51. Forgotten and Remembered

Guertena Gallery

They reached the bottom of the dark stairs, even though it seemed to go down for ages. They found a small room with an empty vase; it reminded Ib of the room where the Blue Lady was plucking Garry's rose. When they entered the door, this very passage looked the very same as the Red Area, near where she met him. The Lady in Blue was hanging on the wall, immobile. This area was quiet; and as Aisa sensed no danger, it was peaceful. Chimney and Mary healed their roses inside an Eternal Blessing; the wounds from their previous battle were healed. The other kids healed their roses. With that, they entered the door to the Orange Area. (Play "Noise" from Ib.)

Act 3: The Dungeon

There was a painting of someone taking a red rose titled Déjà Vu, and a painting of a hand reaching from behind an orange curtain, Concealed Secret. The next door brought them to the main hall of the Orange Area. The left route was blocked by a giant, green sleeping snake, and the left route further ahead had a gap within the floor. They could step over this gap- "HAH!" if not for the claws down below. Ib noticed a small white dot roaming around the floor. "Look, guys! There's an ant!"

"Oh, an ant?" Apis asked, crouching down to look at it. "I bet I can talk to it." She held her finger down for the ant to crawl on.

"hello. i'm a white ant. i miss my home. can you take me home?"

"It's like the talking ant from before." April remembered.

"Wait… You can understand it, April?" Apis asked.

"I can, too." Ib mentioned. The others nodded.

"Oh… So much for Animal Telepathy. Mr. Ant, did you see a man run by here?"

"i saw him. maybe he was looking for his home. i'm looking for my home…"

"We'll take you to look for it."

"no, i'll keep looking here. maybe it'll turn up…"

She set the ant down as they entered a different door. There were many paintings around this dead-end hall, small and medium-size. None of them were labeled; there was a painting of red balls, a painting of a shark, a painting of a chair, a nail pinned into a red wall and stretching a shadow… There was a painting of a book that said, Everything changes at night. There was a painting of a teacup, in which they could smell the steam. "Mmmm… smells yummy." Mary smiled happily. "'Wish it was real, though…" She frowned.

"Aha!" Aisa perked. She pulled an anthill painting off the wall. They brought it back as she placed the painting over the gap like a bridge (remembering a similar case from the Brown Area).

"oh. it's my home. thank you." The white ant crawled inside the painting. The picture felt like natural dirt under their feet when they crossed it.

They found two giant, dancing tulips, a blue one and dark-pink one called Stubborn Twins, guarding a door. Apis tried to control them with her telepathy, but they weren't made of actual plant cells. Aisa cautioned her friends not to go near them. A painting called Hard-to-Wake Man showed a man sleeping under a blanket at daytime. A Place Out of Reach depicted a white object with black hearts under it. Light Within the Canvas was a candle—except without the flame. Mary and Ib entered a door on their right—there was a living sculpture of a newspaper delivery boy rapidly pedaling his bike. He was giant, but he didn't appear to go anywhere as he was suspended on a treadmill. "I wonder if Mocha could ride a bike that big!" Mary grinned.

"You mean the doll girl?" Ib asked.

"Oh, right… You don't know, yet." Mary winked.

The giant delivery boy was titled ??? Young Man (they couldn't read the word 'Dogged'). In the corner behind him was a glass case containing unique, colorful bugs; it was labeled Spirits of Nature. The bugs were made of a certain element: a water spider, lightning beetle, a gas fly… the 'Fire Butterfly' was missing. "Mary, did Guertena like to catch bugs?" Ib asked.

"Um… I dunno. But I know he liked to paint 'em a lot!" she beamed.

April and the tinies walked by a—"YAAH!" the tinies screamed. There was a painting of a dark-red silhouette with a smeary pink heart, raising a knife. It was titled Stirred Up. Aisa confirmed that it wasn't planning to attack, so they bypassed it with this in mind. They made the full loop around the hallway, once again finding the giant snake block their path. There were two doors on the wall, so Aisa and Apis entered the left one: it was a completely pitch-black room. "Aisa, can you lead us through?" the latter requested.

"I… can't. My Mantra's not working in this room, for some reason."

"It isn't? Well, then let's come back later." Both girls backed out of the room.

The others focused their gaze on the large, painted clock that hung on the wall, labeled Truant Seconds Hand. The "clock" in question actually had a big hole where it should be. April, Aein, and Mocha walked into the right door, finding crates lain around the narrow paths of this room, another of those Mistake paintings, and the tail of the sleeping snake. One of the corners was protected by box walls on all ends. April set Aeincha onto a gap in this wall, allowing the tiny to peep in. The white ant was in there, viewing a painting of himself. There was a small, her-size tunnel under it and between some bookshelves. "I wonder what's in there?"

"Can you go see?" April asked.

"No… There's spikes down there." Indeed, there was a spike patch below her gap. "Whoever made this fort thought ahead."

April picked her back up as they explored the passage further. Needles were blasting at them from the ceiling, so April ducked, protected the tinies, and hurried quickly, though she was stabbed by a few of them. At the end of the passage, she stepped on a black rose—and the needles stopped. This hall had a dead end, but there was a painting of sky and clouds titled Beyond Halcyon Skies, and what seemed like an orange butterfly nailed to the wall. Imprisoned Flame, it was labeled. "Poor butterfly." Aeincha frowned.

"Pick the nails free!" Mocha yelled. April did so and picked them out. The butterfly's majestic wings literally brimmed like fire as it fluttered away. The girls exchanged wondrous smiles as April chased it. She reached to gently touch the butterfly- "Ow!" it burned her hand, she shook the pain off. Figuring they couldn't yet touch it, April went to leave the room—the Mistake broke out of its frame, so they exited fast. The girls gasped when the Mistake chased them… but it simply began to wander about the hallway.

"I think it can't see." Aisa mentioned.

"We encountered those earlier." April remembered. "Just stay away from it."

"Nnn? April-chan, you're bleeding!" Chimney pointed. Indeed, blood was leaking fast out of the parts where the needles stabbed her.

"There's a vase over there, use that!" Aeincha pointed at a vase across the sleeping snake. April nodded, quickly going to step over the snake (why hadn't they thought of that) and put her rose in the vase. The bleeding stopped. April then returned to the others.

"Sigh. 'Ju find anything in that one room?" Chimney asked.

"There was a butterfly made of fire!" Aeincha smiled. "Super pretty! But we couldn't catch it."

"I think I saw a net in that one room." Apis recalled. "I'll go check." She jumped over the sleeping snake and returned to the dead-end hall with the unnamed paintings. Indeed, there was a light-purple canvas with a net. She could reach in and take it. She went into the room April mentioned and found the fiery butterfly. She caught it with the net, which wasn't affected by the flames at all.

When Ib and Mary told them about the bug case, Apis was going to bring the butterfly there—the butterfly escaped from the net before she could and flew into the candle painting. It seemed the butterfly actually served as the lit candle. Forming an idea, Aisa took the painting off the wall and brought it to the dark room: the candle painting served as their light. She and Chimney explored the room together, having to navigate a maze of boxes. When Chimney was looking elsewhere- CRASH! "YAAAAAAAAAH!"

"WHAT?!" Aisa jumped at Chimney's sudden shout. It appears she had bumped into a cat vase and knocked it on the floor, broken. "Oh… Don't scare me like that, Chimney."

There was a painting of grapes, and Aisa knew the translated title as Prelude to Wine. "I don't get it." Chimney said.

"They use grapes to make wine." Aisa said.

"I'll just use grapes for grapes, since I'm hungry." Chimney reached to pick one-

"Don't!" Aisa smacked her hand. "Just… stay with me." They found a lever on the wall, labeled Alarm for the Clock. Aisa flipped it. Nothing seemed to happen. With a shrug, they explored the maze further, and found a label Malice's True Form. "I wonder what…" Aisa held her candle up to see the painting: it appeared to be a mutant, bloody human head, sticking partway out of its canvas. "…Mir-RI-ROO-ROO-roo-roo…!"

The girls shuddered at the terrifying sound the painting made, which also moved. They walked away to examine the rest of the maze. They noticed a bunch of canvases- Plop. "Mir-RI-ROO-ROO-roo-roo…!" …Although it was too dark to see, it sounded like the Malice's Form painting fell off its canvas… and was wandering around the room. …They decided to ignore it, hoping it wouldn't come at them. The canvases around the maze had various colored numbers: a red 7, blue 2, yellow 3, purple 9, and a green 1. They memorized these numbers and headed outside.

"This clock has hands now." April noted at the Truant Seconds Hand. "But we need a five-digit code."

"We found some numbers in that room." Aisa mentioned. "But we don't know the order."

The girls split up to explore the area again. When Ib viewed around the room of unnamed paintings, she noticed they each had a certain color and varying heights. She deduced that the order was from shortest to highest: the ball painting was red (7), book painting was blue (2), shark was yellow (3), tea was purple (9)… but there wasn't a green painting to serve as the next in height. That's when Apis remembered the anthill painting they took down before; it was green, making the fifth number "1".

They inputted this code in the giant fancy clock. The hands, which were pointing at a sun design, spun around and pointed at a moon. The hallway's lights dimmed: it was nighttime. The butterfly flew out of the candle painting and started fluttering around the hall. The kids looked over at the Mistake painting wandering around: glowing red eyes appeared over its scribbled face. "EEEEEEE!" The girls shuddered. "It can see now!" Aeincha panicked.

"Not for long!" Chimney jumped over and threw heavy punches at the Mistake before it knocked out. "Yaaaawn…" Hearing a yawning sound, they whipped around to see the giant snake was finally waking up.

"Quick, in here!" Aisa said as they ran into the room where the Mistake originally hung. They saw the snake's tail flapping about on this side.

"Oi, let's attack it from here!" Chimney ran to the tail. "CHIMNEY, NO!" her friends screamed, not that it mattered.

Chimney stomped the tail forcefully, and they heard the snake hiss as it turned around to enter this room via the painting. The snake spotted them and threatened to feast—the girls bolted out of the room and slammed the door. Aisa pressed her ear against it. "It's looking around for us. As long as it doesn't come out here, we can be safe. I'll stay here and warn you guys if he comes."

In the room with the unnamed paintings, the steaming tea had cooled, the nail no longer cast a shadow (since it was night), and the chair had a purple-haired girl in a red dress and red hair ribbon sitting in it. The book was closed, but they remembered its text: Everything changes at night. And it seemed things did. The "Hard-to-Wake Man" became the "Night-Owl Man." The Stubborn Twins had stopped dancing—but they couldn't enter their door because it was locked. When Mary checked the giant biker's room, she discovered snow was covering the floor, and the delivery boy was off his bike, shivering on the floor.

The others noticed the white ant wandering around his anthill. Apis asked it, "Excuse me, do you know where we can find a key to that door?"

"i have a key. it's in my house."

"Could we have it?"

"i'm hungry. give me food and you can."

"Anything in particular?" April asked.

"i like stars. they're sweet and sugary things from the sky."

"Candy stars?" Ib asked.

"I knew it!" Mary cheered. "I knew stars were candy!"

"Well… we'll bring you some, then." Apis shrugged.

For the moment, the kids didn't know where to look for candy stars; they couldn't shake out the ones the Night-Owl Man had in his painting. They couldn't enter the snake's room with it slithering around—"AAAH!" Ib jumped and dodged when the Stirred Up painting tried to stab her. That must've been his night change. When April went back to the first room of this place, she and the tinies realized the Concealed Secret had changed into Revealed Secret: the hand was holding a frog by its leg. April took the large frog and went near the snake's room. Aisa confirmed the creature was still in there. April opened the door quick, threw the frog toward the left, and slammed shut. Aisa confirmed the giant snake was eating.

April entered the room and walked quickly before the snake caught on. She hurried to the end of the hall where Beyond Halcyon Skies hung—instead of clouds, it was stars, and titled Overfilled Night Sky. She was able to shake the frame and let a piece of Stardust fall out. She scooped it in her hand and returned to the white ant, setting the star on the floor. "yay. food. thank you. you can go in my house now." The tiny creature began to eat the delectable.

The kids exchanged shrugs. "I guess I'll go in there." Aeincha offered. April set her on the floor, and Aeincha was able to squeeze herself into the anthill.

She popped out of a hole in the ant's box fort; safely past the spikes above the gap. She glanced at the white ant painting briefly before crawling into the mini tunnel. Due to the nighttime, it was very hard to see. In the faint light, this appeared to be a maze of tunnels, but it didn't drag on too long as she felt herself touch a giant key. "Perfect!" Aeincha grabbed it around both arms and started to crawl back. "Mir-RI-ROO-ROO-roo-roo…!" Her tiny heart almost stopped. Aeincha frightfully turned back. A glowing white eye against a blood-red mass was staring at her. It must've been the Malice's True Form that Aisa mentioned. Aeincha crawled faster.

"Mir-RI-ROO-ROO-roo-roo… Mir-RI-ROO-ROO-roo-roo…" The creature kept repeating this scary sound. Aeincha kept crawling; she had trouble remembering the route she came, plus carrying the key made crawling difficult. She wouldn't look back, knowing that monster was probably right behind her. Finally, she saw what she recognized as the entrance, so Aeincha crawled faster to make it out. She dropped the key in the little hole and jumped in afterward.

She reunited with her friends as April grabbed the key and went to open the door. They found a painting titled Queen of High Society, depicting a fancy woman in a blue dress, surrounded by townspeople. The halls on either side of the painting simply made a loop around the central wall, which had numerous vacant sidewalk paintings, except for one paperboy painting. Ib and Mary remembered the shivering giant paperboy in his room.

Since the crew still had their net, they caught the butterfly floating around the hall. They brought the fiery creature to the glass cage and set it inside. Its light shone from the glass, and the paperboy felt warm. He climbed onto his bike and rode vigorously across the treadmill-sidewalk. He threw a newspaper onto the floor, so April picked it up. She brought it to the Queen of High Society and tossed it into the painting. The queen caught it—unseen applause sounded as stairways rose up in either hallway. The kids could walk to the top of this tall room, finding another stairwell that led into this central wall. They journeyed down as the orange interior became cyan. (Play "Dungeon 5" from Ib.)

Act 4: The Abyss

At the bottom of the stairs, they found a purple sculpture of a woman bent up like a rainbow bridge, titled Annulated Woman. There was a message on the wall in cyan paint. As you walk into the abyss, do not forget the works you hold dear.

They entered the main room of this floor; the girls gazed with awe and wonder: the ceiling depicted an illusion of stars. There was a giant sculpture of a skeleton king and a Lady in Red hugging each other, in which both stuck out of a giant frame. Tryst After Death, it was titled. There was a sculpture of a giant, slanted wine glass with an indigo cloud of stars and planets, which was attached to said glass via a pole, making it seem like the night cloud was flowing out of it. Drinking in the Night. On the left, there was a giant yellowish stone called Flexible Stone.

April walked over to pick up a square panel with a strange design. The second she touched it, it poofed, reappearing on a blank canvas on the wall. Considering the amount of space left, April deduced that 12 pieces should go there. "It's just like those Balls of Paint. I wonder what that picture's going to make."

"'Guess we should split up and look around." Aeincha shrugged. So that's just what they did. Aisa entered a room to the very west side: she nearly became blinded by the walls of red, blue, and yellow abstract colors. The poster read, Cycloptic Smile: Focus your eyes and find where she hides. A true test of her sight abilities. Aisa examined every inch of the abstract walls closely. None of it displayed any specific pattern. She actually spent quite a while searching for… whatever she was searching for. Then: she noticed part of a curved red line move. She observed the area around it, realizing that the abstract designs created a body, somewhat, with a single large eye over the smile. The eye looked at Aisa, and another painting piece fell out of it. Aisa touched and watched the square vanish.

Aisa entered another door in the room. It was completely empty. She walked around and examined the floor tiles, but nothing seemed out of place… then when she leaned on the opposite wall- "Whoooa!" she stumbled through like it was never there. In this next room, there were painting pieces lain everywhere, but every one was holographic to Aisa's touch. She wondered how she could find the real one… and when she returned through the fake wall, there it was, lain in the center of the floor. Aisa touched the piece as it vanished.

Chimney entered a southeast room. The poster read, Swimming Pool: An experiment in water color. Beware the anemones. The floor was completely covered with blue-painted paper—and Chimney was able to submerge in it like real water. Walls of sea anemones formed a path, so Chimney made sure to maneuver around them. She followed a zigzaggy path—she also didn't realize that a cloud of splotched paint colors were floating after her from over the surface. Chimney followed a left route that led to a dead end. She resurfaced for air, and luckily discovered the painting piece floating in that spot. She touched it and made it vanish.

Still not noticing the pursuing color splotches, she dove underneath and continued through the anemone path. The floor was sloping downward, so Chimney shifted herself down. On the very lowest point, Chimney touched another painting piece, which vanished. There was also a black rose. Chimney reached to pick it off its perch: the black petals scattered and floated up, and the color splotches poofed into nothing. Chimney resurfaced for breath, then dove back under to swim back to the start. She then noticed a blank white canvas… it was titled Mayhem of Color, but Chimney couldn't read the German at all. "Ahh, I should've brought that dictionary with me. Meh… doesn't look very interesting."

When Chimney returned to the main room, the same time as Aisa, both of them noticed the indigo-blue liquid dried onto the floor. It looked like it was flowing from the Drinking in the Night.

April took the tinies with her into a southwest room, where little black stick figures perked at the sight of them. They zipped away from their sight, hiding around the room. There were black lines scribbled everywhere. The sign on the wall said, Avoid red, chase black. There were red stick men walking around, trying to harm them, but they were small enough for April to step over. They noticed the black stick men blending in with the scribbles on the floor, walls, and ceiling, so April picked them off one at a time and stuffed them in her pockets.

There was a painting of pale flowers called Flowers Without Color. At Mocha's request, April set the mini giant inside the painting. Mocha walked around the flower vase and caught a stick man. There was a painting of a blue coffin with a white Cross, called Insomnia Coffin. They couldn't interact with it, at the moment. There was a painting of a boy in a white shirt, but his head and feet were unseen over the frame's edges… except for the head and feet of the black stick man filling his place. In the space where a nameplate should be, Complete Youth was written. On the other side of the room, April picked up the fallen nameplate that said Incomplete Youth and went to stick it back on. The stick man jumped out, leaving April to catch him.

There was a table of teapots that one of the sticks were hiding in. There was a row of cat statues, and April pulled the head off a loose one to catch another stick man. There was a glass, neon-colored bird squirming on the floor when a stick man was trying to ride it, so April pulled it off while Aeincha comforted the bird. There was a black and white painting titled Texture Maze, where April saw a stick man make a subtle movement, exposing himself. After the last few sticks were found among the scribbles, April shoved them all into a Croquis Book in the room's corner. She heard something hit the floor on the other side of the room, discovering that a painting piece fell out of the Insomnia Coffin.

"Look, April!" Aeincha called. The Lilliputian was happily riding the glass neon bird. "He's friendly, now. Isn't he cute?"

April giggled. "He is, isn't he? …Now that I think about it, where's Gonbe?"

"That's a good question." Mocha realized. "He should've been with Aisa, but… she doesn't even have her bag."

"Well, let's go ask her." Aeincha rode her bird outside the room while April carried Mocha.

After finding Aisa in the central room, April asked her, "Aisa, weren't you carrying Gonbe in your bag?"

"I set the bag beside the basement door before we came to look for you guys. It wasn't there when we came back…"

"HOW COULD YOU LEAVE MY PRECIOUS KITTY ALONE? ?" Chimney screamed.

"I didn't know this would happen! Besides, maybe it's good that Gonbe didn't get mixed up in this. We'll meet him as soon as we're out of here."

"Tweet tweet." The bird said.

"What's that, Birdie?" Aeincha asked. "Do you want something?"

"He said he wants to go home." Apis said. "…HEY, I understood him! Even though he's not a real bird…"

"I keep getting more confused." Aisa said.

"Come on, Birdie, you can take me." Aeincha smiled. She rode the bird to a room on the very east side, which seemed to be a very long hallway. The bird gestured Aeincha off, looked at her, and began to walk down the hall in a specific pattern: Forward, Forward, Right, Fore, Fore, Left, Left, Fore, Right, Fore, Fore, Left, Fore, Fore, Right, then straight Forward. The writing on the wall said, The way will be shown to those pure of heart. Aeincha shrugged and proceeded to follow the specific path… She got a little mixed up, so she decided to walk directly forward… the hallway stretched on and on and on and on…

"This is making my brain hurt. Maybe he'll show me again." Aeincha walked out of the room and came back. The bird awaited her and showed… a different path. Just great.

So after about 10 tries, Aeincha finally followed the correct path. The glass bird jumped into a painting at the end of the hallway. He was with his mate in a bird nest. They dropped a painting piece for Aeincha to collect. "Hmhmhm! I'm glad you're happy!" she told the bird.

Ib and Mary had gone up a very long stairwell, their young legs tired after doing so. They passed a narrow hallway and gaped at the terrific sculpture: it was a planetarium of celestial bodies that neither of them knew what planets they were. It was titled Birth of the Copernicus Revolution. "Wooooow! It's outer space!" Mary beamed. "Did Dad- I mean, Guertena go to outer space, too?"

"I don't know… but Mary, look!" Ib pointed at part of the device. "There's a piece!"

"But how do we get up there?" Mary frowned. The girls searched around the room for a possible switch to turn it on. Ib found a cyan key beside a Mistake painting. The minute she picked it up, the painting came to life, so she and Mary hurried out of the room. They returned down the stairs and opened a locked door at the bottom. There was a glass jewel box labeled Jewel Box of Temptation. Mary's eyes sparkled at all the lovely gems it contained. She was about to reach and try to open it…

"Want me treasure?" the box asked. The girls flinched. Ib and Mary exchanged curious and worried glances. "Solve me riddle, then we talk. Mess up, me bite. Which of me treasures weren't there?" He displayed sharp teeth.

The girls gulped frightfully. They studied his treasures of various colors and textures, however they didn't understand the riddle. Which treasures weren't there? …They ran all the way back up to—the Mistake painting came tumbling down the stairs, so they avoided him first. When said painting started to wander the main room, the girls headed up to look at the planetarium. Indeed, the planets matched the colors and designs of the jewels. They rushed downstairs and observed the jewels again. After a few more checks (boy, their legs were tired), they pointed out the orange sun jewel and emerald jewel. "…You smart. Okay. Me treasure yours." The jewel box munch-munch-munched before spitting out a painting piece. It vanished on their touch. "Me so bored… play game with me sometime."

Ib and Mary went back up to the planetarium, but it still wasn't moving. It was then Mary discovered the switch inside the Mistake's canvas, now visible with the painting absent. She flipped the switch, and the spectacular spherical device began moving. When the painting piece rotated at its lowest point, Ib grabbed it. They returned downstairs to see the floor grew more covered with Drinking in the Night's substance.

In the northwest corner of the main room, there was a round canvas beside a door. A single pink flower was drawn against white space in this Beauty of Blanc. "Hm… an experiment in white space, I'm guessing?" April said.

"Feels kind of lazy." Mocha said. "But that glass looks breakable. Hold me closer." April did so, and Mocha used her strength to punch the glass open and grab the flower.

"What can we use it for?"

Mocha looked around for an answer, then her eyes directed up the giant skeleton in the "Tryst After Death" sculpture. "Let me climb up that skeleton!" April carried the mini giant to the skeleton so she could climb up its red king's robe. Mocha clutched the flower tight in her teeth, using every ounce of strength to climb ceaselessly. I sure miss being giant. Finally, she slipped the flower in the skeleton's teeth. A painting piece came out that April grabbed.

"Sigh, I need to rest now." Mocha panted after climbing down.

"You can rest here." April placed Mocha on the Flexible Stone, which was actually softer than it looked. "Hmm… I wouldn't mind resting someplace, too." She thought aloud as she entered the northwest room.

In this room, Apis was skimming the books of a library. "Did you find anything in here?" April asked Apis, who turned to her.

"Not yet, but I'm trying."

"I'm going to take a short nap." April said as she sat against a wall beside a blue curtain. "My feet hurt. Wake me up if something happens."

Apis found a book titled Nobodies, which had a bookmarked page. If a real person trades realities with someone Imaginary, an empty shell will be all that exists of that person. These "Nobodies" are one without true feelings. They have forgotten everything that they once loved. However, that does not mean that what was forgotten is no longer there.

"I wonder if that means… Garry?" Apis thought aloud. She found some old newspaper clippings that said, Eccentric Artists Ahead of Their Time: Who Was Weiss Guertena? "Huh?" Apis gasped when the room's lights started flickering green, pink, and blue. Her heart racing, she ran up to April and shook her. "April, wake up! April!" The 13-year-old was fast asleep. Apis jumped back with a start when the blue curtain fell off the wall, revealing a painting of a guy with an axe.

Apis observed the painting closely. There was a German word in the lower-right that she didn't know. There was also a 3-minute counter above the painting… and its sights were set on April. Rather than try to wake April up again, Apis hurriedly checked the books. A book that was sticking out was titled Entering the Secret Room. She immediately pulled it open. First, look under the stool. She ran to the stool near the door, finding a note stuck to its bottom. Look in the Cubism book. Apis remembered seeing that in the left bookshelves, so she opened it. On the painting's axe. Gulping, Apis went to look at the man's axe. Canvas, it had written. Apis checked the blank canvas in the room's corner—it had something written now. Close your eyes and count to 3.

Apis knew this would be trouble. She sighed and mentally counted, seeing only darkness in her eyelids. One… two… three…

A cord dangled from the ceiling, surprising her. Apis quickly pulled it—she poofed to a new room in the blink of an eye. There was a painting that was constantly scrolling leftward. It depicted a swamp setting, including frogs, fireflies, crows, fish… it was titled Four XXX and XXX Lights, in which the X's were green and yellow respectively. The only green things in the painting were frogs, so Apis typed that code in the panel under the green ball. The "lights" must have been the fireflies, so Apis counted seven different ones before the painting looped. She inputted '7', and she got a painting piece.

But how to exit this room? There were four switches in the corner walls. Tempting fate, Apis pushed a random one… and she was back in the library. "Apis!" April exclaimed, finally awake. The painting's counter had stopped. "Where did you come from?"

"A… secret room?" Apis wasn't sure of herself.

"Really? Must've been really secret. …" She looked at the axeman painting and went to read the word in the corner. "'Peep.' Hmm…" The two left the room to meet the others. "I wonder how—AAAAAAHH!" They fell into a dark abyss the minute they walked out the door. "OW!" They landed on an asteroid of some kind. They found that they were surrounded by endless space, with stars and planets.

"Apriiiiiilll!" Mary called from the distance. The team members had landed on individual asteroids.

"WHAT HAPPENED IN HERE?!" April yelled.

"The Drinking Night thing filled the whole room!" Ib called. "How do we get up?!"

A stairway of stars floated up to a central platform from each of their asteroids. "I guess this is it." The girls all hurried up their stars and reunited in the center, where the "Tryst After Death" also stood. "Wait, where's Mocha?!"

"She's still on that rock!" Aeincha pointed to the Flexible Stone on a lower platform. It seemed the center of that stone had sunk into a hole, and Mocha was in there.

"I'll save you, Mochan!" Chimney unhesitantly jumped down and smashed on the soft stone. "WHOOOA!" Immediately, the stone puffed and propelled her and Mocha back up with the others. The final painting piece came up with them, so April touched it.

"That was the last one!" Aisa pointed excitedly. "Look!"

A stairway led up to the painting on the center of the wall. The twelve pieces formed the left side of a white-coated figure holding a paintbrush with green paint. The girls jogged up, and April read the nameplate. "'Guertena'?"

"Really?" Apis gaped. "THAT'S Guertena?"

"But I heard he didn't make self-portraits." April said. "When did he make this?"

"Father…" Mary spoke lowly.

The room shook, and a staircase led directly up into the painting itself. Their undying curiosity only grew. They stepped into the painting. (End song.)

A wide, black stairwell led up to a large, quiet room of the same dark color. It brought them to a diamond bed that April and Ib recognized. "This is where I found Ib…" April said. On the other side of the fence, they could read the nameplate: Final Stage.

The room trembled just then. The black bed moved to the right, unveiling another staircase. Blue shoeprints were facing it. The girls exchanged wondrous expressions and marched down. The passage was very dark, but it was short before they reached a door. April turned the knob and entered first. This room had canvases, stools, mannequin statues, and slanted paintings hanging around the walls. "Hehehehehehe…" They turned left. Garry was giggling giddily, scratching a rabbit's tummy with his finger. "Who's a happy kitty, who's a happy kittyyyyy…"

"Gyyyyyyooooooom…" Gonbe felt like he was in Heaven.

"GONBE-CHAN!" Chimney dashed over and punched the man away, grabbing her rabbit. "WHO SAID YOU COULD TOUCH MY PRECIOUS NEKO?!"

"Is that Japanese for 'bunny'?" Mary asked.

"No, Mary, she…" April was too lost in thought to explain to her. "Aisa, look! Your bag!" She pointed at a satchel a few feet away. A cyan rose was sticking out of it, likely Gonbe's.

"Ahh… So nice to have guests in my humble home."

They whipped their attention to the center. They were facing the back of a man with lavender hair (lighter and smoother than Garry's), and a white coat, painting a canvas with his left hand. "Nnn? Who are you?" Chimney asked quizzically.

"It… can't be…" April stared in awe and wonder. The painting they had just entered…

"April… Mary… It's me." The man turned around on his stool. He had narrowed golden eyes on his sharp face. "It's…"

"Father…" Mary's blue eyes welled with tears.

"Mary…" He held his arms open. "Hello, Dear."

She immediately ran up and grabbed her father in a hug. Her tears soaked his leather white coat. He softly patted her back with his left hand. The W7 members found it both heartwarming and amazing… The artist they had never heard of, the one who made everything here… was in the flesh. And he looked so young…

Mary pulled her face away and looked up at him with a smile. "Father… I thought you were gone. And… I wondered… where you were… I thought you forgot about me…"

"Mary… I never forgot about you. Those lasts years of my life were dedicated to you… and your creation. I wanted nothing more… than to set you free… Allow you to live and breathe… like a real person… So I did."

"You did?"

"I was ill, Mary. I was old and feeble. My greatest regret was that I could not watch you live the life that I wanted for you. I feared the life I wanted for you could not come into place. Just after I had finished painting you… I had a heart-attack. The doctors were able to heal me, but I knew I was not long. I told them that I wanted to live my last days inside my treasured gallery, where they had already framed and placed your portrait. I entered my Fabricated World and plucked the petals off of my own rose. I sacrificed my reality… for you, Mary."

"Do you mean… I could've left whenever I wanted…" The idea was unbelievably shocking to Mary.

"Mary…" Ib spoke softly, thinking back on all the drama Mary had been through, and what she put them through. To think that none of it mattered… Mary must've felt so guilty…

"I'm sorry, Mary." Guertena bowed, still smiling. "I had assumed the other creations would have told you. I guess they could not bear to let their Mary go."

"So when Mary killed Garry… that meant two people were sacrificed." April looked at her hand. "I stole Garry's reality… and Mary took-"

"Wait a second!" Aisa spoke up. "April was thrown outside the painting first, so SHE took Guertena's reality, and Mary took Garry's!"

"That doesn't make sense, either," Apis said, "because how come Ib's life was replaced by Mary—in fact, why wasn't Guertena forgotten?!"

The artist in question chuckled. "I have created a very complex world, haven't I? My children, I am a Worldbuilder. While average people can only create a single Imaginary Friend, those with once-in-a-million talent and vision can create an entire fictional realm. Such a realm is bound by the rules the artist creates. Anyone who is trapped here is forgotten by the outside, except myself. This way… I could know immortality. Imaginary or deceased, Weiss Guertena would live forever."

"But, Father… wouldn't that mean I would've been forgotten, too?" Mary asked with hurt in her voice.

"I know, Mary… An artist always has his flaws. But you escaped. You and April knew freedom. It was only six years ago when this Nobody of mine materialized. The creations lay my body to sleep on my deathbed, awaiting the day it would arise as one of their own. Hm, how unfortunate that Miss Ib chose to sleep on it, just after I arose from slumber."

Ib clenched her fists and bit her lip. The memories of her pain on that dark bed haunted her.

"I have enjoyed Garry's company very much. He's very delightful. And what a riveting bunch you girls have been, ever since arriving here. What marvelous paintings you will make."

"Excuse me?" Aeincha perked up.

"Father, what are you saying?" Mary asked.

"True, I originally wanted Mary to have freedom… but as I sit here, continuing my art, for hours without end… I have never known greater solace. Surrounded by all things that I love, forever. My own personal Spirit World, with nothing to concern me. Deeply have I missed Mary's company. But that no longer matters… because I knew she would return to me, with more new subjects like Master Garry and Miss Ib."

"You mean you're planning to trap us here?!" Mocha shouted.

"'Trap'? My dears, you'll feel like home here. Look at yourselves, you're walking pieces of art already! A large-mouthed human, two talking dolls, a life-size animated doll, a winged human, and an oddly-dressed priestess…" The girls each narrowed their eyes at their remark. "Visitors will be lining up all over to see you."

"If you want, you can use the nicknames I gave 'em all." Chimney noted.

"But I thought we couldn't become paintings unless other paintings took our place." Aisa stated.

"Precisely. Which is why these ladies are lining up to seize the chance."

The girls realized they were surrounded by Canvas Ladies and headless statues. Their venomous looks were the same. "They will enter the real world and bring more visitors to my gallery. Children will wander in my world, and the ones that are distinguishably 'special' in appearance will be trapped here. Reality will become art, and my art will become reality! The legend of Guertena will be one that never vanishes!"

"But… Father…" Mary's eyes trembled. "Those people don't belong here… they belong in the real world. They have friends… and family… and they…" She turned around. Ib was staring at her with the same look in her red eyes. "…They don't deserve to live here… This place is… dark and… scary… And we shouldn't let what happened to Garry happen to anyone else."

"Is that so… Mary?" Guertena smirked. "You had no qualms about that before… Will you really sacrifice what you have in that world… to return here?"

"…" Mary clutched her heart. Her real heart, that contained a real soul. A soul that was not fabricated. "Yes… I would. Garry… deserves to be free."

"Mary…" Ib spoke.

"Hm… I see." The artist's eyes narrowed. "Then I must become rash." The room suddenly shook as he stood. "I must make you realize the power of art… to its full potential." (Play "The Encounter" from Kingdom Hearts II!)

They felt the floor sink downwards and the walls and ceiling move away. They gazed up in the crayon-drawn, starry sky, with the sun, the moon, all the crayon designs from Pandora's Box. Weiss Guertena's self-portrait hung in the sky, just above the artist's floating platform. The artist happily drew on a canvas, and more headless statues, Canvas Ladies, and mannequin heads appeared. A swarm of zombie dolls came down, and a familiar blank canvas floated above them: the Red Eyes climbed out as the giant, hideous doll snarled at its prey.

April clutched her paintbrush and palette, showing no fear. "You're a century out of date, Guertena. You're dealing with a new generation of artists. Right, Mary?"

Mary narrowed her eyes, grabbing her crayons. "Yeah…"

Boss fight: Weiss Guertena

When Guertena drew a black line on his canvas, a black line stretched across the battlefield, and claws reached out of them as they attempted to grab the girls. They jumped back as Chimney used her rapid kicking to fight them, but the claws clasped her legs and tried to scratch. April saw a canvas nearby, so she dipped her brush in pink paint and swiped a line across the paper, making a pink paint strip cut through part of the claws. "Hey, it works!"

"Good!" Chimney escaped and began to punch away the Canvas Ladies. "Draw fire over all these freaks and burn them!"

"It won't work if he's doing it, too. I'll go up there to stop him, you guys focus on these monsters. Mary, can you draw on these, too?"

"Uh-huh!" Mary danced over to a canvas and swiped yellow crayons across, making yellow strips appear over the field to shock the statues and Canvas Ladies that were on them. April rushed across the field, nimbly evading the red stick figures and slashing red paint on the floor for them to attack. "Hehehehehehehehe!" She found Garry in her path, raising a palette knife. "Don't go over there, stay here! I wanna play with you… AAAAH!" Ib jumped from the side and grabbed her arms and legs around him.

"Go on, April! I'll hold back Garry!"

April nodded and ran around them. Still cackling, Garry grabbed and threw Ib on the floor. "Garry, snap out of it! Don't you remember anything?"

"HEEHEEHEEHEE!" Garry stabbed down, but Ib rolled out of the way and got to her feet.

"Garry, I know you're in there somewhere! I know you're not REALLY trying to hurt me!"

"Garry, who's Garry?, you're Garry, I'M Garry!" he cheered perkily. "Would you like some dairy?" :3 He held a glass of milk up.

"Uh…sure?"

Garry was smiling kindly—then he made that angry anime face where his teeth turn sharp. "WELL THAT'S GOOD, 'CAUSE MY DAIRY WOULD LIKE SOME O' YOU!" He smashed the milk on the floor, letting a puddle of white spread out. Ib fell in the white and grabbed hold of the ledge that still remained. Garry was grinning devilishly as he began to stomp and grind his shoes on Ib's fingers.

Chimney kicked away Canvas Ladies while Mocha was punching the zombie dolls, thankful to be the right size to beat them. "Hey, Gonbe, is all our stuff still in that bag?" Aisa asked.

"Gyooom-gyom!" He saluted.

"Great! We can give Mocha a red apple and make her giant again!"

"Sounds like a plan," Mocha panted, punching the dolls one at a time, "because I'm tired of Tiny Style!"

"At least you're nicer to the ears." Aeincha stared at her.

Apis ran to try and grab the satchel- "HAH!" A Canvas Lady popped up from the abyss and took it. She was taller than the others, with a pink dress, pretty blue eyes, and orange hair. "It's my Big Big Sis!" Mary gasped. "Elizabeth!"

"WHOA!" Apis dodged when Elizabeth slashed a lizard tongue at her. "Mary, you have a weird family!" She kept dodging, and Elizabeth held the satchel beyond her reach.

April used the nearby canvases to draw red spots so that Guertena was forced to connect his black lines to them. April stopped at a central canvas close to Guertena's platform. She combined black paint and white paint to make gray, drawing a spring on the canvas. "Here goes!" April jumped—a spring propelled her high into the sky, and she landed behind Guertena on his platform.

"April… so nice of you to join me." He smiled at her. "Isn't art simply grand? Why don't you join me here? You can draw with me forever."

"The atmosphere isn't right for me. Afraid I'll have to decline."

"But now that you know the truth behind your existence, do you plan to leave Mary here? Because it's plainly obvious I don't intend to go."

"I do plan to leave with my friends… but I won't abandon Mary. We WILL find a way for her to leave, too! For now, we can only make sure she doesn't have to deal with you!" She ran to throw a punch, but Guertena whipped his paintbrush in front of her and blocked with a blue paint shield.

"I am the artist here. What I create becomes reality in this world. No matter if I am real or Imaginary." He drew a downpour of small rocks, and April dodged when said downpour appeared over her.

"My art still kicks more butt than yours." April dipped blue paint on her right fist, using her enhanced strength to punch Guertena's shield. She was able to break through, grab the artist by the neck collar, and hurl him overhead to slam him on the floor. Guertena jumped away, swiftly painted a punching glove into being, and sent her flying off the platform and over the chasm. "AAAAHH!"

"APRIL!" Mary danced over to a canvas and swiped some diagonal blue crayon, making an ice slide appear to bring April back to the battlefield. "Thanks, Mary! …Oh no, Ib!"

"AAAAH!" Ib poured all her willpower into holding the ledge, despite the weight of Garry's shoes on her fingers.

"When do the bones break, tell me that, I wanna hear them crack, hehehehehe!" Garry giggled.

"IB!" Mary slashed her gray crayons and knocked Garry away with their force. She and April helped Ib back up onto the ground.

"Thanks, you guys." she told them. Garry cackled, and the three looked over to see him recover.

"That just hurt, it was from a squirt!" Garry sang. "Squirt just hurt! Hurt and squirt."

Ib ran up to him again. "Come on, Garry, come to your senses! Stop acting stupid! What's wrong with you?"

"I…I'm sorry." Garry spoke and looked guiltily. "…NoI'mnot! HEEHEEHEEHEEEEE! TAKE THIS!" He chucked a mannequin head that grabbed Ib's hair in its teeth. Mary came to punch it off, but Garry threw more heads that bit them all around.

"NNNYY!" Chimney flew over and powerfully punched and kicked the heads, letting them all shatter. "I'm used to smashing these things. Give me all ya got!"

Garry snapped his fingers, and a swarm of mannequins floated from under the edge. "Oh no." They were all sent at Chimney, who used her rapid speed to break every single one.

Mocha was still punching zombie dolls with single punches, their red paint flying everywhere. The giant was growing more tired, so Aisa picked her up to kick dolls away herself. "YAAAAH!" Aeincha was riding Gonbe as the headless statues chased her, and once they were far enough away, Gonbe ran back to jump, kick Aeincha in the air, and the Lilliputian threw her grappling hook into a red one's head hole. She swung around and kicked off the chest of a green one, flying around the red one's back and flying up in the air.

She landed in the red statue's head hole, ducking inside to dodge its hands. "You know, how is it that you have better sight than the Mistake guys?" She ducked another grab. "Doesn't matter, you're still clueless, I guess." The other statues were "glaring" at her, so Aeincha jumped to the yellow one, and when the blue tried to grab, he stumbled and knocked both of them down, then Aeincha jumped off Blue's head to land on Green. Red whirled its fist, ready to punch, Green gestured 'No!', but Red punched and knocked her out, and Aeincha jumped over to Red.

April was going to make another spring on the middle canvas, but Guertena drew claws under it as they pulled the board into their darkness. Weiss drew more claws at her, but April dodged to another canvas to cancel them with pink paint. She dipped her brush in blue paint and painted a stairway that winded right, creating some stairs that led up to Guertena. The artist created a giant axe to chop the end of the stairs—April thought fast and jumped the gap to land on his platform. She painted blue on her fist again and ran to punch him, but- "Huh?" the man broke into papers.

"Paper Art." Guertena was perched on a higher platform, folding paper into birds and painting brown feathers and yellow beaks on them. April slashed white paint on them to disable the papers, and using the canvas on this platform, she drew a spring pad. It propelled her skyward, and she landed on Guertena's platform, stomping the paper dolls with knives that he created. She threw her blue-painted fist at him, but Guertena dodged so she would punch his canvas.

"AAAAH!" Her friends below screamed when a crater exploded in the ground.

Before April could recompose, Guertena painted a black hole under her feet. "WHOA!" She fell in and grabbed the edges.

"Don't bother." Guertena created a weight that smashed on April's face, forcing her down the hole and on the lower battlefield.

"APRIL!" ("Gyom-gyom!") Her friends screamed.

"OOOOW… agh!" Blood was drastically spilling out of April's nose and other cuts on her face. "It hurts… OW… aaah!…" The petals of her rose were quickly falling.

"April has hemophilia!" Mary yelled. "We gotta do something!"

"Hemo-whaty-what? What's that mean?" Chimney asked.

"It means that she bleeds easy." Apis answered. "We gotta find a vase somewhere!"

Chimney saw a gray vase not far from her position. "I'll save her!" Chimney kicked the mannequin heads and dodged over to April to grab her pink rose. She stylishly jumped over to the vase to put it in. The petals reappeared and April's bleeding stopped.

"Phew… Thanks, Chimney." April helped herself up. "…Chimney, behind you!"

"Mmm? AAH!" The Red Eyes was standing over Chimney, hissing at her with glowing eyes and mouth of the same color.

Apis dodged Elizabeth's right hand while she held the satchel up with her left. "Apis!" She looked over, gasping when a red headless statue charged over to the large Canvas Lady like a football player. However, the red statue had Aeincha's tiny head on its top, the Lilliputian controlling it. The statue leaped and grabbed the large lady's face, Elizabeth shaking and flailing her arms. Apis seized the chance to jump and grab the satchel. She dug around in it and grabbed a red apple. "MOCHA, CATCH!" She threw it.

Aisa caught the apple, put Mocha on the floor, and gave her the fruit. The black-haired girl happily munched it: she grew slightly bigger, allowing her to take more bites, and before long she was her powerful giant size. The Red Eyes was trying to drain the soul out of Chimney, but the demonic doll was no threat from the giant's perspective. "Hey, Ugly!" Red Eyes turned with a hiss, gasping in surprise. Mocha balled her right fist and turned it Armament. "Pick on someone your own size!" She swung her fist, and blood flew out of Red Eyes' nostrils as the giant zombie fell into the abyss.

"AAAAH!" Elizabeth grabbed Mocha from behind and began to choke the giant. "Let me go! Stop it! AAAAH!"

"Hang on, Mocha!" Apis hurried over and jumped to grab Elizabeth's hair. The monstrous lady shook her head and swung her long hair, but the Arceist kept a firm grip.

"Keep that up, Apis!" Aisa ran over and pulled a Dial out of her satchel. "She's about to get a bad hair day!" She aimed the conch-shell and blasted fire from it in the same fashion as a S.P.I.C.E.R.. When Apis swung back to her, the fire burned off Elizabeth's hair as Apis landed safely on the field. "UUUUAAAAAAHHHHHHH!" Elizabeth released Mocha and crawled around helplessly, making an earsplitting screech. When she began rolling on the floor, Aisa hurried up, aimed an Impact Dial, and BLASTED the canvas in the face. Elizabeth's fabricated face was dented like a crater, and the Canvas Lady fell dead.

"HAHA!" Apis and Aisa high-fived.

Guertena chuckled softly. "Water Color." He dipped his brush in water and painted from the bottom of his canvas. The girls screamed when the battlefield suddenly flooded, in which the girls except for Chimney were unable to swim. Said girl quickly swam up to Guertena's platform to do a Torpedo Spin, but Guertena created a shield to protect himself from her rage. He then painted two sharks to chase the part-mermaid.

Still holding her breath, April grabbed a paintbrush and tried to draw on a floating canvas, but her paint was floating everywhere like mist. "It is forbidden to damage the displays in my gallery." Guertena stated. "And I do not appreciate my art being tarnished. You ladies are going to learn the hard way, the power of the one and only Guertena."

A thought sparked in April's head. Wait! If I stole Guertena's reality… then that means I took his place in the real world. Er, doesn't it? I mean, I ended up being Galdino's daughter, but…but I wonder if I can… She grabbed her brush and whirled it in a circle over her, creating an air bubble. "I CAN!"

"What?!" Guertena gasped. April mixed gray paint together and drew a drain on the floor. The water flowed away, allowing her friends to breathe.

April raised her brush proudly. "I am the reincarnation of Weiss Guertena!" She painted jetpacks on her back and joyfully flew skyward to land on the artist's platform. Guertena drew a black archway on his canvas, making a dark portal appear overhead as claws reached out to grab April. April painted firecrackers and lit them with painted fire, making them fly and explore on the hands. Guertena swung a painted wrecking ball from his hand, hitting April in the chest and knocking her back over the edge. Mocha caught her friend before she hit the ground, but they looked and realized painted spikes were appearing around them. Mocha winced from the pain in her feet, but April painted wings on herself to fly. She swooped across the field to paint a midair extra floor for all of them to jump on.

"HEEHEEEE!" Garry jumped onto this extra floor, as did Ib and Mary. The latter drew orange crayon on Garry's coat, but the man embraced the heat and began to swing his flaming coat around the air. Ib dodged when Garry swung it at her, going behind the man to kick his legs and knock him down. Mary painted ice-blue crayon on his T-shirt, so to soothe the coldness, Garry put his flaming coat back on. He spun like a top with his knife outstretched, attempting to slice the girls. Mary raised her own knife in defense, but it was flung out of her hand, falling to the abyss. Garry stopped, grinning hysterically before punching Mary to the floor.

He raised his knife to stab the girl, but Ib jumped and grabbed his arm from behind. "Garry, please stop! Please! I'm trying to help you! I want you to come home with me!"

"HA HAAAAA!" Garry whirled and threw her off. "Garry's gone, Garry's GOOOOONE!" He stabbed down, but Ib dodged back and stood up.

"No he's not! I know he's still in there! You tried to protect me, Garry, you wouldn't let me get hurt."

"Nope!" He spoke perkily. "No Garry! Never ever! Garry died, you cried, no one cares if you survive! Speaking of which, I prefer if you DON'T!"

Ib gritted her teeth in anger. She looked at the edge of the starry abyss, then faced him seriously, "Yes you do. You DO care if I survive. And I'll prove it!"

"IB, NO!" Mary cried when the brown-haired Goldenweek girl ran and jumped into the abyss.

"IB!" Garry cried frowning—wait a minute. Garry's head was burning with thoughts… That can't be right, Garry hadn't thought in six years. As a matter of fact, he wasn't Garry! Who was Garry? There was no Garry. No… he… Garry… Ib… Mary… Garry… Mary… Ib… Garry…. Garry… …Yes… he remembered… he… was Garry Lincoln… (Pause song.)

His father was an African-French man named Avery, and his mom was a German woman named Gabriele. They had him when they were 18 years old. His 11-year-old aunt, Abby got him to join the Kids Next Door when he was six. Numbuh 362 approved his admission, but after her resignation, he served under Numbuh 363. On his 13th birthday, he became a TND spy. When Abby had her first son, Hoagie III, Garry heard that he joined the Kids Next Door. Then when Garry was on a break from spying, he visited the Guertena Gallery in his hometown. He got trapped in the cursed gallery, and that's where he met…

"IIIIIIB!" Garry jumped over the edge, trying to force himself to fall faster and catch the child. Seeing him falling after her, like the Garry she knew and loved, tears flew out of Ib's eyes, reaching up for him.

"Mind if I lend a hand?" April swooped down with her painted wings and grabbed Ib, shooting straight up and grabbing Garry on the way. She set both of them on the floor, where Mary ran up to them.

"Ib…" Garry got up on his knees and faced down at the red-eyed girl.

"Garry…" Her eyes were still tearing.

"Ib… What on Earth were you doing? And… where am I…" He looked around.

"GARRYYYYY!" She grabbed him in the tightest hug she ever gave somebody.

"M-My… Ib… Did something happen? What have I… been doing all this time…"

Ib was crying, pressing her face to his shirt. "You… weren't doing anything, Garry! You were just… having a nightmare…"

"…Ib…" Garry smiled and softly touched Ib's back. What had this child been through during his absence… He was so glad to see her again.

"…Garry, you're hurt!" She noticed the cut across his shirt that Mary cut earlier.

"Oh…hehe, it doesn't feel painful." Garry blushed. "I'm not even… bleeding… Huh?"

Ib smiled and held her lace handkerchief up. "Use this."

"Ib, I told you, I'm not-…" He couldn't resist a favor with that adorable smile. "But… I'll hold onto it." Garry took the handkerchief.

April smiled at their beautiful moment, floating with her wings. "AAAH!" (Resume song.) A bladed whip lashed down and sliced her wings.

"So what if you snapped him back to normal!" Guertena proclaimed, flying with dark demonic wings. "You'll become just as mad as he did when I'm through!" He flew at them like a rocket, but April painted a hole in their new ground and caused him to smash headfirst against the spikes below. She painted blue paint over her arms, increasing her strength tenfold as she threw furious punches at him. She grabbed his wings and yanked them off, but Guertena was still on his feet, spinning around and painting dark circles on the floor. Whirlpools spawned in those areas to suck them all inside.

April mixed orange paint on her soles to make rocket shoes, flying up and drawing a giant vacuum to suck all her friends into safety. She flew up, set the vacuum on the high platform, then painted a crossbow to shoot at Guertena. The artist drew two mirrors to bounce her arrows back and knock the bow out of her hand, then he leaped, grabbed April's leg, and spun midair to throw her to the field. He painted himself a slide to slide back onto the field and shove April toward the edge. She regained her balance and slashed red paint around the floor to distract him. She ran away to catch her breath, exhausted from the blue paint she used.

"Ib, Mary, just what is going on here, anyway?" Garry asked as they watched the fight transpire.

"It turns out, Guertena made himself a painting, too." Aisa explained. "And after Mary killed you, she and her doll, April took both of your places… Er, technically Mary took Ib's place—I really don't understand how this works…"

"Wait… so that girl is the doll that Mary had?"

"She is…" Mary replied. "I think that's why she bleeds easily, 'cause I stuffed my dolls with red paint that falls out a lot."

"That explains why April don't wanna fight me." Chimney realized.

"But don't you think we should help her?" Mocha asked.

"Nah. They're both artists. It's fate or something."

Guertena began to paint bombs around the field, blowing off individual parts. April painted wings on her back again to fly, but Guertena did the same with his black painted wings. He slashed gray paint droplets from his brush, which morphed into axes that April frightfully dodged. Guertena rammed her with a headbutt, but April recomposed and painted blue on her legs and wings. She flew faster, zipping above Guertena to land a powerful kick, and the artist hurled painted spears that slashed the top edges of her wings. April winced and panted as she looked up… Guertena's painting was floating in the sky.

"Just what are you thinking about?" Guertena asked, flying at her again, but April dodged and flew to her friends.

"Mary, did you bring the lighter?!"

"Oh!" She shuffled around her pocket and got it out. "Here!" She tossed it to April.

"What are you doing?!" Guertena panicked.

April faced him with a cold stare, flicking the candle on. "Your art's about to light up the night sky."

"NOOOOOO!"

April soared to the painting with increasing speed, set on nothing more than to burn it where it floats. With pure gusto, she swung the lighter at the painting… it phased through. "Huh?!"

"HA HA HA HA HAAAAAA!" Guertena laughed. "Did you forget?! I created this world! It runs by my rules! And according to my rules, MY PAINTING can't be burned!"

"That's unfair!" Chimney shouted. ("Gyom-gyom!")

"But I can't say the same for your friends!" Guertena created orange paint meteors that were falling to the girls' platform.

April sparked with an idea. "But I know a painting that can be…" She soared down, shoving Guertena away, and created a barrier to block all the meteors. "Everybody, in the vacuum!" She used the giant paint vacuum to suck them all in again. With that, she carried them all up and flew into Guertena's painting.

"Where are you going now?!" Guertena chased her.

They were back in the Black Area, and April released her friends before they all dashed up the stairs. Guertena chased them all the way up, and seeing him coming, Mary drew blue crayon on the floor to make him slip. Guertena gasped when Garry ran and tackled him all the way back down. With a force of power, Guertena blew him off and rushed up even faster. "RUN, IB!" Garry called.

"Let's go!" Mary grabbed her friend and ran after the others.

The stairs finally brought them back to the main gallery—or rather, the replica of the main gallery. Guertena chased the kids up to the second floor, past "Death of the Individual" and "Reserved Seat," before finally catching them beside the Fabricated World mural. "Think you girls are going to escape- HUH?!"

April was holding the lit lighter to the giant mural. "One more step and I'll destroy this entire world. The legacy of Guertena will be gone forever."

"You'd destroy yourselves!"

April smirked, not taking her hand away. "At least no one'll be sad about us."

"AAAUGH!" With cheetah-like speed, Guertena dashed at April, tackling her as the lighter was flown away, off.

April grinned deviously. "Caught ya."

The artist realized her arms were painted blue, and with her enhanced strength, she forced him to the floor and threw punches at his face. Guertena smacked her off, April backed toward the mural, then grabbed the man's wrists when he lunged at her.

Ib and Mary watched as the canvas around the mural vanished: the portal to the real world was open. The two exchanged serious nods. April looked around Guertena at them, giving a wink. Ib and Mary ran and grabbed his legs, April fell and kicked her foot up at his stomach, and once the man was propelled, the two shoved him inside the mural. Guertena recovered with surprise, but April jumped in the mural and punched him in the face, sending him all the way back into the portal. (End song.)

April climbed down to her friends to catch her breath. "I shouldn't be using so much blue paint…"

"He's gonna come back, isn't he?!" Mocha balled her fists. "Move, we gotta be ready!"

"No…" Mary spoke grimly, staring at the mural. "I think it's over…"

Real world

Guertena tumbled out of the painting. He got back up on his feet, rubbing his head. "Where… am I…" He hadn't seen the other side in so long. It was completely foreign to him. And yet, it felt so… familiar. It felt so… marvelous. "Hn hn hn… I'm back." He spoke softly. "The real world… after so many years. I wonder how things have changed."

Guertena looked around. Almost all his paintings, sculptures, at display in this gallery. The gallery dedicated to him… the legendary artist. "Imagine when they see… the true Guertena. I'll bring so many customers… more will fall into the Fabricated World. They'll be part of my… genius." He excitedly explored the gallery. But something wasn't right. "Where is everyone? It can't be closed now, can it? Hm, no matter." He chuckled softly. "Outside, there's sure to be…"

He headed for the front door. For the first time in over a century, fresh air, city streets, sky and clouds. People… He giddily walked over to the front door, grabbed its handles, turned… It wouldn't open. "What?" He twisted and pushed, but the doors wouldn't budge. "That's strange." He walked over to the twin windows. The moment he tried to view out into darkness, red paint leaked out from the top. "What?"

Writing appeared on the wall. Father, come back. In the distance of the vacant halls, footsteps sounded. Must be his imagination. However, he grew slightly nervous and decided to roam the halls for another way. The lights dimmed so the white halls became a dark-gray. You don't belong here. "Hello?" He looked every direction as he roamed. The paintings and sculptures hung where they always have. He returned to the room with the Fabricated World mural. Blue paint leaked from it. It's too late.

Its glass frame kept it sealed, so Guertena searched and searched. The lights were growing darker by the minute, it got harder to see. "Whoever you are, come out!" He stated, whipping out a palette knife.

Your heart is fabricated. You are one of us. Guertena's heart was racing. Blue paint filled the floor, dropping from who-knows-where. He ran back downstairs, finding the "Abyss of the Deep" smeared. The painting "A Well-Meaning Hell" had turned into "Tones of the Dark Gallery." He ran into the room where stood the Embodiment of Spirit: the huge red rose was black, the petals dropping. Panting frightfully, the distant footsteps growing louder, he returned to the lobby. A poster of his body hung above the desk. He looked in the pamphlet, it read Bad man, bad man. You know what you are.

He was afraid, the lights were nearly black, he wanted to escape. He rushed to the door, seeing with whatever vision remained, desperately trying to pry it open. No escape. Jiggle jiggle jiggle, that's all he did to the doorknob, and he bash bash bashed the door. It wouldn't open, it was glued. Come back to us. He started crying, pouring his emotion to his strength, trying to open the door, it paid no contribution. Stay forever. With your children. The gallery was pitch-black, the footsteps grew closer, faster, fiercer. He sank to his knees, and his wails and the footsteps were the only sound. The only existence. There was no color, there was no light, there was no life. He was alone…alone in eternal darkness, infinity. "Sniff… no… no!… huff, huff… no…" No one would ever hear his pleas or pat his shoulders. He was nothing.

ENDING: The End of a Legend

Fabricated World

Sector W7, Ib, Mary, and Garry stared at the Fabricated World painting. "So is he… in the real world now?" Apis asked.

"No… at least, not for long." Mary replied. "When my dad made himself a painting, he became bound by the rules of his own world. If nobody from the real world was sacrificed in here, then he couldn't exist in their world. He was bound to fade away minutes after stepping out."

"So he's gone, huh…" Ib said solemnly.

"But… I still can't believe Father was like that." Mary said sadly. "I thought he was… so nice… Why was he…"

"I read a book about 'Nobodies' back there." Apis mentioned. "It's what happens to a person after they lose their reality. They forget what they really loved. …Of course, Guertena loved art, so… who's to really say that wasn't how he was like. …Not like Garry."

Mary looked at the man in question, who had caught up to them. She frowned regretfully, her head hanging down. "Ib, Garry… I'm sorry. All I wanted was to know what it felt like to be real. I wanted to escape into the real world, see the beautiful sky, the sea, make real friends… but I was wrong to." Tears dripped from her eyes. "Your existence gets replaced entirely when we take your place. All the friends you had forget you, they get replaced with a phony person and phony memories. But it isn't right. I don't deserve to steal someone else's life. Ib and Garry… you're the real humans. You belong in that world. I hope that, sniff… I hope that you can forgive me!" She sank to her knees and wiped her sleeve over her eyes.

Ib smiled warmly and touched Mary's shoulder. "It's alright, Mary… I understand. I felt so miserable the whole time I was here. I got lost, I didn't have Garry or my parents… Despite everything that's happened, I'm glad you got the chance to leave. You and April deserved to be free."

"No…" Mary stood up, "I don't. April deserves to be free. She has tons of friends who love her. She's a million times more happy with them than she is with me. Since she already took Dad's reality, she needs to go back. But Ib… you and Garry were our first friends from the outside. You were the best I ever had. I don't think I could live with myself, knowing you were still trapped here. Since Ib still has her rose, she can leave. And Garry…" Mary held up her yellow rose, "you can escape, too. I'll sacrifice my life so you can become real again. Your friends, family… Everyone that cared about you will remember you again."

"Mary… you would really do that for me?" Garry asked.

"Of course I would." Mary forced a grin. "You're my friend, Garry. All of you are. You deserve to have loads of friends who love you. I don't deserve it. I've always been the bad sister… the crazy one… I never really paid attention to those books about friendship… but now I realize you should always think about their well-being… know what they really need. Ib… Garry… you need to go back. Take back the lives that…that're yours."

"I won't do that, Mary." Ib stated determinedly. "I'll stay here with you. I'll find another way for us to leave together."

"Hm hm… you were always so nice to me. I wish I could've developed a real soul like April did… but I guess we can't always have everything. Ib… Garry… April…" she turned to the others, "Chimney… Thanks for being friends with someone like me. I'll always miss you." As tears fell past the curves of her smile, Mary grabbed the petals of her rose.

"MARY, NO!" Ib tried to stop her, but Mary jumped away and decapitated the rose. Mary gave a final breath and fell. Ib kneeled beside her, tears leaking. Garry and Sector W7 held their tears. Chimney couldn't believe it. After all her jokes about wanting Mary to die… she was dead before her. And Chimney didn't want it. As annoying as Mary was… she never deserved a fate like this. A part of her wished they could've played with her more.

Ib's tears soaked the green of Mary's dress. "Good-bye, Mary… sniff…"

April sniffled and cried, looking at Mary's body. Mary, the one who literally gave her life. The one who brought April to the real world, where she met all her friends. "Mary… I'll never forget you."

After Apis made a prayer to Arceus for Mary's soul, she turned to face the Fabricated World. "Well… I guess it's time to go back."

"Do you need a hand, Ib?" Garry asked the child politely.

Ib smiled. "Okay, Garry." The 20-year-old lifted her and jumped into the mural, finally free to breathe the real world.

"Well… let's go, too." Mocha said, stepping in simply.

"You got it." Chimney carried Aeincha in, then she helped up Apis, who helped Aisa, who helped Gonbe. "April, come on! Whatchu waiting for??"

April stared at Mary's fallen body. Her face bore its usual tonelessness. "April, what're you doing?" Apis yelled.

April reached into Mary's pocket and took out her crayons and sketchbook. She quickly scribbled Mary's image onto a page, and labeled Mary's name in yellow. "Just making a note. Okay, I'm coming."

She grabbed Chimney's hand and was helped into the mural. She turned to stare at Mary's body for the last few seconds. She passed her cousin and sister a smile before the mural warped them.

Real world

April couldn't remember what she was doing. They had just entered the Guertena Gallery… and Apis thinks there might be a Gibberish Rock in the basement. She looked at her wristwatch. 12:42pm. Not even an hour had passed since they entered. She turned and walked toward the Reserved Seat sculpture. The Yu-Gi-Oh card the boy had dropped earlier was still there. April reached down to pick it up. It was the Dark Magician.

April decided to put it in her pocket—she felt something else. She pulled out a small sketchbook. It had a crayon drawing of a yellow-haired girl with blue eyes and a green dress, labeled MARY. "Mary?…" she spoke confusedly.

April's wristwatch rang, and Apis spoke. "April, where are you? Aeincha got the door open, so we're all gonna look inside. Wanna join us?"

"Oh. Okay." April headed downstairs and found her friends beside a hallway corner. Aeincha and the shrunken Mocha were held in Ib Goldenweek's hands, April's cousin whom they came with. The lot of them looked down the dark stairwell. April went down first.

The basement had many paintings and sculptures down below, most of which were likely gathering dust. April's vision fell on one painting on the wall: it depicted the very same girl April had a drawing of: MARY. She gasped—images of dark hallways, living paintings, mannequin heads, all flashed in her mind. "MARY!" April shouted, about to reach up and touch… She stopped herself. She looked back at her friends, wondering if they remembered. …They were gazing longingly at it as well. "Do you guys… remember?"

"…We do." Ib said, her expression solemn. The other girls nodded.

April faced the painting again. Mary was depicted with tears, passing the curves of her smile. April softly touched the frame. The image forced her to cry as well. "Mary… I'm sorry." April wiped her tears away. "We will find a way… We will…" (Play "The First Mask" from Rayman 2!)

However, touching the painting loosened it from its perch—April quickly grabbed it before it fell, then leaned it against the wall. …They looked up at where it was hung: a secret door was there. April turned the nob and climbed inside, her friends following.

They discovered a secret chamber filled with dust. It was relatively small, but tall enough to fit an altar with a short stairway. Atop this altar sat a Gibberish Rock. April stared transfixed at the stone. She walked up slowly and stood before it. The Dark Magician card in her hand glowed before floating into it. The cube's glowing blue energy flew into April. The feeling inside her was so mysterious, she wondered if she could capture it in a painting.

April awakened herself as the FIFTH LIGHT! Only 2 more to go!

The garbled writing on the monument glowed. To April's eyes, it was no longer gibberish. "'The end of your journey is growing closer with each day that passes. Make sure you are using your time well. No matter what happens, always stay true to your heart, for yourself and for your friends. –Yugi Muto'."

"You just made that up." Chimney said. ("Gyom-yom." Gonbe agreed.)

"Is that what it says?" Ib asked. "I don't know any of those words."

"Hm… I guess I'll have to ask Sheila." April smiled. "Let's go back upstairs. Our parents won't be happy about us sneaking down here." So the seven kids and rabbit left the basement, reorganizing things to make it seem like they were never there. The spirit of a boy with narrowed purple eyes, and blonde and purple spiky hair, smirked at the group from the Gibberish Rock's chamber. (End song.)

The teammates went back up to the gallery, closing the basement door. They wandered around in search of Ib's parents. …They were seen next to the Embodiment of Spirit sculpture, talking to Garry. They looked over as the kids approached them. "Oh, there she is! Ib!" Rosa called.

"Mom? Dad?" Ib spoke curiously. "Who is this man…"

"This man's name is Garry." Rosa said. "He seems to have found something… you misplaced."

Garry blushed. "I seem to have… had this in my possession." Garry pulled out a lace handkerchief. "It had the word 'Ib' on it… so I searched around to see if anybody lost it. Honestly, I have no idea how it turned up in my pocket, but…"

"Normally, Ib is very careful with items. I can't imagine how this happened, either." Rosa chuckled. "At least this man was kind enough to return it. …Although, it's… a little dirty."

"Forgive me." Garry blushed further. "I wish I had noticed it sooner. Of course, it can easily be washed."

"It's no harm at all, really." Alvin smiled.

"That's good. Well…" Garry approached the red-eyed girl and gave her the handkerchief. "It was nice to meet you. …Ib." His exposed right eye winked. Ib gasped softly and smiled. She winked.

"But, my… I certainly am late for a report." Garry said. "I wonder who the Supreme Leader is now. I probably missed my share of Christmas dinners. I wonder if Hoagie joined the TND, too… Hm hm, excuse my rambling." He blushed at the kids. "Ignore me. …Farewell, you all." And with that, Garry walked away. He went to leave this gallery, once and for all.

"I guess we should leave, too." Aisa said. "We pretty much combed the whole gallery. There's nothing left to see."

"…" April smirked. "No. We're not done, yet."

Two days later…

"BREAKING NEWS: The Guertena Art Gallery has witnessed its first break-in in the history since it was founded in 1923! According to reports, a group of five kids, and one rabbit, broke into the gallery's basement and made off with one of the paintings! One of these kids was described to be a 'giant girl,' leaving police baffled. Higher authorities are being reported about the break-in, and some are suspecting the Kids Next Door of treachery. As Düssenheim citizens are in an uproar over these events, we can only ask: what painting did they take, and WHY??"

Foster's Home For Imaginary Friends

Mary climbed out of her painting and fell on the polished floor. Her senses slowly returned to her… She was confused as to where she was. She looked up, feeling presences over her: a tall, skinny, red creature with a broken eye, a huge purple furry monster, and some kind of chicken that looked like a palm-tree and airplane. "Hi, there!" Wilt greeted. "My name's Wilt, this is Eduardo and Coco. This is Foster's Home For Imaginary Friends!"

"Foster's Home…whuh…"

"Maybe she doesn't know English." Eduardo mentioned.

"Well, she is from Germany. Can you understand us?" Wilt asked. "N-No offense, if you're just confused, we just…"

"Cocococococococococo!"

Mary perked. "A home where abandoned Imaginary Friends can come and live and play with other Imaginary Friends?"

"Wow, Coco, she understands you!" Wilt beamed.

"COCOCOCOCOCO!"

"MARY!"

The painting gasped: April, Ib, and Sector W7 were standing not far away. Mary's memory was foggy… she processed their appearance… "A…Ape…! ! APRIL!" Mary whipped over and grabbed her in a twirling hug. Ib, Aisa, and Apis hugged her, and Mocha picked them up in her giant arms and squeezed them all.

The giant set them all down as Mary viewed around the house's foyer. Friends of all kinds of whacky design were flying and running everywhere. "Now you can play with tons of new friends." April said happily. "You can talk to them, and they can talk to you!"

"And we'll always come over to visit you!" Ib said brightly.

"The downside is you have to rely on Psychic Chi, so you're still trapped here." Apis shrugged. "But it's much more colorful than the gallery."

Mary felt a beautiful warmth in her heart. She was an Imaginary person… but here she was, standing in the real world. Real friends… "Thank you, April."

"Great, so can we go now??" Chimney insisted.

"I'm so glad I get to talk to you again!" Mary cheered. "And don't worry, April. One day, I'm gonna join the Kids Next Door and go on more adventures with you! I'll be the first Imaginary Friend to ever do it!"

"Technically, second." April blushed. "Although you would be the first normal Imaginary Friend."

"And I'll join the Kids Next Door, too!" Ib declared. "I'll be expecting to see you there, Mary!"

"I will, Ib!" Mary nodded. "You can count on it!"

"We'll see you later, Mary!" April waved as they began to leave. "We'll make sure Cheren lets all the Kids Next Door know you're coming!"

"He's gonna be really mad about that burglary, though." Mocha blushed.

"Bye-byyyyye, Sister Aaaapriiiiil!" Mary called to her friends. "Bye-bye, Iiiiiiiiib!"

"Bye, Maryyyyyyy!" ("Gyom, gyoooooom!")

"I still don't get why Mary was able to come outta there." Chimney said to her friends. "I mean, yeah, she's in Foster's now, but she was still stuck in the gallery, right?"

"Yes," April smiled intuitively, "but Mary still lives by the rules of any Imaginary Friend. As long as she lives where there's Psychic Chi, she'll survive. But once enough people get to know her, she won't have to worry about that, anymore."

"I don't understand why Guertena would fade away, in that sense." Aisa mentioned. "Everybody still knew who he was…"

"Maybe… but he's from the past." April reminded. "Sure, a lot of people still admire him, but nobody in this time knows or really loves him. Especially since he tried to kill us."

"Mary tried to kill us, too." Ib said with a laugh. "But she's different…"

"I hope Mary will be happy there." Aeincha said. "It makes me wonder how the other paintings feel about this."

"It won't really matter in the end." April said. "This is for the best for Mary: a place where she's truly happy. And one way or another, she belongs…"

Guertena Gallery

Astonishingly, on the same day that Mary was stolen, another painting was discovered. One that no one had even known existed before this. The Lady in Red in the middle, blue dolls at the bottom, headless statues standing over in the background, and mannequin heads to the side, were all smiling and waving at the viewers. No one understood the title… but then again, Guertena was mysterious like that. It was so unusual, it was hung in the gallery immediately. Dozens of viewers came to observe it with interest. Good-bye, Mary.