AN: I love reading all these reviews! They make me so happy, and just push me to write more! Also, I don't want one of my anonymous reviewers jumping into a ditch! Please don't, you'll get the ouchies! All kidding aside, here's the next chapter!

P.S.: Any dialogue in bold italics is Gavin's side of the mental conversation…er…you'll get it when you read. . As a result, this is gonna be a loooooooong chapter….

Disclaimer: I do not Own Ib. If I DID, well…let's just say that Ib would be older, and there would be some romance scenes! :3

Saving My Savior

He twisted the door knob, only to find it locked. He needed a key. Gavin growled in frustration, and in a moment of pure adrenaline, roared out, "SCREW IT!" before lifting his leg and delivering a swift, and powerful kick to the door.

Chapter 10: Awakened

Aside from his leg giving off tiny vibrations of pain throughout his body, nothing happened.

The door was locked tight, and nothing could get in or out. Gavin cursed out loud, knowing that it wouldn't carry over Ib's tortured screams. He needed to think, but there was no time. He needed to get into the room, but the door was shut, and there were no other possible entries. His hands clenched into fists, and his head lowered so his bangs covered his eyes. He had to save her, and fast! Frustrated, he punched the wall next to the door frame.

'Why...WHY do I have to feel so…so…'

"…useless…"

His head shot up as his eyes widened.

He hadn't said that…not at loud, in any case…

Gavin turned his head slowly to the left of him, where the voice had come from. Before him, stood the shadowy outline of a little girl, and judging by the curly pigtails she sported, the shadow couldn't be anyone else but Trina. His mouth opened, and then closed, unsure of what to say, or do. After a few seconds of thinking of what to say, all he could manage to blubber out was:

"W-Who are you callin' useless?"

The outline shook its head. "It is useless to open the door with mere force. You need the key!" the soft voice from before said. "Trina's" shadow had no mouth, so the voice seemed to come from nowhere, echoing and bouncing off the long corridors and hallways.

"A key? But, there's no time, I tell you! Ib's in serious trouble, and the key could be anywhere!" he shouted to the shadow. As if to prove his point, Ib's screams and sounds of struggle were growing weaker and weaker. The screams had fallen into whimpers, now, as well as final pleas for mercy.

The shadow sighed and then slowly lifted her right arm, and pointed to a door right across from her. "The door is unlocked, I have made sure of that. Be sure that you don't waste that knowledge, because my time is up, and I can no longer be of help. But before I go, please, please…" She grabbed his hands, and instantly, the shadow turned solid, and before him stood the real Trina, her chocolate brown eyes close to tears as she choked out, "Save my sister, at all costs, even if it means saving her from…me…" As the last of her words faded away, Trina began to disappear. Gavin tried to reach out to stop her, but by the time he'd lifted his hand to grab the girl, she was already gone.

Gavin clenched his fist once more, disbelieving his bad luck at the situation he was currently in. Ib was most likely close to death, and Trina was nowhere to be found. He turned back to the door that Trina had pointed to before she'd left.

Guess I have no choice, he thought ruefully as he hesitantly left the doorway that Garry and Ib were in. Don't worry, Ib, I'll be back as soon as I can, he shouted in his mind before wrenching the other door open, and finding an empty room with nothing but a small table in the middle. On the table was a light blue key, the exact same color as Ib's door. Gavin narrowed his eyes. No way could it be this easy. He slowly picked up the key and then quickly looked around…nothing. He sighed in relief and then took two steps away from the table, and then the room began to shake. "W-Wha-" he stopped speaking when the room became a deep blue. If he hadn't thought that something was wrong when the ground was shaking, then the blue lighting definitely set off warning bells!

I gotta get out of here and get to Ib! he thought furiously as he made his way back to the door…only to find it locked from the outside. "NO WAY!" he shouted angrily. He clenched and gnashed his teeth together in frustration as he began to push his weight into the door, in vain attempts to open it. He began to panic when a voice began to speak in his ear:

"You cannot leave until you've regained what you've lost…"

But…he wasn't missing anything! He had the key, he had his things, all he NEEDED was to get to Ib, and fast!

"You must think back…back to your childhood…"

His…childhood…? Why would his childhood have anything to do with his current situation? He never recalled having to do anything like this as a child—

Then again, he couldn't really recall his childhood at all…Gavin paused in his futile attempts to break the door down and collapsed onto the floor, his head in his hands, wide grey eyes looking down at the blue ground.

There must have been some sort of mistake! He'd had a childhood, that much he knew. His ever-growing body and the aging of his own parents were a testament to that. However, if he were really honest with himself, sometimes he felt like his parents didn't exist if he wasn't in the room with them.

"They are illusions, created simply so that your conscience wouldn't be alone as it re-matured," the voice continued.

"My conscience? Re-matured? Why would my conscience have to re-mature? I'm pretty sure it developed in the correct order according to my age, thank you very much!" Gavin replied in his own head, having given up on sanity the moment he stepped into this upside-down world.

"That is what your mind simply wants you to think. This body isn't your real body, this mind is not your real mind, your real body is gone, and your soul and mind are locked away. Once you became a part of this Gallery, your body was lost-"

"Hold on, you make it seem as though I've been here before! I've never set foot in this godforsaken realm in all of my life!" Gavin interrupted the voice again, having become beyond frustrated, and growing more and more anxious over the fate of Ib. "So kindly let me go, and let me do what I came in here to do!"

"That is what I am trying to tell you…you can't leave this place until you realize just who you really are! You will still be able to save the girl, but not until you've awakened. Until then, time has been stopped. What you perceive to be an hour will most likely be no more than a second to the natural world…"

If time was stilled, then Gavin still had a chance –slim as it may be- to save Ib. He relaxed slightly and continued his "conversation".

"Alright, you have my attention, since it seems I have no say in the matter either way. So what did you mean when you said my body was lost?"

"You were killed by a portrait in this very Gallery. The name of the painting was called "Mary", a girl would have traded your soul for hers to escape Guertena's world, if Ib had not exacted revenge."

"Ib? She was with me? Did I go with her to this crazy world as a child?"

"Not necessarily, no. She was just another victim, a small child that you had been willing to sacrifice your own life to save. Such a sacrifice generally does not go unrewarded. Your soul has been bound to that child ever since. You'd wished you could grow up with her, and so you did. You didn't know her, but that only made you more curious and determined to know her. Even when you chose to tease and taunt her, you were still looking out for her and stayed by her side. Even now you continue to watch over her."

"You make it sound as though I was that Garry guy who led her around! He was like, nine years her senior! I'm only 4 months older than her! How could I possibly be him?" This was beginning to not only confuse, but frighten Gavin. Not only because the idea was ridiculous, but also because it actually wasn't as ridiculous as much as it made sense. So much was lost…could that mean that he really was…he clenched his eyes shut and clamped his hands deeper onto his forehead, his fingernails digging into his scalp. Images and bright light flashed within his mind's eye, reconnecting blocked memories and thoughts that weren't quite his own, but were his at the same time.

"Close your eyes, Gavin, and take deep breaths. You're nearly there…" the voice was beginning to fade from his head as the light in his mind grew brighter and brighter. When the light suddenly burst through all corners of his mind, Gavin's eyes shot open, as he began taking deep breaths and released his death grip on his head. He heard a faint "Welcome back…", but this time, it meant something.

There was a loud whoosh, and the room returned to normal, the door behind him creaking open. Slowly, Gavin stood back up and quietly left the room. Upon leaving, he wasted no time in briskly walking to the opposite door, where Ib's screams were becoming more faint. Briefly, he glanced down at the key in his hand and placed it in the door, sparing only a momentary breath of relief when the lock clicked open before pushing the door open and finally confronting Ib and Garry.

Only, it wasn't Garry who was with Ib. Instead, in place of what Gavin could only assume was once Garry, or at least a copy of him, there stood a blank-faced, black mannequin with strings attached to its arms and legs. It was wearing Garry's cloak, and in one hand, held a rose stalk with only two petals left on it. Below the mannequin lay a near-unconscious Ib, with deep gashes all over her normally porcelain body. The only way that Gavin knew that she was still alive was her body's constant shaking from convulsions of prolonged pain and torture. But not this time; this time, Gavin was here, the REAL Gavin, and he was going to stop this monster!

The black-haired college student wasted no time in taking advantage of the mannequins pause in its onslaught of the rose in its hand. Gavin quickly ran over to the mannequin, and using the car keys in his pocked, cut the strings on the left arm, which held Ib's rose. The limb fell limply at the fake Garry's side and the rose dropped to the ground. Gavin quickly picked the rose up and gently placed it in his pocket before glaring at the inferior creature that dared to do this to Ib. "I hope you've had your fun, because I'm ending this once and for all!" He shouted before he cut the rest of the strings that kept "Garry" up and about. The mannequin fell to the floor like a large doll, it's blank face rolling away from the body, completely harmless.

Gavin stared at the body in disgust as he walked over to it and snatched the coat off of its body. He smiled humorlessly as he put his arms through the raggedy coat and admired the sleeves. He took a deep breath, feeling like he was in something familiar and safe. He felt protected in this coat, as he had many times before. Protect…. the word brought him back to the situation at hand as he whirled around and knelt down to gingerly pick up his fallen friend. He wouldn't let her die, not like this. I have to find a vase with water, and fast…he thought as he stood up and cradled the girl to his chest. Her breathing was shallow, but it was a good sign in any case. Looking at her face, he saw that her eyes were only half shut, and her eyes were full of unshed tears. Even in pain, she had refused to cry. How like her to always try and put up a brave front.

Maybe you're not so different from the little girl I met all those years ago, eh, Ib? Gavin thought to himself as he walked out of the room and into the long hallway. They would find her sister and catch up later, but first thing was first, he had to heal her as fast as possible.

"Hold on, Ib. I'm back for real, and this time, we're all gonna make it out…together!" he whispered to her as he walked down the long corridor, his strides strong and confident, and the tail of his coat swishing behind him as he carried them farther and farther from her place of nightmares.

End of Chapter 10

AN: FINALLY! I was so afraid that I'd never have this thin uploaded! I am SOOO sorry that it took so long to upload, but unfortunately, I was kind of at a loss as to how to finish this particular chapter, this being the chapter where you really delve into Gavin's character. And yes, if it's not obvious to everyone by now, Gavin is Garry and all that jazz, but I still haven't told you how he came to be! Also, I apologize for the sloppiness of how I handled the battle between Gavin/Garry and the "Fake" Garry. I kind of wanted to move the story along and end the chapter as soon as possible so that the story could continue. Don't worry, Gavin's story will be explained in more detail in the next chapter, as will many other questions! I'm really thankful to everyone who's stuck with me on this story. I DO plan on finishing it…even if it takes a few more months. It helps that I have such amazing reviewers and readers! You guys keep me going! Until next time, keep a look out for my next update! ;)