12
Pacifica

Pacifica yelped and dropped the records in her hands, immediately turning to look at the alarm that was blaring, flashing red lights across the dimly-lit room, painting their shadows against the wall. "We gotta get outta here!" Pacifica yelled, trying to get everyone out of their flight, fight or freeze response.

Mabel grabbed Gideon's arm, pulling him off the floor and toward the door, shaking him out of his frightened response. "Let's move it, Gideon!" She snarled, which was enough to awaken Gideon to the true terror; not following Mabel Gleeful's command.

The four of them booked it out of the information room and back down the way they came, not truly caring if they were in sight or not. Their only focus was getting out of there alive. Mabel was running full-sprint, dragging Gideon behind her like a rag-doll, Pacifica was trying to keep up with her, and Scarlett was behind her.

Pacifica almost thought it strange, because she'd seen how fast Scarlett could move, she could lap them any day, no questions asked. That was when it hit her what Scarlett was doing; making sure the rest of them got out. Pacifica's brain didn't have the capacity to think about that too much at the current time, seeing as she was currently running for her life, but she would be sure to thank Scarlett later.

        "Boobytraps!" Gideon screamed. "Why did there have to be boobytraps!"

        "SHUT UP AND RUN!" Mabel bellowed back to him, dragging him further along.

        Pacifica heard various shouts from down the hall, some were further away, some were quickly getting louder, signifying that whoever was chasing them was gaining significant ground. Despite some of the technology in the place, Pacifica was surprised albeit relieved that no doors were automatically closing on them.

        Running as fast as her legs could, thank you adrenaline, Pacifica tried to catch up to Mabel and Gideon. Never had she ever seen Gideon run so fast, but it also helped that Mabel was still dragging him.

        Mabel took a split second to glance behind at Pacifica and her eyes shot wide open. "SCARLETT!" She screamed, stopping dead in her tracks.

        Pacifica, in turn, skidded to an immediate halt to avoid bumping into both Gideon and Mabel, twisting her head around so fast she was almost certain she pulled a muscle.

        A person dressed shrouded in black had snatched Scarlett's arm, pulling her backward aggressively. "I found them! They're in corridor thirty-seven!"

        Scarlett whirled around as soon as she heard the person's voice, snarling as she bit the arm that was boldly holding her tightly, causing a yelp out of the person. As soon as they let go, she aimed low and kicked them first in a place that would hurt, and then manoeuvred around and kicked them once again in the back of their knees.

        The person tumbled forward, head smacking against the tiled floor so harshly that the sound made me wince. Watching Scarlett fight and win awed Pacifica, and she was thankful she was on their side, with their team's limited confrontations.

        Scarlett bolted away, nearly skidding into Pacifica, but remained completely balanced. "What are you doing?!" She hissed, grabbing her arm and pulling her along. "We can't just stand around! That guy's not gonna stay down for long!"

        The longer they ran, the more Pacifica felt as though they were moving without direction and praying that the exit would just appear to them as it had before. But adrenaline works in funny ways, makes time feel as though it's hardly moving when you're zipping through it.

        "Exit's there!" Mabel shouted back to everyone, pointing ahead to a door Pacifica certainly recognised despite all the doors looking practically identical.

        They were almost there when ten more guards showed up, appearing from both sides of the hall, guns drawn. Pacifica was definitely far from being a gun expert, but even she could tell that there was something about those guns that didn't look real. Almost like they were pulled from a century ahead of them.

        "Freeze!" One of them shouted, which made them all stop in their tracks, watching with depleting hope as the exit door fell shut before their eyes.

        Mabel, bravely, pushed Gideon behind herself, staring down all the guards who had shown up as if she could take them all single-handedly.

        "Nobody move!" Another shouted, aiming their gun directly at Mabel's head which would've made any sane person scream in terror, but Mabel didn't move an inch, nor did any sound come out of her throat.

        "Mabel, move!" Gideon shouted, pushing her to the side causing him to take a shot right to the chest.

        "GIDEON!" Pacifica screamed on pure instinct and watched as the shot he took sent an electric shock throughout his body. He spasmed for ten seconds before he dropped to the ground, almost lifelessly. She tried to push past Scarlett, but she firmly yanked Pacifica back behind her. Pacifica was, once again, reminded how strong she was.

        "Unless you all wanna join him, you better stand still." One with a gruff voice demanded, aiming his gun at Mabel, moving it to Scarlett, and then me.

        "Actually, I believe they'll be joining me." A voice sounded over the P.A. system causing the gang all to look up to the nearest speaker mounted on the wall closest to the guards. The ones behind them stared at the one closer to them, tilting their heads in confusion. "Now, if you don't mind, squadron number twelve, please look to the nearest monitor for further instruction."

        The voice was warbly, and despite the fact that Pacifica wanted to glance at the monitor to see what their further instructions were, she felt a strange pull rush through her. It kept her eyes down to stare at the floor below her, as well as Gideon's unconscious body.

        "Intruders, please listen to me for your instructions. Are you ready?"

        The voice didn't wait for their reply because they continued on smoothly. "Cover your ears."

        Pacifica's hands went to cover her ears just a split second before an ear-shattering sound pulsed through the hall, forcing the guards blocking them from both sides to drop to the floor in pure agony as they clutched their ears, screaming.

        None of them needed any further instruction after that. Scarlett pushed ahead and helped Mabel scoop Gideon's unconscious body from off the floor, and Pacifica ran to the shut door, hoping that it would open with the press of a button. It shouldn't have been working seeing as the system was done nearly ten minutes ago, but just before she could try to figure it out for herself, the door slowly starting pulling up.

        Pacifica braced herself for an immediate sprint through the door, but she froze instantly at the sight of someone waiting outside the door for them. Looking like the love interest out of an adventure movie, the one where said character grabs your hand before you can protest and tells you to follow them if you want to survive, he stood, very still, two fingers to the side of his head and eyes closed.

        Her boyfriend; Dipper Freaking Arrogant Gleeful.

        Scarlett and Mabel had the same reaction Pacifica did; complete and utter disbelief, slowing their run to a halt the second they saw who was standing there, almost completely dropping the unconscious Gideon whilst doing so.

        Pacifica didn't even know how to react. He was there. Right in front of her face! After they had flown nine excruciating hours, spent a full three days searching for him with minimal sleep. Driving hours to a nightclub he went to a few times. Staying up late into every evening staring at his ridiculously coded message that had something to do with all of them. Why would he do that only to appear right when they needed him to? To save them by the bell, so to speak? It was almost like he knew where they were every second.

        Dipper's eyes snapped open, those gorgeous blue eyes that Pacifica could spend an eternity drowning in harsh and colder than she remembered. "What are you doing standing around? Run! Get out of here!" His facial features were strained, and it took Pacifica a second to understand that, of course, he was using magic.

        Magic. His message had something to do with that.

        "I can't hold these guys for much longer, get out of here!"

        They didn't waste another second after his claim. Scarlett and Mabel ran at almost the exact same pace, carrying Gideon like he weighed nothing and their lives were on the line, Pacifica followed not long after that, pausing to glance over her shoulder just as she passed where Dipper was standing.

Not once did he take his eyes of the hall behind the door. Using his free hand, he dragged it through the air in a downward motion, closing the door slowly before the guards behind it knew up from down.

After Pacifica was certain he wasn't going back in there alone, she refused to look behind her as she ran back down the hall from where they first came from. It was all a blur, but it was hard to continue the sprint she had going for her when Pacifica's brain believed that the danger was quite sedated. Her pace slowed just a little bit, and she couldn't hold back the gasp for breath.

        Just as soon as she was about to catch my ever fleeting breath, a hand grasped her own and pulled her faster forward. Dipper didn't say a single word to her as he pulled her along, back through the first door they found behind the disgusting waterfall.

        As soon as they all made it across, Mabel slowed to a stop and stared back at the waterfall. "We need to destroy their way across."

        "Oh, and how do you think we'll do that?" Scarlett spat, now solely holding up Gideon.

        Mabel stalked over to where Dipper stood, a few paces from Pacifica. "Hurry. Use your stupid magic thing to crash the hallway in on itself. Shouldn't be too hard to do!"

        Dipper's eyes widened as he glanced back at the path we came from. "That'll just waste our time. We need to get out and as far away from this spot as we can."

        "We'll have far more time if you just listen to what I say." Mabel argued, her voice way colder than Pacifica had ever heard it. It even seemed to stun Scarlett.

        Dipper didn't make any motion of moving in the slightest.

        "God damnit, Dipper! Why the hell are you—"

        "I can't control this!" Dipper exclaimed, casting his eyes away from everyone else, a guilty expression taking over his face.

        Mabel hardly flinched, using a manicured finger to point back at the tunnel behind the waterfall. "Oh-ho, you seemed to know what the fuck you were doing back there!"

        "Shut up!" Scarlett shouted. "It doesn't matter what he could do back there." Her eyes hardly showed anything else but annoyance. "We need to get the hell outta here before its too late. We don't want them to follow us back to you know where, so we need all the time we can get right now."

        "Let's go." Pacifica nodded, ignoring all the questions that started pouring into her brain. He couldn't control it? Was it just like the summertime after he had broken his amulet? It had to have been. Dipper wouldn't lie about. . .

        Actually, no. She wasn't so sure on what Dipper would lie about anymore.

        "Finally, a voice of reason." Scarlett scoffed and turned her back on the rest of them, focusing her attention on the one person who couldn't fend for themselves. She trekked back the way we came, without another word.

After they escaped the sewer tunnels, Scarlett asked if Mabel could carry Gideon by herself. It pretty much ruined their original plan of splitting up. After all, Pacifica was supposed to go with Dipper should they have rescued him (we didn't necessarily rescue him, more like he rescued us), Mabel was supposed to go with Gideon, and Scarlett opted to go by herself.

But now, with Gideon still unconscious, Scarlett was pursing her lips as she thought of a new plan for splitting up. "Mabel, can you carry him by yourself or not?"

        How divided they were all acting now. Less than an hour before, the four of them (sans Dipper) were as close as close could be. Erm, well, maybe it was better phrased as 'united under a common goal' rather than close.

        "I've got him." Mabel replied evenly. "Paz, you know the route you're taking?"

        "Yes." Pacifica nodded and glanced quickly at Dipper, who unfortunately caught her eye. The first time he had in months.

        "Dipper, you're going with Pacifica." Scarlett tossed over her shoulder as she took off in the direction of the route she was supposed to take. "See ya later."

        As soon as she disappeared, Mabel hoisted Gideon up. She didn't speak as she left as well, leaving just Dipper and Pacifica standing a few blocks away from the tunnel itself. Pacifica followed suite, beckoning Dipper to follow her lead, because she didn't know what to say to him yet. How could she?

        The night was cold and quiet as they walked briskly through the streets, avoiding large open areas, sticking to the dimmest lit alleyways, silent as the grave. Pacifica could just feel Dipper about to say something, but he was a smart man.

        He always stopped himself before a sound escaped his lips.

* * *

        What felt like an eternity later (it had to be, roughly, ten minutes), Pacifica and Dipper arrived back at the hotel she and Mabel had checked them all into on their first day in Paris. No way were they going back to Dipper's old apartment. For one, it was too close to the café. For two, Pacifica didn't want to drag poor Matthew into a more worse situation.

Surprisingly enough, Mabel and Gideon were both in joint rooms they were staying in. Mabel had rested Gideon comfortably on hers and Scarlett's bed, sitting in a chair away from the windows, a small cup of a tea in her hands.

Pacifica entered the room, Dipper following closely behind her, yet he still had nothing to say to them all. The only person who was missing was Scarlett. Scarlett was clever and slick, she had shown them a million times that she could get herself into and out of any situation presented to her. Logically, she would have been the last to arrive, seeing as her route was impromptu, and apparently the longest out of all of theirs.

"Scarlett isn't back yet." Dipper murmured, turning to face the door, as if he was waiting for her arrival.

"She'll be here soon." Mabel didn't even look up from her cup. "I have faith in her."

"I'm not doubting her." Dipper stated firmly. "I know her."

Mabel bristled as if his comment was a direct attack, but she, calm as ever, didn't rise to the bait he set. If it was even bait at all. Regardless, she didn't seem to be up to chatting, seeing as she already turned her frame away from them. Pacifica knew it wasn't directed solely at her, but it still felt like she was shutting her out for ridiculous reasons.

Oh well, if she needed space to process everything that happened down there, Pacifica wasn't going to be the one to interrupt it. She gave Mabel a nod, even though she couldn't see it, and turned to head into the door that led directly to hers and Dipper's room.

Shortly after Pacifica and Dipper were both in there and the door was shut and locked, she exhaled roughly, running her hands through her hair, pushing it back behind her ears in a tiny semblance of control and composure.

Pacifica didn't want to ignore Dipper. She didn't want to, honestly, but she also wasn't super up to having a long conversation with him that was absolutely necessary.

Dipper didn't seem too eager to start talking either, seeing as he just stood by the door, absolutely silently. It was almost like he wasn't there at all.

But this conversation had to happen, sooner rather than too late. So, being the bigger person, Pacifica looked at him for all of ten seconds before speaking, "I need five minutes, alone," she pointed to the en-suite behind her. "Then we are gonna talk about this. Got it?"

Pacifica didn't even wait for his reply before she stepped into the en-suite.

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Wow, two updates in quick succession of each other? Does Kaori have her life back on track? The answer is no, but I felt inspiration to finally jump into this book. Seeing as this is the final book in this series, there are several crucial points that I need to make sure tie together correctly.

And I'm still trying to make sure the pacing for this book is working out. I'm well aware that it took such a long time to introduce Dipper again, unlike the previous books where he was there well before the fifth chapter. But there is a time and place for every character ;)

I hope y'all are still enjoying this story. Stay safe out there and keep smiling my lovelies~

-Kaori Miyazono <3