"Welcome to Northwest Manor, dorks. Try not to touch anything." Pacifica extended a gloved hand and motioned to the door.

Mabel gasped in wonder as she stumbled into the manor, her pink gown swirling. "Everything's so fancy! Fancy floors, fancy plant, fancy man!" She rubbed the butler's face in glee.

"Mm, yes. Very good miss."

Candy's eyes widened as she looked into the gold leaf bag. "The rumors were true!" The three girls squealed and chased after the bird that fell out.

Pacifica nodded towards you as a distinguished man made his way down the staircase, grey creeping into his impeccable brown hair. He flashed a rehearsed smile at the three of you. "Ah, if it isn't the man of the hour! Hopefully you can help us with our little situation before the guests arrive in an hour."

Dipper tipped his hat. "I'll do my best."

He clasped his hands together. "Splendid! Pacifica, take our guests to the problem room, and, uh... they're not wearing that, are they?"

You did a double take at your attire. Albeit your hoodie was clean, your lack of grand clothing made you a cockroach swimming in champagne. "I apologize sir, I thought we were to do our work out of the party area."

He simply rolled his eyes, disgusted. Pacifica flinched but quickly hid it. "I'm on it."

She led the pair of you down the elaborate hallway and into a room lined with every type of shoe, dress, and tux imaginable. The blonde shut the door and rummaged through a row of tuxedos, deciding on the one close to the end. You couldn't see any difference between it and the other twenty, but Pacifica seemed satisfied. "Dipper, put this on."

"Wh-"

"Just do it. Ever seen any spy movie, ever? They always look cooler when they're dressed up."

Dipper exasperatedly took it and ducked into the dressing room. Content, Pacifica turned to you and frowned. "This is going to be a challenge."

"What makes you say that?"

She started flipping through the dresses and continued without facing you. "We can't put you into any old dress, you'd stick out far too much. We need to find something that radiates power while still being distinctly feminine." She angrily stopped looking and headed to the next row. "Do you know how hard those are to find?"

You quickly hopped out of her way as she stormed to the next one over. She hesitated, then decided on one in the center.

As much as you disliked having to dress for the occasion, there was something intriguing about this gown. Sleeveless and floor length, black lace overshadowed a deep red bodice. You ran your fingers over the dark stitched roses in the coal black skirt. "This is the one."

Pacifica smiled to herself. "I thought so." She lightly dragged you into another changing booth, discretely looking the other way as you slipped into the dress. As soon as you were ready, she pulled on the bodice's stings, instantly sucking the breath out of your torso as your waist shrunk a startling amount.

"Was that... really necessary?" You wheezed.

"Beauty is pain, hon."

You resisted the urge to glare at her and allowed yourself a quick twirl, mesmerized by how the skirt seemed to float. Pacifica seemed unsatisfied, tapping her foot. She pulled out a bobby pin and fidgeted with your hair, forming a messy updo. She pulled away, appreciating her work. "Not bad for a first timer."

"Thanks, I guess." You glanced down at your arm, still covered in bandages. Uncertain, you carefully unraveled them, revealing what remained of your scars. They were clearly permanent, the pale pearly tissue nearly translucent against your own skin tone, but all the burned skin had grown out. You sighed. "You wouldn't happen to have a pair of gloves?"

She took a quick glance at your arm and nodded. "Of course." Pacifica handed you elbow-length black silk gloves, barely long enough to cover the marks and strikingly similar to Bill's.

Dipper choose this moment to finally stumble out of the other changing booth, looking rather sharp in his tux if not for the knot he called a bow tie up front. "Ugh, it's like this collar is strangling me. Who do you guys think you're impressing with this stuff?"

Pacifica sighed and retied the bow. "Um, everyone. You wouldn't understand. High standards are what make the Northwest family great."

Dipper smirked at a portrait of one of her ancestors. "Funny, I thought it was lying about founding the town."

Pacifica scowled and led us out and through the halls, stopping at a room filled with stuffed animal heads. "This is the main room where it's been happening."

You kicked the head of the fur rug with the top of your heels. "You don't say. Looks like a set out of a horror movie."

"Yep, this looks like the kind of room that would be haunted, all right. I wouldn't worry about it, though." He pulled out the journal and flipped to the entry on spirits. "Ghosts fall on a ten-category scale. Floating plates sound like a Category 1."

Pacifica scoffed. "So what? Are you gonna bore him back into the afterlife by reading from this book?"

"Just gotta splash this sucker with some anointed water and he should be out of your... probably-fake blonde hair."

She whirled in indignation. "What was that about my hair?"

A sharp whine came from Dipper's contraption, pointing towards a portrait of a lumberjack. "Shh! I'm picking something up." It lost its signal, making him bang on the side. "C'mon, stupid thing. There we go." As soon as you glanced back up, the figure was gone.

Without warning, all the animal heads changed as one as a storm brewed within the room. "ANCIENT BLOOD AND BLACKENED SKIES. THE FOREST DARK SHALL ONCE MORE RISE."

"Dipper, what is this?!" You shouted.

"A category ten."

Pacifica shook him by his collar. "What do we do?"

"D-Don't worry, it can't get worse than this!"

Of course, it was that moment that a blackened skeletal hand reached out of the fire, dragging the rest of itself out. It grabbed an axe from its forehead as flesh grew around him, completing his form with a firefly blue beard. "I smell a Northwest! Come out, come out, wherever you are!"

"Hurry! Read through your dumb book already!" She hissed from under the table.

"I'm looking! And it's not dumb, okay? This book is gonna save our lives." He flipped the black light on to find advice only to find the words PRAY FOR MERCY. "Seriously?"

The ghost caught sight of you three and began to chase you, and it didn't take long for you to be separated from the group. You soon found yourself deep in the throng of the rich and famous. You swore. You couldn't get caught now, not when you were so close! You hiked up your skirt and sprinted to catch up, barreling into a stranger. You stumbled, lost your balance, and plummeted towards the ground, but a strong pair of arms saved you at the last moment.

The world faded to monochrome as he pulled you back up, simultaneously placing one hand on his shoulder and caressing the other in his palm. "Miss Y/N, it has been far too long," he murmured. "And don't you look lovely tonight."

It took a full seven seconds for you to comprehend what was happening. Bill was back, dancing with you as if nothing had happened. You quickly scrambled out of the embrace. "I-I don't have time for this. I need to catch up and help with the ghost-"

"Au contraire, princess. Take a look around. Everything's frozen." To your astonishment, he was right. Every action had been a stopped, making you feel trapped in a black and white wax museum. "We have all the time in the world." He reached for your hand, making you instinctively shrink back. Bill glanced up, his golden eye filled with hurt.

"After what you've done, you don't get to romance me."

He hung his head. "You covered it up. The gloves."

You pulled on the ends. "It was time to move on. To remind myself I'm not bound to you."

"Ah, but are you sure about that, doll?"

You narrowed your eyes. "Very."

He grabbed your arm. "I didn't just break my silence just to mess with your head. There's going to be a big decision coming in the near future. Either choice will cost lives, indirectly or not. And it'll all come down to one moment."

You stayed silent. "Bill," you whispered acidly, "get your hand off my arm."

You roughly pulled away and stalked off the other direction, color and motion starting to come back the farther you got away from the demon.

"Would you listen to me for one damn moment?! Stop treating this like a game! You can't let your bias against me cloud your judgment!"

You didn't look back as the last of the blackness disappeared, transporting you back to reality.