Tales Of The Flame The Axe: A Shooting Star Falls Story
Part Two: Descent
Thanksgiving had come to the small Pacific Northwest town of Gravity Falls, Oregon. Like many others around the nation, families gathered to celebrate all that they were thankful for. Nearly twenty years had passed since the tragedy of June 3rd and while the pain of the event had lessened somewhat over time, the scar would always remain. Having grown considerably throughout the years, the Pines and Corduroy families relished the opportunity to catch up and see how their relatives were doing. Totaling over fifty attendees, the event hall at the Mystery Shack played host to the holiday feast, as there was plenty of room. "Mark, Laura… So good to see you guys!" Wendy Pines greeted her brother and sister-in-law as she looked up from a large wooden table she was setting for the event. Mark had taken after his father; a towering and burly man with a large red beard. His wife, by comparison, was of average build and sported wavy black hair. "Where are the boys?" the auburn haired hostess inquired. "They're bringing the coolers from the truck…" Mark explained as he wrapped an arm around his wife. A few moments later, a quartet of tall teens came bursting through the doorway. Archibald, Bradford and Thomas Corduroy carried the large and presumably heavy coolers with ease, while their youngest sibling Dale struggled a bit with the task. Wendy took a few minutes to catch up with her brother and his family, as they lived about an hour away they didn't get to see each other very often.
Mark and his family were soon followed by Clyde, who was flanked by wife Emily and his children Owen, Walker, Cassie and Maureen. Clyde had joined his brother in taking over their uncle's logging camp an hour away from Gravity Falls, so the cousins were more like brothers and sisters. Jonas, Megan and their children had arrived to the gathering and the Corduroy family was nearly all reunited. "Jonas… Meg… Good to see you guys again…" Wendy said in a less than enthusiastic tone of voice. Following the ballfield incident between the preteen cousins, the two families hadn't really talked to each other as much as they used to. Megan was still livid with the fact that a family member would assault her daughter and was less than impressed with Wendy and Dipper's response to the incident. Jonas reluctantly took his wife's side, as he thought it best to do so even though he didn't necessarily agree with her. Courtney Corduroy was the middle child of the couple and surely helped to reinforce the stereotype surrounding it. While her mother had talked to her about treating her cousins better, it was mostly lip service to appease her sister-in-law. Nick and Tyler Corduroy kept to themselves as they waited for their sister to stir things up yet again. Much to their surprise, she was cordial to both her Aunt and Uncle before walking off to join her other cousins in the living room of the Mystery Shack.
"Look… Courtney… I-I'm really sorry for what I did a few months ago… It was wrong and I just wanted to apologize for trying to pop your head like a zit…" Pacifica began as she stood face to face with her cousin. "No you're not…" the red maned thirteen year old sharply replied. "Courtney… I truly am… What you said wasn't nice… In fact it was downright cold… But I wa-" she continued to argue before being cutoff. "The only thing I'm sorry for is that I even wasted my time talking to a freak like you… You're pathetic…" Courtney shot back as Pacifica's hazel eyes began to fill with tears. She felt like punching her right in the face, but remembered the talk she had with her mother. Instead, she just stood there and took insult after insult. "Hey! She can't help that she lost her arm… So, just lay off, man!" another voice called out. It was none other than Cassie Corduroy, the usually shy and timid fourteen year old daughter of Clyde and Emily. "What if it had happened to you? Would you want her making fun of you?" the average built blonde continued. "B-But she's weird… Just look at her…" Courtney argued as she stomped her foot into the ground in a bit of exasperation. "We're all weird. We're all human beings… I mean, if you wanna go there, I can tell them about what makes you weird…" Cassie shot back. Maureen and Mabel had returned from grabbing a popsicle when they spied the two teens going at it; this time joined by their cousin Cassie, who tended to stay out of things. "Again…" Mabel sighed as she walked up on them, only to overhear her blonde cousin standing up for her twin sister. "I-I told you that because I trusted you… You wouldn't dare!" the auburn haired preteen said in a shocked tone of voice. "Oh, I will if you keep it up… She can't help it… Just, like, you couldn't with your thing… So, if you don't apologize and leave her alone, I'll tell everyone…" Cassie issued her ultimatum; confidence dripping from her voice. "Fine… Uh… S-Sorry that I said those things… I guess blondie is right… You can't help it… I-I'm going to go see if the grownups need any help…" Courtney relented in a tone of voice that oozed with defeat. "Apology accepted" Pacifica said as she wrapped her cousin in a hug. Much to her surprise, the redhead returned the gesture before walking away.
"Cassie! That was amazing!" Mabel shouted as she wrapped her up in a tight hug; both girls nearly tumbling to the carpet below. "I-It really wasn't anything… I-I just got fed up with her shit… That's all…" the oldest of the female cousins humbly replied. "Well, it meant a hell of a lot to me… That's for sure" Pacifica replied as she wiped the tears from her hazel eyes. "Thanks Paz…" the shy teen said as she grabbed her arm and looked down at the ground. "So… What is it that changed her mind so quick? Whatever it is, it must have been good to shut her up like that…" Maureen noted. "Look… If you want me to tell you, then you're outta luck. I made a promise and I am a woman of my word" her sister replied. "Well, either way, I'm happy you're my sister…" the strawberry blonde Maureen said. The quartet of girls began to walk towards the hall, where Mr. Mystery himself was set to dust off his old DJ headphones and start up a dance party for the pre-teen girls while the boys huddled around the TV and watched the annual football games. Cassie pulled on the tan sleeve of Pacifica's sweater, causing the twelve year old to come to a halt. "Hey… I-I just wanted to pass this bit of knowledge along to you in case she doesn't keep her word… Which knowing her, she won't" the blonde said with a chuckle. "What's that?" the brunette tween asked. "When Courtney was born… She had an extra accessory…" Cassie chuckled. "A whositwhatsit now?!" Pacifica inquired. "She was born with a tail… They cut it off when she was little, but you can totally see the scar on her lower back…" the blonde informed her relative as she lifted up her blue cardigan and pointed to where it would be on her tormenter. "Really?! HA! Now that's funny!" the tan sweater clad girl quipped. "No… It's not… It's no different than your arm…" Cassie quickly scolded her younger cousin. "You're right… Maybe that's why she picked on me… It reminds her of her imperfections" Pacifica pondered. "Yeah, she's always so concerned with how she looks and how she acts… What if it's just a cover for her insecurities? That she feels she had to belittle everyone just to keep the focus off of her?" Cassie agreed as they caught up to Mabel and Maureen.
The feast was impressive to say the least. Three large turkeys had been prepared for the meal and even that didn't feel like it would be enough to slay the appetite of the revelers. Wendy recalled one particular Thanksgiving when her mother had made a monstrous bird just for her father to consume. Although she was only about six years old at the time, the memory had stuck with her. Wendy, Melody, Clyde and Emily decided that having the food served in a buffet style was more appropriate for a gathering of this size; especially after last year, when Jonas dropped a full bowl of mashed potatoes and nearly caused a full blown riot. The cousins were seated at a smaller table and most everyone there could sense the tension between Pacifica, Courtney and now Cassie. The boys carried on about sports and video games, while Maureen and Mabel had a lengthy debate over whether scratch and sniff or puffy stickers were better. Wendy had walked over to check in on the table and paused as she took in the scene. Sometimes she was convinced that Maureen was the triplet she never gave birth to, as she and Mabel shared nearly the same personality. "It really is a shame that Clyde and Emily don't live closer…" the auburn haired woman thought to herself. Deciding that the peace was being kept at the table for the time being, Wendy returned to the adult table. "Got ya a leg!" Dipper announced; proud of the fact that he had scored the prized piece of meat for his wife. "My favorite! Aww, thanks Dip!" the grateful woman said with a mouthful of food as she had already taken a bite of the tender leg. Dipper couldn't help but chuckle at the freckled woman as she continued to chow down.
Pacifica had nearly mastered the use of her prosthetic arm, but every once in a while a 'glitch' as she came to call them, would happen. Fiddleford McGucket had built a substitute arm that was far beyond what most medical researchers had been able to produce, but even his wasn't a replacement for the real one. Holding a fork full of mashed potatoes, she was about to place it to her mouth when her hand began to spasm uncontrollably. The food flung off the utensil and was sent on a direct trajectory towards Cassie. While Pacifica grasped her arm in an effort to get it under control, the potatoes landed on the blonde preteen's face and sweater. Courtney and Maureen began to laugh at the sight of Pacifica's flailing arm across the table from them. Meanwhile, Cassie wiped the fluffy whipped side dish from her hair, face and cardigan. While she was upset momentarily, she realized that it was an honest accident. The boys looked on with anticipation as they were certain a brawl was fixing to start at any moment. Pacifica shot up from the table and sprinted towards the door as the adults turned their attention to the commotion. "Paz! Wait!" Courtney called out as she realized how she had once again managed to hurt her cousin's feelings. Several of the adults made their way over to the table as the sound of the door slamming rung throughout the large room.
Tears streaming from her hazel colored eyes, Pacifica Pines sprinted away from the Mystery Shack and into the forest; the chilly late November air nipping at the distraught girl. "She was right! I am just a freak! I-I will never be normal again!" she said to herself between breaths as she continued to run away from the scene of her embarrassment. "Maybe I'll just do everyone a favor and leave! I-It seems like they'd be better off without me messing up their lives anyway…" she continued to converse with herself as she ran deeper and deeper into the woods. Finally stopping to catch her breath, she looked around in hopes of seeing anything that looked familiar. While she had spent lots of time exploring the dense forest both with her parents and sister, she didn't seem to recall this particular location. "I even messed up running away!" she yelled; her voice echoing off the trees and into the ever encroaching night. "Great! Just great! Now I'm going to freeze to death in the middle of the goddamn forest!" she exclaimed. "Nah! Not gonna die tonight! I-I just have to remember all that wilderness crap everyone's been hammering into my head since I could understand words…" she thought to herself. Using signs such as moss growing on tree trunks and the twinkling stars above, she soon found herself at the base of ridge that surrounded the town of Gravity Falls. Her teeth chattered as the temperature continued to drop; the young woman burying her hands into her pockets, hoping to find some hint of warmth. The brunette had nearly given up hope and resigned herself to fate when she spied an opening in the wall of rock. "Maybe it'll be warmer in there… Anything's better than this…" she said to herself as she entered the cave in search of a safe place to spend the night.
"I-I didn't mean to laugh at her… It just kinda happened…" Courtney said as she tried to defend herself; numerous sets of angry eyes focused on the blonde preteen girl. "That's not important right now… We need to find her…" Wendy said as the other adults nodded in agreement. "She can't have gotten far… But it's getting late and it's already pretty chilly out there…" Mark pointed out with concern in his voice. As a father himself, he could only imagine what his sister and her husband were feeling at that exact moment. "We'll split up into a few groups to cover as much ground as possible" Dan commented as he took control of the situation. Three groups started off into the forest in search of the distraught girl. "Hold on baby… Momma's gonna find ya…" Wendy tried to reassure herself as she walked hand in hand with Dipper. The younger siblings stayed behind, as the last thing the family needed was for more kids to go missing. Tyler, Owen, Walker, Maureen, Courtney and Dale sat in the unusually quiet meeting hall; hoping that their cousin was alright. "Mom… What if they can't find her? What if she dies because of me and what I did?" Courtney said as she began to softly cry. "They'll find her… Your Grandpa Dan is one of the best trackers to have ever lived and he trained your Dad, Aunt and Uncles…" Megan Corduroy said to her daughter. "Yeah… And it wasn't just you who laughed at her when her arm went all wonky… I am just as guilty as you are…" Maureen said as she took a seat on the hardwood floor beside her cousin. "Yeah… Me too…" Owen said as he tried to calm down the blonde girl.
Pacifica walked deeper and deeper into the cave as she continued to look for a warm place to spend the night. She was about to give up hope when she saw something that jogged her memory. "Quartz! I-I can use this to maybe start a fire!" she said with excitement as a plan began to form in her head. Walking out of the cave, she began to search for anything that could be used for kindling. Filling her pockets with dry grass and her arms with twigs, a confident smile formed on her face. Taking a small rock that rest on the ground, she stuck the wall of the cave; the bangs echoing all around her. "I really hope there isn't a bear in here…" she thought to herself as she was finally able to break a piece of the potentially lifesaving stone from the wall. Taking the rock she had used to free it, she split the quartz into smaller pieces still; trying to get a few sharp edges on the stone. Holding the sharp edge of one of the rocks to a twig she had found, she began to scrape off bits of it to make a base. Next, she struck the stones together, hoping to see a spark. She was nearly about to give up when she saw one fly off the stones and land on the pile of wood shavings below. Crossing her fingers, she waited a moment to see if any smoke would rise from the tiny pieces of timber. Little wisps of smoke emerged from the shavings and they began to smolder, but Pacifica knew that her work was far from done if she were to survive the night. Adding additional shavings and tending to them became her sole purpose in life as she tried to remember what was next. "Think! Think! Think!" she scolded herself. Hearing the crinkling grass in her pockets, she recalled the next step that her mother had shown her a few years prior. Taking the dried grass, she formed a small ball of it and then wrapped it up with some of the longer pieces before placing it on the end of a small twig. Holding it firmly against the smoldering shavings, the ball began to ignite. Holding it up close to her face, she began to blow into it as the grass started to glow. A flame appeared and Pacifica knew that she had managed to save her life. After lighting a pile of twigs on fire, she briefly left the cave to find more fuel for it. Returning a few minutes later, she saw that her hard work had paid off as the twigs began to crackle. "Like I said… I'm not gonna die tonight…" the young woman said as she observed the now roaring fire with a look of satisfaction on her face.
Wendy's phone started to ring and she quickly dug her glove covered hand into her pocket to retrieve it. Unrolling the paper thin device, she saw that her father was calling. "Did you find her?" Wendy asked with an air of desperation in her voice. The sun had set long ago and she knew that much like the light, hope was fading fast as well. "I'm sorry sweetheart… I'm calling off the search for the night… No sense in someone else getting hurt or lost in these kind of conditions…" Dan said in a defeated tone. He wanted to continue searching for his granddaughter, but realized that even his skill set was no match for finding an emotionally disturbed preteen girl. "SO WE'RE JUST GIVING UP?!" Wendy shouted into the phone; shocked that her father had come to the decision so quickly. "Look, honey, we're not giving up… In fact, the State Police are sending drones as we speak. They have thermal imaging cameras that can scan hundreds of acres at a time. They're using everything they've got to find Pacifica… I promise. But for now, we need to regroup back at the shack, okay?" Dan tried to reason with the emotional woman he called his daughter. "Alright… I-I'll let the others know…" Wendy replied as she began to weep. "I love you Gwendolyn…" Dan said as he ended the call. "He didn't find her, did he?" Dipper said in a crestfallen voice as his hazel eyes began to water up. "Nope… M-Mason… I'm scared… What if something happened to her… I-I don't think I can live with myself if I lose her…" the redhead said as she fell into the slightly taller man she called her soulmate. "They'll find her…" Dipper said as he let go of his emotions and joined his wife in sobbing.
Pacifica began to explore the cave; hoping to not stumble upon a hibernating bear, wolves or mountain lions. She was about to return to beside the warmth of the flames when something caught her attention. The flickering light of the fire had briefly shone onto some sort of shiny object and Pacifica's curiosity was sparked. What she laid eyes upon was a brilliant gemstone encrusted onto a large grey book. Picking up the surprisingly heavy tome, she brought back over to camp she had hastily set up. Fully illuminated by the orange glow of the flames, she could see that the diamond shaped gem was deep purple in color. "What in the world is this?!" Pacifica thought aloud as she flipped open the cover to reveal a handwritten introduction. 'The contents of this book are of a most serious nature and therefore must be treated as such. A collection of the spells most powerful curated from throughout the multiverse lie within. The ability to create things most wonderful or destroy with force never before seen are all possible with this guide.USE AT YOUR OWN RISK!' it read. "I doubt this is nothing more than a load of utter crap, but I guess it's a good way to waste some time" Pacifica said as she began to flip through the pages on the frigid November night in Gravity Falls, Oregon.
Author's Note: So, this chapter was one that I wrote nearly a dozen times and deleted constantly as I wasn't completely happy with it. Between that and just plain not having the time to sit down and write, it ended up delaying this chapter a bit. This will be the last chapter where the twins are twelve as there will be a time jump to when they are fifteen. As always, feel free to leave a review. Until next time - iKLOT
My Playlist For This Chapter:
Jay Som – "Baybee"
Editors – "Munich"
First Aid Kit – "Postcard"
Motionless In White / Jonathan Davis – "Necessary Evil"
Nathaniel Rateliff The Night Sweats – "You Worry Me"
Dirty Heads / The Unlikely Candidates – "Celebrate"
The Official Shooting Star Falls AU Reading Order:
Underage Discoveries On A Reckless Night: A Shooting Star Falls Prequel
A Shooting Star Falls
Echoes Of A Nearby Future: A Shooting Star Falls Story
Scarred Summer: A Shooting Star Falls Story
The Dark Days of Candy Chiu: A Shooting Star Falls Story
Forever Memories: A Shooting Star Falls Story
Stable Times Or A Wild Ride?: A Shooting Star Falls Story
Grenda's Confession: A Shooting Star Falls Story
Birthday Weirdness In The Rose City: A Shooting Star Falls Story
The Gift Of Forever: A Shooting Star Falls Story
Wendy Dipper Vs The Future: A Shooting Star Falls Story
Life In Transit: A Shooting Star Falls Story
Pause The Moment: A Shooting Star Falls Story
Tales Of The Flame The Axe: A Shooting Star Falls Story