Stan did in fact try to make Y/n work the next day.
"Squirt," he said, pacing around the party room. The majority of the day was spent setting up the room. They did a pretty good job with it, if Y/n was to be honest.
A large table held an array of snacks picked out by the kids. It had the best of both worlds; sugary snacks to satisfy Mabel's sweet tooth and an assortment of chips to take care of Dipper's salty preference. Wendy picked out the drinks, and managed to wrangle nearly eight different types of sodas.
Soos and Stan were put in charge of decorations. With that information alone, Y/n hadn't expected much, but was pleasantly surprised when Mabel had dragged her into the room earlier. There was a little station in the corner of the room with speakers, a microphone, a karaoke machine, and synthesizer. She later learned that was all a part of Soos' plan to be DJ for the night. Stan had put up some balloons and streamers, installed some strobe lights in the corners and even went as far as rigging up an old fog machine he had found in storage.
Currently, the Mystery Shack employees were lined up, waiting for Stan to delegate duties for the night. Y/n was a little confused as to why she was put there, until Stan assigned her to take tickets with Wendy.
"Woah woah woah," she said. "What happened to today being my last day off?"
Stan rolled his eyes, checking his watch. "Kid, your day off ended 4 hours ago."
"You started counting the days from when I stole the register?!"
"Well yeah! When else was I supposed to start? The next day?"
Before Y/n could argue, Dipper spoke up, carefully stepping out of the line.
"Actually Stan," he said, rocking on his feet, "I could take tickets with Wendy today, if it doesn't make a difference....?"
The two looked to him, Y/n immensely grateful and Stan skeptical. "You do understand you're going to have to be out there all night, right?"
"Well yeah, I assumed so."
"It'll just be you two, alone, taking tickets. You think you can handle that?" He further inquired, stepping closer to him.
"Uh... yeah. It's not that hard—"
"Alrighty then! Squirt, you're free to go. Now Dipper, remember: you're fully committed to this. There's no getting out of it."
Y/n could see the blush that faintly painted his cheeks as he tried his best not to fully turn around and get a better look of the red head. She never had been more grateful for his crush at that moment. "Yeah, I-I know. I promise I'll be there."
"Okay, that's all done with then. C'mon people! Let's go get this place ready!"
With a slight cheer, the Mystery crew dispersed, Y/n following the twins to their room.
"Thanks Dip," Y/n said, nudging him slightly as they entered the attic space. "I really did not want to do that all night."
"Yeah! It's no problem at all," he said quickly, rushing over to his side of the room. He looked through a pile of clothes on the floor, until he pulled out a small bow tie. "This should do it," he mumbled under his breath. He continued fishing around until he found a can of body spray.
Y/n and Mabel shared a look, both raising their brows. It was obvious; Dipper always seemed to wear his heart on his sleeve.
"You can cut the crap, you know?" The eldest said. "We both know what this whole plot of yours is for."
"I have no idea what you're talking about," he answered, very matter-of-factly.
Mabel giggled, mocking him in a high pitched and breaking voice. "'Oh, uh, I can take tickets with Wendy!'"
Y/n laughed slightly.
"'Let's kiss!'" She finished, looking at her sister with a cocky smirk before making kissing noises.
"Oh hardy-har-har," Dipper groaned, cheeks burning and rolling his eyes. "Laugh all you want, but I have a plan to make sure everything goes right tonight!"
Y/n winced, hissing slightly. That could only mean one thing. "No, don't tell me—"
"Yep," he said cheerfully, reaching into his pocket. He pulled out a small piece of paper, surprising both the girls. Until he unfolded it to reveal a list of steps nearly as tall as he was.
"Oh God," Mabel sighed, sitting on the floor. "You're not going to get anywhere with that!"
"She has a point Dipper," Y/n agreed. "As much as I love planning out things, this is not it. You can't just plan out human interactions. Trust me, I wish you could. It would be a lot easier."
"Stop encouraging him," Mabel groaned.
"What?" Dipper asked, skimming through his plans. "It's not that bad."
"Dip Dop, there's like 40 steps here! You even branch off into different possibilities!"
"Yeah man, just go up and talk to her."
"Way ahead of you, Y/n!" Dipper shuffled around his list, pointing to Step 11. "See? It's already there!"
The two girls groaned, both falling back on Mabel's bed.
"Just you two wait," the younger twin replied, scoffing slightly. He made his way to the door, eager to set up the ticket booth with Wendy. "You're going to be eating your words when this works!"
"Yeah, sure," Mabel shouted after him as he closed the door. Then, to Y/n she asked: "You think it's going to work?"
"To be honest," Y/n started, pouting slightly. "Nah. He's gonna over complicate it. But it's okay. He'll get it eventually. Who knows?" She added, sitting up. She shifted over to the edge of the bed, leaning on her knees. "Maybe he'll get it tonight?"
Mabel hummed in agreement, until a large smirk started to grace her features. "Speaking of tonight," she started, nudging into her sister's side.
Oh no, Y/n thought, a slight panic running through her. There's only one way this can go—!
"Oh boy!" She said, standing up suddenly. She made a break for the door. "Look at the time! I need to go and walk that lobster—"
"Nope!" Mabel jumped in front of her, leaving the ravenette to wonder just how she managed to get ahead of her. "You're not going anywhere! Not until we get you ready for that party!"
"But Mabelllll," she whined, slumping down. "I don't wanna get all dressed up. I just wanna grab some snacks and leaveeeeee."
"I'm not allowing it!"
"Please?"
"Nope!" She jumped to Y/n's side, grabbing her sleeve and leading her out the door. "We're going to get to your room and find you some nice little outfit for the party."
She groaned loudly. "But why?"
"Because it's the first time nearly everyone from town is gonna be in one place! You can go make some friends! I know that's what I'm gonna do. I'm going to find my people!"
"Yeah, good for you. I will happily find my people within smuggled chips, cookies, and my bed later tonight."
"No! You're going to at least make one friend tonight, and that's final!"
The two walked into Y/n's room, the younger surprised to find it such a mess. Then again, she thought, eyeing the papers strewn about on the messy bed, Dipper had to have gotten that habit from somewhere.
"Okay Y/n," Mabel announced, leading the older girl to her bed. She fell down dramatically, trying her best to avoid the papers laid about. Mabel paced around the room, eventually pulling out drawers in her dresser. "Let's see what we're working with."
"Not much," Y/n grumbled, slowly huddling into the sheets.
"Relax! I'm a fashion master, Y/n. You're gonna love what I do for you!"
But it only took her about 5 minutes until Mabel stumbled across a glaring issue after pulling out 4 of the same black or grey hoodie and pants. "Okay," she mumbled nervously. "I see what you mean now. You dress... monochromatically."
"I told you," Y/n laughed slightly, "You're not getting anything out of this."
"Hmmmmm," Mabel put her hands on her hips, eyes scrutinizing Y/n's lack of fashion sense. It was times like this that she wished they were similar sized; she could at least lend her some of her clothes.
"Okay," she said finally. "I think I have something."
"W-what?"
"Lookie here, my dearest sister. Put these on." She threw a couple of clothes to Y/n, burying her under the cloth.
"Ack—! What is this?"
"Your new party outfit! Didn't have much to work with but I think you'd like it. I'll leave you to it!" She closed the door behind her, giving Y/n some privacy.
"Goddamnit," she groaned, picking herself up from the bed. She looked at the clothes Mabel had picked out, and after a thoughtful scan, she nodded slowly.
"Okay," she mumbled. "This is pretty good."
It was pretty simple; at this point Y/n was more surprised that she even packed the clothes in the first place. It was a simple graphic tee, matching black flannel, and some slightly ripped jeans. The only complaint she had was that it didn't appear she could get away with hiding her palms within thumbholes, as she did with her hoodies. So instead, she had to settle with unbuttoning the sleeves and using them to stick her thumbs through. It was a little bit uncomfortable, but she'd rather live with that for a couple hours than accidentally showing off her scar to anyone she offered her hand to.
Not that she was going to offer her hand for anything to anyone in the first place, but you never know.
Mabel knew her well; she didn't pick anything that was short sleeve, either. It brought a small smile to her face. The thought that she knew Y/n well enough to pick out her outfit quelled her feeling of estrangement just the tiniest of bits.
So with a small sigh, Y/n decided to go along with it. Maybe she was overthinking it. Surely the party couldn't be that bad. She was just tired and cranky, but maybe she should enjoy herself with Mabel. It would take away from the rampant thoughts of Bill plaguing her psyche.
Y/n draped the flannel over her shoulders, shaking up her hair to try to look a little more presentable. Luckily for her, the deep bags added to this sort of goth look she could only guess Mabel was leading her to with the outfit.
"Not bad I guess," she considered with a thoughtful nod. "Could definitely be worse. And it's comfy too."
She took one last glance at herself in the camera of her phone before slipping out the door. Mabel was leaning against the wall, eagerly waiting for her.
She gasped loudly, eyes twinkling. "OMIGOSH Y/N!" She cooed, grabbing her hands. "You look amazing!"
Y/n blushed slightly, not used to getting many compliments. "Well, it's all thanks to that fashion eye of yours," she smiled lightly.
"See! I told you you'd love it! Now c'mon," she started to drag her back upstairs to her room. "I'm going to need some help with my outfit! And then, it's party time girlfriend!"
◑ ━━━━━ ▣ ━━━━━ ◐
The party was in full swing, and it had barely been an hour. And already Y/n was regretting joining Mabel. She had convinced her to give it a shot.
"It'll be fun! I promise you, Y/n. And if I'm wrong," she had paused, struggling with her neon colored shirt. Mabel was going for some sort of 80s vibe; Y/n thought she had pulled it off rather well. "I'll make you cupcakes tomorrow."
So now, with the promise of cupcakes from her sister being the only thing that was keeping her going, Y/n was bitterly sitting in the corner of the room. The strobe lights ran across the room in sweeping motions, and they passed so frequently that it made her head swim. The music wasn't the best either, but it was even more unbearable when they were blasted by the speakers positioned very close to her. People moved all around her, dancing, and their combined body heat made the room sticky and humid.
She clutched a red solo cup, trying to keep her unsavory muttering just below a whisper, lest anyone hear her talking to herself.
A couple people tried to approach her— at least, it appeared that way; she wasn't too sure— but quickly turned away when they saw the deep frown imprinted on her face. It didn't help that her bloodshot eyes made her look the tiniest bit deranged.
Mabel had long since ventured out onto the dance floor, chatting it up with anyone who would listen. She definitely made loads of friends; it was just something she was good at. Y/n's only current friends were her flat soda and the three cookies she had taken from the snack table. Unfortunately, the cookies had already been eaten.
With a sigh, Y/n figured she had given the party well enough of a chance; it was about time she retired to her room and stared at the wall aimlessly. If she was going to be alone, might as well do it in a place where she'd feel some comfort. The warm embrace of her bed and the gently caressing night wind were the only things that gave her the slightest bit of solace.
"I'll just grab more cookies for the road and leave," she mumbled to herself, tossing her half finished soda in the nearest garbage can. Y/n waded through the wave of people, luckily making it to the table without anyone trying to talk to her. As she quickly loaded a couple of napkins with snacks, silently cursing the fact that she didn't have large enough pockets to stuff things into, she couldn't help but glance around the party room.
Stan was right: almost the entire town was living it up in the Mystery Shack. Blubs and Durland were at the end of the table, chugging punch as a crowd cheered them on. Manly Dan and a couple of bikers sat at a corner of the room, seeing who could hang bang the most violently. In another corner, she saw Wendy's friends, laughing and snickering over their own little shenanigans.
Looking at Wendy's friends, even for the quick moment she glanced over their way, made her feel heavier. A part of her wished she had Mabel's ability to make friends with ease. She'd even take a person to have a conversation with; anything that would keep her occupied and give her a reason to stay in this mosh pit of sweaty townspeople and blaring lights.
Hell, she thought, carefully wrapping up her precious cargo, I'd even take—
She paused suddenly, a little dumbfounded by her own thoughts. Did she— did she seriously almost say she missed...?
That's bullshit, she thought, biting the inside of her cheek. I didn't... no I definitely don't want that. Though, now she was wondering what he'd look like trying to keep up dancing with Mabel...
She continued to look around at the guest list, distracting herself from that odd thought, and the even odder small smile that had graced her features. She only seemed to surprise herself more; even McGucket was there. He was the center of attention on the dance floor, doing a little party jig.
If Y/n was in a sociable mood— or even if she was more awake to realize the opportunity in front of her— she'd go up to him when he was alone and try to get some answers about his past. But there was only one thing on Y/n's mind at the moment, and it was her bed.
So, with resting bitch face set to the max to prevent any unwanted conversations before they even started, she made her way out of the room. No eyes turned her way, and she was able to make her escape without so much as a passing glance.
"Finally," she sighed once she made her way down the hall. She made her way to her room quickly and unnoticeably, shutting the door behind her to prevent any wandering house guests from looking for her. She just wanted to be alone in peace and quiet.
However, the moment she fell flat on her bed she realized that wouldn't be as easy as she wished it would.
"You're fucking joking," Y/n hissed, covering her ears slightly. She could still hear the music and shouting from the party. From her room! The bass rattled the few items on top of her dresser, including her Tabloid. "But I'm like, four rooms away!" She whined into her pillow. "What am I supposed to do now?"
The music was horribly loud, and it was only going to be made worse with the future karaoke battles she had heard Soos mention earlier. She definitely didn't want to be within hearing range for that. She didn't really see any of the townspeople as being gifted with an angel's voice.
That only left her with one solution.
Y/n looked towards her window. It was still cracked open, letting in the night's breeze. "I guess I could go out to the forest," she muttered. "I even have the perfect place."
She glanced at her palm; she hadn't practiced conjuring her fire in a long while. Maybe she could put tonight to some good use...?
"Yeah," she said to herself, standing up from the bed. "I know enough about the woods to keep myself from running into any monsters out there. And what Stan doesn't know won't kill him."
Y/n decided it was best not to risk leaving her room, lest she run into someone who'd force her to stay back and start some small talk. The last person she wanted to run into was Mabel, trying to look for her had she noticed the fact that she had left the party. She doubted she would; there's no way the Pines' noticed her disappearance, and chances are it would stay that way for the next couple of hours.
Still, just in case, Y/n opted for the more unconventional way out of her room: the window.
It remained cracked open just a bit, but she was sure that if she opened it all the way she'd be able to worm her way out of it. It seemed to be big enough for her.
She pulled herself up from the floor, digging the tips of her toes into the wall to help her scale it. Y/n managed to pull her torso halfway through the window when she realized the flaw in her plan: the ground was a lot farther than she remembered.
"Awww fuck it," she grumbled. With no other solution but to continue, she dropped herself onto the floor, using her hands to break her fall and attempt to throw her body over into a summersault. She only succeeded in getting her shoe caught onto the window sill. Still upside down and discombobulated, she managed to free herself, landing roughly on her back as the window fell shut with a loud crack. It had nearly shut onto her ankle.
She stumbled to her feet, quickly dusting herself off. With the window shut, there was no way to reopen it from the outside, meaning she'd have to walk back in through the door to the living room.
"Oh well," she muttered, quickly making a beeline to the forest. "That's a problem for Future Me. Right now, I have other things to take care of."
The trip to her little forest clearing was uneventful. She had memorized the path from the shack, and despite her lack of sleep she was still able to navigate rather well. The only complaint she had was her lack of a flashlight; it would have made a much better tool than her phone light. It was too late to go back and look for one now, though.
She found her way faster than she anticipated, and was happy to find it just as she left it: completely empty. As she sat by the little pond, she made sure to check the bushes again, slightly disappointed not to find any supernatural.
"Why the hell is everything hiding from me?" She wondered out loud, plopping herself down in the middle of the clearing. "Is it too much to ask to run into a little creature running around or something? I'd even take the stomach-faced duck," she muttered. Then after remembering the little detail of being able to see it's intestines every time it opened its mouth; "Eh... maybe not."
Then again, Y/n thought, unrolling her sleeve a bit, it would be better to run into those things in the morning than now. She'd rather not run into Gravity Falls' nightlife.
Besides, she had a goal in mind. Was it completely cluttered with other thoughts? Perhaps, but it was some semblance of a goal and it was enough to make her put aside what other thoughts ran around within her skull. Or at least that's what she hoped.
She tried to direct all focus to her hand, eager to try to summon the little flame. But as she continued to stare at the scar within her palm, her attention slowly dwindled. A small breeze rocked the trees around her, sending a shiver racing down her spine. It carried the soft melodies of crickets and owls, creating a whirlwind of a lullaby around her. She closed the flannel tightly around her, a little confused as to why she seemed to feel so cold at the moment.
"Damn it," she grumbled, surprised to find herself shivering. "Why didn't I change before I left?"
She closed her palm in a clenched fist, waiting silently until the breeze finished passing by rather abruptly. When it did finally stop tickling the branches and nipping at the curled over Y/n, she only laid her hand palm up on her legs weekly.
"Who am I kidding?" She muttered to herself. She sounded a lot more tired than she did earlier, and there was a hint of bitterness seeping into her tone. Whenever she did manage to summon it— the sparse few times she had accomplished that small feat— she always felt this warmth. Without it, she doubted she was going to get anywhere. It just wasn't a good time to even begin to think about the little flame held within the fiber of her being, especially when she felt chilled to her bone.
Despite leaving the blaring music and partygoers at the Shack, there was a certain loneliness that seemed to follow her out there. At first she thought it was something she had abandoned within her room, but as she remained huddled on the ground, legs pulled close to her chest, she realized it was just a part of her.
Before she could even stop it, her thoughts went back to Wendy's friends, all laughing and having fun at the party. Had she gone with the redhead and the twins to the convenience store a couple of days ago, she would have at least gotten to know them. Then she could have joined them on the sofa a little less awkwardly. She didn't have to be alone, but it seemed she had doomed herself the moment she decided to stay in the Shack and try to find out what was in the basement. Granted, that day came with it's own ups... at least...
"Did it really?"
Finding out about the portal room seemed to be more of a curse than a blessing. Now, not only had she been losing valuable sleep, but was growing increasingly suspicious about Stan, and she had even lost—
"No way! Flame misses me?"
Y/n froze on the spot, the color draining from her. As she gently lifted her head from her arms, she could see that the world, in fact, had also been stripped from it's night-time color palette. Now cold greys and ominous blacks painted the landscape. The breeze she had found too harsh was gone, leaving the trees eerily static as they were frozen in time.
She didn't want to move, but she risked slowly swiveling her head to gaze at her surroundings. Instead of finding the triangle she was dreading to meet, she noticed a small fawn slowly peeking its head out of a bush to her left. She must have been too lost in thought to even notice the small guy, who's dark eyes were permanently locked with curiosity.
As she remained cradled on the ground, she could see a large shadow growing over her small figure. It was only when it's peak tickled the edge of the pond did she realize it was Bill slowly hovering over her, about to pounce at any moment.
The hair on the back of her neck stood on end, and as shivers trickled down her spine, she finally regained control of her body. She threw herself to the right, tucking herself with surprisingly expert precision as she rolled away. Her landing wasn't as graceful; she ended up rolling right into the rocky escarpment enclosing the small clearing, banging her head on the jagged and pointed rocks.
"Oh fuck me," she hissed, quickly clutching the back of her skull. Her vision spun for a moment, and when she was finally grounded she could see the little triangle looking down at her with a certain mischievous glee in his eye.
"Nice summersault, kiddo," he snickered, floating a little closer to her.
Y/n moved away immediately, only to realize she was essentially trapped between a rock and a triangle. She tried to calm her breathing, leveling her voice before she even thought to speak. Her mind was racing a mile a minute, and it was taking everything in her power to grab the reins of her spinning head and slow them to a stop before Bill could use them to his advantage.
"What the hell are you doing here, Cipher?" she hissed, trying her best to seem menacing. It almost worked too; it was just her eyes that betrayed the cold and tired tone she spoke in. "How are you even here?"
"You fell asleep," he said simply. "I'm a little surprised with how long you managed to go without it, though. Usually, Sixer couldn't even last 3 days. He had tried to tape his eye lids open. Pathetic, isn't it?"
"Okay," she said hurriedly, trying her best to continue the conversation. She needed to figure out how to wake up, before Bill decided to stop being so... oddly friendly with her...? Wait, why was he being so casual with her?
"I think that little persistence of yours deserves a prize! There's not that many people who can keep from sleeping for so long without losing some semblance of their sanity!" He floated over to the small fawn, scanning it over before snapping his fingers.
The animal jumped into the middle of the clearing. It was still colored in the same monochromatic colors the rest of the world was painted in, but there was a new life breathing through it. It looked around, still confused.
Bill clapped his hands before twirling his finger, and suddenly the deer's mouth was forced open. It's flat teeth were pulled out of its mouth, flying into his outreached hand. They pooled in his palm, before he offered them to Y/n.
"Fawn's teeth are usually much nicer than an adult's deer teeth; these are luxury, kiddo, just for you. Show some appreciation." He dropped them into her lap.
Y/n paused for a moment, looking at the assortment of teeth. She blinked a couple of times, completely silent.
"O-oh wow... teeth," she managed to sputter out after a moment. She sounded like a disappointed child on Christmas, too shy to express their discontentment; it definitely wasn't the reaction he was expecting. He preferred some sort of terror.
"I could always use more calcium. Gotta keep these bones nice and strong, you know? Especially after I broke my arm." She laughed awkwardly, rolling up her sleeve and flexing her cast.
Bill stared, genuinely dumbfounded.
She really...? Seriously?
He quickly waved his hand once again, and the teeth returned back into the fawn's mouth. It paused for a moment, as if checking to make sure all it's molars were in place, before scampering off into the night. There was no point in letting her keep the teeth if she wasn't going to scream and squirm over them.
Y/n shivered slightly, discreetly whipping her hands on her pants. "The teeth were... cool and all but there's no way in hell that that's the only reason you came here to bother me."
"My my, Flame! Do you really not want me to stay? After you admitted to missing me at the party?"
Y/n could feel herself stiffen. Of course he knew about that...
It was just a passing thought; of course she didn't actually miss him! Why would she? That would be ridiculous!
"I don't blame you," he continued, ignoring the spiteful look in the young girl's eyes. "I'm a pretty fun guy. People tend to miss my radiant persona. They're practically DYING to see me again." His voice pitched down momentarily, before returning to it's normal manner.
Y/n scowled. "Yeah, sure."
"Flame, you can't lie to me! I heard your thoughts over there at that party." He floated down over to her, snapping his fingers and summoning his cane. He poked her in the chest with it. "Oh, and by the way, I would definitely beat Shooting Star in a dance battle. There would be carnage on that dance floor."
Before Y/n could sputter a response, he continued: "But I digress; you're an interesting little meatsack, you know that?"
Her brow rose, as she awkwardly scooted away from him. "What do you mean?"
"There you are, surrounded by nearly the entire town—" he gestured wildly, throwing his hands in the air. His cane floated beside him. "—and yet, all you can think about is leaving. I thought you humans liked that sort of social interaction."
"Not all of us," she grumbled. She held back any other thoughts, afraid that letting them slip— even in just passing— would end this semi-passive conversation they were having. But she was itching to know just why Bill was acting so... casual; as if their last meeting didn't end like a nightmare— literally.
Bill, of course, knew exactly what he was doing. It had been a pain not being able to see Flame in nearly a week, and if she continued to avoid sleep then things would take longer than they should. It wouldn't take forever—her limit appeared to be every few days— but it was still enough to prompt him to slow down a little bit.
He didn't want to play the long-con— he was sick of waiting— but he could spare a few visits, lulling her into a false sense of confidence to continue sleeping. Besides, he had bigger plans for the future; he was workshopping a deal she wouldn't afford to refuse. As much as he hated to admit it, he had jumped the gun the other day, letting his anger and impatience get the better of him. He needed to take things a little slower for a bit.
"Besides," Y/n sighed, "parties aren't really my thing. The kids get a kick out of them, but they're always off doing their own things."
"And you're left alone," Bill finished for her.
"Yeah," she muttered, biting her lip. "But it's fine," she added sternly, trying to end the conversation. "Is that why you're here? To bother me about not wanting to stay at a party? If that's it then you can leave; there's not much else I can say about them."
"You're so eager to get rid of me, aren't you?"
"Yes," she said bluntly, not even trying to hide it.
"Flame! That isn't very nice!" His eye crinkled into a light frown, and he placed a hand over his "heart" in feigned hurt.
"I can see why, though: you're all alone exposed in the forest. At night too! I never thought you could be so reckless, but here you are, letting your guard down and proving to be a perfect target to any hungry monster that seems to be passing by." His tone dropped slightly, and the glint in his eye turned menacing as he reached the end of his sentence. He snapped his fingers, and suddenly a multitude of glowing blue eyes flashed within the shadows of the shrubs and vegetation surrounding her.
"I didn't think you'd be the type of person who'd get killed by something in the forest, but you're proving to be filled with more and more surprises!" He cheered. He snapped his fingers again and the eyes disappeared.
She paled suddenly. Y/n didn't want to think about it, but a certain level of panic was slowly bubbling within her. Why did she decide to go out at night? Especially when she wasn't her usual attentive self?
Practicing definitely is not worth getting mauled by a hybrid bear-wolf thing, she thought bitterly to herself.
This caught Bill's attention; "'Practicing...?'" He inquired, a shine lighting in his dead eye. "Practicing what, Flame?"
"...Dancing," she said, almost immediately, nodding her head slowly. It seemed like a good enough lie for her purposes. "Yeah, I can't dance. Now you know my terrible secret."
"Yeah sure, and I'm a circle," Bill scoffed, narrowing his eye at her lie.
"Oh woah! I never knew," Y/n mocked right back, narrowing her own eyes.
"Kiddo! You're really not gonna tell me?"
"Well duh. What did you expect?"
Bill was learning quickly that Y/n could be extremely blunt and boring when she was too tired to even comprehend situations. It was somewhat interesting; she still recognized the power that he held over her, but she refused to let him see her fear. It was new to him. It's not everyday he would meet a fleshbag who wasn't cowering after learning of his true nature. Even Sixer had been a little more apprehensive in the beginning. He was starting to see the resemblance between the two.
He really did find Y/n entertaining— much more so than he did Sixer— and while he was eager to gain a vessel to interact with the 3D plane, he didn't want to lose this whitty side of Flame just yet. And having her getting mauled to death by a Werewolf or something wouldn't be ideal. So he decided it would be best to cut their visit short.
"Fine Flame, keep your secrets. You're not going to be able to hold onto them for long; I'm the master of the mind."
Y/n frowned; he was right about that. How was she supposed to prevent a dream demon from reading her mind?
"You'll see me soon enough," he continued. "Remember Flame, you can't stay awake forever! And when you finally knock out, I'll be there waiting. But for now, I'll be watching you!" He floated up into the air, a brilliant and blinding light glowing behind him. Y/n covered her eyes. "I'll be watching youuuu!" He echoed one more time, before a loud crack sounded in the clearing.
Y/n jolted awake, surprised to find herself against the cliff rocks. Before she could even sit herself up right, a sudden noise made her freeze on the spot.
"Y/n! Y/n!" Her head snapped up to the two familiar voices shouting in unison.
Oh great, she thought sarcastically, the twins noticed I've been gone.
But, as her eyesight finally adjusted to the dark, she learned her guess was... half right...?
There, standing at the mouth of the clearing, two Dippers stood, looking down at her with concern.