Exonemesis

Chapter 20: The Meeting

~"C-can I learn magic?"

Once the younger Dipper asked the question, everything started to fade. He couldn't understand what Daniel had replied with or even see their faces anymore. It was all blurry which was strange to Dipper since this didn't happen before when he first saw his memories. Something must be wrong.

Dipper was being drawn back into the present day and when his eyes slowly blinked opened, he had to take a moment for his mind to make sense of what he saw. Of course, he was now suffering from a big headache as his memories carefully filled the missing gaps in his own mind.

"Are you okay?" Bill asked but it sounded like a ringing in Dipper's ears. Dipper had to hold his own head because of the headache as he tried to sit up, only to fall back down. Lucky for Dipper though, Bill held him in the slot between his legs, keeping Dipper's back pressed against his chest.

Dipper noticed quickly and sat up straight, not leaning against Bill anymore but the quick movement only worsened his headache. "That was all?" Dipper asked, feeling confused about why the memory stopped on a very important part.

"No, there are more memories trapped in journal two, but the human mind can't handle so many memories forced all at once. I'll show you the rest once you at least had a 24-hour rest." Bill explained and helped Dipper onto his feet once his headache was now less painful. Bill eyed Dipper carefully as he stared up at the journal, "What did you see?" he asked carefully.

Dipper turned his head and his brown eyes connected with the demon's yellow ones. He could see that he was worried for him but Dipper still didn't understand why. Dipper then looked away trying to remember everything he saw, which was a lot. It was weeks of memories with not only Bill Cipher himself but normal memories of what he did during those weeks. For example, Dipper chopping wood with Grunkle Stan, talking with Wendy, exploring with Mabel, and even funny and strange memories with Soos. Also another memory he remembers;

"I remember now how scared you get when someone would wake you up from your sleep when you're inside the tree," Dipper mentioned and Bill froze, holding his breath. "It's okay." he reassured, "I think it was the second day from when I first found you. You weren't use to someone waking you up so when I tapped your shoulder for the first time, you almost burned my eyebrows off. It's pretty funny if you think about it." Dipper laughed but awkwardly came to a stop when Bill was clearly not finding it amusing.

"I could have killed you that day," Bill stated. Signs of guilt all over his face.

Dipper rubbed the side of his own arm, "Yeah, but it was only my nose that got burned." he then looked back at Bill, Dipper's expression showed empathy towards the demon as he spoke, "Plus you healed me so everything is okay. You told me weeks later why you were so freaked out in the first place. Dan- I mean Paul, tortured you. So I understand why you reacted like that."

Bill doesn't say anything because he wasn't sure what else to say. But there was one question he had in mind but asking it made him only feel more shame. He looked away from Dipper, not able to look him in the eye when he asked, "What do you think of me now?"

Dipper shrugs, "I-I don't know." he said as he scratched the back of his head.

How did he think of Bill now? He knows more about him, he had learned of his trauma, learned about how he was tortured, learned about his parents being murdered. If that doesn't mess someone up mentally then he's not sure what would. But Bill has been messed up, to the point even Dipper sees why he hates humans so much.

But then again, Bill did kill his great uncle Ford. Could he really forgive him for that?

Dipper let his hand fall to his side, "I'm not sure what to think but I know I see you as more human."