[OPEN] "These shallow waters never met what I needed. I'm letting go; a deeper dive."

[mviw]

Who: Ford (mviw) & YOU! | Closed prompts for Fiddleford, Wendy & the kids, tiny!Rick and Frisk, and Bill Cipher
Where: Around Neverland
When: Through the Neverland event + the Aftermath
Rating: PG-13/R for violence, swearing, limb amputation
Summary: Ford tries to protect his best friend, his nephew and niece, his friend's daughter, and his brother. It goes horribly awry. (You could say the casualties are about half his armies.)

(This log is corresponding to the events in THIS log.)

The Story:
[ooc: Prompts are written! Have at it.]

Comments

[ghflskhu_ph]

[Bill accepts the stare-down readily, gaze darkening only at the mention of Genosha. The shadows weren't supposed to know about that part, but it doesn't matter. For all that Ford has thrown him for a loop in the past, he has a fair idea of how to read the man's body language after all this time. It isn't all aggression he is seeing.]

"I'LL be the JUDGE of that."

[As smart as it would be to withhold that statement, it wouldn't do to tell such obvious lies when Ford was already so suspecting of them. The demon rises to levitate again but stays his ground.]

"Let's get back to the part where I'M of use to YOU. You don't have LONG now, Sixer. You know as well as I do that TRAUMA of this DEGREE is never JUST PHYSICAL."

1/2

[mviw]

[Ford doesn't hesitate to point at Bill accusingly.] I don't want you screwing with my memories. All I want is to get back to the coast among people who aren't trying to kill me.

... And I don't want anyone else to get hurt.

[He looks at his hand. The whispers won't stop. They just wash over him like one wave after the other. He's so tired, he just can't fight it anymore.]

2/2

[mviw]

... Don't let me die, and don't hurt or kill anyone. If you can accept that...

[He shuts his eyes, but he can still see Bill, because this is a dream. A nightmare.]

Then we have a deal.

[ghflskhu_ph]

['Aw come on, I can't hurt ANYone?' The demon might usually ask. 'Not even a light MAIMING? or STAB of SELF DEFENSE??' Under normal circumstance, a deal like this wouldn't be beneficial at all, Bill should surely try to haggle more-- but this was FORD they were talking about. By all accounts a Universe must have imploded somewhere for this transaction to even be taking place.

It's vague-- he would have to be more careful than usual, or stepping on even a semi-sentient piece of grass would boot him out of this body. Still...]

"Alright, SIXER."

[Bill reaches for Fords hand-- the REAL one, not the dream manifestation. He's waited SO long for this.]

"It's. A. DEAL!!!!"

[mviw]

[What's left of his rationality is screaming at him. This is wrong. THIS IS WRONG. But the fatigue, the overall exhaustion and the pain and worst of all, the Shadows are drowning everything out, reaching and tugging at the worst of his desires. They permeate his mind until he would do anything to make them stop.

In the dream, Ford is back where he is in reality, but he's standing, or sitting, or.... He feels horrifically split between his instinctive nature to never give up, never give in, and the eroded will chipped away by Neverland's Shadows.]

Fine. I want to be unconscious, not floating aimlessly in the Mindscape.

[Before he can decide not to do the Utterly Unthinkable, he reaches out and grasps Bill's hand.]

[ghflskhu_ph]

[The transfer between physical realm to the spiritual one was likely less impactful than Stanford would be expecting; partially due to the fact the man was all but having an out of body experience already.]

"-YUP."

[Bill snaps his fingers, cutting Ford off. In all honesty it was a rather pointless request, with this level of physical and mental exhaustion, Ford wouldn't have had the energy to remain anyway. As the euphoric nothingness of the void begins to swallow up the man’s leftover conscious, Stanford will have just enough time to see his own body, once collapsed beneath the tree, shakily rise to it’s feet. It smiles at him.]

"RELAX IQ, You'll be BACK in NO TIME."

[Preferably because someday he intends to kill the concept.]

*~*~ BONUS EPILOGUE *~*~*

[ghflskhu_ph]

[It happened. It finally FINALLY happened!!]

"AhahaAHAHA!!AHAHAHAAH!!HAHHAHAHAHAHAAHAHAH!!!!!!"

[Bill felt overwhelmed at the sheer amount of stimuli bombarding him- EUPHORIA, exhaustian, triumph! PAIN, balance, MUSCLE CONTRACTIONS! All the demon could do was laugh in hysterical delarious fits as he attempted to regain composure, staring down out of his TWO eyes at his ONE hand.

..Well, Ford might not be a DELUXE model like the other bodies he has inhabited, but this PINE TWIN CLASSIC was worth the expense! Besides, it wasn't the body Bill needed, it was what was INSIDE this head.]

"AT LAST, AT LONG LAST, NOTHING CAN ST--!!"

"Hey- d'ya hear that?"

[The whispers of children sound some odd distance away.]

"AW CRIPES."

[Time to take this show on the road.]

* * * * * * * * *

[It didn't take Bill long to get what he had come for; it was difficult to tell whether or not to feel disappointed or gleeful at the notion. For as much time and commitment at he took to get to this point, the end result was.. satisfying yeah, but still missing something.

'Maybe that's because it doesn't change anything. You still can't use it..'

Bill swallowed a scowl. He wasn't immune to the shadows, but entities like them meant nothing when you already were the voice inside people's heads. ]

* * * * * * * * *

"NOW, LET'S SEE..."

[He could do it... he remove that abysmal metal plate; then he could get to this Mindscape all the time! Ford could stand a little more blood-loss couldn't he? Oh, he was in AGONY right now, but how much worse could it really, REALLY get? REALLY. The tricky part would be keeping conscious through it, but the demon has been through worse.

Bill might even be able to enlist someone to help, If the little tykes were so inclined to chop Stanford's arm off in the first place. It could be great!

'HEY KIDS, YOU'RE PRONE TO FLIGHTS OF AGGRESSION how about HACKSAWING my HEAD open?! We'll make a GAME of IT!'

...Nah.]

* * * * * * * *

[Why did Ford have to start dying SO FREAKING FAR from the COAST?!]

* * * * * * * *

[Bill screeches at the offending black squiggle that dared challenge his authority.]

"THERE'S ROOM FOR ONLY ONE PARASITIC HOST IN THIS BODY AND THAT'S ME!"

[The eyeless leech sits impassively.]

"OH! YOU'D THINK THAT, WOULDN'T YOU?!"

[A wiggle.]

'I will SQUISH your PARENTAL UNIT.'

* * * * * * * *

[This hurts. It actually HURTS. Pain is hilarious, it STILL is. Bill isn't contesting that; he has to look downright ridiculous trudging this PAINSACK through the foliage. Somewhere between the nausea and rapidly fluctuating chills of hot and cold though, the entertainment value of the situation is being overtaken by something else. It's bringing up stupid images of the last time he-

'HOW ABOUT ANOTHER 500 VOLTS?!'

Bill flinches.

Yes. THAT.

Ford's stupid clunky foot gets caught and Bill stumbles; the amputated arm stump brushed against the tough bark of a tree. THE. STUMP. TOUGH. BARK. BRUSHES AGAINST. And Bill YOWLS, recoiling like an animal and sinking his teeth into the flesh of the one arm he still has.

That.. uh. That shouldn't leave a mark right? Creatures bit themselves all the time!

* * * * * * * *

"IT'S JUST. THERE HAD BEEN NO DEFENSE, NO FIGHT TO IT! Y'KNOW? IF FORDSY had been IN THERE, he'd have THROWN up a WALL, some MEMORIES to THROW ME OFF WITH, I mean, it wouldn't have WORKED but STILL! HEHE! You should have SEEN this ONE TIME, in the NIGHTMARE REALM-"

* * * * * * * *

[He doesn't NEED to stay in the body. No one said he had to. He got what he wanted, leave Ford to pop back in and suffer some more while watches from afar? Now THAT sounds like a plan! The stipulation was to keep thee stupid human alive though. Ford wouldn't have made this deal if he thought he could honestly make it to the coast on his own.]

* * * * * * * *

[He doesn't have a choice, does he?]

* * * * *

[It's getting dark...]