Cipher clue: Have you tried counting backwards?


Chapter 7: The three mourning souls

First there had been two entities, complete polar opposites yet uncannily similar. William and Bilius Cipher grew up like the faces of a coin, colliding against each other as much as they could, but they were still treated as an entity, always Bill and Will, Will and Bill, a mistake of which they took advantage

To the outside eyes there were perfect twins, dressing in each other's colors, looking to the world like two halves of a whole, and it was truth that they loved each other as such, but they reveled on their jarring differences on the inside, believing that there were no two people so distinct from one another as they were. But then they got tired of pretending to be carbon copies of each other and, in their unmasking, had fed up their guardian, a goddess they had never called their mother

The turns of life were kind to them though, as they found themselves alongside another goddess and a child that felt like them, in front of a single door with a carving of an open book, the being that emerges feels like them as well, though it's far more noticeable, she smiled at them warmly, eyes those of a predator recognizing its kind, her name was Alexandria

There was never a dull day while they lived with the demonness, who was a great story teller despite of her inability to lie, she was the maternal figure they had never had, acting as teacher, healer, listener, cook, and worried parent, he anger was always dyed in that disappointed tone that had the twins looking at their feet in shame. But the thing that affected them most during those years, was the other demon child

Regulus was very quiet the first few days, talking mostly to Alexandria, until they had a lesson on kinds of demons and the twins found themselves interested in the little star that lived with them, slowly they began getting close to the other, talking to him and playing with him

One day, Regulus asked why they dressed in each other's colors, at the response that they were twins he scoffed and asked them if they were ok with that, Bill answered first, saying he had grown to like the way yellow looked on him and how it reminded him of Will, Regulus then looks at Will who answered that he agreed with that, finally Regulus smiled and nodded to himself before telling them that it was ok then, it was all it took to win them over

As time passed they became very close, to the point that the three were always together, Alexandria came up with a nickname for them but seemed happy about the development, Regulus became their stability, their common ground, and the twins came to like him a little too much

"The problem with stars," had said Envy much, much later on that dreadful rainy night, "is that they're doomed to burn out"

There had been a time when Bill Cipher was a good demon, a time where he only tricked people as pranks and had two others making sure none got too far, a time where he had someone to run back to if worse came to worse, and there had been a time where he had been in love, but he had lost it all, gradually, first by a force he could not control, and then by his own bad decisions

As he waits to be given his punishment his mind wonder back to simpler times, to vibrant green eyes and hair the color of the night sky, a gentle smile thrown in his direction, and about brown eyes under even browner hair, face settled on a defiant look improper to something as powerless as a mortal human being, he smiles bitterly to no one but himself, of all the souls! He was doomed

~7-19-22 21-18-9-8-7 26.14'8 26-9-22 18-13-8-11-18-9-26-7-18-12-13–21-6-15-15 7-18-14-22-8~

Upon seeing the resting room empty Will set off to find his coworker, the library was so grand and labyrinthine, he worried the other had winded up on one of the unsafe areas, a worry that only increased when he run out of places to look in the higher floors, in a bit of a panic he ended up using a spell to teleport to Dipper, and had sighed with relief at noticing it was the one reserved to them, only to then realize what the picture he was seeing looked like

Dipper sat on a very old rug as he chatted idly with a ghost, she looked strangely familiar, from the time period where Will and his had been born, she was leading the conversation, speaking in a tongue Will hadn't heard in very long as Dipper worked on a notebook of sorts, magic thrumming from him, a translation spell most likely, which was rather impressive considering she was talking a probably long dead version of the language, the ghost noticed him and gave a short curtsey, this caught Dipper's attention and he turned to him

"Will!"

"Sorry for the interruption, I just wanted to make sure you hadn't wandered to the inhuman parts of the library"

"Nah, Fable guided me, she knows this place from corner to corner"

The mouse shakes her nose looking almost proud in her perch atop Dipper's left shoulder, a few squeaks that Will guesses are directed at him; Dipper pets her softly

"And who is our visitor?"

"This is Ai, she's tied to one of the scrolls, says Alexandria saved it from the fire, I'm suddenly very hyped about this place"

"Did she tell you about the real reason behind it?"

"We were just getting to that, she was telling me about your adventures with Regulus and your brother"

Will smiled taking seat near to them and asking the spirit if he could listen as well, the ghost smiled charmingly at him and agreed to letting him stay, hearing those old stories was nostalgic, seeing the way Dipper smiled in excitement or laughed with mirth reminded him of a certain star he liked a lot, it was very easy to see the similarities, when stars burn out they transform, and the human with the vibrant aura, Arcas, Dipper felt like home to Will, it had been so long

~ 13-6-14-25-22-9-8 26-9-22-13'7 26-15-15-12-4-22-23 18-13 13-6-14-25-22-9 24-12-23-22~

Alexandria opens a small door hidden behind a bookshelf, it had been such a long time since she last visited, she gave her office one last look deciding Will could probably entertain Dipper for however long it took

The portal was easy to cross, what lay on the other side was a familiar sight, a groove covered in stones and mushrooms that light up all together with her presence, Alexandria remembered putting every stone and mushroom in their place, where they had stayed put by magic boundaries Will had set up, they mimicked the constellations of their home and a couple of Earth, a permanent night sky in the ground, leading to the final resting place of a fallen star

At end of a path was the grave Regulus' mother had crafted for him, a light blue almost white stone that seemed to have its own glow, she sat down facing it

"You know Reg most people would say that pain turns you into a liar"

She put her arms behind her and raised her eyes to the void in the sky, it was an odd multiverse

"You lie to those you care about so they don't worry, you lie to those hurt so they don't suffer, yet still I've always thought it was quite the opposite"

She looked back down to the grave, face downcast

"I've always believed that pain makes you honest to the one person you generally lie to, yourself, because you stay true to the you that cares about them, that wouldn't want any harm to fall on them, and in this honesty towards your own soul, you think it better to lie"

She smiled bitterly

"Sorry I didn't come sooner, I was busy trying to forget things, start over, and then I met him"

She rose up, walking closer and dragging a hand through the grave slowly

"Forgive me, I'm yet again unable to stop my mother's whims, I cannot stop what's about to unfold, but I can promise you to save his soul, if nothing else"

Crying was odd when one didn't have eyes, and though Fay barely complained about this particular feature of hers, in this form it was hard to ignore, she couldn't tell how much time had passed, she had to go back now

"Good bye my blue star, may I see you soon"

She made a sharp turn and strode back the way she came, decided


(a:|)