Posted originally on the Archive_of_Our_Own at https://archiveofourown.org/
works/11940123.
  Rating:
      Explicit
  Archive Warning:
      Graphic_Depictions_Of_Violence, Rape/Non-Con, Underage
  Category:
      M/M
  Fandom:
      Gravity_Falls
  Relationship:
      The_Author_|_Original_Stanford_Pines/Dipper_Pines, The_Author_|_Original
      Stanford_Pines/Bill_Cipher, Maybe_more_ships_should_I_ever_feel_like_it.
  Character:
      Bill_Cipher, The_Author_|_Original_Stanford_Pines, Grunkle_Stan_|_Stanley
      "Stanford"_Pines, Dipper_Pines, Mabel_Pines
  Additional Tags:
      Torture, Psychological_Torture, I'm_not_sorry, You_Have_Been_Warned
  Stats:
      Published: 2017-08-29 Chapters: 1/? Words: 4744
****** Have it your Way ******
by Depravity
Summary
     Just your typical fearamid torture fic.
Notes
     The only thing that makes me feel slightly apologetic is that I am
     probably thoroughly butchering the English language.
See the end of the work for more notes
A big black finger jabs Ford in the back after he is dropped to the ground,
causing him to tumble over despite having gotten lucky enough to land safely.
He still feels sore from Bill's last idea of a "fun time" and even just
standing upright seems like a legitimate challenge.
He can hear her quiet sobbing before he sees her yet Ford refuses to lift his
head, knows he'll rise to the bait if he looks before he can gather his
thoughts, has his breathing back under control. He expected to face
increasingly creative torture and mind-games. He expected it. But this? It
takes the wind out of his sails. He had clung to the hope that the kids were
keeping themselves safe somewhere, that Stanley would keep them safe since Bill
hadn't used them against him in these last... he's not sure, it could have been
weeks.
"Great uncle Ford! He broke-" the boy's frantic voice is interrupted by a loud
smacking sound and a barely suppressed yelp.
Ford winces. So not just Mabel but Dipper, too. He looks up in time to see
another hand of Bill drop Stan on the floor to the far left of the children,
maybe 60 feet away. Ford's eyes are immediately drawn to the movement when Stan
lands hard on his knees and collapses backward. There is little blood on his
torn shirt and he doesn't seem to be conscious but he's clearly breathing.
That's what's important, he tells himself and avoids purposely taking count of
any visible injuries.
"Well, that's a disappointing reunion! I went through a lot of trouble to get
them here, Fordsy, you could look a little happier!" Bill jeers and Stanford's
gaze shifts towards the kids.
Mabel sits hunched over on the floor, shaking her head 'no' and cradling one of
her arms against her stomach, violently shaking. Her face looks puffy from
crying but right then and there her sobs aren't accompanied by tears. She
doesn't seem to have noticed Ford or Stan yet. Dipper stands about 10 feet away
from Mabel. He looks as filthy as the rest of them do, seems to have wet
himself at one point and his exposed skin shows light bruising but other than
that he looks fine. If you don't count that he's understandably terrified.
He cranes his neck to get a better look at his grunkle when Ford notices that
the boy is careful not to move his feet from where he's standing. The older man
can see the questions burning behind the kids bright eyes. Dipper opens his
mouth to speak but ends up biting his lip again before Bill floats down to eye
level with him, touches the boy's hair and causes him to flinch.
"Not as fluffy as yours, Sixer, but a lot softer!" he comments, combs small
black fingers through the by now greasy strands, then grabs a fistful, gives it
a firm tug and Dipper yelps again. He automatically lifts his arms to shove
Bill away and Mabel starts to scream in agony, curling further in on herself.
It's over as soon as it started and all that's left is crying and soft whimpers
of Dipper's name who is ramrod straight and has his fists balled at his sides,
eyes wide and breathing heavily.
Ford doesn't need to be a genius to understand the rules of that game, what he
doesn't understand is how Bill decided on their roles. Bill could have selected
randomly but Ford doubts it, already looks for a deeper meaning and loses track
of the people around him, eager to escape into his own mind for a moment.
"I'm sure I don't need to explain to you what's going to happen now." Bill
chimes and finally lets go of Dipper to cross the room and give Ford's head the
same treatment.
"Last Chance, IQ, you can still stop this." His eye narrows on Stanford, long
slim pupil giving him a once-over. Ford doesn't grace him with a reaction but
Dipper young as he is and probably past his breaking point starts to shiver,
big bewildered eyes jumping back and forth between the monster that holds all
the power and his great uncle. Ford would have explained himself if he could,
explained that the choice he is given is anything but a-
"Give up. You've already lost! Do yourself a favor and quit while you can."
Bill puts special emphasis on the last words and Ford lowers his head. Bill has
to know that he won't give up before everything that holds him together is
gone. The stakes are too high. The constant questioning is a mere tool to break
him down faster, pile up a feeling of responsibility and guilt for things
beyond his influence. Bill will do what he wants with them, whether Ford gives
him the equation or not has no influence on that. All that would be gained by
giving up is sharing Bill's dream of chaos and destruction with the rest of
this dimension, if not the whole infinite expanse of existence.
"We can play this game for all eternity, Sixer, I cleared my schedule just for
you but I think we can both imagine things we'd rather do with our- Oops, I
almost forgot, killed the time baby- with MY time! Hahaha! If you give me what
I want I might even let you save one of them! Pretty generous of me considering
the way you've been treating me lately, but I've always been a giver!" he snaps
his fingers and Mabel shrieks. Ford jumps, attempts to look past Bill who grows
in size to block his view, leaving him with the sound of his niece crying,
screaming for Bill to stop. For help.
"See? I'm a natural at giving pain! And there is so much more I could give if
for once in your life you'd give something back. You can't just keep on taking,
that's not very nice!" he tapers off in a rather manic laugh as if that was a
hilarious joke.
"So! Do you feel like being nice to me today, Fordsy? Hm?" a black hand shoot
up from below, grabs Ford by the jaw, pushes his face back up to force him to
look at Bill and despite trying not to let the blasted triangle get to him he
glares back fiercely. He's cornered, trapped in every imaginable way and Bill
seems to be bored with just torturing him. Bill dragged Ford's two favorite
people and Sta- Ford scopes out his brother again whose position now looks more
like that of a rag doll than a human and his heart sinks. Who is he kidding?
Bill has the 3 people most important to him in this world in the same room with
him and he knows that after Bill finally figured out that physical pain won't
change Ford's mind Bill will amp up what dream demons are naturally best at.
Psychological terror.
Get on with it already, Ford thinks and sighs, resigned to his fate and aching
for some much-needed rest. He doesn't think he's broken yet but he surely feels
hollow, drained through the cracks Bill created. He can't bring himself to feel
the horror even in the face of what he sees coming.
"Let's have it your way then!" Bill all but cheers and with a clap of his hands
Mabel starts to scream at the top of her lungs. Bill floats around and behind
Ford, holds his head in position to stop him from averting his eyes as her
small back arches and she drops flat the floor, kicking and flailing. It
becomes evident that the arm she's been cradling was broken in several places,
now flopping around disturbingly with every desperate movement.
"MABEL!" Dipper tries to turn around, rush to her side but he can't move his
feet, starts to pull at his legs for a few seconds while scanning the room for
help or a possibly dangerous reaction from Bill who finally lets go of Ford
when he knows Ford won't let himself get away by retreating into his own mind.
"Bill, Stop it! STOP!" Dipper panics and Mabel continues to punish her vocal
cords with the evidence of her agony. The boy is quick to squat down and tug at
his shoelaces, hands shaking hard enough to make the mundane task of opening
his shoes increasingly difficult while he keeps calling out to his sister,
tries to reassure her he'll come for her. Ford is sure she can't hear him and
with every passing moment, it becomes harder to breathe as he watches them. He
could stop this, but for how long? There is no escape, no definite end, no
guarantee.
"You're probably asking yourself how I do that!" He doesn't. "As you can see
there are no chains, knives or needles, no smoke, she's not being electrocuted!
Look carefully! Pretty impressive, huh?" Mabel twist and convulses into
seemingly impossible shapes on the ground, trying to tear at her skin but even
more horrified by the feeling of her own touch, hand hovering over her face,
her body, unable to help herself and Ford can't not care but he can't risk to
show it. Bill will ramp it up to impress him, but if he reacts it will amp up
Bill's fun with the "game" and possibly drag the show he puts on out even
longer. There is no winning this. There is no winning.
"Great uncle Ford, do something!" Dipper yells and tries to tug his feet free,
discovers that the force rooting him to the floor isn't just connected to his
shoes. "FORD!" the anger in Dippers voice is palpable and Ford winces. He's
blaming him.
"It's a lot simpler than electrocution! Once you have a physical form the
concept of-"
"Ford, HELP HER! Please! You have to!" Dipper cuts in, overcome by desperation
and breaking under the constant noise of his sisters screaming. Bill goes still
for a moment. Yellow flickers into bright red and back before he turns towards
the boy. The demonic triangle was in the process of showing off and Dipper
interrupted him. Ford can't help but want to tell Dipper to run but there would
be no point to it even if he could.
"Pinetree!" Bill beams and slowly moves towards him. "You just don't know
what's good for you, kid."
Dipper reflexively tries to move backward as Bill closes in and barely manages
to catch his balance when his feet refuse to follow his body but quickly
manages to regain a shadow of composure.
"What?! You're already hurting her I have no reason to be quiet! I- ..." his
eyes widen when realization strikes and his attention shifts back from Bill to
Ford. "Great uncle Ford, say something if you can!"
Ford smiles weakly over his frown. It's useless information for them, really,
but it feels good to see the boy's head still functions. Bill reaches for
Dipper, flicks him in the forehead and against all expectations nothing happens
to Dipper.
"You want in on this so badly, Pinetree? Wait for your turn and go play with
your sister like a good little boy!" he points at Mabel and Dipper's eyes
follow, he doesn't see the massive black hand swinging at him from behind and
Ford can't warn him.
SMACK! The hand comes down too fast for Ford to follow and the impact knocks
Dipper out of his shoes across the room. Ford turns his head when Dipper
crashes into the floor, skin tearing as he tumbles far past Mabel who is slowly
growing hoarse.
"Kid's these days, am I right? Now, where were we? Hmm." Bill thoughtfully taps
a finger against the space between his eye and bow tie, miming forgetfulness
while Mabel's voice becomes ever thinner to the point that Ford can hear Dipper
cry over her as he crawls toward her, kneels beside her. "I don't know what to
do, I'm sorry! I'm so sorry! I don't know, God, please, someone help. I don't
know what to do, Mabel, I'm so sorry!" He's covered in abrasions wherever
exposed skin hit rough stone.
"Oh, yes! What is making Shooting Star squirm!" he gleefully claps his hands
together "How about this? If you can guess it I'll stop it but for every wrong
guess I'll break one of your fingers!" He looks expectant even though he knows
Ford can't answer. He could probably nod but he's still convinced that the
moment he lets Bill order him to play along the rules will change together with
the game and he won't be able to back out.
Out of the corner of his eye, he glances back at Stanley who still hasn't moved
if Ford doesn't count the steady rise and fall of his chest. Their niece's
agony fails to draw a reaction from him and Ford feels there is more to it than
he wants to admit to himself, a dark suspicion sneaking up on him. Four rather
large hands grab his head and yank him forward, holding him in place and
forcing his focus back on Bill.
"What? Am I not interesting enough for you anymore? You'd rather play with your
brother than the kids now? You always want what you can't have, Sixer." Another
arm grows out of the yellow back and stretches until it reaches Stanley, pulls
him up into a proper kneeling position and slowly lets him go, tries to get him
to sit somewhat upright but he topples over, too top-heavy to maintain the
balance needed.
Bill's ministrations give Ford a good look at the face of his twin. The trickle
of dried blood coming from his ears and ending in the formerly white collar,
the way his jaw lacks tension, flops around when Bill jerks him around and
drool dripping down his chin, the half open eyes that don't even blink when
Bill's fingers touch the eyeball as he unsuccessfully tries to get him into
position for... for whatever reason.
Finally, Bill just lets him fall forward, face smacking into stone and gives
the raised bottom a loud slap that manages to get even Dipper's attention.
"Pinetree! Still wanna play with the big boys? Sit him up for me, will ya?"
"… What?" He still kneels next to Mabel, hands hovering uselessly in the air,
scared to touch her and helpless but at least trying to let her know he's
there.
"Make yourself useful, kid! What's a near-omnipotent triangle gotta do here to
make you listen? Help me out a little because I'm starting to lose my
patience!" What patience?, Ford thinks and simultaneously has to admit that
considering how long Bill waited to get where he is now he is still taking his
sweet time to cross the finish line.
Dipper falters, turns his head to look at the grunkle behind him and back to
his writhing, screaming sister on the floor in front of him. He knows that he
can't do anything for her but he's reluctant to leave her side and Bill's big
eye narrows on him.
"Dipper, Dipper, Dipper. What am I gonna do with you, hm? Maybe you need a few
extra ears to hear me better, kid." he lifts his hand, ready to snap his
fingers and Dipper buries his face in his hands, hunches over and Bill
hesitates.
"Ahhh, but I did make a deal with your sister. How about we ask her if she's
ready to sell you out now? Do you think she'd rather watch you turn inside out
or strangle you herself?" Dipper slowly looks up at Bill and it's not hard to
see that while he wants to help her he is scared of the pain he'd have to trade
for it. Ford can imagine all too well how the boy feels but at least Ford knows
it is just another mind game of Bill.
"HA!" Bill lights up, drops his hand. "I got an even better idea! If you choose
fast I'll let you save one of the other three meat bags! Go!" the telltale tick
tock of a clock starts to echo from the walls and Dippers face loses all color
"M-" his eye jump to Ford before quickly glancing over his shoulder to his
other grunkle. He doesn't know what to do. Looks like he wants to be smart
about this but-
"M- F- Mab-" A loud buzzer sounds over the boy's voice and makes both, Dipper
and Ford, jump. “-el! MABEL!” Of course, Ford knew Bill didn't make Dipper a
genuine offer but the boy looks frantic, eyes blown wide.
"Mabel! I said Mabel!" he crumbles.
"AW! I'm sorry, Pinetree but your time is up! Funny how it took you so long to
decide when I told you there was a time limit! Admit it, kid, you actually like
it here!" he laughs loud and maniacally, enough to drown out Dipper's desperate
yelling. Bill's voice booms through the fearamid and tugs cold chuckles from
its shadows, reminds Ford that Bill entertains not just himself but an
audience. His concentration shifts back to the children. He can read Mabel's
name on Dipper's lips more than once, even from this distance. The surrounding
laughter picks up even more until Dipper opts to cover his ears, lowers his
head and fights the guilt of not having used what he must think might have been
an opportunity to help.
"Ford!" Bill cackles, puts a weird high pitch to his booming voice. "If I save
great uncle Ford he'll get us out of here eventually! But I can't put Mabel
through any more of this! I don't know how much more she can take!" Bill
chuckles and comes to hover over Ford's brother. "How come nobody ever thinks
of saving Fez over here? Poor, dumb Stanley Pines. No love for you." His pupil
moves up to look at Ford. "Story of his life, ain't that right, Sixer? Ah,
sorry, I forgot you weren't a part of his life for what now? 40 years? Geez,
and here I thought I had another bargaining chip!" Bill fakes disappointment as
he looks down at Stanley and Dipper sinks to his knees, shakes his head.
"That's not true! I don't think he's useless, we all have-"
"Wuoh, hold your horses, kid! Even I didn't go as far as to call him useless!"
"I said I don't-"
"Oh, but you did think it. You looked at him and thought he's useless."
"No, no I- I didn't mean it like-" He looks at Mabel, back to Ford who would
like to reassure him and tell him Bill is toying with him but Ford can't do
anything other than stand still, try not to crumble to the floor, and watch the
scene unfold. He knows Dipper loves Stanley just as dearly as his sister does,
that he did the logical thing and ruled the one out who doesn't seem to be in
pain and can't help with the problem. Excluding Stan from the fake choice Bill
gave him was smart. Ford wishes he could tell him that as Dipper hugs himself
and starts to slightly rock back and forth while Mabel right next to him still
screams her head off, voice almost gone by now. Dipper shouldn't have to be
forced to make a terrible choice like that. Bill should concentrate more on him
than the kids, but Ford has no way of catching the demon's attention.
"It's funny that you of all humans have the nerve to call someone else useless,
Pinetree."
"Shut up." Dipper all but whimpers, tries to block Bill out and stares
stubbornly at the black stone he kneels on, cradles his head in his own hands.
"Look at what you let me do to your sister! LOOK!" a black hand shoots from the
floor grabs a fistful of hair and yanks Dipper around. "You really think dumb-
dumb over there is the useless one? Even Shooting Star did more than you! Smart
enough to strike a deal and try to save your useless head some suffering! Talk
about a good sister."
"I'm sorry!" Dipper sobs into his palms, he's shaking violently.
"Shooting Star made a good call! Female human flesh bags are a lot more durable
than males, not naturally build to be as strong but capable of withstanding far
more punishment." Bill outright giggles. "Do you see how much pain she's in?
And still fighting! Gotta give her that, she's though! You on the other hand?
Barely worth the effort, Pinetree, just like poor old Stanley. Well, at least
you're naturally quieter!" Bill hovers over the boy for a moment, circles him a
few times but doesn't get a reaction. Dipper has curled in on himself, pulls at
his own hair and just... cries. Bill seems satisfied with that and turns to get
back to Ford, who much to his pleasure tries to hide a broken frown.
An arm extends from Bill's back as he gets closer to Ford and reaches for
Dipper, pulls him up by the scruff of his neck, forces the boy on his feet and
makes him yelp before giving him a push towards Stanley.
"Take a good look, Pinetree! Whether it's ten years or sixty doesn't make a
difference to someone of my caliber and neither to the use you have for me!
Show us you're smarter than Fez! All I want you to do is listen to me and be
quiet!"
Ford tries to take deep slow breaths, tries to prepare himself for what is
coming. Bit by bit he starts to understand the show Bill hosts for him. It
appears to be a test run. Designed to figure out what works best on Ford, how
to use his family most effectively against him.
"Thirteen."
Ford snaps out of his thoughts. Dipper hasn't moved from his spot, his eyes are
trained on the glowing triangle and despite the tears running down his face, he
looks dangerously defiant. It reminds Ford of the way Stanley used to look when
he stepped between him and bullies that were dead set on leaving them with a
matching set of bruises. Only that there is no confidence behind Dipper's
facade to back his bravery up. There is a weak fire none the less that fills
Ford with equal parts pride and disappointment. Dipper should have kept his
mouth shut. Ford can see Bill squint in annoyance for a moment but that quickly
changes into something Ford knows better than he wants to. It makes his stomach
churn.
Glee. Bill is starting to have actual fun.
The demon turns his back on Ford. " I'm SO SORRY, Pinetree! How could I forget
it was your birthday a while ago!" he interrupts himself for a fake gasping
sound "And I didn't even get you a present, haha! How thoughtless of me! How
can I ever make that up to you?" He snaps his fingers and Mabel coughs
violently before she starts to dry heave in between deep, desperate breaths and
finally transitions into simple, almost voiceless bawling. She is still wrecked
by tremors but she doesn't writhe like a skinned eel anymore, doesn't scream in
agony, just curls in on herself, as she tries to hug her knees against her
chest with that one arm she can use.
Dipper is by her side before Ford can begin to grasp the situation, tells her
"It's okay!" while his sister continues to weep, tries to say his name over and
over. Bill is unfazed.
"Ahh, that's a difficult one! What are we gonna do for your birthday... HMMM."
Ford doesn't know where to look, the twins, or Bill who seems to have
spontaneously changed his plans again like the true agent of chaos he is.
"Oh, I know! Why don't I throw you guys a party! Don't be mad if I don't let
you teens have a word in it! After what happened to the last gift I made Mabel
here I'm a little reluctant to put you teens in charge of anything!" he looks
genuinely excited and it sends cold shivers down Ford's spine.
The intensity of the mirthful malice behind Bill's words almost makes Ford's
knees buckle underneath him. He instinctively wants to yell at the kids to
scram, shout threats and empty promises at his fake muse and force Bill to play
with him instead of the kids but there is nothing he can do. He can't open his
mouth and he can barely stand upright. It's been a long time since he felt like
this much of a failure. He's failing them all.
He watches as Dipper pulls his sister half into his lap, protectively hugs her
to his chest as she digs her fingers into his shirt, visibly relieved through
pain and tears to be able to hold onto someone.
"So, what do we need for a party? Any suggestions? Nobody? My, what an awful
crowd we have tonight! Fine, gotta do it all myself then!" His big unblinking
eye scans the room. "First things first, we need some festive decorations!" he
lifts his arms and a bunch of eye-bats rush in the same moment a plethora of
guts drop from the ceiling. The intestines immediately start to pull themselves
across the room like snakes to mimic party streamers while the eye-bats grow
long thin tails tipped with heavy spiked maces that pulled them down and keep
them in place like creepy balloons as they start thrashing around wildly to try
and free themselves in a panic. Slowly all of their pupils fix on Dipper and
Mabel, throwing Ford the occasional glance before fixing their attention back
on the kids. Bill looks around the room before he waves a finger around as an
afterthought and what looks like beating, bleeding hearts strung up like beads
slowly settle between Bill's other decorations like ghoulish garlands. With
every heartbeat, a few drops of blood fall to the floor below and unfortunately
Ford is standing directly underneath one of the heart garlands. Something wet
and warm hits his neck.
"Not bad!" Bill applauds himself and turns towards the terrified twins. "What
do you guys think? I thought I'd work only off of pre-existing materials, you
know, because you didn't like the fantastic magical bubble I gave Shooting
Star! Good thing I have so many humans here!” He points toward his throne.
”What do you say, Pinetree? Real enough for you this time?? Hmm?!" he grows
massive in size, hovers over them, stares them down and starts to poke them
with one gigantic black finger, big enough to crush them if he pleased so. "I
asked you something!"
Mabel shrieks, still too shaken up from the torture to truly pick up on her
surroundings and Dipper throws himself over her, holds her tight. Whispers to
her.
"I'm talking to you!" Bill laughs and the middle finger of the giant hand
strains against the thumb, ready to flick them across the room into a wall and
Dipper looks up. He looks at Ford, eyes wide with terror, begging for help.
Ford swallows hard, chest tight as he looks away, concentrates on his breathing
instead because what else can he do.
"YES!" Dipper yells and Ford grimaces. Knows that Dipper has no idea that by
participation in Bill's game he might have just signed them all up for a fate
much... weirder than simple torture. And probably far more damaging.
"Yes, what?" Bill demands in a tone that oozes smug victory.
"Yes, r-real enough!" the boy stutters, still clinging to his sister like a
life line. Bill cackles and uses one big finger to rub Dipper's head before
shrinking back down to a less imposing but just as menacing size, throwing Ford
a particularly cocky look before returning his attention to Ford's nephew.
"So the decorations are set. What else do we need for a party, Pinetree?" he
prods Dipper with a finger yet again. Squishes his pale cheek. Urges him to
answer. "Hmm?" and keeps prodding. Enjoys the fear and confusion his actions
reap. "Hmmm?" other than Bill's annoying voice the only noises Ford can hear
are the steady drops of blood from above, Mabel's labored sobs, and his own
breathing. "HMMMM?"
"Cake." Dipper whimpers. He might have reached his breaking point. Finally
becoming submissive in hopes of being spared.
"Cake." Bill confirms cheerily, inches away from Dippers face.
End Notes
     The username says it all. Anyone else who is a little depraved here?
Please drop_by_the_archive_and_comment to let the author know if you enjoyed
their work!