41
Pacifica

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Gideon running over to me. I felt particularly helpless. Mabel and her badass self was fighting a mythical creature with magic and her bare hands. And me? What was I doing?

I felt like I wasn't doing anything. Then Gideon darted up to me.

"Paz, where the hell is Dipper's amulet? I need it right now!" Gideon demanded, grabbing at my arm, tugging me a little further away from the epic battle happening between magic and magical.

"Right here." I pulled it out of my pocket and stared at the cool blue stone in my palm. "Get me over to Dipper, right now."

Gideon paled. "Yeah, yeah, um okay. I just hope that thing stays distracted by Mabel's legit awesomeness."

"Yeah, she's great." I agreed as we raced over to where Dipper was. And he wasn't looking too good. I felt my stomach churning.

"Did you get it?" Dipper's wheezy-sounding voice asked. "Hand it over."

"You're not going to die on me." I told him. "You cannot die on me. We have a date, you're not getting out of that too easily, Mason Alex Gleeful."

Dipper raised a brow. "Wouldn't dream of it, Pazzie, now please, if you want me to live, hand my amulet over."

Realizing that he could be dead any minute now, I nearly threw the amulet in his direction and prayed for the best. I had spent too much of my time without him, being angry at him, thinking I hated him again after how he spent his time with my now ex-best friend Janessa.

A few moments passed and I finally had enough courage to look back at Dipper. My heart thudded in my chest so loud that I feared it echoed throughout the cave walls.

Dipper was lying against the wall, eyes closed as if he were asleep, and I really hoped he was.

"Dipper?!" I exclaimed, almost throwing myself at him. I bent down to his level and pressed two fingers to his neck to check if he had a pulse. Sighing in relief when I found it, I turned back to Gideon. "How's Mabel's fight going?"

Gideon hardly took his eyes off her. "I'd love to help her, but I feel like I'd just get in her way. Damn, I will never ever pick a fight with Mabel Gleeful. Ever."

"I wouldn't dream of it." I looked back down at Dipper. "Look, we need to get him out of here, but I don't really see a way of doing that just yet."

Dipper grumbled in his state of unconsciousness, and I bent down next to his face again, trying to wake him. "Dipper, please, wake up."

"Maybe he's your sleeping beauty." Gideon offered. "A magic kiss might wake him."

"This is serious, Gideon!" I shook my head, trying to think of a way to get out of the cave with all of my friends (and my boyfriend) intact.

"You might as well try it."

Rolling my eyes, I pressed a quick kiss to Dipper's lips, hoping to prove to Gideon that his idea was the most stupidest thing ever mentioned.

"See?" I scoffed and stood back up. "That was the most--"

"Pazzie?"

Gideon snorted. "Look, Sleeping Beauty's awake."

Dipper, although he just barely roused from unconsciousness, glared hard at Gideon. "I beg your pardon, Pines?"

"Look," I jumped in. "We really have to figure a way out of this whole mess. Do you have any--"

"Gideon and I already came up with a plan." Dipper interrupted. "Before I nearly bled out. Isn't that right, Gideon?"

Much to my surprise, Gideon nodded. "The only way to hopefully get this creature to back off is if Dipper gets rid of his amulet. Forever."

I looked at Dipper, my jaw dropped practically to the ground. "You're giving up magic? For good?"

Dipper nodded. "Small price to pay to save you all."

"And if it doesn't leave after it knows Dipper's magic is gone?" I had to be the rational thinker of this group. Nothing good ever came out of our situations if no one was thinking rationally.

Dipper gave me a solemn look. "Then I'm afraid of what the consequences will be, Pacifica. If humans harboring magic is a crime, then I suppose I'll just have to pay my dues."

"Stop it." I shook my head. Maybe thinking rationally was a good thing, but it rarely ever made me feel good. "The first plan will work. It has to."

Dipper rose from where he sat on the ground and let out a low groan when he got to his feet. "Alright," he clenched his amulet tight in his palm. Was he having second thoughts?

"Mabel! Get behind me!" Dipper yelled over to his sister, surprising both me and Gideon as he teleported in front of the creature and his sister.

I could only watch as everything around us unfolded.

Dipper extended his hand, palm-faced up, to the creature, showing it his amulet. He quickly, before the creature could do anything about it, curled his fingers over it, crushing it.

Dipper was hardly joking when he mentioned it was fragile, I realized.

I hardly had a chance to blink before a brilliant explosion of blue light burst all around Dipper. Covering my eyes from the intensity, I cried out, hoping that this was supposed to happen.

I sunk to my knees and covered the rest of my face with my arms, fearing the scene before me, I wasn't going to look. I wasn't going to look at all.

The roar of the creature told me two things. It was either attacking Dipper, or it was being hurt by Dipper. For all our sakes, especially Dipper's, I hoped it was the latter rather than the former.

When the brilliant light faded away and all the noise disappeared, I felt brave enough to open my eyes and look around.

The cave looked to be in terrible shape. There were cracks running up and down the walls, some even running up to the ceiling. But, the creature was gone.

"Dipper?" I called out, trying to find where he was.

"I'm here, Pacifica."

My eyes finally spotted him amongst the fallen rocks and dirt, and I could hardly contain my excitement when I ran over to him.

He, being the psychic he was, anticipated the hug, but was slightly unprepared for my jumping into his arms. He tumbled backwards, falling onto the ground with a grunt of pain.

"Sorry," I breathed. "I. . .I just can't believe you're okay." And because I was so relieved, I kissed him hard on the lips.

When we broke apart, Dipper had the same egotistical smirk on his face. "I love you, Pacifica."

"And I love you, Dipper." I rested my head on his chest and listened to the sound of his heartbeat for a few seconds. Before Mabel interrupted.

"Dipshit, look at your hand!" She exclaimed, racing over to where we laid.

Dipper looked down at his hand, wincing in pain as if he just realized he was hurt.

I followed his gaze and gasped. "Dipper, your palm is all cut up! Was that from breaking the amulet?"

He shrugged as I got off of him, allowing him to stand back up. "Most likely. I probably should fix that." Dipper felt around in his pocket for something and then his shoulders slumped. "Right. . .no magic."

Mabel, being the clever one, grabbed her own amulet from out of her pocket. Whispering a short spell she thrust her hand over Dipper's and was quite shocked when nothing happened. "What the hell is going on here?"

Gideon chose that particular moment to pipe up. "I think that creature took your magic when Dipper broke his amulet. Dunno how."

Mabel grunted and kicked a small rock. "Then we should probably take you to a hospital. I can stitch wounds up pretty well, but we most likely should get your ribs checked out too. Make sure they aren't broken anymore."

I nodded. "How are we supposed to explain this, though?"

The three of them looked at me and then at each other.

"This will be a fun trip." I grumbled.

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Woah-ah! Another Always update? Bet y'all weren't expecting that! Anyways, I was going to have maybe two or three more chapters after this to finish the story, but, I thought about adding the Gleeful's formal party where Paz has to meet Dip Dop's parents! So, that's going to take up a few chapters. Fingers crossed to have this finished by the end of the summer, if not sooner!

Stay safe out there, and keep smiling my lovelies!

-Kaori Miyazono <3