I don't own Ib or any characters in the game. Thank you for reading this, I really appreciate it =D. Feel free to give constructive criticism, as I don't feel that this story is the best that I can write. Please enjoy.

Oh, I own my character, so yeah. Eve and Ib aren't the same person.

EDIT: I just realised some mistakes I made ^^' so I fixed them. If you find any, please tell me. I will fix them as soon as possible.

Ib looked at the painting a little longer. It was of a man with purple hair of strange shades. He was sleeping peacefully, while holding a blue rose.
"Ib! Let's go!" a voice called. Ib looked behind her. Her mother was running up the stairs of the art gallery to her. "You shouldn't wander around like that! I was getting worried! How about we go eat something now, it's about noon. Your father and I will buy you muffins!"
Ib smiled back at her mother and let herself be led away from the painting. She looked back at it felt tears spring into her eyes. She couldn't help but feel that she had forgotten something dear to her.

Chapter 1

"Hurry up, Eve! Your sister is already ready!" Eve's mother called from downstairs, in a tone of slight annoyance. Eve slowly walked down the stairs of their small family home, tying a small red ribbon into her hazel brown hair.

Her sister was standing in the doorway, checking her watch. "Eve, you have to hurry up sometimes," she said as she looked up at her younger sister, pushing back locks of hair behind her ears. She smiled anyway, and gently ushered Eve into the car.

"Why do we have to go to the art gallery though? Why not a theme park or something?" Eve groaned, closing the car door.
"Well, I received two free tickets to see the Guertena exhibition from my art class at university, so why should I waste them?" her sister answered, waving to their parents as she pulled out of the driveway. Eve waved to her mother and father as well, but didn't let the conversation between them just end there.
"Why don't you get a boyfriend then? You could go with him, and leave me at home-"
"To play computer games all day? Nuh-uh. You need to get outside and have some fresh air. Besides, when I went to see the Guertena exhibition when I was a little younger than you, I had an amazing time."

Eve pouted and began playing with a wooden rose her sister had carved a few months ago. She couldn't deny that all she did was stay in her room and play computer games, but going to an art gallery? All you did at art galleries was stare at paintings. How interesting.

But she had to admit, her sister was amazing at painting, and definitely deserved to see the exhibition. She could draw all sorts of things, probably everything! She could sculpt as well, and loved to carve things out of wood – which was how she made her wooden rose. She was planning to become an architect or something, but that didn't stop her from designing other things.

The wooden rose was propped on a small stand in the back seat of the car. It was painted a beautiful shade of dark blue, with small dots of red that made it look like blood. The petals felt smooth and soft, just like a real rose. Her sister had said that she based it off a red rose petal she had found in her pocket at a similar exhibition 12 years ago, and had felt that it was a part of her. Her sister also found a lighter in her pocket, strangely, and apparently there mother and father yelled at her for weeks about playing with fire. It was kind of ironic though, as her sister was a light smoker now.

"We're here, Eve," her sister smiled, and opened the car door. Eve hastily shoved the wooden rose into her skirt pocket and escaped the captivity of the car.

Eve looked around the gallery car park. It was a lot fuller than she had expected – there was almost no spaces, and they were pretty lucky to have gotten a space. Maybe it was because they were early – she should hurry up from now on.

When the pair walked in through the glass doors of the gallery, they were met with a blast of cold air. It was refreshing, and there was a short queue in front of the reception desk. Eve's sister hastily pulled out two tickets from her pocket and showed them to one of the receptionists. Within seconds, they were in the gallery.

"Um, sis, can I go explore for myself?" Eve asked, looking up at her sister. She didn't want to be babysat for the entire day, especially by her sister, who would probably win the award for the world's most overprotective sister.

"Sure, Eve. Make sure you have a gallery map, so you don't get lost… how about we meet at the cafeteria at about noon? It's here on the map, the triangle… okay? Stay safe okay, Eve? You listening?"

"Yeah, yeah, I get it-"

"Don't forget your handkerchief! Where is it?" her sister pushed. Seriously?!

"I have it right here, calm down," Eve pulled out a handkerchief from her breast pocket.

"Be safe, m'kay?"

"Yeah."

With that, Eve walked off slowly. She turned around to see if her sister was still standing there, watching her to make sure she would be safe. She had already blended in into the crowd of people.

The gallery was actually rather interesting – there were weird paintings of such weird things – from newspapers to exquisitely detailed sofas. And that was only the Guertena exhibit – Eve had a whole gallery to explore. There was a beautiful portrait that had caught her eye though, more than any other display.

It was sleeping man with purple hair.

He was holding a dying rose, too stunningly beautiful to look real, even if it was wilting and was turning a gray-ish blue. The thorns of the rose were scratching the skin of the man's fingers, and had drawn blood from crescent shaped cuts. There were scars on his pale face and there were wet, red smudges on his cheeks. His messy appearance was finished by his rough and bedraggled hair. His eyes were closed, and despite the horrible circumstances he seemed to be in, he looked like he was in a deep, tranquil sleep.

Eve was captivated by the painting. She began to fiddle with her dark red skirt, which her sister had worn when she was little. The two sisters had such a stunning resemblance, even their parents commented on it. It was sort of annoying, but she accepted the compliment. It was a compliment because her sister was genuinely pretty. Why she didn't have a boyfriend was a mystery. Her sister always said that the person she truly cared for seemed to have walked into her life and out of it, before she even knew it, and she never felt the same about anyone else. She didn't even know why she felt like that. She just…felt it.

Eve decided that she should stop looking at the portrait, otherwise she might even start crushing on him, and he was just a painting for lord's sake. She had learnt quite a few facts whilst wandering around the gallery - the artist Guertena was a mysterious person, and no one knew almost anything of him. He disappeared many years ago, leaving his stunning collection of artworks behind. Eve hated mysteries like that. It felt better to know everything than to know nothing - it was human nature, and Eve was no different.

She began pacing around, glancing at different displays, but she couldn't take her mind off the painting of the purple haired man. He looked amazing, and…perfect, but he looked miserable.

And lonely.

Eve brushed her hair out of face and sat down on a nearby bench. That man in the painting was suffering, but he looked so peaceful. Maybe he had sacrificed something important to him for something else, and he didn't regret it one bit.

A strange feeling rushed over her – it was a mix of guilt and sadness.

Stop, Eve. Get a hold of yourself. It's just a painting. Don't get so emotional over it. She had to sit down. She had to recollect herself.

She plopped herself with a tired relief on a nearby bench. People walked past her, admiring the displays, paying no attention to her. Eve held her head in her hands, letting her hair fall over her shoulders. Get over it!

Why am I feeling so emotional? Why do I feel so bad over a man in a painting. Get over it, get over it. Don't lose yourself! It was no use – tears slowly seeped from her eyes, and she was shocked. She was crying. She could feel all the emotions that man was feeling – guilt, sadness, solitude. There was no happiness at all.

She felt it. The emotion, the sadness. All the emotions that defined the human spirit came crashing down onto her. She was laughing, crying, screaming, all at once. Her head sunk deeper into her hands. Have I gone insane by looking at that painting?

As quickly as it begun, she felt the weight slip off her shoulders - everything suddenly cleared, and she felt normal again, or at least, as normal as she possibly could be – she was feeling the same way as she was before she saw that portrait. Eve expected to hear the clatter of shoes, crowding around her, asking whether she had gone crazy or what from screaming like a stupid baby, but she heard nothing. Absolutely nothing. Fear overcame her. What..?

She shot up from her seat and looked around her. There was no one around. The lights had begun flickering. What's going on?

"Hello? Is anybody there…?" Eve looked around nervously. Where was she…? Where did everyone go? "Please, someone… anyone… help me. Where am I?"

She held her skirt and started shivering and sobbed.

"Anyone?!"

She was alone. She couldn't hold back anymore, and collapsed onto the ground, weeping desperately. How did she get here? Where was everyone? Was she even in the art gallery anymore?

The paintings seemed so much more ominous than they had done so earlier. They all seemed to be staring at her with intent eyes, as if they were waiting. Waiting for her to give up and devour her.

Eve wouldn't give in. She had to find out where she was, where everyone was. She stood up tall and looked at the paintings, wiping tears from her eyes. She was getting out of there.