Disclaimer: I in no way own Gravity Falls, nor do I own any of it's characters. It all belongs to producer, animator and voice actor, Alex Hirsch. Thank you very much.
Pacifica's Inner Demons
Pacifica had been walking for merely a few minutes. As she had expected, she had been separated from everyone else. She was on her own, and she knew no one could possibly help her.
But she had been prepared to face the challenge herself. After all, the nature of the challenge was evident to her. She was to face what represented her dark side. Her inner demons. The feelings she hid from everyone.
She continued forward for a few more minutes. Or at least she thought she was going forward. She could not tell. Her surroundings were pitch black. It was unrealistically dark. Like some sort of nightmare.
Of course her nightmares mostly consisted of her parents and the high pitched sound of a bell. She did not know why, but the sound terrified her. It was as though it were instinct to be afraid of the sound. Like some sort of trained animal. That was how they treated her anyway. Even the smallest of mistakes warranted punishment when it came to those monsters she called parents.
It had all started when she was at the mere age of 4. It had been her birthday. She was taken to an amusement park that day. Her parents had left her and her friends in the trust of their personal butler.
But it was not until after she got home had the day turned from one of the greatest days of her life, to one of the worst.
She left the amusement park with a stuffed toy that a friend had won for her. It was a small blue teddy bear, with a heart stitched into the middle. It had been her long time friend, Tiffany, who had won it for her. She had managed to best all other contestants in some sort of ball challenge. Pacifica did not quite remember. The details of the events prior to her returning home had been hazy.
But she did remember what her butler had said when he entered her room. She had been playing with the stuffed toy when he had entered, with her permission of course.
"Milady, your mother and father wish to speak with you in their quarters immediately," he stated calmly. At the time, she had expected some sort of birthday surprise.
To say she was wrong would have been the understatement of the century.
She had refused to be escorted by her butler. It made her seem helpless. After all, she had just turned 4 years old. She could find her way around her own house.
It taken approximately 5 minutes to reach the door to her parents' quarters. The room itself was massive. Once she entered through the door, without asking for permission, she walked into what looked like a mini home inside the huge mansion. It had a foyer that made up about one fourth of the entire quarters. To the left of her was a large bathroom with a power shower, and a bathtub that also served the purpose of being a Jacuzzi. To her right was an extremely large walk in closet. On one side of the walk in closet were dozens of expensive suits. On the other side were almost the same amount of dresses.
Pacifica stood up straight and looked directly in front of her as she heard her parents come out of the main bedroom area.
"Hello Pacifica. How was your day at the amusement park?" Her father asked, feigning interest. Though at the time, Pacifica could not tell. She had thought he was genuinely interested, and began giving details of her day.
It was at that moment when her parents had noticed the smudge on her dress. She had not yet changed her clothes, and her parents took it as a sign of disobedience. She was breaking their rule of not wearing dirty clothes in the house.
Of course, that was not the real reason she was there.
He had known every little detail about her day, for he had been spying on her. Before Pacifica was born, he had managed to set up several security cameras all over Gravity Falls. The amusement park was no exception.
He had caught her speaking to the common folk that were present during her birthday celebration. Of course she had not told them that. Not only had she openly lied to them, but she had broken one the most important rules of being a Northwest.
Never mingle with the common folk of Gravity Falls.
She had openly disobeyed her parents, and lied about it. She had not seen what was wrong with speaking to the people of Gravity Falls. They all seemed nice enough. Her father had told her that they were not worthy of speaking with a Northwest, but she had thought otherwise.
Pacifica had just finished telling her parents about how her friend had won a prize for her when her parents interrupted.
"Pacifica, I understand that you were...engaging with the commoners that were present during your birthday celebration. Can you explain why?" Preston asked kneeling down towards her, putting a hand on her shoulder. His was voice calm, though expression told a different story.
"Yes Pacifica. Care to explain why you were mingling with the common folk when we specifically ordered you not to? And also why you lied to us about it?" Priscilla asked. Her voice was harsh and it gave the young Pacifica quite the shock. She spoke slowly as she answered the questions her parents had asked her.
"Well I didn't think there was anything wrong with it. They seemed like nice people..." Pacifica said in a soft voice, unable to stand still and look her parents in the eye.
Her father had suddenly pulled out a bell and began ringing it. Pacifica had not known why, but the sound made her skin crawl.
"Pacifica," her father began, "Whenever I ring this bell, do you know what will happen?" he asked, his voice still calm.
Pacifica slowly shook her head. She was frightened by her father's facial expression. After all, she was only four years old, and had never been in trouble with her parents before.
She was suddenly slapped across the face. The force of the blow had caused her to nearly fall backwards. But she regained her balance as she looked at her father with a sore cheek, tears streaming down her face.
"That's what happens! Every time you disobey us, I will ring this bell. When I ring this bell, I will beat you. Have I made myself understood?" Preston asked, now shouting. It had only caused more tears to fall as Pacifica nodded, too frightened to speak.
Her father put the bell back into his pocket as he spoke to her, in a calmer manner, "Good. Now go to your room and change out of those filthy rags," he said, pointing towards the door.
She ran as fast as her little feet could carry her. She had passed many butlers on the way to her room, all of them attempting to stop her. To ask her what was wrong. Despite the fact that they resented the Northwests, they still cared for Pacifica. After all, her parents barely had any time to raise her on their own, so it was up to the butlers to do it for them.
She finally reached her room and closed the door, locking it so no one could disturb her. A few butlers had attempted to persuade her to let them in. So that they could comfort her. But she would not get up from her bed.
That night, she could not sleep. She hoped that all of it was just some sort of bad dream. She hoped that none of it happened, and that her parents could comfort her when she eventually woke up.
But she quickly realized that it was all real when her parents had berated her with lectures about the behavior of a proper individual of Northwest kin.
she had feared the sound of that bell ever since.
The memory sent chills up her spine. Though after the night at the Northwest ball, the bell frightened her significantly less.
But the sound of it still made her blood run cold.
She stopped when she noticed a figure in the distance. But upon further inspection, she realized that there were two figures. She had began moving towards them, slowly recognizing the two. She had stopped about ten feet away from them, unable to suppress the feelings of fear.
"Hello Pacifica. I see you're still as disobedient as ever. Running off with those riff-raff you call 'friends'," Preston Northwest was frowning in disgust at Pacifica.
"Yes. I have always wondered what went wrong with you. It seemed one day you were perfect, then the next day you weren't. Look what has become of you. Parading around with common trash, calling them friends!" Priscilla Northwest said, not even bothering to look her daughter in the eye.
Pacifica did nothing. She refused to speak. Had her father finally decided to drop in and punish her himself? What was he going to do?
"So now you won't speak to us? You can't escape us by giving us the cold shoulder Pacifica!" Preston's voice seemed to echo off the darkness that surrounded them. He sported a menacing glare. If looks could kill, Pacifica would have been dead a thousand times over.
Her mother's gaze was no different. In fact, she seemed more enraged than the man standing at her side.
Pacifica still refused to speak. She was in too much fear to even begin to think of anything to say. She was terrified of them.
"You've still nothing to say, huh? You're a pitiful excuse for a Northwest, you know that?" Priscilla said, actually putting an effort into sounding disappointed.
"I have many things to say about you two monsters. None of them good," Pacifica blurted out without thinking. She had regretted it as her father reached into his pocket and pulled out an object that was in every one of her nightmares.
The high pitched sound of the bell was unbearable. Pacifica was in too much fear to even move. At some point, she did not know when, she had fallen to her knees. She covered her ears in an attempt to tune out the sound of the bell, but to no avail is it seemed to have only gotten louder.
"To think that you're even related to us! You're a weakling and a disgrace to the Northwest name!" Preston shouted. His harsh voice, mixed with the sound of the bell were too much for Pacifica to handle.
Though she felt like it, she refused to cry in front of them. They would take it as a sign of weakness. She didn't want to look weaker than she already did. A lone tear escaped her watery eyes, and fell towards the ground. Even the ground was pitch black, as she had seen the tear hit it's surface.
Unfortunately for her, so had her parents.
"So now you're crying? Is this what you have been reduced to? Get up! Northwests don't cry!" Preston said as he and Priscilla began making their way towards her. Her fathers voice provoked more tears, and Pacifica tried as best as she could to not let them fall.
But she could not hold them in any longer.
The tears began to fall freely as her father had reached her. He stood mere inches in front of her, his hand raised. He looked ready to hit her as she looked up at him with tear stained eyes.
The look on his face had filled her with more fear than anything else she had been through in her 14 years of life.
No monster hunts she had been on could compare to what she had seen.
His eyes were practically glowing red. He had a scowl on his face and wrinkles at the corners of his eyes. But what she took notice of immediately was his raised hand, ready to come down towards her face at any moment.
she closed her eyes as she waited for the impact of her father's hand. But it never came.
She dared open her eyes to see that he was still in the same position. Sporting the same frightening expression on his face.
"You're as weak as I thought you were, you brat!" he yelled as his hand made contact with her face. The force of the blow had caused her head to whip to the side. She felt as though a tooth had been broken, and the blood she spat from her mouth had proven it.
Never before had her father hit her so hard. She could not feel the entire right side of her face.
"You'll never be a true Northwest! You're unworthy of holding that title! You're even worse than those disgusting low class animals you call friends," Priscilla said, her words dripping venom.
"you're a weak, ill mannered, disobedient excuse for a daughter! I regret not putting you up for adoption, you worthless rat!" her father yelled. At that point Pacifica was sobbing. She dared not look them her father in the eye, out of fear of seeing that horrible facial expression.
"You could have been better! you could have had a better life if you had only done what you were told! But all you've done is prove that you did not deserve a life in the first place! And for that reason I will end it!" Priscilla shouted, leaning down in front of her daughter.
Pacifica was sure that this was the end for her. Memories flashed through her head. Good memories of her friends. When she had won her first mini golf tournament at the age of seven. When her and Tiffany had received their first phones at the age of ten. When she knocked on the door of the mystery shack at the age of twelve, asking for Dipper's help. When he had kissed her in one of the previous chambers of the labyrinth.
She had smiled at the memory of her and Dipper. She loved him with all her heart. He was the reason she had come so far. He was the reason she managed to stand up to her parents that night at the Northwest ball.
It was at that moment when she realized the true nature of the challenge. It was to overcome one's inner demons.
Pacifica looked up at her mother, with a smile on her face. This of course puzzled Priscilla, as she had expected her daughter to cower in fear at the mere sight of her.
what Pacifica had done next had surprised both Priscilla and Preston.
Pacifica hugged her mother. She was slightly shorter than the woman, her head just about reaching Priscilla's neck. She held onto the women tightly, refusing to let go of her as she spoke.
"I'm not weak mother. I am not worthless. I am a Northwest. Why can't you just see that I don't have to be better than everyone else to prove that?" Pacifica asked, tears still escaping her eyes. She had expected the woman to push her to the ground. Beat her to a pulp.
But what she had done had caught Pacifica by surprise.
Her mother had hugged her back. For what felt like hours, Pacifica remained in her embrace. However, it was merely a few minutes.
Pacifica's surroundings had suddenly flashed a blinding shade of white. She felt as though her mother had disappeared as she was transported to what looked like another chamber. Only this one had an exit. Could it be? Had she finally made it?
She tried moving but was stopped by a barrier. A force field of some sorts. it prevented her from moving towards he direction of the exit. What was the meaning of this? She suddenly got her answer as she was practically tackled into a hug. She had almost fallen over when she realized who it was.
"Pacifica I'm so glad you're okay! I knew you could make it out!" Dipper all but yelled. His grip had tightened around her as she returned the hug.
"I'm glad you're out too Dipper," Pacifica said. She soon realized that they were the only ones present within the chamber.
"We have to wait for the others to complete the challenge before we can leave," Dipper said, as if reading her mind.
"Well that's great. I'm sure they'll all make it out," Pacifica said as they released each other and shared a quick kiss.
"I hope so. I just don't know what I'd do if any of them didn't make it," Dipper said, sadness evident in his voice.
"Hey, it's okay Dipper. Like you said, we're all strong people. We're all gonna make it out of this mess," Pacifica said with a sincere smile.
They shared another quick kiss before sitting down. After everything they'd been through, a good rest was what they needed.
Though they did not know it, they would need all the strength they could get for what was to come.
As I promised, this chapter is a bit better than the previous one in my opinion. I hope you enjoyed it! Review if you find any errors, and thanks for reading. In case you could not tell already, I plan to dedicate a chapter to each member of the team. All of them will face their own personal demons! I have big plans for the ending. You won't regret reading the entire story!