Nobody Forgets Bill Cipher

Fighting My Battles

I look at my phone, then to Yule, and say, almost relieved, "It's Ford."
He nods, his face blank, but I know he shares my gratefulness as he replies, "Good."
     "Hello? Ford?" I ask as I accept the call and hold the phone to my ear.
"Bill! What's going on? I got your voicemail. Are you alright?" Ford's tone is much more frantic than I thought it would be. Why?
"Why wouldn't I be?" I ask, utterly confused.
"'Why wouldn't I be?'!" Ford exclaims in shock. "Because you came in contact with the Society of the All-Seeing! Do you have any idea what that means?" I'm not sure if Ford is angry, worried, or just surprised. Why is he taking this even more seriously than I have been? This must be truly awful, perhaps more than I am aware of.
"Are they dangerous?" I ask, flinching, expecting him to shoot back some petty remark.
"Not to you," he responds, oddly calm. "To their victims, definitely," Ford replies in a stoic tone.
"Victims?" I gulp.
"You don't have to worry about that. You aren't a victim of theirs. Well, not anymore, to say the least." Okay, I'm officially freaked out. "Bill, you must take this seriously," Ford warns me. "The Society of the All-Seeing protects those who they believe have good intentions from the ones with bad intentions who wish to kill those with the good."
"You lost me there."
"What I'm trying to say is, Bill, they see your change, they believe you are a good person, now. But they also know that you are in danger of death by someone whom they believe is evil."
"How do you know all this?" I ask, my blood running cold.
"Because I was once helped by them as well," Stanford explains.
"Why would you leave all this out of your journals!" I exclaim, frustrated. "You said yourself that this is serious."
"I was sworn to secrecy: I could only share what I knew with the trustworthy. But long ago, there was no one I could trust. I couldn't even trust that my journals would not fall into the wrong hands. That's why I left them out. If this group was exposed, they could be in danger of their own victims themselves."
"I understand," I reply, my voice shaking. "If I may- may ask, Ford, why were you in contact with the Society of the All-Seeing? Who wanted to kill you?"
"Boy, you should be asking yourself the same question." Oh my stars, he's right. There's someone out there who wants me dead. Usually, I would not be worried. A lot of people probably want me dead. A lot of people think I'm already dead. But if this group is really all that Ford says they are, if it needs to protect me, this must be very grave.
"Ford, what do I do?" I ask desperately, my knuckles paling from gripping the cell phone too tightly. Will he even have an answer to give me?
"Meet with them," he replies wisely. "They will help you. Stanley and I will be back when the school year finishes. That's only a few weeks away. Wow, that will be one year since you came to Gravity Falls, won't it?"
     "Yeah." Wow. One year. June 12, 2015 was when I arrived. It's May 22, 2016 today. Mabel and Dipper will come back soon. School be over soon. Unfortunately, part-time work at Yumberjacks will not be. Well, life isn't perfect.
     However, in only five days, I could be meeting with the most dangerous human beings I've ever been face to face with. To say the least, I'm nervous, but I don't think nervous could be the right word to even cover part of how I feel.
"We'll be back soon, Bill. Meet with them. Do whatever they say. Promise me that."
"I promise," I answer, my grip lessening. I hear a beep on the end of the line when he hangs up. I realize Yule is leaning in next to me, eavesdropping on the conversation.
"Did you know that, Bill?" Yule looks at me, worry plastered across his face. "You didn't tell me."
"Tell- tell you what?"
"Dude, that someone's planning to kill you!" Yule exclaims, clearly freaking out, which is very unlike him.
"I- I didn't know..." I reply, looking down. Yule tenses next to me. "Are you okay?" I ask, looking over at him. His lips are pursed and he's gripping his knees.
He starts, gazing at me with a shocked stare. "Am I okay? I'm fine, I guess. But you. Are you okay?" Fear for me overtakes the usual gleam in his eyes.
I put my hands on Yules shaking shoulders. My hands are trembling as well, though I try to hide it. I can't let him know how shaken I really am. "Yule, I meant it when I said I don't want you to get wrapped up in this. I don't want you to get hurt because of me. I know you say you knew what you signed up for, but nobody even knows the half of what I've done, not even you. I'm more of a mess than you'll ever be, so please, Yule," I say desperately, "please don't get stuck fighting my battles for me. They're far too dangerous." A human would not survive fixing the damage that a demon made. It would not be possible. The thought sends a chill down my spine. I will not have my friends get caught in this on my behalf.
Yule draws in a shaky breath. "Bill," he begins, "I will not fight your battles for you. I will, however, fight with you, whatever is going on, okay?" His loyalty through his fear astounds me.
"Thank you, but please be careful," I warn him. "I'm afraid this may be even more serious than we could ever imagine. I feel like I'm forgetting something extremely important. And I think that this Society of the All-Seeing knows what it is."