Not On The Wheel (Bill Cipher x Reader)

Chapter Twenty-Six: Feigned Camaraderie

His dimension's council— a government of sorts, run by some of the most intelligent, powerful, and eldest beings within the twilight realm— was furious. A demon in such a high position, deciding to abandon his dimension for years to mingle with other, lesser creatures? With humans of all things? And then going as far as having a child with one? It was unbelievable; an embarrassment at best, an entire new burden on the demon population at worst.

The idea of children was a difficult one amongst the population, especially one where "nuclear families" were as rare as lightning striking twice. It didn't necessarily make sense to bring new life into one that was essentially endless. In some places, it only ran the risk of the parents being destroyed by their same creations. Since demons lived forever, and most prided themselves in their power, it didn't make sense to have children that risked all of that. Even if the child didn't want to attempt to destroy their parents and overthrow an entire dimension, it would only cause more chaos as more demons began to fill up the multiverse. Overpopulation was definitely a problem: it wasn't impossible to kill a demon— Bill had proven that upon multiple occasions— but it wouldn't be fast enough to compensate for newer demon spawns.

So when the council first found about the halfie child born to Inigo and a human woman, there was only one thing they could do: hope that her manifested powers never compared to that of her father's. Or, if they did somehow reach the sheer intensity of Inigo's flames, hope that it wiped both her and her mother out.

Either way, they didn't want to run the risk of Inigo ever running back to the human world. He was to be cut off from the family he was never supposed to start.

Inigo had to die.

At least— the council had decided— the memory of this "human" Inigo had to die.

Forced to comply, or else face further— and potentially worse— retribution from the council, he abandoned the family he had grown to love and adore, supposedly dying in a car accident only years into fatherhood. It would only be a year or so later that the girl's powers did manifest and the council's latter hope came to fruition: taking after her father, her flames were way too much to control for a young child like her.

When Inigo first learned about the disaster, it was like his heart was being ripped out of his chest— something he didn't even know was possible for him to feel. He didn't know what it was like to hurt until that moment when the two people who had taught him how to truly love were ripped away from him. He was a mess, locking himself within his chambers and leaving poor Ashgar to learn how to run his responsibilities on top of their own several.

It was his fault technically— he should have known that it was impossible to keep a family hidden— but in his grief, there was only one culprit in his mind: the council. They were the ones who made him abandon his family; had he been there when his little Princess's powers began to show, he could have stopped them from spreading. He could have taught her to control it, and he would still have his happy little family.

And that's where Bill came in.

"There isn't a council there to bother you anymore, isn't there, Horns?" Bill laughed. "You can leave your dimension to freely visit this pathetic one now that I've taken care of those half-witted, senile, wack jobs."

Inigo didn't answer, choosing instead to bite his tongue. He had never openly admitted to the moments of pure desperation and weakness that led him to asking Bill to obliterate the council for him, and he surely wasn't going to start now. It was already a sore topic and a source of controversy within his dimension, so letting it die (much like the council) was the best option.

"That doesn't answer my question," Inigo said, his eyes squinting at the triangle. "Why are you so... friendly with her?"

Bill didn't want to reveal the extent of his plans with Inigo; they weren't that friendly to begin with, and the taller demon would definitely try to stop him if he found out about his plans to break out of the second dimension and find a new home in the third.