Hello! Not much to say right now besides responses to reviews, so I'll get those over and done with so that you guys can read at your leisure, okay?
To GrimCookie: Haha, thanks, I'm so glad you like the story, and I'm very relieved I managed to keep Mabel in character. And I made Bill a little OOC on purpose because, well, he was rather traumatised to lose his power so abruptly, and he's also a kid now, so of course he's going to be acting a little differently :)
To Liliana Dragonshard: Yeah, Bill really needs to learn how humans work properly XD
I'm kinda just making most of this up on the spot, right now, and only a very basic plot has been set up. But yeah, I definitely need to give the Stans a good reason to trust Bill. Likely Ford is going to be the paranoid one. Especially because he promised to look after Bill for Alter. Alter can be... quite scary when she's angry. Hates being lied to or double-crossed.
Leska (Guest): Oh. MaBill? Umm... sorry, but I'm keeping their relationship strictly platonic. No romance, but definitely friendship fluff in the future. Is that alright? I just don't really see them clicking like that (I prefer MermandoXMabel to be honest), and it would somewhat cause problems in the future, what with my end goal, which is [censored cuz SPOILERS!]. Yeah. Sorry to disappoint, but I'm hoping you'll like what I do have in store.
Chapter 4 – Resentment, Power and Places No Demon should Dare Enter
Late that evening, Mabel, Dipper and Bill were sat in front of the TV, watching an extended episode of Ducktective. The Pines twins were both laughing, thoroughly enjoying the show, whilst Bill was enraptured into silence. Just like any kid who had been allowed to lay eyes on a cartoon.
"Alright, kids," Stanley announced as he walked in wearing his casual attire. "Bedtime. Same for you, Cipher."
"Aaaw," Bill immediately moaned in protest. "Can't we finish watching this? It's almost over. The thief hasn't been apprehended yet!"
Stan frowned; unconvinced. Cipher may have been forced onto the body of a kid, but he was still the same demon who had manipulated and traumatised his brother and aided Gideon in trying to steal the deeds to the Mystery Shack. There was no way he was cutting him any slack.
"Please, Grunkle Stan," Mabel pleaded. "It's just five minutes."
Mabel, however, was irresistible once she donned the puppy eyes.
"Fine," Stanley grunted. "But I want you and your brother up, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, by seven in the morning. I'm taking you two fishing."
"Ooh! Can Bill come?"
"No." And before anyone could protest or even breathe, Stanley had vacated the room.
Bill didn't know whether he should be feeling upset or angry about Stanley's cold bluntness towards him, but after a moment's consideration, he figured that he was rather deserving of such treatment. After all, he'd done some things that humans didn't really appreciate. In fact, neither of the elder Pines twins had a reason to like him. Although Stanford spent a little bit of time with him, and made sure he was at the very least healthy whilst he moped in the attic about his fall from grace; which was admittedly something.
He didn't pay much attention to the rest of the episode, except from the part where it turned out that the cat lady from across the road was an accomplice to the crime as well ("She was crazy enough," Dipper had said), and he was startled out of his thoughts by Mabel, who also helped him get up the stairs (the last time he'd tried on his own, he'd almost broken his neck. That had not been funny, especially not the horrible, achy feeling in his chest when Stanford had lost his temper with him, and went into a full-scale rant about the consequences of his actions. Six-Finger had almost seemed scared when it had happened).
Once dressed in a set of simple, light blue pyjamas, Bill rested his crutches against the wall and lay down on the bed. He really didn't have much to do besides sleep, and although he hadn't done all that much today, he felt rather tired.
"Goodnight, Bill!" Mabel called from the lower level of the attic. Bill heard Dipper mutter something under his breath, but he couldn't quite catch it.
"Sweet dreams, Shooting Star!" Bill returned. "Goodnight, Pine Tree!"
Dipper mumbled something in reply, and again, Bill couldn't quite make it out. Shrugging, he pulled the covers over him and allowed sleep to overcome him. After all, it was his only way back into the Mindscape, even if he couldn't leave his own.
The moment he felt sleep trying to lure him away, Stanford jolted into wakefulness, rubbing his eyes in frustration. He knew he shouldn't be depriving himself of sleep so much for simple lab work, but he just couldn't help the creeping paranoia that always followed Bill Cipher. Urgh, he hated it so much; his fear was completely redundant after Cipher had been stripped of all power. It just… really wasn't fair how he wasn't allowed to get over it.
Bill Cipher wasn't the only thing he was conflicted over. He was anxious to talk to Alter again, just to put his mind at ease that she had no bad intentions now that she possessed the other demon's power to top her own.
"Alter, what are you up to?" he murmured.
He didn't expect an actual answer.
"N'aaaw! I missed you, too, Sixer!"
At the sudden sound of the voice, Stanford yelled out in shock and literally jumped. Spinning round, he came face to, err, spiral with Alter. She'd taken her 'symbol form', surprisingly; a royal purple flame; about the size of his head; with a glowing white spiral in its centre that also flickered with multicolours and a pair of white dragon wings. When Stanford had first laid eyes on this Will-o'-the-wisp-looking creature, the wing membranes had been blank, but now, the image of a yellow Eye of Providence flashed through them every so often.
"What are you doing here?!" Stanford demanded, pointing an accusing finger at the dream demon.
"Well, you seemed to miss me, so I decided to visit you," Alter explained, sounding almost childish. "So how's it going with Bill? I noticed he was getting along pretty well with Dipper and Mabel."
"Don't you have all-seeing powers to find that out?" Stanford grumbled.
"Yeah, but I'd rather hear it from you. I just… prefer it when I talk to people face to face. Feels more normal."
"Normal?" Stanford questioned. "Alter, you are anything but normal."
"Yeah, but it's nice to see what it's like, y'know? Anyways, back to my question. How's Bill been doing?"
In response, Stanford shrugged. "He was pretty quiet for a while; possibly depressed. He perked up a little today; spent less time moping in his room."
Alter seemed happy to hear this, if the slight increase in the brightness of her flame was anything to go by. "That's good. Mabel seemed to be pretty forgiving, but I get the feeling Dipper isn't quite as happy about him."
"Is anybody?"
"You… kinda have a point. He was a bit of a twit."
"What are you trying to achieve from this?"
"Like I said; entertainment."
"But there has to be more to it than that."
"And there probably is. But I'm too scatter-brained to try and figure out my own head. Anyway, I've got to go. There's some romance that I want to help along, and a few people I need to check on. Remember; reality is painful, imagination and dreams are an escape, you can build anyone out of someone. Bye!"
And with that, she disappeared into the Mindscape. That was one of her quirks; a rare talent called Phase Shifting that allowed a dream demon to enter the physical plane without having to possess a body. She wasn't solid, though, and didn't have any conscious influence on the physical world, which was honestly a relief. God forbid if Bill Cipher had ever possessed such a talent. With his power, he probably would have been able to manipulate the physical world.
Stanford blanched. He may or may not have helped give a dream demon enough power to enter and affect the physical plane.
"Oh crap."
Alter chuckled as she saw the realisation dawning on Stanford Pines' face. The chuckle became a full-blown bellow of gleeful laughter that echoed through the Mindscape, and possibly some parts of the physical plane as well. The look on his face was priceless! Although she did feel a little bad for scaring him. She just hoped he understood that she had no intentions of copying Bill's actions. She'd tried it once; many years ago, in her early years as a demon; and she hadn't really liked it all that much. So now she tried to help people; created happy dreams for the depressed, showed greedy, egotistical people a bit of humility, and even tried to stir up a little romance here and there, as well. She didn't play with hearts or destroy the minds of those who didn't deserve it, though. The best way to describe what she did in her territory was that she acted as a sort of guide; giving people a nudge here and there, and if push came to shove, she went and kicked them.
When she finally calmed down, she teleported to the Gravity Falls Detention Centre for Minors. It was a dull, grey place that burned with red-hot anger, dirty green resentment, black violence and yellow-brown fear. Fleeting glimpses of white-gold hope and sparky green happiness flickered here and there, but other than that, the GFDCM was a smoking haze of negative emotions that made Alter's insides churn uncomfortably. She brushed it aside and made her way to a particular cell with the number thirty-two printed onto the door in black stencil letters; the type you'd find at an army camp.
Slipping through the door (Steel doors! Thou hast no power over me!), Alter set her ever-changing gaze onto the inmate. Dressed in a bright orange jumpsuit, his hair had been closely shaved to his scalp, and he was currently lying on the bed; asleep. He was mumbling, too.
"Ah love ya, Mabel," he said quietly, rolling onto his back. Alter had to admit; she liked the accent, but the voice just ticked her off. "You and Ah shall rule this taown."
Alter rolled her eyes. This guy just didn't know when to quit, did he? Little ol' creep.
With some reluctance, she entered his dream.
Only to recoil in horror and immediately leave. Without leaving a second for consideration, she flew away, with one solemn promise. Never again, would she dare enter the dreams of Gideon Gleeful.
Well, the little ol' creep's back! Time for things to move forward a little! What was he dreaming about? I don't want to delve into that, thanks! But I'm guessing it's something really, really creepy involving Mabel, if the talking in his sleep has anything to do with it. I... really don't like Gideon. Neither does Alter. Or anyone else for that matter. *shudders* I'm not sure how much of a role he'll have in this story, but we've got to have at least one bad guy here, right?
Fun Fact: Dream demons can perceive the vibes and emotions of people and places, as shown in this chapter. Just a headcanon that I came up with to help me describe stuff from Alter's perspective.
((Okay, so I've decided to have a shot at ending chapters the way 'HowAboutThat' does with their GF stories, because I think it seems fun. Let's see how this goes.))
Alter: You should see the colour of people when they want to-! Mmf! Mmm!
Tyler: *To Manly Dan in a panicked voice* Stop 'er! Stop 'er!
Manly Dan: *holding Alter's mouth shut*
Howl (Me): Oh, thank god! Thanks, you two. Geez, if she'd finished that sentence, then we'd all be embarrassed. Could you do one more itsy bitsy favour for me? That little thing I asked you to do for me?
Manly Dan and Tyler: Review please!
Alter: Mmm!
Howl: Thanks, guys.