Little Dipper

Forget

Bill sat at his desk, reading the 3rd Journal by his desklight. Dipper was asleep in his bed, and it was otherwise silent. He was looking over the page about the bunker again, hoping to find information about the shapeshifter.

"Nothing." He sighed heavily. "Nothing about where he got the egg, or anything else..."

"He kept a laptop."

Bill jolted in his seat and turned to see the shapeshifter behind him, once again in Dipper's form. "Cosmos, you freaked me out! What was that?"

"He kept a laptop down there. It might have something about me." The shapeshifter said helpfully.

"Really? We'll have to go down there tomorrow and find it." Bill frowned. "Why do you look like that?"

"I thought it was better than taking the form of F." The shapeshifter said, shrugging before changing into the young man. "Which do you prefer?"

"What about the cat?" Bill asked.

"Cats can not speak." The shapeshifter said, frowning. "It is not capable."

"Fine, F then." Bill looked back at the book, then paused. "...F. F might know something." He said thoughtfully.

"Is he still alive?" Shifty asked.

"Yeah, he is. 'Cept he's a bit of a kook, probably because of me." Bill sighed.

"What did you do to him?" Shifty asked.

"He stuck his head in a portal and saw me eating. In my actual form, not this humanoid one. Ever seen a starfish eat?" Bill asked, turning to him.

"What's a starfish?" Shifty asked.

"I'll show you a video later." Bill shrugged. "Anyways, it's pretty freaky to watch. And he saw it, and it traumatized him, and I guess he also got some kind of warning put in his brain when he went through? I blame Time Baby."

"Who?" Shifty asked.

"Better you don't ever know, kid." Bill shook his head. "Go to bed, we'll get the laptop in the morning. I want to avoid jogging F's memory."

Shifty walked over and leaned over the desk next to him. "...This was his desk, wasn't it?"

"Hm?" Bill looked up at him.

"This desk. It was...my father's." Shifty placed his hand on it. "Right?"

"...Yeah. It was his." Bill sighed. "I can recall him working on blueprints here...writing notes...studying something he found."

"What happened to him?" Shifty asked.

Bill pursed his lips. "...I don't know for sure, but I'm pretty sure he went through the portal down in the basement. He left without me."

Shifty placed a hand on his shoulder. "And F?"

"Yeah. And F." He sighed heavily.

Dipper suddenly bolted up in bed. "The eye with the X! I've seen it before!"

"Huh?" Bill looked at him.

"The hooded people that kidnapped the girl for a few hours! I've seen that eye with the X they had on their hoods!" Dipper hopped out of bed. "It's in one of the Journals!"

"Is it?" Bill looked at the 3rd Journal and turned the pages. "Let's see...ripped...ripped...what the heck, he ripped a lot out...here!" He tapped the page, the eye with an X over it staring at them ominously. "...What's 'The Society of the Blind Eye'?"

"I dunno. Maybe Gideon knows?" Dipper shrugged. "But I KNEW I'd seen that before!"

"Have you been awake mulling it over all this time?" Bill asked.

"No, I dreamed they were chasing me and woke up." Dipper hugged him.

"Why would the performing boy know?" Shifty asked.

"He knows a lot about this town!" Dipper smiled. "Let's ask him tomorrow!"

"Okay, but then we're gonna go find the laptop in the bunker." Bill stood up. "Now, both of you, get to bed."

"Yes, Bill." They said in unison before Shifty changed back into a cat and curled up on his couch. Dipper climbed back into Bill's bed and Bill raised an eyebrow.

"Don't you have your own bed?" He asked, turning in his seat to look at him.

"But I like yours." Dipper insisted as Bill walked over and lifted him off it.

"So do I, it's a good bed. But you can't have it." He headed for the door with Dipper in his arms. "Let's take you up to bed."

"But Shifty--"

"Is on the couch and also not the little brother of a worried sister." He walked out and headed for the stairs, pausing when he heard voices. "What?" He walked over and looked out at Stan and Tyrone going into the basement with a toolbox. "...Oh, Stan." He groaned. "What do I have to do to get you to stop?" He looked at Dipper in his arms and decided lecturing Stan could wait until morning.

Yeesh, he was going to have a busy day tomorrow.

-+

Bill was plagued with nightmares. Tonight was the first time he'd actually tried sleeping without Dipper in the bed next to him since seeing Kryptos and he was sure to regret it.

He was back in that mirrored ballroom, having his first really heavy multiverse drink. What did they call it? "Space Punch"? He accepted it from Pyronica with a skeptical look and leaned against the wall. They had all taken humanoid forms to disguise themselves until the heat was off them - whatever that means. He was honestly still new to the whole crime thing. Why did the cops even bother with trying to catch them anyway? They were stuck in this decaying dimension until he found a human smart enough and with the right technology to create a portal for them.

He heard a voice and turned to look at Kryptos with an annoyed expression. He was laughing and egging him on to drink, a drink half-empty in his own hand. Or was it half-full? Nah, he'd been drinking it. Half-empty. Ignoring the obnoxious noises he was making to insinuate he was a coward, Bill brought the glass up to his lips and tipped his head back, chugging the burning liquid.

And, OH, did it BURN! But it was GOOD! He eagerly went back for more, which Pyronica happily obliged him. He lost track of how many glasses he had - he was feeling dizzy after the first one. How many it was, he was holding up the wall by the time he heard them talking about taking him up to his room.

Things were blurry after that. Bill didn't remember anything clearly, but what he did remember he wanted to forget. And he wasn't even sure if he was really remembering it or just going off of Kryptos' description the next morning. He was pulled away from the wall by Kryptos, they shared some kind of erotic dance, and then went up to his room where...

Bill closed his eyes tightly, trying to block out the blurry images of his past. His old coat got torn in the rush to remove his clothes, the bed was damaged, but somehow the blanket survived the ordeal enough for him to cover himself up the next morning.

He didn't remember it clearly, he didn't want to remember what he did, and he had happily put it out of his mind until he saw Kryptos. Did he still have those pictures? If he had them on him, he could burn them...destroy the evidence...

Cosmos, he just wanted to forget. And he certainly didn't want to ask Kryptos for those pictures.

The nightmare ended as he remembered the event ending, with Bill pulling on his clothes and tattered coat and running out of his own bedroom while Kryptos stayed behind with that disgusting smirk on his face.

Bill had been trying for weeks to passive-aggressively get the fellow Flatlander to leave the group. Now the bastard had blackmail and Bill had trauma. Fuck. Bill responded to the event by purchasing an expensive indestructible coat that he never took off around anyone. And he never drank Space Punch again, retreating into the Mindscape to continue trying to get them out of that dying place.

He woke up before anyone else and went to the bathroom to shower away the memories and his tears of frustration. He was vaguely aware of Shifty brushing against his leg in cat form when he returned to his bedroom.

-+

"Bill, you look like a wreck." Gideon said as they got the Shack ready for business.

"Nightmare?" Stan asked.

"You can have nightmares?" Mabel asked.

"I don't want to talk about it." Bill said glumly. "I just want to forget it, honestly."

"Was it about your ex?" Dipper asked.

"No, it was not about The Author." Bill shook his head.

"Then, what was it?" Gideon asked. "Talking about it might help."

"No, talking about it would NOT help, because it's a shameful memory that I never want to reach the light of day. I honestly just want to FORGET IT!" Bill snapped.

Gideon's assuring expression faltered and he looked to the side. "...I'm not sure I can help with that."

"You can help by not talking about it." Bill said coldly, then sighed. "...Sorry. I didn't mean to snap."

Gideon shook his head with a smile. "No, it's fine. Everyone has things they would rather forget about. Some of us just don't have that option." He mumbled the last part to himself.

"What was that?" Dipper asked.

"Hm?" Gideon looked at him. "What was what?"

"You just said something." Dipper moved closer to him.

"Oh. I was just talking to myself about somethin' related to the show, don't worry." Gideon rubbed his head.

"I'd offer to punch whoever you dreamed about for you, but I understand not wanting to talk about bad memories." Stan sighed. "We'll leave it alone, Bill."

"Thanks." Bill nodded, looking out the window. "I'm gonna be a bit distracted today, that alright?"

"You can take the day off if you need to." Stan shrugged.

Bill nodded. "I think I will. Thanks. Pine Tree, wanna go play a game?"

"Sure!" Dipper nodded with a smile. "Oh, wait, what about the bunker?" He gasped. "Oh! Gideon! The kidnappers the other day had an eye with a X over it on their hoods! I saw that! Do you know it?"

"Hm? Eye with an X over it?" Gideon shook his head. "Can't say I do."

"It was in the Journal! Something about 'Blind Eye'!" Dipper said excitedly.

"We have customers coming soon, we'll discuss what you saw later." Gideon waved him off. "I'm heading for the Tent of Telepathy."

"Thanks for helping us set up. Wendy had to do stuff with her family and couldn't come." Stan sighed.

Gideon chuckled. "Well, do you want to say 'no' to Dan Corduroy?"

"Nope." Stan shook his head.