Garden Of Roses
Chapter 2
Disclaimer: I do not own Hetalia or Ib.
When England woke up he quickly noticed that he was no longer sinking in the water of the Abyss of the Deep painting. Instead he was in a small simple room. The room was practically empty with the only piece of future in there was a small wooden table with a single vase sitting on it. Posted on the wall next to the table was a poster, but England couldn't make out the words from where he was sitting. Across from the table was a single grey door. England got up from the floor and rushed over to the door, but he quickly found out that the door was locked.
"Of course the bloody door is locked." England muttered.
He turned away from the door and walked over to the poster. With a small sigh England started to read the poster.
When the rose rots, so too will you rot away.
You and the rose are unified.
Know the weight of your own life.
"Rose?" England said out loud in confusion.
He glanced over at the vase and sure enough there was a rose sitting there waiting for him. However, England could tell right away that the rose was not normal. It was a beautiful purple rose that had a total of fifteen petals. There wasn't a petal out of place and it was so beautiful that England almost thought it was not a real rose. However, when England touched the petals of the rose he knew instantly that the rose was indeed real.
England grabbed the rose and took it out of the vase only to discover that the rose had no thorns. The second the rose was out of the vase England heard what sounded like the clicking of a lock. England gently put his rose into his pocket and looked over at the door. If the sign was to be believed this rose was his lifeline and if it ran out of petals he would die. He wasn't sure if that was really true or not, but he wasn't willing to pull any petals off to see if it was true or not.
England walked over to the door and turned the knob only to find out that sure enough the door was indeed unlocked. England quickly left the room only to end up in a much larger room. Across from his door was a painting of a cartoonish face that was wiggling its tongue and located near the painting was another table with a vase. Also, hanging near the painting was a frame with a white piece of paper inside, but England quickly noticed what looked like and extremely small red number nine printed on it.
England took one step toward the painting and the painting responded to this by spiting at England. Luckily the glob of spit landed on the floor and not on England, but it served its purpose in annoying the blond nation.
"That's very rude you know!" England yelled.
The painting didn't respond it just continued to wiggle its tongue without a care in the world. England glared at the painting, but he stopped glaring when he heard what sounded like a door being opened. England looked over toward the source of the noise only to see a little girl with long brown hair and bright red eyes come walking into the room. The girl looked around the room with a blank expression on her face, but her eyes widened a little when they finally landed on England. England recognized the girl immediately and he wasted no time in getting over to her. Once he had reached the girl he knelt down so that he was at eye level with her.
"I remember you I saw you in the gallery, or the real gallery anyway." England said.
"I remember you too." The girl replied.
"How did you get here?" England asked.
"I got here though the fish painting on the floor." She answered.
"You mean the Abyss of the Deep painting?" England asked.
The girl just nodded her head and England sighed.
"I ended up getting here though that painting too." England answered.
England then remembered his rose and he started to wonder if she had one too. He pulled his rose out of his pocket and showed it to the red eyed girl.
"When I got here I got this rose. Did you get a rose too?" He asked.
The girl just nodded and she proceeded to pull a red rose out of her skirt pocket. Her red rose had a total of five petals which was a lot less then what he had.
"How many petals did your rose start out with?" England asked.
"Five." The girl answered.
England couldn't help but wonder why she had less petals then him, but he quickly decided to think about that later.
"Since we seem to be in the same boat how about we stick together and try to find a way back home." England said. "I'm sure that we'll be able to escape this place by working together."
The girl smiled a little and nodded her before she said "I'd like that."
"Alright, why don't I go ahead and introduce myself. My name is Arthur what's your name?" England asked.
England just gave the girl his human name there was no reason for her to know that he was actually a nation. The girl smiled a little at England and said "My name is Ib."
"That is a beautiful name." England said.
England also had to admit that he had never heard of someone having a name like that, but for some reason he thought it suited her.
Ib's smile grew just a little bit larger and England couldn't help but smile as well.
"Let's explore the area. Hopefully we'll find a door that will lead us out of here." The green eyed nation said.
Ib just nodded her head and followed the blond nation as he looked around the area. England found a painted message on the wall that only said to beware lips. Located near the warning was a painting of lips. England decided to follow the warning and stay away from the lips, but he was just close enough that he could hear the lips talk.
"I'm so hungry. Won't someone feed me?" The lips moaned.
"This place just keeps getting weirder and weirder…" England muttered.
Ib just stared at the lips in slight confusion, but she quickly lost interest in the thing and started to look around the room. England was still staring at the lips when he felt Ib tug on his suit jacket.
"What is it?" England asked.
Ib didn't say anything she just pointed over to a piece of paper that saw sitting in front of a hall. England walked over to the slip of paper and read it out loud.
Just when you've forgotten…
"What does that mean?" England asked.
Ib looked confused, but within a matter of seconds her eyes widened with realization.
"Walk in the middle of the hallway don't walk near the walls." Ib said.
England didn't know why he couldn't go near the walls, but he decided to follow Ib's advice. He walked down the hall and Ib followed right behind him. Right when England had made it about midway through the hall a shadowy arm reached out of the wall and tried to grab him. He jumped in surprise, but he calmed down once he realized that the shadow arm could not reach him. England glanced over at Ib only to see that she was just staring at the arm.
"I saw a few of these before I got here." Ib explained.
"So I guess the note was addressed to you then?" England asked.
Ib just shrugged at the question and England just shook his head.
"Well, thank you for warning me." He said.
Ib only smiled at him, and with that done the two continued through the hallway only to end up in yet another hall. On the left side of the hall was a yellow door with a yellow paint message written next to it. On the right side of the hall was yet another yellow door and hanging from the ceiling from red thread where a bunch of dolls.
"Do you want to go left or right?" England asked.
Ib pointed to the right side of the hall and England just nodded.
"Alright, right side it is." The door on the right side of the hall was locked of course, but England quickly noticed the plaque that was on it.
"A green x times a red x times a purple x equals something…." England muttered.
After the equal sign there was a blank space were England could put in a three digit number.
"I found a red number nine on a portrait in this room. I guess that the red number is what the red x should be." England said. "Are we supposed to find the numbers that the x represents?"
Ib just shrugged as if to say that she didn't know. They both suddenly heard a soft thud come from nearby, but when they turned toward the noise only to see that a doll had fallen from the ceiling. They both walked over to the doll and looked at it only to see a large 18 sewn onto its yellow shirt.
"I guess we are supposed to find the numbers then." England said.
England looked up from the doll and over to the door on the left side of the hall.
'Only one place left to look.' England thought.
He walked over to the door and looked at the paint message that was written next to it.
The Liars' room
England opened the door and entered the room. The room was rather small with the only things in their being a single door and a bunch of paintings with painted words under them. Ib started to look at all of the paintings and England proceeded to pen the new door. In the other room there only a statue located in the middle of the room, and on the ground around the statues where a bunch of tiles. The statue was holding a large sign.
"There's an odd one out…?" England read out loud in confusion.
"I think it's talking about the paintings." Ib replied.
England closed the door and started to look at the paintings. There were a total of six paintings and each painting was that of a shadow person. Each person in the paintings were wearing different colored clothes, and that was the only way that England could tell them apart. England looked at the painted words that was underneath the picture of a woman in white.
"Stand in front of the statue. Go east 2 steps, then south 2 steps. That's the answer." England read out loud.
"She's lying." Ib said.
"What makes you say that?" England asked.
"The painting in yellow said that she was speaking the truth." The girl said.
England was confused at first, but after thinking about it for a few seconds he figured the puzzle out.
"That's right we are in the liars' room which means that most of these paintings are liars. The odd one out must be our truth teller." England said. "Any painting that says that some other painting is telling the truth is lying."
"The painting in red is a liar, they agree with the one in yellow." Ib said.
England looked at the painting of a man wearing blue and shook his head.
"The man in blue is a liar. He says the man in green is telling the truth. That means the man in green is lying as well." England said.
England walked over to the painting of a woman wearing brown. She was the only painting left. England just smiled as he said "I think I found our truth teller."
Ib walked over to him and looked at the painted words that where underneath the woman in brown.
Stand in front of the statue. Go east 4 steps, then north 2 steps. That's the answer!
"Well, let's try it out and see if she really was telling the truth." England said.
England and Ib made their way into the statue room. Ib had closed the door behind them and England had taken his spot in front of the statue. England then followed the woman in brown's advice and followed her directions. Once he was at his final destination he flipped over the tile that he had stopped at. England smiled a little when he saw that the tile had small purple number four printed on it.
"She was telling the truth." England said.
However, right after England said that he and Ib heard what sounded like glass being shattered. The sound was then followed by a lot of loud banging. Ib and England stood frozen in place as they listened to the loud noises coming from the liars' room. When everything had fallen silent England finally stood up from his spot on the floor.
"Ib stay close to me." England ordered.
Ib just nodded her head and quickly made her way over to England. Once Ib was by his side he lead to little girl into the Liar's room. Once they were in the liars' room they made a rather horrifying discovery.
The woman in brown's painting had been destroyed. The glass was shattered and their where large rips all over her painting. Red paint was dripping from the rips in the painting, and if England didn't know any better he could have almost mistaken the red paint for blood. All of the other paintings were holding weapons now, and each weapon was dripping with red paint. Also, underneath each painting the painted words had changed and they only said one thing.
Liar!
Ib cling onto England's suit jacket and England just frowned.
"Come on Ib, let's get out of here." The green eyed nation said.
They quickly left the room and made their way back to the door with the number puzzle on it. England quickly filled in the blanks with the numbers.
'9 times 18 times 4 should equal 166.' England thought.
England entered the answer into the door, and right after he answered the question he heard a loud click which meant that the door was unlocked. England opened the door and walked in. The room had a few fake trees in it, and it had a painting of an apple hanging from a branch. One of the trees had an apple hanging from it. England plucked the apple off of the tree only to discover that the apple was made of wood. England also noticed that the wooden apple actually smelled like apples, and the smell was so strong that it was almost overwhelming.
"What are we supposed to do with this?" England asked.
"Do we give it to the lips? He was saying that he was hungry." Ib said.
England just shrugged before he said "It's worth a shot."
They made their way over to the lips and once they where their England held the apple out to the lips.
"Are you giving this to me?" The lips asked.
England just nodded and the lips smiled before they opened up. England placed the apple into the mouth, and the mouth immediately started to eat it. Once it was done the lips let out a loud burp. England just frowned and crossed his arms.
"These lips eat things just like Alfred does." England said.
Ib looked at England in confusion, and England just smiled at her.
"Alfred is the name of someone that I know." He explained.
Ib just nodded before she turned her attention back to the lips. England also looked at the lips and quickly noticed that it was smiling.
"Thank you for the food. I'll let you though now." The lips said.
The lips then opened up wide only to reveal a door. England decided to not question the fact that the lips was hiding a door and instead he just looked down at Ib.
"Ready to move on?" England asked.
Ib just nodded and smiled before she grabbed his hand. England smiled back at her before he opened the door and lead his companion deeper into the gallery…
Info Time
Purple Rose: Purple roses symbolize love at first sight, delight, attraction, charm and enchantment. They also suggest royalty, majesty, dignity and splendor. The purple rose also conjures feelings of wonder, impracticality, magic, mystic, spiritual, and magnetic wonders.
Since the purple rose can be used to symbolize magic (or something that is magical) I thought it fit in with England since he uses magic. Also, since England can see mythical things this fits in with the mystic wonders meaning. A few of the other meanings that the purple rose has will come into play later on in the story.
Anyway, out of all of the rose colors I thought purple fit England rather well so that's why I decided to give him a purple rose.
I'll try and get the next chapter out as soon as possible so please review and don't flame.
