#something something stan seeing his brother has been harmed and chained up and he still is conflicted on leaving without all of his work

[pix-writes]

Gravity falls AU idea I've had

Bill cipher is just some (charismatic, psychopathic) guy, except! He runs a cult at the time that Ford is deep in his research in gravity falls.

I'm calling it the Ciphertology AU (if someone comes up with something better I'm all ears tho)

Rest of it under cut (mentions tbob and same level of dark content as is in the book/website, just as warning) ⚠️

So, the university contacts Ford to ask him to investigate the psychic claims that this group deep in the forest, not too far from the falls, has. Ford grumbles that he isn't much of a people person to carry out such research but he's the one nearest to the area and they've agreed to send over Fiddleford, since they're friends and as his assistant he can act as an objective observer (since he didn't study parapsychology) and it pays well.

They both inadvertently get sucked into bill's cult in different ways! Ford is drawn in by his seemingly high intelligence and helpful nature, assured within himself that he wouldn't be fooled by fraudsters or fakes due to his background/intelligence, ends up treating Bill reverently (his 'muse' and one he trusts, because it fills the loneliness he feels, especially because before he began interviewing ciphers group, he felt guilt for not contacting his brother) before coming to a fast and cruel awakening that he's not who he says he is! Bill isolates him from his parents and tries to make him believe he's the only one who understands him, he obstructs his work being sent to the university too.

Meanwhile, poor Fidds had been pulled into addiction from the cultish hippie use of drugs in the group, but ended up slipping into mental health issues and realising that his friend is being manipulated and leaves. tries to persuade Ford to leave, trying to convince him that bill's evil but it doesn't go well ofc and he leaves and tries to set up a counter protest with a load of other people in gravity falls to get rid of the cult, which ends up kicking him out when he has a mental breakdown. By this time the FBI is alerted and they have the cult on their watchlist.

Ford is tortured, similar to how he is described to in tbob and journal 3 (except probably without the possession side of it, haven't decided if that's something he'd be able to do/is real in this au) and he's kept at the isolated cult camp against his will. But he does manage to get hold of a phone and call his brother. Stanley to the rescue! He isn't told fully just how bad it is but sensing bullshit, he high tails up to the falls as fast as possible ❤️

Stan is horrified by the way Ford's been treated and angry that he's still making excuses for the group (poor ford is so sleep deprived so the coercive control is going to take a little while to be unconditioned from) and quickly manages to get him out of there!

Takes a while, and not many people believe the stan twins story, but eventually Bill is caught for other crimes and is sent to a max security psychiatric hospital (basically a prison). (Stan and Ford in the aftermath keep close eyes on the cult from a distance to try and get justice.)

They end up forgiving each other and settling their home base in the falls, since now the rest of the town either hates bill or wants to forget he existed. Stan sets up his own tourist business in the falls whilst ford heals and eventually he ends up working as a lecturer and travels about to a few different colleges in the area for work. After the trial where Cipher is put behind bars decades later, the stans make their childhood dream happen and go sailing around the world for 2-3 years!

Oh, and Ford ends up reconnecting with Fidds, as after some time his son Tate tracks him down and gets him to a place where he can recover and be treated for his mental health. Their contact helps them both get through the trial because now they can finally talk to someone else who experienced the cult. Maybe they even contacted some others who were also drawn into the cult who were victims?

Dipper and Mabel come for the summer like in the show, except now they know of their two eccentric grunkles, though the whole cult story is kept from them for a while (they end up finding out somehow).

...And that's as far as I've got with this idea! I think there might be room for Bill to escape and the pines family coming across him during a future summer? Like maybe because of Ford's involvement with the cult he still has possession of some of Ford's journals/information after he escapes/is set free? Idk. What do you think?

[mintartem]

@alextwdgf01 you request for a comic but I decided for it to be a fic instead... Um...Is it okay? The fic, I mean

Warning: The fic under the cut is rated M for Graphic depictions of violence.

The rattling of chains echoed and a screamed followed suit. It’s been like this for days. At least, Ford liked to think it’s only been days. He can’t tell at this point. It’s chaos outside. But said chaos is only stuck here in Gravity Falls because of Gravity Falls’ weirdness magnetism which prevents Bill from getting out.

Their plan had failed. So close… They were so close to defeating Bill. But the demon was able to get a closer look at Ford’s (who was posing as Stan) finger. Hiding it would be suspicious. Ford thought that the demon would be too arrogant or “caught in the moment” to notice the slight difference. Turns out he was wrong. Bill was observant. The almost successful attempt at conning him, Bill got angry and ended up killing both Dipper and Mabel. That hurt Ford way more than the 500 volts of electricity.

Like Bill’s original plan, Bill will torture the people Ford cares about to get the equation from him. Unfortunately, that only leaves Stan since the kids are… gone.

Another blood curdling scream came from his brother. Ford closed his eyes tightly and covered his ears. He should’ve been used to this. He heard a lot of pained screams in the portal before – some he even caused to survive. Why is this different?

Because it’s Stan

All he heard next were heavy breathing and rattling of chains. He opened his eyes slightly. The first thing he saw was Mabel and Dipper’s ashes. Bill must’ve done something to it because wind had blown many times and yet it still there in place as if it was mocking him. He heard the phantom scream of the kids as they were burnt alive. The way they called out his and Stan’s names...

Stop, Ford thought.

He looked up from his position to see the gruesome sight of his brother. His eyes were missing! The place where the eyes should’ve been are nothing but empty sockets! The eyes were telepathically floating next to Bill along with Stan’s left ear. Blood pour out of the empty sockets freely like waterfall. The same can be said to his mouth. While there was dried blood there, there were still new ones pouring.

Looking lower, Ford almost puked his guts out. Stan’s intestines were hanging. Drip drop. Blood trickled and fell to the floor creating a small puddle of blood. And yet looking at his chest, it’s still moving. Stan is still alive! How is he still alive?

Ford’s thoughts were cut short by Bill’s sadistic laughter.

“You still haven’t cracked yet, Sixer? My, my, I’m impressed. Your brother is screaming his eyeballs out!” one of Stan’s eyes was telepathically floated towards him, which made Ford visibly flinched. “I thought you cared about him. Or maybe you don’t and you actually ENJOY his pain? He did ruined your life after all,” Bill mocked. Ford clenched his teeth in anger and disbelief. It’s always that. Bill always uses that. EVERYONE always use that against him! “Whadda’ya say, Fordsy? Why don’t you just hand me the equation for old time’s sake? I’m doing you a favor here” Bill added.

Favor? How is this a favor?

Bill hummed in thought, thinking of what other torture methods he could do next. Psychologically and mentally torturing Stan is fun and all, but all Stan will do next is beg for his life to end with. While that tortures Ford a lot, it’s no fun if the other has grown immune to it that they accepted it now. What else do these twins like?

It looked like a light bulb lit up. Bill’s face looked happy and excited. Ford doesn’t like it at all. “Y’a know, Fordsy, I went into Stan’s mind one time,” Bill started. “I saw how he always seems to run away from everything.”

Is Bill about to do what Ford thinks he is about to do?

“I figured, let’s get rid of that ability!” Bill cheerfully grabbed a sledgehammer out of nowhere. Ford felt dread consume his body. Stan had always loved to run. He is pretty damn good at it too. Running always made Stan feel free… No, no, no, Ford felt tears start to form at the corners of his eyes.

The chains the held Stanley up disappeared and he dropped to the ground. Stanley gave a pained groaned as pain shot from his stomach at his – very – open wound. He should be dead! Bill must’ve done something that kept him alive. His left arm is twisted but both arms have deep unhealed cuts. His arms throb at being held up for too long. His legs felt like jelly. But most importantly, he is free. He can try to crawl towards Ford – wherever he is, to try and comfort his brother like old times. Like when he was punished by pops. To tell him he is okay.

But a sudden unexpected pain shot through his body, most especially his right leg. He heard the cracking of bones and a scream erupted from his already painful throat. If he kept screaming, he might destroy his vocal chords making his voice even uglier than it already is. Another extreme pain came from the back of his knee, another bone cracked, and another scream erupted from him.

Holy Moses! If there really is a God, please, please, please, fucking save him! He’ll take anything, anything at all just to replace this pain. He doesn’t mind if he’ll wake up back in his car, or if he wakes up and he was still stuck with Rico or Jimmy, or if he wakes up and Ford still hates him., just… God end this pain!

Another blood curdling scream came from him as another pain shot from his leg. But this time, he heard another voice. It’s not his. It’s Ford’s! Why was his brother screaming? Was Bill doing something to him to? No, no, no. Give the pain back to him, just not his brother! Not Ford!

On the third scream, Ford can’t handle it any more. Stan’s pain isn’t worth saving the entire world anymore! What… What has the world ever done for them? Fuck being a hero! Fuck Bill! Fuck everything!

“STOP,” Ford screamed. Bill stopped at the sledgehammer at hitting his other leg at the last second, clearly amuse. Tears fall from Ford’s eyes as he looked at his brother’s bloody face. Stan’s crying, but since his eyes are currently floating around, no tears came out. Ford knows because of Stan’s sniffling.

“I-I’ll… I’ll give the equation. Just please, please, stop hurting him,” Ford begged. He wants to run to his brother but the chains around his neck were holding him back. Bill lit up like a Christmas tree and Ford needed to resist the urge to punch him.

“You will? I knew you’d come around, Sixer!” Bill happily floated towards him and held out his hand, the weapon disappeared it seems. “I’ll give you the equation, but no harm will ever come to Stan or me ever again. And, you have to fix us both back up” Ford bargained. Bill appeared to be thinking for a moment before “DEAL” Bill’s hand lit up with a familiar blue fire as he waits for Ford. Ford grabbed the glowing hand and the knowledge of the equation was shared with Bill.

Bill looked like a child in which Christmas came early. “A deal’s a deal, Sixer!” Bill gleefully said. He snapped his fingers and Ford felt refreshed. He stopped feeling tired and felt like he drank gallons of water as his thirst was clenched. The chains around his neck were gone as if it was never there since it left no bruises.

He immediately ran towards Stan and slid on the floor to get near to him. “Stanley?” Ford whispered. He arranged Stan’s position so Stan’s head would be lying on his shoulder. Using his other hand, Ford checked under Stan’s eyelid. The eyeball is there and moving. Good. Stan’s intestines were back inside where they belong and not hanging open. His other ear is back in place too. He felt the broken leg to see if it’s okay. It’s there. There is a bone there like it was never touched.

“I won’t let Bill hurt you again,” Ford promised. “I won’t let anyone hurt you again… No one will hurt you again… no one will hurt you again… no one will hurt you again…” Ford repeated the phrase like a mantra. No one will touch Stan ever again. No one will harm Stan ever again. If he can’t save the entire world, the least he could do is save his world. He wiped the tears and snot from his face as he scanned his brother’s body just in case there were more injuries he had overlooked.

“Jeez, Sixer, So dramatic,” Bill said as he floated towards the twins. Ford hugged Stan tighter and gave Bill the scariest glare he can master. “Relax, kid. I did my end of the bargain. He’s alive, just resting. Maybe he’ll wake up with a sore throat though” he added. “What do you want this time? You got what you needed,” Ford asked. “The offer still stands, Sixer. I told you, you’re a FREAK! You’ll fit right in with us. Not sure about Stanley though” Ford’s glare hardened “But you two are a package so no separating,” Bill quickly added.

“The point is, I like you. You might as well join us in this party. If you accept this deal, I’ll give you power! You can conquer planets, galaxies, the multi-verse! Or you could stick with just being very powerful and not conquer any stuff - no fun in that though. You can exact revenge to those who wronged you. Prove everyone wrong,” Bill said. “So, do you want to be one of us?” Bill held out his hand waiting for Ford to shake it.

There’s nothing for him to lose now. The moment he broke and gave the equation, he knew it. He is a monster. Might as well join with Bill where he fits right in. Stan might hate him… Or he might not but he knows this betrayal will hurt Stan though. The power that will come with the deal, that, he needs in order to protect Stan. Ford doesn’t know how well Bill will keep his end, so Ford has to make sure no harm comes to them. If he has power, he’ll be able to protect both him and Stan. Yes… To protect Stan, he’ll take it. He’ll take this stupid deal.

“Deal”

~~~~~

Done! If you made this fair, congratulations! I hope the fic is okay.

[yiangchen]

dgmw octavia was terrible during and post-bunker, like genuinely awful. And I'm not excusing that but what she did is comparable to the mt.weather genocide and bellamy's genocide - both of which i think are terrible. But pre-bunker, if my sibling got my partner, or the most important person in my life killed, I'd be pretty pissed at them. I don't get what makes octavia so much worse than all the others?

okay, so i have talked about this a lot on my blog, so i’m not gonna go too in depth here. i’ll try to keep it short. (lmao, i tried, but it got long anyway.)

so, to start off, there’s this widespread belief in the 100 fandom that bellamy got lincoln killed, and it’s just…NOT TRUE. the only reason so many people believe it is that o/ctavia consistently blamed him for it and the narrative was framed so that we would be sorry for her (since she had “lost the love of her life”) and therefore, everything she did, even her gross treatment of bellamy, was justified.

first, she beat him bloody for lincoln’s death and said he was dead to her (3x10). then, she gaslighted him about all of s3a (3x11), which i’m not gonna get into (but if you want to know what i mean by that, i have an extensive post about this somewhere on my blog. i’m sure you’ll find it if you search my ‘octagon’ tag). when bellamy brought lincoln’s body back to arkadia for the funeral, o/ctavia looked right at him while crying with a clear you did this look on her face (3x12). she smacked lincoln’s book out of bellamy’s hand, told him lincoln was dead because of him, and made him flinch because she had a stick in her hand and he probably feared she’d hit him again (3x13). after thinking she was dead and saving her from the ark as it burned, she told him she died the day he killed lincoln and that the only reason he was still alive was because he was her brother, so in other words, she would have killed him if they weren’t related (4x06). that is five times that o/ctavia blamed bellamy for lincoln’s death.

now, let’s look at the canon facts of why lincoln died. there were a number of people involved: lincoln (who turned himself in), pike (his executioner) and o/ctavia (yes, you heard me right). bellamy is not one of them. and the reason that o/ctavia is on the list of people is the same reason that bellamy isn’t, and that is that she drugged him, chained him up in a cave, and did not let him help her. bellamy is one of the smartest people on this show. he infiltrated mount weather. he was pike’s right hand man (until lincoln, kane and sinclair were sentenced to death) and he could have, without a doubt, outsmarted pike and saved all three of them. he had a plan to save them. he came to o/ctavia with that plan. she refused. and she prevented him, the most valuable person they had on their side, from helping. so, when lincoln dies, i don’t see how bellamy is possibly at fault. obviously o/ctavia didn’t mean for this to happen and she didn’t think it would. she thought she didn’t need bellamy, but the thing is, she did need him and lincoln’s death was indirectly her fault because of that. so, she doesn’t get to beat bellamy half to death and blame him for something that is not his fault. you can argue he played some part in it for ever supporting pike, but then you’d also have to blame monty and bryan who, unlike bellamy, were actually given a chance to prove themselves and allowed to help with the rescue mission.

did bellamy aid in a massacre of 300 grounders in a preemptive attack because he thought it would save his people? yes.

did bellamy help get lincoln, kane and sinclair arrested for committing treason? yes.

did bellamy want them to be sentenced to death? hell fucking no.

he didn’t. this is quite literally bellamy’s turning point. it’s the moment he turns on pike. bellamy only followed him because he thought he was protecting their people. the second pike decided to sentence three of their people to death, bellamy was done following pike, and as i said, he came to o/ctavia with a plan and she not only refused his help but chained him up so he couldn’t do anything. 

i love bellamy (he’s my favorite character), so i guess you could argue that i’m not being fair to o/ctavia. that she had no reason to trust him, and therefore, drugging him and chaining him up make sense and it’s justifiable, and well…that would be a fair point if not for a very important fact that most people in this fandom forget, and that is that o/ctavia took no issue in bryan helping. bryan, who switched sides at the exact same time as bellamy. bryan, who aided in the massacre alongside bellamy and pike. bryan, who was a part of the same regime that got lincoln, kane and sinclair arrested.

so, it makes zero sense that she is so untrusting of bellamy that she drugs him and chains him up and is never shown, not once, to be untrusting of bryan in any way, shape or form. it’s…one of the many plot holes of s3 and only serves as an excuse to make bellamy the bad guy.

however, even though i hated it, and it didn’t make any sense, i will give o/ctavia this. i would have been fine if that’s all that had happened. this show has a lot of questionable things happening, so i can’t say drugging bellamy and chaining him up would have been the deal breaker for me with o/ctavia, but what she did to him while five other people, including his father figure, just stood there and watched (aside from miller, bless his soul) is the most disgusting thing i have ever seen on tv. it takes a truly sick and twisted person to do what o/ctavia did to her brother, the person who loved and cared and sacrificed for her every day of his fucking life and who would never ever lay a hand on her or defend himself. and it only got worse. because the writers refused to ever talk about the beating again even though bellamy had scars on his face from it for eight fucking episodes (and normally scars do not last that long on this show.) and o/ctavia would not let up with the fucking gaslighting. as a bellamy stan, i remember bellamy’s s4 arc like it was yesterday, and so much of it was influenced by o/ctavia’s abuse in s3 and 4, it’s insane. no…it’s tragic, especially since the culmination of it was o/ctavia (the abuser) forgiving him (the victim).

but to get back to your question. what makes o/ctavia worse than the others? the abuse. there is a huge difference between harming/torturing/killing strangers and abusing your loved ones. o/ctavia is the only character on this show who has consistently abused her loved ones FOR SEASONS and been yet to be called out for it. she was called out for a lot of things in s6 but never the abuse of her loved ones specifically in s3 and 4. it is a HUGE part of her story that is never addressed by the writers. of course other characters have slapped, electrocuted, etc. people that they love, but unlike o/ctavia, these actions are not repeated for seasons. these actions are not followed with gaslighting and emotional abuse that shape the victim’s entire arc like o/ctavia’s gaslighting and emotional abuse shaped bellamy’s arc. 

anyway, sorry this got long, and i hope this answers your question. i’m actually really glad you asked me this!! i feel like i have most of my thoughts on this issue all in one place now.

[anistarrose]

Some Sunny Day - Ch. 11: Trust (Gravity Falls - Same Coin Theory)

Summary: When you’ve spent eons twisting the truth — especially if you’re good at it, as any con man should be — you don’t always notice when you’re not lying anymore.

Warnings: suicidal thoughts and self harm (nothing graphic, everyone lives)

AO3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14947964/chapters/45097483

Previous / Next

The Beginning

(The Same Coin Theory is by @dubsdeedubs and @renmorris!)

The shadows of shifting tree branches dappled the forest floor as sunbeams shone down from a cloudless blue sky, and Ford’s eyes burned and watered as they stubbornly refused to adjust to the late afternoon light. The greens and browns of the trees and grass looked subdued to him, like color was seeping out of the whole forest and leaving it pastel.

After Ford had filled in the others, quietly and without making eye contact, on the time paradox they seemed to be wrapped up in, they’d come this way — to a hilly patch of terrain between the manor and the Mystery Shack — on the assumption that Stan might hide here if he didn’t want to be found, and sent McGucket with Wendy and Melody to check further north. But aside from the distant chirping of robins, and one single glimpse of a deer that had chosen to brave the sweltering June heatwave instead of resting in the shade like all the other animals, the forest seemed almost eerily lifeless.

Just as Ford had reasoned, it was a very good place to flee to if you didn’t want to be found, with uneven terrain and close-packed groves that provided no shortage of places to hide — even for a being that lacked the power to rewrite reality. Stanley, or whatever remained of him, was nowhere to be seen.

They passed a solitary birch tree flanked by pines on all sides, and Dipper finally broke the somber silence that had consumed the past few moments.

“Can… can he leave the barrier around Gravity Falls?”

Ford understood his hesitant choice of words — because of course Stan had proven himself just as capable of leaving as any other human, but with Bill having evidently awoken somehow, the answer was no longer so clear-cut.

“My guess is that he can, although his reality-warping powers should stop working once outside… but I’m not sure about that, not sure at all. I hope —”

Not looking where he was going, Ford nearly tripped over a rock, and something caught his eye as he staggered forwards. They weren’t far from the Shack at all, but he was sure he’d never noticed it before…

A dozen feet away from him stood a swingset, battered and rusted — except no, not quite a swingset after all, it dawned on him as he approached. At first he’d only glimpsed it in the corner of his peripheral vision, and filled in the blanks based off what he’d come to know, and recognize, and expect — but he hadn’t quite been right, this time.

It was not a swingset, but just one lonely swing, empty yet swaying back and forth ever so slightly. There were no broken chains hanging next to it, nor any empty space on the bar above to indicate another seat had ever been suspended at its side — just one swing without a partner, swaying mournfully in an invisible wind as if lamenting what had never been.

Face it, Sixer — you never had a twin.

“No,” Ford whispered. “No.”

He was helplessly lightweight, like the ground beneath his feet — no, like his entire world was collapsing around him and plummeting into a chasm from which there could be no return.

“He — he was real! He had to have been real! He was more than just — than just one of Bill’s tricks!”

He grabbed the swing by the chains and shook them, grimacing at the high-pitched creaks as their rust crumbled and dusted the ground in red-orange.

You never had a twin. You never had a twin. You never had a twin. You never —

“LIAR! Stanley was real, and my brother, and — and he’s — he’s still —”

The tears were running all down his face now, but they weren’t because of the sunlight anymore. (They might have never been.)

If Stan wasn’t real, then what even am I? Who am I without a twin? What does anything matter if —

“Why?!” he howled, not to any swing or any demon but to the universe itself, to whatever forces set in motion the events of giving him a brother, a twin, a hero, a friend, and then undoing all of that in just one damned summer day. “Why won’t you let him be real?”

Two parallel weak links snapped in unison, and Ford crumpled to the ground alongside the swing — still clutching the rusted, useless lifeline. The ache in his knees as they struck the earth was dull and distant, drowned out by a flood of grief-stricken sobs and desperate pleas —

Stanley, or Bill, or whoever you are, please… please show me you’re still here…

Behind the kids and Soos, something lit up. Back turned and eyes closed, Ford couldn’t see it happen, but he felt it nonetheless — felt it in the quickening of his heartbeat, the shakiness of his breaths, the sharp pains in his palms as he gripped the chains like he was trying to strangle the life out of them — and he slowly stood up to face it, unsure if he should be feeling hope or fear.

He saw sunbeams spill down in a perfect equilateral triangle at the boundary between the clearing and the forest, bleaching all the trees white like birches and scorching the leaves until they were left an ashen gray. Floating in the triangle’s center, legs hanging limp and toes hovering inches above the silvery grass, was Stan.

The first thing Ford looked to was his eyes — still as brown and sorrowful as ever — and it was only when he heard a gasp from Mabel that he directed his gaze down.

A fist-shaped hole punched straight through Stan’s chest, edges of the cavity burning blue as cracks spread out all across his torso. They crept slowly and steadily further like slow-motion lightning bolts, snaking up his neck and down his arms, branching out and criss-crossing each other until it looked like a stiff breeze could break Stan apart, could easily shatter him into a thousand fragments that would be lost forever to the wind in a matter of seconds.

“I’m sorry, Ford… fuck, I’m so sorry… but this is just the way it is.” Stan’s voice was even more hoarse than usual, and so soft that Ford might have strained to hear it had the forest not been so silent. “The way it has to be —”

“No, it isn’t!”

Soos barged forwards, coming to a halt only at the edge of the illuminated triangle. “You can’t go, Mr. Pines! There’s nothing you could have done in a previous life to change that you’re our family now, and that we still love you no matter what, and —”

He let out a sob. “And that I don’t know what I’d do with myself if we lost you…”

Stan slowly raised a hand to his chest as Soos spoke, pulling away quickly the second his fingers grazed the edge of the wound — but were Ford’s eyes playing tricks on him, or had the cracks stopped growing?

“Oh, Soos…” Stan whispered. “You don’t really believe that…”

“No, he’s right!” Dipper agreed. “Ever since you’ve been Stan, you’ve done nothing but save us from Bill — you didn’t just stop Weirdmageddon, but you taught me how to fight in the mindscape, too! We wouldn’t have stood a chance back then without you, and nothing that you’ve only just remembered today is gonna erase all those times you protected us!”

“You don’t understand,” Stan told him. “I was never Stan. I —”

His voice cut out as he stared down at his arms, where the cracks were slowly retreating — slowly healing — as the blue fire around the hole in his chest died down to a gentle glow.

“You’re so different from Bill, Grunkle Stan!” Mabel added. “You have to realize that! Last summer, Bill asked me who would ever sacrifice everything just for their sibling, like he didn’t understand who would, but — but you would, Stan! You have, and that’s something Bill would never do!”

She sniffed. “And that’s — that’s how I know it’s always been my Grunkle in there, and never any demonic equilateral jerk!”

Stan shook his head. “Mabel, I — I’m so sorry, I… I want to believe it, I really do, but that — that’s just not true. You fell for a trick I didn’t even realize I was playing on you, ‘cause I —”

He took a shaky breath, and the spiderweb of cracks across his chest pulsated in blue. “A long time ago, I told your great uncle to lie until he couldn’t remember what was a lie and what wasn’t — and that’s exactly what I did. I pretended to be Stanley until I really believed I was him, and you all believed I was some kind of hero, but — but I’m not. I’m just —”

“But that’s not all you told me, remember?” Ford interrupted.

Despite everything, and surprising even himself, he suddenly couldn’t help but smile.

“You also said to lie until what you wanted to be true became true. To lie until you weren’t lying anymore.”

Stan’s eyes widened, and Ford choked out a low, sad laugh.

“And in any other story, that would be just about the worst moral imaginable, but… but you, Stan? You succeeded at it. You may not have always been Stanley Pines, but you sure as hell aren’t Bill Cipher anymore — and I can’t think of who else you could’ve possibly become.”

“No, Ford, it — it doesn’t work like that…”

“Why can’t it?” Ford asked. “I’m not aware of any precedent — are you?”

His voice was hoarse and uneven from all the sobbing and shouting of just a few minutes ago, but he couldn’t stop the words from spilling forth, coming to him faster than he could speak. He didn’t know how he’d missed it before, because it had always been so obvious, so clearly encoded into Stan’s greatest strengths and what Bill himself had flat-out told him thirty-odd years ago.

“If we were to try and define Stanley Pines, we would have to establish ‘a love of his family’ as a core trait, wouldn’t we?” Ford went on. “Surely no entity could lack that love and dedication and still be called Stanley…”

He paced as he spoke, before pausing to make eye contact with Stan. “But you’re not lying about loving us, are you?”

Stan bit his lip, and shook his head.

“I didn’t think so. This whole day, you’ve been so worried about inadvertently hurting us, so desperate to keep us safe, and happy too — but you wouldn’t care about that in the slightest, if you were Bill and nothing more. And there are other things that make you you, of course — but I don’t think you’re lying about any of those, either. You’re not lying about about toffee peanuts being your favorite food, or about how you’ve always dreamed of writing comic books, or about how there’s almost nothing in the universe that you love more than going fishing with your family. You never lied about wanting to sail around the world on the adventure of a lifetime with me, or about missing me when I was stuck on the other side of the portal…”

Ford brushed a sleeve to his face, wiping away tears, and then extended open arms in Stan’s direction.

“And if those things didn’t make you Stanley — if they didn’t make you an uncle and a father and a brother and a hero to us — then what would? You’re not lying about who you are anymore — and you haven’t been for a long time, I think. You only lied until what you wanted to be true became true — and what you want is a family, isn’t it? Because you’ve really, truly found one.”

Tongues of blue flame stretched out from the edges of the hole in Stan’s chest, twisting together and solidifying into flesh and bone, closing up the wound as Ford let out a breath of relief for what felt like the first time all day.

“And gods know, you’ve earned it,” he whispered.

Stan sank to the ground, stumbling backwards the second his feet landed on the earth. Familiar chains materialized behind him, and he lowered himself into the swing they suspended, crossing his legs at the ankles and then burying his head in his hands.

“Thank you, Ford,” he murmured. “Thank — thank you, everyone. But…”

Ford sat down in the adjacent seat of the swingset, rocking back and forth slightly and remaining just within arm’s reach of Stan. “What’s wrong?”

“…I still don’t think I can stay.”

Ford’s stomach leapt into his throat.

“Why not?!” Mabel gasped.

Stan pulled his hands away from his eyes and looked around, between Dipper and Mabel and then to Soos before finally shifting in his swing to face Ford, frown small but visibly trembling.

“I want to stay, I really do, Ford. And I think — I think you’re right that I am Stan, right now, but… I don’t know how long that’ll last.”

Ford shook his head. “I don’t understand…”

“I’m probably just gonna turn back into Bill eventually,” Stan told him softly, carrying on in a voice hardly above a whisper even as the others interjected. “The memories, they’re still coming back, and it’s like — it’s like falling into the Bottomless Pit, Ford. I was Bill for so much longer than I’ve been Stan. It’s all coming back piece by piece, all those memories of the monstrous things I’ve done — one fiery fucking explosion in my head at a time, and I don’t think it’s gonna stop any time soon. And I’m afraid that sooner or later, Stanley is gonna — I’m gonna suffocate in all this smoke, and someone else is gonna take over again.”

He sucked in a deep breath, as if just to reassure himself that he still could. Dipper and Mabel had arms around each other’s shoulders and were both staring at the ground, as Soos covered his nose and mouth with a handkerchief, hat removed and pressed against his chest.

“What you’re seeing right now — me still wanting to protect you, me still being a half-decent person, almost — this isn’t me remembering everything. This isn’t me fighting to hold onto myself, to hold onto how much I love you all, against a billion eons of anger and selfishness and near-omnipotence. This is just the start.”

“Oh, Stan… I didn’t realize…”

“It might not happen for a long time — it might not even be in your lifetimes, for all I know — but it could be tomorrow, too! It might be gradual and I might be able to tell when it’s coming and warn you before, but one of these days I’m really worried Bill is gonna…”

His knuckles were white as he gripped the chains, like they were the only thing stopping his humanity from being ripped away from him.

“I want to keep being your brother, Ford, but… I don’t know if I can keep hanging on forever. And if I can’t, if — if Bill comes back… you’re all gonna want me gone before that, if you know what I mean.”

The forest went silent aside from the slow, rhythmic creaks of Stan gently rocking on his swing, feet not leaving the ground as he half-heartedly pushed himself back and forth. Ford held his glasses in his hands — smudged and dampened by tears, and now collecting dust particles as he ran his feet over the sandy patch of earth beneath his seat — though he couldn’t remember taking them off in the first place.

“I want to believe that you can make it through this,” he began slowly. “You’ve made it through so much hardship already; you’re a fighter, and you’re so devoted to family and love. I believe in you, Stanley, and I believe that you have the strength to stay you…”

He noticed Stan frowning and staring at his feet.

“But even if I’m right… it’s one of those things that’s difficult to stop worrying about, isn’t it? I — I know what those things are like, those things that’ll haunt you for as long as you live — no matter how illogically, no matter how much evidence you amass to try and convince yourself it isn’t a concern. Being absolutely certain that you’ll never become Bill again — it’s proving a negative, and that’s notoriously difficult.”

Stan nodded slowly. Tiny particles of rust crumbled off the chains where his hands gripped them, forming splotches of red on the sandy ground below.

“Some would even say impossible,” Ford went on. “And with regards to our perspective, at least, I would agree — none of us can definitively tell that Bill is gone for good.”

“Wait,” Dipper cut in. “Are you saying there’s someone who would know?”

Stan’s swing abruptly stopped creaking as he froze in place.

Ford nodded. “Stan, I was hoping to research a summoning ritual on my own, but… well, I got distracted, so I don’t think I can do this without your help. Do you… have you remembered any way of getting in contact with the Axolotl?”

Stan muttered something to himself that Ford couldn’t make out, and felt like he maybe wasn’t meant to hear anyways.

“You don’t — you don’t have to go trawling through Bill’s memories for the answer, if you don’t want to —”

“No, I think I can get a line open,” Stan whispered. “But… but if the Axolotl says there’s even a chance I might turn into Bill again, I need you to promise you’ll… let me go. And really promise this time, Ford, not like whatever kinda ‘promise’ you made when I asked you to shoot me… even though I’m kinda glad that you didn’t, and we had this talk.”

“Stanley…”

“Look, let’s just — forget about your own safety for a second, I know you’re good at that. Can’t you at least accept that I’d rather die as myself, instead of as — as the demon who hurt everyone I care about?”

Ford looked at the kids and Soos, watching with something inbetween horror and grief, and then back to Stan, eyes terrified and pleading.

“I promise,” he told Stan, “but only because I trust you, no matter how little you trust yourself.”

Stan gave a single nod, eyes averted and lips pressed tightly together, and a small sphere of light pink fog materialized in front of him, swirling slowly as it began to expand. Cloudlike tendrils reached out from it, meandering and twitching like the detached tails of an unseen creature, before approaching all five observers and gently brushing against their foreheads…

For one paradoxical moment, infinitesimally short yet eternally long, Ford was in a hundred places at once, reliving a hundred days of his life all at once — but most quickly faded into background noise as one memory grew more vivid than all the others, one warm summer afternoon spent with sand in his shoes, sunburn all across his back, and splinters in his hands from climbing aboard a shipwrecked sailboat with Stanley.

He smiled to Stan, who smiled back at him, and Ford just knew that Stan was flashing back throughout his life in the same way, and that this was the clearest of all his memories, too.

Then they both opened their eyes, and found themselves adrift in the time and space between time and space.

***

(Thanks for reading, reblogs/feedback are welcomed as always! Only two more chapters to go, and after all this time it’s getting to the point where each of these last few updates is bittersweet for me.)