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Bill wasn't improving
He should've known he wouldn't, it wasn't in his nature. Why did he think he would? Bill was a being of chaos, and even under that he was unwilling to accept that he had done anything wrong, and until he could he would be unable to change. Of that he was certain.
The Axolotl had tried everything, and there was no progress made, not in ten, twenty, a thousand years, Bill had not changed. He started fights, staged coups, antagonized other patients, anything he could to mess with them.
It was beginning to feel… personal, like Bill was doing it to mess with him. He knew reasonably that he probably wasn't, that Bill was just… acting out was must be a prison to him but it was starting to get to him.
The Axolotl knew that it wasn't healthy, for both him and Bill, for him to be active in his recovery in this state. So… he made a terrible decision. He left Bill in the care of his staff.
He knew, HE KNEW, that it would be a terrible idea, that leaving such a high profile patient unattended with his staff who, while mainly kind and caring, might have personal reasons against him. Despite all that he still left. Looking back he could see the flaws in what he had done. He wished that he could go back in time and yell at his past self for his foolishness.
He told the staff to only contact him for emergencies and that he didn't know when he would be back. It wasn't like it would be a massive deal to them, they already ran the place without too much interaction with him. In reality his main function was to watch over and make sure everything ran smoothly and safely for both the patients and the staff and for the most part he only would break up small fights or give advice on how to deal with a difficult patient.
After he was sure that nothing would go wrong he… left. He retreated to the furthest reaches of his realm and just sat there… He wasn’t sure how long he spent there, time didn't make much sense there, even to a deity like him, but it must have been quite a while for everything to go so, so, wrong.
When he first came back, they told him everything was going well, but underneath their smiles and reassuring words there was something off. They claimed that everything had gone smoothly and were even making progress with several of the newer patients!
Despite his doubts about the honesty of his staff, he decided that it was likely just his nerves from returning after such a break. He decided that he would give himself a few days to calm his nerves before he visited Bill again, lest he might find himself in the same situation he had been in before
Over the next few days he watched over the Theraprism (minus Bill). He learned that he had only been gone for around 20 years! It was honestly better than what he had thought it might be at least. (He didn't realize how long that would be for mortals.)
Knowing how long he was gone did not seem to help with his nerves, but he knew it had to be the day he finally worked up the courage to face Bill again. It had been too long to leave such a high profile patient to the care of his staff, no matter how well trained they were.
While he still needed to wait till the simulated night to summon Bill, (it was less disorienting for them if they were brought when they were already out of their physical bodies) He decided to still wait in the dreamscape.
It was a pretty place, the dreamscape. The surrounding void was filled with shining dust, like stars glowing in the midnight sky. It was surprisingly calming, a nice place to curl up and allow himself to drift off to sleep. Perhaps after this he would indulge a little.
… It had been quite a while since the theraprisms night started so where was Bill? Perhaps he wasn't sleeping? Bill always slept though… he claimed that “He found his dreams of torturing his therapists amusing” though The Axolotl believed that it was the closest he could get to his own realm.
Now worried, he decided that it would be best if he checked Bill's room. At least that way he could check on him, and maybe even apologize if Bill was even in the mood to talk.
But when he went to check his room it was… empty. Why would it be empty? He should be here! All patients should be back in their rooms by night so where was he?
He scanned though the halls, looking for part of the staff or maybe one of the interns who might know where he would be?
The first person he came upon was just a common nurse, he didn’t remember the world she was from but he believed her name was… Harmony?
She was likely walking back to the staff dorms.
“Harmony is it?”
She startled and jumped, turning around quickly before realizing it was him, a small, timid smile blooming on her lips.
“Yes your, uh, highness? I’m glad you remembered.”
Her voice was melodic, sounding almost like an orchestra, each tone creating such a lovely sound.
“I am no king,” he smiled “you can just call me the Axolotl.”
She nodded rapidly, seemingly embarrassed by her mistake though he really did not mind, she was well meaning and kind.
“I wanted to ask you something,” he asked. “Have you seen Bill Cipher recently? I’ve been trying to locate him but I couldn’t find him in his room.”
She paused her eyes deep in thought, “Hm… last I heard I think he was in the … solitary wellness void?”
“Thank you Harmony,” he smiled “I’ll let you get back to your work thank you.”
She nodded, smiling slightly before continuing walking down the hall waving goodbye slightly.
He immediately teleported himself into the void, its darkness nowhere as comforting as the dreamscape.
The void was pure darkness, nothing but you and your thoughts, floating infinitely in a pit of black, no way to tell any direction or distance.
Bill stood out immediately, his bright yellow clashing with the darkness around him. He appeared to be curled in on himself as much as he could.
He floated himself over to where Bill was curled up curling slightly to announce his presence before he began his apologies.
“Bill, I am so sorry for leaving you for such an extended period of time,” he began “I believed that if I didn’t take a moment to myself I would lash out and I didn’t want that to set back any patient's recovery.”
He avoided looking into Bills eyes not wanting to see his sneer or hear his angry remarks about ‘how dare frills leave him’ or about ‘how he wasn’t a child and he could handle himself’
“I realize now that I should have warned everyone about my absence and will now keep that in mind for next time.”
“…”
The lack of response finally forced him to look into Bill's eyes. He had expected Bill to have an insult on the tip of his tongue, ready to fire away his criticism, but… he found nothing… only silence was there to answer him.
After further inspection he realized that Bill was not even paying attention to his apologies. His eyes looked dull and dead, nothing close to the lively bright chaotic energy they used to hold.
His bright shell was cracked and bruised. His eyes were bloodshot, like he had been crying for hours. It made him nauseous.
He was panicked by this new state and jolted back, startling Bill and causing him to flinch away and filling his dull eyes with fear. The mighty Bill Cipher flinched away from him. He panicked. He couldn’t handle this. So… he fled. The mighty axolotl ran away.
From. A. Hurt. Patient. How could he? How dare he. Bill was a hurt patient. Bill needed help and he ran. What a joke, what a coward. He realized that now. Only a coward would run from someone they knew with suffering.
It was his fault… He shouldn’t have taken his break, he knew it was a bad idea and he still did it. It was his fault. He needed to make it right.
First he needed to find out who did this. His first thought was that maybe another patient? Despite his small size, he was still able to defend himself.
So that left him with the staff? They wouldn’t do that with that? I mean he was their patient right? They wouldn’t…
He needed to get to the bottom of this. He watched the nurses as they neglected to give him most of his daily meals (which he was able to substitute himself), as they would laugh and mock him, and often even physically abuse him.
They would give him unregulated medication, of which he believed caused him to hallucinate and sleep, and toss him in the solitary wellness void for even just asking for food.
It was too much. His own staff, torturing a patient? HOW DARE THEY? THEY WERE NO BETTER THAN THE PEOPLE WHO THEY HELPED!”
It was not in his nature to be so mad, he was a calm being, one of peace and harmony, but they crossed a line. Bill was not a good person but he didn’t deserve this.
And what could he do after? In all of Bill's five thousand years in theraprism he hadn’t changed. He was always a snarky, rude triangle. How bad had it been to turn him to… this?
This was a place of healing, of recovery. This was not recovery.
He had to make this right.