Chapter 12: The Oncoming Storm

"I'm a thousand years old! YOU THINK YOU CAN KILL ME?!" His loud angry voice startled me, giving me goosebumps. He looked angrier than ever, tired of playing around and ready to kill whoever stood in his way.

"Wow..." I muttered as the scene carried out in front of me. I brought a strawberry to my lips, taking a small bite. This was probably one of the best seasons of the series.

I pressed the spacebar, pausing the episode, and took out one of my earbuds. The only sound reaching my ears was Clara's steady breathing, who was soundly sleeping on the bed underneath mine. If I sharpened my hearing I was able to perceive the rhythmic melody of crickets outside. I gazed into the night, reaching once more for another strawberry, my hand was met by the cool surface of an empty bowl. I let out a surprised sound, as I wasn't aware of already having run out of them.

I looked towards the bowl, a shocked look covering my face. There, floating in midair were the strawberries. I touched one of them, watching as it rolled around itself, lightly bumping against the others. After a couple of seconds they fell down, into the bowl or on the white bed sheets.

"Ok, Alice, it's time you go to bed." I nervously chuckled as I put the all the strawberries in the container. "I think that's enough binge watching for tonight." I closed my laptop and laid down, worriedly staring at the ceiling.

It had been two and a half days since I had tried sleeping for more than thirty minutes. Was I ready to face Bill after the 'therapy session' with my subconscious? There was no point in denying it, my attraction towards Bill wasn't only physical anymore. It wasn't ok; he was manipulative, violent, insane and toxic in each and every way, but... He seemed to care about me?

He had protected me from RG after all, hadn't he? I was thankful to him for that, it could have ended badly. That asshole had pretended to want to be my friend, when in reality he was as much of a creep as Jerry, the security guard. No, even worse, he was not only a creep but a materialistic dick that only cared about my nonexistent money.

I remembered how vulnerable RG's lies made me feel, how Bill's embrace was like a safe haven in which no one could harm me anymore, the following realization of my feelings towards the demon and their consequences, the fear that they...

I woke with a start. I could hardly remember what I had dreamed, and the simple feeling of not being able to recall whatever fabrication my brain had created while I was asleep felt... as food would to a starved man. The absence of the always-present nightmares was so welcome I almost teared up.

I sighed contently and looked at my phone, its bright light blinded me for a second. 6:31 a.m., I had woken up much later than I had grown accustomed to the last couple of days.

I sat up and stretched my arms over my head as much as I could, my back popping pleasantly. I yawned as I rubbed my face with my right hand. Its palm ached and felt rough against the skin of my face. The wound was still relatively fresh, the shower incident having happened only three days ago.

My sister was still asleep and her deep breaths took me back to the previous night's events. The bowl had tipped over overnight and a handful of strawberries were scattered across the bed once more.

The cold of the steps of the ladder seeped through the skin of my feet as I climbed down the bunk bed. I was gonna go and have something to eat before heading out for my morning run, a habit I had taken on since... well, three days ago.

I left a note for Clara, telling her what I was gonna be doing and when I planned on coming back, even though I knew she was still gonna be asleep when I did.

I wasn't fit. My huffing reminded me of the one of a broken bellow and underneath my shirt I felt my sports bra cling to my chest, drenched in sweat. Running helped me take my mind off all the crap I was going through. I has realized I'd rather feel physical pain that psychological one.

I looked at my phone to see how much I had run, 5 km, not bad. My eyes skimmed over the guard's gate as I approached the entrance. I did a double take, something seemed off. I paused the music blaring through my earbuds. I heard a muffled scream and a thud. I decided to go and find out what was going on.

A figure rose up, swinging back a baseball bat, readying themselves for the next blow. They turned around and faced me. They froze and stared at me in shock.

"Jara?" A nervous grin (that looked more like a grimace than anything) appeared on her face. She slowly lowered the bat, widening the fake smile.

"Hey, Alice! Fancy seeing you in this exact place at this exact moment!" She dragged the end of the word as she scooted closer to where I was and learnt over the counter, resting her face on one of her hands, the other behind her back.

"What are you doing?"

"Well, you know…" A nervous laugh "Just taking care of some things, nothing too important." She laughed once more. It didn't sound very convincing, but I didn't want to get involved with whatever Bill had ordered her to do.

"Ok then." Her whole body seemed to relax "See you." I waved and turned around, walking back to my current residence, only to be stopped by Jara calling my name.

"Wait!" She practically run to my side "How are you doing? Boss has told me he's having trouble contacting you."

It was now my turn to fake smile "I fucking wonder why!" I put one hand on my hip and brought the other one to my chin, pretending to ponder over the answer "Maybe it's because I can't sleep, thanks to him!" I started telling her everything that had happened to me these last few days in the most sarcastic way I could. "And do you know what's the funniest thing of it all?! I think I'm falling in love with him!"

"Damn…" Jara whispered before realizing something "Wait, what did you say that guy's deal was about?"

"Money and women." I practically growled "He was such a dick, just wanted to use me."

"I'm not quite sure you've got that right… I think I heard my parents discussing it and that's not what they said." After a brief pause she added "I can show you if you want, though I'm pretty sure boss will literally kill me if he finds out. It's not as fun as it sounds."

"Show me? How? Bill has already showed me how they made the deal." I decided to ignore the last comment.

"Well, my family's been keeping copies of his contracts since forever. We have them in a giant library at home."

"Really?" She nodded grinning at me and I answered her happily "That's great! Thank you! Let me have a shower real quick and tell my sister." I looked at the time, it was almost 8 a.m., she was probably asleep and wouldn't wake up until 10 a.m. or so. I quickly stripped out of my clothes and turned on the shower. The cool water sled down my hot skin and I rushed to get rid of the sweat.

Once I finished I made some changes to the note I had left for my sister and walked outside of the bungalow. Jara was waiting for me there. She was sitting quietly in one of the chairs outside, rapidly moving her fingers across the screen of her phone.

"I'm ready!" She looked up from the device and smiled at me.

"Ok. Let's go!" We had walked out of the campsite when she suddenly stopped walking. "I'm sorry, but, I'm gonna have to blindfold you. It's kind of a secret, you know." She pulled out a rag from the pocket of her dark jeans and I nodded, allowing her to cover my eyes. "And now, I'm gonna show you one of the wonderful powers Bill has given me!" She snapped her fingers and then removed the blindfold. Before my eyes stood an enormous manor, it was even bigger than the last one I had been to, the Northwest manor. "I just teleported us to my home!"

"What?! How?!" I looked around myself in astonishment, we were surrounded by trees, they hid the mansion completely from the rest of Gravity Falls. I took a step forward and my legs wobbled, making me reach out for Jara to support myself. "What the fuck? Is this a side effect of teleportation?"

She stared at me for a second, her eyes fixed on mine, as if thinking about something important.

"Well... Let's be honest, I didn't actually teleport you here. I..." She nervously chuckled "I hypnotized you and made you walk all the way from the campsite to here." There was an awkward silence before she continued talking, her right hand nervously grabbing her left one. "Well, you didn't have to put up with walking blindfolded or making small talk with me!"

"Jara, I actually enjoy talking to you."

"Then, I don't know why I've done this." She laughed, making me smile at her in amusement "You see, it's weird having a true friend for once." I patted her arm hoping to comfort her as I gave her a reassuring smile. There were times I forgot she was also one of Bill's victims. "Well, no more sappy moments! Let's go." She started to walk up a long staircase that led to the main entrance, two big oak doors with a golden door knob and knocker with the shape of a dragon's head. "I think my parents are home, so you might get to meet them! They've been telling me to bring you here for a while, but you know, I didn't want to make things awkward."

From inside her pocket she drew out a handful of keys and without hesitation she grabbed one of them and used it to open the door. It opened swiftly. Even if the manor may have looked a couple of centuries old; it was obvious that its owners took care of it. Jara stepped aside, allowing me to enter her home; she jokingly bowed her head as I stepped inside.

Rich red wall paper greeted me, two big flower pots at each side of the door. At my left hand, the wall opened in two arches, one leading to what seemed to be a small living room, and the other to the kitchen. In that same side, there was a full medieval armor standing. It was made of gold, and if you looked carefully, you could see Bill's eye engraved on some of its parts. It held a long sword between its hands, glinting in the morning light. On the opposite side a long staircase led to the second floor, its wall covered by windows and some golden looking lamps.

Jara entered her home and walked past me, waiting for me to follow her. I stopped in front of the armor, noticing the ugly hole on the left side of its breastplate. It seemed to still be stained with blood, even after the hundreds of years that had surely passed since its last use, unlike the rest of the armor, shiny and without a single speck of dust.

"That was Pedro Gomez's, one of my ancestors back in Europe, around the 16th century or so. He was duke of Alcalá de los Gazules, a town in the south of Spain, and also viceroy of Naples. He died in the battle of 've been working for Bill ever since." Jara looked proudly at the armor, her eyes shining with something I couldn't quite describe. "Further down this hall there's the sword of another one of them. Her name was Tomasa Canva and she was kind of like Anne Bonny, but she was a corsair of the English crown. I wouldn't be surprised if they knew each other, I heard they had really similar personalities." She chuckled a bit and continued walking, down the hall and into another one.

"Could you tell me more about how your family started working for Bill?"

"Well, it all started during the battle of Nijmegen, also known as the Batyle of Craon. A huge international conflict between the united forces of The Spanish Empire and England, as well as an internal battle between the French due to the French Wars of Religion." In this new hall there were weapons, paintings and maps on its walls. All of them with a clear economic and historical value. "My ancestor served under the command of Don Juan del Águila, who managed to bring an end to the war and liberate Craon. But here we have a different version of the story. You see, the Spanish army didn't have the upper hand until the very end of the battle. Their troops had been massacred, they were exhausted, and out of hope." We walked through a music room and into another hall, this one wasn't as luxurious as the other we had been in, but still had some documents hung on its walls. "He had been struck by an Englishman whose sword had managed to pierce his armor. And was left for dead as what was left of our troops kept marching towards their doom. He was ready to die, but as he closed his eyes and prayed to God, he suddenly felt a strong, powerful energy coursing through him. Through half-closed eyelids he managed to catch a glimpse of what he described as a god. Not God, but a new deity who would grant him his help and power in exchange for his loyalty and services. He couldn't refuse, and so he struck a deal with the all-powerful being." Jara stopped talking as she took out the keys from before and opening a door.

We entered what seemed to be an almost empty walk-in wardrobe, and then she moved a box, revealing a screen. She pressed each of her hands against it, one at a time. After that, she followed a series of actions. Such as, scanning her eyes, pricking one of her fingers and introducing a code. The wall the screen was on vibrated for a second before sliding and revealing some stairs downwards. Once we started descending, walking towards an elevator Jara continued narrating.

"His wounds were healed, and he felt the God inside of his soul, guiding his every movement. Thanks to him, the Spanish troops regained their confidence and strength. They surrounded the Anglo-French troops and fought with the strength of a million men, liberated the city and stole all their artillery and supplies. The God guided my ancestor's hand as he and his battalion executed all of the Englishmen who had caused them to suffer." We got inside the elevator after Jara put another code, and she pressed the only button in the cabin "As soon as the battle was over, my ancestor pleaded once more to the God. He offered his loyalty, and that of his descendants, until each and every one of them had died. If I remember correctly, it went something like 'I offer myself to you, in body and in soul, to serve you and be loyal to you, oh, all-powerful. I give my children to you, and their children as well. Anyone who has an ounce of my soul in them or a drop of my blood coursing through their veins will forever serve you, and this is how I repay you for your greatness'. The story says that Bill took him home and carved a symbol on his and his children's back with a sharp blade, with which he then pierced my ancestor's heart through the same hole the Englishman had left on his armor. It is said that he died with a smile on his face, crying tears of happiness."

At the same time as Jara concluded the story, the elevator came to a stop and its doors opened slowly with a soft 'ding'. I stepped out of it and looked around, still shaken up from what she had told me, but in awe from what I was seeing. I heard the doors close and Jara stepped to my side and gestured to the room with her outstretched arms. "Well, here we are."

Before my eyes stood the biggest library I had ever seen, hundreds of bookshelves filled the room. It was almost maze-like, shadows twisting around the furniture, luring you into getting lost within them.

"This way."

As we got deeper into the chamber, the realization of what the apparently harmless-looking documents archived there truly meant dawned on me. Each of them represented the hopes and dreams of a person, cruelly used by Bill to satisfy his sick needs.

"What are you going to show me exactly, Jara?" She navigated the maze with expertise, with me as her shadow.

"Well, RG's deal is… how to put it? Different from most of the documents we have here. It's pretty hard to miss, I'm not sure you're gonna like it though." The elevator was far behind us and each row of bookshelves looked newer than the one before. "We're almost there."

The new area we reached was more spacious. The bookshelves that lead there rounded it, resembling the middle of a labyrinth. In its center stood a pedestal and by its side a tiny battered table. Jara approached the latter, another of her many keys in her hand. She knelt down and went to unlock a box resting on top of the piece of furniture. After fumbling a few seconds with the lock she turned around and looked at me.

"I just want you to know, that we are not the ones who chose to keep his deal like this. This was entirely Bill, it's his idea of a practical joke." She opened the box, a couple of moths flying out of it. "These little guys are here just for the effect. This is the most recent document we've received. You can take a look for yourself."

I grabbed the box and peered inside. Laying at the bottom there was a roll of toilet paper, with some messy handwriting all over it. I looked at Jara, was this the punchline?

"Is this the deal?"

"The real deal."

"And what am I supposed to do now?" I looked once more at the 'document', wasn't this supposed to be a bit more serious? The roll wasn't even new. Surrounding the cardboard cylinder were only a mere three layers of paper.

"I don't know, I'm not supposed to know, but you can knock yourself out."

And that's actually exactly what I did when I touched the toilet paper roll. The room started to disappear quickly, a rush of voices reaching my ears. It sounded as if someone had rewound an old video tape at a very high speed.

Once everything calmed down I found myself standing in a dimly lit restroom stall. I heard a snap of fingers and two loud thuds in the stall beside me. I felt the colors around me change, quickly fading into a desaturated version of themselves. Right after that, the door of that stall opened and someone walked out. I was then able to hear the sound of running water and they started washing heir hands. My body moved on its own and opened the door of the stall I was in, and I came into the scene.

I was conveniently in front of a mirror, and a quick glance allowed me to see that I was merely a spectator watching the scene unfold through the golden eye I had learned to love and hate at the same time: Bill's eye.

Hunched over the sink, splashing some water on his face, was RG. I immediately recognized the scene. It was the one Bill had shown me that night, RG and him making a deal over the first's only interests: a pair of boobs, a pretty face and easy cash. Hopefully, this time things would go differently. I still had hope in him: RG didn't seem like a bad guy.

A sudden voice that came from inside me made me lose my train of thought: "How's it going?" I leaned against one of the sinks and felt my lips lift tightly into a fake smile, RG smiled back. "On a date?"

The boy laughed, but the murderous thoughts that went through my Bill's mind didn't go unnoticed. RG turned his back to him and started drying his hands with some paper towels.

"I guess… I think I really like this girl. I mean, actually like her, a lot." He formed a ball with the wet pieces of paper and stopped for a moment. "I don't want to mess this up."

"You can never be too cautious, right?" We got uncomfortably close to RG, almost making him press his back onto one of the walls. He blushed, looking me right in the eye for a second before averting his gaze. I felt Bill smirk internally at RG's discomfort, it was clear he wanted to leave and that the demon was enjoying the situation a bit too much. He leaned even closer, nearing his lips to RG's ear, I felt RG shiver. "Wouldn't want it to end like last time?"

"W-What are you talking about?" He squirmed trying to get away from me, only to have myself press him further onto the wall. "Listen man, I don't know what you think you're doing, but you are starting to creep me out." RG pushed me off of him, making me step back and chuckle. He walked towards the door leading outside the bathroom. The moment he grabbed the doorknob he let out a small yelp and yanked his hand backwards as if he had been burnt. The door faded into the wall as if it had never been there.

"I'm no man, lover boy, I'm far from that." Bill straightened his dress shirt and wiped some inexistent dust from it. "And, you know exactly what I'm talking about, or have you already forgotten about Amber?" The temperature of the room dropped and I felt myself enjoying this way too much. Bill was ecstatic, looking with unmasked amusement at RG's horrified face. "Don't worry, I'll help you remember." He approached him once more, his hand reaching for RG and slamming him forcefully back into the wall. My fingers curled lightly around his throat, his heartbeat quickening under my fingertips. "Doesn't this feel familiar to you? Like all those times when she pushed you against the wall and showed you how much she supposedly loved you."

RG trembled, and I did the same, watching helplessly how Bill played with the broken person standing in front of me. I was right, the real bad guy unsurprisingly had been Bill all along. By the way this was going I could guess the deal was far more complicated than what the demon had shown me.

"She is the only person you've ever loved, and boy did she know it. As soon as she had you in her grip she did whatever she wanted to you." RG's eyes screamed unadulterated terror "And the moment you strayed even an inch, she made sure you didn't do it again. A few broken ribs and a battered body were a fair price to pay for true love." The hand around his neck loosened his grip and caressed his throat in an almost tender way. "I can help you. I can make sure Alice won't hurt you."

"She wouldn't, she's far too kind." RG managed to croak with complete conviction. How could he trust someone he had just met after everything that had been done to him? I knew I wouldn't ever mistreat him like that, but how could he if he barely knew me?

A chuckle left Bill's lips and he sighed.

"Oh… You don't know her like I do." He bit his lip, somehow giving a wrong but true message. Bill knows almost everything about me, if not everything, but let me tell you something, we didn't know each other in such a physical context.

"A-Are you her boyfriend?"

"Not exactly." Bill smirked and removed his hand from RG's throat, watching him fall onto his knees as his trembling hands reached the spot where Bill's used to be. "But that's not important right now, all you need to know is that I can help you. It's quite simple, really. You just have to let me take your place, and I'll give you what you're looking for."

"And what exactly would that be?"

"Well, love, obviously." I twirled my hand, making a small bottle appear, inside a pink liquid sparkled. It was oddly familiar. "This is a real love potion, not one of those infatuation ones so popular around the magical community lately. Let's face it, no one is going to love you otherwise. C'mon, won't you shake a poor sinner's hand?"

RG looked torn apart, the last flicker of doubt in his eyes died as Bill offered him his outstretched hand. He accepted his offer and Bill helped him stand up. A blue fire surrounded their intertwined hands as an evil smile stretched Bill's lips.

I closed my eye but still felt the bright light coming from RG. I felt his body emptying, his soul leaving it, readying it for mine. I felt the ground once more underneath my feet and I opened my eyes. The world recovered its natural colors. Someone knocked on the door twice. I didn't expect this to keep going, I thought it would be over by now, was I going to be stuck inside Bill's mind forever?

"RG, are you okay?" I heard myself say from the other side. Was my voice really that high?

"I'M GREAT!" I answered excitedly, practically ripping the door out of its hedges as I opened it. My other me fell into the room but RG/Bill/I caught her (myself?) in the nick of time. "What were you doing?" We helped her stand up with a wide smirk. Bill was relishing in the feeling of her body in his arms. You would turn red if you knew what was in his mind at that very moment.

"You were taking very long, I got worried." She explained to us as we walked out of the restroom. And then everything faded out, Bill's feelings intertwined with my own. My relief of finally getting back to reality and finding out RG hadn't really betrayed me; and Bill's excitement caused by holding me in actual physical arms.

"I didn't mean literally." Jara's voice reached my ears once I regained conscience. "You literally knocked yourself out." I laid on the floor staring at the ceiling, processing everything I had just seen. "So, was that…?"

"Yup, the real deal."

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A/N:

Hey my dudes,

So, I've taken v long to update (like always, sorry), but at least it's been less than a year (?).

This chapter was actually gonna be super long, probably even longer than the previous one (so that's over the 12,000 words) but I'm having a huge writer's block. So I've decided to update most of what I already had of the chapter.

Its original title was going to be "Unlikely Situations" but it didn't make sense anymore, so later the day I decided to update (like, yesterday) I got the idea of this title.

Now, I wanted to talk a bit about myself. I started this story when I was 15 years old, and right now I'm 18 (almost 19) and in college (I'm studying Optics and Optometry, to anyone interested or curious). I can't believe I'm still writing this, I thought I would have abandoned it ages ago, but nope, here I am. I look back to the first chapter and I feel the cringe. I wanna rewrite the beginning so badly!

Anyways, back to the story. So, RG isn't actually a bad guy, heheh. When I saw that some of you had reviewed talking about how glad you were that the villain had gotten what he deserved I was laughing evilly. I had been able to write the chapter in a way that made you believe RG was a dick, when he's actually not, bless his soul. He's been through way too much shit, abused by his girlfriend.

I believe this is already long enough and I don't wanna bore you to death. As always, anything you wanna know about the story, or any suggestions you might have, feel free to tell me. Every time I see that any of you has left a review I get so excited! (Even if I take very long to answer, I'm so sorry, but I get nervous and I don't know what to answer…).

I love you guys so much! Thank you for the support!

Thnks fr rdng! ~Alicia