Champagne coast

Chess

Today marked the sixth month that Gravity Falls had been set free from Weirdmageddon, noted in Stanford's calendar. Ever since Bill had vanished from their home, Stanley had mentioned about perusing their childhood dream, to go on their boat and catch wildlife from the sea as if there were no end.

Stanford had also realised, only after stepping food onto their childhood boat, that his brother had noted this to him so that they could escape from the town for a while, just like their niece and nephew had. The brothers didn't like to admit it much, but they had missed Mabel and Dipper during their travels, the author also counting down the days in his calendar until next summer, when he'd be able to see them once again. Stanley didn't like to admit it much, but he also peered over the dates sometimes.

The twins had had a wild journey fishing around the ocean, weights being lifted from the men's shoulders as each catch kept coming in, their childhoods slowly starting to heal during the process. Yet soon enough, the pair had realised that they had to come to terms with returning home, something that Stanford was still trying to avoid. He knew Stanley was excited, he had everyone in town to welcome him back, his favourite pancakes from the diner to fill his stomach from the months long trip. Yet if Stanford was honest, he had no one.

Sure, he had old man McGucket to welcome him home and share some of his inventions he had created, but that wasn't who he wanted. Not only did he not have anyone, but he didn't want them in return either, and that was what Stanford hated. He had survived through so much that his Muse had put him through, and yet some horrid side in him still wanted him back. He couldn't take it.

The twin had never been one to talk much about his feelings much, so it was quite clear that Stanford had no intention to tell Stanley about his worries about returning home, nor would it even make much sense to the other, as Stanford had never gone into much detail about what happened to him whilst he was stuck inside that machine.

So he tried to shrug it off, right until the point their boat had sailed back to Oregon, where Gravity Falls welcomed them with open arms. He shrugged it off as he carried his luggage from the boat with his twin, waving at the townsfolk who came to congratulate them on their long travels. He did this all the way till they had arrived home, where Stanford had went to his room with a deep pain buried within his chest, one that felt like it was taking away his entire being.

The old man tried to forget about the pain for days on end, joining Stanley with his strange activities to distract him from that rotting hole inside his chest that felt like it was slowly ripping out his heart. He went to McGucket, listening along quietly as the other explained all the new gadgets he had collected since he was gone. Yet everything that Stanford had tried to do, nothing could make him forget about that bone crushing agony that was somehow inside of him.

The nights were endless, the bags obvious underneath Stanford's eyes as he looked at himself in the mirror each morning, pints of coffee helping to relieve the edge of from what he was going through. And yet he still voiced nothing to the ones closest to him, and why should he, what would be the point?

At one point he felt like his brother was starting to catch on, not directly with what he was going through, but that things weren't the same since they had left that boat, when they had left their childhood. Stanley began to look at a slight unease when he went near to his brother, yet nothing was ever mentioned between the pair, not that Stanford would've be surprised by. They hadn't talked about what happened to them for months. So why start now?

That night, Stanford tried to sleep again, rolling around in his bed as if there was something crawling within him that couldn't be calmed, that refused to go unnoticed. The man hated it, he really did. He didn't expect he would be able to fall asleep, he hadn't for days, so why would it start all of a sudden now?

But as the man closed his eyes, he started to feel calmer, as if the rot inside him was starting to dissipate. Stanford hadn't expected it at first, believing that he would be up all night again reading his journal, yet tonight, he fell asleep. At first, everything was black, the man hadn't dreamt in a long time so he didn't think much would happen at first, but within the next moments, he felt himself loosing his breath.

"Oh, sixer, did you really believe I would be gone?.." a voice echoed around him, Stanford being left to turn and twist his head to find him, only being able to able to see a soft tinted blue room instead. "Bill?.." he mumbled, his face twisting into panic as he searched for the triangle, yet there was nothing.

"Bill!" He called out again, louder this time as he became infuriated, whipping his head around once more, and there he was, floating beside a chest board. 'What's wrong Stan? I thought you missed me.." the triangle spoke, moving a pawn on the board, as his eye moved up to face the man.

Stanford stood there, watching as Bill waited for him to move, yet he couldn't, he didn't know what to do. There was no way out of this, he didn't even know he was still trapped within a dream. " Now don't leave me hanging.. come play with me, sixer" Bill said as his eye curled upwards, as if he was smiling at the older. The triangle genuinely looked like he wanted Stanford to join him.

He didn't really have a choice after that, as the man moved closer and slowly began to accept what was happening around him. Bill had pulled up a chair at this point on the other side of the board. So the man sat down, taking a breath as he took his first move against the triangle, moving one of his pawns right in front of him.