Deranged Flowers

A DDR x Ib Crossover Fanfiction

By Zelosahiko

A/N: Hello! Zelosahiko is here! As I promised, here's my promised crossover fanfiction. I decided I'd keep the fandom alive with my… amateur-ish story. I apologize for any mistakes, but I'd be glad if you read it and love it! Oh, let me remind you that this fanfic is totally AR and AU. Paragraphs with bold and italic like this are flashbacks/past events. With those notices finished, let's head on to the story!

Disclaimer: Ib belongs to Kouri, DDR and its characters belongs to Konami.

Chapter 1 – Enter The World

"Hah… That was tiring," Alice said as she wiped the sweat off her forehead with her handkerchief after beating a rather tough challenge course on DDR. She stepped down from the metal pad accompanied with Emi and Rage applauding to her.

"That was awesome, Alice!" Emi commented on her AA rank which was showed on the cabinet's screen with her trademark cheerful smile.

"It took you a while to complete that monstrous course, eh, Alice? But I'm glad that was worth it!" Rage inquired with his cheeky grin.

"Umm… Do you mind if I ask you something…?" Alice asked nervously. She twitched her fingers and looked down. She surely didn't want to disturb the lovebirds' activity.

"Ask away!" Emi replied kindly. She seemed to notice the blue haired pop singer's nervousness for certain. She patted her best friend's shoulder after she stood next to her with a genuine smile, "No need to be nervous, Alice."

"Y-You see, I… I have free time for today, then that means I don't have to work. B-But I'm confused. I don't know how I should spend my free time wisely… I-I—"

"Ah, you can come with us! We're going to visit a new art gallery coming to New York!" Emi tried to clear her doubts.

"Yeah! I'm not the one who is usually fond of arts and all, but I heard Guertena's arts are fantastic! That's why I'm willing to come!" Rage said to her.

"Huh? I don't want to disturb your date—"

"It's not even a date, Alice! Just come with us already! I'm sure you will be amazed!" Emi stopped Alice from saying anything regarding her relationship with Rage further. But her words were true. Judging from the gallery's pamphlet, she was certain the exhibition would be breathtaking and that is why she persuaded her friends to come, but sadly, Rage was the only person who accepted Emi's invitation.

"O-Okay, I'll come," Alice replied slowly after nodding her head slightly.

"That's the spirit!" Rage cheered on her and pestered her to walk with them to Guertena's exhibition alongside Emi. They surely didn't want to miss the chance of appreciating such beautiful art.

And that is how they successfully talked Alice into going Guertena's gallery exhibition with them. Upon arriving at the aforementioned gallery building, Alice was taken aback. She surely didn't expect the architecture would be this majestic yet elegant. She could see several banners around the seemingly mysterious exterior promoting Guertena's masterpieces.

"Err… Do you know who Guertena is?" Alice started a conversation by asking her two friends a question. Both of them started thinking as hard as they could, but they could only come up with a short answer.

"From what I heard, he's a famous Italian artist. At least, if my memory serves me correctly," Emi then chuckled nervously after answering Alice's question and she scratched her head a little. Regardless, the three of them went into the gallery. Soon, Alice knew her friends were right. They were greeted by a professional looking doorman, and a kind receptionist.

"Ah, this building itself seems like a masterpiece too for me."

"I know, right, Alice? I'm sure you'll like it! After all, Guertena doesn't only have great paintings. He's also a good sculptor! I heard his creations were based on many emotions of human. But some of my friends who are into arts said that his portrait weren't based on real people! Well, not all of them…"

"Wow, you surely know your stuff from your friends, Emi."

"Hey, we better get some pamphlets as well! We might want to come here sooner with more of our friends!" Rage told them enthusiastically. Emi gasped in glee and she instantly agreed with Rage. With that, Emi picked up several pamphlets which was laid on the top of the receptionist's desk and ordered neatly. The long haired shy girl only watched them from afar, not knowing what to do.

"Oh, Alice. If you want to explore the gallery further, just go right ahead. We'll catch up while we handle the admission ticket paying," Emi notified her.

"Won't it burden you and Rage?"

"No worries! You need to take a break from the showbiz in a while, Alice! Just explore to your heart's contents! We're paying!" Rage told her, and despite still feeling somewhat guilty for them, Alice obeyed both of her friends' words and went further into the art gallery.

"I have to say this is such a true masterpiece," Alice mumbled in admiration as she observed a painting. The painting was entitled Worry. Although the painting unsettled her a little, she still likes it. She then turned around and saw more of Guertena's arts, particularly the sculptures. Every step she walked, her azure long hair fluttered in joy since this was her first time visiting an art gallery.

And to top it all, the gallery was amazing for her. She was truly amazed and bewitched by Guertena's masterpieces' charm. For her, the charm seemed mysterious. She ventured deeper and deeper into a gallery until she reached a long, empty hall. The hall itself wasn't fully empty since it has a big mural displayed on its wall. The idea about this hall doesn't have anyone excluding Alice in front of the abstract mural was weird.

She turned around to see the dark-themed mural entitled Fabricated World. This was the biggest painting she had ever seen so far in this gallery. As soon as she touched the title plate after observing the mural with amazement, the gallery's lights went out.

The young idol gasped in fear and shock as she tried to look around in vain. Now, she was only by herself in the pitch black gallery. Her instinct told her to run away and she did what her instinct said. As she kept running away, she heard several creepy noises. First was the sound of pouring rain, then followed by the sound of a man coughing loudly. In some cases whenever she passed in front of the windows, she'd always see a black silhouette either banging loudly on the window or passing by, giving Alice a cold yet sinister smile.

Alice Ip was truly frightened now. She screamed her friends' name in agony, hoping Emi and Rage would answer her, but it was useless. She was trapped now. As the blue haired lass passed in front of the Worry painting she had taken a liking to, the eyes squinted at her and stared back at her. Even though she had run out of breath, she wanted to run away. She wanted to escape from this darkness.

That is, until she reached the Abyss of The Deep painting.

She didn't have time to observe the painting during the first time she entered the gallery. Truth to be told, she found the anglerfish on the painting almost surprisingly realistic and it surprised her a little. Its hollow eyes were staring at her blue orbs which scared her a little. Suddenly, she heard a voice ringing in her mind. It sounded sinister, which Alice disliked.

"Come, Alice. I'll show you someplace secret~"

It seemed like the anglerfish which unsettled her off taunted her. She just hoped everything went back to normal and it was all just a nightmare she'd been experiencing during her sleep. She took several steps closer into the painting. What surprised her wasn't the realistic color blue which rinsed her legs in water but the water's depth. She sunk in deeper and deeper, until she couldn't manage to inhale fresh air anymore. As her azure irises closed down, she was drifted to a deranged, new world.

Now, she was in the darker version of the gallery which was painted similarly to the one in the mural she just saw. When Alice was still unconscious, a pair of bright bloody red eyes observed her lying down on the dark black floor from afar.

"Welcome to the Fabricated World, Alice Ip…"

Yep! I think that's all for now! FYI, in this story, all DDR characters are wearing their X outfits. Well… I guess several characters from Ib will make appearance in this story. The main pairing of this story will be introduced later, but I will not reveal if they will appear in the 2nd chapter or not. Just for you to know, I know this is an AR and AU story, but, this story takes place after the Ib All Alone ending. Anyways, both reviews and flames are accepted!