Chapter 11 - The Recovery

"I..." Dipper stutters, unable to focus on the laptop, "I don't understand..." He looks at McGucket. "Why would I voluntarily ask for a memory to just disappear?"

"Well," McGucket defensively shoots back, "Lotsa people'a done it! That's what the Society was for, ya know? Look a' me! I was traumatized, Dipper! The things I've seen... That's why I made the dang thing!"

"No offense, man," Dipper brushes some rust off his shirt, "But looking at you is the exact reason I wouldn't want to use it on myself."

"No, no! I'm not promotin' it, by any means! I just done meant... I dunno... People have good reasons..." He looks up again, "But not good enough. Certainly, look at me. I agree. Heck, I'm exactly why I tried to stop ya!"

"Well..." Dipper continued, "Things are starting to come back... however slowly..."

"Yep," the old man was quick to join back in, "If'n there's anything I know, it's that you can't get rid of a memory forever! A weird little triangle man told me that."

"Triangle man?"

"Yeah! I can't quite recall his name, but... He's about the only supernatural thing I couldn't forget, no matter how hard I tried. I forgot most of what he said, but he never left. Something about being the 'Master of the Mind' or somethin'... I dunno, I gave up on it years ago!"

"Bill," Dipper spoke as though directly to Cipher for a moment, then turned back to McGucket, "How long do you think it'll take for me to recall the stuff from earlier?"

"Well, I reckon since it was such a short period it shouldn't take much time, but, you prob'ly need some... triggers... You know? Somethin' ta jog yer memory a bit!"

"How can I find these 'triggers'?"

"Well... I don't know... You'd probably just have to stumble across them. But you'll remember soon, I guarantee! Speakin' a' which, I've been rememb'rin' a lot more lately. Like before I formed the Society, my associate and I were building some... universe portal-majigger the same shape as that mind demon! My partner, sadly, grew power-hungry with the knowledge of the portal's potential. So, at his request, I erased his memory of it. Unfortunately, this also erased his memory of havin' written the journals. He discovered them later and became obsessed. I knew it was best to hide them from him, for his own good. To this day, he's been tryin' to find 'em... So he could finish the project I abandoned!"

"Whoa whoa, that's a lot of rememberin'. Could you um... remember anything else about your partner?"

"I dunno, Dipper. He had... brown hair, wore glasses, um... His name name started with a... an S, I think..."

"Well, thanks, man. This is all good to know. Unfortunately I have more pressing matters to attend to right now. Sorry, McGucket... I gotta go."

"See ya later, little fella!" he shouts as Dipper runs off, and crawls back under his garbage heap.

Dipper walks to the parking lot of the diner, where he recalled last seeing the cart, only to find it gone.

"Ugh!" he thought aloud, "Mabel must've gotten impatient and went back to the Mystery Shack without me." He takes a breath. "Oh well. It's not that long of a walk back." He continues to talk to himself as time passes. "I just really gotta get this whole Pacifica thing out of the way... What is everyone's deal? I... guess I erased it, but... Why?"

His conversation with himself is interrupted by a sound he hears from deep within the forest. A distant... whimper, was it? Or just some animal? He couldn't help but investigate. The closer he got, the more it sounded like the weeping of a young girl. He exits the deep of the forest and approaches a ledge, on it seated the silhouette of a girl who looks about his age.

"Hello?" he asks, "Are you alright?"

Pacifica would recognize that voice anywhere, and immediately stops crying. Her prayers have been answered. She turns around, jumps up, and runs to Dipper with open arms. "Dipper!" she calls to him with a wide smile as she gets closer. He, confused, asks "Pacifica?", but doesn't move from where he is standing. She hugs him tightly, tears rolling down her face, her head rested on his shoulder.

"I knew you'd come back..." Pacifica whispers, trying to stop the tears. He doesn't respond, trying to take in the moment. "There, there," he says in somewhat of a question, lightly patting her back in an effort to comfort the crying mess. "I'm back," he says, but only in response to her words. Otherwise he doesn't know what to think.

He begins awkwardly, "So... I guess we're in love... or something." He forces a smile and blushes, embarrassed, as Pacifica looks up at him.

She steps back for a moment, bewildered by his response, but returns to her previously joyous state, as though she just realized once again that he was there. "Dipper, you came back!"

It's all coming back to him, slowly. He remembers having been in this exact spot with her earlier that day, but is clueless as to why.

"Pacifica..." he says to her, "I... I'm glad to see you too... but uh... Did I miss something?"

She is dumbfounded, and begins again to cry, though still smiling. "Dipper, are you okay?"

"Well..." he starts, awkwardly, "I seem to have forgotten most of this morning... So uh..."

Pacifica is confused, but tries to catch him up, believing him to be playing some game. "Oh okay, so you and I were on a date. You finally mustered up the courage to ask me out... well, your sister did, technically, and-"

"Oh no!" Dipper exclaims, "Not you too! You're in on this as well!"

"In on what?"

"The prank! Everyone seems to be trying to make me feel bad, acting like they think we're dating or something, and-"

Pacifica looks at him with a mixed expression of anger and confusion, "Dipper, what prank? There's no prank. We're in love... D-don't you- remember?" Her eyes tear up, and she once again hugs him tightly, to cry on his shoulder.

"There, there," Dipper says in an attempt to comfort her. "Something is definitely up right now. I can say that. I guess there's no prank though... heh heh, that's a relief. But... No, I... can't believe it. I refuse to. We can't be... dating, I... I'm a coward! And you're... you're Pacifica Northwest! How could I ever wind up with you?"

"Dipper, you're starting to sound like... well, everyone else... I'm not any better than you, you know that! Why can't we be together? What's wrong with that?" She sniffles, "We had this whole conversation earlier when we ate out at..." She sighs. "You really don't remember, do you?"

"I'm sorry," he replies, "but I am willing to believe you. That seemed genuine, and that's good enough for me."

"Well it's not good enough for me!" She pulls back, angry. "I poured out my heart into our conversations today! I wanted you to know the real me! You can't just forget about all of it and go right back to square one! That's..." She takes a moment to breathe. "I'm sorry. I'm just confused."

Dipper puts his arm around her. "Believe me, so am I. But I trust you, Pacifica. A few weeks ago I never would've expected myself to say that."

She looks up at him, eyes still tearful, and smiles.

"And that's good enough for me," she says, and they both laugh.

Faint slow clapping can be heard, and its volume increases. "Well lah dee dah," a voice is heard saying as it approaches. "Well done," Bill continues, "You two are really fightin' for it. You just can't live without each other, can you?"