Ib gave Garry a worried look.

"What do you mean someone has entered the Gallery?" she asked feeling a chill run down her spine as she said it. Garry gave her an exhausted look, though he smiled.

"I'm not quite sure. I can just sense that someone else is here now. And it does not feel like a good someone." He commented. Ib didn't know why, but her mind instantly flashed to her sister, Mary.

"Didn't you say something about Mary being the one who trapped us last time?" she said nervously, although still skeptical of Garry's accusations of her sister. Garry squinted at her.

"Why?"

"Uh, I don't know but..." she trailed off. Garry's eyes grew wide.

"Of course. Who else could just enter this Gallery at will?" his eyes flashed in anger. "This also means that she was able to enter the Gallery the whole time. And just left me in here." he said this in an almost hurt tone, as if he had expected better of her for some reason. "Just left me here. For years." he said again. Ib shook her head.

"How could she possibly just come in here whenever she feels like it, though?" she asked concerned. Garry shrugged.

"I don't know, but she controls this place and everything inside it. And that I know for sure." Suddenly, Garry got quiet, as if he were listening for something. "We need to move. We can't let her find us. Hopefully, I remember enough of this part of the Gallery to get us through it unharmed." Garry smiled at Ib again, this time it radiated with warmth and security. Ib could feel a sense of safety and protection emanating from Garry and decided that she could trust him fully. Garry held out his arm to her, and suppressing a shiver of excitement, she took it and followed him deeper into the Gallery.

As they moved through the next door, they found themselves in an overwhelmingly gray room. Ib could instantly feel herself becoming a bit lethargic. Garry, however, did not seem phased by the room at all. He did take notice of Ib though.

"Ib? Are you alright?" he asked gently. Ib nodded slowly.

"I think so. I'm just feeling so run down all of the sudden." she said quietly. A worried look flashed across Garry's face.

"Are you able to keep moving at all? I would hate to think about what it would be like if Mary were to catch us." Garry said. Ib nodded, however, now she was starting to feel as though she would never get out of here. As though this was all for nothing. As though she just wanted to collapse here and waste away. "Are you sure you're okay?" Garry insisted, not entirely believing Ib. Ib glanced at him. "You seem as though you've lost...I don't know...your will to keep going?" he inquired. Ib shrugged at him.

"I mean why should I? What's the point?" Ib heard herself say. She knew she didn't mean this, but the feeling of malaise was beginning to overwhelm her. Garry looked confused and a bit alarmed.

"Okay, we need to get you out of here. Why are you acting like this all of the sudden?" he asked. Ib just shrugged again. Garry looked around.

"Is it this room? That's so strange. This isn't how it happened before." he said mostly to himself. Ib shrugged again.

"Who cares." she said indifferently and leaned against the wall. What is going on with me? Ib thought to herself. Garry gave her an alarmed look.

"No." he said. "We need to get you out of here as quickly as possible." Garry picked Ib up from off the wall and led her to the door at the far side of the room they were in. Suddenly another quake, although less violent, reverberated through the Gallery. Instantly, the door Garry was about to open disappeared and a large, disturbing face with an eerie smile took its place. Garry and Ib pulled back from it in shock.

"I'm not going to be sooooo niiiceee this tiiimee" The face said to them. Garry jerked away from it, pulling Ib with him.

"I don't understand. We've done this all before! What is going on?" He said nervously. Ib could not take her mind away from her sister.

"Mary." was all she could make herself say. Garry seemed to think about this for a minute.

"Of course. Ib, you and Mary grew up together out in the real world, right?" he asked. Ib nodded half-heartedly. "Then she's an adult now just as you are." he said this in a slightly excited tone. "This means she is probably much stronger now and able to do much more here. Which means we are really going to need to keep our wits about us. I think we are in for a much more unforgiving Gallery than what we got the last time we did this." he said sullenly. Ib did not respond, but rather let herself fall to the floor out of Garry's grasp. "Ib?! What are you doing? We need to find a way out of here!" he said in a panic. Ib shrugged.

"Why? We're never getting out of here." she muttered. Garry scrunched his face in determination and frustration. He walked back up to the door.

"What is it you want?" he asked forcefully. The door's face contorted into an even more disturbing facade.

"Floooower." It paused. "Not aaany floooower. Rrrrrose." Garry seemed to lose a bit of color. He turned back towards Ib, who was basically expression-less. His arms hung at his side helplessly.

"I-I don't know what to do. And I can't do this all myself." he said in a defeated tone. Ib was entirely ready to shrug it off and doze off against the wall, but something in Garry's tone and expression awakened the last bit of motivation she had left in her body, and with this came an idea she found very intriguing. She reached into her bookbag and pulled out her sketchbook and colored pencils.

"T-this will have to be quick." she muttered. Garry watched in awe and confusion as Ib began to draw with such grace and precision. After a few minutes, she turned the drawing pad over to reveal a beautiful drawing of a rose, nearly identical to hers. She was having a hard time keeping her head up at this point, so she pushed the sketchpad toward Garry. "R-rip it out." she asked weakly. Garry did as he was told.

"Now what?" he asked. Ib motioned towards the ground, placing her hand on the floor. "The floor?" Garry asked. Ib nodded. Garry laid the drawing on the ground. Nothing happened. Come on. COME ON! Ib thought to herself. WORK! As if the Gallery heard her, the drawing began to twist and turn until it writhed itself into a perfect recreation of a red rose. Both Garry and Ib stared at it stunned.

"MmMMMmmmm I want that rose. Gimmee." said the face in the door. Garry's mouth was still open from shock as he tossed the rose over to the door and watched it devour the rose in one, sickening chomp. "Yooouuu caannn cooome througgh nooww." It slurred. Garry placed his arm around Ib and helped her to her feet. "Aadvice, Missstrreess. Chocolate willll helllpp. Draw chocooolate." was the last thing the door said before it let them pass through. As the door slammed shut behind them with a metallic thud, Ib and Garry collapsed into the next room, which was an oddly shaped, very small corridor with only a couple paintings upon the wall; a pretty modest, uninteresting room given the rest of the Gallery. They figured it would be okay to rest here for a moment. Garry leaned Ib against the wall gently.

"Wow, Ib! I had no idea you could do that! How were you able to make it come to life like that? Is it because you're an artist too? And why did it help us at the end there?" Garry was talking too excitedly for Ib's constitution at the moment, and she began to feel herself nodding off. "Ib? Wait, Ib! Draw some chocolate, right? Maybe that will help! Can you?" he urged. Ib knew she had no choice but to draw again, even though the thought of it tired her even more. But she also knew she couldn't let Mary have her way. Mary always got her way and Ib's patience for this had finally run out. With this last bit of motivation, Ib grabbed her sketchbook and drew a bar of chocolate upon the page. She eagerly ripped it off and placed it on the floor. Now, instantly, the drawing turned into a very tangible and very real bar of chocolate. Garry swiped it up, peeled off the wrapper- "Why did you draw it with a wrapper on, Ib?"- and broke off a piece, handing it to Ib. It was literally with the last bit of her strength that Ib forced the chocolate into her mouth. It took a moment, but Ib could definitely feel the malaise and depression lifting from her. She sat up straighter and took more bites from the chocolate. She now had the energy to stand and did so instantly.

"It worked?!" Ib heard herself say. "I can talk again!" she said happily. She looked over at Garry with a smile and noticed that he was giving her a bit of an odd look. He certainly looked happy, but his eyes were focused upon her as if almost in a trance.

"Ib..." he finally said. "You're quite amazing. I think I'm just only now realizing how much you've grown since we last saw each other. It's still, well, unique for me because I don't feel the passage of time, having been in here. But, well, just looking at you now..." he trailed off. Ib could see his cheeks turning red. "Well, it's just, I remember just how protective I felt over you back then. Only now, that feeling is almost more than I can handle...I..." he stopped again. Ib could feel a flutter in her heart. She desperately wanted him to keep going.

"Garry..." Ib spoke up. He looked at her nervously. "I think there is something I should tell you." she said, her voice quivering at the end. Garry's eyes grew a bit wider. "It's just...well, for the past several years, all I could think about was you. Now, being with you here, and my memories coming back, I just couldn't help but...I can't help but..." Ib stopped. Maybe she wasn't ready to say this either. She took a deep breath but dropped her shoulders in defeat. She shook her head. "Nevermind. I-I can't." she said sadly. Garry's gaze upon her did not waiver, and Ib was now feeling very uncomfortable.

"I don't know how to feel, Ib. I only know what I'm starting to feel. And I can only wonder if you feel the same. But maybe you're right. Maybe it's something to be left unsaid. At least, for now." he said. Ib felt a sense of relief and frustration and curiosity all at once. She was happy the Garry had let her off the hook, but at the same time, she was furiously curious about what he meant. Did he know what she meant? Did he feel the same? She knew if it was said, neither of them could go back. Maybe he was right. Maybe it was best to leave things as they were for now.

"I wish I could remember more about our time together here. You know, from before?" Ib said gently. Garry sat down in front of her, prompting her to sit as well.

"I could tell you, but I don't think it would be the same." he said as he shoved his hands into his pockets half-heartedly. His expression changed suddenly to that of confusion, and he pulled his hands back out again, this time holding a white lace handkerchief. "T-this isn't min-wait." he squinted at it. "This has your name on it." he claimed. Ib gave him a confused look.

"Hm?" she said. He nodded and held it out to her. She reached out for it, and as her fingertips met the fabric, a charge, akin to the one she felt when Garry touched her rose, jolted through her entire body. "Uhhnn!" she let out. The force sent her into the wall, thrust against it with immense force.

"Ib!" Garry shouted in alarm. However, she couldn't hear him. Her mind was reeling again with images from the past. Voices blended and images blurred. She struggled through the fog to make out what was going on. The images became clearer, and voices began to ring out in singularity.

"Ib! Are you there?"

"I'm here."

"Your rose? You lost it? Well, we'll just have to find it!"

"Ib, are you hurt?"

"I'd rather not split up..."

"She's not real. She's one of Guertena's works..."

"If you need help, I'll..."

All at once, Ib was back in the dark corridor with Garry, having been released from her rush of memories. She panted, sweat dripping from her brow.

"Ib! What happened?" Garry said worriedly. Ib gathered herself and realized she was once again looking into Garry's deep, blue eyes.

"I-I..." she stuttered, "I remember. I-" suddenly the room began to shake slightly. From not too far off, the metallic sound of a door slamming could be heard. Garry and Ib locked eyes in terror.

"That came from the previous room!" Garry whispered. "We need to go. Now!"