Chapter Text
How much time had passed since he had been brought here? Ford had no idea. It seemed like pain was the only thing that even existed anymore.
He knew he had died at least a dozen times. He had already started to grow used to the feeling of slipping away only to be brought right back, but never really whole. Bill was careful about what scars and injuries he wanted to keep. Ford could still remember the story behind all of them.
He could still remember the feeling of the sweltering hot iron being pushed between his shoulder blades, effectively branding Ford with the cipher symbol as he struggled and pulled at the chains binding his wrists, desperately trying to pull away, but knowing it was futile. He knew what the brand was meant to convey. ‘ You are mine and always will be. Don’t forget it. You are my property.’
He could still remember the feeling of his skull being ripped open. How he stayed conscious he doesn’t know, but he learned to stop questioning things 40 years ago. He could hear Bill's maniacal cackling as he yanked and wriggled the metal plate from Ford’s skull, his screeching voice filling the room as he spoke. The chain around his neck restricted his breathing to a wheeze and his screaming turned into choked-out gasps as the pain became too much to process.
“You really thought this would be enough to keep me out of your mind? Hilarious! This might have been an issue if you weren’t mortal, but thankfully you are! Jeez, Jheselbraum was so obsessed with stopping me that she didn’t even think about your mortality!” With a final tug, the plate had been removed, and Ford blacked out almost instantly; though Bill immediately brought him back.
“Whoops! Can’t have you blacking out on me yet! We’ve still got so much to do together!”
———
While Bill was out partying with his henchman, he would leave Ford either chained up in the penthouse or next to him on the throne, while he played nightmarish scenarios in his mind. During these scenarios, Ford would go completely limp as his eyes turned yellow and glazed over. He had no control over his body, allowing Bill to puppet him around in front of his henchman like a doll.
Each scenario felt like it lasted days, though Ford knew they probably only lasted a few hours. The contents of the scenes would vary. Sometimes they would show his family dying violent, gruesome deaths, or what the world would turn into if Ford gave up the equation.
Usually, the man could bear through them, trying to convince himself that it wasn’t real and that his family was fine. They were so gruesome and unrealistic that the logical part of his brain reminded him that it wasn’t real every time he started to think it was. Other times, though, it was harder to believe.
Bill would conjure up images of his family tied up alongside him. They were so detailed that he could see the pores on their faces. The only things they would say to him was that weirdmageddon was his fault. That he was the cause of all of their pain and suffering. That he should just go ahead and give up now and put them out of their misery. He didn’t want to admit it, but there were a few times where he almost listened to them.
Sometimes after a particularly rough session, Bill would hold Ford tight to his surface and whisper empty comforting words into his ears.
“It doesn’t have to be like this Sixer. If you just gave up the equation, all of this pain and suffering could go away. You could be a god. We could go back to how it used to be, just us two. I know you still remember Fordsy.” And the man had to fight against the tiredness and hopelessness clouding his brain in order to refuse.
Even as his body and mind, both exhausted from the hours of torture he had endured, told him to accept it and give in just to stop the pain. Even as he lay in Bill's arms, limp and letting his heavy eyes droop, breath haggard and wheezing, he still mustered up the strength to refuse. The thought of Dipper and Mabel's crumpled faces as they learned what he had done was enough to give him the burst of energy to do so.
He was currently sitting on the armrest of Bill's throne with a chain attached to his left wrist. Bill had just finished shocking his body full of electricity and was now lounging next to him on the throne, looking bored and stroking over the man’s hair with one singular, giant finger absentmindedly. The clicking of the child in a cage’s shoes as he danced was the only noise in the room. If he had had any more strength, he would have pulled away with revulsion, but he didn’t even have the energy to glare up and the triangle.
If someone had told Ford in his twenties that this was where he would be in the future, he would have laughed in their face. Back then, Bill was the center of his universe. Everything he did, he did for Bill. He gave his body up for him. Gave his relationships up for him. Gave his life up for him. He spent years building a portal for him, sacrificing everything he had because Bill made him feel special. Bill told him he needed him, and it made Ford feel so good.
All he had ever wished for in life was to feel needed and useful, and then there Bill was. Someone to fulfill that wish. The knowledge that Ford was the only person in the world who could help Bill filled him with satisfaction. Finally, he was being acknowledged. He saw his potential and his muse saw it too, and that was all he needed. He was content with living out the rest of his life like that. Planning inventions that could better the world with Bill and creating them with Fiddleford. But when did life ever turn out the way he thought it would? Sailing around the world, West Coast Tech, and his future fame were all things that he thought were guaranteed to happen, but never did. Now here he was, chained and bound like an animal in a petting zoo.
The pressure on Ford's head left abruptly as Bill’s attention was pulled away from the man and to his henchman, Pyronica, who had just come in through the triangular opening and started speaking in a strange, unfamiliar language.
(“Boss, we found something you might wanna check out. There are humans in suits willingly entering Gravity Falls and trying to speak to us. Don’t you wanna take a break from this for a bit and come back later? Hey, maybe you’ll also come up with some new ways to torture your little pet.”) The pink demon sneered at him as Bill seemed to light up at the suggestion and rise from the throne.
(“You always know how to cheer me up, Pyronica. This is why you’re my favorite.”) He turned towards the other henchmaniacs and squinted his eye. (“Why can’t you all be more like her? Maybe then it would be more fun around here.”) They all started to murmur out small apologies and suggestions before Bill just rolled his eye and turned away.
(“Whatever. Let’s go see what those humans want!”) Then, switching back over to English, he sing-songingly told Ford “Be good, Sixer!” Before disappearing out of the entrance.
The man blinked as the events of the last few moments registered in his brain. Did Bill really leave him alone? When he was first captured, Bill hadn’t left his side for days thinking that he would find some way to escape. Did he think Ford wouldn’t try to run in the condition he was in? That Bill had broken him down enough for him to not even consider escaping? A wave of anger and adrenaline washed over him at the thought.
Bill had always viewed him as weak. Even in the Nightmare dimension when they were facing off one on one, the triangle only saw the whole thing as a game. He wanted to make Bill angry, to give him one big old ‘fuck you.’ And what better way to do that than by proving him wrong?
With his newfound energy, Ford sat up, taking a deep breath and grasping his left thumb, before swiftly popping it out of place. It hurt like a bitch, but Ford was able to wriggle his hand out of the cuffs and wrap a torn-off piece of cloth around the dislocated joint to protect it from any movements that could worsen the pain.
‘Now for the hard part…’
Just as he was about to jump down from the throne, he heard a high-pitched, “Wait!”
Looking over, he noticed the small child had stopped dancing and was now grasping at the bars of his cage, panting.
“Get me out too! I’m too cute to die in here!” Ford felt a slight pang of annoyance, but he wasn’t about to leave a helpless child to Bill’s mercy. Especially when he was most likely going to be furious and take his anger out on the first living thing he saw when he realized his only ticket out of the confines of Gravity Falls had gotten away.
With a huff, he began swinging the discarded chain around in circles like a lasso, before tossing it up toward the boy. It wrapped tightly around one of the bars, an inch off hitting the kid's face, and Ford brought it down with a sharp tug even as his arms screamed in protest and whips of pain almost caused him to drop the chain. Cursing, he brought up his right arm to examine it and saw thick, angry red rings wrapping around his wrists. Burns from the cuffs. He reached up to his neck and discovered a burn there as well that started hurting right at that moment. Shit.
He would worry about that later, though, as the child before him had finally gotten the cage open and scrambled away from it, back towards Ford. He didn’t help the boy up, though, as he was now focused on getting out of and as far away from the Fearamid as possible. He had no idea when Bill would get back, but he knew that he didn’t want to be caught by him in the middle of an escape attempt. He would never get a chance like this again.
After scaling down the throne, he looked up to see the kid (What was his name? George? Gabriel?) shambling after him, huffing as if he had just run a marathon.
It took him far longer to get down than Ford would’ve liked, and the man had half a mind to leave him there. When he finally got down though, the older man noticed he had something in his hand, and panic washed over him.
“Why do you have that chain?”
Had he made a secret deal with Bill to recapture Ford if he ever tried to escape? Was the whole ‘stuck in a cage forced to dance for eternity’ thing a ruse? He took a step back. Why hadn’t he listened to his own advice? Trust no one. Trust no one. Trust-
“The drop from the Fearamid to the ground is too far for us to be able to jump down, and this thing seems to extend infinitely when it’s not being used to chain someone up.” He gave it a tug to show how it extended when it was pulled. “I thought we could use it to climb down.” Ford’s thoughts skidded to a halt and he wanted to slap himself. Of course this little kid hadn’t been working for Bill. He needed to stop being so paranoid.
“Oh, Uh, Yeah. Good idea, kid.”
“My name’s Gideon.”
“Sure. I knew that.”
“No, you didn’t.”
Ford didn’t respond to that, only deciding to start running for the looming entrance, which he now realized was much bigger up close. He took the chain from Gideon as he caught up to him and quickly threw it down. He waited a few moments before peering over the edge and deciding that it was close enough to the ground for them to climb down safely.
“Alright. I’ll go first, you follow after me. Once we reach the ground, we go straight to the Mystery Shack, got it?” He didn’t look up while speaking to Gideon, as he was focusing his energy on willing his hands to be steady. He knew it was dangerous to trust a kid to climb down a hanging chain all by himself without any protection, but they didn’t exactly have a lot of options, so Ford was willing to risk it.
Slowly, he grasped the chain in his hands and began to lower himself down. His foot slipped a bit while he was trying to get a good grip, but eventually, he was able to fall into a steady rhythm. His heart pounded with every inch he descended, and he prayed that Bill somehow wouldn’t notice the bright blue chain falling from the fearamid and the two humans climbing down it before they were able to get to the bottom.
Looking up, he could see that Gideon was, surprisingly, able to keep pretty close to him. He guessed he was thinking the same thing Ford was, so he was most likely being fueled by adrenaline and fear.
The 7 minutes it took for them to get down were the most tense of his life. 7 minutes for something to go wrong. 7 Minutes for Bill to come back and recapture them, subjecting them to even worse torture than before. 7 minutes for the chain to snap, or even disappear altogether. Ford was certain that if he hadn’t already had completely grey hair, then it would have turned grey from the stress.
Relief washed over his body when he finally touched down on the ground, but so did skepticism. Was it really that easy? He looked down at his hands, which now had bright red lines running over their palms from the climb. He looked at his sixth finger, which had always deemed him an outcast in society, but the perfect contendant to be a henchmaniac for Bill. The newest addition to their fucked up group.
He didn’t like to admit it, but sometimes he missed Bill. No one else in the entire world understood Ford the way Bill did, and no one in the universe understood Bill the way Ford did. Two outcasts in their own societies who could only find companionship from someone outside of it.
But then his sleeve rolled down ever so slightly, and he was reminded of how Bill really viewed him. The angry burns around his wrists proved that he would only ever be a plaything for Bill. Something he could abuse and play around with as much as he wanted, and it would still be there waiting for Bill to come back.
Bill hadn’t even expected him to leave. He assumed Ford would just sit there and let himself be tortured for all eternity. He was never and would never be taken seriously by him, and it was infuriating. Maybe now, after escaping from right out under his nose, he finally would.
He was snapped back to reality when Gideon jumped down beside him, and he remembered what exactly they were doing.
“C’mon, we have to get to the Mystery Shack before Bill gets back and sees we’re gone.” He grabbed the boy’s hand roughly and started running in the direction he thought the Mystery Shack was. It had been 30 years since he had been in town, and even after his return he hadn’t left the house, so he was having a hard time finding his way around. Everything was so different.
If he thought the climb down from the fearamid was nerve-wracking, then the trek to the Mystery Shack was practically heart-attack-inducing. Ford peered around every corner praying that one of Bill’s henchmen wouldn’t be there waiting for him on the other side. He practically jumped out of his skin a couple of times when he thought he had seen or heard Bill, but it was always his paranoid mind playing tricks on him.
It took them a while to finally make their way to the edge of town, but when they did Ford made a beeline straight for the cover of the trees, Gideon close behind. The longer they stayed out in the open, the more likely they would get caught.
The adrenaline that had been fueling Ford was starting to burn out, and tiredness began to seep into his bones. He knew he couldn’t stop now, but he felt himself slowing more and more with every step he took. But then, after what had felt like hours of wandering, he could finally see the Mystery Shack just ahead, and he probably would’ve started crying if he had more energy.
He faltered a bit when he realized he didn’t even know what to expect when he arrived. Were Stan and the kids even still alive? Had the shack been overrun with wildlife trying to escape from Bill? Hell, maybe Bill and his henchmaniacs were already there waiting for them, and Ford had only been running around like an idiot trying to escape the inevitable.
Cautiously, he approached the door, making sure to keep Gideon behind him. He put a finger over his lips in a ‘shh’ gesture, before slowly bringing up his foot to kick the door down.
In one swift motion, the door was flung open and banged against the wall as Ford raised his bloodied and bruised fists, only to be met with the scowling faces of his family.
They stood there momentarily, processing who they were looking at, before running towards each other.
“Grunkle Ford!” Dipper and Mabel both yelled in unison before jumping into his arms.
It took almost all of his strength to stay upright, his already weak arms and legs screaming from the added physical strain. He let out a quiet gasp and flashed the biggest smile he could muster before setting them down. He saw a flash of disappointment cross Mabel's face, and he felt a slight pang in his chest.
He looked up at his brother who Ford could tell was trying to look annoyed, but he could see relief etched onto his features.
After the weapons were put away and reunion hugs were over, they all made their way into the living room where Ford and Gideon were able to sit down, and he finally noticed all the creatures that had taken refuge in the mystery shack.
He remembered some of the gnomes and the unicorns, but others, like the tiny walking golf balls, were new to him. He knew if the circumstances were different he would already be scribbling away in his journal. One of the main people he recognized, though, was his old friend McGucket. His heart grew heavy at the sight of what he had turned into after their falling out. He had to look away before he was sucked into his thoughts. Thankfully Dipper provided a distraction.
“So how were you able to escape Bill anyway? I thought he turned you to gold when he captured you? Did he unfreeze you?” Ford didn’t know how to answer that question. It’s not like he could tell his nephew that he had spent the last few days being endlessly tortured for information. He quickly came up with an excuse.
“Yes, well, he… he unfroze me to try to convince me to join his side. I declined, of course, so he kept me and locked me up by his throne. I simply waited for a chance to escape and took the first opportunity I got.” He hoped Gideon wouldn’t point out the lie, and thankfully he didn’t.
Ford could tell his family didn’t completely buy it, but they decided to drop it, which he was grateful for. Stan spoke up.
“So, what's the plan for defeating Bill?” He asked, and Ford looked at him as if he had just gone mad.
“Are you crazy? We can’t defeat him. Our best option is to get out of town and to somewhere he can’t hurt us.” His family looked shocked at his response.
“What are you talking about Grunkle Ford? Dipper told us you had another way to defeat Bill!” Mabel stepped up with a desperate look on her face. The man sighed.
“I do… know another way… but it’s far too risky to attempt. I don’t even know if it would work with how far away the house is from the Fearamid, and it’s not like we can leave the shack.” He put a hand on his niece’s shoulder. “Look, while I was in there, Bill told me that he is unable to get past Gravity Falls’ border. Our safest bet would be to evacuate and keep him trapped here until he gets bored and leaves our dimension.” Mabel looked gutted and stepped back, and Ford thought that was the end of it. Surprisingly, though, it was Dipper who spoke up against him.
“No Grunkle Ford, we can’t just leave. What about everyone else in Gravity Falls? The people who have been turned to stone? Or the people who are unable to run away? Are we supposed to just leave them here? You said yourself being a hero means fighting even when it seems impossible.” It was a rare act of defiance from the boy, as usually he didn’t question his uncle and just trusted what he said. Ford looked away and Stan stepped in with a harsh tone of voice.
“Look, like it or not, you are the cause of all this. It was your creation of the portal that led Bill to be brought into this world. Usually I would agree with you, that it would be better for us to just run, but this is our home. We can’t let Bill take it from us.” He grabbed Fiddleford by his arm and pulled him into Ford's line of sight. “We have the two smartest guys in the world right here and you’re telling me we can’t make something work? Think, Sixer!”
Ford shuddered at the nickname, and he couldn’t bring himself to look anyone in the eye. He knew they were right, that weirdmageddon was his fault and that he needed to think of a solution, but hearing it from them hurt more than he thought it would. He thought the only time he would hear those words coming out of their mouths was when Bill would play those scenarios in his mind. Shit, were all of the things the demon showed him real? Were they visions of the future?
‘No. don’t think like that. Don’t let him get to your head.’
Ford bit his lip. He had seen and felt firsthand what Bill could do to someone, and the thought of his family going through what he did filled him with a mix of fear, anger, and sorrow. His brand was still raw under his tattered sweater, and his burns from the chains still made him wince. The memories were too fresh for him to think about this logically, but he knew he had to say something.
“Okay. You’re right.” He sighed. “We need to stop Bill. I know of a way to defeat him, but we need to get closer. It will have no effect if we are too far away.” That would calm them down for now, enough to give him time to think of a better way to handle this and convince them that leaving was the safest option.
“But how are we supposed to get closer without him capturing us? We’re only safe inside the shack.” A multi-headed bear pointed out. The room was suddenly filled with the sound of creatures voicing their concerns, sharing their ideas, or trying to ask Ford more questions.
“Well gee, I bet we could find out a way to get this ole’ girl movin’.” McGuckets shrill voice broke through the commotion. “Like Stan said, we’ve got the two smartest people in the world with us here. Now I’ve made some thingamadiculous robomajigs in my day, so I’m sure we could get the shack up and runnin’ in no time.”
With the newfound plan, the atmosphere in the room lifted and smiles were plastered on everyone's faces as they excitedly began talking amongst themselves. Ford was pulled up from his chair and over to the table as they began to come up with ideas, and he couldn’t help but let a smile grow over his face, too. He would let himself fall for the fantasy just this one time.
Maybe, just maybe, they had a real shot at taking down Bill.