Luna: Hello! It's finally finished!

Ib: Took you long enough.

Garry: I thought you would have had it finished a bit earlier.

Luna: Yeah, yeah. Well I was going to finish it on Friday as a backwards birthday present, but I ended up messing around.

Ib: So you would rather mess around than make your readers happy?

Luna: No, you got it all wrong there. Besides I deserve to relax on my birthday. Don't I Garry?

Garry: Uh, well it's good to every once in a while, but I'm not taking sides. Let's just let the reader enjoy~

Ib: Way to dodge a bullet.

Chapter 8: Field of Smoke

Taking a peek over at the shorter one, Garry walked alongside Ib.

Ib looked around the vast opening with glistening eyes and a slight hop in her step. Garry smiled to himself. She seems happy.

They were headed no where in particular when she suddenly stopped in her tracks. Ib began walking towards one end of the room, her eyes fixated to something in the distance. Garry slowly followed behind. She kept it up until she met the wall, where she stood in front of a square item. As Garry drew closer, he saw that it was a table, and on top of it, a vase. The light blue, almost white vase shone like a savior.

"Your rose..." Ib started, but soon trailed off in both voice and gaze.

"Only one of us can use it," she mumbled.

I suppose she still remembers that. "I know what your thinking. Silly Ib, do you think that I would put myself before you?" He placed both hands on his hips as he spoke.

"But–"

"It's all fine. We can both use this one. It is a particularly convenient vase named 'Eternal Blessing'. It doesn't ever run out of water, so we both can use it as many times as need be."

He straightened up and pulled out his rose.

"We can both heal our roses." She blinked a few times at the unprecedented good news. Garry chuckled.

"Isn't that wonderful news? Ib." His gentle smile and caring tone made a light and warm feeling rise in her chest. She nodded in response.

"Young ladies first." Garry bowed and gestured towards the vase.

Her expression hinted at the question, "Are you sure?". So, he motioned towards the vase once again.

Ib proceeded to get her vibrant crimson rose and she hesitantly looked at Garry before his last gesture sent the rose slipping from her hand and into the water. The flower was soon blanketed with a soft white-blue glow, and simultaneously, she also was covered in the same light. She closed her eyes as a wave of safety overwhelmed her. Her small body was wrapped in a heavenly light and her hair cascaded around her. Garry gaped at the sight.

As the glow started to disappear, Garry, without thinking, let one word escape.

"Beautiful..."

Ib looked over at Garry in a bit of surprise and embarrassment. 'Beautiful? What was?' He immediately closed his mouth and took it upon himself to take out her rose. He replaced it with his rose.

However, nothing happened.

Ib took her rose while Garry stared at the vase.

"It's not healing," he gulped. "So, does this mean that the only way, is to find the petals?"

Without a word, Ib crouched and untied the handkerchief. The skin that had been ripped open was as smooth as porcelain. Her fingers moved over the healed wounds. 'He's still going to be in pain, so why am I not?' She frowned at the thought.

Garry took the rose out and looked inside the vase, finding a message left for him by the unknown.

.

WANNA PLAY A GAME?

.

This isn't a god damned game. Garry let the simple message aggravate him. His hands tightened into fists. Calm down. Ib is here. He focused his attention on Ib and saw that her wounds were gone. He took some deep breathes before talking.

"It's good to see that you're better now." After a moment, he stretched out a hand, "Come on, we need to keep searching. That's one reason why we're on a journey for right?" With his help, Ib got up.

They stared at each other for a moment before continuing their walk through the room. There was a bit of an awkward silence until a small flash of bright red scurried in the corner, making a noise that resembled a fast type writer.

"What is that?" Garry squinted at the small red figure running around. It stopped abruptly and seemed to look at the two who stood still. And as swiftly as it had stopped it somehow opened a door and closed it in a hurry.

"It looked like a paper doll charm," Ib took steps towards the door. "I think it wants us to follow it."

"But, that doesn't mean we should." Garry didn't want to admit that he thought the same, but he didn't want to find out what would be waiting in that room.

"A petal might be in there." With that he knew her mind wouldn't be changed. Well I guess I have no choice.

Ib placed her hand on the door handle. A shiver ran through her when she felt the uncomfortable metal. 'Why is it warm?'

The handle turned and the door swung open. Both Ib and Garry stood at the entrance, taken aback by the dozens of paper dolls scrambling across the floor. Some were slowly striding through the room while others were running as fast as cheetahs.

A group of them were gathered around a book on the floor. Ib took the initiative to approached them. 'This seems familiar.' They dispersed immediately into the other parts of the maze-like room. She picked up the book as any charms that were near her ran away. Garry looked over her shoulder at the book.

.

CATCH THE RED

LEAVE THE BLACK

DON'T LET IT TOUCH YOU

OR IT'LL ATTACK.

.

A poem with directions. Convenient.

"'Catch the red.' The red paper dolls. But what happens then?" He skimmed over the the two visible pages, but there was nothing but scribbles and a drawing of a black doll charm.

Ib tried to turn the pages, but the rest were bound together, as if it were just for display. 'This is all we get.'

She walked towards a slow doll that was trying to get away. Without a problem, the charm was in her hand and the book remained in the other.

Ib held the thin paper lightly, afraid of crumbling it, but she only stared, not knowing what to do with it. She held it out to Garry.

"I don't want to hold it." He shook his hands in front of him. It's not that I'm scared of it, but I'd rather not touch things from here. But then again, that means that she'll be holding it.

"What do we do with them?"

"On second thought, I'll–" The red paper turned to flames in an instant, then to ashes just as quickly before Ib could react or Garry could finish.

"A-are you okay?! It didn't burn you right?!" The ashes blew off her hand and onto the page. They watched as the ashes made another paper doll in the book, a red one beside the black.

'It was the same uncomfortable warm feeling from the door handle.'

"I'm okay." She closed her hand then opened it again to show him her palm. He sighed when he saw that it was perfectly fine. Thank goodness.

With that, she went on to catch the next one. Ib and Garry both caught them one after the other, including some of the faster ones.

In a short while, Garry came across the black one and noticed that it didn't try to run away. Both of them made sure to steer clear of it. However, when the number of red ones dwindled, the black doll started heading towards them on purpose.

They got down to the last red paper doll, but it proved to be a challenge, being the fastest among the group. Neither could get a grip on it. Until, they cornered it on one end of the room.

"This is the last one, right?" Garry was slightly out of breathe from chasing it, but was still ready to launch at any time.

"Yes. There's no more." Ib controlled her breathing as she talked and scanned what she could see of the room.

"Alright, let's end this game then shall we?" He started closing in on it, but something at the other corner caught his eye.

"Ib! Watch out!" Garry ran to Ib as the black charm's hand reached for her ankle.

She stared blankly as he wrapped his arms around her back and head. The book slipped out of her hands to fall to the ground somewhere else. He spun her around all too fast that he slipped. Garry held onto her tightly, making sure he would wind up hitting the floor. His back hit the ground and the wind was knocked out of him.

"Ah! Are you okay?" Ib asked while Garry tried to breathe.

"Yeah–" His voice was a bit winded. He picked his head up to see that she was close and pressed up against him. His whole face turned a dark red as he tried to focus on her face.

"Are you sure? You look a little..." Ib lifted a hand to touch his forehead.

"Y-Yes, really I-I'm fine." He tried wiggling out a little bit before stopping. Not a good idea, not a good idea! "Um, c-could you get off please?"

"Huh? Oh! I'm sorry." She pushed off and watched him sit up. Ib winced when she tried to sit. She felt her leg start to heat up with an itchy irritation.

"Ib, I saw the black paper charm try to grab you. It didn't touch you did it?"

When she looked at where the sensation was on her left ankle, a black smoke could be seen rising.

"What, what is that?" Ib said to herself out-loud.

Garry could see the smoke swirling around. Oh no. He scooted over to see her ankle and saw that the black paper doll had stuck onto her.

"It's practically glued to you..."

"What will happen?"

After a moment's pause, he said, "I don't know."

In a short second, a puff of smoke suddenly shot to the middle of the room and started growing in size. The floor became a field of black as the formless black shape overflowed with smoke.

The burning on Ib's leg began to intensify. She tried to not cry out and squeezed hard at her thigh. It felt as though a hot iron rod that was taken out of a boiling heat had been pushed hard onto her ankle. Tears formed at the corners of her eyes, so she closed her eyes, hoping they wouldn't fall.

Garry saw her expression. Is there anything I can do?

"Ib," she looked at him, then at his held out hand, "if it hurts, you can squeeze it."

"But, then your hand...!" She clenched her jaw tight.

"Please, let me at least do this." He peered through her glazed eyes. I'm sorry I can't do anything else.

Without uttering a word of approval, she accepted his offer. Her hand clasped tightly onto his. Ib tried not to squeeze too hard.

"Don't hold back, if this is all I can do, I want you to take full advantage of it." The encouragement made her tighten her grip. Garry winced, but endured.

Ib then felt as though something was ripping off the skin where the charm had attached itself. Ib saw that the paper was peeling off. It reached towards the smoke, slowly and painfully tearing away. Blood gushed out from behind the doll, rolling down into the mist and covering the back of the paper. She closed her eyes and tried to take deep breathes.

Unexpectedly through gritted teeth, Ib told Garry, "Rip it off."

He looked at her in confusion before noticing the doll charm.

"Please, rip it off. Quickly!"

Complying to her request, he grabbed the paper's head and peeled it completely off in one smooth motion. 'Like ripping off a band-aid, but only a whole lot more painful.' A warm liquid covered his fingers. He discovered that it was her blood. I need to stop her bleeding. As Ib let go of his hand, Garry promptly pushed down on her open wound.

Meanwhile, the charm ran to the middle of the build up of smoke. The room started warping, like the black ooze outside the room.

"Shoot!" Garry, took off his coat and ripped a strip of of the bottom.

"You're coat..."

"You're more important than a coat, don't be silly." He took the fabric and wrapped it around her ankle.

"Alright, take a deep breathe and I'm going to tighten this, okay?"

Ib nodded and took a deep breathe. Garry tied the cloth firm and fast. He then turned his attention to the ever-growing ball then back to Ib.

"Get on my back." He knelt so she could climb on.

Ib crawled the short distance between them. 'I'm wearing a dress though...Oh well, we both don't have time.' Her arms wrapped around his collar and he picked her up, making sure to have a firm hold on her legs.

Somewhere under the fog, red charms made their way to the black one. They linked themselves together. Ib and Garry watched as them chain on, making something that seemed deformed. When the red paper dolls stopped, there was only a massive red charm, with a small black spot in its chest, looming over them.

Out of the blue, Ib was nauseated and light-headed. The corners of her eyes became black and the rest of her vision blurry. "Garry...I'm...getting sleepy..."

'Why now...of all...times.'

He looked behind him to see that Ib was unconscious. Shit! I need to get her out of here.

The smoke seemed to pour out of every part of the giant charm. The floor of black fog became higher and higher. It rose to Garry's knees and the tip of Ib's feet, then his waist and her legs.

The giant started walking towards them, but when Garry tried to move, he found that his feet couldn't. Garry couldn't move anything below his waist. He realized then that it wasn't the smoke that was rising, but that they were sinking. Why did I not notice this before?! At this rate we'll be swallowed up, and I have no clue where we'll end up!

The paper doll then opened what seemed to be its mouth. A dark void that had red and black goo dripping like saliva into the mist. A huge red paper hand that seemed bigger than before, was then lifted and slowly smacked down.

Crap.

Luna: Sooo...yeah. Long one, the longest one yet in fact.

Garry: You're doing that thing again where you compensate time for length.

Luna: I didn't do it on purpose though. It just kind came out long.

Ib: Why do I always get hurt?

Luna: Way to chime in.

Garry: Why can't you have me get hurt instead?

Luna: Ah. Its a story. A story I tell you.

Ib: But I'm actually bleeding.

Garry: Ahhhh!

Luna: Don't mess with him Ib. My stories don't affect you. In any case, review, favorite, follow?

Ib: Until next time...whenever that may be.