(AN/ Hi guys it's Garouge here with another chapter of Mirror circle but before anything I have to thank the lovley folks who reviewed since my last update so a big thanks to gamelover41592, TangledBager91, Insane Wise-man, RockSunner, The Howling Behemoth, CelticNerd, oNE rING, Star181, SirDippingSauce and the two guests who reviewed my story. Thanks again guys these reviews really help. So without further ado let's get cracking with this chapter...)
Chapter 13- Old news.
"Mike Wilson?" Wolfe asked "But that's impossible, he's dead."
"He gave the journal and medal to me the last time I saw him alive." Pacifica explained, wondering why a wonderful romantic moment had morphed into this.
"He knew someone was going to kill him." Wolfe theorized putting the journal and the bagged medal on the bed.
"Kill him?" Pacifica questioned, her voice stressed "Mike's death was an accident."
"I hate to break to you but we think he was murdered." Wolfe revealed.
"We? Who's we and what the heck have you got to do with Mike Wilson, you only arrived in town a few weeks ago, so how do you know about him?" Pacifica asked confused and upset.
Wolfe took hold of Pacifica's hands and spoke "Pacifica if I tell you this, the way you look at things in this town will never be the same, the way you look at yourself and the way you look at me."
"I don't understand." Pacifica said on the verge of tears.
"Do you want me to explain? This is your last chance to back out." Wolfe warned.
Pacifica was silent for a moment, looking at Wolfe's brown eyes full of concern Pacifica knew Wolfe wouldn't willingly upset her even if the truth did hurt "…I want to know everything." She decided.
So Wolfe explained…everything. She explained about she met the doppelgangers from a parallel earth, the time soup barrier, the two Mike Wilsons and how one was believed to be murdered, the Gnomes, Bernie Caudory leaving clues for them to find the library preservation club, then came the very tricky issue of Wolfe's memory in world war two Paris…
"So let me get this clear in my head, we were a couple in the 1940s?" Pacifica asked enthralled and confused at the same time.
"Yeah." Wolfe responded.
"But you were killed?"
"I was shot by some Nazi but I stabbed him in the neck before I died." Wolfe explained.
"This is…crazy." Pacifica exclaimed "I mean this is total nuts. Past lives? I mean how? Why?"
"I wish I knew." Wolfe answered honestly.
"So that other girl who helped you fight Candy and Grenda was another you, I knew something wasn't right." Pacifica said
"That was Mabel, she's kind of hyperactive pinker of me." Wolfe said.
"You're Mabel." Pacifica said quietly.
"No they call me Wolfe, it's kind of like a codename." Wolfe explained.
"No you're Mabel Pines." Pacifica stated with some force.
"Pacifica?" Wolfe sounded.
"You're Mabel, the girl I look up to, the girl who is so amazingly confident, the most beautiful girl in town, the girl I wish I could be close to." Pacifica said with feeling "Whoever that other girl she's not you, you're my Mabel."
Feeling flattered and embarrassed Wolfe was moved by the blonde girl's words, "You've had a crush on me this whole time?" Wolfe asked.
"I was running an errand in town for my parents when I first saw you. I think you had only been in Gravity Falls a few days, you were with your brother coming out of the mini mart drinking slushies and laughing. I just felt something when I saw you, I just didn't understand what it was." Pacifica explained nervously playing with her long blonde hair.
"I had no idea." Wolfe replied honestly "I mean the first time I remember meeting you was at that party Gruncle Stan threw."
"Yeah, I never usually go to parties I'm kind of socially awkward, but when I heard you were Mr. Pines' great niece I knew I had to go to the Mystery Shack." Pacifica revealed.
"Did you think it was romance what you were feeling?" Wolfe asked edging closer to her.
"No, I think it was envy." Pacifica answered.
"Envious of me? You're kidding right?" Wolfe questioned nearly laughing.
"No it's true, I was listening to all the boys saying how cute and pretty you were, I saw how confident you were talking to people. Then I saw your friends; your brother, Wendy, Tambry, Robbie, Gabe even that nice DJ Soos. I realised I was jealous of you, how easy it was for you to make friends and get attention. Then that made feel like a real bad person." Pacifica confessed feeling shame.
"Pacifica I always thought you were amazing. There was no reason for you to be jealous of me." Wolfe sympathized.
"I was feeling pretty crumby and was about leave the party when you came over to me with two cans of pitt soda you gave me one and said-" Pacifica recalled.
"Cheer up it's a party. I remember." Wolfe smiled.
"Then all those feelings of guilt and jealousy disappeared, you sat down with me and chatted. You treated me like a normal human being and didn't judge me as some freaky hippie child, from that point I just wanted to be your friend." Pacifica told with a smile growing on her face.
"I always saw you as a friend. You are the cool girl who lives in a treehouse who wouldn't want a friend like that?" Wolfe asked rhetorically.
"Thanks that makes me feel pretty great actually. You know I think you're the first real friend I've had since-" Pacifica stopped herself from completing the next sentence as if the words would hurt her if she continued.
"Since?" Wolfe signalled.
"Since Mike died." Pacifica finished.
Wolfe sighed and said "I need to know about Mike. Who was he, what was he like, how he was when you last saw him."
Pacifica sat down on the bed with Wolfe joining her, she glanced at the journal then began to talk "Mike was always taking walks in the woods, one day me and my dad were practicing baseball when I hit a ball right at his head as he walked by the treehouse. My dad freaked got him inside, made sure he was alright and rang his foster father Mayor Befufftlefumpter. But me and him got talking I was younger than him, I was 9 and he was 13 but despite the age gap we got on like a house on fire. I guess I looked up to him as the big brother I never had, he's always bring me my favourite chocolate bars, play hide and seek with me and tell me stories of gnomes, the hide behind and multi-bears. Mike was one of few people I could ever call a true friend. When he died I was heartbroken, I saw this guy as a big brother it felt like I actually lost family that day."
Wolfe wrapped a comforting arm around the upset Pacifica and asked "When did you last see him?"
"The day he was reported missing," Pacifica continued "it was really early in the morning like 7am, I was doing my morning chores. I was in the middle of feeding the chickens when Mike sprung up out of nowhere, he was sweating and out of breath. I asked him if everything was ok and he told me not worry about it but he said he had a really important job for me, to keep the journal and medal safe."
"Why did he give it to you?" Wolfe queried.
"I don't know, he just told me to hide it and never to touch the medal with my bare hands, he made me promise. Mike also made me promise never to tell anyone about seeing him that day, that it would be safer for me that way." Pacifica said with some sadness in her tone.
"It makes sense. He trusted you but he wanted to protect you as well." Wolfe theorized.
"Do you think Mike knew I was a member of this library preservation thingey in a past life?" Pacifica asked.
"I don't know, but it is possible. Can you remember anything else about that last meeting with Mike?" Wolfe asked not wanting to leave any stone unturned.
"Um, oh yeah there was someone with him, Mike said he was a friend from out of town." Pacifica realized.
"A friend? What did this person look like?" Wolfe asked, having a feeling who this friend was.
"Let me think, he was a boy around the same height as Mike, he was wearing a hoodie so I couldn't make out most of his face, I know he was black, I could only see his chin and mouth." Pacifica remembered.
"It must have been the other Mike who came through the Mirror Circle." Wolfe concluded.
"After that I never saw Mike again, my Mom came home from work later that day and said he was missing. For the next five days the whole town was looking for him, including me. I heard it was Mrs. Caudory who found his body, the police said Mike accidently slipped and smashed his head on some rocks." Pacifica recalled the grim memory.
"Well Mrs. Caudory left us a file indicating Mike was murdered." Wolfe said.
"Have you read it yet?" Pacifica asked.
"Not yet, we're going to read it tomorrow." Wolfe informed.
"Can I come and read it with you guys?" Wolfe asked with a pleading look "Mike was like a big brother to me, if he was murdered I want to find out who killed him."
Wolfe sympathized with Pacifica, she knew if anything happened to Tyrone she would move mountains to get the truth and set things right "Of course, I think it's time you joined the library preservation club anyway." Wolfe said
"Really?" Pacifica asked with hope.
"You were obviously a member in a past life, that means you're a part of this now whether you like it or not." Wolfe stated "Tomorrow morning I'll bring you to the hideout."
Pacifica although confused and excited about the whole situation still felt pretty tired, she glanced at the old clockwork alarm clock on her bedside table it was nearly half past two in the morning "I suppose we best get some sleep then if we have a busy day tomorrow." Pacifica said with heavy eyes.
"I guess so." Wolfe said her cheeks flushing red again, the pair of them crawled into bed and Pacifica wasted no time cuddling up next to the nervous but happy Wolfe. "Goodnight." Wolfe said softly.
"Wait Mabel can I ask you something?" Pacifica asked still hugging tightly.
"Shoot." Wolfe replied getting used to warmth and comfort of the hug.
"Will you go out with me?" Pacifica asked sounding confident and unafraid.
Wolfe's surprised brown eyes met Pacifica's hopeful blue ones, Wolfe instantly said with a grin "Yes."
Pacifica replied with a quick peck on Wolfe's cheek before settling back into her sleepy hug, "Best sleepover ever." Pacifica whispered as she drifted off to sleep.
000
Wendy had fallen asleep at the kitchen table, her neck and back ached as her eyes slowly opened, she could hear someone humming a tune near her, she recognised the tune straight away it was 'Here comes the sun' by the Beatles, the voice humming was female, Wendy opened her eyes expecting to see Marie making breakfast but instead saw someone unexpected. A woman with long red curly hair, a pale freckled face and a slim figure was standing beside the table drinking a mug of coffee looking at Wendy with kind eyes. "Mom?" Wendy whispered through a sleepy haze.
"Morning!" A voice shouted behind her.
Wendy quickly turned around to see a smiling Mabel entering the kitchen, Wendy's vision darted back to where she saw her Mom to see no one there. "Mom?" Wendy repeated.
"Nope just me." Mabel corrected as she went to the fridge grabbing a carton of orange juice.
Wendy stood up looking around the kitchen for any sign of her mother and muttered "No way."
"What's up?" Mabel asked pouring herself and Wendy a glass of juice.
Wendy focused for a moment and came to the conclusion "I was still dreaming, never mind."
"Did you fall asleep reading that book?" Mabel asked nodding at the biographies on the table.
"Yeah, I guess I didn't realise how tired I was." Wendy answered taking the glass of juice and having a big swig.
"Sounds like something I'd do." A voice yawned behind Wendy, she turned to see Dipper walk into the kitchen with a major case of bed head, his big dipper birth mark was on clear display.
"Good Morning." Wendy cooed before leaning down and gifting a quick kiss on the lips.
"Morning guys." Marie greeted with a little wave as she walked in and switched on the coffee machine "So Wendy did that book turn up any new info?"
"A little, looks like Mike Wilson wrote it." Wendy said grabbing a box of cereal from the cupboard.
"Speaking of Mike Wilson," Mabel grinned "Guess who had a dream about him last night?"
"Let me guess, you." Dipper said sleepily as he stole Wendy's juice and had a sip.
"Darn skippy it was me." Mabel answered enthusiastically.
"So what happened?" Marie asked, she could not help but smile at the bubbly Mabel.
"Well I was in bed, but it was in a snowy forest, I heard a boy singing, I followed the voice and there was Mike and then we hugged." Mabel recalled at great speed with a sparkle in her eyes.
"Wow Mabel you got it bad." Wendy commented.
"I'm his dream girl and he's my dream boy I just know it." Mabel said confidently.
"What time is it?" Dipper yawned a question.
Marie checked her phone quickly and answered "Nearly quarter past eight, we best leave soon if we want to make to the library for nine am."
"You just want to get back to Tyrooone!" Mabel teased deliberately dragging out the name.
Marie blushed a little before saying "It's an added bonus."
Wendy patted her doppelganger's back and said "That a girl." Then the happy scene was broken with a knock on the front door. Everyone froze for a moment staring at each other with panicked eyes "Marie answer the door, we'll hide." Dipper ordered with a whisper before darting off into the Caudory brothers' bedroom quickly followed by Mabel and Wendy. Marie hurried to the door fixing her hair and trying to compose herself, she took a deep breath before opening the door thankfully she was met with a friendly face. Brown eyes peeked out from under dyed purple hair with a pink highlight down the side, her brown skin was acne and blemish free and a small smile was on her black lipsticked lips "Hey." Tambry greeted.
"Hi Tambry." Marie greeted back, relieved it was one of her best friends.
"Sorry to drop by so early." Tambry smiled reaching into her handbag.
"No problem, what's up?" Marie asked.
"I wanted to return this movie you borrowed me." Tambry said fishing a dvd of 'Django Unchained' out of her bag and handing it to Marie.
"Thanks, hey why are you up so early? You're kind of a noon riser." Marie bantered.
"Overtime at the mini mart, I'm saving up for a new phone." Tambry revealed.
"The last thing you need is a new phone." Marie commented.
"Oh come on I need the internet." Tambry answered back.
"No one needs to be connected to the net 24/7." Marie smiled.
"Well then how will I give you a status update of my upcoming date?" Tambry teased.
"Date? Who you got a date with?" Marie asked intrigued.
"Thompson asked me to go on date with him tonight." Tambry revealed.
"No way." Marie said happily "So when you going out?"
"I'm meeting him at six for a game of laser tag before going for a nice dinner at 'The Club'." Tambry explained clearly excited.
"Cool, what did Robbie say?" Marie asked with curiosity.
"Thrilled although she wasn't too pleased when I skyped to tell her last night, she was kind of 'busy' with Nate if you know what I mean." Tambry said arching a thin pierced eyebrow.
"They weren't?" Marie gasped in disbelief.
"Let me put this way, Robbie's bra was on the laptop camera when I skyped and Nate's boxers were on her bedpost." Tambry grinned.
"Go Robbie." Marie smiled.
"Anyway I best get going, my boss will chew me out if I'm late." Tambry said stepping off the cabin porch.
"Good luck on your date tonight, Thompson's a lucky dude." Marie said with a wink.
Tambry walked away waving at her friend and whispered to herself "And I'm a lucky girl." As Tambry walked down the driveway and back onto the main road towards town she couldn't help but feel excited for the day ahead. Yes she had a boring eight hour shift at the mini mart to tackle but after that she couldn't wait for the night ahead. She had always thought Thompson was a sweet guy, he was kind and considerate. When Lee and Nate commented on passing girls Thompson would be respectful and not make lewd comments like his friends. So when Thomspon came up to her the previous evening, a nervous wreck by the way, asking her out on a date her answer was a no brainer. Of course Tambry said yes, apart from Thompson's sweet demeanour Tambry thought he was pretty cute, she knew if she went on a date with him she would be treated like a lady and that Thompson would be a perfect gentleman. With this thought in mind Tambry got out her phone and started to write a text to Thompson, not noticing the dark green van slowing beside her on the road, she typed 'Hey Thompson can't W 2nite-' that all she wrote before the green van's side door open and three balaclava wearing figures sprung out grabbing Tambry. One of them snatched the phone threw it to the ground and crushed it with his foot, another man put a large strong hand over her mouth Tambry immediately bit down hard on the hand the man growled in pain but didn't move his hand. The third figure, female in shape produced a syringe and jabbed it into Tambry's flailing arm. Tambry's mind was full of fear as the tranquilizer took hold of her body, she was fully unconscious when the three masked figures threw her in the back of the van. The female abductor rushed into the passenger seat of the van, as the van sped off she got out her cell phone and speed dialled a number after a few seconds she said "Tell Mr. McGucket that the package is secure."
000
Dipper, Mabel and Wendy walked to the town library wearing their awful disguises yet again, with Marie tagging alongside them walking in silence trying not to draw attention to themselves. The group were surprised only to find Tyrone waiting on the library steps. He explained that Wolfe was sleeping over at a friend's house last night, Dipper told Tyrone to text Wolfe and say they were heading up to the Library preservation club attic and that she should text back when she's by the secret bookcase entrance so they could let her in. A few minutes later the gang were in the attic hideout and Marie was clearly excited. "You know a part me still can't believe all of this happening, I mean this pretty cool right?" Marie asked giddily.
"We are reincarnated members of a secret order sworn to protect this town." Wendy boasted in an overly dramatic voice.
"One day I'll have to draw a comic about all this." Tyrone mentioned. "It's be a sweet record of all the history."
"And in the interest of keeping a record of our club's activities I'm using this." Marie said getting her mini digital camcorder out her camo backpack and attaching it on the tiny flexi tripod before flicking record and setting it on the table.
"Good idea." Dipper said "We still have three clear goals; Find Mike Wilson, find and destroy the Sang Collier and break the time soup spell on the town. I know we can do this."
Wendy went over to Dipper and whispered in his ear "You're so hot when you act like a leader."
Dipper's eye went wide at the compliment then stammered "W-when Wolfe g-get's here we'll start the meeting."
Mabel who had been staring at old photographs of Mike's past incarnations on the wall dreamily turned to Tyrone and asked "So which friend did Wolfe stay with last night?"
"Um, I think it was Pacifica Northwest." Tyrone answered resting in a cobweb covered red armchair.
"Oh cool I wish I could've gone, a slumber party at the Northwest Manor sounds awesome." Mabel envied.
"The Northwests don't live there anymore, remember?" Marie reminded.
"Say what now?" Mabel asked.
"Pacifica's family lives in a treehouse in the woods, they're really eco friendly." Tyrone explained.
"That would be even cooler!" Mabel grinned loudly.
"It was a good night." A voice said from the doorway. Everyone turned to see Wolfe, she was dressed in red cotton dress with the black floral design Pacifica had lent her. But her friends didn't focus on her fashion choice they were more concerned about the heavily swollen purple left eye. "Oh my gosh what happened?" Tyrone asked jumping from the chair and running over to his twin.
"I got in a fight no biggie." Wolfe tried to brush off.
The others quickly gathered around Wolfe with concerned expressions "This is most certainly a biggie! Who did this?" Mabel asked sounding strangely caring and angry at the same time.
"It was Gabe." Wolfe answered uncomfortable with all the attention.
"Gabe!?" Marie gasped.
"That's it! I'm going tear that sick jerk's pony tail out of his stinking scalp!" Tyrone seethed smacking his fist into his palm.
"I'm with you man." Dipper nodded at Ty sounding equally furious. The pair went to walk out the door when they were firmly gripped on the shoulders by Wolfe.
"Easy boys, I already took care of the loser, I'm pretty sure I broke his jaw." Wolfe said smugly.
"Nice one buddy." Wendy smiled playfully punching Wolfe in the arm.
"Wait a sec? Wolfe how did you get in here, we had the medal." Marie asked with realisation.
Wolfe held up the silver 'Athena' medal in the plastic baggy and said "With this."
"Another medal?" Mabel asked scratching her head.
"Where did you get this?" Dipper asked pointing at the medal.
Wolfe turned to the open doorway and said "Come on in." With trepidation in every motion Pacifica Northwest slowly made her way into the Library Preservation club's hideout "Hi." She said nervously.
"Wolfe what the heck!?" Wendy exclaimed in shock.
"We're not wearing our disguises!" Dipper shouted.
"Sis she's not one of us!" Tyrone said panicking.
"Yes she is." Wolfe answered with force.
"What?" Marie asked.
"Mike gave her the medal to, he trusted her. Plus from what I seen in my memory I'm sure a past version of Pacifica was a member of the club." Wolfe explained standing next to Pacifica in support.
"Cool!" Mabel said with joy rushing over to Pacifica and saying "Hi I'm Mabel but you already knew that and I already know you kind of, well a posh mini golf champion version of you. Welcome to the library preservation club!"
Pacifica who was trying to absorb this bizarre moment could only utter "Nice to meet you to."
"So you think Pacifica was a member in a past life?" Tyrone posed the question to his twin.
"Yes she was," Wendy answered instead "I remember reading about her in that book last night. She was the woman who recruited my Mom into the club, I think her name was Penelope Northwest."
"Penelope Northwest? I don't remember ever hearing of an ancestor by that name." Pacifica said looking between Wendy and Marie, marvelling at their similarity.
"Well that's the thing," Wendy said rubbing her arm in awkwardness "it seems she was disowned after she came out as gay."
"That's horrible," Tyrone sympathised "no offence Pacifica but your ancestors majorly suck if they did that to Penelope"
"No offence taken." Pacifica replied.
"We're getting off topic here." Dipper announced "Mike Wilson gave Pacifica a medal."
"And I think I saw the 'other' Mike from your dimension as well with him." Pacifica revealed.
"That confirms what the gnomes told us, the other Mike definitely came to this universe." Marie concluded.
"Um, Mabel…" Pacifica started.
"These guys call me Wolfe remember?" Wolfe reminded.
"Oh right, Wolfe said you guys had a file on Mike's death, have you read it yet?" Pacifica asked still nervous.
"Not yet," Dipper said going over to the table and grabbing the file "might as well find out what Mrs. Caudory investigated."
The gang plus the jittery Pacifica gathered around the large round table, Dipper opened up the file to find dozens of newspaper clippings all relating to Mike Wilson's death. "Newspapers? Not very helpful." Mabel commented.
"Old news isn't going to give us new leads." Wolfe grumbled in frustration.
"Mom must have wrote something." Marie said sifting through the clippings.
"Yeah Mom wouldn't have left this file for us if it didn't have something useful." Wendy added helping Marie look, then she spotted a piece of lined A4 paper and scooped it up "It's Mom's handwriting." Wendy said.
"What does it say?" Dipper asked eagerly
Wendy cleared her throat and read out loud "The local sheriff department originally suspected foul play in Mike's death however when the State police took over the case they conveniently dropped that theory, I believe they've been paid off. However after my own investigations I've looked into every possible motive for someone wanting to kill Mike but can't find a logical one. But there is only one person in the town whose whereabouts cannot be accounted for at the time of Mike's murder. I am giving up on this lead, because this person has no motive and is just too young and weak to have committed such a crime…" Wendy went silent her green eyes narrowed with anger and confusion, everyone else waiting with bated breath for the precious information.
"Wendy who was the person without an alibi?" Marie asked concerned by her double's eyes.
Wendy felt anger lace her words as she answered "Gideon Gleeful."
(AN/ DUN DUN DUN! Gideon is the number one supect in Mike's murder? Where's the other Mike? Why does McGucket want Tambry? If you liked this chapter please please please review! Next time on Mirror Circle, Tambry realises how much danger she's in, the gang meet alernate Gideon and Pacifica relives a painful memory. Next chapter is Don't be afraid please remember to to review and c ya soon...)