The fountain foreshadowed Bill's defeat.
The girls all hid behind a large boulder, silently watching the shadows of the spider-people move past them. For all their bizarre and otherworldly misadventures in the past, Candy and Grenda were terrified of these strange, unseen creatures hunting them. Mabel was afraid as well, but the spider-people paled in comparison to the mind games Bill Cipher could pull. Pacifica was still recovering from the mental frights she experienced at the fountain, leaving her only slightly fearful of the spider-people.
"This mountain is gonna kill us," Pacifica said, "This was a bad idea."
"And whose fault is that?" asked Candy.
"Uh, you guys?" Pacifica answered, "You were the ones who insisted on coming to this mountain!"
"To get you away from Dipper!"
"Get me away from Dipper?" Pacifica hissed, "We were fine before you started meddling!"
"Hey, wait!" Mabel interjected, "Pacifica, that was my idea! I thought Candy and Dipper would make such a cute couple!"
"And what about me?" Pacifica asked, "Did you stop to think what I thought about that? How I would feel about having to lose Dipper to..."
"Wait, lose him?" Mabel said, "But you never..."
Even amidst the chaos of hiding from spider-people, Mabel grinned wider than the Cheshire Cat, finally putting two and two together.
"O.M.G!" Mabel squealed, "You do like him! YoulikehimYoulikehimYoulikehim!"
"Mabel, keep it down!" the other girls said.
"I-It's not like that," Pacifica stuttered, "Forget what I said, I didn't..."
"Pacifica, why didn't you just say that from the start?" Mabel asked, getting into her excited fangirl mode, "I would have totally helped you hook up with him!"
"Wait...you would?" Pacifica asked.
"You would?" Candy and Grenda asked.
"Totally!" Mabel exclaimed.
"But...but you were so excited about Candy liking him..." Pacifica said.
"Mabel, you would do that?" asked Candy.
"Well, I mean, you both...you're both my friends, and you would both be great for him," Mabel replied, trying to explain herself, "And it's the 21st century, you could totally share him!"
"Are you kidding me, Mabel?" asked Pacifica incredulously, "Do you know ANYTHING about this stuff? You can't just SHARE someone! You have to pick one and keep your promise!"
All three of the other girls stared in shock at Pacifica's outburst.
"Oh...my...gosh..." Mabel muttered.
And then her emotionless face turned into her normal, excited tween girl self.
"YOU SAID 'SHARING' RIGHT! YOU ACTUALLY SAID 'SHARING' RIGHT!" she screamed.
"Mabel!" the other three hissed.
The damage was already done. The spider-people heard Mabel's outburst, and it didn't take long for them to home in on their location.
"Welp, I think we should run now," Grenda said.
"You think?" Pacifica asked rhetorically.
All four girls got out from their hiding place and once again ran away from the unseen monsters. Their adrenaline had been pumping as they ran through the nearly pitch dark tunnels in their escape. But of all the loose twigs in all the tunnels at the worst of possible times, Pacifica found herself tripping over that one. She landed face first into the dirt, messing up her hair and leaving marks on her face. But for once, Pacifica didn't care.
Until she realized her foot was caught in the twig, and she couldn't get it out.
The minute they heard the screams, both from the girls and the spider-people, Dipper and Stan wasted no time dashing towards the sounds. They were closing in on the source of the screams.
"They came from this way!" Dipper cried.
"I'm old, not deaf!" Stan retorted, "I wouldn't not hear sounds like that!"
"Help!" Pacifica screamed.
The three girls immediately turned around when they heard Pacifica's cries for help. Though only Mabel considered her a friend, Grenda and Candy still knew it was right to help out. Too bad they got a good look at the spider-people that had just made it around the corner. The lower halves, the more spider halves, were pretty much what they knew of spiders, only bigger. The top half, however, the human half, was beyond hideous. There was the torso of a human body, but old, wrinkly, and grey, as well as cracking skin along the veins, and big black eyes like a spider.
"Aaah!" Grenda and Candy screamed, suddenly freezing in their steps.
Mabel kept trying to pull out Pacifica from where she was stuck. When that didn't work, she tried tugging on the twig itself. It may have worked if they had a little more time. But the spider-lady was now standing directly above them, breathing frantically, foam oozing from its mouth. It didn't speak a word, but they knew it was more than just angry...it was hungry, and two little girls looked like easy, delicious prey. Raising one of its legs, it prepared to strike them down.
"PACIFICA!"
Both girls knew that voice anywhere. Dipper was the only one whose voice still cracked. Blame it on puberty. The last thing they saw before they shut their eyes, preparing for the worst, was his silhouette jumping in front of them, acting as a human shield...
...and when they opened their eyes again, Dipper was still standing in front of them. He too had his eyes shut as he clumsily, but bravely, stood his ground. As Pacifica realized quickly enough, though Dipper was noble enough to lay down his life to save her, it was not Dipper who ended up saving her life.
Grunkle Stan knocked the spider-creature out cold with just one swift uppercut, sending it flying back into the cavern walls. Panting heavily, Grunkle Stan stood back up, wiping sweat off his brow, then boisterously laughed out loud.
"That's right! I did that!" Stan exclaimed, "And I'll do it again anytime!"
And that's when multiple pairs of eyes peered out from the darkness.
"But not this many," Stan said, "Everybody scram!"
As the girls started running away like they were told, Stan ripped off the twig in the ground and held Pacifica over his shoulder, with Dipper running alongside next to them, leaving behind the screams of the cavern.
"You alright, Pacifica?" Dipper asked.
"I-I think so," Pacifica replied.
"Save the lovebird chit-chat for later," Stan told them, "I'd like to make it off of this mountain!"
Candy led everybody to the sky tram where they could easily ride down the mountain and escape the wrath of the spider-creatures. It seemed like such a good idea at the time...until the recording on the tram's speakers dulled their mood.
"Welcome to Trambience, the world's slowest treetop tram ride. Enjoy the sights at 0.1 miles per hour!"
"Awww, c'mon!" They all cried.
"Can't this thing go any faster?" Dipper asked.
"No it can't. This is Trambience."
"Wow, it's like it can hear us, dudes," Soos said.
"SOOS?!"
No one expected to see Soos with them on the tram, so they all jumped back into one corner, still a little jumpy from the chase they had just been put on. Soos, of course, looked as if he hadn't a care in the world, holding out his smartphone and taking pictures of the view.
"Soos, what are you doing up here?" asked Dipper.
"Don't ask," Stan replied, "If it's not one crazy misadventure, it's another."
"Actually, I was texting Melody while you guys were inside the mountain," Soos replied, "I thought it'd be nice to show her some photos of our trip, so I came up here to get a good view."
"Wow, Soos," Stan said, "That's actually the most normal thing I've seen on this entire mountain. I literally was not expecting this."
"Did you get enough pictures, Soos?" asked Candy.
"Uh, yeah, I think I got some good ones," Soos replied.
"Good," replied Candy, pulling down the emergency switch.
"Wait, what did you..."
Everyone suddenly began screaming as the tram was detached from the rails, rolling down the side of the mountain, everyone inside bouncing from the floor to the ceiling. The hectic ride came to a stop when it crashed in front of the Paul Bunyan statue in the front of the tourist trap, sending it toppling over.
Pacifica was still dizzy from the unexpected fall, so much so she didn't notice she had landed right on top of Dipper. Dipper himself was just getting his vision back, no longer seeing a blurry blob of neon, but rather the face of Pacifica. Or at least part of it. Some of it was covered by loose strands of hair that came undone during their tumble.
"We...we're alive," Dipper said, out of breath.
Pacifica started laughing, her hands still on Dipper's chest, just now realizing he was right...they really were alive. After the Fountain and Darlene, they were all still alive.
"EEEEEEEEEEEE!" Mabel squealed.
Both kids turned to see the other twin, her face bubbling with excitement, nearly red from trying to contain it.
"SO...CUTE!" Mabel exclaimed.
At first they hadn't realized what she meant...until they just then remembered Pacifica was on top of him. She jumped off of him and looked away, blushing as she tried to hide her embarrassment. Dipper had more or less done the same thing, but instead went back to the R.V, which had conveniently been just a few feet away from where they landed.
"So..." Pacifica said to Mabel, "You're okay with me...and your brother?"
"Pshaw! Of course I am, Paz!" Mabel replied, patting Pacifica on the back, "More importantly, I'm proud of you for finally learning how to pronounce 'sharing'!"
"Totally called it, dude," Soos said from behind.
The two girls saw the much larger man coming up from behind them, donning a knowing smile.
"Did I call it, or did I call it?" Soos asked.
"You knew?" Mabel asked.
"Who'd you think I was trying to pair up, Mabel?" asked Soos, "I think Pacifica would be great for Dipper! I mean, no offense to Candy, she's a cool little dudette, I just think Pacifica has a deep connection that makes the two intertwined forever, probably resulting from a spooky ghost adventure that brought the two closer together!"
"...thaaaat seems a little far-fetched," Mabel said skeptically.
Before Mabel could put on her 'skepticals', Pacifica interrupted with a smile.
"Actually, Mabel," Pacifica said, "He's right. You're a lot wiser than you seem."
"My wisdom is both a blessing, and a curse," Soos said.
"I do feel closer to Dipper ever since the mansion party," Pacifica admitted, "Maybe...maybe it's time I made sure Dipper knows that."
Mabel and Soos both squealed in excitement, until a big hand stopped Pacifica where she was.
"Me first, kiddo," Stan said, "We gotta talk about a few things."
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