Ib ~Starshipping Version~

Escape

Jaden was tired, and it showed in his actions.

Yusei and Jaden had been wandering this maze-like room for about ten minutes now, and yet they were still clueless as to what to actually do with it. At the top of the room were four paintings of the Lady in Red...or whatever colour. She seemed to be in different colours every time. Probably to keep in with fashion.

At the bottom were those darn statues that Jaden now despised so much. He was just glad they weren’t moving and chasing him, because he wouldn’t have the strength to run from them.

“Jaden...” Yusei murmured after a long time, “You don’t look so good...”

“I feel crappy...” Jaden admitted, looking at Yusei with tired eyes.

“If you want we can stop to rest...if you really need it...We’ve solved most of the puzzles in here, anyway. It’s just the room with the puzzle about how many paintings there are left. Stay here, okay?”

“...But Yusei-“

“No buts, Jaden. You really look horrible. I can’t let you go on. Just sit down beside this door and I’ll be back soon, okay?”

“...Okay...”

Jaden did as he was told, sitting down beside the door that had a window. Not too long ago something moved from behind it, but Jaden was too tired to even take a glance or care. Yusei was right, though. He just couldn’t let Jaden go on like that, and Jaden was secretly thankful that Yusei had allowed him to take a rest.

~Yusei’s P.O.V~

In actual fact, Yusei didn’t want to leave Jaden alone. But he didn’t have a choice in the matter – the boy was literally fading away in front of his eyes and he needed some rest. Yusei could at least leave him alone for a little while, surely nothing bad would happen?

He quietly made his way around to the door that asked for how many paintings of ladies there were in the room. Yusei didn’t need to look again; he had been counting them as he walked around to find the door.

He pressed in the number fourteen, and the door magically opened. He stepped inside and looked around at the plain, grey room. A table with a vase lay in the middle of it, but Yusei didn’t need it – his rose was at perfect health.

Yusei went over to a small bookcase and started reading an open book that was left out.

“Wonderful Days”

“The gallery is like a spooky amusement park with lots of strange things! It’s so much fun playing here; the day was over before I knew it! Isn’t it a fantastic place? Why don’t you join me here? You’ll be fine with all this company...”

Yusei closed the book over and placed it back on the shelf. “What on earth could that mean...?” He whispered, moving over to look at a sign.

“Please do not touch the displays.” He read, “If by any chance you damage the exhibits, you will...” Some of the words were missing. “The rest has been removed...What will happen?”

A loud smash made Yusei turn around. That came from outside... He walked outside of the room to find that one of the Lady in Red pictures was moving around freely.

“I have to put Jaden in that room...” He murmured, “He won’t be safe beside that door.”

Yusei waited patiently for the painting to be out of sight before walking over to where he had left the brunette. He let out a sigh of relief to find that he was still sitting there. He walked over to him and without another thought, picked him up.