୧/≖\୨
Floating angrily back to his throne Bill grumpily curled up atop the plush fabric. It was just so strange, his friends agreeing with the deadies.. It was a deeply unsettling first. They'd spent eons hating one another. So how had she managed to manipulate both groups into fighting for her?
With a furrowed brow Bill conjured himself a martini. He had tried reasoning, threatening.. Yet still they had asked for her release. Her totally pointless release. It wasn't like she could ever leave anyway. And it wasn't like she wasn't going to not die if he let her go. Everything had the same destination so why not take the nicest path? One with payback for all the extremely annoying deaths she had caused him. And for ruining a trillion years' worth of work.. Lifetimes spent working, watching, planning and pretending.. Bill's eyes shone brighter and his skin heated before he accidentally shattered his glass.
That was a bad topic. Thinking about it just made him angry and there was nothing he could do to change it. So, instead he conjured a pink, fluffy bunny. Creating life was time consuming so he had skipped all those unnecessary organs.
He scratched behind a soft pink ear as his creation gingerly sniffed his hand. "Naw your just insufferably adorable aren't you? I bet you agree with the crowd too. You pathetic little softy." Bending over Bill depositing the bunny on the floor and watched as it took its first few curious steps, shaking its floppy ears. "I think I'll call you Rose. You know, cause your pink." The bunny hopped away as Bill suddenly twisted and stood up. "It's ok little.. Whoops forgot to give you a gender!" Bill watched intently as Rose moved towards him for a moment, before he lifted his shoe and crushed its head.
A genuine smile lit his face as he heard the bones snap. Twisting on the spot in a sickening dance as blood and brains squirted out from the corners of his shoe.
Cracking his neck Bill released a contented sigh. Stress bunnies were a great little invention.
Looking around his empty throne room Bill's mind wandered back to the last thing he had conjured. He had felt conflicted by the idea of giving Mabel an outlet. He wanted her stewing in misery.. But he needed to keep her isolated. Eventually she'd think of one of the many ways she could be released safely.. If she got out once a week to care for the weeds she'd gathered she'd get all inspired and resilient. Erasing all his hard work to destroy her will to live. Keeping her distracted from her main goal of freedom was his best bet. So he had given her a library. An empty escape, for she'd always find herself trapped again when she reaches the last page.
Bill just had to focus on his plan to make her decide to jump off a convenient ledge. He really wanted her to nullify their deal before Sixer died. Bill's eyes shut as he delved into one f his revenge fantasies. Pulling out Sixer's working eye, leaving him blind as he slowly ripped off his flesh.
The staircase was a truly devious creation. Spells of intent woven with safety spells were built into the spiral staircase he had made her. Unless she actually wanted to fall, it was impossible to fall off the stairs. She could also drown herself in the tub, after all, he wanted her to have options.
The stairs and shelves and books had taken so long to conjure. Recalling what she liked, what was popular, what he thought she'd like to read.. Imbuing the stairs with powerful magic. Next time he saw her she was going to be so grateful. She'd probably ready herself for his torture. Dropping what she was doing, offering herself by stripping off her outer clothes. Then timidly asking him where he wanted her. Already tearing up in fear.
Bill conjured a glass ball with which to spy on the mortal, reminiscing for a moment on his old eye. It had been like a big screen TV compared to his new seeing eye. He could only spy with the top and with his others shut it was like he was spying without peripheral vision.
Books were flying out in front of her angry face. Being knocked from their shelves whilst she shouted things Bill couldn't hear.
Bill's entire body ignited in scalding flames. "THAT UNGRATEFUL LITTLE BITCH!" Streaking through the air with a tail of flames in his wake Bill was a yard from the spiral stairs leading higher into the Fearamid when a high voice and a knocking caught his attention.
"Knock, knock!" Came the voice of Pyronica. "Hey boss, um, since you um aren't letting Mabel go we gathered up a little care package for her. It's not harmful or anything, just some stuff from us and a few things from her place-" Py's eye widened and her flames flickered out in fear as she took in her bosses crazed aura.
Bill starred down at her, a sickening grin spreading wide on his face. "HoW THOUGHTFUL of you all! ReAlLy SwEeT tO cArE SO MUCH aBoUt MY PRISONER." His voice flickered to his old nasal cords. The air around him thick and heavy as his triangular mind pushed out from the brain he had built himself.
He had done so much for his crew of misfits. It wasn't unreasonable to expect them to have his back. But no, they cared more about the happiness of one puny human who was responsible for exiling them back to this forsaken realm!
Bill was seething, demonic blood pumping through his clenched muscles. The nerve, the audacity! He should probably flay a few of them. Hang them like flags for everyone to see. That would stop them from banging down his door. Making demands of him. He was superior to them in every way. If they couldn't treat him like a boss, perhaps it was time he forced them to their knees.
Redirecting his wrath at Pyronica the box she held fell with a clatter as his hands grabbed her horns and swung her round till she indented a wall.
Stomach sinking laughter rang shrilly through the realm. Flying pirate ships turned right around, souls fled to the mindscape and every entity in earshot cowered in on themselves. Paci-Fire looked up from a bucket of entrails quirking a brow. He looked around at the piles of rubbish that filled his hovel, praying that there was nothing of Bill's around him. There wasn't and he sighed in relief. Tentatively he licked blood off his hand as he crept towards a door. That was when the screaming started.
There were always soothing, distant screams echoing throughout the realm. No one knew where they originated from. Some said it was the realm itself. Crying at its own existence. Though it was mostly Zanthar who said that, and mostly in his spooky voice.
Paci-Fire's ears twitched at the louder and recognisable screams. Peering through his front door he watched as a HUGE glowing blue Bill ripped apart Pyronica and Amorphous Shape. Amorph was really a waste of time to dismember, the guy regenerated in minutes.
Bill's form was so bright it was hard to make out. It looked humanish, but bigger and with extra everything. Squinting his four eyes Paci-Fire could back out several heads through the glare.
Py's corpse was floating in the air outside Bill's home. Probably on little floating pyramids, Bill had used them before. Most recently when he'd been trying to keep out the pirates. Of course those ones shot fire balls when neared. These ones probably just floated.
Watching in morbid fascination as one by one, his friends were dragged from their hiding places and gruesomely shredded.
He couldn't see Kryptos though, undoubtedly hiding under something smelly. Hopefully he wouldn't be stupid enough to try and help Keyhole in a couple hours. That would definitely cause Bill to do something extra nasty. If Bill cut someone down, you really didn't want to help them get up again. Best thing was to ride out the storm unnoticed. But running was a very bad idea if Bill was going to chase you. Then running made it infinitely worse.
Bill didn't mind pain, none of the gang did really. But leaving everyone flattened and draping outside the Fearamid was a bit much. A warning, oh creator they did something didn't they. Paci smacked his head with a groan. What had those sentimental idiots done? Had they gotten through the forcefield? Tried to save her? Kill her? Probably nothing fun since he wasn't invited.
The gang would all heal at different rates. Amorph would be up and good as new in five minutes, but everyone else would be there at least 4 hours. Looked like all was left of them was their skin so probably take most of them even longer. Good thing it didn't look like Teeth had got caught up in the shit storm. His molars took months to regenerate. And he looked hellishly ugly as a set of gums.
Retreating into shadows Paci slowly closed his door. Heart shuddering in his chest as he hoped the movement had gone unnoticed by his rampaging boss. He didn't want to go down for whatever moral nonsense they had committed. So much fuss about the fleshy mortal. Really Bill should just eat her and be done with her whole dimension.
Grapping the bucket off the floor Paci opened a trapdoor and jumped into his basement. Down in the dark cave beneath his hut there was a crack in a wall. Wiggling his large body into the tight space he crawled up and down through the maze of rock till he crawled into his secret cavity. The soft, red glow of his eyes eerily illuminated the large monster as peered into his bucket.
Pulling out a long, squishy intestine Paci's mind focused entirely on his body and the cold walls around him. Sniffing the entrail before slurping it down his top mouth till he coughed out the end from his lower mouth. He then took both ends and began pulling them back and forth. Finding pleasure as he wrung the slimy organ up and down his oesophagus. Coughing as it broke, the entrail ends slipping out from both his mouths before he slurped them back down. Sending the bloody mush to his stomach. Smiling he fished deep in his bowl for another juicy treat. He just loved the feel of them sliding, choking and oozing slightly as they flushed his throat. Leaning an ear against the rock he could distinguish the faint scream of a friend. Too bad he didn't give a shit.
. ⌲ .
Mabel threw boring biographies off the tallest stair. "Crazy!" A book bounced off the walls of the tower as it fell, "controlling!" She threw another book, "entitled triangle!" Gripping a book she used it to repeatly hit the empty shelf, "rahhhhh!" She yelled before chucking it away. Angered further when instead of falling to its doom, it landed safetly on a platform further down the spiral. "AHHH! TWO WEEKS! HOW HAS IT BEEN TWO WEEKS! Making me sleep! How DARE he!" Her hand wormed behind more books and with a sweeping motion she threw 7 books off their shelf. 6 of them clattered noisily as they fell down the tower. Starring at the book that had landed at her feet she felt her anger drain slightly. Mabel had thought her time in captivity had been about 8 days. Although it had been hard to tell in the dungeon so she knew she was a bit off. It wasn't like she'd kept a calendar these last couple years, but she had always felt time passing. Seen its progress in her completed projects and the growth of her plants. She supposed she had passed out from pain a few times, but surly she hadn't slept away a whole week naturally. No, this was his doing.
With a sigh she begrudging picked up the innocent book and put it back on the shelf. Her filthy bribe of blood books. Well they wouldn't keep her placid.
Lying on her back with her feet resting on a lower stair she gazed at the ceiling above her. From the top of the stairs she could see the intricate dome about 3 yards above her and through it, the endless realm above. At least, she suspected it was endless. Maybe if you travelled far enough you ended back where you started. A giant writhing realm of impossibility. Maybe one day she'd find out. Up really wasn't as interesting as looking sideways. Most of the islands faced the same way so it was mostly rocky undersides she could see. But it was still a new view, so for now it would captivate her. Watching those well explored islands float around.
Her head rose and fell a few times against the hard surface beneath. Mumbling words with the drumming of her skull "stupid - trusting - idiot - stuck - forever." Her head lolled to the side, welcome pain blooming at the back of her head. Unexplained tears threatening her vision. "What the hell gives him the right to make me sleep my life away! How DARE he! So what? The only thing I get to be awake for is torture? Does he think I'm just going to sleep my way through life? With the only memories I make consisting of me being abused! Never talking to Dipper! Oh Glob he'll be constantly worried I'm dead! NO. Bill cannot be the only person I get to talk to! Why would Bill even want that! He hates me! AHHHH He needs a hobby!" Mabel ranted, her white knuckles slamming against the window, the platform she lay on and herself. "SCREW COOPERATION." She yelled into the ceiling. If he wanted to play with her like a bug in a box then she was going to bite him. And baby she was poisonous.
Resolute and angry Mabel got up and started the careful decent down the tower's spiral staircase. Two ideas were flashing through her mind. One was something she'd learned in history. The dirty protests or something. See she couldn't move through the black, magic sludge that blocked the door.. But Bill could. And she could leave a layer of something very undesirable atop the sludge. That way Bill would walk right into it next time he came up. The next idea involved lots and lots apples. Her finger ran along the spines of her new books as she walked. Why give her ways to pass the time if he was just steeling her hours away anyway? It made no sense!
Movement caught her peripheral vision through the glass wall. Demons and nightmares flying away from a fiery figure who was tearing 8-Ball apart. The colours were muted through the tinted windows but Mabel's keen eyesight picked up the falling organs and spurting blood.
At first Mabel was confused. The flying entity looked like it was everywhere. Enveloping those around it in fiery light that seemed to spread as far as she could see. It was like a giant, flaming spider. Shocked Mabel searched the sky for Bill, he should be saving his friends.. Unless he had already lost, but none of the bodies were his. Terrified she glanced back at the beast ripping 8-Ball apart. As it stretched out it seemed to solidify and sprout more arms out of thickening arms. Another head was swelling atop the creature. Three eyes glaring out through the fire. The bottom left a darker shade than the others.
Mabel's thoughts froze. The world paused as the realisation hit her. Then her fists were pummelling against the window as she screamed at Bill. Her voice echoing up and down the tower but never reaching the realm outside.
Soon Bill was reaching into 8-Ball's screaming body. Scooping out his organs and pulling out his bones. Attempting to turn him inside out. That's when Mabel puked. Leaning over the platform as she heaved up the contents of her stomach. She had a very dizzy moment. Wobbling over the high drop she stepped back to the window in a bolt of fear. The unrailed stairs suddenly seeming scary and daunting. Descending slowly Mabel was halfway down before she looked out the window again. That's when she noticed the unmoving additions to the landscape. Unrecognisable friends hovered magically around the sky around the fearamid. Each pulled taunt and flat, a few were inside out. Just sheets of flesh in limbish looking shapes. Bill was still ablaze, with a wide grin and his body shaking like he was laughing as he skinned his friend. More bile rose inside Mabel, her guts knotting together as she dragged her eyes away from the horrific scene. Keep walking. One step at a time. She told herself as she shakily descended her prison.
Falling off the last step onto the ground with a racing heart Mabel stumbled to the toilet. Resting her forehead against the cool surface she breathed deep. Tears escaping as she tried to ground herself. She couldn't help the others from him. She couldn't run or hide from him. And if he came up here next, she couldn't save herself. She didn't want to die like that. But, it was better for everyone if she died. Pyronica and Zanthar wouldn't be floating pancakes if she was dead. After all, this was probably her fault. She'd got out. Now they were suffering. Not to mention Dipper, if she died… He'd be safe. His descendants would all be safe from Bill. He'd be devastated, but at least he'd be alive. Her family could finally grieve and move on. Let her go. She still had a bedroom back in her parent's house. She'd never even been in their new house. But all her stuff was unpacked and ready for her return. A return that everyone knew would never come.
She was holding them back. Holding them down in a pit of grief and they were content to just sit in the darkness with her. It was unfair to them. Everyone dedicated so much time to calling her, talking to her. Acting out new Disney movies, singing her new songs. Keeping her connected to the world.. And she was too selfish to ever tell them to stop. She needed them so badly. Unable to give them anything back until now. Now she could save them. Not just her family, but everyone in Gravity Falls and all their future descendants. Because she could die for them all.
Bill needed to vent his rage in violence when he reached flaming point. If she could just be in the firing line of his current mood he would surly kill her. She was scared.
She hadn't thought she'd live this long. But whatever damage he inflicted he could just reverse. Doubt had been filling her since the new hand incident. Mabel questioned whether Bill would ever lose control enough to kill her. He didn't seem to have much control now, but he wasn't killing the gang. So maybe he wouldn't kill her, even if she sparked his rage. Was that a risk she was willing to take? Invoke his anger in the hopes of death? She could end up without a pelvis. Blind and mute and unable to walk.
But what if the risk paid off and he killed her? She would never get to say goodbye to Dipper. That would seriously mess him up.. Maybe there was a way to do both? Sy goodbye and save them? Maybe if she just had patience Bill would end up killing her in a month. She could survive another month if she had to. Then she could say her goodbyes. But.. What is he was just getting better and better at keeping her from dying. What if this was her only chance to save her family and herself from endless torture?
Resolutely she grabbed her summoning plate. She wouldn't go as far as the dirty protests. If this failed then maybe she could try it next, plus it would probably take some preparation. "Mashed potatoes!" She told the summoning plate. Conjuring more and more until she built a large food wall running the edges of the magical trapdoor. Next she summoned all the smelliest foods she could think of. She filled the shallow pool with squid sauce, jam (to make it sticky), uncooked and mashed up fish, squid and octopi, broken eggs, LOTS of pink food dye, red cordial, wasabi, crushed chillies, pepper and a few raw sheep eyeballs all swimming together in a big food bath atop the impenetrable entrance. Hopefully it would have time to ferment and sludgify before Bill passed through it. Using the summoning tray as a scooping tool she even gathered up the chunks of her puke that had luckily missed her bed and added them to the mix.
Looking at the pink, chunky soup Mabel smiled contently. He was gonna get so gross. Speaking of she really needed to wash her hands, immediately.
An excited confidence was spreading through the girl as she scrubbed her smelly hands. She really hoped he came up the stairs with his eyes open. Smiling wickedly it felt so good to be able to control something. Everything was always his decision: when he came, what he did to her, what he allowed her to have and do. Well not this time. He messed with her body so she was going to mess with him.
Her eyes kept darting out the window as she used a wet shirt to wipe up the remaining puke splatter from the floor. From the middle of the room only Zanthar's flat, floating body was in sight. It was horrible, she hoped he wasn't in too much pain. Hopefully they were all unconscious.
Sharp pain radiated from her fresh tattoo as she moved. Lifting her billowing skirt Mabel grimaced at the shiny skin she saw. It was getting redder under the glad wrap. She wanted to peel it off and touch it. But she was so scared to damage it. Pranking Bill into a fiery rage was one thing, but intentionally giving him reason to chop off a leg was just stupid.
The runes seemed to be laughing at her. Telling her, her endless suffering was just as permanent as their ink. "Well what do you know huh! You weren't even born yesterday!" She mocked her mocking tattoo. "I gotta die someday." She reassured herself quietly.
The smell was awful. It was like a fish market where all the fish had barfed. Table legs squeaked as it was dragged over the makeshift pond. Then her doona was pulled off the bed and thrown over the table. It didn't cover two sides no matter how she skewed it. Stupid non rectangular bed. BA who was she kidding she loved her pizza shaped bed.
Grabbing a book she had picked out earlier, a pillow and her trusty (freshly cleaned) tray she started the long climb back up the tower. Hopefully the top would smell better. Who knows how long she'd have to wait for Bill to drop by for another torture session. Resolutely starring at her feet as she climbed and not at her pancake-like friends with their discarded organs swinging underneath them.
. ⌲ .
Lying awkwardly across several stairs Mabel propped herself against a pillow. It was kinda weird she wasn't afraid of falling. But for some weird reason she felt completely safe on her spiral staircase. Opening the pages to 'A Wrinkle In Time', Mabel tried to focus on the words. But she kept turning over to peer out the window. She was far above the bodies of her friends, but if she could just spot Bill.. Anxiety creeped over her whenever she couldn't spot him. Was he coming? Was he mere yards away from her smelly trap and from spiralling into a crazed rage and tearing her limb from limb?
Groaning loudly she put the novel down and started rubbing her forehead. All she had done was read the first paragraph like 11 times. The day was too emotionally warping to do anything. First a gibberish tattoo and then freedom and now her friends needed help and she couldn't do squat.
Mabel tried to keep her attention on a book version of a house of cards. She ate pizza and read and stacked and starred expectantly at the room beneath her. But no matter what she did she kept drifting back to search the sky for Bill. Watching what looked like a lung slowly break away from Pyronica's body. If only she could help them. Gather them up and put them back together. But she was imprisoned. Unable to help or hinder or flee, it sucked lemons.
The only movement in the realm around her was the slight drift of islands. No one dared peek out of hiding places to help their friends. Even the ghosts were quietly keeping away.
A blank page had been ripped from a book and was being contorted into folded triangles. Not for lack of trying Mabel couldn't remember how to fold a chatter box, or an origami box. Angrily resulting in the over-worked page to become another paper crane on her small pile. Perhaps there was a book on origami somewhere along her staircase Mabel mused.
A hopeless, tired haze had come over the girl curled up on the stairs when worried voices broke into her mind.
. -⌲⌲ .
He had to stay rational. Probability was that they wouldn't reach her. Not reaching her didn't mean she was dead. Options were asleep, near Bill or dead. It was likely that they'd intercept random letters if she was muffled by a gag. Dipper prayed she wasn't with Bill. Images of her broken and bleeding tormented him whenever is world quietened down.
The Pine's family had just stirred for their fourth try to reach their lost daughter. The brightly lit dining room smelled like coffee and burnt toast.. Stan had gotten peckish.
Weak smiles were passed around the tired group and hands gripped one another in silent reassurance.
"Oh wait!" Dipper stalled as he pulled out his phone, retyping the same message he had drafted before every attempt. "Ok ready." He said sadly, starring at the unsent group text. It read; 'Mabel answered, she's alive. Will update when we end contact.' Before it were 4 identical messages: 'no answer.' Promising updates had been the only way to keep Wendy, Grenda and Candy from sleeping on the living room floor.
Dipper needed so badly for Mabel to be alive. He couldn't be too late. He just couldn't, not when he was so close.
Then hushed voices of the sleepy Pines' started the familiar mournful sound of calling Mabel's name.
The pointer of the weegee board started flying around to pause over customised names repeatedly. Ariel instantly broke down in shuddering gasps, incoherently thanking deities that her baby was alive.
"Mabel honey! Oh your alive! We thought.. We-" Stan wheezed before breaking down.
Ford rubbed slow, calming circles on his brothers hand. "Are you ok Mabel? We haven't been able to reach you for three days.." He said, quickly reading her response as it was spelled out.
'I miss you', 'I love you', 'I'm okay', -I-t-h-i-n-k-'Bill'-s-.-b-e-e-n-.-h-a-n-g-i-n-g-.-i-n-.-t-h-e-.-s-t-u-d-y- 'I'm okay' -r-e-a-l-l-y- 'OMG', 'guys', 'Bill', -g-a-v-e-.-m-e-.-a-.-l-i-b-r-a-r-y! -I-.-h-a-v-e-.-b-o-o-k-s!
Not letting himself tear up Dipper leaned over the table, tapping the send button on his phone with his nose.
"Wait Bill gave you books? That doesn't sound like him.." Ford wondered aloud.
"Mabel what happened over the last three days? Last time we talked you said you had been.. Eaten and moved out of a dungeon? Sis it's ok to tell us if things are bad." Dipper's voice stayed calm and reserved as inside he broke. His mind seeing her twisted and bloodied, bound in chains and screaming for him to save her.
. .
Mabel's tongue rubbed against her teeth, feeling the painful indent of a burnt triangle. Her eyes flickered down to her unblemished hand, full of bones she hadn't grown. The hand in question pulled back her skirt to reveal the itchy and inflamed tattoo. Thighs that he had grabbed so roughly, pulling her unwilling body against his skin..
"I'm doing alright guys. I just.. I need you all to know how much I love you. You're all keeping me strong. Just like you keep each other strong. I love you all so much. Being locked in a tower isn't as terrible as Disney would have you believe really.. I just love and miss you all.. I can't see him in the study, but he's normally there. Sometimes I can hear him playing piano.. But other than that I'm alone most of the time." Mabel said with a forced smile, forgetting they couldn't see her.
Dipper's voice was quick to respond in her head "you'd tell us though right? Tell us if you're not alright?"
Mabel's smile held unshed tears, "Of course Dipping-sauce, but I am okay. Got a beautiful view, running water and now a library. Everything's fine." Fear ate at her mind, did he know? Know what Bill had done to her body?
But her fear and suspicion dissipated as her parents started asking about the books, Ford wanting to know what kind of publications they all were. Turned out they each had the current year and read 'conjured by Bill Cipher' instead of a publication site.
The conversation was easy and light and everything Mabel had missed from life. Feeling heard and valued and wanting to hear about the lives of her family.
. -⌲⌲ .
One of Mabel's questions caught Dipper completely off guard.
S-o-.-h-a-v-e-.-y-o-u-.-c-h-a-n-g-e-d-.-y-o-u-r-.-n-a-m-e-.-y-e-t- 'Dipper?'
Dipper had always preferred Dipper to Mason. But now, hearing it was like a stab to the heart. It was too similar to hers. His name made him feel nothing but guilt, anger and grief. Now he downright hated his name.
Since he was 14 he had pleaded with his parents to let him legally change it to Dipper.
"Hmm, no. I don't need to do that anymore." Dipper said with a half-smile. "It's just on my license anyway." No, it would be totally pointless to change his name now.
The family continued their conversation early into the morning. After several bouts of contagious yawning they bid each other good night. Mabel promising to switch around her sleeping schedule.
It was so hard to say goodbye. Silent worries that the next attempt would go unheard, that they'd each spiral down dark tunnels of worry and fear again. but there was nothing to be done.
Dipper tossed and turned on his old bed for hours as his mind repeated things she had said. Reminiscing on happy memories.. Times full of love and safety.. It had been like a goodbye Dipper realised with a start. Like she had tried to give them the happiest memories she could one last time.
"Damnit." Dipper mumbled as he sat up. Pulling out his notepad and starring at the current equation he was stuck on. "Damnit damnit fuck."