AUTHOR'S NOTES

Hey guys, this is my first time writing fanfiction so please, bear with me. I love this game but unfortunately, the endings (most of them), were very sad. So here's a new "end" or maybe the correct word here is "continuation". For everyone who likes the Ib and Garry pairing, this is for you. For OCD purposes, I'll do a quick introduction of some of the main characters again, I've given all characters a last name just to be fair and because I feel like it would fit them to have these particular names.

-Kusakabe Eve 草壁イブ - (I will spell her name "Ib" for the story) a 16 year old student whose art class is attending Guertena's travelling exhibit.

-Kusakabe Mary 草壁メリー - Ib's sister and former painting subject of Weiss Guertena, age 16 physically.

-Otonashi Garry 音無ギャリー - An 18 year old man trapped in Guertena's gallery for the last 7 years.

-Weiss Guertena - A painter who grants life to his artwork by pouring part of his soul into their creation. His gallery has been on a travelling tour for the last 10 years.

*Ib and Mary's last name "Kusakabe" are formed with the words "Grass" and "Wall", the second character "kabe" is also the first character in the word "壁画" ( pronounced 'hekiga') meaning "wall painting". Perhaps alluding to Mary's origin and Ib's presence being "fresh" to all those around her.

*Garry's last name "Otonashi" is written with the words for "Sound" and "Empty", alluding to his 7 years of silence while confined to the Guertena gallery.

PROLOGUE - Impossible Dream

There is large ornate golden frame hanging from the wall. A beautiful lady in red with her arms around herself like the Mona Lisa was pictured in it. What a lovely woman, I thought to myself. Pity she's hungry. I turned my back to run and almost slipped on something wet on the ground. Yuck! Another one of those spitting paintings! I don't have time for this, I stumbled out of that corridor still being pursued by the hungry woman.

Ib. I froze momentarily in my tracks. Who just called out my name? I looked to my left and my right and even back at the woman. Nope, I didn't see anyone. I continued on, rounding a corner and narrowly missing a porcelain skull. A portrait directly beside it came to life; another lady wearing blue this time, just as pretty as the first bloodthirsty lady joined in the pursuit.

Ib. I stopped again. This time I definitely heard it. It was a man's voice; not too soft, not too deep. A sense of recognition swept over me but only briefly as I felt the fingers of a man-eating lady claw at my ankle. I began to run again, about a hundred meters in front of me was a blue door. I was so close! A headless mannequin in a hallway I just passed awoke and began to blindly trip after me. 100 meters became 50, 50 became 25; my breath was running out but I knew that stopping would spell disaster for me, another two headless mannequins were following me now along with the two painted women and the first mannequin. I reached the door, my fingers closed on the doorknob and I twisted it, flinging the door open. I slid in and closed the door behind me frantically. Loud banging could be heard from the other side, but I knew I was out of their reach now.

I came down hard on my knees panting, the taste of copper seared my throat. Swallowing hard, I clutched at my heart. I don't think I've ever run so fast before...

Ib. The voice. I looked around curiously, the voice was just as quiet as before, but definitely closer. Nothing, the room was empty. In fact, it was so empty, I realised that the black walls and black floors blended together.

Where was I? This place seemed all too familiar and yet, I could not recall it at all. I forced myself to swallow another gulp of saliva before looking up. Something blue was falling from the unseen ceiling. It was small, thin and danced in the cold air of the room before landing carefully on the hem of my red skirt. I reached for it with my right hand. It was a blue rose petal. Deep blue, like the colour of a sapphire. I glanced up again, more petals were falling now, dancing and twirling before landing near me.

"What in the world...?" I reached both hands into the air to catch the lovely petals only to realise that my left hand was clutching a blood red rose. Was I always holding this? I shook my head to clear it. This was weird, I feel like I've been here before...

Ib.

The voice was even closer now. Though I should be afraid, my mind was calm. I looked up again into the dark, "Who are you?" As if to answer me, a dark figure began to fall from above...