Should I be working on my Doctor Who Fanfiction? Yes. Am I ignoring this fact? Also yes.

Warnings: This is a bit dark. There's a death of a parent described, though it's a short paragraph.

Disclaimer: I don't own Gravity Falls.

Wendy's hair is fire. Bright red, like that of her father and brothers and mother. Tongues of flame settling in a lion's mane, untamable, strong.

Wendy's hair is fire, but it used to be ice, so blonde that it was nearly white.

She was two, and she sat alone outside the cabin. Little hands in little mittens packed frozen water together to build a miniature snowman. Wendy wished she had someone to make her snowman with, because then it could be bigger, or maybe it could have a friend. Wendy means friend, her mommy had said once, and she figured that meant she ought to have one.

Out in the distance, a blue light flickered. Fire, but burning cold, ice blue and royal blue and all shades of shifting blue. Beckoning.

Wendy stood up. The fire danced, like it wanted her to come and play.

Chasing after it, Wendy found herself in the forest. But that was fine. She was Wendy; she was a Corduroy. She was strong, and independent, and big. The forest wasn't scary at all.

The trees were covered in a soft layer of snow with icicles clinging to their branches. The ground was snow, so much snow that Wendy couldn't even feel the frozen earth underneath her feet. She was walking on fine powder, and something in her head said that this wasn't right, she should be falling, she should be swallowed up by the snow, there's so much snow!

The blue fire shimmered up ahead. Wendy wanted to hold it in her hands, to talk to it, to be friends. She ran and ran.

The frosty air tore at Wendy's face, but she ignored it. The snow began to let her sink into oblivion, but she ignored it. The cold began to freeze Wendy's fingers and toes, but she ignored it.

All that mattered was the light.

Wendy walked, until she realized that she wasn't walking, but just standing still, until she realized that she was cold and in the forest and where was home?

Until she sank into her frozen tomb, buried underneath a snowbank, too numb to feel scared. Too numb to feel sad.

It was a nice feeling, because at least here, the snow covered her like a blanket. Like a friend. The blue light settled on Wendy's head, and she laughed, because everything was funny.

Wendy was cold, and she closed her eyes, and the Corduroys should have lost their child.

But…

Wendy awoke to a woman standing in front of her, a red flame burning within her cupped hands.

"What happened?" Wendy asked. She didn't understand, but she was scared, and she wanted her mommy and daddy. "Who're you?"

"My name is unimportant, child," said the woman.

Wendy tilted her head to the side. Unimportant was a big word, but probably one she was supposed to know. Important. Not important. Oh. "Wendy means friend," Wendy said. "So, I'd call you Wendy, because you're my friend now. But I'm already Wendy, so you can't be Wendy. You can be Friend."

"Thank you," said the woman. Wendy never remembered what color her hair was, or if this had even happened. But her icy blue eyes would haunt Wendy for the rest of her life. "You are cold."

"Yeah," Wendy agreed. She'd never realized how cold out it was before.

"You are lost."

"Yeah," Wendy agreed. She didn't know the way back home.

"You are frozen."

"I dunno," Wendy said. She didn't feel like she was ice, but then again, she couldn't really feel anything at all. Everything was numb.

"You are frozen," Friend repeated.

"Okay," Wendy said. "Your fire is warm."

"It's yours now," said Friend. "If you agree to it."

Wendy had the distinct impression that she wasn't supposed to agree to something unless she knew what it was. And she was confused. "Why?"

"Because if you do not take the fire, you will freeze many times over. You are ice, but unless you are also water, you will shatter."

Wendy didn't understand, but she was cold and tired and lost. "I want to go home," she whispered, beginning to cry. The tears leaked out of her eyes, freezing into ice on her cheeks. Wendy looked down at her hand, so pale that it might as well be snow.

"Take the fire," Friend ordered. "It will keep you warm."

Wendy tentatively reached out towards the red-orange light. It leapt from Friend to her hand, slowly running up Wendy's arms and into her hair. It wove itself between the blonde, almost-white fibers, turning them a brilliant red.

"You have been claimed by the ice, and the fire has laid its own claim on you. They will fight. And you will survive."

Wendy stood there, but she was no longer cold. She was tired, but now she was hungry as well. The frozen tears on her face turned to saltwater, flowing down her cheeks and onto her lips.

An hour later, her father found her. It was called a miracle that she survived.

No one ever mentioned her hair color. Wendy Corduroy had always had fiery hair, red like her mommy and her daddy and her brothers.

When Wendy was seven, her mother died, and she can't quite remember what happened. It all seems like a dream, a blur of half-memories and feelings and images. She doesn't know which story is real and which stories are false.

Wendy dreamed that Friend came, with her ice-cold eyes, and told her mother that it was time to repay a debt. The two women left the house together, Wendy's mommy turning into ice right before her eyes.

Wendy dreamed that her mother walked off one day, into the shining snow and frozen wind. She hugged her daughter just before she left, pulled her close and said 'I love you, and I'll always love you.' Her eyes were sad, and she never came back.

Wendy dreamed that her mother fell down the stairs one day, while her father and brothers were off at Boy Scouts. She lay there in a pool of blood, bruises covering her body. Wendy didn't know where the bandages were, but she had gotten a bruise yesterday and her daddy had taught her how to take care of it. Wendy ran as fast as she could to the freezer, taking out ice and wrapping it in her flannel jacket. She took the ice pack to her mother, because ice packs were what you did for bruises. But the bruises didn't go away and the bleeding didn't stop. The ice spilled out on the floor and melted, blood mixing with the water. Wendy can't remember what happened after that.

And the truth is, Wendy doesn't know which dream is true.

Maybe her mother was the dream.

No one ever mentions Mrs. Corduroy again, and Wendy doesn't rock the boat. But she dreams of icy blue eyes and frozen wilderness and a bag of ice spilled out amongst crimson blood.

When Wendy was ten, she went ice skating for the who-knows-how-many-eth time with her father and brothers. She was angry, because everyone else got to celebrate Christmas. Apocalypse training was fun, but it meant stupid food, and stupid clothes, and no presents.

Wendy was good at ice skating. She had been for a while, because someone good (her mother; don't think about it) had taught her.

Doing a figure eight, Wendy thought about the blades on her skates striking harsh lines into the ice. It felt good. She wanted something to hurt, and marring the perfect lake-surface made her feel better.

"Look, Wendy!" Kevin hollered, because he has no idea how upset she was. "Look, I can skate backwards."

Wendy lost it. "Shut up, Kevin!" She yelled, skating away from him as hard as she could. Wendy imagined the lines in the icy lake cracking, imagined the whole lake fracturing into a million pieces. She imagined punching it until it broke, because Wendy was angry that her family couldn't just celebrate Christmas like normal people.

Wendy got her wish. The ice broke, right around where Kevin was standing. He fell into the freezing water, screaming.

Wendy was there in seconds, reaching in to grab her brother's arm. All around them, fractures spread through the lake. Wendy looked around. Her father and other brothers were too far away.

"Everyone off the ice!" Wendy had to keep them safe. No one else could fall through. Her family couldn't get hurt. They just couldn't.

Grunting, Wendy pulled her brother's arm with all her might. Kevin was heavy, somehow developing muscles despite being literally eight years old. But he wasn't this heavy. Wendy tugged, and Kevin broke the surface enough to gasp the air and yell something about a tentacle.

He was pulled back under. Wendy screamed in frustration.

"Get off my brother, you stupid squid!" It had to be a squid if it had tentacles, right?

She pulled and pulled, but Kevin was slipping out of her grasp. Wendy could feel her heart pounding in her chest, the adrenaline burning through her system like fire, just as her arms burned with the effort of fighting the monster dragging her brother down.

Wendy could feel her heartbeat slowing. Wendy could feel time slowing too, could feel the situation freezing in place.

Something inside her seemed to take over, cold spreading through Wendy's veins in the place of blood. She didn't know why, but Wendy was filled with the utter certainty that she was going to fix this. Taking a deep breath, Wendy pulled with all of her effort. The ice beneath her feet shot down, into the darkness of the water. Wendy scrambled back, collapsing onto the rest of the fracturing ice. Something in the depths of the lake let out a scream.

And then Wendy was gasping for breath with her brother next to her, both of them soaking wet.

Wendy didn't know what happened, but that was normal. Strange things happened in Gravity falls.

Something red rose up in the water, staining the snow on top of the ice a crimson red. Wendy didn't see. She was too relieved at her brother's survival to notice the monster's blood.

But that was forever ago.

Now, Wendy finally has friends, because she's thirteen and her braces have come off and she isn't a freak anymore. Or more accurately, she lets herself spend time around Robbie and Tambry and Nate and Lee and Thomson, because she's less worried that they'll hate her.

After all, if they do hate her, Wendy reminds herself, she's always got her dad and her trees and her axe and her brothers and her snow. Plenty of friends there.

Wendy also has a boyfriend. His name is Russ Durham, and he wears plaid to school most days, though to be fair, it's his flannel pajamas. But he told Wendy he liked her jacket, which is also plaid, so maybe they have that in common.

All in all, Russ isn't a bad boyfriend. He gives Wendy compliments, and he's an eighth grader like her so he doesn't have any weird ideas about what they should be doing on dates. They go to Greasy's Diner, and Wendy lets him pay, because, well, just because she's as good as any man doesn't mean she's going to turn down free pancakes.

One day, they walk in the woods together, holding hands because that's what a boyfriend and girlfriend are supposed to do, Wendy thinks. The trees are white with snow, and the ground is white too. It's beautiful, and Wendy finds herself staring at the winter wonderland.

She isn't really paying attention to what Russ is saying, but he doesn't seem to mind, and the forest in February is a lot more interesting. Valentines Day is coming up. Wendy thinks that's what Russ is talking about, but she doesn't really notice.

Until she does, because he mentions Wendy's friends, and his tone isn't good. Wendy's internal alert system is always on. She's the eldest of four kids; if someone is mean to her brothers, she will fight them. And since she's got friends now, the alert goes off for them too.

Wendy finally listens to what Russ is talking about, because he mentions Lee and Nate and starts saying things about them. And all Wendy can think about is the cold that's sweeping across her. Her eyes become icicles, piercing through Russ as she whirls around at him. It's cold out, and Wendy doesn't feel anything except the winter wind.

Above Russ, a branch cracks from the weight of the snow. It doesn't fall down on him, but the snow does, burying him up to his chest. Russ's arms are pinned at his sides, and all Wendy thinks is 'good' because now he'll have to listen.

Wendy doesn't remember what she says. Maybe it's "we're over" or maybe it's "don't speak about my friends that way!" or maybe she doesn't speak at all and just turns away in silence.

And then Wendy is walking—no, gliding—through the snow, away. Russ calls out to her, yelling "I'm stuck!" and "Help me!" and "Wait, no, I didn't mean it like that!"

Wendy leaves, and the snow around Russ freezes to ice.

The next day, Russ is at school, though he shivers every time he stops moving for even a second. He never talks to Wendy again, and there aren't any strange rumors spreading about them. Wendy broke up with Russ yesterday, oh, what else is new?

No one ever mentions it.

No one ever mentions a lot of things.

And then suddenly Wendy is fifteen, and she's afraid that she's going to die. To be fair, who wouldn't? But she doesn't show it. Act like you don't care, like nothing matters. It's gotten her this far. Nothing really matters in Gravity Falls.

"Wendy! Wendy!" Her friends chant.

"Hehe. Shut up, you guys," Wendy says, standing on the bag of ice spray-painted onto the floor.

And it doesn't work, but that's alright. Wendy draws the zodiac again, after Weirdmageddon, draws it in the snow the next time winter comes. She doesn't know why, but it feels right.

A bag of ice. What a lame symbol.

And yet, Mr. Pines the Secret Twin (at least, she's pretty sure that's the case—she still hasn't completely gotten over Soos's confusing explanation) had said it was someone cool in the face of danger.

So, it fits, Wendy thinks. Around her, tiny ice crystals spiral down, landing on her hair and refusing to melt.

Wendy is fire, but she has always burnt cold.

Thanks for reading!