Panic Attack

"Bill! Bill help me please!"

Everything to Bill came to a stand still, almost like the world froze. Something wasn't right, he had never heard his Shooting Star sound so frightened, so desperate and hoarse. Usually there was a sense of playfulness and flirtateousness, but this, Bill knew she was in trouble. The demon had been wandering in the void, so he immediately opened the nearest portal he could summon and followed her voice.

"Shooting Star wha-"

Bill felt himself choke, the sight alone was enough to make him stop. Mabel, his Mabel, on the ground, bleeding and bound. "Shooting...Star?" he said softly, only to get no response. He walked over, forcing his stiff joints to make their way over to her. The clicking of his shoes on the cement floor was loud in his ears. Though his eyes were trained to Mabel, he managed to take in some other things too. For one, this wasn't the Mystery Shack, it was cold and damp, like a basement, and on the ground were markings, ones Bill knew all too well. Faintly, through the thrumming in his ears, he could hear other voices, were there other people here? He hadn't noticed. Were they the ones that caused this horrible sight?

He knelt down and gathered the teenage girl in his arms. Mabel was cold and pale, faint trails of where tears had been were on her once rosy cheeks. Her brown hair was matted and sticking out in random places, her trademark headband no where to be seen. Bill could only imagine what caused this to happen to his perfect little human.

If Bill had a heart it would be going crazy, but the bile and the anger that boiled inside of him was enough to make him feel something he knew all too well; rage. What had they done to her? Was she scared? Of course she was, she called out to him, begging for his help. Was it before or after they injured her? Normally Bill would savor the pain caused on a mortal, but when it came to the Pines girl he felt sick.

"Hang tight," he said as he held her close, "I'll get you home soon." He could feel it, small puffs of hot air against his chest. Mabel was alive but just barely, Bill had to get her help soon. The desire to keep her alive sent his body into a tizzy and for the first time in his existence he felt there wasn't enough time. If he didn't play this right he could lose her forever.

Bill was feeling something else, an emotion that he rarely felt: panic. All for the sake of this human girl named Mabel.

The sound of something rolling on the ground made his all knowing, glowing eye look over to see a group of cloaked people, staring at him with a mixture of awe and fear. Good, they should be scared, Bill would show them no mercy. Before the person who Bill could only assume was their leader could speak, he and his followers became new paint on the walls with just a snap of the demon's fingers. Those who crossed him would usually receive all manner of torture, but with Mabel in this condition he had no time to waste.

The golden haired man took his Shooting Star back to her family, acting rather out of character as he begged Mabel's twin and great uncle to help. He never left her side, even if other's didn't see him he was there. Bill had felt so helpless during all of these events, silently kicking himself for never learning the basics when it came to healing other beings. Bill felt like one of the meatbag's he always made fun of as he sat beside his sweet lady and held her hand tightly, softly pleading with her in foolish hope that she'd open her eyes.

Whilst he waiting for those glittering eyes to open and look at him, Bill began repeating the events that had led to all of this. As he put the pieces together, the dream demon couldn't help but think if he had just kept his damn mouth shut, then maybe none of this would have happened.

Bill and Mabel got into a bit of an...argument as it were, and looking back on it, it was a really stupid one. It was over the fact that Mabel was a mortal, something that Bill never ceased to her remind her about, even though he claimed it was with the best of intentions. The dream demon was careful with her, always treating her like she was made of glass or a china doll that would break at any second. He needed to know she was safe, especially when he wasn't around, cause heaven knows he couldn't depend on her brother and his noodle arms.

At first Mabel seemed to love being treated with such care, saying that she felt like a queen, but after awhile her opinion began to change. Mabel told Bill she felt like she was a baby who couldn't or wasn't allowed to do anything on her own. His Shooting Star attempted to ease her boyfriend's worries with sweet words and confident promises, but every time Bill felt his choice was better. The teen girl never pressed the matter to the point of arguing about it, that is until Bill's not too subtle mouth got her fire burning.

"You think I'm weak?"

"Now Shooti-"

"Do you think I'm weak?!"

"My darling empress of evil I didn't mean it like that-"

"But you said that, you don't think I can take care of myself? I'm not a child you know!"

Bill offered her a smile and a set of open arms, of which Mabel turned and refused, "Hey come on, I only want you to be safe, that's why it's best that you leave the missions to Pine Tree." The golden haired demon tried to cuddle up to her, but Mabel was not having any of it. Turning her head back and glaring at him, "I've gone on mission's before Bill and I've handled it just fine thank you very much. You trust Dipper to get it done but you don't trust me?!"

Mabel turned her head away once more, causing Bill to sigh in defeat, "Mabel...my Shooting Star, of course I trust you, it's the other's I don't trust..." He carefully wrapped his long arms around her; when she didn't pull away he continued. "You human's are more delicate than myself, demons and monster's take advantage of that, and if you were to get hurt...I don't know what I'd do." Mabel huffed, Bill could tell she was still flustered but she relaxed a little bit in his hold. "You understand that don't you?" he asked, only to recieve silence. Mabel was obviously in no mood to talk to him right now, her stubbornness was both a blessing and a curse.

Bill had stayed for a little while but when Mabel had gone off to her room without so much as a word, Bill accepted 'defeat' and left, going to wander about in the neverending void he inhabited. Shortly after that was when Bill heard his girlfriend's call for his help.

On the one hand he blamed himself, but on the other he couldn't help but be angry that Mabel had run off and gotten herself involved in a cult. It wasn't until his darling had woken up that Bill was able to ask her just what exactly had happened; after several kisses and tight embraces that is.

Mabel explained that she desperately wanted to prove Bill wrong about her being too delicate to handle the things that bump in the night. Out of all the things she had to go for, instead of going for something more docile or midly annoying, Shooting Star went for the ABCS: the Anti-Bill Cipher Society. Bill found them to have been a mild annoyance, but they always got under Mabel's skin. The ABCS were always trying to banish him or trap him, mostly the ladder as they craved power, and Bill had plenty. Her bravado was endearing but Mabel clearly bit off more than she could chew.

For a demon, anything those meatbags could dish out was laughable and easily fixed, but for a human girl, they posed a real threat. Whether it was her tunnel vision in getting this taken care of or her underestimating the cult, it led to her getting kidnapped. What came after was, according to Mabel at least, a series of banter, the explanation to their evil plan, and worse part, the 'summoning'.

They had never gone to such lengths to summon him, Mabel had been injured before, but this for some reason was more terrifying anything Mabel Pines had ever dealt with. Mabel went into detail over the pain and the panic she went through, how much it had hurt and how cruel they had been. Had he known all of this before he did the cult in, Bill would have shown them punishment the likes of which no one had ever seen.

Bill did his best to soothe her, while she was awake and when she was asleep. Pine Tree said that Mabel would need to stay in bed for a couple of weeks so she could heal probably; this did not please Mabel in the slightest but Bill found himself relieved. He promised to stay by her side and keep her company, hoping it would bring her some peace, but there was something in her eyes that made him worry.

At the end of the first week Bill came to understand where that worry came from. The demon had gone off to help Pine Tree make his sister some soup, and just as they were about to put it in a bowl, they heard a cry and a series of thumps. Bill with his long legs made it to the stairs, the location of the noise, faster than Dipper could, and upon arrival he felt his voice get stuck in his throat.

Mabel was sitting there, clutching her right arm with her beautiful face scrunched up from pain. "Mabel!" Dipper cried out as he ran up the stairs, asking his sister what happened. The Pines girl cast her eyes to the ground for a moment before they trailed over to look into Bill's golden one. She didn't need to say anything for Bill to realize just what she was attempting to do. Dipper wasted no time in getting his twin back to bed, but Bill found himself unable to follow right away.

She really hadn't learned anything from all of this.

Once Mabel was back in bed and tucked in, Bill came up with the soup from earlier and requested Dipper leave the two of them alone. Usually Pine Tree would refuse and stay with them; call it a bad habit from previous years and their checkered past. This time though he nodded and went back downstairs. The dream demon quietly came to sit down in the chair beside Mabel's bed, said girl staring up at him, nervously waiting for him to say something.

"Say ah," Bill instructed as he offered her a spoonful of tomato soup.

"Bill I'm fine-"

"Ah-ah, Pine Tree say's you have to eat to help build up your sugars or something along those lines, now open up."

She then quietly took the spoon into her mouth and drank the hot liquid, "Thank you." Her soft word's did not help Bill relax, in fact it only made the angry that was building up begin to bubble in his throat, making him continiously swallow like it would wash it all down.

"Bill...Bill please..."

The demon stayed quiet and stirred the soup in his lap.

"Bill talk to me, you're scaring me."

Bill's eye flicked over to her, face expressionless and still silent.

"Listen, I know you're angry-"

"Angry?"

Bill gently placed the bowl down on her nightand, noticing that she began to curl further into her sheets, like she knew what was about to happen.

"Oh Shooting Star I'm not angry," he said, "I'm...FURIOUS!"

Mabel winced as Bill's hand slammed down and gripped her headboard, looming over her like a predator would to his prey. His once golden appearance was now red and almost ablaze; a common thing that depended upon the dream demon's mood. "I told you to be safe! I told you leave that stuff alone! And what did you do? YOU WENT OUT LOOKING FOR IT!"

"Bill I just wanted to-"

"To what Mabel? TO WHAT? To prove to me that you could do it? Well Congrats! You did a bang up job of that!" The brunette curled up more into her bed the moment she heard Bill say her name. Bill would never hurt her, to lay a hand on her when he was mad was inexcusable, but today she had pushed him, and obviously she wasn't going to stop unless he put an end to this."How could you do something so stupid?! You could have died down there if I hadn't come along, did you want to die Mabel? HUH?!"

"N-no..." Mabel stuttered out.

"And then you go and nearly fall down the stairs, when Pine Tree told you to stay in bed! You knew the risks you would be taking and yet you still DID IT! Do you want to get hurt again?!"

"No..." she said again.

"Well you could have fooled me! You stupid humans! Always trying to prove each other wrong and put on such an act! Why couldn't you have just listened to me and stayed at home?!"

It was then he heard Mabel sniffle and that was enough to get Bill to go from red to gold in the blink of an eye. He looked down and saw his beloved Shooting Star wiping tears from her eyes, trying to hold back her sobs. The demon paled; he had gone too far. Yes, he wanted to get his point across and yes, he knew she wouldn't like it, but he never wanted to make his Shooting Star cry. "Oh...oh, no no darling," he sat down on the edge of the bed and cupped her full cheeks, brushing away the tears that ran down. "Sweetheart don't cry, I'm sorry," he placed a kiss on each cheek, "I didn't mean to scare you."

Bill was a demon, he was not the type to care for anyone but himself, let alone a silly little meat bag. Had he been told he would choose a sack of meat for a lover a few centuries back Bill would have slapped his knee and laughed for days; fate had a different plan for him. Perhaps this was punishment for all the pain and suffering he caused over the years, caring for someone that could easily break a bone or catch a fever. He had no healing power's either or knowledge of how to treat the human body, it was like walking on egg shells. It was all very nerve wracking.

When he thought he was about to lose Mabel, his whole world felt like it was about to come crashing down around him. He wasn't ready, he didn't want to be ready for that day when they'd have to part ways; it was all too soon. Bill had a chance though, a chance to save her and he did, but it didn't come without dark thoughts. Thoughts of the inevitable.

"I'm not stupid," she choked out, "I wanted to...I wanted to prove to you that I wasn't just another meatbag. I know you don't like human's Bill and I know you took a huge risk in being with me...I-I know I can be a burden but-"

Bill shook his head vigorously; again with those paranoid thoughts of hers, "who said you were a burden? Huh? Who said that? I know I didn't." Bill pressed their forehead's together, his eye staring into her's, "My Shooting Star you have no idea what power you hold over me, I would do anything for you, all you would have to do is snap your finger's and it's done...actually that's kinda scary when you think about it."

He heard her scoff; that was a good sign, it meant she was relaxing. A gloved hand slipped into her hair and played with it locks, scratching softly at her scalp to help put his mortal at ease. "I will always be proud of you, I don't go around falling in love with every human girl I see, she has to be a real class act lady with various sweaters and a pet pig named Waddles." Mabel giggled at the comment, causing Bill to smile softly at her. "Understand where I'm coming from on this Shooting Star, I thought I was about to lose you forev-"

It was Mabel's turn to cup his face, causing him to be cut off. Her hand's on his skin made his body relax, made him let go of any leftover tension. "I know, and I'm sorry Billie," his lips twitched at the nickname; only she could get away with calling him that. Mabel then pulled the golden haired demon into her embrace and he practically collasped right into it, wrapping his own arms around and holding her as tightly as he could.

"I know your heart is in the right place, really, I get it, I'm sorry to have worried you...but Bill, I can't promise that I will let you guys handle everything." Bill shot his head up and looked at his girlfriend with one wide and worried eye. "I'm a free spirit you know, I can't just stay in the Mystery Shack all summer, I want to be out there with you and Dipper, fighing baddies and discovering stuff."

"Shooting Star, it isn't safe."

"I know, but stop making it sound like it's only me that's going to get hurt, so could Dipper or Wendy or Soos...even you aren't invincible."

Bill scoffed at the notion, but she did present a good point. He had an answer for her, but he knew she wouldn't like it. As he tried to think of something to say, his Shooting Star pressed her tender lips to his, of which he quickly melted into. Word's didn't need to be spoken; Bill knew that was her way of saying that was the end of that.

The demon knew this conversation would come up once again, it just couldn't end today, not when both parties still had something to prove. For now though it would wait.

These two had been through enough.