Disclaimer: I do not own Ib or any of the characters used in this story.
"If only two of us could leave this place, who would you choose?"
It was the last thing Ib expected her blonde friend to ask when she stopped in the hallway. Such a dark question seemed to have no place being uttered by the sunny girl in front of her. It was not born of simple curiosity either. Ib could tell from the intensity of Mary's gaze that she expected a truthful answer. She faltered under that gaze, after all how could she possibly be expected to choose between the two friends she had found?
In the end it didn't matter. Her choice had been made for her by the very person who asked the question to begin with.
"Loves me…"
She could feel something in her die as the man in blue slumped to the floor beside her.
"Loves me not…"
She begged and pleaded with him to stay awake, to stay and not abandon her to the nightmare world they had fought against for so long.
"Loves me…"
He had tried to comfort her with words of encouragement, telling her that he would catch up with her soon enough. She clung to those words no matter how hollow they were.
"Loves me not…"
As he faded away she had no choice but to leave him behind. Tears blinding her eyes Ib ran down the twisting hallways away from Garry.
"Loves me…"
Away from the best friend she had ever had.
With a start Ib awoke in her room with her heart racing and a cold sweat covering every inch of her body. For a moment she simply sat there enduring the aftereffects of the nightmare. After a few minutes she calmed down enough to try and recall the images of the dream that left such a drastic impact on her. She knew it was pointless to try and remember, this was just the most recent in a long line of nightmares she had suffered from since the age of nine. It would always leave her shuddering in the dark with only the faintest recognition of a man in a blue jacket.
Sighing in frustration Ib slid off the bed and checked the clock. 5:00 huh? She thought to herself. It was still too early for the rest of her family to be up, but Ib simply couldn't stand the idea of being subjected to another nightmare in such a short time.
Working her way over to the closet she quickly got dressed in her favorite white and red outfit. After making her bed she headed downstairs to make some breakfast. I don't want to lie to you… but I also don't want to tell you the truth. Stopping at the entrance to the kitchen Ib stood motionless, trying to grasp the thread of memory that had blown by her. The effort was as futile as it had always been, and simply left her with a hollow feeling in the pit of her stomach. I wish these dreams would stop taunting me already, or at the very least start to make sense. She thought as she made her way to the stove. Isn't nine years long enough to suffer through something like this? As she stood in front of the stove debating whether or not a cooked meal was worth the effort, she heard footsteps entering the kitchen behind her.
"Ib, what are you doing up so early?" Turning, Ib came face to face with her adopted sister Mary. "Oh nothing, I just had a bit of a bad dream. I figured I might as well come down and get something to eat if I'm not going to be sleeping." Ib said with a tired smile. She didn't want to go into too much detail about the dream. She knew that if Mary found out it was her reoccurring nightmare again she would start worrying, and the last thing Ib wanted was to make her sister worry.
"Anyway, what are you doing up so early? Weren't you complaining a little while ago that you didn't get enough sleep?" Mary just laughed and dismissed the comment with a wave of her hand. "That was when school was in session; right now I want to get as much out of this vacation as possible." Ib couldn't help but smile at Mary's attitude. No matter what was going on she always seemed to find a way to make the most of it, as if each experience was something new and exciting instead of boring and ordinary.
"Well how about we start today by deciding what to have for breakfast, I was planning on having some cold cereal unless you have another idea." Mary stood contemplating for a moment before letting out a gasp and clapping her hands together. "I have a great idea! How about we make pancakes for everyone?" Raising an eyebrow Ib replied "Uh, Mary? I don't know how to make pancakes, do you?" Mary simple shook her head, the smile never leaving her face. "Of course not, but how hard could it be?"
Two hours, an ungodly mess, some muffled cursing, and some not-so-muffled cursing later and the two were serving their parents what a generous observer might describe as vaguely pancake-shaped piles of dough.
"Eh, thank you girls." Their mother said doing her best to maintain a smile. "But you didn't need to go through all this trouble just to make us breakfast." Ib sat down and began to work on cutting into her portion. "It's not a problem" she said "I was already up and we decided to do something useful while waiting for everyone else." She ventured a look at the disaster zone over her shoulder. "And don't worry we'll clean up after our selves before we leave." Mary for her part was engaged in a massive struggle with the tough piece of dough she was chewing and could only manage a nod and a muffled "mmph" in response to Ib's promise.
"Say Ib" their father said drawing attention away from the fact that his pancake had mysteriously vanished. "Have you given any thought to what you want to do for your birthday later this week?"
In all honesty Ib had given very little thought to what she wanted to do for her birthday. A party didn't really interest her all that much, due in no small part to the fact that, other than Mary, she only had a few people she saw as friends.
"Not yet, but I'll let you know when I think of something." She replied. Her father stood up and gave her a pat on the back. "All right but don't keep us waiting too long, it's not every day that you turn eighteen." He said bringing his dishes to the sink. "Hey, if you can't think of anything I can help you decide." Mary said, her eyes shining with the number of possibilities they saw. Ib had to suppress a shudder, she loved her sister but sometimes Mary's 'suggestions' made the term overboard seem too tame.
"T-that's all right, I'm sure I'll figure something out." Ib said quickly. "In the meantime how about we get started on cleaning the kitchen before some of this stuff starts crawling around on its own."
In a dark room he sat, observing the paintings that surrounded him. It's almost time. He thought to himself, feeling the thrill of anticipation work its way up his spine. Almost time for their return. A feral grin spread across his face as he imagined his plans being set into motion. Turning his attention to the creatures behind him he spoke, his voice echoing all around the darkened room. "Go! Make yourselves ready. It is time for us to welcome back some old friends and escape this hell once and for all."
He turned back to the paintings in front of him as his minions walked, dragged, and crawled their way forward to obey his commands. There he sat with dark images playing their way through his head. Ib, Mary, I'll be seeing you both very soon. You can count on that.
Disciple of ember here, and I would like to thank those who took the time to read this story. This is my first story up on Fanfiction/net so comments and criticisms are welcomed.
Currently I am in school so updates to the story may be sporadic at times, but to anyone who is interested rest assured that I will be following through in keeping it going.