(Feelin good, might write 3k words idk :P

Also, there is a lot of gore and scary scenes in this chapter, so be warned.)

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Bill didn't dream.

They ruled the Dreamscape, they controlled the Mindscape, and they lived in the Nightmare Dimension. They tailored worlds solely to trap their victim within their own mind, surrounded by all the things their puny mortal mind could possibly want. They possessed bodies and rewrote memories on a whim, controlling what information went where and setting up an elaborate puzzle that would eventually become a masterpiece. They navigated the inner horrors of the mind to find out all their deepest darkest secrets and use them to chip at the fleshbag's sanity until all that was left was delusional obsession that chained them to Bill. No, Bill did not dream.

So then what the hell was this?

They wanted to check on Bunny after 'The Incident' and found nothing but black. Bill found that rather odd, coming from Izuku. Usually, his Mindscape was a white lab, not a black nothingness. Maybe it had something to do with the Void? Is the lab still here somewhere? They floated around some more, being careful to watch for anything dangerous in the darkness of what appeared to be the subconscious of his mind. Or was it trauma?

Bill needs to find that lab yesterday.

. . .

Chizome came to consciousness slowly.

His eyes opened and then snapped shut again at the brightness. Everything was blurry and his head hurt like hell, but he could feel the cold metal around his arms and legs. He was chained up to something, but he wasn't quite sure what that was just yet. He was in what looked like a prison cell, had it not been for the very much not-prison white walls. A cage then. He squeezed his eyes shut once more as he made an attempt to clear away the brain fog and tried his best to remember how he got here.

The last thing he remembered was a fight. So he was doing his usual routine then, which meant he'd been captured. But a hero would have handed him over to the police, and this wasn't the police. He searched further into his mind, recalling a conversation he'd had prior to his latest hunt. He couldn't recall exactly what was said, just that there was a disagreement between him and what was definitely not a hero. Was this their revenge? No, this wasn't a bar.

He rested his head on the floor once more as he pretended to sleep. His captors seemed the type to prefer their victims awake, so he'd focus on thinking of a way out while he tried to figure out what was going on. So, first, there was the disagreement, then the hunt, then the fight. The fight was the most important factor right now, as that would determine who it was that defeated him. Yellow and green flashed in his mind, with a hint of blue in the background. The blue was yelling at the yellow while the green attacked. The yellow assisted the green and then his vision was black.

Try again, Chizome. The yellow was small and thin, so not All Might, unfortunately. Who else was small and yellow? Chizome couldn't quite piece it together, so he moved on to the blue. The blue was small as well and they wore silver that reminded him of Ingenium, the hero he killed eight years ago. No wait, Ingenium is a family heirloom. So it was the new Ingenium he attacked. Which meant that the other two were allies(?) of the child. Yellow and green, are allies of the new Ingenium, probably children too.

Chizome took a deep breath to clear his mind of the pain, forcing himself to remember. There were several kids in Class 1-A that he'd seen at the sports festival. It was either Kaminari Denki (unlikely), Bakugou Katsuki (not loud enough), Yuuga Aoyama (too much control), or Bill Cipher. So it had to be Cipher then (the phantom pain of deep blue flames licking his arms crawled across his skin). So the Green had to be either Izumi Yagi or Tsuyu Asui. The latter would have taken a water-based internship, meaning she was nowhere close. And despite the very clear hatred between the two, Chizome could see the strong work dynamic between the duo, if that fight was anything to go by. A temporary truce to take down a common enemy.

But that still left the question of how he got here.

This wasn't a prison cell, it was a cage. No hero would leave him here, so something else was going on. That Tomura brat was probably petty enough to get revenge for him turning down the business offer, but why keep him alive then? He didn't seem like the type to spare his enemies unless it was for torture. Maybe that's what his captor was planning.

Chizome's head hurt less now. It was just enough to listen to his surroundings without making the pain worse than it already was. There were muffled whines to his left that were slowly fading with each passing second. Cracking an eye open, he peeked at whatever his captor was working on that he would likely experience in the very near future. It was one of those 'Nomu' things.

A small green-headed figure in a yellow hoodie was floating over the thing and recording its behaviors, scribbling away at whatever it was he'd seen. He knew that looks could be deceiving, but this was obviously a child (a boy by the looks of it). There was still baby fat lingering on his cheeks for crying out loud. His fingers were small and chubby, like a baby. The child looked familiar for some reason, but not enough to pin down where he'd seen them. The experiment didn't seem to be too cruel, just a blood draw. Then he pulled out a scalpel.

Chizome felt sick.

Sure, the thing wasn't human, let alone alive for that matter, but did that honestly warrant what was happening in front of him? Watching this child (is it even a child or is it some demon in disguise?) rip apart the zombie-thing as it cried and screamed was terrifying. He seemed annoyed at its sudden lack of oxygen, only allowing an oxygen tube to keep it alive long enough to finish the experiment. What was he even trying to do? Why the gentle blood draws and sentience tests if he's just going to torture it in the end? Why not just let it die at this point? Is that what was going to happen to him?

He's going to die here, isn't he?

Chizome scanned his cell, looking for some route of escape that he could use. But aside from the digital lock that needed both a passcode and a key to open, the was nothing of use. Even worse, his sudden movements did not go unnoticed. The boy seemed to hum in thought before looking at him, seeming to ponder what kind of atrocities he'd do to him. Relief washed over Chizome like a tidal wave when he opted to return to his current project, which was returning the 'mask' to its original owner. For some reason, he decided to drug the Nomu this time rather than make it experience the pain of having its face put back together. It took a heavy dose and a full minute, but the thing finally fell asleep long enough for the doctor kid to put it back together and return it to its cell, right across from his own.

Chizome was definitely going to die here.

. . .

Dipper was in the Dreamscape again.

He 'woke up' in his old room, looking around for Izuku before deciding that the kid wasn't there. He climbed down the rickety ladder that led from the attic down to the main house and walked down the stairs into the shop. He didn't like leaving the Dreamscape cabin, as it was the safest place to be, but he had to know. If Izuku could get into his mind, then he could do the same to him. So Dipper left the cabin and walked into the woods.

Much like lucid dreaming, dreamwalking is a very delicate process. Lucid dreaming is knowing that you are dreaming and having full control of said dreams. Unfortunately, the moment you lose control of your dream, it could very quickly turn into a nightmare that results in waking with temporary sleep paralysis. This can lead to some of the nightmares following you into the waking world, despite not being real. A sleep paralysis demon.

Bill was Dipper's sleep paralysis demon.

But now, Bill was different. Everything was different. The fastest way to get answers was to find the source: ie, dreamwalking. Very few people have ever experienced this phenomenon, and hardly ever did they meet in reality. Dipper was an exception. Bill using his dreams to torment him had taught him the skill at a very young age and he'd honed it to perfection. It was his way of keeping in touch with family and friends to see how they were all doing.

But right now, he was trying to find Izuku. 

He felt a wind brush him from behind and felt obligated to follow it. Trudging past the brush and twigs, he came across a path. He looked to his left and saw trees, he looked to his right and saw more trees. Both directions looked the exact same, so he took one step to the right and felt the wind push him back. Left it is then.

Following the gentle breeze guided him to a thoroughly destroyed nest of spiders. Creepy. He opted to ignore it in favor of looking around to see what may have caused it. The wind pushed him to the right side of the nest and deeper into the woods. The foliage was thicker here, but that usually meant that there was something - or someone - hiding in the shadows. Or, in this case, the light. Because when he made it out of the green, he saw nothing but white for what looked like miles.

Well, it seems he's found what he was looking for.

He sucked in a breath he didn't need and pressed onwards. He walked out of the woods and into the white. No sooner than he did, he felt something shift and turned to see the forest was gone. He looked back at the white and suddenly there was a grey concrete building directly in front of him. Above the door was a big sign that read "LAB" in thick bold letters.

Okay, so Izuku wanted him to be here then. Which means that this is definitely a trap of some sort. One that he willingly walked right into. Man, Bill was right about him never learning from his mistakes. But there was no turning back now. The safety of his forest was gone, and he was right where he wanted to be so that only left one choice to make.

Dipper opened the door and walked into the dark shadows of Izuku's mind.

. . .

Bill finally made it out of Izuku's subconscious and found themself in the library. Was there something he wanted them to find? Or maybe they forgot something important? Whatever the reason, Bill had to find Izuku. They could probably find out whatever was going on by shuffling through the files he had in the pile of newspapers in the corner, but it was faster to find the daycare and talk to their Bunny about what's got him so upset that he'd disassociate like that.

Maybe it was because Bill got hurt? Izuku always hated when that happened, no matter how used to blood he'd gotten over the years. Their Bunny was rather possessive (hah) of those he held close, and Bill was the person he cared for most of all. So, naturally, he would feel the need to protect them in every way he possibly could. Now that's not to say that Bill would simply sit by and let him do all the work, no matter how much Bunny wanted them to.

One way or another, they'd find out what was going on with him.

. . .

Dipper regretted coming into this place almost as much as he regretted getting involved with Bill's plan in the first place. Sure, he was a gullible kid back then, but he's an adult now. And a reasonable adult would know not to go looking for trouble. A reasonable adult would know not to get involved with things above their pay grade. A reasonable adult would not go into a dark and creepy basement with what was quite obviously a nest of Nightmares. And a reasonable adult would definitely not open the damn cage to see what was in it.

And now Dipper was running for his life.

The monster he found in the depths was a giant black blob of grinning sludge with red eyes and whip-like tentacles. He didn't think it was wise to have such an unstable entity in such a weak prison, restrained only by frayed rope and prayers. He looked for something else to put it in, but almost as soon as his head turned away from it, it jumped in its cage, alerting the other Nightmares of his presence. Dipper was very suddenly that the screeches from down the hall and splashing of feet rushing through the water were getting closer.

There was another Nightmare down here, and it was loose.

Dipper jumped to his feet, trying to navigate the winding maze of pipes of the moss-green sewers. He had to get out of here before that thing caught up to him. He could hear a sound from up ahead that sounded a lot like a skittering goblin. He took a left. There was a heavy growl around the left corner up ahead.

"D̷̨̡̺̲͔͚̥̻͈͙̮̰͓̺̝̊̽͊͘é̴̼̜̰̹͇̱̜̤̞̣̝̔̍̌͌͑̇̿̄̚͜͝k̴̨̮̝̓̅̀̅̾͑͒̈́̃͌̀͌̚̚ứ̴̧̖͕̞̼̂͌͑̋̆͑̈́̏͐̽́͘̚!̶̧̹̻̯͉̑̄̈́̆̉̏̚̕!̴̲̭̩̼̪̼͚̞͍̤͉̠̙̎́̊̀̏͐͆̈͗̈̍̕"

He took a right and dodged the claw that swiped at his head, barely escaping the explosion that followed soon after. There was a blinking red light highlighting the ceiling a few intersections ahead. He ran towards it, ignoring the echoing whispers that called out to him.

"C̷̩̥̘̗̼̹̥̫̞̞̩̞͉̘͖͉̀̐̍̾̊̇́̓̍̈́̇̑͝ͅo̸̢͈̻̭̾̒̇m̴͍̳̯̪̮̖͋͜é̸̛͓̎̇͌̿́̌̈́̿͠ ̵̡̛̩͚͚̙̿̓̈̀̎̂̎̈́͒ĥ̷̙̤̻̙̳̦̭̙̗̯̙̮̀e̴͗̑̓̇̔̈́͊͐͋̈ͅŕ̷̬̺̝͚̲̬͇͚̭͔̠̼̒͐̉̾̓͘͠ͅȩ̵͚̘̜̖̮̬̣̦͉͘,̶̛̙̐̇̕͝ ̴̰̥̞̘̣̟̘̆̋́̓̄̆m̵̡̨̨̻̬̗̼̩̹͓̹̞̏̋͆̔̅͑̾͑͋͛̀̌̔̑̓̆͘ỵ̵̢̢̥̇̈́ ̵̮̞̣̮̭̯̦͚͍̘̖̐̆̈́͆͛̈́̏̏͐́̎̀͂͠c̶̞͎͔͓̪̻̥͔͚̖͙̙͂̒͌̄̓͠ͅẖ̶͈̞̭̰͚̠̖̘̫͚͂̇į̵͓͎̩̖̮̤̲͓̩͔͇̜̋͋͐͝ľ̸̫͇̈́̓d̸̒̿͊́̅̒̇̒̅̽͑̎̅̄̈́͘͝ͅ.̴̠̜̺͕̞̠̭͇̫̖̝̑͊͝ ̵̡̢̳̤͎̺̟̖̠̏̅͜Y̵̡͓̹̬̗̠̲̘͚̜̩̲͐o̵̱̒ư̶̧̟̠̻͉̏̊́̓̉̊́̈́̚͜'̶̬̜̯̜͈̝̺̲̤̞̯̹̣̰͊v̶̛̠͉̝̗̹̩̖̗̦̪̣̈͑̏͛̅̓̌̈́̃̑̓̄͗͘ͅē̸̝̬̥̞̹̥̲͙̘̭̖͉̉̐̇̀̿̋ ̴̗̱̦̙̦͎͖̪͚̺̦̪͆̉͑̐̃̿̀̇͊̎̂̔̓̆̕͜b̶̰̬̘̼̜̯͈̗͐̒̓̈́̄̓̈̓̀͌̍̌͝͝ȩ̷̡̨͚̤̩̬̠͕̝̖̃̄̏̿͘e̸̹̞͙̤̘̪̖͑̐̽̍̀͆͆̅̎́̆̒̈́̋͛n̸̢̨̛̰͔̘̞̬̐̃͐̌̓̈́̇̀̂̉͆̄̾͗̚ͅ ̶̨̧̘͎̱̞̞̪̠͈̥̲̪͐̿͛͛̇̄̀̑̂̇͛̐̐̇̉̚̕v̸̗͗̀̈́͐͊͆̚͜͝e̸̢̛͖̙͓̗̣̻̰̫̬̟͙̘͕͗̾́̅̄͋̌͊̔͠r̷̜̦̲͑̌͗̔͒̔̏̉͑̊̒͌̽͑̚̕͠ỹ̴̧̦̦̺̫̻͎̖̥̖̄́̏́̍͑̀̒͐͂̽̉̕͜͝ ̶̹͋͊̂̽̉̈͑b̶̗̮͔̍͐͆͊̀̃̂͆̀̐̃͂̓̅͘̚ą̷̛̪͔͉̙͚̫̱̝͐̄̽̆̌̂̒̃͐̏̀͘͘͝ͅͅḑ̵̛̩̰̦̱͎̈́̍̄͆̒̔͌̍̔̓̔̾̋͜͝ͅ~̷̢̨̡̭̙̣̫̠̼̲̞͙͇̦̗̺͒͂̌́̐͗̈́̽͛͒͘͝"

He rushed up the stairs that led to a bright red EXIT sign. And as he closed the door behind him, he got a good look at the monsters chasing him. He saw a very familiar knife in the hands of the womanly monster. The other had blood-red eyes that burned with rage. They both looked very familiar somehow.

Why was this all so familiar?

Dipper slammed the door shut and pulled a lever that locked it shut. He spent a few seconds catching his breath. Why was he so out of breath? Shouldn't he be asleep? Was this nightmare giving him a panic attack? His chest burned and his legs ached. His body felt tattered and worn. Dipper reached out to his conscious mind and forced himself awake. He woke up in a cold sweat, wheezing, and coughing in both pain and fear as his cellmate kept shaking him up and down to pull him out of whatever horror he'd just been subjected to.

Ah, that's right. He was in prison.

. . .

Izuku was finally finished with his research.

Even as he cleaned up the last of the blood and tidied up his notes, he could feel the Dreamscape moving and shifting. Looks like Dipper finally found the lab. Good thing he'd set up his security system to attack any intruders. And Hisashi was currently asleep in his cell so he wouldn't be bothered by whatever was going on. Bill had been temporarily kicked into his memories of the Void so they wouldn't interfere.

He knew that Dipper and Bill would find a way out, but by then he'd already be back in his daycare drawing up more blueprints for All Might's armor. Hisashi was finally under his complete control and there was no way the man would be able to stop what was coming his way. All For One and All Might would die. Hisashi would be reduced to another Nightmare in his mind, while All Might would be forced into retirement, at best.

Everything was going according to plan.

. . .

Bill found Izuku in the daycare humming a bubbly tune they were sure they'd heard somewhere before. They couldn't quite place it at the moment, but something definitely happened in their absence. Izuku seemed to be awfully cheerful, though, so maybe it wasn't too much of a concern. Still, it's always best to make sure. 'Cover all your bases' and all that.

They did a quick scan of the Dreamscape, and nope, nothing out of place there. Aside from the bind Izuku had on Hisashi that was finally complete, nothing much had changed. Bill lowered themself next to Izuku, "Hey Bunny, anything interesting happen while I was nappin'?" Izuku giggled at the rhyme and shook his head, "Nope! Everything's good here, what about you?" Bill hummed in thought. Maybe it was just a memory mishap then? But that would mean he'd been thinking about the Void when Bill wandered in, which certainly wasn't a healthy thing to think about. "Nothing too bad, I think. Just a bit curious," they responded. Izuku hummed an unspoken question that Bill knew they had to answer. "I think I walked into a memory a bit ago... something on your mind?"

Izuku paused his task, seeming to think about his next words carefully. "... Yeah, something like that." Bill hovered over his shoulder, watching those tiny hands return to their careful strokes. The blueprint was the one for All Might that they were working on the other day. Bill grabbed a normal sheet and a yellow crayon. They drew a few outlines of indiscernible shapes that had no real meaning to them. Bill tapped at Izuku's blueprint and the two wordlessly switched papers.

Looks like today was just one of those days.

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(Love making angst chapters. It's so much fun - traumatizing my characters. It's the best part of being a writer. Well, amongst other things, but the angst is more fun.

Izuku is finally starting to give in to Bill's brainwashing, not that Bill realizes it. They will soon though, don't worry. :)

Thanks for reading, and I'll see you all soon.)