HELLLLLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO READERS! I'm ChristopherWeeblingJr, and we're once again taking another break from the usual writing cycle to bring you another one-shot.

Now, what can I say about Ib that hasn't been said already? Well, I can say this, there's a plot-hole caused by a particular ant, and that is by far the strangest sentence I've ever written. But even with that plot-hole, the game is still just as good as people have said it is. Puzzles are brain teasing in all the right ways, the art is incredible, and the characters are all likable. Each of the main characters can be sympathetic in their own way, making you want to see them get their happily ever after.

Sadly, my favorite character only has one, maybe two happy endings out of all seven-to-eleven endings, and it comes at the expense of the other characters.

One could argue that that is the point, that for every gain, there is a loss. But you know what, screw that. I may be a petty adult with hardly any social skills, but I still believe in the power of friendship and happily ever afters. It's time I gave these characters the ending they were denied.

'Fabricated World: Once you go in, there's no going back. All your time here will be lost. Will you still jump in?'

Ib looked up from the metal plate at Garry as he rubbed his hand across the glass cover of the mural, marveling at the rendition of the gallery that had dragged the two of them into this mess in the first place. He pressed his hand against the glass as hard as he could, finding that it refused to give way. He cocked an eyebrow at the ledger beneath the golden frame as he read it over once more. "How are we supposed to do this?"

As if hearing his request, the dim lights above them began flashing, almost blindingly bright, causing harsh glares to reflect off of the painting's glass as it seemed to melt away. With another flash, the golden frame surrounding the picture seemed to pull itself apart before sinking into the black wall. Almost jumping back once he saw what had become of the picture, Garry quickly calmed his nerves and looked closer towards the brushstrokes, finding that they didn't look so much like brushstrokes anymore.

Curiously, Garry poked at the image of the real world along the swirls of the fish's tail, finding his finger sink into the image as if it were completely composed of wet paint, without a canvas to stop his finger from sinking all the way through. Garry felt a nervous smile cross his lips as he looked back to Ib, realizing that they could finally leave.

As Garry moved to cup his hands together, intent on helping Ib up to the new doorway, the sound of rushed footsteps echoed through the exhibit, disrupting the duo's focus as they turned towards the corridor, a mild look of fear in their eyes. Skidding across the black marble floor came a familiar blonde figure, pallet knife in hand as she looked up at two humans with grit teeth. The duo felt their hearts sink as blue eyes looked up at them, filled with anger as she quickly began approaching the two.

"I'm not letting you leave!" Mary yelled out, reading herself to bury the artistic tool into flesh.

"Mary, stop, please!" Ib cried out in spite of Garry's protest, her face finally giving way to the fear the entire realm had been giving her since she first realized where she was as she held out her hands at the painting, ready to hold her back. To the two human's surprise, Mary stopped at Ib's request, looking at Ib as if she had only just realized the girl were there.

Mary opened her mouth to say something before she clamped it close again, bringing her arms down to her sides as she corrected her posture, locking her blue eyes with Ib's red. "Ib… Get out of the way." Ib remained unmoved, unwilling to risk Mary getting anywhere near Garry. Mary scowled at the first person she could possibly consider friend as she took a step closer, causing Ib to tense up. "We're leaving together, and to do that…" Gritting her teeth, Mary pointed up towards the violet haired man. "He has to stay here." Any intimidation she had was lost to the way her voice shock as she said this.

Ib stood strong.

"… Move!" Mary cried out, brandishing her knife, causing Garry to move closer towards the brunette, as if his presence alone would somehow stop the blonde.

Ib still stood strong.

Mary glared at her for a moment more before her eyes began to drop, her grip on her weapon loosening as she stuttered out, "Y… You…" She barely noticed as the knife slipped out of her hand and clanged on the floor, fresh hot tears beginning to run down her face. "You'd really choose him over me, Ib?"

"Mary…" Ib began as the painting in question began to slouch, the tears trickling down her chin and landing on the floor.

"Why…" Mary asked before narrowing her eyes at Ib once more, throwing back her arms as her rage rose. "Why would leave me!? I thought we were friends!"

"Mary, please-" Ib began, attempting to pull the blonde into a hug to tell her everything would be alright just as her mother had so many times before, only for the blonde to swat her away.

"I just want to be real." Mary said, once again breaking eye contact with Ib. "I want to see the sky and the sun and the moon, feel the grass and the snow and the wind. I want to taste mac-macaroons and candies an-and fruits." Her voice shook as it left her throat, along with her knees as she looked back up at the now blurred image of Ib. "I want to go to-to school, play games, sho-show my drawings to my-my friends."

"Mary." Ib said as she placed her hands across the painting's shoulders, catching the blonde by surprise before quickly pulling her into a hug. "What's stopping you from doing most of that here?"

"…" Mary wanted to say something, she wasn't sure what, but she wanted to say something. Instead, all she did was bite her own teeth and continued to cry on Ib's shoulder.

"This is your home, Mary." Ib said as she began rubbing circles along the blonde's back. "These sculptures, these paintings, they're your family, aren't they?" Mary hummed silently into Ib's shoulder, nodding her head, briefly catching the image of Garry kneeling down beside them. "And they love you, don't they?" Once again, Mary nodded.

"Then why would you want to leave them?"

"I…" Mary felt her words get caught in her throat, the tears beginning to pour out harder as she wrapped her arms around Ib, finally returning the hug. "I don't know. B-but your world…"

"Mary," Garry said, all fear seemingly forgotten as he gently pulled the two into his arms, surprising himself more than it had Mary. "I've seen some crazy things in here. I doubt anything you could find in the real world would be beyond this place."

"… You'd be wrong." Mary said as she nuzzled against Ib's now damp shoulder. "I can't make friends here."

"Why not?" Ib asked, "You made friends with us, didn't you?"

Mary's eyes shot open, her grip on the brunette loosening considerably as she pulled herself back as far as she could, managing to get a glance at Ib's red eyes. "You-you really mean it?" Mary asked into red pools filled with kindness. "You-I-I'm really still your friend?"

"Of course." Ib smiled at the blonde, causing the painting to crack a toothy smile before looking up at Garry.

"I-is he my friend?" Mary asked Ib before looking directly at Garry. "Are we friends, Garry?"

Garry legitimately didn't know how to answer, he wasn't too sure what he felt for the blonde after everything they've been through. Mary was a painting, a much more human painting, but she still put them in danger like the others. She had planned to leave him in the gallery while she went off to be with Ib in the real world, and if he were right, she had attempted to get him killed multiple times. She had tried to kill him all for her own selfish reasons. By all accounts, he should hate her.

Yet when he looked down at the sobbing girl with messy blonde hair in his arms, he didn't see some terrifying painting that wanted him dead. All he saw was a lonely girl.

"I… I suppose so." Garry sighed, smiling down at the two girls in his arms. Beaming through her tears, Mary quickly wormed her arm out from between the blue and red rose bearers and hooked it around Garry's neck, pulling the violet-haired man deeper into the hug.

"I-I am so sorry you guys." Mary sniffled as she pulled Ib closer as well, feeling a rush of so many different emotions, she could barely count them. "About everything! I'm sorry I pulled you guys in here, I'm sorry I scared you two so much, I'm sorry I pushed you into the toybox, I'm sorry I-I-I'm so sorry, you guys."

"Easy there, Mary." Garry said calmly as he gently began rubbing the blonde's shoulder as Ib rubbed her back. "It's okay."

"I-it's not okay." Mary said, smile beginning to falter as she leaned into Ib's shoulder again. "I did so many terrible things to you two and you guys still want to be my friend. I-I'm sorry, I promise I'll be a better person for you two."

"It's okay, Mary." Ib cooed into the blonde's ear as her sobbing began to slow down. "We know you will."

The three stayed that way for some time, bathing in the white glow of the painting above them, holding each other close, as friends would. Mary's tears had long since dried, her pained expression replaced with a joyous smile as she rested her cheek on Ib's shoulder, made soft by the white shirt. Ib's smile never changed, slight as it may be, after the dull expression she had given the rest of the gallery, it spoke volumes about how she felt.

Garry was the first to break the hug, straightening his spine with a few satisfied clicks after bending over the two for so long, once again returning to towering over the two children. "I suppose me and Ib should get going now."

"Yo-you're leaving?" Mary asked, a wave of sadness in her voice as Ib gently pulled away from her.

"Sorry, Mary, but we have lives to get back to in the real world." Garry said, looking down at Mary with a sympathetic look she hadn't seen directed at her since he learned of her nature. Quickly smiling again, Garry knelt back down towards the blonde. "But how's about this; me and Ib will come back and visit you in a week-" Garry looked over at Ib to see the brunette tilt her hand from side to side as she gripped her chin, shrugging her shoulders.

"I'd need to check with my parents first." Ib said, almost too quiet for the two to hear her.

"We'll come back and visit you, is what I'm trying to say." Garry said, turning back to Mary. "And we'll bring you all sorts of candies and stories from our world. How does that sound."

Mary glanced at the plate below the painting before looked down at the ground sadly. "Once you leave this place… You'll forget everything… You won't remember me or-or each other."

Garry's eyes widened for a moment before looked down at Mary with a sad expression. Ib began running her fingers through her hair with her eyes closed. It couldn't end like that, after everything they've been through, everything they've seen, they couldn't just forget it all. They couldn't forget the friendships they've made her. There had to be a way to remember…

Quickly pulling her hand out of her hair, Ib snapped her fingers, drawing the attention of her friends before pointing at Mary. "Does this place have any paper and pens?"

Ib couldn't remember what she was doing.

She stood alone before a large mural of colors and shapes across blackness, each one meant to bring to mind a different creation by the work of Guertena, positioned all by its lonesome across the long white wall. Her attention was directed to the blank wall across from the painting, however, as she placed a hand on her head as she attempted to reclaim the memories of what she was doing before she reached this position. Retracing her steps, as her mother would have suggested, she recalled her family preparing to go to an art museum for an artist named Guertena. They came in through the door, father started signing them in…

And then she went in ahead of them, right. She was so excited about this place; how could she forget?

Spinning on her heel, she quickly walked back down the hallway, intent on finding her parents and enjoying the rest of the exhibits with them. Her small smile quickly died once she rounded the corner, catching the figures of three headless statues dressed in red, blue, and yellow dresses. She wasn't sure why, but those statues made her uneasy, much more so than they had when she first passed them. She almost felt like they could come to life and start chasing her down. She put as much distance between herself and those statues as the walls would allow before hurriedly heading down the stairs.

Turning towards the receptionist's desk as she hopped down the steps, she found it surprisingly vacant save for the man sitting behind it. She wasn't too surprised by this, who knows how long it had been since she had departed from her parents. She placed a hand atop her head once more as she attempted to recall the exhibit they agreed to meet up at once they were done.

It would help if she knew half of the words most of these paintings used as names. Why did artists feel the need to be so fancy about everything?

Letting out a slight sigh, Ib rounded the corner, folding her hands behind her back as she headed towards the large painting spread across the floor, meant to simulate the appearance of the ocean's depths. She figured that her parents would have chosen a piece that was hard to miss, and would have started by exploring the totality of the first floor before going upstairs, so she attempted to focus on the largest works of art on this floor first. The strange attempt to bring to mind the sea, and the large mural next to it, however, were vacant of the two she was looking for.

Walking down another hall once more, Ib made way to round another corner before stopping in place, turning on her spot to see a man in a long, torn blue coat standing before the sculpture of a rose, so big it made her feel like he was as tall as she was. Red petals scattered the floor around the sculpture, giving off the impression that the sculpture had begun wilting, as if it were a real, true rose.

It made her feel… Scared? Happy? Longing? She wasn't sure what it made her feel, but it made her feel something.

Walking up behind the man, whom she realized was much, much taller than her, she tugged at the bottom of his coat, looking up at his violet hair as he looked down at her.

"What is it, little lady?" The man asked. His voice sounded familiar, but Ib couldn't quite place where she had heard it.

"What's this statue?" Ib asked, looking back at the green, thorny stem holding up the massive bulb of the imitation flower.

"It's called 'Embodiment of the Spirit.'" The man said, looking back at the statue himself before making a face as he reached up to tap the side of his temple. "When I look at this statue, I feel sorrowful, yet at the same time… Joyous, sympathetic? I wonder why."

Sighing, the man looked down at the brunette, his hair falling in the way of his eyes as Ib covered her mouth with both hands as if whispering into them. He couldn't tell if she were about to cry or not, or whether she was about to cry tears of joy or sadness. "Sorry if I said anything to trouble you, Ib…"

As the man turned to walk away, he found his foot fall heavily, slowly gripping his chin as he rolled his eyes back. "Ib? Who's Ib?"

"Me, I am." Ib said as she turned towards the man, who for some reason was starting to look like a Garry to her. "My name's Ib."

"Really?" Garry asked, looking back at the brunette before closing his eyes. "Strange, I don't know you at all, it just sort of came out. How odd." He looked about ready to leave once more, but instead, he found himself kneeling down towards the girl, getting eye level with her red eyes. "Actually, have we perhaps… Met before…?"

Slowly, Ib shock her head. He seemed so familiar, like they had gotten to know each other, and yet… No, they couldn't have. She would have remembered someone with a sense of fashion this bad. Garry silently chuckled to himself, shaking his head as he looked down at the marble floor. "Oh, look at me. Asking you such strange things…" Standing up once more, he sent Ib a kind, yet almost sad smile. "Never mind what I said, it was nice meeting you, Ib."

Walking down the wall from once Ib came, Garry reached into his coat for his lighter, before remembering that he wanted to quit smoking, and began reaching for the candy he had instead. He stopped in place, however, when he felt a folded-up piece of paper in its place. Cocking an eyebrow, he carefully pulled it out and unfolded it, quickly reading it over before his eyes started widening.

"Ib, check your pockets." Garry said, spinning around to face the girl now right behind him. Her red eyes looked up at him with confusion before he once again kneeled down in front of her. "Ib, please, there's something important in them that you need to see. Trust me."

Shrugging to herself, Ib stick her hands in her pockets, feeling the lace fabric of the handkerchief in one, and a mound of paper in the other.

Mound of paper?

Producing the paper in question, Ib silently unfolded it and found that the paper in her pocket was a note, addressed to her.

Ib:

I know this is going to sound crazy, but you need to remember the gallery. You need to remember your friends. The adventure you've just been on inside the aFtbcuerid World. You need to remember her, you need to remember the promise you made Mary.

~Ib

The note was in her handwriting, written in her favorite color, red like her eyes. It left her with more questioned then it did answers, though. She didn't quite remember writing it, she didn't remember having a red pen to write it in, and she didn't remember asking her new friend Mary for a red pen to write it in, only to receive a crayon instead.

… No, she did remember.

"… Garry?" Ib said as she looked up at the violet haired man that had protected her from any threat they faced throughout their journey.

"Hard to believe all that really happened." Garry sighed, smiling down at the brunette before looking back at Embodiment of the Spirit. "I think I understand why that statue makes me feel the way it does now. You?"

Ib nodded, once again smiling as she recalled the warm feeling of Mary in her arms, the two wrapped in the older man's. Smiling back at the brunette, Garry asked the first question that came into his mind. "So, when do you think you'll be able to come back next?"

Mary paced back and forth in front of the blue stares, hands folded behind her back as she took an occasional look up the stairs to see if anyone had begun climbing down them without her noticing. As it was two minutes ago, there was still no one. She began to bite her lips as she looked up at a clock she had drawn on the wall, ticking away the passing seconds. It had already been a week, and the two haven't yet appeared. Could it be possible that they tricked her? Did they lie to her in order to escape on their own?

Mary's thoughts were interrupted by the sound of footsteps, one set hopping down the stairs, one set walking, and Mary realized that she needed to have much more faith in her friends.

"Mary." Ib greeted as she hopped down in front of the blonde, quickly pulling her into a hug as Garry came into view. "Sorry if we kept you waiting."

"It's fine, I wasn't waiting long." Mary lied, she had been waiting a good five hours according to her clock, unsure of when Ib and Garry arrived at the gallery the first time around.

Garry walked up to the two and gently patted Mary's head, smiling down at the two as kindly as he normally would. "It's nice to see you again Mary." Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out a long box with a plastic window revealing ovals made up of various colors. "Want some?"

"You need to ask?" Mary asked, voice filled with excitement as she quickly pulled open the box, darting her eyes across all the colors as she tried to decide which to try first.

"Figured if we couldn't bring you to the macaroons, they'd just have to come to you." Garry stated as Ib pointed to one of the yellow candies in the box, Mary hurriedly pulling it out and took a bite out of it. It was much softer than she had originally expected, and it had a smooth texture, coupled with cream filling spreading through her mouth made it all the more sweat. "Now, since we've been gone, me and Ib have been making some arrangements out in the real world. We're working on getting me a position as Ib's babysitter for when her parents are out,"

Ib scowled up at Garry, silently attempting to remind him that the term was 'caretaker,' not babysitter. She wasn't a baby, she was nine. "And figuring out other ways we can come here frequently." Garry either didn't notice the glare Ib was sending at him, or found it adorable and didn't care. "While Ib's parents don't need to leave her alone that often, it still happens at least once a week or so."

"We're also thinking about bringing some of my friends from school to the gallery." Ib said as Mary popped the rest of the candy into her mouth. "That way if I feel like visiting you, I can just tell my parents 'I'm going to go hang out with my friends,' and then we can come and see you."

"Do you think they'd like me?" Mary asked, getting a playful punch in the shoulder from Ib as she smiled at the girl's worried expression.

"They'd love you." Ib said. "And if you want, we could sometimes trade places with you for a while, let you see what the real world is like for a while. How does that sound?"

Mary would have liked it her way more. She wanted to live out a full, real life so badly. Make real friends, go to a real school, see real places, see works by other, real artists. But here Ib and Garry were, trying their best to accommodate her wants with theirs, give her whatever tastes, bits and pieces of the life she wanted that they could, even after everything she tried to do to them. She couldn't ask for better friends.

And you can't always have things exactly your way with friends, she supposed.

"It sounds amazing." Mary said as she pulled Ib into a one-armed hug. "Thank you," She looked up at Garry with blue, joyful eyes. "Both of you."

"So, what have you been up to since we left?" Garry asked as he and Ib reached for a blue and red macaroon respectively.

"Oh, you guys are going to love it!" Mary said, almost literally bouncing for joy as she pulled out another macaroon before leading the two down the hallway. "The others have been working on such great puzzles – Don't worry, I made sure they won't hurt you – and I've been waiting so long to get a chance to solve them!"

"Puzzles?" Ib asked with a bit of a worried expression, whilst Garry looked completely taken aback. They felt that they had already had enough puzzles after their last visit, Ib especially, as there wasn't much to do for indoor recess besides solve puzzles. "Really?"

"Yep!" Mary said, popping her P, completely unaware of the two's faces. "You'll love them, really!"

"What is with this place and puzzles?" Garry asked, more to himself then anything.

"Around here, it's loving tradition to suffer through puzzles nobody likes!" Mary exclaimed, putting a bit of a smile on Ib's face.

She just knew she was going to enjoy this.

… What, I said there was a plot hole in the beginning, I didn't say the plot hole would contribute to the story. I'm not sure how that would have worked, really.

Figuring out how to start this story was actually a challenge, I wasn't exactly sure where to start it. At first, I tried starting it in the toybox, having Ib chase down a doll that was stealing her rose after returning it to full bloom; but I eventually realized that I had no idea how to get where I wanted to from there, and nothing was coming up as I wrote. So after reading the Ib Sacrifice comic, I figured that would be a better starting point, having Mary confront the two before they leave the Fabricated World.

Another point I needed to try and figure out was Mary's motive. I felt that, in order to fully build this ending, I needed to explore her motive, even if it were shallow and simple with her being a kid and all. While I was writing this, I asked myself why Mary would want to leave the Fabricated World, the only home she's ever known, and her entire family, for the real world. I doubted there was anything in our world that she couldn't have in hers aside from one thing; friends, and this ending is all about letting her keep the ones she made.

And with that, I have officially given these three the ending that I truly believe they all deserve. An ending in which Ib doesn't need to kill her new friend, and ending where Mary gets to keep the friends she's made and make new ones. And all lived happily ever after. Thank you all for reading, and I'll see you all in the next post.

GOODBYYYYYYYYYYYYYYEEEEEEEEEEEE READERS!