"BILL!" Marco yelled. "I want to make a deal."

Bill stomped on Stars head as he walked over. It was all Marco could do from blowing up. The demon floated, all he had to do was let the wind take him. Instead, he chose to be cruel.

"Really?" Bill sneered. "And What Exactly Could You Offer Me?"

"A way out."

Bill seemed skeptical; Marco would've been surprised if he wasn't. Marco hadn't given up any details when he was under the demons… hospitality. Bill searched his face for any signs of deceit, but there wasn't any.

"Stop it!" Dipper screamed.

"What do you think you're doing, kid!?" Ford yelled. It was imperative that they play their part. It would be too easy to just hand over the code for the portal without any resistance from the others. Bill waved his hand and metal strips clamped their mouths shut.

"Why? Why Now?" Bill questioned. "What Changed?"

"You have Star." Marco said. "I would do anything for her."

"Humans! So… Human" Bill laughed and it took all of Marcos willpower not to flinch. He refused to show any sign of weakness. It was the least he could do when faced with a being of near unlimited power.

"You Humans Would Sacrifice Everything For One Person, Even Billons Of Other Humans! You Do See The Hypocrisy Of This, Right?"

"Cut the foreplay, Bill. Do we have a deal or not?" Bill considered his options for another moment before smiling. His hand lit up in blue flames.

"Deal." Bill grabbed Marcos hand and everything turned black.

(line break)

"Hurry Dipper, we don't have much time."

Dipper couldn't believe it. They'd actually trapped Bill into someone's mind. They could end this.

Moving quickly, Dipper, Mabel, Ford, and Stan grabbed Marcos body and rolled him onto his back. Great Uncle Ford moved one of Marcos eyelids and Dipper noticed that the pupils had become slits. Bill was in there alright.

"He's in there alright." Ford grabbed the memory gun from Dipper and started messing with the dials. "We'll need to erase every memory that the boy has ever had order to wipe him out of existence, just to be safe."

"What?!" Dipper and Mabel exclaimed. That was not what they'd told Marco.

"You can't do that! You told him it was only of his time here!" Mabel pulled onto Fords trench coat. "Look at me you coward!" He could only look at her for a moment before he dropped his gaze. He knew what he was doing was dishonest, but this was their only option left. He had to make the hard decision, and it was better that he do it than anyone else.

"You've only faced him for a summer, Mabel. I've been looking for a way to stop him for years." Ford stopped and rubbed his glasses. They were just kids; they weren't supposed to deal with these kinds of situations. "If there was another way to stop him, I would do it. But there's not so don't let Marcos sacrifice go to waste."

He turned and fired before anyone could argue anymore. Dipper was expecting a loud explosion, maybe a little earthquake. Anything to prove what he'd just witnessed had actually happened.

But there was nothing, only a slight breeze. And somehow that made the gravity of what they did all the more real.

(back to Marco)

It was weird, being back in the sandy landscape of his head. Was this place really what his mind visualized itself as? Marco had always imagined it as more of a dojo.

"Alright, Where Is It?" Or maybe was just the safest part of his consciousness, Marco wouldn't want to make it easy for Bill.

"Where's what?" Even though Marco wouldn't remember this, he couldn't resist aggravating Bill. That demon would've been the reason that Marco would be unable to sleep without nightmares; it was only fair that he got what revenge he could.

"The Knowledge Of How To Get Out Of This Infernal Bubble!" Bill was losing his temper. There was a tint of red in between the demon's bricks.

"Oh, that." Marco put his hands behind his back and shuffled his feet, trying to look as sheepish as possible. "I have no idea."

"wHAT!" Bill lost absolutely lost it. His arms erupted into fire. "You Stupid Humans! You Lied To Me! I'm Going To Make You Eat Your Own Entrails For That!" It was like watching an interdimensional baby lose its pacifier.

Marco dropped the act.

"First off, I never lied to you. I promised you a way out, not how to take down the force field." Marco smiled at Bill's look of confusion. "And Secondly, you're in my head. I'm just as powerful as you here."

Bill didn't even bother responding. His anger overtook him and he lunged for Marco. Marco waited until the last second and summoned a brick wall in between the two. There was a triangle shaped indention after Bill slammed into it.

It reminded Marco of Tom and Jerry. He couldn't laugh about it for long though because Bill grew to the size of a large building, or maybe he grew to the size of one of the pyramids of Giza. That would actually be pretty funny.

Instead of matching Bill's size, Marco turned the landscape into a snow globe and started to shrink the borders. Bill banged against the glass, but was forced to shrink back to a more manageable size. He was still double the height of Marco, but that wasn't a huge problem. He wasn't trying to win; all he had to do was stall until Ford zapped him with the memory gun. Besides, Bill might abandon ship if he felt that he was losing.

Just as Marco was starting to worry that Ford had lost his nerve, he spotted flames at the edge of his vision. They weren't Bills blue flames; they were pure white. Marco had to keep Bill distracted so that he didn't notice them until the last second. He summoned his home around the two.

"That was a lot of fighting, may I offer you some tea during this intermission?" Marco said it so casually that Bill seemed to be at a loss for words. Confusion was written all over his face as Marco conjured up a nice tea set and put a cube of sugar in his cup.

"I never could stand straight black tea. What about you, have you ever even had tea before?" Bill could only stutter in response. It was immensely satisfying to bewilder this being of pure chaos. Marco was willing to bet this was the first time he'd ever been at a complete for words. All Marco had to do was make sure his hatred for the demon didn't show through his façade for another minute or two and he'd be set.

"I.. Uh.. Can't Say That I've Ever Had Tea, Actually." Marco had to stop his eyebrows from raising to his hairline as Bill actually seemed to calm down and take a cup of tea from the tray. He could only stare as Bill blew the steam away with his eye and gingerly took a sip.

"I Must Say, That Was Quite Pleasant." Now it was Marcos turn to be speechless. Was he actually having tea with the monster that had taken joy from torturing him just a few hours ago? Marco thought of Glossaryck; he'd never made any sense either. Perhaps purely magical beings were cursed to always be unpredictable.

Instead of responding, Marco decided to glance out the window. The fire was burning through the fields of sand around them. There wasn't any smoke or any ashes, the landscape just simply ceased to exist after the fire was done with it. Perfect.

Although, Marco couldn't help but notice that absolutely nothing was left behind. Surely not everything here could have been formed since Marco had learned about the demon he was currently sharing tea with.

Bill must've followed Marco's gaze because he started to laugh.

"Point Dexter Is Trying To Use The Memory Gun On Me, Eh? I Figured He Might When You Offered To Let Me In Your Head." Bills lack of fear made Marcos skyrocket. "Looks Like That Fire Is Burning Your Entire Soul, Ford Must've Set The Dials To Maximum In An Attempt To… Dispose Of Me. It Would've Killed Me If I Was In Anyone Else's Head.

"But, You See, I've Been Keeping An Eye On Mewni Over The Years. I Know What Will Happen In The Future. I Realized While I Was Drinking The Tea That You Gave Me The Perfect Opportunity To Escape The Fall Of Magic That Star Will Bring About. But In Order For That To Happen, You Need To Retain At Least Some Part Of Your Soul. Don't Worry, I Have Taken The Liberty Of Storing Most Of Your Memories In A Fireproof Box Of Sorts."

"Wha..?" Marco couldn't even finish his train of thought. Bill was using him and Ford had lied to him! Half of what he said made no sense, but Bill had sounded so sure that Marco knew that it wasn't same made-up ruse. Star would actually destroy Magic. He didn't even know that was possible. Bill had flipped the tables on a dime.

"You Won't Remember This, But It Doesn't Matter. This Is Personal Now." Bill threw a nasty right hook and split Marcos lip as he crumpled to the floor. He didn't even try to get up. All he could do was cry. After all everyone had gone through, they'd still failed. Bill may be killed, but he gave himself a way to come back in the future.

And no one would know about it.

"I've Always Wondered What Dying Would Feel Like, I'm So Excited!" Bill's enthusiasm was only adding salt to the wound. Marco just wanted it to end. The fire had seemingly erased everything except for the living room where they were in, and even that was slowly being consumed into the void.

Marco reached out to the flames and they leapt on to his body. He thought it would hurt, he thought he would scream. He deserved a slow and painful death for his failure, but the flames robbed him of even that. As they moved across his arm, all Marco felt was a slight tingling and the inability to flex his fingers. He hoped that Bills death wasn't as painless as his, but the distinct lack of screaming told him otherwise.

Marco had lost the ability to move his legs and couldn't remember the last time he'd used his lungs to breathe. Such things seemed trivial to him now. The slight tingling had consumed his body, almost as if his whole body had fallen asleep.

The fire wasn't even loud. There wasn't any crackling or the occasional pop. It was almost silent; all Marco could hear was a slight whisper.

Until he couldn't.

It was getting harder to form complete thoughts. Each word made Marco feel like he was running a marathon. But he needed to remember Bill.

Maybe if he remembered they could prepare in the time before his return.

If he kept a hold of his thoughts, he could redeem himself.

They needed to prepare for Bill.

They needed to stop him.

Stop Bill.

Stop

B