My Little Tree... A BillDip Fanfiction.

Chapter 3 - I Heard Your Call

Dipper's POV

From the moment I woke up, I wished I hadn't. Every single part of my body was aching horribly, and I was very stiff. Groaning, I opened my eyes, vaguely wondering why I hurt all over, when I suddenly realised that I wasn't in my room. In fact, I had no idea where I was. It looked kind of like a huge tent, but I couldn't fathom why on Earth I'd be in there. I didn't remember going camping. In fact, the last thing I remembered was being in the forest, before something pounced on me. I remembered a sharp pain flooding through my shoulder, and thinking that I was dead, before I felt the weight of the creature seized off my chest as I blacked out.

So why was I comfortably laying in bed with a thick duvet in this strange tent thing? I could hear rain hammering against the canvas, and yet there wasn't a drop of moisture on anything I could see or feel. Who had brought me here...?

My question was answered when I heard a low voice next to me suddenly say, 'You're awake...'

I jumped very badly at this; I had assumed I was alone. I whipped my head around, and saw a tanned blond boy with an eyepatch looking down at me.

'Who...who are you...?' I stammered, confused as all hell. 'Oh, Pinetree, I think you already know the answer to that.' He smirked, and I realised.

This was Bill Cipher.

I tried to scramble away from him, but I was in too much pain to move. He must have put some kind of paralysis spell on me, but I didn't stop trying to get away. I knew from past experiences with Bill that it never ended well when he was around.

The moment I started thrashing around, he grabbed my shoulders and attempted to shove me back down again. 'Pinetree, Pinetree, calm down!' He tried to console me, but I didn't stop. 'NO! LET ME GO!' I yelled in fury.

He sighed, and didn't move. Eventually, I had to stop flailing around because the pain got too intense. I went still, panting, and he pushed me gently onto my back again. I was shaking in fear. I couldn't get away from him; I could barely even move. What was he going to do? Force me to let him possess me? Extract the whereabouts of the journal from my mind? Kill me for the fun of it?

He did none of these things. He raised his hand to me, and I squeezed my eyes shut, bracing myself for pain. But all he did was remove the blanket covering my chest. When I finally got the courage to open my eyes, I saw that my chest and shoulder were bandaged. Bill was loosely holding one of my arms up, and dripping water over certain areas. My skin stung with every touch.

'What are you doing...' I murmured, my voice full of loathing. He glanced at me for a moment, before turning back to my arm and said in a low voice, 'You were attacked by a demon back in the forest. I felt that you were in danger and came to save you. I'm trying to heal your injuries, so I'd appreciate it if you stopped moving.'

I was confused. Did he just say that he'd saved me? Me, the human he'd tried to kill multiple times over? It had been years since I'd seen him, just shy of a decade now, and my hate and fear of him still burned bright. And yet here he was, peacefully cleaning cuts on my arm.

'I know you're wondering why I'm doing this,' he said after a few moments of silence. 'Well, Pinetree, I've got two words for ya: things change. A couple years ago, I was sent out on a mission by my agency, the Council of Elite Spirts. It involved the assassination of the head of the government over in a different dimension. Not wanting to miss such a huge opportunity to gain the agency's favor, along with such a thrillingly dangerous experience, I gladly accepted the job.

'But oh boy, did it go wrong.

'We screwed it up so, so badly. We weren't prepared, our plan had holes that we didn't notice, our equipment malfunctioned... essentially, everything that could go wrong, did go wrong. Our targets noticed us, and we barely made it out alive.

'Of course, I was fired. The career I had worked so hard for; gone in an instant. But they didn't stop there. I had angered not only my people, but our most powerful rivals, too. I had endangered my galaxy.

'So what did they do? I'll tell you. They bound me to this accursed, weak, puny human form. For years, I've been floating around, powerless, in the backvoids of the galaxy. I barely survived out there. I was simply trying to stay alive, no goal in mind. I was lost.

'But then I heard you screaming from the mortal world. I remembered you, and I came to rescue you. You were the first familiar face I'd seen in a very long time. You were injured, so I brought you here.'

He looked away, sadness clouding his eyes. He dried my arm and wrapped it in a bandage, before pressing his hand to my forehead, checking my temperature.

I processed the information he had just told me. So, Bill was human now...? After a few moments, I spoke up. 'So... what are you going to do now? Will you go back? To your dimension, I mean.'

He laughed when I said this, but not in a happy way. It was dry and joyless. 'Oh, Pinetree. I can't do that. Humans can't enter the borders between dimensions. I'm stuck here.' He paused for a moment. 'But it doesn't matter. No matter where I am, I'm powerless and lost. I have nowhere to go, nothing to do, nobody to be with. I'm hopeless, Pinetree, hopeless!' Tears of frustration and sadness appeared in his eyes with these words.

It was so strange. This insane dream demon who had terrorised my family when I was twelve was now sitting next to me as a human, crying.

I tried to comfort him. 'Hey, hey, don't cry. Please...' I started awkwardly. I reached out a hand and put it on his shoulder, even though a sharp jab of pain shot through my arm. He stopped crying, and murmured, 'Th-thanks, Pinetree...' He sniffled, drying his eyes on his sleeve. 'I haven't really told anyone that story before... I'm sorry for getting emotional...' He sniffed.
'But it's true, isn't it? I haven't got anywhere to go. I'm lost.'

I thought for a moment. I tried to shut down the idea that I was having, but looking at the sad, hopeless boy next to me, who'd not only lost absolutely everything, including his own body, but had also literally jumped a dimension to save me from a demon, I knew I couldn't leave him.

'H-Hey,' I began. 'I don't know whether... I don't know whether you'll be able to stay, but... maybe you could c-come and stay at the Mystery Shack for a while.'

He looked up at me, his single yellow eye full of hope. I suddenly felt very guilty. What if Stan wouldn't let him stay? He was away for a few weeks, but when he came back, the place was under his control. When it came to the Shack, his word was law.

Still, I couldn't exactly change my mind now. I wouldn't have been able to bear how crushed he would look.

'Pinetree, I... no. Dipper, I don't know what to say... thank you, so much.'

'Uh, hey. Don't mention it.' I smiled at him.

Little did I know.