The Unknown

4

Purgatory was a boring place.

The long, sorrowful moan of a wandering soul chilled the empty air.

Not to mention it was damn annoying.

Bill sighed, perching atop a dreary building. He needed a moment to think. Running his fingers across the cracks in the weathered cement, he stared blankly at the moss and ivy growing down its greying structure. A hollow wind whispered amongst the shattered windows, breezing past Bill. He put a gentle grip on his hat so that it wouldn’t blow away.

Exile.

Pine Tree exiled him. Sure he didn’t intend to direct it at him, but still that was just plain uncalled for and downright sloppy. Bill furrowed his brow and balled a fist. After all, he was just teasing him a little. No harm done! Pine Tree was not weak, he knew that. Not mentally, anyway. His physical strength, however…

Bill couldn’t help but chuckle. He kicked his feet lightheartedly.

Still, something about the exile made him feel strange in a way he didn’t comprehend. He wanted it to stop. The way Pine Tree looked when he’d chanted the command, he couldn’t get it out of his mind. A stray finger tapped against the jar containing Dipper’s soul that was draped around his shoulders. He gazed up at the taupe sky, filled with tortured and lost souls looking for expiation. Somewhere out there was the dumb tangle that caused all of this. Nuts to him, but at least the nuisance was gone. There was no chance of him getting out without a bounding element (at least not for a very long time) like a foolish human’s pathetic soul.

The way Pine Tree’s lips curled into a smirk with the third chant of the command had Bill captivated. The look of determination and power in his eyes was as enthralling as the incantation itself. It was…annoying. Bill grunted and swiped a stone from the rooftop, pitching it as far as he could into the endless void of lost hope. Goddamn Pine Tree and his sudden revelations. He was actually kind of impressive. In a disgusting and irritating sort of way.

And what Pine Tree had said earlier that day, that had become significantly less hilarious by now, Bill realized. He replayed the scene over and over again in his memory.

He was stuttering, struggling to find the proper words that he wanted to express. Biting his lip and shifting his weight around were clear signs of discomfort and nervousness.

“Well, y-you see the truth is that I sorta have a crush on you.”

Stupid. Not funny, stupid. It made him feel a sort of sickness in the pit of his core to think of it. A pressurized tingling that made his limbs feel lax and tense at the same time, which was absolutely illogical and completely unsolicited. He wanted to block it out and focus on other business, but no matter how hard he tried, Pine Tree would not leave his mind. His body began to redden, trembling with anger. He clenched a fist on the roof edge so tight it sent small cracks running down the building a short distance.

He needed to go for a walk. Metaphorically, of course. With a frustrated groan, he reeled back his hand and dusted the cement particles off. Picking himself up from the roof’s edge and launching into the air again, he moved in no particular direction as he wandered through the endless abyss.

The air was filled with the souls of the damned–stranded between what the humans called ‘heaven’ and ‘hell’–and various other airborne demons who’d been condemned to this forsaken realm as a permanent banishment. Permanent. Pine Tree knowing such a spell by heart was not only surprising and mildly terrifying, it didn’t make sense. Sure, it was just a bit of Latin, but where most people fall short is realizing the effect it has on a vast majority of demons, himself included. And due to the fact that most simpletons don’t even believe the supernatural, it was not common knowledge to know exactly how to banish a demon. He would have had to been researching it or otherwise expecting the need to use it. While research wasn’t above Pines, it was still heavily on the unlikely side.