When Vincent opened his eyes again, he the first thing saw was that he was no longer standing in the void of space, but instead he was now falling through the air toward solid ground. Without panicking, he flipped himself upright in the air to get better control of his descent and then landed on the branch of a tall tree that appeared as he got closer to the ground.
Once he was standing on his own two feet again, Vincent took a quick survey of the area to figure where he was. The first thing he realised was that he was now out in the middle of the woods, surrounded by trees. It was also night time, with a full moon illuminating the whole forest. Whenever this was, it certainly was not the same forest found in Gravity Falls as Vincent could see several snow caped mountains off in the distance, not to mention that the bark of the trees was clearly different. He took a few moments for him to fully digest this change of scenery which oddly enough seemed a little bit familiar to him. He also noticed that Bill was nowhere to be found. As he gazed over his surroundings, still unsure what to make of it all, he heard a rustling noise coming from below, as it sounded like someone was making their way up the tree toward him.
Vincent hadn't been sure what to expect when the mysterious someone finally joined him on the tree branch, at first thinking he might get an explanation out of them, but once he got a face to face look at this person, it no longer mattered because his brain suddenly shut itself off, as if a fuse a had been blown.
The person standing before him was none other than…. himself. Or rather, it was a much younger, smaller version of himself looking the age of a six or seven years old, with short messy hair, his trademark pony tail now gone.
The young Vincent was smiling with complete innocence, his eyes alight with excitement as he looked up to the top of the tree. Without any cautionary pause, he walked right up to the present Vincent and just passed right through his body as if he was a mere ghost, continuing his intrepid climb up the tree.
Vincent slowly turned and gaped in disbelief at his younger self who scurried up the bark of the tree, dumbfounded beyond words or even coherent thought. Everything, however, became clear once a certain someone made their presence known again.
"Welcome to your memories Junior!"
Vincent glanced around wildly at the sound of Bill's voice. When he couldn't spot him, he arched his head upward and saw that was Bill lounging idly in the air right above him, a bag of popcorn and a soda cup hovering at his side.
"What…what is this?" Vincent stuttered.
"You can call it my reference" Bill answered, taking a sip of his drink with his non-existent mouth. "You wanted proof that I can do more than just illusions, well here it is! Plus I thought you might enjoy reliving some of your more carefree days. Nothing like a long introspective look into your past to help you understand your impending future. Just think of me as your Ghost of Pagan-Winter-Solstice-Holiday-Whatever-Past. Oh and don't worry, these are your own memories. You and I are nothing but observers here"
The little Vincent was struggling to pull himself up the bark, his tiny legs kicking in the air. He swung one leg up and with an adorable display of effort, he plopped himself onto the top branch. Wobbling on his feet slightly, he cast his eyes out over the horizon of trees. He then look up at the full moon which seemed to take up the entire sky. Vincent stared at it, mesmerised, stretching his arm out, thinking for a second that he might able to touch it. But he moved out too far and his foot slipped off the branch, causing him to plummet head first to the ground with a scream. He's screaming was soon cut when a pair of hands caught him around the waist and held him in mid-air. He had been caught by a man that was floating in the air, his dark cape fluttering ominously in the wind. From up on the tree branch, once he had gotten a clear view of the man who had caught his younger self, Vincent let out a small, audible gasp, as if he could no longer believe his own eyes.
"Who could it possibly be?!" Bill exclaimed, dramatically. "The suspense is killing me! Oh who I am kidding? I know that's your Dad"
Vincent's father, who looked distinguishably like his son, held him up to eye level and him a weary smile. "Now, Vinny, we talked about this. You can't be out here climbing trees. If something happened to you, your Mom would put a stake in my heart. Literally"
"Sorry Dad" Vincent said, guiltily. "I just wanted to get a better look up there at the sky"
"Now, come on" his father said, trying to perk him up. "I promise once you're old enough, I'll give you flying lessons, ok? But till then, you'll just have to make do with a piggy back ride from your old man"
Vincent's father hoisted his son over his head and placed him down on his shoulders, holding tightly on to his legs. Once his son was secure, he took off with blinding speed, doing loops through the air, as Vincent waved his hands over his head
"Wheee!" he cheered happily, with as much merriment and excitement as you would except from a child on a rollercoaster. Vincent watched, mouth still agape, as his father flew off with his younger self into the distance, their laugher echoing behind them. He barely was even able register it, when the world around him started to ripple, dissolving itself and then reforming into the interior of a castle. His father and younger self were now standing in front of a darkly dressed woman with long black silk like hair, tied up into a pony tail over her shoulder.
She was standing over the young Vincent, looking down at him with a stern and unflinching eye, that would no one but a mother could possibly give
"You were out climbing trees again!?" she exclaimed furiously at her son. "How many times have we told you not to do that? Just because you're immortal doesn't mean you can go out trying to get yourself killed little mister!"
Vincent's father stepped forward, calmly trying to diffuse his wife's anger. "Now darling, he was only-". The mother rounded on him next, waving a dangerous finger into his face, forcing to back away.
"Don't you start! One more word from you and the only thing you'll be eating for a month is garlic!" The father immediately back down from his wife, feeling both scared and emasculated. She then turned her attention back to her son, who shifted his feet timidly
"I'm sorry, Mom" he said, lowering his head in shame. "I didn't mean to upset you". His mother continued to glare at him, but her angry scowl soon melted away into a smile at sight of his puppy dog face.
"Oh it's alright darling" she said, getting down to his level, stroking his head. "I know that you're sorry. But not as sorry you're going to be!" Quick like a fox, she lunged at Vincent and pulled him into her chest, proceeding to playfully nibbling at his neck with her fangs, which caused him to sequel with delight.
"Aah! Look out! She vants to suck your blood!" Vincent's father picked his son up into the air and together they started to run around the room, laughing as they were being chased by Vincent's mother who was doing an excellent evil vampire queen impression
In the background, the present Vincent could do nothing but watch this touchingly beautiful display of love and affection between his younger self and parents with a melancholy look on his face, unable to say anything. He blinked a couple of times, his eyes slowly becoming watery
"Aww, if that doesn't just melt your heart, then nothing will" Bill said, brusquely floating right up beside Vincent. "Except probably a vial of sulfuric acid. That would be interesting to see….again." Bill then noticed Vincent's despondent expression. "Oh I'm sorry. You're overcome by those biological chemical disorders called emotions. Ha! But you know I'm curious about something. Why were you up in that tree?"
This question snapped Vincent out of his pervious trance, but before he could try and answer, Bill raised his hand up to stop.
"Wait, that's alright you don't have to tell me if you don't want to. I'll just have a look for myself!"
Another door popped up out of the floor in front of them, this one with a drawing of the moon on the front. As before, the door opened, expanded and enveloped both Vincent and Bill.
This time they were outside, night time again, in the backyard of some residential home. Over in the bushes, they spotted the young Vincent, who craning his neck up by the window. Inside the house was a large family, all gathered around the TV screen with looks anticipation, many of them holding tiny American flags. The program that was playing on screen was in fact the televised broadcast of the first moon landing
"That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind"
The room erupted into applause, as the occupants cheered at the sight of humanity's single greatest technological, scientific, engineering and exploration achievement.
"Hurray, we made it to the moon!" one man said. There then came a short pause. "So what exactly does this change about our lives?"
Whatever the answer to that was, it didn't matter to Vincent who was looking through the glass, slacked jawed and speechless at what he had just witnessed. He turned his head upward, now looking at the moon sitting hundreds of thousands of miles away from himself and everything else on this planet, but yet, somehow, someone was standing on it at this very moment. And it was also at that very moment, Vincent knew that he wanted more than anywhere else in the world.
"Isn't that adorable?" Bill said. "A little vampire who dreamed of going to the moon. Sounds like something out from a really bad fan fiction writer. Now those guys need a life"
Again, the scene changed itself. The young Vincent was now sitting crossed legged in his own living room, his eyes glued to an old TV screen, with a VCR hooked up underneath it, as well a stack of old school videotapes, which all had an underlying theme in common. Galaxy Trek, 3001 a Space Odyssey, Chest-Bursting-Aliens, That Time the Earth Stopped Moving and Everybody was like Whaaa? And the movie that Vincent was currently watching, Interstellar Battle Wars: Episode V
"Bobi Tonobi never told you what happened to your father, did he?"
"He told me you killed him!"
"No, I am your father!"
Vincent gasped, shocked beyond words at this revelation. "All my fan theories were right!"
"He also never told the story of how I became a master of evil…. because apparently your space adventures were way cooler than mine. You see, it all began when we meet the most diabolical and evil alien of all time…. Yar Yar Blanks"
"NOOOOOOOOOO!""
"Yeah" Bill drawled, nudging Vincent with his elbow. "You definitely don't have a sci-fi fetish"
Even with his pale grey skin, Vincent's cheek's still rose up enough in colour to show that he was blushing with embarrassment as he turned his head down, avoiding Bill's eye.
The scene changed once again. They were now in a long empty hallway, lined with paintings and suits of armour. Scattered around the floor of the hall were numerous toys, such as spaceships, aliens, robots and laser guns.
At the end of the hallway, the young Vincent was now sitting in a swivel chair, wearing a makeshift helmet with a glass lid tapped to the front, reminisce of the kind astronaut's used. He kicked his foot off the floor, picking up speed as he zoomed down the hair, holding a toy spaceship over his head.
"Blast off! Space adventurer, Captain Vincent is on the way". He sped up and down the hallway on his chair, oblivious to everything except the world of his own imagination. He then spun around in his chair, laughing with pure joy as he waved his toy ship around in air. "Whoosh! Whoosh! Pew pew!"
Bill suddenly burst out laughing. "Omg! Did you just make little laser noises with your mouth?! That is hilarious! "
This time around, Vincent didn't look the least bit sad at seeing this private recollection. Instead he seemed more ashamed than anything else, turning his head away from his younger self with a scowl, unable to look at him any longer, as if he some object of disgust. On top of that he was also feel an enormous sting of humiliation from Bill's constant condescending mockery.
"So looks like the kid you was dead set about going into space?" Bill said. "Yeah, too bad nobody ever told you about those giant balls of fiery gas that release ultraviolet rays of light that kill you on contact." Bill's body flickered once again, now showing the image of the sun. "Didn't really think that one through did ya?"
"Shut up" Vincent muttered under his breath
"Like a guy with no hands who wants to be a heart surgeon" Bill continued, unperturbed by is remark. "Boy did he live a sad and disappointed life. Couldn't even open a ketchup bottle. But that's just a lesson of life Junior. No matter how badly you wish upon a star, in reality it's nothing but a big ball of burning gas and radiation that'll disintegrate you into a pile of ash if you try to reach up and touch it. Point is, don't dream for something you'll never get to do. Otherwise you might look a little stupid. Which you did!"
"Shut up!" Vincent yelled furiously, rounding on Bill. For a brief moment, a strange red wave of energy fluctuated across the room, which then began to shake violently, as if a huge tremor had just struck. "I get the picture! I've seen enough already. Now just end this!"
However, Bill on the other hand, didn't look as though he had any intention of ending it yet. In fact quite the opposite. He now looked more eager than ever to continue.
"Oh, touched a nerve, did I? Why stop now, when we're about to reach the part where everything in your life went horrible wrong?" Bill raised his fingers up and slowly started to lower each one as if he was counting down, before flicking his finger down the hallway.
"For the last time Dad, the answer is no!"
On cue, the young Vincent stopped in the middle of his playing, turning his attention to the sound of his father's raised voice. Walking down toward the front room, he peeked through the crack in the open door, watching as his parents were caught in a heated argument with a shrouded figure by the burning fireplace. Bill and Vincent followed him, passing right through the door into the room just as his father continued his quarrel against the figure.
"We've through this a hundred times Dad. You're not taking Vincent back with you to Gravity Falls"
The figure moved away from the fire place, revealing the wrinkled, greyish and dyspeptic face of Vincent grandfather, Vladimir Von Voltaruss III
"Well that's fine, but I came here to take Vladimir back" he said, in what seemed to be a deliberately very poor attempt at humour. His son just threw his arms up, rubbing his eyes with frustration.
"His name is Vincent. And the answer is still no!"
"You're wasting that boy's future, the future of our family" Vladimir growled. "He could have such great potential if you just let me nurture it. Unlike you of course" he spat at his son, with a look of pure contempt. "You became a worthless wash up of a vampire. You really want to see your own kid go to waste like you did? Believe me it's not a pretty sight"
"That's enough!" Vincent's mother exclaimed, incensed, marching right up to her father-in-law, glaring right him. "Our son will be nurtured here, with his father and me!"
"And do what?" Vladimir said, showing even more distain toward her than he did to his son. "Spend his days around playing spaceman, like some stupid child? You're really going to let him turn his back on his own destiny?"
"He is a child!" she said through her gritted teeth. "And his destiny isn't up to you to decide!"
"A turned vampire like you would never understand" Vladimir said, pushing past her to address his son. "That boy is the one we've been waiting for. He can finally do what my father, my grandfather and even I failed to do, if you would just let me show him how to-"
"I don't want to hear about that anymore!" Vincent's father snapped impatiently. "It is over. It's time we let this thing go and move on. We're not going to get caught up in the past anymore or worry over the future. We're all happy with how things are in the present". He then sighed heavily, regarding his father with a more sympathetic look. "Dad, please" he pleaded. "If you just give this chance, then I know we all be a family together"
"Family means nothing without dedication" Vladimir said. "We've spent nearly 400 years working on our mission and you're prepared to all that effort and sacrifice go to waste?" He walked up to his son, who looked him dead in the eye, unflinching.
"Mark my words, you'll come to regret this" he whispered darkly. Vladimir marched down to the nearest door leading out. Just as he opened it, he turned back to his son one last time.
"And by the way, next time I'll bring you back another set of pants seeing as how you've lost your own!" And with that, he slammed the door with a resounding thud echoing in the room.
Vincent's mother growled deeply, her eyes fixed on the door Vladimir had exited through, her whole body now shaking with rage. "Oh, that wrinkled old son of a bi-"
"Darling!" her husband said sharply, grabbing his wife by the shoulders as it looked she was about to break something. "It's fine. Just give him time, he'll come around"
"Or he'll just drop dead soon" she said coldly. "That one gets my vote"
"Well, unfortunately the downside of being a vampire is that we don't die of age. We'd need someone to stick a stake through his heart"
"Do you need a volunteer?" she asked her husband, with a slight smirk. Despite themselves, they both burst out laughing at this comment. They then a small creak coming from the door behind and spotted Vincent as he was eavesdropping. Seeing that he was discovered, he walked out from behind the door and up to his parents, taking off his space helmet.
"Mom, Dad, were you and Grandpa fighting again?" he asked, rubbing his right arm anxiously. "Was it because of me?"
"Oh no. It's not your fault son" his father said, getting down on one knee. "Your grandfather is just really….traditional about things. He doesn't like to do things different then what we've always done. I would have turned out the same as him, till I met you mother and together we have such a wonderful family"
"Every time Grandpa comes over here, he says he wants me to go visit him at his house" Vincent said. "Why?"
"You don't need to worry about that darling. Okay?" his mother said soothingly, kissing him on the forehead. "Don't worry. It's not your fault". She pulled her son into a tight hug and was soon joined by her husband. Together, the three vampires warmly embraced each other, as if they would never let go again.
"Booooorrriiiiiing!"
In that one instant everything in the room, including the young Vincent and his parents, suddenly froze itself, like someone had just pressed the pause button on the memory. As a matter of fact someone did. Bill floated away from Vincent and was now hovering directly above the life sized mosaic of his family.
"I gotta tell you, if I wanted this kind of sappiness, I'd go kiss a tree" he said to Vincent. "But you know, it's the boring moments like these that you really ought to cherish. Because let me tell you, boring doesn't last too long. This universe is really nothing but a series of chemicals just waiting to spontaneous combust upon itself. And the thing about combustion is that all it takes is one….little…spark".
Bill opened out his palm and released a tiny, blue speck of fire. When it touched the ground, it was as if someone had opened the doors of an incinerator, as an inferno of fire burst forth from underneath the floor, consuming everything, including the young Vincent and his parents, who along with Bill, disappeared into the flames, leaving Vincent alone in the room.
Everything around him was now ablaze, the floor, the celling, the furniture, all burning wildly. Though he was in no clear danger, as he felt no heat coming from the flames around him, he had never been more scared right now then he had been his entire life. Glancing around the burning room, his body was trembling uncontrollably. He placed his hands up to his mouth, looking as terrified as a small child, as he actually started hyperventilating with fear.
"Mom! Dad!"
Vincent just barely was able to register the sound of his younger self who came rushing into the room desperately searching for his parents, before running out another door. Not minute after he had left, the door that he came through burst open, a large number of angry looking men, wielding clubs and torches, came swarming into the room.
From the back of the crowd, Acton Abendroth stepped forward, holding a red hot glowing dagger in his hand. He brandished the blade in the direction the young Vincent had fled in.
"After them!" he ordered. "We can't a single one escape!" With a war cry, the mob continued the relentless pursuit of their quarry. The flames then jumped up at Vincent once again, blinding him to everything but the flames. Then in an instant, the fire dispersed itself into nothing and once it was gone, the scenery had changed yet again.
Vincent was now out in the dark woods by himself. Just ahead of him, he could see his younger self, hiding behind a tree, watching as his home was slowly burnt down to ash in front of him. Another group of men stood in front of the fire, still on the lookout for any stranglers. Before they had a chance to spot him, the young Vincent ran off into the wilderness, alone and afraid, leaving his home behind him.
"That Acton sure did hate vampires, didn't he?" Bill reappeared next to Vincent, watching as his younger self vanished into the foliage of the trees. "Shame your parents didn't make it out of there in time. And with nowhere else to turn to, you eventually found your way to live with your dear old grandfather"
The young Vincent, now slightly taller, his hair having grown out a bit more since the last time, was standing in the centre of a huge underground chamber, the figure of his imposing grandfather towering over him.
"Now remember Vladimir" he said. "It's up to you to fulfil the destiny of our family. And it all starts here. I'll show you have to use your powers and when the time comes, you'll achieve true greatness for yourself. Only through complete and total dedication to your mission will you unlock your full potential. And remember, only success brings value and worth. Anything failure, any setback, any mistake of any kind, is nothing but a mark of worthlessness"
The memories now started to pass by in quick succession like a slideshow. The young Vincent was crunching his face in concentration as he tried to levitate the cinder block in front of him. When he failed to even make it budge, he was rewarded with slap to the back of the head by his grandfather. Next, he was sitting at a desk by candle light, surrounded by a mountain of books, his eyelids drooping down as he read through each of them. Next came Vincent standing on a large poll, preparing to jump off as he tried perfect his flying. But everything time he jumped, all he received was a face full of solid floor.
Next, Vincent was kneeling by the window, gazing longingly up to the moon in the sky. Behind him, his grandfather was standing by the fireplace, shifting through some books in his hands.
"Grandpa, can I go outside today?" he asked.
"No, it's too dangerous out there for you" Vladimir answered.
"But you said that there weren't any more vampire hunters after us" Vincent moaned sadly, turning to face his grandfather.
"Yes, but there are still humans out there and humans will always be dangerous for us. You couldn't possibly look after yourself out there in the real world. Now get back to your studies!"
The memories then became even more rapid, now only consisting of Vladimir angrily berating his grandson throughout his constant failures.
"You still haven't gotten right yet? How many times do we have to go through this? Are you that completely worthless?!"
"You failed again! Worthless!"
"Do want to be worth anything in your life? Then start showing some results!"
"Worthless. Worthless. Worthless. Worthless. WORTHLESS!"
"Stop it, stop it, stop it!" Vincent screamed, shutting his eyes and pressing his hands into the side of his head, his grandfather's booming voice resounding from all directions around. "Stop calling me that! I did the best I could!"
"Yeah, but that wasn't enough apparently" Bill said apathetically. "Not for that old bat. No matter how hard you tried, you just couldn't get the hang of your powers. But then one day, you meet someone who you thought could help you"
The scene changed to that of some underground laboratory. The young Vincent, with a more cheerful appearance, was shaking hands with a man who had a six fingered hand.
"But that didn't end to well for you either" Bill continued.
The young Vincent was now watching helplessly from the shadows, as Vladimir fought against the six fingered man, who managed to slay the ancient vampire with a stake to the heart
As the memory faded away, Vincent cringed painfully, dropping to his knees in despair, burying his face into hands, unable to watch anymore of this unfold.
"Enough!" he cried aloud, losing all sense of composure and pride. "I don't what to see this anymore. Please just stop it!"
"But we haven't even gotten to best part yet!" Bill cheered merrily. He snapped his fingers yet again, this time bringing up another door, one that had two red bats painted on it. The blood drained away from Vincent's face when the realization of what was behind that door hit him.
"Wondering what's behind this door?" Bill asked him. "The look on your face tells me it's something mind blowing. Let's go see!"
"No!" Vincent ran up to Bill, his arms outstretched, blocking from going any further. "No, you're not seeing that!" he cried, his voice cracking, as he seemed to be on the verge of tears "You can't look at that! Get out! Get out right now!"
Bill chuckled softly, giving Vincent a patronizing look. "Kid, if there is one thing I don't recommend, it's telling me what I can't do". He phased through Vincent's body with a moment's pause and hovered over to the door, snapping his fingers
Slowly, the door churned itself open, but then, when it was about half way through, it abruptly stopped, reversed direction and then slammed shut. With a look of genuine surprised, Bill snapped his fingers again. The door started to open, but then shut closed once again. Bill repeatedly started snapping his fingers, growing a bit flustered at this apparent act of defiance from a door which was now completely unmoving.
"Snap, snap, snap! Are these fingers broken?!" Bill exclaimed, clearly frustrated. He flew closer to the door and tried to open it by hand, but once he touch the handle, a sudden flash of red energy knocked him back from it. Shaking his head, as if dazed, Bill watched as the door was enveloped in a colouring red sphere, keeping it safe from away intrusion.
Before he had time to question what this was or to give another witty remark, Bill then noticed a bright crimson light coming from directly behind him. He turned around to see another glowing sphere of red energy building up around Vincent's, who no longer looked scared or desperate. Instead, some kind of switch had been turned inside his head and he was now burning with anger like had never been before. And all of it was focused on Bill.
"I…. said…. get…. OUT!"
At the sound of that last syllable, a massive explosion erupted from around Vincent, as though he was a nuclear bomb that had just gone off. A shock wave of red energy struck at Bill like a bulldozer and in less than one second, he was completely vaporised, the outline of body briefly illuminating within the flash of crimson light.
When everything had died down, Vincent, panting like crazy, found himself to be alone once again, standing on some barren and desolate piece of rock, place on the top of a stone pillar. Still panting heavily, Vincent sat down on the cold stone, hugging his legs to his chest, shivering slightly.
He then noticed a top hat floating in the air up above him. The hat started to wobble a little, before dropping out a set of arms, legs and a huge eyeball. These appendages took up position under the hat as a line in the shape of a triangle formed in-between them, with the eyeball in the middle. The space inside the line turned back to bright yellow.
"Wow! Now that was a ride!" Bill said, sounding exhilarated.
"I told you to leave me alone!" Vincent yelled, getting back to his feet, advancing on him.
"Woah, woah. Slow down there Junior" Bill said, raising his hands defensively. "It wasn't anything personal. I just had to see for myself. And man, did you not disappoint! You're definitely his great-great grand kid alright."
"What are you talking about?" Vincent demanded
"I'm talking about your physic powers kid!" Bill replied. "They're through the roof. I'd say you may be even more powerful than your ancestor. Heck, the whole reason I even made that deal with him in the first pace was because his abundance in physic energy. You see in the mindscape, the true power of a person lies in the untapped potential of brain itself". Bill materialized the image of a large brain in the air. He waved his hand, showing an x-ray scan of the brain, highlighting the neurons within.
"Even for a regular human, by simply concentrating hard enough they can give themselves amazing power within this place. Ever hear the phase mind of over matter? In this world, matter is the mind and what matters is what you don't mind doing. But vampires naturally possesses superior mental abilities to human. Some kind can minds, some can hypnotise people. Your ancestor, Vladimir the first, he was the most powerful physic of his day! But even he could never knocked the wind out of me like you just did! And that is probable the most honest answer I've given to you all day!"
"So all of this was just a stupid test?" Vincent said indignantly, his rage flaring up again.
"Eh, I'd call it research" Bill shrugged nonchalantly. "I knew there was something special about you. Your father, grandfather and great grandfather never showed half the promise that you have. That's why I've been keeping an eye on you over the years. You just might have what it takes"
"What it takes for what?" Vincent asked.
"Oh nothing" Bill said, with a dismissive wave of his hand. "I just have another job opening lined up for later in case you might be interested. But back to real reason why we're here"
Bill waved his hand again, the image of the brain vanishing. The blue sphere containing the page from Journal #1 appeared in Bill's hands once again, ready for Vincent to take.
But Vincent was no longer in any mood to barter for anything. "Look, I don't care what you want or what you're offering. Just leave me alone!"
"Hey, come on now Junior" Bill said quickly. "This could be your best and only chance to get your hands on the last page you need. Why makes hard on yourself? Hasn't life been hard enough on you already?"
Vincent remained silent, ether unwilling or unable to answer Bill, who took the opportunity to continue his speech.
"I mean, you're whole family tried and failed to complete their all-important mission. And now that whole legacy has been thrown down on and you alone. Talk about pressure. And you thought with the Abendroths finally out of the way, you'd have a shot on your own. After all the struggles you've had to endure up till now and all the things you've lost, who would blame you for wanting to just catch an easy break? Just a little pick me up. Life is nothing if not unfair and for someone like yourself who knows that first hand, I would think that you'd love just one little favour thrown your way for a change." As Bill spoke, his body started to replay the events that he and Vincent had already witnessed in his mind. The loss of his family, his grandfather's cruel tutelage, his first and second defeat at the hands of the Pine Twins. These images made Vincent's stomach twist with agony.
"Nobody has to know really" Bill said. "You yourself said it, you're on a time limit. You've only got till the end of summer and if you don't succeed, then all that pain and hardship you've been through up until now would all be for nothing. And didn't you make a promise to a certain someone that you'll succeed no matter what? You don't want the guilt of a dead person on your conscious do you?"
Vincent turned his head down, fear and anxiety gripping the inside of his chest. Every word that Bill was saying pushed him further and further into a corner. He knew that what he was saying was nothing but negotiation tactics, but it was still successful in hitting the right mark on him. Bill seemed to sense this himself, as he moved closer to Vincent, holding his palm out to him.
"What'd ya say kid? We have ourselves a deal?"
Turning his back to Bill, Vincent pulled out his amulet from underneath his vest. He stared at it for the longest time, his expression sorrowful. He then closed his eyes and when he opened them up again, his unshakable resolve had returned to him. Taking a deep breath to steady himself, he turned around to face Bill once more.
"Alright. Deal!" Vincent quickly clasped his hand around Bill's, locking their agreement into place. Once they had joined together a blue flame wrapped around their hands.
"Oh, by the way" Bill said coyly. "I may have deliberately forgot to mention this but….this is might hurt a bit!"
Like a hungry snake, the blue fire spread up Vincent's arm, covering his entire body in flames. It seemed Bill hadn't been lying because this did indeed hurt, but a lot more than just a bit. Vincent screamed in pain as the flames were not in fact burning his flesh, but rather it felt like they were literally passing through his body like a blast of cold air.
When the flames finally died down, Vincent dropped to his knees, his body sizzling. Throughout the whole ordel, his hand had still be holding onto Bill's, who then finally released him.
In the palm of Bill's was a glowing green orb. Seeing this orb, Vincent pulled out his amulet, confirming that there was now only one green jewel left.
"A pleasure doing business with you!" Bill said, immensely satisfied. He pulled off his top hat and dropped the green ball into it. "Well anyway, a deal's a deal". The Journal page hovered down from behind him, dropping right in front of Vincent.
"Well this has been fun, but I gotta run" Bill said, raising up above Vincent. "I have a feeling I'll be seeing you again soon Junior. Till then, I'll be watching! Always watching!"
Bill stretched his arms out in an odd pose as a wheel of images appeared around his body. For a split second, it looked like Bill had become some kind of picture along with the wheel, which seemed to match up him perfectly. Then in a flash of light, both Bill and his wheel then disappeared.
When it looked as though Bill was indeed gone this time, it took Vincent a moment to realise what he should do next. He glanced down at the page still laying out in front of him. Without a moment of hesitance, he reached out to touch the page and then in another flash, everything was gone
With a jolt, Vincent's opened up his eyes and shot himself straight from within his crypt. Feeling a little groggy, he rubbed the side of his head, trying to piece together what had just happened, for a moment thinking that all if had literally been nothing but a bad dream. Then it happened. He felt the information he needed flow into his mind, as if he always known it.
Getting up out of his crypt, Vincent took out a pen and paper from his cape. He then got down on his knees and started to draw. For almost a full minute he brushed his pen across the page, his hand moving almost by itself. Once he was finished, he pulled out the page he had taken from Journal #3 and the photocopied page from Journal #2, laying them out beside the page he had just written down.
Between the three of them, there didn't seem to be anything of significance. The Journal#3 page contained details of a negative 7 headed hydra monster, the Journal#2 page was an extract on how to remove a cursed toilet seat and the Journal#1 page was nothing but a jumbled up page of numbers and ciphers.
But Vincent could see a connection between these pages that only one other person alive could possible see. With perfect precision and a steady hand, he folded the three pages together like some kind of origami arts project. All three pages were now joined in a hexagon shape, the lines and markings of each page now lined up perfectly to each, forming the very thing Vincent had been after for so long.
A map. A map of Gravity Falls, as draw by Stanford Pines, with three different locations of importance marked on it. Holding the map up to the celling, Vincent smiled to himself. Not out of pride or arrogance, but out of genuine happiness, as he was finally getting closer to completing his ultimate goal. And without even realising it himself, he started to cry.
Whew. That was longer than expected, but I'm glad I decided to split this up from the last chapter since it have me more time to build this one up. Also happy that I manage to keep to my schedule and update within a week's time.
Anyway, hoped you liked the chapter. It shows some of Vincent's past for the first time. There is more to tell of course, but I didn't think I should give it all away just yet. And yeah, Bill has some more plans for Vincent.
So, next chapter will be getting back to Dipper and the others, where both Dipper and Mabel end up in a complicated situation. And finally, I hope everybody is ready for the finale of Weirdmageddon this week. Let's all do this ending proud
Till then, please review and peace out.