48. A Creation’s Creation

This chapter is also titled "Ib in a Nutshell." (So spoilers.)

Guertena Gallery; Violet Area

"EVERYONE!" the Lady in Yellow hissed as the headless statues guided Mary into a room. "Ma'y's back! MA'Y'S BACK!"

"MA'Y! MA'Y!" The statues raised their arms in excitement, the mannequin heads were bouncing, and the Canvas Ladies were plucking petals off of blue roses.

A blue doll painted purple writing on the wall. It said, We missed you so much, Mary! We thought you would never come back.

You're just in time for tea. Another one wrote. We made your favorite flavor.

Mary was seated beside a small table on the floor. The blue dolls poured imaginary tea into a cup and passed it to her. Mary picked up and stared at the empty plastic cup. "Um… what is all this about?"

"Ma'y, yor so si'y!" the Blue Lady hissed. "You lef' a lon' time ago. You came back!"

"You must be mistaken." Mary smiled brightly. "I'm not one of you guys. I'm just a little girl from Germany!"

"She lost her memory when she left." A painting of lips called Tattletale said. "Her time in here was forgotten."

Mary, don't you remember us? A doll wrote. You knitted every doll here. And we played with you every day. Mary looked around at all the blue, zombified dolls with black hair and yellow or red eyes.

"I love playing with dolls." She grinned. "But I never played with any of you. You must be mistaking me for a different Mary."

"No. You are our Mary." Tattletale informed. "The one who wanted to leave. The one our father loved more than any other. The last painting Guertena ever created. Mary-"

"NO I AM NOT!" Mary punched the table and smashed it, much to their horror. Mary snarled, her expression vicious. "I am NOT the same Mary! I wasn't made here, I'm not one of you! I am a human GIRL!" She stomped. "Do I look anything like any of you?! I do NOT!" She punched the wall. "I am MARY, I am MARY!" She punched the wall each time she repeated. "I am MARY, I am MARY, I am MARY, I am MARY, I am Mary, I am Mary, I am Mary, I am Mar…" Her knuckles were becoming bruised and darkened. She fell to her knees and began sobbing.

The Lady in Red bore her warm smile as she crawled closer. "Ma'y… you were always in your room… plucking roses like we do. Father made you differently… but you are the same. You are our Ma'y."

"Oh, yeah?" Mary turned and looked at her angrily. "Well, prove it. What makes you think I'm the same as you?"

"'Cause you understand us."

Mary gasped and clamped her mouth. Was she not speaking English? No… they weren't speaking English. They only spoke in hisses and pants. Mary understood almost every word. "Only we know what we say." Tattletale mouthed. "Only you speak perfect English."

More tears leaked from her eyes. She looked at the floor. You know it's true, too. A doll wrote. The truth of your existence was always in your memory.

"…You're wrong." Mary stood up. "I couldn't have come from this place. I'm not one of you guys. I'm…I'm Mary." She faced them. "I live in Germany with my mom and dad. I have a cousin named April, and we have a bunch of friends that came to this gallery."

"Bu' you didn't befoooore." Yellow Lady hissed. "You stole their places. The boy and girl that were stuck in here. Both of you stole their places."

"Bo…Both of us?" Mary questioned. "Who do you… mean?"

"NYAAAAAH!" Chimney kicked open the door and rapidly began punching every Canvas Lady and kicking every doll. "Mary, you just gonna stand there or you wanna get out?!"

"Chimney!" Mary seized this chance to run out of the room. She stopped when her friend didn't follow. "Aren't you coming?"

"Just run ahead, I'm gonna beat these guys in case they follow!"

"…" Mary wanted to protest for a second, but she really didn't want to stay there. She nodded and ran off.

"MA'Y!" The Lady in Yellow tried to crawl after, but Chimney kicked her in the face.

"The only thing I know about art is that it's easy to break! So COME AT ME, furīku kaiga!" She punched more Canvas Ladies and kicked off the walls to knock the headless statues down. "I'll send all o' you back to the drawing board!" She kicked dolls across the room, watching red fluid spill out. "TASTE MY SANDALS, skulls!" Chimney kicked one of the mannequin heads, and it shattered into pieces.

Black Area

Stage 57: Guertena Gallery, Act 2

April woke up in an area that was pitch-dark. She held her head and walked forward with a slight aching feeling. When she checked her rose, it seemed only a couple petals were missing. April held her hands forward to feel her way. She heard a male's voice echo from a distant speaker, "Attention, all staff, attention: One of our visitors is damaging the displays. If found, please report them promptly. Those who damage the gallery exhibits will b . . . comp. . . sat . . n…" The speaker was glitching up.

April gasped. "Is it talking about me because I crushed the ant painting? Hmm… I need to find an exit soon." April made it into a wide room, atop a long staircase. She was gazing at a black, diamond-shaped bed, with a curious black diamond design over it. She wondered if this was one of Guertena's pieces… then, her gaze focused on the person sleeping under the covers.

It was the girl from her dream. Her eyes were closed in slumber, but the brown hair was familiar. Her name was Ib, April remembered. (It's not easy to forget a name so odd.) She looked very ill. April put a hand on her forehead. She felt average. "Ib? Hello?" April shook her gently. Ib moaned weakly, as though wanting to wake up, but couldn't.

April stared for a minute. "I wonder if this bed's doing something?" She pulled off the covers and stuck her hands under Ib's arms to pull her up to her feet. She was about to fall, so April kept her standing. She saw a green stalk drop from Ib's hand. April bent down to pick it up, noticing the single red petal. "This is her rose." While observing it, she lost her grip on Ib, so she caught her quickly. "When I get hurt, petals fall off my rose. If this petal falls, will you die?" She stared worriedly at the moaning girl. Ib made no response. "Sigh… we have to get it healed in that magic vase or something." She put the stalk in her pocket with her own rose and helped Ib to walk.

They entered a dark passage, in which April outreached an arm to feel ahead. Her hand touched a door, then she felt down for the knob. She entered a room that was almost as dark, and there were a lot of paintings of humans with white clothes and bare feet, and black scribbles on miscellaneous parts of their body. April looked at the sign hanging from the ceiling. "Hall of Mistakes? Interesting that they have this. But I guess every artist has faults. Am I right?" She looked at the camera.

April carried Ib through a passage with smeared-out Canvas Ladies and other paintings on the wall. In fact, it kind of looked like parts of those paintings were cut off and pasted on other paintings. When April turned a left corner in the passage, she found a big canvas with a door painted, in which the chunk where the knob would be was cut off. Still carrying Ib, April searched the hallway for a painting piece with a doorknob. April found such a piece over the head of a rabbit painting, and when she pulled it off, she viewed the smeared result of the head. She brought the doorknob to paste over the empty chunk, then she was able to turn the knob and open the painting.

There was a vase of water in this small room, so April placed the one-petal stalk inside it. The red rose bloomed with petals, looking beautiful. "Mmmm…" Ib's weight on April's shoulders was subsiding. She could safely release and let Ib stand on her own feet. She opened her red eyes and viewed around. "My rose…" She picked the flower out of the vase. She looked up at the taller girl, her savior. "April?…"

"You're Ib, aren't you?" April asked. "You spoke to me in my dream?"

"April! It's really you." Ib hugged the older girl. "I was afraid you and Mary would never come back."

"Me and Mary?" April pulled away. "What do you mean? Have we been here before?"

"Yeah! I mean… I don't know." Ib stared at her for a minute. Her expression was confused. "You kind of look like… um, w-where are you from?"

"Germany… Me and Mary are from the Goldenweek Family."

"Goldenweek?" Ib looked a little surprised.

"Yeah, it's a rich family."

"…But…" Ib frowned. "My last name is Goldenweek."

Shattering sounds ruptured the air, making them jump. "Oh, no. Those paintings must be coming to life." April assumed.

"What do we do?"

"Stay behind me, I'll get us through." The girls ran out of the room and hurried through the passage. The smeary paintings made eerie moaning sounds and either reached forward or fell to crawl on the floor, looking like ghoulish zombies. They reached the room of scribbled-out Mistakes, which all broke out of their portraits and began to scramble about the room. The ones with scribbled faces were moving aimlessly, but those with faces came after the girls.

"Time to decrease your quality." April dipped her brush in pink paint and slashed it across the Mistakes. The paintings stood confusedly at first, then resumed trying to attack the girls.

"Whaddid that do?" Ib asked, evading their swipes.

"Pink paint is supposed to decrease your confidence, but I guess these guys don't feel much of anything. Ib, can you fight well?"

"Not really."

"Well, get ready to learn." April painted blue paint on Ib's back, and the 9-year-old felt empowered. She began moving at quicker speed and punching the Mistakes, and April drew a red mark on another one so that others would attack it. She and Ib made it to the door and escaped, slamming it forcefully afterwards. "Sigh… that was-" The door opened, and the Mistakes were trying to pile out. The girls gasped and bolted down the passage, back to the room with the diamond-shaped bed. They ran through an opening in a rope fence, up a flight of stairs where they took cover in another room.

April put a stool against the door in case the Mistakes tried to follow. "Sigh…" The girls sighed with relief, and April wiped the blue paint off Ib's clothes. "Now that we have a moment… how did you get here, again? How do you know me and Mary?"

"To tell the truth, I don't remember much of anything." Ib rubbed her eyes. "I know that I came here a long time ago… and I got lost. I found that weird bed and took a nap… then I started having dreams about my family. They made me feel so happy, I didn't wanna wake up. But sleeping on the bed made me feel real sick… I kept trying and trying to find a way out, but I couldn't. I could only feel happy by having those dreams. So I kept looking for vases to heal my rose… so I could sleep more. Then all of a sudden, I got captured by a weird clothes monster in my dream. When he locked me in a cage, I heard him talking about someone named April. Then… I remembered Mary."

"I don't understand."

Ib stared at her. "April… do you really not remember anything? Does Mary ever talk about this place?"

"Mary and I have been having nightmares about this place. We came here years ago, but we don't remember any of this…"

"Aaaaaaaaahhhh! Heeeeellllp!"

They gasped, looking at a ladder in a corner of the room. "That sounds like Aeincha and Mocha!" April exclaimed.

"Who are they?"

"They're friends I came with. Ib, come on!" The artist climbed up the ladder first, followed by Ib.

The ladder ended at a square hatch, which April lightly pushed up. She saw Aeincha and Mocha being squeezed by black hands, and a man with lavender hair handed a green and gray rose to two Canvas Ladies. "Those must be their roses." April whispered.

"April, what's going on?" Ib asked, stopped on the ladder while the taller girl was blocking it.

"One at a time, ladies." The man cackled giddily as the Canvas Ladies touched the first petal of either rose. "He loves you…"

"OW!" The tiny girls yelped when a petal was plucked.

"He loves you not."

"OH." Another pluck.

"HEY, leave them alone!" April climbed into the room and swung a punch across the tall man's head. The Canvas Ladies hissed and chased her down the hall, dropping the roses in the process.

The man growled with anger as he sat up and rubbed his jaw. He saw Ib climb out of the floor and attempt to grab the roses, but she gasped when she noticed the man herself. "Garry!"

"Heheheheheheheeee!" The man known as 'Garry' grinned psychotically. "Don't be afraid, little precious. Come play with us! You'll be fine with all of this company."

"Please, help us!" Aeincha struggled. "Get us out of here!"

Ib noticed the two doll-size girls in the hands. "GIVE ME THOSE ROSES!" She gasped when Garry lunged at her, dodging and running the direction April went.

April turned a corner—then halted just before she ran across a hall with spider-web designs painted on the floors, walls, and ceiling. Seeing the Canvas Ladies coming, April quickly painted a red spot in a web's hole, and she dodged as the painting women lunged at it, ending up stuck on the sticky floor. April met back with Ib in the hallway, turning back as Garry caught up. "It's all right. You can keep those roses if you want." The man was still giggling madly as he squeezed Aein and Mocha in his hands. "All I gotta do is squeeze the little air out of them, then they'll make the deadest little dolls!" He tightened his grip, and as their heads seemed to swell, April and Ib saw a petal drop off their roses.

Ib passed the roses to April and ran up to the man. "Garry, stop! Why are you acting like this?! Come on, don't you remember who I am?!"

"Nnn?" Garry frowned, still showing his gritted teeth, and stared at Ib with his only exposed eye (the left one was covered by his hair). He loosened his grip on the tinies. Ib's pretty red eyes were pleading. She almost looked… familiar. "…" Garry shook his head, grinning madly again as he kicked Ib in the face, making a petal fall off her rose. "You know, these dolls do look adorable. I wonder if they taste like candy? Munch, munch, muuuunch…" He opened his mouth and moved Aeincha closer, headfirst.

"AAAAHHH! NOOOO! PLEEEEASE!" the Lilliputian cried.

"OOF!" April kicked Garry in the crotch, dropping Aein and Mocha on the floor as they got behind April's shoes. April picked up and passed them to Ib before painting blue paint on herself. She threw furious punches across Garry's face before he fell on his back, then April stomped his head to knock him out.

She gasped for breath and wiped the paint off. "Thank goodness you came, April." Aeincha said. "But… who are you?" They looked up at the one holding them.

"My name is Ib." She smiled. "Why do you dolls talk?"

"Aeincha, Mocha, wasn't Mary carrying you?" April asked.

"She was, but she let us go to look for you." Mocha answered. "Then we tried to go after her, and we found this secret ladder; then these big statues started chasing us!"

"We met this man down here and asked him to help us." Aeincha explained. "But he took us to these scary hands and… Hey, did you say his name was Garry?"

Ib approached the defeated man with a sympathetic look. "We were trapped in this gallery together, and he tried to protect me… but that was before Mary…"

"I think we should get away from him." Mocha said worriedly. "Before he wakes up. We should also try and find the others."

"We probably should." April agreed. "Ib, come on." She took a few steps ahead, but Ib was still looking at the man. "Ib?"

"I…I want to find out what's wrong with him." Ib said. "I wanna help him."

"He tried to hurt us, Ib!" Aeincha shook. "Let's just go somewhere safe!"

"Err… Okay, you're right." Ib carried the tinies and followed after April.

Brown Area

Apis awoke in a dark, brown-colored room. In this room's weak light, she saw Aisa laying feebly on the floor. Only one petal was on her brown rose. "Aisa… are you okay?" She shook her friend lightly.

Aisa moaned, opening her eyes to a squint. "Apis… where are we?"

"Somewhere else in the gallery, I guess. Let me help you." She lifted Aisa to her feet and put her friend's arm around her head as she helped her walk down the passage. When they were approaching a left turn, they heard other footsteps, so Apis stopped and backed against the wall. "I wonder who that is." Apis whispered, inching closer to peek around the corner. The footsteps grew louder until Apis saw someone walk by the left route ahead. "Mary!"

The girl gasped and looked right. "Apis?"

"Thank God." Apis walked over to her with Aisa. "We thought we were splorped to an alternate dimension for a while. It's good to know at least you're here. Where did you come from?"

"Um… a door over there." Mary pointed behind her. "Chimney saved me from a bunch of evil monsters."

"Chimney's here? Let's go down and find her!"

"W-Wait!" Mary perked up nervously. "W-What's wrong… with Aisa?"

"She got shot in the foot by a gun. Er, a painting of a gun. I wasn't sure because my eyes were erased at the time. …The bottom line is, this gallery isn't natural."

Mary looked at a vase on a table in the middle of the room. "Aisa, let's put your rose in that vase." She took the one-petal stalk and hurried to do so. As the brown petals magically reappeared, the wound in Aisa's foot disappeared. The Nimbi stepped away from Apis and looked at it in awe.

"It's healed! How did you do that, Mary?"

"These vases can fix your roses!" Mary smiled. "I, um… I saw one earlier."

"So we're connected to these roses?" Apis questioned. "I guess we should hold onto them. Okay, let's go help Chimney."

"Hold on!" Mary stopped. "It could be dangerous. Besides, Chimney's tough, and fast, she'll catch up."

"She knows the layout of this place as much as we do." Aisa noted. "We have to go get her so we can find a way out together."

"Yeah… you're right…" Worry still displayed on her face as Mary led them to the aforementioned door. She turned the knob and tried to pull, but it wouldn't budge. "Huh? It's locked."

"Locked?" Aisa and Apis walked over. "But didn't you come through here?"

"It's probably… locked on this side."

"Darn it. Well, maybe there's a key somewhere." Apis said. "Let's split up and look around."

Violet Area

"Muuuu… I'm hungry." Chimney moaned as she wandered into a library. "I'm so hungry, I could eat Apis's crappy cooking. Maybe one of these books has a map to the building's lunchroom."

Chimney picked out a book. "'Art Styles of the 17th Century'? Nope." She threw it behind her. "'Legend of the Planet of Yarn'? Lame." Threw that one back. "'Mary's Diary'—whah?" She found a book that was written in crayon. A smiling, peach-colored face with yellow hair and blue eyes was drawn. She opened the book—"AAAAHH, it's written in German!" Chimney wept. "Blaaaah, if only there was a way-…"

She noticed a book titled English-German Dictionary. "…That's very helpful." Chimney took the book and began the slow, tedious process of deciphering.

Gray Area

"This looks like a good room to rest." April said as they entered a room with a white ancient couch and some stools. "We'll probably be doing a lot more running, so we should give our legs a break." She sat on the couch, Aein and Mocha on her lap, while Ib took a stool.

"This is a lot more excitement than I bargained for." Aein said, lying down. "April, did you try calling the others?"

"My wristwatch doesn't work. I'm not even sure if the others are down here."

"Let's hope they can take care of their selves." Mocha replied.

"Ib, now that we have a moment, maybe now you can finally tell us." April stated. "How do you know Mary; or me, for that matter?"

Ib stared at her red rose and twirled it in her hand. "You look just like the doll that Mary had."

"Doll?"

"Me and Garry met Mary here after we got stuck in the gallery. She was swinging a little doll around, saying it was her sister. Then we found out Mary was…"

Violet Area

"Hold on, wait a minute!" Chimney proclaimed after deciphering and writing down the first few pages of words. "Did I line these up right? This better not be some funky language thing! Or crappy crayon writing. Let's see… 'Dear Diary, today I created a new doll. Her name is April, and she's my big sister! I'm Mary, she's April, and we're sisters, and we love each other very much. We love each other so much, that we…'" Chimney looked at the small, sloppy crayon drawings at the bottom. "Mary-chan and… APRIL-chan?!"

Guertena Gallery; unknown date (Play Mary's Theme from Ib.)

Mary had been in her room for the past hour with a smile on her face. She had been working diligently on this doll… her absolute favoritest one of all. It had taken ages to find the right material… but now she was done. "Ha ha!"

Mary picked the doll up and ran all across the halls. She arrived at her destined room within the maze and kicked it open. "Look, everybody! Meet the newest friend in our group! Her name is April, and she's my BIIIIG sister!"

She held the tiny doll by its hands in either thumb and index finger, letting April dangle beside her skirt. All of the dolls faced her; they were stationed in that position before this. April had peach-colored, sewn skin, wore a cloud-pattern dress cut from some fabric, and part of a maroon-colored cup, cut off and taped on her like a skirt. Her thin, stick legs ended at big cottonball feet, blush marks were painted on her face, and dark-red string was intricately sewn around her head, tied in two pigtails.

Mary carried April in to join the other dolls. Some small, some medium, but all bore dark-blue skin, frizzy black hair, yellow or red eyes, and single dresses of varying color. Mary sat cross-legged with April on her lap. "April would like to join us for tea! Jen, would you bring us some?"

One of the small dolls in a pink dress stood. Jen waddled as she walked to a corner and brought a teacup and pot. There was no tea, but the doll made the gesture of pouring, anyway. She brought another cup, and Mary lightly sipped one. "Mmmmm! Delicious! April, you should try it!" She put the other cup in April's lap; it was large enough for April's arms to reach to its sides. The doll was unmoving. "…Okay! I'll help you!" She tipped the cup to April's mouth. "Delicious, I know! Now…" Mary stood, "who wants to play a game? April?"

She looked at the doll in her hands. April faced up. The black googly eyes were toneless. "…Hide-and-Seek sounds like fun! Don't run away from me, now!"

She threw April to a random corner, then closed her eyes. She counted to a hundred. "Ready or not, here I come!" She searched every corner of the room, behind every sitting doll. She frowned, for she couldn't find April. "Hmmm… where did she go. Oh?" She saw a very tiny arm-stub between two dolls against a wall. She crawled over and reached for it, grabbing April. "THERE you are, Sister! You're really good at this!"

The little doll stared at her blankly. …Mary's features shrunk to a quizzical look. "You wanna play Tag?" She frowned sadly, "But you're so much faster than me, Big Sister. My legs get too tired." The doll said nothing. Mary stared at her for a few seconds. "…Give me a headstart? Well, okay." She smiled.

"Huff, huff, huff, huff!" Mary ran all around the gallery halls, excitement and desperation on her features. She ran as fast as possible, for her big sister would catch up before she knew it. "Ha ha ha!" She made a big smile, overfilling with confidence, she had gotten so far ahead, she might actually win this! "Good luck, Sister April!"

She waited. For hours… and hours… her big sister never found her. Mary was all alone in the dark halls. She began to feel sadness… regret… had she run so far that her sister gave up looking? Mary tried to retrace her steps, running all around the halls until she could get back to the Doll Room. "APRIL!" She filled with joy after finding her sister lain on the floor inside the room. She rushed over, picked her up, and hugged April to her chest. "April, I'm so sorry for running too far! I don't care if you're faster than me, I don't want anymore headstarts! I just don't wanna be away from you, Big Sister! Don't ever leave me alone!" Mary sunk to her knees, letting her tears of joy flow. Her happiness was powerful, being reunited with her sister.

…Mary looked at all of the dolls, tears streaming from her wide blue eyes, past the corners of her smile. All of them stared blank… their eyes, their smiles… all as she had sewn them to be. Mary trembled, still grinning madly. More tears fell. They were full of despair, not happiness. She hugged April tighter to her chest. Her head faced the floor, shadowing her eyes in darkness. Only the tears gave any reference to her eyes. She sniffled, clenching her teeth. "Don't leave me alone… Daddy… Please don't leave me alone…"

Mary cried. Her sobs echoed across the vacant halls of paintings. No soul was there to hear her. No soul was there to hold her… (End song.)

Dear Diary: The owners of the gallery moved my painting to the basement. They want to make room for more stuff. They said I wasn't interesting, anymore.

Dear Diary: A man named Stanford visited my basement. I helped him find a secret room. He thanked me and wrote about me in his journal. …I wish I got to talk to him.

Dear Diary: I like the visitors coming in today, but I wanna leave this place and go outside. But the only way I can leave is to switch places with someone from outside. Won't somebody come soon? Won't somebody come soon…

Mary was in her room. Yellow rose petals littered her floor, along with stems. She was sitting on her knees and picking one. "He loves me… he loves me not… He loves me… he loves me not… He loves me…" There was one petal left. …She picked it. "He loves me not."

Her eyes had been open for hours. They twitched. She was going mad with desire. She picked her palette knife off the floor and stood over a mannequin head. She held the knife up, wanting desperately to stab it through. Her arm trembled… she held herself back… but she wanted to… no, she couldn't. She had to try again. Mary grabbed another yellow rose from her canvas, sitting on her knees to pluck it.

"He loves me… he loves me NOT… He LOVES me… he loves me NOT… He LOVES me… he loves me NOOOT!" The last petal was torn. She panted for breath, growing more angry. …She looked at the stem, noticing a little leaf hanging from it. …She plucked it off. "He LOVES ME!! I KNEW IT! HA HA HA HA HAAAA!" She hugged the stem and joyfully rolled around the petal-covered floor. "Now I can-!…" She stared at the barren stem. A green stick made of fabric. The same fabric as the yellow petals around her. There was no real life to them. No life…

An elderly man in a shiny white tux and white pants was sitting on a stool, painting a canvas in the middle of a vast meadow. The sun was bright overhead. It highlighted his lavender-colored hair. "Oh, Mary… my Mary." The image he was painting was of a smiling blonde girl with pretty blue eyes, and a developing green dress. "Soon, you will be complete. You will be… born. Mary… I poured my heart and soul into so many creations… but you are the only one-; cough!" He grabbed his chest and paused painting. "Hm…" The artist resumed. "I may not be long for this world… but I will not slow down. You will be my greatest creation. You will have a heart, a soul. I want you to live for a very long time.

"If the Creator of an Imaginary Friend dies, the Friend fades away. This is because they have no mind or heart to be connected to any longer. I will not let that happen, Mary. I will see to it that the world knows you. I will let everyone come to look at you. Your smile and soul alone will make everybody love you, even if you're a painting. They will want to believe you are real… then, it will happen. You will live for a very long time, as long as people remember and love you. Because you are more than just imaginary, Mary. You are… my precious daughter. I love you."

Mary heard him. In the deep subconscious of his mind, Mary floated. Peacefully. Very slowly, she watched her own body assemble. She was missing a left arm, her lower body swayed like a legless ghost. But little by little, her body was forming. She wept and smiled at the distant man's face. Mary reached her arm forward. "Father… I love you, too. Please make me soon. I want to stand by you. I want to feel what you feel. Father… Father…"

Mary stared at the stem still. Her eyes were dropping tears again. She was still alone… in this Fabricated World. She was fabricated… her mind… her heart… her soul… She wasn't real… she would never be real…

Mary approached the giant mural that hung on the main gallery's wall. The portal that connected this world with the real world. Mary reached up and put a hand on the protective glass. The real world… plainly within her sight. If she stepped beyond these boundaries… she would perish. An Imaginary being belonged in no world that saw her as nothing else. All she was was a painting. A forgotten painting. No one should know her or care.

Mary wandered the gallery's dark halls. Every day of her life, she looked at other paintings of her dad's creation. The Beach Isolation, which depicted a tan-colored, dusty shore next to water. This was called a "beach," as she read in a book. It was really warm there and smelled nice. The "sun" always shone there, a giant ball of fire in the sky. She's seen pictures of it, and it looked pretty. She drew the sun in her room using orange crayon.

Her father painted a picture of something called a "moon." Or a crescent moon, to be precise. It was like the night's sun, it made everything dark, but there were tiny dots in the sky. Mary thought these looked like candy, and she wanted to taste them. She drew the moon in her room. Her father made a small painting of "large ice." Ice was apparently a really cold rock that turns into water when it's warm. Must be magic!

Mary really wanted to get out there and see it all. She wanted to leave and live in the real world, where all these magical things happened. Food that grows on trees, "animals" that interact with people, they're both large and small, like the talking ants in the gallery. Mary filled her room with colorful crayon drawings of all these things, all these things that she wanted to see. Every once in a while, a misguided human wanders into this world, lost, scared, lonely. Mary had a chance to take their place and escape. But they had always found a way out before she could find them. The possessions they left behind, however, she kept to herself. Souvenirs from the real world. In that world, there was probably millions of these.

Mary had only her fellow paintings to socialize with. But there was one problem: her dad was never as passionate about them. Their "souls" were undeveloped. The headless statues that patrol the corridors could only go "HAH!" The Canvas Ladies were inspired from the gold-digging women who tried to court him for his inheritance, so their personalities were limited. They were the most Mary interacted with, though, besides her hand-made dolls. They were her older sisters, whom she lent her roses to to play "Loves Me, Loves Me Not." The more Mary remained here, with them, the more she felt like she didn't belong. She had a fully developed, human body, she could think and talk. So why wasn't she allowed to leave? She may have been Imaginary, but she's different, she wasn't a monster like the others. Was she? …No, of course not. All Mary wants is to have friends, a family, be loved. She wanted to be where she truly belonged. She wanted to be real.

In the upper floors

She didn't know how she ended up here. She didn't know where she was. Ib's parents brought her to an art gallery to see a collection of works by an artist named Guertena. Her biggest mistake was asking her parents to let her explore alone. For one thing, she didn't know most of the words. She was only 9 years old. The pictures looked nice, that's all she could say, but the grown-ups were talking about them in ways Ib didn't understand. Is it so much trouble to say a picture looks pretty and move on?

But that much was before everyone in the gallery disappeared. The front door was locked, the lights dimmed. She thought she heard the Coughing Man cough, the cat painting meow, the apple fall out of its frame. Then, Ib walked into a floor painting of a big fish. As she descended through the water, gazing at the fish that swam by, she had no understanding of anything else. She had fallen into a world unlike her own. And she didn't like it.

"Hello?" she called through the vacant hallways. "Mommy? Daddy? Anybody?"

No one answered. She wandered the halls endlessly. She picked up a red rose from a vase. It was very pretty and matched her eyes. Yet, she also felt an odd connection with it. Before long, she understood. "AAAAH!" Black claws reached at her from the edges in one passage, and when they scratched her, petals fell off her rose. She bolted through, taking rest in a room with headless statues. "AAAH!" The statues chased her, Ib kept running. She hid in a room with a lot of curtains with buttons beneath them. When she curiously pressed one, she saw a sinister painting: it depicted herself, being grabbed and strangled by the claws.

Ib ran further, her pants sounding down the halls. "MOMMY! DADDY! Anybody! WHERE ARE YOU?"

Her young legs were wearing thin, so she stopped, gasping for breath. She wanted to sit down, but in fear of more monsters coming for her, she stayed on her feet. She had been wandering the gallery for an hour. She had never gone so long without sitting. And she was very scared. But she never showed it too much. Her parents taught her never to show fear; it wasn't proper for a lady. To keep herself from being afraid, she thought about bunnies. She had dozens of them in her room at home. She pictured herself going back home to be with her stuffed bunnies.

When Ib wandered into a red hallway, she found someone passed out on the floor. A man with lavender hair and a dark-blue, ragged jacket. He looked sick, moaning, and made little response when Ib shook him. He was clutching a key, so the girl decided to take it. She used this key to open a locked door into a small room. The Lady in Blue, a living Canvas Lady in a blue dress, connected to a frame, was plucking petals off a blue rose, playing "Loves Me, Loves Me Not." The lady saw Ib, and "HAH!" began chasing her. Ib gasped, evasively dodging the painting, grabbing the one-petal rose off the floor, and escaped.

There was a bright blue vase with water inside. When Ib put the blue rose inside, it healed like magic. She decided to do this on her own rose. She no longer felt tired, had the strength to run another hour. But first, Ib brought this blue rose to the tired man. "Mmmm…nnnn…" He helped himself to stand. After regaining his senses, he looked at Ib. "GYAAAH!" He fell on his rear, backing away in fright. "Whaddyou want now, there's nothing left from me to take!"

Ib gasped. "Uh-I…"

Garry noticed the blue rose in her hand. "My… Wait a moment. Could you be… someone else from the gallery?"

"Um… I came with my parents." Ib said shyly.

"…" The man smiled. "Thank goodness. Someone here besides me."

The man introduced himself as Garry. A 20-year-old, he came to the gallery by himself, on a casual walk through town. Then all of a sudden, he ended up in this cursed place. Much like Ib, he had no idea how things came to this point. "Even these roses." he said. "Wounds appear on me when the petals drop. At any rate… it's great to know I'm not alone." He smiled at the girl. "You came pretty far for someone your age. Are you in a club called 'KND'?"

"No… What's that?"

"I'm not sure." Garry looked away. "I have a little cousin that says he's in it, and he says a lot of other kids are, too. Either way… I can't leave a young girl to wander this place by herself. Let's find a way out of here." Garry took Ib's hand and led her along. "I'll protect you from any-"

A face painting with a wiggling tongue spat on the floor. "GYAAAAH!" Garry fell backwards. Ib stared at him blankly. Garry blushed, getting up again. "I, um… was a bit startled, that's all. Let's keep going; and watch out for such bizarre things as that."

With Garry in her company, Ib didn't feel afraid anymore. The older man helped her solve many of the gallery's puzzles, and could read the words Ib didn't understand. She found it funny how Garry got freaked out all the time by the startling sights, such as a blue face that wanted to eat their roses, or Canvas Ladies that burst out every now and then. Ib was afraid too, of course, but she proved better at staying levelheaded than the grown man.

"I wish the lighting in here wasn't so cheap." Garry said when the lights flickered; a mannequin head appeared a few yards behind them. "It's starting to hurt my eyes." They flickered again; the mannequin appeared closer. "Ib, if you want, you can close your eyes and I'll hold your- EYAAAAH!" The head appeared right in front of them. "Son of a-!" He swung his foot and smashed the delicate head against the wall, breaking it in pieces. "…Phew. Just a mannequin." Ib rolled her eyes. The two kept progressing down the passage. Where the mannequin smashed, gray writing appeared. Hanged Garry.

Ib and Garry entered a new room with a white, ancient couch; they recognized it as the Reserved Seat from the main gallery. On the opposite wall, Ib saw a painting that nearly made her faint. "What's wrong, Ib?" Garry asked.

The painting labeled Couple depicted a familiar man, with brown hair and dark-blue fancy clothing, and a red-eyed woman with red clothing. "Th-They're… my mom and dad."

"What?" Garry looked more closely at them. "They do look like you, Ib… But why would such a painting be…"

He felt Ib's little hands clutch his arm. "Garry… do you think they're down here?"

Garry smiled assuringly. "I'm sure they're fine, Ib. We'll look for them and get out of here."

"Do you think so?"

Garry knelt down to her eye level. "I promise that one way or another, I'll get us out of here. …You look a little tired, Ib. Do you want to lie down for a nap?"

"But…But what if something comes get us?"

"Then I'll pick you up and carry you someplace else. You just lie down and rest, Ib. I'll protect you."

"Um… okay… Can I lay on that couch?" She pointed at the ancient sofa.

"Er, that probably isn't a good idea; I don't trust anything in this place. Just… lie on the floor. You can use my coat as a blanket."

Ib went over beside a corner and lay on the floor like Garry said. The man took off his ragged-edged coat and put it over her. "Garry?…"

"Yes, Ib?"

"Why do you talk like a lady?" She smiled with half-closed eyes.

Garry blushed. "My… Do I? Why, I guess I… haven't noticed…" He scratched his head sheepishly.

"I think it's silly."

"W-Well…" His face remained red. "Thank you, I guess…"

"Good night, Garry…"

"Good night, Ib." He watched the adorable child close her red eyes and go to sleep. After everything she's been through today, her soul was so innocent. He questioned why a child like her deserved to be in this type of mess. She deserved to live her childhood more freely, more imaginatively, but this gallery was frightening. He wanted to find a way out soon, for her sake. On his word as a TND operative.

Violet Area

"Hmmm hm hm hm hmm hmmmmm." Mary hummed merrily, swinging April by her little arm as she strolled about the purple passage. "April, what do you think we should do today?"

The doll's expressionless face lay still as Mary swung her. "Guess the painting without reading the title? Okay, that sounds fun! It would be great for our brains!"

They came to a painting depicting a man and a woman arguing—Mary shut her eyes after briefly looking at it. "I believe this was called… Fighting Friends. Am I close, April?" No response. …Mary opened her eyes and read the nameplate. The Force of Quarrel. "Darn." Mary frowned. "But isn't it two friends fighting? Why don't they make it an easy title and not a hard one? My name is Mary. That's easy to remember, isn't it, April?"

A fast patting rang in Mary's ears. She looked to a door on her left. The footsteps were growing closer. But who besides her could be making footsteps? The headless statues? When Mary curiously approached the door, it swung open, and a red-eyed girl flew through. "AAAH!"

Ib rammed Mary and knocked her down. The brown-haired gasped at what she did. "Ib!" Garry came in behind her.

"Owww…" Mary held her head.

"Oh, my… I'm terribly sorry." Garry held a hand down to the strange girl. "We didn't look where we were going."

Mary looked up at him curiously. Where had this weird man and this girl come from? Were they… like her? "It's okay." Mary took his hand and got up.

"But could you perhaps be someone from the gallery, too? Are you in the same predicament as we are?"

Mary was silent for a minute. They were from the real world, of course. …But they thought she was from their world, too. They thought Mary was real. …Perhaps she had a chance. "I…I was looking to see if there was anyone else, too. …I wanted to get out, so I…"

"Ahh, perfect! Well, I'm Garry, and this young lady is Ib. We're trapped in the gallery as well. Why don't you join us and we'll find a way out?"

"Sure! I'd love to!" Mary smiled happily. She turned to Ib, "It's nice to meet you, Ib!"

"Nice to meet you, too." She returned the smile. Ib looked down and noticed the doll behind Mary. "What's that doll?"

"Oh!" Mary bent down and picked it up. "This is my big sister, April! April, say 'hi' to Ib and Garry!" The doll said nothing.

Ib and Garry stared at the doll. "…Hello, April!" Ib said happily.

"Charmed." Garry greeted, playing along. "So, Mary, seeing as Ib and I both have roses, do you have one as well?"

"Oh!" Mary searched her dress pocket frantically. "Yeah, a yellow rose!" Thankfully, she still had one.

"Ah, I see. Ib and I have them, too. Hold onto those, okay? And don't give them to anyone. And-"

"Woooow! Ib's rose is reeeed!" Mary sang. "My rose is yellooow. I like yellow, but I also like pink, and blue! April likes pink, too!"

"Learn to listen, would you?" Garry stated with a sweatdrop. "I'm serious, we need to be attentive in this-"

"Ib, do you like dolls?" Mary asked perkily.

"Yeah, a little bit. I mostly like rabbits."

"I like rabbits, too!" Mary jumped. "When we get out, do you wanna go pet rabbits?"

"Sounds great, Mary! Maybe I can ask my parents to let you come over. …Would your parents let me come to your house?"

Mary frowned, glancing down. She smiled and looked up, "Sure they would!"

"Okay, girls, let's keep pressing onward." Garry told them.

The group of three wandered the violet corridors in silence for several minutes. Ib and Mary were a few feet behind Garry as the latter whispered to her friend of the same age, "Psst." Ib moved closer to her at the gesture. "Ib, I was wondering… is Garry your dad?"

"No."

"Okay, so you're Dad is somebody else. …Is your mom nice, Ib?"

"Not when she's mad." Ib giggled.

"Your mom gets mad at you, Ib? But you're so nice!" Mary beamed.

"Well, she does." Ib blushed. "Are your parents nice, Mary?"

"Y-…Yes, my parents are… nice. …Hey, Ib, if only two of us could get out of here, who would you take with you?"

"Why would you ask that, Mary?"

"It's just a 'what if.' I mean, who do you like better, me or Garry?"

"Mary, I like both of you. I could never choose between you. In fact, I…" Ib turned away thoughtfully, "I might stay here if you two could…"

Mary frowned. "But, Ib… then we couldn't play together. …Well, we'll get out of here, you'll see!"

Rustle. Rustle. Rustle. The three stopped and looked around at this noise. "What is that?" Garry asked.

"Ib, look!" Mary pointed at a blank brown canvas. "Something's coming from that painting!"

"Watch out!" A spiky rose appeared on the painting, and the trio jumped away when green spiky thorns popped out of the ground, connecting from one wall to the other. Ib and Mary were on the opposite side from Garry.

"GARRY!" Ib yelled, running to the thorns. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. Ib, don't get too close to those!" the man cautioned.

"What are these things?"

"I don't know, but I'm going to burn them with my lighter." Garry pulled said device out and held the lit candle to the thorns—Mary gasped at the fire. "Wait a minute… these vines are made of stone."

Mary glanced at a door nearby. "Ib, why don't we go this way, and Garry can keep going that way? Maybe we can find a place to meet up."

"You think so? I'd rather not split up…"

"I don't want to split up either, but…" Garry examined the vines. "These thorns are too sharp to climb and too hard to break. Sigh… alright, we'll go with Mary's idea. Just promise you girls will stay safe."

"We will! Let's go, Ib!" Mary grabbed her friend's hand and skipped into the door.

Ib and Mary found a brown-colored storage room with piles of boxes. The door was locked, so they searched the boxes for a key. "Look, Ib! I found a palette knife!" Mary perked, pulling said item from a box. "Maybe this can cut those vines?"

"Could it?"

"Not really. Palette knifes don't cut! I was only joking, Ib." Ib blushed at this. "But I think I'll hold onto this. You know, just in case."

"Right… Hey, I found the key!" Ib beamed. The girls used it to open the door, continuing through the next hall. The lights were flickering in this passage, and they heard a bouncing sound. When they arrived at a staircase, they stopped and stared as a red ball was bouncing down. It splat against the wall. The girls saw that a Clown painting was up the staircase, missing its nose.

"Ib, where did you say you met Garry, again?" Mary asked.

"Here at the gallery. He's trapped here just like us."

"Ib…" Mary had a worried expression. "Do you think Garry could be… a painting?"

"A painting?" Ib looked at her in surprise.

"Yeah. What if Garry's a painting that's trying to lead us in a trap? Maybe he meant for those thorns to get us."

"But Garry's been so nice to me. And he's really afraid of everything here. I know you haven't known him as long, but you must've seen the other things here, Mary. All these paintings are monsters. Those Canvas Ladies are the worst, always trying to get our roses. I just wanna leave and never come back ag-"

"A-HEM." Mary coughed loudly, so Ib silenced. The blonde girl looked a tad aggravated at something, but Ib didn't question it. "I'm just saying that Garry's way too suspicious. He's too different from us, Ib. You know you can't always trust what grown-ups say. Maybe we should just find a way out ourselves. Forget about Garry."

Ib frowned and looked away. She really didn't want to think this was true. Mary was probably just nervous. Ib felt the same when she fell in here. "We need to find Garry." Ib stated. "I think he's a person just like we are. If you really aren't sure, we'll just ask him."

Mary's eyes narrowed. She looked away. "Fine."

April was still swinging from Mary's clutched hand around her own. She could feel the frustration in her sister's voice. Garry had to be stopped, for Mary's sake. She mentally sent the note to all her fellow dolls.

Garry began walking through an empty hallway with lots of turns. The more he wandered throughout this dungeon, the more he wondered how any of this was built down here, how far it extends. Of course, his chance to ask that was probably long irrelevant. He hoped that this path would take him back to Ib and Mary at some point. He passed numerous blue dolls on his way down… actually, it felt like that same blue doll was teleporting ahead of him. Garry simply speed-walked, wanting to bypass this area already.

Eventually, he found a library that he decided to rest in. The sign read, No checking out books. Garry decided to skim a few of the titles; maybe one of them had a hint to get out of this place. He opened a book called Theories on this World. "'Via a trading of existences, the imaginary can be made reality.' What does that mean?"

There were books such as Conquer the Unknown and Know No Fear, The God of Creation, and Terror. The latter book read, Being alone is fearful. A group of two can have relief. A group of three… The rest of it was torn off. "Ugh!" He shook his head. "I've gotta quit wasting time with these! I need to find Ib and Mary before…" Garry glanced at another book, which was located close to a painting of an ear. Collected Works of Guertena. "Hmm… It would be nice if I had more information on the paintings. Weaknesses or something…"

Garry decided to skim the book's pages. "'Worry: A painting depicting half of a white head with an eye. The head hides partway behind the canvas as it seems to stare at the viewers, giving them a sense of fear that they are being watched.'" He flipped several pages back. "'Process of Severing: A series of paintings that depict an axe rising to chop a log. As the point of view is taken from the perspective of the cut, most people feel the need to jump away before it chops.' Sigh, don't you make anything that doesn't instill fear in the most literal way possible?" Garry aimlessly flipped page after page.

He stopped at one with no known date. "'Mary: The last work of Guertena's life. While the girl appears almost lifelike, naturally, she is not based on a real person.' Wait a second." There was a picture of a smiling blonde girl with blue eyes, a green dress, surrounded by yellow roses. "Is that… our Mary?" The ear painting was jiggling. "If she's not real… could that mean…"

Ib and Mary were wandering the Brown Area in search for a way down to Garry. They passed a painting of lips against a blue background; Mary saw the Tattletale was whispering. Only she could hear its voice. "I know Mary's seeeecreeeet…"

Mary gasped. She looked down at April in her hands. Ib turned back and noticed she had stopped walking. "Mary?" She approached her. "Are you okay?"

"Okay? Yeah, I'm Mary." She smiled innocently. "I'm Maaaaary, I'm Maaaaary, oh HO hohohohoho!" She grinned menacingly. "I don't like him. I don't like him ONE bit! Eeeheeheeheeheeheeheehee!" She excitedly ran down the hall ahead of Ib, letting April blow behind her.

Ib hurried after her friend. Mary swung open a door to another room, and when Ib ran after… Mary was stabbing a mannequin head with her palette knife. "In my WAY, in my WAY, in my WAY, in my WAY…"

"Mary… what are you doing?"

"This THING is in the way, if it weren't, we could go ON, we could get OUT of here, but this thing's in the WAY, if it weren't, if it WEREN'T!…"

"Uhhh…" Ib nervously backed out of the room. She walked away- "Ib."

She flinched. Mary caught up behind her. "…Please don't leave me, Ib."

"…" Ib turned to face her. "What were you doing, Mary?"

"Oh… just relieving some stress." She smiled. "Hey, Ib, do you know what 'snow' is? I heard it's this sugary stuff that falls from the sky. And some people make it into cream and eat it!"

"Y-Yeah, I like to make snowmen sometimes."

"Oooo, you can make men out of snow?!"

"Yeah, haven't you ever made one?"

"…Sure I have!"

"…" Ib was really confused. "Mary, we have to find Garry. He's probably worried." She walked ahead, and Mary followed her with a scowling face.

After Garry walked out of the library, he saw a blue doll tiptoe around a right corner. It looked back, and when it noticed him, it made a squeaking sound before dashing in a room. Garry walked around the corner and found the door that closed. He peeped inside—the room was filled with zombie-like dolls, staring at him with wide yellow and red eyes. "Uh… wrong room." He closed the door—a blue doll jumped in the gap and kept it open. "AAAHH!" The dolls came out and all ganged up on him, Garry forcefully threw them off or stomped on them, squishing red liquid out every time. Garry bolted around the turns and found a flight of stairs—Canvas Ladies and headless statues on the sides came to life, and he barely avoided their grabs.

Ib and Mary found a staircase and were walking down. They heard screaming echo from below, along with fast footsteps. "Ib, maybe we shouldn't go this way."

"IB! MARY!" The girls gasped. Garry was scrambling to get up the stairs, but Canvas Women and statues were grabbing him from all over, and dolls jumping on him. "IIIIB!"

"Ib, no!" Mary cried when her friend ran down the stairs.

"Get your hands off of Garry, you creeps!" Ib swung kicks at the Canvas Ladies' faces and pushed the dolls off.

"Augh!" Garry's arms were binded by the headless statues. "Ib, the lighter! Get the lighter out of my pocket!"

Ib fished around his right jacket pocket and grabbed said device. She raised it and flicked it on. "AAAAAAHHH!" The Canvas Women bore horrified expressions, and they, the statues, and dolls were moving away. Now free, Garry took the lighter back and held it to them. "Get away or I'll burn every single one of you!" The monsters complied and scrambled down the stairs.

"Sigh… That was scary, Garry." Ib sighed.

"At least we know their weakness." Garry looked at his lighter. "I'll have to save the oil on this thing, in case we… My rose!"

Garry had dropped his rose, and April was on the floor and trying to pluck it. "MARY!" Garry swiped the flower back and kicked April forcefully, sending her up the stairs. He growled furiously at Mary. "You lying little monster!"

"Garry, what are you talking about?" Ib asked.

"Ib, stay away from her!" Garry pulled Ib behind him. "Mary's not human, I saw her in a book! She's one of Guertena's paintings!"

"Huh? Mary, is this true?"

"No it's not!" Mary spoke angrily. "Ib, HE'S the painting person! Don't listen to him!"

"Don't try to trick her, Mary! Your doll was just trying to pick my rose!"

"I dropped her and you kicked her like a meanie! Ib, you don't really believe him, do you?"

"Mary, let me see your rose."

"What?"

"Show me your rose!"

"Why, so you can TAKE IT?"

"Mary, GIVE IT to me!" Garry ran up and locked arms with the girl, trying to reach in her pockets.

"NO! IT'S MY ROSE, MY ROSE!"

"AAAH!" Garry pushed the girl on her back and grabbed the yellow rose. He studied and felt its petals. "…It's paper. Look, Ib, Mary's rose is a fake." Ib bore a terrified look from the fight that just transpired. "We have to get away-"

"GARRY, WATCH OUT!"

"AHHH!" Mary tried to stab him with the palette knife, but Ib jumped in the way and grabbed her arm.

"IB, LET GO! If he'd've just been good and stayed down there, we could've…"

Garry socked Mary in the eye and knocked her out. Ib hugged the taller man worriedly. "Sigh… It's alright, Ib." He patted her back comfortingly. "At least you weren't hurt. Come on, let's get away before she comes to." He held Ib's hand as they ran up the stairs.

April recovered and approached her fallen creator. Mary looked up at her "big sister." Her left eye was darkened. "…April?" She was silent for a second. "Do you wanna see the outside world, too?" April nodded. "I do, too. Do you think… we could belong out there?" Mary smiled. "Do you think we can make lots and lots of friends?" April nodded. "Me, too. …" Mary helped herself up, keeping her head down. "Then I guess… I'll have to play a little dirty…" She shook her arms and caused the entire gallery to tremble.

Garry and Ib were climbing down a new flight of pink stairs, leading to darkness. "You know, Ib, as far as we've managed to come, aren't we heading down? I mean, most of these stairs head down. So…" Garry glanced down at the girl clutching his arm. She looked worried. Garry smiled. "Well, nothing in this gallery makes sense. Maybe there is an exit."

They stopped when the building began shaking. "What? Is this an earthquake?"

The walls fell away, and the two found their selves surrounded by stars in outer space. "…! Ib, the stairs!" Garry grabbed her hand and rushed up the stairs when they began to shift vertically.

"Garry, we aren't gonna make it!"

"Ib, hold on!" Garry wrapped arms around her tight as they plummeted down the abyss. Their eyes remain shut during the descent, blinding their selves from inevitable demise.

Blue dolls, mannequin heads, and headless statues were perched everywhere in this strange room. Large crayon drawings covered the floors and walls. Ib and Garry exchanged glances as they recovered, wondering where they were. "Hello, Ib. Hello, Garry." Mary was standing a few feet away, smiling. Her palette knife was clutched in her hand. "Welcome to my Toy Box. All my friends love to play here. Would you like to play? I know lots of fun games."

Garry stood in front of Ib. "Mary, just let us out. We already figured out what you are, so we're not gonna fall for your tricks."

"I'm sorry, Garry." Mary looked down sadly. "I just wanted someone else to play with. I won't be mean to you, anymore. Won't you please play with m-"

"No, Mary. You can't be trusted and you can't come with us. You're a painting, and a monster like the rest of them! You can't-"

"NO!!" Mary shook the room. Tears fell from her madness-filled eyes. "I HATE IT HERE! I'm sick of living here! You don't know what it's LIKE for me here! You don't know how it feels to be all alone, with NO ONE!"

"What are you talking about, Mary?" Ib asked. "There are a bunch of paintings here."

"The other paintings are MONSTERS! No matter how much I try to make friends with them, I'm just too different! I'm not like them… I don't belong here…" Mary began sniffling. She fell to her knees. "Fine… I tried to hurt you… No matter what I say, I'm still a painting… but let me ask you something." Mary looked up at them. "If I'm not real… are my tears not real? Is my voice not real? Is nothing I'm saying to you real? Tell me the truth… IS MY HEART NOT REAL?!"

"But Mary, if you really wanna leave, why don't you?" Ib asked. "Isn't there an exit in this place?"

"I'm not allowed to leave! I'm imaginary, and Guertena died ages ago! The only way I can live in the real world is if someone from the real world stays here. I need to trade places with someone, and I was gonna do it with Garry so I can be with Ib!"

"Too bad, Mary, I'm not going to be your sacrifice." Garry stated. "I'm sorry it has to be this way, I really am, but me and Ib have lives in the real world, we're not going to give them up so…"

"So what?" Mary sniffled. "So I don't get to live? I don't get to know what it's like to live? To be loved and grow up like…like a real person?"

"Mary, please." Ib stepped around Garry and approached her slowly. "You may not get to come with us, but you're still our friend, and we love you. You're as real to us as anyone."

Mary let a few more tears fall. "Am I really… Ib?"

Ib smiled and walked closer. She knelt beside the painting girl and hugged her. "Of course you are, Mary. And after we leave, we'll tell everyone about you. We can bring all our friends here to visit you, and we'll find a way for you to come outside with us. You'll never have to feel alone again, Mary. Right, Garry?"

The 20-year-old had mixed feelings, clearly displayed upon his features. He was worried that Mary would stab Ib during this chance… but she made no moves. Mary was simply crying over her shoulder. Garry sighed and walked over to hug Mary as well. "I guess so."

Mary sparked at the chance. She grabbed the rose from Garry's pocket and jumped away. "MARY!"

"Sorry, Ib, I'm not gonna stay here, so sacrificing one of you is the only way! I don't want it to be you, so Garry's it." She plucked the first two petals and ran toward some stairs.

"Ahh!" Garry winced. "MARY, COME BACK!" He and Ib dashed after her, evading the dolls and mannequins that tried to catch them.

Garry's speed was faltering as Mary continued plucking petals, but he tried to stay strong and chase her. Mary ran up another set of stairs- "Waaah!" she tripped and threw the rose forward. When she crawled to try and grab it, Garry jumped on and began wrestling with her. "Augh, let me go, Garry!" She grabbed her palette knife.

"No!" Garry grabbed her arms and tried to push them away. Ib made it up the stairs to watch the conflict. When she looked ahead, she noticed an empty portrait on the other side of the room, except for yellow roses. "Mary, is that your picture?"

"GET AWAY FROM THAT!" Mary shouted, still wrestling Garry.

"IB, HERE!" Garry tossed the lighter for her to catch. "BURN IT, NOW!"

"NO!" Mary squirmed more forcefully as Ib ran to the canvas. "IB, STOP! DON'T!"

"Ib, I can't hold onto her! Do it!"

"Okay!" Ib lit the lighter and was inches from touching it to Mary's canvas.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

April jumped and hit Ib's hand away, causing her to throw the lighter, which flipped off, into a pile of junk Mary collected. The doll kept its arms firm around Ib's, staring at her red eyes. Somehow, Ib detected a pleading look in the doll's googly eyes. Garry and Mary stopped struggling, both surprised at the sight. Realizing this—Mary pushed Garry off, raised her knife, and severed the head of his rose. "GARRY!!" Ib cried.

The man gave one final breath, and fell dead. Crying, Ib ran over to him. "Garry, speak to me!" She shook the sleeping man, but his body was still and peaceful. Mary ran over to grab April, then she bolted past Ib and out of the room. Ib looked up with a gasp. "Mary, come back!"

She chased Mary down more stairs, through a few more corridors, until finally, Ib found they were in the main gallery. The rooms were black instead of white, but it was the very same gallery. Jumping back to attention, Ib ran up to the second floor, to the large mural painting that started this entire journey. Mary was there, about to climb into it like a portal. "Mary, wait!" The girl stopped and looked at Ib, who was tired from running. "We can't just leave here without Garry!"

"Ib, it's too late. I already sacrificed him, so after I leave, he'll take my place as a painting. I waited for this day forever, Ib, I'm not going to miss this chance! Ib, now's your chance to get out of here, too, because if you wait too long, the portal will close."

"I won't, Mary. I won't leave Garry."

"Why not?!" Mary swung her arm in anger, throwing April into the mural portal. "You don't even know him, Ib, why do you care about him? Why would you stay here for someone you don't know?"

"Because he doesn't deserve this any more than you do! Mary, I understand how you feel! This place is scary for any boy or girl, I was completely scared when I came here! Even if you're one of these paintings… I can tell how you feel. Being alone here would be terrible. That's why I can't leave Garry alone."

"But… Ib…" Mary looked upset. "I wanted to play with you more… I wanted to explore the real world with you. Won't you come with me?"

"I'm sorry, Mary. But I'm staying with Garry." Ib turned around. "And I'm not leaving until I find a way out for both of us."

"…Fine." Mary stepped into the portal. "Good-bye, Ib."

With a flash, glass appeared over the painting, blocking any further access. Ib walked the spooky corridors. All alone. No mother… No father… Garry was dead… Mary was gone… She didn't see anymore paintings come to life. Ib was completely alone.

She was completely lost. She couldn't find where Garry was. She had no sense of direction. She had no idea how long she had been wandering. But her mind and heart was drowning. She didn't remember what her parents looked like… what her house looked like… anything. She was so depressed and afraid, trapped in endless darkness. She would love to lie down… and dream forever.

She found a black, diamond-shaped bed, in the middle of a large room. She wondered… if the person who owned this bed wouldn't mind her sleeping there. Ib took off her shoes, climbed in the bed… and fell asleep. (Play "Memory – Ib All Alone" from Ib.)

"Happy birthday, Ib!" her mother and father chorused. "Nine already, huh?" Father said. "You sure are growing fast."

"I hope you had a good night's sleep, Ib!" Mother beamed. "We've invited all your friends for the party."

She had her ninth birthday days ago. The last wonderful memory of her life.

"Ib, this is a handkerchief." Mother showed her. "I had your name knitted on it."

"Honey, isn't she too young for this?" Father asked.

"Oh, nonsense! Ib's always careful with stuff, so I know she won't lose it."

Ib still had it with her.

"Oh? Looks like she found our secret present." Father blushed. "Well, alright, Ib, open it."

It was a large stuffed bunny.

"Do you like it?"

"Honestly, Dear, another rabbit?" Mother spoke reprovingly. "Her room is filled with them!"

"Oh, does she?" Father blushed. "But Ib sure seems to like it."

"Sigh… all right."

It was soft and warm.

"Oh? Ib, you look sleepy." Mother noticed.

"She's been partying an awful lot."

"Why don't you lie down for a nap? We'll keep partying after you wake up."

"Good… night… Ib…"

Real world…

April Goldenweek couldn't remember what she was doing. Her head was very foggy. She tried to organize her memories. She was seven years old. She loved to paint. She was thinking about joining the Kids Next Door. Her father was Galdino Goldenweek. Her mother died when she was young. …And her cousin was…

"April, there you are!" She looked over. Her 4-year-old cousin, Mary Goldenweek, skipped happily while her parents held her hand. "We looked for you everywhere!"

"Did Galdino let you wander off by yourself?" Her father, Alvin chuckled. "Honestly, that man…"

"Come on, April, let's go find him." Rosa held a hand out to April. "We have to leave soon."

"…Okay!" April smiled and took her aunt's hand.

When a real person dies in an imaginary world

An imaginary person can become real.

But when realities change, so must reality itself.

Garry died, and Ib chose to remain in that world.

April and Mary filled their places.

However, their parents do not remember them. Nobody does.

Galdino Goldenweek has always wanted a daughter, but he never married.

April and Mary still want to be sisters.

When the imaginary becomes real, reality is modified in a way to make as many people happy as possible.

So if some people have to be forgotten, then so be it.

But no one knows what force is behind how reality gets re-structured. As you can see, Mary is much younger than she was before.

Sometimes, reality is altered in a way that works for everyone…

Current time

Aeincha, Mocha, and April were speechless. The former two looked up at April, who was staring at her hands. "That… doll… really was me?…"

"You look just like it." Ib replied. "Mary said she had to kill Garry to be real. If I stayed here, too… maybe you turned real."

"I can't believe it…" April stood up. "I…I'm an… Imaginary Friend. Me and Mary both are."

"April, I'm so sorry." Aeincha spoke regretfully. "Mary must've forced you to go along with that plan. If you were anything like you are now… you wouldn't have done that, would you?"

"…I don't know." April looked at the floor. "I really can't remember any of that. I mean… this gallery feels so familiar to me now… I wonder if I even had a brain. This is just… so much to take in."

"What are you going to do?" Mocha asked.

"…Me and Mary have to stay here."

The tinies gasped. "April, why?" Aeincha asked.

"We stole the lives that belonged to Ib and Garry. Ib's been suffering here; and just look at Garry. They need to go back. Me and Mary have to stay here."

"April, you can't!" Aeincha jumped off the couch and ran up to April's shoe, looking up with weeping eyes. "You're one of our best friends! We'll miss you so much if you stay!"

"I know… sniff…" April was beginning to cry. "I…I would've much preferred decommissioning… I would love to keep going on missions with you… but… I just couldn't, knowing these two would be forced to stay here… We stole the lives they had in the real world… we don't deserve them!…"

"April, it wasn't your fault!" Mocha shouted. "You were just doing what Mary told you, she threw you in!"

"It doesn't matter, Mocha. We don't belong in your world. We have to stay… It's the right thing."

The girls held their heads down. Aeincha and Mocha didn't want to accept this… but April was right. Ib and Garry were the prisoners here. It wasn't fair for them. …It wasn't fair for any of them…

"This gallery's a terrible place." Aeincha stated. "I thought museums were supposed to be fun, but this is only making us sad."

"You're only happy when you're outside." Mocha said. "Nobody outside knows this gallery's dark secret. …After we leave, we won't remember, either."

"I wish there was a way… that everyone can be happy."

"…Not this time." April said solemnly. "Not this time…" (End song.)

Violet Area

Chimney walked out of the library. She had a terrible headache. She had a feeling Mary was some kind of monster… but April, too? Chimney must have translated that diary wrong at some point. It did have a lot of illegible crayon writing. She needed to find those two and straighten this out.

Chimney, not paying attention where she was going, entered a random door. "Nnnn?" Blue dolls were staring at her from every direction. Some small, some large. They were extremely creepy. A blank white canvas was on the opposite side. "Uhhhh… I'm gonna go." She turned to walk out—the door shut. She jiggled the knob, but couldn't open it. "What?" Writing appeared on the door. Let's have a treasure hunt. Who? Who? Who has the key?

"Key?" The room turned a shade of blue. BONG… "Oh, crap! Where's the key?!" Chimney grabbed each and every doll, tore it open, and shook stuffing out. BONG… "Where is it?" She searched in one's head, tore one in half. BONG… A figure was slowly reaching up from below the blank canvas. BONG… It had frizzy black hair, zombie blue skin, and piercing red eyes like the dolls. BONG… It was far bigger than the dolls. It was slowly climbing out of its canvas. BONG… Its mouth was open very wide. Chimney looked delicious. BONG. . . .

"YES, I FOUND THE KEY!" Chimney proclaimed with delight. "Now I can…" The room was a very dark dimness. Chimney felt it behind her. She slowly turned… The giant demon was out of its canvas, inches beside her… Chimney's world went black in its mouth.