My least favorite ending of Ib would have to be...
Memory's Crannies, because you do escape. But.. you don't remember. You don't remember the way Garry protected you, or how you protected him. Neither of you remember. Mary? Forgotten. My theory though...
Garry went home. He found the handkerchief. He wonders, "What's this? How'd this end up here?" He takes a closer look. "It says something... Ib. Ib? Who's Ib?" And then it hits him. He remembers. He remembers the little girl who's life he saved. Who saved his life, never to see her again. He then remembers the little girl who's life he took. She just wanted to get out. To stop being a painting. But he took that from her... to save himself. How selfish of him. He could have let Ib and the painting girl.. Oh, what was her name. Mary. Mary, yes, that was it. He could have let Mary and Ib go on, leaving himself behind. It would have been better that way, he thought. How.. how could he have forgotten about Ib. Ib, that poor girl. He begins to think back to the gallery, memories quickly running in his mind. He remembers. He remembers how he gave her his jacket when she fainted and had a nightmare. How he comforted her in the dark by lighting his lighter. How they looked in the mirror together, and how she somehow found those dolls cute and pettable. How they were separated, and she was left with Mary... no. Garry couldn't think about that. How he worried... He worried for the little girl's safety. Ib.. Ib... oh dear Ib. Such a sweet young innocent child. He chuckled, remembering how she had picked up the adult book, not understanding. How the fake mother from the painting showed up, and tried to take her away. She almost looked like she could leave with her... What if she had? Garry didn't even want to think about what might have happened. Garry sighed, holding the handkerchief tight. How she was his one and only little ray of sunshine and will to escape the gallery alive. That terrible period of time. It could have only been a few hours, even though it felt like days. He stared at the handkerchief in his hand. Why couldn't he have remembered her sooner, at the gallery? He wanted to see her again. To recognize her cute face. To give her a hug, and let him know he remembers. He could have said something. He could have reunited them. But he didn't. He didn't feel the handkerchief in his pocket. He didn't recognize her big, red, innocent eyes. He didn't remember.
But.. it's too late now, isn't it? He'll never see her again. He wonders.. he wonders if she remembers. If she remembers him.
And somewhere... in the distance.. A little girl is in a car with her parents, returning home from an art gallery. They were showing works of someone named Guertena. The little girl with brown hair smiled, walking to her room. She really loved all of those paintings. Especially the rose statue and the... the... Something World. She couldn't really remember the title. She sits on her bed. As she sits, she feels something... something's in her pocket! She reaches in her pocket to find a round piece of lemon-flavored candy. She wonders how it got there. She shrugged it off, it was probably a treat from her parents. As she unwraps the candy and puts it in her mouth, a picture flashes in her mind. She's sitting under a big, black, torn and worn jacket. A man with lavender-grey hair is smiling at her, telling her to look in the pocket. She reaches in the coat pocket and takes out the candy. The girl's eyes widen as she swallows the candy, the taste still lingering in her mouth. She remembers how the candy got there. That man... what was his name..? Garry! Garry, that was his name. Garry, her friend... her friend from the gallery! From the monster world... He was the strong man who saved her. He pulled her through the painting back to the real world. She remembers now. She remembers giving him her handkerchief when he injured his hand. Wait a second... how did he injure his hand again..? Oh, that's right. When they burnt down that other girl's painting, one of the glass shards had hit him. What was that girl's name again? Mary, Mary, her other friend... or so she thought. She remembered Garry and Mary fighting, and how Garry told her that Mary wasn't real. Mary was using Ib and Garry to get out. Ib forgave her, though. She didn't want Garry to burn down the painting, though she knew it was the only way they could get out. The girl's memories start flooding back in a fury of pictures and images. She remembers jumping into the abyss, putting her in that crazy world. She remembers finding Garry laying on the floor, and healing his rose. She remembers when her parents were turned into portraits. How Garry saved her from the living pictures and statues. When he told her about milk puzzles. He didn't see what was cute about the bunnies. He warned her about Mary. He saved her.. he saved her from Mary. And all those other monsters. The girl looked at the empty candy wrapper in her hands, wondering why she couldn't have remembered back at the gallery. When he was looking at the rose statue. She asked him what it was... but she didn't remember him. She didn't. Why did she have to remember now? It's too late, she thought. It's too late. She didn't recognize those eyes. His deep voice. How he talked almost like a woman. His torn up jacket. Nothing. She didn't remember anything.
And now.. now.. it's too late.
Far too late for remembering now.
She knows.. and he knows, too..
They'll never see each other again.
Forever trapped in their Memories' Crannies.