A/N: Few quick notes: this is pretty AU, but the AU parts will be explained as we go! For now, though: Gideon is 14, Pacifica is 15, and the twins are 15. Really just as if GF took place like three years alter tbh. And Pacifica is a bit closer to the twins in this fic. Also don't expect future chapters to be this long, I worked for like two weeks on this one :O average will probably 1.5-1.8k I'm thinking.

Dark.

Everything was dark.

Weary eyes turned back and forth in an attempt to survey the surroundings, but it was like nothing else existed. Soft growls and distant screams seemed to be the only things that filled that dark world. But it wasn't dark like someone had turned the lights out, no, it was dark like light didn't exist, it was only a myth that foolish people believed in. It was dark like the sun had been taken out of the sky, and all the stars with it.

It was Dark.

A small form trembled in the Darkness (it wasn't just darkness, he thought). Sightless eyes were useless, and they reached their arms out in an attempt to find a wall, or a door, or a light switch. No luck. Instead he crawled, slowly, away from the sounds of screeching. That seemed like a good place to start, at least.

Wh-where am I? what is this place? The person thought to himself, I... I don't remember what I was doing before... What happened? Panic and fear welled inside of him as the space he crawled on seemed to expand. There were no walls, only a course and dirty floor. Had he been trapped somewhere? Imprisoned?

He stopped when he heard a small sneeze to their right. It sounded human, but who could be sure? And just what kind of human was in that kind of place anyways? Well, besides him, but that was different. He had been... Kidnapped? How had he ended up there? Panic seized him again.

Another sneeze.

"Who's there?" He tried to sound menacing, but his voice trembled and turned to a squeak. He instantly regretted revealing himself, but he didn't like being alone in an unknown place. He could only hope the other person wasn't violent, or a monster.

"Who are you?" The voice that responded was much more convincing and, strangely, feminine.

"Ah'm..." Hescrambled to remember, "Ah'm..."

"...You don't remember either?" The voice was cautious (and was that a hint of concern?) and he found himself shaking his head. Of course the other person couldn't see him, but she understood. "I don't remember anything." She confided in him, "Do you remember anything?"

"...Ah remember..." A harsh laughed echoed through his head and he felt himself get dizzy. Memories rushed into his head, messy and loud. "Bill..."

The other person gasped lightly, "That demon thing?" She paused, "Hm... I wonder if this is his doing, then?"

"Probably," He said, "But Ah can't remember for sure... We should get moving though. Ah heard some strange noises from the other way, and Ah'm not planning on waiting ta see what they are."

"Lead on."

He hesitated. If he lead, that would put the stranger behind him, and he had no means of defense.

How can you trust her?

How can't I? She's the only one here.

But what if she's Bill? Funny how she didn't remember him until you said it...

He stumbled through the Dark and heard her shuffle behind him. She hadn't attacked him so far, but it hadn't been that long since they met. What if she was leading him into a trap? He shuddered at the thought, but there was nothing he could do at that point. She knew where he was.

"So..." He nearly jumped out of his skin when she spoke, "Where do you suppose this is?"

"...Ah don't know..." He answered honestly, "It's not like anywhere Ah've seen before." There was one possibility that picked at his mind, and with every second it seemed more and more possible. Dread filled him as he wondered...

"It's almost like a cave." She said, "But... It's magic, isn't it?"

"Yeah."

"Hm."

The fact that she knew about magic comforted him and put him on edge. How did she know about magic? What did she do with it? He had no idea, and he wished he did. If she could wield magic on her own he could be in trouble; but the, he reasoned, if she was on his side he would have at least some defense.

"How can ya tell?" He asked casually, "That it's magic?"

"It's... you know, just that feeling... The energy." Her vague response made him cringe. Is she lying? He scoffed lightly and rolled his eyes. A demon would be better at lying.

"You got a better explanation, Cowboy?"

The nickname made him scowl-not that she could see-and he answered huffily, "Well, tha energy, yes, but also tha sounds Ah heard earlier. They weren't human, that's for sure."

"...Can they see us?"

Her question stopped him cold, and he felt her inch close to him. White-hot panic filled him at the idea. Can they see us? Have we been leading them? What if it's a trap? It hadn't crossed his mind that they were at a disadvantage, he hadn't thought that they were the only blind ones.

"Ah... Ah don't know." He swallowed hard and his arms trembled.

The silence was palpable. He felt a chill go up his spin as she crawled around him. "I'll lead now."

He nodded, grateful, but realized she couldn't see it. With the tables turned he felt a bit better with her in front... Though that meant that anything behind them was up to him. He scrambled after her on wobbly limbs and hoped they would find somewhere, or something, soon. The Darkness was picking at his mind, and he didn't know how much longer he could take it. He felt unsafe, and every sound made him weary. He wondered if his companion felt scared, too, and was just better at masking it.

He decided to distract himself. He racked his mind trying to think of who she could be. He couldn't even remember his own name, but surely he could remember something if he tried?

He remembered Bill. And... Magic. An amulet of sorts, he remembered, that gave him powers. He grasped around his neck, but it was gone. Something had happened to it, but he couldn't remember what. He frowned in disappointment. All his other memories seemed hazy at best, and confusing or just gone at worse. It seemed that remembering things wouldn't be as easy as he had hoped.

"...I think... I see something." Her voice startled him out of his thoughts and he looked ahead of them. In the distance was a small spec of light, no bigger than a fly from where they were. His heart picked up speed and he gasped excitedly.

"Is that...Light?" He crawled forward and passed the girl while he kept his eyes on the light. He heard her fumble to catch up but he didn't bother to wait. The light grew closer and closer and he began to stand. The area around him was almost visible, so he started to run. He assured himself that they were free, that they would figure out where they were shortly. The dangers of where the light could be, or his running, didn't occur to him.

He heard her cry out and try to slow him down. Once again thoughts of her tricking him filled his head. Was she trying to hold him back? He felt anger well inside of him and he ignored her calls. He could easily leaver her behind; she meant nothing to him. Of course, he didn't know who she was, but surely she was a nobody. If he could remember Bill and not her, she was nothing.

"No, wait, we don't know where-"

"Would you just- Ahhh!"

He watched in horror as the ground crumbled beneath him. He let out a screech as he fell into what looked like a deep pit. I'mgonnadieI'mgonnadieI'mgonnadieI'mgonnadie! Images of Bill flashed through his head, and he cursed the demon. He cursed the girl too, just to be sure. His life, what little he could remember, flashed before his eyes.

Images of his mother and father flashed before him. His father, who always tried to be proud of him and help him. His mother, who he had treated terribly and traumatized. The memories made him shudder, and he wanted to give them up again; he liked it better when he couldn't remember. When he could pretend he wasn't a bad person.

He shut his eyes and prepared for the worst, but he had stopped falling not long after the ground gave way. He felt something grip his collar, and looked up in amazement at his savior.

He hadn't noticed before, but he could see again. And sight was an amazing thing, he realized as his tired eyes saw colors and shapes for the first time in far too long. He saw the walls around him, solid and rocky. They were in a type of cave, but the walls seemed to have a magical aura oozing from them, as if the cave itself was made of magic. This confirmed his fears that they were not on Earth... or at least, not in a good part of it.

Most importantly, though, was the girl who gripped his collar to stop his fall. Her long blonde hair cascaded over her shoulders and her perfectly manicured hands held him in a death grip. He heard a ripping sound and felt himself slip slightly from her grasp. On him he saw an orange jumper... What he had been wearing in prison...

When they made eye contact he realized he may be in trouble.

Pacifica stared down at the boy in her grasp. His face had less chub, and his hair fell messily around his face, but there was no mistaking it.

It was Gideon Gleeful.

Her nails dug into the fabric of his uniform (his prison uniform, she reminded herself) as she realized she was the thing keeping him from falling into the space below.

Immediately, she felt like letting go. No one would know, right? Good riddance to the little creep, she figured.

...Of course, she didn't mean it. Or at least she didn't think she did. He was just a kid like her. Even if he did summon a demon, among other things... And he was mean to Mabel and Dipper (that was something only she got to do!) So she wasn't a major fan of his. She also wasn't a murderer.

She grit her teeth as the fabric started to rip. He stared up at her in shock, and she couldn't help but feel a pang of sympathy. Who would risk their life for this boy? Not many, that was for sure. And her fingers began to ache with his weight.

"Well?" She spat, "Are you going to come up or what? I can't just lift you up here!"

That snapped him out of it, and he scrambled to grab her arm. Once his weight was shifted enough she let go of his uniform and grabbed his hand. With their combined effort they managed to get him back on solid ground.

They sat in silence, huffing and puffing from the effort, for several minutes. Pacifica fixed Gideon with a glare, and the boy offered a half-hearted one back. She could see the confusion in his eyes, and had to admit... She was confused herself.

The second she had seen him, memories of him and the Pines flashed back through her head. Some of them were pretty bad, even downright scary, especially when Gideon was involved. She almost didn't want to remember them.

On the one hand, she was thankful for even a little more of her memory back. On the other, she wanted nothing to do with the boy in front of her. And even with those memories, she still couldn't remember how they had gotten into that situation. Unless...

"Do... Are you why we're here?!" She struggled to get the sentence out over her anger and exhaustion. Sweat dripped down her face as she fixed her best glare right at Gideon. All the sympathy she had wasted on him, she had even risked her life for him! But he was probably the reason they were there in the first place!

He looked at her in shock.

"No!" He yelled, indignant. "...Ah mean, probably not!"

"Ugh!" She threw her hands in the air, "Perfect! I should have let you fall."

"A bit harsh, don't ya think?" He snapped back, "Ya really want me to die?" His eyes met hers, and she saw the fear on his face.

Of course. He was scared, too. Why wouldn't he be? Just because he was Gideon... Okay, so this probably wasn't the weirdest thing he had done, but being stuck in the dark with no memories... her anger faltered.

Pacifica herself wasn't a big fan of the dark.

It wasn't a fear or a phobia, she just didn't like it. You never know what's hiding in the dark; it's deceitful. There could be dirt or bugs or any number of things in the dark, things she didn't want to deal with. It wasn't like she needed a night-light or anything (the one in her bathroom was purely for aesthetic purposes).

So, naturally, when she woke up in a cold and dark place it was unnerving. It was still unnerving how silent it was, though. Even in caves there was water, or animals, or something that made noise. Such silence was... unnatural.

She realized Gideon probably woke up like that, too, and he was just as alone. It was hard to get over what he had done in the past, but she felt...empathy? It wasn't something she was used to feeling, for sure.

He took her silence as a yes, and cringed away. Before she could comment on it, though, he turned back to the source of the light.

"Come on, let's get out of here."

She felt a stab of guilt, but it was probably a conversation best left alone. Together they stood and edged around the hole in the middle of the ground, and eventually made their way to the opening of the cave. The bright light stung Pacifica's eyes, and she had to stop for a moment to regain her vision. She saw Gideon do the same thing out of the corner of her eye, and they looked at each other.

Wherever they were... They were stuck together. A chill went up Pacifica's spine at the idea of being stuck with Gideon, but it was better than being alone... For the time being. She couldn't trust him, for sure, but she had already saved him. She could only hope that would mean something to him.

Gideon, on the other hand, wanted to trust Pacifica. His plan, however, was more deceitful. But he needed an ally, and if it had to be Pacifica... He would get her on his side one way or another.

A silent agreement passed between them as they shared a guarded look, and they both gazed directly into the blinding light.