*CHAPTER NOTE*

Extra bonus - song references! Here's the names of all three songs mentioned in the chapter! Check out the lyrics (and the actual songs) in tandem with their appearance for a good laugh ;)

START ME UP - by the Rolling Stones

SYMPATHY FOR THE DEVIL - by the Rolling Stones

LONDON CALLING - by the Clash

CHAPTER 11

"If you start me up, if you start me up I'll never stop…" Stan sung in his low, grumbly Grunkle voice over top of Mick Jagger as Bill's huge eyes bulged in shock, glancing feverishly throughout the room. Stan had somehow gotten a whole stage in there, where he was currently dancing and swinging a mic stand around. "How do you like the redecorating I did, Bill? Oh, hang on a second, next verse - I've been running hot, you got me ticking gonna blow my top!"

"YOU TWO!" Bill exclaimed furiously as his eyes shone down on the two hench-maniacs like a blinding spotlight. They cowered fearfully as they squinted against the red beams. "Explain yourselves!" Eightball put a hand to his ear, before cupping both hands around his mouth like a makeshift-megaphone.

"What was that, boss? Sorry, we can't hear you!" he yelled back as Teeth shrugged.

"You make a grown man cry!" Stanley sung dramatically as he sang into the microphone, tilting it on the stand as he crooned, his voice breaking as he hit the higher notes.

"What in the hell is going on in there?!" Ford demanded as he looked to Bill, the demon practically rocking back and forth on his heels with his hands on either side of his head like a madman. "Bill!"

"UGHHHHH! That's ENOUGH!" Bill roared, and the sound of a record scratching to a halt filled the Fearamid as Bill's murderous, red eyes shone on Stanley. The man let out a high pitched yelp as one of the beams starting lifting him off the stage and up into the air, until he was floating directly across from Bill's livid gaze. "How did you escape?"

"Ha! Wouldn't you like to know!" Stan smirked defiantly as he crossed his arms. Bill sighed exasperatedly as he looked toward the jukebox in the corner that had been playing the record. With a faint snap, something else came on, crackling to life over the speakers.

"You know, I helped write some of history's biggest hits! You might recognize this one," Bill trailed off as the music started. Bill laughed as Stan's face betrayed his cool demeanor, his eyes bugging out as he suddenly realized that Sympathy for the Devil was a whole lot scarier than he remembered. "Things are about to change around here, Stanley, and I won't have you getting in my WAY!"

With that, Stan gasped as he was thrown across the room, landing hard against the steel wall of the Fearamid, and falling to the hard, stone ground with a heavy thud. He watched deliriously, on the verge of passing out, as everything he'd swindled out of those two bozos Bill called guards vanished into thin air. Even the hair pin he'd used to escape floated out of his pants pocket and disappeared. Nothing was left now but his dreaded cage and shackle, the jukebox, and Bill's freaks. Mick Jagger sang on as Teeth and Eightball quivered under Bill's blood-red gaze, "Pleased to meet you! Hope you guess my name!"

"Come on, Boss! We didn't mean to do nothing wr-AHHH!" Teeth cried out as Bill's beams melted him and Eightball like pitiful ants under a magnifying glass. Stan turned away, horrified, as his heart raced, trying not to think about his own fate.

"But what's puzzling you, is the nature of my game!" the singer continued as the cage and shackle disappeared with a snap.

Bill narrowed his gaze at Stanley as the man audibly gulped, trying to stand up and get away, but it was too late. Stan gritted his teeth as the cage's glowing blue pattern crept across the floor and under his feet, gasping as it scooped him up into the air like a steel-mesh net. It's journey upwards finally stopped when it reached the ceiling, the net expanding outwards into something of a narrow birdcage, swinging precariously several stories up from the floor. Stan tried not to look down as he felt his old fear of heights resurging.

"Just call me Lucifer, cause I'm in need of some restraint!" the jukebox carried on, before Bill finally turned off the damned thing with a snap, and Stan was glad for the music's riddance. The Fearamid was deathly quiet as Bill rolled his eyes.

"-you said you'd deliver the message, not start all this! And if you think I'm going to let you intimidate Stanley like this then you-"

"Just a minute, Sixer, I'm getting to it! I've had a bit of a situation to deal with!" Bill hissed as a smile burst onto Stan's tired face.

"My brother's here?!" he exclaimed as he grabbed the bars of the cage anxiously. "What's he saying? Can he hear me?! FORD!"

"Can it, Stan, the only one who has the misfortune of hearing you is me," Bill replied dismissively, then sighed. "Old Sixer does has a message for you, though, and he's getting quite impatient for me to deliver it." Stan waited with baited breath as Bill cleared his throat. "Ahem - 'We've called a working truce, I'm okay, and I'm working on a way to get you out of his head.'"

The jukebox stuttered back to life as Stan's face fell.

"That's it?" he asked desperately. "I want details! What does 'working truce' mean? And what does 'okay' mean?! How long am I gonna be stuck in here for?!"

"Ooh, sorry Stan, we've run out of time! Sorry to leave you hanging," Bill winked, "but your brother and I have a flight to catch. Oh, and I put on my greatest hits album for you to listen to! You wouldn't believe what kinda favours Chuck Berry did for me back in the day… Later!"

"ARGHH, BILL!" Stanley yelled as he rattled the bars of his cage, and Bill rolled back into reality.

"-and we don't have time for you to be screwing around inside my brother's mind!" Ford exclaimed as he grabbed his brother's jacket's collar, only for Bill to reemerge from the mindspace, stone-faced. Ford's nostrils flared as he let go of the collar with a huff. "Took you long enough." Bill dusted off his collar with a side glance to the man.

"Yeah, well, there was an unexpected… problem, and I needed to take care of it," the demon replied, and started to walk again, his boots crunching the ice shards that covered the ground.

"Hey!" Ford called it as he picked up the pace, matching Bill's hurried one. "I heard the things you were saying to Stanley. What did you mean when you asked Stanley how he escaped? Are you keeping him in restraints? I swear, if you've touched a hair on his head-"

"He's fine, it's for his own good," Bill replied rather hastily as his eyebrows knit into a scowl. "You know what they say about too many cooks in the kitchen…" The two of them stopped as they looked up to the cliff face towering above them, and the secret entrance behind the falls just up ahead.

"You can't come in with me, so you'll have to wait here - they wouldn't let Stan in last time because of you," Ford said frostily, his eyes locked on the falls and what laid beyond them. Bill scoffed.

"Fordsy, your naivety still baffles me," he chuckled as he leaned against the rock and pressed the heel of his boot into the tiny footprint set in the stone before him. Ford clenched his fists as the waterfall began to slow. "Go along and get your gadgets, I'm not going anywhere. Oh, and say hi to the Huldufolk for me, will ya? I haven't seen those jerks in a few millenia."

Ford closed his eyes as he tried to calm down, turning towards the now visible tunnel into the hidden village. He couldn't help the way his thoughts rampaged, storming through his mind like a hurricane. Bill had known all along about the Huldufolk… of course he had, he'd been breaking through Stan's consciousness for months, watching their every move through Stan's own eyes - he'd turned Stan into his own, unwilling spy for godsake. And, of course, it didn't help that Bill and the Huldufolk were both mystical beings that specialized in dreams...

Ford instinctively raised his hands as he approached the tunnel, knowing that the elves had likely already surrounded him, even if he couldn't see them. The crystals lighting the tunnel glowed blue against the darkness, eventually opening up into the deep cave he'd seen before. He turned to the wall and grinned as he spotted his bag, still tied with the knot he'd learned in the Gasglorn quadrant. With haste, he untied it and reached inside for the headpiece, slipping it on and pressing the power button. With a flicker, the cave filled with anxious elves, and Gardenia standing at the podium in the center square, gazing towards him with concern.

Ford raced towards the square as the smaller elves scattered by his feet, trying to stay out of the way, some being scooped up by the larger ones in Ford's path. He caught his breath as he reached the podium and looked to the leader, her eyes marked with fear. She took a deep breath before she started.

"I speak for all of us when I say we are relieved to see you alive," Gardenia uttered with weight, glancing at the bruise that marked his jaw and the scrapes along his cheek and eyebrow. "I tried to contact you last night, but the only time I found you asleep was for about half an hour this morning within a nightmare… and there, we have no domain." Ford tried not to shudder as he thought back on the nightmare, as vivid now as if he were still within it. "Your brother - is he…"

"He's possessed by the demon, but Stanley's still alive," he replied quietly. The elves surrounding the square began to murmur. "The demon planned all of it, he was even aware of the separation between us that would occur when I sought you out. I was a fool… and I played right into his hands, just like I always have." Ford hung his head as the last words escaped his lips like a dying breath. "And this time I don't have Stan to get me out of it." Gardenia raised her lowered head, looking to the man with courage.

"Your brother is strong, Stanford Pines," she said, as he met her gaze with hope. "I can feel his energy within his mind still, and it is fighting." Ford smiled, thinking about Stan fighting back against Bill with bronze knuckles, swinging 'til the end. "He won't be able to fight alone, though. Neither of you will."

"What can I do?" he asked the leader eagerly as she closed her eyes and focused on his brother's soul.

"Your brother must be dealt an opportunity, a chance to learn his own potential while undisturbed," she spoke, opening her wide, green eyes to Ford once more. "If you can interrupt the demon's lucidity without drawing suspicion, it could be the window your brother needs." A lightbulb practically illuminated above Ford's head as an idea came ready-made to him in a flash.

"I have a plan," he spoke quickly, smiling as he thought it over. "If I'm careful, he won't notice a thing. Thank you, once again, Gardenia. Your advice has been invaluable." He bowed his head as he swung the bag over his shoulder. She nodded back with a bright smile.

"Until we meet again, human," she bade farewell as Ford raced towards the tunnel, still open to the sunlight, as the man waved goodbye to the elves that called and hollered well wishes for the twins.

Ford was spared the shower this time as he ran out of the tunnel and into the clearing, where the waterfall quickly resumed its flow once Ford was clear of the entrance. Bill was still in the same place, now seated on the rocky ground beneath the cliff face, flicking around a pebble for his amusement.

"Let's go," Ford ordered as he walked past Bill, not even stopping to notice the demon's raised eyebrow. "We have a flight to catch."

The car ride over had been rather uneventful for Bill. Almost the second they'd made it back to the car, Ford had fallen asleep. Arthur wasn't much for conversation, nor did Bill really want to talk to him, so Bill sat in silence for the ride and watched the rolling scenery go by.

When Ford had been well and truly out of it, Bill had taken a stab at fishing around in Ford's carry-on bag. He'd been hoping to find the blueprints to the artificial gateway, the one that Ford was planning on trapping, and or killing, him with, but the blueprints were scarcely filled in. Everything else in there was rather boring - clothes, medication, books for the plane ride… nothing worth exploiting.

If the airport was anything like Ford had described it - the long lines, the tight security, all the waiting around - it was sure to be a painfully boring journey to Gravity Falls. Bill would just have to spruce it up a little.

The car pulled up to the curb, Arthur turned the vehicle into park, and he turned around in his seat to look to the sleeping twin in the back with a fond grin. Bill poked Ford in the shoulder, and the scientist awoke with a start.

"I'm awake! I'm awake!" Ford exclaimed as he sat up suddenly, his eyes owlishly wide behind his glasses. Stanford looked to Bill suspiciously before grabbing his carry-on from the middle seat and rifling through the bag, making sure nothing was missing. Bill rolled his eyes - as if he'd get caught.

"Everything okay?" Arthur asked. Both passengers quickly looked to Arthur innocently.

"Oh, everything's fine! Stan just likes to… play pranks on me sometimes and, uh, rearrange my things! You know brothers!" Ford chuckled awkwardly. Bill practically cringed as he tried to smile and nod.

"Actually, I don't - I grew up with five sisters!" Arthur laughed. "Here, let me get your bags out of the trunk." The second Arthur got out and closed the car door, both 'twins' collectively sighed and Ford looked to Bill with a scowl.

"Hey! Don't look at me like that, I didn't even do anything!" Bill complained, raising his hands in the air innocently, as, technically, it was true.

"I swear, Bill, you'd better behave yourself until we get home or I'm going to…" Ford threatened until Arthur suddenly opened the door on Bill's side. Ford plastered a grin on his face. "...going to give you a well-earned noogie, you scoundrel!" Bill hesitantly got out of the car and looked around. Cars and taxis everywhere, people hurriedly entering and exiting the automatic doors lining the building, and tour buses whizzing by filled with exhausted tourists. He could hardly wait to see the inside of the building - it actually surprised him that he'd never seen the inside of an international airport in all these years. Oh, the chaos he could cause in one of these...

"Take good care of the Stan O' War, will you?" Ford smiled as he and Arthur patted each other fondly on the back in a brief, but warm hug. Ford would miss the man - he and Helga been so kind to Stan and himself these past few months, and the thought of being left alone without an ally/witness with Bill in an airport of all places was beyond nerve-wracking. Arthur nodded as he pulled away.

"Safe journey home! You two don't pull too many pranks on each other!" Arthur jested. Ford smiled back forcibly.

"Oh, don't worry, Arthur," Bill said with a look to Ford. "We'll take good care of each other, won't we bro?" Ford tried not to groan. This was not going to go well.

Arthur waved goodbye as he got back into the car, the twins waving back as he drove away, leaving the two on their own in a sea of travellers. Ford hung his head as he sighed - and so his nightmare began.

"You stay beside or in front of me at all times, Cipher, understand?" Ford said with a side glance to his possessed brother.

"I don't know, Ford, this place is so big… maybe we should hold hands so I don't get lost," Bill smiled. Ford groaned as he turned towards the doors, wheeling his suitcase behind him with his carry-on in his right hand, and his left hand firmly by his side as Bill walked beside him. With a *whoosh*, the automatic doors slid open to reveal the bustling airport before them. Bill's pupils dilated as he took in the sheer amount of stressed, chaotic human activity before him - it was a gold mine.

"Okay, we're looking for Theta Airlines," Ford said as he scanned the rows of check-in desks and winding lineups. He zipped open his carry-on and started rummaging around for the travel documents, furrowing his brow. "Damn, I think I left them in Stan's suitcase… could you pass it over to me so I can che-" Ford did a terrified double-take. Bill was gone.

Ford's heart started racing as he spun around in all directions, looking for his brother's body somewhere in the crowd of people surrounding him, breathing erratically as he tried to stay calm and think logically. He finally spotted Stan's red beanie bobbing amongst the crowd, and sighed with relief. He could practically feel the white hairs sprouting on his head from the stress as he bounded over to where Bill had settled, and spun his 'brother' around by the shoulders.

"What did I just say about staying by my si-" Ford hissed, before Bill pointed to the sign beside them - Theta Airlines, Economy Class, and noticing that they were at the tail end of a very long, winding line of travellers. "Oh."

"I'll take a 'thanks for finding the line' now," Bill said offhandedly, closing his eyes as he crossed his arms smugly, waiting for said 'thank you'. Ford stared at him, deadpanned. "Okay, guess I'm not getting one…" Ford set down his suitcase, propping up his carry-on atop it.

"We're going to be waiting here for a while, so make yourself comfortable," Ford mumbled as he started digging around in the bag again. Bill snickered.

"You underestimate my patience, Sixer! I waited eons for my Weirdmageddon plans to come to fruition, only to have them turn to ashes in my cold, practically dead hands," Bill quietly seethed, collecting himself again with a calming breath. "At least this time the waiting will actually get me somewhere." Ford payed him little attention, or at least acted like it, finally pulling out the object he'd been looking for in his bag - the cell phone he'd gotten in Gravity Falls before they'd left for the Arctic Ocean.

"Yeah, well I'm going to be finally figuring out how to use this thing - I need to learn how to send a picture of the schematics to Fiddleford. I'm going to need him to start working on the larger components of the machine in the shack's basement. He'll have to scavenge some parts from the UFO as well, so I'll need to draw him a map..." Ford mumbled as he turned on the device and the screen flashed to life. "I have a 'What-the-Heck-Ahedron' if you want something to keep you busy."

"No thanks, I'm one for people-watching myself," Bill replied, leaning against his suitcase as he looked about at the people rushing by, the stressed college students, the crying babies. Maybe this place wasn't so bad after all…

"London calling, see we ain't got no high, except for that one with the yellowy eyes…" Joe Strummer sang. Stan groaned.

"Ugh, I can't believe Bill managed to ruin another song for me. I mean, this one's pretty obvious now that I think about it…" he remarked, before sighing at the realization that he'd resorted to talking to himself like a lunatic. "Keep it together, Stanley - you've been through worse. At least this place is cleaner than the jail cell in Columbia." His body still ached from being thrown against the wall by Bill - if this hadn't all been in the mindscape, he'd have easily been killed from the impact. He went to stretch out his weary limbs, only to be met by the cold metal bars of the cage before he'd even extended his arms.

"Oh come on!" Stan yelled as he kicked the cage in defiance, only to wince at his now incredibly sore toes inside his boot. "This is crazy! There isn't even enough room to think in here! I guess that's what you want, though, isn't it? I was right before when I said you're scared of me! I mean, why the hell would you put me in a freaking birdcage unless there's something you're trying to keep me from finding out?!" Stan practically growled as he pressed his hands against either side of the cage, trying to bust through with his bare strength alone. "And then you give me sorer muscles than a damned pro wrestler, and don't even give me the courtesy of a big enough cage to stretch out?! I mean, yeah, I get it, this is your way of getting revenge on me for punching you into Dorito-dust and all, but if you think-" Stan's train of thought ground to a startling halt as he stared in shock at his hands, sticking out of the cage. Around each arm was a concentric hole, glowing red like hot embers. His eyes widened.

"What in the… I did that? How did I do that?!" Stan exclaimed. He drew one arm back into the cage, and then stuck it back out through the hole again, laughing triumphantly as he finally stretched out. "HA! Oh, that feels good! Take that, you stinkin' demon!" He drew his arms back inside the cage again, cautiously grazing one hand against the red metal. It was smoking from the heat, but surprisingly, it felt cool against his hand.

"Okay, Stan, now you just have to remember what you did to magically burn a hole through this thing. Think!" Stan concentrated, biting his lip, but nothing was coming to him. He pressed his hands against the cage again, but the metal wasn't budging. "Ugh! Just like me to forget how to do something I just did, I'm such a knucklehe- WHOA!" Stan cried as the metal bars in front of him melted before his eyes and gave way under his weight, and he quickly thrust himself backwards to stop from falling through the hole in front of him. He caught his breath as he looked down at the floor beneath him - bad idea. He squeezed his eyes shut, his head spinning.

"Ok, so all I gotta do is get angry! Piece of cake! Getting down... not gonna be so easy," he gulped. Falling from this height to the ground probably wouldn't kill him, but he wasn't sure he'd be able to walk afterwards. "If only there was one of those bug-infested mattresses under the cage, like the kind we used back in Columbia to land on when we jumped out the window… Well, maybe not bug infested, preferably not," he rambled, imagining how good it would feel to stretch out on a huge, soft mattress after all the pummelling he'd been through. He sighed. "It's a nice thought anyways." And that's when he heard something land on the ground with a thud.

Stan didn't dare to breathe as he glanced down at the ground, where an enormous, gleaming white mattress lied directly under the cage. Stanley's jaw dropped open.

"Well, would you look at that…" Stan muttered as he took in the landing pad he'd pictured in his head… that had just appeared in his head. Stan grinned as he realized it made perfect sense. "Lost my mind… yeah right! This baby's been mine all along, and I'm takin' it back!"

*AUTHOR'S NOTE*

Coming up next, Bill Cipher boards an international airplane!

On another note - Ah! Sorry I was so late this week with the update, I've been getting crazy busy. It's starting to look like it's gonna be a bi-weekly update schedule you guys :( on the bright side, though, that means quality content that's been edited and laboured over!

See you then! :D