The falls

chapter 55

The air in Gravity Falls felt lighter, even though the landscape around them told a different story. Buildings had been wrecked, trees were uprooted, and the remnants of the chaos Bill Cipher had unleashed were scattered everywhere. Neomi, Lilien, and Jessica stood among the wreckage, their wings still glowing softly behind them as they surveyed the aftermath. They had been at the center of the battle, and now, they were part of the clean-up.

"Well," Jessica said, placing her hands on her hips as she looked around, "this is going to take a while."

Neomi wiped her brow, her scythe now strapped to her back, though its weight was barely noticeable. "I thought once we defeated Bill, these powers would, I don't know, go away or something. But here we are... still angels. Or, horsemen, I guess?"

Lilien, her fiery sword now extinguished but still at her side, nodded. "I thought the same thing. Maybe there's a reason we still have them, but for now, we'll just have to roll with it."

"Yeah, but explaining this to people is going to be fun," Jessica muttered, glancing at her wings. "How do we even begin to tell people that we stopped an apocalypse and got some crazy powers out of it?"

As the townspeople emerged from the wreckage, most in disbelief but visibly grateful, the girls could hear whispers circulating about them. "Heroes," some said. "Angels," others murmured. It didn't take long for the word to spread that the three of them had played a major part in stopping Bill's new version of Weirdmageddon. To the town, they weren't just survivors—they were the new heroes of Gravity Falls.

Jessica gave a small smile, but her mind was elsewhere. As much as she was proud of what they'd done, a part of her worried about what would happen next. "Thanks, guys," she said, her voice quieter than usual. "But now that this is over... I have to figure out how to explain this to my family."

Lilien raised an eyebrow. "How do you mean?"

Jessica sighed, looking up at the sky for a moment before answering. "My family... well, they already think it's weird enough that I'm here. But how do I tell them I helped stop an apocalypse? That I now have wings and powers tied to pestilence? It's not exactly something you can casually drop into conversation."

Neomi gave her a sympathetic look. "They might not understand at first, but they will. You were chosen for this, Jess. There's a reason you became one of the horsemen. Maybe they won't get it right away, but I know your family will be proud of you."

Jessica gave a half-smile. "Yeah, maybe." Then, after a moment of thought, she said, "I think I'm going to write them a letter. It's easier that way, to explain everything. I'll just... hope they believe me."

Lilien nodded approvingly. "That sounds like a good plan. Sometimes writing things down helps to put it all in perspective, too."

As they continued helping with the cleanup, moving debris and aiding the townsfolk, the girls worked in near silence, each lost in their thoughts. Lilien pondered her newfound role as the Angel of War. She didn't feel like she fit the title, not yet, but the others trusted her. That had to count for something. Neomi kept a close eye on the spirits that flitted around the edges of the ruined town. Her role as the Angel of Death was both a blessing and a burden, one she hadn't fully come to terms with yet. And Jessica—she was still wrestling with the strange reality that she had become Pestilence, and that she now held powers she'd never imagined possible.

Later that evening, as the sun began to dip below the horizon, Jessica sat down on a piece of rubble with a scrap of paper and a pen.

She began to write:

Dear mother Lucy, Dad, and mom,
I know this might sound crazy, but you need to know what's been happening here in Gravity Falls. It wasn't just some small adventure like we thought. We actually fought in a battle to stop the end of the world. You probably won't believe me, but I promise, everything I'm about to tell you is the truth...

She paused, taking a deep breath. She wasn't sure how to continue, but she would try. After all, they deserved to know. It was time to tell her family everything.

As she looked around at the slowly healing town, at Lilien and Neomi working alongside others to rebuild, Jessica knew one thing for certain: their battle with Bill had changed them, but it had also brought them closer together. Whatever came next, they would face it together.