Shapes and colors whizzed past as Dipper and Mabel's space racer warped them through hyperspace. The twins held each other tight and screamed as a kaleidoscopic explosion of unnatural colors and sounds swirled around them. Time stopped, and all at once they found their space racer hovering in a strangely glittering and mysterious milky white void.

"Blendin? Blendin?" Mabel said into the intercom, but the intercom simply emitted white noise. The battery had gone dead suddenly, and she shook the device a few times before Dipper motioned for her to stop.

"Where are we?" he mused.

His question was answered by a strange otherworldly voice that seemed to ebb and flow like whale song from the ether.

"You are in the time and space between time and space," the voice echoed. "Come on, climb out of that space racer. I have a very nice beanbag chair."

From out of the fog, the axolotl emerged, it's frills flowing as it did through the vastness. Mabel tugged on her brother's sleeve, Dipper's mouth agape. The twins exited their space racer and climbed onto the beanbag chair.

It was infinitely comfortable.

"Who are you?" Mabel asked.

"I am the Axolotl," said Axolotl. "But enough about me. You've managed to find me, so you get one question apiece. Don't waste it!"

Axolotl felt that having two small humans as company was more pleasant than the triangle it'd had company with a few eons ago, when it had told Bill Cipher of the prophecy. The demon had simply laughed at the Axolotl, mocking the creature for such a claim.

But still, these children would not remember it, and it made Axolotl the slightest bit bitter.

Oh, well, better enjoy it while it lasts.

"What are you, like, a salamander?" the girl asked.

"I am the Axolotl," it replied. "And that was your question. How about you, boy?" Axolotl stared at Dipper, and the boy thought for a moment.

"What do you know about Bill Cipher?"

Of course. Axolotl should've expected the question. It'd seen the triangle in the twins' past, but it would've never thought that the demon was so prominent in their minds as to spark the question. He pondered for a bit, his eyes beginning to glow.

Sixty degrees that come in threes.

Watches from within birch trees.

Saw his own dimension burn.

Misses home and can't return.

Says he's happy. He's a liar.

Blame the arson for the fire.

If he wants to shirk the blame,

He'll have to invoke my name.

One way to absolve his crime.

A different form, a different time.

The twins stared blankly.

"What the heck does that mean?" Dipper asked.

"Shh! It's free-form poetry!" Mabel countered. "I thought it was beautiful. Maybe a little wordy."

The Axolotl laughed. "You won't remember me tomorrow. But it was my genuine pleasure to meet you, um..."

"Mabel!" said Mabel.

"And my name's Dipper," said Dipper.

"No, it isn't," said Axolotl with a smile.

There was a blinding flash of light, and the day began again, as if nothing ever happened.


Rain shut the door, leaving Bill to himself. There was silence for a few moments before she slid down the door in agony, letting out an exhausted groan. Her hands were pressed to her face in exasperation, and she muttered a few curses under her breath.

"Great," she grumbled, "I've sabotaged myself."

She reasoned that getting the gauze and helping him fix his hands up was the right thing to do, but there was a bit of regret behind the memory of it. Helping him had immediately made him bitter towards her. For what reason, she didn't know, but it's not like she could've stood back while he punched a mirror.

'"Well," she sighed, "it could be worse."

Oh, please, Rain, you're the living embodiment of "it could be worse." As soon as you say that out loud, it is going to get worse, somehow, it always does.

"Shut up, you don't know anything. Remember that time at the arena?"

...

"That's what I thought."

She stood up with finality, looking at the mirror across the hall.

It was still kind of disturbing to see herself with black eyes, but she knew that someday she could figure out some sort of spell for that. Now she had to focus on the matter at hand.

Oh, right.

Him.

There was something about him that made her shiver a little. Something about the way he watched her. Something about those hazel eyes that made her feel a little less safe.

Well, it's no wonder, he punched a mirror, for God's sake.

She whipped her head around to the mirror again, a sly smirk spread across her reflection's face.

"Well, you're no help," Rain muttered. "I don't even know why I keep you around." Her reflection scoffed. "Oh, come on, I have better relations with Stark than I do with you, and his relationship with me is less than adequate. Spiderman has it nice."

The walls aren't very thick, you know. He's going to hear you talking to yourself.

For once, Rain had nothing to say.

She didn't remember when she had started seeing the reflection like that, maybe it was back when she had fought that...thing. Her reflection constantly teased her, supplied her with sassy remarks that she didn't quite enjoy, and just annoyed the heck out of her. She was glad that her reflection couldn't really do anything, other than talk to her, and she was even more glad that she was the only one who could see it.

That meant a smaller number of people who were terrified of her.

She could hear Bill gently hitting his head against a wall.

Well, at least he isn't injuring himself.

"Yeah, you could say that again." She sighed. "You think I even have a chance at actual friendship here? For once in my life?"

Silence.

Look, he's just stubborn. He'll get used to you. You'll have no problem with the others. I think the robot already likes you.

"The robot...?"

Blue.

"Ah, Wheatley," Rain chuckled. Her reflection smiled.

For once, she was looking forward to her current situation.


This was...different.

Bill didn't really know how to describe the emotions he was currently having, simply because he had never felt those emotions before.

Usually, when he felt sad or angry or scared, it was because one of his plans didn't work. Because someone had gotten in his way. Because something had backfired. Now he was sad and angry and scared, and it wasn't because something had happened. Nobody had gotten in his way. Nothing backfired. He had no plans.

And yet, despite all of that, he still felt sad. He still felt angry. He still felt scared.

Maybe it was because of being human. That seemed the most obvious answer. But it wasn't like it hadn't happened before. He'd possessed many people before, experienced being human before. He'd been in a human body. How was this any different?

He reminded himself that when possessing someone, he could back out at any moment using only his willpower. Now, if he wanted to leave and go to the mindscape, well, he couldn't just fly out his body and float away, now could he? No, this was permanent, this was inescapable.

Well, then, so what? Is being human so bad?

He slid over to the wall, banging his head against it, trying to get the feelings out. Maybe if he hit his head enough times, his feelings would just-

Something cut into his thoughts. He didn't know what it was at first, just white noise from...somewhere, he didn't know, but it sounded like speech. English. Words. They echoed across his mind, making his skin crawl. The words became clearer in his head, and he could make out a voice.

Well, at least he isn't injuring himself.

He could hear Rain talking outside.

"Yeah, you could say that again."

His heart plummeted, and he chuckled grimly.

"So that's what you are," he whispered.