I've been writing the chapters for this story for a while now. It's a little different because it is more in favor of Guertena's works rather than the visitors of the gallery. As I said, I've been writing this story, and my friend Maggie has been reading the chapters. Recently she asked if I put anything here yet and my answer was no.
So in honor of my friend Maggie, I'm dedicating this chapter to her for getting me to finally type it. This is kind of a short chapter, but I want to see how well people like it. Please review and I will be happy.
Oh, one more thing before the disclaimer. Since this story is in favor of the artwork, the paintings get real roses. But only the works with full souls can have a rose. Therefore if the painting is a main character, then it gets a rose. I don't know if that was entirely clear.
Um, I don't own Ib. Or any of the characters. If there are characters you don't recognize, they still belong to Kouri. I just made some characters round instead of flat. There will be new paintings and puzzles later though. Onto the story!
Unexpected Alliance: Chapter 1
The Lady in Blue was lost. She was crawling about in circles around the hall of a fabricated world. The hall had many walls, but they all were already occupied by a painting.
She ceased crawling for a moment to catch her breath. She had straight brown hair that flowed past her shoulders, and passionate blue eyes. She was a painting who looked graceful when hung on a wall, but now she was forced to crawl around halfway out of her frame. If only she could find a place on the wall to rest in her canvas!
Lady in Blue dragged herself along with her frame attached to her hip to the nearest painting, which happened to be Lady in Green. "Green! I'm completely exhausted. Would you be a dear and let me rest on the wall?" she pleaded with the painting.
The painting on the wall winced in irritation. "No, Blue. Now go bother someone else." the lady on the wall snapped.
Lady in Blue crawled away, sad at being rejected. She wished she could leave the hallway, but unfortunately she couldn't open a door in her state. Being painted without a lower half really sucked.
She paused once again, this time in front of a painting she had only glanced at before. It was titled 'Hanged Man'. It featured a young man with black eyes and messy brown hair hanging upside down by his foot. His skin was very pale and he had a look of terror on his face. He wore grey prison clothes with the numbers '6295' printed on it.
But unlike Lady in Green, this painting didn't seem to respond to the one outside his frame.
"Hmmmm…" Lady in Blue mused aloud. "Maybe I can force his frame down?" She nodded at her own suggestion and tried to pry off the frame. The attachment of the painting was too high for any pulling to be of use at her level.
"If only I had legs, then I would have no more problems." she muttered as she cradled her perfect, soft hands while propping herself up on her elbows. She peered closer at the painting, noticing the fact his whole body was painted, unlike her. "Perhaps I could help him out of his frame, and he in turn could help me."
Using one hand to lever herself up, she stretched her other hand to the painting. Her hand slipped into the wet paint, causing her to shiver, and grabbed the man's hand.
As soon as she got a good grip on the hand, she yanked it hard. The man didn't budge on the first try. The Lady persistently tugged at his hand until the rope slipped from around his ankle and he tumbled out of his canvas.
The man landed hard on his back, right on top of Lady in Blue. "Dear me!" cried Lady in Blue, "Get off!"
The man groaned and lifted himself off the painting woman. "What? I'm free…" the man said in wonder.
The Lady in Blue glanced down at the Hanged Man's foot. "Sir, you're hurt!" she pointed out. Indeed, his ankle was a raw red from where the rope once was.
"I hardly feel it." The man replied. He stood up and looked down at Lady in Blue with kindness. "Thank you for freeing me, madam."
"I'm Lady in Blue." she automatically corrected him.
"It's nice to meet you, Lady. My name is Hanged Man." Hanged Man grimaced in distaste at his own name. "I wish I were called something else though."
Lady thought for a moment. "Why don't I call you HM?" she suggested.
The Hanged Man brightened instantly. "I like that." he told her.
'This is almost too easy.' Lady thought as she said, "Well HM, welcome to the Fabricated World. Now would you be so kind as to lift your canvas off the wall?"
"Of course, Lady." HM replied, a bit puzzled at the request. He reached up to the frame and pulled. He yanked at the frame, but it wouldn't budge no matter what.
"Did you-really-need it-down?" he asked between pants as he flexed his sore fingers.
HM grinned down at her. "Don't worry… I'm sure we'll find someplace. Let's go this way."
The man started down the hallway, slowing his limp so the tired Lady didn't have to crawl very fast. Lady in Blue was a little surprised that the Hanged Man would take charge of their little adventure, but she supposed it was because he was curious about the world he inhabited.
They traveled in silence, occasionally glancing at the other or the artwork surrounding them. The Ladies in Color and the headless statues dozed in a bored manner where they rested.
They turned a corner and found a door. "There are no empty spaces here. We should turn back." Lady said, but HM approached the door with curiosity etched on his face.
"Let's look in here, Lady. We might find what we're looking for." HM said with his hand reaching for the knob.
"I'd rather not." Lady stared with distaste at her greatest enemy. "I can't open doors."
"Oh…" HM glanced down at her frame where her body ended. "I'll hold the door open for you."
"But I'll be trapped in there." Lady pointed out.
"Not while I'm here." He vowed. "I'll always open the door for you."
Lady rolled her eyes but scuttled through when he opened the door. He smiled to himself, not noticing that the door clicked shut when he entered the room.
From the door they could see that there was a white loveseat in the middle of the room, a few bookcases in the corner by a window, and a portrait against the wall opposite of them.
HM approached the loveseat and pointed to a note above it. "I can't read, Lady. What does it say?"
Lady dragged herself closer and read aloud, "'If you are tired, why not rest? You will never be hurt again.'"
"That sounds good to me." HM plopped down on the loveseat and patted the spot next to him invitingly.
Lady shook her head at the offer. "I can't sit." she reminded him, "I don't have legs."
HM stared at the floor in front of him sadly, but then his face lit up with inspiration. He stood, grabbed Lady's frame with one hand, scooped the other hand under her stomach, and lifted.
Lady flailed her arms in surprise when the ground below her disappeared. HM gently set the panicked painting woman on the loveseat and sat down next to her. "Isn't this great?" he asked, "I've never had this much fun before!" He grinned at Lady happily.
"Please warn me the next time you do that." Lady snapped, sliding herself off the loveseat with her hands. Her frame dug into her hip when it landed, making her wince.
She ignored the hurtful look HM shot toward her and continued to crawl to the bookcases. 'One of these looks like it can be moved to block the window.' she thought.
She dragged herself over to the bookcase and pushed her shoulder against it. Even using all her might, she couldn't push the heavy bookcase.
Seeing her struggles, HM limped over to her. "Can I help?" he asked.
"Sure. Would you move this bookcase in front of the window, please?"
"Of course, Lady." HM set his shoulder against the bookcase and shoved it with all his might until it was blocking the window. "What-pant pant-was the point-pant wheeze-of that?"
"I just don't want any ladies to accidentally come in with no way of getting out." Lady explained.
Once Hanged Man caught his breath again he smiled at Lady. "That's really nice of you."
Lady smirked at her companion and crawled over to the huge painting. The painting featured a man and a woman. The man had somewhat messy brown hair and brown eyes. The woman had her brown hair in a bun and red eyes. Both people were featured from head to toe unmoving in a wooden frame.
"What does it say?" HM said from behind her. He pointed to the plaque below the painting.
"'Couple,'" Lady read aloud. She glanced up at the painting again and shuddered. It was a bit disturbing, seeing full people trapped within their frames. At least the half of Lady that existed could feel and move.
She turned to make her way back to the loveseat when she saw something that made her pause. Behind the loveseat were two tables. One was too high for her to see over. The other was low enough for her to reach.
On the low table was a vase with a violet rose that was too beautiful to be real. "Ooh, pretty!" Lady gasped, taking the rose from the vase. It had 7 petals on it. 7 petals to play her favorite game.
"Hey Lady, what does this say?" HM asked. Lady looked up and saw he had a brown rose with 10 petals in one hand and a piece of paper in the other.
He handed the paper to Lady, who wasn't pleased with the distraction. "'When the rose withers, so you too shall wither away.'" She read aloud. She put the paper down and gazed at the rose with greedy eyes. "Time to play!"
"I don't think you should do that." HM warned as Lady's fingers grasped a delicate petal.
"Loves me," Lady sang, ignoring her companion. She yanked off the petal and cried in pain as a gash appeared on her forearm.
HM stuffed his own rose in his pocket and reached down to touch Lady's. "So if the rose loses petals, we get hurt. You should take care of your rose, Lady."
"But…All the ladies in the gallery like to play loves me, loves me not."
"Just don't pull out the petals."
Lady grumbled, twirling the rose in her hand lightly. "Okay. She tucked the rose into her hair behind her ear. Her hands twitched in disappointment.
"Hey look on the bright side. My foot feels better." HM remarked. His foot did lose the red raw circle that was around his ankle.
He laughed, running a hand through his hair when a banging sound rang through the room. "What was that?" he cried, jumping back in surprise.
"Trouble." Lady replied in a low voice.