blegh.

Ellie stood in front of the visual contraption and crouched in front of her son. "But you care about my happiness? Right?"

Bill hesitated slightly at that. He did like getting hugs from Ellie and seeing her sing to pop songs and recording him doing mundane everyday tasks while prattling on about how lucky she was to be a mother.

Realizing she was still waiting for an answer, Bill cleared his throat and said, "I don't know." He paused again. What? "I don't know"?! He'd meant to say no! What the heck was happening to him?

"Close enough," Ellie chirped, patting Bill on the head. "Your father and I are going on a little outing and he's going to hire a babysitter. I want you, Mattie Bear, to be on your best behavior and try having fun with your baby siblings! If all goes well your Father will gain some more faith in you and I'll get you another treat! Deal?"

Bill thought momentarily, not using his parents' escapade to bend the twins into shape sounded like a huge waste. However, he wanted his powers back much more than he wanted baby minions…and being good was well, good correct?

"Alright…mother," Bill said, flinching again.

Ellie sighed happily murmuring, "Mother…" under her breath before twirling off with a giggle.

...A-X-O-L-O-T-L...

In the evening after his parents left and the babysitter was due to come soon, Bill lay in his bedroom, notepad in hand and a grin on his face. Beside him, Shooting Star was kicking in the air on her back and Pine Tree was staring calculatedly at the notepad Bill was holding as if trying to decipher it. Bill figured having them there with him would help his case that he was well deserving of his magic.

"Oooookay, Axolotl! I'm pretty sure once you see all my progress you'll be giving me my magic back!" Bill called in a sing song voice. He sat up and glanced at the door to make sure it was truly closed before lying back down.

"Well, color me in intrigued," a voice said from beside Bill.

The demon yelled in surprise, rolling off the bed and wincing as he hit the ground and crushed the rowan berry in his pocket.

"Ee?" Shooting Star called, crawling to the edge of the bed and looking down at him with large ice blue eyes.

Bill flushed in embarrassment and quickly crawled onto the bed where Axolotl was fondly tickling underneath Pine Tree's chin. He was in his human form, though he was no longer wearing a pinstriped suit but a ridiculous embellished green one that reminded Bill of a leprechaun.

"What's with the get up?" Bill demanded, sitting atop the bed and looking Axolotl up and down.

"I can ask you the same question," Axolotl said gesturing to the rowan berries salt and crucifixes that hung from Bill's pastel yellow walls.

Bill flushed lightly and crossed his arms, forcing a scowl onto his face. "I-I need to make sure I'm protected! Anyway, did you see all the good deeds I've been doing?"

Axolotl turned to Bill and rose an eyebrow. "All? You mean to say you've done one?"

"Yes!" Bill exclaimed indignantly as he shoved his notepad in the Axolotl's face.

The Axolotl took the notepad and stopped tickling Pine Tree, his vivid green eyes skimming down the page. With every second the lizard god's face was becoming more and more amused and Bill fought the urge to snap at him.

"Well?" Bill asked after the Axolotl put the pad down. "Can I have my magic back now?" He pulled Shooting Star into his lap and mentally commanded her to zap him with her boundless persuasion.

The Axolotl closed his eyes and chuckled lightly. "I don't think so."

"Well, why not?!" Bill cried heatedly, accidently squeezing Shooting Star in the process. She shrieked and quickly squirmed out of his grasp, crawling towards Pine Tree.

"Two reasons, Bill. All, all of these good deeds, are just instances you were being polite."

"So?! That's good, isn't it?"

"Of course, it is! And I'm proud of you, I truly am! But that is just common respect; saying 'thank you' calling your parents by their titles…that's just your place as a moral person!"

Bill's eyes widened and he clenched the comforters before stammering, "But…but, but, but! I need my powers, Axolotl! If Buer knew I was back how many of my other enemies know?! What if Agares tries to bury me alive in an earthquake?! What if Jareth tries to kidnap me in my sleep?! I need to be ready!"

The Axolotl gave Bill a pitying look, placing a gentle hand on Bill's shoulder. The demon scowled and spun away, jerking out of the grip. "I hate being this feeble! You don't know how it feels to suddenly be on top of the world and suddenly be beneath it!"

"…is being a human that bad, Bill?" Axolotl asked.

Bill spun angrily and glared at him. "Yes!" He snapped emphatically. "Because from now 'till the end of my pathetically short life spam I'll have a painted target on my back! Even more so with all my enemies and without my magic!"

Bill's quivering form fell back on the bed and hugged himself. "I'm Bill Cipher…I'm supposed to be all powerful, all mighty." He put his hands above of his face, clenching and unclenching them. "But instead I'm this."

He let them drop them and they bounced lightly on the mattress. "You don't understand."

A light sigh echoed through the little room before the Axolotl said, "You're right. I don't understand what you're feeling Bill but that's hardly an excuse to be obnoxious with the people around you."

Bill scoffed and covered his arm with his face.

"If you just embraced being human—"

"I DON'T WANT TO!" Bill screamed in Axolotl's face suddenly as he bolted to his knees and gritted his teeth. "You don't even appreciate my progress! You won't even give me a taste of familiarity; you won't give my powers back!"

"That…goes to my next point, Bill. When you do good deeds, you have to mean it. I don't want you to do morally good things with your magic in mind. I want you to do it because you genuinely believe it's right! Because you want to do it! Not because you have to."

Axolotl sat up and returned his hand on Bill, but this time it landed on his cheek. "You're amazing at being spontaneous, Bill! Show it to me in a positive light!"

Bill opened his mouth, ready to angrily verbally lash Axolotl's face off when the door banged open.

"There! You kids are—!" The babysitter, a tall girl with short brown hair, paused as she saw the Axolotl. The two stared shocked at one another before the girl exclaimed. "What the hell?!"

Axolotl regained himself, clearing his throat and slipping off the bed. He held up his hands and clapped twice sending a shockwave through the ground.

The girl gasped and squeezed her eyes shut, hair billowing in an invisible wind. When she and Bill turned back to the bed, the Axolotl was gone.

"Where was I?" The girl said, blinking twice and turning to Matthew. "Oh! That's right! Alright, my name is May. I'm your babysitter."

Bill barely heard her and instead looked back to where the Axolotl had been. He was relatively sure it was a simple mind wipe, but he was hoping it hadn't been a bad one. The last thing he needed was more attention on him due to May or his parents thinking Axolotl was a robber or kidnapper.

"Matthew? That's your name, right?" May asked

"Yeah, and I guess your some boring-girl-in-a-movie reject," Bill said, crossing his arms.

May squinted. "…excuse me?"

Pine Tree made a noise and held up the notepad, squinting at it and flipping it around. Right…good deeds. Proper good deeds or whatever that was.

"It was a joke," Bill said finally, forcing a smile. "Yes, I'm Matthew, and these are my siblings."

May paused at Bill's sudden change in mood before saying, "I'm going to be doing some homework, is it okay if you kids watch TV?"

"Sure!" Bill said in an overly chirpy voice and scowled. Ugh, too much…

He scooped Shooting Star in one hand and Pine Tree in the other, passing May and walking down the stairs with the cooing babies.

Plopping on to the ugly mud brown carpet, he placed the twin down and turned on the TV.

"Right," he muttered to himself. "Be nice, be polite, do spontaneously good things, and don't do this with your powers in mind! Wow! Thanks Axolotl! WHAT A PIECE OF CAKE!"

The TV exploded in a shower of sparks causing both Bill and his siblings to cry out in horror.

May ran into the room in a panic yelling, "What the hell happened?!"

Bill stared gap mouthed at the destruction as Pine Tree's face plopped onto his lap, staring at the broken TV sideways. "Trouble," the one-year-old said.

Bill glared down at him. "Shut. Up."

A-X-O-L-O-T-L…

The Axolotl invisibly roamed the streets of Piedmont in his lizard form, dodging pedestrians and stretching his magic taught around the planet as he hovered in the air.

He was beginning his search on Earth, but he had so far not sensed a single supernatural being with nearly enough power to reincarnate or revive something. Still, there was the possibility that this powerful entity was hiding themselves from him; it wouldn't hurt to be thorough.

But then again, what if they weren't on Earth at all? What if he was wasting time? Bill's life was on the line after all. He could ask for some help, but he was certain every other god had their own problems and he was acutely sure they didn't care for Bill's wellbeing anyhow. Then there was the fact that putting so much time in finding this entity instead of keeping an eye on Bill could put him in mortal danger not too different from his encounter with Buer.

Axolotl sighed. Lovely.

And then he felt it; a blast of sickly dark energy that pulsed and oozed with power, writhing around like inky snakes. It made the Axolotl shudder as he used his magic to pinpoint the power properly, finding its root in Japan. He tried to narrow down the location, but the dark energy disappeared, almost as if it never happened.

"Just my luck," Axolotl sighed once more.

Well, at the very least he had an idea where this entity was—he just hoped it was an actual Japanese creature and not a creature non-native to the island taking a vacation there; then he'd back at square one.

A-X-O-L-O-T-L…

Emmett hadn't felt this free and ages.

Not having to be around his possibly sociopathic child was painfully draining—especially with that wicked vocabulary he couldn't keep up with…ugh.

While he drove with one hand, the other was clasping his wife's. They were swaying to some pop song Emmett didn't even like, but he was dancing to it anyway; Ellie' happiness was utterly contagious.

At a red light, he turned to look at her and smiled broadly at the love in her eyes. It was almost magical that she had chosen him over her long-time sweetheart! Every time he remembered that it made hi heart clench in happiness.

He was about to say something to her when his cellphone buzzed from within his pocket.

Making sure the light was still red, Emmett took out his phone and pressed the talk button. "Yellow?"

"Um…Mr. Pines?" May said timidly on the other end.

Emmett sighed heavily. "What did he do?"

"Okay, well, I don't if he did it per say. He looked like super surprised when it happened, but then again he was screaming about this thing called an axolotl and BOOM the TV exploded."

Emmett threw his head back and groaned loudly, blocking out any other words May was telling him.

"What happened?" Ellie asked worriedly beside him.

Emmett quickly said he'd talk to May later before hanging up and turning to his wife. "The TV exploded."

"What?"

"And May speculates it was Matthew's fault, but she doesn't know for sure. He was screaming about an axolotl though—what's in axolotl anyway?"

Ellie tilted her head to the side in thought as the light changed and the cars drove forwards. "I think it's a lizard or something. They were pests on my old home—they'd always show up and I remember my older brother really hated them."

"Like uncle like nephew?" Emmett said.

"I'd say so, yeah." Ellie nodded. "And it's more than the axolotl thing they have in common, I recall that…" her voice trailed off and her eyes gave a faraway look.

"El?" Emmett questioned, squeezing her hand as her breathing increased. "Ellie, what's going on with you?"

Suddenly, an agonized scream tore through her throat.

A-X-O-L-O-T-L…

The Axolotl sat in another dimension, golden sun beamed down at him and impossibly green grass fluttered in a light breeze as he watched Bill from a small portal.

He had felt his soul's energy flare for a brief moment, and Axolotl had feared that he had been in danger. Thankfully, it didn't seem so.

Bill was currently sitting on the carpet, flipping through his notebook and scratching things down with a pen

Dipper was lying beside him blinking at him curiously as Mabel crawled onto Bill's lap. The demon's brow furrowed for a few seconds before he sighed and went back to his notebook.

Axolotl smiled. Soon, he was sure Bill would be ready for some sort of magic.

That smile faded as he felt the air prickle with magic. Axolotl closed the portal and turned around, coming face to face with the large form of Time Baby.

"AXOLOTL," he boomed. "THERE YOU ARE! I'VE BEEN LOOKING ALL OVER FOR YOU."

"Time Baby," Axolotl said, growing in size so he could speak to his peer face to face. "Is something wrong?"

Time Baby sighed heavily and crossed his chubby arms. "UNFORTUNATELY, YES. A POOP FACE DID SOMETHING TO THE INFINITE TIMELINES."

"What?!" Axolotl exclaimed. How did someone—why would someone take the time to tamper with infinite timelines?! "What did they do?!"

"IT IS CURIOUS. THEY GAVE AN UNALTERABLE DESTINY TO ONE INDIVIDUAL. THE ONLY REASON FOR THIS I CAN THINK OF IS SOME SORT OF PETTY REVENGE."

Axolotl was silent for a moment, thoughts drifting to the mass of inky power he had felt just recently. "The individual with the Unalterable Destiny—who is it?" He asked finally.

"A CERTAIN PRICILLA ELANORE PINES; 21st CENTURY," Time Baby responded.

"Oh dear…" Axolotl muttered. He turned away from lizard opened a portal, peering in to see a rattled looking Ellie stagger in with her husband into the Pines' residence.

"But…why?"

A-X-O-L-O-T-L…

That night, Ellie sat at the very edge of the bed as far as possible from her husband. Though he said nothing, she could still feel the hurt and worry radiating from him. A part of her felt awful, but another part didn't care.

She clenched the white comforters and squeezed her eyes shut. Something was wrong. That garbled nonsense that penetrated into her head—whatever it did—

Ellie felt Emmett place a delicate hand on her shoulder and she had to force herself to remain still and not push it off, but it was hard—it was almost as if the part of her that loved Emmett had been scooped out of her soul and taken away.

That's not true. She told herself. I love him. I love him. I love him.

"What's wrong, Ellie?" Emmett asked quietly. "You're so distant."

Ellie was silent for a long time before answering, "I don't know."

A-X-O-L-O-T-L…

AN: And we're done!

The ending theme for this chapter is, the "Vah Ruta Dungeon Theme" from Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild. Yes, I play Zelda! And no, I don't care WHAT anyone says; I loved the story in that game!

Fantasy Fan OUT!