The Witch in the Woods (Bill Cipher x reader)

Chapter 3

    You and Bill sit down to discuss this deal he wants to make with you. In the meantime, you had gathered some old clothes for him since he had been walking around in just boxers the entire time you two talked. You found some black shorts and a baggy white shirt for him to wear which he put both on rather begrudgingly. You also had to explain to him several times why he couldn't wear the clothes he had 'arrived' with, considering they are still covered in dirt and other grime from landing in your garden.
    Bill got into a long, and surprisingly hesitant, talk about why he appears to be a human or a 'meat sack' as he calls it. He complicates it for the most part but you understand the gist of what he is saying. Essentially, because of almost being completely destroyed by a memory gun, he lost just about all his power except for what is required for him to still exist. With little such remaining power, he can't really do anything with it other than protect himself from basic threats like fire and anything lethal to normal humans. He took the form of a human, subconsciously, as the easiest way to conceal the fact he's a dream demon. As to how he plans to get his powers back...
    "I have no clue." Bill shrugs with a casual air around him. You look at him with shock, your mouth hanging open. "What do you mean you have no clue? You don't know how to regain your power?" He sighs and rolls his eyes. "Sorry to disappoint you but demons don't tend to lose all their power very regularly. There's not really any known way to get them back, but that's not the point. I think you can help me."
    "So you want me to help you get your power back while also hiding you from the other residents of Gravity Falls so you aren't found out? You really are crazy to think I'd accept something like that." You stand from the couch to walk away from him but he grabs your wrist. "Hey, hey, hey, you're forgetting the most important part. I'll protect you and you get to tell me what to do. Come on, I'm desperate here." From the slightly pained look on his face, you can tell that took a lot for him to say.
    You hesitate for a moment with an unsure look. "You'll listen to anything I say, ok? No arguing or anything. And you can't just go wherever you want if you want me to hide you from others." You give him a hard look and he grins, seeming to be excited. His hand lights with a blue fire and he offers it to you. "Deal?" You sigh and run your hand across your face. 'This is a bad idea...' You gingerly take his hand engulfed in fire. "Deal."
    The moment you take his hand, the fire spreads to your fingers and palm all the way to your wrist. It doesn't burn but you can feel the warmth of the flames as it licks at your hand. The feeling seems to last forever until a few seconds later when Bill pulls his hand away. What you are left with, however, is a glowing blue shackle around your wrist and a chain connected to it. You follow the short chain to Bill who has a copy of the shackle on his own wrist. It glows a bit more brightly before fading away, leaving you confused and a little fascinated.
    You bring your other hand to your wrist, gently rubbing it where the shackle had once been, but it appears to be completely gone. It isn't invisible, as you can't feel cool metal under your fingers, and all you can actually feel is your (S/C) skin. You can still tell its presence is there. You can't explain it; just an instinctive feeling that it isn't fully gone, just concealing itself from your view and touch.
    "What was that?" You ask this to Bill once you finish analyzing your wrist. He looks at his curiously as well before looking up to you. "Oh, that signifies the deal between us since you have some control over me." You hum slightly in interest but don't press anymore on it. You check the time, you and Bill had been talking for a while, and it is already almost time for dinner. You don't have time for that though; you have a lot to catch up on since Bill interrupted your routine.
    You rush over to your table of herbs and grab a small woven basket from underneath it, nearby your jars of ingredients. You don't notice Bill's yelp or the thump of something falling until you turn back around and see him on the ground in a heap. The blue chain that had previously disappeared is now back, glowing a dim blue while remaining on your wrist. You lightly tug on it and it gives you force as Bill's arm is slightly pulled upward towards you. Examining the chain a little closer reveals the fact that it is only about two and a half feet long.
    "Oh, that...might be a problem. Are you ok Bill?" You offer your hand to him and he takes it, pulling himself up and shaking off the fall. "Yeah, I'm fine." He looks really annoyed and yanks on the chain a bit roughly, which causes your arm to be pulled just as roughly and you feel your shoulder pop in response. You wince and roll your shoulder a few times to get rid of the slight ache in it. "Hey, that hurt you know. Chill out. You'll just have to come with me."
    Bill groans obnoxiously. "Come with you where?" You roll your eyes, overall annoyed with his attitude. "I have to go out to the forest to gather more ingredients for my potions. It'll be fun, I promise." You give him a slightly excited smile in hope of improving his mood, but all he does is sigh and begrudgingly follow you as you head out the door.
    You live dead center in the middle of Gravity Falls woods so the town is about a mile away and in the opposite direction is the Mystery Shack. You used to visit a lot until Ford got sucked into another dimension. Now, you still visit less since you didn't really visit Stan a lot and now it's a bit crowded with Soos, Wendy, and the twins. You are sure Bill wouldn't want to visit anyway so it's completely out of the question.
    You head West, away from both the Mystery Shack and town, a bit deeper into the forest. Bill is forced to follow you but he doesn't complain thankfully. You ignore his sourness and hum a tune while looking around for certain plants, the basket hanging off your arm. You mentally go through a checklist of how to find certain ingredients, like how an Andronic will glow if any magical substance or creature is nearby.
    You turn the corner and wander into a clearing where both natural and magical plants live together. Several of the plants begin to glow once you enter and you glance over to Bill who looks bored out of his mind. You dig into the basket and pull out some yellow gloves, putting them snugly onto your hands and tightening them at your wrist with strings.
    You kneel down next to a patch of green ferns as three of them glow a faint white. You run your finger along the stem of their leaves, feeling for a small bump in it. Once you find it, you pinch it and snap it off. The stem snaps off cleanly and you are left with a simple, green leaf. It doesn't stop glowing but you put it into your basket then continue to do so with the rest of the ferns. You don't remove all the leaves, only the ones with the bumps as some of them don't.
    It takes you half an hour to get all the leaves that are possible to remove and when you are done, you stand back up. You keep the gloves on and look across the clearing once more for more magical ingredients. Not all of them are plants of course but a vast majority are considering the type of potions you choose to make. However, there doesn't appear to be anything else you need in the specific clearing so you move on.
    You walk further in and you notice Bill start to glance around a bit more, not that you blame him. You are heading into a part of the woods where most of the dangerous creatures dwell. Humans rarely come here. You don't come here often either but there is a certain cave you need to visit before you can head back home.
    Once you are upon the cave, you feel Bill yank on the chain slightly to pull you back before you take the first step in. You stop and look at him. "Hey, you do realize what is in that cave, right? A giant human-eating dragon that can probably maul you in a second?" You stare at him for a moment. "Oh, you mean Olross? Yeah, we're cool." You yank on the chain slightly and force Bill deeper into the cave, him stumbling behind you. Once you make a few feet in, to the point where you can barely see, you knock on the rock wall three times.
    A few seconds later, there are three loud thumps from down the cave and the entire entrance is lit up with red and orange flames. You go further in, deeper and deeper into the dark depths until you reach the supposed end to the cave. It opens up into a large room, a little humid and damp with stalagmites dripping water onto the floor making an echoing sound. You look up towards the wall and smile then knock on it, two times. The 'walls' then starts to shift, going from a dull gray to vibrant blue as scales are revealed then leathery wings tucked tightly onto a back until Olross is fully visible.
    "Caught yet again I see," Olross speaks to you, his voice low and rumbling. You can feel it vibrate from under your shoes, the vibrations going all the way up to your chest. Though you can hear the authority and intimidation in it, it does not shy you away. "Now, Now Olly. You know that I know all your tricks so there really is no hiding from me." You smile warmly at the giant, blue dragon in front of you. His scales emit a soft blue glow, lighting up the area around you while his entire body is warm to the touch like his fire within is trying to break out of him. "You can't blame an old dragon for trying. Have you come for the usual?"
    "I have, and I need to check on your wing of course." You see his large sapphire irises roll in their sockets. "(Y/N), it has been months since my wing has healed. Let it go, you check on it every time you visit." You set down your basket and go to walk over to him only to be stopped by a pull on your wrist. Immediately remembering the chain, you turn. Bill is absolutely stunned, his eyes wide and his jaw slightly slack. It never occurred to you that this might be his first time meeting a dragon. "And who is this?"
    "This is Bill. I'm taking care of him until he can get his powers back. We are kind of chained to each other so he has to come with me now." You know Olross can be a little territorial but you at least hope that he will trust you enough to allow Bill in here for at least a few minutes since you didn't really have a choice in the matter. Olross huffs, smoke coming out of his nostrils and floating gently into the air. He gives Bill a hard stare, almost as if he was looking into his very soul.
    The silent staring contest ends a few seconds later when Olross finally looks away with another huff of smoke. You sigh in relief and gently tug on the chain to get Bill's attention. He blinks and stares at you and you gesture towards Olross. He follows you closer to him and Olross shifts his body so you can climb on top of him. You use his scales as footholds but you don't put your full weight into your foot at any given time. Bill doesn't know any better however and only 30 seconds into climbing, you hear him slip.
    The immediate tug on the chain caused your arm to be pulled down by the entire weight of Bill. You grunt in the effort as you wrap her hand around the chain so it doesn't pull on your wrist, feeling your shoulder almost pop out of the socket. Bill tries to regain his footing against Olros but he seems to no longer be able to find any foothold, so instead, you hold onto the chain a little tighter and begin a slow, agonizing climb to the top.
    It takes a full minute longer than intended but you finally make it onto Olross' back which is generally a flat surface. You pull Bill up and help him onto his scales, the chain finally slacks once again which gave your arm its rest. You rub your shoulder for a moment then look down at Bill while he slowly stands up. "Are you alright? You almost fell." You go to check his hand and arm to make sure nothing was out of place but he quickly smacks your hand away. "I'm fine." His voice comes out in a low hiss and you are surprised for a moment but brush it off.
    You take a few minutes to check Olross' wing then get down for him to spark his flames upon some stones you had gathered a while ago. The flames light the rocks up and what is left is a hard, red crystal that appears to have flames flickering in its very core. You thank Olross for his help then take your leave, Bill trailing behind you. He hadn't spoken a word since he almost fell and you wonder if he was hurt in any way.
    It takes you both an hour to get home. You let Bill in first then shut the door behind you, going over to your table to put everything away. Some ingredients go under the herbal ingredients while others go to your alchemy room. Finally, once everything is put away, you enter your living room. Everything is done for the day, at least unless someone shows up at your door asking for help like always. You wish you could say the rest of the day was peaceful, but it was quite the opposite.