Dipper would have loved to say he had no idea why he was following her up the dark, creepy, dangerous path to the old Northwest factory on the far end of Gravity Falls.
He would love to say he just had a good heart and generally looked out for everyone.
Love to say he just enjoyed a good mystery (which he did, of course) or that his curiosity got the better of him.
But, unfortunately for him, he knew exactly why he was following Pacifica Northwest. It was the long blonde hair, the bounce in her step, how her laugh always sounded just a tiny bit menacing, like she knew a secret he was dying to know. She was a mystery in herself, and for someone who considered themselves a pro at reading people, Dipper was interested, to say the least.
In addition, the fact Pacifica had personally asked him, and only him, to accompany her, was another thing that was playing with his teenage boy mind.
With thoughts scrambling in his mind, he hadn't even noticed she stopped and ran into her.
"Here we are." She said simply. However, he noticed her hands, fists shaking.
"Are you going to tell me what we are looking for?" Dipper tried for about the sixth time this night. "It would help us if I could help find whatever it is we're searching for."
"You're backup, Pines. You just keep a look out while I look. I have an idea of where it is." She tried the door. "Shit, locked. Figures." She huffed. She reached into her bag and pulled out an axe. The same axe, Dipper noted, the Northwest ghost had lodged in his skull. He had seen her wield this before, once or twice, however he saw it most in her bag, and he assumed it was for emergencies.
He stepped back and let her whack at the lock on the door. After a few good hits, the lock busted off and Pacifica smiled at her work. "Don't start drooling, Pines." Pacifica smirks.
Dipper blinks and turns away. "Yeah, you wish."
"Text me if anyone comes by." She slips in the door, then pops her head back out. "I'll be quick. More than ten minutes, come in."
"Yeah, yeah. I don't like playing Robin, you know." He rolled his eyes.
"Every great hero needs a slightly weaker sidekick." She smiled.
"You have the ego of Tony Stark."
"Thank you kindly Ms. Potts." She stated and went back into the factory. "Ten minutes!"
He sighed and slid back against the wall of the factory, blushing uncontrollably. He was so screwed.
Ten minutes passed by slowly, due to Dipper's boredom and curiosity. He went inside the factory, similar to how Pacifica did earlier and wondered if this was a bad idea. Like he was the second dumb horror movie character to go out to look for the first before getting killed themselves. He kept the journal handy, and continued.
The factory was huge and he began to get worried he would get lost. The only things on the tables were boxes of outdated tech from the sixties, when the factory shut down for good. Dipper didn't know the extent of the closing of the factory, really all he knew was the factory produced cloth and was one of the Northwest's bad investments that shut down not even ten years after it was built.
"Pacifica!" He yelled. "It's been ten minutes, are you okay?" There was no answer. He pulled out his phone and hit her contact on his phone.
He heard her ringtone not far away; he followed the sound to the right of the large room and was led to separate offices, most likely for the high-ups.
"Yeah, I'm here Dipper. Aw, fuck." She yelled back. She was in the biggest office, most likely one of her ancestors. He found her putting a band-aid on her finger. "Paper cut." She said.
"What's with the files?" He looked at all the files spread on the large desk she stood at.
"It's what I'm looking for." She sighed. "It's kinda a bust though."
"What are we looking for?" He asked once again, joining her by the desk, he looked over a file. It was all standard stuff.
"You're looking for nothing." She replied.
"Fine, what are you looking for?"
"What will it take for you to go away?" He saw a small smile creep on her lips.
"A kiss?" He smirked, hoping to see her blush for once. She made a swift movement and placed her hands on his shoulders, facing him towards her. "Wait, wha-" She placed her lips on his, hard.
She pulled back after a few seconds with a sly smile on her face. He stared back, feeling his face get hot and his hands shaking. Now or never.
He pulled her back in and kissed her hard, as if trying to outdo her kiss from moments before. She had a small surprised squeak, making Dipper chuckle into the kiss, but showed no protest and kissed back, placing her hands on his neck. They stopped to breathe but still held onto each other tightly. Dipper kissed her again and this time picked her up by her thighs and laid her on the table. The filed got wrinkled under her but neither of them cared.
She let out another squeak, making him moan in response. "Hold it together, Pines." Pacifica laughed underneath him.
"Shut up." He muttered.
"Hm? It seemed like you wanted the opposite of that. So what will it be, stay quiet or…?" Pacifica felt herself let out another, louder yelp, caught off guard by Dipper nipping at her neck.
"Take a guess." He whispered in her ear and sucked at her neck again. He pushed it further on the table to make room for himself, knocking off files and mini statues in the process.
He stopped suddenly and hovered over her. "Why did you-" She opened her eyes.
"This statue." He replied. "There's a button under it." He scooted off her and she sat up. She took the statue and pressed the button. The bookcase suddenly opened up like a door would.
"The bookcase? Typical." Dipper breathed.
"Stay here." She said.
"Like hell."
"Be a good sidekick and maybe you'll get to do that again sometime." She stated. He grabbed her arm.
"What type of files are you looking for?" Dipper pestered.
"I came across a newspaper article in the picture room," Dipper knew the 'picture room' referred to the one they had found together when they were kids. "It was written by some…kid, no real reporter; I could tell by the way he wrote. He said…evil things went on here. I just...want to know if it's true. He claimed there were files here to prove it."
"Please let me come with. Secret rooms could have secret dangers, strength in numbers." He tried.
She stared at him for a while then sighed. "Fine. Me first, though."
"Always." He replied as she stepped into the secret room.
The room was very small, no bigger than the average bathroom and every wall had file cabinets. Pacifica swallowed hard and felt her hands shake again. She then felt a warm hand in her own.
She opened the cabinet closest to her and pulled out a large stack of personal files. She opened one and read and her eyes watered. "Dammit…" She opened another. "Dammit!" She opened another. "DAMMIT!" She bawled and slipped her out of Dipper's to cover her eyes.
Dipper scanned over the files. "They're all-"
"Dead." She replied. "Killed by my family." She sniffed and pulled out a paper from her bag and handed it to Dipper. "The author of the article went into detail about the 'evil things' that went on here. Human sacrifices. Human experiments. Deals with demons. No doubt your pal Bill was involved somehow."
"'Killed to extend their own lives…'" Dipper read.
"Everyone always said Northwests live a long time…" She wiped her eyes. "Fuck." She turned back to the files. "They told their families practically nothing. Paid them off to keep quiet. People that thought they were going to work at the Northwest cloth factory really were getting paid to give up their lives, unwillingly. They must have been so scared…"
"This is a new fucking low." Dipper responded. "Do you think your parents know about this?"
"It must be why they are blowing this place up next week." She replied.
"What? They are getting rid of this place?"
"They claim they want the land for something else but with how far away this place is from the town I doubt that's the actual reason." She muttered. "We should take these."
"Pacifica…I want to but would if your parents scan the place before blowing it up? And they notice these are missing? You could get hurt."
"I'm taking these. I'll make copies if I have to and put them back. I'm not letting this go unnoticed. I'll just put it in the picture room. And when I'm ready I'll be the one to expose my family for this and for everything else. In the meantime, I'll try to get evidence my parents know about this."
"You really are different from them." Dipper smiled. "I mean it. You're like a whole new chapter."
"I need to make things right. These people will be avenged. Let's take what we can and go." Dipper nodded in response and began packing the files away.
They left with their hands full of papers. "So what's the chance of that whole making out thing to happen again?" Dipper questioned.
"Not good if you don't hurry up." She smiled and exited the factory. "It's morning."
Dipper followed quickly behind her and watched her watch the sunrise with a bright face. He smiled, noticing the similarities between her and the sunrise; both new, both bright, and both ready for a chance.