Disclaimer: I don't own Gravity Falls!

Title: March On, Or the Fear Wins

Summary: Time goes on, even when friends are apart. The Mystery Shack ends up becoming Wendy's pet project as she helps her friends through the seasons.

Chapter Title: Winter

(The longest time of the year)

...

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The Keeper of Worlds- Chivalry does indeed live, it's just not thriving as it used to.

...

Wendy knew it was Gideon before she'd even lifted her head from her magazine.

For one thing, his hair was visible a mile away, and easily towered over her page. For another, she could sense him coming, knew it was him from the mixture of sincerity and anger. Whatever had occurred beforehand had obviously gotten on his last nerve.

It's not magic and it's not telepathy. Mabel considers it a soul bond of sorts, from the blue energy in the circle, and that's probably not all that far off. She can sense Gideon's irritation just like she can feel McGucket's elation as he and his son watch movies together.

It's not magic because she can't control it- by control it, she means turn it off or on; she can somewhat direct flow and intensity- and it's not telepathy because it's not nearly powerful enough to be considered as such. Little snatches of emotion, the odd shared dream. That's nothing.

(Sometimes, if she focuses hard enough, she can glimpse what's going on in another one of their lives through their eyes. She can feel it when somebody does the same to her; it's disorienting, so she tries to avoid doing it.)

If not for all that, then for the fact that his 'rad' shoes squeak with every step he takes, it's obvious what's trotting up to her desk before the bell is rung.

She isn't, however, prepared to see him in a poofy blue hoodie and black sweat pants. On top of his head sits a black felt hat, but the sharp angle of his hair leaves it dangling by mere centimeters. Wendy lowers her magazine, eyes wide. This close, she can practically taste his uncertainty and and anxiety. It's not a pleasant flavor.

"Uh, yo, Wendy." He giggled. "How's it goin'?"

"Dude, you sound like a sitcom straight out of the ninety's."

Gideon's smile faltered. "Do I? Shucks. I'll have to work on that."

Wendy ignores the urge to check to see if he's lying. Gideon has- for the most part- gone straight, and she has no reason to suspect him. "I don't think I've ever seen you in the Mystery Shack before. What's up?"

He looks torn between the urge to remind her that he has been inside before (they're trying to forget that, for obvious friendship-related reasons) and just saying never mind and walking out.

"Dude, it's cool. You need something?"

Yes. The knowledge thrummed through them. It was strange; the only people Wendy was around often from the circle was Soos and Robbie, and she hung out with them so much that she hardly even noticed, because she knew them. With Gideon it felt almost like an intrusion, even though they both knew it wasn't on purpose.

Privately, she wonders if he's the one who glances through their daily lives. Who knows? Maybe it's Stan, channeling his curiosity into cold-hard stubbornness to reach across the world.

(Their lines are so thin, it feels like they could snap at the slightest jostling. Dipper and Mabel's are almost triple their size, and they're a whole state away.)

Gideon flushes. "Could ya' teach me how to ice skate?"

Wendy blinks at him. She's half-certain she miss-translated his folk-talk. "Huh?"

He worried the fabric of his hoodie. "Y'know, ice skatin'. All the kids 're doin' it."

"Well, yeah." The lake froze over every year, and Wendy's been using it as her personal playground since she was little. She just wasn't aware that some people didn't know how to ice skate. It always seemed like survival one-o-one, you know? Right up there with tree climbing and basic weapons training. "Can't your jail buddies help you?"

"They could." He agrees. "But this requires a bit more of a, say, feminine touch, so to speak. That's not really up their alley, you know?" Gideon shrugs. "'Sides, they've been askin' to visit their families for the holidays. I'd be heartless to refuse."

Wendy raises a thin eyebrow, smirking. "You just want the other kids to see you hanging out with an older woman, don't you?"

"What? No!" He rapidly shakes his head, face aflame as he sputters. "That'd be plain silly, and I ain't silly! Not siree! Or, uh, no ma'am-ree?"

"Save it, dork. I'm off in fifteen."

Gideon makes a wheezing noise akin to a dying animal, shoulders hitched up to his ears. Wendy stifles an irritable grunt as he almost falls backwards in the snow.

"Gideon, calm down. It's not complicated."

"I'm fine, really." He gasps. "There's nothin' like standing above ice, only a few inches away from drownin' to death, on tiny little blades that're strapped to my feet."

"I tested the ice. It can hold me; it'll hold you. Do you see any death here?"

She waves her hands towards the people skittering around. She's certain her father is amongst them, not to mention the all important mayor Tyler.

"Millions of people die drownin' per year." He whispers.

"Millions? I dunno, man. That's a pretty bogus soundin' statistic." It could be true, for all she knows. Wendy isn't the type to look up the odds of her own death. "'Sides, the cold'll get you before the water does."

"No, it won't."

Again, Wendy is no expert. Relief surges through her at the sight of her friends fast-approaching, Robbie in the lead.

"Hey, Wendy!" He skates to a clean stop. Gideon lets out a dying pig sound from surprise; it reminds her of the time she drop-kicked him across a clearing. Robbie blinks at the boy, face blank. It's not surprise or irritation; just a simple lack of emotion. "Oh, hey. You're that guy. From the... circle thing."

Gideon puffed out his chest, fear momentarily forgotten in the face of recognition. "Yup."

"So, uh." Robbie's eyes flicker between them a moment before settling on Wendy. He jerked a thumb behind him. "Some dude totally brought a Zamboni; we're gonna chase him and chuck snowballs at his head. You should come."

"Can't." She shakes her head, patting the younger boy's shoulder. "I promised Gideon I'd show 'em how to skate."

"Next time, then?" He asks hopefully.

"Next time." She swears.

Robbie nods. Unease bubbles into her gut; his, not hers. The teen obviously remembered Gideon's betrayal.

I can hear you! The barely contained rage that shoots through them- from Gideon- seems to yell, making them both flinch. Robbie averts his eyes and skates away.

Wendy, so used to being more of a theoretical sounding board than a speaker, lets comfort flow to both of them. It's weird; she's never the one to do this type of thing.

"Alright then." She says simply. "Ice skating."

Gideon takes two steps onto the ice and falls forward. Wendy waits until he crashes to lift him up again, just barely stifling a smirk.

"Any bleeding?"

"No." He grunts, face screwed up with anger. "You could've stopped me from fallin', but you didn't."

Like water from a duck's back, Wendy lets the accusation float away. "You're not a real ice skater until you've smashed your face in. That's, like, a rule."

Gideon's eyes light up. "Really?"

"Of course, man. I do it at least once a year." She grabs him by the wrist and edges forward, at home on the slippery surface. She can hear Thompson complaining about another grounding as his friends cheer him on, snowball in hand. The Zamboni guy looks thoroughly done with life. "Let's try this again."

Wendy makes a mental note to shovel the walk and maybe grab a few logs off the pile for firewood as she steps inside the Mystery Shack. Her hand is placed on her axe reassuringly; she'd had to ditch it, for obvious reasons (killing somebody because they fell on her was not something she planned on doing), and was extremely pleased to have it within arm's reach once again.

"Hey, Soos. I'm back."

Soos sticks his head out of the break room to call down the stairs. "Hey, Wendy? You mind getting the first aid kit?"

Wendy hesitates on the bottom step. "You alright, dude?"

"Uh, yeah. I'm not the one with the boo-boo. Just... grab it, please?"

"I'm on it."

Wendy makes a quick trip to the cabinet in the bathroom to grab the kit before trotting over to the break room. Soos looks guilty and stubborn all at once.

"So, uh. Look. I kinda made it my policy to help anybody injured, so my hands were kinda tied here, dude."

The pulse of anxiety makes her feel unsettled. "Soos?"

Soos clears his throat and moves aside. Celestabellebethabelle, in all her unicorn glory, laid on the bed, her front hoof leaking rainbow fluids onto a stretched out jacket.

Wendy shoves the first aid kit into Soos's chest and whirls around. "Nope. Not doing this. You're on your own."

He grabs her shoulder. "Come on, Wendy! Please?"

Ugh. He's giving her that puppy dog look. She can't compete with that.

Celestabellebethabelle hurt her hoof bravely defending her homeland from a pack of fierce magical predators, only for her and her companions to be kicked to the curb, so to speak. She'd gone to garner help for their cause while the others tried another go at stopping their reign of terror.

At least, that's how she sees it. She's a bit of a braggart about it. In general, really. She's also a bit clingy, limping behind her and the other workers while they're on duty. A 'don't kill the magical horse on shack property' rule has been made and enforced.

Wendy isn't sure if a unicorn can make a sniffing sound, but she's fairly sure the horse made a noise relatively close to it as she gimped after her, a shovel in arm. "Don't you have servants for something like this?"

She can feel the stress coming off of Soos in waves from the house and decides to be the better person about all of this. "Shouldn't you be inside? Y'know, healing?"

"I'm not an invalid." She snorts, tail lashing.

"Somebody could see you." She points out.

Wendy became privy to what a deadpan face looks like on a magical horse. "So what? Everyone in this stupid town already knows me. We fought together, after all."

She says it with such importance that Wendy is only seconds away from slugging her. She digs her shovel into the snow instead.

Yes, they fought together. Yes, they went through a lot. But she sounds so stupidly smug about it, like powering the Shacktron and almost getting eaten makes her the better creature. She didn't get permanently linked to a handful of people via destiny ex machina. She didn't get turned into a freaking tapestry (or any piece of furniture, really; no one will ever forget the stone throne of doom). She wasn't forced to carry around a weapon to feel safe, or have nightmares of falling off eye-bats and plunging to her doom.

(She always survives the first impact, spine broken, unable to move. The Shacktron is always forced to crush her in the ensuing chaos. She never screams. Maybe it's best she doesn't; one for the world isn't half bad, right?)

"Uh-huh." Wendy grunts.

Celestabellebethabelle narrows her eyes at her. "When are you going to help me get back my home?"

"Uh, who said we were?" She asks, mostly out of bitterness. Wendy chucks the snow to the side, a dark amusement rising when the unicorn huffs and dodges to avoid getting her hair mussed. "Why not just gather all your buddies together- the one's who didn't already go- and attack?"

"Are you kidding?" She hisses. "Those beasts are ruthless."

"So was Bill's army." Wendy points out. "And we beat them."

An unspoken guilt flashes between them, so much so that she didn't need a connection to sense it. They glance away from each other, busying themselves with other tasks. She's surprised to see the horse pushing some snow to the side with her horn.

At the end of it, they didn't do much of anything. Wendy especially feels guilty; she and Soos could've restrained Stan and Ford, but instead they faltered, and the kids were left to face a demon alone because they faltered.

"That was different." Celestabellebethabelle says finally, voice almost soft. "I'll need backup."

Wendy's heart sped up of its own accord. This could be her first fight since the kids left for California (this is their home, as far as she's concerned, and the response from their end of the line speaks of agreement). A good way to kick away the dust, per say, and prove to herself that she's still capable.

"Let me finish this." She sighs, shifting more snow aside. "Then we'll talk."

"Fight! Fight! Fight!" Candy and Grenda chant, leading the way. Wendy notices with some amusement that they've foraged through the shack and found some of Stan's old weapons; a bat for Grenda, and, surprisingly, the brass knuckles (one of the few pairs he left behind) for Candy. Then again, they might have been too small for Grenda's fingers- the girl's got some huge hands. The chanting makes her feel surprisingly pumped about all of this.

Soos's concern rolls off him in waves. "Are you sure it's okay to close the Mystery Shack early?"

"It'll be fine. Nobody comes on a day like today, anyway. Too close to the weekend." Wendy puts a reassuring hand on his shoulder, scrunching her cheeks against the chill of drying warpaint. Celestabellebethabelle looked completely done with them, but she was the one who ordered their assistance, so there was nothing she could do.

"They're savages." She warned, high-stepping as though anyone was going to miss the bright scabbing on her leg, just above the hoof. "They captured the others in my herd and used them as steeds."

"What did take over everything, anyhow?" Soos asks, and it suddenly occurs to her that no specifics had ever been mentioned. "Like, you dudes are big, but you're ridiculously skinny. Not just anybody can ride you guys."

True enough. She once took a unicorn out by tackling it.

"Well..." The horn glows bright with her hesitation.

"Halt!" Hoof steps thudded closer. "How dare ye' enter our territory!"

Figures stampede out of the forest near the gates, drawn on unicorn back with reinforced reins.

Wendy lowers her freshly sharpened axe with surprise, a snort escaping her. "You've got to be kidding me."

This, as it turns out, is a big mistake.

Wendy shuffles up the stairs, her favorite green shirt tied around her waist and her black undershirt plastered with mud, close to the breastbone, and a chest of gold and trinkets in her arms.

Unicorns are ridiculously easy to blackmail, it turns out.

"And you guys said messing with magic would never lead to anything good." She hums, setting the chest on the sturdy table. Her three brothers stare at her, slack-jawed.

Their father shares none of their hesitance. Dan sweeps her off the floor in a hug, yelling his pride. A wave of pain flows through her. Wendy quickly stifles it, essentially freezing her line in the circle with a harsh grip. Soos's concern was like a balm; she didn't, however, want him at her doorstep in the middle of the night, demanding to know if she was okay.

He sets her down and holds out a fist that's almost as big as her head. "Good job, honey!"

Wendy bumps it, grinning shyly. He may have his faults, but no one can deny that her father loves his family.

"How did you even get this?" Her oldest brother squeaks. And to think, just last week he'd been expressing concern for her wellbeing.

("I'm not supposed to put you in the ground 'till you're, like, seventy, sis!"

"Don't worry. If something magic does get me, there won't be a body to bury. Just burn what you find. And dunk some holy water on it. Just in case.")

"Hush money." Her smile turns into a smirk. "Did you know unicorns can get their butts kicked by leprechauns?"

Later, after finding the time to excuse herself, Wendy unties her shirt and glances at herself in the mirror. A long, deep gash stretches down her hip and into her thigh; part of her pants were ripped because of it.

Her shirt is stained red. Wendy groans and tosses it aside, crouching down to grab at the first aid kit she'd hidden under her bed.

Leprechauns, she's found, are fierce, territorial little boogers. They're also strong enough to rip an axe out of your arms and get a good blow in before you deck them off, say, a unicorn.

Dipper's hat, perched on her bedside table for fear she'd lose it in the chaos, watches her clean and wrap the wound in silence.

Author's Note: A bit of a more supernatural spin to this chapter, as it expected of Gravity Falls. =)

Yes, that's a bit of my headcanon crawling in there, but I promise it won't effect the actual story. Following the reason Wendy is 'ice' in the first place, she can somewhat help the circle keep calm and reassure them. She can't redirect of change what they're feeling; just soften the blows a bit, per say.

-Mandaree1