Chapter Text
Ford was walking. He’d been walking for hours now, through the woods and to a cave he had found and was now going to explore. He'd been exploring a lot recently, trying desperately to find new leads as his research had come to a screeching halt. This cave was his biggest lead in months.
He had his backpack stuffed with everything he thought he could need-- though you can never be fully prepared for everything in Gravity Falls, something he had found out over his many adventures through the town and woods.
Ford had a flashlight out as he walked into the mouth of the cave and started looking around at the (possibly) prehistoric paintings. All well preserved thanks to the lack of previous exploration. He’d found this cave on accident while running from some large strange creature. He didn't get a great look at it the moment thanks to it having been night at the time, but he had found this cave when barreling through a dense patch of foliage. He had seen glimpses of the paintings, but lacking a strong flashlight, or really any supplies, he opted to mark it on his map for later exploration when he wasn’t being chased. Now was that later, and he was rather excited to get to work documenting everything.
As he walked, he took his time, stopping often to copy the glyphs so that he could translate them at a later date. He’d noticed quickly that most of the prehistoric paintings in the area used the same codes so he’d made some very useful ciphers to decode them. He would have a lot of fun with it as well. He’d always loved puzzles. As he explored the desperation to find a lead turns to excitement at how much was really in this cave. He writes down lots of things and is careful not to touch any of the paintings, not wanting to ruin them.
As Ford got deeper into the cave he saw a rather large painting of people worshiping a large yellow triangle, with a singular eye. He wasn’t sure why, but he was... drawn to it. He murmured the inscription aloud as he read it, despite the warning not to…
What could possibly happen?
—
“Nothing...” he said to himself (in truth, a bit relieved) after a few seconds of waiting, and looking around the cave. He got a sudden chill down his back like he was being watched and looked around again. Not seeing anything different from before. He does his best to shake off the feeling and continue his exploration, never fully shaking the feeling, but managing to ignore it as he distracted himself with work.
Little did he know, he caught the attention of a rather malevolent creature, a demon, a spirit, a God of Chaos-- whatever you wanted to call him.
He got the attention of Bill Cipher.
Who was now watching him closely from his vantage point in the Nightmare Realm, though ever painting in that cave that holds his likeness.
Ford continued walking through the cave, drawing all the paintings around him. He was very proud of how accurate they were to the real ones.
He was a rather good artist after all.
Once he finished the drawing, he closed the journal and slipped it back into his bag. He’d reached the end of this cave, and he started on his trek back out into the woods once again.
He’d mostly shaken the feeling of being watched by the time he left the cave and started the long trek down the mountain the cave was on and back through the woods. He had no idea his mind was being rifled through by a certain dream demon that was taking quite the interest in his life.
The demon in question was currently going through his mind, taking a stroll, opening and closing random doors, catching glimpses of memories, looking for anything he could use to his advantage if he chose to open negotiations with this particular mortal. Acting as if it was the most casual thing in the world.
Ford yawned as he checked the time, deciding to take a quick nap in a nearby grove of birch trees-- about halfway back to his little outpost, he’d napped here a few times during his adventures in these woods. He didn’t notice how the eye markings on the birch trees seemed to be staring at him.
It was a nice spot, with the canopy of the trees blocking most of the already faint evening light. Once he’d started a small fire and taken precautions against the various native cryptids, he laid back, resting his head on his backpack and closing his eyes. He must have been more exhausted than he’d thought, and found himself sinking into sleep very fast.
***
The demon that had been going through his mind for the better part of the last few hours (looking for anything he could use to get into Ford’s good graces. Gain his trust) when he finds it. The mortal’s ‘dream.’ Passion. Drive.
Ford’s goal was to study weirdness, his reason for his move to Gravity Falls. Perfect, he thought to himself, then looked around as he sensed Ford going to sleep. “Perfect timing too,” he added to himself aloud, with a short crazed laugh.
***
Ford was standing in a grayscale field, not one of his usual dreams-- not that he remembers them usually but this just felt… off. What was this?
He looked around a bit more, trying to figure out what was going on. He knew this was a dream which was another way this felt wrong. He hardly ever lucid dreams.
/SNAP/
Then the ground fell out from underneath him, and suddenly he was floating in a void of swirling color and chaos that looked… well in a word, weird. Another word though, was beautiful. He didn’t know why he noticed that, it wasn’t something he would usually note. Perhaps it was simply his appreciation for space.
/Snap/
“Whoa!” he shouted, as he suddenly fell back into a chair, being ripped out of his little momentary trance. Everything spun for a second, before he found himself face-to-face… face-to-front? Well, he wasn’t sure but he was staring at a triangle sitting in front of him, with a teacup in its small black hand.
“Care for a game of chess?” the triangle asked as it snapped its fingers.
/SNAP/
Summoning a chess board on a table floating between the two of them. It summoned a cup of tea for Ford while drinking its own… drinking it through its eye? Ford chose not to question it for now, he still didn’t know what was going on. “Welcome, my lucky guest,” it said, voice laced with cheer. (It sounded… male, maybe? Did triangles have sexes?)
Ford floated forward slightly in the chair, though he wasn’t sure how he managed it since although he had wanted to move forward, he hadn’t made a move yet. Then again, they didn't seem to be in a place that followed any of the same laws as anything he was used to. Of course it didn’t, this was a dream after all he reminds himself.
He made a move on the chessboard (thinking it best to appease this… thing, for now.) He stole a suspicious look at the teacup before taking a drink. As far as he knew this was all a dream and couldn’t hurt him. Ford looked at the being sitting across for him over the teacup with a look of confusion, “Who are you? How am I your lucky guest?” he asked, clearly very confused by all of this.
Bill made a vague gesture at their surroundings, “My guest in the Nightmare Realm of course! And you’re my special guest because I want to help you.” He says in his usual shrill tone. His eye creased a bit, in a way that looked distinctly like a grin, “You see, Stanford, every million years I pick one brilliant mind to work with, and this time that brilliant mind is you!”
Bill tried to make sure Ford was intrigued enough that he’d take the deal when they got to that. He made his own move on the chessboard once he finished speaking. “And my name is Bill Cipher, It’s wonderful to finally meet you face to face” he said, with another triangle-smirk.
Ford nodded slightly, though he was still clearly confused by all of this. He looked at Bill for a second as he made another move on the board. “Well... it seems you already know me, but for the sake of formality my name is Stanford Pines,” he said.
Bill nodded-- which was more of a bob up and down, him being a triangle after all. “You’re right, I do know you, though I do appreciate the formalities,” he made another move, capturing one of Ford's pieces as he did.
“...So here is my offer. I want to work with you, help to discover everything you can about this weird hick town you’ve taken up residence in,” he said, “possibly in other worlds as well,” he added, throwing out even more bait to get Ford invested.
Ford himself was quiet as he made another move on the chessboard, then glanced back at Bill, tilting his head, “What do you mean other worlds?” he asked, cautiously.
“Well, other dimensions to be precise-- you could build a device to travel between them, but that’s a topic for another time. For now, let’s just discuss our partnership. I can help you continue all forms of your studies. To my understanding you’ve hit a roadblock, I can get you past that, and then even further than you ever dared dream” he spoke as if he’d already sealed the deal. “Do you want my help?” he asked now, abandoning the game as he held his little jet black hand to Ford.
Ford looks at it, just kinda staring at him as he thought over the deal that has been proposed. His eyes drifted from Bill’s one eye to his hand, an offer to further his research past what he could have ever hoped. All of a sudden this was all feeling far too real for a dream. He thinks it over for good while really, but in the end he makes the choice to take it. How could he not?
“Yes , I would very much --uhm-- appreciate having help from a being such as yourself,” he said, also abandoning the game as it faded away from between them and their chairs floated a tad closer together without him really noticing-- at least not right away.
“Then do we have a deal?” Bill asked, as a blue flame flashed to life over the jet back of his little palm. He waited for Ford to shake his hand and seal the deal with bated breath-- or at least what amounted to that for him, seeing as he didn't seem to really breathe.
Ford looked at the outstretched hand, just now realizing how close they were.
For a moment, he had second thoughts as he watched the flame lick over Bill’s hand-- before he reached out and shook it, sealing the Deal.
He was surprised as his skin touched the flames, finding they weren’t hot to the touch or even warm . In fact they were cool, even cold-- not freezing, but still bone chilling in a way that felt hard to explain.
He watched as the flames swirled around their hands for a moment, before disappearing, the dream fading along with them.
***
Ford woke in a cold sweat, in the clearing he had gone to sleep in, the sunlight gone and replaced by the faint glow of the full moon overhead. He shot upright, debating with himself if that had all been real or just a crazy, crazy dream his mind created thanks to the cave painting he’d seen.
After a few good long minutes of sitting there, thinking it over, he decided to just push it out of his mind for now. Everything could be dealt with once he got home. He stomped out the last embers of his fire before he grabbed his bag and headed back to his house.