Yes, I know it's been a little over four months since I last updated this oneshot series. But I wrote out most of this part and didn't really like it. Had to take a mental health break and celebrate the holidays as well as my birthday so I put this on the back burner and updated a few different oneshots that I already had drafted for awhile. But we're back!

Another warning because I will be writing out detailed descriptions of not so great things, like murder and blood and gore and stuff. It may not be as bad as I'm making it sound, but I still would like to give a warning!

Also, this one was really long, and I honestly contemplated splitting it in two, which I eventually did. They both will be posted around the same time, but I will put a reminder at the end of this chapter to take a break from reading and return so afterward. You need rest, my lovelies <3

ACT IV

TRIAL RESUME

Pacifica stared at Scarlett, wide-eyed. It couldn't be true. If Scarlett had gone to the cathedral, wouldn't she have seen me? Then why hadn't she said anything?

"Did you?" Robbie asked.

"Of course I didn't." Scarlett rolled her eyes. "It's Dipper trying to deter us from persecuting him."

"Oh-ho," Masked Dipper laughed, "but why would I want to do that? I don't want to die either."

There were too many variables. Pacifica grit her teeth. She had to figure out the timeline of events before she told the truth.

"He is the only person who knows what truly happened there." Robbie admitted, "we need to believe that his words hold some truth." Robbie glanced toward Pacifica. "Paz, I know you two typically ran the trials, you know how he speaks, so," he sucked in a breath, "do you think he is telling the truth?"

Pacifica didn't want to answer. Because two thoughts bounced around her head. The first being that Scarlett did go to the cathedral last night and played a role in how things turned out. The second being that Dipper was just spouting anything to protect her. Why would he do that?

"Do you?" Will glanced toward Masked Dipper. "He hasn't shown to be that trustworthy."

"No, that's wrong!" Pacifica exclaimed, "he was going to take down the mastermind. He was going to take the appropriate action."

"So he said." Scarlett muttered, "did you expect any of us to actually believe that?"

"Who cares if you trust me or not." Masked Dipper scoffed, "what matters is where the evidence leads." He looked to Pacifica, "you already know the answer, don't you?"

She thought she knew the answer. But then there was a body in the cremator, and Dipper was standing right before her. Like a phoenix from the ashes, she thought morbidly.

Pacifica made up her mind. She would tell them regardless of what Dipper was trying to do. She couldn't let them die. She couldn't. But one account at a time. No need to further confuse everyone, they just needed to take it one step at a time. She would find the mastermind, she would have to.

"The cloak that was found at the scene." Pacifica stated, staring right through Scarlett. "I know that's yours, Scarlett."

Scarlett stiffened but only slightly. "Yeah, it was in my lab. But in case you dunno, all the labs have no locks, so anyone could've come in and taken it."

"That's true, all the labs don't have locks." Will nodded, "that's why I was so nervous when I accidentally fell asleep in mine last night." He winced, "I could've died."

"I think that was poor planning on the mastermind's part." Lee commented.

"Oh leave me out of it!" Cipher exclaimed, "they were designed specially!"

"Like I said," Scarlett stated more firmly than she had previously, "anyone could've come into my lab and taken it."

"No that's wrong!" Pacifica exclaimed, hearing the contradiction in her words. "Scarlett, back when your lab opened, Cipher made a show of letting everyone know that only one lab had an actual working lock." Her eyes narrowed, "that lab was yours."

Scarlett's face paled.

"Cipher even explained after they revealed your true talent." Pacifica continued, undeterred by Scarlett's instinctive reaction. "That the only reason your lab had a lock, was because they didn't want anyone to stumble in and figure out the secret before it was supposed to be revealed." The more Pacifica explained, the more revelations occurred to her. None that were the most important at the time, so she filed them away in her head for later recollection.

"Gargh!" Cipher shouted, "foiled by my poor word choice! And I just thought this trial was going to be more exciting!"

"It doesn't matter if it's exciting!" Robbie declared. "Scarlett, is it true?"

"Of course, it's true." Masked Dipper scoffed and went to inspect his nails. "Otherwise Cipher wouldn't have exclaimed like that." He turned his head toward them, "this is pathetic. No wonder you want out."

"What?" Pacifica breathed, her response almost completely masked by her breath.

"Hm?" He shrugged, "is there something wrong, Paz?"

Pacifica was about to reply her concerns for what he was saying, but her voice was drowned out by Lee's shrill accusation.

"Scarlett! You have to tell the truth! Your lab is the only one that has a lock!" Lee bellowed, "you were the only person who could've taken that cloak to the cathedral!"

Scarlett's face told the truth, yet her mouth continued to lie. "I didn't go there. I had no reason to go there."

"Yes, you did." Pacifica murmured, a few theories popping into her head. "I can think of a few."

"I can guess that one of them has to do with discovering the mastermind." Robbie commented, with a sad shake of his head. "This case just gets more confusing."

It's going to get worse very soon. Pacifica barely kept that statement behind her teeth.

"Scarlett, please," Will whispered, "please tell us the truth."

Scarlett hardly even glanced in Will's direction, instead keeping her eyes trained on the ground beneath her. One hand clutched the side of her jeans, while the other hung limply, like there was no life left in her. "Okay," she whispered softly. "Okay, I'll tell you the truth."

Pacifica let out a sigh of relief.

"Yes, what Pacifica said is true." Scarlett continued, her voice just as soft, "I went to the cathedral last night."

"Geez! Did anyone not go to the cathedral?" Cipher rolled their eye and let out a scoffing noise. "What a terribly convenient set up!"

"Quiet." Masked Dipper snapped. "The culprit is confessing."

"My testimony from before is mainly true." She rubbed at her arm. "I was in my lab most of the night, wondering what I could do. I had my suspicions on Dipper being the mastermind, and I wanted to confront him myself." She glared daggers at Masked Dipper. "I wanted to kill him."

"Scarlett!" Lee exclaimed.

"I'm not finished." She spat. "So, I prepared myself to what could be a fight to the death. I wrapped myself in that cloak you guys found near the cremator, grabbed that weapon, and went to say goodbye to Cody." She stiffened as if that confession was enough to make her sick. "With how he treated me when the news first broke, I wanted to give him my thanks."

"Ewwww that's too mushy for a trial room!" Cipher shrieked, but it appeared they were delighted at the sudden turn.

"Anyways," Scarlett didn't even respond to Cipher's attempt at provocation. "I knocked on his door at eleven-thirty. When I didn't get a response, I panicked. I feared that he had the same thoughts as I, so I raced as fast as I could to the cathedral." She jerked her head, vivid red hair bouncing in tandem, at Masked Dipper. "He was already there, but he wasn't alone."

"Cody." Pacifica murmured, her heart wrenching.

"That's right." Scarlett nodded. "The two had already been fighting before I even arrived."

F L A S H

She crouched low behind a pew, eyes wide on the sight of someone she had come to care about covered in blood. At first, she feared the worst had happened, but he was still moving.

Her eyes raked over his entire body, noticing that where the cuts landed, weren't vital. Why wouldn't the mastermind land a fatal blow?

"I always knew it was you behind this." Cody spat, out flew a tooth followed by a trail of blood. "Who else would it be?"

Dipper let out a laugh, sounding a little too breathless. "You say you know it's me but what evidence do you have to prove it?"

"I heard your talk with Cipher!" Cody exclaimed. "I know what you really are!"

That was enough for her to go on. Scarlett aimed her tricked out gun, she had loaded the tranquilliser with the deadliest poison found in Gideon's lab. Luckily for her, she didn't have to search to hard for it, it was sitting right out in the open.

She aimed her gun exactly at Dipper's back. Most would say it was a coward's shot, but she didn't care. It would all be over soon.

A loud sound erupted from the monitor, a terribly loud, ear-splitting shrill that made every person in the cathedral cry out. In that short span of time, her finger hit the trigger and the dart was set loose.

"Cody!"

A hit.

A gasp.

The noise shut off.

F L A S H

Scarlett hugged herself, looking like the perfect resemblance of a dying rose. "I miscalculated, and made the worst mistake of my life. But you have to believe me," her eyes went wide, wild and green and wet, "I didn't kill Cody!"

Masked Dipper tutted. "Hurts to know that you tried to kill me."

"But, you shot him!" Lee cried. "By all accounts that means you killed him!"

"But she didn't put him in the cremator." Robbie interjected, and Pacifica was a little relieved to know that Robbie could help her a little more in the trial.

"What if she's lying?" Will whimpered, eyes wide on Scarlett.

"Oh alright," Masked Dipper huffed a sigh, "Scarlett did not put him in the cremator, but she shot him."

"I didn't kill Cody!" Scarlett yelled, her face filled with terror and panic. "I know he was alive afterwards because," she heaved a heavy breath, her entire body freaking out. "Because I went back to Gideon's lab to find the antidote!"

"Huh?" Lee questioned. "There was an antidote?"

"That would explain the bottle found at the scene." Robbie explained. "Right, Paz?"

"R-right." Pacifica felt her entire body run cold. Ice flooded her veins at Scarlett's words. Scarlett found the antidote. She took the only one.

"Yes, there was one." Scarlett nodded vigorously. "I grabbed it as fast as I could and ran back to the cathedral."

F L A S H

She burst through the door, not caring whether she was seen or not. At first she did not see either of them, and she felt her heart rate rise even faster.

The monitor that had been spewing that awful noise, the one that forced her hand, was slashed beyond repair.

"CODY!" She screamed, doing a complete three-sixty and surveying the entire cathedral, eyes wide in panic.

"Lettie!" Cody yelled, and she followed the sound of his voice.

The voice took her all the way to the room behind the altar, where the fight had escalated to. The pair looked terrible. Cody was already looking pale, his skin sickly and sweaty. It was already taking its toll. The mastermind just looked satisfied, bloody, but satisfied.

"Q-quick!" She stammered, holding out the antidote. "Take it!"

Cody reached out to take it, but the mastermind knocked it from his grip.

"No!" She cried.

"Get out of here, I'll take care of it!" Cody shouted back to her, "but you have to leave before it's too late!"

"But—!"

"Scarlett, go!" Cody exclaimed, "I'll handle this!"

What else could she do? Without a slight nod of her head, she rushed back out of the cathedral, eyes fresh with tears.

F L A S H

"He told me to leave." Scarlett whispered, "I shouldn't have left him there alone." She scrubbed angrily at her face, "if I stayed, he wouldn't be dead."

"But you gave him the antidote?" Will furrowed his brow. "In other words. . ."

"She never handed it to him." Robbie explained.

"In other words," Pacifica murmured, feeling a little too light-headed, "he could've gotten to it in time, or he couldn't have."

"Yes, he could've." Masked Dipper nodded, it would've been solemn had it hadn't been done so mockingly. "But, come on," he gestured to himself, "clearly he didn't."

"But the bottle was empty!" Will exclaimed, "isn't that right?"

"Yes, that is true." Pacifica agreed. "However that doesn't mean that Cody was able to get to it in time."

"So we're still stuck?" Robbie rubbed the back of his head. "Even with what Scarlett's saying, we're still right back to where we were."

"That's not all the way true." Pacifica announced.

"Hm, I'd say we're right back where we started, that's for sure. And that's if we choose to believe her convenient story." Masked Dipper insisted. "However, we only have two suspects, so I say we fifty-fifty it."

"What?" Robbie coughed out. "You want us to just guess?"

"Make an educated guess." Masked Dipper corrected sternly. "Do we have another choice? It doesn't matter, because Cipher will be able to tell us it it's correct, right?"

Huh? Pacifica blinked in surprise.

"O-oh yeah!" Cipher cleared their throat and nodded. "O-of course I do! Because I always know what goes on in the domain of the killing game!"

"That. . .that sounds suspicious." Lee commented.

"Let's vote." Masked Dipper nodded again, "we'll see how this game ends, hope or despair." He turned to Cipher. "What are you waiting for? Start the vote."

Cipher was hesitating, and the trial room remained absolutely silent.

No. No freaking way. Pacifica wanted to laugh, and she decided to indulge herself. "You have no idea who the killer is, do you?" She chuckled breathlessly.

"Um, Paz?" Robbie winced.

"Is it true?" Will asked, turning to look at Cipher. "You have no idea who it is?"

"I know who the killer is!" Cipher hissed, seemingly angry. "It's you all who dunno who it is!"

Masked Dipper chuckled. "The killer is too smart for you. Looks like you've been beaten at your own game."

"Objection! Wait, wrong story." Cipher giggled. "Alright, Ultimate Who Freaking Knows, you seem dead set that I dunno who the killer is, and perhaps that's true," their single eye turned red, "but maybe you're leading us astray?"

"We don't have the time for your weird psychological hypotheticals!" Robbie bellowed.

The victim. Was that what Cipher was alluding to? Pacifica wanted to believe that Dipper was alive, she really did, but if Cody had gotten the antidote from Scarlett, the chances of the masked person being Dipper diminished incredibly.

"That's a shame, I guess the game is over." Masked Dipper shrugged nonchalantly. "We can't have a fair trial if the one hosting doesn't even have the answer."

Cipher continued to silently fume at his words.

"So, how about—"

"Dipper is that really you?" Pacifica asked before she had a second thought.

"Hm?" He glanced in her direction. "That's a strange question to ask."

"I've been thinking," Pacifica braced herself for the inevitable turn, "how likely it would be for you to be the one standing here." Her voice wobbled slightly, "but I should have known better; I should've known because I shot you."

F L A S H

"Stay where you are!" Pacifica yelled, aiming the tricked out tranquilliser at both Dipper and Cody.

"Paz!" Cody exclaimed, eyes wide. "This isn't what it looks like!"

"Really?" Pacifica felt a lump in her throat. "To me it looks like the mastermind came to get rid of Dipper." She aimed the gun square at Cody's chest. "To me it looks like one of my friends is behind this."

"Southeast, what are you doing here?" Dipper coughed wetly before he managed to speak again. "Why are you here?!"

"I told you," Pacifica smiled sadly, "you need to take better care of yourself."

"PACIFICA DON'T!"

She closed her eyes and sucked in a quick breath before pulling the trigger. But nothing came out.

"What?" She breathed out, panicked. "Why aren't you working?!" She demanded, not hearing any of the shouts from the two other boys in the cathedral. She couldn't fail him, Pacifica couldn't let Dipper die.

Someone brushed her shoulder, and that was all it was. The gun had a ten second delay, she later learned. Now, in front of her, blue eyes widened as the dart pierced his chest.

F L A S H

"Paz," Robbie whispered, "you didn't. . .I mean, you couldn't have!"

Pacifica kept her head down, "I lied to you all. There is no forgiveness for that." She rubbed the tear that had welled up in her left eye. "I'm so sorry."

"Is that why you were so dead-set on finding the mastermind?" Lee asked, "so you wouldn't be caught?"

"No! It's not like that!" She protested. "I wanted to find the mastermind so you all could escape. If I had to die here because of the mistake I made," she turned her head swiftly to the side, "it would've been alright. Because my friends would've escaped."

"So, is Dipper the one who's dead?" Will whispered. "Have we been thinking about this all wrong?"

"You," Scarlett murmured, "you didn't. You couldn't have."

"It doesn't matter!" Pacifica nearly screamed. "It doesn't matter what you think I couldn't have done! The truth is out there plainly; I did it! I killed Dipper."

"W-what about the antidote?" Lee asked. "Did you get him an antidote?"

"No, she didn't." Scarlett whispered. "Because there was only one there."

"There's the killer twist I was looking for!" Cipher cried out, giddy with a happy look taking over his eye. "Star-crossed lovers condemn each other!"

Masked Dipper hadn't spoken for awhile. He just stood there, without a single sound emanating from him.

"Cody?" Scarlett whispered, "is that you? Is it really you?"

Masked Dipper laughed all very suddenly. "Look at this display, so terribly heartwarming, tinged with such hope, but unfortunately," he cocked his head to the side violently, "I can't let you do this."

"W-what?" Pacifica stuttered, tears flowing freely onto her face. What could he be talking about?

He clapped his hands together slowly and sardonically. "A lovely performance, are you sure you're not the Ultimate Actress?"

"Stop talking in riddles, explain yourself!" Scarlett threatened, eyes boring right into the mask.

Masked Dipper laughed again, this one seeming a little forced. "It's strange, I honestly am surprised that anyone believes that little spew of yours." He shook his head as if he were disappointed by the outcome. "It just goes to show how gullible everyone here truly is."

"Gullible?" Lee frowned. "Is he talking about us?"

"What the hell do you mean, gullible?" Robbie slammed a fist down on the podium, his eyes set in disbelief.

Scarily enough, Scarlett was silent. But her eyes spoke louder than words ever could.

"It's as Cipher says," Masked Dipper chuckled ruefully, "star-crossed lovers condemn each other. Paz is just trying to save me." He looked Pacifica in the eye, "but I can't let you do that."

Why? Why would Dipper be doing this? Trying to protect her? Wait the only reason that Dipper would be trying to save her was because. . .

Pacifica couldn't help the light gasp of awe that escaped her parted lips. Dipper doesn't call me Paz. Finally. That was the last piece she needed to tie the mystery together.

~.~.~.~

"Alright, let's go over the case one more time.

This case starts yesterday afternoon; back when Dipper called the meeting in the gymnasium.

His intention was to scare the mastermind enough to come out of hiding with the knowledge he pretended to have. Only, he didn't scare the mastermind, he scared the killer.

Camera footage outside the main hall shows that Will entered his lab around ten-thirty that evening, and didn't leave until two the next morning. He could not have been the culprit. Both Robbie and Lee are each other's alibis for the entire night.

That left Scarlett, Dipper, myself, and the killer. Ergo, everyone who played a pivotal role in this bloody show.

The cathedral is where the main performance takes place. With Robbie going to see if there was a way to convince Dipper to change his mind about his plan. The killer saw this happening from afar.

They waited until Robbie left the scene, no doubt they partly believed that maybe, just maybe, they were wrong. Yet when they entered the cathedral, their suspicions only solidified.

Dipper was there alone, waiting and suspecting, however, the killer still managed to catch him off guard.

The two, most likely, had to pause for a minute and realise a few things. Dipper must've believed that the killer was the mastermind behind the killing game. And the killer must've thought the same thing. A simple miscommunication led to such a horrible situation.

While the two were caught in a tough scuffle, the third party waited in their lab, planning. Scarlett had decided that she'd had enough of the killing game, and was willing to sacrifice herself in order to save the rest of us.

The thing is, Scarlett is clever. Had you spent enough time around her, it was plain as day that she was truly the Ultimate Con-Artist —she could get in anywhere and out unnoticed. Yet, she purposely used an item specifically tied to her —the cloak. Scarlett planned for in case she didn't kill the mastermind. So we could find out who the killer was. That's how far she was willing to go to end this game.

When Scarlett realised that the killer was nowhere to be found, she came to the conclusion that they were already doing what she had planned so meticulously. And, perhaps, she had her suspicions of a different truth.

Now, by the time Scarlett had entered the cathedral, both Dipper and the killer were in the middle of a horrific fight. Scarlett's testimony shows that she had stayed out of sight until after the incident happened.

Unfortunately, a startling noise from a monitor that was on the fritz, caused Scarlett to shoot the killer with the poisoned dart. Seeing that she shot the killer instead of her true target must've shaken Scarlett to her very core. She left the tranquilliser-gun at the scene to be discovered and discarded the cloak as well.

She then raced to Gideon's unoccupied lab to retrieve the antidote she had seen when she first went there in search of a weapon. There was only one antidote for the poison, so she didn't have to look too far for it. Had there been two, this wouldn't be happening now.

With her returning to the cathedral, she attempted to give the antidote to the killer in hopes of saving them. At the time, she had no way of knowing whether they were able to drink it or not. Now we all know.

After being chased out, Scarlett returned to her lab. Not knowing what the outcome would be.

By that time, I had decided that I would go to aid Dipper. I was the one who brought the second tranquilliser-gun to the cathedral.

And when I got there, I found that my gun had a ten-second delay. Even though I was aiming for the killer, Dipper got in the way, and took the shot. I will never forget the look in his eyes that night. Ever.

After I left the scene, I checked the same place Scarlett had. Only I had to return to the cathedral empty-handed. Upon my return, the door had been barricaded, leaving no possible entryways to be found. Regretfully, the only choice I had was to return to my room. And prepare for the trial ahead.

Around eleven-fifty that night, Dipper and the killer were alone. Both getting more and more fatigued and pained with the poison running through their systems. While we have no way of knowing what truly happened there, I think both Dipper and the killer were willing to die that night.

However, that would've caused so many more problems for the people who killed them. In a split second, the two parties came to a consensus, with Dipper prepared to be the victim, and the other party willing to be the killer.

Dipper was a very clever man. It doesn't surprise me in the slightest that he was able to coherently plan such an elaborate murder. But I just can't even understand how even he could plan his own demise.

The killer set up the scene, making it way worse than it actually had transpired, while Dipper instructed him and would indicate when it was time. Time for his own brutal death.

The killer helped Dipper get into the cremator, before running to where the power switch was and flicking it on. The killer fled the cathedral after their job was done, because I don't think someone as kind as them could watch someone burn alive.

With everything accounted for; every detail, every single alibi —everything— it only leads to one conclusion.

The true killer behind this unmistakably horrible events is you— Cody Chiu, the Ultimate Explorer."

~.~.~.~

For a moment, the trial room was completely still and silent. There was no breath of relief from everyone who would live, no sigh of disappointment for the one who would be condemned.

After what felt like a hundred years, the masked person chuckled lightly, ruefully. The jig appeared to be up.

Slowly, they reached to the back of their head to unbuckle the clasps holding the mask in place, before taking it off and tossing it to the side, letting it land with a soft thump.

"I knew you'd get it, Paz." Cody smiled, tears welling in the corners of his eyes. "You're so smart."

Her breath was knocked out of her lungs. Pacifica couldn't begin to fathom what to say to him now that she had condemned him.

"C-Cody?" Scarlett's voice was hoarse when she spoke, her eyes filled with matching tears. "W-why? Why would you do this?"

Cody glanced off to the side, "before I explain anything, let's vote." He turned his gaze to the rest of the students. "There's no way to get it wrong, okay?" He let a genuine smile onto his face again. "We'll end this trial together. The lot of us, okay?"

"THE HEART-RACING EXCITEMENT AS BLACKENED AND THE SPOTLESS FACE OFF!" Cipher cheered. "IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIT'S VOTING TIME!"

"Cody," Robbie shook his head in disbelief. "I can understand why. . .I just wish it hadn't come to that."

One by one, they voted. However, Pacifica thought it was a bittersweet sort of moment. Because they weren't voting because Cipher told them to, but because Cody did.

"CORRECTAMUNDO!" Cipher cackled. "It's funny how things pan out, isn't it? Oh well, it's certainly despair-inducing!"

"Ignore them," Cody shrugged. "Just listen to me instead, alright?"

"Why did you do it? That's the one thing I can't figure out." Pacifica shook her head. "Why would you make yourself the killer? It was my fault this whole thing happened!"

Cody sighed, tossing his gloves to the side. "It's okay, Paz, don't worry. After all, it was my decision from the start."

"Hey, Cody, what do you mean, exactly?" Robbie asked.

"So, Paz got it all right? Thank goodness!" Will clasped his hands together. "I-I mean, it's. . .well, I'm sure you know. . ." He glanced guiltily at Cody.

Cody winced and rubbed the back of his neck, "oh, well, I mean, Paz didn't get it all right. But the gist of it was that I was the one who truly killed Dipper." He looked to the floor.

"What are you talking about?" Scarlett whispered.

Cody sucked in a deep breath. "Well, you see," he looked toward Cipher, "Dipper propositioned me with this plan of his after Grenda's trial."

"WHAT?!"

"EXCUSE ME?!"

"HOLD UP!?"

"YOU WHAT?!"

Cipher frowned. "What do you mean, Cody?"

Cody sighed and turned back to the group. "After we all received our envelopes and went back to our rooms for the night, I decided to go outside. To breathe some fresh air." He ducked his head lower. "And that's where Dipper found me."

F L A S H

"What are you doing here?" Cody demanded, glaring at the menace who had just appeared. The way that Dipper could just appear magically whenever was a little frightening. It was something that Cipher managed to pull off so that didn't bode well.

"Chiu." Was Dipper's greeting. "I could ask you the same thing, but I won't because there is a more important matter to discuss."

That interested Cody in the slightest. He turned around and raised a brow. "Other matters?"

And that was Dipper's cue to sit down next to him. "How far would you go to end this game for good?"

"W-what?" Cody was certainly caught off guard by Dipper's blatant question. "What kind of question is that?"

"A very serious one." Dipper nodded, implying that he understood Cody's thought process. Maybe the guy was the Ultimate Mind Reader. Probably not. "And one I need you to answer."

Cody considered the question in full. No doubt about it, Dipper had a scheme or two up his sleeve. And if Cody figured out what they were, perhaps he'd be able to stop them if they were harmful.

"I'd do anything to end this game." Cody finally said, nodding. "I want us to get out of here."

Dipper hummed thoughtfully. "Yes, I assumed as much."

"So, do you have a reason for asking me that? Or is it just a weird psycho-fake-out?" Cody scrunched up his nose.

"Indeed I have reason." Dipper spoke calmly. Not getting riled up or frustrated at Cody's attempt to insult him. Oh. So it was serious. "I need you to be able to trust me, alright? I know you have your suspicions of me, you'd be an idiot not to, but from here on out, I need you to trust me completely."

"Okay?" Cody more asked than complied. But to be fair, it was a suspiciously-phrased sentence. "I trust you from here on out."

Dipper moved closer to him on the bench. "Forgive the closeness, what I'm about to tell you is of most importance. Discretion is key for this."

"Yeah yeah, just don't kiss me or something." Cody found himself saying before he could think otherwise.

Surprisingly enough, Dipper laughed. Cody was almost certain that this was the first time he heard Dipper laugh genuinely. It was nice. "I can assure you, my heart lies elsewhere."

"Paz, no doubt." Cody laughed along with him.

"Connect whatever dots you like." Dipper stated. "Regardless," he leaned in a bit closer, "I'm not here to discuss my love-life with you." He shook his head, dismayed. "Would you go as far as killing the mastermind to end this game?"

"Is this a trick question?" Cody couldn't help but ask. "Or are you saying you know who the real mastermind is?"

Dipper shifted uncomfortably. "I have an inkling, nothing confirmed. But, as I've said, do you trust me?"

Cody shrugged. It was true that none of their friends would've made it this far if he hadn't participated as much as he had in the trials. "I guess I'll have to. Now, you have to trust me, too, Dipper."

Dipper frowned lightly, hesitance flashing in his eyes. Cody could imagine why. ". . .I suppose I'll have to. If I want this to work."

"Just tell me why you act like you know things. Things that scarily get a reaction out of Cipher." Cody finally caved. He had wanted to know for the longest time.

"This place is too public for this sort of conversation, Chiu." Dipper replied evenly. "Here," he handed Cody the envelope in his hand. "This. . ." he tapped the edge of the paper with his pointer finger, "this should tell you everything you need to know."

"You're serious here, Dipper?" Cody took the envelope from his hand, clenching his fingers around it. "Like, this isn't—"

"Do you trust me?" Dipper interrupted. "I already told you; the letter contains everything you need to know."

He got off the bench, but before he could move away, Cody reached out and snatched his arm. "Wait." He said, causing Dipper to pause. "What am I supposed to do in the meantime?"

Dipper sighed and pinched the bridge of hose nose with his free hand. "Continue as if you believe I'm the one behind this. That shouldn't be too easy to fake, seeing as. . ." He trailed off and glanced to the ground, "seeing as you already believe that to be true."

He tugged away from Cody's grip and headed back inside the academy, head held high, muttering something that Cody couldn't quite catch.

F L A S H

"He keyed you in on his plan that early?" Lee asked. "Why would you agree?"

"He already explained why." Scarlett scoffed, arms crossed. Any trace of sadness had been wiped from her face.

Dipper told Cody what he knew? Pacifica hated the feeling that punched her in the stomach.

Cody nodded solemnly. "It was more difficult than I imagined it would be; treating him like he was the one behind this. After I read the letter, I saw what his intention was."

"What was in the letter?" Pacifica asked, thinking back to Dipper's letter to her. Saying that she was the only one he could trust. Why would he. . ?

Cody paled. "I knew I was gonna have to explain that, but I still wish I didn't."

F L A S H

Cody found him the day before Dipper called the meeting. It was late at night, and Dipper was heading toward the cathedral.

"What is this, Dipper?" Cody demanded, flinging the letter at his chest, which Dipper skilfully caught. "What the fuck?!"

Dipper frowned slightly. "Chiu, I believe I said that we were not supposed to discuss these matters."

" 'do not tell anyone else what I've told you'?!" Cody demanded. "Isn't this something we should tell everyone?"

"No, not at this time." Dipper replied easily. "If everyone is told before the time is right, this stupid game will just continue. Forever and ever."

"You seem pretty certain in your letter, about that." He spat, the corners of his vision fading in and out of black. What Dipper hypothesised, it couldn't have possibly been true, right?

"You may back out if this is too much for you." Dipper sighed. "I understand that this is quite a lot to process in such a short span of time. However, I do believe that you're the only one who can do this."

"More like sell this." Cody scoffed. "And why do you think this will fool Cipher?"

Dipper frowned, a tiny twinge of his lips. Rolling his eyes, he pulled a tiny notebook out of his back pocket. Seemingly producing a pen out of thin air, he wrote silently.

After what felt like an eternity, he moved until he stood next to Cody, tilting the notebook in his direction.

Do not talk about the plan out loud. There is a chance we might be recorded. I will explain what I can in the next five minutes.

Cody hadn't even thought of the possibility of Cipher recording them. He nodded once and took the notebook out of Dipper's hands, writing his own message.

You think faking your own death is gonna change something?

It's called pseudocide, and ideally, yes.

Ideally?

All plans have a slim chance of failure, this one does, as well.

Care to explain in further detail? Why would Cipher care if you die?

Dipper stared at the message for a moment, lips pursed, contemplating how to respond. After a brief hesitation, he scrawled down the message.

Because my survival is Cipher's top priority.

It clicked in Cody's head. He blinked a few times and took a step back from Dipper. "N-no, that means—"

Dipper shoved the paper in his face again.

Cipher wants me alive due for reasons that remain unclear. However, I'm sure you can put two and two together. Right?

Nodding slowly, Cody felt his entire body shudder. "Does this mean. . ?"

"Most likely." was Dipper's tight-lipped reply.

F L A S H

"The plan was supposed to go off without a single hitch." Cody muttered sadly. "However, neither of us predicted that Cipher would've found out."

"Or that Scarlett and Paz would've gone to the cathedral." Robbie sighed, rubbing at his eyes with the backs of his hands.

"With how clever Dipper was, don't you think he would've predicted someone else going there?" Will piped up. "Right?"

Pacifica bit the inside of her cheek until she could taste the warm, metallic taste of blood. Cody didn't know that Dipper had invited backup. So it seemed that Dipper didn't trust Cody like he promised he did.

"He called the meeting to keep everyone aware of his whereabouts, but also to keep them away." Cody explained.

"Please finish explaining, Cody, I don't think Cipher is gonna wait much longer." Scarlett jerked a thumb in Cipher's direction.

"She's correct!" Cipher yelled.

"Anyways," Cody murmured, "we had to make Cipher think that I killed Dipper. So, Dipper arranged that whole meeting, in order to bait Cipher into showing up at the cathedral. Specifically, via the monitor. Dipper at least was certain that Cipher wouldn't have shown up in person."

"What happened after Paz and I left?" Scarlett demanded. "If this was supposed to be a fake death, why did it pan out this way?"

F L A S H

"Dipper, holy shit." Cody coughed, once Pacifica had left. "A-are you alright?"

"I'm fine, Chiu." He stated in his natural bored, monotonous voice. "You should be more worried about yourself. Seeing as how you were shot with a poisoned dart."

Fuck, he was, wasn't he? Holy shit, was he going to die?! "I'm gonna die."

Dipper suddenly appeared in his field of vision, an angry scowl on his face. "No, listen to me, Chiu." He grabbed him by the shoulders and shook him once. "Focus on my voice right now, you need to calm down. The adrenaline is pushing the poison further into your bloodstream."

"That's not going to help me calm down, Dipper!"

"Ground yourself. You won't die in this cathedral, I guarantee it. There's an antidote."

"Where?! Where is it?"

"There's only one."

"Yeah so— oh. . .one?"

"Only one."

Cody coughed into his hand, recoiling at the sight of the light magenta colouring in his spit. "D-Dipper. . ."

Dipper had closed his eyes, his entire body white as a sheet, making his veins even more noticeable. Darkened colours swarmed in place of what should have been blue.

"Wake up, Dipper!" Cody shouted, kicking the other boy's leg, weakly.

"I'm not dead yet, Chiu." Dipper retorted, eyes snapping open. "There's still a way this can work."

Cody sniffled. "You have a backup plan?"

"Impromptu plan, but yes." Dipper stared directly into Cody's eyes. "You'll have to kill me."

"W-what? Why would I do that?" Cody shook his head violently. "I couldn't do that to you, even knowing what you are, I can't kill you."

"You'll have to." Dipper urged, scooting a bit closer to him, bloodied hand slipping across the floor. "Otherwise Southeast will be the blackened for my death."

"Paz. . ." Cody murmured softly. He couldn't let her do that. She had been keeping everyone together, she was always so kind and determined. No matter whose fault it was, Cody knew deep down that he couldn't let her take the blame for this.

"Southeast is the only person who can truly take down this killing game." Dipper insisted. "She will end the killing game for good."

F L A S H

Everyone stared at Pacifica, eyes filled with confusion. She could hear the silence echoing throughout her ears, as she tried to grasp the meaning of Dipper's words.

Even as simple as they were, Pacifica still couldn't fathom what he meant.

"Did he tell you why?" Robbie asked, breaking the silence. "Why does he seem so certain that Paz is the person who will end this game for good?"

Cody sighed. "I wish he had told me, but we were running out of time. I had already drank the antidote and he was fading fast. We had to make sure I actually killed him."

"Great, even when he's dead he's still ten steps ahead of everyone." Scarlett kicked the mask that Cody had dropped onto the floor. "God, why is he so infuriating?"

Cody shrugged. "I'm not sure, honestly. But the rest pretty much played out how Paz said it did."

F L A S H

"You'll tell her what I said, right?" Dipper asked as he walked toward the cremator, each step looking to pain him.

"I promise." Cody nodded vigorously.

"Good."

"Dipper, I'm sorry." Cody closed his eyes, blinking away a few stray tears. "I'm sorry we never got along, I'm sorry I suspected you so harshly."

"For goodness sake, Chiu." Dipper scoffed lightly. "It doesn't matter. It's good that you suspected me, you're smarter than you give yourself credit for."

"But, Dipper—"

"This is the best ending, Chiu."

Cody blinked a few times. "What?"

Dipper smiled bitterly, glancing behind himself at the cremator. "This is the best ending. Surely you must understand."

"How do you figure?" Cody wrinkled his nose. "Something you figure out? Or is this you just being a martyr?"

Dipper shook his head. "The flashback lights I told you about. It took me awhile to piece everything together, but I've got a pretty clear picture now." He tapped the side of his head, a self-deprecating smirk.

"Care to share the picture?" Cody asked, wiping his nose with the sleeve of his shirt.

Dipper grinned slyly. "You'll see soon enough. Goodbye, Cody Chiu."

"Erm, goodbye. Dipper—"

"Gleeful."

"Huh?"

"Dipper Gleeful." Dipper supplied, a strangely calm smile on his face. Maybe that was the poison taking its toll.

Cody chuckled and shook his head. "I suppose I shoulda figured that one out. You two were too similar." More so than ever. Even when their plans went to hell, they still followed through. With one last firm nod, he shook Dipper's hand. "Alright. It was good to meet you, Dipper Gleeful."

Dipper smiled sadly, "it was good to meet you, Cody Chiu. Perhaps we'll meet again, in another life."

"Why do I get the feeling you know something more?" Cody raised a brow.

Dipper simply shrugged, the ghost of a sly smirk on his face.

F L A S H

"It's time for my execution." Cody grinned, most likely to spite Cipher. "Let's get it over with."

"I've prepared such a wonderfully despair-inducing punishment for the Ultimate Explorer." Cipher rubbed their little hands together in anticipation.

"How'd you act as Dipper so well?" Pacifica moved past everyone to ask her final question to Cody. "I was almost convinced. . ."

Cody shrugged. "Wanted to be an actor. Turns out, when you're an Ultimate, you don't get any other choice." He shook his head sadly, "but I laid a few clues into my words so you'd figure out who I really was."

Pacifica nodded. She remembered what he was talking about. The subtle clues that led her to believe it wasn't really Dipper debating with the group. And she felt a horrible pain in her chest that she wished it were Dipper. Really him.

"Urghhhhh come on! You got to have your whole explanation sequence! It's time for punishment!" Cipher whined.

Cody nodded, but before anything else, he grabbed Pacifica's hand and pulled her closer, leaning to whisper in her ear. "Investigate the cathedral. His final wish."

Pacifica's eyes widened when Cody mentioned him. But she nodded solemnly.

Cody kissed her cheek briefly. "See ya around, Paz." He let go of her and turned to face the horrible punishment that Cipher brought forth.

CODY CHIU HAS BEEN FOUND GUILTY

T I M E  F O R  P U N I S H M E N T  : )

Cody blinked at the sudden change of lighting. He shielded his eyes from the sun that was baring down on him.

He stood on the edge of a cliff, watching as rocks rose in a pillar-like formation every few feet apart from each other. Jumping.

Cody snorted. How ridiculous. It tied into his talent alright, but, he had a plan B. Cipher wanted him to jump across each of the rocks to get to the other side in hopes of escaping, right?

Only to fake him out at the last second, no doubt about it. He'd seen enough execution to know what would happen to him. He would die, probably in a horribly gruesome way.

But that was only if he did what Cipher wanted of him.

If he stood there and refused to move, Cipher would undoubtedly find a way to make him risk his life to jump across. He would most likely be chased by something, or the cliff would start crumbling.

Or, if Cipher didn't orchestrate that, he would be gunned down. Easy.

Cody smirked, yet his body trembled. He wasn't sure if he was able to pull off the final part of the plan. Yet, he remembered Dipper's words.

"You might wanna start jumping," Cipher's little puppet poofed up next to him. "Otherwise it'll be way worse for you." Yet their voice lacked its usual enthusiasm.

Steeling his nerves to solid iron, Cody whipped the pistol concealed underneath his clothes out and cocked it.

Cipher just stared blankly back at him. "Of course you would fight this. It doesn't matter though."

Cody kept his eyes trained solely on Cipher, despite the fact that he could hear his classmates shout for him. He couldn't look away, otherwise Cipher would ruin it all.

"It's a bummer. You can't just shoot me and expect that the game'll be over." Cipher shrugged as if they truly didn't care.

Breathe in. . .breathe out. Breathe in. . .breathe out.

"Such an egomaniac." Cody shook his head. "Why do you think everything's always about you?"

"Oh?" Cipher murmured.

"The thing is," Cody continued, counting the seconds in his head, "I know your secret, I know what all this" —he gestured to the surrounding area "actually is."

"He told you, I'm not surprised." Cipher rolled their single eye. "He was clever, albeit a thorn in my side, I'll give him that much credit."

Cody nodded once, his unease rising. Cipher seemed. . .off. "He was."

"You've become quite the lovely pillar of hope, Cody Chiu." Cipher commented. "It's a shame you're only getting this far."

"I don't care." He shook his head. "Hope. . .despair? They pretty much amount to the same thing here, don't they?"

"Like I said, it doesn't matter." Cipher shook their head, muttering. "The world will scrape the bowels of hell before the killing game ends."

"Then I guess I'll see you there." Cody closed his eyes, put the gun up to the side of his head, and pulled the trigger.

~.~.~.~

Everyone who was left in the killing game met in the courtyard that same night. No breeze was in the air, yet it somehow made the night colder.

"What are we supposed to do?" Robbie asked, casting his gaze toward the school behind them. "We can't sit here and let their deaths be in vain."

"Cody said that Paz will end this game." Lee murmured. "Do you have any idea, any idea at all, on what he meant by that?"

Pacifica simply stared dejectedly at the ground. "Of course I don't. In case you haven't noticed, Dipper never told anyone what he was up to. Why would he have told anyone else, myself included, what he meant?!"

Dipper. . .he didn't even trust me.

The letter. . .maybe he did trust me?

Not enough to clue you in on his real plan.

"Paz is right." Scarlett muttered. "Dipper was always ten steps ahead of us —of this entire game! That has to be suspicious, right?"

"If he was the mastermind, wouldn't this game be over?" Robbie commented. "We wouldn't be here right now. Face it, Scarlett, Dipper wasn't the mastermind."

"That isn't what I meant!" She snapped.

"A-ah, but he knows —erm, sorry— knew something?" Will winced. "Is that what you mean?"

"And how did he know something?" Scarlett continued. "How on earth did he?"

"Instead of pondering how he knew something," Robbie rubbed his chin, "maybe we should focus on why he had to have known something."

Pacifica knew how. Those ridiculous flashback lights that he received. He stopped showing them to her not long after Mabel's trial. But was it possible that he got enough information out of them to pull together what was going on outside the confines of the Ultimate Academy?

And better yet, would they have given him any insight on who was keeping them there? There was only one way to find out, wasn't there?

Slamming her hand down on the bench she was sitting on, Pacifica stared up at her surrounding and standing classmates. Lee exclaimed and moved behind Robbie who regarded her with thinly concealed interest.

"Sitting around and talking about the possibilities isn't going to do us any good." Pacifica rose from her seat with a sudden burst of adrenaline. "We need to take the opportunity given to us by both Cody and Dipper."

"W-what are you talking about?" Will asked, pulling his sweater tighter around himself.

"We all heard what Cipher said to Cody." Pacifica continued, pacing the floor in front of the bench, finger to her lips. "Cipher is bored of this game, they don't seem to care what happens now."

"That's true." Robbie nodded fiercely, pushing Lee off of him just enough to step toward Pacifica, hand out. "I say it's about time we started breaking a few rules."

"W-won't Cipher just punish us?" Will whimpered. "I want to be brave for you all, but I can't help but feel afraid."

"I understand where you are coming from, Will." Lee commented, with his typical aloof tone that didn't really convey much understanding like he claimed. "It's hard to find the courage of your convictions, it's hard to be brave. But you have so much strength," he glanced around, "we all do, for getting this far. For getting through the deaths of our friends, the persecutions of the others. Now is the time to put that strength to good use! And if it's too much to bear," he smiled kindly at Will, "you can rely on your friends to help you shoulder that burden."

"I couldn't have said it any better myself." Pacifica nodded, a warm smile.

"Look at you, Lee!" Robbie chimed in, punching a fist in the air.

Scarlett rolled her eyes. "Okay, so we're just gonna break into the places we weren't allowed?"

"Seems like a good place to start." Robbie confirmed. "Any ideas, Paz?"

The cathedral. Cody had told her to investigate it further. But why? They had already investigated that place upon the body discovery.

Cody didn't give her anything else to go on, so she would have to just trust him. Trust Dipper, despite the fact that she didn't feel right in it anymore.

"We have to split up." Robbie stated. "That way, even if Cipher sees us on the cameras, it'll look like we're all acting alone."

"And what if Cipher sends something after us?" Will questioned, hunching his shoulders a tad bit.

"Don't get caught." Scarlett replied evenly. "Are we ready to go? I have to admit, there's one place I'm keen on investigating." She turned her back and sped off in the direction of the main school, her pace quickening with each step she took, until she was no longer in sight.

"I'm gonna search the classrooms we woke up in when we first arrived." Lee soon followed Scarlett's departure.

Pacifica waited until everyone else left, then turned to face the cathedral that towered in the corner of the courtyard. If Dipper said that she was the one who could end this game, and that she needed to search the cathedral, then she would do it.

Not for him, but for all of her friends. Dead and alive.

~.~.~.~

Pacifica was surprised to see that the scene was still left as it was. Typically, Cipher would've cleaned up the scene of the crime after the culprit was convicted. However, with them not caring about the game anymore, Pacifica could come to an understanding of why.

The blood splatters had dried, staining the floor in pink. Broken pews from when Pacifica and the rest of her friends had broken down the door.

That was where she started, the ground floor of the cathedral. She didn't feel comfortable enough yet going down to where the cremator was. It was a strange feeling. After all, she had been the one who would encourage others to be brave and investigate.

Yet, now she was alone. Her closest ally —one whom she believed she could trust— was dead, her friends who were still alive were scared beyond their wits. Back then, she had the support of not just Dipper, but Cody and Scarlett. And Gideon.

With Scarlett acting more distant than she usually did, and the rest of her moral support lost to Cipher and their ridiculous game, Pacifica could hardly find the will to go on. But she had to. Dipper, if he was even telling the truth, said that she alone would end the game. She couldn't let her friends down, even if she felt she couldn't help at all.

Those thoughts continued to bounce around in her mind while she went about the ground floor of the cathedral. Regardless of how thorough her search was, Pacifica found that, in fact, she couldn't find anything new at all.

Every piece of evidence had already been found and used at the trial. There couldn't have possibly been anything at all that was missed. Cody wouldn't have hid evidence, he wanted them to succeed from the start. Even though he had a strange way of doing it, Pacifica assumed that he wanted to see how far he could get.

Yet, Cipher seemed to know who the culprit was from the get-go, just like they always did. So, why did they go along with Cody's charade if they knew the truth? Never had Cipher feigned ignorance, even in favour of the culprit. It would've shown that the two had been working together.

And Cipher would've never executed the one they were working with. So, that was the top question in Pacifica's mind. Why?

If she continued thinking about it, she would just run herself around in circles, getting absolutely nowhere. Despite how prominent the question was, she needed to stop thinking about it alone, and try to put pieces together.

There had to be something they were missing. Something even Cody didn't know. If she found that piece, maybe it would lead to a clearer picture.

Everything on the ground floor was a set-up, right? It was everything that Cody and Dipper acted out, messed with, and lied about. Maybe there was something down below by the cremation room that told a truer story?

The stairs to the floor below were dimly-lit, but Pacifica scanned with her eyes to see if there was anything at all that would lead to the truth. She examined every step in case there was something that was missed, but ended up with nothing more than she started with.

She had to stop right before she entered the cremation room. If Cipher hadn't whisked away all the evidence on the ground floor, then she would certainly be greeted with the same grisly scene from the morning.

Screwing her courage to the sticking place, she pushed the heavy wooden door open, it was a slow process but not because she was nervous. It was because the door was horrendously heavy.

Pacifica aimed to look at the room with a new perspective. She took in any and every detail she could. There were a few lights, hanging from the centre of the ceiling, dangling down dangerously, and swaying back and forth a bit. She wasn't sure how they turned on, seeing as there were no light switches on the wall, nor were there any in sight, and there were no pull-strings connected to the hanging lights. They must've stayed on all the time, giving whoever was in the room a clear picture of what they saw.

It was in complete contrast to how the ground floor of the cathedral was. The room was only lit with candles that were, at best, sparing. It was quite difficult to see, especially when there was no daylight to aid in your sight. How did Scarlett manage to shoot someone at such a distance? Being the Ultimate Con-Artist implied a little violence, and stealth, and acting sometimes at night. Pacifica trusted Scarlett's abilities, she'd seen some of them, after all.

The lock-picking, and when Dipper first started acting on his own, it was no surprise that Pacifica had started hanging around Scarlett and Cody. She remembered fondly to when they tried holding an archery contest. It was true that they were gag arrows. Instead of arrowheads, the tips of the arrows had suction cups. It was an attempt to keep the situation light and non-threatening. Scarlett had hit the bull's eye on ten separate occasions with her eyes closed, so seeing in dim-light should've been easy for her.

The cremator door had been shut before Robbie threw it open only to find the horribly scalded remains of a person. And even now it was laid open. When Pacifica first saw the remains, a part of her had willed that it was a horrible prank with a fake skeleton. Yet the more she looked at it, the more she saw the resemblance of a person. Not just any person, the person that she loved.

Yes, she could say it now. Pacifica loved him. Even though they hadn't known each other for much time. Even though every time he spoke, the less she knew. Swapping between masks of who he really was. Despite how some of the other people depicted him as a master manipulator, Pacifica had this feeling deep inside that when he was with her, and only her, he acted the way he truly was. Glass walls, but no masks. It was a shame she never got to tell him how she felt. Even though, considering how intuitive and observant he was, he probably knew before she did.

Dipper's body was still there, just as Pacifica feared. The smell of burnt flesh had all been whisked away in the hours they were gone. The face was burnt beyond any recognition, eye sockets completely empty leaving nothing but a blank void to stare into. Pacifica let out a cry, despite how she tried to will it away. He was dead, a horrible accident. She wondered, absentmindedly, if he had any regrets. But, according to Cody, he knew the stakes. He knew what he was playing for.

This is the best ending.

That was what Dipper said to Cody. How could it have possibly been the best ending? Everything Dipper was fighting for away from the eyes of the mastermind and the rest of their companions, tossed away with nothing gained. No note, documenting what he had discovered, nothing said to Pacifica before she arrived at the cathedral. All she had left was that stupid note that claimed he trusted her and needed her help.

Very clearly, he didn't need her help. The only way to spin it was that he was doing her a favour she never asked for. Keeping her away from the display so she could figure out the rest on the sidelines for their friends. In means of escape.

But wait. If he wanted to keep her away from his plan, why did he send her that note? Why did he send her the note and the gun? It would contradict everything that made the most logical sense! Dipper was a logical person, he never strayed from his logic once. He never went out of his way to be unpredictable, one could even call his actions predictable.

Something wasn't adding up. His reasoning to keep her alive, the note calling for her help, his surprise when she ended up at the cathedral, and the fact that Cody swore up and down that Dipper never planned or predicted that she would've shown up.

A heavy pit was growing in her stomach, clouding her mind with doubts. Something was wrong. Something was very, very wrong.

Pacifica wasn't finished in the cathedral just yet, so she tucked the list of inaccuracies in the corner of her mind to discuss later with her peers. Keeping her eyes away from the cremator, she searched around the rest of the well-lit room. Yet there was no physical evidence. All she had was a series of inaccuracies that might've been nothing. Just because she thought she knew Dipper very well, didn't mean she actually did.

Pacing to the table laid directly in front of the cremator, given a few feet, she placed her palms on the table, followed shortly after by her head. She groaned into the musty wood, too frustrated and confused to find it disgusting.

Investigate the cathedral?! What was there even to find? Why was Dipper so adamant that she look through it again? Did he really think she couldn't pull herself together long enough to investigate coherently?

"Why me?" Pacifica murmured to herself. "What made you think I'm capable of finding something that everyone else missed? What made you think that I could pull this off?" She, despite herself, found a chuckle escaping her lips that soon bubbled over into full-on laughter. "You knew me better, despite the act I put up. Somewhere along the way, I lost myself in this act, but you knew all along. I'm just as naive now as I was from the start!" She punctuated her final word with a punch on the wooden table.

Clunk.

Her head shot up upon hearing the noise, just out of pure habit. Her eyes scanned the room, almost waiting for Cipher to pop up and taunt her, yet nothing happened. She stood up straighter and eyed the table itself. No secret passageway had been opened, like she initially thought for half a second, but something on the table had made that noise.

She carefully pawed through the scattered items on the table, finding that as soon as she did, she found books carefully stacked to make a platform. They were arranged systematically, stacked in a specific way, leaving the platform covered on top with another book. The space created between the platform and the roof —for lack of better term— was just wide enough to hold something. Something with a decent size. Big enough that you'd find it if you knew what you were looking for, but small enough that if you didn't know, you would walk by without even realising it.

Very slowly, she moved around the side of the table, praying that whatever had fallen and made that sound was still there and not a book. Even with the bright lights overhead, Pacifica truly believed that her eyes were deceiving her.

Laid out on the table, now fully exposed, was a simple video camera.

Without a second thought, Pacifica snatched it up from the table, holding it closer to her chest to block it away from the eye of Cipher, if they were even watching. It had to have something important, right? It wasn't just laying there for no reason. Better yet, it couldn't have been laying there for no reason, given how it was hidden securely and secretively.

Cody only told her to investigate the cathedral, chances were that he didn't know about the camera. If he had known about the camera, he would've given it to her, or hid it away in his bedroom. But he didn't.

Which meant the only person who could've placed the camera there was Dipper. Why would he have done that? The only way to find out was to look at the video camera's recent footage. Pacifica's fingers searched the camera to find the power button, only to discover that the camera was out of battery.

"Shit!" She hissed, glancing around the room as if the power source would immediately appear to her. Someone around would've had to have a charger for it, right? Otherwise the camera would serve little to no purpose.

As she raced out of the cathedral, praying that a charger for that specific video camera was around in the school, a strange epiphany dawned on her. If the camera had died, that meant no one had switched it off.

In other words, the mastermind had no idea about it.

CHAPTER SPLIT!!!!!

As I mentioned at the beginning of this act, I split this one into two parts because if I had kept them together it would've been over 20k words and that's a lot for one sitting, now isn't it?

Anyways, part two of this act will be posted in a little bit, but I want to make sure you guys, depending on your time zone, get some sleep, hydrate and eat a little something before we dive into the next part. Thank you all so very much for sticking around this far! It means so very much to me!

Stay safe out there, and keep smiling, my lovelies!

-Kaori Miyazono <3