Children of Fire

A flood of orange filled the bedroom as the sun set, signaling the end of another day in Gravity Falls… Or in this case, a mile or so outside the city limits at the manor house Pacifica Northwest called home. She'd fled that spider's den that was her parent's home almost as soon as she turned eighteen and purchased a more modest home for herself... Leave it to a Northwest to consider a four-bedroom three story manor home downgrading, especially for one person but hey, Pacifica was still getting used to this whole modesty thing. It was going to take time to learn to completely empathize with the common folks, and likely much longer to wipe the stink still steaming off of the Northwest name.

Pacifica was determined to take her family name and rebrand it in her own image. She was even taking online business courses to legitimize herself rather than let anyone write her off as some trust fund kid whose daddy was handing her the keys to the kingdom… Which her father still surprisingly planned to do despite his daughter's defiance of him almost every step of the way, insisting on forging her own path rather than the one Preston Northwest had laid out for her. Perhaps if she wasn't his only living heir, he would've cut her off or disavowed her by now, but neither had happened nor appeared to be in the works. Preston appeared… Oddly determined to support his daughter no matter how much he hated the decisions she made. If he was up to something, he was hiding it well.

Pacifica rolled out of bed and began the long walk towards her bathroom… Odd, she could've sworn her bathroom was attached to the bedroom, but oh well. The hallway seemed to stretch on forever, the only available light provided by the orange glow of the sun stretching all the way from her bedroom somehow. She finally made it to the end of the hall where she found a long mirror hanging above a bathroom style sink. Pacifica proceeded to examine herself in the mirror.

She looked tired, noticeable exhaustion in her eyes, and not just because she'd just woken up at the crack of dawn… Or was it sunset? Too hard to tell really… The days of heavily caked on makeup were gone, and the extravagant clothing she used to wear had been toned down. She still prided herself on her fashion sense, but for her public image she tended to present herself in sharp looking business suits, still purple of course, more fitting of the image she was trying to present. A working woman trying to survive in the business world, and not so much like a spoiled rich girl who'd been handed everything in her life. The look helped give her an air of someone older and more experienced than she actually was… And even Pacifica would reluctantly admit that she didn't entirely know what she was doing just yet. Oh well, she could learn as she went. Why the hell was she sleeping in her business clothes anyway?

There wasn't time to worry about that though. Pacifica blanched as she realized she wasn't alone. Another reflection had joined hers in the mirror, standing almost shoulder to shoulder with her. Pale wasn't the exact word she'd use to describe the way the girl looked… She appeared almost faded… As if she'd just walked out of an old camcorder cassette tape that had been replayed a few too many times. It was difficult to tell what color her dress used to be as it was now faded, singed, and blackened with ash and grime. Her hair was black, but not in the traditional sense… Darkened as if it had been caked in charcoal, the faintest traces of what could be called blonde locks bleeding through that charred black mess. The girl stood nearly as tall as Pacifica, but appeared to be no more than fifteen or sixteen judging by her face… What was left of it anyway, a path of charred darkened flesh traveling downward from just below her left eye down to her jaw, enough of the skin having been burnt way in places that her teeth and jawbone were visible.

Under normal circumstances Pacifica or anyone else would've, and probably should've been freaking the fuck out at the prospect of suddenly finding yourself rubbing shoulders with what was essentially a burnt corpse. The only thing keeping the heiress from losing it was the sad fact that this was far from the first time she'd been visited by this grim specter. Those past experiences didn't make the subsequent encounters any less terrifying, but she no longer screamed in terror at the site of the ghoulish visitor… Not at first anyway.

The ghoul slowly turned her head towards Pacifica, the blonde repeating the motion in almost perfect synchrony, as if on reflex, until their eyes locked. Pacifica's lip quivered as she trembled slightly under the scrutiny of the girl who seemingly never blinked. The very noticeable lack of an eyelid below her left eyebrow might've helped with that perception. The heiress managed to keep her cool up until the point the unnamed specter reached out and grabbed a handful of blonde hair, seemingly admiring Pacifica's golden locks as she gently played with them, running it through her fingers.

"You have such pretty hair…" the girl said in a tone of voice that was somehow equal parts innocent and menacing, those words spoken with a strange echoing pitch to them. "I had pretty hair once too, before… Well, you see what happened…"

The figure snarled as she tightened her grip on Pacifica's hair, finally making the blonde scream.

Pacifica bolted straight up in her bed, panting heavily. Far too accustomed to this routine by now, she took a couple of deep breaths to calm herself. "That's right… It was just a dream this time… She's not really there."

Then why did she feel like she wasn't alone? Pacifica turned her head to the left only to see the same scarred face from her dream just inches away from hers, glaring directly at her with murderous intent in her eyes. "You can't run away from me! Asleep or awake, I'll always find you!"

Pacifica shrieked and tried to hide by burying her head underneath her pillow. She knew there was no reason to run. The ghostly figure had never shown any signs of being able to physically interact with her while awake, let alone do anything to harm her. All she could do now was wait and pray for her ghostly tormenter to disappear. She had no idea how long she hid underneath her pillow and shook, it sure felt like an eternity, but once she finally built up the courage to emerge from her feathered fortress, she found herself alone again in her bedroom. The solitude didn't fill her with the relief it usually would, and she broke down. She was so damned tired of this! It was time to finally talk with somebody about what was happening, and there was only one person she could think of to call who might not laugh in her face and write her off as crazy.


"So what do you guys think?" Wendy asked, pressing her back lazily against the couch that had just arrived earlier that afternoon. Construction had completed on the apartments/employee housing Dipper and Pacifica had collaborated on to house the Gravity Falls crew, and all four members had been busy with moving themselves in to their new digs. Moving day coincided with their most recent paycheck, which Dipper made sure to have it arranged so that everyone got their entire pay for that month, so they all had plenty of cashflow to make their new apartments into homes.

Wendy had decided to decorate hers with a rustic theme, not all that dissimilar to the look of the inside of her parents cabin, though the redhead definitely put her own spin on the concept. Her choice of décor came as quite the surprise to both the Pines Twins. After years of hearing how Wendy couldn't wait to leave home and her desire to live in a city, preferably Portland, they'd both figured the last thing Wendy would want was for her first real place of her own to resemble the cabin she grew up in, the Wendy spin on the theme or not. What the twins didn't realize was that Wendy was more reluctant to leave the warm and familiar surroundings of her parent's home than she ever cared to let on. Sure, there was her stint in college, but that was in a dorm surrounded by hundreds of other college students in a structured environment. This was the first time she'd actually have a place of her own where she'd be fully responsible for herself. Sure it was rent-free for the first year, and she was surrounded on all sides by friends, but those two facts only made it even less plausible that Wendy would ever have a reason to run back home if she ever felt overwhelmed. She felt dressing the place up the best she could to resemble home would help make the transition easier… Not that she'd ever admit that to anyone. A part of her would always be a lumberjack at heart, she supposed.

"It complements you that's for sure," Dipper approved with a wry smile. He had his suspicions as to why Wendy chose to decorate her apartment as she had but was ignorant to just how close he was to those reasons the redhead desperately wanted to keep secret. "Not sure how you got an otherwise normal apartment on the outside to look like a pseudo log cabin on the inside, but kudos for making it work."

"Whoa, that TV is huge!" Mabel marveled, starting to rethink the smaller screen she herself had purchased.

"Yup. Got the rest of the furniture pretty cheap, but the tube was the one thing I was determined not to skimp on. I'm pretty sure the TV sets at my parent's house were the same models the dinosaurs used. When I got the chance to get myself a modern television, I was goin' for it!"

"Sweet!" Mabel turned her attention to her blonde, grey-eyed friend. "Well, we've seen mine, Dip's, and now Wendy's apartment. That just leaves yours Takura!"

A faint blush crossed Takura's cheeks much to Mabel's delight. He really didn't understand why a grand tour of each of their individual apartments was necessary. "I don't see the point… It's not like I'm hiding anything special in there… I literally came to this dimension carrying everything I own on my back."

"Because it's fun! Besides, I want to see your place most of all… You know, to make sure you didn't pitch a tent in your bedroom or something and call it a day…" The look Takura was giving her wasn't doing much to quell that concern. In a display of surprising force, she dragged Takura out the door despite his half-earnest attempts to fend the girl off. A grinning Dipper was poised to join them, when he was cut off by a single question from Wendy.

"So, we're still on for movie night tonight right? No weaseling out of it this time?"

Dipper put his hands up defensively. "Nope! No excuses this time! I promised we'd reestablish that old tradition once things got settled, and I plan to keep it!"

"Good… Though if I'm being honest, I was kind of lookin' forward to potentially insisting that you do," Wendy teased as she started to sit up. "Welp, let's go check out Takura's place… I'm actually curious considerin' his idea of creature comforts up until now has been his sleepin' bag."

Dipper was inclined to agree but before he could respond, he was interrupted by a familiar ringtone originating from his pocket. Wendy recognized it too, bringing an annoyed expression to her face. Dipper gave her an apologetic look before taking the call. "Hey there Pacifica… What's up?"

"Hello Mason," the blonde on the other end of the line greeted, sounding unsure of herself. "Um, you're not super busy or anything right now are you?"

"Not at the moment no… It's been a little hectic the past couple of days with moving into the new apartments, but that's about it… I have plans for tonight, but right now I'm free."

"Great, great… There's something I really need to talk to you about, but I'd rather do it in person than over the phone…"

"That shouldn't be a problem. Why don't you drop by the apartment? I know Mabel is dying to show off hers to you."

"That's fine but…" Pacifica hesitated briefly before continuing. "I want to speak with you in private first… My… Predicament is very personal, and I don't really want anyone else knowing my business yet… And no, not even Mabel."

"That… Shouldn't be a problem. I'll make sure we get some time to speak in private…" Dipper's eyes caught a glimpse of Wendy who had her arms crossed while wearing a slight frown. "As long as it's before seven! I've got plans after that…" Dipper noted how Wendy perked up a bit as he added that part. He felt it probably was a good idea to ensure the redhead that he wasn't going to be using the heiress as an excuse to cancel on her again.

"Sounds good… I could come over right now, if that's too much trouble…"

"No, not at all! I'll see you soon then! Bye Pacifica…" Dipper stared at his phone blankly after disconnecting the call. The tone in his blonde friend's voice was all off and that had him concerned. What subject could possibly be so sensitive that she didn't want to do it over the phone nor discuss it with even Mabel?

Wendy had a theory of course, but it didn't quite mesh with Dipper's line of thinking. "I guess Princess Money Bags just couldn't wait to get you alone in your new place could she?" Wendy flinched, noticing how that came out a lot bitchier sounding than she intended. She just wanted to tease him over it a bit. Oh well, Dipper seemed too preoccupied to notice.

"Something doesn't feel right… Pacifica sounded off over the phone… Almost scared in a way I've never really heard in her voice before. Even when your ancestor was haunting Northwest Manor, most of the time she seemed more annoyed by the situation than she did afraid of it…. I wonder what could have her so spooked…"

"Maybe she's just puttin' on because she wants an excuse to get some time alone with you?" Wendy suggested, determined that Pacifica must've had some form of lewd motive behind requesting 'alone time' with Dipper… If she was being honest, she was kind of putting herself off by thinking this way.

"I don't think so…" Dipper disagreed, not really picking up on what Wendy was suggesting or just how perturbed his flannel loving friend was. "I guess I'll find out when she gets here…"

Meanwhile, Mabel practically forced her way inside Takura's new apartment, it's occupant reluctantly allowing himself to be dragged in behind her. Mabel took one look around at the living area and was dismayed by what she saw. The unit was essentially baren of any creature comforts at all. There was no furniture of any kind to be found, only a mat on the sitting room floor that Mabel recognized as the type of mat Takura used when training or doing his mediation exercises. Mabel was pretty much positive that if the stove, dishwasher, and fridge hadn't been included when the apartments were built, then the kitchen would probably be deserted as well. At least the boy did have an actual bed set up in his bedroom and hadn't pitched that tent she thought she'd been joking about.

"What the frig Takura?! Where's all your stuff? No couch, no TV, no end tables… No anything!"

"Why would I need any of those things?… The pointless television thing especially."

"Well, what do you like to do with your free time then?! Surely you have other interests other than just fighting and sitting around watching the paint dry!"

"Well… I do enjoy reading but…"

"That's perfect! We should at least get you a bookshelf or something to store your reading material on!"

"I suppose a bookshelf wouldn't be too objectionable…"

"Oh, you're getting more than just that young man! Now you, come with me! We're going shopping!"

Takura had been orphaned at a young age… He'd survived growing up in the jungles of Andorra for years, living off the land and his wits. He'd fought a seemingly endless war against a tyrannical group of lizards who had oppressed and murdered countless people… Fear was not an emotion he entertained nor tolerated… Yet somehow, judging by the look on his face as he was dragged along by Mabel, the prospect of another shopping excursion with the girl absolutely terrified him.


After setting up the meeting with her friend, Pacifica Northwest wasted little time climbing in her purple Lexus and making the moderately distanced drive from her place to Dipper's Museum complex. A drive that would take her through the heart of Gravity Falls itself. She took advantage of the time alone to give herself a bit of a pep talk as she rehearsed exactly what she wanted to say to him once she finally arrived at Dipper's apartment… As well as convincing herself that going to him with her problem was even a good idea in the first place.

"Get a grip on yourself Pacifica! It's just Mason we're talking about here… If anyone is going to take your story seriously without judging you it would be him, and it's not even like this is the first time we've been through something like this together! And he won't look at you like he wants to crack open your skull and take a peek inside like that weird-ass uncle of his! He'll know what to do… Please let him know what to do…"

"He won't be able to help you. You'll not be rid of us so easily."

The sound of the female voice made her jump, but the Northwest heiress managed to keep herself, and the vehicle under control. The ghost girl who'd been stalking her for months was now riding shotgun alongside her. Pacifica cleared her throat and spoke defiantly to the apparition. "Mason has helped me get rid of ghosts a lot more menacing than the likes of you. It's going to take more than just some scary faces to get the better of a Northwest!"

The ghoul's head snapped around and scowled at the sound of that name that offended her down to her core. "I can promise you that your little friend has never had to deal with anything like us before… If he's so important to you, then why pull him in to this? As of right now, things only need to end badly for you."

"If you could hurt me, you already would have… And I know Mason won't be intimidated by you in the least! With any luck, you freaks will be nothing but a distant memory by dinner time tonight!"

"It's adorable that you think it's going to be that easy … There is no escape for you Northwest… We'll be here until you break, and then we'll pick up the pieces just so we can break you all over again. We'll always be right here next to you… In front of you…." A sinister smile curled over the visible side of the charred girls lip. "Right behind you…"

Pacifica knew she shouldn't have looked, but she took the bait regardless. One look into the rearview mirror only to see three more images straight out of her nightmares riding in the seats behind her. On one side of the car was the tall, faded image of a teenaged boy… With sunken empty sockets where his eyes should be and charred bits at the front of his scalp where portions of his hair had been burnt away. On the other side of the car was another girl, whose only recognizable feature was curly blonde hair. The rest of her was a baked ashen mess, the skin burnt away to reveal the charred and stiffened meaty bits. Her face had quite literally been cooked into a perpetual state of sorrow and agony.

It was the figure in the middle that Pacifica found the most unsettling though. It was the ghostly image of a young boy. He wasn't anywhere near as deformed as his brethren, but the ash and grime clinging to his clothes left little doubt he'd died the same way as the others. It was his eyes that unnerved Pacifica the most. Those empty eyes that belonged on no child's face, eyes that seemed to peer through you while expressing no emotion aside from pure white hate. If Pacifica didn't know any better, she could swear the boy was trying to suck out her very soul with those eyes. It's when that boy spoke that Pacifica finally lost control.

"Brownstone…"

Those words were no louder than a whisper, but they exploded next to Pacifica's ear like a grenade going off. That momentary distraction was all it took, as the car suddenly jolted as it drove over the curb and careened off the road. Pacifica struggled to regain control only for the machine to defy her, slamming on the breaks in a last desperate attempt to lessen the impact as the vehicle rumbled headlong into a nearby tree. The airbag deployed, but not in time to prevent the blonde's forehead from slamming onto the top of the steering wheel, producing a small spout of blood that trickled from the point of impact near the center of her forehead. The car smoking, a groggy Pacifica came to her senses soon afterwards, immediately noting that her ghostly passengers appeared to have fled the scene. Still not wanting to take any chances, she hurriedly stumbled her way out of the vehicle, pausing only briefly to mourn the loss of the cute little purple Lexus. She looked up at the assailant that likely brought her car's life to an untimely end, one of the areas many tall pine trees… The irony was not lost on her.


Dipper and Mabel arrived at the scene of the accident to find their friend sitting slightly off the side of the road, staring dejectedly at the ground. They rushed over to her, both noticing the large rectangular bandage on her forehead that Pacifica was gently massaging with her fingers.

All of the procedural nuisances had been taken care of before the Twins arrival. Her totaled vehicle was being hooked up to the tow truck as the Twins approached. She'd already spoken with the EMT's who'd arrived on the scene, allowing them to treat the wound on her head but refusing to go to the hospital for any further evaluation. She'd passed their rudimentary concussion test anyhow. She'd also passed the much more embarrassing sobriety test the cops had subjected her to just to make sure alcohol wasn't a potential cause for the accident. Pacifica had no doubt they'd insist on giving her a drug test too if she told the police it was her four ghostly passengers that had caused her to lose control of the car. With the accident report complete, she'd been waiting for one or both the Pines siblings to show up and give her a ride back to their place.

"Holy crapbaskets Paz! What the frig happened?" The blonde didn't respond to Mabel's startled reaction.

She did pay attention to Dipper though when he asked softly. "Pacifica… Are you alright?"

Pacifica looked up at Dipper, an uncertain glazed over fog clouding her eyes. She responded as honestly as she could. "I don't know…"

"You should really get someone to take a closer look at that head wound… Why don't you let us take you to the hospital?…"

"No, no hospital! The wreck has been enough of a distraction as it is… Besides, I'm fine physically, so there isn't any doctor that's going to be able to help me. The only person capable of possibly curing what's ailing me right now is you Mason."

"Ewe!" Mabel cooed and waggled her eyebrows only for any potential teasing to get halted by the deadly serious glare Pacifica gave her. From that look alone, see could tell any possible allusion to any innuendo or double meaning was not only incorrect but would not be tolerated. "You're not okay are you?..."

"Could you… Please just give me a ride to Mason's place… And please respect my privacy and don't pry any further into the situation until I'm ready for it to get out…"


Mabel, per her friends request, drove Pacifica and her brother over to Dipper's apartment, convenient considering it was right next door to hers on the second lot. She was a little put off that she didn't get to stick around and provide emotional support for whatever was obviously bothering Pacifica, but she chose not to fight the request for her to leave. If Dipper's shoulder was the one she wanted to lean on, then Pacifica must've had a good reason for it.

Dipper's apartment was nice… Not exactly up to her standards or tastes, but nothing terribly objectionable. Not that she had much of a chance to really admire the place, as she was lost in her own world of thought. She begrudgingly accepted a glass of filtered water to placate Dipper's need to feel like a gracious host but that was as far as she was willing to humor him. There was so much to get off her chest, and yet she didn't really feel like she had enough time to ease the burden.

"Sorry that there's still so much junk scattered all about… Just started moving in yesterday and haven't had the chance to get the place organized yet. You're my first official visitor that isn't also a neighbor!"

"As much as I'd like to get straight the point of my visit, it might be beneficial if I start from the beginning… I'm sure you recall that lumberjack ghost that terrorized my families old mansion a few years back?"

"Archibald Corduroy? How could I forget?!" Dipper chuckled. "If it wasn't for that night we may never have become friends. I remember definitively closing that case though… In fact, I remember you personally slamming the door closed on it while I was doing my best impersonation of a wood carving!"

"That particular haunting did end that day… For my family and Northwest Manor at least… It's just… It never did end for me personally."

Dipper's brow creased in confusion. "Archibald Corduroy is still haunting you personally? Why would he do that?! I thought he was appreciative that you were the one who finally opened the gates to…"

"No not him! I've been visited by… Other ghosts…" Pacifica snapped, but quickly softened her tone. She didn't mean to sound irritated, but sometimes it was difficult to articulate to someone else something that could be difficult for that person to understand when it came across so clearly to you. "I'm not sure exactly how long it's been happening but occasionally, I can see people others can't because… Well… They're no longer alive… Sometimes I even hear their voices..."

Pacifica paused to clear out that cantaloupe sized lump in her throat before continuing, now that she had Dippers undivided attention. "It started off slowly at first… I'd notice people that seemed… Out-of-place I think is the best way to put it, that other people never seemed to notice. Heard voices I mistook as conversations going on around me… I didn't realize what I was even experiencing at first until a cute guy caught my eye one afternoon, so I…" The blonde's cheeks pinkened underneath the gaze of her onetime crush. "Admired him for a while… Until I watched him walk right into a wall and disappear! After that, I started to pay more attention to some of the people I'd see who didn't feel like they belonged… People wearing out-of-period clothing or really dated hairstyles. It didn't take long before I started noticing the really strange stuff… Like people's skin complexions that were almost blue, or people who had parts of their heads missing and absolutely no one else around them was acting like they noticed this guy walking around with part of his skull dangling from the back of his head! I eventually had to accept what was happening to me Mason… I was seeing and hearing ghosts… They didn't seem to notice me at first until I started to pay closer attention to them… Most either didn't seem to realize I could see them at all or just ignored me entirely… Some of them though… Started to try and interact with me. Nothing I ever really felt threatened by… Creeped me out is more how I'd describe it, and they seemed more curious about me than anything. Then, once in a blue moon… One of them would talk to me Mason… That's when I started freaking out and regretting ever noticing what I was seeing… I tried blocking everything out and pretended like I wasn't seeing or hearing these things! But it was too late…. Once they realized I could communicate with them, they just refused to leave me alone!"

"That's… Amazing Pacifica! You're sensitive…"

"I am not!" the blonde pouted looking offended. "I might get a little overemotional sometimes, but I'm not as bad as I used to be!"

"No, not that kind of sensitive Pacifica! A 'Sensitive' as in someone who's in tune with the spirit world…" A bright smile appeared on Dipper's face. "You can see and speak to people who only exist beyond the veil of reality that most normal people don't even realize exists!"

"How do I make it stop?!"

"Why would you want it to stop?! You have a remarkable gift Pacifica… Legitimate ghost encounters are so rare, so to be able to see and speak to them without even…"

"Well, it's not 'remarkable' for me Dipper!" Pacifica shouted as she jumped out of her seat, stunning Dipper with the pure venom in her voice. "It freakin' sucks! All this ghost and monster shit might be fun for you Mason, but I don't want anything to do with it! Not at this level at least… I don't want to be the girl who 'Sees Dead People'! You don't understand what it's like to wake up to the sight of some girl sitting next to you with half of her face burnt off while she's telling you she's going to terrorize you whether your awake or asleep! How do you think I wound up driving into that tree Mason? There were four of them in the fucking car with me when I lost control! What am I supposed to do? Pray that the next time it happens that I don't drive straight over a cliff!"

"I'm sorry…. Pacifica, I just…" Watching Pacifica pace restlessly across his living room, Dipper tried the response that made the most sense at that moment. He wrapped his arms around the short slender girl and pulled her into a hug. Pacifica reacted with shock briefly before eagerly accepting the gesture of comfort and burying her face into his shoulder, sobbing softly. "I should have guessed from your tone that this... Condition of yours hasn't been fun for you. Sometimes I forget that not everybody's as open to tackling the paranormal as I am… If this ability of yours was troubling you so much though, why didn't you come to me with it sooner?"

"Because you weren't here," Pacifica bit sourly. She didn't necessarily want those words to come across bitterly, it wasn't his fault he got trapped in an alien dimension, but that didn't make her feelings any less valid. "I didn't have anyone to go to when my encounters really started to spike. Mabel would've understood, but she wouldn't have known how to help me… Dad knows this stuff is real, but if he can't see it for himself or how it would affect him, he's not going to believe it… And no offense, but I wasn't about to go to your weirdo uncle either. I didn't want to get treated like some less than human science experiment…"

"No, I get it… I know how Grunkle Ford can get…" He'd seen it up close and personal with Takura, so Dipper knew his Grunkle could sometimes tend to look at individuals a bit too much like scientific curiosities. "I'm here now though… Why don't you tell me about these ghosts that caused you to park your car against a tree?"

The Northwest heiress agreed, but still needed a minute or two to compose herself. Before long, they were both seated on Dipper's couch, the latter listening attentively as Pacifica clumsily stumbled through her story. "It all started a few months ago… Or maybe weeks, I'm not sure… It feels like this has been happening for an eternity now… I started seeing this girl who just doesn't look right, and it's more than just because half of her face has been burnt off… Something just looks off about her… She looks faded, almost like she escaped from one of those old polaroid pictures you'd see from the 50's or 60's… It's hard to describe but she just looks…"

"Out-of-place… Dated in almost a literal sense? Kind of like seeing someone in civil-war era, or Victorian age attire. They don't look like someone from this time trying to dress like someone from that time period, they look exactly like they would if they were from that time…"

Pacifica nodded, eyes widening briefly, surprised he worded it almost exactly like she was thinking it over in her head. "It's not just that though… This girl… Well, let's just say it's pretty obvious she died in a fire. I've seen enough of those by now to tell the signs, but she looks like she walked straight out of the makeup chair on some disaster movie. I wish that was all that made her seem strange though… She's differen't than any other ghost or spirit or whatever, that I've ever encountered…"

"How so?"

Pacifica paused a moment, choosing her words carefully. "I told you already that most of the ghosts I see don't even realize I can see them… The few that do and try to interact with me well… It's usually limited to whatever location I first saw them… Whether it be some old house or a park somewhere… This girl… Blonde I think, seems to be able to follow me everywhere I go! At work, at home, the mall, a friend's house… Even in my damn dreams, like she's some lady Freddy Krueger without the glove! There's no escaping from her!"

"So… It sounds like this spirit has attached itself to you… In other words, she's haunting you as opposed to a particular location…"

"Sure as hell seems that way…" the blonde grumbled bitterly. "She's not always on her own either… There's four of them in total, and not one of them looks over the age of eighteen… I think they might've been siblings. There's a tall boy with no eyes or skin on his forehead, and a blonde girl who looks like she had all her skin shaved off and somebody roasted her like one of those pigs you'd see on a spit at a luau… As creepy as they look though, those two don't scare me all that much… That don't really do anything but kind of stand around the main ghost girl when they decide to show up… It's the little boy that creeps me out the most. He couldn't be more than nine or ten, and in comparison, he looks more dirty than he does burnt like, what I presume, are his siblings… He always looks so… Empty inside. If that girl is the embodiment of hate, then this kid has to represent pure apathy. He glares at me like he wants to set me on fire just by looking at me, for no other particular reason than to see if he can… At least that's the vibe I get from him. He's the only other of the four ghosts that ever says anything to me, and it's always the same word… Brownstone…"

"Brownstone? Does that word have any special meaning to you?"

Pacifica shook her head. "Heard the word before but couldn't tell you what it means…"

"There's several meanings actually… Brownstone is most commonly known as exactly that… A brownish colored sandstone, and shabby excuse for a construction material. That didn't stop cheap developers from building townhouses from it, called Brownstones for that very reason. Those buildings are usually only found in densely populated areas and almost exclusively on the Northeast coast. Brownstone in Oregon I'd imagine would be pretty rare… I'm sure there's a town or three called Brownstone scattered across the country. Are you sure that name doesn't mean anything to you? Something to do with your family maybe?"

Pacifica shook her head again. "Not that I'm aware of… I guess I could dive into dad's old business dealings and see if Brownstone pops up anywhere…" Pacifica ran her palm over her face in frustration. "What am I going to do Mason?! I can't keep going on like this! None of these spirits have really shown any ability to do much worse than scare the hell out of me, but if today was any indication… Just hearing that kid whisper that word right into my ear was enough to get my car punched out by a tree!"

"That is worrying…" Dipper mouthed with genuine concern, though that concern was briefly overridden by something she'd said. "Wait a second? The little boy whispered into your ear?"

The blonde winced slightly and sighed. "That's another of the weird things that I forgot to mention… The kid was nowhere near my head or anything… He was in the backset, yet when he whispered 'Brownstone' it sounded like he was saying it directly into my ear… Actually, it always sounds that way regardless of where he's standing when he opens his mouth… Does that mean anything?"

Dipper regarded his friend for a moment before sitting up and rushing over to a half-stocked bookshelf setup in his sitting area. He returned several minutes later, presenting Pacifica with a sheet of paper that had two names scribbled upon it, along with accompanying phone numbers. "Now Pacifica, I know your family's privacy is important to you, at least on this level, so I want you to hear me out okay? The first number here is for a spiritual sensitive, like yourself, named Raven with years of experience dealing with seeing and speaking to ghosts. She'll be able to advise you on what you're going through with her firsthand experience. The other guy is a ghost expert who specializes in spirt attachment, or haunted people you might say…"

"Mason!" Pacifica growled, cutting him off. "I came to *you* for help, not to be directed to complete strangers! I thought you were supposed to be the big ghost expert here!"

"To a degree… But I'm more of the, set cameras up in your house and try to catch an apparition raid your kitchen at night kind of ghosthunter…. I've still got a lot to learn, especially in the particular areas that are affecting you… It would be irresponsible of me… And quite frankly, I'd be a bad friend if I tried to tackle your issues myself without directing you to experts a hell of a lot better versed in these fields than I am. I wouldn't send you to them if I wasn't a hundred percent certain you could trust them." Dipper left out the part about meeting them both through Ford seeing as the heiress didn't quite trust his mentor.

After a few moments of mulling it over, Pacifica managed a weak smile, and hugged Dipper in appreciation. "You're right… Thank you Mason.. It would be nice to talk to someone whose been through the same thing I have…"

"My thoughts exactly…" Pacifica couldn't help but notice her friend's eyes wander to the clock on his wall and she struggled trying not to be irritated by it. She understood his reasoning, but that didn't mean she had to be totally okay with it. "Is it getting close to time for your *date* that's *not* a date with Wendy?"

"It isn't a date, for your information… And I still have about an hour before I need to meet Wendy at her place a whopping hundred feet away from mine, so there's no need to rush you out the door. I'm sure Wendy would understand me showing up a little late considering the circumstances."

"No, I'm not going to do that to you…" she said, as she pulled away from the embrace. "I know you guys made these plans ages ago, and Mabel explained to me how you felt guilty for making Wendy feel like you were brushing her off… And I promise I'm not trying to sound sarcastic or like a secret bitch when I say this Mason, but I really wasn't expecting either you or Mabel to drop everything just to be at my beckon call tonight… Though I do appreciate you making time for me…"

"That's what friends do Pacifica… Though I hate the thought of leaving you alone after what you've been through…" Dipper's eyes widened as an obvious solution came to mind, bringing a smile to his face. "But who says we have too? I know someone who wouldn't mind a houseguest tonight… Hell, she's probably trying to eavesdrop at the door as we speak!"

Mabel wasn't, but surprisingly Wendy had been. Not that she could hear much through the door, but she could discreetly peek through the window at them, seeing as curtains or blinds hadn't exactly been at the top of Dipper's housewarming list, the typical dude. She wasn't as annoyed as she initially had been… In fact, she felt downright guilty now for feeling so suspicious, maybe a tiny bit jealous, now that she could see how clearly shaken up Pacifica appeared over whatever was going on in her life at that moment. Even the prolonged hug didn't bother her that much considering. Now she just felt stupid for even being out there…

"What am I doing?" Wendy shook her head before walking back towards her place. She was really starting not to like the way her newfound attraction to Dipper was making her act and feel at times. This just wasn't her, acting all stupid and over a guy of all things… Her best friend and potentially the most important person in her life outside of her own family, but still…

She was halfway through her door when her phone vibrated. She checked the message and found yet another of around half a dozen unanswered texts from a guy named Matt, a fellow she'd met in town a couple of days prior. He was cute and definitely would have qualified as her type in the past, so she hardly thought twice when he asked for her number. Matt had asked her out twice since then, and she had yet to respond. Wendy was half-seriously considering saying yes, but she hadn't really been on a date in over two years out of pure lack of interest during that timeframe… For the moment, she wanted to wait and see how movie night went before she made any brash decisions. She wasn't expecting anything earth shattering to happen that night, but she was hoping for some sign that she wasn't completely wasting her time chasing after someone who may no longer be interested, and even the slightest hint would do. If things went horribly wrong, which she sincerely doubted, Matt was a reasonably unobjectionable Plan B to have in her back pocket. If things went heavy the other way, well… Let's just say she had the right equipment on hand if things went really *really* well that night.

Mabel answered her door almost immediately when Dipper knocked on it, glaring at her twin and blonde friend expectantly, still not thrilled over not being part of the current loop. "What? Is it okay for me to come out and play now?"

"Well actually…" her brother began. "That's exactly what I was hoping for. I'm meeting Wendy for movie night in a bit, but I don't feel it's a good idea to leave Pacifica on her own tonight, so I was wondering if a girls night with the two of you would do her some good… If you don't mind of course."

Mabel had half a mind to say no, but the sad, almost pleading look on her blonde friend's face melted all that petty bitterness away. She smiled at her warmly. "Sounds good to me! We haven't had a good mall crawl in a while so what do you say to us hitting a few stores?"

"Sounds good to me! As long as it's not me behind the wheel anytime soon I'm game…" She ended that sentence with a nervous laugh.

"Gotcha… Just give me a few minutes to slip into some clothes more suitable for going out… Oh, I gotta remind Takura too that it may have to wait 'til tomorrow, but he's not getting out of house shopping! I'm determined to get some furniture in that boy's house before he builds a campfire in his living room to cook his meals over…"

Pacifica managed a chuckle at that. "Come on, I'm sure it's not that bad…" She was surprised when she looked over at Dipper and found that he didn't share in her mirth over what she assumed was an exaggeration. Seeming to sense this, Dipper shrugged.

"I'm surprised I convinced him to live indoors at all…"

Pacifica couldn't imagine… But then her interactions with the dimension hopping Lycan had been minimal. After Mabel disappeared back into her apartment, Pacifica gave Dipper a nudge in the side with her elbow. "Thanks for looking out for me… And good luck with Wendy tonight…"

"For what? Don't have any ulterior motives on my mind for the night. Just two friends hanging out like we used too and watching a movie or two together. No luck required whatsoever."

"Sure, for you maybe… You never know what Wendy's got instore for you though…"

It wasn't long ago that Dipper would've found that suggestion absurd… Judging from Wendy's behavior towards him lately though, he couldn't outright dismiss that possibility… A thought that both excited and terrified him, while at the same time had him cursing his abysmal luck and stuttering time travelers.


Wendy had suggested Dipper dress comfortably for the evening, like he would if he'd been lounging around his place for the night. That request raised a red flag or two, but nothing so alarming to make him suspect his friend of impure intentions. It could very well be an innocent suggestion primarily geared to his own convenience in case they fell asleep in front of Wendy's impressive new television set. Besides, it's not like his choice of flannel sleep pants and Godzilla t-shirt, because of course he owned one of those, was going to drive Wendy into a lust craze stupor…

Now Wendy's choice of attire was fully intended to have the opposite effect, far too blatant for even Dipper to successfully put a potentially innocent spin on it. Her jammies couldn't have been simpler, or sparser for that matter. They consisted of a white, partially see-through tank-top that exposed part of her midriff and really accentuated her chest, making her lack of a bra obvious. Wendy had never been overly gifted in the chest department, but she was by no means flat either. Not that Dipper cared either way. Wendy had always been the ideal image of a girl in his eyes ever since he was a kid… And now she was the ideal vision of a woman.

The almost non-existent athletic shorts were even worse. If they'd been any shorter, they would've completely failed to complete the function they were supposedly designed for. There was no denying Wendy's motives here. She wanted his attention more focused on her than the movie and she wasn't even trying to hide that fact. It wasn't that he got the sense she was trying to outright seduce him or anything, but she clearly wanted him to notice her, and Dipper was likely obliging her far too often.

Wendy was enjoying the frequent looks she was getting from the boy, and she noticed plenty as she'd been observing him herself as often as she could without being too obvious about it hopefully. While she enjoyed the attention, that acknowledgement still wasn't exactly what she wanted. She already knew he was still attracted to her, so those stolen glances were just a bonus. What she wanted to know was if there was something else still there, something more than the friendzone they were currently residing in. She didn't want to rush things either though, so she had come into that night having made the decision that she wasn't going to try to force anything… But if something did happen, she had no plans to stop it either.

"Nice to know this movie is offering free burial services to us if we die of fright!" Wendy joshed in her most dramatic scary movie narrator voice. As thick as the sexual tension got at times, the pair were still managing to enjoy themselves and conversed enough to prevent things from getting too awkward.

"Yeah, an immaculately clean skull rolling down the stairs… How terrifying. The scariest thing about this movie are the weirdly placed jump cuts…"

"Holy shit dude! The skull is freakin' flyin' now!"

"Just when I thought they wouldn't be able to beat the image of the skull rising out of the pond…"

The pair sat on Wendy's couch quietly for a minute before Dipper's eyes again wandered to the image of his attractive friend. In a playful mood, Wendy decided to meet his gaze with an impish smile. "What?!"

"N-nothing!" he stammered, snapping his head around violently. "Ack… Who am I kidding? … And stop playing innocent, you know you dressed that way so I would look."

"Maybe…" Wendy teased. "My apartment though my dude. I'll dress the way I want too! Tell you what though… If you can look me in the eyes and tell me convincingly you don't like it, then I'll go throw on a robe or somethin'."

Dipper made no such attempt much to Wendy's satisfaction. Dipper being honest and bold enough to call her out for her state of dress embolden Wendy to take things a step further… Yes, she promised herself she wouldn't push things tonight but… Ah, fuck that. What was the harm in simply resting her chin on his shoulder and grinning suggestively anyway? "But I'm comfy, so maybe I won't. If you gotta problem with that, then I'm not sure what to tell ya!"

This was usually the point when Dipper's brain would sound the alarm by freaking the fuck out while it desperately tried to keep the rest of his boy under control, you know, the parts that struggled to understand why they always had to bow down to Dipper's conscious and common sense to begin with. Apparently that particular section of his brain was out to lunch at the moment, causing the more rebellious factions of his person to rejoice at the temporary reprieve from will power's tyranny. Almost without realizing it, his face was inching closer to hers, and for the first-time since middle school, Wendy felt incredibly anxious about being in such a potentially intimate position with a guy. There's no way it could be this easy! She closed her eyes and waited eagerly as his lips inched closer to hers… Only for Wendy's phone to decide to go off at the most inopportune moment imaginable.

"You've gotta be flippin' kidding me!" Wendy growled as she grabbed at the device resting on the arm of her sofa, hastily silencing it.

Dipper took this brief but convenient distraction to compose himself and he pulled away, allowing the blood to start flowing back in the right direction. He managed to let out a small laugh. "Sure you don't want to check that message? You wouldn't want to regret it later if you miss something important."

"Anyone who might text me with anything important to say has a ringtone attached to them," Wendy grumbled, angered by the interruption. She almost had it! And now the moment was all but ruined… She figured she might as well acquiesce to his point and her own curiosity. "But if it'll make you feel better…"

Wendy took a peek at her phone and her expression shifted in surprise when she saw who it was that had texted her… And what he was texting her about. Perhaps a tad too nosey for his own good, Dipper took advantage of his unimpeded view to take a peek at her screen. "Whose Matt?"

"Just a guy I met a couple of days ago… Nobody too important yet…" While a bit irritated Dipper was peeking in at her conversation, she was kind of holding the phone up in a manner where he didn't have to try that hard to see it, so Wendy decided to let it go. She was a lot more pissed off at Matt at the moment. Who knows what her and Dipper might be doing right then if he hadn't interrupted! She actually blushed a little thinking about it.

"Yet important enough you gave him your number…" Dipper grinned or forced himself too rather. He tried to keep his tone honied though, understanding the gravity of what this might mean. This could be the guy Blendin had been alluding to for all he knew. "What exactly does he want?"

"Not really any of your business but…" She almost left it at that but why waste the opportunity if she could use this to her advantage? Maybe she could make him jealous if he believed Matt might actually be a threat. "He's been tryin' to ask me out, but I've been puttin' answering him off while I think it over…"

"What's there to think over? Do you like the guy?"

"I don't know yet, I just met him two days ago!"

"Well, last time I checked, isn't that kind of what dating was for?" Dipper chuckled nervously. "To figure out if you're compatible with the other person? I know you haven't actually been on a date in a couple of years so…"

"I've stayed single by choice thank you, not from a lack of options! And I've been perfectly happy on my own thank you very much!" Irritated, and not really sure why other than being annoyed Dipper seemed perfectly okay with her dating Matt, she started spitting nonsense. "Is that why you're pushin' me to accept a date with a guy you didn't even know existed until a minute ago? Because you think I've been out of the game so long that I can't get a date on my own!"

"No, no! Just trying to be supportive… Giving this guy your number was a step further than you've taken with anyone else in a long time, so I guess I assumed you were more interested in him than I originally thought… I just didn't want you to turn down the date because you thought I'd be offended or something…" He knew she wouldn't. It was a low bridge move, that he knew, but he also knew Wendy well enough to know what buttons he could push.

"Well sorry buddy, but I'll date whomever I want regardless of how butthurt you might get about it! I mean God, if you're so insistent that I accept, maybe I will since you seem to know what's best for my love life all of the sudden!"

"I'm not trying to pressure you into anything… Giving him a chance might be a good idea though," he agreed as calmly as could, a demeanor in stark contrast to his red-headed friend. He'd expected her to get a little angry with him, but she sounded downright pissed off.

"Well, as long as I have your permission then!" Wendy mocked, as she quickly shot Matt a message agreeing to the date and informing him she'd contact him later to discuss details for a time and place. After hitting send, she angrily slammed her phone down on the armrest of the sofa. "There it's done! Happy now?!"

"For you yes… I hope it works out for you Wendy."

He spoke those words so sincerely that Wendy nearly had instant regret that she'd gotten mad at him over this… As well as instantly realizing how ridiculous it sounded that she just agreed to a date she wasn't even sure she wanted just to spite someone who appeared legitimately supportive of her. Had she mentioned how much she hated how Dipper was making her feel an act lately?

An uneasy silence fell over the pair, making it difficult for them to enjoy the rest of the movie. The entertainment value largely rested in the playful banter the two exchanged while ripping apart these crappy old films. Without it, they were basically staring at a boring old movie with an incoherent plot, where a skull would occasionally roll down some stairs. The lull in conversation gave Dipper's mind time to wander, ironically to a subject that Wendy, in part, had been trying to keep off said mind. She noticed the far-off look in her friends eyes and knew his attention was no longer dedicated to her.

"Thinkin' about the Princess?" Wendy asked, while cynically wondering if he was thinking about the type of fun he could be having with Pacifica right now instead of her.

"Yeah…" Dipper confessed. "I'm just worried about her… She wasn't in a good place when I left her with Mabel earlier…"

Wendy's lite jealously softened at that information. "Yeah, car wrecks can mess you up in the head for sure… Princess is tougher than she looks though, I'm sure she'll get over it in no time."

"That's not what worries me… It's what caused her to drive off the road that bothers me…"

Wendy glared at Dipper expectantly. "Care to elaborate?"

"Sorry, I can't… I promised Pacifica I'd keep it quiet."

"Ah, I get… I'm not in her circle of trust yet huh?"

"Something like that… But I promised her I wouldn't tell anyone until she was ready to share that secret herself… Just like I wouldn't spill any secrets of yours that you trusted me with, or anyone else important to me for that matter."

"Yeah, yeah, I get it… Dipper Pines' word is his bond," Wendy managed to smirk fondly. That was one of the things she adored about him. He didn't share anyone's business with anybody else who didn't need to know.

"Hey, you've lived around here most of your life Wendy… Does the name Brownstone mean anything to you?"

"Brownstone? No, why would that…" Wendy paused, a wave of recollection flashing in her eyes. "Scratch that, I actually have somethin'… A couple of towns over in Beaverton, there's a street called Brownstone I believe…"

Dipper's eyes widened momentarily. "You don't say… I hadn't even considered road names being a possible solution… It could even be the name of a sub-division or neighborhood now that I think about it… Would you mind terribly if I went and grabbed my laptop? There's something I want to look up…"

"Why bother? Just use mine dude. Just as long as you don't plan on usin' it for porn or anything. Don't know what you expect to find from that information though. If I'm rememberin' correctly, there wasn't much on that road except for a couple of office buildings and a hotel or two…"

"That might be the case now, but I'm more interested in that area around 30 to 40 years ago."

Wendy nodded her head and quickly retrieved her laptop for him, curious now herself as to where this was going. Dipper performed a quick Google search of the suspected area, and sure enough, there indeed was a Brownstone Road located in nearby Beaverton. As Wendy had recalled, it appeared to be primarily a commercial area. Luckily for them though, Beaverton was a small enough town where nothing much really happened, which made it considerably easier for Dipper to find multiple links to articles about one of the few major events that had. Wendy looked on concerned as she watched Dipper visibly pale the more he read.

"Well this can't be good… Dude, you look like you're either about to blow chunks or punch something…"

Dipper hesitated, considering how much he could actually tell Wendy without breaking his promise to Pacifica. He might need Wendy's help on this one, so he needed to give her something so that she understood what was going on. Ultimately, he decided it would be okay to reveal some of the details of his other friends recent haunting just as long as he left out the parts where she'd been seeing ghosts all the time and his suspicions the blonde heiress might be a sensitive.

"Pacifica's…. Been having more issues with ghosts recently… Ghosts that may or may not have something to do with her family's sketchy past. She's been seeing the spirits of four kids that had very obviously perished in a fire. She has no idea who they are or how they might relate to her family, but she only had one solid clue to go on… One of the ghosts keeps repeating the word Brownstone…"

"Talk about vague… Doesn't it seem a little coincidental for this ghost to be referrin' to a random road I happened to remember passin' through once or twice though?"

"Actually, not as much as you might think… I'm no expert on how the rules of the world of ghosts work or how mobile they are, but there is a universal understanding amongst the community that spirits are usually tethered to a particular place or object. It would make sense for these spirits haunting Pacifica to be at least semi-local. This road in Beaverton is the closest thing I can find that has anything to do with 'Brownstone' so it's as good a place as any to start… And possibly even finish. Listen to his article…"

Dipper cleared his throat before summarizing what he'd been reading to Wendy. "This story I found is highlighting a newspaper article from 1960 about a fire that burnt down the family home of the Sanders family… On Christmas Eve of all nights… The fire was blamed on faulty wiring even though the father, George Sanders, swears the wiring in the home had recently been updated and reportedly, their Christmas lights were still seen to be on after the fire had started. Of the family's ten children, four of them were killed in the blaze… Two girls, fifteen and thirteen, and two boys, seventeen and eight… This story sound familiar at all?"

"Don't know enough of the details, but if you're hintin' that it sounds a lot like Pacifica's ghost story then yeah. Still could be just a giant coincidence right?"

"Too much of a coincidence for my taste…" Dipper looked Wendy straight in the eyes. "You want to take a wild guess who the Sanders landlord was at the time?"

Wendy started to look a touch on the queasy side. "I have a feelin' I know what their last name is gona be…"

Dipper nodded his head. "Auldman Northwest… Preston's father… If the Northwest name being attached isn't incriminating enough, get a load of this… Not long after the Sanders house burnt to the ground, Auldman leased the land to build all those commercial buildings that now line that street… Apparently, the Sanders were the last holdouts of a small group of families Auldman coaxed out of leaving their homes so they could redevelop that land for more profitable ventures. There's an office building currently built on the property where the Sanders house once stood… It's currently empty while undergoing renovations, but it's there…."

"Dude… That's heavy, but before we go accusin' Pacifica's granddad of anything, let's really think about this situation… I know the Northwest family has done some scuzzy things over the years, but to burn down a house and try to murder an entire family just because they didn't want to move? That's evil even for them…"

"I really want to say he wouldn't stoop to that Wendy… And there are some inconsistencies in this story that tell me the fire likely was an accident. Mainly that Auldman Northwest already owned the property the Sanders house was built on, so he could've just evicted the family if he wanted to bulldoze the house so bad. We both know that the Northwest's were never above throwing people out on the street. I can't see much of a motive for Auldman to risk staging an accidental fire. He had more to lose if he got caught, and nothing tangible to gain that he couldn't have achieved by easier and much more legal means… What I can see though, is Auldman Northwest cheaping out on the wiring job which could've inadvertently led to the fire breaking out in the first place…"

"So either way, these vengeful ghosts would still hold the Northwest family responsible for their deaths?"

Dipper nodded his head, a scowl forming on his lips. "Say, Wendy… What do you say to getting dressed and paying Preston a little visit?"

End Part 1


-This chapter was originally going to be a one-shot bridge before the next case, but while working on it, the idea hit me to give the ghosts Pacifica had been seeing a backstory, and I had just the right real-life mystery to draw from! More on that next time though. I figured rather than just revealing Pacifica's sensitive to the spiritual world, I might want to give her some conflict to overcome and a good reason to come to Dipper with this secret she'd been hiding. You know, rather than just have her see a ghost or two that have little importance to the plot and are never mentioned again. The conclusion of this tale should be out in a few days.