The Little Dipper Effect

Start a Fire

"Alcor?" Bill's voice echoed through the base, tone suspicious. "Alcor, where are you?"

Somehow the halls seemed so much more quiet to Bill. His words reflected right back to him, as if they hadn't even left his mouth.

As if nobody else was around to hear them.

Bill fought the thought away with a flare of what he believed was anger, which was quickly replaced with dread.

Surely, Alcor wouldn't wander away from the safety of the pyramid. The outside world was a snake just waiting to snap down, Bill knew.

His yellow, cat-like eyes swept over the walls and floor and the rooms as he trotted by, brow furrowed. Noticeably, he was beginning to become more and more desperate and more and more frantic until-

He stopped dead cold in his tracks, coming to a stop right before the final room he hadn't checked.

Right before the library.

Of course, Bill thought. Of course

The demon carefully cracked open the door, gingerly slipping into the large room.

Alcor loved reading during those younger times, before Bill had left. Some days he would cocoon himself in his blanket and read for hours on end, engulfing himself in aged pages and ancient words. Often, the blond would find Alcor sleeping on the wooden ground, sprawled in a way that Bill wouldn't think possible.

But that was his son, and at the time it didn't matter.

The demon peaked around, noting that the library seemed to be mostly untouched. At first glance, no books seemed to be out of place and no life was present, but the little, soft flare of familiar aura told Bill otherwise.

"Alcor." Bill called evenly. "I know you're in here. Come out."

No response was provided, but the aura faltered; wavering in and out of existence, it would seem.

Ah, thought Bill with a strained smile, he was trying to mask his aura.

"Don't start a scene, Pine Tree, we have to start training. We're wasting time."

His tone was stern and left no place for arguments, so he wasn't all that surprised that from across the room, Alcor peered over the side of a bookshelf. "Dad, can't we skip training today? Do something fun?"

Bill roller his eyes, gesturing Alcor to come closer. "You sound like a petty human. No, we have to tackle your powers down correctly. That won't ever happen if we keep getting distracted. Come on."

Alcor stared at his father for a second before shaking his head. "No."

That wasn't a response Bill had expected. "What?"

"No." Alcor repeated, and hostility jolted at Bill's chest. The older demon frowned. "You're going to have to catch me first."

"Alcor-."

The brunet bolted past the older Cipher, and Bill make a sound of surprise. He hissed, turning on the balls of his feet to follow his irritating offspring, hot on his tail.

Both knew the pyramid like the back of their hands. There was no place Alcor knew that Bill didn't, and there was no place Bill knew that Alcor didn't. Once upon a time, they had played hide-and-seek in these old halls and rooms. It was Alcor's favorite game, though Bill had always preferred a more direct game like tag. Sometimes, they mixed the two games together, much to Bill's and Alcor's mischievous delights.

This moment reminded Bill of those times, and he couldn't help but falter slightly in his run as he thought about it.

Almost instantly, it changed into annoyance.

Alcor was light on his feet. Much lighter than Bill had remembered when he was younger, when Bill had always caught up to him while playing tag. The brunet had learned to run on his tippy-toes, giving him quicker movements and stronger bounds.

And Bill was impressed, but only slightly.

Even with his improvement, the blond Cipher caught up, giving one final leap before tackling the younger to the ground. He was met with a violent kick to his stomach, and he grunted, bracing himself. Bill stayed in place as Alcor's bucking slowly ceased, and all that was left was their shared breaths.

"Is your brain fucked up or something?" Bill had fired, and Alcor wiggled slightly with an aggressive hiss as Bill's elbow put a growing pressure against Alcor's rib cage. The brunet could sense his father's aura spiking with anger. "What made you think you could mess around with me like that? Am I a joke to you?"

When there was no response, Bill scoffed. "I'm not here to play games." He flashed red, and Alcor cried out at the increase of pressure. "I'm here to train you. Think of me as a mentor, not a father. Demons don't refer to anyone as family, Alcor, just other monsters."

"That's not what you thought before." Mewled Alcor, cringing the faintest bit. He bucked once more before exhaling sharply. "Dad, get off of me! You're... you're hurting me!"

"Am I, Alcor?"

"Y-Yes!" The younger demon yowled. "What the hell happened to you in the human world? You seemed to care then and you seemed to care when you got back and you're scaring me now.

"Don't you remember? We'd play tag and hide-and-seek and you let me be a child because I was a child and I'm still a child!"

Alcor's golden eyes met Bill's own. "I've changed." He said. "And you will too."

Alcor has felt some kind of pain before. He's fallen and gotten bruises and cuts, he's had fevers and dry throats, he's had bad coughs and monster headaches and nauseating stomachaches.

But nothing could top the pain he felt when his ribs snapped under Bill's force.

~~~

"Rumors of your return are finally spreading through the dimension." Will had said to him, providing Bill a small smile.

The yellow demon returned the smile, tensely. "Finally." He drawled, stretching his legs. "I'm honestly disappointed. It took longer than I had expected."

Will laughed softly at his brother's snarkiness. The blue demon let his gaze glance around carefully. "Where's Alcor?" He asked, letting his eyes settle down on Bill once again, but the blond wasn't looking his direction. Instead, he was gazing at his morphed reflection in the wall.

"...He didn't get much sleep last night." Murmured Bill weakly after a short period of silence. In a way, he wasn't wrong, but the demon still shifted slightly in place with discomfort. "I let him take the day off. He needs it."

The blue demon's look was too suffocating to look at when Bill turned his way, but a smile began to spread across Will's face. "That's sweet of you Bill." Was all he said. Bill let his expression become blank. "I thought so too."

Will shook his head, laughing lightly. "I have to go. I'll check on you too soon; maybe in two or three days." The bluenet patted Bill's back gently before standing, and in a blink of an eye he was gone.

Bill licked his dry lips before averting his eyes to the floor. From across the pyramid, Alcor's aura spiked with mushy, throat-clogging emotions, and Bill pushed them away from his head weakly.