Chapter Text
She told him he had the face of the one who would defeat Bill Cipher.
It’s only right now that Stanford Pines understood what it meant.
Only now did he understand how naive he had been to trust any cosmical entity that crossed his path.
And that mistake was going to cause his downfall.
△△△
Gravity falls, the end of the world.
His family´s rescue mission had failed, the zodiacs had failed, the only thing that couldn’t fail was this plan.
The collar of the suit Stanford wore, his father’s suit, almost strangled him. He could tug on the garment around his throat all he wanted, it didn’t make the feeling go away. He felt like air couldn’t get into his lungs anymore.
And to think his father wanted him to wear it for his wedding, while he wanted to wear it the day he would lay his freak´s hands on a prize. The biggest bet of all humanity was also an important occasion to wear it, he figured.
If only it didn’t have to come at such a price.
He didn’t want to erase Stanley’s mind, but what other choice did he have ? His brother was adamant on being the noble sacrifice, and it truly was their last hope.
He had spent his own life repeating himself he couldn’t end up like his brother; a nobody clinging onto people’s back like a leach to grasp the remnants of their success.
But really, who was the leach now ?
The one ready to sacrifice his entire being for a noble cause, the ones running away from a monster with nothing but a few tools, or the one watching the others do the hard work and who is tasked to pull the trigger in the end ?
He tried to get his mind off of it and instead helped Stan put pens in the sixth fingers of his gloves, trying to make it look as real as possible.
Bill had to believe it. He had to.
Loud footsteps echoed in the vast, but mostly empty throne room where he and his brother were being held prisoner. His entire body filled with dread, goose bumps prickling all over his skin as his muscles naturally tensed, making him grip the bars of the glowing blue cage until his fingers turned white.
Bill Cipher, the being he had believed to be a muse, a God, stepped in the room, looking nothing more than a monster.
Even in such a huge and cold room, Bill seemed to take all the place, like all the energy migrated towards him, pulling everything along with it.
Even for someone used to seeing weirdness like Stanford, Bill looked terrifying. The entity towered the room, his normal golden yellow traded for an angry red, sections splitting across his body to show more teeth and tongues between them. More arms had spurted from his sides, giving him an arachnoid-like look. If he had been in Dipper and Mabel’s place, at their age, he would’ve been petrified.
And yet, they still fought back, even in this demon’s grip that could crush them easily, they kept on struggling.
And they did it together .
If only he had been able to put his ego aside and work with Stanley, maybe they could have avoided this, together.
“Alright Ford ! Time’s up ! I’ve got the kids !” His voice was anything but what he learnt to know and, at one point, to love. It was distorted, so far from the shrilling and high pitch he was used to. He was angry, oh so angry.
Failing this could, and probably would, mean the death of him and his family. He swallowed and spared a glance towards his brother, checking if their masquerade had a chance. He was used to Stan messing things up after all.
Their disguises were flawless, even the kids would be fooled, even their own mother would be fooled. Maybe they could also fool Bill.
The triangle padded easily through the place until he stood in front of the Stans, Dipper and Mabel in one hand.
Stanford watched with desperation at the two children he had learnt to know in so little time. And yet, he had grown attached to them so quickly, grown attached to all their little mimics and antics that made Dipper and Mabel Pines who they were. And one thing was sure, they were 100% Pines, no one could deny that.
All he felt when watching them was pride and love. This love might have been his only weakness, and Bill knew that.
His one, gigantic eye, lazily trailed from one set of twins to the other, his gaze landing on who he thought was Stanford and squeezed the kids in his clutches to emphasize the point that he was not here to joke anymore. He then looked at ‘Stanley’, uninterested at first. Still, Ford felt uncomfortable under the scrutiny, he felt like he was being watched on a deeper level, like a bacteria under a microscope.
He gathered all his bravado and formed a defiant frown, watching Cipher right in the eye. He wanted to show him he wasn’t afraid, even though he was.
And suddenly, the demon looked away, like Ford didn’t matter. Stanford would almost have been offended if it didn’t mean their plan was working. He tried to calm the way his heart beat faster with adrenaline and euphoria. It was working .
“I think I’m gonna kill one of ´em now, just for the heck of it ! ” Those words were enough for his heartbeat to slow down. He almost felt it completely stop. You’re not 92 yet .
He tried to think rationally, and not let the panic overcome him. He hoped Stanley would do the same.
This was likely a play of power. There was no real benefit in harming one of the twins, he just said this to show them he could and would . The only problem was that Bill wasn’t a rational being.
A pit deeper than the bottomless hole formed in his stomach as the demon’s eye rolled in its socket to form instead a blank page on which symbols appeared.
“EENY,”
He blinked, and a pine tree symbol formed on his eye along with a blinding red light. It resembled a projector, lighting the two kids in a judgmental beam.
“MEENY,”
A shooting star. Ford felt the bile rise in his throat at a child’s game being used for such a macabre intent. He has to stop this.
“MINEY,.”
A pine tree. They don’t have much time left. What was Stanley waiting for?
Bill’s eye closed one last time, a shooting star displayed on it. “YOU.” Ford saw his pitch-black hand rise, and he almost screamed at him to stop. He was going to snap his fingers. He was going to kill her. Someone had to stop this. He had to-
“Wait !” Stanley finally shouted from the top of his lungs, effectively stopping the demon in his train of actions. All heads snapped towards the false Stanford. Bill because it was what he was waiting for, Mabel and Dipper because they also were waiting to be saved, and Ford because he was genuinely surprised by the way his brother jimpersonated him. It was flawless, even though their tones weren’t so similar to begin with. He guessed being a conman had its perks too. “I surrender. ”
That seemed to appease the demon as he slowly morphed back into his usual form, less monstrous and more dignified. He dropped the kids onto the harsh obsidian floor without a care and shrunk down slightly to fly over the older twins. “Good choice.”
Ford winced when he looked at the brunettes landing with a loud thud, knowing that there would be at least some broken bones. He hoped there weren't any major injuries.
He inhaled sharply and readied himself to play his part of the play. He grabbed his brother’s shoulders and squeezed, shaking him like he was making the worst decision of his life. “Don’t do it Ford ! It’ll destroy the universe ! ” He tried to make his voice gruff, like he had smoked a pack of cigarettes a day for the last 30 years and not painstakingly kept himself in top condition.
“It’s the only way ! ”
They were stopped by an almost fond laughter, Bill clutching his center as though holding his belly.
“Oh, even when you’re about to die, you Pines twins just can’t get along.” He said it with amusement, like this entire scene was exhilarating. To him, it must have been.
Thinking about it now, Ford couldn’t believe he had ever thought the triangle could care about anyone other than himself.
With a snap of his fingers, the cage’s wall opened and sank into the floor, effectively freeing them. Before Stanford had time to react, black arms sprung out from the bricked ground to wrap around his frame and pin him to the floor on his knees.
It was all on Stanley’s shoulders now.
“My only condition is that you let my brother and the kids go !” Stanley spoke with what Ford believed was as much confidence as he could muster at the moment.
Bill hesitated shortly before agreeing and raising his hand, scout’s honor. Although Bill was surely the farthest thing you could find from a scout. If the triangle ever came knocking at your door selling cookies, it would probably be to test a new recipe. And the scientists would bet it made you want to rip your own skin off, or made your teeth fall out. Although considering the amount of sugar in food nowadays, regular cookies might have the same effect .
“No, Grunkle Ford, don’t trust him!” His attention turned to the two preteens who, as he guessed, were too weak to get up. Dipper only held a hand out toward his great-uncles, helpless against the situation. Bill and Stanley seemed to have ignored them. Bill probably because he didn’t care, and Lee probably because he couldn’t allow himself to break character.
“It’s a,” Bill extended his hand toward the false scientist, blue flames erupting from them. “DEAL.” And after only a few seconds of hesitation, Stanley went to grasp the black hand with his gloved one.
And that’s where he saw it. It was only a second -no, a millisecond. Anyone foreign to Bill’s deals would not have seen it, but Ford knew better.
Right before their hands touched, the blue fire surrounding Bill’s hand had vanished. Both parted hands, a tense silence following. Everyone was waiting to see what would happen. Ford was pleading for even the tiniest sign they had won.
The quietness probably wasn’t even as long as the blink of an eye, but it felt like hours to Stanford. Long agonizing hours. His heart was pounding erratically in his chest, so long he felt it in ears. His eyes darted around the room until they met Bill’s and found the triangle staring back at him, his eye crinkling into what Ford had learnt to understand as a smile. That’s when the scientist understood he had lost. That they had lost.
It was in this instant that Stanford understood he had failed the world. His world.
A piercing scream forced him to tear his attention away from Cipher.
His sibling fell to his knees, clutching his right arm in a vice-like grip with his shoulders trembling. Ford could only wonder “ What was happening? Why was he in pain? ”, not able to hurry over like he’d wanted to, his bindings stopping him in his tracks.
In the distance, he could figure out tiny footsteps coming closer until he saw Mabel running towards Stanley to hold him.
“Grunkle Ford!” She was breathless and injured, yet she still came dashing. His brother was following her, though at a slower pace. Despite the less than ideal moment, Stanford’s heart still filled with warmth. They cared for him .
The Pines’ attention was diverted by a loud buzzing sound, similar to ones you could hear from a game show, coming from Bill as his body flashed red.
“Wrong, Shooting Star ! Now ! Let’s put an end to this ridiculous masquerade, shall we?” With a snap of his fingers, their clothes were switched back.
Ford found back his typical trench coat and red turtleneck, and Stanley, his suit along with his fez. The hat fell on the floor at a quick pace, the man was still hunched over in pain.
The scientist was seething in frustration, but also in embarrassment; Bill had seen right through it from the very beginning, and he chose to play him like a fool.
Wasn’t he supposed to be smart ? The smartest of his times. Because now, all he could do was lower his gaze in defeat. They had utterly lost, and his family was hurting because of his mistakes.
Bill floated down towards him and wrapped an arm around his shoulders while he settled close to him. So close that their faces were almost pressed against each other. Ford recoiled from the forced proximity as much as he could with the inky limbs still coiled around him like a boa. “Oh, Fordsy, you did not think that would trick me now, did you? I’m offended!” he said in a light tone, holding the old man tighter by the shoulder to force him closer. “And using your useless brother as a bet? Great thinking, IQ, even I wouldn’t have thought of that ! You deserve an award !”
The triangle cackled, a third hand springing from his side to come ruffle his grey locks. Oh, how much he wanted to bite his hand off. He knew it was useless though; it would have regrown, and Bill would have liked it. A snarky remark was ready to leave his lips, but stopped dead in its tracks.
As if on cue, Mabel let out a high-pitched scream and reeled back from her grunkle.
Ford inspected the scene; Stanley was gripping his right wrist tightly with his other hand. He was shaking and… melting? Droplets fell to the floor, first his skin, then tissues and capillaries, and even his bones : his hand was literally starting to melt away.
He wasn’t able to observe any longer as the dream demon moved and instead positioned himself right in front of the human’s face.
“Let’s talk business! Our dear Fez is… how should I say… thawing right now. You have…” He paused, like considering how much time he should allow them. Because after all, he was the ring master. “Let’s say, ten minutes before he ends up as a pool of goo on the floor. And then we could all put on our little yellow boots and play jump in puddles!”
Terror formed on his visage at the realization of what was happening to his brother. Bill toppled over out of laughter and wiped a stray tear away from the corner of his eye, moving out of the way. It allowed for Ford to see that Stanley’s fingers had already almost disappeared, he could deduce pretty easily that the infection would soon start attacking his palm.
Bill wasn’t lying. At this pace, Stanley would be reduced to nothing in minutes. Bill lazily stretched, appreciating Ford’s panicked sight before speaking up again.
“But since I’m a generous shape, I’m willing to make you an offer.” He floated in front of him again, turned upside down, and cupped his face, his fingers digging into his jaw. With a snap of a hand that he couldn’t see, the limbs around Ford loosened until they completely unwrapped from him.
“All I ask for is the equation you keep locked in that beautiful mind of yours.” His hold softened, and if Ford didn’t know any better, he’d say it was almost tender. “Give me the solution to get out of this hick town, and I’ll put it all aside. I’ll forget that little stunt you pulled. You could be my perfect pet again.” Bill grinned and Ford grimaced.
“You’re insane if you think I’ll ever help-”
“Oh really ? Then let’s all watch old Stanley melt away ! Whaddya say ?”
“I-” Ford’s mind raced, trying to find a loophole in this deal. There has to be something that could turn this situation to his advantage. Or at least less to his disadvantage. All he had to do was focus and-
“You? Quick, IQ! He’s vanishing right as we speak! Do you think you have the time to contemplate your options? Or maybe you WANT to see him die! Ah, Fordsy, ever the egotistical twin!” His face was squished tighter, the demon’s eye solely on him.
“What!? I don’t- No, that’s not-”
“It’s a yes or no question, Stanford! Tick-tock ! Do you really want Stanley dead so bad you can’t even say yes to one tiny little party ?”
For the first time in forever, Stanford was utterly at a loss for words. His mind was short-circuiting, ruled only by panic as he stammered a semblance of a sentence.
Bill was filling everything, every thought. It was only him, taking up all his vision. All he could see was this gigantic eye seeming to stare right into his soul. And then it was like he was thrown thirty years ago.
Cipher was going to win. How could he have ever thought he would win against a being like him? He didn’t have a choice. He was a God and Ford was nothing.
“Great Uncle Ford !” he heard Dipper shout, and that seemed to do the trick to pull him out of his state of stupor. “Don’t listen to him! He’s trying to manipulate you !” He let out a breath he didn’t know he was holding and got back control of his thoughts.
He glared defiantly at Bill, who groaned and rolled his eye. Another snap, and four triangular panels of what looked like red-tinted glass materialized from the ground to trap Stanford and his ex-muse inside. All sounds instantly died out as the walls closed on him except for his own heavy breathing and the heart jammed in his ears.
“Maybe I’ve been too lenient with you again,” Bill spoke thoughtfully, letting go of his face to turn himself upright. He rubbed a spot under his eye before looking back up at his captive, softness and amusement gone from his eye. “Sixer. Give me the equation. You well know what I’m capable of. I’m not scared of speeding up this entire process.” He extended his hand, which once again wrapped itself in teal fire.
Things were bad.
No. More than bad, the situation was terrible. He knew there was no way to escape this predicament without a price to pay. He gritted his teeth, and all that came to his mind was Glass Shard Beach. A pang of guilt hit him harder than any blow could ever have.
He couldn’t let Stanley die. His brother was who he was, but he didn’t deserve this. Who did ?
It might have been a selfish decision, but he couldn’t bring himself to choose another one. He caused everything that was happening; his family couldn’t suffer for his mistakes.
He looked back up towards Bill. He wasn’t afraid anymore, or at least, he didn’t show he was.
“I will shake your hand. I’ll do it if you spare my family. Put them somewhere safe, somewhere where they won’t be hurt, won’t have to see what happened to the world because of me.”
“I don’t think you’re in any position to be making demands here, Six.” Bill’s eye narrowed.
“This is my only condition! If you accept my request, I will make this deal with you. I will give you the equation. I’ll be- I’ll be yours.” He had to force the words out of his mouth, feeling like putrid acid in their wake. Bile rose up in his throat, and he forced it back down, he couldn’t afford to be picky right now. All that mattered was his family.
Ford had to bargain for a lot of things throughout his life, but this might have been the most important bargain of his life.
Seeing Bill’s eye turn into a crescent shape signaled that his compromise had worked. It wasn’t ideal, but it was the best he could get with the time and resources he had. The demon acted like he was thinking about his proposition for a time that seemed way too long to his liking.
“Three miserable meat sacks for the entire world in my no-longer-metaphorical clutches ? I can angle that!” he shrugged and the fire around his hand extinguished briefly before wrapping it again. Ford had learnt this was to show a change in the original deal. “Time to do your part, Fordsy! I don’t think good ol’ Fez wants you to delay this any longer!”
He gritted his teeth, his eyes diverging to look through his prison of glass to land first on Dipper’s. They were wide and panicked. The boy was muttering something along the lines of “No, don’t do this,” though his lip-reading ability was a bit rusty.
But what made him flinch, what made every hair on his body stand up, was the sight of his brother : Stanley’s hand had completely disappeared, and even worse than that, his entire arm had vanished for that matter. All his muscles tensed, his brain activating even more panic receptors than he thought he had as cortisol ran through his system at an even higher dose than blood cells. His body acted on instinct, all thoughts directed toward putting an end to his brother’s suffering, and before he knew it, he had grabbed the black tendril in front of him.
The blue flames engulfed both of their hands. Just as it was painless many years ago, the fire didn’t hurt here either. Ford even caught himself relaxing for an instant at the familiar warmth that used to fill him with joy. Although blue used to depict the highest temperature fire could have, Bill’s blazes felt like letting your skin bathe in the sun’s light in the month of July. A solar warmth, almost… divine . He felt a familiar thrill of electricity coursing through his veins. T he deal was sealed .
If that wasn’t a good enough indicator, Bill’s echoing laughter surely was one.
His physical body turned to stone, freezing him in the moment. He resembled a statue depicting the day the world ended. If things happened differently, maybe this statue would have collected moss somewhere in the forest of gravity falls. He could have made his peace in front of his ex muse’s grave.
But it’s not how it ended.
Instead, the dream demon and now self-proclaimed ‘God of this world’ could now access his mind. And he didn’t waste time. After rubbing his hands in content like the miserable fly he was, he dived right in. There was a blank, and then his entire vision became white.
It was accompanied by a loud ringing and a vivid throbbing in his skull. It seemed the metal plate was still trying to keep the intruder out, but only managed to hurt him instead.
He closed his eyes, and everything went dark.
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The scientist opened his eyes to a sight he knew all too well, although he hadn’t technically been there in many years.
Stanford Pines’ mindscape looked like a library. He often wondered if all mindscapes were like this or if it reflected his scholarly mind.
His inner world smelled of old leather, dust, and worn-out paper. The memories were compiled on rows of organized shelves, all surrounded by a void like a galaxy.
This realm had the particularity that nothing was truly tangible : no floor, no ceiling. Everything floated in the void, the books scattered around the “place” levitated at various heights.
Each bookshelf had its designated period or important event. They were more or less deteriorated depending on how well he remembered them. Some were crumbling, while others shone ,the wood traded for gold, for the memories he cherished the most.
One downside of the metal plate had been to sever the bridge to his mind completely, both for Bill and for himself. Although his chest tightened at the sight and the memories that came with it, he still felt the familiar calm that always accompanied this state.
That calmness, however, was slightly shattered by the constant high-pitched ringing in his mind. Ah- another downside of that piece of metal. Everything felt a bit distorted, like he wasn’t quite on the same plane of existence.
Still, Ford willed himself to move his heavy limbs and pushed himself up to his feet.
Looking around, he didn’t see the usual intrusive yellow triangle. He took this as a sign to move forward through the many memory-book-filled shelves.
There was probably nothing he could do to stop what was happening, but he didn’t want to wait for the world to end without at least trying to face it. He walked down a seemingly never-ending corridor with the bookcases on either side of him.
The shelves were organized in chronological order. He started with the crumbling ones of his birth and knew that at the end of the hallway were the memories he was actually making.
The stroll felt endless, until, finally, he caught sight of what he was looking for, or rather, who he was looking for.
Bill was standing still, eyes locked on a bookcase, or rather, what was left of it. The furniture was made out of bright solid gold, but more importantly, it was lying on the floor and burning. Although it was scorched, it didn’t seem to reduce at all. It stayed whole, though the books were sprawled across the non-material floor, emitting a constant dark smoke. Getting a bit closer, Stanford could read the nameplate through the flames:
Muse .
Oh.
Seeing the scientist seemed to snap the self-proclaimed god out of his thoughts. His gloomy demeanor was replaced by his usual chipper tone in an instant.
“Eh, I see you’ve done some redecorating while I was away, pal! But don’t worry, Fordsy, I’ll fix it! I’ll make it greater, bigger! Until it takes all the space, until it crushes everything else. Who needs a ‘Family’ or ‘Gravity Falls’ bookshelf when you can have this baby right here? It’ll be great - perfect , even! Don’t you think?”
Did he think ? Did Bill seriously believe this was what he wanted, or did he just not care? Ford gritted his teeth, nails digging into his palms hard enough to leave crescent-shaped marks.
“You can’t ‘fix’ this,” he spat. “You destroyed this relationship the very day you betrayed me, and it will stay that way until the day I die.” He poured as much venom into the words as he could muster, hoping they would carry the full weight of his anger. Judging by how Bill’s eye darkened and his bricks turned a deep, furious red, Ford had pushed the right buttons. Perhaps it wasn’t the smartest move.
Blue chains suddenly materialized around him. They wrapped tightly around his neck and wrists, anchoring him to the floorless ground.
“Oh, but I will !” Bill sneered. “Remember what I told you ? Things. Change. And I know just how to start !” With a snap of his fingers, a book from a few shelves away came flying toward them. Bill caught the memory tome in his hands and opened it, while Ford pulled helplessly against his bindings.
“All right. Time to get WEIRD! ” With another snap, he slammed the book shut, and everything turned white.