All characters from Disney and other properties are owned by their respectful owners. The OCs made here are written entirely for the story. Enjoy this fic.

Chapter 138: Closing the Rift

Some time ago… in another dimension.

Ford Pines groaned as he started to wake up. He opened his eyes and found himself lying on a bed. He looked around at his surroundings and saw that he was in some kind of temple or place of worship.

"Where… am I?" he asked as he got up and started looking around. He saw that the walls of this place was decorated with tapestries. Tapestries containing depictions of… axolotls.

"Huh…" he said as he spotted a window and walked over to it. Looking out, he saw that he was surrounded by clouds and down below he could make out trees. After some observations, he reached his conclusion. "Yup, I'm up on a mountain."

"I see that you're awake," said a female voice.

Ford turned around and spotted a purple hooded tall woman walking toward him. She had violet skin, seven eyes, and purple lips. She wore her hood up.

"Who are you…?" he asked her.

"I am Jheselbraum the Unswerving," she introduced herself. "And you are in Dimension 52. I found you and treated your injuries. You have been asleep for a long time…"

"Yeah… I do remember you saving me," Ford said. "Thank you, Jheselbelle. No, Jesse… Jhesive…"

"J-he-sel-braum," she corrected him.

"Jheselbraum… alright, I think I got it," Ford responded. "I'm Stanford Pines."

"I already know who you are, Ford," she told him. "And I already know your mission to stop Bill Cipher."

"Oh… well, you must've seen my wanted posters then," Ford said.

"I also know why you want to stop Cipher…" she said while making tea on a nearby table. "Because he tricked you into building a portal that he could use to escape the Nightmare Realm."

"Are you some kind of psychic?" Ford asked her as she handed him some tea. "Thank you."

"I am an oracle, actually," Jheselbraum said. "Your mother was kind of a faux psychic, wasn't she?"

"Uh, yeah, she was," Ford complimented as he sipped his tea. "How did you-"

Jheselbraum got to the point. "You want to defeat Bill Cipher, don't you? If you truly want to face him again, you need a way to protect your mind."

"Um, right," Ford said while looking down at his own tea. "I have been trying to figure that out, actually…"

"Then I could be of help to you," she told him, her multi-eyes looking at him. "But… it would require installing a metal plate in your head, with some difficult surgery. Are you truly up to the task?"

Ford gave a determined look. Perhaps it was because of the thin air, but he found himself immediately on board with the idea. "Whatever it takes."

After the surgery, Ford was on his bed with a bandage wrapped around his head. He and Jheselbraum would talk often during his recovery, mainly on the topic of Bill.

"I feel like it is my responsibility to stop Bill from fulfilling his evil plans," Ford admitted while looking down on his tea. "But even after all these years, I still know very little about him. Just… what is his deal?"

"Bill was not always a dream demon. He was once an inhabitant of the Second Dimension," she told him. "Unhappy with the status quo, Bill sought a way to challenge it. He became hungry for power and upon using a Time Wish to obtain the power he desired, he went mad and destroyed his home dimension, along with his family and everyone he had ever known."

"Really?" Ford asked in shock. "He destroyed his entire dimension?"

"Yes," she responded solemnly. "And for his crimes, Bill Cipher was sentenced to the Nightmare Realm, which remains his prison to this day…"

Another day had passed and the two still talked. He took notice of the axolotl imagery around the temple.

"I see that you have a fascination with the ambystoma mexicanum," Ford noted while looking at the tapestries.

"Yes," Jheselbraum confirmed. "This temple was built to honor the Axolotl."

"The Axolotl…" Ford said while stroking his chin. "This is not the first time that I've heard of a being called 'the Axolotl'. Every now and then, during my travels, I would meet someone who says 'praise the Axolotl' like it is some kind of being of worship, although I have reached the conclusion that this Axolotl is some kind of extra-dimensional creature. Like Bill."

Jheselbraum gave a light laugh. "Tell me my six-fingered friend, are you perhaps religious?"

"Well, my parents raised me and my brother to be Jewish," Ford explained. "But I became an atheist later in life. I don't believe in gods, even if Bill fashions himself as one. I believe in hard facts and scientific truths."

"Hmm, you trust your science too much," she told him. "The Axolotl isn't just a creature… it's more than that. The Axolotl is what you would understand… as God," she said which surprised Ford. "Not a God. The God. Or at least, a personification of god."

Ford just scoffed. "God as a giant salamander? Mind my heckling, but it's… it's pretty unbelievable."

"Like Zeus taking on many animal forms or a djinn taking the form of whatever they pleased?" the oracle pointed out. "An axolotl is just one of many appearances that God takes. What God is to someone depends on their relationship with them."

"So what God is to you, Jheselbraum?" Ford asked her.

"God is the one who has given me the means to help you," she declared while facing Ford. She stared at his face, studying it. "Because you have the face of the man who will defeat Bill Cipher…"

Ford looked up to the oracle after she told him this before he then realized something. "Wait, so if the Axolotl is God, does that mean Bill Cipher is the Devil?"

The oracle paused, her face becoming grim. "No. You're lucky to be dealing with Bill Cipher and not the Devil…"

Weirdmageddon was now in its third day as the sound of Ford's screams could be heard coming from the Fearamid.

Inside the Fearamid, Bill zapped Ford while he was in chains. He kept zapping him while his minions watched and laughed. Bill kept zapping until he paused, seeing Ford looking down while groaning in pain.

"Had enough yet, Sixer?" Bill asked him. "This can be over with if you just give up that equation!" Ford coughed while muttering something. "Huh? What was that?"

"I said… what does God mean to you?" Ford asked while glaring up at Bill.

"What kind of question is that?" Bill asked him. "I am a God!"

Ford continued to glare as he scoffed. "You think of yourself as a god? No, you're no god, Bill. Far from it," he told him, causing Bill to look shocked. "I see through your act, Cipher. You may act like you're calling the shots and running the show, but really you're just a pawn! As much of a pawn as I was. Because at the end of the day, even with all of your power, you're just a sad triangle trying to deny that you miss your home. And I know that there's someone else that even you are terrified of. So I ask this… what does the Devil mean to you?"

The Henchmaniacs all gasped as they looked at each other. They then looked at Bill, who just floated there staring at Ford. Bill's only response… was a chuckle.

"Oh, yeah you got me there, Fordsy," Bill admitted. "Yeah, there is someone I'm scared of. But don't push your luck," he said while floating around Ford. "I may have been a nice guy up to this point, but I still have my limits," he warmed Ford, the two glaring at each other. "Well, let's get back to torturing ya," he said before zapping Ford again.

"AAAAH!" he cried out, continuing to scream through the night.

It was morning in the Mystery Shack. Dipper and Mabel woke up in their old shared bedroom. It wasn't too long ago that they last slept here and yet it felt like ages ago.

"Man, waking up here is pretty nostalgic," Dipper commented.

"I'll say," Mabel responded while looking around the room. "It's… nice."

"Hey kids, come downstairs if you're awake!" Stan called out to them from downstairs.

Dipper and Mabel proceeded to walk downstairs, where the lights were off. Once they were downstairs, the lights suddenly came on and they heard everyone shout "Surprise!"

The twins were both in shock. "What the… Stan, everyone," Mabel said, seeing everyone gathered in the room with a cake, streamers, and a banner that said 'Happy Birthday, Dipper and Mabel.'

"Happy early birthday, you two," Wendy said with a smile.

"Whoa, what's all of this for?" Dipper asked.

"Yeah, I thought our birthday was still a week away," Mabel said.

"Next week? I thought it was today?" Soos asked before looking at his pocket calendar. "Why did I think it was today?"

"You along Luz would often get the dates mixed up," Dipper said.

"Well, your birthdays may be still a week away, but we thought that we would still throw you two an early party before our attempt to fight Bill," Candy said.

"Yeah, while we're all here, since that might not be the case a week from now for one reason or another," Stan said. "We had to make due with what we had and we can throw you two a real birthday party next week, but for now, you two can celebrate an early birthday together."

The twins looked at everyone, smiling. "You know, a birthday party during the end of the world doesn't sound so bad," Dipper told his sister.

"Yeah," Mabel agreed. "What's more important than anything else are the people here to celebrate with us."

"Well come on, guys, let's celebrate!" Paz declared, everyone cheering in agreement.

And so, everyone in the Shack started celebrating the twins's birthday, engaging in some lighthearted party antics with what they had. The pixies and gnomes played a little music from their makeshift instruments, with one gnome playing the keyboard.

Piturator hung up a Bill pinata for the kids and Soos to beat with bats. Gus ended up swinging his bat around while wearing a blindfold, knocking around objects, including knocking Stan's fez off his head.

"Hey, watch the fez!" Stan shouted before grabbing his fez.

The adults, meanwhile, were mingling with the magical creatures, including Bigfoot who was being interviewed by Toby Determined.

"So you're really the actual Bigfoot?" Toby asked him.

"Yeah, but there's plenty of guys like me around here. Heck, there is even more like me in my realm," Bigfoot admitted.

"You know, Amity mentioned meeting Bigfoot when she got stranded here," Camila said.

"Oh, you know Amity? Lavender hair, with a cat and living shadow?" Bigfoot asked as Camila nodded. "Aw nice, how is she? Did she make it back home?"

"She did, actually," Camila informed him.

"Wow, now that's a relief," Bigfoot responded. "I hope she's doing great."

"So wait, if there are Manotaurs, wouldn't there be some Womantaurs?" Nora asked while she and Blubs talked to the Manotaurs.

"Oh, there is a Womantaur, who rules us all Manotaurs, even Leaderaur," Chitzpar explained, him and the other Manotaurs giving fearful looks. "But we don't talk about her."

"Even pronouncing her name brings us fear," Testosteraur shivered.

"Either she's the strongest among them… or she's their mother," Blubs whispered to Nora, who gave a nod.

Abigail was handing out slices of cake to Celestebelle and some pixies, including Queen Juniper. "Have some cake, all of you. It isn't anything fancy, but it's still cake."

"Thank you," Juniper responded with a sigh. "I thought I'd stop by to visit my daughter, but then this whole thing happened. Good thing we managed to follow the Manotaurs here…"

Abigail looked at Juniper as she grabbed a chunk of cake. Despite not understanding her, she nodded along, listening. "You have gone through a lot, haven't you?" she asked as Juniper nodded her head, letting out a ringing sound.

Later, a blindfolded Dipper was spun around by Candy and Grenda. They were playing Pin the Tail on the Donkey,

"Come on, Dipper, aim for the donkey!" Mabel cheered for her brother as he walked around while holding the tail.

Watching them was Wendy, who drank from her cup. Standing beside her was Steam. "Hey, how's the workshop with McGucket and Soos?" she asked him.

"Just going through the finishing touches," Steam replied. "And if you ask me, this party could use some music. Good music."

"So you got something to play, retro?" Wendy asked him.

"Lucky for me, I do have a music box," he said, holding up a box-shaped device, tapping on it.

'Baby, I-I can't wait!'

Mabel's ears picked up the song. "Oh my gosh, it's my song!" she declared as she pulled Paz over. "Come on, Paz!"

Paz laughed as she danced along with Mabel to the song, the others watching them before deciding to join in.

"Wanna dance?" Masha asked, offering her hand to Clara.

"Yeah, I'd love to," Clara said with a smile as they danced along to the music.

'My love, tell me what it's all about. You got something that I can't live without~!'

'Happiness is so hard to find.'

After pinning the tail on the donkey's head, Dipper removed his blindfold and Candy grabbed his hand. "Let's dance, Mason."

"Uh, yeah, sure," Dipper responded as he danced along with Candy.

Hey baby, tell me what is on your mind, 'cause I can't wait

(Baby, I can't wait) til you call me on the telephone, I can't wait

(Baby, I can't wait) til we're all alone(I can't wait).

Soon everyone got on the dance floor. This included Gus, Vee, Blubs, Chutzpar, Ariel, Tiffany, Grenda, some gnomes, and the head of Wax Jerry Seinfeld. Everyone was having a good time, even Rocky was shaking his body to the groove of the music.

Wendy smiled. "You do have some good music taste," she told Steam.

"Thanks," Steam responded before he was suddenly pulled over by Wendy. "What-what are you-?!"

"Sorry, don't like being left out," Wendy said as she got Steam to dance with her.

Despite his initial surprise, Steam decided to just go with the flow, smiling as he danced along with Wendy.

You know I love you even when you don't try, I know that our love will never die.

Hey darling, when you look into my eye, please tell me you'll never have to say goodbye.

Cause I can't wait (Baby, I can wait!)

Seeing everyone dancing brought a smile to Abby, who was watching her daughter and Masha dancing together. Stan was standing next to her, sharing the same sentiment with his grandniece and grandnephew.

"You know, this is nice," Stan told her. "Seeing these kids having fun, being kids despite everything else going on right now. I'm… glad to be here with them."

"Yeah, me too," Abigail agreed. "I'm just glad for Clara, finding someone who cares about her."

"Yeah, same for the twins. I know Candy will keep Dipper grounded, and Pacifica? She's good for Mabel," Stan said as he got a little teary eyed. "Even if I might not be around after all of this, it's nice to have this. To see them happy."

Abigail gave a nod and turned to Stan. "Don't worry, Stan, we will get through this."

After the dance, it was time for presents. They had no wrapping, so everyone just handed their makeshift gifts to the twins.

"Wow, handcrafted!" Mabel said while holding up a wooden butterfly carved by Chutzpar.

"These presents are great, guys," Dipper said while holding up a flannel hat from Wendy.

"Yeah, and I love this handmade sweater you girls made," Mabel said to Candy, Grenda, and Paz while holding up a sweater with candy and beads stitched up.

"Glad to you, because I stabbed myself with the knitting needles like a dozen times," Paz responded while showing her bandaged fingers.

"I definitely like this jacket, guys," Dipper said, holding up a blue jacket with a 'Will of Dipper' stitched on the back in yellow lettering surrounded in flames. "Even got to my size."

"Well, I thought that you'd look cool in a jacket, Mason," Candy said with a smile.

"Oh, I'm definitely feeling cool now, thanks Candy," Dipper responded, causing Candy to blush.

"Oh, I got something for you guys," Gus said as he held up two necklaces, one stone shaped like a rainbow, the other stone shaped like a pine tree. "Thought you guys would like these."

"Wow! Cool necklaces!" Mabel said as she wore hers.

"Thanks, Gus. How'd you make these?" Dipper asked.

"With the help from the pixies," Gus said. "Had to stop Emmilie from mistaking them for bugs though."

"Thanks guys, for all of these gifts," Mabel told them. "And you know, I have something for everyone as well…"

"You do?" Clara asked.

"Yup, I didn't want anyone to feel left out…"

"Wow, thanks for the apocalypse sweaters, Mabel," Soos said as he wore a yellow sweater with a tiger on it. Next to him was Wendy wearing a green sweater with an ax. "The end of the world has never been so comfortable."

"Mhmm," nodded Multi-Bear, Vee, Blubs, Toby, Chutzpar, McGucket, and Bigfoot. Blubs was wearing a sweater that said 'Save Durland' and Vee's had the letter 'V' on it.

"Yeah, it's really nice and comfy," Clara said while wearing a puppy sweater while Masha was wearing a black sweater with a skull on it and Abigail was wearing a unicorn sweater.

"Yeah, I really love it," Paz said while wearing the llama sweater. Camila was wearing a blue bat sweater, Nora's was a red sweater with a music note on it, Gus was wearing a sweater with Luz and Willow on it, Steam Punk was wearing a sweater with a gear and screw on it, and Stan was wearing a pink sweater with trees.

"But where did you get all the wool for these sweaters, though?" Nora asked her. "Our supplies are limited…"

"Oh, I have hidden stashes of wool all around the Shack if I ever needed an emergency sweater," Mabel explained. "I had them hidden so well that not even the agents were able to find them. But you know, for the end of the world, this has not been a terrible day," Mabel admitted while sitting beside Dipper, who was wearing a sweater with his birthmark on it.

"Yeah, this has been a good early birthday," Dipper responded as he gave a sigh. "Though it'd still be nice to actually turn thirteen. Fortunately, I feel good about our chances to beat Bill and take back our futures."

"Yeah, and if we get there, I guarantee this whole town is gonna throw you the best birthday party you've ever seen," Soos told him.

"And everyone here will be invited!" Mabel promised, getting everyone to cheer.

As everyone got ready for the approaching battle, Mabel and Paz went into a room where they could be alone together.

"So things are cool with your old friends?" Mabel asked her.

"Yeah," Paz admitted. "And I promised them we could talk more after this. Honestly, I may have been a little too dismissive of them before. When this is over, I think I would like them to start hanging out with us. Have them get to know you, Candy, and Grenda more and vice versa."

"What did they think about us dating?" Mabel asked her.

"They were surprised, but they do support it," Paz said while holding Mabel's hand. "You know, we haven't even gone on a first date yet, since you had to leave so soon after we started dating. Being with you again is great and all… but I would like us to go on a real date when this is over and things are back to normal. Or the Gravity Falls equivalent of normal."

"I would like that too, Paz," Mabel responded with a smile before frowning. "Of course, my parents are still a problem. They could take me away from here again… I just wish there was some way I could get them to change their mind."

"I could always bribe them. I'm the rich girlfriend," Pacifica suggested, causing the two to snicker.

"Oh? How much am I worth to you?" Mabel asked jokingly as the two looked at each other.

"More than you know," Paz responded, the two holding hands. "Happy early birthday, Mabs."

"Thank you, Paz," Mabel replied as the two leaned closer to each other…

And they kissed.

Meanwhile, Dipper and Candy were also alone with each other.

"What do you think the future will hold for us?" Candy asked him.

"I'm… not sure," Dipper admitted while looking down. "I mean, I would rather believe that we can win this. But I have no idea what will happen after that. If Mabel will be able to stay or if Stan will be taken away again…"

"Well, even if they both leave again, you will still have Soos, Wendy, Grenda, Paz… and you will still have me," she said while patting his hand. "You won't be alone, Mason."

Dipper looked up at Candy, who was smiling at him. He was quiet for a moment, like he was trying to think about what to do or what to say. Deciding to not overthink it, he went and kissed Candy on the cheek. This surprised Candy, who turned to him.

"Mason…?" she asked with a heavy blush.

"Um, well, since you kissed me on the cheek I figured…" he stammered. "I mean, I don't want to rush things, even with the end of the world and all. I mean, we-we haven't even gone on our first real date yet…"

"Mason, Mason," Candy said as she held Dipper's shoulders, calming him down. "It's okay. And you're right. You owe me a first date. After we beat Bill, how about the movies?"

Dipper was taken aback, but he quickly nodded. "Um, yeah. Yeah! The movies sound fun." After getting over his awkwardness, the two managed to hold hands, all the while inside of their heads they were screaming like dorks…

Elsewhere in the Shack, Masha looked out the window while Clara joined her.

"Hey, you alright, Masha?" Clara asked.

"Yeah, just… thinking," Masha responded while looking away from the window.

"What's on your mind?" Clara asked in concern. She could tell that something was up.

"Well, I have been thinking… a lot lately, ever since we've left Gatesfield," Masha said while looking down. "Clara… you like me, right?"

"I… I do, Masha," Clara said while walking over and holding her partner's hand tightly. "Of course I do."

"Would you still like me if I were of a… different gender?" Masha asked her.

Clara now looked confused. "Masha… is everything alright?"

"Y-Yeah, just… I do want to confess something," Masha said, taking a deep breath. "I think… I'm non-binary."

Clara looked surprised, but also more confused. "You do? I mean, how did you…?"

"Figure it out? Well, it isn't something that I only just now realized. I guess I've had this funny feeling for a while when I was called a 'girl' or 'she' or 'her'," Masha elaborated. "It's the reason why I changed my name from Marsha to Masha and insisted that I be called the latter. Of course, Gatesfield didn't let me do much else than change my name."

"Oh… Masha, I didn't know you felt that way," Clara said.

"But ever since we left Gatesfield, I've been feeling it more and more, especially after meeting Vee, which really impacted me," Masha continued. "I will admit, I have grown fascinated by a basilisk's ability to change genders, to look however they wanted and be whatever they wanted. It's the kind of freedom that I… do envy." Masha looked down at the floor, almost afraid to look Clara in the eye. "I used to think that maybe I should be a boy instead of a girl, but now I think that I'm… neither." They looked up at Clara. "I'm still figuring this stuff out, but I do want you to help me, Clara. Even if I'm afraid… afraid that you wouldn't like me anymore."

Clara looked shocked upon hearing this and the next thing she did… was embrace Masha.

"Of course I will help you, Masha," Clara said while hugging them. "After all we've been through, after all you've helped me… I want to help you too."

"You… don't mind if I'm not a girl?" Masha asked her, sounding a bit nervous.

"Masha, I still like you," Clara reassured them. "And I still want to date you. I'm not sure what that makes me, but we can figure this out together and make this work. Whatever happens, I'll always care about you, Masha Moore."

This actually made Masha tear up as they hugged Clara back. After all, Clara was the first person they opened up about this. Their girlfriend. And to hear this from her… it was reaffirming.

"Thank you," Masha said as the two looked each other in the eyes, leaned in closer… and shared their first kiss.

Camila was checking different parts of the Shack when she heard someone call to her.

"Camila," Abigail said, getting Camila to turn around.

"Gail… um…" Camila said awkwardly.

"Camil, listen," Abigail said, mustering up her courage to continue. "I… I just want to say something."

The Noceda woman looked at her friend before nodding. Despite how awkward things were between them, she was willing to hear her out.

"I… I don't want our friendship to end because of this," Abigail said while looking down. "What happened in the bubble… I didn't mean to burden you with that knowledge, Camila, and I know that this puts you in an uncomfortable position, one that I never wanted to put you in. I… I don't want to end things on bad terms between us, I do care too much about you. I… understand if you don't want to see me-"

"Gail, stop," Camila said before walking up to her. "Look, I don't want our friendship to end either," she reassured her. "Whatever happened in the bubble… it was rough for both of us. But it doesn't change our friendship, we can get past this." She looked down. "But… I'm not ready to have a long conversation about it yet. I hope you understand."

Abby gave an understanding nod. "Of course I understand, Camila," she told her, grateful to hear that much.

Stan was in his old office, seeing that it had been cleared out. He heard a knock and turned to see Dipper coming in.

"Hey, kiddo," Stan said to his nephew. "Did you enjoy your party?"

"Yeah, though now we have to stop Bill and save Grunkle Ford," Dipper responded while looking up to his uncle.

Stan nodded while he looked down at Dipper, a solemn look on his face. "Listen, Mason. I'm so sorry… for everything," he told him, surprising Dipper. "Especially about leaving you alone with Ford. I promise that once we save him, I'm gonna kill him myself," he joked.

Dipper stiffened a laugh. "I'm just glad that you're here now, Stan. For what it's worth, you may think that you were a bad guardian… but I don't think that could be farther from the truth," he told him, surprising his grunkle. "You weren't perfect, but you tried. You definitely tried more than Ford did. I wouldn't be who I am today without you and I really appreciate everything you did for me, especially after meeting my parents and seeing what huge jerks they were."

"Yeah," Stan acknowledged. "They are."

"And I understand why you were willing to risk so much just to see your brother again," Dipper added. "Especially from how painful it was for me to be separated from you and Mabel, even for a much shorter time. I can't imagine what it was like missing your brother for thirty years…"

Stan knelt in front of Dipper, patting his shoulder. "Kid, no matter what happens next, whether we win or lose, whether I get hauled back to prison or not… I'm proud of you, Dipper. Proud of the real man you're becoming. I've made a lot of mistakes, but you weren't one of them."

Dipper smiled and hugged Stan. "Thanks, Grunkle Stan."

"Don't mention it, Mason," Stan responded, patting his grandnephew's back. He smiled. "Don't mention it."

Meanwhile, Camila and Gus were working on stock, Gus noticing Camila's worried look.

"Hey, Camila, are you alright?" Gus asked her.

"Hmm? Oh, I'm fine, Gus," Camila responded, giving a sigh. "It's just… I'm worried about Luz. Honestly, I thought that she would be here right about now. She said that she would only need a few days to get her affairs in order."

"Yeah, I thought Luz would be here by now as well," Gus admitted, looking just as worried. "I hope she's doing okay…"

"I do too, Gus, but I can't help but think that something happened," Camila said in fear. "Like, what if something happened to her back at the Isles? Or what if she did come here and something happened to her," she said while shaking at the thought of Luz getting caught by Bill.

"Yeah, I get it," Gus said. "But… I do have faith in Luz. Whatever mess she is in, I'm sure she will be fine. She always is."

Camila nodded. "I suppose it is a good thing that she isn't here yet. I do hope that Luz will stay in the Isles until this is over. In all honesty, she's much safer there than here right now…"

And now we go to a place we haven't seen in a while… the Nightmare Realm and its collection of dying worlds. Including what was left of Mewni.

What once was fields of corn was now just scorched earth. What once was thriving forests was just neverending fires. Instead of people were the petrified statues of Mewmans and Monsters alike, all in poses of agony with frozen screams of terror. Up on display were the remains of the Magical High Commission members, with the skull of Omnitraxus Prime on a pike and the bones of Lekmet displayed on a cross. Bill left them there as a reminder.

The villages of Mewni were also destroyed, nothing but ruins populated by petrified statues. What once were battlefields were now cemeteries with the empty suits of large Solarian soldier armor laying around, its occupants long dead.

The surface of Mewni barely showed any life left. Everything was quiet… more quiet than usual. It was unnatural.

"Come, we must report this," said one scout wearing Mewman armor. He spoke with an accent that sounded almost Russian.

"Yeah," the other scout in Mewman armor agreed as they headed back to their base, being careful not to be spotted.

They stopped in front of a boulder. After a specific knock, the boulder moved aside, revealing a staircase. The two scouts went down the staircase, the boulder sliding back in place behind them. The staircase led to a massive underground cavern lit by torches. This cavern was inhabited by Mewman and Monster refugees alike, all scared, battered, and huddled together. They had no choice but to work together, for these survivors had lost everything else to Bill and his Henchmaniacs. The scouts passed the survivors, many of them sleeping or trying to sleep, others finding comfort where they could.

"How are you feeling, Penelope?" asked a teenage slime boy with a purple beanie and jeans. He offered his slime to a brown haired girl in a tattered green dress with bandages over her body.

"A little better, Slime," spoke Princess Penelope Spiderbite as she held his hand while having her blanket wrapped around him. She was one of the few royals to survive Mewni becoming a part of the Nightmare Realm.

Another survivor was a Mewman teenage girl with green eyes, slightly-dark cream-colored skin, and freckles. She wore a blue tunic with red spiked shoulder pads, a red belt, white pants, red thigh-length boots, and pale yellow elbow-length armbands. She was bandaging up a brown-haired, hefty teenage boy with pimples, brown eyes, white skin, and wore a purple tunic with a white furred cape with horns, brown pants, and furred boots.

"It hurts so much, Higgs," he said while Higgs wrapped up his head.

"Hang on, Prince Rock Johansen, you'll be okay," Higgs said, trying to reassure herself as much as she was trying to reassure him. She looked up and spotted the two scouts passing by. "Hey, you two are back."

"Hey, Higgs," the slimmer armored scout spoke up. He and his larger partner took off their helmets. The slimmer scout was revealed to be a bird-like monster with green feathers with a perfectly round head, a ring-shaped patch of blue hair that resembles a kappa's water dish, yellow eyes, and a dark green beak with white fangs. "We have a report for the Captain."

"Yes, it is urgent we speak to him," said the scout with a Russian-sounding accent. Underneath his helmet, he was revealed to be a pale green humanoid frog with yellow eyes, dark green lips, and webbed wings on each side of his head. "But first, where are my little ones?"

"Daddy!"

He looked over and smiled, the frog monster kneeling down as a bunch of Tadpoles rushed over to him. "My Leo, Sergei, Boris, Alexi, Anastasia, Anya, Dimitri, Igor, Mikhail, Nadia, Irina, and Katrina!" he said while hugging the green tadpole children with legs. "Oh how are my babies doing?"

"Doing great, dad!" spoke one of them, Igor.

"Yeah, Foolduke and Ruberiot were very nice to us!" Katerina responded, being the tadpole with more muscular legs.

"Really? Why thank you, comrade Foolduke, and Ruberiot," he said to the dark-skinned Mewman woman with blond hair, brown eyes, and a dirty jester outfit and a brown-haired white-skinned Mewman man with orange hair, green eyes, the outfit of a minstrel, and a broken lute.

"It's no problem, Buff Frog," said Foolduke, the jester girl.

"Yeah, we all have to do our part," Ruberiot said with a nod.

"Thank you, you two," Buff Frog said as he saluted them. "Now then, me and Dennis need to speak with the Captain."

"He's in the war room with the others," Foolduke said.

"Yeah, business as usual," Higgs said.

Buff Frog and Dennis nodded and walked to another cart of the cave. After being allowed in by the guards, they saw the Warrior along with the others in charge around a round table decorated by a map and figurines.

"Buff Frog, Dennis, good to see you two," spoke the helmeted man in the Mewman armor. He was with Hekapoo and two others, the four of them making up the leadership of this group.

One of the other leaders was a woman wearing a black hood and a full body cloak. She was looking at something in her hands, something that looked like a five-pointed blue star.

The other was a tall slender alien humanoid woman with pale green-skinned, pointy ears and moderate-tangelo freckle-spots. She had white shoulder-length hair that was kept freely and had been shaved into a mohawk. She had oval-shaped black eyes with crimson sclera. She wore black mascara and lipstick, with distinctive black eyeliner that resembles running-teardrops. Her outfit consisted of a black crop top with a red dripping heart, one spiked shoulder pad, a floor-length black skirt with thigh-high splits on each side, one yellow glove, and sneakers with black and yellow-striped socks.

"This better be good," spoke the green woman before Hekapoo patted her shoulder.

"Hey, be nice, Domi," Hekapoo told her, causing the green woman to huff.

"I don't do nice," she said, crossing her arms while laying her feet on the table.

"Enough, Dominator," the armored Warrior told the former alien conqueror. "Now then, Buff Frog, Dennis, what did you find?"

"Captain," Buff Frog saluted. "Things have gotten quiet on the surface. More quiet than usual…"

"Yeah, and no signs of Bill and his goons," Dennis said. "When we went up, there weren't any signs of them causing trouble. We didn't even see any Heartless."

"Wait, Bill and his gang are not here?" Hekapoo asked, she and Dominator looking surprised.

"Bill hasn't been seen for a while, but if they're all gone then something must be happening that has demanded their attention," the Captain said, sounding concerned. "Something big…"

"So what do you supposed we do about it?" Dominator asked. "Can we ever do anything about it? We don't have enough information."

The Captain was silent for a moment, thinking it over. "Well, with them gone, at least for the moment, we could risk a supply run."

"More like a suicide run," Dominator muttered.

"She's right," Hekapoo said, turning to the Captain. "We have taken enough risks as it is. It's too dangerous to go up there. We still don't even know what else is out there. And even if Bill's gang is gone, we still have Rasticore's Septarians and Mina's Solarians to worry about."

"I know, but we don't know how long it will be until we get another chance and we need more supplies," the Captain said as he stood up. "I would rather leave now than leave when we are dangerously low. I will just take a small group. We'll be quick."

Hekapoo looked at the Captain for a moment before sighing. "Okay," she said, lowering her head. "Just… don't try to be a hero. We've lost enough of those already."

"Yeah, you should learn to be a bit more selfish," Dominator said before Hekapoo shot her a glare. "What?"

"Since you plan on going out there," the hooded woman said as she stood up from her seat, getting the Captain to turn to her. "Then I should go with you. You'll need me in case you run into some of the Heartless…"

Back in Gravity Falls, a giant Gompers was walking around the wasteland while the Mystery Shack was covered in a large tarp. Inside everyone was present.

"Alright fellas, let's hope this turns out better than my other inventions!" McGucket declared.

"Everybody ready?" Mabel asked as all nodded. "Dipper, now!"

Dipper pulled the lever and the gears started to turn. The machinery started to whir to life, causing the Shack to start to shift. Everyone started tossing and turning as the entire Shack… stood up.

In the ruins of town, a few survivors were trying to keep warm around a fire. Mary and Mosely were shown along with a crying American Guy and a biker while Bud Gleeful was warming himself with a burning pile of Gideon plushies.

"Forgive me, boy. Your hyperflamable merchandise is the only thing keepin' me going," Bud said before a giant robot foot stomped nearby, causing everyone to look up. "What in blazes?!"

"Cool…" Mosely said in awe while Mary looked shocked.

As the robotic foot lifted off the ground and continued to head towards the Fearamid, the sound of Ford's screams was heard. "No… no! NOOOO!"

Inside, Bill kept zapping him. "Ready to talk now?"

Ford gasped, barely able to speak. "I won't… I won't let you into my mind…"

"What do you think, pals? Another five hundred volts?" he asked them before Bill and his goons heard a rumbling noise. "Hey, did you hear that?" Suddenly, a living T-Rex head trapped in amber crashed through the door, startling Teeth who backed away. "What?! Oh come on, I just fixed that door!"

They looked through the hole and saw the Mystery Shack in view… but now it had been transformed and converted into a giant robot. It consisted of the Shack itself as the main body, with the interdimensional portal on the lower part. The limbs consisted of a variety of parts, with one right arm having a large three-clawed hand, the left arm having the T-Rex connected. On the back was the head and neck of the Gobblewonker robot. Its legs were made up of a logging truck and Soos's pick-up truck, the Gravity Falls sign, a Lil' Gideon billboard, the right leg of a Gideon-bot, and the totem pole outside the Mystery Shack.

Soos was on the porch, holding a flag that read 'Take Back the Falls'. "It's the Shacktron, dude!"

"Can you believe that? They built a giant robot out of the house," Wax Jerry Seinfeld said while on top of the flag. "The marketing value would be interesting."

Bill observed this from his throne. "So the mortals are trying to fight back, huh? Adorable!" He floated up, giving orders. "Henchmaniacs, you know what to do! Take them out!"

The Henchmaniacs did as they were commanded, jumping out of the Fearamid, their eyes glowing white while expanding their bodies so that they were the same size as the Shacktron. They all stood off against the Shacktron while Soos held the microphone.

"Uh, hey, dudes. Is this thing on?" Soos spoke up while testing it out, the feedback screech causing the Henchmaniacs to cover their ears… or where their ears should be. "Heh, um… listen up, I just want you monster dudes to hand over Ford and everyone in town, or we'll have to, like, fight and junk," he said. "Hey, you're a little cute." He pointed to Paci-Fire.

"I have butchered millions on countless moons," Paci-Fire declared.

"Whoa, I liked you better before you talked," Soos said. "Real… real bring down, this guy."

"Attack!" Pyronica shouted as the demons ran towards the Shacktron.

"All right, dudes!" Soos shouted as he rushed back inside with the flag and Wax Seinfeld.

"Alright battle stations," Abigail said while stationed on the dance-revolution platform were Candy and Grenda.

"Just as we planned, everyone!" Dipper declared as he took the helm. "Three, two, one… GO!"

The Shacktron posed as the demons charged towards it. Grenda and Candy used the control gloves to control the arms that punched at Pyronica and Kryptos while Mabel had Waddles to pull a lever that activated the totem pole to draw as a cannon, shooting at the demons.

"Haha! Good pig," Mabel said while hugging Waddles.

Paci-Fire tapped on his large head to show a cross-symbol with an eye, controlling the Eye-Bats to flap around to attack the Shacktron. Inside, McGucket was seen in an operational cockpit.

"Get em, Gobblewonker!" he declared while operating the Gobblewonker's head to grab an Eye-Bat in its mouth. On the roof of the Shacktron, Steam, Wendy, and McSkirmish were seen fighting the Eye-Bats, McSkirmish blasting each of them with his signature move while Steam blasted the Eye-Bats with one of his guns.

"Hyah! Hyah!" McSkirmish shouted as one Eye-Bat avoided his attacks.

"Oh no, you don't!" Wendy shouted while leaping off the Shacktron and jumping onto the flying eyeball. She pulled its wings, using it to zap Eight-Ball and turn his head into stone. She piloted the Eye-Bat to turn another one into stone before jumping back into the Shack, crashing through the window while Steam blasted the Eye-Bat with his gun before he got back inside as well.

"Everyone! Incoming!" the Multi-Bear warned while keeping lookout.

"Oh that thing looks big…" Nora said while looking out and seeing the bread-shaped headed goliath known as Zanthar marching up to the Shacktron.

Zanthar rammed into the Shacktron, pushing it back. The arms held onto the beast while everyone inside hung on.

"Everybody!" Mabel shouted while holding the intercom. "Maximum power!"

In another part of the Shacktron, Bigfoot, Rocky, and Sev'ral Times ran on the treadmills, with Sev'ral Times chasing a large chicken leg being dangled in front of them.

"Come on, keep running!" Clara cheered for the runners.

"Now this is good cardio, ain't it?" Bigfoot asked as Rocky nodded.

The Shacktron's power was boosted as Dipper turned the helm around. "And… NOW!"

The Shacktron lifted up Zanthar, the mechanical house robot turning around and throwing the giant beast out of the way. Zanthar flew back behind the mountains as the Shacktron turned around to strike a pose, Zanthar exploding from the background. Running away from them was Teeth, who had been set on fire.

"Looks like we got them all," Gus said.

"Um, I wouldn't celebrate yet," Vee said as she pointed outside after looking through the periscope. "Look!"

"Oh no, it's those weird black goblin things!" Mabel panicked, seeing the army of Heartless climbing out from the ruins of town and rushing towards the Shack.

"And it looks like they have new friends!" Stan pointed out, seeing different Heartlesses besides the Shadows.

One appeared to be a massive, muscular, humanoid Heartless with black skin. Its legs were rather short and its feet were very thin and curled upward. Its arms were quite long, and it had two relatively small, twisted wings on its back. There was a large, heart shaped hole in the Heartless's abdominal area, which penetrated straight through from the front to the back. Its head was covered in dozens of twisted, black tentacles, with its only glowing yellow eyes remaining visible. This Heartless was known as the Darkside.

There was also a group of flying Heartless that was reminiscent of the Darkside. They possessed black skin, similar muscular frame, and a heart-shaped hole in their torsos, but they were smaller and more embellished. They had sharp purple and blue horns that formed the outline of a curled heart. They also have small blue bat-like wings on their backs, gold-tipped feathered wings on their forearms, and bluish-purple fireballs under their feet to assist them on their fast movements. They also had long scaly tails that ended in a sharp, crescent-shaped blade. These were known as Invisibles.

A group of ball-shaped Heartless was flying around. They had spherical bodies that were pitch black and streaked with dark blue. Their glowing, yellow eyes are rather small. The inside of their mouths were blue and the mouth itself was a jagged, toothy opening. It had thick, black, and blue tentacles with frayed, pink tips sprouting out of its body; two are on its top, and one is on its underside. These Heartless were known as Darkballs.

Coming out from the ground were also stony-like Heartless that appeared to resemble hedgehogs, their bodies more round and oval shaped, with a pair of beady yellow eyes and a large purple jagged mouth as their face was similar to the Darkballs. They had several cracks in their body where their purple interior can be seen. Outside of their face, their entire body was covered with rocky spikes that extended outward. They had no limbs, instead they used the spikes on its bottom to bounce around and swim through the ground. They were known as the Earth Cores.

Lastly, joining the Shadow Heartless were the taller versions of them. They had a more humanoid body structure than a normal Shadow, but shared the same pitch black skin and glowing yellow eyes as the Shadows. Their crooked antennae were long and fell back behind the Heartless. They appeared to be rather muscular and they had very large hands, each one sporting five clawed fingers. Their feet were long and lacked digits, resembling more like boots. Their bodies were also lined by several faint, blue veins of color. These were known as NeoShadows.

But joining them were two other Heartlesses. Unlike the Purebloods, these were converted as Emblem Heartless. One appeared to be Catfish, who had been transformed into a large, reptilian-like creature still in his overalls with the heart-emblem. He had a panther-like face with large paws, a snake-like neck and body, and glowing yellow eyes with an alligator tail. He sported large fangs and a snake-tongue. He was a Heartless-version of the Pythanthigator.

And there was the Heartless version of Gill, who had glowing yellow eyes and looked like a huge monstrous version of himself. His muddy hands were formed like cannons, his head was green with a black, jagged toothy mouth. He had short green legs and webbed feet.

"Are these the shadow guys you've talked about?" Masha asked them.

"Yeah, and they look like they got more friends," Stan responded in concern.

"Don't worry, we're prepared to fight these guys," Steam assured them while putting on his goggles. "Cause I figured out their weakness."

Meanwhile, in the Nightmare Realm, the Captain along with the hooded woman led a group of soldiers to get more supplies for the shelter. Unfortunately, they ran into a snag. That being, a group of Heartless that ambushed them.

"Run!" the Captain shouted as the group ran from the Heartless. Looking back, he saw that the hooded woman had stopped and had turned around to face the horde of Heartless.

"Keep going!" he told her.

"No, you won't make it unless I stay behind to buy you all some time!" she told him. "I promise you that I'll catch up."

"But-"

"I'm the only one who can fight the Heartless!" she told him as her blue eyes were made visible in the shadow of her hood, followed by a lock of blue hair. "I'm the only one who should put my life on the line!"

The Captain looked at the hooded woman. "Aqua…" He wanted to argue, but couldn't. He knew that she had a point and that he couldn't talk her out of this. Hesitantly, he went with the others as they ran from the Heartless.

Aqua removed her hood, revealing a blue haired young woman in her late twenties. Her blue hair was about mid-length. She donned a black and navy blue, high-collared halter top, a black corset with two pairs of white laces, and black shorts. Two pink straps intersected over her chest with a silver badge. On her arms were white bell-sleeves and tan, fingerless gloves, as well as small, segmented pieces of armor on each of her upper arms. She wore black stockings reaching up halfway up her thighs, two strips of blue cloth draped over each of her hips along with a smaller, white strip of cloth tied around her waist and draped in the same manner. She also wore silver boots that are pointed and armored, with a sharp 'hook' on the outer side of each.

In her hand, she held up a key, which glowed and transformed into a larger key, a keyblade. This one's design had a smooth, cylindrical, gray shaft that tapered outward at both ends. It had a boxy guard, made up of two small, light gray boxes and a copper rod. The base of the guard connected to the grip, and both sported several small indentations lining them. The grip itself was squared. It had E-shaped teeth. Its keychain was made of several simple chain links and its token was the Terra's Mark.

"Master's Defender, lend me your strength!" Aqua declared as she let out a battle cry while facing off against the Heartless.

Back in the Falls, the Shacktron prepared itself against the Heartless. Steam walked through the cockpit.

"Alright, prepare the light beams!" Steam commanded.

"High intensity, ready to go," Masha reported.

"Time to show them the light," Gus said as he pulled the lever.

The Shacktron's claw arm along with the Gobblewonker's head and the portal charged some high beams, shooting highly concentrated and focused rays of light at the Heartless. It hit the Horde, dispersing and seemingly disintegrating a quarter of the Shadows, NeoShadows, and Earth Cores.

"It worked!" Mabel realized in shock while Steam smiled.

"Earlier I noticed they seemed to have an aversion to concentrated light," he explained. "So I thought that if you crank up the intensity of the brightness and hit them hard enough… it might do the trick."

While this gave some of the Heartless pause, the Invisibles and Darkballs still tried to charge in, half of them getting hit by the light beams. The Darkside charged as well, despite the light beams hitting it.

"That big fella's not going down," Stan said.

"Along with his flying friends," Wendy pointed out, seeing the Invisibles and Darkballs flying around.

"Good thing we aren't a one trick pony," Steam said with a determined look.

Aqua used her Keyblade Defender to shoot one Shadow after another. She managed to take out most of the Shadows and Earth Cores. When she shot one of the Heartless in her path, she looked up and saw a larger one stomping down in front of her.

It was a large creature that resembled a giant lion. It had a dark purple and black body with dark magenta spikes running down its back, as well as a 'mane' of dark magenta tentacles around its head. Its tail had a dark magenta tip, and it sported four purple claws on each of its four legs. It had yellow eyes that on occasion glowed red, a jagged mouth, blue markings on its face and body, and chains around its forelegs. It had a long and thin body, despite its massive size. This Heartless was known as a Dark Hide.

The Dark Hide made a leap and crawled around Aqua. She backed away, but was ambushed by some Shadows coming towards her. She swiped her Defender at it and then another. She attempted to take out some, but she had her back turned, allowing the Dark Hide to bite her keyblade and swing her around until it sent her crashing into a boulder.

"Gah!" she shouted as she held her shoulder in pain. She summoned her keyblade back up and tried to move away, the Dark Hide and Shadows pursuing her as she retreated.

The Shacktron continued to fight the Heartless, the Gobblewonker's head biting onto an Invisible. It used its jaws to blast light on it, causing it to disintegrate. The Pythanigator and Gill Mosster showed up in front of them. The Pythanigator used its tail to swat at the Shacktron's legs, topping it over as it fell. The Gill Mosster crawled onto it, the Pythanigator wrapping around it with its coils. The face of the panther-like Catfish tried to bite at the entrance of the Shack.

"He's trying to eat our way in!" Dipper shouted as Gus marched forward.

"Not for long!" Gus shouted as he drew a spell circle and targeted Catfish, making his eyes glow blue. The Pythanigator started to see an illusion while its jaws were opened, giving Steam the opening to throw a flash grenade into the mouth of the Heartless.

The Pythanigator screamed as it let go of the Shack, just as the T-Rex bit Gill off of it. The two monster Heartless were shoved back as the Gobblewonker snapped at the Pythanigator.

Aqua ran while healing herself. As she ran, the swarm of Heartless chased her. She stopped herself when she almost fell off a cliff.

"Shit," she cursed as she backed away and turned around and saw the horde of Heartless behind her. She summoned her keyblade again, seeing them surrounding her. As they all rushed at her, she shut her eyes, preparing to make this her final stand…

The Heartless screeched as they were seemingly destroyed by the light. The Shacktron had the Pythanigator in a grip by its neck while the Gill Mosster tried to attack the Shacktron from behind, only to be knocked down by the Gobblewonker. The Darkside went to attack again, only for the Shacktron to throw the Catfish Heartless down in front of him while also blasting them in a beam of light.

"We got most of them down!" Camila shouted, seeing the Shadow army and the Pureblood Heartless severely depleted.

"Looks like it's time to finish them off," Steam said as he tapped on his gauntlet. "Everyone, cover your eyes. Initiate: Flash-Mob!"

The latches on each limb of the robot opened up, including the Gobblewonker, revealing large glass lens that glowed. They all shot beams together, targeting all the Heartless.

Aqua opened her eyes and was surprised to see that she was covered in a shield bubble that prevented the Heartless from attacking her.

"What…?" she asked as she saw someone in front of her…

"A good captain never leaves his crew behind!" the Captain declares, revealed to have summoned the bubble shield using his gloved hand with arcane symbols.

This awakened Aqua's determination. "Shield down!" she shouted at the Captain. Once the shield was done, she held up her keyblade and fired a large blast from it. "YAAH!" she shouted as she blasted a beam of light to destroy the Heartless, wiping out the swarm.

"GYAAAAH!" everyone screamed as the Shacktron blasted the Heartless, along with the NeoShadows, Invisibles, and Darkside, seemingly incinerating them from existence. The Catfish and Gill Heartless were also hit with the high beam, changing them back to their old selves.

After wiping out the swarm, the Shacktron stood triumphantly while watching the remaining Shadows flee from the area.

After wiping out most of the Heartless, Aqua and the Captain looked around. They had only a moment of peace.

"You alright, Aqua?" he asked her.

"We should go," Aqua said before she and the Captain began to run from the area, not waiting for any more potential Heartless to come out.

In his Fearamid, Bill was not pleased by what just happened.

"Guys, seriously?" He pinched the bridge under his eye, looking displeased. "You had, like, one job!"

"Ha! You've underestimated us mortals, Bill!" Ford declared as his chains disappeared. "You didn't think we would ever be able to fight back against you!"

"Oh will you SHUT UP!" Bill shouted at Ford as his eye turned red. "You know what? If I can't rely on others, guess I'll have to do the dirty work," he said before snapping his fingers. "I'll be right back."

Ford saw himself being turned back into a golden statue and was cut off mid-scream.

Bill crawled out of his Fearamid while becoming extra big, now a large pyramid version of himself as he faced off against the Shacktron. "Let's get this over with," he said as he lifted his fist and made it extra large. After taking a moment to adjust his tie, he slammed it down on the Shacktron, creating a shock wave. But when Bill raised his large fist up, he saw the Shacktron… covered in a protective bubble, unharmed. "What?! No! Nononononono!" His eye turned red with anger and he sprouted multiple arms while trying to beat up the Shacktron, but its protective magic prevented him from harming it.

"Attack!" Mabel shouted as Grenda punched up. The T-Rex head then lunged at Bill, biting his eye and pulling it back.

"AAAAAH!" Bill screamed, feeling his eye being pulled out of his socket by the T-Rex head. "AAA! My eye! Do you have any idea how long it takes to regenerate that?!"

"Alright, Bill's blinded," Dipper declared. "We got a chance while he's distracted!"

"Rescue team, move out!" Mabel ordered.

Everyone got ready. Mabel got the grappling hook, Soos wore a backpack with the Memory Gun inside, Dipper packed a bag with supplies, including the shrinking and growing flashlight, and Nora held up a katana which sparked electricity.

"Where did you get that?" Abigail asked after hoisting her gun.

"A request from Steam," Nora said as Steam walked over.

"Alright, we're going in two groups since there's eight chutes," Steam told everyone. "Dipper, your group goes first."

"Got it," Dipper nodded as he, Mabel, Stan, Wendy, Paz, Blubs, Vee, and Soos entered the chutes.

As Gus, Camila, Steam, Nora, and Abigail prepared themselves, Clara and Masha walked over. "Hey, we want to go in too," Clara said.

"No, it's too dangerous," Abigail told her.

"But mom-"

"Listen, right now I need you two to stay in the Shack, where you'll be protected from Bill," Abigail told her.

"Don't worry, we're going to rescue Gus, Rudo, Dana, and everyone else," Nora promised as she looked up to see Rocky behind them. "Rocky… protect them."

"Rocky promise," Rocky saluted as Nora and Abigail nodded to the creature.

"Alright, we get in, rescue everyone, and save the world. Piece of cake," Dipper said as everyone got in their chutes.

"Just so we're clear, if I die… well, I'm glad it's with you guys," Paz said, smiling at everyone.

Vee looked worried. "You sure there isn't a way that doesn't involve us plummeting to our certain death-"

"Now!" Wendy shouted as she pressed the button, causing the group to be launched out of the tubes and out of the Gobblewonker's mouth. They all screamed as they were shot toward the Fearamid's opening.

Steam's group got into the chutes next, Camila looking nervous. "You alright, Camila?" Gus asked her.

"I've never done skydiving before," Camila said with a gulp. "But you know, if Luz can go through stuff like this, then I can too."

"Everyone ready?" Steam asked once everyone was in their chutes. Once everyone confirmed they were ready, Steam hit the button.

The group of five were all launched out from the mouth of the Gobblewonker, aiming for the opening in the Fearamid. Camila began to have second thoughts as she flew toward the ominous Fearamid.

"Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god, this was a bad idea!" Camila panicked as she opened her chute. The rest did the same as they floated toward the opening, just as the first group did. The parachutes were made out of Mabel's sweaters.

"Aaah!" Camila shouted as she landed inside the Fearamid, falling onto her face. Nora and Abby helped her up.

"So that's what using a parachute is like," Gus commented after landing.

"Guys, over here," Dipper said as he and his group spotted them. "We found the others… and it's not a pretty sight."

They all saw what Dipper was pointing to and they gasped. Just like they saw on the television, the stone bodies of almost everyone in town were stacked up to make Bill's throne.

"It's even worse up close…" Camila said while Nora covered her mouth.

Gus and Vee shivered. "This… this is a nightmare," Gus said while Vee looked like she was on the verge of tears.

Mabel shot her grappling hook, hooking it onto Manly Dan. Once she lifted herself up to the seat of the throne, she spotted Ford. "I found Great-uncle Ford, guys! He's golden, but not in a good way!"

"Mabel? Is that you?!"

Everyone turned to see someone in a cage hanging from the ceiling of the throne room. They were dancing while in a sailor suit. Mabel was both surprised and happy to see him. "Gideon! You're alive!"

"Thank goodness you're all here!" Gideon said as he kept dancing. He looked very tired. "Once Bill captured me, he started forcing me to do cute dances in this cage for all eternity!" He began to sob. "I'm so tired of being cute!"

"Don't worry, Gideon!" Dipper shouted up. "We'll save you and everyone else!"

"Dipper? Oh thank goodness you're alright!" Gideon shouted, still sobbing and still dancing.

Steam Punk held up a device, a silver tri-beam ray gun with a knob. "With this De-Petrify Ray, we'll unfreeze everyone. Stand back," he said as he used his rocket boots to get some altitude while he adjusted the settings. "Turning this from 'Midas' to 'Medusa.'"

Steam aimed the device and shot a white beam that covered the humongous chair, Steam flying around to make sure the beam hit everyone. After a bright flash of light, the townspeople started to turn from being frozen statues to being back in flesh and blood.

While Steam continued to unpetrify people, the chair of people started to collapse. The now returned people grunted and screamed as they fell and began to pile up, with Durland knocking the cage Gideon was in from the ceiling, causing it to hit the ground and break, freeing Gideon.

"Is everyone alright?" Steam asked them after he finished.

"Ugh, my mouth tastes like nightmares," Lazy Susan groaned as Robbie fell down next to her, landing on his head.

"That was so much worse than the clowns," he said, his spray falling out of his hoodie.

"This experience will forever scar Tad Strange," Tad Strange said while rising up.

Gideon managed to rip his sailor suit off, showing his normal blue suit underneath it. "No more SAILOR SUITS!"

When Manly Dan and his sons recovered, they spotted Wendy. "Wendy!" he shouted as he and his sons rushed over to her.

"Guys!" Wendy said as she hugged her family, tears streaming from her eyes. She saw Tyler Cutebiker walking over and she hugged him as well. Manly Dan brought them all into a group hug.

"Mom!" Paz shouted as she ran up to hug her mother, Priscilla hugging her back.

"Pacifica, you're alright!" Priscilla said, the two happily reunited.

"Durland!" Blubs shouted as he and Vee ran over to their loved ones. "Megan! Ivy!"

"Vee!" Megan and Ivy shouted as they hugged their sibling.

"My Blubs and Vee!" Durland said as he got up, hugging Blubs before Vee and her siblings went to hug Durland and Blubs. "I'm so glad to see y'all!"

"Don't ever scare us like that again," Blubs said before he and Durland kissed, which everyone clapped and cheered to.

Nora and Gus P., meanwhile, were looking around. "Gus? Rudo! Dana!" Nora called out.

"Dad?" Gus P. shouted.

"Mom/Augustus!"

Nora turns, gasping when she saw her son along with Rudo and Dana, all three of them getting up from the floor. With them was Perry, who Gus P. saw.

"Gus/Dad!" Nora and Gus P. shouted as they went to be reunited with their loved ones.

Nora went to hug her son protectively. "Oh my god, thank god you're alright, Gus!" she shouted as Gus G. hugged his mom.

"I'm glad you're okay too too, mom," Gus G. responded, smiling.

Gus P. and his illusion duplicates ran up around his dad. Perry smiled happily, trying to find which one was real as each illusion disappeared before he hugged the real Gus. "I was afraid I would see you again," Gus said while in tears.

"Me too," Perry admitted, also in tears.

Rudo and Dana spotted Abigail. "Mrs. Gates! You guys came for us." Dana said.

"Of course, and don't worry, Clara and Masha are alright," Abigail reassured them before hugging the two. "Glad to see you kids are alright."

"Thanks, Mrs. Gates," Rudo responded.

After she was done hugging her family, Vee also went to hug Poolcheck, relieved to see him alive as well. Though surprised by the hug, the head lifeguard smiled as he looked down at Vee. He spotted Nora hugging her son and when Nora saw him looking at her, the two shared a smile.

Steam changed the settings of the ray again and shot the golden Ford with it, returning Ford to normal. After realizing he was no longer a statue, Ford looked around and saw Stan, Dipper and Mabel. "Stanley… Dipper, Mabel," he said. He sounded relieved, especially to see Dipper again. "I'm so glad you are all here!" He rushed over to them… only to get punched by Stan. "Ow! What the hell, Stan?!"

"That is for trying to leave your grand-nephew behind, Ford," Stan told him sternly.

"Yeah, so you haven't earned our family hugs!" Mabel told him, patting Dipper who silently narrowed his eyes at Ford.

"Oh…" Ford said, getting up as he realized why they were mad at them. "Uh, I'm… Dipper… I'm sorry," he told him with a look of guilt. "Although I know I owe you more than an apology." He turned to his brother. "And Stan, I just want to say-"

"Look, Ford, as much as I'd like to hear your self-pity, now's not the time," Stan told him. "Let's save this for family group therapy later. Those agents mentioned you know a way to defeat the living pyramid schemer. Some kind of prophecy that involves us."

"Yeah, right now we have a world to save," Mabel said.

Ford nodded. "O-of course, now I'm going to need something to draw with. Anybody got a pen? Pencil? Anything?" He looked around and spotted Robbie's spray paint can. "Perfect," he said as he grabbed it and started to spray something on the floor.

"What's he doing?" Gus G. asked.

"Is it some kind of summoning circle?" Gus P. indicated.

"Not quite," Ford said as he made the finishing touches. "But the way to beat Bill… is with this."

They looked down and saw what Ford had drawn: the Bill Cipher Zodiac.

"You drew the world's most confusing game of hopscotch?" Paz asked.

"No, like Stan said, it's a prophecy. Although, it would be a pretty fun game of hopscotch," Ford admitted. "You see, many years ago, I found ten symbols in a cave. Some I recognized then, some I only recognized now. Before they left the valley, the original native people of Gravity Falls prophesied that these symbols could create a force strong enough to vanquish Bill. With Bill defeated, his weirdness would be reversed and the town could be saved."

"You mean, it is as simple as that?" Camila asked him. "Defeat Bill and everything goes back to normal?"

"It should be," Ford answered. "This whole time I thought it was just superstition, but seeing you all here now, I finally understand that it's destiny." He then began to give out instructions. "Dipper, the Big Dipper. Mabel, the shooting star."

Dipper stepped over onto the symbol resembling his birthmark, looking down at it. He frowned, remembering that Bill was the one that gave him his nickname. Mabel, meanwhile, stepped onto the shooting star symbol.

"The question mark? Now that one's unsolvable," Soos said while wearing his question mark shirt.

Wendy then pushed Robbie onto the heart symbol. "This one's easy. You've been rockin' that dumb hoodie since the seventh grade."

"Whoa, destiny hoodie," Robbie said in awe.

"The Tent of Telepathy sign!" Dipper said as he pointed to the star symbol while Soos stepped onto his spot. "That must be Gideon."

"I am honored to help y'all once again," Gideon said as he took his place next to Dipper, the two boys smiling at each other.

Meanwhile, back with Bill fighting the Shacktron, the triangular demon got punched back and he ended up falling down. The Shacktron stepped onto Cipher, who tried to push the robot away, but the barrier protected it from harm. Bill looked up at the robot, but then noticed one of his arms touching the leg.

"What the…?" he asked, realizing that while the Shack itself was protected, its appendages weren't. "Hey Achilles! Nice work with the HEEL!" he shouted as he knocked over the Shacktron and pulled out the robot leg.

"Crap!" Masha shouted as everyone gasped. "Hold on, everyone!"

Rocky held onto Clara and Masha as everyone else braced for the impact.

"FORE!" Bill shouted as he used the robot leg to knock the Shacktron away, causing it to roll across the ground.

"Hold hands, everyone!" Ford ordered while standing next to Gideon. "This is a mystical human energy circuit!"

"Ice? Who's ice?" Dipper asked while looking at one of the symbols.

"The symbols needn't all be literal," Ford explained. "It just has to be someone cool in the face of danger."

"It has to be Wendy then," Tambry realized as she, Lee, Nate, and Thompson cheered. "Wendy! Wendy!"

"Heheh, shut up, you guys," Wendy said as she stepped onto the bag of ice symbol.

Camila looked at the glasses symbol, realizing something. "You know, Bill called me Glasses before he trapped me in that bubble. So it must be me," she said, stepping onto the spot. She then looked up, determined. "I'm ready to save the world."

"Me too, Mrs. Noceda," Pacifica said as she stepped on the llama symbol and held Mabel's hand. "Hey, looks like we get to hold hands for this."

"Yeah," Mabel said with a smile as everyone held hands.

Stan looked down at the clam symbol, the same symbol that was on his fez. "I guess this one's me, eh?"

"Yeah," Ford nodded. "Ready to save the world, brother?"

Stan gave him a nod. "I almost destroyed the world, it's only right that I try to save it," he said as he took his place between Dipper and Wendy, taking their hands. Dipper smiled up at him. "What an arc."

Once everyone held hands, they all started to glow in a blue light, the circle glowing around them as well. Clouds start to form around the Fearamid.

"Grunkle Ford, I think it's working!" Dipper realized.

"We're really going to save the world…" Camila said in shock.

"Yes! This is it!" Ford shouted as he turned around to the people outside the circle. "The rest of you get out. It's too dangerous!"

"You heard him, let's go, people!" Steam shouted as he, Abigail, Nora, Blubs, and everyone else ran for the nearest exit, Manly Dan carrying Tyler in his arms.

"We're… we're doing it," Dipper said as they all looked down at the center of the circle and saw it glowing brighter and brighter…

Until a laser hit the symbol, knocking the rest of the group out of the circle. "YAAH!" they screamed as they fell away from the now burnt zodiac circle.

"Oh no, the circle!" Dipper shouted in shock.

"Where did that blast come from?!" Wendy asked.

"Look!" Paz shouted as she pointed up and when everyone looked up, they gasped in shock.

"Did you really think you would be able to get away with this?!" Preston Northwest shouted. His body was mangled and it looked like he had lost a few eyes.

"Preston?!" they all shouted.

"God, dad! Why would you do this?!" Paz shouted in anger.

"Yeah, we were trying to stop Bill!" Gideon added.

"Have you realized what you've done?!" Ford shouted, looking at Preston in anger.

"Yes, I've redeemed myself for my failure!" Preston shouted as he lowered himself down. "After he sees what I've done for him, he will reward me for wiping you all out!" he shouted while radiating darkness.

"I am so sick of your crap, Preston!" Mabel shouted while bringing out her grappling hook.

"Yeah! We've had enough of you!" Dipper shouted while cracking his fist as Camila brought out her bat and Wendy brought out her ax.

"Hehehe, bring it on, then!" Preston declared as his hands glow….

"Oh hey, am I interrupting something?"

Everyone paused and turned around in fear. They saw the large Bill Cipher floating in front of the hole in the wall while behind him was the wrecked Shacktron.

"Oh no, it's Bill! Right? Isn't that what you're all thinking?" he asked mockingly before noticing Gideon. "Hey, Gideon, why aren't you dancing? Chop chop, huh?"

"Bill…" Ford glared up to him.

"Bill, my liege!" Preston shouted as he flew up in front of him, sucking up to the demon. "Did you see what I did? I stopped those miscreants and foiled their attempt to defeat you! Um, I hope you can forgive me for my previous failure…"

"Hmm, I guess I can reward you by…" Bill said as he looked at Preston… as he blasted him across the throne room, causing him to hit the wall. "ENDING YOUR ETERNAL SUFFERING!"

"AAAAAHHH!" Preston screamed as he felt his skin ripped apart, shredded as he was blasted into the wall. His scream died out as Bill stopped his blast. All that remained of Preston Northwest was burnt flesh and bones.

Everyone gasped at the sight of Preston, seeing his remains and charred body. But then they noticed the body being engulfed by darkness. The aura surrounded the body, forming it into something else. They watched in horror as the body was replaced… by a Shadow. Preston's Shadow, who scurried off from the spot.

"What… just happened?!" Robbie asked in shock.

"Preston turned into one of those black imp things," Mabel said.

"Yeah, he's a Heartless now," Bill explained as he floated over. "They're shadowy beings that come from the Nightmare Realm. When they get into something, they get everywhere, let me tell you."

"Heartless? Well that's fitting for him," Stan commented.

"Now where was I? Oh, yeah," Bill said as he looked at the group before him. "You know Fordsy, I didn't think this day could get any better. But now I have every threat to my power together in one place!" he shouted while extending some arms to grab Stan and Ford. "You guys wanna see what happens to those who oppose me?"

"Hey! You give them back!" Camila demanded as she held up her bat.

"You've gone too far, Cipher!" Gideon shouted.

"Yeah! We're not scared of you!" Wendy shouted while holding her ax.

"Oh, but you should be," Bill said as he snapped his fingers.

When he did that, Wendy, Gideon, Camila, Robbie, Soos, and Paz suddenly paused, their eyes glowing yellow. They started to float up in the air, causing the twins to panic.

"AH! Paz! Camila! Gideon!" Mabel shouted.

"Soos! Wendy! Robbie!" Dipper shouted as they watched the six levitating in the air.

"You know, this castle could really use some decorATIONS!" Bill declared as the six he held disappeared in a flash of red light. Then, in their place were tapestries. Tapestries of Robbie, Camila, Paz, Wendy, Soos, and Gideon all screaming in terror in front of their symbols. "Looks like it's too late for your friends, Stanford."

The Pine twins suddenly found themselves surrounded and trapped in a blue pyramid. This worried the Grunkles.

"Ah! No, not the kids!" Stan shouted with worry.

"Bill, please don't!" Ford begged.

"You can still save your family, Ford. One last chance before I do something crazy," Bill said as he looked at Ford. "Tell me how to take Weirdmageddon global and I'll spare the kids!"

"No! Don't do it!" Dipper warned.

"Yeah! Bill makes bad deals!" Mabel declared, making Bill turn around to face them.

"Oh don't you toy with me, Shooting Star," Bill told her as his eye showed a picture of the galaxy. "I… SEE… EVERYTHI-OW!" He screamed as Mabel spray painted his eye. "Not again! Why?! Every time!"

"Nice shot, pumpkin!" Stan cheered as he and Ford were released from Bill's arms, causing them to fall to the ground.

"I just regenerated that eye!" Bill shouted while closing his eye.

"I know that hurts, because I've accidentally done it to myself! Multiple times!" Mabel shouted.

As Bill winced in pain, Dipper took the opportunity to use the flashlight with the crystal-lens to make the pyramid prison bigger, big enough for him and Mabel to crawl out between the bars.

"Save yourselves! Run! We'll take care of Bill!" Dipper told the grunkles.

"What? That's a suicide mission!" Ford responded.

"Trust us, we've beat him before…" Dipper said.

"…And we'll beat him again!" Mabel declared as the two fist bumped. "Hey Bill! Come and get us, you pointy jerk!" she shouted to Bill.

Bill snarled in anger, turning red as he saw the twins running out of the throne room and down a hallway in the Fearamid.

"Kids, no! It's too dangerous!" Ford shouted as he and Stan tried to run off after them, but they're stopped in a force choke hold by Bill, who trapped them in another pyramid cave.

"Not so fast, you two wait here!" Bill told them as he turned red, grew six arms, and grew more monstrous. "I've got some children I need to make into corpses! See ya real soon!" he shouted in a monster voice before running after the twins.

"No! Wait! Nononono, what do we do? What do we do?!" Stan asked in panic.

"Kids!" Ford screamed, the two worried about what Bill would do to them.

The kids ran through the halls of the Fearamid, Bill behind them.

"When I get my hands on you kids, I'm gonna DISASSEMBLE YOUR MOLECULES!"

Dipper pulled Mabel into another hall, Bill missing the turn and running past them. As Bill circled around them, Dipper and Mabel reached a dead end and looked up to see that the corridor did continue, but it went straight up instead of forward.

"You've tricked me for the last time!" Bill shouted as he tried to grab them, but Dipper used the grappling hook at the last second, flying up while holding onto Mabel, angering the demon.

Back to Stan and Ford, the two brothers were worried for the kids.

"Oh I can't believe this," Stan said as he paced back and forth "The kids are gonna die and it's all my fault! If I hadn't reopened the portal, something you didn't want, then this would never have happened and Dipper wouldn't be in danger!" He fell to his knees, swatting his own face."And this all started with me pushing you in that portal in the first place…"

Ford looked at his brother with a saddened and reflective expression on his face. "No, Stan. If anything, this is my fault. I was the one who built that damn portal for Bill in the first place. I fell for all of his easy flattery, while you would have seen him for the scam artist he is," he said as he sat down, leaning against the bars while bringing out a water canteen, drinking from it.

"That is true," Stan agreed as he sat down next to Ford, who shared his water canteen with him. "I guess it's probably why that nacho chip spoke to you and Dipper, but never me. He knew that he wouldn't be able to trick me."

Ford sighed as he looked down. "We both screwed up, and it's not right for the kids to have to be the ones trying to fix this, since it should be us." He looked up at the ceiling. "Lilith was right…" He then got up with a determined look, which Stan noticed.

"Wait, what are you doing?" Stan asked.

"I'm going to play the only card we have left," he explained. "Let Bill into my mind. He'll be able to take over the galaxy and maybe even worse. But at least he might let the kids free."

"What?! Are you kiddin' me?!" Stan exclaimed, standing up with him. "Are you honestly telling me there's nothing else we can do?!"

"Bill's only weak in the mind space," Ford explained. "If I didn't have this darn plate in my head, we could just erase him with the memory gun when he steps inside my mind."

Stan got a thought. "What if he goes into my mind?" he suggested. "My brain isn't good for anything."

Ford shook his head. "There's nothing in your head that he wants. It has to be me. We need to take his deal. It's the only way he'll agree to save you and the kids."

"Do you really think he's going to make good on that deal?" Stan asked him.

"What other choice do we have?" Ford asked, looking down in guilt. "I have to take responsibility for this, Stan. Because of me, Weirdmageddon happened all because I was selfish. I'm the one that let Dipper down as a guardian. He adores you, Stan. And I knew that what he wanted more than anything else was for me to be you, Stan. But I just couldn't do that…"

This gave Stan a new idea, his eyes widening in realization. "Maybe you can…"

The twins continued to run through the halls of the Fearamid until they found an actual dead end.

"Oh crap, a dead end!" Mabel shouted.

"Don't worry, Mabel. As Grunkle Stan always says," Dipper said as he pulled out the flashlight, using it to make his hand bigger. "When one door closes, choose a nearby wall and bash it in with brute force!" he declared before punching through the wall to make an opening.

As Dipper shrank his hand back down, Mabel cheered. "Way to go, bro! Now let's round up everybody and we can work together to defeat… oh no!"

The two looked down, seeing not only the wrecked Shacktron, but everyone surrounded by Heartless.

"I thought we defeated those things?!" Gus asked in shock while standing close to Perry.

"Those light beams didn't destroy them…" Steam realized while holding his gun up. Rocky, Abigail, and Nora backed away while protecting the kids, while Durland and Blubs stood protectively in front of the Basilisk trio.

"You'll never take us alive, monsters!" Grenda declared.

"We're going to be okay, right mom?" Clara asked while hugging her mother.

"I… I don't know," Abigail admitted while hugging her daughter tightly.

"Oh no…" Dipper said with a grim look.

"Peek-a-boo!" Bill shouted as he appeared behind them, his eye catching them in a tractor beam, levitating them off the ground.

"AAAH!" they screamed as Bill grabbed hold of them and headed back to his throne room.

Once Bill re-entered the throne room where Ford and Stan were kept in, he made an announcement. "Time's up, Fordsy! I've got the kids, and I'm done playing nice! I think I'm gonna kill one of 'em now just for the hell of it!" he declared as he looked at the struggling twins, his eye changing between their symbols before he settled on the shooting star. "EENIE… MEENIE… MINEE… YOU-!" He held up his hand, prepared to end Mabel…

"WAIT!" Ford shouted, stopping Bill before he could snap his fingers. "I surrender!"

"Good choice," Bill said before dropping Dipper and Mabel.

"Don't do it, Ford!" Stan told his brother, shaking him. "It'll destroy the universe!"

"It's the only way," Ford responded as Bill shrank down and levitated in front of them.

"Oh, even when you're about to die, you Pines twins are a delight," he said as he dropped the cage, releasing them before he tied up Stan.

"My only condition is that you let my family go!" Ford told them. "My brother and the kids, spare them."

"Fine," Bill agreed while glancing at Dipper. "They're more fun alive anyway."

"No, Grunkle Ford! Don't trust him!" Dipper shouted.

Ignoring Dipper, Ford stepped in front of Bill, the triangle raising his hand. "It's a… DEAL!" he shouted, blue flames bursting from his hand.

Ford raised up his own five-fingered hand, extending it and grabbing Bill's hand. After a flash, Bill's physical body turned to stone and Bill entered the mental realm. He laughed evilly before he went into Ford's mind…

"Oh, I'm here," Bill said in excitement as he looked around a white void. The only thing here besides him was a black wooden door. "I'm finally here! Look at this place: a perfect, calm, orderly void," he said while floating down to the door.

As he grabbed the knob, he continued talking. "Gotta hand it to ya, Ford. You really know how to clear your m-" As he opened the door and entered the room, he was struck speechless when he saw Stan sitting in a chair playing paddle ball while in the living room of the Mystery Shack.

Stan noticed Bill and made a clicking sound as he pointed a finger-gun at Bill. "Made-ya look."

"WHAT?!" Bill shouted in disbelief.

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

Back in the Fearamid, Stan took the fez off, revealing himself to be Ford, much to the confusion of the twins. Seeing his brother unconscious before him, Ford pulled out the memory gun and entered 'Stanley Pines' into it before he aimed the gun at his brother.

Ford hesitated, the gun in his hand shaking. 'I'm sorry, and thank you, Stanley,' he thought before he pulled the trigger.

"WHAT?! No, the deal's off!" Bill shouted before the door closed behind him. "Eh?! What the…" He turned around and saw the door burst into flames while the living room mindscape was surrounded in flames. "No NO NO NO!"

"Oh yeah, you're going down, Bill," Stan told him. "You're getting erased. Memory gun. Pretty clever, huh?"

"Y-You idiot! Don't you realize you're destroying your own mind, too?!" Bill asked in disbelief.

"Eh, it's not like I was using this space for much, anyway," Stan said with a shrug.

"LET ME OUT OF HERE! LET ME OUT!" Bill cried out as he attempted to use his powers, only for it to short circuit. "WHY?! WHY ISN'T THIS WORKING?!"

"Hey, look at me," Stan demanded. "Turn around and look at me, you one-eyed demon!" Bill turned around, only to get sucker punched by Stan. "Hurts, doesn't it? Well, that's for scarring my niece!" He then gave Bill a kick. "And that's for tricking my nephew! And this-" He punched Bill some more, making the eyeball cough up blood. "Is for all the pain and misery you've caused for not just my brother, but everyone that you've come across! You made one fatal mistake, and that's messing with my family!"

Bill groaned as he saw the flaming room fading away. "You… you're making a mistake! I'll give you anything! Money! Fame! Riches! Infinite power! Your own galaxy-!" He started glitching out. "No! What's happening to me?!" He then started to flash into several distorted forms while speaking backwards. "Nruter yam I taht rewop tneicna eht ekovni i! Nrub ot emoc sah emit ym! G-O-B-A-N-R-E-H-C!" He then started to speak normally. "STAAAAANNLLLEEEEYYY!" he screamed while reaching out to Stan, who gave Bill one final punch in the eye, causing him to disintegrate with a fading scream. "AAAAaaaahhhh!"

Stan caught his breath after the punch. He looked around the flaming room, then spotted a frame picture on the drawer. He went to pick it up. The picture was of him and Dipper when the latter was just a toddler. He smiled, seeing him holding the little Dipper on his shoulder.

"Looks like I really am good for something after all," Stan smiled as hugged the photo close while he was engulfed by the flames around him…

And as he was erased, Stan managed to make peace with what he'd done.

Back outside of Stan's mind, Ford finished erasing Stan's memory with the memory gun. Afterward, he dropped the memory gun down, his face pained with guilt.

Once he was done, Gideon, Soos, Wendy, Camila, Paz, and Robbie returned to normal and they all dropped to the floor. Some groans were heard.

"What… what happened?" Robbie asked while getting up.

"Did we win?" Paz asked.

"But… everything's still the same," Camila said, looking around to see that the Fearamid was still here.

"Grunkle Ford, what happened?" Dipper asked in worry. "Why isn't everything changing back to normal? Why is this pyramid still here?"

"And why aren't those Heartless shadow things going away?" Mabel asked as she pointed outside.

Ford realized this as well. "It… it should've worked. Bill is gone, but… I hypothesize, no… I believe that something else must be keeping the Rift open, if not Bill."

"But who?!" Gideon asked him. "Who's keeping that Rift open?!"

"Guys!" Mabel shouted as she looked outside the hole in the wall. Everyone ran up to her as she pointed up. "LOOK!"

"Great Scott…" Ford said as his eyes widened.

"Dios mio…" Camila said, everyone else reacting in shock… and fear.

The Rift was still hanging open above them. But there was something else. Something on the other side of the Rift. And it was looking down at them.

The Heartless suddenly stopped advancing on the townsfolk. Instead they looked up at the Rift and raised their arms up toward it in reverence. The townsfolk looked up as well.

"Mom…" Clara said. "What is that?!"

"I… I don't know…" Abigail responded.

"Oh snap!" Teeth cried as he along with Hecktorgon, Pyronica, and Paci-Fire backed away in fear.

"It's him!" Pyronica cried out.

Appearing on the other side of the Rift was a pair of thin glowing yellow eyes, casting a powerful yet evil gaze upon everyone below.

Seeing mortals and demons alike trembling beneath him, the large dark figure on the other side of the Rift smiled.

It was a cruel smile…

Meanwhile, outside the town borders, the Agents were talking with Director Gates.

"A bomb?" Spike questioned while he, Li, and Brown spoke to Angel. "You want us to bomb the town?!"

"We can't go nuclear," Brown said.

"Not the town, the Rift," Angel clarified. "A hole has been opened into our reality and what we need to do is plug in that hole. My organization has a bomb that we can send to the other side of the Rift. When it goes off, it will cause the Rift to collapse in on itself, breaking its hold on our world and returning things to normal."

"Okay, so how do you plan to send the bomb through the Rift?" Li questioned, narrowing her eyes at Director Gates.

"My Ex-Bots," Angel explained. "They will carry the bombs through the Rift and set them off, sacrificing themselves without needing ro risk any human lives. Trust me, this method is efficient. Our technology is reverse-engineered from our failed portal experiments. And this is a far better solution than wiping out the town with innocent civilians."

Brown scoffed. "How do you even know that it's going to work?"

Angel simply smiled. "Let's just say that I have… experience with rifts…"

Some time ago… Mewni.

Piles of corpses decorated the battlefields of Mewni, with the corpses belonging to Mewman and Monster alike. The air was filled not with war cries, but screams of terror as the Ex-Bots flew around causing death and destruction, slaughtering everyone in their wake. They did not discriminate between Mewman and Monster. Both were killed while trying to flee or fight back against these Ex-Bots.

But this was just a distraction. There were several more Ex-Bots carrying some kind of device up in the sky. A few surviving Mewmans looked up, wondering what they could be carrying.

Back in the present, everyone was watching as flying up toward the Rift were the mechanical winged creatures known as the Ex-Bots. Gus's eyes widened when he spotted them.

"No way…" Gus said in shock, backing away in fear.

"What's wrong, Gus?" Perry asked his son.

"Those things!" he shouted while pointing up to the sky. "Those are the things Hunter talked about!"

They all saw the Ex-Bots flying into the Rift, setting off the bombs once they were on the other side, right in the face of the large dark figure looking down at Gravity Falls.

A gateway had been opened.

The sky had turned red as cracks appeared in it, almost as if reality itself was breaking. And having emerged from these cracks… was Bill Cipher, who levitated Lekmet, Omitraxus Prime, Hekapoo, and Rhombulus in front of him.

"Well, well, welly-well, well!" Bill Cipher laughed. "If it isn't the so-called Magical High Commission!"

Lekmet wasn't lucky as he was split apart piece by piece. He cried as his fur was plucked out one by one, while his bones stuck out and were turned into milk…

Omnitraxus Prime was no better, as he was forcefully shifted around like a blob. "No! Stop! Please!" he cried out before his skull face was plucked out and split into pieces.

Hekapoo struggled in her bonds before she got electrocuted by a zap from Bill's eye. "AAAAAAAH!" she screamed as her eyes glowed yellow and she was struck in the back by a levitating spike. "AAAAHH!"

"Please… no!" Rhombulus cried out while getting beaten down to the ground repeatedly. He was slammed up and down, while his crystal-like head received some cracks…

But Bill Cipher was not the only thing to emerge from the cracks. Mewman and Monster alike screamed as they were set upon by demons from the Nightmare Realm. Some were turned to stone. Others were turned to stone. And the really unlucky… were devoured alive.

And as Mewni was laid siege to by interdimensional monsters, a horrified Star Butterfly watched from the balcony of the Butterfly castle, while in the ruins of his family's castle, Ludo Avarius stared up at the demons and Heartless spilling out of the cracks… and lost it.

"AAAAAAAHHHH!" Ludo screamed. He knew he had to get out of here. He knew he had to get away from the things coming out of the rifts. Quickly he pulled out a pair of inter-dimensional scissors and used it to open a portal. Then he made the mistake of turning back and his eyes widened at the sight of the horrors entering Mewni. He dropped the scissors and fell on his knees, screaming and laughing out of madness. Mewni was lost. And as the sky continued to crack, the wind picked up and blew Ludo off his feet, knocking him into the portal.

For Mewni, this was the beginning of the end.

But Earth would be luckier.

Inside the Rift, explosions occurred. The Rift became unstable and started to collapse, sucking everything that came through it back into the Nightmare Realm.

"WAAAH!" the Henchmaniacs cried out as they got sucked back into the Rift along with the swarm of Heartless and other monsters.

The Fearamid was taken apart brick by brick as it got sucked into the Rift, along with Preston's Shadow, who screamed as it went up into the Rift.

The Pines, Camila, Paz, Wendy, Soos, Gideon, and Robbie all fell safely to the ground, holding onto each other as they looked up at the Rift as it finally completely collapsed in on itself and closed, shutting the door between the Human Realm and the Nightmare Realm.

Once the Rift was gone, another explosion occurred and a wave of energy washed over the town, returning the skies to normal. The waterfall that fell up fell back down. The walking water tower beast was turned back to normal.

"AAAAH!" the screaming Helicopter flew around until the wave changed it back to a normal helicopter, complete with the pilot who was still screaming. "AAAH! Wait, I'm normal again!"

However, the town was still a wreck. The damage was not undone, but the weirdness was. The townspeople looked around, seeing Gompers shrinking back down to normal and Rumble McSkirmish throwing out a peace sign before he faded away.

Outside the borders, the Agents and the civilians watched in shock as the Rift closed and Weirdmageddon ended. There was a moment of quiet relief as they saw the town return to normal.

"What's the order, sir?" a soldier asked Spike.

"It's time we move in!" Spike ordered. "See if there is anyone in the town who needs medical attention. And we need to find Powers and Trigger if they are still alive."

"And as for you, Angel Gate-" Li turned around, only to see Angel was no longer there. "She's gone!"

"Son of a-!" Brown hissed with a stressed look. "How the hell did we let her go? We need a unit to spread out and comb around the area for Angel Gates and Department A!"

As the government agents and soldiers did their job, Rachel just stood there, looking up at the sky in awe. She had seen what those… angels had done, what Angel and Department A had done.

They saved the world.

Much of the forest and town was in ruins. Trees were burned, buildings were destroyed, windows were broken, and so on. The townsfolk looked around at the remains of their beloved town.

"Weirdmageddon's over, but…" Gus G. said with a saddened expression. "This town…"

"I know, Gus," Nora nodded as she looked around, seeing the townsfolk looking just as devastated as their town.

"Our homes, our livelihoods…" Lazy Susan said while looking downtrodden.

"Hey now, everyone," Tyler Cutebiker said as he stepped onto the pedestal where the statue of Nathaniel Northwest had been. He got everyone to look up at him. "I 've been hit hard. Harder than we've ever been hit before. But… we haven't lost everything and we can rebuild from this. And we will. I can promise you that."

In the forest, Bill's petrified body remained. However, a boulder slammed against the statue, breaking it into pieces.

"Ha!" Rocky declared after throwing the boulder at the statue. With him were Bigfoot, the Multi-Bear, and Chutzpar.

"A little excessive, don't you think?" Bigfoot asked.

"Can't be too careful," Rocky said while Chutzpar and the Multi-Bear nodded.

"Agreed," the Multi-Bear said. "Come now, let's go check on our caves."

"Yeah! Say, can I crash into any of you guys' places?" Bigfoot asked them.

Meanwhile, Stan was still knelt over with a dazed and confused look. Blinking his eyes, he saw Dipper, Mabel, and Ford in front of him.

"Grunkle Stan, you did it!" Dipper said happily while putting Stan's fez hat on his head. "You helped defeat Bill!"

"Huh?" Stan asked as he looked around in confusion. "Who are you talkin' to?"

Dipper looked afraid. "What… come on, Stan. It's me. It's me, Grunkle Stan." He shook Stan's shoulders as Mabel pulled him away. "Stan, come on, it's me!"

"I'm so sorry, Dipper," Ford said while looking down at the twins. "But we had to erase his mind to defeat Bill. It's all gone." He looked over to his brother, giving a sadden look. "Stan has no idea, but he did it. He saved the world… he saved me… he saved all of us." He knelt over in front of Stan. "You're a hero, Stanley," he said, his voice breaking as he gave Stan a hug.

Dipper couldn't stop himself from crying and Mabel quickly hugged him, crying as well.

"He's… really gone, is he?" Dipper asked while tearing up.

"I'm sorry, but there's nothing we could do for him," Ford said.

It was then that Mabel was suddenly struck with an idea. "But… what if there is…?"

Soon, the Pines family arrived at the wreckage of the Mystery Shack, escorting a confused Stan.

"When McGucket saw the tape of himself as a younger inventor, he started to remember. I think that maybe we can undo the effects of the memory ray through exposure to important images and people from the past," Mabel explained. "And since Stan's just been hit by that memory ray, we should start trying to jog his memories now."

"Hence why you suggested the Mystery Shack," Ford indicated. "He's been watching over this place for me for thirty years, it's practically his home."

"A Mystery Shack? Heh, whoever thought up a name like that?" Stan asked as he was led inside. He spotted a couch to sit on. "Oh… oh this is the best seat in the house."

"Soos and Wendy should be here with Stan's belongings soon," Dipper said before they heard the sound of a car outside.

"Hey dudes! Got Stan's stuff from my house!" Soos shouted as he and Wendy came in carrying cardboard boxes.

"There's more stuff in the car," Wendy said as they sat down the boxes and everyone began going through them, looking for items they could use to help Stan remember.

"What's this?" Stan asked as Wendy showed him a jar of eyeballs.

"A jar of eyeballs," Wendy explained. "Often used as a display for the counter. They're not real eyeballs, but the tourists didn't know that. I once dared Soos to eat one of them."

"Oh, are they edible?" Stan asked while noticing Wendy's look. "Hey uh, you alright?"

Wendy looked at Stan. She hated to see him like this. She hated seeing that he didn't remember her. "You really don't remember me, do you?"

"Uh, who are you again?" he asked her.

"Wendy Corduroy," she told him. "For me, you were my boss." She paused to correct herself. "Scratch that, you were my friend. I used to work with you at the register of this old place. You hired me when I needed a summer job to avoid going to the logging camp my dad was going to send me." She looked down. "Of course, we've known each other for far longer."

"We do?" Stan asked her.

Wendy nodded. "I was young, and I was dealing with a lot of things. One of them being my mom's passing. I thought I'd come here to see if you're like some mystic seer with a crystal ball or something. Instead, you offered me pinesicles, which were actually store-brand popsicles. You were a good listener when I talked about my mom, someone I could go to since my dad was closing himself off. And that's actually how I met your grandnephew, Dipper. We both hit it off." She looked down, giving a sadden look. "I will admit, I wasn't the best employee. I can be a slacker and sometimes I shoplifted or goofed off. But we still got along. One time you even taught me to be a thief."

"I did?" Stan questioned. "That seems… unethical."

"Yeah, like we had a heist to steal a diamond and anything… but you took the fall for me because, well, you showed me that I had a whole life ahead of me, that I should use my skills for something more useful. We may not see eye to eye, but you did want what was best for me." She wiped some of her tears away. "And I… I care about you a lot. I owe you, Stan."

Stan looked concerned for Wendy, feeling bad for her. "Oh um, gee, that's great and all, kid," he said. "But I don't remember any of it, sorry."

Wendy sniffed. "I-It's fine," she said as she got up and took a step outside. She tried to hold it together… and failed.

It was Soos's turn as he showed Stan various objects.

"Here's the Grizzlycorn head," Soos said as he held up the mounted bear head with a glued on horn, which fell off. "And this here is old Goldie!" he said as he brought out a copper statue of a Gold Rush-era proctor holding up a plate.

"Gah! That thing looks like the stuff of nightmares!" Stan shouted.

"Heh, yeah, it does have the face to remind us of the inevitability of death," Soos commented. "Heck, you even married it one time when you went to Vegas. I think they had to cancel the certificate though."

"Really? That's just…" Stan said as he looked up to Soos and saw the tears in his eyes. "Hey, what's with the long face?"

Soos looked at Stan sadly. "It's just… you really mean a lot to me, Mr. Pines," he said to him. "It's me, Soos Ramirez, does that ring any bells?"

"I don't know, man," Stan said as he shook his head. "What can you tell me about yourself? Are you a gerbil man or something?"

Soos let out a small chuckle. "Well, when I was a boy, it was just me and Abuelita. My dad was never around, all I got from him were these postcards, he didn't even care enough to show up at my birthday." He sighed. "It was then on my twelfth birthday when I discovered a screwdriver that belonged to you, I thought someone might have dropped it by accident. I came to your Shack, and on the spot you gave me a job as your handyman. But in my ten years working for you, you and Dipper became my family. Your nephew is like my little brother and you became like a father to me."

"Wow, I must've been a big deal," Stan commented.

"Oh you are, Mr. Pines," Soos said. He pulled out a photo showing a teenage Soos wearing a graduation gown and happily hugging Stan. "You were even there for my high school graduation. I mean, you were late and crashed your car through the gym doors. But it was still the best day of my life. After graduation, I started working for you full time. Working at the Mystery Shack with you and Dipper… it was the greatest job in the world. And when Mabel came along, it just kept getting better… that is, until the whole end of the world and you being taken away by the government thing," he mentioned while looking down. "Not to mention the Shack being shut down. But you… you mean a lot to me, Stan. I used to picture my dad as this masked luchador, like a Mil Máscaras-type. But… you're my real dad, Mr. Pines." He looked up at Stan with a hopeful expression. "Is… anything coming back to you, sir?"

"I… I'm sorry," Stan admitted. "But this Stan guy sounds like a nice fella for being there for ya all the time."

Soos sadly smiled as he nodded, tearing up. "Yeah…"

Ford was next, showing Stan a ship in the bottle.

"When I found this in one of the boxes, it reminded me of a childhood dream of ours," Ford said while looking at the ship in the bottle.

"Hey, now that's a neat ship in the bottle. Who built it?" Stan asked.

"Stan, do you recall your childhood?" Ford asked him.

"I… I don't know what you're talking about," Stan said in confusion.

Ford sighed as he started to explain. "There were twin brothers who lived in Glass Shard Beach, New Jersey. Stanford was the smart brother who was born with a high IQ and born with an extra finger on both hands. Stanley, well he was special… in his own unique way. He was tough, had a lot of heart, and tended to use actions rather than words. He would always defend his brother from bullies." He looked at the boat as he continued. "We would often roam the beach, looking for adventure. Heck, we even found a boat that we planned to fix up and use to sail around the world together. We were going to call it the 'Stan O' War.' For me, it was about the wonders and the mysteries. For Stanley, it was about treasure and charming ladies."

"Heh, now this Stanley guy sounds like a spitfire," Stan commented.

"Yeah, he was," Ford said. "Growing up, he was my best friend. He always defended me… but then when there was a moment where he needed me the most, and I… I didn't defend him. He made one mistake and the entire family turned their back on him… including me." He was quiet, looking down shamefully. "It… seems so petty now. I thought that you had ruined my life by costing me my dream college. But that was no reason to cut you out of my life. I'm so sorry, Stanley. I'm so, so sorry for not standing up for you, after all the times you stood up for me. I was led to believe that my family would just hold me back… but all this time, the problem was me. I regret that I wasn't there for you. If I had just forgiven you earlier…"

Stan blinked while he looked at Ford. "Geez, man. You're really bumming me out with that talk."

"Do you recall anything?" Ford asked him, his tone desperate, but Stan just shook his head.

"No, sorry," Stan told him.

"Right… I see," Ford said, looking away with tears in his eyes.

Mabel was next, bringing over some items from the boxes while being accompanied by Waddles.

"So uh, what's your deal, kid?" Stan asked.

Mabel held up this fishing hat. "You ever recall wearing this?"

He took the fishing hat and looked at it. "Huh, I… don't know. Was I a fisherman?"

"No, just something we did earlier this summer," Mabel mentioned while looking down. "When I learned that I had a twin brother that I was separated at birth from, I lied to my parents just to come down here to meet him. When we met, you let me stay here during the summer rather than send me back. It gave me the chance to spend time with my brother and get to know him more."

"Wow, that's great that you got to spend more time with your brother," Stan said.

"Yeah," Mabel agreed. "Though, I'll admit that I took you for granted at first, Stan. I was here to make up for lost time with Dipper, but I didn't immediately realize how close you two were. When fishing season started, you and Dipper planned to go out at Lake Gravity Falls like you did every year. But I pulled Dipper away to go monster-hunting instead as a way to spend more time with him until I realized how he had been looking forward to spending time with you. So we spent the rest of the day with you and we all had a good time. You and me… we were never as close as you and Dipper, but while I came here to make memories with Dipper, I ended up making memories with you as well."

"And, uh, what's with the pig?" Stan asked as Mabel petted Waddles.

"Oh, this is Waddles," Mabel said as she showed him to Stan. "You two love each other as well. You didn't get along at first and you even tried to put him outside, which led to him being taken by a pterodactyl. I was really mad at you, but you ended up saving him from that prehistoric bird, which you punched in the face." She gave a small smile, remembering the good times she had with Stan. "I'm… glad that I did get to come back here and see you again, Grunkle Stan."

Stan looked down at Mabel, feeling bad. "Well, uh, you have a nice pig right there," he commented, causing Mabel to sigh while tearing up.

"So… there's nothing you remember?" she asked him.

"No… sorry, kid," Stan said while Mabel looked down sadly.

She walked to join the others outside, everyone looking down sadly. "It's no use, guys. He still can't remember anything."

"We've told him how much he means to us," Wendy said while showing her dried tears. "I guess… at least this way we get to say goodbye, even if he doesn't realize it."

"Is his memory really gone forever?" Soos asked.

"I… I don't want to believe he's gone," Ford said while gripping his jacket. "Stan can't be gone, he just can't!"

Dipper, refusing to give up, was looking through the boxes in the car. "There's gotta be something that could trigger his memory," he said before he paused, his eyes widening. "No way…"

"What?" Mabel asked as Dipper came over to her with an object in his hands.

"I… I can't believe he kept this," Dipper said in shock. "After all these years… I think this might work." He then rushed inside to find Stan.

Stan saw Dipper coming in. "Hey, you're that kid from earlier."

"Grunkle Stan," Dipper said as he held up the object in front of him, handing the heart-shaped card to Stan. "Do you remember this?"

A young Dipper handed Stan the heart-shaped card as Stan opened it up. What it said shocked the grunkle…

It was a handmade father's day card, only it said 'Happy Grunkle's Day' instead.

"What do you think, Grunkle Stan?" Dipper asked as he noticed Stan tearing up. "You don't like it?" he asked in confusion.

"You kiddin', kid?" Stan asked him while holding the card.

"But you're crying…"

"I got some formaldehyde in my eye." Stan said, feeling heartfelt about Dipper's gift. It really touched his old heart.

Stan looked at the card while Dipper gave him a hopeful look.

"I…" Stan closed his eyes, shook his head and handed Dipper's card back. "Sorry kid, there's nothing I can recall, but nice card."

Dipper just looked down, devastated. Tears streamed from his eyes. "No…" he started to cry, holding on to the card as his tears fell on it.

"Hey, hey why are you crying?" Stan asked him in concern.

"It… it doesn't matter," Dipper sniffed, unable to hold it in. "My grunkle's gone…" he said as Mabel, Ford, Soos, and Wendy came into the room.

Stan looked weary. "Hey, hey please… please don't cry, Mason," he said to him.

This caused Dipper's eyes to widen as he looked up at him. "What… what did you call me?" he asked, which brought the attention of the others.

"Mason. That… that is your name, right?" Stan asked him.

"He… he knows your real name," Mabel said with a smile.

"I think he's starting to remember," Soos indicated.

"Yeah, is… that's good, right?" Wendy asked Ford.

"If he could remember Dipper's real name… then I think there's hope for him yet," Ford said..

Hearing this, Dipper smiled.

He didn't care how long it was going to take, but he was going to get his great-uncle back.

Back in the Nightmare Realm, the supply team had returned to the shelter, bringing more supplies for the refugees. Aqua sat back, resting after going through the whole ordeal. She was looking at the blue star she had out earlier. Her Wayfinder.

"Are you alright, Aqua?" the Captain asked her.

"I'm good," Aqua responded. "I'm just… remembering some friends." She looked up at him. "Thanks for coming back for me, by the way. Honestly, I'm still not used to having other people to fight with. I have been alone for so long…"

The Captain nodded and sat down next to Aqua. "How long have you been here again?"

"Almost a decade, I think," Aqua admitted. "Although it is hard to keep track of time here."

The Captain nodded. "You and me, we've been in this place the longest. And we're both used to surviving on our own. But now we have people who depend on us. And I just want you to remember that you don't have to fight this battle alone. We're all in this together, and hopefully we'll all get out of here together as well." He began to take his helmet off.

Aqua smiled. "I appreciate that, and thank you again… Manny."

Removing his helmet was an olive-skinned man of Latino descent, with grown dark brown hair, a full beard, and brown eyes.

The Warrior. The Captain. Manny Noceda.

And that concludes the Weirdmageddon Arc.

We've decided to have this mini-arc be three parts instead of two, so we had to come up with new material to add to this chapter so it wouldn't be too short, and so it wouldn't just be a scene-by-scene remake of the original episode.

One of the scenes added in was Jheselbraum the Unswering is actually from Journal Three, as the oracle who Ford met during his dimension hopping travels.

To be honest, we weren't sure when exactly Dipper and Mabel's birthday was. Well, I assumed it would be the week during Weirdmageddon. Originally, we planned it to happen only days after Weirdmageddon, but then we looked at the calendar for 2012 and realized that August 31 is on a Friday. And according to Journal 3, Dipper and Mabel's birthday actually happened one week after the end of Weirdmageddon since that's how long it took for Stan to fully regain his memories. We decided to go with that, giving the characters one week to rebuild and recover from both Weirdmageddon and the Day of Unity before celebrating Dipper and Mabel's birthday. We know it's a bit confusing, but the timeline in the actual show is also confusing, especially regarding how long Weirdmageddon lasts.

And now the Manny in the room… this was our plan for a while. Originally, we planned on revealing it in the epilogue, but since Weirdmageddon became a three-parter, we saw an opportunity to move the reveal here and made the epilogue less crowded.

Angel wasn't also originally a part f this arc, and wouldn't have shown up again in Book Three until the epilogue. But while fleshing this arc out, we realized that having Angel show up to "save the day" would be a good way to cap off the Department A arc in Book Two, and it's going to be something that will have consequences.

Which is why we have to keep the town and valley damaged after Weirdmageddon ends. Because a theme in this fic and especially the Gravity Falls storyline has been consequences. Rather than sweep the government wanting to arrest Stan under the rug by mind wiping all of them, we decided to have Powers and Trigger take Stan away while becoming more involved in the affairs of Gravity Falls. Rather than have Bill's defeat restore everything to how it was before Weirdmageddon, there is still repairing to do. The damage remained, just like how those who died during Weirdmageddon are still dead. And the consequences of Weirdmageddon will be explored more in Book Three. Throughout Book Two, the past actions of Eda and Luz came back to haunt them because of the people affected by them. More recently, Emily's actions ended up hurting Tabrella and her family. Nothing happens in a vacuum.

In regards to Masha coming out as non-binary, this was actually something we planned to happen between Book Two and Book Three. But we realized now would be a good place to have it.

And of course, we didn't have Stan break the zodiac by fighting Ford because we felt like that wouldn't make sense with Stan's arc where he realizes that he endangered Dipper with the portal and he takes responsibility for it. Because of that, we didn't think Stan would endanger Dipper again by fighting with Ford. He would prioritize Dipper's safety, which is why we have Preston ruined the zodiac instead.

Trivia:

-And to fit the theme of consequences, Lord Dominator appears in this fic, as she's in the Nightmare Realm as her imprisonment. For her crimes in Wander Over Yonder.

-Aqua from Kingdom Hearts appears as being trapped in the Nightmare Realm and being one of the leaders of the refugees.

-To Crash X Fusion, to clarify the swarm of Heartless Mabel and Stan first encountered, are the Shadow Heartless.

-The title of the chapter is a reference to Chapter 86: "Closing the Gates".

-Song used for Dipper and Mabel's birthday is "I Can't Wait" by Nu Shooz

-Thanks to Jack_Skeletron for the suggestion of Heartless to use for the chapter. Gill's Heartless form is a sort of mixture of his second appearance on Kim Possible, and the Skrewdiver.

Next time, we go back to the Boiling Isles…

Review Section

1) Through the Mewni flashbacks. 2) You do know how many 'Tylers' and 'Marys' are in this chapter? So there won't be much of an issue, and well, it's not like we have used Rocky the Guitar much. 3) We'll see. 4) Given that he's Dr. Drakken, Abigail probably feels bad for him.

Crash X Fusion: Yeah, was looking over some Biblical names for the spy's codename on this one, and we settle for Enoch. And you're right, no matter the winner, things don't always go like in canon…

BlueKnight-X2: As you can see, she didn't… in the present.

Franco Almiron: Angel Gates and Department A weren't made public, so Rachel couldn't have known about her. Hence why Angel took the opportunity…

Shuffollower: Um, no. The Rift only leads to the Nightmare Realm, so the Ex-Bots couldn't be able to travel to the Multiverse. They'd just be trapped there. But even then, and Angel is still a fugitive regardless. Also, Rocky's named after Rocky Horror, from the Tim Curry's Rocky Horror Picture Show. Surprised you didn't get that.

RJWritingInk: Congrats on getting to that point of the chapter. If you read this, you must've been done reading the last Halloween chapter of Book 2.

Philip Clark: Thank you.

Ultimate-drax: Thanks, we've been planning to use that for a while.

Spantidem7: 1) No spoilers. 2) Yes. Angelic weapons can kill Faekind. 3) No spoilers. 4) Maybe. 5) Yes he does exists, but only hunts evil monsters. 6) Yes. 7) Yes. 8) I imagined not. 9) No. Bubble Camila is a way to embarrass Abby. 10) He's pretty much a grifter.

No, Wendy did not defeat Luz. As for Luz's badass decay… no, that's because there are just enemies stronger than Luz, and she had to take up the effort to defeat them. She's not invincible. And it took effort for her to defeat the Inner Demon.

I mean, Adam can't take credit for what Zeus, Odin and other lightning-themed gods have done. After all, that'd just be white-washing. And no, Helluva Dad won't have an April Fools chapter, and Blitz taking in a baby Luz sounds like a terrible idea, since she's a mortal baby.