Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters, nor do I own the title of Ib. They belong to Kouri.
Note: Before anyone throws a fit about me not updating my stories (seeing as I'm unsure whether I'm going to post this due to the fear of angering people after promising to continue the other stories)… I just finished watching the playthrough of the game (because I wanted to make sure that the game was not too creepy for me to play), and it was beautiful and I couldn't help but ship the characters Garry and Ib together, as long as their ages are altered. Thus I am going to alter their ages.
Summary: Ib is an eighteen year old girl that is enrolled in the University of Guertena (named in honor the famous artist) majoring in Art & Illustration. Visiting a museum with a Guertena exhibition, Ib wanted to use the experience as a reference for her own creations. What happens when the young adult stumbles upon a piece that drags her into the world where she meets a boy named Garry? Will things be different considering the apparent age similarity between the two? Or will the two remain only friends? Find out!
P.S. THIS CHAPTER IS BASICALLY GOING TO SEEM REDUNDANT BECAUSE IT'S BASICALLY RETELLING WHAT HAPPENED IN THE GAME. If you would like to read where Garry comes just go to the part where it says CHANGE IN PoV (to Ib's).
Also the picture in the story cover belongs to this user/comes from here: art/IB-316947952
Strolling into the museum, Ib made a mental note not to get too sentimental because of the incredible art exhibit. She exchanged a few brief words to the receptionist at the front, then headed inside of the actual Guertena Exhibition. There were a lot more people than she expected to be there, but she was mainly interested to see what types of styles Guertena utilized in his paintings, sculptures, etc.
Each time she examined a painting she would take a careful mental note of the title: this was important for her because she generally had difficulties in designating a name for her illustrations. A lot of the artwork was very inspiring for Ib, considering the simplicity of a lot of Guertena's paintings. She made her way around the entire exhibit, until she came across a very large painting, one single painting in the room. 'Must be relatively famous then?' Ib pondered; however, something seemed off about the painting, and seemed somewhat different than the other pieces of art she had seen earlier. After she examined the name of the artwork – Fabricated World – the lights in the room briefly flickered. Suddenly, the museum felt somewhat empty. Going with her gut instinct, she wanted to explore further throughout the museum to make sure she wasn't just being paranoid. She secretly hoped that she was just getting too paranoid, and that in actuality nothing really happened to anyone.
Heading downstairs to the reception room, she saw the lights flicker off again. This time the lights did not return. Exploring the room to the right with the central artwork containing an anglerfish, Ib started to feel deeply disconcerted at the lack of people throughout the museum.
"Perhaps there were some people upstairs that I hadn't noticed?" she spoke to herself, trying not to seem too frightened by the whole thing. As soon as she went upstairs, a quick movement caught her eye on the mirrored surface that was the first display in the room. Mustering up the courage to examine it further, she nearly jumped where she stood: someone quickly banged on the mirror, leaving a small handprint behind. When she returned to the room with "Fabricated World", she saw blue oozing from the wall. When she scrutinized it closely, a blatant message on the ground caught her attention. "Come Ib" the wall continued to ooze more, so she looked at it again "Come down below, ib. I'll show you some place secret" the message read. Her first instinct was to get the hell out of this place. Something convinced her that everything would not be normal had she decided to leave the museum. Someone or – rather – something was trying to get her to see something. It must be something important for them to pull this much of an elaborate prank. This is what Ib was trying to convince herself in order to soothe the nerves screaming at the obscene situation she was in.
"Well, maybe I'll just go see what this prankster wants" she said, her mouth becoming dry. When she went to the central exhibit with the anglerfish, she was astonished to discover the cord protecting the exhibit had vanished. In front of the fish was more of that blue ooze that she saw earlier: footprints. When she walked into the ocean-like artwork, she was introduced to a familiar setting. It seemed as if it were another part of the museum, only this one seemed a lot more sinister. When she continued to the right room, she saw a message on the wall that continuously said "Come". She was greeted with a red rose in a vase. She took the rose and pushed the vase over in order to access the room with the blue door. A painting with teal colored hair and closed eyes greeted her, her attention was mostly drawn at the blue key on the floor.
Ib cautiously picked it up, and when she did the painting changed much to her astonishment. The eyes looked at her eerily, as if closely watching her every movement. When she snapped her gaze away from the sinister painting, she went back to the former room. The words "Come" on the wall were now replaced with the words "Thief" written in red.
"Hmph! I'm not a thief. Whoever is behind all of this wanted me to do this. I stole nothing. I'm doing what is necessary to leave this place and return things to its former state" Ib was fuming, more annoyed than scared. As she continued to the left, she screamed as yet another red "thief" was pounded on the ground in front of her. Putting her startled emotions behind, she practically ran into the next room. Yet another blue door awaited her after she left the room with the two paintings of rocks, or something.
The next few hours were basically horrifying experiences of statues starting to chase her whenever Ib found keys, or anything helpful enough to help her move onto a new area. Even though Ib was an adult, she practically still felt as scared as a little kid would feel. Though the cat-room's appearance was somewhat discomforting, it was also kind of cute. Ib pushed herself to the room to the west and she saw a stick figure on the wall. More blue ooze was not really any surprise to her, "Play hide and seek with me?" it asked. After countless tries to find the stick figure guy, she found him and was given a fish head as an incentive. "How charming…" she said with a sigh.
Next was the east room. There were a whole bunch of sculptures. One of them started moving and the light started flickering. At this point, the flickering lights weren't even that much of a surprise to Ib. After the statue kept moving for a while, it fell and broke open. She received the fishtail and combined it to get the fish key. Returning to the cat-room, she put the key in its position and pressed forward.
The next few puzzles involved lying paintings: as well as deciphering which one is telling the truth, hanging dolls: really freaked out Ib – dolls scare most people except for children usually, and lastly some very hungry lips. After finding a wooden apple as a prize, Ib gave the lips the apple rather than her rose. "Better not let someone deflower me" she finished with a snort. Though is now really the time for jokes – no it was not.
"Come inside of my mouth" Ib hesitated to the request the mouth gave her, but went ahead inside. Thankfully, it wasn't a trap. Guillotine hall, huh? Better watch out. I'm almost certain that one of these are going to try to crush me beneath the guillotine. Ib was correct, and with her analytical curiosity, she avoided being crushed. A familiar painting with the lady in red graced her presence, this painting was probably one of her favorites amongst the entire exhibit. Ib jumped when the lady in red crawled out towards her, and she ran around frantically. Her eyes caught another red color aside from the door – it was the key! Snatching the key off the ground, she fumbled the key in its position in the door, and it unlocked. Another vase was sitting in the next room, so she regained her rose petals, seeing as she lost something due to the confrontation with her former favorite painting. That terrifying experience erased any fondness she held for the painting. This better not make me afraid of art in the long run or I swear, I will cry.
Switching perspective to Ib's (Rather than Narrator) [also, no longer past PoV]
Heading to the east direction, I find a wounded man lying down in pain. Something shiny catches my eye though, and it is a key. I snatch it from him swiftly, afraid that he might be some sort of painting monster – or something. I never thought in my life I would ever regard paintings as monsters. Unfortunately, I think this experience might scar any former feelings of gratitude/admiration that I had for art.
Heading to the other side I use the key to open the locked door. Another painting like the Lady in Red, only this one is … blue? It's no surprise to me that she jumped off of her position on the wall upon sensing my presence. What's really intriguing is that of which she is guarding – in a sense. A blue rose! I stealthily lure the painting into the other room, then run into the other room to grab the rose. Returning to the room with the vase, I first place my rose in the vase. That encounter cost me a lot of health (my rose). Then, I place the blue rose in the vase. I return to the boy I met earlier – whom I hadn't really examined very closely. To be honest, I only glanced at him briefly and saw the color lavender.
I approach the man cautiously, still not being too naïve when confronting him. "Mm…" I hear him stir a bit, and he slowly gets up. "What's this? The pain's gone…. Ah?" he speaks, more to himself than anything. Upon realizing my presence, his eyes widen and he lets out a shrill scream. Wow. Really manly, are we? Just kidding, I was kind of apprehensive about him too, at first. Point taken. Scrambling to his feet and making a distance between the two of us, he speaks in a startled tone. "Wh-What is it NOW?! T-There's nothing left for you to take, I tell you" Geez, what's that supposed to mean? "W-Wait… dear me, could you be someone… from the gallery?!" with his suggestion I nod my head in determination. I need someone to accompany me, I have felt so lonely this entire time. Perhaps, a companion through all this mayhem is all I truly wanted. Upon realizing the accuracy of my finding, I feel somewhat remorseful for mocking him in my mind (kind of).
"So you are! Oh, thank heavens! There's someone here besides me!" It's good I'm not the only one that was yearning for some companionship. I just hope this guy isn't some sort of creep. Though looking closely at his appearance, he's kind of cute. He has lavender hair and black eyes. His attire includes a long, dark blue tattered looking coat. His pants are a brown color and his shoes are black. He has a nice, lean figure, too. Ick, what are you doing Ib… Don't let your mind get in the gutter.
We talk a bit more for a bit about our understanding of the situation. "So I see… You don't have any clue how things got to this point, either" he responds in light of the entire dilemma we've gotten ourselves into. "It would seem we wound up in very similar situations, I have to say…" he continues, trailing off. "Even down to the roses. Wounds appear on me when my rose loses its petals…" he explains further. (A/N: More in game dialogue. At this point, I am going to stem off into my own way to go about this story. Bear with me… Sorry if it has been painful thus far) "I thought I was a goner there… Thank you for getting it back" he says with a smile on his face. "Now, first things first… we'd better find a way out. I think I'll go mad if I stay in this dreadful place for too long… Ah, I still haven't asked your name. My, that was rude of me! Well my name's Garry. And you are?" he exclaims with an apologetic bow, but finishes with a smile.
"My name is Ib. It's nice to meet you, Garry." I reply with a smile. "Ib... Ib, you say. I can't very well leave a girl to wander into danger, no, no. So I'll go with you! Okay? Now, let's go, Ib!" he replies in a triumphant manner. The painting on the wall spits in front of him, causing him to leap with shock. "I-er that was nothing. That painting startled me, was all? Let's go on!" I chuckle a little bit, and I see a blush creep on his face. "Um, Garry? This might be an odd question, but how old are you? I'm eighteen, and in college" I ask curiously. "Same here, what a coincidence" he says, quite startled by the fact. After thinking about it more, it seemed, Garry starts to look much more content with their age similarity.
(A/N: on second thought, I will start skipping majorly through the plot because not much would change until after they escape from the cursed Guertena exhibit)
Still Ib's point of view, but going into Past tense:
During the remaining time we spent together, Garry and I grew a lot closer. Often times he would protect me, move things that were too heavy for me to move (even though we're the same age, I'm considerably weak), and stuff like that. He also gave me some ideas for puzzles whenever we were faced with another one at hand!
Along the way we met a girl named Mary: though she was much younger than I, it seemed as if she were fonder of me from the start. At one point when we got separated, I sensed something was terribly amiss about the little girl. Garry came running to my rescue, and told me the truth that Mary was one of Guertena's paintings. From that moment on, we went into a crayon drawn land, which was quite a change of aura. It was still eerie in a way, considering the fact that we had no idea who exactly drew it. It would not have surprised me if I learned it was Mary who drew that entire world.
After a lot of laborious puzzles, running, and figuring out the way things work together, Garry and I came to a room with a picture of Mary. She found us, and Mary went insane while telling us to leave. We had no other choice than to burn the painting. After that, she vanished. When we went into the pink house – thing, and went down the stairs we found that we were back at the gallery and saw the "Fabricated World", but it had changed in appearance.
"Mary come on, I think this is the way out" Garry said while beckoning with his hand coming out of the picture. At that instance, I saw Mary crawling in the room begging me not to go. "Please Ib, don't leave me!" she pleaded. "Ib, what are you waiting for? Come on!" Garry continued, not understanding why I was faced in another direction. Perhaps he was unable to see Mary – meaning it was just a devious hallucination. It would have been dangerous to trust Mary anyway after all the malice she would have shown them earlier.
I hesitated not a moment further, and grabbed Garry's hand. "Alright Ib! Let's go!" He exclaimed. In that instant, everything faded to white. I know it might sound ridiculous to say, but I forgot everything when I returned. I had the intention to continue looking around the museum and make more observations to assist with my own artwork, but I decided to wander around a bit. A man with lavender hair caught my eyes, he was staring at a rose statue. When he noticed me he smiled and said, "Is there something you would like to ask, miss". I smiled back and commented on the rose, "What are you looking at". "When I look at this sculpture… I feel somehow sorrowful… I wonder why. …Ah, I'm sorry if I said anything to startle you, Ib" At the time – having lost my memories – I was truly startled when he knew my name. He continued on, "wait … what? Who's Ib?" he was just as confused as I was. "My name is Ib…" I spoke shyly, for some reason my cheeks were becoming warm. "What? That's your name? Your name's really Ib? That's the strangest thing … I mean I don't know you at all… It just kinda came out… How odd. But actually, have we perhaps met somewhere before? …My, look at me, asking you such strange things… Nevermind what I said well, bye." He said, and turned to walk away. Much to my surprise, he stopped. "Hm? What's this? A handkerchief? When did I get this? Ah this is yours?" he replied, as I chided in that the handkerchief was actually mine. The situation was really mindblowing for me – considering I had no idea who Garry was, and the fact that I forgot him is kinda sad, but not for long. "My word, it's true. "Ib" … your name is right on it. But why is it in my pocket? Plus there's blood on it" After saying these words, it was almost as if I practically saw what he was thinking – a flash of intuition. He realized our past together and started joyously reciting that he recalled who I was.
Then he made a promise that we would meet again – so then, he would return the handkerchief nice and clean. That was no lie, because we met many times after the adventure we experienced together!
End of this Chapter
Yeah it was long and I should have just put the plot summary to this is a world after they escaped but it was if they were the same age. And then started the story from afterward! I was too far into the story to do that, I didn't want to throw away all my progress, so I guess it doesn't really matter. I probably won't even upload this. Who knows though?