Gravity Falls: Once More

by Absolute Rift

Four years after their faithful summer of weird, Dipper and Mabel finally return to the legendary town of Gravity Falls. Despite having new adventures and mysteries to take on, they are still tailed by the challenges that come with navigating teenage life. With friends and enemies, both new and old, the Pines must prepare themselves for whatever awaits them. (Cover by pau sketches)

44. Red Herring: Part 3

Red Herring: Part 3

---

In the back living room of Robbie's house, the teens screamed in absolute horror at the sight of Robbie getting possessed by the supposed spirit of the Fatal Flaw board game. The game established its control by getting up from the ground and looking directly at the teenagers with its bright, glowing blue eyes. The rest of the teens reactively began to walk backward in fear.

"What did you do to Robbie?!" Wendy asked apprehensively.

"I have taken possession of each of his thoughts and emotions," the game answered as it began slowly walking toward the group in Robbie's body. "I can see what he thinks and feel what he feels. I know what is true and I know what isn't."

"Well, go back to your orphaned truth or dare wannabe and give us back our friend!" Tambry angrily demanded.

"Why? I thought you WANTED to know the truth of how Robbie feels about your relationship," the game reminded as it looked over at Tambry. "Well, I can give you just that..."

Suddenly, the game began fizzling within Robbie, causing his body to twitch violently and abnormally like a robot that was short-circuiting. As his body began to ease back to normal movements, his face became emotive, appearing anxious despite the fact that his eyes still maintained their blue glow. He opened his mouth and began to speak, though his voice sounded warped and echo-y, likely due to the game's hold of him. Regardless, the tone, pronunciation, and general speech pattern all still sounded like him rather and like it was his own words.

"I don't know what I'm gonna do about this relationship with Tambry," he began as he crossed his arms and appeared to look to the side. "This whole thing we have now just feels more like an obligation than a commitment. Seriously, I feel practically nothing anymore."

Tambry's eyes widened as she looked on at Robbie with a growing feeling of confused heartache. "W-What?"

"I know it was long ago, but man, I miss how things were with Wendy," Robbie continued. "She was so much simpler, less stressful, and just...I don't know. For something that never lasted long, she was something, man."

Wendy squinted her eyes and clenched her teeth together, cringing at hearing those words spoken aloud. Not only because they came from Robbie, of all people, but because of what those words would mean to Tambry. Looking at the corner of her eye, she noticed Tambry's look of sadness quickly evolve into one of sheer anger as she clenched her fists.

"WHAT?!" she snapped, stomping a foot forward. "Are you kidding me?!"

It felt somewhat hard to defend what they had all just seen, but Wendy took a shot at it by reaching her hand for Tambry's shoulder and pulling her back. "Easy, Tambry! Don't you see? Robbie's being controlled by the game! That might not even be him talking! Whatever he says probably isn't even true."

"Yeah, it might be his voice, but why should we believe a thing he says while that thing is inside him?" Lee nodded in agreement.

"Your words imply a hesitation to believe, but you know his words are true," the game assured as its voice fizzled back in place of Robbie's. "I am Fatal Flaw. I punish lies and dishonesty. I search for nothing but the truth, and the words I have forced out of your friend are nothing but the truth."

"Please! Robbie might be a jerk in a lot of ways, but he isn't that shallow!" Wendy defended in an attempt to bring Tambry some reassurance.

"I wouldn't be too sure about that..." Derrick quietly commented from beside the group.

Tambry began to calm her anger down when reconsidering the whole situation as her friends did. "She's right! How can any of us believe a single word he says as long as you're in him? Maybe Robbie and I haven't had the best run recently, but there's no way he doesn't care at all. I don't believe it!"

"Then you're deluded," Fatal Flaw told her bluntly. "I can read into every part of his brain. All the people he values; all the memories he treasures...times like the day he played his first gig or the day he met your redhead friend there. But you? He doesn't even remember when you two met. Or your anniversary. Or your own birthday."

While she knew she still had no reason to believe Fatal Flaw, Tambry still felt her heart drop as she merely considered whether that was how Robbie truly felt. While she didn't want to believe it, the amount of disinterest Robbie had shown her in recent times had her finding the idea more believable. She tried to resist the thought as hard as she could, but she couldn't help but let it infest her mind, overtaking every other logical thought of hers.

"Now, does that sound like someone who cares?" Fatal Flaw persisted.

Angry and confused, Tambry let her denial overtake her to extreme levels. She clutched her fists tightly as she looked Fatal Flaw right in its glowing blue eyes as she walked right up to it threateningly. "It's not true!"

Fatal Flaw smirked. "In that case, why not see for yourself?"

Suddenly, a bright blue bolt suddenly sparked from Robbie's body directly at her. She was then blasted backward, violently slamming right into the wall behind her. The others jumped back in shock, only to then group back together in fear.

Wendy gasped. "TAMBRY!"

Though knocked back pretty hard, it looked as though Tambry was slowly beginning to pull herself back up from the ground. She rose with her eyes shut tight, keeping herself stood against the wall as she turned back toward her friends.

"Tambers, are you alright?" Nate asked worriedly.

"She is fine," Fatal Flaw said assertively. "But now she sees what I see!"

Amidst Fatal Flaw's speaking, Tambry's eyes opened again, but they now glowed the bright blue that Robbie's eyes did. As Fatal Flaw's voice spoke from Robbie's mouth, the same voice started to come out of Tambry as well. The two possessed bodies then looked at the teens with the same wide smile. As the gang realized what had happened to Tambry, they began to scream out in horror yet again.

"It got Tambry too!" Lee shouted fearfully.

"It's a hivemind!" Dipper screamed out as he realized what Fatal Flaw really was.

"If your friend didn't know the truth before, she does now," Fatal Flaw spoke through both bodies. "Her mind is directly linked to his and his to hers. I can read through both of their heads, and they can read into each other's true thoughts."

"What's the point of all this?!" Dipper asked. "What do you want from us? Surely there's some kind of reasoning for this or something we can do so you let us and our friends go!"

"Reasoning? My reasoning is your kind is built upon lies and deception," Fatal Flaw explained. "Telling each other and themselves the things they want to hear to hide your own selfishness. If I had full control, there would be no lies. Everybody would be honest and forward about themselves and with others. My creators designed me to punish players that lie. And that's what I intend to do. But why stop there? Who is to say that people aren't liars in their own time? Why not cleanse everybody of their dishonesty? The world would be a better place."

"That's not fair! Not all of us were even playing your stupid game!" Wendy said as she took a daring step forward.

"It's not a game anymore. It's LIFE."

"Isn't that another game?" Derrick asked.

Dipper narrowed his eyes annoyedly. "Is now really the time for smartassery?"

"I can't help it. My mouth exists to run," Derrick shrugged.

"Enough talk! I want the TRUTH!" Fatal Flaw demanded just before using Robbie to walk over to a random male college student who had stood just watching the incident the whole time. "Starting with you…"

"Me?!" the guy asked in confusion as he turned right beside him to his apparent girlfriend for a brief moment before looking back at Fatal Flaw's bright blue eyes fearfully. "Woah, dude, I'm just here for the drinks. I'm not trying to get wrapped up in some- AAAGGHH!"

The college student was cut off by the same blue spark that struck Tambry. Though not as violently affected by it, he stood in place as his eyes suddenly began to glow blue as well.

"Babe! No!" the girl beside him shouted with a shocked gasp.

"Oh, you poor girl," Fatal Flaw said as it processed the newly gained thoughts of the male student. "Did you know that he was cheating on you with your sister?"

"Wait, what?" the girl asked, momentarily confused.

"Here, see for yourself," Fatal Flaw said she was hit by a blue spark as well. "Who's next?"

Lee looked around at the gang, letting out an anxious chuckle. "Hey guys, you know, we should probably, uh, GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE!"

At that moment, every teen in the room began making a rush for the hallway out, dodging past the four teens possessed by Fatal Flaw. On his way out, however, Nate found his arm grabbed from behind, holding him back. Looking behind him, he found that it was possessed Tambry who was holding onto him.

"Tambers?!" he realized. "C'mon, don't do this! I know you're in there somewhere! We're friends! Remember?!"

"Ah, Nate," Fatal Flaw's voice came from Tambry's mouth, causing Nate's heart to drop. "I'm sure Tambry will be eager to know just how good a friend you really think she is."

"NO!" Nate pleaded as he made an attempt to pull away from Fatal Flaw's grasp. But it was too late, as a blue spark suddenly flowed right through him, sealing his claim by the game. "AAAGGGHHH!"

Lee turned back at the sound of his friend's scream, spotting Nate in Tambry's grasp. "NATE! NO!"

Hearing his cry for Nate, Wendy and the others stopped running and turned around to spot Lee running back for his friend.

"Lee, wait! Don't!" Wendy yelled, reaching a hand out helplessly.

As Lee ran back into the room, he was stopped as he found his own wrist caught by Robbie's possessed hand. He looked up into the eyes of Fatal Flaw as he felt his skin grow cold.

"You want to join your friends, Lee?" Fatal Flaw asked as he held onto Lee's wrist tightly. "I'm sure they would love to have you aboard as well."

Wendy, Thompson, Dipper, and Derrick watched in pure horror as the room flashed blue from Lee's subsequent takeover.

"LEEEEEEEE!" Thompson screamed out with devastated agony as yet another one of their friends fell to the game.

After a brief moment, the teens possessed by Fatal Flaw, including Robbie, Tambry, Nate, and now Lee, turned back around to look at the rest of the group ominously with their glowing blue eyes.

"Who's next?" Fatal Flaw's voice asked from each of the possessed teens, including the other two college students, as they all began to slowly walk towards them in synchronized movements.

Terrified by the menacing sight of four of their friends completely possessed and turning on them, Wendy pushed Dipper, Derrick, and Thompson back, gesturing down the hallway. "Guys, run!"

At the other end of the hallway, the large crowd of college students came stampeding out, screaming for their lives. Stood to the side of the commotion, Mabel and Ryland watched in confusion as the crowd rushed for the front door. All the other college students not witness to Fatal Flaw's actions in the other room looked around anxiously, unsure of what was happening.

"Uh oh...everybody's screaming and running away," Mabel said as she looked up at the running crowd with a growing sense of dread.

"I'm going to take a shot in the dark and say...that's not good," Ryland presumed.

"MABEL!" Dipper shouted as he suddenly emerged from the hallway at the entire rushing crowd, running right up to her in a panic. "WE HAVE A SITUATION!"

Mabel sighed. "Alright, what is this time? Zombies? Unicorns? Zombie unicorns? Zombie kittens with the laser eyes?" She pondered the thought for a moment. "Actually, please be the last one! That would be dangerously adorable!"

"More like a sentient board game that's trying to possess people into its truth-obsessed hivemind!" Dipper told her.

"Aw man, I was hoping for something adorable..." Mabel said with a disappointed frown.

Wendy ran up behind the two, gesturing the fleeing partygoers toward the front door where they ran out. "Everyone needs to move! Party's over! Everybody needs to get out of here!"

"But what about Tambry, Lee, Nate, and Robbie?" Thompson asked as he caught up behind her, alongside Derrick. "They're all still back there!"

"The others sure, but is anyone really concerned about Robbie? I was thinking we were all kinda against him back there," Derrick said unremorsefully. He expected agreement, however, looking around, he only saw unamused looks from his peers. "Alright, fine, let's care about him too, I guess…"

"I'm still confused. What's going on? What are we dealing with?" Ryland asked.

"Yeah, and what happened to Robbie, Tambry, and the others?" Mabel asked as well.

"Look, there's no time for this right now!" Dipper told them.

"Dipper's right!" Wendy nodded. "Look, Thompson, we'll just have to come back for them! Right now, we gotta bail, then get a plan or get some help or do whatever we gotta do so we can fight back and save them! Come on!"

The group of teenagers quickly joined up at the back of the line for the crowd fleeing out the door. Thompson stood in front of the others and just as he reached the door, a blue glow formed around the door. Instantly, the door slammed shut before anyone from the group had a chance to leave.

"What the-?" Ryland questioned with worried eyes.

Though frantic, Thompson grabbed hold of the door handle and tried to open it. While the handle was moving, the door was not. With every ounce of his strength, Thompson pulled on the door, hoping it would budge but to no avail.

"C'mon!" he shouted desperately as his panic sweats started kicking in.

"Thompson?!" Wendy asked worriedly.

"I'm trying! It won't open!" Thompson replied as he continued to struggle with the door.

Everybody huddled up by the door, waiting and hoping desperately that Thompson would eventually get it open. The desperation and anxiety shared amongst everyone only increased as they began to hear screams from other college students that Fatal Flaw preyed upon one by one back down the hallway.

"NO! PLEASE! AAAAGGGHHH!"

"DON'T HURT ME! AAAHHH!"

"Hey buddy, can you do me a favor and help me up? I've been kinda stuck here all day and- AAAAGGGHHH!"

Dipper directed his attention back to the front. "Thompson, what's up with that door, man?!"

At that moment, Thompson had stopped trying to pull the door back open and instead attempted to break it down but ramming as hard into it as he possibly could. "IT JUST WON'T OPEN!"

"Get back!" Wendy ordered as she pushed him aside. She then reached back behind her coat and pulled out her axe. With a hard swing, she hacked at the door, hoping to leave some kind of mark on it. But it seemed as though her effort left absolutely no result. "Nothing's working! That didn't even leave a dent!"

"The window!" Derrick pointed out right beside the front door. Working fast to escape, he immediately made an attempt to break it by throwing his entire body at it, expecting to go through. Instead, he ended up splatting his entire body flat against the window, immediately falling back down to the floor. He laid sprawled out on the floor in pain, making no attempt to get back up. "Welp, that should've worked, but it didn't..."

Everyone's focus shifted away from Derrick as Fatal Flaw stomped its foot down in Robbie's body right outside the hall from which it and all its other teenage possessions emerged from. "You can only delay what's inevitable for so long! Embrace who you are and give in to a future free of lies!"

Mabel grabbed hold of her brother's arm fearfully. "Dipper, what do we do?!"

Dipper quickly looked at their surroundings for any potential solution. Quickly, his eyes laid upon the staircase right to their left. Pointing right at them, he commanded, "Everybody upstairs! Now! Go, go, go!"

Catching his point, everybody immediately turned toward the staircase and ran toward it. Derrick, still in pain on the floor, attempted to get up from the ground and follow the others. However, he was quickly pinned back down by one of the possessed college students, making him unable to get back up.

"Hey, get off of me!" Derrick demanded as he struggled to free himself from the student's hold.

"So aggressive. So broken. Insecure…" Fatal Flaw listed off as it looked into Derrick's eyes with a smirk. "Your mind will be a good addition."

"Oh, you wanna see insecure and broken?" Derrick threatened. "Come here and I'll- AAAAGHHH!"

Dipper stopped himself on stairs, turning around just in time to catch the sight of Derrick being hit by one of Fatal Flaw's converting shocks. His eyes bulged in horror. "DERRICK!"

Mabel paused right behind Dipper on the stairs, turning around to catch Derrick being possessed. Noticing Fatal Flaw's other possessions making their way toward the stairs, she quickly urged Dipper to keep going by putting a slightly forceful hand on his back. "C'mon, Dipper! We gotta move!"

He didn't want to leave his friend, but he knew she was right. Going back wouldn't end any better for him than it did for Lee. Derrick was just another friend they would have to save now. As such, he continued running up the stairs to catch up to the others, with Mabel right behind him.

As they reached the top, they grouped up with the others as they turned the corner running straight down the gradually darkening hallway leading up to Robbie's bedroom doorway.

"There! In Robbie's room! Quick!" Wendy directed as they ran toward it.

"You guys go! I'll keep watch right here!" Ryland declared as he huddled at the start of the hall close to the staircase, keeping a lookout for Fatal Flaw's impending group.

As they reached the door, Wendy quickly turned the handle. However, it became immediately apparent that they had the opposite problem to the house front door. Instead of a stuck door, now they had a locked door.

"Oh, c'mon! Robbie locked his room!" she realized as she frantically tried to turn the doorknob.

"Dammit, Robbie!" Dipper shouted exasperatedly.

Thompson held onto both sides of his head in full panic mode. "WE'RE SO SCREWED!"

"Not yet," Wendy claimed as she pulled a bobby pin from her front pocket, bending it a certain way before inserting it into the lock. "Give me a moment to pick this thing!"

Ryland watched the stairs nervously as he saw just how close the teens were to the top. He backed away from the staircase and turned back around toward the others at the end of the hall. "Uh, guys? We don't know have that much time left!"

"Just cover me!" Wendy pleaded as she kept picking. "I'm going as fast as I can!"

At that very moment, Ryland felt his wrist get pulled behind him. Turning around, he saw that he had been grabbed by a possessed college girl. "Oh God! They GOT ME!"

"GODDAMMIT, RYLAND, I DIDN'T MEAN LITERALLY COVER ME!" Wendy screamed back frustratedly from the hallway.

"Hey! Get your hands off him!" Mabel commanded as she ran up to the possessed girl and tackled her to the ground, freeing Ryland from her grasp. "Find your own man! This one's already my possession!"

"Sounds to me like you have another type of possessiveness," Fatal Flaw spoke through the girl pinned by Mabel. "One far more detrimental than my type of possession…"

Mabel raised an eyebrow. "What are you talking about? I'm not possessive!"

"Denial...the worst type of self-lie," Fatal Flaw claimed with a smirk. "I will enjoy fixing your errors for you."

Suddenly, Mabel was tackled down by a possessed Lee, which freed the possessed girl. Her body tightly pressed down, she had very little means of pushing him off of her.

"AH!" she screamed helplessly. "Ryland! Help!"

"AHHHHHH!" Ryland cried out painfully as he was hit by the blue spark, having already been pinned down by several other possessed teens before Mabel was.

"NO!" she cried out before turning her head back down the hallway. "Dipper! Help me!"

While he had reservations about joining the action himself, Dipper was quick to answer his sister's cry for help as he ran down the hall to assist. "Hey! Get off my sister!" he shouted angrily at Fatal Flaw.

"DIPPER, WAIT!" Thompson called out desperately.

Dipper ignored Thompson's call and got to Mabel anyway, forcing Lee off of her with a swift but effective kick in the back. "I got you, Mabel! Get up, let's go-"

As he was about to help his sister up, he quickly caught her glowing blue eyes, to which he realized he was too late. Possessed by Fatal Flaw, she smiled sinisterly at him as he stood surrounded by the other possessed teens.

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me," Dipper said to himself nonchalantly as he essentially gave in to his fate. "AHHHHHH!"

With a brief flash of blue light down the hall accompanying Dipper's scream, Thompson dropped to his knees remorsefully. "DIPPER! NOOOOOOO!"

Fatal Flaw promptly began walking down the hallway toward Wendy and Thompson with all of the teens in its hivemind, now including Dipper, Mabel, Ryland, and Derrick.

"And then there were two…" Fatal Flaw spoke through every single possessed teen at once.

Thompson slowly backed away from the entire hivemind as it approached. Sweating profusely out of fear for his life, he turned one last time behind him toward Robbie's door. "WENDY?!"

"C'mon…" Wendy pleaded to herself through her own nervous sweats as she continued trying to unlock the door. After a few more seconds though, she finally got the doorknob to turn. "I GOT IT! C'MON, GET INSIDE!"

Without further delay, she quickly grabbed Thompson by the shoulders and shoved him inside the room forcefully before running inside herself and slamming the door shut in the many faces possessed by Fatal Flaw.

---

After about an hour of being gone, Melody eventually returned to the Mystery Shack. Entering through the back door, she was scratched up on her arms, legs, and face. Her top was dirtied and had some rips on the corners as well. As she closed the door behind her, she leaned against it exhaustedly while holding a box at her side.

"I'm home, Soos!" she called out. "I got my aunt's package! And possibly rabies…"

Her announcement met with absolute silence. Looking ahead of her in the living room, she couldn't see Soos nor any of the Stan brothers around.

"Soos?"

Taking a step forward, she quickly looked down on the floor and found Abuelita passed out on the ground, snoring away.

"Ah, so it's one of those kinda nights, huh?" she asked as she looked down at her. "Must be nice."

She took a moment to bring Abuelita to one of the open chairs in the living room so she could rest more comfortably. Afterward, she walked into the gift shop, searching around for Soos or anyone else in the house.

"Soos, you in here?" she called out as she looked around the shop. "Mr. Pines? Anybody?"

As she stood still in silence for a moment in the middle of the gift shop, her attention was drawn to a creaking sound coming from the vending machine, which hung open barely enough to reveal the hidden entrance to the basement. She proceeded to walk up to the machine and push it open all the way, fully uncovering the door.

"Oh, snap! This is that secret dungeon-like place we have that Soos was telling me about," she realized as she looked at the doorway. "Well, if it's open, he's probably down here. So, I should probably wait until he comes back up…"

She took a few steps away from the machine before stopping completely in her tracks. Turning back toward the door, she took those same few steps back hesitantly.

"Orrrr...I could go down and check it out for myself," she pondered. "I mean, I live here too, so it's fair for me to go into our own basement, right?"

For another brief moment, she stood staring silently at the doorway as she debated the idea in her head.

"It's fair."

---

Ding!

The elevator doors opened as Melody hit the bottom level of the basement into Ford's laboratory. As she stepped out into the lab cautiously, she took in the sight of all of Ford's machinery and the overall design in awe.

"Woah...this is so cool!" Melody exclaimed excitedly as she walked through the lab. "Why didn't Soos ever tell me Mr. Pines and his brother had such an awesome bedroom? We should totally have something like this upstairs."

She took quick glance to the side and noticed a single glowing red button on its own platform next to a bunch of machines.

"I wonder what this does," she said as she walked up to it. With only the slightest hesitation, she pressed it, which almost immediately prompted an alarm to blare.

"Self-destruct sequence initiated," claimed a recording of Ford's voice over a loudspeaker.

Melody's heart dropped immediately as she stood frozen in place, realizing what she had just done. "Oh no…"

"Haha! Just kidding!" Ford's voice chuckled over the loudspeaker. "Who would install a self-destruct button down here?"

"Phew," Melody said with instant relief.

"But seriously, stop pressing buttons you don't know the functions of," Ford's voice concluded in a much more stern tone.

"Fair enough, omniscient voice from above," Melody complied. "Alright, Melody, focus. You're looking for Soos. Now, if I were Soos in a super cool, yet moderately terrifying basement lab, where would I be?"

After a brief moment, her eyes turned to the side where she saw the bright, glowing lights of the ongoing refinery piercing through the window into the main lab.

"Probably by the bright, glowing light as usual," Melody guessed. "Although who could blame him? It is mesmerizing."

The door into the refinery opened automatically as she approached it. She looked around the large room as she took a few steps inside.

"Soos?" she called out for again. "Honey, are you in here?"

Right by the refinery, Ford, who was still locked down to his chair, looked up as he recognized Melody's voice. "Wait a second...Ms. Notez?!"

"Oh, hey Ford!" Melody greeted as she spotted him. "Figured I might run into you down here."

"Oh, thank god," Ford said, relieved by her presence. "Ms. Notez, we don't have much time! Can you please help me get out of this?"

"Wait, are you strapped down to that chair?" Melody questioned, raising an eyebrow. "Soos said this place was dungeon-like, but I didn't think that's what he meant."

"Look, it's a long story," Ford brushed off before quickly looking toward the corner of the room. "Here, to make getting out of this as easy as possible, could you grab that silver-plated weapon over there that looks like a rifle?"

Melody looked over at what he was gesturing toward and walked over to it. On a workbench, there was a weapon of some sort that met Ford's exact description, which Melody promptly picked up. "This thing?"

"Yes," he nodded. "Now I need you to carefully aim it anywhere at the back of my chair and just shoot."

"Okay," Melody said as she promptly aimed the gun right from where she was standing, approximately fifty feet away from him.

Ford's eyes widened in a sudden panic. "WOAH, WOAH! YOU DON'T NEED TO DO IT FROM THAT F-"

PEW!

The weapon shot out a yellow laser which, luckily enough, managed to hit the back of Ford's chair that was visible right over his shoulder. As it came into contact with the chair, the entire chair promptly collapsed into several individual parts, as if every single screw and bolt just completely went undone. As such, Ford's seat detached and fell to the ground, freeing him as a result.

He sat frozen for a moment as he processed what had just happened. "Alright, I suppose that works too."

"Not to worry, Mr. Pines," Melody assured him as she held the weapon over her shoulder. "My grandpa used to take me sharpshooting as a kid. I know my way around a rifle."

Ford was surprised by this fact as he stood up from the ground and dusted himself off. "Huh, wow. You used to go hunting?

"Nope, but I used to scare off the police that roamed near his cabin in the woods," Melody corrected, to which there was a noticeable change in Ford's facial expression. "I have kind of a sketchy family. Some psychotic too."

"I see…" Ford uncomfortably replied. "Anyway, thank you for your assistance, but I must be on my way to sort this whole mess out now."

"Wait, what's happening?" Melody asked just as she set the weapon back down. "And where's Soos?"

"Well, in a few moments, he's going to help potentially bring about the end of the world," he replied as he made his way back toward the laboratory.

"Wait, what?!" Melody asked as she followed him, now growing concerned.

"You're aware of the situation regarding my brother sharing a mind with Bill Cipher, right?" Ford assumed. "Well, Bill took control of him today and during my attempt to subdue him, under the impression that Bill was actually my brother, Soos took his side, despite all my attempts to convince him otherwise. Together, they trapped me down here. Now, they're somewhere on the surface, where I assume Bill is going to trick Soos into shaking his statue's hand to free himself from Stan and dooming us all."

"Oh, man…" Melody said as she processed the whole situation. "Well, we need to go up and stop them before it's too late!"

"We?" Ford questioned as he walked up to the elevator, preparing to leave. "Oh no, Melody, I can't put you at such risk. I'm capable of handling this myself and I don't want you risking your own life a month before your marriage. Trust me, I know how Bill works."

"And I know how Soos works!" Melody insisted. "The thing about him is he has a lot of respect and trust for Stan. Maybe to a dangerous extent based on how it seems now. But it's how he is and he's known him for several years. If you go alone, you won't be able to convince him any better than you did before. But at least I know him, and he knows me. And besides, I think whether I die or not telling my fiance he's doing something stupid will be a good indication of how our future is going to look."

Ford was reluctant still, but he knew she had a point. He had no emotional ties to Soos in the same way Stan did. While he did not want to put Melody in the crossfire of such a dangerous situation, he knew that she would be much more effective at convincing Soos to see the truth.

"Very well then, but we must hurry," Ford told her before pressing the button to open the elevator and stepping on with her. "With the amount of time that's passed since they got away, I'm sure they're already too close to where they need to be. Come on!"

---

Click.

Wendy quickly locked Robbie's door again as soon as she and Thompson got inside. They quickly backed away from the door, being cautious of whether or not they may try to break inside.

Thompson cowered on the floor beside Robbie's bed. "Are we safe? Can they get to us here?"

"I have no idea!" Wendy replied nervously. "I'm just as stressed out over all of this as you!"

"Oh man… Oh man, oh man, oh man!" Thompson said as he began rocking back and forth with his hands wrapped around his legs.

"Okay, maybe a little less than you, but still," Wendy corrected.

"This isn't good! They got everybody we know! Dipper, Mabel, Robbie, Tambry, Lee, Nate, those two other guys!" Thompson reminded her. "We're the only ones left! WE'RE DONE FOR!"

"Calm down, Thompson! Alright?" she told him as she approached him. "I know things look bad right now, but we gotta keep out cool here."

"None of this would've ever happened if Robbie didn't make us play that stupid board game!" he angrily brought up. "This is all his fault!"

"Look, not that I disagree, but all that matters right now is we get our heads together and try to figure out a plan," she told him, trying to get him to keep a cool head.

"Well, we can't get out of here! The front door won't open, the windows won't break! That game somehow has this entire house on lock!"

Wendy thought this over. "So we can't escape...alright. Then that means we have to fight."

"And how are we supposed to fight a demonic board game?"

"Well, it is a board game, right?" she asked as she pulled her axe back out. "Maybe all we gotta do is go back down to the back room and destroy the game board."

"Go back d- you can't go back out there!" Thompson told her as he shot right back up. "You'll be turned into another one of that game's mind minions or whatever they are!"

"Well, we can't stay here either! Do you have any better ideas?" she asked.

"GAAAAH! OF COURSE I DON'T!" he immediately admitted as he began pacing around the room frustratedly. "What help am I? We're up against a monster that's set on demanding the truth and embracing one's insecurities! Meanwhile, I'm probably the most insecure person on the planet! Why would I wanna embrace that?"

Wendy watched as he then walked up to Robbie's bed and sat down on the edge, placing his face in his hands sadly.

"I'm just so...worthless…"

Wendy frowned as she walked up and sat right beside him, putting a comforting hand on his back. "Thompson, c'mon, man. I can't have you thinking like that. Right now, I need the best from you."

"Well, my best still isn't enough," he claimed with a sigh. "I should've just thrown myself at those things instead of the others. If Dipper, Mabel, or literally any of the others were still here, they'd be much more of a help to you than I am. You're too good for me."

Wendy raised an eyebrow at his wording. "What are you talking about?"

"Come on, you're literally everything that I'm not," he told her. "You're brave, confident, strong, smart...meanwhile, I'm a nervous, scared, weak, dumb mess that can only dream of being as great as you are."

While Wendy was flattered by his compliments, she continued to frown at his self-hating tone. "Thompson, I…"

"I mean, I tried so hard to change; to be better!" he continued to vent. "Yet I continue to be my worst obstacle. Heck, I've known you for years, yet around you, I still feel so awkward and scared that I can't even look you in the eye!"

Thompson's last words awoken a sudden realization in Wendy that was not necessarily related to Thompson himself. "Look in the eye...wait a second! Thompson, have you noticed that every single time Fatal Flaw possessed someone, it was because they were making direct eye contact with its glowing blue eyes?"

"Oh, so what? Even the god damn board game has better eye contact than I do?!" Thompson frustratedly assumed.

"No, it means that we won't be possessed by the game if we just avoid eye contact with any of the people that it's taken over!" Wendy realized. With a smile, she then gave him a celebratory punch in the arm. "Way to figure that out, man!"

"Me?" he questioned with a confused look. "I didn't even come up with that though. That was all you."

"Well, I wouldn't have come up with it if you hadn't reminded me just how Fatal Flaw was possessing everybody," she explained.

Thompson still had trouble buying into it. "That's a bit of a stretch, don't you think?"

Wendy let out a sigh as she looked at him. "Thompson, I know you've always had your insecurities and problems with your self-image. I get that, and given how long you've had to deal with them, I know it's not easy to just push them all away. But if you just learn to give yourself credit, even for the littlest things, you could go a long way with yourself. You think you're some good-for-nothing guy, but you're more than that, man. I've been around you long enough to see that myself. And if I can see it, then I know you're capable of seeing it too."

Thompson thought over her words for a minute. "I guess, but...everything I've done is still nothing compared to what you and so many others have done."

"Dude, don't put me or anybody else on some untouchable pedestal, because believe me, I'm not as invulnerable as you may think I am and neither is anybody else," she continued. "But in that same way, you're not as weak and useless as you think you are. As cheesy as it sounds, you just gotta believe in yourself, man. Things can go wrong at any moment, sure, but that doesn't mean they can't go right. And if things do go right, well...then just call that a victory. A hard-earned win. And don't take anything away from that. You get what I mean?"

Thompson looked to the side for a brief moment before turning back to her and successfully making eye contact with her. He smiled. "Yeah...yeah, I do. Thanks, Wendy."

"Sure thing, man," she smiled back. "Now, c'mon. We're gonna go out there with our eyes shut tight and fight our way down to the board game." With her axe wielded, she huddled on one side of the bedroom door. "You ready?"

Thompson gulped his fears down as he huddled on the other side of the door readily. "I guess."

As she placed her hand on the doorknob, Thompson looked up at Wendy and began to feel as though he was letting an opportunity slip away from him. He looked to the side and already started feeling a sense of regret sneaking up on him. He just had a moment with Wendy, and he was about to let that moment pass without finally working up the courage to tell her how he feels.

No. He wasn't gonna let it pass. This was something he needed to do now.

"Wait!" he suddenly shouted, prompting Wendy to pause as she looked up at him. "Wendy, before we go out there and risk our lives, there's something I've been meaning to tell you for a while…"

"WENDY, HELP US!" Mabel's voice suddenly shouted from outside the room.

"WE NEED YOU!" Dipper's voice also shouted from outside the room.

"Mabel?! Dipper?!" Wendy questioned in concern as well as confusion considering she knew Fatal Flaw had already captured them. "Hold that thought just a while longer, Thompson. Our friends need our help!"

And so, it seems he was going to let it pass, after all.

At that moment, Wendy kicked the door straight open with her axe held readily and her eyes only partially open. As she cautiously scanned the hallway from the door frame, it appeared as though there was no one else there with them or waiting for them.

"Doesn't look like anybody's up here," Wendy said to Thompson quietly. "They must all be downstairs."

Thompson stood behind her with his eyes shut tight. "Should I keep my eyes closed still?"

"I think you can open them for now," she replied. "Just keep your head down. Use your peripheral vision."

Thompson opened his eyes wearily as he followed slowly behind Wendy in the hallway. "Oh man...my peripheral vision's been messed up since I took that high-velocity Nyarf gun shot to the eye in seventh grade."

"Pffft...yeah, I remember that," Wendy recalled as she started to chuckle.

"I had to spend the night in the hospital," he reminded her.

This reminder immediately prompted her to clear her throat and stop chuckling. "Yeah, SO not funny."

The two eventually reached the other end of the hall by the stairs, to which they began slowly making their way down the steps to get an idea of how things were looking downstairs. Wendy eventually stopped on a step, holding her arm out as a prompt for Thompson to do the same. As she looked around at the bottom, she could see most of the possessed teens just standing still or walking about. Overall, they seemed unaware of their presence at that moment.

"Looks like they're all down there," Wendy whispered.

"What about Dipper and Mabel? Do you see them?" Thompson whispered back.

Wendy looked around at the bottom, keeping an eye out for them. She shook her head. "Not yet, but I see the others."

"Do you think they're okay?" he asked.

"Why don't you find out?"

Hearing Fatal Flaw's voice behind her, Wendy quickly turned around with her axe only to get kicked in the chest by Dipper. Thompson was also kicked in the back by Mabel, sending both of them falling down the stairs. As they hit the bottom, Wendy's axe dropped and slid across the floor. Their presence now known, they were soon surrounded by all the other possessed teens at the bottom.

"So gullible…" Fatal Flaw said as it walked down the stairs as Dipper and Mabel.

"Ugh…" Wendy groaned in pain as she picked herself back up on her hands and knees.

As Thompson got up, he quickly looked up and around at his surroundings before immediately closing his eyes shut again as his anxiety picked all the way back up again. "UH, WENDY?! WE'RE SURROUNDED!"

Wendy kept her eyes closed as she felt around the ground for her axe. "Thompson, whatever you do, just keep your head down and your eyes closed!"

In response, Thompson was very quick to defensively cover his head with his arms, lowering his head down all the way. "Oh man, oh man, oh man!"

"You think you can hold off forever, but you can't," Fatal Flaw spoke out to the two. "You will give in. You will join the rest of your friends here. Then we will cleanse the rest of this planet of lies forever."

"That's what you think!" Wendy shot back. "No way I'll give in to what you've done to the rest of my friends!"

"You seem so set against the truth when even the friends of yours I hold in my grasp hold feelings that they've forcefully kept away from you," Fatal Flaw went on.

"I don't care what they think of me," she told him as she kept searching for her axe with her hands. "In the end, they're my best friends. They care about me, and I care enough about them to stop you."

"Maybe you're correct," it considered. "But perhaps there's more beneath the surface than you realize. For example…"

Suddenly, Tambry's body started violently twitching in the same way Robbie's had earlier. And in that same way, her facial expression became emotive as she suddenly looked both saddened and frustrated.

"Of course Robbie's still not over Wendy! Why am I not surprised?" she began to speak in her usual voice.

Wendy's eyes bulged open at the sound of Tambry's voice, soon turning around and looking up at her friend. "Tambry?"

"I've known her since we were kids! Everybody loves her!" Tambry went on as she crossed her arms jealously. "She's every guy's dream girl! Whereas I'm just some self-obsessed emo girl who wears too much eyeliner and does nothing but stare at her phone all day! Well, sorry for not being nearly as confident, laidback, and beautiful as the great Wendy Corduroy, you bitter, selfish asshole!" At that moment, her anger quickly turned into sadness as she began sobbing. "What am I doing wrong? Am I really that bad?"

Wendy's heart began to ache for her friend knowing the way she feels. "Tambry, no! You're not- wait…" She froze for a moment before immediately shutting her eyes and looking down again. "What am I doing? That wasn't real! You were making her say that!"

"Actually, you're right. I AM making her say it," Fatal Flaw confirmed. "But those are her thoughts. Her emotions. Her true feelings. I can access every mind I've possessed and let them vent out their true feelings. Every insecure thought that they've kept to themselves or in the back of their mind...there are no more secrets to keep. Not from me. Not from each other!"

Soon, everyone's bodies began to twitch in violent and abnormal manners at the same time. Thompson continued to force his head down and keep his eyes closed, not budging. Wendy tried her hardest to keep her head down as well but found it increasingly difficult.

Lee was first to go expressive, leaning forward gloomily with his arms crossed. "Mom and dad are right about me. All I ever do is get myself into trouble. I just chase the thrill of getting away with things, ignore all signs of danger, then get myself hurt. Why do I always do this to myself? Is there something wrong with me?"

Nate was next, standing somewhat awkwardly. "I probably shouldn't be thinking this, but if Robbie and Tambry break up for good this time, maybe this means I have finally a shot with Tambry this time!" He looked to the side, wondering. "Would that make me look like a bad friend? I mean, why should I get called out? She started dating Robbie AFTER Wendy broke up with him! And even Robbie knew I liked her!"

"When Tambry and I first started going out, I thought she was the love of my life," Robbie began somewhat unhappily, hands tucked into his hoodie pockets. "But for some reason, that feeling just sorta faded after a few hours. I mean, I still liked her and stayed with her because things were alright between us for a long while, but I started thinking of Wendy again. Now, all we do is argue, and I just can't stand it anymore!"

"I'm the way I am because of my dad!" Derrick shouted angrily. "He's the reason mom left! He's the reason I can't see her! It's his fault! It's always his fault!"

"I'm not gonna get that far BMXing, am I?" Ryland said sadly. "It's just a time-wasting hobby that I'm not good enough at to make it anywhere. Why do I even bother?! My little brother could be president one day and what will I be? His janitor? I need to grow up."

"What if all the people I love don't actually love me back?" Mabel wondered worriedly. "Are they all gonna leave me? I don't want to be alone! I like being around people! If everybody leaves me...what am I gonna do?"

"You couldn't think of a plan for all of this. You're the smart guy! You're supposed to have a plan!" Dipper ranted to himself. "But you didn't have a plan and now look what happened! This is your fault! You let this happen! People have high expectations for you, man! And you let them down! You ALWAYS let them down!"

"Sometimes, I just hate her!" Tambry continued to rant. "I just HATE her! Damn you, Wendy! Why did you do this to me?!"

Wendy stared up at every single one of her friends as they went on their individual tangents. Her eye twitched as she looked on in sheer shock and utter horror. Whether they related to her or not, each rant contributed to her growing distress and made it harder to not believe in Fatal Flaw's abilities. Everything she had just heard, she knew she was not supposed to hear.

"Don't listen to them, Wendy! Keep your head down, like you said!" Thompson reminded her as he continued to keep his own head down.

However, there was a worrying silence that followed Thompson's words. No reply to him or Fatal Flaw, nor did Fatal Flaw say anything. The longer the silence grew, the more worried Thompson became.

He proceeded to open one of his eyes slightly as he looked to the side. "W-Wendy?"

Standing above him, another person pushed the other possessed teens aside and stepped forward in front of Thompson. Staring right back down at him, his eyes bulged and his heart skipped a beat as he looked back up at a Wendy with blue, glowing eyes. She then began to grin at him, which made his fearfulness take a turn for the absolute worst.

"WENDY?!"

---

Deep in the dark woods, Soos followed closely behind Stan, who seemed to be leading him through a specific path. Soos looked around curiously as Stan maintained his undivided attention on the path ahead.

"So how much farther do we have to keep walking, Mr. Pines?" Soos asked. "Feels like we've been searching these woods for hours."

"That's because we have been searching these woods for hours!" Stan snapped angrily. "Because you keep on getting distracted by the night owls!"

"Oh, hey! This one has those freaky yellow eyes," Soos said as he stopped to point out an owl he spotted on a tree branch above. "Wow, you're...you're really terrifying."

Losing his patience, Stan clutched his fists as he walked up to Soos. "SOOS! IF YOU GET DISTRACTED BY ONE MORE OWL, I'M GONNA USE MY OLD MAN THUMBS TO GAUGE OUT YOUR-"

He quickly stopped himself as he realized he was close to breaking his cover. Looking at Soos, he could see the uneasiness on his face that he had caused him. With the quick clearing of his throat, he backed away from Soos and controlled his anger.

"I mean...just stop getting so distracted, Soos," he told him calmly before continuing to walk along the path.

Soos hung his head low with feelings of guilt and intimidation as he followed closely behind again. "Yes, sir. I'm sorry, Mr. Pines."

"Yeah, whatever," Stan said with the roll of his eyes. "Anyway, I think we're getting close. So just be ready."

"You know, for as secretive as you usually are, Mr. Pines, you've been especially vague about what we're doing out here in the woods late at night," Soos remarked.

"I already told you what we're doing," Stan told him as he looked forward annoyedly. "We're going to destroy Bill. What else is there to know?"

"Yeah, but what does going through the woods at this point in the night have to do with anything?" Soos asked. "If you don't mind me asking, that is..."

"If you must know, we're looking for the Bill stone petrification," Stan explained as he continued to glance around their surroundings. "It's somewhere around here."

"That thing?" Soos realized. "Isn't it near Wendy's house? I think we just passed it a few seconds ago."

"Who?"

"Hey, there it is!" Soos declared as he pointed out in the direction of an open field. Right in the middle of it was the statue, illuminated by nothing other than the moonlight piercing through the leaves and tree branches above.

Stan's eyes widened gleefully at the sight of the statue. "Yes, that's it!" As the two walked toward the statue, he turned to Soos. "Now that we're here, we gotta do what needs to be done. Soos, you have to shake the statue's hand."

"And what're you going to do?" he asked.

"I'm gonna sit back and watch," Stan replied as he took a few steps back, giving Soos and the statue some space. "Ya know. To make sure you're doing it right. Which I'm sure you will, but we gotta be safe."

Soos raised an eyebrow. "Hang on though...on Summerween, I thought Bill was trying to get someone to shake the statue's hand. To free him or something."

"Yeah, yeah, he did want that," Stan brushed off quickly. "But you see, the plan has changed, and things are a bit different now."

"THINGS AREN'T DIFFERENT, SOOS!"

Looking to the side, both Soos and Stan spotted an illuminated golf cart skid into the scene, stopping right at the edge of the open field they all stood in. In the driver's seat was Ford, and right beside him was Melody, who held a lantern out.

"WHAT?!" Stan shouted at the sight of Ford.

"Soos, stop! Don't do it!" she told him as she stepped off of the golf cart.

"Melody?" Soos questioned worriedly. "What are you doing here with Bill? Are you helping him?!"

"For the last time, Soos, I'm not Bill!" Ford claimed as he walked up alongside Melody. "You're the one who's helping Bill!"

"He's right, Soos!" she nodded. "Ford's Ford, but Stan isn't Stan!"

"Don't listen to them, Soos!" Stan said as he walked up to Soos, putting both his hands on his shoulders. "Look at me. I used to be your boss since you were a child. I've done so much for you, and you look up to me! I'm just the same as I've always been. Meanwhile, your girlfriend of just a few years just crazily freed our greatest threat and is about to try and stop us from saving the world."

Soos glanced back and forth between everybody in hesitation before narrowing his eyes at the Melody and Ford. "Yeah...Melody, what are you doing?"

"Soos, he's lying! He's trying to get in your head!" Melody attempted to convince him.

"How do I know you're not trying to get in my head?" Soos asked defensively.

"Think about it, Soos! We're trying to stop you from shaking the statue's hand!" Ford reminded him before pointing a finger at Stan. "Meanwhile, he's trying to push you to shake it! Don't you remember when Bill held me hostage?"

Soos did remember that night on Summerween. Glancing over at Stan, he began to grow unsure again. "But...Stan said…"

"That's not Stan, Soos!" Melody repeated.

"That's Bill, son!"

"Don't you 'son' him!" Stan shouted back at Ford as he took a commanding step forward. "Soos, remember what I told you. You're like a son to me. Not that manipulative hag! Don't let that triangle try to tell you otherwise."

"SOOS, DON'T LISTEN TO ANOTHER ONE OF THAT MANIPULATING BASTARD'S LIES!" Ford yelled as he began slowly approaching the two.

"Hey, HEY! STAY BACK! DON'T TAKE ANOTHER STEP CLOSER!" Bill ordered as he stood in front of Soos defensively. "SOOS, SHAKE THE HAND!"

"NO, SOOS, DON'T!"

"NOW, SOOS!"

"ENOUGH!" Soos shouted above everybody else. "I...I can't take any more of this! This is making me, like, really lightheaded, dude! I don't know who's who or what's what or anything! I don't know what to do!

Exhausted and out of breath, Soos began breathing heavily as he tried to relieve himself of his stress. Stan then walked up to him and gave him a comforting pat on the back.

"I completely understand, Soos. This is all a lot for you to take in, so allow me to make things easier..." he said calmly before suddenly pulling out the knockout ray gun from earlier, aiming it directly at Ford. "...by NARROWING DOWN THE OPTIONS!"

"As if I didn't come PREPARED!" Ford declared as he pulled out another knockout ray gun of his own.

At that moment, the two began to fire repeatedly at one another. As they both missed several shots, Soos and Melody found themselves caught within the crossfire and threw themselves to the ground, crawling out of the way of the duel. Taking cover behind the same tree trunk, they sat down and laid their backs against it as they gathered their thoughts.

"Oh, man...what am I supposed to do?" Soos asked as he held onto his head in distress. "How am I supposed to know what's real?"

"Soos, look at me," Melody told her as she placed her hands on his head and turned him toward her. "I know this is all very hard for you to figure out, but I want you to realize that I'm real."

"Y-You?" Soos stuttered as he looked her in the eye.

"You know me, Soos. But more importantly, I know you," she assured him. "Your favorite video game is Super Lario Wagon. Your favorite cereal is Not-So-Lucky Arms, and you only eat it for the marshmallows. Your favorite anime is the one with the really long name that you keep forgetting."

"That's because I always keep getting distracted by the-"

"-super emotionally intense, yet over-the-top fight scenes?" Melody finished for him.

"Woah...you do know me…" Soos said with absolute certainty.

"Well, you're marrying me in a month, so one would hope, ya know?" she nodded with a light chuckle.

"So, wait- if you're really Melody and you're being honest about Ford, then does that mean Bill really has still been inside Stan?" Soos connected in his head. "But...that can't be! I mean, Stan talked about how much time we've spent together! How often he's been there for me! How I'm like a son to him!"

Melody sighed. "Soos, I know you look up to Stan and hold him at high regard, but...be honest with yourself. Was there ever a time before today when Stan said you were like a son to him?"

"Of course! He says it all the time!" He paused. "...in my dreams…"

Melody looked up at him sympathetically as she saw his facial expression shift from one of confidence to one of dread and guilt. Seeing him come to the terms with something that he had dreamed of for so long not actually being real left her feeling hurt for him.

Soos placed his face in his hands in embarrassment. "Oh...oh, man...what have I done?"

Back on the other side of the tree, Stan and Ford continued to have their duel. Stood behind a tree for cover, Ford waited for a good moment before making his next move.

"Come on, Cipher! This has to end at some point!" Ford shouted.

WHACK!

Stan had snuck up from behind and struck Ford violently on the side of the head with the knockout gun, sending him to the ground but not knocking him unconscious. As he lay on the ground in pain, he made an attempt to crawl away as he held the side of his head dizzily.

"I couldn't agree more!" Stan replied as he placed a foot on Ford's back to prevent him from escaping before holding up the knockout gun right to the back of his head. "Let's just make sure this stays done for a while."

"Stop!" Soos ordered as he and Melody came out from behind their tree, running up to the two. "C'mon, Stan! Enough is enough."

"Alright, alright," Stan complied with Soos' word, getting got off of Ford and aiming the gun away. "I was just going to make sure he stayed down, but you're right. Maybe it's a bit overkill." He walked away from Ford and directed his attention back toward the statue. "But we can't waste too much time. He's gonna get back up any second now. You gotta shake the statue's hand now before it's too late!"

Focusing his sight on Stan, Soos narrowed his eyes. "I'm not sure about that, dude."

"What do you mean you're not-" Stan stopped himself and sighed frustratedly. Settling his impatience down, he began to slowly reapproach Soos. "Look, I get it. You're still confused by everything that just happened. But trust me, Soos. It's really me. Not Bill. And whatever your girlfriend might've told you probably isn't right either. Every part of Bill is in Ford, and the only way to stop this is for you to shake that statue's hand."

Soos gave him a look of uncertainty as his compassion for Stan started to come back to him. However, as he turned back to the side, he saw Melody aiding Ford to the side, who had a fresh bruise on the side of his head where Bill had hit him. Turning back ahead, Stan then placed an assuring hand on his shoulder.

"C'mon, Soos. This is the final stretch. We're right there," Stan told him confidently. "Let's finish this. Just you and me. What do you say, son?"

Soos' eyes bulged for a moment as he said that word again. If he didn't know better, he would've given in right away as he did before.

But this time, he did know better.

Soos narrowed his eyes. "I say...bippity bop, dude!"

Stan raised an eyebrow. "Huh? What does that mean? Is that even English?"

At that moment, Soos pulled his phone out of his pocket and pressed a button. Quickly holding it up to Stan's ear, an 80s synthpop song started to play loudly out the speakers.

"AH!" Stan shouted as he immediately covered his ears and backed away, dropping his knockout gun in the process. "MY EARS! SOOS, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!"

"Nice try, Bill! But while Stan might be like a dad to me, I know for a fact that I'm not like a son to him!" Soos shouted at him as he continuing walking up to him with his phone held out, playing the music. However, he stood still as he realized what he had just said. "Wow, that actually kind of hurts to say aloud. Huh. At least this time, I'm doing the right thing."

"AAAAAAAGGGHHH!" Bill shouted in agony as his fake voice suddenly reverted back to his real voice. At the same time, his eyes turned yellow and his rounds pupils turned back into slits.

"Yep! There he goes!" Soos nodded as he caught notice of Bill's reveal.

"I'm kind of confused. What are you even doing to him?" Melody asked as walked up behind him. "You're just playing old synthesized music."

"Exactly!" Soos nodded. "Synthesized music is one of Bill's weaknesses! It's how we beat him last time! I guess using it again makes it kind of a cheap tactic, but hey, at least we know it works!"

"THAT'S WHAT YOU THINK!" Bill shouted as he slowly uncovered his ears and began walking toward the two. "BUT I HAVE A HIGHLY ADAPTIVE NEURAL STRUCTURE! WHAT WORKED ONCE BEFORE WON'T WORK QUITE AS WELL A SECOND TIME!"

As Bill started walking toward them with little flinch from the music, Soos's felt pale to the face as he started to back up fearfully. "Uh oh."

"C'mon Soos...raise the volume!" Melody suggested as she backed up along with him. "Or put on a synth-ier song!"

"The volume is already at max!" Soos told her in a growing panic. "And this is the synth-iest song I know! It's Mabel's choice too, so I don't even think we can get synth-ier than this!"

"I'M DONE WASTING TIME!" Bill shouted as he stomped his foot down menacingly just as he cornered the couple by a tree. "I WAITED LONG ENOUGH FOR THAT HAND TO BE SHAKEN BY THE RIGHT PERSON AND I'M NOT GONNA WAIT ANOTHER DAY FOR IT TO-"

PEW!

"...H-HAPPEN…"

For a brief moment, Bill stood drowsily only to collapse to the ground just a few seconds later. Standing behind him was Ford, who had his knockout ray gun aimed forward.

"Luckily for you, Bill, you have less than a day left anyway…"

Soos smiled gratefully. "Mr. Stanford! You're okay!"

"Yes, yes, I'm quite sure I'm slightly concussed, but I should be alright," he nodded as he rubbed the side of his head.

"And what about Bill?" Soos asked as he looked down at Stan.

"Well, I've successfully managed to knock him out within Stan's body," Ford explained. "As it looks though, Bill's effect on Stan is only growing stronger and he's adapting to his former weaknesses, which means suppressing him is going to be harder without just keeping Stan completely unconscious."

"And Stan?"

"It's just a waiting process for him," he said as he kneeled down and inspected his brother. "The refinery in the basement should be finished with the Quantum Destablizer's power source by tomorrow afternoon. So it's just a matter of keeping an eye on him until it comes time for finishing Bill. Regardless, we had a very close call tonight."

"Yeah...I'm sorry, Ford," Soos said as he rubbed the back of his neck guiltily. "I let my allegiance to Stan get the better of me when I should've been using my head and listened to you instead."

"Honestly, it's okay, Soos," Ford nodded with a forgiving smile. "I'll admit, I found your fascination with my brother to be quite misplaced at first, but now I understand that he's been quite a significant figure in your upbringing. And with all that history compared to the minimal interactions we've shared, it's understandable why you'd put more trust in him than me. I owe it to your significant other, Ms. Notez, for breaking everything down to me on the way here. As well as for being able to steer you in the direction that I couldn't."

"Oh, Melody, how could I forget?" Soos asked as he turned to her and held her by the hands. "I'm so sorry that I doubted you back there for a moment."

"It's fine, sweetie. Really," Melody assured him. "As Ford said, I totally understood why you felt the way you did. I'm just happy you were able to figure out what to do in the end. Not having to deal with the end of the world is always a preference."

"Heh, you bet," Soos nodded. "At least all this Bill nonsense will finally be done and over with tomorrow. "

"Indeed," Ford said as he bent down and picked up the other knockout gun from the ground. "Anyhow, it is getting late. We should grab Stan and take him back to the Shack. Get him away from this awful location."

"I got him, dude," Soos said as he picked up Stan and held him over his shoulder while walking over to the golf cart. "But man, what a day to be me. Maybe I should've gone to Wendy's party. At least Dipper, Mabel, and the others didn't have to put up with all of this. I'm sure those dudes are all having a great time right now."

---

Towering around Thompson in a circle was every single teen that Fatal Flaw managed to possess, all staring down at him. Alongside numerous other college kids were Robbie, Tambry, Nate, Lee, Derrick, Ryland, Mabel, Dipper, and now Wendy. At that very moment, Thompson felt as though he had no other option except to cower on the ground and keep his eyes closed.

"Oh no...OH NO!" Thompson shouted to himself as he shook fearfully.

"All your friends have embraced themselves, Thompson," Fatal Flaw spoke through one of the random male college students. "Now it is your turn. You have nowhere to run. Make this easy for yourself."

"I'm not listening to you!" he refused. "I won't! You won't get me!"

"What do you have against embracing the truth? Is a world without lies really too much for you to handle?" the game questioned him. "Or do you have your own secrets to hide? Perhaps from your own friends…"

"You don't know anything about me!" Thompson claimed as he lowered his head even further, basically touching the floor at that point.

"Maybe not before," it nodded through the student. "But now that I have all of your friends, including everything they know, I think I know plenty about you...Thaliard…"

"My first name's hardly a secret to anybody!" Thompson replied. "They're just used to calling me by my last name because that's the name I've always gone by!"

"Then how about a secret not everybody knows?" it asked before smirking down at him. "Like a crush...on one of your dearest friends since fifth grade…"

Thompson's eyes bulged open, though he was staring at the floor. "No…"

"Yes...and it seems as though you've told all your friends except the very one you hold those feelings toward," Fatal Flaw asked as it analyzed the thoughts of all of Thompson's friends. "Why do you keep these feelings a secret from her? Why don't you just tell her?"

Thompson continued to shake nervously. "I-I...I'm just…"

"What? AFRAID?" Fatal Flaw cut off. "Afraid of what? Afraid of THIS?"

Every one of Thompson's friends suddenly began to twitch again around Thompson. Looking to the side, Thompson could see and hear these movements and immediately shut his eyes again.

"Hey, I like Thompson…" Nate began in his normal voice. "...and maybe he had a shot with Wendy for a moment when he was working on himself. But lately, he's just been nothing but a downward spiral. I don't think he has much of a shot anymore."

Lee went next. "I wanted to see Thompson succeed, but man, he's just a hopeless romantic at this point. He lost his chance with Wendy long ago.

"Thompson and Wendy?" Robbie questioned with an amused smile. "Ha! That's a good one! Honestly, I'd place my bets on that twerp Dipper before I ever put my bets on Thompson getting with her. Course, I think she would be best with me, but…"

"The only thing that could be more embarrassing than Wendy and Robbie would be Wendy and Thompson," Tambry said in her usual, unemotional tone. "Girl definitely has higher standards than that."

"I never could've expected Thompson liking Wendy," Dipper said as he rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. "I mean, I guess it's not impossible for him to be with her, but...man, I don't know if he has it in him."

"I want to see Thompson get with Wendy. I really do! I think they'd be so adorable together!" Mabel said excitedly before looking to the side with uncertainty. "But as much as I encourage him...I just don't know if he'll be able to do it…"

"God, how does one guy sweat so much?" Derrick questioned with a disgusted voice. "Even more than Dipper for that matter…"

As every single one of Thompson's friends openly expressed their thoughts on his chances with Wendy, Thompson began to feel more and more helpless. By the end of it, any remains of his self-confidence felt shattered as he began to tear up. Feeling defeated and as worthless as ever, he opened his eyes again and stared at the ground, but was no longer thinking about protecting himself from Fatal Flaw.

"Quite the words of encouragement from your friends…" the game remarked adding salt to his wounds.

"They're all right," Thompson accepted. "I don't know what I was thinking...I never had a chance with her..."

"You're right. You never did," Fatal Flaw nodded. "But maybe that isn't your fault…"

At that moment, Wendy herself twitched violently for a moment before settling down and standing before Thompson with a face of pure anxiety.

"What's with all these guys liking me?" Wendy asked herself, pulling on her hair frustratedly. "I'm always getting hit on by almost every guy I meet including my own friends! Like, it's flattering, sure, but I just want to be friends! Besides that, I don't even really want to go out with any guys right now! I just...don't! Like...is that my problem?" She let out a sigh as she facepalmed. "I don't even know anymore…"

Without looking at Wendy, Thompson identified her voice and thought over her words carefully and what they meant. "So...she's not looking for a relationship...and so, that's not on me..."

"Maybe not. But that doesn't change who you already are," Fatal Flaw continued to urge. "Become honest with Wendy and the rest of your friends. Embrace yourself for who you truly are...a nervous, scared, weak, dumb mess that can only dream of being as great as his friends. That's all you are and all you ever will be. So...embrace your insecurities, Thaliard."

At that moment, Thompson spotted Wendy's axe on the ground right beside him on the ground. His eyes narrowed angrily as he picked it up and stood up from the floor, walking back toward the hallway. "You got it."

Fatal Flaw looked up at him in confusion through the many teenagers he possessed. "What are you doing?"

"Embracing who I am," Thompson replied as he continued walking, keeping his eyes focused down.

Fatal Flaw began to panic as it used all the teen bodies to follow behind Thompson. "I don't think you understand what you're doing."

Knowing that Fatal Flaw was following behind him into the back living room, Thompson turned around and held the axe out toward the possessed teens while keeping his eyes shut. "Oh, I understand everything perfectly. I've been the laughing stock of this friend group since the day it started. I did it all myself to keep everybody together! I always knew what I was doing. I always knew who I was!

"Stop moving!" Fatal Flaw pleaded as Thompson got closer to the game board on the table of the room.

"I'm Thompson!" he declared confidently. "Punch-puking, sponge-licking, popcorn butter-drinking, honest Thompson. And I embrace who I am!"

"STOP!"

"So, embrace THIS!" he shouted just as he turned to the game board with his eyes open and raised the axe in his hands.

"NOOOO!"

With every ounce of his strength, Thompson hacked the axe down on the middle of the game board, which resulted in a near-immediate explosion that sent him flying back against a wall. As he fell to the floor, Wendy's dropped next to him as well, but broken into pieces as the blade split in two and the handle completely broke off.

At the same time, every single possessed teenager froze in place and began twitching all at once while their glowing eyes flickered. Eventually, the glow in their eyes completely dissipated and went back to normal just as everybody collapsed to the ground unconscious.

After a brief moment, Thompson slowly but weakly picked himself up from the floor, getting on his hands and knees. While the room itself was now a mess, he took notice of the fact that the game board was most particularly in pieces on top of the table. As he glanced behind himself back down the hall, he also noticed that everyone he could see had collapsed and stopped following after him.

" I...I did it…" Thompson realized in disbelief. A smile slowly started to form on his face. "I really did it! I saved the day!"

"AaAaaaaGaaghaAAAAAGGaahAGHHH!"

Thompson turned back toward the game board and noticed a disintegrating bright blue smoke emerge from the remains of the board. Unsure what was happening, he backed up against the wall and watched.

"YOU FOOL!" Fatal Flaw screamed at him, presumably from the disintegrating smoke. "YOU'VE DOOMED YOURSELF! YOU'VE DOOMED YOUR FRIENDS! YOU'VE DOOMED YOUR ENTIRE PLANET! A WORLD WITH LIES IS JUST A WORLD OF MANIPULATION AND SELFISH DESIRE!"

"That isn't true for everybody! There are honest people in this world too!" Thompson replied. "I know that because I am one."

"YOU MAY THINK YOU'RE HONEST, BUT I KNOW FOR A FACT THAT SOME OF YOUR FRIENDS AREN'T!" Fatal Flaw claimed as it continued to disintegrate. "YOUR FRIENDS AND THOSE CLOSEST TO THEM...THEY WILL LIE TO OTHERS, LIE TO THEMSELVES, KEEP SECRETS, AND DESTROY THEIR ENTIRE FUTURES! INCLUDING YOURS! ALL BECAUSE OF THEIR OWN SELFISHNESS! THIS IS THE FATE YOU HAVE BROUGHT UPON YOURSELF! AND YOU WILL NOT BE PREPARED FOR THE CONSEQUENCES! YOU AND YOUR FRIENDS ARE DOOMED! DOOMED! DOOOooomed…"

Thompson watched as the rest of the smoke cleared up and vanished. He felt a sense of victory through Fatal Flaw's death, but he wasn't completely settled. Instead of getting up and leaving, he continued to sit still, taking a moment to process Fatal Flaw's final words and what they meant.

Back in the hallway and in the main living room, all the other teens and college students started to come to. Everybody slowly began to rise up from the ground with pained groans and confusion. Most particularly, though, a sense of ongoing dread or lingering sadness was randomly felt by all who had been momentarily possessed by Fatal Flaw. Memories prior to each possession remained intact but fuzzy as people initially woke.

All the other college students who had been possessed were quick to leave. The amount of inexperience most of them had in regard to Gravity Falls weirdness was too great, and as such, the entire experience was too overwhelming for all of them. Moments after waking, they all quickly made an exit through the front door, which was no longer stuck with Fatal Flaw's death.

On the other hand, Lee, Nate, Wendy, and Tambry woke relatively close to one another, to which they then began to exchange confused looks. Derrick woke up beside the staircase, whereas Ryland found himself around the kitchen. And the center of the main room was where Dipper and Mabel laid out on the ground.

Dipper slowly pulled himself up, holding onto his head. "Ugh…what happened?" he asked weakly before turning to his side and seeing Mabel next to him. "Mabel...you're okay!"

Mabel continued to lie asleep on the ground, however. "No, mom, I don't wanna go to school today...I just wanna die…"

"Mabel!" Dipper called out louder.

"Huh? What?" Mabel said as she jolted awake immediately pulling herself up. However, her body did not respond to such sudden movements. "Oh gosh, my head...why do I feel so empty and like my life has no meaning?"

"Yeah, I feel a marginally greater sense of gloom than I usually do, and it feels god awful," Dipper said as he continued to rub his head.

"Okay, I'm like...really disoriented right now," Nate said as he stood up along with Lee, Tambry, and Wendy. "Can anybody here recap what just happened?"

Lee scratched his head as he attempted to recall the entire situation. "I think, like...we were all possessed by some sort of demonic board game...one that Robbie had us play."

That reminder immediately cleared things up in Wendy's head. "That's right! Robbie…where is he?"

"Yeah, where is that sack of emo trash?" Derrick asked as he stood up, cracking his knuckles.

"You're sure one to talk," Mabel cracked with a smirk as she analyzed his usual appearance.

"I'm not emo!" Derrick defended again. "I just really need to get a haircut…"

In a corner of the room, Robbie finally woke up in the same agony as the others. "Oh God...everything hurts...physically and emotionally…"

"You!" Wendy shouted as she quickly ran up to him and grabbed him by the collar threateningly. "You got a lot of explaining to do, Valentino!"

"Woah, Wendy?!" Robbie questioned in shock as he looked around at everybody's angered expressions toward him. "What the hell is going on?!"

"Guys!" Thompson's voice suddenly came out as he entered the room, happy to see everyone alive. "You're all okay!"

"Wait, Thompson?" Wendy said as she redirected her attention toward him, letting go of Robbie. "Hang on, you were the last one with me that hadn't been taken by Fatal Flaw yet. If it got me, then that means…"

"Hold on a second...Thompson defeated the game?" Lee asked in disbelief. "By himself?"

"I mean, yeah, I guess I did," Thompson nodded somewhat nervously.

Wendy was shocked to hear this, but she was just as much impressed. "Woah…"

"Wait, how defeated are we talking here? Like an 'I'll be back' kinda deal or like...dead?" Dipper asked curiously.

"Dead, I'm pretty sure," Thompson answered. "It went on a bit of a long ramble at the end, but I'm pretty sure it was all just meaningless bad guy mumbo jumbo."

"And what did it do to us?" Nate wondered. "I can't remember much of anything after that thing snatched my wrist as Tambry."

"It was trying to possess everybody to stop lies, I think?" Thompson guessed. "And so while it possessed all of you, you were all able to read each other's minds and innermost thoughts through its one mind...or something like that."

"Wait, so that's why I suddenly know about Nate's fear of frogs?" Mabel realized as Thompson explained. "Even though I have no memory of him ever talking about it?"

Nate's eyes lit up self-consciously. "Wait, WHAT?!"

"Ha, I was literally just thinking about that again too!" Lee said with an amused smile as he looked over at Nate.

"Wait, so all these random thoughts I currently have of all of you are real?!" Robbie asked as he processed everything he was thinking at that moment. "That means...Nate, you were really thinking about stealing Tambry from me?!"

Tambry raised an eyebrow as she marched up to Robbie angrily. "From you? Are you kidding me?! You really think I want ANYTHING to do with you now that I know you've wanted to get back with Wendy all this time?!"

"What?!" Robbie asked, dumbfounded.

"Oh man…" Thompson said as he dreaded what was to come.

"Oh boy!" Derrick said excitedly as he watched with great anticipation and craving for popcorn.

"Babe, c'mon! Of course I'm over Wendy! I haven't thought of her like that for ages!" Robbie tried to reassure her as he grabbed her hand. "Trust me, you're the only girl I ever think about!"

Tambry wasn't having it though and quickly slapped his hand away. "Oh, so NOW you wanna play the sweet boyfriend. You know what? I'm over this! We are so done!"

Robbie's eyes looked on in shock as she walked away. Not willing to give up yet, he tried to take a few steps forward after her. "Tambry, wait!"

"Don't talk to me, and don't follow me!" she ordered as she held her hand up at him. "We're done. It's over, Robbie. Enough is enough…"

She proceeded to walk out the front door, leaving him and everybody else. Robbie stood with his mouth agape, processing what had just happened. He couldn't believe what had just happened.

He turned to Lee and Nate for reassurance. "C'mon, guys! Don't you think she's being a little overdramatic? It's not like I actually cheated or anything!"

The two were very unsure how to respond after everything they had just seen and after learning everything they just did from reading each other's minds. For a moment, they looked at one another, reading each other's faces. Knowing they held similar amounts of uncertainty about everything, they simply and silently decided to follow Tambry and walk out as well.

"W-Wha…?" Robbie said, absolutely floored by how everyone was against him. Looking to the side, he noticed how Wendy about to walk out as well. "Wendy! Look, I know this looks bad, but I promise I don't actually have feelings for you! When things with Tambry got bad, maybe I sometimes thought about what we used to have, but that's it! Since I got back with Tambry, I never made a single advance on you, and you know that!"

Wendy stared at him for a few seconds, trying to think everything out. "Look, man, this night has all been too much for me," she calmly admitted. "The way I see it, this is more between you and Tambry than it is between any of us, and so, I think you should keep it that way." She made her way toward the door, holding onto the doorframe before taking a step out. "Thanks for the party and all, but I'm gonna need some time to clear my head. So, I think maybe it's best that we don't talk to each other for a bit."

As she walked outside, Thompson slowly walked up to the door as well, awkwardly looking around at Robbie and everyone else. "Yeah, uh, I'm just gonna, uh, go too…"

Robbie felt completely alone as his friends left him to the company of none other than Dipper, Mabel, Derrick, and Ryland. With their lesser significance to him, he hardly even acknowledged their presence in the room. Instead, he sat down on the couch by himself, stuffing his face into his hands.

"What have I done?" he asked himself regretfully.

Spectating from the other side of the room, Dipper, Mabel, Derrick, and Ryland just looked over at him with little to no sympathy given everything they knew and had gone through up to that point.

"I don't get it. Are we supposed to feel bad for him right now?" Ryland asked the other three.

"I sure as hell don't," Derrick said with a careless shrug. "I'm just gonna walk out with everybody else before he has a chance to change my mind."

"Yeeeah, I think I'll join you there," Dipper nodded as he followed behind him toward the door. "I don't have the emotional capability to invest myself in all of this right now."

"Same here," Ryland agreed as he followed as well. Looking over his shoulder, he realized Mabel still stood back looking at Robbie. "Mabel, are you coming?"

Mabel glanced at Ryland for a second before looking back at Robbie, who still had his face planted in his hands. Given everything Robbie had put them all through by unleashing a sentient game board on them, as well as everything involving Tambry, she knew she had no reason to have sympathy for him. But considering Robbie's relationship with Tambry was started because of her past meddling, seeing what it all ended up leading to four years later left her feeling remorse for almost everything.

The love potion was meant to only last three hours. After that, if it wasn't true love, that would mean the end of the match. But despite that, Robbie and Tambry kept seeing each other long afterward. With this in mind, Mabel realized that they were actually forcing a love that wasn't actually there all along.

Undoubtedly, Robbie made his mistakes that night, but despite those mistakes, she couldn't help but feel as though part of it all was her fault. For that reason, she actually did feel bad for him. But, she knew that after everything that had just happened, she didn't have the proper platform to fix things up at that moment. So she settled on the fact that these were feelings of guilt she would have to live with until another day.

"Yeah...I'm coming…" she replied guiltily as she followed Ryland outside.

"Ugh...I can't remember a time where I've felt this emotionally drained…" Dipper said as the gloomy feelings he felt when he woke up still lingered over him as he walked outside. "I feel like I've just gone through several different angsty teenage meltdowns in the span of a few seconds."

"Yeah, all the overwhelming insecurities…" Ryland nodded as he clutched his chest. "It hurts…"

"You people clearly don't suffer through enough parental issues," Derrick replied with an eye-roll.

The four slowly walked out onto the driveway where the others stood around Tambry, comforting her as she sobbed. The mere sight of the mascara dripping down her face added greatly to Mabel's guilt.

"I just can't believe how much time I've wasted," she said as she wiped her tears. "All these years and this is what they led to. I feel so stupid."

"Hey, don't say that. You're not stupid," Nate said told her as Wendy gave her comforting pat on the back.

Wendy then looked up and saw the others walk up to them. "Take over for a second, guys," she told the other boys as she stepped away from them to deal with the Pines and their friends. "Hey, there you two are."

"How is she?" Mabel asked, glancing over Wendy's shoulder toward Tambry.

"Obviously not great right now, but she'll be back to her usual self again eventually," Wendy told her. "It'll take some time though. She was with him for four years after all."

Dipper sighed. "This whole night has just been one big unfortunate event."

"Yeah, Soos' wedding aside, I think that might just be the last big party or formal event I go to for the rest of the summer. Or the rest of my life for that matter," Wendy admitted as she put her hands in her pockets glumly. "Sorry that I kind of dragged you guys into all of this."

"It's okay. It'll just be another addition to our already bad track record of Gravity Falls parties-gone-wrong," Dipper replied with a chuckle.

"Yeah, and at least we got a taste of the true college experience: crippling depression!" Mabel claimed. "The true dawn of dorm party life awaits us!"

"Yeah...no, actually, I think I'd rather commute…" Ryland admitted as he thought about it.

"Honestly, you're not too far off for some people," Wendy chuckled before wincing in pain. "Ow...it even hurts to laugh."

"You should probably go home and rest," Dipper advised.

"Yeah, that's probably a good idea, isn't it?" Wendy agreed. "But thanks for coming in the end. In a way, I guess it was fun to be traumatized together one last time."

"Hey, if it's more fun with friends," Mabel shrugged.

"You got that right," she nodded with a smile. Turning back around, she then walked back up to Nate, Lee, Tambry, and Thompson to properly part ways. "Anyways, thanks for all of this, guys. And well, I know some of you guys have work early tomorrow, so if I don't see any of you one more time before I leave…"

"We'll see you around, Wendy," Nate told her with a bittersweet smile.

Lee nodded. "Yeah…don't have too much fun without us."

Wendy smiled as she hugged one arm around both of them. Pulling away, she then walked over to Tambry, who was still having a hard time keeping herself together.

Wendy sighed. "Tambry...look, I know you're hurting, but I hope you understand that I never wanted any of this. Anything that Robbie might've thought, I don't-"

"I know," she cut off as she wiped her eyes and turned toward her. "I don't blame you for anything. At the end of the day, it's just so much to lose." She began to choke up again as she spoke to her. "First him, and now you."

As she started to break down again, Wendy opened her arms and hugged her tight, which she returned as she wept. "Aw, sis, you haven't lost me. If you ever need me when I'm away, just call and I'll always be there. You'll be alright. For now, just focus on you. You're beautiful enough to pick up another guy anytime you want. But that's not what you need right now. You hear me?"

Through her tears and sniffles, Tambry smiled at Wendy as they pulled away. "Yeah, I hear you," she said with a cracked voice.

Wendy patted her shoulder comfortingly once last time before moving onto Thompson, who stood awkwardly rubbing his shoulder as she approached him.

"And here we have the big hero of the night," Wendy declared with a smile before punching him in the shoulder. "I knew you had it in you, man."

Thompson chuckled as he nervously rubbed his neck. "Well, I don't know if I'd call myself-"

"Hey…" she stopped him. "What did I tell you earlier about learning to give yourself credit?"

Remembering what she was talking about, he smiled gratefully. "You're right. Thanks, Wendy."

Just as she was about to move on, she suddenly remembered something. "Oh, and wasn't there something you were trying to tell me before?"

"Oh...uh...yeah!" Thompson said, growing flustered as she reminded him. "What I was trying to tell you was that I...I…"

Wendy looked on at him in slight confusion as he stuttered and struggled to say what he was trying to say. From the side, however, Mabel watched giddily as she held onto Dipper's shoulder.

After a brief moment of stuttering, Thompson thought over what he was trying to say and stopped. Calming down and relaxing his inner tensions, he let out a sigh before making direct eye contact with Wendy.

"...that I'm gonna miss you," he finally let out. "I know it's kind of a given at this point and that others have said it countless times, but still, I just felt I needed to say it myself. Because the truth is, things just aren't gonna be the same around here without you, Wendy. Especially after how you've helped me today. I know only a friend as good as you are is willing to see any potential in a guy like me."

Wendy was caught off-guard slightly by his words. Given his amount of stuttering, she was expecting an awkward trainwreck of a response. But instead, he impressed her once again and she was nothing but thankful for his words.

"Aw, Thompson…" she said as she walked up to him and hugged him. "You know, despite how much crap we've given you over the years, I always thought you were the best of all of us." She proceeded to give him a quick, yet appreciative peck on the cheek that caused his face to flush a burning hot red as she pulled away. "Never change, man."

"Heheh...I'll try my best," he nodded as he tried his hardest to keep his composure.

Wendy then proceeded to make her way toward her parked car on the driveway, walking over to the driver's side before glancing back over the hood toward Dipper, Mabel, Derrick, and Ryland. "And you guys...I'll see you tomorrow morning, right?"

"Of course," Mabel nodded.

"Absolutely," Ryland replied.

"We wouldn't miss it," Dipper assured.

"If I'm not sleeping," Derrick shrugged.

"Cool," Wendy smiled as she opened up her car door and turned to her friends, some of them one last time. "Well, later guys!"

"Later, Wendy!" everybody shouted and waved as she got in her car and promptly drove away.

After waving goodbye to Wendy, Mabel walked up to Thompson with a look of confusion. "Thompson, what happened? You didn't tell Wendy you liked her."

Thompson looked at her and thought to himself. "Yeah..well...I don't think it really matters in the end. Wendy's a good friend and has been for many years. Maybe it's best to just respect that friendship the same way she does."

"Is that what you want though?" Mabel asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Maybe I wanted more, sure, but you know, I think the both of us are fine the way things are now," Thompson said with a smile. "Besides, she kissed me on the cheek! That's good enough a win in my book!"

"Hey, it's farther than Dipper ever got trying to get her," Mabel told him as she playfully elbowed her brother in the arm to which he responded with an eye-roll.

"Really?" Thompson questioned in disbelief as he glanced over at Dipper. "HA! IN YOUR FACE, DIPPER! IN YOUR FACE!" He then ran around the driveway in circles as he raised his fists in the air victoriously. "I DID IT! I WON! I FINALLY WON! FOR ONCE IN MY LIFE, I'VE FINALLY SUCCEEDED AT SOMETHING! LOOK OUT, WORLD! THALIARD THOMPSON IS A WINNER!"

Dipper looked on at Thompson running around the driveway for a moment before narrowing his eyes at his sister. "You just had to tell him that, didn't you?"

"Aw, just let him have his win," Mabel brushed off. "He still has to live with the name Thaliard in the end. He's not gonna have chances like this that often."

"WOOOAH!" Thompson shouted as he suddenly slipped and fell into a puddle on the driveway. "Aw, man! This isn't water!"

"Ya see?" Mabel said to Dipper as she gestured toward Thompson.

---

The next morning quickly came by with clear skies and beautiful summer weather. Right outside the Corduroy cabin in the middle of the woods, Wendy stood by her car, where she loaded one of her moving boxes into the trunk.

"Hey, Wendy!" her brother Marcus called out as walked up to her alongside Kevin and Gus. "Since you're leaving today, me, Kevin, and Gus decided to get you a goodbye present."

"We think you'll find it useful where you're going," Kevin said as he held a flat, wrapped box up to her.

"Aw, guys! You shouldn't have," she said gratefully as she accepted the gift and quickly tore into it. Opening the box, her eyes lit up at the sight of a brand new axe inside, holding it out with her hands. "Woah! A new axe? Dude, I lost my old one last night! This is perfect! Thanks so much, you guys."

"Yeah, with everything you and dad taught us, we made it ourselves!" Marcus nodded.

"The blade is made of pure steel, and we even carved your name into the handle!" Gus added.

Looking down at the handle, she spotted her name carved out to the side with a pocket knife. The lettering was clean, and the grip felt right. "Now that is smooth."

"And I shoved the whole thing down my pants!" Kevin revealed. "And now you're holding it!"

Humored by their own immaturity, the three brothers proceeded to break out laughing at her. While Wendy was partly disgusted for a moment, she then proceeded to grin.

"Oh, is that so?" she asked playfully. "Well, maybe it deserves to stay there. In fact, I think I know just the place where you can put it."

The brothers instantly stopped laughing at her threats. Frozen in place, they exchanged glances at one another.

"You're on your own, Kev," Marcus claimed as he quickly pushed Kevin toward Wendy before running off. "Run, Gus!"

"Wait, what?!" Kevin questioned mere seconds before he was instantly tackled to the ground by Wendy. "AH! NO! I SURRENDER! MARCUS, GUS! HELP ME!"

"YOU HAD THIS COMING!" Wendy shouted at him as she pinned her brother's face down into the dirt, showing no mercy.

As she wrestled Kevin and the other brothers watched humorously, Soos pulled up to the cabin in his pickup truck with the Pines family and Melody. As everyone got out of the vehicle and approached the house, Ford took note as he saw the Corduroy siblings messing around with each other on the lawn.

"Well, I must say, those are certainly Dan's kids if I've ever seen them," he remarked.

"Yep!" Mabel nodded. "The Corduroy blood, rage, and smell. Especially smell. At least Wendy knows how to shower."

Dipper looked up at Stan as he followed closely behind Ford. Looking at his neck, he noticed that he wore some sort of collar that was tied to a cable that Ford held in his hand.

"So, uh, Grunkle Stan, I've been meaning to ask- why does Great Uncle Ford have you on a leash?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

Stan looked down at him and Mabel feeling helplessly embarrassed for his appearance. "Well, while you kids were out partying last night, I had a bit of an...episode...back at the Shack."

"You mean the episode of Duck-tective you were watching last night, or you having an episode where Bill took over your mind and tried to get himself freed again?" Soos asked.

Stan let out an annoyed sighed. "The second part, Soos…"

"Woah! Wait, really?" Dipper asked, shocked to learn this.

Mabel gasped. "Are you okay?"

"I'm great!" he assured them. "Ford wanted to have me locked up in the basement until later when he'd get rid of Bill, but I didn't want to miss out on saying goodbye to Wendy, so I guess this is where my life is at."

"It's for his own good," Ford claimed. "Coming as far as we have, I'm not trying to risk a last-minute takeover attempt." Looking his brother in the eye, he gave him a look of uncertainty. "Hell, I don't even know if he's really Stan right now."

Stan then glanced at the side of Ford's head. "Did you put makeup over the mark on the side of your face?"

Ford remained silent for a moment. "No comment…"

Looking to the side, Dipper was hit with a sudden wave of sad anticipation. "Ah, man…"

"What?" Mabel asked.

He pointed over to the front lawn, where instead of wrestling, Wendy now had her arms tenderly wrapped around her brothers in what looked to be one last group hug.

"You guys are the most lovable pains in the ass I've ever had to live with," she told them. "Just don't give dad a heart attack while I'm gone, alright?"

"No promises," Gus replied honestly. "But yeah, we'll try."

"Yeah. We'll miss ya, sis," Kevin nodded as he hugged her tightly.

Dipper sighed as he and his sister watched their moment. "Well, can't say we didn't know this day was coming."

"Doesn't make it any less sad," Mabel shook her head.

"You got that right, dude," Soos said as he walked up behind the twins, already bawling his eyes out. "Wendy was great to have around. She's gonna be missed."

"Soos, c'mon," Wendy called out as she approached them. "It's not like this is my funeral."

"Not yet!" Soos claimed before turning around to hug Melody, crying into her shoulder.

"I get it. I'm going away and I'm not gonna be around as often, but it's not like we won't see each other again this summer," she reminded everybody once again. "If anything, I should be the one telling you guys not to get yourselves killed on whatever weird adventures you have before I get back."

"Well, given the amount of unpredictability that's gone on these past few weeks…" Dipper began.

"...we caaaan't really make any promises," Mabel finished.

"Well, just try then," Wendy chuckled as she looked at the two. "For me."

"Will do," Dipper assured with a nod. "You need any help loading up?"

"I'm good. I think I just have one last box left inside anyway," she replied as she began making her way back toward the cabin. "I'll just go snag that real fast."

As he watched her walk into the cabin again, Dipper began to frown sadly again.

"Aw, cheer up, Dipper," Mabel said as she noticed his face. "The more you keep on making sad puppy faces, the more tempted I feel to make them too."

"What? Oh, I'm not thinking about Wendy," he told her. "Not entirely, that is. I still got some of that whole Fatal Flaw depression looming over me from last night."

"Yeah, same here," Mabel said, understanding just what he meant. "I went to sleep feeling miserable and woke up this morning only feeling slightly less miserable."

"It'll pass eventually, I'm sure," he brushed off. "But I was also thinking - was all that stuff you said back there true? All the stuff about fearing loneliness?"

Mabel sighed as she rubbed her arm with uncertainty. "Maybe a little...I mean, it's not something I think about often or anything. It just kind of...comes to mind every now and then. I mean, do you really feel like you always let people down?"

"I guess sometimes I do…" Dipper said as he scratched his head. "But like you, it's not something I think often. I think the game might've pulled out some of the flaws and insecurities we have that we aren't even totally aware of. Maybe these are things we do think and believe, but not enough to really consider it."

"Yeah. Maybe that game kind of had a point in a way," Mabel claimed. "Maybe we're more flawed than we realize."

"Or maybe we aren't," he considered. "But, we probably are. I guess only time will tell."

"Well, if it helps, you've helped me more than enough times for me to know that you almost never let me down," she told him reassuringly. "And I'm sure the same goes for others too."

Dipper gave her a grateful smile. "Thanks, Mabel. And hey, you don't ever have to worry about being all alone. No matter what happens between us, I'll always be there for you...right by your side. Mystery Twins forever."

"Thanks, Dipper," Mabel gratefully smiled back. "You don't know how much that means to me."

"Of course," he nodded. "Ya see? Look at us. Already working on our flaws one step at a time."

"Dude, can I work on my flaws with you guys too?" Soos said as he suddenly inserted himself into their conversation.

Mabel giggled. "Sure thing, Soos. What's your flaw?"

"Well, you see, sometimes I eat way too much ice cream, and I usually never blink my eyes when playing video games. How do I fix that?" he asked curiously.

"What's there to fix? It sounds to me like you're flawless," Mabel replied.

"I couldn't agree more," Melody said as she placed her hands lovingly around Soos' arm.

"Sweet!" Soos shouted as he pumped his fist in the air. "No, but really, isn't not blinking for long periods of time bad for your eyes or something? Because...I've been hallucinating a lot of Lario characters lately, and I need to know if I need to see a doctor or something."

---

"I must say, Dan, it looks like the lumber business has really done well for you around here," Ford said to Manly Dan, who was hard at work to the side of the cabin sawing a wooden workbench. To the side, Stan stood bored out of his mind as he was forced to listen to their conversation while stuck to Ford's leash. "It's fascinating. I still remember when you helped build my house. You've certainly made something of yourself since then."

"Well, these trees were never gonna cut themselves," Manly Dan told him with his usual stern demeanor. "Although if they could, we'd need to start preparing for Treepocalypse! If they were alive, they'd be ANGRY!"

"Ah, yes...I very much assume so, Boyish," Ford replied with slight unease.

"MANLY!" Dan angrily corrected as he slammed his fist down on the workbench before poking a finger at Ford's chest. "DON'T DISRESPECT ME BY CALLING ME BY THAT CURSED NAME! Boyish was the old Dan. The weak Dan. Now, I'm MANLY Dan! AND I WILL BE ADDRESSED AS SUCH!"

Having known Dan many years before, Ford wasn't new to his demeanor. But that didn't mean he still couldn't find himself caught off-guard by his crazier moments.

"….okay then. Manly Dan," Ford stated, following Dan's word.

"Way to entertain the local wackos, Sixer," Stan remarked with an eye-roll.

"Anyways, I imagine you must be going through a range of emotions today, Dan," Ford continued. "It must be hard as a father for you to watch your growing child leave the house."

"Ah, well, it was inevitable," Dan shrugged. "But I have no reason to be worried anymore. Wendy's a fighter - born and raised. She'll kill it wherever she goes." He then let out a melancholic sigh. "I just wish her mother were here to see her now."

Ford gave Dan a sympathetic look. "Ah, yes...that is unfortunate. But despite that, you still managed to raise Wendy amongst three other young boys. For them all to turn out as great as they are only shows how strong of a father you are."

"YOU'RE DAMN RIGHT I AM!" Dan asserted as he slammed his fist down on his workbench again, this time with passion rather than anger. "I'm the MANLIEST father there is!"

"Well, I'm inclined to agree. I could never imagine being able to raise kids myself, especially at my age," Ford admitted.

"No kidding. You can't even watch after your dog properly," Dan remarked.

Ford raised an eyebrow. "My what?"

"Your dog," he repeated. "The one you had on your leash before it got away just a minute ago."

"Wait...what?!"

Looking down at the cable he held in his hand, he looked down to the other end. On the ground, he located the collar itself, which he realized was split open.

"Oh no…" Ford said to himself as he realized what happened. "STAN! WHERE DID HE GO?!"

---

"Hey, where's Ryland at?" Soos asked as he hung out by the truck beside Dipper, Mabel, and Melody. "He's not gonna miss saying goodbye to Wendy, is he?"

"I texted him not too long ago," Mabel replied as she checked her phone real fast. "He should be on his way."

"KIDS!" Ford shouted in a panic as he ran up to them. "Have you seen Stan?"

"Isn't he supposed to be with you?" Mabel asked, raising an eyebrow.

Dipper's eyes widened. "Wait a second...you didn't LOSE him, did you?"

"Well...uh…" Ford said as he glanced down at the broken collar he held in his hand.

"Oh, man…" Dipper said with a facepalm.

"Grunkle Ford!" Mabel shouted with growing distress.

"Yes, I wholeheartedly acknowledge that he was my responsibility and this was my mistake," Ford admitted to his faults. "But we need to find him this instant before this all becomes a much greater situation!"

Mabel looked over to the side where the Corduroy brothers stood. "Marcus, Kevin, Gus! You guys haven't happened to see a fragile, old man with a wadded-up orange for a nose walking aimlessly around, have you?"

Immediately, each of the brothers' eyes looked over at Ford, who stood right beside her.

"Not him!" Mabel facepalmed as she caught their glance. "The other one!"

"Oh! The one from the dog leash?" Kevin realized.

"I think we saw him walk toward the back of the cabin," Marcus added.

Dipper gasped at a sudden realization. "Wendy!"

---

"You know, Mr. Pines, I won't say you're not one for secrets because, well, you totally are. But even this is kind of unusual for you," Wendy said as she followed behind Stan as they walked through the woods together. "I mean, isn't a man your age usually against walking around so much?"

"Just trust me, kid," Stan assured her. "I ain't ever done ya wrong before, have I?"

"It's not that I don't trust you," she claimed. "It's just that I don't trust you."

"Hilarious," Stan replied sarcastically. "I admit, if there's anything I'll miss about having you around, it's that dry sense of humor you come with. It's one of a kind."

"Thanks. It tends to come naturally when surrounded by people too dumb for their own good," Wendy replied.

"Including me?"

"Still thinking about it."

"Well, stop thinking for a second and just look," Stan said as he stopped walking and spread his arms out, gesturing toward the rest of the forest.

"I don't get it," Wendy said as she looked around aimlessly. "What exactly am I looking at?"

"Just look around. Take in the sight," Stan continued to encourage.

"Yeah, I'm taking it in," Wendy said as she kept looking. "Trees. Trees. More trees. Still not getting it. I look at this forest every day. I was practically born in these woods."

"You've been looking at it every day, but you haven't been admiring it."

"I still don't get what the point of all of this is," she said shaking her head.

"The point is that in a few minutes, you're not gonna get to look around and see these woods anymore," Stan explained to her. "These sights that you've been so used to seeing every day...you ain't gonna see them anymore when you're gone."

"I mean, I guess not," Wendy shrugged.

"So appreciate them," he told her once again. "Look at everything you can and just take it all in one last time. Look around you and take in the present once more before it's time to look into the future. You won't get a moment like this again."

"Look, I think I get what you mean, but I've already said it like a hundred times- I'll be back," she reminded him. "This isn't the last time I'll be in Gravity Falls. I'll get to see all this again."

"Hey, say all you want, but the truth is that this is the last time you'll get this as the norm for a while," he said as he walked up to her. "Things are gonna be different for you soon. So the best thing to do is to treasure life as it is now once more."

Wendy glanced around at the trees and sprawling forest as directed. She still felt as though Stan was letting his oldness shine more than usual based on everything he had been telling her. But nonetheless, she looked at him appreciatively for trying to get her to share a moment of reflection with him.

"You know, Mr. Pines?" she began, "You're a weird guy, but I'd be lying if I said I haven't learned some important stuff from you. Stuff that has really helped open my eyes a bit more to life itself and how to go about living it sometimes. I've already given you enough credit for hiring me and then, of course, being a terrible boss. But I think above all, I should credit you for being just a good friend to me. Especially during times when I don't deserve it."

Stan looked at her with a proud smile. Without speaking a word, he held out his hand to her, offering a friendly handshake. She looked down at his hand and then back up at him, smiling back. She proceeded to then hold out her own hand forward to shake his.

All of a sudden, he grabbed her by the wrist and swiftly pulled her back with him, much to her surprise.

"WOAH, MR. PINES, WHAT ARE YOU-"

Stan took a mere few steps backward while holding onto Wendy's wrist before pressing her open palm hard against the petrified stone hand held out by the Bill Cipher statue in the ground. As her hand made contact with the stone hand, the moss quickly spread over onto her hand and immediately turned it to stone.

Before she realized what was happening, it was already too late.

"OH NO!" she cried out anxiously as she figured out what was going on. She attempted to pull herself away from the statue, but it didn't work. Her hand was turned to stone and fused with the statue.

Stan broke out laughing, his voice suddenly reverting back into that of Bill's as his eyes turned back to Bill's as well. "WOW! I GUESS FOR AN ICE BAG, YOU REALLY AREN'T ALL THAT SLIPPERY, HUH?"

"BILL!" Wendy shouted as she looked at him with helpless rage. "YOU SON OF A- AHHHH!"

At that moment, a surge of visible energy suddenly began to flow between Wendy and the statue itself. As the energy surged through Wendy, she couldn't help by scream in agony as the process ensued.

"HAHAHA! YES! YES! I DID IT! I FINALLY DID IT!" Bill gleefully celebrated just has began to glow within Stan's body, slowly floating upward. "HAHAHAHA!"

Not soon enough, the Pines, the Corduroys, Soos, and Melody came running right into the open field just in time to witness Bill's victory.

"You see? I told you guys the statue was close to the house!" Soos shouted as they all entered the field.

"NO!" Ford hopelessly shouted. "WE'RE TOO LATE!"

"Oh no!" Mabel screamed at the sight, covering her mouth in shock.

"WENDY!" Manly Dan screamed out at the sight of what was happening to his daughter

"She shook the statue's hand?!" Dipper questioned as she stared at her contact with the statue.

"AAAAAHHHHHHHH!" Wendy's pained scream worsened to the point of tears dropping from her eyes.

"What's happening to her?!" Kevin asked worriedly as he stood close to his family.

Manly Dan couldn't bear to stand and do nothing about his daughter and proceeded to charge at her in an attempt to rescue her. "I'M COMING, WENDY!"

"DAN, WAIT!" Ford called out as he reached a hand out for him.

It was too late though, as he already zoomed past him and kept running toward Wendy. As he did so, however, he was very quickly and very suddenly shot backward by a sudden electromagnetic field the formed around Wendy and the statue. As he was shot back, he slid violently against the ground until his back rammed against the trunk of a tree.

"DAD!" his three sons shouted in unison as they quickly rushed over to their father's aid.

"HAHAHA! NICE TRY, BUT YOU'RE TOO LATE! ALL OF YOU!" Bill declared as he continued to ascend within Stan's body. "YOUR LITTLE RED SHOOK MY HAND! IT'S OVER! I'M FREE! I'M FINALLY FREE!"

As Bill celebrated above, his petrification soon started to crack open. Between the cracks were bright glowing beams emitting from within. The ground soon began to shake as a whirring noise also began occurring and growing increasingly louder.

Dipper stared forward in disbelief as he continued to feel helpless at that moment. "GREAT UNCLE FORD, IS THERE NOTHING WE CAN DO?!"

Ford looked down at Dipper with eyes of defeat. "No...nothing. It's too late."

Crack.

Ford shut his eyes with acceptance. "We've lost."

CRACK!

There was a large flash that emerged as the statue blew open. Everybody looked away, covering their eyes as the light simmered down. As everyone turned back to the center of the open field, there stood a brand new figure within the dirt. To get a better look, everybody cautiously walked up to the figure, only to grow sick to their stomachs at the realization of what it was.

"Oh my god…" Dipper said in absolute horror.

"Wendy…" Mabel said as she placed her hands on her face in shock.

In the center of the field, the Bill Cipher petrification was no longer present. However, right in front of its original place stood a brand new stone petrification of Wendy. Completely turned to stone, Wendy's "pose" was her final conscious position- dropped to her knees, as her right hand hung above where Bill's hand was located previously; all while her face displayed nothing but pure agony, catching her amidst her screaming.

Dan quickly shot back up from the ground, pushing past everybody as he ran right up to her, his sons catching up right behind. They all looked at the statue with the greatest unease possible. Leaning down to look into his daughter's stone eyes, Dan dropped to his knees weakly as he just stared at the ground in defeat.

"Wendy. No…" he said tearfully to himself as his three sons comforted hm. "Not Wendy…"

Ford was just as devastated for what happened to Wendy, but he was not quick to forget entirely about their main problem. With Bill's statue gone, he began to look around the area frantically.

"Wait...what happened to…?"

"HAHAHAHAHAHA!"

Everybody's heads turned upward to see Bill floating above in his normal form as a glowing yellow triangle with his one eye, top hat, and bowtie. He looked down upon everybody as he descended slowly cackling as hard as he ever has.

"IT WORKED! I'M BACK! I'M BACK IN MY REAL FORM!" he shouted victoriously before breaking out into another laughing fit.

Everybody below simply stared up at him with mixed feelings of anger and fear. At that moment, there was nothing anybody felt they could do. Nobody had a plan. Nobody had any ideas. Nobody knew what to do next.

Bill raised one of his hands upward, to which his glowing yellow cane suddenly poofed out of thin air. He laughed one more time as he twirled it around in his hand.

"NOW...WHERE WERE WE?"

---

XQ IXPQ F'J COBB COLJ EFP EBXA

KLT TEFZE LKB LC RP FP ABXA

---

DID YA MISS ME? ADMIT IT, YOU MISSED ME!

Anyway, here ya go. The possibly long-awaited third part of an episode that I started about nine months ago now. Jesus, what have I done with my life since then? Oh, that's right: absolutely nothing.

But here we are. I'm still coming back to this god damn story even after all this time I've left it to rot. Even when I tell myself it's over, it never really is, is it?

For real though, to anybody desperately craving a reason for my absence, the main reason is college, which I feel speaks for itself well enough. The other reason I guess I could elaborate is that I really killed a lot of my motivation for this fic with this episode's A-Plot story. I plan the ideas for all of these episodes in advance, but I'll be crystal clear with you guys in saying that this episode's A-Plot with Fatal Flaw unintentionally turned out to be some of my least favorite shit to write in this story.

It was definitely planned out well beforehand, but I just really ended up disliking how I ended up executing everything around yet another god damn party, something I'm really mad that I ended up going through with. The original point of this party was that I wanted to write about seeing how the innocent Pines twins we know and love would respond in a more 18+ environment with college kids doing crazy stuff, but then I lost interest in that idea rather quickly. It may or may not have been apparent in my writing here, and I will take full responsibility if it did (I mean, not that anyone else can, but I'm sure you know what I'm trying to say). My interest in this episode was overall more in line with the B-Plot story surrounding Bill's comeback, which I feel I did a much better job with. The A-Plot did have some stuff I do find rewarding such as Thompson's development and such, but overall, it was a plot that generally killed my drive to keep writing this story and so my lesson here is to actually think out all the ideas I'm considering before cramming them into a story and hoping they stick the landing.

When I finally found the time to work on this story again, I simply opted for just working with what I already had while editing some parts to be less terrible, I guess? I don't know honestly. That said, I wouldn't call the A-Plot a total waste of time or completely skippable because there are some threads and ideas I've hinted at and foreshadowed with a lot of stuff relating to Fatal Flaw's reveals in this part. Threads much more interesting than everything else going on in this episode (imo at least).

Some of you might not have many or any issues with any part of this episode and if that's the case, then awesome! I'm glad you enjoyed it if so. Honestly, this is just me just being critical of my own work because I have some perfectionist tendencies and I like to make my stories as good as I can make them, and this was certainly one I felt could've been a lot better had I not doomed myself from the start. So to the reader returning to this story and wondering if the writing was always as bad as this episode…well, maybe it was!

But yeah, that's all I gotta say in regard to that. Now that I'm free from this damn episode, I'm going to try my hardest to get the next episode out to completion as soon as possible. I still have some college work to worry about since my semester isn't quite over at the time I'm posting this, so it's not like I'll be dedicating myself to getting this every working second I have, but I sure as hell have a lot more free time to get it done, so I can say with ABSOLUTE CERTAINTY that next episode WILL NOT take nine months to be finished.

It'll take eight instead (haha it's funny until it becomes true).

There's some other stuff I do wanna talk about in regards to this story really soon, but I'll save that for later because this note is already ridiculously lengthy. So for now, just tune in next time for the start of the season finale.

Next Episode: Back With A Vengeance

-Absolute Rift