03
Pacifica

"No time to waste!" Mabel hissed, stalking into Pacifica's house, her snow-dusted boots left freezing, shoe-shaped puddles onto the floor. Pacifica went through great efforts not to step in any of them as Mabel dragged her through the hall.

"Mabel, what is going on?" Pacifica demanded, one part of her brain trying to figure out how she knew the layout of her house. Intuition, perhaps.

"Are your parents home?" She ignored her question and asked one of her own, walking into Pacifica's bedroom (which, to be fair, was easy to figure out. It was the only one that had its door open).

"What? Yes, of course." Pacifica shook her head as she shut the bedroom door. "Hold on, can we take, like, three steps back?"

"We don't have the time right now." Mabel groaned and looked around Pacifica's bedroom. "Where's your stuff?"

"In the corner!" Pacifica pointed, growing increasingly frustrated with her lack of knowledge of the situation. "What are you talking about?! Can you please just explain that to me?"

"I'd rather not explain while others could overhear." Mabel insisted, slinging a rather large duffel bag over her shoulder, huffing at the weight. "If your parents even overheard a whisper of what I have yet to explain, I doubt they would allow you to come with me."

Pacifica slowly started piecing the cracked pieces together. "Does this have to do with. . ." She struggled with figuring out how to exactly phrase it. "Reverse Falls weirdness?"

Mabel rolled her eyes once again, "I think so. But to put it bluntly, yes it does."

"Are you serious?!" Pacifica hissed, keeping an ear out for her parents on the occasion they would stumble toward her door.

"I want to say that I'm lying," she exhaled a deep breath, closing her eyes and pausing her words, "but I'm not."

"I can't just jet out of Piedmont without even telling my parents, Mabel!" Pacifica groaned and slumped against the nearest wall for support. She had wanted to think that all the Reverse Falls weirdness ended when the twins lost their magic. Well, allegedly lost their magic.

"Well, then tell them." Mabel rounded on her, hands on hips, blue eyes glaring. "This is serious, Paz. More serious than I feared or even thought, and that's on me. Because there were obviously red flags."

"Hold on, please. I'll talk to my parents right now." Pacifica held up a hand. One of them had to at least appear calm. If anyone thought she was calm, that was an overcompensation. On the inside Pacifica was losing it. What could've possibly happened that incorporated Reverse Falls weirdness and Dip- okay maybe it made sense.

"Hurry up." Mabel persisted.

"You'll have to calm down, Mabes." Pacifica stated as she opened her door quite slowly. "If my parents see that you are freaking out, they won't let me leave with you. They'll pick up on it. Please, just calm down until we get in the car."

She nodded once and looked at her luggage. "I'm taking this to the car, alright? Convince them." She followed her out the door, but they went opposite ways.

Pacifica took a deep breath before knocking on the door. It was easy, all she had to do was lie about what happened. Say that Mabel wanted to surprise her by picking her up early. It should be easy.

"Come on in!" Her mom called from behind the shut door. Even through the thickness of the heavy wooden door, she could easily read her vocal patterns. Something that Dipper had indirectly taught her. After all, with the way his words were, every single syllable carried a different meaning. He was. . .tricky like that.

Slowly heaving the door open, Pacifica noticed that her parents were both still in bed. Her mom's eyes were trained on her, while her dad's eyes were fixed firmly on the television in the corner of the room as though he hadn't noticed her entrance.

"Hey, Paz." Her mom smiled warmly, eyes crinkling slightly. "What was that racket about?"

Where did she even begin to explain? As soon as Pacifica saw her mom's face, the thought of lying to her just hurt. However, that thought was promptly overlooked due to the fact that her boyfriend was missing.

Swallowing whatever hesitation she had, Pacifica looked her mom in the eye and lied. "So, y'know how I said that Mabel would be picking me up tomorrow?" Once she saw her mom nod, she continued, "so, it turns out she wanted to surprise me by showing up today! Isn't that great?" The smile on her face was clearly forced, but her parents weren't (hopefully) experienced liars.

"Your friend sure is loud." Her mom laughed and ran a hand through her messy blonde hair, smiling tiredly at both her and her dad. "I'd love to meet her someday, but," she paused to let out a yawn. "Maybe in better circumstances."

The way she phrased her last sentence struck a chord in Pacifica. It was innocent enough, but paired with the her smile and knowing eyes, it made her freeze in place. What? Did she know? Like, know know?

Pacifica figured no, she couldn't have possibly known. Yet she couldn't escape the theories that were continuously plummeting through her head, knocking back and forth and all along the walls of her brain. It was true that her mom had grown up with her uncle and, presumably, grown up in Reverse Falls, but she had shown no signs of knowing anything about the Reverse Falls weirdness.

"Yeah," her dad chimed in. "Maybe when it isn't seven in the morning."

Mom chuckled along with him and Pacifica tried her best to go along with it, but it was getting increasingly difficult. She had no time to be wasting making small talk with her parents while Dipper could be. . .who the heck knows, Pacifica had to make this conversation end.

"Since she drove out all this way, I figured I'd just go along with her today instead of tomorrow." Pacifica continued, edging closer and closer to the door. She just needed to leave. "Is that okay with you guys?"

Her parents looked at each other and then at her in perfect sync, if Pacifica wasn't freaked out more by her boyfriend's disappearance, she would've probably been a little creeped out, but that was completely beside the point!

"Text me when you arrive safely." Her mom said instead of what she expected, and drew her in for a hug. "Be safe, and be careful!"

"Always am!" Pacifica chirped, wrapping her arms tightly around her. She felt like she was in a dream still. That nothing that had happened that morning was real, and she was just nervous about going back to Reverse Falls to see Dipper. Pacifica thought she had escaped all the strange occurrences, but it appeared her story was far from over.

Wishing them a quick goodbye, Pacifica closed their bedroom door and walked back to her bedroom. No way was she going to Reverse Falls in her pyjamas. Tugging on a pair of jeans and pulling a sweater over her head, Pacifica tied her hair back in a loose and easy-going ponytail and went to search for her shoes.

Mabel must've already taken her bags out to her car and was probably waiting out there for her, nearly losing her mind. Pacifica didn't want to make her wait any longer than necessary. She slipped on a pair of boots and snatched her coat from where it was hung in the closet before tearing out the door.

If the thought of potentially losing Dipper again hadn't sobered her up, the fresh and cold air that the outside brought on surely would have. When Pacifica spotted the car, she almost did a double-take. Bright red.

She didn't remember Mabel having such a flashy car, but now wasn't the time to ask her when her style had changed. Careful not to slip on any patches of ice, Pacifica jogged over to the car, aiming to get into the passenger seat when a voice broke me out of it.

"Nuh-uh, no way, José."

Blinking in confusion, Pacifica looked up just in time to see a flash of red in her face and found herself face-to-face with the one, the only, Scarlett Valentino. This day was getting more and more confusing.

"What are you doing here?" Pacifica demanded. Granted, her and Scarlett were, allegedly, on good terms with one another, but she wasn't really a part of the original 'RevFalls Gang' —a name Gideon had come up with after the last incident that just seemed to stick— so it was weird that she would even be there.

"Take an effin' guess, blondie." Scarlett grumbled, stuffing her hands into the pockets of her leather jacket. "We're lookin' for Dipshit."

"Get in the car, you two!" Mabel shouted from inside, yet Pacifica was surprised to find that she was the one sitting in the passenger seat, not Scarlett like she had thought she would. "We don't have the time to idly chat!"

Scarlett grinned and let her eyes linger on Pacifica for a second, before letting them slide to the backseat. "Hurry up."

Sighing in defeat, Pacifica opened the back door and slid in, closing the door a bit too roughly behind her. It was slightly relieving, because with Scarlett there, that meant there wasn't going to be a lot of magic involved, right? It made the most sense.

* * *

The drive was in uncomfortable silence, save for the music that Scarlett had decided to blare --who even listened to Billy Idol anymore?-- throughout the vehicle. The anticipation was killing Pacifica. She had to speak.

"What do you think happened?" She had to shout over the loudest song she ever heard.

"In the midnight hour, she cried more, more, more." Scarlett hummed, and either she couldn't hear Pacifica, or she was deliberately ignoring her. "With a rebel yell. . ."

"Hey!" Pacifica shouted even louder than she had before.

"Geez, no need to yell." Scarlett scoffed and turned the music down, only a little bit. "What'd ya say?"

"I know you heard me." Pacifica huffed and tried to gauge Mabel's reaction, yet she seemed to be lost in thought or in the music, or the hidden meaning in the music, who the heck even knew? "What do you think happened?"

Mabel seemed to snap out of it, eyes focusing on Pacifica in the rear-view mirror. "I dunno. But I should've paid more attention."

"I'll say." Scarlett rolled her eyes, taking the chance during a red light to take a hit of what Pacifica had come to know as a posh. She opened her mouth briefly to let a little excess out, before inhaling it in a split second.

"Ooh, nice ghost." Mabel clapped lightly, her attention back on the Red-Haired-Wonder.

"Mabel!" Pacifica cried, exasperated. "Please, focus!"

"Calm down." Mabel held up her hands and tried to look at her once more. "I dunno all the details, but I wouldn't have come to get you if I didn't think something was wrong."

"Then why is Scarlett here?" Pacifica asked, feeling a little dejected. She and Mabel had solved a lot of mysteries and problems just well enough on their own the past summer, so Pacifica felt there was no reason for Scarlett to even be there. Maybe she was being irrational.

"Well," Mabel toyed with a piece of her hair. "I thought it would be a good idea if I get a split opinion. Or, well, rather two people to help out with this. I only went with people that knew Dipper best, and between the three of us, I think we have that covered."

The song switched over to something a little more modern and what Pacifica'd call 'hardcore', yet Scarlett's eyes softened slightly. "How nostalgic."

Pacifica stayed quiet as she listened to the lyrics of the song, simply because Scarlett labeled it as 'nostalgic' and she quickly found out why. With a song title of 'Casual Sex' it was pretty obvious what she was referring to.

Deciding to let that particular battle go, Pacifica pressed forward with a new topic. "What does everyone think happened?" Okay, not exactly new, but different. Because now she was asking Scarlett's opinion.

Mabel groaned and leaned her head back against the head-rest. "I already talked to Scarlett about her thoughts and she--"

"I think he's on a bender." Scarlett informed, dropping the posh into the cup-holder closest to her. "It makes the most sense."

Pacifica watched as Mabel frowned. "I told you he's done with all that stuff."

It slowly dawned on Pacifica what Scarlett had meant. "You think he's. . .what? On something?"

Scarlett shrugged. "It makes the most sense. Before he went A.W.O.L, he was busy, right? At least, he mentioned being busy to me. No doubt trying to impress his dad for some effin' reason. Isn't it obvious he would be under a lot of different pressures? I mean," she looked at Mabel, "familial pressure," then to Pacifica, "and there's no doubt in my mind that long-distance relationships are excruciatingly stress-inducing, right?"

Pacifica blinked a few times as what Scarlett said began sinking into her.

"Last time he was in a place this bad," she continued, her eyes flashing with something Pacifica couldn't quite catch. If Pacifica thought Dipper was the hardest person to read, clearly she hadn't had a long enough conversation with Scarlett Valentino. "he told me he had tried something, and he ended up unconscious for at least two days."

Beside her, Mabel slammed her fist down on the armrest. "I knew it! I knew he was lying to me!"

"When did this happen?!" Pacifica demanded. She hated the feeling of being out of the loop, especially when it came to her own boyfriend. It hit her hard that even now, Dipper was still hiding stuff from her. That thought sent shivers up her spine. Pacifica didn't want to think ill of him, but what else had he been hiding from her?

"Couple years ago." Scarlett muttered, her hands gripping a little too tightly on the steering wheel. "He didn't even tell me 'til six months later."

"Is that all you're gonna say?" Pacifica exclaimed. "That's it?!"

"Geez, calm yourself." Scarlett rolled her eyes and visibly relaxed. "I figured that you knew. Being his girlfriend 'n everything."

Pacifica's blood boiled. Either Scarlett genuinely believed that Dipper had explained everything to her, or she just enjoyed getting under her skin. Either would've made sense.

"It was amphetamine." Scarlett scoffed, taking a hit of the posh, and exhaling as she told the rest of the story. "Guessin' he was stressed, so perhaps he was stressed this time." She chuckled ruefully, "even I've never been on a bender for a month."

"Okay, okay." Mabel held up a gloved hand, the image of grace. "If he's on a 'bender', where would he disappear to?"

"Hm." Scarlett hummed, her tone cautious and heavy. "Many places."

"Oh, that's helpful." Pacifica scoffed, leaning further back in her seat, annoyed. Why did Mabel even think that Scarlett would be of use to them?

"Usually when I used to go M.I.A., like he did," she added helpfully, "I would feel an overwhelming presence of nostalgia."

"Nostalgia?" Mabel and Pacifica echoed in sync.

"And in case ya didn't know, Dipper and I are very similar." Scarlett continued, "except for fanciness or whatever, I couldn't care less. So, I'm guessin' he's feeling nostalgic."

"Okay?" Pacifica stated more than asked, confused as ever.

"So, he's prolly at someplace that gives him pleasant memories." Scarlett shrugged.

"Well," Mabel muttered, "if anything, a place that would make him feel nostalgic is the Mystery Shack."

"Um, why?" Scarlett dared to ask, although Pacifica could see in the rear view mirror that she had a smirk on her face. What did she think or know?

"Because he obviously misses Paz." Mabel snorted.

"So, you're saying that —what?— Gideon's just been keeping him hidden from us?" Scarlett laughed. "Sorry, even if it was a surprise or something, Gideon's terrible at keeping secrets."

"Do you have any other place in mind?" Pacifica groaned, exasperated already and it was barely eight in the morning.

"I do." Scarlett grinned. "Several, actually. But you might not like what I have to say, Pacifica."

"I don't care!" Pacifica threw up her hands. "Just say where!"

"Summit." She stated. "A nightclub. Mabes, you remember that one night where you found Dipper stoned?"

"I suppose I have you to thank for that?" Mabel crossed her arms and gave Scarlett a light glare, that lifted almost instantly.

"What?" Pacifica asked. How much do I not know about?

"Anyways, we went to Summit, and we continuously went there for the next couple years." Scarlett ignored her question and checked her nails, briefly. "I'm guessin' he went there. At least once. Someone prolly saw him. If we ask around, we might find something out."

"That's. . ." The more Pacifica thought about it, the more she realised that it wouldn't hurt to look there. "Okay, where is it?"

"Northern California." Scarlett explained. "The only issue is that the only way to get in is at night. So, we do have some time to kill. We can look at the other places."

"Other places?"

"That Dipper and I went." Scarlett said without hesitation. "Some in Reverse Falls, so at least we can drop Pacifica's stuff off."

"Okay. Then to Summit we go?" Mabel appeared to be slightly stressed.

"To Summit we go." Pacifica agreed, not liking it one bit, but if there was the smallest chance that Dipper had even stepped foot there, she wanted to look.

Pacifica couldn't lose him again.

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Hey all, it's been awhile, hasn't it? I took a couple weeks to focus on some stuff in my personal life, so I didn't really have a lot of time to write. Didn't mean to leave you guys in suspense 😂
Hopefully I'll have an update out for y'all next Friday or within two weeks. Stay safe out there and keep smiling my lovelies!

-Kaori Miyazono <3