AN: Previous story is "in somnis veritas" (Story ID:12743756)
This assumes you're familiar with the other three fics in the series, as well as the Axolotl page in Dipper and Mabel and the Curse of the Time Pirates' Treasure! If you don't have access to that book, then I suggest you go look at WDW's original post for the Same Coin Theory on tumbler. She has the whole page uploaded there, plus it's what inspired this whole series in the first place. I highly recommend you be familiar with all four of these before you read this, because otherwise it'll make even less sense than it already does.
This has been, was, is, will be true: Axolotl has existed, existed, exists, will exist beyond time, beyond space for all eternity in every direction.
A call comes from within the multiverse. It rips across the bonds of reality, beyond time, beyond space to Axolotl. "A-X-O-L-O-T-L, my time has come to burn! I invoke the ancient power that I may return!" BillStan calls and Axolotl must answer. This is a Fact. The way is open into space, into time, into reality and Axolotl reaches through. Axolotl follows the power that calls Axolotl. It's Axolotl's own, but it's not, it belongs to BillStan, but Axolotl gives it to him, so it's Axolotl's too.
Axolotl will race and race along the power through the multiverse, Axolotl will race along the echo of a scream and Axolotl will see her. She will be so much smaller than the other times Axolotl will see her and it will hurt to see her so small and vulnerable. Axolotl will walk and take her to a new place, a place Axolotl will make that will be safe for her to grow and she will follow even though she won't know Axolotl yet.
"Who are you?" Mabel had asked.
"I am the Axolotl," Axolotl had said. "But enough about me. You've managed to find me, so you get one question apiece. Don't waste it!"
"What are you, like, a salamander?" Mabel had asked.
"I am the Axolotl," Axolotl had replied.
The Axolotl will be the Axolotl. He is counted one Axolotl and then stop, because there was only one of him. One had been Axolotl. Two will be Jheselbraum. Three is StanBillBillStanOurboros. Then stop.
No, wrong. Not three. There must be pairs and pairs and pairs. One had been Axolotl. Two will be Jheselbraum. Three is StanBillBillStanOurboros. Four was…
"Do you mind telling me why I'm here?" Ford asked.
"Symmetry," Axolotl replied.
"I'm afraid I don't understand," Ford said. Axolotl hummed. Ford didn't understand because he couldn't understand, but Axolotl didn't need him to understand. Ford just needed to know.
"Hold up your hands."
"Alright," Ford agreed, doing as Axolotl asked.
Axolotl looked and looked and saw everything that Ford's hands were and then saw what Axolotl was looking for. Axolotl came in closer to his right hand and blew on it. The blue flames there, BillStan's blue flames, sparked to life.
The flames spark and snap and roar as Axolotl watches them flow from Axolotl into StanBill sitting cradled in Axolotl's hand. The flames settle down beneath his skin, deep inside him, small for now until they grow and grow and grow. This is a Fact.
Axolotl will pull his tongue away from her forehead and will watch her become small again as she falls to her knees. She will look up at Axolotl and only barely manage to croak out the word "please."
Axolotl will consider her carefully, tilting Axolotl's head to the side. So small, but she will grow and grow and grow and she will transcend in time. Axolotl will smile at her and say, "You'll get there."
Axolotl will want her to get there, will want her to be there beyond time, beyond space for eternity in all directions. He will want pairs and pairs and pairs. "You weren't made for him." Axolotl will tell her.
"I wasn't?" Jheselbraum will ask skeptically.
"You were made for the same reason anyone is, for yourself," Axolotl will say. Choices, choices, it will always be about choices and Jheselbraum will choose to be herself. "Though I confess infusing you with a bit of my essence was something I did for me."
BillStan wants to infuse Ford with his own essence too, wants the two of them to never be apart, but he doesn't realize he's deep inside his own mind. He fuses himself with himself and it's so messy and Axolotl has to come and fix it. This is a Fact. Axolotl has to tear Ourboros back into his two parts and return him home, send him back to Ford because StanBill always wants to be with Ford.
Did Ford always want to be with StanBill? That was the question. BillStan made his own choice, and Ford had to make his.
"But tomorrow? That doesn't give me very much time," Ford said.
"It gives you exactly as much time as you need," said Axolotl. With too much time Ford thought and thought and overthought, and his choice wasn't always about thinking, it was about feeling. It was about wanting and pairs and pairs and pairs. "It's time now for you to wake up, Ford. Enjoy your last day and remember, if you want me, call, and I will come."
BillStan calls and Axolotl comes. This is a Fact. Axolotl towers above StanBillBillStanOurboros, cradling him in Axolotl's hands. Axolotl smiles down at the both of them and says, "Don't worry; I'm sending you back home." He wants to go home, that's all he ever wants, Axolotl knows.
"What do you know about Bill Cipher?" Mason had asked.
Tricky, tricky question. The children hadn't known and they hadn't needed to know. How to answer? Axolotl had pondered the question. Axolotl's eyes had begun to glow and Axolotl had spoken:
"Sixty degrees that come in threes.
Watches from within birch trees.
Watches his own dimension burn.
Misses home and can't return.
Says he's happy. He's a liar.
Blame the arson for the fire.
If he wants to shirk the blame,
He'll have to invoke my name.
One way to absolve his crime.
A different form, a different time."
"Why?" Ford asked. "Why would you do that to him?"
Axolotl flipped back over and answered very matter-of-factly. "I do what I do because that is all there is to be done."
Jheselbraum will not like that answer. Jheselbraum will not understand because she will not be able to understand, but Axolotl will not need her to understand. Jheselbraum will just need to know. "And sometimes, that's more than enough."
Jheselbraum will still want more than more than enough, but Axolotl will like this reality now that he will be here and more will mean ripping this reality apart.
Stan is Bill and Bill is Stan. He goes on and on and on and just as he burns he calls Axolotl, and when he calls, Axolotl sends him back home again. This a Fact. He is, and everything else follows.
This has been, was, is, will be true: Axolotl has existed, existed, exists, will exist beyond time, beyond space for all eternity in every direction. This also has been, was, is, will be true: Axolotl hasn't been, wasn't, isn't, won't be real until StanBillBillStanOuroboros calls.