*SPOILERS* This is just a short story idea I had that will only be a few chapters or so and is based around an idea I had, or rather, several of Pacifica being much smarter than she realized due to never being able to fully expand on any skills she had. It also stems from one theory I saw that pointed out how In the finale, many of the people who were standing next to each other in the wheel had something to do with each other but there were a few who didn't and I wanted to try and provide an explanation while expanding on Pacifca's character as I felt in some ways the finale took a step back on the development she got in the Northwest Mansion Mystery Episode, well, anyways, here's the story!
It had been well over a month since the invasion that had rocked the town and even though mention of it was more or less forbidden now. The toll it had taken on the town and the people who lived there could still be clearly seen even by outsiders.
Many of the townsfolk had packed up their bags and moved out as soon as they were able to and 'for sale' signs could be spotted almost one after the other across any street one were to pass. Sure, the effects of Bill's weirdness were gone, but the memories and the trauma were there and though few knew of the Society of the Blind Eye, if they had there would have certainly been those seeking out such ways to forget the events.
Aside from citizens running for the hills, there were changes in the people who had remained as well. While some were for the best such as with 'Lil Gideon who had actually grown quite a bit as a person, others such as the Corduroy family - with the exception of Wendy- had lost their oomph, their power. Being captured by Bill and put into the position they had been had taken its toll and there just wasn't the same spark in the family anymore. There had been mentions of the situation being similar to the years after the death of Mrs. Corduroy but as loud as the family had once been, they had always kept to themselves so there was no way to know for sure. Wendy would still do her best now to keep everyone going as she had during those times and even if she and Robbie would never again be a couple, she had his support, along with the rest of her friends in this as well.
Throughout the town, there were stories like this, stories where Bill's invasion had brought and caused the worst and the best in people even if they weren't free to say the cause. With all his chaos however, there had thankfully been few casualties. Those who had perished had been prisoners and, as sad as it is, were given only short memorials with small markers in the cemetery.
As for the true heroes of the Weirdmageddon, the Pines family, they'd all gone their own ways. Dipper and Mabel back to Piedmont California until the next summer while their Grunkles were off to travel the world, likely for the same amount of time. How the Weirdmageddon would affect them in the long run, no one in Gravity Falls could say for sure as they'd left so soon after and the bits of contact information they received from Soos was short, sweet, and usually involved him mentioning his own forgetfulness at what exactly had been said. Without Melony, the newly appointed employee of the month and well, only employee aside from Soos now, the messages may not have gotten through at all.
Candy and Grenda were the same as ever, not much was to be said about them though even as school had begun the two were often off visiting Grenda's Austrian boyfriend, something neither would complain about. Gravity Falls, as many good memories as it had, now left a bit of a bitter taste in their mouth, it was nice to get away every once in awhile.
Yes, alot had changed because of Bill and by extension, because of the Pines family as well. In all honesty, Pacifica, Pacifica Northwest who had now begun going to public school like everyone else once it had begun, who had now grown used and actually rather happy to only have one pet, who had yes, needed to grow used to living in a significantly smaller house, wasn't too bothered by these changes.
Or, at least she wasn't as bothered by those changes that had affected her. Seeing the people she'd gotten close to considering as 'friends' still struggling after everything wasn't something she liked to go through every day on her walks to and from school. Her family had been hit by its own changes of course, nothing nearly as bad but having a father who had tried to sell your entire species out to a interdimensional chaos demon wasn't a great thing to have on your family's name, especially now that just about everything else her family had ever done had been recently dug up by the newspeople. Now she received glares and murmurs from behind her back when she wasn't looking and unlike before, people weren't afraid of her finding out.
No one even cared that she'd been one of the ones to help stop Bill in the end, or how she'd been one of the ones in the prophecy to defeat him. The only ones who did had left or were usually gone anyways. That or they were too busy dealing with their own issues to talk to her about her own. She supposed there was, what was his name? Soos was it? But he'd gotten too caught up in the Mystery Shack business to be good conversation lately, maybe once the hype of it had died down she could try.
But for now she was alone again in Gravity Falls, even her own Mean Girl-esque friends had moved out with their families less than a week after Weirdmageddon. True, they weren't real friends to begin with, as she'd definitely bought their friendship because of their skills and how they would make Pacifica herself look. A pretty shallow move if she had to say so herself.
Even if Pacifica wasn't the next link in the world's worst chain, she'd sure made her fair share of mistakes and she wasn't trying to deny that. She had every intention of doing better and was trying her best already this school year. Reminders of her family's past actions that were now considered free game for the students to use were making it very difficult though and the comments she heard walking home today didn't make it any easier.
Walking up to a house that had clearly been through a few vandalization attempts and success a wasn't very uplifting sight either even though it was still one of the largest houses in the town.
She walked up the steps, head still hanging low as it often did now a days and while she could just hear her mother scolding her for doing so it had just become a part of her habit. Today at least, perhaps it was a good thing that she was walking like this, otherwise she may have missed the small white envelope tucked underneath the welcome mat.
Pushing the rug back with her shoe, she found to her surprise that the letter was addressed to her. Now, it should be clarified that Pacifica was used to getting mail, why wouldn't she be? Being an heiress to as large a fortune as she had been meant that there were plenty of people out there eager to marry their sons off to her once they were older and that there were plenty of organizations pleading for her charity which at the time she would have turned her nose at.
No, what surprised her about this piece of mail was that it was an actual letter, handwritten by how her name was scribbled in lower case on the front. Initially, she thought it may be from one of the Pines but she'd seen Mabel, Dipper, and even their Grunkle Stan's handwriting and while she'd yet to see their other Grunkle it didn't seem to fit, especially since the return address was in Gravity Falls and last she'd heard of the Grunkles they were in the Atlantic Ocean.
That was another unusual thing, the return address wasn't too specific, just saying Gravity Falls Oregon. She started to wonder if it was a prank, with how cruel the kids at school were getting she wouldn't put it past them.
She sighed as she pulled out her house key and opened the door. Well, only one way to find out. She pushed the white door opened to the wide but empty foyer "Mom, Dad? I'm home." she called out, "And nobody answers." she said to herself, her mother had never really worked away from home, preferring to do anything in the comfort of her own room, but like everyone else, she had jumped ship to get out of Gravity Falls and had taken to traveling with her cosmetics company with little to no warning as to when she would take her trips.
Pacifica didn't take the silence as a bad thing though, once she'd read the letter she'd have the nice TV in the living room to herself and she'd seen on the TV guide that they were going to be having a marathon of Ghost Harassers. Ever since the incident at her old house and Dipper's own recommendation of the show, she couldn't lie, it had grown on her.
She threw her school bag on the couch, once she heard her dad's car pulling in she'd run it upstairs but for now she figured she was fine for another few hours. With this much time on her hands, she even went as far as to kick off her shoes and tear of her socks, relishing the relief she felt at doing so. "Alright, let's see what this letter has to say, probably just some loser from the school if I had to guess." she said to no one in particular, carefully opening the envelope with her index fingernail.
The paper she pulled out looked and felt pretty old as she examined it in her hands though the date was recent, she figured they must have dropped it off in person. As for the handwriting, it matched that on the envelope as well. She glanced to the signature at the bottom before actually reading it and was surprised to see that it was from the old coot McGucket, she wondered what he had to tell her. She looked back to the top, and began reading.
Dear Pacifica,
Not ta sure if yer even gunna find this here letter but assumin ya do, How ya doin? Well, I'm doin swell! Though, come ta think of it ya might not really care since we never really talked.. Anywho! Given I been livin in yer fancy house this past month I found somethin o yers I think ya might want though since yer parents don't really like me givin I sorta bought yer ole house an all I was thinkn ya might wanna pick it up yerself!
Sincerely!
Fiddleford H. McGucket
Despite the horrible grammar and the fact that his hillbilly accent somehow seemed to carry on into his writing, his handwriting was easier to read than many people she knew and the message was simple to understand. What she could have forgotten, she wasn't too sure as everything she had owned that she cared about had been brought to this new home and everything she hadn't had been sold for some extra money.
She maybe thought it could be something mundane, sure Old Man McGucket had slowly been getting more sane as time went on but if this forgotten item was something like a piece of trash she wouldn't be surprised.
The idea of returning to her old home wasn't a very pleasant one either as it had just too many negative memories for her now along with a few scattered positive ones that really just weren't worth the trip.
She set the letter down next to her, if he thought what he had was really worth giving back to her he could bring it back himself.
Clicking on the TV, she set the channel to Ghost Harassers and let the show run for the next hour or so without much care. After experiencing the real deal, the scares in these kinds of shows just didn't have the same kick to them but there was just something amusing about watching the 'Ghost Harassers' handle the 'Ghosts'.
As the hour continued on, something about the letter, a curiosity she hated to admit, brought her back to it and wondering what it could possibly be she found herself picking it up again, "I swear if it's something stupid." she muttered to herself, of course it would have no return address, everyone in town knew where Mcgucket lived now.
She didn't really care what she'd forgotten over there, not at all, it couldn't have been worth much if her parents had forgotten it but knowing the old coot he'd probably start annoying anyone who'd listen about it, she'd may as well just check it out now and avoid it later.
Reluctantly still, she turned off the television, slipped on her sneakers without the socks and headed for the door again. Their old mansion wasn't far, she'd be back in plenty of time before her father returned.