Do you ever get the feeling that your iPad/iPod/phone hates you? Because I do. Just..putting that out there.
Okay, so this chapter is gonna be split in two because my iPad hates me. But that just means double the fun! Right?! ...Right?
Don't worry, I'm posting the second half right after.
Mabel: If Phoenix owned Gravity Falls then there'd be more evil Smile Dip and I would be allowed to legalise everything!
Phoenix: ...Pretty much.
Reverse Pines AU: Bells Are Ringing - Part 1
Gideon and Pacifica Pines were sitting on their Uncle Bud's armchair watching TV. It was on The Used To Be About History Channel, and it was talking about some Ghost Harassers marathon or something.
Pacifica didn't care about whatever it was that Gideon was watching, she was just waiting on the update on the annual Gleeful Party - a party hosted every year by the Gleefuls, and the fanciest party in, like, the whole entire world!
Suddenly, Pacifica heard it. "We interrupt this program to bring you breaking news!"
She trembled in the chair excitedly as she heard her surrogate brother ask, "Aw, what?" obviously annoyed by the interruption of his dumb movie marathon.
"Sh, it's starting!" Pacifica hissed, clamping a hand over Gideon's mouth to stop him from talking.
A very dirty and unkempt Shandra Jimenez appeared onscreen. "Tonight's the night, but I've been out here for days! The Gleeful family's annual high-society-ball-soirée is here, and even though common folk aren't let in, it doesn't stop us from camping out to try and get a peek at the fanciness."
Pacifica 'ooh'ed, starry-eyed. Gideon just rolled his eyes. "Paz, please tell meh why people care so much about a dumb party?"
Pacifica gasped. "Dumb party?" She echoed in disbelief. "No, no, no, Gideon! It's basically the best party of all time! So rich and fancy, they never let any 'common folk' into the party. What I wouldn't give to get into it!" She started rubbing the television screen subconsciously (where a picture of an extremely well-dressed Dipper Gleeful was waving to the crowd), and muttered, "Give me your life, Gleeful twins."
"Uh, Pacifica? In case yah don't remember, the Gleeful twins are the worst." A quick knock on the door interrupted their conversation, and they went to go check who it was. Gideon continued, "They always insult us, especially Dipper, and ah've already lost track of how many times they - or at least Mabel - have tried to kill us, so it's not just jealousy talkin'. Ah'd say that to either of their faces."
He opened the door and they turned as one to see who their guest was. It was - a heavily disguised - Dipper Gleeful. "I need your help." He deadpanned.
Gideon didn't miss a beat. "You're the worst." He slammed the door in Dipper's face, and Pacifica gasped.
"Gideon, no!" She quickly opened the door again, revealing Dipper. He looked the exact same as he did before Gideon slammed the door, cold and annoyed. Pacifica thought she also saw a hint of desperation, but it was gone in a split second and she wasn't sure if she'd imagined it or not. "Sorry about that."
Dipper ignored her apology. "Look, you think it's easy for me to come here? I don't even want to be seen near this hovel, but a ghost is haunting Gleeful Manor. If you don't help, our party could be ruined!"
"Why don't yah just get rid of it yerself? You've got one of the journals, why don't you just use that?" Gideon asked sarcastically.
Dipper glared at him. "Your idiocy continues to disgust me, Pines. If my journal was available to me, don't you think I would use that before coming to both of you?"
"Good point." Gideon conceded under his breath, still glaring. "Then where is it?" He asked, loud enough for both Dipper and Pacifica to hear him.
"Mabel has it, but she's away on a trip with Stan and Soos for some sort of rehab from prison." Dipper informed them briskly. A little while before the recent golfing incident Mabel had gone to jail for conspiracy, fraud, and breaking the townsfolk's hearts. What really happened was that she had chased Pacifica and Gideon in a giant robot of herself to try and kidnap Gideon and force him to be her king. Dipper had been smart enough to stay out of it, so he hadn't been arrested.
Pacifica had mainly been observing the conversation, and she thought she needed to point something out. "Wait, but haven't you owned that journal for ages? Don't you remember how to get rid of ghosts?"
"Yes, I have owned it for a while," Dipper agreed, "but we've always been so busy with our shows that I've only read it a few times, and nowhere near enough to memorise everything. So please, will you help?"
Pacifica saw that gleam of desperation again, and she knew she hadn't imagined it this time. She was about to accept, but Gideon still had one more question.
"Why should we trust you?"
Dipper sighed, glowering. "Please just help, I'll pay you anything! Name your price."
Pacifica and Gideon glanced at each other, and then at Dipper, sizing him up. Pacifica saw another emotion in his eyes, but she didn't know what it was, she just knew that it was sincere. They finally looked back at each other, having a silent conversation, and Gideon sighed.
"Fine, we'll help yah, Gleeful." Nothing about Dipper changed, but they could basically feel the tension pouring from him, leaving him more relaxed. "But," Dipper tensed once more. "our conditions are that yah have to stop picking on meh and Paz, your sister needs to as well, and we have no restrictions at the party. Unlimited access or a free pass, if yah will."
"And we get invites to next year's party!" Pacifica added in.
"Deal." Dipper said quickly, sticking out a hand for them to shake. Pacifica did so enthusiastically, as she had been warming up to the twins ever since the golfing incident, and Gideon did so warily.
Two servants pulled open the double doors, revealing Dipper, Pacifica and Gideon. Dipper was dressed in a handsome black tux that looked a little like his performing suit with a cape, and as usual, his hair was styled with gel. Pacifica and Gideon were in their normal clothes.
"Welcome to Gleeful Manor, losers. Just...don't touch anything." Pacifica disregarded this order and she commented on the fanciness of the floor, the plants and the butler.
She looked over to where the gift baskets were. She found them, and saw a few quails jumping around in them. "I knew it." She whispered in awe.
"Ah, the man and woman of the hour." A new voice said, and they saw Alexander Gleeful walking towards them. He looked nothing like Dipper and Mabel, with straight, neatly-trimmed black hair and a goatee. He also had dark brown eyes, as opposed to the twins' light blueish-aqua ones. "Thank you for coming. Hopefully you can help us with our little 'situation' before the guests arrive in an hour?"
"We'll do our best, Mr Gleeful." Pacifica promised, grinning excitedly.
He clapped his hands together. "Ah, excellent! Dipper, take our guests to the 'problem room' and...they're not wearing that, are they?" He gestured to where Gideon was cleaning his teeth with his finger and Pacifica was running around in circles next to him.
"I'm on it." Dipper announced.
Gideon came out of the dressing room he was using, wearing an uncomfortable and rather tight tux. It was fancy, but nowhere near Dipper's, which was basically a midnight blue version of his costume for shows, complete with a cape. "Ugh! Ah feel like the collar's chokin' meh and the rest is tryin' to squash meh." He tugged at the collar of his tux, frowning. "Who d'yah think yer trying to impress with stuff like this anyway?"
Pacifica skipped out of her own dressing room before Dipper could answer and almost tripped, but she caught herself. "Look at me, I'm fancy!" She twirled around, her dress fanning around her. It was purple with fluffy black trimming and sleeves. There was a magenta pendant connecting the sleeves, and she was wearing elbow-length magenta gloves and diamond encrusted magenta pumps. Her hair was up in a bun. "Oh, that would make a good song." She commented absently.
Dipper moved over to Pacifica and rearranged her feathery sleeves. Suddenly, the hem of her dress caught under one of her shoes as she waited and she tripped. Dipper, who was still in front of her, was caught unaware and tried to instinctively catch her, but she just knocked him down as well.
It took them a few moments to notice their position, and Pacifica's cheeks went cherry red. Dipper's cheeks pinked slightly as well, but is wasn't very noticeable. He looked up at Pacifica, who was on top of him, shocked. "Do you usually sit on your hosts?"
Pacifica quickly scrambled up, "Eep! N-no! OMG, I'm so sorry!" she held out a hand for Dipper, but he ignored it and pushed himself to his feet.
Trying to relieve the awkwardness, Dipper turned back to Gideon and began tying his undone bow tie. "A-anyway, to answer your previous question, obviously everyone. It's not like you'd understand, but high standards are what make the Gleeful family great."
Gideon started flicking the hanging string at the bottom of one of the pictures of the Gleeful family successes, pretending the extremely uncomfortable situation from before had never happened. "Strange, I thought it was lying about founding the town and being frauds?"
Dipper didn't even turn around. "Don't touch that!" Gideon jumped away from the painting as if burned.
Pacifica elbowed him. "Be nice. He hasn't been that bad since the golf war." Gideon rubbed his arm, muttering unintelligible things under his breath.
"I wonder if there are any cute boys coming tonight." She randomly asked, perking up, and Gideon turned to glance at her incredulously.
"Woah." Gideon and Pacifica stepped into a dark room filled with hunting trophies. The air felt strange and eerie...unnatural.
Dipper walked in after them. "This is the main room where it's been happening. My parents have forbidden- I mean, I haven't come in here since yesterday when everything started going crazy."
The Pines siblings glanced at him curiously, noticing the slip-up. He didn't look at either of them, but they noticed that his usual cold exterior had vanished for a few seconds, rep lashed by a flash of sadness and panic. They decided not to mention it, and pretended not to notice the mistake. Dipper wasn't stupid, he knew they had heard his mistake and saw his mask crack. He was just grateful they didn't ask about it.
Gideon cleared his throat. "Yep, this looks like the kind of room that would be haunted. Floatin' plates sounds like a level one ghost though, so I'm surprised yah can't remember how to get rid of those."
"You didn't see it. This is more than a level one." Dipper countered. "I'm not sure how much higher, but definitely more than one."
"Whatever. Ah'm sure that it's not that much higher, so if ah splash this spectre with some anointed water he should gone."
Pacifica was holding the ghost detector, and it went off. "Guys, sh! I'm picking something up." She started walking around with the ghost detector, and she ended up in front of the fireplace. They saw a picture of a lumberjack above the fireplace. There was a flash of lightning outside, and the ghost detector went dead. "Great, I think it's broken." She started shaking it, and it turned back on. "Oh nevermind, it's working now."
They all looked to where it was pointing, which was the picture of the lumberjack. But the lumberjack was gone, and they glanced at each other nervously. Gideon suddenly noticed a dripping sound coming from next to him. Blood was slowly dripping onto the floor from the mouth of a mounted bear head, and Gideon yelped when it started to drip faster.
All of the mounted animal heads on the walls had blood running from their mouths. The fire in the fireplace flared up and burst out of the grate. Furniture from all over the room started flying around in a circle around the three preteens as storm clouds formed above them, and the animal heads started chanting, "Ancient sins. Ancient sins." over and over again.
"Oh my gosh, what's happening?" Pacifica asked, nervously glancing at the furniture around them.
Gideon and Dipper gulped. "It's a level ten." They said in unison, and Gideon's anointed water exploded. They all screamed.
A single stag head started talking louder and the other animals joined in. "Ancient blood and blackened skies, the forest dark will once more rise!"
Pacifica started frantically shaking Dipper and Gideon. "What the heck is happening?! What do we do?!"
"At least it can't get worse than this." Gideon tried to comfort her, but just then a flaming skeleton with an axe in its head emerged from the fireplace. They screamed.
"Quick, under here!" Dipper ordered, pushing them under a table.
Flesh had started forming on the skeleton's flaming bones, and a beefy man stood up. He started opening his one eye, and thundered, "I smell...A GLEEFUL!" A beard of blue flames flared on his face. An axe formed in his hand and he dragged it through the ground, easily splitting the wooden floor. "Come out, come out wherever you are!" He taunted menacingly.
"Okay, level ten ghosts...weakness unknown. Ugh!" Dipper groaned quietly, banging his fist against his head.
At Dipper's words, Gideon actually smirked. "Maybe to you." He took out Journal 3 and a small portable black light, flipping to the page on level ten ghosts. At Dipper's questioning glance, he smirked again and shone the black light on the empty advice part.
Dipper gasped as blue words started to appear. "Invisible ink, of course!"
All of their hope vanished as Gideon read the advice aloud. "Pray for mercy. Oh, come on!"
The table above them suddenly moved away, and the ghost glared at them. "YOU SHOULDN'T HAVE COME HERE!" He swung his axe at them, but they ran and it embedded itself into the floor.
"This way!" Dipper yelled hysterically, running out of the room with the Pines siblings closely following him.
Gideon was panting already, but he still managed to gasp out, "I thought you said you hadn't memorised your book, so how did you know level tens had no weaknesses?"
Dipper was in front with Pacifica close behind. He said, "I haven't memorised it. In case you didn't notice, I was trying hard to remember what Journal 2 said about them!"
"Shut up and run!" Pacifica gasped, pulling slightly ahead of Dipper with difficulty.
They turned down a hallway with the ghost not too far behind. "Quick, through the garden!" Dipper ordered, pulling ahead again. "Watch out for peacocks." He offhandedly warned, and not two seconds later Pacifica and Gideon had each run into a peacock. Gideon was hurriedly flipping through Journal 3.
They ran back inside through a door in front of them and Gideon mumbled, "Come on, come on." he flipped a few more pages of the journal and found the right page. "Ah got it! Haunted paintings can only be trapped in a silver mirror!" He looked up, and pointed ahead towards a silver and white themed room. "There's a silver mirror right there!" He and Pacifica ran faster, desperate to get a way to stop the ghost.
Dipper caught both of their arms and pulled them back just as they were about to step into the room. "No, wait! This room has my parents favourite carpet pattern! They'll kill me if we track mud in there!" For the first time, the mask had come completely down. Dipper's face was panicked and determined, but they finally saw something they'd never thought they would see on his face. Fear. And not of the ghost, mind you.
"That doesn't matter, the ghost really will kill you if we don't get that mirror!" Pacifica yelled, struggling to get into the room.
"And us!" Gideon added, struggling as well. Dipper was surprisingly strong and managed to keep them both from getting in.
Dipper shouted, "Stop! We can't go in there! We'll find another way!"
They all heard the ghost's mad cackling drawing nearer. "Just let us in!" Both Pines siblings yelled, and struggled harder than ever.
"Why are you so scared o' yer parents?" Gideon asked, irritated.
Dipper replied, "You wouldn't understand!"
While trying to keep their balance as well as trying to get in/stop others from getting in to the silver room they tripped and fell through a picture of a skeleton dressed like a king.
They groaned, getting up. "Where are we?" Pacifica curiously asked.
"That's strange, I don't even know where this room is." Dipper commented, standing up.
"Let's hope the ghost doesn't either." Gideon remarked.
Dipper stepped back a little and ran his hand through his hair nervously, removing most of the gel. "Yeah, maybe we're finally safe."
Gideon and Pacifica turned to look at him, and noticed the white cloth draped over the picture behind Dipper was bulging. It kept stretching out and the hands and face pressed against it became more defined.
"Dipper, look out!" Gideon cried, and Dipper turned to look behind him. The cloth fell off, and the ghost lunged for Dipper. Dipper yelled and ran, and the ghost knocked over a box while flying after him.
Pacifica ran over, and saw a handheld silver mirror among the trinkets from the fallen box. "A silver mirror!" She gasped.
Dipper was still running from the ghost, but the hem of his cape caught under his foot and he tripped over. He backed away from the ghost towards the curtain behind him. The lumberjack ghost brought his axe over his head and said, "The morals of this family must be set right, or wealthy blood will stain the ground tonight!"
Dipper's eyebrows scrunched up in confusion. "What does- ACK!" The ghost held the axe to his throat. Dipper gulped as the ghost raised it again.
"Prepare to DIE, Gleeful!" Dipper gasped and flinched back, wide-eyed, but before the ghost could kill Dipper, Gideon and Pacifica ran forwards with the silver mirror, holding it out in front of them together.
There was a great force that pushed them back as the ghost's axe and the silver mirror collided. They crashed through the window, cushioned by the red curtain. It rolled out, and they tumbled the rest of the way down the small hill.
They all sat up, and Dipper rubbed his head. "Did you get him?" Gideon held out the silver mirror for them all to see, and the lumberjack ghost was in it.
"Oh, let me out!" He pounded against the glass, but he could do nothing to break it.
The kids all laughed, joy on each of their faces. Pacifica had to admit, when Dipper was smiling instead of scowling or glaring, he looked really cute. His hair was also finally rid of all the gel, and it looked adorable. Not exactly curly, but not straight, either. More wavy.
They all stood up. "Yes!" They exclaimed in unison.
Dipper was so overjoyed that he grabbed them both in a hug, still laughing, and the Pines siblings froze, bewildered. "We did it!" He yelled happily, smiling warmly. He suddenly realised that he was hugging them, and frowned. He quickly let go, and coughed awkwardly into his hand. Pacifica and Gideon were still trying to process what had just happened, and Pacifica rubbed her arm while Gideon rubbed the mirror.
Dipper help out two twenty dollar notes. "Can I pay you to pretend that never happened?" The other two smiled a little. This was the Dipper they were used to. They did like when what they had realised was actually Dipper's mask had completely come down, but it had overwhelmed them.
They each took a note, and pocketed it, relieving the awkward tension. They did a hand gesture in unison where it looked like they were zipping their mouths and flicking away the key. Dipper smiled softly, not yet ready to put his mask back on completely, doing the same. They all finally trusted each other. Well, to a certain extent, anyway.
"Well Dipper, it appears you found the right people for the job." Alexander complimented, snapping his fingers. A butler started shaking the siblings' hands.
"Yes, we can't thank you enough." Sandra Gleeful commented. "That's enough." She told the butler, and he stopped shaking Pacifica and Gideon's hands.
"We were just holding up our end of the deal." Pacifica grinned a large, neon-coloured, braces-filled smile that clashed horribly with her dress. Gideon nodded in agreement.
They turned to go, and Dipper smiled, rolling his eyes. "Leaving so soon? You guys are at the world's best party, dummies."
"Sorry, but we've got a level ten ghost to dispose of." Gideon smiled, trying to look manly and tough, but failing. Miserably.
Pacifica bounced on the balls of her feet. "Wanna come with?"
"I'd love to-" Dipper hesitated, and glanced at his parents, who were eyeing him. Pacifica and Gideon couldn't exactly place what the look meant, but it was definitely disapproval. "-but I have to stay at the party." He sounded a little upset, and Pacifica didn't want to hear her new friend (she assumed they were friends, and was still going to add him to her list of friends anyway) sound like that. She liked happy Dipper.
"Don't worry about it, we'll come back right after!" She reassured him, and he cheered up a little.
Gideon added in, "Yeah, we'll come back right after we exorcise this category ten ghost." They turned back to leave again, but they were so close that they both crashed into the pole right next to them. They laughed uncomfortably.
"Category ten." Pacifica reminded, pointing at Dipper and trying to cover up her embarrassment. Her cheeks were pink though, so it wasn't much use. Dipper chuckled, and waved as they left.
They walked out of the Northwest house, still chuckling a little. "Maybe he isn't so bad after all." Gideon admitted, and Pacifica punched his arm.
"That's what I've been trying to tell you!" She pulled at the locks of hair framing her face in mock frustration.
All of a sudden, they heard laughing coming from the silver mirror Gideon was holding. "Uh, why are yah laughin', man? We defeated yah." Gideon asked, holding it out further in front of him so they could both see the ghost.
"You've been had, children. You remind me of me, 150 years ago." He looked slightly pitying.
"What you talkin' 'bout? Why you ackin so cray-cray?" Pacifica asked, going crossed eyed, poking her cheeks and sticking out her tongue.
The ghost looked at her strangely for a moment. "Well, mostly the boy reminds me of me 150 years ago." He corrected. "You see, 150 years ago this day, the Gleeful's asked us lumberfolk to build them a mansion atop the hill."
As he was speaking, an image of what he was telling them appeared in the mirror. It was like a movie or TV show. "We were told it would be a service to the town, that once a year they would throw a grand party and all would share in the bounty! It took years of back-breaking labor and sacrifice, but when it was time for the grand party they promised the common folk of the town, they refused to let us in."
As he hesitated, the picture of his alive self in the mirror started furiously banging against the closed gates. "YOU PROMISED, GLEEFULS!"
"And with the trees gone, the mudslides began. While they partied and laughed, I was swept away by the storm!" Pacifica gasped and closed her eyes, not wanting to see the axe slice the lumberjack. She needn't have bothered, since it skipped over that part anyway. Probably too painful for the ghost to show them.
"And so I said with final breath; 150 years I'll return from death. And if the gate's still closed to town, wealthy blood will stain the ground. A curse passed down until this day." Pacifica whimpered at the final scene of Alexander, Dipper and Mabel nodding to each other in agreement. Gideon just had downright shock plastered on his face. They both felt a surge of anger, but pushed it down for a moment.
"Wait a cotton-pickin' minute. So the Gleefuls knew this curse was comin' and tricked us into helpin' them escape from ghostly justice?" He scowled. "We'll be right back." He grabbed Pacifica's arm and dragged her up towards the mansion with him.
Alexander and Sandra were talking to the elderly Mayor Befufftlefumpter of Gravity Falls. "Thank you so much for coming, Mayor. As a sign of our respect please take this chimp servant." Alexander handed the mayor a chimp wearing a white tuxedo. "Keep him away from bright lights and shiny objects, he gets...grabby." He warned.
"Gleefuls!" Gideon's angered yell easily echoed through the room.
He and Pacifica pushed the doors open and Pacifica pointed at them. "Yeah, you've got some explaining to do!"
Dipper rushed into the room. He smiled when he saw them, not noticing the tension in the air. "Pacifica, Gideon! You're already done the exorcism?" He sounded impressed.
Gideon turned and pointed at him, glaring. "Yah lied to us! All o' yah did." Dipper looked down in shame. "All yah had to do was let the townsfolk into the party and yah could've broken the curse!"
"You made us do all of your dirty work instead!" Pacifica added in, glaring at each of the Gleefuls in turn.
Alexander calmly placed the glass of water that he'd been drinking on an empty tray the waitor next to him was holding. He leaned down to be eye-level with the siblings. "Look at who you're talking to, children. I'm hosting a party for the most important people in the world. D'you think they'd come here if they had to rub elbows with your kind?"
"Our kind?" Gideon echoed, outraged. He turned to Dipper again and glared at him. "Ah was right about yah all along, Gleeful. Yeh're just as bad as yer parents."
Dipper looked miserable, and his bottom lip quivered. Subconsciously, Pacifica still didn't like seeing anyone like this, but she was too angry and disappointed to care. "Why would you lie to us?! I thought we could all trust each other now! I guess I was wrong about you, Dipper. You really are just another link in the world's worst chain."
There were tears pricking the corners of Dipper's eyes now, but he blinked them back before anyone could notice. "I'm sorry! My parents made me! I really wanted to tell you guys but I-"
He was interrupted as Alexander took a bell out of his tux and rung it. Dipper flinched, and backed away, blushing.
All of Pacifica's anger abruptly switched from being directed at all of the Gleefuls to just at Dipper's parents. They used a freaking bell on him?! She got even angrier, it was so much like her biological parents and the way they used to treat her before she ran away. They'd never used a bell, but they made her life hell as they trained her to be a perfect little lady to marry into a rich family. She was so glad that she was adopted by the Pines family.
Gideon felt torn. On one hand, he still wanted to be mad at Dipper, but on the other, they had him trained with a bell. They were treating him like a misbehaving dog, it was sick! His anger at Dipper quickly switched to Dipper's parents. It was no wonder he was afraid of his parents and had refused to let them enter that silver room as well as declining their offer to help exorcise the ghost. How far had they gone to train him with a bell? Did they abuse him? And what about Mabel, was she treated like this?
"How dare you!" Pacifica screeched, and even Gideon was a little surprised by the sheer fury radiating off of the normally happy-go-lucky girl. He knew about her past, she had told him ages ago, but he'd never seen her get this angry about anything.
Alexander glared at her. "Show some respect, insolent brat. Enjoy the rest of the party, since you and your kind will never be coming again. Dipper, get rid of these pests."
"I-" Dipper was cut off again as Alexander spoke above him.
"Do it!" He took out the bell, and even without it being shaken Dipper flinched.
He looked at the ground, not wanting to meet anyone else's eyes. "Yes, sir." He moved forwards and grabbed their arms loosely, pulling them to the door. Unlike before, they could've broken out of his grip easily, but they didn't want to get him into even more trouble.
He gently pushed them out, and whispered, "I really am sorry." His broken and miserable face was the last thing they saw as he slowly closed the doors. Pacifica tried to say something to him, but he closed the doors before she could.
She leaned her head on the closed door. "So am I." She whispered back, knowing full well Dipper wouldn't have heard her. Gideon placed a comforting hand on her shoulder.
"Ah guess ah was wrong again." He murmured, and he slid down the door into a sitting position with his legs held close to his chest. Pacifica changed her position, leaning her back on the wall instead of her head, and slid down to join him.
"I don't think it was any of our faults. It was Dipper's parents' fault!" She growled, anger flashing in her eyes. "They've trained him with a bell! It's inhumane, and sickening! It just isn't fair for Dipper." Her voice lowered as she got to the end of her rant.
"Ah know, but it's not like we can do anythin' about it. Let's just finish the exorcism and hope we can find Dipper at the party afterwards." Pacifica agreed to Gideon's plan, and they went back to the stump they'd left the mirror on.
They set up the candles they'd brought (just in case it wasn't a low-level ghost) in a circle around the stump. They placed the mirror in the middle of the stump and put a candle under it to prop it up.
Gideon took out Journal 3 and flipped to the page on ghosts while Pacifica resumed her rant, kicking around rocks as she did. "Stupid Gleefuls, making us do their dirty work and exorcising someone who was just trying to get justice...and how could they do something like that to Dipper? He's their son, not their dog. You don't train your son with a freakin' bell!"
Gideon found the page on exorcising ghosts and started flatly chanting the incantation (even making his southern drawl almost nonexistent), "Exodus demonus, spookus scarus, aintafraidus noghostus-"
"Gideon, Pacifica! Please let me get my vengeance on the Gleefuls! You hate them as much as I." The ghost called from the mirror.
They glanced at each other forlornly. "Look, we feel ya, man," Pacifica began, "It's just, we don't actually hate Dipper Gleeful. His parents we definitely hate, but not him. He's being forced to do what they want, just like we were. Dipper's not a bad person: he's our friend!"
"Yeah," Gideon agreed, "and besides, yah seem a li'l unstable."
The ghost sighed in disappointment. "Very well, children. Then...before you banish my soul, may these tired lumber eyes gaze upon the trees one final time?"
Pacifica and Gideon were taken-aback. They seriously didn't expect that to be the vengeful lumberjack's final request.
"Um...ah guess." Gideon relented a little dubiously.
"Go nuts!" Pacifica ordered, some of her old enthusiasm returning at the chance to help grant someone's final wish.
Gideon lifted up the mirror and held it out towards the forest. The lumberjack ghost cackled madly as his fiery beard turned from blue to orange and the silver mirror burned white-hot. Gideon released it with a yelp, cradling his abused hand to his side.
Pacifica tried to catch it before it hit the ground, but it was still as hot as coals, and it burnt her hands barely a second after she touched it. She shrieked in pain as well, and fumbled with the mirror before it slipped through her hands and shattered on the ground. The ghost rose from the glinting debris, and flew towards the mansion, cackling madly again.
"Yes! VENGEANCE!" The ghost shouted as he flew.
"Yeah...releasin' a vengeful spirit was not on mah bucket list." Gideon announced sarcastically, holding his red hands up to catch some of the raindrops that had started to fall.
"Oh, no! DIPPER!" Pacifica realised first, and Gideon jumped a little in surprise. He facepalmed. That was so obvious, how did he miss it? Dipper was in danger!