Sincerely Yours, Bill Cipher

Given A Chance

     I awaken in a place that is not the dreamscape. It's a place of many colors, many patterns, much confusion, and much beauty. "Where am I?"
     I suddenly notice the huge being in the sky floating far in front of me. This creature resembles an axolotl of Earth, yet is so much bigger... wait a minute. I feel like I should know this being. Axolotl, axolotl- why does this seem so familiar?
     "Welcome, Bill Cipher, to the time and space between time and space," the being booms. It's voice sounds female, and despite the loudness of it, is calm and soothing. This being radiates power, so much more than even I ever did, or even Time Baby, for that matter!
     "Who are you?" I ask cautiously, relishing the state of awe I am in.
     "Don't you know who I am, Bill Cipher? I am the Axolotl, and this is my residence. Do you not remember calling upon me in your last moments? Do you honestly think your return as a human being was simply a fluke caused by the liberation of your own galaxy? I have more power than you can ever begin to imagine."
     "It's coming back to me," I make out slowly, "but I don't understand yet."
     Axolotl nods, and a replay picture is set before me: my last moments in Stanley's mindscape. With another nod, it begins to play backward.
     I watch myself go completely insane on the screen, and while this Bill Cipher before me panics, I watch him cry out, "A-X-O-L-O-T-L! My time has come to burn! I invoke the ancient power that I may return!" Then the replay stops and vanishes.
     "You knew of my power," the Axolotl says with a flick of its tail. "You called upon me for redemption, for another chance. I met the youngest Pines twins in another dimension, another universe, another time. The ones you know probably never experienced the event. Or perhaps they did. However, they asked me what I knew about you. I told them this:
Sixty degrees that come in threes.
Watches from within birch trees.
Saw his own dimension burn.
Misses home and can't return.
Says he's happy. He's a liar.
Blame the arson for the fire.
If he wants to shirk the blame,
He'll have to invoke my name.
One way to absolve his crime.
A different form, a different time."
     I float in wonder- so that's the exactness of my history. I destroyed my own dimension. I set it free, but I burned it to do so. I watched my own home collapse. I had regrets. I wanted home, but it was no longer there.
     It's all coming back to me. I killed my own parents. I destroyed my own siblings. I demolished the only life I ever had. Yes, it was a flat life with flat minds and flat people, but I still tore it apart.
     I said that I was happy, but I never truly was. I wanted more. I never found the more I truly needed to fulfill the holes inside of me until I became human. This being must have given me that chance. This creature is saying that this other form, this other time, must be my form and where I am now. I was given a chance to redeem my wrongdoings. This is my chance to redeem my wrongdoings.
     "I may have called upon you," I tell this almighty being, "but why did you help me? Why did you give me another opportunity when I caused so much pain and horror? You're right, blame the arson for the fire. He is a monster, and I was that monster. My name is Bill Cipher, and yours is Axolotl. What could we possibly have in common that would be of benefit to you?"
"I am not an evil being as you were, Cipher. I simply do as I please, prophesy, watch over all. I simply am. Is it wrong of me to wish another chance upon a being who cries out for mercy? Choices are what makes the universe work, Bill Cipher. I have made my own. You have in the past, and are making better cones as you live on. Perhaps that is why I chose to help you, Bill Cipher, because there is always an opportunity for another choice."
Memories flood my mind.
Yule, telling me with his last words that his dying for me was his own choice.
Dipper and Pacifica, telling me that they chose to become my friends.
Mabel, telling me that it was her choice to love me for who I am instead of who I once was and the things I did.
Melody And Soos, telling me that it was their choice to take me into their home when I had nowhere else to go.
Merrily and Yule, choosing to love each other despite and because of their differences.
And then my own choices.
Axolotl is right. Choices have shaped my life. And I need to make the most of this life I've been gifted.
I repeat the prophecy that Axolotl told me. And I change it, twisting it into to what it has become, what it has proven to be true in my life.
"Sixty degrees that come in threes.
That body he had is different now.
Watches from within birch trees.
Sees his past and changes how?
Saw his own dimension burn.
Realized his sin and regrets it so.
Misses home and can't return.
Couldn't go back, he sank so low.
Says he's happy. He's a liar.
That smile he had was all a fake.
Blame the arson for the fire.
The chaos he caused was his mistake.
If he wants to shirk the blame,
He wishes to leave that all behind.
He'll have to invoke my name.
He called upon what he could find.
One way to absolve his crime.
Given a chance to fix it all.
A different form, a different time.
With friends to catch him, lest he fall."