Author's Note: Sorry for the wait! Here's Chapter 2 of Something Wicked!
Chapter 2: And he appears...
Axolotl probably thought they were being hilarious. Bill had never felt this powerless before in his whole existence. Which was saying something, because he had existed for a long time. Billions of those insignificant blips of time humans called a life time. The dream demon had seen it all. Experienced it all, or perhaps, all that was worth dirtying his hands in.
Some things, he found, were not worth the effort.
This was one of those times.
Indeed, he, as embarrassing as it had been, had cried out for salvation. Axolotl answered. Though nothing in this universe or even all the rest could escape the power of words.
Words, especially when used carelessly, could destroy whole worlds. Whole realities and the spaces in between torn asunder from one, simple, utterance. Throw in a handshake, and well, things got a whole lot worse.
So, Bill begrudgingly clamped on the anger he felt at Axolotl for now.
He could not make plans. Not yet. Not until he dealt with the current problem rearing its ugly head.
Bill was being pursued by an entity. One he had yet to deal in over a trillion years and how he wanted to tear apart Stanford, his obnoxious twin, and those meddlesome children. Oh, he would make it last too. Until each begged pitifully for the other's lives to be spared.
His upset would be put to good use until he could deal with Axolotl.
He just had to live through this to see that day arrive, and he was sure he could stoke the flames of hatred enough to reach his goal.
But first...he needed to play nice.
His body gave a creak as he opened another portal in some other dumb human's mind. He had to keep switching minds if he wanted to keep ahead of his pursuer and that was starting to take a tole.
He was glad he had hidden himself all throughout human history. If he had not, well...there was no way he would be able to enter all these flesh bags minds. It probably would have made the chase boring for the entity, if it could even feel the thrill of the chase, that is.
Each portal he made into the next mindscape was becoming more and more unstable as he continued..
It would not be long until he was completely out of power and at the beast's mercy, but all he needed was one more portal. One specific portal.
And he was glad he had tricked Pine Tree and inhabited his body for a bit. That made things easier on the dream demon. He did not have to expend as much energy
The portal in question opened for him and he hid inside. Now he just needed to wait for Pine Tree to fall asleep.
Time passed and Bill idly watched through Pine Tree's eyes as he laughed and caught up with his obnoxious friends and family. It was so boring the dream demon almost fell asleep, which was impossible. Their conversations were also far too sappy he almost wanted the entity to find him and end it now.
He watched as Pine Tree grew tired and made his way upstairs.
Finally!
He appeared behind the flesh bag as he appeared in his own mindscape. Eyes closed, waiting to be whisked away into the land of dreams. First things first though.
The dream demon gave the boy a once over. Per usual the meatbags grew quickly, but Pine Tree was still recognizable. Bill never forgot those he wanted to seek vengeance on.
Sneering he spoke up.
"Aw, you almost looks cute when you sleep, Pine Tree...for an ugly human that is…"
It was like pouring gasoline on a fire.
The teen startled and jerked awake. The shock, horror, was gratifying.
"Bill?!"
"Pine Tree?!" The dream demon gasped in false alarm, mocking the teen.
-
Inwardly Dipper was panicking.
This can't be happening! This can't be happening!
"You…!" The teen stopped short and got his real first good look at the dream demon in almost four years. He looked... terrible. Cipher was still shaped like a triangle, but his sides were chipping. Fine cracks scattered all over his now dull surface. He looked like he would crumble into dust at any moment and even though he was levitating it was clear that that was taking all he had. He did not even light up when he talked. Dipper's voice was nothing more than a whisper when he asked, "What happened to you?"
"Aw, is that concern I hear, Pine Tree?" The dream demon batted his single eye at him.
Dipper's lip curled in disgust. As if he was concerned about the being who almost killed his sister.
"No! Just... surprised is all…"
Because they were in the dreamscape. Anyone could be anything in here if they only thought about it, and though Bill was an entity trapped here, he too had no problems bending everything within to his will. He was not physical here, so why did he look like this?
"Well you shouldn't be, because this is all your fault. Well, I guess I shouldn't give you all the credit...it was your family and miserable friends I have to thank for this."
Protectiveness flashed through Dipper as Bill mentioned his friends and family.
"We beat you," Dipper said, furrowing his brows. "Ford, he…he erased Grunkle Stan's mind while you were in it, you...you shouldn't be here!"
Grunkle Stan had almost been lost forever, and Bill was still here. It was gut wrenching to even think about.
There was low laughter from the dream demon, but it raised no further than an unnerving chuckle.
"Oh, I have my ways, but none of that matters now."
The brown-haired teen swallowed thickly when the dream demon turned his back to him. The urge to run was rising, but Bill was obviously in a weakened state. Plus, without a vessel or his physical form returned to him, what harm could he really cause Dipper here? There were a plethora of terrifying examples that flashed across the teen's mind of what Bill could do with mental trauma alone, but he stamped them down.
He was in control here. This was his mindscape, so long as he remained vigilant he would be alright.
"You see, Pine Tree, we have a problem," Bill began. "Soon poor ole' Bill Cipher will be no more."
"What do you mean?"
Was that not a good thing? Of course, not a good thing for Bill, but for everyone he had plans on getting revenge on it was. There should be no we. There was a catch, there had to be.
Bill's arm shook with the effort of raising his cane. The tip touched Dipper's nose and the boy flinched back.
"What I mean is that it is coming."
"It?"
"It is going to be hard to explain to that, poor, poor, dumb human brain of yours, but I'm going to try, kid," Bill began, twirling his cane around with some dramatic flair. Apparently he still had enough energy to waste on theatrics. "I'd like to think I'm pretty powerful, but unfortunately for me, there are others...And one in particular. Hm, let's give it a name that you can understand without losing your mind to madness...Marsephotec."
"Marsephotec?" he echoed.
"Yes, it is a being above time, unfortunately," Bill said, a little chagrined, from the looks of it. Dipper faintly wondered why. "It is mindless, only concerned for its duty, unable to be reasoned with."
He spoke as if he had tried to reason with the entity. Obviously, that had not worked.
"What's its duty?"
"To make sure we all follow the rules," Bill muttered bitterly. "You see, Pine Tree. Time Baby kept time in balance in this universe, you saw how upset he was when I screwed around with this dimension, but that meddlesome entity has been in the works since before that obnoxious infant was a twinkle in this universe's eye. Marsephotec does not keep time in balance so much as it makes sure the story plays out like it's supposed to. The way your meddlesome friends and family defeated me was-"
"Dipper!" Mabel's voice caterwauled and if Bill had, had the energy the brown-haired teen was certain red flames would have erupted from all around him.
"Of all the times!" he snarled, the noise tinny and unnerving. Angry Bill was always unsettling, but furious Bill made that version of the dream demon seem like a purring house cat in comparison. He flashed red, once, one corner of him fell away and disintegrated. The dream demon could not have cared less at that moment. His cane was underneath Dipper's chin, tilting his head up, and forced the teen to look at Bill directly in the eye. "This isn't finished, Pine Tree. But for now, I need you to forget!"
The dream demon placed his cane, then, on the boy's forehead. Dipper flinched. There was no sensation, but his body still jolted at being in close proximity to the dream demon.
The dreamscape melted around him and with it his memories faded into nonsensical mush. The waking world rushed up to meet him, and that involved a giddy Mabel about two inches from his face.
"Geez, Mabel, give me some room!" the teen squawked, sitting up.
"Hurry up and get dressed, Dippin' Sauce. Breakfast is ready!" Mabel said before running down the stairs at full speed.
Dipper swallowed and moved to get up. He tried to recall what he had dreamed about last night, but came up with nothing.
Slipping from beneath his blanket the teen got dressed and made his way down stairs to see what was for breakfast.
Chapter 2: And he appears End