dvbee

[dvbee]

Reverse Falls AU Ch. 1

This is an AU I've been writing based on the Gravity Falls Reverse Falls AU. The entire thing will be up on AO3 soon but i'm posting the first chapter here in the meantime. I hope you enjoy! :D

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Pacifica Southeast was a curious spirit. Her parents both knew this. So when she snuck downstairs one night to overhear them in a heated argument about money troubles, they thought it best to send her away for the remainder of the summer. They sent her up to the northwest to go stay with her cousin Gideon Pines. She had never heard of a place called “Gravity Falls” before and the postcard in her hand depicting pine trees and a bright sunny sky almost seemed hard to believe. She flipped the paper over in her hands and read the back of the note written by her great uncle Bud Pines 

“Can’t wait to have you up here! There’s lots of mystery in a town like this one!” - Bud

The cursive was a bit hard to read, but it eased Pacificas worry about the trip a little more. She clutched her purple duffle bag a bit closer to her on the bus as she looked at her surroundings. The bus seemed empty except for her seat, the orange text flashing on the front of the bus clearly read “Next stop: Gravity Falls” and it only made her more nervous for her arrival. Her eyes darted to the window where she saw fir trees, hemlocks, and large redwoods passed by her. 

Soon enough the bus came to a screeching halt as it had arrived at the saddest bus stop ever. None seemed to be waiting on the benches, and Pacifica was worried she had been forgotten about. She reluctantly took her bag and stepped off the bus after thanking the driver. She looked around before spotting someone jogging over to her. A young boy, probably a year younger than her with stark white hair and blue eyes. She recognized him from family photos to be her cousin Gideon and greeted him with a warm smile and waved him over. “Hey summer buddy!!” She cheerfully said to the boy. She didn’t know much about the boy, but her parents mentioned he was a bit timid. “..Hello Pacifica..” Gideon replied after finally reaching her. Now that he was closer, she got a better look at his appearance. He wore navy cargo shorts with a black hoodie. She could also see small freckles adorned his cheeks and nose. He looked up at her, considering she was a bit taller than him, and noticed his moonlight blue eyes. “Wow! You gotta grow a bit more. You look as short as you do in the family photos from when you were five!” Pacifica jokes with him. Gideon smiles at the comment before looking her up and down to come up with his own comeback “And you look like a rainbow thrown up on you!” he says. “Thank you!” Pacifica proudly says. It was true, her bright purple sweater had pink stars sewn into it, and her skirt was pink to fit the color scheme. A periwinkle purple headband holding back her sandy blonde hair as only her bangs crept through it. Even her earrings were a vibrant mix of pink and purple ombre. She was very much dressed in bright cheerful colors. Much like her personality. “I’m so excited to stay with you!” She says. Gideon nods politely as the two of them set off down the street. “Yeah….Just try not to bother my dad too much. He can get a bit snappy at times. But he means well! Just follow his rules and you’ll be alright” Gideon exclaims. Pacifica had heard rumors about the mystery shack from her parents. And even more interesting stories about Gideons relationship with his father. Her grunkle was running as a sort-of tourist trap area to get money. She wasn’t sure what she was expecting. But when she came upon a large wooden shack, the exterior of which was adorned with a large sign reading… “Mystery Hack?” Pacifica said, with a confused tone. She noticed the “S” in Shack had started falling off, and was laying on its side on the small roof. Gideon noticed too and only sighed before putting his head in his hands. “I’ll let dad know to fix it…that darn sign just can’t stay put….” He mumbles. “Let's get you inside. You’ll be staying in the attic with me! Dad’s busy giving tours so I’ll show you around the general vicinity in the meantime!” Gideon says happily. 

After a brief tour of the inside of the house, Gideon took Pacifica to where the REAL mysteries began, the part of his home which was turned into a tourist trap. The rooms were all filled with strange exhibits. Eyeball jars, and taxidermied animals which were strangely put together. Rabbit heads with deer antlers poorly glued onto them. Some of the exhibits were more believable than others, however the overall vibe of the shack was very intriguing. Pacifica could see why this was such a successful tourist trap. “Wow! This place is really cool!” Pacifica exclaims as she leans down to a jar of eyeballs in a gray-green liquid. She looks into the jar and feels like the eyeballs are almost looking back at her. “These look so real..” she says, entranced by the realism in the jar. She reaches a hand out to touch it before a deep voice says from behind her “That's because they ARE real!” a loud man says. It startles the blonde girl, who jumps a bit before taking some steps towards Gideon. The man laughs, his hat almost falling off as he readjusts the black cowboy hat on his head. “Sorry darlin’ didn’t mean to scare you! It was just a joke! I’m about 20 percent sure those eyeballs are fake!” the man says. Pacifica takes a look at the man before smiling. “Grunkle Bud!” She says, before running and giving him a hug. “Awww hello darlin’ it's great to have ya here with me and Gideon! I’m sure he’s given you the tour so far. Make yourself at home for the meantime!” He says with a smile. “However if you’re gonna be here this summer, ya gotta work like the rest of us!” Bud says. Pacifica looked a bit confused, she had only done volunteer work for her school up till now. So when she was handed some wooden signs, she was a bit puzzled. “I’ve gotta stay here and tidy up the shack. Keep things from gettin’ messy. Yer gonna go hang up these signs in the forest. Hopefully draw up some new customers this way.” Bud explains to her. Pacifica looks down, the signs had different shapes and styles to them. “So you want a twelve year old girl to go wander around the forest and put up these signs? Sounds safe to me!” Pacifica says before humming and walking away. 

Little did she know her adventure in the forest would turn the tides completely on her summer vacation. As she ventured, she took note of all the different trees and animals she passed by. The sunlight was dim here from the large canopies of redwoods in the forest blocking out most of the light; and half the time she felt like she was being watched by something but she paid no mind to it as she nailed up the signs. She had finished hanging most of them up when she came upon a curious set of trees in the forest. Something about them was different than the redwoods she had observed before. Almost looked fake in a way. As she touched it, she felt the tree bark was cold. She raised an eyebrow before knocking on the tree only to get an echo of metal as a response. Curious, she traced her hand along until she felt a groove and pulled, revealing some strange switches and knobs. “What is this…?” she says to herself before curiously flipping some of the switches. She heard the sound of something opening and when she looked over her shoulder, a part of the ground had opened up. She walked over, to the now opened hole in the ground and found something interesting laying there. A book, with a golden hand with six fingers on the cover. With a simple number written on the palm. “Three? Some sort of journal about the number three?” Pacifica said before picking it up and dusting it off. Its red leather casing looked old, and it was covered with cobwebs and dirt that had accumulated over the years. As she opened the book she was shocked to see that most of the pages had been filled with sketches and drawings about strange creatures and anomalies. She sat down on a nearby tree stump and began flipping through the pages, just skimming the book's contents as she came across something underlined and written in big words. “Trust no one… Man, this writer must've been super paranoid about something…” the blonde girl said. 

“What writer?” A young voice said from behind her. Pacifica jumped, her eyes widened before she looked behind her and Gideon was standing there, a pure smile on his face. “Oh! Just…” she looked down at the book and back at Gideon. Is it a good idea to tell him? Gideon doesn’t seem dangerous and he's the only friend I’ve got for the summer right now. Pacifica debated with herself mentally before smiling. “It's just a journal I found. It talks a lot about strange paranormal stuff that happens in Gravity Falls. Did you know about any of this Gideon?” She asks him. The boy saunters over before peering down at the book. “I don’t think I’ve seen anything in this book before…gnomes…zombies…I haven’t seen one” the boy shrugs. “Some wacko could’ve written it to scare kids and left it here or something” Gideon tries to reason. Pacifica hums in understanding but something told her the contents of this book were too organized and detailed to just be made-up. 

Regardless if they were myths or not, she put the book away in her jacket for the meantime. “I’ll look into it later. Maybe someone’s looking for it. Who knows!” She looks at Gideon. The two just shrug at each other before walking back to the shack. It was getting dark out and the two would have to figure out the contents of the book another day. 

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“You’re telling me you’ve searched high and low and STILL haven’t been able to locate that damn journal!?!” the voice of a young boy said, seemingly screaming at someone. 

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