CHAPTER 7

The room was on fire.

Stan blinked a bit in confusion as he took in his surroundings. He was dreaming, he knew that for sure, because he was back in the room that had plagued him for so many weeks.

He was not doing this again.

Stan grumbled to himself as he looked around for the door, the only light in the room coming from the hungry blue flames. Amidst the growing and shrinking shadows, the blue light bounced off something metallic - bingo. He walked towards it, wondering to himself why he'd never tried to look for a door before - it seemed obvious, really. The flames swelled as they momentarily lit up the exit, and Stan stopped in his tracks at the sight of it.

There was no door, but rather a pile of burned wood and ashes, the doorknob, warped by the heat of the flames, shining brightly in contrast atop the rubble. Stan hesitantly reached out to touch the piece of metal, glinting strangely in the light, only to pull away quickly as the searing hot object burned his hand. He shook it off angrily, kicking a piece of the wood in retaliation as he swore under his breath. There had to be another way out of here… he'd just have to start looking. At that he turned around, and jumped suddenly at the sight of a familiar face staring back at him...

"Ford?" Stan spoke, confused as he looked at his equally petrified brother facing him, pointing a ray gun directly at Stan's chest. "What are you doing in here? How'd you… I thought you said… wait a second, is this a dream or are you really..."

"I can't answer any questions until I know it's really you, Stan," he responded sternly, aiming the gun a little higher. Stan raised his hands cautiously, backing up a little. They both jumped as a piece of wood splintered under Stan's foot. Ford raised his voice, trying to steady his nerves. "How do I know you'renot Bill?" Stan frowned.

"Hey, I could ask the same of you!" he retorted, narrowing his eyes. "And back off with that thing! You're gonna give me a heart attack!" Ford didn't move.

"A personal question should sort this out - something Bill wouldn't know," Ford said, quickly thinking of a good one, his finger resting on the trigger. "What did Mom used to call the pizza delivery boy?" Really? Stan rolled his eyes.

"Ugh… Mr. Tony Hot-eroni," Stan murmured begrudgingly. That was one memory he wished had stayed lost. Ford breathed a sigh of relief, looking satisfied as he lowered the gun. He went to move towards Stanley, but Stan stopped him in his tracks. "Uh-uh," he said, putting up a hand to halt his brother's footsteps. "If you get to ask me an embarrassing question to test my identity, then I get to ask you one too." Stan racked his brain for something Bill wouldn't know, finally landing on a good question. "What was our first cat named?" Ford sighed annoyedly.

"Trick question - we never had a cat because you're allergic," he answered. Stan sighed as he let his guard down. Ford's ray gun clattered to the ground as they pulled it in for a brief, relieved hug.

"I'm so happy to see you, Stan," Ford said, pulling away from Stan and glancing around cautiously, picking up the ray gun again and pocketing it, just in case. "I'm sure you have some questions…" Stan chuckled, scratching the back of his neck.

"Yeah, that's an understatement," he responded awkwardly. "I'm guessing this isn't some regular old dream, huh?" Ford shook his head, looking around the room inquisitively.

"It's not a dream at all, Stan. We're in the mindscape, within your subconscious," he explained, the flames growing higher and throwing flickering shadows over the two men. "The Huldufolk have been entering people's dreams for centuries, and thankfully, they extended their knowledge to me and helped me enter your mind by… you know what? It doesn't matter, we're wasting time and Bill could be plotting his next move as we speak..."

"Wait a second, I'm not done with the questions!" Stan cut his brother off, crossing his arms. "And this one's kinda important: what the hell happened to 'Bill's not in your mind anymore'? You told me just this morning that you couldn't follow him into my mind last night with your weird… magic spell, because there was no one to follow!" Ford squeezed his fists, letting them go with a sigh.

"I was wrong," Ford lamented, looking away as he scowled. "The elves tipped me off to it when I asked them about you. As to why the incantation from the journal didn't work… I think I may have cracked that one," Ford said as he took a step forward, the room growing slightly larger as his foot hit the ground. He started to walk towards the center of the room, Stan walking alongside him as he looked around at the ever expanding room in awe. "The incantation I used was created to follow an invasive demon into the mindscape. That's the key word here, Stan - invasive. It seems like Bill has been trapped in the recesses of your mind, specifically your subconscious, since I tried to erase him with the memory gun. He's been in here for so long now that I fear the worst may be happening - Bill may be starting to merge with your subconscious." Stan recoiled instantly at the thought of it. Bill forever a part of his mind… it was bad, to say the very least.

"That might explain why I was feeling so weird," Stan said, thinking back on how he felt only a few days ago. "What I don't get is why he got so quiet after I told you about what was happening to me." The flames grew higher as they walked.

"My guess is that he was likely trying to 'play it cool,' so to speak, in order to lull you into a false sense of security," Ford hypothesized. "Whatever his plan is, my guess is that he's about to carry it out any minute now." Ford stopped moving and glanced around at the enlarged room, his brows knitted in a frown as he looked towards the flames. They flickered and grew as the fire spread down the walls and caught on the floor, slowly but surely spreading throughout the room. Stan drew a bit closer to his brother as they watched the flames move closer and closer, encircling the brothers, a bright blue ring of fire dangerously inching towards them.

"What do we do?!" Stan asked, eyes wide. Ford seemed equally perturbed, the heat coming off the nearing flames palpable as he wiped the sweat from his brow.

"He's trying to force me out… We have to hurry," Ford murmured, turning to Stan desperately as he rested his hands on the twin's shoulders. "Stanley, listen to me: I have a plan, but it rests entirely on you. I need you to conjure a memory for me - can you do that?" Ford asked. Stan pulled away a bit, raising an eyebrow.

"...which memory?" he asked carefully. Ford sighed.

"I need you to conjure the memory of… when we failed to perform the zodiac," Ford said, glancing away uncomfortably. "Look, I know it's not exactly pleasant to remember…"

"Yeah, no kidding," Stan said quietly, also avoiding his brother's gaze. "I don't exactly enjoy remembering the moment when my being-an-ass almost got our whole family killed."

"Stan, stop," Ford said, looking back to Stan as the flames flickered, his shoulders drooped. "We both share the blame for what happened that day. This plan, though, Stan - it's going to fix all of that. That's the beauty of it, but we have to act quickly." Stan looked towards the flames that were steadily inching towards them, and back to his brother's furrowed brow. If this plan was the only way…

"What do I have to do?" Stan asked resolutely. Ford smiled, letting out a tense exhale.

"You're going to conjure the memory of when we tried to form the zodiac, but this time, we're going to do it right. We're going to step into the memory and manipulate it to perform the zodiac right here, within your mind," Ford stated. Stan was speechless."I believe the power generated should be enough to banish Cipher from your subconscious, but we have to act quickly. Can you do it, Stan?"

"So you're saying… we'd get to redo the whole thing together," Stan asked slowly, still a bit shocked. Just the idea of both of them getting to redeem themselves… it was almost too good to be true. Ford smiled as he nodded.

"What do you say, Stanley?" Ford asked, placing a six fingered hand on Stan's shoulder with a sincere smile. "All you've got to do is shake my hand."

Ford's eyes burst open as he caught his breath, looking down at his shaking hands clutching the stone, and up at the walls of the cave. The elves looked on in confusion as the human looked frantically to their leader.

"...I couldn't get in," Ford uttered, unsteady on his feet as the cold, harshness of reality grabbed hold of him, the yellow crown of flowers falling from his head in what felt like slow-motion. Compared to the reality he had occupied just moments ago - flying over the fields of ice, looking down from above at Stan's sleeping figure in the spring… It all seemed like some kind of incredibly vivid dream. "I don't understand what went wrong… I could see his face, and I could feel his heart beating, but it felt like something was keeping me out. It was like… it was like I was running into an invisible brick wall." Gardenia furrowed her brow.

"This has never happened before," she muttered, carefully taking the stone from him and inspecting it thoroughly. Nothing appeared to be wrong with it, and she'd heard him say the incantation perfectly. "And you say this is the second method you've attempted thus far to enter your brother's mind?" Ford nodded, numb. "Curious indeed… it's almost as if the gateway has been damaged."

"Gateway?" Ford asked, raising an eyebrow. He felt like he'd heard the term used somewhere before.

"Yes, the gateway into the mind," Gardenia said, elaborating. "It's the portal through which beings or souls may enter and exit the mindscape of an individual. It's not a tangible structure, but in humans it usually physically manifests itself as some type of door."

"But that doesn't make sense," Ford argued. "I know from personal experience that an intruder can choose to exit a mindscape anywhere and anytime they wish!" The leader shook her head, though.

"You needn't take it so literally, Stanford Pines," she explained, then elaborated. "You must understand - the gateway is just what allows beings to enter and exit the mind. It can, in essence, be anywhere at anytime. Think of it as an omnipresent trans-dimensional highway, of sorts. It's highly uncommon, but sometimes the gateway can be damaged if the inflicted being has suffered from some kind of trauma to the mind." Ford's head was spinning as he tried to keep up. There had certainly been trauma; it's not every day that a memory-erasing gun reeks havoc on your mind.

Perhaps, though, there was a clue - something Ford could follow to find the truth. He reached within his jacket pocket and pulled out the journal, flipping through the pages of notes he'd taken a couple days ago when Stan had finally spilled the beans about what had been happening to him. There had to be something in here that would lead him to an answer. Ford's eyes flickered to words he'd underlined or circled.

AXOLOTL, and an arrow pointing to simply XOLOTL, with a small definition written underneath: 'God of twins, misfortune, sickness, monsters, and deformities.'

BLUE FIRE, and a note beneath it from Stan: "Same fire as the kind from the memory gun."

Ford's memory shot back to the first time Stan had told him about Bill's death within Stan's mind. Certain words stood out in the forefront of his thoughts … those damned blue flames, a paddleball… and a door that slammed shut, trapping Bill inside.

Ford's eyes suddenly grew wide as something clicked into place.

"If the gateway is broken, and no one can enter my brother's mind…" Ford spoke slowly, his heart suddenly beating hard in his chest, "... then wouldn't it stand to reason that no one could leave it either?" He looked up to Gardenia, fear blazing through him.

"Go to him," Gardenia spoke urgently, realizing at once that something terrible was about to happen. "Leave your bag here and go, it will only slow you down. You have our word that we will watch over your things while you're gone. You may still have a chance to wake your brother up, but you must hurry." Ford nodded gratefully to the leader, who turned to face the guards at the entrance. "Raise the waterfall!" Ford swiftly grabbed the walkie talkie from the bag and shoved it in his coat pocket, and slipped off the headset to fetch later. The elves and their voices echoing through the cave faded away as he moved towards the slowing wall of water, lit by the ethereal glow of the crystals.

The falls had barely slowed down as Ford burst through them, soaking him completely as the moonlight hit him on the other side. He glanced around quickly, breathing hard, as he tried to remember which direction Stan had gone off in before he left for the springs. Ford unzipped his coat pocket, grabbing the walkie talkie and pressing down the button as he yelled into it.

"STAN! WAKE UP, STANLEY, IT'S ME!" He waited… no response.

He grit his teeth as he started to run, his clothes slowly freezing to his skin. The faint outlines of the northern lights danced on the horizon, along with the rising moon and a frigid evening wind. Ford shivered as he ran, searching for Stan's footprints in the cracked ice, and practically cheering when he found muddy footprints in the same size as his own making their way to the other side of the cliff.

"I'm coming for you Stan, just hold on a little longer," he muttered to himself as the ice cracked beneath him with every step. "I'm coming."

Stan looked on quietly as the memory of the zodiac flickered over top of the bright blue blaze. Dipper, Mabel, Wendy, Soos, that horrible little blonde girl… all of the circle members stood holding hands as the memory played out. Ford and Stan looked on as the memory versions of themselves began to squabble. Stan groaned.

"Please tell me we don't have to watch this go on any longer than we have to," he grumbled, turning away from the scene as he closed his eyes.

"We don't - it's time to put our plan into action," Ford replied smoothly, waving his hands as the two dream Stans vanished, leaving only trails of smoke. Stanley turned back to look at the strange scene, the remaining circle members all looking to Stan with bright smiles. Ford, taking his place in the circle, looked over Stanley, frozen in place. The flames inched closer. "Come on, Stan, we don't have much time!" Stan sighed wearily as he stared out at the smiling faces in the circle. Even Gideon looked weirdly happy.

"I don't mean to repeat history or nothin', but... I'm not sure about all this," Stan confessed, looking out at his empty symbol space on the wheel. "How do I even know if any of this is real? How do I know that you're real?"

"Stan, listen to me," Ford said intently, letting go of Robbie's hand and turning towards Stan desperately. "We have a chance here to make this right, to finally get Cipher out of your subconscious, but we have to do it together." Stan still looked unsure. Ford smiled sympathetically as he walked off his spot in the circle and over to where Stan stood, placing a hand on his shoulder comfortingly.

"I'll make you a deal, Stanley," Ford began, and Stan looked up to meet his brother's gaze, Ford's glasses fogged. "We shake hands like men and do this right, and get Bill out of your subconscious, and I'll throw you the biggest party you've ever seen right here, in the mindscape! All you'll have to do is sit back and enjoy the show!" The offer was certainly tempting, Stan thought. "You've never partied in the mind before, have you, Stan?" Ford raised an eyebrow playfully. Stan smiled bashfully, shaking his head.

"Can't say I have," Stan replied, sticking his hands in his pockets. "Maybe... you could introduce me to that crazy, satanic St. Patrick's day thing you were talking' about earlier?" Ford laughed while the zodiac members whooped and hollered their approval at the idea.

"I don't see why not!" Ford responded with a hearty chuckle. Stan looked between his twin and the people in the circle. Mabel shot him an eager thumbs up, biting her lip in excitement.

"Let's do it, bro," Stan smiled, the two of them making their way to their spots on the zodiac. "Together."

Ford wiped the frozen sweat from his brow as finally spotted the hot-spring in the distance. He picked up his speed, just short of sprinting. His breath caught in his throat as his foot suddenly slipped on the ice, and he fell hard to the ground. He cursed as he picked himself back up, his front covered in cold mud, and grimaced as he took another step. He'd hurt his leg on the fall. Ford gritted his teeth as he started limping towards the spring.

"Bill, you bastard," he spat as he wiped the mud from his glasses. "You're not taking Stan down without a fight!"

Soos smiled giddily as Stan took his hand in the circle. The outline of the zodiac began to glow as Ford took Robbie's hand again, the circle close to complete. The flames grew around them, closing in quickly on the group. The circle members glanced around, scared as they looked to Stan.

"Grunkle Stan, you have to hurry!" Dipper cried from across the circle.

"Yeah, Mister Pines. I'm not the biggest fan of big, scary flames," Soos said uncomfortably, inching forward a bit as the flames edged in on his feet.

"Are you ready, Stan? Ford asked, holding out his hand. The flames grew higher. Stan went to look down at his brother's hand, but Ford stopped him from doing that, catching Stanley's chin before he looked down. "Stan, look me in the eye. After everything we've been through the last couple weeks, you have to know you can trust me," he said. The flames stood taller, closing in on everyone. Panic was rising as Stan grimaced. He was not going to be responsible for messing this up twice. Ford was right. He did trust him, completely - how could he not after everything that had happened? Ford smiled, trying to stay calm as he looked into Stan's eyes. "Let me in, Stanley. Let's do this right."

Ford panted as he gripped the stone edge of the hot spring, desperately catching his breath. As he moved around the side of it, the stone wall surrounding the spring sloped down. Ford sighed thankfully as he finally saw his brother, his hands clasped behind his head, his eyes closed. He was exactly the same way Ford had seen him when he'd tried to enter his mind. It wasn't too late. Stan was still asleep - there might be enough time to…

"Tsk, tsk, Fordsy," a terrifyingly familiar voice mocked as Stan's arms lowered to his sides. Ford backed up, shaking his head in disbelief. "I'm so disappointed. I really expected more from you..." Bill slowly opened Stan's eyes, the yellow, slitted orbs shining in the dark as Ford recoiled in horror. Bill grinned wildly, soaking in every bit of Ford's delicious terror. He'd waited oh-so long for this moment, stretching out luxuriously in the hot spring as Ford barred his teeth, wincing as he clutched his injured leg. Bill laughed as Stanley struggled within his captured mind, to no avail as he was pulled back, screaming, into the depths of his own subconscious.

"Oh, reality… it is good to be back!"

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

And there we have it folks, the long awaited conclusion of Part 1! Bill is out in the world as possessed Stan, Stan himself is a prisoner, and Ford is powerless, soaking wet, and injured! Yay! I hope that was as fun to read as it was to write!

So, on a sadder note, I'm going to need a few weeks to piece together the arc of Part 2, and act on some other priorities in my life right now. I'm thinking it's gonna be around the beginning of May when I'll post the first chapter of Part 2. Until then, let me know in the comments what you're thinking!

Adios till May! Oh, and sorry-not-sorry for the cliffhanger! Reality is an illusion, the universe is a hologram, buy gold, BYE!