Hello everyone! Welcome to chapter twelve of A Star Among Darkness. I'm posting this a bit later than I wanted to, but hey, it's here!
Now for the reviews…
childofgod80809: I hope the party lives up to your expectations! Also, I love that part too. I had way too much fun writing his freak out!
FrozenFruit291212: I'm so glad you love my story! Yes, I try to put in some cute Mabel and Bill moments wherever I can. Also, I'm so happy that you think I write Mabel and Bill well! I'm always afraid that I might be making them too OOC, so hearing that really makes me smile!
Thanks for all your amazing reviews! They truly brought a smile to my face!
Now sit back, relax, and enjoy chapter twelve of A Star Among Darkness!
Warning: Near the end of the chapter, there is a scene where some sexual innuendos are said. Nothing terrible and it's very minor, but I just thought that I would give a warning in case anyone is uncomfortable with that. If anyone thinks I should mark it just so that way others can avoid it if it makes them uncomfortable, please let me know. The last thing I want is for anyone to feel discomforted while reading my story.
Although I've had the idea and plot for this Realm in my head for a while, TheMemeMaster and Ninjafairytama both suggested very similar ideas, so thank you both so much for your suggestions!
Disclaimer: It would be so cool if I owned Gravity Falls, but I don't. This amazing TV show is owned by Alex Hirsch and Disney.
It took around three hours for Bill to find what he needed. After a lot of digging, he finally came across a dull, chipped box. He opened it to check if the items were still in there. Two silver rings with a vine design carved on them rested inside. They looked ordinary enough, but they were instilled with the power to disguise the wearer from others. Snapping the box shut in satisfaction, the demon turned and left the room.
He may or may not have nearly fallen on his face when he tried to float, forgetting that he couldn't. That was a secret between him and the room, though.
He made his way to Mabel's bedroom, knocking on the door once he arrived. "Shooting Star, I got what we need."
Suddenly, the door flew open and a bunch of fabric was shoved into his hands. "Wear it," Mabel demanded, her voice leaving no room for arguments. She shut the door in his face before he could respond.
He blinked down at the clothing in his hands, not quite sure what to do. Then he slumped forward. "I'm going to be getting an earful all night if I don't put this on, aren't I?" he called out, internally cringing at the thought of Mabel talking in his ear the whole night, non-stop.
"Wear it!" she yelled.
Heaving a deep sigh, Bill turned and made his way towards his own room. I cannot wait to be a triangle again.
Bill eyed himself in a full-length mirror, his eye critically judging the outfit he was currently wearing. Not…bad, he admitted to himself. Shooting Star really can sew, I'll give her that. I still prefer my other suit, though.
The demon was currently wearing a mostly black suit that fit his form rather nicely. Black pants, black jacket, black shoes (although, they were just the shoes he always wore). The only thing on the suit that wasn't black was the inside. That was a bright yellow color. The inside was folded out in the area where his white undershirt was revealed, so only a little bit of the yellow was actually showing. Bill had on a black tie and his top hat in order to finish off the look.
I don't look half bad.
Thinking that he had already given Mabel enough time to change herself, he returned to her room. "Shooting Star?" he called out. "Are you ready? We don't have all day. Tick-tock, remember?"
"Yeah, yeah. I'll be out in a minute!"
It was actually after a minute and twenty-three seconds that she opened the door, but who's counting?
"So," Mabel asked doing a little twirl in the hallway, her smiling practically glowing, "what do you think?"
The teen was wearing a light purple, off the shoulder dress with a skirt that flared out and stopped right below the knees. The top was plain, the neckline only dipping down the smallest bit, but the skirt was dotted with tiny, silver gemstones that seemed to sparkle when Mabel spun around. She had on a pair of open toed silver flats to match. The only other thing different was her hair. She had styled it so instead of falling straight down, the bottom of it turned into soft curls.
Bill could only stare at her, his eye wide as he took in the spectacle before him. Gorgeous, his mind supplied to the question, but he ignored the thought, choosing instead to shrug. "It looks fine. I think this is the most grown-up thing you've ever worn."
Mabel's hands went to her hips. "Hey! I can look like a grown-up!"
He snorted. "Sure you can."
The teen rolled her eyes in response and then looked Bill up and down in return. Her cheeks turned the slightest bit red. "You look pretty good too, if I do say so myself. I did an excellent job!"
"I would have preferred a bit more yellow."
"Bill, we're going undercover. Yellow and black is your thing. People would know it was you in an instance."
"That's what these are for," Bill said, pulling the box out of his hat and opening the lid to show the rings to Mabel. "When you put these on, they will disguise your appearance. Not enough that you look like a completely different person, but enough so that somebody wouldn't be able to tell it was you."
"Interesting. Any type of drawback or curse I should know about before putting this on?"
"Not exactly. It's more like a limit. While disguised, if the person knows for certain that it's you, they'll be able to see through the illusion and see what you actually look like. So, we'll look the same for each other, but hopefully nobody else."
"But what if Lily is looking for us? She must be keeping an eye out just in case we managed to escape."
"True, but again, the person has to know for certain that it's us. They can't just guess. So even though we are disguised, we might have to change our normal actions too. Those could tip her off."
Mabel paused for a moment. "Do they disguise the clothes we're wearing?" she asked.
"No. Only our bodily appearance changes."
She grinned. "So it's a good thing I designed your suit the way I did."
"Like I said before, it's fine. The only thing I wi-"
"The only thing you wish is that it had more yellow, yeah, yeah, I know. Sorry to break it to you Bill but, once again, yellow and black is your whole motif. I say we're edging the line just by having the color on there."
"Then why did you add any yellow in the first place?"
Mabel shrugged. "I thought you would like it better if I did. Plus, yellow and black really does suit you."
Bill briefly avoided Mabel's gaze. "Well, they're my usual colors, so I hope they would suit me." He held the box closer to the girl. "Here, put one of these on." Grabbing one of the rings, Mabel slipped it onto a finger, Bill following suit. It felt a bit weird having something other than his gloves on his hands for once, but it wasn't a huge problem, so he let that train of thought slip away.
"Okay, are we all set?" the brunette asked. Bill nodded and Mabel reached underneath her skirt to pull out the cube. "I sewed in a pocket," she explained, seeing the Dream Demon's eyebrow raise. She grabbed his wrist, preparing to teleport, when she stopped. "Wait, what do I say? I can't just name the Realm, because that might take us anywhere, and I can't say the mansion because there may be hundreds of mansions scattered throughout the place!"
Bill thought for a moment. "Try saying outside the mansion in Ochirenes where Lily is residing."
Mabel nodded, and then paused again. "But what if there is more than one Lily in a mansion in the Realm?"
"Oh my- Then outside the mansion in Ochirenes where the Shadow Lily is residing. Is that better?"
The teen tilted her head in thought. "Sounds good to me." Pressing down on two sides of the device, Mabel repeated the words Bill had suggested and they were gone in a flash.
The two reappeared a little ways outside of the mansion, having to use each other for support as they landed shakily. "Yep," Mabel said, attempting to calm her rolling stomach, "I definitely prefer your teleporting."
"No arguments here," Bill said, trying to get the world to stop tilting. Once they stopped feeling as though they were stuck in a vortex, the pair straightened their clothing, making sure that they both still looked presentable. Finding everything to be alright, they made their way to the entrance of the mansion.
"Wow," Mabel whispered in awe as she came to the front. "It's so much better in person."
"Meh." Bill shrugged. "Seems a bit tacky to me."
Ignoring the comment, Mabel let herself admire the house for a bit longer before turning to look at the lone line snaking up to the door. "Well, looks like we're gonna have to wait a bit to actually get in."
"Waiting. Hooray," Bill deadpanned, eyes flat.
"Well, unless you want to break one of the windows to enter, we really don't have any other choice."
"Actually…"
"No." Mabel grabbed his hand and started dragging him towards the back of the line. "You're about to experience another human commodity: waiting your turn." She ignored the groan he gave in response.
The line moved rather slowly, and Bill got impatient fast. Not having his powers to give himself something to do, he turned, unfortunately, to small talk instead.
"So," he started, "I would have thought you'd make a more extravagant dress."
Mabel shrugged. "I probably would have if I had more time, but I think this still came out rather well."
"It's decent," he replied. Another bout of silence. "…Purple seems to suit you well," he said, for a lack of anything better to say.
The girl laughed. "My mom says the same thing. I think I'm inclined to agree with you both."
"Well, you were a good color coordinator in this situation, so that helps you a bit."
"Yeah. I thought the silver and purple matched well together. I just wish I had a hair accessory. I wanted to use the flower, but-" Mabel's own gasp cut her short. She face palmed. "Shoot, I forgot to apologize. Bill, I'm so sorry, but I lost the flower you gave me. I think it fell out from behind my ear when we were running from the Rafi."
The Dream Demon only blinked at Mabel.
"Uh, Bill? You okay there?"
"…You're apologizing?"
"I mean, yeah. I lost the flower."
"It's just a flower though."
"It was also a gift from you, and I think it's awful if you lose a gift someone gave you, especially since it was on the day I first got it."
"I…" Bill had no idea what to say. No one's ever genuinely apologized to him before. He heard the words when others were begging for their life, but never over something this…mundane.
"So yeah, I'm sorry for losing it. It wasn't my intention, but I'm sorry all the same."
"It's…fine. No harm done." The demon was doing his best to not outwardly show the explosions currently happening in his brain. Not so keen on small talk anymore, he kept his eye of the long line, willing it to move faster.
It didn't, but they eventually made it to the front. Mabel had a mini panic attack when she realized that they didn't have an invitation or anything to indicate that they should be here, but it turned out that nothing was needed. The line only took a while because of the butler welcoming guests and taking the coats. The pair was able to get in without a problem.
Like with the outside of the mansion, Mabel gawked at the extravagant room, her eyes practically sparkling. "I think this place beats out Pacifica's house." After looking around the interior, she began to focus her intent on the other guests surrounding her. Some guests looked exactly like a human, while others had different body parts that a human wouldn't have. Many had wings, some had extra eyes, and one person even had a snake tail instead of legs. "So cool."
"Yes, it's all very interesting," Bill said, sounding bored, "but I think we should be focusing more on that." The demon motioned with his head to the door at the other end of the room. Two men, one with muscular arms (and they were muscular) and the other glowing slightly blue, stood in front of the door. Thankfully, it wasn't closed, but the two creatures were clearly meant to keep people from going further into the house.
"Of course there are guards. What good infiltration movie doesn't have guards?"
"We'll need to find a way to sneak past them."
"How?"
"I don't know yet. That's why I said we need to find a way."
"Well, can we at least get food why we do so?" The teen's gaze had floated over to one of the large tables filled with food. "I would really like to eat some of those pastries."
"I don't see why not. Just make sure you keep an eye out for Lily. She may not recognize us, but I don't want to give her any chance to change that fact."
"Roger that." Mabel saluted Bill, and then practically skipped her way over to the many dishes. Bill sighed and moved towards a wall, leaning his body against it. Hopefully they would be able to get out of this mess soon.
In an hour, Mabel had successfully eaten thirty-seven different pastries, made friends with a girl with fairy-like wings sitting in a corner, and had nearly gotten into a brawl with a younger human-looking boy over what the best animal was. She had also tried to rekindle the love between some fighting spouses (something about an affair), but those attempts were less than stellar (even with the help of some other ladies who were trying to fix the situation too). She would have kept trying, but they finally realized that they were making a scene. So, still angry at one another, the couple left. Mabel made a mental note to help the two if she ever saw them again.
Bill, on the other, only managed to find Lily amidst the crowd of people. She, Nathan, and the master of the house were sitting on one of the sofas off to the side, thankfully away from both Mabel and himself. The rest of his time was spent figuring out different ways to sneak through the door, and concocting a plan to get a rather loud, annoying drunk stuck on top of one of the chandeliers.
Eventually, Mabel made her way back to Bill, munching on a cupcake. It was a miracle that her dress didn't even have a crumb on it at this point. "So, you got anything?"
"If you're talking about an appetite, then no. The way you eat is inhuman." Mabel glared. "But if you're talking about the actual reason why we're here, then yes." He pointed out Lily and the others. "They're all over there, and they haven't seemed to notice anything yet."
"That's good."
Bill nodded. "However, the guards haven't moved a muscle. We're going to need a way to sneak past them." He paused. "You know, you did mention breaking a window before-"
"No."
"Why do you always have to stop me from having fun?"
"Because fun for you means screwing up the rest of the universe."
"But that's the best kind of fun!"
Then the two were quiet, lost in their own thoughts.
"We need a distraction," Mabel eventually said. "If we can't sneak past them, then let's take that part away and get them to move."
"That could work. But what kind of distraction should we do. We need something big enough to get them to move, but not so big that one of us gets kicked out."
"Hmm. Well good thing the Masters of Distractions are both in this room." Mabel grinned and Bill also had a small smile on his face. "So where should we star-" The girl froze, her eyes wide.
The barely there smile dropped. "Shooting Star, what's wrong?"
"Don't turn your head."
"What?"
"Lily is looking right at you." Bill's eye widened slightly, but his posture remained relaxed, his back turned to where she was sitting.
Mabel looked slightly off to the side, trying to make it less obvious that she was looking at the Shadow. Lily had her eyes narrowed at Bill, her head tilted slightly. Mabel sucked in a breath, worried that they had been found out. However, she merely looked down, shook her arm, and returned to her conversation with the old man. The air rushed back out of Mabel's lungs. "Okay, she stopped looking."
Bill's eye relaxed. "Good."
"I thought you said she wouldn't recognize us," Mabel whispered, moving closer to Bill so that she could hear him better.
"I thought she wouldn't. She shouldn't be able to."
"Well, clearly she suspects- She's looking again."
The demon wanted to turn around and glare at the Shadow, but he forced himself to stay still. "Something is giving us away," he hissed. "What is it?
As Lily looked away again, she shook the same arm. "She keeps shaking her arm. Does that have anything to do with it?"
Bill's face screwed up. "Why would her arm have anything to do with…?" He trailed off, expression turning thoughtful. "…What arm was it again?"
"The…" Mabel squinted, "right one."
"The one with the device on it?"
"Yep, that's the one."
Bill cursed under his breath. "That might explain it."
"What?"
"I'm guessing my magic is in that device on her arm. Usually, when a creature that's born with magic has their power taken, that magic will try to make its way back to its original host. Something has to keep the magic in place so that it isn't immediately returned. I'm guessing that's what the device on Lily's arm is for. However, since I'm so close, I wouldn't be surprised if she's feeling my power's pull from it trying to come back to me."
"That's not good. If she puts that together herself, then we'll be caught."
"We need to go somewhere else to finish discussing what to do."
"Where? The only other place to go is the rest of the house, and we just finished saying that we need a distraction to even hope to get in there. Maybe outside the house?"
"No. If we stay near the front, someone in the line might overhear us, and if we try to go out back, someone might see us and get suspicious."
"Then the only place left is in here. There's nowhere in here to hide!"
"We don't necessarily need to hide. We just need to be deep enough into a crowd so that Lily won't be sure who the magic is pulling towards."
Mabel looked around the top floor, seeing some groups of people a decent enough size, but none to give them the cover they need. Then her gaze shifted to the lower floor. "Got it. Come on." Grabbing his hand, Mabel maneuvered them past some people and went down the stairs to the dance floor.
"Woah, woah, woah. What are you doing?"
"Giving us a crowd to hide in."
"That's the dance floor."
"Yes?"
"No."
"Bill, nearly half the guests are all dancing down here and the music will cover up our conversation. No matter how you look at it, this is the best place to go."
Bill looked like he wanted to argue the matter more, but as a clock off in the distance gave off eleven chimes, he knew they were running out of time. "Fine," he grumbled, moving ahead of Mabel and dragging her onto the dance floor.
They waited for the song to end before slipping into the crowd, pushing past other dancers to get to an open spot in the middle. Facing each other, Mabel placed her right hand on Bill's shoulder and the demon put an arm around her waist, finishing the position by holding each other's remaining hand. Mabel rolled her eyes in exasperation when Bill stepped back, still keeping his hands on Mabel, but making a considerable gap between them. "Bill, we're supposed to be blending in, not looking like a pair of sixth graders dancing for the first time," she whisper-shouted.
Bill scowled, whisper-shouting back. "I'm not stooping so low as to dance with you and not keep my distance. I still have this thing called dignity."
"You think I want to do this either?"
"You suggested the idea."
"Because this is a life-or-death situation! Do you think I would have done so otherwise?" Bill remained silent. "That's what I thought. So suck it up."
Gritting his teeth, Bill took a tiny step forward. The teen sent daggers at him. "This is good enough, Shooting Star. We'll be fine like this."
"No, we won't. We stick out like a sore thumb!" Indeed, all the couples around the pair were so close that they were nearly touching (some of them actually were touching). There was a noticeable difference in the way Mabel and Bill were holding each other compared to the other dancers. Despite Bill knowing this, he held his ground, not moving another inch. Mabel sighed loudly. "Well, if you want to be powerless and human forever, that's your call, not mine." Not a second later, the Dream Demon was close enough that only a thin sheet of paper could fit through that gap between them. Mabel felt her whole body get warm and a jolt of happiness flashed through her heart. She ignored the sensation with a snort at Bill's actions. "That's what I thought."
Bill's whole body tensed up in anger and he whipped his head around, eyeing the musicians on the stage. "When are they going to start this thing? This is taking too long as it is." As if they were waiting for Bill's command, the music started up and the dance began. "Oh thank goodness," Bill groaned, his body relaxing a tad. While doing the first few steps of the dance, he returned his attention to Mabel. "So. Plans. Ideas. We need to come up with one fast."
"You don't need to repeat what we already know. Our first step should be to figure out-" The brunette was cut off when Bill suddenly spun her, the action surprising her. She stumbled a bit, but was able to catch herself quickly enough that the mistake was barely noticeable. When Mabel was back to facing Bill, one of her eyebrows was raised. "I didn't know you could dance."
Bill rolled his eye. "I've been around for eons. This is the kind of thing one just picks up on. I think I'm doing a rather fine job for my first time."
"This is your first time dancing?!" Mabel sputtered.
"Again Shooting Star: I. Am. A. Triangle. When would I have danced the way human like creatures do?"
"B-But you're so good at this!"
Bill felt his cheeks, along with the rest of his body, start to heat up, but he covered it with a smirk. "I'm good at everything. I can do anything."
"Except for breaking out of an ice geyser. In fact, you suck at breaking the rules of a Realm in general."
The smirk turned into a scowl and he returned to the original subject. "Plan, Shooting Star. We don't have time for small talk."
The teen grinned in victory. "You're right." The look turned serious. "So, as I was saying before, the first step is to get the Shadow Shard from the office by finding a way to sneak through the door." Mabel paused. "Or, should we try to get your powers first? 'Cause then we can teleport into the study and then get right out."
"Although I would prefer to have my powers back sooner than later, we don't want to risk not getting the Shard. Like you said earlier, they could have hidden it in the time from when we were watching them and now. If we start a commotion with Lily, we won't have time to look for it."
"True. So, we need to figure how to get in there. The best thing to do is cause a distraction."
"I think you're right. We'll have to make a big one."
"But won't that also get Lily's attention?"
"Most likely. But if we make it too small, only one of guards may come over instead of both of them."
Mabel bit her lip in thought, Bill spinning her out of the way of a couple who almost bumped into her. "You make a good point." The girl puffed out her chest. "Well, again, it's a good thing we've got the Masters of Distractions right here!"
"Although I would love to see this place get totally trashed, we also have to make sure the distraction isn't too extreme. We don't want to get thrown out."
"But if one of us is still in the building, it should be fine, right?"
"No. If something went wrong, I don't have my powers to help us. I don't know about you, Shooting Star, but I would like to leave this mansion alive."
Mabel rolled her eyes. "Okay, so we need a big distraction, but not a big distraction."
"Precisely."
"And how are we going to do that?"
"No clue."
"So we're basically still at square one."
"Pretty much."
The teen noticed that Bill was slowly, but surely, getting tenser the longer the dance went on. She wanted to question him about it, but instead groaned at what he just said. "Well we can't discuss this all night. The party will end at some point and the Shard will be gone by morning. That doesn't give us a lot of time."
"I know that already. Now who's the one repeating themselves?" Bill started leading Mabel back to the center of the dance floor when they seemed to be getting a bit too close to the edge to his liking. "I would say knock over the entire table of food or irritate another guest, but the guards probably won't be the ones to come over for the table, and if we accidently annoy someone important, they will probably get the guards to kick us out."
"What won't get us kicked out?"
"That's what I'm trying to think of." Bill's grip on her tightened, and she could feel the metal of his illusion ring gently pushing into her skin. "We need to make a scene to catch everyone's attention. There has to be something we can do."
While Bill twirled her again, Mabel caught sight of the fairy girl she had befriended earlier. She was standing near the infamous door, laughing at something with her other girl friends. Mabel smiled, her own friends coming to mind at the sight. Even at a fancy party, you have to stick together. That's when the idea hit, memories from earlier in the night combining with her own knowledge to form a plan. The brunette switched her attention back to Bill, who was seamlessly repositioning his hands to continue on with the dance. "Bill, do both of us have to go to the office?"
Bill's forehead scrunched up in thought. "Well, that would be ideal, but we don't both have to go. As long as both of us are in the building, we should be fine."
Mabel grinned, and Bill recognized it as the look he would get whenever he thought up a plan. "Well then, just play along. Oh, and I'm sorry about this beforehand."
"What are you-"
The guards both straightened up when they heard a loud shout of pain. Looking around for the source, their gaze narrowed in on an opening in the dance floor. The music had stopped and a circle had formed around, what the guards supposed, was the source of the yell. The sound had disrupted the whole party, the loud chatter simmering down to a quiet murmur and everyone's eyes were on the center of the dance floor.
That's when more yelling began.
"What the heck was that for?!"
"What was that for? What was that for?! That was for sleeping with another woman. That was for ruining everything we built together!"
"What-"
"What am I doing? What am I doing?! I'm doing what I should have done a long time ago! Heck, I never should have even married you to begin with!"
The crowd shifted a little and the guards finally got a good look at who was causing the ruckus. A young woman with dark skin and dark brown hair (it was nearly black) was yelling angrily in the face of a young man with very tan skin and blonde hair. They were right up in each other's faces, both of them glaring and nearly snarling at the other.
The man let out a mocking laugh. "Did you honestly think I would want to stay with you? Did you honestly think you would be good enough for someone?"
"You-!" Raising her hand, the woman slapped the man in the face. He quickly recovered though, not even a sound leaving his mouth this time, and was back to glaring at her within seconds, but this time he had a manic grin on his face. The two guards looked at each other and then ran into the crowd, trying to get to the couple before anything worse could happen.
"And this is exactly why I'm sleeping with other woman. They can make me scream a lot louder and longer than you ever could."
"Ha! You screaming instead of the girl. Is that why you had so many women, because none of them wanted to spend another night with you? None of them wanted to sleep with a sorry excuse for a man a second time?"
The crowd could practically see a vein pop out of the man's neck. Lifting his hand, he was about to whip it down to strike her when the guards grabbed a hold of him. Each taking one arm, they lifted him off the ground and began dragging him over to a less crowded part of the room. The entire time the man was screaming obscenities at the woman, struggling to get out of the guards' grasp so he could finish what he started.
The woman stared after them, her face full of fury. But then, once they were out of sight, her entire body slumped forward and tears began to trek down her cheeks. "Why?" she mumbled to herself. "Why? Why? Why? Why? Why?" Her tears only got bigger, her sobs only got louder. Spinning on her heel, the woman ran off the dance floor and up to the higher floor. Ignoring the looks guests were giving her, she ran through the closest door she could find, the only door she could find, as far away from the man as possible.
One of the staff called out and tried to stop her. "Miss! You can't go in there! That area of the house-!" He tried to chase after her, but a group of girls stepped in front of him, stopping him in his tracks.
"Do you have any compassion?!" One of them, a fairy girl, yelled (albeit, in a much quieter tone than the couple).
"That woman's husband nearly attacked her! Do you have any idea how she's feeling?!" another girl said, her hands clenching into fists.
"She needs time alone. She needs some time as far away from that monster as possible. Her whole entire life was just destroyed, so for goodness sake, give her some time to recover," another of the girls bit out.
The staff member wanted to say something more, wanted to do more, but the look on the girls' faces and the way they were standing told him that this was a fight he would most definitely lose. He sighed. "Fine. But I better see her leaving by the end of the party." He then stalked off.
The group of girls looked at each other and nodded in achievement. Going back to where they were previously standing, they continued their conversation. However, they all diligently kept an eye on the door, just in case their fellow woman needed a shoulder to cry on or someone to talk to.
The guards found a slightly less crowded corner of the room and held the man in place there. "Let me go!" the man growled, still trying to break free of the guards' grasp.
The one who was glowing blue tightened his grip. "See, that's the exact thing we're not going to do."
"What we are going to do," the buffer guard continued, "is keep you here until our boss decides what to do with you. Marital drama shouldn't be made public. And you sure as heck shouldn't be trying to attack your wife."
"Oh, she deserves it. That-"
"That is enough out of you." The buffer guard pushed the man against the wall, pinning him in place. The blue guard dropped his hold, but the other guard quickly pushed that arm against the wall with his other hand before the man could make any escape attempts. "You are going to stay here and be quiet. If you try to escape, I'm going to have to start using more force."
The man glared at the guard. His teeth were clenched together and his face was turning red from anger. However, he complied, not saying a word. When the guard holding him knew he had a handle on things, the other guard went off to talk to their boss.
Looking away, the man stared at one of the walls, ignoring the guard and all the looks he was getting. The guard never loosened his grip on the man, never looked away from him for even a second. This man wasn't going to cause another problem, not on his watch.
Bill inwardly sighed, looking towards the door he saw Mabel successfully run through. Well, at least it worked, he thought irritably, his arms already going numb. I would really appreciate it if you hurried though. I'd like to still have arms by the end of tonight.
The demon tried to pass the time by looking around the room. Most people were looking at him (thankfully, the guard's body blocked Lily's view of him) and were whispering. Others were purposely ignoring him, or pretended they were. There were some creatures eating and the dancing had, hesitantly, started again. Long story short, nothing that Bill was really interested in. Scratch that, Shooting Star. Hurry it up so that I won't die of boredom by the end of the night.
He considered focusing more on himself (perhaps he could make up a game in his mind or think up the thousands of ways he could destroy everyone in this room once he got his powers back) but he quickly shut that idea down. He didn't want to focus on the fact that, for the first time in his life, he felt a spark of joy at an activity as dull a dancing. He didn't want to focus on the fact that dancing with Mabel made his whole body warm. He didn't want to focus on the fact that he didn't want to let go of that warmth. He didn't want to focus on the fact that that warmth was the reason for his joy, and that thought terrified him.
He didn't want to focus on the fact that he was so cold now.
Once Mabel had determined that she had ran far enough down the hallway that no one could see her, she sighed in relief and ceased her fake crying. She felt slightly drained from that performance. But hey, it worked, so point for me! Woo hoo!
Straightening her dress and wiping her face on her arm, Mabel fixed herself up, but something still felt wrong. There was something not right. She looked herself over as best she could, but didn't see anything out of place. Considering it a figment of her imagination, she took a deep breath. Okay. Now the important part begins.
She walked forward in silence, repeating the directions for the path she needed to take in her mind in order to stay focused.
That focused slipped only once on her way to the study. She was half way there when the realization of what was wrong stopped her dead in her tracks.
She was cold. So very, very cold now.
And that was chapter twelve! I had such a blast writing this part! I've had this chapter in my head for so long and I was so happy to finally get to write it! I hope you enjoyed this chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it!
If you did enjoy this chapter, please leave a review, favorite, and/or follow. Those always make my day! Also, if you have any ways that you think I could improve my writing, please let me know. I love constructive criticism!
Well, that's all I have for now. I am going to try to get the next chapter out by next week, so hopefully you'll have a new chapter soon! Stay safe and healthy everyone! Until then…
Peace! GamerFan369