Deep in his own little room, Weiss Guertena has made his home. He's decorated it with a few of his favorite works, and he keeps a nice chair in the center (he's taken to calling it his throne). Next to his throne is a small coffee table with a bowl full of apples. On one side of the room is a large white screen. Weiss Guertena takes an apple and spins around the room with it. He's happier than he's ever been.

"Ahhhhh, this is the most fun I've had in years! Not since she came last time have things around here been so exciting! Aren't you having fun too?" He pauses, as if waiting for an answer from someone, even though he's by himself. "…Oh, who cares how slow they're going? At least they're getting the job done, right? And it's so much fun to see them scared out of their wits! Ah-ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha! …Okay, I'm calm."

Another pause. "HEY!" he screams in anger as he throws his apple at the wall, causing the apple to splinter. "Who do you think you are?! You have no right to talk to me like that! Why, why, why does every little conversation with you have to be so IRRITATING!? …Shut up! Shut up, shut up, SHUT UP, YOU LITTLE BITCH! SHUT YOUR DAMN MOUTH! If you don't shut your mouth right now, I wi-"

One more abrupt pause. Without warning, Guertena is down on his knees, on the verge of tears. "Okay, okay, I'm sorry! Please forgive me, I didn't mean it!" he begs. After one more pause, he raises himself up with a smile. "Great! All's well that ends well! …Ah! I almost forgot about our guest. See what our petty arguments do? …Oh, now you're just being a baby." He skips to the other side of the room, where a young man lays motionless inside a glass coffin. The coffin is decorated with blue roses.

"Poor thing…you must be so lonely…just you wait. Soon, we'll be play to play all kinds of games together. Soon…" He looks over to the screen, which has begun projecting an image of Ib and Evelyn. "Soon…"

There is a long hallway where the only works of Guertena that can be found are a series of paintings. These paintings depict a guillotine, and each successive painting shows it rising ever higher. And at the end of this hallway, Ib and Evelyn stare each other down. Evelyn has a very determined look on her face, while Ib retains her usual passive disposition. Both of them have a hand clenched into a fist. Their gazes remain locked on each other, like two predators fighting for the same prey.

"I won't lose this time." Evelyn says. Ib says nothing in response. "Don't try to act confident. You think you're so tough, but in the end, you're just some cocky little kid."

"…Are you going to keep stalling or are we going to do this?"

That sends Evelyn off the roof. "That's it, you little brat! THIS ENDS NOW!"Evelyn readies her hand, raising it high into the air. "One…two…THREE!" She thrusts her hand in front of her, opening it wide.

"Scissors beats paper, Miss Evelyn." Ib says confidently. "I win again."

"Aaaaargh! Why, why do I keep losing!?" she gets down on her knees. "Come on Ib, best two out of three, what do you say?"

"Sorry, Miss Evelyn, but fair's fair. We agreed on one match and one match only. You have to open the door."

Evelyn crosses her arms and pouts. "I've been losing at this dumb game and opening doors and leading down creepy hallways this whole time! All of them! Me! How is that fair?"

"Do you want me to open it?" Ib asked.

"…" Evelyn lets out a long sigh. "It's fine, I'll get it. You won fair and square." She says reluctantly as she approaches the door in front of them. She swallows before placing her hand on the doorknob. She takes her time turning the door and even more time opening it.

Ib peeks out from behind Evelyn. "How's it look?" she asks.

Beyond the door is just another hallway. No paintings, no statues. The only thing inside is another door at the end. "It…looks all right, actually. Let's get going. Finally, I can relax a bit…" Evelyn takes a few steps forward and before she can take another, a humongous guillotine descends from above at an extremely high speed. It lands with a large shockwave and cuts right into the floor.

Ib jumps back in surprise. "Miss Evelyn, are you okay!?" she yells.

"…" The guillotine has landed mere inches away from Evelyn's face. Slowly it rises back up into the ceiling, leaving Evelyn unharmed. Her face is frozen in open-mouthed shock and fear.

"…Miss Evelyn?"

"…" She immediately faints and falls backward onto the floor.

After Evelyn comes to, she and Ib proceed walking down the hallway. Ib walks normally as Evelyn trails behind, her head hanging and her arms limp.

"Geez…we've opened who knows how many doors, gone through who knows how many puzzles, run into who knows how many monsters, and what do we have to show for it?" she places two fingers on her neck to check her pulse. "…A continuously increasing heart rate." She sighs as she takes out her rose, whose black petals have been fully restored. "At least we found those vases that restore out petals. Of course, mine aren't that important. We haven't found a single Red Drop since that first room…"

She raises her head slightly to Ib. "Ib, are you sure you can't remember anything else? Anything that could give us a clue or our next move or something?"

Still walking, Ib closes her eyes and tries to think. "…Sorry, but I can't. The memories I got back are all jumbled up in my head. I can hardly piece any of together. And the small bits that are even slightly coherent don't help because this place has changed so much since then. Sorry…"

"You don't have to apologize, Ib." Evelyn says, smiling. "That just means that beating this game is going to take a little longer…"

Ib nods as they reach the door. "Should we play again?"

"It's okay, Ib. I'll get it." She opens the door, this time with more courage than before. Both of their jaws drop.

Beyond the door lies a room the size of a football field, filled with bookshelves. The shelves are arranged in several columns, stretching all the way down to the other side. In the middle of the center two columns are rows of desks with a circular counter in the center.

Evelyn turns her head in all directions. "Is this…a library?"

Ib looks around for herself. "Look." She points at a small sign posted on one of the walls. The girls walk up to it and Ib starts reading it aloud. "Welcome to the library. You are free to browse at your leisure. If you would like to check out a book, please consult a librarian for assistance and have your library card ready. Those caught stealing books will be severely reprimanded."

"A library card?" Evelyn asked curiously. "Where are we supposed to get that?"

"There's more." Ib said, reading the bottom. "Books can grant you knowledge, but can the same be true the other way around?"

Evelyn scratches her head. "What does that mean?"

"Who knows...?" Ib replied as she started walking down one of the bookshelves. "At any rate, we should check this place thoroughly. I'm sure we can find something useful in here."

"Ah! Good thinking, Ib!" Ib smiles at Evelyn as she takes out a random book and starts flipping through the pages. She then opens to a picture of a demonic claw. Immediately after, the claw bursts from the page and lunges at her, scratching at her and making Ib fall back and drop the book.

"Ib!"

Ib's a little shaken, but she pulls herself up quickly. "We probably have to watch out for stuff like that, though…"

Ib takes out a book entitled Carrie Careless and the Galette de Rois. She reads the first few pages before realizing that she already knew the story. She closed the book and placed it back on the shelf, then immediately looked around her to see if any more had stuck out. Nothing. Sighing, Ib took out the next book.

Evelyn precariously takes out a book, in fear that something may pop out and frighten her (she was getting rather tired of it). She examines the cover, which only has the title on it. "Guertena's Roses and Other Works…this could be useful." She takes the book and goes to find Ib.

Ib skims through the book in her hands, and her face grows redder with every word.

"*** by the ***, I *** my finger over her beautiful ***. With her ***, she…"

"Ah!" Her face now steaming, Ib scrambles to close the book and place it back in the shelf. Then she starts laughing. "…I guess I can finally understand those words, huh?" she turns around, expecting a reply from someone. "…Huh?" She seems surprised to find that no one is there. She knew Evelyn was in another part of the library, but at that moment, she was almost sure that someone else was with her. She tried to pull some kind of clue from her restored memories, but she couldn't remember anything. All she could picture was the Forgotten Portrait…

"Hee-hee…"

"…! Who's there!?" Ib called out. That voice didn't sound like Evelyn's at all. She wondered where and who could it have come from. Then, from the corner of her eye, a shadow moves on the other side of the bookshelf. Immediately Ib runs to the other side, to find the shadow, but there isn't anyone to be found. "Huh?" Looking down, Ib notices a book on the floor. She approaches it carefully and picks it up.

"Where did this come from?" Ib looks up and down at the shelves around her. Each shelf was filled from beginning to end with books, and she couldn't find an open spot from where it might've fallen from.

"Ib…"

Ib gasps, then turns around to see the same shadow running just past the end of the bookcase. With the book in hand, she runs down in hopes of catching it, but when she turns into the corner of the shelf, there isn't a trace that anyone had ever been there.

Ib frowned. She knew that she saw something, and it wasn't Miss Evelyn. The voice sounded female, and from what little Ib saw of her, she knew she caught a glimpse of a red dress. A lady in red…

"Ah!" Ib suddenly remembered. There was a painting in the museum called The Lady in Red, and that's all it was. The woman was very beautiful. She then remembered being chased around by several paintings just like it, the same woman in different colored dresses.

It then occurred to Ib that through all the rooms that they've traveled, Ib and Evelyn haven't once run into the lady in red or any of its variations. They've encountered every one of the other works that she can remember. Why not any of the ladies…?

"Ib!"

"Hm?" Ib turned around to see Evelyn walking towards her.

"I found a book that might help us out." Evelyn said. "Did you find anything?"

After a pause, Ib showed Evelyn the book that she found.

Evelyn looked closely at the book. "That looks like a sketchbook." she asked. "Where did you find it, Ib?"

"It was just here on the floor." Ib answered.

"Really?" Evelyn said curiously. It seemed she was as confused as Ib is. "Well, who knows? It might have something useful. Why don't we sit at a desk and look through these?" They both start walking to the middle of the room.

"Um…Miss Evelyn?" Ib asked hesitantly.

"Hm? What is it, Ib?"

"What do you know about The Lady in Red?"

"The Lady in Red, huh…it's a Guertena classic, and his oldest known painting. It's shrouded in about as much mystery as Forgotten Portrait. Some people say that the woman was someone he knew a long time ago, although he never did portraits of people. The official origin is that he modeled it after the women that tried to court him during his lifetime, but I don't think that's true."

"Why not?" Ib asked.

"Because of an entry in his diary. It's a very early one, and it's not even long, only one little sentence."

"What was it?"

"I met a girl." Evelyn chuckled. "Of course, there's no way to prove whether or not I'm right. I suppose it's just me being a romantic." She turns her head to Ib. "Why the sudden interest?"

"I was just curious." She paused before speaking again. "…What about the others?"

"What others?"

"The other paintings of that woman. It's the same woman, but wearing a different color. Why did Guertena make so many paintings of the same woman?"

"Ib, there's only one painting of that woman." She says as she pulls out chairs for the two of them. "There isn't another one like it in the whole world."

"…What?"

"…Why don't we sit down, Ib?" She places her book on the desk, tapping on the cover. "Maybe we can find answers in here."

"…" Ib sat down in silence. Now she was even more confused as before. She sits down next to Evelyn.

"Mine's called Guertena's Roses and Other Works." Evelyn says, opening to the front page. "I bet we could find some useful information about our roses in…huh!?" She looks at the page and sees that it's completely blank. "Blank!?" She flips through more pages. "Nothing…there's nothing written on any of these!"

"…?" Ib opens her book and runs through it. "Mine's blank, too…"

A puzzled look made its way over Evelyn's face. "But I don't understand. The other books we looked at weren't blank at all. What happened here?"

"…What's this?" In the very back of the sketchbook, Ib finds a small plastic card nestled inside. She pulls it out and looks at it. "Miss Evelyn…I think I found something."

"Huh?" Evelyn looks up to see the card in front of her. "Ah! Ib, I think this is a library card!"

"Really?" She looks closer at the card. "But it isn't written out to anybody. All it says is 'Good for 1 book.'"

Evelyn scoffs. "Well, that's brilliant. We have no idea what to do with it. And the books that might have been any useful are blank We're never getting out of here..." Completely discouraged, Evelyn bangs her head onto the empty book.

Ib inches over to Evelyn to take a closer look at the book, and notices something strange. "Miss Evelyn…there are letters moving around on the page."

"…Hm?" Evelyn moves back to look into the book, and sees that Ib wasn't lying. "Wah! Wh-What the heck is that!?" Letters on the page float and fade, and soon they begin to form a question.

What year was Juggling born?

Ib reads the question out loud. "Does the book want us to answer it? But when was that painting created?" she asked, even though she felt that she should remember the answer herself.

"6223," Evelyn said without thinking. "It was created in 6223." As soon as she gives her answer, even more words begin to appear on the page, and a photo of the painting appears on the page opposite. "Ah! The page is back to normal!"

"So…do we have to put the words back into the book?"

"That must be what the riddle meant! If we can restore this book, maybe we can find something helpful!"

"But how are we supposed to answer all of the questions it's giving us? They can't all be as easy as what year was something created."

Evelyn chuckles slyly. "Ib, did you forget? I've studied Guertena's work for years. And not only am I one of his biggest fans, I'm also the art industry's leading minds on all things Guertena. A little bit of trivia is nothing to me." She cracks her knuckles and flips to another page. "All right, this is my time to shine! Watch and learn, Ib!"

For the next half-hour, Ib watches in amazement as Evelyn restores the book to its former glory. The questions that appear vary in difficulty. Some simply ask for the year that it was created, others ask for what painting technique that Guertena used for a painting, its origins, or the history after its creation. None of these questions intimidate Evelyn in the slightest. The words flow out of her mouth and onto the page like a river and soon, it's almost as if the book had regained the information it once had. Finally, it comes to the last question.

What is the name of Guertena's rose sculpture?

Evelyn smiles. Like the rest of the book, this question is too easy for her. With a commanding voice, she answers, "Embodiment of Spirit!" The page shifts into a picture of the sculpture of the rose along with a description. The entire book flashes briefly and Evelyn breathes deeply before closing it.

"Miss Evelyn…" Ib says in shock. "That was amazing…"

Evelyn smiles at Ib. "Oh, it wasn't that big of a deal. You should see an old college essay of mine!" Suddenly a sound echoes through the library's empty halls. "Hm? What was that? It sounded like something dropping…"

"I think it came from the central desk."

"Let's check it out." They both take their books and make their way to the middle of the library. "Ah! Ib, look!" Evelyn points to the desk. Resting on top of it is a small wooden box, exactly like the one from the first room. The two girls rush towards the box. "Ah! So restoring the book must have gotten this for us! Ib!"

Ib nods at Evelyn as she takes out her rose. With her other hand, she slowly opens the box. She and Evelyn both peer inside to see a familiar red drop floating inside. Like the first drop, the second flies up into the air and shoots down into Ib's rose, and a second petal bursts to life with vibrant color.

"Yes!" Evelyn says triumphantly. "That's another petal down!" She embraces Ib in excitement. "Ib can you remember anything else now?"

"Um…" Ib closes her eyes. In her head flashes brand new memories. One is of a bright red rose resting in a vase, its vitality being restored. "My rose…my rose has five petals…"

"Five…oh! That must mean that we only need three more! Ib, that's great!"

"I think…there's more. I can see…bunnies."

"…Bunnies?"

"Cute little bunnies. With red eyes." They stand in awkward silence for a moment.

"…What else?" Evelyn asked.

"I can see lots of things…the Gray Room...the Rope Maze..." Ib gasps. "Someone…there was someone else. Someone travelling with me…"

"Really!? Well, who was it?"

"I…" Ib concentrates hard. In her mind, all she can see is a shadow; a blurry figure walking alongside her. She can't see their face. She can't discern any distinguishing factors. All she can see is the shadow…and fragments of a name. …ar…y…

"…That's it." Ib says, dejected. "I can't remember anything else."

"It's all right, Ib." Evelyn hugs her again. "What matters is that we're one step closer to getting home! You did great!"

"…Thanks." Ib smiles.

"No…"

"Hm? Ib did you hear that?"

"…Yeah…"

"No, no…"

"Not this again. Hey!" Evelyn yelled. "Show yourself!"

"Nononononononononononononono nononononononononononononono noNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

All of a sudden, Weiss Guertena appears above them and comes crashing down. His landing knocks both girls down, as well as some of the shelves surrounding them.

"Oof…" Evelyn slowly gets up. "Weiss Guertena!" She yells in anger.

He is panting heavily. As the dust settles, they see Guertena standing in front of them. He's in a feral stance. His once styled hair is completely disheveled; his clothes are practically hanging from his body…and from his eyes stream crimson red tears. "What do you think you're doing…?" he whispers softly.

"What the heck happened to him?" Evelyn thinks to herself. She works up the nerve to speak out loud. "What do you want, Weiss!?" she yells, trying to sound intimidating. "We've just been here playing your stupid game this whole time!"

"Heh…heh-heh-heh…ah, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha! HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA, HA!" Guertena's laugh slowly grows into a monstrous cackle that echoes through the entire room. It hardly even sounds human; it's become something much more primitive and evil. Ib and Evelyn exchange glances, and they come to the same conclusion: he's not the same man they met. Not anymore.

His laughing abruptly stops. "How can you be playing the game if you DON'T FOLLOW THE DAMN RULES!? I mean, do you realize how frustrating it is to set up a game to play and see the players breaking the rules!?"

Evelyn looks at him in confusion. "What are you talking about!?"

"LOOK!" With a wave of his hand, the shelves behind him disappear, and a door can be seen in the back. "There is a GODDAMN DOOR RIGHT THERE! There's a door right there and YOU DIDN'T! EVEN! LOOK AT IT! You were supposed to go in there and find like a BILLION more goddamn doors and that's where you were supposed to find the goddamn answers to the GODDAMN QUESTIONS!" He flails around the room, throwing around books and planks of wood in a fit of insanity. "You were NOT supposed to get the answers from your head! You were supposed to go in that door and solve puzzles and run into monsters and get scared but instead, you decided to ruin EVERYTHING! CHEATERS! YOU CHEATED! CHEATERS! CHEATEEEEEERS!" He falls to his knees, exhausted.

"…" Evelyn tries to hold back tears as the fear she felt before begins to envelop her once more. Ib remains silent as well, although she's also reached her breaking point. They both try to find the strength to run, to move at all. But they can't.

Guertena then turns to the girls and stares at them with cold, bloody eyes. "Hey…" he whispers as he raises his arms, his thumb and middle finger pressed together. "You want to know what happens to cheaters?" He snaps his fingers, and a black void suddenly emanates from his body. It quickly begins to expand, enveloping the room.

"…! Ib!"

"Miss Evelyn!"

The two embrace each other tightly just as the void reaches them and swallows them up. The sphere then holds for mere moments, then shrinks back down to a singular point and disappears.

The room is completely empty.