What is the secret of Jheselbraum the Unswerving? This story documents the end of Ford's visit to the Oracle. All characters belong to Alex Hirsch, not me. Spoilers for the real-life Journal 3 and DaMatCotTPT. One-shot.

Oracular

Jheselbraum turned over in bed, and felt something. Beside her was Ford, still deeply asleep.

"Oh my, we got a little carried away with our partying last night, didn't we?" said the Oracle. "That Time Baby sand is powerful stuff."

Ford wasn't going to wake up any time soon. It was time to send him on his way. She dressed him meticulously and carried him to a portal room in the castle.

"You're all set on your course to destiny," the Oracle told the sleeping Ford. "Though it's not actually you who will complete the deed. You have your brother's face, 'the face of the man destined to destroy Bill Cipher.' But you will play a large part. The metal plate I put in your head will be critical."

She dialed in a new dimensional destination and sent him off.

She turned with a smirk, and chanted backwards, "Axolotl, Axolotl, I've done what you require. Now you must appear to me to grant what I desire."

Jheselbraum's castle faded away into a glittering milky-white void.

A voice that ebbed and flowed called to her, "Welcome. Come and sit beside me on my comfortable beanbag chair."

The Oracle sat beside the gigantic extra-dimensional Axolotl.

"Come on, Ax, it's time to keep your part of the deal," said Jheselbraum. "Restore my true form."

"Granted," said the Axolotl.

The tall, multi-eyed alien woman shifted into the form of a yellow one-eyed triangle with a top hat and cane.

"Thanks much," said Bill Cipher.

"You can continue your scheme to conquer the multiverse," said the Axolotl, "But I know something you want even more."

"You do?" asked Bill. "Like what?"

"You pretend to be happy with chaos, but you are not. Deep down, you miss your home dimension, which you burned to nothingness billions of years ago," said the Axolotl.

"Yeah, but what's the use? I can never go home again. So why not celebrate total anarchy?" said Bill.

"You make everyone miserable," said Axolotl.

"Misery loves company," said Bill.

"I can restore it just as it was," said the Axolotl. "I can send you back there."

"That's a tall order, even for the most powerful being in the multiverse," Bill said.

"Will you take my offer?" asked the Axolotl.

"My siblings, will they be back, too?" asked Bill.

"Yes, of course."

"Then shake my hand and it's a deal."

"I don't do handshakes," said the Axolotl, "Especially not with you."

"It was worth a try," said Bill.

"Here you go," said the Axolotl.

Bill was transported eons back into the past, to his flat homeland.

"It's as if nothing ever happened," said the Axolotl to itself.

"You have gone back into time
Without a memory of your crime.
And so, in eons you'll get bored.
You'll do again what you did before.
The cycle continues without fail
Like the worm that grabs its tail."

THE END