You and Will head out of the house and into the forest. That's one thing you love about this summer home — the forest, with its wonderful-smelling pine trees and chirping birds and rushing streams, is only a few steps away.

You go fairly deep into the forest, making sure to go in a straight line from the house. You don't want to be near civilization if Will accidentally does something dangerous. A few supernatural creatures pass you and Will, and all of them stop, staring at Will before running off.

"What's up with that?" you ask.

Will sighs, not looking at you. "They recognize me. Not — not me specifically. But they feel what I am. So they run away. I c-can't really blame them, not after what Bill did to this place, but. . ." He trails off.

"But it hurts?" you say softly.

Will nods mutely.

This was not how you were expecting Will's first day of freedom to go. But you do your best to take it in stride.

The two of you walk for a while, not saying anything. The silence is oppressive, but you can't really think of anything to say.

"Yasmin?" Will says suddenly. "What's that?"

Huh? You follow his gaze. He's stopped, peering into the distance. Through the trees, you can see the stone arm of Bill Cipher, stretching out into nothing.

Your heart skips a beat.

Before you can do anything, though, Will suddenly appears in the distance. You jump, turning to look at him — he's still standing next to you, looking puzzled, but he's also over there by the Bill statue. Woah. You knew he could be in multiple places at once, but seeing both versions of him at the same time is unnerving, to say the least.

"Yasmin," calls the Will over by the statue, "why is there a statue of Bill out here?"

You snap back into reality. "Don't go near it!" you say. "There's a force field to keep people out. Dipper said it hurts."

"I doubt I'd get hurt." The Will next to you says this, and you jump. Very unnerving.

"S-still, it's better to just stay away. That's why the force field is there. Going in there could bring him back."

The Will over by the statue disappears, leaving only one Will standing next to you. "Dipper told me how they defeated him. It was rather ingenious, though I'm surprised he couldn't see through the ruse until it was too late. Perhaps. . ." He trails off and shakes his head. With a deep breath, he asks, "Is that. . . is that his body?"

"I-I guess?" you say. You're super curious to know what he was going to say. "Perhaps what?"

Will shrugs, but it doesn't look as casual as he seems to intend. "Perhaps his physical form limited his ability to see into their minds. I guess. . . well, I haven't really tried, but I haven't been able to read your mind since you freed me."

A startled blush springs to your cheeks. "C-could you. . . before?"

"I could. . . feel your thoughts," he said. "Not too often — and it depended on how far your energy jumped in the mindscape. When I pulled you to my cell, I could feel your mind pretty strongly, but it was still. . . fuzzy."

"Oh. Do you. . . want to try that? When we're experimenting?"

He shakes his head to reset his focus. "Right. Experimenting. Let's keep going."

He walks down the forest path, and you follow. You kind of want to ask Will more about his relationship with Bill, but you figure it's a sore subject. Will already has enough to worry about today.

But as you two keep walking, you're pretty sure you see him look back in the direction of the statue a few times.

~~~~~

On the one hand, you're excited to test out Will's powers. On the other hand. . . well. . . you'd never admit this to Will, but you're kind of terrified.

The two of you stop in a small clearing about fifteen minutes after passing the Bill statue. Sunlight filters through a canopy of foliage high above you, casting a cheerful green hue on the forest floor.

Will turns to you, an excited gleam in his eye. "Okay, let's do this thing!" he says. "What do we already know that I can do?"

"Be in multiple places at once," you say immediately. You still haven't gotten over seeing two Wills at the same time.

He nods. "Good hearing, too, apparently." He frowns. "It's hard to know what to focus on. There's just. . . so much."

You frown, too. What can he possibly do to make that better? You can't even imagine what it must be like to hear so much sound. You get overwhelmed by sound a lot, and you just have normal human ears.

"You'll figure it out," you say, though you're not sure if you're speaking truth. And when you do, let me know, because I have no idea. "What else. . . ? Oh, you moved the prison bars out of the way, back in that other dimension."

"Oh, yeah," he says. His eyes get distant with concentration, and he focuses on a fallen log nearby. Nothing happens.

"What are you doing?" you ask.

"I'm trying to move that log."

There's a long silence as he stares at the log. It doesn't even twitch.

"Maybe it only works with metal?" you suggest.

He shakes his head. "No, it works with everything. I could feel it when I used it back in my prison. But now. . . I can still feel it, but I can't access it." He shrugs. "My guess? Getting a physical form gave me the burst of power I needed to escape, and now it's faded. It'll probably come back if I keep trying."

"So you're still. . . settling?"

"For sure." He gives you a half smile. "I'm honestly surprised I can even function, considering how many new sensations and feelings I've been getting these past twenty-four hours."

You nod, even though you don't really understand. "So. . . you can move things with your mind, but not right now. Enhanced hearing, omnipresence. . . that's all I can think of."

"Yeah," he says. Then he grins. "So let's figure out what else I can do."

For the next few hours, you practice with Will's powers. It's slow going — his power tires him out easily, as it turns out. After trying for a long time to move things with his mind, he succeeds in uprooting a wildflower from the ground, but it's all he can do before he needs to sit on the log to catch his breath. You stand next to him, ready to support him if necessary, but he waves you off. Once he's seated on the log, he holds out the wildflower. "Here," he says, sounding like he just ran a mile in sweltering heat, "for you."

You smile at him and tuck the flower behind your ear. See? How could he be dangerous when he does sweet things like this? You try to push away your growing fears surrounding his powers. Will would never use them for evil. Right?

But the feelings persist, despite your best efforts to rid them from your mind.

Once he recovers from the strain of levitation, he wants to try out his omnipresence. You sit next to him on the log, watching as more and more Wills appear around the clearing. Each one looks a little more strained than the last. Finally, on the fifth copy of himself, Will's powers fail him again. The copies disappear, leaving only the Will sitting next to you. Sweat runs down his face.

You kick yourself for thinking this, but maybe it's a good thing that his powers tire him out so quickly. He can't do too much harm that way.

"You okay?" you ask, once again shoving your traitorous thoughts out of your mind.

Will nods but can't get the air to speak. "I have decided," he says after a minute, "that physical exhaustion is the worst."

Well, you agree with that much. "Absolutely. We don't have to do any more today, if you don't want to."

He thinks that over for a moment, then shakes his head. "Just give me a minute."

'A minute' turns out to be five minutes. Then ten. You sit on your log, growing more bored by the second. You thought it would be more exciting than this. At least it's not dangerous so far. The wildflower in your hair tickles your ear, and the surrounding forest sounds are pleasant to hear. It makes you wonder how much Will is hearing right now.

Finally, Will takes a deep breath and gets to his feet. He sways for a moment, but then steadies.

"Okay," he says, "I can keep going."