Beware the calm more than the storm.

(Bill's POV)

I kept my grip on Will as the earthquake continued to intensify. The flagstones underneath us cracked, breaking the circle of runes and letting Strange free. He chuckled, snapping his fingers and vanishing on the spot with Y/N.

The shaking faded, only to be replaced with a sustained crashing noise from above, louder than thunder. This was starting to feel uncomfortably familiar.

"Will, we have to get outside and see what's going on," I said urgently. His only response was a frightened whimper.

"Will, come on! Y/N needs our help!" I said louder, shaking him to get his attention.

He shook his head. "No... I'm scared..."

Still holding his arm firmly, I dragged him out of the room and down the hall. "Come on, Blue. I promised I wouldn't let anything happen to you, remember?  Just stick close to me and we'll figure this out."

It can't be what I think it is, I told myself.  He wouldn't.  Among other things, it would be tacky. And irresponsible.  And utterly unthinkable.  And just plain rude.

I made it to the main room, heading for the exit, then stopped in my tracks.  Tad Strange hadn't gone far.  He was standing on the stage, black tuxedo once again replacing "boring business casual." Mabel was standing in front of him, hand outstretched to shake.  Y/N was nowhere to be seen. 

"Mabel, what's going on here?" I shouted, releasing Will's arm and stepping in front of him protectively.  She half glanced at me, then grabbed Strange's hand.  White fire immediately flared around them, sealing whatever deal they had just made.  Strange winked at me, then disappeared.

"Mabel, what did you just do?" I demanded.

"Why, I'm just looking out for my family," she said, mock offended.  "That demon guy's about to wreak some serious havoc on the town, but he agreed to spare the tent and give us a place of power in his new world order!" she giggled, eyes alight with the idea of so much destruction.

"In exchange for what?" I growled.

"Well, he wanted you, but our contract doesn't let me have that level of control over you.  So I gave him Will instead."

"What?" I whirled, reaching for Will, but he had vanished.  Mabel and I were alone in the room.

Mabel was full-on laughing now.  "Win-win, right?  I get to be a princess in the new world order, and I don't have to deal with that loathsome wretch anymore!  This is too perfect!"

I felt my eye turn red.  My contract forbade me from using magic against her, but that didn't stop me from hauling off and punching her smug face as hard as I could.  She collapsed, out cold in an instant.

Should have done that years ago, I thought to myself, stepping over her and stalking to the exit.  I had the sinking feeling that I knew what I'd see outside.

The X-shaped rift in the sky.  The howling wind that promised unimaginable nightmares.  The black pyramid that blocked out the sun.

"Plagiarist!" I shouted at the sky.  "This was my apocalypse!  You can't just take all my ideas!"  I looked closer at the pyramid, hovering below the rift.  "Hey!  That's my Fearamid!  You're not even a triangle!  That doesn't even make any sense!"

Of course, Tad Strange knew all the details of the Weirdmaggedon I had unleashed upon my own dimension.  Apparently lacking any sort of originality, he had opted to copy my greatest achievement in this world.  Or my biggest mistake... I thought with a wince.  Well, it's a little too late to regret that now.  Even I can't bring back the dead.

I felt, rather than saw, the transformative wave wash over the town.  Wait, that can't be right.  I turned my town weird, but that's not Strange's style, is it?   In any case, the wave didn't affect the tent.  I have to see what happened.

I teleported to the main street.  Normally, my dapper appearance and use of magic would have turned heads, but no one looked at me.  Actually, no one even seemed to be looking at the sky.  They all appeared to be going about their daily routines.

I charged up to the nearest passerby and grabbed his shoulder, jerking him around to face me.  "Hey!" I yelled.  "Don't you see what's happening in the sky?"

"Hello, there, stranger!" the man said cheerfully.  "Lovely day, isn't it?  That's quite the getup you've got on there!  I don't think I've ever seen a yellow tuxedo before."

"Shut up!" I snapped.  "You don't notice it's the end of the world?!"

The man looked at me with mild concern.  "Now, now.  I know it seems like that sometimes, but all you need is a break from your troubles!  Why don't you come with me and we'll have some bread."

"I love bread!" chimed in another passerby. 

"I do too!" yelled someone from across the street.

I'd seen enough.  I shoved the concerned man away from me and teleported to a ridge overlooking the town, standing at the edge of the forest.  I sat down on a rock to contemplate my next move.

So much for Werdmaggedon, I thought wryly.  Strange has turned the town into some variety of cheerful, bread-loving zombies.  This is the... Strange-pocalypse.  Or... werdly-normal-tastrophe.

I turned my eye disconsolately upwards to the Fearamid that had once been mine.  Did he make his own, or just bring mine over from my dimension?  I didn't often dwell on the destruction I'd left behind, although working for the doppelgangers of the Pines family did often bring them to mind.  I could have gone anywhere in the Multiverse.  Why did I come here?  Nostalgia, perhaps?  Subconscious regret?

I kept staring at the Fearamid, wondering whether I should storm it singlehandedly.  Y/N's probably in there.  I guess I should go... rescue her or something.  Somehow I couldn't see that ending well.

What did Pine Tree do?  How did he try to stop me?  I knew he'd made some clever plan, but it had failed due to in-fighting between Sixer and Fez.  I'd considered playing cat and mouse with them, but changed my mind and killed them on the spot, one by one, until Ford had given up his knowledge of how to escape the barrier.  Then I'd killed him too.

I wished I had a whole zodiac full of people to mount a daring rescue.  Now I didn't even have Will.  I'd been telling him this whole time that I couldn't stop Strange without him, and I was a little startled to realize just how true it was.  He was mostly useless... But he believed I could do anything.  He made me believe it, too...

Pine Tree, what would you do at a time like this?  I remembered the first thing he had done during Weirdmaggedon was retrieve Shooting Star from her bubble.  He couldn't do anything without her.  I guess that's one thing we have in common.

I scanned the landscape until I spotted a giant sphere in the distance.  I couldn't see it from here, but I knew it would be labeled with a blue triangle.  Strange, you simpleton, did you have to copy ALL of my ideas?

What am I supposed to do, Pine Tree?  I asked him.  Storm the bubble, rescue Will, then launch an attack on the Fearamid like you did and hope for the best?  I don't have the first clue how to kill Strange or free Y/N.  Besides that, Pine Tree, how am I of all people supposed to do the hero thing?  I'm a VILLAIN!  I don't do the sappy chivalrous crap!  I'm not like... like YOU!

I realized a moment later that I was actually waiting for him to answer.  But he never would, because I'd killed him.  Killed them all, and moved on to another dimension.  Maybe I should do that now... Just give this up for lost and move on to another life...  Nobody could really blame me, could they?

Even as I thought the words, I knew I could never do it.  Because even though Pine Tree couldn't talk to me, I could see his determined face as if it was yesterday, never giving up even at the very end.  I'd killed him first, because he would never let me touch Shooting Star except over his dead body.

And that was the deciding factor.  Self-serving monster though I may be, I was not going to accept defeat when he never did.  I was not weaker than Pine Tree, of all people.

I stood up off my rock, targeting the bubble in the distance.  Will comes first, then Y/N.

I guess I'm doing the hero thing.