Because... we will see each other again!
As Garry and Ib part, Ib walks to her parents waiting for her at the front entrance. As she walked down the stairs she sees Garry standing there not moving a muscle. "Garry, what's wrong?" she tilts her head to look ahead of him and sees her parents. And Mary. Ib's eyes become wide and she starts to shake. "Oh, Ib there you are, are you ready to go? Your father, sister and I are waiting for you." Ib's parents are standing there while Mary smiles wide and runs over to Ib, "Ib! Ib! C'mon don't you want to get macarons!" as Mary starts to grab Ib's hand Garry puts his arm in front of her, protecting Ib. "Mary...what...what are YOU doing here?! I...I thought we burned your frame!" Mary tilts her head with a wide smirk upon her face. "What do you mean mister? Frame? I'm just trying to get my sister and you're kinda in the way." She tries to grab at Ib again but Garry wouldn't let her. "Excuse me sir, not to be rude but let my daughter get past you" Ib's father starts to walk toward Ib and Garry, but Ib hides behind Garry. "Ib? What's wrong?" Her father stops in his tracks while her mother looks extremely worried and starts to pull Mary back. Garry still standing his ground, tries to convince Ib's parents of Mary's true identity, "Listen please! Mary's a painting, she's not real! Ib and I saw it! She's not a real person!" "Ib what did this man do to you?!" Ib's father forcibly takes Ib and hides her behind himself. "A-ah!" Ib got startled as Mary hugged her from behind with a wide smirk on her still, while narrowing her eyes like a cat. "Sir please I'm telling the truth, right Ib?" Ib runs to Garry to hide behind him again and nods. "Tch...mommy, daddy, I'll talk to Ib and this guy to see what they mean. Please don't worry we'll meet you two at the café, it's only next door. Right Ib?" She turns to Ib while smiling. "No. You're both coming with us and we're leaving. We're going to call the cops!" Ib's father grabs Mary but she shrugs him off. "Daddy, its fine please no need to call the police. We'll just chat. Ok? Promise." Mary shoves her 'parents' out the door and grabs Ib and Garry. She brings them to the wide painting in the hidden hallway. "You idiot! Don't say crazy stuff like that in public! If you're wondering how I got here it's quite simple. It's my world. I can control it so of course I can follow you two back to the museum back to this world. I wanted to surprise you." Mary frowned as she was mad that Garry and Ib where not exactly happy to see her. "What?! That's impossible! We burned your frame and the room you came from! We saw you die and shrivel up in front of our eyes!" Mary snickered and smirked. "After you left I came back to life from the ashes and I followed you out. Anyway what's so bad about me being here? I just wanted to be friends and have a family like yours Ib...is that so wrong." "It's not wrong. But Mary this is Ib's family and our world. You don't belong here. You belong in your world with Guertana's other art works." Mary furiously shakes her head "NO! I'M NOT GOING BACK! NEVER! YOU CAN'T MAKE ME!" Mary turns into a rage of emotions. The painting starts dripping with black and dark blue liquid and the sculptures start to crawl out. "W-WHAT THE HELL?! AH, IB!" Garry picks up Ib and runs away. "I can't believe she got so angry at such a little comment." As Garry starts to run to the end of the hall it gets longer and longer. "GARRY IB YOU CAN'T GET AWAY FROM ME! WE'LL ALL BE TOGETHER FOREVER NOW! AHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHA!" Ib looks back to see Mary running with her knife and the other art pieces running behind her chasing them. "G-Garry I'm scared!" Ib hides her face in Garry's neck. "Don't worry Ib we'll get out of here! I know we will!" Garry tries to run faster but it's no use, the wall keeps getting longer and longer. The hallway ends up in a fork, Garry goes left and hides in the first door he sees. "Huff..huff..huff...Ib...are...you...ok?" Ib nods as looks at Garry with a worried look "Garry are you hurt?" "No I'm fine...I...just need to catch my breath..." Ib stands up and looks around the room. It's a large dark dusty room with old canvases and paint supplies. Some broken stools are in a corner while others have fallen on the floor in front of the canvases. They both hear Mary running down the hall screaming their names. "GARRY...IB...WHERE ARE YOU?! DON'T YOU WANT TO PLAY TOGETHER? WHY DO YOU HATE ME SO MUCH?!" They hear her opening doors one by one. "Ah! Ib quick hide! Don't worry about me!" Garry struggles to get up and hides Ib behind some stools and canvases while he lays on a wall pretending to be dead. Mary slammed the door open and looked around but didn't notice Ib or Garry, it was too dark. "GRRRRRR...WHERE ARE THEY?!" she slammed the door shut and ran to another door down the hall. "Phew...Ib are you ok?" Ib comes out from hiding and walks over to Garry. "Alright now that's she's gone let's get out of here." Garry slowly opens the door and pokes his head out. "Well looks clear. We'll just have to be very careful and quiet ok Ib?" They walked down the hallway all the way back to where they begun. Now the hallway started to get shorter and back to normal. Until they heard Mary screaming down the hall. As the hall got shorter and shorter she got closer and closer. "IB STAND BACK!" Garry got in front of Ib until Mary fell down and fainted it seemed. "I-is she...dead?" Ib looked at her body from behind Garry. "No...I think she just fainted. I think it's from exhaustion. Running around the hallway while shouting must be tiring." Ib walks over to Mary and crouches down with a sad face. "A family huh?...Garry I have an idea." 30 minutes pass and Mary wakes up. The three of them are in front of the rose sculpture. The first thing Mary sees is Ib's smiling face. "Hi Mary, all rested up? It's time to go home." Mary startled, gets up "w-what I-Ib...G-Garry? What are you doing here and what do you mean home? I...have...no home..." Mary looks down at the floor as Ib grabs her hands. "Don't worry if I make up a story you can live with me." Ib smiles at Mary even though she's not looking. "You're parents won't remember me I erased the memories of me being their daughter I gave them." Ib pulls Mary all the way down the stairs to the lobby while Garry followed them. "Mom! Dad! This is my friend Mary and Garry! Mary lost her dad and came to the museum by herself and she's really nice. I was wondering if she can have dinner with us?" Ib tried really hard to lie and be convincing her parents. "Awwww you poor girl sure why not, we where about to go to the cafe next door why don't you come with us, you too " Ib's mother looked at Mary and Garry and smiled. The 5 of them walked out and at macarons and cookies for the rest of the afternoon.
1 year later. Garry returned Ib's handkerchief 2 weeks after their adventure at the museum. Ib's parents officially adopted Mary and Ib got to see Garry regularly and Mary, the lonely lost girl became a lively happy girl living with Ib.
Thank you for reading :)-CK1999