Gravity Rises (S3)

CW: Part Five

As Lee followed Ford back out to the living room, he felt as if he were watching himself from above. Ever since his conscious mind had alighted on the truth — that he would have to die, that it was the only way to break the deal, that it was the only way to defeat Bill — ever since then, he'd felt strangely disassociated from his (or, Greg's) body. Almost like being a spirit again.

It was just a feeling, though. A reaction to the horrible truth. Lee knew that.

Ford walked stiffly in front of him. Stubborn anger rolled off him in waves. Lee resented that. He wasn't choosing this. Ford had no right to be angry with him.

They emerged from the hallway to see Andrew, Gideon, and Fidds still in the living room. They'd moved the couch back, and Gideon and Fidds sat on it, with Waddles between them, while Andrew sat on the floor. Gideon ignored Waddles, but Fidds idly scratched the pig's ears. Lee wondered why the pig was out here instead of with Pacifica, as he often was these days. Where was Pacifica, anyway? And the others? It was only seven P.M., so they wouldn't be getting ready for bed yet.

Maybe they just didn't want to be part of this conversation. Lee certainly didn't.

Still, he approached and sat down. He already felt exhausted merely from walking across the house to get here. He considered asking Gideon for his spot on the couch, but he was in Greg's body — not young, but not old, either, and there were no aches of old age when Lee sat on the floor beside the couch. Ford, rather than joining him, stood by the stairs with his hand on the rail.

"Welcome back, Lee," said Andrew gently.

A moment later, Greg floated through the wall at the back of the room. "Lincoln," he said in greeting, inclining his insubstantial head.

"What have you talked about while I was gone?" Lee asked, glancing over the five of them.

"Options," said Andrew. "Options for how to get Bill out of your body."

Lee dropped his gaze to the floor. Options. He could only think of one option.

Andrew seemed to know what he was thinking. "We're going to try everything we can," the minotaur said.

Lee nodded, though he kept his gaze downcast.

He wanted to ask what options they had talked about. He wanted to ask what plans they had. He wanted something, anything other than what he knew had to happen.

But nothing else would work. He knew that. Over the last twenty years, Bill had repeatedly reminded Lincoln about the power he had over him. Lee had seen it for himself, too.

"The only end date for our deal is your death," the demon had said, less than two weeks ago. The sentence ran through Lee's head, over and over.

Lee shuddered.

"Lincoln?" asked Gideon. "Do you want to hear what we came up with?"

Yes. No. Yes, of course he did, of course he wanted a way out of this. But no, he didn't want false hope.

"Sure," he said, still not looking up.

"Our first option is the most likely," Andrew said. "We want to try something similar to what Gideon and I did this morning. We'll bring other species here and combine everyone's power with the Wheel. If we're going to overwhelm Cipher with brute force, that'll be how we do it."

Lee felt a twinge of hope from that idea. Maybe. . . could it work?

No. No use in pretending anything could work.

"How will we gather everyone?" he asked.

"Gideon and I will go recruit them," Andrew said. "Starting with the fairies — they'll be a good resource in spreading the word to the rest of the forest."