A/N: I can explain a lot of things. I said I was going to have this early, like Monday. But, well... I was tired and all, so here it is on its regular programming!

A Triangle in the Stars
Chapter Fifty-Eight: A Recount of Reformation

Ford had settled into Steven's home, but not quite. He was pacing near the window, worrying about Peridot. He'd gotten sketches of the house, and was mostly silent. Bill Cipher was sitting on the couch, arms crossed. He had more or less seemed to have gotten over the depression his little brother's death had caused. But Steven knew the unspoken truth—it was simply deep inside him now, along with all the rest. Stan was sitting on the couch next to him, staring at Bill awkwardly.

"So... no hard feelings about me tricking you and punching you in the face, right?" he asked.

Steven frowned, all of a sudden, as he was sitting on his bed, his window cracked open, and inquired, getting up and walking down the stairs, "Did you guys hear that?"

The triangle felt his face for a moment, and eventually sighed, "No, Fez. No ill will at all. You had every right."

It may have been there in the beginning, but somewhere along the line he decided that it wasn't worth obsessing over. Besides, this was nice. He seemed to have Stan's trust completely despite everything. But he didn't know about Sixer.

The aforementioned stopped pacing eventually, having heard something from an extreme distance, but disregarded it. The fact that Steven heard it too captured his attention, but he didn't say anything. He hummed, placing a hand on his chin and rubbing it silently. The boy eventually sighed, mentally waving the question away. Stan tapped his feet. He only forgave Bill because the triangle had saved his and his brother's life. Ford looked over at Steven, and cleared his throat. He suddenly wanted to know exactly how the boy reformed the fear-mongering and all-powerful demon. He began, "So.. Steven.. how did you do it?"

Bill looked at the man, raising an eyebrow. He would wonder why IQ didn't ask him directly, but his reputation stopped him. It was the very reason Ford wasn't asking him anything.

"Did what?" Steven asked, frowning, uncertain what he meant.

"Reform Bill, of all creatures," the man dramatically gestured towards the demon now, and the triangle quietly scoffed at this, rolling his eye.

"Well..." the boy started softly, "I accepted him. When he did something bad, I gave him more chances. I tried my hardest to make him a better person. At some point... he started caring about me," and smiled. Stan didn't seem to react.

Ford backed down immediately, eyes widening. It was that simple? he then facepalmed. He could barely believe this. But it seemed like the most likely explanation for all of this. He eventually managed, getting out his Journal, "Oh.. there wasn't anything more to this..?"

Bill closed his eye and sighed, prompting the old man to chance a quick glance at him.

Steven shook his head, "It started at the school. I got kidnapped by Gabriel, and..." he frowned then, "stuff happened. It hurts my head to think about it... uh, Bill, can you tell him what happened?"

"I doubt he'd listen to me, kid," the demon sourly recounted. Even though he saved him and his brother's life. Ford alternated his glances between the two.

Stan frowned, "I'd listen. I dunno if I'd believe it, but..." and shrugged.

"C'mon, Bill!" Steven smiled at the triangle.

Bill opened his eye and looked at Stan, a little shocked, and then at his friend. His best friend. He hummed, and then nodded, "Eh, sure, why not?"

Ford took a seat, but it was on the other couch. He was prepared to write this down. Bill took a deep breath, unnecessary though it was, and began the story, "So.. Steven and I had gone to the school, and things began happening there. I was the cause of most of them, sadly."

Ford didn't interrupt, though he wanted to, but he focused on writing things down. Steven nodded, glad Bill was being honest. Stan didn't say anything either, though he was tempted to say, "Go on."

"And then my little adopted brother, Gabriel, showed up," there was a look of disdain on his eye for a split second as he remembered what he did. "He used Steven as a puppet, and attacked me and verbally shoved what I'd done unto me. The kid overheard, and took back his body, but the Gem Monster had reformed..."

Ford wrote all this down, humming quietly. Gem Monsters, huh? could that have been what Lars was talking about? Steven nodded. He remembered that much. What Gabriel did to him... it was only that he couldn't remember too well that made Steven able to forgive him. The old man was casually keeping an eye on Steven, making sure this was the entire truth. The demon took note of this, but went on with his story, "It was about to kill Steven. I couldn't let that happen. But at the time I didn't know why. Then he asked me uncomfortable questions, and cried, and I.. I couldn't take his tears..."

He paused for a long time after that, seemingly lost in thought as he brought his stare down to his hands—the same position he'd taken when this happened. Ford frowned a little bit, and so did Stan.

"We went to look for Bill's friends, so we could unite against Gabriel and defeat him," the boy continued, sensing that it would be difficult for Bill to start again. Besides, he knew this part.

The demon smiled a little, relieved, and sniffled, placing his hands down, "Yeah.. and so far, it was going well. We sighted Kryptos, and Pyronica," there was a small sigh here, "and Xanthar were helping us look. And then things started going wrong... we came across a three-pronged fork in the road that I'm sure wasn't there naturally, and we—Pyronica, Steven and I—split up to go after Teeth."

Ford nodded, quick with his pen and shorthand. He also made little sketches of the details.

"I was tired by that point. Gabriel taking control of me was exhausting... so the very first room I found I walked in and fell asleep," the boy began sheepishly, and the demon furrowed his brow. "But then I got woken up... by this... creature... it was some kind of mishmash of parts. It looked really sad, and lost. And then... I poofed," he bit his lip, demonstrating with his hands.

Stan listened still, not interrupting at all.

"Wait, you poofed?" Ford, however, did interrupt. He wanted to get this squared away. Just how human was this kid? Bill stared at the man, as if saying that his friend wasn't an experiment, but it was overall ignored.

"Yeah, I got poofed," the boy didn't really explain. He then sighed, "I think the creature took me to Gabriel, who began using my power. And that's when things begin to get hazy..."

Ford blinked, and then silenced himself. The story was far from over. Bill then nodded and resumed, "Gabriel told me via thought transmission that he had Steven, and was going to crush the gemstone because I wouldn't join him or whatever. I'm pretty sure I freaked 8-Ball out, but all that mattered to me was the kid's safety. I didn't know why then."

Steven nodded, and Stan leaned back into the couch just a little bit.

"And then we launched a full-scale mission to get him back," Bill clenched his hand tightly into a fist. His eye spelled determination. "We rounded everyone up, everyone we needed and could find, and warped to Gabriel's impromptu base at the Zodiac Temple, the same place the Crystal Gems are heading towards. I couldn't teleport at the time, so we needed Kryptos and Hectorgon."

Ford hummed and made some attentive noises, writing this down too. So his theory was correct. It came straight from the horse's mouth. He saw no reason Bill would lie about this part. But the fact that he and his friends went through all that trouble to rescue this kid instead of just pushing it aside and discussing plans for world domination was nothing short of remarkable.

"Gabriel attached my gem to himself," the boy began again, "and started absorbing and using my powers. I had some control, and in a sense, I could see through his eye. And..." he glanced at Bill, unsure how to continue.

Bill glanced at the boy, and decided to wrap it up, "Keyhole and Pyronica betrayed me, Gabriel and I fought, I won, got Steven back, the end."

Ford nodded, tapping his pen on his chin, "I see.. interesting."

He had many questions, but wanted to see what else Steven had to say.

The boy nodded, firing off quickly, "And then we had some other weird adventures after that but that's not important."

The demon nodded, "Definitely not important."

Ford tilted his head, "There's something else there..."

"Not really," the triangle put his hands behind his top point. "That's pretty much the catalyst to how he changed me. You didn't ask for much else, Sixer."

And then the old scientist and researcher had that look in his eyes. The look Bill knew all too well. That determined face. And by that he knew IQ wasn't going to back down.

"Yeah, but how did Gabriel come back?" Stanley piped up, brow furrowed. "That was him I shot, right?" the question was blunt.

Bill sighed, and nodded, "He managed to come back through Steven, and that led to a whole slew of problems I don't want to talk about."

Ford nodded. That knocked down one question. But he still had dozens more.

"And I'm not talking about it either!" Steven quickly announced, shuddering.

The man clicked his pen multiple times, and moved on, not wanting to anger either of them, "Okay. So.. I have a question.. when Jasper asked who you were, Bill, you said 'William Nolis'."

The golden dream demon grew a bit uncomfortable with this, starting to squirm a little. The man continued, "What was that about?"

The triangle didn't say anything for a while, eye apprehensively wide. He was caught up in the past again. For all his growth in getting past it, it wasn't enough. It would probably never be enough. Steven looked a little upset just then, and shook his head at Ford, "I think that's a little too personal."

"Bill had no qualms in poking around in my head," Ford calmly shot back. It heavily implied that he had the right to do the same. Bill shook himself, slightly sinking into the couch. He may have been going into Couch Town. The man pressed him, "Well?"

But there was no response.

"That was before, Ford!" the boy exclaimed, and then sighed, looking down, "things are different now..."

"I think we have the right to know," Stan put in his two cents, crossing his arms. But suddenly...

"STEVEN!" Connie burst through the door, gasping for breath.

Bill snapped out of his funk, hellish pupil swiveling over in Connie's direction. Ford groaned, and growled out, "We'll discuss this later."

The demon frowned a bit, glancing at him and mumbling some choice words, particularly about him having saved Ford's life, and then floated up and over to the brunette, "Ah, Connie! long time no see! what's up?"

But overall he was grateful for the distraction, grateful that he was saved by the bell that came in the form of a girl.

Connie gasped, still trying to catch her breath, "So I met this green Gem named Peridot. She was really nice, and she gave me candy... anyway, Lapis and some other orange Gem appeared—they took her!"

Steven had a moment of concern. Stan gasped, almost immediately, glancing at Ford for his reaction. His brother's eyes were wide, and he started shaking, "Oh no.. this is exactly what she feared..." and then he more or less asked himself, "why did she leave the boat?"

Bill blinked, immediately tying this into the dream Steven had. But he couldn't exactly bring himself to care any more genuinely than he did for Steven. He then glanced at the boy, "Sounds like someone's in trouble... and Fez and IQ look pretty troubled about it."

Suddenly, the look of concern evaporated, and the boy crossed his arms, "I don't know this 'Peridot'. I don't see why she's important."

He didn't want to help Stan and Ford, of course, as he would hate to confront Jasper again.

"Steven..." the brunette tried, having fully caught her breath again. She glanced at the twins, frowning. She decided she'd ask about them later, but she had a good idea who they were.

Bill was rather shocked by this. It was rather conflicting. He didn't want to help them either, seeing as how Ford was so unforgiving and ungrateful after he saved his life. He could understand, but a simple "thank you" wouldn't kill the man. But on the other hand, Connie was involved, and he found he also cared for her, just a little. He soon huffed, crossing his arms, "Sixer, to be very frank with you, I was about to bribe you into saying thank you. But seeing as how Connie's developed an attachment to the Gem, I'm gonna help anyway. For her."

He seemed to direct the final two words to Steven. Ford blinked, eyebrows furrowing out of confusion. The boy shook his head, holding firm. "I'm... I'm going to stay here. I need to rest... and I've dealt with enough today."

The boy stormed back upstairs. Connie sighed, watching him sadly. Bill watched him go too, and then looked down for a split second, before he sighed, "Alright, kid."

"We've got no time to waste. Those Gems... we have to stop them," she slammed her fist into her palm, smiling with determination. Stan and Bill glanced at her and nodded. Ford got up and nodded as well, pocketing his Journal.

The triangle rubbed at his eye, "We'll be back, Steven."

Hopefully.

The boy climbed back onto the bed, and nodded, "Okay."

And then they all left, with Ford positioned as far away from Bill as possible...

A/N: And that's that! woo, I hope you enjoyed it. Ace had Stan, Steven and Connie, and I had Ford and Bill. :3
There are some references here. I hope you'll be able to find them. But please leave a review. They always make my and Ace's day!