The rag-tag court was now silent and shivering upon the old slate-tile roof of Gravity Falls Courthouse, where it seemed not a single spot was untouched by rain. Or tears. Kevin and Gus, despite their attempts at resilience, were now huddled together and sniffling quietly, Mabel holding them gently.

Stan twisted his lip. "H-hey, uh, look - kids - if ya ever need to, y'know, find somethin' to do, come to the Shack, huh? Soos'll set you up with free tickets. For life. Pretty sweet, huh?"

"Dudes, my door is like, always open. I lost the key in February." Soos beamed.

"T-thanks, but-" Kevin huffed. "I - I don't know what we'll be able to do."

"H-he didn't have to try and save people." Gus sniffed. "It isn't fair."

Even the hardy exterior of Preston Northwest found himself bending, his trademark stiff upper lip gaining a distinct wobble as he looked down at the sobbing kids. The way he saw it, of course, they were absolutely correct - Manly Dan really didn't have to try and save people.

The selfless behaviour - the idea of doing such a thing with no reward - it was still foreign to him. Even after all of this time, it was something he simply didn't grasp. Not properly. The family's very foundation was so firmly rooted in self-service, in the creation of negative energies and feelings…

That the warmth he experienced, that gratitude - it was a rare thing. The last time he thought he truly felt it was when Stan agreed to look after her. When they had that heart-to-heart only halfway through the Summer.

It felt like a distant memory now. But no less impactful than Manly Dan Corduroy, sacrificing himself to the rush of water - purely to let everybody live. Worthless everybodies. Worthless everybodies like the good-natured Susan Wentworth, like the ugly but intrepid Toby Determined, like the friendly yet ambitious Bud Gleeful - all the way up to the cantankerous but fiercely dedicated Stanley Pines...

Hmm.

He took a deep breath and swallowed his confusion, while his wife stood there, seething. Tapping her heel upon the roof tile and glaring at both Preston and their gangled nightmare of a lawyer.

"Well, Preston. Fair to say that this entire thing has been an utter disaster." She spat, bitterly.

"Yes, yes, I know dear." Preston rolled his eyes. "Not the PR masterpiece were hoping for."

The two looked out at the flooded town, where people huddled together on roofs and towers, where homes were muddied and sodden - where log cabin structures had collapsed into piles of matchsticks, and diners seemed to float down to Portland.

"I- I can't believe it." Blubs groaned. "Biggest revelation in Gravity Falls history and a flood happens before we even got any scandal."

"B'fore we gotta use our tasers, Blubs!"

"Before we even got to see anybody get the punishment they deserved." The Sheriff replied, eyes narrowing at the crooked visage of Nathaniel, his moustache twitching atop his lip as he clutched his baton.

Mabel had gone quiet. She was clutching Kevin's arm tightly, her face scrunched up, fixed in an obvious, furious frown. Tears down her cheeks as she held onto her upset boyfriend. Until finally, she let go, and stood up, fiercely.

"You!" She spat, turning to the man behind every inch of Northwest corruption.

Nathaniel twisted on a bare heel and raised an eyebrow.

"You had something to do with this. No way a flood just randomly happens when all of this crud is happening! No way is this just some - some random coinky-dink!" She snarled, stomping towards him, her little hands clenched into fists.

"Don't you come no closer, girly." Nathaniel spat. "I could rip you limb from limb."

"If I find out you're to blame for any of this, I make your lungs into a pair of gory little sweaters for guinea pigs!" Mabel retorted. "You can upset me, you can upset Pacifica's crappy parents, but you sure as hell aren't gonna make anyone sad!"

Nathaniel broke into a rotten grin, as Mabel raise her fists to thump his scrawny chest - then whipped her around as quick as a switch, wrapping a boney arm around her neck. "LEMME GET ONE THING STRAIGHT, YA GREAT BASTICHES! THIS IS MY TOWN, EVERY GODDAMNED GALLON OF WATER IS MINE, THIS FAMILY IS MINE, AND BOY HOWDY, IF ANY OF YOU DIE YOU'RE JUS'ANOTHER GREAT TRIBUTE TO-"

"Get your filthy hands OFF of my congresswoman!"

Nathaniel didn't get a chance to finish his sentence before Quentin Trembley smacked him over the head with a length of gutter. The Northwest ancestor collapsed the tiles with a clatter - and gave a wicked smile at the sight of the eccentric president leering over him, still being peppered in rain.

"Don't you realise, Nathaniel? This isn't your world anymore, it's theirs!" Quentin said, firmly. "You've missed your chance. You've missed a lot of things."

"What kinda fudged up secret agent crap are you-"

Quentin interrupted the old man. "You missed out on being Bill Cipher's partner. You missed out on having friends. On being a family man. On being happy. On winning this court case. And you missed the point of Gravity Falls."

"Point? Point?! This town's got about as much point as a toothless rattlesnake! It's a HICK FREAKSHOW!"

"Oh yes. Oh yes, it is." Quentin sniffed proudly. "Even when I first fell face-first into this valley, it attracted those on the sillier path. My best friend was a man who believed he was Henry the 8th. A Henry the 8th that could fly."

"See? As I said. A danged stupid hick freak-" Nathaniel spat, along with one of his rotten teeth and a clod of congealed blood.

Quentin interrupted him, placing a brogue on Nathaniel's chest. "He was the weirdest, silliest person I ever met. And one of my best friends. That's what Gravity Falls is. Weird people sticking together. Freaks and oddities all smashed together haphazardly, like British pub food."

"You'd know all about that, wouldn't ya, Quentin?"

Quentin furrowed his brow and was about to reply when a giant, leather-clad fist punched through the skylight, scattering pieces of rafter, plasterwork and roof tiles to the four winds. Nathaniel Northwest flew up with them, his gangly frame offering very little resistance to Oregon's hardest punch.

"T-thundering bastich!" Nathaniel screamed, furiously. His airborne fury was matched only by his bellow of pure rage as he fell back towards the tiles he'd been catapulted from.

The townspeople, paying little interest in the Northwest's ancestor, all erupted into cheers as Manly Dan triumphantly clambered onto the roof, soaked to the skin - covered in bruises and cuts. The lumberjack had offered his own safety in exchange for the towns' - and it seemed, for now at least, the lake had rejected it.

"D-dad!" Kevin gasped, running to help his father back up to the surface. "I - I thought you were-"

"MY BOYS!" the hulking figure beamed, throwing his arms around his youngest sons.

Nathaniel, aided by the forces of gravity, fell right through the roof, into the seemingly endless depths of murky water - which seemed to churn and bubble around him. As if he was being eaten by Pirhanas. "Bastich!" He snarled, "It burns!"

"G-great grandfather!" Preston yelped. "Does anybody have a rope?!"

"He's probably more useful in there than he was in the courtroom." Priscilla said, bitterly. "Leave him."

"If we did, don't ya think we'd save Dan?" Tyler snapped. "If what we've heard about the man is true-"

"I'd throw a plugged-in toaster in there!" Mabel chirped. Pacifica cracked up. As did the Corduroy brothers. Dipper and Stanford just looked shocked.

"HA! TOASTER!" Stan cackled, smacking Mabel on the back. "Plugged in! Hahahahaha! Ahh…don't joke about murder, sweetie."

It seemed right enough, mind. People were horrified by their lack of ability to save Manly Dan Corduroy. Nobody seemed particularly plussed about the loss of Nathaniel Northwest. After all, they hadn't even heard the complete list of charges that Quentin had levelled against him…

"Damn. Damn and blast!" Preston snorted, ripping off his blazer. "I'll swim to save him!"

"Don't be stupid!" Priscilla snapped.

"It isn't stupid! It's a Northwest!"

Priscilla grabbed him and muttered into his ear. "Question. If he was partially raised by lake water, what're the chances of thousands of gallons of it causing issues?"

Preston scoffed. "Well, let's not forget t-..."

The Northwest Patriarch's eyes widened and looked down at the bubbling, boiling water that thrashed inside the flooded courtroom. The hissing, the spitting, the garbled grunts and roars of anger from the putrid silhouette within.

He really hadn't thought of that possibility.