A/N: Gravity Falls is not mine.
Pacifica Northwest stood by the entrance of an old diner. It used to be the Greasy's Diner, but it seems it had only lasted until a few years before. She didn't mind though. She was only taking a look of the Gravity Falls she left behind all those years ago. It had changed a lot as far as she could tell. This diner for instance had turned into a building where vines of unknown plants had crawled and stayed. She didn't know whether the plants were there before she left, but the memories of this place are a little hazy. Under the night's glare, it seems to be abandoned. It had been a long while since she came back here.
Fame and fortune was always a guarantee for the daughter of the Northwest's, and Pacifica knew it as early as she was a toddler. She grew up in a place where sophistication should be shown at all times. No messing around was allowed. She was a Northwest, and she was expected to behave like one. Her first friends are children of fellow rich families. Familes that her parents deemed to have equal standards as their own. So, she spent her childhood with those children. Going to the salon for a perfect makeover and trading gossips between one another were the main things they do to pass the day, and they did this every single day.
That is until the Pines family came to town. She didn't like them at all. The girl, Mabel, was so cheerful, smiley and noisy all the time. It made her tick. Pacifica's friends didn't become so affected though, dismissing Mabel as another girl that tries so hard to be popular. Pacifica thought so too. She dismissed Mabel's brother completely. Dipper Pines wasn't the kind of person to waste time on, and she had better things to do rather than spend time with him or his sister.
That is until the infamous Northwest Haunting. It was the first time that her life got shaken, and boy did she get rocked. It was a mystery why Dipper Pines even accepted her help, but she didn't object. The boy behaves the way he likes to behave, and if it involved helping every people, even her, then it was no problem. She didn't expect everything to start changing from there though, but it did. The whole night was a whirl of confusion and revelation. She even found herself spending time with the people she swore she would never even interact with, the Pines twins.
"Well, how funny is that?" she said, walking towards the run down old diner. "After seven years, we went back to being strangers."
It would have been fine. If she had left a few months earlier, she would have been fine leaving Gravity Falls. In fact, she would have been delighted to leave. But of course, the place worked its tricks.
Dipper Pines.
He was the one who changed everything. He stirred up all the things that lie in Gravity Falls, and boy did the place become alive. From small gnomes to giant sea monster, Dipper Pines exposed them all. It added up to his charm in the end. The Northwest Haunting didn't just leave a scar; it left a more brutal mark: affection.
She saw herself walking to the Mystery Shack every other day to spend time with the Pines family. She gained new friends, yes, but she made sure that every time she did, she would spend some time with him. He opened up a whole new world for her. A world outside the glamour and formality of the rich. A world where the monsters and creatures lurk. It piqued her curiosity. The way his eyes would shine as he told his stories made her beg for more stories, and she would always feel that she couldn't have enough of it. So slowly, she fell, and by the time it was time to go back to the world she was raised in, she had fallen too hard.
"No more." she clutched her head and pulled her hair. "I don't want to think about him anymore." She waited for the past to fade away, standing there outside a deserted diner and pulling her hair. When she was able to get a hold of herself, she approached the diner.
She opened the door of the diner, and she entered it, the door creaking behind her as it closed itself. She was enveloped in darkness, and she reached her arms out to the wall, feeling for a switch of some kind. After a few seconds, she pulled down the switch, and the lights of diner flickered to life. She saw that the inside of the diner looked older than the outside. Soil was occupying at least a quarter of the diner's floors. The tables and chairs were filled with so much dirt that the once white color had turned into a combination of gray and black.
"Welcome back to Gravity Falls, Pacifica" she muttered, as she went towards the counter to see the rest of the diner.
=xxx=
Dipper Pines didn't expect that he would be living here in Gravity Falls. In fact, he thought that he and his sister would end their visits here after their second summer, but here he is, living the life he never thought he would live. An investigator. A paranormal investigator to be exact. Mabel came with him of course. She had other plans for herself here in Gravity Falls though. She spends time with Candy and Grenda at the mall, searching for every cute boys and dresses every day.
He had just finished talking to the gnomes of the forest and was heading towards the old Greasy's Diner. The moon has yet to show up,but darkness has already settled.
"Heh, Lazy Susan." he said, shaking his head and chuckling.
Lazy Susan had created a new diner near the Mystery Shack. Dipper didn't know why, but with the way Grunkle Stan panics every time she would visit, he assumed that there was something going on between the two, not that he cared too much. Ever since that happened, he asked Lazy Susan's permission if he could use the old diner for his own activities, and she approved with no hesitation.
A crow flew by his head, cawing as it swooped down before flying upwards again. Dipper looked up at it for a while, and he followed it with his eyes. It was flying towards a hill in the distance, where a lone house stood. Dipper dropped his gaze slowly, and continued to walk once more in silence.
The Northwest's mansion. Home of Pacifica and her parents.
"Former home, to be precise." Dipper said to no one in particular.
Pacifica Northwest. Now, she was a person he hadn't seen for a few years. In fact, none of them actually saw her anymore except on the theaters, where her movies would premiere. She had become an overnight sensation, wowing the audiences with her beauty and charm. He expected it to happen of course, but he didn't expect her to be so fully engaged in her new life that she will cut off her ties with them. Especially after the incident in the aforementioned mansion.
They had become friends after the incident. She actually dropped her snooty attitude (a bit), and she began to hang out in the Mystery Shack. Mabel, along with Candy and Grenda, and Pacifica had trouble getting along at first, but they became best buddies after some time. He was the only person that she would talk to when Mabel and her group were still warming up to her. So, they spent the days hanging out with each other, talking and playing games every so often. Even when she got accepted to the girl's group, she still spent time with him. That is of course before she left.
Dipper sighed; he shoved the thoughts out of his head. There is no point in remembering the ghosts of the past. Let the past stay in the past, for they only bring trouble at the present. Besides, there are enough ghosts in Gravity Falls.
While walking, he searched his trench coat with his hand, looking for the thing he cherished the most. After a while, his face brightened a bit, and he pulled out a cap. It was a blue and white cap with a pine tree on the middle of it. His mouth curled into a smile, but he immediately dropped it. He paused for a bit, looking at nothing but the cap. He put it away in his trench coat, and he resumed walking.
He hadn't worn that cap since she left, and he had no plans wearing it now.
He had worn the cap that night. The dance night. The night when all of them would celebrate their years in Gravity Falls, and of course, they would celebrate the woman of the month: Pacifica Northwest, who defied her parents' orders to save the entire population of Gravity Falls. They were supposed to dance the night away, not minding the time as it flew by. But she never showed up. Not even a flicker of her limousine light came up near the place.
He could now see the diner from here.
As he got closer, his eyes went wide, and he sprinted towards it as fast as he can.
The lights of the diner were open.
=xxx=
"Don't move!"
Pacifica screamed, and dropped the sundae glass; it shattered into bits and pieces by her feet. She whirled around and saw a man in a trench coat, pointing his finger at her. She put her hands up in the air immediately.
"I'm sorry, sir. I didn't know this is a no trespassing zone." she said.
The man didn't move for a moment, his eyes trained at her. She didn't dare move too. What if the man's a psycho? The door behind the man creaked once more, closing on its own.
"Pacifica Northwest." the man said, approaching her. His pointing finger faltered a bit. Pacifica swore she heard a bit of surprise coming from the man's voice. "Never thought I would find you in a place like this."
"I don't usually come here, sir. I was just looking around." she said, slowly backing away from the man.
"Usually, you are seen hanging around in a more well lit place." the man said, walking towards her.
"I just wanted to see what happened here, sir. I've been here when I was a kid, you see. Back when I was still hanging around with my friends."
The man didn't move again for a moment. After a few seconds of staring at each other, the man finally lowered his hand.
"Mabel Pines and the rest?"
Pacifica's eyes grew wide. "H-how...?"
The man let out a sigh. "I'm surprised you haven't recognized me yet. Did your memories slip away so easily?" He put his hand on his trench coat, hesitated for a bit then began to search for something. Pacifica just stayed close to the wall near the counter. The man looked familiar, but she could not put her finger on the man's name.
The man finally pulled out his hand, revealing a hat of some kind. He blew off the dust and brushed it with the back of his hand. He hesitated again, staring at the cap on his hand. He then slowly put it on his head, smiling as he did so. Pacifica looked at him more closely, especially at the hat, and she saw that the hat had some kind of tree on it. A pine tree.
"Dipper?"
She couldn't believe her eyes. It was him! But, he...changed. He got more rugged, and he seems to have grown some stubble on his face. He was taller too. Despite that, how could she not have seen it?
"You scared me, you dork," she finally said, walking towards him and punching him in the arm. He chuckled. Dipper walked towards one of the tables, and took a seat beside it. Pacifica just stayed standing near the counter, still staring at the new Dipper she met.
"Are you going to join me or are you just going to stand there?" he asked, beckoning at her to join him.
She looked at the dirty seat; she winced at how dirty it is. Nevertheless, she walked towards the table. She rummaged through her bag, and she pulled out a handkerchief. She laid it down on the seat, spreading it out before sitting down. This earned another chuckle from Dipper.
"Same old you, I guess." he said.
They did not speak for a minute, thinking of what to say to each other.
"So," Dipper began, scratching his hand. "I heard that you became an actress. How's that working out for you?"
"It's great, although it's a bit hard at times." she answered awkwardly. "The paparazzi can sometimes be a bother, especially at days when you just want to be left alone. How about you?"
"Well," Dipper looked at himself and smiled. "I became some sort of paranormal investigator. Not what I had planned then, but I'm not complaining. It keeps me occupied. Especially after-" he trailed off. He coughed and looked away for a moment. Pacifica looked away too. They both know what happened, but neither wanted to address it yet.
"How's Mabel?"
"She's good. She spends time with Candy and Grenda all the time." he said. "Although they don't admit it, they do miss you, especially Mabel."
"Oh."
Another silence. The lights were now flickering on and off while the wind outside whistled, shaking the trees in their place. Pacifica looked at Dipper once more. He had really changed. From the scrawny boy she met all those years ago, he had grown into a nice young man.
"You look good, Dipper." she said, blushing as she did. "You look so different than when I last saw you."
"Yeah, well," Dipper avoided looking at her; although, Pacifica noticed a hue of pink in his cheeks. "You didn't come by too often."
Pacifica could feel her cheeks heat up. She didn't know what to say to that.
"It's not my fault." she finally said.
"Why are you here, Pacifica?" he asked. He was staring at her now, and she could feel his gaze burn right through her. "After all these years, you come back. What do you want from us?"
Pacifica was taken aback. Want? How dare he! She didn't come here to get something off from them. "I just wanted to see how the place is doing, Dipper. Is that so bad?"
"Oh, it's not." he answered. "But why now? After years of no contact, you finally return. I really doubt if it's to see how the place is doing."
"But-"
"That night. You didn't show up. I...we waited for you. You even promised." he said, looking back at her, all signs of cordiality gone. "The next time we saw you was on the television. You were there...waving and smiling." He bowed down his head and played with his fingers. Pacifica opted not to speak, but she didn't look anywhere. She only looked at him.
"As if you never left us." he finished.
Dipper leaned back on the chair, coughed and shoved his hands in the pockets of his trench coat. She looked out the window, not that there is anything to see.
"I didn't choose to leave Gravity Falls, Dipper." she said, after a minute of not saying anything. "My father wanted me to. I was becoming too much like the common folks, and he didn't want that."
She paused to see if he's listening; his head was still bowed, his hands still shoved in his pockets. Taking this as a sign to continue, she did.
"I was slowly losing my sophistication. That was a big no to being a Northwest. The times I spent with you guys withered the Northwest family name. We were beginning to be part of the community. To my parent's eyes, it means that we were slowly losing our reputation. So, in a desperate attempt to save face, my father made me sign a contract."
"An acting contract." Dipper said, finally looking up. "To make the Northwests popular once more. Make your family be associated to wealth again.
Pacifica nodded. "At first I didn't want to. Believe me I didn't! You guys were here, and I had finally gained some new friends. I didn't want to just throw that away, but my father had other plans. He was shrewd. He pretended to care about my life, but when I said something about the party, he immediately made me sign the contract, just so we can leave at that exact day."
Pacifica rummaged through her bag, and she fished out her phone. She handed it to Dipper.
"All ways to communicate with you guys were cut off. Your contacts were all deleted, and I was never allowed near a phone book without assistance."
"But, why now?" Dipper asked. "Seven years is a long time. If what you said is true, you shouldn't even be here."
Pacifica gave a small smile and pulled out a paper in her bag. She handed it to Dipper and he looked at it.
"The entertainment news wanted my background. Father cannot object. If he wanted me to stay famous, we have to go back."
"But after this, you'll be gone again." Dipper said, looking at her.
Pacifica bit her lower lip and looked away again. "Yes. I'm sorry, Dipper."
"After you met me here, you'll go away and see to it that it doesn't happen again?" he asked; his voice began to shake.
"I wasn't even suppose to meet anyone." Pacifica said. "After my third year of absence in Gravity Falls, I began to purposefully forget about Gravity Falls and the people on it. It's too painful. I had to forget everything." She reached her hand out to Dipper's hand on the table. "Especially you."
"But, why?" Dipper asked; he withdrew his hand before Pacifica can touch it, making Pacifica withdraw her hand as well.
Seeing Dipper's action, Pacifica couldn't contain it anymore. It was already bubbling towards the surface. Seven years of denial and concealment isn't enough to fully forget what she had. She could feel her eyes start to blur, but she blinked it off immediately.
"I already told you that my father was a shrewd man, but that stems from his observant nature." she said. "He was becoming fully aware of one thing, and he was fully committed to making sure that it never continues."
She paused for a moment. She looked at him and saw that he was waiting, his eyes never leaving hers. She breathed deeply and said,
"I was becoming too attached to you. Every time we spent time together, my fondness for you grew. Father noticed, and he immediately saw that you were the cause of everything. That is why we had to leave. It isn't enough that we cut off all contact and remain here. No. He wanted to be sure. You and the rest of the Pines family were the cause of the Northwest's downfall, and he had the idea that it was mainly because of you."
Silence once more. Neither moved a muscle. This time, Dipper reached out for her hand, and Pacifica accepted it without hesitation.
"You became one of my best friends here in Gravity Falls, Pacifica. Sure, your rudeness and snootiness made me hate you at first." Pacifica smiled at this.
"But," he continued. "you proved that you had a good heart inside. Better than your parents. And when you left, I felt betrayed. You seemed to prove my first impressions correct. Now that you're back, I can't help but feel that the Pacifica I became friends with was just a ploy. A lame trick of some kind."
"You know that's not true!" Pacifica objected.
"It seems to be!" Dipper said immediately, his anger bubbling through. "Why else would you go back then say that you didn't even want to meet us?"
"I did it to stop hurting! To stop the pain."
Dipper grabbed Pacifica's hands, and pulled them towards him. "Then why don't you stay? If we really had a friendship, you would stay and set things right."
Pacifica pushed Dipper's hands away, and, she stood up. "Stop it, Dipper. Don't make this hard on me."
"It's not just you experiencing the difficulty, Pacifica!" Dipper was shouting now, standing up himself. He banged his fist on the table. "It's not just you!"
"Then on us!" Pacifica shouted back, her eyes becoming blurrier every second. She could feel herself tremble as she slowly inched towards the entrance of the diner. "I won't be staying here. You know I won't. So, why don't you just leave it be? You can't change anything."
Pacifica made for the door, but Dipper was faster. He grabbed her with his arms and twirled her around. Pacifica struggled to get free, but Dipper held her tight. She merely bowed down her head, refusing to look at him.
"But I can, Pacifica. The fact that you're here means that I can still do something." he whispered to her. "Don't escape me now."
"Why can't you just leave it be?" Pacifica banged her fists weakly at his chest, yet she refused to let tears stream down her cheeks. "Why?"
"Because I couldn't leave it for seven years." Dipper said. "I didn't leave it be. I wanted to wait. That's what friendship is. No matter how long it takes, one friend should always wait for the other. No matter what the years throw at them, they should always look for the day that they would meet again. When they would be able interact once more.
He tipped her head so that they were both looking at each other. "Especially, if there could be something more." Pacifica shook her head at him, sniffing her nose and shutting her eyes.
"But there couldn't be more!" Pacifica shouted, pushing Dipper away. "There shouldn't be. I shouldn't be feeling anything for someone that is below my status. That was seven years ago, and I refuse to have it anymore."
Dipper backed away, and he looked back at her, his mouth opened wide. He bowed his head down too; his eyes became watery.
"Because it hurts too much." Pacifica whispered, yet Dipper heard it. Pacifica had collapsed to the floor; she was on her knees. "I couldn't bear to have one again, especially if I know I won't be able to see you. Those first three years of forgetting was hell" She began to feel some wetness in her cheeks, but she found herself hardly caring.
"And, I don't want to experience it anymore." she finished, before she finally let all the tears fall freely.
She wept and sniffed as she let out all the things she had been holding back for seven years. It has been too long, and it finally bubbled up to the surface. As she wiped off her face, she felt some hands pat her back, and pull her close. She didn't resist.
"Why don't we fix it then?" Dipper finally said, helping both of them up. "For us and for everybody."
"What do you mean?" Pacifica asked, looking up at him.
Dipper wiped away some tears on her eyes. "We could stay connected. There is no reason why we shouldn't."
"My father, Dipper. He-"
"-should not meddle with his daughter's life too much. You deserve your happiness. Don't Mabel, Candy and Grenda make you happy?"
"They do make me happy, but-"
"Does Gravity Falls make you happy?"
"Yes, but Dipper-"
"Don't I make you happy?"
Pacifica looked down once more, and Dipper allowed it. They didn't speak for a minute; they just stood there in each other's embrace.
"You do."
"So," Dipper smiled. "why can't we try again? I promise that this time, I wouldn't give you up so easily."
Pacifica looked on for a few moments, her eyes twinkling and her mouth tugging at a smile. Then, she hugged Dipper as tight as she could, bringing him down to her level, and from there, she was determined to let it not be the last.
"Why not pick up where we left off then?" Pacifica asked, pulling away from him slowly. "Seems like a good place to start. If you really want to make this work again." Pacifica smiled at him, the dark clouds of seven years beginning to clear.
Dipper looked up at the ceiling, pretending to think. He then released Pacifica and went near the counter. He rummaged through some things at the bottom, and he pulled out an old stereo. He turned it on and inserted a disk; he went back to Pacifica.
"If I'm not mistaken, you were suppose to attend a dance party back then." he said, looking at Pacifica. "Want to start from there?" He offered his hand at her.
A slow music played, and the mellow sound echoed on the almost empty diner, its tunes bouncing everywhere and filling the room with its relaxing sound. Pacifica wiped away the final tear in her eye, and she accepted his hand.
"Seems like a good place to start." she said.
So, they danced the night away, not minding what tomorrow brings. The threat of her father looms in the not so distant future, but Pacifica could hardly care. She had been waiting for this for seven years, and she would not let go of this moment because of fear. She would not make the same mistake she did. Her father might not approve, but what matters is she will have the people she cares about close once more. She could try, starting with the man right in front of her.
Dipper Pines.
As the night trudged on, time seemingly stopped for the two people inside the Greasy's diner. Both locked into each other's eyes; their arms held within each others loving embrace. They swayed and danced, chasing off the darkness that haunted their lives for seven years. Every step and twirl bringing back the memories they once hold; as the clouds parted away, the moon shone bright for the first time that night, giving its brilliant light to the people of Gravity Falls and shining its light to a friendship that was found once more.
A/N: Thank you to all of you who have read this work. Hope you guys enjoyed it. Leave a review if you like to let me know what you think of the story.
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