Ugh, why does it take me so long to write roughly 1,000 words? I started this one on Friday, but then had to finish it today. But then of course, I was kind of getting distracted. Family obligations and watching other creepy Disney related things for inspiration pretty much took up my day. I have, however, thought of a way to get these chapters out faster: write for an hour and then publish whatever I have finished in that amount of time. I'll try that next time and see if it's substantial. For this one I threw in even more references to other series; see if you can guess where they're from. With one of them, if you know the story, you might know what's in store next. Whooooo wants to see Pacifica with an alien lightning gun? Raise your hand!
"The beings of a dying elder world, wise with the ultimate secrets, had looked ahead for a new world and species wherein they might have long life; and had sent their minds en masse into that future race best adapted to house them – the cone-shaped beings that peopled our earth a billion years ago." —H. P. Lovecraft, "The Shadow Out of Time"
Pacifica found herself floating through the darkness, the pain in her head pulsing. She floated downward until she saw the little person from her dream the other night. He was doing that same dance to that bizarre jazz music that seemed to come from nowhere. As she neared him, the room with the red curtains and the zig-zag black and white floors. Her body lowered itself into that same easy chair, and the pain in her head seemed to leave. The little man turned to her.
"Pacifica," he said in a voice that still sounded as if it were played in reverse, "We are glad to welcome you back."
Across from her was an older gentleman, one in a three piece suit, with slightly graying hair. He looked over at her.
"Pacifica Northwest," he said, his voice sounding perfectly normal in this world, oddly enough, "Agent Dale Cooper at your service. You've grown quite a bit since I had last seen you. I was at one of your parent's dinner parties. While I appreciated the atmosphere, and I'm sure you'll take no offense to this at this present time, the company was way too snooty for my taste. Also, they didn't have enough coffee."
Pacifica looked around for the blonde woman, fearing she was just out of sight, possibly peering from out of one of the curtains.
"Don't worry," Cooper said, "If you're looking for Laura, her spirit has already passed. But there is apparently a message that you need to receive from here." She heard a rustling to her left and looked over, finding that the curtains had parted to reveal a wide, dark hallway. She looked back to see that Cooper had vanished. Her only resolve was to stand up and head down the hallway. As she got up and proceeded out of the room, she noticed the little man paid her no mind and continued dancing. She continued into the dark and noticed some of the décor had changed. There were now blue curtains with golden tassels hanging from the sealing. There was what looked like purple wallpaper with jagged black designs running vertically through them in which Pacifica could have sworn she could see demonic faces staring at her. Dim gas lamps hung from fixtures in the walls, what small light they produced causing shadows to dance this way and that through the hall. There was a low droning pipe organ playing an ominous tune in the distance.
Running past her were two figures, one looked like a young woman with braided pigtails, a red sweater with white and black checkers, and burgundy skirt, the other had pink hair in small pigtails, a poofy, over-the-top pink and white dress, and carrying what looked like a longbow. She looked back at them as they faded into the darkness behind her.
She continued on through the dark until she came to a round room with a table. On it was a crystal ball with what looked like a woman's transparent head inside of it. There were also musical instruments scattered across the table. The head began to speak.
"Serpents and spiders, tail of a rat," she said, "Call in the spirits, wherever they're at!" With that, the instruments began to float off of the table and play.
"Okay!" Pacifica said, drawing the word out as she witnessed this bizarre scene. She decided not to stay for the rest of the musical number and found that there was a staircase leading down through the floor. She continued down the stairs. They spiraled downward for what seemed like a very long time; Pacifica wondered how long it would take her to reach the bottom. Finally, the stairs terminated to a stone floor. The walls were etched with various carvings and runes of which she did not recognize, along with green glowing crystals, this being the hall's only light source. She continued onward until finding another circular room, this one having what looked like a green hexagonal control panel and a large circular apparatus that reminded her of the portal they had just dismantled. Seeing no other exits, she decided to press the button on the control panel, thinking perhaps this thing would open a door to get her out of this stupid dream.
She could not have been more wrong.
A white flash blazed across the room. The light was coming from the portal, and out of it came three gargantuan creatures Pacifica's had difficulty fully comprehending. Their bodies were cylindrical, looking almost like that of a bloated palm tree trunk; out of the tops came their arms and heads, their "hands" reminding her of lobster claws and their faces appearing as a mass of three eyes, antennas, and tentacles. They hovered closer to her, and Pacifica could only stand there, petrified.
"Pacifica," the closest one said, "you have been chosen to do your planet a great service." And with that, the creature reached its claw towards her. Pacifica was about to scream when a familiar voice sounded in her ear.
"Whao," Wendy said, leaning over her, "You're finally awake. You okay, kiddo?"
"Yeah, I guess," Pacifica said, rubbing her aching forehead and finding a bandage wrapped around it. She looked over at the young lumberjack and found it was from part of her flannel shirt. "What happened?"
"After we fell," Wendy said, "you hit your head pretty hard. I twisted my leg a bit, but it shouldn't be too bad. I was kind of worried; you were out for at least an hour." Pacifica looked down at her feet and thought about her dream. These weird creatures chose her for something? Wouldn't Dipper, Mabel, or Ford be a more suited candidate for some interdimensional task? Was her task to help them?
Of course, having just been attacked by some triangle shaped, cartoonish demon, she had a feeling she would find out soon enough what all this meant. The next step would be to figure out where they were.