A/n: And we're back. Good ol' Bill's returning for another chapter. On a completely unrelated note, my psych textbook has the lyrics to a My Chemical Romance song in it. Just a fun fact I thought I'd share. Reviews are greatly welcome, and I hope you all enjoy this little tale of mine.
Warnings: graphic descriptions of violence, mentioned formal child abuse, implied pedophila, and Bill who's really nasty in this chapter. If any of this triggers you, I suggest you move along.
Disclaimer: I don't own Gravity Falls; if I did, Ford would get more screen time.
It wasn't that difficult to get Pine Tree to see things my way.
The stressors were all there; all the dominoes were already set up in a convenient little line, just waiting to be sent tumbling to the ground. The unsupportive parents, the ungratefully unaware sister, and Pine Tree's own painful isolation... All the hallmarks of someone just waiting to be taken advantage of, like a bomb just waiting to explode. It was a good thing I came along before anyone else could. Just the thought of anyone else claiming my property... Well, a bloodbath would be the nicest way to describe what I'd do to whoever was responsible. Or whoever helped them. Or whoever got in my way.
A beautiful, crimson red coating the entire mortal realm... What a pleasant thought.
But, I digress. Yes, a chain of dominoes. And all it took was one, little push. I just altered to boy's mental state a tini, tiny bit; I made him just a bit more prone to anger, just temporarily like the effect of a drug or a particularly nasty argument. Not permanently to change his overall disposition; no, no, no, I want my new pet unharmed and undamaged. The anger will wear off in time, but the realization he made under its effects- that will last for a very long time.
The best part of it was: it was all the truth. I didn't alter what his parents thought of him, and I certainly didn't create past events. It was all the truth, and that made it infinitely more cruel. If I wasn't a demon, I'd probably feel sorry for the boy.
I meant what I said when I told Dipper he was my favorite meatsack. None of the others react the way he does, wants to learn the way he does. And when confronted with such a devastating truth, most fall into despair. Not him, though. No, he got mad. He was angry; Pine Tree keeps getting better and better. It was a good idea to keep him under my wing. He might turn out to be a fledgling demon in human flesh.
And it was adorable how passionate he was when learning some basic magic; not even Stanford was this excited about learning more. It was also impressive just how quick Pine Tree caught on, too. Really, he keeps getting better and better.
And that boy was a natural at weaving the most beautiful and violent of nightmares. Truly, it made my nonexistent heart beat in my chest. Or it could have been the cold, dead, borrowed heart from a foolish teenager that thought he was invincible and thought it was a good idea to drive drunk. Either way, Dipper had a knack for causing suffering. A true virtuoso, a maestro in the making. Those meatbags who fertilized twin fetuses, one gifted in both magic and cruelty the other in charisma and athletics, and have done nothing worthwhile since experienced a delightfully devious delve into their worst fears. With the mother, he let a dream version of their family get lost in the woods. They were all hunted by a shadowed monster that picked each member off one by one. First Dream Dipper, then her husband, and lastly Dream Mabel, who the mother had to watch as her daughter was eaten alive in front of her, shrilly screaming in desperation for mommy to help her the whole time. As for the father, he had to endure being force fed the flesh of his wife and children. Both were so wonderfully vicious, it made me smile.
As for my plans for revenge, I was already breaking apart the Pines family. The bonds between Dipper and his family grow weaker by the day; his bonds with his parents have all but withered away to nothingness. Without proximity to his uncles, those bonds shall fall away to nothing; by the time Sixer and Stanley realize what's wrong, it'll be far too late. And the boy will be irrevocably mine.
The only obstacle to isolating Dipper is his sister. But, at the rate things are going, that will no longer be an issue. The girl's past actions are working against her. Unless something drastic happens, that bond will rot away too. Leaving me as the only one Dipper has left for to lean on. A perfectly obedient pet.
Does that stupid girl really think I was unaware of her little plot to expose me to Dipper? I have eyes everywhere. I know all she planned to do, and I know that nothing she could do could ever hurt me or forcefully banish me from this vessel. I know who her accomplices are. If she were to expose me to Dipper, nothing would happen; he already knows who and what I am. The worse that could happen is if I start an argument with Shooting Star and lose Dipper's trust, but if I spin it the right way, it'll only boost Dipper's opinion of me while decreasing Dipper's fondness for his sister.
Dipper is practically mine, and when the day comes when he is truly under my thrall, I will see him destroy every single person who ever belittled or hurt him. And he will enjoy it in every fiber of his being. And that is when I will own him: body, mind, and soul. Perhaps I'll make him one of my kind, then. Yes, that sounds good. That sounds perfect. Marvelous. Wonderful, even!
Now then, even if the girl can't harm me, I can't have her go around and undermine me without any recompense. That would set a bad example for everyone else that messing with me is a okay, which is absolutely unacceptable. Can't have the idiots thinking rebellion is acceptable; that's just bad leadership.
Yes, an example will have to be made of Mabel and her motley crew. But how is the tricky part. If I retaliate violently, I scare away Dipper. However, if I react too subtly, Mabel won't realize what she did wrong and no lesson would be learned. I need to tread the line here.
Something that isn't violent but still gets the point across... Not really my forte, but I think I have an idea. Perhaps I'll mess with her dearest friends instead; Dipper has no connection to those people, so he wouldn't care if I got a little rough. Besides my flames, she knew of my influence with human minds.
Yes, yes, I think I'll drive them all slowly mad. I'll start with the small, nerdy blonde- the computer nerd. Now, let's take a peek- ah, lovely, the boy just fell asleep and the night is still young.
Now, what sort of nightmare shall we start off with? Perhaps the genenric but popular being buried alive trick? No, no, no, that's too easy to forget and brush off. Something more personal. Something with a bit more oomph. Hmmm... this nightmare needs to be scarring enough to last into the waking hours. Perhaps some inspiration from some memories will be in order.
Ah, yes, let's see here: abusive, alcoholic mom and subsequently divorced parents. Now, that's some good nightmare fodder. Yes, that'll do just nicely. A nightmare where mother dearest comes back knocking on dear ol' daddy's door, demanding her little boy back. Terrifying enough to be real. A nice scare realistic and cutting enough to last through the daylight hours; he might not take it seriously at first, but it'll be a nagging issue in the back of his mind that'll keep scratching just under the surface. It might take a few nights of bad dreams with a few pushes from reality: a few knocks on the door in the early morning when the sun is still down below the horizon, a hand-written note from mommy begging for forgiveness from her darling baby boy, the suspicious stench of an extra strong whisky around his home.
The paranoia will tear him apart, and the only person who would be trace it back to me would be Mabel. Well, maybe Dipper too, but Dipper isn't close with that boy and so he'd be none the wiser.
Next, I should start with that pesky girl, the one who claims to be in love with me. If she keeps sticking her nose into things that doesn't concern her, well, she might stumble onto something about how I got into this school. And that would prematurely spoil all the fun.
There are still a few more hours until daytime. While the nerdy blonde stews in his custom made nightmare hell, I can stand to play around with Lovergirl over here. Maybe something similar to the boy?
Damn, no traumatic childhood memories, no deep-seeded fears. Nothing, nada! What a disgustingly carefree and airheaded girl. Well, that simply means I need to step up my game. Perhaps, instead of driving her to the brink of insanity, I should give her something else to chew on. Maybe I should give her Dipper's science teacher, Scott Martin, to snoop on; he has such interesting dreams, the stuff of any parents' nightmares. Really, who on earth would let that man become a teacher? It was laughable, to me, at least.
I'll just plant a few dreams suggesting she riffle through the locked drawer when he's at lunch tomorrow. I'll see to it that the drawer is unlocked at the time. The pictures in that drawer will surely supply a wonderfully distracting scandal that will also stop that wretched, impudent man from eyeballing what belongs to me. After the man gets fired and possibly goes to jail, I think I'll drive him insane, maybe make him believe his fingers turned to worms and that his insides were rotting from the inside out. Maybe once he's insane, he'd kill himself- rip out his own eyes or devour his own hands into he bled to death.
Two birds, one powerful hammer.
The third member of Mabel's supporting cast can be dealt with later; he's the one she cares about most, so I'll have to take extra special care of him. Just to be fair after she helped bring about my demise, and unlike her brother, isn't worth keeping around to serve me.
Now, to plot my full return to this dimension. IQ's portal is still around; the fool was either too sentimental or too prideful to dismantle it. Or maybe that old fool really thought I was long gone. Either way, it's his loss and my gain. I'll have either Dipper or this vessel get the portal up and running again. As for Stanford's equation, I think I can get it out of him with Dipper's help; with the old man out an about with his brother, gallivanting across the world to fight the supernatural, someone needs to look over Gravity Falls, and who better than Ford's desired successor. Ford will give that information to Dipper willingly, or I'll simply have to resort to torture. Not electrical again; that didn't work, so maybe more of an emotional torture will suffice. Either way, that equation will be mine, and so will this dimension.
All the cogs were in motion. All the pieces were in their rightful locations. It was simply a matter of time before all the dominos fell into place.
All I had to do was wait.
