Annnnd...back to regular story!
"How about we make a deal?" Juniper watched Ford closely while he tinkered with one of his machines. It was smoking, and since it wasn't a smoke machine, Juniper guessed that was probably a bad thing.
Ford ignored her and mumbled something about time travel.
"I bet I could fix that." She said, smiling as much as she could while her feet still burned too much from her latest round of experimentation for her to stand.
"I bet you could." Ford said simply.
Ugh. She had to offer him something he couldn't get himself. She guessed that was what Bill had done. That, or he had wormed his way into Ford's head, figured out what he wanted, and then offered him that, but ten times better. Bill was a people person, he had always been. Juniper could still remember the times when they'd just been brother and sister, and they would walk down the street, and Bill would guess what the people they passed were like.
He'd been right almost every time. Though she supposed it must have been easier in their flat world, the world Bill had always called boring and predictable.
Naturally, Juniper continued to pester Ford. She had to figure out what he wanted. Then the only problem would be actually getting it to him. She was no longer the puppet she had been, worthless, but invaluable at the same time, because she had been granted with more power then she could contain, and too foolish to know that her supposed friends were only threre to boss her around with their 'messages from the Axolotl'. She had heard only one real message from the Axolotl, and once she had, it was the only thing she thought of in her spare time. Apperently, it detailed her brother.
"Sixty degrees that come in threes
Watches from within birch trees.
Saw his own dimention burn.
Misses home and can't return.
Says he's happy.
He's a liar.
Blame the arson for the fire.
There was more, but at that point, Juniper's brain had just kind of shut off. SAW his own dimention burn? Not Set his own dimention on fire and laughed - JUST LAUGHED- as everything they had ever known was completely consumed by flames? She could almost still feel the burning. She could almost still hear the screams. She could definitely still see her brother's horrible grinning face as fire surrounded him. Anger welled up inside her. The little Aramarnin. Why should she care if he wasn't happy? WHY THE TARIKOUS should she care if he were DEAD? He had never given a Halia for what she thought!
-HEY! LINE! HEY! HEY LINE! HEY!
"I wish Juniper were here right now." Bill thought as he and Mabel sat on the female Pines twin's bed, talking. Dipper glared at him from across the room. He'd refused to talk to Bill, which Mabel said was ridiculous, as even Great Uncle Ford had started talking to Bill-though not in the friendliest manner. He'd called Bill a few names either of the two of them would have been grounded a month for if repeated.
"C'mon, Pine Tree, can't you even sign langage me?" Bill called over.
Mabel shook her head. "Dipper doesn't know sign language."
"Yes I do.," Dipper signed. "I read a book."
"YAY!" Bill shrieked. "COMMUNICATION!"
Mabel snorted.
"It's always a book with you, isn't it?"
Dipper nodded.
"Always,"
"COMMUNICATION!" Bill screamed again.
Stan walked in.
"Hey! You! Demon kid! Shut up, would ya? It is bedtime for Stan. You dorks too."
He nodded. A quick glance out the widow confirmed it. He could see quite a few stars in the sky. Bill stood. He was locked in the 'spare' room every nigh to sleep. It was technically Ford's bedroom, but Ford never used it. He was too used to sleeping on on the ground. Bill felt a pang of guilt. Then he reminded himself that this was Ford, and not the geeky Ford who was in his late thiries and obsessed with finding his 'Grand Unified Theory of Weirdness'. This was the Ford who set his face on fire because it was faster than shaving, the Ford who would not belive anything Bill said, but instead doubted it, the Ford who had traded clothes with a twin to trick him, and to kill him. This was the Ford who knew, and would do anything to protect his family.
Bill had a sudden flashback to when he had been about to kill Mabel. Mabel, who he had always just kind of ignored, someone he had deemed unimportant until she had exactly what he wanted. She had fighting spirt, sure, but he had always considered her the way he'd considered Stan-a stupider, more gulible version of her twin.
Mabel, who he now knew was sweet and kind and had given him a second chance when nobody else believed.
He had almost killed her. He had almost KILLED her. She would have been dead, gone, never to see the light of day again.
Had the other people he'd killed been like Mabel? He hadn't even considered it. He'd killed them just to kill something, to watch the looks on the faces of their families and friends. The shock. The horror. The anger.
It all hit him like a brick wall.
He couldn't be tusted.
He was a murderer.
He didn't deserve to live.
He was a monster.
He thought all this as he sobbed into his pillow, not wanting to wake anyone.
Tomorrow, he thought.
"I can be better."