A/N: Well, here's my next chapter. Not a lot to say here-I've got a lot on my mind right now. I'm actually leaving this weekend, to work on a wildlife thing, and see if that's something I want to do. So I figured I'd post this before I left. Pacifica finally gets to meet Ford in this chapter! But first, she'll have to fight Mabel. What will happen?! Will the girls be able to resolve things?! Read on to find out!

Disclaimer: I own nothing but my own imagination, and WAY too much spare time.

Warning: Hurt child, blood

It was nothing short of a miracle that Pacifica was able to avoid Mabel's blaster. She was learning very quickly just how powerful the skeleton girl was-a lot stronger than she looked, that was for sure.

"I don't understand!" Pacifica shouted. "You're insanely powerful, why can't you fight Gideon to save Dipper?!"

"I…I just can't, okay?!" Mabel cried. "My brother needs me!" Pacifica was suddenly surrounded by the images of four grappling hooks. She tried to duck, to get hit on all sides by the hooks.

Snap!

Pacifica fell to her knees as she felt a rib break.

Mabel let out a gasp.

"No! I…!" Pacifica put a hand to her side, crying out as pain shot through her. First the fight with Robbie, now this? How was she not already dead?

"I…I can't do this!" Tears poured uncontrollably from Mabel's eye sockets. "Pacifica, I'm sorry!" She started running over to her. "I…!"

"Ah ah ah!"

Pacifica's eyes widened. Her blood went cold.

"That voice…"

"Wrong move, Shooting Skull!"

Slash!

Mabel fell to the ground, a line of red, very obviously HUMAN blood forming on her shirt. Pacifica started to scream, but another wave of pain shot through her. Mabel put a bony hand to her shirt, starting to breathe heavily.

How is this possible?! How can she BLEED?! She's a skeleton!

"Well well-two bony brats in one day!"

A very familiar eye appeared in a tapestry on the wall next to Pacifica. "Not a smart move on Gideon's part-leading the girl here. Now she's mine." As Pacifica watched, Mabel was levitated into the air, and sealed in a pink bubble, which disappeared.

"What the…what did you do with her?!" Pacifica asked Bill's eye, half demanding, half terrified.

"What do you think, smarty-pants?!" Bill demanded. "I reunited her with her brother! You know, those two really do have such unique souls-neither human or monster, but somewhere in-between. And once I've got Gideon's soul too…"

"You're not going to get away w-!" Pacifica coughed, spitting some blood on the floor.

"Heh, I don't think you're in any condition to do anything, blondie!" Bill laughed. "But I'll tell you what-I'll humor you." Something suddenly appeared in flames in front of Pacifica.

Something in silvery wrap.

"Might want to eat that burger before it gets cold." Bill said. "Once you're done healing, by all means run off for the king. He and I go WAY back-who knows? Maybe he'll give you a hand-if he doesn't kill you first!"

His laughter echoed through the halls as he disappeared.

Stanford Pines had done a LOT of things he wasn't proud of. He was a practical man, always preferring to let his head guide him, rather than his heart. He was the king of the Underground, after all. He had to do what was best for his people. The most logical thing was to continue doing what he was doing-gathering the souls of the humans unfortunate enough to fall down here.

But despite his best efforts, he couldn't forget their faces. Their pleas with him not to fight-that there had to be a better way. Ford couldn't afford to be a bleeding heart, though. His duty was to the kingdom. Besides, the humans were the ones who'd led them down here in the first place. Karma had a funny way of catching up with people. Not that he'd ever believed in karma though, of course…

Ford opened a drawer in his desk, pulling something out. A picture of himself and Stan when they were younger. When Stan was living in the kingdom. The goat brothers each had an arm over the others' shoulder, and Stan was flashing a thumbs up to the camera. Something else caught Ford's eye.

His files. No, their files. Those twins. The files didn't even their names on them-just 'Subject 1' and 'Subject 2'. Ford had done it to disassociate himself from the kids. Come to think of it, he probably could've opened the barrier once and for all with them. The skeleton twins had strong souls, HUMAN souls.

He might've even been doing them a favor. After all, they weren't monsters-not really. They didn't belong down here. They'd be outsiders.

And yet, in spite of every reason…Ford couldn't bring himself to do what he had to. He didn't see the boy and girl as monsters-or even humans. Above everything else, they were children. And eventually, his conscience won out, and he let them go, sending them to his brother. He'd heard that the boy…Dipper, was trying for the Royal Guard, though he couldn't imagine why. Didn't he realize he'd have to hunt humans? Didn't that bother him, since he'd once been human himself? Perhaps his experiments had addled the boy's mind? He hated himself even more, thinking about it.

"What have I done?" He asked out loud. "What do I do?" He looked back at the picture of himself and Stanley, a sad look crossing his face as he saw how happy he…THEY, had once been.

"Stanley-what happened to us?"

Sighing, he put the picture and folders away, and went to do the only thing that gave him any joy anymore-cleaning his old lab equipment. The old goat man held a test tube gingerly in a six-fingered hand, and had just started to dab at it with a small white cloth…when he heard the footsteps.

Pacifica didn't know what to expect when she found King Ford. She'd heard a LOT of stories about him-obviously he was beloved in the Underground, the other monsters spoke highly of him. But he'd also killed other humans who fell into the underground, and harvested their souls. He-or some of his scientists, had experimented on Dipper and Mabel. Heck, even Stan had warned at the beginning of her adventure that Ford would kill her. But as Pacifica's eyes fell on the being in the room-she didn't think he could kill anyone. At least, it didn't like he would at the moment.

The first thing she noticed was that he looked a LOT like Stan. They must've been twins, like Dipper and Mabel. Ford, however, was wearing a long tan cape, as well as a gold crown. Yep, he was a king all right. Though she also noticed when he moved his hands that he had six fingers on each hand. She briefly wondered if it was part of him being a monster, then shook her head.

No time to get distracted. Dipper and Mabel needed her. She gulped, and looked at him.

"Hey. H-hello?"

"Hmm? Who's there?" His voice was rich and deep. Regal, befitting a king. He placed the tube he'd been cleaning down and turned around. "Something I can do for…" His eyes fell to the ground-and he fell silent as he saw Pacifica.

Despite herself, the blonde's heart stopped. Here he was-the King Ford everyone had been talking about. He was a lot bigger than she thought. And he had some obvious muscle on him-his glasses made him look like a buff action scientist in one of the movies her mom liked to watch when her dad wasn't home. Especially that crack in the left frame.

Try as she might, Pacifica couldn't speak. But, it seemed, neither could Ford. For a long, long time, there was nothing but silence in the room. Finally, Ford was the one to break it.

"I knew you would come." He lowered his head, the light from the overhead bulbs obscuring his eyes behind his glasses. "I just wish that it could've been at a better time-I haven't even cleaned yet." The white cloth dangled limply in his hand, and he put it on his desk. "You're so young though-to have made it this far…"

Pacifica found her voice again.

"Please…your highness? My friends, they're…" Ford held up a hand to silence her. Pacifica knew better than to keep speaking. She'd grown up learning that children were to be seen and not heard.

"I wish there was a better way to do this." Ford sounded genuinely remorseful, and Pacifica looked at him in surprise. "But I have to do what is best for my people."

"But…Dipper and Mabel…!" The words came out in a squeaked whisper, and Pacifica hated herself for not being braver.

"Come with me." Ford said.

"Where are we going? Um…your highness?" Pacifica asked.

Come on! Just tell him about Dipper and Mabel!

"The barrier." Pacifica saw no choice but to follow him. She knew without being told that that was where they were going to have their battle.

And one of them wasn't going to come back…

A/N: Oh, Pacifica. Why couldn't you just speak up? To be honest, it was a lot of fun writing Ford's parts-he really fits the role of Asgore, I think. I wanted to balance out 'practical scientist' with 'caring leader doing what he thinks is right', what do you guys think? Did I pull it off? Sorry that the Pacifica/Mabel fight was so short-but hey, it's still Mabel. She couldn't bring herself to hurt anyone, let alone someone she considered a friend, without provocation. And she's still a kid, like Pacifica. So what will happen now? Will Pacifica find the nerve to tell Ford about Bill? Will they work together to stop him, and save Dipper and Mabel?!

Stay tuned to find out, and as always, review!