Made a terribly angsty Bill redemption au...
Infodumping about it below the cut!! Warning that it's very dark with lots of psychological and physical abuse + themes
Part two here
Ok first off, if you noticed any inconsistencies with the drawings, no you didnt :) This was super rushed and I 100% winged it, literally made up the au as I was drawing it
but as for the au itself!! It starts with Bill in the theraprism, which, instead of being a place of healing and good, functions more like a 1900s psych ward combined with a concentration camp for criminals. The inmates DO get therapy, but it's less about healing and more about finding their biggest fears, vulnerabilities, and whatnot and exploiting them. Still working out why exactly they do that, but the best idea I have so far is that the Theraprism wants control over these powerful beings, and it acquires that via exploiting their weaknesses.
For Bill, this means confronting the fact that he's an evil, irredeemable monster who has done incomprehensible harm to countless beings, especially those that he loves: his parents, the Henchmaniacs, and Ford. Rather than confronting it and trying to change, he's told that there IS no changing and this is just Who He Is: Evil.
(Side note: but this fic isn't about whether such people are ethically redeemable, but rather about the fact that it is possible to change, as well as exploring the circumstances which create bad people)
Anyway, Bill carries all this guilt, self-loathing, and a black hole where his self-esteem ought to be. He truly hates himself and would almost rather die to atone, but he can't, because that would be too merciful for him. He has to live, as his punishment.
So that's an overview of the psychological side to this. As for the physical, Bill has been stripped of his powers, and is no longer a god-like, self-sustaining being who can do anything. He's an animal. He needs to eat and sleep and all that. Unfortunately, he does NOT remember how to take care of himself; it has been billions of years, after all. DOUBLE unfortunately, the Theraprism is not interested in keeping Bill completely healthy and meeting all of his needs; physical weakness leads to mental weakness, which is easier to exploit.
There's probably some unethical experimentation happening on Bill, too, since he's the last of his species and has never been studied before, but I haven't thought too hard about that.
On top of that is scuffles with the inmates, where Bill is constantly getting hurt because he's very weak and very hated and very aggressive. Don't worry, though! The aggression is beaten out of him :D
Honestly I could ramble about this for another few thousand words, but for now, I'll just explain the drawing: basically, Ford has had some contact with Bill and knows the bare bones of what's been going on, mainly that Bill is weak now. He hasn't forgiven Bill, not by a long shot, but he's morbidly curious and a teeny tiny bit concerned (he hates the part of himself that worries for Bill, but he loved him once).
Some teenagers accidentally summon Bill to Gravity Falls, and they tell Ford, who grabs the quantum destabilizer and heads out to the forest to hunt him down. He finds Bill and decides not to kill him. However, he still has all this pent up rage, thirst for revenge, paranoia, and adrenaline from the hunt. He also needs to make sure Bill is powerless. So, he lets emotions take over for a few minutes and beats the hell out of Bill. When Bill cannot physically fight back, he's satisfied that the demon truly is powerless, and decides to take him back to the shack to figure out what to do with him.
Thus, the au begins...
There is a LOT more to this, I'm playing around with Ford and Bill switching roles, where now Ford is the one with all the power and control over Bill and can choose whether to be kind or cruel (spoilers: he does BOTH. I did warn for themes of abuse, and that does NOT stop once Bill leaves the theraprism. I'll tell you that much).
If anyone wants me to yap more about this, feel free to send an ask!! I'm going feral over this concept tbh
