Never Trust Your Demons

29

There's yet another silence between us as the kiss ends. Something above our heads catches my eye.
"Uh... Bill?" I point up at the small heart of blue flame.
He looks up. "Gah!" He nearly jumps in surprise. "Heh heh... how'd that get there?" He waves it away. Even in the dim lights, I can see the slightest tinge of pink on his cheeks.
"Connie did you see that!" I hear Mabel squeal as she runs up behind me. "Did you see that heart made of that blue fire?! It was somewhere over here and Dipper's freaking out!"
I blush, turning to face her as I bring my arms back down to my sides.
"Uh... maybe?" I glance over to Bill.
She looks at me, then him, then back to me. She smiles. "Did you guys kiss again?" Before either of us can answer, she continues "Aww, you two are so cute!" Out of nowhere, she pulls out a camera and the flash goes off.
I blink to clear my vision, and as I do, I see her run off.
"Well, then... that happened," I laugh as the song ends.
Bill chuckles. "Yeah, I guess it did...There's still a little while until the dance is probably cancelled..." He continues. "Shall we have another dance?"

Roughly an hour later, Wendy, Lee, Nate, Robbie, Tambry, Thompson, Dipper, Mabel, Cy and I meet by the doors.
"Okay," Thompson looks at his watch. "The fireworks should go off in less that a-"
BANG!
"Now," Cy laughs. There's a crash as the disco ball falls to the ground and shrieks of surprise follow.
"Was that part supposed to happen?" I ask.
Fzzt!
The next firework sets off the sprinklers.
"Not sure that was planned," Wendy grins as the ten of us stand there, slowly getting soaked. We watch the chaos we've caused for a bit, then decide to leave before the stampedes of students trying to get out.

"That was great!" Mabel exclaims after we all make our way to Lookout Point. "Wow, you really can see everything from here!"
"I can't believe I've never been up here before..." I rest my head on Bill's surprisingly dry shoulder, looking more at the stars than the town.
"Okay, I'll admit it-that would probably be the highlight of high school so far," Wendy sighs. "Next year there'll probably be something even better thought up."
I shrug. "Eh, that was good enough for me right now."
And I didn't mean just the fireworks.
We hang out there for a while, but eventually everyone gets tired enough to start going home.
"See you later," Bill kisses my cheek as Dipper, Mabel and I start to leave. I blush as I turn back to my cousins. They both grin at me.
"Oh, shut up..."

Back at the shack, I head into my room. He likes me! He really does! He said himself saying sorry was hard, so why else would he try to do it? Just for me?
It could be a trick. He may just be trying to stop me from annoying him.
He was so sweet and sincere, how could I not believe him? Besides, I can't really annoy him, due to the deal.
I can't think of a logical reason as to why he'd like me, but I can't think of a reason he wouldn't like me.
At least, not one I can't convince myself is void.

For the next few days, no one can really hang out. Dipper's doing sciency stuff with Ford, Mabel's friends keep coming over, Robbie and Tambry have plans, Wendy's got some family thing (meaning KC does too, thank goodness), and Lee, Nate and Thompson don't seem to be up for it. Bill hasn't appeared lately either.
In short, I'm bored and don't know what to do about it. I've practiced a bit with the fire, but I can't do that whole telepathic thing yet, so I can't get into the UFO.
No matter how hard I think for a place to go, I don't seem to feel like doing anything alone today.
Looks like it'll have to be one of those days where I'm laying on my bed all day, bored out of my skull.
So nothing new.
I spend a couple of hours trying to draw, but I keep hearing Ford and Dipper's projects. A couple times as he and Dipper come up stairs, I hear him say "Don't tell Conifer," with no further explanation.
Don't tell me what? Why not? What's holding you back from trusting me? There's no way you know about Bill in my head... is there?
That's driving me crazy. If he doesn't trust me, he's not going to tell me, and i promised Bill I would ask any more questions.
"Ugh..." I groan, laying back on the bed. Where has that demon been? "You can't just leave a girl hanging after a night like that," I mutter through a yawn. I guess I've lost sleep over thinking about him, and I'm finally off my adrenaline rush.
I close my eyes, thinking it'll only be a second, but I end up dozing off.

When I wake up, the shack is eerily quiet. Last time that happened, it was a nightmare if epic proportions. As the roof is ripped off, I'm thinking this might be another.
A swirling circle hovers low in the sky, looking a bit like Ford's active portal. The roof flies into it, as well as a few other things around the house. Splotches of blue, orange, yellow, and black fade onto view, blocking out everything else.
"So this is the human that's got him distracted?!" I hear a scoff behind me and turn to face a pink flaming....demon girl. Her huge lips surrounding large teeth takes up most of her face, her one eye poking out of her hot pink bangs. Big curving horns protrude from either side of her head, and another unicorn like one from the top. "She's so... normal!" She says "normal" like K.C. says freak.
"Who are yo-"
"Not totally normal though," A higher pitched male voice cuts me off. To my side I see a grayish-blue square floating net to my head, its one eye and one of his black-line arms pointing to my six fingered hand
"Gah!" I leap back in surprise. There's no ground, though, so I'm not sure what I'm standing on.
"Otherwise she wouldn't be here," It finishes.
"Preferably nowhere..." The demon girl grumbles, swishing her cape as she turns away.
"But where is 'here'?! Who are you two?!"
"Two?" Yet another voice laughs in response to my question.
"Great, another one-" I stop as I look around. Five more of these embodiments of weirdness surround me. A Rubik's cube without the cube, a loaf of giant blue bread with legs, a bowler-hat-and-mustache donning hexagon, walking dentures, a goblin with 8-balls for eyes, and a blue creature with a keyhole in its forehead.
"Okay, yeah, seven's much less confusing. Now will someone please tell me what the heck is going on?!"
"Welcome to the Nightmare Realm, home of chaos and Bill Cipher!" The hexagon tips his hat. Bill? Is he here?
"He's not here right now," The pink flame says. She suddenly reaches out an arm, that appears to grow in length, and grabs the collar of my sweater, yanking me closer. "Though you really shouldn't be that eager to see him..." She growls raising a flaming hand. I have to say, at that close a range to her face, it's pretty terrifying.
"Pyronica..." One of the other nightmares sighs. A couple others are whispering to each other. "We need her alive."
"At least let me maim her a bit."
"Oh definitely!" Dentures yells out of nowhere. "Let's eat her!"
"What?!" I shriek, pushing Pink Psycho away. I notice my hands flame up.
Huh. Guess I got more controlling that to work on.