Gala groaned. It was a bad combination, wanting to explore the woods but being an out-of-towner. The woods had started to look the same, and it seemed she was going in circles. Great. Pacific had been busy, leaving her with nothing but the journal to guide her. She wasn't even sure if she could backtrack her steps by now.
"Gala Pines. Fancy meeting you-"
Gal shrieked and began to beat the figure with her rather heavy backpack. It took her several seconds to realize that the figure crouched on the ground, arms over head, was (surprise!) Abel Gleeful. She was hesitant to stop beating him but eventually did. "What are you doing here?"
"Boy." He got up and began to brush himself off. "You have quite the arm."
"You were stalking me, weren't you?"
He was about to reply that, no, of course he wasn't. That he was simply following her so he could approach her without her nanny Northwest. Oh. He was stalking her, just like his creep of a sister. He had stooped that low. "Merely taking advantage of Gravity Fall's attractiveness to the supernatural. You?" That was a lie, one she didn't seem to believe. Dipper had dragged him around Gravity Falls in pursuit of supernatural discovery and whatever else the journal contained for years, yes. But until that journal delivered on supplying them the power Dipper claimed it could, which Abel doubted would be before kingdom come, he personally preferred more entertaining activities, like shopping or sharpening knives.
But here he could make an exception.
Gala still shakily held her backpack, ready to attack at any moment.
Abel was personally offended. He did not come here to hurt her, no matter how much she frustrated him. "You still didn't answer. If you don't mind me pointing this out, it seems that you're lost."
" I'm not-"
" Gal, it's really not safe to wander these woods alone."
" If you think you're going to stop me from exploring just to protect me-"
"I'm not saying that. It would be a shame to cage such an adventurous spirit. But what I said was true, wandering in these woods alone can be suicide. Fortunately, I've walked these woods and encountered the supernatural multiple times. I only want to come with you."
She took a step back. Sure, right now he seemed to be reasonable enough, but several rumors surrounded him, ranging from being the town heartbreaker to a psychotic serial killer with supernatural powers.
"Just in case you don't realize, I'm the only one who can lead you through and out these woods."
He looked rather happy about it, too. She opened her mouth to argue but before she could, a unidentifiable, mournful call sounded from deep in the wood, exactly where she planned to go next. He raised an eyebrow. "If you pull something-"
"I won't!" He rolled his eyes. "What are we looking for anyways?"
She hesitantly pulled out the journal, flipping the page to an illustration of a winged creature. Half the time Pacific chose what they would investigate, and he wouldn't go after something like this." There's a couple of pages on fairies in here. Pacific never would come with me." She rubbed the back of her neck.
"Dipper never mentioned anything like this." He inspected the page, noticing a series of scribbled warnings. "Should you be concerned about these?'
"They're just fairies. Besides, you promised."
He squinted harder, failing to make out the smaller print. Fortunately for Gal, he wasn't a worrier. "Come on then! We need to head East." He grabbed her wrist, forcing her to move quickly to keep up. The sections of the woods they were entering was home to the gnomes, unicorns, the like. A good place if you wanted information, but dangerous if you weren't careful. They grew silent, especially after they began to walk at a normal pace.
"So why fairies ?" He knew he asked the right question when she began to babble on about how cool and beautiful they were. Her entire face had lit up, just like when she saw their show.
He only half-listened, instead just watching her. It was a shame she usually was only this bubbly when she wasn't with him. He had watched her before, noticing the contrast between her behavior around her friends and family compared to him. His smile weakened.
"According to the journal, it's this way."
Abel snapped back into reality. It appeared they were walking towards the heart of the woods. Most of the trips he took with Dipper were stored in a some dusky corner of his mind. The rare few trips here were not; this place should not be taken lightly.
Gal plunged forward. Abel weighed his options: should he keep his promise or possibly save themselves? He caught sight of her beaming face. Risk our lives it is. He made sure to keep close to Gal, going so far to cling on to her vest. The woods had only grown darker, and Abel could swear someone was watching them.
Gala looked up to him with concern. "Are you... scared?"
He stared, affronted.
"Relax. It just feels scary. I feel the same way sometimes before Pacific calms me down."
Abel's expression didn't change.
Gal interpreted it as him still being uneasy. "Everything's going to be fine. Umm…" Not knowing what else to do, Gal intertwined her fingers in his as chastely as she could manage. "It's okay, we're almost there. Look!" She pointed towards the entry of a clearing and began to drag him forward.
Say something you idiot! They were going even deeper into the woods, yet all he could focus on was his hand in hers.
She obliviously bounced closer. "Look, it's beautiful!"
Abel was temporarily blinded by the sunlight before he could make out his surroundings.
It was beautiful.
The figures appeared to be colorful auras at first glance, but upon closer inspection Abel saw tiny humanoid figures in dainty outfits. Tiny, tinkling voices babbled liltingly.
They stumbled to a log in the center of the the clearing. Abel now barely even registered that they were still holding hands. The glowing creatures glided through the air with grace, subtly forming and tightening a circle around them. They didn't realize how long they had stayed until Gal began to shiver due to the sun lowering below the tree line.
They sobered.
"You okay?"
"Fine." She withdrew her hand from his to remove her red hair band from her ponytail.
Abel froze at the sight of her hair down. He had the sudden urge to grab hold of her again. He might have, if they hadn't both realized that the fairies had stopped their purposeless floating and were now glaring at them.
Abel had to give her credit, Gal didn't freeze or panic. Without making sudden movements, she opened the journal to the dog eared page.
The fairies began to buzz and swarm closer.
Gal hissed, "Does your hair piece contain silver?"
"It does." It was at moments like this that he envied his sister's powers.
"It says here that silver can be used to repel fairies."
"What about you?"
"I don't know-"
Suddenly, a swarm of fairies dive-bombed for Gal.
Without thinking, Abel dove on top of her, effectively shielding her. An extremely rare example of selflessness, he mused, and there might soon not be anyone alive to give him credit for it.
The fairies didn't come any closer, but they still circled them angrily.
"As much as I'm enjoying this, I really think we need to leave."
"Hang on-it says here the Author was listening to his Walkman-"
"Paraphrase!"
"All right! They discovered modern technology makes fairies extremely nauseated!"
Abel had to shift his body so Gal could grab the flip phone out of her short's pocket. Not knowing what else to do, she began to play her ringtone, the main theme from Believe in yourself. Within seconds, the fairies were on the ground, writhing in pain. Seeing it as their chance, Abel rose, picking Gal off of the ground. They sprinted away, Shimmery Twinkleheart's low voice singing the optimistic lyrics all the way like a battle anthem.
Unfortunately, Gala's stout body wasn't built for endurance and she began to fall behind. Abel groaned before sweeping her off her feet. The fairies had collected themselves and were now getting nearer, although half of them were bumping into trees in their lingering daze. Now that Abel was carrying her, his pace was a lot slower. The glowing mob was just a few yards away, and growing nearer.
In one last desperate attempt, Gal turned up the volume and hurled her bubblegum pop playing phone at the droning monstrosities. The baritone voice drowned out the world around the fairies, causing them to collapse in an overstimulated heap.
Abel's breath was beyond ragged by the time they left the deep part of the forest. Once he deemed them safe, he placed Gal down and collapsed in exhaustion. Gal stood by him overcome with guilt. "Uh...thanks. That was very brave." She squatted beside him, patting his back awkwardly.
She really hoped he wouldn't die.
Abel's desperate breathing stopped for a moment, almost causing Gal to stop breathing herself. Then, he burst out laughing. "Did you realize what we just did? Your ringtone a-and -" He broke out laughing again.
Gal recalled the last few minutes of their lives. A snort broke out, then full blown, only half hysterical laughter.
Then they both at once remembered the hand-holding and him laying on top of her. Their laughter died down and silence lay heavy in the air again.
Then Abel did what he should have done sooner. "You look cold. Take my jacket."
Gal uncrossed her arms to wave him off. "No thanks, I'm fine-"
His jacket landed on her head. "You were pretty brave too. Now come on, it's only going to get colder."
She hesitated to touch the jacket which probably cost more than her entire wardrobe combined.
"Don't worry. I made it myself. Anything you can manage to do to it I can mend."
Had she said that aloud? She looked at him for confirmation, but it was too dark to see. She gingerly placed it over her shoulders. It was silky to the touch, and obviously not designed with warmth in mind. Still, the extra layer grounded her like a shock blanket.
Although he could not see it, she smiled. But with his hand to his amulet, he knew of the few tentative tendrils of warmth reaching toward him.
They walked home side by side, leaving the swaying fir-trees behind.
"Where have you been? And what is that?"
Gala quickly tore off the jacket and discarded it on the Mystery Shack's front porch. "Pacific, I can explain!"
Abel tore towards his bedroom, calling for Will to get some bandages for his multiple scratches and ignoring Dipper's questions. He dropped into his chaise lounge and yanked his rotary phone, perfectly color coordinated to match his room, of course, into his lap. He dialed at lightning speed. "Grendo, Candy, I can't wait to explain!"
AN: Upon their original publication, chapters were not in chronological order. So like for this one, I may not upload the revised ones in the same order as before.