I was originally going to post this yesterday, but I wanted to post it today for Halloween instead of the day before. If that makes sense-Well, happy Halloween! Everything is different this year, so here's something to read.

Also, i'm sorry if things seem a little rushed in this chapter, or if this chapter tends to switch scenes a lot.

Anyway, here's chapter 52 of "Welcome home"!

Bill shifted slightly in his bed, laying on his side as his cheek squished against the pillow. He groaned in annoyance at a random pain in his back. Bill opened his eyes part way to see the sleeping man who had become his boyfriend the day before, laying there lazily on his stomach. It was an unusual sleeping position to see him in, but he looked comfortable so Bill had no intentions of moving him.

Bill went along with his random urge to touch Ford's hair. He extended an arm out and gently brushed through the other man's soft, grey hair with his fingers. Bill always found satisfaction messing with Ford's hair, it was just so fluffy and soft. Stanford shifted slightly at the movement, but did not wake.

After a moment, Bill laid on his back and stretched out like a cat before standing up. He wore a grey T-shirt and dark blue, woven boxers. With a scratch of his head, he walked out the door.

Meanwhile, Stan was in the kitchen making toast and Stancakes. He had woken up earlier this morning to hopefully be up before the others. Ford had yet to fill even him in on the plans for today. He wasn't exactly sure when Ford would explain.

Maybe I can bribe him with Stancakes. Stan wondered, snickering to himself as he flipped the current Stancake in his handheld pan.

"Yup, just me. Me and Stancakes." Stan said with a grin. He began humming to himself for all but three seconds before he heard a painful groan. Stan heard the noise and swore under his breath for there being another awake in the shack.

"My back is killing me," Bill groaned, trying to pop it by pressing on it as he walked. "Has it always been this sore?" He asked himself, walking into the kitchen and rubbing his left eye.

"Who knows," Stan replied. He got a plate down from the cabinet and handed it to Bill. "Take what ya' want." He encouraged, motioning down at the plate that held the cooked pancakes.

Bill looked down at them with a raised eyebrow. "What are they?" He asked, looking up at the other.

"They're Stancakes!" Stan replied with a prideful grin. "Try em'."

Bill pursed his lips and hummed, looking down at the unfamiliar breakfast food. "Smells good." He commented in a muttered tone, taking two off the pile. He saw toast pop out of the toaster and snatched one of the two pieces before heading to the table. Bill took a seat and eagerly reached for the maple syrup bottle, coating the entire top Stancake with the sugary substance.

Stan looked behind him for a moment to see Bill drowning his Stancakes in syrup. He rolled his eyes and walked up to the demon, grabbing the bottle and keeping it away from him. Bill whined at the loss of the sweet syrup.

"Give that back!" Bill commanded.

"You're drownin' your Stancakes in this stuff." Stan chided, putting his hands on his hips.

Bill mumbled his annoyance and grabbed his fork, cutting into the Stancake. He was about to take a bite until he saw something suspicious. He narrowed his eyes at the piece on the fork to see a hair sticking out of the Stancake. Bill wrinkled his nose in distaste and set the fork back down, sliding the plate away from him.

"How is it?" Stan asked as he took another Stancake off the pan.

Bill looked down at the Stancake, then at Stan as he happily poured batter onto the pan. "It's, uh..." Bill began, "It's good." He lied, not intending to hurt the man's feelings. Stan looked too happy with what he was doing for Bill to do something like that.

"Great!" Stan chirped with a smile. "I made a little extra batter, so there'll be extra Stancakes for tomorrow morning!" He said.

Bill stared blankly towards Stan for a moment before rolling his eyes, his forehead colliding with the table, the action making a loud thump.

Waddles emerged from the living room and into the kitchen the moment the sweet smell coming from the kitchen hit his snout. He gazed up to see Stanley flipping a Stancake just before noticing the shack of the already made ones atop a plate on the counter. Waddles placed his front legs up on the side of the counter, trying to reach the breakfast. He managed to grab the top one after a moment of struggling in his mouth, and was about to run off with it. Unfortunately, he had been caught before being given the chance.

"Wh- hey!" Stan cried out, placing the pan down and grabbing hold of the Stancake, trying to get it away from Waddles' grip. The two fought for a moment before Stan proved to be stronger. He grunted and placed the Stancake with a bit of pig slobber back onto the pile. Bill noticed how Waddles seemed to want the Stancakes, and placed his plate on the wooden floor for Waddles. The pig eagerly went for the sweet substance and finished the Stancakes off quickly. Bill gave Waddles a pat on the head. It was his responsibility to take care of Waddles for Mabel, so he was merely giving him a treat.

Within the next half hour the others of the household had woken up and gathered in the kitchen to get breakfast. The four sat at the table, Bill looking out the window at the nature presented. He snickered at the sight of a deer catching a bird in its mouth and rushing into the forest with it.

"Had enough'a nature yet?" Stan asked with a confused and unamused expression.

Bill raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?" He questioned.

"You've been starin' out that window for ten minutes." Stan pointed out. "You're gonna get bored with it fast." He added.

"Never!" Bill objected. "Nature's far from boring!" He stated.

"It ain't far from it, either." Stan mumbled, cutting into his Stancake. Ford cleared his throat after a moment of silence.

"Well," Ford began. "Now that we're on the nature topic I suppose it only makes sense to explain what I have in mind." He said.

"Adventure?" Fiddleford asked.

"Anomalies?" Bill questioned.

"Money?" Stan asked.

Ford gave a shake of his head. "No..," He said. He then reached under the table and grabbed the plastic bag Stan had placed his items from the store into, as well as a few rolled up sleeping bags that the others began to wonder where in the world had come from so suddenly. "Camping." Ford said with a smile.

Fiddleford's and Bill's faces lit up at this, however Stan looked at his brother in an unsure manner.

"You sure, Pointdexter?" Stan asked. "Campin' sounds great and all, but what if you make your injury worse?" He asked.

"I'll be fine, Stanley." Ford assured with a slight roll of his eyes.

Stan put his hands up slightly. "Hey, I'm just lookin' out for ya'. You can be a real idiot sometimes, ya' know." He stated.

Fiddleford stood up, his plate in hand, and turned around to walk to the sink. Before he could take more than a step, he foolishly tripped on one of the legs on his chair, causing him to crash to the floor along with his plate which shattered.

Bill immediately looked down at the fallen man and cackled without hesitation. Stan looked down at Fidds, then at the blonde.

"Speakin' of idiots." Stan said before joining in on the mocking laughter. Ford looked on as Fidds stood up, brushing off his knees and awkwardly pushing his chair in. Ford looked at his brother with furrowed brows for calling his friend such. Stan noticed the look and scoffed. "Wh- Well he started it!" He stated, pointing over at Bill.

"You both act like children." Ford muttered with an eye roll.

"I'll take that as a compliment." Bill replied with a grin.

"...Anyway," Ford began once more, deciding not to add on to the other's reply. "How does camping sound to the rest of you?" He asked.

Stan shrugged at the question. "If there's snacks and bug spray, I'm satisfied." He answered, folding his arms.

"I'm all in for a chance to seek adventure, but Stanley-dandly's right; what if that injury of yours is hard to deal with out there?" Bill asked.

"As I said before, I'll be fine." Ford stated. "Besides, it's not like I'll be desperately running through the forest while we're out there." He said with a faint, gullible smile.

The others gave jumbled agreements to the statement. They all decided that they would begin packing for their camping trip immediately after breakfast.


After an odd morning, Deep Chris had finally found the other members of their old Sev'ral Timez group. He had found them the previous day, a few hours after Stan had kindly dropped him off a few minutes of distance away from Bratsman. Chris had explained where he had been to his n brothers and what had happened when the others questioned his previous disappearance. Now they were all together again, ready to protect each other from Bratsman.

"Have any of you dawgs seem him?" Leggy P asked. He didn't need to say the man's name for the others to know who he was talking about.

"He's been nearby a few times," Chris admitted, "But he never saw me." He assured. Most of the members sighed in relief.

"What would we do if he caught us?" Chubby Z asked.

Chris went silent as he found himself lost in thought for a moment before giving a faint shrug. "Improvise with what we've got." He replied. The others all nodded in agreement at the response.

Leggy P looked up from the circle they huddled in and felt a shiver run down his spine at the sight of a fancy vehicle.

"Gang!" Leggy P said quickly. The others questioned the sudden outburst for a moment. Leggy P pointed in the direction of where he saw Ergman's car driving their way, causing the others to look over in that same direction. In a matter of seconds the rest of them caught sight of the car and gasped in fear.

"What do we do?" Chubby Z asked.

"I'm not sure, but we've gotta hide away from here." Deep Chris stated. The others nodded at the reply and ran off further into the forest with Chris. Over the time of the group living out in the forest, Chris had become, in a way, their leader. Each member was independent of course, though they all seemed to look up to Chris for information and advice. Without him, the others would have likely been caught and trapped in cages by now.

"We need to move a good bit into the forest," Chris suggested. "He can't look everywhere at one time. And if he does get closer to us, we go back to somewhere he's already checked." He stated. "You dawgs get that?" He asked. The other four nodded their heads in response.

"Good," Chris said. "W-We should probably keep moving." He said before rushing along with the group.


"Do we have everything?" Ford asked the others, who gathered with him in the living room. An hour and a half had gone by since they had all agreed on taking the camping trip. They would have finished getting ready for the trip a half hour earlier had Bill not decided to be a drama king about his choice of attire for the trip that would only last a day or two.

"The better question is, does Cipher finally have his outfits all figured out?" Stan scoffed, folding his arms.

Bill's mouth hung open at the remark. He placed a hand over his heart and looked at Stan with wide eyes. "Excuse you!" Bill spat. "I'll have you know that I take fashion very seriously!" He stated.

"You wear the same outfit every day." Stan grumbled.

"That's because I look fabulous in yellow shirts." Bill replied. For extra measure, he picked up his unnecessary for camping suitcase and popped it open, letting his secured yellow T-shirts be seen.

"Is that the only color you look good in?" Stan jokingly asked. Ford frowned at this, and Bill shot Stanley a glare.

"Wouldn't you like to know, you old geezer?" Bill shot back, folding his arms and looking away.

Fiddleford looked at the shirts in the suitcase and raised an eyebrow. "I'm not so sure yer' gonna be needin' all those shirts fer' the trip." He commented. "And that suitcase is a little unnecessary, don't ye' think?"

"Better safe than sorry." Bill replied in a sing-songy tone.

"I'll never understand you." Stan said.

Bill grinned. "Good." He replied.

"We can leave any time, really." Ford informed. "So long as everything is ready."

The other three looked at each other, then at Ford. "We're good." The three said in unison.

"Well, there's no point in delaying, then." Ford said. "Shall we?" He asked, his arm motioning at the door with a smile.

"We shall." Bill said with a grin, closing his suitcase up and grabbing hold of it to bring along. Fiddleford and Stan walked through the gift shop and out the front door. Ford nearly walked into the gift shop until he realized that Bill hadn't yet left.

"Oh, wait a sec," Bill said. He dropped the suitcase and grabbed his blue backpack by the couch. It was a bit heavy on his back, but nothing too bad. Bill reached down to grab his suitcase and struggled to keep it held with the added weight of his backpack.

"Are you coming?" Ford asked, watching with half-lidded eyes as the other tried dragging his stuff across the floor.

Bill nodded regardless. "Yup. Just uh... just give me a minute here," He said, struggling to carry all the items.

"Bill, honestly." Stanford scolded, rolling his eyes. "It's a trip that won't last more than a couple days. You don't need all of this." He stated.

"Try and stop me." Bill replied with a grin.

Ford watched as the other proceeded to drag his stuff across the floor. "Gladly." He muttered. Ford walked up to the other man and wrapped his arms around Bill's waist from behind, lifting him up and off the ground to where the blonde dropped the items. Bill's eyes widened at the sudden move.

"Stanford Filbrick Pines!" Bill gasped, his legs making useless motion in the air as Ford pulled him backwards. The scientist moved Bill away from all his items before setting the demon back down onto the floor. Even when he did though, Ford kept him in place.

"You don't need all of it." Ford stated.

"But I-!" Bill tried.

"No." Ford replied sternly. "Believe me, you'll be better off leaving the suitcase behind." He said. "With a trip like this, it'll just be a waste of space." He added.

Bill huffed and folded his arms. "Fine." He agreed with a grumble. Ford turned around to grab Bill's backpack and handed it to the man.

"We should get going," Ford advised. "The others are waiting."

Bill agreed to this remark. Within a moment the two were out the door. Ford made sure to lock up the gift shop, being that the front door had already been locked. Stan and Fiddleford had already put their bags into the car. Stan sat in the driver's seat, and Fiddleford was in one of the seats in back. Bill tried to hurry himself to get to the passengers seat, only to be disappointed with his timing when Ford had taken the spot.

"I assume you still remember where the camping site is, Stanley?" Ford asked.

"You bet I do." Stan answered with a laugh.

"Good. Then we should be there in no time." Ford said with a smile.

"If ye' don't mind me askin'," McGucket began. "Why are we goin' campin', anyway?" He asked.

Ford merely shrugged. "It would be nice to do something together." He said. "A little vacation sounds nice, does it not?"

"Can't say no to that." Stan said, grinning.


The drive to their destination wasn't too long. Where they were headed was a specific part of the woods, so there wouldn't be others camping around there with them. Ford had heard the stories of the time Stan had gone camping with the twins, so he assumed the camp area would be a good one. There were trees all around, however this particular bit of the forest had some space without trees, large enough to where they would be able to set up their tents.

When the four arrived, Fiddleford was the first to get out of the vehicle, having the sudden urge to stretch his legs. Stan and Ford got out and went to the trunk to take out the tents and supplies. Bill stepped out of the car and assisted with carrying a few things. He took something out of Stan's arms to carry, which the con man didn't mind. Ford placed the tent supplies down on the circular shaped bit of their camp that didn't have grass.

"Well, I suppose I should start getting these tents up." Ford said, adjusting his glasses.

"Ya' need any help with settin' up one of these puppies?" Stan asked.

Ford looked at the two tents that had yet to be set up and shrugged. "Oh, I suppose so." He agreed.

McGucket grabbed the instructions before Ford could reach them and began reading what was on said instructions. Fiddleford seemed focused on studying how to set up the tents, and how they worked. Ford looked over at the car and noticed Bill standing by the trunk, not moving. He raised an eyebrow and decided to see what the blonde was looking at.

Bill noticed Ford's presence and made eye contact for a moment with him before looking back at the items in the trunk. Ford was confused at this.

"What are you looking for?" Ford asked.

"It's hard to find specific bags when they all look the same." Bill answered. He grabbed one and looked inside to see objects that were unfamiliar to him. "Hey, what's this for?" He asked, turning to look at his boyfriend and tilting his head. Ford looked in the bag to see what he was asking about, seeing the items Stan had gotten from the store for him.

"Oh," Ford began with a light chuckle, "You'll see." He said.

"I don't just want to see, I wanna know." Bill stated.

"And you will," Ford replied. Bill grinned at this, nodding his head all until Ford said, "Later."

Bill frowned. "Sixer," He whined, "Does it have to wait?" He asked.

"I can see that you're very eager to find out what it does," Ford said. "But it's best to experience at night." He informed.

Bill gave a sigh of defeat. "Very well." He muttered. As much as he wanted to find out what the three objects did, he figured waiting in order to make it a better experience would be worth it.

"Good," Ford said with a smile. "I'll take care of the bags here. Would you do me a favor and go find some firewood?" He asked.

"You got it." Bill said before turning away, rushing off into the distance.

Ford watched the other leave for a moment. They didn't bother to say their goodbye's; Bill would return soon. He turned around and walked back over to the tent supplies and took out one of the two tents to put up. Fiddleford gave him the instructions back and offered to help, in which Ford kindly declined. Stan, however, had no issue with getting some extra help- it would just make it so that he had less work to do.


"We should be safe here." Deep Chris said. The five members of Sev'ral Timez were all huddled close together under a few large rocks that served almost as a small, makeshift cave.

"This was a good plan." Chubby Z said, confidence sensible by his tone.

All was alright until they heard the sound of an engine.

Deep Chris was the first to hear this. He gasped and crawled out of the makeshift cave and poked his head up slightly at the top of the rocks to where he could look around with his eyes while staying hidden. He looked forward and could see Bratsman's vehicle closer to them than he had predicted. Leggy P noticed Chris's strange behavior and raised an eyebrow.

"What's going on, dawg?" Leggy P asked.

Chris bit his lip before getting back down with the others. "O-Okay, the plan went differently than I predicted. You dawgs need to get out of here." He stated.

"But what about you?" Greggy C asked.

"I'll be right behind you." Chris responded with a nod of his head. "But for now you've gotta run away!" He said.

The four looked at each other before looking at Chris. They all had serious facial expressions, and all gave a nod in unison. Chris watched as his brothers emerged out of the cave and further into the forest. He sighed and looked back over by the vehicle. He needed a quick way to keep Bratsman away, or distracted at the least.

If I could just buy a little more time... Chris thought. He folded his arms and stood up, leaning on the boulders. His hat stuck up over the rock slightly which he wasn't aware of. He looked down at the grass below and hummed.

I could separate these big rocks to make an obstacle. Chris thought to himself. If there were rocks in the way, Bratsman's car wouldn't be able to go over them. But then again, the car could easily drive around them. Not to mention we all spent time making this shelter, and the others might get upset with me if I took it down.

Chris put his hands in his pockets and sighed. If only he had predicted things a bit more accurately, they wouldn't all be in this mess. He was aware that it was his fault. But there was no going back now. He had to fix his mistake and stay away from...

"Thinking bright?" Bratsman asked harshly, gripping Chris's shoulder from behind. Deep Chris gasped and turned around to see the scowling face of his past producer. He hadn't seen Bratsman face-to-face for over a year now, and seeing him for the first time after so long gave him a frightened feeling.

"I-I'm free now, dawg!" Chris stated in a firm manner. "There's no way I'm going back to a life in a cage." He stated.

"You don't have a choice!" Bratsman barked. "Without you boys, my reputation is ruined! Those darn lab tubes are broken, so I have to depend on bringing you five back again." He said, lifting the bottom bit of his cane up and poking Chris with it. The blonde flinched and took a half step back as he looked at the cane. He figured the point on it could come in handy.

Chris quickly extended a hand and grabbed Bratsman's cane, holding it in his hands and running away. Bratsman blinked back in surprise when his cane was suddenly swiped away and glared at the man who was now running off with it.

"Get back here, ya' rascal!" Bratsman commanded, shaking his fist in the others direction before rushing off toward him. Chris noticed the man was now following him and proceeded to run. He could see Bratsman's car up ahead.

"Come back to the studio," Bratsman proposed as he chased after Deep Chris. "Face it- you don't belong out here! You belong in the studio, making cheesy pop music for pre teens!" He shouted.

Chris rushed up in the direction of the car and noticed the round tires. He turned to look at Bratsman and said, "I'm not so sure about that." Before taking the cane and poking it against one of the tires. Chris watched as air began to slowly deflate from the wheel of the vehicle. Bratsman looked on with wide eyes.

"My limo!" Ergman cried out, stopping in his tracks and putting his hands on his head in grief. "That wheel is gonna take a fortune to get fixed, so you'd better get you and your brothers back at the studio and make me some more money to pay for it!" He stated.

"Like I said sir, we're free now." Chris repeated. "You can't order us around anymore!"

Bratsman kept his glare on Deep Chris and clenched his fists. Chris turned around with the man's cane, waking away with it. Bratsman growled in anger and crouched down to grab a stone. He held the stone that fit perfectly into the palm of his hand and looked over at the blonde clone walking away. Bratsman glared and let out a grunt as he threw the stone roughly ahead of him. The stone hit Deep Chris hard at the back of the head (Just as Bratsman had hoped,) and before he knew it, a wave of unconsciousness went over him. Ergman grinned an evil-like grin as Chris fell to the ground.

"Perfect," Bratsman said with the same grin, rubbing his hands together mischievously before walking over towards his limo. He opened the back door of the vehicle and leaned over to grab a thick rope he had brought along. Shutting the limo door, he walked over to Chris, the rope in his hands. He was quick to toss the rope over by a tree beside Chris. He dragged the blonde over towards the tree and lifted him up. Bratsman then went to grab the rope, reaching down towards it. When he looked up, he saw that Chris was falling over. He cringed and pressed his elbow up against the others chest as he fiddled with the rope in his hands. After a moment, Bratsman had managed to fix the rope up right and tied Deep Chris tightly to the tree.

"There," Ergman said, putting his hands on his hips and furrowing his brows. "I'll be back to question you later." He spat with narrowed eyes, turning around and walking over towards his limo, grabbing ahold of his cane on the way. He would be sure to question Chris on where the others were, but he figured he might as well look around the area before the other members of Sev'ral Timez got the chance to escape.

The sound of the engine and Bratsman barking orders at his limo driver made Chris flinched. His eyes opened slightly, and he could see Bratsman getting into the vehicle. He could tell that there was something wrapped around him, but didn't dare keep his eyes open in case Bratsman came storming back over towards him. He waited until the engine noise faded before opening his eyes. Seeing that the car was driving away, he then looked down at himself. His eyes widened and Chris gasped when he found himself tightly tied against a tree. He squinted his eyes shut, struggling and squabbling in a poor attempt to loosen the rope. He looked around for anything useful, though unfortunately nothing was in range, and his arms weren't able to move freely save his fingers that poked out of the rope's grasp.

Seeing that he didn't have much of a choice but to plead for freedom, Chris could only hope that his brothers had been able to escape quick enough, away from Bratsman's cold eyes. At the very least they wouldn't have to suffer the torture of cages and constant performances like he assumed he would have to face.


As Bill descended into the forest, a good pile of sticks in his arms, he came across another stick. He reached down to grab the wood, only for half of the sticks in his hands to fall from his hold and onto the ground.

Bill furrowed his brows. "Aw, seriously?" He complained. Sighing, he got down onto the ground and picked up the sticks he had dropped, as well as the singular stick he had gone through the trouble to add to the pile.

He looked forward to see another stick ahead of him. He crawled over towards the stick and grabbed hold of it, adding it to his growing pile.

"This should probably be enough..." Bill muttered to himself. He stood up, only to see a big chunk of wood further into the forest. His eyes widened at this, and he was quick to grin, rushing over towards the wood. As Bill ran, he didn't look where he was going and tripped over his ankle, quickly falling to the ground and exclaiming in shock before falling with a thud. The sticks and wood went flying in front of him, scattering slightly. Bill groaned and intentionally smacked his head on the ground.

"Hello?" An unfamiliar voice called out from the distance. The voice caught Bill's attention, and he tilted his head up to look around, raising an eyebrow. "Is someone there?" The voice asked.

Bill narrowed his eyes in confusion and sat up on his knees. "Uh... who's asking?" He questioned in suspicion.

"I need some help, dawg." The voice said, not answering the other's question.

"...That's not my problem." Bill replied, quickly gathering the wood and sticks back into his arms once more. "I'm too busy getting wood."

The voice stopped for a moment before saying, "Wood?"

Bill rolled his eyes. "That's what I said, isn't it kid?" He asked, turning around to look in another direction, away from the stranger's voice.

"There's uh... t-there's tons of wood over here!" The voice claimed.

Bill stopped in his tracks and pursed his lips. He looked behind him, even though he couldn't see the person speaking, and asked, "There is?"

"Y-yeah!" The voice half-lied. Though there were a few pieces, it was nothing more than what was regularly seen around the forest. "Come and get it before the gnomes find it!"

Bill grinned. "I like the sound of that." He said, walking over in the direction the voice was speaking.

Chris gave a relieved sigh at the response, and gave a small smile as he saw a figure emerging from the blur of trees around him. Bill saw a stick ahead of him, not even noticing the strange man tied to the tree, and was quick to rush towards it. Chris looked to his right and down to see Bill grabbing a stick beside the tree he was tied to.

"Couldja' help me out here?" Chris asked with a pleading expression.

Bill heard the voice and looked up, looking to his right and finally noticing the man tied to the tree. He looked away, then back at the man. "Why are you all tied up?" He asked.

"That's..." Chris began. He looked down at himself, then back at the demon. "Complicated."

"I know a thing or two about complicated." Bill mumbled. He grinned. "But it's funny how you're helplessly tied up against a tree all alone!"

Chris frowned at the other man's carelessness. "Look, y-you're probably my only hope here, dawg." He stated.

Bill's eyes lit up at this. "Is that so?" He asked, grinning. Chris looked at the blonde as he stood up. Bill extended his arms beside him, letting all the wood and sticks fall freely to the ground. He put his hands behind his back and leaned close to the man's face. "Interesting." Bill said with a large smile.

Chris shivered at the stranger's odd behavior and shakily asked, "S-s-so will you h-help m-me?"

Bill pursed his lips and narrowed his eyes at the man, leaning closer towards him as if he were inspecting the other. Chris looked around awkwardly, and made eye contact with Bill when he heard the demon hum in a manner of consideration. The seconds went by like minutes with the narrowed eyed gaze Bill gave. Chris gulped and kept eye contact with the odd human. His mind began to wonder if asking this particular person for help was a bad idea. He mentally shook the thought away; Chris was desperate here, and could use any help he could get.

"...What's in it for me?" Bill finally asked.

Deep Chris was taken aback by the odd question. Then again though, it didn't seem all too odd matching with the other's behavior. "Um..." Chris began. He didn't have much to offer the man. "W-Well," He sputtered. Bill raised an eyebrow, growing impatient when the man didn't respond to his question. Bill gave a hum of distaste and stood up straight once more. He let his hands fall to his sides and shrugged.

"I'm afraid I can't help ya'." Bill said with a shrug. "I've never been good with untying things." He said, walking beside the trapped man and getting down on his knees to grab the wood once more. He looked up at Chris and glared. "And I don't associate with liars." He stated. Chris tilted his head at this, only to remember that he had lied about there being a great mass of wood around the area.

Chris saw Bill stand up, and his eyes widened. "Wait!" He cried out. "Please!"

Bill stopped in his tracks at the desperate cry. He looked down at the ground for a moment as the plead rang through his head. He closed his eyes and tried to ignore the sound, but it couldn't seem to escape his mind. Bill clenched his fists by his sides and gave a strained, unsure groan.

"Mmph, fine!" Bill shot, turning his head around and glaring at Chris. The man tied to the tree smiled in relief. Bill walked back over towards Chris and folded his arms. "I'll make you a deal." He began. Chris nodded at this. "There's someone I know who doesn't think I would look good in anything but yellow." He began.

"That's straight up rude!" Chris commented.

"Not to mention offensive." Bill added, folding his arms. "Listen; I'll set you free if you follow me and tell someone that I could look good in white. There's nothing I want more right now than to see the look on his face when he gets proved wrong." Bill said with a mischievous smile.

Chris was a bit confused by the deal. But then again, there didn't seem to be a bad side. He would tell someone something for this man, and in return he would be free for the time being. Chris just wondered if the time of freedom would be enough time to escape and find his brothers. An idea popped into his head, making Chris grin mischievously.

"Why don't you show him yourself, dawg?" Deep Chris proposed.

Bill raised an eyebrow at this. "What are you-?" He began, until realizing just what the man was getting at. Bill gasped before grinning. "Ya' know, that's not a bad idea!" He praised. "This plotting will do nicely to prove Stano wrong. Let me get that for you." Bill said, his hands hovering stop the knitted rope before he attempted to untie. It took a few moments, but after a bit Bill was able to successfully untie the man.

Chris stepped away from the tree and gave himself a hug. "It feels good to be away from that rope." He said.

During the next few moments, the two made fast work of undressing and redressing themselves in each other's clothing. Bill adjusted the white fedora he wore on his head and put his hands inside the puffy white jacket.

"Not bad!" Bill said, extending his leg and looking down at it to see the light blue pants he wore.

Chris felt odd without his ordinary jacket, but made sure to not complain. He looked over to see Bill admiring his look. Deep Chris took a few quiet steps backwards, walking backwards into more forest as Bill proceeded to ramble on about the look.

"Oh man, this is a pretty nice jacket you've got here, stranger!" Bill said with a grin. He heard no response and became suspicious, but opted not to speak on it. "Does the shirt fit ya'?" Bill asked.

No response.

Bill raised an eyebrow at all the silence and finally decided to turn around. "Hello?" He called out, not seeing any track of Chris. As he looked around he glanced down at the ground below him and then noticed footprints following deeper into to the forest.

Bill glared at the trees around him. "Hey, this isn't funny!" Bill stated. "We made a deal! Where'd you go?" He asked in an annoyed tone.

Again, no response.

Bill furrows his brows. "Look, if you don't like the outfit," Bill began, taking a step forward as he began to speak. Before he could finish his sentence, he was taken aback by the sudden motion of being slammed against a tree. Bill gave a surprised shout at the sudden pain at the action and hissed at the stinging feeling in his wrists as he felt someone holding them with a tight grip.

"Thought you could get away, eh?" Bratsman asked in a cold manner. Bill had never heard this voice, and was unaware of who could have speaking to him.

"Wh... What?" Bill questioned, raising an eyebrow.

"Don't start playin' dumb with me." Bratsman growled with a glare.

Bill cringed at the increasing grip and squinted his eyes, kicking the stranger in the leg. Ergman shouted at the pain and released his grip. Bill turned around to go back the way where the camp was, deciding that now would be best to go before the misunderstanding continued.

"Stay put!" Bratsman barked. "The only place you'll be going is back to the studio, where you'll train and perform with your brothers to make me rich again!" He exclaimed, placing his hands atop the blonde a shoulders.

Studio? Bill questioned in his mind. He pushed the thought away and shrugged the others hands off his shoulders, taking a few steps back and putting his hands up slightly.

"Woah, uh... y-you've got the wrong guy." Bill said, looking up at the man with an innocent expression. One he couldn't often wear.

"Don't think that's gonna work on me again, Chris." Bratsman spat.

Bill's innocent expression grew. "B-but I'm not Chris!" He claimed. "I don't even know you! Or these brothers you're talking about!"

"Stop being ridiculous!" Bratsman commanded. He held up his hand and gave Bill a fast strike to the face. Bill groaned at the stinging. He found pain funnier when he intended for it to happen. Though he wasn't too thrilled about surprises, so he couldn't find the gesture amusing given the particular circumstance.

"Now tell me where the others are." Bratsman commanded with a glare.

Bill was confused. "The... others?" He questioned. "What, the Pines?" He asked.

Bratsman growled. "You know exactly who I'm talking about!" He barked.

"No, I don't." Bill shot back, clenching his fists and furrowing his eyebrows. His hands ignited blue fire that surrounded his fists. "Now back away or things won't be pretty in your future." He theatened.

Bratsman looked down at the flames and frowned. "I expected this would happen sometime soon." He muttered to himself.

Bill was beyond confused at the response. He shook his head and blinked quickly, the flames dying down into nothing. "Wait... what?" He questioned.

"You've gone too long without your cage that your unwanted abilities are kicking in." Bratsman said, humming with narrowed eyes. "You and your brothers need to get back to the studio immediately!" He stated.

Bill was quick to shake his head. "No, no, I-I don't!" He tried. His claim seemed to be of no use, however. Before he knew what happened, Bratsman slung him over his shoulder and walked towards his car. "What're you doing? I need to get back to the others!" Bill exclaimed, hitting the man's back as if that would help free him.

Bratsman glared and grabbed the blonde, tossing him against his limo and glaring. "So you do know where they are!" He shouted.

"Wh- no!" Bill cried out. "It's not- that's not-"

"Save it!" Ergman hollered. He narrowed his eyes at Bill and said, "Ya' filthy liar."

Bill frowned. He didn't know who this man was, and was unsure of how to get out of the situation he had foolishly pulled himself into. He growled at the thought of Chris running off freely, leaving him to deal with his jerky boss.

"I may be a liar, but I'm not who you're looking for." Bill pointed out.

Bratsman hummed. "A likely story." He replied in denial. He opened the limo door and pointed. "Now come on, we need to find your brothers. You all have caused enough trouble already." He said, putting his hands on his hips.

Bill shut his eyes and looked away, folding his arms. "I'm not going." He stated.

Bratsman glared. "I'm not givin' a choice, here. Now quit your stalling!" He demanded.

Bill shook his head, and said nothing. This angered the man. Ergman growled under his breath and grabbed the blonde by the hood of his jacket and pulled him towards the door.

"Woah, woah! Y-You can't take me to some random studio!" Bill exclaimed, realizing that the man was actually much stronger than he was. "What about Stanford?" He asked.

"You're goin' on tours, not to college!" Bratsman replied just before shoving Bill into the vehicle. Bill gasped as he was thrown, and groaned when his back hit the other door. His head collided with the glass window. Thankfully, the glass did not shatter on his head, but it still hurt to be hit in the head so suddenly. Bill glared at the other as he got into the car beside him.

"Come on, don't take me away." Bill began. "I have nothing to do with these guys you keep talking about! This is all a misunderstanding." He claimed.

"Don't lie to me." Bratsman warned.

Bill glared. "Alright, stranger, I demand that you let me out of here so I can go back to the others!" He shouted. Bratsman shot the demon a warning state and snapped his fingers. The link driver saw this as his cue to lock the doors. Bill noticed this and knew what it meant. He had learned about how doors locked after his attempts of jumping out of Stan's car whenever he had forgotten something when the Pines were going somewhere.

"Not a chance." Bratsman replied in a cold manner. He snapped at the limo driver and yelled, "Move!"

The driver scrambled out of the car and over to the back seat, shutting the door that Bratsman had decided not to shut. The door slammed shut and within the minute they were driving away to find Chris's brothers, the car shaking slightly due to the flat tire. Bill looked out the car window and frowned, holding on to himself and wondering how he would get out of this.

Trick! :3

Sorry for the cliffhanger, I just felt like I had to be evil. Bill was foolishly tricked by Chris after being selfish, and is now going to pay the price. This probably wasn't what y'all were expecting, but who knows. Hopefully it was suspenseful.

The next chapter will be up soon. Happy Halloween!