Ib: Another Story

Labyrinth, Not the Movie

The painting turns into a door. Julie steps through it cautiously. "Hmm...this room doesn't look easy. I hope we can find a vase in here."

"...there are a lot of paintings..." comments Aoi.

"They look like the ladies that attacked us...I wonder if the colors mean anything. There are burgundy and green ladies here, just like our roses. And the red ladies match the red petal we found earlier. I wonder who the blue and yellow ladies represent?"

"...the ant said that there were more people...and that...thing said that it had already had flowers. Wait...didn't that room with the lady in it have a whole bunch of blue petals on the floor?"

"There must be other people trapped in this gallery...we should try and meet up with them."

"Yeah...I mean, they have to be somewhere..."  

Julie walks through the hallways, slowly and carefully. "There's 14 ladies in this room...that can't be good."  

"...Looks like none of them are alive...yet..."  

"Here's a couple of doors...they both need passcodes. Hmm...'How many paintings of women are there in this room?' Well, 14." Julie punches in the number. The door unlocks.  

  "Ah! A vase!" exclaims Aoi.

Just then, a nasty shattering sound happens.  

Julie stares at the door. "Let's heal your rose before we do anything else." She takes Aoi's rose and puts it in the vase.  

"Oh, that feels good. Maybe we should see what else is in this room."

Julie examines some of the books, as well as the poster on the wall. "I don't think there's anything else in here. We're just gonna have to brave the outside room. Even though I just know at least one of the ladies is alive."

Aoi nods. "O-okay...I'm feeling better...so...so..."

Julie pokes her head outside. She dashes to the other door. "Hmm...to get in here, I think we'll need to examine the painting that isn't a..." She turns around and screams. "A lady!"  

  "Yeep! Oh...oh no...what if th-they ALL come t-to life?!"  

"There are some sentences that should just be avoided." Julie dashes away, skirting the room until she comes to the Hanged Man painting.  

"Hang on! There's a number on his shirt!"

  Julie rushes back to the pair of doors and punches it in. Nothing happens. 

"It didn't work?! Oh...what n-now?!"Julie looks at the door. "Wait...the man in the painting was upside-down..." She punches in a new set of numbers. There is a click, and the door opens. She drags Aoi inside and shuts the door behind them. 

"Doesn't look like there's much to do...wait, what are those holes on the floor?" Said holes are pointed out by Aoi.

  Julie stares. "They seem like pressure plates. I wonder what would happen if we covered them with that table..."  

"I can do this..." Aoi pushes the table to the holes, and there's a sound from outside.  

  "Well, let's just hope that was a door or something."  

  "I didn't hear anything that sounded like a Lady...that's good."  

  "Okay..." Julie thinks. "There were two more doors in here. Let's go to the one that's up and to the right of here. As soon as I open the door, run!"  

"Okay, r-ready!"

  Julie pushes open the door and dashes towards the other room. Aoi follows close behind, stopping when she stops and almost crashing into her. Julie opens the door and yanks Aoi inside the room, closing the door on the maniacal painting lady.

"Oh...um, there's nothing in here except a mirror..." 

  "Yeah..." Julie turns around and walks back to the door. "Uh...there's a mannequin head blocking the exit." She walks back over to Aoi.   

  "Yeep! Wh-when did that thing get in here?! We closed the door...right?!"  

  "Yeah, or the lady would have gotten us. I wonder if there's a secret exit behind the mirror or something..." Julie examines it. When she looks back up, she starts, and turns around. "It moved!"  

  "EYAAAGH!" It's right behind Aoi, who takes notice of it, and scrambles backwards.  

  "Okay, let's get out of here." Julie grimaces. "I hate to say it, but we may need to retrieve another key from one of the ladies if we hope to advance."  

Aoi nods quickly, and THROWS the door open, sprinting out of it. As they pass a green lady in the south of the room, she springs to life. Julie grabs Aoi and pulls her in a circle. She grabs a key that the lady dropped and runs. As they flee, more ladies come to life. Aoi looks like she's about to cry, but keeps running after Julie. The minute they approach a door, Julie shoves the key into the lock. Luckily, it opens. Julie pulls them inside, slamming the door behind them. She dry-heaves a bit, and collapses on a couch that looks oddly like "Reserved Seat" from the real world.

Aoi is more focused on a large painting on the wall.  

Julie looks up at her. "Oh, what's that painting?"  

  "Wh-who are those people?" asks Aoi.

 Julie looks up at the painting. she suddenly seems to realize something, and trips backwards, landing on the couch in a very undignified manner. "Th-those are my parents! I haven't seen them since..." she trails off, uneager to share her life story.  

"S-since...wait, those are your parents?!"

  "Yeah...weird." Julie leans on a nearby bookshelf. "Hey, I think we could move this. Let's cover the window."  

"G-good idea! Let me..." Aoi pushes it, seemingly effortlessly.

"Okay." Julie flops back onto the couch. "Let's think. There's one more door in here. That's probably the exit. So, we may need to find a key or something. Let's check around in here."  

Aoi is over at the exit, however. "...the door's locked..."

Suddenly, there is a loud, continuous banging sound. "Wh-what is that?" stammers Julie. She stands up, glancing around nervously. "I'm sc-scared..."  

  "C-c-c-coming from th-the wall..."  

  Julie grabs onto Aoi and holds her tightly. "I-I want to go home! Why us? What did we do?"  

  Then the wall bursts open, a swarm of Ladies starting to fill the room. 

Julie grabs Aoi. "Look; that hole in the wall! Run through it as quickly as possible." She dashes into the main room. The last door is slightly ajar, as the swarm of statues and Ladies set their sights on Julie and Aoi. Julie pulls Aoi through the mazelike room at top speed and through the door. Aoi pants heavily, almost collapsing onto the floor once they're inside.