Breaking the Chain

Another Link in the Worlds Worst Chain

         A few weeks had passed since the Northwest’s held their annual Party for all the high elites from societies all around the world, or better known as “That time a Lumberjack Ghost turned everyone into Wood.”
         Since then, Pacifica has been less obedient than she has in the past. She’s learned to resist the call of her parent’s Bell, and doing things on her own. She’s even stopped caring so much about what’s “In” or “Out”, in fashion terms, and wearing what she thinks looks good. Granted, this took a bit of getting used to, especially with her parents being so strict.
         Her parents have grounded her many times for these acts of individuality, but this only made her spite for her parents grow. She honestly began to despise being even called a Northwest, She wished she could go back in time, and grow up in a regular family. One that loved her not because she would be molded into an exact replica of the same greedy, back-stabbing types of their family who would inherit mass fortunes, but because of her uniqueness and personality.
         She didn’t need a servant to learn how to be the best at Mini-golf, in fact, what’s the fun in anything if you treat everything like a competition? Did she even have any natural talents, or were they all a product of her parent’s conquest to mold the perfect child?
         A chain is only as strong as it’s weakest link. if that’s true, then the Northwest Chain must be battered and rusty, with only gold paint to give it the superiority complex that other regular chains don’t possess, to give it the illusion it’s better than everyone else, despite the fact it’s not able to even keep a mouse from breaking it into pieces.

         Pacifica stared out of her window, it was cloudy. Very cloudy, would probably rain soon. Her room overlooked the entire town, and so she could see the statue of Gravity Fall’s founder, Nathaniel Northwest. There was a time she looked at that statue in admiration, with a sort of Honor. But now it only was a grim reminder of what fate awaited her, a train wreck disguised as a Golden Temple.
         That is, if Pacifica stayed with her family. The Northwests would only drag her down, she needed to get out of this rut.

         Pacifica then see’s a light at the end of her dark tunnel of self-deprecation, a rather large one at that.
The light was shining from a place she visited only twice, the Mystery Shack. The name did leave a foul taste in her mouth, the only two times she went there it felt like a total heckhole. But… those were times she was still under the bonds of her parents. Maybe it’s not as bad as it seems.
         She also remembered something else, only since the party did Pacifica realize how little her family really cared about her. It didn’t matter who she was, they’d still mold her into the perfect little star that she’s meant to be. But the funny thing about stars are, eventually they die out. Pacifica didn’t want to go that way.

         Dipper. Out of all the Pines, she knew Dipper was the one she could actually tolerate. Unfortunately, he was also the one who hated her the most. But ever since the party, she knew his opinion changed, and if it didn’t ,she’d prove it to him.
         She needed to see him again. She didn’t know why, maybe to thank him or… something. She would’ve never realized this truth until it was too late if it weren’t for him, heck, she would’ve probably been turned into Wood. She needed to do something to express her gratitude…

         She made the decision that night she’d leave her house, tonight. The light of the Mystery Shack, for some reason, was so bright it dulled out any other building, tree or obstacle. She felt as if it were calling her.
         She put on a dress and boots, and an umbrella in case it rained, and began her escape

         The house was rather large, so the chances of her being caught were slim. However, it was imperative to her escape she was not caught by one of the Night Watch. It was rather ridiculous how they only had one guard protecting the entire mansion, for how large it truly was. Or maybe there were two, but either way, it was a ridiculously small amount. There should probably be 12, but no, apparently one is good enough.
         Pacifica headed down the long, empty corridors that were in her family’s mansion. So vast, even tiptoeing caused an echo. Luckily her parents were very deep sleepers, so leaving was just a matter of unlocking the front door and climbing over the fence.
         As she headed down, she looked at the pictures of her family’s relatives. All standing in a heroic, or honorable stature, while posing for a picture that would represent history. Pacifica sighed, truly wishing she could forget the true pictures of those events. But they stuck, like gum on the bottom of a table.

         She noticed the light of the Night Guard from alongside the corner of a left turn, so she had to hide. She found a statue, and dashed behind it.
         The Night Guard slowly shuffled his way past the statue Pacifica was hiding behind, she was growing a bit impatient.
         ‘Hurry up, you old bag of...’ Pacifica whispered, but that alerted the Night Guard, who turned his candle towards her hiding spot. She shut up immediately.
The old Guard glared at the statue, and then continued his rounds around the mansion, shuffling a bit more cautiously.          Pacifica let out a sigh of relief.

         She made it to the foyer of the Mansion, her boots making much more echo than before. She heard the sounds of rain beginning to drip on the windowsills, but it wasn’t anything major yet.
         Pacifica looked up at the scorched family picture that hung above the main staircase. They still hadn’t replaced it since the incident, probably because nowadays they didn’t have time to pose in front of a painter for nearly 12 hours so he could get it “Just right”.
         She smiled, remembering the times she spent with Dipper at the party. Though they weren’t great memories, they did teach her a lot about the true nature of her family, no matter how gruesome it turned out to be.
         Pacifica, however, had little time to reminisce. She had a door to open, luckily she knew exactly where her family hid the key. It was hidden in a secret compartment underneath a table by the front door, she unlocked the door and slipped out without anyone noticing.

         She now was faced with the problem of the gate. Opening it would cause too much noise, and she couldn’t as well jump off the cliff on the other side of the house. She would have to climb over it.
         Pacifica brushed alongside the large, stone gates that protected the Northwest Family until she found a scalable part of the wall. She used the notches in the wall as a ladder of sorts. Since mostly everything was done for her, her physical strength was, say, less than admirable.
         But, despite the needed effort she used to climb the wall, she had triumphed. She stood atop the large wall, and patted herself on the back for doing such a good job. But while she was congratulating herself, a burst of wind blew her down, into the trees that surrounded her home.
         She probably hit every single tree on the way down, by the time she reached the bottom her dress was torn and dirtied by the mud that broke her fall.
         “Ugh, stupid Pine Trees…” Pacifica cursed, as she headed down the path to the road.

         Pacifica headed towards the path to the actual town of Gravity Falls, her umbrella coming in handy when it began to drizzle. Despite her hair being absolutely ruined from those trees, the last thing she’d want is for all this long hair to become soaking wet. It wasn’t even a fashion thing, wet hair was just annoying for Pacifica.
         Pacifica didn’t think anyone who’d care would be walking or driving around this time of night, so her appearance didn’t matter. Otherwise, she’d probably be panicking at alert level 7. Torn dress and messy, twigged up hair? Yech, it’d be a media disaster.
         “Wait... “ Pacifica stopped to think of something, “I’m thinking like my parents would… I need to stop that.”
         She slapped herself, and continued walking through the rain.

         As she continued down her path, she passed by the Miniature Golf Place.
         While she was a fan of Mini-golf, it didn’t rub her the right way anymore after that incident with those little Ball creatures. But it did teach her a good lesson on rivalries, and one could argue it was the first step forward in her path of rediscovery. Those Pines twins were crazy, but in a good way.
She walked past it with a smile on her face, but was quickly beaten down when the wind blew her Umbrella into the Golf Course. While she could go and get it, a quick blast from the past reminded her what happened last time she went in there after dark.
         She decided it’d be best she leave it behind.

         “Pleh, Blech… stupid hair.” Pacifica blurted every few seconds, her long, wet hair was getting stuck in her mouth. This is why she found wet hair so annoying, she considered cutting it. Or maybe putting it up in a ponytail… maybe that’d look good.
         She tried pushing it out of her eyes, but that barely worked at all. She decided to just give up and deal with the limited vision. She kept walking a steady pace, the light of the Mystery Shack still glowing brightly.

         She finally reached the concrete pathway that was the Town of Gravity Falls. She walks past all the buildings, most of their lights are off. The only light illuminating this dark town are, street lights, the Mystery Shack is no longer visible to her due to it being hidden behind so many trees. But she could still find her way with the signs that pointed toward the Mystery Shack.
         But before she headed directly there, she had to make a detour to see Nathaniel Northwest’s Statue.

         She looked up at it, remembering back to Pioneer Day when Dipper rudely revealed the truth about the town’s founder. It was difficult to process at the time, but now she knew he only had the best intentions.
         She spat on the plaque dedicated in his honor, and strutted away confidently.

         The rain was hitting hard as Pacifica made the last few miles to the Mystery Shack. She looked behind her and saw her Mansion, she was amazed at how far she went just to see one person. It made her wonder why she did this in the first place. She kept walking, but she thought about what she was even going to say. This whole journey was just to see one person, but she hadn’t the faintest idea why, she just did this on impulse. Was it just to prove she could defy her parents? Was it to thank the one who freed her from the chains of ignorance?
         Or was it….


         Pacifica walked up the steps to the Mystery Shack, and just stared at the door. It took her some confidence to finally knock on the door.

Knock, Knock, Knockity Knock Knock.

         Everyone was asleep. Grunkle Stan and his Twin, Soos was back at his house, as well as Wendy, Mabel was also asleep… but Dipper was still wide awake.
         Ever since the Author came back, there’s been more mayhem than ever. Which would make one think he’d enjoy a good nap, but being Dipper, he just has to worry about every. Little. Detail.
         He heard the door knocking, despite the rain hitting down hard. He noticed Mabel was asleep, as well as the time.
         “Now, who could that be…?” Dipper wondered, sliding out of his chair to get the door.
         He makes it to the front door, and when he opens it, he see’s Pacifica Northwest. Her hair is wet and filled with twigs and leaves, her dress is torn in various places, and her eyes are looking directly into Dipper’s.
         “Oh, hey Pacifica. What’re you doing here?” Dipper asked Pacifica, getting a little weirded out by Pacifica’s silence.
         She only looked at Dipper. She thought of all the possible things she could say, all the possible outcomes, different scenarios and all… but the one thing she thought was the correct response was to do what felt right.
         “Uh, Pacifica?” Dipper asked again.
         Pacifica closed her eyes, and embraced Dipper, trying to mask her despair.
         Dipper could see she was upset, and despite being a bit surprised at first, she returned the comfort she needed.          He gave a sympathy return hug, and they both stood there, underneath the flickering light of the Mystery Shack in the pouring rain.
         It only lasted a few moments, but for Pacifica, it lasted a whole eternity. The only reason she wanted to come all this way, to break her parents strict ruling was because she wanted to thank Dipper. Thank him for all that he’s done to help her realize all the things she’d been doing wrong. She was no longer a puppet, she knew now what she wanted to do, and this is all she’s ever wanted to do since that night at the party a few weeks ago.

         A chain is only as strong as it’s weakest link.If that is true, then the Pines Chain is one of the strongest chains in the entire world.

And that’s all Pacifica ever wanted to be a part of.