Nothing but a Painting (Ib Fanfic)

The Petals Fall

~8~

I ran and ran. It seemed like an eternity. I knew I had to catch up to them. If I didn't... I'm not sure what Mary would do to them.

So Mary and I switched lives... I think. If she was still herself outside, she would be the one going on this field trip. She would have been the one to fall into the trap of Gueartenia and I would be the evil one. But all in all... wasn't I the evil one from the start? I sighed. I know what I did was wrong. I took a persons life, and it could very well be too late to give it back.

But I have to try.

I run down a staircase and see Garry picking up a ball of paint, red. He has some cuts here and there. "Garry!" I call. He turns his head to see me ad he gasps, pulling out his pocket knife and lighter. "Don't get any closer, you harmed Mary!" he yelled.

"I'm telling you right now, I didn't do a thing. You and Ib were sleeping, and Mary and I were awake. She approached me to tell me something that was very important, but ill get to that in a second. She attacked me. She saw you get up and she 'fell' on the ground an pulled me with her to make it look like I was the one who stacked her. If you don't believe me, I don't care. I just need you to listen. And I'm also coming with you even if you say no," I said. Garry shut his lighter and put away the knife. "What is it?" He snaps.

I sigh, not quite sure how to explain things."Well..." I say hesitantly. I tell him about me, about Mary, about how we switched places. It was difficult to explain, but I told him what I knew.

"I knew you were evil," He mutters.

"But that's where your wrong." Garry looks at me. "What do you-"

"My life in this fabricated world was a living hell. I thought I would be stuck here forever, but when the Lady in Blue let it slip that there was an exit, I didn't stop searching, I didn't sleep until I found the exit. When I found that I had to take the place of someone, I knew I had to lure someone in..." I look off into the distance. "So you took Mary's place," Garry finishes. I nod. "I know I screwed things up. And I know you and Ib are planning on burning the painting." Garry sighs.

"Yes."

"It's going to work," I said. "But..."

Garry's eyes widen.

"But you'll-"

"I get to help you guys. It's all I can do," I say with a sad smile.

"C'mon," Garry said, gesturing for me to follow him. "Wait," he stops. "You said Mary is evil, yeah?"

"No, I said she was the best person in the universe," I say, sarcasm dripping from my tongue.

"We split up. There was this picture of a rose, and it came out the painting, separating up with stone thorns."

"I was wondering where Ib was--"

"Ib and Mary are together! Mary might hurt Ib!" Garry interrupts me. I walk up to him and hit him on the back of his head. "Then what the hell are we doing here?! Cmon!" I yell, breaking into a run. However, a delay I wasn't expecting. We walk through several rooms, where Garry would pick up different balls of paint. "What the hell are these?" I ask.

"Don't have a clue. But they must be important, every time I touch one it disappears. I wonder if they're possibly helping Ib." Garry sighed. "Why aren't there any other people from the gallery? This makes no sense," he mutters. "Forget that, focus on getting out, dummy." I hit him on the head again. We walk into another room, filled with creepy dolls and a painting hanging on the back wall of a bunny, but it has the same blood red demonic eyes of the dolls.

"I... I don't like this room," Garry shivered. I give him a questioning look. He sighed. "A doll that looked like one of these was following me. It was talking to me... reminding me of things I don't even remember. One of the things it said was... something about me hurting others..."

"Weird," I reply, looking around the room. I hear a click. "Um, Garry...?" I say hesitantly. I look over to him. It's like he's in a trance, staring at one of the dolls. A pocket knife is clutched in one of his shaking hands.

"Shut up!" He yells suddenly, slashing the doll's torso, revealing cotton fluff. A white ball tumbles out of where Garry cut the doll, landing on the floor. "Garry," I say again, more stern. He suddenly drops the knife and turns around. "L-Lorelei...?" He collapses to the floor, shaking uncontrollably, eyes at the ground. I'm not sure what to do. This guy is kind of a weirdo.

"Um... it's okay now, Garry," I say, awkwardly placing my hand on his shoulder. He suddenly stops shaking and looks up and touches the ball of paint. It disappears.

"Yes, Lorelei?" he asks. He's acting like nothing happened. He must be thinking I put my hand on his shoulder as if I were to ask a question.

"Earlier I heard a click, but you were in some sort of trance, and you wouldn't respond to me. You okay?" I ask. Garry gives me a weird look. I remove my hand from his shoulder. "But I have a bad feeling. That click sounded like a lock," I continue. I walk over to the door. "Yep."

"What?!" Garry jumps up, and bangs on the door. "I know I didn't even shut it...!"

*gasp!*

*splat*

Words in paint appear, splatting across the door.

FIND ME

A bell tolls, and the bunny on the canvas is gone. Another toll and a hand much like one of the dolls is holding onto the frame from the inside, as if something was climbing out.

"Garry!" I yell. "You cut open that doll, it had a paint ball in it. Maybe the key is in one of the dolls!" Garry cuts open dolls and I tear them apart. A few more tolls go by and it looks like one of the dolls is in the painting, climbing out to kill us. "Lorelei!" he screams, tossing me a key. We run over to the door and unlock it, slamming the door behind us.

*pant*

"That... was close," Garry says through gasps of air. I see his rose in one of his pockets, it's lost some petals. "You okay?" I ask. He glares at me. "I'm fine! Your a painting, right?! Why don't you tell the other paintings to stop attacking us?" he snaps.

"Because they would never listen to me, no matter what I would say!" I snap back. I snatch his rose out of his pocket.

"No! Lorelei, give it back! Please!" he yells desperately. I glare at him and walk away.

*pluck*

*pluck*

*pluck*

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A/N

Sooo yep.

So I'm going through and editing like I said but if I republish I don't know if they go out of order or what and I'm kinda a baka-chan so... Yep. Thank you for reading this far!