A few days passed... The final week of the school year has arrived... And on Monday evening, the school's talent show is on its way to start.
The gymnasium has been set with a stand and curtains, lights, equipment... Everything has been worked on to celebrate the beginning of the final stretch before the summer break.
The room is getting crowded in large part with the students who didn't sign up to perform anything. Dipper and Mabel arrive around an hour early at the gymnasium.
"Can you believe it, Bro-bro? Our Sammy, out there on stage?" Mabel leads her brother while she gets a seat near the front rows.
"Yeah... It's surprising, but in a good way..." Dipper goes to sit next to her. "I remember how afraid he would've been of the idea last year..."
"He feels so much more confident than he used to!" Mabel comments, having a little too much optimism about it.
However, backstage, Samuel is very nervous, struggling to breathe normally. He intends to go through with what he's set himself to do, but for now, he finds it safer to go to the nearest closet door and isolate himself.
With that action, Bill shows up, lighting the area around with his glowy hue. "What's the big deal, Fuzzball?" The question is obviously purely rhetorical, so he continues. "Some stage fright, uh...? Not everyone comes to these worlds with an innate talent for having the spotlight on them!" He says a little smugly and egotistically.
After a little silence, Bill continues. "It'll be fine. Everything will be under my control... Everything is planned and you won't have to worry..."
Samuel ends up leaving out some words for the first time. "But is it a good idea...? What if...?"
The triangle cuts him off with a snappier behavior. "SHUSH!" He then continues normally. "You've come this far thanks to my guidance... It would be idiotic to give up now when our goal is so close..." Samuel stays mute, letting those words get to him. "I'll take care of everything that scares you about it, you don't even need to fear."
Sammy lets his low self-esteem get to him. "... Do I even make a difference then...?"
"You sure do, Fuzzball! I wouldn't have been able to get to this goal without your help! So remember, you're the reason why we will meet success tonight... Remember why we do it..."
Samuel thinks of his friends and what they've gone through for a while. It seems to calm down his anxiety a little.
Bill then adds, leaving out thoughts in the open. "And uh, look at me... hiding backstage at a show... while using a fleshy disguise... manipulating things from the inside to no one's notice... This is bringing back memories..."
He says that, a little pensive about the time with his previous vessel. The idea of it causes Samuel to seek a change of subject in case it ends up getting a little too heavy. "Okay, I'll do my best... I..."
His sentence is cut short when they hear the door open out of nowhere. It's one of the supervisors of the show. "Samuel...? What are you doing here...?"
Samuel freezes a little, but he can tell from the corner of his eye that Bill managed to disappear just in time.
He gets asked. "Were you talking to yourself...?"
Sammy breathes and answers. "It's silly, but... yes... I'm a little nervous, and I've heard that letting out some things to yourself helps... Just decided to give it a try..."
"That's... um..." The adult who noticed him doesn't really want to judge him, so he tries to sound neutral about it. "That's kinda true, but I don't know if isolating yourself like that is a good idea... We still have time before the show, why don't you spend some of that time breathing outside, or talking to your friends...?"
"Um... Yes, you may be right..." He decides to go and try to find Dipper and Mabel before the show. "I'll do that, thanks!" He says, genuinely, before leaving the stands for now.
Just two minutes later, he finds them and reaches for them. "Dipper, Mabel! You made it!"
Mabel cheers up greatly and can't help but show her positiveness to his face. "Sammy! No, you made it! I can't believe you're about to do this! I..."
"Easy, Sis..." Dipper gently stops her with slight amusement. "Maybe our friend doesn't need to be yelled at right now..."
Samuel plays it cool, as much as he can. "Oh, it's all good... I..."
He says that, but he's still feeling very nervous. And it shows enough to his friends that it causes Mabel to feel a little bad. "Oh, um... Sorry, Sammy..."
"It's fine, I promise..." He's being as genuine as he can, even though his feelings go against him being relaxed. "I'm glad you're here... There's still a decent amount of time before the show starts and having you see me on stage. I'm just gonna make a short tour to calm myself before then."
Knowing how nervous his friend can be, Dipper asks, a little worried. "You're not gonna bail on this, right...?"
"No no, of course not... It wouldn't be good of me... I wanna be brave... And it would be a huge disservice to you..."
This sentence makes Dipper curious "What did you mean by that...?"
Mabel's curiosity has risen too. "Disservice because we're here and not seeing you perform would be bad? I wouldn't be mad at you."
Suddenly, Samuel gets scared of maybe having said too much and decides to move on. "Look, I... I'm not even sure what I'm saying right now. I really need that time to pull myself together, okay...? Please don't overthink..."
He leaves quickly enough, going to another corner of the gymnasium that is getting busier every passing moment.
As part of the students who are here to attend, Alan is here. And his state seems to have gotten even worse, as if the week-end did the opposite of getting him relaxed. His stress, troubled sleep and paranoia have risen even more, and he completely lost his ways of fooling others.
As he sits there on his seat, trying to fight the fears that are eating him alive, he catches Samuel walking around, giving him a startling reaction of terror and rising his panic.
Bill observes from where he is, commenting coldly to himself. "As expected... Now let's the plan begin..."
Shortly before the show begins, he manages to put Alan into another vision...
Alan sees himself in what seems to be the very near future. In that same gymnasium, with the talent show having started and an act of improv is finishing. It is then announced "For our next act, please welcome Samuel...", causing the boy to go on stage with files he made to use with the computer and projector that are at his disposal.
He takes the mike cheerfully to start a little speech. "Thank you, thank you very much! It's a pleasure to be here on stage in front of you all!" He talks while also setting the computer to show what he wants.
"Tonight, I will give you a sight to behold! I'll be able to completely blow your minds thanks to a big reveal I will do in front of you! And that is..." As he acts a little dramatically, a giant spot lights Alan up for the whole audience to see. Sammy then starts sounding more playful and "I will showcase... a liar... a fraud... a two-faced idiotic coward... I will give you all the undeniable proof that this guy is a terrible person!"
As he speaks, video footage that came out of absolutely nowhere appears on the projector. Those manage to showcase Alan's worst behaviors for the whole audience to see and judge. The implications for what's going to happen when this presentation is done are not good, and the vision is getting more and more twisted and uneasy from then on. Until eventually...
Alan goes back to reality out of nowhere, like startling himself awake from a bad dream, right as the show is starting. That vision made his already hugely crippling anxiety reach a new level. All of these have been exact foreshadowing of what would happen mere minutes later...
And in fact... late in the talent show's run, an act of improv is announced, and Samuel is scheduled next... Lead by complete uneasiness and fear, Alan stands up and moves away, finding an access to the backstage. This is when Samuel is announced. Although no one, not even Dipper and Mabel from their seats, can tell that this is Bill is charge.
Sammill is getting close to the computer that's been set up for him, planning to use it for his performance... He grabs the mike and starts a speech for which he picked the words very carefully too...
"Thank you, thank you very much! It's a pleasure to be here on stage in front of you all!"
Alan's heart drops completely, his fears have reached a level that probably shouldn't be able to be felt by any living creature...
"Tonight, I will give you a sight to behold!" Sammill says, with the same playfulness as the vision. "I'll be able to completely blow your minds thanks to a big reveal I will do in front of you! And that is..."
However, in a matter of seconds, he gets violently tackled to the ground. Alan ran in a state of panic and yells at his face. "I HAVE WORKED SO HARD FOR BUILDING THIS REPUTATION AND GETTING PEOPLE TO WORSHIP ME! I WILL NOT LET YOU RUIN EVERYTHING!" He readies himself to give a violent punch on his face, but he is stopped by the nearest faculty member around.
Alan is surprised by the contact, getting back to his senses to some extent. And as he looks around, he realizes what he just did and what situation he's in. And meanwhile... Sammill just silently smirks at this situation.
As the entire audience is in disbelief, the curtains get closed by emergency, with some damage control having to be dealt with while Sammill gets back to his feet and plays innocent. "I can't believe he would do this to me..."
Alan is completely shocked and lost on everything as he's sent on an emergency meeting at the principal's office while the final acts of the show occur.
In the meantime, Dipper and Mabel are extremely shocked and, without exchanging a single word, they decide to leave their seats and try to get more information.
Once inside the office, the two boys are sat and the principal asks what's going on, scolding the assailant.
"You're in a lot of trouble, Alan! Not only do we not accept violence here, you've also made a complete fool of yourself and almost ruined the talent show! What came into you?"
However, the boy is in a mental state where he can't do or say anything... His mind has gotten so messy that he is completely disoriented and unable to comprehend what's going on around him.
"It looks like he lost his tongue..." Sammill says, sarcastically, but still tries to come across as someone who isn't guilty of anything. "Listen, Sir, although I have been the victim just now, I'm probably not the one you wanna hear stuff from... I would recommend that you ask Shooti..." He coughes suddenly to stop himself. "Sorry..." He fakes having to take a deep breath, but he might actually need it for what he's about to say out loud, both in and out the fleshy disguise... "You need to talk to and question Mabel and Mason Pines. My best friends... With your permission..."
He stands up and prepares to leave temporarily. Just like he expected, it wasn't even needed to look for them, as they already found their way right outside the office's door.
Dipper looks closely when Sammill comes out and can't hold his tongue. "Bill, are you...? What...?"
"Shh..." Sammill cuts him off by touching his lips, and silently advises them to enter the room. Then he looks at Mabel, who is rather uneasy, in order to give her the confidence she needs.
Dipper and Mabel enter mainly in silence after saluting the principal, feeling the room to be rather tense. Their presence doesn't change anything about Alan's behavior. He is still awfully disoriented about everything.
"So, your friend here..." He says, referring to Samuel... "... says I needed to talk to you about the incident that happened on stage... I really don't understand why, as I've only heard praises and compliments about your classmate... Do you have any idea why...?"
Dipper would speak, but he keeps himself in line, knowing he shouldn't be the one to do it. He gives Mabel a gentle nudge. "Go on, Sis..."
Mabel sighs deeply, and starts. "Sir, please forgive my language, but... the truth is that Alan is full of poop... He's actually a huge bully... Ever since the beginning of the school year, he took advantage of me and my kindness... And the amount of awful things he's said and done... They're way too many to list..."
Seeing her struggle, Dipper takes the liberty to continue to give her time to compose herself. "All those praises you've heard of... They were fabricated by himself. He kept going on and on about how much of a great person he is, but he was lying about everything so other classmates would praise and defend him without using their own judgement... He did that in order to hide who he really is, someone who's been messing with my sister and kept getting away with it..."
The principal trusts what he hears, but still asks Alan. "... Is it true...?"
Alan still feels like a huge mental wreck, but a part of him hears the question and leaves out a faint confirmation.
Mabel decides to continue, she struggles not to cry, as it gets heavier to remember. "He made me do most of his works for him, cover for him when he did bad things like skipping school... He's been calling me by names I didn't like, all of this because I made the mistake of being too submissive to him... And when I decided not to be that anymore, he..." Her voice cracks a little, giving Dipper a cue to fill in for her for a little bit.
"... He decided to use his reputation as the good guy to paint my sister in a bad light in order to keep her in his grasp... I've seen him... be violent to her. I've also been informed by Bill..." Dipper very quickly bites his tongue as a freakout reaction before continuing. "... by Bill...-ievable statements from our best friend Samuel, that he attempted to steal from her because she was standing her ground..."
Once again, Alan leaves out a silent confirmation when he's being stared at.
Mabel breathes, having dried her eyes a little. "Alan has been physically abusive of my brother as well, for the only reason that he tried to defend me... While pretending to be a caring guy who helped him. And when he got physically abusive to me a couple of weeks ago... he exploited my brother's anger to paint him as the bully..."
The principal suddenly remembers. "Wait, I remember that..." He looks at Dipper. "We gave you detention because of that..."
Dipper sighs. "You did, but I can understand that you and other faculty members were fooled by Alan... All this time, he took everyone for fools by hiding his true rotten core! He messed with all of us!"
After having been mute for a while, Sammill decides to speak up. "I think that should cover most of the things that my poor friends had to handle because of this guy. He attacked me on stage, probably just because I'm someone who matters a lot for these two. Big mistake..."
As Alan remains in his mute, lost and panicked state of mind, he then hears...
"Then I've heard quite enough... Alan, all of what you've done have put you in a lot of trouble. And I think the only outcome would be expulsion, without validating your credits for the school year if you spent your time lying and cheating."
Normally, anyone would cheer from hearing that sweet justice about someone they hate. But Mabel lets her now more concerned voice be heard. "Wait... Does it have to be this way...? Isn't there another solution...?" She sighs, unable to believe that she's saying this. "I could call Alan a lot of things... A liar... A grifter... A scumbag... And other things I wouldn't want to say. But... I know for a fact that he is not an idiot..."
"Sis..." Dipper shouldn't be surprised to hear that from her, yet he kind of is in those circumstances.
Mabel looks at her brother due to this reaction. "I'd want him to be punished greatly. But at the same time... I don't know if he completely deserves to lose his chances at an honest scholarship because of those bad ways. I'm sure there could be a way for him to get this punishment without losing it."
Bill is completely lost, having expected Mabel to be happy to finally have the worst guy she knows exposed for who he truly is. He speaks up under his disguise. "Why... Why would you want that for him? After all the awful things he's put you through?"
"Because..." Mabel looks at Sammill's eyes, knowing exactly what to say. "No matter what... I do believe that... everyone... deserves another chance." Knowing her words had the hidden impact she means, she adds. "You understand that, don't you?"
"..." Bill is shocked and simply answers... "Yes..."
The principal concludes. "I will take that in consideration, but for now I'm gonna have to call his parents and let them know. You three should probably leave now. Don't worry, I'll make sure the suffering you got won't go unpunished from now on..."
Mabel stands up maturely, saying. "Thank you, Sir..." She leaves the room with her two friends.
Once they closed the door behind them, Mabel can barely contain her happiness. This causes her to squee and immediately hug Sammill, although...
"Haha, calm down a bit, Mabel..." Samuel's voice comes out instead.
She has a huge smile regardless. "Sammy, hi!"
Dipper smiles too. "I guess Bill didn't want that hug."
"Oh, he's glad he could help... But yeah, you might have a point..."
"I can't believe you and Bill managed to pull this off! To help me!" She looks at her brother. "To help us..."
Dipper, while having reservations on the means, can't disagree. "You became quite a sneaky trickster, didn't you...?" He gives a gently bump to his friend.
"Heh... Bill did most of the work, I can't take much credit. I helped him because you deserve it..." Samuel says with a big smile. "The results are clearly worth it."
Although Bill is very satisfied to see the fruits of his meddling... Instead of gloating, he stays there, floating, arms crossed, with a very pensive behavior.
As much as he would really despise to admit it out loud... Mabel's words to him did leave quite an impression on him.
After the quick exchanges, they hangout for a little while outside the school before going home.
Author notes: And here we got a very long time coming... One for which I hope I made satisfying enough.
And one that probably would be a good place to conclude Arc 2. It would be time to begin the conclusive part of this Bill journey...
Thanks for reading!