A/N: Aaaand here's Chapter Six, everyone! I hope you enjoy it! keep them reviews coming. I love 'em!
A Triangle in the Stars
Chapter Six: The School
After a lot of walking, Sadie, Steven and Bill all stood at the entrance of the school.
"Unfortunately, it's a Sunday. School's out today. That means we can't go in. Tomorrow, though, you could," Sadie smiled at Steven.
Steven glanced at Bill for his word in this. It was his idea to come here, after all. If Steven had it his way, they'd both be at home right now, watching his favorite show.
"Can't we sneak in?" Bill suggested, eye narrowed. He was itching to cause some chaos, staring up at the pristine building. Waiting a day could probably kill him. Well, not literally, but you get it.
"I'm pretty sure it's against the rules. But you're welcome to try. The door is locked anyway," and to demonstrate, she went up and shook the handle.
He really didn't care about the rules. He ate rules for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, only to vomit them back out as something that broke them. He had now the urge to blast this door down, but he wanted to be discreet. He didn't want anyone to suspect they had been here. In fact, he thought of something better. He chuckled, and then snapped his fingers, focusing on the locking mechanism. He heard it tumble, and he announced, "Try it now, Sadie!"
She tried it now, afraid that it might actually work. She definitely didn't want to get in trouble...
And it worked despite her wishes, the door opening with a click. No alarms went off either. Bill had disabled those too.
"This is so exciting! I finally get to see what's gotten kids and teenagers so worked up!" he lied like it was the truth, grinning widely. Though he supposed it wouldn't hurt getting some ideas from this place that he could use in tormenting people more effectively.
"Well... I guess I could show you two around..." Sadie resigned, wanting nothing more than to return to the Big Donut. She didn't feel like she should be here at all...
The demon nudged Sadie rather playfully, "Don't feel so down! we'll be in and out! quick as a flash!" and then glanced at Steven, trying to gauge his reaction.
Steven sighed, "If that's what you really wanna do. Where are we going first?"
"Well, first, we gotta turn on the lights so we can actually see in here." Never mind Bill's glow. Sadie made her way over to the light switch and flipped it on. Bill looked around then, taking in the artistic corridor. He was planning what he could do with the location. Though it probably looked nice in human eyes, it fell far below his standards.
She and the boy began to walk around the hallway, with the demon beside them. It was silent, of course, minus their footfalls, and it completely creeped both her and Steven out. The silence didn't particularly bother Bill, however. It only reminded him that the place was completely empty, save for the three of them. Boy, would the students and staff come back tomorrow to a lovely surprise or what? he put his hand on his "chin", looking at the many doors that led to classrooms, offices, and all that jazz. However, he wanted a room in particular. He could mess these up later.
Sadie stopped and turned to Bill, "Anywhere in particular you wanna go?"
"Oh, yeah! I've got a hankering for some chemistry!" he lied cheerfully.
"Chemistry, eh?" contrary to his instructions, she began towards the computer lab. Perhaps on purpose...
Bill followed her, "clueless" and grinning. Wherever she led him, even if it was wrong, he was going to wreak havoc anyway. Steven walked beside Bill, silent, observing him. Wondering what was going on in his head... knowing it could not be pleasant.
Eventually, after quite a walk through the corridors, they reached the computer lab. She slapped her forehead gently, "Oh! right! I forgot! the science wing is on the other side of the building... well, we should go over there!" Sadie had a plan. She'd keep the group moving. Like Bill said, in and out.
Bill took one glance at all the computers lined up on several desks. They seemed far more advanced than the ones back in Gravity Falls. And faster and more sleek too. With a simple twitch of his eye, however, which was put forth to showcase his apparent annoyance with Sadie, that all changed. Of course, they still looked the same, but now they'd underperform. It wasn't what he wanted to do, it wasn't real damage, but it'd do. He then nodded with a slight groan, "Alright then..."
And so they shoved off again. It took some time, but finally, they reached the chemistry lab.
"Here's the lab..." and then she frowned, feeling that someone wasn't with them. "Hey, where'd Steven go?" she looked around. The boy had seemingly disappeared on the way there. The silence was thick. He could be anywhere by now...
Bill looked around too, but ultimately didn't care. He shrugged, eye now wandering over to the cabinets that held various chemicals and to the various lab equipment neatly spread out on the sturdy tables, "Eh, who knows? why don't you go looking for him? I got it from here."
"I'm not leaving you here alone," Sadie said, completely sure that the triangle guy was up to no good. "So, come on, we're going to go find Steven and leave this place." She stood up tall, as if to assert authority over him.
"You're not the boss of me, lady!" he frowned, his good mood dissipating even further than it already had. He put his hands on his "hips", and floated up higher than her, asserting even more of an authority over her. He wasn't going to listen to a fleshbag. Ever. "I do what I want!"
"Oh, yeah? well, go ahead then. Do whatever you want. See how things turn out for you. I bet they won't turn out nice at all! Lars was right about you..." she turned to walk away now.
Bill smirked. Things, minus Weirdmageddon, when those bratty Pines got in his way, always worked out well for him. And never for his victims. And, right now, his victims were the students and the staff. He waited a while before he entered the room though, hands still on his "hips". He was waiting until Sadie left for real.
She turned and watched him, silent. Eventually, she said, "What? are you afraid to do whatever it is that you're going to do? should I be worried about it?" her gaze was as cold as steel.
His eye narrowed at her, "Let's just say it's private business. And aren't you worried about Steven? shouldn't you be, y'know, looking for him?"
"He can handle himself," she didn't budge.
And Bill was once again surprised, but it again didn't last. He shook with irritation and desire. Desire to cause chaos. And this kid was getting in the way of that. He wanted to kill her now, get her out of the way, but something was stopping him. He wouldn't be able to cover it up for one. And no one, not even Steven, would be able to come to trust him again. He'd end up on the curb before he ever did any true damage.
He sighed, glancing into the lab. He once again was forced to do something mediocre, something that fell below his standards of chaos. With another annoyed twitch of his eye, potions, or chemicals, turned more dangerous, able to summon demons and the like, and the functions of the equipment switched around. So now the mixer instead acted like a vacuum cleaner set in the wrong direction. The triangle narrowed his eye, crossing his arms now, "You're no fun. I'm bored now."
"Well, if you're done just standing there, we've got a Steven to find!" she smiled a little. Forced, however.
"Eh, sure. Why not? got nothing better to do now," he shrugged, and then floated towards her, still fairly put off. He huffed, and that did something to the light fixtures. They were fine now, of course, but they were now programmed to flicker and turn off for a while if the hallways were filled with people. And tomorrow would be that day.
Sadie didn't turn her back to him, "Why don't you lead the way?"
Bill glared, and then settled for levitating alongside her. "Is that better, Queen of England?" he, of course, didn't think she was a queen, or even deserving of the title. It was, in fact, condescending and sarcastic. He may have liked her before, but now she was right below Lars and the Pines family on the list of the people he hated.
She smiled and nodded, "Now... where could he be?" she looked around, uncertain. She wondered if she could trust the guy enough to split up and take separate wings to look through.
The demon raised his only eyebrow at her thoughts. Seriously? he swore if he had another moment where he was confounded he'd go crazier than he already was. She didn't leave him alone when he wanted to mess up the lab, and now she was wondering if she could to make the search for Steven even easier? mind-boggling, the thought was.
She looked at him and asked, "You think I could leave you alone, and we could split up to find Steven sooner?"
Bill smirked, deciding to use this to his advantage, "Sure you can. I'll behave like an angel!" and then he posed innocently, hands clasped with a halo appearing over his hat. It was all a ploy, of course. And, if she actually agreed... well, he'd take back what he said about the town seeming more competent.
"Hmm. I don't know... how about..." she plucked his hat right off his head, much to Bill's dismay for he gasped, eye widening as he felt at his top point. She continued, "Now, I'm taking this. You better not do anything bad, or you're not getting this back. Got it?" she warned.
He then growled, reaching out for his hat, about to agree so that he could secretly break the informal vow.
An idea then came to her. She held out her other hand, smirking slightly, "Deal?"
And then his hope sank completely. Agh, it was a deal now! he had no choice but to follow through! he cursed violently in his head. This lasted for a few minutes, mixed with spoken angrish that his precious hat was taken from him. Sadie watched, expressionless and waiting, but slightly scared on the inside too.
"Urgh..." once he was done having his hissy fit, he sighed, and the hand that was outstretched lit up with blue, flickering flames. He frowned, and said glumly, taking and shaking her hand, "Fine. It's a deal."
She gasped when that happened. Didn't expect the bright blue flames one bit. With her free hand, she put his hat on her own head. "A-alright then. Let's go," she smiled a little. "Which wing do you wanna take?"
Bill glared at her, the flames subsiding. That hat belonged on his head, but he'd soon have it back. He just had to go along with this, however much he hated it. He sighed solemnly yet dryly, "The east wing, perhaps. That's where we last saw the kid, wasn't it?"
"Yeah, I suppose it was. So, okay, you go that way, and I'll go along this wing for him," she smiled, tipped his hat, and started walking away, looking for Steven.
The demon stared after her, and it took all his willpower not to turn red, burst into flames and scream to high heaven. SHE TIPPED MY HAT! SHE TIPPED IT! THAT IS MY GIG!
He cursed again, this time not mentally at all and it rang throughout the entire school. He calmed down almost immediately afterwards, though, and figured he was wasting time throwing a tantrum. He was going to make this quick, but again he still lacked the energy to teleport. So he settled for manually making his way back to the east wing. However, if there was one good thing that came out of this, it was that he was still capable of making deals.
He then thought about it.
Nope... not good. Not good at all.
Sadie searched her side of the school, frowning when she heard Bill yelling, but shrugged. She figured he was probably being attacked by a monster of some sort, and, if the monster approached her next, she would thank it for ridding her of the triangle and allowing her to keep the top hat. She loved the top hat. She really did. She saw some glass windows where she could see her reflection, and, in those, she posed with the hat, grinning. She thought about taking selfies of her with the hat...
...but she realized sadly that she left her phone at the Donut.
Sadie had grossly underestimated the demon. For one, there was no monster; that was only the sound of his rage. For two, he would have vaporized it, no problem. He begrudgingly searched for Steven, looking through multiple classrooms and ignoring the itch to cause even the slightest bit of chaos. Because, if he did, his precious hat would be lost forever, to that lowly meatsack who clearly didn't deserve it. He sighed, frustration mounting when he saw that the boy was nowhere to be found.
"Where the hell did he go...?" he asked himself gruffly, still in quite the wonderful mood.
Sadie found herself at the entrance easily, after searching the entire wing she was assigned to. She proceeded to enter the bathroom, and pose with the hat in the mirror, grinning. Bill Cipher reached an office. He tilted himself. He felt something in there. Hopefully it would be Steven. And not because he cared, but because he wanted his hat back.
His frown deepened at the reminder that his hat was gone and that Sadie had strung him along instead of the other way around. Angry flames unconsciously rose from and lapped at his skinny, black arms, but he patted them out before too long. The demon sighed and reached out to open the door.
Contrary to what he thought, Steven was not in the office room. In fact, he wasn't in any office or classroom at all. He had gone to the bathroom. Coincidentally and conveniently the one located next to the one Sadie occupied.
Bill pulled it open, sighed when he saw no one was in there. Except maybe a Gem Monster, which was probably what he sensed. But he hardly cared. He'd let it wreak havoc. And then he closed the door.
It was at this time he was convinced that he cleared this wing. There were no other doors to check. He had checked all of them. So, sullenly, he made his way back to the entrance, slowly exploring the school as he went at his leisure, feeling at his unnaturally barren top point. At least he managed to mess some things up before the deal.
A/N: Aaand there we go! woooo! I hope you enjoyed it! Ace plays a magnificent Sadie, as well as Steven, but Sadie had the limelight here. So yeah. What a turn of events, right, folks? XD I bet you probably weren't expecting it. But here it is. Please tell me what you think, preferably in detail and a play-by-play. XP Otherwise, I shall see you next week with the next chapter! bon voyage~ disappears.