Sincerely Yours, Bill Cipher

Someone Else

     I wake up gasping, my heart beating erratically. No light filters through the windows, telling me that it's probably very early morning. I shake Mabel and Dipper awake. Will stirs as well. "Wake up! Quickly!"
     Mabel blearily sits up and rubs her eyes. "Huh? What's going on? It's so early..." She yawns widely.
     "It's Yule, Mabel! He's in danger."
     She yawns again and stretches. "Bill, we had this conversation already last-"
     "No! He's really in trouble! Pacifica and I dreamed about him last night. Tyler's torturing him until his form totally dissipates! He doesn't know it's Yule, and Yule can't hold up against the pain for much longer." I pick up my phone and dial Pacifica.
     She picks up immediately. "Bill! I'm almost out the door- meet me there! Bring Mabel and Dipper too, if there's time!"
     "Yes, we're leaving immediately! If you get there first, don't go in without me!"
     "Okay, I promise. Be quick!" The line clicks off. Mabel rushes out of the room to pull on some clothes to go out in.
     Dipper hastily pulls on his vest. "Bill, I don't quite understand."
     "Somehow, Tyler discovered a ghost was in his home. Of course, that was Yule, but he's unaware of this fact. With caution to himself, he's been using salt to contain Yule, and then iron to dissolve his essence. You know what will happen if he succeeds completely, don't you?" I ask, pulling on a shirt.
Dipper nods grimly, finishing gathering his things.
Mabel dashes back into the room, decently dressed. "I'm ready," she announces without more questioning.
Will stands as well. "Bill, what's going on? What do the words you say to them mean?"
"In short, a very important person to me is in danger. His name is Yule, and we're leaving to help him right now."
"Then I want to come too."
"What? No, Will, this won't exactly be the safest thing we-"
"I know," he bites back. "Does it matter? You obviously care about this Yule, so I'd like to help retrieve him for you."
     It suddenly occurs to me that my siblings arrived later in the day on which Yule left. Yule doesn't know about Will, nor does Will know anything about Yule, apart from what he's heard right now.
     I sigh. There's no use arguing with him. Especially with the rush that we're in. "You're a good brother, Will. Come. You must obey every word that comes out of my mouth, you hear?"
     "Certainly!" he pipes in affirmation, standing tall.
     "Bill what's he saying?" Mabel asks me, concerned.
     "Basically, he's coming with us. No more dawdling, now!" I push open the door, and the other three follow me. "Yule needs our help."
———
I call Merrily on our way over.
"No time to explain! Yule's in serious danger, so I need you to meet us at the Shields' house as fast as you can! But don't go in unless we're there, you understand?"
"Bill, you're frightening me!" Merrily's voice sounds shrill in panic. "Is Yule okay?"
"To keep things brief, no, he's not. If we don't hurry, we may never see him again! Just meet us there!" I end the call.
     Though it's so dark that we can barely see, I lead our group through the forest- a shortcut that is an even faster way than the roads. I realize our mistake soon enough. The woods are dense, and very hard to navigate in the night.
     As I weave through the trees, trying to find the way, I slam straight into someone else.
     I stumble back with a grunt, and the other person gives an outcry of surprise as he falls to the ground. The voice sounds so familiar...
     "Florian?!" a nearby female shrieks, then hushes when she sees how many of us are here. My eye has begun to adjust, so I can tell now that she's not quite human.
     This girl's ears are pointed, and she has a sort of enchanting charm about her. She's very lovely, in an ominous way, and she wears a crown of flowers on her head. Her brown hair is an extremely light color, and it cascades down her back in waves. She is noticeably pregnant, probably about to end her second trimester. It dawns on me that we've come across a couple of fae.
     This surprises me, because faeries generally don't appear to humans unless they have a specific reason. It seems we've caught these two by surprise.
     "I'm fine, Brindle," the male says as he picks himself up off the ground. When I truly take in his appearance, I can't stifle my outcry of shock.
     Standing in front of me... is Yule.
     Either that, or Yule has a secret twin I never knew about. But the resemblance is uncanny. This boy looks exactly like my best friend.
     Wait. Not exactly. He gives a reassuring smile to the girl next to him. No dimples. Can't be Yule.
     The boy looks warily at us. This can't be a coincidence. He looks like...
     A younger version of Tyler. Everything suddenly clicks into place. I am looking at the original Tyler Shields. The Tyler Shields who was kidnapped by a faerie as an infant. It has to be him. Aging can be different in the faerie realm, so it's completely possible that he's aged a bit slower than the changeling in Gravity Falls that we know as Tyler, explaining his shorter height.
     He grabs the girl's hand, and they look ready to flee, so I shout, "Wait! Please don't go. I know who you are!"
     The boy shakes his head. "But I don't know who you are."
     Dipper whispers to me, "Is that... that's not Yule, is it?"
     "No. This is Tyler Shields. The human."
     Human Tyler grips Brindle's hand more tightly. "My name is Florian, not Tyler. And I'm not completely human."
     "What do you mean?" Mabel asks, captured by their charm of glamour.
     "I mean, I've lived with fae my whole life. I've eaten their food, gained their power to perform charms and enchantments. I'm practically a faerie. So if you'll please excuse us, we should be on our way," Florian says with a nod, he and Brindle turning to leave again.
"Please, wait!" Dipper calls out this time. The fae turn in bewilderment, and perhaps even slight annoyance. "We could use your help, if you're willing to offer it. We could offer you something you want in exchange."
Florian's eyebrows shoot up. "An exchange? Well..." he eyes Brindle, "we do like those."
Brindle puts her finger up in warning. "But you have to keep your promise. It must be a fair exchange. If not, bad things will befall you. Trust is a very important moral to us."
"I have access to much," Dipper assures them faithfully. "If you can do what I say, we'll do something for you in return."
The faeries seem to discuss this with one glance. Florian turns back and agrees. "If your words are reasonable."
Dipper smirks and nods in success. "Wonderful," he expresses with pride. He turns back toward us. "I have a plan."