Hello, all. Sorry I haven't posted in a while. This is a collaboration between me and The Random Otaku. WE LOVE THIS GAME. Garry/Ib FOREVER. No pedophilia though. Garry is a gentlemen that waits for her. Any who, neither of us own the game Ib or the characters. We hope you enjoy this prologue!

Prologue

A little girl with long, dark brunette hair and red irises stood still in her spot in front of the Fabricated World mural and blinked a few times as she did. She then looked around at her surroundings in complete confusion with her eyebrows in the form of a frown. For the life of her, she couldn't remember what she was doing, so she finally gave up trying and went on her merry way.

She went past the Still Life On Table illustration, by the sofa named Reserved Seat, and headless statues wearing different colored dresses, Death of the Individual, before rounding the corner to head down the stairs. The girl had a hop in her step until she reached the first floor of the building and made a left. In the area she entered was the paintings A Well-Meaning Hell and Abyss of the Deep, but something told her she needed to continue on through the building, so she did by taking a right.

When she arrived, there was a very tall man with short, dull, light purple hair with dark purple highlights on the top of his head, and wore a long, tattered, navy colored jacket standing in front of the rose statue, Embodiment of Spirit. He seemed familiar, but she didn't understand why. She had never seen the man before in her life, but, with a curious expression, the little girl walked up to the man and tilted her head up at him.

"Hm...?" Feeling like he was being watched, the tall male looked down to his right and saw the young female. "What is it, little lady?"

The little girl played with the hem of her dress a little bit. "...What're you looking at?" she asked quietly, her somewhat high voice wavering.

"Hm? Well, let's see..." He looked at the rose structure then back at the girl in front of him. "It's a rose sculpture, I guess..." he informed before turning his attention back to the piece of artwork. "...When I look at this sculpture...I feel, somehow...sorrowful... I wonder why..." The man then shook his head and turned to the young girl. "...Ah, I'm sorry if I said anything to trouble you, Ib..."

She gave him a weird look of suspicion and stared at him silently and intently. "...Wait, what? Who's Ib?" she heard him ask. His dull, light purple eyes seemed to widen at her. "What? That's your name?" He appeared to become confused. "Your name's really Ib?"

The man watched the little girl nod her read in response. "That's the strangest thing... I mean, I don't even know you at all..." he said gently. "It just kind of...came out... How odd..." He then frowned for a short moment before having an expression filled with slight realization. "...but...actually... Have we...perhaps, met somewhere...before...?"

Ib observed the gentleman while he shook his head. "...My, look at me...asking you strange things..." she noted him mumble. "Never mind what I said... Well, bye." The red eyed girl watched him as he began to stroll away, but quickly noticed how he stopped dead in his tracks in the middle of the hallway.

Frowning in bewilderment, the male pulled out a small piece of fabric made of actual lace. "What's this...a handkerchief?" he asked out loud. "When did I get this...?" He heard footsteps behind him, turning around and seeing the little, brunette girl. "Ah...this is yours?" he questioned and opened the handkerchief up a little more. "...My word...it's true. "Ib..." Your name's right on it." The man frowned again. "...but why is it in my pocket? Plus...there's blood on it..."

A sudden flash of a memory back in the sketchbook after they had burned Mary came to light. He had mentioned he cut himself on the glass a small bit, and she gave him her handkerchief to help with the blood coming out of it. "...I was... I was...wounded...on the hand...and...a girl..." The same image flashed in his head again. "A girl gave me her handkerchief..." he mentioned then trailed off and was silent for a long moment before speaking more. "Yes...this handkerchief was given to me as a gift... It was a gift...from Ib! Ib...!"

Ib stiffened up when the man before her suddenly got down to her height and gave her a hug. "I remember now," she heard him whisper. "We were together back there... How could I have forgotten? It was so important...!" The little girl didn't understand why, but she wrapped her arms around the strange male then felt him hug her a bit tighter. "We stuck together through that bizarre gallery... Chased by statutes...and by Mary too, right?" he inquired before somewhat pulling back and staring at the brunette, little girl. "Ib...do you remember?"

There was a long moment of silence before she nodded. "I remember," the young female said just barely above a whisper.

"Oh, thank goodness!" he exclaimed. "It's hard to believe even now...but it must have happened, right? Ib..." He brought her back into another embrace. "We got back safely! We did it! ...Ahaha..." The man let out a quiet sigh before releasing Ib and standing back up. "...There's so much more I want to talk about, but I've got to get going," he informed. "Ah, uh, Ib...is it alright if I keep this handkerchief for a while longer? It wouldn't do to return it as it is..."

She nodded.

"I'll have to...make it clean and then give it back, because...we'll see each other again!"

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Ib, the young brunette haired girl, slowly bit into a piece of a macaroon as she glanced toward the lavender haired young man with her bright ruby colored eyes. The lavender haired man blinked at her and questioned as she continued to stare at him, "Do you like your macaroons Ib?"

The brunette girl nodded curtly as she finished chewing her macaroon. "Thank you, Garry."

He smiled gently before picking up a macaroon of his own and taking a bite of it. He then said idly chatting, "I'm glad that you like them... The tea is good, too, I assume?"

"It too," she replied with a tiny smile.

Suddenly an older woman with short, light brunette hair and red irises walked up to the table, and she smiled at the man and little girl. "Everything okay?" she asked. "Nothing...weird's going on?"

Ib coughed gently; choking on a bite of macaroon. "M-Mom," she stuttered quietly, "e-everything's perfectly all right!"

"Okay, dear. I'm just making sure." Ib's mother smiled gently as she spoke. The older woman then sat down at an adjourning seat that was at the next table and looked down at a book of puzzles that she had been trying to complete. At the same table an older man with darkish brown hair sat glaring daggers at Garry. Garry, unsettled by this, sighed a bit lightly before taking a sip of his iced tea.

Seeing this, the little girl frowned slightly. "What's the matter?"

"Oh, uh, w-what? N-Nothing's the matter. Everything's perfectly all right, Ib," the lavender haired male responded, raising his hands lightly as if someone had said 'Put your hands up!' then placed them back down while eyeing another macaroon.

Ib gave Garry a weird look but dropped the topic and silently looked down at the sweet in her hand.

Why is this so good, she wondered at random.

The man with the dark brunette hair that was sitting across from the girl's mother stood up from his seat abruptly and walked over to the table that Garry and Ib were sitting at. He then put his hands on the tabletop and looked over at the young female. "I think it's time we go home now," he stated rather bluntly and loudly.

She frowned. "Dad, we're not done talking," she pointed out.

"Now Ib," the younger male began, "your father is doing what he thinks is best for his young daughter. Do remember that I'm a stranger to him and your mother, and I'm many years older than you." Garry set down the macaroon he had been nibbling on down to rest on the plate in front of him. "It's quite understandable, his actions." He added, "I would be concerned if it happened to be the other way around."

Father gave the young adult a harsh glare and his hands became fists against the table. "Look here, you smartassed emo...!"

"Oh, honey, don't be so mean! He did tell the truth," Ib's mother piped in before the father could continue yelling. "Besides, you're making a scene! In any case he's like an older brother to Ib!"

He turned his head to look at his wife, giving her a look that said she was insane. "We don't even know this man!" the husband growled.

"Honey," the mother began as she softened her expression when she looked towards Garry and back at her husband. "He seems nice enough..." She then smiled at her spouse. "In any case, we'll always be there when he's around Ib."

"I still don't trust him..."

Garry shrugged. "As I indicated before, I'm quite alright with your lack of trust," he stated. "I don't mind showing you that I'm not some pedophile out to rape Ib."

Said young girl blinked her eyes rapidly. "What's rape?" she asked with a mouthful of macaroon. "Oh, and what's a pedophile?"

The lavender haired male let out a sigh. "Don't learn about that kinda stuff until you're older..."

We hope you enjoyed this prologue. We'll try to post more soon!