The Things We Leave Behind (Gravity Falls Fic)

Chapter 5: Chasing Butterflies

Saige's POV:

        "Guess again."

        I whipped around, my X2Alt (the gun I threatened to use on him the first time he visited me) already in my hand, but then stopped dead to see it wasn't the little floating illuminati symbol that seemed to follow me everywhere. In it's place was a blonde man. He was rather thin, not to mention a full foot taller than me. He wore a dark pair of dress pants and a sand tailcoat. An eyepatch covered his right eye. The only way I recognized him as Bill was by the small black tophat hovering above his head.

        As much as I hated to admit it, he was actually kind've attractive.

        He smirked, playfully, "Hey, gorgeous."

        I scowled and slumped shoulders, "NO. I'm not going to tell you what this symbol means! Nice new look, though."

        He immediately dropped the act, "Oh, come on! I went to all this trouble, too. Why not?!"

        "Because I don't want to! I don't trust you!" I spat back.

        Now, I don't know what this means exactly, but I swear he looked slightly... hurt at that comment. But only for a second.

        I continued down the path, not waiting for a response from the demon.

        That day, I helped Soos and Mabel save Dipper and Wendy from a shape-shifter. We almost found out who wrote the journals. Unfortunately, nothing important was discovered. However, the whole day, I was plagued by thoughts of that morning. Why did he look so hurt when I told him I didn't trust him? I thought he knew that already...

        Whatever. He can be ignorant if he wants to.

---

Bill's POV:

        "Because I don't want to! I don't trust you!" She shouted back at me before disappearing into the woods. That stung. Why? I didn't know. I hated not knowing. Complicates everything and disrupts my plans.

        Well, the human form did seem to take her by surprise. Maybe I could get somewhere with this...

        One more try. One more try, and I know I'll have her weaknesses in my hands...

---

        Once more, I was waiting in the clearing for Saige, but this time, it was late. Saige would be heading back to her home from the Mystery Shack rather than leaving her home to go TO the Mystery Shack.

        I heard her coming up the path, and straightened, "Hello, Unknown."

        She rolled her eyes, boredly, "Okay, Bill, let's just get this over with."

        "Unknown, I would really appreciate if you would just-"

        "Ooh, what's that?" She interrupted me, pointing at something.

        "Hey, wait... wait, where are you going?" I watched her push her way through some underbrush and disappear off the path. I sighed and followed her, reluctantly. The further in we went, the denser and darker the forest got to be. The trees got taller and the canopy of leaves overhead started to change from green to a more navy blue color. Suddenly, the trees opened up. Saige and I were in a hollow roughly the size of half a football field. The trees formed a wall, separating the rest of the forest from the vast clearing. The navy blue leaves stretched out above us to form a roof, and filling this huge space were millions and millions of glowing butterflies.

        Saige was awestruck. Before I knew it, she was standing in the middle of the hollow, hundreds of little tiny white and yellow lights greeting her welcomingly.

        It was actually kind of adorable. I found myself smiling at the amount of wonder in her eyes.

        That smile disappeared when she called my name.

        "Yo, Cipher! What are these things?"

        Surely the one human in existence to be able to resist my telepathy was smarter than that. My voice went monotone, "Um, butterflies?"

        Saige scowled, "Yeah, no dip, sherlock. I MEANT, what KIND of butterflies are they?"

        "Oh, um... well, they don't have a name. No humans have discovered them yet and I don't bother with things like that." I said, nonchalantly.

        She sat down on the grass, looking up at all the butterflies. "Come over here."

        I walked over and sat down next to her, not entirely sure why I was there.

        "Don't they look like stars?" The Unknown said, laying down on her back, her arms behind her head. 

        I was confused for a moment until I realized she was talking about the butterflies. I glanced around, then said, "I think they look like ghosts."

        When she didn't respond, I turned to look at her and saw that she was scowling. "What?"

        "That's morbid. And kinda creepy."

        "I just don't see the whole stars thing."

        "Well, maybe you aren't leaning back far enough."

        "Wha- ACK!" She reached up, grabbed the back of my collar and wrenched me down, so I was lying next to her. 

        "Ow..." I winced, rubbing my throat where the fabric had cut into the skin when she pulled me down. She returned her arms to behind her head, staring straight up.

        "See? With the dark blue canopy, they look like stars flying around. I'm gonna call them Constellation Butterflies."

        I wasn't looking at the butterflies. I was looking at her.

        She had this huge smile on her face. She tucked that wayward curl behind her ear. The lights reflected in her eyes and made them seem all the more...

        "Beautiful, right?" She whispered.

        I found myself responding, "Yeah. Beautiful."

        Then I realized that she was still talking about the butterflies.

        "Um, yeah, totally." I stood up, brushing myself off.

        "I should go. Or, actually, you should. It's getting late."

        Saige pulled herself to her feet to stand in front of me, "Yeah, you're probably right."

        I looked away, "Uh, yeah, I probably am. You know the way back to the path from here?"

        She looked around, then stared at her feet, "No...

        "Oh, um..." I reached out and gingerly took her arm, then teleported us back to the clearing. I immediately let go and took a step back.

        A Constellation Butterfly had hitched a ride on her shoulder. It crawled along her clothes, but for whatever reason, didn't seem to want to leave her. I turned away and disappeared.

        Somehow, I felt like I could relate to that hitch-hiking butterfly.