Tales Of The Flame & The Ax: A Shooting Star Falls Story

Part Twenty-Five: Interview With A Teenager

It was a little after two in the afternoon when Stan and Ford Pines arrived in Gravity Falls, Oregon. Stepping off the bus, they were immediately greeted by Dipper, Wendy, Mabel, Pacifica, Soos, Melody, Mateo and Alessandra. "It's good to be back home!" Stan said as he breathed in the fresh air of the small Pacific Northwestern town; the sun shining brightly in an almost cloudless sky above. Ford took a good look at his surroundings and noted that at least as far as he could tell, things appeared to be normal for the time being. He'd have to run some baseline tests to make certain of it, but he decided that could wait. For now, he had to turn off the worry and concern he harbored as he instead looked to catch up with those he cared most about. "Stan! Ford! It's so good to see you!" Dipper said as he extended his hand to his Great Uncles. "Good to see ya, kid!" Stan said as he firmly shook the hand of the thirty-three year old man. "Greetings, Dipper! Technology is great, but it can never replace seeing you all in real life..." Ford remarked as he shook the hand of his Great-Nephew.

Stan was about to greet Wendy when he felt her arms wrap him up in a tight hug. Although he'd never fully admit it, he viewed the auburn haired woman as a surrogate for the daughter he never had. As she lifted him off the ground, he decided to mess with her a bit. The eighty-five year old man began to cough and Wendy quickly placed him back on the ground. "Dude! A-Are you alright?! I'm, like, so sorry! I knew I shouldn't have done that! Damn it!" the redhead said as panic began to fill her as she thought she might have seriously injured the elderly man. His coughs were soon replaced with laughter, which caused a confused look to form on everyone's faces. "Wendy, honey, I'm fine. Just screwing with you!" he reassured her as he continued to laugh. The ginger woman balled up her fist and punched him in the shoulder. "You son of a bitch! You had me really worried that I had hurt you or something!" she said in an angered tone. "Sorry, but you know I've gotta mess with you while I still can..." the grey haired man explained as he placed a caring hand on her slender shoulder.

"DAD!" a very familiar voice called out from the crowd of people. Stan looked over to see Soos, who was dressed in his Mr. Mystery outfit, which consisted of a black suit, white dress shirt, red tie and of course, the trademark red fez adorned with a black tassel. "Soos, my boy, how are you?" Stan asked his adoptive son. "Doing great, Pops! We're heading towards the end of our most successful season yet at the Shack!" the sharply dressed man said as he beamed with pride. "That's really great to hear! I knew I left the Shack in good hands all those years ago" Stan remarked. "Say, maybe now that you're home, you could swing by the Shack and we could do a few tours together. Think about it, dude... Two Mr. Mysteries means double the price for admission, right?" Soos suggested. "Soos! Taking advantage of the fact that I'm home to make a little more money for yourself... THAT'S MY BOY! When do we start?!" Stan asked excitedly. Melody let out a chuckle as she watched the two men bond. "Melody... You're as lovely as always" Stan remarked before giving his daughter-in-law a hug. "Grandpa! Grandpa!" Alessandra shouted as she rushed up the older man. "Allie! How ya doin' pumpkin?" he asked they young woman as he dropped to a knee to be at eye level with her. "I missed you so much!" she replied while hugging Stan. "Me too sweetie... Me too!" he agreed. "Sup?" Mateo asked in his casual tone that he had inherited from his father. "I almost made out with a Mermaid, so that was kinda cool..." he answered. "Really?! You gotta give me the deets on that Grandpa Stan..." the teen boy responded.

It was decided that Stan and Ford would stay in the basement of the Pines home, as it was only a short distance to the lab that lay beneath the Mystery Shack. Both of the Pines brothers were shocked by how much everyone had changed in the two years they had been away. Sure, they were able to stay in touch through video chats, emails and texts, but it wasn't the same as being in the physical presence of their loved ones. After a delicious home cooked dinner, the Ramirez family headed home and the Pines had retreated to the living room. "So, Wendy, how's the ranger life treating you?" Stan asked as he cracked open a beer and placed it on the coffee table. "Pretty okay, I guess... The hunting season is coming up soon, so I'm sure I'll have to write a ton of citations for lack of licenses and the like" the auburn haired woman said before taking a sip of red wine from her glass. "Dipper, how's the show going?" the gravelly voiced man inquired. "Well, we're on a bit of a hiatus right now, but I think we'll start filming in the spring again. In the meantime, I'm helping consult on a major motion picture..." Dipper answered. "Is that right? What's it about?" Ford asked his great-nephew. "It's kinda funny you should ask..." the thirty-three year old man said before pausing to take a sip of his beer and collect his thoughts. "It's actually about Pacifica Northwest. Her father wanted to do a bio-pic on her life" he continued.

Dipper and Wendy had spent the better part of half an hour recalling that wild weekend in Vancouver where they found out they were to be portrayed in an upcoming movie. Stan and Ford were angered at first when they were told that Dipper and Wendy hadn't even been informed that the film was being made, let alone that they were going to be in it. It was only after the married couple explained to the twin brothers that they had assisted in making the script much more authentic that their feelings subsided. "Just think... If we hadn't been hounded by those drunk chicks for my autograph and that paparazzi for an interview, we still might be in the dark about the whole thing..." Wendy chuckled. "Do you even remember why we chose to go to Vancouver in the first place?" Dipper asked his wife. "You know? I'm not too sure myself. I think I may have gotten some spam email about hotel prices there and mentioned it offhandedly to you one time" the auburn haired woman guessed aloud. "I think you're right. I remember you saying something about hotels in Vancouver and kind of took it as a hint that you wanted to go there. I'm relatively certain that I booked the trip the next day. Kinda funny how that all worked out. It's as if destiny helped steer us in that direction" Dipper suggested. Little did he know that it was a little more than happenstance that the email had been sent to Wendy.

The conversation eventually turned to the subject of the magic spellbook that Pacifica had found in the woods the previous fall. "Can I examine it?" Ford asked. "Well... You see... I-I, um, sorta misplaced it..." Pacifica nervously said as all eyes in the room turned to her. "I need to ask you some questions about that book and it's very important that you answer them as truthfully as you can. You won't get in trouble, but the very fate of the universe may be at stake. So, Pacifica, let's start at the beginning" Ford said as he opened his laptop and began to type on a notes application. "Alright. You're sure that I won't get in any trouble though? I know my Dad can kind of get heated about this sort of thing..." the now mostly silver haired girl asked in a nervous tone. "I suppose that's partially my fault for how I reacted to him having something of mine when I was his age..." Ford remarked. "Journal number three?" Mabel asked her grand-uncle. "Yes. I suppose that if you know about that, then you probably know about the rest as well" the grey haired man said while adjusting his glasses. "Yeah... Mom and Dad told us about it not too long ago" the teen girl replied. Perhaps we could do this interview somewhere more comfortable for you if you'd like..." Ford suggested to his grand-niece. "I'd like that... No offense guys..." the teen girl replied. "Of course..." Wendy reassured her daughter. While she would have liked to have known what exactly the young woman had been up to with the mysterious book, she also respected her privacy too much to press the issue.

Ford followed Pacifica upstairs and into her bedroom; the door closing behind them. "Okay, so you said that you found this spellbook in a cave. Can you describe the book to me?" the bespectacled man asked as he took a seat at her desk and began to type away on the laptop he had brought with him. "Well, it had a grey cover on it with a large purple gemstone that was shaped like a diamond in the center of the cover. It had to have weighed about ten pounds and had around a thousand or so pages in it" she answered. "Alright. Did you perform any spells in the book and if so, could you recall what happened when you did?" Ford inquired. "I've done quite a few, actually. The first one I guess you could say I mastered was for levitation of objects. It only took me a few weeks to be able to figure that one out. At first I would get really bad headaches, but every time I did it, they got less and less severe" the young woman recalled. "What else have you done?" Ford asked as he continued his line of questioning. "Let's see... There was pyrokinesis, lunarkinesis, summoning the all-seeing eye, chronokinesis and evocation. I-I think that was all of the ones I tried" Pacifica replied.

"You mentioned evocation. What kind of spirit did you summon with it?" Ford inquired. "Well, I never really got a name, but it all started when I read a passage in the front of the book. It was only a sentence long and I'm pretty sure I slaughtered the pronunciation of the words because it was in some other language, but then I started hearing the voice..." the fifteen year old recalled. "This voice... Did it tell you to do anything?" the grey haired man asked with a hint of concern in his voice. "Well, yeah. At first it was just suggestions, but then she showed up and saved me one time when I was getting beat up by a bunch of older girls" Pacifica said as she then described the brawl that took place in the girls room at the fun center and how the spirit had come to her aide. "She asked me if I could help her out since she had done the same for me. All she wanted me to do was to read a passage from the spellbook that she said would unbind her spirit from the vessel that bound her to this plane of existence... Or something like that..." the silver and brown haired girl continued as the clacking of the keys on Ford's laptop helped to fill the otherwise crushing silence in the room.

"What do you think he's asking her about?" Dipper asked Wendy, Stan and Mabel. "He's probably doing one of those marathon interview sessions like he did whenever we'd find someone who knew something about Atlantis. It could be a while..." Stan replied. "Well, who knows? Maybe that book is just buried under a mountain of crap in her room. I mean, that place is absolutely a mess" Wendy commented. "Actually, she mentioned something about cleaning it up. I did see her bring down two garbage bags full of stuff, so I think she actually did it. If she cleaned it and still couldn't find it, then we might have a problem..." Dipper remarked. "We'll just have to cross that bridge when we get to it then, won't we?" Wendy replied. The room fell in silence for a moment before Stan picked up the remote and turned the television on. It was a welcome distraction from the serious conversation that had been taking place. "So, Grunkle Stan, how'd the trip go? Find any gold?" Dipper asked as he tried to engage the older man in conversation. "Dude, did you hook up with any Mermaids?" Wendy chimed in. "It was alright. Nah, we didn't find any gold. As for your question, Wendy, I almost did. I had her practically throwing herself at me when Sixer just had to go and ruin things. He pulled me aside and told me that she wasn't really a Mermaid, but a Siren. I told him I didn't care what she called herself as long as she was interested in me. I still haven't gotten over it..." the grey haired man grumbled. "A SIREN! He saved your life!" Dipper shouted in relief. "I know what a Mermaid is, but what's a Siren?" Mabel asked; her curiosity piqued. Dipper spent the next half hour explaining the differences between the two creatures as Wendy, Mabel and Stan listened closely. "Well, it looks like I owe a certain someone an apology..." Stan said before taking a sip of his beer.

"So then, I read the spell aloud and the room got ice cold. The next thing I know, there's a corpse on my bedroom floor that absolutely reeks and the spirit was gone" Pacifica continued as Ford continued to record her words. "What did you do with the body?" Ford asked; his voice dripping with curiosity. "I had to get Mabes to help, but we wrapped it in a sheet, threw it out my bedroom window into a wheelbarrow below. Then we went out into the woods and spent the rest of the night burying it" she recalled in a chipper voice. "Okay... So after that, you said that you haven't heard from the spirit again, right?" Ford asked as he still tried to process the fact that his fifteen year old nieces had buried a body in the woods. "Correct" she replied. "When was the last time you saw the book?" Ford inquired. "It was a couple of days ago. I was rushing to finish a chapter on hydrokinesis before Mabel and I left to go to a party" the now mostly silver haired young woman remarked. "And you're certain that you've looked everywhere it could possibly be in here?" he asked. "Yup. It's almost like it vanished into thin air. Wait a minute, you don't think it could do that, do you? I mean it is filled with magic spells..." Pacifica thought aloud. "It's possible, but without examining the book myself, I have no way of knowing for sure. Do you know of anyone who could possibly want the book? Do you have any enemies that could stand to benefit from having it?" Ford questioned. "Well, there was that one time when we went camping with Aunt Tambry while Mom and Dad were in Vancouver when the gnomes broke into our tent. One of them had the book in its tiny little hands until we spooked them and it dropped it" she recalled. "Interesting..." Ford commented as he finished typing.

"I know that took a little while, but I needed to be thorough. Thanks for putting up with me..." Ford said as he closed the laptop and got up from the chair. "It's fine. I know the power that book holds inside of it and what could happen if someone bad got their hands on it" Pacifica reassured her grand-uncle. "Absolutely. It could mean the end of the world. I've lived through one apocalypse and I'd prefer not to go through another with the few remaining years I have left..." he replied. "It really seems like it messed up most everyone here in town that's old enough to remember it. I'm sort of thankful that I was born after it happened, because I'm not sure I could endure that kind of trauma" the young woman said as the trench coat wearing man paused in his tracks. "Of course, you would. You're a Pines. You even have that Courduroy DNA in you as well. If anyone could not only survive, but thrive in that kind of environment, it would be you and your sister. That being said, let's both pray that it just stays a hypothetical and never becomes reality" Ford said to Pacifica. "Agreed" the teen girl said as she nodded in agreement. Pacifica walked over to her window and said a silent prayer to nobody in particular as she watched the sun set on another summer day in Gravity Falls, Oregon.

Authors Note: Sorry I haven't posted an update in about two months, but I was deemed an essential worker, so I've been working a ton lately. The world sure has changed, hasn't it? I would be lying if I said this didn't affect my writing. Anyway, I got this idea when I started going back and reading my older stories. I remember writing Dr. Bourdais' interview with Wendy after she got admitted to the hospital after she attempted to take her life at Mabel's grave and wanted to include something like it in this story. I got the idea for the chapter name from Interview with a Vampire, which is an excellent book and movie. Onto the chapter. Will Pacifica find out about her spellbook being stolen by Ariel? Will Stan apologize to Ford? What's next for the newly reunited Magic Killers? Answers to all of these questions and many more in the next installment of Tales Of The Flame & The Ax: A Shooting Star Falls Story. Until then, stay well and remember... I know lots of things. -iKLOT

My playlist for this chapter:

Muse- "Hysteria"

Fall Out Boy - "Uma Thurman"

Taylor Janzen - "Devotion"

Coldplay - "Champion Of The World"

KennyHoopla - "how will I rest in peace if I'm buried by a highway?/"

Pop Evil - "Let The Chaos Reign"

From Ashes To New - "Panic"

BENEE / Gus Dapperton - "Supalonely"

Flyleaf - "I'm So Sick"

Starset - "Trials" (Reminded me of Wendy, Dipper and Stan recalling Weirdmageddon)