Beauty and the Dorito (Bill Cipher X Reader)

Chapter 9: The Curse

*Snore*

"Hey, Y/N.  Wake up.  Y/N.  Y/N!"

"Ah!  Huh?  What?  Who?"

"You fell asleep."

"Of course I did, it's the middle of the night!"

"You're not done with the story."

"Bill, I hate you so much right now."

"J-just finish the story, please."

"Et tu, Will?"

"P-pleeeease?"

"Aww, I can't say no to you."

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Bill stopped outside the rough wooden door, checking to make sure that Y/N hadn't followed him.  She'd tried to get through this door once in the real world.  So far, it hadn't occurred to her to search for it again in the Mindscape.

I sure picked one of the sharper bulbs in the deck, he mused, passing through the door into the room beyond.

It was lit by a cozy fire in the fireplace, crackling merrily in the colorless room.  Bookshelves covered the walls, and a rug occupied the floor.  Three armchairs were stationed near the fireplace, which wasn't frozen in time.  This space, and the three people inside it, didn't quite follow the normal rules of reality.

"You're late," the figure nearest the fire said.

"Time is flexible in the Mindscape," the smallest one pointed out.

"Shut it, Drei," the third one snapped.  "No one asked you."

"What do you want, Eins?" Bill said irritably.  "You three bookworms have been lurking in here for a thousand years, and you've never bothered me before."

The eldest, Eins, stood up and stepped closer to the firelight, revealing the tattoos up and down his arms.  One of them, a line of incomprehensible symbols, was glowing gently.

"Need I remind you why you're here in the first place?" Eins said with a frown.  "Your current form was meant as a punishment for your past misdeeds.  You were to live a half-life in the world of dreams until you had proven your purity of heart, but..."

"You liked your 'punishment' a little too much," Zwei finished.

Bill cackled to himself.  "You've put me in charge of an eternal playground in the Mindscape.  If you thought I wouldn't love it, you're all bigger morons than I took you for!"

Eins ignored the barb, staring into the fire contemplatively.  "You're not the only one affected by your curse, Bill."

"So?" Bill complained.  "It's not my fault you three are stuck here with me.  I didn't ask you to be my jailers.  You knew what you were signing up for."

"The problem is all of the poor people who are trapped as furniture," Zwei growled.  "This punishment wasn't meant to last longer than a decade or so, much less the centuries we've been here.  It's not fair to them."

"Zwei," Eins cautioned.  "It's useless to appeal to his better nature.  He doesn't have one."

Bill cackled.  "You got that right!  I get immortality and power, and you suffer for it!  I believe the human phrase is 'having my cake and eating it too.'  Why would I ever want to return to being a lame, powerless human?"

Drei's overlong sleeve slipped down his arm as he raised his hand.  "What about the girl?" he queried.

Bill turned to him sharply.  "What about her?"