Hand in Hand || Stanford x Reader

Chapter 25 • Ford

I sucked in a breath as life returned to my body, dispelling the last of the gold. I stumbled, nearly tripping over my own feet as I rammed into something cold and metallic behind me. Rubbing my shoulder, I turned around to see a life-sized golden statue of a woman, an expression of terror frozen on her face.  My blood as I made the connection.

"Y/N!" I screamed, grabbing her lifeless hand. Bill must've changed her right after he kidnapped me. This was all my fault. If I hadn't missed, we would all be safe from this monstrosity, she wouldn't be trapped in metal. I threw away my shot at ending the madness I caused, and my fiancé was saying the price.

I held both of her hands and pressed my forehead against hers, tears falling from my eyes onto her motionless ones. "Don't leave me, come back, Y/N..."

Slowly, her form softened, losing the golden sheen and transforming into her normal, though battered self. Her eyes flew open as she fell into my arms.

"Y/N!" I cried, pulling her into a tight hug.  She seemed so frail, delicate with six days left to live, but she hugged back with what strength she had left.  "I thought you were gone for real this time." 

Y/N reluctantly broke free from the embrace, taking in our odd surroundings.  "S-Stanford? W-What's going on? Where are we?"

"I-I don't know-"

Fierce blue flames erupted from the ground in front of us, cutting me off. A familiar yellow triangle rose from the fire, along with a baby grand. He closed his eye, and if he had a mouth, he'd be smiling. "We'll meet again. Don't know where, don't know when. Oh, I know we'll meet again some sunny day..."

Y/n glared daggers at our musically inclined captor. "Let us go, you insane three-sided demon!"

Bill rolled his eye. "That's cute. You're in the penthouse suite, kids! The tip of the pyramid." He waved his hand, willing martini glasses to appear in our hands. "Have a drink. Make yourself comfortable."

I hesitantly sat down on the sofa behind me, not fully relaxing. 

"You know that couch is made from living human skin?"

"Gah!" The couch briefly displayed an eye and a tongue before resuming its natural shape.

Y/N angrily pushed her glasses up her nose. "Quit the games, Cipher! If we're still alive, you must want something from us."

Bill winked at her, or at least attempted to, since it came out as a blink. "Ah, sharp as ever, Glasses. As you may have noticed, I've recently had a multi-dimensional makeover. I control space, matter, and now that that dumb baby's out of the way, time itself!" He snapped his fingers, canceling the gravity and making everything in the room rise up. "But I wasn't always this way."

He waved his hand, making everything, including ourselves, fall hard onto the floor. Y/N struggled to get up, the manacle on her foot weighing her down.  She tripped over the cuff and fell over again, blood trickling from her mouth. 

Bill gave her a cold sideways glare.  "You think those chains are tight?  Imagine living in the second dimension, flat minds in a flat world with flat dreams. I liberated my dimension, Stanford, and I'm here to liberate yours." Bill created a hologram of himself inside a bubble. Although he struggled with all his might, the invisible barrier couldn't be broken. "There's just one hitch. As it turns out, my weirdness can't escape the magical confines of this town. There's something keeping me in."

"Gravity Falls natural law of weirdness magnetism," I muttered, connecting the dots.  All things odd attract one another, and with so many weird things in this town, the pull must be too great to escape.  "Incredible." 

"And did you find a way to undo it?"

"Uh..."

"You idiot," Y/N growled.  She pushed past me to look him straight in the eye.  "Stanford didn't study that, I did!" 

Bill let out an amused chuckle.  "Well, that certainly changes things.  Looks like I gave the wrong person cancer." 

Time seemed to stop completely as the words sank in on Y/N.  Her face paled ten shades, then contorted into rage.  "Are you telling me," she whispered, voice shaking with anger, "that you're the reason my life's been a living hell these past few months?!"  She lunged out at him, but was jerked back by the chain around her ankle. 

Bill tsk-ed.  "Y/N, you should have figured it out by now.  Both you and your precious boyfriend's fatal flaw is caring to much about those close to you.  I was going to barter your life in exchange for the equation from Stanford, but it looks like I'll have to..."  his voice trailed off as he summoned more glowing blue chains around Y/N's wrists and neck.  "Improvise." 

Y/N spat in his face.  "You're insane if you think I'll help you."

Bill's tone turned sickly sweet, unfazed.  "I'm insane either way, Glasses.  I'll make you talk.  It's only a matter of time, after all."  He traced his finger up her chin, forcing her to look at him. 

"Get your filthy hands off her!"  I shouted, stopped my my own chain. 

"You really don't know when to shut up, Fordsie.  There's nothing you can do for her.  Save your words."  Bill waved me off and snapped his fingers, making me collapse and lose consciousness.