Here's the sixth chapter, everyone! Hope you will like it!

"Get down here! Give me back my doll!"

Mary shouted at Terios angrily, jumping with her arms raised up to catch the Dark Chao flying near the ceiling while holding the doll. With her low jumping height though, she's not making progress.

Watching the girl making a futile attempt of jumping up to their height makes them snicker because she's not jumping high enough to reach. "Heeheeheeheehee!"

"Don't you dare laugh at me!" exclaimed Mary.

Three weeks had passed ever since the girl got out the Fabricated World thanks to her savior and caretaker Shadow the Hedgehog, who used the yellow Chaos Emerald she had in her possession to warp themselves out of the world reacting badly to her failed attempt to escape and undergoing a pandemonium in order to kill her. Having achieved the freedom she dreamed of, she settled on her new life in the real world by living with the hedgehog, whom she immediately saw as both her friend and surrogate brother.

In the span of three weeks, Mary was able to adapt to her new home thanks to Shadow's supervision. As someone who knows everything about the real world, he had decided to guide her so she would have less difficulty experiencing their new lifestyle or assumed something wrongly due to her naïve and curious mind. It is ironic a century-year-old painting who looks like a little girl doesn't know some other things or events because she hadn't read about it in a book or she treated them with unfamiliarity one expects to show for anything new. She is grateful she has Shadow to guide her in any subject he felt needed to tell her or tickle her curious mind.

With Shadow's strict but careful supervision, Mary learned some discipline and maintained a happy mood for these past weeks. Aside from her few outbursts in their first night together and after that and impatience that can affect her attitude, the girl is content with her new home and lifestyle. She may have missed her original home as much as she shivered when thinking about the Fabricated World but compared to the dreadful and isolated way of living she endured for many decades, she's not ashamed to admit life in the real world is leagues above and better than living in the claustrophobic art world.

She naturally wants to keep her new way of living intact. Knowing Shadow's attitude and not wanting to disappoint her only friend in the world, she strived to be a good girl, friend, and sister to the black hedgehog. The last thing she wants is returning to the Fabricated World, which as far as she knows, might be still in shambles thanks to her failed escape attempt. The fear of being sent back to her former home after she behaved deliriously or in the worst (and unlikely) case scenario, attacking him whether she meant it or not means she makes sure Shadow sees her as an innocent and cheerful girl who wants to smother her friend.

Mary must hadn't practiced the art of subtlety because Shadow noticed her stiff and nervous behavior whenever he taught her something or she asked him about anything her curious mind was set on. After making her tell him what's on her mind, he assures her that she doesn't have to be so formal and scared that just one minor mistake he saw from her doesn't mean he's evicting and sending her back to the Fabricated World. The thought didn't cross his mind, so he asked her why she thought he would immediately warp her back to the hostile world.

"I, well… I don't want to make you angry, Shadow." This was her reply.

Seeing she's still nervous when she's around him, Shadow decides to mellow his supervising and strictness to her a little to make her more comfortable being around him when they're at home or going out. He further said that even if she may act out of line or let her still troubled mind overtake her, she shouldn't obsess over pleasing him at all costs.

"Act natural. You don't have to be so worried over what I see in and do to you, Mary." This is his advice to her.

With her worries abated, Mary remained happy and glad to be living with Shadow a few days ago. So far, the two, and their pet Dark Chao Terios, are living a pleasant life, with any little worries that were present did nothing to impede it.

Until tonight, when Terios snatched the doll off Mary's hands and led her on a chase around the house that ended with the Chao flying up on the ceiling out of her reach. It is clear they're taking amusement at seeing her struggle and irritation a Dark Chao may like to see.

Mary continued jumping up with her hands raised up with an angry expression, shouting at Terios. Seeing she's barely reaching up high for her to reach Terios, she noticed they are in the bedroom. A bed sits behind her, which led her to think she needed a structure to increase her jump height.

I hope Shadow will not get mad at me for jumping on our bed.

Shooting Terios a smirk, Mary climbs up the bed and stands up. Seeing she could possibly made the jump to catch Terios, Mary bounces on the bed to get a head start before bending her legs, deforming the mattress briefly she, with a mighty yell, spring forth from the bouncy bed to the Dark Chao's height, her hand extended and ready to grab the mischievous Chao and her favorite doll being held in their stubby hands.

"Haaaaaaaaa!" Reaching to the expected range, she moves her left hand towards Terios…

…Only to miss it when the Chao fly away out of her reach.

"Huh?"

Mary had a look of disbelief before gravity pulled her body back to the floor, landing face first. "Kyaaa!"

Feeling the pain coursing through her body, especially to her face, Mary pushes her upper body up with her hands, revealing a teary-eyed girl having a big red mark on her entire face. "Oooooowww… My face hurts…" She moaned, rubbing her face to try soothing the pain after laying her knees on the floor to sit upright. But when Terios flies in front of her, this makes her look like she's kneeling before the Chao. She doesn't notice it, much to their amusement.

"Kyeeheeheeheehee!" Terios didn't hesitate to laugh at Mary's expense, which she noticed it and made her forgot the throbbing pain in favor of shooting them an angry glare.

"Grrrrr…!" she growled, prepared to tackle them regardless of their size.

Terios noticed her behavior, so they're happy to do another round of running from the girl. But a hand grabbing their body puts a halt to their impish plans for tonight.

"Terios. Give the crayon back. Now."

Shadow's commanding and stern voice vanishes Terios' mischievous nature out of their small body and bring in their fear in place. Likewise, Mary is happy he entered the room after she saw him standing on the doorway in time to see Mary falling on the ground and Terios sending her a devilish laugh to mock her failure. Obviously, he didn't turn a blind eye to this.

Seeing his piercing glare that tells him "Don't try anything funny under my watch" compels Terios to hand the blue doll to Mary. She happily grabs it but not before shooting them a glare also.

Shadow is not done with Terios yet however, as his next statement reveals. "Now… Apologize to Mary."

"Chao!?" Terios turned to him in shock, as if they are expected to do it.

"Don't look at me like that," he replied with a more intense glare. "You caused her trouble thanks to your prank and she got hurt as a result. So, apologize. I will not repeat again."

Knowing they had no escape, and also feeling sorry for causing Mary to get hurt by herself, Terios apologized to the girl with their face looking down.

"Mmmm…" Her indignant grumble indicates she's not gonna forgive Terios for their prank. Shadow noticed her grumbling, so he sighed before he addressed her. "I know you're mad at Terios and may have no intention of forgiving them, but don't let it get to your head. Dark Chao are mischievous creatures compared to normal and Hero Chao, capable of messing with others, but at the end of the day, they are good-natured beings who want to have fun with each other or their owners. I did experienced Terios' pranks whenever he got the chance and scolded them every time and I learned not to hold it against them because it's their nature."

After thinking about his words and looking at the Dark Chao still being held in Shadow's grip twiddling their hands with an ashamed look, Mary sighs and decides not to take Terios' doll kidnapping shtick against them. She had heard from Shadow about Dark Chao and their mischievous side that they like to show toward their fellow brethren or owners, so she already knew why Terios did it. As he said, the hedgehog may have gotten used to their antics and learned not to let it get to him. Trusting his judgment, she obliged without reluctance.

"Fiiiiiine. I'll let Terios off the hook," she said, standing up and dusting her long-sleeved, light green night gown and doll with her hands. "But that doesn't mean I fully forgive them."

"…I expected you would say that," shrugged Shadow, letting Terios go. "But I hope you will tolerate their tricks enough that you won't take it hard against them. Can I expect it from you, Mary?"

"…I'll keep it in mind." That is her response, smiling at Shadow, and also at Terios after noticing they're tapping her cheek. They're possibly nursing her fading red face as further apology from Terios.

"Chaooo chaooo…" they apologized again.

"Aww. Please, you don't have to heal my face," she gently assured them with a smile.

"Hm? Are you forgiving Terios so quickly?" asked Shadow.

"No, not yet." she shook her head.

"Chao." Terios harrumphed in response.

With the Dark Chao's little prank done, the three occupants go to their beds to retire for the night. A long day had passed when Mary had goaded Shadow to walk in the forest together. Even though this is the third time they did it, he reluctantly relented because of how much she liked the smell, sight and sound of nature around her. In fact, she immediately took a liking to Forest Hill from their very first day together outside, eager to find any flowers lying somewhere or lay down on top of a grassy hill where trees aren't near the area she was in. When asked why she's so giddy about the forest, she admitted anything related to nature puts a sense of tranquility and serenity. From the third time they flocked outside the clearing though, she saw the place as a reminder of just how free she was.

Shadow is not one to disparage someone's opinion as long as they are not annoying or had rubbed him the wrong way, so he respects Mary's liking over nature. He only wished she didn't make it a habit to go out and walk between the trees, which required him to attend to her because she might get lost. Well, Mary wanted to do just that, exclaiming that "she's not a kid!", much to his amusement over the irony in her words, but he can't afford to risk letting her walk around by herself.

She may look normal and cheerful for three weeks, but he believes her psychotic side hasn't disappeared from her, only resting inside her head.

Setting his Air Shoes aside in a position that he can slip his feet in beside the bed, Shadow takes a deep breath as he stretches his limbs, practically yawning but being too haughty means he prefers breathing deeply.

Beside him, Mary yawns, stretching her arms after making herself comfortable under the blanket covering her lower part. Blinking her sleepy eyes, she turns to Shadow to talk about their admittedly boring but comfortable day. "Ahhhh… I know I said this many times now but… what a nice day we have, right Shadow?"

His response correlated with her repeating the same phrase over and over again, which definitely didn't annoy the hedgehog. "Yes. I'm satisfied you had fun outside."

Mary giggled at his reply. "Do you have anything different to say instead of that same set of words, Shadow?"

"Look who's talking," he rebutted with arms folded.

"Oops! Got busted there!" she giggled again, taking amusement in Shadow's serious attitude and his reply every time to contrast Mary's lively statements related to how their day went.

"Hmph, wanting to tease me, huh?" he muttered, choosing to ignore Terios' snicker to his right side, where their own small bed sits next to their main bed. He placed it like that so he can keep an eye on Terios before sleeping.

"Well, it's not my fault you want to be seen by other people as the Ultimate Lifeform who's soooo… dark and… serious…" she shrugged. She didn't hide her smile directed at Shadow, who seems to take her jab at him rather seriously if his reply if anything to go by.

"I like my current attitude. I wouldn't have gotten it if weren't for what happened in my past."

"Hm? Your… past?"

Naturally, he doesn't want to unearth and dump his entire sordid backstory to her, so he quickly tells her, "It's not your concern. In any case, let us stop talking and go to sleep. You need to be energized when tomorrow comes Mary. Getting sleepy and tired is not what you will like."

"I know, I know… If there isn't anything left to talk about, let's sleep Shadow!" urged Mary as she lay down on her pillow. "You have something to do tomorrow, right? I think you're the one who needs to sleep early."

"You don't have to remind me."

Shutting the lights off, Shadow laid his head down on his side after Mary bid him good night, which he returned. As the night draws to a close, Shadow has plenty of time to think about his task for tomorrow. This will be the first time he's going to leave Mary alone in the house, having spent three weeks attending by her side at all times whether they are home, going out, or doing a hobby with her and Terios, as much as he doesn't want to be involved.

He had told her about his plan for tomorrow and that he would have to let her stay in the house for a few hours earlier so she wouldn't be surprised when he left so suddenly without taking her with him. At first, she's worried and scared she's going to be by her lonesome without her caretaker around. She wanted to convince him to take her with him as always only to be negated by him. He told her that she became so dependent on him, that she came to prefer doing something together with him. He sees it as a developing shortcoming that he believes it could impede her choice of independence when he isn't available for some reason. As such, he decides to test if Mary can act normally by herself and be independent to the best of her ability. He lastly stated that he did this for her own good, gauging her growth coinciding with her suppressing her psychotic urges, and also reassuring her that if she then favors doing anything all by herself, he will never leave her alone as long as she's living with him under the same roof. This managed to convince Mary.

Regarding Shadow's task for tomorrow, Mary asked what it is, but he told her not to concern herself with it, stating it's confidential. Though dissatisfied with his silence for tomorrow's task, she dropped the questions.

Little does she know, Shadow's work is actually concerned with her. Specifically, he will visit Guertena Art Gallery to investigate the hostile world of art hidden behind a canvas that is most likely not seen by ordinary folks. Ever since they escaped the art world, a lot of questions have been circling in Shadow's head every day. While he temporarily forgets them during his interactions with Mary and Terios, it comes back to his mind once he's done attending to them, or when Mary's relation to it has crossed his mind. He remembered Mary's long explanation about the Fabricated World, why is it turning even more malevolent compared to his brief stint he has after seeing the Fabricated World painting, the painting monsters born from the world's transformation, and most of all, Mary being a painting come to life.

Everything about the Fabricated World points to one person responsible for creating it and the denizens residing within whether unintentionally or not: Weiss Guertena. He had done some research during his down time between playing with Mary, walking outside the house or mingling in the city. While he gotten enough info to let him picture who Guertena is and what he did before his death, he's mystified with basically everything about the artist himself. He managed to create the Fabricated World that likely stored all his artworks and imparted his souls to most artwork if Mary is any indication. The question is, how did he do it? Did he have some kind of energy that let him impart his soul to his creations? If this is the case, then what energy?

On the other hand, if energy is not what Guertena used to impart his soul to the Fabricated World, then how the heck did he accomplish that? Was it his passion and dedication to his art so great his wish came true? Also, was he aware his artworks are slowly being filled with his soul when he made them, possibly at the cost of his life, or didn't realize it until his death? So many questions about Weiss Guertena, and all of them invite more questions that one may not be able to answer. If there is a coherent answer.

…That's enough thinking for one night. Shadow thought as he feels his eyelids closing by themselves and drowsiness overtaking his mind. Maybe I might find a noteworthy lead about Guertena when I pay the art gallery dedicated to him a visit. So many mysteries had been born due to his existence…

Shadow did not struggle against the lethargy entirely enveloping his mind to dream land, a full minute after Mary is sleeping peacefully on his side.

However, these two will not be having peaceful dreams tonight. The same sinister phenomenon that befell them during their time in the Fabricated World has finally come to them, three weeks after they escaped the world by warping with a Chaos Emerald. They may not have experienced and suffered the decaying world of Guertena and escaped out of its clutches, but this time, they will go through a nightmare so real they may question what is real and not when they woke up.

If they wake up.

"…"

"…"

"…"

"Ungh!?"

A jolt-like feeling in his body causes him to open his eyes suddenly, displaying alarmed irises purportedly scanning his surroundings under the belief danger may be near him.

"…Huh? Where… Where is this…?"

Shadow's alarmed expression doesn't leave him as confusion settles on his face next. He looks to his sides to see he's not in his home, but instead, he's in a hallway containing blue floor, walls and ceiling. To his left, he can see a door located at the far end in the same color as the hallway, and to his right, another door can be seen too at the end. Innocuous at first glance in spite of the strange circumstance he found himself in.

However, the hallway he's in is anything but normal.

While the lighting here is so dim that he is almost unable to tell the doors are there, his eyes can see well in the dark due to hedgehogs being nocturnal. If it is murky enough for him that he cannot see what particular object is hiding in the dark, he only focuses on them intently so he can see it clearly. That said, if he's a sensitive person, he would freak out over what he's seeing in this hallway that he may wish he didn't have good eyesight in the dark.

If he can describe what's happening to the hallway, it is…melting. There in the tiniest gaps between the walls, floor and ceiling, dark blue paint leaks from somewhere, seemingly intending to fill the hallway with as much paint as possible. But it must have stopped because they remain in one place where it's leaking from, with the ones on the ceiling dripping or sliding down the wall, which doesn't look enough to be able to fill the hall, thankfully. Aside from that, two hanging paintings from his sides are also splattered with the same substance, concealing the canvas.

Finding himself in an unknown location that is dimly lit and an uneasy and frightening ambience permeating in the small hallway naturally puts Shadow more alerted than ever. Even for himself, he realizes he's not immune to the ominous circumstance he suddenly got himself in, as his legs, even subtly, shake just by standing there. He can also feel his short, body fur standing upright in response to the macabre atmosphere caressing his body.

…Keep it together. Standing in one spot is not an optimal solution in this kind of situation. Shadow takes a deep breath to calm his racing mind. Panicking is the last thing he would do, even if he wouldn't have thought of doing it in any situation that is definitely not like this.

"Now then, the question is… what I am doing here?" he asked himself. "I remember lying on a bed with Mary back in our home and shutting my eyes as I sleep. I obviously didn't go anywhere and surely remained in the bedroom. Given what I remembered before I got here, how did I ended up in this hallway when I was going to… sleep for… the… night…?"

Founding his voice trailing off as an epiphany hit him, Shadow realizes how he was here. It sounds rather ludicrous, but considering what he was doing before, it possibly makes sense.

"Hmm… So I must be dreaming," he deduced. Arms folded, he moves his right arm to open and close his hand, gauging the feeling of feeling his hand and fingers moving. "But this sure feels real to me… and I'm aware I am dreaming. So… this is a lucid dream?"

"Well either way, I should get moving. I don't want to be here for too long." After adjusting his gloves, Shadow proceeds to the left door. Once he's standing before it, he reaches his hand for the doorknob…

"Agh!?"

…but some force pushed him away, sending him almost crashing against a wall.

Quickly recomposing himself, Shadow clicked his tongue in irritation before he tried again. For the second time, he got pushed away. This made him more irritated that the door is apparently forbidding him entry

"Why you… I'll break you if you don't stop-!"

SPLAT

"Huh?"

Halting his threat to the door, Shadow turns his eyes to where he thought he heard the sound of ink or paint spatter to the door's side. Moving closer, he sees that what looks like to be a splatter of paint contains a message, possibly directed at him. He reads the message, which says:

You don't have the rose. Pick up your rose in the other room.

"… A rose?" repeated Shadow, mystified and annoyed over the possible reason why he's forbidden to enter through the door. "In the other room… Could it mean?"

SPLAT SPLAT SPLAT

He turned to the wall next to him where many splatting sounds came from. To his increasing bewilderment, multiple black arrows of the same substance are seen splattered on the walls, pointing in the same direction.

"…Is it guiding me to the door on the other side?" he wondered before making his way to the other hallway where a door is located. After noticing the arrows were pretty much directed to the door, he didn't wait before he entered the door.

The room he entered in, aside from the similar blue color like back in the hallway, contains a small table, a vase sitting on it with a black rose with red tips on the petals, and lastly, a painting of a woman frowning with eyes closed wearing a white shirt and blue hair set against a black background. Nothing ordinary from the painting…is what Shadow would have said if weren't for her strands flowing out of the bottom of the painting.

Even if I dismissed it as just a gimmick exclusive to that painting, I get ominous vibes from it.

Walking to the black and red rose sitting on the vase, Shadow sees that the rose looks remarkably pretty for it to be fake. He can smell the faint scent from the flower, telling him it must be a real rose. "Well, I shouldn't delay. Let's pick this rose."

Doing just that, Shadow feels the thorny stem in his right hand. If there is any doubt the black and red rose is actually fake, then he shouldn't assume it's the case.

SPLAT

"Hm? What now?"

He turns to his left side to see another splattered message. This time though, the message is colored red and dripping down along the wall, sending him a foreboding feeling not helped by what the message says.

When the rose rots, so too will you rot

You and the rose are unified. Know the weight of your own life.

"The rose and I are… connected…?" repeated Shadow. Looking at the rose he was holding, he racked his mind for an answer. "And it mentioned about my own life… What… What does it mean?"

SPLAT

Another message appeared. What it said puts him on edge.

Wanna find out?

Staring at the message, Shadow backs away, a little unnerved that this time, the message was talking to him. "What?"

Then, from the corner of his eyes, he noticed three wriggling black rope-like objects approaching him. He turns to where it's coming from…

"Huh!?"

Much to his shock, the frowning woman in the painting is now glaring at him angrily, her frown becoming a scowl to emphasize her current expression. Those rope-like objects originating from her head are actually her long hair squirming in the air under her control. Lastly, there seems to be a bit of space behind her, possibly indicating the woman is free to go out the orange frame.

Backing away from the hair strands that were pointing at him with malicious intent, Shadow couldn't believe his eyes over what he was seeing in front of him. He already has a bad feeling looking at the painting, especially after noticing her hair extends past the bottom frame and her eerie frown and closed eyes, but seeing the painting actually alive proves his suspicion to be not unfounded and he's not being too paranoid.

Then when it seems like the woman would only glower at him with her hair wriggling around her in the air, she suddenly speaks in an infernal tone. With a ghastly smile…

"Do you want to play 'Loves me, loves me not'?"

"W-What?" stammered Shadow after hearing her bizarre question.

"GIVE ME THE ROSE!"

"Ugh!"

Unable to react fast, Shadow retracts his whipped hand that was holding the rose by a hair. A second hair catches the rose before it falls on the ground. The woman lets out a laugh as the hair gave the rose to her, which she grabs it. She stares lovingly at the unique fusion of colors on the petals, twirling the stem and caressing the rose with her other hand. Then she clamps on one petal before pulling it out…

"Loves me…"

"Hm?" Shadow flinched.

She pulls a second petal. "Loves me not…"

"Nngh?" A second pain darted in his chest to his discomfort.

"Loves me…" That's a third petal.

"Ugh! Wha… What is this…?" he's now clutching his chest with his legs shaking due to the pain transferring there.

The woman didn't stop for the third petal. "Loves me not…"

"Aaaargh!" Despite the pain becoming intense, Shadow eventually realizes why he's feeling such pain after taking one look at the rose and petals on the floor. "T-The rose…? C-Could it be…?"

Her smile widens when plucking the fifth petal. "Loves me…"

"Nnnngggh! That's enough!"

Finding his bearings, Shadow skated to the woman as she's going to pluck the sixth petal. The woman noticed him approach her when Shadow backhanded her left wrist. "Aaaah!"

She let go of the rose to nurse her wrist, which Shadow promptly snatched in the air. It took her one second to see why Shadow attacked her wrist and after she saw him grabbed the rose before booking away from her.

Naturally, she got angrier.

"You can't ESCAPE!" she exclaimed madly, stretching her hair towards Shadow, who had opened the door and was about to exit when he noticed them going after him.

"Make me. Chaos Spear!" With fast reflexes, he shot a Chaos Spear against the woman, hitting her in the forehead.

"AAAAAAAAARRRRGGGHHHH!" She lets out a loud shriek, enough to shake Shadow's sensitive ears if he hadn't closed the door.

He didn't hesitate to move far away from the door, running through the hallway until he reached the left door. Once stopped, he takes a moment to calm down by inhaling and exhaling.

"*pants* *pants* That… That was close… *pants*" Shadow said out of relief and fear. "If I hadn't acted quick back there, I would be engulfed in pain as she continues plucking the rose until there's no more to pluck. If that happened, then…" He trailed off at the end, seeing no need to spell it out to him of what will happen once all the petals are gone.

Speaking of the rose, Shadow raised it before his eyes, quickly noticing five petals missing from the bud. Based on the remaining number of petals left, there are ten petals still hanging from the bud. Adding to the five plucked petals, this rose has fifteen petals in total. Remembering the long-haired woman playing 'Loves me, loves me not' to this, or it would be accurate to say his rose, he wondered what phrase it will end up when she plucked the last petal, as much as he doesn't want it to happen.

"…So my rose would end with 'loves me'," concluded Shadow. "Hmph. If the rose isn't somehow connected to my life, then I would dismiss it as a harmless pastime. In fact, why is my rose connected to my life? How did it happen?"

Staring at the black and red rose, of which he only realized actually bears a resemblance to his red and black fur, Shadow could only sigh after unable to find anything odd or eye-catching about the rose. He guesses he will be puzzled about why his life became connected to a flower as long as he's here. In any case, since pulling the petals will actually hurt, he must keep it with him at all times and never let it go. He doesn't want anyone with malicious intent to find it and pluck all the petals in one go, which will kill him.

"Damn that woman. She was dead set on killing me while disguising it as a game," sighed Shadow, turning around to glance at the door at the right of the hallway. "I hope I won't see your face again, especially when your frame is bolted to the wall and could only move your hair. Hmph." He smirked at the end, thinking he would be having an easy time exploring the next room past the left door.

CRASH!

"Huh!?"

Jumping out of surprise, Shadow gaped to the scattered dust enveloping the shattered wall. The dust didn't need to disperse in time when the same woman emerged out of the cloud, her hair still writhing wildly around her as the crazy woman crawled toward Shadow in anger, dragging her frame across the floor because only her upper body is shown.

"RAAAAAUUUGGGGHHHHH!"

"Crap! Why did I jinx it?" Shadow chastised himself, his body seemingly acting like it was on autopilot as he quickly opened the door. "I have to get away!"

Much to his dismay, the painting didn't stop when he entered in another area with the same-colored walls and floors, except this area has multiple cracks on the surfaces, holes on the floor, and debris blocking certain hallways, necessitating him to go another hall, of which there are some branched from the main path.

Shadow didn't stop running through the halls, which is a smart choice considering the crazy woman smashed through the wall separating both hallways where she continued chasing after him. With her strong arms and squirming hair that can let her reach many meters she can't hope to reach, the woman barely achieves Shadow's speed but it's enough that he can't shake her off so easily.

"What!? She's fast enough to tail behind me!" he expressed his disbelief, avoiding the hair lashing against him, possibly attacking him or attempting to grab either his arms or legs. "Hmph! Take this! CHAOS SPEAR!"

He shoots out three bolts to the woman, striking her both her hands and forehead again. The woman screamed in pain…but she keeps going. "Wha!? That did not stop her!?"

If having a hostile painting chasing after him isn't enough, then disembodied hands popping out of the walls only adds to the difficulty of the chase. He got nicked three times because he didn't expect them, losing three petals. And then headless statues in blue dress, who are also leaking paint or ink like the chasing woman, interfered Shadow by blocking the pathway, which he easily charged through or dodged them. The ones that didn't shatter by his hand got destroyed by the woman as a result.

Seeing she's not stopping at all, Shadow gritted his teeth in desperation. He can go on for an hour skating through the hallway with the painting on his tail, but he doesn't want to do this all the time. He wants to get out of whatever kind of hellhole he got in, and he would like it if a monster was not chasing him as he looked for an exit. Hell, he could just stop and fight the monster head on, believing his superior power would make short work of the monster. But this part of the yellow area has a narrow space, meaning he will be fighting her in a cramped space with nowhere to maneuver around.

"Tch! Should've engaged her after she crashed through the wall from her room," lamented Shadow, cursing his fight-and-flight response after getting surprised of her sudden entrance. "Well, there is still a chance I could turn it around so…"

"RRRAAAAAAAAUUUUUGGGGHHHHHH!" the monster roared, which he could hear it coming from above him. Confused why it came from above, Shadow turned his head to see the monster actually leaping, assisted by her hands and hair to reach the distance required for a leap.

"Damn! Have to move out of the way!"

Acting quickly, Shadow warped out of the monster's path just as she fell on the ground with a strong thud. With the strength of the landing and the cracked hallway that looks like it's going to crumble any minute, the walls didn't withstand the force and strength of her fall, so it gives in on her after multiple cracks and rumbles appeared under her.

Before she could react to what she had done, a large debris fell on her back frame, essentially trapping her. She only realized what was happening as the ceiling and walls fell on her entirely.

"KYAAAAAAAAA-!" she let out her last scream before the debris covered and smothered her mercilessly, also cutting her dying scream.

Having not stopped running after appearing far from her, Shadow is able to escape the crumbling halls after charging through a door, knocking it out of its hinges.

"Urgh!" he let out, rubbing his arm that was used to snap the door out of the doorway while lying on the door. Listening to the loud collapsing walls in the previous area, he turns his head to the open doorway and watches as debris and rubble covered the doorway wholly, kicking up dust and dirt cloud for every fall and clatter.

Shadow waited for a moment to see if the monster would, in an unlikely event, burst out of the wreckage. When she didn't emerge, indicating she's truly crushed under the blue-colored halls' remains, he let out a sigh of relief, glad the chase was over.

"Phew… I haven't experienced such an intense chase like that in my life," Shadow stands up, dusting himself whilst taking deep breaths to calm his adrenaline-filled body back to normal. "It's an intense and scary chase, I have to admit…"

After calming his rapid heart and breathing back to normal, he checks his hand and sees the black and red rose is safe within his grasp. He sighed in relief, having feared he might have dropped it in the midst of a chaotic chase and buried it within the rubble. If it did get buried, he wouldn't be alive and standing currently.

Relieved as he is to have evaded capture, it appears he's not done with this place yet. He sighed in chagrin upon reminding of his predicament.

If I was sleeping before I found myself here, it sure wouldn't make me rest easy after I received these wounds. Shadow looked over red, darkened spots on his fur indicating the location of his wound. Most of the wounds are all scratches caused by the disembodied hands clawing his body as he ran. After the initial three scratches, he got three more, and so his rose only has four petals left.

Having four rose petals left means his body feels tired and sensitive to more pain he may receive if he's not careful. Made it seem odd that he can move and act normally unheeding to his life force being close to being snuffed out.

"…I am not here for even half an hour and I've grown sick of this place," grumbled Shadow. "Hmm, you know what, I could just warp myself out of this place…if only I have a Chaos Emerald."

He sighs that an easy solution is far from his grasp. While his body should be full of enough Chaos energy to let him execute different chaos moves, having access to a Chaos Emerald would skip the hassle of channeling his entire energy to even one Chaos Control.

Well, maybe he should ignore the 'holding a Chaos Emerald to let him use Chaos Control' rule and instead do just that. Should be simple enough. Also, it would skip him having to explore more of this creepy place to find an emerald, only to not find one.

"…I must not risk it," he ultimately decided. "If all it did is sending me somewhere else in this place, it wouldn't bode well to me after I have used up all the energy pointlessly."

It appears he's going to be taking a long and difficult route: explore the disturbing hallways filled with monsters and leaking paint, attack the monsters who dare block his way to exit, and related to that one, search for an exit. Oh, and if he's so inclined, find out what kind of place this is. It would tailor him to explore the place more, which means he would encounter more creepy events and monsters if he decided to take more risks.

"Either way, I'm stuck here for now." Shadow declared with alert eyes.

Walking away from the broken door, Shadow moves close to a wall that was laid out before him the whole time. What's odd about this wall is the pair of eyes with slit, red irises plastered at the upper corners and two pointed protrusions from above. These peculiar features make up to create the face of a cat minus the mouth. Shadow was confused over why this wall takes the appearance of a cat's face.

Aside from the cat wall, there are three pathways off to his side, two to his left and one on the right. Since they're the only paths available, he goes to the first path, which is the upper left path.

Because everything is so quiet, Shadow's breathing and footsteps can be heard by him, the latter echoing within the enclosed walls. It's really scary and unnerving thanks to the situation, which had put him on edge and wary over anything that might come out, either from behind or his side. After witnessing the painting earlier coming to life and chasing him later when he least expects it, he thinks no one would blame for being cautious.

I don't like this at all… Shadow didn't say it out loud because it's quite obvious.

He was halfway through the short path, going over the corner when he stopped moving after taking another step, which it echoed. His triangular ears twitched in the direction of the path when he heard the footsteps. He's sure they did not come from him.

…! There's someone else?

Believing whoever it was possibly hiding behind the corner, Shadow opens his mouth to say something. But no words came out, because a thought occurred to him. What if the other person hiding in the corner is not someone trapped here, but rather, a monster?

It's an outlandish though to be sure, born out of his paranoid mind. But considering everything he saw earlier, any possibility he can think of related to strange events and creepy beings shouldn't be discarded nonchalantly. His life is literally at his hands and on the line, so a wrong decision could spell death to him.

Well, just in case they want to take me by surprise…

His left hand is already imbued with Chaos Energy. He can shoot out a Chaos Spear quickly to incapacitate them. He hopes that will remove the hassle of having to deal with another monster and subject himself to a second fight/chase.

Clinging up to the wall against his back, Shadow slowly and carefully moves closer to the corner. He listened attentively so he could see if the hiding fiend was making any movement. Though it sounds faint to his ears, he picks up a few subtle sounds akin to footsteps, indicating the fiend is slowly moving too. Could they have detected him behind this corner and motivated them to be on guard as they slowly advance as quietly as possible?

Seems like the being must be clever if they haven't appeared behind the corner. They might be taking their sweet time waiting for Shadow to come around and take him on by surprise.

Too bad engaging me will be their last mistake. I decide to not hold back if the creature behind this corner is the same as the painting woman who chased me relentlessly.

Once noticing his right foot is adjacent to the edge and someone's shadow displayed past the corner, which appears as black scribbles, Shadow waits for a moment to gauge their response, seeing if they will move out of hiding. When they didn't, he narrowed his eyes in determination before he swiftly spins his body, moving away from the wall to fully face the fiend at last with his energy bursting hand hovering near his chest in a gesture ready to shoot out a point-blank Chaos Spear against them.

At the same time he got out of the corner, a small knife was pointed at him, only an inch close to touching his nose.

However, neither the knife nor the hand attacked either of them after they see who they are facing, their determined yet cautious faces glaring at their respective faces turning into surprised ones.

Immediately retracting the knife, the "fiend" almost let out a gasp as one hand hover close to her agape mouth. Her blue eyes are full of disbelief and surprise as she says the hedgehog's name. "Sh… Shadow…?'

While not lowering his hand, Shadow's eyes widen upon seeing who the one hiding behind the corner is so cautiously. "…Mary?"

The two didn't say anything as they stared at each other. No doubt they are surprised not only because they are the ones hiding behind both corners, but also, they are here in this nightmare of a setting. They remain in that posture for many seconds, not saying anything out of surprise.

Until Mary shot herself towards Shadow with a hug.

"Agh!"

"It's… I-It's you… I thought… I-I thought…!" Shadow can feel something wet on his shoulder as Mary stammered between sobs and sniffles, having buried her face to make it possible out of sadness and relief. Those same feelings cannot be contained within her as she cried on Shadow's shoulder. "Uwaaaaaaaaaahhhhh! Thank goodness you're here Shadow! I thought I was the only one heeeeereeeee!"

Shadow wanted to protest because she's making his left shoulder wet and she hugged him suddenly again. She didn't get to ask his permission when she dived herself to him, subsequently kneeling to his height after she threw her arms around him. But after discerning her feelings, he guesses that whatever she has seen here before encountering him must be too much for the girl. If he coldly brushed her off, she would get unhappy for sure.

Sighing in defeat, Shadow resigned to being hugged by Mary and let her bawl her eyes out on his shoulder. For a moment, he raised his hand around Mary seemingly to hug her back, only to not do it. He instead chose to rub her head, comforting her as her wails become a whimper once she relaxes in him.

"It's… It's going to be alright…" consoled Shadow. "I'm here now, so don't be distressed anymore."

Mary didn't respond, only continued to whimper. However, she's not feeling scared anymore, or even feels a little scared still, after she bumped into Shadow.

For now, the two remain there in silence, glad that they are not alone in this place anymore.

Finished!

After three weeks of living in peace, Shadow and Mary got pulled back in the Fabricated World in their sleep. They thought they are safe just because they escaped the art world, only to be proven wrong when they found themselves in one of the areas separately. While they are reunited shortly, this is only the beginning of a nightmare...

Mary may have maintained a relatively normal behavior helped by a comfortable lifestyle Shadow provided for both of them that made her happy, but that doesn't mean she has purged her mad side that had defined her in her century-long isolation in the Fabricated World. Since she's back in the dark world, it will be not long before her instability comes out just to survive. Or it may have came out before encountering Shadow, if she was seen holding a palette knife dripping with red...paint.

Like the title of this chapter says, this is the start of their adventure in the Fabricated World, like it was for Ib and Garry in the game proper. However, it will not be a familiar adventure, for the world itself had undergone an unstable change in the span of three weeks, and Shadow and Mary are unfortunate enough to experience every horror the Fabricated World will show upon them. The world of Guertena will never be the same ever since Mary unwillingly changed it...

On a side note, I started playing Ib! I am in the part where Mary first meets Ib and Garry and joined them. It feels nice to have the trio together, which makes it a shame they are together for a short time before separating. Makes me not want to progress to keep them together.

I hope you liked this chapter and the changes I made and added for the starting area of the art world, which was short in the game. The next chapter will feature more of the expanded, and scarier, Blue Area that will give Shadow and Mary a hard time, even with Shadow's experience and their luck.

If you want to, leave a review! I want to hear your thoughts and criticisms to this chapter and the story so far. It will help me improve as a writer and storyteller, and it's fun to reply your reviews!

Well, I'll see you all in the next chapter! Please stay safe and have a good day/night!

Review Response:

Shadow8Phantom: You will see more of the enthusiastic/annoyed dynamic between the two for the 'slice of life' chapters! That goes for Terios, too!