Over the Falls

Chapter 22

Wirt continued to look at Bill. "Kill who?"

"My vessel..."

Wirt's eyes grew colder. "He has a name."

Bill looked up at Wirt. I know he has a name, Bill thought. I know he has a name, and I know that I'll be the end of him.

"I don't want to kill Dipper," Bill said. His tone was icy and low.

"How do you know you will?"

Bill thought his heart was literally breaking. There were things in his chest that made him feel so much pain, a pain he'd never felt before, a pain that didn't feel exhilarating. He couldn't explain these tragic feelings.

"I just..." Bill began, feeling like he was about to crumble to the ground. "I know, okay? Just like how I know which direction the Beast is. I can just... I can just feel it. I'm killing him."

Wirt considered this. What Wirt wanted to tell him was that if he left the vessel, Dipper might resurface, but he had already made the deal never to bring that up again. There was also no guarantee that Dipper would come back at all, Bill had been in charge of his body for so long he might have slipped away.

Wirt sighed. "I know you saw Dipper when you blacked out."

Bill tensed.

Wirt tried to meet his eyes. "I didn't read your mind, that's not what happened if that's what you're thinking. I just 'know'. And I think you could see him again if you tried."

Bill's eyes narrowed. The amount of help he was receiving was not an amount he was used to. He didn't want to pass up an opportunity to see Dipper, but he also didn't like that Wirt had that kind of information on him. "What do you mean, try? What do you know about any of this? You don't know what I saw when I blacked out!"

Wirt straightened. This demon was like night and day. "If you could shut up and swallow your ego for ten minutes, you might be doing you and your vessel a favor," Wirt hissed. Maybe he was like night and day, too.

Bill's eyes shot daggers at Wirt, but his body loosened. "What, then? What do you command me to do, my liege?" Bill asked, pronouncing the bitterness in every word.

Wirt ignored it. "I can knock you out. I can try to help you find your way back to wherever you were when you saw Dipper. You're not the only one who's in tune with the dreamscape."