HAT: It's been forever and a day since I've updated this one, huh? Well, this chapter's where everything takes a turn to the left. I WARN YOU that this has VIOLENCE/TORTURE, and there's also DEATH. Now that I've given you warning, I can proceed to let you read this story.
Disclaimer: I don't own anything aside from the plot and OCs.
"Pacifica, please... say something," Stanford begs quietly.
He's kneeled in front of her and looking up at her with an uncharacteristic amount of concern leaking into his features. That concern only grows with her silence and he looks just about desperate at this point- something she's never seen before.
"Say something... anything, please," he begs and then lowers his chin so she won't be able to see the tears in his eyes- not that she's looking directly at him anyway.
It's all my fault. I should've been there, he thinks while rubbing his eyes.
He's not the only one with this thought process. Everyone's thinking this- especially the adults. If they'd been there they would've been able to save her from this trauma and she wouldn't be in this state for so long- not saying a word, barely eating, barely living. Her eyes no longer hold the spark they used to- they're haunted like an old man who's seen too much- like the Stans' eyes. It's not right.
"Please, sweetie... say something," he begs again with tears in his voice.
And yet the silence persists...
-EARLIER THAT WEEK-
"See ya, guys!" Mabel shouts as she goes to the door.
"Wait, you're not coming to the race?" Pacifica asks, baffled.
"Craig and I are going on a date," Mabel informs.
Pacifica groans and rolls her eyes. "Ugh, him. Why would he bother when he knows there's a big race today? Didn't you tell him that you were gonna come?"
Mabel shrugs. "It slipped my mind. I forgot that your race was today when he asked."
"You could take him to the race," Pacifica suggests.
"Sorry, Pacifica, he already made reservations at this restaurant and paid for it- there's no way he can cancel now," Mabel insists.
Pacifica scoffs and shakes her head. "Fine, go ahead and go on your date."
He's just gonna break your heart anyway, she thinks while going back upstairs to change.
She just has to stop thinking for a while- get back into her zone so she won't get distracted during the race and wind up coming fourth or worse. Not think about Mabel and her stupid boyfriend or the fact that she's probably gonna come crying to her and she'll have to bite back an "I told you so" to keep her from feeling worse.
"Pacifica!"
Oh, no, Pacifica thinks and then opens her bedroom window and looks down at Gideon decked out in her school colors with a large grin on his face.
"Whaddoyouwant, Gideon?" Pacifica demands with an icy glare that could only be described as looking like Stanford's.
Maybe if I'm lucky one of them'll use the hose on him, Pacifica thinks- her mind automatically turning to the Stans.
"Ah just wanted t' wish you good luck on your race t'day," he says bashfully while kicking the ground beneath his feet.
"O...kay... thank you, I guess," Pacifica replies.
Gideon looks like he wants to say something else, but he settles on, "See ya, Pacifica!"
"Uh... see ya," Pacifica replies and then closes her bedroom window and locks it as well. "Okay, that was... weird."
She shakes her head and grabs her duffel bag. I don't have time to worry about that.
"Pacifica are you ready to go?!" Stanley calls.
"Yeah, Papa!" She calls back and slings her duffle bag over her shoulder.
As she makes her way down she can't help but feel her gut plummet down as well. Something's wrong- aside from the obvious- but she ignores it and tells herself to get her head in the game. She can worry about everything else after the race. Everything can be dealt with after the race... or at least that's what she's telling herself.
As she gets to the bottom steps she readjusts the bag on her shoulder and finds Dipper standing there with his jacket thrown on and hands stuffed in his pockets.
"Hey, everyone's in the car already," Dipper says.
Pacifica nods. "Alright. Let's go."
He stops her before she walks out and quietly asks, "Are you okay?"
She's quiet for a moment before she says, "Fine... just nervous over the race."
He gives her a disbelieving look. "You're never nervous about a race. What's really wrong?"
"... Mabel... did you know?"
"No, I just found out twenty minutes ago," he replies.
She shakes her head and takes his hand to drag him to the car. "C'mon, let's go. We don't have time to worry about her right now. She'll be fine for tonight- he probably won't do anything stupid for a few more dates anyway."
They climb into the backseat of the car and buckle up upon Stanford's glowering when they fail to do so immediately.
Stanley starts driving to the school and Pacifica closes her eyes and takes deep breaths to try and focus. But everything's swarming in her head and she can't concentrate like she normally would.
Stanford reaches back and pokes her forehead lightly. "Remember the trick?"
Pacifica's confused for a moment and then blinks in realization. Oh, yeah...
She crosses her legs in the seat and brings her hands in front of her and crossed her fingers inside of her hands and then lets her thumbs touch at the top. Her eyes close and she takes deep breathes, sorting through her thoughts slowly and soon everything settles back to where they need to be.
"Better?" Stanford asks.
She nods. "Yeah... much better."
Stanford nods and turns back to look at the road.
Pacifica readjusts her ponytail. Yeah, just a few thoughts...
Once they finally pull up in front of the school, Pacifica practically leaps out of the car with her duffel bag at hand and runs towards the track. She thinks of this as a sort of warmup in case she doesn't have the chance to actually warm up (which she should).
She sees McGucket sitting beside Soos and Travis on the bleachers and smiles a little to herself. She goes off to the side and stretches, eyes darting around for anything unusual and there's nothing- there usually aren't at the track meets.
Before she knows it she's at the starting line ready to take off at a moment's notice.
As the gun shoots she takes off and goes at a steady pace, staying with the group for a about a mile and a half before she pulls ahead as she usually does. When she puts a decent amount of distance between herself and the group she grins triumphantly. Sure, she's third place at the moment, but there's no doubt she can pull ahead if she keeps up at this pace.
Suddenly she sees a flash of electric blue light and she stops, panting and looking around. She shakes her head and starts running again.
He can't be stupid enough to try and attack me in the middle of a race... can he?
Fear trickles through her veins and she starts running faster. If she can only make it close to the second place person (who is much closer than the group) than she should be fine.
Should be.
She shakes her head of the intrusive thought and keeps moving.
Don't slow down. Don't slow down, she chants to herself.
Unfortunately the speed she goes can't stop him from doing what he wants.
She's grabbed and gagged before she has time to process it and carried far from the course. She tries to fight back and tries screaming- surely even a paranormal creature will hear her and save her somehow?
They end up deep in the forest and she's dumped on the ground where there's patchy grass. She pushes herself up and glares at Dan as he stands there smirking with that evil glint in his electric eyes.
"My, you're interesting. You're scared and you still fight," Dan says and then kneels in front of her. "Would be less annoying if you weren't a pipsqueak."
"Get away from me!" Pacifica immediately tries to punch him, but he's got much better reflexes and he dodges with a cocky smirk.
"Feisty," he notes and then takes her wrist and twists it painfully. "You're very breakable y'know."
She glares at him. "Let me go."
"You're wish is my command Princess Northwest!" He sneers and throws her arm carelessly so it twists more, but doesn't break.
"I'm a Pines," Pacifica snarls at him as she pushes herself up.
"I don't care what you think you are. You can never be anything more than what you've always been."
Pacifica glares at him and shakes a bit with hate, fear, and a crippling sense of hopelessness and self-doubt building in her chest at his words.
What if he's right? What if everything she's done to change who she is, every bond she's made with people who used to be her enemies... means nothing? That no matter what she does she can never get away from the blood that runs in her veins. She can never run from the Northwests because they're apart of her... and it's inevitable that she'll turn into... into them.
"Are you crying Northwest?"
"Screw you," she hisses while wiping her tears from her eyes and glaring at him.
Dan shakes his head with mock disappointment. "So rude, Northwest. I outta teach you some manners."
Pacifica moves back and tries to dodge him as he moves to grab her. The keyword is "try" in this sentence. She tries to bend his pinky back, but this fails as well and his fingers grip her arm so tightly that she's sure that there is already a large purple bruise on her arm. She uses her free arm to guard her face as he starts hitting her and she whimpers with pain and fear. She just wants to run- find her family and be safe and far from this situation.
"Stop!" Pacifica begs.
"Make me stop," he snarls.
She punches him in the crotch and his grip loosens enough that she can tear away and start to run. She doesn't care about the race- a trivial thing- she just wants to get to people in general.
She's grabbed by her ankle and dragged down to the ground. She can feel that any humor he's had in the situation are gone and the stormy look on his face causes her insides feel as if they've been grabbed by a cold hand.
Her fingers dig into the dirt as he drags her and she hears the sound of water nearby.
How far away are we? Pacifica wonders just before he takes her hair in his fist.
"Better hope you've got gills and you just don't know it."
She barely gets the chance to take a breath before her head's under the water. She digs her fingernails into his skin to try and pry his hand away or make him feel enough pain to loosen his grip. This- it seems- only makes his grip tighter. Her lungs are burning and she needs air in her lungs right now. Struggle as she might, her attempts are futile.
He pulls her head above water and she greedily breathes the air right before she's ducked under again.
Pacifica reaches around, trying to find a weapon of some sorts. Suddenly her fingers brush against something rough and as her hand wraps around it she realizes it's a large rock. She lifts her head and slams it against his temple, causing him to fall over onto his side.
As she sits up and takes another breath of precious air, she tries to clear her eyes and see what's going on.
Dan is lying on the ground, groaning quietly and there's a thick branch laying nearby with a sharp enough end to take care of anything.
Without hesitation she scrambles for it and takes it in her hands and turns to him and finds his dazed electric blue eyes on her and it causes her to freeze.
What am I doing? The thought is so brief she doesn't even realize it passed by.
Dan pushes himself up and lunges toward her and she does the only thing she can do and uses the branch to defend herself. The wood breaks through the material of his shirt and his skin and goes right through his back. He stares at her for a long moment before he drops to his knees and she's the only thing supporting his weight.
His fingers brush against his blood and he marvels at his dark crimson color for a moment before his eyes flicker up to her again and he reaches forward, but his hand only brushes against her arm before he grows weak. The glow in his eyes dull and she stares at him fearfully and as she hears him whisper his last words her heart sinks with his body as it slumps to the side.
She stares at the place where his eyes had been before and tears begin to gather in her electric blue eyes as she finally realizes the weight of what she's done.
HAT: I know! I know! I'm terrible!
Stan: What the hell, Hat?!
HAT: It will all be explained in a few chapters, rest assured! Now please say it.
Stan: *grabs the collar of HAT's shirt* Review. HAAAAT, you've got some 'splaining to do!
HAT: *sighs* Just... just let it fade to black.