A/N: I'ma going on vacation.

For awhile.

I'm not going to be in the US...

So I wanted to do one more chapter before I left.

Enjoy subscribe review~!

Chapter 13: Falling under

"The Fabricated World." Seiran read aloud. The lights flickered. "Oh... here we go again..." He muttered.

Ib swayed one her feet and tipped backwards.

The reaction was instant. Both Seiran and I shot forward to catch her.

We crashed into each other, but somehow we managed to keep Ib from hitting the ground.

"Uh... That was close..." I sighed.

"I agree. But more importantly... Why am I always on the bottom?!" Seiran glared at me.

"What the hell are you people doing?!" The doll shouted at us.

Okay... So that didn't go as smoothly as planned... It was more of a dog pile really...

I shifted so that I could move Ib as I scooted off of Seiran.

"Seriously! I said her regression stopped, not that it was getting better. Let's get moving people!"

I glanced at Seiran. We both gave a mock solute. "Hai, Kaichou*!"

An icy cold enveloped me as we sank into the Abyss of the Deep. When I opened my eyes again, we were standing in a hallway.

The doll frowned in thought. "Go left first... There's a key... To unlock the door to the right."

"Wait... I can still do this right?" Seiran set Ib down and turned to face the wall. He flicked his fingers and made a diamond shape, then he reversed the way his wrists was facing. "Unlock!"

There was a whoosh of wind.

And an empty rectangle where the wall once stood.

I felt my mouth dropped. "That... What?! He..."

The doll gave it's raspy laugh again. "Ha! I forgot. Lover boy over here can create doors."

"I... He what?" I was thoroughly confused.

"He can alter the space in the gallery. He got it from you. From your desire to 'be somewhere else'."

Seiran gave his little kid smile. "Thanks daddy! It's saved me from a lot of walking!"

I shuddered.

"It's a nice trick... but that's not going to work."

"What do you mean?"

"Mommy designed this place so that the visitors have to go thought all the areas. So even if you teleport to another area, you'll eventually come back to this one. Unless you solve all the area puzzles, you'll never get out."

"That's kinda scary." Seiran gulped as he picked Ib back up.

"We'd better get going..." An eternity here? I already had eight years experience of what that's like...

At the end off the hall there were two roses sitting in a grey vase, which was on top of a desk.

One was a brilliant cobalt blue, the other was a royal purple.

I plucked both, and placed the purple one over Ib's hands. "Yours." I told Seiran

He sighed. "It still has color... Ah... this miraculous miracle continues."

I rolled my eyes as I shoved the desk out of the way.

Twisting the knob I opened the door.

Seiran gave another heart felt sigh as he followed me inside.

A portrait of a person with white hair hung on the north wall of an empty room. A lone key sat in the middle of the floor.

I picked it up.

THIEF!

My head snapped up.

TTTTTHHHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEE EEEEEEEEEFFFFFFFFFFFF!

The portrait on the wall crawled towards us with surprising speed.

Seiran was already outside of the room before I had even started running.

As soon as I was out, he slammed the door shut.

"That... Did NOT happen the last time I was here..." I panted, sitting down on the floor next to Seiran.

"Funny... She said the same thing."

I was about to say something when I heard a sound.

It was the sound of foot steps down the hall...

Seiran and I both looked up.

"M...master... I have finally caught up to you..."

My mouth dropped open. Seiran gulped.

It was The Lady in Red. This time she wasn't even in her frame, she was carrying it.

She gently laid it against the wall and staggered over to us. She shoved me face first into the ground as she threw herself at Seiran.

"Master! Too bad I don't have your ability... I could have been here to greet you much... Much faster... I had to deal with the mannequins...Where have you been anyways?" She threw her hair behind her shoulders in a dramatic gesture.

"Oh! And all that walking... My feet hurt..." She bent her leg back and removed her shoe, chucking it at my head. She did the same with the other shoe.

Did I mention that they were heels?

She moved in for a hug but stopped when she saw Ib in Seiran's arms. Her face wrinkled in disgust.

"Ugh... She's still with you?"

"Now Red..." Seiran shifted uncomfortably.

"Whatever." She pouted.

Seiran seemed to get an idea because his whole face lit up. "Hey... Did anyone else come into the gallery recently?"

She seemed to think. " No... No one new..."

"I see..." He reverted back to sulking. "Well... then... It's been fun." He stepped around me, walking down the hall.

"Now, wait minuet. Master!"She grabbed his arm. "Can't I be of service to you? The gallery has been shifting a lot lately and... I can accompany you and show you around... and..."

"Ah..." Seiran looked away.

"Oh, let her come." said the doll. "She's been here longer than I have, so she probably knows more than I do."

Red gave Seiran puppy eyes.

"Th-that only works with Ib..."

She stared at him harder.

"I'm serious... I think we should be fine with just the doll..."

O O

Seiran caved in. "...Fine..."

And that was that. Ib, The Lady in Red, the doll created by Mary, and Seiran who was created by me, and myself all set out to conquer the gallery once again.

I sighed. How did our measly party of two turn into five, Ib?

.

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A/N: Kaichou means captain or boss.