Disclaimer: I do not own Ib or any of the elements in the game. They belong to their respective owner, Kouri; I am merely using them for my own creative amusement.

AN: Hi C: So this was another prompt submitted on tumblr and I wanted to try this out before working on my other bigger projects, a warm up in a way. It is rated T for implied stuff but rather tame overall. Happy reading x

My Darling Dolly

They went on and on. Garry hadn't felt such an overwhelming sense of peace in a long time. He glanced shyly at the blue felt, at their red beady eyes and fluffy braided hair. They were really kind to stay with him until Mother finally remembered to come to pick him up. He couldn't remember the last time a friend did that for him.

He couldn't remember the last time he had a friend.

"Honestly though— dogs playing poker! It's so silly!"

He burst into giggles as the little doll continued their story. "That... so...?" he barely choked out. Garry took in another deep breath, trying to control his ragged breathing. His sides were starting to hurt.

When was the last time he laughed without restraint like this?

When was... what time is it?

"Golly, sometimes it's just so hard to do things when you don't have fingers, you know?"

"Ahahaha... oh, sure. Sometimes... yeah, yeah..."

He knew. Of course he knew. He had tried cooking meals for Mother with bandages wound around his hands, sewing and mending his own worn out uniforms. Life was a little hard when he was both parent and child; it was even harder when he was hurt.

His hands were very important to him.

"I like your hair, friend." The doll with the pink dress ruffled their braids with stumpy paws and tilted their head at him, wide grin ever present. Their voice was so soft and warm, just like them, and so different compared to Mother's harsh gravelly monotone on most days. "It's purple and pretty. The tops are even a different colour!"

Mother didn't agree, of course. In an act of rare disobedience, he didn't mind her disapproval. He just wanted to bring colour back to his world. He was only a child.

The grown man nodded, twirling the soft locks proudly. "Don't see that every day, right? I just ran out, you see..."

The wide grin tore the stitches of their mouths, mimicking laughter, revealing a bloody, gooey mess of paint and felt. He jumped at the sudden cacophony of high pitched giggling, his ears ringing from the sound. "So it was a mistake? And yet you like it? Hey, hey friend, does dying take a long time?"

"Oh I really love it," He rubbed his sore ears, feeling a headache coming on. "But it does take a while for sure."

"I love playing with hair."

He beamed at his little friend. "Oh, you do too? Why, we certainly do get along, don't we?"

Somewhere at the back of his mind, Garry heard the door creak open.

The doll bobbed its head up and down and Garry let out another chuckle, happy to find a person who didn't look at him funny or sneer in disgust. He reached out and gently patted the tiny creature's head, amazed at how coarse it was. Their bright red eyes peeked at him under the jagged fringe and the two blue paws tapped affectionately on his wrist.

He took his hand away and sighed, suddenly drained and exhausted. When was Mother coming? The doll tilted their head in concern and waved at him, their silvery voice laced with concern. "What's the matter?"

He blinked, shaking his head. "It's nothing, I'm just tired. You're really quite entertaining you know that? I feel like I could talk to you about my every worry."

The weight of a hand and a nudge to his shoulder didn't register.

His heart hurt.

"You sure can! We'll always be buddies, right? Right, right?"

He burst out into another round of guffawing, pounding his fist against the sharp pain in his chest. The little doll waved its arms around frantically, catching his attention. "Say, friend. Have you ever tried Galette des Rois? Or played the game?"

Garry took in yet another deep breath before finally settling down, wiping away tears. "What game would that be?"

"The happiness game!"

"Huh! Never heard that before... can you give me the details?"

"A Galette des Rois is a cake that has a coin in it! And if you eat the slice with the coin in it, you'll be a happy person! I've played it loads before but... well... it's kind of embarrassing. Will you promise not to tell?"

He gave them an exaggerated wink. "No, no, I won't tell anyone! Your secret's safe with me!"

"Really? Well... I've never gotten the coin even once!" He nodded his head in sympathy. The little doll seemed to look around the room before gesturing him closer to her. The coast was clear, apparently. "Want to know something weird though?"

His eyes widened in excitement. He fervently nodded.

"There was one time where one of my friends got the slice with the coin in it... and my other friend cut her stomach open with a palette knife."

Garry gasped dramatically. "What? I don't believe it!" The little doll sadly nodded her head as he continued nervously shaking his head, eyes unfocussed. He finally turned back to the doll. "Really? Are you for real?"

"Yeah, how mean, right? Just coz she got jealous! And then that friend decided to poke around in her stomach too, taking back the coin..." They shook their head sadly. "Although, now I kind of remember it was a funny looking sort of— Hey, are you okay? Why do you look so white?"

Garry was desperately trying to not be sick, teeth clenched from the effort. "...Because that's disgusting! Who'd do that to a girl? If I saw that happening, I'd tell them off for sure!"

Tell them off... for cutting a person's stomach open...

An image of a collapsed woman filled his mind and he almost gagged again from the lingering scent of metallic red paint. He looked up to the little doll rolling and squealing with delight, excitedly clapping their paws together. The pain in his chest bloomed again and the young man wobbled a little. He supported himself with one hand behind him and placed the other over his heart.

"You're so nice, friend." The doll finally sat up in their place again, their head bowed down. "The poor girl walks around with an open stomach now, so it's really yuck, but no one can really help her 'coz she don't want anyone to find her. I ain't seen her around in a while, which is really sad. I always feel troubled when I think about her. Maybe it was my fault. I could have helped or something."

"Troubled? I know the feeling, you just feel helpless sometimes." He was helpless to help a woman who wouldn't put the kitchen knife down, helpless because he couldn't the perfect son that she always wanted, helpless because it was too late to be sentimental over a woman who unintentionally destroyed his childhood... because she was already long gone. "You know you can't run away from the problem, but nothing goes well either... I wonder why?"

He sighed.

Being an adult was pretty hard.

"So I just don't think about her and that's pretty easy coz I rarely see her."

He blinked at the simplicity of the solution.

"Yeah, that works too. It's nice to not have to think... just forgetting the bad things." Hysterical laughter suddenly bubbled up inside him and Garry clutched his sides, tears blurring his vision and he could hear nothing but the sound of his hoarse voice. "Oh yes, I'm with you there!"

In the haze of his mind, the twittering conversation of two little girls did not reach him, for all he could see was the cute little doll in the pink dress. The two of them could just sit on the carpet and chat in this room. They were his darling dolly company, sharing both joys and fears in times of loneliness. No, he wouldn't ever be lonely again.

AN: I'm not entirely pleased with this, although I'm not sure why. I wanted to try the "unreliable narrator" kind of thing but I am not sure if it really worked :/ OrmaybeIamjustgettingrustyhmmmmm. Anyways, I will leave this up here so please tell me what you think C: Take care x