Ib swiftly picked up the box that contained the colours orange, green, and purple. She let her plan turn over in a head again as she exited the room to return to Garry's side.
It would only take a miracle for this to work.
The boy was now even paler than he had used to be. Ib sat down beside him. She stared intently at him as she wetted the brush and dragged it through the purple paint until the brush itself was a rich purple colour.
I know that I cannot simply paint a picture of a blue rose... since the portrait of a rose will still be a fake rose... But maybe... Purple is made up of red and blue... It is a long shot, but it is the only one I have if I want both of us to live.
She put the first streak of purple on her red rose.
One petal.
Two petals.
Three petals.
As the beautiful rose was slowly covered in this equally beautiful secondary colour, Ib tried to sense and watch out for any negative effects on herself, pain, wounds. However, while her breathing became a little laboured, no severe damage to her health was made. She took this as a good sign. Now, if only Garry could wake up as well...
You will be safe.
Five petals.
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The seconds ticked by as she watched the boy closely for any changes. Even when more than five minutes had already passed in complete silence, she refused to give up hope.
Finally, something moved when Garry began to blink his eyes, as though waking up after a long sleep. He hardly had the chance to grasp his surroundings or waking situation before he suddenly had an armful of Ib pushing up against his stiff, aching body.
"...Ib?"
In an instant, memories were flooding back to him - of Mary demanding his rose, of himself collapsing on the way and urging Ib to continue on without him, thinking he would die for sure... After a moment of astonishment, he enthusiastically hugged the girl back.
"I'm... alive! I'm alive! Ib, I'm breathing!" he laughed. "H-how?"
No sooner had he asked this than Ib slowly pulled away from him. Lifting her hand with the rose in it, she silently presented him with the dripping purple flower, in a fashion similar to how the other had returned her red rose to herself earlier.
Garry stared at it. "You... you did this..?"
His question received a nod. Once he had taken in the fact that the young girl had bravely and brilliantly saved both of their lives, he let himself slump against the wall behind him.
"I swear, you're my favourite person in the whole wide world right now..."
Ib gave a small smile.
"Well, let's get out of here, shall we?" Garry pushed himself up on his feet. "I for my part am thoroughly tired of be- Ouph!"
He promptly fell back onto the ground. "What is this? I feel so weak all of a sudden..." he muttered once he had managed to raise himself to a standing position.
"The rose..." Ib said.
The boy took the rose from her into his hand and examined it. After giving it some thought, he said "It shouldn't be surprising, I guess... My rose used to have ten petals - now we are sharing a five-petal rose... Can you stand, Ib?"
The little girl tried to get up, but would have tumbled over had it not been for Garry catching her. She looked up at his smiling face as he said "We share a life now... Guess we'll have to support each other from now on. But I don't mind..."
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A: Leave Mary be - Go to chapter 6
B: Confront Mary - Go to chapter 7