Chapter Text
It was early in the morning when Will had woken up. A little too early for anyone else to be up. He stared up at the ceiling, and rubbed the grit from his eye. The demon then "yawned", stretching out his limbs, but that was when he was reminded of those chains around his wrists, as he heard a faint rattle as he stretched. He sighed, frowning now instead of smiling like he used to every morning.
Dipper woke up bright and early, as ever, but after William. He changed into his normal stage clothes, and paced the room, thinking of all the things he would like to do.
Mabel continued sleeping. She honestly needed the rest after tossing and turning and trying to get to sleep in the first place. Will floated off the beanie bag he used as a bed, looking around. The blue triangle solemnly found he was in the same room the Gleeful Twins had given him. He'd had a really nice dream, but it was tainted now by reality. He didn't think that dream would ever come true again anyways.
Dipper found William's hat, floating right above Mabel's bedside table. He took a glance at her, then lifted the hat. He could sense that all the magic that had been trapped into it was now gone. He decided he'd deliver the hat to William while Mabel was sleeping, and then put him to work. The house was dusty and dirty, ever since Dipper, in a fit of rage, fired their maid. So he made his way over to William's room, and knocked on the door.
Will sensed this was Dipper, and so didn't say a word. Instead he just levitated up to the door, a little anxious, and excited that he'd get his hat back, and opened it. He saw his hat, floating beside Dipper, and smiled a little.
Dipper didn't smile. He took the hat and shoved it on top of William's head, and he didn't say good morning, or ask how William was doing, or even say hello. He just threatened him, in a dangerous tone. "I need you to clean up this place. That means the floors, the walls, the windows. Dusted and sparkling clean. I don't want to see a spot. And I want it done by tomorrow. We have guests coming."
Will sighed, the cheer of getting his hat back horribly short-lived. He nodded, frowning slightly as he rubbed at his top point, “A..alright then…”
Dipper left him there, walking back to his room, his shiny dark shoes clicking against the floor. He looked over to Mabel's bed, wondering if she was awake yet.
And she wasn't. Will levitated out of his room, sighing. He looked around, and noticed that this place was indeed dusty. So he snapped his fingers, thinking it'd all be clean in a second. However, nothing happened. Except now he had a duster in his hand. The triangle gasped as he noticed this. This wasn't what was supposed to happen...
Dipper stared at Mabel and sighed, shaking his head. He went to his computer, and looked at a security program he had set up around the house - one that had cost hundreds of dollars, with high tech HD cameras. He looked at the grid of them, and was upset when the security program told him there was nothing wrong going on. He loved catching people who were trying to do something to them, like that one kid from the night before. He chuckled, thinking of it.
Will, nonetheless, began cleaning the entire manor, frowning softly. He hummed a bit to get his mind off the depressing thoughts, the same song as last night.
Mabel turned over, mumbling something in her sleep.
Dipper watched him through the cameras.
The blue triangle had an awful feeling that he was being watched. It was a strange feeling. He was never watched before. He, in fact, always was the one to do the watching. So this unnerved him, reminded him that he wasn't all-powerful anymore. He stopped to adjust his bowtie and his hat, and then continued, still humming a little. He wasn't too far gone in the gradually rising depression to start crying endlessly about it though.
Dipper chuckled, before looking back at Mabel again.
Mabel was still sleeping, though it was noticeably lighter. Her eyes weren't as shut.
Will had finished cleaning the upstairs, and now worked his way downstairs, almost tirelessly. He saw a camera, and a dark emotion flitted upon his eye once again. It was fleeting, as always. He sighed.
Dipper didn't stop staring at the screen.
The demon kept humming, kept cleaning, and sometimes he talked to himself, like he'd always done when he was proud of himself or trying to get his mind off his situation; this was obviously a case of the latter. Dipper's interest was certainly piqued. He felt like... running experiments on William. Seeing what he could and couldn't do. Seeing what he would and wouldn't do. These thoughts made Dipper smile even more.
Will shuddered, ignoring the dust that almost flew up into his eye. He was soon finished with the downstairs, and then sat down to rest for a while. All the while he was thinking on what his livelihood would be. He couldn't help anyone anymore. He couldn't peep into his special windows anymore. He probably couldn't be summoned anymore. All thanks to those Gleeful Twins... his life was ruined in one fell swoop. His eye twitched a little bit, and a tear fell from it, but that was it.
Dipper checked on Mabel again, feeling like she had to be awake by now. And if she wasn't, he'd wake her up. He wanted to tell her his idea, put his plan into action. But he needed her word on it first. And Mabel was now. Her eyes were open, like they had been for the past minute, but she didn't move.
"Mabel?" He asked, sensing something was wrong.
She sighed, and soon answered him with a question, “What's wrong with us?”
"I'm sorry?" he asked, caught off guard by the question.
“I'm sure you know what I mean…” she sighed. She had dreams about what Ford had said, due to falling asleep while she was thinking about it. They weren't very good dreams, frankly, and the few that were were just what would have been had they left Will alone. She frowned.
"You mean about William, don't you?" he said in a stale tone, turning away. "It's not like we can reverse it, now, is it?" He asked, staring at the monitor of his computer.
She sat up in her bed, shaking her head. They couldn't. So far as they knew. They had William in their iron grasps, and for a while she enjoyed it. Now though... she sighed again, conflicted.
"Mabel, we have to look outside the view of the commoners. We have something that could, potentially, destroy the world. William is a demon, as said in the journal. Releasing him now, while he's still in this reality, could result in widespread destruction of our entire universe. So, no, we can't turn back now. We have to push through, keep going."
She frowned at him. William wasn't the type of demon to do that at all. She'd seen it when he was summoned, she'd seen it before and after they bonded to him, and she'd seen it when they forced him to take a monstrous form for their show. Both of them had. And Ford only confirmed all of this. So why was Dipper thinking so contrary to all the evidence? Sure, William was incredibly powerful, but he wouldn't even hurt a fly. She shook her head, “I don't believe you... but you're right with the last part. We've passed the point of no return…”
So far as they knew, anyway...
Dipper knew that William wouldn't hurt a fly. He was just trying to make his sister abandon this notion of setting him free. "Anyway, while you were sleeping, I gave him back his hat and set him to do a few chores. I was thinking... we should test him. See what he's capable of. See what he won't and can't do, what he will and can do. You know what I mean?" He smiled.
She didn't return the smile. She was still heavily conflicted. But she really wanted to see the test results. Mabel soon sighed and nodded, “Sure, brother. Whatever.”
"Splendid! How do you think we should do this? Any ideas?"
She shrugged, her frown deepening. She had nothing in the way of ideas, and she wanted no part of this for right now. She hugged her knees and pulled them closer to her.
Dipper frowned. "Perhaps we should discuss over breakfast, sister?" he suggested, hoping this would help.
She nodded, “That would be nice, brother…”
Will was back cleaning again, and this time he had a rag and a cleanser in his hands. He sighed as he wiped down the windows, muttering to himself. Dipper smiled and nodded. He shut down the computer, and opened the door, allowing her to go first. She nodded once more, and got out of bed, walking towards and out the door. He frowned a little, seeing she was still in her PJs, but said nothing. But he was very happy indeed to see the floors were quite cleaner, the corners less dusty. She noticed this too, but didn't care at the moment. Apparently being at odds with herself made her not care about how she looked.
Will kept at the cleaning, noticing the two familiar auras but not paying attention to them at all. He did stop murmuring, however. Dipper kept following her, not even sparing William a glance. But he did want to say "good job" to him. He supposed he'd do something for William later - if they had any unwanted guests. The idea made him chuckle. Will sighed, glancing back at them. He knew they were up to no good. He, however, had no idea exactly what Dipper was planning, for he was still too polite to read their minds. This, he felt, would be his ultimate undoing. He moved to an upper window and started cleaning that. Mabel, however, did spare William a glance, and a few more too. She was still conflicted. She sighed and spoke, “Good job, William. Keep up the cleaning,” in an icy, but slightly solemn tone.
This somewhat surprised him, but he smiled a little, nodding, “You're welcome…” and kept it up. He had to anyway.
Dipper nodded, but said nothing. He was glad he didn't have to say anything. He waited for Mabel to get a move on, his stomach rumbling slightly. He honestly didn't realize how hungry he was, he realized.
Mabel kept walking, falling silent, and quickened her pace. And so they continued until they arrived in the kitchen. And the girl sat down, immediately setting her head and arms onto the table. Dipper decided he'd do the cooking. And then he thought of something even better. "WILLIAM!" he called in an ungrateful tone.
William jumped a little, both at the tone and at how loud it was, nearly dropping his cleaning supplies. They vanished, and he descended to the lower floor, beginning to make his way to the source.
Mabel's frown deepened further, but she didn't say anything. Dipper sighed and lowered his voice. "We might as well give him something to do. Imagine how upset he would be, unable to do anything?" he asked. But he was lying once again, acting like his sister was stupid... like he did whenever she disagreed with him.
And Mabel, like she had several times, caught onto this and his lie. She narrowed her eyes at him. William had tons of things to do before they trapped him. Things that made him happy. But this? she sighed.
Will floated into the kitchen, eyebrow raised, silently asking why he was called since he was unsure whether he could speak.
Dipper nodded at William. "Well? How's the progress?"
“It's going pretty great…” he replied somewhat dully, staring Dipper down neutrally; this change in tone only caused more conflict for Mabel.
"Well, you can stop for a little while," he paused for a moment, before continuing to say, "to make us breakfast." He smiled.
Will didn't smile back. If anything, his frown seemed to deepen. He nodded, gaze alternating between the two of them, “Alright then. What would you like for breakfast?”
Mabel mumbled, “Waffles.”
The demon took note of this, and then looked at Dipper again, waiting for his "order".
Dipper shrugged, an unusual expression for him to use. "The best you can do."
“Waffles it is then,” the demon's expression soured further, and snapped his fingers. Nothing happened. Except a butter knife appeared in his hand so he could spread the butter when it was ready. He glared at it, before he sighed, shoving this expression into the box before he went to get the waffles, butter, and plug the toaster in, getting it all ready manually. Mabel watched him, just as neutral as Will was when he entered.
Dipper did not watch. He would watch it all again from his computer later, he reasoned. He was busy flipping around the Journal with little in mind, just trying to find something interesting to waste the day on doing.
He floated around the toaster, waiting for the waffles, which he'd sprinkled with cinnamon, to pop back up. Mabel alternated her gaze between Dipper, the Journal, and Will every few seconds.
Dipper yawned, bored. He kept looking relentless.
The waffles finally popped up and Will worked his metaphorical magic, which was an unfortunate idiom when it came to him and his situation. He sighed, cutting up the waffles when he was done, and put an equal amount on Dipper's and Mabel's plates before he served it with two forks.
“Thank you, William,” Mabel mumbled, and soon she sighed, starting to eat, “You can make yourself breakfast if you want as well.”
Once again, the unnaturally blue dream demon was surprised, and wondered whether he should. Did he even feel hungry right now?
Dipper grunted at Mabel's kindness, but said nothing. He set the book down and began to eat, slowly, carefully. He was quiet in this process, careful not to let the food stain his clothing. Mabel shot Dipper a brief glare, but continued to eat. Soon, Will shrugged, and got himself a simple pastry from the fridge, nibbling on it. It looked really odd though, since, of course, his eye doubled as his mouth.
Dipper took only a few bites before he excused himself, an idea popping into his mind. He rushed off (walked off) with his journal, leaving the plate of mostly-untouched waffles.
Mabel frowned at this, but didn't want the waffles to go to waste, so she pulled the plate closer to her and dumped it all into hers. She didn't bother offering Will any, continuing to eat.
William kept eating at the pastry, watching Dipper leave, wondering why he left his breakfast abandoned. But he was a little too afraid now to follow him. Dipper's heels clacked against the floor as he made his way upstairs, to his computer. He looked at the grid of footage, and then at the journal. He grinned when he realized something.
Will finished off his pastry, and then left, to return to cleaning up the mansion. However reluctant it was. Mabel kept eating, ice growing onto her eyes again.
Dipper frowned, realizing his plan wouldn't work, and scrapped it.
Will continued washing the windows, starting from where he left off. They were rather large, and there were very many. He sighed, a little thankful for the little break, but this positive emotion, sadly, wasn't doing him any good or making him feel any better. Not like it used to.
Mabel was almost finished with the waffles. She realized she was eating too many, but she didn't care. She also realized Dipper never once discussed their plan over breakfast. But she didn't care about that either.
Her brother paced the room for a while and decided on another, better plan. He went downstairs, walking where they had seen William before, cleaning up. He looked for the blue little triangle. William was above him, almost done cleaning the windows, frowning softly. Dipper watched him for a few moments, before giving such an informal gesture as a thumbs up. But only for a few seconds. The demon saw this, or, rather, felt it, and nodded. He kept cleaning, until he was done with the window, and sighed, lowering himself until he was near the ground again.
Mabel finished breakfast, and sat there for a long while, waiting for it to settle. She leaned back against the chair, pondering over things, ice glazing over her eyes again.
Dipper soon decided to go back to Mabel, also deciding this plan was... inadequate.