"Wirt!" Adam cried, stepping forward. "Your... Your hands..."

Wirt stepped back from the wheel, it wouldn't turn anymore, he assumed he was done, and Adam trailed off, confused.

"Uh... yeah," Wirt said awkwardly. Ash and Adam were staring at him intensely, and Wirt could only scratch the back of his head awkwardly and he avoided their eyes. "W-When Dipper healed me with that cloth, it seemed to have just, I dunno, made my hands invincible or something."

Ash and Adam stared at him, and Wirt shrugged, embarrassed. He didn't know what else to tell them. Eventually, Wirt was saved from worrying about it when Adam titled his head, still looking vaguely horrified.

"And... And you knew that?" Adam asked. "When you went to touch the wheel?"

"I..." Wirt winced. Yeah, that did sound bad now that he thought about it, didn't it? He let Norman get burnt just because he refused to do tear the plastic himself. Wirt gulped, suddenly guilty. "I had a suspicion."

Adam blinked. For the record, that hadn't been at all what he had been thinking, he had been wondering what exactly Wirt had been thinking when he decided to reach out and grab that wheel. This line of thinking didn't occur to Wirt, who silently worried himself away while Adam was rethinking everything he thought he knew about him. This left them both in silence.

"Huh, cool," Ash said, because while Adam and Wirt were both stuck in existential crisis', he was glancing out of the doorway in the brick wall, where they came in through. After a quick look at Adam and Wirt, he moved towards it. "I'm just going to get Dipper and Norman."

"Huh-oh, okay," Adam replied, still looking dazed. Meanwhile, Wirt winced, and didn't give an answer.

"Okay, cool, be right back!" Ash called to them cheerfully, giving them a little wave before ducking in the door. There was a small tunnel, with spaces on either side for where the goo had been. It had all disappeared now, and it seemed like whatever they had done in the other room had worked. Ash grinned to himself before he stepped into the previously goo-filled room, and he froze.

This wasn't the room they had gone through last time.

Last time, the room had been smaller, only two meters across, and, most importantly empty. Now, it was a fair bit bigger, not much, but enough to be noticeable, and now there was actually stuff in it, namely: a bathtub, a toilet and a sink.

Ash blinked, bewildered. Where had this bathroom come from? It looked so normal, a little old and creepy, but still normal, and that was made it so out of place. It was a nice bathroom, with a black and white checkered floors and a fancy mirror that didn't show Ash. The white towels looked especially comfy.

Eventually, Ash shook his head, distracting himself from the odd sight. He looked at the singular door nervously, they had never got separate in different rooms before, so he didn't know if the rooms outside were still the same, or if they had disappeared as well.

And if they had, where would Norman and Dipper have gone?

Nervously, Ash moved closer to the door, peeking out. To his relief, Norman and Dipper where right behind it, waiting for him. They looked at over to him when he came through, and Ash breathed a sigh of relief.

"You can come through now," Ash told them, smiling. "All the green stuff is drained now!"

"Drained?" Dipper repeated, reaching through Ash to grab the doorknob and pushed it open. Ash got out of his way, even though he didn't really need to.

"Yep!" Ash told them, and he watched with interest as Dipper and Norman paused as they came in, surprised by what waited behind it. Ash pointed to a drain in the middle of the floor. "It was probably that."

Dipper glanced down, but Ash could tell that he was much more interested in what was around them, as his eyes quickly were drawn up to the bathtub and the mirror.

"Huh," Norman said, also staring. "It's a bathroom now. We haven't seen that before."

"Yep," Ash agreed. "I wonder why the house put this one here."

"Hm," Dipper hummed, stepping forward into the room. "Yeah... it is strange, isn't it?"

"Technically everything the house throws at us is strange," Norman reminded him, and Ash noticed that the novelty had somewhat worn off for him. He was right, though, and Ash supposed he shouldn't be surprised at anything anymore.

Dipper hummed again, looking thoughtful. "I guess. But I don't think we should try to forget this place."

Norman gave him a strange look. "...Well, whatever you say."

Dipper didn't answer, so Ash took the silence to move towards the hole in the now transparent plastic that Norman had made.

"Adam and Wirt are over here," Ash told them. "Just through here. And trust me, if you think THIS place is strange, just wait until you get over there!"

Dipper brightened, looking excited, while Norman just furrowed his eyebrows, frowning. Still, they both followed Ash through the small tunnel, and out towards Adam and Wirt. When they got to the other side, Ash saw that whatever spell had been taking over the two of them had dissipated, and they were looking around the space with wide eyes, like Ash had first done before he'd remembered that all his friends were in danger.

And when Dipper and Norman stepped out of the tunnel, they got that exact same look. The surprise, as well as some confusion and apprehension, all tied in with a small ribbon of awe.

"This..." Adam tried to force out when he could finally speak. But he had to pause, and try again. "This... is bigger than I thought."

And he was right. When the other's had thought about was what in the house, all they had been thinking was the rooms, packed closely together with only the various hallways to get from place to place, so none of them had expected a gigantic cavern, spanning up onto darkness above and spiralling into darkness below. The five of them were on a ledge, not very wide, but across from them, across the enormous chasm, there was another ledge, and these ledges went all the way up onto different levels, and all the way down. Along the ledges were more doorways, too many to count, sometimes filled with doors, and sometimes empty, like the one they had come through. The only thing fighting against the huge darkness were numerous tiny candles, creating tiny pinpricks so that the group could see.

And there were more wheels like the one Wirt turned, connected to pipes. A lot of pipes, that spread across the brink wall like ivy, spanning all the way around.

Wirt gulped. With the huge expanse of it all, he couldn't help but feel like how he did in the forest: like a tiny big, and eventually, something huge was going to come along and crush him. Wirt looked around at the darkness nervously. Even to the right and the left the space was huge, and Wirt didn't want to think how big a monster could get in here.

"...Well, we're here," Dipper said, his voice echoing over the cavern. "Now where do we go?"

Everyone turned to Adam, who suddenly looked weary.

"I don't see why I'm the leader here..." Adam sighed.

"Well, you aren't, but this was your idea," Dipper pointed out. "So, we did step one, what's step two?"

Adam opened his mouth.

"But whatever it is, it better be something better than 'wondering around'," Norman warned him, and Adam glared at him.

"Well, I don't know!" he cried. "At least we're not where we were before, so I don't know what more you expect from me!"

"Well..." Dipper started to argue, before he paused and took a breath. As it turns out, he didn't have much to argue. "Fine. We're here now, and you're right it's... marginally better than before."

"Thank you."

"But Norman's right, too, we can't just spend hours and hours on end walking around," Dipper continued. "I think it's clear not that the house isn't going to let us do that. So what I prepose instead... is that we get outside help."

Wirt frowned, at first not understanding what he meant, before Dipper pulled out the crystal. Dipper looked as grim as Wirt suddenly felt.

Before Ash or Norman could argue, Dipper hurried to defend himself. "I know it's, well, you know, but we don't have a choice in the matter. We'll just have to try it. He might not even answer."

"He'll probably lie about whatever you ask," Norman said, but as soon as the words left his mouth he suddenly looked worried, glancing up as if the god himself was waiting to crush him to pieces up there.

Dipper frowned, apparently catching something odd in Norman's words that Wirt himself didn't get. But whatever it was, Dipper didn't push him, instead looking down at the crystal again.

"Well, that may be true, but why would he?" Dipper reasoned. "What's in it for him? I think it's worth a shot, at least, and then after-."

"We could just follow the music," Ash told them, and that shut Dipper up pretty quickly. He, Wirt and even Norman looked over to him, dumbfounded. Ash looked taken aback.

"Music?" Dipper repeated. "Wha-What music?"

"You know, the music," Adam told them, but Dipper shook his head. "What, you don't hear it?"

The little group went silent as they all cocked their heads, listening closely for any sign of what Adam and Ash were talking about... but there was nothing. No matter how much Wirt concentrated, there was only themselves and... and the subtle rattling of those pipes, but those couldn't be what they were talking about, right?

"What... kind of music?" Dipper eventually asked, and Adam and Ash exclaimed a glance.

"Just a song," Ash explained. "Like this."

Ash hummed a little melody, one that sounded kind of like a lullaby, ish, but also sounded really, really awful to listen to. Maybe that was just Ash's rendition.

The little melody seemed to repeat the same awful series of notes over and over again, and Wirt wondered how Ash and Adam weren't annoyed by it by now.

"I don't hear anything like that, either," Norman told them, and that's when Wirt got nervous, because Norman could usually hear ghost things. He could see them, and read their notes... but he couldn't hear their music? That sounded a little suspicious.

"Where is this coming from?" Dipper asked, and Wirt winced. That sounded a lot like they were going to follow the creepy music.

Ash frowned, focusing, and then eventually pointed up, into the darkness. Great. Not only was that unnecessarily scary, but it also meant a lot of walking.

"Oh," Dipper said, and he sounded resigned. "Alright. Better get going then-."

Suddenly, a horrible screech cut through the air, cutting Dipper off. They all jumped, and immediately backed away from the edge of the ledge. The horrible, inhuman screaming didn't stop, it just got louder and louder, closer and closer, until finally something appeared from over the ledge, jumping out at them.

Wirt screamed, covering his face with his hands, but nothing happened, and eventually, Wirt opened his eyes to find a floating rectangle in front of him. A piece of floor, just hovering in the air, as if waiting for them.

"O-Oh," Dipper said, and he sounded breathless. "It was just... that thing. Scrapping on the wall."

"'Just that thing'," Adam snorted, sounding just as terrified as Wirt had been (and still was). "What do you mean 'just that thing'. What is it?"

For a second, no one answered, all thinking over that question in their minds. Suddenly, the rectangle moved closer, and the group scootched back, but the rectangle didn't do anything else.

"W-Well, it appeared when we said we should move towards the music," Dipper offered, but he sounded nervous. "A-And it kinda looks like an elevator..."

Adam groaned. "You can't be-Don't tell me-."

Ash stepped forward. Wirt could see that he was kind of shaking, but still, he stood strong against the rectangle, which only hovered ominously.

"So, it's an elevator?" he asked, not taking his eyes of the rectangle. "Great.... Then we should get on, right?"

"Hold on, I didn't say that," Dipper cried, but Norman was already stepping closer. "Huh? Norman?!"

"I think... we should trust it," Norman told him, looking back. Wirt tensed, but the slab of concrete did not rise up and kill him like he look it would. "I can... I don't know, sense something from it. It won't kill it. Whoever's controlling it wants to talk."

"To what?" Despite his cries, Dipper looked curious, and he stepped forward, too. Wirt watched him, horrified. "Wait, how do you know all that?"

Norman shrugged. "... I just get a sense. It's hard to explain, like a already just 'know it' or something."

"Hm, you're right, that doesn't make any sense." At this point, Dipper had stepped onto the slab. It didn't move, or buckle under his weight, and it certainly didn't kill him, so that was... good? Norman stepped on, too, and the plate still didn't faulter. Both of them turned to Wirt.

"You coming?" Dipper asked and Wirt shook his head quickly, but to his horror, Adam, his last ally in this debate, moved forward, too.

"Well, it's stupid, but somehow we're still alive, so... I guess we should just go for it," Adam sighed. "Come on, Wirt. You don't want to walk all the way up there, do you?"

"What?!" Wirt cried. "I-What-You-We shouldn't-!"

"Just do it," Adam sighed, and Wirt finally got moving. It seemed that the peer pressure got to him.

He stepped onto the plate, too, and almost immediately, it started moving, rising up. Despite the fact that it was so sudden and startling, Wirt didn't feel like he was about to fall off. It seemed that this weird elevator was helping him stay upright somehow. Wirt didn't really like that.

They moved quickly up through the cavern, fast enough that the scenery around them became a blur, and Adam and Ash almost struggled to keep up.

Wirt looked up to the darkness above them. Below, it seemed like the darkness went on forever, but now they were all the way up here, there was the barest hint of a ceiling. When he looked down, he couldn't see the place where they started.

"Uh... We're going up really fast, aren't we?" Norman noted, and when Wirt looked up again, and saw the ceiling much, much closer than it was before. And it was only getting closer.

"Uh..." Dipper knelt down. "Uh, weird... elevator thing? I think we're going to crash..."

"IT'S GOING TO KILL US!" Wirt cried. For a minute, he thought about jumping off, but when he tried to move his foot, he couldn't. It was like his foot was glued to the plate. His eyes widened. "What the-I can't move!"

Dipper and Norman glanced at him, but soon they all had bigger problems. They watched as the ceiling got closer and closer, and eventually Wirt closed his eyes, tensing up. But the only thing that happened was Wirt falling back on his butt, bewildered. His eyes were forced open, and he found that the three of them were not crushed stains on the ceiling, they were, in fact, completely fine.

Unfortunately, Wirt didn't get to dwell on that, because his surroundings immediately drew his attention away. The slab of rock had transported them to a strange place: a small, dark, crowded room lit by a million candles resting on the numerous selves around the room that reminded Wirt of all the ledges and stairs in the chasm below.

Resting of the selves were too many trinkets and doodads to count. Wirt saw all kinds of dolls (creepy), photographs (some with people he recognised from the paintings below), drawings that looked like they had been done by children (like the dolls, creepy), and small ceramic figures of different people and animals. In the middle of the small, circle room, right behind a small table sitting in front of Dipper, Wirt and Norman, there was a cloak on a hanger that Wirt had flinched away from at first, mistaking it for a real person.

Suddenly, Ash poked his head out from the floor, shortly followed by Adam, who eyes widened as he looked around.

"Ooh, this is it!" Ash cheered as he floated up into the room, moving around to a record player Wirt had noticed before. Ash pointed to it. It seemed like there was a record playing, but no music came. "This is where the music is coming from!"

"I liked it better when I was done there," Adam grumbled, wincing. "It's giving me a headache."

"Is there any way to turn it off?" Dipper wondered, setting closer to it. Wirt blinked. It seemed that whatever had been holding them down before had disappeared. However, he didn't get a very far anyway, because suddenly, the figure across from them moved.

"Don't be rude, boy," a voice snapped, coming from the figure. It was a sharp, feminine voice, one that Dipper found himself obeying without question. The figure raised a voice, and an awful hand poked out from underneath the black cloak. It was shrivelled up and green, and it reminded Wirt of a rotting zombie body. The hand motioned to the table. "You shouldn't touch stuff that isn't yours. Sit down. I brought you all up here for to a talk, after all."

Dipper stared at the figure, and hesitated. "Um... all of us?"

"Yes, all of you," the figure said briskly. "I want to speak with all of you, even the dead ones."

Dipper frowned. "Oh... okay."

Norman stepped forward, staring up at the figure. "You're that woman, aren't you? The one in all the pictures."

The figure moved, and even though they didn't have a face, Wirt felt like they were looking closely at Norman.

"Ah, so you can see it," the figure noted. "I see. Even your dead friends can't see that. Your gift must be powerful."

The figure raised their hands dramatically. "To answer you're question... yes, I am the 'woman' in the pictures, but I will not allow you to call me that. You can refer to me as The Chemist, instead."

Adam blinked. "Really? 'The Chemist', is that your name?"

Wirt could sense The Chemist's amusement. "Yes, I suppose it is. Now, we don't have long. Drag up a chair, like I said, I want to talk. They're scattered all around."

After a fair bit of struggle and scrambling, Dipper, Norman and Wirt eventually gathered up all the chairs necessary, including for Adam and Ash, though Wirt didn't really see the point in that. Could they even sit in them...?

"Finally," The Chemist said when they were all 'seated'. They had specifically stayed standing, Wirt noticed. "Now, while I'm not sure why you're hear in the first place, I can assure you that you don't want to be. At least at the moment, the house is out of my control, and it doesn't not want you in here."

"Your control?" Dipper repeated. "So, you have control of the house normally? And..."

Dipper hesitated for a second, but before The Chemist could answer his question, Dipper hesitantly continued.

"And does it have anything to do with those pipes? Or no?"

The Chemist didn't answer right away. They seemed to be thinking.

"No, you're right," The Chemist told him, and Dipper fist bumped. "The pipes hold the thing that keeps my control over the house, and allows me to mold it."

"The goo, right?" Dipper asked, and Wirt was certain that The Chemist was amused now.

"That's right," The Chemist answered. "I call it mold. I made it myself, to protect me and my friends and family, but..."

The Chemist trailed off, obviously sad, but Dipper couldn't seem to help himself when he asked: "What were you protecting them from? What happened?"

The Chemist took a long time to answer, but before they could, Adam interrupted.

"Hold on," Adam said "You said we didn't have a lot of time, so what we need now is to know how to get to that room with Ash's body. If this house is under your control, then can't you help us get there?"

Again, The Chemist didn't say anything at first. "...Yes, I suppose I did say that. We only do have maybe five minutes."

"So hurry up," said Adam, insistent. "Can you help us get to that room? It was like an office, and it had Ash's, this guys, dead body in it."

"Even if I knew, I wouldn't be able to help you," The Chemist explained. "Like I said before, the house is under someone else's control right now."

Dipper frowned. "Who's?"

"Someone much more powerful."

Norman's eyes widened.

"O...kay," Adam said, thinking that over. "Then how can you help us? Is there a secret to get through the house?"

"No, I'm afraid not. The house can change itself at will, and it always knows where you are and what you're doing."

"Then, can you... stop it from doing that?" Adam asked, but infuriatingly, The Chemist shook their head. "Oh, come on! Then why did you call us up here if you can't help?!"

"I said I wanted to talk, not that I could help," The Chemist told the, and suddenly, a crash came from behind them. When Wirt looked back, he saw that a photograph had fallen to the floor. Then another. And another, until it was like an unfelt hurricane was sweeping through the room, toppling things left and right.

Quickly, Wirt turned around again.

"They why did you call us up here?!" he called desperately to The Chemist. "Surely there's something you can do...."

But Wirt trailed off as The Chemist shook their head.

"I'm afraid not," they told them. "And honestly, there was only one reason I called you up here: to tell you something."

By now, the bricks that held up the walls were falling down, eroding away as something tore this room apart.

"What was it?" Dipper asked them. "What did you need to tell us?"

"Is it about me?" Ash asked, and for the first time, Wirt heard desperation in his voice. Unfortunately, The Chemist only gave him the barest passing glance.

"I've shelter so many young kids over the years, making myself comfortable, or interesting, or fun, or whatever they would want," The Chemist explained, and for a minute, Wirt was confused. The floor was cracking and falling away into darkness as they spoke, what did this have to do with anything?! "I hated the cruelty done to them, and finally, I forced myself to help, thinking that we could overthrow them. But I was foolish, and those worms wiggled in a destroyed us from the inside."

Wirt tried to pay attention, but his eyes kept drifting to the floor underneath him, crumbling away. He quickly got up, backing away from the cracks and towards the table, abut he couldn't escape.

"I regret my decision to help every day, wishing I could take back what I did," The Chemist continued. "The gods are monsters in their own right, worse than the ones that roam my halls. And now if I even look at a person, they punishment me. So this is what I'm trying to say: Get. Out."

With that, the floor completely fell out from underneath them, sending Dipper, Norman and Wirt hurling down into the darkness below. The last thing Wirt heard was a soft: "and before you go, please, be kind to the horrors you meet. After all, once, they were just like you," in his ear, before he was completely over taken by the darkness.

The first thing Wirt heard when he gained consciousness again was music. Soft and gentle guitar sounds, echoing throughout the space he was in, creating a odd tornado of sounds that bounced off each other, creating a strange dissonance of sounds that would have sounded nice individually, but altogether, made a horrible song that gave Wirt a headache.

Because of this, Wirt's first coherent thought was that he was dead now. If Adam and Ash could hear music... and now he could...

Wirt shook his head, and slowly cracked open his eyes, groaning as he pushed himself up from his face plant on the floor. His face hurt.

"Huh? Wirt? Wirt?!"

Startled, Wirt looked up at Adam, who was floating down from the ceiling. He looked concerned, and he moved towards Wirt in a hurry.

"Oh, Adam," Wirt said. "Uh... what's going on? Where's everyone else? Am I okay?"

Adam moved his hand in a 'slow down' motion. "Woah, woah, wait, I-," Suddenly, Adam cut himself off, giving Wirt and odd look. "Are you okay? Aren't I supposed to ask that?"

Wirt, still dazed and confused, should only shrug. Adam frowned before giving him a once over.

"Well, you seem fine, I guess, no scraps or bruises, unless you got a concussion or something." Wirt thought about that, before finally shaking his head. Adam grinned. "See? You're fine. Unless you're allergic to dirt."

Wirt blinked, before giving Adam an odd look. "Unless I'm... what?"

"Well, it looked like you were eating a lot of floor, so..." Adam trailed off, and Wirt couldn't help but to laugh. It was a stupid joke, but... well, kind of funny. Adam breathed a sigh of relief. "Oh, good. You've snapped out of that funk, right?"

"Uh... funk?" Wirt asked, before shaking his head, deciding not to question it. "Okay... where's everyone else? Where are we?"

Looking away from Adam, Wirt observed the rest of the room. Per the houses standards... it was surprisingly normal. The walls had dark and light curves decorating it, and on the ceiling where red stalagmites hung down.

"As for where we are, well..." Adam looked around and sighed. "Some random room for all I can tell. And as for everyone else, I honestly have no clue. Everyone was split up when they fell, and when you were asleep, I've been looking, but there's really just nothing around except more like this. Can't even find that big cavern again, for some reason."

"Oh, right, the cavern..." Wirt trailed off as he suddenly remembered his first worry. "Hey... I'm not dead, right?"

Adam frowned, his eyebrows raising in surprise. "You... You think you're dead?!"

"I can hear the music you and Ash can!" Wirt explained quickly, before Adam could fully come to the conclusion that he was crazy. "And only dead people can hear, so-."

"Oh, that music," Adam realized. He looked away from Wirt, towards the door. "No, that's different music."

"Oh." Wirt relaxed, relieved for a second before his anxiety returned. "Wait, then what is it?"

"A horrible monster," Adam told him, and for a for a second Wirt thought he was being sarcastic before he suddenly realized that he... wasn't.

"A what?" Wirt hissed, his voice suddenly going a lot quieter when he realized the music was getting closer.

"Relax," Adam told him and Wirt nearly yelled back at him: 'how the heck am I supposed to do that?!' before Adam continued. "It'll be pretty easy to avoid, it pretty much only sticks around that one dinner table. And it's always playing that music, so we always know where it is."

"O-Oh," Wirt realized, but none of that really gave him any comfort at all. "R-Right. Uh... what did it look like?"

Adam opened his mouth, looking ready to tell him, before he seemed to think better of it. "Don't worry about it," he said instead, before a troubled look crossed his face. "You know... weirdly enough, it looked like it could see me, too."

"What?!" Wirt cried, before he quickly shushed himself. "How?"

"I don't know, but that means I can't scout ahead," Adam told him. "I don't know if it can attack me, too, and I'm not sure I want to find out. Come on, let's get going."

Wirt followed Adam without question, finding himself relieved that they weren't going towards whatever terrifying thing was waiting in the opposite direction.

"So, are we looking for the rest of us?" Wirt asked Ada, but as soon as he did, Adam seemed to wince.

"I don't see why you're asking me," Adam replied, and Wirt couldn't tell if that was supposed to be a comeback or just some kind of observation. Adam kept his face hidden. "Why can't we ask you? What do you think we should do?"

That immediately left a bad, nervous feeling in Wirt's stomach as he mulled it over.

"Me?" he asked. "I-uh-Cause I'm... not a good leader? I don't really... know how to do it..."

"Well, neither do I!" Adam cried, throwing up his hands in exasperation. "I always make the wrong call, and I make bad plans, and stupid choices! I'm not good at this either! What should I do?!"

At the end of his rant, Adam look at Wirt in a desperate sort of way that Wirt immediately shrank away from.

"Uh... I dunno, maybe we should just go look for Dipper and Ash and Norman," Wirt said quickly, but apparently that wasn't the answer Adam was looking for, judging by his look. Nevertheless, Adam put down his hands, sighing.

"Yeah, sure," he said. "Let's do that."

Wirt blinked, but he couldn't think of anything to say as Adam quickened his footsteps, clearly intent on getting out of here. After some hesitation, Wirt followed him, wondering what Adam had wanted back there.

Since Wirt and Adam walked in complete silence from then on, Wirt could hear the music plainly, like it was being played right into his ear. When it did that, Wirt would glance back, convinced the monster was right on their heels, but Adam wouldn't blink, only walking faster until the music softened, and Wirt then had to strain to hear it. It was always creepy, like it was dogging in their footsteps, and Wirt wondered if it would ever disappear completely. It was almost like the monster was stocking them, but never getting to close.

So, Wirt had to wonder: what would make the monster attack?

Eventually, Adam glared back at the direction behind them, an annoyed expression on his face.

"Is that thing following us?" he asked, and Wirt didn't like how that almost mirrored his own thoughts. "What the hell? What does it want?"

"Should we hide?" Wirt asked, at the same time that Adam wondered: "Should we fight it?"

They both looked at each other, exchanging looks, but it wasn't even a fraction of a second before Adam relented.

"Where are we hiding?" he asked, and Wirt was surprised. They weren't even going to debate or anything? Sure, Wirt probably wouldn't debate much, but...

"Um, shouldn't we talk about this?" he asked, and Adam gave him a look.

"Do you think you can fight it?" Adam questioned, and Wirt frowned. Okay. Point taken.

"Here," Adam said, motioning to the door for the next room. "Let's look around, find somewhere to hide."

Wirt nodded in agreement, and they both ducked through. The next room: with a grass floor and glass walls (that didn't show anything) didn't have anywhere to hide, neither did the one after that, a room where every wall... jiggled, but in the third room, that's where they found their luck.

"There!" Wirt and Adam said that the same time, pointing to the same huge grandfather clock. Apparently on the same wavelength, they only needed one nod towards each other before they were both moving towards it. It was in a room full of oversized drawers and closets, so at least there where other things that might draw the monster's attention if it somehow guessed they were hiding in here. Wirt felt fairly confident as he opened the bottom of the grandfather clock, climbing in. Adam went in right after him, and Wirt shivered as Ada settled in slightly above him, his feet going through his shoulder and leaving an icy chill there. Wirt hunkered down to give him space, even though he didn't really need to. Or perhaps he did. Perhaps he would have died of hypothermia is he didn't. Maybe this was saving his life.

Soon, Wirt tensed as the opening of a door signalled the arrival of the monster, as did the music reaching a crescendo. In between the cacophony of notes, Wirt could hear subtle footsteps of the creature slapping down the wooden floor as the creature moved closer and closer. Desperately, Wirt tried to remember where the door was. There was no way the creature could know where they were, right? How could it? It didn't see them go in, right...?

The footsteps sounded too loud in Wirt's ears, but when they stopped, the creature was so close that Wirt heard the sound the creature was making for what it really was: a beautiful, haunting tune of guitar tangs, and a low hum underneath it. It seemed like the singing was providing the instrumental, and that the guitar was trying to sing over top of it.

Wirt nervously slapped a hand over his mouth, too scared to even breath anymore. But it wasn't enough, he could hear the prickling of the goosebumps on his skin, his beating heart, the sweat dripping down, everything was too loud, surely the monster could hear him, surely it could-.

Suddenly, Adam moved, just as the door creaked open.

"Hey!" Adam cried as he exploded out from the clock. Wirt didn't know if it was supposed to be a war cry or a distraction, but either way, it seemed to surprise the monster, forcing it backwards and away from the clock. The door swung open, but Wirt grabbed it before it could go too far, and reveal him. It was through the crack between the door and the clock that Wirt got his first glimpse of the monster.

It was grotesque, and horrifying. When Wirt laid his eyes on it, he felt sick to his stomach, like he suddenly wanted to throw up.

It was vaguely humanoid, a little shorter than Adam, floating around it was, and its skin was rotting and twisted, hanging off of it like rags, revealing its rib cage underneath, but its rib cage looked like it had been crushed, and every time the monster moved it looked like it's bones would crumble underneath it. Every time it took a step, i's horrible twisted feet slapped on the floor, making a wet sound when it moved, sounding like it was adding a terrible, wet percussion to the music.

Speaking of the music, it seemed to be coming from the monster's throat, where two wires were embedded in the base of its neck, and on the bottom of it's jaw. Whenever the monster hummed, the strings vibrated, and sometimes it'd uselessly claw at its neck with broken hands, strumming the wires like guitar strings. It didn't make a horrible sound, but when Wirt saw that he instantly wanted to cover his ears, or his eyes. Which ever would block the horrible creature in front of him.

But he didn't. He couldn't, when he was holding the door closed, and Adam was moving around the monster just out of reach.

"Wirt!" Adam suddenly cried, and Wirt flinched. But the monster didn't turn to him, instead still distracting the monster. "I lead this thing away and then lose it! You go look for the rest of them, I'll look for you all later!"

Wirt blinked, wondering how to respond to that (he probably couldn't), before he could think of something, Adam led the monster through the door. Wirt watched with wide eyes as the door swung closed behind them, but he still didn't move until the music had faded... and then disappeared completely. Wirt blinked. Pure silence? It had been a while.

Eventually, Wirt pushed the door in front of him open. He held his breath, but nothing happened. Adam had been true to his word, he had drawn the horrible creature away, but he had left Wirt all alone. Wirt almost wished he had picked the 'fight' option instead.

"I-It's just as he had said," Wirt assured himself. "I should go look for the others. They have to be around here somewhere, right?"

But even as he said that, he didn't quite believe himself. The Chemist told him that someone powerful had taken control of the house, and it was clear by now that the someone didn't want them completely their goal. Splitting them up had been a deliberate choice.

So, if there was anything that wasn't going to work, it was going through that door. Wirt would have to think of something else.

And as he looked around the cluttered room, he got a crazy idea.

A little while later, Wirt was running his hands over every surface in the room and pressing everything that looked vaguely like a button. It took a long time to finish the table beside him, and an even longer time to try and look at everything in and around the clock, but at this point, Wirt had managed to convince himself wholeheartedly that there MUST be something here. A way out, but unlike in that goo room, it wasn't going to be easy. A button, a lock, a hidden door... surely there was something.

When Wirt was finished with the grandfather clock, he moved onto the various cabinets scattered around the room. Before he could begin, though, something caught his attention. A sliver of green light, in between two cabinets with only a sliver of space between them.

Wirt peered through the cabinets closely, but he still couldn't decipher what that thing was, so eventually, he reached out, fitting his arm in between the two cabinets to feel around. He grasped the thing with one hand, before suddenly and automatically flinching away, drawing his hand out. The thing was sharp, like a needle, but when Wirt gazed at his hand, there was nothing. It was fine, and it's pink sheen made Wirt sigh. Right, he'd forgotten about that.

This time, when he reached out again, he didn't draw away, instead trying to pull it, and then moving it from side to side, before finally pressing down, like a button. It his surprise, it worked, and with a screech, the two cabinets beside him moved aside. When Wirt looked through them, he was surprised to see a door. A very familiar looking door, but Wirt couldn't quite remember where it was from.

He stepped forward, taking the doorknob in hand. After some hesitation, he turned it, and stepped into through, but when he saw what was through it, he paused, surprised. Before him was not the long cavern that he was expecting, but a room that he had only seen once before, very briefly, but one that had stayed with him throughout the months that he had been away.

It was the room they had been looking for.

The skeleton's, Ash's, dead, hollow eyes greeted Wirt coldly.

"O-Oh..." Wirt said, as if Ash was going to respond somehow, but Ash... wasn't really here. Well, he kind of was, sort of, but he also wasn't at the same time. Still, Wirt continued talking. "W-Well, I'm here now, so I... What am I supposed to do now?!"

Should he leave? Go look for the others instead? Try to find Adam? Ash's hollow eyes pressured Wirt, and he shied away from it.

"No, no... I... We were trying to come here for a reason, right?" Wirt reminded himself. "We might not find this room again, so... so I should at least try looking around. See what I can find."

Nodding to himself, Wirt started wandering around the office, peering in drawers and cabinets to try and find anything he hadn't before. But everything seemed the same as when he last left it, and Wirt had no clue how to read the language on the papers, so if they contained a clue, it would passed right by him.

The only thing that was different in the room was a slight prick of red, right in the center of Ash's chest. If Wirt looked closely, he would find that it looked kind of like a flower stem, but he didn't look closely, instead ignoring it to ruffle around in the drawers, desk and cabinets.

Eventually, after a couple minutes of searching, Wirt gave up.

"Oh, come on, how can I... there's no way to read this!" Wirt complained. He glared at the paper beside him, and neat little pile he had assembled from the desk and cabinets, ignoring Ash's body while he worked. But even so, it wasn't even a little bit of all the papers in this room, and if Wirt tried to take them all out, he'd drawn in them.

This task was impossible.

"How am I supposed to do this?" Wirt asked in vain, only to answer his own question. "Well, obviously, I can't. But maybe... maybe someone else can. Some one in town. Dipper would love to decode this!"

Encouraged by the idea, Wirt gathered up the papers, shoving them into his pockets hastily. He winced when he heard one tear, but otherwise, he didn't slow down. He wanted to be out of this creepy room as soon as possible.

Knock Knock Knock

Wirt suddenly froze as a sharp rapping came from the door behind him. He slowly lifted his head to the door (Was it Adam...? No, Adam couldn't knock, and Dipper, Ash and Norman had no reason to...), but when he turned around, he found that the walls were now full of door, and no cabinets or drawers in the way to protect them from them. Wirt had no clue which door the knock had come from, but soon, it didn't matter. Another sharp, firm knock came from behind him again, from a door that had appeared right behind Ash.

Was it the monster? Multiple monsters? Monsters from every angle? Wirt's fears were confirmed as knocks started coming from every door, one beginning as another ended, and as they did, Wirt whirled around, facing the door that was making sound. The monsters were all around him, they were going to come in, soon, soon...

Suddenly, they all stopped, and for a minute, Wirt almost made himself believe that the monsters had gone away.

But then, with a loud and horrifying creak, the door across from him opened up, slowly. Wirt watched it with wide eyes, and when rotting fingers curled around it, he stumbled away, backwards, falling neatly back into a chair.

Ash's chair.

That had no Ash in it.

Wirt's eyes widened in realization, but it was too late as Ash's shambling corpse stumbled into the room, walking on unsteady feet.

"W-Wait," Wirt pleaded. "I-It's me! You know me! Wirt, we're friends, I promise, we know each other! Ash!"

As Wirt begged his friend, Ash, or Ash's body, stumbled closer. With every step the body took, Wirt scootched the chair further and further back, but soon, Wirt ran out of space to run away. The back of his chair hit the door behind him with a thud, but Wirt couldn't take his eyes off Ash's body. Those eyes... those hands, reaching out for him.

"WAIT, ASH, NO!" Wirt was screaming at the top of his lungs now, maybe Adam would hear him, maybe someone would help, maybe... maybe Ash would stop, but none of that happened. "ASH, PLEASE, JUST-ACK!"

Wirt's mouth filled with blood as he bit his tongue when Ash gripped his head with both hands, and squeezed.

Wirt gurgled something incoherent, in too much pain to think or speak straight, all he really knew was that it hurt, badly. Wirt desperately scrapped and scratched at Ash's hands, trying to lessen the pain, but he couldn't break Ash's grip. His hands, invincible though they were, were useless against his old friend.

But that didn't stop Wirt from trying, pulling at Ash's hands more and more desperately, with his efforts eventually growing weaker and weaker, staring into Ash's dead, empty eyes... before everything went dark.

....

The corpse's hands met each other with a wet clap as the ball suddenly stopped resisting against it. The body grew limb, the hands falling down to its sides.

Now, as if walking a routine, the corpse picked up the newly killed body, taking it over to the side, and opening a door. Lifting the body, the corpse put it inside, and shut the drawer. The body was far to big for it, of course, but the corpse hardly noticed, and with some persuasive shoving, the body was shut tightly inside, never mind the stains.

With that, the corpse moved again, falling down onto the familiar seat, and falling into that deep rest, once again.

The monster chased Adam relentlessly, and though Adam would have thought he had the advantage, the monster kept up effortlessly. Even when Adam tried to escape through the ceiling, the monster was right there, ready to pursue Adam again. And there was really only one explanation for this of course: the house was helping the monster, and sooner of later, it was going to finally catch him.

Adam grit his teeth. Well, if it was going to get him sooner or later anyway, he might as well start it off right.

Adam made a tight turn, and hurled himself towards to monster, crossing his arms across his face as an attack. But it didn't matter, because Adam went right through him.

"Oh, come- huh?!" Suddenly, Adam's momentum stopped, and when he looked back, he found the monster's hand on his ankle, pulling him back. "What?! That's not fair! I'm not allowed to touch you but you can get me?!"

The monster didn't saw anything, the only response was a low hum. The monster's mouth seemed to be fused shut, and its eyes held nothing in them. No emotion, no will of its own, nothing to fight against or reason with. As it pulled Adam in, Adam glared at it.

"What are you going to do to me?" he asked, annoyed. "I'm already dead, you can't kill me."

The monster didn't answer, and Adam sighed. This was useless. But the monster didn't seem to have any plans to let go of him any time soon, so Adam would have to make it.

Without hesitation, or much thought at all, really, Adam dove at the monster's chest again, and just like last time, he went right through it. But as he went, the monster seemed to lose a hold on his foot, and Adam managed to twist out, flying out of the room.

He really hoped he would be able to find Wirt after all this. He hadn't exactly been paying attention to the directions, after all.

Behind him, the monster was after him again, right on his heels, and Adam just barely managed to twist out of its attack, avoiding it grabbing onto him again.

Somehow, he'd need to fight back against this thing, and if he couldn't do it with his own fists, he'd have to get smart. Luckily, Adam had a couple ideas how to do that, and he just needed to find the right room.

Luckily, it appeared pretty quickly.

Adam paused as he poked his head through the wall, surprised to find a large room in front of him, and an empty pool in the middle of it, with warped diving boards, waterslides that ended even before they got all the way to the floor and a hot tub full of the acids. Well, that was as good as anything, wasn't it?

Suddenly, Adam felt himself pulled back, and he growled. Stupidly, he'd already forgotten about the monster chasing him, and he forced himself away from the monster, and he felt the monster's hand got ripped away by the wall.

"Come on, come on..." Adam whispered to himself, he floated around the room quickly. Out of the corner of his eye, he watched the monster come in through the door, but since this room had a tall roof, he wasn't really worried.

Adam watched the monster closely, and it did the same to him, following him closely, and hovering just below Adam. Waiting for him.

Adam frowned at it. When he moved, so did the monster. Always hovering just underneath him. Staring right up at him. When Adam moved closer to the pool, so did the monster.

Adam frowned at it. It couldn't be this easy, right? But it was, when Adam moved closer to the pool, so did the monster and eventually, when Adam hovered over it, the monster fell in, still hovering just underneath Adam.

Adam blinked at it. Was that... it?

Apparently not, as Adam frowned out when the room suddenly tilted to the left. The monster slid to the side, now on the edge of the pool, before the world turned again, completely upside down. The monster slipped off the edge of the pool, and fell to the ceiling, right next to Adam.

The monster didn't hesitate, getting up immediately and running towards Adam, who hurried away quickly, rising up o the ceiling, but now the monster could follow him, running to the wall, and then up the wall as the world turned to help them. Adam winced, but, luckily, another idea came to him, just as quickly as the first, and Adam moved down to the ceiling again. Like he thought, the monster immediately changed course, moving towards him.

In the cacophony of sounds the creature was making, the humming, the strums of wires and the wet slap of its feet on the titles, there was another noise, a steady drip, drip of liquid, from the hot tub. The acid, or maybe it was the goo from earlier, had spilled out, making a large puddle underneath Adam. Surely this would melt the monster, but unfortunately, it was a little more cautious now, stopping right before it hit the puddle. Adam and the monster stared at each other, neither willing to move.

Eventually, Adam sighed. If it wasn't going to come over here on its own, Adam would have to make it.

Now determined, Adam floated over, and almost immediately, the monster reached out. This time, Adam did as well, and he gipped the monsters rotting hand, and pulled.

Thankfully, the monster stumbled immediately, and Adam forced it into the green acid. Smoke started billowing out from its feet, and its height was rapidly decreasing. But still, it's strength didn't faulter, and it gripped tightly onto Adam's hand as it melted. Its face was turned up to Adam's as it melted, but above Adam, the hot tub was still leaking. The acid drips fell through Adam, and onto the monster's face, until all of its facial features, whatever it had left, were completely gone, melted off as its head was consumed by the acid river. And still it didn't let go, dragging Adam's hand down as it fell, until every single finger had been melted away.

Only then did Adam take back his hand, raising it out of the acid. The creature was completely gone now, melted away.

A true death, perhaps, but Adam still had to wonder where the creature's spirit resided now, if it had one.

Well, whatever. Adam shook his head quickly as he left through the wall, leaving the pool behind. He was pretty sure this was the way he had come from. Kind of.

In any case, he needed to find Wirt. Now, they could look for the rest of their group together!

Everything would be fine.

Norman had been waiting for a while, sitting against the wall of the hallway, and the thoughts he had been keeping at bay were starting to overwhelm him. There was only so much light that the glowing wallpaper in front of and behind him could provide, and Norman worried it was getting closer every second. But he didn't move. He couldn't really, the darkness around him were like chains, and whatever they held, Norman didn't want to know. He had to stay here, and wait for Ash to come back. Which he would. Eventually.

Hopefully

Just as Norman was reaching a terrible conclusion, he spotted something ghostly out of the corner of his eye, and he turned, relieved, to Ash, beaming over to him. But to his surprise, Ash didn't return it. In fact, he looked sick, and Norman felt concern settle in his stomach as his own grin melted off his face.

"Huh? Ash? What's wrong?" he asked, worried. "What happened? Did you find something?"

It took a second for Ash to answer, and he seemed to grapple with himself as he did. "...Yeah, I did."

"What is it?" Norman asked, and through his concern, he couldn't deny that he was also very curious. Ash frowned, opened his mouth, shut it, and then opened it again.

"It was... a sort of creature," Ash told him. "Like, a dragon, kind of, and it looked like it could see me, but it was resting, so it didn't come after me."

"Oh..." Norman said, and he tilted his head. What was so weird about that...?

"Yeah, but there's something weird about it!" Ash told him. "It looked kind of like a bone dragon, but if there's one here, alone, then it's stuck, and we have to help it!"

"A bone dragon?" Norman repeated. "Huh."

He remembered those, and the whole 'Wirt got kidnapped debacle', and also what Adam had told him of them, and he supposed that what Ash was telling him lined up. If bone dragons would go through all that to get one of them back, why would they leave one here?

"Huh," Norman said again. "So... you're asking me if we can help?"

"If you don't mind..." Ash said, suddenly looking guilty. "But they helped me and Chihiro all the time back then, and we helped them, so I'd feel bad if I had to leave one of them behind."

"No, it's fine," Norman assured him, and finally, a smile split along Ash's face.

"Really?!" Ash cried, and Norman smiled back at him.

"Yeah, I mean, I wouldn't really know what to do, but sure," Norman told him, but Ash shook his head.

"No, no, you only have to talk to her," Ash said, and Norman breathed a sigh of relief. He wasn't sure what he'd be able to do otherwise.

"Ah, that's good."

"Here!" Ash offered, turning around. "I'll lead you to here, come on!"

"Alright, alright, I'm coming," Norman promised, and he let Ash lead him through the dark, let only by the occasion light in the wall. It was only a short walk until they came upon the dragon in question, and inside, Norman was a little unnerved about how close it had been to him, but he pushed that from his mind. The bone dragon was blocking the hall with it's body, so Norman couldn't get past, even if he wanted to, and it wasn't making any noise, not even breathing. Norman frowned.

"It... It is alive, right?" Norman asked Ash. "Not just-woah!"

Norman suddenly jumped back when an eye opened up with a wet pop, swivelling around to look at him.

"A-Ah..." Norman realized, gulping nervously. He couldn't really help it, his last run in with the things had made him wary. "I see..."

"Ask her is she's alright!" Ash demanded, and, after a split second of confusion. Norman knelt down, trying to put on his friendliest face.

"Um..." Norman paused, glancing at Ash, who nodded encouragement. He gulped, then tried again. "Uh... hi... we and my friend were just wondering if you were alright... are you?"

The bone dragon didn't answer. It, or she, Wirt supposed, didn't answer at first, only blinking up at him. As Norman watched it, the outline of her skull suddenly grew fuzzy, like there was something wrong with his eyes. He shook out his head, blinking the fuzziness out, before turning back to the bone dragon.

Norman gasped. In the time he had been turned away, the skull had been replaced by a ghostly human face, that of a little girl, but stretched out and elongated to fit over the skull of the bone dragon.

"Chihiro?!" Ash cried, sounding horrified, and Norman started to glance back at him before bone dragon was moving, standing up and revealing it's belly. In the terrible light of the dark hallway, Norman's eyes widened as he saw the body embedded in it's rib cage, horribly mangled and broken beyond recognition, but Ash seemed to know who she was anyway.

"No..." he breathed, his voice thick. His voice was low, barely a whisper, but it sounded like he was going to cry. "No, no, I'd forgotten... Norman, run! Run away! That was the bone dragon that-!"

Before Ash could finish his warning, the bone dragon reached forward, scooping up Norman in its arms and bringing him up to the mangled body in its chest. Norman couldn't help up stare into its empty eyes.

"NO!" Ash screamed, and he flew up at the bone dragon, probably planning to attack it, but he went right through its head.

Still, the bone dragon stumbled back, as if it had been attacked, and it fell down onto the door behind it. The door fell open easy enough, letting the bone dragon and its captive fall through, landing on the ground on the other side. Norman looked back, just as the door swung shut behind him. He watched Ash float closer, reaching out his hand, but the door swung shut before he could get to them.

Surprisingly, Ash didn't float through the door.

Norman could feel his head getting heavy, and he willingly let the darkness overtake him. The last thing he was aware of were the claws squeezing him tightly, cutting his skin through his clothes, the sound of multiple footsteps running towards him, and the sharp smell of sulfur.

Dipper was surprised to find himself alone when he got up off the ground. He was also surprised to find himself completely unharmed. After all, the last thing he remembered was falling and he landed on top of a hard tiled floor instead of anything soft... actually, maybe he should just stop thinking about it. For all he knew, this was a dream, or purgatory, or... a video game... the point is that it didn't really matter. For now, he got up, and started observing his surroundings.

He looked like he was in some big ballroom of sorts, with a high domed ceiling, and big chandelier, and a balcony that ringed around the entire room. The space appeared to be empty, apart from some tables on the balcony, and some around the walls of the ballroom, filled with food. They looked fine enough, but Dipper had already learned his lesson. He ignored them.

For the most part he seemed completely alone, and he sighed at that.

"Of course," he huffed moodily. "Now I have to look for everyone else. Great! More wandering around! Or I guess I could look for the cavern, first, maybe their all going there. That would be MY first thought...."

Dipper tried to think, but he really didn't have any clue what the rest of the would do, but the house probably had less control of them in the cavern, so he just needed to find a way back there.

Dipper raised his eyes to the ceiling. And, of course, he would need a way up there first. Great. He reluctantly started towards the stairs. Couldn't they make this a little easier? Install an elevator or something? All this walking around was stupid, he already missed the Burrow-Swimmer.

Suddenly, halfway up the stairs, Dipper paused, and looked down around the empty ballroom, or at least what he'd thought was an empty ballroom, but based on what he'd just heard, maybe he wasn't as alone as he'd thought.

Dipper didn't know whether that was good thing or a bad thing, at least until whatever he was hearing dragged itself out of the shadows, and into the light.

"Oh," Dipper realized. "Perfect."

The thing that had appeared was a body, or at least, it had been one, once. Now, it looked like it'd been broken up and crushed into a mush so they couldn't stand upright, and basically was a moving smear stain on the floor. It was like if a person through themselves off a building... and lived, only able to drag themselves the place to place now.

Dipper stared at it, hardly able to look away, and suddenly, it seemed to notice him, too.

Before Dipper could even blink, the thing was on the move, bolting over the length of the ballroom and up the wall of the staircase Dipper was on. For a second lost sight of it, only finding it again as it peeked over the side of the staircase, and in the back of his mind Dipper thought he saw an eye blink at him before his common sense caught up, and he ducked out of the way as the monster leapt at him. It crashed into the wall above him, but Dipper didn't stick around to watch it again, instead running up the stairs, too steps at a time.

He reached the top of the stairs quickly, and he grabbed the banister to swing himself around, only barely avoiding the creature, who had caught up, and promptly launched itself at him again.

Alright, Dipper wasn't stupid. After two close calls, he knew that trying to reach his goal was pointless. He needed to get this thing off his back.

But as he glanced back, he realized that might be harder than he thought. He threw himself to the ground, and this time something wet trailed along his back as it sailed past him.

But it didn't go far. As Dipper scrambled to his feet, the thing was right there, right in front of him. It was already ready to pounce again, and Dipper threw himself to the side, grasping a doorknob, and wrenching it open just as the creature leapt, slamming half into the door, and half onto Dipper's foot, but he only realized when the creature yanked him back, nearly making Dipper lose his grip on the doorknob.

Dipper was losing his grip as the creature pulled him, now only hanging on with his fingertips, but he grit his teeth, and pulled back, towards the door. It felt like all his limbs were getting ripped out, but eventually, he managed to pull himself enough that he could twist his body around awkwardly, and slammed the door close on the creature. But unfortunately, it wasn't enough, and the creature didn't let go of his leg.

"Oh, come on!" Dipper cried, aggravated, and pulled at his leg until the meat released with a wet pop. Only then did the creature disappear, and despite Dipper's worries... it seemed gone for good. It didn't open the door, and Dipper breathed a sigh of relief. Was he... safe?

Probably not, Dipper realized, but still, he let his head rest against the cool metal door, letting himself breath a sigh of relief, just for a second.

Then, he gathered his strength, and got up. And immediately froze again.

He was on a street, he realized, and very dark street with small empty buildings and clouds high above him, with a moon that beamed down on him. Dipper stared at it in amazement. Was... was this another room?... No, it couldn't be. No matter how weird or strange the house was, it couldn't do this.

Probably.

Maybe.

Still, Dipper turned around, and opened the door he had just come out of. It was a lot harder to open, this time, and when it did open, it opened into an empty, dusty room that looked like it hadn't been used in a million. Dipper blinked at it, closed it, and then opened it again.

It stayed the same. Rooms never did that in the house.

Dipper didn't know what to think about that. For some reason, the house had taken him and spat him out somewhere else. Now Dipper just had to figure out where he was, and how to get back to either the town, or the house.

Well, supposing he could do that.

Eventually, Dipper moved. He wasn't sure how long he stood by the door, but when he moved, his legs felt stiff, and his whole body was incredibly tired and it felt like he'd just been run over by a car. Dipper couldn't go far, and soon, he sat down again. He had a headache, stomach hurt, and though he tried to push it down, he was feeling hopeless.

Dipper buried his face in his hands. What was he supposed to do now?

After a while, Dipper still didn't feel like he wanted to move, but as footsteps echoed around the street, his hand snapped up, and he stood up, hurrying over to a building and hurrying into it, almost closing the door behind them, but he still left a crack open, peeking out of it as the footsteps got louder.

Soon enough, whatever was making the footsteps rounded the corner, and Dipper was surprised to see rabbit ears poke out first, and then a whole red, humanoid rabbit appeared. Dipper stared at it, surprised. It reminded him of all the creepy mascots in the amusement parks him and Mabel used to go to all the time.

Eventually, Dipper realized it was speaking, and he listened closely, only barely able to pick up what the rabbit was saying.

"We're almost there, Alice," the rabbit was whispering, trying to be assuring. "Just hang on a little more, okay? It's around the corner..."

Dipper frowned, and tilted his head. No one else was around, and no one responded to the rabbit's assurance.

Suddenly, the rabbit chuckled, as if it had suddenly thought of something funny.

"Come on, Alice, I know you're disappointed, but isn't all this silent treatment a little much?" the rabbit asked, and it patted its stomach. Dipper's eyes widened. "Speak up. I miss talking, you know. And I know you love talking, too. So come on, Alice, this isn't like you."

The rabbit paused again, and this time, it seemed to be getting more and more annoyed than anything.

The rabbit sighed. "I know you're angry, Alice, but I put you in here for your own good. If you were out there, they would kill you. Here, I can protect you. You understand, right?"

No answer, and when the rabbit spoke it, it now seemed more concerned.

"Alice?" it asked. "Are you alright?"

The rabbit paused, right in front of Dipper, and he held his breath, but the rabbit didn't even glance over to him, instead kneeling down. Dipper watched, half horrified, half fascinated, as the rabbit grabbed its stomach with one furry hand and pulled. The fabric came away easily, and the rabbit reached in and pulled out... a little girl.

Dipper couldn't help but gasp, but thankfully, all of the rabbit's attention was on the little girl, and it barely seemed to notice him.

The rabbit held the little girl up, staring at her intently. Here, Dipper saw that she wasn't as little as he'd thought at first when the rabbit had brought her out of her crumpled state inside his belly, in fact, she seemed around his age.

As the rabbit held her up, the girl's head lolled back unnaturally, with her blonde hair flowing down against her back, and her eyes unnaturally wide as she stared at something behind her, or... Dipper winced as he looked closer. No, she probably wasn't staring at anything, at least not anymore. Her mouth was open, perhaps in a scream, or... something else, and her hands, that hung at her sides, were red.

Still, the rabbit didn't seem worried, in fact, it only hugged the lifeless doll closer to its empty chest.

"Ah," it said. "Just sleeping. I'm glad. Alice, I couldn't lose you. Not like all the others."

The rabbit suddenly moved, and held the girl, Alice, tighter. It looked up to the empty, starless sky.

"I promised to explain further, but, ah, I guess that could wait until later," the rabbit continued. "I don't know why I do the things I do, but I promise I'll never hurt you. I couldn't."

The rabbit and Alice didn't move for a long time, before it finally sighed, picking itself up from the floor, and tucking Alice back into its stomach. Replacing the fabric over itself, the rabbit moved again, and this time, it didn't stop or speak as it passed Dipper, going around a building and disappearing. Still, Dipper didn't move for a long time, his mind full of whatever he just saw. He didn't know how to process it... what had he just seen?!

Alice... the rabbit... obviously, something horrible had happen there, but Dipper didn't have time to dwell on it, so he only shook his head, standing up again. Slowly, he opened the door, and moved on.

However, before he could open the door fully, something made him pause. A ringing phone, from behind him. Dipper froze, and frowned. He hadn't seen a phone in here, but he still turned around, following the sound to a dark corner, where he did, in fact, find a phone.

After some hesitation, he answered it.

"Uh... hello?"

A strange voice immediately answered, and Dipper nearly dropped the phone in surprise. "Oh, good, you answered. I was worried you wouldn't."

"...Uh, okay..." Dipper eventually said when the voice didn't say anything else. "Um, who...is this?"

"That's a good question," the voice replied, and Dipper's frown deepened. "Honestly, I don't really know myself, all I know is that before I was asleep, but recently, something woke me up. I'm pretty sure I was a human before, but while I was asleep, I seem to have changed."

Dipper had no clue what to say about that. "Um..."

"But don't worry about that," the voice said hastily. "Look, the reason I called you was because I wanted to help you. You're stuck here, right? And you want to get out?"

Dipper took a second to gather his thoughts. "I... I guess. Technically, I don't even know where here is."

"You don't?" the voice asked, surprised, and suddenly their voice changed from a breathless, fear filled one to something more... amusement park attendant-like. "You're in Plezier Park, obviously, the only place on earth where you're transported to a magical land of fun and excitement, trademarked. Here, you'll be a hero on a hair-raising adventure with Hazel the Happy Bunny(trademarked), Napoleon the Narcissistic Pig(trademarked), Maggie the Marvelous Cat (trademarked) and Chief the Courageous Dog(trademarked) to save the beautiful princess Mia from the curse, trademarked. (RemembertosignthewaiversoPlezierParkiswavieredfromany andallinguryordeath,andmakesureyouhaveanadultwithyouatalltimes.)"

Dipper blinked. "Wha-?"

"I don't know why I said that," the voice said tiredly, returned to normal instead of it's previous corporate fakeness. "I just... look, there are a lot of cameras around, so I'll use those and guide you."

"Camera's?" Dipper asked, looking around the dark room, peering closely into every shadow and cervice. "What cameras? I don't see any."

"They're very hidden," the voice explained. "And they're everywhere. I'm pretty sure some were also put in the bathrooms."

"What?!" Dipper cried. "Isn't that illegal?"

"What are you, a cop?" the voice asked. "I don't know why I said that either. Anyway, just trust me. I'll get you out."

"Riiiight..." Dipper said, not too trusting of a mysterious voice that said 'just trust me'. "How are you supposed to do that?"

"By guiding you. Didn't I already tell you?"

"I mean, yes, but where are you guiding me too?" Dipper asked. And then, quickly: "And don't just say 'out'! Tell me how! Where am I going?"

"..." the voice didn't answer for a minute, seemingly confused. "I-Oh, you don't know. Um, basically, there's a rumour that if you go to the castle, the princess will help you."

"...Really?" Dipper asked, suspicious, after the voice didn't elaborate. "That's pretty vague."

"Well, other than that, there isn't another way out," the voice told him. "And you won't survive longer than a day here, the robot monsters around here have been moving around more and more, without my help, you'll be ripped apart immediately."

"Hm..." Dipper hummed, thinking. "Yeah, you're right. I guess I don't really have any chance on my own."

"I'm glad you agree," the voice said, and it really did sound relieved. "Now, the way to the castle is-."

"Wait, hold on!" Dipper said, and the voice sighed. Dipper ignored that. "I still have no clue who you are, and don't just give me... whatever you said before. I don't even know your name."

"...You don't need to know that, you just need to trust me-."

"How can I do with a mysterious nameless voice that apparently illegally watches people in the bathroom?" Dipper asked. "Besides, it's annoying calling you 'the voice' in my head."

"I don't-," the voice suddenly cut itself off with a sigh. "Fine, I don't know my original name, but you can call me N."

"N?" Dipper repeated, wondering if that had anything to do with Napoleon, but he decided not to bring it up. "Okay. I'm Dipper, if you were wondering."

"...Alright, then," N said. "Anyway, as I was saying, the first thing you need to do is get to the roller coaster. It'll keep you out of the way of the monsters on the ground, and it's the fastest way to the castle. Also, it'll take you past the mirror maze. Whatever you do, do not go into the mirror maze."

"What's in the mirror maze?" Dipper asked, curiously.

"Worse monsters," N answered. "Far worse. Once you go in, you don't come out, ever."

"...Oh," Dipper said. "You sound like you're speaking from experience."

"I am," N replied darkly. "It's where I am right now."

"Then how are you not dead, yet?" Dipper wondered, and then he cringed, wondering if he overstepped.

"...Because I'm one of them, now," N answered, eventually. "There are things in here that are hidden from ordinary humans, like this security office I found. From here, I'll guide you."

"Oh," Dipper said, surprised. That was a lot of honesty that he hadn't been expecting. "Huh. Well, thanks. I appreciate it, if you are telling the truth."

"That's great," N said tiredly. "Just get to the roller coaster already."

"Alright, alright," Dipper said. "Roller coaster, then castle, right?"

"Yes. I'll guide you."

Dipper took a step forward, and then paused, looking at the phone in his hands. It was attacked to a cord, and the cord attatched to the rest of the phone, stuck on the wall.

"Uh, how am I supposed to...?"

"Just tear the cord off," N replied quickly. "I can still get you it."

"How-?"

"Don't worry about it! There's a monster on its way, so you need to go! Just tear the phone off."

Still very confused, Dipper did as N said, taking a hold of the phone wire, and pulling as hard as he could, falling back on his butt when the phone cord snapped faster than he would have thought.

"Ow!" he cried, wincing, before looking down at the silent phone, though it didn't stay silent for long.

"Alright, it's off," N said. "Now go! Turn left down the street, and then go into the building at the end on the right. Hurry, go!"

Without arguing, ignoring the questions inside of him, Dipper did as Norman demanded, running away just as different, mechanical footsteps filled the air.

After a couple minutes, Dipper was sliding through the doorway of the building, and he held the phone receiver up to his mouth, whispering into it. "Alright, I'm here. What now?"

N answered immediately. "Go up the stairs in the back, past the counter. Go up to the roof."

Dipper looked around, and spotted the counter quickly. He placed his hands on it, it was covered in dirt and grime, and a mysterious stain on the left half. Dipper avoided that as he leapt over the counter, landing on the other side. To his disgust, his feet landed on more of that stain that he hadn't seen before. At least it was dry, and Dipper noticed that it seemed to be a trail, leading somewhere to the right. Dipper ignored that, too.

"Hurry up," N ordered him, and Dipper rolled his eyes, starting up the stairs two at a time. He reached the top quickly, opening the door to find the roller coaster, as promised.

Before Dipper moved to that, though, he turned to the surrounding scenery. It hadn't been apparent before, but this place was very crowded with all kinds of various buildings and rides, which Dipper supposed made sense for an amusement park. There was a ferris wheel, some kind of water ride that took place on a lake, and other's that Dipper didn't even know how to describe. The entire thing looked like it was fantasy inspired. Dipper probably would have loved it if was less broken down, some of these rides looked fun.

"What are you waiting for?" N asked impatiently, and Dipper shook his head.

"I'm going, I'm going," he said, but just as soon as he started walking, he stopped, looking down. "Huh? The bridge is gone. I can't get across..."

From the roof to the roller coater, which was only a meter and a half away, there was an empty space, but Dipper could see that at the edge of the roof, it looked liked something had broken off, with something else similar on the edge of the roller coaster track.

"And?" N asked, and Dipper frowned down at the phone.

"What?"

"Can't you jump across it?"

Dipper studied the distance between the building and the track closely, but he already knew the answer.

"I guess I could try," Dipper said, and he backed up, his eyes looked on his goal. Before he could think twice about it, he took a deep breath, and took a running start, forcing himself forward faster and faster... until he was leaping over the edge of the building, accidently glancing down at the ground below, and nearly wanting to back out, before his chest hit the edge of the roller coater track. It forced the air from his lungs, but he managed to dig his fingers in tight enough to not slide down.

Dipper took a could seconds to catch his breath, before pulling himself up and onto the tracks. His ribs hurt, and through he didn't think he broke anything, he was slower getting to his feet than usual.

"Alright," he said, panting. "Now what?"

"Just follow the tracks to the castle," N told him, and Dipper squinted forward. Everything was dark here, but if he really squinted his eyes, he could just barely make out a dark, shadowy outline of something huge. Nothing much, but he was certain it was what N was talking about.

"I can do that," Dipper said, and before N could yell at him again, he started forward. He couldn't really judge the distance, but it looked a bit of a walk, so it's better to get started as soon as possible.

It had been an hour, and Dipper had spent most of it studying the moon shining above him. It was pretty, but what he was really looking for was if it was actually moving. After a while, he had to say that it... wasn't. Was this a place where time didn't pass? Dipper filed that thought away for later.

Suddenly, N began talking, effectively dragging Dipper's attention away from the sky.

"I remember when this place was normal," N told him. "Or as normal as these theme parks can be. But sometimes when I'm quiet, I can see bits and pieces of what it was before."

Dipper didn't answer. He didn't think he was supposed to. He waited, and let N continue.

"Usually, it was very busy, and bright. I don't think I had ever seen this place in the dark before everything happened.

"The park had been around for a while, ever since I was a kid. People really did like it, and so did I, even though I had only gone there once, as a kid. I did the whole loop, their preplanned adventure to rescue the princess... but she helped me more than I helped her. Somewhere along the loop, I had lost the people I had been travelling with, so she helped me find them again. She was kind, I think.... Anyway, I remembered that, even as I started working here. In fact, that was probably why I started working here, even though I knew that that person had probably retired already."

"Anyway, that same person greeted me when I got the job. I was surprised. She looked the same as she did, fifteen years ago. I didn't bring it up at first, I thought I was going crazy, but I had a picture from back then, and through that, I confirmed it. It really was the same person. I was certain. But when I brought it up, she just laughed, saying that she was just a look-alike. I never believed her, though.

"I started this job when I was nineteen, and somehow stuck with it until I was forty. While my body changed and got old, her's stayed exactly the same, like she was some immortal or something. I don't know how or why, but it was weird. I figured she must be doing some weird magic or something, perhaps with those flowers, because I never saw her get replaced, or retire..."

As N trailed off, Dipper frowned. Well, that explained some, but there was suddenly so many other things to unpack that Dipper thought he had taken a couple steps backwards in understanding everything.

For now, he decided to just keep it to one question. "So... since the princess is some kind immortal, you think the same one from back then is the one here?"

N seemed to think about that for a minute. "I heard she could help. That's all I know."

"It seems like you know a lot more," Dipper replied grumpily. "That was a lot for someone who 'forgot' everything. What else do you know? What happened here?"

"...I don't know where that all came from," N said. "It's all I know. Once I started, I couldn't stop, and all that came out. I didn't know before I said that."

"Can't you just start talking? Try and go on another tangent?"

"...I can't think of anything to say," N sighed, and he sounded regretful. For the time being, Dipper decided not to say anything else on the subject.

"Alright, alright," Dipper reluctantly agreed, but before he could be forced to think of a different conversation subject, N spoke up again.

"We're almost there," N told him, and Dipper squinted up at the castle.

"We... are?" he asked. Somehow, the distance to the castle looked as unchanged as it did an hour again.

"We are," N confirmed. "I'm sorry, but this is as far as I can go with you. There's no cameras in the castle, so I won't be able to guide you, and if I keep on the phone anyway, I might actually put you in danger. Unfortunately, you'll be going into the castle alone."

"Huh?" The sudden revelation through Dipper for a loop, and he stopped walking. "Wait, what are you talking about? Don't you want to get out of this place, too?"

N sighed. "Perhaps before I did. Perhaps that's why I was forced into this place to begin with, and why I became what I am. But... when I changed, my fate was sealed. There's nothing for me out there, so there's no reason to even try. Perhaps I wouldn't even survive out there. The other monsters couldn't, so I probably wouldn't be able to either."

Dipper wasn't even aware how tightly he was gripping the phone right now. "Oh... are you sure? You don't even want to try?"

"I'm sure. If nothing else, I'll be trying to help any other unlucky travellers that find themselves out here, if nothing else."

Dipper grimaced, and he still didn't move forward. No matter how much he racked his brain, he couldn't find another reason to argue, so all he could do was repeat himself, weakly. "Are you... sure."

Again, N sighed. "Good luck, Dipper. Just leave the phone somewhere, it doesn't matter. I really do hope you make it out. Goodbye."

With that, the phone clicked, and the line went dead. Dipper stared at it for a good long while, before finally doing as N asked, and he set the phone on the edge of the roller coaster tracks. Before he moved on again, though, he paused, peering over the side of the track at something he could just barely make out below. Was that the mirror maze N had warned him about? The one nobody ever came out of? The place N implied he was stuck?

Dipper stared at it for a long time, before finally shaking his head, once again moving forward, towards the castle. He didn't stop again.

The castle came into view very suddenly, as if when Dipper blinked, his eyes suddenly adjusted. It was... huge, and the roller coaster looked like it went right through it, and when Dipper got closer, he saw a giant hole in the roof, like something had crashed through it. The tracks went through the hole, so it wasn't really too hard to guess what made the hole. Dipper stepped through it, and then off the track, into the small room.

Dipper blinked. Well, he was in the castle. Now to find the immortal princess... or something.

After a second, he moved, there was a grate in the wall, and a door beside it. The grate seemed to have fallen open, but Dipper ignored it for the door, opening it up, and stepping through.

Immediately, Dipper froze.

The room he found himself in... was not the one he expected to find. It didn't look at home in this shadow castle, it looked more like it belonged it a horror game, about a dentist.

There was one chair in the middle of the room, with shackles on either side of it, probably to hold someone down, and beside the chair there was a table, holding the sharpest and scariest tools Dipper could imagine. The entire room was white and dark red, and it smelled horrible.

Dipper was frozen. He didn't know what to do, he didn't know what to think, and all the while, he felt sick to his stomach, like he wanted to puke or something. His hand was still clutching the doorknob, and his hand had gone white.

Suddenly, another door opened, across from him. Dipper's eyes moved towards it, and he found the strange silhouette of a cloaked figure, one that reminded him of The Chemist, but it wasn't them. The strange, piercing eyes that peered out from it told him that.

"Oh, perfect... another one," the strange figure said. Dipper's eyes widened. "There just seem to be more and more, like you're multiplying."

"More?" Dipper asked, before he could stop himself, but he quickly shook his head, getting himself back on track. "Are you the princess here? I don't want any trouble, I just want to get out of here, and I need you're help to do it."

"..." the figure didn't speak for a long time, turning completely to him. "I'm not the princess."

"Then can you take me to her?" Dipper asked immediately. Every moment he was in this creepy room was another moment he could feel bugs crawling on his skin.

"...I suppose," the figure said. "If you promise not to cause anymore trouble."

Dipper quickly agreed, and the figure turned, moving out of the room. She (at least Dipper thought it was a she) didn't really walked, but instead, she sort of glided, and it reminded Dipper of the ghosts. After a couple seconds of observing this, Dipper suddenly remembered that he was supposed to be following her, and he moved quickly, hurrying until he was walking a couple steps behind the figure. He didn't want to get too close.

Dipper felt a question on the tip of his tongue, but he wasn't quite sure if he was supposed to ask it, so he decided to ask something else for now.

"Who are you, if you're not the princess?" Dipper asked. "Are you a ghost?"

The figure didn't seem to thrilled at Dipper's question, but to his relief, she answered anyway.

"...Not quite," the figure answered. "All I am is a servant to the princess, that's about it. It's all I need to be."

"It's your job?" Dipper asked.

"I suppose you could call it that."

"Hmm," Dipper hummed, and, unable to stop himself, he asked the question he'd been thinking since he opened that first door. "Um, what's that room back there? The one with... all the blood."

"I don't know," the figure replied. "We've never used it."

Dipper furrowed his eyebrows. "Are you... sure?"

"Quite."

"Huh?" Dipper blinked. He frowned, thinking back to the blood on the room. "Then why-?"

"Here we are," the figure said, opening the door in front of them. "The princess you are looking for is in here."

"Oh," Dipper said, surprised. At the figure's urging, Dipper stepped through, and into a throne room. Dipper looked around it. Yes, this was more like what he was imagining.

Suddenly, something in front of him moved, and Dipper's eyes snapped to the front, where a large, decorated throne sat, and in it... the most normal looking person Dipper had seen in a while.

She had long, blonde hair that hung down her back, and was in a pretty pink dress that flowed around her in a pretty, and very regal way. But other than that, and an odd-looking necklace on her neck (and skinny, tight-fitting, black one that made it look like her head had been cut off), there was nothing especially strange about her... though Dipper had the strangest feeling that even though her eyes were closed, she was staring right at him.

"Ah... and what do you want?" the princess asked, and Dipper gulped.

"Just to get out," he told her. "I got trapped in here, and I need to get out of here so I can help them."

"...hm," the princess's brow was furrowed as she thought. She still didn't open her eyes. "I see. How did the other's get out?"

"Huh?" Dipper asked. "The other's? I-I don't-."

"They used the track upstairs, I believe," the figure said, and Dipper jumped. The princess hadn't even looked at the figure, so he had no clue she hadn't been addressing him. Dipper blinked. That was a little weird...

"Then put him back up there, then," the princess said, and Dipper frowned.

"Hey, wait, but I just came from the tracks!" he cried.

"Go the other way, then," the princess said submissively, waving her hand. "We don't want you here, you need to leave as soon as possible."

"W-What?" Dipper glared at the princess. "But... N said you could help me!"

"I don't know who that is," the princess said. "And I am helping you. After all, the other's got out that way."

"What others?!" Dipper demanded. "Why do you want me gone so bad?! What's with that room up there?! Why-?!"

"Hurry up," the princess said, and her voice carried enough authority that Dipper did, without question, even going so far to turn around, and to follow the figure back where he started, back at the tracks.

To his surprise, though, this time, there was something waiting for him up there: a roller coaster car, ready to go.

If the figure was surprised, too, she didn't show it, instead nodding over to it.

"Get in," she said. "I'll send you off."

"I-." Dipper didn't know what he was arguing for anymore, so he did as the women said, climbing in. He looked around. "Is there-er, any seatbelts?"

"Fasten your seatbelts tightly," the figure said, and Dipper whirled around to face her. She was at the control box, her hand on the lever

"Um, there aren't any-."

The figure interrupted him. "Keep your arms and legs inside the ride at all times. If you have personal belongs, leave them on the side to retrieve later. If you a history of motion sickness or any other health concerns, inform an intendant immediately. Please stay safe, and enjoy the ride."

For a second, neither Dipper nor the figure moved. Even though there was no indication, Dipper thought she was a little surprised.

"Let me guess," Dipper said tiredly. "You didn't mean to say that?"

The figure didn't answer, instead pulling down the lever.

The ride started with a bang, and Dipper felt like he'd been slammed into a brick wall. He wasn't sure, but he thought he heard a loud crack!, a felt a horrible pain in his chest. The wind felt like knives in his skin, like it was stabbing at him, and it was only a couple seconds before Dipper's eyes felt like they were burning, but he couldn't close them.

He couldn't breathe. Every time he tried, the wind stole his air away, and no matter how much Dipper gasped at it, he couldn't force it into his lungs. He wanted to lift his hands to crawl at his throat, but he couldn't move them. The wind was forcing him down, and he couldn't move at all.

Soon, spots started appearing on Dipper's vision, and he could feel himself slipping away. Dipper barely tried to fight it, and when he went out, it felt like he was falling asleep.

When the ride finally slowed to a stop, it was back at the place where it started, and the figure hadn't even left the room when it came back. She turned around, but Dipper didn't notice. He was slipping down in his feet, his eyes closed, and not breathing. In his chest, something red was poking out.