Chapter 12: Marco

Dipper walked up the stairs carefully, as if the stairs were covered in oil. He got to the top and starting going towards Marco's room, but then he heard a scream coming from the bedroom. Dipper ran over and kicked the door down, he ran into the room and saw Marco tied up to the bed, Star sitting next to him with a little red book in hand.

"What the heck are you two doing!?" Shouted Dipper.

"Ah thank the stars you're here Dip, Star has tied me up and she's been reading out loud my old diary! You got to help!" Yelled Marco in desperation. Then, Star shot up and said while pointing her finger at Dipper:

"You better not help him, I'm just getting to the good part." Dipper didn't reply, he was torn between helping his friend and laughing at him. But he snapped back into concentration mode and said:

"Guys, this isn't the time! I have questions damn it, and I want answers! Also I'd like some clothes to change into, I hate this skirt, it's too tight around my waist." Dipper had a determined look in his eyes, his face was all red, he was ready to break something. Star saw the look in Dippers eyes and untied Marco.

"All right, let's talk." Said Star. Marco went into his wardrobe and quickly grabbed a top and jeans and threw them to Dipper.

"Here are some clothes, go change in the bathroom." He said. Dipper responded with a nod.

Meanwhile, Pacifica was walking around Echo creek, mumbling to herself. She would say things like: "Dipper, you're a damn idiot!" or "Why did I even come all this way!?" She was obviously furious with Dipper. But as much as she got pissed at him, she couldn't find it in her heart to hate him and she knew this. Pacifica was about to turn back to go apologize to Dipper for yelled, but someone smacked into her.

"All right, who's the retarded who ran into me!?" Yelled Pacifica, she turned over the the girl who was on the floor. The girl looked over at Pacifica who had a fiery look in her eye.

"I'm so sorry, I didn't see you. That's twice today I've ran into someone." Said the girl.

"Don't worry, its fine, it's also my fault, I wasn't looking at where I was going." Replied P.

"Well i feel like I should buy you something to show you my apologies." The girl added.

"That's not necessarily."

"I know, but I want to. Just please accept." Pacifica gave up and accepted the girl's request.

"Yay! Thanks. By the way, im Jackie, nice to meet you." She said with a smile.

"I'm Pacifica, and the pleasure is all mine." The two girls walked off together towards town.

Back at Marco's place, everyone was sitting down ready to talk.

"Alright, first things first: Why do you have a cape in your wardrobe?" Asked Dipper.

"Well that's a long story, that's from back in the day, during a Battle, remember Star?" Replied Marco.

"Of course I do, how could I forget." She said.

"Wait what? You were involved in a battle?" Asked Dipper.

"Of course he was, but I was also there, so were my friends like Janna, Tom, poney head and more." Answered Star.

"Okay, first question down. Let's get serious, what the heck happened between Marco and Jackie!?" Star looked over at Marco, Marco looked back over to her, it was obvious to tell that they didn't want to answer.

"I guess you won't tell me." Said Dipper. But a few seconds later, Marco gave in:

"Fine, I'll briefly explain. At one point, Jackie and I dated. We were going great till one evening, one of my friends said something that shock both me and Jackie. We talked about it after and we realized that we didn't have feelings for each other anymore."

"Okay, okay, that makes some sense, but there's one thing, Why the hell didn't you tell me you and her dated!? That's like the biggest news ever and you keeps it from me! How could you?" Dipper replied.

"Dude, come down, we wanted to keep it low profile, that's why." Marco said.

"Whatever, what's done is done. So what was the thing said and who said it ?" Marco looked over at Star and asked her:

"Should we tell him?" She replied with a simple nod. Marco took a deep breath and said:

"It's because of Star that we broke up, and what Star said was that she had a crush on me and she wanted to say it before leaving, Star ran off to leave and I ran after her." Dipper didn't say a thing, he looked down at the ground, his hands on his head, supporting the weight of his head, he started like that for a few seconds. Then he looked up at Marco and said:

"Well that makes complete sense now, that's why she was weird with me when I mentioned your name to her today." Marco replied with a simple "Yep".

Meanwhile, Pacifica and Jackie made their way toward the best coffee house in town. The two sat down and started to chat:

"So what brings you to Echo Creek?" Asked Jackie.

"Nothing much, I just came to talk to someone." P replied.

"Who is this mysterious person? A guy perhaps?"

"Yeah. I needed to chat to him because of some stuff that happened recently." P looked down out her coffee cup, she was holding it with her two hands. She thought back to what happened at the mansion. But she quickly snapped out of it when Jackie asked:

"Ah really? Like what." Before replying, Pacifica took a sip from her cafe latte, she was still thinking about how her father acted, how Dipper just left without much warning, how she wanted to ask him 101 questions. Pacifica answered with this:

"Some stupid stuff, sorry I don't really feel like talking about it with anyone at the moment." Jackie looked over at P, smiled and said:

"That's understandable. So anyway, who's the guy?" Pacifica knew something was up with Jackie. 'She seems TOO nice, but it may just be a simple coincidence.'

"Look Jackie, you seem very nice and everything, but I don't think we're close enough to tell about this stuff. Sorry, I hope you don't take it personally." She said humbly.

"That's fine, I get it. Anyway, what town are you from? Can I at least ask you that?"

"Sure, I'm from New York, but for the Summer, I'm in Gravity Falls over in Oregon." Jackie looked down at her coffee cup, she stared at it for a few seconds, thinking. Then suddenly, she looked up at P and said:

"Oh I've heard of Gravity Falls, I have a friend who's over there for the Summer as well. I just saw him today oddly enough, he went to go see an old friend." Pacifica was in shock. She was surprised that Jackie had her about Gravity Falls and not just that, she was also shocked at the fact that Jackie may know Dipper, but she wasn't sure if Jackie was talking about him. Pacifica decided to ask some questions to make sure.

"Oh really? Maybe I know him, why don't you describe to me what he looks like." Asked P.

"Alright, so he's got brown hair, a cute face, typically wears a red T-Shirt, puffer vest, shorts and he has the most adorable nose." She said. P was now certain that Jackie was talking about Dipper. She decided to leave:

"Sorry Jackie, I have to go. But before I go, I got a last question."

"Sure, shot." Pacifica took a deep breath and said:

"What do you think of your friend who's in Gravity Falls?"

"Well, I think he's cute. What else is there to say." She replied while smiling. Pacifica nodded and walked off. But she started to think 'How come Dipper knows everyone? It's so weird. I better go check up on him and apologize.'

Back in Marco's room, Dipper, Marco and Star were still talking. Dipper decided to ask some more personal questions about himself and get some advice from his bro and from Star.

"Honestly, Do you think I'd be better off with P or with Victoria?" Asked Dipper.

"Well, I don't know Victoria personally. So I can't say." Answered Marco.

"I got to get to know both, and I think Pacifica's a better choice. I can explain, If you will, I always have had a eye for match making, I mean, I did help Miss Skullnick at one point. But that's not what's important, what I'm saying is that maybe you and Victoria get along better than you and P, but I think with everything that happened back with the Mangon, that should be what you keep in mind when choosing." Said Star. Dipper and Marco were speechless, there was nothing else to add, Star gave the best example to help Dipper choose.

"How did something so well thought out, come out of your mouth?" Asked Marco.

"Oh that's so mean! Are you saying I'm dumb? That I can never say anything smart?" She asked.

"Not that's not what I meant." He replied. Dipper was still speechless. He thought back to the whole Mangon incident. He remembers the fight, the adrenaline rush, the cries of the beast, the screams of his friends, the rage he felt, the blade he held and the girl he held in his arms. Dipper remembers it all, but then again, how could anyone forget a day as extraordinary as that one. But he remembered something else. Something darker, something that Bill said to him that he was blindly following. Something that now, he should be careful about. He thought about it, then asked Marco and Star:

"But one other thing, Bill wants me to end up with Pacifica, so should I avoid doing it so the world doesn't plunge into chaos or should I just choose the girl I want and not worry about the threat of a literal dream demon?" Suddenly a voice was coming from Marco's wardrobe saying:

"Did someone mention Bill?" And then, Glossaryck appeared who was writing stuff down in a tiny book using his feet.

"Bill is a powerful demon, trust me I know. But honestly, I suggest you do as you please Dipper, cause first of all, you got Kyle looking over you, plus Jeanne and also now you'll have me." He explained.

"Wait Glossaryck, are you sure you want to look after him?" Asked Star.

"Well if I didn't want to, I wouldn't have said that I'd looked after him. And besides, after what happened back with toffee in that battle, I think you'll be fine if I go for a few days." He replied.

"Okay, I'll trust your judgement." Star said, then she went to hug him. Suddenly, the doorbell rang. Marco got up from the bed, Star and Dipper got up to come downstairs.

"No worries, I'll get it." Said Marco he quickly rushed downstairs to not aggravate the person at the door. Meanwhile, back in Marco's room, Star and Dipper were still discussing his situation with Pacifica Northwest.

"Pacifica and I didn't really get you two together, did we? You guys were pretty much already together before even coming to the party, weren't you?" Star looked up at Dipper and gave him a smile, she then added:

"Yeah, we were. But I still appreciate that you two tried." And suddenly Marco called Dipper downstairs. Dipper went downstairs with Star following behind him, Once he was at the bottom, he looked over at the living room and saw Pacifica standing there, waiting. He wanted to say so much to her, but he didn't because he was afraid that he'd say the wrong thing and end up with a massive red handprint on his face. Luckily for him, Pacifica started the talking:

"Look Dipper, I'm sorry for the way I acted before. I guess I was blinded by how upset I was and I didn't really have time to think about what I was going to say. I didn't even take your explanation seriously. So I'm sorry Dipper." She said with tears running down her cheeks. One of the tears hit the floor, but Pacifica wiped the others away before they did the same. Dipper walked over to her and took her into his arms. She rapped her arms around him, she couldn't stop crying. Dipper looked at her, smiled and said:

"Hey P, look at me for a second." She looked up at him, still with tears running down her face. Then he said:

"Don't worry, I forgive you P. And you know, you have beautiful green eyes." Pacifica's crying stop immediately, she wiped the last drops off her cheek and said:

"You know, for as smart as you are, you can be such an idiot."

"Yeah, I know." The two continued to look at each other for a bit, but Star butted in.

"I'm so glad you too made up! Friends shouldn't stay mad at each other." She said.

"Yeah, so Dipper, what are you doing to do now? Are you gonna go back to Gravity Falls or are you gonna stay here in Echo creek?" Asked Pacifica.

"I'm not sure, cause I would love to go back and see my family and assure Mabel that I'm alright and to see Ernest and Victoria before they leave, but on the other hand, I don't want to face your father, plus I like it here." He said.

"Well I get it, but I think you should go back, even if you risk getting attacked by Pacifica's father, cause if he des attack you, I'm sure you'll be fine. I mean, you did fight that Mangon right? Plus, Mabel is back in Gravity Falls waiting for you." Marco explained.

"You've always been the voice of reason. Fine, I'm going to head back." Dipper replied while adjusting his hat. Pacifica smiled, she was glad that Dipper was going home. He started getting all of his belongings and putting them into his backpack, when he finished, his head started to spin, he felt dizzy, then suddenly, he collapsed. When he woke up, he was back in Kyle's office. He looked over at the oak desk and saw Kyle working. After a few minutes, Dipper finally had the strength to stand, he got up, looked over at Kyle and said:

"What do you want now?"

"Really Dipper? Is that how you greet someone?" Kyle replied.

"Well if you summer me, that means either you want to tell me something or you want me to do something."

"Well you got me there, I want to talk. So please, take a seat." and suddenly, a couch appeared in front of his desk. Dipper without hesitation, sat on the couch. Kyle moved his papers to the side, looked at Dipper and said:

"We need to have a discussion about something called 'The Pentagon'."

End of Chapter 12 : Marco