"We can't keep going like this."

"What do you mean?" Garry asked. The pair had wandered into another area where heavy fighting had taken place. The corpses of human soldiers and the remains of various monsters littered the area. A burnt out tank lay not too far away from the broken remains of one of those tripod monsters, the same type as the one that attacked Ib and Garry when they were trying to flee the city.

"We can't keep going like this," Ib simply repeated. "They're going to catch us sooner or later, and then we're as good as dead."

Garry sighed. "You may be right," he said with a tone of resignation, "but I don't what to say or do except for keep trying to lay low and survive."

Ib initially didn't respond. She looked at the dead soldiers lying around her. The air smelled of death and decay. After a moment, she turned to Garry and asked, "Isn't there something we can do to help our side win?"

"I can't think of anything," Garry helplessly. "I mean, we need to be honest with ourselves; neither of us are fighters at heart. I'm surprised we've made it this far!"

"There isn't anything at all?" Ib repeated almost pleadingly.

"I'm sorry Ib, I just don't know what to say," Garry stated. "I –" He looked down at the ground and spotted a rocket launcher. He then looked up at the aerial barrier and the building it was being projected from. Although he couldn't make out the details, he saw that the barrier appeared to emanate from a distinct, glowing structure on the building's roof.

An idea popped into his head. Could they possibly? – No, that wouldn't work. A head-on attack would be suicidal… But wait. Even if the building projecting the barrier (never mind the museum) was guarded, perhaps the buildings surrounding it – one of which appeared to be just the right height – might not be?

"I think I have a plan," Garry finally said as a grin appeared on his face. "It's so insane, it might even work."

Mary awoke to the pain of a splitting headache. Groaning, she slowly opened her eyes and saw the purple-tinted sky above her. "Where – where am I?" she asked herself as she rubbed her head and began recalling the final moments of her fight with Ib and Garry, piecing together what happened.

Still somewhat disoriented, she got back onto her feet and looked around. She was indeed outside. The store where the fight took place, now a burnt out shell, stood not too far away. Not a living soul was in sight, including –

No… No!

Ib and Garry had escaped while she was unconscious! All of her efforts, all of her searching, were now for naught! Infuriated at this revelation, Mary fell to her knees and screamed in frustration. "No! No, no, no!" she angrily shrieked to the world around her, slamming her fist against the ground as hard as she could. She had come so close to making Ib and Garry pay, only for them to escape at the last minute! How could this be?! This wasn't fair! This wasn't right!

Standing back up, Mary angrily kicked a piece of debris and cursed the two humans and the way the fight had gone. The frustration proved unbearable. If only those final moments of combat had gone just a little differently! If only Garry hadn't cheated by stealing her knife! If only she hadn't ordered away her–!

Wait… Mary paused. If she ordered her escorts to disperse… then who rescued her from the fire after she was knocked out? Why hadn't she simply perished in the flames? Obviously it couldn't have been her siblings, so that just left… Ib and Garry?

But how could that be?! Ib and Garry hated her! People don't save other people they hate! They only save their friends!… But again, if not them, then who else could have done it? Mary's anger dissolved into confusion. The situation simply did not make any sense to her.

Spotting her palette knife on the ground, she went over and picked it up before beginning the trek back to Father's base, trying to comprehend what just happened. "It couldn't have been them!" Mary thought to herself again and again. She knew very well that those two humans saw her as a monster and nothing more. There was no way they would have wanted to save her!… But once again, if not them, then who? No matter how hard she thought about it, she always returned to that same stumbling block.

Perhaps her escorts came back after the fight and dragged her out of the burning building? Yes, that must be it! For a brief moment, Mary felt like she had found the answer… but wait, wouldn't they have then waited by her for her to come to and made sure she was okay? The idea began to crumble. Back to square one.

The more Mary thought about the question, the more confused she became, and the more confused she became, the more she needed to think about it. "If Ib and Garry saved me," Mary pondered, "then that means that they must not fully hate me… But even if Father was wrong about them hating me, why did they act like they did? Why were they so willing to fight and so unremorseful?"

Maybe it was all part of some plot? That could explain why they would save her even if they hated her. Yes, that made some sense. But just as Mary was beginning to feel that she had made a breakthrough, she found a problem with that theory as well. What would Ib and Garry possibly have had to gain by saving her? Wouldn't they have wanted her dead? She was at a complete loss for a motive.

No matter how hard Mary thought about the conundrum, she still always found herself no closer to an answer than she was at the beginning.

By now, the issue was beginning to gnaw away at some of her basic assumptions about how the world worked. The previously firm foundation on which stood her understanding of humans and Father's conflict with them began to crumble. "If Ib and Garry don't fully hate me," she asked herself, "then perhaps the humans don't fully hate Father as much as he thinks they do? Perhaps humans aren't all bad?" She immediately scolded herself for thinking such a senseless and treasonous thought. Father wouldn't be happy if he heard that, and he knew best. Besides, that one possible act of kindness seemed like at best a one-off, the exception to the rule.

Mary's thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a baby crying, coming from inside one of the shelled-out buildings. The noise produced a strange, somewhat unfamiliar emotion in Mary that she wasn't particularly used to feeling. She struggled to find the word for it. Was it sadness? No, that wasn't it. That was certainly part of it, but it was sadness for someone other than her, and it incorporated… a desire to help? No, that didn't feel right either… Was it, "pity?" Yes! That's it! She was feeling pity! That was the word!… But wait. Why was she feeling pity for the humans? They were the enemy! She shouldn't be feeling this! Mary tried to push this sense of pity out of her mind and resumed walking, turning her attention back to the question of who saved her and why.

"It must have been some sort of plan to hurt me further. That is the only possible explanation." Mary said to herself. "That must be it… I guess." Still dissatisfied but having exhausted all possible explanations, she decided she needed to ask Father. Perhaps he could explain what was going on to her when she got back.

She eventually reached the area around the museum. Passing by the effectively-complete portal for the behemoths and the building with the crystalline structure projecting the aerial barrier, she entered the gallery and resumed her place next to Father's pedestal and orb. He was preoccupied by an unexpected human counteroffensive, and simply noted, "you're back."

Mary nodded. She remained silent for a minute, and then finally said, "I – I failed to capture Ib and Garry… I came very close and cornered them, but then Garry knocked me out, I think, and they got away."

"So it happened," Father simply replied. "Your siblings tell me that you angrily ordered your escorts to disperse once you tracked Ib and Garry down. I hope you now understand that it was an unwise decision."

"Yes Father, I do."

"Good. Don't worry, though. We will catch them sooner or later." Father said reassuringly. Another minute of silence ensued. The question of who saved Mary began to gnaw at her again, and she tried to figure out what the best way to tell Father would be.

Finally, she spoke. "Father… I think Ib and Garry also saved my life. I don't know why though."

"What did you say?!" Father suddenly seemed perplexed and perturbed. His attention began to shift from the combat over to Mary.

"Ib and Garry saved me, I think. The building we were fighting in was on fire, and yet instead of burning to death after being knocked out, I woke up outside of the building. One of them must have carried or dragged me to safety, for some reason. I don't know how else to explain it." Mary had hoped that Father would be able to explain the situation to her, but such hopes may have been premature.

"But – but, it couldn't have been Ib and Garry! You know they hate you! How do you know it wasn't the siblings who were escorting you who saved you?!" Father demanded disconcertedly.

"I ordered them away, remember, and even if they had come back to help me, they wouldn't have then just cut and run. Wouldn't they have waited for me to recover?" She could see that Father was as baffled and unsettled by the incident as she was.

"But how…" Father stammered, struggling to think of an explanation. The reality that Ib and Garry were indeed the only ones who could have saved Mary proved inescapable. "You're probably right, my child," he at last said with a hint of disgust, "it had to have them… but they definitely didn't do it because they suddenly care about you now… It must be part of some sort of scheme to undermine our campaign. They are trying to trick you into believing they no longer hate you! Don't fall for it for a second!"

Mary simply nodded. She herself had pondered the same possibility earlier. Still, the answer didn't satisfy her, but she wasn't about to complain.

A group of headless statues approached, dragging behind them a girl of about eleven or twelve and her two parents. They knew from pre-invasion surveillance that the girl was a classmate of Ib, yet in spite of dragging the family before a sibling who could speak the humans' language, initial interrogation efforts proved fruitless. Despite threats and beatings, the girl repeatedly insisted that she had only known Ib as a kind but slightly shy girl who was rumored to be a little eccentric, and that she knew nothing of Ib's time in the Fabricated World or her current whereabouts.

"They are of no use to us now," Father curtly stated. "Dispose of these humans and then return to your duties." The statues obeyed and prepared to execute the family.

Suddenly, Mary remembered the baby she heard crying earlier. If this girl took no part in or even knew about Ib's actions, then how was she or her parents any more guilty than that baby? "Wait!" she cried out. "We can't just kill them like that! What have they done wrong?!" The statues stopped and turned to face her.

"They are collectively guilty for all of the injustices their kind has inflicted on us!" retorted Father with a hint of surprised irritation. He found the outburst nothing short of disturbing and concerning.

"But Father!" Mary continued emphatically, "They themselves haven't done anything to hurt us, have they?! If we kill them, how are we any better than the humans?!"

"It is us against them, Mary! Give them a weapon, and they will as assuredly attack us as will their military! I thought you understood all of this!" Father sounded increasingly perplexed and annoyed.

"But Father –!" Without warning, the family took off running, trying to escape while their captors were distracted. The statues spun around and shot after them. One by one, the humans crumpled like ragdolls amid the hail of fire, with the father being the last to fall as he cradled his dying daughter.

And then there was silence. Looking on in horror, Mary began to panic as she sensed Father's attention shift from her over to the dead humans and then back to her. The air around her grew colder as his mood changed from perplexed irritation, to deepening suspicion, and finally to disgust and rage. "I see how it is," Father hissed. "I see how it is! They did fool you. You're on their side now!"

"No, no! That isn't true, Father! That isn't true!" frantically pleaded Mary. "I'm on your side! The humans are the bad guys! I –"

"Don't lie to me, Mary!" he retorted, cutting her off. "We both know the truth, you traitor." He stopped briefly to collect his thoughts as Mary quaked in fear, too overwhelmed by dread and despair to open her mouth. "Of all my creations," he resumed in an angry snarl, "of all my creations, I would have expected you to know better than to fall for this sort of human trickery, but clearly I was mistaken! Ib and Garry have beaten you, spat on you, burned you alive, and yet after one false act of kindness you are ready to crawl back to the humans and beg for acceptance, as if they hate you any less than they did three years ago!" The words felt like knives digging into Mary's fabricated heart.

"But so be it," Father chillingly continued. "And as such… get out! Get out of my sight and never come back! You are no longer welcome here! See how well your human friends accept you!"

For a moment Mary just stood there as those words sank in, and then she burst out crying and took off running. The one entity who actually loved her, her one pillar of stability, had just disowned her, leaving her completely adrift. Her siblings offered no comfort either, for they too now saw her as a traitor. Just like that, they all turned their backs on her.

Partially blinded by tears and now hated by all sides, Mary burst out of the museum and ran as hard as she could in no particular direction, sobbing uncontrollably. Where she was running, she had no idea, nor did it matter. She cursed her escorts who had allowed her to dismiss them before the fight. She cursed that horrible sense of pity that brought her ruin and the crying infant who first planted it. She cursed Ib and Garry for having saved her at all. She cursed humanity. She cursed the day she was born and then the day she was reborn.

Most of all, she cursed herself.

(Just to reiterate, Ib and Garry are not going to "go Rambo" in the next chapter. I have something sneakier in mind.)