Chapter Text
11/16/2014.
Hello, Journal. I have something incredible to report; Stephen has powers. They first showed when he levitated in my room, something he was unaware of.
After this, I dragged Stephen to the living room. I then had all the residents sit on the couch, and recliner, while Stephen stood in front of us. (He said this made him uncomfortable.)
We then had a go at seeing which powers were Stephen’s strongest and/or weakest. Here are my findings:
STEPHEN’S CURRENT ABILITIES:
Levitation: Stephen is able to make himself levitate. Though, he doesn’t seem very keen on doing it often.
Teleportation: Stephen can teleport, but it seems to take a little bit of energy out of him. I first had him teleport to one end of the couch from the other—he reported feeling a bit nauseous. I then had him teleport while holding Mabel’s hand, Stephen was able to teleport them both but had to sit down for a second.
Object Manifestation: Upon me reading this ability, Stanley immediately asked Stephen to make a twenty dollar bill. While I do not approve of Stanley’s request, I was curious how Stephen would be able to do this task. The boy was a tad confused and tried snapping his fingers (which did not work due to his prosthetics), clapping his hands and waving his arm. Stephen eventually got frustrated and stomped his foot on the ground—which then led to a twenty dollar bill appearing into Stanley’s hand. Mabel then asked for a glue gun and, upon Stephen stomping his foot again, she received it.
Pyrokinesis: Unlike Bill, Stephen’s fire starts at his feet. And while it cannot hurt the boy, it still melted his socks—which in turn burned Stephen. The boys fire seems to be a bright yellow color—instead of Bills blue. Reminder: Make Stephen a pair of fireproof shoes and socks.
Making Deals: After Melody applied some burn cream to Stephen’s feet, we got back to testing. I was curious about Stephen’s ability to make deals. Dipper was the one to engage in a deal with Stephen—Dipper requesting Stephen to eat something and Stephen requesting Dipper to take a shower. Unlike Bills handshake, Stephen’s deals do not require physical contact.
THE STEPS TO STEPHEN’S DEAL:
ONE: Stephen or the other person invokes a deal.
TWO: Stephen’s legs catch on fire, starting at his feet.
THREE: A small ring of fire surrounds Stephen.
FOUR: The other person chooses whether to step into the ring or not—if they choose not to, the deal is off.
FIVE: When stepping into the ring, flames begin to engulf the other person legs. The deal is sealed. (Note: The fire does not burn!)
Telekinesis: Stephen’s telekinesis is only present when he is feeling a strong emotion. I learned this after I made a comment about Bill, to which the TV antennas bent and Stephen was scowling. I quickly fixed my mistake and Stephen fixed the antennas.
Ability To Eat Inedible Things: After a quick full body scan, I noticed that Stephen’s stomach and throat lining seemed thicker. To put this to the test, I gave him a cup of bleach—which Stanley shouted at me for. He complained about the taste but otherwise seemed fine. We all waited, watching Stephen for any sign to take him to the hospital. But, the boy reported nothing wrong—and another health examination proved this. (Note: Stephen can also bite coins without breaking a tooth—lucky him!)
Ciphervoyance: While writing my above entry, Stephen mentioned that he was sad about the year 2020. When Mabel asked him why, he said that the singer Vera Lynn was going to die. Soos asked him how he knew that and Stephen responded ‘I don’t know’. I asked him what day and he said ‘I think the 18th of June’. Reminder to come back in 2020.
ABILITIES STEPHEN DOES NOT HAVE/I DID NOT TEST:
Shapeshifting: Every single effort to change his form was rewarded with nothing. Stephen reported feeling light-headed from the energy exertion.
Mind Control/Mind Reading: Stephen was uncomfortable with the idea of going into someone else’s mind; so he refused this test.
Possession: Nobody was keen on trying this, so we didn’t.
Reality-Warping: Unable to change anything in this reality. Tried to turn Mabel’s colored pencils into millipedes but failed.
Hypnokinesis/Ability To Enter People’s Dreams: We could not test this out since it was the middle of the day. I will test it tonight. (EDIT AS OF 11/17/2014: Stephen CAN manipulate people’s dreams, along with entering the Mindscape. It was a bit of a scare seeing him in my dream but I got used to it.)
Invisibility: Stephen remained as visible as ever, no matter his efforts.
Duplication: Stayed singular!
Chronokonesis/Time Manipulation: Each attempt Stephen made to manipulate time, he reported a splitting headache and the sound of a baby crying ringing in his ears.
ADDITIONAL NOTES:
- Can glitch out of this dimension. Happened when Stan patted him on the back.
- Speaks backwards English, but cannot speak any other new languages.
- Now terrified of catching a virus, one I have never heard the name of.
- Voice slightly distorts when he gets mad—His accent disappears for a split second.
- Still severely allergic to milk. I suppose the enforced stomach and throat lining did not help as much as I thought.
That is all. I will run more extensive test soon.
-Stanford Pines.
~X☆X~
ford is drawing some blood out of steve’s leg when the boy talks.
“you know…bill hated needles.”
ford glances up with a small smile. “really?”
“yeah, he had a panic attack when we had to get our blood drawn.” steve blinks. “he almost stabbed the doctor.”
ford takes the tube connected to the needle, putting a cotton pad on steve’s wound. he secures the pad down and examines the boys blood—still that same burgundy or maroon color.
“interesting. i once drew his blood and he behaved rather well.”
“that’s because he loved you, ford.”
ford swallows and frowns.
“he—he really loved you, ford.” steve’s voice cracks at the end of his sentence.
“i know.” ford says. “i loved him, too.”
steve breaks out into full-on sobbing and ford hugs him.
“i can’t do this anymore, ford.” steve cries. “i wish i was dead!”
ford has nothing to say to that, only able to hug steve tighter as the boys breathing becomes uneven.
~X☆X~
he stares down into the bottomless pit, just standing in front of it. he raises his foot and closes his eyes.
“steve?”
steve’s head snaps back, the boy hissing due to the pain in his neck. “melody.”
melody watches steve step away from the pit ever so slightly. “you okay, bud?”
steve nods slowly. “yeah.”
“okay..well, come inside! i made empanadas!”
melody waits as steve walks towards the house, passing by her to head inside. her smile fades into a frown and she sighs.
she doesn’t think they should let him out of their sights.
~X☆X~
“i think it had to do with bill!” mabel exclaims. “y’know, how he got powers before…”
she trails off and steve scowls. the boy is picking at his food. “i don’t want to talk about this.”
mabel frowns. “sorry, but it could be related to hi—“
“i said; i don’t want to talk about this!” steve’s voice distorts for a second but that’s not the worst part. the worst part is a knife flying into the back of mabel’s chair.
steve is immediately horrified, to which mabel tries to comfort him. “hey, it didn’t stab me! i’m okay!”
the boy gets up from the table.
“stephen—“ ford starts. tears show in steve’s eyes as he sniffles.
“i’m—“ steve warbles. “i’m a monster!”
that’s all the boy says before he’s out of the room, and out of the front door. ford and stan call for him but to no avail. ford gets up and heads out to the porch.
“stephen!” ford shouts. “stephen, come back!”
he calls the boy a few more times but is stopped when a hand comes to rest on his shoulder.
“he’ll be fine, pointdexter.” stan says.
stan leads ford back into the house, the latters eyes never leaving the woods.
~X☆X~
‘what are we gonna do with that boy?’
ford swallows, continuing to tinker with some metal scrap.
‘i said; what are we gonna do with that boy?’
ford sighs and hesitantly answers. “i heard you the first time.”
he knows he shouldn’t feed into delusions, but he does it anyways. a familiar laugh, one without the warmth, sounds throughout the lab.
‘ignoring your partner! how gentleman-like of you, sixer!’
a face pops into fords view, and he regretfully looks. it’s just like bills human form, but yellow and transparent. he hates to see that gap-toothed smile and that one eye staring back at him.
“you are not my partner.”
the ‘billusion’, as fords taken to calling it, only hums.
‘he’s got powers now! wonder if he’ll use ‘em for good..’ it takes a dramatic pause. ‘or evil!’
“stephen would never use his abilities for wrong-doing.” ford scowls. it only smiles.
‘i dunno. he’s my kid.’
“he is not.”
‘y’know what they say, sixer; like mother, like son!’
“you are not his mother. bill, the real bill, is his parent.” ford stands up and frowns. it only shakes its head and floats to ford.
‘hm, we should go on a date!’
ford blinks. “and why would i ever do that?”
‘cause we’re dating, duh!’ it exclaims. ‘i could get playful with a steak knife—if that’s what you’re into!’
ford scowls and grabs the piece of scrap metal, throwing it at the billusion. “get out of my mind! YOU ARE NOT HIM!”
the metal passes through it and it shakes its head.
‘fine.’ it grins. ‘but, i’ll be back. you know i will.’
and with that, ford is left alone in his lab.
stanford pines has never felt weaker.
~X☆X~
“i heard you, you know.” steve whispers. he’s leaning on bills stone statue while xiggy sleeps in his hair. “‘mommy’s here’. that’s what you said.”
the boy sniffles. “i miss you.”
“i’m sorry, mama. or dad. or whatever you want. i’ll call you whatever you want as long as you come back.” steve pleads, turning to look at the statue. the top hat is gone, but it otherwise looks fine.
a twig snapping causes steve to shoot up, floating in the air nervously. he plants his feet back onto the ground as another twig snaps. yellow flames begin to engulf his feet, the boy swallowing.
a figure emerges into the clearing and steve is about to run away until they call out to him.
“wonderwall?”
steve blinks and stares. “chester?”
chester smiles before looking down at steve’s legs. “you’re burning up—literally.”
“oh, yeah.” steve glances down at his legs. “but it doesn’t burn me.”
“cool, friendly fire!” chester makes a move to touch it, but hisses when his finger is burned.
“only for me.” steve gives a small smile. “apparently, i recently developed powers.”
“woah—can you do anything?” chester asks while sitting down beside bills statue. he sets down a small picnic basket and steve joins him. “like…solve the economic crisis? or racism? or sexism?”
“uhm, no?” steve’s response is more like a question. “it’s more, like, magic based things. i can’t warp reality.”
“huh, i always knew you were a wonder, wonderwall.”
chester pulls out a sandwich. “i only thought it was gonna be me. i can split it.”
steve nods and gives chester a small smile. “thank you, chester.”
“anytime, wonderwall.”
~X☆X~
steve can hear the soft tune of ‘my son, my son’ as he stares at the memory for the tenth time.
‘yes! great job, stephen!’ fords voice shouts.
this was months ago, when they taught him how to fight.
‘now kick him in the balls, sweetie!’ bill calls out. they’re in the front yard of the shack and steve is trying to fight ford while bill watches on the porch.
‘i would rather you not.’ ford says.
steve can see his past self giggle. ‘well, then i’m definitely gonna do it!’
and he does, ford keeling over.
‘good work, you two!’ bill gets up from the porches couch to hug both steve and ford. ‘how ‘bout we get some food?’
that’s where the memory ends.
steve blinks and swallows. his mindscape is in a void of pain splatters, with him standing on a giant paint palette. each color in the palette holds a different section of steve’s memories, and he’s in the yellow one; the one about bill.
he pries himself out of the yellow section, more like a long corridor, and he’s on the palette again. there’s a few paint marks on the palette, which are memories steve doesn’t like to think about.
like bills death.
steve heads over to the place where someone’s finger would usually go and he plops himself down into the hole. it’s comfy and he stares up and the watercolor sky.
there’s a few objects floating above him—a sun plushie, a bow tie, a top hat and a red journal.
steve closes his eyes with a hum. xiggy is curled into the side of his neck—he’s not sure how she’s here.
but he’s happy she is.
~X☆X~
dipper is the one to answer the door, seeing as chester and steve stand on the other side.
“steve! grunkle ford was freaking out, man.” dipper says. steve shrugs and rushes into the house.
“thanks, chester.” dipper glances up at the man and chester nods.
“course! tell mabel i said hi!”
dipper nods and shuts the door. he heads back into the living room, seeing as steve flops to himself on the couch. dipper joins him and sighs.
“it’s almost midnight. grunkle ford has been worried.” dipper speaks. steve mumbles something before audibly speaking.
“me and chester fell asleep. i’m fine.”
“you should go and tell him you’re home.”
steve pouts before nodding reluctantly and getting up off of the couch. he checks in fords, more like their, room but doesn’t find him. steve then heads down to the lab.
sure enough, he finds ford snoring at his desk. steve blinks and walks over to the man. on ford’s desk is something too early in the building stage to be identified and steve sighs.
the boy looks around and spots a dusty blanket. he heaves it over to ford and puts it on top of him.
steve stares at the man before turning around. “goodnight, ford.”
and with that, steve is in the elevator.