Tales Of The Flame & The Ax: A Shooting Star Falls Story
Part Twenty - One: Disaster Party
"Who's lied to me?" Ariel Gleeful asked in a cold tone as she held the jewel encrusted spellbook in her hands. "I suppose I should hold up my end of the agreement… Just know that I am telling you the absolute truth. Although it may be painful to hear, it's high time that you saw things for the way that they really are. Ariel, the truth is that you're not like everyone else. Jennifer is not your mother. A woman by the name of Mabel Ariel Pines is…" the voice began as a look of shock formed on the face of the fifteen year old. "MABEL PINES?! I-I don't understand…" Ariel said in a bewildered tone. "I can sense that you're a bit confused by my statements… Please, allow me to add a little more context to these boisterous claims. To start at the beginning of all this, we have to go back to when your father was but a mere child. The year was twenty-twelve and your father was ten years old. While playing alone in the woods that spring, he came across a book not much unlike the very one you now hold in your hands…" the voice began as the white haired young woman took a seat on her bed and listened intently as it regaled the sorted history of one Gideon Charles Gleeful.
It seemed as though it had been hours, but in actuality had been around twenty minutes since the voice inside Ariel Gleeful's head had begun to explain just how wronged by her family she had been. The fact that had shaken her the most was that she had been alive for less than three years. Jennifer McGuckett had used banned cloning techniques to accelerate the growth of her body, while her mind was shaped by a virtual world that had never existed. A red hot rage filled the teenager as she learned more and more details about how she was created to be nothing more than a pawn for her father's political ambitions. She also came to find out that her father had managed to retrieve one of Mabel Ariel Pines' iconic sweaters shortly after her passing and used a few hairs to replicate her genetics. She wasn't born out of love, but rather created from greed. "I-I can't believe it! Yet, it explains so much… Like why I've never felt like my own person. I-I mean, I was literally created and programmed to be nothing more than a prop for him…" Ariel said as she burst into tears. "I know that was tough to hear, but you deserved to know the truth" the spirit said. "T-Thank you… Now then, let's get on with this…" the young woman said as she wiped the tears from her eyes with the sleeve of her white button-up blouse. Opening the tome and turning to page six hundred and eighteen, she began to read the passage aloud. "Voco super te audire vocem meam. Ut hoc liberum animum devium. Ne inveniat in anima est quod ultima requiem. Haec sola supplex rogaret" Ariel recited as the room filled with a haunting glow and the book levitated out of her hands. Ariel felt a sharp pain radiate inside her cranium and her vision went blurry. Her heart felt as though it would leap from her chest and she began to sweat profusely. "UGH!" she cried out in pain as she fell to her knees.
As suddenly as the pain had started, it had subsided and the room once again fell under the cover of darkness. "D-Did it work?" Ariel wondered aloud to herself. "Oh yeah… It worked alright…" a familiar voice said. The young woman opened her eyes to see that she was no longer alone in the room; a girl who looked to be roughly about the same age as her now stood mere feet away. She sported long brown hair and matching hazel eyes. "A-Are you t-the voice?" Ariel asked in a trembling tone. "Yeah, I am…" the teenager replied. "So… Why are you still here?" the white haired teenager inquired. "You freed me from the mindscape, but I still need a vessel to properly manifest myself in this world. Otherwise, I'm nothing more than a ghost. I apologize for what I'm about to do. If it comforts you any, it's nothing personal… You were just in the wrong place at the wrong time…" she said before transforming into a dark cloud. Ariel opened her mouth to reply, but instead seemed to inhale the mysterious black vapor. The fifteen year old stood on the tips of her toes and began to convulse; her eyes rolling into the back in her head. The body of Ariel Gleeful fell to the hardwood floor below with a thud. She opened her eyes to see her body still in a heap on the floor below. "WHAT THE FUCK?! D-Did I just die?" she thought to herself. Heading over to a mirror that hung on the door of her closet, she failed to see her reflection. A weak laugh filled the room and Ariel turned around to see a truly haunting sight. "W-What the hell did you do?!" Ariel shouted as fear pulsed through her body. "I said I needed a vessel and you were kinda here, so yeah…" the spirit said as it picked itself up off the floor. "B-But that's my body! What about me?! A-Am I dead or something?! Oh God! I am, aren't I?!" the now disembodied teen frantically asked. "Relax, kid. Welcome to the mindscape! You're pretty much a ghost now. The only way that someone can see or hear you is if you infiltrate their mind. Of course, you could always do what I just did to you and find a vessel of your own… It's not that hard. Plus, it's not like you were super attached to this body, right?" Ariel watched her body say to her. "No… This isn't what I agreed to… Deal's off! Give me my damn body back this instant!" the now disembodied teenager shot back. "A little too late for that, my dear… Besides, I quite like it. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have important matters to attend to..." the white haired girl said with a laugh as she exited the room.
Wendy and Dipper had fallen fast asleep after their romantic interlude. All was calm inside the Pines home until a vision of a white haired girl doused in blood who stood in front of a burning Gravity Falls caused Wendy to awaken in a fright. She shot up from the bed and opened her eyes as she felt her heart beating out of her chest. It had been a while since she had last experienced such a vision, but there was no doubt as to what it meant. Pulling her knees up to her chest, she tried to calm herself down as best she could. Looking over, she saw that Dipper was still fast asleep and realized that she alone had experienced this nightmare. Tears streamed from her eyes as she continued to follow the exercises her step-mother had given her many years ago. She closed her eyes and counted backwards while trying to slow her breathing down. After a few minutes, she had returned to a more calm state and got up from the bed. Walking over to a shelf, she removed a blue book and opened it to the last page she had written in. Placing it down on a desk, Wendy began to write down what had transpired in the vision. The light of dawn began to filter into the room as she finished up and she debated whether or not to wake her still slumbering husband up. On the one hand, it was important that she keep him abreast of the latest developments. Still, nothing that seemed to be of a pressing manner had been revealed in the nightmare, so she decided it best to let him sleep. Instead, she would head downstairs and brew herself a pot of coffee.
Mabel Pines had slept horribly and woke up about half an hour before the rest of the girls. No matter what she tried to think of, her thoughts kept circling back to what had transpired the previous night. She tried her best to piece together what had been a series of fractured memories. Mabel recalled that she had met Shaun by the pool after consuming a few beers and that the two had hit it off. He had suggested that they head up to the kitchen to get some more drinks and she obliged. The next fragment was of her downing some sort of mixed drink in a red plastic cup. She remembered it tasting a bit chalky, but brushed it off as just poor mixology. The next memory was the one that she feared the most. She was lying down on a mattress with Shaun on top of her; her hands being held forcibly above her head. She remembered telling him to stop and that he had come up with every excuse in the book to continue with his actions. The image of the much larger teen curled up on the carpet was next on the playlist that ran in her mind. She then recalled stumbling out of the room and meeting up with Pacifica, Grendy and Courtney. A soft knock on the door pulled her away from her thoughts and the familiar face of Candy poked its way into the doorframe. "Hello girls… I made us some breakfast..." she said in a calm voice as the other girls began to stir. "Hello, Mom… T-That sounds good… We'll be down in a few…" Grendy said as she stretched her arms above her head. "You girls are real party animals…" Candy said with a chuckle as she headed back downstairs.
"Hey sis, feeling better this morning?" Pacifica asked as she rolled over to look at her twin. "I'm fine. Everything's fine" the redhead replied in a curt tone. "Oh, still a bitch I see…" Courtney remarked. "Fuck you…" Mabel shot back as Pacifica lay between the warring girls. "Excuse you?!" her cousin replied as she sat up from her makeshift bed on the floor of Grendy's bedroom. "What's the matter? Can't hear? I said, FUCK. YOU. Comprende?" Mabel said as the tension in the room hit a fever pitch. "Oh, it's on!" Courtney said as she stood up and walked over to her cousin. Mabel arose from the floor and squared up as a fight seemed inevitable between the two relatives. The two stared at one another as each anticipated the other to make the first move. Courtney finally had enough of the stalemate and slapped her cousin across the face; the sound reverberating off the walls of Grendy's room. Mabel let out a growl as she ran her hand against her now warm cheek. Tackling the slightly taller girl to the ground, Mabel began to swing at her kin. Courtney wrapped her legs around the midsection of Mabel as she tried to block the incoming strikes as best she could; the girls rolling around on the floor as each tried to gain the upper hand in the altercation. Pacifica and Grendy looked at each other and came to a silent agreement that the fight had gone on long enough. The girls pulled their respective sides apart and tried to calm them down.
Pacifica and Mabel had left the room and now found themselves in the bathroom. "Mabes… What's up?" the silver haired girl asked as she looked her sibling in the eye. "Nothing… Alright? Just lay off, okay?" the fifteen year old girl said with a sigh before spitting some blood into the sink. While it hurt her to be mean to her own flesh and blood, the last thing she needed was for her to be prying into something even she didn't fully understand yet. "No. Something's clearly bothering you and you're not acting like yourself. I mean, before last night I think I might have heard you curse only a couple times. C'mon, I've known you for your whole life, I know when something's up. It started at the party last night. What's the matter? Whatever it is, I'm here to listen and help. Just let me in, sis…" Pacifica practically pleaded as she hoped to find out why her sister was acting in such an unusual manner. Mabel turned around, grabbed two handfuls of her sister's t-shirt and pinned her against the wall; Pacifica feeling the warm and rapid breaths of her sibling on her face as they stood mere centimeters apart. "YOU WANNA KNOW WHY I'M LIKE THIS?! Okay… Fine. I-I'll tell you why. I-I just hope you'll understand…" the redhead relented as she prepared to bare her soul; tears flowing down her reddened cheeks like two mighty rivers.
Meanwhile, back in the bedroom, Grendy and Courtney had begun to talk about what had just happened. "You okay Court?" Grendy asked her girlfriend. "Yeah… I'm good. I just wish I could have knocked that bitch out… I mean, who the hell does she think she is? I don't know what crawled up her ass, but she might need to see a doctor about it…" the young woman replied while flexing her fingers to make sure she hadn't broken anything. The last thing she needed was to rack up yet another injury in what had become a physically tolling summer. "Look… I know she's been acting hella weird, but maybe there's some sort of reason for it. After all, Candy says that the difference between humans and A.I. is that while it thinks logically, we tend to think with our emotions. Perhaps Mabel is just thinking with her emotions. I mean, is that the Mabel that well all know?" Grendy tried to reason with her girlfriend. Courtney mulled over what the brunette had said to her and came to a realization; she was right. Everything about the situation seemed off. Mabel was usually a happy-go-lucky girl who tried to be a positive influence in other's lives. She wasn't one who went looking for a fight. In fact, it seemed that the last thing she wanted was to be in conflict with anyone. "You're right. It's not like her at all. I mean, I know when I was acting out it was because I was projecting my anger onto others. I-I hope something bad didn't happen to her…" Courtney said.
"Are you serious?!" Pacifica asked in shock as she tried to absorb what her sibling had just revealed to her. "Yes." Mabel replied in a soft, yet serious voice. "W-We need to get home and tell Mom and Dad about this right now! THAT FUCKER IS GONNA FUCKING PAY FOR WHAT HE DID!" Pacifica remarked in a concerned tone. "PAZ! Please! The last thing I need is for you to go and do something stupid that you'll regret later…" Mabel said to her sister as tears filled her hazel eyes. "Hello?! HE FUCKING TRIED TO DATE RAPE YOU! I'M GONNA KILL THAT FUCKER FOR HURTING YOU!" Pacifica shouted in a passionate tone. "Look… M-Maybe I'm just remembering it all wrong. I-I did have a lot to drink after all…" the brunette said as she tried to dismiss the situation. "No way am I letting you brush this off! If what you said is true, then what he did was wrong! Who knows how many other girls he's done this to? Maybe even another girl at the same party for all we know! We're going home and you're telling Mom and Dad everything. This is something important, Mabel. I know you might be scared, but it's the right thing to do…" Pacifica said. Mabel thought it over and began to agree with her sibling. Although it would be hard to say, she realized that the fates of others may very well hang in the balance. The anxiety began to rise inside Mabel Pines, but she knew that the longer she waited to reveal what had happened to her, the greater the chances that she wouldn't be the last girl Shaun would try to take advantage of. "Alright… But first let me make things right with Courtney… I feel terrible for what happened" the young woman said.
Grendy and Courtney had taken a seat at the kitchen table and began to chow down on the feast that Candy had prepared for the teen girls. The Korean-American woman knew full well what the quartet had been up to the night before, but decided that they were old enough to begin making choices for themselves. Candy Chiu-Grenderson knew that she'd be a bit hypocritical if she had stepped in and stopped the girls from attending the party. Instead, she hoped to simply be there for them the next morning when the hangovers struck. The breakfast was her way of saying that she knew what they had done the night before. Mabel and Pacifica made their way to the kitchen and took a seat at the wooden table. Mabel glanced over at her cousin and knew that she'd have to be the first to make a move. "Courtney… I-I'm sorry for the way I acted up there… And last night too. I'm just going through some shit and I took it out on you. It's not fair and it's certainly not right. I'm really sorry…" she said while looking across the table at her cousin. The two had come so far in the past year in mending their relationship and the fifteen year old hoped that this would be no exception. "Thanks…" Courtney replied before taking a sip of orange juice. The rest of the breakfast was uneventful and after getting ready for the day, Mabel and Pacifica headed home. The walk was a quiet affair as Mabel Elise Pines thought of just how to break the news about what had happened to her the night before.
Author's Note: I know it's been a little while, but I hope it was worth the wait. I wanted this chapter to set up the next major arc in the story, so that is why so many characters had things going on. Now that Ariel has freed the spirit from the mindscape and had her body stolen by it, how will she cope with being nothing more than a dream demon herself? Who will she try and communicate with? Is the demon that currently occupies Ariel's body done corrupting people or has she just begun? Just what is her endgame and how does it involve the Pines Twins? Why did Wendy choose to keep her latest vision to herself? How will she and her husband react when their daughter reveals the horrific things that were done to her at the party? Answers to all this and more in the next installment of Tales of The Flame & The Ax. Until then, I wish you all a very happy new year! - iKLOT
My Playlist For This Chapter:
The Rua – "Hey You" (Reminded me of how Ariel felt when she found out that she was just a prop for her father)
The Federal Empire – "I Never Liked Your Friends" (Reminded me of the voice convincing Ariel to turn against her new found friends)
Marshmello / CHVRCHES – "Here With Me"
Set It Off – "Catch Me If You Can"
Alec Benjamin – "Mind Is A Prison"
Poppy – "Fill The Crown" (Reminded me of the dream demon)
Angels & Airwaves – "Rebel Girl"
half alive – "RUNAWAY"
COUNTERFEIT. – "It Gets Better"
Magic Giant - "Disaster Party" (Felt like this was a good song to name the chapter after)
Josh Homme's Desert Sessions / Mike Kerr – "Crucifire"
Fall Out Boy / Wyclef Jean – "Dear Future Self (Hands Up)" (Reminded me of Wendy and the fact that while she's prepared for what may come, she still hoped that it wouldn't)
Linkin Park – "Burn It Down"
Fozzy – "Nowhere To Run"
The Official Shooting Star Falls AU Reading Order:
P1). Underage Discoveries On A Reckless Night: A Shooting Star Falls Prequel
1). A Shooting Star Falls
2). Echoes Of A Nearby Future: A Shooting Star Falls Story
3). Scarred Summer: A Shooting Star Falls Story
4). The Dark Days Of Candy Chiu: A Shooting Star Falls Story
5). Forever Memories: A Shooting Star Falls Story
6). Stable Times Or A Wild Ride?: A Shooting Star Falls Story
7). Grenda's Confession: A Shooting Star Falls Story
8). Birthday Weirdness In The Rose City: A Shooting Star Falls Story
9). The Gift Of Forever: A Shooting Star Falls Story
10). Life In Transit: A Shooting Star Falls Story
11). The Moment: A Shooting Star Falls Story
12). Tales Of The Flame & The Ax: A Shooting Star Falls Story