I am back! A year later and I am back with another chapter! I'm so sorry once again for making you all wait so long. I feel so bad about it. If you would like to know the reason for my absence, I have put up an explanation in my profile. I would put it here, but I don't want my author's note to be terribly long.
Now, onto the reviews…
Guest: I'm glad you're excited to see the story back! Sorry it took a year for the next chapter.
Ninjafairytama: I'm glad you liked chapter ten! I hope you enjoy what I did with your Realm idea. I had so much fun incorporating it into the story! Your idea definitely inspired me. It makes me so happy that I give inspiration to you as well!
mike: I'm glad you liked the chapter! I'll keep that piece of constructive criticism in mind.
MarionetteJ2X: I did indeed update and I'm so happy you liked my chapter! Sorry for making you wait so long for the next chapter, though. I hope this one lives up to what you were expecting!
SolSunFanfics: That's a great idea for a Realm! I know that I would probably fall for the trap of eating the food (I have a rather large sweet tooth).
XxShadowfangxX: I'm glad you love my story! MaBill is my favorite pairing too, and it sucks that there aren't too many fics about the couple. I hope you like this next chapter!
sassadoo: You're welcome! I'm glad you like my story so much! Sorry it took a bit for the next chapter to come out, but I hope you enjoy this nevertheless! Also, I am indeed feeling well right now. Thank you for your concern.
PanicAtTheFalls: I'm happy to hear that you love my story! I also ship MaBill so much! I appreciate your concern and your willingness to wait for the next chapter. I am doing well right now. Also, those are some awesome Realm ideas.
AngelaRoseHeart: Ooo. I like that idea! There are a lot of possibilities with a Realm like that!
Thanks all you amazing people for the reviews. Before I sat down to write this chapter, I reread all the reviews I got on chapter ten and, honestly, I nearly started to cry. You guys are all so kind and supportive. Even if you aren't reading this story any more, thank you for taking the time to do so at one point. It means so, so much to me.
One more thing. For every single one of you who is still reading this story and wants to read more of it, I have a bit of a surprise. I'll tell you what it is in the ending author's note.
You all have waited long enough, so now sit back, relax, and enjoy chapter ten of A Star Among Darkness!
The idea for the Ever Changing Realm was given to me by KittyCat151. Thanks for your great idea! The idea for the other 'mini-realm' (a Realm called Soane) in this main realm was provided Ninjafairytama. Thanks for providing an awesome idea!
Disclaimer: Yep, you guessed it. I don't own Gravity Falls in any way, shape, or form. This wonderful show belongs to Alex Hirsch and Disney.
When the Lizard People (Mabel didn't know what else to call them, so she just dubbed them as that) started leading her and Bill somewhere, she thought that meant it could buy the two time so that they would be closer to their next teleport.
Turns out the Lizard People moved really fast and ended up taking the two to their home within thirty seconds.
A scaly claw on Mabel's shoulder (thankfully not the one that was attacked by the Rafi) guided the teen around the many marshes and plants that made up their swamp-like habitat. They couldn't avoid all the mud though, and now her shoes were thoroughly covered in muck. That wouldn't have bothered her too much, except it was currently beginning to seep inside her shoes, which was creating a rather uncomfortable feeling.
The group kept moving and they eventually reached a slope which lead down into a giant hole dug in a large hill. Making their way down the slope, Mabel expected the path to straighten out again once they reached the cave-like opening. But, to her surprise, the slope kept going down, going deeper and deeper into the ground. On the surrounding walls, torches were lit, seeming to be the only light source this den could provide.
At around the one minute mark, the group entered a large, circular room. There were even more torches in this room, set next to large holes that were in all the walls around them. Lizard folk were coming in and out of them, many holding different items and equipment, some of which the teen couldn't recognize. The star of the room, though, was the large throne that was up against the back wall, a beautiful seat made out of twisted vines, leaves, and sparkling pieces of some sort of stone. In the back of her mind, Mabel wondered if it would be possible to attain some of those rocks for future projects.
Her dissection of the room was interrupted when she was forced to her knees, a grunt escaping past her lips as her legs hit the hard ground. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the same thing happening to Bill, who was placed a good distance away from her. He seemed eerily calm despite the situation. Well it is him, Mabel rationalized with herself. I wouldn't be surprised if this was a normal thing for him.
"Your Majesty," one of the Lizard People called out. "We have found some more outsiders."
Mabel couldn't help the slight gasp that escaped her lips as a body appeared on the throne. What she originally thought were just more vines and leaves turned out to be a large lizard, their skin a mixture of light and dark browns. They wore a cloak of similar color that engulfed most of their body. From Mabel's position, it seemed to be rather heavy, but it didn't seem to stall the ruler's movements in the slightest. The thing that stuck out the most to her however, was the eyes. They were similar to Bill's, a black slit down the middle instead of pupils, but instead of the white surrounding the black she was used to seeing, a bright yellow surrounded the pupil instead. They almost seemed to be glowing.
"Good. Did they put up a fight?" The voice was raspy, old, and seemed to be male, but it exuded courage, bravery, power.
"This one did." Mabel couldn't see the Lizard People, as they were standing behind her, but she assumed they were pointing at Bill. "Threatening the girl seemed to shut him up pretty quickly, though."
"I see." The king sat back, simply observing to two. Mabel started thinking of a million ways to show they meant no harm (well, her at least. Bill's another story), but the king leaned forward again, and her thoughts slowed as he pull out a white glowing orb from under his cloak. It was attached to a faded gold chain that hung around his neck.
Turning his gaze to Mabel, he lifted the sphere in her direction and muttered some words under his breath. The girl tensed at this action, afraid of what he might be trying to do. She tried to move away, but the other lizards had her tight in their grasp.
"Listen buddy," Mabel turned at the sound of Bill's voice, seeing the beginnings of a fireball forming in one of his hands. "I don't know what your deal is, but I suggest-" The words were cut off as a bright, white light surrounded the orb. As it continued to glow, Mabel saw the blue fire in Bill's hand enlarging.
Then, the king dropped his hand and the glowing stopped.
And then he smiled.
The gesture was directed at her, rows of sharp, dull white teeth pointed in her direction. The previous fear Mabel was feeling was mostly replaced by a sense of confusion. By the way Bill's fire began to dim down, she made a pretty solid guess that he also had no clue what was going on.
"You are pure of heart," the king said, and as soon as the words left his mouth, the hands that were holding her disappeared, and the girl let out a quick breath of relief. "I'm sorry for this first impression, but we do this for the safety of our people. Many creatures appear here you see, and not all are good. However, it seems that you are." His grin seemed to widen. "Allow me to introduce myself formally. I am Kodal, king of the Ilsiwana tribe. I hope you enjoy your time here in Soane, however brief it may be."
Silence. Then-
"Excuse me?"
"What the heck are you going on about?"
As Bill spoke, the king seemed to remember him and turned his gaze on the Dream Demon. He lifted the orb towards him. Bill glared in response, his face changing to one of annoyance. "Look, this has been fun and all, but this is all starting-"
Bill was once again cut off, for when the sphere turned black, the hands holding him tightened and a sword was once again placed at his neck.
"Hey!" Mabel yelled in response, standing up. "Let him go!" She attempted to run over and help him, but a hand held her back, not letting her take another step.
A low growl rumbled in the king's throat. "You, however, have a blackened heart. Nothing good lies in your soul."
Bill snorted. "I usually have no heart at all buddy, so that's a compliment."
Another growl was heard. "You will be under constant watch and surveillance until the ten minutes are up. You will not escape my guards' eyes for even a second. I will not have you ruining my home."
"Please, you don't need my help. This dump already seems ruined enough."
Mabel turned to Kodal, a glare similar to Bill's settling on her face. "Hey! You can't just lock up someone you don't know! Didn't your parents ever teach you to not judge a book by its cover? For all you know, Bill could have been coming here to help you all!" Bill glanced over at her, a deadpan look on his face. Mabel had to tilt her head in agreement. It would take a miracle to have Bill provide genuine help without any deals, loopholes, or tricks.
The king's eyes widened and the guards all tensed up, all of their attention centered solely on Bill. Kodal leaned forward. "Bill… Bill Cipher, by any chance?"
The Dream Demon grinned sadistically. "Oh, so you've heard of me."
Immediately, all the guards leapt into action, all of them working together to push Bill face down to the ground."Hey hey hey hey hey! Hey!" The group let out what sounded like screams as a fireball flew past them. "Hands off the hat!" A choked cry left Mabel's mouth as she watched a sword get plunged into Bill's shoulder. He only laughed, though, his vicious face turning to one of amusement. "That feels great! On second thought, keep going! Just don't touch the hat."
"What are you doing?!" Mabel desperately cried out. "Let him go!"
The king turned to her and all she saw was anger in his eyes. "Are you joking? Do you even know who Bill Cipher is? How many creatures' lives he has ruined? We're doing everyone a favor."
"Who is everyone?"
"The entire universe. This Demon has only brought death and destruction from the moment he was created. I am not letting him destroy anything else, especially not the lives of my people."
"But if you kill him, then I die too!"
Kodal shook his head in confusion. "What?"
"There's an evil group coming after me, and he's the only one who can help me stop them from ever getting to me. Without him, I'm a dead woman."
The king grit his teeth. "One life in exchange for billions-"
"Then you're purposely sending me to my own death. How does that make you any better than him?"
At that, the king froze, his eyes darting between Mabel and the laughing demon on the ground. After a tense bout of silence, Kodal sighed. He snapped his fingers and the guards instantly stopped what they were doing and turned to look at him.
"Aww, but I was having so much fun."
"Bill, shut up."
After another quiet moment, the king shook his head. "Do not kill him. Simply keep him restrained until they teleport."
Shouts of protest broke out, both from the guards and from the crowd surrounding them. Mabel hadn't even notice that they were attracting an audience.
"But, your majesty-"
"Sir, we can-"
"His death will-"
"Quiet!" Kodal bellowed, and the silence returned once again. He continued. "The lady makes a good point, now that we know some more facts. If killing him means that she, an innocent, dies, then we're no better than he is." His gaze hardened. "Unlike him we are not monsters. Do not let him out of your sight." A chorus of yes, sirs sounded. He turned his gaze to Mabel again. "As for her, bring her to the infirmary. She's clearly hurt. Cleaning her wounds is the least we can do for all the troubled we caused her."
Murmurs of acknowledgement were heard. One of the guards left Bill and made their way over to Mabel. This one was a bit taller than their compatriots and their skin was more of a green color than brown. "Miss," a young, female voice said, "I'll bring you to the infirmary." The teen took in a deep breath then nodded, letting the lizard guide her into one of the holes.
Shouting accompanied her departure. "Hey! Walking handbag! This better not be a trick! Don't you dare lay a hand on her! Things won't be too nice for you and your tribe if I find her dead!"
Mabel felt her cheeks warm slightly and she picked up her pace.
Another four minutes remained until the switch. Mabel was currently standing in front of a mirror, two nurses at her side. They were tending to the more obvious wounds, but they said to use the mirror to check for anything else that may need aid. They didn't have to care for humans often, so they weren't entirely sure whether something was hurt, or if humans were just made that way (they knew for certain that all the cuts and bruises weren't good, though. They weren't that unversed about humans).
Mabel stared at her reflection in the mirror, her mind focused on comprehending the events of the last six minutes rather than the task the nurses left for her. How do they know Bill? Did he do something to them in the past? No, I think the king would have caught on sooner if that was the case. But Bill is in a different form… What was the orb the king had? How can it tell whether someone is evil or not? Questions and thoughts like these kept spinning around in her head, not a single one settling down into some part of her brain. Hoping to slow them down before they gave her a headache, Mabel attempted the task given to her and looked herself up and down in the mirror, trying to distract herself. It didn't work.
At least, it didn't until she looked at her head.
"Oh." Mabel reached a hand up to her ear in an effort to touch a flower that was no longer there. She felt her heart sink a little at that.
"Is everything alright miss? Is something wrong with your ear?"
The questions brought her back to reality and she pushed the drop of sadness away, a grin replacing it. "I'm fine. It's going to take a bit more than some cuts to break me!"
"You've got spirit. I like that." The sound came from behind her. Turning, she saw the same lizard from before standing in the door way.
The girl's grin grew. "My middle name is spirit. If you need a party to come back to life, just call this girl and she'll raise the roof! Woot woot!" Mabel dramatically pumped a fist in the air, laughing along with the others as she did so. After the day she had, it felt so good to finally have a laugh. Laughter really is the best medicine.
"I'll keep that in mind," the lizard said, her chuckles quieting down. "However, with the amount of time we have left here, I don't think there's time for a party."
"Please. There is always time for a party."
A smile appeared. "Are you always this full of energy?"
"Twenty-four seven!"
A quicker chuckle was heard. "You're so sweet." Then the lizard-woman's smile fell into a snarl. "How did someone like you end up tied with a…thing like him?"
"First, he's a Dream Demon. And second, well…life happens." She sighed, and then refocused her attention on the guard. "But, wait. How do you know Bill? Have you two met before?"
The lizard crossed her arms. "No. And thank goodness for that. None of us here have personally met Bill, but we've heard stories. Many creatures who've come here have told tales about the one-eyed beast. About the destruction he causes throughout the universe. The millions of lives he takes…" The guard shook her head. "Nearly all of us have been trained since birth to capture and kill him if we were ever to see him. So, to finally have him in our grasp and not do anything…" She let out a hiss of annoyance.
Mabel froze for a moment. She knew Bill caused absolute chaos everywhere he went (example one, Weirdmageddon) and that he was a killer (example two, killed another demon right in front of her just yesterday (although, it's felt like a week has passed by)), but she never really thought about all the ruin and death he created on a wide scale. Just how many worlds did he screw up? Just how many lives did he take?
A sigh cut through the thoughts. "Well I'm guessing life happens means you're going to be with him for a while?"
"Probably." Mabel shrugged. She didn't know exactly how long this would all be going on, but she was guessing it was going to be a bit.
"Then, when the worst happens, you may be able to use this to help yourself." The guard straightened up and walked over to the teen (she towered over Mabel), grabbing her hand and placing something in it. In her palm, she saw a small, glowing red box.
"What's this?" she asked, gently touching it.
"That is a teleporter. Made it myself." Mabel looked up at the lizard in surprise, and the lizard just grinned in response. "What? I'm not on guard duty all the time. I'll have you know I've got the strength and the brains." Mabel giggled at that. "Anyway, that cube right there will take you to anywhere in the universe."
"Anywhere?"
"Yep. Just use your fingers to press two of the sides down, say where you want to go, and then you and whatever else you're holding will be brought to that spot. But, I have to warn you, it only has three charges, so it won't work anymore after the third teleport. Use it wisely. Save it for a time when you might actually need it. When you need to escape."
Mabel paused at her insinuation before looking up at her with a gentle smile. "Thank you so much…ah, I don't think I got your name."
"Oh." The guard held out her hand. "My name is Tika."
"I'm Mabel!" Grabbing her hand, she jovially shook it. "It's a pleasure to meet you Tika!"
A soft smile grew on Tika's face. "And it's a pleasure to meet you, Mabel."
With a minute remaining, the two made their way back to the main room, chatting the whole way there. But their happy mood was interrupted when an annoyed looking lizard stomped past them. "Longest ten minutes of my life," they heard him grumble.
The two ladies shared a look and quickened their walk. When they arrived at their destination, things looked generally the same as she had last seen it. Bill was being held down by guards, Kodal was on his throne, and there were lizard folk constantly walking by as they made their way to another hallway. It was the minor differences that made Mabel face palm. "You know, I think he wants to get killed. Just for the heck of it!"
The folks walking by were all putting their hands over their ear holes to try to block out the noise, the king was gripping his throne so tightly Mabel thought he was going to break it, and every single guard had a murderous expression on their face.
All of this, and yet Bill still wouldn't stop talking.
"…then I said, 'Well, why don't you just give your femur to me." And she said, 'But doesn't that defeat the whole purpose of this deal?' And I said, "Yes, it does, and that's what makes it such a great deal!' And then she said-"
"Bill." Mabel called out, voice flat.
Bill's head lifted up and he looked towards Mabel. "Oh hey Shooting Star! You came just in time to hear the end of my story. This is a great one. One of my favorites. Anyway, and then she said, 'Well-'"
"Bill. Tick-tock."
The demon scoffed. "Fine, fine. We wouldn't have had enough time to get to the best part anyway." Mabel could practically hear the sigh of relief from everyone in the room.
The teen made her way over to Bill, who gave the guards a look as she approached. Their response was a blank stare. "Uh, hello, kind of need to leave now. Would you mind letting me go?"
A resounding no came from all of them. "We're not letting you go until you leave," one said.
Bill raised an eyebrow. "So you want to take the risk of being teleported along with me and Shooting Star?" He morphed his face into a grin. "Aww! Did you enjoy our time together so much that you wanted to stay with me forever? I'm so flattered."
The guards all looked up at Kodal, a nauseas expression on their faces. The king sighed. "Let him go."
They all removed their hands from Bill's body as if he had the plague and quickly moved away. Bill sighed, standing up and cracking his muscles. "Oof. Thanks for the free massage guys. I haven't felt that good in a long time. Swords are surprisingly effective." With a snap of his fingers, the various cuts and gashes disappeared from his body. Straitening his top hat, he jumped into the air and made his way over to Mabel, holding onto her shoulder. "You ready to ditch this dump, Shooting Star?"
Said girl rolled her eyes. "I'm ready to leave the Ilsiwana's home, yes." She switched her attention to the king, giving a grand curtsey. Dramatically, she spoke. "Thank you for your kind hospitality your majesty. It was greatly appreciated." Mabel rose to the sound of an annoyed snort behind her to see an amused smile on Kodal's face, one that matched her own. "But seriously, thank you for everything."
"It was a pleasure to meet you, young lady. You are welcome back any time." The only goodbye he gave to Bill was a death glare.
Mabel turned her head and waved to Tika. "Bye Tika! We should have a party together soon!"
Tika laughed and nodded, waving her own hand in goodbye. "Yes, we should!" Then she grew serious. "And remember what I said." Mabel nodded as an answer, ignoring the raised eyebrow Bill sent her way. The look disappeared when he snapped a pocket watch into existence. "And we should be leaving in three…two…o- Have fun!"
"Wha-" Mabel barely had time to register the snap of fingers or Bill's grin before her world was blurring around her. Shooting forward, Mabel had to steady herself as she landed in the next realm. It was about then that her brain finally caught up to what had just happened. Fists clenched, she spun around and pointed accusingly at the Dream Demon. "What did you do Bill?"
"I have no idea what yo-"
"What. Did. You. Do? I swear, if you hurt them-!"
Bill rolled his eye. "Relax. It's nothing that they can't handle. …I think. But did you seriously think I was just going to let them throw me around and not try to get revenge? You think too highly of me, Shooting Star."
With an annoyed huff, she turned around. "I hate you."
"I hate you, too."
It was another eighteen realms until they finally reached the one they needed.
"Finally!" Bill screamed when he took in the surroundings. "We're done with this crap!" He grabbed Mabel's hand and started tugging her along behind him. "Come on, Shooting Star. I don't want to spend another second in this realm."
Just like Bill said, there was a cavern nearby, and when they entered it, everything turned white. "Woah," Mabel whispered, breaking the straight path they were making and veering off to the right.
"Heh heh. No." Bill grabbed her shoulder and moved her back to where she was. "As much as I would love to see your own stupidity get you lost, that's not the reason we're here."
"Shut up."
After walking in the blankness for a couple minutes, a small spot of purple – black smoke broke the white.
"Gotcha," Bill whispered, flying forward and approaching the shard. Taking off his hat, he put his arm inside and dug around, eventually pulling out a red bag like the one he snapped into existence in Glacier Town. Mabel couldn't help but smile and let out a sigh of relief. Two shards down, three to go.
So of course, that had to be the moment when everything crashed and burned.
Just as Bill was reaching for the Shadow Shard to put it in the bag, a purple and black ball of smoke flew past Mabel's head hitting Bill straight in the back, causing him to fall over. "What?" he questioned, straightening himself in midair before he could hit the ground. He turned around. "What the he-!" He stopped short, his eye widening at the source of the attack. Mabel followed suit, and a bolt of fear ran up her spine as she saw who it was.
It was Lily.
Stepping forward out of a swirling black and purple vortex, she slowly began to clap. "Well done you two. Thank you for doing all the heavy work for me, what with finding the Shard and all. Your help is greatly appreciated, but I'll take it from here."
Bill growled, his coloring starting to turn orange and a fireball appearing in his hand. "How did you get here?"
"Fun fact about the Ever Changing Realm: when you first enter it, you can end up in any of the Realms that are there, including this one."
"There's no way you were that lucky."
Lily tilted her head. "You're right. I'm not that lucky. I'm something better. I'm smart. Smart enough to trace your movements using the power of your magic, Bill. Once I felt a slight increase in your power, I knew you had regained your ability to teleport. All that remained was to create a portal to where you were. And, as you can so clearly see, it worked."
The more the Shadow talked, the darker Bill's color became. "How did you know it was me going after the Shards?"
"I have allies everywhere. With how much you flaunt your powers, it really wasn't too difficult for one of them to put two and two together and realize who you were. But I do have to say, Bill Cipher as a human." She laughed. "If you haven't used your powers so much I honestly would never have guessed."
Bill's eye narrowed. "Enough talking." Throwing the fireball at Lily, which she easily dodged, the demon jumped into action. "Shooting Star, be ready to leave!" He reached once more for the Shard, but a blast of shadow came from nowhere, hitting the Shard and causing it to fly out of Bill's reach. His color palate now completely composed of red, black, and white, the Dream Demon whipped his head around and sent a death glare toward the new Shadow coming out from another portal.
"Sorry, but we can't let you have that," they said, sending another shadow in Bill's direction. More Shadows began to pile out of the vortex, some trying to stop Bill, others going for the Shard.
"On no you don't!" Mabel cried out, attempting to grab hold of one of the shadow attacks. To her surprise she was actually able to touch and hold it, as if there was something solid hidden behind all the black and purple wisps. The girl couldn't help but grin at her discovery. "Well, that makes things a lot easier." Running towards the Shard, she began to grab, throw, hit, do anything possible to her enemy's attack in order to stop or slow them down. It wasn't completely efficient, but it was something.
Bill had a much easier time against the Shadows. Using his magic, he was able to blast away any attacks thrown this way. The minions were easy. It was Lily that was presenting a bit of a challenge. Her magic was strong, he would give her that, and her drones kept distracting him from her, but this wasn't his first time in a fight that, number wise, seemed to be favored against him. In his eons of living, he's only ever lost one battle, and he sure wasn't making that number two.
Snapping his fingers, he created a huge wall of light and put it between him, the minion Shadows, and one of the portals. He could hear their cries of agony from his position and the sound was music to his ears. Like he said before, they were easy enough to take down. Now all he had to deal with was Lily, a fight that became much easier without any distractions. With another snap, he created another light wall in front of her, but even though he saw her flinch, she was able to run right through the wall without any trouble. Looking back, Lily smirked in his direction. "Please. I'm the ruler of the Underworld. Did you really think I wouldn't have found a way to combat that weakness?"
Bill grit his teeth and prepared to use his magic again. He could see Mabel getting close to the Shard. He just needed to stall Lily long enough for the teen to grab it, and then they could leave.
Lily spoke before Bill had a chance to attack. "Ugh. Enough playing around." Reaching behind her, she pulled…something out from behind her back. It too was covered in shadows, so Bill couldn't figure out exactly what it was. Not wanting to find out, the demon used his magic in order to control shadows of his own, hoping he could fight fire with fire.
His snap was just a millisecond too slow, though. Before his magic completely flashed into existence, Lily put the thing on her arm, aimed, and fired.
Bill's heart leapt into his throat. "Shooting Star!"
Mabel turned at the sound of her nickname, wondering what was happening. A blazing ball of blue, purple, and black was a pretty good answer to her question. Before she could even let out a scream, there was a flash of bright light and she was being pushed, falling and skidding across the floor. Something landed on her in the process.
When she finally stopped moving, she didn't even breathe, afraid that any movement or sound on her part would cause the entire world above her to break. She didn't let herself start taking in any air again until she heard a groan from above her. When existence didn't shatter from the singular noise, she finally allowed herself to start breathing again. Once she was sure her body had a sufficient amount of air, she attempted to get up. However, something was stopping her.
She blinked at the blob on top of her, not quite sure what it was. She rubbed her eyes, hoping to get some of her vision back, and after a few attempts, her eyesight started to clear and she could generally figure out what things were.
Seeing Bill on top of her still didn't take away her confusion though.
"Wha- Bill what happene- Bill!" As the Dream Demon attempted to pick himself up off of her, Mabel caught sight of his back. A large hole had been burned through his clothes and charred skin was barred for the world to see. Mabel's heart rate sped up to an unidentifiable amount. "Bill! Your back!" She attempted to reach over to help him, to do something other than just sit around doing nothing, when his own hand came up and stopped her.
"I'm-" he took in a deep breath. "I'm fine. I just wasn't expecting that to be so powerful."
"But-"
"My back will be okay." He finally gathered enough strength to push himself up and off of Mabel, landing unceremoniously on the ground behind her. "I've been through worse. Having my eyeball ripped out hurt a lot more than this." Mabel didn't know how to follow-up, her mind repeating the words He saved me over and over and over again. In the end though, she didn't have to say anything else.
"Well, this has been fun." Mabel and Bill both whipped their heads up in the direction of voice, seeing Lily dropping the Shadow Shard into what Mabel supposed was a bag. "Thanks for giving me some entertainment for the day. But I have to say Bill; I think this human form has made you rather predictable." With a satisfied smirk, she turned and began to walk towards the portal.
"No!" The two got up to their feet, but Mabel had to catch Bill as he nearly stumbled again. By the time they were both straightened out, Lily was already at the swirling vortex.
"Well, I suppose this is goodbye. I hope you enjoy the rest of your life here."
"Huh?"
"What do you mean?"
"Oh right. I nearly forgot. Where are my manners?" Turning around, a grin graced her lips as she held her arm with the device up. There was a single, light blue light glowing in the middle of it now. "Thanks for the gift, Bill." Then she walked through the portal, the vortex closing with a snap behind her.
Both could only stare at the place where Lily once stood, not quite sure what to do. Slowly, Mabel's shock turned into fear, her heart plummeting down into her stomach. "Bill, she has the Shard."
"I know."
"Oh my gosh, she has the Shard. She has the Shard! We lost! What are we supposed to-?!"
"Shooting Star!" Bill grabbed her and turned her around, making sure her eyes were on him. His chest was rising and falling heavily. "What we need to do right now is not freak out. Panicking doesn't solve our problem. Action does."
Mabel breathed in deeply, trying to calm herself down. "You're right. You're right. This is just wasting time. So…" she trailed off, allowing herself to take a few more breaths. "We need a plan. Do you have any ideas?"
Bill put a hand on his chin in thought. "A couple. Lily getting the Shadow Shard made this much more difficult, yes, but not impossible. The best thing to do right now is head back to my Mindscape and come up with a more solid plan there. This Realm is going to teleport us out of this area soon and I'd really rather not be stuck here."
Mabel nodded. "Yeah. That sounds like a good idea." The girl grabbed on to Bill's shoulder, though she wasn't sure whether she was steadying herself or him. Bracing herself for the jump, Mabel nodded again. "Okay, I'm ready."
With a nod of his own, Bill faced forward and snapped his fingers.
Nothing.
Startled, Bill looked down. "What?" He snapped his fingers again and again and still nothing happened. Mabel looked at Bill, worried.
"I thought you said that you were able to use your teleportation powers in here."
"I can! I am using them!"
"Well, we haven't moved, so clearly they don't work in here."
"They should! They were working not even a minute ago! I teleported in front of you so that you wouldn't get hit and-" Suddenly, Bill froze. His whole body was tense as he looked at his hand, which started to shake slightly. "No…" He snapped his fingers again and there was still nothing. "No no no no no no no no no!"
"Bill, calm down!" Mabel tightened her hold on him, not really knowing what else to do. "You just said that panicking wouldn't-"
"No. Your panicking was invalid because there was no reason to panic. This, though, is very much a reason to panic!"
"Bill, what is-?"
The Dream Demon whirled around to face her, and that's when she understood. The look in his eye, she had seen it so many times. Had seen it directed towards others and at herself. That look of pure fury that promised destruction and death to anyone who tried to get in his way. She had seen it so many times she had it memorized, from the emotion in his eye to every twitch in his body. But now, something was wrong. Very, very wrong.
The demon was absolutely brimming with rage, yet his color palate remained a calm yellow and black.
The air that Mabel tried to get so desperately before left her in one breath. "Bill, you…" Bill grabbed onto her arms, his fingers squeezing into her skin.
"She took my powers."
Do I like messing with Bill? Yes, yes I do.
On a side note, I learned so much about lizards during the making of this chapter.
Thank you all so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed the chapter! If you did, please review, follow, and/or favorite. They really make my day! And if you have anything you think I could improve on, please tell me! I love getting constructive criticism!
One last thing. I mentioned at the top that I have a little surprise for anyone who is still interested in and reading this story. Well the surprise is that…
*Drum roll*
You will be getting the next chapter of this story next Friday (May 8, 2020)! Also, you will be getting the chapter after that one two Fridays from now (May 15, 2020)! I feel terrible about leaving you guys for so long, and I didn't want to post a singular chapter then leave you all for another year again. So, I made sure to pre-write the next two chapters and I can promise you that you will be getting them soon.
Also, if you like my ASAD Outtakes, another one will be posted in around two weeks. It will be a cut scene from this chapter.
Once again, thank you so, so much for reading my story. I hope you all enjoyed it, and I'll see you in the next chapter! Until then…
Peace! GamerFan369