Sincerely Yours, Bill Cipher

The Pinnacle of Happiness

Soos is thankfully letting us use his pickup truck, so we are soon on our way. It's one of those vehicles with three seats up front and three in the back, but we decide to have all three of us up front, even though we have to squeeze. Actually, scratch that. Yule technically doesn't have a body, therefor, we're not squeezing. But anyway, I think we're just too nervous to sit with so much space to ourselves, even if this drive will push about four hours.
Pacifica's driving, so I'm in the passenger seat, and Yule is between us. It's silent for the first few minutes until Yule lowers his head.
"It's so hard seeing her cry," he groans with his head between his hands.
That's when my phone rings. I read the caller ID.
It's Mabel.
My heart jumps up in my throat as I immediately answer, praying that it's her, and not someone else calling to break horrible news.
"Hello?" My voice comes out as a squeak when the call connects.
"Bill?" The voice on the other end is weak, but easily recognizable as Mabel. It's her.
"Mabel!" I cry out, startling my companions in the car. "Oh my stars, are you alright?!" I grip the phone tightly and press it against my ear, anxiously awaiting an answer.
"N-No. Not really..."
"The pulse didn't end?" I ask, my heart splitting.
"No," she answers hoarsely, her voice barely audible. "I just- needed- to hear your voice." She exhales heavily with each statement, as if every word is causing her pain. "Grunkle Ford said- you left."
     "I did. I'm sorry," I tell her, hoping the despair isn't so obvious in my voice. She needs hope right now. It's all I can give her. "But we had to go. We're finding a Jinni and getting a wish to put a stop to these pulses once and for all. We hope to be back by tonight. So just hold on a little bit longer. It's almost over, my love."
     "D-Dipper wants to- to talk to Pacifica," Mabel makes out.
     My phone must be turned up really loud, because Pacifica gasps and sobs suddenly. "He's awake?" she asks urgently.
     I hand the phone to her. Overwhelmed, she pulls the car over to the side of the road. "Dipper? Honey, are you okay?" She waits and listens painstakingly. Terror and agonized sadness cloud her gaze with every second that passes. "Yeah, I miss you, too. I'm sorry you weren't awake before we left." She listens for a few more moments before she shushes him. "No, no, just save your strength, okay? I love you so much. I will do everything I can to get that wish." She pauses again, then hums a broken laugh. A blush creeps to her cheeks. "As long as I'm safe. Of course, dearest. I'll see you soon. Promise." She ends the call and her head droops.
I reach over Yule and take Pacifica's clammy hand, choking back tears of my own. "It's going to be okay," I comfort her gently. "We're going to make it in time."
     She lifts her head and wipes away her tears with her free hand. "Yeah. Okay." She reaches for the key to start the ignition back up.
     "Uh, I can drive if you want," I offer.
     She shakes her head, taking a deep breath. "No. It's okay. I can do it."
     So we continue to drive in silence.
     I take off my eyepatch so that I can look at it. I love how precisely it's stitched together, crafted with so much care. I finger the embroidered golden letters on the edges, letters representing myself and the four people that matter most to me. Despite my best efforts, my eye wells with tears, and I grit my teeth to swallow back a cry. My friends matter so much to me now. In my life before, I was too inhumane to look past my own selfish desires. But now I realize how wrong I was. I finally reached the pinnacle of happiness, and if we don't succeed tonight, it all could be ripped from my hands. I give in, and the tears fall.
It's barely been a few moments before I feel a weird sensation across my face. I shiver from a sudden chill, then watch in complete shock as the tears float off my cheeks, curtesy of Yule. He focuses with such intensity, it's almost funny. The tears follow his point, and fall to the floor of the car when he drops his interest in them.
"What- What are you doing?" I ask in surprise. I feel awful, but I almost want to laugh.
Yule wags his finger at me. "I know this is sad and all, but we need to keep our focus. Save our tears for later. We have a mission ahead of us that we need clear, sharp minds for. Plus," he looks back toward the road and crosses his arms. "It's depressing and weird when you cry."
"Excuse me, but weird?"
"Dude, have you ever seen someone with only one eye cry before? Do you realize that they fall from your empty eye socket too? It's downright creepy."
"Creepy? You're a freaking ghost! Look who's talking!"
Yule smirks. Pacifica even giggles from her seat. "Not gonna lie," she says, her voice still choked up, but sounding happier, "that thing you just did was pretty impressive, Yule. You're getting a lot better at hovering stuff. You should totally prank people the next time we go to the diner."
Yule's eyes light up. "Can we?!"
     "Yule, that's, like, what ghosts are made for!" Pacifica exclaims in response, a smile pulling at her lips.
     The two continue in bubbly conversation. And then it hits me. Yule was trying to cheer us up, and it worked. How blessed are we to have a friend like this?
     I find an old-timey CD from the glovebox and suggest, "How about some road trip karaoke before we all meet our dooms?"
     "Do it," Yule challenges, narrowing his eyes. "I'll win."
     "Bill, watch your pessimism," Pacifica warns, but I can tell she's just playing along.
     And even though I feel guilty about it, it feels so good just to share this moment with my friends, badly singing our hearts out, throwing away our worries for the moment.
     And for now...
     That's enough.