The dragonsong rang in Dipper's mind many hours later, when the sun had set below the horizon, and he was humming the tune under his breath as to engrave it in his mind forever. There was no way he could make those same sounds as a dragon could, but the tune he could still sing. His finger traced the outline of the sharp scale in his pocket, trying his best to hit the highest notes of the song, which was surprisingly easy for his voice.
The rhythm of the train was calming, and soon Dipper dozed off with the last fading notes of the dragonsong.
However his sleep didn't last long. Like usual, he awoke in the middle of the night as he was now used to doing. It was a protective measure, to make sure nothing was going wrong. He shuffled around to switch positions. He was about to close his eyes once more when he noticed that Bill was sitting at the edge of the open traincart, staring at the full moon, so bright that it bleached his hair white, and even Dipper's dark hair shone silver.
"You should try getting some sleep," Dipper proposed, blinking the sleep out of his eyes rapidly. He rolled over so his stomach faced the floor and pushed himself up to sit on his knees. "You need it now that you're human."
Bill slightly turned his head so he could look over the shoulder at Dipper, the single golden eye seemed to give off its own light, like the moon itself. It was a while before he answered, the rhythm of the train unstopping in the background.
"I don't know how to sleep."
Dipper's eyebrows rocketed so high they disappeared behind his hanging fringe. What? How could Bill not know how to sleep? It was one of the few things humans could do without being taught, and Bill had slept before, so why was he now saying he didn't know how? Dipper shook his head. "Not true. You don't need to be taught how to sleep, and haven't you done it before?"
Bill looked back up at the moon, leaving only the back of his head for Dipper to look at. "I guess you wouldn't understand," he spoke softly. It didn't suit Bill's usually loud and booming voice, and the unfamiliar tone just sent off such uncomfortable vibes that it made Dipper attempt to bite his upper gum. "For you, sleep is basically nothingness. And when you do see things, it's not real at all. You'd think I know things like this, and I do- more than anyone else."
And that made sense. Bill was most powerful in the mindscape, at least back during those days when he had the power of imagination at his fingertips. Dipper had no doubt about that.
"Then go to sleep," Dipper tried telling him again. "I'm an early riser now, so I'll be able to wake us up before-"
"God it's not that simple!" That shouty tone was more-or-less what Dipper was used to hearing from Bill. The demon-boy's shoulders gave a violent twitch. "Sleeping's different for me. I dream from the moment I close my eyes to the moment I wake up. And I remember everything." His hands curled into fists against the wooded floor. "And that 'everything' is hellfire."
Oh.
Dipper sighed and stood up to his feet, hesitating before padding silently up to Bill. He sat down nonchalantly beside him on the edge of the cart. His feet dangled over the edge, sometimes catching over the tips of the plants that grew by the tracks. "Shouldn't the art of sleeping be natural to me to? Shouldn't I be sleeping like you do and not-"
"You lay awake at night, I know," Dipper said dryly. It seemed like only yesterday when he'd listen to Bill struggling with sickness in the night. "I'm a light sleeper, you were making so much noise you even woke Primrose up."
Bill opened his mouth to say something, but decided not to, so he closed it again.
"So..." Dipper picked up the conversation after a moment's silence. "Oath of eternal loyalty; tell me about that."
Bill's answer was a heavy sigh. "I was kinda hoping you wouldn't ask about that." He pressed his knuckle to his forehead and groaned as if he had a headache. "Are you mad about that?"
"'Mad' wouldn't be the word I'd use," Dipper replied truthfully. "I'm rather confused more than anything else, really." He cocked his head to the side in question. "Why are you suddenly so tame?"
"Tame?" Bill echoed. "Do you take me for some kind of animal?" He grimaced. "For hell's sake Pine Tree maybe you could expand on that instead of leaving me in the dark?"
"Well you changed your behaviour basically overnight. From a world-eater you're now..." he couldn't find quite the right words, so he hoped to forward his point with a pathetic hand gesture. "Well, ya get the point."
Bill was shaking his head. "Remember the men in the dungeons?"
Dipper tried not to.
"There," Bill barked, though his tone was not unfriendly. He looked away, apparently finding kicking at the plants more interesting. "You have your answer why I'm partially reformed."
Dipper pursed his lips. "You haven't answered my first question."
In reply Bill tried to imitate an annoyed harking sound Primrose usually made when he in turn was being unbearable, though what instead came out as a strange goose noise. "You're awfully persistent Pine Tree, and if I know you, you wont' let go until you have your answer."
Dipper only shrugged. "You guessed right."
Bill sighed through parted teeth. "Listen Pine Tr- Dipper. I never felt any loyalty or love towards anybody. Not to Ford, not to my henchmaniacs, to no-one at all. Not even you when I first met you. You and your sister were nothing but a nuisance to me." He snapped angrily to himself. "Even at the start of this journey I hated you, with all my soul, yet I knew that I needed your help if I was to survive."
"Yup, that's the Bill I know," Dipper mumbled to himself morbidly.
But Bill carried on, either not hearing or ignoring what Dipper said. "Then we came across Primrose and you were so quick to help her. I saw how you two interacted, and I was partially disgusted by it, but I guess it was because it was so genuine and I was used to the fake sense of platonic love."
"What are you trying to tell me?" Dipper questioned.
"I'm trying to tell you something important." Bill barked, so harshly that Dipper flinched. "So do you best to shut up and listen to me."
Dipper shut up.
"I was so furious with you and Primrose and this curse and everything that I decided to take it out in that abandoned town; first on you, then on Primrose. I wanted to outright tare the both of you apart to my heart's desire, to watch you writhe in agony before my eyes."
He must've noticed Dipper shuffling away from him, so he switched the subject swiftly.
"Then there was the whole fiasco with the dungeons and those creepy bastards, and there it was the first time I felt... fear you call it?" He looked to Dipper for clarification- but looked quickly away. "The moment I heard you in the dark, I felt safer somehow. God, now I made it weird, didn't I?"
"Don't address it," Dipper grumbled, not wanting to admit to the same feelings either.
Bill gave a short nod. "I was glad to have you at my side in those tunnels... It was probably the first time I didn't want to hurt you. I-" Bill stopped. "You know, maybe it was a bad idea telling you this."
"I think I see what you're trying to tell me," Dipper interrupted him, determined to piece together these strange puzzle-pieces.
Bill raised an eyebrow, and raised his eyes to the glowing moon. "It's obvious you were once a supernatural," he put in. "Anyways, the more time I spent with you and Primrose, the less I hated you both. I realised I had trusted you, with more than my life; I followed your lead and you followed mine. I already started to grow close to you both before the events in the dungeons, but I only realised it there. And then you were shot and I realised that I had began-" he took a deep breath "-to care for you. I realised that I didn't want you to die."
Dipper was nodding his head. "Yeah, Primrose told me about what happened."
"Did she now?" Bill hissed, baring his flat human teeth. "What, did you learn dragon-tongue already? You were singing her dragonsong- don't think I didn't hear you."
"Shut up," Dipper barked back.
Bill's mouth pursed into a thin line. For a moment Dipper thought he'd ruined the conversation, and looked up at the moon. Some night, huh.
The silver light covered the hills, as wells as the small towns in the distance. They had long left the forest as well as the daylight. The train had travelled through hills and fields of late summer crops, and even after the sun set the train kept going. Where it was headed Dipper didn't really know. All he did know was that it passed through Gravity Falls, and that was all he really cared about.
"Dipper," Bill spoke up again. "Are you absolutely sure that Ford can break our curse?"
Was he absolutely sure? Ford was their best bet- their only bet if he was completely honest- he knew almost everything when it came to the supernatural. "Yes," Dipper replied.
Bill sighed deeply and shook his head. "Maybe letting your uncle kill me would be the best solution. I don't belong in this world, certainly not after all I've done."
This wasn't a nightmare either, Bill was really saying those things. Dipper didn't really believe that this was real life, but what else could it be? "Hang on, did you actually say what I think you said?"
"Are you deaf?" Bill spat angrily, his pupil thinning in frustration. "I said that I deserve to die. After all I've done, to you, to this world, to mine..." he winced.
"Are you feeling remorse all over a sudden?" Dipper asked. "You?"
"Remorse... that's like regret, innit?" mumbled the demon-boy, his brow furrowed. He finally turned his head to look Dipper in the face. "Do you think I can change completely?"
Did he? Even now, trusting Bill was not something Dipper did overly easily. Though he wanted to, with all his heart, for Bill to become a true friend and ally, deep down the shadow of Bill's psychopathic past lingered. He was still the triangle-demon that Dipper had hated and feared.
"You're the master of manipulation," Dipper answered truthfully. "For all I know you could just be waiting for someone with a symbol strong enough to revert you back to demon form so you can launch Weirdmageddon 2."
Bill mimicked his head tilt. "Weirdmageddon 2. Has a nice ring to it, doesn't it? But it needs more glamour if I'm ever going to pull it off." He shook his head so white strands fell across his face. "Which will probably be never at this rate, let's be honest. Do you seriously think anyone will be stupid enough as to shake hands with me?"
"A lot of people don't know you," Dipper pointed out. "It's human custom for people to shake hands when they meet y'know and-"
"You're not making this any easier!" Bill snapped.
And there was silence between them. The soft rhythm of the train kept going, not stopping at all. Chugga chugga chugga chugga chugga chugga chugga chugga chugga chug-
Bill raised his hand, and began to massage his wounded eye. Did it still hurt him? It looked like it did. Maybe it had gotten infected? Nah, Primrose wouldn't let that happen. Dipper didn't want to ask- their conversation had already spun wildly out of control, it didn't need to reach absurd levels of awkwardness more than it already had. Bill's unease just screamed out of him, and Dipper tried very hard to think of anyone who was as emotionally distracted as he was.
So Dipper sighed and got up to his feet. What Bill wanted to do after the curse was broken was his problem- and if it meant willingly putting down his head on a chopping block it was his choice... though Dipper still had doubts that he would let that happen. It was Bill but... he couldn't let him die when he first broke free- and he could let him die now. He gave Bill one final look before turning to walk further into the traincart.
"Dipper."
Dipper stopped in his tracks.
"What?" he turned back to Bill.
"I'm sorry," sobbed Bill. "For everything."
And that was the moment when Dipper felt his heart truly soften for the demon-boy. Sorry. He said sorry. Apologised for every horrible thing he'd ever done to anyone and everyone.
One word. That was all it took. And yet it was only the second-hardest thing to ever say.
Dipper sat back down next to his former enemy, hesitated, then reached over to wrap his arms around Bill's neck.
"I forgive you."
The very moment those words left Dipper's mouth, two things happened. One, Bill made an indecipherable noise. Two, the chain sprung to life.
It shone with a bright white glow, as it always did. Brighter and brighter still, so bright the two boys couldn't even look at it.
There was a sound of shattering glass, and the bright light ceased to be. The curse had been broken.
