CinderWill (Will Cipher x Reader)

Chapter 6: Defeasance

"You'd better be almost done with this, Bill.  I am not having another all-nighter incident."

"Cool your jets, Zippy.  I'm like two-thirds done."

"Did you just call me 'Zippy?'"

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Will's carriage was in sight of the Gleeful manor when he heard a distant bell chime midnight.  Immediately, he was crushed from all sides as the vehicle abruptly transformed back into a pumpkin.  He was left sitting on the road in a daze, surrounded by smashed vegetable remains.

The pastry-cat abominations vanished before his eyes, turning back into mice that scampered out of sight.  His formal attire had already become the patched old clothes he was used to, and he was now missing a shoe.

He didn't move for a few minutes, slowly collecting his bearings before lurching to his feet.  With only one shoe, his gait was uneven as he shuffled down the road towards the house.

"Heya, champ!" a voice suddenly said.  He didn't react as Bill appeared directly in front of him, instead walking right through him and continuing on his way.  Bill's yellow body rippled as Will's head passed through it.

"Hey, that's no way to greet your best demon friend!" Bill mock-protested.  He appeared in front of Will repeatedly, forcing him to walk through his incorporeal triangle form until Will realized he wasn't getting any closer to the house.  

"What do you want?" Will mumbled, staring at Bill with dead eyes.  "Haven't you ruined enough already?"

"Now, now, kid!" Bill chuckled.  "Let's not cast blame here!  I simply provided the wheels and the costume, everything else was all you!"

Tears pricked at Will's eyes as he realized that Bill was right.  He'd finally been able to see his dear friend again... and she didn't even remember him.  Her face was burned into his eyes, looking interested but politely detached as she tried to carry on a civil conversation with a pathetic wreck like Will.

What did I expect? he thought miserably.  She's a princess, and I'm just some random kid she used to play with a decade ago.  I probably never meant much to her in the first place.

"Did you just come here to make fun of me?" Will asked dully.

"Pretty much," Bill agreed amiably.  Will sighed and started walking again.

The distant crash of thunder only provided a few seconds' warning before the first raindrops began to stain the dirt road darker.  In no time, Will's hair was dripping and his calves were splattered with mud as he walked.

"Oh, come on, kid!  Don't be like that!" Bill cajoled, now floating alongside him.  "You got your wish, didn't you?  Your only desire in the world, and I quote, was to see your friend one more time.  Now you can die happy, right?"

Will's only response was a dissatisfied noise in the back of his throat.

"If I didn't know better, I'd think you weren't grateful," Bill said nonchalantly, spinning his cane around.

"You couldn't have made the carriage last five more minutes?" Will muttered, eyeing the distant manor.

"I could have, but I told you it would all vanish at midnight, and I'm a triangle of my word."  Bill mockingly placed a stick-hand over where his heart would be.

Resolutely ignoring him, Will fixed his gaze on the lights in the distant house and trudged down the muddy road.  Eventually Bill vanished, leaving Will walking alone.