Chapter 4

Bill sneered, "You're not escaping me this time..."

"What are you gonna do?!" I asked in panic, struggling to get free.

Bill smirked, "This'll sting a bit. Oh who am I kidding. It's gonna burn like hell!" He suddenly grabbed the side of my neck, and the flames on his hand began to slither into my flesh!

You know what it's like when you burn yourself on the stove, and you have to put cold water over your burn?

Well this was ten times worse! As the flames consumed the delicate skin on my neck, it felt like death had me in a choke hold and was dragging me down into the dark abyss! It felt as if my neck was being torn apart cell by cell, and I could feel every single one of them explode! It took all my willpower not to scream!

When Bill lifted his hand and let go of me, I attempted to hold my wound to help the pain subside, but flinched when I realized that made it hurt worse.

"There we go now… I've marked you."

I gasped in pain, "Marked me?! With what?!"

Bill took out a mirror and handed it to me so I could see what scar awaited my eyes.

The scar was extremely detailed. It was a rimmed triangle, with an eye in the middle, however, on each side there were a pair of demon wings that curved inwards.

I touched the mark again and flinched, "Why did you do this to me?!"

"It's a warning. For your uncle and his brother..." Bill cackled, "It hurts, doesn't it?"

I grimaced, "Yeah... A lot..." I touched it again, flinching at the pain. Bill certainly knew what he was doing.

Bill smirked, "Have fun explaining it!"

"Explaining what?" I held back a sigh of relief as Mabel rushed into the room. Bill looked over to he and smirked. I took the advantage of his distraction and shoved him away.

"Whoa hey!" He said as he fell to the floor.

Mabel rushed to my side, "Dipper, what happened?"

I growled, "He branded me!"

Mabel gasped, "What?!" She gently lifted my hand, gazing at the scar, "That's the same mark Ruby has!"

Bill chuckled, "Not exactly. Hers doesn't have the wings. Her face didn't have the room for them.

I backed away slowly, "What did you do..."

Bill rolled his eye, "Oh nothing..."

Mabel let out a raging battle cry, grabbing the bat and swinging it at Bill! But he grabbed it and hit her with it, "Nice try shooting star..." His eye began to glow an even fiercer red.

As he began to approach my sister, I clenched my teeth and jumped onto his back, wrapping my arms around neck, choking him.

Bill hissed, "Get off of me!" He slammed his back against the wall, and I gasped from the air being knocked from my lungs, but there was no way I was letting go!

"Go Dipper!" Mabel cheered, getting back up and grabbing the bat again, bashing Bill on the head several times with it!

But Bill just growled, "You two are making me mad!" Ruby ran up to Mabel and tackled her, pinning her against the wall! Bill then grabbed me by the throat and threw me to the ground!

"Let me go you evil triangle!" Mabel screamed.

Bill laughed, "Only when I feel like it! I love seeing that terrified expression..." and a twisted smile spreads across his face. He approached Mabel, his hand flaming and ready to brand her! I tried to get up and stop him!

Until I heard a metallic sound ring through the room.

Time seemed to stop for a split second as the world flashed black and white, with the exception of the red splashing to the floor!

The phenomenon finished as soon as it started, and Sapphire was kneeling behind Bill, blood dripping from her blue bladed sword, and a gash across Bill's stomach.

Bill stumbled backwards, "Damn Sappy! You've gotten better!" He then smirked, "But so have I. Hey Rubes, take care of your twin."

Ruby let go of Mabel and approached Sapphire. But Sapphire just grabbed her by the collar and put a hand over her glowing eye, and muttered, "Zelvña…" Ruby then suddenly collapsed on the floor, asleep, and her mark disappeared.

Bill hissed, "... How did you do that...?"

Sapphire flicked the blood off her sword, "I have my ways." She growled, "Now I suggest you leave now, unless you want Vangōra here to go through your torso." She pointed her sword at him.

Bill sneered, "Sorry Sappy. But I can't stick around to find out what that thing would do to me in this form. See you around!" He ran up to the open window and jumped out.

I stood up shakily, "Finally..." I breathed, then looked down at my shirt, "Oh, wonderful..."

"Are you alright?" Sapphire asked me.

I took off my jacket, "Just got blood on me, that's it…" I muttered. How was I gonna explain this to Grandpa and Grunkle Stan?

Sapphire chuckled, "I can clean that up... Wait a moment..." She glanced at my neck and gasped, "That mark... He got you?"

I rubbed my neck and winced, "Yeah..."

Sapphire sighed, "Alright... Hold still..."

I was a little surprised by thing, "What, why?"

"Just do it!" She snapped. I stiffened, but didn't move. She then put a hand to my scar and muttered, "Helìa…" The pain subsided, and when I looked in the mirror, the scar was gone.

"How did you do that?" I asked. Running a finger over the now smooth skin.

Sapphire took her hand back, "I have my ways. Anyhow, I hid the mark. It'll only show in complete darkness on the Night of the New Moon."

"Just like Ruby..." I summarized.

Sapphire nodded, "Yeah. Unfortunately, Bill's magic becomes too strong on those nights so it'll always show then."

"Oww…" We heard a groan and we turned to find that Ruby was waking up, "Everything hurts…"

Mabel rushed over to her and hugged her, "Ruby!"

Sapphire also rushed to Ruby's side, "Are you alright?" She asked.

Ruby rubbed her head, "I think so, my head hurts though..."

Sapphire smiled slightly, "I figured…" She murmured as she began to rub her sister's back.

Ruby smiled, "Thanks sis..." She whispered, hugging her.

Sapphire sighed, "No problem. What are twins for?" And she hugged her back, "You don't remember what happened do you?"

Ruby shook her head, "No... Nothing..."

Sapphire sighed in relief, "Good... I'd be bad if you did... I'm just glad you're safe now…"

Ruby sighed and fell asleep, and Sapphire looked to me and Mabel, "So how long until you an your friends run is out of town?"

I shook my head, "Oh no, we would never do that, we are going to fight that menace as a team and no ones going to stop that!"

Mabel nodded, "Why would we run you out of town?"

Sapphire sighed, "This happens every time... Bill possesses Ruby, I have to snap her out of it, then they ether run us out of town or worse..."

My heart twisted at the thought, "That sounds awful…"

Sapphire shrugged, "I've had worse..."

I looked Sapphire in the eye, and asked, "How do you know him anyway?"

Sapphire sighed again, "You'll have to promise not to tell anyone..."

I nodded, "Alright, I promise."

Sapphire sighed and looked to Ruby, "Alright... Though..." She looked to Mabel, "Mabel, perhaps you and Ruby should be heading back to the sleepover..."

"Ruby seems fine where she is." I pointed out, seeing that Ruby was sleeping like an angel.

Ruby: (shifts in her sleep)

"Just do it!" Sapphire snapped, then her tone softened, "Please… I don't want her accidentally hearing this..."

I sighed and looked to my sister, "Mabel why don't you take her back?"

Mabel nodded and took Ruby, "Alright. See you later." And they left.

I then looked to Sapphire, "We're good now."

Sapphire nodded and sat on her bed, "You might as well sit down. This is gonna be a while..." As I sat down next to her, she brought her knees to her chest and rested her chin on her knees, "I guess I should start by telling you that we're actually orphans... Our parents died in a fire a long time ago, when we were only 5... We ran away, fearing that child services would separate us... So we were in the woods for a few weeks, and we nearly starved. One night though, we were sleeping in a cave, and we found a secret bunker... We stayed there for the night, but that Night, I met someone..." She took a deep breath, "Bill..."

"Sounds crazy..."

Sapphire nodded, "It was... He said that he knew our past, and wanted to help us... He said we were special, being able to see things others couldn't... And special abilities... He said that as long as I became his assistant, and his student, that he would take care of us..." She shook her head, "I unfortunately agreed... I knew something was wrong with him, but I went against my gut feeling... I've got something to show you..."

She took off her black leather jacket and her fingerless gloves. She then muttered something under her breath, and I gasped.

On her shoulder was the same mark Bill had given me. The same Rimmed Triangle, same eye, same demon wings, however, the ends of the demon wings continued to twist down and around her arm, ending at a scar on her wrist.

"He gave me this... When we made our blood bond..." She said with a shudder.

I took her arm gently, examining every little detail about the mark. It was incredibly well made, yet looked extremely painful. Just looking at it made my own scar hurt.

Sapphire sighed and closed her eyes, "So, I agreed, an became his assistant and student... I helped him with his research, and he taught me what magic he knew, a good half or more of it was dark magic... Things one shouldn't learn... But I never told Ruby. I just told her that I was an intern, and that's how I got the money for our food... I knew the darkest parts of the world, parts I didn't want her to see... So I've protected her from the darker knowledge that I possess... But... One day, she followed me to my training, and she found Bill there..." She began to shake, and tears were threatening at the corner of her eyes, "He wiped her memory completely to keep my secret, and at that point, cursed her so that he can possess her on nights like this... I left Bill that night, my only purpose to protect Ruby..."

I let go of her arm and gently took her hand, "I'm so sorry..." I whispered.

Sapphire shook her head, "Don't be..." She muttered, "I brought it on myself and Ruby. I'm the one at fault here, which is why I refuse to let anyone hurt Ruby... Trust me, if she wasn't around, I would have sank into insanity a long time ago..."

I pondered this for a moment. This girl had been battling against the world, a dream demon, and insanity for years, all to protect her sister. And all of it was Bill's fault… He had to be stopped…

I stood up suddenly, "We have to defeat him..."

Sapphire just shook her head, "There's no way... Trust me, I tried at a time, and failed... It nearly killed both Ruby and me... He drank from the Immortal Spring, and can't be killed..."

I growled, "I don't care!" I walked over to the window and slammed my hands down on the desk in front of it, "He's planning something big, I don't know what it is but we have to stop it... Or others will suffer the same fate…" I closed my eyes, thinking…

Sapphire put a hand on my shoulder, "You don't know Bill like I do Dipper... If you wanna put in nerd terms for you to understand, what you've seen is only about a measly 2% of his power... And that's in his imprisoned form..."

My eyes shot open, "Excuse me?!"

"That's not his true form." Sapphire explained, "He's looking for something to let him access his true form..."

I slammed my fist into the desk), "Dammit…" I growled.

Sapphire sighed, "Look, Dipper, the only way you could defeat him would to be to gain his level of power. I could teach you a few things, but without immortality, you're helpless..."

I shook my head, "I don't care…"

Sapphire gave me a wary glance, "Look, if you want, I can teach you some things, but you must promise to only use them in self defense... What I could teach you could destroy many at a time if in the wrong hands..." She warned me.

I sighed. What she possessed sounded very dangerous, however, if we were to ever defeat Bill, I would need all the help I could get, "Teach me." I told her, looking her strait in the eyes.

Sapphire stood up, "Alright. Meet me at the edge of the woods later. We start at dawn. Now go so I can sleep."

I nodded, "Alright… Goodnight Sapphire…"