Chapter 25: The History of Magum and Bill Cipher

Both Layla and Ford were walking down the road that lead to the main market of the dimension they were in, glares shooting their way.

Ford still didn't have a trench coat, and from wearing one for years he just felt uncomfortable without it. He was looking through the book that Layla had let him read, things were in a code that was similar to the code that was written in his last journal that had sudden appeared in it. The page he kept going back to was Magum's Wheel.

"How come Magum looks different here…?" Ford asks Layla curiously.

"Because the body you're used to seeing is a possessed one." Layla replies flatly.

"… Possessed?" Ford echoed.

Layla stops walking and then grabs Ford's hand once again. She glances around to find a private place and sees an alleyway. With a tug Ford followed her as she began walking towards it. Once in the alleyway, she glances around to make sure no one was around.

"As you know, a demon can possess a human body, or pretty much any organic being," Layla began softly. "Magum… doesn't like his true form… there is a statue in his main dimension that is his original body. So, over the years he had possessed many bodies. Depending on the host and the length of time their souls can bond to each other. Most of the time the host dies once the demon leaves it, but on rare occasions the host descends into madness."

Ford's heart pounds in his chest. He was possessed by Bill Cipher multiple times. He was going into madness after the fact. But he seemed to be okay now, more or less, what was the deal?

"If that is true, Layla, then how come I'm not dead or crazy?" Ford seriously asks her.

She gives him a sad smile. "Because, Bill didn't constantly possess you, he wasn't in your mind all the time," she simply tells him. With a sigh she then adds, "I've only seen Magum's true body one time, when he was absolutely furious at me… and it was the most terrifying thing I have ever seen in my entire life…" Layla then wraps her arms around herself, rubbing them gently as if she had a sudden chill.

Ford instinctively goes and wrapped his arms around her into a hug. She went rigid for a moment, but she then wraps her arms around his waist. Ford rubs her back gently, he remembered how his mother used to that to him and Stanley when they were very small and scared of something. It was almost instinctive in a way.

As she was in his arms he remembered his time in Gravity Falls when he and his old partner Fiddleford McGucket would talk about their families. Fiddleford was married and had a son, he had left his family so he could come to Gravity Falls to help Ford out with his research and the portal since he was a brilliant engineer. Sometimes Fiddleford would ask Ford if he had ever planned on getting married and having a family.

"Of course not," Ford had bitterly replied. "My research is the most important thing right now, I can't distract myself."

Fiddleford had given him the look of pity. "You've never been in love, have you, Stanford?" he had asked,

Ford had shaken his head. "Nope, and I don't plan on it either," Ford had said with a snarky tone. "To me it's a waste of time."

Fiddleford had narrowed his eyes angrily. "I don't think it's a waste of time," he had grumbled with a huff. "And trust me, you're gonna find someone and slap yourself thinking how idiotic you were."

Ford had laughed at that statement. "Okay, if I find a girl I really like, and dare I say fall in love with her, I will give myself the biggest slap across my face that I can give myself. How's that?" he had had a huge smile on his face, him back then clearly amused.

"It's a deal then, Stanford."

Ford now narrows his eyes, thinking how right Fiddleford had been. It wasn't a waste of time.

"Ford?" Layla's voice broke his thoughts.

Ford shook his head, clearing the cobwebs of memories. "Yeah, Layla?" he replied to her.

"Are you okay?" she then asks. "You've been kind of quiet for a bit…"

"I was just remembering a certain deal a friend and I have made." Ford tells her, pulling away from the embrace. He had a big smile on his face, and he looked as if he was about to laugh hysterically.

Layla's electric blue eyes widened. "Ford…? You're scaring me a bit… I've never seen you smile this long…" her tone went dark, her clearly wary.

Ford's face immediately stops smiling. "What?" he questions. "But… I have to go through with my end of the deal…" He raised a hand, making Layla glare at him. And he smacked himself across the face with such a great force that it made Layla wince at the sound.

"WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO THAT FOR, STANFORD?!" Layla screams at him.

"Like I said… ow!" Ford cried out in pain. "I had to do my end of the deal."

"Which was?"

Ford's face went red. "Um… heh, let's go find me a trench coat huh?" he muttered nervously as he starts to walk away, once again reading the book on Magum. Layla follows close behind, her sighing with annoyance.

The book was filled with cryptic codes, all which seemed familiar to what was written by Bill in Ford's journal. It had to be the same language, some ancient language that the higher demonic deities knew of and used that had been lost within the dimensions over the millennia.

"Ford!" Layla called out, her standing by a stall. Ford walks over, seeing the different coats that were available. He then saw one that looked like his old one, him grinning. "Looks like your old one right?" Layla murmurs to him.

"Yep," he agreed. "And I got a plan…"

"Oh, stealing, your brother would be proud," Layla snickered.

Ford groaned, "Don't remind me…" He then approaches the stand, trying to distract while Layla snatches. "Um, excuse me…?" Ford asked in the most butchered way of pronouncing the language that Layla had taught him. The merchant glares at him with his ten eyes. "Sorry… I'm not used to this language… but can you tell me what language this is?" Ford then shows Magum's book, showing the odd language.

"That's the language of the Hierarchy of Demons," the merchant replied in the same language as Ford, his voice confident and fluent. "Only certain demons know the language anymore… I think only Bill Cipher and Magum know it still… since all the others are dead."

"Pardon?" Ford questions. "What do you mean they're dead?"

The merchant rolled its many eyes. "Don't you know history?" he demanded angrily.

"Eh… I'm more of a science person," Ford admits. "Can you enlighten me please?"

As he spoke Layla had snagged the coat, and a few other things as well. She finds a bag and stuffs everything inside it. Layla slowly walks away, eventually making her way next to Ford, making it look like she came from a different direction to make it look like she just wasn't stealing.

"Well, millennia ago, there was a war between the highest demons. There were dream demons, psychic demons, blood demons, too many to count. There are descendants of these demons of course… not as powerful though. Among this were two anarchists, Bill Cipher and Magum. They were the rebels among their races, and they decided to work together to cause this war.

"They've pitted the other races against each other, manipulating their thoughts, their dreams, and watched on the sidelines as they saw their own families and old friends being torn apart. Of course they got caught eventually, Magum made Cipher get all the blame instead in fear of being stripped of his physical form. All the blame, or so it has been said, went to Cipher. Cipher lost his physical body, only to be a specter of dreams, him being forced to be in a two dimensional world forever, something that the Dream Demons could leave willingly with their physical forms.

"As revenge Cipher used Magum's race of demons, manipulated their dreams despite them being psychic demons, and sent them to kill the rest of the dream demons that took Cipher's physical form away and forced the psychic demons into suicide. Of course Magum was angry at this, him most likely honestly wanting to do something similar. Their races of demons are extinct besides them two… they've been at each other's throats ever since," the merchant concluded.

Ford stood there for a moment in shock. It was like Bill actually had a friend at one point, but Magum betrayed him. Now Bill gets what he wants by pretending to be friends and betraying them. Maybe Magum had something to do with the way Bill's mind worked.

"So… they were friends at one point?" Layla guessed, her accent in the language on par. "And they made mistakes to each other and been fighting ever since?" she then gives a slight glare to Ford. "Sounds like a pair of siblings." This statement caused Ford to glare at her.

"Seems like it," the merchant shrugged. "Now… are you two gonna buy something or not?"

"Do you have something to decipher this language?" Ford asks, his accent terrible. He looked to Layla, who pulled out the very few money that they did have, something they never used because of the stealing.

The merchant gives a sympathetic look. "I don't know how you two came across that book… but, I do have something." He takes the money from Layla's hand and he goes under his counter to bring up a briefcase. The merchant opens it and pulls out an as equally old book. "I'm a descendant of the blood demons, so this has been passed down in my family for generations.

"You two seem like you have a history with Magum and Bill Cipher… them two are bad news. And… and if giving you this can help take them down… I'll give it to you in exchange of this pitiful amount of money." The merchant then hands the book to Ford, who grasped it with his free hand. "And I know you two are on those wanted posters…" he then glares at Layla. "And I know you stole from me. But, I'm going to pretend it never happened. Go before I change my mind."

Ford nods, holding both of his books dearly. "Thank you, and I really mean it," he told the merchant.

As Layla and Ford said their goodbyes, the raven haired woman gave Ford the new trench coat. He puts it on and puts the two books into the pockets in the coat, along with the picture of him and Stanley as children. They two walked out of the market, Layla commenting that they never even bothered to find Rick a nuclear reactor.

"Eh, he'll get over it," Ford laughs.

"So," Layla drew out the word. "What was the bet you said you and your friend made?" she brought back up their previous conversation.

"Uh…" Ford nervously stammered. "Well… he said to me that I had to slap myself thinking how idiotic I was for thinking a certain way. And I did."

Layla raises a black brow in confusion. "And… what was it?"

Ford stops and takes a deep breath. He faces her as she stops as well, her folding her arms across her chest.

"The deal was if I find a girl that I really like, or love, I would slap myself as hard as I could because of being such an idiot thinking that I wouldn't." Ford said the words so fast and stumbled with them, his face getting redder by the moment and his voice wavered and cracked. He sounded out of breath and was panting at the end of his sentence.

Layla's face took on a shade of pink, but nonetheless gave a small smile. "So… let me guess, you're an idiot then?" she giggles.

"The biggest one I know," he stammers, laughing nervously.

She grabs his hand, making his heart race. "Well… you did hit yourself hard," she murmurs as she goes on her tiptoes and kisses the cheek that he had hit. "So, you dare say you love me?"

"I dare say that I do," Ford replies, this time the nervousness leaving.

"That would explain why you kissed me…"

"UM…"

Layla laughs at his expression. "Come on, let's go, we got to explain to Rick what we learned," she tells him.

"That I'm an idiot?" Ford asks in confusion.

"Later, I was thinking more on Bill and Magum."

"RIGHT!" Ford shouts as he squeezes her hand and starts running back towards where they had left Rick before, her struggling to keep up, but she still had a huge smile on her face.

A/N: Well, now if you read the short story "Dipper's Journal" you see why Dipper is acting so strangely.

BUT NOW WE KNOW WHY MAGUM AND BILL CIPHER HATE EACH OTHER! Excitement!

Thanks for reading as always!

~Skye Hendersen~