Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It was the first of August. Dipper Pines, dressed in his usual black shirt and pants and a light blue waistcoat, was preparing a guest list for an upcoming party at the manor. He had decided, like every year, that the party would take place in August for two purely practical reasons. The first one was that the month of August in Gravity Falls was usually cooler than July, almost as if it was Spring again and not Summer, and consequently his peers would be back in town for the party after spending the hotter July getting tanned at the beach. The second reason was that his birthday was at the end of the month, and so this pre-party would be used to trim down the final guest list for his actual birthday party.

His birthday was, after all, a very important date for the town. Gravity Falls was a rather small and unsophisticated town, practically lost in a valley surrounded by forests in all directions. Other than a tourist trap, this one technically not even in the town premises, and a few recreational buildings such as the old arcade, the town inhabitants did not have much variety when it came to leisure.

It was true that this had remained that way because many of the inhabitants did not give importance to such things. They were of a calm demeanor and consequently extravagant leisure did not bring them happiness. But it was also true that many others would do anything to attend to the Pines’ lavish birthday parties. Especially the young and full of energy and curiosity.

Dipper was halfway through the invitation envelopes, when he felt two eyes on his back.

“My dearest brother.”

Dipper sighed and turned around in his chair. Such a combination of words could only mean one thing. His sister needed something of him, something difficult, and she did not intend to give anything in return.

As expected, Mabel was standing in the doorway to his bedroom. She was fully dressed in her magician attire. A black shirt with a bolo pendant like his own, a light blue suit jacket, a black pencil skirt with dark stockings to match the shirt, and a black headband with a blue rose on it.

Dipper had not seen her wear anything different in years. He also knew the rose was real and not plastic, and their great uncle Ford had to install a row of rose bushes in the garden behind the manor so Mabel would have plenty of white roses to dye blue and then wear every day.

“I’m busy.” Dipper said after a moment. He figured it was worth a try.

“The importance of my discovery outweighs whatever egotistical project you’re working on.”

“Probably less egotistical than your own. Because, for your information, my dearest sister, what I’m working on is our birthday party.”

“Oh, I’m happy to hear that.” Mabel grinned and walked up to him, grabbing his hand. “That means I hold at least 50% of the vote on this matter, and I say you drop it for now, and come with me.”

:: ::

Dipper was dragged by the wrist across the corridor. They used to have their bedrooms next to each other, but over the years they developed a certain dislike for the other’s lifestyles. In Dipper’s case, he could not stand how in the middle of the night he would be awakened by Mabel talking to herself and laughing rather creepily. In Mabel’s, the reason was similar except the one making the noise would be one of Dipper’s girlfriends. The manor was spacious and not short of bedrooms, so they just increased the distance between their own.

The soon-to-be-15-year-old boy frowned when he entered Mabel’s bedroom. He had seen many bedrooms, most of them girls’, and his sister’s did not resemble any of them.

There were two shelves with books so old they could be smelled from the corridor, one desk with two magnifying lamps attached and full of stains of ink and chemical products he did not recognize, but he spotted the bottles under the desk. Another desk, it was littered with sheets of paper full of reminders and mathematical formulas, the same applied to the floor and part of the bed. There was a safe next to the bed, but he knew it was a decoy; the Journals were hidden between the mattress and the bedframe.

Finally, there was something he had not seen before covered behind a blanket she had pinned to the wall. Something, he was certain, his paranoid sister would not show him before making sure they were not being spied on by nonexistent eyes.

“One second.”

Mabel peeked out the window, looked left and right, and then she closed the window, lowered the blinds and closed the curtains before turning on the lights.

“Dipper, remember when we came to live here, over two years ago?”

Dipper did not reply. He decided that, if she was going to start from that far back, he would rather not wait on his feet. He shamelessly lay on Mabel’s bed, with his fingers interlaced over his chest like a vampire, and stared at her silently.

“Or more specifically,” she continued, pulling Journal #1 from the hiding spot under the mattress. “A few months later, at the start of the Spring break, when I found the Journal behind a fake panel in the library of the manor?” Her eyes sparkled. “Our lives changed drastically!”

“I’d say our lives already changed drastically when our billionaire great uncle adopted us.” Dipper waved his finger in a circle, referring to the manor around them.

“Nonsense, Dipper!”

Mabel suddenly closed the distance between them and held the amulet in Dipper’s bolo pendant. It glowed turquoise, and every piece of furniture in the room rose a few inches from the floor. Dipper glared and seized control of the amulet, lowering the furniture.

“Not even the wealthiest person on the planet could do what I just did, my dearest brother.”

“The wealthiest person on the planet would not ever need to do that, to begin with.” Dipper shrugged, and then glared at his sister and showed her his left arm, where hair would never grow again. “And, if I recall correctly, we agreed you would never use the amulet again. I am safekeeping it, from you, and the only reason I don’t shatter it is because I believe your theory about how it would make quite a spectacular explosion if that were to happen.”

“And because it helps you pick up girls. Its potential is truly wasted on you.”

“I don’t need it to pick up girls. The example about the wealthiest person also applies there, and I am the wealthiest bachelor in town. But if you brought me here just to degrade and insult me, I’m afraid there’s an egotistical project in my bedroom that requires my full attention.”

Mabel pressed a hand on his chest to stop him from getting up, and then she twisted her mouth and returned to the center of the room, where she could indulge into her habit of pacing in circles while monologuing.

“Ahem. As I was saying, I found that Journal and it opened a world of wonders and possibilities, things we never imagined before.”

“And many dangers.” Dipper added.

“Nothing good comes without effort. And we put in quite the effort, remember? The Journal has 280 pages and we blew through every little thing in it in just a few weeks. I was quite sad it was over, but I knew there had to be more. There had to be; we ran into some things that were not listed in the Journal.”

Mabel reached under the bed and pulled Journal #2 out.

“Then, much to my surprise, I saw this on the hands of a little girl on her way to elementary school. It needed to be mine, even if it was fake, I needed to have it. So I bartered with her successfully and—”

“That’s not how I remember it.” Dipper interrupted. “I remember you offering the little girl money for the dusty old book, and the girl, a clever girl, telling you that such a high amount of money for such a dusty old book, could only be fake money. I then intervened before you tried to yank it out of her hands, and offered her something that could not be fake.”

“She was not so clever if she exchanged something so valuable for two candy bars.”

“And a brick of juice.” Dipper corrected her. “I starved during recess that day because of you.”

“And I thanked you from the bottom of my heart, and with the money you value so dearly. Anyway, we spent every afternoon of what was left of the school year solving the mysteries of this other Journal.”

“You spent some mornings too, skipping school.”

“And finding even more amazing things. Such as the amulet on your pendant, which was originally mine.”

“And which we agreed remains safer in my hands.” Dipper moved to the foot of the bed and sat on the edge, bored. “Let me finish the rest for you, because this has taken long enough. We solved every mystery in the journals, and the adventure ended. I moved on, but in the last 2 years you still have not.”

“Not every mystery, my dearest brother.”

“Ah yes, I forgot. That location in the woods hidden by an illusion dome that makes it invisible to anybody standing outside it. We never found it, indeed, but if you ask me, it did not sound that interesting either. And I doubt it would be worth the effort of combing the entire forest to maybe accidentally walk into it.”

“The fact that it is so protected and difficult to find, must mean there is something worth hiding in there. But no, don’t make that face. I am not going to suggest we comb the forest again. And neither is it strictly why I brought you here. I’m talking about this page.”

Mabel flipped the pages until the blueprint of a triangular structure spread on both pages.

“This is the only instance in the Journals that is shared between them. If you arrange both books together like this, the blueprints match. Originally, I thought the last remaining corner of the triangular blueprint was simply assumed through symmetry and as such there was no need to dedicate two extra pages to it in a book where so much is crammed in already. Furthermore, as you see here, these cryptograms on #1 indicate the materials needed to build the structure, and these on #2, the voltage.”

“What is the structure?”

“A portal.”

“Your dimensional theory was correct?” Dipper rubbed his forehead.

“Yes. All three of them. And the explanation I gave you for why things happen here and nowhere else. And as such why here would be the best location to build such portal. Imagine it, Dipper. Limitless energy. And then it would be ME who becomes the wealthiest person in the world, and holds the power of the Journals too.”

“If you were to go through with this, I’d tell you to swallow your pride and do it through Ford’s tech company. Because some 14-year-old girl coming up with this sounds pretty shady and easy to silence. And both the oil barons and the green nutjobs would want you silenced.”

“Of course.”

“Hmm, but if there is a blueprint, why was it never built? Do you even know if, once built, it’ll work?”

“It was built. It clearly underwent many trials and errors, which tells us it’s safe to turn on even if not everything is correct. And eventually it worked, or else it would not have made it to the Journal pages. After that, it was dismantled. I assume the Author’s reclusiveness had something to do with it. Maybe he indeed buried the project due to fear of oil barons or green nutjobs, and because nobody needs that much energy for themselves anyway.”

“Then, where’s the mystery?”

“Where is the mystery, indeed?” Mabel repeated, smiling slyly at him.

Dipper frowned. She would not say or let him leave unless he guessed, and if he did not guess correctly, he would be mocked mercilessly. Dipper squeezed his eyes shut for a bit, thinking for a second that he did not have time for this, and then he glanced at the journals arranged on the table. It suddenly dawned on him.

“A portal connects two dots, right? So you need materials to build it, energy to power it, or kickstart it in this case since it would drain energy from the other side once connected, and coordinates to locate the second dot. Are the coordinates not on the pages? Not on any of them? Then the remaining corner of the blueprint is not meant to be assumed at all; there has to be a third Journal with that part in it.”

“Yes!” Mabel pounced on him, shaking his shoulders. “Yes, yes! Dipper, I love it when you show you are smart enough to catch on!”

Dipper twisted his mouth; the compliment had sounded too much like an insult, but Mabel was too excited to notice. She grabbed him by the straps of his waistcoat and shook him while she grinned from ear to ear.

“A third Journal! I had discarded the idea long ago, when the hiding places listed in Journal #2 only spoke of where to hide that one and #1, and the rest only had artifacts! But a third Journal changes everything! If it’s as big as the other two, that means 50% more mysteries to solve! Or even better, it could speak about a fourth Journal!”

“Let’s not get too excited yet.” Dipper got Mabel off of him and smoothed his clothes. “We don’t even know where to search for it. As you said, the hiding spots listed in #2 did not have it.”

“Ah, but that is where you come in, my dearest brother, because I have a pretty good suspicion of who may have it. It is this suspicion that led me to believe there had to be a third Journal. Watch this.”

Mabel yanked the blanket off the wall. The pins flew off, and the fabric revealed a web of red string connecting paper notes, pictures, and some small items. There was a picture of Gideon with hearts drawn around his face, which made Dipper grimace.

Mabel grabbed a small flashlight with a crystal attached to the front, and beamed an eraser on her desk. Much to Dipper’s surprise, the eraser grew exponentially. Mabel repeated the process after flipping the crystal, and the eraser became small again.

“This is not something somebody would randomly find in a forest.”

“Especially not,” Dipper grabbed the flashlight and looked at it closely. “A model this new. Where did you find it?”

“I stole it from her bag while she was busy.”

“Whose bag?”

“My beloved Gideon’s… awful cousin!”

“Ohh! I know what you need me for then, but I don’t know why you didn’t do it yourself.” Dipper smiled arrogantly. “You need me to use my sex appeal to convince that girl to lend me her Journal, so I can maybe photocopy it for you or something like that? Tsk, tsk, my dear sister. You don’t need me; you only need two candy bars and a brick of juice. Although, since this girl is related to Gideon, maybe you should up it to 4 candy bars just to be sure.”

“Wrong on almost everything.” Mabel tossed her hair. “I don’t need to use bribery because I have these Journals. I used this page in the curses section for Journal #2. The one where you will trip and fall any time you try to move forward, until you have hit the ground ten times.”

“I don’t know the girl, but I know that curse is much nastier than it sounds on paper. It can be easily bypassed by doing pushups though, but why do that to her, Mabel? I don’t see how that kind of curse helps you get the Journal.”

“I cursed her because I hate her.”

“Because she gets to spend time with your beloved Gideon?” Dipper asked in a mocking tone.

“No. Because she beat me at minigolf.”

“But you’re the best one in town.”

“Not anymore.”

Dipper raised an eyebrow, and then he started snickering. The concept of some fat girl related to Gideon beating Mabel at the sport she excelled at, amused him.

“Anyway!” Mabel cut his laughter short. “I cursed her, and nothing happened!”

“Are you sure you did it right?”

“Yes, the random passerby that I tried it on after the first attempt failed, was quite shocked to be unable to get back up without slipping. But then, this girl ran to him and, the moment she touched him, the curse was dispelled! He fell 4 times, not 10!” Mabel frowned. “She has to be a blank.”

“I remember your theory on it, but I didn’t think it was possible.”

“It is possible. A 0 is as possible as a 2, as a 4, and as a 100. And sadly, being a 0, she is immune to everything in my Journals.”

“So it is what I originally guessed, after all. Your magic won’t work, so it is up to my sex appeal.”

“I would rather you did not let your sex appeal out of your pants. Dipper, you’re disgustingly shallow, so I’ll say this clearly. I hate this girl. If you happen to bring her to the manor to have sex with her just four doors away from my bedroom, I will not forgive you.”

“You won’t have to worry about that. I’m pretty sure she’s not my type. But how am I disgustingly shallow?” Dipper asked, clearly offended.

“How are you not? Are you asking that seriously? Very well then, I will demonstrate it to you. Remember Rebecca?”

“Who?”

“The girl you dated last month? The one that insisted ponies were just another name for foals?”

“Ahhh! Yes, yes. She was not the brightest, but…” Dipper grinned lecherously and made cupping motions with his hands. “She had her perks.”

“Well then I’ll ask you two simple questions, and if you answer them correctly, I’ll take back what I said. What was her hair color, and what was her name? Because it was not Rebecca and you did not correct me.”

Dipper’s cheeks blushed.

“Easy. Her hair was black, and her name was actually Rebecca and you said that to make me second-guess myself.”

“Her hair,” Mabel facepalmed and shook her head. “Was auburn, but I would’ve accepted redhead or brunette too; I know boys can’t tell those apart. And her name was Claire. She even had one of those chokers with the name on it. A pity it wrapped around her neck, and not her breasts, so you had no chance of looking at it.”

“…Okay, I’ll accept that I am shallow, by your standards.”

“By my standards? You’re so shallow that one day they will remove the very word from the dictionary and replace it with your name!”

Dipper remained silent and glared at Mabel.

“I’m a romantic,” she continued. “So watching the way you start and end relationships as if you were eating sunflower seeds, disgusts me to my very core.”

“My relationships,” Dipper finally retorted. “Are like going to the movies. It’s a fun activity you do when something new and interesting comes out and, of course, it would be dumb and boring to watch the same movie multiple times.”

“I could watch a movie that truly fascinated me, all day long. But love is not something so meaningless, Dipper, and one day you will realize it and it will slap you in the face so hard that you will wish that you had realized it much sooner.”

“Know what disgusts me to my very core?” Dipper snapped. “That you would dare give me relationship advice when you have never even been on a date yourself. That you would try to lecture me on love, when your own love experience consists of obsessing over some 8-year-old fat kid.”

“My beloved Gideon is 12! We’re only a little over 2 years apart!”

“He looks 8 to me.” Dipper shrugged. “And don’t paint me as someone that ruthlessly dumps girls, leaving them with tears in their eyes. Many of my exes, I dare say most, knew it was a short and fun relationship meant to last a week, maybe a month at most, and we always mutually agree to break up after getting bored of it. You accuse me of being shallow? No more than everybody else! You say I don’t know what love is? No more than everybody else! So yes, I’m only shallow by YOUR standards. By everybody else’s, it’s NORMALCY.”

“You asked 10 fools and you think you’ve got a reliable metric.” Mabel sighed. “Anyway, we’re not getting anywhere, so let’s get back on topic. What I need you to do is not to get me the third Journal. There is a perfect opportunity before us. This girl is immune to spells, so you will propose an adventure to her and take her to the estimated location of the illusion dome. It should not work on her, so she should be able to spot the building right away. Make sure she is happy with the adventure, and some other day you can ask her about photocopying the Journal.”

“There is a catch, I presume. Even if invisible, a place so big is bound to have somebody accidentally run into it, and yet there have never been any reports.”

“It is possible that the Author is actually hiding in there. There were mentions in the Journals of working on a gun that erases memories, so that would explain why nobody remembers running into it if that is the case. However, I believe the Author is long dead. Although feel free to tell her the Author is there, if it helps you convince her to tag along. It’s a good guess.”

“Have you… ever considered the Author could be our great uncle Ford?” Dipper asked seriously. “Journal #1 was in his library.”

“I have, but the handwriting does not match. And neither do the dates. He bought this manor 15 years ago, and Journal #1 had a serious layer of dust on it. Maybe it was actually 10 years’ worth of dust; I’m not knowledgeable on the topic to say, but I would say it was there before great uncle Ford purchased the building. Remember the Author also left #2 in an elementary school but I doubt he was a teacher or a parent. No, I think the locations were all red herrings, and I seriously doubt someone like Ford whom we see come home once every other week, would have had the time for this. He may own a tech company but, unlike Batman, he still needs to commute to work every day and doesn’t have free time for a double life.”

Dipper gave Mabel a lopsided smile. He did not strictly dislike the freedom that came with the lack of parental supervision.

“You are correct, however, to assume it could be dangerous.” Mabel continued. “It is likely that there is some sort of creature defending it, but like many others I doubt it will pose any difficulties to the amulet. However, in the instance where the Author is there and dead, which is what I predict to be the most likely case, I need you to search for a triangular prism he should be carrying with him. It’s supposed to be a portable battery of sorts, so I want it.”

“And if he is alive?”

“Then it will be a pity because you will come back home with your memory of the last few hours erased and it will have been a waste of a day.” Mabel shrugged. “Have you been practicing with the amulet? I would like to know you will not be defenseless, if it is a monster guarding that place after all.”

“I have.”

“Let me test your progress. What number am I thinking of?”

“Ugh, Mabel… I hate this one.”

“This is the easiest one, c’mon.”

“12?”

“You always say that one!”

“Well, I can never hear the number in your mind but I imagine you will eventually think of that one.”

“I will not. I always think of the same number, because it is easier to read thoughts that are repeated in the mind. Let me check that the amulet works properly. I fear it may have withered under your misuse. Don’t worry, I will be calm and careful.”

Dipper hesitantly undid his bolo pendant and handed Mabel the amulet. She detached it from the pendant and attached it to the rose on her headband. It amazed Dipper that she did not even have to hold it in her hand to activate it.

“Okay, now think of a number. 36. 28. 77. Stop changing it! And what the heck do you mean that my pencil skirt and stockings make me look like a whore?”

“Please, stop reading my mind so deeply.” Dipper blushed terribly.

“Hmph!” Mabel turned to the side and checked her legs in a mirror. “I guess a magician’s outfit serves the same purpose as a whore’s. But there is one key difference, which is that I will not be taking it off.” Mabel grabbed a pen from her desk. “If your mindreading is so weak, I’m afraid to ask how your psychokinesis is. Can you do this at least?”

The pen rose in her hand and then turned into a small mound of dust.

“Nowhere near that.”

“You should really practice.” Mabel reshaped the pen, but this time it was not a black plastic pen anymore. It was made of gold. “Here, to impress the very shallow girlfriends you completely innocently choose for your shallow romances. And your amulet too. It truly is wasted on you.”

“I can lift a car with it.” Dipper explained as he put the bolo pendant with the amulet back on. “I may not be able to pulverize it, I may not be able to alter its molecular structure, but so far, just being able to move things in two directions at once has been more than any threat could handle. And as for the mind reading part, I can sometimes hear intent or strong emotions, and for the rest I trust my gut.”

“It will likely be plenty anyway.” Mabel shrugged.

“Is there anything else you should tell me about this adventure you’re sending me on?”

Mabel looked him in the eyes.

“No.”

Dipper made an effort to not raise an eyebrow. He hoped that he would not regret his decision to not push her about that “no”, because it had been such a blatant lie that even his weak affinity with the amulet caught it.

“Very well then. Before I leave, though, why am I doing this again?”

“You’re doing this because I’m your dearest sister and you love me very much.”

“That remains the same whether I do this or not, so I’ll ask again. What do I gain from doing this? Because it is me who is going to spend hours with Gideon’s cousin and gain nothing in return.” Dipper shuddered, dreading what the girl would look like being related to the kid with pig features.

“What do you want then?” Mabel asked after a while.

“You will attend this upcoming party, and you will let me introduce you to a friend or two of mine, who I think will be compatible with you. I’m not asking you to date either of them; don’t start telling me again about your beloved Gideon, who does not want anything to do with you by the way. I’m only asking that you socialize with them for the duration of the party. And, after the party is over, if you want to hang out with them more, then you will admit that I was right.”

“After the party is over, I will make sure to pour my entire drink over their heads. All of your friends are jerks and I want nothing to do with them.”

“Mabel, have you made a single friend in the two years we’ve been living here?”

“Don’t ask questions you know the answer to."

“Fine, let’s turn this into a trade then. The time I am going to waste today on your mystery hunt, for the time you will waste in a few days on the party. Agreed?”

“Yes. Now bring your phone and take pictures of the Journals so that she believes you, and take another picture of the page about the illusion dome in case you need it later.”

Chapter Text

:: ::

Dipper arrived at the Mystery Shack on his motorcycle. He took the helmet off and fixed up his hair in the side mirror, making sure the birthmark on his forehead he was so proud of was not hidden by his bangs. After that, he smoothed his waistcoat and walked to the building.

It was not the first time he visited the building, but he had not visited in over a year. The location was popular during Summerween and Halloween due to its decrepit appearance, so Dipper and his friends frequented it as a trick or treating target when he was younger.

Its appearance had not improved much over the years. Dipper felt old Bud Gleeful would make a bigger profit turning it into a haunted house rather than a tourist trap focused on oddities. Dipper was of the opinion that such material could only impress the dumbest of individuals, and selling garbage to the dumbest did not sound like a profitable business.

And yet, proving him wrong, the Mystery Shack still stood there in that clearing of the forest, with daily customers. Dipper however would not think of it as facts proving him wrong, but rather that the survival of such a business only proved that idiocy was one of the last things people would ever run out of.

Dipper knocked on the door to the main house. A girl opened up, but not the girl he was expecting. The girl he was expecting had to be short, fat, and possibly albino with freckles, like her cousin Gideon. This girl, however, was tall, very skinny and blonde. Her hair was long; it would easily reach her waist if she had not put it up in a high ponytail, and she had blunt bangs with sidelocks to frame her face. Her eyes were blue, and Dipper could swear there was a hint of purple to her iris, but it could have also been the lightning.

“Oh.” Dipper glanced at her up and down. “Are you the new cashier?”

Dipper remembered the cashier was the son of the couple working the funeral home, but he also remembered that boy was goth and depressive, so it was no surprise to him that he had been changed for a lively girl.

“Uh, yeah. Sometimes. But you’re Dipper Pines!” She said in awe. “I read a lot about you. You can do magic, right?”

“My reputation precedes me.” He bowed theatrically and smirked.

A few years ago, in an attempt to gain reputation and social standing at the start of the new school year, Dipper and Mabel did an event they called “The Tent of Telepathy” where, through the discreet use of artifacts from Journals, they put on a magic show.

It was a roaring success. The local newspaper nicknamed them the Mystery Twins. Mabel, however, could not care less; for her it had only been an experiment to read minds with the amulet, but for Dipper, he used the event to increase his popularity and eventually stand where he stood today, at the top of the pecking order.

Over the years, the newspaper treated him like a local celebrity, the most eligible bachelor, the town’s young prince, and wrote gossip articles about him every now and then. Consequently, Dipper donated generously to the newspaper. He enjoyed the stroking to his ego, and such publicity worked wonders with girls that read the yellow press. Like he had told Mabel, he did not need the amulet to pick up girls.

“And what is your name?”

“Pacifica.”

“A beautiful name, to go with beautiful eyes…”

Dipper automatically leaned on the doorframe and smiled at her. He was single at the moment, and the girl was not ugly. She was not too pretty either, but her problems were not anything that a change of outfit could not fix, and she was definitely not ugly. That was enough for Dipper to hit on her.

“Are you new to town, perhaps? I don’t recall seeing you around.”

“I moved in at the start of the summer.”

“Ohh. And has anybody given you the tour of the town yet?”

“It’s a small town.” She shrugged. “I’ve already seen on my own where the key spots are.”

“That won’t do at all, no-no. Allow me to give you the proper tour of the town. I know every street and every store. Perhaps your initial impression was not as correct as you thought, so let a local guide you. Then, after the tour, let me invite you to the manor for some refreshments.”

“Wow, I didn’t think you would do all of that for someone you just met.”

“If you turned out to be a bad influence, I would be greatly surprised. Or is that around your neck just for show?” Dipper pointed at her necklace, bearing the peace symbol surrounded by small hearts.

“It isn’t.” She said seriously. “Okay then, I’ll go with you on a tour of the town. Thank you. But not now, since I guess you did not come to the Mystery Shack for someone you did not even know existed?”

Dipper sighed tiredly.

“Indeed, today I’m busy doing the most tedious of favors for somebody.”

“Were you sent here to pick up something?”

“Someone.” He corrected her. “Do you know Gideon, the little kid that lives here? I’m supposed to take his cousin on an adventure in the forest. I dread wasting my afternoon with someone like that.”

“Right, I know exactly what you mean.” Pacifica smirked. “After all, that little kid’s cousin is so…”

“…Undoubtedly short, fat, and annoying like he is?” Dipper reciprocated the smirk and leaned closer. “Just the prime example of a nuisance.”

“Undoubtedly. Could you do me a favor?”

“Of course.”

“Could you take your fingers off the doorframe and take one step back for a second?”

Dipper obeyed playfully. The amulet did not warn him of hostility or trickery. In fact, the amulet was completely quiet.

Behind Pacifica, someone came down the stairs.

“Cousin, what are you doing?”

“Nothing, Gideon.” She then turned and scowled at a very surprised Dipper. “I’ve read about you, and I’m disappointed to see my initial impression was on the mark. You’re the worst.”

She slammed the door in his face.

:: ::

Dipper leaned on his motorcycle and sighed heavily.

As he reflected on what he had done wrong, he first blamed Mabel. She had an entire web of red string linking pieces of information but not a single picture of the girl. Lacking the information that had been too obvious to warrant a spot on the web had proven fatal for him. Then he realized that he had also made mistakes. Mainly, he had been careless.

The clues came to him, as usual, too late.

When she had opened the door, Dipper had immediately noticed that the loose white tank top Pacifica was wearing did a poor job at hiding her cyan bra under the opening for her arms. Dipper had not thought, even for a second, that her outfit could in no way be appropriate to go to work; he only thought that the bra was so small that her breasts could not be anything impressive.

When he saw her jeans, torn on the knees and with grass stains, he did not think she could be frequenting the forest having adventures like someone obsessed with the Journals would, but rather he dismissed it after noticing her arms littered with leather bracelets and the necklace with the peace symbol, and he assumed the girl was some hippie that liked to sit on the grass and play the guitar.

But what had doomed him were the eyes. Pacifica’s eyes were blue, but they had a hint of purple. He had initially assumed that was due to the lightning, but he should have checked. It would have taken a second to try and scan her with his amulet, but he did not. He only thought the hint of purple was an attractive oddity, an exotic thing which he wanted to add to his list of conquests, so the focus became hitting on the girl.

Mabel was right, he thought. He had been too shallow.

Dipper leaned on the motorcycle and crossed his arms. The first impression was ruined, so were his chances of convincing the girl to go with him on an adventure. But he could not leave empty handed either, so he pondered on what to do.

The back door to the Shack opened, and Gideon came out carrying a chicken in his arms. Pacifica followed him. Dipper stared from the distance with interest. Gideon set the pet chicken on the ground and then started chasing it, only to have the chicken attack him and chase him back after it was cornered. Pacifica would run with them a little, but overall, her role was clearly to supervise rather than to take part in the game.

Dipper scoffed and changed his mind. Rather than a haunted house, old Bud should turn the Shack into a farm. He already had the pig, the chicken, and if Pacifica braided her hair, she would make a fine farm girl. He did not understand how a boy that was supposedly 12 found so much joy in chasing and being chased by a pet chicken, as if he was 6 years old instead.

Out of curiosity, he used his amulet. Closing his eyes, Dipper could perfectly see Gideon’s psychic aura in the yard. If he concentrated, he could feel the joy emanating from it. He could also see old Bud’s aura in the Shack, he could even see the chicken’s small aura, and some squirrels in the trees, but he could not see Pacifica’s anywhere. He opened his eyes to double check, and the girl was indeed still there but, to his amulet, it’s as if she did not exist.

Dipper became lost in thought. He did not envy her ability. If Mabel’s theory about how everybody perceives the soul was correct, and usually anything Mabel theorized was, then he did not envy her ability at all.

The sound of Gideon’s protests snapped him back into reality. He saw Pacifica walking to him while holding a glass of water, much to Gideon’s protests and attempts to prevent her from coming anywhere near him.

“Here.” Pacifica handed him the glass. “You’ve been standing there for an hour. I figured you would be thirsty.”

“Thank you.”

Dipper was not thirsty, and he would rather not test on his intestines the quality of the plumbing in the little shack lost in the woods. But he drank the water, because he needed to make amends for the ruined first impression.

“Let’s go now.” Gideon pulled Pacifica’s hand.

“No. I want to hear what he has to say.” She turned to Dipper and crossed her arms. “You came looking for a short and fat girl to take her on an adventure. You didn’t find her, but I still want to know where, and why.”

“First, allow me to apologize.” Dipper bowed politely. “I assumed, and I assumed wrong. Evidently you’re neither fat nor short.”

“If only words were as useful for asking for forgiveness as they are for hurting one’s feelings.”

Dipper wanted to retort but he remained silent.

“No, I do not accept your apology.” Pacifica continued. “I won’t take words for an apology, but I will take actions. Answer the questions. Truthfully. From what you said earlier, I know it wasn’t your idea to come here. I can imagine your sister sends you and, unlike you, I’ve met her before. I may be a pacifist, but I’m not an idiot. I’m well aware that she hates me for reasons beyond my control so I can’t expect this adventure to be anything good for me if she has planned it.”

“Mabel is indeed not the friendliest individual.” Dipper smirked. “You’re correct. She sends me, but she sends me without ill will. Mabel puts value above everything else, and she believes there is something only you can do, something that would benefit the two of you. Something that gives you value. For this reason, she is willing to put behind her hatred and start anew.”

“So, your sister thinks she can burn all the bridges, and then all of a sudden decide to build one between us. She wants to build a bridge, but she can’t be here in person for it?”

“Mabel is rather eccentric.” Dipper shrugged and then looked at Pacifica seriously. “But she is never wrong.”

“Hmph. If you say so. And this adventure of yours? Where were you taking me?”

“Have you ever seen one of these?”

When Dipper showed her the picture on his phone, it did not matter that Pacifcia was immune to the amulet. Her face clearly reflected that she had seen the Journals before.

“Gideon, Gideon! Look! See!? I told you there had to be two more!” She turned to Dipper excitedly. “Where did you find these!?”

“One in the manor. The other in the elementary school in town. Years ago, though.”

“The first one was in the manor? Then—”

“No. Neither my great uncle nor the previous owners of the manor are the author.”

“Are you sure?”

“Mabel investigated it thoroughly and she found no evidence that they are. She says the dates didn’t match and, like I said, she’s never wrong. She even figured that you have one of the Journals.”

“I don’t know how she knows, but I do have one. I have Journal #3, and I found it in a hidden trapdoor in the forest. There was a panel in a fake metal tree that opened the trapdoor.”

“I see.”

Dipper raised his eyebrows. He remembered something like that being described in Journal #2 as a potential hiding spot, and that Mabel had specifically assigned that one to him back in the day. She had narrowed it down to a rather small area, but Dipper did not feel like tapping every tree in it with a metal rod until hearing a KLANK, so he lied and said it was not there. He hoped Mabel would not find out the truth about how it was his fault that she did not have all three Journals by now.

“Are there any indications of a 4th Journal existing?” He changed topics.

“There’s not even two thirds of this one. The author suddenly stops halfway through. He sounded terribly worried about something, but he would not write about it beyond saying it was his mistake and his fault.”

Dipper grimaced. Mabel may have been correct about the fate of the Author too. What Pacifica described sounded really bad for the writer.

“D-Did you bring them here?” She excitedly peered around him at the motorcycle, specifically the seat.

“No. They’re safely stored at the manor, and only photocopies ever leave, of which I brought none.”

“I thought that you wanted to do a trade. That your sister wanted, I mean. It would be the journal I have already read, for one of the journals you have already read. That would be fair, right? And, well, if you don’t mind, maybe my Journal for both of yours?”

“These books are not collectible cards you can trade. They’re powerful and dangerous, and should never fall in the wrong hands.” Dipper said sternly, which satisfactorily earned a shy nod from the girl. “Besides, from what you have told me, you don’t even have a full book. How could you hope to trade half a book for a complete one fairly?”

“I’d be happy just borrowing them…”

“I didn’t come here to trade anyway. I came here, because there is one thing in Journal #2 that Mabel has never been able to solve but thinks that you could.” He showed her the picture in his phone.

“An illusion dome hiding an entire building. But… I moved here at the start of the summer. I wouldn’t know anything about buildings that were there once and then not anymore. You should ask someone that has been living here for longer than 30 years about abandoned buildings nobody would miss if they disappeared, and then check which actually went missing.”

“We already did that part years ago. We know what building and more or less where it should be, but we couldn’t see it when we searched, and so we gave up on it. However, Mabel believes you can see it. And Mabel—”

“Mabel is never wrong, yes, yes. But just because your sister says I can see what is invisible does not mean I actually can. If things were so simple, she should just say I can fly, and then I would be able to go check your building and come back in minutes.”

Dipper refrained from explaining Mabel’s suspicions on her ability.

“What is in this building that is so important?” Pacifica asked, given Dipper remained silent.

“Mabel guesses the Author went there to hide. I’m inclined to think she may be correct, unless your Journal suggests otherwise.”

“It doesn’t. Hmm… Okay then, you’ve definitely piqued my interest. I’ll go with you on this adventure.”

Pacifica offered her hand. Dipper raised an eyebrow, and then he shook it. Pacifica however grabbed his hand and did not let go.

“I’ll go on this adventure, and you will see I am both capable and responsible. Then you will take me on the tour of the town you proposed, and then to your manor for refreshments. And there, your Journals will not have to leave the manor when you show them to me. We’re shaking on it, so you have to do it.”

“A deal done under coercion is void by default.” Dipper smirked and stopped shaking. Pacifica did not have the strength to force his arm to continue shaking.

“You would then have to admit a girl as skinny as me coerced you.”

Dipper chuckled heartily.

“Very well, you win. But let’s do this in a proper way, without coercions. Help me on this adventure, and I give you my word that I will try my best to persuade Mabel to show you the Journals, but remember that they are hers, not mine, so I do not have the final word on this.”

“Deal.”

“Let’s not waste any time then. The building is closer to the neighboring city than it is to Gravity Falls, so it may be dusk before we make it back. I suggest you grab a jacket or something. August nights are chilly in Gravity Falls.”

Pacifica nodded eagerly and rushed to the Shack, but Gideon intercepted her.

“Don’t go. Not with him.”

“I’ll be fine. He seems a bit shallow but he doesn’t strike me as a bad person.” She smiled warmly at her cousin. “Besides, he knows about the Journals, maybe even the location of the Author. I cannot let this opportunity slip.”

“I have a bad feeling about this…”

“I’ll be back by night. Don’t worry.”

Pacifica left, and so Gideon was left alone glaring at Dipper. Dipper, feeling less of a need to be polite now that the girl was gone, raised an eyebrow and looked boringly at Gideon.

“What?”

“If… If anything happens to her…”

“Then you’ll do what? Get two stools, stack them one on top of the other, climb on them, and then hop and nibble my ankles?” Dipper chuckled. “Do not make threats you cannot hope to carry out. Which reminds me, now that you know about the Journals, I don’t have to be discreet about this.”

Dipper raised a hand to his amulet and Gideon spun in the air and then fell face first on the grass.

“Whoops. Careful. The grass is slippery.”

Gideon tried to get up but an invisible force pushed him back down.

“Terribly slippery.” Dipper squatted and forced Gideon to look at him with the amulet. “My sister may fancy you, but I find you insufferable, pitiful and pathetic. Other than that, I have nothing against you. For this reason, I do not go out of my way to annoy you. But I expect the same treatment from you, because if you try to get in my way, you will be promoted from eyesore to problem. And problems don’t get off the hook by falling on the grass a couple times. It’ll be worse and, after I’m done with you, I’ll spit on you. Loser. Now smile, she’s coming back.”

With the amulet, Dipper lifted the boy and removed the blades of grass and the stains from his clothes. He even forced him to smile.

Pacifica came back. She had put on a tracksuit jacket, which was cyan and purple, split diagonally on the chest. Dipper thought the designer for such jacket should be praised, as it would be difficult to have found an uglier design for it.

Pacifica noticed Gideon making a weird face with a wide smile and a frown.

“He does not want you to come.” Dipper explained as he climbed on his motorcycle. “But I promised that I would bring you back in one piece. Now get on.”

“I’ll be okay, really. Go back inside.” Pacifica reassured Gideon, who gave her a last worried look and left defeated, rubbing his sore cheeks. Then Pacifica turned to Dipper with an unconvinced look. “Are you old enough to ride one of those?”

“Do you maybe think I came walking with it all the way from the manor? Of course I can ride it.”

“But are you old enough? Do you have a license?”

“I have a special permit. Courtesy of my great uncle.”

Pacifica remained silent for a while.

“I’m not riding that.”

Dipper pinched the bridge of his nose. He did not understand the problem. His motorcycle was not a sport or an off-road, it was a plain standard motorcycle. He saw nothing dangerous with it, so her refusal to ride it annoyed him.

“Then what do you suggest, princess?” Dipper asked mockingly. “That I call my personal driver? Not on her day off without a prior scheduling. That we get a taxi? Not in this little town lost in the woods. That, perhaps, we walk? Forget about coming back by dusk; we won’t make it to the building by dusk!”

“You said it’s closer to the neighboring city, so let’s take the bus there and then walk.”

“…Fine.” Dipper said after groaning. “Let’s have it your way.”

Dipper lifted the seat for the motorcycle and pulled a long rectangular packaging from the storage under the seat.

“What’s in there? A flute?”

“We don’t know for certain it’s the Author waiting for us in the building. There could be a monster. This is to handle a situation like that. And it’s a sword.”

Pacifica glanced at the packaging, then at Dipper, and then she smiled.

“Fine, you don’t have to tell me what you have in the box if you don’t want to.”

:: ::

Chapter Text

:: ::

They did not have to wait at the bus stop for long. When Pacifica tried to pay for her own ticket, she opened a small purse and started fishing through many quarters. Dipper interrupted her and paid for her ticket himself. Out of impatience rather than anything else. Pacifica thanked him for his misinterpreted politeness, and they searched for a spot to sit.

It was a bit after rush hour, so in the bus there were mainly two kinds of people. Those that had finished their morning shift at work and were taking the bus to return home, and those that were hoping to spend the afternoon in the larger town, probably in the mall. The latter group being composed mainly of teenagers like them.

There were a few seats free, but Pacifica was quick to lean against the side of the bus, clearly against taking a seat from somebody that may need it. Dipper rested his rectangular package in the corner between the back of a seat and the side of the bus, and then he stood next to her and smiled politely, but he would have preferred to sit, and if anybody after him needed the seat, then he could always stand up.

“This will take a while.” He commented, checking the time on his phone. “Especially considering we will have to take the bus again on the way back. It is me who needs your help, so I will accept the terms you set. But I will not do so and get bored too, so let’s make the most of this trip. You don’t look average by any standards. Tell me about yourself; I’m curious.”

“I could say and ask the same thing about you. You don’t look average either. I don’t see anybody else wearing a vest like that.”

“It’s a waistcoat, and I would happily talk about myself but I had the audacity to ask first.”

“Very well then. My name is Pacifica Northwest. As you could imagine by the surname, I’m Gideon’s cousin on my mother’s side. I’m the same age as you.”

“And you enjoy reading the yellow press, if you know my age.”

“I enjoy reading, period. But yes, I ran into an article about you where you were basically described as a local celebrity but, since you enjoy talking about yourself, I won’t say any more about you. I wouldn’t want to deprive you of the pleasure.”

Dipper pouted playfully and Pacifica smiled.

“I moved in at the start of the summer.” She continued. “I currently live at the Shack with my cousin, and I plan to attend Gravity Falls High after the summer vacations.”

“What about your parents?”

“They do not live with me.”

Dipper scoffed.

“I see.” He added. “It is quite ironic, how there are many children that want to have parents but can’t, and many parents that don’t want to have their children anymore but can’t either. But I guess every now and then, fate smiles on these people and gives them just what they wanted. In the way that best reminds everybody else of how cruel fate can be.”

“You assume again and you assume wrong.” Pacifica narrowed her eyes at him, but then she relaxed her expression. “But I won’t take offense this time, because I read about you. You have my condolences for what happened.”

“I don’t need them. I’m not happy about what happened but I can’t say I don’t enjoy having no parental supervision. I’d say it helped me grow up quicker, and I do not regret what I grew into. But I know somebody that cracked because of what happened, so I will never say this was the better outcome.”

“Your sister?”

Dipper did not reply. He just raised his eyebrows and stared at Pacifica attentively, waiting for her to continue her story.

“Like I said,” she continued after a moment. “You assumed wrong. It was my decision. My family situation is definitely not average, like you guessed. I’d say the simplest way to put it is that my parents are hippies that live in a van. We used to travel the States and join other hippie communes, making things and selling them for a living. A very simple way of living.”

“How does one end up with such a life?” Dipper asked mockingly. “Debt? Problems with the law, perhaps?”

“Choice. You would be surprised; my father comes from a rather wealthy family. And he has a college degree in literature and philosophy.”

“I heard once from my very successful uncle that those with literature degrees have even less than those with nothing, because at least those with nothing did not have to pay for college.”

“My father,” Pacifica ignored the comment. “Reflected on how he viewed society, people, and the economy, and he decided to give up his wealth and become a hippie. My grandparents disagreed with him and disowned him quickly, but that was basically my father’s goal so he was happy about it, and then he took to the road. He met my mother who, according to you, had more than my father by not having anything.”

Pacifica paused since Dipper looked like he wanted to say something, something likely insulting, but he kept quiet. She continued.

“Eventually I was born. I can’t really compare it with anything else since I’ve only lived like that, but to me it was a happy life.”

“I don’t believe it.”

“Why?”

“Because you’re here and not there.”

“I’m here because, when I become an adult, I do not want to be a hippie. I consider a hippie life to be selfless but at the same time very selfish. Maybe it’s perfectly balanced in that regard, but I wanted to do something a bit more unbalanced; something that helps others more than it helps me.” Pacifica smiled dreamily. “I’ve always loved animals, so I want to become a veterinarian. I talked to my parents about it. They knew they could not provide me with such an opportunity, so we decided it would be best if I lived with my uncle and attended school to achieve my goals.”

“Your father is a fool.” Dipper stated without remorse. “I’m offending you again, but I’m not doing it out malice, so I hope you will forgive me when I ask for it with just words and not actions.”

“My father,” she narrowed her eyes. “Is actually considered very wise by anybody that speaks with him. Every time.”

“That’s just a mix of politeness and cowardice that people express in front of others. I don’t need to hear anything else to know that your father is tall and imposing too. But tell me, what is wise about reflecting on society and the economy, and reaching the conclusion that he should give up on the resources that he was gifted with at birth, and that would in the future provide for his family? Had your father not chosen to be disowned by his wealthy family, your goal of becoming a veterinarian would easily be within your grasp.”

“Had my father not chosen to become a hippie, I would not have been born. And, if for whatever twist of fate I would’ve been born despite that, I doubt I would’ve been brought up in a way that made me want to become a veterinarian.”

“That’s a lot of assumptions and not a single fact. Let me give you one simple yet terrifying fact: If you have spent your life traveling the country in a van, how do you hope to suddenly join everybody else that has spent their lives in a school?”

“Like I said, my father has a degree in literature and philosophy. I’m not uneducated. He homeschooled me.”

“And you think that you will just seamlessly join the grade? Without any bumps in the road?”

Pacifica did not reply for a long moment.

“No, I don’t. I have no guarantee that what I learned is what appears in your books. I’ve also never been with so many kids before, and I know that my looks and my family situation will put me at a disadvantage getting along with them. But it is what I want to do; it is my goal. So I will put up with the problems and make progress towards my goal every day.”

“Finally,” Dipper grinned. “Something I can agree with. I not only agree, but I like what you said too.”

“Even if it comes from the daughter of a fool?”

“I will not apologize for that anymore, because I firmly believe it. But I like your determination, so I want to support your goal. When school starts, you can hang out in my group. Nobody will mess with you.”

Pacifica gave him a twisted smile.

“I appreciate it, but…”

“Ah, I guess you must have heard about my group from your little cousin. What you heard is likely exaggerated, but as true as it is biased.” Dipper shrugged. “Yes, we find entertainment in messing with other people, and of course that does not go both ways, so we do not allow anybody to poke fun at us. However, we have a very strict rule about not messing with girls, so you will be fine. After all, if, for example, one of my friends ridiculed the girl I was interested in, there would be a conflict within the group. So, I decided years ago when it happened first to issue a blanket ban on it. Flirty teasing is fine, though.”

“I still wouldn’t like being part of a group that messes with others for fun. The fact that the targets are only boys does not make it sound any better to me.”

“You’re seriously stubborn.” Dipper sighed. “Fine, I will direct you to the loser group, the nerds. They like books, you like books; you will be birds of a feather. But I insist that the first week, the week everybody will gossip about who you are and where you come from, you spend it with us.”

Dipper made a pause as he reminisced.

“School,” he continued. “The learning part, is as easy as it is boring. Anybody could do it, even the stupidest. That’s why dumb and incompetent doctors, to name a profession, exist. The difficult part about school is not the learning, but the people. The people around you at school can erase that boredom and even make you look forward to going to school every day, just as they can make it a living hell you never want to return to. But, if you hang out with us, I guarantee people will look up to you. I guarantee people will want to be friends with you. Because people want to get closer to us, to the cool kids’ group, the winners that spit on the losers. My recommendation is that you take shelter with us while you’re a hot topic. And, after the interest in you dies down, you can do whatever you want.”

“I’ll take your advice, because you seem to know what you’re talking about, but I will save my spit. I don’t think spitting on people is an effective way of making friends.”

“You really think so? Huh. Nobody ever told me!”

Pacifica chuckled, so Dipper smiled.

“Tell me about these.” He touched the leather bracelets on her arms. Dipper had counted more than 10 between both arms. “You seem quite popular.”

“Oh no, these are all friendship bracelets, but they aren’t all in use. When I make a friend, I give them one from my right arm, and I keep the other one on my left.” She showed Dipper her left arm. Each leather bracelet had small ornaments, like small plastic figurines, to tell them apart.

“Which are in use, then?”

“This one here is Amber. She was my first friend. This one is Abigail, and this one here is Thomas.”

“A boyfriend?” Dipper grinned teasingly.

“No, no. Well, we hugged once, but I didn’t see him that way. I was only 12.”

“So what? I already had trouble talking to redheads when I was 12.”

“He was not a boyfriend.” Pacifica said in a tone that left clear the topic would not be discussed any further.

“Any other friends?”

“No.”

Dipper nodded and remained silent. Only 3 friends in almost 15 years was not normal. He figured Pacifica likely blamed it on her nomadic lifestyle and, while that was a factor, Dipper also knew better. He himself was experiencing it right now.

Due to Pacifica’s peculiar power, he kept misreading her. He kept feeling an odd sensation in his brain, as if he could not connect with the person in front of him at all. As if they were talking on the phone and not face to face. To anybody that did not know better, talking to the blonde had to be rather annoying.

“Can I have one?” He surprised himself by asking that, but he pitied her situation.

“Uh, well…”

“It’s fine if you don’t want to.”

“I just don’t hand these out easily, otherwise they would have no meaning.” Pacifica smiled apologetically. “But don’t take it as a no. Take it as a maybe. I’ve told you a lot about myself already. Now I want to know a bit about you.”

“My favorite topic. What do you want to know?”

“Is your birthmark real, or is it makeup?”

“Real. Do you want to rub it to see for yourself?”

“No, I believe you. Then your parents named you Dipper for it?”

“Obviously not. It’s a nickname.”

“Then what’s your real name?”

“That, you will find out on the first day of school. I’m yet to meet a teacher that calls me Dipper when taking attendance. So when you see me raise my hand, whichever name the teacher said last, that was my name.”

“Couldn’t you just tell me now?”

“And where would the fun be in that?” Dipper smiled teasingly.

Pacifica narrowed her eyes at him, but smiled too.

“Then, the magic. I read you’re a magician. Can you do real magic?”

“Of course. Here.” He reached behind her ear and pulled a quarter.

“You know that’s not what I meant.” She complained, annoyed. “That’s not magic, that’s sleight of hand. Anybody can do that.”

“Really? Then, if you would not mind…” Dipper leaned forward and turned his head, presenting his ear. “My left ear has been feeling rather heavy and cold for a couple of days. It’s definitely a quarter.”

“I don’t have a quarter to do the trick.”

“I do, behind my ear. I’m giving you permission to pull it out.”

“The trick obviously doesn’t work like that!”

“It doesn’t?” Dipper asked innocently, and then reached behind Pacifica’s other ear and pulled a second quarter. “Look, I did it again! Now I got two quarters.”

“Are you making fun of me!?”

Dipper burst into chuckles.

“Okay, I apologize. Let me show you real magic now. Your favorite card is… this one!”

With a sudden jerk of his wrist, a card appeared between his fingers.

“The ace of hearts? Really?”

“The perfect card for a young girl in love.” Dipper teased her. “But if you don’t like it, then, I will make it disappear.” He made a motion with both hands and the card vanished.

Pacifica frowned and pouted. She boldly grabbed Dipper’s hand and started searching it, behind the fingers and up the sleeve. When she was done with that hand, she searched the other. She turned him around to look at his back, and then glared at Dipper, who kept grinning at her.

“I know where it is, and I am not reaching for it there.”

“Really? And where would that be?”

Pacifica blushed and admitted reluctantly.

“…In your underwear.”

Dipper raised his eyebrows with surprise, and then laughed.

“These cards, for the tricks to work, they are harder than the average card.” He explained. “Harder and sharper, which makes them something I would not put near the crown jewels. No, they’re not in my underwear. While you were searching this hand, I used the other to slide the card in your pocket.”

Pacifica reached into the pocket of her baggy tracksuit jacket, and gasped when she found the ace of hearts in there.

“You’re very skilled.” She admitted as she handed him the card.

“Of course. Not only do I have years of practice, but it’s something I like to do too. It has often proven to be a very useful hobby.” Dipper commented, momentarily remembering how many girls these tricks had impressed to the extent of dropping their underwear.

“But it is still not magic. I want to see something like, like… Yes! I remember I read you were a psychic too! Can you read minds?”

“Only a little.” Dipper shrugged, not strictly lying.

“Then, what number am I thinking of?”

Dipper did not comment that he was unable to read specific thoughts like that one. Dipper did not comment either that even if he could, Pacifica was immune. Dipper did not even comment that he hated the question, due to how many times he had heard it from his sister. He only responded automatically.

“Twelve.”

The result was not what he expected. Pacifica immediately blushed red like a tomato and covered her temples, as if that did anything against the supposed mind reading.

“I-I don’t… Get out of my head. Don’t you dare read my mind.”

“Wait, was it really 12?” Dipper chuckled. “Well, this is awkward. I’m sorry to disappoint, or perhaps you prefer it this way, but I’ve never been able to read minds, much less so answer that question correctly, so after a long time I got fed up with it and always simply answered 12 whenever somebody asked me. For no reason other than that is my favorite number.”

Pacifica seemed to believe him. She looked visibly more relieved; less outraged and embarrassed about what she had been thinking all morning suddenly coming to light.

“…Mine too.” She admitted after a while. “I like the number 12 too.”

Dipper raised an eyebrow and, after a second, they both giggled. He then sighed happily and stared into Pacifica’s eyes intently for a long moment, before he slowly leaned forward for a kiss. In the last second, Pacifica turned her head to the side and leaned back slightly, fully avoiding the kiss. Dipper pulled back, mildly shocked, but Pacifica pretended she had not noticed his advance, so Dipper did not address it either. But he stopped smiling at her.

“Why is the forest in this town so special?” Pacifica quickly asked, to change topics.

“There’s no short answer. My sister studied and theorized about it for years, and as usual I imagine her theory is correct. First the fundamentals. There are three kinds of dimensions, and theoretically multiple parallel earths for each of them, but the key element is the type of dimension.”

“There are dimensions where there is only matter and space,” He continued. “Coined by my sister as the Materium, and dimensions where there is not any matter at all, but only ether and psychic energy, incredibly creatively coined as the Immaterium by my sister again.” Dipper smirked playfully. “Theoretically, the Materium would not have any life that is too complex in it. Maybe only plants and insects. Whereas everything in the Immaterium is alive, but in an incorporeal form. They’re pure energy, eternal and I doubt they have any desires like ours, or even a concept of time.”

Pacifica nodded, listening intently. 

“Sometimes, the Immaterium, being the more fluid of the two dimensions, it leaks into the Materium. Just a tiny bit, but that is enough to change it enough to consider it the third type of dimension. Our own, where living beings that were previously simple and relied purely on instinct, suddenly started to think and dream, and gained the ability to reason. They evolved thanks to the influence of the psychic energy from the Immaterium.”

Dipper rubbed his amulet idly.

“What makes Gravity Falls special is that the veil between dimensions is thinner here, and the Immaterium has a higher influence here than anywhere else, which causes all these paranormal phenomena. The easiest evidence of this is the gnomes. You must’ve seen them before, in the forest. These gnomes, they did not evolve from an animal ancestor or anything like that. Somebody, some time ago, must have discarded a large amount of the typical clay garden gnomes in the forest, and the energy seeping from that other dimension brought them to life.”

“So they got Toy Storied.”

“Yes.” Dipper chuckled. “That’s one way to put it. However not everything that was affected by the energy from that other dimension simply came to life. Some things instead gained special properties, like my amulet here.”

Dipper held his amulet and discreetly levitated the quarter in his hand and made it spin in the air. Pacifica’s eyes sparkled and she grinned from ear to ear after seeing real magic for the first time.

“Each person in the world is linked to the Immaterium. Everybody dreams, everybody thinks. We could simplify it and say everybody has a soul, which is a projection of their material self on the psychic realm. However, some are more sensitive to it than others. Some have brighter souls. My sister coined the term psychic sensitivity for that. These artifacts act multiplicatively with the base value of that psychic sensitivity. Since this amulet is one of the first artifacts my sister and I found, she used it to establish the metric.”

Dipper moved the coin in a circle.

“I’m a level 2, because I am able to use the amulet to move things in two directions at once. It may sound like little, but I can lift a car with it. A truck too, with effort. It also allows me to get a feeling of other people’s thoughts, but I cannot read them. For example, the man sitting over there feels extremely bored and can’t wait to get home. Those two girls in the back of the bus are badmouthing somebody or something, but one of them actually likes the object of insult, and she’s getting annoyed by the badmouthing. I didn’t read their minds, but I recognized the feelings.”

“That’s still amazing.”

“Believe me, you only say that because you’ve never seen my sister use this.”

“What level is your sister?”

“She was a 9 when we found it. A week after that, she was a 27. Then she stopped counting. Where I could only feel thoughts, my sister could read them perfectly, and very quickly. I can only lift up to a truck with effort, but she can effortlessly level a house. She has such control over it that she can even alter objects on a molecular level and change their material, such as turning a plastic pen into a gold one. She could even create things.” Dipper reflexively rubbed the arm where hair would never grow again. “My sister is truly a prodigy, for better or worse.”

“C-Can I try?” Pacifica reached for it.

Dipper caught her hand to stop her and, the he touched her, the coin stopped levitating and immediately fell to the floor of the bus. He was partially surprised.

“I’m afraid that it would not work for you. If you were to touch it, in the best-case scenario the amulet would stop working forever, and in the worst, it would explode. So I ask you that you never, ever try to touch it.”

“Why would it explode if I touched it?”

“I told you how everybody’s soul had a base psychic sensitivity number, which all artifacts worked multiplicatively with. You are a zero. Anything you multiply by zero becomes a zero. This is why I can’t read your mind, or lift you with my amulet. This is why my sister believes you have value. You will be able to see through the dome of invisibility. Magic not only does not work on you, but it also breaks on contact with you.”

“Well, but if your sister went from a 9 to a 27 in a week, I could maybe increase mine too, right?”

“My sister increased her power because her original number was not a 9, or a 27. Only after she attuned properly to the amulet, over time, she reached her actual number, whatever that is. I, myself, actually started as a 1, and over time increased to a 2. Mabel theorizes I could go up to 8 if I trained, which I don’t. But your case is completely different. You’re an anomaly. The rules that apply to everybody else do not apply to you. My sister coined a name for it too. Soulless, or blank, because your soul is not there when we use the amulet to look for it.”

Dipper regretted his choice of words immediately. He blamed his rashness on repeating what Mabel explained to him word by word rather than paraphrasing, but also on his displeasure after Pacifica turned him down. But what was done, was done, and Pacifica looked as if she had been slapped across the face.

“…I don’t believe it.” Pacifica frowned at him, her eyes watery. “You’re just saying that because you’re upset… Because I pulled away earlier when you…”

Dipper shook his head. He had partially put it that way because of that, but he had not lied.

“You must have felt this throughout your life. People have a difficult time communicating with you, and they feel uncomfortable when they are with you. This is because everybody has a sixth sense for feeling the soul when they talk with somebody, but they are never able to feel yours. Your projection on the psychic realm is simply not there so, to everybody else with a projection, you will feel odd. Like talking to somebody without eyes.”

Pacifica remained silent for a while. Eventually she looked down, sad, and nodded.

“So I don’t have a soul…”

“Actually, about that… I don’t know for sure. It’s a theory, not a fact. Mabel came up with the theory based on opposites. But with you here, we can actually check if you have a soul.” He said in a lively tone to try and cheer up the girl he pitied. “Tell me, if you to think of an apple, are you able to picture it in your mind? In black and white or in color? Is the picture well defined? And when you think, do you have internal monologue or just noise?”

“I can see the apple normally, and my mind voice sounds just like my own.”

“Do you dream? And when you wake up, do you ever remember any images of the dream, or just a narration of it?”

“I don’t remember all my dreams, but the ones I remember, I see them like any other memory. Like a video.”

“Then you definitely have a soul. And a very healthy connection to it, too.” Dipper smiled at her comfortably. “I guess my sister’s theory needs some correcting. You evidently have a projection on the psychic realm, but I do not see you when I use the amulet, so I guess your soul is just invisible, or maybe it’s protected? Maybe your soul is some sort of random exception, or perhaps it is deliberately like that? I do not know, and I don’t want to speculate because I’m not my sister and I’m likely to be wrong.”

“But, whatever the case,” he continued. “In the eyes of the regular people it is still the same to you. They cannot feel your soul, so I’m afraid you’re doomed to always cause an uncomfortable first impression. However, this does not mean you cannot make friends. These are proof of it.”

Dipper held her hand and stroked her friendship amulets. Pacifica smiled back at him.

“Even if the first impression is doomed to fail, you still have the second impression, and the third if you really want to be friends with that individual.” He shrugged, and then he smiled playfully. “Besides, everything I’ve said is likely to apply only to girls. After all, boys only need a pretty face to decide if they want to be friends with a girl or not.”

“I’ll keep in mind that if a boy wants to be friends with me the moment we met, he wants to get in my pants and nothing else.”

“Indeed do. You will be right more often than not.”

Pacifica gave him a lopsided smile for a while, and then she decided, so she started undoing one of the leather bracelets on her right arm.

“Here. I want you to have this one.”

“Ohh? I thought you didn’t hand these easily?”

“I don’t. But I think I can trust you with it. I think you’re trying to be nice to me when you don’t strictly need to. I value goodness and honesty, and I think you’re not a bad person, so I want you to take it. For the things that you said, and for those that you didn’t.”

Dipper extended his left arm and let her tie the bracelet around his wrist. He decided immediately that it did not match his formal attire at all, so he would not wear the bracelet much, and definitely not for the party.

After staring at it for a while, however, he decided that, rather than taking it off, he could just tuck it under his sleeve and still wear it for the party. For some reason, he did not want to take it off. Dipper pondered on it, and he reached the conclusion that there was value to the bracelet. It could help as a magnet for girls that were looking for a sensitive side, so he decided he would not take it off.

“You gave me the one with the blue hearts, eh?” Dipper smiled teasingly at her while he shook the bracelet and its tiny ornaments.

“Don’t look too deeply into it.” She blushed. “It’s the only blue one I had, and I figured blue would suit you. But if you don’t want it…”

“No, no. No takebacks.” Dipper hid his arm behind himself and grinned at her playfully.

:: ::

Chapter Text

:: ::

They left the bus well into the afternoon. Dipper tucked the rectangular package under his arm and started walking back the way they came on the bus. He was having a hard time now hiding his annoyance about not using his motorcycle for it.

“What kind of building are we looking for?” Pacifica asked, quickly catching up to him.

“A private academy of sorts. It had been long abandoned already 30 years ago.”

“Huh. Never mind, then.”

Dipper pondered about it for a second, and then he stopped and turned to her.

“Why did you ask?”

“I saw a building behind the trees, through the window while we rode the bus. But it didn’t look like a school. It was just one story tall.”

“What kind of building? Like a hunters’ log cabin?”

“No, it was way bigger than that. Hmm, I’d say it looked like an old roadside diner.”

Dipper grinned at her.

“That had to be it. You indeed can see it.”

“Wait, but… Really? How do you know that was it?”

“There are not any buildings between Gravity Falls and here. A small log cabin could be built at any time and not be considered a building worth mentioning. But what you described definitely would. How far away is it?”

“Uh, well…” Pacifica looked down the road. “I don’t know, 20 minutes walking maybe?”

“This is great news!” Dipper excitedly grabbed her by the shoulders. “Even if you are off by a whole hour, the fact that you can see it and that it was actually there, is a monumental advancement. Because we started this trip with only assumptions to work with, and assumptions have been often wrong today. I feared that maybe you would not be able to see it after all, or that it would not be there and so we would waste the entire day on nothing. But the fact that you saw it means we have a clear goal now, and a clear goal can be achieved. It’s not even that far away; I’m not so worried anymore about the sky getting dark before we’re done, so let’s celebrate. Let me treat you to some ice cream. I know a really good place nearby.”

“I can’t say no to ice cream after I skipped lunch today, so okay. But I will pay for my own ice cream.”

Dipper smirked smugly and led her down the street with one hand on her back.

“It’s actually a good thing you skipped lunch, as the place only does big servings. But I should warn you that it’s a fancy place. I doubt you could afford it even if I let you pay. So I insist, let me—”

“Dipper!”

A girl suddenly intercepted them. She practically jumped, throwing her arms around Dipper’s neck, and then kissed him. Dipper had one hand busy carrying his rectangular package, and the other was behind Pacifica, so the most he could do to protest despite his surprise, was to turn his head to the side and get kissed on the cheek instead.

Pacifica took one step back and stared at the girl awkwardly. Her hair was jet black and long, contrasting with her pale skin. She was wearing a cropped sleeveless blue blouse which bared her midriff, short jeans which bared her legs and high heeled sandals. There was overall more skin exposed than covered. Pacifica assumed from the sunglasses on the top of her head, the expensive-looking purse hanging from her shoulder, the jewelry on her arms, and the very bedazzled belt around her waist, that the girl was wealthy. Or at least pretended to be.

“I’ve told you before that if you plan to visit my town, you must give me a call.” The girl shamelessly pressed the little she had covered against Dipper. “So we can meet up and spend some quality time together.”

Dipper fought the desire to grab her butt, brought up by the girl’s breasts pressed against his chest, and instead he put his hand on her hips and parted the embrace.

“Tiffany.” He said in a tired voice. Dipper usually forgot about his exes’ names, but this girl’s name he could not forget regardless of how hard he tried.

“I heard,” she placed a finger on his chest and ran circles with it seductively. “That you’re setting up a party and yet, I have not received an invitation. Why is that?”

“That question has the easiest and most logical of answers.” Dipper grabbed her hand to stop the circling. “The reason you have not received an invitation, is that I did not invite you. You could not figure that one out on your own, huh?”

“Hmph!” She pulled away and put her fists on her hips. “I hate when you tease me like I’m some sort of imbecile. Act as indifferent as you like, but deep down you know we belong together. I’m the wealthiest girl in this town, and you’re the wealthiest boy in the next town over. We’re both the same age, I’m hot, and you’re hot. It is the easiest and most logical of answers, to merge dynasties. I know it, you know it, and I bet she knows it too.”

Tiffany turned to Pacifica and held her elbow in one hand and cupped her chin in the other as she looked at the girl up and down. Tiffany had the expression of someone examining manure, which made Pacifica blush with embarrassment.

“My, oh my, Dipper. You know I’m quite patient and tolerant with your usual pursuit of a fleeting pleasure that turns out as worthless as it was momentarily entertaining, but, really? Some dirty hippie girl this time? Have you finally run out of girls and are scraping the bottom of the barrel now, or perhaps are you starting to lose your senses? Starting by taste, no doubt, but which one you lost afterwards is not so clear between sight… and smell.”

Pacifica became red like a tomato, but it was not an angry red. She lowered her head so her blunt bangs would hide her watery eyes, but nothing could hide that her legs were shaking. Dipper quickly got between the girls, gently throwing one arm in front of Tiffany and turning her away from Pacifica.

“It’s not like that.” Dipper calmly explained. “We just have some business together, in town. She’s not your rival, so I ask that you apologize to her, because she was not deserving of your anger or your jealousy.”

“Jealousy!?” Tiffany chuckled. “No, I won’t apologize. The fact that she is not my rival does not change my opinion of her. As you like to say, we’re the winners and we spit on the losers, and she’s a loser.”

“Very well then.” Dipper shrugged. “We’re busy so we’re leaving now, but remember this: Do not show up at the party, because you’re not invited. I would not want to see security escorting you out in front of everybody to see and laugh.” He threw one arm over Pacifica’s shoulders and turned away from Tiffany to leave.

Indifference worked better than any insult. After a couple seconds, Tiffany chased after them, stomping her feet with every step and speaking in a higher pitch.

“I will go to your party, Dipper Pines! That is as certain as that your dirty hippie girlfriend does not shave her armpits!”

Dipper laughed out loud. That was one of the first things he had checked when he had first seen Pacifica, and he knew it to be false. He let go of Pacifica to turn around and then faced Tiffany.

“Thank you, I did not want the day to end before being on the other end of this: You assumed, and you assumed wrong. Now stop following us and get lost, Tiffany, before I spit on you. Loser.”

The girl stared at him defiantly for a bit, before the gears in her head finally turned and told her what was obvious, what Dipper knew from the start. If she eventually wanted to win Dipper over, fighting him here only put her further away from achieving that goal. Tiffany tossed her head pridefully, turned around and walked away. He, however, was not content with the girl getting off so easily.

Dipper held his amulet and snapped one of Tiffany’s high heels. He made sure to support her ankle as the girl yelped and her foot landed on the pavement. Dipper knew these girls were made of glass, and he had dated a few that turned out to have minor but permanent ankle injuries due to falling. He did not want to maim her. For her rudeness, walking home with one foot on the burning hot pavement was enough.

“Are you okay?” He finally turned to Pacifica and held her shoulders.

“I-I don’t even understand why she was so mean to me. I-I didn’t even open my mouth…”

Her face was red and her eyes were watery. She looked like a child that had been slapped but didn’t know why, so the child cries from the shock alone. Dipper understood immediately that she had absolutely zero tolerance built up towards negative social interactions.

“Some people are mean, and some people are cruel. We ran into somebody that was both.” Dipper sighed; aware this had been his fault. “This is why I insist that you, who’ve never had a school experience before, spend at least the first week in my group. Because there are going to be people like that. Do you understand now?”

Pacifica sniffled and nodded.

“Good, then let’s get you some ice cream because now you really need it.”

:: ::

The walls inside the ice cream shop were salmon colored, with the exception of one that had diagonal white stripes, and the area behind the counter which was blue. The floor and the furniture were white, with most tables having four seats but those being used having only two occupants, all couples. It was a popular dating spot.

Dipper directed Pacifica to a discreet corner, left his package on an empty chair and then went to the counter to order. He figured Pacifica would not like to be seen by the waitress in her altered state, even though she had already mostly recovered. And he was also paying for the ice cream, upfront, so he was going to make sure he picked a good one.

After he returned and sat in front of her, Pacifica did not look so shocked anymore. Instead, she was frowning, and her blue eyes were fixed on him.

“What did you see in somebody like that?” She bluntly asked. “I just can’t get it through my head. I can’t imagine you going out with her and then taking her to the manor and, and…”

“And nothing.” Dipper put his hands on the table and interlaced his fingers. “I went out with her because she asked me out, and for no other reason. However, we dated for less than a day, less than an hour even, because during our first date she kept talking about herself. Nonstop. And when I tried to speak, she interrupted me twice, so I decided to take a quick bathroom break and never return, leaving her to foot the bill. Which, believe me, she could afford. But,” he groaned. “As you saw today, she was not particularly discouraged. She genuinely believes we’re made for each other, and she is quite insistent about it. Heck, she’s even sent me pictures of herself in microkinis to try to tempt me. And some pictures where she’s not even wearing that.”

Pacifica blushed.

“All in an attempt to seduce me, but a futile one because I still refuse to go out with her.” Dipper shrugged. “I don’t care much who I go out with, which means I’m not short on options, so I am not putting up with someone with that attitude even if she has a beautiful body, when I could easily be with someone else.”

Pacifica nodded and remained silent for a while. She looked somewhat relieved; at least not glaring at Dipper anymore, but now she looked rather concerned instead.

“Do you… Do you love every girl you go out with?”

Dipper snorted.

“No. In fact, I don’t think I’ve loved a single one of them.”

“But then—”

“Let me interrupt you because I’ve heard this before and I know how it goes. You believe the way things should work is that you become interested in somebody, go out on dates to know more about each other, fall in love, have sex, marry and have children. Perhaps not strictly in that order, but overall your soup has all those ingredients, am I right? And anybody that decides to remove ingredients, or even worse, not cook the soup at all, is probably immoral, depraved, and likely doomed to suffer from impotence because of their erroneous ways.”

Pacifica frowned and remained silent.

“Well let me assure you,” Dipper continued. “That I am not immoral; on the contrary, I believe I am fairer than most. Who doesn’t? But you won’t be able to name one wrong thing I did to you and I didn’t strive to make up for. I’m also not depraved, and I know this one for a fact because I’ve dated some pretty depraved girls and, while I did play along, none of the things they were into really stuck. And, as for the impotence, my favorite. I do not feel it in the slightest. Ironically, I believe it is falling in love that would actually give me impotence.” He smiled sarcastically. “After all, if I truly loved somebody, then logically I would feel no desire for anybody else. And if this girl turned me down, or we broke up, then oof, I would be doomed to forever suffer from impotence.”

“You shouldn’t be mocking love.” Pacifica said, unhappy about his sarcasm. “Love is the most beautiful emotion that a person can experience. It is the fuel that gives people infinite determination and happiness.”

“Maybe.” Dipper shrugged. “But what I want you to understand is that I don’t start relationships looking for love, marriage, children or anything like that. To me, relationships are nothing so serious, but rather something like a hobby. A fun game I play with a girl for a week or two, rarely even a month, and then the game gets boring so we break up and I look for a new playmate.”

Dipper twisted his mouth and folded his arms on the table.

“You must think me heartless for it. That I am taking advantage of innocent girls who were genuinely in love with me. Girls that, after sleeping with them a few times, I just dump them like used goods in the street under the rain, completely heartbroken.”

Pacifica’s frown intensified but she still remained silent, so Dipper continued.

“I’m afraid,” he added after a pause. “However, that reality is quite different and girls are not like that. Girls, for one, read the yellow press. Like you did. They know what they’re in for when they go out with me and, despite that, they ask me out regularly. And, for two, it’s not usually my idea to stop after one week. But it does usually take a week to enjoy everything the manor has to offer, so I do understand that they achieved their purpose and naturally they lost the motivation to continue dating after that. Heck, I’ve had relationships that lasted a single day, because all the girl was after was the accomplishment of sleeping with the young prince of Gravity Falls. So I don’t want to hear that what I am doing is immoral, unnatural, or even misogynistic, when I myself learned it from the girls I dated.”

“Not all girls are like that.” Pacifica added quietly.

“That is as true as the fact that many girls are indeed like that. And the latter is fine with me. It does not upset me in the slightest that those girls break up with me, or I with them, because it is how the game is played. We both have our fun, and then we part ways to find other players to play the game with.” He leaned back in the chair and stared at Pacifica. “I’m not telling you this is how you should do things. You do you. I’m just trying to explain to you how I do things, and how I ended up with someone like Tiffany, even if it was briefly.”

“Indeed, it’s not how I would do things. I believe that love is the desire to make somebody happy above anything else, and um, m-making love,” Pacifica blushed red like a tomato. “Is the highest display of affection, so it should be reserved for someone you are extremely affectionate with. In the same way that you shake hands with a stranger but hug a friend, and then kiss a friend on the cheek but a boyfriend on the lips. Affection is important and intimate, and if you distribute it freely then it loses meaning.”

“And then comes the impotence.” Dipper interrupted her, smiling sarcastically.

“Yes.” Pacifica said seriously. “So I won’t do it myself, and I am surprised you do it yourself and yet you’ve never accidentally made a connection with a girl and fallen in love with her. I refuse to believe you’ve had so many girlfriends but you’ve never been in love.”

“I’ve been in love once.” Dipper raised an eyebrow. “I said I didn’t love any of the girls I dated, not that I’ve never been in love.”

Pacifica widened her eyes and stared at Dipper expectantly. She wanted to know more about that. However, the waitress arrived then, interrupting their conversation by delivering their two sundaes ice creams in really tall cups.

The one for Pacifica was a mix of strawberry ice cream, strawberry compote, crushed cookies and then whipped cream on top with sprinkled grated chocolate and walnuts, and a full strawberry on the center. Dipper’s was similar but with vanilla ice cream and caramelized bananas as the core fruit. But Dipper’s did not matter, for Pacifica was astounded with her own and Dipper was finding her reaction amusing.

“I assume it’s your first time seeing one of these?” Dipper smirked as he dug into his with his spoon to mix it a little.

“It’s huge!” She leaned forward and slowly turned the cup, staring at the contents through the glass. “And it’s so beautiful, too! I almost don’t want to eat it! But I also really want to!”

Dipper chuckled.

“B-But,” Pacifica quickly turned to look at Dipper. “You were about to talk about that girl you fell in love with. Go on.”

“I wasn’t. I just mentioned her existence. But…” He quickly succumbed under Pacifica’s very interested stare. “Very well, I doubt you would mock me for it. But I’ve never told this story to anybody other than Mabel, so I want it to remain a secret. You can eat your sundae while I speak. Don’t let it melt.”

Pacifica did as told but, while she ate, her gaze never left Dipper. She did not want to miss anything. Dipper, uncomfortable, took a spoonful of his sundae and started his story.

“It was the first Summer we were here. I was 12, and so I had been living here for around half a year, and there was this girl I met in the forest while helping Mabel with the Journals. Her name was Wendy and she fascinated me. She had beautiful red hair, so long she could almost sit on it. She was skinny but athletic which is, I guess, what one would expect from the daughter of a lumberjack. But even with the men’s clothing she usually wore, she still looked very feminine, undoubtedly like a young woman. She was really tall too, taller than me, but that’s to be expected because she was 15 and I was 12.”

Pacifica raised her eyebrows and tilted her head after hearing the girl was older than him.

“We would run into each other often in the forest while I helped Mabel with her research on the Journals and, believe it or not, I had the most difficult time trying to talk to her, as if someone was gripping my throat. Don’t smirk. I won’t show you pictures so you’ll have to take my word for it, but when I was little, I was a wimp, an absolute wet blanket. It wasn’t until I moved here that I decided to make a change, so just 6 months later I was nowhere near as confident as I am today, and talking to a girl as stunning as Wendy was unconceivable.”

Dipper then smiled happily.

“So she talked to me instead, and we started hanging out. I think I fell in love with her then. She did not treat me like a little kid, unlike many others, and she didn’t give me special treatment either because I was rich or because of what happened to my parents. She just talked to me, normally, and I really appreciated that.”

Pacifica nodded. She understood what he meant.

“We became really close.” He continued. “I would spend afternoons at her place watching old movies, the two of us alone in her bedroom. I slept there a couple times too. Some mornings, instead, she would come to the manor and we would play together in the pool. Her swimsuit was…”

Dipper stayed with his mouth open for a bit, trying to find the words to describe how incredibly attractive he found the high-leg red one-piece. He failed.

“Let’s just say I really cherished those moments.”

“I’m sure she was beautiful in her swimsuit.” Pacifica added, smirking teasingly. “And that you stared until it was awkward.”

“Yes, I did. Anyway, the point is that I was deeply in love with her. I felt there was a connection between us, and that I had a chance. I was still a wimp but not that much anymore; I had been working for months on my body and I was gaining confidence. And, well, I was and still am loaded. So, with the end of the summer vacations around the corner, I knew that I had to confess before school started and Wendy surrounded herself with other boys. Before somebody older and stronger beat me to it.”

Dipper frowned.

“I knew the forest pretty well by then, so I took her to the spot I thought to be the most romantic. A small hill from which you can see the valley and the town. We sat on a log and, as the sun was setting in the horizon, I confessed my love for her.”

“…And?” Pacifica asked impatiently after Dipper made a long pause.

The boy smiled sadly.

“She laughed and shoved me in the chest so hard that I fell on my back. She thought that I was joking. That I was teasing her. And then she told me that the day had been fun but that she had to make dinner for her father and brothers, and then she left.” Dipper sighed. “I lay on the grass the entire night, and I cried for most of it. My heart was broken and it hurt so much I couldn’t get up.”

“I’m so sorry to hear that.” Pacifica said quietly.

“She thought I was joking.” Dipper repeated absently. “I guess in the end she really did see me as just some little kid, so the thought of me asking her out was laughable. That hurt me the most. On that night I decided that I didn’t want to care about love anymore. So I avoided Wendy after that, and soon she moved to Portland and I never saw her again.”

“But you still love her.” Pacifica stated.

“No. Well, maybe a little, but nowhere near as much as I loved her back then. If right now Wendy entered the shop through those doors, I think I would be able to pretend I didn’t see her. And if we talked, I would not blush and smile like an idiot.”

“Is it because of her, that you date so many different girls? Are you trying to find someone like her but that will take you seriously? Or maybe you do it to forget her?”

“No, it was for a much more banal reason than those. After that summer ended, when school started, some of my friends began dating girls for the first time. The girls were some from our grade, some younger. I had been working hard to climb to the top of the group, so I figured I had to do that too. I wasn’t looking for love after Wendy, so I didn’t care who I dated. I just had to date somebody for appearance’s sake. The girl I asked out, I didn’t know anything about her, other than that she was pretty and that, from the looks she had been giving me, I would get a yes.”

Dipper stopped for a second and squeezed his eyes shut, thinking deeply.

“I actually don’t remember her name, probably because we’ve never been in the same classroom, but I guess it doesn’t really matter. We went on a couple dates and, sooner than I expected, she asked to spend the night at the manor. In my bed. I had a different image of girls; more reserved and shyer on this topic, but I was not one to complain. While we were doing it in my bed, I felt amazing, as if I was on top of the world. But after we were done, I was left with only regret, because I didn’t love her.”

Dipper paused for a moment, playing with his sundae idly.

“We broke up after two weeks. However, news of that must have spread quickly because, on the day after we broke up, two girls asked me out, one after the other. I realized my situation then, that I had entered the market and that I turned out to be quite desirable goods. I accepted the first one and, after we eventually broke up too, I went to the second one. Every time, while we did it, it felt amazing for a moment, and then it was depressing for another moment, but the latter was becoming shorter each time. And, in fact, it does not happen anymore.”

Dipper smiled with indifference. He did not regret his choices.

“Soon I decided to change my perspective on dating, and instead I turned it into a game. I wanted to see how many girls I could go out with. Over the years I constantly refined my skills, and I’d say I got really good at it. My attractiveness, the manor, the pool, and of course my wealth, are all good girl magnets, but I still developed others to improve my chances. It took me over a month to be able to do this.” He showed Pacifica how he fluently rolled a quarter between his fingers. “Among other things, of course; you saw my sleight of hand on the bus. I even asked my great uncle to buy me a horse, which he did for my birthday. A pinto mare, actually, a really gentle one that is colored like a cow, and I can see from how your eyes sparkle that not even you are exempt from the effects a horse has on girls. Yes, for some reason girls really want to see and ride the mare. And, ever since she’s had a foal, they want to pet the foal too. It is a magnificent girl magnet.”

Pacifica debated internally whether to deny she was interested in the mare, or ask to go see it someday, just as a friend. She decided to finish her sundae quietly.

“It also doesn’t hurt my chances,” Dipper continued with a shrug. “That after Wendy I really don’t care about girls, so my approach towards asking girls out, or agreeing to go out with them, is not centered around how astonishingly beautiful the girl is, but rather whether I find the girl ugly or not. A plain, most unremarkable and most uninteresting girl is fine with me as long as she is thin and not ugly. For what we will be doing during the two weeks we’ll be dating, plain is fine.”

Pacifica put her empty cup aside and stared at Dipper teasingly.

“So I take that you saw me as a plain girl? Most unremarkable and uninteresting?”

“No, I saw you immediately as a beautiful girl. You really don’t believe me? Don’t smirk. You think I just said that because your question pushed me into a corner and I needed an excuse as my ticket out?”

“Wow.” Pacifica chuckled. “I thought you couldn’t read my mind.”

“I can’t read anybody’s mind, but it’s written all over your face. I tend to avoid telling girls they’re ugly, but if they ask for my opinion, I’ll give it. Even if they’re ugly. So, like I said, you’re not; you’re beautiful. Still giving me that? I guess you want facts? Very well then.”

Dipper smirked playfully and interlaced his fingers, tapping his forefingers together.

“The attractiveness of a woman is simply defined by what a man cannot have on his own, so he wants it from her. Outside of the obvious sexually related stuff, I believe long hair qualifies. Long hair, truly long hair that goes down well past the shoulders, is something a man cannot grow himself. Either due to genetics, or because he would be mocked mercilessly. So then we go back to the bar I set for girls. You’re not fat. You’re definitely not ugly; I would actually say you’re good looking. You have long beautiful hair, and striking eyes. You’re obviously a beautiful girl. In fact, when I hit on you at the Shack, the only thing I disliked were your clothes. They do you no good. But I figured I could just buy you better ones if we started dating.”

Dipper smiled at Pacifica for a bit and then shrugged.

“Either way, none of that matters anymore. I made my intentions clear and you made yours, and then I ended up pretty explicitly friend-zoned.” He tapped the friendship bracelet on his wrist with one finger.

“It matters to me.” Pacifica muttered, happy to be called beautiful after Tiffany had deemed her unsightly. “And I find my clothes comfortable. That’s the bar I set for clothes, so I wouldn’t have let you buy me new ones anyway.”

Dipper shrugged again and started drinking his melted sundae.

“There’s one thing, though, that bothers me from your story.” Pacifica looked at Dipper with concern. “Wendy did not take your confession seriously, so in return you decided to not take love seriously, which led you to date girls for sport. Is that the gist of it?”

“If you oversimplify it, yes. That’s pretty much what happened.”

“But a love confession is not something that someone usually jokes about. The only people I think that would joke about that, are people with lots of exes that don’t give it importance anymore, and people that are actually confessing but aren’t confident about it, so they claim it was a joke when they back out of it.”

“Twelve-year-old me would have fit in the second group if any.” Dipper commented as he finished his melted sundae.

“Yes, but what about Wendy? Did she have exes?”

It suddenly struck Dipper, a memory he had repressed. They were in Wendy’s bedroom, lying on the bed and watching a movie. Then Wendy’s phone rang, and she complained about another of her exes pestering her for a second chance, but she was not interested. Dipper asked her then, if she had many exes, and Wendy chuckled and replied that more than she could count.

He had chosen to forget that memory, bury it deep in his mind, because he was young and innocent, and that information had hurt him. Because he expected his love interest to be inexperienced like himself, but he did not want to change love interests, so it was easier to forget that piece of information.

“Many.” Dipper said painfully.

“Then I think you learned the wrong moral from your experience. Wendy likely belonged in the first group, and she stopped caring about love long before the two of you met. Because of that, when you went to her with a serious love confession, she thought that you were joking. Not because you were younger. Maybe if you had insisted, repeated your confession and made your intentions clearer, you would have gotten a different response. Maybe she would have taken you, or maybe she would have turned you down gently. We don’t know but, Dipper… instead, what you decided to learn from this experience was to not care about love yourself. You turned into the same thing that hurt you so deeply.” Pacifica frowned and looked at him compassionately. “I believe you when you say that you did not love any of the girls you dated, but can you say with all certainty that not a single one of those girls fell in love with you instead? And that, because of your approach towards love, you ignored their feelings just like Wendy ignored yours? Is that really what you wanted? To perpetuate what happened to you?”

“…No.”

Dipper drooped in the chair, squeezed his eyes shut and facepalmed, covering his eyes with his hand. After a long while, he removed his hand and leaned on the table tiredly.

“I believe your interpretation is likely to be correct. I realize now, after all these years, that Wendy indeed was an easy girl, but she was also a really good girl. I don’t think she would do something as mean as laughing at my confession because I was a little kid. I think, like you guessed, that she did not take it seriously because, to an easy girl, a serious love confession can only be taken as a joke.”

“I made a mistake.” Dipper continued after a long pause. “I think there were indeed a few girls that confessed to me in the heat of the moment, but I never paid that any attention because I thought they were just saying that to feel better during sex. But maybe… If I remembered their names I would apologize to them, but after this long I fear that may just make things worse. Instead, I think it’s about time I take a break from the game. I need to reflect.”

“Maybe,” Pacifica added quietly. “Just touch up the rules for your game. Maybe… if someone confesses to you, you take like a penalty of sorts and you need to try and stick with this girl for a month. Maybe you end up loving her back, or maybe you realize her love was misguided and you break up with her. Who knows?”

“Apparently, you. You seem to know a lot. And I’m not mocking you when I say that. I’ll try your suggestion.” Dipper looked at Pacifica with admiration and then he smiled teasingly. “I have to say, though, that you’re really shattering the image I had of blondes. You really have something between your ears, to have understood the situation better than I did, even though I lived through it.”

“Well, I’m the daughter of a philosopher. A fool to you, but an inspiration to me. Reasoning is in my blood. I’m glad that my outside perspective helped you. Maybe you will change your opinion, not only about me, but about all blondes too.”

“Maybe I’ll introduce you to some of these blondes, and you will change yours. But not today. If you’re done with your sundae, we should get going.”

“As soon as I pay for it.”

“That will prove difficult,” Dipper smirked smugly. “Given I paid for both in advance.”

Pacifica frowned at him for a while, and then shrugged.

“Let’s order another two and I’ll pay for those.”

“C’mon, don’t be so stubborn. Two may be too much for the stomach, and I’d really like to get out of town as soon as possible. Tiffany never gives up after only one attempt; she’ll likely be back as soon as she gets new shoes, and I don’t think either of us wants to deal with her again today.”

“…Fine. Then,” Pacifica’s voice grew quieter and she blushed. “Thank you for treating me to ice cream.”

“It was my pleasure.”

:: ::

Chapter Text

:: ::

Dipper and Pacifica walked on the grass next to the road. They had left the town a while ago and now they were surrounded by the forest. Pacifica was happily telling Dipper about her nomadic years, and everything she had enjoyed about every place she had stayed at while traveling the States. Dipper however, was listening with only half an ear.

He found himself extremely entranced, looking at the girl with different eyes ever since their conversation in the ice cream shop. Somehow, Dipper felt she was more and more beautiful with every minute that passed. Dipper grinned to himself and decided to interrupt her monologue.

“Tell me, Pacifica, what do you look for in a boyfriend?”

“Huh?”

Dipper knew she did not have a boyfriend for two simple reasons. One, she was too new to town and seemed too idealistic about anything sexual to form a relationship like that so quickly. And two, a girl with a boyfriend usually would not stop talking about said boyfriend, yet Pacifica had not said anything about any boyfriends. The evidence dictated she was single, so Dipper wanted to know why she kept turning him down.

“It’s not such a personal question, is it?” He insisted. “I told you things far more personal earlier.”

“And when I listened, I didn’t think you were going to charge me for it later.” Pacifica raised an eyebrow. “But, alright. You trusted me with your private experience so, as a sign of goodwill, I will trust you with my private preferences. My ideal boyfriend would be someone that is tall and strong, so that I know I can rely on him and that I can feel safe when he hugs me.”

Dipper smirked smugly. He straightened up and measured the girl with his eyes. Pacifica was tall, but even then, he was certain he had at least 3 inches on her. Maybe even more; it was difficult to tell due to her hair.

“Besides that,” Pacifica continued. “I want my boyfriend to be someone I can talk to. He doesn’t have to be strictly an intellectual equal; I just don’t want to date somebody that is too dense and doesn’t understand me unless I speak of the simplest of things in the simplest of terms. I would get very bored.”

Dipper nodded and his smile grew even more arrogant. He thought himself to be quite smart and eloquent.

“And lastly, but this one is very important, I want my boyfriend to be a good person, so that he is someone I can be proud of.”

Dipper’s smile suddenly turned upside down.

“Picky, aren’t you?” He protested.

Pacifica shrugged and smiled sheepishly.

“Every girl wants a Prince Charming. Some do even get him.”

“And most never meet him, while many are happy picking the second-best.”

Dipper gave her a seductive look after countering her point, trying to make his intentions clear. Pacifica noticed, and smirked at him.

“I assume you consider yourself the second-best?”

“Not at all.” He grinned. “I’m the best option around.”

“Ah. Pity. I guess I’ll have to look elsewhere.” She shrugged.

Dipper could not hide his shock, which made Pacifica chuckle.

“Having a laugh at my expense, huh?” Dipper retorted, annoyed. “What if I told you that I know somebody that meets all your requirements?”

“I guess I’d like to meet him someday.” She replied disinterestedly.

“All your requirements,” Dipper continued. “Except the one about height. He’s quite short. About this tall.” He placed his hand horizontally at chest level. “Would you still date him?”

“Well… I’d have to think about it.”

“Be honest.”

“…I guess that I probably would not date him.”

“Aha! So it turns out that you cannot be proud of a good person if they’re not tall, too, huh?” He grinned teasingly. “So very shallow, Pacifica! Even I would date someone shorter than myself! Taller too!”

Pacifica blushed up to her ears.

“Shut up!”

Dipper burst into laughter, and then stared at Pacifica with a playful expression. The girl refused to look in his direction, but she was smiling too.

This made Dipper content; he felt some chemistry between them. He knew that he was making progress despite how she kept turning down his advances, since Pacifica seemed to be more and more comfortable around him. He already had another idea to try and seduce her, but Pacifica suddenly stopped walking.

“Let’s turn around.”

“Why?” Dipper asked, confused and looking at her up and down to see what was wrong.

“I’m sorry, I thought you were messing with me, so I wanted to make sure what you said about my abilities was true. You really did not see the building?”

Dipper looked around and saw only pine trees and the road.

“Are we there already?”

“No, we passed it a minute ago. Come with me.”

They walked back for a bit, and then they stopped in front of a row of trees, not any different from the others.

“Do you really not see it?” Pacifica insisted.

Dipper frowned at the row of trees for a bit, and then he looked at the ground. Overgrown grass had mostly hidden it, but there was the remnant of a path visible if one looked very closely. This was indeed the place. Curious, Dipper pulled his phone out and took a picture of the trees.

“Huh, so I guess it doesn’t strictly fool people’s perception, but rather it bends reality. If you don’t believe what I said about you, look at my phone.” He showed it to Pacifica.

“I only see trees on your phone!” She commented, very surprised. “But the building is right there in front of us! Wow, I guess I really am immune!”

“Hopefully the invisibility thing only affects the outside.” Dipper unclasped the locks on his package so that it could be opened with a flip. “Before we go in, I want to establish a series of ground rules, because there is a chance this is not a joyride. We don’t know what is in there, but there has to be something that prevents people who accidentally walk into the dome from coming out and telling everybody about it.”

“A memory wipe kind of thing?” Pacifica raised an eyebrow.

“That would be the best-case scenario, in which case you will be immune, so if you see me being affected, lead me outside the dome and tell me what happened.”

“In the worst-case scenario, however,” Dipper continued. “There is something inside, a creature acting as a guard dog, that prevents people from leaving. I’m afraid this is the most likely scenario, so if we run into it, or rather when we run into it, you must not touch me. Your ability stops me from being able to use the amulet, and I will need it to defend ourselves. Understood? This creature has likely killed people before. I’m not taking any chances with it.”

Pacifica nodded very slowly. She suddenly looked nervous.

“I’ve never… I mean, in Journal #3 there were dangerous things, but it was more goofy-dangerous, so I’ve never…”

“Don’t worry. I’ve dealt with plenty of really dangerous stuff. Which reminds me, even if the creature looks scary, do not run. Not only will that turn you into prey and trigger his instincts, but also we don’t know if there’s only one. The safest place within that dome is next to me, where I can see and protect you. Of course, you could also just wait here.”

“No, no. I’m going in with you.” Pacifica strengthened her resolve. “If the Author is there, I want to meet him.”

They walked together towards the trees. Soon, the buildings appeared before them. It was not a gradual change, but rather a sudden one, as if it had only appeared after Dipper blinked. He was thankful nonetheless that the invisibility stopped working once inside the dome.

Dipper reached for his amulet to scan the building. If he found anything remotely not human, he planned to twist its neck before they could even physically see it, and that way spare Pacifica the gruesome image of the creature dying at his hands.

There were three buildings, all built with wooden boards and overrun with foliage. One seemed to be the main building for the school, the one behind looked like a gym, and the smaller one to the side had to be some sort of small storage shed.

After a couple of steps, Dipper noticed something was wrong. Not with the buildings, but with himself. He noticed it too late. His hand never reached the amulet. It was too heavy. His eyelids had already begun to feel extremely heavy too. He turned to Pacifica, who had stopped to check on him after he slowed down, and then he fainted and collapsed on the grass.

:: ::

Dipper awoke, being dragged by the armpits. He twisted his torso, rolled away and deftly jumped to his feet, reaching for the amulet to defend himself, but the kidnapper turned out to be Pacifica. The girl was panting and sweating from the effort. Dipper noticed they were outside the dome, as he could not see the buildings anymore, and so he pieced it together.

“Easy there. Do you know who I am?” Pacifica looked at him warily. “We’re friends. Look at the bracelet on your wrist. It’s like this one. I gave it to you.”

“I remember. I haven’t forgotten anything.” He reassured her. “Thank you for pulling me out.”

“You’re welcome. Even though you’re really heavy.” She sighed and sat on the grass to rest.

Dipper turned to face the row of trees where the dome should be, and he tried to scan it with his amulet. He could not pick anything up. The amulet was as fooled as his eyes.

“Can you see the building from here? Is anybody coming out?”

“I don’t see anybody. It looks deserted.”

“Was there a sound or anything when I passed out? A ding? A flash? Any signals at all?”

Pacifica shook her head. Dipper cupped his chin and paced in circles for a bit. He finally stopped and thumped his fist on a tree trunk, so suddenly and hard that it startled Pacifica.

“I hate leaving empty handed,” he commented. “But this is a trap I cannot best with what I have here. So I don’t have a choice. We’re leaving.”

“Wait, why?” Pacifica stood up. “The dome affects you, but not me, right? So let me go inside, find what is projecting the dome and disable it with my immunity.”

“That is completely out of the question.” Dipper looked at Pacifica seriously. “I cannot see inside the dome from the outside, not even with the amulet. If the creature finds you, then you’re dead. I will not be able to defend you.”

“What creature? Like I said, it looks deserted.”

“Precisely. We’re dealing with an extremely devious trap here. Like you said, it is deserted, so where are the bodies of those that, like me, entered the dome and passed out? Surely we should have seen a corpse in the yard, and yet there was nothing.”

“Maybe nobody ever ran into it.”

“Maybe. But this close to the road, not a single hunter or lumberjack ever walked into it by accident? Not a single animal, either?” Dipper shook his head. “No. There is something there collecting the bodies.”

There was a moment of silence, and then Dipper spoke again.

“I guess we will have to return another day. I’ll buy one of those remote-control toy cars, attach a camera to it and scout the inside. That way we can at least see what we’re dealing with from outside the dome. Then we’ll decide after that.”

“Let’s not give up so quickly. I also hate leaving empty handed.”

“Well, what can we do?” Dipper snapped.

Pacifica calmly offered her hands, and Dipper raised an eyebrow and, after a second of hesitation, he took them. She rubbed his hands for a bit, only making Dipper more confused, and then she turned her head towards the row of trees.

“Can you see the building now?”

Much to his surprise, after he looked, he indeed could.

“How did you do this?” Dipper asked, dumbfounded.

“If being in contact with me prevents you from using your amulet, I figured it could also nullify the effect the dome has on you.”

“Very clever.” Dipper smiled at her and squeezed her hands. “But, while this solves one problem, it creates another. I cannot use the amulet to defend us. Now we’re both dead if we run into the creature.”

“Then let’s not run into it. We’ll stick to the edges of the dome and look around. If some creature ends up coming out of a building to attack us, we simply step outside the dome’s range and then you can stop it with your amulet.”

Dipper pondered about the plan for a minute, and then he nodded and led the way. He did not try to pick the box he dropped when he fainted earlier, so Pacifica glanced at it and then turned to Dipper.

“Are you not picking up your flute?”

“My what?” Dipper raised an eyebrow, and then noticed what she was pointing at. “It really is a sword, you know? Don’t smile like that. I am not lying.”

“Well then, in that case, don’t you think we could use a sword?”

“Not that sword. I can’t hold it in my hand, and I don’t recommend you try to. It’s useless to us like this.”

Dipper noticed that Pacifica was smiling playfully at him. She clearly still did not believe it was a sword, and probably thought he was trying to save face after being called out on it. But Dipper did not try to convince her otherwise, and instead he kept his eyes on the buildings.

Even with Pacifica suppressing the effect of the dome, he could still feel a certain pounding on his temples while they were inside. The effect of Pacifica’s power did not seem to be absolute when applied second-hand. Because of this, he could very accurately tell when they were inside and outside the dome, so he kept their patrol on the very edge.

He had not told Pacifica, as he would rather have her relaxed and focused rather than having her needlessly worry and become a burden while they did this. But, even with his innate sixth sense suppressed, when he looked at the three buildings, he could still feel the gymnasium building reeked of blood.

“Dipper.” She interrupted his train of thought. “I think you’re nice. A bit arrogant, but nice where it matters.”

“Oh?” He smiled smugly and squeezed her hand. “Tell me more. I love it when people butter me up.”

“I’m not. I was just wondering… How come you’re so nice, but your sister’s so mean?”

The question was so unexpected that Dipper froze in his tracks for a second. This surprised Pacifica, and she figured that she had asked something she shouldn’t have.

“I’m sorry.” She quickly added. “Forget I asked anything.”

“Believe it or not,” Dipper said quietly after a while. “There was a time when Mabel was the nicest girl around. She would always have a goofy grin on her face, with a gap between the teeth that she corrected with braces a few years later, and she would wear exclusively colorful baggy sweaters.”

Pacifica clenched her eyes shut with effort.

“It’s not that I don’t believe you. I can’t even picture it in my head. Baggy sweaters? Mabel?”

“Yup. And the best part is that she would knit them herself. She would get her needles and, in a few hours, she had a new sweater ready. Always with a dumb drawing on the front.”

Dipper stopped as Pacifica was grinning broadly at him.

“What?” He reciprocated the smile.

“You loved her.”

“Of course I did. Not only was she my sister, but she was also a genuine ray of sunshine.”

“…What happened?” Pacifica asked after a while. “Why did she change?”

Dipper sighed. He did not like remembering this.

“One day when we were 12, during winter, Mabel wanted to go to the mountain to play in the snow. There’s not much of that on the Californian coast, so we had to go inland and North.”

Pacifica nodded. She knew from her nomadic lifestyle that the coasts were the most temperate to live at. 

“During the car trip, Mabel started singing and bouncing in her seat. My mother turned around to try and make her stop, but Mabel argued that we were going to play in the snow so she had to sing Christmas carols. My father then turned to support my mother and warn Mabel that it was dangerous to do that in a car. He turned just for a second. But he lost control of the car and we hit an oncoming truck.”

Dipper frowned and stared blankly ahead.

“My parents died that day. Mabel and I survived but, in a way, Mabel died that day too. She was never the same. She blamed herself for the accident, and she never smiled again like she used to. She was psychologically scarred.”

“I’m so sorry…” Pacifica stopped him and hugged him.

Dipper squeezed her in his arms and smiled. Her hair was long and smooth. When they parted the hug, he continued speaking.

“We moved in with our very wealthy great uncle, and started attending school here. I actually did better here than back in California in that regard. I used to be a pushover, a wimp with no friends. But after the accident, I decided to stop caring so much about politeness and safety, and instead I tried to be more assertive and aggressive. And it worked. I got a group of friends in the very first week, and I was leading them within a month.”

“I’m sure your newfound wealth helped.” Pacifica smirked slyly.

“Of course it did. But, while I was becoming popular, Mabel… Well, nobody wants to be friends with the gloomy girl that doesn’t want to talk to anybody. And, without friends, she was an easy target, so the other girls, and some boys too, started picking on her about anything and everything. Her baggy sweaters were often a reason, and so she never wore those again. She was lonely for most of that trimester before Spring break, until she made a friend. And you know him.”

“Gideon?” Pacifica raised her eyebrows in surprise.

“Yes. Apparently, he helped Mabel after someone bumped into her in the cafeteria and made her drop her food. They shared his meal and started talking. Gideon was the first person to do something nice for my sister after the accident, and so she fell in love with him. Madly in love.”

“Gideon doesn’t feel the same.” Pacifica smiled awkwardly.

“I know. Probably most of the school knows. Mabel did not keep her affection a secret, which likely scared Gideon away.”

“If Mabel didn’t have anybody, though, why weren’t you with her?”

“I…” Dipper muttered. “Back then, I was still blaming her for killing our parents. I didn’t want to talk to her. It took me a few months to understand that it had been an accident and she hadn’t meant to do it. When I realized that I was ostracizing my one and only twin sister, I felt horrible and I tried to make amends. However, it was Spring break by then and she had already found Journal #1.”

Dipper sighed.

“My sister has always had too much energy. I was not kidding when I said she would knit a whole sweater in a couple hours. She always had too much energy, but it was unfocused, or rather very distributed. But, after the accident, and after she found that Journal, all this energy became laser focused on it.”

“Mabel changed.” Dipper continued after a pause. “She believed there was power in that book, and so she studied to understand it better. Math, physics, even metaphysics. She learnt them at such a pace that my great uncle was impressed and brought somebody to test her. It turned out Mabel was extremely gifted. Sadly, she has no interest in any engineering or physics career, only in those Journals.”

“I accompanied her on her adventures, as a way of making amends for how I ignored her after our parents died. We would gather artifacts, stuff found in the forest that looked like junk to me. But Mabel would examine them for a couple minutes and immediately pick up on how they worked. It always amazed me. My sister is truly a prodigy.”

“But, despite her gifts, Mabel is not the best person for this stuff. She has the brains and the instinct, but not the mental fortitude for it.” Dipper stretched the fingers of his left hand and closed them into a fist repeatedly. “After school started and I stopped going on adventures with her, back when my amulet was still hers, we argued. I don’t remember what we argued about, but Mabel got really heated about it. She has always been really bad at controlling her emotions since the accident. All I remember was that her amulet glowed without her even touching it, and next thing I was on the ground with my left arm missing and in a growing pool of blood. Then I passed out.”

Pacifica stared at Dipper in shock.

“When I woke up, I had a new left arm, and Mabel was apologizing profusely to me. She had rebuilt it with the same amulet that had disintegrated it when she lost control of her emotions. And, other than the fact that no hair grows on it, which I’m pretty sure Mabel left out on purpose since she dislikes body hair, the new arm works perfectly. In fact, I used to be right-handed, but I’m ambidextrous now, so you could say the arm works better than before.”

Dipper pulled a coin from the fold of his sleeve and rolled it on the fingers of his left hand to demonstrate.

“Like I said, my sister is a prodigy with this stuff. However, these artifacts use the power of the mind to work and, despite Mabel’s immense physic talent, she has not been in a healthy mental state since the accident, and so she cannot use these artifacts properly. She knows this, and it angers her, which only makes things worse, so she’s stuck in a vicious cycle. For this reason, after that incident, I demanded that she relinquish the amulet to me, in exchange for my forgiveness.”

“Does she not have any friends?” Pacifica asked.

“No.” Dipper smiled sadly. “Mabel had a really poor school experience, which made her not too fond of other people. But what really put the nail in the coffin for her was this amulet. She used it, back when we ran the Mystery Twins magic shows, to probe into people’s minds and according to her, everybody is rotten and disgusting. Except, of course, her beloved Gideon.”

“I believe,” Dipper added. “People should not be blamed for their thoughts, as thought and action are different and separated by self-control. But I also don’t think my sister has much self-control at all, so the concept is alien to her.”

“It’s sad.” Pacifica spoke after a pause. “If she had a friend, somebody to vent to, she would probably not be so touchy. She has you but, well, there are things that you can only tell another girl, and things you can never tell a brother.”

“I know.” Dipper sighed. “I’ve given up on it. It’s impossible, because she herself does not want to. She has almost no tolerance, and yet she is impatient and rude, so getting her a friend is an impossible task.”

“If you want, I could maybe—”

“No. Mabel may be willing to go on an adventure with you if she thinks your ability is useful to her, or perform a fair exchange of information, but it will all be strictly professional. She won’t want to be friends with you, because she cannot read your mind so she cannot trust that your intentions are genuine. But also because there’s already bad blood between you, and Mabel is very unforgiving.”

Pacifica nodded.

“I’ll try to be nicer to her anyway.” She added. “I didn’t have the full story before, but I do now. And I pity her.”

“She won’t thank you for it but… I do” He squeezed her hand affectionately and Pacifica smiled.

They continued walking in silence for a while, looking in the building’s direction. After finishing a whole lap around the dome, Pacifica tried to lean forward with a hand above her eyes as a way of seeing farther away, but she still saw nothing.

“I can’t see anything meaningful from here, and nothing is coming out for us either.” She turned to Dipper. “Maybe the creature isn’t home?”

“I doubt it can leave the dome.” Dipper shook his head. “But there is a possibility it has expired. Maybe recently. Or perhaps it’s nocturnal and so it’s currently asleep.”

“I want to get closer.” Pacifica turned to Dipper. “At least close enough to look through a window.”

Dipper was pensive for a full minute.

“Okay.” He finally agreed. “But let me check something first.”

He walked Pacifica out of the dome, and then without warning, he picked her up over his shoulder, earning a yelp and laughter from the girl.

“Oh yeah, you’re super light. I can definitely run while carrying you.” He lowered her back to her feet.

“I am a fast runner, you know? You didn’t have to do that.”

“Of course you are.” Dipper smiled teasingly. “It comes with being a pacifist.”

Pacifica frowned and pouted, and so Dipper chuckled and offered her his hand.

“Let’s go take a closer look.”

:: ::

As they approached the school building, Dipper kept an eye on the gym building. The doors were closed and the windows still had the glass, so if anything was to leave that building, it would not be without noise.

After they reached the school building, they took a peek inside through a window. There was a classroom but not any desks or chairs. They had likely been sold when the private academy failed to attract enough students to be solvent. Nobody wanted the building but other schools likely wanted the furniture.

They circled the building, looking through every window, until they arrived at the front door. Pacifica reached her arm to open it, but Dipper stopped her. He gave her a shush gesture, and then he grabbed a pebble, opened the door a little and tossed it inside. After it stopped bouncing, there was only silence. Pacifica gave Dipper an impatient look, but it was not until a full minute passed that he agreed and opened the door.

Inside, they made a discovery. Enough sunlight bathed the corridor through the small high windows to show handwriting all over the walls. Pacifica excitedly leaned closer to read it, but it had faded over the years, and there was something else making it illegible.

“Claw marks.” Dipper murmured, touching the wall where sentences had been rendered illegible by something dragging its claws along the surface. “One or perhaps two very long claws. A tusk, perhaps? Regardless, you still don’t think there’s a creature? However, my sister was right. Look at the legible words. It’s the Author’s handwriting. He’s been here.” Dipper pulled his phone out to light the corridor. Every wall was filled with writing. “And for quite a long time.”

“Do you think he still is?”

“No. I don’t think he would let his work be defaced like this. Although maybe he would. Doing this to a room does not look sane to me.”

“It’s a pity that the text is so faded.” Pacifica beckoned for Dipper to shine some light on the wall with his phone. “These seem to be formulas, and these notes about the formulas. I can only read a few words. Hmm. Something about a prison, lots and lots of apologies, and this one here seems to be about summoning something.”

“Don’t read aloud anything that sounds like a spell.” Dipper warned her. “I’d rather not find out in the worst way possible whether your ability means you can cast spells or not.”

“Here, this one here looks like the word ‘barrier’. And look, the rest is illegible, but under it, look, look! This word is clearly ‘gym’! So whatever is casting the dome, it must be in the gym building, right!?”

Pacifica looked at Dipper expectantly, but he was neither surprised nor excited by the news.

:: ::

There were no low windows in the gym to take a peek at the interior, and the high ones were boarded up, so Dipper and Pacifica had to go straight to the door, and Dipper was not too happy about it.

“Pacifica, wait.” He glanced at the building and then looked at her seriously. “Do you not feel anything when you look at this building?”

“Not really. It looks structurally sound, too.” She answered after a while. “Do you feel anything weird?”

“I feel something macabre about it.”

“Don’t try to scare me.” She smiled playfully.

“I’m not.” Dipper replied seriously. “Get ready to run to the edge of the forest. The dome ends shortly before it.”

Dipper made Pacifica take a couple steps back, stretching her arm, and then he swiftly opened the door to the gymnasium and jumped back, joining her and prickling his ears to decide whether they had to run or not.

Pacifica gasped and was about to point out the dried blood in the doorway on the floor, leaving clear that one or more bodies had been dragged inside long ago, but Dipper immediately shushed her. He was waiting to hear the slightest noise. After a couple minutes, he gave up and approached the doorframe. Dipper stood right before it for another minute and, not hearing anybody breathing, he determined there was not anything waiting for him around the doorway, so it was safe to take a peek inside.

The gymnasium had the windows boarded up so it was rather dim inside. Dipper could see the basketball court and bleachers at each side of it, but he could not see the far end of the room, and he decided against using his phone flashlight just in case it would draw unwarranted attention towards them. They did not have to go there, anyway, since what they were looking for was in front of them.

In the nearest semicircle of the basketball court stood what resembled a tall candlestick but with a gem on it rather than a candle. The gem was spinning without touching the candlestick, and glowing blue. On the floor around it, there were glyphs distributed in a circle.

“That has to be it!” Pacifica whispered behind him.

Dipper decided to take a gamble. There was a possibility the creature was inside the building, but once he was able to use his amulet, that would not be a threat anymore, so he walked quickly to the gem and tried to grab it.

His hands stopped mid-air. It was as if there was a glass sphere stopping him from reaching it. Pacifica stared in confusion for a second, and then she caught on and tried that herself. Her hand went through, and when she touched the gem, it stopped spinning and fell to the ground at the same time Pacifica gave an “Ouch!” and pulled her hand back.

“Are you okay?” Dipper examined her hand.

“Yes. It only gave me a small static shock.”

Dipper looked at the crystal on the floor, whose glow was beeping weakly and finally faded for good. He thought that it must have had a serious energy level if it managed to shock Pacifica despite her ability, even if it was a small static shock.

Not feeling the pounding on his temples anymore, he confidently let go of Pacifica’s hand and held his amulet. He removed the boards covering the windows in the gymnasium to let the sunlight in, and then they saw it. Pacifica looked away immediately, and Dipper decided it was safer not to, for something had done that and it could still be around.

Across the room, there were close to a dozen corpses. Something had mutilated them brutally, as if taking out their anger on the corpses, and finally piled up the removed heads to form a pyramid on a corner. The bodies were desiccated and long dead. They did not even smell.

Dipper scanned with his amulet, both for the creature and for the triangular prism that his sister had sent him to gather, but he could not feel anything behind or inside the bleachers.

Suddenly, there was a repeated wheezing sound. Something dropped from the rafters onto the center of the basketball court and then it stood up to look at them, all without stopping wheezing. The creature looked like a person, but horribly mutated.

It was naked with the skin peeling off in multiple places and the anatomy severely altered. Its back was hunched, with the elbows seemingly permanently raised above the head and coming out of the palm of the hands there were long bones resembling the blade of a scythe. It had no genitals, but it had a second set of hands coming out of the sides of the torso and holding a bone triangular prism in the stomach, which Dipper identified as the thing Mabel had sent him to fetch. The legs also had joins like a dog’s, with the heel raised up halfway to the knee.

But, the most disturbing thing was the head. It only had a few sparse patches of white hair, the eyes were yellowish and blank, without pupils, and the mouth, full of deformed sharp teeth, was hanging open with the jaw much lower than it should. Dipper realized then that the constant wheezing was not wheezing, but laughter distorted by that jaw.

The creature started limping towards them, which quickly turned into a run, so Dipper immediately reached for his amulet, but it was not working. There was a hand gripping his other wrist. Pacifica was next to him, staring at the creature and frozen in fear while accidentally nullifying his amulet.

“Don’t touch me!” Dipper yelled as he violently shook his hand free from her grasp.

Dipper hurriedly reached for his amulet and stopped the creature in its tracks. He then tried to lift it, but instead the creature shuddered and resumed approaching them at a slowly increasing speed. This had only happened to Dipper once before, when he tried to move his sister with the amulet. He knew it would not work on the creature, for it had turned out to be psychically stronger than him, and so instead Dipper directed the power of the amulet elsewhere, outside.

“Dipper… Dipper, Dipper, Dipper!” Pacifica lost her composure behind him as the creature drew closer.

A rectangular box broke through a window and landed between the creature at them. The creature stopped its advance, struck with curiosity. The lid on the box opened and a metal blade flew out of it, making Pacifica gasp in awe. Dipper’s sword was long like an arm, but it could hardly be called a sword as it lacked a handle; it had a tip on both ends.

The blade started spinning between the creature and them, like helicopter blades, so fast that one could hear the air being cut. Then, after a moment, Dipper smirked and the blade suddenly stopped spinning and instead smacked the creature across the face once with the flat side. The creature roared and tried to grab hold of it, but the blade evaded and then smacked him across the other side of the face.

Dipper grew smug. With the blade to compensate for the amulet’s weakness against a stronger psychic user, he was certain the situation was in the bag. He toyed with the creature until it switched its focus from the blade to them, and then Dipper quickly directed the blade to slash him. One cut to sever the carotid artery, another for the femoral artery, and finally he cut the tendons on the legs to topple the creature. He estimated it should pass out from blood loss in seconds and be dead within the minute.

However, the creature did not stay down for long. The prism embedded in its chest glowed yellow and its blood was reabsorbed and wounds immediately closed up. The creature stood back on its mutated feet and resumed advancing towards them. As it started to laugh in wheezes again, Dipper’s smugness faded.

“Start walking towards the door.” He told Pacifica without turning his head.

“What!?”

“I can’t stop it. Start walking towards the door. We need to run.”

Noticing that they were trying to escape, the creature got on all fours and crawled towards them at an alarming speed. It moved so fast that Dipper was startled for a second, but he reacted in time and with a decision that saved their lives. The blade flew up and then came down fast, impaling the creature to the floor on an angle.

The creature roared and tried to break free from the blade, but Dipper knew the blade would neither bend nor break. After all, his sister had forged it for him using the amulet, and she was a prodigy. Even then, he knew this was not a solution and, at most, it would only buy them some time.

Grabbing Pacifica’s arm, he ran out of the gymnasium, but he did not make it far. Pacifica was slow and constantly tripping on her own feet. Dipper stopped to check on the girl. Her knees were wobbling and her face was contorted with fear. Dipper used the amulet to topple one of the thinner trees at the edge of the clearing, towards the forest, and then he picked Pacifica in his arms and instead ran to the school building.

They hid in a classroom. Dipper shushed Pacifica, who was uncontrollably shaking, and then he separated from her and used his amulet to check on the creature on the psychic plane. He saw it had just exited the gymnasium and, as Dipper expected, it was making a beeline towards the toppled tree. However, the creature suddenly stopped and turned around to look straight in his direction in the psychic plane. They looked at each other for the first time, and its eyes were horrifying.

“I’ve made a terrible mistake.”

Dipper picked Pacifica up again and changed rooms. There was no time to leave the building, there was barely any time to cross the corridor before the creature entered it. They hid in a janitor closet, so cramped that they had to press together.

Pacifica was still shaking so Dipper preventively covered her mouth with his hand, and then looked into her eyes and smiled in an attempt to reassure her that everything was under control. But he himself felt fear when he heard the creature dragging its bone blade along the wall of the corridor. Pacifica wrapped her arms around Dipper, hugging him tightly, and he hugged her back.

They heard the bone blade draw closer and then stop. The creature was checking the classroom they originally hid in. Then it resumed walking and they heard the scratching coming closer. Dipper looked over his shoulder. He had cracked the door rather than fully closing it, to avoid making any noise. He could not stop wondering now, as the bone blade drew closer, if that had been a mistake.

The creature appeared in the corridor and their eyes met, its yellow eyes and Dipper’s blue ones, through the small space between the door and the doorframe. Dipper froze, but then, the creature continued walking and eventually roared with impotence and left the building.

Dipper stood up, equally relieved and perplexed, and he checked the corridor. The creature was indeed gone.

“It’s blind…!” He muttered as he understood. “It relies on its psychic power to see, so it couldn’t see you and, because you were touching me, it couldn’t see me either!”

“Is it gone? Are we safe?” Pacifica asked, and when Dipper nodded, she sighed and slumped down as if she had just run a marathon. “Why didn’t you stop it with the amulet!?” She snapped.

“Its psychic power is much bigger than mine, so I can’t even budge it with the amulet. I’ve only seen someone like that before, my sister, so I wasn’t expecting it. I believe that’s not innate, though, but rather that prism embedded in its chest is granting the creature that power. Its regeneration, too.”

“Then it’s a good thing that it is gone now.”

“I don’t know about that…” Dipper cupped his chin thoughtfully. “I took a glance into his psyche when we were in the classroom, and I felt a very clever malice and killing intent. That thing is smart and evil. Remember what you read earlier on the walls? What if this was a prison for that creature? It seems virtually invulnerable, and there is nothing to guard here, so it makes more sense this place is a prison rather than that thing a guard dog.”

“And by disabling the dome, we let it out…”  Pacifica’s eyes widened.

“It uses psychic presences to see. It will likely head to town.” Dipper frowned. “Stay here. You’re invisible to it, so you will be safe.”

“Where are you going?”

“I hate it, but I’m going to fly to the manor with the amulet, hopefully not crash the landing, and then get my sister. Even if it turns out that Mabel also has less psychic power than the creature, she has better control of this amulet than me. She can likely pulverize the creature or encase it in concrete, even if she’s psychically weaker than it, and that should be the end of it. We’ll be back before it reaches the town.”

“Which town, though?” Pacifica suddenly asked, and Dipper froze in his tracks. “What if it attacks Gravity Falls instead? What if… You said it’s clever and malicious. What if it hides and preys on random people in the forest, rather than charging head-first into town? How will you find it in the vast forest?”

“…I won’t. So I need to lure it back with the amulet and defeat it here and now, before it leaves the range of the amulet and I lose track of it for good. Damn it all, if I could use the amulet to fly and attack at the same time, this would be easy, but I can’t move two things at once…” Dipper gritted his teeth, regretting now to never properly train with the amulet before. “This is going to be very difficult.”

“I will help you fight it.” Pacifica nodded with determination.

“You? Pacifica, you could barely stand before.”

“I will be able to stand because… because I have to. Because we’ve released a great evil, so we have to stop it.”

“Okay.” Dipper smiled at her. “Have you ever even been in a fight?”

“No, but I’ve swung one of those before.” She pointed at a display case with some trophies and a golf iron. “The rest, first lure the creature with the amulet and then teach me while it gets here.”

:: ::

The creature stopped running and leaned against a tree. Not to rest, but to rub its face against it. Its skin always itched, and the bark of the tree was rough and soothed the itch.

The forest was somewhat familiar and at the same time it wasn’t, as if the creature had seen it before in a dream or a very distant memory. But those thoughts did not matter. The prism embedded in its chest vibrated and the creature suddenly felt a need to kill, mutilate and crunch the remains with its teeth. 

There was a group of lumberjacks in a logging camp nearby. The creature observed them, and decided they would not do. Their limbs were too thick and they would not fit in its mouth to satisfy the tingling in its teeth. The creature looked deeper into the forest, and it sensed campers. Those would do.

It ran towards their location on all fours, using the legs and the claws to traverse the forest. But then it stopped and turned around. Something was looking at it again in the psychic plane. The prism vibrated in response and heated up, almost burning his skin. The creature understood. The peeper had to die. Somebody that could see and locate it was of the utmost priority to eliminate.

The creature returned to its prison and then to the school building, and finally it saw him standing in the middle of the corridor. There was something about that boy that aroused a certain feeling of familiarity in the creature, as if it had seen him before, a long time ago.

The prism embedded in its chest burned up and banished those thoughts, filling the creature with bloodlust. It ran forward towards the boy, but something hit it on the knee and made the creature limp and lean against the wall.

Ignoring the damage, it lunged at the boy and slashed vertically, but he dodged at incredible speed. Something now hit it on the back of the head. The creature howled and tried to eliminate the boy and his psychokinesis, but its claws missed again as the boy flew backwards.

The next hit went to the back of the other leg and the creature fell to its knees. The blunt damage was slow to heal. The flesh swelled after every hit and it needed to be regenerated in full, rather than just reattaching the torn flesh from a clean blade wound. The damage was slowly accumulating.

The prism burned up and the creature, as commanded, slashed blindly behind itself. Its bone claws hit nothing but air. The prism, however, insisted, so the creature continued to advance and slash blindly in that other direction.

“It knows about you!” Dipper yelled. “Forget about attacking once and jumping back! Don’t attack it again! And you, ugly! How dare you turn your back towards me!?”

Nails flew from a box. Construction nails, long like a handspan. One at a time they buried themselves in the creature’s body, targeting the joints. The creature’s movements soon became clunky and, to make things worse, its hands were not fit to pull the nails out with the bone blade coming out of the palm.

Limited to its regeneration only to push the nails out, the process was slow and every nail that was pushed out, was shortly after pushed back in by Dipper. The creature roared and turned back to face the psychokinetic attacker again. It ran towards him as much as it could, with the movement making the nails fall faster than the low-level psychokinesis could push them back in.

Dipper was limited to either attacking with the amulet or using it to move his body faster for dodging. But he knew dodging would only drag the fight out and he was running out of tricks, so he focused on attacking. His sword, as he called it, came flying and cut off one of the hands on the creature’s stomach that was keeping the prism in there, before it flew back and then pinned one of the scythe arms to the wall.

The creature slashed vertically with its free arm. Dipper dodged and then restrained that arm with one hand as he reached with the amulet to nail the arm to the creature’s thigh. Then, in the couple of seconds this bought him, Dipper reached for the exposed prism in the creature’s chest and seized hold of it to try and yank it out.

“Pine Tree…”

Dipper groaned and staggered back, failing to pull the prism out. The psychic voice had felt like a punch to the brain. The creature freed the arm nailed to its leg and swung it up, hitting the boy with the back of the blade and sending him flying.

“Dipper!” Pacifica swung at the creature again with the golf club to draw its aggression.

“I’m okay!” He stopped mid-air with the amulet. “It didn’t cut me! But that prism! That prism is the key to winning this! But it’s psychic and I can’t pull it out!”

Pacifica hit the creature once, two and three times, and then the creature turned towards her. However, it did not slash. It started advancing blindly but quickly. Pacifica knew that the moment they entered in contact with each other, the creature would cut her down. She frowned, bit her lip, and took a gamble.

The girl lunged at the creature. It howled and started slashing its bone blades downwards, but Pacifica yanked the prism out and threw it away before she curled up into a ball on the floor, making herself as small as possible. The tip of the blades stopped a mere inch from her body. The entire creature was frozen in place, twitching and wheezing. Across the corridor, Dipper was extending an arm towards the creature and his amulet was glowing blue.

“You’re not stronger than me anymore.”

The creature flew backwards across the corridor and lay flat on the floor next to Dipper. Its eyes were not blank and yellow anymore, but rather they were progressively gaining a foggy blue iris and a pupil. Upon seeing the boy, it tried to speak, but its mouth was too mutated to do so, and Dipper was not in the mood to listen.

A glob of spit landed on the creature’s forehead. Dipper smirked and then, with the amulet, he folded the creature like a sheet of paper and smashed it against the wall of lockers, the ceiling, the floor, and finally broke through a wall with its body full of fractured bones. The creature never stood back up again.

With the threat taken care of, Dipper and Pacifica stared at each other for a second before they grinned, and then Pacifica yelled jubilantly and threw her arms around Dipper’s neck, hugging him. They jumped together in the spot celebratorily and, when they parted the hug, Dipper kissed her.

Pacifica was shocked. She pulled away and stared at Dipper with a mixture of surprise and reproach.

“Pacifica, why won’t you go out with me?” Dipper looked at her, hurt.

“Dipper… I like you, but…” She looked away. “I hate the idea of becoming just another girl in your list of conquests.”

“You won’t!” He approached her and turned her head towards himself. “Pacifica, believe me. I’ve put that behind me. I… I haven’t felt like this in a long time. I really like you. Please, give me a chance. Just one chance to show you my feelings are genuine.”

Pacifica stared at him for a long moment, an eternity in Dipper’s eyes, and then she smiled and nodded. Dipper yelled and picked her up, spinning with her as they both laughed happily, and then he lowered Pacifica to her feet and kissed her again.

Dipper kissed and hugged her, hungry to experience and deliver every bit of pleasure he could. One of his hands, while hugging, slid between their bodies and groped her groin through the jeans.

The response was not what the boy was expecting. Pacifica yelped and jumped away, staring at Dipper with the face and ears blushed completely red.

“Dipper!” She squeaked. “…That! Never on a first date, mister! And definitely not in a place like this!”

“Sorry.” He chuckled and hugged her to apologize. “I’m used to getting to that part pretty quickly with a girl.”

“Well I’m not just any girl!”

“Okay, okay.” He pecked her on the cheek and then parted the hug to look out the window. “It’s getting dark, so let me take you home.”

Dipper almost forgot. He looked around the corridor until he found the prism. He pulled out a plastic bag from his pocket and then grabbed the prism with hesitation. It did not talk to him like before. He wondered if Pacifica had accidentally broken it with her ability.

After the amount of trouble he had gone through to get it, Dipper decided Mabel would have to be happy with the prism, whether it was broken or not.

:: ::

Chapter Text

:: ::

[Chapter 6: What Number Am I Thinking Of?]

The sun was almost set when the bus arrived. As Dipper and Pacifica were getting on it, Dipper spotted Tiffany in the corner of his eye. The girl was across the street, wearing boots this time, and had clearly spotted him too, as she was looking for an opportunity to cross the street despite the traffic. Dipper hurried Pacifica, who was yet to see the other girl, to climb onto the bus.

By the time Tiffany crossed the street, the bus had already closed its doors and it was starting to leave. Dipper turned his head to glance at Tiffany through a window, and he smirked as he shrugged with his hands and shoulders for her to see, clearly happy to receive this small pleasure before leaving the town for good. Tiffany’s furious face was priceless.

Inside the bus, Dipper directed Pacifica to one of the sides. Not because he remembered her refusal to take a seat earlier; there were actually so many free seats that Pacifica would have agreed to sit this time, but because he did not want to sit next to her. He wanted to stand in front of her, for the girl was smiling very beautifully and he wanted her to see that he was just as happy.

“I can’t believe we’re doing this.” Pacifica covered her mouth to hide her grin. “We just met today, and we’re going out…! We barely know each other! This is crazy!”

“Look at it this way.” Dipper smirked playfully. “When people ask, we can show off and say it was love at first sight.”

“But it wasn’t.”

“It wasn’t.” He conceded. “But it’s close enough, isn’t it?”

Pacifica gave him a cute squint and a pout, visibly disagreeing with lying about how their relationship started, yet not giving it enough importance to counterargue, and instead she leaned forward and hugged his chest, burying her face in his neck. Dipper squeezed her, resting his cheek on her head and sighing happily. It felt amazing to have her in his arms.

“I could stay like this forever.” He commented. “Or at least until the bus arrives.”

Pacifica parted the hug, pressing her hands on his chest, and smiled at him teasingly.

“Oh-ho? Clingy, aren’t you?” She poked his chest. “I didn’t think you’d be the type!”

“I’d be less clingy if you were less cute.”

Dipper reached for her hair, specifically the scrunchie holding her ponytail, but Pacifica immediately retreated and protected it.

“Can’t I? I only want to see how you look with your hair down.”

Pacifica very reluctantly conceded after a moment of hesitation, but she took the scrunchie off herself. Her hair, which already looked long in the ponytail, reached down a good handspan past her waistline now that it was freed, and it was so full it almost hugged her shoulders from behind.

“Wow.” Dipper turned her around slightly to check her back, and then pulled some hair over her shoulders to let it cascade over her chest. “So long! Do you ever sit on it?”

“Not if I’m careful.” Pacifica smiled sheepishly. “I would trim it but… My mom says a woman’s hair is her identity and that I should take really good care of mine. When we lived together, she would brush it every day. I’d feel bad cutting it after she put so much effort into it, so I just gather it up into a ponytail to keep it out of the way when I’m in the forest.”

“It’s beautiful.” He reassured, earning a smile from the girl.

Dipper started stroking her hair, but with the back of his hand and against her chest. It only took Pacifica two strokes to realize that he was actually taking advantage of the situation to discreetly touch her breasts.

Pacifica gathered her hair back into a ponytail and then gave him another cute squint, which made Dipper snicker and then mimic her expression. Pacifica burst into giggles.

“Ah…” She sighed. “Dipper, I’m so happy. I wish today would never end.”

“But there’s so much more we can do tomorrow. Today is almost over, but tomorrow, tomorrow we could have a proper date. Tomorrow I could show you the town. We could eat together. I could take you to the manor. Tomorrow is easily going to be better than today.”

“But tomorrow, tomorrow scares me…” Pacifica smiled sadly. “Tomorrow I will have a cool head and maybe I will realize that I agreed to this sudden relationship in the heat of the moment, and perhaps reach the conclusion that I did not want it.”

“And why would you not want it?” Dipper raised an eyebrow. “Am I not the shining example of your ideal boyfriend?”

“Are you, now?” She smirked teasingly. “Let’s see about that.”

Pacifica started groping Dipper’s upper arms, to which Dipper readily flexed his biceps and smiled smugly.

“Oh, wow…” Her eyes widened as she wrapped her hands around the rock-hard arm.

“You weren’t expecting it, eh? I may look skinny in my clothes, but I had a personal trainer for a couple of years.” Dipper explained, aware of what was crossing Pacifica’s mind since this was not the first time he surprised somebody. “I simply did not bulk up because I decided against taking a diet for it, but I’m pretty strong. Strong enough to carry you.”

“I remember.” Pacifica blushed and let go of Dipper’s arm. “O-Okay, you get the tall and strong point.”

“And the smart point, too.” Dipper tilted his head and raised an eyebrow at her.

“Yes, that one too. I admit that I enjoy talking with you, even when we disagree. But tell me, Dipper, because this is the most important one. Do you consider yourself a good person?”

“Of course.” He immediately replied, shrugging his shoulders.

“I see. Well, should we ask my little cousin, what he thinks about that?”

Dipper paled only for a second.

“That’s not fair. He is so annoying!”

“He’s the sweetest!” Pacifica countered. “An embodiment of goodness!”

Dipper shuddered.

“Well I don’t like him. I can’t help that.” He concluded. “But that does not make me a bad person any more than somebody that dislikes dogs, is a cat.”

Pacifica very visibly wanted to counterargue but she could not find how, so instead she frowned.

“You know what I mean. I’m willing to compromise on many things, but not on this one. Dipper, I don’t know you so I’m giving you the benefit of the doubt, but if I reach the conclusion that you’re a bad person, I would feel so disgusted… I don’t think I could ever look at you with the same eyes again.”

“I understand. Very well then.” Dipper sighed. “Look, I’ve done many things. Some could be called mean, but none cruel. If it bothers you then consider that water under the bridge. I’ll turn over a new leaf for you and try to be nicer, so give me a clean slate starting today. But you can’t force me to be friends with your little cousin. The best I’m willing to do there is to lay off him.”

“I’m happy with that.” Pacifica grinned.

Dipper was quickly infected by the grin and hugged her, kissing her head.

“I never would have guessed that a hippie girlfriend would be so high maintenance.” He joked. “I’m doing all of this for you, but what are you going to do for me?”

Pacifica parted the hug and looked at him.

“What do you want?”

For a second Dipper almost made a lewd request, but he held his tongue. He feared Pacifica would take it poorly and this time the relationship mattered to him, so Dipper was cautious with his words and actions. He pondered about it for a while, and then spoke.

“You said that you would not let me buy you new clothes before, if we were dating. Well, we’re dating now and this is absolutely unacceptable. I want to see you in a dress.”

“I didn’t want you to buy me new clothes because I do not like the misuse of resources, so I don’t want to support overpriced goods.”

“Too bad, because I’m not compromising on this one.” He smiled teasingly. “See how annoying that is?”

“…Could it at least be a cheap one?” Pacifica smiled shyly. “I don’t have a problem with one that is worth its price.”

“There are no cheap ones where I’m buying.”

“Ugh… Okay, fine! But please don’t let me see the price tags.”

“I can probably arrange that.”

They stayed quiet for a while after that, staring at each other with content faces. Then, Pacifica put her hands on Dipper’s chest and fondled him through the shirt. She located and trapped Dipper’s nipples between her middle and ring fingers, and smiled smugly at him.

Dipper returned the smug smile and proceeded to demonstrate that he could also guess where her nipples were despite the clothes. Pacifica, however, was not expecting him to be bold enough to do that, so when he pinched her breast, she let out a sudden sharp gasp.

Blushing, Pacifica looked around in the bus. The few people that were there had all turned their heads to see what had happened, and they were looking straight at her. Pacifica blushed even harder and hid her face in Dipper’s neck, which made him laugh heartily and hug her.

:: ::

“Are you sure it was a good idea to bring that with you?”

It was already night, and Dipper and Pacifica had just arrived at the Mystery Shack. Dipper had opened the seat of his motorcycle and he was about to store the prism there.

“I think it’s safer that I take it than leaving it at that academy for anybody to find.” Dipper shrugged. “I’ll bring it to the manor so that my sister can give it a look. If it turns out to be dangerous, then this would not be the first artifact that ends up encased in a lead cube and buried in the forest behind the manor. Although I actually think that you may have broken it when you touched it.” He shook the prism and put his ear against it, as if it was a gigantic phone. “I heard a voice when I first tried to yank it out of that monster, but I don’t hear anything now.”

“Maybe that is for the best.”

“Maybe.” Dipper agreed, remembering what the prism had done to the man they found at the academy.

Dipper stored the prism in his motorbike, and then turned to Pacifica with a mischievous smile. He placed his hands on her hips and stared into her eyes until she blushed.

“Tomorrow, we could—”

“Can I come in?” He interrupted her.

Pacifica’s eyes widened. She glanced over her shoulder at the Shack, and then back at Dipper. She frowned worriedly.

“Dipper, my uncle—”

“I’ll be quiet as a mouse.” He interrupted her again and rubbed her sides with his hands to help his argument. “And I’ll only be staying for a bit.”

After a few seconds, which felt like an eternity to both of them, Pacifica nodded hesitantly and led him to the Shack. Dipper’s movements were frisky and he had a huge grin on his face, so Pacifica turned to him and shushed him with a finger on her lips.

Pacifica opened the door to the building and froze. Bud Gleeful was in the living room, in front of her, sitting in the armchair and watching TV, but asleep. She turned to Dipper and pointed at her feet. Dipper frowned for a second and then nodded in understanding. He would only step on the boards she stepped on.

They sneaked through the corridor and into the attic through the staircase. It was an empty attic with a window and a door presumably leading to Pacifica’s bedroom. However, despite being empty, Dipper looked around with a concerned expression. Particularly at the walls. The integrity of the building was questionable, and its insulation nonexistent.

“You live here?” He asked.

Pacifica looked confused for a second and then she understood the true meaning of the question.

“It’s better than it looks, really.” She smiled at him. “Besides, I lived in a van before, so this place is an improvement to what I’m used to.”

Dipper looked around a little more and then he turned to her and smiled gently.

“Come live with me.”

“Huh?”

“Come live with me. At the manor.” He repeated seriously. “My great uncle bought it from some family with a big ancestry, so it has many bedrooms we are never going to give any use to. I’m certain he won’t have an issue with you taking one, so come live with me.”

“And, if I agree, let me guess,” Pacifica playfully placed a finger on Dipper’s chest. “An extremely lavish lifestyle awaits me in your castle. In the mornings we’ll play golf, in the afternoons we’ll ride the horse through town, and every night I’ll have to visit your room and pay rent?”

“Of course not.” Dipper smirked. “Have you seen my manor? If you want to pay rent that way, you’ll have to visit my room every night, and every morning too!”

Pacifica gave him a cute squint, and Dipper grinned and grabbed her by the hips.

“That is,” he continued. “Unless it turns out that the nightly visits suffice. I would definitely need some sort of advanced payment to be sure before deciding if additional morning visits are needed.”

Dipper kissed her, hungrily, and Pacifica wrapped her arms around his neck. With his hands, Dipper gave her sides a quick squeeze and then he separated his body from her, but not his mouth, just enough so that he could unzip her tracksuit jacket. Then, he slid his hands under Pacifica’s white tank top and unhooked her bra so easily that the girl could not help but wonder how many times Dipper had done that before.

Those thoughts quickly lost importance when Pacifica started experiencing the pleasure from having Dipper fondling her small breasts under the bra. She had to break the kiss and cover her mouth and prevent her voice from leaking out, but this only made things worse since Dipper then put his now free mouth to work on her neck and slid one of his hands into her pants.

Pacifica squeaked and her body shook merely a few seconds after Dipper’s fingers had gotten into her panties. She leaned on him, her legs wobbly, and panted while looking at Dipper with a mixture of surprise and bliss, and a full-face blush. In return, Dipper simply smiled smugly at her and put the now wet fingers inside his mouth.

“Delicious.”

Her face somehow got even redder, but Dipper did not give her time to process it. He picked her up and took her to the window, under which there was a padded bench, and then laid her on it. Pacifica propped herself up on her arms and stared dumbfounded at how Dipper dropped his pants and his penis came out.

Dipper pumped it a couple times with one hand while Pacifica stared intensely at it, and then with the other hand he jerked his wrist and three colorful condoms appeared between his fingers.

“Pick your flavor.” He smirked as he presented the hand.

Pacifica blinked a couple times and the realization made her heart beat so hard she thought it would escape her body through her throat. She sat up and covered Dipper’s hand holding the condoms with hers.

“Dipper, I-I’d like a bed for this…”

“Of course!” He replied after a second of surprise.

Dipper looked around the room, disoriented, and then pointed at the only door with his thumb and raised his eyebrows. Then he tried to pick her up into a princess carry, but Pacifica sat up first.

“Ahh! I forgot about Gideon! I share a bedroom with my little cousin!”

Dipper looked extremely disappointed.

“It’s okay!” Pacifica quickly added. “I can give him some money and send him to the movies. There’s one he’s been meaning to watch. But you need to get dressed! He mustn’t see you, and if he does, I’d rather he didn’t see you with your pants down!”

Dipper chuckled and pulled his pants back up. Pacifica discreetly ogled his erect penis while fixing her bra, and then she saw Dipper hiding the condoms up his sleeve. She smiled as she wondered how many more things that sleeve carried for his tricks.

“Dipper.” She stood up and held his hands, attempting to look stern despite blushing terribly. “We’re not going to do it, okay?”

Dipper smirked and nodded eagerly.

“We’re not going to do it, but,” she repeated, and blushed even harder. “We can, um, play a little. But we definitely are NOT doing it.”

Dipper grinned and continued nodding eagerly. He had seen this pattern before, and he knew that they would do it before the night was over.

Pacifica pecked his lips and then turned to the door, but Dipper suddenly grabbed her hand.

“Pacifica.”

“Yes?”

“I meant it. The thing about coming to live with me.”

“…I’ll think about it, but I’d like to. Now hide!”

Dipper tip-toed to some cardboard boxes in a corner and squatted behind them. He found himself grinning from ear to ear, with his heart fluttering pleasantly in his chest. He had only felt like this once before, and he knew it was love. He decided then and there that, tonight, they would do it without a condom. He would beg and grovel as much as needed, but when they would eventually do it, Dipper wanted to make love to her properly and all night long.

A yelp interrupted his daydreaming. Dipper stood up, as Pacifica’s yelp had sounded rather alarming, and quickly joined her in the bedroom.

The room was a complete mess. Drawers had been emptied on the floor, pillows and mattresses had been turned over, and there was no sign of Gideon.

Pacifica rushed out and downstairs to call for her uncle, but Dipper leaned against the doorframe and became distraught. He felt as if something was gripping his stomach and pulling it down. He knew what had happened.

“Dipper!” Pacifica returned upstairs alone. “My uncle is asleep and won’t wake up! I think he’s been drugged!”

“Oh no… Mabel, what have you done…” Dipper hid his eyes behind his hand.

“Your sister?” Pacifica asked slowly, and then it dawned upon her. “My Journal!” She rushed into the bedroom, climbed a ladder and checked the alcove. “It’s gone!”

Pacifica came back down and paced in an extremely distressed way.

“Mabel took my Journal and Gideon? But that’s crazy! Why? How? Why today of all—” She stopped in her tracks and turned to Dipper with a serious expression. “…You knew it was Mabel? You knew this would happen? Tell me the truth!”

Dipper closed his eyes. He remembered feeling something with the amulet that morning when he asked his sister before setting off. He knew that she lied, but he chose not to press her about it. He knew something was off, and this was indeed one of the cases he had imagined. Not the one Dipper would have bet money on, but not an unthinkable outcome either.

“I thought it would—”

“The truth!”

“…Yes, I knew this would happen.”

When she heard that, Pacifica went from tense to completely devastated. She leaned against the wall and stared blankly at the opposite wall, near Dipper.

“Mabel couldn’t take the Journal from me, because magic doesn’t work on me. She needed me outside the Shack and without the Journal, so she sent you. To take me out, to seduce me and keep me entertained, so that I was out of the picture while she broke in here.” She finally looked at Dipper and became extremely sad. “So I fell for a honeypot trap. It was all a lie.”

“Not at all, Pacifica—”

“My first kiss was a lie, and…” She glanced at the bed. “My first time was going to be a lie too…”

Dipper blinked a couple times and then lowered his head.

“I’m sorry.” He said quietly.

The silence in the room was extremely loud for a few seconds, and then Pacifica started sniffling.

“Pacifica, listen…”

Dipper was interrupted by a slap across the face. The action, paired with Pacifica’s furious expression, shocked him for a few seconds, and then the second slap came. Then a third, then a fourth, and then Dipper decided he did not deserve any more of those and he put his arm in the way.

Pacifica cried out and took a step back, holding her arm. Her rather thin forearm had not done too well colliding against Dipper’s and she had hurt herself. This was not Dipper’s intention when he protected his face, so he tried to reach for Pacifica and assist her, but she jumped away and started screaming at him.

“Go away!” She started sobbing. “Go away!”

“Pacifica, don’t do this to me… I-I really love you…”

The words only increased the pain Pacifica was feeling in her chest.

“I hate you!” She cried. “I never should’ve given you a chance! For this, I hope that you die alone in a corner!”

The words hit Dipper like a brick. So hard that he forgot to blink for a long time. He only nodded very slowly and then turned to leave while Pacifica dropped on her floor and cried her heart out.

Outside, in front of his motorcycle, Dipper finally reacted and collapsed on it. He wheezed painfully and his chest ached awfully as his heart was broken for the second time in his life. He felt overwhelming sadness and despair, clenching his eyes shut until they hurt, and then a surge in anger.

The amulet glowed without him holding it in his hand, and his motorcycle disintegrated under him. Dipper jumped away, fearful for the gas tank, but there was nothing but a large pile of dust left of his motorcycle.

Dipper grabbed the amulet and looked at it. He had never been able to do that, not even when holding it. He frowned and realized that, just like his sister, he had become too emotionally unstable to use the amulet. He was about to throw it away in a fit of rage, when he noticed something sticking out of the mound of dust.

A bone prism.

Dipper put the amulet back around his neck, grabbed the prism that had survived the disintegration, and then rushed to the manor on foot.   

:: ::

Late in the night, in the front hall of the manor, Mabel was waiting for him, sitting on the stairs. She stood up the moment she saw her brother bursting through the front door.

“Do you have it? Excellent!”

“Mabel, you’ve gone too far this time!” Dipper strode up to her and shoved the prism in her hands. “I’ll give you this, but you’re giving me Gideon back! Where’s he!?”

“Not here. And how far I went is inconsequential.” She ignored Dipper, examining the prism.

“You kidnapped Gideon and drugged his dad! Do you think they’re not going to report it to the police!?”

“Like I said, it does not matter. I lied about many things, but now that I have everything I need, I can come clean and tell you the truth. Because, despite your many flaws, you’re still my dearest brother, so I will extend an invitation to you. Take a seat and I will explain.”

Dipper did not sit. Instead, he folded his arms and scowled at Mabel.

“Very well then.” Mabel kept his gaze, unintimidated. “I’ve told you before about my theory on how the universe is made and how it works. But I chose to keep out a few details. There is a multiverse, my dearest brother, with many similar but never identical Earths, and the one we’re at is on the negative end of the spectrum. An anti-Earth, or perhaps a reverse Earth of sorts. Some of the key individuals that would be good on a neutral or positive Earth, they’re bad on this one. And some of the people that should be alive are dead. Do you understand?”

Dipper only intensified his scowl to express how he was running out of patience.

“This explains everything bad that’s happened to us, Dipper, everything! And knowing the cause, I can work on a solution! I was never building a limitless energy generator! I built a machine that can allow me to hop into a different universe, a better Earth! One where people aren’t rotten, one where I do not feel disgust and revulsion talking to them, one where mom and dad aren’t dead!”

Dipper’s expression softened and he unfolded his arms.

“Mabel…”

“And with the parameters written down in Journal #3 and with this prism, or rather with what’s contained in it, I can kickstart the machine and find the right universe. I kidnapped Gideon because he is the only good thing on this Earth, so I want to take him with me. That’s why it’s inconsequential; I’ll be long gone before there are any consequences. And I want you, my dearest brother, to come with me. Let’s abandon this rotten Earth and go to a better one.”

“Mabel…” Dipper repeated in a soft voice and held her forearms gently. “Even if everything you do works out, it would not bring mom and dad back.”

“I would find the closest ones to mom and dad. It would almost be the same!”

“No, it wouldn’t. And what about our counterparts? Their Dipper and Mabel?”

“We could talk things out and share! Who better to empathize with us than ourselves? Or actually I could even find a universe where you and I just died, and replace them! With what’s inside this prism, I can—!”

“Mabel, I can’t.” He sighed. “I can’t because, as you predicted, love slapped me in the face and made me realize the error in my ways. But I am not going to give up on it. So I need Gideon back. For her to forgive me.”

“…You fell in love with HER!? Of ALL people!?” Mabel’s eyes bulged out. “After all these years you fall in love again, and it’s with the girl I specifically told you NOT to!?”

“I couldn’t help it.” Dipper smiled sheepishly. “She’s the most amazing girl I’ve ever met. I want to be with her, to talk to her every day and to hold her in my arms and watch her smile. So I cannot go with you, but I don’t want you to leave either.”

“I hate everything here. If you’re not coming, then I’m going alone. There’s nothing left for me here.”

“You’ve got your dearest brother.” Dipper gave her a smile but she only looked back at him skeptically. “Listen, I know we’ve grown apart. We used to be so close when we were little, before mom and dad… I figured that if I also took part in your paranormal research, we would grow closer again, but in the end, it only split us further apart.”

There was a moment of silence, during which Mabel patiently glared at him. Then Dipper continued speaking.

“I’m going to try to be nicer, for Pacifica’s sake. But I want to do something for you too, if you give me a chance. So, please, stay. Stay, and let’s grow close again, and then work from there. Don’t give up on me and this universe. I will help you find somebody you enjoy talking to, and keep you company in the meantime. And we will find you peers, because I refuse to believe a universe where you found Gideon and I found Pacifica, is fundamentally rotten.”

“Dipper…” Mabel started to smile faintly, but then she heard a voice in her head.

“He’s lying.”

Mabel frowned immediately.

“How do you know?” She asked out loud.

“Know what?” Dipper looked confused. He had not heard any voices.

“I read his mind.”

“Prove it. What number am I thinking of?”

“…Mabel?” He looked at her worriedly. “What’s going on? You know I’ve never been able to do that.”

“The number you’re thinking of, is negative 8.”

Mabel let out a cry and covered her mouth, staring at Dipper in horror as she took a couple of steps back. Only then did Dipper understand what had happened, seeing the prism in her hands.

“Mabel, that thing is up to no good!” He warned her. “It tried to kill me earlier! Drop it!”

Mabel did in fact drop it, but then she made a lunge for Dipper’s amulet. Dipper was caught by surprise, but not completely. He grabbed Mabel by the forearms and stopped her fingers inches away from touching the amulet. Mabel kept desperately pushing to grab it, so Dipper squeezed her arms hard to stop her.

Mabel cried out, almost identically to how Pacifica had cried out earlier. Dipper reflexively let go of her, and Mabel finally grasped the amulet.

There was a flash and Dipper was sent flying, doing a flip in the air like a ragdoll, and crashing into a cabinet. He collapsed on the floor and did not get back up.

“Dipper!!” Mabel took two hurried steps towards him, but then she stopped herself. “No… No, you chose to side against me. I’m sorry…”

Mabel put the amulet on the flower of her headband, grabbed the prism and left the manor without looking back, leaving Dipper alone in a corner, in a growing pool of blood.

:: ::

Chapter Text

:: ::

[Chapter 7: Mabel Rises]

It was the break of dawn. Outside the Pines manor, on the sidewalk, Pacifica walked decisively. Almost stomping her feet with every step. And the anger on her face would have evoked fright in anybody that saw her, but there was nobody on the street that early in the morning.

The previous night, Pacifica had cried herself to exhaustion on her bed, but she had not managed to sleep a wink. Sadness had overwhelmed her too much to sleep, until eventually this sadness was replaced by anger. It was then that she had set off to the manor to get Gideon back by any means necessary.

Pacifica rang the interphone. Nobody answered, but the fence gate was open. Usually, she would never even consider it, but at that moment she was not worried about illegalities; she was only glad that an obstacle had been so easily overcome, and so she entered the premises. She crossed the front yard, not even glancing at the fountain and hedge bushes, and soon enough she reached the front porch. Pacifica was about to ring the doorbell, but she stopped. The front door was also open.

It was too weird. She considered the possibility of a trap, given the number of coincidences she was encountering, so Pacifica entered the manor tentatively, poking her head inside and slowly looking around. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary, except for the part where she had expected to see a butler already. There was nobody there.

Something finally caught her eye. Around the staircase, she could see an arm sticking out and lying on the floor. This confused her as much as it piqued her interest. She walked up to it, to look around the staircase, and then she covered her mouth in shock and gasped loudly.

“Dipper!”

The boy was lying motionless on the floor. His clothes were bloodied like the carpet around him. His side, his shoulder, one arm and one thigh had been pierced by shards of glass and splinters of wood, which likely came from the broken cabinet behind him.

Pacifica immediately got on her knees and rolled Dipper onto his side. He didn’t have any injuries on the front side of his body, but there was an alarming amount of dried blood on the floor. Seeing him alone and in that corner, she suddenly remembered the last thing she had said to him last night.

“I didn’t mean it, I didn’t mean it…! Please wake up…!” Pacifica patted his face.

For a few seconds while she patted his face, which felt like an eternity, Pacifica considered leaving him and running to town to seek help, but Dipper finally let out a groan.

“Pacifica—?” He immediately suffered a coughing fit. “I’m sorr—"

“Don’t force yourself!” She yelped. “Dipper, the manor looks empty, and you’re badly hurt! I need you to tell me where I can find a phone to call an ambulance!”

“No.” He coughed again for a long time. Bloodily. “No ambulances. Help me… Help me get upstairs.”

Pacifica pulled his healthy arm over her shoulder and walked with Dipper up the stairs. She noticed that he could not stand on one of his legs, and that the grip he had on her hand was terrifyingly weak, but she did not make any comments. She only did as he requested.

On the second floor, Dipper guided her through a couple of corridors and then they stopped in a room she could only guess was his own from the picture frames on the cabinets. Pacifica helped him sit on the bed, and then, as instructed, she opened a wardrobe.

Deep within the wardrobe, there was a small chest hidden under a few shoe boxes and, inside this small chest, there were two vials. One silver, and one golden.

“What’s this?”

“Al…Alchemy…” Dipper, who was awfully pale, rolled his eyes and almost fainted. He jerked his head to stay awake and pointed weakly. “Bring the silver one…”

Pacifica hurriedly opened the vial and helped Dipper drink it. From the little bit that leaked around his lips, Pacifica could see the fluid was like a rainbow made out of shades of blue.

After Dipper swallowed the last of it, he grimaced, likely due to the taste, and then he suddenly slumped on his side, jerking and trembling. Pacifica freaked out and tried to hold Dipper in place, but after a few seconds the shaking stopped and Dipper raised a hand to calm her down. He sat up on his own, his face having regained its color. But he did so with difficulty; his wounds which were still there continued to impede him.

“We need to talk.” Dipper said normally.

“First, let’s heal you. Is it the golden vial now?” Pacifica offered the chest with the remaining vial to him.

“No. The first aid kit.”

Pacifica was then directed to the top of the wardrobe, where there was a first aid kit. Inside, there were the usual contents, with the addition of a jar filled with some sort of red paste. Dipper prepared a gauze with some of the red paste on it, and then he started cutting his pant leg off.

“Let me do it.” Pacifica interrupted him. “You’re wounded and weak. Let me do it.”

“Very well. You need to remove anything that may be in the wounds and then cover each with a gauze like this one.”

“Shouldn’t I disinfect the wound first?”

“No. The paste on the gauze will be plenty.”

Pacifica did as he said. She cut his silk shirt off too, leaving him topless, and then she carefully removed anything that was in his wounds with a pair of tweezers. Pacifica was glad she did not faint at the sight of blood, because whenever she removed a shard or splinter, Dipper would start bleeding until she covered the wound with the gauze. And then, much to her surprise, it would stop bleeding almost immediately.

Even then, the simplicity of the process did not make her feel any less tense. She was a ball of nerves and she was extremely worried for Dipper. The boy had not made a single reaction to what Pacifica assumed had to hurt considerably. He just sat and stared blankly at the wall, like a man that had lost everything, and he stayed like that until she finished. Only then, he put on a fake smile and looked at her.

“A fine job.” He checked the dressings with his healthy hand. “Have you done this before?”

Pacifica didn’t answer. She had just noticed her hands for the first time, and she could not help but stare intently at them. They were completely red, bloodied, along with her sleeves and her tracksuit, and they would not stop shaking.

“You can wash them in my private restroom.” Dipper added. “It’s that door over there. You will feel better afterwards.”

The girl nodded slowly and went to do that, almost robotically. She was in shock. Inside the restroom, she scrubbed and scrubbed her hands until the water in the sink was transparent again. There was not much that could be done about her tracksuit jacket, so she took it off and tied it around her waist.

Just like Dipper had suggested, Pacifica felt infinitely less tense now that she was not covered in blood anymore and her hands had stopped shaking, but her head still felt like it was spinning. When she exited the restroom, almost without noticing, she walked up to Dipper and sat next to him, staring at the wall he had been staring at earlier. She was still in shock.

Dipper skillfully rolled in his fingers the silver vial he had just consumed and started speaking.

“This silver vial had processed unicorn blood. Unicorns are inherently magical and their blood, consequently, has many magical applications. Processed adequately through alchemy, a small vial of unicorn blood such as this one can provide the body with a burst of vitality. Enough to even sustain a body that was on the verge of death.”

“However,” he continued after a pause, stopping rolling the vial and instead grasping it. “The effects end when the body finishes processing the blood in the digestive system. And so the body returns to the state it was before, with the added stress from the burst of vitality. This usually means a long sleep for a healthy body, but—”

“You were almost dead when you took it…” Pacifica interrupted him, her eyes growing wide and worried.

“Yes.” Dipper raised his hand to ask her to let him finish. “In my state, taking this was a death sentence. But that is why there were two vials.”

Dipper grabbed the golden vial and held it, not playing with it.

“This is aurum smaragdus potabile, or simply put, a colloid of gold and emeralds.”

“You're going to drink… metal?”

“It is mostly emeralds, but yes. This colloid is made through alchemy and it is drinkable; so long as it was made correctly, otherwise it is lethal. Although it's extremely difficult alchemy, the alchemist that made it, she's too big of a perfectionist to make a mistake and botch the job, so I'm not afraid to drink it.”

Dipper stared sadly at the vials that his sister had concocted years ago as a last resort solution.

“The emeralds boost health and regeneration, while the gold enhances the effects of the concoction. I've never needed to take these before, since usually my sister would patch me up, with… with the amulet…” Dipper remained silent for a moment as he grimaced, and then he put the fake smile back on. “Anyway, in theory, it should heal me up. And very quickly. So quickly that it's possible my wounds would heal over the splinters and shards rather than pushing them out, which is why I needed those removed first.”

“So you're going to be okay?” Pacifica leaned closer and looked at him hopefully.

“Yes. With the golden vial I should be able to overcome the backlash from the silver vial, and be okay.”

Pacifica let out a sigh and visibly relaxed. Dipper smiled quietly at her.

“Pacifica… We need to talk.”

Pacifica blinked a couple times as if waking up from a dream, and then her features hardened and she scooted away from Dipper, sitting closer to the foot of the bed.

“What was the red paste for?” She asked, although she looked less interested in an answer than she was in avoiding Dipper's request.

“That paste is to prevent scarring. I don't want people to see scars on my body and make questions, especially my great uncle. Pacifica, I insist we need to talk.”

Pacifica remained silent.

“Listen, after I take this vial,” Dipper insisted, “I will fall into a coma for a couple hours. Perhaps more. If we're going to talk, it has to be now.”

“I didn't come to the manor to talk to you.” Pacifica finally declared, sternly. “I came to get Gideon back.”

“And nothing else?”

“And nothing else.”

They did not say anything to each other for a minute. Dipper kept trying to look Pacifica in the eyes, but she kept her gaze down and away from him. He feared that touching her would only make things worse.

“There is something else.” She finally said in a quiet voice. “I came with nothing but loathing for you. Loathing, hatred and contempt. I came hoping you would one day experience the pain and sorrow I felt last night, tenfold. But… when I saw you lying on the floor in a pool of blood, I… I-I got so worried for you. I hate that I couldn't bring myself to hate you. But, now that you're okay, I…”

“You don't feel pity for me now that I'm not a moribund anymore,” Dipper finished her sentence for her, “so it is back to the original feeling of hatred and hoping for my demise?”

“I regret wishing for your death.” Pacifica shook her head. “It was awful of me, and I know now that I didn't really mean it. But the general sentiment about how I feel towards you after what happened yesterday remains the same. That's the end of this discussion.”

“Then allow me to monologue.” Dipper replied. “You can continue to refuse to talk to me, you only need to listen.”

Dipper stared at Pacifica for a few seconds. She focused her blue eyes on his, but otherwise she did not make any attempts to stop him, so he started speaking.

“Yesterday, I… I made a deal with my sister. A favor for a favor. She would attend our birthday party, which she normally skips, and in exchange I had to make use of my charisma to get a certain girl with special abilities to help me locate the invisible dome, and then I had to find the prism there and bring it to Mabel.”

Dipper lowered his gaze and then continued.

“I knew something was off. Mabel has always been obsessed with the Journals, so I found it rather strange that she did not send me to convince you to give yours away. I even asked her that morning, and she lied to me. The amulet told me so. Yet I chose to not care.”

Dipper sighed.

“I knew my sister would do something behind my back, but I didn't know what specifically. It did cross my mind, as one of the craziest possibilities, that she would break into your place and steal the journal, but I didn't think she would actually do that, let alone drug your uncle and kidnap Gideon too.”

“Although I suspected it,” Dipper continued after a moment of silence. “I honestly chose not to care, and I did nothing to stop it. For that reason, I consider that I was part of it. An unwitting part, but a part nonetheless. Therefore, after I left you at Shack, I returned to the manor to set things straight. I faced my sister and I almost convinced her, but then the prism… The prism told Mabel something that turned her against me. She attacked me and took my amulet, and she… My sister tried to kill me and left me to die…”

“Dipper…” Pacifica put her hand on his. Dipper grabbed it with both hands and squeezed it.

“Everything I said yesterday was true. Pacifica, you have to believe me.” He looked into Pacifica's eyes and then reached to caress her cheek. “I genuinely love you. It wasn't a trick, I wasn't pretending. Pacifica, I really—I-I’ve never… You're more important to me than you could ever imagine…!”

Pacifica leaned her face against the palm of his hand, and for a second, she looked relieved and relaxed, but then she frowned and pulled away.

“Dipped, I… I think I loved you too. I really want to believe it was all real, but I can't think straight right now. I haven't slept, I'm tired, and all I can think of is that Gideon has been kidnapped and I need to get him back.”

“I understand.” Dipper said after a long silence. “Let me help you then. Gideon is with Mabel. I do not know where Mabel is. But I know where we can start our search. Help me walk.”

:: ::

They entered another bedroom, a few doors away from Dipper's. Pacifica lent him a shoulder until Dipper made it to the bed so he could sit on it, and then she looked around, fascinated.

“Is this…?”

“Yes. My sister's bedroom. Check if the Journals are here. Between the mattress and the bedframe, under the foot of the bed.”

“Not in that safe?” She pointed at the safe visible under the nightstand.

“No,” Dipper smiled. “That's a decoy.”

“They're indeed here!” Pacifica started pulling them out excitedly. “All three of them!”

Dipper opened the journals on the shared page for the dimensional portal and arranged them together so they could see the full schematic.

“This is what Mabel told me she was working on. What she needed the prism and your Journal for. But, hmm… While I do see parameters and instructions, I don't see anything about a location where this should be built, or perhaps was built already. It could be anywhere in the forest, if it’s in the forest at all.”

“Does the invisible ink add anything?” Pacifica asked after a while.

“What invisible ink?” Dipper raised an eyebrow.

“You don't know about it?” Pacifica raised an eyebrow herself, and then she pointed at a black light resting on the desk.

Pacifica grabbed Mabel's black light and turned it on, pointing it at the three journals. Previously invisible text appeared in a fluorescent color on the pages, much to Dipper's surprise.

“I didn't. Does every page have invisible ink?”

Dipper turned a few pages to see that was indeed the case, and then he sat back, slumping on the bed.

“You never really trusted me, did you Mabel?” He asked quietly, staring blankly at the ceiling.

“Dipper, there's nothing here about a location.” Pacifica added after reading the schematic pages. “Only that the Author dismantled the portal after using it once, and he warns against ever building it, let alone turning it on.”

Dipper sat up after a moment and looked at the safe.

“If you never trusted me, then every time you told me this was just a decoy…” He muttered as he started turning the dial on the safe.

Pacifica thought that Dipper knew the combination. She was proven wrong when he failed multiple times to open it. She turned her attention back to the billboard on the wall with a web of red string linking several notes, which seemed to be about her, but then there was a sudden KLANK and the safe opened.

“How did you open it?”

“I tried combinations that would be meaningful to my sister until one worked.”

“Which was it?”

“The date of my parents’ death.”

Pacifica remained silent and nodded.

In the safe, there was only a journal. Similar to the Author's, but brand new, blue, and with a shooting star on the cover. Dipper pulled it out and opened it.

“Empty.” He frowned. “Or perhaps…?”

Pacifica already knew what he was going to say. She shone the black light on the blue journal and the text appeared.

“It's a diary.” Dipper deduced from the entries labeled by date. “Hmm, it started when she made it with the amulet years ago…” He started skimming pages. “Here, the last one is from a week ago.”

They read it together in silence. When Pacifica finished, she covered her mouth in shock, and when Dipper did, he frowned and covered his eyes.

“She built a… mecha?” Pacifica asked. “What's a mecha?”

“It's a TV thing. A giant robot that's piloted from the inside.” Dipper closed the blue journal and looked at her seriously. “Pacifica, I’ve changed my mind. I cannot let you go after Mabel.”

“Haven’t you read that she's planning to jump to another universe with Gideon!? I need to get him back before that happens!”

“I’ve also read she's planning to destroy the town with said mecha before that. I cannot let you go there. You will die.”

“Then I just need to get there before she finishes charging up the mecha! Where's this Heart of the Forest she mentions?”

“Even without the mecha, don't think you can stop her just because of your magic immunity. Mabel has my amulet and she will find a way around your immunity. Pacifica, she will kill you.”

Pacifica remained silent for a long time.

“I need to go.” She concluded. “Not only for me, but for everybody else too. For you too. I'll stop your sister from leaving. Don't you want that?”

“I don't want to lose both of you…” He muttered. “It should be me. I’ll go talk to her again.”

“But Dipper, you cannot walk. If you really want to stop your sister, then help me find her. Where's the Heart of the Forest?”

Dipper hesitated, and then he suffered a coughing fit. His hand was bloodied.

“Your wounds!” Pacifica examined the dressings on Dipper's back, which were quickly turning red with blood. “Take the vial!”

Dipper did not need to be told twice. He drank the golden vial in one go, and then he grimaced. The contents burned in his stomach, and he felt himself gain a fever almost immediately.

“I'm okay.” Dipper reassured Pacifica as he lay on his side. “I just… I'm getting very sleepy, so it's working.”

“Tell me where the Heart of the Forest is.” Pacifica insisted.

“I will go with you when I wake up.”

“It will be too late. Dipper, tell me where it is.”

Dipper felt a burning in his chest and limbs and found himself becoming increasingly groggy. With his thumb and forefinger, he pulled his cheeks down in an attempt to keep his eyes open.

“I can’t. Pacifica, you mustn’t—”

“You need to trust me.”

Dipper sighed and rolled onto his back. He closed his eyes and a grimace appeared on his face.

“The Heart of the Forest… is west of the waterfall. You will find it if you follow the moss on the trees.”

“But moss points north.”

“No, there it does not.”

Pacifica stood still for a second, processing the information, and then she nodded and went to stand up, but Dipper grabbed her by the wrist.

“My sister… Mabel is teeming with self-righteous indignation, passive aggressiveness and a superiority complex. That is her strength; it’s what gives Mabel her intelligence and determination, but it is also her weakness. Appeal to her ego, and she will fall for anything you tell her.”

Pacifica nodded and then waited for Dipper to add anything else, but he had passed out. She kissed him on the cheek, and then she rushed out of the room with Mabel’s golf club in hand.

:: ::

Outside of town, there was a small cabin with a fenced scrapyard behind it. It was still the break of dawn, so nobody was up or outside. If they were, they would have seen a girl flying through the sky and landing in front of the cabin.

Mabel patted the duffel bag she was carrying, and then knocked on the wooden door. An old man opened it. He had a really long beard, and a bald head he hid under a hat.

“Wooohee! Mabel Pines! Not a second too late!”

“McGucket, is it ready then?”

“Yes, yes! Been working all night since ye called me! I just put the last thingamjigs inside your robut! Come in, come in!”

“I’m in a hurry, so I’d rather stay outside.” Mabel glanced with disgust at the inside of the cabin which stunk of motor oil.

“Hee-hee, I’ll get it outside then!”

The old man disappeared inside the cabin. There were the sounds of metal tools falling and rolling on a wooden floor, some cursing, and then he reappeared again in the doorframe, carrying a small robot modelled after Mabel.

“Tis my best work so far!”

“I can see that.” Mabel held the miniature and examined it. “Is it completely articulated?”

“Yup! Every limb moves! I also left this arm without a hand like ye wanted!”

“Excellent.” Mabel grinned. “What do you want for it? I happen to be able to provide you with anything material that you may wish, at the moment.” She stroked the amulet on her hairband.

“Nothing, hee-hee, nothing!” He wiped his hands on his overalls. “Tis my hobby! I love making small robuts to pitch against other small robuts! Ye funded me projects so we’re even! Though, I gotta ask!” He added after a second, scratching his cheek. “How’re ye gonna pilot it? The inside all works but can’t fit even a hamster in there. Are ye sure you don’t want me to make a remote?”

“It won’t need a remote.” Mabel held the robot in front of her face, looking at McGucket from behind it and smiling ominously. “I plan to pilot it myself, from the inside.”

“How?” He scratched his bald head in confusion. “Are ye gonna make yourself small?”

“No. I plan to make the robot bigger. Gigantic.”

“A giant robut!?” McGucket frowned and then slapped his knee. “Aww, donkey spittle! That just ain’t right!”

“When has the world ever been right?” Mabel shrugged. “Either way, I appreciate your help, so let me give you a word of advice. Don’t go into town today.”

:: ::

As Mabel flew over the tree tops, there was something that caught her eye. On the river, at the bottom of the waterfall, there was a girl washing clothes in the stream. The sight amused Mabel enough to detour slightly and get a better look.

The girl was kneeling, bent over the stream, with her arms up to her elbows in the water. Her face was completely hidden behind her blond hair, which was long enough to reach the water. She was rubbing and squeezing a jacket or a shirt in the water, and with every movement, a dark cloud stained the stream.

Mabel stopped and landed near the girl, but then she took two steps back when she looked at the river. The stream, the entire stream, was now flowing with blood coming from the washer girl’s dirty clothes. She lifted her head and brushed her hair out of her face with her arm, staring at Mabel with her blue eyes.

“No, you can’t be here!” Mabel stared wide-eyed at Pacifica’s face. “Impossible! This must be some sort of trick!” She jerked her head to the sides, trying to spot anybody else, but as soon as stopped staring at the washer girl, she vanished. Like an apparition. Like a nightmare. But the river was still dark with blood.

Mabel immediately flew up to the safety of the sky, panting and with her throat feeling tight and her knees wobbly. A bad omen, she immediately thought. A warning. Mabel frowned, clenched her fists and grit her teeth for a minute, and then she screamed at the trees.

“I will not be deterred, you hear!? Send her, if you dare! Send anybody you want, but I am leaving, and nothing can stop me!”

:: ::

Deep within the forest, there was a spot the moss on every tree within a five hundred yards radius pointed at. In that spot, there was a tree. The tree, a hollow tree, was older than any of the other trees surrounding it, but it would not wither any time soon.

Not specifically at that spot, but near there in the forest, there was a clearing. Mabel arrived at that clearing, flying with the amulet, and landed at the center of it.

From her duffel bag, she pulled out the robot replica, her mecha, and placed it on the ground. She then pulled a flashlight with a crystal taped to the end of it, and flashed the small robot. The blue light made it grow and grow until the previously small replica now towered over the trees.  

Mabel accessed her mecha through the elevator on the left leg. She stopped in the stomach compartment, where a slab of iridium awaited her, per her specifications. Taking the amulet off her headband and holding it in both hands, she focused until the slab slowly but progressively turned into the intricate dimensional portal, as well as a console in front of it built with the technomancy Mabel had never trusted anybody with. In the center of the console, there was a triangular slot shaped like the prism.

After connecting the portal to a pair of thick cables that went down and out of the robot through the other leg, Mabel took the elevator and left the robot, lifting the cables magically with her amulet and walking to the Heart of the Forest.

Mabel peeked inside the tree, not directly but using a mirror. She knew better than to look in there directly, for inside there was the dimensional rift. A tear in space, almost like a stretched S with light distorted around it, and the interior colored like a kaleidoscope.

After stepping away from the tree, Mabel flicked a switch on the head of the cables, and these suddenly tensed up, as if magnetized, and pointed at the tree. Mabel stapled them to the ground and grinned. To anybody else, the cables would look like they were just floating in place, but she could see them drawing energy from the other dimension, to charge up her mecha.

While that took place, Mabel flew back to the mecha and around it. Holding her amulet, she replaced the malleable aluminum for the hull with a titanium alloy, the plastic for the visors for the head with tempered glass, and she also made the interior airtight. Then, three trees flew from the forest edge and compressed together into a ball, which was pressed on the missing hand of the robot and turned into a cannon.

After finishing remodeling her mecha, Mabel landed rather bluntly on the grass, and dropped to one knee. Her nose was bleeding profusely. Using the amulet so extensively was taking a toll on her. But she grinned. It was finished. Mabel pulled a handkerchief out of her shirt pocket and cleaned her face before grabbing the duffel bag and getting back inside the robot.

The elevator took her to the torso compartment and then, through a ladder, she accessed the head compartment. The room was designed to read her every movement through a motion capture suit and then have the mecha replicate it, but it also had a console for manual control too.

Mabel walked up to that console and inserted an USB stick into it.

“Voice command test.” Mabel said out loud.

“Voice identified. Welcome, Mabel.” A female voice spoke through the speakers and the screen above the console lit up.

“What is the current battery status?”

“17% and charging.”

“Understood. Sleep for now.”

In the back of the head compartment, there was a small room. A secure room, reinforced on the exterior and padded on the interior, with a seat with a seven-point seatbelt.

Mabel opened her duffel bag and pulled out a small jar. There was a tiny white-haired boy inside, thumping his fists powerlessly against the glass and crying. Mabel pulled him out with the amulet, immobilizing him in the process, and returned Gideon to his normal size with the flashlight.

“Mabel, you don’t have to do this.” Gideon pleaded. “I-I won’t tell anybody.”

“Shush, my beloved Gideon. I need to do this. I am taking you to a place better suited for somebody like you and… and like me too. I think like me too. I hope. Either way, you will be happier there.”

“I’m already happy here!” He shrilled.

There was a moment of silence, and then Gideon spoke again.

“You don’t have to do this for me. Even… Even if you think you’re helping me, you’re not and I-I will never love you.”

“That is fine.” Mabel added after a pause. “I’m not doing this to gain your favor. I’m doing this because I love you. You think that you’re happy here? You’re wrong. As wrong as a street cat that thinks it’s happy sleeping under a car and has never tried an actual warm and cozy bed. You’re free to hate me now, but you will thank me some day. Now sleep.”

Her amulet glowed and Gideon fainted. Mabel sat him on the seat and put the seatbelts on him. She stared at him for a long while, frowning and quite upset. His words had hurt her, and they were not helping the headache the amulet had given her. Eventually, Mabel sighed and shook her head. She held Gideon’s cheeks and kissed his forehead, and then she left the chamber.

:: ::

It had been half an hour since Mabel had started charging up the mecha. In the portal room, the stomach compartment of the mecha, Mabel turned on the dimensional portal. There was a buzzing, the sound of an electrical current, and then the surface of the portal lit up. It looked like liquid, but resting vertically within the portal.

Mabel pulled a lever on the console and two blast doors closed around the dimensional portal. They had large tubes coming out of them, meant to feed the projectors installed on the shoulders and waist of the mecha to create a bubble that would surround and take the entire robot to the other side of the portal, as well as powering up the mecha.

With the mecha being self-sufficient, Mabel rewound the cables drawing energy from the dimensional rift so that the right leg of the robot became operational again, and then she turned to the final piece of the puzzle. On the console in front of her, there was a triangular slot. Mabel took the prism and pushed it into that slot. There was a KLAK and a seething sound, and parts of the prism moved, like a Rubik’s cube, with the gaps between the parts glowing red.

Mabel quickly took the ladder up to the torso compartment. There was a horizontal cylinder, like a vat, on one side of the room, with a console under it. The cylinder, however, did not have a surface but only the rims of it. Despite this, the smoke inside the cylinder remained within its perimeter.

Mabel stared intently at the smoke. It was slowly but progressively condensing in the center of the cylinder until, after around a minute, it took form. Or rather, shape. The smoke in the cylinder was gone, and now there was a yellow triangular creature with a single eye, black noodle limbs, and a top hat.

“Fascinating. Utterly fascinating.” Mabel commented under her breath. “Can you hear me? Can you… Can you speak?” She asked hesitantly due to the entity’s lack of a mouth.

“Why, of course, Shooting Star! I can do many things, and I know many more! Name’s Bill Cipher!”

“Are you a being from the astral plane? From the Immaterium? A being made out of pure energy?”

“That’s correct! I used to live in the astral plane, before I was kidnapped and imprisoned in that prism! I thank you for freeing me, Shooting Star!”

“You keep calling me Shooting Star,” Mabel narrowed her eyes at the entity, “but that is not my name.”

“It may not be your name, but it is what you are! Just because something is given a different name, it does not change what it is! Does a horse become a cat because you name it so!?”

“Hmm, I see. I guess it’s a cultural difference.” Mabel shrugged. “Fine then. Call me as you please. But why Shooting Star?”

“Because every Shooting Star on every Earth is just a Shooting Star, regardless of their given names!”

“On every Earth, you said?” Mabel stared intently at the entity. “So you’ve met other versions of myself?”

“Many! But you’re the first one that does something like this! A most interesting Shooting Star, indeed!”

“Then… If you’ve been to different Earths, are you one of the constants of the universe?”

Bill chuckled without a mouth.

“You impress me, Shooting Star! I did not think you would know about such a term! But yes, that would be correct!”

“I see. Then, depending on what kind of entity you are, you may be able to help me, after all.”

“I have many names, but your people call me a Djinn!”

“A Djinn!” Mabel grinned. “Today is certainly my lucky day! A genie in a lamp, or rather in a prism! Does this mean that I am entitled to three wishes?”

“I’m afraid tales of my powers have been greatly exaggerated!” Bill raised a finger. “You can get one wish for freeing me, and we have to shake on it. Just to avoid accidental wishing.”

“I guess that’s logical. And, consequently, you would logically allow me to explain my situation and give me some feedback on it before I make my one and only wish, right? Just to make sure the correct thing is fulfilled.”

“Of course! That is practically standard procedure!”

“Very well then. My goal is to make it to an Earth on the positive axis of the multiverse. A reverse version of this Earth. Preferably one where I am either recently deceased or I am about to, so I can replace my counterpart. But in the worst-case scenario, I could also remove my counterpart.” Mabel explained with her hands. “I have a dimensional portal, and I understand how to travel to adjacent Earths, but I do not know how to travel to a diametrically opposite Earth.”

“That is actually very simple, but I would advise against it! When you travel to an adjacent Earth, you momentarily enter my dimension and then leave it on the adjacent Earth! This is because your multiple Earths make a circumference around my dimension! To reach a diametrically opposite Earth, you would need to cross my dimension in a perfect straight line, which is unlikely to happen without getting lost!”

“I see. Then I guess my best option is to indeed visit every Earth in one direction until I reach my desired Earth. How many are there?”

“There are 309 on the negative axis and 309 on the positive one!”

“618 in total then. Okay.” Mabel smiled. “That shouldn’t take me more than a couple of months.”

“Why waste a couple of months on it when I could take you right away!?” Bill suggested and offered his hand.

“You could? Is this within your power?” Mabel raised her eyebrow. “It’s not just me I need to take there, but this mecha and all of its contents too.”

“I can take the entire robot, that’s not an issue! The only problem is that I do not know everything about every Earth, so I can’t take you to your ideal Earth! But I can take you to the one diametrically opposite to this one! That should be a better starting point for your search than this one, would it not!?”

“Very well then. I wish you to take this mecha and its contents to a diametrically opposite Earth on the positive axis. Let’s shake on it.”

Mabel offered her hand and Bill reached for it, but when his black hand crossed the perimeter of the cylinder he was in, there was an electrical ZAP and the hand disintegrated, making the triangular entity recoil immediately. A series of electrical transformers on the ceiling started buzzing, a console lit up, and the smell of ozone filled the room.

“What a relief.” Mabel pulled her hand back. “This confirms that you are not able to read my mind like you did before, so I presume I need to be in direct physical contact with the prism, or you, in order for you to do so.”

Bill blinked a couple of times. In front of him, there wasn’t anymore a girl excited to meet an extradimensional entity. Instead, and rather suddenly, there was now a very arrogant girl looking at him smugly.

“What’s going on, Shooting Star!?” Bill held his stump while looking tentatively at the wall-less cylinder he was in.

“What goes on, is that I don’t trust you.” Mabel leaned over the console to check the data. “You truly are pure energy. That hand alone charged the mecha more than the 30 minutes I had it feeding off the rift.”

Bill narrowed his eye at her and regrew his hand.

“You see,” Mabel continued, “This cylinder you’re currently in is made with slightly altered technology than the one used to make the prism for your prison. Ars Goetia, as you may know it.” She looked up from the console and grinned maliciously. “I never let you out; I only changed your prison. And this new prison is not only meant to hold you in; it can also drain your energy, your life force as a being made out of pure energy, and send it to these transformers on the ceiling to convert it into useful energy for my mecha.”

“Very crafty!” He admitted. “But why!? You already have infinite energy with the portal!”

“Because, like I said, I don’t trust you. You claimed to be from the astral plane. However, the astral plane is native to this dimension, so you could not be both extradimensional and from the astral plane.”

“I knew that!” Bill frowned at her. “I was just trying to avoid coming off as pedantic, Shooting Star, so I used a term I figured would be more familiar to you!”

“Oh, so it was just an innocent mistake, then? Like when you next claimed to be one of the constants of the universe?” Mabel raised an eyebrow. “Correct me if I’m wrong, but a constant is an individual that is present in every iteration of the universe, and whose purpose is to develop and ensure each universe is different from the next. In return, the universe protects this individual with a plot armor of sorts. However, to prevent abuse, a constant is never aware that they’re a constant, and were they to realize it, they would lose the status and protection that comes with it. And yet, you both claim to be a constant and are alive, somehow.”

“What about you, Shooting Star!?” The triangular entity interrupted her. “Are you one of the constants of the universe!?”

“Who knows?” Mabel shrugged. “I certainly do not.”

Bill burst into laughter.

“Bravo! Splendid, even!” Bill clapped. “That is the only correct way to answer such a question! You impress me again, Shooting Star! You’re definitely my favorite one!”

“Why, thank you. It’s a pity that the feeling is not mutual.” Mabel crossed her arms. “Hopefully, you understand that I do not think kindly of anybody that tries to kill me.”

“Aww, don’t be like that, Shooting Star!” Bill squinted his eye, smirking without a mouth. “I’m sure you would’ve been fine! It was just a little prank! I’ve been locked in the prism for decades! Am I not entitled to some fun!?”

Mabel did not reply. Instead, she kept glaring at the triangular entity.

“Oh, fine!” Bill rolled his eye. “I lied! The first time, as I said, I did not want to cause a misunderstanding, and the second time, I wanted you to think I was more important than I actually am, so you would be more willing to ask me for a wish! This is because I cannot return to my dimension until I grant a wish! Everything else I’ve said is true! So, what do you say, Shooting Star!? We shake on it, and I take you to a better place!?”

“You know,” Mabel sighed. “Had I not taken precautions, maybe you would have managed to fool me. But I did. I took every precaution. I even consumed a vial of aurum succinum potabile before coming here.”

“You can see auras.” Bill grew silent.

“That is correct. An ability that is only native to your dimension, but that I can also have, for a few hours, thanks to alchemy.” Mabel leaned forward and pulled her lower eyelid to show the triangular entity. Her blue eyes were glowing slightly in a macabre way. “As you know, every individual in this dimension has three auras. One for the body, one for the mind, and one for the soul. Whereas individuals from your dimension only have two, lacking the one for the body. And you, my Djinn, you have the most rotten aura for the soul that I’ve ever seen. You’re not a Djinn, who are always purely neutral. You’re a demon.”

“Now, now, Shooting Star!” Bill chuckled. “Am I a demon, therefore evil!? Surely someone as educated as you, would know that the word demon comes from the ancient Greek daimos, where it means deity, and it was not until Christianity used the word to refer to foreign deities, that it gained a bad connotation!”

“You know our history very well.” Mabel raised an eyebrow. “Allow me to counter that historical fact with another. In the year 738, Abdul Alhazred, an eminence in Ars Goetia, and the individual that has been the closest to crossing the veil into your dimension, was brutally murdered by a demon in the town square, in the middle of the day, surrounded by eyewitnesses. I would not say that an embodiment of goodness accidentally tore him to pieces.”

“That sounds to me like somebody was punished for an attempt at breaking and entering!” Bill chuckled. “But that was not me! I cannot speak for everybody in my dimension! Can you speak for everybody in yours, Shooting Star!?”

“I cannot. And I cannot lose any more time either. Tell me what kind of entity you are, so that I can decide whether to stuff you back into the prism, use you as fuel for my mecha, or perhaps free you.”

“But Shooting Star! If I tell you, you would just say I am lying! So why don’t you tell me!?”

“Very well then.” Mabel cupped her chin and stared intently at the triangular entity. “You’re not a Djinn, not only due to the lack of a neutral aura, but also because they are elementals, and you do not seem to represent any of the five elements.”

“I represent aether!”

“Of course, that pyramid shape and top hat perfectly represent the invisible element.” Mabel rolled her eyes. “No. You’re not a Djinn. You seem to be able to shapeshift, however, so I immediately thought you could be a Rakshasa, but your form is not particularly attractive.”

Bill ignored Mabel as she continued naming entities, and instead turned to examine the cylindrical perimeter of his prison.

“Although,” Mabel added after a while. “Considering how you kept insisting to shake on it, perhaps you could be a Dybbuk?”

The triangular entity suddenly turned to glare at Mabel.

“A Dybbuk it is.” Mabel groaned and then sighed. “Of all the entities, I had to get a useless one. You possess the people that you touch, but you only know as much as the people you possessed did. I have no use for you.”

“So you’re setting me free!?”

“No. You’re going back into the prism. In case I ever need the extra fuel for my mecha. I cannot trust anything you said earlier, so I may need it.” Mabel started typing on the console below the cylinder prison.

“Wait, Shooting Star!” Bill raised his hands defensively. “It is true that I cannot take you to other Earths, but allow me to buy my freedom with my knowledge! There surely is something you want to know!”

Mabel raised her head.

“Do you know how many jumps I need to take to reach my ideal Earth, and in which direction?”

“No, but—!”

“Then you don’t know anything I need.” She lowered it again and continued typing.

“Even about the Author of the Journals?”

Mabel stopped typing on the console and sighed.

“I’ve been obsessed with the identity of the Author for years. So obsessed, in fact, that I even studied graphology to make a psychological profile on the Author in an attempt to find him. But all I came up with was a middle-aged man, with a tendency to fall for get-rich-quick schemes and with an unhealthy need to gain the respect of his father. It doesn’t really narrow it down, does it?”

“I don’t know!” Bill shrugged. “You meat bags look all the same to me!”

“One day, though,” Mabel continued, “I just so happened to recognize that exact same handwriting in my great uncle’s study. On an old letter, from his brother Stanley. Who also happened to disappear around the same time.” She smirked. “The Author was my other great uncle.”

“Correct!” Bill clapped. “Good ol’ Stanley Pines! We were pals, you know!? And it’s just as you guessed! The goal of his research was to get rich quick! He could not compete with his brother’s genius, but really wanted to stick it to his father for disowning him, so he figured he could discover something and then sell it! Would you believe that nobody believed him when he discovered the first paranormal entities in Gravity Falls, the gnomes!?”

“I would. Nobody believed me either.”

“He then decided to make a Journal! Once there was enough evidence, people could not just ignore him anymore! But, while the discovery would be unique, it would not be monumental enough to rival his brother still, because who cares about gnomes and other critters!? Nobody! So I decided to give him a hand!”

“The dimensional portal.” Mabel guessed. “An infinite source of energy. It would be monumental enough to permanently make it to the history books.”

“Precisely! Poor old Stanley accepted right away!”

“So you baited him with a blueprint from an Author from another dimension, one that succeeded in making a dimensional portal and that you possessed after that to gain that knowledge. And then, when Stanley shook your hand, you possessed him.” Mabel scowled at him. “And you did anything and everything you wanted while in his body, until you grew tired of it. Even someone as socially ostracized as myself has heard about the dares to go to the places of the murders, and that the murderer was never found. But why killing?”

“Because I cannot die!” Bill smirked. “If my body were to be destroyed, I would just lose access to this Earth, but the body in my own dimension and in every other Earth would still remain! So the concept of death eludes me! It still fascinates me, no matter how many times I see it!”

“So he put you in the prism to punish you.” Mabel guessed. “Your consciousness on this Earth would never return to your dimension, but would instead always be locked in the prism, inside an invisible dome. How did he power it?”

“With his body!” Bill chuckled. “The prism powered his body, and his body powered the prism! A perpetual motion machine! Ironically, it was conceptually similar to the invention belonging to his brother that Stanley broke and got him disowned! A very clever solution, but with a fatal flaw!”

“Constant exposure to such energy would mutate the body to adapt to it.” Mabel cupped her chin and paced in a circle as she did the math in her head. “Especially a body powered by a prism and that consequently could not die. Forced evolution. Or de-evolution.” She stopped and turned to the triangular entity. “He lost his mind, and so you took control of him again.”

“Not full control, but yes! He was like a meat puppet! But I still couldn’t leave the dome! He erased his memories of how to disable the power source, and it was protected by a field as strong as the dome itself! I was stuck in there for decades! Until your brother showed up, and, haha, he killed his great uncle without knowing it was even him!”

“Either way,” Mabel said without a smile on her face. “I learned nothing new that was of use. I already knew who the Author was, and his demise is of no importance to me. So I guess it’s back into the prism for you, unless…” She frowned and cupped her chin again for a couple seconds. “What do you know about the blond girl? Pacifica?”

“Llama!? There’s no Llama on this Earth! This Earth in particular proves that she’s not a constant!”

“I am as certain that I saw her, as I am that I hate her.” Mabel raised an eyebrow.

“…Oh! Ohhh!” Bill facepalmed. “Boy, is THAT funny! So that was what happened! Interesting! But at the same time, I guess it makes sense!”

“What makes sense!?” Mabel thumped her fists on the console. “Speak, Dybbuk!”

“Llama is your destined rival, Shooting Star! On every Earth! And it is always a lost battle for you! If there’s an Earth where you like to sing, she sings better! If there’s an Earth where you play sports, she plays better!” Bill pressed his palms together. “But on this Earth, on this Earth you are quite peculiar! You have all these powers that rely on magic! But magic is not natural to you, meat bags, so she could not be better at it! She could only have better artifacts or, what seems to be the case, completely nullify your abilities! Ahaha, hahahaha!”

“Is she a threat to me?” Mabel asked seriously.

“Absolutely! She’s anathema to you! Kill her as soon as you see her! Or avoid her altogether! But, if she were to reach the dimensional rift in the forest, then it would be game over for you! For both of you! And for me too! You must not allow her to close the rift with her ability, Shooting Star!”

“…I’ll keep it in mind. Now you’re going back into the prism, Dybbuk.”

“But I gave you useful information, Shooting Star!”

“You did. But we both know I was never going to let you out. You should’ve tried to trick me better.”

“Can you blame me for not trying hard enough!?” Bill smirked without a mouth. “You set a really low bar, after you made it that easy to trick you into killing your brother!”

Mabel scowled and clenched her teeth.

“Actually, you’re not going back into the prism.” She said maliciously. “I think I can make something even smaller. Then I’ll encase that in concrete and bury you where nobody will ever find you.”

“I’m not going back into the prism, Shooting Star! Or there, either! I am going to get out of here, and then tear you to pieces!”

“Hmph! I’d like to see you try!” Mabel smiled smugly.

“I am going to!” Bill grinned without a mouth. “Because it just struck me that your prison has a fatal flaw! You interacted with the console, therefore you’re not dreaming! You’re awake! This prison is in the real world, not in the mindscape, which means you pulled me out so I can actually do this!”

The triangular entity clenched up, and then its yellow body was suddenly covered in muscular tissue. Then, on top of the muscular tissue appeared a metal alloy reinforcing it, then diamonds, and then on top of everything its regular appearance again.

Mabel was not strictly impressed, and did not react until Bill pierced the veil in the perimeter of the cylinder with his hands, which did catch on fire but did not disintegrate immediately. Mabel looked at the transformers on the ceiling, which were buzzing and smoking, and then back at Bill, who was already opening the veil with both hands like a curtain to get out.

“I will tear your head off last, Shooting Star!”

Quickly yanking the amulet from her headband, Mabel squeezed it in one hand, and a psychic arm appeared and tried to push Bill back into the cylinder, pummeling him repeatedly on the face, while she fanatically typed on the console. The black hands prying open the veil were filling with cracks, but Mabel could see they would not disintegrate in time before the demon made it through.

“Voice command!” Mabel screamed. “Switch to auxiliary power, then aim the cannon forward and fire!”

“Voice command!” Bill repeated, much to Mabel’s horror with a perfect imitation of her voice. “Belay that order!”

Mabel grabbed and squeezed Bill’s head with her psychic arm and screamed again.

“Voice command! Disable voice command and fire the cannon!”

The mecha moved, pulling the cannon up and charging it with a loud buzz. Then it fired at the landscape, silently but extremely brightly. The tree tops before the cannon were incinerated with a sizzling sound, and the blue beam loudly pierced through the mountain in the far distance, leaving a crater and a hole through which one could see the sky behind the mountain.

Back inside, Bill screamed horrifyingly as the cylinder drained him to fuel the cannon, and his hands finally disintegrated before he collapsed back inside his prison. His body caught on fire, a blue flame, and started being consumed by it.

But he started laughing.

“Why are you laughing?” Mabel asked spitefully, cleaning a nosebleed. “You’re disintegrating. You don’t have enough energy left to support your body. You lost.”

“Let me give you one last historical fact, Shooting Star. Your people ate from the Tree of Knowledge, and to prevent them from also eating from the Tree of Life and becoming equal to God, they were banished from Eden. And any attempts to access Eden again, are punished brutally.”

“Even as you draw your last breath, you try to mock me with your nonsense!?” Mabel disabled the cylinder and grabbed the triangular entity with a psychic arm.

“This is not over, Shooting Star. To jump to an adjacent Earth, you need to enter my dimension momentarily. Even if it’s just for a moment, you have to trespass into Eden.” Bill grinned maliciously with his eye. “I hope it’s me who finds you during that moment, so that I can tear you to pieces. But I’m not worried because, in the slightest chance that you make it unnoticed to an adjacent Earth, I will be there waiting for you.”

“Then I’ll just kill you again. Now die, demon.” She growled before crushing the triangular entity in her psychic fist.

:: ::

After performing some small repairs on her mecha, Mabel checked the battery status. There was enough energy for one jump, but not enough to fire the cannon again. She decided it would have to do. She did not want to risk sitting at the rift any longer.

Mabel entered the head compartment and tied the amulet around her neck. She extended her arms into a T pose and her clothes glowed, leaving her momentarily naked before transforming into a black motion capture suit. She flicked a switch on a console to pair the suit to the mecha and tested the responsiveness of the robot by trying to take a step.

It was rather shaky inside, but the robot did everything that she did. Mabel grinned, glad that she had left that to a genius in the field such as McGucket, and set off to town, shoving trees out of her way.

However, after a couple of steps, she reached another clearing, and there she had to stop. She immediately flicked the switch again and ran to the window to look outside with her own eyes.

“It can’t be! Computer, frontal scan! Physical scan!” Mabel stared at the monitor, and then gasped. There was indeed a girl in front of her robot. A blond girl with clothes stained in blood. 

Mabel brought a fist to her mouth and bit on her forefinger, anxious, uncertain, and perhaps fearful. But, after a few seconds, she gathered her resolve and took the elevator to the foot.

Outside, she presented herself powerfully, exiting the elevator and slowly flying up in the clearing, while her bodysuit burned with blue flames and was replaced with her usual blue shirt, pencil skirt and stockings.

“Are you real?” Mabel asked Pacifica while floating a safe distance above and away from her.

“I am.” Pacifica answered.

“Did we see each other at the river around an hour ago? You were washing your clothes—”

“I haven’t seen you in over a week.”

Mabel pondered about it for a minute, and then she grinned smugly.

“I somehow knew you and I would meet before all of this was over, my anathema. However, do not let me deter you. Go and fulfill your destiny, for your reward will be Lux Perpetua! The Heart of the Forest is that way!” She pointed behind herself.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about. I did not come for the Heart of the Forest.”

“You did not?” Mabel raised her eyebrows in surprise. “Then how did you find me here?”

“Your brother told me where to find you.”

“Dipper is alive!?” Mabel asked excitedly.

“No thanks to you.” Pacifica retorted, and then pulled the sleeve from the jacket she had tied around her waist. “All of this blood is his.”

“…I made a mistake.” Mabel frowned and lowered her gaze. “Tell him that I’m sorry, when you see him again. Because I won’t see him again. I’m leaving, forever.”

“I cannot let you do that.” Pacifica took a step forward. “At least, not with Gideon. I do not want to fight you; I’m a pacifist, but I will not let you leave with Gideon. You are free to go if you want. I would prefer if you did not go either, but I cannot force you to stay any more than you can force Gideon to leave with you.”

Mabel chuckled.

“I just killed a demon. Perhaps actually a god. How are YOU planning to stop me? No doubt my brother has informed you of your abilities, and this is where that confidence comes from? But a magic immunity is so easily bypassed with magic, ironically.” Mabel smiled maliciously. “I could wall you in instantly, and starve you. I could turn the air around you into poisonous gas and suffocate you. Or, I could simply do this.”

A branch from a tree came flying to Mabel’s hand. She held it while it glowed and transformed into a revolver.

“I could shoot you right now, and your magic immunity would not help you in the slightest.” Mabel fired into the sky first and then aimed at Pacifica, rejoicing in the sight of how she took a step back with fright. Mabel then turned the revolver into smoke. “But alas, while I do hate you, you’re not the kind of individual I’m trying to punish today, and I would rather not put to the test who destiny would favor between us.” She turned around in the air and slowly floated towards the foot of the robot. “I’m in a hurry, so I’m going back inside. As my brother likes to say, leave before I spit on you, my anathema.”

“Wait!” Pacifica took two steps forwards and Mabel stopped and looked over her shoulder. “This feud you have with me, it all started because I beat you at minigolf, right?” Pacifica tossed Mabel’s golf club on the grass between them. “I challenge you to a game to give you the opportunity to change that! But, if I win, Gideon stays. If you win, then I will leave you alone, and you can spit on me if you want.”

Mabel raised an eyebrow, and then ignored Pacifica’s challenge and instead turned to her robot and continued moving.

“Unless, of course, you think that you never stood a chance after all!” Pacifica commented loudly enough for Mabel to hear.

The golf club shook a little and then floated straight to Mabel’s hand.

“Very well then!” Mabel turned around, her face red with anger. “Humiliating you at the hobby you excel at will be the icing on the cake before my departure! And even though I find it extremely revolting, I will spit on you!”

A branch tore from a nearby tree and flew towards Mabel’s hand. It glowed and became a second golf club, with a purple handle instead. Mabel tossed this one at Pacifica, and then turned to the side.

A few trees were compressed and, in their place, appeared an exact replica of the first hole of the minigolf course. Pacifica was fascinated by the expert usage of the amulet, while Mabel made herself a glove for her hand and two colored balls.

“We will play hole by hole. As soon as we’re done with this one, I’ll replace it with the second hole, and so on until we play all 18 holes.”

:: ::

“What the hell?”

After six holes, Mabel lost her temper. She had managed to do five holes-in-one, while Pacifica had not managed to do any, and was struggling to even achieve par scores.

“Are you losing on purpose to mock me!?” Mabel exploded.

“I’m trying my hardest!” Pacifica snapped back. “It’s not that easy, okay!? I’ve only played this game a couple times before!”

“Only a couple times!?” Mabel turned to Pacifica with disbelief and anger. “You beat my score on the minigolf course! How—!? You-You… You cheated!”

“I did not!”

“Shut up! Of course you did! How else could you beat my score back then, but play so poorly now!? It’s the only explanation!” Mabel flew back and away from Pacifica, floating in the clearing. “There’s no need to continue playing. This is my victory. But, before I leave, I am going to teach you a lesson for cheating.”

The club flew from Mabel’s hand towards Pacifica and flicked, striking her in the thigh. Pacifica yelped and rubbed the spot the metal had slapped her skin.

“Did you, or didn’t you cheat!?” Mabel asked. “Admit it!”

“I didn’t!”

The flying club swung again, but Pacifica deflected it with her own. Mabel scowled and swung a feint and then hit Pacifica on the backside, earning another yelp from the girl.

“Well!?”

“I said I didn’t cheat!”

Mabel repeated the punishment a few more times until Pacifica started moving sluggishly. Confident in the bruised girl’s inability to answer to further punishment, Mabel took the golf club in her hand and descended to the ground.

“Guess I’ll have to teach it to you directly.” She commented smugly as she tapped the club on the palm of her hand.

However, when Mabel went to strike Pacifica, the latter parried with her own club, holding the handle in one hand and the head in the other. Weakly, but that was enough. Mabel was within reach, so Pacifica released the club after the parry and then pounced on Mabel, reaching for her wrists and wrestling her.

To someone as psychically sensitive as Mabel, entering in contact with someone with Pacifica’s ability was something, as she just found out, akin to losing consciousness for a second. She felt as if most of her brain shut off, her eyes rolling up and herself almost faint, dropping the golf club. Only out of sheer obstinacy did she manage to stay awake and fight back.

Mabel cursed inwardly while she seized Pacifica’s wrists; she had estimated that Pacifica’s ability would disable or break magical items, but not that any contact with her would cut her off from using magical items. The amulet around her neck was not responding to her mind commands, and Pacifica was trying desperately to reach for it. But Mabel was quickly regaining her senses and had a good hold of her wrists.

That was, until Pacifica did the unthinkable. Her throat made a sound, and then spit landed across Mabel’s nose. The brunette could not help but whimper and release one of Pacifica’s arms to wipe her face, which doomed her.

As soon as Pacifica touched the amulet, there was a ZAP and Pacifica recoiled her hand, as if shocked by an electrical discharge, whereas Mabel was sent flying across the clearing, leaving the inert amulet behind to drop on the grass.

Mabel flipped two times in the air like a ragdoll and landed with her back against the foot of her robot, which winded her. She collapsed on the grass, coughing and gasping for air. But she had no time to rest. She could see Pacifica running towards her.

Crawling on all fours, Mabel got inside the elevator and managed to press the button to go up shortly before Pacifica caught up to the robot. She heard thumping on the elevator door, which meant Pacifica had made it inside the foot before the hull doors closed.

Consequently, once in the torso compartment, Mabel left the elevator and locked it there as well as the hatch to access the torso. Then she quickly climbed the ladder to the head and with shaky hands she reached for the amulet to turn her clothes into the motion capture bodysuit, but it was not around her neck anymore.

“No!!!” She fell to her knees and thumped her fists on the floor. She stayed like that for a second, and then she raised her head and looked at the console. “I’ve still got the manual control! Yes, yes! And I can get another amulet on a different Earth! It’s not over yet!”

As the mecha started moving again, Pacifica grasped the ladder she was climbing harder. The elevator would not come down, but the leg still had an auxiliary ladder that she was climbing to chase after Mabel. However, upon making it to the top, the hatch to access the torso was locked. She climbed down a little and accessed the stomach compartment to try and find another way up.

Inside, Pacifica recognized the dimensional portal, and so she immediately looked for a way to cut off power to the mecha. The console was full of buttons and cables coming out of it that she did not understand, since none were labeled, but there was one thing that she recognized. A prism, now opened, sticking out in the middle of the console and glowing red.

Pacifica held both hands over the prism and braced herself for a second before she grabbed it like a joystick. It hurt, like grabbing a cup that was too hot, but she did not let go. The effect of her actions was quickly visible.

A blackout spread from the prism throughout the console, turning off every pilot light, until it reached the dimensional portal, which stopped making its buzzing sound and shut off, leaking white liquid around the blast doors.

Back above, in the head compartment, Mabel had just reached the road outside Gravity Falls when the robot suddenly ran out of power. She cursed loudly, as this had happened while the mecha was taking a step and, without power, it was losing balance and falling forward. Mabel ducked under the console, hugging her head and hoping for the best.

:: ::

The giant robot modelled after Mabel formed a wreckage in the outskirts of town. It was quickly catching on fire, a blue flame that was eating away even the metal.

From the debris emerged Mabel, bruised and bleeding profusely from a small cut on her forehead. She started trying to limp away, but somebody grabbed her by the shoulder, turned her around and punched her in the face.

Mabel yelped and fell to the ground, and it was then that she knew who destiny had favored. Unlike her, Pacifica did not have a single bruise on her body after the wreckage.

“Where’s Gideon!?” She pulled Mabel’s shoulder and again punched her in the face, sending her back to the ground.

The brunette rolled on the ground and tried to crawl away. Pacifica rolled Mabel onto her back, and this time she was holding a metal bar in her fist. Mabel screamed and covered her face with her arms.

“Where’s Gideon!!?”

“In there!!” Mabel desperately pointed at the part of the wreckage she had come out of. The head of the mecha.

Pacifica dropped the metal bar and immediately rushed there.

In the meantime, Mabel sat up and groaned. Her whole body hurt. She stood up with difficulty, and then tried to limp away, but cars had started showing up. The people from Gravity Falls may not have seen the robot, but they certainly heard or felt the crash.

“What the heck is that! Did two trucks collide?”

“Those don’t look like trucks to me!”

“Aliens! It’s aliens, I tell you!”

Sheriff Blubs and deputy Durland pushed their way to the front.

“Alright, alright people! Don’t form a crowd! There’s a fire going on here so you need to disperse and make way for the firefighters!”

“There’s a girl there!”

After being spotted in the wreckage, the sheriff and the deputy approached her. Mabel feared the worst, but then they did not address her as she had expected.

“Mabel? Mabel Pines? Is that you? What happened here?”

Mabel almost did not manage to repress a wicked smile. She put on her best distressed expression and grabbed the sheriff by the sleeve.

“Sheriff Blubs! That… That Northwest girl! She tried to kidnap me with her giant robot, but then, then something went wrong and the robot fell to the ground and broke! I barely made it out!”

“Northwest?” Blubs turned to Durland, not recognizing the surname. The latter shrugged his shoulders. “Okay, where’s this girl?”

“Over there!” Mabel pointed at the wreckage of the head of the robot.

At that very moment, Pacifica was coming out of it, leading Gideon by the hand. The boy was coughing and rubbing his chest, where he had the bruises of a seatbelt.

The sheriff and deputy rushed and helped them get out of the wreckage and away from the quickly spreading blue flames.

“My cousin,” Pacifica said once they were safe, “I think the seatbelt saved his life, but he’s still a bit hurt.”

“He can rest in the back of the police car.” Blubs waved the deputy to send the kid away. “Miss, what’s your name?”

“Pacifica. I’m Pacifica Northwest. I live in the Mystery Shack.”

“Is this your robot, miss?”

“What!? No!” Pacifica looked around until she spotted Mabel. “It’s hers! Why isn’t she in cuffs!?”

“It’s over, Pacifica. You can stop lying now.” Mabel said, hiding her scorn.

“It’s obviously hers!” Pacifica pointed at Mabel. “It’s even modeled after her! Look!”

The sheriff, the deputy and the crowd gathered around them turned to look at the wreckage. There were a few murmurs, but then the sheriff spoke everybody’s minds.

“It’s hard to tell what that looks like anymore.”

“Well it’s not mine!” Pacifica snapped. “It’s obviously not mine! How would I get something like that? SHE has the money to get something like that!”

“Where? Are you implying that I went to the giant robot store and just bought one with my credit card?” Mabel raised an eyebrow and then rested her fists on her hips, looking around at the crowd. “See? Do you see how she hates me!? That’s probably why she did this!”

Much to Pacifica’s surprise, there were murmurs of agreement in the crowd.

“I’m speaking the truth!” She screamed. “Why won’t you believe me?”

“Calm down, miss.” Blubs pulled a pair of handcuffs out of his belt. “For now, I’m going to take you into custody and ask you a few questions back at the station.”

“No, this is not fair! Why aren’t you arresting her too!?” Pacifica pointed at Mabel. “Isn’t she a suspect?”

“The thing is, I know who Mabel Pines is, and I have no reason to think she would do this.” Blubs answered tiredly. “But nobody here seems to know who you are, or vouch for you.”

“My cousin!” Pacifica added after a moment of despaired silence. “He will corroborate my story!”

“Your cousin who, according to you, was riding the robot while wearing a seatbelt?”

“Yes! He was kidnapped!”

“Uh-huh. Well, please get in the back of the vehicle.”

Pacifica looked around desperately. Most of the crowd was either staring at her confused or with contempt. They had already deemed her guilty. And behind the crowd, Mabel was grinning from ear to ear.

“You can’t!” Pacifica shrieked. “She’ll do it again! You can’t let her go!”

“Wait!” A voice came from behind the crowd.

There was a black luxury sedan. The back door opened and Dipper stepped out of it. He walked decisively with the aid of a cane, for one of his legs limped slightly.

“Dipper!” Mabel grinned with relief to see that her brother was alive.

But Dipper did not look at her. Instead, he addressed the crowd.

“If you do not want to believe Pacifica because you don’t know her, then believe me! You know me, and I am telling you that the robot was my sister’s!”

Every head in the crowd turned to Mabel. The brunette thought of denying it for a second, of accusing them of being a couple and thus partners in crime, but Mabel had had enough that day. She dropped to her knees and nodded to admit her guilt.

The sheriff and deputy released Pacifica and turned to arrest Mabel instead, but Dipper stopped them.

“I need a minute.” Dipper stated with a tone that left clear it was not up for discussion.

Blubs and Durland looked at each other, and then they reluctantly turned around and started trying to disperse the crowd.

Dipper knelt in front of Mabel with difficulty, as his leg was still sore, and grabbed her by the shoulders and hugged her.

“I don’t hate you.” He whispered. “Even after everything you’ve done, I want you to know that I don’t hate you. But you needed to be stopped.”

Mabel nodded very slowly. She did not cry or even whimper after that. She only grasped her brother tightly and whispered back.

“Dipper, the Journals. Nobody must ever find them.”

“I’ll take care of it.”

Dipper felt Mabel release him and her body go limp. He parted the embrace and looked at her. Her eyes had lost their spark and they stared blankly ahead, unresponsive to stimulus.

The boy frowned and stood up, leaving Mabel sitting on the floor, and he turned to the sheriff.

“Was anybody hurt?” Dipper asked.

“Just those two kids over there.” He pointed at Pacifica and Gideon. “Look—”

“They will not be pressing charges.” Dipper interrupted him sternly. “Anything else?”

“The road has been severely damaged, and the debris would need to be removed.”

“Destruction of public property then, and that is all. Do not try to charge her with arson or we will meet in the courts. Much less so terrorism.” Dipper pulled out a notebook and wrote down a number. “Pass the fine to this number and my uncle will pay for it.”

“Look, mister Pines.” Blubs wiped his forehead. “As I was trying to say, the whole town has seen this. She’s not getting away with it.”

“She is not.” Dipper agreed. “But putting her behind bars is not a proper solution to this problem. My sister needs patience, compassion and understanding.”

“…I could file it as a mental illness case. She would need to be sent to an asylum.”

“Do that. Thank you. I will look for a proper place for her.”

Dipper stared sadly at the way his sister followed the deputy as he led her to the car. Sluggishly, like an automaton, and with the eyes blank and lifeless. As if the lights were on, but nobody was home.

He decided then and there, he vowed, that he would visit Mabel weekly.

After Mabel was taken away, the crowd started to disperse. Dipper walked with the help of the cane towards Pacifica, who was waiting for him with her cousin.

“Hopefully I did not arrive too late, did I?” Dipper smiled at her and then tapped his leg with the cane. “I woke up quite sore and it took longer than I would’ve preferred to get ready to go.”

“No, I would say you arrived in the very nick of time.” Pacifica smiled back at him.

Gideon kept looking at one and the other in a very confused way.

“Is your leg okay?” Pacifica stared at it worriedly.

“It’s a bit sore, but I’m sure I’ll be able to walk fine after a day or two.” Dipper shrugged. “What about you? You were inside that, weren’t you?” He pointed at the burning wreckage over his shoulder.

“Uhh…” Pacifica checked herself and then she smiled at Dipper. “I think I just burnt the palms of my hands a little. Nothing that some moisturizer can’t fix.”

“That’s some luck.” Dipper chuckled and then moved closer to Pacifica. “Do you believe me now?”

“I do.”

“Then, what do we do? About us?”

“We do this.”

Pacifica leaned on him and kissed his lips, hearing the cane drop on the asphalt and feeling Dipper’s arms embracing her.

“AHHHHHHH!”

They parted the hug immediately and looked at Gideon. The boy was pointing at them, his eyes wide as saucers and his mouth open with horror.

Pacifica blushed terribly and Dipper raised his eyebrows.

“You haven’t told him yet?”

:: ::