Chapter Fourteen

"So we have a deal then?"

Bill stared down at her hand, conflicted. His stupid human heart and his sense of logic were at odds with one another. This wasn't real. He was cripplingly aware of that. But the pain in his chest simply wouldn't allow him to fully believe in that fact. Was this what human fear felt like? Because he could barely stomach it. Quite literally, in fact. His insides churned at the very thought of what could happen if he refused. But his mind was screaming for him to snap out of it.

Bill shook his head, hesitantly raising a hand. An icy smirk crawled across the she-demon's face as she watched him with interest. This couldn't possibly have gone any better for her. That is, until Bill grabbed her wrist and yanked her forwards, so that the two of them were eye to eye. She felt cold to the touch, but it wasn't like Bill hadn't expected that. He grinned, laughing at what he assumed was her only means of a shocked expression. "You wanna know what's great about being in the Mindscape?" he asked, snapping his fingers. The Shack disappeared, along with Dipper and his family as well.

He let go of her arm, looking smug. "The fact that I don't even need to use my powers, because I can do whatever I want here." He leaned back and sat midair, crossing a leg over the other. The she-demon was trembling with outrage, eyes giving off a bloody, incandescent glow. Bill chuckled, pointing a finger at her. "You seem cold. Here." He snapped yet again and blue flames engulfed her being. She wailed in pain before the ice her entire body seemed to be made of forced the flames to fizzle away. Bill hummed at that, giving a shrug.

"I guess while I'm talking, I might as well admit to you I almost took that offer. Almost let that obnoxious little soul of mine cloud my better judgement. But then it hit me! You can't do anything to me outside of the mind," he said with a smirk, tapping a finger on his forehead. "If you could, you would've tried it already. Everytime you've done this, it's been here. You're running out of tricks, and it shows. Boy, for someone that's supposed to be replacing me, you're not very clever."

The she-demon kept silent, almost as if he'd defeated her, but Bill was smarter than that. He waved a hand dismissively. "I mean, you could always try possession, but let's be real here. Been there, done that." He tipped his head to the side, flashing his canines at her.

The silhouette before him narrowed her pale eyes at him. "Do you not even want to liberate this dimension anymore?" she asked, voice losing its edge, although remaining hollow.

Bill cocked a brow at her, rubbing his injured cheek gingerly. "Hmm? Sure I do. I'm not a saint just because I'm also not necessarily a demon. But ya see, I like Pine Tree a bit too much. And frankly, I dislike you in equal measure. That make sense?" The blonde sounded all too confident for her liking, but this was the most interesting thing Bill had done since he'd been desperate enough to make a deal with Dipper. So she contained her anger for the moment. Bill floated down to her level, his feet seemingly touching solid ground beneath him. "It doesn't really matter if it makes sense or not. I don't need to justify the fact that I have no interest in helping you. Guess I'm not as evil as I used to be, if I even have room to say that. I suppose I'm more on the... "chaotic neutral" end of the spectrum," he commented, making air quotes with his fingers.

"Besides, did you actually think that all this time, I was letting you push me around because I was scared of you?" He gave a condescending laugh, turning away from her with his hands raised at his sides. "You really aren't all that bright, are you?"

The she-demon took in one long, shaking breath to keep herself from lunging at him and practically ripping him apart. She still needed the obnoxious blonde, regardless of how much he pissed her off. "Bill, if I have to-"

Bill scoffed in amusement, looking back at her. "Ooh, we're on a first name basis now, are we? Well, if that's the case, you mind finally giving me yours?" He spun on his heels to face her. "I've gotta admit I'm at least somewhat interested in knowing."

The she-demon gave him the most devious grin she could manage. "If you really must know, it's Cryptos. Elizabeth Cryptos," she admitted honestly, looking down and examining her clawed fingers.

Bill groaned, rolling his eyes. "Real original," he muttered, tapping a foot. "Well, Elizabeth, you mind if I wake up from this long ass dream already?"

Elizabeth tilted her head, as if in thought, then shrugged. "I don't see why not," she cooed, looking as smug as a blacked out image possibly could. "But don't think I'm giving up here. You're getting off easy this time."

Bill chuckled. "I'll keep that in mind," he replied as Elizabeth raised a hand and snapped, the sound reverberating through the emptiness.

Bill opened his eyes, blinking away a feeling of grogginess. He felt strangely warm. And not just because it was the middle of July. He let his vision focus enough to note that he wasn't where he remembered passing out. Actually, he was lying comfortably in Dipper's bed. He rubbed his eyes, then realized that Dipper was even in the room with him. The brunette was slumped over the side of the bed, his forehead resting against his arm, presumably asleep. Bill glanced around their bedroom, noticing the many empty cups on the counter he could only assume had been filled with coffee. It was no wonder the very air itself smelled of caramel.

"Yeesh, kid..." the blonde mumbled quietly to himself. "Worry much?" he huffed, reaching out a hand and running his fingers through Dipper's chestnut hair softly. Bill briefly wondered how long he'd been out, but figured that he wouldn't get any of that information staying in bed. He moved as quietly as he could manage, standing up and popping his back. He felt like he'd been in a coma, his body was so stiff. But he supposed that couldn't be helped. With a sigh, he stepped to the other side of the bed and leaned down towards his idiotic boyfriend. Reaching his arms around Dipper, Bill pulled him upwards and lay him on the comforter. Dipper didn't so much as respond, only giving a slight grumble in his sleep.

Stupid kid... Bill thought, annoyed. He must've tried staying awake until the demon had finally gotten up. Only on very rare occasions was Dipper that heavy a sleeper. And on all of said occasions, it was simply because he had made the mistake of depriving himself of it altogether. Muttering, Bill turned and picked up the cups - all twelve of them - the brunette had brought upstairs, and practically juggled them on his way to the kitchen. He sat them down in the sink, then rubbed his temples. His head was pounding, and his throat felt dry. Well, he had apparently been sleeping for a pretty long time, so it was likely he was just dehydrated. Regardless, he didn't like it at all.

"Well look who's finally up," a voice said from their place at the table.

Bill didn't bother looking back, and opened up the fridge. "Not in the mood, Sixer," he growled, pulling a water bottle off one of the shelves and closing the door. He pulled the cap off and chugged down about half of it in one gulp, hoping like hell his migraine wouldn't last.

Ford snorted from behind him, watching the demon with wary eyes. He took a sip from his own cup of coffee, glancing back down at his newspaper. "You plan on telling me anytime soon why you were asleep for two days? Or why you still have scars from that little hospital visit when you should've just regenerated?"

Bill twisted around to face him, trying not to let it show how easily pissed off the old man could make him. He rubbed his arm, where the long, crooked lines ran across his skin. Instead of getting angry, he chose to fight fire with fire, grinning mischievously. "Ooh, don't you pay attention! I'm flattered, Fordsy. Really, I am. But I'm a bit young for you now, don't ya think?"

Ford went completely still and silent, and Bill noticed that his eye twitched in fury. Unable to resist the urge, the blonde snickered quietly at that. Which might've been a mistake, because Ford moved faster than someone his age probably should have been able to. He reached a hand into his coat and pulled out a pistol, pointing it at the demon. He glowered, pulling back the hammer and turning off the safety. "I can shoot you any time I want, Cipher. I've got a pretty reasonable amount of evidence to support the theory that you won't get back up if I put a bullet between your eyes," he pointed out, tone low and menacing.

Bill pressed his palm against the gun, an eyebrow raised. "Cool it, will ya?" He didn't even flinch. "Besides, I know a certain Pine Tree that wouldn't be very happy if you killed me." Ford hesitated a moment before he eased up on the trigger, lowering his weapon. Silence crawled between them as he begrudgingly turned the safety back on and pocketed the pistol. With an annoyed glare, Ford sat back down in his seat, lifting the cup of coffee off the table and up to his lips. Bill sat as well, directly across from him. "So you just carry that thing around with you all the time?" the blonde inquired jokingly, looking amused.

Ford cocused his attention back on whatever news article he'd been reading when Bill walked in. "I never know when I might need it," he responded flatly, pushing his glasses up on the bridge of his nose.

There was a strange moment of silence in which neither spoke, which seemed to catch Ford off gaurd. He'd expected something snarky from the demon, and glanced up expectantly. Bill's eyes were trained on the tabletop. He seemed deep in thought. "I guess you're probably right about that, Sixer," he said in an uncharacteristically soft tone.

Ford knit his brows together, puzzled. That had been odd. But for the moment he ignored it, instead opting to change the subject. "Is Dipper still upstairs?" he asked, taking another sip of his drink.

For whatever reason, Bill's eyes lit up with something unreadable. He chuckled. "Yeah. Stupid kid." He scoffed, leaning into the chair and tilting his head back to look at the ceiling. "Could've used his time doing anything while I was out. And he wasted it worrying over nothing." He scoffed, shrugging slightly in his seat. "I guess that probably says something."

That seemed to catch Ford's attention, and he stared unblinking at the demon. There was yet another long pause, and it seemed Ford was unsure quite how to respond to that. "It does," he finally said, almost entirely blank. This didn't seem like Bill. Or at least, not the Bill he made a deal with fourty years prior to this. A lot could happen in forty years, he supposed.

But hell, this didn't even seem like the same Bill that had taken hold of the town not nearly that long ago.

And then it seemed to hit Ford. He gave a smirk, raising his brow at the blonde. He chuckled, then took another long drink of his coffee, just about finishing off the cup. "What're you laughing about?" Bill asked in a poorly hidden defensive tone.

Ford stood up, gulping down the last bit of his drink. "Nothing," he replied with a shrug, walking towards the sink and leaving his newspaper at the table. He sat the mug down in it.

He made no move towards the doorway, and Bill grew annoyed with his insinuations. "Trying to tell me I've got a soft spot for Pine Tree, is that it, Fordsy?" he inquired angrily, eyes narrowed.

Ford spun to face him, leaning an arm on the counter. "I didn't say that. You did," he ribbed, grinning like nobody's business.

Bill paled at that, but made a real effort not to let it show too much. "Well, I'll tell you now that I absolutely do not," he insisted, crossing his arms. The demon stood up from his seat and crossed towards Ford. "I just..." He couldn't seem to find the right words. All of his words arranged themselves in a very mortifying manner within his head. Muddled tangents and lovesick rambling about the boy he was glad he'd suppressed. In very few situations had Bill ever held his tongue, but it seemed that recently everytime he did it was for the sake of his pride. Who could ever take him seriously again if he admitted such things so openly?

"You just what?" Ford asked slyly, a smile creeping onto his lips.

Bill opened his mouth to say something, although he wasn't sure what, when he was interrupted. "OH MY GOSH, YOU'RE AWAKE!" a voice Bill had never been more grateful to hear squeaked. Mabel darted through the doorway and practically threw herself at him, hugging him tightly. Extremely tightly. Bill could probably compare her grip to that of a python. "DIP WAS FREAKING OUT AND THAT MADE ME FREAK OUT AND WE THOUGHT YOU MIGHT NOT GET UP AND IT'S BEEN TWO DAYS SO I STA-"

Bill hushed her with a laugh, a hand on her shoulder to push her lightly off of him. Or at least hint at his discomfort with the situation. She seemed to catch on, and let go, but she was still bouncing up and down restlessly, eyes searching his face like it was the last time she'd ever see it. "Never scare us like that. I swear Dip just about lost his mind," she said, her hands held down in front of her body and her thumbs tapping against one another.

Awkwardly, Bill raised a hand up and rubbed the back of his neck. He gave a really nervous chuckle, eyes glancing all around. "You guys are that attached to me...?" he questioned, making a failed attempt to hide how this entire thing made him feel.

Feel.

He needed to stop doing that.

But it was just so damn hard with this soul in his body. With all his unnecessary affection towards Dipper, his endearment for Mabel, his kinship with Pacifica. All of it had the potential to be his undoing. Sure, he knew better than anyone all of Elizabeth's weaknesses, but she knew all of his as well. And then some he had yet to figure out. It used to be he could move any which way he wanted without a second thought.

But it seemed that recently, all he ever did was think.

Thinking and rethinking and overthinking. The stress of it all was becoming difficult to bear.

If that she-demon dangled the life of all these people in front of him for real, would he cave?

Or would he still be able to choke out his defiance?

Mabel nodded, smiling. "Of course, silly! You're a part of our family now," she pointed out, her eyes glimmering jubilantly. Bill just nodded, forcing himself not to wince and pretending that didn't make his chest tighten considerably. Mabel grabbed his wrists suddenly, clearly oblivious to his extremely stiff and out of character body language. "Speaking of which, you need to go say hello to Soos! And Melody! They got back yesterday." She started tugging Bill along, rambling like an excited schoolgirl. "They are just the absolute cutest couple! Some of my best work, if I do say so myself. Been dating for almost ten years! Shh, don't tell anyone I said this, but I think Soos is going to propose soon." She pressed her index finger to her lips, looking back to wink at the blonde. "But you didn't hear it from me."

Bill just forced himself to look interested, glancing at Ford as he passed by and practically sending off mental distress signals. He seemed to catch on, too, and nodded towards Bill. The demon knew the look on his face well. He used to see it all the time when Ford was young. It was the 'we can talk more later' look.

Bill breathed a sigh of relief at that.