Mabel and Ashwin arrived at the Corduroy house, and again, Paul answered the door. Ashwin stood a bit behind his mother, not quite willing to face what he'd said to Paul before.

"Now are we going home?" Faith asked from behind Paul, a little skeptical.

"Yes," Mabel assured her, "it's time to go home."

"OK! Hey, Ash," she added, waving to her brother.

"Hey, Faith," he responded, smiling back.

"Come on, hun," Mabel said, taking her daughter's hand, "we're gonna' let Ashwin talk to Paul for a minute."

Ashwin threw his mother a worried look, but she just smiled back, feigning innocence.

"So, that thing went OK?" Paul prompted.

"Y-yeah. Yeah," Ashwin assured him, not daring to make eye contact.

"Good. Glad you didn't die."

"Yeah, that's good. E-Elowen can tell you about what happened, I guess."

There was a silence between them, tinged with awkwardness, but Paul finally addressed the elephant in the room.

"So, about what you said,"

Ashwin winced.

"Honestly, I'm flattered," Paul said. "But-"

"But you don't like guys?" Ashwin prompted.

Paul laughed,

"But I'm too old for you!" he corrected him, "Listen, I really appreciate that you up and told me, even if it was in the face of death, but I'm an adult, technically, and I gotta' be the bigger person here. You're cool, and we should totally hang out, but we just can't date. At least not for the next three years or so. But you're a cool kid," he reminded him, placing a hand on his shoulder, "and you seem pretty brave." though the whole thing was melancholy, Paul's smile still reassured him. "You should go see your sister," he added, "seeing as you thought you might never see her again."

"Yeah, right," Ashwin agreed. "Thanks, Paul."

"No problem, Ash. See you around?"

"Yeah, see you around."

Mervin, after the events within the mindscape, went home. He expected that he had ruined any chance of companionship for the rest of the summer, and was resigned to wallowing in guilt and self-pity. But the day after the odd events he was called down to talk to someone at the door.

"It's Mervin, right?" Abel Pines asked.

Mervin simply nodded, bewildered.

"I hear you're really into the unknown."

Mervin nodded again, recovering his senses before Abel could speak again.

"M-mr. Pines," he stammered, "I'm really sorry about what happened. I- I didn't know- I was an idiot, and you- you almost died-!"

"It's OK!" Abel assured him, "It's understandable. You don't have the greatest impulse control at this age. I had some… similar mishaps. Listen, I thought maybe you'd like an upgrade from that photocopied binder you've got," he explained, producing the worn Journal 3. Mervin's eyes went wide with awe. "My great uncle tried to get rid of the thing years ago, but it keeps making it's way back to The Shack. We've been holding onto it, but I bet he'd appreciate it if his journal found a way into the hands of another polydactyl looking for mysteries."

"Th-thank you," Mervin stammered, carefully taking the book.

"Just don't be an idiot," Abel added. "summoning stuff is never a good idea."

"Y-yes sir. I- I sort of figured that out," Mervin admitted.

"Good. Oh, and there's some contact info in there if you ever want to talk about Gravity Falls' weirdness. Us Pines have over sixty years of experience."

"I- I'll take good care of it, sir!"

"I'm sure you will, kid," Dipper smiled. "Good luck."

"And, Mr. Pines?" Mervin added.

"Yeah?"

"Could you tell Cassandra I'm sorry, too?"

"Sure."

In the late morning of August 25th, exactly 30 years from the end of Weirdmageddon, there was a veritable crowd huddled in the largest room of The Mystery Shack. The group was large, made up of both the groups assigned to the wheel, and a few more besides, like Grenda, Candy, and Tambry. At the front of the group Mabel, Abel, Cassandra and Ashwin sat at a table. Abel was setting up a laptop.

A hush fell over the room as the video call rang. Even little Gilda went quiet, sitting in her father's lap. (This was at least in part because she'd been given a cookie.)

When the video connection was made the screen was full of a red knit pattern, and chuckles scattered around the room. It was someone on the other side of the call that spoke up.

"Sixer!" Stan's gravelly voice carried through the speakers, "Get away from the camera!"

"What? Oh-" Ford stepped back, and the two old men were visible, sitting at their desk.

"Hey, guys!" Mabel chirped.

A chorus of variations on 'hello' rang through The Shack.

"That's quite a crowd you've got there!" Ford acknowledged, shifting his glasses.

"I hope they're all paying for the privilege!" Stan barked, grinning.

"I'm afriad not, Mr. Pines," Soos smiled back.

Ford's eyes widened,

"Hello, Cassandra, Ashwin,"

"Hi!" Cassandra waved enthusiastically, still not fully recovered from the adrenaline of her adventure.

"I know we agreed this was a strictly reunion call," Abel explained, "but some interesting circumstances have come up. You wanna' tell 'em?" he offered, turning to Cassandra. She leapt on the chance.

"We fought Bill!"

Stunned expressions took over the Stans.

"You what?" Ford gaped. Stan recovered quicker,

"Did'ja punch him for me?"

"Honestly, it's really crazy complicated," Cassandra admitted. "There was all this stuff with like, time travel, and mindscapes, and tons of weird stuff like that, but we did punch him. Oh, and the zodiac thing worked!"

"What?" Ford repeated, leaning closer, "How? I would've thought Bill would see that coming!"

"Oh, he totally did!" Cassandra agreed. "He tried to get as many of the old symbols out of the picture as he could, but we found more! It was super cool!"

"It sounds like it," Ford agreed.

"So that freaked-out nacho chip is gone?" Stan clarified, "Fantastic! Hope I never see the bastard again."

"Stan, there are children present!" Ford hissed.

"Otherwise the trip's been pretty boring," Ashwin added, but a slip of a smile gave him away. "I mean, other than the mermaid and the gnomes and all."

"Sounds like a Gravity Falls summer!" Stan responded. "Ya' take after your parents."

"They sure do," Abel agreed, tugging Cassandra's hat.

"To a T!" Mabel grinned, wrapping an arm around Ashwin.

"But how have you been doing?" Soos asked, sparking a familiar list of Stan Pines' complaints, the opening rant for several hours of comfortable conversation.

Trees passed lazily by outside the car, heading back towards California. Mabel and company passed by in their minivan and waved enthusiastically. A gesture returned with equal love, if not equal enthusiasm, by Cassandra and her parents.

Her father's notebooks were laid out in the back seat beside Cassandra. The first one sat on her lap, a backlight clutched in one hand, revealing that extra layer of content.

Her phone vibrated, revealing texts from her new friends, wishing her well. Stan Ramirez had already taken a selfie of a handful of them in The Shack. For all the trouble he'd caused, Cassandra was still glad to see that Mervin was among the group. Another text arrived, from Meranda, assuring Cassandra that she'd found her family and was home safe. Meranda said she'd text regularly.

As the 'Now Leaving Gravity Falls' sign drifted by she removed an earbud and turned towards the driver's seat,

"We're coming back, right?" she asked her father.

He smiled,

"We'll be back next summer, I'm sure."

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PDLZERQUT ZYVILOLH XUH LBQQRU MOEX JROL LIE.

WAL VIAWTS GEOLG'Z REHJAA FYG HFWXC UDESW,

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And the beast is complete! This is the longest fic I've ever written, and the first long-form fic I've ever finished! It's a good day.

Thank you all so much for reading, and I would love to hear any feedback you have. Also, I'd love to answer any questions! I have a lot of thoughts on where the Gravity Falls characters are thirty years later that weren't relevant to the story.

No matter what, I'm grateful to all of you for reading, and I hope you'll keep an eye out for any Gravity Falls fics I may write in the future!

Stay weird, guys!