"We know what we are, but not what we may be."
-William Shakespeare
Palpitating incandescence, the kiss of death is dazzling lacework threaded like Babylon's fall. A void without reason for being has continued to peer through the Gate. It awaits the coming day of Lacrimosa, pious prayer whispered from mourning lips, and the inevitability of blight. Even though innocence was raised from the pit, the inferno waits for Judas.
There was the smell of chalk dust in the air, pink chalk, which outlined the room in imperfect lines. The lighting was dim, but that didn't surprise Garry as he somehow knew there wasn't a light fixture. Strewn on the floor were mannequin heads, used canvases, and unnerving blue dolls. He shuddered, the dolls making him uneasy as their red-button eyes seemed to watch him as he walked further into the strange room.
He wasn't alone. There was another set of footfalls walking in step beside him. He couldn't turn to see them, but their presence took the edge off his fear and replaced it with protectiveness. In an instant everything erupted into chaos and they were running to the back of the room where a painting was hanging on the wall. He could feel the person next to him shirk into his side and tremble in fear.
Like a stranger in his own body, Garry watched himself as he tore the painting off the wall, some of the broken glass cutting into his hand, and even when his own thumb struck the flint wheel that was proceeded by the familiar clink of the lighter fluid igniting. The painting started to burn and Garry finally looked behind him when an unearthly scream rang through the air, sounding like a dying animal. Despite the savage flames consuming her body, Garry recognized her blonde hair and green dress. Her blue eyes pleaded for mercy as her hand reached toward them, as if to beg them to save her. However, he only watched in silence as her skin yellowed like old parchment before giving away to ash. Within seconds there were only Mary's ashes left.
Instead of regret, Garry felt relieved that the danger was finally over. The scenery dimmed further around him, becoming like static, but he had turned to his companion and, after words he couldn't hear, a familiar handkerchief, which he still carried on him presently, was wrapped around his bleeding hand.
The scene blacked out. Before him now laid a large, bleak expanse where lightning struck the ground continuously. As it drew closer, Garry could make out an oddly familiar figure also drawing near. The flashes bleached the colour of their hair, which gave it a strange light purple-blue hue. He squinted in an attempt to see better, but was interrupted by an unearthly pale hand grabbing his arm. Garry slowly turned to look and a scream died in his throat when Cycloptic Smile stared up at him, her smile bloody.
The tiny girl pushed him and, like with Soaru, Garry went flying. He soared over the figure looking up at him, registering the person before the lightning swallowed him. However, it was the raucous crumbling of the ground being wrenched apart that tore Garry from his nightmare.
He bolted up with an audible gasp, his chest heaving, and jumped at the sound of his chair crashing behind him. A torrent of memories shot through him; showcasing the nightmare he called his reality. At the ghastly face of Cycloptic Smile, Garry doubled over and black dots swarmed his vision. The hand that wasn't holding his face groped for the table in an attempt to keep from falling, but felt the warmth of another rather than cold wood.
"It's alright Garry, it was just a nightmare." Luno soothingly repeated a few times as he eased Garry back into his chair, which Amelia had picked up before going to the sink to get their distressed friend a cup of water.
The lavenderette started to calm down, but made the mistake of looking at his hands. Across the backs of his fingers were burns that slanted to the right and there was a small number of additional burns that dotted the area around his wrist, which was also the area where the burns were concentrated on his left wrist along with a fewer burns on that hand. He could only recall the dream of Mary burning and the illusion he'd thought he'd seen last time he saw her. Her words echoed in his head, "We met before. You set my painting on fire and destroyed me."
Garry had known that Mary hadn't lied when she told him that, but he had fooled himself into believing that his past and current self were disjointed. He had felt bad for Mary and ashamed of his past self, but remembering had destroyed his illusion of ignorance.
"Garry, are you alright, where does it hurt?" Amelia worriedly asked, but her voice was softer than normal. "Here, take a few sips…it should help."
Garry removed his hands from his face, a few of his fingers unclenching his hair, to shakily take the ceramic cup Amelia had set before him. His face felt wet, which dully surprised him as he couldn't remember when he had started crying, and his hands stung where he gripped the cup. He took a few sips of the water, each a welcomed cooling sensation for his burning throat.
"Are you alright now?" Amelia's voice was still soft when she asked.
Garry gave a shallow nod before placing the cup back on the table.
"Do you want to talk about it?" Luno asked.
"Not really," Garry started but, at their worried and tired looks, couldn't refuse to give them something, "I just remembered burning Mary and had a nightmare about Cycloptic Smile."
He looked up at them, "I know Mary had told me that I had before, but it hadn't felt…real."
"Are you sure it wasn't just another nightmare?" Amelia asked, but Garry shook his head.
"I usually get this sense of reality when I recall a memory, like clarity, and then I just know."
"The sight of those things burning must have dredged the memory up from the nooks and crannies of your subconscious." Luno hypothesized before placing a hand on Garry's shoulder, "That one action doesn't define you, Garry. You did what you thought was best in that situation."
"I guess," Garry responded.
"Did you remember anything else?" Amelia asked, hoping to push the topic to something else.
"Yeah," Garry stated before filling them in on the person he had been with and the blurry events. At the end he took out the handkerchief that had been in his memory from within his yukata.
The cloth was white with red stitching around the hem for decoration. However, the handkerchief was stained with Garry's blood where the owner's name was, making it illegible. "Aside from my lighter, I find peace when I hold this, which is odd, I know."
"It must have been given to you by someone you held dearly and wanted to protect," Luno smiled at how sweet it was that Garry, despite his amnesia, still managed to unconsciously remember the emotions he felt for the person who had given him the handkerchief. The blond already had a feeling that it was Ib as it would explain the mutual attraction, the memory gaps, and the unspoken bond that she and Garry shared. It was a conclusion that Luno was confident about.
"What happened while I was out?" Garry asked in an attempt to change the subject.
"Amelia freaked out on me, cried, and then threw that hammer at my head." Luno indicated to the table where the claw-hammer was resting. "I also found out where our roses are-"
A snort cut him off, "if you call what you did 'finding.'"
Garry noted that Luno's ears had turned bright red at Amelia's words. The blond noticed his staring and pointedly turned halfway around to talk to the girl. "I didn't realize you were awake."
"Sure, pervert," Amelia mumbled as she turned off the faucet and dried something on the bottom her kimono that was too small for Garry to see.
"Where are they?" The lavenderette asked, bringing his friends' attentions back to the matter at hand.
Luno answered by lifting up his frayed and scorched brown-green scarf to expose the upper part of his yukata. Garry looked it over and was puzzled when he came across a patch-work lavender rose right on the hemline, which contrasted against the green yukata.
"Mine's right here," Garry turned to look at Amelia, who was pointing to the front of her beige and black striped obi. He found the bright green patchwork rose right where her navel likely was, but the rose had a rip through one of the petals.
"How did I miss that?" Garry mumbled while Amelia handled Luno the object she had just washed in the sink.
The blond picked up some green thread from the table, which Garry noticed along with two other spools of thread, one of which was blue, before threading it through the clean needle. Amelia stood still long enough for Luno to sew the rose petal back together, while still talking to Garry.
"We all did. The important thing is that we know they exist now and that they seem to function like our normal roses, but we can't use vases to restore them. Thankfully, we have this guy –"she pointed down at Luno, "and he never leaves his dorm without a needle, some thread, and a backup needle."
"You're just lucky my yukata is green or I wouldn't have brought it." Luno commented before biting off the excess thread and standing up.
"What about the blue thread and the red?" Garry asked.
"We managed to find the red thread after looking around the inn, but the blue thread was just because I needed it for a quick patch job for Lumi right before the festival." Luno pulled out a small kit from his yukata and opened the white plastic. "I also have a few other colours on hand, like black and some peach colour."
He put the green thread back in the plastic, closed the container, and then set it on the table. "The worst part about the roses being like this is that the colour of the thread has to match the rose or it won't work."
"Aw, they didn't all go away." Amelia showed them her right forearm where she had a burn, a few smaller burns on her hands, and the frayed sections of her kimono.
Luno inspected her arm closer, "Sewing it did lessen the damage, though. This burn on your arm isn't a third degree anymore, more like a mild second degree, and the ones on your hands seem more like first degree burns."
"They still sting," Amelia pouted before looking down at her kimono with a sigh. "Well, I guess the fashion department can expect a check for this."
Luno and Garry stared down at their own clothes, specifically at the scorch marks and the frayed endings. It was worse for Garry as both his sleeves were frayed and, being the one that had been tackled by the fiery creature, had sustained large charred marks on his chest. Luno's scarf was the main casualty, his yukata only lightly burned on the ends of his right sleeve.
Garry felt trepidation overtake him when he realized that the damage was irreversible, which caused him to hear his sister's voice, angry and scolding about money that they don't have, in his head and he could already hear his pitiful excuses for why he needed money to pay back the fashion department.
"Um, Garry, you okay there?" Amelia asked in worry at Garry's horror-stricken face that just gaped at the wall.
The oppressive air around the lavenderette worsened, "she's going to kill me."
"Well, let's see if sewing your rose back together helps any," Luno voiced while indicating for Garry to stand up. Once standing, the three looked the tallest over for his rose, which Amelia ended up spotting on the side hemline of his right sleeve, just before the frayed mess.
Luno carefully sewed the rips closed. Garry stared in awe when the thread seemed to disappear and the rose was restored back to normal.
"How did…" Garry started, but the other two shrugged at him.
"This place is all sorts of cuckoo – just roll with it for now." Amelia advised before changing the topic, "how are the burns?"
He inspected his appendages and found that the burns hurt less, with some of the ones on his wrists entirely gone. However, the burns across the back of his left hand only diminished a bit and appeared to be second degree burns. The only tweaks to his yukata were that the scorch marks had diminished to smaller black lines.
"Hey, Gar, do you still have those first-aid items from the farmhouse?" Amelia asked, which prompted Garry to pull out the bandages, salve, needles, thread, and scissors.
Garry and Amelia pushed the needles towards Luno, which he took, but both of them were instructed to keep at least one just in-case they were separated again. While Luno split up some thread for each of them, Amelia and Garry utilized the salve for their wounds; only using the bandages on the worst areas.
"Garry, were you cut by something?" Amelia asked while staring intently at his arm.
He nodded, recalling that he had washed it earlier, and Amelia continued to stare, "well, that explains why you're bleeding."
Garry's eyes widened, snapping to his upper arm where he remembered being cut by the creature's talon. His yukata was torn a bit in a straight line, blood soaking through the cloth.
Luno walked over with a new needle and some black thread, "Wash it out, apply some salve, and I'll stitch it up for you."
"W-what?" Garry's voice was small and slightly panicked.
Amelia gave him a worried smile and directed him toward the sink. He numbly took off his haori and laid it on the back of his chair before he wobbled to the sink and turned on the faucet. Garry pulled his arm out of the yukata and freaked when he saw that the cut was rather deep and around it was crusted blood with a few streaks that had managed to reach even his elbow.
He washed the blood away and kept nearly gagging at the constant realization that it was his own blood that he was scrubbing away. He gingerly cleaned around the actual cut, which elicited pain and many chocked whimpers, until there wasn't a trace of blood left.
Amelia saw his pale face and instructed that he sit down for phases two through four. Once seated, Amelia was kind enough to apply a healthy amount of salve to the wound, which stung, burned, and elicited even more pain filled noises from Garry, before Luno took over once the salve dried. He threaded the needle and started the process of stitching the wound closed.
"Have you ever done this before?" The worry in Amelia's tone mirrored Garry's perfectly.
"Yeah, I've done this countless times for Lumi." Garry felt better with that knowledge but, in his relief, he missed the touch of sadness that had been in Luno's voice, but Amelia hadn't.
"She's better now, though, right?" She already knew the answer, but Luno nodded once anyway, "much better than when we were kids."
It was quiet between the three until Luno finished the stitching and cut off the excess thread before bandaging the wound for good measure. Garry tiredly thanked him as he gingerly put his haori back on. He glanced over at Amelia's bandaged right forearm in guilt. If he had never suggested breaking the lantern then she wouldn't have gotten hurt.
Amelia noticed his gaze and frowned, "Garry, you're not doing that cliché thing where you believe my injury is your fault, right?"
He looked away in embarrassment at getting caught.
Amelia sighed and shook her head at him. "Don't get too full of yourself. If I had disagreed with you, I would have stopped you. Realistically speaking, it was my idea to break all the lanterns while you only wanted to break a few, and while you may have decided to break one to test what would happen, it was my idea initially."
"Therefore, we're both to blame," she concluded.
Before Garry could say anything, Luno intercepted. "You both arrived at a normal conclusion that wasn't right or wrong. I also came to that conclusion," the blond indicated to his frayed scarf, "but I was limited to projectiles like bricks and, being that I was far enough away, didn't suffer any significant bodily harm when the fire broke out."
"Does it matter anymore? We now know that breaking the lanterns does something awful, so we just shouldn't, right?" Amelia asked pointedly. "Shouldn't we be focusing our attention on finding Ib and Soaru and then getting the hell out of here?"
"We can't help anyone if we can't help ourselves first," Luno calmly replied before adding, "I would love to go and find them, but we'll only be putting ourselves at risk if we don't know the enemy that's right in front of us."
"Even though we know that, it's still hard to remain sitting here, wondering if the others are alright." The two silently agreed with Garry's view, but they all knew that they would get nowhere without knowledge or planning.
"Going back to what you said, Amelia, I don't think we shouldn't break the lanterns. However, we need to be careful about which ones we do break if at all." The blond walked into the adjourning room before he returned with a few books and a rolled-up piece of parchment. He set the books down on the edge of the table before laying out the map. "I happened to come across this map while I was hiding not too far from here. It documents the location of the lanterns and designated safe spots in this village. You may have noticed that these creatures can travel in the light, but did you know that they can also travel short distances between the lanterns?"
"What?" The two yelled in surprise.
"I didn't either until I found this. Do you see these lines here?" He indicated to a few different sections that contained the same thick and inky line. "These are the spaces that the creatures can pass between the lanterns. They appear to intersect in multiple spots, which may be tricky to deal with. Oh, and these squares are meant to symbolize the lanterns' locations. I don't know if breaking the lanterns could change the map, which is why I recommend only breaking a lantern if necessary."
Garry studied the map carefully for a few minutes. The dark ink of the creatures' paths connected to the squares, which created a pattern that turned into an image. "Is it just me, or do you all see that the squares and passageways create an eye?"
"No, I noticed it too." Amelia worried her lip after she spoke, wondering just what it could mean.
"I believe that the one who made this map noticed it too." Luno spoke with a hint of anger. "The baseball bats, the faucet, and this paper all indicate that there were people here before us."
"This paper?" Garry asked.
"The map itself is old, but these markings and symbols aren't. If you take a closer look the map itself is fading in several areas, but this ink is newer and so are these extra markings. Also, those books right there document several different people's experiences here." Luno picked up one of the books he brought in and opened it. "We can wait to read these in depth after we find Soaru and Ib, but I think I know where to start looking."
He turned the book toward them and on that piece of paper, in sloppy print was:
"The Lake of Sleep is where the lost one rests. I've concluded this after thoroughly studying all the previous logs from those before me. I don't know who the 'lost one' is, but despite all our mapping and thorough searching of the village, the lake is the only place left for Miranda to be.
Miranda, if you happen to find this, there is an extra map of the village located just inside the 'police station.' I've already marked the safest route to the outskirts for you. From there, it is uncharted territory to the lake itself as I am taking the only map of that area with me.
Stay safe,
Allen"
"I wonder if they ever found her," Amelia sadly wondered.
"I've only perused a few of the other logs, but many of them document finding one of their friends near that area." Luno softly responded.
"I hope so," Garry softly added. He flipped through a few pages of the book and noted the myriad of penmanship that changed every so often. It was horrible to realize that there had been other people here and not know what happened to them.
"I…I should warn you, though." Luno started hesitantly, "I believe that those creatures are tied into these logs, along with the eye symbol."
"We'll have to worry about it later, Luno." Garry's voice was stronger than he felt. "We need to find Ib and Soaru, whether they be in the village or at this lake."
"I agree and everything, but what if one or both of them are in the village and we happen to miss them?" Amelia rationally questioned.
"We have a meeting location though. Look at the outskirts here, right before the lake – there aren't many lanterns in that area. Therefore, this would be an ideal base location and, to avoid missing each other, we can copy Allen and leave a note with directions to the outskirts for Ib and Soaru. They'll have to come through here at some point if they aren't at the lake whether to look for us or a way out. I know there are many problems with this plan, but I'm at a loss for what else we can do without wandering around blindly."
"Well, Garry and I already proved that we can't be trusted to come up with responsible plans at this time, so we might as well go with yours." Amelia responded with a genuine smile, "Besides, it beats my plan of burning half the village down, thus leaving only one possible meeting spot."
Luno gave Amelia an incredulous looks while Garry simply sweat-dropped while the girl sputtered about how she already knew her idea had been faulty, dangerous, and simply insane.
Within fifteen minutes the three left the safety and comfort of the inn behind them. The only indication that they had ever been there at all was a note attached to the door by a knife.
The shadows stretched thinly against the ground, most spaces inky black or murky shades of grey. A crack of light from between two houses split the shadows like Mosses to the red sea. Three lighter figures skirted around the beam, keeping closely to the shadows with determined shuffles. Within that gap between the two houses, more than thirty feet back was a luminescent lantern lit with oil. Creatures lay strewn around the pillar of light with only a few mulling about.
Empty sockets looked in their direction, but few bothered to swipe at them at the border between light and shadow. When one got too close for comfort though, the three were unafraid to retaliate in kind. However, Luno kept convincing his two friends to avoid unnecessary altercations.
It became harder at first as they had to cross one of the largest passageways, the outline of the eye map-wise, which connected to multiple other places. They followed the map and took a detour to a weak spot in the passageway that contained more buildings to duck behind. The altercations were numerous until then, the buildings acting as barriers from the light, but the group remained aloof.
"I think the coast is clear," Amelia whispered once she had peeked around the stone shop to take a quick glance around.
The three dashed into the open square, the last section of the connected outer passageway, set on the safety of the buildings on the other side. It didn't take them by surprise when they were suddenly attacked by two creatures, only that their sprint was intercepted from the front.
Garry narrowly avoided running straight into one of creatures while Luno wasn't so lucky. Amelia wasn't fazed and brandished her baseball bat like a club. Giving a loud grunt from the effort, she struck one of the creatures in the shoulder, grabbed Luno's arm, and moved backwards to avoid being hit by the creature's talons.
Roars echoed in the distance, getting closer by the second. Garry could feel all the little hairs on his arms rise in fear and anticipation as adrenaline shot through him, which nearly froze him in place if it wasn't for the creature trying to kill him. He parried the creature with his bat, disturbed by the saliva that hit his face when the creature screeched at him.
Using his long legs to his advantage, Garry tripped the creature after dodging behind it. With a mighty cry, he slammed the bat into the creature's abdomen and legs multiple times in a blind fury. The sound of breaking bones fell deaf on his ears, but he eventually stopped his onslaught when the creature stopped moving.
He felt guilty for doing something so violent, even if it was in self-defense. He was so tired of seeing the side of himself that was willing to murder and hurt others, like Mary and all those creatures he'd fought since he arrived and the others that he would probably have to fight soon, too. All he wanted to do was find Ib and Soaru and leave.
Garry picked up his bloody bat and looked to the right where Amelia and Luno had just finished off the other creature. He could see that the violence was bothering them as well just from looking at them.
Almost like they were in a horror movie, the three turned to the left when they heard multiple roars and screeches. Coming at them from less than a yard away was a hoard of creatures, which all were screaming and chanting "don't look at me" repeatedly as they ran.
Without a word, the three dashed between one of the houses. Despite having longer legs, Garry stayed at the back of their line, the adrenaline thundering through his veins. The streets were narrower, which supported that they stay in a single file line while running but, after five minutes, the streets began to widen as the buildings grew smaller and more apart.
"Over here!" Luno called to them before he surpassed Amelia and led them to a small bridge that was constructed over a small, grassy river. They reached the middle of the bridge and stopped to rest now that they were far from the lanterns and the passageways the creatures used to travel.
Amelia collapsed onto the wooden structure, just barely holding onto the handrail. Between breathes she managed to get out, "I never ever want to run again."
Luno gave an airy laugh at her comment while Garry smiled between his own attempts to calm down his racing heart. However, it was short lived when he saw something move behind Amelia. He called out to her in fear for her safety and her prompt response was to kick at whatever the shadow was until her foot made contact with it and then scuttle away from the edge of the bridge.
"Ow!" The three paused, their weapons brandished in the direction of the voice. "That hurt."
Amelia got to her feet with a thoughtful expression while Luno hesitantly called out to the figure, "Soaru?"
The Asian youth walked up the grassy hill and onto the bridge, rubbing his forehead where Amelia had kicked him. "W-What was that for?"
His eyes widened when he noticed what they were holding and promptly panicked. "Why do you have those and i-is that…blood?"
The three sheepishly put their weapons away and tried to calm Soaru down.
"No, I will not calm down! What the hell is going on, where am I, and why am I here? Also, why do you all have bloody weapons?" He demanded to know.
"Look, I'm sorry that you're here, but right now we need to find Ib." Luno calmly tried to say. He noticed that Soaru had some strange black stains on the bottom of his yukata. "Are you alright, Soaru?"
"No, I'm not alright, Luno!" He turned his attention to Garry then and balled his fists in anger, "you, you and Ib are at fault for this, aren't you? You're the reason this is happening and you must be using Amelia and Luno, too. I wish I'd have never met you – no, that you'd never existed in the first place!"
There was a loud smack that filled the air.
Luno relaxed his fist before grabbing Soaru by his yukata, "You really shouldn't piss off the people who are trying to help you."
He roughly let go of Soaru, who stumbled to steady himself against the wooden handrail. He didn't retort, too surprised that Luno had physically harmed him, but he did nurse his afflicted cheek in one of his hands. Soaru knew he had gone too far when he yelled at Garry, he could see that now, but he had just been so frightened. He didn't understand how they weren't scared stiff.
"What are we going to do?" Soaru's voice was low, nearly whinny, but choked with strangled emotions.
"We're going to find Ib," was Garry's response. What Soaru had said stung, but he wasn't going to let it stand in his way of finding the red-eyed brunette. "After that, we'll decide on a plan of action to escape."
"A-anyway," Amelia broke in, attempting to make peace (or at least a truce) between the boys. "Are you injured?"
Everyone pointedly ignored the bruise on Soaru's forehead and the one on his face.
Amelia amended her earlier question, "I mean before this?"
"No," Soaru barely managed to get the word out before Amelia slammed her foot down onto the handrail only inches from his hand.
"That's great," even Garry and Luno shivered at the smile she was showing Soaru while they simultaneously thought, well, he's screwed.
"Let me tell you something real quick," her intonation was followed by a slight pitch change towards the end. "I get you're upset and confused, but you need to stop the bullshit and grow a pair. Ib was the only one who went after you while we were all preoccupied with our own problems, and now she's lost and obviously alone."
Her face etched into a cold stare, "next time you insult them I won't miss."
She removed her foot from the railing and pinched the Asian's ear, "Do you understand?"
He feebly nodded and Amelia gave him a hard look before she relinquished her hold. "Good, now let's get going."
The three males watched her march off the bridge and toward the tree-line. They briefly shared a look, though Garry and Luno were both suppressing small amused smiles while Soaru was simply confounded.
They followed after her until she paused just before the dense forest.
"Luno, what direction is the lake?"
The blond took out the map, which didn't contain the lake itself, but did indicate the path right before it cut off. He opened it and looked up a few times before finally folding it and putting it back in his yukata. "Straight and from there we'll have to wing it."
"S-should we really be wandering through unknown territory?" Soaru nervously asked while shifting his eyes to glance at the forest. "We don't know what's out there or if she's walking around."
"A little adventure and uncertainty is fun, like playing an RPG." Amelia lightly joked.
"Can't be any worse than the creatures back in the village or that one creature in the Gallery," Garry pointed out, determined to face whatever the forest had to dish out.
"I second that. Besides, this needs to be done." Luno added before he left the open field and entered the shadowy lair of the trees.
"Don't worry; we'll protect you if anything happens." Garry stated to the smaller teen before following Luno's lead. Even if Soaru had hurt his feelings, he wouldn't let it stand in the way of the fact that Soaru had been an unwilling victim of circumstance and didn't deserve to be thrown into their conflict.
"That's not the reason…" Soaru trailed off, his voice barely audible. However, Amelia had been standing close enough to hear him, but didn't comment or give any indication that she had overheard.
The four walked through the silent forest, unnerved at the lack of life. The grass did the whisper, the tree branches didn't moan, there was no humming chatter – only their footfalls shattered the all encompassing silence.
The silent forest was also intimidating as the darkness casted the impression that the large oak and maple trees were like dark citadels with raised roots that resembled vein networks. The moss hanging down from the branches of various trees, though mostly elms, distorted the canopy into something akin to a mossy waterfall and, to their eyes, the aspens were ghostly figures cloaked in shadows while the beech trees were cruel, crooked, and wrapped in a fog.
The dim forest was both haunting erratic in what it contained. One moment the group was stepping over fallen trees and the next they could be climbing over earthy walls that towered over a slim stretch of pale shale slabs partially submerged in clear water.
"Maybe we should go back?" Soaru tried to convince them, but the others disagreed.
"We're already in the thick of it," Luno took Garry's helping hand and passed over to the next ledge followed by the other two.
"Do you think that if we burned this forest down it would be easier?" Amelia jokingly asked, but deep down she was a little tired of hiking.
Garry cracked a smile, "I don't think Smoky the Bear would appreciate that."
Luno chuckled at them, and Soaru even let a small stressed smile slip, before stopping to investigate a few broken twigs on the ground. "To answer your question, it probably wouldn't help."
"A break would, though!" Amelia slumped over large boulder and let out a long 'ah' at how good it felt to be off her feet.
Soaru silently took a seat on another boulder with his back facing them. Garry looked over at where Luno was still squatting on the ground, looking at something. Curious, he walked over and leaned over to quietly find out what Luno was so focused on.
On the ground were several snapped twigs, which didn't strike his as odd as they were in a forest. However, Garry knew Luno wouldn't be staring intently at twigs if it was something trivial. He took another look and found that most of them shared a common anomaly – a black substance.
"What is that?" Garry asked in a whisper after Luno had touched the substance and his pointer-finger and thumb came back lightly coated in it.
"I don't know, but there's more of it down there in the water." Luno whispered back and Garry could tell from the blond's tone that he was on to something.
The lavenderette looked down at the creek and could see that the black substance was floating atop the water, though most of it had been deposited onto the shoreline. However, it was small in quantity overall and didn't make to large of an impression.
"There doesn't seem to be a lot of it." Garry whispered again before adding that it was probably alien to the creek as an afterthought.
A strange expression crossed Luno's face after he said that and fixed itself before Garry could properly assess it, but he could tell that Luno had figured something out. Before he could ask, Luno had already said, "Judging by these twigs, the lack of life, and the water quality, it's likely that you're right and this substance is foreign. With that in mind, it would mean that a human had to of brought it here, probably to wash it off, which is why it's in the creek."
His voice took on an edge that worried Garry. "Yeah, maybe, but that just might mean that Ib or even Soaru passed through here at some point."
Luno stood up, his eyes distant and worried, "we need to hurry and find her."
Garry didn't miss the way Luno slipped two of the twigs into his yukata, but he decided not to comment as there were more pressing matters at hand.
They turned around to inform the others that they should continue the search, but were met with only Soaru staring up into a large oak tree. As if he could feel their gazes, the Asian teen slightly turned to them and slightly pointed up. In sync, the two looked up and saw Amelia straddling a sturdy branch and looking out into the distance with the spyglass.
At that moment, Garry understood why some mothers at supermarket back home were frantic when their child wandered a few feet away. The worry built up within his chest, the worst-case scenarios flashing across his mind, and he nearly panicked when Amelia scooted further away from the trunk.
"B-Be careful!" His voice was a mix of panic and worry, his eyes glued to the branch for any indication that it would snap. Luno mirrored his tone perfectly, though the blond likely didn't notice as he was distracted not only with the possibility of her falling but also the momentary increase in skin exposure that he would be a fool to pass-up.
After a few minutes had passed, Amelia looked down at them with excitement, "I found the lake!"
She tucked the spyglass away and climbed back down, though she jumped the last three feet and nearly gave them all heart attacks. Once back on the ground, she pointed in the direction that they needed to go and laughed when Garry lightly scolded her for worrying them.
"I don't know, perhaps she should go back up and check again just to make sure." Luno said with a sly inflection that even Amelia didn't miss, but she took it out of context.
"No, I'm one-hundred-percent sure that I know which way to go." She walked away determinedly and the others had no choice but to follow behind her.
"And I thought you were dense," Luno quietly remarked to Garry.
They continued on silently for another few minutes before Luno broke the silence, "Soaru, I meant to ask earlier, but did you happen to see Ib or notice any sign that she could have passed through?"
The ravenette seemed to retreat into himself and his eyes were fixated on his shoes when he denied seeing the brunette at any time after he arrived.
"Oh, yeah, where did you end up landing?" Garry asked in simple curiosity.
His eyes shifted again when he responded, "Probably around the middle of the forest. It's…hard to tell with how large this place is."
The trees grew sparser and Luno received many stares when he stated that he could smell the lake and that they were close. The scenery around them changed from dark earthy soil and vegetation to dim gray sand with tall wild grasses that mainly intruded along the opening of the beach in large spread out clusters, though some spread a little farther.
Much like the forest, the beach was also haunting as it looked like a storm would roll in with the way the sand was gray with lighter undertones, the general grayness of the area, the stray drift wood, and the blackness of the water. The lake itself was beautiful in a morbid sense but also unnerving as it, upon closer inspection, did not reflect the starless sky or even stir in the nonexistent wind.
"The water doesn't look sanitary…or safe," Soaru remarked, "We should stay away from it."
"Don't drink the kool-aid," Garry absently remarked and the others looked over at him.
"D-Did he just make a pop-culture reference?" Amelia asked aloud, still looking at Garry. "Garry, you just made a reference that wouldn't be as disturbing in any other situation."
It was Garry's turn to give her a look, "you used red-rover, a children's game, to explain a life-or-death situation."
"You man-handled me!" she fired back in an attempt to one-up him.
"I thought you forgave me for that," Garry started before adding, "if anything, you manhandled me!"
"You know what, you're a seaweed head!" Garry didn't even have a retort for that.
"At least he doesn't accidentally walk into the wrong restroom." Luno joined in good-naturedly.
"At least I don't a sister-complex or hair like Neah's!"
Luno was aghast, "don't even joke about that."
"You all need help," Soaru mumbled mainly to himself, but the others heard and laughed in amusement.
They trekked along the shoreline slow enough to survey their surroundings, but fast enough to give the impression of hurrying. Luno and Soaru had opted to take off their shoes as the heels of their geta weren't doing them any favours with the sand. Garry had opted to keep his shoes on as the heel wasn't very tall while Amelia wanted to run around barefoot, but the time and effort it would take to unlace her boots and take off her socks was unappealing.
Garry stared out at the black lake, the Lake of Sleep as Allen had called it in his note, and felt increasingly uneasy. The way it looked like liquid tar reminded him of an oil spill and the way it remained flawless was unnatural. The thought that it seemed to exude darkness made him shiver.
Idly, the lavenderette recalled that the lake water looked exactly like the substance he and Luno had seen on those twigs and in the creek. He looked over at the platinum blond, wondering if he, too, had noticed.
Before he could think to voice his question, Amelia pointed at something in the distance – a wooden pier.
With a destination in mind, the four scurried over to the structure. The pier itself was nothing to write home about as it was rather old with the wooden planks likely made from the trees within the forest and had no railing to speak of. The only notable thing was that there was a boat docked at the end of the pier with its painter tied to one of the posts.
Not too far from the pier was a large rock barrier, probably a breakwater, which was parallel to the coast line. It was difficult to make out details due to the dimness of the area, but the contrast of a lighter colour against the black water was prominent.
"We should probably move on," Soaru nervously fidgeted when he spoke, but it almost passed as him simply being antsy.
Behind him, Garry heard Luno ask Amelia for the spyglass, but didn't think much of it as he was distracted by his own thoughts; however, the loud expletive that left Luno's mouth a moment later snapped him back to attention.
"Fuck!" Luno repeated as he hurried to undock the boat.
"What is it? What did you see?" Amelia panicked.
"I don't have time to explain, just get in the boat," the blond ordered, "you, too, Garry. Soaru, stay put!"
Amelia and Garry got into the wooden boat, panic and confusion etched across their faces. Luno finished untying the boat and got on before kicking away from the dock. It didn't do much as the water remained relatively still. However, Luno simply grabbed the oars and each of them with the instruction to paddle.
"Luno, what's going on?" Amelia asked while trying to match her paddling speed with theirs. "Where are we going?"
Luno debated between telling them what he had seen, "we need to get to that rock formation as fast as possible."
The grave tone he used prompted Amelia and Garry to paddle even faster, though the apprehension of just what was waiting for them still lingered.
As they closed in on the rock formation it became easier to see the extra detail such as the dusting of wet sand, the smooth or coarse textures, and the black water that clung to the lower areas not too far above the surface. If they weren't so tense, Amelia and Garry would have marveled at how cool it was up-close.
Garry scanned the barrier in an attempt to find just what had panicked Luno. There was nothing abnormal with the rocks themselves so he looked closer to where the barrier met the water. They paddled toward the left side and that's when Garry saw what Luno had.
On a flatter rock that was mostly submerged in the black water Garry could see a familiar head resting against the lower part of the rock, but the rest was obscured. He nearly abandoned ship, but Luno held him back, "you can't touch the water!"
Amelia had already screamed out her friends' name before snapping at the other two to keep paddling. They guided the boat to be just parallel to and only inches away from the rock. Before the boat even came to a complete stop they were all half over the boat.
"Ib!" Garry called and, when he received not even a twitch, shook her shoulder a bit.
"We need to get her out of the water," Luno's voice quivered toward the end.
Garry hooked his arms under hers and pulled her out of the water and into the boat. He tried to be as gentle as possible when he laid her down on the bottom of the boat. It was then that he and the others realized something was gravely wrong.
The black water didn't drip and remained coated to everything except most of her upper left side at an angle where she wasn't submerged. However, that was not the reason Garry forgot how to breathe or what caused the candle of hope within him to blow out.
It was the pallor of her face that contrasted against the crimson blood, which originated from somewhere behind her bangs, that drew lines resembling flashes of lightning down her face and the unearthly blue tint of her lips that caused all of them to freeze.
Luno lurched forward and fumbled to check for a pulse first on her neck and then wrist.
"She's dead."
"No, no, no, no, no, no," Amelia chanted in grief before she shook Ib a few times while yelling, "wake up!"
"The rose," Luno suddenly said and a light seemed to come back on within his eyes, "the rose, we need to find her rose!"
With their last hope on restoring the rose, the three scanned their lifeless friend over before Garry saw it half coated in the black substance. With jerky, panicked movements, he uncovered the patchwork red rose that was torn apart.
Luno yanked out his sewing kit and nearly dropped it in his hurry. He took out the red spool of thread and a needle and the two made more room for him to work.
"Fuck," the blond breathed as he tried to get his hands to stop their trembling. "Fuck."
He sewed the torn rose back together, biting off the excess as the other two watched and prayed with bated breath. Like with the others', the thread disappeared but the rose was whole again.
"Come on, come on, please," Amelia mumbled to herself with her head buried touching her tightly clasped hands that were turning white from the pressure.
The black substance disappeared from her body as did the blue hue to her lips, but she still didn't breathe.
"No!" Luno yelled before punching the bottom of the boat in anger. "I-I should've gotten here faster…I'm sorry, Ib."
Amelia sobbed as she griped one of Ib's pale hands in hers, Ib's name and her apologies slipping from her lips like the tears that poured from her eyes.
Garry pulled so that she was halfway sitting up and grasped her tightly in an embrace. He was crying just as hard as the other two as he remembered their time together. He could perfectly recall that it had been raining when they met and that he had lost at most of the card games they had played during the cab ride. It was crazy to think that had been the beginning.
She was always there when he needed her most, like when he had nearly drowned or the time she had stood in front of him to make sure no one bothered him while he brooded. Ib had always made it a point to stand by him and help in her own quirky way. She had become a constant that just felt right to him, like she had always been there and would stay forever.
It had been maybe a week, but being in the Gallery made it feel like months had passed. He had seen many of her facial expressions from fear to the way her lips and eyes softened into a smile when she was happy. Ib was awkward, caring, and one of the bravest people he'd ever met.
"Please, Ib, just breathe," he hugged her harder as he struggled to talk through his hysteria. "I promise that…if you need help…I'll come running. So, please…don't leave me again, Ib."
When there was no response, it was as if his world came crashing down around him. It was in that moment that he came to a realization that only served to further torture his heart. He had lost the one person who mattered most to him and it was only just then that he realized just how dear she was to him.
Garry reeled back when he heard a tiny cough near his ear. Ib's lips parted and she lurched forward, her body trying to hack out the water that should've no longer existed within her while also attempting to breathe at the same time. Her eyebrows crinkled, her chest rapidly rose and fell against him, and her muscles had tensed back up.
Ib was alive. His world instantly brightened and he no longer felt like dying, too. They were all going to make it out of there alive, he had faith.
He hugged her close again, his earlier promise flashing through his head and at the end he silently added, I love you.
Omakes:
Luno: Fuck!
Amelia: Watch your mouth! You were raised in a church, saint boy!
*While Amelia was up in the tree*
Luno's inner most thoughts: panty shots, panty shots!
*Also while Amelia was up in the tree*
Luno: *whistles at Amelia's skin exposure*
Garry: *elbows him* Really.
*When they find Ib*
Someone: Ib is dead!
Soaru: Fuck.
*While in the forest*
Amelia: *trips over root and Garry catches her* Thank you, senpai.
Luno: *purposely trips and is caught by Garry while staring straight at Amelia and mouths, 'he's mine.'*
Soaru: *trips but no one catches him...except his broken dreams...and the ground.*
*With Above Setting*
Amelia: *trips over root and Garry catches her* Thank you, senpai.
Luno: *purposely trips and is caught by Garry while staring straight at Amelia and mouths, 'he's mine,' before licking Garry's neck*
Garry: *freezes* What was that?!
Luno: You have now signed my contract.
Garry: I didn't sign anything *is ignored*
Luno: *looks at Amelia* Come, you must sign it too.
Amelia: Oh, my god! You're an alien! Is some tentacle porn shit about to happen, because I have an issue with that. But, I'll hand over Garry to you.
Garry: WHAT?!
Luno: *Nods*
Amelia: And you can have Saoru...
Soaru: uhhhh
Luno: ehhh
Amelia: Okay, so we pretend he doesn't exist.
Soaru: *Gets offended and does the Prussia 'tch'*
Trivia: While writing the beginning paragraph of imagery near the end of February, my sister walked in just as I was mentioning Judas and told me that we had to put our cat down the next day.
Also, Luno can't swim despite the orphanage he and Lumi lived being right by the ocean.