Gravity Falls: The return of Bill Cipher

-CHAPTER THIRTEEN- Finally, out of the cave

'Dipper, I think I see sunlight.'

'I see it too. It's not your imagination playing tricks on you.'

With every step, we drew closer to the light. The sphere grew brighter until we were at the exit and stepped into daylight.

'God, it's so bright,' I said, shading my eyes from the onslaught.

'How long have we been inside?'

'I don't know, two days perhaps.'

'Why would you think it was two days?' she asked.

'Because we slept twice and normally you only sleep once a day, so I concluded that it had to be two days.'

'You must be glad we aren't in the cave anymore.'

'Why would you think that?'

'Do you remember the centipede incident?'

'Yeah, why?'

'You screamed like a scared little girl,' she said and burst out laughing.

'Hey! We agreed not to bring that up.' I was embarrassed.

'Sorry, my little nerd.'

'Allow me to remind you of the bats. We both screamed, but you screamed louder than me.'

Pacifica lifted her eyebrows.

'No, I clearly recall that you screamed louder. Yes, it was definitely you,' she said.

'Sometimes you really are braver than me,' I admitted.

'That's right my little nerd, and don't you forget it.' We both laughed, relieved to be out in the open.

'Gruncle Ford told us that they would meet us at old man McGucket's cabin which is about eighty kilometres from here. At a guess, three to five days of hard walking ahead.'

'Let's hit the road,' Pacifica said, striding away from me.

                                            ***

Much later that afternoon we were both exhausted.

'Dipper, my legs are killing me. Can we rest for a bit.'

'Sure, I'm pooped.'

We fell to the ground.

'Can I have a bottle of water please?' Pacifica asked.

I handed her a bottle. She pulled a face. It was lukewarm. I turned my back on her, searching our surroundings for anything out of the ordinary. Bill and Preston were still on the loose.

'Let's set up camp here. I got up slowly. 'I'll gather some firewood while you...' I looked back and there she was with a bundle of firewood, ready to start a fire.

'All done,' she said proudly. 'By the way, there's a small lake about three minutes from here. We have all the water we need. We have to remember to fill our bottles before we leave.'

'Wow Pacifica, that's amazing! I'm impressed. You're full of surprises.'

'Yes, I am.'

Later that night she took s'mores from her backpack. I stared at them, and my mouth watered.

'I thought we had nothing left?'

"Don't be mad, Dipper. I saved them to celebrate the fact that we got out of there. It's not as if we could build a fire inside. What if our oxygen ran out? Thank your lucky stars that we happened to have one of the bags that had s'mores in it.'

'Yeah, I feel sorry for our friends.'

'Sucks to be them.'

'Poor Mabel. My sister loves s'mores.'

'I'm glad I'm only sharing them with you, Dipper,' she said, twisting the s'mores onto twigs and holding them over the fire.

'Perhaps next time, Mabel should be trapped in a cave with us, then she won't miss out on these delicious chocolate s'mores,' I said. We both laughed.

We looked into each other's eyes, our laughter suddenly a thing of the past.

'Pacifica. I've been wanting to tell you that you are a good friend.'

'How so?'

'Ever since Wendy fell into a coma, I have been very depressed, and you were there for me. If it weren't for you, I might have harmed myself. I'm truly lucky to have you.'

'No, thank you. Ever since the night at the mansion when you said that I'm nothing like my parents, that I'm not just another link in the world's worst family chain and that I'm better than my parents, I felt loved for the first time in my life. I knew that someone genuinely cared about me. You are a good man and an angel at heart.'

'That's what friends are for,' I said, licking the stickiness from my fingers. 'Let's get some sleep we have a long trek ahead of us tomorrow.'

'Dipper?'

'Yes,' I murmured. The heat from the fire had made me drowsy.

'Can we sleep in the same sleeping bag? I lost mine somewhere in the cave.'

'Of course.' I unzipped the bag.

'Thanks, Dipper,' she said shyly, lying down next to me. I threw the bag over both of us.

We fell asleep under the twinkling stars.