A/N: Sorry I took so long ;A; My beta has gone on vacation right as I come back from one and so I was debating on whether or not to upload. But then I couldn't wait, so I said, 'Screw it'. So here's a rough, nonbeta-ed chapter 6 ;A; Sorry for any and all mistakes. OTL. When Jar B Kat (my beta's nickname) comes back, I'll be sure to reupload the better version! So read, review, and bear with my editing (not)skills!

From where she emerged, Linda took a right turn to find a peculiar room. The room was extremely narrow and stretched a small distance towards another right turn in front of her. She could vaguely make out some stairs going down at the end. Behind her was a small stretch and it had a framed picture hanging on the wall. Linda turned around again. All she had to do was go down the stairs to her next destination. That seemed simple enough. However, Linda didn't budge.

There's always a catch, she thought to herself. She noticed that the picture behind her was a part of a series of pictures that hung blatantly on the wall portraying a guillotine's blade in each frame. It seemed too simple and Linda didn't like it at all. Could she really just go to the end and down the stairs safely and without incident?

Probably not. Linda took a closer look at the pictures on the wall. It started out with the blade at rest on the ground. Linda craned her neck to look at the rest of the pictures. She didn't want to risk any movement without fully inspecting the room first. The next picture showed the blade a little higher, and the next one was even higher than that. The pictures were depicting the process of a guillotine's blade rising. Linda noticed that in the last picture, the blade was raised fully to the top because it wasn't visible in the frame of the picture. All it had was just the empty frame of the guillotine.

Okay, now there's something wrong there. Linda slowly inched closer to the blank picture. Maybe the blade is actually out of the frame… Linda took a second to think of how ridiculous that sounded when she remembered; anything is possible in this demented place. When she got barely within a foot of the picture, she looked up for the missing blade. Then, almost immediately, Linda heard the sound of ropes whizzing out of their holds.

The glint of the blade was the only warning Linda received as it rushed down at an alarming speed towards her. Terrified, she stumbled back a couple of paces as a giant blade careened from the ceiling and rammed into the ground. The whole room shook and the floor splintered, cracking where the blade had impacted into the ground. Linda tried to maintain her balance and failed while simultaneously wincing at the thought that that could've been her. Then, as abruptly as it came, the blade retreated slowly into the ceiling.

Linda had to catch her breath again before standing up. Her smoker lungs were just not meant for this place. For the first time in forever, she began to regret the fact that she had ever smoked in the first place. When her heart rate returned to normal, Linda inched ever so slowly towards the stairs, expecting the worst, but the blade stayed put. When she got halfway through with no event, she sprinted towards the stairs and stumbled down into the next room.

Or next hallway. The whole hallway was red now. Red walls, red floor, even red ceiling. The hallway made a left turn up ahead and as Linda walked toward it, the shadow of a man flew out of the wall ahead and into the hallway's turn. Linda froze in place. What the fuck was that? Linda shuffled closer to the corner and peered around the edge. Seeing no one, she proceeded to turn the corner cautiously.

There was a large painting on the wall to her left. "Breath" was the name of the painting. It depicted a white bird, possibly a dove, blowing into a large horn. Linda looked at it questioningly, but nevertheless continued on with her journey. This hallway led to another left turn. Before she turned the corner, she peeked suspiciously for the shadow man that flew by earlier. Then she turned the corner ever so vigilantly. After an eventless turn, Linda relaxed a bit and thought, one more left turn and I would've walked in a complete circle, or, well, square. She shook her head at her random outburst and concluded that she was pretty much going insane.

Linda walked down this third turn and saw a door and a writing desk at the end. She walked up to the desk and didn't need to hear the scribbling noise to know that it wrote down something in its weird language again. Still, Linda spared a brief look.

Raven, Linda 003et2: Survived Trial Three

Whatever THAT means, she rolled her eyes. She had no idea why she was still wasting her time on reading it if she had no idea what it said. Linda shook her head for the umpteenth time that day and opened the door. Inside were two large sculptures and many paintings along the back wall. There was also a wide pillar stretched out to her right across the middle of the room. The first sculpture was of the upper half a woman, one arm under her breast and the other hand cradling her head. Her hair flowed down until the bottom of the sculpture which was near where her mid-thigh would've been, however, the only features that were distinguishable were from her stomach and up. The rest melted into a large bumpy cone-like stand at the bottom. She was also molded entirely in blue. This sculpture was titled "Uh".

Weird name, Linda commented. She then walked up towards the painting on the wall to the far left. It had a metal frame with a thin green line going through it. The title to this certain piece was "Heartbeat". Right as she read those words, the green line pulsed and passed a wave from one end to the other. It was like a hospital monitor or something. Linda was mildly surprised and curiously placed her hand on the cool metal frame. The monitor-like painting then began pulsing to the beat of her heart. BA-DUMP. BA-DUMP. BA-DUMP. Linda withdrew her hand immediately and the room fell into silence again as Linda stared shockingly at the painting. Nevertheless, it was pretty cool.

The next painting was that of a smoking man, and true to what it depicted, the title of the painting was "Smoking Gentleman". Linda let out a small had many guy friends who smoked, and not one of them was a gentleman. In fact, she was more of a gentleman than they were. Linda rolled her eyes at the fake reality painted on the canvas and walked by the long pillar and saw that there was a door to her left. Deciding to look at the rest of the room first, Linda walked in a circle around the pillar to find yet another painting. This one was a little hard to decipher, but it was titled "Peacock Pattern". Turning around to explore the other half of the room, Linda saw a red sculpture very similar to the blue one on the other side of the room. The sculpture was mirrored with the other one to a T. The only difference was its expression. Whereas the blue one was lamenting with her lips pressed in a thin line, the red one was wailing out in agony. The sculptures were so beautiful, and yet so lugubrious. Linda frowned and walked back to continue looking at the paintings. They seemed to be a lot more cheerful than the sculptures.

The next one in line was a painting of a blue dripping heart with an arrow piercing through the top right of the heart. The title was "Heart Wounds". So much for being more cheerful. She moved onto the last painting in the room. The painting showed a pretty lady from waist up with flowing brown hair that was apparently longer than her waist. She was wearing a red dress and her arms were crossed over her lap in a very ladylike manner. The title was "The Lady in Red". However, despite her elegant demeanor, Linda couldn't help but feel like there was something much more sinister than she could imagine. For one, the lady had blood red eyes that seemed to be staring straight at her. Linda shivered. Not once taking her eyes off the lady, Linda began to back up slowly towards the door. She felt that though the red eyes never moved, the lady was still following her movements. Watching her. After Linda felt like she was near enough, she tore her eyes away from the madwoman and made a dash for the thankfully unlocked door and ran in, slamming it shut.

The door gave off a loud click, but fortunately, that was it. Linda shut her eyes and pressed her back against the door. Was that paranoia really called for? She wondered. Linda sighed and opened her eyes, taking in the new room. She saw two rows of bookshelves on either side of her. There was also another door at the other end of the room. Linda moved to go to the door, but a book to her right caught her eye. Contemplating her choices, Linda decided that she wasn't really in a rush and she walked over to the first row and pulled it out.

I might as well try to enjoy the time I'm trapped here… The book was named "Guertena" and it showed many of his paintings, sculptures and works. Linda finished skimming through the book and put it back. Browsing down the row for anything else to pique her interest, Linda happened upon a small piece of paper lodged between two books on a lower shelf. Kneeling down, Linda pulled it out and read it.

"HAVING FUN?" The paper asked. Linda gasped and quickly dropped the paper. She felt like that little slip of paper was mocking her. Hell, she felt like the whole damn gallery was mocking. Linda angrily grabbed the glaring white eyesore and hastily crammed it back between the books. She wasn't about to let the gallery continue mocking her. There was suddenly nothing left of interest to her in this row or this room. She was so done with place. Linda stood up and briskly walked to the other door at the end of the room. She grabbed the doorknob and yanked on it only to find out that the damn door was locked!

"Argh!" Linda slammed her fists against the door only to wince and recoil. She had forgotten her right hand was still injured. Well, fine. You want me to play your little game? I'll fucking play your little game. Linda clenched her teeth and wrenched herself away from the door. She walked towards the first row of books on the opposite side of the room from where she was. She figured she might as well start at the beginning. In that row, Linda found a book that stood out on the second bookshelf titled "The Girls in the Canvas". Linda opened the book and read the first page.

"The women here become very troublesome once they acquire a desire for humans. They'll always stubbornly chase things until they're satisfied, it seems… Anywhere, everywhere, to the ends of the earth…" Yeah, no fucking kidding. That statue lady was bat-shit insane, she griped and continued reading. "But if they have one weakness, it's that they can't open doors on their own." Wait. What is this book saying? The statue was perfectly capable of opening that door. Does this mean..? No. Linda refused to think of the possibility of there being different types of psychopathic women chasing her up and down the place. She didn't want to think there was, but she knew better. The gallery just kept throwing new things at her. Linda knew that she just have to be even more careful than she already was, and quite frankly, she didn't think that was even possible.

Maybe this book is talking about that creepy painting I saw out there. The 'Red Lady' or something. Linda cringed at the thought of her being chased by those creepy red eyes. But wait. She's trapped in the glass, right? How would she get out? Linda pondered. In the end, Linda put the book back, refusing to think more on the matter. She had to find a key of some sort soon.

Walking diagonally across the room, Linda pilfered through the right side bookcases in the second row. There was really nothing to note. Frustrated, Linda moved to the last row of bookshelves. She scanned the titles of the book for anything that would stand out. Then she saw a book cover that seemed to be made in… crayon? Linda pulled it out, wary but curious. The title read, "Careless Carrie and the Galette de Rois: Moving Storybook" Just the title made Linda extremely suspicious. The book also seemed to be humming in her hands, brimming with life. She wasn't sure if she wanted to partake in this moving storybook. Plus it was made with crayon. Linda didn't like where things were going, so she put the book back in place.

Just as she did though, another book jutted out and Linda jumped back, startled. There wasn't even a title for this book. Linda eyed the book suspiciously. Well, I ignored the other book. What difference would this make? Pushing in the other book seemed to do something so…

CLICK.

There was a resonating click from the door she was trying to get through to. Linda felt her hope rise as she walked towards the door that was locked just a second ago. Turning the door knob ever so faintly, Linda smiled when her hand didn't jerk to a stop. She then quickly opened the door and walked out.

The door led into hallway that ran perpendicular to the door. There was a passage to her right and to her left, and in front of her was a painting of a beautiful aquamarine-colored vase, an actual aquamarine vase, and a writing desk. Wait… Linda paused for a moment. It's a vase! She was a little thrown off by the different color at first, but when she looked in, sure enough, the vase was filled with swirling blue water. Linda thanked the Lord and put her rose in the vase, smiling as the whole vase lit up enchantingly like before. She could feel her injuries reducing to nothing more than mere scars. After the light died down, she saw that her rose had ten petals again. Reaching up to her cheek, Linda realized that the vase didn't heal past injuries, so the small scar on her cheek was still there, but she didn't mind. Yet, despite her relief, Linda still had her guard up and she noticed that the vase was still filled with water. Linda looked up at the painting's title.

"Eternal Blessing"

Maybe that means this is forever? Linda could feel the hope rising in her throat. She tested her theory by plucking a petal off of her rose. While still wincing at the pain, Linda put the rose back in the vase and felt the pain immediately alleviate. The rose also had ten petals again. Linda smiled at her good fortune and stepped away to continue on her journey. She would be sure to come back here when her injuries got too rough. Then Linda remembered something else that seemed off to her.

There was a writing desk here, but no writing. She didn't remember hearing a scribbling noise and she sure as hell didn't see anything written on the blank page. Linda eyed it suspiciously, but what could she do? Write in it herself? She didn't even know what language, if it even was a language, it wrote in and, hell, there wasn't even a pen near the notebook so Linda just left it alone. After a moment's consideration, Linda decided to take a right turn and revisit the other side later.

As she walked down the right side, she passed a painting, labeled "Abstract Art", and another wriggling tongue painting. Carefully avoiding the path where it would spit, Linda walked until the end and then abruptly turned around. She said she'd visit the other side of the hallway later, but she didn't think that later would come so soon. The reason being that, though there was a door at the end, Linda saw that there was also a headless statue guarding the entrance to said door. Linda didn't want to be chased again, especially since there were no known holes for it to fall in now. Linda decided to not take any chances, even though there was a key at the feet of the statue. Steeling her resolve to not go anywhere near that statue, Linda made a beeline towards the other end of the hallway.

This opened up into a small room. The room would've been bigger, but there was another room jutting out from the wall. It gave the room Linda was currently in a lopsided u-shaped. The right end of the 'u' was wider than the other end, though both ends had a few steps that elevated them. Linda walked up the larger end and saw there were two posters on either side of a table with a vase on it. The vase had some water, but it was a gray colored vase, like the one she saw before the eternal blessing. Linda decided to leave it alone and read the posters instead. They were like the ones at the entrance telling her about her and the rose and how she was connected to them and whatnot.

Linda walked up to the room within the room and saw the door slightly ajar. There was also a window for this miniature room. Linda lingered at the entrance but decided that she didn't want to go in just yet. She peered through the window and found that she couldn't really see inside the room. It was extremely shady and Linda steered clear of that room, again, for now. Linda walked to the narrower end of the u-shaped room and saw a similar painting of "Red Lady" hanging there. The only difference was that the lady was wearing a blue dress and had blue eyes and, consequently, was titled "The Lady in Blue". She looked less sinister than her red kind, but Linda still felt uncomfortable around her. Linda turned around to leave, but that was possibly the worst mistake she had made since coming to this gallery.

When Linda got to the base of the steps, the glass from the painting behind her shattered and, before Linda even had time to react, the painting lunged out at her, bonked her on the back of her head, fell backwards, and landed facing upright on the elevated ground. Linda turned around, which marked mistake number two, and watched in horror as arms emerged straight out from the painting and then slammed into the ground, clawing. Linda stood rooted in place. Her legs refused to cooperate because they were paralyzed with fear.

As the hands continued clawing at the ground, Linda suddenly realized that clawing was not all it was doing. The lady was dragging her body out of the painting. The lady's head was now visible and she put her hands on the frame and pushed herself out from the frame. She only succeeded until the waist, since that was all that was painted, but that didn't stop her. Using her arms, the lady dug her claws into the ground and pulled her frame upright. Now that the frame was standing upright, the lady crooked her head and flashed Linda a malicious grin as her flowing hair hung all over her face. Then, with amazing agility, she began furiously crawling and clawing towards Linda. Linda only had a second to register what had just happened before the painting pushed itself off the higher ground and attacked her. At the last minute, Linda's legs were finally blessed with the gift of common sense and started to run. However, the lady in blue simply crawled faster. Her growl boomed behind Linda and she spared one second to look back to see how fast the lady was gaining up on her and that marked mistake number three.

Three strikes and you're out.

The lady took this as her chance and lunged again catching Linda by the waist. Linda screamed and ran backwards into the wall, crushing the painting on her back. The lady fell off, hissed, and scrambled into the room within the room. From the inside, the lady pushed against the door and closed it. Linda heard a click and she guessed that the door was now locked. Still gasping for air, Linda yelled, or she tried to, after the painting,

"Good… riddance… coward!" She wheezed as she leaned over and rested her hands on her thighs, trying to catch her breath. That didn't come out as strong and brave as she wanted it too. Damn! I'm so out of shape, Linda lamented when out of nowhere, two sharp pangs of pain shot through Linda's body. Linda let out a shocked gasp and instinctively reached for her pocket. Her rose was gone! The lady must've taken it! That's why she fucking retreated! From behind the door, Linda could hear the lady in blue sing,

"Loves me, loves me not…" There was a pause after the 'loves me not' and Linda could make out soft crunching noises behind the think walls. Linda cursed her luck and pounded on the door, trying to knock it down, but to no avail. The door was fucking locked! At first all she felt was a constant wave of tolerable pain, but then two more sharp pangs went through her and Linda fell to the ground, grasping her stomach. "Loves me, loves me not." The lady in blue sang gleefully behind the locked doors.

"Urgh…" Linda shakily got up. She needed to get her rose back, as soon as possible. But where the hell can I find a key? Where else can I fucking go? Suddenly, Linda remembered that there was a key at the foot of the headless statue. Oh no. Linda shook her head vigorously to try and shake out the thoughts, but then she decided that she would rather get chased than to die, so she quickly hobbled her way to the other end of the hallway. Halfway there, two more brain rattling waves of pain racked through her body and, this time, when she fell, black spots began dancing at the back of her vision. I can't pass out now! Linda gritted her teeth and urged herself onwards. When Linda reached the statue, she swiftly, or as swiftly as she could in her condition, grabbed the key and limped out.

Thankfully, the statue didn't chase her. She was in no condition to run and she couldn't even begin to think what would happen if she had to deal with two fucking hazardous art exhibits. As Linda began making her way back, the single wave of pain hit her like a fucking tsunami and Linda fell sharply, face first, to the ground, hitting her head against the rough carpet. Her vision darkened and she struggled to keep her eyes open, but they wouldn't obey. Linda feebly reached towards the direction her rose would've been, but this time, the pain proved to be too much and she sank uneasily into unconsciousness. The key fell out of her outstretched hands as she spared one last look at the distance in front of her. She didn't even make it past the writing desk! I'm going to fucking die, she cried desperately, as she gave into the welcoming darkness that enveloped her whole.

EPILOGUE

All throughout the gallery the voices of thousands sang out as they began to rework their magic.

Reset, reset! Back to the offset!

Fixing things up as best as we can

Beset, beset! Our kind we abet!

Tricking the whole ones according to plan

In the wake of a stilled gallery, one could hear a giddy laugh as the haunting sound of a yellowed pen scratching symbols on paper echoed through the vast darkness. The gallery was being set in motion slowly, room by room by a young man as a younger girl finished writing her fourth entry in a small spotlight.

Raven, Linda 003et2: FAILED Trial Four

"Sweet dreams…" The spotlight flicked off in tune with a joyless laugh that rang throughout the gallery.

"And good luck."

END OF PART ONE

A/N: So what is this?! :O Linda is going to die?! :O :O :O How will she save herself now?!

*don't read further if you don't want kind of spoilers that are going to be revealed in the next chapter anyways*

STAHP IF YOU NO WANT SPOILERS

STAHP

STAHP

STAHP.

Okay so here's my explanation for the epilogue.

LAST CHANCE TO TURN AROUND!

So the way I saw it, when Garry passed out, everything froze in the gallery until Ib came along. I kinda saw it as Garry went through what Ib did, but when he failed, the gallery restarted (hence my lame song/poem) and froze. Then Ib came in and went through each part that Garry did, but in the red room with The Lady in Blue, she saw blood there because Garry was human, therefore not part of the gallery, and therefore, the gallery couldn't take away his blood. That was also how The Lady in Blue was able to pick off enough of Garry's petals to make him faint, but not so much so that Ib didn't find dead Garry (;A; nuuu). So what I'm basically trying to say is that Lady eats/picks lots of petals, Garry faints, everything pause, Ib gets to red room and it unpauses so she has time to save Garry. And also, why the game didn't pause when Ib faints later on was because Garry didn't. So yea. If you think this is a little far fetched, please let me know. I don't want to continue this and have it be complete and absolute bogus.

END SPOILERS

Thank you so much for your time! Hopefully I didn't waste it and as always, readers and reviews are loved! Next chapter is going back to the short ones, so hopefully those are releases quicker! Thank you guys soo much for reading! I love y'all! lessthan3!