Never Trust Your Demons

63

Before I can say anything, they both vanish, leaving me there alone.
"Oh my gosh," I gasp. Is Bill going to torture Ford?! Probably, considering the intensity of his threats. Frantic, I ignore my sparking hands as I pace the room. Even if I did manage to somehow get out of here, how on earth could I even begin to stop Bill?! Chances are, Ford won't be able to tell me what his weakness is on the fly. And if it's anything like the "simple" equation to remove the force holding the weirdness, I'm not going to remember it.
"Augh" I freeze when I hear a muffled cry of pain somewhere below me.
"Ford!" My hands fly to my mouth as I gasp, panicked. I pull them away again in surprise as they burst into flames. The screams continue, and the flames show no signs of subduing, which freaks me out even more. The screams do stop after a minute or so, leaving me shuddering at the thought of what might be happening.
"No! No!" I jump as I hear another scream, my hands bursting into flames once again. There's a sudden flash of darkness, and when it vanishes, I'm not in the room anymore. The momentum of my earlier jolted movement causes me to stumble forward until I crash into something hard and bumpy. I blink a couple times to see what it is.
"Ah!" I jump back in surprise when I see myself face to face with Robbie Valentino, frozen upside-down in Bill's throne. But how'd I get down-
"Auugh!!" I jump again at the now louder and more intense screams, followed by maniacal laughter. Turning, I gasp when I see Ford. He's held up by Bill's blue chains as Bill sends a bolt of lightning at him.
"Ready to talk now?" Bill chuckles as the lightning stops, leaving Ford singed and smoking.
"I won't..." Ford gasps. "I won't let you into my mind."
"What do you think, pals?" Bill asks the other gleefully watching demons. "Another 500 volts?"
"Don't you dare!" I shout, stepping out from behind the throne.
Bill appears shocked for a second, then exasperated as he rubs his eye and mumbles something about Weirdmaggedon and stronger powers.
"Listen, Conifer," He says. "Whether you think so or not, getting that equation will make life so much better. Freedom to do anything! To be anything!"
"Even if I did think that way, you said you wouldn't hurt any of them!" I protest. I have to admit, I felt tiny, which made sense, since Bill was quite a bit larger than he normally had been as a triangle. A force seems to lift me up, setting me down on the completed throne arm.
"Sparing and not harming aren't the same thing. Learn the difference. Of course, if you'd done like I asked and just told me the equation when you read his mind, poor old Fordsie wouldn't be in this situation would he?"
"I..." I pause. Keeping as much as the world normal as possible was imperative, so I can't tell him about the equation if I could remember it, but I can't just stand by and wait as Ford is tortured! "I...."
"I'll give you five, then I get back to my schedule."
"5...4..."
"Don't do it, Connie!" Ford shouts, noticing my indecision.
"1!" Bill skips two and three and raises a hand to send another jolt of electricity at Ford.
"NO!"

A rumbling sound comes from outside and Bill stops. I can't hold back my sigh of relief.
"Hey, do you hear that?" He asks.
This may seem non-sequitur, but a t-rex head crashes through the Fearamid and roars.
"What?!" Bill exclaims as I climb down from the throne. "I just fixed that door!"
"It's the Shacktron, dude!" I can't faintly hear a familiar shout.
"Soos?!" I gasp excitedly. They escaped! "Woah!" I miss a step and fall the-thankfully-short distance to the ground, then run over to the opening crashed in by the T-Rex. Down on the ground  the Mystery Shack has been turned into some sort of robot. I smile. We're going to win this.
"So the mortals are trying to fight back, huh?" Bill laughs, sitting on his throne. "Adorable! Henchmaniacs, you know what to do!" Turning back, my eyes widen as the demons grow in size and their eyes glow red. "Take them out!"
"Wait, no!" I watch, powerless to stop them as they jump out of the Fearamid to stand in front of the Mystery Shack.
"Uh, hey, dudes. Is this thing on? Test," Feedback screeches as Soos speaks into a microphone. "Heh. I just wanted you monster dudes to hand over Ford or we'll have to, like, fight and junk," He demands. "Heh. Hey, you're a little cutie," He points down at Pacifire.
"I have butchered millions on countless moons."
"Whoa. I liked you better before you talked," Soos grimaces. "Real... real bring down, this guy."
"Attack!" Pyronica shrieks an  all the demons rush at the Shacktron. The arms suddenly start moving, punching away Pacifire and Kryptos.
Then it starts spinning, shooting away several others. I grin. They're winning! Eyebats also attack the shack, but a bluish serpent snaps at them. I gasp as Xanthar suddenly charges, ramming hard into the shack. A couple seconds of his charging and the shack throws him off somewhere far off.
Like really far off.
I'm unable to hold back a laugh as Teeth runs around, on fire and screaming. I smile triumphantly back at Bill, who is now rubbing his eye in exasperation
"Guys, seriously?" He sighs. "You had, like, one job to do here."
Ford cheers as the chains disappear. "Bravo Dipper and Mabel!"
Bill opens his eye suddenly, and I notice a look of realization. "Well, would you look at that. Those kids really care about you," He turns to Ford.
"Wait..." I gasp, recognizing where this is going.
"And you care about them," His voice grows deeper as his eye glows red. "Don't you?"
"What are you..." Ford's eyes widen as he realizes what Bill and I have. "Oh. Oh no."
"Perhaps torturing those kids'll make you talk!" Bill snaps his fingers.
"No! Not the twins! You ca-" Ford's protests fall on deaf, non-existent ears as he turns back to gold.
"Let's get this over with."
"No! Don't!" I try to stop him. "You said you wouldn't hurt them!" I protest as he crawls out of the fearamid, flying down towards the shack.
"Sparing and not torturing are two different things," He replies simply as he raises a fist above the shack. "Plus, it's not like we shook on it."
"No!"
He slams his fist down on the shack. I don't want to look, but I can't tear my eyes away as the dust clears. A purplish dome with mystic runes covers the untouched shack.
"The unicorn hair... of course!" I realize, relieved, then let out a breath I'd hardly let myself take.
"What the? No!" Bill doesn't share my positive outlook on this as he grows ten more arms and pounds repeatedly on the dome. "No! No! No! No!"