For the one commenter who wondered why One for All didn't snap Izuku out of it like it did during the fight with Shinso - Shinso is a human kid with a quirk, and even then, OFA only managed to give him half a second to move his fingers while he was already aware that he was being brainwashed. Cipher is a near omnipotent choas entity from another dimension, and Izuku didn't already know something was wrong. The two senarios are very different.

With that cleared up, here we are! Time to take back the Falls! I hope you enjoy!

The area around the shack seemed completely deserted, Izuku noted, as Ochako and Mina led the rest of them back home. Izuku wasn't sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing.

He still couldn't believe that he'd fallen for Cipher's trick. Everyone else had been out here, fighting for their lives, and he'd been happily wandering the halls of UA, content in the thought that they'd finally gotten home.

Now that he was outside the bubble, he could see how strange it all was. He shouldn't have been so happy that they'd left without even saying goodbye to their friends. He shouldn't have accepted that he needed to stay at UA even though he was fine. Normally, he could've seen through those things, but looking back, it was like there was a fog covering his brain until the others broke the illusion for him.

He thought he'd gotten them home. Instead, he'd caused the apocalypse.

Not right now. Rescue Ford and stop Cipher now. Beg for forgiveness from everyone later.

"Everyone should be inside," Ochako murmured, tossing now-white hair behind her. Apparently, she'd overused the amulet, and gained the power without it, along with hair like Gideon's. Izuku had missed that too. Maybe he could've done something to help when it happened.

Then again, maybe not. Outside of the bubble, their quirks were back to not working. Anything that gave Ochako that much trouble would've been even worse for him.

Shouto nudged him. "You're overthinking things," the other boy murmured. "We're just glad you're safe now."

Izuku blinked, then nodded. "R-Right. Sorry." He needed to keep his head in the present. He could think about all this when the crisis was over.

They headed up the front porch, and Mina opened the door. "Stan! We found the boys! And Soos and Wendy!"

There was a sharp intake of breath. Izuku entered the Shack, and was quickly embraced in a gruff hug. "Kids! You're all alright!"

Despite everything, Izuku couldn't help but smile. "It's great to see you too, Stan." Shouto didn't say anything, but hugged back just as firmly. Moments later, Mina and Ochako both joined the group hug, and Stan happily accommodated.

There was a massive "oomph" from the collective group as Soos joined the hug. "Mr. Pines, it's really you!"

Another "oomph" a second later, as Wendy also joined. "We missed you, you old codger!"

"Yeah, yeah," Stan huffed. Izuku could hear the smile in his voice. "Missed you knuckleheads too. It's good to have you back."

"Shouto! Izuku!"

Everyone let go, and Izuku smiled as Grenda, Candy, and Pacifica ran up to them. "Good to see you guys are safe!"

"You too," Candy agreed, smiling. "Although you missed Mina and Ochako being super badass! They were taking down monsters left and right, rescuing as many people as they could. It was awesome."

Shouto nudged Ochako. "Like real heroes."

Ochako grinned awkwardly. "We were just doing what we could, is all. Besides, Shouto did help take out that Cthulhu monster for good. And these guys were surviving on their own without the safety of the shack to come back to. That's pretty badass as well."

Shouto certainly had been. Izuku wouldn't call anything he'd done these past couple days "badass". But he still appreciated Ochako hyping him up alongside Shouto, Soos, and Wendy.

"Hey, is anybody going to feed me?" They all looked up to see the wax head of Larry King resting in the vents. "Larry King's disembodied wax head wants nom-noms."

Shouto whipped back around to face the others. "He's still there!?"

"Just ignore him," Grenda encouraged. "It's what the rest of us do."

"Hey, everyone!" One of the manotaurs called out. "Eyebat incoming!"

Across the room, monsters and humans alike seemed to stiffen. Stan ran forwards, slamming the door behind them. "Everyone, keep it down!"

"Evasive maneuvers!" One of the gnomes hollered. "Get the lights!"

Another gnome blew out a lamp, while the multibear shut the blinds. There was a long moment of silence as a red light seemed to try and break through the shack's curtains, before moving on, leaving them in darkness.

A few seconds later, it seemed the danger had passed. Stan relit the lamp, and the curtains were opened again so that everyone could see.

Scanning the living room of the shack, Izuku immediately noticed changes. All the furniture had been cleared to make room for the many people taking refuge. Besides the gnomes, manotaurs, and multibear, there was one of the unicorns, a few of the little golf ball-people Mina and Ochako had told them about, and many of the Gravity Falls citizens Izuku already knew, like the boyband clones, Lazy Susan, Gorney, and Sheriff Blubs.

"Welcome to what's left of normal around here," Stan said dryly. "Whatever you guys did to protect the shack, it worked like a charm. The girls have been rounding people up and bringing them here."

"So, you guys rescued all these people?" Izuku asked his friends curiously. Everyone had pretty much brought him up to speed on their way to the shack, but it was still a huge amount of people saved.

"Not all of them," Mina admitted. "McGucket's been bringing survivors around as well." She nodded towards the old inventor, who gave them a grin and a wave.

"Good to see you fellas still in one piece," McGucket said. "Everyone was worried about you."

Izuku smiled, touched. "Thanks, McGucket."

There was a crash and a shout, and then one of Wendy's little brothers was barreling into her, wrapping her in a tight hug. Wendy's eyes widened, before she hugged him back just as tightly. "Henry! You're okay!"

"Everyone else got captured," Henry sobbed. "Dad and Mike and James were turned to stone, and I couldn't find you anywhere. They - they said you'd be okay but I was so scared that I was the only one left."

Wendy stiffened at the news of the rest of her family, before forcing herself to relax and stroking Henry's hair. "Hey, I'm okay. It takes more than an apocalypse to keep me down. We'll rescue everyone else too. I promise."

"Rumble McSkirmish!? When did you get here?"

Ochako's yelp tore Izuku's eyes away from the family reunion, and towards a pixelated man right out of a fighting game. The man himself sunk downwards at her tone. "I was brought back with Fiddleford McGucket's latest batch of survivors," Rumble explained. "Do not worry. Weirdmageddon has taught me that there are some battles I cannot win. I am now Humble McSkirmish."

"Well that's… something," Shouto said, eyeing Rumble, and it clicked for Izuku.

"Is this the fighting game character who came to life that you two won't tell us the story about?" He guessed.

Mina gasped. "Finally. We meet the legend himself."

"That is me," Rumble confirmed. "I do not wish to relay the tale of how we met. It was awkward for everyone."

"Aw man!"

Despite the grave nature of the situation, Izuku found he couldn't help but laugh at Mina's pout. Honestly, he was a little disappointed himself.

"So, what's the plan now?" Wendy wondered. "We can't just hide in the shack forever. There's no waiting out something like this. We need to take the fight to Cipher."

Stan gave her an incredulous look. "Not saying you're wrong about the "waiting out" part, but how the hell would we do that? You think a bunch of human and monster schmucks can take on some invincible chaos demon and win? We'd just be hastening our own deaths. I mean, look." He grabbed the TV remote and switched it on.

Miraculously, the news was still going. Everyone gathered around to see a haggard looking Sandra Hemendez hiding behind dark stone with glowing rainbow edges. Behind her, a group of demons seemed to be moving about. Whoever was titling the news had a dark sense of humor, because "CHAIR-IBLE FATE!" was displayed in bold letters underneath the reporter.

"This is Sandra Hamendez, reporting live from the inside of Cipher's castle. Here for the first time are images of what's happened to the captured townsfolk. Viewers are advised to look away if they don't want to see their friends and family turned into a twisted throne of human agony."

The camera panned over to show a massive chair, then zoomed in, revealing that it was made entirely of the stone bodies of Gravity Falls citizens.

Grenda let out a stifled sob as her parents showed up on screen, although by the way she closed her eyes, Izuku was pretty sure she'd already suspected that they'd been captured. Pacifica let out a sharp intake of breath at the image of her own parents. Shouto put a hand on her shoulder, and she grasped it, sending him a grateful look.

More and more familiar faces were shown on screen. Robbie and the other teenagers, that one free pizza guy, Manly Dan and his two other kids, Deputy Durland.

Henry leaned into Wendy, who stared at the screen with wide, horrified eyes. Blubs moved up to the front of the room to get a closer look, crying out at the sight of his partner.

"Is there no one who can save this town?" A red beam of light shone down on her, and the reporter's eyes widened, before she seemed to steel herself. "I'm Sandra Hamendez, and I'm being turned to stone by a flying eyeball." The stone reached her face, and she took one last gasping breath before falling silent. The camera cut out, presumably because the cameraman was turned to stone as well.

There was a long moment of silence as everyone stared at the static on the screen.

Blubs, who now had tears streaming down his face, slammed a fist against the ground. "Curse you, Cipher! Why must you take everything we love!?"

Stan grimaced. "Like I said. How exactly are we supposed to stand up to something like that? We'd just die quicker if we tried."

"Not necessarily." The group turned to Shouto, who was looking at Stan. "Ford got captured," he admitted. "But before he did, he told me that Cipher still has a weakness we could use to defeat him. If we can rescue Ford, we can learn that weakness and use it against Cipher."

At that, everyone perked up, whispering to each other, looking at them with hope in their eyes, hope that had most likely been destroyed days ago.

"Everyone needs us," Mina agreed. "The only thing to do now is fight back."

"Cipher wants us to run and hide. He wants us to think he's invincible," Izuku noted. "But we know he's not! All of us here, with our combined strengths and skills, have a good chance of pulling this off."

"This town is all about the weird and unlikely. Everyone here pretty much lives and breathes impossible. How is this any different? We can do this." Ochako grinned at the crowd. "Let's save our friends, and save the world!"

The shack erupted in cheers.

Stan, however, still didn't seem convinced. "How are we going to pull it off, though? We're only safe inside the shack, and it's not like we can take that to Cipher."

"Woah, holy hootinany, flapjacking fiddle-banjos!" Everyone turned to stare at McGucket, who was slapping the ground with his foot. He paused to take a breath. "Sorry, sorry. Got a little excited there." His foot tapped the ground even harder, and he slapped it to get it to stop. "What I mean to say is, we can absolutely take the Mystery Shack to Cipher. There we can fight him and rescue Ford. But we're all gonna have to work together on this."

Izuku beamed at him. "That sounds perfect! How do we do it?"

"Well, the shack is protected from Cipher, right?" There were nods all around. "So, if we want to have a chance of stopping him, we'll need to fight him with something he can't harm!"

The implications sunk in. Stan blanched. "You're not saying-!"

"Robot shack," Mina breathed, a large grin spreading across her face. "Fighting robot shack that Cipher can't even touch. Oh my god, that's so cool!"

"He's so confident that we could never come up with something to beat him. He won't even see this coming," Shouto agreed, clearly liking the idea.

Mcgucket grinned right back at her. "I'll get right to work on the blueprints!" Then he turned back to Izuku. "Wanna help? You're a really fast learner, especially with that computer project we worked on together. I could show you a couple more things about how to make some cool gizmos!"

"That… that sounds great," Izuku admitted. "I would love that, McGucket."

"My house," Stan groaned. Ochako patted his back sympathetically.

"Alright! I've made some thingamadiculous robomajigs in my time, but this will be the first one that won't be used for evil!" McGuck and Izuku set out their plans, and the rest of them leaned over to take a closer look.

Shouto scanned the different schematics. "These blueprints are incredible. Both of you did great."

"Probably the greatest invention we've seen yet!" Mina agreed. Izuku rubbed the back of his head and smiled awkwardly, while McGucket puffed out his chest with pride.

"It seems stable, at least," Stan admitted reluctantly. "If we can get all the stuff we need for it."

"Plenty of this stuff is in the abandoned auto-mart," Wendy told them. "With the discount-auto warriors gone, it should be pretty easy to get as long as we avoid the eyeballs."

Ochako tapped one of the blueprints. "I can lift people in and out of the dinosaur caves, so we don't need to worry about long climbs out in the open." She paused. "Also, I think I saw the pterodactyl flying around, so at least that won't be lurking down there."

Soos raised a hand. "Question: does it have any gun-swords? I watch a lot of anime, and trust me, we're gonna want some gun-swords."

McGucket squinted in confusion. "What's an anime?"

Soos put a solemn hand on his shoulder. "We have much to discuss."

"Let's split everyone up into teams," Izuku suggested. "We'll need a group to watch the shack at all times. They can also work on assembly within the safety of the shack's area. McGucket and Stan-?"

Both men nodded. "We'll take care of it," Stan promised. "Make sure no idiots get killed while making this thing."

"Right. Another group will raid the discount auto mart, as well as the dump, which could have whatever we can't get from the former. The manotaurs should probably be a part of that, since they can lift a lot of the parts we need." He paused, looking up. "I mean, if that's okay with you guys?"

One of the manotaurs nodded, while the other flexed impressively. "It's perfect!"

"Great!" He turned to Wendy and Shouto. "Since you two were already at the auto mart, maybe you could lead that group?"

Shouto nodded, and Wendy gave him a thumbs up. "Leave it to us." It would certainly be a lot easier now that they didn't need to worry about escaped prisoners and car chases. The dump might be tricker, but it was still manageable.

"Okay, then the last group will handle the various outings to the more exotic areas to get the weirder parts. Ochako can help with the whole dinosaur bit. Mina, could you help that group as well?"

"Not a problem!" She grinned. "We've been making our way around the Weirdmageddon version of Gravity Falls for days now, so we know where a lot of the big dangers are and how to avoid them."

Izuku smiled back. "Perfect. Soos and I can help McGucket here, and make any last minute adjustments to the plans."

"You're good at this," Shouto noted. Izuku blushed awkwardly.

"U-Um, thanks! It's not really a big deal though."

"Stop selling yourself short." Shouto ignored Izuku's sputtering and turned back to the crowd. "Right, let's get organized into our groups."

"Operation "Save Ford and Stop Cipher" is a go!" Ochako cheered.

Nabbing parts from the auto mart was fairly easy. The dump, however, was another story. Shouto and Wendy, followed by the manotaurs, the boyband clones, and a group of the gnomes watched as two massive, twisted monsters stomped around.

"Don't suppose you've got a plan to deal with them?" One of the gnomes muttered.

One of the manotaurs, Distructor, smashed his fists together. "We pound them!"

"That's a terrible plan!"

"No, it's pretty accurate," Shouto admitted. "One of them is partially made of metal." He pulled out his magnet gun. "Wendy, can you handle the other one?"

Wendy cocked her crossbow. "Two eye-shots, coming right up. It's pretty big, so once I take it by surprise, the big guys can help me take it down." The manotaurs rumbled their agreement.

The gnomes squirreled themselves away while the rest took action. Shouto charged the magnet gun and fired it. Instantly, the metal parts of the monster ripped themselves out of it, tearing the creature apart in a nasty display.

The other monster turned towards its fallen fellow, and Wendy let loose her arrows, striking both eyes. As the monster clawed at its eyeballs, the manotaurs rushed forwards and pounded it into the ground.

Finally, the coast was clear, and the rest of them emerged. Shouto nodded at the former boyband. "Several Timez, you handle the longer stuff. Destructor, can you get the fuel? Survivator, we're going to need another car. Gnomes, the smaller delicate stuff is yours."

"On it!"

"My house."

"Sorry, Stan," Izuku offered, as he and McGucket carved holes in the wood, while Grenda helped remove furniture and Soos and his crew knocked down a wall. "If we all survive this, we'll all pitch in to help rebuild it."

"Agreed!" McGucket confirmed. "Least we can do for ya!"

Stan let out a long suffering sigh. "Right. Fine. Hey, you dunderheads! Don't knock down the support beam, we still need that! Move over to the left. No, the left!"

"It feels like it's been forever since we came down here," Ochako admitted, as she levitated herself, Mina, Candy, and a few other volunteers down into the dinosaur cave.

"No kidding," Mina agreed. "It feels like ages ago that Stan let Waddles get taken by a dinosaur and we had to rescue him. It's hard to believe it's only been like, two months."

"Maybe more like a month and a half," Ochako disagreed. "Since it's been about three months now, and we'd been here for around a month and a half at the time…" she paused, trying to line the whole timeline up in her head. "Wait, has it been four or five days since Weirdmageddon started now? With the whole bubble mess, I think my days got a bit mixed up."

"Time is dead and meaning has no meaning," Candy offered helpfully. Both girls turned to her, and she shrugged. "That's what Cipher said when he first came into the town and declared himself overlord, anyways."

Mina considered this. "So, does that mean that actually no days have passed since Weirdmageddon started?"

"Please stop talking about this," One of the other volunteers groaned, holding their head in their hands.

Ochako chuckled awkwardly. "Sorry. We're here, anyway." They all touched ground, and she and Mina led the group further into the caves, until they reached the room with all of the trapped dinosaurs.

Ochako set down her lantern and grinned up at the t-rex in front of her. "Alright, let's get to work!"

"Hey, can you - no, not quite-"

"I told you I have no experience in this," Pacifica sighed, looking down at the crooked nail she'd been trying to hammer in.

"It's fine," Shouto assured her. "I didn't either, before I got here."

"None of us did," Izuku agreed absentmindedly, welding together two pieces of metal.

Ochako raised a hand, a slight grin on her face. "I did, actually."

"Ochako is the exception, then." Shouto turned back to Pacifica. "Want to take a break for a bit, see how some of the other parts are coming along?"

"Fine by me." Still, she frowned at her crooked nail. "Probably can't leave it like this though."

Ochako hopped off the workbench she'd perched on. "Leave it to me." Pacifica handed her the hammer, and she pulled out the nail, before re-hammering it down. The two of them watched her work for a moment, before heading over to where Mina and Wendy were directing the finishing touches on one of the arms.

Wendy settled into a stance, before slamming her first into a punching bag, which had a drawing of Cipher taped into it. "Like this."

"You got it!" Grenda punched with a gloved fist, and the massive arm punched with her, snapping a tree in half. McGucket and Mina looked over the blueprint of that particular machine, making sure everything was functioning as it should.

"I still can't believe we're doing this," Pacifica admitted. "It just… doesn't feel real, I guess. She picked at the llama sweater Grenda had lended her. "What happens if we go through all this trouble, and then we fail?"

Shouto shrugged. "The same thing that would happen to us if we did nothing, I think. Just faster."

"Yeah." Pacifica turned to him, then to Grenda, Mina, and Wendy, then back to him again. "...Thanks, by the way. For everything that happened at the party. I think if none of that had happened, I'd have been with my parents when they got turned to stone. And…" She paused, collecting her words. "And I've made a lot of friends, who actually like me for some reason. I don't think I'm all that better of a person than I was, but… I am trying."

"I think that's all we can do," Shouto admitted. "Try to be better versions of ourselves. It can be really hard to tell if we're actually succeeding. But, for the record, you're doing a really good job. Our friends like you for a reason."

Pacifica blinked at him, before smiling. "Thanks, Shouto. You're doing a pretty good job yourself."

He and Pacficia had barely talked to each other in the beginning of the summer, when he was at his worst. But maybe that was the point. She didn't see who he was before in who he was now.

And that… that was a comforting feeling.

"Alright, careful now… slowly… there we go!" Mina smiled as the metal parts fit into place. "We're all set up here! Izuku, we good?"

"We're good!" Izuku confirmed, sending her a smile and a thumbs up from where he, McGucket, and Soos had set up a screen that showed the status of each machine part. "Everything's in place now."

"Flag's set up too!" They both turned to where Grenda and Pacifica were standing. They and Several Timez were looking up at a flag that was starting to flutter in the breeze.

It was several colors - tan at the top, then two stripes of red that matched Stan's colors. In the middle, a six-fingered hand rested inside a sun, crossed by a pickaxe and Wendy's axe. In one corner was a pine tree, and in the other corner was a lightning bolt. A question mark was in the very center, and underneath everything was a shooting star. The words "Take back the Falls" stood out in bright letters.

Mina grinned at the sight of it. "It's perfect. We'll fly it high while we kick Cipher's ass."

"Damn straight!"

With everything set up, everyone bunkered in for the night. Lanterns were lit around the living room, and Izuku and Ochako brought out more mattresses for a massive sleepover. The gnomes all huddled together, while the Manotaurs and the multibear compared stories. Henry was leaning up against Wendy, who was chatting with Soos and McGucket.

The Mystery Crew, Candy, Grenda, and Pacifica all sat in their own little circle. Izuku and Ochako leaned up against each other, while Candy and Grenda did the same next to them. On Izuku's other side, Mina was whispering something to Shouto and Pacifica, Waddles curled up in pig form under her arm.

Ochako stretched comfortably. "You know, I think today was the best day of the end of the world. I think we've got a real good shot of beating Bill and winning back our future tomorrow."

There was a murmur of agreement around the small circle. "You know, I never thought I'd say this," Candy admitted, "But at this point I'm almost excited for school to start again. At least then we'll have made it past the end of this summer."

Grenda snorted. "You sure about that? Which is worse, the apocalypse, or nine months of algebra?"

Candy considered this. "You make a compelling argument."

"She's not wrong though," Izuku murmured. "Candy, I mean. At this point, I'd settle for anything that isn't constant blood rain and insanity."

"Which is why we're going to win tomorrow," Mina insisted. "Chins up, guys. We need a good attitude going into our fight."

Shouto made a noise of agreement, before frowning slightly. "Have any of you seen Stan tonight?"

There was a pause as all of them considered this. "He's definitely in the house," Pacifica confirmed. "I saw him moving towards the kitchen a while ago."

Shouto nodded and stood up, making his way towards the kitchen. Curiously, the rest of them followed.

Stan was, in fact, still there, nursing a pit cola. He didn't even look up as they entered. "Kids."

Izuku took in his disgruntled expression. "What's wrong?"

"What makes you think something's wrong?" There was a pause as all of them, even the three that had never lived with Stan, gave him a flat expression. Finally, Stan relented, sighing. "It's Ford. I already saved him once, if you'll remember. And he still hasn't thanked me for that! Now he's in trouble again. He might be dead, for all we know. If he isn't, chances are we bust in to save him and he'll still find a way to put everything that goes wrong on us." The can bent slightly under his grip. "On me."

"This is a lot different than last time," Shouto said. "If he's somehow mad at you for this, we'll tell him off."

"Don't tell me you're not worried about him," Mina added.

Stan grit his teeth, slamming his cola down. "Of course I'm worried about him! I just got him back, and now he's gone again! That doesn't mean I can't also be pissed at him!"

"That's fair," Izuku admitted. "And we'll definitely tell him off if need be. But both of you need to be cool tomorrow, okay? If we can't pull this off, no one will be able to apologize to anyone."

Stan let out a long sigh. "Right. Fine. Fair enough."

Izuku locked eyes with the others and gave a helpless shrug. It would have to do.

It was morning, and the sun shone as brightly as it could in the wasteland of Weirdmageddon. The survivors all gathered together in the attic turned makeshift control room, nervous but ready.

McGucket grinned at the assembled crowd. "Alright, fellers! Let's hope this turns out better than my other inventions!"

"Everyone ready?" Izuku took a deep breath, and turned to Mina. "Alright, now!"

Mina cranked the newly installed wheel. The lights signaling the shack's power went on, and everything rumbled.

The tarp covering the shack slid off as they began to rise into the air. Everything tilted slightly, and Izuku stumbled, keeping his grip tight on the steering wheel. They finally reached their full height, and started moving forwards, step by step. With each thunderous movement, the shack steadied itself, as though adapting to its new circumstances as a mobile object.

"We're halfway across town. Everyone, make sure you're in position!" Shouto ordered. There was a small scramble as people scurried to their designated places, gearing up and familiarizing themselves with their controls.

Soon enough, the pyramid was right there, looming over them. Izuku took a deep breath, then steeled himself. "Alright. Grenda?"

"You got it!" Grenda thrust her arm forwards, and the shack's dinosaur arm moved with it. Izuku watched on the viewing screens as it punched right through the pyramid's walls. Despite only being a head, torso, and arms, the t-rex roared loudly, as though to remind them why they'd chosen such a fearsome predator for an arm. Inside, Izuku could hear Cipher yelling.

He sounded surprised. That was a good sign.

They stomped forwards, and put the shack's arms out, ready for a fight. The t-rex roared again, and above them, the head of the gobblewonker lifted up and let out a scream.

Soos grabbed the flag, on which someone had placed wax Larry King's head, and raced outside to proudly present it. "It's the shacktron, dude!"

"They made the house into a robot," the wax head commented. "Fascinating."

Inside the pyramid, Izuku could make out Cipher, who was sitting on his throne made of the captured Gravity Falls citizens. His eye was still wide, but he seemed to regain his composure. "So the mortals are trying to fight back, huh? Adorable." He stood, and made a circular motion with one of his fingers. "Henchmaniacs, you know what to do! Take. Them. Out!"

There was a pause as all of the demons looked towards them. Then, in a second, each of them tripled in size, before stomping out of the pyramid and flying downwards to land in front of them. Most were about the same size as the shacktron.

Izuku sucked in a deep breath, then let it out. We've got this.

Soos pulled out a megaphone. "Uh, hey dudes! Is this thing working?" He tapped it slightly, the frequency causing the monsters to cringe. "Uh, I just wanted you monster dudes to hand over Ford, or we're gonna have to, like, fight and stuff." He looked down at one of the smaller monsters and chuckled. "Hey, you're a little cutie."

"I have butchered millions, on countless moons," the monster responded in a deep voice, its mouth not actually moving.

Soos winced. "Woah. I liked you better before you talked. Real bring-down, this guy."

Another of the monsters, a flaming pink demon with one eye and multiple horns, pointed towards them, clearly fed up. "Attack!" The other monsters stormed towards them.

Soos grabbed the flag and ran inside. "Alright dudes, they're coming!"

Izuku nodded at him, before facing down the monsters with the people he'd come to see as family. "Alright everyone, like we planned! Three, two, one!"

The monsters charged to meet them, and they were ready.

Immediately, Grenda knocked out one monster with her dinosaur arm, while Candy knocked out another with her robot arm.

Pacifica held up Waddles, who bit onto a lever, and she gently pulled him down. The remodeled periscope tilted downwards, firing cannonballs into oncoming demons. She smiled at their handywork and stroked the current bear. "Good pig-bear." Izuku quietly marveled at how far she'd come from when they'd first gotten waddles, before returning his attention to the matter at hand.

The small butcher-demon seemed to focus, and they were swarmed by eyebats. The gobblewonker neck, piloted by McGucket, swung down and bit one out of the sky. Rumble McSkirmish fired out blasts, while Ochako slammed multiple eyebats into the ground at a time.

Wendy jumped off of the roof and onto an eyebat, yanking its wings up and forcing it to send out a petrifying beam directly at the butcher-demon. As it flew by one of the windows, she jumped off of it and into the shacktron. Mina, who'd been firing shots from Ford's gun, hitting the eyebats dead center, traded the gun for her grappling hook and fired, catching another eyebat directly in the pupil. She swung her grappling hook around, slamming the eyebat into the one Wendy had been riding, and they both fell.

The pink fiery demon shrieked angrily, sending a massive beam of pink fire towards the shack. Shouto met the beam with his own blue flames, which collided in the center in a massive explosion. After a moment of intense beam wars, his fire overpowered theirs, causing the demon to literally explode.

One of the multibear's heads looked up from one of their numerous viewpoints. "Everyone, incoming!"

Only a moment after everyone had re-entered the shack, they were slammed in the front by a stampeding monster with no face, sending them flying backwards. Everyone held on tightly as the shacktron braced itself, flying through trees and rocks before finally holding the monster at a standstill.

"Everybody, maximum power!" Ochako called out. Several Timez smiled and raced on their treadmill, generating enough power to refill the shacktron with all the energy it had lost.

Izuku gripped the steering wheel, turning it with all his might. "Now!"

The shacktron lifted the monster up in the air, spinning it around in a circle before letting it go. It flew over one of the nearby mountains, crashing with an explosion they could see from the shack.

"Let's get this over with." The shack turned, and they watched as Cipher slid out of his pyramid, hovering over them and raising a fist bigger than the shack itself, before bringing it down hard.

Izuku winced as the impact flattened all the trees within a fifty-foot radius. The shacktron was pushed down into the ground slightly, but the unicorn charm held.

"What the-! No! No no no NO!" Cipher's fist shrunk down, but seven more fists appeared, all of them pounding at the shack at once. Still, the charm held, none of the blows touching them.

"Attack!" Mina shouted. Grenda grinned, and moved her arm forwards. With Cipher focusing on trying to overpower the shack's protection, he didn't notice the dinosaur until it was gripping his eye in its mouth. Grenda pulled back, and the eyeball was pulled with it, farther and farther until it snapped out of Cipher's body completely.

Cipher yelled, floating backwards as his many hands sought out his empty eyesocket. "My eye! Do you have any idea how long it takes to regenerate that?"

"We've got him distracted. Now's our chance," Shouto announced. "Rescue team, move out!"

Izuku ran with the others towards one of the side rooms, where a series of tubes had been arranged. He grabbed his pack, stopping to put the memory gun and shrink-grow ray inside. He felt for the dagger on his hip, and with it snug, stepped inside his tube. Then he strapped on his parachute.

"Alright, you know the plan," Wendy said, looking at the others. "Get in, save Ford, get out, save the world."

"Piece of cake," Mina agreed. "Let's do this."

Henry, who had run into the room with them, looked pleadingly at his sister. "Are you sure I can't come?"

"Not enough launch tubes," Wendy pointed out. "Don't worry, we've got this. Be safe until we get back."

The Mystery Crew, Stan, Wendy, Soos, Pacifica, McGucket, and Blubs. It was a good rescue team, and the shacktron was still in good hands.

We can do this.

"Now!" He called out. Then he was sucked up through the tube. After a moment of watching blue-grey metal zoom past him, he was launched out of the gobblewonker's mouth and into the air, flying towards the triangular hole in the pyramid.

Izuku took steady breaths to calm himself, even as Mina tumbled by, laughing with delight. Closer… closer… now. He activated his parachute, his descent slowing. Around him, the others did the same.

The gobblewonker's aim was accurate. They floated right through the entrance and into the massive structure. It was almost strange, how high up they were from the floor - hadn't they just seen those henchmaniacs jump out from this hole? - but this was Cipher's castle, so Izuku suspected the rules of architecture meant nothing here.

Izuku touched lightly on the ground, jumping a couple steps before his parachute folded completely behind him. He unbuckled himself as the other's landed around him.

Pacifica gasped next to him, and he looked up to see the throne made of people in all of its terrible glory, towering above them. Izuku could pick out individual faces from where he was, and each face he saw was twisted in terror.

"It looks even worse up close," Ochako murmured. Mina nodded, taking out her grappling hook and firing it at the chair, using it to zoom up to the top.

There was a moment where she seemed to look around, before she called back down to them. "I found Ford! He's golden! And not in a good way!"

Shouto looked down at his hands. "I can unfreeze Ford, but I'm not sure about the rest of the townsfolk."

"I know!" There was a pause as they all looked towards the voice, and Izuku blanched at what he saw. There, in a tiny birdcage, was Gideon, dressed up in some cutesy-sparkly outfit, doing a tap-dance and looking exhausted.

"Gideon?" He managed. Ochako floated the rest of them up so they could take a closer look. "What happened to you?"

"Cipher captured me," Gideon told them. "He's been forcing me to do cute dances in this cage for all eternity. I'm so tired of being cute!" Gideon looked like he was genuinely on the verge of tears. Izuku might not like him, but that didn't mean he couldn't feel for the kid.

"How do we undo this?" Mina asked.

"Mayor Tyler." Gideon pointed at the current mayor. "He's the load-bearing human. Pull him out and the whole thing goes down."

For once thanking Cipher's sick sense of humor, Izuku went over and pulled at Tyler. The further away from the chair the mayor was, the less stone he looked, until he was free and Izuku was holding the arm of a very alive Tyler.

With Tyler free, the rest of the Gravity Falls citizens started breaking free of their stone as well. Ochako and Shouto quickly floated the masses down so they wouldn't all fall on top of each other and crush the people at the bottom, or die from the fall. Close to them, Izuku could see the teenagers regrouping,

Gideon's cage broke, and he dropped down as well. He screamed, ripping apart the cute outfit to reveal his normal suit underneath. "No more silly suits!"

"Wendy!" Manly Dan, as well as two boys Izuku assumed to be Mike and James, rushed over and hugged her. "You're okay! You're safe!"

"Guys!" Wendy hugged them back just as tightly. "Henry's safe too, don't worry."

"Thank god," Manly Dan sobbed.

Pacifica stepped slightly behind Shouto, and Izuku turned to see that her parents were looking at her expectantly. Shouto noticed as well, and moved to cover her more.

"Durland!" Blubs, with all the tact he usually possessed, barrelled straight through the Northwests to reach his partner, whom he tenderly took into his arms.

Durland beamed. "My Blubs!"

Tears slipped out from behind Blubs' shades. "Don't you ever scare me like that again!" He kissed his partner tenderly, and the people around them cheered.

Ford, now much less golden than before, ran over, beaming. "Kids, you did it! I knew I could count on you!" He swept them into an excited hug, and Izuku found himself hugging back.

"Sorry I couldn't help you before," Shouto said, when they broke apart.

"Don't worry about it," Ford insisted. "You did incredible. And more importantly, you survived. That's what matters." Shouto nodded, a small smile tugging at the edge of his lips.

"He was awesome!" Mina informed Ford, draping an arm around Shouto's neck. "You should've seen him! He was destroying monsters and getting into car chases and being super cool!"

Ford smiled. "I don't doubt it. I'd love to hear all of your stories." His smile faded as he caught sight of McGucket, who had wandered over. "Fiddleford. I… I haven't seen you since we parted ways." He winced. "You must hate me. I wouldn't blame you-"

McGucket shook his head, stopping him from saying anymore. "I've tried forgettin'. Maybe I should try forgiven'." He held out his arms. "Come here, old friend." Ford eagerly accepted the hug.

Stan, who had just made his way over to them, frowned. "Yeah, good to see you two, bro. Now let's get out of here."

Shouto nodded. "Right. Ford, you mentioned that you knew of Cipher's weakness."

"I do!" Ford slipped on his gloves. "Does anyone have a pen? Pencil? Anything?"

Robbie pulled out a spray-paint can. "Would this work?"

"Perfect!" Ford took it and started spray-painting the ground.

Stan frowned. "Drawing a circle on the floor. Well, he's lost his mind."

"My mind is fine," Ford shot back. "And there is a way to beat him. With this!" He finished his work and stepped back to show the symbols he had created.

Something sparked in Izuku's mind. "Wait, this was in your journal! And Cipher showed it once too! What is it?"

"A prophecy," Ford said. "Many years ago, I found eleven symbols in a cave. Some I recognized then. Some, I only recognize now. The people of Gravity Falls then prophesied that these symbols could create a force strong enough to vanquish Bill. With Bill defeated, his weirdness could be reversed, and the world could be saved."

Ford looked down at the circle, then up at all of them. "This whole time, I thought it was just superstition. But seeing you all here now, I finally understand that it's destiny."

"The symbols Cipher called us." Shouto looked down at his pine tree pin, then at the pine tree symbol on the ground. Mina held her shooting star necklace in her hands and gave its painted mirror-image a wide-eyed look. Ochako stepped onto the sun symbol, and Izuku found the small lightning bolt.

"A question mark? This one's unsolvable!" Then Soos smiled at his shirt before joining the circle.

"The tent of telepathy sign must be Gideon," Wendy noted. Gideon stepped onto it, in between Izuku and Mina, and smiled shyly at Izuku.

"Friends?" The boy offered, more genuine than Izuku had ever heard him. "For real, this time."

Izuku gave him a smile. "I think we can try, at least." Gideon beamed.

"This is a little freaky," Pacifica admitted, picking at her llama sweater and stepping onto the equivalent symbol.

"Hold hands, everyone!" Ford instructed. "This is a mystical energy circuit."

"Who's Ice though?" Ochako wondered.

"The symbols don't all need to be literal, Ochako," Ford said. "It just needs to be someone cool in the face of danger. Much like the spectacles need to be someone scholarly."

Everyone looked towards Wendy, and her friends started chanting her name. She grinned and took her place next to Shouto. McGucket hopped onto his own symbol and grabbed hands with the people next to him.

Izuku grabbed Gideon and Ford's hands, and instantly felt a buzz of power unlike one he'd ever felt before. A soft blue glow surrounded all of them, lighting up the room just a little bit more. He could feel his hair blowing in a nonexistent breeze.

"I think it's working!"

"It is!" Ford encouraged. "The rest of you, get out! It's too dangerous!"

Mayor Tyler took that as his cue. "Lets get, get on out of here, everyone! The mass of townsfolk followed him away from the circle.

There was just one space left, and the symbol was the one on Stan's fez. Everyone looked towards him.

"Stanley?" Ford asked, holding out his hand.

Stan glared at it. "...Fine. On one condition. Say thank you."

Ford paused. "What?"

"I spent thirty years trying to get you out of that dimension, and you haven't thanked me once!" Stan snapped. "You want me to shake your hand? Say thank you!"

There was a long moment of awkward silence, before Ford sighed. "Fine. Thank you, Stan."

"See? That wasn't so hard." Stan grabbed Ford and Soos' hands, connecting the entire circle. "Between me and him, I'm not always the bad twin."

"Him and me," Ford muttered. "Grammar, Stanley."

"I'll "Grammar Stanley" you, you stuck up-!" Stan let go to shove his brother, who also let go as a consequence.

Izuku saw an incoming flash of yellow, and his heart sank. "Both of you, stop-!"

"OHOHOHOH!" There was a pause as they all looked up, Cipher looming over them. "Don't you brainiacs know the zodiac only works when you all hold hands? And what's better, you brought all the threats to my power in one easy to destroy CIRCLE!" Cipher sent out a wave of fire, which Shouto burned up the spray paint circle.

Parts of the fire twisted into glowing ropes, which lifted Stan and Ford up into the air. Cipher laughed again. "You guys wanna see what happens to everyone when you can't get along!"

"Let them go!" McGucket hollered.

Gideon stepped up next to him. "You've gone too far, Cipher!"

"We're not scared of you!" Wendy agreed.

"Oh, but you should be!" Cipher snapped his fingers. Izuku spun around to see his friends go limp, eyes rolling into the backs of their heads. Then everyone except him, the other Mystery Crew members, and the Pines vanished, before reappearing as terrified tapestries on the walls. Izuku stared at their faces in horror.

Then Cipher turned his attention to the four of them. "Looks like it's too late for your friends, Stanford!" He pointed at them, and Izuku braced himself as all around them, a blue cage sprung into existence, with twisting bars that would make slipping out extremely difficult covering the tiny pyramid prison.

"No!"

"Kids!"

"But you can still save your kids!" Cipher mocked. "Last chance! Tell me how to take Weirdmageddon global, and I'll spare them!"

Shouto grabbed the bars. "Don't do it!"

"We're not worth that!" Izuku agreed.

Cipher laughed. "Maybe you kids don't think so, but these two sure seem to! Let's talk deals, Sixer!"

There was a horrible moment of silence while Cipher focused on the twins. Izuku looked at the other three.

Over the past three months, they'd become his best friends. More than that - they'd somehow become family, just like Stan and Ford had. They'd been through unimaginable horrors together, and until now, they'd always come out on top.

Maybe their luck had finally run out.

They all met each other's eyes, and Izuku knew they were each thinking the same thing.

"You know," Mina finally said, a small smile on her face. "Despite all the bumps, I think we had a pretty good go at the whole heroics thing."

"We did," Shouto agreed quietly. "And we did it together."

"No one I'd rather face the end of the world with," Ochako chipped in.

"Agreed." Izuku held out his hand. "Mystery Crew?"

The other three put their hands on top of his. "Mystery Crew."

If this was it, then at least they were together.

They broke apart, and Ocako levitated the spray can into her hands. "Hey Cipher! You wanna know just how stupid your deals are?"

Cipher turned back to them. "Quiet, Sunshine! Can't you see that I'm-"

Ochako sprayed the paint directly into his eye, and he flinched backwards. "Ow - not again, why, every time-! I just regenerated that eye!"

"Nice shot!" Stan called out gleefully, before he and Ford were let go and sent tumbling to the ground. Izuku pulled the size-changing light out of his pack and aimed it at the cage, causing it to grow and force Cipher away from them. The four easily slipped between the now large gaps in the bars.

"Both of you, run! Whatever you have that can take Weirdmageddon global, he can't get his hands on it." Shouto snapped at the older men. "We'll distract Cipher."

Stan looked horrified. "What!?"

"That's a suicide mission!" Ford protested.

"If you guys get out safely, it'll be worth it!" Mina promised. She ignored their protests and turned to Cipher. "Hey, asshole! Come and get us!"

With that the four of them took off, Cipher's furious screaming rumbling the entire pyramid.

"Not so fast! You two wait here!" Izuku heard Cipher say. "I've got some children I need to make into CORPSES. SEE YA REAL SOON."

"That sounds pleasant," Ochako murmured under her breath. Izuku risked a look back to see Cipher crawling after them. His body was red now, and separated into three tiers, each tier having rows of glowing yellow teeth as large as a grown man and black tongues that were even larger. Six arms and two legs helped him scale the walls even better. He looked less like a triangle at this point, and more like an abomination.

Pillars crumbled under Cipher as he chased after them. "When I get my hands on you kids, I'm gonna disassemble your molecules!"

Izuku drew out his dagger and activated one of the final runes he'd never had the time to learn about. A beam of light shot right from the dagger and into Cipher's eye, sending him screaming and stumbling again and buying them more time.

They reached a dead end, and looked around to find that the only path was straight upwards. Mina shot her grappling hook, while Shouto levitated himself and Ochako levitated herself and Izuku upwards.

Cipher was back, crawling after them again. "You've tricked me for the last time!"

They reached the top, running through stranger and stranger geometries until they finally found themselves at a true dead end.

"You know, I'm starting to think there's no way out of here." Izuku noted, listening to Cipher's rumbles getting closer.

"Easy." Mina approached the wall. "Like Stan always says, when one door closes, find a nearby wall and bash it in with brute force!" She lifted her leg and knocked the wall down with one kick. "Now let's round up the townsfolk, and… shit."

Izuku looked outside to see the shack completely destroyed. The remaining monsters surrounded their friends with demented grins. "We need to get down there!"

"Peak-a-boo!" Cipher's voice rang out. A second later, Izuku found himself floating in the air, unable to move. Ochako's hands glowed, before fizzling out. Cipher snapped up her and Izuku in one hand, and Shouto and Mina in another, before moving through the pyramid, tunnels twisting until they were back in the entrance, where Stan and Ford were stuck in another cage.

"Alright Ford!" He announced cheerfully. "Time's up!" The four of them struggled desperately in his grip as he waved them around. "I've got the kids! I think I'm gonna kill one of them now, just for the heck of it!" His eyes flashed with their symbols, faster and faster. "Eenie-meenie…YOU-"

"WAIT!" They all looked down at Ford, who was glaring up at Cipher. "I surrender!"

There was a horrible silence.

"Good choice," Cipher said, and suddenly Izuku was falling to the ground, automatically landing in a roll.

"Don't do it!" Ochako called out desperately. "Please, Ford!"

"He'll destroy the universe!" Shouto added. "We're not worth that!"

Ford looked away. "It's the only way." Around them, the cage faded away, and Stan was tied up again, forced onto his knees. Ford looked up at Cipher. "My only condition is that you let my brother and the kids go."

"Fine," Cipher agreed easily.

"He won't hold up his end!" Izuku shouted. "Don't trust him!"

Still, Ford walked forwards, standing face to face with a now much smaller Cipher. Cipher held out a hand wrapped in blue flames, and Ford shook it.

Cipher's physical body turned to stone, and a transparent projection of him floated upwards, and then towards Ford. There was a flash, and then Ford sank to his knees, clearly in his own mindscape.

The bonds around Stan disappeared, and he stood up, grabbing the memory gun out of his suit. It was then that Izuku saw the sixth finger that had been tucked inside Stan's five-fingered glove.

Shouto's eyes widened at the same time. "Ford…?"

Ford took Stan's cap off and nodded solemnly. "Stanley came up with this plan," he murmured, fiddling with the memory gun. "If we can erase him in the mindscape, he'll be gone for good."

The horror of what was about to happen set in, followed immediately by the realization that at this point, it really was the only way to stop Cipher.

Ford pointed the memory gun at Stan, hand shaking, and fired.

The thing was, Stanley had never met Dipper and Mabel.

Sure, he'd heard plenty about them from Shermie. And they'd been supposed to stay with him for the summer when they were twelve. Except, a month before they were due to visit, he'd been informed that they and their parents, Stan's nephew and his wife, had gotten into a car crash, and none of them had survived. He'd seen their tiny coffins lowered into the ground, and tried not to think about the summer that never would happen, the kids he'd never get to meet.

Then, three years later, four kids from another world had fallen into his kitchen, and suddenly, Stan thought he knew what it might've been like if they'd survived.

Suddenly, despite the fact that Shouto, Mina, Ochako, and Izuku were from another world entirely, Stan felt like he had a family again.

He'd let them stay in his attic, and they'd wormed their way into his jaded heart. They helped him save his brother. When the world was ending and they thought they were going to die, they spent what could've been their last moments trying to help him and Ford escape.

Izuku reminded him of Ford when he was a kid, filled with excitement and wonder towards the world, with a brain few could keep up with and a thirst for knowledge nothing could contain. Ochako had so much spunk, and was always there with a comforting word or a protective fist raised against anyone who would hurt the people she cared about. Mina was constantly smiling, extraordinarily creative, and sometimes reminded him so much of Shermie's depictions of Mabel that it ached. Shouto was usually quiet, but no less caring, and the way he held himself, the few times he mentioned his family - it reminded Stan more than a little of his own issues with his father.

They may not have been related, but they were his kids.

This was the least he could do for them.

"I gotta hand it to you Ford, you really know how to clear your-" The door opened, and Cipher stared at him blankly. Stan grinned and gave the bastard the good old finger gun.

"WHAT!?"

Stan chuckled. "Do a pretty good impression of my brother, don't I? Switch clothes, and no one can tell us apart. Welcome to my mind! Surprised you didn't recognize it."

Of course, Stan had packed everything he could into this tiny little room. A version of his living room, complete with the pictures he usually hid under his desk. A place where he could feel safe.

Not that Cipher would know, of course.

"What? The deal's off!" Cipher snapped, but as he turned around, the door slammed shut behind him, and blue fire curled around the edges. So Sixer had managed to pull off his part of the plan.

"What the-!? Oh no no no no!"

Stan smirked, relaxing in his chair, even as he could feel the flames eating away at parts of him. "Oh yeah. You're going down. You're getting erased. Memory gun. Pretty clever, huh?"

"Y-You idiot!" Cipher snapped. "Don't you realize you're destroying your own mind too?"

"Eh. It's not like I was using this space for much anyway."

Cipher still hadn't given up hope, trying his own flames on the door, only for them to fizzle out. Stan would bet money that Shouto could do it better.

This pathetic little creature was the one who almost drove his brother to madness and encouraged him to build the rift, who possessed and hurt one of his kids, and who caused the apocalypse, hurting everyone else Stan cared about. What a miserable little bastard.

"Hey," he snapped. "Turn around and look at me, you one-eyed demon!" Hesitantly, Cipher turned around. "You're a real wise-guy, but you made one fatal mistake. You messed with my family!"

"You're making a mistake!" Cipher insisted. "I'll give you anything! Money! Fame! Riches! Infinite power! Your own galaxy! Please! No!" His form demented, turning into stranger and stranger shapes. "What's happening to me!? Noev ilerofer ehtecnes seymh tiwenoe htfolu osehtnih tiwflestid liuberl liwyti lanosre pymeehte kovniiltol oxa! STANLEEEEY-!"

Stan pulled his fist back and punched forwards, shattering Cipher into a million pieces.

There was a moment where he just breathed. Then he turned back to the cabinet in his mind-room. On which, there were two picture frames. One that Shermie had sent him, of Dipper and Mabel. The other, a photo Soos had randomly taken, of Stan, the kids, and Waddles in the yard.

Stan had never admitted to Soos that he'd kept the photo. Maybe he should've.

Still, he picked it up and smiled, as the blue flames licked his arms, then the edges of his face.

"Guess I was good for something after all."

The tapestries glowed, and then their friends were freed, falling to the ground. Shouto helped Pacifica up, while Mina grabbed Soos, Izuku lifted up McGucket, and Ochako helped Wendy. The pyramid around them rumbled, slowly lowering towards the ground, crumbling as it did so. The remaining monsters were sucked up into the rift, screaming as they went.

They reached the ground as the last of the pyramid dissolved, drifting into the rift. Then the rift closed, sending out a burst of energy as it did so.

By the time Shouto adjusted his eyes, everything had changed. Rather than a burned-out hellscape, they were standing in the woods, right by an in-tact Mystery Shack, with no machines attached to it.

Cipher was there, semi-buried in the ground. Just a stone statue, with nothing else too it. Nothing else left of him.

Something in Shouto's chest twinged uncomfortably.

And Stan was kneeling down in the ground, looking completely out of it.

"...Stan?" Mina asked quietly, hopefully. "Stan? Do you know us?"

Stan blinked, looking at her curiously. "Are you talking to me? Um, I don't think we've met before. Sorry kiddo."

Mina blinked back tears. Izuku was already crying.

"We had to erase his mind to defeat Bill," Ford murmured. "Stan has no idea, but he did it. He saved the world. He saved me." His voice cracked, and he bent down to hug his brother. "You're our hero, Stanley."

"Mr. Pines-!" Before Soos could ask, Ochako wiped at her tears and whispered in his ear. He gasped, looking absolutely horrified.

He thought of Stan like a father. This is just as bad for him.

"Let's get him home," Shouto said, his own eyes feeling watery.

The six of them led Stan into the shack. Stan looked around, no recognition sparking in his eyes. "Well this is a nice place you've got here!"

"You don't remember any of it?" Soos asked.

Stan sat down in his favorite chair, while Waddles curled up at his feet. "No, but this chair hugs my butt like it remembers!" There was a pause as he realized no one was smiling at the joke. "Hey, what's with the long faces?"

"There's gotta be some way he can jog his memory." Izuku hiccuped slightly, before reaching into one of their bags and pulling out the journals. Shouto's eyes widened.

Oh, right. Everything's back to normal. The journals are unburnt again.

Izuku grabbed the third one and walked over to Stan, opening it to show him the pages. "I wrote down some stuff - see? That's when we dealt with the lake monster, and then went fishing with you. And here, the bottomless pit? We all fell down that together and told stories while we were down there."

"Is the Summerween Trickster in there?" Mina wondered, as the rest of them walked over to join the two. "We all ate candy together afterwards! You scared some kids so badly they left all of their candy for us to take."

"And what about the dinosaur cave?" Ochako added. "You punched a pterodactyl in the face!"

"I've got drawings of that!" Izuku agreed, flipping the pages. "We didn't get any pictures, since we were running for our lives and didn't have a camera, but I doodled it and wrote about it later."

"I'm sorry," Stan said. "I don't remember any of that, or who you are-" Waddles squeaked, jumping on him, and he pushed the pig-bear off. "Hey, quit it, Waddles! I'm trying to remember my life story!"

Hope sparked in Shouto's chest. "What did you say?"

"I said get Waddles off of me-!"

Ford looked like he could barely believe it. "It's working! Do we have more pages? Any photographs?"

"Let's skip to the stuff about me!" Soos agreed. "He needs to remember our boss-employee relationship!"

"Hey, just because I have amnesia, don't go looking to give yourself a raise, Soos," Stan huffed.

Ochako jumped up. "I'll get those videos we took! Stan's in some of them!"

"There are pictures under the desk in the gift shop," Mina added. "I'll get those."

"It was kind of overshadowed by everything afterwards, but we set off fireworks on the roof together once," Shouto told Stan. "And Izuku might have something in there about when we played DD&D against a guy from a world of pure math."

"I do!" Izuku flipped the pages again. Mina and Ochako came back with pictures and videos. Stan looked, listened, and started to smile.

The next chapter, like chapter 9, will be an aftermath chapter. After that... Well. We'll move onto the next arc. :)

I hope you all enjoyed, and please don't forget to leave a review! They're what's been helping me churn these chapters out.