Chapter 1: The intruders become students
Chapter Text
I guess everyone has wondered how their existence has appeared on Earth. How everything has started and the history behind it. Of course, anyone is allowed to believe in whoever they want; even if it’s God, Gods, or just no one else but the Universe itself.
For centuries people have tried to discover the truth. They wanted to worship whoever it was, to know that they appreciate their sacrifice and work. Signs of inhuman powers were shown back in the beginning of Earth’s evolution. But not only one, many. Anthropomorphics, as they used to call them, used to walk beside humans and help them in their everyday life; used to show humans how their powers work, how to cooperate, and of course, they grew to fall in love with them.
These signs stopped in the 4th century. However, that didn’t stop humans into recognising their true creators: the Gods. There were many Gods, and it was shown that new Gods appeared or were created depending on human evolution.
The Gods that they most worshiped were PD, the God of their Universe, and XD, the God of Dreams. It was common; PD was their everyday worship, while XD was their “good night” worship. There are many other Gods that their prayers are good for depending on the situation. If you wanted to go camping and not get attacked by a bear, HD, the God of Nature, was the one to pray to. If you were to get in a fight, TB, the God of Blood, was probably a good one; you get the idea.
Taking your own life wasn’t going to be only in the hands of the Goddess of Death, RIH, but also the God of Sacrifices, SC. However, dying of old age was going to be the cause of the Goddess of Death and the God of Time, KJ; the souls, though, were all in her hands. This is how Gods cooperated with each other, but that didn’t mean they couldn’t curse one another.
Many other creatures were created even before humans, most of those creatures were by the one and only, Goddess of Death. Angels and demons existed, however, only demons who wanted to change, and angels who wanted to help were allowed back on Earth. Since demons were shown as a high degree of evilness, those who wanted to enter Heaven could have another chance, kind of like reincarnation, but still being able to turn back into your demon form. Those who didn’t, rotted in the pits of hell.
Mr Halo’s office door burst open to the encounter of one of the teachers. Mrs Harrison was one of the English teachers. She had short dark hair and big brown eyes that were covered in pink eyeshadow. Her small size standing at the door frame, taking air in, as she was leaning on the side.
Mr Halo wasn’t one to argue; she was quite a new teacher at their school so he wouldn’t like to complain about her exaggerated entrance. He was way taller than her, with light brunette hair, emerald green eyes and small square glasses. He sat at a simple desk in his airy office, the sun’s rays going through his curtains, waiting for the possible outburst or the upcoming cries from the one he expected less.
Mrs Harrison fixed her breathing and calmly walked closer. She stopped right in front of his desk, anger and genuine bewilderment in her eyes, and coughed.
“Sir, may I know why I wasn't informed of the new students?” She asked. Her tone indicated irritation, but she knew her place.
Mr Halo raised an eyebrow and frowned. He wasn’t informed of any new students.
Here, at The Badlands Private High School, not everyone was able to enter. You need to have really good grades at your exams, to have high grades in general, counting your behaviour grade, and to take an entrance exam. So basically, you had to be a complete nerd. By how it seems, The Badlands Private High School is one of the most chillest school’s in their area. Since people who actually have brains are allowed to study there, they are aware of the society they have joined. Yes, there were exceptions when really smart kids were complete assholes, but only after some detentions, suspensions, and even threatening to expel them. Like I said, they are smart kids, so they understood quickly. Although, entering a school without being checked of any of those circumstances is going to be a problem for everyone. Mr Halo always enjoyed this nice, calming environment he has to deal with.
“May I know the names of those kids you’re talking about?” He asked while tracing with his black executive chair to the files cabinet and already starting scrolling through them. He used to cut his finger when he was doing it for dramatic effect, but he learned his lesson.
Mrs Harrison silenced the room a little while scratching the back of her neck. Mr Halo could hear her heart pound really fast and that made him lose concentration a little
“Apparently one of them is named… Theseus Minecraft? I believe,” Mr Halo considered that a really funny name; only if he weren’t in that position he could’ve laughed. He scrolled through the students' documents. There weren’t that many students in his school, only about 200 at least; he was able to keep track of everything somehow. As he kept scrolling, he couldn’t help but notice that there wasn’t any Theseus Minecraft atse toon T, nor M.
“The other one is Toby Underscore,” Nothing. There was also nothing about them. Mr Halo started getting really anxious. Did two kids manage to enter without a uniform? Of course they had to wear uniforms; otherwise security wouldn’t have let them in.
“And the last one didn’t want to talk, but their friend told me their name was Mark Beloved.” Again; nothing. “So?”
“What do you mean ‘So?’? Do you see me being cleared minded with this?” He didn’t mean to be this harsh, but his frustration was spewing up to his head. He didn’t accept his rules to be overlooked, nor broken, and he surely couldn’t stand this. Maybe he put their files somewhere else? He forgot to put them in the right order and he was looking in the wrong spot? Or, they could’ve been possibly stolen? The last one wasn’t so believable, but he would’ve accepted anything at that moment.
He took a deep breath and fixed his glasses. He had to blame a lot of people for this.
“Bring them here,” He went with his chair back to the desk and grabbed another sheet next to him. “I want to clear some things with them. And do it now, please.”
Mrs Harrison nodded frankly and closed the door as her shoes were echoing through the halls. Yes, she probably missed 30 or less minutes to teach in her class, but it wasn’t like any other student would complain about it. Mr Halo was going to complain a lot, though.
“So, you’re telling me there were three students; no uniform, no clear clarifications, in your chemistry class?” I would’ve been just as confused. Everyone had high expectations of that school, and if a normie (a richer way of calling students from public school) was able to just sneak it and act like it was their place to walk around, it had a lot to say about the security. “Did they get detention?”
“No, you dumbass, the principal called them to buy cheesecakes and admire the sunset by a shady beach… Of course they didn’t. They’re not students here, which means they probably got escorted,” Billzo munched aggressively, for some reason, on his sandwich. “You should’ve seen Mrs Harrison. She looked like she was going to explode any second; it was funny.”
Freddie, the one who kind of regrets asking, knowing his friend wouldn’t take it seriously, rolled his eyes and stared at his orange juice box. Aimsey was also there, eating their packed lunch because they never liked the canteen food, a little more confused than the other. Yes, he got sick and tired of hearing the freshmen dramas. They kept reminding themselves of when they were like that, full of sadness and desperation. It got better, of course, they matured; they forgot they had to listen to the current freshmen dramas, though; he didn’t count that in. Freddie was a Sophomore and Billzo was a Freshman while they were a Junior; he always felt safer with the youngest rather than with any classmates of his. Yeah there were exceptions, but they didn’t enjoy their company as much as they do with the Freshmen and Sophomores.
“So, are they normies?” Aimsey asked.
“Well duh,” Billzo took another bite while his eyes trailed off at some random kids’ table on his side. “I fucking hate them so much. They think that just because they don’t have what we have they can simply falsely consider themselves as one of us? You know what I call these types of people? Arrogant, jealous mother fuckers.”
“You really should watch your language,” Interrupted Freddie nervously. “I can already see Mr Halo opening the door dramatically and starting to scold not only you, but everyone!”
It wasn’t a joke. Everyone has noticed how good on time Mr Halo was with discipline and profanities. You would slip a ‘shit’ because you would accidentally kick the edge of the door with your toe and he would, what everyone likes to say, teleport behind you and start scolding you. It’s funny, to a point. Many ‘popular kids’ would get into this mess most times, that’s why nobody pays attention to them; unless they hear some sort of rumour.
“Mr Halo is too busy talking to the intruders to be listening to our conversations,” Billzo wrapped his half eaten sandwich back in his package and threw it somewhere in his backpack, rearranging his headband. Aimsey laughed at his friend's choice of words.
“You said it like he’s some sort of mastermind,” added Freddie. Most times he wonders how his friend managed to enter this high school. At first, he believed he got accepted with a certain amount of money or on accident; he didn’t.
Billzo stood up from his seat, his red uniform looking pretty neat on him.
“I’m going to head to class,” he said bluntly. “I have maths and Mr Virmin asked for my notebook since he thinks I’m not paying any attention to class.”
They said their ‘see you soon’, and he left the obnoxiously loud room, that he just realised he hated. The corridors were silent; classes started in 20 minutes. He just wanted to listen to some music in peace. Music was Billzo’s type of venting. When he would feel down, he would connect his Bluetooth, max his volume and lay on the grass, read, or play on his Nintendo while his favourite bops ran through his ears. The first encounter he had with Aimsey was because of music: Aimsey had to record themselves for a play in the drama club, so they went to the recording room. There, Billzo was adding some tunes without permission. Aimsey didn’t snitch and Billzo also helped them; and then they introduced Freddie to him. That’s basically what caused their friendship to grow. Even if they knew each other for only 3 months, Billzo grew to feel happier in that place. Knowing that in your second week of school you’ve already met two of your best of friends was truly meaningful to him.
He took his black AirPods from his backpack, connected them to his phone which he left in his back pocket, and with a pretty decent volume, because the canteen has already made his eardrums hurt enough, he walked aimlessly towards his class. He wasn’t worried about being late, he was lying back then; he just wanted some alone time. ”Kermit the Frog” by Marina and the Diamonds was playing in the background of his head as he closed his eyes to feel the inner peace. He could’ve done this all day, if it wasn’t for his full schedule.
His footsteps were clear and the crowded canteen could still be heard even if he was like 12 meters away.
His peace was interrupted by someone bumping into him. Their foreheads met each other, and dizziness took over for a little, before his mind came clear again. His sight reflected the half black and half blonde hair of the person, their green-greyish eyes and slim eyeliner.
It was Beautie; the one and only. She was almost the same height as him. They met before in secondary school and at the beginning of the year they were surprised to see each other. Beau was enthusiastic and chill; she may act harsh but that’s just her. At first Billzo didn’t think much of her, considered her annoying to a point, until they got to know each other in the halls because of their common friends. They both had similar taste in music, Beautie with a lean on rock, and somehow they would always be called ' 'The Emos' ' because of their looks.
Beau stroked her head in the dizziness she was also left with, and quickly looked straight into his eyes with the little balance she held.
“I’m so sorry, Bill!” She said, Billzo feeling her overly exaggerated concern, as he took his AirPods out.
He sighted, mockingly patted her head, and reassured her. She wasn’t like him; Beau actually preferred human company more rather than music. She was very interested in making new friends and joining as many charity clubs as her time allows her, without failing any classes at the moment. When he discovered that, he was truly impressed by her motivation; he was sure she was going to become someone important to society in a way. Her, Aimsey, Freddie, and many other students, have helped the Trevor project one month ago by raising only 98 thousand euros. Mr Halo was the proudest, of course, and he had to announce this to the local newspaper magazine. Billzo wished he could’ve done more that month, but school, especially his maths teacher, overworked him a lot.
“The guys are at the tables in the back,” He said, smiling.
Beautie smiled back at him, and passed his shoulder gently. Her footsteps stopped midway through the hall and so did Billzo, after he noticed. They both turned around at the same time and gave each other their confused faces.
“Where are you going? Classes start in almost 15 minutes,” Beautie said as her voice got quieter by the end.
Billzo shrugged her off saying how Mr Soot wanted help with moving the instruments from his classroom back to the stage. Because, of course, he forgot the first lie. Although, he quickly regretted it when he found out Beautie actually met with Mr Soot after she left the principal’s office some minutes ago, and that he was going to his office…
Now hold on. It didn’t matter that he lied, or something, but why was she at the principal’s office? Weren’t the intruders there? She wasn’t even in the same class as them when they firstly arrived, if that was truly their first class. If anything, Mr Halo should’ve called him for help if there were to be any. It was like picking the worst player in the soccer team to get in, while you, who clearly has more experience, was ignored. Chemistry class wasn’t his favourite, and a lot of those kids' favourite classes weren’t chemistry either, he hoped; the last thing he wanted was a chemistry nerd behind his desk.
“Mr Halo wanted me to help them with their uniforms,” she continued, throwing her hands in the air. “Y’know, since I am apart of the student council, and shit like this,”
He was still surprised she was.
“Wait, what do you mean by uniforms?”
“Oh, well, they’re joining us, apparently.”
This had to be a joke. There was no way.
How much money did they bet, or were they actually good enough to enter?
“Oh,” was all Billzo could say. He was very confused; it was like they were meant to join; maybe they were. But it felt… odd. Their way of interacting felt odd. “Cool, I guess,”
“Yeah,” sighted Beautie as she moved her hand to her hips. “They’re quiet, but they have some attitude. You should’ve seen the way they talked to the principal.”
Billzo frowned at the feeling. Mr Halo wasn’t pleased with raising tones and yelling without a reason. It had something to do with respecting the God of Sounds and Music, O7. Billzo wasn’t very religious, but it wasn’t like he didn’t believe in the Gods. However, this still made him have a dark hole in his stomach. How come someone new raises their voice to the principal? A principal. Someone with the highest status in a school, and got let in. They were definitely accepted with money. But Mr Halo doesn’t care about that; it’s a private school, after all.
“I see,” said Billzo as he gripped tighter on his AirPods, anxiety increasing up his chest. “Do you think I can come and help? In some way?”
“I don’t think there’s a need right now,” she responded calmly. Her concern was visible as she saw the face Billzo made. “Just- go do your thing. I’m sure the newbies won’t bother,” Right, “the newbies”. Now they were newbies, not intruders.
Beautie gave him a reassured smile while skipping weirdly through the halls to the canteen to talk with her friends while she could.
Billzo stood there for a few seconds before putting back his AirPods. The walk now was disappointing. Mr Halo disappointed him. There was no possible explanation for why they would join. They looked like idiots, complete idiots. They looked stunned when the teacher noticed them, just like three big idiots. Never judge a book by its cover? Yeah, well fuck that; the description was the worse part in their case.
If anything, he wished that none of those three kids were going to have to share a class with him. Even though there were chances, he still prayed to QW he didn’t. QW was the God of Luck, by the way. It was a weird name. You pronounce it like the fruit, “kiwi”. Apparently they had some correlation.
When QW was living his human life, this exact same fruit saved him. There was a weird history behind it: after he had to get over the loss of his good friend, SC, who soon joined the other Gods by his sacrifice, this unknown fruit appeared in his sight. After the bite he took, he was granted with a joy that the human kind would’ve loved. Money. He then, selled more of these fruits giving people the true spark they needed in their lives.
This is only the first “story”. Some say ‘Q’ comes from his real name and ‘W’ was meant to be a significant ‘winner’. Although, it still wouldn't explain the pronunciation, but I guess nobody cares nowadays. People would say that because of the desperation the God was in at that moment the fruit managed to lose its power. Billzo also thought that a lot of people lost brain cells when creating fake theories about simple things just so they could shove their religion down one's throat, but that was only his opinion. It wasn’t like QW was going to come down on Earth and scold him because he didn’t entirely believe in him. Why would you want to remember so many Gods, anyways?
Billzo didn’t read the Gods' whole history behind them because he wanted to. He just simply likes their background. The way the stories barely make sense, but at the same time they do, made him be more intrigued in them. Some were popular, some were simply interesting.
Apparently QW wasn’t doing much work. It felt like nothing changed, but he couldn’t know unless he checked.
He changed his roots. From trying to go outside, to taking a turn to the principal’s office. He was most likely going to regret this. At the end of the day, he knew he wasn’t going to be heard. Having to face those losers again was truly exciting for him, though. But, he couldn’t let the principal be manipulated this badly by just some teenagers (Like he wasn’t one. Maybe that was the whole point of being a teen; to manipulate adults).
However, it seemed like the decision had already been made.
When Billzo turned around the corner, he saw the principal, Mr Halo, his music teacher, Mr Soot, and… those three kids.
Billzo sighted as he walked with his legs dangling behind him. He was too late. That was for sure. But XD, how much did he want to start a scandal right now.
Would’ve been worth it? Probably not. Would’ve it worked? Depends on the circumstances. Should he do it? Probably not. Would he do it? Fuck yeah.
“Mr Halo— Hello, Mr Soot,” Billzo waved to the two teachers. He glanced at the three intruders behind them. They all looked rather… pissed… serious; there wasn't really a good word to describe their expressions. Although, those blue eyes of the blond guy that kept staring at him intensely did annoy him. “May I ask what's happening here?”
Mr Halo raised an eyebrow and shared a glance with Mr Soot.
“Why does it bother you?” Said Mr Halo, making himself sound gentle and serious at the same time.
Billzo frowned. “Sir, I hope you understand what type of situation we have here-“
“I am well aware, Bill,” continued Mr Halo, now giving him a more friendly look.
Mr Halo never liked arguing with kids. You could tell when he was pissed, but one thing people found rather strange about him, considering his position, was how gentle and truly kind he was with everyone. You would bring a gun to school and he would still talk the same way he always does.
“Then?” Billzo asked, throwing his hands up in the air.
They were followed by a long, awkward silence. Mr Soot had a weird smile plastered on, like he was feeling out of place.
“Then,” Mr Halo finally spoke up, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Nothing. They join.”
Of course. He wasn’t surprised at this point. It was obvious; Mr Halo was rather: manipulated to the maximum point, or just walked a higher step of being way too nice.
Mr Halo noticed the disturbed face on Billzo.
“Look, Bill,” He continued, resting his hand on his shoulder. Billzo found this type of physical communication weird. “I know what you think of this school. And I completely agree with you, of course I do! I wouldn't be here if I didn't.”
Bill nodded not knowing where he was going with it. At this point, the blond was smirking, which pissed him even more.
“But, these three. They are geniuses!”
“Then why didn't they sign up in the second semester?” Asked Bill angrily. “Oh! So, they're smart, but not patient? You know how much others had to work to be able to get a spot in here? Of course you do! You're the director, after all!”
Mr Halo was visibly embarrassed, and he took note of that. But it didn’t seem like Billzo’s speech embarrassed him, more like the situation he was put in. He put his hand down and gave Mr Soot another glance, before looking at the three kids, and then back at Bill.
“Something else intervened and that's why,” He said.
Billzo didn’t understand. He wanted to ask. Was there an olympic competition or something going on?
“How about you show them around,” Mr Soot finally spoke up. “Maybe then you'll see that they’re not so bad after all,” It was obvious that he was just trying to calm things down.
“Fuck no!”
“Language, Billzo!”
“They literally broke in! Why are you letting this slip?” He snapped.
Mr Halo seemed stressed. Bill felt bad, but he knew he was right, so of course he was going to stick to his protest. They interrupted his chemistry class. And you know what? Maybe that day he did enjoy chemistry.
“I personally have no problem with that,” Said the blond guy, as his smirk faded away, and turned his eyes into puppy-like ones. This dude had some good acting skills in him, is what Bill noticed.
Billzo wanted so much to snap at this guy. At the end of the day, who did he really think that he was? He looked cocky as fuck, and Billzo hated these type of people. Not to mention how his two friends stood besides him like bodyguards. Aimsey would hate them too.
“And I, personally, do have a problem with that,” Said Billzo, matching the guy’s tone.
He laughed in return.
However, Mr Halo wasn't having it. He had no hesitation in taking the, what they are now, new kids’ side. So, Billzo had no other choice rather than to be their new guide throughout the school.
Chapter 2: Coffee Feast meet-up
Summary:
Coffee Feast is a small café where Billzo used to go to almost every single day with his friends, that he almost forgot about.
However, when he returns to it due to a rainy problem, it seemed like it wasn’t only his favourite place.
Notes:
(See the end of the chapter for notes.)
Chapter Text
The sun shone brighter than usual. The heat waves have been stronger and the school quieter. Classes started at least 15 minutes after Mr Halo excused the four students, giving them all a hall pass. However, they were distracted by the smell of detergent from the windows (the janitors had work) and the little tour took a lot more than they all wanted it to be.
Billzo learned their names, but he truly didn't care in the first place. The small brunette was Toby, but just like every other kid in this school, he had a nickname, and that was Tubbo. The tall quiet guy was named Mark, or something, but Billzo decided to call them Ranboo, for no exact reason. And of course, the head of the group, Regina George, queen bee, the bitch (that was only his opinion, though), Theseus. What a dumb fucking name, is what Billzo thought. He needed to find him a good nickname, otherwise he would’ve sounded like a prince.
As the tour was happening none of them seemed impressed. Whenever Billzo would show them specific classes they would just give a quick glance and move on. They didn’t need to be exactly impressed, but to at least show a little bit of interest. That annoyed the shit out of him. Not only did he have to skip his class for them, but they were also being rude. Putting effort into absolutely nothing.
Theseus kept a strange smirk on his face. He was the weirdest one out of them. Saying this, because they were all weird.
In Billzo’s chemistry class, when they basically had their first encounter, Theseus kept humming, which didn’t help Billzo's concentration. If he would’ve told him off maybe they would've been caught earlier. But that wouldn't have changed anything anyways.
Tubbo kept tapping his fingers on the desk. It sounded like a French teacher knocking on your door to wake you up during camp. Which is really hella loud. Surprised how the teacher hadn't noticed him in the first 20 minutes of class, but she was weird as well, so he didn’t bother to care.
Ranboo seemed rather off. It was totally weird that they were the quiet one while the other two seemed like complete bullies. During chemistry, the only annoying thing he did was talk to himself. They’re lucky with that mask of his.
Even so, Billzo could've sworn that their eyes would sparkle whenever they’d look at each other.
They stopped in front of the garden doors.
“Well,” Billzo said, turning around to face them. That was all. What do you think?” He knew they probably didn’t give a shit.
“I’ve seen better,” added Tubbo, with an emotionless expression.
Billzo rolled his eyes. These three looked, and acted, like robots. He knew them for only 45 minutes, but they looked boring as hell.
“Yeah, well, you'll also have different experiences. So, stop complaining,” Billzo crossed his arms, earning a chuckle from the smaller boy.
“You seem annoyed,” he added.
Billzo’s blood started to boil. “And? You think that’s funny?”
“I think that’s hilarious.”
He was asking to be punched. And he was going to give it to him if he kept begging.
Just like every time, the two had to stay quiet. It was like they were one person. They looked like they could read each other’s thoughts without even giving one glance. It was more like it was enough for only one person to speak for the whole team.
QW was definitely not with him this time.
“Billzo, I think you should join us for a coffee,” said Theseus, keeping his weird smile. “Y’know, we could get to know each other.”
Bill visibly gagged, which changed the mood of the three. Theseus wasn’t smiling now, but just stared at him. He stared at him so deeply it felt like daggers going through his chest. Tubbo had the same expression, but smirked again, while Ranboo, well, stared as well. Not like they were doing much in the first place.
“To be honest, I’m not really in the mood,” Billzo responded as he backed away a little so he could take his leave. “And plus, I’m busy. So, yeah,” his footsteps became heavier with every step he took, not daring to look behind as he felt the back of his neck burn with stares.
After school, Billzo went straight to Aimsey’s house. Freddie was also going to be there, and they were going to throw a small study party, as they like to call it.
Aimsey lived some streets away from him. However, he didn't like her side of the city. It was full of thugs and dead rats. He didn't know why she was still living there. They always complained about it, but apparently they didn’t have enough money to move together with their parents.
The neighbourhood was quiet. It was currently 2 PM and the sun wasn’t as bright as it used to be before. The wind was cold, though, and almost no cars were in sight. But luckily, because of that, he was able to arrive faster.
Billzo would usually walk together with them, but he had to stay in school a little more because: one, of the new kids; and two, Beau needed help in the council room, since a member was sick.
He arrived at their door, and knocked loudly, knowing her parents weren’t home. In just a few seconds, Aimsey opened the door, and welcomed him with a smile.
“Hey, Bill,” he said as he got out of the way to let him in. “How was, you know, the after school activities like?” It sounded like a joke.
Billzo didn’t say anything. He threw his rucksack on the sofa and also flopped on it the moment he took his shoes off.
“It was complete shit,” he mumbled in the pillows.
Aimsey grinned at the sight of his friend. He remained the same.
He sat down and placed a hand on his back.
“I’m sure it wasn’t that bad,” they reassured him.
Billzo raised his head from the pillow and looked at her disappointedly, before turning around to lay on his back.
“Bro, these kids think they’re some sort of nobles. I bet they’re homeless,”
Aimsey smacked his arm and sat up, while Billzo frowned at the interaction.
“Don’t say it like that. It’s not like it’s funny,” he was right, so Billzo apologised. But truly, he couldn’t care less.
Freddie was going to be late for a while, as he had programming classes, so they already started going through English and mathematics. Even though Billzo was in one of the best schools, he still was technically considered a lower kid in his classes. He had good passing grades for public schools, but there, you had to have almost perfect scores. He was getting there. The lowest score you could’ve got in with was 90%, so he wasn’t worried. His score was 91% though, and that worried him. He didn’t like being one of the least good students, not in any other domains.
Aimsey’s scores were really good, of course. With 98% you could’ve basically gotten into a really good college, such as the one in Snowchester, which was mainly if you wanted to become an architect; if you were in your final high school year. He just needed to keep these scores at this level. Aimsey aimed for at least that. But just like them, in that high school, almost everyone was above 95%.
Maybe that’s why this school hadn’t had fights at all; because kids were actually smart, you know, they think before doing things. We’re going to try and forget the part where Billzo wanted to beat the shit out of the two new students. Ranboo didn’t do exactly anything wrong, yet, so they were safe.
Aimsey helped him with what he needed. Ever since they met he has tried to, and Billzo appreciated them for that a lot. They were one of the most loyal people he had in his life.
They had worked for two hours now, in the living room. Billzo considered that he started getting better at maths, at least better than before.
“Hey, Bill,” interrupted Aimsey suddenly from their studies. “What are the new kids’ names?” She chewed the bottom of her pencil.
Billzo rolled his eyes. He loved doing that when he was mad or annoyed.
“Theseus, Toby and Mark,” he responded.
Aimsey hummed. “Do they have any nicknames?”
“The Toby guy is Tubbo, Mark doesn’t have one but I decided to call him Ranboo, and Theseus doesn’t. But I also don’t want to give him one just because,” he really didn’t know why she bothered, but that was Aimsey. They liked greeting new people and being friendly no matter the circumstances. But he thought that there was no use anyways. If Billzo would’ve told him about how they really acted, he wasn’t going to change anything. “Why do you care?”
Aimsey shrugged. “I’m just curious, I guess. Are they freshmen?”
“Yes. Now shut up.”
He didn’t mean to snap, but he disliked it a lot when troublemakers, as they seemed, received this much attention for nothing.
Wow. He really hated them. Billzo even surprised himself. He probably didn’t have a strong reason to do that, either. He didn’t know that their presence bothered him so much.
There was a light knock on the door that made them both flinch. They stared at the door, waiting possibly for something more. They were only met with another knock, this time a little more powerful.
“Oh,” Aimsey said as she stood up. “That must be Freddie,”
Why would Freddie come this late? Billzo forgot Freddie was even supposed to come at some point. He wanted to warn Aimsey. To tell him to not open the door, since it was obvious Freddie wouldn’t come. But he hasn’t received a message from him either, so he really didn’t know who to expect behind the door. Aimsey’s parents, maybe? Or, maybe Freddie messaged her, even though he told him he would send him a dm first?
When she opened the door, Billzo couldn’t see exactly who it was, since he was sitting down in front of the sofa. However, he could recognise that voice no matter how echoey a cave could be.
It was Freddie. He looked tired as fuck. Bill didn’t understand why he even bothered to come after one hour after his after school classes (his classes took one hour, and since they’ve been working for two hours, you know), but it didn’t matter. However, that wasn’t it. He wore a grey flannel that had a huge brown spot from the middle ‘till the bottom of it. It even covered most of his pants. In other words: he looked horrible. And it also smelled like dog shit. It was most likely mud.
“What the fuck happened to you,” Billzo asked as he stood up from his seat and went to the bathroom to grab a towel.
Freddie stayed silent for a bit.
“I don’t even know myself,” he added as he took off his shoes.
Billzo handed him the towel and Aimsey an oversized T-shirt of theirs. He didn’t know what to do with his trousers, so he just hoped they would dry off at least a little. When Bill grabbed the flannel and lifted it up in the air to smell it he felt like throwing up, so he just tossed it aside, somewhere next to the TV. Aimsey rolled his eyes and moved it to the laundry bin in the bathroom; he had no problem taking care of it.
As Freddie sat down, he noticed the books scattered on the coffee table, and mentally face palmed. He sat down loosely on the sofa.
“Sorry for the late appearance, I guess,” he added, sounding sarcastic and sad.
Aimsey rested a hand on his shoulder and slowly patted him. “You don’t have to worry,” They said while sitting down beside him. “However, we would like to know the natural cause of your flannel.”
Billzo started cleaning up the table as Freddie was having his little down-mood talk moment.
“Eh, nothing that bad,” he scratched the back of his neck while also rubbing his knee. “I guess you could say QW wasn’t really with me,”
Billzo froze. Where did he hear that before? Oh, right. From himself. While having to deal with the newbies.
He continued arranging the table as Freddie kept ranting.
“I finished programming classes,” he continued with a disappointing tone. He was most likely addressing it to himself. “And apparently there was this huge puddle, that I swear I didn’t notice, maybe because I was trying to message Bill. And a car drove by, and… you know,” He pointed to the bathroom, indicating his messed up flannel.
Billzo found that rather strange. It didn’t rain today, nor anywhere in the city. The news didn’t say anything, and every kid talked in the cafeteria about hanging out after school.
“Was it a leak?” asked Bill as he sat down on the floor. “You know, from a shop, or something?”
Freddie frowned. “I don’t think so. I don’t know, really,”
It made sense if it was, at least more sense. What didn’t make sense though was his late appearance. So, Billzo decided to ask.
“Did I really take that much? I must’ve lost track of time,” was all that Freddie said.
Maybe it was bullshit, maybe it wasn’t, everything was just weird. And Aimsey, because she’s the good junior that she is, decided to make pancakes to lighten up the mood. They knew how paranoid and criminologist Billzo could get, and they just wanted to make Freddie forget about a stupid flannel that he could easily replace. You know what else you could replace, though? An empty stomach.
In just a few seconds, she started cooking. That was probably the only dish she could serve: pancakes. But, what else would you need to know, if not pancakes? Don’t answer that.
They had the pancakes covered in syrup and chocolate. Aimsey started worrying about them getting sick, but she didn’t say anything, as she let them enjoy their afternoon breakfast.
The rest of the day went well. Freddie decided to stay over, however.
When Billzo was walking home, a small rain started. Luckily, it didn’t mess his clothes up as much (unlike Freddie’s), but somehow was strong enough to flood the streets. So, Billzo ran. He ran through the rain, and enjoyed it so much he felt like flying.
Home was also nothing special. Just like Aimsey’s parents, his weren’t any better, I suppose. It’s not like they had a bad relationship. More like, they didn’t have time to have one. He got in because he wanted to get in, and also because of the scholarships. When his parents found out about his approval to The Badlands Private High School, they were more than proud. So, because of that, they got a little encouragement to start working more. But it also got to a point where they would go on vacations without him. Not like he complained. He was 15, he could take care of himself.
It was currently 5:30 PM. Tomorrow Billzo had school. He finished all his homework and didn’t have to expect any exams, at least he hoped.
The rain got heavier. The sudden change was very strong, considering the hail that started to pour from the clouds. It hit Billzo right in the eye. It didn’t hurt much, but it was just enough to encourage him to run to the closest shop. While he was running he slipped and got his trousers dirty. He didn’t know what type of coincidence that could be, considering Freddie’s situation. Even so, he also got his rucksack wet, so he worried about his work getting ruined.
As he ran down the pavement, he turned right into a small café to shelter himself until the rain cools down. The café was called Coffee Feast. He only drank there one or two times this year. I’m the past, he used to go with his elementary school classmates.
The café was quite cute, maybe too cute for his likings. Its specific theme was nature. Vines hung outside of the windows together with climbing roses. The tables were in a vintage-like style, and the speakers that would usually bomb with music were now quiet. The building was painted in a dark beige and the windows were surrounded with dark wood. He would’ve totally taken his family out here if they wouldn’t have been so busy.
When he entered the café he was met with silence. No one was there, not a single voice, only the dim light from the tables and the quiet Maroon 5 song from the speaker that sat on the counter. (Billzo couldn’t quite get which song, though). The counter was the place where coworkers would serve directly to the customers and usually have small chats between themselves.
When Billzo used to come here with his cousin and Beautie, he would always chat with one specific coworker. His name was George. He was indeed very sarcastic and basically grew up like that. And he also had heterochromia, which he always found cool (Ranboo guy also had it, but it didn’t matter). Since Billzo hasn’t been to that café for almost the entire year, he didn’t expect to meet him there. Who knew? He probably even found a better job rather than this rusty old café. People moved on.
It totally creeped him out, however. The rain poured heavily against the window, and the bell from above the door ranged as the wind forcefully closed it. He flinched, but quickly calmed down.
He went up to the counter, sat down right next to the speaker and put his wet rucksack on the chair on his left. He didn’t know if he should just wait for someone to come up to him or to look for them himself. It was weird how the café remained with no customers. After all, the coffee wasn’t that bad; it could’ve been better, though. If there’s one other fear that Billzo has, it is probably kenophobia (fear of empty spaces). It just reminded him of a dark hole in his stomach that he couldn’t somehow feed.
Billzo felt cold hands touch his and he quickly retrieved his arms from the table, as he looked up and was met with brown, kind eyes. The man had a soft face and fluffy hair.
“Oh,” said the man, who supposingly was a coworker. “I’m so, so sorry for scaring you!” Billzo wasn't scared. It just took him by surprise. “It's just that, I kept calling you and you weren’t responding, so I got a little worried,” his smile was wobbly.
Billzo wasn’t really in the mood for venting and chatting, but it wasn’t like he had anything else better to do.
“No worries, I guess,” he added quietly. “Can I just get a black coffee?” He never drank, nor intended to drink, black coffee. He just felt like it.
The man looked weirdly at him.
“How old are you?”
Of course. Typical question.
“I’m 15.”
He hesitated and kept a weird face. Billzo just frowned at the coworker, who nodded in response, before going to the kitchen to prepare his drink.
When the man left, Billzo immediately opened his phone to message his parents. Even though they would've probably come back later or the next day at night he still was the responsible child that he was. He also noticed the spam messages he got from Aimsey. They kept asking for him, as they realised the rain that had started. Billzo decided to fuck with them and just leave them on seen.
The music changed. He didn’t know who it was, but it was a good rhythm.
He opened his rucksack and started looking at his notes. They were all wet, but still readable, so he could’ve easily rewritten them at home if he made sure he didn’t rip any on his way there.
Billzo sat his rucksack back on the chair. The music somehow got quieter than it originally was, and he felt another cold hand, this time on his shoulder, massage him. I don’t think Billzo’s heart pounded as much as it did at that moment.
Shivers went down his spine as he quickly pulled his whole body away, sitting up. With a terrified face from the sudden touch, he turned around and realised the blond hair that sat figure four lock on the chair on Billzo’s left.
It was Theseus and he was smiling vigorously. He could recognise those blue eyes anywhere, even if a million years had passed. He wore the school uniform and had a pink cup of caramel cappuccino in front of him. Don’t ask how Billzo knew. It wasn’t like that was his usual favourite order.
“Hey, Billzo,” said Theseus, sounding almost seductively.
Billzo felt like gagging.
“Say my name like that one more time, I fucking dare you,” he heard chuckles and grabbed his rucksack, wanting to leave.
Theseus stopped, rolled his eyes and tapped the chair Billzo originally sat down on. He just realised the plain golden ring that was on his pale finger.
“Now, it would be pretty rude for you to leave, don’t you think?” Theseus asked as he frowned a little.
The last thing Billzo wanted was to chat with him. He let his rucksack down and slapped Theseus’s hand away from the chair as he also tried to sit as comfortably, considering his tense position. Bill wasn’t sorry if he would’ve ditched him, but he was kind of in a mood of a coffee. He gripped his hand together and tried concentrating on the music. If it wouldn’t have been for the rain, he wouldn’t even be in this café. Probably back at home, taking a shower or sleeping.
Theseus got intimidatingly a little in his face as Bill backed away.
“I thought you said you wouldn’t be coming with us at the café?” He asked as he took a sip from his cup, and leaned back in his chair.
Billzo almost forgot about that offer. Not like he was going to take consideration of it any time soon.
“Well, I wasn’t. And I’m still not,” he said. He didn’t even want to look him in the eyes. “Where even are your little friends?” He got his AirPods out of his pocket. Maybe if he kept the guy occupied he could’ve easily not listen to his rant.
“They left,” Theseus said, sounding a little down. He fidget with his fingers around the cup’s handle. “They said they had other business to attend to. They always do this. It’s getting quite annoying,”
For some reason Billzo’s AirPods weren’t connecting themselves to the phone. He opened and closed Bluetooth a lot of times, but somehow the AirPods couldn’t recognise the device. If the reason he wanted to use them had nothing to do with Theseus, he would’ve already bursted out in anger. He kept his cool.
“What do you think?”
Billzo turned around to give him another dirty look and probably to say something along the lines of “go eat shit, you pussyhole” and then leave, but for once, he genuinely looked sad, maybe. He didn’t know. He didn’t even know the guy that much so he could assume. Maybe that was his manipulative face, or something.
And, what was taking that coffee so long to make?
He sighed. “I don’t know, dude,” You only needed that sentence to know how forced it sounded. Not even the music could’ve helped him in that moment. The speakers seemed like they turned off. “They’re not my friends.”
Theseus frowned, moved his cup and set his head on the table as he kept his gaze on Billzo. He wondered if he felt hot in that uniform.
“Yeah, sorry,” Theseus responded with a small chuckle. “That was so stupid of me,”
Billzo hated how “pick me” he sounded.
“What about your friends?” Billzo’s full attention was now back on him. “How’s your relationship with your friends?”
Bill visibly sounded disturbed. “Why does that concern you?”
He shrugged, but Bill didn’t take that as an answer.
His coffee finally came. The man put his green cup in front of him and Billzo smelled the strong scent of the black coffee in the air. It was still pretty hot, despite the time it took to arrive. At least he was safe when talking to him now, since the coworker was going to stick around. Who rents their whole life problems to a stranger (we’re not including therapists here)? Theseus did, nevermind.
The man smiled at them. “Oh, are you two friends?”
Billzo almost spilled his coffee. He punched the counter to grab their attention.
“No! PD’s fuck, no!” I guess he over exaggerated.
“Oh, I see,” continued the man, a little scared. “My apology, then,” It sounded rather confused than genuine.
But just like Billzo had hoped for the best, he received the worse. The man from the counter left, as he went to clean the kitchen. So, in return, he was left alone with him, again.
He took a sip for his cup, and his tongue was immediately stung by the bitter taste of it. It wasn’t that bad, but he still preferred his caramel cappuccino, which Theseus happened to have.
“Back to the question,” Billzo said, not wanting to repeat himself.
“I saw your friend,” Theseus responded quickly. “He passed this café some hours ago. He got splashed because of a puddle on the street,” He laughed quietly, “It was kind of funny.”
Billzo frowned. He was totally talking about Freddie. He didn’t mention anything about meeting them, though. Well, he did say that he saw Freddie, not met him.
“How did you even know he was my friend?” Best question he could’ve asked, before he revealed he was a stalker. “I haven’t introduced you to any of them,”
“Beautie told me.”
Of course she did. Beau, the queen of social interactions. If he wasn’t going to be the one introducing them to most of the school, then it totally would’ve been Beau. He wasn’t even surprised.
Billzo closed his eyes and exhaled heavily, before taking another sip.
“Look, Theseus,” He continued as he sat his cup down with curious eyes landing on him. “I’m going to be completely honest with you: you’re a freak, alright?”
Theseus in fact wasn’t taken aback. He just nodded.
“You are weird, and annoying, and you act like a brat,” Billzo spilled, sounding truly devastated to leave. “And I want nothing to do with you. We know each other for, what? Five hours? I don’t know; I don’t care,”
Theseus nodded, again, while humming in approval. Billzo found that rather sarcastic, which annoyed him, again, even more.
They stood there in complete silence for another ten seconds. No thoughts; just eye contact. Billzo frowning, and Theseus keeping a relaxed face. As Bill didn’t dare to break eye contact, he realised that his eyes sparkled again. He didn’t know why. I mean, Theseus’s eyes were a nice blue colour and the lights were quite dim, so it made sense… a little.
“You can call me Tommy,” he said, breaking the silence. “It sounds less formal.”
“And you can call me Sir.”
“I’m not going to do that.”
Billzo and Tommy took both a sip of their coffees at the same time. Bill gave him the side eye and frowned while doing it, while Tommy didn’t bother to give him attention.
The coworker hasn’t shown up since he brought his coffee. At least if he stayed to kind of look after them. At the end of the day, there were only two teenagers in a café, at 6 PM, who clearly didn’t get along. So, you couldn’t ever know what to expect.
If Billzo was going to go back to school knowing that he had this conversation with him, he would rather stay at home pretending that he’s sick. He could only imagine the awkward silences and eye contacts he would’ve had. Not to mention Tommy’s friends. He looked like the type to tell them everything. Billzo actually thinks their trio reminds him of those quiet kids who spread rumours and nothing more. Something like indirect bullying.
He was so caught up with everything, that he didn’t even realise the rain that had stopped. It was probably out for a while.
Bill drank his last drops of coffee and quickly sat up with his rucksack on his back. He looked at Tommy, which didn’t seem to be bothered. He kept drinking his cappuccino and looking in front of him, almost like Billzo wasn’t even there.
It wasn’t like he was bothered by it.
With another quick glance, he covered his pay with the cup, grabbed his pace and left the café in a hurry, despite not having to be anywhere else but home.
Notes:
Hope you enjoyed! I truly love writing and I hope I’m doing a good impression haha.
Anyways follow my Tik Tok: @teacolien <3
Chapter 3: Storage room meet-up
Summary:
Billzo decides to get back into his troublemaker persona form middle school just for a little, only to be me with actual trouble ‘round the corner.
What if a weird guy with a weird glasses and a basic beanie decided to just randomly spawn in the place you weren’t even suppose to think of going into? What would be the normal reaction? What if he also ate pepper pray and wants to digest soap?
That’s definitely not something a human would do now, wouldn’t it? We’re so caught up with the real world that we can’t even define what’s real and what’s not.
Notes:
I literally had so much trouble with this chapter it better be worth it lmao
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
I guess the only difference between humans and deities would probably be the power they hold. Because, logically speaking, if Gods did create humans, they legitimately did a “you can copy my homework but don’t make it too obvious” kind of thing.
Humans also get to develop and to understand things harder than deities. You wouldn’t even finish your sentence and they would already guess what you are trying to say. Or, you could just say one keyword, and your whole idea would already be perceived in their brains. But they like to play it dumb. It’s obvious.
We shouldn’t go into anymore deep thinking, when the question has an already answered answer.
I guess Billzo didn’t really think of that in the first place. He read it recently when he was studying with Aimsey. Deities were totally one thing he actually did enjoy reading about. Couldn’t say the same about Aimsey. They’d be curious sometimes, but probably not as deep into it like Billzo (he still doubted the life of them, however).
Deities were just born randomly. Rather if it was from curses, rituals or other deities. You just had to do something so life changing worth receiving godly powers and being worshiped. When Billzo was younger than I previously mentioned, he used to have to listen to his friends (who were religious biggies because of their parents) of how they were going to become almighty and shit. It was funny for him hearing such idiotic dreams. Some kids laughed with him while some decided to act like it would've happened in the near future. He wonders where they are now.
The three intruders, just like Bill still likes to call them, have been recently way too conspicuous around everyone else at school. Congratulations to them. Billzo only dreamt he was known in this school for something.
At some point, he was, in the past. It was very unpleasant though. Even though he was extremely smart, people intended to ignore him for that. Billzo joined the drama club. He was also going to join it in high school; he is preparing his application. It was mandatory to join at least one club anyways, which he found absurd. He always enjoyed acting. It was another passion of his. Maybe he wasn’t going to make it a career out of it, but he could.
Two days before the show, the teacher made him in charge of the props. Billzo may have been a clumsy kid, and still is, but he was 100% sure everything was ready for the big day. He checked it every break when he had the chance, to make sure nothing would be fucked up within the next 48 hours. If only he wished he would have also checked it some hours before the show.
They played The Government Inspector by Nikolai Gogol. He considered it a pretty boring play, but his teacher wanted to do it because of “nostalgia” or something like that. Billzo played the postmaster. He knew he could’ve gotten probably something bigger, but he wasn’t going to complain and then be seen as selfish. It was the middle of scene two when it was his turn to speak.
Everything was flowing well. He managed to control himself and to remember all his lines perfectly. Until, something above him screeched heavily. He panicked, but he tried to ignore it, as keeping his cool in front of everyone was more important. In his defence, he thought it was nothing. And in just a few seconds after that, a bucket full of cold, dirty, water with detergent landed straight on his head. It hit him pretty hard. Everyone on the stage helped him, but as he left the room, he was followed by merciless laughs from the other kids.
He stayed a day or two in the hospital, but it wasn’t something serious. Luckily, it was his last month of school before entering high school. So, all that embarrassment was going to be forgotten. Unless he would’ve been reunited with another kid and he was going to remain hunted forever, but there were low chances. And it remained like that.
But just like every single time, Billzo wasn’t going to be remembered for something special. He would always be the silent, weird kid who barely receives a look from the others. Maybe it was his style that made him not have any friends. But he could be exaggerating.
One week has already passed by and somehow these three managed to get everyone around their fingers. It was surprising. It was also surprising how they looked and acted like they weren’t the centre of attention. There was nothing special to see in them anyways. Billzo got informed by Aimsey, who also got informed by Beautie, about their possible club distribution. And he almost felt like puking when he found out that Tubbo might join the drama club. At least it wasn’t Tommy. Apparently, he had eyes on the music club with Mr Soot. He knew Beautie was going to join it as well. He silently wished her luck. While Ranboo, well, this guy was too secretive.
After the whole Coffee Feast incident, Tommy strangely completed his wishes. Whenever he passed by he wouldn't even look at him. Billzo didn’t know if this was another one of his stupid trolls or if he genuinely got a little hurt. Or if he is just respectful. Well, it wasn’t like he was bothered. But, maybe now he would bother his friends, which they totally wouldn’t even be aware of (maybe because they wouldn’t actually be bothered, but Billzo liked thinking his way only). Aimsey is always up to small talks with new people; Beau, as a member of the council, has to remain welcoming; and Freddie, is Freddie. You can see what I’m talking about. He shared most of his classes with Tommy. ‘PD sent help’, he said to himself. Really low chances he would’ve listened. For example, he shared music classes with him and Beautie. What was up with Theseus being in everything related to music? He didn’t know.
Speaking of music; Mr Soot has asked Billzo and Freddie for help in the music lounge. The petitions would have started soon and he needed to get the classroom ready. Just like every club that requires talent, there had to be an audition. Bill hoped he took his skills with him when leaving that year 8. Billzo really enjoyed Mr Soot’s company. He was the chillest professor in the school, for now.
“Freddie,” Mr Soot said, holding a box of textbooks. “Do you think you can go look for some tape in the storage?”
He didn’t look like he even needed it. Freddie looked between Bill and the professor. He always felt left out between every interaction but he guessed he couldn’t have done anything about it. He nodded before he ran and left the door hanging behind.
Billzo honestly didn’t mind, but it was still weird. The awkwardness could’ve been smelled all the way from his house. Mr Soot was usually the more extroverted type of guy, who would break the silence and just rant off about unimportant things. But right now, it seemed like something was holding him back. Like his mouth was sewn up and he knew he couldn’t do anything about it. He clearly looked just a little perplexed.
He put his box on one of the chairs before taking the one in Billzo’s and putting it on the top of his. Bill wanted to throw a small ‘thank you’, but it would’ve seemed forced. Mr Soot cracked his back (like the old man he was, even though he was one of the youngest teachers) and turned to Billzo, who didn’t feel like doing anything but to smile. Mr Soot looked to Bill’s right side of the face and made big eyes before grinning.
“I didn’t know you got another piercing,” Mr Soot said as he moved his hand to his hip.
Billzo almost forgot about it. Aimsey did it for him exactly five days ago. He got silver huggie earrings for the standard and upper lobe.
“Thank you, sir,” said Billzo while smiling. In this high school people didn’t seem to mind at all.
You would actually see almost every teen get a piercing. He now just realises how absurd and homophobic his old school was. He used to get bullied and get called a lot of slurs because he was allowed, and also got, to have his first septum. Of course, because of that he decided that he would much rather hide it. Maybe they were just jealous that his parents praised him.
“Do you think I should get one?” asked Mr Soot, while touching his lobe. He was clearly a little zoned out.
Billzo was a little taken aback. Professors don’t usually take advice from teens, especially when it comes to something not related to school.
“Uhm…” he thought a little to himself. “Well, I think you’d look great with one, Sir. Maybe a helix?”
Mr Soot laughed and brushed it off.
Could’ve not been his type. Or, he was just trying to do his thing.
Billzo picked up a box full of microphones and left it on the desk. Mr Soot stood aside and took a microphone out. He handed Bill one and gave him a ‘you know what to do’ look, before starting checking the batteries. Billzo followed by. The microphones for practice weren’t as good as the ones from the stage (that usually belonged to the drama club kids, which were never going to use), but they were good enough to catch the attention of a whole classroom; probably two.
“So…” started Mr Soot, again. “Have you decided which club you’re joining?”
“Theatre, drama… Whatever is called,” Billzo responded nonchalantly. He hoped he didn’t sound too rude.
“Oh, that’s awesome!” Mr Soot encouraged him. “I’m sure you’ll do great!”
Billzo nodded in response while trying to finish his work faster so he could go eat. Yes. Hunger has taken over him. It was almost lunch time anyways. Instead of being excused from so many classes maybe he should stay half an hour more so he can get better grades, but nobody seemed to complain about it. Wasn’t his fault he was so helpful. Maybe it was.
If he did have to share theatre classes with one of those three newbies he’d have to get comfortable with them, and at least try to ignore them. They did seem to get into people's businesses, or at least they looked like the type to do that. Maybe he should just forget about it. Tommy left him alone after the Coffee Feast unplanned meet-up, which also led to the other two to give him a rest. Not like they even bothered to look at him.
What Billzo found weird was how superior they thought of themselves. How did they manage to get everyone’s attention just like that? He did hear they were pretty talented and had interesting topics to talk about as well, but that couldn’t be just it, right? Tommy had an amazing voice. He noticed it himself in music class. It was powerful but calming. Billzo didn’t want to admit it, but he did sound like an angel, and he wasn’t exaggerating. He was also cool with any instrument. Not something you see everyday. How did he have so much time to learn and do all of these? Couldn’t dare to ask. Besides that, he also seemed to get along with Mr Soot. Billzo did find that threatening, considering Mr Soot gets to praise him every time and looks like he has been brainwashed. They act like they always knew each other, and Bill couldn’t help but get a bit jealous. And, he also started getting along with Freddie. To be honest, Billzo didn’t know how much he could trust the bond created between Tommy and Freddie. In the Coffee Feats café, it seemed like Tommy had some business with him, and not a friendly one. But who knows, maybe he was overreacting. At the end of the day, he did have some beef with him.
Tubbo was awfully good in chemistry and history. He’d know everything and anything if you asked him. He was clearly passionate, which Bill found motivating. However, he did start a small rivalry with Aimsey for PD knows what reason. Aimsey confessed that they had no idea why. And that angered him. He guessed that some people really did have no reason to hate someone. At least he was on good terms with Eryn. Eryn was one of Billzo’s other friends. Not as close as Freddie and Aimsey, but they did share English and sports classes together. Eryn is a good student, quite of a troublemaker, but good. He has managed to not get caught a lot of times. Maybe because he has developed a close relationship with the principal. For some reason, they get along well (at this point, the principal gets along with everyone).
However, he still knew almost nothing about Ranboo. They didn’t share any classes together and they seemed awkward when trying to talk to them. Aimsey has befriended them though. And from what he has heard from her, apparently he acts differently when you get to know them. Typical quiet kid move. They also ace geography and history.
It’s such a bonus if you become friends with them. But Billzo knew his chances were broken some time ago. It wasn’t like he was obsessed with trying to do that. He wasn’t even going to try. He still hated them, no matter how helpful they were.
After arts, he swore he felt QW left his body completely. He didn’t know how or why, but it just felt like something was going to happen. Maybe he was being paranoid, maybe he wasn’t. Who cared anyways? Aimsey was beside him trying to finish her painting.
Their theme that day was Mysterious Phone Number. Weird, but intriguing. She was finishing some final touches while Billzo waited for her with her bag on his back.
“Come one already,” he complained as he let out a disappointed groan.
“Shut up,” they said, still focused on their painting. “If you’re hurrying me up I won’t be able to actually finish faster.”
Billzo rolled his eyes. In just about one hour the club commission posters were going to be taken away and finally be able to cast to your preferred club. Billzo signed himself some days ago together with Freddie and Aimsey. Freddie was going to join the photographers club, while Aimsey was also going to the theatre club with him, but they also applied for the music club just in case.
“There,” she said as she slammed her pencil down. “Let’s go, then.”
They were finishing the details of a vase. The painting was really good. It was an old red phone that was ringing on a table surrounded by flowers and vines. Best option; you could've possibly known who was calling you with that type of phone in those days.
They went to the top floor and the hallway was filled with students with report cards in their arms, talking excitedly to one another waiting outside their clubs. In that crowd you could’ve heard arguments, screams and even teachers coming through, trying to calm the situation. Aimsey didn’t know, for a fact, why everyone was so agitated. It was probably the first time she has ever had to meet such a noisy student crowd. They blamed the freshmen for this. There was no other possible reason.
Billzo however didn’t think that. It was indeed scary and a total surprise to be greeted with such enthusiasm (I hope you can see the sarcasm), but his year schoolmates weren’t so loud before. Plus, he saw sophomores and seniors acting like this also, so it couldn't have been only his row of generation fault.
In the crowd you could’ve seen a distressed half dyed black hair girl trying to pass through. She looked horrified. Her papers were almost turned apart from the pulling and pushing of the other students. She also looked rather pissed, like she was a volcano ready to explode. She screamed something about attendance and time, then she turned around and was met eye to eye with Billzo.
“Beautie,” said Billzo, like he just escaped a prison of horror. “What’s happening in there?” He asked as he pointed to the crowd.
“Oh. This little thing?” said Beau as she hadn't moved her sight from him. “The obstacle you’ll have to go through if you want to enter your club on time.”
Castings were only between 1 and 2 PM and it was currently 1:35 PM. He could’ve thanked Aimsey for the late appearance.
“Why hasn’t the group moved?” asked Aimsey, petrified.
“It did this the whole time,” said Beautie as she scratched the back of her scalp. “You have exactly 25 minutes to do your reports!” she smiled as she greeted them goodbye and walked right past them, with eyes still on her.
Billzo felt like puking. Not only was he late, but he had zero chances of making it on time. Big, small crowds, these weren’t big problems for him. He could’ve easily made his way through them. He didn’t grow an attitude in himself for nothing. The problem was the people that were probably going to shove him back. He couldn't see anyone he was familiar with in the crowd, like Eryn, or even the trio, but maybe because he didn’t know anyone else either. He could’ve just assumed they gave up or decided to be there earlier. It was still a surprise how this school has managed to worsen exactly when he decides to join.
On the other end of the hallway Principal Halo and another teacher, Ms Rose, one of the biology teachers, were also trying to calm things down. She wasn’t Billzo’s biology teacher, but she was Aimsey’s. Her full name was Hannah Rose, and apparently she was okay with being called Ms Hannah as well. He has only heard some rumours from the other students on how apparently she was one of the many teachers to publicly argue with her other coworkers, especially the principal. Everyone wondered how hasn’t she lost her job yet. Maybe there were logical arguments, who knew? He did wish to see one teacher fight at least once in his entire life. Maybe at college, if he was going to get in. Overall she was nice and gave little to no homework, so she was definitely classified in the chill but feisty teachers, like Mr Soot on Wednesdays.
Mr Halo was clearly having some trouble calming things down. He looked just as confused as Aimsey. Billzo was surprised no one seemed to acknowledge Mr Halo’s bad temper. He had such mood swings, that he went from the nice old neighbour that’ll pretend to be your parent, to the literal devil. It was scary, but interesting to watch. Well, it wasn’t like it was going to be a very lasting show anyway.
Time was flying and spots were probably being taken by less better kids than him, so he had to move fast. He grabbed Aimsey’s arm, which left them completely flabbergasted, and pulled them into the crowd. If he was going to join the theatre club then might as well do it now or never. Aimsey was barely moving any muscle as Bill still tried going through the students. He felt like if he let go of her arm he would most likely lose her. He pushed some kids here and there, earning some curses and a lot of stepping on feet, but felt like he did not progress.
Seconds in and he was being pulled out of the crowd. Bill’s sacrifice was for nothing and he for sure was mad. Of course, he had to pull Aimsey with him. Whatever happened, she would have had to help. He tried pushing the hand away and to grab on other kids, who weren’t pretty happy with his sudden touch, but the grip was too forced. They both were out of the crowd and Bill was fuming.
Just as he was about to complain and basically slap the face of his so-called kidnapper, he was met with the one and only terrified face of Mr Halo. He really expected it to be one of the trio guys. Dude looked so disorientated, he could’ve passed out. Ms Hannah stood beside him, crossing her arms and having a straight posture. She looked like she would have handled it much better.
“Billy!” said Mr Halo as he heard another clear ‘fuck off, scumbag!’ from the middle of the hallway. “You know you’re one of my trustworthy students, right?”
Bill felt like he was being trapped in a corner full of spikes. As if his head was going to be detached from his neck if he didn’t give the right answer.
“Yeah…?” He wasn’t sure about it. I mean, he was new, so he couldn’t have guessed what type of trust the principal was talking about.
“Awesome! So, I have a solution to calm things down, but I'll need you to go to the storage room from the floor below and get me pepper spray and a megaphone,” he said, smiling nervously, while giving a thumbs up.
Bill’s jaw dropped. Did he hear that correctly? Pepper spray? Megaphone? Was Mr Halo trying to throw a party or to make a military campaign? Whatever it was, it didn’t shake Bill more than that. He didn’t know Mr Halo was one guy to act so severely when things didn’t go his way.
“Sir,” started Aimsey, who had the same expression as he did. “Doesn’t this seem a little… extra?”
“Absurd! Nothing’s too extra in The Badlands Private High School! It’s private for a reason, after all.” Mr Halo became 100 times more fun.
He was probably the first and last principal Billzo was ever going to like. Get yourself a principal who’s just as much of a troublemaker as you were in middle school. Bill still remembers the day he drew graffiti on the class black board (yes, they used black bordas there) and was basically the cause of having to get another one. Luckily, his classmates were cool and didn’t expose anything. QW was definitely with him on this one.
“But, Sir,” interrupted Ms Rose. “There’s a storage room on this floor as well.”
“No one’s allowed to go in there. Everybody knows that,” Mr Halo responded. He said it almost like it was an obvious rule.
But Billzo didn’t even know about it. The floor they were on, the one with the current mess happening, was a floor specifically for after school activities, which mostly were clubs. This was his first time being here. The school had five floors, counting the ground floor. The ground floor was where you found the teacher's lounge, the secretary, principal and vice principal’s office, the gym, the cafeteria, the nurse and the psychiatrist. The first, second and third floor were all occupied by classes and the fourth floor was by clubs. Yes, this school was gigantic. Even you’d be surprised how many smartasses had chances of entering but they were too insecure to even apply.
Billzo didn’t know why he wasn’t allowed to go on the easier path, but he wasn’t going to argue with a man who was desperate to finish this whole scenario already.
“Mr Halo,” started Bill as his eyebrows frowned. “If I go now, I won’t be able to cast for theatre.” It wasn’t like he had many low chances, it didn’t seem like people were stumbling over to get in there anyway.
Mr Halo groaned. “Fine then. If you help me, you’ll be able to enter theatre classes without casting.”
Well if this wasn’t a deal with the devil I don’t know what it was. If it were to sue the school for pepper spraying kids, he would totally be one of the one’s to be blamed as well. He could easily say he was manipulated, but he didn’t know how much of an effect it had for his age.
“Okay, but only if Aimsey joins as well!”
“Sure! I’ve seen her performances! She’s really good anyways, I don’t see why not.”
The only problem was that he barely knew the third floor. Most of his classes were on the first floor because he was a freshman and he had arts on the second floor, but he had no clear interaction with the third floor whatsoever. How hard should it be? The floors had all one similar shape. If the storage room from the first floor was on the right of the building, then it meant that all storage rooms were.
But as he said, the school was gigantic. He wasn’t really in the mood of walking around the whole area. He did lose 10 minutes of whatever that was anyways, it wasn’t like it was going to affect it differently. Just as much of a responsible and “trustworthy” kid Bill was, he still couldn’t be patient. It was like the troublemaker in him was telling him that he would much rather finish earlier with a possibility of getting caught then having to waste another 10, possibly 15 minutes of his time.
The devil on his left side was collaborating with the angel, and let me tell you, it wasn’t as expected. So glad he didn’t grab Aimsey with him. Not like he didn’t want to, but the principal was very strict on not having any other kids going around without a hall pass (you technically still needed one since this was the time of the day you had to attend “casting classes”). Why did he feel like he needed to do that? He didn’t know. I guess he just wanted to get rid of a problem and make it as fast as possible. After being stepped on by the other kids you do want to see the spicy karma things happen sooner. He didn’t bother to take the stairs.
He knew a faster way of getting to the storage room. By another storage room! Who was closer! And less annoying to reach!
Billzo checked his surroundings twice before grabbing the handle of the storage room, and silently, without trying to see if the door made any noises, made his way in. It smelt like a library and vanilla scented candles, for some reason, but also a little bit of church. The only source of light was the one coming from below the door, which wasn’t much, so Billzo got a little anxious when he saw the completely dark hole in front of him. He started touching the walls looking for a switch, if it were any. He managed to find the dusted shelves and the buckets of paint at his feet, and at some point he turned the witch on while he wasn’t aware.
The storage was, well, pretty big for a storage, and it contained a lot of unnecessary things. Unless it was the room where all the things that got confiscated end up in. For example: a smelly looking man that sat in, what seemed like, a wheelbarrow.
Billzo jumped and let out a small yell at the sight of the guy but quickly covered his mouth. If this was a trick to get people who weren’t allowed to go in here caught, then it was a good one. The guy looked rather dead. He was pale, almost yellowish. He seemed to have black hair covered by a blue beanie. The beanie came in a package with the jacket. He also wore some weird glasses that you’d usually find in video games.
Bill didn’t know what to say. He didn’t seem like he was breathing. His pulse started to fasten. Was this the reason Mr Halo didn’t allow anyone in here? Was he secretly a murderer that hid the targets he annihilated in the school to not get caught? That’d be a smart play. Just perfect for Mr Halo. But also too dumb.
Mr Halo is, and seemed like he was, just like in his name, quite of an angel. Yes, he could’ve been much of an asshole sometimes (is what Bill considered for as long as he knew him this semester), but he was a kind soul.
Billzo didn’t know if he should just leave or investigate, so he decided to get into this man’s business.
“Uhm, hello?” he asked quietly, gulping, and slowly approaching the man. “Are you okay, dude?”
Last thing he wanted was to have an encounter with a corpse before he even turned 16.
He was now some centimetres away from him. The guy didn’t seem to be breathing at all. His hands were limbering from the wheelbarrow with no life. Bill slowly raised his arm and let his fingers out, as he wanted to check his pulse. He felt a little disgusted touching his cold neck, since there was a possibility he was dead. He pressed his fingers, waiting some seconds before feeling a heartbeat.
He sighed with relief. He was never going to become a criminologist. This shit was definitely too scary for him. Surprised how he still has the attitude of one though. Suddenly the, what he assumed, corpse, jumped, slapping his hand away.
Billzo screamed so loudly he probably could’ve made himself deaf. He stumbled on the floor and had his back against the door. His breathing became faster and probably was going to be on the verge of tears if something else had to happen. There was a brief moment of silence, of nothing more than eye contact. The guy’s eyes were very dark. Billzo couldn’t see his pupils. But what he did notice was the smirk that was slowly growing on the guy’s face erupting with laughter.
He laughed like a maniac, he noticed the moment he smirked and Bill was being as sincere as possible with this. Billzo’s face of terror transformed into a face of anger.
“What the fuck is wrong with you, dude?” he basically yelled as he got up and shook off the dust on his butt. “You scared the living shit out of me!”
The guy’s laughter suddenly stopped and his face turned completely unamused in just a second. Billzo didn’t like this energy. It reminded him too much of Theseus.
“Well, duh,” he responded. “It’s almost like that was the whole point!” He started laughing again in the same tone as before, kicking his feet like a little kid. “Sorry, dude, I haven’t done this in centuries!” He whipped a fake tear as he said that.
Centuries? What a show off.
“What are you roleplaying as?” Billzo asked sarcastically.
“Myself, duh! Coolest god out here!” He did the finger gun thing which made Billzo visibly facepalm.
He wasn’t going to get into any details, and he for sure didn’t want whatever this guy was on. He had to go in this storage for a reason (he regrets it now) and needs to get out with what he intended to get. Maybe if he stayed longer it would’ve looked more realistic, considering the walk you had to make if you were to go to the third floor, plus the time you had to search for them.
“Dude, I’m sorry to break it to you,” said Billzo as he crossed his arms. “But you’re no god. You’re high.”
The guy rolled his eyes, also crossing his arms and turning his head to the wall. He sat criss crossed on the wheelbarrow, looking comfortably like he was sitting on an armchair.
“Whatever; I don’t need your homosapien validation,” he said as he looked at Billzo from the top of his glasses. “Now, go on. Look for your stuff and leave!” He yelled at the end.
Billzo found his vocabulary rather strange. For a man in a wheelbarrow he did speak like an inhuman creature which was annoying. If he had the time for roleplaying then he could've done it another day.
“I, firstly, want to know what the fuck are you doing in the storage room?”
“I can ask you the same thing!”
There was no point in arguing with him. It was almost like he was putting words in his mouth, which clearly didn’t seem to be the case. He decided to leave him like this. He went to the back of the room and searched for the pepper spray and megaphone. It was definitely weird that he was trying to ignore the guy even though he was most likely watching every move of his. And he was definitely weird. Both Billzo and the guy. Honestly, he wasn’t going to act upon how he hasn’t panicked as much. He expected to be attacked by now, but he guessed the deities had other plans.
He found the megaphone but there was no sight of the spray. He had searched for that stupid thing for more than he thought he would. It became rather hopeless. Maybe it wasn’t even here and it actually was in the third floor storage room.
“What are you looking for, again?” Asked the man as he got tired of watching Billzo’s search for nothingness.
”Pepper spray,” he said quietly while studying the shelves.
“Oh,” was all he said afterwards. “You mean this little thing?” He took out of his pocket a small spray bottle, exactly what he was looking for.
Billzo remained a little shocked before gently snatching the bottle out of his grip. It looked half empty.
“Why did you have this on you?” Billzo asked while shoving it down his back pocket.
“Look, dude,” responded the guy while leaning in the wheelbarrow. “That’s some good shit right there, you get me?”
Billzo’s eyes widened as he carefully examined the guy. His stupid smile was on again and he was sitting like a princess on her throne. He looked rather proud of himself.
“You- You swallowed some of it?!” Billzo yelled. He felt like a mum. He was probably more mature than this guy will ever be, and he looked to be in his 20s.
His smile slightly faded into an embarrassed grin and he just shrugged.
“That’s the only thing you can say, or do, in your position?” continued Billzo, tensioned. If this guy was going to die right in front of him he was totally going to be seen as guilty.
“Well, the only thing you could’ve done besides not listening to your principal, was to check if there are any security cameras,” he said as he pointed to the camera above him.
Billzo remained still. He looked up and noticed the small white camera with its red light on, staring directly at him. You had to be kidding him. The amount of emotions he felt in that storage were probably the most he had ever felt in an entire year. How does one, Billzo, in our case, become clueless of their surroundings? He was speechless. It was definitely game over for him no matter the excuses. The camera probably didn’t even catch the guy in the frame.
He noticed how he knew about the talk with his principal. He could’ve easily remarked it as extra weird, but who knows, maybe other kids went through the same shit and he had to witness every single part of it. How long had this guy been staying in here for anyways?
“Listen, dude,” the guy catches Billzo’s attention in just one snap of the fingers. “I can easily help you go unnoticed.”
Suddenly, he was all ears.
“I will promise you an easy getaway. Absolutely no one will know you were here,” he continued. “But you’ll have to do a favour.” Billzo nodded quickly. He was cool with favours. He did a lot when it came to being a troublemaker, so how hard could it have been?
“I need you to get me loads of soap!”
This guy was joking, right?
“Pardon me?” Billzo asked, almost unamused. “Why soap?”
The guy smirked. “As I said, it’s good shit. Make sure you get me lime, strawberry and cinnamon flavour. Oh, and if you can, find me a kiwi one! I hadn’t had one in millennia!”
Bill was going to puke. He didn’t know if this guy was actually joking or not. It started to sound too serious and worrying. But hey, anything to get away with shit, right? Does this mean that if this guy gets caught at some point, he’ll admit everything? That’s usually what happens with dealers.
“Fine. It’s a deal,” Billzo took his hand out.
The guy mischievously smirked. He rubbed his hands together before shaking it with the teen. He had such a huge smile on, that his eyes seemed to disappear.
“Nice making ourselves clear, kiddo!” He said as he retrieved his hand. “May I know the name of my client?”
Billzo didn’t quite like the sound of the word ‘client’ when addressing him. It felt like he just agreed to selling drugs, which he wasn’t far enough from doing.
“Billy. My friends call me Billzo, though,” he responded nonchalantly.
“Oh, Billy! You mean THAT Billy? Okay then! At the end of the day, we aren’t friends, so I’m going to stick with Billy! It’s also easier to remember.”
He said that so genuine it sent shivers down his spine. There were lots of people in this world called Billy. What was so special about him that made it so familiar?
“You can call me Quackity!” He said while taking out another bottle of pepper spray out of his pocket. Billzo wasn’t even going to ask where he got that from.
“I would like to call you by your real name, if you’re going to call me like that also.”
Quackity laughed. “Funny little homosapien, that is my name, dumbass!”
Well, his parents were definitely creative.
After that whole interaction nothing else was much to say. Billzo got the megaphone and the pepper spray to the principal. By the time he arrived most students were already gone, but some were still causing a scene and it was much easier to threaten. Yes, Mr Halo threatened the students. It was definitely something worth watching at home with your extra cheese popcorn next to you. Best show at this school so far. Mr Halo didn’t seem to be suspicious about his absence being longer than it should’ve been, which was a relief.
He still doesn’t know if Quackity was still in the storage room. Now that he thought about it, was this the actual reason Mr Halo banned going there in all circumstances? Because if that was the case, then he sure as hell will behave from now on.
Billzo has managed to get safely into the theatre club. The teacher was a little unpleasant that she had to hold spots for the rewarded students that haven’t been there in time, but forget them as soon as she saw their performances. Technically, Aimsey didn’t do much to be rewarded, but thank PD Billzo was there.
He was still very nervous about the whole camera thing. It was easy to trick teenagers, especially as an adult. But Quackity seemed so weird to Bill that he may be actually keeping his promise.
Just as he thought things were getting better, he remembered that he had silent rivals in this school, and one of them had managed to earn a place into the theatre club. Just like he thought and expected, Tubbo has joined the play. It wasn’t going to be anything worse than being with Tommy, but it was totally going to be something close to that considering the fact that they basically match each other’s energies.
Notes:
Make sure to follow my Tik Tok: @teacolien <3
Even though it made me mad as shit I’m very proud of this chapter! I hope you liked it!
Chapter 4: “It’s bonding time!”
Summary:
Tubbo, the so-called classmate, visits Billzo and asks for a little trip to the forest. Let’s just say that Tubbo has always enjoyed creating a bond with people, so, he felt like he knew exactly how to do that.
In the middle of a forest, way too far from home, the perfect spot for summoning demons was being prepared for what was about to happen.
A true rollercoaster of emotions waited for Billzo there.
Notes:
Possible TW: blood, mentions of SH, mentions of interiors
I felt like on this chapter I kind of flopped
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Billzo skipped the entire week of school. He didn’t feel sick, he wasn’t mentally unstable, but for some reason he just did. He guessed the whole “I thought he was a dead guy” in the storage room freaked him out. To respond to further questions: he hasn’t seen him since then. Not on the streets, not in the hallways, not in another storage room; no sight.
He tried telling Aimsey. He tried to show her, also. But they refused to even get near the storage room knowing the rules. Good kids and their stupid minds . It was like whatever happened there never actually did. Aimsey called him nuts and irresponsible for going in anyway. Everything that happened to him those last days of the week felt more like they were jinxed. Almost like things were taking a complete turn.
Tommy started giving him attention (which he precisely didn’t ask for) and now was trying to convince him to do some sort of rituals; “We can summon the Great Demon together and rip its heart out of its chest and then sell it and make thousands! Isn’t this what you, humans, like to do? Money?” He almost sounded like Quackity, the guy from the storage room who ate pepper spray. Seriously, now, was he actually dead from that? Do you even die from it? Besides all of that, Billzo started to slowly tolerate the existence of Tommy. It wasn’t like he wanted to, but he was so clingy and suffocating that he had no choice but to grow with it eventually.
The week he stayed at home he didn’t do anything special. His parents came back and were kind of disappointed he turned out to do this, but they didn’t complain much since they barely were home themselves. And now that they were back they, came with even more amazing news for him; their company crashed. Yuppie . They still could repair it and they worked on it, but apparently now Billzo had to prepare himself for possibly switching to “applying by scholarship”.
Aimsey and Freddie came every time after school. Now that his family were in this state they kind of understood him, so they helped him at home with work. Eryn would’ve come regularly also to play video games. They liked playing Call Of Duty on Bill’s PS4, and they were surprisingly a really good team every time. By the time they hung out Billzo didn’t really ask anyone about what was happening at school, but they would come and spill all the drama, even though all days were the same. Or, at least that’s what Billzo thought. Days became numb to him and they felt like they were just an infinite loop. Until he graduated, he would most likely live like this, unless there was a sudden big change.
Gillian, Billzo’s mum, was currently in the kitchen. She hasn’t been home in a while, after all, and let’s just say that with Bill’s sudden state of numbness, he couldn’t really help with the chores, but it wasn’t like she wanted him to. It didn’t bother her anyways. Her perfectionist aura matched perfectly with her mood and she would much rather see her son relaxed. He was going to come to his senses, at some point.
The kitchen and the living room were separated by a cantilever table where usually the family would sit together and eat. They had a dining room also, but they only used it for special occasions.
Bill was sitting on the sofa reading a book for school. If he wasn’t going to go, at least he had to practice something. It was Saturday and Aimsey decided to grab Freddie and go to the beach. They invited him too, but he passed the offer, so Beautie took his place. The book was called “Tiger’s Wealth”. It wasn’t really his type of genre; it was full of historical events and a lot of words he barely understood, which his dyslexia wasn’t helping with, but he made something out of it. And it wasn’t as bad as what he enjoyed.
“The commander backed away slowly as he realised the gun was empty with ammo,” he read to himself. “The enemy was right there, in front of him. He could’ve taken the shot anytime, but he hesitated,” Bill loved the adrenaline he felt whenever he read these types of sentences. “It wasn’t like he had something to lose. Only a soul of a real human would’ve known the consequences of their action,” and now apparently it was turning into some sort of supernatural genre? “And even if his whole country was in his hands, he didn’t seem to get bothered,” Deep, meaningless, words for some commander.
The door knocked lightly as Billzo finished reading that sentence. He quickly jerked his head up to the door and waited for his father to come in. However, his father never knocks before entering. Just as his mother was about to put the cloth down, Billzo stopped her, and let himself take care of it.
He put his book down and pulled the door handle slowly. He peeked through the crack of the door only to find another familiar face, but one he didn’t expect.
“Hey, Billzo,” joyfully said Tubbo as he arranged his gaze to look through the crack as well.
Bill fully opened the door and was met face to face with his now new theatre club classmate, Tubbo, also known as Toby. He wore a green sweater that had a frog sewed to it, black jeans and his regular white shoes. He also had a bee rucksack hanging from his shoulder; Billzo found his whole outfit quite childish, but they were both 15 after all. It was embarrassing that Bill was still in his red pyjamas.
“Tubbo? What the hell are you doing here?… And, how did you get my address?”
Tubbo vacantly shrugged. What can you expect? He was one of the many people Billzo considered being a weirdo. That didn’t surprise him, just scared him.
“A little birdie had told me that you were becoming socially outcasted,”
… Did Eryn really say that about him?
“So, instead of letting you rot in your house for the last weeks of the semester, I decided to steal Tommy’s idea and take you demon summoning!” Tubbo raised his hands in the air with a wide genuine smile.
“Pardon me?” Was all Billzo could say. “Why do you even want to hang out with me?”
Tubbo laughed and touched his shoulder. Billzo suddenly felt chills down his spine. He didn’t know why or how. Tubbo’s hand was cold anyways, almost like he ran it through iced water for some good hours before coming here.
“Because we’re officially theatre classmates now! Which means, we have to create a strong bond between us and get along,” he said. He did the finger gun thing before winking which only left Billzo with a raised eyebrow.
He didn’t know what his deal was or what Tubbo wanted from him, but it was definitely new. One day he basically threatens you just by staring directly into your eyes, and next thing you know is that he invites you to go demon hunting? This was the character development Billzo didn’t hope to see.
“I don’t want to be your friend, I’m good,”
Bill said as he wanted to close the door.
“Oh no, you got it all wrong,” said Tubbo before raising his hands again, like he decided to give up. “We’re already friends! We just have to work on it.”
Oh, hell no. Billzo won’t accept that label from him. And it was definitely Tubbo’s fault from that. He has seen the way he acts, especially around the people he gets along with. Even so, outside that area he's egoistic and manipulative, just like Tommy. He was almost the exact reflection of him, but just shorter with darker hair and a smaller ego. Maybe that’s why they are so close. He would much rather become Ranboo’s friend.
“I don’t think we are, sorry. You got the wrong person.” He frowned before closing the door, the only thing receiving being a small smile plastered on his so-called guest.
He sighed. Dealing with, not only one maniac, but two, was already expected to be harder than he imagined. Since Tommy wanted to get on his good side and now Tubbo wanted to have history together, he expected a tall masked guy to be found in his bedroom or something.
Billzo turned around to go sit back on the sofa. He jumped on it and opened the book where he left it at. He was almost going to finished this chapter and he wanted to see what this stupid commander was going to do.
“Billy! You didn’t tell me we had guests coming over!” said Gillian from the kitchen.
He frowned again and pulled the book away from his face. His eyes gasped for his mouth when he saw Tubbo sitting on a stool with his back at him, talking to his mother. Billzo quickly stood up. Did he just witness his schoolmate break into his house? There was no way. He didn’t hear the door open nor any other footsteps. But somehow, there was Tubbo. With some coffee in his hands, chatting with his mother.
“How the fuck did you get in?” Billzo basically shouted, earning a side eye from his mother.
Tubbo looked back at him with doe eyes. Billzo knew exactly what he was trying to do.
“What do you mean? You let me in,”
he said as he took another sip from his coffee. Bill saw the hidden smirk behind that cup, but his mother didn’t seem to.
“Billy, don’t be rude to your friend,” she said as she went to make another coffee for herself.
“But-“
“I hope that’s okay to you, Miss,” immediately interrupted Tubbo.
Gillian giggled. “Of course not! I think it’s time he gets out of the house as well.”
Billzo felt like he would explode any minute now. Tubbo just sneaked into his house and basically manipulated his mother. This isn’t something you see everyday, especially coming from a 15 year old. He was way too smooth with these tactics.
Whatever just happened, happened. It was hard to convince Billzo, but when it came to his mother it was game over. I mean, they haven’t talked properly in awhile, so truly, she wouldn’t have known his actual friends without an actual introduction. So technically, it was his fault.
Tubbo told his mother they were going to the park, but he told him secretly they were going to the forest, which Billzo hated even more. He put on one of his dark grey T-shirts that had a skull printed on it, his red check shirt, black trousers and some old white shoes which he was definitely going to mess up (so was Tubbo) because of the mud. And of course, he couldn’t go without his famous bandana. Bill definitely looked rather casual for fighting demons or whatever. He thought I’d be funny if he should bring his black belt that he won at karate 7 years ago, but maybe he would’ve made it dirty as well, and that was precious to him, sort of.
Billzo would’ve backed away ever since he left his neighbourhood, but Tubbo spoke so passionately about it, that it would’ve been way too funnier to not be there. He didn’t know what type of drugs Tubbo was on, but he for sure was going to enjoy it.
It was weird that he was still doing this. It was like some sort of sick childish play. Maybe this was one of the theatre tests or whatever, which was totally lame. They rode their bikes at least 15 kilometres before entering the forest. It was the Cordin Forest. It was pretty close to the edge of the town and it wasn’t pretty visited since it’s not as special as other forests, perfect for a ritual. Tubbo didn’t have any map or device opened while going through it. It was like he knew it from the back of his hand, which freaked Billzo even more. He started to get worried about going too deep into the it, and when he remembered the whole “summoning demon” thing, he started to think negatively of what was actually going to happen.
“You know the legend of the Great Demon, right?” asked Tubbo to fill up the silence that they were left with.
“Of course I do,” said Billzo almost immediately.
The Great Demon wasn’t actually a great demon . As you can tell, it was pretty bad, also according to the legends. It was immortal and had powers similar to a phoenix, but somehow also the complete opposite. It wasn’t reborn from the ashes, but it was eternal just like the deities, and whenever it was summoned and defeated it wasn’t actually dead, but it was just returned back to Hell. People in the ancient times used to summon it regularly and sell its bones, blood and organs. At some point, the humans lost the battle with it, and it managed to take over Earth for a couple of decades before HD and other gods came to get rid of it when they found out about its actions. It was a merciless demon who thought of itself as a top dark soul of Hell, when in reality it was considered a dumbass. It is called the Great Demon, because truly, it wasn’t.
The only way to defeat it is by an inhuman strength or an extremely powerful blast of fire. Maybe like, 5 tons of gasoline and one match would do for a human. You could only imagine the amount of gasoline humans used to have back then. Unfortunately, they didn’t use it pretty wisely.
At some point, Tubbo stopped, which made Billzo bump into his back. He took a can of red spray out of his rucksack and started leaving spots on the trees with it. Ah, yes, marks for their trace back.
“Do you even know where the spot we’re doing this at is?” asked Billzo after getting hit in the nose by another branch. His shoes were already fucked, might as well finish it faster.
“Of course!” responded Tubbo confidently. “The Great Demon is quite of a big dark soul, so he needs space to move around.”
Billzo scuffed, earning a look from Tubbo, which he ignored with another smile.
The spot they reached was one weakly lighted by the sun’s rays. It was like a special big spot for things like this, perfectly surrounded by trees. Billzo liked it. It was peaceful and quiet as the bird chirped from above the trees. He still doubted why this forest was so underviewed if it was so genuinely beautiful. I guess it was a bonus point for him now. He could bring his friends here and do loads of things; unless there are wild animals nearby. After all, they were pretty deep in it.
Tubbo went in the centre, as Billzo kept looking around, and sat down. He put his rucksack down and started rummaging through it. After his whole cinematic shot, Bill came over, basically towering over him as he watched what exactly was in that rucksack. He frowned his eyebrows and bent his back to look a little better. He backed away, slowly, with slight wide eyes as he realised what was in there. Just some seconds after, Tubbo pulled out a green handle penknife.
Billzo just looked shocked as Tubbo started pulling out all those things: the penknife, a bag of charcoal, lighters and even a bottle of gasoline. He didn’t even want to ask how all those things fitted in that tiny rucksack. He was taking things very seriously, maybe too seriously. It started shaking Billzo up. He thought of some excuse to leave. He didn’t like this anymore. He didn’t care if it was funny or not, but someone like Tubbo totally shouldn't be left to hold a knife.
“What are you doing with the knife?” Billzo finally asked after a brief moment of rethinking his life decisions.
Tubbo looked at him with the same eyes he looked at his mother at, and just smiled innocently.
“Well, trying to summon the Great Demon, duh!” Tubbo said while grabbing the charcoal out of the bag.
Of course! The Great Demon’s dark soul comes from Hell, so it only responds to fire! That explains the charcoal and the lighter now.
“Then,” continued Billzo. “What do you need the knife for?”
Tubbo sighed and face palmed, leaving Billzo feeling a little embarrassed.
“There are two reasons: one, we need to open the portal to Hell with blood, Billzo, blood; and two, you need a weapon.”
He needed a what now?
He rearranged the charcoal into a big circle, the diameter being 3 meters. Alright, Billzo was convinced this guy was actually being serious. But it wasn’t like it was going to work, right? Demons don’t exist. And somehow, Mr Halo stills walks among them (that was a sarcastic joke he liked saying with his friends).
He touched Tubbo’s shoulder making him flinch and slap it away harmlessly.
“Look, dude,” said Billzo, feeling suddenly hotter. “This is very funny and all, but you can stop now,”
“Nope!” he responded nonchalantly before adding the final touches. “I promised you that we will bond today, and we will!”
In the interior of the circle sat a star. But not any ordinary star; the star. The star that represents Hell. Billzo felt scared and thrilled at the same time now. This was definitely something he’ll never forget and he’ll laugh about it.
“Okay,” he finally said after a moment of silence for the art Tubbo made. “Now do we just… say some Latin shit, or something?”
“We need to add the fire, though,” Tubbo said as he grabbed the gasoline from the rucksack and forced the cap.
Just as he unbottled it, Billzo immediately snatched it from his grip. Tubbo looked rather pissed after that.
“Are you nuts? Charcoal and gasoline don’t work together! And we’re literally surrounded by green. We’ll blow up the forest!” said Billzo fully panicked.
“No we won’t, trust me!”
Tubbo grabbed the bottle, but Billzo still had a hand on it. They stood there, pulling the bottle to each other for some good time. Billzo wasn’t going to let it go so easily, but Tubbo was stronger and it was showing. I’m that moment, Bill regretted every decision he made in his life. Tubbo said something, but he was too focused and couldn’t listen to any word coming from his mouth. Suddenly, a shot of pain flooded into his left knee making his grip loosen. He left out a groan and pressed his hands on it, trying to redeem the soreness. Tubbo smiled and hurried back to the circle.
He started pouring the gasoline on the shape. Billzo couldn’t do anything about it. His knee was totally numb. He couldn’t feel shit from it. He looked at the rucksack and saw the lighter thrown somewhere near it on the grass. Without thinking, he crawled to it, with pain still in his knee, and snatched it into his pocket. He didn’t know exactly how strong Tubbo's kick was, but it was definitely stronger than it should’ve been, if it got to the point he felt like he was missing his entire leg.
“Ha!” He said as he forcefully stood up without trying to make a face that described the pain that was very slowly going away. “I’d like to see what you light the gasoline with now, bitch!”
There was a dumb smile plastered on Billzo’s face that made him feel like a hero despite the effort. A brief moment of silence was sat, where only the birds and the wind could’ve been heard. On Tubbo’s serious face appeared a grin. Then a full smile with a chuckle, before he started laughing quietly. Billzo felt awkward and threatened. Seriously though, that guy started laughing like a maniac. It sounded similar to… Quackity… What was he thinking? Maybe he just decided to let psychopaths into his life without even realising.
“Silly little homosapien!” said Tubbo as he took out the penknife out of his back pocket. “You light the Great Demon’s portal with gasoline, and blood ,”
Within a flash, he opened the penknife and brutally slashed the surface of his palm, gripping it hardly afterwards. Blood was dripping down his whole arm at a fast pace and Billzo stared in horror. He didn’t know what was happening or what he was expecting to happen. One thing was for sure: he was never going to befriend any weird kids ever again.
Tubbo raised his arm and gripped his hand harder. Exactly four drops of blood had hit the charcoal. Billzo didn’t care about that. Tubbo’s hand was literally covered in blood. From fingers to shoulder. Even his sweater was dirty. And to think that Billzo was worried he’d get muddy. He looked at Tubbo with complete terror. He has never thought of experiencing something like this. Without a reason, Tubbo’s face started to glow a reddish colour. Was he getting flustered?
Billzo looked down where Tubbo was smirking at. The charcoal symbol was now in flames. And they were a really vibrant red, I’m going to tell you that. The fire on them was basically dancing with the wind, acting completely like it wasn’t even there.
“C’mon, Billzo,” said Tubbo while cracking his knuckles. “It’s bonding time!”
This had to be a dream. It couldn’t have been real, never in a million years. Billzo thought it was a dream. A stupid dream that decided to fuck with him. If XD was listening he sure hoped he woke him up from this… nightmare. ‘Cause, primes, he was about to pass out.
The wind got stronger. Billzo felt like he was being dragged into the circle. Oh wait, he was .
Suddenly his knee felt better (maybe). He was sitting and he knew his bottom was being scrubbed against the grass. He turned around and started pulling on the grass, gripping it for his life. He felt like crying. Screaming. He has never felt so scared. He could literally hear the fire laugh at him.
Great , now the ground started to shake, and he clenched his teeth as he crawled to the nearest tree. Billzo quickly grabbed onto the trunk of it and finally was able to go back into a sitting position. He was hugging that tree with his slim body and he wasn’t going to let go anytime soon. His hair was being flown in front and his bandana was soon to be gone as well.
Billzo looked back at Tubbo only to see him completely numb. He was standing still in front of the circle, his arm still bloody but somehow yet not showing any signs of pain. As they both kept staring, the fire went down. Slowly, but surely, the only remaining thing was the charcoal circle fummimg from the flames. Nothing happened. Absolutely nothing. Billzo stared at the circle and then back at Tubbo. He was grinning.
Well fuck .
With another shake of the ground, a tall, lanky, skinny black arm made its way through. Billzo hid better behind the tree, to not be seen, as the Great Demon’s red body jumped out of there. His hands were black with claws that looked like daggers instead of fingers and the rest of his body was red, a deep crimson red that reminded Bill of the blood that Tubbo spilled for this thing to show up.
He covered his mouth with his hands to make his breathing quieter as he kept half his face out looking at what was about to happen. Billzo knew enough about spiritual demons: they didn’t have genders, they were born from the pits of hell fire; they didn’t have a brain and only acted on instinct; and they were also so immune to fire that it could’ve killed them. Yeah, I know. Sounds dumb and impossible. Well, not for them.
Apparently, that was the so-called Great Demon. Not going to lie, Billzo expected something bigger, stronger even. The only big thing about it were its claws and its height; it was probably around 8 feet tall.
Bill watched as the demon stood in front of Tubbo, absolutely no muscle moving. Tubbo’s eyes scanned the demon with utter judgement. It seemed so normal to him that it made Billzo think he was the one who was actually crazy. Tubbo then started looking around.
“Billzo!” he shouted from the top of his lungs, not caring that there was a demon like 3 feet taller than him by his side. “Where did you run off to? It was supposed to be bonding time!”
Alright, he was nuts. Like, actually.
The Great Demon didn’t seem to like being ignored. Billzo saw its back flinch and his eyes widened when he realised its claws were up in the air, ready to strike. Billzo should’ve done something. He couldn’t let Tubbo die, no matter how idiotic or psychopathic he was.
The demon’s claws finally seemed like they’d hit and Billzo knew he couldn't do it. He looked away, tears in his eyes, as he just wished he hadn’t come. He was so confused and beaten up by his own thoughts that he wouldn’t have even cared if he were to get eaten by a ritualic demon. He heard the slashing sound of claws before a huge crash that hit the grass, and flinched. He was next. He didn’t know what to do or how to help, but this was all Tubbo’s fault. And he was still going to blame it on him even if he was now just a corpse.
“Billzo?” Tubbo yelled again.
His eyes flung open. He put his hands down and realised how fast he was now breathing. He was on the verge of a panic attack. A really bad one.
Bill looked with one eye behind the tree, and saw Tubbo standing on top of the demon, with his legs criss crossed and an annoyed pout on. Dude wasn’t slashed? Billzo swore he thought so. On second thoughts, he seemed completely clueless about the demon; like it wasn’t a big deal.
“Billzo!” he shouted more strictly. He sounded like his mother. “I really want to show you this cool trick I know! Maybe I can teach you?”
Billzo would’ve rather eaten worms. He would never participate in whatever school play this was. If this was truly a theatre test, then Tubbo was for sure acing it.
The demon screeched under him. It had a very high pitched scream that made your eardrums tremble and you could’ve heard your pulse. At least that's what Bill felt as he hardly covered his ears. Tubbo forcefully kicked its face with his leg which made it immediately shut up and instead whimper.
Whimper? Like a dog? In Billzo’s head it sounded like a lost puppy.
“Shut up,” Tubbo said calmly before making himself comfortable on the demon as if it was a sofa. “Ugly ass dog,” he added under his breath.
Ain’t now way Billzo was going to get face to face with that thing. He didn’t care how brave Tubbo was or harmless it really was, he just wanted to sleep well tonight. That’s why he tried to run. He didn’t want to ask for answers, he was good as he already was. He slowly got up, much slower than you’d imagine. His arms were still shaking and his breath was trembling. His eyes were still teary and maybe the pain in his knee didn’t actually go away. He managed to stay with his knees up to his chest while trying to stand up. His whole back was pressed against the trunk of the tree and he felt glued to it.
When he finally managed to get back on his feet, he felt a force pushing him down, but he still fought against it. He was going to go home, in his bed, probably going to drink a cup of hot chocolate before going to sleep, go through Sunday and then back to school. He wouldn’t care if he had to avoid Tubbo now instead of Tommy, but he for sure was going to stand 5 feet away after this. And now that Tubbo knew where he lived he had to be as far away from home as well.
The force felt stronger. Billzo trebled even more, and he suddenly felt colder. He looked down and he realised his feet weren’t touching the ground anymore. He was floating. He was actually floating. And, boy, he didn’t like that at all. His already panicked mood and shock weren’t really helping. He started yelling and kicking his hands and legs up in the air in order to get down. If this was a nightmare he hated it. He hated every single part of it.
The force pulled him out of his hiding spot so fast, that with just one blink he was in front of Tubbo, who was still sitting on the demon, still floating.
Bill was speechless. He didn’t move and he didn’t even dare to breathe faster than he should’ve. Tubbo didn’t look like he cared. For all that mattered, he would have fainted right there in his, what seemed, invisible grip. He knew Tubbo was doing it. His finger was pointing at him and he didn’t show any signs of shock. Tubbo was so chill about it he looked like a maniac, while Billzo felt dead.
The Great Demon growled under Tubbo and reached with its mouth at Billzo feet, which in defence, he gave a loud yelp and lifted them up. He did seem like a dog. A big scary one.
“What do you think?” Tubbo asked as he relaxed his head on his other hand. “Are we bonding?” He smiled with his eyes tilting. It almost seemed like he was mocking him.
Billzo was mad. Actually, he didn’t know what he felt. He frowned at him trying to show a sign of emotion, but truly, he just wanted this to stop. He had his proof: demons existed. For all he cared, fairies did too, but he just wanted to be safe, away from a flesh eating demon.
“I know,” he continued. “The Great Demon doesn’t seem so bad when he’s around me. What can I say? I just have a different charm,” he sarcastically brushed his left shoulder while the demon just screeched again, making Billzo cover his ears in pain.
He screamed for another five seconds and when Bill pulled his hands away he saw blood on his palms. Panickly, he touched the interior of his ears with his middle fingers and when he took them out he realised that they were actually bleeding. He started to panic even more, resulting in more tears and trembling.
Tubbo watched his classmate with pity eyes while he was basically crying in agony, while in reality he just enjoyed the show.
“You forgot one think about the Great Demon,” he added while creating a sudden stable eye contact with him. “The Great Demon is also known for its demonic screeches. What you’re hearing, aren’t just screams,” he said in a deeper tone. “They’re cries for help from the souls it devoured. The souls it defeated . Do you want to become a defeated soul, Billy ?”
Billzo shook his head aggressively. He had a huge headache from all the crying and screaming. His body felt weak and cold, and if he were to be put onto his feet right now he wouldn’t be able to stand up.
“Please don’t kill me,” blurted Billzo quickly while he could. What could he say, he was desperate. He was for sure going to remain traumatised after this.
Tubbo looked shocked at that statement. While Billzo was basically balling his eyes out, Tubbo started hysterically laughing. He got to the point where he started laughing with his nose.
“Oh, Billzo,” he whipped a fake tear from his eye as he still had him in his floating grip. “You never fail to amuse me, don’t you?”
Bill visibly gulped. His tears kind of ran out after that. He basically had enough. It was clear Tubbo wasn’t going to feed him to the Great Demon as a sacrifice or something, he hoped , but he was still shaken.
Tubbo stood up making Billzo hit the grass with his arse, while the demon was now trying to reach him. Bill backed away quickly, and as soon as he did, Tubbo jumped slightly and kicked his back, managing to rip it into two pieces and splashing black demonic blood everywhere. For short: it exploded into two halves. It seemed so easy. He made it look so easy. Just like that, the demon was gone, back to Hell, literally .
Now Billzo had demon blood on his favourite clothes, and there was a superhuman maniac standing in front of him. His heartbeat remained the same as he stared at, unfortunately, his classmate, who looked like a book warrior but acted like a movie villain. He was also covered in black and his cut looked nastier than before, but the blood stopped dripping and just started sticking itself on his arm.
The browned hair boy whipped the sweat, that wasn’t actually there, from his forehead with his less bloodier arm and stood proudly on top of the dead demon. Billzo could’ve seen its interiors and he felt like puking. He didn’t know what he just witnessed, but honestly, he didn’t feel ready to find out.
“Why did you do that?” said Billzo between gasps.
Tubbo looked up to him and tilted his head. “What do you mean?”
He stood up, still having trouble with standing still, and looked him right in the eyes with tears threatening to spill. “Why did you do that?!” He yelled. “I didn’t need to see this, or anything that you showed me today!”
Tubbo looked at him intensively and shrugged with a smirk on his face which made Billzo boil with anger.
“Is this fucking funny to you, you damn witch?!”
He laughed again. “ Witch??? Oh, please, you’re exaggerating. And yes,” He stepped down from the corpse, giving the grass underneath him a dark colour. He got closer to Bill which made him back away. “You don’t understand my humour, mortal. And that’s not your fault,” He smiled sweetly, but eyed him mischievously; that’s what Billzo noticed.
The bee rucksack from the ground started floating directly into Tubbo’s hands. He immediately pulled it over his shoulder and looked at the shaken boy in front of him.
“You coming?” he asked innocently.
Billzo wanted to say no. He wanted to run so badly. Last thing he wished was to be stuck with him for the whole ride. He was scared, and thirsty, and dirty, and he just wanted to go back home.
For now, he knew that demons existed, ritualic demons, to be specific. The ones who cannot change their form whatsoever and can only appear from a ritual, which meant that demons in general existed. Maybe angels did as well. And, whatever Tubbo was, existed also.
Before he had a chance to speak, another powerful force was felt at just hips, pulling him closer to Tubbo. Billzo already got the hang of what was happening, but that didn’t calm things down.
“Sorry. It wasn’t like you had a choice anyways.” He snapped his fingers and both of their clothes were cleaned again. Back to normal.
Bill looked impressed, but now he was more disorientated than ever. It felt like he just had a break from reality. Tubbo was now basically carrying him, or pulling him around on a leash, close to him, and he stopped trying to fight against it. He was just floating around. Nothing more or less. Was he scared? Totally. And he felt like his reaction was pretty normal. However, whatever Tubbo was, spooked him out. Which only meant Tommy was the same. Otherwise, why would he suggest going demon summoning together? This definitely had to not become a habit of some sort of kind.
“S-So,” started Billzo with a little courage. “What are you? Are you actually a witch? Are you just another one of those demons?” Tubbo shushed him before he could continue.
“What I am is beyond your understandings, mortal,” said Tubbo without looking back.
“So, now you’re underestimating me?” He raised an eyebrow even though nobody else could’ve seen it. “You know, for a guy who has been basically begging me to hang out with him you sure act clueless enough to think that.”
He stopped in his tracks. Bill’s anxiety started rising again. He mostly said something that pissed him off. I mean, he did call him dumb in an indirect impolite manner. However, it didn’t stop there… No, literally, he didn’t stop. He continued his walk. And after some minutes he started giggling again. Billzo got sick and tired of him laughing at everything that had to do with death, but I guess now it wasn’t as bad. It was bad after all of that, but maybe he should just forget about it for now, if he could.
Billzo’s feet hit the ground again. This time he was more stable due to the lack of shock. They stood in silence, Bill’s face to his back, before Tubbo turned his head around with siren eyes and a smirk on.
“You bow down to BEE,” he said, moving his hand to his hip. “The God of Chaos.”
Notes:
Make sure to follow my Tik Tok: @teacolien <3
Chapter 5: The Anaconda
Summary:
“The Anaconda, despite their knowings in the human world as giant snakes, in the Craft, it is another demonic ritual that consents into a ‘whoever gets their bait devoured first, wins’ kind of thing.
Deities would call this demon whenever they’d have disagreements and they would let it decide the best option for them.
It was choosing the better decisions, since deities can be ones who tend to stick with their ideas even though they might be wrong. The bait were usually souls or birds.
The demon is called Koli, and it’s a black armless and blind demon that can move through any kind of surface.
Koli, luckily for the humans, didn't have any interaction with them, as it’s a demon that doesn’t interfere with lower creatures than deities.”
Notes:
Hey guys sorry for the late updates but I’m getting a lot of ideas and basically becoming better! I, apparently, found out that I might be possessed and I’m also depressed. Anyways, I hope you enjoy!
Possible TW: gore
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
“Exactly 42 years after the creation of homosapiens, deities have reached the point of looking after them, for unknowingly, eternally. Every deity had a specific group of people that they’d care for, mostly, by their fluent actions. They’d talk to humans, give them advice, make deals for lifings. For humans, deities walking among them wasn’t as unusual as it was supposed to be. Even so, they were aware of the power they beholden, so they tried not to interlock with them too many times in their lives.
For example: NH, the Goddess of Love, AKA Cupid, which her new name was officially bowed by humans in the 3rd century before The Reassembly (b.ThR, read as The human Reassembly, or simply, The Reassembly), kept eyes all over the love of the homosapiens: their lovers, their families, their friends, their neighbours and their enemies. She was the most active goddess on Earth like she still remains to be. However, just like many other gods, she failed humans. Not every human, but at least one would be missed from all those eyes.
In the coastsided part of Fharingkton, one ancient and underpopulated town in the southwestern side of the world, lived a boy. One, beautiful, small boy, with chocolate brown curls and sky blue eyes. His name was Tuberculosis Ushmernam. His body was skinny due to the lack of food they could put on their tables. He was a miracle to the world, his parents believed that so much. A true honour, he was to them. They spoiled him; made sure he was as healthy as could be, and got everything he wanted.
He was a farmer. He helped his parents and the rich in farms and gardens. He hated doing that. He didn’t want to spend the rest of his time searching for food, and the gods noticed.
Just like any other perfect human, Tuberculosis was broken. He was born broken, with a type of love a boy shouldn’t have ever felt back then.
It took a lot of convincing to make him help his family. At home, it was him, his mother and father, and his other 6 siblings, him being the 4th born. He was never a pleased boy, and even though his parents appreciated him the best, they still considered him unworthy of being called their son if he wasn’t going to put any effort in keeping the family alive. His father would alway say: ‘You’re a special one, my son, more special than your sibling, but without showing that you are, you will remain the brat you were born to be raised as.’ That angered him. He decided to not speak to his parents again until they apologised, and went to do chores alone, without their consent, so he could demonstrate to them just how good of a child he really was. However, the mighty rage after all those years of praising, separating and underestimating kept a secret hatred for them, that he didn’t even seem to know about.
One night, at the age of 14, beside the river that separated Fharingkton and another big continent, he was collecting water in his pot, berries, and catching fish with his bare hands. He was going to bring them to his parents and show them his work for the past week, in order to be appreciated and loved again, just like he used to be. Just as Tuberculosis was rearranging his belongings to leave, his eyes fell on a tall, dark body that was standing on the other side of the river.
The boy’s eyes couldn’t avert from the mysterious figure. They looked far from being human, with their long legs and halved coloured body, dressed in royalty and light. Before he realised, he was making eye contact with the one and only, BOO, God of Memories.
Tuberculosis didn’t notice the burned sensation he felt on his face when admiring the god, soon to realise that he had fallen for them. He knew that deities walked around Earth, but he wondered if they could ever fall in love with a human, or specifically, a small, skinny boy, like him. After that he became devastated. The god threatened him to go home, otherwise they would have wiped away his memory of himself, but he didn’t want to listen. He soon gave in when the god decided to disappear in thin air without punishing him. Tuberculosis knew he had no chances of possibly being together with that beautiful creature, which led to a moment in his life where he had to fight the urge of screaming out of anger and sadness.
The boy told his parents. They brutally slapped him, calling him nuts, insane even: ‘Oh, our young, stupid and dirty son! We spoiled you too much! Someone like you can’t fall in love with a god, an almighty and elegant god! Especially if you’re a small boy!’ After that, there was no sight of them. Tuberculosis became an orphan and his siblings were found dead under each of their own beds. There was a rumour going around Fharingkton that he had killed his entire family; which was true.
Tuberculosis went around, avenging himself, killing others from his bloodline and murdering perfect families that he only wished he was apart of. He went on like this for weeks, until a specific god caught eyes on him.
Standing in front of him, appeared TB, the God of Blood. The boy didn’t seem to be surprised, however, the god was. Even though TB was disappointed, he saw potential. He never thought he would have had to see another human spill so much blood of his own kind, just for a heart he could never have. Humans were such an interesting specimen; he was the first human who would be seen by the gods to act like this. Tuberculosis admitted his work, he admitted how grateful he was for expressing himself, but the god didn’t buy it. With a snap of his fingers, TB had raised a curse on him, no matter how impressed he had left him, since it was going against how HD naturally created them.
Humans were meant to be peaceful, to cooperate with each other. HD, God of Nature, saw the actions of the young boy and was speechless, as he couldn’t exactly get rid of him. He loved every human. It would’ve hurt too much to murder one of his creations, no matter the behaviour. Time was going to make its way, and finish humans when it had to.
From now on, whenever Tuberculosis would spill another’s blood, his own would be spilled with it. And for the past 3 years he had had to live up with that. That didn’t stop the boy. He continued this lifestyle and he probably had spilled more blood from himself than from the others, evidence being the scars that have remained from every murder.
Just like TB had seen the art Tuberculosis did, so did BOO. The boy had finally won to impress the god he had fallen for. ‘You amazed me, human,’ said BOO. ‘I’ve been watching you ever since I disappeared with the wind, and I can truly confirm that you aren’t like what I’ve seen before.’ It was obvious the deity wanted Tuberculosis to experience an eternal lifetime with him, and the boy couldn’t do anything but to happily accept.
That day, BOO went against TB’s curse, but didn’t entirely break it, as he couldn’t, since TB had a power twice as big as BOO’s. With a powerful wish and a boost of strength, the God of Memories had managed to create, what he didn’t realise, the soon to be one of the most powerful gods, BEE, the God of Chaos.”
Billzo’s eyes fell on the picture at the end. It looked like it was an ancient drawn figure with another set of lanky arms, big brown curls covering his eyes (his hair could be seen as very fluffy) and visible red scars on his face and neck. Bill already has seen the appearance of BEE from the internet, and he already knew some parts of the myth, but never actually read the entire thing.
He slowly closed the book like he was trying to process what he just read out loud. The book that contained all the myths about the deities, was called the Craft. It was basically like our bible. Billzo turned around to face his friends. They were all in his room, since he called them unexpectedly. Aimsey was laid on his bed playing with a rubber ball, throwing it in the air and catching it with their left hand, repeatedly. Freddie was sitting at the end of the bed, listening to Bill.
“See?” Billzo asked as he eyed Aimsey, her not even looking at him. “He matches Tubbo perfectly.”
Aimsey let out a long, deep sigh. “Yes, Bill,” she said before catching the ball. “Because Tubbo is an insane criminal who would do anything for love,” He could only roll his eyes.
“The past had… interesting generations,” added Freddie to not feel left out. “And isn’t tuberculosis a disease?”
It was true. The mentally of getting rejected by the ones you loved was a wild one, but Billzo didn’t mean to say that. It was Sunday. After Tubbo and Bill got out of the forest, he grabbed his bike and left immediately. He still couldn’t believe it: he shouted at a god. The God of Chaos, to be specific. The one god who did merciless things for fun. That night he couldn’t sleep properly. He told his mum about Tubbo, that if he ever sees him near their house to not let him in— he had to lie that they got into a serious fight— but he doubted Tubbo was going to leave if he couldn’t get in politely. His mother wanted to talk with him, to be more “mature”, but Bill refused, since she knew nothing.
He was scared now, not as scared as when he saw the Great Demon, though. Tubbo was probably going to keep an eye on him, just like how every deity does with humans. Not only that, but Tubbo was going to be around him. He intentionally outed himself to a human, which Billzo found disturbing and unprocessed. He thought there were going to be consequences, but he hadn’t read anything too deeply about deities expressing themselves to humans after The Reassembly.
The Reassembly was an act of the gods' contribution that agreed to, basically, so you can understand it better, restart the homosapien civilisation. They have realised that exposing their great strength to powerless creatures, such as humans, led to trouble among them. Humans were vulnerable. They would ask for anything anytime they had the chance ever since the 6th century b.ThR, and became arrogant and only depended on the help of the deities. When HD had to say goodbye to his first creations, he wiped all human life, and created a new one, a clueless one, that would have trouble understanding all the deities' power. And ever since then, they haven’t shown any direct sign of interacting with homosapiens, but would respond to “cries for help” that translated as “prayers”.
“I’m telling you,” said Billzo, getting up from his chair. “I know what I saw! Tubbo is BEE! He even summoned the Great Demon in the Cordin Forest!”
Aimsey started giggling loudly and Freddie just grinned at her, looking like he was going to start laughing as well anytime soon. Billzo realised there wasn't any chance they would believe him. He thought of maybe taking them to the forest and showing them the spot and the charcoal that they used, but now that he thought about it, was it really worth it? BEE must’ve revealed his identity to him for a reason, right? Otherwise, why was he so open about it? Bill was still too scared to go and confront him and beg for questions. He would have to read everything in the Craft that had to do with the God of Chaos in order to understand him better.
It was obvious that BEE didn’t really dare to lay a wrong move on him. BEE, after all, was also human (well, used to). He wouldn’t have dared to, basically, kill his kind… which he did in the past… Maybe he truly wasn’t safe. He was going to be merciless with him, Bill just felt like it. What happened in the forest had to remain in the forest. He wouldn’t have possibly gone back unless he had to, but for now, there was no point in proving what’s right or wrong. Knowing that BEE had a clear path for his powers to hit him was already enough of a red flag.
“Fine, then,” continued Billzo. “Believe what you want.” He grabbed the Craft from the table and hid it in a drawer of the desk pretty aggressively.
Aimsey and Freddie looked at each other in confusion. Freddie couldn’t help but want to believe him, but it did seem absurd. Almost like he was high, which wouldn’t be a big surprise coming from Billzo, as he looked like the type to get drugged in a forest. He was going through something that nobody seemed to understand anyway, it wasn’t like they had to blame him for it. Aimsey was just unamused. Even if they did believe he was drugged, in their opinion, Bill got to a point where they couldn’t recognise him. She knew he didn’t believe in gods, even if he adored their myths, but it was weird that he suddenly came to this conclusion.
Not going to lie, they did question how Bill had the Craft, since it seemed heavily religious of him, but he brought up the excuse of finding it in a drawer in the living room because his parents had it, which seemed believable.
Billzo, on the other hand, did not know what to expect in the future. He knew about BEE. BEE knew about him. It was going to be a true rollercoaster of emotions that he'd have to survive the whole year. Bill would have to live with them, unless they stayed until they also graduated. However, that explained how they magically got into the school and how easily they got admitted. But that also led to a lot of other possibilities. The thought of always being watched made his anxiety rise and he felt cornered, like a lost puppy in a big city, not knowing where to go or what to start with.
It also meant that his mother was also going to become a victim of whatever this was. So were his friends, Aimsey, Freddie, Beautie, and eventually, Eryn as well. If Tommy and Ranboo were truly some other gods as well, then he had to triple his worries.
After his friends left, worried for their mate, and possibly, his mental health status, Billzo started going through the Craft again. There had to be some ways of making deals with specific deities, or just to know what they could be looking for among mortals after this many years, especially three of them… or four… or, who even knew how many other gods lived with humans? For what he could guess, there could’ve been a lot. A lot meaning all, and that he couldn’t imagine living with. It was scary, but there wasn’t really time to think about it. BEE showed himself to Billzo, and probably Billzo only, with a wild guess. Until other possible deities decided to scare the living shit out of him, he would have had to focus only on BEE.
The Craft mentioned that BEE didn’t listen to homosapien prayers, since he was the God of Chaos and he had no reason to, which meant Billzo wouldn’t be able to convince him to give him space too easily, so that was a problem. Since he was on Earth, there was a 45% his spouse, BOO, was also, as the Craft said that after BEE’s immortalfication he was always beside BOO’s side. Love does something out of you for sure , that’s what Bill thought. But it also mentioned how much BEE liked to fuck with the humans’ lives, which also included the fact that they were separated most times, as they had different “jobs”.
His mother messaged him on how she’ll go to the store for some more cleaning supplies since, somehow, even though they have been used only that day this whole year, she ran out of them. Billzo begged her not to leave him alone, he sounded too desperate, but his mum told him to “grow up” and left the door banging behind her as she put on her sneakers and left the house. Bill knows it’ll take her a while coming back from the store, as she somehow finds other things she didn’t know she needed and eventually decides to buy the whole building (not like she can’t, but if she and her husband lose the company, then that’ll be the last straw). Billzo locked himself up in his bedroom and decided to watch some movies so the time would pass faster. He started watching one of his favourites from when he was younger, Toy Story 2. He just really enjoyed the storyline. Honestly, he probably should’ve finished that book that he had to for school, the one who he got heavily and rudely interrupted from by BEE.
Billzo didn’t know how he should refer to BEE now. Should he just continue with Tubbo or just straight up switch to BEE. He didn't want to be disrespectful, not after the whole summoning thing, but it depended a lot. He couldn’t just go to school and talk to him as he was actually a god. Because, despite the truth, he was going to be considered a weirdo; probably a religious freak even, which was not true no matter who existed and who didn’t.
The window opened, which made Billzo jump slightly. He was lying on his bed with his laptop on his belly watching the movie. He paused it and kept looking at the window, as he waited to be somewhat devoured by a specific someone, or a demon, who knew? Nothing happened. Bill slowly got up from his bed, putting his laptop aside on the pillow, and started reaching the window. At first, he wanted to close it, but he thought about it. He carefully, with shaky hands, heavy breathing and sweat on his forehead, looked out the window.
The only thing you could’ve seen was the kids from the park that were set some roads away. They looked like they were having fun, while Bill wasn’t exactly on that level. As much as how interesting this experience was, we’re talking about deities. Who have an enormous power within themselves and could wipe your existence with one snap (only HD had the power to do that, other deities would have to actually kill humans). However, the other deities knew the deal between interfering with the homosapiens safety and HD. He wouldn't hesitate to start a war, and it would’ve been bad to get in a war with HD, since he had XD on his side, which was also one of the most powerful gods.
Billzo closed the window without trying to let any sounds escape from the creeks. After shutting it, he let out a sigh he didn’t know he held in himself, and closed the curtains. He went back to his bed, still a little trembled. Whatever BEE did to him, he did it well. Bill never knew he could be this scared.
As he unpassaued his movie, he heard a smash coming from downstairs, making him hit the pause button again. This time he was more hesitant with checking. It could’ve been his mum, but he didn’t hear the door open. So, he was going to give it a try.
He sighed before closing his laptop and grabbed the bat that he had in his closet. Don’t ask how and why, Billzo doesn’t even practice baseball, he just has it for aesthetics, but now was a good time to use it. It was a normal wooden bat that had some ridiculous stickers on: a skull, a skateboard, rainbows: the typical ones. He got into position before opening the door. It was rather his mum, BEE, another god or a burglar. Luckily, the stairs didn’t dare to squeak at his feet, maybe because they were covered by a long, grey carpet. The walls were decorated in family pictures and flower pods sat on shelves, with some fairy lights hanging from them.
The hall was clear. No sight of muddy footsteps or dirt laying around anywhere, and everything seemed to be in place. He went to the door and double checked the handle. It was open since his mum knew Billzo was home, so there was no point in closing it, but now, it seemed like the perfect time. He turned the keys twice and loudly left them hanging from the hole. He hoped whoever was in his house (if there was someone) that they heard that; unless they broke a window. New plan: he also took the keys with him and held them in his back pocket.
Billzo’s hands were sweaty and he was with his back to the wall, wanting to look around the corner in the living room. He kept his bat close to his chest and tried to steady his breathing. It would’ve been so awkward if it actually wasn’t anyone else in the house and it seemed like he was roleplaying some dumb suspense scene. His head turned in the living room, and his eyes scanned the places that he could. No one. He was sure he heard something.
“Fucking idiot,” said a voice that made Billzo jump back, gripping his bat harder. “He’s literally behind that corner. I can hear his breathing.” Bill froze in his spot. There's more than one. That voice though, it sounded strangely familiar. Way too familiar. Same tone, same vocabulary…
Billzo realised who it was, and PD, he was probably more scared to find out what they’re doing in his house rather than being mad. But he wasn’t going to lose this war.
With his bat in front, he jumped out and got into a battling position. In front of him, with a complete unsurprised face, stood Tommy and Ranboo. The blond boy seemed more irritated than unamused, and Ranboo just had his eyes wide open while also looking quite unimpressed. One was wearing a red tee with blue jeans and the other a grey jumper with black ripped jeans, and a half white half black mask. They were looking… okay. Billzo was, this time as well, in his pyjamas.
“Why hello, Billzo ,” said Tommy as he stepped closer with his arms on his hips. “Speaking of you: I’m glad you chose the easy way.”
Bill didn’t want to know what that meant. The easy way? Thank QW it was that. If his theories were true, his chances of disaster were standing right in front of him.
“And speaking of me: what are you doing in my house?” Billzo said, gripping the bat tighter and putting it aligned with Tommy’s chest, and frowned eyebrows.
The blond boy gently lowered the bat with his finger as he kept his eyes on the teen. “I’ve got informed by the wind that you may or may not know something you shouldn’t,” he said as he moved his hands to his back like a butler.
Bill didn’t have his bandana on and they couldn’t see the sweat drops that were dripping down his forehead as he looked between the two. He gulped and tightened his grip, feeling as if that was his only hope, knowing that it probably won’t help in any way.
“B-By the wind, you say?” He managed to stutter out. Tommy just looked at him a little take aback and a slightly raised eyebrow. It felt like he was expecting something else. “Let me guess: HD, God of Nature, right?” Billzo said confidently.
Tommy scoffed and amusingly rolled his eyes. “No, actually, it’s O7, God of Sounds and Music, but good guess,” he added sarcastically at the end.
Billzo remained silent. That was going to be his second option, so technically he did get it right. At least his theories were right, also. BEE and O7 were roaming around Earth, which only meant Ranboo was a deity as well, despite his appearance.
“And my good friend here, Mark, will get rid of you knowing that-“
“You mean BOO, Deity of Memories?” Quickly interrupted Billzo. If he thought about it deeply, Ranboo’s nickname wasn’t actually Ranboo, he just decided to himself that it was. There were some chances Aimsey talked to him about it though, but who knew?
Tommy only looked impressed and smirked. “You do know what you’re saying, kid,” He stepped closer, making Bill back away. There was currently no way out. The door was locked because of his idiotic senses, his mother was still at the store, and there were low chances the neighbours were going to know anything about this. “But unfortunately, your knowledge is too good for this world. BOO?” Continued Tommy as he made a sign to Ranboo to get it done.
He knew what was going to happen. Mark, or Ranboo… or BOO, was going to erase his memory. He didn’t know how much of it, though, and that scared him. It was cool to know that deities existed, but maybe it was for the best. So, truly and secretly, he wasn’t against it.
Ranboo was hesitant. They kept playing with their fingers while giving the two constant glances, like he was trying to make a decision. “But, BEE said to not touch it,” they said quietly, as he gave a confident look to his friend, before speaking up again. “And you know what I think about disrespecting his wishes.” He almost sounded intimidating. Key word: almost; but it had an effect.
Tommy didn’t seem too pleased about it and Billzo noticed. Last thing he wanted was to witness a “god war” in his own house, while he was in his pyjamas and still holding his bat tightly. Since O7 seemed more edgy, he assumed he would be quite of a troublemaker for the deities, and the only ones he had wars with were XD, God of Dreams, and JS, God of Punishment.
It was actually surprising how calm BOO was. In the myths, he was a total desperado, especially b.ThR, but Billzo guessed they acted certain ways depending on the person. Or they were just manipulating.
“He’s not the boss of me,” Tommy said as he looked back at Billzo, but hanging his eyes still on Ranboo. “And he’s not yours either.”
What Bill could’ve easily guessed was that they had some difficulties collaborating and talking things out. O7 definitely didn’t seem to enjoy the power a foster human holded, but also seemed to deal with it pretty normally. BOO was truly a loyal one, and he stayed like this ever since BEE became a god and that was amazing, since humans could never; only in some cases.
Despite all that, the teen had to remember that he was face to face with two deities. He couldn’t just sit and analyse them all day, no matter how much he wanted to. For all they cared, they could just deal with him whenever, and he was completely defenceless, that was for sure. O7 was not happy with him knowing their existence, which was understandable.
Billzo had so many questions to ask the gods. Did they have children? Had they had to watch humanity progress this entire time? How did “falling in love” exactly work for them? Can they shapeshift? How did they travel? Is Craft even accurate? To be exact, there was a lot Bill wanted to know. And when he felt like he had the chance to try and not get on someone’s nerves because of his ignorant self, he decided to keep his mouth shut. He always wondered what type of god he would’ve been. “God of Emoness,” was something one of his friends would’ve said. That thought made Bill giggle, and suddenly, the gods' eyes were on him.
O7 raised his eyebrow. “What are you all giggly about, human ?” Something about the way he said “ human” made Bill want to shat his pants in fear. O7’s blue eyes charmed his look of madness, and that didn’t mean anything good in the Craft.
“Nothing,” said Billzo, dropping the bat at his feet. “Absolutely nothing.” His only source of protection was now on the floor. He still didn’t know how he should address them, as their given names or as their human names.
The blond god turned to his friend, and with spite, “ Erase it, ” he spited oppressively.
BOO looked at him intensively before shutting his eyes and turning his head to the left. It was a true show. O7 could only groan. “PD was right,” he continued. “This did turn out to be a mess.”
The freckled human could only stare, wide eyes opened, as he realised: all deities existed. He was so caught up in whatever was going on in his house, that he completely forgot about the, now possible, possibilities. For what he could know, anyone could’ve been a god, maybe even his friends. It would’ve made sense on how ignorant they acted, or maybe they just don’t like buying pranks. But, to remember that PD existed, God of the Universe, was the coolest thing ever. All the prayers he has sent were probably received but too busy being answered, or something.
“It’s not fair play,” said BOO, making Bill jump out of his thoughts. That was a strange sentence to say, especially when you’re a deity, so for Billzo, it was perceived in a very wrong path. He was now doubting everything, if the whole Great Demon summoning was a test, or if all the weird moments were just them analysing him. Maybe it was truly just a game for them, like they were the kids outside his window that were playing in the sandbox. “And plus, I wasn’t involved; so I’m not going to be involved.”
“It’s not going to be fair play if you don’t want to help yourself!” The way O7 yelled this was strange. It was almost like a quiet whisper, as if the wind blew through your door crack. He was the God of Sounds and Music after all, and according to the Craft, O7 hated abomination yelling. ‘Those who use their tone to hurt the innocent, should fall under the shameful column.’ The amount of time his words have been covered by screams could’ve fed the entire human population from the 80s ‘till the present. So, basically, logically speaking from that quote, unless the person you’re yelling at isn’t innocent, you can yell. The day that O7 shouts is the day homosapiens get absolutely abolished.
If they were going to debate something, they’d have to debate it properly.
“How about we play a game,” said Billzo bluntly, getting the attention of the two. “Whoever wins decides what to do with me,” Now, this sounded very wrong in his head, but he’d do anything to stop them bickering. “With my memories, to be specific.” There. If he thought about it deeply, knowing about the deities would be pretty cool, but he wasn’t going to intervene in their lives. He didn’t want to become someone’s problem.
Tommy and Ranboo gave each other a stern look. Anyone could tell they were communicating telepathically, if that was even possible for them, which probably wasn’t.
The God of Music could only roll his eyes and accept the request, having to join the childish behaviour of a typical human (who in fact, was a child). God of Memories wouldn’t have agreed, but since their little fight was getting intense, they assumed a game could decide for them in this case.
Billzo got excited at their sight. “Awesome!” He jumped on his sofa and gestured the two to come closer. He offered them a seat, but they refused and chose to rather stand. “The game we’re going to play is a sacred one,” he continued, moving his hands around dramatically. “Only the brave ones should risk their luck into it,” The tension in the air got thicker. BOO started feeling hot and O7 was getting slowly intrigued. Billzo looked between them. “You two are going to play three rounds of Rock Paper Scissors!”
That whole paragraph felt like releasing a puppy into the void, while the feeling of someone gripping your neck loosens itself and suddenly you can breathe underwater. It was confusing and full of weird things in it, is the correct translation.
“‘Sacred’?” O7 laughed, whipping a fake tear and holding his stomach. “I think you meant ‘stupid’. We’re going to play something deities are worth playing, not something humans like you can do any day.”
Not only Billzo felt strongly offended, but a new emotion of fear grew in him. Last time he got in the same boat with a god and decided to do something “fun” he had to hide in cowardice from a demon who didn’t have the chance to even lay a finger on him properly. But this time it would’ve been different. He wouldn’t have to take part, he just had to watch and basically put an end to their debate.
“Like what?” said Billzo after a hesitant amount of silence.
Tommy looked at Ranboo almost like he was asking for approval. Maybe they were actually communicating telepathically. The masked deity could only nod slightly before raising his hand. Billzo expected some sort of magical fog coming out of it, but it only took one snap for them to seem like they switched dimensions. The teen jumped slightly at the sudden change and fell backwards. When he raised his body, rubbing the back of his head, he was mesmerised by the place they were in.
If someone was to describe their vacation and they would’ve said something that had to do with a beach that had shining soft sand and a cloudy pink sky, he wouldn’t have believed it. The ocean that was sat some good meters away from him, and it almost didn’t look like an ocean, but the source of a huge pot where you’d brew for your potions; I don’t know if it was because of the fact that the ocean was rather glittery and had no sight of waves. On Billzo’s left, not so far away from him, was a palm tree forest. This island, or whatever it was, felt like a dream. You could even feel the relaxing mood coming from its air.
Bill stood up, still in his pyjamas, feet deep in the sand giving him a stable balance, but with a feeling of getting eaten up by the ground, and looked at the two who were roaming around the area. They looked like they were preparing it for a fight, so he could only assume they would be doing that. He was glad it wasn’t at his house though (unless this was an illusion). In other words: he was relieved and excited. His show was going to take a big turn.
He felt weird having to be in his sleep clothing, but he guessed he couldn’t do anything about it. Bill’s feet were deepening with every step he took, which reminded him of quicksand, so his heart started racing a little. He went up to O7, who kept crushing the sand with his shoe and whistling, and lightly tapped his shoulder, and the god jumped and got into a fighting position. He got pissed when he saw the human and his weird smile on his face.
“So, like,” started Billzo grinning wider. “When are you two going to fight?”
Tommy didn’t like Bill’s excited behaviour over the thought of them fighting, but he didn’t say anything, as he was confused about the homosapien mindset.
“We’re not fighting,” O7 said as he kept pushing his foot in the sand. “We’re doing the Anaconda, if you know what that is.” That last sentence sounded like a challenge to Billzo.
The Anaconda, despite their knowings in the human world as giant snakes, in the Craft, it is another demonic ritual that consents into a “whoever gets their bait devoured first, wins” kind of thing. Deities would call this demon whenever they’d have disagreements and they would let it decide the best option for them. It was choosing the better decisions, since deities can be ones who tend to stick with their ideas even though they might be wrong. The bait were usually souls or birds. The demon is called Koli, and it’s a black armless and blind demon that can move through any kind of surface. Koli, luckily for the humans, didn't have any interaction with them, as it’s a demon that doesn’t interfere with lower creatures than deities.
Billzo impressed himself with his own knowledge. However, he didn’t know that his interest in myths would someday help him “integrate”. That did explain O7’s behaviour. He was hitting the sand with his foot and he kept whistling so he could grab the demon's attention, mostly to tell him exactly who he was. It looked like BOO wasn’t doing anything too special.
Tommy grabbed Billzo by his arm and dragged him further away from the spot they’ve appeared from, making him hit the soft sand with his back. Bill let out a “what the fuck” type of sound.
“Sit here and be quiet,” O7 ordered as he started cracking his knuckles. “Koli doesn’t like humans,” he said as he made his way back to his friend.
Bill’s anxiety increased. Of course he knew about that aspect, but it was still a miserable thought.
His deep brown eyes watched carefully as O7 and BOO stood patiently waiting for the demon. While Tommy was putting him aside, Ranboo seemed to have gathered a huge amount of… gulls? Right; the demon liked birds. However, Bill gagged at the sight of blood and squished organs. Their wings were sticking out weirdly.
The hot sand that he sat on felt colder and the ocean started agitating itself, while there was no other sight of magic or unnatural causes. The boy was trembling, but he didn’t bother to care that much when he saw the lump that's growing out of the sand, slowly, revealing the big demon, Koli, that Bill got reminded of a worm.
After all, it was armless, blind, and it could also move through any surface, exactly like a worm.
Strangely, Bill wasn’t as scared as he was when he encountered the Great Demon. It felt like things couldn’t have gotten worse ever since then, and truly, he didn’t feel that way in that moment either. It was more the feeling of already finished homework and your mum telling you to do something additional, but you’re already doing well with grades.
The demon was rather calm, at least calmer than the Great Demon. It seemed like it was a businessman doing his job, and Bill prayed to QW, now that he knew he was true, that that thing didn’t smell him from that far.
He couldn’t really tell what O7 and BOO were talking about, right in front of the demon that was standing, half in sand, the other half out, in between them. They looked like they continued bickering which Bill found unamusing. Who knew gods were just as childish as he was? He expected worse, not going to lie.
Their chatter stopped with Koli eating the gulls that were put in front of BOO, aggressively shoving them down its throat like a pelican.
The teen could only wish he’d get closer to that thing, just because it didn’t seem as idiotic as the Great Demon, and maybe he’d have a higher chance of surviving. But he wasn’t going to risk the trust of a god. The demon had a raspy deep and loud voice. It started communicating with the two after it finished its meal.
“For them to begone ,” heard Billzo, from Koli, on his seat. Next thing that came after was O7 to smirk victoriously and let out a winning “Ha!” Not going to lie, Bill felt a little betrayed, but he knew the consequences of everything he’s seen.
“Billzo we lost!” yelled BOO averting his direction to the teen.
The demon jumped slightly, somehow, at the sound of his name. “Who’s that?” Asked in a mad tone.
O7 quickly tried getting its attention. “There’s no Billzo here, don’t worry!” He laughed nervously at the end. “BOO has imaginary friends!” But it didn’t seem like it was buying it.
Another thing about Koli: even if it was a demon, it wasn’t stupid. Just as much as how, as the stereotype, cats hated dogs, demons, especially the ritualic ones, despised humans. And since Koli was blind, it meant that all his other senses were much better; including his hearing and smell. In fact, the only human who was sat on the so-called “ dream island ” knew about this, also knowing what happens when Koli finds any human near his territory.
“Shit,” whispered Billzo under his breath. Within a blink, the demon turned his whole body straight to him, making Bill mentally facepalm and quickly cover his mouth with his hands in realisation.
Koli didn’t do anything for at least 30 seconds, but Billzo knew its tactics, especially this one, of trying to trick its bait. The demon screeched loudly, one deeper than the Great Demon’s due to its voice, and jumped into the sand like a dolphin, while diving in like a snake. O7 and BOO were rather not paying much attention to it. Koli left its tail, a black and demonic-like one, out of the sand, as if it was a shark.
Bill’s heart pounded faster. The louder his heartbeat was, the closer Koli got. The boy froze in his spot, just like he froze behind that tree in the Cordin Forest, the only thing in his mind being a valid reason to explain his appearance in the Death Realm to the Goddess of Death.
The giant snake-demon got out of the sand and stared, with its blind eyes, down at the mortal in front of him. It could smell his fear and desperation. It screeched again, not as loudly as the other demon’s, but loudly enough to scare Billzo even more, and jumped on him with its weirdly shaped sharp fangs out. He closed his eyes, and quietly waited for the impact. Just as it hit, the attack was covered by a strong blow of wind with sand.
Billzo was now breathing heavily and quickly, holding it sometimes, but nothing seemed to have happened. He opened his teary eyes and found the God of Sounds and Music in front of him, stopping Koli’s face with his palm like it was nothing. The boy remained staring at the back of his neck, in which the god seemed to not flinch not even once. With his other one, he placed it on top of his left hand, and whistled. It was a slow one at first, but in just two seconds, it struck quickly, and the demon perished.
Bill’s mouth was left agape as Tommy got the dust of his palm off.
“Wow,” said Billzo after a huge moment of silence. “That was absolutely amazing!” He jumped, earning a slap, which took him by surprise.
Tommy’s glare was something truly horrid. “Are you out of your mind?” He said in a calm tone, despite knowing the possible consequences of hurting a human. Bill thought at first that he had got it because of his little shout, but now he knew the real problem. “I told you to do two things, two things, that led to the same problem, and you still did it,”
“Well, at least I respected the other one-“
“When you’re in a situation like that you can forget about whatever I’ve said before,” he interrupted him.
He frowned at the god’s useless rage. “It wasn't like it was my fault!” Bill tried to calm his temper, “BOO started it!” He pointed at the taller figure that magically appeared next to O7. He looked rather surprised, and the guilt could be easily read.
“They have an excuse,” continued Tommy. “You don’t. If you haven’t had messed up my cover we wouldn’t have gotten into that situation,”
It was a fit of rage. They were both angry and they tried coming up with better arguments. BOO had to stand aside, watching the two bicker, just like Bill watched him and Tommy do the same. The guilt in their heart still stung. He didn’t mean to say it. He just forgot about Koli in general. They forgot it hated humans, and that it devours them. If he knew, he wouldn’t have shouted at him. It wasn’t a game, it never felt like one, but most times, BOO felt like his role was the most problematic and unserious one.
People remember things they don’t want to remember, or they forget things they had to remember, and he was all to blame for that. Despite him having to be, basically, the one to remember everything, he forgets. They’re the Deity of Memories, what could you expect?
In multiple days of their entire existence, they’d forget even about their own husband’s anniversary, the one when he officially became one of their kind and could “ live happily ever after, ” or how humans had to say it, and he always felt horrible. Even though his spouse is understanding, and has mentioned a lot of times that he “never even cared about that day in the first place,” it was special to every other deity, and it was special to him. It represented their deservence of power.
BOO hated feeling nostalgic, so, in order to stop his memories that were slowly fading back, he got between the two bickers.
“Can’t we just… talk it out?” he suggested, feeling a little nervous. “Like how we were supposed to in the first place?”
Billzo and O7 shared glares.
Tommy groaned. “It doesn’t matter anymore, BOO.” He said, slowly growing a smirk back. “I won. Which means: I was right. Which also means: you have to say ‘bye-bye’ to knowing us.”
The human didn’t even try to fight back this time. It wasn’t like he cared. If he had to go through this type of thing every single time just because he was being connected to the gods, who knew what else could’ve happened? Maybe he’d wake up one day seeing posters of him “wanted” all over the streets and the news.
Before BOO could say anything, which he didn’t plan on doing, since they didn’t feel like it was going to be in use anymore, O7 looked at him and nodded, indicating to him to start the process.
BOO hesitated.
“I’m sorry, Billzo,” he said.
The process was a magical one. This time, BOO created a glowing purple hexagon shape in the air and moved his whole hand in it. They snapped their fingers, and the shape vanished. BOO wasn’t trying to back away this time; he was ready to touch Bill’s forehead and make him forget about their existence, knowing full well his spouse was going to be mad.
As he almost reached his destination, Billzo wasn’t fighting back at all, in fact, just staring blankly, secretly a little anxious at the power that was going to enter his mind.
In just about some milliseconds before that was going to happen, BOO’s hand stopped. The human was left confused, with the deity’s finger pointed at him, but that it wasn’t moving forward.
Then, Billzo noticed the problem that had walked in: BEE.
The god was angrily, but gently, gripping his lover’s arm, with a big frown on his face. BOO quickly took away his arm, and with a shocked, and a little scared, face they moved next to O7, who also seemed to have the same expression.
“BEE? Hi!” Tommy said nervously with a laugh. “What a nice sight to see.” His voice trailed off at that last sentence.
It seemed a little funny to Bill how scared they were of him. And, he also felt special. I mean, how many times do you get protected by the most chaotic god out there.
However, their friend didn’t do anything, in fact stood the same. “I’m not even going to ask,” he said, his voice sounding mad, but in a calm tone.
He turned to Bill, who’s little grin quickly whipped itself off. There was a small eye contact contest happening between them, the human feeling intimidated and sweaty, knowing damn well he was going to lose either way, before BEE sighed heavily. He rearranged his position and started doing what BOO did before with their finger. In fact, Tubbo’s shape was a glowing dark green hexagon that had a circle that seemed to have a line across it. He took his whole other arm, and did a slashing motion at it, all the glowing stuff blowing Billzo’s face.
The human remained silent and patient, but when that powder got into his eyes, despite knowing it didn’t hurt at all, he felt… weirder.
“Did-“ he hesitated. “Did you just… curse me?”
Tubbo rolled his eyes.
“We are so dumb,” added Tommy from behind him. “We could’ve done that ,” he said almost immediately as to how obvious it was. “We could've bonded him,” It felt like he was going through something. They both looked rather shocked about their own ignorance.
Bill knew that term. Bonding, in the Craft, basically was a gods ritual that could’ve had the chance to keep a sacred promise with another being. In their position, Tubbo bonded him to not having to mention their existence to the other humans, ever again. Billzo was going to feel it when talking to his friends or other people about this subject.
They didn’t stay for too long. After Bill was bonded, BEE sent him straight away back to his house. The boy woke up to be sat on the sofa, just like before he got teleported to the island, and his mother came right afterwards through the door with some groceries, mad that he closed the door and didn’t tell her. He didn’t talk much to her after that. He actually decided to not talk to too many people from now on. He didn’t want to get anyone else in his mess.
Billzo didn’t want to admit it, but he felt relieved when BEE decided to spare his memories.
Notes:
Make sure to follow my Tik Tok @teacolien! <3
I hope you liked it as I worked quite hard on this one :D
Please inform me of any mistakes, but remember that I won’t change them, as I want to realise my progress.
Chapter 6: What a day, huh?
Summary:
Billzo has a lot of encounters with different gods— poor boy has had enough of this.
Firstly, his free and relaxing day became a distress to his head and almost went insane.
Secondly; one of the meeting may or may have been with the one and only, HD, God of Nature and Life, that decided to show up and mesmerise him with his looks and wishes. Leaving him possible watched?
Notes:
Very sorry for the late updates. Losing motivation and having a lot of schoolwork doesn’t do good for the brain.
Maybe you’ll find some mistakes, maybe you won’t, I just want to say I’m sorry.
Anyways yuh enjoy cause idk what else to add to the storyline anymore (kind of)
(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)
Chapter Text
Last night Billzo had, probably, the weirdest and most scarring dream ever. He was running through the Cordin Forest, barefoot and shirtless, with sweat dripping down everywhere on his body. He kept running, for what it seemed forever, tripping on branches and stepping on nettles, but somehow managing to forget about the itching sensation that seemed to vanish right afterwards. It was dark. So dark, not even the fog could be noticed (that he assumed there was), that he couldn’t see where he was going, relying on his instincts.
Things happened and went away fast. When he woke up, panicky and confused, he felt thrilled. He didn’t know what had his brain manage to squeeze out of him or his so-called “traumatic events”, but it worked a lot, and probably, if it wasn’t going to stop any time soon, going to be a true rollercoaster of emotions. He prayed to XD that he’d leave him alone.
Ever since their last interaction, Billzo has been more cautious. He started going through the Craft and trying to understand every god’s reasonings with humans. The boy believed there had to be a reason he found out about the deities. In his head, they couldn't have possibly come just to hang around, but it didn’t say anything about unfinished businesses or some sort of other rituals that required the help of anything human-like.
However, the Craft did mention how hesitant O7 was with giving Tubbo godly powers. As it seems, he wasn’t able to convince his friend to think twice before making a decision they’ll never be able to change, and love had won, once again.
The only god who has been around him enough was BEE, because they shared theatre classes. He found out that he was also in the chemistry club, which was found rather unsurprising. They exchanged some talks here and there, but it was related to school. It was almost like what had happened some days ago didn’t actually happen. Billzo couldn’t help but feel a little worried, his trust issues making their way up.
When he got bonded he felt something weird in his chest, like there was a gun pointed at him. He didn’t dare to bring the subject of deities out.
He also apologised to Aimsey about his sudden outburst with the Craft. Billzo knew Aimsey was an atheist, and so was he before he found out the truth, but he still wouldn’t have called himself religious, and talking about religion wasn’t really something acceptable, especially when you have different beliefs. Aimsey forgave him easily, reassuring him that it was fine, since it seemed like he was going through a tough week, so that’s why he didn’t exactly stop him.
However, with this whole deities thingy intervening in his life, he couldn’t help but feel trapped, like he didn’t have any other choice. Some nights, he wished BOO erased his memories, he wished that BEE didn’t show up to stop them, just so he could sleep again like he used to. Billzo started feeling a strange aura around himself and specific people, almost like they were trying to tell him something. But, as said before, he tried to ignore the subject, especially in school. He also finished that book he had to mandatorily read; the ending wasn’t as exciting as he hoped: they all died.
Even though autumn was coming to an end, the temperature remained closely the same. There was no lie: it did decrease, but nobody could say it was that cold. With winter coming, so did other amazingly organised specialities, such as theatre plays, festivals and carnivals, school parties and even Secret Santa events. Billzo now had to prepare himself for a play called White Christmas. He was going to act multiple characters, so he had to triple his time to memorise the script.
Somewhere close to the, now lonely and cold, beach, was a brand new festival happening, Wintertime Night, where it was going to be full of hot drinks, carousels and carnivals games. Aimsey invited both Freddie and Billzo to check it out together and to basically have some fun, since they couldn’t do anything properly for the past months for some reason. The ride they were the most excited for was the Snow Avalanche, which consists of a giant sleigh that rocks you from left to right, while also being attacked by harmless snowballs during the swing and playing aggressive Christmas songs. It sounded fun for all of them, so they decided to let it for the last ride in order to feel the adrenaline really kick in. The festival, which can be considered a theme park, was going to be closed at 11 PM everyday until the 1st of January, so they had plenty of time.
The first thing they did when entering the place was to look around the nicely decorated, in red, white, blue, and even green, accessories around the park. Every stand and every ride had those exact theme colours.
Freddie’s eyes immediately averted to a carnival game called Secret Santa, in which you had to shoot five reindeers in order to win, at choice, a mysterious present box. Unfortunately, he managed to hit only four and was deeply disappointed. Billzo guessed it was rigged, until Aimsey gave it a try, and won the box from him. Freddie was even more disappointed when he won a Santa hat. At least it was funny, so he wore it that whole entire day.
Billzo wasn’t really intrigued in any carnival games, only the Snow Avalanche ride, which they were going to go in last. He also didn’t try any sweets that piqued his interest due to his diabetes, and when you’re in a place full of carol and cinnamon smell, you’re scared at the amount of sugar they might have, so you don’t take the risk. He was happy with some chips he got however.
When you’re in such a happy park like this, he couldn’t help not to buy anything. He saw the most interesting and expensive thing, it cost £30, a steampunk compass clock. It looked pretty sick and he was happy with it. When he showed it to his friends they were also amazed, but a little critical on why he would spend so much on a necklace. Just like Freddie, he also wore it the entire day, and probably would've wore it every day. He didn’t know why it felt so special to him, but he guessed he was just excited to have it; after all, it is new and sick.
At exactly 8:30 PM, Aimsey and Freddie told Bill they were going to run off to a stand and buy some hot chocolate for themselves. They offered to buy him something as well, but he refused, before telling them that he’d be around their spot, probably looking at the carnival games. When they promised they’d meet at the local hangout area, that consisted of a lot of picnic tables, for when they were going to return, they parted ways. The stand where they were going to buy the hot chocolate wasn’t that far away, but it sure had a huge line, and it was quite dark for their likings, especially his.
Billzo didn’t seem so impressed with the games they had on this side of the park. They were basic, boring ones. What did sound a little more interesting was a stand called Christmas Royal. The stand was red and blue, and even had a little yellow at the sides. In the back of the small cabin, there were sitting on shelves, there were three shelves for each row, 9 different real ducks. Bill seemed a little surprised and freaked out at the sight, since in the front sat those same toy guns that were meant for shooting-the- fake -ducks-in-a-pond-type of game. The ducks were quacking and sitting patiently, looking like they were in no trouble. However, to Billzo, it did seem like they were. There was barely anyone around this stand, and the looks of it gave him an off vibe.
Just as he was thinking of leaving, maybe showing his two friends, maybe not, and then never returning to this side of the park ever again, because what the actual fuck, a silhouette jumped from behind the counter shouting a quite quiet “Hello!” (we still need to respect O7) making Billzo jump and leaving him completely stood frozen afterwards, letting out a small scream that he quickly covered with his mouth, not to draw attention, even though no other bodies were around.
“Billy!” shouted in delightfulness, the person he expected the least, but somehow wasn’t surprised to see, Quackity, the guy found in the forbidden storage room from his school. He wore a button up white shirt with a red bow tie, also having the same beanie Billzo last saw him wear. Quackity had a dumb, but mean, smile plestered on his face, leaning over the counter. “So good to see you, dude!” He talked to him like he was his friend, and he was scared he had to remind them they weren’t, in fact, friends; his words.
Billzo waved weirdly, not looking too into it. “Yeah…” he said hesitantly as he restabled his sudden change of emotion. Things couldn’t have gone worse, he thought. To him, it was obvious that Quackity was another god, at least it was now more than it was back then. Everything matched perfectly: his aura, his vocabulary, and, presumably, the way he just randomly spawns whenever and wherever he wants. He knew this type of trouble was going to come, he was so aware of it.
Quackity lightly tapped his counter with his palm, and stared deeply into Bill’s eyes. “Want to try my game, dude? Warning: it’s fun,” he smiled sheepishly, like he was going to do from now on, he assumed. Truly, Bill couldn’t give two shits about his game, but, now you may ask, was he going to take the risk of getting himself into a possible beef with him? Depends what god he is.
“I’m fine, thank you,” Billzo waved him off after a long moment of thinking. The ducks were real, that was for sure, and he wasn’t going to mess with whatever rig was happening at his stand.
Quackity could only groan in response.
“Come on!” He whined, jumping slightly in annoyance, like a literal big baby. “It is fun! And it’s luck-based also!” Luck-based games were the worst, in Bill’s opinion, and probably others’ also. You have low chances of winning a luck-based game, like the chances of throwing a puppy directly into a pit that stood 500 miles away. Unless you prayed to QW that he was going to be with you then, you are losing 100%
Thinking about it deeply, more deeply than how Quackity tried to “mesmerise” him, luck-based games basically counted on QW. It made sense after all: Quackity, QW, they sounded morosely similar; Bill just didn’t bother to know the truth back then. That wasn’t going to change anything however. Deities acted just like normal humans among humans. So, what’s the point of blowing up a cover if you can go along with it and then throw a “I knew” afterwards and just not be surprised at all? Seems amusing, and if you don’t agree that’s your loss.
“Sorry, Quackity,” continued Billzo, completely taken over by his serious face, his acting skills paying off. “I’m not really… into it?” He didn’t know which were the right terms to use. “Maybe another time,” this other time wasn’t going to happen.
“Doesn’t matter,” Quackity said, rather disappointed, leaning his chin on his left hand. “However,” he continued with a sudden outburst. “We still have that deal!”
Billzo almost forgot about it. He had to give him soap, because apparently he liked eating anything that wasn’t edible. This explained how he hadn't died from pepper spray. He guessed, sarcastically, that deities weren’t exactly that easy to kill. Billzo didn’t have any soap or anything he could give to him in return. His pockets were filled with £20 and a ticket he postponed for later for the Snow Avalanche ride. He could’ve given him his crimson red scarf or the necklace he bought, maybe he’d eat those, but Quackity refused bluntly.
The note that the boy received was that he had to get him his needs until the last day of December; he had plenty of time. Bill didn’t know why he was so desperate. He was scared if he needed them just like Tubbo “needed” him in the Cordin Forest, which in fact, wasn’t too innocent. Gods were almighty. It seemed stupid on how he couldn’t get the things he needed himself. However, deities do enjoy making deals with humans, just like they did in the past before The Reassembly.
The teen was, just like he always manages to find himself, stuck. He doesn’t know if he should regret going in that storage or accepting the deal; however, that deal was helpful.
“You know,” started Quackity. “I still have that tape of you. It’d be a shame if somebody decided to show it to the principal, right?” Billzo looked with a frown deep into his dealer’s face. His look burned the back of his eyes and he smirked again, visibly making Billzo regret things even more. “After all, he doesn’t seem to enjoy the thought of rules being broken,” he continued while playing with the end of the toy gun.
Sweat started dripping on Billzo’s forehead even though the wind wreaked havoc with his nose and entire body. With every sentence the man in front of him spilled, the warmer he felt inside, and colder on the outside, like someone lit a fire in his head. He put his hands in his pockets and tried to hide his slight fear of failure. Failing his principal, failing himself, failing a god, a mischievous, and powerful god, that even though he wouldn’t dare lay a finger on him, he knew how troublesome he would’ve, eventually, become.
“So, what do you say?” Quackity gestured his hand to the ducks in the back. “A round for £5?” Billzo gulped. He was scared of what was going to come out of that gun: fake ammo, or real ammo, you couldn’t have known, especially as a human.
Quackity rolled his eyes and tapped the counter fastly. “Come one, kid! I don’t have all night!” That sounded like a lie considering his position.
Without making the boy notice, he put his hand on his shoulder, slightly shaking him to get him out of his thoughts. Billzo was immediately twice as cautious, his words trembling in his brain, and eyes even more agile when Quackity let out a small quiet gasp. He backed away, seemingly surprised, and looked shocked, maybe even scared. Bill remained confused and concerned. A loud silence sat between them, making him feel a strong sense of awkwardness, moving his eyes from side to side, as he was looking for something.
“You…” Quackity shut his mouth, thinking if he should really ask the question that’s on his mind. “You got bonded?” When Billzo looked, this time, into his eyes, they looked gentle: like a mother reuniting with her son. His sudden face of wordiness turned into madness. “Who did this? Which one of those filthy gods did it?” He basically yelled. O7 definitely heard this one and he for sure wasn’t going to like it.
Bill’s hands shook at the screams that seemed to be unnoticed by the other people (who weren’t even around). He started missing Aimsey and Freddie’s company and wondered where their asses were.
“I promise there’s nothing bad about it!” He reassured the god, who seemed like starting a war anytime now.
Going through the Craft was something Billzo was unfamiliar with, so he went through absolutely all of it. In a portion of it, between QW, God of Luck, and HD, God of Nature and Life, it told him about their brotherly bond they have created these past millenniums. HD convinced him to help the humans, since he also was helped by one of HD creations, the kiwi itself. QW also got attached to the humans by the time, not as much as HD, of course, but just enough to be interfering in their lives and learn more about each, and even help them physically. That’s why QW met Billzo: because he needed help that was caused by his missing patience. It made more sense. But if it was true, then Quackity was here because he needed help again. Still, why would QW help him? There are so many other people that need so much more help, and he sticks around a teenager who isolates himself from the world because he thinks we live in a simulation (used to think, at least). That was something he needed to ask for the future, when things were going to be calmed down a little.
“Is this man causing you trouble, Bill?”
Billzo snapped back to reality and turned quickly to his left. A tall curly brown hair man with round glasses stood next to him, wearing a black scarf and a brown long jacket. He squished his eyes to make up the face, and when he realised his one favourite familiar professor, Mr Soot, decided to join his little misunderstanding he felt more than relieved, but also terrified for what he was going to make him enter.
“Mr Soot!” He laughed nervously. “What a nice sight to see! And no, everything’s good! We’re… friends,” That didn’t sound too convincing, but it was the least he could do, even though he was clearly not buying it.
Wilbur, since that was his first name, Wilbur Soot, looked at Quackity with a frown.
“May I ask why are you yelling at this child?” Mr Soot knew Billzo. He knew he wasn’t trouble, usually, so it seemed more than enough to believe his student.
Quackity rolled his eyes playfully. “Wouldn’t you like to know?” He said, leaning on his left hand. “Now, what do you say, cutie, want to play a round?” He winked as he showed the back of his stand with the ducks quacking more loudly than ever, like they were encouraging him to do it.
Billzo’s jaw dropped. He wasn’t going to tolerate a god playing with his favourite teacher’s feelings. He looked back to the taller man and saw he was slightly flattered, followed by a sheepish smile.
“I don’t know what to say, really,” Wilbur scratched the back of his neck. He looked between Billzo, who was shaking his head quickly, and Quackity, who just smiled and winked. He stood trapped in his thoughts for some seconds, before plastering another smile. “Fine. I guess one round doesn’t hurt.” It was like he forgot the reason he even interrupted the twos’ bickering. QW was no god of beauty, nor love, so it was rather impressive.
Ha, you could say he’s got really lucky there. Get it? (I’m so sorry)
Mr Soot handed Quackity £5, and in return he got the toy gun. He shook it a little, and measured it with his eyes.
“Wow, this thing is quite heavy!” Billzo froze. Could Mr Soot not see the ducks? Was he the one who was nuts? Did he have schizophrenia or something? More importantly, was that a real gun?
Quackity got out of his way. Wilbur readjusted his position, pointing the gun at the duck in the middle. Its quacking sounds kept sounding excited, erupting with euphoria. However, it still got up, moving from side to side, flapping its wings. All of them did. Billzo stood there, not knowing how to react for possibly what was about to happen. He could hear his heartbeat in his ears, gulping more, and his breathing going quietly faster.
“How many tries do I have?” asked Wilbur, still in his focused position.
“Five tries and three ducks to hit,” responded Quackity, happy that someone played his game. He wore another one of his mischievous grins which Bill could read from miles away.
“Okay, what do I win—”
“Whatever you want, just hit!” Quackity interrupted, seeming rather annoyed.
Wilbur pouted and closed his left eye. Billzo watched as his fingers were hesitant on the trigger, as the teacher readjusted his breathing. He looked rather cool doing it, that's why he was his favourite, but there wasn’t time for praising right now, especially when a god was there and he could've read your every move.
Within just a few seconds and another gust of wind blowing through his brown curls, Wilbur pulled the trigger, a loud banging sound erupting from it, making Billzo’s ears ring. He covered them trying to ease the sound away, and when he opened his eyes, he saw how miserably Mr Soot had failed his first attempt.
The gun’s ammo could be heard from it, and when Billzo looked back up to his teacher’s face, he already had shouted his bullet. Billzo didn’t exactly know what he heard. It was a combination between a frog and a rabbit.
“One down!” said Mr Soot happily.
He was too scared to look, but if it was truly real, Mr Soot would've freaked out by now. He couldn’t know, but his curiosity peaked at its worst. When he turned around, blood was splattered on the wall, a dead duck with its head bent, neck open.
It wasn’t the worst he had seen, but his eyes couldn’t avert the bird. The shock and fear grew in him, not knowing what to say nor to do.
Wilbur prepared himself for another shot. Just as he was aiming for another one at the top shelf, ready to pull the trigger, Billzo stepped in and shoved the gun away.
“Mr Soot!” shouted Billzo, with a trembling voice, “Can’t you see what you’ve done?”
The profesor genuinely looked confused. He looked back at the stand, and then between his two witnesses. “I… aimed correctly?”
The blood that was plastered on the wall made Billzo feel like puking. Quackity looked unimpressed, siren eyes scanning him from head to toes, as if he was looking something in him. The boy felt another sharp feeling in his chest, like he knew what was up. And he did. This had to do with the bonding, with interfering with godly powers. Other explanations couldn’t be found.
Another duck down, making Billzo flinch. This time Wilbur cheered for himself, and Quackity laughed innocently. He had to have something to do with this.
He couldn’t take it. Why was he getting so sensitive over some ducks? He wished he knew. However, the happy quacking sounds that soon turned into literal screams ringed through his ears, and the blood ripping down the wall made his heart race faster. It stung. It stung like a heartbreak, but maybe even worse, if that was possible.
“Billzo,” He felt a gentle hand on his shoulder. “Are you okay?” Mr Soot had soft eyes and the gun was back on the stand.
Billzo didn’t even realise he was visibly shaking, on the verge of crying. He whipped hai tears that were supposed to run down his face and tried calming his breathing. Something was terribly wrong. It was similar to the reaction of when he saw the Great Demon. He couldn’t take it.
With one last call of his name, leaving that behind, he ran. He ran towards the exit. He was scared, mostly for why he was acting so dramatically. Bill could’ve heard Wilbur shout for him to come back, but he ignored it.
This is no bond, he said to himself, I’ve definitely been cursed. However, he still wasn’t sure.
As he ran, he bumped into his friends, making Freddie spill his hot chocolate on both of their jackets. He let out an annoyed sigh and threw the cup on the ground, but was quickly scolded by Aimsey who told him to pick it up and throw it properly.
“I spent so much time in that line!” Freddie cried, itching his eyes.
Aimsey rolled his eyes and looked back to his friend, whose position didn’t look to lighten. He had puffy eyes, like he cried, even though Billzo knew he didn’t, and he was paler than before. Aimsey handed Freddie their cup and quickly went up to their friend. Her confused face has made its way up.
“Billzo? What’s wrong?” She asked, massaging his shoulder, in a worried tone. Freddie was also next to them, looking just as petrified.
He felt relieved to see his friends. So, so much more relieved.
The shaken boy moved his hand on top of his friend’s. “I don’t know,” he said genuinely, as he pushed it away. Billzo felt restless. Like any sudden move would break his body.
In the corner of his sight, he saw another three figures looking at him, no reaction on their faces. He saw the familiar pair of eyes and kept a widened look. The three gods were with his friends, here, at the carnival. They all wore matching-like sweaters and had some nice scarfs.
His friends saw his surprised expression and decided to explain their situation better: “Oh, yeah! We met at the hot chocolate stable, so I asked them to join us,” said Aimsey as she gestured their hand to them. Billzo didn’t greet them nor anything, except he was madder than ever.
“You!” He pointed at Tubbo, leaving him and his two friends flabbergasted. “You did this to me!” He started yelling, taking a step in front of him and trying to look intimidating. Of course, Tubbo wasn’t having it. He also got a mad look from Tommy because of his shouting.
“Billzo, please calm down!” Freddie tried to calm the situation down with the hot chocolate still in his hands. It was bad enough his jacket was ruined, now he had to witness an argument between his mates.
A lot of mixed emotions were floating in the air, especially around Billzo’s headspace. His head felt like a typhoon, a rollercoaster, anything that could make you dizzy, and the three deities' appearance only made it harder to resist the pain. Thinking of having to deal with more than three, which was already enough, almost made him want to erase himself from the face of the Earth.
He couldn’t take it. Now when there were so many eyes on him. Not when it was nighttime, in the middle of a carnival, where he was supposed to have fun, to forget about the rest and focus on himself and his friends. Not after that hell of a week he went through. Not after he found out his parents were going to be less in his life because of work, and made him prepare for possibly applying for a scholarship, since their money wasn’t enough. Not after all those demons he had to fight with his mentality.
He couldn’t go through another week, months even, meeting gods at every corner and making his life harder than it was. He was just a baby human, according to the Craft, he shouldn’t be interfering with them at all! Yet, here he is.
It was late, almost 9:30 PM now. He ran away from the tension. He blamed himself for his sudden outburst and strange feeling that he wished would go away. However, ever since inhuman power got into his body, it made him… different. He couldn’t recognise himself anymore, especially now, when he was recreating his own dream, running through the Cordin Forest. Billzo didn’t know how, or why, he was even there. The forest was all the way on the other side of where the beach was, and it was dark and cold and mysterious, it gave him the chills. But he still ran.
He felt like going where everything had started from was going to calm him down. Founding the place was only going to bring unpleasant flashbacks, but it was better than having to feel like a heart attack was about to happen.
Mr Soot couldn’t see the ducks. He couldn’t see they were real, at least. That was a guess that he was going to stick with. Bill didn’t believe his favourite teacher would enjoy murdering ducks; he’s, after all, a music profesor, so anything biological wasn’t his speciality. When he’d read stories as relatively the same as his experiences he’s living now, he’d only wish something like this happened to him. Seeing them with your own eyes and having to walk on the same planet, univers even, knowing full well these inhuman things exist is nothing more than fear that he’s feeling, nothing more than unexpected events happening over and over again. And by the time flies, he expects absolutely everything, the end of the world, the return of dinosaurs, anything is now possible, scientifically or not speaking.
Sometimes he regretted his life decisions, like, a lot.
Now, the Cordin Forest was nothing but a hell pit, one where you’d only wish to never enter. It became a place where he’d feel usual anxiety just thinking about it. It was like he didn’t recognise himself anymore, and this was probably just the beginning. Billzo’s instincts were taking control over him. He still fought his head to know why he even decided to return there, in the place that started everything. A strange aura was taking him by his collar and dragging him into the depths.
However, the forest didn’t seem as traumatic as he last saw it. Even though it was dark and the cold got into his pants, nothing dangerous was to happen yet. He didn’t want to adventure too much into the woods. Maybe he was overreacting, maybe he was just overwhelmed, but his body was acting on impulse. And right now, it was asking for a break.
A cold tree was waiting for him somewhere unknown to his memory, ready to support his weight and make him accept the truth. Billzo didn’t care where he was anymore, he just wanted this derealisation feeling to go away, for his life to go back to normal to his atheist self. He leaned on the trunk of the tree, ignoring the muddy sensation from the back of his head and the little ants that were probably climbing to his roots. Inhaling and exhaling deeply, he let the forest take every single piece of energy from him. He hoped the forest would kill him, and would give him the rest he needed. Unfortunately, as much as he hoped, he couldn’t bare the thought.
The group of teens (that wasn’t fully made out of teens, if you know what I mean) he just ran away from were probably looking for him; or at least Aimsey and Freddie were. It wouldn’t have been too hard for Tommy to locate him, as long as he decided not to keep his mouth shut. He slowly started to realise a possible other reason for why deities didn’t really show their identity. A feeling of hatred grew for them when he noticed how he could’ve been fine, if one idiotic person would respect the rules.
After all, BEE, God of Chaos, probably never even cared. He killed most of his civilization as a human. There were no chances of him actually having a bond with the current homosapiens, not like it was already pretty much obvious. BOO wasn’t helping much either. He didn’t know what their deal was, but it started to annoy how careless they acted. O7 was probably the only one who tried doing something that didn’t include catastrophic effects. Let’s not get started on QW…
There was no way in hell he was exaggerating! This was a normal reaction coming from a human. Excuse his manners for not being born immortal and all powerful like his, supposedly now, friends!
The forest gave a dark aura. The wind grew colder by each minute and shivers down his spine started working their way in. Maybe, just as much as he felt more safe, this wasn’t a smart idea after all. Everybody knows what happens if you adventure in a forest at night, alone.
Billzo checked the clock on his necklace. 9:05 PM. Great; couldn’t have been better.
He already could hear the shouts of anger and frightening coming from his friends and his now (probably) muddy clothes having to be washed, again.
As he was about to get up and basically beg that his arse wasn’t going to be covered in wet dirt, a strange sound could be heard from around the bushes. He stopped his movement, petrified, as he prayed there wasn’t going to be any other demons. Looking up, he was met with nothing but darkness around him. The wind whistling in his ears, the sound retiring and making him jump back against the tree.
Billzo cursed to himself. This was the last thing he needed today; to be eaten alive (again).
As he kept staring, hoping that the sound and the shifting leaves were all in his head, a fox jumped out of the bush, making him yelp.
The boy got his hands in his front, out of instinct, of course, and waited for some sort of impact. He knew there was a fox. No demons, no other gods; just a fox. Maybe it wasn’t as dangerous, but it’s still a wild predator. However, it didn’t seem to be mad nor scared, as he imagined they usually were.
The fox kept observing him, sitting in the position he jumped at, slightly waving its tail. Bill’s institutions gave up, his breathing slowing down and moving his hands to the ground, as he realised that the fox wasn’t currently doing anything. It was truly interesting to him; he had never seen a fox so close to him before. It was cute.
“Hey, Buddy,” Billzo said more quietly than he intended. “Where’s your… mama?”
It’s resting face turned into a visible frown, which left him in an enormous amount of confusion. It didn’t look young at all, but what else could he have said?
“Are you like,” he continued, feeling a little safer. “Lost?”
The fox didn’t seem to be replying to whatever he wanted, it just stared at him with its deep brown eyes and almost looked like it was smiling. An animal understating what he was saying wouldn’t have been a huge surprise. This fox was calmer, not flinching at any suspicious moves or trying to run away. However, Billzo wasn’t buying it. Just as he was thinking of leaving the spot gingerly and maybe head out to his friends, the fox jumped on him.
For a few seconds he forgot on what planet he was living, as all his senses shut down due to the sudden fright striking in him. The boy didn’t feel any scratches or bruises on his body, only his tense position, as he was covering his head with his arms in reflex. His breathing was quick, but it didn’t last long until he decided to open his eyes and see that the fox was back in its spot from before.
This time, it looked exactly as how adults would describe them in stories to children: mischievous. In Billzo’s point of view, he realised that these “magical” things will keep happening.
Eyes were scanning the wild animal and they froze at the object it was holding in its mouth. Bill’s mouth fell agape as he realised his necklace wasn’t really around his neck anymore, but between the fox’s teeth.
He suddenly felt intimidated and rather surprised. Billzo tried pulsing a frown on his face, as he spoke while standing up:
“Hey! Piece of shit!” he yelled as he got a little of the mud attached to his back off, “I paid £30 for that!” He raised his fist like a boomer trying to educate street passing children.
Not only was he supposed to be intimated, but the fox totally had a glimpse of that in its eyes. Its ears moved to its back. It almost looked like it was about to hiss at him. However, as Bill wanted to rush and take his jewel back, the fox ran the other direction he even planned on going. It seemed like Billzo didn’t notice that, since he immediately changed afterwards. He kept in mind how he wasn’t supposed to exactly yell very loudly all the time (he was in a forest after all), so he only tried to focus on his speed.
This reminded him too much of his dream, except he was wearing clothes this time.
Billzo felt like he was going to regret whatever was about to happen, not like he didn’t regret many things already…
At some point the fox vanished out of his sight. When noticing, he slowed down and looked around with heavy breaths, searching around every tree. It was maybe too dark to actually see anything. He tried squinting his eyes to force his vision, but nothing worked.
Something sparked in him after that.
Billzo was led to the animal by a soothing sound. He didn’t know what it was, but it was a pleasure to his ears, almost leading him like a siren leading her prey. He wasn’t even aware of it until he reached the point the sound stopped.
It was some kilometres away from the summoning spot, where everything went downhill. The coppice breeze was warmer and it also felt like a sun’s ray was shining on his face; he didn’t know from where, though.
Going through the bushes and passing the tall trees covering his view, he finally saw the fox with his necklace in its mouth, letting someone rub the back of its ears. Billzo got scared for a second. The mysterious figure was weird, like, super weird. They wore a moss cape with little mushrooms growing on the back of it and they seemed to not have hair at all, but instead, they had a big mushroom that took the place of hair.
Billzo stared mesmerised. He tried getting quietly closer, but unfortunately he stepped on a branch which made a clear tearing sound, and he cursed under his breath.
However, the figure didn’t seem to be bothered.
It would’ve been better if Bill just broke the silence, but he would’ve looked like a weirdo.
“Uhm,” he hesitated, “Excuse me, sir, ma’am or… whatever?”
“Hm?” Was all that they said. Turning their head, Billzo was met with a mask covering his eyes and nose. It looked similar to how XD’s mask would be described as. Except it looked more like… HD’s?
Oh, fuck. He just realised who he got himself in trouble with.
But, damn; HD was way more beautiful than expected. He was definitely something more than what the Craft described, and Billzo felt like he was losing touch with reality the longer he stared at him (not like he didn’t a long time ago). However, it did say how humans saw HD differently than the other deities.
“Billy. Just the boy I was expecting,” that sentence couldn’t help but make him feel threatened and scared. He knew well that HD was never going to lend a hand on him, never in a million years, but it didn’t mean he didn’t have any control to do so or worse.
He gulped and stepped a little closer to his area, birds chirping louder and the fox finally acknowledging his moves.
“May I ask… why?”
“Such questions aren’t needed,” he almost looked like he was smiling. “But, I think you already know why.”
Every deity was now on his tail because of BEE. No wonder he’s the God of Chaos, screw that guy , he thought to himself.
“I promise you, my God, that there’s no need to checkup on me,” it felt weird having to address so politely; he guessed he just couldn’t help it. He sure felt more respect towards HD than any other deity.
HD scoffed and focused himself back to rubbing the fox’s head, gently losing itself in the touch. “I know, Bill,” he hesitated. “It’s just a very big thing to accept. You don’t want to know how long I’ve wanted to talk to humans for…”
He could already guess. It’s like you aren’t able to see your own children, which for some parents it’s a blessing.
“Then, my presence is all yours.”
…
Ew.
Billzo would NEVER say that out loud. He was definitely thinking that, but damn, HD and his stupid charms.
“I’m glad I can count on you!” He giggled. Although, the mortal wished he didn’t. “I’m not here just to talk, though…”
Another sudden fever grew in him.
“It’s about your… ‘godly’ friends,” He placed the fox down and it gracefully took off to who knows where, while the chirps of the birds were replaced with silence. It was like this whole scenario was planned ahead.
“Oh… yeah, I expected this,” just a little.
HD got up and his moss cape brushed against the grass, lots of ladybirds shifting around, and the sun’s rays falling on him perfectly.
Holy shit he’s gorgeous— was all Billzo could think of.
“You know,” HD continued, turning around to face him. “If it weren’t for him , this wouldn’t have happened.”
“Yeah, I know,” Was this the moment the god told him his wishes? Bill thought this interaction was going to be longer: maybe with some prologues, and some life advice, who knew? They just met.
HD sighed. “I wanted to scold him so badly for that,”
Right— BEE used to be human. The expectation of HD still feeling attached to him wasn’t a surprise, but the boy didn’t think of that at first. Of course he wasn’t going to lay a hand on the God of Chaos, however, logically speaking-
“He isn’t human anymore, though,” said Bill, immediately regretting it as he realised he interrupted his god. “By that: can’t you do whatever you do to the other deities as well?”
He looked down, although Billzo couldn’t know that due to his mask, but even without the gaze of his face, he knew that that was bothering him. The mortal suddenly felt bad. HD was probably going to be the only god he’ll enjoy the company of, but not because he wanted to, but because he basically had to.
“I’m afraid I’m still in denial, kid,” He raised his fist and, as he opened it, an Eastern Bluebird sat in the palm of his hand. Billzo was truly amazed. He got a little scared when it started flying directly on the top of his head, making itself comfortable. “It’s hard to accept that such an innocent being became something I wish none of my other creations would end up as.”
Innocent my ass.
“A god?”
“Immortal.”
“Same thing.”
“I tend to argue with that.”
“Then argue,” shivers down Bill’s spine started to feel as he realised he was basically on the urge of fighting him. “Aren’t there creations you made that are immortal?”
“Yes, there are, but—“
“Then what’s the diff—“
“Billy, I swear to your mum’s grave that if you interrupt me one more time—“
“Yeah. Sorry, my god,” Billzo felt embarrassed by that. Yup, definitely having too many balls around this guy.
HD sighed again. The Bluebird flew away from Bill’s hair, which he assumed it kind of made up for a nest, and he felt a little disappointed. However, it landed back gently on HD’s palm.
“It’s different when you make them immortal and when someone else makes them immortal,” he started rubbing the bird’s wings. “It’s like— someone is intentionally intervening in your project, when you specifically told them it’s your job only. You know…” Bill nodded. It made much more sense.
Just as the teen was about to ask another question, he got interrupted by a sound that was unfamiliar to his ears. Looking back at HD’s hand, he went speechless and wide eyed as he realised that HD squished the bird right here and there, in front of his face. Blood dripped through his fingers and the only thing Billzo could’ve done was stare, feeling like he was about to massively gag in front of his god, and his breathing going faster. Visible sweat started forming on his neck and forehead as he gulped at the sight of the pieces of the little bird all over his palm.
The god lifted his head back, telling him that he should focus his gaze back to him and not the sudden tragedy that just occurred.
“Only I am allowed to change my creations destiny,” He squished his hand back, and with a glowing aura, the sounds of the Bluebird were back, as it reappeared in his palm. HD lifted his hand and the bird took off, Billzo following its moves. He faced his god back, this time more scared than ever. “And if I want, I could make him vanish with just one snap, even if he isn’t human anymore… but I won’t. Technically, his life is still under my control.”
Wow. Who thought that the all-loving human god could think so cruelly? After all, he had a point. These were the things he could’ve done and no one had any rights in fighting him for that, not even the most powerful gods, such as XD or TB (speaking of TB, him and the Goddess of Death definitely smelt that corpse). It was weird to think that BEE, who has done nothing but trouble, was still not gone (“dead” would be too much of a mortal thing to say, says the Craft).
“Then, why won’t you do it?” Billzo was risky with asking these questions, but he couldn’t help it. Since he has this opportunity to live among deities, why not take it?
“Two reasons, actually: One, I still care a bunch about him; and two, it’s not his fault for turning this way, but because of his little ‘friend.”
“You mean BOO, or O—“
HD shushed him, stopping his lips with his finger. “Don’t say his name! Otherwise, he’ll hear us. And yes, I mean him , since apparently he’s married to the other one, or something.” He faked gagging at that memory and Bill couldn’t help but laugh a little. “I still blame NH for this…”
He readjusted his cape, more ladybirds walking around it, some flying, some making themselves comfortable. Billzo took a look at his mooshroom hat, or hair, or whatever it was that he called it. Even though HD was gorgeous, he had somewhat of a cold heart. Maybe not as cold as the other deities, but he was definitely getting there. The boy was surprised to notice that. The Craft described HD as a merciful soul, who loved everyone equally. Yeah, complete bullshit. He didn’t love O7 at all, and you could see it in him even without having to look in his eyes, which he hid.
“Kid, I want you to promise me something,” said HD, snapping Bill out of his thoughts.
“Anything,” he responded, which felt like a mockery to his own kind. He really shouldn’t promise things for deities, but HD would be the only exception… and the whole keeping their existence a secret thingy.
HD grinned happily and Bill decided to ignore it.
In the most serious tone, “I want you to stay as far away as possible from any other deity,” he said, not moving an inch. “Have I made myself clear?”
The mortal looked deep into where his eyes, he guessed, were, and with a deep sigh he nodded his head nervously without asking any more questions.
The task wasn’t so bad. The only problem was, he wasn’t the one trying to talk with the gods, but quite the opposite.
HD excused him, basically ordered him to leave, which he happily did. As he got away from the god’s sight, HD’s grin suddenly fell, giving him an unpleasant aura towards the creatures surrounding him, making the ladybirds fly off his cape and the birds to adventure back with the wind.
“Fundy,” he said not too loudly.
With that, the fox, who apparently went by Fundy, returned back to him, tail wiggling and waiting for his wishes. HD smiled and patted his head, crouching in front of him. Fundy loved the loving head rubbings of his god.
“I want you to keep an eye on that mortal, will you?” HD’s tone changed suddenly, leaving the animal in deep questions, but, hesitantly, it still accepted the request. “Very good. Good boy, Fundy,” He started getting scratched behind the ear.
Not wanting to waste any time, the god stood up. With a gentle touch of his fingers on the animal’s forehead, it started to feel an abnormal amount of pain that he could resist.
Notes:
I don’t know when I’ll update but I’m sure I will at some point, don’t lose hope in me!
WhorecasMeadhoes on Chapter 4 Sat 13 Aug 2022 03:55PM UTC
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teacolien on Chapter 4 Sat 13 Aug 2022 04:43PM UTC
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meezla on Chapter 5 Fri 04 Nov 2022 02:39AM UTC
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