James leaves town after a few days. He doesn't say where he's going, but he promises to keep in touch. Shawn isn't sure what that will entail, but he suspects they will hear from him again, one day.

Clare doesn't reach out to communicate with Shawn again. Her history with the culprit gets her off the hook, and despite her hand in obstruction of justice and the assault of a police officer, she is ruled innocent and allowed to book a one-way ticket to Newport, Rhode Island after the investigation wraps up.

The impersonator, Vincent Nyo, spends a few incoherent days in the psych ward before he clears up enough to communicate with them and try to figure out where he came from. Soon enough they send him off to Pinedale, Wyoming, to reunite with his family. Two weeks later, they all receive letters of thanks, including a photo of him with his wife and four kids, eight years after the last time they were together.

The Master's remains wash up on the beach and are found the afternoon following his death. Barnabas Thornton flies in for his grandson's funeral, which he finances entirely. The remains are cremated. None of them attempt to pursue any further information from him, and though he stops by the station to offer his condolences for everything that's happened, none of them have any idea what to say to him, and they're glad when he's gone.

They find the carnival only when members come forward about the disappearance of its proprietor after a couple of days. Shortly afterward, it is disbanded. Juliet and Lassiter oversee interviews with several members of the cast and crew. The things they say about Shawn lead both of them to step out of the room at various points. The interviewees always wonder why the cops seem so interested in that unhinged fortuneteller who seemed to always be alone.

They search through the apartments of the Master—whose official identity at the carnival turned out to have been bought on the black market—and Benedict Goodwin. Shawn tells them they won't find the files he did, that they were destroyed soon after he escaped, but they should pour every single drop of water they find in the vicinity into the ground. Lassiter sees to it that this is carried out and won't tell anyone why.

Shawn, with the help of Gus and his father, sends flowers anonymously to as many victims of the car crashes as he can, to funeral homes and hospital rooms alike, and he silently attends the memorial service of the three officers whose throats were cut in front of his dad's house. He says nothing of his motives, but still they try to tell him that these deaths were not his fault. He waves their concerns away without engaging them in debate or looking them in the eye.

Their witness statements are peppered with inconsistencies small enough to avoid actually raising any suspicion. They find it's not too difficult to simply refrain from mentioning most of the parts that they couldn't explain, and skirt around the rest. Vick can tell they're leaving something out, and she tries to prod them to clue her in, but when even Lassiter won't bite, she begrudgingly lets it go.

Shawn practices names. His dad is the only one he'll talk with more or less openly about it, but he doesn't stop himself from asking Gus or Jules for a name if he can't come up with it. He never hesitates when calling them by name again, but theirs, and his own, no longer come as naturally. They're not… intuitive, not anymore. But at least nobody's rooting through his mind on an hourly basis to pull them out anymore.

Everyone's injuries heal, eventually. James offered to take care of them himself, but they all opted out, since other people had already seen them and none of them were debilitating. Henry's motor issues remain, after James's best efforts failed to resolve them. Henry makes no mention of this to Shawn.

Shawn tries to get better.

Sort of. Some days he doesn't. Some days he can't find the energy. Some days he can't find the point. Other days, though, he sort of remembers the way he used to be, and manages to make people smile. And even though he knows nothing can be the way it was before, those days, it feels like… it might not be the end. He might be able to find a new way.

So he just lives. When he can manage that extra step up from existing, anyway.

One day he'll return to work. One day he'll tell them all about everything he went through, everything he still goes through. But not yet.

They won't leave him. He knows that. Most days he can't convince himself he deserves them, and most of the time he still feels afraid, but some days are better than others. And they are always there, always ready to help in whatever way they can. He can count on them more than he can count on himself.

He told the Randolfs he needed to become more himself. And still he tries. But in all that time he spent away, trying to get by, to sort through the changes he was going through and the fear that had moved in and seemed there to stay, it was never about saving himself. It was about saving them.

So maybe old him is gone.

But new him is the one that saved all their lives. That was strong enough.

And maybe he can learn to be happy with that.