~No One's POV~

"NOW!" Bill screamed, flying out of his human body and returning to his original form.

(Y/N) did as was told and turned on the machine, pressing the triangular button immediately after.

This was it! He could feel it! One whole month of being stuck in a smelly, squishy meat sack and now he was free! The world around him, which had turned gray the moment he left the body, was slowly beginning to melt back into color as Bill was gaining a physical form. Not the form he had preferred the last time, but it was a step closer.

Bill felt himself uncharacteristically wondering if (Y/N) would like how he normally is. He decided to brush it off. She'd like it in due time. He, of course, would already know this outcome as it had happened to him. That, or it was bodily functions to enjoy her shape of body, with those (e/c) eyes and (hair length) (hair color) hair... Bill shook himself of the thought and focused on stopping his tumbling through the air.

Soon he had stopped and the world was in full color, every one of (Y/N)'s machines were dinging and flashing, doing whatever they did, the tree outside was swaying gently in the wind. Bill was now a resident of this dimension, and he quite enjoyed it. "You can turn around now!" Bill exclaimed, hearing the echo in his voice he had nearly forgotten.

(Y/N) turned around and was, quite understandably, taken aback. "Wh-... you... triangle... one eye... what..." she stumbled over her words, appearing quite stupid and amusing Bill greatly.

Bill chuckled, tipping his hat toward her, "This is my normal form! I look pretty eye-catching, huh?"

"W-well eye-catching is one way to put it..."

Had Bill still had a mouth, he would have grinned. He enjoyed surprising people, and (Y/N) being one to not be easily surprised was a bonus.

(Y/N) looked at the body on the floor. He began to move ever-so-slightly, waking up. "Did you... did you possess that guy?" she asked, her expression of dumbfounded surprise quickly turning to that of alarm and... terror?

Bill read it as such, not understanding why she seemed scared. Alarm, he could understand. But terror? That just didn't make any sense. He had been sure to get her out of that Zigzag Inn place before the Pines could wedge too far into her trust. He decided to play it off, thinking up a quick story, "Well, yeah. You can't really have a trillion-year-old muse looking like a human, can you? Besides, he did it all willingly! I didn't force him or trick him or anything. I'm very nice, you should know!"

She didn't seem to buy it. And that began to anger Bill. He hated deal breakers, especially with those who were of extreme importance to him. Yet, he decided to let it slide. Just this once.

~Your POV~

Dipper was right, you knew it the moment you saw that man left on the floor. Bill tried to play it off, and you could tell he intended for you to believe him. It was almost like second nature to the yellow illuminati before you. There was no stumbling, no pausing to think, no outlandish story. You would have believed him, if you hadn't dealt with those exact. Same. Lies. Coming from another man's mouth. That was the one thing Bill seemed to forget. The instant you knew you couldn't trust someone, was the instant that someone was removed from your life.

"I... I need to get some food... let all of this... sink in..." you said slowly, forcibly calming your heart rate and keeping a tone of simple shock. You could tell Bill was reading your thoughts and expressions, as his one large eye was focused directly on you, hardly moving. It was disturbing, to say the least, and gave you an easy way to think of something besides running to find Dipper and the others. Bill didn't know, but you were also an expert in lies, only you were better at detecting them.

Bill seemed satisfied with your words, thoughts, and expressions, and relaxed his gaze on you. Flashing with every word he spoke, he adjusted his bow tie with a squeak, "Alright. I'll come with you."

You were expecting that. "I don't think it'd be best... You aren't exactly looking normal right now and... well... it's freaking me a little too much," you said. That part was not a lie.

"Oh... well... come back soon, okay? I guess I need to do a couple things anyway," Bill replied, glancing at the body on the floor just slightly.

You nodded and weaved your way around the body, subconsciously pocketing the rope of stable energy and leaving the building. You briskly walked to your truck and drove off, seeing Bill wave you goodbye from the window. You gave him an uncomfortable smile and waved back, driving out of the long driveway and speeding down the highway.

Not too much later, you entered a parking lot in Zigzag and hopped out of your car, looking around. What were you even thinking? How could you find Dipper and the others? The last time you saw him was a week ago in Gresham, and you had told him off for saying not to trust Bill. Of course, they were probably gone by this point. It was too late.

You began to walk, rubbing your arms and shivering. In your panic you had forgotten to grab a coat and you were out in the cold, midnight mountain air in nothing but a thin, (f/c) tank top, yellow pants covered in little nachos (it was originally an entire outfit complete with shirt, slippers, and a sleep mask which you never used, meant to match the onesie for your ex), and a pair of worn slipper boots. You began to walk, holding your arms tight to your chest and watching clouds of breath rise into the air.

You were paying no attention to what was in front of you and ended up bumping right into someone. Said someone happened to be running and completely knocked you down onto the ground, knocking the wind out of you.

"Oh! Are you okay?" asked a familiar voice, but not Dipper's.

You gave a little squeak in response, unable to say much more.

"Sorry about that! Here, let me help you up," they said, taking your outstretched hand.

You looked up, noticing a faded red sweater covered by a trench coat. A pair of glasses rested on his face, reflecting the light from a street lamp and giving him no eyes. He pulled you up with a grunt and you could see clearly into his glasses now, seeing he did in fact have eyes.

"Hey, I recognize you. You're that girl from-"

"The Zigzag Inn. I know. Nice to meet you again," you interrupted. "But thank god I found you! I need your help. Really badly."

"I'm sorry, I can't help right now. I've detected a gravitational anomaly and I-"

"I was the cause of that anomaly. And others. You may have noticed pebbles lifting off of the ground, plants getting ripped from their roots, the works. That's what I need help w-"

"HEY! FORD! WAIT UP!" said a gruffer voice. Stan.

Stan ran over to you and Ford, followed closely by Dipper and Mabel. "How are you so fast and have so much stamina... you're too old..." Stan huffed.

"I'm the same age as you!" Ford retorted.

"That's the point..."

"Whatever... Anyway, apparently this girl is the cause of the gravitational anomalies."

"WHAT?!" Dipper and Mabel shrieked, looking at you.

You could feel your face heating up, and you violently shuddered. "J-just... y-you have to listen to me... I-I've made a really bad mistake.... a-and I think you're the only ones who can help me fix it..." you explained, shivering. 

"Oh my! Here," Mabel said, digging into her backpack and pulling out a sweater with a goose feather quill design stitched on it. She handed it to you and you put it on.

"A quill...? And it's goose feather too..." you mumbled.

"Well, we've been seeing you around every now and then. Mostly at the store, and I noticed you always have that quill in your pocket. So I thought it was your favorite!" Mabel replied cheerfully.

"... Well I wouldn't say favorite... but, thank you," you replied, enjoying the warmth.

"What mistake?" Dipper asked, wanting to get straight the point. Though you suspected he already knew.

"That guy... the guy I was with in the Inn... he's Bill Cipher-"

A collective gasp from the four, minus Dipper, interrupted you. "(Y/N), what happened?! What did he make you do?!" Dipper threw the questions at you in a panic.

"Well he didn't really make me do anything... but he helped me work on this machine..."

"What does it do...?" Ford asked quietly, shifting his glasses.

"It transforms energy into a physical form."

"That can't be possible," Stan snuffed, crossing his arms. "I betcha she's possessed by him. Or made a deal to try and lure us there."

"Don't believe me?" you said, reaching into your pocket. "I'll show you." You pulled the rope of pure energy out of your pocket, it still glowing softly. It was warm in your hand, like an electric blanket. "It's stable. The earlier prototypes were exceedingly unstable. They were unbearably hot and any contact with water made it electrically charged and explode in a deadly mess. This is the latest, safe around water and not hot. Just slightly warm."

Dipper and Mabel looked at each other with a worried look.

"What?" you questioned, handing the rope to Ford as he was curiously reaching for it.

"Well..." Dipper began.

"About eight years ago, when Dipper and I were thirteen, we faced off against Bill in Stan's mind. And one of the things he said was that he was a being of pure energy and couldn't be defeated or something along those lines. And if that machine you made gave energy a physical form..." Mabel trailed off.

"... It also had the potential to give Bill a physical form..." you muttered. "And it did its purpose..."

Stan spit out the Pitt Cola he had stolen out of Ford's jacket. "IT WHAT?!" he screamed, the yell echoing into the quiet, snowy night.

Ford instantly looked up from the rope. "Do you even know what you've done?!" he panicked, grabbing one of your shoulders with his free hand tightly.

You winced. "N-not really... j-just something... really, really bad..." you whispered, your eyes watering up.

Ford looked at you and took his hand off of your shoulder. "Has he been mentally abusing you?" he asked with concern. "You're acting like you have Battered Woman Syndrome."

"It wasn't him... he was actually really nice. Well... he still was. I just left because I remembered what Dipper said at the hospital. About how he stole someone's body... he did... This is... this is because of my ex..." you mumbled, rubbing your arm.

Dipper walked over to you. "I'm sorry..." he said. "I should have approached that better when we were at the hospital. I just started to panic."

"It's alright..."

"We can't stand around much longer. If Bill's physical, we have to get moving. Fast. (Y/N), do you want to come?" Ford asked, looking at you.

You nodded. "We can get there much faster in my truck. But I'll have to drop you all off just a bit before we get there. Bill expects me to come back alone, because he thinks I'm out here trying to wrap my head around his normal form. It's very... unsettling, for lack of a better word."

"I can drink to that," Stan said, holding up his Pitt Cola.