The Third Journal

Pages 263+264

FORD'S JOURNAL

THE ZODIAC

According to Dipper, this was a prophecy found painted in the same cave where he originally summoned Bill. Dipper had never believed the legend before (apparently he couldn't believe that saving the world involved so much getting along with others), but he thought it was finally worth a try.

We seemed to have all the right people- amazingly it even included past enemies, like Preston, Buddy, + Stacey. (In retrospect, it's pretty good we ended up getting over our grudges with those three.) Unfortunately, Mabel could not get over all her "big issues" with Dipper long enough to join hands, so the whole thing fizzled out and Bill attacked us!

We still have no idea what would have happened if we had completed the Zodiac's prophecy! Ria imagines that the Zodiac would have given us all "radness powers." Somehow I doubt that this is what the ancients had in mind.

Unlikely

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In the end, it turned out to be Graunty Mabel who saved us all- by erasing her own mind, with Bill inside. When Stan and I found out what had happened, I think both of us were too shocked to believe it. And luckily, Stan refused to believe it! After tearfully showing Graunty Mabel his photo album, he managed to spark bits of Mabel's mind back to life- and began recovering her memory bit by bit!

It turns out that the memory ray's effects can be undone through exposure to important images and people from your past (in the same way that Chiu began her road to recovery when she saw the tape of herself as a young inventor). The reason Mabel recovered so much faster is that we began recovery while the erasure was still fresh- less than an hour after initial contact.

Still, it's taken about a week of intensive photo album therapy to get Mabel fully back to herself. While the townsfolk and Chiu helped rebuild the Shack, Dipper, Stan, + I have been spending almost every minute with Mabel, retelling her her life story, feeding her her favorite foods (sprinkles and cupcakes), playing songs from when she was in high school, and driving her through town to revisit every spot she's ever seen (and every person she's ever swindled.)