Y/N's POV

"The truth is always hard to find,
But receiving some answers may give you some peace of mind.
To start your quest, the first key is what you must acquire.
Do this by looking where your father first discovered Cipher."

I read off of the note, causing Markus to look at me with wide eyes and a look of utter shock. His reaction caught me off guard, making me lean back a bit from him as a result. "...What...?"

"You know how to read Caesar Cipher? Since when?!"

"Oh," I started laughing, putting the piece of paper down while laying back against my mattress with my hands behind my head. "Bill taught me how to translate a Caesar Cipher message on our first date. After I arrived back home and realized it'd be a while till I saw Bill again, I thought it would be fun to impress my demon boyfriend when I returned by showing off my ability to read in Caesar Cipher fluently. ...I have had a lot of spare time on my hands."

"I can tell," Markus said, shaking his head with a slight chuckle. "Okay, so you figured out what the riddle says... any idea as to what the riddle means?"

"Nada. I've been up all night trying to figure it out but... I'm stuck. I mean- it's talking about my dad, but what does my dad have to do with any of this? The only way my dad was ever connected to Bill was when he had to listen to me speak about the wheel all the time when I was growing up. How can he possibly have been connected to Bill's past if he didn't even know he existed until two years ago?"

Markus frowned, getting up from the bed while picking up the piece of paper with the clue in the process. He began to read it over repeatedly while he paced my room, mumbling the clue under his breath in his Ceasar tongue. It was interesting to listen to him speak the words, like how Bill spoke Ceasar to me on our first date. Looking at the words on a piece of paper, one would never think those words could be spoken aloud. Yet here Markus was, speaking the words as though he were speaking Spanish or German. It sounded as though he were speaking gibberish, but I knew that was far from the truth.

"Sweetheart," Markus stopped in his tracks, lowering the piece of paper as something seemed to click in his head. "What if the clue isn't talking about your biological dad, but instead... it's talking about the man you look up to as your father-figure?"

"I-... I suppose that would make a lot more sense," I muttered softly as I began to think about it. Yes, it would make sense why the clue would be telling me to go look where Ford met Cipher because both he and Bill have a long history and that makes much more sense than figuring out why my biological father would have anything to do with Bill's past. My only question, however, is how on earth this demon of music knew that I saw Ford as my dad. The only people who know that Ford and I have a relationship like that would be the people within this house. It is not like Ford and I have gone through the adoption papers and screamed to the world that he is now my father instead of that garbage man who attempted to raise me but failed to do so. It is more like the both of us share a trusting bond with one another, that no matter what I know I can go to him if I ever need anything and he would be there to look after me and protect me from anyone or anything that dared to harm me mentally or physically. He is the old wise guy who has been teaching me new things, helping me to learn and to grow into the person I want to be. It is a bond we acknowledge, as well as the rest of the members in the household.

So how did the demon of music know that I consider Ford to be the closest thing I have to a dad?

This... definitely made me feel on edge.

"So, if this is talking about Ford, how are we going to figure out where he had first found out about Bill's existence? It's not like we can just walk up to him and ask for that information." Markus attempted to throw the paper back onto the bed which ended up being a pretty crappy throw that caused the paper to fall, with style, onto the floor. I had to hold back a snicker when the look of disappointment had spread across Markus' face, making him look so defeated in that moment.

"...Why can't we just 'walk up to him and ask for that information?'" I tilted my head to the side, raising a brow.

"Wait- are you being serious right now? Obviously we can't just ask him! What if he were to get suspicious about what we were up to-"

"He won't. I practically throw random questions at him all the time. He doesn't think anything of it when I do, and sometimes he throws a 'pop quiz' in my direction later on just to make sure I had been paying attention when he answered my question. It's a fun game we play together. He'll just think my question is a part of our game and won't think anything of it," I explained to the demon.

"Wait- really?" Markus asked, a bit surprised by this. He looked at me as though he could not believe that we had the perfect excuse to use to get away with this and not have Ford become too suspicious of us. He thought it over before he nodded slowly in my direction while giving a small shrug. "I mean... if it works, it works. I'm not going to question it. Let's do it."

I smiled brightly, standing up while grabbing the box and note in the process. I quickly walked over to my dresser, opening up one of the drawers which just so happened to be my sock drawer, and buried the box underneath all of my clean pairs of socks.

"Alright then, that's what we'll do. You get out so I can change- and make sure my breakfast is still warm. Once I finish up breakfast, we can go find Ford," I said, turning back around to face him. Markus nodded, playfully saluting to me before leaving my room and closing the door behind him. Sighing, I ran my hands through my hair before going to my closet to pick out an outfit for the day. I really hope nothing bad happens to Markus now that he is helping me with this.

An hour passed before I was all cleaned up, dressed, and full from the breakfast Markus had made. I feel bad for saying this... but Locke was much better at cooking than Cipher, surprisingly. Luckily, Bill will never know that I believe he is a terrible cook. I will take that secret of mine to the grave just so I never have to be the one to bring down his very large ego. I mean sure- I believe his ego needs to drop greatly from time-to-time... but I will never be the cause of it, unless I am trying to prove to be better than him in something. I mean- is it bad that I want to boost my own ego sometimes, too? And what better way to do that then to prove that I am better than my demonic boyfriend at something?

After the two of us cleaned up from breakfast, we headed upstairs in search for Ford. Luckily both he and Stanley were in the kitchen just talking with one another. The two of us were able to catch some of the conversation before they had noticed our presence.

"Oh come on! Why not?!"

"Because knowing you, if we took a trip to Las Vegas you will more than likely lose all our money!"

"Or we could leave with more money than we entered Vegas with! And think about all the hot babes we could meet while we're there! Like it or not, Ford, we're getting old! You really want to die knowing you never got the chance to settle down with someone and have a good time?"

"I am satisfied with the life I have lived, Stanley. Hot babes or not, I would say I accomplished exactly what I wanted to get done in my lifespan, and if I were to die today, I would die happy with no regrets on the decisions I have made up until this point."

"Oh geez- can you please not jinx yourself?" I cut in, stepping further into the room while Markus casually headed to the fridge, probably grabbing a Dr. Pepper if I had to guess. "No one is dying today or any time soon, especially not you! I still need you to walk me down the aisle when my wedding day comes and for you to meet my future kids! And if you die before any of that occurs, I will raise you from the dead just to kill you again as payback for dying on me!"

"Well, good morning to you too, my child," Ford said, chuckling a bit as he extended an arm towards me. I smiled, walking over to his side and engulfing him in a hug. "Were you able to sleep well?"

"Yeah, I slept alright. Though, it was quite difficult for me to sleep with a 'curiosity killed the cat question' plaguing my mind the entire night," I stated, removing myself from the hug before seating myself next to him.

He chuckled at this as he straightened his posture and looked down at me. "Curiosity killed the cat question" has become our code word for our game now. The questions I ask can range from the absolute most extreme question I can possibly think of to a simple riddle that I have been stuck on for the past hour. There is no limit to the question I can ask, whether it be an Einstein question or an "I should have known that" question. Ford finds it fun to answer them for me and if he does not know the answer at the time my question is asked, he will surely know the answer to it by the day's end.

"Well then, if it's a question in need of answering, an answer is what I shall provide to you. What is it that you want to know?"

Before I could ask Ford my question, Stan let a loud and exaggerated groan slip pass his lips as he stood up and stretched his back a bit. "Well if you two are going to nerd out, then I might as well head out. Hey- demon, aren't you supposed to be in the gift shop working? What's the point in having a demon for a slave if you don't cooperate."

Markus froze, hugging the soda to his chest as he looked down. "I was-... I was actually hoping I could take the day off... Since Y/n is no longer forced to remain inside the shack, I figured she'd want a day to go out into town and get some fresh air. Everyone else is busy today and I didn't know how you guys would feel about
Y/n going out on her own with that demon still on the loose... So I figured I could play 'bodyguard' for the little troublemaker for the day... If... that's okay with you, Mr. Pines?" Markus said, keeping his head down while tightening his hold on the soda bottle.

"I don't-"

"That's quite alright with me, Markus," Ford quickly interrupted his brother, causing Stan to send a glare in his direction. "You've been working extremely hard lately. If you want the day off, then take it. All I ask is that you make sure Y/n stays safe while you two are out running across town."

Markus lifted his head up, readjusting his hat as he nodded rapidly in response. "O-Of course! Thank you, Mr. Pines. I'll make sure she stays safe, I promise."

"You better," Stan growled, stepping in front of the demon who shrunk back a bit, "because if you don't, I have a brass knuckle with your name on it. Polished and ready to use. You understand?"

"Y-Yeah... I-... I got it..." Markus lowered his head again, tensing up a bit.

Stan continued to stand before him with a glare that could practically kill someone for a couple more seconds before his expression finally softened up. He chuckled a bit as he lifted his hand up and placed it on top of Markus' head only to push his hat down and cover his face with it. "Good! Enjoy your day off, and try not to get into too much trouble. Oh- and if you could steal me a package of toilet paper while you're out, I would very much appreciate it! We just ran out." With that, Stan left the kitchen without another word, leaving Markus stunned and confused as he took his hat off his face and placed it back on his head the correct way.

Ford and I sat there confused, wondering what the heck just happened. Stan is probably the most terrifying human being I have ever met. One minute he is cracking jokes and doesn't seem to have a care in the world, and the next he is breaking people's jaws and beating the crap out of them. Stan is... Stan. That is the best answer one could give if anyone were to ask the question: "What is wrong with him?" He is just... Stan.

"...Sorry about my brother. You were going to ask me your question?" Ford spoke up, trying to get back on track to what we had been previously discussing.

"Oh right! Yeah- So my question: I've always wanted to know... How did you discover Bill in the first place? You discovering Bill is what started this all. And if it wasn't for you discovering him, I would have never gotten the chance to meet my demonic boyfriend."

"Hmm... Honestly, I was surprised you hadn't asked that question sooner," Ford said as he stood up and walked out of the room only to return moments later with a map and a sharpie in hand. He spread the map out along the kitchen table, peaking Markus' interest as he walked over while drinking his soda. I leaned forward, looking over the map- which happened to be a map of Gravity Falls, Oregon. Ford opened the sharpie by biting on the cap and ripping it off, placing his free hand on the map to keep it steady as his eyes scanned the paper. When he finally found what he was looking for, he went "Aha!" and went ahead and circled an area just on the edge of the paper. "Over here on this side of Gravity Falls is a series of caves that I had explored in. As I was searching for nothing in particular, I stumbled upon cave paintings that someone had made of Bill Cipher and a way to summon him. I was a curious idiot back then who wanted to see if the summoning spell would actually work as the description said he was supposedly a being of answers... so I spoke the summoning spell aloud and summoned Bill. ...And well, you know how the rest of the story went-"

I nodded my head, finding this all fascinating as Ford folded up the map and handed it over to me. "So a cave painting...? That's how you discovered him? ...Geez, sometimes I tend to forget how old that demon boyfriend of mine is. That's insane... Thank you, though, for answering my question!"

"Anytime. Now, Markus said you wanted to head outside. Well, I'm not going to keep you cooped up in here now that the bracelet is gone. You have fun, alright? Make sure not to stay out for too long, though. And bring some water! It's incredibly hot today, which is definitely strange for us being in Fall..."

"Okay! I will!" I smiled, standing up and giving him one last hug before I grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge and headed out with Markus.

We walked out of the house, heading over to my fixed-up car as I took a seat behind the wheel and Markus took shotgun.

"So- we're going cave exploring?"

"It has to be where the first key lies so... Yeah. Cave exploring," I handed Markus the map so he could be my personal GPS. Starting the car, the two of us took off while I played the remix version of Shotgun by George Ezra off of my phone.

~~~

After an hour of driving, we finally made it to the caves that Ford had located on the map. I stared ahead at the caves in front of us in shock as I climbed out of the car and walked out towards them. Markus stuck close behind me, looking down at the map and seeing which cave Ford had placed a star on before pointing at the last cave.

"That's the one with the cave paintings."

"Then that's the one we head down," I took a deep breath, gripping my water bottle and phone tightly before walking over to the cave opening. Markus had been hesitant to follow at first, but ended up following after me nonetheless.

Inside the cave, I could instantly feel the humidity in the air. At first I could tolerate it, but traveling deeper into the darkness it started getting really hot and it became hard to breathe. I opened my water, taking occasional sips from it as the flashlight on my phone continued to shine into the darkness and help guide our path through. The ceiling was covered with sharp rocks as well as what looked to be sleeping bats, so the two of us made sure to stay as silent as possible. Since Markus hadn't brought water and had already finished his soda, he was having a bit more difficulty in the humidity. He had taken his jacket off halfway through, leaving him in just a green t-shirt now. Sweat beads formed on my forehead, as well as on the powerless demon's face. And body. Sweat stains could easily be seen on his shirt. It's a good thing I wore black or else I would look just as sweaty as he does right now.

It felt as though we had been walking for hours, trying to keep moving forward and get to the end of this cave. How big was this cave? It looked much smaller on the outside. Then again, we have been walking on a downhill slope. How long is this going to take? I wanted to get back before Bill returned home from "work". Hopefully I will still be able to if we pick up the pace and hurry up. Just as I think about walking a bit faster to get this over with, however, I hear Markus yelp behind me and quickly turn around to see what was the matter. He was just standing there, though, rubbing his face and groaning in pain.

"Markus? What the heck, quit fooling around! We need to keep going. I'm sure we're almost near the end-"

"I can't," Markus flatly said as he lowered his hand and stared at me.

"...Can't or won't?" I asked, crossing my arms in irritation. He wasn't seriously backing out of this now after coming this far, was he?!

He sighed, lifting his hand up and pushing it forward- which caused an invisible wall that I hadn't noticed to appear all of a sudden as his hand pressed up against it. "Can't. ...We're on the very edge of Gravity Falls. So because I'm a demon-... I can't keep going. This is where I have to stop." He dropped his hand once again, looking around at the cave walls before looking back down at me. "Sweetheart-... You don't have to keep going, you know. I mean- is this worth it? This could be a trap that you're going into alone since I'm stuck back here- and Bill and Stan- and literally everyone in that household would kill me if something happened to you," Markus said as he leaned up against the barrier.

I looked down, replaying his words for a moment before sighing and shaking my head. "I'm sorry, but I do have to do this. I-... I'll be quick. Nothing's going to happen to me." I am honestly not sure whether I was trying to convince him or myself as I turned around and walked away. I heard him call out to me in protest, but I couldn't hear him. I was too drowned out in my own head. It was as though my thoughts were divided into two, one side telling me to just go home and forget about all of this while the other was as smooth and silky as the demon's voice telling me to continue forward. Clearly one side was winning... and I don't know if it is the side I want to win or not.

I continued further down the cave, having run out of water a while ago. I pulled my shirt up a bit, using a hair tie that was on my wrist to tie the end of my shirt in a knot and making a crop top. It at least cooled me off a little bit, not too much. As I continued to walk, I slipped and began to fall down a slight downward slope, stumbling until finally coming to a complete stop at the bottom and groaning in pain. That had been completely uncalled for... Though, I probably should have watched where I was going. I moved to stand back up, rubbing my head in pain before looking up and nearly dropping my phone when I saw the wall that my phone's flashlight was illuminating. Did I hit my head that hard... or was what I was seeing really there? Slowly, I began to approach the wall before me, my eyes scanning across the surface and stopping once I was right in front of it. It looked extremely ancient with words written on the walls that I could not translate. A lost language, maybe? How old were these paintings? There were painted eyes along the walls as well as figures of men bowing down on their hands and knees. In the center of it all, the thing they were bowing down to and praising, was none other than the golden triangular dream demon, Bill Cipher. I slowly, hesitantly, moved to place my hand against the painting, in complete shock of it all. I knew Bill had lived for a long time and had tricked the Pines family... but how many others had he tricked and betrayed before then? How long has he been around that these people seemed to have worshipped him back then like some sort of god? This is something I should be asking Bill, not searching for the answers myself and going behind his back. I know this, I really do- but my voice of reason keeps being placed on mute. What is happening to me? Why am I doing this? Why am I doing this to myself? My fingers traced along the picture of Bill, before out of the corner of my eye I spotted something shimmering and couldn't help but to turn and look. It seemed like there was an old miner's helmet on the ground, with a golden key placed right on top of it.

Don't grab it. Don't grab it. Don't- Stop!

I could not listen, no matter how hard I tried to turn back and just simply walk out of there empty handed, my feet kept walking forward until I was bending down and picking the key up. One key down. Two more to go.

Markus' POV

I stood there with my back up against the barrier wall, humming to myself as I waited for the human to get back. I begin to think to myself, asking the question on how I ended up here, how this became my life. I know why, I made a bunch of mistakes and now I am attempting to redeem myself by being a slave to a bunch of Insects and trying to look after the human that I destroyed the life of. I sighed, ceasing my humming for a moment only for my ears to perk up. What is that...? I opened my eyes, looking around before slowly walking over towards one of the solid cave walls and pressing my ear up against it. No, that's not where the sound is coming from... I looked around, looking out past the border line that I couldn't cross and noticed a large rock off to the side. There were two large rocks, actually... one on either side of the tunnel, directly across from one another. Either that was coincidental... No, no something was off about these rocks... Because they weren't rocks.

Due to how extremely hot it was in the caves, it seemed to be melting the paint off of these large paper mache boulders. Instantly I became alerted, trying to go up to one of them only to be stopped by the invisible wall once again. Growling lowly, I pressed my ear up against the wall and tried to listen for the sound. Ticking... That's the sound of ticking- My face paled as I quickly took a step back. Run. That was the first thought that crossed my mind- but Y/n. She is still down there.

"Frick!"

I tried to run and ram into the wall in an attempt to break through, but it was no use. Powers or not, I had demon blood coursing through my veins still.

"Y/N! WE NEED TO GO NOW!' I screamed, hoping she wasn't too far and could hear me. I tried to think of something to do- But I can't exactly stop two bombs that I can't reach! I started panicking only to see a figure running up to me. Great! She heard me! Y/n came running over, holding something tightly in her hand but I chose to ignore whatever that was for now.

"Markus?! What's wrong? I thought I heard-"

"Bombs! We're leaving NOW!"

As soon as she crossed the border, I quickly grasped her hand and began sprinting for it back to the entrance. How many more bombs were there?! Was it just the two or did we enter a cave of bombs without even realizing it?! I knew this had all been too easy. We started running as fast as we could. Forget the heat and the feeling of dehydration, adrenaline was pumping through my veins and I was too focused on wanting to live than on anything else at the moment. While we kept running, I couldn't stop hearing the ticking. We were surrounded, weren't we? I looked back at Y/n- the fear in her eyes... Just hang on, sweetheart, we're not dying today on my watch. I kept running, noticing Y/n begin to slow down. She couldn't keep up. I didn't think twice, I quickly picked her up bridal style in my arms and kept going. She instinctively wrapped her arms around my neck, coughing and panting from the running.It felt like we had been walking an eternity just to get to the end of the cave, but now with a sense of urgency and nonstop running, it took only a few minutes to go back all the way through the cave and see light at the end of the tunnel. At that exact moment when I saw the exit just up ahead, I began to hear the first two bombs go off behind us which caused the ground to shake. I stumbled for a moment, losing my hearing as the blast was incredibly loud and only amplified within the cave. The first two seemed to set off the rest as I began to hear more bombs going off.

No, no, no- Not today-

I quickly caught my footing and began to run faster. I could feel large gusts of wind hitting my back as well as pebbles and rocks of all sizes which caused me to hug Y/n tighter in an attempt to shield her from the impact. For a moment I thought we weren't going to make it- but the final bombs that went off seemed to cause a massive explosion that threw me off the ground and I was sent flying out of the cave, tumbling onto the ground with my whole body wrapping around the human to keep her safe. I tumbled for a good bit before finally coming to a stop and laying my head down against the grass, coughing my lungs out and trying to take a deep breath of fresh air. I looked up, my vision incredibly blurry as I couldn't focus on anything, but I could make out the figure of Y/n shaking me in a panicked manner. She had sat up, seeming as though she was trying to talk to me, but I couldn't hear her. All I could hear was this obnoxiously loud ringing, but not her. The ground shook and rumbled and I turned around to look back at the cave, watching as large rocks collapsed and covered the entrance altogether. I let out a sigh, easing up a bit as I laid my head back down on the ground and closed my eyes. We got out... We made it out. I just... need a minute.

It did not take long before I had passed out and my world went dark.