Chapter 10

The World is Quiet Here

The summer had come to an end. Pacifica continued to sneak away to hang out with her boyfriend and her best friend, his twin, whenever she could find an opportunity. Though now they didn't dare do anything in public, lest they be seen by the inhabitants of Gravity Falls. Dipper and Mabel had gone back to Piedmont and Pacifica was left alone once again. Sure she had friends, but she had no one that she had really connected with like the Pines twins. Thanks to her parents she couldn't even go to the Mystery Shack to see the people she had come to call friends.

November had finally graced Pacifica with its presence. Her sixteenth birthday was upon her which meant she could finally file for emancipation. Pacifica forced herself to wait a week before she finally felt comfortable sneaking off to meet with her lawyer to get the ball rolling. Luckily for her, her lawyer was able to take care of getting all the paperwork together and submit her request without her mostly. Now she just had to wait till the court decided whether or not to see her case.

Sometime in February the courts decided she met all criteria for eligibility and set a court date. Pacifica was ecstatic, but worried how she was supposed to inform her parents. They wouldn't be too happy, and she was scared of what they might do. The only person she could confide in at the time was her lawyer. The man said they would have to be issued a court summons eventually anyways and that he would be the one to deliver it when the time came. Pacifica was comfortable now knowing she wasn't going to be the one to tell them.

Back at home Pacifica emailed Dipper to update him on the situation. 'The state has finally agreed to hear my case, and I received a court date. Luckily for us it is right at the beginning of summer. That way you won't have to miss school. My lawyer said he would be the one to give my parents their court summons once it's issued. I'm really nervous right now Dipper,' Dipper having tweaked his email encryption program a little made a phone app, which was synced with the computer program, to notify him whenever he got an email from Pacifica so he didn't forget about her again. Dipper was at home eating dinner with his family sharing a laugh with them because Mabel was doing something quirky, when his phone chirped. He excused himself and went up to his room and read her message. 'You have nothing to be worried about. We've been planning this for four years. Trust in yourself Pacifica your plan is amazing. When I think about everything you've been through and see what you've become in spite of your circumstances. It reconfirms why I like you so much,' Dipper sent his reply, and went back downstairs to finish his dinner. Pacifica being a nervous mound on her bed heard her laptop chime from an incoming email. As she read it she smiled and tears began to form in her eyes. She felt so loved by this boy. 'You always know what to say, and when to say it. You're right I just need to have a little faith in myself. Thank you. See you this summer.'

A couple weeks later Pacifica's lawyer paid the Northwest household a visit.

"Preston Northwest?" The man asked.

"Yes. Who the devil are you?" Preston demanded.

The lawyer thrust an envelope in the Preston's face. Preston took it and opened it. He read 'The State of Oregon summons Preston and Priscilla Northwest to attend court…' 'Blah,blah,blah,' he thought.

"What is the meaning of this?" He demanded.

"I am your daughter's attorney, and you are being summoned to attend her emancipation hearing," Preston was shocked and confused.

"But I object!" He exclaimed.

"The judge will take that into consideration sir," the lawyer informed him.

"Oh, and if you do not appear the Judge will hold you in contempt of court and kidnapping."

"Kidnapping?! I can't kidnap my own daughter," he scoffed.

"As of now you and your daughter are considered two separate entities, until the judge decides to grant her emancipation or not," The lawyer informed Preston.

Preston was livid by now. He slammed the door in the man's face, and marched up to Pacifica's room to get to the bottom of this. He threw open her door.

"What is the meaning of this?" He said throwing the summons toward her. Pacifica looked scared and hurt as she picked up the paper.

"I filed for my emancipation a week after I turned sixteen, and a couple months ago the state decided to hear my case," she said trying her best to be brave.

"I don't understand! Haven't we given you everything you could have ever wanted?" Preston appeared genuinely hurt, but Pacifica couldn't let that sway her.

"Everything except for my own life, and a home that I felt comfortable enough in to make my own mistakes," Pacifica said standing up for herself.

"We are Northwest's our path in life was laid out for us," he said proudly.

"Well not for me. I'm done with our broken family name and I'm going to live my life how I want to live it!" Pacifica said defiantly.

Anger returned to Preston's face.

"Don't you dare spit on our family name," he said raising his hand.

"Go ahead do it. That's exactly why I did this! You have no one to blame but yourself!" Pacifica yelled.

Preston caught himself before his hand fell. He stood silently for a minute before turning and leaving. Closing her door behind him, As he started down the hallway he heard his wife's voice.

"You got exactly as you wanted Preston. A Northwest stands up and takes what they want, and she is doing exactly that. You should be proud of her," Preston turned to see a somber expression on Priscilla's face.

"I realized that myself," he said.

As Pacifica heard her parents leave she ran back over to her bed and called Dipper for the first time in two years.

As the rest of the school year passed Pacifica and Dipper kept in contact. Finally being able to talk on the phone again was nice. Pacifica still frequented her new friend the water spirit to share in her memories of the boy she loved. With Valentine's Day around the corner Dipper reminisced about the time Pacifica and him made the whole school jealous at the Valentine's Day dance his freshman year. He laughed to himself remembering all the questions he got about her the following week. Throughout the rest of the school year Dipper tinkered with oddities and gadgets, staying ever vigilant in his studies until school was finally over. 'This is it,' he thought, 'After this summer Pacifica will finally be free and everything will be right with the world. Only a couple more weeks.'

The twins return to Gravity Falls this year was special for many reasons, but right now it was special because it was the first time Dipper and Mabel didn't have to ride the bus to get there. Now both twins were fully licensed drives. On their sixteenth birthday the Pines parents tried to buy their kids a car to share, but Dipper made his best argument against it. Instead he wanted a truck. You see cars don't work to well once you get them off the pavement, and like Dipper told Pacifica once all the cool things in life are off the beaten trail. Mabel didn't care; she was just happy to have her driver's license. Eventually they caved, and bought their kids an old 80's Japanese 4x4. Dipper was super thrilled, and Mabel dubbed it the Twinmobile. "I'm not calling it that," Dipper said voicing his objections to the name.

As Mabel drove into Gravity Falls that night for the twins fifth summer back she and Dipper were super excited because Pacifica was about to be rid of her family's influence forever and they couldn't be more happy for her. They approached the Mystery Shack where all their friends had gathered to greet them. Mabel threw the truck into park and jumped out at a Mabel speed. She was greeted by Candy and Grenda who all shared a hug together and caught up on the school year. Dipper eventually made his way out grabbing a duffel bag of clothes. He was first greeted by the most beautiful girl in Gravity Falls. She had hit a growth spurt, probably her last, and was just a little shorter than Dipper now. Both of their acne had cleared for the most part and Dipper had started to grow out the hair on his chin since it had filled out some. Pacifica enjoyed playing with his chin hair, but soon abandoning it for the whole of him as they wrapped each other in a warm embrace. The two parted after a minute but did not let go entirely. Dipper moved, with Pacifica under his arm, on to greet Wendy, Soos and Soos' girlfriend Melody. Wendy expressed her thoughts on how cute they were together. Dipper smiled proudly never getting tired of hearing it, and Soos just enthused about all the crazy thing they might get into this summer. Melody, standing next to Soos expressed how nice it was to see Dipper again.

As the party moved inside Pacifica pulled Dipper aside to tell him, "We need to go by my lawyers tomorrow he wants to meet you and possible use you to prove that may parents are a poor judge of character."

"Seriously? Okay," Dipper reluctantly agreed.

"He wants the judge to decide for himself if they have any real cause to keep me from dating you, which there isn't aside from you not being rich," She added.

"I said okay," Dipper repeated. Pacifica smiled and entered the house under her boyfriend's arm.

The welcome back party was always a good time for everyone to catch up with the people they had not seen in awhile. Half way through the night Soos got everyone's attention.

"Excuse me everyone I'd like your attention please. I have something to ask someone," the man child turned to Melody and got down on one knee.

"Melody I've known you for like five years now and I can't believe you've stayed by my side that long. So it would make me like the happiest dude here if you would marry me."

"Oh my gosh Soos. Yes!" Melody exclaimed.

Soos stood up and hugged his new fiancée and shared a kiss with her. Pacifica wrapped both her arms around Dipper's chest squeezing him while squealing and jumping up and down. Mabel, Candy, and Grenda were all stricken with the same affliction. Dipper even thought he heard Wendy squeal, and turned his head to look at her. She noticed and quickly reformed her composure. Dipper laughed at her trying to be cool still.

Stan moved over to Soos the son he never had and said, "Well I guess there isn't any better time to do this. Soos I want you to have the Mystery Shack," a collective "What?!" went through the shack.

Ford stepped forward. "Yes, it's time for us old dogs to move on to new territory."

Dipper looked hurt 'How could they abandon me like this? I still have so much to learn.'

Ford continued, "For centuries there had been stories of an elder being slumbering up in the Arctic Circle. Visions from sailors and stories from fishermen have told of it for as long as man has visited. Stanley and I have decided to go and try to get to the bottom of it."

"Don't bite off more than you can chew old man!" Dipper shouted from the back of the group Pacifica still under his arm.

"Dipper, I've taught you almost everything I know. Everything else you're just going to have to figure out on your own," Ford started. Deep down Dipper knew this was true.

"Besides it's not goodbye we'll have to come back eventually for supplies, and depending on where you're at in life maybe you could join us," Dipper feeling consoled by his Grunkle's words gave the old man a smile. Ford returned the smile with his own.

"Alright everyone I thought this was a party," Stan said turning on some music.

After everyone's energy had died down a little Wendy went outside and started a campfire. Wendy, Mabel, Candy, Grenda, Soos, Melody, Dipper, and Pacifica all gathered around the warmth of the fire.

"So Wendy, whatever happened to Tambry and the rest of the gang?" Dipper asked.

"Well—" Wendy said thinking, "Nate and Lee are still the bros they have always been. They moved down to California for college. I think Lee is playing basketball or something. Thompson is getting some kind of business degree in Portland. Robbie and Tambry are still together. Although I'm to understand that it's not natural," She said looking at Mabel.

"Jeez, you use god powers once and you never hear the end of it." Mabel defended herself.

"Nah its cool," Wendy started, "I can't deny that they seem perfect for each other," they all shared a small chuckle and continue talking late into the night.