Chapter Text
Mary walked along beside her newfound friend, a pep in her step and excitement in her heart as they made their way through the narrow hall. Thus far, her plan was going without a hitch. Better than expected, even. She had only wanted to get out, but had received the added bonus of a new friend along with it. The first real friend she’d ever had.
It was unfortunate though, that she hadn’t gotten to them before Ib had bonded so closely with him. It worried her just a little bit, about what Ib would do when the time came to leave him behind for good. She hoped her dolls would take care of that part for her- but either way, there would come a time when her companion realized he wasn’t coming with them.
She just hoped she would be able to accept that.
The thought began to weigh on her as they neared the end of the hallway, and she slowed her pace for a moment. She wanted to find a roundabout way to bring it up to Ib. A way that wouldn’t draw any suspicion. Maybe a hypothetical question would work?
“Hey, um… Ib? Can I ask you something?”
Ib looked at Mary, and simply nodded.
It was a good enough response- Mary knew that Ib was a quiet type. She didn’t speak much unless she had to.
“Well, in theory… if only two of us could get out, what would you do?” She tried to pose this question as innocently as possible. Hoping that her companion wouldn’t pick up on any undertone of genuine concern in her voice. Because the concern wa s there.
Ib didn’t answer for a few moments, but her eyebrows furrowed with thought. Combined with the frown on her face, she looked a little disturbed. Which made Mary start to feel bad. Maybe she shouldn’t have asked.
But before she could take the question back, Ib answered.
“I would sacrifice myself. I wouldn’t leave you or Garry here.”
That wasn’t on the list of responses Mary had prepared herself for. Her hope, of course, had been that Ib would leave with her. But she had also expected her to say she would leave with Garry. The thought that she might choose to let them both leave at her own expense hadn’t even crossed Mary’s mind.
“Huh!? Really, Ib? But then you’d never meet your mom again, or your dad. Or me, or Garry. It would be really lonely, you know.” The loneliness of the Fabricated World was a feeling that Mary knew all too well. She had experienced it ever since her father had disappeared.
How could Ib ever think of putting herself through such a thing?
“I know. But I wouldn’t want either of you to be lonely either.”
Mary had heard enough- somehow this response from Ib was disturbing her more than if she’d said she would leave with Garry. At least that was something Mary had prepared for. “Don’t say things like that! It wasn’t a serious question anyway- we’ll leave together. Promise!”
While it was true that only two of them could leave, the question had been hypothetical- because she wouldn’t let Ib make the choice to sacrifice herself, or to leave with Garry. She and Ib would be together, always.
…
…
Mary stuck closely with Ib as they solved puzzle after puzzle on their side of the room.
Some of them unlocked things on their side, and some of them unlocked things on Garry’s. She understood the basic concept of what they were doing, but had never seen those puzzles in action. They had always been there, but were never active, because they didn’t need to be.
Then, she noticed that one of her siblings- the painting Tattletale- was trying to mouth something to her as they passed. It was a dangerous thing to do, because she didn’t want Ib to catch her talking to one of the other paintings. But Tattletale knew that, so it had to be important.
So Mary snuck away from Ib, and walked over to her sibling to find out what they wanted.
`` He knows your secret! The Strained Ear overheard! ``
Mary immediately understood why Tattletale had been trying to get her attention so urgently.
Just like that, her plans had gone from working without a hitch, to being on the verge of falling apart completely. If Garry was to get away from her dolls, he would reunite with her and Ib. And no doubt would tell Ib her secret. And then… she might not want to be her friend anymore.
That couldn’t happen. She couldn’t lose anyone else.
She couldn’t let him take her away.
As much as she trusted her dolls to be there for her, she suddenly felt like she couldn’t rely entirely on them to take care of the problem. In the event that they failed, she’d had the comfort that she could find a way to do it herself later. But now she saw she couldn’t wait until later .
She was going to go back downstairs, and she was going to get him out of her way.
Before she could quite get back there, she came face to face with Ib again. Who seemed to immediately realize that something was off about Mary.
“Mary? Are you okay?”
“... Yes, I’m okay! I’m ookay! Me, Mary! I’m okay! Okay? Okay! Ahahahaha!” In a hurry, Mary then ran away from Ib. Back down the hallway they had come from, until she was met by a roadblock. One of the mannequin heads, blocking her way forward.
In her way , just like he was. She couldn’t stand for that.
Retrieving her palette knife from her pocket, she began to slash the mannequin head viciously. Red paint began to pour out of it as she swung the knife back and forth, getting all over her knife and her hands. And even the hem of her dress.
She paid no mind to the mess she was making. She had to get it out of her way!
“In my way, in my way, in my way! ”
She didn’t notice Ib come up behind her, until she saw her shadow cast over herself and the mannequin head she was destroying. She stopped swinging the knife, but didn’t look up at Ib nor did she say anything, until her friend walked away.
Once she had left, Mary continued to swing the knife- until she had taken out all her pent up rage on the mannequin head. Pocketing the knife, she gave up her pursuit of Garry, and decided to go back to Ib. Much to her chargin, the girl stepped away warily when she first approached.
“Ib! Please don’t leave me…”
There was a flash of what was unmistakably fear in her companion’s eyes.
“What were you doing?”
Mary didn’t like that question, because she didn’t know how to answer it. “Huh? Oh, that was just… sorry. I’m not so sure either.” She had to find some explanation. Something that would stop Ib from being afraid of her. “Um, how do you say it… all these feelings just came, gushing out? Um, uh- don’t worry about it! I’ll be okay!”
Ib nodded slowly, but she didn’t seem fully convinced. And she was awfully quick to walk away again- presumably looking for the next thing to do, but she’d never walked away from her that quickly before.
Everything was falling apart.
And it was all his fault. It was always his fault.
He was always in her way.
But he wouldn’t be for long.