"We know what we are, but not what we may be."

William Shakespeare

Luno tucked the painting under his arm again, glancing toward the front gate to scan for Cycloptic Smile. Soaru looked again at the backdoor, wishing Amelia and the others would hurry so they could leave. He had begun to doubt himself. He had been so terrified and had just been blindly running when he had stumbled upon the museum. He wasn't confident that he could retrace his steps.

He glanced around the lawn, which was coated in an army of muted green weeds and domed yarrow plants. The woodshed looked messier than he remembered it being when they left, and the stump adjacent to it looked rather menacing with its jagged scars, likely from an axe of some sort. Soaru turned back to the door, willing the other three to appear, but it remained closed.

"Hey, take this." Soaru turned back to Luno, surprised to see him holding out a knife.

"Where…did you get that?" Soaru held back a sarcastic addition.

"Amelia picked it up from some farm house her and Garry looted." He gestured again for Soaru to take, but when he didn't Luno bite back a sigh. "Listen, this is only in case of emergency. If…we get into an altercation that we can't run from…stay back. Out of all of us, you have a lower chance of surviving."

Soaru's eyes widened, "Excuse me?"

"Hey, I'm not saying you can't fight, but here the rules are different. All of us have roses, see," Luno moved aside his scarf so that the patchwork lavender rose on the upper hemline of his yukata was exposed. "We can repair these to fix most of our injuries, but you're like Anna—a half-rose."

"If I get injured, I cannot lessen the damage or recover." Soaru summarized, trying to hide his audible gulp.

Luno looked at him. "We should locate your rose and have you avoid bearing that side to the enemy at all costs."

"R-Right," Soaru stated before taking the blade Luno had still been holding out to him. Luno looked over the navy yukata and spotted the faded, patchwork peach rose on the hem of Soaru's left shoulder. It was hidden underneath the gray haori and Luno was grateful for that small miracle. Amelia, Garry, and even Ib all had roses that were out in the open and easier to spot.

Luno relayed his finding to Soaru, who stared in silence at the peach coloured rose on his clothing. And Luno almost wanted to reach out and assure him that it would all be fine. After they left (and yes, they would most certainly escape), Soaru would not have to live in worry of being an Alice. He could pretend none of this had happened, like waking from a bad dream.

But Luno couldn't. Neither could Ib, Amelia, nor Garry.

He almost felt bitter at Soaru's luck. Despite Soaru being Cycloptic Smile's target, none of them had been given the option to just leave it all behind. Honestly, Luno knew it was his own fault that he got wrapped up in this mess in the first place. He had followed Amelia in after Ib and Garry, and while he pretended to handle it all with grace and poise, he had been absolutely terrified. While he had been down in that cavern with Amelia, it meant to the world to him that Ib had come back to save them.

Sure, he felt guilty that Soaru had been dragged into this twisted freak show. And, yeah, it was probably pretty low of him to be jealous. Luno was sure that, regardless of if he had followed Amelia in or not, that Ib and Garry would always pursue the Gallery. It appeared to him that they were connected to it.

The backdoor swung open, and the two turned to look, surprised when Ib appeared in the doorframe behind Amelia with Garry bringing up the rear. Ib slanted her eyes in the dim lighting, but oddly placed her hand over her eyes as if were sunny. Luno didn't think too much of it, his observation interrupted by Amelia and Garry bounding over to him and Soaru, who remained quietly observing Ib.

"I found Ethel and Warren's journal," Garry started, his face drooping as he added "but most of the pages were damaged or crossed out. I did manage to gleam that escape route B is a no go."

Luno's eyes narrowed, and he nodded, "I was afraid of that. No matter, we'll just have to make sure our original plan works. Was there anything else?"

Ib looked over the yard, her hands going back to hang at her sides, as she walked down the remaining porch steps. Soaru watched her suddenly become still, staring passed him. He followed her line of sight to the stump by the woodshed.

Garry nodded, "Cycloptic Smile may have a physical deformity that, upon seeing, transforms people into those creatures. I think her left eye might be what's missing, aside from her other half obviously."

Amelia looked back towards the front gate, bouncing on the balls of her feet in anticipation.

Ib was still staring at the stump when she stepped forward, her foot unevenly landing on a stone. She broke eye contact to stare at the rock, bending down to pick it up and examine it in her hand. To Soaru the stone looked similar to the ones his father used to edge his garden.

"If we stare too long at her deformity, we'll end up turning." Garry concluded.

Garry, Amelia, and Luno looked at each other silently, conveying something Soaru and Ib were too distracted to notice.

"Soaru's rose is on the hem of his left shoulder, under the haori." Luno finally said. Amelia and Garry looked rather relieved, their shoulders slightly less tense. "It'll be dangerous if he gets hurt."

"She's not up to snuff either," Amelia peered around at the front gate again, but glanced briefly toward Ib. "I don't know if she's hiding her pain or if she's numb."

"Let's pray its numbness." Luno finished.

Soaru started to walk over to Ib, who was now crouching – hands deep – inside a large nest of weeds. She pushed the plants aside, reaching further back. He stopped. What was he supposed to say to her? 'Hey, I'm the dude who left you to die, no hard feelings, right?' Garry had probably told her about what he had done. She probably hated him, not that he could blame her.

Ib turned, feeling his presence. When he flinched back she dropped her gaze. It still hurt, she knew it would, but she wouldn't let his fear – or anyone else's – of her eyes get to her.

Soaru looked down at her guiltily. Ib didn't even want to look at him. He wasn't expecting that rejection to hurt him so much. Yes, he wasn't the most talkative of their mutual friends, but he had only been wary of her and Garry like he was with all new people. Ib hadn't seemed too talkative either, preferring to watch Amelia and Gillian tease Garry and contributing only when addressed. Honestly, if he hadn't been so intimidated by her eyes, he would have found her silent companionship comforting.

Soaru quickly glanced over at Garry, the giant of the group, before staring down at a daisy. He had judged Garry as being scary when he first saw him, but had braved through their first encounter, intent on never talking to him again. But then Amelia just had to befriend Ib, who invited Garry. It had been awful. Ib with her red eyes and Garry with his staggering height and shabby coat. A monster couple, he had thought.

And he had been right. Amelia and Luno were lured away, and it had only taken a day before they started to act different—secretive. Soaru wouldn't have even cared if there hadn't been this overwhelming distance he felt between himself and them.

Soaru didn't want to be left behind again.

He had just wanted to confront them about the sudden distance. And he had known that Dmitri went too far when he called Amelia a whore and told Ib her eyes were creepy. He had been shocked then, but he never said a word. He had always had the same thought about Ib, but never voiced it. He let his fear get the better of him and lashed out, hurting his friends before they could hurt him. But it amounted to nothing. Luno still hurt him, calling him out about his father. At that time, Soaru had wanted to snap at him but it haunted him late into the witching hour for nights. He had comforted himself with the fact that Luno was an orphan, abandoned by his parents and that he wouldn't understand.

But it still hurt. Seeing them all together, laughing and talking as if the fight never happened.

And he kept piling up his excuses. Luno had a hard time abandoning people. He was just following Amelia to look after her. He would come back. Amelia was the newbie before Ib and Garry; she knew what it was like to be knew. Her curiosity would subside and she'd come back, too. Garry and Ib could not be that interesting; they couldn't be worth ending their friendship for.

And then he saw a glimpse into their secret. Cycloptic Smile was an abomination. Luno and Amelia had been dragged into this unwillingly. Garry and Ib were to blame for it. For everything. That had been clear to him while running through the forest.

But…he was wrong again.

"I wish I'd have never met you – no, that you'd never existed in the first place!"

Luno had actually hit him for that. Even Amelia, one of the first friends he had made, had threatened him. But Garry hadn't said anything to him.

And…he had let Ib die. Luno hadn't told anyone else, just like he said he wouldn't. Which meant Garry didn't know…that Ib didn't know.

"Look," he blinked in shock, looking at Ib. Her hands were still deep in the tall yarrow, but she was creating a small opening by pushing them aside. Ib did not meet his eyes, staying still in her crouched position.

Tentatively, Soaru took a few steps closer and crouched as well, peering into the dim hole Ib had made. He could make out more stones at the base, tangled in the weeds, but he was unsure of what he was supposed to be seeing. There were overgrown blades of grass, more yarrow, and long brittle sticks. Beyond those sticks was a sprout of colour, and he unconsciously leaned closer, reaching out his hand to touch one…to confirm the red and yellow roses were real.

"Don't, there are thorns." Ib warned. Soaru retracted his hand, looking over at her.

She didn't know what he had done.

"Hey, what'cha guys looking at?" Amelia called out.

"Flowers," Soaru hurriedly supplied as he stood up. Ib nodded in confirmation, following his example.

"We need to get going," Garry stated as he walked over. "Cycloptic Smile wasn't far behind you, right?"

"Yeah," Luno answered as the group started to walk towards the forest opposite from the gate. "Soaru, you'll be leading. Garry, here, these are the landmarks Soaru remembered seeing. You'll be helping him to spot them." He handed Garry the map, the back of which contained the notes.

"He wrote them in order to the best of his knowledge but, if he got any of the order mixed up, it'll be up to us to spot it."

"Right," Garry nodded as he read over the notes.

Soaru and Garry took to the front as Amelia and Luno corralled Ib in-between them. But she remained staring back at the stump as they started to head into the forest.

Amelia paused, "Ib, what is it?"

The others stopped and looked over, following Ib's finger when she pointed over to the stump.

"What about the hatchet?"

"Ib," Garry's lips thinned and his hands shook. "What hatchet?"

Ib furrowed her brow and turned back to the stump, only to pause. Her mouth opened a bit and then closed. "It was right there…"

"Damn it" Garry heard Luno breathe.

"Ah, don't worry about it Ib! I thought I saw a snake in the grass earlier, but it was just my eyes playing tricks on me." Amelia tried to play it off. "Everything here is sorta lifeless and dim that it's easy to get spooked."

Ib's eyes furrowed further, but she allowed herself to be pulled along despite her many questions. There were many ways she would describe the area around her, but dim was not one of them.

She glanced over her shoulder one last time at the elm trees that shaded the yard with their bright leaves that reminded her of summer, reading novels in her room with the window open, and travel magazines. Even though the yard was overrun with ubiquitous dandelions the sunlight made it look warm and inviting.

But there was something off about the yard…about the world around her in general, but Ib couldn't quite place it yet. But the others being unable to see the hatchet and then its sudden disappearance unnerved her more than she let on. Luno, Garry, and Amelia also kept sharing looks with one another, but she pretended not to notice. Garry had mentioned that she had hit her head pretty hard and that Luno had to stitch her up; however, she couldn't feel any pain, as of yet anyway.

She turned back around, intent of lessening any anxiety her friends were experiencing about her condition. She felt alright, though her legs still felt a little sluggish, but nothing that she would let impede their progress toward escaping.

Ib buried her cold hands the best she could into her sleeves and headed into the forest.

The group had been tirelessly searching for steps made out of tree roots for nearly half a mile before Garry found something even better. He nudged Luno with his shoulder, indicating to a tree just to the left of them. On the trunk of the tree was the black lake water in the shape of a crudely smeared handprint.

"Well, that looks like a murder scene," Amelia commented as her eyes traced the smudge that trailed to the right.

"It wouldn't come off," Soaru stated and looked down at his right hand.

"Lucky for us you had a rough time." Amelia offhandedly remarked as she started to head in the direction the smudge left off. "The real search begins now."

Luno bit back a smile at the indignation that crossed Soaru's face. Amelia truly had a way with words. He turned back to Garry, only to find him and Ib standing together, staring back at their previous path. Luno would have thought that the scene looked rather cute if Garry hadn't whipped around and said, "run!"

And then she appeared.

It been so long since Garry and Ib saw her that they nearly forgot the horror that was Cycloptic Smile from the veins that starkly ran across her skin to the painted lips curled too tightly over pearly teeth. It didn't take long for Garry to think that it had been too soon since their last encounter while Ib looked at her the colour of her visible eye—cobalt.

Ib and Garry swirled around and dashed after Luno and Amelia, but Garry stopped twenty yards out when he noticed Soaru was missing. He turned back to see him still standing in the same spot by the tree.

Behind him, Luno and Amelia had stopped roughly thirty yards further, and Ib had stopped mere feet from him and was looking at him.

"Soaru, run!" Amelia yelled, cupping her hands over her mouth to make herself even louder than normal. But Soaru didn't appear to hear her.

Cycloptic Smile was walking, god, Garry had no idea how she made walking appear so menacing, and was getting closer to Soaru, too close.

Garry clenched his fists, willing a miracle to happen. He had nearly lost too many people already. It was just like before when they were under her influence, unable to move. Except that she had no control over them this time around. Garry kept hoping Amelia or Luno would act, but they were too far—they wouldn't make it in time.

He heard Ib start to walk forwards, her stride picking up speed, and the image of Cycloptic Smile pushing her into the alley flashed before him. He reached out and grabbed her hand as she started to pass him. "Don't!"

She was yanked back, nearly falling over but swirled around to look at him. Surprise flittered across her face before settling into determination.

"Garry!" He fumbled for words, unable to communicate that he didn't want to put her in danger, and that she wouldn't make it in time, or how scared he was at the idea of having to choose who he lost.

Ib's cold hand touched his shoulder, firmly yet gently pulling him down to look at her. In the span of time that felt too long while Soaru was staring down his own certain death, but was probably only four seconds, a reckless idea sprouted in Garry's mind.

He put his own hand atop Ib's, took a breath, and offered her a small smile, which she returned.

"Go with Amelia and Luno and look for those steps. We'll catch up." Garry's hand slid from hers and he ran.

The tiny voice in Soaru's head was shrill in its demands for him to get as far away from Cycloptic Smile as he could. Being a rather rational person, Soaru had every intention of doing just that, but his legs had other plans. Instead of getting him the hell out of there, the appendages had debated on the best course of action which ranged from mimicking the moves in some karate movie he had watched with Amelia (which was instantly vetoed. His clumsy karate moves vs a painting that could send him flying with a little push…yeah, talk about a one sided battle) to reenacting the tree he played in third grade.

Eventually, it was decided that Soaru should react the same way he did when he walked in on his father and his teacher for the first time. Utterly shocked, a little disturbed, and very afraid. Only this time, he didn't think his dad was being beaten. No, but Soaru knew he wouldn't get out alive if he didn't move. He had thought Cycloptic Smile was terrifying from the side but, God, the front was sooo much worse.

Soaru had no idea how far away she was, he would guess around less than ten feet, but it was too close for comfort. He didn't know why he just hadn't run away with the others when he had the chance. He had most definitely wanted to as he enjoyed not being dead! But then he had seen her face and the rest was history. He was going to die.

'I don't want to die!' Soaru shook.

Her hands reached out for him. He saw the dried blood on her fingertips and the bitten nails and her purple veins. Soaru looked into her single cobalt eye and then he heard her.

'Don't look at me. Don't look at me. Hideous. Hideous. Hideous. Hideous. SToP lOoKINg!'

It was the voice that had been whispering to him the other day. He had blamed Amelia and the others for it, claiming they were psychologically manipulating him. Garry had said that it was someone else and Luno said there was another threat that couldn't harm him physically, but that Cycloptic Smile could.

Soaru stupidly kept staring at her. His mother popped into his mind, sitting across from him with a tea cup in her hands. She had taken a quaint sip while staring out through the sliding glass door into the backyard.

"Ah, so you found out."

"Mother, aren't you upset? Fath-he…he's been cheating on you." Soaru clasped his hands together beneath the table.

"I've known for some time now." She said as she looked at him evenly with a hint of a smile.

Soaru had been dumbstruck, his mouth hanging open. No, his mother was supposed to be angry, even angrier at being betrayed than Soaru felt!

"Soaru," she had set down her tea and looked back over at him. "Your father and I love you just the same as we always have."

"If you knew…why are you still together?" Soaru clutched the fabric covering his knees, unable to look at his mother any longer.

"Your father and I still love each other…but it's a different type of love. We were going to wait until you turned twenty to part." She folded her hands on the table. "We never thought you would find out before then…"

"You mean divorce!" Soaru had seethed, hurt and angry and unable to comprehend how his mother could be so calm about the whole thing. "Mother, why are you the only one who has to suffer? He has been cheating on you and yet you still—"

"Soaru, you will have to decide for yourself how you handle your father."

Soaru had come close to hating his mother. For a month he had thought up hundreds of things he wanted to say to her and his father. He wanted to shout that he hated them for lying to him for so long, to tell his mother that she should have been home, to blame her for not picking how he should feel about his father. His father had been Soaru's whole world and who he aspired to be. But he had been cheating on his wife and with a man! If it was another woman, Soaru would still be upset, but why did his father marry his mother if he was gay? Had Soshi Sato, his father, ever loved his mother?

Why hadn't she been more upset by this? To be replaced by someone nearly seven years younger than you was horrible, but to have it also be a man—unforgivable. His mother honoured their wedding vows and never so much as looked at another man while his father was happily screwing Soaru's tenth grade teacher.

Soaru stared into Cycloptic Smile's eye, his eyes watering and his hands shaking. He wanted his mother. He wanted to see her and tell her he was so sorry for leaving with only a letter to say goodbye. That he had been lying when he said he hated them. That he just hadn't known how to react to his father and was so twisted up with thinking that he was the reason they stayed married and unhappy.

The brown hair on Cycloptic Smile's left side shifted. Through the gaps Soaru could see an empty eye-socket. He would become a creature, Soaru realized. He was going to leave his parents with only an angsty letter filled with hateful lies to remember him…they would blame themselves…they would suffer. Soaru didn't want them to suffer.

He closed his eyes and tried to pull away, but her arms were tightly clutching his wrists. Her voice kept filtering through his head, but the anger he felt towards his mother had fizzled out. Any instance of him being angry with her (the time she lost him in the supermarket when he was 6, locking him out by mistake for three hours, eating the pudding he had been saving), but he would picture her crying over his grave and snap out of it.

"Let go of me!" He yelled, digging his heels into the dirt and wriggling backwards.

A bat smashed the top of her veiny wrists and, as she recoiled, Garry struck out with one of his long legs, kicking her hard enough in the shoulder to send her stumbling back.

"Garry!" Soaru was between being shocked and awed. "You…came back for me…even after what I said?" What I did.

Garry sucked in a breath, resisting the urge to hold his aching foot and hop around. It felt like he had just kicked a boulder rather than a living painting.

"We're all getting out of here." Garry stared over at Cycloptic Smile, who was getting back up. He glanced down at his bat, specifically at the large two dents in the shape of the painting's wrists, and sweat started to profusely pour down his body. Another hit and he wouldn't have a weapon.

"Time to go!" He shrilly announced. He scooped Soaru up over his shoulder and took off.

Cycloptic Smile let out a quaking scream behind them, and Garry had no doubt that she was beyond livid at them.

"Where are we going?" Soaru helpfully asked. His voice went in and out as he bounced a bit on Garry's shoulder.

"Uhh…" Garry supplied intelligently. To Garry's credit, he was drowning in adrenaline, running fast enough to make his gym teachers cry with joy, his had just kicked what felt like a brick wall, his hands were still shaking from the recoil of striking aforementioned brick wall with a bat, and he was currently carrying Soaru. So, yeah, he was a bit out of breath. "Find the others; they went on ahead of us to find those steps."

"How are we supposed to find them?" Soaru was met with silence before he felt Garry shrug. However, Soaru couldn't be sure as Garry had jumped over some roots to avoid tripping.

"Right…I didn't think that far ahead…" Garry at least had the decency to sound sheepish. "But we passed by the last place I saw them and I can't imagine that they've gotten too far."

"Even if they had, your legs will get us there in no time." Soaru slipped before going silent. He had not intended to say that out loud.

"You're not wrong," Garry responded, rather amused, as he leaped over a log covered in moss.

Soaru, seeing as how he was being carried, could only stare behind them. This turned out to be for the best as he spotted something on a white stone that Garry had passed over. "Wait!"

His ride came to an abrupt halt. "What is it?"

Garry had yet to set him down, and Soaru didn't ask. He was well-aware that it would be much faster to just have Garry carry him until they met up with everyone than run on his own two legs. "Look, on that rock, do you see it?"

Garry turned to look at the stones, effectively cutting off Soaru's view so that he was not staring at some rather bland trees. The taller teen knelt down and picked up rock, which had a black thread tied around it. He gave a small tug and saw that it continued deeper into the forest.

"Luno," Garry said with a smile. The blond has come through for them once again. "He left us a trail."

Soaru nodded, before remembering Garry couldn't see it. "Hansel and Gretel style, fitting."

Garry paused, not wanting to ruin the joke but not sure if it was a joke or an observation. He decided to let it go and continued following the string, intent on getting back to everyone. Garry had yet to see Cyclopti Smile do anything other than walk menacingly at a brisk pace, so he was not too worried about her catching up right away. He had put enough distance between them to get a small walking break, which would hopefully last until they regrouped.

The string continued to slide easily through his fingers and Soaru helpfully held the rock so that Cycloptic Smile wouldn't stumble upon it. Though, she probably knew the forest better than they did.

Garry frowned, worried if he should go back to running. Just because she walked didn't necessarily mean she couldn't run…and she had the advantage of knowing the landscape. She may only need to walk in order to cut them off. She could even know of a shortcut that would allow her to intercept the others. Garry quickened his pace.

"Why didn't Amelia or Luno come get me?" Garry nearly groaned. No way in hell did he want to hear Soaru go on about how this was his and Ib's fault again. He did not have it in him to suplex the other into the dirt or leave him behind, but Garry was not above his channeling his sister for a few minutes.

"Not that I am not grateful to you," and Garry's patience miraculously returned. "But…it seems like they don't…"

"They do care," Garry cut in. He should have noticed before that Soaru was no longer the fearful and scared boy that lashed out at him. Okay, he was still scared, but everyone was so Garry wasn't going to fault him for that. "And they wanted too, I have no doubt about that. But they were too far out…they wouldn't have made it—I just made it."

"…Why did you save me?" Soaru asked quietly. "I was not nice to any of you, but you especially."

"We've had too many near casualties tonight." Garry stated and had to take a moment to digest that, yes, this would probably equate to a few hours or so when they got back.

"Wait, tonight? Days must have passed already!" Soaru's eyes were slightly wide, waiting for Garry to admit his mistake.

"No, we've…been in a place that's not too different from this, still out to kill us but with a more art gallery aesthetic for the most part, and whenever we get out only hours have passed. It's sorta like the time we spend here is passing by at an incredibly slow rate in our world. So, what feels like days here may just be a handful of hours in real time…do you follow?" Garry asked, unsure if he was making sense.

"Yes, this is all crazy." Soaru replied as he tried to fathom what it would be like to escape only to discover a few hours had passed. The horrors he had faced and lived through, his realizations, his changes to his self, all trivialized by those hours. Certainly, the changes would appear sudden to whoever was not with him—and it struck him that they knew. Amelia, Luno, Ib, and Garry had experienced it before…and Soaru, Dmitri, and Gillian, in their ignorance to how the changes came about in such a small time frame, had condemned them.

What horrors had Luno faced to finally act on what he wanted rather than putting Dmitri's happiness before his own; for Amelia to become attached to Ib and Garry so quickly; for Ib and Garry to bond with them so deeply? They were living in stretched out minutes. They were close not only because they had similar interests, but also because they were facing life-threatening situations together. Things like that push people together and, though Soaru wasn't going to admit it out loud, he felt closer to Garry and Ib.

Garry wasn't the scary tall monster he assumed he was. He could react violently, like when he grabbed Dmitri, but he was also genuinely worried about everyone. He was even able to suck in his fear and save him. Ib…he still didn't know too much about her, honestly, but she was important to Amelia and Luno, and especially to Garry. And while Soaru had not seen it for himself, she was brave enough to go after him twice and spark Garry into action. He also felt guilty about what he had let happen to her.

"Does Ib hate me?" Soaru stared hard at the string. If Ib hated him for his attitude or words he wouldn't blame her.

"What?" From Soaru's view, it appeared that Garry nearly dropped the thread. "No, I doubt she could hate anyone! Did something happen?"

"No, I just…I flinched when she looked at me earlier…and she hasn't looked at me since." Soaru admitted.

"Ah," Garry said, as if that answered everything, as he began to walk again. "You should ask her when we regroup."

They walked in silence for another few minutes before, in the immediate distance, Garry spotted the steps made from tree roots. He dashed across the remaining distance, taking the steps in leaps and continued up the sloped hill. A few times, he had to steady himself by grabbing tree branches and pushing off trees to gain momentum.

Garry had just reached the top of the hill when he asked his companion, "What was next on the list?"

The thread trail ended there at the top. Garry looked out into the forest, trying to spot any of their friends when he caught sight of some familiar looking figures lying in the dirt, which was lit up.

"A tree covered in lanterns." Soaru answered.

Omakes:

1. *If the group had run together with Garry carrying Soaru*
Amelia: Garry, wait, tiny legs here!"
Luno: I could carry you...
Amelia: ...no, that's ok.
Fucking blocked! REJECTED.

2. *As Garry gets the idea to go get Soaru himself*
Garry: *turns to Amelia and throws up double peace signs* MID-LIFE CRISIS GARRY IS BACK!

3. *Cycloptic Smile is menacing*
Soaru: *into his walkie talkie* She...she's just standing there...menacingly!
Luno: *into his walkie talkie* One more step and it's night night forever.

Some fan art by my lovely friend: post/156965801261/character-lineup-for-my-waifu-friends-ib-fanfic (Just put in the )

In order from left to right: Kate, Neah, Lumi, Garry, Ib, Amelia, Luno, & Soaru (looking spiffy).

•Originally, it was going to be Dmitri or Soaru who came across Ib and Amelia in the cavern, but somehow Luno ended up being chosen.

•There were going to be 2 other characters in addition to Amelia who joined Ib and Garry after Careless Carrie, but it was shortened down to one—Luno.

Well...it's been 10 months...wow, yeah, hi. So, this chapter is obviously not the end of the arc...and I apologize for that astronomical wait. I hope you enjoyed this chapter and I hope to get back into the practice of writing this.