The night had changed to morning but the shift had hardly been noticeable. A thick veil of dark clouds that had materialised out of nowhere blocked the sun so efficiently it might as well have still been the night. The only way they knew what time it was, was by looking at the clocks. People flooded the Mystery Shack and the Pines were so busy taking care of the wounded and calming people down that they hadn't had the chance to discuss how they should go about getting rid of Tad. The US military unit would sometimes swing by the Shack to check on the folks and discuss things with Ford before leaving. Whenever Dipper was near a window, he could hear the distant sounds of gun shots and explosions.

Dipper had come across a multitude of familiar faces as he helped people. He found Wendy with her typical group of friends. They were all fine and Wendy had guessed the drama Dipper had never gotten around to telling her about had something to do with what was currently happening. Though he still couldn't delve into details what with being so busy, he had still told her she was right before leaving. Aside from them, Dipper found Pacifica and her family as well as Soos, his grandmother, and Melody. They were all fine and that took a small weight off his shoulders. He didn't know how he would deal if something happened to any of them.

Even Pacifica.

It was at around one past noon that the Pines were finally able to gather somewhere relatively quiet to discuss the Tad situation. They met on the balcony outside. It was the only place where they could get a certain degree of privacy and actually hear themselves over the cacophony of worried and anxious people they were harbouring. Stan sat down on his rocking chair with a heavy sigh. He seemed more exhausted than any of them and that might have had something to do with his old age.

"The unit's not going to be able to hold off Tad forever." Dipper remarked, "He'll notice the town's strangely vacant sooner or later and he'll come looking. We need to do something soon if not now."

"Kid has a point." Stan sighed, "I also want these people gone as soon as possible. They're a hassle to take care of and I'm too old for this."

"Any ideas?" Mabel asked and they all looked at Ford.

He always had ideas. He was the leader of their family. But Ford turned his gaze away.

"He's so strong now…" the man mumbled, "I have no idea how to take him down. He's not a normal Warlock anymore."

"Did he tell any of you anything?" Stan asked, "I wasn't there so maybe he had a slip of the tongue and divulged his weakness while he was giving you his villain speech. Unless that isn't a thing that happens in real life."

"All he did was chant his spell and…" But Ford couldn't finish. His throat tightened and he stopped himself before he started crying.

"That's…not entirely true." Dipper said, "You woke up after me," he reminded when Ford looked at him quizzically, "I spoke with him for a bit."

"What happened?" Mabel asked.

"I asked him a lot of questions." Her twin answered, "He told me how he got through the ward the first time and over the salt lines. He told me why he was doing what he did and why he avoided killing any of us even though he easily could have."

"And?"

"He got in the ward by squeezing into the hole for Mayor Cutebiker," Dipper repeated briefly, "Salt has no effect on particularly strong supernatural beings so that wasn't an issue – the only thing that bothered him during that party were the runes. And—"

"Wait," Ford interrupted, "The runes?"

"Yeah, the ones that render the use of magic impossible." Dipper said, "Anyways, then—"

"I have an idea." Ford interrupted again and Dipper realised the rest of the answers he was ready to provide were currently unimportant in the face of what was happening. "That time, at the party, they were just runes but I wrote down a spell in one of the journals." He explained hastily – he always got like that whenever he was on to something. "It works with a radius but if we get close enough, we can annul the Warlock's powers for a short time."

"What's the catch?" Stan asked.

Dipper hoped there wouldn't be one but he was never so lucky. "The spell is long and depends on pronunciation." Ford said, "If the caster can't pronounce everything perfectly, it won't work."

"Great." Dipper sighed, "How are we supposed to keep Tad within range until the spell is done?"

"I can take care of that." Ford said.

"You wouldn't stand a chance." Stan said quickly.

"It's not a matter of beating him." Ford stated, "It's to buy you the time to say the incantation right and take his powers away even for a few seconds."

"If you're going to be fighting, how are you supposed to say the spell?" Mabel asked.

"Dipper will have to do it." Ford said, looking at him.

"What? Me?" Dipper stuttered in bafflement.

Most of the time he spent with Ford the past four years had consisted of the man teaching him everything there was about the supernatural. The knowledge he acquired ranged from culture and living habits to detailed biology, scientifically explaining why and how some creatures were capable of seemingly magical abilities. Dipper had learned there was no such thing as magic – not really, it was just science. That being said, it was a whole different level of science involving micro-organisms, aspects to cellular composition, and a plethora of other things humans and other common-knowledge animals didn't possess on a biological spectrum. For that simple reason, referring to it as magic was accurate all the same because it offered a distinguishing factor accentuating the potential of the impossible – or rather what should be impossible.

Admittedly, the teen had learned many things. He excelled in the domain and he did plan to take university courses on cryptozoology once he got to that point in life. Nevertheless, Dipper was never good with languages. He always passed his mandatory French classes with the minimum grade regardless of how much extra-curricular effort he had to put in at home. The languages of spells and enchantment, however, were very different from French – far more complicated. Ford might have spent a good portion of the last few years helping him with pronunciation, he was still complete rubbish. He didn't know if he could do what was needed of him, especially if the incantation depended on perfect diction.

"Dipper," Ford said seriously and placed a hand on his shoulder, "I know this is daunting, I know this isn't your strong suit, but this is the only way. I wouldn't ask this of you if I knew you couldn't do it. The spell generally takes five minutes to say but taking more time isn't going to harm its effectiveness. Take the time you need to get it right the first time. I'll be able to handle Tad so don't worry about me."

A part of Dipper wanted to protest but he held his tongue. If he argued, the damage Tad was inflicting on Gravity Falls would only worsen. Not to mention the government force that had been sent to contain the madness could only hold out for so long. There was no time to come up with an alternative plan, so Dipper nodded in affirmation.

"Okay, problem," Stan pointed out after a pause, "What are we supposed to do after we take Tad's powers away? You said it wouldn't last for long."

"Right, and I'll lose my own magic for a moment longer too." Ford said, "That's why we need to act fast and take him out."

"How?" Mabel asked.

"I know he might seem terrifying now, but Tad's still human." Ford explained, "If we take away his magic, he'll lose his only line of defense and offense which gives us a brief opening." Then he turned to Stan, "How's your aim?"

Stan seemed surprised by the question, "A bit rusty." He admitted.

"Think you can hit a moving target?"

"Pretty sure I can manage." Stan said and stood, "I'll fetch my gun."

"You have a gun?" Dipper asked.

"Of course I do." Stan snorted, "It's not registered but, you know, whatever."

"Right, well, I'll keep Tad distracted, Dipper will cast the spell, Mabel and Stan will make sure nothing distracts Dipper, and, when the spell is casted, Stan will kill Tad." Ford reiterated and everyone nodded in understanding. "Let's get everything and go."

They returned to the crowded inside of the Mystery Shack. Ford stood by the door, waiting for Dipper and Mabel to grab the journals while Stan looked for his gun and bullets. The twins climbed to their room in the attic where there was, luckily, no one. Mabel waited for her brother by the entrance while he dug through his bags. Ford had let him keep the journals to study whenever he returned home to California. Dipper had a nasty habit of misplacing them.

"Hey, Dipper…" Mabel said quietly, "This is a really weird summer, hun?"

"Yeah." Dipper agreed and pulled out the first journal from a bag. The two others weren't in same place for some reason. Why would he do that? Why would he place them each in different locations? "I mean, our summers have been weird since we were twelve but…this is different."

"This isn't fun." Mabel said and Dipper turned to her. She clutched the bottom of her shirt so tightly in a trembling grasp that her knuckles whitened. She grimaced, biting her lower lip in an attempt to keep the tears filling her eyes from falling down her cheeks. Dipper stood up straight. "I…I don't know if I want to come back here ever again…"

"Mabel…" he muttered softly and walked to her.

She flinched at the sound of her name and the fat tears she had been holding back were finally rolling down her face. She sobbed openly, lowering her head partly in shame. Dipper rushed to her and took her in his arms.

"Hey, it's okay…" He cooed softly albeit roughly what with the thick lump in his throat. "We're going to be okay…"

"O-our friend was…murdered, Dipper." Mabel sobbed and buried her face in his shoulder, "Another guy I liked, that I saw as a friend, was the murderer. Now we're planning on killing that same guy and I know he deserves it, that he's bad, but… Gravity Falls is burning, people are dying… We…this summer we saw so many awful things…"

"We did…" Dipper conceded and he felt a bit distant. He shuddered as he remembered seeing Tad slit Bill's throat, Bill's lifeless body in Ford's arms, the corpses littering the sidewalks and front lawns, and purple fire destroying everything.

"We're sixteen." Mabel said, "We're just kids…we're just kids…"

"We…" Dipper croaked, he was honestly about to start crying as well, "We can't give up now…" he squeezed his sister tighter before pulling away, "People are counting on us…we need to finish this for them, for us…for Bill."

"I know." Mabel nodded and wiped the tears away with the sleeve of her sweater, "I just…I don't know if I want to stay here for the rest of the summer when this is all over…"

Dipper's heart felt heavy upon hearing the confession. By all means, Mabel had every reason to want to leave and never come back after the hectic time they had had in Gravity Falls this summer. Even Bill's apocalypse hadn't been as deadly as Tad's wrath. And yet Gravity Falls was a place of wonder and adventure. There the impossible was possible. It was a world Dipper wasn't sure he wanted to give up. But then, he wasn't sure he wanted to keep it either. The events regarding Tad, the Warlock, were an eye opener and Dipper wasn't sure he could affirm confidently and truthfully that he would not only stay until the end of the summer but continuously return.

He had witnessed the murder of a friend. He had seen so many dead bodies.

He was changed.

Mabel was changed. They all were.

How could anyone be the same after witnessing what they had?

"I guess we'll have a lot to think about when this is done." Dipper huffed and smiled bitterly.

Mabel said nothing, she didn't even nod. She just watched as her brother turned back to his bags and fished out the remaining journals. Once they had them, they left the attic and returned to Ford. The older man looked through the books quickly, skipping to the approximate section where he remembered scribbling down the spell in question. He found it in journal 2 and instructed Dipper to set the other two aside. They wouldn't be needed. Stan joined them a few short moments later. The unregistered gun he kept within the Shack was a shotgun and he had a box of ammo slung beneath his arm. He gave his brother a firm nod, indicating he was ready to go.

"This is it." Dipper breathed.