Author's note: I sincerely apologize for the late publishing of this chapter. I had a stressful day and completely forgot about publishing it despite having set an alarm and having the time of publishing written on a calendar.
I stared at Bill through the darkness, flabbergasted at what he had just said. "What did they do?" I asked, moving away from him and sitting in front of him, wrapping the blanket tighter around myself. He was quiet, staring holes into the hardwood floor of my room as though his life depended on it. He opened his mouth to speak, but all I got was a huff before he closed it again. He snuck a glance at me, probably trying to read my quizzical expression, and I could see his eyes filled with angry tears. Though he quickly looked back down at the floor, trying hard to fight the emotions. He took a breath, then looked at me and smiled. "Don't worry about that, Pines. I need to know what else they said." Bill spoke, but I could hear it in his voice that he was still bothered by my question. I frowned, deciding that I couldn't just ignore it after everything he's done already. "They said that they were the mother of all lower demons and that they could see everything in every timeline simultaneously. " Bill nodded, his muscles tensing a little. "What else?" I nodded, "They said their name was Periculosus... and... uh... that they uphold the safety of humanity?" Bill chuckled dryly at that. "So, basically a saviour, huh?" He asked bitterly. "Well, I'll tell you one thing, Dipper, that being is not a saviour. They prey on innocent humans and take them away to the dreamscape. Then once you fully trust them, they take you to the council and they decide whether or not you're worthy enough to be a demon..." Bill trailed off, obviously remembering past events, "then they put you through tests and years of torture, only for you to be turned into a lower-class demon, doomed to serve them forever." Bill spat, his voice bitter and hateful, "Only the ones that fight get anywhere, and only the brave and spiteful ones survive long enough to move up ranks." Bill said, frowning. By now I had put two and two together, and I understood what Bill was saying.
"So that's what they did to you..." I muttered, and he looked like a deer in headlights. "Don't start with that pity shit, Dipper," Bill growled, glaring at me probably hoping the growl would scare me. "I'm not, you don't deserve pity," I assured, and Bill's expression faltering slightly, "But you at least deserve to have someone to talk to about it. " I said gently, Bill's expression of faltered anger turning to an upset frown. Bill was quiet, and so I decided that I would ask first. "How old were you?" I asked, "When you were taken, I mean..." Bill bit his lip, taking an uncertain breath. He looked at me. "Why should I tell you?" I asked, his eyes narrowing. "Well, It's the least you could do. You know everything that happened to me, but I know near to nothing about what they did to you." I said. Bill thought for a moment, sighing. "Fine. I was... I was fourteen.." He said softly, fidgeting with the hem of his shirt as he glanced around. "Did you have any family?" I asked, and he nodded. "A brother. He... William was taken too. " Bill said softly, biting his lip harder. "When?" I urged, and Bill swallowed the lump in his throat shaking his head. he wasn't going to answer that. "When was the last time you saw him?" I urged. "I haven't seen him for years." Bill took a breath, "I could have, should have saved him..." Bill whispered, his voice pained. We were silent for a moment. "If you were fourteen when you were taken, in human years, how old would you be?" I asked, and Bill smiled sadly.
"Twenty-five," Bill said, finally looking at me. My eyes widening slightly, "You mean- you're only four years older than I am?" I asked, horrified. He nodded, "That means when the incident happened you were..." I gasped quietly, feeling horrible, "Oh, Bill, you were only sixteen?" I asked, and he shook his head "My birthday is November second." He chuckled. "Ironic, ain't it?" "You... you were only fifteen... but, that's only two years after you got taken? I thought you said you fought and were tortured for years? Also, didn't you destroy an entire dimension?" I asked, thoroughly confused. "I was, and I did. Demon years go by way faster than human years. One minute for humans is an hour to us." He said. "Holy- so, one of our days is-" "1440 hours for us. Meaning that ONE of your days is 60 of ours." Bill said, his gaze once again bouncing around the room. "Oh, so six of our days is a year for you guys?" I asked, and Bill nodded. "One of your years is sixty years to demons, but thankfully I had a human watch and lots of replacement batteries, so I kept going by human years for my age. I couldn't let that go because my appearance only changes by human years. That's the only reason I'm not all wrinkly." He joked. I smiled apologetically as he frowned when I didn't laugh at his joke. We were silent for a while, Bill obviously very upset, however, I was selfish, and wanted more answers. "What's your rank?" I asked softly, and Bill knawed on his bottom lip. "You don't need to know." He said. I bit my lip, not really knowing what to say now. "After..." I trailed off, summoning the courage to say it despite my paranoia of the word, "after weirdmaggedon, what did they do?" I urged Bill, but I just upset him more. "I already told you before. Don't you listen?" He asked angrily. "Bill, please. What did they-" "Shut up!" Bill screamed, glaring at me with a rage that could make a king shrivel into a ball of fear.
I stopped, looking at his eyes and body language. He was panicking, and scared. This demon, the one that hurt me, was afraid. I could practically feel the wave of sympathy wash over me, my mind telling that maybe, just maybe, it wasn't entirely his fault I was so hurt. What I was seeing right now was a boy who was just as scared as I was, a boy that has his own problems, a boy with human emotions and that had made a mistake. I slowly moved closer, Bill trying to escape by scooting backwards. "Bill, look at me," I said softly, and he did, eyes fearful, but also angry. "It's okay if you don't want to tell. I pushed you, and I got my answers." I whispered softly, taking off my blanket and dropping it around his shoulders. "But if we want to fix what's been broken, then we both have to work together, okay?" I asked, and he looked at me like I was some sort of Cthulu being. "Just... Don't start treating me like a child now that I've told my sob story." He hissed, and I nodded. "Alright, alright. No need to get defensive." I said. Bill sighed and nodded, drawing the blanket closer to himself as he looked around nervously, the same fear I had seen in his eyes when I had first re-opened mine after the house had stopped shaking. "Bill, what's wrong?" I asked as I kneeled in front of the demon. He frowned, scooting a little closer to me. "Can... can you turn on the lights?" He asked quietly, flinching slightly when a boom of thunder suddenly made itself known outside. "Yeah, of course," I said, standing up and walking over to the light switch, flicking it up and down a few times.
"Damn it... sorry Bill, the lights are out." I apologized, turning back to look at him. Bill immediately stood up, rushing over to where I was, frantically trying to turn on a light. "No... no, no, no! Turn on!" He whimpered, flicking the light switch up and down quickly. "Bill. Bill, calm down, watch." I took my phone out of my pocket and turned on the flashlight, illuminating the room a little. I looked at Bill, almost gasping at how terrified he looked. "Dipper, please get the light back on, or... or maybe some candles? A lantern? Something, please?" He begged, reaching for my sleeve, hesitantly holding onto it. Bill was doing a terrible job at hiding his fear, and it was almost humorous to know that a dream demon of all people was afraid of the dark, but I could hardly ignore my morality at that moment. "Okay, calm down." I soothed gently, "Here, hold this for me. I have a box of candles and such in case of a blackout." I said softly as I passed him the phone, getting him to follow me towards my closet. I opened the door, shuffling around ad finding a small, still unopened box. I quickly opened it up to reveal about 13 or 15 candle holders, a dozen or so boxes of matches and over 50 candles of varying sizes; though they were all odourless candles because I didn't want to suffocate on 10 candle's worth of aroma's during a blackout. I pulled out one of the candle holders, securing the candle on it as I took out a box of matches, opening the tiny box and striking one of the matches. I lit the candle, showing it to Bill. "There, candle, okay? Now, I'm gonna put this candle on one of my bed stands and you're gonna sit on the bed while I light more candles, okay?" I said, earning a pitiful nod from the frightened demon.
Being careful not to set anything on fire, I led Bill back to my bed and got him to sit down, watching as he drew the blanket around himself tightly, leaving only room for my phone's flashlight to shine through a small gap. I set the candle holder down on the bedside table, walking back to the box to get more. I restarted the process; securing a candle on the holder, striking the match, lighting the candle and placing it somewhere in the room where I knew it wouldn't catch fire. I quickly made my way up to the loft, picking up Freud and bringing him to Bill so that he had a companion. "Okay, Bill? I'm going to run down to the kitchen to get some food and water, okay? I'll be right back." I promised, earning a hesitant, but confident nod from Bill as he looked at the Hedgett sleeping beside him on the bed. "Okay." I breathed, quickly rushing out of the room and down to the kitchen. Though, as I neared it, I saw a light outside the window. I kept my head down, not looking at it. It eventually moved on, looking through other windows. I took my chance and grabbed as many snacks and water bottles as I could before rushing back upstairs, being cautious of any bright white lights filtering through the windows. Thankfully, I made it back to the room in a matter of minutes. I closed my door and walked over to the bed, where Bill was still sitting tensely. I put the food and water in the drawers of my nightstand, sitting on the bed in front of Bill afterwards. Bill was quiet for a long moment but spoke again rather quickly. "Pine tree... Dipper, can I stay here tonight? Please? It's quiet and I..." He paused, "I'm not really fond of the dark," The demon said softly, his gaze still nervously darting around the room every once in a while. "oh, yeah, of course, you can stay." I confirmed, nodding a little. He smiled gratefully, a clap of thunder making him gasp suddenly. I moved a little closer to the panicked demon, placing Freud in my lap. I sat beside the demon, and he almost immediately huddled closer, flashing my phone's light in every direction. "It's okay, Bill, it's just thunder. The rain hasn't even started yet, and each sound of thunder is pretty far apart, so we'll be fine for a little while." I reassured.
Bill shook his head, his eyes still wide with panic. "No, no, it's not okay! It's loud and dark, and I do not like it!" Bill hissed quietly, as though he were afraid to get caught. He yelped as more thunder could be heard, and I couldn't help but chuckle a little. "Okay, I agree that the dark isn't very nice, but we'll be just-" Bill gasped and practically threw my phone as it started to ring. Thankfully, the piece of technology landed on the end of my bed, and I leaned over to grab it. I was surprised I still had any cell service, but I answered it. "Hello?" I questioned, "Dipper! Are you guys okay? We saw some light coming from the shack, and then the entire town blacked out! What did you do?" Pacifica asked frantically from over the phone. "Yeah, we're fine, 'Cifica. Nothing happened, I guess it's just the storm that's rolling in." I said, and she hummed. "okay, if you say so. Call me if you guys need to be picked up or something." She said. "Alright, but we should be fine. " I confirmed. "If you say so... but don't be hesitant to call! I know you don't really like storms." She said. "Okay, okay. I'll call if we need you, but we'll be fine, really." I promised. "M'kay... Bye, Dipper, I have to go help Pers." "Bye, Pacifica," I replied as I hung up the phone. Bill looked at me curiously. "Is the whole town blacked out?" He asked in a small, timid voice. "yeah, it is." I said, sighing as I shook my head. "Damn... I really wanted to get some more work done." I sighed. Bill frowned, shaking his head. Bill was quiet, telling me that he was still terrified since he hardly ever shut up at any other given time. "Hey... You said you wanted to read what I had in my journal? Why don't we do that, hm?" I questioned, and he rapidly nodded. I rushed up to the loft and grabbed my book, heading back down to my bed. I sat beside Bill once more and opened the journal, reading out loud the things I had written about Freud. I mostly forgot my fear of storms, mostly because I was too busy keeping the demon busy. Another clap of thunder could be heard as the pitta-pat of raindrops could be heard on the roof. Bill looked out one of the windows, watching the rainfall as I read. Eventually, Bill laid down beside me and closed his eyes, listening to me read. He flinched when the thunder continued and became more frequent and lighting began to strike but he kept his eyes closed.
It was nearly 5 am before the lights returned, flickering on and waking Bill from his light sleep. He cheered, grinning as he saw the lights had turned on. he got out of bed and blew out all the candles. I yawned, looking out the window. It was still raining, but not as hard as before. I sighed again as I got out of bed, being careful of Freud as I went up into the loft, once again beginning my work. "Dipper? What are doing?" Bill asked. "What do you mean? I'm working. I have things I need to do, Y'know." I huffed. "Really? again? Didn't you get enough done yesterday?" He asked, crossing his arms. "No, because of the blackout," I replied. "Well, are you at least going to come down for breakfast?" He asked, frowning. "No, Bill. I'm busy." I say, Bill, becoming upset. "Wow, really? I thought we had some sort of like, moment last night. Are you just gonna ignore me now?" He questioned, crossing his arms. "Yup. Now, out. I have stuff to do." I said. "Fine! Fuck you too..." Bill muttered, rolling his eyes. Once he left, I sighed. "Now to go shopping..." I muttered, getting out of my chair and grabbing my satchel. I jumped out of the loft and picked up Freud, letting him sit in my bag. I looked around for my phone, guessing that Bill must still have it. I rolled my eyes, putting on my shoes and hopping out the window and heading through the forest into town despite the lightly falling rain. Within 2 hours I was done shopping and back in the house. From what I could tell, Bill hadn't even noticed I was gone. I put my bag down and fed Freud, putting the hedgett in a little circle of blankets on my bed before making my way downstairs, finding Bill on the couch with my phone. "What are you doing?" I asked, frowning. "Reading fanfic." He said nonchalantly. "Uh... what kind?" I asked, cocking an eyebrow. "Smut." He hummed. I rolled my eyes, making my way to the front door in time for people to start arriving. I took off my shoes and set them aside before opening the door for all the people.
Bill's eyes widened as at least 10 movers walked in, carrying furniture and such into the house and up the stairs. Sure, water was getting everywhere because of the rain, but I could mop it up later. This was more important. "Wait, Pine tree? What's going on?" He asked, looking at all the people. "What? You wanted to be sleeping on the cot the entire time you stayed here?" I asked. "What?" He asked, frowning. I sighed, rolling my eyes. "I went out and bought you a bunch of stuff for your room." I huffed. "My room? What do you mean?" He asked, and I groaned. "For a demon you sure are stupid. Go upstairs and see." I said, and he immediately rushed upstairs. "HOLY SHIT!" That was all I heard as I followed after him. I had bought a room's worth of furniture, trinkets and supplies. All that was really left to do was to set it up. It only took 2 hours or so for the movers to bring all the boxes and supplies in, and Bill was more than ecstatic to get started on painting and designing the room. Most of the boxes had been left outside the room and in the hall for now, but all the things for painting had already been laid out, and Stan had fixed up the walls and floors before he and uncle Ford left on the Stan'O'war. The workers had been kind enough to prime the walls for us first, so we could just jump straight into painting when we were ready. I had chosen a creamy off-white colour for Bill's walls so that the yellow I had bought for most of his room's furniture wouldn't be too overbearing. "Do you like the colour, or would you rather go back and get a different one?" I asked as Bill opened the can of paint, the already laid-out plastic on the floor crinkling slightly as we walked. "It looks good, Pine tree!" Bill said, pouring some of the paint into the paint roller pans. "Woah, Bill! Chill out. Lemme get changed into something better for painting." I chuckled, turning to leave. "Oh, yeah! I'll do that, too!" He cheered, grinning as he rushed to his closet. I chuckled, shaking my head as I made my way to my room. I changed into an old white shirt I didn't really care about and some blue jeans overalls I never really wore. I set my hat aside and put on a white bandana instead so that my hair was held out of my face. I made my way back to Stan- Bill's room and walked in, grabbing myself a paint roller. Bill had changed into some jeans and, but was shirtless.
That's when I first truly noticed all his scars.
I had somewhat noticed them before when he was naked, but I had been so caught up in the adrenaline that I hadn't paid very much attention. I frowned. Now that we were just calmly standing here, I felt guilt plaguing my mind as I looked at them. Bill cleared his throat. "Come on, pine tree! I wanna paint." He huffed, picking up one of the paint rollers. I snapped myself out of my daze and smiled, picking up a paint roller. "Alright! Let's get painting." I said. Bill grinned as he rolled the roller in the paint, rolling it onto the walls. I did so as well, and we painted the room together. Once we were done with the first coat, Bill took a step back to survey the room. He frowned, looking around. "I want vines." He said, frowning. "What?" I asked, raising an eyebrow. "The room is gonna be full of yellow furniture, right? Can we paint vines on one of the walls as an accent? or at least something green." He asked, looking at me. "Uh, yeah. Sure. We can-" That's it! A pine tree. I want a pine tree, right here!" He said excitedly, moving his arms apart across the wall as he showed me. "Just one, or an entire forest?" I asked and he thought for a moment. "Just one. Right in the middle of a clearing. The rest can be oaks or something but just... just one pine tree. Right in the middle." He said softly, nodding as he looked at the wall. "Alright, then. I'll see if I have the right paints. If not, we'll have to go back into town to get them." I said, and Bill nodded. "Okay! Time for a second coat?" He asked, lifting his paint roller. I nodded, and we started again with the painting as soon as the first coat was dry. Once we had finished adding a second coat, we both took a step back, admiring our handiwork. "Looks good." Bill approved, smiling. I nodded. "So far... now, lemme go see if I have the right paints for the mural," I said, putting down my roller and beginning to leave, but I stopped myself at the door. "Wait, what kind of sky do you want?" I asked him, "Night, day, or... chaos...?" I asked, turning to look at him. "The moon... and stars. Lots of em'. " He said, determination in his eyes.
I laughed lightly, shaking my head, "Alright, Ya' crazy demon. We can paint you the mural. I'll call you if we need to go into town." I said, and he nodded. "Okay. Can I look at some of the furniture?" He questioned, following me into the hall. "well, yeah. It is your stuff." I replied, scratching the back of my neck. His eyes lit up as he rushed over to the mountain of boxes and such. "You got me a desk?" He asked, smiling. "Yeah, I got you all sorts of stuff... Bedframe, sheets, chairs, bookshelves, a lamp... If there's anything else you need or want we can- Shit!" I yelled as I was tackled to the floor, my head almost smacking against the wood, my arms instinctively wrapping around the thing that hit me. "Bill! What the fuck?" I snapped, looking at him. "You're an asshole..." He muttered, making me even angrier. "Excuse me? After everything, I did for you today?" I hissed, getting pissed off "Yeah! You're an asshole! Because you made me your friend, you stupid human!" Bill shouted angrily, kicking his legs like a toddler. I felt my anger drain as I started laughing instead, letting my head fall back against the floor. "Stupid demon... You could have just told me. You didn't have to tackle me." I remarked.
He finally looked up at me, "Yeah, but you... Just a few days ago you hated me, and... and now you made me tell you what happened, and then you let me stay with you during the storm, and now you... now you bought me all this stuff with money you worked hard for! You stupid, stupid human! After all, I did to you!" He wailed, hiding his face in my chest again. I sighed, sitting up with an arm still around him. "Shut up, demon. You helped too..." I muttered, "You kept me safe from that moon-demon-thing... your own bedroom is the least I could do to repay my debt. We're even." I said. He was quiet for a moment, finally looking up at me. "Yeah... We're even." He agreed, smiling a little. I smiled back for a moment before rolling my eyes. "Okay, okay, get off of me now." I chuckled out, pushing him off. He whined, pouting as he held onto me harder. "Get off, you dummy! We gotta go find paint for your room!" I laughed, finally prying him off of me. He huffed, crossing his arms. "You're mean, pine tree." He muttered. I rolled my eyes, standing up and stretching my hand out to help him up. He gladly took my hand and allowed me to help him up. I smiled as I lead him back to my room, looking through some of my boxes. Bill stood in the doorway as I did so, and within a matter of minutes I let out a triumphant "Aha!" As I pulled out a few cans of paint from a large box. Within the years I lived with my parents, I had redone my room a few times, so I had quite a bit of paint leftover. I had a lighter green along with a darker shade of it, brown, black and white. "Well, Bill... looks like we have enough for your trees, but I don't have any paints for the sky. We'll have to head into town for some purples and blues after all..." I said, sighing as I looked at him. I picked up the heavy box, making sure to use my leg muscles as I walked past Bill and back to his room, dropping the box onto the plastic. "Okay... let's go!" I called to Bill, walking back down the hall and waving to him. He followed me towards the stairs, sliding down the railing as he laughed.
I walked down the stairs, my socks coming into contact with something wet. I groaned as I looked down, water still on the stairs. Once I was off the stairs I took them off and tossed them to the side and continued on my way. I grabbed my shoes for the second time that day, slipping them on and following Bill outside. He was already sitting in the passenger seat of the car, practically vibrating as I got into the driver's seat. "You got the keys?" I questioned and he nodded, passing me my car keys. I chuckled, putting them in the ignition and we put on our seatbelts, heading into town. As soon as I had parked in the paint store's parking lot Bill jumped out and ran into the store, forcing me to practically tear off my seatbelt and bolt after him. Thankfully, he had waited near the doors, but that was only because he was just looking around. I wanted to come to the actual paint store so that Bill would be able to focus on getting the paint, and then we would go and see if there was anything he needed or wanted later on after his room was set up. Bill suddenly strode over to the sort of display with all the little pieces of paper that had the colours and colour gradients on it. He seemed to know what he was doing since he chose his colours without hesitation. We brought the papers over to the paint mixing 'counter' and rung for service. A man about our age came over and started mixing the paint. "So! What's a good-looking dude like you doing in this town?" He asked me, and I blushed. "U-uh...Well, my great uncles recently moved away and so I inherited the house, plus I wanted to research all the oddities." I said, chuckling nervously. "Oh? Who are your uncles?" The boy asked as he turned to mix more of the paints. "My uncles? Oh, their Stanley and Standford pines." I replied, the boy's eyes widening in shock. "Holy shit, you're Dipper Pines, aren't you?" He asked, his head whipping around to look at me.
"Uh... Yeah, that's me..." I muttered uncertainly. "Huh. And who's this guy with you?" He asked, Bill answering. "First of all, I'm right here, second, my name is Bill. Bill Cipher, ever heard of him?" He asked, smirking, but the boy just rolled his eyes. "Yeah, sure, as if Bill Cipher would go into town wearing only jeans. I mean, really? You're a horrible impersonator, man." The boy said, handing us all the cans of paint. "Anyway, have a nice day." He said, and I muttered a "You too." as we walked away. "What a prick. Guess what, dude, I am the real Bill Cipher." Bill huffed, frowning. "Okay, demon boy, chill. He doesn't know any better." I chuckled. We paid for the paints and headed home.
Our home.