Hello, hello! It is I, Yuujin Zone! I am here today/tonight to welcome you all to a new fanfic that I have been wanting to write for a long time. As its written on the top, it's called A Painting's Shadow, a Sonic/Ib crossover that, ironically, doesn't feature the two named figures in this fanfic.

I believe the Sonic series need no introduction as he is widespread and known around the world, but as for Ib, she is a cult classic at best. If you want to know what the game is, it centers on a titular little girl who finds herself trapped in a strange world where all artworks are alive and out for her life. She is not alone however, as she meets a man named Garry and another little girl named Mary. With the three of them, they try to find a way back to the real world...

If you have finished Ib or at least known one of the endings, then you're free to read this. If not, then I advise you to play immediately. The first chapter branches off from a bad ending featuring Mary. As such, there will be spoilers from Ib. I hope you understand.

Now, it's time for me to stay quiet. Onto to the chapter, everyone!

The object that would finally bring her freedom out of this fake world stands before her. Or more accurately, attached to a wall.

She knows what that large painting is. The name, which is written on a plaque below the frame, reads, "? World". She did not understand the first word, but that did not matter to her because a description written after the title tells her what this painting is. She is impatient and did not understand fully the meaning though, so she ignores it for the wide canvas secured behind the glass.

Anticipation wells up inside her as the thought of leaving the world she has lived behind all her life and living in the real world she had admired and liked will come true. She had had enough of waiting for visitors to come so she could have them take her place as this world's master. It took nine months for her to encounter visitors after the gallery did not receive them for a really long time. She wondered why no one showed up during the intervening months. Was the gallery closed for some reason or is it forbidding anyone to see the large painting?

…Why am I still thinking that? Mary scolded herself. Waiting for visitors does not matter to me anymore when I am staying in the real world. I have made up my mind because I can't take it living here anymore. But I guess it is sad I have to leave my fellow artworks behind... If only the gallery isn't so strict in letting us leave.

Taking a sharp intake of breath to try forgetting her "siblings", Mary focuses her blue eyes on the painting, which has started glowing brightly. A flash of light dominated her sight before it rescinded and she sees the glass and frame had disappeared. She smiles brightly, taking this as a cue that she can go through the painting and finally, to the real world starting with the real gallery.

"I can get out from here… I can finally go outside!" Mary exclaimed in anticipation. "I'll eat lots of candy… and go to all sorts of places!"

"And make lots of friends!" She closes her eyes for a moment to imagine making a friend she can talk and play with. It's an exciting thought for her, to be sure.

Pushed on by her wishes when she made it to the real world, Mary takes a few steps backwards first bfore sprinting and jumping to the painting. Her entire form vanished within the canvas as it rippled from the contact.

In another universe, Mary made a fatal mistake escaping the Fabricated World without exchanging someone from the real world. A living painting with a fabricated heart has no place for it, which the world of painting concurs. It would make her realize her dreams of living in the real world are all just fantasy and she only foolishly led herself to her doom at the Fabricated World's fingertips.

But not this time.

A yellow gem she decided to carry with her along with a blue doll would save her from a terrible fate, along with an encounter of a certain lifeform.

The building that stood before his small form appears to loom over him.

Its intimidating and eerie appearance at this time of night would unnerve any person to leave quickly before it consumes them. Their fears and doubts aren't baseless at all because for a long time, this art museum has been the source of rumors pertaining to the artworks created by the late Weiss Guertena.

According to the rumors, the Guertena Art Gallery is haunted by the spirit of Guertena himself after he died. Proof of this is a quote he made in his diary, which it says:

"It's said that spirits dwell in objects into which people put their feelings. I've always thought that, if that's true, then the same must be true of artwork. So today, I shall immerse myself in work, so as to impart my own spirit into my creations."

Any convinced person will believe what Guertena said to be true. If they are just being gullible, they claim they are not, because they did find spooky things happening in the gallery. Someone coughing when there's no one else around them, a cat meowing despite no animals being allowed, someone walking seen in a window on the second floor and knocking on the glass which scares anyone awake, and (hopefully) red paint covering the first-floor window near the entrance when no one's around, which would be washed off by itself suspiciously if it weren't for someone picturing it... These ominous occurrences are said to be encountered by many people who went to the gallery to see if the rumors are true.

In spite of this and some proof through pictures, skeptics did not believe the Guertena Art Gallery could be haunted by the artist's spirit. For all they know, it could be the gallery's management idea of a prank to spook any conscious person to "convince" them that it is possibly true and increase visitors who are only interested in the rumors.

He, however, has no interest in such rumors. Even if he knew about it, he did not come here because of that.

He is here tonight because his Chaos-adept body detected a spike of Chaos energy within the gallery. He was passing by when his body reacted to the energy signal.

Unbothered by the exterior's eerie appearance accentuated by the darkness of the clouded night, Shadow's red eyes turn to a stone erected beside the stairs leading to the entrance doors that have a name written on it. "Guertena Art Gallery..." He read it.

Looking at the doors, Shadow doesn't need to see or know what time and day the gallery is open to the public. It is almost five hours after the gallery closed, which is 6 P.M.

"Unless the gallery is being monitored by a security guard who chose a midnight shift, no one else is in the building," noted Shadow. "Well, it's not like I care if there are people still around. Though I may need to tell a security guard that I am investigating this place with G.U.N.'s permission. A misunderstanding is the last thing I want because it will waste my time that should spent finding the source of energy I felt."

With his decision made up, Shadow nonchalantly walks up the stairs and reaches for the handle. But a thought came to him before he grabbed it. Wait. I could trigger the gallery's alarm. Shadow thought. He better add that to the list of situations he does not want to get involved in or got in trouble.

...I don't have a Chaos Emerald, but I have some Chaos energy to let me teleport. I've been conserving it for two weeks. Well then, guess I'm teleporting inside.

Doing just that, Shadow is now in the gallery. As he expected, no one was around at this hour. Not even a security guard is present, meaning they have not taken a midnight shift. With no security around, a thief could snatch any artwork and sell it for a good or decent price. He could berate the management's incompetence if such an incident happened predictably, but he is not here to chastise them.

"Alright. Time to find where the Chaos energy is. I'm not sure of what I will find but... I have this feeling that I shouldn't ignore it or else something... may happen."

After making those statements, Shadow starts exploring the art gallery that is varied, unique, and admittedly, actually impressive, but also odd at the same time. Glancing at every painting and sculpture he walks pass by with his hand glowing through transferring little Chaos energy to it, illuminating like a flashlight, Shadow is unable to deny that Weiss Guertena is truly a profound artist. It seems any idea that came into his mind was never wasted, instead brought to reality through any methods and forms of art like painting and sculpturing. He is not one for arts but he has to admit that they are really great.

Of the artworks Shadow liked, there is a painting of a woman in red clothes named "The Lady in Red", a floor painting depicting a gaping, gray anglerfish swimming in a dark blue water surrounded and guarded by stanchions named "Abyss of the Deep", a big, realistic red rose with green leaves and thorny vines interestingly called "Embodiment of Spirit", "The Hanged Man" painting, three headless statues wearing red, blue and yellow dresses oddly named, "Death of the Individual", and a tall and blue figure with balding head and dress titled peculiarly, "Fusion".

There are many artworks on the first and second floor, but of all the artworks, those listed above are his pending favorites. Not that I will admit it to anyone... Shadow mentally noted.

While he begins to like browsing artworks of the late Guertena, that is his second concern. The main focus and reason why he's here this late at night is to find where the Chaos energy is coming from. Judging from the direction of the signal, he detects the energy coming above him, which means he must get up to the second floor. Again, he detects the energy above him once he reaches it, so he goes up to the third floor. He speculates what he will find up there but one thing he knows for sure is that it can't be a Chaos Emerald. If it is, the energy signal would be strong and concise compared to the faint and unfocused energy he is feeling.

Still, he believes he is bound to discover the source, so imagine his muted disappointment when he sees a large rectangular painting hanging from the wall. The third floor consists only of a small room and the painting itself, possibly because it's a rest area according to a sign posted before the stairs leading to it.

"Tsk... Just a painting..." muttered Shadow, scrutinizing what this painting is all about. If he thought the previous artworks he has seen had bizarre proportions or eye-catching form, then this painting causes him to raise an eyebrow over what he is seeing on the canvas.

Blue, green, yellow, pink, black, violet, gray and red made up the background of the painting, forming the walls and floors. A red and black rose is depicted on the upper left corner, small crescent moon seen on a pink wall, what looks like three eyes on the gray part and lastly, The Lady in Red painting shown in the red part, fittingly enough. If there is one word Shadow can describe this large painting, it would be "abstract".

"No... Abstract is not the right term, even if I truly thought of that," Shadow touches his forehead with his index finger raised from his hand, a habit he got when he's thinking. He takes a second look at the painting and tries finding a more appropriate word to describe the painting. "Due to the random objects thrown in it, I say it's... 'disorderly'."

…

…

"*sighs* Describing something is hard, even for me."

Wanting to finish eyeing the painting, he last reads the name of it. "...Fabricated World?"

Suddenly, the light flickered three times, briefly illuminating the room before turning dark again. This did not escape his notice. "Huh? The lights… Did it turn itself on for a moment?"

That's not the only thing he noticed. The air in the gallery became suffocating and still. This is not like the silent ambience he found himself in when he entered the gallery. It is silent, yes, but still offered some level of comfort so he does not get overwhelmed by it, not like it will affect him.

What's more, the Chaos energy he's detecting suddenly changed direction. It is now not within this room but seems to have changed to the first floor.

Shadow would be normally annoyed by the change, but he wasn't. In fact, his focus changed from finding the source of energy to seeing what caused the light to be turned on briefly. Based on what caused it, he believes reading the title of the painting is the cause, but that is one theory.

"Hmm... I better head down and see what changed." What Shadow said before doing just that.

Like he said, Shadow did see that the gallery changed.

In a surreal and creepy way.

The first thing he noticed when he walked down the second floor was that it had become darker. Good thing he can illuminate his surroundings through his glowing hand but doing that reveals the dripping red paint from a ceiling near a window, which he can't see outside for some reason, and two statements seemingly splattered against a wall between two paintings and near the stairway to the third floor. They both read:

"Poor Mary. Forever wandering all on your own"

"It's too late"

Mary? Is someone inside the gallery? If so, how didn't I notice her?" thought Shadow, guessing the gender.

When he walked down to the first floor, he became alarmed because his surroundings were getting darker and darker. He believes he wouldn't be able to see through the blanketing darkness if it weren't for his glowing hand. However, he wondered if getting blinded by the dark is better for his well-being because he encountered other creepy things that he is sure wasn't there or happened, like the Abyss of the Deep leaking liquid to cover not only the nearby floors but also the walls and one painting, the Embodiment of the Spirit's petals becoming yellow and wilting, blue paint dripping from a ceiling, and other words written in some parts of the first floor. All of them respectively reads:

"We're _ _ a _ on _ the _ _ss _tena _ _ _ _"

"You can't go back, you can't go anywhere"

"We're lonely, come back. Everyone's waiting for you"

"Your heart is fabricated"

At least Shadow thought one painting had changed, saw the Fusion sculpture has no head, and an advertisement sign has red diagonal scribble on the tile above a lying, motionless girl. He didn't get to properly observe them all when the darkness became so dark that he was unable to see anything at all.

Not even his makeshift flashlight is able to shine through the pitch-black darkness, and even then, Shadow can see it's starting to flicker, indicating the stored Chaos energy is getting low. Cursing himself for having lower-than-average energy from the start, he stops his glowing hand to conserve what little energy he has left.

At this point, Shadow found himself enveloped by the pitch-black darkness. He fears that he might stumble on a sculpture or a wall when he aimlessly walked around. Shadow is a tough and brave, if reckless, hedgehog. He will not let this get to him easily. However, he would be lying to himself when he told anyone or he is not at all unnerved by the surreal phenomenon happening in the gallery, which is possibly inflicting on him.

"...What is going on here? Why is the gallery acting like this?" asked Shadow. He wants his questions to be answered soon as this surreal phenomenon is starting to get to him. He wants to teleport out of here, but the little energy he has means that it is not an option for him. If there is one thing he knows for sure, however, it is this. "So I guess the rumors about the Guertena Art Gallery being haunted are real, huh? Can't believe I am bearing witness to the rumors becoming true before my eyes..."

Before he can say more or proceed forward through the dark, a desperate and scared voice enters his ears.

"No... I hate this! What's happening...? I can't see a thing! Why... Why is the outside world like this? It's supposed to be bright, and fun, and... And full of people too! Why is it just me here!?"

Running footsteps can be heard going from right to left before she speaks again, "sniffle Big sis... Where are you...? I'm lonely..."

She ran again to the other side as she became more scared, stating, "I'm so scared... Help... Someone, p-please...!"

Crying in fear, she run for the third time, exclaiming, "Waaaaahhhh... Somebodyyyy..."

Whether it was likely because of the dark, or she was so scared, Mary tripped to the floor, dropping her palette knife, blue doll and a yellow gem to the floor...

Shadow's ears picked up a girl tripping and objects scattering on the floor. One object made a clinking sound, drawing his attention to where he thought that object was. "That... sounds like..."

Acting almost absent-mindedly, Shadow crouched down and reached his hand to the object. He has a feeling that he knows what that object is because he is used to having a Chaos Emerald in him even during his free time. It did not always happen though, but it's still notable and somewhat expected for him to have one.

At the same time however, Mary also reached out her hand, raising her head to see where that pretty gem she had taken a liking to go. Desperate eyes hidden in the dark stared at where she thought the gem was lying as she said her likely last words. "…Dad…!"

Before any of the two could grab it, the yellow gem glows bright suddenly.

"Huh?" uttered Shadow.

"Ah!" let out Mary.

Their hands stopped moving, looking at the glowing gem radiating sparkles and light so bright it illuminates the pitch-black darkness. Noticing each other's hands reaching out to the same object, the two then look at each other.

Little do they know, this encounter will lead a painting girl with a fabricated heart to have someone she can call a friend and guardian despite their gruff attitude, and a black hedgehog created as the Ultimate Lifeform must look after someone with a damaged mind and keep them in line.

Their adventure will not be a walk in the park, for supernatural forces coming from the Fabricated World make their move to remind one girl and give one boy what it's like to be in the world of Guertena.

However, it is said one Chaos Emerald is enough to let their wielder control the world as its power is unmatched by anything in the universe. Miracles and conflict will play the part for these two beings who happen upon each other during one late night as they unknowingly enter a new trial to decide if two worlds want to make them their enemy or compromise for a favorable outcome that benefits all parties.

Aaaaaaaand done!

That's it for the first chapter! As you have read, the entire chapter is based on one of the worst ending you can get in Ib called "A Painting's Demise". This ending has all three characters getting screwed in a worst way possible, with Garry getting permanently insane, Ib losing all hope of escaping after failing to bring him back to sanity and Mary, who is a living painting, decided to escape the Fabricated World alone, only to die horribly because she hasn't killed someone from the real world. I based most of the ending for the first chapter except for Ib and Garry.

In fact, these two will not be in the fanfic, as I want the growing friendship between Shadow and Mary to be the focal point of the entire story.

I want this to get it out of my head, but ever since I discovered Ib, I absolutely adored Mary. From her appearance, personality, her compelling motivation, and just being so pitiable and a tragic girl despite her insanity and villainy, there is nothing that I don't like about her. Since she is doomed to fail and die in most of the endings, I have made this fanfic to finally bring her dream to life. And what better way than to have our Ultimate Lifeform be the one who ultimately saves her from a horrible fate.

This is just my own observation and/or opinion, but both Mary and Maria, Shadow's deceased friend, have some similarities. They have blonde hair, blue eyes, generally cheerful and innocent and have a fascination for Earth. As for differences, Maria must be 12-years-old whereas Mary looks to be 9. Maria wears a headband, puffy-sleeved T-shirt, knee-length skirt and slippers in varying tones of blue while Mary wears a green dress with white collar and wrist cuffs, blue tie or ascot and brown shoes. Lastly, Maria never sheds her innocent demeanor in spite of her disease and told Shadow to make the people of Earth happy before dying while Mary is mentally unstable who will kill her new friends at a drop of the hat due to being lonely and living in the Fabricated World for all her life.

Having someone who bears a resemblance to his deceased friend/surrogate sister appeals so much to me as a Sonic fan, that it became my motivation to make this fanfic. In fact, there is a previous version that I published back in February but after one month, I deleted it because I wasn't satisfied with what I wrote in the previous version. It all comes down to starting it like it was in medias res. Also, I was struggling to write what the first chapter will be for many months, which thankfully ended after comfortably coming up with a version I really want.

Anyway, if I am lucky, I will publish the next chapter tomorrow, and then the third one after that. I have written the next two chapters, with the third one nearly complete and both requiring polishing from me. Hope you will follow this fanfic, and check out my other crossover fanfic called Living Things!

Oh, and if you'd like, please leave a review so I can see if all of you like the first chapter and general premise of this fanfic. This is a story centered around a friendship between a frowning hedgehog and cheerful painting girl.

Stay safe everyone! Thank you for reading!