The Wheel floated in the mindscape, reveling in their victory. They had done it. They had defeated Bill Cipher. They had fulfilled the measure of their creation.

There was still more to do. The Wheel had to turn the township around and send it home. It was just like Andrew had said three days ago: Now that they had defeated Bill, the Wheel knew exactly how to reverse the journey and return Gravity Rises to its own dimension.

Well, they thought, let's just do that now. They didn't want to return to the scene at the Northwest Manor — the blood, the shock. They may as well stay as the Wheel and start their journey home.

But they were exhausted. The power of the Cipher Wheel was huge, but so was the power required to defeat Bill. Plus, the Symbols behind the Wheel had just been trapped in a life-draining spell, and they needed to rest. It wouldn't be wise — or possible — to cast another round of intense magic.

The Wheel didn't want to separate, though. They were afraid to return to the Manor. To their grief.

They had no choice.

The Symbols returned to their own minds. The colorful glow of the Cipher Wheel faded from their hands.

And everything devolved into chaos.

Ford gave a screaming cry and half stumbled, half ran the few steps to Lee's body. He fell to his knees and lifted the head, cradling it against him. Lee, too, stumbled forward, joining his brother. Lee in Greg's body held Ford, who in turn held Lee's body. The tears that Lee had held back earlier came in full force now, and the brothers sobbed together there on the bedroom floor.

Gideon watched them for a moment, his heart a throbbing lump of pain in his chest. He wouldn't be surprised if Ford never forgave him for holding him back with the amulet. He wouldn't blame the man, either.

What about the others? Fidds stumbled past Gideon to the corner of the room, where he could be heard vomiting up his guilt. Mabel, Dipper, and Pacifica all stood stock still, their eyes closed, their shoulders hunched up to their ears in tense fear. Wendy knelt and frantically wiped her hand on the carpet to get the blood off of it, and Robbie edged around the room to get to her, careful to give Ford and Lee a wide berth.

Then there was Melody. She hadn't let go of Dipper's hand; she was squeezing it in comfort. Her expression as she watched the Pines brothers was one of horror, grief, desperation, who knows what else. But as Gideon looked to her, she lifted her gaze. She met his eyes.

Gideon nodded.

He wasn't quite sure what he was nodding about. But Melody slowly nodded as well. An unspoken understanding — sudden but strong — passed between them.

Melody pointed at the brothers, then at herself. Then she made a circle with her finger, indicating the other teenagers, and pointed at Gideon.

He nodded again. The message was clear: Melody would stay with and comfort the other adults. Gideon was in charge of getting the teenagers out of here.

Gideon glanced at the door, which was probably locked, then went over to Marcus, who still lay unconscious on the floor. A quick search of Marcus's shirt pocket gave Gideon what he wanted: the key. Gideon took it and some of the weapons that Marcus had taken. He handed a stun gun to Melody, kept another stun gun for himself, and took the grappling hook to give to Dipper.

"Mabel," he said, turning, "I'm going to lead you out of here. Keep your eyes closed and take my hand."

Mabel nodded. Gideon asked, "Will you hold the grappling hook, too?" Honestly, he kind of wanted to leave the grappling hook behind — but after Dipper had used it so effectively against the servants last week, it was probably good to have it on hand, just in case.

So Mabel took the grappling hook, and Gideon led her a few steps behind Melody to Dipper. "Dipper and Pacifica, I'm standing behind you," Gideon said. "I'm leading us out of here. Dipper, take the grappling hook from Mabel, then take her hand. Mabel, take Pacifica's hand, and Pacifica, you take my hand." They couldn't worry about any rivalries right now; hopefully no one would protest.

No one did. Mabel and Pacifica grasped hands tightly, almost like they were drawing strength from each other.

"Robbie, Wendy, come on," Gideon said. The teenage couple was huddled together on the floor, but they mechanically stood up at Gideon's prompt. "Okay, let me unlock the door," Gideon said, letting go of Pacifica's hand long enough to do that.

"What if there are people waiting out there to ambush us?" Robbie asked.

The question annoyed Gideon, for some reason, but he had to admit it was sensible. "We have our weapons back," he pointed out. "Wendy, you should take this stun gun, since you had it originally anyway." He held it out to her, and she took it without comment. "I don't know if people are still fighting out there," he said, opening the door, "but we need to find someone and tell them what happened."

"Lincoln," Pacifica whispered. "Lincoln, Lincoln, Lincoln. . ."

Gideon took Pacifica's hand and squeezed it.

He stuck his head out the door and, seeing nothing outside, looked back and nodded to Melody. She nodded back, and the teenagers started on their way.

"You're alive!"

Mabel and Wendy jumped back a few inches, and everyone else cringed in surprise. Then Gideon let out a breath of relief. It was Lutsali. She must have been out of view a moment ago, but now she came forward. "What happened?" the minotaur asked. "Is everyone okay? Is Cipher gone?"

"Cipher is gone," Gideon confirmed.

Lutsali said something in her native language — a clear expression of relief and gratitude.

Gideon was relieved too, but he didn't want to focus on emotion right now. "There's an unconscious servant in there," he said, "who should be taken to wherever you are keeping the servants. I assume there's a place?"

"I don't know. I haven't moved since you ten went into that room an hour ago. But there's probably—"

"Hold up," Robbie said. "An hour?!"

"I guess the Wheel took longer than it felt like," Gideon said.

"A lot longer," Robbie said.

"I heard talking — and then screaming — and then nothing, for such a long time that I worried you were dead. But no one came out, and then someone screamed again, and soon enough you appeared. What's going on in there?" she finished. The Pines brothers' crying was perfectly audible through the open door.

"Stanley is dead," Gideon said bluntly — but softly. "We had to kill him to get Cipher out of his body. His spirit is still in the other human's body that you saw him in, but I think he and Ford are going to be in there with Lee's body for a long time."

Pacifica gave a quiet sob. Her eyes were still closed, her hands in Gideon's and Mabel's hands. She didn't wipe her tears; they flowed freely down her face.

"I see," Lutsali said, her voice a little shaky. "Should we still move the servant, then?"

"Yes," Gideon said. "I think it's best to get all the servants in one place — disarmed, of course — as soon as possible. Are people still fighting in other parts of the house?"

"Someone came by not too long ago to tell me that our side had everything under control, and I haven't heard any loud sounds since then."

Gideon nodded slowly. If it really had been an hour, then the battle could easily be over, with the traps disabled and the servants captured. "Okay," he said. "The six of us here want to go out to the main point of operations, wherever people have set that up. Do you want to go in and get Marcus — the servant — or should I?"

"I can't get through the barrier," Lutsali said, sounding confused. "I thought you were going to bring him out."

"You can't?" Gideon said. He'd assumed the barrier spell would've ended with Lee's body's death. "Try again."

She put her hand on the invisible barrier, pushed against it, then shrugged. "Still there."

"Hmm." Maybe the spell was tied to Marcus, too, or one of the other servants. Or maybe it would go away when someone washed away the chalk diagrams that Bill had drawn on the plywood beneath the carpet. Although that wouldn't make much since, given that it was minotaur magic and not human magic. . . but maybe Bill's unexpected ability to use nonhuman magic in a human body also gave Bill the ability to tie it to human spell diagrams. Well, whatever. It wasn't a problem; Gideon could levitate Marcus out here. "I'll be right back then," Gideon said.

"Wait," said Lutsali. "Did Cipher say how he got this magic? For the barrier? Was it. . . Caleb?"

"No," Gideon said. "The spell that stole our power two days ago allowed Cipher to cast nonhuman magic — at least for long enough to set up this barrier and some other spells. It's some kind of dark magic he was using. Caleb had nothing to do with it."

Lutsali breathed a sigh of relief. "I'll have to tell Enoch."

Gideon nodded. Then he let go of Pacifica's hand and went back through the barrier and into the bedroom. Ford and Lee were in the same place they had been, but now Fidds was by Melody, and she had a comforting arm around him — though they were both shaking. Gideon approached them and explained to Melody that Lutsali was going to take the teenagers down to wherever everyone else was.

"I can send someone back here to help carry him," he said, not bothering to specify who he meant by him — Melody knew. "I'll send another human, like Janice, to clean up the spell diagram, which might get rid of the barrier outside. If it doesn't, you four will have to carry him out past the barrier, and then whoever I send can help from there."

Melody nodded. "Can you send some water for Fidds, too? Well, for all of us, if you can."

Gideon agreed, then levitated Marcus's unconscious body over everyone's heads and out of the room. Outside, the teenagers were on the other side of the barrier with Lutsali, and Gideon joined them, lowering Marcus onto Lutsali's shoulder. He could continue levitating Marcus, but he'd rather not.

"Follow me," Lutsali said.

She took them through the halls of the Manor, taking a new path. No traps went off, though the group passed the remnants of some — like a broken piano that had swung down from a balcony and crashed to the floor, or a doorway with a fallen guillotine blade that they had to step over.

Lutsali went first, just in case. Whoever had told her the fight was over must've also given her directions, because she seemed to know where she was going. Gideon guessed their destination pretty quickly and found his heart lifting. That room was close to the front door — maybe he could get a moment of fresh air. He always liked going outside to escape the oppressive mood of the Manor, and that mood was even stronger today in the aftermath of the battle.

Sure enough, they came to the room Gideon had suspected: the ballroom with all the mirrors. It was full of supernatural creatures: some wounded, others resting, still others talking and organizing things. Someone had levitated a giant ball of water in the middle of the room, and people were filling up cups of water without breaking the surface tension. Impressive magic.

There was a sudden silence. Gideon frowned and looked around. What—?

Everyone was staring at the Symbols. Waiting.

Right.

"Cipher is dead," Gideon declared.

A motley of sounds broke out all at once — cheering, weeping, shouting for joy. The relatively still room came alive with motion as people hugged each other or ran from the room to spread the news to the others, like the perytons and other creatures who were still outside. Gideon scanned the room for Andrew, but didn't see him.

"Wendy!" someone bellowed. Danny, of course. He pushed through the crowd to his daughter and pulled her into a crushing hug. And Wendy actually hugged him back.

"Robbie," said another voice, this one quieter. Robbie immediately went to his mother's side.

Gideon found himself wishing that his own mother were here. But she'd stayed behind at the Museum, for safety's sake. "Come on," he said to Pacifica, Mabel, and Dipper. "Let's find a place to sit." He could see the padded banquets chairs that the Northwests got out for parties, and was glad somebody had found them. It'd be nice to just. . . sit. They were all exhausted after the Cipher Wheel and everything else.

Before they could go, though, Janice pulled back from her hug with Robbie and turned. "Pacifica, do you—?"

She stopped. Pacifica was still crying quietly, with a miserable look on her face. She should be left alone right now. So Gideon took over. "You want to know if your husband is in here?" he guessed.

Janice nodded.

"Give us a minute, and then I'll come check for you with my amulet," he said. "I have something for you to do, too."

He left Robbie and Wendy with their parents and guided the other three over to the chairs, where the supernatural creatures were happy to make space for them. Dipper slumped in a chair, looking shell-shocked. Mabel sat in a chair and drew her knees up and wrapped her arms around them.

Pacifica didn't even make it into a chair — she just wilted down to the floor. And started to sob uncontrollably.

Gideon turned to go back to Janice, but then stopped. He couldn't just leave Pacifica. Whether he wanted to comfort her because he actually cared about her or because the sound of her sobs was grating, he didn't know. But he still sat down next to her.

"Don't touch me," she snapped, though her voice was weak and watery.

Okay. Gideon understood what it was like to be upset and not want anyone to touch you — but he also knew that it was nice to have someone near. He didn't touch Pacifica, but he stayed by her. "I'm here," he said.

Pacifica shook her head. "You should go talk to Janice," she said. She wasn't looking at him — her head was lowered down onto her arms, which were braced on the floor. The position muffled her voice.

She was right; Gideon still had things he needed to do. Things to organize, things to take care of. And as much as he would've liked to lie on the floor and cry like Pacifica, he knew he was the only one currently with the ability to do the things that needed done. Still, he didn't want to leave Pacifica alone like this.

"I can. . ."

The voice trailed off. Gideon looked up. It was Mabel. She stood up from her chair.

Gideon stood, then opened his arms, offering a hug. Back in the false moon, Mabel had told him to verbally ask before touching her, but he figured that clear nonverbal cues were also okay. Mabel must have agreed, because she immediately moved into his embrace. They hugged each other tightly.

"I'll sit with her," Mabel said, pulling back after a long moment. Gideon nodded, glad that Mabel felt comfortable enough with Pacifica to offer. Maybe it was just because of the circumstances, but it was still a good sign.

He stepped back, and Mabel sat by Pacifica. She didn't touch Pacifica, didn't say anything, but just sat there. A few of Mabel's own sobs mingled with Pacifica's, though they weren't as loud.

It'd have to be good enough for now. Gideon went back to Janice. "Is there something you want me to say to Greg?" he asked her.

"No, I just. . . want to make sure he's still here," she said. She seemed a little embarrassed to be asking for such a personal reason.

"Okay," Gideon said. He felt a twinge of annoyance, but he was too exhausted to really care. He sat on the floor right there and took a deep breath, activating his amulet.

Sure enough, Greg was there, floating near Janice and Robbie. "Gideon? Can you see me?" he asked.

"Yeah," Gideon said. "Were you with us for all of this?"

"I followed Janice for a while, but I was with you for. . . the end."

"And did the Wheel really take an hour?"

Greg nodded. "Something like that. I stayed for the whole thing. The Wheel was glowing so brightly, and I could feel the huge amount of power — and it just kept coming."

"Wow," Gideon said quietly. "It seemed pretty fast to us." If that much power was being used for so long to dismantle Bill. . . wow. The demon really was extremely powerful. And so was the Wheel.

"Tell Janice I'm okay. Tell her. . . what happened. I have no idea how long Lincoln will need to stay in my body. You ten still need to guide the township home, and I don't think he'll be too eager to leave. . . ." Greg trailed off, looking sad and sympathetic but also worried.

Gideon thought he understood what Greg was thinking. "Greg," he said, "if Lincoln is being unreasonable and refusing to leave your body, I will exorcise him. He's the one who's dead, not you."

Greg flinched at Gideon's blunt wording. But it seemed to help. "Thanks," he said softly.

"I'll tell Janice everything that happened, and I'll say that you want to be helpful to Lincoln by allowing him to possess you for longer, though none of us know how long that will be. You're right that he can't leave right now. And I don't know when we'll go home."

Even as he said it, Gideon felt a wave of exhaustion. Who knew how long it'd be before the Symbols even had the energy to form the Cipher Wheel again, much less take a long interdimensional journey?

"Okay," said Greg. "Do that. Thank you."

Gideon nodded, then deactivated his amulet. "He's here," he told Janice. "He says he's okay. I have some things to tell you, but I should probably tell the others, too. Is Andrew here?"

"Not yet," she said. "I wasn't in his group, but I heard what happened to him. He's probably still—"

"Gideon. Explain this," said a stringent voice.

Gideon instinctively cringed, which was a bad display of weakness. He was usually so good at hiding his surprise or fear when hearing his father's voice. But he was so tired and high strung right now. . . .

He took a deep breath and turned to face Gaston.

The man was being escorted by two dryads, one male and one female, who were holding his arms. "We found him in that bunker you told us about," said the female dryad. "He was hiding from the fight."

Gaston tried to pull his arm away from her, but she didn't let go. He'd probably demanded that they "unhand me at once" multiple times at this point. Gideon was glad to see that they hadn't listened.

"Well, Gideon?" Gaston demanded.

The dryads had probably already explained everything they knew to Gaston. But Gideon wasn't surprised that he wanted to exert power over Gideon by demanding that he explain personally. He considered a number of rude remarks, any of which he could've said and afterward been protected by the dryads from Gaston's violent reaction.

But he decided against it. "Cipher has been defeated, Father," Gideon said simply. "We won."

The dryads let out shouts of relief, having just heard this news themselves. Gideon ignored them and watched Gaston's reaction. For a split second, Gaston had a relieved look on his face, but he quickly schooled it away. "I see," he said. "And how long will these trespassers be on my property?"

Gideon couldn't help it; he was too exhausted to stop himself. He laughed. A loud, demeaning, entirely disrespectful laugh.

Gaston surged forward but was stopped by the dryads. Gideon almost didn't care. "We just defeated the demon who's been trespassing here for two weeks, and you want to know when the brave people who came to stop him will leave?"

Gaston's face was mottled red and purple, his eyes wide with disbelieving anger. "How — how dare—" he spluttered.

"I don't know," Gideon said. "In answer to your question. I don't know how long we'll all be here."

And that was all he said. He turned back to Janice and returned to the topic they'd been on before Gaston had come. "Even without Andrew here, I should still explain things to you and whoever is in charge. We should—"

"Gideon," Gaston interrupted, "where is my wife?"

Gideon almost ignored him, but then he turned around. "She's back at the Mystery Museum, where it's safe," he answered. "If you'll excuse me, Father, I need to focus."

Gaston looked angry, even though Gideon's tone had been respectful this time. Thankfully, the dryads led him away before he could say anything.

With Gaston out of the way, Gideon and Janice got a small group together of people from various species who were organizing the recovery from the fight. A dryad told Gideon that one of the Northwest servants had been shot and killed in the battle, that the remaining servants were tied up in an isolated room with plenty of guards, and that Lutsali had gone to take Marcus there. Enoch the minotaur reported that most of the traps had been found and neutralized, possibly all. A hamadryad said that, despite all the efforts of the hamadryads and other healers, there was still a death toll on their side from the fight. "Eleven are dead," she said. "Possibly more. It's a miraculously low number, but many others are injured, and most of my sisters are still busy healing them."

"Twelve," said Gideon. "Stanley Pines is dead as well."

Nobody seemed surprised by this except Enoch, who gave a soft gasp.

"Lincoln is going to need to stay in Greg's body for however long it is until we get the township back home," Gideon told Janice.

Then, to the rest of the group, he explained the situation: the four adult Symbols in the room where they'd defeated Bill, the humans-only barrier set up in the hall, the need for water, the need for someone to clean up the spell diagram in the hopes that it would get rid of the barrier (and whatever other spells there were around the Manor), and the need for multiple people to carry Lincoln's body out.

"We'll be taking the body to Greg's and my funeral home," Janice said, "and we'll need to be flown there."

The others agreed, and they got a group together to do the things Gideon had outlined. They filled cups of water for the humans to drink, and Janice got a washcloth and her own cup of water to use to clean the spell diagram. "You should be able to just clean some of it, and it'll disrupt the whole thing," Gideon instructed. "Maybe try cleaning parts in different areas, like all the corners. You'll be able to move the carpet enough for that."

Janice nodded. After a few minutes more of preparing, the group left.

And Gideon didn't have anything more that he had to do. He could go sit down with the others.

I'm exhausted. That thought had been his mind the entire time, but now Gideon could listen to it. He still wanted to go outside, but he decided even that was too much effort at the moment. Instead, he went back to where he'd left Mabel, Pacifica, and Dipper. Pacifica was sitting up now, and though she and Mabel still weren't touching, they both seemed a little comforted by having the other person close to them. Gideon took Mabel's spot beside Pacifica; Mabel scooted a chair closer to Dipper and sat by him.

Now that he wasn't taking charge, now that he didn't need to act collected, Gideon could feel the tears welling up behind his eyes. He wanted to grieve, too. He wanted to cry over Lincoln, his mentor, his friend.

Pacifica linked her arm in his and leaned her head on his shoulder. Her crying had quieted, though her body still shook with sobs.

Gideon choked on his tears, and suddenly he was sobbing too. He held Pacifica close. Together they cried.

~~~~~

At some point, Ford went numb.

He wasn't sure when. When he was still crumpled on the ground, clutching Lee's dead body to his chest? When Janice came in and disrupted the spell diagram beneath the carpet, which undid the barrier spell outside, and Ford knew something was unusual about that because the barrier was minotaur magic and not human magic so why was it connected to a human spell diagram, but he had absolutely no energy to try to figure it out? When a group of minotaurs passed through the defunct barrier and said they were here to carry Lee's body away? When Lee, after giving Ford a tight hug, moved him away from the body and guided him from the room?

Ford didn't know. But by the time Lee moved him away, he was too numb to do more than weakly protest.

Numbly he left the room, leaning on Lee's shoulder. Numbly he passed Fidds — the murderer — without saying a word. Numbly he watched four minotaurs enter the room, take the blanket off the bed, and position the body on it. They rolled up the blanket on both sides to create handholds, then lifted.

Then they left. And Ford numbly followed.

He had a dim awareness of Melody staying behind to finish cleaning up the spell diagram, just in case there was any residual magic therein. He also had a dim awareness of Fidds trailing behind them, not daring to get close. Another minotaur, who wasn't helping with the makeshift stretcher, got the belt and sheath from Fidds and tied it around his own waist, putting the knife back inside.

How could this have happened? Ford's mind continually asked, though it knew the answer. How could Lee be dead?

Except he wasn't gone. He was still here, in Greg's body, walking with Ford and murmuring things like, "I'm here. I've got you." It was disorienting, to say the least, to hear Lee's voice in his ear yet see Lee's prone body on the blanket. But it was welcome. Lee was still here.

They walked through the Manor for a few minutes until they reached a large ballroom full of people. Janice directed the minotaurs to follow her outside, where they'd talk to the flying creatures about transporting Lee's body to the Corduroys' funeral home.

"Wait," Ford said, his voice hoarse.

"It's okay, Ford," said Lee. "I'm here."

"No." Ford moved to the stretcher and took Lee's limp hand in his. "You can't take him," he said to the minotaurs.

"We're taking him to a safe place," Janice said gently.

"Let them go, Ford," said Lee. "I'll stay here with you. I can't leave Greg's body yet, remember? We still have to get home."

Janice eyed him, probably wanting to ask how long it would be until then, but she didn't say anything. Instead, "Follow me," she instructed the minotaurs.

They left. Taking Lee's body with them.

Ford raised a hand, reaching out like he could still pull them back. But he just stood there, and they kept walking.

"Come on," Lee said quietly. "Let's go sit down. And maybe get some more water."

Ford couldn't argue with that, exhausted as he was. He followed Lee over to some chairs, where the other Symbols already were. Lee pulled up three chairs, gestured for Pacifica to sit on the near one, helped Ford into the far one, and then sat between them.

Pacifica immediately curled up beside Lee. "Lincoln," she whispered, "how could you?"

That's exactly what Ford was thinking. How could you? How could you do this, Stanley? It didn't matter that it was logical, that it was necessary in order to save everyone else. Ford's mind was still desperately trying to figure it out, to make it make sense.

But it didn't make sense. Not at all.

Ford sat there on the chair, staring off into nothing, and wondered numbly if anything would ever make sense again.