CHAPTER SEVEN
I own nothing
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Bill groaned as he was finally dropped to the ground. His entire body ached and burned.
"Give us what we want, Cipher," Pyronica sneered, stalking over to stand in front of him. "And be thankful we're doing this in the mindscape. Otherwise, you'd be dead ten times over."
Bill grunted as he pushed himself upwards on his knees, shooting a glare at the pink fire demon even though his right eye was swollen closed and he couldn't see too well out of his left.
When an idea struck - but honestly, why was he protecting the Pines anyway - Bill let himself give into the pain and deflate.
"Fine," he said quietly. "I'll give you what you want. I wrote it down during Weirdmaggeddon and buried it somewhere around the Mystery Shack. For safe keeping you know. If you want it, you have to let me out of the mindscape."
"Or," 8 Ball suggested. "We could leave you here and go look for it ourselves."
"No!" Pyronica snapped. "We wake him up then go look for it. Leaving him in this state will kill him and I for one would like to torture Bill Cipher in his human form and outside of the mindscape. Where the pain will last and could even kill him."
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When Ford stepped into the lab, he found Dipper looking through the plexiglass window into Bill's "room".
"Dipper," Ford said, trying to contain the surprise in his voice. "What are you doing down here?"
"I was looking for you actually," Dipper answered. "I want to work with you. I don't want you to work alone with Bill. I don't trust him considering he made a deal with Mabel and tried to make a deal with me."
Ford chuckled. "You're so much like me. Both in your courage and the fact that we were both fooled by Bill. Trust me, Dipper. I won't let that happen again."
Dipper shrugged. "I know, but...I've thought about your offer again. For me to be your apprentice. and...Mabel will be fine on her own. I want to stay here and work with you."
Ford sighed but before he could say anything, Stan walked into the room. When he caught sight of Ford, he scoffed.
"Your little buddy sure can scream," he muttered, crossing his arms over his chest. "I wouldn't be surprised if he damaged his vocal cords."
Ford frowned, shoving past his brother and trying to ignore the weird feeling of dread in his stomach. He heard Dipper following behind him but the tenseness in his stomach and chest preoccupied him, though he vowed to scold the boy later.
Bill was sprawled on the ground with his back to Ford and Dipper. From the distance, it was hard to tell whether or not he was breathing, but the white shirt he wore was very clearly soaked in sweat.
"What would make him scream, Great Uncle Ford?" Dipper asked quietly as he and Ford slowly approached the demon on the ground.
Ford shook his head. "I don't know, but keep your guard up Dipper. Or better yet-"
"I'm not leaving, Great Uncle Ford," Dipper said firmly.
Ford opened his mouth to say something, but Bill groaned, drawing the two Pines males attention.
"Pain is funny," the demon groaned as he slid his arms underneath of himself and pulled himself into a seated position. His voice was very similar to his old one. He groaned again. "That wasn't funny. That hurt."
"What happened, Cipher?" Dipper demanded. Bill gave a pain filled chuckle as he slowly turned around.
He was deadly pale with dark circles under his eyes, most likely due to the far too numerous nights he spent awake. He was also shaking like a leaf, though he was fighting to ignore that fact.
"Bill, what happened?" Ford demanded, crossing his arms over his chest to try and deter the odd need to hug the creature in front of him.
"I may have angered a few people," Bill confessed, rubbing his hands over his arms when another violent shiver overcame his body. "And by people I mean the other demons who plan to bring Weirdmaggeddon 2.0 around. Oh. Hey Pinetree."
Dipper scoffed and crossed his arms over his chest while rolling his eyes. Even in very obvious pain, Bill was still the same.
"I suppose we'll have to move you upstairs," Ford mumbled, reaching down and hauling Bill to his feet before quickly removing the chain from the floor. He was honestly surprised when Bill didn't bolt the moment he was free.
"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Dipper asked, following close behind Ford as the older male all but dragged Bill over to the elevator. "I mean, Great Uncle Ford, what if that was his plan?"
Ford hesitated, but Bill gave a weak laugh. "I find pain funny, Pinetree, but not at this level."
Ford pursed his lips and refused to meet Dipper's eyes. An idea had come to mind but he wasn't sure if he was ready to execute it yet.
And he was sure he most certainly didn't trust Bill enough. Still, he hadn't gotten all the answers and so didn't want the demon dying just yet.
Sighing as he dragged Bill into the living room and dropped him into Stan's chair - being sure to wrap the chain around Bill's ankle as well as around one of the chair legs.
"Dipper," Ford said, clearing his throat. "I need to go back and grab a few things from the lab. Can you...stay here and watch Bill?"
Dipper's eyes went wide. "You trust me?"
Ford gave a sad smile. "I've always trusted you, Dipper. It's him I don't trust."
"You used to," Bill whispered, but Ford wisely ignored him. Dipper gave his Great Uncle a firm nod and smile.
"Don't worry Great Uncle Ford. I won't let him go anywhere."
Ford nodded, looking back to Bill whose eyes were barely open, before proceeding back towards the lab. As soon as he was gone, Bill dropped his head back against the chair and looked over at Dipper.
"You're very loyal to him," Bill said quietly. "You trust him with your life."
Dipper scoffed and sat a safe distance away from the demon. "What would you know about trust and loyalty?"
"I was the same way when I was your age," Bill said, giving a lethargic shrug. "I was blindly loyal to my father. I trusted him with my life. He's the reason I…" he cut himself off with a quiet laugh. "Why should you believe me? Not only do you not trust me, but I've been called a pathological liar one time too many."
Dipper frowned and even though what Bill had just said was honestly the truth, Dipper couldn't help but find himself very curious when it came to Bill's past life."
The demon must have forgotten Dipper was in the room, because he began talking softly, almost to himself.
"I was drawn to Stanford because he was like me. An outcast in his own world despite - or maybe because of - his academic success. Because if his intelligence. We were both shunned by our peers. We just...had two different ways of proving to others we were the best. While Stanford researched the supernatural, I fought to take over my own dimension then take over this one. To prove-"
"Did he cause any problems?" Ford asked, cutting off whatever Bill was about to say. Dipper shook his head, trying to ignore the stinging curiosity in the back of his mind.
"No," he answered. "I think he's about ready to pass out."
Ford nodded shortly, draping a heavy blanket over Bill. He didn't want to care for the demon and he would have prefered to keep Bill in the basement until he had exhausted his curiosity. But to do that, he couldn't let the demon die which meant figuring out whatever had caused Bill's illness.
"Good," Ford said firmly. "You can go back to whatever you were doing before. I'll stay with him."
Dipper nodded as an idea came to mind. "Great Uncle Ford, is he going to be here all night?"
"Most likely, yes," Ford confirmed. "Once he's better, I'll move him back down. Hopefully around three in the morning."
Dipper nodded, keeping that time in mind. It was currently a little after two in the afternoon which meant Dipper had roughly thirteen hours to interrogate the demon.
With that in mind, he made his way to the attic. He could only think of one other person who was very very good at distracting others.
For his plan to work, Dipper needed Ford out of the room.
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So? What do you think?
When I uploaded this on AO3, someone asked for some more interaction between Dipper and Bill, so that's what I'm attempting to do at the current moment.
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed it.
Please review and let me know what you think.
Thanks!
