CHAPTER TWO

PACIFICA

TITANIUM

I glance over my shoulder at the boy trailing behind us. He looks more and more nervous as we head over to where Wendy had pitched the tent. She has her bow slung over her shoulder and is counting her swords to make sure they're all still there. I glance down. One. Two. Done. Wendy and I collect weapons from outlaws who try to hurt others. However, this is the first time one the victims actually wanted to stay with us. The others always took off running.

Prince Dipper keeps lagging behind and tripping over small objects, while rifling through his bag and cloak to make sure we didn't leave anything behind. I try not to watch- it's his business- but I keep hearing him mutter things under his breath as he runs into things. He's obviously not been in the forest too long. I look up at Wendy and whisper to her, "You really think we should let him tag along with us?"

Wendy glances down at me briefly, then back at the road. "He'll be fine. Reminded me of you two years ago."

I glance down at the ground. "Alright then." I nod. "Guess you did me good. It's just that he's not staying. He's just off to find his sister, remember?"

Wendy smirks. "Sure." she mutters.

She pushes aside some bushes and reveals a small, quiet field. She's pitched two tents, and made a small fire. Our small bag of food and extra weapons are in the second tent, and our sleep stuff is in the first. "I can move our weapons outside the tent and you can sleep in there." Wendy offers. "You have any dinner with you?"

Dipper looks confused. "Um… no, not really, sorry, I can-"

"It's cool." Wendy shrugs, and grabs her bow. "I'll just shoot a duck or something. Be right back." She heads off into the woods silently, leaving us alone.

Dipper looks at me, then goes and drags a log by the fire. It takes him a while, but he manages to do it, and sits down impatiently. I sit on the other edge of the log, pretty far from him, but he still tenses up, as if the mere presence of a human being scares him. Wendy comes back only a few minutes later, and roasts a duck on the fire. Dipper scoots farther away from us, and doesn't eat very much of his duck. Eventually, Wendy gives me a glare, and I make conversation. "So, you're off to save your sister."

"Yeah." Dipper nods. "There's a story behind that."

He explains to us his sister's plan to escape suitors. Wendy gives me a sharp glance as he's talking, but I just shake my head and listen closely. Mabel's plan was smart; the problem is, Dipper doesn't think so. "I mean, who on earth has that problem where they have too many suitors?"

It takes me a few seconds to process the fact that he's not being sarcastic. Wendy gets to that conclusion around the same time, and we both exchange surprised looks before staring at Dipper. "How long have you been in the real world?" Wendy asks.

Dipper awkwardly scratches his arm. "Um, about… two days?"

"Man, you were definitely cooped up." Wendy shrugs, sharpening her axe on a rock and making Dipper jump. "What, you weren't allowed outside or something?"

"Well, yeah… in the palace courtyard." Dipper looks, embarrassed, at his feet. "Or during special occasions like holidays and stuff. Sometimes we'd sneak out, but we'd be recognized pretty quick and then we'd be under strict watch for months. So we mostly contented ourselves playing in the secret passageways and tending to Mabel's garden. But… you know, it's not like my life's that interesting. What do you guys do?"

Wendy and I once again exchange glances, wondering how much to tell him and how much to leave out. "Well, I ran away from home two years ago." I shrug.

"Why-" he starts, but I keep going, pretending not to hear his interruption.

"Wendy rescued me from bounty hunters only a few days later. I was pretty suckish about staying hidden."

"I'd moved out by then." Wendy shrugs, barely glancing up. "So I said I'd help her until she learned the basics."

"She cut my hair and got me a good disguise." I continue. "And then she started teaching me basic fighting. And after a while, I guess we kinda forgot about the whole 'separating' part of the arrangement."

"We've saved each other's lives several times." Wendy explains. "I guess we kinda look out for each other."

"So we kinda adopted each other as sisters. That's our cover story whenever we run into people, anyway. We're two lumberjack sisters who just want to travel."

"But what do you do?" Dipper asks, confused.

"We travel around and keep criminals at bay." Wendy shrugs. "We figured, if nobody else is gonna do it, why not two unmarried teenage outcast females?"

"With a crapton of weapons." I add, smirking.

"Cool." Dipper's eyes widen, and it's nice for once to meet a boy who doesn't make a big deal out of us being girls. Maybe Mabel's influenced him in that respect.

"Right, let's get to sleep." Wendy says, putting her axe down. "We've got a long day in the morning. Dipper, your tent's on the left. Just dump the weapons outside Pas, you'll take the right one."

"You gonna sleep in a tree again?" I ask.

"Duh." Wendy says, starting to climb up one. "When do I not?"

Sometimes Wendy baffles me, to be honest. I glance at Dipper as he struggles to carry even one sword out of his tent, and sigh. We're gonna have a lot of work to do.


I don't realize I'm in a dream. What I do see is them. They're standing right in front of me, and I step back. I know where this is. The thing is, I've never relived memories in dreams. This is the first time.

"Please just leave me alone!" I yell, covering my head and bracing myself for what's to come.

Then the ice-cold winter hits me, and I'm no longer at my old home. I'm half-buried in snow, crying and digging around for my food bag, lost forever in the white wasteland. My tears freeze before they hit the ground. I pull my cloak tighter around me, and feel a hand lift me off of the ground and throw me in the other direction. "That's her!" one of the men in front of me says excitedly. "That's definitely her!"

"Please go away!" I plead. "I've got money!"

"Your parents have more." another man raises an eyebrow.

That's when he's hit upside the head with the butt of a sword, and Wendy's there, fending off four men at once, and then helping me to my feet, and giving me her cloak for extra warmth. "You're literally freezing out here." she observes. "I know a good abandoned house we can stay in. But just one night, you got it?"

I'm too tired to argue anyway.

Then something even weirder happens. I'm in a grayed-out hut, with doors down the hallways. "Hello?" I ask, reaching for a dagger. It's not there, but there's one at my feet, which I grab and whirl around.

"Relax, I'm just delivering a message." a voice says. "And don't turn around."

At that, I immediately whip around to see a blur fly away. "Gotcha." he laughs. "Anywho, the one thing you need to know is Shooting Star is imperative to your mission. Save the Star."

"What mission? Who's Shooting Star?" I demand, trying to find the source of the ruckus.

"You'll find out, child of fire." the voice says again. "You'll find out all too soon."

I throw the dagger at a random direction, hoping to make a hit. Unfortunately, that's when I fade back into the realm of pointless dreams.


Song Title: Titanium

Artist: Madilyn Bailey

Album Title: The Covers, Vol. 2

Lyric that best fits this chapter: "I'm bulletproof / Nothing to lose / Fire away, fire away..."

Lyric that best fits this fic: "You shoot me down / But I won't fall / I am titanium"