Chapter 12

Kasey and I traversed down the stairs. We reached a door that was able to be unlocked from our side. The room we were in was violet. In the distance, I heard a man's voice. It sounded familiar. We stopped walking and listened. Terra's laughter rang out in the air.

"Is that... Terra?" Kasey asked. "And... Garry?"

Come to think of it, the man's voice did sound a lot like Garry. What were they doing...?

I heard Garry's voice again. He was saying, "...that... so? ...heehee..."

Kasey and I exchanged bewildered glances and continued waking to the direction of their voices.

"Aha... Do you really think so?" I heard Terra say.

"...What are they talking about?" Kasey asked.

I shook my head. I had no idea. They sounded... different.

"...It takes a while for sure..." Garry said.

"Ooh, I know, right?" Terra said. "...I don't even..."

While Kasey and I were approaching the door, Terra and Garry continued laughing and talking. The door was slightly opened. Kasey hesitated, and then opened the door all the way. We stopped in our tracks and took in our surroundings. There were rabbit ornaments everywhere... and the painting of the large pink bunny with red eyes was there again...

...Garry and Terra were sitting on the floor, chatting amongst themselves. It almost seemed as if they were talking to the rabbit ornaments.

"Garry?" Kasey blurted. "Terra?"

They didn't respond. In fact, they didn't acknowledge me or Kasey at all.

"Hoho! You're really quite entertaining, you know that?" Garry said, looking at one of the bunnies. "I feel like I could talk to you about my every worry..."

"They're so nice... and they really listen... heehee..." Terra said.

"What in the...?" Kasey muttered. I just stood there, staring at them blankly.

Terra leaned her head down to one of the bunnies. "...What's that?" she asked, pressing her ear against the rabbit. "You think he's cute, huh?" She giggled. "Yeah, I guess he is..." She tilted her head curiously. "...Tell him? Hmm... I don't know..."

What was she talking about? Who was she talking to?!

"Ooh... are you sure...? Well... If you say so!" Terra turned to Garry. "...Hey, Garry..."

Garry glanced up from the bunnies and looked at Terra.

She blushed. "Um... they said they think you're cute..."

One of the rabbit ornaments nudged Terra in the knee, as if denying this claim. I was overcome with confusion. How was the rabbit moving...?

Terra's blush deepened. "...Oh, all right. I think you're cute. I've kinda always thought that, actually, 'cause you're so —"

Garry moved closer to her. He enlaced her fingers in his. "I was too embarrassed to tell you, but from the moment I met you, I thought of you as very pretty..."

"...Really?"

He nodded. "I could never get over how beautiful you are."

"Oh my god!" Kasey squealed. "This... is... awesome!"

I was too stunned to say anything.

"I'd like to see them deny this!" Kasey said.

They leaned closer until their heads were pressing against each other. Garry murmured, "You know... I always wanted to..."

"Are they about to...?!" Kasey was practically bouncing up and down.

As adorable as it was, something wasn't right. They hadn't even looked at us since we came in. I opened my mouth and pointed this out to Kasey.

"Hmm... Maybe you're right..." she mused.

Terra started to giggle.

"She never acts like this..." Kasey went on. "It's almost... as if she..." Her voice trailed off. Then a grin spread across her face. "I have an idea." She walked over to Garry and Terra, who were speaking softly to each other. Kasey extended her arm. "I always wanted to do this...!" Then she slapped Terra straight across her face.

Terra stopped talking.

"Revenge!" Kasey laughed. She slapped Terra again.

"...Wha?" Terra muttered. In a flash, she stood up, glaring down at Kasey. "...OWWW!? What the hell was that for, Kasey?!"

Kasey grinned. "You're back!"

"What are you —" Terra started. Then she looked around the room. "W... Wait... Why are we still in here...?"

"What do you mean?" Kasey asked.

While the two of them were talking, I walked over to Garry, who looked dazed. I kneeled down next to him and called out his name.

"...Ib?" he muttered. For the first time since Kasey and I came into the room, he looked at me. "What's going on...?"

I was overcome with emotions. I was just so happy and relieved to know that he and Terra were okay that I threw my arms around him. He stumbled a bit, looking shocked. "Whoa! I-Ib?!" He paused for a moment, but then he wrapped his arms around my shoulders.

I suddenly realized that it had gone quiet. Kasey and Terra were watching the whole thing.

"...Well..." Garry said. "I'm not too sure what happened, but you must have been worried. Sorry about that... Ib..." Once I pulled away, he turned to my sisters. "That goes for you too, Kasey..."

Kasey smiled. "Thats's okay. You and Terra were actually quite... entertaining."

Terra's face turned bright red. "Wh-What?"

"Yeah... You both confessed your undying love for each other."

Garry and Terra looked like tomatoes dunked in ketchup.

Kasey burst out laughing. "Oh, c'mon, it's not like we didn't already know."

"What are you talking about?!" Terra demanded. "We don't... We never..."

"Don't act like it's not true," Kasey said, still laughing. I couldn't help but grin along with her.

Terra crossed her arms, her cheeks still burning. "I am going to —"

"Garry and Terra sitting in a tree~!" Kasey was laughing so hard now that tears started to roll down her face. She wiped them away, still laughing.

"You are so dead!" Terra shrieked.

That only made Kasey giggle harder.

I couldn't tell if Terra was red because of anger or embarrassment. But she looked like she was about to rip Kasey to shreds. Garry clearly noticed this, because he stepped in between the two of them and gripped Terra's arm in an effort to calm her down.

"I-In any case..." Garry stammered. "We should get out of this room."

Terra's eyes snapped over to him. She exhaled. "Yeah. Let's go."

As we were exiting the room, I whispered to Kasey that maybe she should back off for a bit. She sighed and nodded. "Okay, maybe I took it a tiny bit too far," she said. "But I was only kidding around. Sheesh, sometimes I just don't know what Terra's problem is."

After the four of us were out of the room (and Terra calmed down), we stopped to chat for a bit longer.

"Well... I'd like to say we need to press ahead, but... My memory is a bit messy, so I can't remember what we were doing," Garry sighed. "What about you, Terra?"

She shook her head. "I feel like I'm forgetting something important, though..."

"I agree..."

"Hey, wait a second," Terra said, looking at me and Kasey. "Where's Mary?"

Kasey immediately frowned. She stared at the floor, looking upset. "She... Well, it's a long story..."

"We've got time." Terra shrugged.

"Okay..." Kasey said uncertainly. As she explained everything that had happened after the five of us got separated, my mind wandered off to Mary. Why had she tried to hurt me? She seemed perfectly fine when we first met her.

I zoned back in when Kasey mentioned the palette knife. "...and she was all like, 'Just in case!' " Kasey babbled.

Once Kasey told them about what Mary tried to do to me, Terra seethed with anger. "That little...! She's lucky I wasn't there!"

"I can't believe her," Garry said, shaking his head. "Why would she...? Wait a moment... Terra, I think I remember! It was in that book we read!"

Terra raised her eye brows. After a moment's pause, she nodded and said, "Yeah...! I remember, too! Wow, how did we forget something so important...?"

"Those things must have messed up our memory..." Garry mumbled.

"What things?" Kasey asked.

Terra shook her head. "Never mind that. Girls, listen... We saw a portrait of Mary in a collection of Guartena's works."

"You might not believe it, but... Mary isn't human," Garry told us. "She's just like those painting women who came after us..."

"I think she's another one of Guartena's works" Terra added. "Neither of us spent enough time with her to really notice, but... It's dangerous to be near her."

Garry sighed. "It's unfortunate... But we'll have to avoid her from now on."

Terra squeezed Kasey's hand, temporarily putting the anger and annoyance she was feeling at her aside. "Are you okay? I know you two were, um, close..."

"We were..." Kasey said. "I don't know why she tried to hurt Ib. She never did anything like that to me... She was never mean to me at all, period."

"Yes, her behavior was really odd," Garry said.

"I'm sorry for what happened, Kasey," Terra said. "But you did the right thing."

Kasey closed her eyes and nodded.

Terra wiped the dust off her white jeans. "Now... I think it'd be best if we all kept moving."

We headed back up to the brown room. Mary wasn't there anymore. Kasey gasped.

"What's wrong?" Terra asked her.

"Uh... It's nothing," Kasey said quickly.

I wondered why she didn't want to tell her. Well, if she wasn't going to, then I wouldn't, either.

We went into the next room. I noticed that the gas that was blocking one of the doors was no longer there. Now that we could access that door, we opened it and went inside. The room had a painting of a girl sleeping on a crescent moon. It was called "Aspiration."

There were stairs in the room too, but a red headless statue was blocking the way. "Looks like these stairs go down. Step back a bit, you two," he said to me and Kasey. We moved out of the way, and he and Terra dragged the statue aside.

"Sheesh. How many statues have we pushed today...?" Terra asked, sighing. "Well, whatever. Let's go."

I hoped we got out of this place soon. I didn't know how much more the four of us could take...