A/N: Right. So Seiran's more of a comic relief in this chapter. Enjoy~!

Review! Please? o o

Chapter 10 : Crystal Clear

I don't know how long I stayed like that. Locked in his embrace... It could have been minutes. It could have been hours. Sobs racked through my body. I let the sorrow that I had accumulated through the years flow into my tears. My parent's deaths, the abuse other people put me through, remembering Garry and how he was left behind.

Me.

Being able to do nothing about any of this.

Seiran.

He tried to do away with me right? Why did I save him? I had no idea.

.

.

"Ib? We gotta get going." He gently patted my head.

I sniffled, "Kay."

.

We walked in silence, back down the green hall with the black claws. I looked over at Seiran. He looked as if was deep in thought.

He really did look like Garry, his features were a little bit more angular but he had the same tall figure. His hair was longer. It came down to his shoulders and was now tied in a ponytail. He looked over at me, catching my stare. He opened his mouth and closed it, like he wanted to say something, but didn't know how. After a few more times I stopped walking. "What? Spit it out already. You look like a fish." He bit his lip but, was otherwise silent. I sighed and started to walk again.

"Why'd you save me?" he asked suddenly.

Whoa... that was a straight pitch... But his expression was so serious and confused I burst out laughing.

"What?" He asked defensively.

"N-nothing. To tell you the truth, I don't know why. I'm sure you had your reasons. I'm not going to hold that against you..." We had reached the door. I unlocked it and stepped in, holding the door open so Seiran could follow. The walls surrounding us formed the shape of a cat, with two doors on opposite sides. There was a fish shaped hole against the north wall.

I decided to go to the left door first. I cautiously opened it, Seiran followed behind. This room was filled with pillars. Two rows of four... eight altogether. Each one had a red curtain covering the middle.

To my right there was a poster of a black stick figure. There was paint under it. "Play hide and seek? " The poster vanished, disappearing into the wall. A button appeared under each of the pillar's curtain. Great. How do I solve this one?

"What's this?"

No! "Seiran, don't touch anything till we've–"

AAAAAIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

Too late. He had already pushed the button in front of him. The curtain pulled up to reveal...

.

A woman in the shower.

Slap!

The woman's hand shot out of the painting and slapped him, swinging the curtain close in the process.

"Oww! What the hell is it with girls and slapping?" He was blushing a fierce red. I see he got a good view...I sighed.

We walked around the room several times before trying to make a decision.

.

.

"I think it's this one. He said.

I shrugged. "You picked it. You push the button."

He gave me a pointing look before he poked the button.

A sword came out and slashed at him.

"Shit! How come I take all the damage?! OW, ow, Ow~!"

It's true the only button I pushed was one that turned off the lights for a couple of minutes. I sighed. I've been doing that a lot lately. "Fine I'll do the next one."

I picked a random pillar we hadn't visited yet. Bracing myself, I pushed the button. Nothing happened. I opened my eyes.

It appeared to be a glass bottle with a pale liquid in it.

It was titled "The mermaid elixir".

"Well?"

I shook my head. "Nothing."

"Aw, screw it!" He pushed another random button.

"Found me. You get prize." It was the poster.

I stifled another wave of laughter. Seiran looked like he wanted to cry. "About damn time!"

Thud!

The sound came from the front of the room. I walked over to see that a wooden fish head had fallen from a painting called "Chief's Talent". I picked it up, tucking it under my arm.

"Let's go. This is all we need here."

Seiran was more than happy to leave and tromped along after me.

I looked over at him again and noticed that he was awkwardly cradling his arm. "Hey Ib–" I cut off his sentence by grabbing his uninjured arm. "You're hurt. We need to get you to a vase. I walked over to the door to the right, pulling him with me. "I-Ib... I'm fine."

I ignored him. There were aisles of art supplies cluttering the room. Statues, paint, the works.

Where was... There it is! In the midst of all the equipment there was a grey vase.

I pointed at the vase. "There. You have a rose right? If you really are a visitor then you should have one.

Grudgingly, he stuffed his hand in his pocket and dropped it in the vase. My eyes widen. His rose! It was crystal clear, almost like glass... Fascinated, all I could do was stare.

Tentatively I reached out and touched a petal it was smooth and soft just like a real rose. "Why doesn't your rose have any pigment?"

Seiran shrugged. "Dunno." He reached around me to pluck his newly replenished rose from the vase.

"Hmm... We should probably check this room to see if there's anything useful."

"Alright."

We explored the room, each of us checking boxes on opposite side. I was opening another box when the lights flicked off.

"Hwaaa~! Ah... the lights." Seiran shuffled around. "I-Ib? You there?"

"I'm not."

"What are you saying... Of course you're there..."

I smiled remembering that quote from Garry. A few moments later the lights flicked on.

I heard a sigh of relief from Seiran. "Oh, at first I thought they weren't gonna come back on... Where are you? I can't see you with all this stuff in the wa– "

SCRAPE!

A loud grating noise came from my left.

SCRAPE!

It was getting closer.

"Ib?" Seiran was now standing in the same isle as me. Slowly he walked over to where I was. He pointed to the entrance to the other aisle. "I'm going to investigate," he mouthed.

SCRAPE!

Wait... I've done this before too right?

There was a...

That was suppose to...

I yanked back hard on Seiran's sleeve sending him backwards once more, just as one of the statues in the room tipped over and crashed, right where he was leaning over only seconds before.

Seiran got up and brushed himself off, glaring at me, "God damn it, Ib! Would tell me before I do something horribly stupid? Instead of tugging me back at the last second!"

His expression was hilarious. I couldn't help it. I had another giggling fit. His frown deepened. "I'm serious! You tell me stuff way too late."

"Sorry." I gasped out. "Sure, I got my memories back, but there a little fuzzy. Things aren't always clear till they happen."

"Hmf." He started muttering something that sounded a lot like, "She's doing it on purpose..."

I reached in to the shattered remains of the statue and grabbed what appeared to be a wooden fish tail. I combined the head with the tail to create a wooden fish. So that's what the hole in the wall is for...

"Come on." I called over to Seiran, who was still fuming in his little corner. "I know what to do with this." I waved the fish.

Once we were both in the cat shaped room, I proceeded to the hole in the wall. I inserted the fish. Almost immediately the floors and wall started shaking and the north wall collapsed to create a hallway. Seiran looked over at me. "Shall we?"

"After you."