Stanley and Mabel were sitting on chairs in the basement with absolutely no idea as to why Ford had asked them to come down here. It wasn't asking to speak to them that was weird, he was doing that sometime when he needed to announce something, but the more puzzling was why in the basement and why wasn't Dipper here too?
Mabel had given a questioning look at Stan, but even her Grunkle didn't seem to understand why his brother was asking for them to come here. It was as if he was scared to be heard upstairs.
"Poindexter, why did you asked to meet us here?" Finally asked the old man as he was seeing his twin coming back with notes. Was he starting to work on something dangerous again? But then why not including Dipper, especially since the young man was the most capable out of the three.
Ford finally start putting his notes on the desk in front of them, replacing his glasses before finally stating "About this new friend's of Dipper". Stanley responded with an exasperated sigh as he was passing a hand on his face, mumbling lowly "Oh my fucking god, really". Mabel was just looking at Ford as if he had grown another head, that's why they were called down there? Because he wanted to talk about Guillaume?
"Grunkle Ford!" exclaimed Mabel as she was leaning forward "Dipper finally made a friend and you want to take that away from him?!" she asked. Ford didn't seem to be bothered by this information, instead, he went for his suspicions.
"I am sure at 80%, wait no, 90% there is something wrong with that person and that they're not human" said the man. He felt like he needed to add more, since Mabel and Stan were looking at him both as if he had forgot some creature were really friendly. "And not the friendly kind of being, that it must be some kind of creature trying to use Dipper for something".
He went on about how weird he had found the young man action in the past days as he was passing time with the younger twins. Sure, he was sometimes acting a little off, but maybe he was just not used with Americans things because his name wasn't really sounding the most American. Then he went on about his appearance, But Mabel pointed out that she too had a phase where she was having weird style too. Some people were just eccentric.
"But golden hair and eyes!" asked the man, The woman just shrugging and responding that it was some new kind of dye and contact lenses. Ford sighed when he saw Mabel was just very much not following his thought, a little reassured to see his brother considering it a little more.
He even mentioned how no forum, in all the way he searches for it, ever mentioned Gravity Falls as a great place to see supernatural stuff. Mabel said that maybe he searched it in another language than English or that the forums were taken down.
"And I research his name, no let me finish" he said before Stan said he was maybe going too far "I found nothing for his name but a man leaving in the French revolution". He then went on telling them what he found on him, even though it was close to nothing since it was so long ago and the man hadn't left much information on him.
"Okay, it might be weird he have the same name as a nobleman from late 1700, but it doesn't say much, otherwise you would have found other Guillaume Goldman through history if he was some kind of immortal creature" pointed out Mabel. "She not wrong" agreed Stan, all this sounding more like his brother was yet again falling into paranoia, though he couldn't really say it was fully in his control with what he had lived through. But he was ready to give him the benefit of the doubt, he was the specialist in this kind of stuff.
"Look" said Stanley as he was standing up "If me or Mabel see anything weird about the guy we are going to notify you, but please don't ruin the kid friendship if you are not sure" he simply asks. Mabel was standing up too, replacing some hair in their place "Yeah, Dipper isn't someone who makes a lot of friends and after all we went through he doesn't open easily to others, I'm really happy to see him being able to open that much to someone else than me" she said with a small smile, thinking about the look in Dipper's eye when he was with Guillaume.
Ford looked at them, not understanding why they couldn't saw what was wrong, but groan as he was waving them off. It was better than nothing if they were going to keep an eye open, but he would have preferred to at least have someone on his side. "Sure, do that, keep a close eye on him" he said as the two other Pines were starting to exit the basement.
He was still sure there was something wrong with him, things were feeling too familiar with the man, he just couldn't put his finger on what it was.
On Dipper and Bill side, they both had prepared in the past days this excursion in a cave Dipper never found before. They never really went in because it was too dangerous, but now that Bill had gained a bigger amount of his power, or at least enough to use magic casually, they were able to go.
Dipper was a little nervous, like he always was when going for new things, but his excitement was just as big. He had always loved to find new things in Gravity Falls and new things were a little difficult to find after multiple summers, no help and a time limit to how he could explore. So going with someone who knew more about the place was really helpful and he wasn't alone.
After Dipper made sure he had everything he needed, Bill not bothering much thinking they could go with nothing more than magic, they went in the dark cave. Bill was explaining he remembered a couple of years ago there was a creature living exclusively inside the cave, but that they were pretty small so they shouldn't worry too much about it.
After a couple of minutes walking in the dark, they found a larger room lightened by some kind of crystal on the walls. There was even a large pool of water, looking pretty deep. There were also holes leading to others corridors, some with a little river following in. Dipper was immediately in awe at the glowing light, taking picture and notes about it, Bill looking a little around to find other things.
"You think I can bring back some of them?" asked Dipper while turning back at Bill who was looking into the water. "Sure, no one will care if you took a bunch of glowing rocks" responded the demon with a laugh "Can't say if they are going to keep glowing in your room".
Dipper looked back at them, they were really beautiful, the colours somehow changing lightly from blue to green to yellow. It was slow so one needed to keep watching and the colours were still pretty close to each other, so you also needed to be more attentive. He decided to take some with him, it was a little hard to do, but he was able to take some off the wall. They were small, but it would do the job, also he couldn't bring with them some of the bigger ones since it couldn't fit in his bag.
"Let see where the water goes" suggested the demon with a smile, waiting for Dipper near one of the holes. Deeper they were going and more they would find these glowing crystal, so they wouldn't need the light as much as before.
They were surprised to find some vegetation that had grown in, not exactly sure how it managed to do so, but that was just more fascinating. That when the sound of growling behind them made them both freeze. Dipper turned from his study on the small plant, seeing a large beast at the entry of one of the corridor, clearly not happy to have its home visited.
Dipper slowly got up, joining Bill just as slowly. "Didn't you said a couple years again it was tiny?" he asked in a low voice. "Well... maybe it was more than just a couple of years" admitted the demon with a sorry smile "You know, I'm not that great with your dimension timing" he added while placing a protective arm in front of Dipper, slowly guiding him to where they were coming from.
They had to go faster when suddenly the creature started to got after them, starting to sprint once they were in the right corridor. Bill was leading the way, making sure Dipper was following him. He was also doing his best to slow the monster, but it was hard to focus on all those things at the same time. Fire seemed to be doing the job fine at first, but the creature was smart enough to understand that water could put it out.
They needed to slow down once they arrived at a steep slope they went up earlier, knowing it was way too high to just jump off. Dipper didn't seem to notice since he was looking back, starting falling down the thing. It was a good thing he remembered how to levitate, which saved him from hitting his head, though he knew he injured his arm, but they didn't have time for that at the moment. Bill had joined him quickly as he was floating and jumping off rocks.
It was all running, jumping over obstacles and tripping over rocks, getting more injuries but not giving much care to it, otherwise, it was being eaten by a monster five time bigger than them. At some point they had to stop, still hearing the creature behind, since they were not sure from where they were coming from. This time it was Dipper who took the demon hand, guessing the last corridor, letting his instinct leading him. He could hear behind him Bill panting as he was still slowing doing the creature, knowing the demon still couldn't do magic.
It only once they were back in a completely black tunnel they knew they were close, tripping more than once and causing themselves even more scratches. They were more than delighted to see light again, falling on the grassy floor once far enough of the entry. Bill was ready to fight again, even if he was starting to be tired, but never saw the creature getting out, staying in the shadow. "Ah" he laughed out "Scared of the light" he laughed more, before turning to Dipper and suddenly stopping his laughter.
There was a large cut on his right arm, other smaller cut and scratches at other places of his body. He was most likely going to see ecchymosis appear the days after. He quickly went to kneel next to Dipper, his hand hovering above him as if scared to hurt him. Dipper seems to notice the sudden panic in Bill's movement, as he went and grabbed his hand, offering him a little smile.
"It fine, I just need to put on some bandages, go back to the shack and clean this all up to redo some clean bandages" he said, trying not to be too nervous about the cut on his arm, seeing that the demon had difficulty to deal with this. Bill nodded, grabbing the younger bag and looking into it for something that could help.
Bill's eye was shifting between red, blue and gold as if too many things were going inside him. He was relieved Dipper was alive and not eaten by the monster, but was still scare because of the injuries and was angry about seeing that injured when he should have been able to help more.
"We should pass at the pond, I could help you heal the cut so it stops bleeding" said the demon while helping the best he could. Dipper was going to argue about letting him check if the demon was okay, but Bill's expression was telling him the demon wasn't seeing himself as a priority. He left out a sigh, agreeing to it. If it could help Bill feel better.
So they did that, passing by the pond so Bill could us some healing spell, pretty happy to see he was remembering them correctly. Clearly, this wasn't something he needed often in normal time. Though he couldn't go farther than stopping the bleeding from the larger one, otherwise he would, again, lose most of his power.
The trickier part was to get inside the shack without being noticed. Well, it hadn't worked that well, since Mabel was right at the door. Her expression dropped when she saw them, making them go to the bathroom so she could help take care of the wounds. "Mabel calm down, the worst is passed, but we need clean clothes, can you get us that?" he asked, seeing her debating inside herself, before going.
He didn't lose time, going for Bill's clothes and surprising him. The demon sighed as he took off his waistcoat and his shirt himself as the shaky hand from Dipper couldn't work the button, showing him the really minor injuries he had. "I think my body heal quicker than yours, also I didn't fell off a slope of rock, so I will survive by just cleaning them" he explained, offering Dipper a little smile as he saw the young man relax. Was he worried about him this whole time? It warmed the demon's heart but didn't have much time to feel good about it as he needed to put his shirt back on because Mabel was back.
She couldn't understand how the cut was partly healed, but didn't ask. Her whole concentration was on disinfecting the injuries and doing bandages. Mabel was putting on some more band-aid after Dipper and "Guillaume" had changed in clean clothes, not asking why he had some of "Guillaume's" clothes in his room. The two men froze when they heard Ford and Stan ask what had happened, exchanging a glance, knowing very well they couldn't lie, especially with Mabel knowing in which stat her twin had come back into.
So they were all seated at the kitchen table, telling what had happened. Well, not everything, otherwise they would know there was something wrong with "Guillaume" knowledge of Gravity Falls. They also made the chasing sound a little less bad than it was, also to keep from saying they had to use some magic. And obviously, they never told about the pond.
Once they were finished everything was silent, but Dipper could tell Mabel and Stan were still really worried about them, suggesting to see a doctor and make sure they didn't break a bone or something. Ford was looking angry, before saying "What did I say about supernatural adventure? You should stop before it kills you".
"You are one to talk" respond Dipper as he was standing up, sounding suddenly angry. "I like doing this as much as you do, you get to hunt monster on the sea where you have greater chance to die and I should stop what I like when I'm safe?" he asked, visibly getting mad. "It the first time I get this injured in all the time I've been going after supernatural event, so I don't do that bad" he said, showing his injured arm.
He then could see Ford squint to look at his arm, Dipper not understanding what he was looking at. "What is that, on your wrist". Then it was the turn for both the twin to tense, realising Dipper had to take off his bloodied bracelet to wash it and he forgot to put it back on. "Just a tattoo" answer the young man while hiding it closer to his side.
Hiding wasn't an option given by Ford and he showed it when he went by himself to Dipper, grabbing his hand to look at it. He froze when what he saw confirmed what he thought he had seen, even if he wished it wasn't that. "Bill Cipher circle" he whispered, making even Stanley surprised that Dipper had such a tattoo on him. "Why did you do this Dipper!?" asked Ford, not letting go of the hand even if Dipper was trying to take it back.
They both suddenly felt a burning, Ford letting go out of surprise, Dipper throwing a surprise glance at Bill who was trying to act like he wasn't understanding what was happening. Ford was looking from his hand, back to Dipper and then back to the tattoo, not believing it. Okay, this might not have help and made things worst. Ford then turned toward Mabel, asking if she knew. But before Mabel could tell the truth, so Dipper didn't have to take the fall alone, her twin responds "She didn't know, I did this alone".
The silence in the room was heavy, all the three others looking from Dipper to Ford, not knowing what was going to happen. Ford finally straighten a little, "You won't be going on any kind of hunt or research from now on". This shocked even Mabel and Stan, not expecting Ford to literally put a ban on the one things that he was passionate about.
"What?! No!" respond Dipper, taking a couple steps backwards, toward the exit of the room. Ford tried to argue, but the younger one didn't leave him the room for it "No! I'm not twelve anymore, I'm an adult and I can take care of myself, I told you, it the literal first time I got that badly injured since Bill tried to kill us, I think I can take some scratch if I survived nearly getting kill".
I wasn't going to hear more, especially if it was to stop him, he had heard enough. He dashed out of the room, grabbing his bag that was left by the door. The room was in total silence, broken only By "Guillaume" standing up and calmly going after Dipper. He did flash a grin toward Ford before going out because, he wouldn't lie, it was a delight to see Dipper rebel against the man he had put above many.
He found the young man on the way to Gravity Falls, sitting on a fallen trunk and trying to calm himself. Bill was feeling less amused when he saw Dipper crying, most likely out of anger. He simply sat next to him, hesitating before passing an arm around him and putting his head on his shoulder. "What do we do now?" he asks, knowing that talking about what happened wouldn't help.
"I don't know" admitted Dipper with a quiet laugh, drying some last tear. Bill simply hummed, thinking. "We could take a room for the night, the motel here must be cheap right?" he asked, not believing a motel here could cost much money unless it was owned by the Northwest family.
Dipper was still silent, before nodding. "Yeah, it should do, I don't want to go back". That and he didn't want to bother anyone he knew in Gravity Falls with two dumb guys needing a room for the night. He felt Bill let go of him, even if he would have preferred staying like this, before seeing him in front of him, sticking his hand out so he could take it. "You're good to walk a little?" he asks with a smile small, knowing this time where he would be taken by the demon. He smiled back, taking the hand before starting to walk towards the town, not letting go of the warm hand that for once was not stuck in a glove.