Weightlessness. That was the first thing that registered in his barely-conscious mind. He felt like he was floating, like there was nothing but air above and below him, and yet the air somehow felt heavier than him.

He opened his eyes, only to immediately wish he hadn't. The world was a blurry mess of colors, swirling about like the surface of a soap bubble. The chaotic motion and glaring brightness of the hues dizzied him, and he blinked several times, trying to focus his vision . . .

Something grabbed his shoulder. He jerked away with a scream.

"Dipper?"

Slowly he turned to look behind him. " . . . Mabel?"

He'd expected to be barely able to make out her silhouette, but instead his sister stood out clear as day against the amorphous background, which both reassured and unsettled him. Then came the realization that something looked off about Mabel, too: her colors seemed slightly more intense, and a subtle blue glow surrounded her features.

"Why are you glowing?"

"I was just about to ask you the same thing."

Sure enough, his own appearance had been altered in the same way.

"Dudes!"

A rotund figure, also glowing, was swimming through space towards them.

"Soos!"

"I wasn't expecting to find you dudes. What are you doing here?" He looked around. "Speaking of which, what am I doing here?"

"That's . . . an excellent question, actually." Dipper glanced again at the swirling colors around them. "Where is here?"

"Beats me."

"Wendy!" He whirled around and hugged her without a second thought. Wendy gladly returned the embrace.

"Do I get a hug, Mabel?"

Mabel nearly jumped out of her sweater. "Gideon! You promised you wouldn't make a big deal out of us holding hands!"

"I lied." A mischievous grin lit up his face.

"Hey! Is that you guys over there?" Pacifica was approaching the group, dragging Robbie by the wrist.

"Wendy, right? I found your boyfriend tangled up in some kind of giant spiderweb or something . . . "

"First of all, I'm her ex-boyfriend—"

"Whatever."

"—and second of all, I could've gotten out of there just fine if you hadn't come along!"

"Right, tell that to the creepy alien thing that was about to eat your face off."

Wendy leaned towards them. "Was he screaming like a girl?"

"No!"

"Yes." The others burst into laughter.

"Dipper? Mabel?"

The twins spun around. "Grunkle Stan! Grunkle Ford!" The four reunited in a group hug.

"Thank God you're okay," Stan sighed. "You're okay, right?" The kids nodded.

Dipper pulled away and glanced around the group. "So . . . now that we're all back together, does anyone know what exactly's going on here? I mean, Bill pretty much said we'd all die if we used the Zodiac, so how is it that we're . . . y'know . . . "

"Not dead?"

"Yeah."

"An excellent question." Ford stroked his chin. " . . . Well, according to the First Law of Thermodynamics, energy can neither be created nor destroyed . . . "

"What the heck are you talking about, Poindexter?"

"Well, judging by what Bill said, the Zodiac must be powered by the life force, or life energy, of its members. But all that energy wouldn't just disappear, it would have to go somewhere—probably through the Rift to seal it. And after that . . . well, after that it was probably just sitting here, so it had time to disperse and reconstitute, and . . . well, here we are now."

Dipper cocked his head. "So, we're energy, basically?"

"I suppose . . . that would explain the glowing."

"Well that's great and all," Robbie interjected, "but where the heck are we?!"

The surrounding view was all the same chaotic colors, save for a few bizarre rock formations floating off in the distance.

Ford looked around. "Well, if we came in through the Rift . . . " His eyes suddenly widened. "Oh no . . . "

"What?"

"No . . . no!"

"Spit it out, Sixer!"

"We're in the Nightmare Realm! This is Bill's domain!"

"Bill-shmill." Gideon gave a careless wave. "We killed him, didn't we?"

"Yes, but that doesn't mean his minions are gone! And if they're not, they're here! We have to get out of here before they . . . "

An enormous shadow fell over the group. Ford heard a quiet, ominous chuckle from behind him.

He didn't bother asking the question that immediately crossed his mind. Instead, he took a deep breath and said precisely what any calm, rational person would say in such a situation.

"RUN!"