Inigo remained on the porch, unsure of where to go.
He was conflicted, with both himself and the world. How did he only just find out his daughter was still alive? What kind of person was he? What kind of father was he? He didn't have much experience with the paternal role if he were to be completely honest— demons weren't known to have children; it was a whole debate amongst the population— but he was sure at least knowing your child was alive was some sort of prerequisite... right...?
"What is wrong with me? How could I miss something so crucial!" He scolded himself out loud. His shouts were carried with the wind, off into the crisp night.
He had known of what happened that fateful night; he was a mess for a couple of years when he saw what destruction his power— his inherited power— had caused.
"But she survived," he muttered, pulling at his hair. "All this time I thought she had died, but she survived."
That's why he sensed his fire: it was from his own daughter using it, completely unaware of where it came from or who it originally belonged to. He remembered earlier, where the same spasm from his dimension struck him down in the parlor.
"She used it earlier...?" He thought back to her foot; it was obvious she had gotten injured. "Was Y/n in danger?"
"Almost! It would have been much more interesting to watch!"
Inigo froze; that was a voice he hadn't heard in a long while.
While in thought, the demon had failed to notice his surroundings lose their color. The rich color of the night was reduced to a monotone he could only associate with one person.
Or, one triangle, rather.
"So that strong demonic presence I sensed," he spoke, looking back over his shoulder. A golden triangle floated little ways away from the porch, positioned at the edge of the woods. "That was you?"
"Well of course it was, Inigo!" Bill cheered, floating a bit closer. "Who else was it gonna be? One of those kids?" He pointed to the shack.
Inigo bit his lip. Of course it belonged to an actual demon. For a moment, he thought it was Y/n; that fire's energy wasn't something to be messed with. But she was still very much still human: she could still— as she proved earlier— get hurt, and Death wasn't going to simply walk past her if it ever got to that point. But Bill Cipher? Why was he here?
"What are you doing within this dimension, Cipher?"
"I could ask the same thing, Horns," Bill laughed. He snapped and his trusty cane appeared by his side. He used it to motion to the man. "Though it's rather obvious: couldn't stay away from those little meatsacks' frivolities, could you?"
Inigo rolled his eyes, crossing his arms. He flicked his wrist, deciding to rid himself of his physical human facade. It was beginning to become a nuisance, and while the foreign and strong feelings that came with a more emotional form was what originally coaxed him to try his hand at the human experience, he wanted to catch a break from any more mind blowing information that might further shake his rather frail form.
His amber eyes rolled into the back of his head, black crawling up from his chest to cover his body. White glowing eyes rolled into place from all around his face, running from one side of his face all the way to the other of his neck. Horns grew from right above his lengthening ears, curling with his hair and sweeping back, the tip pointed downwards. His clothes changed within an instead, replaced with Inigo's more formal attire: a white collar poked from beneath a form-fitting black vest, a dark violet tie hiding beneath it. The vest was tucked into black slacks, falling nearly over neat dress shoes. Inigo seemed to grow taller, smoke beginning to billow from his ethereal being and dissipate inches above him.
"I thought you made it a point to watch from afar," Bill continued, twirling his cane. He floated over to the demon, nudging him slightly. "Afterall, we all know what happened that one time you got too close."
"Yes yes," he sighed, not bothering to hide his annoyance when it came to that topic. "I'm aware." A tail flicked behind him, pointed with an ever-glowing flame. It rose with his irritability, and Bill noticed. But the triangle loved teasing the other demon. It was one of the few things he could do to mess with the demon without running the risk of quick and utter annihilation.
"Are you really? Because what I just saw was a demon mingling with some pathetic fleshbags as if that wasn't the same thing that got him in trouble with his dimension's council!"
"I was simply passing by in the area!" Inigo retorted, his multiple eyes squinting at the triangle. "I was in no way trying to be friendly."
"I'd say you got pretty chummy with those Pines kids. Specifically Flame."
Inigo froze.
Does... does he know about Y/n?
He couldn't; he only just found out. It would be another punch in the gut if Bill had learned that his child was still alive before he did.
Afterall, he chided himself, eying the cheeky triangle from his peripheral vision, he did just refer to them all as 'Pines.'
"You mean Y/n?" He asked, playing dumb.
"Y/n; Flame— it's all the same."
"How do you know the child?"
"So glad you asked, Inigo!" Bill cheered. He snapped his fingers, and a picture frame fell into his outstretched arms, cane abandoned to float beside him. He flashed the frame to Inigo.
The little frame was a deep red mahogany, adorned with things Bill was known to find appealing: deer teeth, swiney muscle strands, tendons stretched taught from the corners— all things rather tame for a being spawning from chaos and nightmares. But what was inside the frame puzzled the taller demon greatly: it was a picture of Y/n and Bill.
The girl was leaning against a large tree, it's foliage creating dancing shadows on the mop of black hair. She didn't seem to realize that there was a— a picture...? Could it even be called that?— being taken; her eyes were closed and a small smile pulled at her lips. Bill sat atop her head, much smaller than he appeared now.
It was a "photo" from the times were Bill would visit Flame within her dreams— before she just happened to find and freak out about Sixer's journal entry about him. But Bill decided that Inigo didn't need to know those details. Why would he care in the first place?
When Inigo went to reach for the frame, Bill quickly took it away, snapping it back out of existence. It was quite odd to say the least, but the man brushed it off with a quick nod. He was too preoccupied in seeing his daughter actually appear content to notice the almost sinister air Bill had around himself in that "photo."
"She's a little friend of mine," Bill continued his lie, his eye squinting into a smile.
"A friend?" Now that was interesting. "And here you are criticizing me on my interest in humans?"
"Please, it is nothing like that mess you got yourself into a few years back," Bill retorted. "You still owe me that favor, yeah?"
"Yes," Inigo muttered, an uncharacteristic growl leaving his lips. "I'm well aware."
It was an extremely touchy subject: the death of his mortal wife and the supposed death of his somewhat mortal child. Inigo's initial escapades within the human realm hadn't really been recognized, and even if they were, it was assumed that he was messing with the mortals. It wasn't a foreign concept for demons to get bored within their realms and go have fun messing around with humans. But none had ever gone as far as settling down and having a child.
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.
Inigo cared way too much for humans, something Bill never understood, and was glad he didn't. He could never see himself following in the same smokey footsteps as the horned demon, not that he was interested in the first place. He didn't see the big whoop with those fleshbags that the other seemed so enamoured about.
"She's different, Horns!" He finally answered, tossing his cane slightly. "Couldn't you gather that from the moment you met her?"
Inigo's brows rose, eyes running along his cheeks narrowing suspiciously. Now, what did this mean? It wasn't as if her presence was of demonic nature; it was Bill who he had been tracking before. But besides the fact that she held his fire— something Bill seemed to know nothing of— what made her any different to the rest of the humans in the triangle's eye?
"Different...? Different how?"
"Obviously, you don't seem to see it; she's a little genius. Well, as much as a genius as these mortals can be. Plus, she's a fun witty one! But I see why you didn't catch on," he said, rolling his hand with a slight flare, "you really freaked her out with your whole introduction, you know that?" Bill snickered.
"No, certainly I didn—"
"Did you not see the look on her face?" The triangle cackled, putting a hand to his side. "It's obvious you haven't interacted with humans in nearly a few decades. Her thoughts were going wild!"
Inigo couldn't help but grimmance. Did he really startle her that much?
Bill noticed how distraught the demon seemed to appear. The smoke that rose from him thickened slightly, and all of his eyes flickered to the shack.
Why is Horns so worried about meeting Flame? His eye narrowed slightly as Inigo continued to beat himself up silently. He always had thought that Inigo's attachment to humans was foolish— he was such a powerful demon, one who had such command over nearly an entire dimension, yet he wasted his time and thoughts on them. But now? Seeing him this distressed about Flame?
Can... can I use this...? Suddenly, the plan he had been workshopping to get more direct access to Flame was on the backburner and a new one was forming. Besides, he did need someone in his corner to help him with more... human problems, afterall.
"Relax Horns," Bill drawled, slinging an extending arm over the demon's shoulders. "You seem... attached to her?"
Inigo stiffened for a moment. "No! It's just that—"
"You don't have to lie to me, buddy! I get it, you found some interest in her too. I'm all knowing dream demon; I can tell."
All knowing he says, Inigo couldn't help but think, but he doesn't even know who he is befriending.
"F-fine," he admitted, crossing his arms. "Maybe the girl has piqued my interest."
"See! I knew it!"
"But what does that have to do with anything?"
"I can," Bill paused for a moment, a cheeky smirk wrinkling his eye. "Keep tabs on her, if you so wish...?"
Inigo's eyes widened, and Bill noticed. "I mean," he continued, trying to hide the amusement in his voice. He didn't expect him to be so interested so fast! "You're so busy within your dimension, you know? Being a Lord is surely a lot of work in such a structured and elite place, isn't it? You don't always have the time to leave, even with the council gone."
The smoky demon bit his lip; Bill was right about that. He couldn't just leave Ashgar alone every time he chose to leave the dimension to check up on little Y/n. It would only just land him back into the same situation as it previously, and there would be much harsher consequences. But at the same time, he knew the dream demon wasn't always the most trustworthy.
But... maybe it was a good idea to help him. Inigo had always known Bill was a little... unhinged— he was a demon who had practically spawned from chaos, afterall— so what if helping him understand humans more helped him? If he saw how interesting and unique they could be, maybe it would ground him a bit more.
"What exactly are you proposing, Cipher?" There was a certain sharp tone in his voice, something that Bill couldn't help but find reminiscent of Flame earlier.
"It's simple really. I'll make regular checks on Flame for you— tell you what she's up to, tell you what's going on— and in return, all I ask is—"
"You want something in return?" Inigo snapped immediately.
"Well of course! I'd be going out of my way to go all the way to that dimension of yours! I'm a busy triangle, too, you know? I have a dimension of my own I gotta keep on top of. Besides," Bill added, slightly more sinisterly, "you don't want to have to owe me two favors, would you?"
"...I suppose you're right. What do you want in return?"
"I just want some... some advice."
"Advice on what?"
"Well, you see Horns," Bill floated away, looking off into the static forest. His hands folded behind his back, bouncing his cane slightly. "Flame is being a bit... distant. There's something eating at her— I'm positive about it— but she never seems to think about it long enough for me to see. She has all these suppressed memories that she refuses to open up about!"
"Well, she has a right to her privacy."
"I know that! But there's a difference: whatever she's hiding is such a heavy burden on her poor human mind. I just know it! I've been in her memories, you know that?"
Inigo froze. If he'd been her memories, how did he miss the fact that she was his daughter?
"She has this whole section boarded up. The very thought of going down there freezes her in her spot! She looks like a deer in headlights! I asked her to let me see what's down there, but she wouldn't budge."
Oh, he thought, genuinely impressed with what she had done within the fabrication of her mind. Pride swelled in his chest: of course his little girl was so good with the mind! So that's what she's done. Did she get rid of her whole past? That question brought about some concerns; What has she gone through to make her want to hide her origins so badly?
"So you want me to assist you in getting her to open up?"
"Yes, exactly!" Bill exclaimed, smiling with his eye. His hat flew a little higher up on his head. "You're the human expert here!"
"I don't believe it's that easy," Inigo grumbled. "Humans won't willingly give up their deepest secrets. It would be best for you to grow a bond with her— get her to trust you. If you prove you're trustworthy, she'd open up slowly."
Bill bit back the harsh words on the tip of his tongue. He didn't have the time nor the patience to play nice. Besides, he had already abandoned that plan when he showed Flame his true colors. "Is there... an easier way?"
"I don't believe so," Inigo answered, matter-of-factly. "Y/n doesn't appear to be the type to open herself to you without such."
Bill huffed. There had to be an easier way. He had already decided earlier that Flame was a rather fun one and it wouldn't do good to drive her to insanity just yet, but as Inigo kept lecturing him on the ins and outs of the human mind and thinking processes, that option was slowly becoming more and more appealing. Granted, any information procured that way would most likely end up being garbled and tainted with the benign ramblings of a lost mind.
"So trust is the way to go then?" Bill muttered bitterly, crossing his arms.
"Yes, I believe it is your best bet."
Bill groaned, rolling his eye. He hung his limbs low, and his top hat and bow tie almost seemed to dip with his annoyance. He was realizing he had really shot himself in the foot a couple of days prior. He blamed Ford for writing such blasphemous things about him in that stupid book.
"Then I'm really going to need your advice," he grumbled, thoughts flashing back to the absolute terror plastered on Flame's face that one night.
"And you'll tell me what my little Princess is up to...?" Inigo whispered under his breath, hand brushing his chin in thought.
Bill's brow rose slightly, unable to catch the ending to his mutter. But it didn't matter, he just needed to get Flame to open up. Any information garnered from that would have to help when he later cornered her to make a deal, wouldn't it? He knew she was hiding something big— from both him and her family— and once he found that out, he could use it as blackmail to get access to a vessel and the portal.
"Do we have a little deal, Horns?" The triangle asked, hand already alight with a blue flame. A certain mischievous glint lit his cold, dead, eye, his free arm clutching his cane behind his back.
Inigo nodded slightly. It was a good deal for him. But he knew who he was dealing with; he wasn't going to shake that hand without making Bill understand that it was on his own terms, not the other way around. "You inform me on what she's doing, and in exchange I aid you in dealing with her. Nothing less, nothing more."
Inigo grabbed the triangle's hand, but before the blue flames could engulf their palms, sealing the deal, the taller demon's own black flames quickly consumed the light cerulean. His grip tightened on the triangle's arm, startling Bill for a moment.
"No funny business, got it, Cipher? You're making a deal with me." He hissed, leaning close. His multitude of eyes narrowed at him, their scela morphing into a bright and enraged red as his lips upturned into a snarl.
Bill couldn't tell if Inigo had grown larger than he already was, or if he had involuntarily shrunk back when the other pounced towards him. Deep down, he knew that he was playing with fire; Inigo was a notoriously powerful demon, and even if he did owe the triangle a favor, there was virtually nothing stopping him from annihilating him.
"Y-yes," Bill couldn't help but stutter, rudely reminded of just how powerful the entity he was dealing with was. "I got it, Horns." He answered, quickly pulling his hand away. He waved it as if it was burnt from the dark flames and tried to regain his previous cocky composure.
"Good," Inigo said coldly. "Now I'll be off."
And with that, Inigo dissipated into smoke, leaving behind an uncharacteristically nervous Bill Cipher alone in the mindscape.
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HEY HELLO HI
OKAY FIRST THINGS FIRST: THAT DRAWING I KEEP TALKING ABOUT? YEAH IT STILL ISNT DONE LMAO
BUT I DO HAVE SOME BIO DOODLES OF INIGO!
Not the final design mind you (and you can see the differences between these old doodles and what I actually wrote) but I don't think I'll change much
But abt the other drawing: basically winter classes started and while thats totally manageable (for now, I have to start writing two 3-5 page papers ahahahah :)), I've had other issues that took way more time to fix than it should have. And as it is I'm very behind on writing and rather focus on that so I still have chapters to post
Like seriously I only have like half of next update's chapter done when I used to have 5 back up chapters before I updated 💀🦜
BUT FEAR NOT! This won't have any affect on my updates at all, I just gotta get back into my writing flow. Plus I might have totally been considering starting another fic but that's a separate thing entirely lmao
Anyways, I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter! Vote, comment, and share if you'd like :D