Author's Note: I had to. You made me. And it's official: this is a follow-up to Monstrous. It takes place a year and a half after.

She kissed me. Why did she…? What the hell was that?

I shake my head, and turn to leave. My place is about a twenty-five minute walk from the Shack, and I won't get back until three, if I start now. It's so… stupid. What I'm doing. Swooping in like some kind of sick crow, trying to save a butterfly? That isn't me. It never has been. Well… except when I'm with Pacifica. Then it all changes, and I feel like I'm free. Well, almost.

She saved my life. She was the first person, aside from my sister, to actually care if I was suffering. She… she said she loved me…

By the time I reach the gates, I don't want to think anymore. I slip through them, silent as night, and open the door to see my grandfather.

"Stanford," I greet him. The liar, the monster, and the one I used to fear I would become… before her.

"You're late."

I flinch. "There's nothing you can do about that. I'm still stronger than you are. You can't hurt me."

He growls. "I can do as I please."

"You can't."

We both know that he terrifies me… but he hasn't been able to hurt me in over a year. Pacifica somehow managed to cast a spell with my amulet… and in short, his magic won't work on me.

He can't do anything but trigger bad memories.

That can sometimes be enough.

However, this isn't one of those times, and I walk past him to my room. I walk past Stanly's room- the real Stanley's, that is- and notice that he's been drawing again. He's by far my favorite uncle. When I walk past Mabel's room, she slams her door open. "Where were you?" she demands.

"The Mystery Shack."

There's a beat of silence, and then, my sister shrieks in excitement. "Oh my god, Dipper! Did you get back with her? Details, now!"

"No, I didn't… I saved her from some zombies, and then a psycho stalker hiding under her bed. That's all. She actually reminded me that we wouldn't get back together. Then she kissed me. Pacifica is the queen of mixed signals."

Mabel gives me a very deadpan look. "That's bull, Dipper, and you know it. You have dealt with me since birth: you can read mixed signals. It's your stupid emotions getting in the way of everything. It clear that she's still in love with you. She's just terrified that you will try to kill her again."

I clench my fists. "Right. Again. That was… right."

She has every right to be scared. Every right to hate me.

It was six months ago. I was angry… we were yelling at each other…

"I wish you would just give it up already!"

And her heart stopped.

I had lost control of the amulet, and it was… I managed to save her, draining most of my own energy, but after that, she said she couldn't be… with me. Not anymore. Not after what happened.

She saved my life, and I almost killed her.

"You really need to talk to her," Mabel snaps me back to reality. "I mean you're both crazy about each other. Sure, you screwed up, but come on! If she didn't still love you, Gideon wouldn't have called me half an hour ago saying she was crying and 'what did your brother do?' right?"

I stare at her. "Crying?"

"Yep! So Gideon and I were talking- he still has his weird crush on me, but whatever- and we decided that it was probably because she was still in love with you. Seeing as, according to him, she has your photograph in her scrapbook open."

"Oh. So he came home…"

"Yeah. To grab a six-pack of soda, apparently. Idiot wouldn't ever grab a six-pack of beer…"

I roll my eyes, and head up to my room. I have a call to make.

…

"Monster! How should I feel? Creatures lie here, looking through the window! Time will hear their voices!"

She picks up, and the ringtone song shuts off. "What?"

"Pacifica? Gideon called Mabel, and I wanted to know if you were okay? He said… you were crying?"

"…Great. Yeah, I should have figured. Well, I'm fine, so screw you."

"Nice."

"I know."

I laugh at that a little. Can you blame me?

"So… you know I'm sorry, right? About… hurting you…"

"I… I know, and Dipper, I really am sorry too, and I wish I knew it wouldn't happen again, but it's us. We fight. All the time. If we get into another fight, and you lose control again… I care about you, Dipper, but I can't trust you…"

Those words are like daggers. In my eyes. Trust… it's a hard thing to come by, and when you have it, you want to fight for it. We had it. Not anymore.

"I see…"

"No, that isn't what I mean… I trust that you, Dipper, won't hurt me. It's your amulet I can't trust. I won't ask you to give it up, and I can't trust it, so…"

"I get it, Pacifica. I understand. I wouldn't trust me either. I just wish things were different. If I never had the amulet, then I… I don't know."

"It's just us. We live in opposite places. You're glamour, I'm… not."

"You're light, I'm darkness," I mutter. "Yeah, I know. You really haven't told me anything I didn't know… I just wanted to know if you're okay."

"Yeah… I'm okay."

"Great."

"Great… are you?"

"Yeah."

"… If it helps? I really want to come over to your place and kiss you again. Right now."

I laugh. "Nice. Thanks, I think."

"We're not enemies, okay? I don't think we ever were, but I just want you to know. We're still not enemies."

"You sure about that?"

"Yes."

"Well… non-enemies can see each other sometimes, right?"

"I… yeah."

"Say, maybe… Friday? At the lake?"

"As your non-enemy… sure, yeah," I hear a smile in her voice.

"Then it's settled. See you then."

"Got it."

We get off after a few moments' silence.

I don't know why she agreed to that.

I'm glad she did.