My mind comes up with the strangest ideas... I hope you guys like crime and craziness because that's what this story is all about. This story is rated T because of Mary's violent actions. Ib is a well known art thief. Garry is a pyromaniac. Mary is a murderer. Let's see if they will get better or worse when they get together.

I don't own Ib. I do like the characters, though.

My Problem: Chapter 1

How we got here

-Ib-

The streets were nearly empty outside the Guertena art gallery. That was probably because it was 2:00 on Monday morning. No one would want to hang out in a closed art gallery except for an art thief.

A girl crept around to the back entrance. She had straight brown hair that fell past her shoulders and bright red eyes that glanced around her cautiously. She wore a black long sleeved shirt, black form-fitting pants, soft soled shoes, black gloves, and a belt with small pouches for her tools.

The girl took out a lock pick from one of the pouches and expertly opened the door. No alarms were going off, but that didn't mean the security system wasn't working. She would have to hurry.

The girl ran as quietly as she could to the paining her mother had told her about. It was called 'Serpent's Spirit'. The painting basically looked like a mess of colors to her, but her mother had told her that it was very popular. And since Caroline Jule was a retired art thief, she knew what kind of art her daughter Ib should steal.

Ib brought down the painting from its place on the wall and tucked it under her arm. She took her signature red rose from a pouch to drop it carelessly on the tiled floor.

She was about to leave, but a colorful shimmer caught her eye. In a glass case further down the hall were some shiny gems.

Ib only meant to look, but when she moved to that hall she caught sight of a night guard. The guard noticed her movement and shone his flashlight in her direction.

"Who's over there? You're in big trouble, you hear?" the guard called as he ran over to investigate.

Ib turned and ran, cursing her troublesome curiosity. If she got caught then her identity would be revealed. Her mom would be so disappointed.

She could hear the guard catching up to her, yelling for her to stop and put down the painting. She could only double her speed and make it to the door.

Just before she could push open the door to escape, she heard a computerized voice say "Security lockdown mode," over the loudspeakers.

Even though she knew it was futile, her hand tried to shove the door open. It was locked firmly, signifying that it was too late to run. She had no other choice but to turn and face the consequences.

-Garry-

A man with wavy lavender hair stepped out of his car and slammed the door angrily behind him. He was home from work early, but he wasn't happy about it at all.

He threw open the door to his house and stormed to his room. He took a cigarette from the pack on his dresser and lit it.

He couldn't believe his boss would just up and fire him out of the blue. After a year and a half of working at the Book Nook, his boss decided to fire him because of a few mistakes. How was he going to make money now?

The man, Garry Baker, took his lighter in his hand and lit it. He watched the flame burn, letting the strange, anxious feeling that built up inside of him trickle away. But it wasn't enough. He needed to watch this flame consume something.

He shut the lighter and them he took a box of firecrackers from under his bed along with a blue rag doll.

He took these things out to his backyard where a small crater of dirt was. Garry dropped the doll in the crater and backed away a bit before starting his fun. He started by lighting fire crackers and throwing them at the doll. When he was sure that those were spent, he walked to the doll and let his lighter ignite it.

Garry stepped back and watched the captivating flame. He didn't know why but whenever he saw fire, he felt so much calmer and more focused than when he didn't. And he felt a negative feeling build the longer he went without seeing fire. The calm was flowing into his mind now, but it wasn't as satisfying as the other times. He needed to burn something bigger.

Without really thinking about the effects of his actions, he took a paperback book from his pocket, lit it on fire, and threw it over the fence to his neighbor's house. His neighbor was away at work, so she wouldn't be around to get hurt.

The paperback book hit the wood paneled side of the house and burned there. The fire spread to the side of the house, travelling upwards as the flame consumed.

Garry was so mesmerized by the enormous flames that he didn't notice the attention the smoke was getting from the other neighbors until the shriek of sirens approached the neighborhood. As firemen went to work putting the fire out before too much damage could be done, two police officers approached Garry.

"Are you Mr. Garry Baker?" one officer asked.

"Yes." Garry glanced between them confusedly. What could they possibly want from him?

The officer that spoke stepped forward and placed his hand on Garry's shoulder. "Garry Baker, you are under arrest for damaging private property and causing a disturbance in this neighborhood." The police said before leading Garry to the police car parked in front of his house.

~Mary~

A teenage girl walked up to a cute one-story house in a small forest outside of town. The girl had chin length red hair and pale green eyes. She seemed uncertain because she'd never been to the house before.

She knocked on the door and waited patiently until it opened. Another girl on the other side of the door smiled brightly at her. She had golden wavy hair and clear blue eyes. She wore a dark blue and green dress with a black sash around the waist and no shoes or socks on her feet.

"Hi Mary. I got your invite." the ginger greeted the blonde.

The blonde girl's smile widened. "I knew you'd come soon, Nikki. Won't you come in?"

Nikki walked in, and Mary Guertena shut the door behind them. The sitting room they entered was furnished simply, but had masterful artwork hung on the wall. "Sweet paintings!" Nikki complimented politely.

Mary smiled with a faraway look in her eyes. "You really think so? My dad painted them."

"He's skilled. Ah, didn't you say this was a party? Where's everyone else?"

"They're taking their refreshments downstairs." Mary told her, pointing to the door. "You go on ahead. I need to get more sweets."

"Okay." Nikki went to the door and walked down the stairs. Despite all the lights being on, it was still dimly lit. Halfway down the stairs a peculiar smell drifted to her nose and only got stronger as she continued.

"Ugh, it smells like something died down here." Nikki said, holding her nose. At the bottom of the stairs was a door. She opened the door and entered a dark room.

There was a single lamp on a table against the far wall. Nikki could see the figures of two girls sitting at a table. The table was set up with a decorative tray containing a tea set, small cakes, and cookies.

Nikki slowly approached the table, feeling the fine hairs on the back of her neck stiffen at the sense of danger. She noticed that the girls' postures were very loose, as though they were asleep. Also, they haven't moved since she arrived, not even to acknowledge her presence.

"You must be Mary's friends. How do you do? I don't believe we'd met before. My name's Nikki. Who are When they didn't respond, Nikki poked one of them in the shoulder. She jumped back in fright at the unnaturally cold temperature of the girl. "D-dead!" she exclaimed.

"They are not. They're my friends." Mary said from behind her. "And since you agreed to be my friend, they're your friends too."

Nikki spun around in surprise to see that Mary was carrying a plate of cookies in one hand and a palette knife in the other. "What is this?" Nikki demanded.

"It's a friendship party!" Mary grinned maniacally at the redhead before placing the plate of cookies on a small table. "We're going to be friends forever, just like Macy and Kate. Won't that be fun?" Mary approached Nikki with the palette knife in her hand.

"P-please don't k-kill me!" Nikki bumped into the table behind her in her haste to avoid the knife.

In the next few minutes, the house was filled with shrieks of fear and pain along with peals of laughter. Then silence fell over the house again. Mary stared at the scene she had caused and giggled. "I may have gone overboard, but oh well. I had fun. Wasn't that fun, Nikki?"

Mary paused in wait for an answer that would never come. She laughed, "Silly Nikki, look at how dirty you've gotten! But don't worry, I'll clean you up. That's what friends are for!"

Mary went over to a cupboard and pulled out her needle and thread. By the light of the lamp and with some water she brought down, Mary cleaned and stitched together the wounds. If it weren't for the blood on her clothes and the emptiness in her green eyes, anyone would think Nikki was still alive.

"There. Now I'll introduce you to my other friends." Mary pulled the corpse over to the waiting chair and set her so she was facing the other bodies. "Nikki, this is Macy and Kate. Kate and Macy, this is our new friend Nikki."

The rest of the afternoon went on like that with Mary fawning over her new 'friend' until late in the night. Nikki's parents constantly called Nikki's cell phone and were worried when she didn't answer.

In the morning, Mary left her 'friends' in the basement while she went to school. After a day of learning, she hurried home with plans of a tea party after re-doing her friends' hair. She didn't expect to find a police car parked outside of her house.

"Mary Guertena." a police officer called from the porch.

She couldn't run, so Mary smiled sweetly. "Afternoon, officer. Long time, no see!"

The police officer frowned disapprovingly. "Mary, are you aware that Nikki Mare has been missing since yesterday?"

A concerned look crossed Mary's face. "She wasn't at school today… I assumed she was sick."

The police officer shook his head. "It has been a year since Macy went missing, half a year since Katherine went missing, and now Nikki… It's odd how they went missing after they've been friends with you for awhile…"

"I don't understand. Are you saying they went missing because they're my friends? I'm a good friend, officer."

Another police officer walked out of the house with an ashen face. Before Mary could protest in anger, the officer she talked to held out a signed paper. "It's a search warrant, Mary. Before Nikki disappeared, she showed her parents a party invitation to your house. It raised suspicions. What did you find, Jones?"

"The missing girls are dead. Their corpses are in the basement." The other officer said.

"They aren't dead. They are my friends. They'll be my friends forever and ever. Ahahahaha!" Mary giggled.

The police officers exchanged a disturbed look. "Come with us, Mary. We know some people who, uh, want to hear more about your friends." one officer told her as he led her to the car.

"Am I going to make more friends? I love making friends!" Mary said enthusiastically when she got into the car. The police officers had to suppress shudders of disgust as they drove her away.

I don't know how well this story is so far. Please review and tell me what you think.