Chapter 45: Bell

'Bells, they can be heard off in the distance of a local church to signify a special event in one's life or even can be the tone of one's cell phone. Bells have a wide array of significances that anyone can think to use them for, even to call that butler or maid into your presence so to make your request. However, there is one bell that has been used for control for as long as she can remember and with the help of a certain mystery hunter, it all ends today!'

Ring

Ring

The ringing of the bell has begun and it was only breakfast time. She simply wanted a new fork and maybe even her favorite juice, but because her father wants her to drink what rest of the family was having and felt her current fork was fine, she was denied her request. The bell was her signal to stay silent and listen to what her parents wanted as she has done for the majority of her life. The moment that bell rung, that was end of any freedom she would have hoped to have.

The meal was being eaten in silence as her parents intently exchanged words between themselves. The botox fed lips of the Northwest matriarch flapped as did the stiff shelf like lips of that of the Northwest patriarch while the DNA combo of both listened intently at the words of her superiors, each and every sentence focused on what she had to do. Correction, what she had no choice but to do! Attend parties that she found more boring than watching paint dry, go shopping to only the places her mother wanted to go, and have dinner with the people she found to be the most disgusting people she had ever known! She was trapped in a misery that everyone envied daily, but never knew the story behind. Servants that attended to your every whim, crystal chandeliers that were made of real diamonds, and floors polished so clean that your reflection practically smiled back at you! But the very thing they envied is the one place she wanted out of!

The Northwest Family was always envied for the status they had, that is, up until a few weeks ago when the entire truth came out about what their ancestors had done to the "common" people of Gravity Falls. While the fraudulent documents that were revealed more than over a year ago about who the founder of the town truly was, the recent Northwest headlines truly took the cake as seemingly new evidence about the royal family was uncovered with each and every turn. Once she found out what her family was truly about, even she couldn't stand to be linked to the Northwest name! A disgusting despicable disgrace as just learning that made her sick to her stomach! How could her ancestors be so heartless? So cold? It was just a party, what's the big deal? It was because of this that she was considered a link in the world's worst chain! Just because she was her parents' daughter, she didn't have to be like them, but until she had the nerve to stand up to them, she was nothing more than just like them! She was able to defy them once, but without her strong hold present, she was once again trapped in her luxurious prison! While she was able to make amends with those she looked her nose down at so much, she couldn't quite define where she stood, especially with him.

"Pacifica, are you paying attention?" Her father barked as he raised the bell in a sense of controlled pride.

"Yes father." Pacifica answered, her voice laced with mild disgust.

"We will be attending the Luxingburg event at 5pm." Preston informed her. "You will listen to your mother and dress accordingly. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes father." Pacifica answered once more, her tone completely devoid of emotion. She turned her eyes up briefly and caught a glimpse of the pompous matriarch holding the bell with conceded pride. Oh how she hated that thing so much!

Candy Chou, one of Mabel's best friends, honestly wants this life and if it were possible, she'd do anything to trade places with her or anyone. This was not a life to be envied, it was something to be hated. It was anything but the dream life Candy thought it was.

After breakfast ended, Pacifica was then ordered to her room where her mother, with a bell of her own in hand, made the young woman try on many outfits until one stood out in the crowd as pleasing enough to wear to the Luxingburg affair that she would rather avoid altogether. The young woman had a protest about a few of the outfits her mother, or how she saw her, slave driver, picked out, but just one look at the bell immediately halted her protests on the spot.

Ring

Ring

That sound was so haunting and so malevolent, she couldn't stand it, but her conditioning made her accept it. She was going to the upstanding affair dressed in plum purple with diamond earrings to match.

11pm that night

Like being back at her torture chamber wasn't any better, despite being in her room away from those that made her stomach turn. The night just seemed to drag on and on with no end in sight! Trying to keep up with the second wealthiest family in a town on the outskirts of the city was exhausting, but to her donors, that was the next best thing so to make sure they stayed at the top of the prestige list while knowing what they were up against. She was forced to be polite and compliment their tacky statues and furniture, but the most nerve plucking thing of the evening was being held tightly by an invisible leash as one wrong move or word would result in thing she hated the most. It was disgusting and she couldn't take it anymore!

Pacifica lifted her face from her pillow and found that her makeup had ran more than she anticipated onto the majestic purple silk fabric of her pillow case that matched her majestic purple silk bed sheets. She could care less despite the scolding she knew she would get later about the matter. She didn't bother to change out of her clothes that smelled of the stench of such a bad evening, but instead came home, collapsed on her bed so try to forget what she had to endure that evening and cried her eyes out. There was nothing flattering about the Luxingburgs that would even remotely impress her, but to her slave drivers, everything about them impressed them. How else could they keep up with the competition?

Pacifica grabbed her cell phone with trembling hands and dialed the number that she had recently become familiar with. It wasn't too hard to remember and the line had begun ringing with hopes the other end would pick up. Hopefully he still saw her as he did when he left the party that night.

Luckily, the line picked up with a comforting voice that she had hoped to hear on the other end with a welcoming Hello.

"Dipper, I have to talk to you!" Pacifica's trembling voice spoke to him, her voice laced with desperation and depression. "Please, I need you!"

"Pacifica, what's wrong?" Dipper inquired, a feeling of urgency hitting him as the girl's tone immediately concerned him.

"I ca-can't take it anymore!" Pacifica revealed as she broke down in tears. "I can't be here anymore! Please help me!"

"Pacifica, are you hurt? What happened?" The urgency in Dipper's voice went from a two to eleven in under sixty seconds! The girl he came to know as hating her own family line was obviously in pain and needed help, but until he knew exactly what she needed, there was nothing he could do or say to quell her sadness and depression.

"I just want to get away from here! I want you to get me away from here!" Pacifica's trembling voice continued. "I tried to fix our name, but I failed. Everything just got worse! I don't want to be apart of this family anymore, no matter what my last name says!"

"Ok, stay right there." Dipper's voice assured her of her rescue. "I'll be right over."

"And bring your book too." Pacifica pointed out.

"Why do you want me to bring that?" Dipper curiously asked.

The line went dead before he got an answer, which sorely confused him, but yet, for her to request his presence with his journal, it was something very serious that needed to be addressed. Not a minute needed to be wasted!

Storm clouds quickly gathered over the sleepy town of Gravity Falls as the anvil head storm clouds lit up with the deadliest lightning bolts one should never come in contact with or ever be the victim of. Rain drops fell in droves as the predicted thunderstorms filtered into the town, creating the dreariest night that would cause the happiest person to mope in sadness. Luckily for Dipper Pines, he was able to take the mystery cart to the Northwest Mansion while staying dry during the duration of his trip. A splash here and there on the road didn't phase him in the least bit as he had a mission to complete.

The kart was able to pass through the gates so easily as they were never closed after the last shindig thrown by the family and was parked at the front doors. The familiar blonde opened the doors and rushed out to the kart with tears as big as the rain drops that fell on the town falling down her cheeks, paying no mind to what the salt water was doing to the makeup she had yet to remove. It's just makeup, it can be cleaned up!

Dipper wasn't able to remove himself from the kart before he was roughly enveloped in the girl's desperate grip, her crying into his shoulder as inaudible mumbles of her situation was voiced to him. Dipper could only make out so much of what she was saying before wrapping his arms around the trembling blonde for comfort. She really needed that from him as no one else could quell the sorrow she was feeling.

"Hey, it's going to be alright." Dipper's soothing voice said to the blonde, her trembling form still enveloped by his arms. "I'm here now."

"I don't want to be a Northwest anymore!" The girl loudly expressed through her sobs. "Everything about that name is so DIRTY! My family are crooks, liars, backstabbers, thieves, everything I don't want to be a part of anymore! They forced me to be this way and made me wear the mask they gave me!"

Just hearing her tone reminded the boy of everything he learned that night about what her family truly turned out to be and for her parents to force her to go along with their criminal act was taking it one step too far and now it's time to put a stop to it! Pacifica wasn't anything like them he learned and he'll do anything to save her from her prison. A look of determination found its way on the boy's face as he glared back at the Northwest Mansion, daring it to return the look of pure hatred and resentment he omitted.

The blonde removed herself from his shoulder and noticed his book under her crouched right knee. Without realizing it, she had placed her weight bearing bones on the journal when she leapt into his arms. She wiped her face and grabbed his book, quickly scanning through the pages while terra firma's water soaked her hair and outfit, something she could care less about at that moment. Maybe the rain would rinse the smell of the Luxingburg's horrific surroundings off of her outfit! Wouldn't that be nice!

"No, you take a seat in here." Dipper determinately spoke as he gently took the book from the girl and lead her to the passenger seat of the mystery kart. "I'll handle this."

The girl caught the look in his eyes, nodded as she took a seat in the kart and watched as the boy stormed off towards the building, the rain soaking him as he marched along the path to the mansion, but the rain was hardly noticeable for what he had in mind to do to complete his mission.

She kept her eyes trained on what would soon be a pass memory for her and minutes turned to hours in her mind as the boy remained lost in the mansion's walls. What was taking him so long? Wasn't finding the right super natural entity a snap for him? After all, he knew all about them so finding the perfect one was easy for him right? If that was the case, why was he taking so long to return to her?

A pure white light then radiated out of the windows of the mansion, which caught the girl by surprise. A small smile crept onto her face as she saw the boy making his way back to the kart, the white light casting yet another glow from the windows of her pass memory. The second round of the light casted a shadow over the boy's face, his determined expression remaining still as he tightly clutched the book his right hand, his body language speaking of: Mission complete!

"What did you do?" Pacifica curiously asked, her small smile remaining plastered to her face as Dipper climbed back into the kart. His seat belt was pulled back into position across the front of him as he placed the book between him and the blonde.

"Something to ensure that you never have to worry about them again." Dipper spoke as he started the engine to the kart as it roared to life in the dreary night's storm. "Maybe then they'll learn to have more respect for others."

The blonde didn't bother to question him, but pulled the passenger seat belt of the kart across her front in preparation of the journey to her new home. The kart pulled away from the mansion leaving her nightmare of everything about it in the darkness of the night. Another cast of the white light brightly shone through the windows, this time brighter than the previous two casts, the distant sounds of a bell being heard as the final cast took place.

Ring

Ring

Ring

That sound was finalized as the final casting died down, it's sound only a distant memory for the one who had the displeasure of being in its presence.

As the cart drove down the street, Pacifica felt Dipper's hand slide into hers as it rested on top of the book. She turned to him and felt her smile grow wider.

Ring

Ring

That sound would now have a different meaning as it would no longer mean what it used to. Ice cream trucks have bells, churches have bells, even cell phone ringtones are bells, but in the future that same ringing sound that was once so malevolent would no longer be a sound of intimidation, but it would be something different, something Dipper would want it to mean to Pacifica when that time came for them both.

FIN

Next Entry: It was a mistake, she was tricked and for the sake of one book. Now he's been taken from her and the enemy has won. Why did that one journal matter so much? If it didn't, he would still be alive, but most of all, with her. Dipcifica! (This one-shot is based on the AU of Into The Bunker, a photo done by Chadroco on DA. Link to the pic is on my profile here.)

If nothing else, please don't forget to,

Review Please!