Mercy (Bill Cipher x Reader)

Chapter 1

TW: Mention of dead animals

"Ugh- This is taking forever! Can't your machine work any faster?" Stanley Pines groaned as he sat on a wooden chair, lifting his hand up to poke at the piece of machinery on his head only for his hand to be swatted by his twin brother.

"Don't mess with it, Stanley. It's working as fast as it can. I haven't had much downtime since I've returned to actually modify it so we will have to simply make do with the speed it is running at now," Ford explained, walking over towards the tv screens that were placed behind Stan, reading the words that would occasionally pop up on it.

This machine is as slow as a snail.
Why are we doing this again?
Man, it smells weird down here.
I'm going to miss The Duchess Approves tonight if this thing takes any longer to finish!

These were the current words appearing across the screen, causing Ford to roll his eyes. This machine helped him to read people's thoughts, get inside their heads. He was currently going through his brother's mind to see how much knowledge he has obtained, how much he remembers. There was also another reason he wanted to do this, however, that he had yet to mention to Stan.

Ever since Weirdmageddon ended, there's been this nagging feeling in the back of Ford's head that the end to the town's apocalypse had been too easy. He had a hard time believing that Bill Cipher, the dream demon that tricked him and the rest of his family and nearly destroyed the entire town, was truly gone. Using the memory gun had successfully erased all of Stan's mind as well as any being that might have been in it, sure, but it's not like he was there to witness Bill dying himself. What if something happened inside the mindscape? What if he had been able to escape death? He had to be sure, had to be certain Bill was gone for good. It didn't help that Stan could hardly remember what actually happened while in the mindscape when it all went down. Hopefully the machine might be able to help them dig down into Stan's memories and pull something from that day.

"Stanley, please. Focus. Focus on Weirdmageddon. I know it's hard with what little memory you have of that whole fiasco... but please, try to remember what you can. Preferably what happened within the mindscape after you made the deal with Bill."

"Alright, alright! I'm trying... I'm really trying," Stan closed his eyes tightly, trying to remember even just a little bit of what had ended up happening.

This is dumb.
I told him I can't remember what happened.
What happened.. What happened?!
I made the deal...
...my living room, I was in my living room.

Ford's eyes widened as he read the words. If Stan had been in his living room, that would make sense as the mindscape bends to create a safe haven within your mind of a place that is familiar to you and feels safe and secure to you. It would make sense if his safe spot was his own home.

Suddenly, the screen began to change and an image was shown to Ford. He could see Stanley sitting in his yellow lounge chair, a paddle ball in his hand as he played with it. He appeared to be waiting for someone, eyes on the singular door within the room. Ford took a step closer towards the screen, his breath catching in his throat as he quickly fell silent and began to watch the screen intently. He didn't want to miss anything that was about to be shown to him. He needed to know what had occurred. He had to be given peace of mind that he and his family were free from the demon's wrath.

The door that Stan was looking at within the memory burst open, and suddenly the screen turned to static. Ford growled, going to slam his fist into the side of the tv as though he would get a better connection if he did so.

"Come on... Come on!"

Another hit, and suddenly the picture came back. It was different, however, as the video was more blurry, almost like someone had taken off their glasses and could no longer see the exact details of the characters. He saw what appeared to be a yellow triangle entering the living room now, only he could not see the brick patterns in his form and his bow tie and black hat were simply a black blob on the screen. He supposed it was better than nothing, at least now Ford knew that Bill had gone into Stan's mind once the deal had been made.