Author's Notes:Hi guys, we're back again with another addition to this story. Thank you for all your reviews and I hope you enjoy.
(Back with Bill…)
They had been escorted home immediately by Stan and Ford who also ordered Wendy and Janna to return to their own homes.
Once they arrived Ford wasted no time dialing the castle on the mirror phone down in the depths of the lab. And just as he feared complete chaos had erupted within the Pines household as he did.
"What do you mean he took it!" Hannibal's scream had shook the shack to it's core.
Meanwhile, In his bedroom, Bill Cipher walks up and down the room carrying various items while Dipper sits on his bed talking with Wendy.
"Yeah everything is…no it's not fine." Dipper said deciding not to lie. "Bill's dad is not happy."
"How could you let this happen!" Hannibal's scream was almost deafening. Even though the calls was being made three stories below and underground for that matter.
Bill strains to pick more items up as his hands get fuller and fuller.
"Yeah it's probably best that you guys lay low for a while." Dipper advised into the phone.
"He caught us off guard." Stan's yell is barely audible, but loud enough to hear.
"Off Guard?" Hannibal's screams. "You wouldn't have been caught off guard if you had been there!"
" Hannibal-" Luisa tries to interject.
"No, we gave them one job, protect our son."
"I did protect him!" Ford screamed.
"Us?" Dipper asked having to yell himself. "Yeah we're going to lay low too." He stops as he sees Bill stuffing the random things he's gathered into a book bag. "Sorry Wendy I'm gonna have to call you back." He hangs up the phone and addresses the problem head on.
"Look, Bill, this is a stressful situation, I get that. But would it kill you to slow down for a second? You're going kinda overboard." He picks up typewriter and soda cup. "I mean, do you really need to pack this vintage laptop and this purple-y, bubbly tea thingy?"
Bill wordlessly takes the items and packs them into his bag. The typewriter dings and Bill strains to lift the sack.
"Look, lets just calm down and take a breath-"
Mabel comes storming in the room closing the door behind her. "All they're doing is yelling!"
"Which is why I don't have time to breathe." Bill huffed. "The longer Toffee has the book the worse it could be." He picks up the backpack, and everything inside rips through the bag and sticks out. "I can't waste a... sec...ond!" Bill falls over backward onto the floor.
"Do you think he will try to destroy it?" Mabel asked.
"What do you mean?" Dipper asked as Bill flails his arms and legs trying to get up with the bag weighing him down.
"He made Bill destroy the wand, and it caused him to loose half his magic." Mabel explained. "And Tad wasn't supposed to get the other half. Now he has the book."
"But why destroy it?" Dipper asked.
"Because if I don't have any magic I won't be able to threaten his plans." Bill said the obvious. "He's trying to get rid of the Cipher blood line so he can go unopposed and bring Seth back."
"Or he needs the book to do it." Dipper reasoned. "Eclipsa was his queen maybe she had a dark spell that can fix him." He looks at Bill and sighs. "Need some help there?"
"No! I am a strong, independent warrior prince." Bill growled before using magic to blast himself off the floor before landing in a standing position.
"We had to make a call!" Stan reasoned. "It was the book or the kids and since our job is to protect them we did."
"Bill you can't seriously be leaving." Dipper said.
"They stole my book! He... He took Axolotl! I made this mess. And I'm gonna be the one who cleans it up." Bill reasoned. "Beside they're too busy fighting to do anything right now." He added before pulling out his dimensional scissors. "Now I'm going with or without you." He said looking to Dipper and then Mabel as he cuts open a portal.
Dipper sighs but follows Bill into the portal with Mabel right behind him.
(On the other side of the Portal…)
Buff Frog smiles lovingly as he reads a story to his babies. "And so, brave Sir Croakian banished the wicked monsters from the land."
The tadpoles lay sleepily in there beds as Buff Frog sits nearby in a chair, with Katrina under his arm. "From that day on, the towns folk had all the corn they could eat."
Suddenly Bill comes through a dimensional portal and falls flat on his face.
Buff Frog's tadpoles start jumping around as the twins cross over.
"Ah Babies!" Mabel whispers.
Dipper comes through the dimensional portal.
Dipper looks down at Bill "Told you your backpack was too heavy."
Bill ignores him, abandoning the bag so he can get to his feet. "Buff Frog, I need to know where Ludo's hiding. I think he's planning something big."
Buff Frog looks taken aback "Yes, I know. Did you not get my letters?"
"Letters? You mean these?" Mabel pulls out said letters which are largely illegible drawings of Tad, corn, and a skull and crossbones.
"I thought the babies were sending us fan art." Mabel confessed sheepishly.
"Seriously, who writes warning notes in crayon?" Bill asked.
Buff Frog scoffs, Offended. "Oh, so sorry, I not go to school for learn fancy handwriting lessons!
"Sorry Buff Frog." Dipper says. "We're kind of pressed on time. Tad and Toffee stole the spell book."
Buff Frog unrolls a rolled-up map on his table as he spoke. "I mad this map when I infiltrate Tad's lair. I mark secret entrance here." He explained. "But we have gone back several times he is no longer there."
"It's a start." Dipper told him.
"Thank you, Buff Frog! This is exactly what we need!" Bill rolls up the map and goes for his bag.
"Leave it." Dipper told him.
"Yeah I'll come back for this stuff latter." Bill said seeming to agree as he opens another portal.
The teens step through to see the exterior of Tab's cave. Wind blows through the trees.
"Be careful." Buff Frog warned. "Even without Tad, Dangerous types in these parts."
The teens nodded to him as the portal closes.
(The Scene Pans Down To Two Monsters)
One who looks strangely like a bear squints off into the distance as he and a squirrel looking monster stand watch outside the entrance. Something in the distance approaches the cave.
"Hmm..." The bear says.
The object in the distance gets slightly closer and closer as the monster looks on in confusion.
Suddenly reality dawns on him just as the enemy comes into view of his partner.
Dipper, Mabel, and Bill ride on the back of a warnicorn shouting battle cries. Bill blasts the bear monster with chaos magic, as they gallop past the squirrel monster into the cave.
Bill blasts a metal chute on the ceiling to knock it loose and the teens jump onto the detached chute and ride it to the bottom of the corn grinder. Bill blasts open a door at the bottom. They are greeted with Monsters stand around holding weapons.
Bill and the twins attack.
"Cupcake Blast!" Bill yells ad Dipper drop kicks one of the several foes.
It was strange, Buff Frog said he and Bill's parents had searched here many times and had found nothing. Dipper looks perplex, had Tad come back now that he had the book?
A rain of cupcakes blast the enemies around him as he is deep in thought.
"Tiara Tornado" Bill cried as he jumps into the air and spins around shooting crowns out at them.
Mabel also joins the fray with a few blows of her own
"Stardust Daisy Devastation!" Bill screams. His throws the monsters away with a burst of daisy pollen.
Dipper sneezes. "Darn allergies." As monsters lie bruised and in pain around him.
Bill picks up a dwarf monster by the beard. "Where's Tad?"
"Who-?" The dwarf asked.
Bill shook him. "Don't you play dumb with me. I know he's here!"
Just then, an elephant monster enters wearing a shower cap and towel, holding a scrub brush, and covered in water. "Hey, guys, I know it's lame, but we gotta make a chore chart or something. That shower is grody!" She stops as she realizes the state her comrades are in. "Oh, no. Violence."
"Okay, what is going on here?" Mabel asked.
Dipper looks all around forcing himself to take in the scene. It had been nagging since they started their assault. For soldiers who were supposedly guarding a very powerful spell book, they had not seemed prepared for this attach. In fact, they looked just as confused as Mabel did.
"Oh I get it." A Bird girl said as she managed to get to her feet. "You're confused, we're not, like, fighting monsters. We're "alternative" monsters.
Dipper picks up some axes and spears trying to right everything after the mess they just caused. "Then what's up with all the weapons?"
"We found them here when we moved in." A Weasel girl. "They're perfect for tearing fashionable holes in clothes."
A short mole monster stretches the side of Dipper 's hoodie, and the weasel girl uses a spear to tear a hole in it.
"You're one of us now, dude." Weasel girl exclaimed before doing the same to Mabel's and Bill's clothes; much to the demon princes horror.
"Come let us show you around." Bird girl said.
The teens shrugged and followed their lead exploring the abandoned corn mine.
"This place really does look abandoned." Dipper pointed out.
"But what happened to the monsters who were here before?" Mabel asked, trying to get some answers.
"Not sure." Weasel girl answered. "The corn mine was working not too long ago." She explained. "The rats and other monsters worked the mine stealing corn and other crops from the kingdom before selling them to outcast like us."
"But they must have been figured out." Bird girl cut in. "Cause soldiers from the castle stormed the place. It's been abandoned ever since."
Of course, none of this was news to the teens. Buff Frog had filled them in on what happened while they had babysitted the tadpoles for the first time. However, they had been hoping that perhaps Tad would have returned here or at least left a clue to his whereabouts.
"Toffee must have his own hideout." Dipper reasoned. "That must be where he took him after saving him from your parents and the raid."
Bill groans. "This was all a waste of time."
"Oh, poor Axolotl. Who knows what horrible things they're doing to him?" Mabel cried.
"We have to think this through." Dipper suggested. "I know we want answers now, but we obviously need to do some research into Toffee and Seth. Maybe doing so will reveal the place where they're hiding out."
"We don't have time for that Pines!" Bill snapped.
Dipper raised his hands in submission. "Whoa, hey! Calm down. You're not seeing the situation clearly."
Bill stops as those words give him an idea. "Seeing clearly? ...That's it. I'll use the spying spell!"
"Since when do you know a spying spell?" Dipper asked.
"Oh, I saw it when we read Eclipsa chapter with Axolotl."
"Oh that's a great idea." Mabel exclaimed. "if it works to help us find Axolotl we should also use it to see if we can find Mina."
Bill face palms. "I can't believe I didn't think of that." He exclaimed.
"It's okay." Dipper tries to reassure him. "You've been under a lot of stress lately; we all are. Look we'll give you some space to try and get the spell working." He said guiding Mabel out the door as he spoke.
"You really are adamant about not learning any dark spells aren't you?" Bill asked.
"I know it seems silly…" Dipper tried to find the words to explain what he was feeling. "But there's this darkness in me, even before Toffee kidnapped me I could feel it growing. It's been like this since-"
"Since the monster arm?" Bill asked.
Dipper winced. "I don't blame you. Besides it's always been this way."
"What do you mean?" Mabel asked.
Dipper took a deep breath. "I know I say I hate magic because it's an easy way out, but that's not all of it. Ever since we started learning with Ford I felt it, like an over flowing dam about to burst. The more I leaned, the faster I picked up on things and the fuller that dam became and now since the monster arm it feels like…like."
"It could burst at any minute?" Bill asked.
Dipper nodded He had been forcing back this feeling for so long now. Hoping that by not using magic it would go away or lessen in strength. However, neither was the case, in fact the less he used the worst the build became.
"Bro why didn't you ever say anything?" Mabel asked.
"I got scared especially when Mina went crazy and started misusing the spells Ford taught us. And Ford , he expects me to be the perfect one, you know. I can't cause problems I'm supposed to fix the problems. He depends on me to be the responsible one…"
Mabel bit her lip looking guilty. She never realized how much pressure her carefree spirit put her brother through. In fact, she was just like Ford, she expected Dipper to always have the answer. She expected him to always be their to save the day and to save her on top of it.
Similarly, Bill was realizing that he was just as guilty. Here they were throwing caution to the wind to find answers. Even though time and time again they had bitten off more than they could chew. Why? Because he had Dipper, ever since he came to Earth Dipper and Mabel had protected him from Tad and his goons. They never failed to save him, and now he was realizing that he was no different than Ford or Mabel.
He blindly ran into danger because he knew Dipper would pull through for him in the end. Dipper helped him right every mistake, like freezing time, and that field trip fiasco! When he lured monsters to the Shack in a misguided attempt to make the twins feel better Dipper had been there to fix it. Dipper was always there to fix it, and he never really stopped to think how much pressure that must cause."
"Hey, it's fine" Dipper tried to reassure them. "I'm used to it."
"But you shouldn't have to be." Mabel insisted.
"Look we'll talk about it later." Dipper reasoned. "We need to give Bill some space."
Bill gave him a thankful nods and Dipper herded Mabel and the monsters out of the room.
Once they are gone Bill takes a deep breath and castes the spell. "I summon the All-Seeing Eye to tear a hole to let me spy. Or was it "in the sky"?" He faulters. Without the book he couldn't remember the exact words. He groans and tries again. "I summon the All-Seeing Eye."
Bill screeched as he creates an eyeball bat creature that flies around the room a few times before dissolving. "Okay that was weird, even for me." He shook his head and tried one more time.
"I summon the All-Seeing Eye to tear a hole into the sky. Reveal to me that which is hidden. Unveil to me what is forbidden."
A hole tears open to see a yak monster dyeing jeans.
"What? Ugh, not you." Bill waves his hand and a new tear opens.
This one shows Stan and Ford arguing with his parents. "Really? Still?" And his father wondered why he was so impulsive. "It's because sitting around and yelling solved nothing." He's half tempted to listen in but waves the image away; Axolotl was more important right now.
He would fix his own mistake this time. Another tear reveals Janna pouring grease on the floor outside a classroom at the High school. "Janna, you scoundrel." He laughs before waving his hand again. "Concentrate. Concentrate on Axolotl." He schooled himself.
The All-Seeing Eye opens to some sort of room with Axolotl siting and moaning on top of the open sell book with his back turned to Bill. Bill instantly takes the space in, trying to find any clues to his location. He can't see much, just old, cracked walls and a few torn tapestries. Strange it almost reminded him of the castle halls back at home. He couldn't see Tad or Toffee for that matter.
He did however notice the bald eagle and giant spider were sleeping on the ground close by. He thought back to how he had manipulated the spell to interact with what he could see. If he could cause Dipper and Wendy to fall off the skateboard maybe he could reach Axolotl somehow.
"Axol." Bill whispered "Can you hear me?"
Axolotl turns to face Bill holding a tub of chocolate pudding. "I told you I hate that nickname." He said before moaning with delight as he took another bite of his treat.
"Wait. Is that... pudding?" Bill asked.
Axolotl nodded "A whole tub of pudding."
Bill shook his head trying to focus, he wasn't sure how long he could hold the spell. Besides if Axolotl could hear and see him so could anyone else in the room. He looked to the bird and the spider still sleeping soundly. He had to make this quick. "Where are you?" He asked.
"In flavor heaven!" Axolotl exclaimed.
"No. Physically, where are you?" Bill clarified.
Axolotl looks down " ...On the ground."
Bill sighs, trying not to get frustrated, Why couldn't he ever get a straight answer with this guy? "No. Where are you in the universe?"
Axolotl 's eyes widen as he seems to understand. "Oh. Right. I'm in a castle. On the ground." He said justifying Bill's comparison to the room and his home castle.
"Axolotl, come on!" Bill says as he pushes against the tear. He reaches out to Axolotl, but his hands bumps against the All-Seeing Eye, creating ripples on the wall surface.
"The spying spell doesn't work that way." Axolotl said.
Bill presses his hand against the dimensional wall and closes his eyes. His cheek marks glowed as he pushed against the wall, harder. It starts to stretch like rubber.
Axolotl watches in bemusement while eating his pudding.
Bill opens his eyes, which are now glowing as well and his hand breaks through the dimensional wall.
Axolotl puts down the pudding "Hm. I have never seen that before." He looks thoughtful. "Perhaps your chaos magic is allowing you to bend the effects the spell has on reality. Fascinating." He says looking genuinely impressed.
"Axolotl, just... grab my hand!" Bill pleaded
Axolotl makes no move to do so. "Oh, no can do. Sorry. I belong to the book, and the book belongs to Tad now."
"Tad stole you!" Bill strained.
"Well, that's out of my hands." Axolotl shrugged.
"Come on, Axolotl, I can almost reach you. Come on...!" Bill begged.
"Yes, you are surprisingly close." Axolotl agreed, but still made no move to take his hand.
"Axolotl, don't you want to come with me?" Bill asked. "Do you really want to be stuck with Tad?"
"Stuck?" Axolotl looks thoughtful. Well, that's depends on why I got stuck her in the first place."
Bill's eyes stop glowing. The All-Seeing Eye starts to close.
"Okay fine, I took you for granted." Bill relented. "I should have listened to you more. Is that what you want to hear?"
"It's nice to hear" Axolotl admitted. "But you can't just wave a magic wand and fix your mistakes. With power comes responsibility." He says being surprisingly forth coming for once. "You must learn that with chaos comes consequences, your magic always has consequences."
"Then how do I use them for the better?" Bill asked. "How do I be more responsible if my kind of magic only caused destruction and those I care about to get hurt?"
"Learn to wield it in a way that caused prosperity for your allies and devastation for your foes." Axolotl advised.
"I can't, I need you, I can't do it alone." Bill reached out desperately one last time, but Axolotl is just out of reach.
The magical guide seems to smile at his words. "You'll do fine kid. You never needed me or this book."
Bill stops struggling as tears break free from his eyes and he watches as the spell begins to collapse completely. He pulls his hand free and just before the All-Seeing Eye closes completely, He gets one last glimpse of Axolotl.
The salamander was still smiling that reassuring smile like he had all the faith in the multiverse that Bill would be fine. That everything would be just fine and then he is gone.
"Axolotl..." Bill whispers.
"Bill?" Mabel and Dipper walk in looking concerned. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine." He answered absently still coming to terms with what happened.
"Did you find him?" Dipper asked running over to him.
"Yeah, he's fine, in some castle." Bill says wiping his face. "I thong you're right Pine Tree, we need to go back to the Shack and do sone research. Maybe Seth and his army had some secret base or something."
"Are you sure you're okay?" Mabel asked.
Bill shook his head. "I opened a widow right to him, I was able to brake through, all he had to do was take my hand, but he didn't." Bill looked down at his hand as if it was alien to him. "He said I don't need him; I never did."
"Well, you kind of did do your own thing and your own spells." Mabel agreed.
"Mabel!" Dipper scolded.
"No, she's right." Bill forced himself to push those painful feelings aside. "anyway, it wasn't a total loss. Axolotl is bound to the book and the book now belongs to Tad. Axolotl is the enemy now; he made a point to make that clear."
"So, we go back and make a plan." Dipper advised. "And we tell your parents and Ford what we managed to find out."
Bill nodded as they made their leave. They couldn't afford yo keep this little adventure a secret from them. Axolotl's safety and the return of the spellbook depended on it. Beside Axolotl was right, he needed to be more responsible with his magic and his decisions. To use them to be an aid for his allies and a weapon against his foes.
The elephant monster and bear monster run up to them suddenly
"Oh, my gosh." The elephant monster exclaimed. "It is you! We just realized you're Prince Bill! We're your biggest fans!"
"Yeah!" The bear monster agrees. "You're the rebel prince who does things your own way! Like us!"
"I used to think royalty was too detach from reality, like they didn't care about out cast monsters like us. But then I hear stories about you and realized you're just like us." The elephant monster explained. "Please, shoot us with a spell! Rip some awesome new holes in our jeans! Something!"
Bill shrugs. "Um, I guess I could cast something. How about... Super Strawberry Shake Quake?" He blasts the monsters with a strawberry energy blast, covering them in burns and rips.
"Wow! That is awesome!" bear monster cried.
Elephant monster gestured to her jeans. "Look at this sweet rip!"
"Let's go show the guys!" Bear monster runs out of the room with the elephant monster close behind. "Dude, I can't believe we met Bill Cipher."
Bill finds a smile slipping on his face. "I like them." He admitted. "They are my kind of people."
Dipper found himself agreeing. "Yeah they're not so bad."
"So, what now?" Mabel asked.
"We tell the adults." Bill said before cutting open a rift with his dimensional scissors right outside of Ford's lab.
"Ready?" Dipper asked as the portal closed.
Bill pocketed the scissors and nodded. "Ready."
Mabel opens the door to see Ford and Stan still on the Mirror phone with Bill's parents.
"Kids?" Stan looks surprised to see them.
Bill takes a deep breath and takes control, taking responsibility for his actions for once. Man of the boys could see him now. "Good you're still on the call."
"Bill sweety, is everything alright?" Luisa asked. She could tell something was up, Bill was acting different.
Not only that but he carried himself differently. Hannibal noticed it as well. "Is there something you would like to share?" he asked.
Bill nodded and then told them everything that had happened while they were on the phone with Ford and Stan.
Once he was done he waited for the yelling and back lash to begin, but to his surprise all the adults were just staring at him. He now realizes that he preferred the yelling!
"Oh, no, this is really bad, huh?" He asked, starting to freak out. "I messed up! I really messed this one up! I am so sorry, I wanted to fix it. I thought I could just go get Axolotl and fix this whole mess. Like it would just be that easy!:
Dipper watched as all the adults looked at each other, then turn back to Bill.
Hannible clears his throat. "I may not like how you went about doing this." He admitted. "But you did good." He assured his son.
"I…I Did?" Bill asked. "But the book of spells! Our-our-our family history! It's all gone!"
"Yes, but you managed to get us some clues as to where to look." Hannible reasoned.
"And you stayed safe while doing so." Lusia agreed.
"It was still reckless." Stan lectured.
"We just want to help." Dipper argued. 'We're not blind or stupid Grunkle Stan. We know you're keeping something from us."
Stan flinches at those words confirming their suspicions without uttering a word.
"Kids, you need to understand that there are something you are not ready for." Ford began to lecture. "As the adults you need to trust us when we tell you to leave this to us."
"We appreciate the help Masion." Hannible cut in. "But don't do anything further when it comes to Toffee, Tad or Axolotl and the missing spell book. We'll handle this. You just sit tight."
Dipper wanted to argue, they all did, but Bill surprised them all by nodding.
"I understand…I don't like it." He admitted. "But I get it, you can't focus on us and track down Tad and Toffee."
The adults seemed to share a sigh of relief.
"Thank you William for being so responsible about all this." Hannible said. "I think perhaps your mother was right after all. Your time on earth has given you a lot of growth."
Bill smiled.
"Yes, now get some rest, all of you." Lusia advised.
"That's a good idea." Ford agreed. "We'll all rest and get things back to normal around here come the morning."
"And we will keep you up to date on our search." Hannible told him. "Goodnight son."
Bill nods and starts to lead Mabel and Dipper out.
"Night kids." Stan yelled after him.
"Night." Ford echoed.
"Good night." The twins answered in unison before the teens closed the door behind them.
"Whoa. That went way better than I expected." Dipper admitted.
"Good job taking charge." Mabel praised. "I think they're right; you've really matured."
"Ew!" Bill exclaimed in fake disgust. "Don't go spreading that around Shooting Star I'll lose my street cred."
The teens laugh as they walk up the stairs, each going to their own respective doors. It felt good somehow. Sure, they were no closer to answers and the adults were still keeping them in the dark, but a weight seemed to be lifted somehow.
"So, are we really sitting tight?" Mabel asked.
Bill nodded. "I think they're right, besides like you reminded me today. Mina still needs to be stopped before she uses that spell. If it doesn't kill her she could do some real damage."
The twins nodded.
"Then we'll start fresh tomorrow." Dipper advised. "Night guys."
"Good night." Mabel said as she entered her room and closed the door.
"Night." Bill echoed and did the same however he had not intention in going to bed. "Rebel princes doesn't sit tight." He reminded himself.
Yes this task wasn't going to be easy. However, he was determined to follow his parents guidance and the final words given to him by Axolotl, so he decides to keep himself busy.
Bill picks up a notebook and sits down on his bedroom floor. "Mega Narwhal Blast!" Narwhals blast out before him with a wave of his hand , and they flop around on the floor.
Bill nods before concentrating on the movements of his hand "Mega... Narwhal... Blast."
He pulls out a fountain pen with bright gold ink from his pocket and writes on the notebook's front cover, he writes "Bill's Notebook of Spells". He then opens it to a blank page and Starts writing.
"Chapter One: Mega Narwhal Blast." He says as he write the hand motions he used as well as his intent. Since his magic was based of the chaos of imagination movements alone would not recreate the spell.
Yes this was how he would fill his time, He would focus on his magic and becoming stronger. That way when the enemy striked again he would be ready.
-To Be Continued