Sincerely Yours, Bill Cipher

A Wish

     Recurring nightmares suck.
     It's Yule dying again. Of course. I have this horrible dream so many nights. It feels more and more real each time. Sure, I have a lot of control over what I can dream about- my mind is strong in the dreamscape, but I can never bring myself to leave this nightmare. I can never bring myself to leave his side.
     His hair is brown, his skin a light peach tone, slowly paling through his agony. His eyes, narrowed with pain, shine chocolatey colors. This is Yule, human, and I never want to forget him this way.
     This dream, though recurring, is different every time. Tonight, Yule and I are alone. Mabel's not with us. There is no raging battle around us. The clearing around us is empty, eerily desolate. It is just the two of us. I, alive, he, dying.
     "Yule, please, please!" I beg, keeping his hands firmly pressed over his heavily destroyed and bleeding middle. Tears course down my left cheek. "Stay awake. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. Just breathe, okay? I- I'll find something to help you, I just- oh my stars, this is all my fault."
     My friend sputters, blood trickling from his trembling lips. He writhes and cries out in anguished pain. As soon as the agonizing moment passes, he grabs my wrist, his eyes pain-filled and livid. "Listen," he pleads, his voice hoarse. "I chose to-" he coughs wretchedly again, "to do this. Not- your fault. M-My choice, Bill."
     I look on in grief as my dream shifts. I have no idea what's coming. This dream, as I said before, changes every night.
     It seems to be just a normal dream now, and just like real life. I'm in the Shack's living room with all my friends and the entire Redd family. Everyone is chatting casually. Nothing's wrong. At least, not yet.
     Our casual banter is interrupted by a howl of pain from teenaged Sebastian. His knees buckle and his eyes bulge in horror and intense pain. He grits his teeth and whimpers as the rest of us share outcries of fear. His parents frantically rush to their son's side. Seb lets out a bloodcurdling scream, his arms tightly clutching his belly. He shrinks to his original size as we watch in horror.
     The blue haired toddler lies unmoving, dead on the floor.
     Donovan and Luna wail in unimaginable grief as they clutch each other and their newly deceased child.
     The rest of us stand in terrorized shock. I stand horrorstruck in complete guilt.
     My dream changes yet again.
     Mabel and Dipper lie still on their bed in the attic, pallid with the color of death. Their parents kneel together at the foot of the bed, sobbing with their heads together and their hands intertwined.
     Pacifica tearfully clutches Dipper's lifeless hand, her whole figure hunched with unspeakable sorrow.
     Stan and Ford sit next to her, crouched over their great niece and nephew, heartbroken expressions twisting their identical features.
     "No," I gasp, cowering from all of this horror. "No, no, no..." Not them. Not Mabel! This is just a dream.
But it could be real life, my mind reminds me. I shake with terror, deep grief overtaking me.
     My dream changes several more times.
     I watch Yule vanish completely, an anguished, despairing Merrily left in his wake.
     I watch Pacifica collapse from an electrical shock that seems to come from within her.
I watch the members of the Society drop. Over. And over. And over again.
     I watch Ford and Stan morph until most of their molecules have vanished into thin air, leaving behind only gruesome remains.
     I see the three toddlers watch their own selves change in sheer panic. Darcy dissolves into a puddle of rainwater, Asher changes into a tree branch's worth of leaves that flutter to the ground. Tamryn squeals with discomfort as her body falls into flower petals from the bottom up. Horrifyingly ironic, they're tulip petals.
I watch in perilous anxiety as Donovan and Luna grievously mourn their precious children. I watch in shock as Donovan's body heats up until he collapses, red and burning. Crying out in anguish next to him, Luna soon falls too, blue from freezing to death.
And finally, it's just me.
I cannot even watch as my dream fades to black, my own body being destroyed by some unknown pulse to me.

                      ———————

     I wake up screaming. Somebody is at my side in an instant, though I can't tell who it is at first. I thrash out my arm, but my wrist is grabbed in midair.
     "-Bill! Bill, calm down! Everything's alright. You're safe. We're safe. Nobody's hurt. It's me."
     My eyes focus, and I see Pacifica hovering over me, blinking at me with worried eyes. My body relaxes with relief. At once, I push myself up from my place on the couch and throw my arms around her, hugging her tightly.
     She stiffens, surprised. "Are- are you okay?" she asks, putting her arms around me comfortingly in response.
     "I am because you are." I sigh, trying to rid my thoughts of that awful dream. Pacifica's not dead. I pull away suddenly. "Where's Yule? Is he alright? And Mabel? And Dipper? H-How are they?" I ask fearfully, ready to dash upstairs at a word.
     Pacifica grimaces remorsefully. "Their fevers haven't broken yet. But... but at least they're alive." I see her bite back a 'For now'. "Yule's fine too. Why wouldn't he be?" She watches me with concern.
     "Oh, Pacifica, I just had the most horrible nightmare," I gasp out.
     "I could guess. Have the twins told you that you mumble in your sleep?"
     I feel my face heat up. "That's besides the point!"
     Pacifica's gentle smirk turns into a frown, grim again. "I'm sorry," she murmurs. "Just trying to lighten the mood."
     "Yeah, sorry..." I look out the window and am shocked to see that it's dark. I fly up from the couch. "Pacifica!" I hiss. "What time is it?"
     "I'd guess about midnight."
     "I only meant to sleep for an hour! I have gotten an unnecessary amount of sleep today, or should I say yesterday? What if-" I gesture up the stairs, "-something happened to them?"
     "Then I would've woken you up," Pacifica replies stiffly.
     I wrong my fingers through my hair. "Pacifica, I am beyond worry."
     Pacifica sighs wearily and looks down. "I know, Bill. My gosh, do I know."
     I abruptly stop pacing. "Pacifica, come out and walk with me."
     "Walk?" She looks appalled. "Bill, it's the middle of the night! With- with our luck, we'll probably run into another couple of faeries," she jokes, though her face is forlorn.
     I throw up my hands. "Well, at least fae probably have a better idea than we do about how to stop all this!"
     "Bill, be quiet," Pacifica shushes me. "People are sleeping."
"Wait." A thought flies to my mind. "Say that again."
Pacifica crosses her arms in frustration. "About literally everyone sleep-"
"No! Before that! About the fae."
"We have such bad luck setting out for what we mean to find, we run into some random supernatural beings, like those faeries," she explains, confused.
"Pacifica, that's it!" I cry out, dragging her out the door so that we can speak louder. "I know what we need to find- we need a Jinni!"
"What the heck is a Jinni?"
"Um, you humans probably know the name better as a... a Genie!" I exclaimed with an eager nod.
"Bill, how do you expect us to find a Genie?" Pacifica asks, deadpanning, though her eyes spark some hope.
"I don't know yet, but we have to try! Jinn come in many different kinds," I explain, tilting my head to the side, pulling everything I know about Jinn from my mind. "They can be good, evil, or neutral. Some live in communities, others could be shapeshifters around us, or they could even be attached to objects for people to summon them. Our search for one could very well be dangerous, but we have to attempt to do this!"
Pacifica smirks, but her expression is even more hopeful now. "So... like a quest?"
"Yes!" I gush, excited. "If we can get a wish, that's the choice we need to stop the pulses! It's a good chance, Pacifica! With me, the ex-demon, Yule, the ghost, and you! The... the, uh, normal human!"
Pacifica's cautious smirk has turned into a full on smile. "You're insufferable."
Practically glowing, I grin back. "Aren't I? Now, let's find Yule, and see if Ford knows anything about these beings too and where we can find one. We don't have much time!"
Pacifica nods encouragingly, and for the first time in what has seemed like forever, I think we have a way to stop these life-threatening pulses.
You know, if we can live through this quest.