AN: Hey guys! I know it's been a bit long, I have not been having a lot of time to come back and write, but I still have a lot of ideas for this fic, and would love to hear what y'all think of it as well as any ideas you guys wanna throw my way! I apologize for the shortness of this chapter, and if you haven't already please check out the cover art that I did myself! Please enjoy 3

TW!: the following chapter contains themes of trauma, PTSD, blood, gore, elements of fear, and anxiety.

Chapter 5: Reliant

June 24th?

11h 41m into

Pacifica jolted upright, waking up in cold sweat, and jostling her covers, she took a deep breath in and saw that it was 6:30 in the morning. The whole night she had been uneasy, falling asleep took longer than expected and when she eventually did fall, it wasn't to sleep, she fell into a paralysis which started to spiral into a nightmare, but now as her mind calmed her down, she decided not to think about her burden from the night prior.

But as Pacifica started to mentally prepare herself for the day ahead, visions from the night before slowly brushed up behind her, a flurry of affliction, anxiety, and adrenaline.

It was at no specified time of day, the sky around her had remained a dark crimson shade, not allowing darkness or light to cancel each other out, instead of pushing the two to clash, slightly illuminating the clouds. Although it would've taken a sharp eye to notice the veiny sac-like structures holding bits of hair and teeth, growing, pulsating, humming, and shrinking, which pulsated to beat down blood, fluid, and bits of flesh. As a show of power, as a threat, and because the creator of this nightmare thought it was fun.

She was back in Weirdmaggedon, alone, Pacifica could sense the unsettling aura within the environment around her, a terrifying evil. And with each breath she took, it seemed to get worse. Pacifica had never been exposed to the smell of blood before unless she counted the small number of times she had fox hunted as tradition. But after Weirdmaggedon she could, the same went for the scent of rotting flesh as well, as of right now, that was all that filled her nostrils.

When she turned around to face her surrounding, Pacifica found that she was in the Fearamid, standing at the entryway, facing the demon's throne. She was drawn to walk closer to it before she saw the llama sweater that Mabel had given her some time before, on the ground, ignited in flames, and slowly turning into ash. Pacifica ran over to it and tried to put out the fire, but it was too late and all that was left was a charred yellow piece of yarn. A wave of emotions flooded her, and made her panic, she felt her throat close up and her stomach knot, not that she would ever admit it to anyone, but the sweater had become almost like a safety blanket to Pacifica, especially when she felt alone.

As she gathered her bearings, she felt herself break into a cold sweat, alarming her of a presence looming behind her, slowly beginning to turn around, in time to face the present evil that endangered her life. Bill Cipher, a dream demon, had his eye rested upon her, unblinking and hostile, a warm glow emanated from his brick-like bodice and onto Pacifica's face. He immediately started to give chase. As soon as he started moving, Pacifica ran with all the might she could muster, doing her best to mislead him and get the demon off of her trail, she ran in zig-zag patterns, and went from room to room, earning an ungodly screech echoing behind her, as rapid and heavy stomping closed in.

Don't look back. Don't look back. Don't look back. She told herself, don't look back and he won't catch you. As these thoughts raced in her mind, Pacifica started to hear indecipherable whispers all around, they sounded like a group of people speaking backward nonsense to each other, she couldn't focus on it and kept on running.

She didn't anticipate that a hand would come up from the ground and try to grab her, causing her to stumble and fall when she started to get up and start running again, she accidentally turned to face him, he had grown mouthes with gnashing teeth and sharp tongues, underneath layers of himself, his one eye turning red complementing the cornea glowing black behind it. As the subtle yellow glow that had once been there turned to a dark crimson, letting blood leak from the cracks and crevices of skin and muscles he had grown for his physical form.

Pacifica scrambled to get up and felt tears forming in her eyes, out of the intensity of the situation, she felt her throat close up, and her feet started to blister and get sore. The whispers slowly grew louder, with more feeling and depth, it felt as if twelve people had come up behind and next to her, to breathe into her brain. She needed it to stop, it was coming to a point where she could barely run, her bare feet now dripping with blood, and slightly burnt, she saw a door up ahead and decided to bolt towards it, as soon as she spotted the door, the loud whispers which surrounded Pacifica had turned into screams of agony and pain.

"Stop your crying Llama, and I may just consider killing you instead."

Her stomach dropped, Pacifica was hidden behind a wall, yet wasn't sure that Bill couldn't smell or sense her whereabouts. He was onto her, the wailing and weeping escalating causing her ears to bleed. It was coming to a point where Pacifica could barely hear the demon's footsteps that she knew were upon her, five feet across from where she was, she saw the door, and could feel that her pursuer was coming in close to where she was, it was getting to be almost too late for her to make a break for it. It was now or never, she could feel her blisters pulsate in pain, and hear screams of agony, and with sweat running down her back from the heat around her, Pacifica bolted to the door, running solely on pure adrenaline, making a narrow escape from the clutches of the demon.

Yet as she started to continue running after opening the door, she realized that not only had the screaming stopped but, it was no longer the temperature of hell. Pacifica had also stepped on something that felt like a taxidermied animal. The smell of burnt flesh and rotting corpses hit her olfactory system, revealing that it was a human body, which belonged to none other than Dipper Pines. Pacifica stepped back and looked around to see that he, along with the rest of the zodiac, including Mabel, Wendy, and Robbie had been flayed open to reveal their insides, like a sick science experiment, their eyes were gouged out from their sockets and placed above their large intestines to create a smiley face, each of their faces had become weathered and leathery, making them look like sock puppets.

Pacifica retched, and started to weep, tears and bile getting all over herself, she started to dry heave from it all, the deafening silence causing her to feel claustrophobic, she was in the middle of trying to begin to process it all, when all of a sudden, she felt the demon behind her, and before she could turn around, Pacifica felt her flesh being torn to pieces.

And that was when she awoke, this was not the first nightmare she had gone through after Weirdmaggedon, but it was the first one that had been so anxiety-inducing, and real. When she woke up Pacifica could feel the pain that she encountered in the dream slowly fading away.

This is going to be a long morning.

It was 11:41 am when Pacifica got out of bed, and it took her 15 minutes to get ready for the day, she didn't have anything to wear other than some leggings and a lavender dress with her Ugg boots, which she had already had on before changing into her llama sweater and leggings the night before. So, after taking a shower, washing her face, and brushing her teeth with a guest toothbrush Mabel had given her, Pacifica stole Robbie's destiny hoodie to wear for the day. Two years ago it wouldn't have fit her as well as it did now, the hoodie was big for her but at almost 14 it seemed to be only one size up from her llama sweater.

I can't believe that my birthday is tomorrow…

When she got downstairs, she wasn't surprised to see that everyone was already up. Robbie had been given a sweater, knitted by Mabel, that looked like the cover of a Pink Floyd album, not that he was complaining. He didn't even blink at her when he noticed Pacifica was wearing his hoodie, a little distracted by the waffles they were having for breakfast.

"Oh! Good morning Pacifica, nice of you to join us." Older Dipper said warmly.

"Thanks, are those waffles?"

"Yes they are, would you like some?"

"Well maybe just o-"

"Give her four."

"Robbie"

"What? I just wanna make sure that you have enough."

Pacifica rolled her eyes and thanked Dipper for the waffles, she couldn't believe Robbie sometimes. And it reminded her of Mabel, both of them always trying to get her fat. Whatever.

After she finished her waffles, she heard older dippers clear his throat to get the attention of everyone in the room.

"Okay, so I've come up with something to help the two of you out, after you guys left the basement, I started to try and replicate the juices that the inter-dimensional transporter runs on, which was very difficult. BUT I think that I got it, and I've made you both, at least 15 reloads that should go with this particular model."

"Wow thank you Dipper, that means a lot," Pacifica responded.

"Please, call me Mason."

"Yeah, we're not gonna do that" Robbie spat, accidentally dropping bits of waffle from his mouth.

"Now listen, you're gonna have to handle these very carefully, I will show and instruct you both on how to use these, but first there are some other things that you are going to need for your travels."

"YES, what he said. So while this nerd here was working on that stuff, I took the initiative to knit you both some clothes, and Robbie, I made you a backpack since you don't have one."

"Thanks, Mabel."

Older Mabel winked back at Robbie with a smile.

"No prob Bob!"

"So along with…. Mabel's contribution, I have also prepared some snacks, interdimensional currency, and a copy of my notebook during my travels, which details some of the things that you might encounter and prepares you for it. I noticed that Pacifica already had some weapons, so, Robbie I'm giving you my blaster."

"Are you sure?"

"Positive! You need something to defe-"

"No, no, are you sure that's a good idea?"

"If I teach you how to use it."

"What are we going to do if the fluid runs out? If we need money? Or if we run out of food?" Pacifica questioned.

"Well, I will give you the formula for the transporter so that you know how to make it, if you need money, usually it's easy to get a job so that you can buy things like food or information. And in my journal, I also listed some natural food that grows in each place I've been. You guys should be fine."

The rest of the day consisted of Older Mabel and Dipper preparing Robbie and Pacifica for multidimensional travel, although Paz had gotten a couple of months of training with Wendy on how to survive the wild ( in a very non-traditional way, that involved getting her lost on purpose for an entire week to see if she could survive by herself as a pop quiz ), there was still a lot that she had to learn if she was going to survive the madness of the multiverse.

Robbie had little to no training, so it would the up to Pacifica to help him out by sharing some of the knowledge in survival that she had while they were traveling. Older Dipper offered to train Robbie on how to use a blaster, as well as a few survival skills so he wouldn't be completely blind going into the multiverse.

"Okay Robbie, what you're going to have to know before shooting or even thinking about touching the blaster, is safety."

"Safety?"

"Precisely. Blaster safety is one of the most important things for any being to know, whether they own one or not, now the first thing that you're going to have to keep in mind is where the safety is located, always remember to have it on unless you have it in your arms. Now the second thing you'll wanna remember…"

As older Dipper continued to teach Robbie about blaster safety in preparation for being able to use it, Older Mabel and Pacifica were inside doing some preparations of their own.

"Wait, wait, wait… You mean to tell me that you don't know resourcefulness in the kitchen?"

"Heh… Not really, although I love to eat food, I never like actually thought I needed to know how to. That's usually what take-out is for. Or at least that's how Wendy put it."

"Huh, I mean I guess that makes sense. WELP it's time for you to learn now. Alright, what we'll be doing is taking the guide that Dip- I'm sorry, Mason, provided to both you and Robbie and we'll be looking at some of the edible plants and meats in hopes of being able to put together soups and such."

As Mabel started to teach Pacifica, she used ingredients from earth to simultaneously teach her basic recipes that Pacifica could try to mimic while looking. They used an old cauldron and some rusted pots and pans that were thoroughly washed to get the feel of how it would be when she and Robbie were in the multiverse by themselves. Universally the two easiest things to cook were scrambled eggs and soup. The only thing that Pacifica could make without burning it or somehow accidentally turning it into a sentient being, was soup. And she was about ready to quit when she heard a very audible Robbie complaining,

"NO! That's it, dude, I almost shot myself I don't think this is going to work out, There has to be another way for me to defend myself…"

"WAIT!"

"What is it, Mabel?" Older Dipper questioned.

"I have an idea! Robbie, you can't shoot a blaster!"

"Ok yeah but ouch."

"And Pacifica, you can't cook to save your life!"

"HEY!"

"Why don't you guys just switch places? And Robbie, if you want to learn how to fight that bad, I can teach you! You can even take my old brass knuckles."

"It beats the stormtrooper approach."

"I don't know if I want to learn how to shoot a blaster, I already have knives."

"Think of it as a just in case, see, Robbie knows how to handle a blaster just in case, it's just his aiming that needs work. I can teach you how to handle one just in case you need to. As far as food goes, I have some food packages that you just add water to, you should be fine."

After switching places, things seemed to go a bit smoother for the younger two of the group, Robbie learned some basic self-defense techniques and pressure points and enjoyed some of the basic cooking skills Mabel taught him. It helped that his dad had already made him take boxing from ages three to thirteen, and learned basic cooking skills from his mother begrudgingly to impress Tambry. When it came to Pacifica, she was thriving, after learning safety, she had advanced to hitting targets, and each one was a perfect bull's eye. This was mainly because her father had taught her how to use a gun when hunting.

While Mabel and Robbie were cooking, the older woman took it upon herself to ask him about Tambry, and give him some unsolicited advice. Robbie thought the only way Mabel had found out anything about his girlfriend, was that apparently, Pacifica had told Mabel about Tambry in great detail, and he was already looking for a way to get her back for this if he had to hear about 'the proper way' to get to first and third base, he was going to off himself.

As for Older Dipper and Pacifica, they had moved on from learning how to handle a blaster and had gone to some ways that she could learn about and observe the world around her. Which she knew would help her, not many people gave Pacifica credit for how smart she was, she didn't come near as smart as older Dipper was, she was still up there with an IQ of 125. She appreciated that he took the time to show her these things, even if she wasn't as big a nerd as he was. Not all of it made sense but it wasn't useless so, she paid attention.

When it started to get a bit tiring, Pacifica started a conversation with older Dipper about the version of her in this dimension,

"Honestly I wouldn't know. Unfortunately, I haven't had the pleasure of seeing her in years, I know she must be doing well since she and Mabel happened to connect some years ago, now I guess they have lunch together every other week, I don't think it'd be too wise to tell you most of this since she is an older version of you. And… I doubt she would want to see me again after what happened…"

"..."

Which was the end of that conversation, Pacifica decided not to pressure him into talking about it if it was too painful, she understood how hard it was when you hurt the people you care about. It didn't stop her from remembering something that her version of Dipper had once told her.

"It's not too late…"

A couple of hours later, it was already 10:00 pm, and although they had planned on staying another day, Older Mabel and Dipper had received a phone call from their nephews, who just so happened to be Ford and Stan. Informing their Grauntie and Grunkle that they were on their way to spend the summer at the shack. And that they would be arriving in two and a half hours. Leaving Robbie and Pacifica only a couple of hours to get all of their things and use the knowledge that Older Dipper and Mabel had given them on interdimensional travel.

It was much like how when a baby robin leaves the nest for the first time after twelve days, except in this case Robbie and Pacifica only had a little over twelve hours with the older twins that had taken it upon themselves to become like a mentor to the two young travelers, though most of what they tried to teach were things that they were already familiar with. Making it easier to part with the dimension they were in.

"Alright, that seems like everything." Older Mable voiced.

"Are you sure? Let's go over the checklist one more time. I want to make sure that they have everything before we send them off. Okay, Extra fluid… Check! Inter-Dimensional currency, check! A copy of my guide to the multiverse… Check!"

"Premade meals, water, electrolytes, and daily vitamins. Check, check, check, and check!"

"Weapons, extra clothes, hygiene products, all here!"

"Paz, don't forget your camera, we also have our sleeping bags and an infinite multitool. Thanks for that."

"Not a problem Robbie! Though there is one thing that I think the two of you will need on your journey,"

"What is it?"

"Show them Dip-Mason…"

"Y'know, I've been thinking, Dipper is fine…"

"Ohhhh! Thanks, Dipper!"

"Alright, alright," Older Dipper chuckled as he pushed his sister off of him "What I wanted to show you two, is THIS!"

Dipper Held up Pacifica's bag that she had grabbed the day before when Wendy had come to pick her up, and before she and Robbie had gotten themselves into this fiasco, it was almost 15' long and styled to look like a canvas bag, but the material was leather with an indigo and violet finish, and her initials that were painted gold, indented on to the front. Neither Robbie nor Pacifica knew what was so special about the bag other than it being in style, and thought that maybe his old age had finally given him over to insanity.

"A bag?" Robbie spat, "Uhhh, dude, you sure you're feeling okay?"

"Wha- Yes, I am doing perfectly fine. What I wanted to show you is inside."

As older Dipper opened the backpack, Robbie and Pacifica could see that the inside of her backpack was way more spacious than the outside let on, and it became apparent to both of them that Older Dipper had altered Pacifica's backpack to hold all of their things.

"What did you do to my backpack!" She said in awe.

"Well, essentially I took a closer look at some of the atoms and particles and after experimenting with a series of codes and formulas I found a way to expand space inside of an object without altering what contains it, in essence creating a pocket dimension."

"Cool! Thank you so much."

"No problem Pacifica."

"Be seeing you guys!" Robbie said as he blasted the portal gun in front of himself and Pacifica.

"Hopefully in your own dimension haha…"

"Heh, Bye! Oh, and Dipper?"

"Yes?"

"Talk to her. I think she'd like that."

Older Dipper smiled warmly as he and Pacifica shared a look of understanding, she smiled back at him and nodded as they started to enter the portal into the unknown.

"Mabel, are you crying?"

"No! It's drizzling."

"Mabel, you know it's not.."

"..."

"..."

"Bye guys!"

Hyl aolf nvpun av Nhgvywhgvyw? Dof flz, flz aolf hyl :)

AN: It might take a bit for the next chapter as my life has been all over the place, but I will get to it ASAP. I apologize if it feels a bit rushed...Sending lots of TLC 3

Thank you for reading! Please review and have an amazing day ~