Fiddleford moved in and out of sleep for the rest of the day. He heard Melody talking with another female voice about Fidds' recovery; he heard the voices of children as they complained to Melody about Ford leaving without them; he heard a deep, unfamiliar voice talking with Melody and Ford about something he couldn't make out. Later that evening, he woke up long enough to eat another pureed meal and meet Dipper and Mabel Pines, but he soon slipped back into sleep.

The next time he awoke, the morning sun shone through the window. Fidds' eyes blinked open, revealing two images of the room; Fidds squeezed his right eye shut again and removed the extra image. Where was his eyepatch?

He rolled over onto his shoulder — it was getting easier to move on his own — and looked for his eyepatch on the bedside table. There it was, under the lamp. Fidds reached out for it before seeing what was next to it.

Stanford Pines sat next to the bedside table. The men's eyes locked, wide with surprise.

"Fiddleford," said Ford, his voice laced with hesitation.

Fidds grabbed his eyepatch and slipped it over his head. The slight pain in his right eye, which came from squeezing it shut, lessened as his eye blinked beneath the eyepatch. Then Fidds pushed himself to a sitting position. "Stanford," he said with equal hesitation. Everything he'd thought of in the past few days to say to the man suddenly fled from his mind.

The men stared at each other.

Finally, Fidds' tongue found the words. "I'm sorry," he blurted. "I'm — I'm sorry."

Ford blinked slowly, then lowered his head into his hands.

"Melody says that Stanley was here a few days ago." Fidds didn't know how long it had been since she'd said that, exactly, but he thought it was a few days. "Was he?"

"He was," Ford said without raising his head.

"What was he. . . like?"

There was a moment of silence. Fidds immediately regretted the question — what kind of question was that, after Fidds was the one responsible for the biggest change in Stanley since Ford had last seen him? What gave Fidds the right to ask about Stanley after what he'd done to him?

But he had to know. He clung to some thread of hope that the situation wasn't as terrible as he feared.

Finally, Ford looked up. Fidds flinched beneath his gaze: It was hard, stony, hateful. "He didn't remember me," Ford said. "He said that being around me felt familiar, but nothing more."

Fidds had no idea how to respond.

"He became the leader of the Order," Ford added, "twenty years ago. Was that your plan? To leave Lee a blank slate so that he would join your side?"

Fidds flinched again. "N-no," he said. "I was. . . I was doing what Cipher told me."

Ford glared at him. "Don't try to blame this on Cipher."

Fidds shook his head. "No, I. . . I know it was my fault. I thought. . . I thought Cipher would reward me. But I never — I never should have done it." His chest felt tight with emotion. "I ruined both of your lives."

"Yes, you did," Ford said venomously.

There was another silence as Fidds hung his head in shame.

Finally, "What happened?" asked Ford. "How did you end up in the other dimension and Lee at the Order? I remember Lee falling into the portal."

Fidds nodded listlessly. "Because I erased your memory of his rescue."

"What?"

So Fidds told the entire story. It wasn't hard: All the terrible things Fidds had done were engraved on his memory. He'd spent thirty years reliving the memories over and over again in his head and hating himself in every minute. He started the story back when he had joined the Order in 1978; he gave a brief explanation of his activity between that year and the year of 1982. He talked about the development of the memory gun (which Ford said had been destroyed, surprisingly enough) and Bill's instructions for the interdimensional portal. Fidds told of shooting Ford and Lee the first time, of ripping out the pages in the third Journal that talked about Bill, of lying to Ford about Bill's involvement with the portal construction, of planning with Bill to enter the demon's dimension with Fidds as a vessel. He related, in painful clarity, the events of that ultimate day, when Fidds had shot both brothers, made Ford believe that Lee was lost on the other side of the portal, and erased Stanley's memory entirely.

Ford listened in stony silence, save the occasional clarifying question.

Fidds described leaving Stanley at the Order, returning to the lab, and shooting Ford with a memory gun prototype to stop him from going after Lee. Then Fidds told of going down to the portal, getting momentarily possessed by Bill, and finding himself alone in a strange dimension. He tried to describe what it had been like: no movement, little awareness, just bright blackness and torturous memories of his misdeeds. He had completely lost track of time — he still had no idea if he'd been aware for all thirty years or if he'd been in and out of consciousness — until he'd seen himself in the mirror in Ford's bathroom.

Ford's expression cycled through pain, sorrow, and hatred as Fidds related the story. "And. . . now I'm here," Fidds finished lamely. He was getting a headache; he wanted to go back to sleep. But he forced himself to stay awake.

Melody had entered the room near the beginning of Fidds' story. She stood by the dresser with her hands over her mouth and her eyes wide with horror.

"Could I have some water, Melody?" asked Fidds. It took her a moment to respond, but she poured him a cup and brought it over. He gulped it down; his throat was dry from talking so much.

"How could you?" Ford whispered when Melody moved away. He seemed unable to say much more than that.

Fidds looked away. "I've been asking myself the same thing since I entered Cipher's dimension."

Another silence descended on the room. Ford seemed to have plenty of words running through his head, but he voiced none of them.

"I have to ask," Fidds said. He hated the silence; it reminded him too much of Cipher's empty dimension. "Mabel and Dipper told me that. . . that Stanley was a prisoner of the minotaurs."

Ford nodded sullenly.

"They said you've been visiting him," Fidds continued. His mind screamed at him to stop talking, but he had to keep going. "Can you take me with you?"

Ford jerked back in surprise. "No," he said immediately. His initial shock gave way to venom as he continued, "No, of course not. I'm never letting you near Stanley again."

"Don't we need both of them for the Cipher Wheel?" Melody asked quietly. Ford glared at her.

"Please, Stanford, I know—" Fidds swallowed. "I know you have no reason to take me. But — but I have to see him. I have to apologize to him."

Ford turned his glare on Fidds. "You think that'll fix it?"

"Nothing will fix it," Fidds whispered. "But he has to know. I have to tell him I'm sorry."

"You have no right to speak to him," Ford said. "No right to be near him."

"Ford, please," Melody said. She came closer and spoke gently. "Fiddleford, I don't think you can go outside yet. You're still getting your strength back."

"I need to see Stanley," said Fidds.

"You are not seeing Stanley!" snapped Ford. "It's because of you that he's essentially Cipher's slave now!"

Fidds flinched.

"Ford," said Melody sternly, "that's enough. No matter what Fiddleford did, he's still my patient, and I won't let you yell at him."

"Excuse me?" Ford demanded. "He's only still here because I allow him to be. If I wanted to throw him out on the street, I could." He shot Fidds yet another venomous look, and Fidds couldn't help but think that he certainly deserved to be thrown out on the street.

"No, in fact, you couldn't," Melody retorted. "He is still here because I allow him to be. Don't forget, Stanford Pines, that if I had reasonable cause, I could remove you from this house altogether and put you in a nursing home. I am the one with the final say on who gets to stay here, and I say that Fidds stays. Not only do we need him for the Cipher Wheel, but he needs our help. He stays, and you do not get to hurt him."

Her firm tone only seemed to incite Ford further. "I'm not hurting him!" he insisted. "He's perfectly fine!"

"He is not fine! Just look at him! He obviously feels terrible for what he did! Once he feels good enough, I absolutely think he should get a chance to apologize directly to Stanley!"

Ford's face contorted with hatred. His voice lowered in volume, but not in acidity. "If he wants to stay here," Ford said, "then maybe there's nothing I can do to stop that. But I will not let him near my brother."

With that, he turned and swept from the room.

Melody let out a breath. "I'm sorry, Fiddleford," she said after a moment of silence. "I'm sorry about him."

Fidds glanced away from her. "Don't be. He has every right to hate me." It still hurt, somehow.

Melody opened her mouth to respond; but, before she could say anything, a loud crash shook the walls. Melody spun towards the door. "What is he doing?" She glanced back at Fiddleford. "I'm sorry, Fidds; I'll be right back." And she hurried out the door.

A moment later, Mabel and Dipper entered the room. Their steps were slow, their expressions horrified. Fidds felt terrible seeing those expressions on their innocent faces. "Hello," he said softly to the children — or, as softly as he could with the crashing noises and the muffled sounds of Ford and Melody yelling. Fidds' headache had gotten worse, and it only grew with the current noise. Fidds forced himself to ignore the sounds and focus on the twins. "How much did you hear?"

"All of it," said Dipper. "Whatever we could hear through the door. We wanted to come in with Melody earlier, but she told us not to." He wouldn't meet Fidds' eyes.

"I'm sorry," Fidds whispered. Whether he was apologizing for his past actions or for the fact that the children had to hear his story, he wasn't sure.

Mabel had tears on her face, and she clung to Dipper's hand. She stared at the floor.

"Did you really do nothing in the other dimension but think about Stanley?" Dipper asked.

Fidds nodded. "And Ford. And Bill's lies. Whatever Ford says, I deserve."

"He shouldn't yell at you," Mabel whispered.

Fidds looked to her, but she wouldn't say anything else. And she didn't raise her head to look at him.

Melody returned to the room. "All right, kids, let's give Fidds some space. He needs his sleep." She herded the children from the room, then came back to Fidds' side. "There. Some peace and quiet."

"What was Ford doing?" Fidds asked.

Melody sighed. "Throwing a tantrum. If he keeps going, he'll destroy all the equipment in his lab."

Fidds hardly thought that Ford's grief over Stanley was best described as a "tantrum," but he didn't say so. Instead, "Thank you, Melody, for all your help," he said. "I don't deserve your kindness."

She smiled softly at him, though he didn't miss the pain mixed in with the smile. "That's why you need it," she said. "Go ahead and sleep now. I can tell you've been exhausted for a while."

He hated how little energy he had, but Melody was right: He was exhausted. Telling the story of his sins had sapped his strength, and Ford's reaction hadn't helped. "Thank you," he whispered again.

Melody came to his side and placed a hand on his forehead. "When you can," she said, "we'll get you to Stanley. For now, just rest."

So Fidds obeyed. Melody took off his eyepatch, Fidds closed his eyes, and his headache faded away as he fell asleep.

~~~~~

Caleb hadn't known that there was magic protecting the dagger. Of course there was magic protecting the dagger.

Cipher had been angry, and Caleb couldn't blame him. Last night, after a long and stressful day involving village repairs and Lincoln's imprisonment, Caleb had slipped into his hut and contacted Cipher, only to receive a slew of criticism. Shouldn't Caleb have known? Didn't Andrew tell him almost everything? But Caleb hadn't known; Andrew must have put the magic up recently and he just hadn't mentioned it to Caleb yet. Caleb had apologized to Cipher, and Cipher had calmed down before long. "Well, we'll just try again," Cipher had said. "Pacifica Pleasure, one of my Symbols and the temporary leader of the Order, will make plans to retrieve the dagger and rescue Lincoln. I'll coordinate with you as well."

Caleb had agreed, and he'd asked Cipher to tell Yingtai what had happened and that Caleb wouldn't be able to contact her for a while. "My brother is already talking about a possible traitor," Caleb said. "I shouldn't talk to Yingtai until I get the dagger."

"Good plan," Cipher had agreed. "You wouldn't want to act suspicious."

Then Cipher had left, and Caleb had spent the rest of the night berating himself for his failure. If Caleb had known about the magical defenses and found some way to counteract them — not that he knew anything about magic, but still — then he could be with his wife and daughter already, not sitting all alone in his hut.

But he hadn't blown their chances entirely, he kept telling himself. They could try again. They could still succeed.

The next morning, Caleb left first thing for his brother's home. He wanted to be with his family — and he wanted to find out whatever he could about Andrew's plans so that Cipher could know about them. But Andrew wasn't there. "He's already gone to talk to Stanley," Moira said with a sigh. "I won't try to stop him, but I was hoping that we could work on repairing the hut today."

"I'll help," Caleb offered. He didn't have anything better to do; it would be highly suspicious to sneak around and try to spy on Andrew. Plus, Cipher would already hear any conversation that Andrew had with Lincoln. Better for Caleb to stay here and help his sister-in-law, where he could stay out of suspicion and help his family.

So, for the rest of the morning, Caleb helped Moira and her calves with repairs around the house. Caleb's own hut, a small and lonely little building, had been mostly spared from damage during the anomalies, so he didn't mind helping with Andrew's and Moira's hut. Moira gratefully accepted his help, and she gave him a ladder and sent him to the roof, where the majority of the damage was.

Caleb worked from the top of the ladder. The view from up here was both beautiful and a little disheartening. Beautiful because Caleb could practically see the whole village from here; disheartening because of the evident damage on so many of the buildings. Thankfully, it seemed that the village would be able to recover in a relatively short time. The residential huts would be repaired first; then the minotaurs would start on rebuilding the public buildings and other constructions, like the wrestling arenas. It would be nice to fix the arenas; Caleb enjoyed a good wrestle in them every once in a while.

From what Yingtai had told him, Candy would probably love the wrestling arenas. Caleb couldn't wait to introduce her to them.

He was thinking about this, with a wistful smile on his face, when another ladder appeared next to his, and Enoch climbed up. "Hey, Uncle Caleb. I've got some more thatch. Need help?"

"Sure," Caleb said. Enoch put a bundle of thatch on the roof. Caleb showed him how to create courses (small bundles of thatch) and fasten them to the roof's fixings; Enoch got started.

"How are you doing?" Caleb asked once they'd gotten into a rhythm of work. He knew that Enoch had been shaken by the whole situation yesterday, when Lincoln had come to the village and had been found unconscious by the dagger's cave.

Enoch didn't answer for a small moment. The calf was rather quiet in nature, but Caleb knew that he'd likely come up here to talk. Caleb just had to encourage him to speak up.

"I had nightmares last night," Enoch admitted. "I dreamt that Stanley ambushed me and — and took the dagger right from my hand, and there was nothing I could do."

"I'm sorry to hear that," Caleb replied.

Enoch shrugged. "They're just nightmares. Papa says everything will be fine."

Enoch's tone of voice didn't sound too reassured. "Do you believe him?" Caleb asked.

"I want to," Enoch said. He worked in silence for a moment. Then, "But what if I mess it up?"

"What do you mean?"

Another uncomfortable shrug. "Papa wants me to spend time in the cave guarding the dagger personally. What if Cipher finds a way to get through the spell, and I'm the only one between him and the dagger, and I can't protect it?"

Caleb didn't respond at first. He wished he could reassure Enoch — because however Cipher got the dagger, it wouldn't be Enoch's fault. It would be Caleb's.

But telling Enoch about that now wouldn't be reassuring for him in the least.

"You won't mess it up," Caleb said. "And I'm sure the spell isn't easy to get through."

Enoch shook his head. "It's definitely not easy. Papa says it's tied to our bloodline: so only our family can get through."

Caleb paused. "Really?"

"Yeah. It's genetic. Mama can't get in, because she married into the family. But you could. Although I don't think you're supposed to."

"Don't worry; I'm not planning on it," Caleb lied. His mind raced. He could get into the cave? He wouldn't activate the barrier spell? He could waltz right in there and take the dagger?

He had to tell Cipher about this as soon as possible.

"You know," Enoch said slowly, "I just got an idea."

"What's that?" asked Caleb. He tried to remain focused on his work despite his racing thoughts.

"I have to go guard the dagger soon," Enoch said. "I wonder if Papa will let you come, too, and keep me company."

It did sound lonely for the calf to be all alone in the cave. Even if Caleb weren't planning to steal the dagger, he'd probably still want to keep Enoch company. "That's a good idea," Caleb said. "I don't know if Andrew will like it. But we should definitely ask."

Enoch nodded. "We'll have to wait for him to get back, though. He says I shouldn't go anywhere near the hut where they're keeping Stanley."

"Why not?"

"Because then Cipher would know I exist," Enoch said, shuddering a bit.

Caleb blinked. "Why can't Cipher know you exist?" Bill did know that Enoch existed; Caleb had mentioned the calf a few times before. But, of course, Enoch wasn't aware of this.

"The less Cipher knows, the better," Enoch recited. "That's what Papa says. He says it's a bit of a risk for him to go talk to Stanley, but it's a necessary risk. Someone has to negotiate with the demon."

Caleb sighed inwardly. Enoch was just repeating the same misguided lines that Andrew had used since he was apprenticed to his and Caleb's own father. Where would it end?

"I kind of want to go see him, though," Enoch continued, turning back to his work. "Stanley, I mean. I want. . . I want to ask him why."

"Why he came here?"

Enoch shook his head. "Why he made that deal with Cipher. You know, the one Papa told us about, that lets Cipher possess him? I. . . I can't think of why anyone would make any deal Cipher, much less one like that."

"Maybe he needed something," Caleb said. "Something only Cipher could give him."

"What could that demon give him?" Enoch asked incredulously.

Caleb forced himself not to flinch. Enoch didn't understand Cipher's mercy. Whatever Cipher had given Lincoln in exchange for the ability to possess him at will, it was surely worth it. Caleb had never made a formal deal with Cipher, but Cipher had still rewarded him for his help. He had promised that Caleb would be able to live in a safe place with Yingtai and Candy once they got to Cipher's dimension. That was something only Cipher could give.

"Uncle Caleb? Are you okay?"

Caleb glanced at Enoch. "I'm fine," he said. "We'd better get to work if we want to get much done before you have to go to the cave."

"Right."

Uncle and nephew continued fixing the roof. Caleb found himself glancing out over the rooftops and looking to Lincoln's prison hut, which he could see the top of from here. Apparently it would be simple to steal the dagger — much simpler than Caleb had feared. But what about rescuing Lincoln? The spell around his hut, as Andrew had mentioned the night before, was similar to the one around the dagger's cave, except that it barred only humans from passage. Lincoln wouldn't be able to get through, and neither would Cipher's human allies. Caleb had no idea how Cipher would circumvent that problem.

He pushed the problem from his mind for now and tried to focus on this time with his nephew. Enoch seemed subdued after their conversation, so Caleb did his best to pull the calf out of his emotional shell. He talked with Enoch, joked with him, encouraged him. It seemed to help.

After a while, Caleb saw Andrew heading back to the hut. "Here's your papa," Caleb said to Enoch.

The calf looked up. He seemed disappointed at first, but then he brightened. "We can ask him if you can come with me."

As Caleb had expected, Andrew didn't want him to go with Enoch. He didn't seem suspicious — which was good — but he also didn't want to invite Caleb to a place that was reserved for the guardian of Cipher's prison. Only Andrew and Enoch were officially authorized to enter the cave.

"Sorry, Enoch," Caleb said to the calf.

Enoch looked disappointed, but he didn't argue. "Okay. Well, thanks for your help, Uncle Caleb."

"That's what uncles are for."

Enoch left for the cave, and Andrew went inside to talk to Moira. Caleb stayed outside and finished the roofing job by himself. He thought about how lucky he was: He wasn't supposed to go inside the dagger's cave, but he could. He could visit Enoch while the calf was guarding the dagger, tell him that Andrew had allowed him to come, and then steal the dagger right from under him.

It was uncomfortable to think of stealing from his family. This betrayal — and Caleb knew full well that it was a betrayal — would be painful for everyone involved. In order to be with his wife and daughter, Caleb would have to hurt the rest of his family. Andrew would be crushed that Caleb was working with Cipher, and Caleb dreaded the look on his face when he found out. Same with Enoch.

But Caleb had to keep going. They were so close. It wasn't too long before Caleb could be with all of his family — the humans as well as the minotaurs. Surely he would be able to help Andrew and Enoch and everyone else see the truth: that Cipher was merciful, that his help would allow Caleb to live with his family. Surely they could get to a point where Andrew could accept Yingtai as his sister-in-law.

It would be a painful road. Caleb knew that.

But it would all work out in the end.