Chapter Text
Dying the second time hurt even more, somehow. You wouldn’t think being punched would hurt more than being burnt to death while bleeding out after your arms were ripped from your body, both by the exact same person, your twin brother…
He wasn’t in the best mindset when he came face to face with the Axolotl once again. “Are you kidding me? That’s- that’s it!? I got a second chance at life and that’s how it ends, are you actually kidding me right now!?”
They let him speak, or yell, for as long as he needed to. “My own brother tried to kill me before he killed everyone on our home dimension, including our parents, now he’s actually killed me. You only saved me that first time so I could take part in this trial for him, right? You must have known he’d kill me again! I’ve lost everything, my arms, my family, my home, it’s not fair! I don’t want to be like this! I don’t want to be a villain, I never wanted anything more than to just live, be alive! I never even got that because I was mistaken for Bill Cipher or even brought in to replace him in his trial that he didn’t even deserve!”
It was times like these that he wished he still had those arms. “But no…no one cares about me, do they? All I’m good for is to be hurt and used, is that why you saved my life? To just come back and let me get hurt later?”
“…that was not my intention, but I apologise for what happened,” they spoke at last. “Please, allow me to make it up to you; I can give you a trial of your own, if you wish.”
“No offence, but the only way you’d make it up to me would be letting me back down there and finishing that little rat off once and for all! I would kill my brother on sight, don’t you understand? Are these trials actually supposed to help? He destroyed everything, killed who knows how many and not just in our dimension and he gets rewarded with a brand new family? That’s not fair!”
“I know, and I’m afraid nothing is fair, Steve, but my offer will be open to you whenever you would like it. In the meantime…I have something else to offer you, but if you wish for an alternative, I will allow it.”
“…is the alternative death? Real death? I don’t want that, not as long as my brother is still alive. I’m not in a position to do a trial like his, but I’m not about to die and let him off so easily either. I’d rather be put in therapy than anything else right now, to be honest.”
Well, he couldn’t do much worse than his brother, right? And letting him free wasn’t an option, while letting him die wasn’t something that they wanted to do. “Very well, then. If that is what you would like, I can make it happen.”
…
Steve didn’t expect to actually be put there, because why would he? Surely they’d just expect him to be just like Bill, that was all he could be, right? Nothing except a nearly identical copy of his troublesome, evil brother.
Couldn’t say he didn’t have the evil part down, at the very least. But the Theraprism staff were alright, even if the treatments weren’t, honestly just as bad as Bill made out in his book, even briefly.
Was it bad that he didn’t even want to be angry anymore? What had that got him in this last trial other than getting killed again? He’d just get himself in even more trouble if he went back out there so soon. He knew it, and the Axolotl must have known it too, somehow.
Stupid freaking salamander…giving Bill Cipher of all people (or demons) a redemption trial was the craziest, most reckless thing he’d ever seen them do. It was bad enough his brother hadn’t even been punished for killing him, never mind their entire dimension and their parents. What about everyone else he’d managed to get his hands on and either drive crazy or kill too?
No! Apparently terrible, evil behaviour is just fine as long as you redeem yourself through killing your brother a second time! Then trying to offer him a trial…for what? Redemption that he wouldn’t even need if not for Bill pushing him like that? Having the nerve to act like he deserved to be happy and move on?
Yeah, Steve was very much not in a good mindset when the Axolotl saved him again, as you can see. At least he was more open in therapy and could see the benefits of it, all while completely hating it but he made the effort! He wanted to take the trial, just without the possibility of immediately lashing out and risking losing before it had even started.
It was better to get that under control if he wanted to get out of here. Being human again would be fun if that was what the Axolotl had planned for him; he loved having arms again, never mind an extra eye! The two possessions he managed to have didn’t last long, one literally driving him out with sugar and the other being too useless and idiotic to really stick with.
Buying his time would make his own trial much more beneficial if he could have the patience to be around his brother for that long. And when the time finally came, the Axolotl visited him again to make the offer again.
“It has come to my understanding that you now feel more ready,” they said. “But I should tell you that your trial will be slightly different than Cipher’s; you must repair your damaged relationship if you wish to pass this trial.”
And oh, did he not like that. “Should’ve told me that at the start…”
“Steve, I know you miss him, deep down. And he misses you too, even if he will not admit it. I only wish to make up for hurting you but if you would rather remain in the Theraprism, that is also an option.”
It was a crappy option either way, but was facing Bill again going to be better than staying here?
Well, he was going to find out. “I’ll take the trial, please.”
“Alright. The rules are mostly the same, but I will allow you to state the reason you are human, just do not harm any of the Pines or your brother, or anyone else. In the end, Bill and I will decide if you have changed. Do you understand?”
That felt slightly unfair, but whatever. “I do.”
“Good. I wish you the best of luck, and I will see you at the end of summer.”