Ordeal

Chapter 8

Mabel stared at Gideon, who was amazed about the second journal.

She gave it to him to see if she could jog his memory. As an experiment. Yes, he was her guinea pig, but he was more of a volunteer. She wanted to see if he could remember anything from the past before the memory wipe happened. But from the look of his face, that didn't seem to be the case.

"This book is just... so conflicting." Gideon remarked, flipping through the pages. He stopped at the amulet page before looking at Mabel. "I don't know what these are. I didn't even know this existed. My thoughts tell me similar passages from this before I even turn the page. But the touch..." He sifted his finger through the page. "...it feels like I've held it before."

"You have." Mabel informed. "A decade ago."

Gideon narrowed his eyes at her in confusion, before glancing at the memory wiper she placed on the table. He looked back and saw her nodding.

"Thi... This is what... That's how powerful the memory wiper is?" Gideon stammered, disturbed that there was something in the world that could literally eradicate memories from his brain like they never happened in the first place. It just... felt weird. It was like you were missing a part of yourself. You never do realize, until you saw the truth, and you just... feel lost.

You start to question what other things you forget. If there was anything memorable that you didn't recall. Anything extreme that happened that you took part in, but was never credited for. You feel so lost, so misguided. You feel like something nasty just tore something out of your brain without permission. You feel brainwashed, unable to tell from right or wrong.

"Yes." Mabel answered, nodding.

Gideon shivered. Having these two days completely gone from his head? Was it worth the lies he would tell himself? Just think of the questions he would be asking himself about this whole thing. Would he be able to stay sane after getting another shot at this? And what about the questions he had in his mind right now?

What happened a decade ago?!

Is this why I don't know what happened to Gravity Falls?

Is this why Gravity Falls cut itself from the public eye?

Is that why nobody else remembered this place?

We left Gravity Falls eight years ago. They shut it down seven years ago. And I know of nothing that happened ten years ago. That doesn't make sense!

How come Mabel knows?

Why does she remember?!

Of all my memories, I don't recall her. Not even once! I don't even remember her, but I know everyone else in Gravity Falls! Why is she so important?

Gideon stared at Mabel with envy. He remembered he was on top of his game in Gravity Falls back then. He should be the important one that at least remembered. But instead, it was her, Mabel. Who the hell is Mabel? And what happened during that year ten years ago!? It was so frustrating!

"W-Why do you... remember?" Gideon stuttered, before regaining full confidence in himself. "Why are you the only person that remembered?!" he shouted. "Did you have something to do with the memory wipe? Do you, I mean—did you know me?"

"I do know you, Gideon." Mabel answered sternly. "You accepted your fate to erase your memories."

"Why? Why did I do that?!" Gideon questioned, "Why would I want to forget a whole year, and your well-being?"

That was when he made his decision. Erasing part of your memory... wasn't all that great of an idea. Mabel knew the same, seeing her experiment turn out into a failure. She couldn't use the memory wiper on him after all. He wouldn't want to experience this. And he wouldn't have anyone to turn to for answers, because only she knew. And she might not be able to provide those answers soon.

She scratched at her heart.

"I'm not doing this." Gideon said, talking about the memory wiper. "They are also not doing this."

Mabel nodded. "I understand."

Gideon didn't know what to say next. It was awkward around Mabel. She was a stranger who knew him as a friend. But he didn't even know her. He didn't know what to do next. "What... How did we become friends?"

Mabel glanced at the cupboard to her right. Stored in it were most of the symbols on the Cipher wheel. The Pine Tree hat, the Shooting Star sweater, the Question Mark merch, the Stitched Heart hoodie, the 'Decarabia Star', and the 'Wild Card' fez. It was nicknamed Wild Card because of how random it was. The golden symbol would just change, and reality would change according to the symbol as well, like its symbolization couldn't pick what it was most certified with. Thus, it was the Wild Card.

"We weren't friends, per se." she informed. "Maybe... acquaintances would be a better word."

"What hap—" Gideon was cutt off by a buzzing alarm coming from Mabel.

The brunette picked out a flat device from her coat pocket, which flashed on and displaying a hologram. Gideon stumbled backwards from the staggering blue light, unable to comprehend how technology here was far advanced from the modern era. If it had been a decade, then how did Mabel get her hands on something like that? Unless she made it, then that's possible.

Mabel's eyes narrowed in annoyance. "Great... the blonde escaped."

"Wait, Pacifica?" Gideon guessed. He smacked himself in the head right after saying that. No duh! Who else around here except Pacifica is blond? Robbie?! No way in hell.

That last word repeated in his head.

Hell...

That's where Mabel was planning to head to. The word gave him chills and made him subconsciously refrain himself from using the word again. If hell was a real place, and that Mabel was going to, then it shouldn't be used as a word to throw around.

Mabel looked tired. "Yeah... the liar."

She closed the device and walked towards the exit, pulling Gideon by the arm. He felt himself freeze once she touched him. He shrugged her grip off and backed away. "Hey now... where're we going?"

Mabel rolled her eyes. "We're getting my escaping Llama." Nature's greatest warriors...

Mabel was getting tired of having to carry a wounded Dipper around.

"I didn't think you'd do it." he hoarsely remarked.

"You're my twin brother. 'Course I would." Mabel replied, trying to stay calm in such a heavy situation. She'd just gone through the reality that her brother was a murderer, got brutally thrashed around, now bleeding everywhere and in her care. She didn't know how to fix him! What the heck are they supposed to do now?!

"It wasn't in your nature." Dipper randomly said.

"It... felt like it." Mabel replied.

"No. That's just the feeling of denial." Dipper informed, painfully ignoring the hole in his waist. "I've felt that way before. To feel like it's a second skin I wear. To justify that I'm supposed to feel brave and proud of what I did. That I shouldn't be weighed down because I did something bad. But it's actually me being in denial of what I did."

Listening to Dipper's wise words was one thing, and actually feeling him going through blood loss was another. Mabel took his words to heart, believing that what she felt was just her brain trying to calm her down and make her feel brave when she wasn't. It made her self-esteem drop a bit.

Trekking through the forest alone with her crippled brother was getting to her nerves. Mabel was thinking like her brother now, consciously reminding herself of an incoming attack. She'd visualize what the fight would look like, how she'd perfectly protect Dipper and leave him without any further injuries, and beat the attacker with no sweat. Then, there's the second visual, in which she fails completely and dies because she tripped on a twig.

Mabel shook that out of her head and focused on helping Dipper. "So what do we do now?" she asked, heaving her brother up.

"We need to go somewhere to clean all this blood." Dipper replied, "And to fix me up."

Mabel's eyes darted towards the sides, looking behind their backs and their fronts. "Where?"

Dipper's hand shakily pulled out a map from his coat pocket, which was painted with a crimson color. "I need to get to the cave. I know someone there that could help me."

"A friend?" she asked inquisitively.

Dipper's eyes darkened with fatigue. Sweat started to pour through his shirt, like the blood didn't make it wet enough. "You could say... he's more of a nephew." He panted between sentences.

"We don't have a brother." Mabel stated.

"I just said... he's more of a... nephew." He breathed out.

Mabel strapped the grapple gun to her back and took the paper in Dipper's hand. She skimmed through the details and tried to find the path they were on. They were in the middle of the forest, there didn't seem to be any recognizable landmarks. She gave her hunch a try and continued themselves onward to a cave. She was unsure about it, but she felt like it was there.

As she dragged her younger brother, she didn't expect him to stay calm. Mabel thought he'd give more outward expressions, rather than the usual 'I'm slightly tired and pained of everything' look. It was like he'd gone through this before and it wasn't that traumatizing. Mabel looked like that scenario could replay in her head multiple times and it would still scare her, while Dipper looked like he could shrug off being stabbed and continue on with his troublesome life.

"Why are you so stoic all the time?" Mabel inquired, with a bit of a complaining tone.

She could hear Dipper's heavy breaths from an arm's length. "It's better than... screaming all the time... and wincing all the time... But if you wanna know... I'm hurting inside..."

"Figures." she responded. "I'm worrying my butt off and you're not show a hint of being damaged. Do I need to get you help? Or should we stop here? It's really hard to see if you're actually hurting from this."

"Mabel... don't..." Dipper's voice trembled, his grip on Mabel loosening.

"Okay, fine." Mabel kept walking, pulling her brother up from falling. "I'm just... traumatized. You know all that. Right?"

"Yeah..." His vision began to darken, eyelids growing heavy.

Dipper fainted.

Mabel felt him slump over. His breathing was still there, but he looked completely dead otherwise.

"Omigosh! Dipper! Dipper!" Mabel shook him, and he woke up with a snap, shaking his head. "Oh god, you're still alive." she hugged him tight.

"I don't plan on dying anytime soon, Mabel." Dipper grumbled.

"Don't scare me like that!" she yelled.

"I can't help it." he deadpanned. "I really can't. Seriously."

"I need to get you to that cave before you pass out again!" Mabel quickened her pace, her tired legs pushing forward. "What kind of older sister am I?"

"You're... my older sister?" Dipper said, his feet dragging against the leaves and twigs on the floor. "...woah. I... forgot... how long has it been?"

"Three years."

"...Three? I'm so sorry." Dipper apologized. "This isn't... quite up your alley."

"We've had this conversation before." Mabel informed.

"All this time... I could've sworn... I was the older one..." Dipper stated.

The optimistic twin contemplated at her other half for a moment, before speaking. "Hell must've been an agonizing place."

Dipper groaned.

"It is."

Pacifica was running through the forests of Gravity Falls, clutching at her bloodied shoulder. Her sneakers crunched against the fallen leaves of the pine trees that made up most of the forest, leaving a trail of noises in her wake. She had just escaped an underground level in the history museum, and it only costed a puncture in her shoulder, which was bleeding really bad.

"Damn it..." she muttered, every part of her right arm was numbing. "I need to find a way..."

She winced as her shoulder accidentally bumped into a twig, feeling it scrape through the wound and tug on her skin, revealing more of her crimson fluid. Pacifica ripped the bottom part of her shirt, and tied it around her shoulder using one hand, which was an advanced move that not a lot of people could do. It stopped the blood from spreading, but it hurt even more since the fabric was touching her bare flesh.

"If I could head back to that store... grab what I gathered... and fix myself up. I could get Gideon and Robbie out of that place." Pacifica mused, teeth grinding from the burning sensation of her shoulder. It felt like a part of her was in the process of being missing, like her arm would just tear off. "Maybe even kill that girl. I could... probably..."

She fumbled through her hair, bloodied fingers staining her golden locks.

"...mostly never? Can I... Is it even possible?" she reassessed the situation, planning to defeat Mabel, find where Gideon and Robbie are, and finally get out of Gravity Falls. "I need to keep her alive to get answers from her. But then I can't use lethal force, since I'm not supposed to kill her. But I can't trap her if I don't use lethal force! I don't have enough strength!"

Pacifica stopped ranting. She noticed she wasn't even moving anymore. She was lost in the forest. There was a cave nearby, and just pine trees surrounding the area with clustered leaves scattered on the ground. She knew if Mabel had experience, then these leaves were hiding traps. But then she hadn't triggered any of them, so that meant there were no traps. But maybe that was part of the idea, to lure the enemy to thinking there wasn't anything, and trap her in a cage.

Pacifica glared at the patches of dying leaves.

"I can do this." she told herself. "I've done it before. I can do it again. I can win this fight."

Pacifica headed over towards the cave, thinking of taking a break first before going into the town. She looked around to see if anything supernatural was going on, but everything was just normal. Except for the wooden cabin that was in the cave she stepped into.

Pacifica ignored how absurd it was, to have a log cabin hidden in the cave. She was sure the people who made it had a reason to do so, maybe it was a tactic to hide easier while having the same properties as a welcoming vacation home. She didn't know entirely, but it was nice to see that it existed. What creeped her out was that nobody was home. This cabin's door was unlocked and she peeked in. She reminded herself of Goldilocks and how she'd been breaking shit around three bears' house.

They both had blonde hair. This cabin was just sitting around in the middle of nowhere. What are the chances that it was made by three bears?

With all the crazy things in Gravity Falls: almost certain to happen.

She walked in and found a dining table and a sofa. Then there was a fireplace, with picutres placed on it. Pacifica glanced at a picture frame and saw a brown-haired boy standing next to a... a...

"Three-headed bear?" she asked herself, raising a brow. "Those exist?"

The blonde looked at more pictures that stood next to the frame and found more pictures of the same bear. A three-headed bear. Pacifica shook her head, deciding it was best to not think about it and work on preparing to get Gideon and Robbie out of Gravity Falls. She was in a house with plenty of materials to get her started. So, she started breaking shit.

Yup, she was Goldilocks.

A/N: Ooh! A long review! Those are my favorite. :3 Thanks for the feedback, ACeros! And I'd like to see what others think of the flashback and present situations.

I'm out, and have a nice day!