Sincerely Yours, Bill Cipher

Face To Face

     The rest of the today has been going pretty normally. Well, as normal as it can be in Gravity Falls with a grown toddler, four ex-demons, and other frequent, odd changes in our lives.
     I've just finished discussing my dream of last night with Stan, Ford, Dipper, and Mabel.
     "I believe I've met this being under the name 'The Oracle'," Stanford ponders. "In any case, that certainly is an intriguing encounter you must've had. Do you think at this point you have all your memories back?"
     I shake my head 'no'. "There's no way. I've lost a trillion years of memories. I don't think this human mind is capable of carrying so much. I don't think I'll ever get all my memories back. However, I do think I know the basics of them now, at least.
     "But back on the subject, it seems I was completely wrong about how I got here. I'm glad the Axolotl cleared that up. But I've been thinking about what it said: 'There is always an opportunity for another choice.' The Axolotl is an all-knowing being. I feel like it knew how to stop the pulses. I just need to look into what it said deeper. Perhaps there's a certain choice I or someone else needs to make to stop these pulses. That may seem obvious, but it may at least confirm that we can end them."
To finish off and complement my speech, Stan and Ford experience a simultaneous pulse. Stanley completely disappears. "Woah!" he shouts. Wait, nevermind, he's still here. He's turned invisible!
Ford begins to grow big, blue feathery wings with a surprised outcry. He stands, and they keep expanding until it looks like he has the wings of a large, blue griffin.
"Ha ha ha!" Stan laughs evilly. "Think of all the pranks I can play on the Mystery Shack customers! Be back later, kiddos. I need to take advantage of this lucky opportunity while I still can!" And with that, I think Stan leaves the room.
Ford observes his new wings with interest. He stretches them, and his wingspan fills half of the room. "I do want to try these things out."
"I don't know if that's such a good idea, Grunkle Ford," Dipper says warily. "The pulse could stop at any moment, and an in-flight occurrence with no wings would not be good."
"Come on, Dipper, don't try to tell me that you wouldn't be out flying if you were the one with this pulse," Mabel laughs and nudges her twin.
Dipper blushes and murmurs, "Okay, I totally would be."
     Ford nods. "I should be the responsible uncle and set a good example by staying here." Then he grins with excitement. "But I'm not going to be that today! Let's go!"
     Were interrupted by yelling from the kitchen. Ugh. I know who that must be. "You guys go ahead. I'll take care of these lunatics." I sigh and head in the direction of the yelling.
     "Would you stop already? What are you even fighting about?" I find Will holding our siblings apart, who are gnashing their teeth at each other. "You're disrupting the entire peace of this house!" He spots me in the doorway. "Look! You even made Bill come in. You're pathetic!" he spits at them.
     "Pathetic?" Phil rumbles, fire blazing in his eyes. "You're one to talk, you worthless idiot!" Phil backhands Will across the face. Will stumbles back with a cry, bringing his hands up to his reddening cheek.
     "Fight your own fights, Will!" Jill yells at him, stomping her foot.
     I march up to Phil and spray a string of insults at him as I grab his jaw to make him look me in the eye. I think that shocks him enough so that he doesn't fight back. "You monster," I growl. "What did he ever do to you? I have had enough of you guys. Why don't you just leave, you hear me? I don't want to see you jerks anymore."
     "Fine!" Phil pushes my hand away. "I hated being here anyway with all you moronic siblings!" He flips a cigarette out of his pocket and storms out of the room toward the door.
     "Humph!" Jill gives me a dirty look and does the same, though she heads toward the door of the Mystery Shack, away from her numbskulled brother. 
     I turn toward my shaking brother next to me. "Are you okay?"
     Before he can answer, both Jill and Phil vanish at once, just before they get out of my sight. Will and I stare in shock. "Did you see that?" He looks at me, surprise flooding his expression.
     "I- I did," I reply, my mouth hanging open. I run over to the space where Jill disappeared and feel around. Not invisible... Omi said a pulse caused Sil to just vanish, but I have a feeling this isn't quite like that. My siblings came through a pulse in itself. I don't think they're coming back...
Did my state of mind wanting my memories and questioning about my siblings summon their presence through a pulse? If so, did my anger and neglect of them cause the pulse to end? Yet, Will is still here. Then again, I didn't take my anger out on him.
"Uh, Bill?" I hear his soft voice from behind me. I turn and see that his nose is bleeding. He's trying to staunch the blood with his hands, but I don't think he has any idea what's going on. He looks worried beyond belief.
"Ah, he really gotcha hard, didn't he, brother?" I try to reassure him with a small smile. "You're going to be fine, don't worry. It's just a nosebleed."
     "Are they gone?" he asks in a whisper, and I know what he means. I grab some tissues from the counter and hand them to him.
     "I hardly know if they were ever truly here in the first place..." I admit. "But yeah, I think so, Will. Do you really care though? They were absolute dimwits."
     Will's face falls. "But they were our dimwits, weren't they?" Did he really care for them? It makes me reconsider my own anger.
I embrace him for a few moments, then pull away, face to face with my almost-mirror image. His eyes soften as he calms down. I tell him to pinch his nose to stop the bleed.
"Will I... disappear too?" he asks quietly, doing as I say.
I look him in the eye. "Absolutely not if I can help it." This gets a small smile out of him. "Come on, let's do something to get everything off our minds. Stan, he's one of those older humans that lives with us, turned invisible a little while ago. I kinda want to see what he's up to." The two of us head to the Mystery Shack to wind down.
     Not a moment after walking into the gift shop, I already notice a wallet being lifted out of a preteen's pocket. It floats in the air for a few seconds, then I see a rubber snake start to slither across the floor. Our criminal 'mastermind' is hard at work, I see.
     A few seconds later, Stan loses his invisibility. He shows up, squatting on the floor, the snake and wallet in hand. He looks up at the horrified kid in front of him. "He he, hey..."
     The kid barely remembers to snatch back his wallet before he takes off screeching. Boy, his parents are going to get a mouthfull.
     "Smooth, Stanley," I deadpan, glaring at our pathetic Mister Mystery Sr. Will breaks into laughter. I brighten, pleased that his spirits are lifted.
     "Rats!" Stan grumbles, standing up. "I was having so much fun!"
     Stan's classic, amusing attitude reminds me that there's still humor in our sorry lives.
     Perhaps I should stop moping around and actually find an uplifting way to pull our worsening lives out of the quagmire.