Gravity Rises (S3)

SP: Part Two

That night, Lee had a visitor in his dreams.

He stood in an empty field with a blue sky and green grass. The dream world was fuzzy, given that Lee's mind wasn't constructing it from a specific memory, but from a hypothetical knowledge. A stuttering wind blew past him, but he couldn't feel it in this dream state. He simply knew that wind was blowing. What did wind feel like, again?

Lee took a step forward and peered through the long grass. There was something down there, something sitting in the dirt. Lee knelt down to get a closer look.

"Hi there, Blind Eye," said Bill Cipher.

The triangle lay on the ground, blending in with the dirt around him. His body was a dull grey, but little patches of glowing yellow poked through the stony surface. His single eye stared up at Lee.

"Hey, Bill," said Lee. He held out a hand, and Bill took it, pulling himself into the air so that he floated a foot away from Lee's face.

"You're dreaming," Bill said kindly. "Remember, you can only talk with me in dreams."

Lee snapped into lucidity. "Oh," he said, a little discombobulated from the experience. Then he deflated. "I thought I was actually outside."

Bill floated forward and put a hand on Lee's shoulder. "Unfortunately not," he said. "Hopefully you'll get some sun soon, though."

Lee just shrugged.

"Hey, I had an idea," Bill said. "It'll sound weird at first, but hear me out."

"What is it?"

Bill floated to the ground and patted it, gesturing for Lee to sit. He did, and Bill sat next to him, his thin black legs stretching in front of him.

"Percy's worried about you," Bill said. "He feels he has to constantly watch you to make sure you don't hurt yourself. And his fears aren't unfounded — you keep trying to escape. You keep hurting yourself."

Lee shrugged again, uncomfortably. "Yeah, well," he said, "according to him, I'm a danger to myself. So that shouldn't be surprising."

"What if I could help you be less of a danger to yourself?"

Lee didn't want to perk up, but he did. Kind of like how he didn't want to believe what Percy told him, but he did.

"You seem interested."

Another shrug. Try not to look intrigued.

Bill wasn't fooled by the act. "I could make a deal with you," he said. "If you stop trying to escape, I could redirect your attention somewhere else. You'd be comfortable in the Order; you'd be comfortable without your memory."

Lee shot him a wary look. "How would you do that?"

"When people let me, I can change their brain chemistry. I can exaggerate some mental pathways or suppress others."

Now Lee really perked up. "Wait! Could you restore my memory?"

"No," Bill said sadly. "Those pathways have been destroyed entirely. I can only work with what's already there."

Lee stared at him. The dream world darkened.

"Calm down," Bill said. "Calm down, or you'll wake yourself up. I can't restore your memory, but I can help you adapt to your situation. I can suppress your desire to get your memory back."

Lee's expression closed into skepticism. "Why would I want that? I need my memory back!"

"You can't get it back," Bill said. "It's impossible. Why destroy yourself by pining after something you can't have? Your best option is to make a deal with me. You stop trying to escape. I make your situation more bearable."