Making a departure from emotion-heavy fics to write this one with a bit more action. This is technically only the prologue, so the other chapters will be longer - and hopefully will be out soon :) Takes place several years after the first season.

"Well, there's one day of our lives down the drain."

"C'mon, 'cifica, it wasn't that bad!"

Pacifica shot Mabel a glare as her friend wrenched open the door of the beat-up truck.

"We spent the entire day combing through that lady's creepy attic for a ghost and we came up with nothing. Nada. Not even a shred of the supernatural."

"At least she can sleep happily, now!" Mabel said. "It really wasn't that bad, right, Dipper?"

"I don't wanna talk about it," the seventeen-year-old groaned, knocking his head against the steering wheel as he twisted the keys, sending the truck sputtering to life.

"Waste of our lives," Pacifica repeated, leaning back in her seat.

"You guys need to learn to look on the optimistic side once in a while," Mabel muttered, turning to wave at the elderly woman's house as they pulled away.

"I've got plenty of optimism," Pacifica said, burrowing into Dipper's shoulder as he drove them down the old mountain road. "Like, I climbed in this thing and actually expected to make it out alive."

"Hey," Dipper said, elbowing her lightly. "Don't insult my baby."

"It's not your baby," Mabel said. "Not yet, anyways. Grunkle Stan's just letting us borrow it – besides, he's totally going to give it to me, silly."

"In your dreams-"

"Please don't start this again," Pacifica moaned, rubbing her temples. The infamous Pines twins' battle over the old truck was one she'd been caught up in far too many times, and was not an argument she was looking forwards to, quite literally, sitting in the middle of now.

"Fine, fine," Dipper muttered, fiddling with the truck's headlights as he squinted in the growing darkness. "Man, I wish we'd wrapped that up earlier. Mountain roads suck in the dark."

"If it bugs you so much, I can drive!" Mabel offered. Both Dipper and Pacifica paled.

"No," came the unified answer. Mabel huffed, folding her arms.

"You guys are no fun," she pouted. "I don't even go that far over the speed limit."

"Mabel, twice the speed limit is very far past, not to mention unsafe," Dipper said.

"You just think that 'cause you drive like an old grandma," Mabel said, sticking her tongue out.

"Hey, have you seen Soos's grandma's driving?" Dipper said. "I'll take that as a compliment."

Mabel merely stuck her tongue out at him. Pacifica huffed out a laugh.

"You guys are ridiculous."

"Aw, but you love us!" Mabel said, smothering Pacifica in sweater as she hugged her.

"Gack – fine, yes, I love you, now get off me!"

Mabel laughed as she pulled back, Pacifica huffing as she quickly reached up to fix her hair.

"Ridiculous," she repeated, but there was a smile on the corner of her lips as she shook her head.

"Alright, calm down," Dipper said distractedly, squinting ahead again at the darkened, winding roads. "These roads are hard enough to navigate without you two messing around."

Pacifica was about to make a retort when a blinding flash of lightning split the sky before them in two, causing Dipper to jerk back, swearing, as Mabel shrieked. A deafening crack of thunder followed, ringing loudly in Pacifica's ears.

"Shit, that was close," Dipper gasped, face pale.

"Scary lightning, scary lightning," Mabel squeaked, face buried in her sweater.

"It's probably just a summer storm," Pacifica said, though her heart was still pounding in her chest. "Nothing to be that freaked about, you guys."

Another blinding flash of lightning, tinged a bloody red, cut through the sky just to the right of them. The boom that echoed seconds after shook the truck.

"You should probably speed it up, though, just to be safe," she said weakly.

Dipper nodded, the truck already gathering speed as it flew down the winding roads. The flash-crack of the thunder and lightning grew closer together as they drove, and Dipper's knuckles turned white as he gripped the steering wheel. Fortunately, the air remained dry, the storm content with lights and rumbling for now.

They were just passing the mile marker for Gravity Falls when Mabel sucked in a harsh breath.

"Guys – you guys – what is that-"

Pacifica had no time to look at where Mabel's shaky finger was pointing, because in the next two seconds there was a loud, terrifying hissing sound ringing in her ears, and something slammed into the side of the truck, sending it flying.

The world dissolved into a dizzying vertigo as the car flipped, Pacifica's scream joining Dipper and Mabel's as she was flung wildly, her seat belt jerking harshly against her chest as her body snapped forwards.

The last thing she saw was the ground coming up to meet them through the windshield, then everything went black.