Gravity Rises (S3)

CW: Part Fourteen

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.