Hey everyone! I'm striking back again with a one shot about my favorite, Garry from Ib! I know he's a fairly popular character, but I had to do it!

This one's a bit longer, since I wanted to deeply explain the protagonist's (aka yourself!) situation. So the fluff is a little bit deeper in the story, sorry for that.

Without further ado, enjoy!

(F/n) stands for friend's name btw

＼(^o^)／

"Hey (Y/n), come this way!"
"Sheesh, (F/n), could you wait up for a second?"

But (he/she) clearly couldn't hear any of your words as (he/she) just rushed to the next painting on the wall.

"Look at the colors on this one!" (F/n) shouted in excitement. "The contrast between the shades is simply beautiful!"
"Hm... Yeah sure." you answered, completely disinterested.
"Come on! You should open your mind a bit (Y/n)!"
"I'm trying! Art just isn't my thing."

While following (F/n), who was jumping around cheerfully to see everything, one part of the exposition caught your attention. A few meters away, inside an area delimited by red ropes were standing a bunch of headless mannequins, wearing different color dresses. They just stood there, staring into a void, like there was something in the horizon.

"Whoa... creepy." you mumbled to yourself.

You promptly turned around, in order to get away from those freakish sculptures, but ended up bumping into someone.

"(F/n), stop creeping on m-"

You realized you weren't with (F/n) when you lifted your gaze upwards and saw a tall guy completely unknown to you. He had bright purple hair, deep blue eyes, and an peculiar outfit consisting of a green shirt, brown pants and a large purple coat that clearly looked oversized. He was looking at you with an amused smile.

"Oh my god, I'm so sorry!" you apologized awkwardly. "I mistook you for someone else."
"No need to worry, miss." he chuckled lightly, making you smile. "It's alright."
"I guess you're right..."

He smiled, and waved at you cheerfully before walking off, vanishing behind the nearest wall. "He's pretty cute." you thought, feeling your cheeks heating up as you tried brushing off that weird encounter from your mind. But as you turned around, you heard a whistling sound, and noticed (F/n) looking at you, smirking.

"Do I ship it?" (he/she) snickered.
You sighed. "Please do not ship me with strangers."
"Whatever you say!"

(He/She) laughed it off, before walking away.

"I'm going to the bathroom!" (he/she) yelled from the other side of the room, and before you could even say something, (he/she) had already disappeared.

Instead of just standing there waiting for (him/her), you decided to walk around a bit. Even if you weren't really fond of that exposition, it was rather amusing to see. But immediately after entering the next room, the lights started to flicker around you, before suddenly shutting off for good. 'A power cut?' you wondered. 'I thought galleries had generators.'

You remained on walking, even though everything was pitch black around you. 'I should try to find the bathroom; (F/n) must still be in there'.

But the more time passed, the more you started to realize something: there was absolutely no one around. All the kid's cries and the smooth conversations were gone, leaving in its place a heavy and dazing silence.

"Hello? Is there anybody here?" you called out.

No answer. Only the creaking sound of your shoes on the ceramic floor was echoing in the empty gallery.

This time, you started to panic, and you rushed around the different rooms in attempt to get back in the lobby. But after a couple of minutes of running around, you realized something: you were looping in circle.

How the hell could that happen? What was up with this place? Angry and discouraged, you dropped yourself down and sat against the way, thinking about your situation that kept on getting worse.

But you ended up fixing the painting in front of you.

It was nothing like the other paintings in the gallery, with its multicolored forms and weird appearance. Everything you had seen today were detailed, drawn with precision and beauty, but this particular artwork was nothing like that. It looked so real and unreal at the same time, with the frame looking like a window that could break at my moment. You wanted to touch it. Just... Making sure nothing would creep up on you by there.

"What am I saying..." you muttered. "I'm probably going crazy."

But something in your head, maybe paranoia, or just curiosity, encouraged you to touch it anyway. So you did.

And everything turned black afterwards.

~~~~~~~~~

The first thing you felt as waking up was a monstrous headache. A sensation that made you feel like your head was about to explode. But still, you managed to open yours eyes slowly, examining your surroundings.

You were lying down in the corner of a small room filled with rainbow colored bookshelves. The walls were of a dark shade of blue, almost completely black. On the farthest wall was hooked a giant painting, even though the details were hidden under the cover of darkness: all your close surroundings were only enlightened by a weak flashlight lying to your side

Suddenly, in the invasive silence, a creaking sound reached your ears. Followed by the noise of turning pages. From what you could hear, there was probably someone else in the room.

You tried to stand up, but your shaking hands slipped on the floor and you ended up falling on the ground, hitting thereby the flashlight which slipped under your arm and impacted on a wall meters away.

The shock resulted in a loud noise, and the page turning immediately stopped. 'What a great way to get spotted (Y/n), good job!' you sarcastically mumbled to yourself.

But as you expected a dark figure or an horrific monster to appear from behind the shelves, you only saw what looked like a human, with purple hair, emerging from darkness and kneeling before you.

"Good thing, you're finally awake..." he sighed in relief.

Wait... You clearly remembered meeting this person before. Was he the same guy you had bumped into in the gallery? Despite your mind being insanely blurry, he definitely seemed familiar. But when you really thought about it, there wasn't a lot of people with this unnatural hair color and those bright blue eyes.

"We already met, right...?" you asked him shyly.
"Sure thing." he nodded. "But I haven't introduced myself yet: I'm Garry."
"I'm (Y/n)."
"Enchanted to meet you, miss (Y/n)."

With an genuine smile, he got up on his feet and reached out his hand in order to help you stand up. You took his hand and attempted to get up, but as you moved the sudden movement made you dizzy and almost made you fall back down on the floor.

But you never actually hit the floor: the only thing that prevented you from falling were Garry's hand holding your back.

You felt you cheeks get hotter, and lowered your head to prevent him from seeing your blush. 'He'll probably just think I'm creepy...' you thought. 'But he does look really handsom- oh what am I saying...'

"You're okay?" he asked, his voice sounding astoundingly worried. "You don't look too good."
"I should be fine... Thank you for asking."
"I just want to make sure you won't pass out of exhaustion or something."

Seeing that you were now able to stand by yourself, Garry released your shoulders from his grip and turned around, picking up the flashlight you accidentally kicked a couple of minutes ago.

"Hey Garry..." you inquired as he turned back towards you. "Do you know where we are?"

He looked at you and lifted his shoulders, indicating he had no clue either. "I can assure you that we're not in the gallery anymore..." he declared, his voice low and ominous.

His tone clearly indicated that something was wrong with the place, but you didn't want to appear inquisitive by asking too many questions.

"Are you ready to go?" the young man asked, looking right into your (e/c) eyes. "We can stay a little longer if you want..."
"I'll be okay." you answered immediately. "Let's just go."

Garry nodded, picked up his coat on the ground and headed to the door. He took a deep breath, like he was gathering his courage, and opened it. You quickly followed him, making sure not to forget anything behind; but luckily enough you had left your handbag in the car.

You both ended up in a corridor entirely painted in red, with paintings hooked on the walls at regular intervals. 'Those things are everywhere...' you thought, perplexed.

And for at least a dozen of minutes, Garry and you walked around in this weird place, zigzagging between giant hallways and puzzle rooms. Everything looked so unreal, and the ambiance was truly creeping you out. You were just glad to have someone's company in this nightmare.

But everything changed when you entered "that" specific room.

It was a gigantic place, full of hallways that led to different rooms. The goal in this place was to find each keys, then find the one that finally allowed to open the main door. Not too much of a challenge, you thought at first.

But when the paintings started moving and attacking you, you quickly changed your perspective.

As soon as this "Lady in Red" painting, as it was written on the wall, jumped down the wall and started to crawl on the ground in your direction, you definitely caught up with what was wrong in this place.

Looking around, you had no idea where the hell could Garry be. But you were running, running like there was no tomorrow. But the farthest you got from the Lady in Red, the more paintings started to join the chase. Ladies in blue, green, yellow... Even headless mannequins wanted to take part of it.

You were turning around corners, trying to open every door you came across. But Garry had kept all the keys you two managed to get in his coat.

"Where is he anyway? I could really use some help!" you mumbled, still running and miraculously managing not to get caught.

But after long minutes, they were still after you and your legs slowly started to feel exhausted. 'This is it, I'm going to die...' you thought.

And as you were about to give up, your eyes came across a tall figure with bright purple hair, who was standing besides an open door and yelling at you to hurry.

"Garry!"

Gathering all the strengths you had left, you sprinted towards him. When you arrived, he literally threw you inside the room and locked the door, before kneeling down in exhaustion.

"Phew!" he yelled with a sight. "This was legit an horror movie scene!"

You didn't answer his funny remark, which would have made you laugh in any other occasion. Instead, you just started sobbing, caused by the panic and fear you've just been through.

"(Y/n), are you crying?" Garry asked in a softer voice.
"N-no I'm not!" you retorted, wiping you tears with your left arm.

You had not the courage to look at him. You never liked other people to witness you in a state of weakness, even less a stranger that you almost did not know.

But you suddenly felt someone sit next to you, and softly take you into his arms.

"Shhh..." Garry whispered calmly. "You don't have to be scared anymore. I'm with you now."

You didn't give him a verbal answer, but he continued to hold you close to him for the entire time you were sobbing, and even after that. Even though the room's door was hiding the living hell, you felt like you were safe in his arms.

"Thanks.." you whispered. "I appreciate it."

You turned your head towards him and smiled, showing your gratefulness.

"Look, you're way cuter when you're smiling!" he said happily, patting your head.

His remark made you blush, and you hid your face in your hands to make sure he wouldn't see you, causing him to chuckle.

"That's cute too, you know." he added with a smile. "Now, let's rest here for a bit. We'll get out when you're ready."
"Got it."

You stood up and looked around the room to find something you could sleep on; indeed, you were feeling extremely tired, and you definitely needed some rest.

Finding nothing in this rudely empty place, you lied down in a corner and started drifting to sleep, when Garry suddenly knelt down at your side.

"Here, you can take my coat." he said, putting down the said coat on you.
"Thank you..." you mumbled, half asleep.
"Don't worry, I'll make sure that nothing breaks that door."
"Cut it out Garry, I'm not a kid." you replied with a light smile.

He just chuckled, and you felt a pair of soft lips on your forehead.

"Sleep well (Y/n)-chan."

＼(^o^)／

Here it is! I hope you liked it!

Make sure to leave a comment if you want to request something, or just want to say you liked the chapter. Good reviews are truly motivational! 👍🏻

See ya!