Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Omori was a lot of things.

A vessel.

An idealised version of what the Dreamer had wished to be like for four years.

An enemy to said Dreamer.

A manifestation of his guilt and self-hatred.

A protector that had his own ideas on how to do his job correctly.

A character in the Dreamer’s mind that didn’t quite exist.

A child.

He was a lot of things.

But right now, what Omori was, was bored. Completely, entirely and utterly bored.

Sure, he had Headspace and his friends if he wanted to get out of White Space. To go on adventures.

But he didn’t want to see them right now. He didn’t want to see them lately. He was getting bored of the adventures, once entertaining and comforting, now always repetitive. He was getting bored of that same set of locations, that same set of interactions with the same people.

The endless arguments between a donut princess and a lovesick space captain, a shark wishing to have every citizen of the Headspace work for him, two bread-making twins dwelling over the idea of quitting their job yet never doing it, three sea witches taking questionable requests from questinable customers living inside an always hungry whale...

Omori never thought he’d one day get bored of Headspace. It was his work of art, after all. Proud of it like Rococo was proud of his drawings.

But here he was, laying on his blanket in his white space, staring at the ceiling (wherever that was), almost nostaligic of that Stranger that used to do nothing than ruin his goal, but at least gave him something to actively do. Now Omori was just waiting for something to happen, blank eyes open, staring bluntly into the void.

Omori handn’t moved an inch for hours, laid down on his back, arms spread out on both sides, one hand clutching his knife. He lift it in front of him, thoughtful. He sat up and turned the knife to his stomach like he was used to.

He wondered what stabbing himself would do now. There wasn’t a Dreamer to kick out of his body, to make wake up anymore. He figured it’d just bring him down at one HP, since he couldn’t become toast like his friends did. Sunny had built Omori to be like those bosses in Headpace, not able to be toast. Unable to lose. Omori never became toast when those lasers shot at him in Sweetheart’s castle, or when this horror chased him in Humphrey, caugh him and crushed him until his bones were turned into much- yeah.

Omori could feel pain, but he couldn’t be toast. He didn’t need to be revived with life jam. As the main character, Omori had plot armor. He was the one leading the party, thus keeping the others safe. He couldn’t just be toasted. He couldn’t be defeated. He couldn’t succumb.

He wondered what death felt like. He often did. After all, he was unable to experience the closest thing Headspace had to it -be toast- and no one in Headspace could die. He knew what it was like to feel pain. But, that was all. He could feel emotions, the three tiers of the three emotions, but they weren’t useful outside of battle to him. He knew others felt afraid, but he was unable to even wrap his head around the mere concept of it.

Omori had been in places that should scare him. They had scared Sunny, had been tied to some phobias his counterpart had. The ladder to Otherworld and the heights, Pyrefly forest and its spiders, the well and its underwater world... Omori knew Sunny had been scared of those places and things because he was, in a way, a part of Sunny. But Omori had never been afraid. Why would he be ? This was his world. He had made it. He wouldn’t be afraid of it.
Even places he didn’t control hadn’t scared him. Black Space didn’t scare Omori. It hadn’t bothered him at all. Oh, but it had bothered Sunny. Just, not Omori.
And he didn’t understand it. Hero -the Hero Omori knew- was scared of spiders. Sunny was scared of a bunch of things. But Omori still didn’t get it, despite being exposed a lot to fear.
Where Sunny was afraid of certain things, Omori just disliked them. He wouldn’t do or go places not because they were scary, but because he didn’t like them.
He wasn’t scared. He didn’t know what it felt like at all.
Omori saw a lot of people be scared. He saw Aubrey, Kel, Hero be scared when they encountered those... something-like variants in their adventures during those four years. But they calmed down pretty quick. A bit like when Sunny calmed down during their confrontation back in the summer. Omori hadn’t quite understood why Sunny persisted despite knowing the truth. Omori didn’t quite understand those complicated things. But Sunny seemed determinded as he played that duet, so Omori let Sunny go, the latest making it clear he didn’t need -want- Omori’s protection anymore. Weird thing, considering Omori had done a pretty good job at keeping everything okay during a while, right ?

Omori still didn’t know why Sunny had chosen to tell the truth. Omori knew Sunny’s friends wouldn’t forgive him. And Sunny knew that too, Sunny knew that too ever since he first created the White Space. Sunny knew it was going to be like that when he created Omori. So, Omori knew Sunny’s friends wouldn't forgive Sunny. Why would they ? Sunny knew he was a monster, that he should just die, so Omori knew that too. Omori knew Sunny didn't deserve forgiveness.

Omori’s friends didn’t need to forgive Omori, since Omori hadn’t done anything wrong. And, if he slept, Sunny could be Omori. And be with Omori friends, as Omori, Omori who hadn’t done anything wrong to his dear older sister and had never left his best friend to rot away in crushing guilt. Sunny could be Omori forever if he slept forever.

So why did Sunny chose to go back to this world he so desperately wanted to leave at Omori’s age ? Why did Sunny want to suffer, to make his friends suffer more by letting the truth out and staying alive ? Omori did not understand. Why was Sunny so determinded to wake up to this existence he deemed worse than death ? What was worth more than the Headspace ? Why hadn’t Sunny given up when Omori urged him to ? That was Sunny wanted, Omori would know, he was Sunny. But, at the last moment, Sunny hesitated. And changed his mind, and played that fateful duet. And despited being scared, chose to wake up.

Omori knew Sunny hesitated before stabbing himself as Omori. Omori didn’t really get why. He would do it right now, just like that, without looking at the knife for a second before burrying it into his stomach.
Did Sunny hesitate because he was scared he would die in the real world ?
But Sunny had wanted to die, right ? He wanted to disappear so bad he created Omori to exist in his place. Sunny wanted to leave the real world, any world. To stop existing as that monster he was. So what was more powerful than that want ? What was more powerful than that feeling of fear Omori didn’t understand, yet couldn’t weaponise against Sunny like the other emotions could be ? Well, Omori had managed to weaponise it for a few minutes as his counterpart struggled, but in the end Omori had been overpowered.
And Omori didn’t understand that. He didn’t understand why. He couldn’t wrap his head around those complicated concepts, emotions, wishes, situations... Omori lived in a simple world that went by simple rules. Bad people were bad, good people were good. Bad people should suffer the consequences, and good people deserved good things. Omori had his friends and sister around. But not because he wanted so. Because it was like this. It just was like this. It was supposed to be like this. That was all. Omori wasn’t supposed to want things for himself, as he knew he had what he needed.

But now, laying down here on his own with nothing to do, Omori began to know, to understand what it was like to want something for himself. For himself, for Omori, and not Sunny.

Omori whished he could wake up like Sunny did, three months ago.

Omori wanted to know. He wanted to know because he was curious. He was bored. He was bored and curious. He was a curious, bored child.

He wanted to wake up.

Omori got to his feet, standing on the blanket that for some reason never got wrinkled. He was determined. What he to lose ? Not his life, for sure. He lifted the knife and without a hesitation, plundged it into his abdomen.

He collapsed to his knees, then bent down, short of breath.

Nothing happened.

Unsatisfied, Omori ripped the knife from his shirt, wincing at the pain that brought him. He stared at the knife. It was clean. Omori had never bleed when stabbing himself. It only hurted for a little while. Just like it did just now.

Omori puffed his cheeks, putting the knife into his pocket. He checked his HP level, and just as he suspected, he got down to one HP.

The monocrome boy turned his head around the space, black eyes landing on the white door and its faint shadow. He should visit Mari to get healed.

...

He wasn’t quite in the mood for interaction, but his sister had like a free pass. She was someone he cared about deeply that didn’t need a social battery to be full.
Basil was okay too -when he wasn’t figuring out the truth and trying to bring it up, that is-. Omori loved the others too. Deeply. But he wasn’t in the mood to do quite anything right now.

Ugh. But in the meantine, he wanted to do something. This was a weird feeling, not exactly anger and not exactly sadness, but it hit with the same entensity in his stomach. And he did not like that. He needed to move, to see something different.

So Omori reluctantly opened the door and stepped into Neighbour’s Room, met with three familiar purple face. He let them greet him as they always did, Aubrey exited about his mere presence, Kel trying to mess with her and Hero attempting to calm them down before suggesting to Omori to go meet Mari and Basil. Omori led them to the nearest picnic, in the playground, and sat at the blanket near his sister. He ate a few candy as she babbled about her day, wonderful as always, and flirted with Hero, getting a different set of reactions from Hero himself, his little brother Kel, Aubrey and Basil. Once Omori’s HP was back to being full, he quicky left as he did not want to stay around longer. He gestured goodbye to his friends with a slight nod and stormed off, longing for the quiet ambiance of White Space that made it easy to focus on nothing yet wishing it would somehow distract him for once.

He closed the door and laid back down, Mewo coming rest on his chest as he once again spread his arms out. He looked at the cat as she purred, head slightly lifted to watch her. Sunny had manifested all of Omori knew. All that Omori cared for. And then he had left.

Omori was unable to continue, to upgrade what Sunny had started. That upset him even further as he was remembered of that fact.

He wished he had Sunny’s imagination. He wished Sunny came back, to add new stuff to Headspace.

...

An idea slowly crept its way into the boy’s mind.

If he could somehow bring Sunny back and make him create other things here, Omori wouldn’t feel this annoying feeling anymore. Sunny owed him this, after all. Omori had done a great job at supressing the truth and protecting his creator. Despite not quite liking him. Sunny had smashed his precious lightbulb into oblivion, after all. How rude. Omori had let him do it, but he felt offened. How dared Sunny. Omori had done nothing but please Sunny, and that was what he got in return ? Rude. Just rude. Omori wanted his compensation, and he would get it. He had let Sunny live, so he would get Sunny to at least upgrade Headspace.

Omori just had one thing to figure out.

How the hell was he suposed to get to Sunny ?!

He had tried stabbing himself, but obviously Omori couldn’t wake up in the real world, since he didn’t have a body there. And he doubted Sunny’s would even be an option to him. He was Sunny’s vessel, not the other way around. Just as Omori could refuse to let Sunny control his body, he was sure Sunny could refuse too, if it was even possible for the monochrome boy to use his counterpart’s envelope. And Omori didn’t want Sunny’s body anyways, he had seen it and it was crappy. He had no stamina or strenght, worse than Hero. Omori would rather be in his own body if he were to drag Sunny back here.

Yeah. But how. How would Omori get to the real world ? Omori wasn’t real. He didn’t necessarily want to be either, so his motivation wasn’t exactly here. But he did want something to do, so he hoped that would fuel his brainstorming on how to... get real.

He stared at Mewo in the eyes when she turned her head towards his.

"Waiting for something to happen ?"

Omori was. He sighed internally, puffing his cheeks as a red outline breifly shone around him, sign of his annoyance. He was waiting for something to happen. He wanted something to happen, but it wouldn’t happen.

And he was bored.

So bored.

He let his head fall back, getting back to staring at the ceiling (wherever that was). At the empty string dangling from it.

Funny how that string was connected to a ceiling (wherever it was). It looked like it was just floating, but it wasn’t. Omori knew it was attached to some ceiling (wherever that was).

In his boredom, Omori wondered where exactly was said ceiling.

And a thought occured.

A weird one, really.

But an idea notheless.

Omori was bored. And he had nothing new to do. He had tried everything Headspace had to offer, many times so. And he just realised he had never tried looking from where this string hanged from.

It was something so silly and dumb he never thought of it.

After all, he didn’t need to be entertained before. He had everything he needed, plus a job to do, and he did it well. Plus, climbing the string could damage or disturb the lightbuld, which was not something Omori wanted.

But now there was no lightbulb (thanks to Sunny) and Omori was bored (thanks to Sunny).

So Omori would climb that string. He had nothing better to do and he was bored.

He sat up again, and Mewo jumped away, giving him a questionning look, but going back to her usual position and sleeping soon again. Omori didn’t. He got back to his feet for a second time today and walked towards the string. Stared at it.

It felt weirdly endearing. Trying something new. Something stupid with no point. But Omori was bored, bored, bored, so bored. So he would do that.

It would be fun to find out where was the ceiling, right ? He never knew that, so he would figure that out. It would be something knew.

The black and white child grabbed the string. He tried pulling himself up, and after failling a few times, he managed to get himself on it.

He began climbing, head empty and focused on the weird pointless thing he randomly decided he’d do. Out of boredom.

He pulled himself up.

For a long time.

But he had infinte energy so that wasn’t a problem.

Plus it was somehow fun, he had climbed latters before and climbing a string was nothing like it.

He climbed what he assumed to be the distance of the Otherworld latter before his head hit a snow-white ceiling with a soft thud.

Omori glanced down. His blanket was barely visible at all.

Hah. Sunny probably wouldn’t have liked being this high, holding onto a string with both hands and legs crossed around it as only support. Would he be scared ? Omori wondered.

Omori wondered if he should ask Sunny to make him be able to feel fear when he dragged him back here.
...probably not. Omori liked being in control, and seemingly fear made people lose control. Anyway.

The boy had now arrived to his destination. The ceiling.

And he just stayed there. Not knowing what to do.

He let his left hand off the cable and felt the ceiling above his head. It was compact and cold, like the ground of white space.

...

Omori wondered if he could break the ceiling.

What was above it ? There was something above the forests of Headspace ! So why wouldn't there be something above white space ? Could be something. Omori could figure it out.

Not like he had anything else to do.

He pulled out his knife, carefully keeping his grip onto the string, and stabbed the roof.

It made an unpleasant screeching sound, yet the knife went trought after a few more stabs.

It peeked Omori’s interest.

So there was something else there after all.

Eager, he began cutting through as he could, ignoring the horrid sounds it made. Would it be a new section to explore ? New enemies ? New bosses ?

He wanted to know.

A streak of light shone trough a gap in the ceiling, and Omori put his knife away, trying to rip off parts of it as he could with one hand while trying to keep steady on the string. He put all his strenght into ripping a block, and after a few pulls and a few minutes, it went down and crushed far beneath the boy. He could make out the other side of the white roof being its opposite color. He frowned for a second.

It wouldn’t be an entrance to Black Space, would it ? He wasn’t scared of the place, but he disliked it.

But it wasn’t Black Space, as a bright light hit his face when he looked up.

Omori began ripping parts of the roof off again to enlarge the gap, and once it was large enough to his taste, he managed to pull himself up and climb out of it.

He rolled away from the hole, and was suprised to fall for a split second, bumping into something that broke his fall and produced shrill notes, before falling again and hitting the ground. He opened his eyes. It was a woden floor.

Huh. Unexpected.

Interesting.

Omori lifted his gaze, and found himself blinking again and again, only expression of his confusion being betrayed by his neutral gaze.

In front of him was a grand piano, damaged at the top from where he had gone out of. And behind said piano was a large window that Omori was sure he saw somewhere.

He turned his head around, getting up.

It was a piano room. Nearly empty, silent, with only the piano, an empty bookshelf, and a clock. Its ticking was the only sound in the room.

Omori stood up and got closer to the piano, gaze focusing on it, an odd sense of déjà-vu.

He could see his reflection in it, despite the instrument being a bit dusty.

"A grand piano.
The word 'Omori' is etched across the center."

Chapter Text

Sunny stared at his cell phone, still thinking about a reply. Still processing the fact he had been texted.

Despite his mother being adament about him not giving his phone number to any of his friends back in Faraway.

The boy blinked his eye, not sure if he was hallucinating or not. He glanced at his room, laying from his bed, then back at his brand new cellular phone to see if the messages would disappear.

They did not.

Sunny frowned.

It couldn’t be broken, his mom had just bought it in september. Plus this kind of phone had just gotten out, it wasn’t supposed to glitch or anything, right ? He didn’t know, he was no expert on technology.

He was no expert on communication either, wether it was talking orally or over text.

Sure, he had gotten used to talk a bit more since he moved in with his mom in the city, but that was just it. He wasn’t too keen on talking, especially with her for all that matter. The fake joy she put up as she pretended to care for him made him uncomfortable, so he had been making sure he was avoiding her as much as he could. Which wasn’t that hard, considering she left everyday for work, leaving him in the house for the day. Sometimes she came back at noon to eat, but he rarely ate with her so he didn’t quite know when she came for the meal or when she didn’t. Hard to tell from his bedroom, especially when he had his earplugs and music on.

He was glad to be alone, having no desire nor the energy to interact with anyone. Who would he even talk to ? He didn’t go to school, and as much as he knew he should now, he didn’t go out of the appartement at all. Barely out of his room.

He was glad to be alone.

He knew his old friends wanted him to try and go out more, as they asked him to on that night. But, things went the way they did, and the combination of events reduced by far the small amount of motivation the teen had gathered to leave his house. Or communicate. He dismissed every occasion that offered itself to him on going outside or talking to anyone. It was easier this way. Plus, he didn’t want to make friends with anyone, and no one would want to make friends with him anyways. His old friends didn’t even want anything to do with him lately.

Or so he had thought. Visibly, now they were trying to contact him.

Well, at least Kel was.

Just like he had been knocking on his door again and again and again, he was now texting him over and over and over again. With visibly the same intent : drag Sunny out of his house to hang out.

10/21/00 - 1:34pm : HII SNUY

10/21/00 - 1:34pm : Omg cant beleive i finally got ur number

10/21/00 - 1:35 pm : lol youd laugh if u knew how i got it

10/21/00 - 1:35 pm : anywya

10/21/00 - 1:35 pm : so

10/21/00 - 1:35 pm : its kel btw

10/21/00 - 1:35 pm : how r u ??

10/21/00 - 1:36 pm : so i had an idea about the fall break

10/21/00 - 1:37 pm : do u think u could like come visit ?

10/21/00 - 1:37 pm : my parents are ok to let you sleepover n all so u have a place to stay while ur here

10/21/00 - 1:38 pm : we can find ways to convince ur mom to let u come if u wanna come

10/21/00 - 1:39 pm : pls pls pls come pls say u want

10/21/00 - 1:39 pm : I promise itll be fun

10/21/00 - 1:39 pm : very funny

10/21/00 - 1:40 pm : pls answer me :(

10/21/00 - 1:40 pm : sunny pls answer meee :(

10/21/00 - 1:40 pm : wait

10/21/00 - 1:40 pm : omg no

10/21/00 - 1:40 pm : this is sunnys number right

10/21/00 - 1:41 pm : pls dont tell me i texted the wrong person again

10/21/00 - 1:43 pm : pls sunny im lonely :( come back we can prank aubry or anything u want just pls ANSWER MEEE its boring without u :(

10/21/00 - 1:44 pm : suny yk what ill text until u answer

10/21/00 - 1:44 pm : istg i will do it

10/21/00 - 1:45 pm : sunny

10/21/00 - 1:45 pm : sunny

10/21/00 - 1:45 pm : sunny

10/21/00 - 1:45 pm : sunny pls sending messages cost money and im broke pls come over :(

10/21/00 - 1:46 pm : idc imma make u come if i have to kidnap u idc just come pls

10/21/00 - 1:52 pm : cmon sunny pls just at least say its u

And that was it, Kel had stopped texting and was waiting for an answer. Answer that Sunny was currently brainstorming.

Along with thinking about a lot of other information he just got.

Kel wanted him to come. Kel wanted to see Sunny. He didn’t know about the others, but Kel had somehow the desire to see Sunny again. Even after what was said in the hospital. It was confusing to the one eyed boy : no one in his old friend group had reached out since he had left Faraway.

He had put that on the fact that they were processing the truth and didn’t want to stay friends with the one that had ruined so much. And the fact his mother had tried to make him cut ties with the others, not even giving their new adress to the people in Faraway.

But apparently, Kel suddently wanted to... hang out ? As if nothing had been said in the hospital ?
Kel hadn’t brough up the topic in his messages. But he expressed that he was... missing Sunny ? And... wanted to hang out despite... well, the truth ?

Sunny pressed his lips together, biting the inside of his cheek, anxious. What was he going to reply ?

Did he want to go back to Faraway ?

In all honesty, that was all he wished for. He longed for it, even.

He wanted to see the others so, so bad.

But they wouldn’t want that back.

They’d never forgive what he did. And that was okay, he had accepted it, hadn’t he ? Sure, it still hurt a lot. But... they knew it had never been their fault Mari died, now, right ? It was a weight that had been lifted off their shoulders. They deserved to know what really happened, instead of suffering because of a lie and blaming themselves. They had someone to blame now.

Sunny was glad they were going to be able to move on. To have a good life.

But... not deep at all inside him, he knew he selfishly longed for the thought of being apart of that future with them.

But he didn’t deserve it. He had done something horrible. He was a monster, and he deserved to he alone. For their safety and comfort.

They wouldn’t want to see him. They shouldn't want to see him.

Hero, Aubrey and Kel because he had killed Mari, and then lied about it for years, letting them think she did it of her own accord and that they could have done something to prevent it.

Basil, because he had involved him in the situation, destroying everything the boy had and was, and then left him to rot and nearly die.

Neither of them should want him around, because of what he did. Because of what he did, and because of the way he just dumped the truth on them and just left.

They shouldn't want him back, neither of them.

Yet, one of them had reached out. And seemed to have been trying to for a long time.

What the hell does 'i hope i didn’t text the wrong number again' mean-

Apparently, Kel still cared. And wanted to get him out once again, even this time while fully knowing the reason of why he wasn’t bringing himself to any sort of contact with anyone. And as selfish as that must be, Sunny wanted nothing more than accept Kel’s suggestion. To accept it, and just go back to Faraway. For it to be like the old times. Or like those three days. He wanted to, oh so badly.

But his mother wouldn’t let him anyways. She had made it clear he only had to focus on school. And should avoid anything related to his past. Especially his group back in his hometown. "They’re the reason you lost your eye. If they hadn’t taken you out of the house, you’d still be fine."

What a hypocrite his mom was. She was the one that had told him to do the effort to open to Kel. And he was glad he did. She was so, so wrong on the "you’d still be fine" part. Nothing would have been fine. Basil would have died. And the others wouldn't have ever known why. Aubrey would have thought it was her fault, and hers only. Hero would have thought he once again missed the signs, and Kel would have regretted not being here for Basil as much as he tried to be for Sunny. They’d all have blamed themselves. And Sunny...

He wasn’t sure what he would have done. If he never got out of the house. He’d just have stayed in his delusion. Get swallowed entirely in that lie he had created. And during the waking hours, he’d have stayed even more unaware of the reason he loathed himself so much in this form. He’d had never known why he hated being Sunny this much.

Even then, after he had opened the door, he had struggled separating himself from Omori. Still forgetting he wasn’t Omori, wasn’t in Headspace. He had gotten over that pretty quickly, but that was only thanks to having given it a shot. At going out. Actually trying to live. But if he hadn’t done it, he was sure he wouldn’t have remembered the truth. And Sunny wasn’t sure that it would have led to any positive outcome. He would have just stopped living in the real world forever, until he died sooner or later, and every single of his childhood friend would have had to suffer because of his choice.

But... they were suffering because of his choice of coming out of the house. They were suffering because of the truth.

...

Sometimes, he wondered if he should have just listened to Omori -that was what he wanted, really- after his fight with Basil. What a disaster that night had been... but, Basil had gotten out of it alive. Barely, but he was alive. Sunny often still asked himself if they would have suffered less if he just took the truth to the grave, that morning he woke up.

That was a question he’d never have the answer to. It wasn’t like he could just ask them. "Hey, do you think I should have shut up about the whole Mari thing and jumped off the roof" ? He cringed at the tought.
Yeah, that would just worry them.

Or... would it ? Would they have wished he did it, now that they knew ? Sunny knew what he deserved, but he also thought he knew what his friends didn’t want. Both things being his death.

Shouldn’t Sunny just stay away from them now ? He had only scared and hurt them. A big part of him was adament about having to leave them alone.

But... a not so small part of him was screaming for him to just go back. Kel was opening his arms to him. Right there. All that Sunny had to do was type "yes" and... it’d be planned ?

Wait, what did Kel mean by "we can find a way to convince your mom" ? That wasn’t something that could be done ! His mother just wanted Sunny to succeed academically, and that wouldn't be easy since he had dropped out of public school at 12. Well, sure, when his mother was home back when she wasn’t planning the move, she made him study as much as she could, but... he was just around average. He wasn’t like Hero, successful everywhere. He wasn’t like Mari. He was just around the average. He could succeed, but wouldn’t shine bright. He knew he should focus on working as hard as he could, now that he had realised he had a future here.

But Sunny wanted to go back to Faraway. He wanted to see his friends. He wanted to see Kel. He wanted to see Hero, and Aubrey. He wanted to see Basil.

But did they want to see him ?

Did they really...?

He stared at his phone, finger sivering a bit with the desire to ask -beg- Kel to just have him over, just for a bit.

He missed everyone.

He missed everyone so much.

...

One of the many problems though.

What the hell was he supposed to type ?!

'Hi Kel' ?

Sunny erased the message. No, no no no. That wasn’t at all the thing to write.

'Yes it’s Sunny' ?

Once again, erased. Yeah, Kel had asked for confirmation that it was him at some point. But that was not a way to start a conversation.

'Hello, yes please I want to come' ?

NO, THAT SEEMED WEIRD DID IT-?

Sunny sat up, struggling to type and then erase. Half suprinsingly, it wasn’t quite easy to write using a small keyboard with no depth perception. He was misstyping a lot of things, and wanted whatever he’d send to be perfect.

Kel had reached out. Again. Despite everything.

And this time, Sunny wouldn’t run away again.

But how what he supposed to start an interaction ?! In this context ? He was pretty sure there wasn’t any book providing the answer to "how to initiate a conversation with a friend I didn’t try to reach out to out of cowardice after leaving town and having told him I killed my sister that was also his friend and then framed her death ?".

He felt like he was in front of his father, back at 12, when he asked him to recite the whole lessons he had in school perfectly. And he also felt he’d get scolded for any mistake he could make.

But Kel’s my friend ? Or used to be ? He... doesn’t pay attention to how I talk ? Or does he ??

Sunny didn’t know. He didn’t know anymore. He hadn’t spoke a word to Kel during those three days, other than "yes" or "no".
Except the truth, that too, yeah. And that was the only most recent "my friends reacting to me talking out loud or talking at all" thing he had as a reference. Plus, spilling the events of that day hadn’t been a conversation. At all.
He had just dumped the truth and stared at their reactions. Apologising over and over. But that wouldn’t fix what he had done.

He had no idea on how to have a proper conversation with them even before, especially even more now after what had been revealed to them.

The boy let out a soft complaint as he sent just typed out an answer and sent it. The other was waiting for too long, was he ?

Sunny - 10/21/00 - 1:59 pm : its rhe rifht numner

He hoped it would do. Kel wanted an answer right now, right ? That was all he asked for ! He’d know how to continue the interaction, right ? He was Kel ! He was good at talking !

Wait...

Sunny double-checked what he had just sent. His eye shot open, horrified.

That was everything but understandable !

Sunny - 10/21/00 - 2:00 pm : right numbet

Sunny - 10/21/00 - 2:00 pm : number

Oh dear, he hated how much he was struggling to do such a simple thing as that. He had clearly succeeded in forgetting everything about how to live as a coherent and normal human during those 4 years, hadn’t he ?

He focused on typing everything right. Too bad if it took time. He knew Kel wasn’t dumb and could probably read and understand his mess, but he wanted to show he was making an effort. He wanted to show he cared. Writing was so hard.

Sunny - 10/21/00 - 2:01 pm : it’s sunny

Kel - 10/21/00 - 2:01 pm : SKJDJDZKDOSOKZD

Kel - 10/21/00 - 2:01 pm : SNUUY

Kel - 10/21/00 - 2:01 pm : OMG IM FREAKING OUT

Kel - 10/21/00 - 2:02 pm : SHAKING RN

Sunny could almost hear Kel scream over text.

Kel - 10/21/00 - 2:02 pm : FR IM SO HAPPY OMG OMG

Kel - 10/21/00 - 2:02 pm : HOW R U

Well. Sunny was... alive ?
That meant he was okay, right ? He thought about it for a second. Yeah. He was okay. Scared and utterly confused as to why Kel wasn’t staying far, far away from him, but... glad he still cared a bit, nonetheless. It was making him happy.

And it had been a while Sunny had actually felt happy. Even if he was atrociously freaking out too in the same time, he was happy.

Sunny - 10/21/00 - 2:03 pm : im happy

That was not what he was supposed to type-

Sunny - 10/21/00 - 2:03 pm : i mean i’mokay. How abut you?

Aaand that wasn’t even proper english. Sunny wanted to bash his head with the phone, but that would break his phone and his slim opportunity of seeing Kel and the others again.

Kel - 10/21/00 - 2:03 pm : So happy literally like omg you replird im about to break heros eardrums fr im so glad ur ok dude

Sunny felt a twinge of bittersweet joy. It felt nice, yet he knew he didn’t deserve that. That scrap of happiness was quickly overcome by sour guilt. He shouldn’t be allowed to feel happy. Not just like this. He didn’t deserve that.

Kel - 10/21/00 - 2:04 pm : can i call u?

Sunny panicked instantly. No, he literally couldn’t talk- he wouldn’t be able to ! His troath felt so tight he barely was able to breathe at all... What would he even say ?! Even the thought of hearing Kel’s voice was scary !
Why was it scary ?! Kel wasn’t scary ! The only times he was scary was when he tried to make him drink Orange Joe ! Why did the though of a harmless Kel call freak him out more than drinking this thing-
What excuse could he give ?!

Think Sunny, THINK-

Sunny - 10/21/00 - 2:06 pm : sorru my moms busiy icannt call itlldisturb hre sheswodki’g

Sunny typed so frenetically the words were not even understandable. He wanted to rip his own hair out. That conversation was going everything but smoothly.

How did a smooth conversion even go ?!

Kel - 10/21/00 - 2:06 pm : oh ok dw

Kel - 10/21/00 - 2:06 pm : its ok

Sunny sighed in relief, not even realising he had been holding his breath. He was sweating. God, having a conversation was intense. How did Kel even understand this mess of letters ? It was better not to question it, and Sunny glad he still understood him despite his texting being... surely something.

Kel - 10/21/00 - 2:07 pm : so what do u think about comin over?

Kel - 10/21/00 - 2:07 pm : did ur mom talk to u about it yet? She said she would when we called her

When they WHAT.

Sunny - 10/21/00 - 2:08 pm : yoi did wjat

Kel - 10/21/00 - 2:08 pm : we called ur mom like 30 min ago to talk abt u comin over

Called his mom ? What were they thinking ? How did they even get Ms. Suzuki’s number ?! It didn’t make any sense-

"Sunny !"

Said boy nearly dropped his phone, jumping out of his skin as his mother opened the door to his room so violently it slammed against the wall.

The woman entered the room without asking, opening his wardrobe and starting to pick up clothes.

What is she-...

"Sunny, your friends called me," she started, briefly turning her gaze towards him. She had plastered a forced smile on her face. "Kelsey said he wanted you over for the school break, and that M. And Ms. Desoto would be okay with having you sleep at their place."

He stared at her, neutral expression having set in the moment she burst in. He was just too used to it, hidding his emotions this way, and really it was easier like this. It was better if she wasn’t aware of what he was feeling.
It was better if she couldn’t make out how confused he was right now.

What’s going on...? Why is she... what is she doing ?!

He would have asked her, but his troath wasn’t having it. He gave up on the thought of speaking, and kept glaring at her, knowing she’d continue her rant as she always did.

"Come on. Get up ! We gotta pack your suitcase. We have to be there by 4."

We have to ?

Why did she sound like she was being... forced ? She did tell him he would stay away from the others, and now she almost seemed to want to be there as quickly as possible ?

What did Kel do...?

It had to be something the boy had done. Sunny knew that when his mother had decided something for him, especially when it came to what she thought was his safety, she was impossible to be brought to change her mind.
So how had he...?

"Sunny ! Up."

His mother stopped stacking shirts and dragged him out of bed gripping his arm a bit harshly, maybe too suddenly for him as he nearly lost balance trying to stand. She pointed towards the door.

"Go gather your stuff in the bathroom. Quick, sweetie."

Then she was back to organising his clothes. As he got out, he caugh a glimpse of the amount she was planning.

That’s a lot...

How long was he staying there ?

What had Kel said ? That was begining to worry him.

Should he ask him over text ?

For some reason, he decided he actually didn’t wanna know.

Sunny grabbed a toothbrush, his mint toothpaste and a box of eyepatches. He took one inside and put it on, adjusting it with a brief glance in the mirror. The wound had healed a while ago, but the boy was very well aware people would be not very... pleased at the sight of his empty eye socket. Especially the people in Faraway; who’d probably be more alarmed than they should. It was just an eye, really.
Should he be alarmed...? He still didn’t quite feel any major negative effects the injury had on his daily life, if he was honest. He could still draw and see. He lacked depth perception, which, he’d admit, kinda sucked. But he could still draw and see. It was the most important.

...

So he was really going back to Faraway ? Just like that ?
His head was spinning a bit.
The situation made no sense, it was... so sudden. He hadn’t even realised the break had started. That was probably because he wasn’t going to school to be glad about the fact it was over for a while.

...

He hoped the others were doing okay there. He had never liked it a lot, but it was okay for him when he still attended it. It had been a bit trickier for Aubrey at times when they were kids, since she would sometimes get in fights and get bullied as a result but she managed to be left alone pretty quick. Basil, on the other hand, had had Aubrey to defend him back then.
Sunny just hoped it was okay for him now that the truth was out. Aubrey had admitted the boy had been bullied real bad during those 4 years he was hidding away. Sunny hoped she cared enough to bring it to stop, now that she’d come to her senses.

Sunny went back to his room and handed the objects he had taken to his mother, who nearly snatched them from his hands.

She had already finished the suitcase.

That was... really quick.

Kel. What did you do to make her this rushed to come.

"Come on, Sunny. Let’s go in the car. You have everything ?"

How could I know ?! You’re the one who packed the suitcase, not me !

He shrugged. He just needed clothes, right ? And she had taken care of that alright.
But it never hurt to double check.  He scanned the room briefly, and his eye landed on a green book. He grabbed it and put it inside a bag.

Can’t forget the album if it’s Faraway I’m going to. Maybe they’ll want to see her again.

He also took his sketchbook and a handful of pencils in case he would want to draw. He put his earplugs and music player in his pocket. The boy then closed the bag and put it on his shoulder.

"Sunny. Don’t just stand there, sweetie. We gotta go."

He followed her out of his room and in the kitchen, still not speaking a word. His gaze trailed to the table.

She hadn’t cleaned the table, her plate from today’s meal still on it.

Noticing where he was looking, she sighed briefly.

"It’s too late to eat, Sunny. You should have when I called you one hour ago. We have to go now."

With that, she went out of the apartment, leaving him no choice but to follow her. She continued her talking as they reached the elevator in the corridor.

"I would have made you a sandwich, but I don’t wanna risk you throwing up in the car. You get it, right Sunny ?"

She hadn’t even looked at him, busy pressing buttons on the machine. The doors closed.

"I’m sure Ms. Desoto will make a big meal for dinner, so that’ll be a compensation, don’t worry too much if you’re hungry."

Sunny rolled his eye.

Mom, I’m so confused and freaked out right now that my stomach hurts from even thinking about going back. Don’t talk about food, please, I’m already nauseous enough...

Ms. Suzuki began searching inside her purse and pulled out 20 dollars.

"Here, you’ll buy yourself something if you want to. Oh, and don’t forget to get something for Kelsey too if you do. He’s the one having you over."

He grabbed the money and put it inside his pocket, hoping she’d stop talking. She was quite loud, and he wasn’t deaf.
Well, he’d be soon if she kept on yelling.

The door dinged and opened, and both mother and son walked out towards the exit of the apartment complex. The air blew at Sunny’s face as the automatic doors opened and messed up his hair, getting some of it in his eye. It stung. He blinked a few times, trying to keep up with his mother’s quick pace as she reached the car.

"So, I know you must be exited about seeing your friends again, but I have to set a few rules, though."

Excited...? He was so stressed about the whole sudden thing he nearly wanted to stay home !
But in the same time, he wanted anything but do that ?
God, his head was aching.

She shut the trunk of the car after shoving the suitcase in, and motionned him to get in the vehicule, which he did.

"So."

She turned on the contact and pulled out of the parking lot.

"You’ll be staying there until the end of the vacation. Kel really wanted you to spend Halloween there."

He was spending two weeks there ?! That explained the amount of clothes, but... why so many days ?

What had Kel said to her that had convinced her to make him stay this long ?! Even convincing her to let anyone from Faraway talk to Sunny should be horribly complicated.
What. Had. Kel. Done ?

Sunny was going insane making dozen upon dozen of scenarios in his mind, more weird as they grew in number.

"Sunny ! Are you listening ?"

He looked at her. She looked slighty pissed, but that expression disappeared so quickly that he wasn’t sure he had seen it.

"I was telling you about the condition the Desoto’s have. Regarding you staying there."

Conditions..?

"They don’t want you trying to sneak Kelsey out like when you were kids. You know. To go to Hobeez. And also, try not to bother Henry too much. He still has a lot of work to do with college, and study time is study time."

Okay... That seemed fair.

"Also, try to not complain about Sally. She’s a baby, so she’s probably going to cry every now and then. It would be rude to whine about it." She added with a glare.

What ? I know that. I’m not a kid, Sunny though bitterly. He really was thankful to be used to wear that blank face by now, or else he’d be sure she’d not take too well the fact he was pissed at her remarks.

"And don’t be picky about the food. They’re cooking for you, and cooking takes money. And time. They’re putting in the effort to welcome you, so remember that before you just go throw it all up."

Okay, now that was just a low blow. Sunny actually felt hurt. He couldn't do much about that. It wasn’t his fault he had such a hard time eating. He wasn’t used to it, at least not that much. Him being sick was mostly because of her suddenly making him eat three complete meals a day.
He was tempted to remind her of what his eating habits had been like for four years, and her behaviour during this time doing everything but help about it. If not worsening it. Not being here for days and barely leaving any food that got spoiled within days, making him sick whenever he ate.
Making him even less motivated to eat anything. Would she eat stuff that tasted and felt like he was eating a dead... thing ? He didn’t think so. That had been his daily life for four dozen months, so of course he’d be quite hesitant towards food. But he couldn’t tell her that, no.
He knew it was best to just keep his mouth shut. Plus, he didn’t quite feel like he could physically be verbal right now, which was probably for the best for once. Even if he did, she’d just start complaining about how aweful of a mother he made her out to be, how she still loved him and cared for him despite everything, that other kids weren’t that lucky and that they hadn’t even done anything wrong unlike him, and more.
So, he kept his mouth shut and continued listening as she ranted, hoping she’d stop soon so that he’d be able to get lost in thoughts as he watched outside the window.

She was really making him uncomfortable at times, but... he should be glad, should he ? She kept on taking care of him.
Well, she.. did, did she ? She loved him at least. That was something she made sure he knew, with the amount of times she told him that. It didn’t matter it felt so distant. She was saying it, so she meant it. Simple.

"Don’t forget to thank them. Being polite and grateful is important, they’re putting up with you after all. Be a good boy there too. Be nice to them. Talk a bit more, too."

She glanced at him.

"I mean that part. You didn’t practice this much for nothing, Sunny. Understood ?"

He nodded.

She frowned.

"...understood." He managed to push the words out reluctantly.

She smiled again.

"Great ! That’s good, Sunny."

He blinked and turned his gaze towards the landscape he could see outside. Somehow he felt humiliated.

"Hep, I’m not done."

What else can she have to say..?

"You’ll stay with Kelsey. Okay ? Sunny. Look at me and say you’ll stay with Kelsey."

He stared at her, confused as to what she meant. He didn’t need to have Kel babysit him.

"Sunny, say you’ll stay with him. I don’t want you seeing..."

He frowned, waiting for her to finish her sentence. She sighed, hitting the steering wheel softly. Sunny did not like where she was going with that.

"Look, Sunny, I’m going to be honest. You know I didn’t want you going back there. But Kelsey didn’t quite leave me the choi-.. really wanted you over. Just do as I say with that."

She didn’t... have the choice ? Kel, what on earth did you do ?

Sunny frowned a bit more, waiting for the woman to continue.

"Kelsey is the one that invited you over. It’d be rude to go see the... others. They didn’t invite you, Kelsey did. And..." she turned her gaze towards him, a weird look in her eyes. "It’s not like they reached out, unlike he did. They probably don’t want to see you, so it’s best if you don’t go and bother them."

He felt like he had just been hit in the stomach. It’s not like they reached out ? But they had no way of doing so ! How could she try and twist that as if they had had a choice at-...
But... what if it was the truth ? Maybe Sunny had just understood it all wrong when his mother had said she didn’t want him talking with the others. Maybe she hadn’t said that. Maybe he had imagined it, just as he imagined so much else.
She wouldn’t purposefully split him apart from his friends, would she ? She wanted to protect him. She wanted to protect him, she knew best, and because of how he was he was ungrateful. He’d always find a way to not be happy, because he was just like that. She just wanted to prevent him from being hurt.
That made sense, she was his mother, but... what if unlike what he wanted to think, that she prevented any contact in a weird attempt to protect him, his friends really had a way to reach out and chose not to ? What if that was what had happened ?

What if his mother had only told him no to reach out in order not to be hurt ?

This is a bad idea.

Sunny wanted to go home. He wanted to tell her to turn back, that going in Faraway wasn’t worth it. If people didn’t want to see him, he had no point in going back.

The teenager tightened his grip on his shorts.

Calm down. Breathe.

He wouldn’t be able to think coherently if he just slipped into panic. He wasn’t being rational. He should listen to what she had to say, and then try and process it to see what he would do. And decide what he thought about it.

Okay.

"- and even if he does, you shouldn’t comply. He could hurt you again."

Wait, what..?

He had been so caugh up in thought he hadn’t heard what she went on with after the "don’t bother them" part. He would have to ask her to repeat what she had said.
He wanted to sigh, but that might be not received very well.

Sunny cleared his troath, hoping he’d be able to push the words out.

"Sorry, could you... repeat that ? Didn’t hear."

She looked as if she was trying not to roll her eyes.

"Sunny, you should work on that. If people are talking, listen. Don’t just... wonder off in your own mind like that. It comes off as really rude."

Sunny wanted to shrink into his car seat. He nodded as an apology, eye darting down.

"So. I was saying... He could try to come talk to you. You should avoid him. I don’t know how stable he is, and even if Kelsey told me he’d calmed down, I don’t trust that... boy. I don’t know what his beef with you is, but whatever it is isn’t worth figuring out. So, try and not make him notice you. He might hurt you again, who knows ?"

Oh. She... was talking about Basil.

Sunny felt bile rising in his troath.

Of course she’d be reluctant towards the gardener. The only thing she saw him as now was the deranged boy that had stabbed Sunny.
Said teenager was glad she didn’t know about.. everything else. And hoped she’d never figure out his role in what had happened that day. In her mind, what had happened that day was that he had arrived after Sunny... staged it. She didn’t know that the idea had come from the flower boy, and she didn’t need to know.

But despite what the boy had done... Sunny still wanted to see him. He was his friend. He was still his friend. What had happened... he knew Basil only wanted to protect him. He knew he never intended any harm towards Mari, and Sunny had seen the effect his involvement had done to his once best friend. He had seen the consequences.

Yeah, Basil had messed up. For Mari, and for his eye. But... everyone had messed up somewhere at some point, too. There just weren't the same type of consequences.
But they had forgiven each other. Or at least, were working on that.

And Sunny was sure that even if the reason why Basil and himself were sent to the hospital that night was everything but positive, some good stuff had resulted from it.
Basil had gotten the help he needed. Well, that seemed to be what had been planned. After telling the truth to his friends, Sunny had finally talked about it with Basil.

It was about time he’d do that.

So, Sunny had tried to make Basil understand he should talk to Polly about it. From the little he had seen of the woman, Sunny decided he would trust her. She truly cared for Basil, and would help him. If she knew what was really hurting Basil, she’d be able to help. Sunny was positive about that.

So the other boy had openned up to his caretaker. And from what Sunny could have understood before he was discharged, Basil was on the road of making progress.
Of course it would take time. Sunny’s recovery would take time too. But at least, they were free from that lie now.
So, Sunny knew Basil wouldn't hurt him. Even when he did before, it were accidents. Accidents that were somehow Sunny’s fault. He knew it was. He should have been there for him instead of leaving him behind to fall apart.

And that’s why he was going to be there for Basil now, whether his mother liked it or not.

He felt a bit guilty for lying, but he knew it was for the best. Sunny knew his friends better than his mom did.

"I.. okay." Sunny shrugged, unhappy about her request. He wouldn't comply but maybe she wouldn’t suspect he intended to break that promise if he made it seem like he went along with it.

Kel wanted Sunny back in Faraway. Apparently, Basil might want him back too, if Kel had brought him up as an argument to have Sunny back on the phone. That made two out of four friends that might be happy with the thought of seeing him. Sunny decided that this fact was worth going back to Faraway, and worth lying a little more to his mother.

She seemed content.

"Okay. I just needed to make sure you agreed with me on that. I’m glad you’ll stay away from that boy."

Agree ? Sunny didn’t agree on anything, but okay. He had to think of a way to go see Basil without her following him all around the city.

His mother looked at him briefly, a twinge of hope in her eyes.

"You know... if you don’t want to go, we can call Kelsey and tell him. He said he wouldn't force you if you didn’t want to."

"No. I want to." He mumbled.

She seemed disappointed.

"Oh, okay."

Sunny enjoyed the short silence that came after. But of course, short meant it was broken quick.

"But if you feel overwhelmed at any point, I can come back and drive you home" she informed him.

Wait, what ?

"You’re not staying ?" He was used to her being away, but he though she was growing paranoid with knowing where he was now that he had been severly injured when she was away. He wouldn't have hoped for her to drop him off to be free from this babysitting-like presence.
Just as he thought that he was hit with guilt. He shouldn't think that.

She’s your mother. She’s putting up with your crap despite you having killed her daughter. She still cares so you shouldn't think of her that way.

But... teenagers could be upset with their parents, right...?

That meant he could be. Despite the unusual situation, he could be mad at her. Could he ? He couldn’t control his emotions anyway, that for sure.
He had learned that quite the hard way.

She sighed.

"Sunny, it might be a school break for kids, but us adults don’t get a work break. I have to work. Having an appartement in the city is quite expensive, you know ?" Her voice was filled with the kind of annoyance people got when they had to remind a person of something so obvious it should be impossible to forget.

Yeah, I would know. But I’m not the one who decided to move, am I...? He thought bitterly. He never wanted to move, even back when he wasn’t getting out of bed. This town, this house, as many bad memories it held, still had good memories. It was as close as he could be to being with Mari in a way. He had never wanted to leave it behind, even less after going out those three days.

He then nodded to make her understand he had heard her.

"So, to make things short : You’re polite. You don’t whine about this or that, they’re taking you in. Help as much as you can around the house, so with cleaning, cooking... You respect the house rules, and you eat what they give you, don’t be picky. Don’t do anything stupid. Let Henry study. Give Kelsey space if he needs it."

He really hopped she wouldn’t do a briefing. But she did.

"And Kelsey will probably want you to go with him at Halloween. Don’t eat too much candy, and brush your teeth after. It’s important."

He nods. I’m not a kid anymore... He didn’t need her to point all of that stuff out.

"And stay with Kelsey. It’s best if he’s with you when you’re out. He seems to be the only resonable one out there that’s willing to put up with you."

...Aubrey and Basil. He really didn’t want to listen to her rant. I don’t need her to tell me they’re 'violent' and how they 'should be put under supervision', or how 'sad it was' and that 'this is what happens when parents don’t raise their kids properly'. They’re not a danger. They’re my friends.

Sunny loved his friends. He loved them regardless of the mistakes they did, because they were so much more than those few errors.
So much more.

If anyone is a danger to anyone, it’s me.

He nodded, hopping his mother would no pursue her long tirades. She lacked seeing the way it hurt him to hear such things on them. They only hurt me because I hurt them first. I had no reason to. -It wasn’t even hurting me, what they did. Merely payback. I’m the one who did the initial damagel and for what...?

His thoughs were bitter, speaking what he never dared to.

If anyone should be locked up, it’s me, and you know that. 

Fortunately for him, she stopped talking and focused on the road, allowing him to close his eye and rest his mind a little.

He was really going back, uh...? Even if the whole trip seemed oddly rushed, he was going to see the others. He had missed them.

He though about a few memories for a while, reminiscing the past. They had been happy. He hopped they could be again with time.

But it wouldn't be the same ever again.

Question was, would that be okay ? Could they ever be happy without Mari ?

Could they ever be happy despite the things never being perfect, as they once were ?

Could they be happy knowing this all could have been avoided if it weren’t for Sunny throwing a tantrum over a violin..?

---

Sunny hesitated between attempting to merge with his seat or jump out of the car and never set foot in it again. Quite oddly he wished he could do both at the same time.

He had fallen asleep, so the trip had only felt like a few minutes to him. He hoped he could take the two hours to think of something to say, sentences he could say to Kel and his family, but his head was completely empty now that he had lost his chance. It felt like he had a test that would determine his future, and that he had forgotten everything about the subject.

Sunny peaked out of the vehicle’s window. Kel’s house was still the same, if he didn’t take into account the various Halloween decorations here and there. Hector was nowhere to be seen, so the dog must be kept inside the house.

"Sunny ! Come on out, Sweetie."

His mother knocked on his car door briefly before opening it. Reluctantly, he exited the safety of it and was quite stuned by how the temperature had dropped. He wished he had put on a sweather that covered his arms, but oh well. He’d be inside the house soon, wheter he liked it or not.

And he was really asking himself if he did like that though or feared it.

Ms. Suzuki handed him his suitcase, on which he positioned his backpack, and then walked towards the door, having put her hand around his shoulders to make him go forward. She had a weird grin on her face, as if she tried to look happy about being here.
Sunny noted how she did everything but look left, where their old house was.

Sunny, on the other hand, kept staring at it as she ringed the bell. It was a poor way to distract himself from the present by thinking of the past. He knew he shouldn't maybe do that, but what else could he do ? He was used to it, and bad habbits die hard.

Some noises could soon be heard inside the house, increasing in volume as they seemed to come closer to the door. Sunny anxiously stroked his hair in case it was messy, gaze frozen in front of him, unmoving. Unreadable, he hoped.
He didn’t know if the fact the emotions he felt lately were getting stronger and therefore harder to hide or ignore was a good thing or not. A therapist would probably say it was good, but what could he know ? He wasn’t seeing one, plus this was kind of an inconvenience to him. He felt more and more exposed the more his emotions managed to slip through his blank expression.
Visible emotions meant he could he manipulated, and any expression he made could be used against him.

Positive or negative.

So, he focused on keeping a straight face as Kel opened the door to the house so quick it produced a sort of wind that messed up all od Sunny’s and his mom’s hair.

"SUNNY !"

Kel’s grin was wide. No, in fact, it was more than wide. Sunny tried to find a more appropriate word, stronger than wide to describe what he had in front of him, but was interrupted.

"Well, hello Kelsey !" His mother offered her hand for Kel to shake, a smile plastered on her face. For a second, Sunny could have sworn he saw her eye twitch. For some reason, Kel chose to snort at that exact moment. Even though he looked slightly tensed as he shook Sunny’s mother’s hand.

"Hello Ms. Suzuki ! Wanna come in for a coffee or somethin’ ?" Kel stepped aside from the door, motionning the two to get in. He was jumping slightly out of apparent excitement, eyes fixated on Sunny who did everyhting he could in order to avoid his gaze, unprepared to such energy.

"Of course ! I’ll also greet your parents while I’m at it. Sunny, come do that too, it’ll take a few seconds."

She grabbed his wrist to make sure he followed her, and he shot a glance at Kel, hoping he could read the "I’ll be right back, sorry for that" in his eyes.

The inside of the house was the same as the outside had been : still the same, just decorated a bit. Sunny got dragged in the kitchen, and once there his mother let go off his arm in favor of putting hers around his shoulder as if he would run off.

In the room were Kel and Hero’s parents, M. Desoto reading what seemed to be the newspaper and Ms. Desoto drinking a cup of coffee alongside him. They both lifted their gazes towards the mother and son as the heard their footsteps.

Ms. Desoto’s smile seemed oddly similar to Sunny’s mother’s when she looked at her. But it became genuine and slightly worried as she shot a look at the boy, who was growing more and more confused.

Why do I feel like nobody here is actually enjoying what’s going on...?

"Youko..! Did the trip go well...?" Ms. Desoto’s voice seemed slightly too enthusiastic. "Do you want a coffee ? The city is pretty far so the ride must’ve made you quite tired. And you’ve got the trip back to do."

"Sure, I can use the extra energy, thank you, Sofia." Sunny’s mother also seemed tense.

Kel... what did you do.

"Sunny and I wanted to thank you for having him over, right Sunny ?"

He nodded. His mother frowned, shoting him a blunt look for a second.

Right. Talking.

"...yes. Thank you, Ms. And M. Desoto. It’s... nice." He said, glaring at the ground.

Ms. Suzuki sighed. Sunny knew he would have gotten scolded for not looking at the adults in the eyes if they weren’t standing in front of them. He’d probably get a phonecall lecturing him about politeness when she’d be gone.

"Sunny, dear, you can call us by our names, remember ? No need to be this formal."

I’m sure mom would disagree on that..

He nodded again, hoping he wouldn’t get urged to speak again. If he was honest, he wanted nothing but to lock himself in a room where he could merge with the floor and finally stop having several eyes looking at him.

"Sunny, why don’t you go with Kel ?" Said boy’s mom suggested him with a soft voice. "We’ll just be talking about boring usual grown-up stuff here, nothing you should worry about, okay ?"

Sunny nodded once again, about to get himself out of his mother’s grasp when she pulled him into a hug.

"Don’t leave without saying bye to mommy, silly." She reminded him before pressing a kiss on his forehead. He felt quite embarrassed to have his friend’s parents witness his own treat him like a child, but now he could storm off.

He walked out of the room after waving his mother goodbye, then turned his gaze away from her.

The boy stepped into the living room he had previously left -or been abducted out of- to see Kel still standing there, awkwardly smiling, a hand grasping his friend’s suitcase.
Being able to settle down and move on his own, Sunny could now detail his companion.
He still looked the same, but seemed to have managed growing half an inch more than last time. His hair was tied in a small ponytail and he wasn’t wearing the sport outfit he had back in the summer, very likely because of the temperature. The pale orange sweather he had on was way more fitting to the season.
His gaze was still sparkling, and that was comforting. At least Kel seemed happy despite, well, everything.

"Wanna go unpack ?"

Here we go...

Sunny nodded, stomach feeling as if it had been twisted in several knots as he followed the other out the living room and up the staircase.

"So," Kel began as he was about to knock on the door to his room, "I might have to tell you about a few things in case my parents start to act... weird ? I dunno." He laughed nervously.

Sunny stared. Does it have anything to do with the way you convinced my mom to bring me here...?

Kel made a grimace, looking for a way to word his thoughts. He stopped talking for a few seconds, lost in thought, and a smirk grew on his face.

"You know what...? We’ll put your stuff in my room and then we can talk about it. And Hero might want to be apart of this conversation to make sure I don’t freak you out with the way I’ll explain this."

For a moment, Kel’s face contorted in a way that made it seem he was trying not to laugh.

What was so funny ?

The athletic one of the two knocked on the door.

"I don’t see where or why it would freak you out though... I’m sure it would even make you laugh."

Make him laugh...? It would feel great, Sunny noted, feeling nostalgic as he tried to remember the last time he had laughed. Out loud, that was. Maybe the situation was funny, and he really was worrying for nothing.
But he couldn’t shake the feeling that his mother had been forced to bargain with the Desotos, and he was mortified it might bounce back against Kel. Whatever that was.

Wait, and Hero wanted to talk with him ?!

Sunny’s body froze when he took this fact into account. He had no idea if Kel’s brother was happy or not with his presence. And he was not ready to face him, even if both of them had visited every once in a while when he was in the hospital. He remembered how awkward and uneasy the interactions had felt, like they didn’t really want to be there but came to make sure he wouldn't do anything stupid. Would Hero wish him gone, out of the house ? Would he say that to Sunny’s face ?
Kel seemed to have processed the whole... thing since the last time they had met. He even seemed happy to have Sunny in his house.

But that wouldn’t be the same for Hero, and Sunny knew that.

Even with all the hapiness Kel showed right now, Sunny still felt like something serious was going on. Why was Kel glancing at him every couple of seconds with what looked like a worried look ? Sunny had seen the same expression on Kel’s parent’s faces just mere minutes ago. Did they feel like he was going to explose or what ? He wasn’t a ticking bomb ! Plus, he was more stable than five months ago, that for sure. Maybe not as stable as he wished he would be, but still he was better nonetheless !

Kel knocked a second time, more loudly, having gotten no response at his first try.

"Coming !" Hero’s voice came out a bit muffled because of the door being in the way, and then said door opened, revealing the college student.
He hadn’t changed at all, despite his hair being slightly -barely, really- longer than last time. But still just as messy as usual. Oh, and he looked exhausted, too.

He looked at Sunny in the eyes, expression unreadable.

Positive thing was that he didn’t look exactly... mad ? Sunny just couldn’t tell what he was thinking.

The young man stood aside from the door, allowing both his brother and Sunny to slip inside the room.
Kel’s side was surprisingly tidy, but still not as tidy as Hero’s.
Both of them noticed how he was detailing the space, and Kel snorted, putting his hands on his hips, looking proud of himself.

"Yeah, Mom made me clean up when I talked about having you over. It was one of the conditions and she was adamant about you not coming if it stayed messy. Well, that was when there were conditions about you com- MMPH-"

"Kel please don’t." Hero interrupted the other, embarrassed. He slapped a hand on his brother’s mouth. "Not right now, he needs to settle down before we can tell h- DID YOU JUST LICK MY HAND ?!"

Hero tried to wipe said hand all over Kel’s sweather while the lattest was trying to dodge his sibling's wrath.

Sunny didn’t know where to put himself as he watched the chaos unfold infront of him.

"Hey ! You were chocking me ! It’s justified ! Plus, I didn’t tell him over text just because you asked me not to." Kel pouted.

"First, no I wasn’t chocking you, second, that’s disgusting, third, you know why I asked you that." Hero’s gaze on Kel was almost a warning. But of course, Hero wasn’t very threatening when he tried to look like scary.

"You’re boriiiing ! I’m sure you wanna keep all the fun in telling him the story."

Hero looked as if he had swallowed a fly. "The fun in telling him-... Kel ! It’s not a funny-..."

"It is thought," Kel shrugged. Then, almost comically, both brothers turned their heads towards Sunny at the same time.

Sunny wondered if he should try and see if humans were capable of merging with the air molecules and become a mere concept of existence that didn’t have to be stared at.

"Kel, just look at him. What I told mom and dad, I meant it. Literally anyone could know just by looking at him tha-..." he sighed and interrupted himself, holding his temples. He then gestured at Sunny. "It’s more than obvious."

Sunny looked at himself. What was obvious...? He looked up at them, hoping they’d explain but was met with worried glances coming from the both of them.

Even Kel ?!

As anxious as he was, Sunny took a few deep breath, keeping eye contact with them. He managed to push out the words. He knew the first ones were hard to get out, but this time he would be talking to people he actually wanted to communicate with. The words would flow a bit easier as he went on.

"Why are you looking at me like that...?"

Kel looked uncomfortable and glanced away, whereas Hero sighed once again.

Well, the tone did sure shift quickly. Not even a minute ago the admosphere of the room was light and funny as the brothers bickered. Now it just felt as if a bucket of slime had fell on their heads.

The oldest motionned Sunny to sit on Kel’s bed, while he and his brother sat on the ground. They seemed to be in for a long talk.

"You don’t look very healthy." Hero let out. His voice wasn’t very loud, as if he didn’t want to be overheard.

Sunny blinked. He had thought he was improving. Was he not ?

Hero corrected himself "Well, you do look less pale, which is good. But you’re still very thin."

That would make sense because of his troubles with eating stuff lately, but why did it seem to worry them ? He was looking the same, if not worse last summer. Why were they pointing that out now ? He was better.

"Why are you..."

Sunny cleared his troath. It didn’t hurt as much as when he had just begun talking more, but he had developed some sort of tic : everytime he wanted to rephrase something or when he needed time before pushing the rest of a sentence out, he did that.

They waited patiently for him to be able to continue and ask his question. Sunny was glad they were being patient, but still felt a bit guilty about having such as hard time doing something as simple as that.

"Why do you look so worried about it?" Sunny clutched his knees lightly against his chest.

Kel scratched at his cheek, and Hero pressed his lips together before answering.

"You’re our friend."

Sunny noticed the "our", and for a moment he wanted to smile. But the time wasn’t really appropriate.

"And we’re worried about your health."

Sunny didn’t know how fo respond to that, honestly. He just whished he wasn’t burdening them more than he already had.

"But what does my... health have to do with how you convinced my mother to let me come here ? She must have told you that she didn’t want me to... be around..."

Hero almost had a sorry look in his eyes as he stared at Sunny for a bit. He then looked at Kel, and sighed.

"We were going to wait before your mother left to tell you, but I really think you should know about it before our parents do anything potentially... weird."

"Weird...?" What on earth did that mean ?

"But I just want you to know, Sunny, even if things are a bit... different, now, we still..." Hero closed his eyes for a second. "I still care about you despite... what happened."

Sunny felt highly uncomfortable as Hero mentionned it. For some reason, the young man was the one he was the most anxious about when it came to discuss the truth, or anything slightly related to it with.

"We still have to talk about what happened, but that’s a conversation for another time." Hero said, making it known to Sunny that they would talk about it. He didn’t look too mad, but he didn’t look happy either. "So, I need you to know that what we told your mom, we mean it. Before we tell you, I just need to assure you, I don’t regret what I said, nor said it lightly."

"What did you say...?" Sunny’s voice cracked a bit under stress. Why did he feel like they were about to drop a bomb on him ? He looked at Hero to continue, but he seemed to have finished what he wanted to say. Kel took the lead in speaking.

"So, when I told my parents it would be cool to have you over, they called your mom, ’cause y’know, we still had her number. But she kinda... didn’t want to hear us out, like at all ?" Nervous laughter cut trough his phrase. "She went on all about saying how Faraway had only been a bad experience overall since Mari’s... death, and that you got hurt here, and she said that the only place you were really safe was with her. And that’s kind of when Hero got like... mad ? He overhead the discussion, and tried to talk with your mom but she wasn’t having it, she said you would’nt be coming back."

Kel paused a bit, wondering how to tell the rest.

"So then I was like, okay so we’ll drive to the city and camp in the appartement complex you were in or something, as a joke right ? And then she went like, crazy saying how she’d call the police if we did that and how she didn’t want us or anyone near you because we weren’t, like... able to stop you from getting hurt ? And then she said she was the only one able to take care of you properly ’cause she was your mom and the only one who cared ’nd all..."

That seemed like his mom, yeah. She could be overreactive, but she was trying to protect him, right...? He was the only child she had left, she couldn’t lose him.

"That’s when Hero got like... real mad. He pointed out how thin you looked this summer, that if she was really taking care of you well you wouldn’t have been malnourished and all... and that, like, the whole situation was suspicious. Not to mention how she seemed to keep you away from anyone. I guess we were kinda freaked out and mad, so uh... we... ah, shit, it’s not as funny if I say it like that..." Kel seemed to be realising a few things as he talked, not being so eager about telling the whole story anymore.

"What did you... tell her ? She seemed to be in a big rush to... bring me here.."

Sunny wasn’t sure where this was going, but he knew he wouldn’t exactly like it.

Hero grimaced.

"It’s best if we just say it fast, but..."

He tilted his head down, muttering to himself, then lifted it to look at Sunny.

"We threatened to call CPS on her if she didn’t allow you to come."

Sunny felt as if he had been slapped.

He got up, feeling the urge to pace around to room as if it would soothe him.

"You did what ?! W-why ?!"

Kel made a calming motion with his hands, seeing Sunny becoming panicked as his confusion grew.

"Dude, dude, I promise we can explain. Sit down. I promise we didn’t do that just to have you over. Well, not entirely. The end justify the means, right...?"

Hero facepalmed.

"Kel, that’s not the right time to use this saying.. Sunny, please, sit back down. I’ll just... explain the train of thought there. We don’t take this as a joke, I can assure you."

"Well I kinda do a lit-"

Hero burried his elbow into Kel’s ribs to make him shut up, earing a few coughs and a shove in return.

Sunny sat back on the bed, head spinning.

Whatever their reasons had been, it did not justify this treath at all ! There were literally no reason to call CPS ! Why did they think there were...?

He really has a headache, but he had to focus on their explanation.

He tried to calm down.

Deep breath. It’s not that scary. They want what’s best for you. Even if there might be consequences, it’s okay. They’re here, aren’t they ? And they’re real.

They weren’t purple figments of his imagination made to hide a painful truth anymore.
This was the real world, and despite all the bad aspects it had, there were good things too.

This was the real world, and Sunny was still a little glad he was finally back living in it.

---

This was black space, and Omori was everything but glad he was back to being in it.

What else could it be but not that ? Sure, it wasn’t dark, the huge window letting the light flow in the room. But black space rooms weren’t all necessarily dark. Some looked kind of normal.
But he was alone, in silence, locked inside a room that made no sense to him. And it was cold, unbelievably cold. Plus, what he could see through the windom made him uneasy.

He didn't even know why it made him uneasy.

He’d understand if it made Sunny uneasy, but why him ? Had Sunny’s influence really been this bad ?
This was just a backyard. And a stump. Stupid stump. It had no importance to him. It wasn’t a part of his story, of his life.
Omori wasn’t Sunny. That was the whole point, the whole reason why he existed in the first place.
So did his eyes sting when he looked at it ?

Those sensations where black space ones. He did not like it back then and still didn’t.

He was alone, and locked inside this stupid piano room. Worse part, it had been hours and he still hadn’t found that key.

Omori pulled the doorknob with all his strengh with no effect. He was growing frustrated, red outline having settled in half an hour before, without leaving since.
The boy slammed his body against the door, but as strong as he was, he had the body of a child and for some reason this world’s obstacles were impossible to break. His knife had dented the door surface just a little, but no matter how many times he had slashed it, it didn’t take damage. It stayed here, taunting him. Even reading it a sad poem to have the angry emotion advantage didn’t work ! Why was it unaffected by the emotion system ?! Omori had fought a tree once, and even it played by the combat rules. And this door was here, refusing to submit itself to basic rules.

Omori would have screamed, but he just clenched his teeth. Screaming was useless, just as getting infected with emotions outside of battle. It didn’t benefit in anything to feel this if he wouldn’t be able to turn it to his advantage. Pointless trouble. Especially anger was pointless trouble.

The emotion Omori disliked the most was probably this one. Anger. Probably once more one of Sunny’s existence stains on his own.

But at least, that was something Omori had been able to use against his counterpart. He remembered that, and it was had been the most effective in their fights. To seem angry in his words.

If they ever were to fight again, he knew what to do to twist the situation to his advantage, once again.

But he didn’t want to fight Sunny right now. He wanted to break the door down. To explore new stuff. There had to be stuff outside, right ? Beside that backyard, which he could easily avoid.

He would have gone through the glass, but he had a faint memory of something similar happening in his past. A shattered version of himself that had quickly collapsed into sharp pieces of glass. He didn’t remember well where that had occured, but it didn’t matter now. He just knew he shouldn't break glass.

He gave the door one final kick before giving up, pacing angrily around the place.

What else. What else could he try...?

He couldn’t find a way. He couldn’t and this was so, so annoying.

If he wasn’t able to calm down, he’d see red.

Red grew in intensity around him.

He pushed the door, putting all his strength into his hands.

Not enough. It wasn’t enough. His knife wasn’t enough. His hands weren’t enough. He wasn’t en-

Wait. Hands...?

The crimson outlines toned down as he came to a realisation. His bare hands wouldn’t be enough. Alone, they couldn't do much against the door.

If he really was in black space, or somewhere similar, he knew he should have gotten help in going out. And the things that always helped him out of those situations were none other than the red hands.

That was the solution !

He turned to face the piano and lifted his hand towards it, waiting for several red ones to come flying out of the instrument he had broken. They flew around him a bit, then around the room as if they were curious, with a will of their own. He watched them a few seconds before gathering them against the door, and began pushing with their help.
This would work.

Except it didn’t.

He bashed his fists against the wood. Pain shot through his fingers as he did it again and again. This was stupid. This was stupid and pointless. Emotions were stupid and pointless. Coming here was stupid and pointless. Being alone was stupid and pointless. He had to calm down, because the whole situation was stupid and pointless. His idea was stupid and pointless.

He pushed the few red hands that tried grabbing his wrists away, and willed them gone, back to be in white space. He decided what he did. And no one or nothing should stop him. Because he was the one deciding for himself. He was the only one who decided that. He and he alone. Not Sunny. Omori had no point in serving Sunny and Sunny didn’t want his help anymore. So Omori decided what he did now. He was the only one deciding and no one would stop him, he did what he wanted.

When his hands began to hurt bad enough to be acknowledged above the anger, he stopped. Shook his hands in the air. Okay, that stung a bit. He should go back. He probably lost a few HP like this, stupidly and pointlessly just as this anger that had benefited him in nothing.

He reluctantly looked towards the piano, red outline fading in a blue one.

There was nothing interesting here. He should just go back to Headspace and deal with his frustration in his own way, as usual. Alone. Then go back to his friend, resuming the endless adventure cycle he once loved when he’d have pushed the frustration away.

He was upset.

He climbed on the piano, nearly slipping because of how smooth it was. Then he stood over the gap in it, white space far under it.

Well. The first minutes of that had been fun. Too bad he wasn’t fit to break a simple door down as Aubrey would.

...

Wait.

Aubrey would be able to break it down, right ?

The blue outline disintegrated, and without a second thought he dived head first through the hole, eyes closed and waiting for impact.

He landed on the back, his position having shifted during the fall. Air was pushed out of his lungs violently, but he quickly got up on his feet, even if he lost balance because of the rush he was in, head spinning from the brief lack of air.

He ran towards the door and opened it, arriving in neighbour’s room just as usual.

His friends and the Big Yellow Cat looked at him with suprise in their eyes, as it was the first time they’d see him so eager to do anything in a while. Also because that was the first time Omori had let the door to white space vacantly open, allowing the curious gazes of his friends to catch a glimpse of the white void.

Omori went to Hero quickly in order to lead the party as soon as he could.

"What’s up, Omori ? We’ve been waiting for y-"

Hero had no time to finish his sentence, the monocrome boy dragging him by the wrist away from the cards game they were playing waiting for him.

"Whoa- ! Omori, what are you doing ?" The oldest asked, surprised at Omori’s sudden physical urging. "We’ll follow you, don’t worry ! You don’t have to drag me around, haha !"

Kel titled his head sideways, confused. "Yeah, Omori, what’s that for ? You seem in a rush today... got something you wanna show us ?"

Omori let go off Hero’s hand and nodded, pointing towards the opened door. They all seemed rather perplexed. Aubrey went closer to Omori, holding her plushie close to her chest.

"You want us to go in your room...? But... why ?" She was disoriented.

"Yeah, why ? Doesn’t look like there’s much to do like, at all !" Kel shot, having walked towards the room to face it. "Whoa ! It’s huge ! ...I remember looking through the keyhole once and thinking it seemed like, boring but now it just looks... sad..."

He looked about to say something else to Omori but Aubrey puched him on the top of the head.

"OW ! What was that for ?!" He whined, massaging his skull. Omori assumed that hit must’ve cost the boy two or three HP. He was clearly not as hurt as he made it look like. Typical thing when he fought with Aubrey, ha.

"You don’t look through keyholes ! Hasn’t anybody taugh you about privacy ?!"

Kel stook his tongue out, earning another kick.

"OW-!"

"And it doesn’t look boring ! I think his room is pretty ! You’re being mean for no reason !"

"I wasn’t being mean though ?! I just don’t get why he spends so much time there ! It looks like there’s just nothing to do..."

Kel turned to face Omori.

"Hey, why don't you stay with us more...? Going on adventures is much more fun than staying..."

He gestured towards the room.

As usual, no response. Hero was about to say something as well but Omori, getting impatient -and upset at their comment about his safe quiet space too- got behind them and pushed them to make them go through the door. Once they were in, he stepped inside as well and shut the door. He then glanced at his friends, who were looking around, lost.

"It’s... awfully quiet" shared Hero. "But... it’s calming. I like the piano."

Ah, finally some quality appreciation. Omori nodded Hero, showing the other two Hero became favourite for the day because he knew how to appreciate the things that should be appreciated.

"But it’s cold, though. It feels lonely."

So much for having a favourite, then. Omori puffed his cheeks and crossed his arms. He was fianlly allowing them in, and they were so judgemental. That was mean.

"Hero ! You upset him !" Aubrey ran towards Omori with worried eyes. "Don’t worry, Omori ! Your room is awesome ! Just like you !"

But Omori wasn’t in the mood anymore to listen to his friend’s reviews of white space. And he was beginning to think it was a bad idea to let them move around and look at everything. Especially Kel.

"Whoa ! There’s a laptop ! What’s on it ?"

Omori shut the laptop. Yeah, Kel didn’t need to see the Hangman, nor his journals. And he doubted his friend would just "stare at the screen".

"Aw man... I was just curious ! Can’t I just watch a little what there is ?"

Omori shook his head.

"Is this payback for saying your room is boring ...? If it’s this, I’m sor-"

Omori ran towards Hero and snatched the sketchbook from his hands. Nope. No going through that.

"Oops. Sorry. Should’ve asked permission." Hero put his hands up in a calming motion, noticing the faint red hovering around the boy.

Why were they messing with his stuff ? He was just trying to get them to climb the st-

"The cat is so cute !! What’s it’s name ?!" Aubrey squealed, noticing Mewo. She went to pat her, yellow outline bright.

Omori went closer and gave Mewo a few pats too, before standing up. He tapped Aubrey’s shoulder to get her attention, earning an estatic look from her. But before she was able to say anything a scream pierced through all their ears.

"OMORI HELP THERE’S SOMETHING FOLLOWING ME-"

Said boy went tense on the spot and turned around to Kel almost violently, pulling his knife out and ready for battle.

How was this possib-

Oh.

Kel was just running from a red hand.

Omori wanted to punch his friend for the false alarm, even if Kel had no idea of what "Something" also meant to Omori. Omori should’ve just known it couldn’t be Something. Kel, just as Aubrey and Hero, didn’t know.

Omori put his knife away, holding in a sigh and gestured at the red hand to stop dashing after Kel. Said hand went flying towards Omori -who ignored Aubrey’s yelp- and went into his back, seeming to disolve into him. Omori thought it’d be safer to do the same with the rest of the hands hovering all around the place.

"I forgot you could do that for a second," admitted Hero. "But I wasn’t aware you could use that skill outside of battle."

Omori shrugged as he began walking towards the string, glad to see they were following him. Finally some normalcy again. The chaos of them trying to go through his stuff -and reminding him of why they shouldn't be in white space for a reason- had made the situation hard to handle, but at least he was back in control. Just as usual.

"It’s a skill that works like my 'cook' one, right ? I can cook for you guys outside of battle, and you can summon those outside of battle, right ?"

Omori nodded as he stopped, wire above his head.

"They look a bit funny, wiggling around like that." Kel noted, having noticed a red hand that Omori forgot and going towards it, leaving the party. "What do you use them for without foes to face, though ?"

The red hand gripped Kel’s shirt and dragged him back in the party, pocking him on the forehead before going back to Omori, who shot a glare at Kel. Said boy laughed.

"Oh, okay, haha !"

Omori conjured a few red hands to use as steps to get easier on the string. He had struggled the first time he’d tried, and didn’t need his friends to witness that.

It would be rather humiliating for the leader of the party to fall on his butt trying to get a grip on a stupid line.

He managed easily and let Aubrey, Kel and Hero follow after him, then let the hands fly around them as they began their ascension.

Mid-way, out of breath, Hero asked for a break. Omori, growing impatient, had sent the three red hands to serve as support duty in lifting Hero up a bit to alleviate a bit of weight. That would have to do the trick, because Omori wasn’t waiting another second.

They ended up at the top, and Omori helped his friends out after making sure not to trip out of the piano like the first time.

As he pulled Hero out and jumped on the ground, the oldest kept holding Omori’s hand, looking at it.

"Hey, Omori, what happened to your hand...? It looks...hurt? Wait a second, I’m making you a cook-"

Omori shook his head. His hands could wait, even though it was a bit weird they were even bruised at all as this never happened in Headspace, but he wasn’t in the mindset to bother. He led them to the locked door and after ignoring their wonders about the faint damage he had done it with his weapon earlier, he tagged Aubrey.

It took her a few second to understand exactly what Omori expected from her, but she ended up getting what he silently asked her and pulled her bat out.

Omori thought he would began crying on spot when the first hit didn’t break the door, but she continued bashing at the wood and after five or six tries, the door gave in and broke. Kel ended what Omori had percieved as a boss for blocking the path so annoyingly by ripping what was left apart in order for them to get through without get hurt on the shards.

Aubrey tagged Omori back, and the monochrome’s boy outlines flickered yellow as he began running out of the room.

The door was torn down, but who would care ? He was finally out. The end justified the mean, and it’s not like anyone cared if he broke anything. It had never mattered, it wouldn't matter now.

Time to go explore the brand new location !

Chapter Text

Hero was feeling a lot of conflicting emotions right now. In fact, he had been for a while. He wasn’t sure of anything anymore, was second-guessing everything ever since that one morning.

He had felt a lot of things simultaneously, when Sunny said all those words, when Sunny had revealed the lie that all their lives had grown onto and revolve around.

At first came the shock.
An overwhelming numbness. A feeling that this couldn’t be right. It just couldn’t be right. That Sunny was spitting out nonsense as a secondary effects of the drugs he was given since he was rushed into the ER, weeks prior. It had to be a lie. Right ? Sunny loved Mari. Just as they all did. He wouldn’t do this.
Basil loved Mari. He wouldn’t do this.

But they had done this.

And then came anger. Disgust.
He felt enraged.

He thought he would throw up right then and there. They had done this. It all made sense now. She was never depressed. That’s why it was so sudden, no signs apparent. She was never depressed. Not a single sign visible, because there never were any.

What had they done. What on Earth had they done ?!

Why had Sunny pushed her over a violin ? Over a recital ?! A stupid performance wasn’t worth her life !
Anybody in their right mind would have known the stairs weren’t a place to fight near !
It had never been Hero’s fault. It had never been his fault. It had always been Sunny’s. Sunny was to blame. He had killed her. Sunny pushed her. Sunny killed her.

And Basil knew. He knew, all this time. All these years. He knew. He could’ve said something. He could’ve said something right when he saw it happen. But that wasn’t what he had done. Basil had chosen to destroy everyone even further than what would be done when they would have learned about the accident.
He made the accident into something twisted. Something twisted, sick and horrible. Something that they all thought was their fault. Something they all thought could’ve been avoided. Something that would haunt Hero forever. A sight that would haunt them all forever, destroying them more and more everything they dared thinking about her. They could have done everything, anything but this.

But they had done this.

And then chose to lie about it furthermore, for years.
At any point they could have confessed what they had done. At any point Basil could have said something. He could have. But he chose not to. Just as Sunny who escaped his actions by not coming out of the house, and doing whatever the hell he did to escape it while his mom was protecting this perfect little protection bubble she had made for this boy. For this killer.

Anger was so close to consume him.

They had ruined so much. They had ruined a part of him. They had taken so much with their actions and lies. Things that he’d never get back. They took away Mari. They took away Mari’s dignity. They took everything from Mari. They took everything from them. They took everything from Hero. They had ruined everything.

They were to blame. He wasn’t.

Then, as suprising as that was, came a sick sense of happiness.
He felt estatic.

It was never his fault. It was never his fault. He hadn’t done anything wrong. Mari never hated him for missing the signs, signs that weren’t there. Mari never gave up because he wasn’t good enough of a boyfriend to pay attention to her troubles. He didn’t have to feel guilty. He wasn’t the one that had done the wrong. She had been murdered and her murder had been framed. He wasn’t the one that had fucked up anywhere. He was clean of any guilt in this situation. He had never messed up anywhere. It wasn’t his fault. She didn’t hate him. She never had hated him enough to chose to die rather than to talk to him. He hadn’t messed up.

But, he had messed up. Not having messed up as he thought he did with Mari didn’t mean he hadn’t messed up anywhere else.

He had a tendency to beat himself up over every bad thing that happened around him ever since that one dreadful evening.

After this excuse of joy came sadness.

Grief over what could’ve been done, what could’ve been fixed if he knew then what he knew now.
He felt depressed.

He could shift the blame how many times he’d like, it wouldn’t change the fact that Mari was dead. She was dead. No matter who’s fault it was, no matter how she really died, she was gone.
And if anyone came just a bit earlier, just a tiny bit earlier, everything would have been avoided. That was something he had thought over and over again when he believed she had killed herself. And he was cycling around this thought again.

If only anyone had come before Sunny could’ve gotten so mad about practicing.
If only someone had been there on time to calm Mari down at the sight of the shattered instrument.
If only someone had been there to break their fight on time.
If only someone had been there to catch Mari on time before she fell.
If only someone had been there.

If only, if only, if only.

It would be so easy to let himself spiral in this pattern of thought. He had done it once, he could do it again. Maybe he’d even loose himself enough that this time he’d die, and see her again.
It’d be so easy, really.

...

But he had to calm down. He had to calm down, and realise.

A performance wasn’t worth anyone’s life. It wasn't worth Mari’s.    But, it also wasn’t worth Sunny’s, nor was it worth Basil’s.
What happened then couldn’t have been avoided, nobody could have known.
It had already happened.
The past couldn’t be changed.
Things had played out the way they did, and there was no changing what had occured.
And it wasn’t anyone’s fault.
They loved her too.

They were kids. Oh my god, they were kids.

They were kids. Kids have a hard time dealing with anger. With fear. Especially if they’re alone to deal with something as traumatic as what Sunny and Basil had witnessed and played a part in.

They were so scared. They were alone. Always have been ever since. Oh my god. They were alone in this. We left them alone to deal with this.

But the others couldn't have known. Could they ?

They couldn't have known what was the reason behind both the boy’s behaviours. They couldn’t have even dared to suspect they had played a part in what they thought had happened. Hero used to put all the blame on himself about "missing the signs" for Mari.

And he was trying very hard not to do the same right now with Sunny and Basil.

He had had severals reasons for changing his major. But the pressure his parents put on him, or the loss of Mari’s support in his dream of being a cook weren’t the major reasons he had taken that descision.
He had thought that if he studied to be a doctor, he’d actually be able to help. To do something.
To never miss the signs ever again.

And yet he had missed them. He had missed signs that, this time, were really there. And it wasn’t like the world wasn’t screaming at him to realise, shoving proof in his eyes that he chose to brush off as "being too paranoid". As if "it couldn't happen twice in the same friend group".

But they weren’t a friend group anymore, were they ?

They had split apart.

And it had hurt them all. But they were all too blinded by their own suffering to see that others were hurting too.

And that ignorance had nearly cost Basil and Sunny their lives.

"Basil hasn’t been taking care of his flowers lately.."
"Basil has been has been all by himself recently"
"Oh, Basil, why can’t you see that everyone is here for you...?"
"Please do whatever you can to help him... if anyone can do it, it’s you...!"
"Oh... Thank goodness you guys came back..."
"I haven't been able to get a word out of him since. Maybe he just needs some time alone... but... I don't know... I'm just worried."

Even without paying attention to Basil himself, Polly’s words should have been enough of an indicator. A clear sign that the "there’s really no way out of this, is there...?" he thought he imagined Basil whisper back when they had saved him from the lake was something he had really said.
Meant.
Thought.
Believed.

What it implied, oh so explicitly.

But Hero had chosen to brush it off. Thinking it couldn't happen twice.

But it could.

And it almost did.

Hero was just beginning to recover from the rush of emotion he just felt, standing there in that hospital room where Basil was still sleeping when he realised just how horrendously lucky he was.

They could have lost Basil. They could have lost Sunny.

They could have lost both of them so many times before.

Basil was still laying there unconscious, blissfully unaware for now that he had survived his attempt and unaware of the chaos unfolding in the very room he was being kept alive in.

But they could have lost him.

They could have lost him so long ago. It was a miracle the boy had survived even this long. It was a miracle that a boy who knew how to tie a noose at 12 had survived until then, had survived despite the last four years being nothing more but hell to him.

Hero realised that Mari’s death had cursed Basil to stay alive.

The exact reason why the gardener had know how to tie that knot at such a young age, to know this specific use at that age was still a blur to the doctor to be. And he wasn’t even sure to want to know why exactly Basil had remembered this process so well to be able to do it without mistake and quick in such a rush and panic. But the fact that Basil hadn’t tried to leave sooner than now had to be because he had seen from the front row how such a death would affect the others was... As horrible as it was, it had given to the boy a reason to hold on.

And Sunny.

Hero should have guessed too. Blinded by his surprise, by his joy to see Mari’s little brother again, he forgot to be concerned enough about just everything.

Sunny’s skin being almost inhumanly pale, as if he was a dead man walking. Everything about Sunny felt like he was a dead man walking.

Him being that pale.
Him being that thin.
Him looking so lost in thought.
Him being silent, but more silent than he ever was.
Him looking like he wasn’t even fully there.
Him looking like he had no sense of self-preservation anymore, jumping in that lake forgetting he couldn’t swim -if it was even possible to forget oneself couldn’t swim-.
Him not seeming to notice his own wrist and the white lines scattered across it.

And his eyes.

Oh god, his eyes.

The amount of resignation and despair in his eyes.

How could Hero have missed all of that ?

Sunny had been breaking down in front of them that day, after finally telling the truth, mumbling in between breaths how he didn’t deserve to be called their friend, but the thing was that Hero felt like he was the least deservant of that title.

He was the oldest.

He was supposed to be the most responsible. The one providing care, comfort and security.

He had managed to give neither of the three, and that was bad enough for two of his once closest friends to try and take their own lives at some point. Or, several points.

What if they had tried more than once ?

What if they weren’t the only ones in the group that had attempted ?

What else had Hero missed ?

Probably a lot. And he would miss a lot more if he stayed dwelling on his pain like that.

He was in pain. But the others were too.

Kel, as much as he tried to hide his face by facing the wall, couldn’t undo the fact that they had all seen his initial horrified reaction. There were things that, at some point, couldn’t be hidden anymore. Kel couldn’t pretend they didn’t all see his shoulders shaking, but he could decide not to see their acknowledgement of it.

Aubrey, who was clenching and unclenching her fists repeatedly, breathing heavily, gaze focused in front of her yet unseeing, deep in memories. She was trying as hard as she could to not do or say anything she knew would have unwanted consequences. Basil’s condition was the thing that seemed to remind her the most of the part words could play in a situation as hurtful as that very one.

Basil, who despite being asleep, had everything but a peaceful expression. He was probably having another ones of the countless nightmares Polly had mentionned briefly when they were waiting outside the ER, waiting for Basil and Sunny to be confirmed to survive their injuries. He was probably having a nightmare that he thought couldn't be worse than the one he thought he would succeed in leaving for good. And no matter how many times the nurses assured him that he was being given painkillers, Hero’s sense yelled at him that whatever dose they were giving him wasn’t enough to alleviate the pain he must be feeling. But he couldn’t ask them to increase the dosage, as that would kill Basil faster than any deeper stab in the stomach.

Sunny, who’s eye clearly begged for all of this hell to end. Sunny who did his best to keep standing, legs shaking, and ending up collapsing despite his efforts. Fall that had been broken by Hero, who couldn’t fix the damage that had been done in just one embrace. It couldn’t heal what had been done.
Any amount of hugs couldn’t fix Sunny anymore, but Hero hoped so, so dearly that an enough amount of hugs could make Sunny’s eye drift away from Basil’s windows. He hoped Sunny would just stop staring at the windows, at the sky and at that void that could be supposed under it. He hoped Sunny would just stop staring at the thought of this emptiness with that one begging look, sobbing in utter silence.

He hoped Sunny could remember the way Hero had stayed there that day, trying everything in his power to support him despite the tornado of opposite feelings that was messing everything inside him up. He hoped Sunny could remember the way the two others had joined in the hug despite the shock of the reveal. Despite the anger they all felt.

Hero hoped Sunny could remember that this time, they were supposed to stay together, no matter how hard things would turn out to be. That, for the first time, they wouldn’t let their emotions get in the way of things. They’d process their emotions as time went. But they had to focus on mending what was broken around, too.

...

Hero hoped that Sunny still remembered this now that he had moved. He hoped that Sunny remembered that as he was sitting in front of Kel and Hero, trying to catch his breath. Hero hoped Sunny understood that him being angry didn’t mean he hated him forever. Friends could be angry at each other when they messed up. But they didn’t have to hate each other. Sunny didn’t deserved to be hated, and Hero hoped he knew that.

They all needed time to process what had been said, what had been done. To process their anger, remorses and regrets. But that didn’t mean they would hate and leave Sunny. Or Basil. Things would be tense, awkward and even uncomfortable for a bit of time. But they would figure it out. They’d manage.

That’s what Mari would’ve wanted. So Hero would make sure it’ll happen. He didn’t have to wonder what he should have done for Mari to "want to stay" anymore. He had to focus on what she would have wanted them to do now that she was gone.

They had to stay together. Forgive each other, if they could. That wouldn't be easy. But it could be done. Hero knew it was something that could happen. He could forgive both of them. It would take time, but he could. He knew he could.

Hero didn’t have to drown in remorse, and Sunny didn’t have to drown in regrets.

He hoped Sunny knew that. He could forgive him. Hell, he wanted to forgive him. It wasn't because it took time it wouldn’t happen.

Sunny deserved to be happy, too. He deserved to be cared about.

That was why, despite his anger towards the boy, he fought so hard to make it possible for him come over.

Because it was more than that. It was more than just a few weeks of sleeping over.

Something was very wrong, and for some reason Sunny didn’t even realise it.

Hero was angry. Bitter. But not just at Sunny. He cared for him and felt a lot of fear for him right now. It wasn’t the time to be angry at Sunny. There were things more important than that he had done.
For example, how his mother had been taking care of him.

Or, how she had not.

Sunny bit his nail, and after a short moment he lifted his gaze to meet Hero’s, ready to hear their explanation.

"Sunny, do you..." Hero’s voice wasn’t loud, fearing the adults downstairs would somehow hear them. He didn’t want that, especially Ms. Suzuki to hear what he was saying. Even if she was probably talking with his parents right now, mind occupied by the conversation she was in. But he kept on whispering, half to avoid getting overheard, half because he hoped it would make a calmer ambiance and ease Sunny’s apparent anxiety. "You do realise that your mother isn’t..."

Shit. How do I even say this ?!

He hated the way Sunny was looking at him. It wasn’t fear of having had the situation -whatever it was in detail- figured out. Somehow, his confused expression was so much worse.

Did he not even realise...?!

"Isn’t what...?" Sunny seemed lost. His face was not as relaxed, as blank as it had been for so long during the last season, but it could be hard to make out he was emoting anything, still. It was a tiny bit of expression, barely visible at all, but visible nonetheless when you could compare it to the way he would keep a straight face at all times before. That had to be an improvement. It relieved Hero just enought to continue.

"She’s not taking care of you how she should, and we should have seen it sooner."

Sunny frowned for a split second, before blinking and his neutral expression setting in once again. "What do you mean by that...?" His voice was barely audible. Hero wanted to yell out in frustration.

Does he really not realise ?!

Even Kel was tensing up besides him. His bother may keep that frozen, slightly sad smile to provide a sense of possible comfort or safety, Hero sensed he was angry as well about the situation. He could tell by the way his sibling was clenching his fists.

Hero thought he’d have to question Sunny, and see if it clicked for the other. He had to question him about back when he still lived in Faraway. Sunny’s mother wasn’t acting the same before Mari’s death, Hero knew it. But he hadn’t seen her ever since.
And that was the problem.
Where was she ? Where was she during all this time when Sunny still was in Faraway ?
It should have clicked so long ago. But Hero didn’t realise. Again, something that he missed. But what happened, happened. The only thing he could change was the future. So he had to see what had changed after Mari passed, and see if Sunny would realise by himself.

"Sunny, you remember last summer, right ?"

Dumb question, Hero. Of course he does. Not like last summer was a particularly pleasant experience.

"Mmh..." Sunny hummed, biting his nails still.

"When we slept over at your house, I did your chores, remember ? And I made breakfast, too." Hero scratched at the back of his head.

Sunny nodded.

"So I did notice a few things, y’know...?"

"Like what...?"

"Well... first of, your mother wasn’t there."

Sunny shrugged.

"She had to stay in town, they were selling furniture she thought would look good in the house."

"Yeah, but Kel told me was she wasn’t there the day before either."

Sunny shot a look at Kel. Not accusatory, just a confused look.

"How did you know that...?"

Kel shrugged noticably, raising his hands too. "There wasn’t any car in the driveway, plus if she was here she’d be the one that would have opened the door. She always did when she was here, when she wasn’t... well..." the end of his sentence never came out, as his gaze drifted.

"...No one opened the door." Sunny’s voice was so low Hero wasn’t sure if it was his imagination or not. But his lips had moved, so the boy had talked.

"Yeah..." Kel scratched his nose with the back of his hand. "But then you did, and since it was you that did, that was clear she wasn’t there too on the first day you came outside."

Sunny shrugged, and hummed.

"How long was she away ?" Hero questioned.

"I... don’t really remember. I guess... a week...?" Sunny kept on shrugging as he pushed the sentences out, almost as if he needed someone to confirm what he was saying. "Why does it matter...?"

"A week ?!" Sunny and Kel flinched at the sudden raise of voice. Hero internally kicked himself for speaking so loud. "Sorry. It’s just... a week...?!"

"Mmh. But she trusted me, you know ? I wasn’t doing anything wrong, I just stayed in the house. I didn’t need supervision..."

"Yeah, but you needed food at the very least." Hero spat out, unable to contain part of his anger. Sunny flinched.

"I had some..."

"Sunny, when we slept over at your house there wasn’t anything on the counter. No bread, no sandwich, no potato chips, not anything that could stay unspoiled for that long." Hero recalled, glaring at Sunny who shrunk under his gaze.

"Fridge." Sunny shrugged. "There was steak in the fridge. I ate it the night before Kel got me out."

Hero didn’t know what face he made, but it must’ve been making Sunny uncomfortable enought to turn his head away from him.

"Sunny."

Said boy didn’t budge.

"Sunny, look at me." Hero’s voice was worried. Sunny reluctantly complied, blinking his eye a few times.

"There wasn’t any electricity in the house. Any electronic equipment wouldn’t have worked because of the lack of-..."

Did he say he ate a steak from the-... but the fridge wasn’t even working and it smelled-... Oh my god.

"You ate a steak that was in the fridge ?!" Hero whisper-shouted.

Sunny shrugged -again-, looking slightly lost as to why Hero was acting and reacting like this.

"Yeah, I did, I was hungry..."

"But what else was there to eat with the steak ?"

"There was just the steak, it’s enough for me you know...?"

"Wait. Sunny, please. Just... just think about this."

"Think about what...?"

"Sunny. The steak was at room temperature."

"No, it was in the fridge."

"But the fridge wasn’t...." Kel’s voice trailed off.

Even though both of them had thought Sunny might have stayed days without food, actually having confirmation and this horrendous new informations didn’t ease the experience at all.

"The power was out in your house. The fridge wasn’t working. You shouldn’t keep, even less eat a steak that is at room temperature. It gets spoiled much more quickly." Hero reminded the other, trying to speak less faster than he was when he got upset. Which he was, for a multitude of reasons.

Sunny puffed his cheeks for a second.

"I know that. But it wasn’t at room temp..." He didn’t finish. And frowned. "Oh..."

Hero felt as if something cold was climbing his back as he realised something else.

"Sunny. When was your mother last in Faraway before you were supposed to move...?"

"A week before Kel pulled me out" Sunny told the oldest, still frowning. He seemed to recall a memory and understand something he had missed. He grimaced for a split second, before looking back at Hero, once again expression almost blank.

"She only left that steak for you...?"

Sunny shrugged. "I didn’t eat that much back then, I was just-"

"Oh my god." Kel interrupted the one-eyed teen, a hand over his mouth. "Oh my god. What the hell is wrong with her" He let out a nervous laugh. "Oh my god."

"What...?" Sunny looked as if he was being left out of some joke, tensing up.

"She left you alone for a whole week with only a steak ?!" Hero was horrified.

"Yeah, but I-"

"With no power to keep it cold ?"

"It’s fine ! I wasn’t going to eat anything else, and I just had to heat it up for it to be edible-"

"You really ate it ?!"

"I was hungry..."

"Of course you’d be hungry if it was the only thing she left for y-..." Hero stopped on the spot, acknowledging what Sunny had given as an excuse. "How did you heat it up...?"

Sunny shrugged, scratching his hair afterwards. "Microwave..."

Hero hesitated between crying or yelling his frustration out. Maybe both. But he had to keep calm. He was the oldest, he should take care of this how he should have all this time ago.

"There wasn’t any power in the house, Sunny..." The college student’s voice was almost a complaint at this point. What would it take for Sunny to get the hint ?

And why the hell is Sunny adamant about the fridge and microwave working ?

It was simply impossible.

He had no clue what Sunny did in this house all these years, but he never came out once to do anything during this time. And god knows that boy needed therapy after what had happened.

Hero knew Sunny’s mother was aware of how the recital day had really played out. Sunny had told them. But now it was also obvious that she knew. If she didn’t, or even if Mari really had...

She would’ve have tried to get Sunny therapy. She should have.

Heck, she should have anyways. He was her son. He had made a mistake. And... then had made another. But he was her son.

"Sunny... normal parents don’t leave their kids alone with almost no food. Especially not food that will get spoiled within days, or even hours."

He got no reply, so he tried making his voice more gentle. I just need him to look at me. Anything that could help me see he does realise.

"They don’t leave that long either, particularly if they’re a single parent."

A mere shrug. Barely visible. It’s almost as if Sunny didn’t care about this.

He can’t be seriously unaffected by this, can he ?!

"Especially if their child isn’t okay at all."

Finally, he got a glance. But no words of acknowledgement.

Kel took both of their silence as an opportunity to say what Hero tried to imply the harsh way. "Sunny, it looks like she doesn’t give a damn about you."

Sunny stayed silent for a few seconds. Then opened his mouth, frowning, hesitating. "She does care."

"How do you know that ? When has she showned care, or concern...?"

Sunny’s gaze got complicated, then lit up slightly. He seemed less tense, relieved.

But it didn’t relieve the other two. Hero sensed that whatever Sunny would say to try and justify or minimise his mother’s behaviour -that was more than obviously neglectful in more than one way- would just be something the boy had brought himself to believe.

"She does care. She loves me. She said it. She says it."

Sunny let his legs dangle off the bed. "She said she’d take care of me, since I was..."

And there he was again, shutting himself up, expression closing off in a slight frown.

Does he think he said too much...?

"Since she said you were...?" Kel echoed, urging the other to finish.

"...I was sick, and she said she’d protect me." Sunny shrugged.

Sick...?

"She’d protect you because.., you were sick...?" Kel voiced Hero’s confusion.

Sunny rectified himself. "She said I had a disease. And that she’d take care of me." He rubbed his nose quickly. "She cares, see. Plus, she still does. She loves me. I’m her only son, and she loves me." He shrugged. "She doesn’t want to loose me. That’s why she wanted me to stay safe after I..." He frowned very noticeably this time, then shook his head. "That’s not important. She loves me, she cares about me. You can go ask her, she’ll tell you that."

"How does she show it ?" Hero asked.

"Show what ?"

"That she cares. Because leaving you alone without food, without any physical or psychological care doesn’t seem like she cares."

Sunny frowned. "She’s... trying her best. Moving places is hard, she makes mistakes sometimes... it’s okay..."

"How is this okay, Sunny ?!" The young man wanted to shake some sense into the other. "This isn’t any mistake ! You’re her son ! What she’s doing -or rather not doing- has consequences on you ! Look at how thin you are...!"

"It’s not important...! She’s still here. That’s what matters."

"Sunny-"

Said boy dropped his fist on the matress, letting his head drop towards the ground. It was the closest they had seen him to anger in...

How long exactly...?

"Please. Just... whatever you’re trying to say, it doesn’t change the fact that she... didn’t go. She puts up with me. She... must be going trough stuff too. I made a mistake too. Worse than hers. She had to- you all had to suffer because of me. And she chose to stay. You did too."

The last thing Hero needed right now was to be compared with Ms. Suzuki about anything. Even something like staying for Sunny. He kind of burst out.

"Goddamnit Sunny, that’s child neglect, not simple mistakes !"

Sunny shut his mouth, looking away.

Silence dropped over the room.

Did I just go overboard...?

He brought his knees to his chest, sighing. Shrugged. His voice came muffled. "Maybe it is. But it doesn’t matter. I’m not a good b- person, so I... technically shouldn't deserve good parents. Or even-"

Kel lost his patience and got up, pacing around the room. "You’re not a bad person. If Aubrey was here I’m pretty sure she’d have punched you for saying that."

Sunny didn’t reply.

This conversation isn’t going anywhere.

Sunny understanding he was actually deservant of actual, proper care would be a longer process than what they had thought.

The purpose of this conversation was originally about explaining their reasons for threatening to call CPS. So Hero finished the talk on that, as the ambiance was becoming too tense.

The last thing they needed was Sunny going back with his mother. Here, he’d have a chance to realise the situation wasn’t okay, and maybe even have fun too. That was what vacation were for. Everything would just crumble if Sunny felt bad enough here to leave.

What if he didn’t come back...? What if he-...

Focus, Hero.

"Sunny, we’ll continue this conversation later. But, you deserved to know why we were worried and why we... threatened, to call CPS. Don’t say we didn’t have a reason, because there’s clear evidence of child neglect."

I still think we should call them nonetheless.

Sunny looked glad this discussion was finally ending, but a bit upset still.

"I’m sorry if it brought the mood down. I kinda told Kel it would, but he seemed to find it funny until now, and you deserved to know anyways."

Sunny shrugged, once again. He looked like a tape that kept replaying at this point.

Hero got to his feet.

"I’ll help you unpack your stuff, then I’ll go back to my homework. I’ll need you to be quiet if you two are staying in the bedroom." He told them.

I need to get my mind of this. I feel like I’m going to explode right now.

There was too much stress.

Kel shook his head. "Nah, we’ll, leave you alone." Hero’s brother had gotten back his usual grin, trying to dissipate the negativity that was still feeling heavy in the room.

They unpacked Sunny’s stuff, setting a futton on Kel’s side of the room next to the latest’s bed. Deep in thought, Hero could barely hear Kel’s surprise at Sunny not having any stuffed animals anymore.

He couldn’t shake the image of what that steak had looked like.

Rotten.

The smell from the fridge was just putrid. How had Sunny not realised what he was eating ?!

Rotten. Flies hoovering around, maybe, if there was any near.

And Sunny had eaten it.

Sunny would have liked that steak. It would have been good for him if only it wasn’t decaying.

Hero forced a smile as Kel brought Sunny out in the living room, holding Sunny’s drawing tools and waving quickly at his brother, telling him not to "drown in homework and come back as a work obsessed zombie" as Hero went back into his room.

He would have laughed at the joke, if only it was made in another context.

The image of a zombie only allowed his unwanted thoughts to flourish in number and disturbance.

Rotting.

Hero sat back at his desk, where he had left off his previous assignment. So, where was I...

Decaying.

He gripped his pen tight, noting a few things on the paper.

Rotting meat.

He scribbled over his previous answer.

Decaying.

God, he would like to focus so much, but he couldn’t right now.

Rotting and decaying meat.

The answers weren’t even that hard. Just before Kel had brought Sunny to say "Hi" and talk, he was doing just fine.

Many things can rot and decay. Isn’t it funny ?

He read the question once more.

Many things start off beautiful, and then they die, rot and decay.

He read the question twice.

Many things, and many people too.

He read the question thrice.

Rotting and decaying underground.

...

He wouldn’t be able to focus anymore today.

Hero got up after stuffing in his papers in his school folder and shutting it, and crashed on his bed.

He’d just rest a little. He’d rest a little, and then he’d be productive again. He just needed time to let the thoughts fly through, occupy all the space, then fly out. He needed to feel the emotions, and let them go. Then he’d be fit for work again.

It wouldn’t take long, just a few minutes max.

Head burried in his pillow, the air from the fan lightly went trough his hair. He waited for something to happen.

Rotting and decaying underground among remnant of what used to be egret orchids.

Hero sniffled.

---

His mother really had picked the wrong day to make steak, but she couldn’t know.

Well, the wrong day for Hero. It was supposed to be one of Sunny’s favourite things to eat, right ?

So she had chosen it on purpose, handing the plate over to the boy with a slightly concerned, forced smile as she detailed his expression, trying to see if he was pleased in any way.
Hard to tell, as he had reverted back to his usual neutral face. He seemed to keep it even more around grown ups.

Sunny quietly thanked Ms. Desoto as he took the meal and put it in front of him, listening to Kel rant about the latest news about his basketball team.

"So, we did end up winning the first games, but, -munch- this dude on the other team tackled one of my budies, so we were disadvantaged since he couldn't play -nasty fall-. And we lost -munch- the last few games."

"Kel, you shouldn't talk with the mouth full."

"Mom, I know, I’m not -munch- a kid anymore."

The woman let out a sigh of disbelief, soflty shaking her head. "Kel, Kel... por favor, just try and remember."

"Sí, Mamá." Kel said quicky after finishing his mouthful of meat. "But- anyways, Sunny !"

Said boy hummed.

"You should totally show the others what you drew. Seriously. You’re serious concurrence to the other artists in town."

Sunny’s expression didn’t shift, though his ears flushing red was a clear indicator of his embarrassement.

"It’s not that great.."

"You drew Hector so well it should be put up in the..." Kel made a thinking face. "What’s the name of that museum ? Y’know, the one where they keep the picture of that woman that stares at you and all ?"

He waited as the others tried to figure out what was Kel referring to.

"C’mon, back me up here !"

After a few seconds, Kel decided to drop the thougt and just shrugged it off. "Ah, anyways. Just sayin’, Sunny’s got some real skill. You should sell your art and you’ll be rich."

Sunny seemed to find the steak suddenly extremely interesting, more than the perspective of looking at the two older adult’s curious eyes.

"Seriously, dude, you should show them."

Sunny shrugged and Kel begged, the parents looking over Sunny with a glad yet concerned glare.

Hero watched it all happen, being careful about shifting his gaze away from Sunny’s whenever the latest looked at him slightly.

Even if he had been able to talk to Sunny earlier, now he just couldn’t anymore.
He couldn’t even look at him right now.
Although the teenager’s mom had left hours ago, soon after taking the coffee that had been offered, the memory of the hospital now tensed the mere idea of any communication between Hero and Sunny.

Kel managed to find distractions. Fun ones. Drawing, goofing around with Hector, playing with the old pet rocks...
Hero wasn’t to be able to do the same carefree things just yet.
He had hoped he’d be able to manage to handle Sunny’s presence better than that. He had thought he’d just burry his mind into work if any unwanted images or thoughts crept their way into his brain and he’d avoid dealing with them.

Who knew suppressing thoughts would actually lead to them still being here nonetheless, huh ?

His emotions towards his childhood friend wavered a lot lately.

One moment, he’d be completely ready and fine with forgiving the other right then and there, acknowledging he was only a child that loved his big sister more than anything, but had made a mistake that had consequences.

And without warning the feelings would shift. He’d feel sour, remembering that even if it was a mistake, she was gone and he had lied about how it played out to protect himself, while the others deserved the truth from the second she hit the bottom of those stairs.

His concern about Sunny had brought foward that desire to forgiving. But now that he couldn’t shake those dozens of disturbing thoughts and images, he just couldn’t stand being in Sunny’s presence right now. He couldn't help but see -guess- how that day had played out, from the other’s perspective. See what he saw. See and just be able to see. And he couldn’t get those thoughts out of his brain.

He knew this was potentially going to happen, but he hadn’t expected it to be so vivid.

All the details... his mind was tormenting itself at this point. Combined with his own memories, it wasn’t easier.

He couldn't exactly eat right now. He had no appetite, thanks to the combination of pressure from all those assignments and his childhood friend’s presence almost next to him that was keeping on making those horrible memories resurface.

Someone swaying in the wind.

He wasn’t facing Sunny either -in fact he was at the seat that was the furthest away from him-, but he could still see he didn’t look like he was hungry either.

Honestly, it wouldn’t be surprising if Sunny didn’t like steak anymore after...

Rotting food, left here to decay for days.

The college student didn’t feel the same dread over the situation as he did hours ago. He was drained. Every stressful thing kept adding up and he wasn’t able to evacuate thel properly enough to actually say he felt better. He pushed the anxiety down in favor of a numbness that would make the dinner easier to go trough without any outburst.

But he had overestimated his own capacity to cope with everything, and now he just felt on edge about pretty much everything.

Kel, his mother and father were doing their best to try and have a conversation with their guest. Hero didn’t have the energy for that. He knew whatever words he’d try and push out would be sharp. And that wasn’t what Sunny needed.

But Hero didn’t want to feel this ache right now. He was really frustrated with every single thing. But he had to be responsible, and not lash out. He couldn’t lash out. Not again.

He couldn’t ever forget that no matter how much he was hurting, others were hurting too. And any action of his could aggravate the other’s state. And that would be his fault. So he had to be mature. So what if he repressed a bit of... whatever that overwhelming bitterness was...? The others didn’t need to take care of him, the priority was not him. Sunny was.

But was it selfish Hero also wanted to be taken care of...?

He was an adult, yeah. But... if adults were supposed to handle everything on their own and finda way out just like that as if they had a magic book, then he wasn’t ready to be an adult. He still felt so lost. So alone.
But he couldn't just ask for help anymore.

He wasn’t young enough anymore to ask for his parents to help him deal with his emotions, but not old enough to having that process figured out for himself.

So why did he still want that help despite knowing he should suck it up and act as a grown up, as he should ?

Why did he feel like he had to take care of everything wrong happening around him and solve it ? He knew he didn’t have to, and that most of these situations were even above of his power to fix.
But he felt like he had to be the one to fix them. He and nobody else.

Then he’d be able to rest, and feel that peace of mind he longed for. And stay happy for a long time.

He just had to fix everything. And be careful with how he expressed his emotions.

With the bit of psychology he had studied over the course of his classes, he was well aware he might’ve developped a bit of a saviour complex. And that had only managed to get worse after...

Well, the hospital.

Don’t lash out. Don’t hurt anybody because you’re blinded by what you feel.

It had been a while since any thought he had brough him straight to think of Mari. Or, more precisely, how she had died. Those constant circling thoughts had gone away a few weeks after the truth got out, but now they wouldn’t leave anymore again.

That was driving him insane.

And god, Hero wanted to scream and yell.

He wanted to slam his fists against the table so that they looked at him and shut their mouths, and listened as he let out all that was troubling him.

I don’t feel well. I’m tired. I don’t want to go back to college. I don’t want to be a doctor anymore. I don’t know what I want to do anymore. I’m scared I could lose myself again one day if I don’t pay attention. I feel so uncomfortable right now. Kel won’t bring up the elephant in the room and I can’t stand the way he’s just pretending it doesn’t need to be talked about. I want to talk about it. I don’t want to talk about it. I need to talk about it. I want to tell mom and dad. I want to tell someone and be the one to cry about it, like Sunny got to. I want someone to make me feel like I’ll get through this. I want Mari to tell me she got my back. I want Mari to help me get through this. I need her advices.
I want Mari back.

He wanted to be honest about everything he was feeling, and for all of them to understand and accept without any discussion his emotions. He would like for them to hand him over the solution that would just make everything right again.
Solutions that would make him stop feeling bitter about Sunny, despite everything else that was positive he could feel for him. He wanted for them to have a solution that would prevent the bitterness to take over the good things, or even better : eradicate the awful feeling.
Solutions that would make him feel okay again.
Solutions that would somehow make everything okay again.

Hero wanted to be happy about this sleepover.
He wanted for things to get better.
He wanted to honor the promise they’d made to each other last summer.
But he didn’t know if he’d be strong enough to be around Mari’s brother just yet.

As much as he didn’t want to admit it, it was too early. He had overestimated himself.

So, as much as he knew he maybe shouldn't do this as he promised Kel he would be fine with staying around and be positive, he got up.

They all stopped talking and looked at him, wide eyed.

"I’m... feeling tired. I’ll go to bed." Hero said hesitantly.

He wanted to turn his eyes away from all of theirs, but he mentally kicked himself and forced a smile. "Sorry if it’s... abrupt. I just kinda had a... rough day."

If he couldn’t stay for Kel’s sake, he could at least try to seem as glad as them despite his fatigue.

Hero’s parents looked at each other, slightly perplexed. Their son never usually got out of table before Kel, even less in the middle of a meal.

Hero answered his mother’s question before she could even formulate it out loud. "I’m okay, really. Just tired. The train departing from university was pretty early, so I’m just drained."

He was glad to have an excuse that at least worked for his parents. He was well aware it wouldn’t work on Kel, neither Sunny.

But both of them looked like they knew they should give him space. Sunny did, at least. Kel might not get that completly, but since Sunny was there he’d have someone to occupy him while Hero desperately tried to process step by step what he felt.

"Good night everyone", he waved them goodbye as they all echoed him in a mix of spanish and english.

He turned away from the room and made his way to his room.

He grimmaced as he went up the stairs. Ever since the hospital he’d begun feeling uneasy every now and then he got up or down that flight, wondering what it must have felt like, stumbling down.

Hoping it hadn’t hurt too much.

His stomach growled lightly when he was changing into his pyjamas, but he still had no appetite nor motivation to try and push anything more down his troath for the evening.

Hopefully, a good night of sleep would clear his thoughts and make him feel a bit better.

He really did good rest, and he was thankful for the vacation. He didn’t have to worry about tomorrow being a long day of never ending classes.

He drifted off in sleep rather easily, to his surprise.

He must have really been tired.

☆-☆-☆-☆

Omori wasn’t exactly tired. No, it wasn’t the word.

He didn’t feel tired. Not physically. That never happened, and never would.

Could he say he was... mentally tired of this odd place ?

No, because that would mean he’d rather go back to Headspace, which he wasn’t too keen on doing just yet. There had to be a secret exit, or a secret passage somewhere.

He’d accept any kind of item, really.

There was nothing he deemed useful here.

The place was interesting, he’d at least give it that. Especially with that sense of déjà-vu he just couldn’t seem to shake off.

His friends being with him somehow accentuated the feeling.

But in a warm kind of way. That was welcomed, because this part of... wherever, was oddly cold.

So they had been looking for any kind of warming items. A scarf, perhaps.

Any good place provided the desired objects near its entrance. They were just... really well hidden, that’s why they hadn’t found any yet.

After all, the more they advanced in Headspace, the more the things had been challenging.

But this was getting a bit tiring.

They had settled to look for warmer pieces of clothing as soon as Aubrey broke that door -and set Omori free of that piano room-, so they had begun searching in what seemed to be the biggest room. It was accessible trough an openning that was in the middle of the large wall facing them.

On their right also was a staircase, and beside it was another room.

Omori felt like he should remember something about both of those, but he was too focused on his excitement about finally having something new to try. It didn’t matter if a highly strong, annoying to win against enemy awaited in those directions.

What else could there be that could upsetting ? Nothing. Because Omori had his friends. And they wouldn't leave.

They never left him, and never would.

That was the way things were, and that was the only thing Omori would never, ever get bored of.

The huge room they started with got scanned quickly, as the only place there could’ve been a watermelon, by the fireplace, was empty.

Upsetting, but maybe too easy.

Omori noticed a couple of sliding glass doors, and after a quick peek through settled for not interacting with it unless it was an absolute necessity.
No going in that backyard.

The large area didn’t provide any other potential clue at finding the obvious watermelons, so the monocrome boy led the party west.

The two rooms they went into were smaller, slightly different. Yet, they didn’t give anything either.

At that point, Omori wondered if someone had been here before and took all potentially usefull items. Or just any items, really. The place seemed empty, and in some corners seemed to have been somethings once.
But he cast that idea away. Nothing could take what Omori and his friends needed. That didn’t make any sense. The world was for him, so everything in it belonged to him and he was the only one that could lay a finger on things, and decide what he kept or not, and the fate of everything.

They then went back to the staircase place after searching for what was definitely too long now that they knew there wasn’t anything to find.

Omori weighted the options in his mind.

Should they go up the stairs and look into the three rooms he could make out ? Or should they give the door on the left of the stairs a shot ?

Omori glanced at the door, and for a split second, he felt like he should know something about it. He felt like this door wasn’t exactly supposed to be here before, as if it was somehow new to the place.

But that was silly, he had never been here before. Everything about here was new to him.

He led the party up the stairs.

They felt shorter than what he thought they would.

He started off with the room on the left.

It was just as empty as the others. A window let the light shine trough, but that was all there was.

The next room, on the other hand, was probably the most interesting yet.

It was the only one that wasn’t empty, and the layout changed from all the others. The texture of the ground changed, was colder. The room was covered in mostly white, where the others had a beige dominance in color. There was a toilet -there wasn’t any ramen in those though-, a bathtub, and in the middle a couple of sinks on a furniture that displayed two openable compartiments.

Above that was a miror.

It wasn’t floating, but Omori could see his friends smiling warmly behind him as they all took a glimpse at their reflections.

Omori noticed how much he stood out. A monocrome figure standing among three vibrantly purple ones.

He couldn’t turn his gaze away from his own blank eyes, staring at his reflection. He felt like he’d been there before for a split second. But that impression faded when he looked away, going out of the room.

Only to go back in it.

They hadn’t checked the content of the shelves under the sinks.

Omori opened the woden doors and croughed, stuffing his hand in and feeling the space in. Nothing.

Well, what a waste of time.

He got out once more, his friends following him without a word as always, warm presence behind him.
But they were really starting to feel the cold.

Omori’s skin felt as if he was burried into snow. He didn’t get it, he had never felt this cold before. And judging by the sounds of chattering teeth his companions made, they were in the same place. That wasn’t logical. Even on Snowglobe Mountain it wasn’t that cold. Sure, they were feeling a bit cold after a while there. But never this much. On the mountains, usually it felt like a light breeze type of cold. That was always the case in the location of Headspace that included snow. Their outfits fitted every weather, from desert to mountain.

Why didn’t they now ? The worst was probably his toes and the edge of his nose. That amount of cold... it wasn’t comfortable. Not at all.

Omori hoped they’d finally find a set of scarfs, or anything, really, in the last room of the floor.

They did not. Once again, empty room with only a window. Slightly bigger than the other beige one. But once again, just floor and nothing to look trough.

"Omori... it’s really c-cold here" Aubrey’s teeth chattered, making her stutter. She had her own arms around herself, rubbing, probably trying to get warm. Seeing her do that, he mirrored her and soon Hero and Kel did too.

"I didn’t ask until now, but where ac-actually are we...?" Kel asked while blowing on his hands and rubbing them.

Omori stared at his friend. They were... somewhere. Where exactly, he didn’t know. He’d have to update the Headspace map once he figured it out. He also should try and find what to name this place once they explored it entirely.

"This place does look odd, but... I’m sure we’ll figure it out ! Omori knows what he’s doing if he led us here" Hero reassured the other two with comforting words and a smile.

Omori couldn’t agree much. They’d figure it out, and he knew what he was doing. Discovering a new location. A new place, awaiting them, ready to provide countless hours of fun.

It was the first time he had found a new part of the place since the truth about the reason why it existed was learned by the Dreamer. It was the first addition to it that wasn’t made to push the truth down even further, so maybe that was why it seemed so odd compared to the others.
After all, Omori desired new things. And the world had provided, as it always did. He was in charge.

So he’d find the scarfs.

They would be in the last room. The one left of the stairs. They had to, because it was the only place they hadn’t looked. And they had looked everywhere else, redoing every room several times to make sure they hadn’t missed anything. Tagging each other and testing their respective skills here and there to see if anything would break, revealing a passage or any items.
They had only succeeded in damaging the place here and there and making noise without reason.

So they would find interesting things in the last room.

Omori knew it. He decided they would. So, they would. He wanted to, so they would.

He led the party down the stairs, and faced the door. Turned the handle.
It wasn’t locked, but it creaked as it was pushed open.

The room was dark. It took a few seconds for Omori to be able to make out the inside, his eyes adjusting.

A lightbulb hanged from the ceiling -that could be seen above them-, the lack of light making it seem black.
It somehow reminded him of white space. Well, more of the time where white space had the lightbulb.

It was weird there was one here.

Omori wondered once again if this wasn’t somehow linked to black space, before tossing the thought off. It wasn’t. If it was, his friends wouldn’t have been able to follow him there. Their complaints about the temperature reminded him of their comforting presence. He brushed the lightbulb’s existence as a simple coincidence.

Lightbulbs weren’t something that was exclusive to white space, nor even had the primal use of repressing memories.

Omori would have liked for this lightbulb to produce light, though. It was dark here, after all.

And there seemed to finally be things to dig through.

A toybox pushed against the corner of a wall, and a few boxes piled on each other.

Omori and co started to put the cardboard boxes on a line in front of them, and tried to open them.

Omori’s patience was begining to disappear, so he slashed them open and watched their content fall on the floor.

They dug trough piles of clothes, mostly shirts, shorts and trousers that seemed to have belonged to a  pre-teen.
The kids looked and looked.
And they finally found a scarf.

But only one.

Omori wished he had a dandelion to try and appease the growing anger. He bit his tongue.
Emotions weren’t useful. They weren’t of any benefit outside of battle. Yeah, there should have been more scarfs. Three more. But he should stay rational, he should stay neutral. The missing pieces of clothing must be scattered around the place. Outside of the house.

Omori decided he’d still check the other clothes to see if there wasn’t anything that could potentially make one of his friend’s warmer.
He found a grey beanie, and pink-ish gloves. That would do, right...?
But he needed another item. The fourth one. They were four, not three. To be finally be all warm again, they had to find something for each of them. One always sufficed, that shouldn’t be hard. It wasn’t like they could equip more than one item anyway.

He gave Aubrey the scarf, as she looked like the one that felt the cold the most. As Kel complained about why she was the one getting the best stuff -which Aubrey replied something along the lines of that was because Omori loved her and wanted her to be comfortable, which he payed nearly no attention to-, he handed his friend the beanie and gave Hero the gloves. That would do, he just had to find something for himself.

Without thinking too much about the weird déjà-vu he felt, he tried to open the toybox.

It was locked.

Oh, come on.

Seems like he would have to endure the cold for a bit until he found a scarf, or anything.

He turned away from the cardboards and their contents spilled across the floor and left the room, friends endlessly following his trail.

Since there wasn’t anything to find anymore here, they might as well leave the place. Also, for some reason, he was under the impression the light around them kept decreasing. That had to he something he had to figure out.

Omori got in front of the only other locked door, the one that was in the largest room with the carpet.

He tagged Aubrey and watched her bash this door like the other one.

As he got tagged back and stepped outside, the wind shuffled trough his hair and made him feel even colder.

He should really find that scarf soon.

The sun was oddly close to the horizon. Maybe that was why it wasn’t providing enough light.

He led the party down the road.

-☆-☆-☆-

It had been a few hours.

Hero had gotten a little bit of sleep, but now he was awake again.

Awake with his thoughs again.

Thankfully, they had toned down. A little.

He turned towards the clock on his bookshelf. It read 03:41 am.

Hero turned, and sighed.

I wish I had more sleep.

He went to bed not too late, so he must have had around five hours or so sleeping.

A look at the window provided him the sight of a night sky scattered with a few clouds. The night was silent, the crickets no longer audible since fall had started.

It was almost completely quiet, if it wasn’t for Kel’s snoring.

...

Wait, wasn’t Sunny supposed to be sleeping near Kel’s bed...?

The futon was empty, all crumpled up as if Sunny had gotten up in some kind of rush.

Reluctantly, Hero got out of bed. He was tired, and even if the house was being heated, he’d rather stay in his sheets. They felt warmer and cosier.

But up he was. He tiptoed his way out of the room even if he knew Kel was the heaviest sleeper he knew.

He got to the corridor, eyed the stairs. There wasn’t any light down, so the other boy was still upstairs. It only took a turn of the head to notice the bathroom door being slightly opened.
There wasn’t any light, but he could hear Sunny sort of gagging inside.

Is he alright...?

Hero slowly opened the door, trying to make out where Sunny was inside without turning the light on. Doing so would only hurt both their eyes. In addition of startling the guest, that too.

"Sunny...?"

The younger one was hunched over the toilet bowl, coughing as silently as he could every now and then. He lifted his head as he saw the other enter, and sniffled.

"...are you alright ?" Hero worried. "Did you get sick...?"

Sunny shrugged. "...sorry."

It... wasn’t an answer to my question. But, oh well.

Hero walked closer to the teenager and took a piece of paper, handing it to his childhood friend. The latest took it, wiped his mouth.

"You think you’re done...?"

Sunny nodded, and hummed. He spoke up after a little pause. "Why...? You need to use the bathroom...?" His voice was raspy, he cleared his troath at every pause he made.

That seems painful. I know throwing up can feel... like there’s acid in your throat or something, but he seems to have it bad.

...

He’d like to tell Sunny he didn’t have to talk if that hurt.
But... Hero, in fact, kind of wanted to talk.

Why now ? Why do I want to talk now out of anytime ?

He didn’t know. But he had an urge to. He didn’t feel like he could wait anymore. All things unsaid or brushed off as invisible weren’t invisible, and weighed on his chest so much he felt he was going to choke.

He sat against the wall, glancing at Sunny who was still gripping the edge of the loo with one hand, looking at him.
His valid eye looked incredibly tired. And the other...

Hero realised just then he had never seen it uncovered.

He must’ve been staring, because Sunny awkardly covered it with the hand that wasn’t put on the toilet, putting a bunch of hair strands over it. His bangs had grown just enough to hide the sight.

God, that must’ve hurt.
I knew he had no eye there, but seeing it... it’s just different than simply knowing.

"Hero...? Do you...?"

Oh, right. He asked a question.

"Uh, no. I, I don’t." He made a short pause, before noticing Sunny was wondering why he was there, then. "I just woke up, and didn’t see you."

It got me worried.

"Oh. Well, I’m here."

I can see that, Sunny.

"...what happened ?"

"I... threw up." Sunny’s tone was neutral. But with his voice being quiet usually, the fact that he was whispering now was making it even harder to be heard, even in the silent environment.

"I can guess that. Do you know why it happened..?"

Sunny shrugged.

Ah, the shrugging is back. Just how much is he going to do that ?
...Am I making him uncomfortable with my questions...?

"I guess I might’ve eaten too much." Sunny’s voice was low, and he looked like he was physically pushing the words out. Or, that they were burning his lips and tongue. Anyway, with the way he was frowning slightly as he was talking, it was understandable he fought the urge to stop.

It was odd, because honestly if Sunny needed to write rather than talk, Hero didn’t mind getting a paper and a pen, and turn on the light to ease the interaction. They used to do that back when they were younger.

"You hadn’t even touched your plate when I got out, though" Hero reminded him.

"Kel and your parents made me eat after you went away" Sunny informed him. "Your mom said I was too thin and wanted me to eat it all."

Sunny’s tone wasn’t one of blame, but he didn’t seem exactly happy that she did that.

That might be our fault. We did tell her how concerned we were about your mother’s house not having any food, and one can connect the dots really easily..

Why can’t you ? Is it that you really don’t realise, or do you not want to realise ? I’d understand. But... I’d rather have you know.

"And just a steak made you sick ?"

The now usual shrugging. "I guess... I’m not used to eating so much anymore. I used to eat way less. I suppose my stomach isn’t used to it anymore." Sunny leaned on the wall, dropping the toilet’s edge and letting his hands clutch his knees. He fell into silence as Hero stared.

"So you can’t keep any food down ?"

His friend shook his head.

"You know that it’s concerning, right...?"

He shrugged. "Alive."

"Yeah, but..." I’m not going to say barely, because he obviously looks a little better than three months ago, but he’s still not as healthy as he should. And with that... "You shouldn't be just 'alive', you should be healthier."

Short pause.

"You know it, right ?"

No response, if not a mere shrug. Hero sighed. I should just stop with these questions. He obviously doesn’t want to elaborate.

"This conversion isn’t going anywhere, is it ?"

Hero swore he could’ve percieved a light amused, muffled scoff. At least he recognises it. And somehow finds it funny, if he scoffs just because of that. He doesn’t... hasn’t emoted for this little since... a huge while.

It was a good thing, though. It had to be. Any kind of improvement was gladly welcomed.

Both of the boys then stayed in silence, sat against the wall, next to each other maybe between one or two feet apart.

Neither of them talked, but Hero wanted to.

If there were crickets, they would’ve heard them louder. It was kind of awkward. Just waiting like that.

It wasn’t very appropriate of a time. But... he felt like Sunny already knew he wanted to have a discussion.

The discussion.

And Hero didn’t know when else to have it. He felt like the exhaustion gave him the courage to take the leap in talking about it, as well as prevented him from having the energy to be angry.

"Well this is awkward."

Sunny hummed.

"Sorry, didn’t know how to start this. It felt like the only thing to say" The oldest laughed soundlessly. Sunny nodded, as if saying "it’s okay".

"I guess you know what I want to talk about."

Sunny didn’t exactly sighed. But he let out a breath for sure, barely audibly. He knew, yes. It seemed like the exhaustion didn’t prevent him from tensing up a little, though.

"Do you think you’re going to be able to talk for this...?"

Sunny thought a little. Then shrugged. He didn’t know, or wasn’t sure. It was a honest response, but he looked sorry about his inability to be verbal at that moment.

"It’s okay. Honestly, I kind of need you to just listen to what I have to say." Hero’s gaze drifted from Sunny’s, but he still felt his friend’s eye on him.

"I can... talk, if you want to" Sunny mumbled.

Hero glanced back at his companion for a second, not expecting to hear the other, then shook his head. "Really, you don’t have too. Because it really looks like you don’t feel like doing so, and.. I need to tell you a bunch of stuff that doesn’t necessarily needs a response. I just need you to... well, to know."

He sincerely doesn’t have to. So why does he look conflicted like that ?

Hero didn’t dwell on this thought too long, but he knew it’d come back later.
For now, he wanted -needed- to get things off his chest. He wouldn’t be able to be comfortable enough around Sunny if he didn’t.

"You tell me if it’s too much at any point."

Even if I need this, I want him to be comfortable here. He needs a break from whatever’s going on inside his head. Vacations are supposed to be fun, for everyone. Me, Kel, the others, but him too.
I just have to do that and then it’ll be one step closer to having most of the old times back.

Sunny shrugged and nodded. Hero paused for a few seconds, working on figuring out how to word his thoughts and feelings.

"If I... have to be honest, which I want to be, I can’t say I’m fully there forgiving you. Or Basil."

Hero didn’t want to look at Sunny. And Sunny probably didn’t want to look at him either, nor be looked at.

"I... get it." Then again, Sunny’s tone gave the impression the words itched him.

"Sunny, you really don’t have to talk."

"But, more... easy. -he cleared his throat- Easier. If I did. For you. Right ?"

"Not necessarily." Hero sighed. "You don’t have to talk depending on if I would prefer you to. I can adapt."

"Can too." The oldest felt the other shrug besides him. "Your moment. Your feelings. I can adapt for you."

Then, even quieter : "You do for me. I can for you. Least I can do."

"You don’t have to force yourself to talk as a payback for basic decency, Sunny. Talking can be hard. For many reasons. It’s hard for me too, sometimes. I get it, a little."

He got no response. I hope he’s not thinking he has to force himself to act in a way that doesn’t make him comfortable just to "ease things" as a way to repay us for what happened. It makes no sense. He’s not being a burden just because some things come off as a little harder to him, like talking.

"You know, I struggle with my wording sometimes. I have been since... a while. So sometimes I’d just rather don’t say anything rather than hurting people with a poor choice of words."

Maybe knowing that will make him more confident he doesn’t have to force himself, for whatever reason. If he doesn’t know that already, that is.

Sunny bit his nails. He wasn’t looking at Hero, but the latest knew he had the other’s attention.

"That’s not exactly like your reasons, since you know how to express what you want or think pretty clearly even without words. Ah, I don’t know how to say this. What I’m trying to say, you don’t necessary need words to make me know you’re listening, or understand what I’m telling you. I know you do. I don’t know why you’re forcing the words out, but... I’d rather have you stop. For both our sakes, really."

A soundless scoff. Sunny opened his mouth, then closed it. Nodded.

"But, I need to talk right now. And I need you to hear it, too."

Another nod.

Hero started off where he left.

"I’m not fully there yet. Forgiving. But..."

Sunny raised his head just enough for Hero to notice the other was hanging to his words. Everything was in the "but".

"I’m trying to understand your thought process. Of that day. I know anger is a difficult emotion to deal with. Especially when you’re young."
I messed up quite a few times out of anger too.

That time with Kel, years ago. I hurt my sibling too.

"I lashed out at Kel, once." Hero revealed to Sunny, a little uneasy. "I took Mari’s passing really bad. Especially since I though she" -he took a shaky breath- "killed herself."

Sunny flinched. But Hero had to go on. The example would help prove he understood it, just a little.

"I didn’t do anything for a very long time. Laying in bed, not going to school. Trying to escape by sleeping, but I kept having nightmares. But, anyways. One day, Kel tried to snap me out of it."

The memory was painful.

"I’m not proud of it. I was too focused on my own pain. I thought he’d never understand. That he didn’t care. So, I yelled at him. Said things I wish I didn’t, and that I didn’t even mean."

He paused. He still felt bad, even so much time later.

"I got mad, and hurt him. I thought he’d hate me. But Kel forgave me. He said that just because I succumed to my emotions didn’t make me a bad brother."

Hero eyed Sunny. Said boy was keeping his gaze on the ground.

"The same thing happened to you. You got angry, and overwhelmed. It exploded. And, you hurt Mari."

Sunny’s breath got slightly heavier, and it pained Hero. "I know it’s hard. Painful to remember and to accept. But... I know you didn’t mean to do that. We all know that."

Hero didn’t know if he wanted to comfort Sunny, or be comforted. He ached. But he was aware Sunny did too. It was hard balancing his words, to relieve himself from the pain while preserving Sunny from too much of it.

"You hurt Mari, like I hurt Kel. I came to understand pretty quickly that if you guys fought anywhere else, this wouldn’t have happened. Because you didn’t mean to do it."

He felt his heart being squeezed. It could’ve been avoided, so easily. He struggled to breathe for a second.

Sunny’s head was burried into his knees.

"And... I wondered what she would have thought, you know ? About it. And I realised, she’d have forgiven you." He felt a lump in his troath. "I hurt Kel, and despite that he forgave me. I know Mari, she’d... you knew her, too. And she’d have forgiven you. Because you’re not a bad person. Or a bad brother."

"You don’t have to try to make me feel better about this. I still killed her." Sunny’s voice was muffled and strained.

Hero sighed. "I wasn’t doing that. I just needed to make sure you knew she would have. That I understood she pushed you to far, and I felt that type of anger too. And hurt someone I loved because of it."

"You should still be angry."

"I am."

Sunny fell back into silence for a few seconds before muttering words again. "So why don’t you hate me ?"

Hero blinked. "Its not because I’m angry that I have to hate you. I’m angry at you, yes. Because even if you didn’t mean it, even if it was an accident, she’s still gone. Even if I understand why you lashed out and relate, she still died."

I hate saying it. I know she’s gone. But it hurts saying it. It hurts so much.

"And then Basil and you... did what you did."

"...I’m sorry."

"I know." Hero blantantly said, with a neutral voice. Even though, his eyes stung. "And I’ve accepted your excuses, I really did. I know you both mean them, and that you seriously regretted. You-"

"Why do you take my feelings into so much account...?"

Hero made abstraction of the fact he got cut off. It did seem to bug Sunny a lot, so he’d answer. "They matter too. I can’t pretend I’m the only one hurting or act as if it was the case. See where that led us with both of you."

"But you should be allowed to be angry."

"I am allowed to be angry. I am. Not just at you though. The circumstances-"

"Not that. You should express it. Not suppress."

"I don’t understand. I did express it." What does he mean ?

"You don’t scream. You don’t blame. You’re not violent. You just say 'I’m angry'. You don’t hurt back."

Oh.

"I can be angry without doing all of this. That doesn’t mean I’m suppressing it. Lashing out would simply be the easy way, but it would be damaging everything and everyone in the long run."

"You should, if that’s easier. Or feel better. I understand."

Hero sighed. "Would you want me to scream at you ?"

Sunny frowned. Then stopped, shrugged with a short hesitation.

"No, Sunny. Be honest. Would you want me to start screaming at you and blame everything that’s ever happened on you ?"

"..."

"You don’t have to talk, remember ? A sign is more than okay if you don’t feel like being verbal."

"..."

Sunny then slowly shook his head. He wouldn’t want it.

"Great. Then that makes two of us."

He got a confused look.

"It would hurt you more than anything. You already got hurt enough."

The younger teen frowned slightly and pointed at Hero. It implied "what about you, your feelings ?"

"Again, I don’t need to do that to feel relieved. It’d make me feel worse, honestly. To feel better, I think I just need you to be aware of how I’m feeling about that. And give me space when I’ll need it. I just can’t stand the thought of you making suppositions on how I feel about this."

Sunny nodded, understanding. He waited for the oldest to go on.

"So. I am angry. At you, at Basil. At the circumstances. I’m hurt, because she died. And because you both chose to hide what happened. I’m mad at you for having kept the truth hidden. I’m mad at Basil for thinking hiding the truth would be the best thing to do. I’m mad at him for the idea he got. I’m mad at myself for missing out on so much. And... I’m mad at Mari, too." His voice broke.

Sunny turned his head towards Hero, eye wide open in utter confusion.

"I’m mad at her for pushing you this far. I’m mad that she thought she had to be perfect to be appreciated. I’m mad at everything, really."

Hero was fully aware of how shaky his tone was. He knew Sunny noticed it. He shouldn’t break, he was the oldest. But... why was he supposed to follow what was expected of him ? This was his moment, as Sunny said.
This didn’t bother Sunny. He might be the grown up, but that didn’t mean he had to pretend he wasn’t feeling any negative emotions. He didn’t want to cry in front of him, and he wouldn’t, but he wouldn’t pretend to be okay either. He was too exhausted by the time and emotions to care enough anyway. He felt to weak to hide his weakness.

"Because, damn it, she wasn’t perfect. She was human. And we all are too. She was so beautiful, in every ways, and didn’t need to be "perfect". I’m mad that she didn’t understand this, and I’m mad it got to the point that it got her.. that it killed her."

Hero took a couple deep breaths.

"I’m mad at everything I can blame, really. But if I wanted to, I could designate someone, or something and cast the full blame on it. It would be easy. But, I can’t do that."

Easy isn’t the best. I went for the easy route, blaming myself and avoiding negative thinking.
It nearly got Basil and Sunny killed.

"Blaming myself won’t solve anything. Just like blaming you. Or Basil. Or even Mari. It’s something that wasn’t anyone’s fault. It’s an accident. Accidents aren’t anyone in particular’s fault. If I wanted to blame someone or anything, I’d have to blame the whole world, really. A combination of circumstances. That’s what it was."

Hero paused.

"But still. I’m angry it happened. I’m angry that it would’ve took so little to change how it turned out. I’m angry at how everyone reacted to her death. Including myself. I do want to scream. But not to blame. Just because I’m really, really, really frustrated. Everything turned out so, so wrong."

Sunny nodded in acknowledgement. Hero wasn’t exactly done, though.

"And... I’m sad. About a bunch of stuff. Sad that she’s gone. Sad that we drifted apart. Sad that we all got hurt so much. Sad that it hurt Basil so much he though the only way out of it was by killing himself. Sad that you locked yourself away and that nobody was there to keep you safe. Sad that Aubrey thought we left her and hurt so much thinking we never cared. Sad that Kel had to keep smiling through all of it just so that we could have a sense of normalcy or someone to rely on, and that nobody understood his intention."

Another pause.

"But, I’m happy, too."

"Happy...?" A small, perplexed voice echoed him.

It’s hard to believe even for me too. I feel guilty to be glad about some part of this. But it’s worth mentioning.

"Yeah. I’m happy, because, even if Mari’s gone now, she was... she was happy. She enjoyed life. She wasn’t lying, her smiles were genuine. Even if I hate that she’s gone, the fact that she loved life, it makes me feel warm, in a way. That was beautiful. It’s not stained with the idea this joy was a lie. There was a lie about how she died, but I’m happy it wasn’t because we missed signs. I’m happy that we got to be together again. I’m happy you’re here, too. I’m happy because you being here makes Kel happy. I’m happy, because you’re alive. I’m happy because Basil’s alive, too."

Hero felt his eyes burn again. He blinked.

"But... but I’m scared, too." His voice wavered.

Sunny was looking at him, now. His gaze was indescriptible. But not because it was neutral. Not this time. It wasn’t completly. It was somehow soft, but shared the other’s worry. It felt true, unlike this emotionless mask he used to keep usually. It was like a glimpse of light was back in his eye.

"I’m really scared." The college student rubbed his own arm, in lack of exterior comfort. "Because even if it seems like things are being fixed, I wonder if I’m not imagining it. I know it can go downhill really quick. Because I know I can feel fine, and then out of nowhere, I’m not okay anymore. And it scares me, because all of you guys feel bad too."

Deep breaths.

Hero wished Mari could be here, giving soft words of advices, gently helping keeping the sad or scary things at bay. She had that kind of power.

But he had to do it without her. They had to keep on going without her.

"I’m so damn scared. I’m scared that Basil might attempt again. I’m scared I won’t he able to help him because I don’t feel ready to face him just yet.
I’m scared Aubrey might lose her temper and end up getting hurt one day, by others or by her mom. I can’t keep out of my head the state her house was in.
I’m scared for Kel, because I never know when the hell he gets the opportunity to vent in any way. He can’t be happy all the time. I know it shouldn’t, but it reminds me of how I felt guilty for not noticing the signs that weren’t there for Mari. I was convinced she was happy, and turns out she was, but what if Kel really wasn’t as okay as he seems ? I can’t think he wouldn’t... do that, anymore, because last time I thought it couldn’t happen twice, Basil tried it and he nearly managed-..."

Deep breaths. One, two, three. He’s okay now. Don’t think too much of what you saw that night. He’s fine now. He’s out of danger. Polly’s watching over him.

He collected himself, trying to mentally shake the image of Basil’s near dead body out of his brain.

The young man went on.

"I’m scared for you too, because I can’t make out anything about how it’s going now that you moved. And you’re hard to read in general. Plus, I know you’re not okay, and I have no idea how you coped all these years, or how you cope now. It drives me insane."

Hero felt as if he was vomitting words out. But he finally had the opportunity to spill his thoughts to Sunny. He knew he needed it, and that just like Hero deserved the truth of Mari’s passing, Sunny deserved to know how Hero handled the news.

"I don’t know what to do. Or, what to think. I don’t know how to act. Around you. Or Basil, if or when we’ll go see him" He admitted.

I know the facts of what they did, and why. But to know what to feel or what to think about it... I can’t figure it out.

"I’m trying to take into account the fact that Basil and you both suffered so much because of whay happened. I know neither of you wanted to hurt Mari, or us. I know you just needed space. I know Basil wanted to protect you. I know the lie hurt the two of you as well."

Sunny was fidgeting with a strand of his hair, keeping his eye focused on Hero. He was waiting for the inevitable "but". Hero got to his feet, rubbing off dust from his pants in a somewhat nervous gesture.

"But I still need time to fully process the whole thing. I’m still very upset. But, it doesn’t mean I wanna burn the bridges with neither of you."

Hero held out a hand in Sunny’s direction, who looked at it without really understanding the gesture.

"I’m ready to try hanging out with you. I just need you to know it might not be easy, and that they might be times where I’ll need space to think, or just to be alone. Is that okay ? I could just stay on my own while you go with Kel while you’re there. It might be more fun than being with me, since I can’t promise there won’t be times where I’ll be overwhelmed with... well, all this. So, this is your decision as much as mine. Are you up for trying...?"

And with that, he waited. To see if Sunny would take his hand, agreeing to try and hang out from time to time. Agreeing for the both of them to try and help each other adapt, despite the situation.

Please say yes.

Please say no.

Please say you don’t know.

Please don’t say anything.

...

Please just say what you feel like doing.

Hesitantly, Sunny grabbed his hand.

Hero felt simultaneously relieved and anxious.

Well, this is gonna be tough. But... it’ll be alright. Hero thought as he helped Sunny up.

Said teenager let go off his hand as soon as he stabilised himself, eye on the ground.

...Right ?

Sunny’s hair fell in front of his face. It didn’t hide his exhausted gaze from the oldest.

Right. It’s the middle of the night. We should go to sleep, now that this is done.

"...thank you for putting up with me." His voice was tired, strained.

"You’re welcome. Thanks for understanding."

"It’s the least I could do."

Short silence. Hero’s heart still ached from the rush of emotions he felt throughout the day, and more recently during the conversation they just had. I wish this would’ve gone smoother. It didn’t go as I imagined it would, it felt like some excuse of a draft.

What had I even imagined, by the way...?

Probably everything but having this talk in the middle of the night out of pure impulse. Just after he got sick.

Hero felt frustrated, as if a lot of elements were missing in the small speeches he gave. He might have seemed incoherent, telling things randomly, out of the blue. Honestly, because of the time, neither of them were fully coherent. Had the time be right to chose to talk ?
Anyways, it couldn’t be taken back.

At least he felt a little bit relieved.

Sadly, same could not be said for Mari’s brother. As Hero was about to begin leaving the room, the youngest wrapped his arms around himself, before speaking up.

"Thank you for not hating us." Sunny’s voice broke at the end.

Hero didn’t know what to do. At all. Just like the other’s voice, he felt wrecked.

They both needed comfort. Both of them used to find it in Mari’s hugs.

Mari wasn’t here anymore.

Hero hesitated.

Oh, screw it. We both need it.

He wrapped his arms around Sunny, trying to be gentle. The gesture surprised the other. Or even them both, if he was honest.

But they both needed it.

Initial surprise passed, Sunny slowly reciprocated.

His arms are shaking.

Hero wasn’t the best in brotherly gesture. But thankfully, he remembered how Mari used to rub her brother’s back when he was upset. He wasn’t the best at comforting anyone either. He didn’t even know how to comfort himself.
But he was trying his best. This wasn’t perfect. The situation wasn’t perfect. They weren’t perfect.

Neither of all these would be.

But the scrap of warmth made Hero hope for a second that things might actually be okay soon.

Sunny didn’t seem to dare moving, or even lean on Hero’s shoulder as he did with Mari. But he stayed like this for a few moments.

Sunny broke the hug when he sniffled, taking a step back.

He wiped his eye quickly, as if ashamed. "Sorry. Didn’t mean to."

Do what ?

"Didn’t mean to do what ?"

"Cry."

Hero didn’t know what to respond. Sunny’s gaze trailed off after a quick glance at Hero.

"And make you cry too."

Was he crying ?

Hero hadn’t felt the tears on his cheks before Sunny pointed them out.

-☆-☆-☆-

It was now completely dark, even outside.

Omori would have sworn it would be black space, if it weren’t for his friends behind him.

If it was black space, it wouldn’t be his friends following him behind.

Something else.

So it wasn't black space.

But even though, all of this place was confusing, and Omori was not sure he liked it until now.

The ground wasn’t only cold like in the house. The concrete was harder than anything he had ever walked on, and the pebbles hurt more than they ever did. The grass was not only cold, but wet, too.

That made zero sense. They weren’t underwater. Why did it feel wet without being surrounded by water ? Not to mention -again- the cold.

Unnecessary, if you asked Omori.

He would say he didn’t control it anyway so couldn't interfere, but it would be a lie, and Omori was no liar. He was in control, last time he checked.

Headspace was his world. His work of art.

And it was weird. A bit like some of Rococo’s paintings. It didn’t make a lot of sense. Some sections even less than others.

Like this one, which didn’t seem to apply the basic usual rules.

They hadn’t encountered any foes yet.

The temperatures were all messed up.

The light was way, way too dim. There were a few street lamps, but their lighting wasn’t strong enough.

And what was with the sky ? The stars were extremely small, and didn’t form any noticable drawing.
They must really be far from the usual Headspace location they knew and loved.

But, one positive thing : the monochrome boy enjoyed the smell the night had here.

Omori walked right as he left the house. At the first intersection, he chose to lead the party North. As far as he could see, anywhere but towards that direction were just houses.

Considering how hard it had been leaving one and how they hadn’t found a lot of stuff in one, he wasn’t eager on going in another one.

Though as he had passed in front of the one just next to the one they had just left, he had stopped and stared for a few moments. He had hearded noises inside, and noticed light.
He had felt strangly drawn to it.

But he brushed it off, and left.

A sign read "Faraway Park". It was quite true. This location was far away from the others. The leader of the party decided he’d name it Faraway.

They had ended up in an area that resembled their playground. Hero, Kel and Aubrey noticed it too, and they pointed out a replica of the Big Yellow Cat that was in Neighbour’s Room.

That had peeked Omori’s interest, who tried interacting with it in hopes of getting any indication, or even direction.

The Big Yellow Cat’s eyes did not follow them as they ended up moving after a while of waiting for a response that hadn’t come.

They explored the place as best as they could, considering the lack of light. Thankfully Omori’s eyes had adapted rather quickly to the dark.

They were exploring a part of the parc where the ground had similar white markings as the one circling the pole where Berly and Van played at.

No pole or ball though. And definitely no Berly or Van either.

They were alone, or so they had though.

A voice spoke from behind them, startling them all enough for Aubrey and Kel to squeak, and for Hero and Omori to be ready to pull out their weapons, ready for any potential combat.

"Ah... tonight is such a beautiful night, don’t you think ?"

There was an old... person ? He was sitting on the grass, amongst bags that did not smell very good.
The man himself didn’t smell very good. He wore old clothes that seemed rather dirty, grass stains all over them.

Omori didn’t pull out his weapon, but kept his hand over his pocket in case the being turned out to be a foe. It was the first interactive alive thing they had met until now, and this section was confusing. They had to expect everything, as even seemingly friendly entities could be unpredictable.

The man didn’t seem to expect a response. He scratched at his beard.

It was one of the only grown up Omori and his friends had ever seen, or uncountered. Well, one of the only human ones. M. Jawsum didn’t count as a human, but Omori assumed the one in front of them was around their age.

Tho, he looked out of place in the playground. Maybe that was because playgrounds are usually filled with kids. He looked like he didn’t move often, as if this was his home.

It kind of made sense, as all the Headspace inhabitants could usually be found in specific places.

Usually. Sweetheart and Capt. Spaceboy did wonder around from time to time.

"I may not have any money, but at least moonlight is free" the man talked again in a strained voice. He proceeded to cough a few times afterwards.

Omori lifted his head to the sky.

Yeah, moonlight was free. But... this sky wasn’t especially pretty to him. He was glad he didn’t have to pay to look at it. The thought was absurd, but he wondered if Jawsum would one day try and tax the sky.

Anyways. He prefered the usual purple one.

Purple was prettier than that bland one, it made him think of black space.

The man kept staring at them. He looked slightly confused.

"Cough... so, lads, I would have asked for change if you had any, y’know, to help me and all, but you look pretty young to have money on ya."

They had money, though ? And lots of it. Clams were easy to obtain. And in three whole months of no reset, Omori had accumulated a huge amount.

"I dunno why kids would be out at that time. In pyjamas too. It’s not freezing but still, it’s not the season anymore. Ya shouldn’t be out this late. The town isn’t that dangerous, I’ve been there for a while, but shouldn’t ya kids get home before your parents worry ?"

The Headspace kids exanged confused looks.

"The worry is appreciated, sir, but we don’t need to be watched over. We can handle a lot on our own, don’t worry. We’re old enough." Hero replied politely.

"What are ya, 14 ? 15 ? I know teens are quite rebellious, but the other kids there seem not older than 12. You shouldn’t sneak them out."

Hero looked even more confused.

"We didn’t sneak out of anywhere though ?" Aubrey let out, head tilted to the side.

The old man shrugged and seemed to brush it off.

"Whatever. It’s not my buisness. Just stay outta trouble. And go home soon, or else you’ll catch a cold. Or get more dressed than that if you’re to hang around."

He laid down, or more like let himself fall back in the grass.

"Or go buy some more scarfs and gloves, and coats while you’re at it. Ya’ll look funny with only one piece of clothing each, A-hyeck !"

That tilted Omori’s interest. So his purpose was... indication giver ? Advice giver ? He did talk about scarfs, which were what they were seeking. It wasn’t a coincidence.

"Scarfs ? You know where we can find scarfs ?" Aubrey asked, hope in her voice. She had one already, but she didn’t seem as warm as she coule be, and was glancing with worry towards Omori who hadn’t anything equiped.

The man lifted his head and made a hand gesture.

"There’d be Othermart, a little bit East, but it’s closed right now. You should try to go tomorrow. And maybe, if you wanna, give me the spare change if you got any, hmm ? It’d be greatly appreciated."

Aubrey shot the man a pity look, and tugged on Omori’s shirt.

"He did give us useful advice, Omori. Shouldn’t we do him a favor too ? It’s not like we don’t have enough on us.."

She didn’t dim her voice, and the man’s interest got peaked too. He raised a brow.

"That’d be really nice." He coughed for a second. "Ten would help me a lot, but really, five or even two would be welcomed."

Kel and Aubrey looked at Omori, waiting to see how much he’d give. He thought a little and settled for 100 clams. He had enough and it would be enough for the man to buy nachos at the nearest mailbox.

He handed them to the man, and then left, assuming the conversation was over.

He was wondering what to do now when he heard "what the heck-... why he’d give me... clams ?! How did he fit so much in his po-..." the end of the sentence didn’t reach his ears, as he was walking away far enough to not hear anymore.

He went back to the replica of the Big Yellow Cat. The man had advised to try "tomorrow". Omori guessed they’d just wait until light came back outside, then they’ll go. Him and his friends got into the structure, huddling close to each other in hopes of sharing warmth.
While Omori wasn’t usually one for physical touch, he needed the smallest scrap of warmth he could get. It was the coldest he had ever been in his whole existence.

Why was this place colder than the mountains ? He still didn’t get it. Snow was not even cold enough to feel like his bare toes were freezing, so why did the air here do ?

"Hey, guys..?"

They all looked at Kel, who had talked. "Why did this guy ask about our 'parents' worrying ?"

"Maybe because we’re kids ?" Hero suggested.

"Yeah, but no one ever asked that before. He acted as if we wouldn’t be able to defend ourselves."

"He never saw us before, since it’s the first time we went here. He’s not familiar with us or our fighting skills, that must be it." Hero felt Kel’s disturbance and tried to comfort, or more like reassure his brother.

"But why’d he talk about parents ?" Aubrey wondered, her voice a bit quiet.

"I have no clue. Maybe he doesn’t know we don’t need any. We should have what we need, and we usually do. But now we don’t have all the scarfs just yet, and some rando asked us about people we don’t need in our lives as if they should be here. This place doesn’t seem to make a lot of sense, but I’m sure we’ll figure it out, mmh ?"

Both Aubrey and Kel hummed. Hero wasn’t the best at comforting, Mari was, but his reassurance was the only one they got.

Omori didn’t know why, but the parent coversation, the fact that the man assumed they even had some bugged him. They didn’t need parents. Parents only set dumb rules. As Hero said, Headspace provided its habitants with what they needed. Some needed parents. Some didn’t. They were the second category.

So why did the guy assume they had any ? No one ever asked "where their parents were". Wasn’t it clear enough just by looking at them that they did not need supervision ? They could handle literally anything. But anyways.

Omori would figure it out soon. He was sure of that. He always did.

He looked at Aubrey and Kel. They seemed sad, for some reason. Nope, no sad. They would be soon exploring a new area. Which means fun. Happiness. No sad.

He poked Hero. He knew what would cheer his two young friends up.

Hero glanced at Omori.

"Mmh ? What is it ?"

The monocrome boy made an eating gesture, then pointed at Hero’s hands. "You want cookies ?"

He nodded.

"Oh, yes please !" Aubrey perked up. "They’re not as good as Mari’s, but they’re always warm."

Hero scoffed as he used his cook skill. "I would be offended if it wasn’t Mari you were using as a comparison. But yeah."

The oldest kid then handed them a cookie each, that they all ate slowly, enjoying the faint heat emanating from it. The silence suggested one thing : they missed Mari’s warmth, and the warmth of her picnics. Basil’s warmth too.

Omori hoped they’d quicky find the picnic in this "Faraway" place. He missed his sister and Basil, and wanted to show off the new place. For them to see. Not tag along, but see. See and enjoy it frol the blanket, free from any form of harm.

"I’m cold.." Aubrey ended up whimpering.

"We’re all cold" Kel retorted.

"No need to be so rude about it tho !" She pouted, elbowing Kel.

"Ouch !"

He mirrored her, and she shoved him, disrupting Hero as well. The oldest broke the fight.

"Hey, you both. Please calm down. We’re all upset about the temperature, the ground hurts all of our feet too. And a bunch of other things too. But we can’t do much about those things until we find the items. So let’s try and get some rest, okay ? We’re all tired, I think. Those hours of searching in that empty house took a toll on all of us."

Kel and Aubrey reluctantly stopped their bickering. They wanted to stay apart, trying to hold a grudge but soon they were huddled close again, shivering silently.

It wasn’t a place to fall asleep, but they didn’t find anything better. The Big Yellow Cat look-alike provided a certain sense of comfort, of normalcy.

Omori conjured a few red hands to wrap around his friend and himself in hopes of keeping as much warmth as possible.

He decided to stay awake until morning as his friends drifted into sleep one by one.

He kept looking at them, same gaze as he always had. Same feelings he always had.

He loved them. And he’d protect them. They were his everything, his world. He wouldn’t let anything bad occur. Nothing bad would ever happen to them, and they’d spend their lifetime living a prefect and happy life, having fun together, always.

Playing forever.

He remembered a song he heard once, a faint memory of climbing countless red hands to a room where he gently dragged a now forever safe Basil to a comfortable bedroom that had room for all of them. It got stuck into his head for the whole night, the last verse of it being the best one.

He never knew why those few notes brought him such warmth.

Chapter Text

Aubrey stepped out of church, eyes focused in front of her.

She still didn’t want to link gazes with any of the other churchgoers, coming out through the doors alongside her.

She was getting better at managing her anger, for sure, but she would bet those hypocrites didn’t think the same of her despite all the efforts and apologies made during those last three months.

They’re really fucking bad at whispering. It’s almost like they want me to hear it.

But she wouldn’t do them a favor by giving them a reason to think they were right about her by exploding right in front of their faces.

The teenager went up to her bicycle, quicky hopped on it and headed to the parc.

In fact, she wouldn’t even explode at all.

Yup. I’m calm. Very calm. Their stupid judgements means nothing. I don’t care about what they think.

What matters is what my friends think of me. They matter. Those strangers don’t. They don’t even know me.

Her hair got all over her face as she speed up. Especially her discolored pink bangs, making her eyes sting as they got stuck in them before she blinked several times, getting them out.

Yeah, maybe cutting those chunks out of my hair weren’t as good as an idea I thought it would be.

Eh, who cares.

The teen parked her bike at the entrance of the park, eyes hovering around the space. She ended up spotting who she was looking for and waved as they noticed her too. She then trotted towards them.

"Hey, Kim."

"Yo, Aubs. What’s up ?"

Aubrey shrugged. "Ah, nothing much. Just came out of church. The sermon went okay, despite, y’know, the usual glares from the other folks."

"Did they bother you again ?" Her friend worried, frowning and clenching her fists. "Y’know we can always go and make them understand they should leave yo-"

"Kim, it’s okay. The pastor already allows me there, so that’s already more than I deserve" She sighed and brushed it off.

Kim dropped her tensing in favor of a worried glance. Vance approached, same look in his eyes.

"Aubrey.."

Said girl shut her eyes after rolling them.

Please don’t talk to me with that tone. I don’t need your pity... And ya’ll know me better than that.

"Guys. Please don't talk to me as if I was gonna burst in pieces, I won’t. I’m fine. I’m not letting their words get to my head or whatever. I don’t care about what they gotta say about me" She smirked.

Vance shrugged. "We know. It’s just the last couple of months have been kinda hard for ya, and like-..." he strached at the back of his neck, unsure of how to formulate the rest.

"We’re still worried, and all." Kim finished, mumbling the last part, looking sideways.

Wow. Look at me, making Kim out of all people talk about her feelings.

Aubrey snorted. "I’m fine, guys. Really. The people at church, I couldn’t care less what they think."

"Still, if they bother you too much we can still beat their butts !" Angel shouted, looking all proud.

"Yeah, no, that would bring me more trouble than anything, dumbass" Aubrey poked him on the forhead, gaze neutral. "Thanks for the support, tho. Y’all are really good friends."

They all gave a thumbs up -except Mikhael, who did a "Maverick pose" as he liked to call it-, and she felt a little bit warmer. She couldn’t help a smile, seeing her newest friends still there despite the latest troubles.

Kim, as directive and stubborn as she could get, was reliable for anything you could think of. From planning a robbery of Ms. Candice’s store for the hundredth’s time to be here if you needed a place to crash at after a bad fight with your mother.

Van, even if he was eating enough sweets to have an endless candy wrapping trail behing him that lead Ms.Candice to the author of the thefts, would always share some of his to cheer you up (except if the candy was taffy. Then he’d keep it, even if your pet had just died).

Charlenne, who didn’t say much, but would make sure she was besides you and always there to rely on, to listen to anything you might have to say that others didn’t show interest in.

Angel, as childish as he could get, wasn’t afraid to fight anyone if it meant fighting for you (or your "honor", as he said) and cheer you up in his own ways.

Even Mikhael (or, as he called himself "the Maverick") would try and be there. He’d promise to keep foes at bay with his ancient techniques of dissuasion. Or, more recently, "bestow you some of his modest creations", so in other words, freshly baked bread (free of charges).

She was glad they had accepted all her changes without judgement. Or too many questions, too. They weren’t exactly drastic changes, shortening her hair, stopping to put on her cyan lenses and keeping her bat at home rather than cary it around. She had spend so long used to the latest she still expected to feel her weapon in her fists sometimes, but it’s not like she needed it anymore. Perhaps she had never really ever did.

The Hooligans had been a comforting group when she had felt abandonned, left out by everyone that ever mattered before. They had welcomed her with open arms and hadn’t left, even now. Even if they seemed to be walking on eggshells ever since that peculiar day, they hadn’t left.

She had expected them to, now that she was in better terms with her childhood friends. There could have been a lot of reasons to distance themsleves from her.

Simply because they could’ve thought she didn’t need them anymore now that she made amends with the other group -which wouldn’t be true. She still wanted them around-.

Or because associating with her and her anger issues had almost led to the death of the kid she held a grudge against.

---

"We fucked up."

A sob shook her from head to toe, tears running down her cheeks from burning eyes. She struggled to stand.

"We fucked up bad."

Kim rushed towards her, gripping her shoulder.

"Aubrey. Aubrey ! What the hell happended ?!"

The pink haired one didn’t dare utter a word, hands gripping her blazer as she chocked down sobs unsuccessfully.

"Aubrey !" The other girl shouted. "You come here, toss your bike on the ground as if you want it broken and go up to us crying like that, we-" She mumbled undistinctly, and spoke up again, shaking her friend by the shoudlers. "Damn it, Aubs, just talk to us ! We can’t guess what’s wrong."

"We fucked up. N-no, I fucked up."

Kim looked at Vance, then the others, still completly lost. Their friend looked like she hadn’t slept at all, and she was a complete mess.

"Aubs, that doesn’t help us in the slightest." Vance remarked. "Last thing we know was that you wanted to spend time with your old buddies or something, and that you were gonna hang out with us today again. Then you don’t show up until now when you said you’d be there around morning."

"God- I- Damnit !" Aubrey burst out yelling, falling to her knees.

The whole group of friends, alarmed, circled her trying to support her as lost as they were. She pushed all their hands away.

"Don’t."

Aubrey looked at her own shaky ones, then wrapped herself into a hug, exhausted eyes shut tight, shoulders shaking. The group eyed each other, completely lost.

They waited for her to calm down, with Kim kneeling next to Aubrey, a hand on the latest’s shoulder.

"Talk to us, boss.." Angel complained. He had never seen her do anything close to this, and clearly didn’t know what to do with himself, hoping on one foot than the other.

"Where’d you fuck up ?" Kim asked, trying to make Aubrey look at her in the eyes, unsuccessfully.

Aubrey took a few breaths, still not lifting her gaze before dropping the bomb.

"He tried to fucking kill himself."

As she said that, she clenched her teeth together, still failing to supress a sob. Oh, how she hated saying it out loud. Admitting to her part in this.

The Hooligans all froze, then frowned, not sure to understand. "What..? Who-"

"GOD- FUCKING DAMNIT !" Aubrey slamed her fists into the ground, her whole friend group having a synchronised backwards movement at her sudden outburst.

"Can you believe- I went into his house, thinking 'OH YEAH, WHAT IF I APOLOGIED AND SLEPT OVER, I’M SURE THAT WILL COMFORT HIM AND MAKE UP FOR EVERYTHING, I’M SURE THAT’S GONNA FIX EVERYTHING' ! What the FUCK was I even thinking ?! That my presence would help him ?!"

Kim attempted to scoot forward. "Aubs, what are you talking abou-"

"-OF COURSE IT WOULDN’T ! I made his life a living HELL, and then I just barge into his house begging for forgiveness ?! JUST WHEN HE LOST THE ONLY FUCKING FAMILY THAT CARED ?!"

Aubrey wasn’t hearing her friend’s attempts at calming her down. She wasn’t even exactly yelling at them,  it really. It seemed like she had forgotten they were even here for a moment, too focused about being mad at herself.

"WHO THE FUCK DID I THINK I WAS ?! I don’t get to come and invite myself like that ! I don’t get to eat alongside them ! God- WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH THEM ?! Why didn’t they break his door when he wasn’t fucking responding to us ?! WHY DIDN’T I DO THAT, HUH ? I BREAK STUFF, THAT’S WHAT I DO ISN’T IT ?!"

Eventually they stopped trying, and attempted to focus on understanding all her crying out and hitting the grass.

"BUT NO ! That’s not what any of us did ! Y’know what we did ?! You know what we did ?! We fucking watched TV, ate diner and laughed. Yeah, we had a hell of a good time. With him right next door. He was right THERE. HEARING US."

She took a short pause, panting, furiously wiping her tears away, pointlessly as they wouldn’t stop flowing. The concerned looks didn’t leave as they were still not understanding what was happening.

"He was RIGHT. THERE. We hung out all happy, while he was- We went to sleep without fucking BOTHERING to check if he was fine- God- what kind of friend am I ?!"

Before anyone could answer, she violently ripped a blade of grass, taring it apart.

"What kind of friend fucking bullies another into- GOD, HE-"

With that, she broke down, collapsing even further. Kim rushed towards her, holding her up as the other sobbed once again. The others kneeled around, concern only growing.

Kim was frowning. "Aubs, we really need you to elaborate. That was everything but comprehensible. You just rambled shit about a guy getting all upset over it without naming the dude. It’s not really coherent."

Despite saying this, it was clear Kim had a hunch. Her gaze said it all. She just hoped it wasn’t what she knew it was. She was understanding where this was going, and what Aubrey was attempting to tell them.

"Do we need to beat someone up for ya ?" Angel said, rasing his fists in a demonstrative maner, expecting to make their leader laugh.

"Shut the fuck up, Angel." Her voice was strained, cut through hiccups.

The young boy shot her a hurt look, and Kim rolled her eyes.

"We can’t fix everything by fucking -hic- punching stuff."

"We can. We do" Vance reminded her.

"For fuck’s sake, guys !"

Another burst of sobs shook her, but she forced herself to recover faster. "We fucking can’t keep that up. Not anymore. Never again. God-"

Kim sighed. "Aubs. Just explain. They- we don’t get shit of what you’re saying."

The pink haired teen clenched her fists in frustration. "There’s nothing hard to get" she blurted out. "Basil-" She gritted her teeth again.

Don’t cry don’t cry don’t cry damn it stop crying fucking asshole-

"Flower boy ?" Mikhael’s face twitched and he rolled his eyes. "The fuck did he do this time ? Didn’t he get the lesson ?! Did he mess with you aga-"

Aubrey knocked him to the ground with all her strength. He yelped in surprise, his wig getting thrown a few inches away. She squeezed his shoulders, vision blurred by several burning tears, feeling as if her nails were digging into his shirt. Her whole body was shaking, she felt weak, light headed, horrible. Hands were trying to pry her off, grabbing her shoulders. The other was struggling beneath her, trying to kick her hands off him, confused as to why he he had been knocked down.

"HE DIDN’T DO SHIT TO ME, DIPSHIT. IT’S US. WE- HE-"

Her breathing was quickening. She loosened her grip, realising who she was spending her nerves on.

Damn it. Fuck. Attacking my own friends now, huh ? And I thought Basil was the one with the problem.
Here I am, huh ? Doing all I know. Screaming at people while I’m the one with the actual problem there.

But did her friends really ever got what they were doing to Basil ? To them it was something about a revenge. They had seen Aubrey hurt over the album, and to them her anger and reaction to it were justified.

Except it had gone too far.

"All of our 'messing' with him, it- we fucking drove him to attempt suicide."

She hated how much her voice wavered. She hated it was her fault. She hated she had to say it. She hated it was something that had happened. She hated it. She hated it so much.

Time could have stopped, it wouldn’t have made much of a difference.

Aubrey kept on sobbing, breathing more and more incoherently. Mikhail stopped trashing, in shock. All the others had wide eyes.

"W-what do you mean-...?" He stammered, in disbelief. "He’s not-... is he..."

Aubrey let go off him, her arms going back to being wrapped around herself after she backed away.

"He fucking stabbed himself while we slept like godamn babies next room" She muttered. The words felt like acid, were hard to form, push out her lips.

Was that what Basil was feeling when he stammered on his words as he was begging to be left alone, only to be mocked and his words to be mimicked, ridiculed ?
Even talking as the others were trying to provide support the best they could despite the shock felt like there was lava coming out of her mouth.
To think he kept pleading as they harrassed him for the way he tried to talk made Aubrey want to go back in time and punch herself.

"He had a knife on him too ?!" Kim exclaimed.

"No. He had garden shears. It doesn’t fucking matter, he still did it." She spat out, breathing heavily. "There was blood everywhere, he-"

"Is he dead ?!" Vance interrupted, eyes reflecting a start of panic.

They all asked themselves the same question. Had their treatment of killed him ? Did that mean they were murderers ?

And, were they selfish to worry for themselves, their fates before worrying for the gardener’s ?

They all hanged by Aubrey’s words, anticipating the answer with dread, not daring to move an inch as they stared.

"No."

You could’ve felt the relief by the way all the teenagers, except the pink haired one, had let go off the physical tensing.
None had sighed though, probably in fear of their trembling friend’s reaction.

She kept struggling to breathe.

"Th-that doesn’t make it any better. We fucking did that. We fucking did that. We pushed him to this. It’s our fault, god, he-"

Kim grabbed Aubrey’s shoulder, eyes trying to convince her friend, brows furrowed. "Aubrey, we... we don’t know that. You said the kid was troubled anyways, he could’ve had a thousand other reasons to-"

Aubrey ripped Kim’s hand off, her voice getting a pitch higher. "No ! Do you see ANY other fucking reason he would’ve done it ?! We made his life hell ! Nobody else, Kim ! We’re the ones who never let him rest any day wether it was school or not ! We’re the godamn reason ! It’s us ! It’s on us. It’s our fucking fault. It’s us. We fucking did that. We fucking nearly killed him. We fucking almost killed him, if it wasn’t for S-Sunny he’d be dead, and it would’ve been my fault, he- he would’ve be- Fuck-"

She began hyperventilating, thugging on her hair as she curled into a ball. Calming down didn’t seem to be something that’d happen. Nothing about the situation she was in -had put herself in- was possible to be taken calmly.

"I can’t believe I- god- I’m even worse than- fuck, he never deserved- over a fucking album, that’s rich- fuck, what if he doesn’t- what if still dies, he- I- No, please, I can’t do that again- Mari, she- this has to be s-some sick nightmare-"

All the others were shooting her frightened looks, looking around, desperately wondering what would help her calm down. Kim grabbed Aubrey’s shoulders, and not knowing what else to do, tried to shake some sense into her.

"Aubrey. Aubrey. AUBREY!"

The sobbing teen momentarily stopped, staring at her, red eyes wide open, sniffling.

"I-I... God, I get it. We messed up big time, but- getting like this won’t solve anything. Or make us get what exactly happened. Do you get that ?" Kim was talking rather loudly, as she always did. Her grip on Aubrey’s shoulder was tight enough to make the other focus.

She nodded, trying to steady her breathing.

Great. What a fucking scene I’ve just made, huh ?

"Good." Kim blurted out, letting the other go and sitting in front of her, legs crossed. "Now explain again. Calmly, this time. Then we... we’ll figure out what to do."

She was trying to put on a tough face, but couldn't exactly manage hiding the worry in her eyes. Was it for Aubrey, or the flower boy, the gang’s leader couldn't figure out. Maybe a little bit of both. Kim never intended for it to go this far, after all.

Neither of them did.

She took a shaky breath, running a hand through her hair, as if untangling the mess it had become since she drove here as fast as she could would soothe her somehow.

"So... I spend some time with Kel -yes, I know what you’ll say, he’s a dork ane all but let me finish-, yesterday, and uh, Hero and Sunny -other childhood friends-..."

"The knife kid ?" Mikhael’s voice perked up in surprise.

"Mikhael shut the hell up. She’s tryna explain something" Kim spat.

"Don’t call me-"

Mikhael’s voice died out as soon as Kim shot him a warning look. He pouted. He must have been thinking he was being victimised, with only Angel caring about the 'injustices' he faced. But it was no time to get upset over having gotten thrown on the ground after an unwanted remark, or being called a name he didn’t like, and even he got that. He quickly dropped the offended expression, useless to sustain and more than unwanted in that context.

Kim nodded slightly, motioning Aubrey to go on.

"We made up and all, and we had settled to go to Basil’s for me to apologise about, well, everything, and-..."

Her voice began to speed up as she said his name, making the sentence quite hard to understand as she was mumbling. But thankfully they were all used to Kim’s muttering, so they understood their friend.

"...and we decided we’d sleep over at his place since he wasn’t coming out of his room, and his caretaker was worried.."

Mikhael looked about to question the "caretaker" part, but closed his mouth as soon as he had opened it.

"His Grandma had just died, he was in the hospital with her all day, and when he came back he just-... he locked himself in his room, and he wasn’t responding to anyone, I tried to apologise but I’m not even sure he heard me or that he even cared, well it clearly wasn’t enough because he-"

Her breathing had picked up again, she stopped talking to take a couple of deep breaths. Kim patted her shoulder a few times in hopes of providing some kind of support.

"He wasn’t saying anything. So we thought we’d stay overnight to be there, but... but we didn't try to interact with him anymore than that, he didn’t even come out to eat and we thought it was the shock of his Grandma’s-... but..."

Aubrey shook her head a few times, as if to put some order in her thoughts or memories.

She hated talking about it. She hated it so much. It hurt so much too. She felt as if she was getting stabbed in the stomach too. Guilt hit her so, so hard. She was surprised she hadn’t thrown up just yet.

She had when she saw Mari. Surprisingly, she hadn’t when they found Basil, despite the thing being more than her fault. Maybe was it because Basil was still alive, or the rush to call 911. She didn’t know.

And she didn’t want to focus on remembering neither of her friend’s bodies like that. Talk. Damn it, just talk and tell them. They gotta know.

Why did they have to ? She didn’t exactly know. She was the one with the grudge. They had just followed her along in what she believed was a punishment.

But they deserved to know, didn’t they ? They should know.

And... as disgusting of her as it was, she needed their comfort more than anything right now and then.

But when she would be done with her explanation, would they comfort her ?
Would they judge her worthy of comfort ?
Would they feel okay enough to provide comfort ?
Would they still want to be their friend ?
Would they push her away ?
Would they blame her for the bullying and its consequences ?
Would they run away of their -or her- actions and leave her to rot ? Just like she and everyone but Sunny had left Basil to rot ?

She wanted nothing more than to hear "it will be okay". And that was disgusting of her to even have the though of reaching out for comfort crossing her mind. She didn’t deserve an ounce of comfort. She was the bully here, despite how muched she had wished to deny it. She had pushed Basil to that. Why would anyone want to even touch her, let alone hug and reassure her ? They might as well leave just then. That was what she deserved, wasn’t it ?

"But we weren’t careful enough, we were fucking dumb, we went to sleep thinking it’d be okay, but it wasn’t... Sunny’s the only one that actually picked up on something, cause he went to see Basil, we don’t know when, but... well, he didn’t like... find Basil...? I-I mean, we don’t know what the fuck happened, Sunny and Basil talked for sure, b-but... well, not talked, or maybe they did, but they argued at some point for sure, we heard yelling, but-..."

Oh, she hated it. She hated it. She hated it, she hated how she had treated him, her punches, that her actions had led him to do it. She hated it, she hated how her words seemed like they burned her own throat, she hated how she was hurting so bad, the pain in her stomach was unbearable but she wouldn’t manage to throw up. She hated how she wasn’t even able to admit to her sins. She hated how she felt so bad when she knew she had no right to, as that was the consequences of her very actions. She hated remembering the way she had been jolted awake by Sunny’s scream. She hated how she hadn’t gotten out of her daze when she heard the all too familiar sounds of furniture crashing as two people fought in a room too small for a fight.

Kim grabbed Aubrey’s shoulders again. "Aubs, chill. Chill. Talk a bit slower. Please." The last word was almost a pleading. The girl, as well as the other delinquents, was looking worried.

"You said you heard yelling ?"

Aubrey nodded, trying to slower her words. It was hard. So hard. But she owed an explanation. She had to tell them. She didn’t know what else she’d do if she didn’t. She just couldn’t picture herself not telling them. She had to.

"...Y-Yeah. -hic- That’s what woke us up. Well, technically it was... sort of stuff falling down sounds that woke us up, but what like, made us really really awake was Basil... screaming at Sunny..? I don’t remember what exactly Basil said, something about stopping I think...? B-But right after we heard Sunny yell. R-Real loud."

She wished she could rip that memory out of her head. She’d knew it was Sunny, and not Basil screaming, for the sole reason she knew how Basil sounded when he did. She knew, because she had been the reason he did countless times.
She wished she could rip both sounds out of her brain, and tear them to shreds.

"We tried to get to open Basil’s door, but we heard him rush to lock it, and he wasn’t,... we were telling him to open, but he wasn’t even talking to us, he was just muttering shit about stuff we didn’t even understand, like, and he was breathing real loud, a-and then I guess he just... fell to the ground...? Cause we heard a thud or something, then he wasn’t talking anymore but we still heard him breathing, until we didn’t, that’s when we said we’d kick the door down and that’s what we did, a-and we found them..."

God, how much she wanted to rip that image out of her brain too. She wished she had never looked. She wished she had just listened for once in her life as Hero screamed at them not to look.

"I don’t know what happened. None of us do, Sunny might’ve tried to stop Basil, but he only managed to get hurt too, I- but what happened, it was... god, Basil, he wouldn't have if we hadn’t... if I hadn’t... I don’t know what I’d do if he..."

Silence fell on the group. She was done talking. There was no need in describing what she had seen, and judging by her friend’s horrified gazes, they did not want any more detail.

She whished she hadn’t looked. She wished she hadn’t looked. But all this, this very event, was her fault. She had no right to try to forget. This was the very consequence of her childish, selfish actions and the world had shoved it in her face for a reason. If he didn’t make it through, it would be her fault. No amount of confession or prayers would erase what she had done, nor would erase her sins or allievate the guilt crushing every part of her.

Her hands were red, and she had only managed to drag her friends down with her. And once they’d remember she was the one that had been at the origin of the idea of tormenting the flower boy, they’d be disgusted of her. They’d leave her. That was what she deserved. It sucked that it had to be taken this extreme for her to realise her actions were unacceptable and wrong. But she had chosen to deliberately ignore Basil’s pleas, and this would only be her rightful punishment.

Go on. Leave. Say you hate me. Say you hate me for bringing you down with me. For almost turning you into killers. For associating you with my crimes. Say I’m disgusting. Say you’ll leave and hope it’ll be enough in order for you not to go to hell with me. Go on. Do it now.

But she didn’t really want that. She didn’t want them to leave. At all. They were so precious to her. But she was selfish, a hypocrite.

They had stayed despite knowing how impulsive, how violent she could be. They weren’t perfect either. They were a messy group of flawed kids, her probably the worst of them. They had all made so many mistakes, hurt so many people wether voluntarily or not.

Question was, would they accept her knowing the extent of how much she had hurt someone ? Would they stand by her side, knowing she had been the cause of someone’s attempt at leaving this world, and accepting that ? Could they forgive her knowing she might bring them down with her ?

Those questions ran through her head as she watched her friend’s reactions to the information, their states.

Kim was clearly conflicted. Genuine fear wasn’t an emotion Aubrey would have ever imagined on her friend’s face, but here it was. Genuine fear and the apparent wonder of when they had begun going too far and why the hell didn’t they stop. She knew they all weren’t bad people. So why had they gone that far ? Where had they started being so blind ?

Vance looked... lost. He didn’t seem to realise it just yet, or was still processing the thing. He was the oldest. He had assumed their behaviour didn’t, couldn’t have any real consequences. The kid they tormented was just crying, so what ? Anyone could take a few punches. They were deserved, from what they had understood. Basil was always taking what they gave him without too much of a protest, so he had to know he deserved it, right ? Plus it wasn’t like he wasn’t used to being messed with, the Hooligans were well aware of the amount of people that went on with the name calling or shoving at school. What was one more or one less group messing with him ? Vance had assumed it wouldn’t do much of an effect, as they weren’t the only ones giving him trouble. He could take it, he had took it for four years. But turns out, Basil had ended up not being able to take even living anymore.

Charlene’s silence was louder than it ever had been. How was she any different than the anxious, shy boy she had held tight countless times as he was screaming and sobbing, terrified, being beaten ? What had made the difference between how the Hooligans had decided to treat her, as a friend, and Basil, as a target, when her and the boy shared similar traits ? How could she have stood there as someone so close in character was being torn apart in every way a person could be ? Why hadn’t she realised how wrong it was ?

Mikhael was distraught as well. He knew how he acted could make people think he believed life was some sort of manga, or video game, but he knew it wasn’t. Deep down he knew it wasn’t. But maybe it had been burried just the inch not deep enough in his brain, the exact inch not deep enough to make him forget how people could break. And how some things couldn’t be fixed by reloading and erasing previous mistakes. How people weren’t invulnerable NPC’s, and that sometimes people’s fates were influenced by your very own actions. Actions that could be deadly.

Angel, as young as he was, wasn’t a stranger to the topic of suicide. He had heard Aubrey’s stories about a girl named Mari, and how her passing had affected his group’s leader. Heard how Aubrey wished she had been there, or knew what words to say to save the girl she had visioned as her big sister, like a hero. Angel had seen himself and his friends as heroes, hurt heroes that would make bad people pay. Basil was a bad person in his head, since he had hurt Aubrey by blacking out the pictures, Mari’s pictures. And if he thought of it, it was kind of true the flower boy was creepy. There was just something about the way he acted that Angel couldn’t grasp, and so he had registered him as a threat. Not a big one, as he never punched back, or the only times he yelled was to pitifully scream for help. He wasn’t supposed to be anything else than a pitiful, creepy, bad, weak villain in their big game of playing heroes. But here, he had almost died in real life. Because of them...? But what they did was vengeance, right ? Basil wasn’t supposed to be hurt ! Basil wasn't supposed to try and take his life ! That was taking things way too far ! Weren’t they just playing heroes ? Basil was the villain in this, he had done bad things and hadn’t even denied them ! But he wasn’t supposed to die in real life ! Wasn’t this... too far ? Why had he taken this that far ? Weren’t they just playing a game, deep down ? They had to ! Angel wouldn't be the bad guy, would he ? He was a nice guy. And nice guys weren’t a part of the reason another person, who was supposed to be a bad guy, would purposefully die in real life ! There had to be something Angel had missed. Had Basil been redeemed sometime ? There had to be something he had missed. He wouldn’t accept it, he wasn’t a bad person, he wasn’t the reason someone would choose to die for real, in real life. He- he’d fix his mistake.

They all would. Wouldn’t they ?

Because Aubrey wasn’t the only one that had caused this. They had all followed along, more or less aware of the possible consequences and all ignoring them until their target reached his breaking point and tried to end it all. Aubrey hadn’t forced any of them, they had chosen this.

They had all a part in this. That’s why they wouldn’t leave her side.

They were friends. Friends were in this together. Even if here, it was about sharing the blame for a disgusting burden. They’d fix things somehow. They’d make it right.

So, they had comforted Aubrey. Aubrey who didn’t believe she deserved it. Aubrey who kept breaking down everyday, growing more and more anxious as neither Basil or Sunny woke up as days went by, her gang sharing her concern.

They had visited both of the boys.

Sunny had been the easiest to go see, even if the extent of his injuries had taken all of them aback. Loosing an eye trying to stop an old friend from taking their own life was an injury they knew would remind both him and Basil of the event forever. It wouldn’t be easy.
Hopefully, they would manage in salvaging a part of the picture. So, they had left a cacti for him, with a note saying they’d wait for a rematch. They had all fought the boy more than once, and even thought they had all lost against him -and Kel, but that was something they wouldn’t admit in a million years-, they had had quite a bit of fun. It put up a challenge, and despite the neutral expression they had only seen the small teen have, they were convinced he had enjoyed a part of the fights too, when those weren’t fueled by Aubrey’s rage.

Basil, on the other hand, had been way tougher to pay a visit to, and so for a whole bunch of reason.

First of, they weren’t sure they had the right to be there. They had met his caretaker on the way to the patient’s room, and they hadn’t quite decoded the glare she had shot at them. But she had let them go in.

If it was in order for them to see and realise the extent of their actions, it was only partially succeeded. They were aware Basil had suffered serious stab wounds, but thankfully his stomach area was covered by his sheets. It was hard to believe, even if his presence in the room was the proof he had done it. Though they didn’t miss his few scratches and black eye, but that wasn’t their doing.
But his expression stuck with them quite a while. He was asleep. But, he wasn’t at peace, all tied up to all kind of beeping machines, IV poking out of his bandaged arms, and they couldn’t possibly forget what had led the boy in this place.

Initially they weren’t sure to come in fear of the flower boy being awake. In apprehension of his reaction to seeing them. Nobody would be pleased seeing their bullies here to see them after a failed attempt, for sure. They weren’t sure either to be able to sustain his desperate gaze, now that they knew all too well what despair could push him to do. But the sleeping wasn’t exactly better, they had realised. It made them all wonder when, and even worse, if he’d wake up. Not knowing if, when, and even how he’d react to that bugged them hard. It was their doing, after all. What else could it be ?

They wanted to make up for it, leaving a plant for him too. They has picked with care, after Aubrey’s reminiscing at the boy’s past explainations of flower meaning. They had settled to offer him a few daisies, symbolising new beginnings, joy and cheerfulness.
A promise to the boy he could be like Aubrey remembered him, if he gave life another shot. That things could maybe go back to what they were before.
They had wanted to leave an encouragement note too, but they couldn’t find the right words.

Ironic how what they had said to him had led him here, and now they couldn’t say anything to make up for it. They hoped he’d get the meaning of the flowers, him who knew so much about them.

But they didn’t get the chance to leave their gift. It hadn’t been reassuring to know Polly hadn’t been able to give him anything either, same with Kel and Hero. The nurses had explained they couldn’t risk having anything Basil could use to harm himself in his room, the pots in which the plants were being deemed dangerous as they could be sharp if broken.

But if they were to be honest, the suicide-proofed room was empty of any warmth. Of any touch of outside support, empty of any message saying "hey, there’s still some people who care, buddy". They had tried to argue with the staff, but it was pointless.

Even if Basil seemed stable asleep, there was no telling he wouldn’t go into hysterics once he’d wake and realise he was still there. If that happened, any potential risky object would be a great threat. Basil had shown to find ways to hurt himself to the point of near death with seemingly inoffensive tools such as simple garden shears, so they had to be sure, even if it meant take quite extreme mesures. If they noticed a way to hurt oneself with any random object, they knew Basil would notice too.

But once he’d wake up, they’d fix things. They’d apologise, and Basil would be better from then on, right ? He’d give life a shot if they promised to leave him alone, even protect him at school, wouldn’t he ? It was their fault, and they would fix it. Aubrey would fix it.

But, it turned out things would be slightly more complicated than that.

Sunny had woken up. He had woken up a day where Aubrey had come accompanied of her old friends, and not the Hooligans. They had visited Sunny, joked about how Hero missed university by staying in town until he made sure both of them woke up, or how Kel and Aubrey skipped school to be here without really finding themselves funny.
It was a sunny day, but neither of the three felt happy. They had went to see Basil, still sleeping, but he was being given less and less mediaction to see if that would ease him waking up. They stayed around to see if there would be any change, when out of the blue, Sunny had come in the room.

Walking, and then standing, then beginning to talk as if nothing had happened in the past weeks. Months. Years.

Aubrey had listened. Because what else could she have done ? Sunny wasn’t quite the talker, and here he wanted, needed to, more than seemingly anything. It had to be important, right ? It had to do with what had happened with Basil.

Why Basil had stabbed Sunny’s eye out trying to die.

It would be explained, right ? That was the part Aubrey understood the less. She didn’t know Basil could be this agressive towards others. She had a hunch he was capable of such violence against himself, she wasn’t blind to some wounds she had caught glimpses off that she new weren’t from her and her friend’s beatings. But he couldn’t, hadn’t hurt a fly. He had never defended himself, merly trying to shove the Hooligans away as he tried to run from them.

So to stab his old best friend’s eye, it was... surely something. Even in this context, she had to miss a part of the story.

And oh boy, did she miss a part.

The more shaky words fled through Sunny’s cracked lips, the more things made simultaneously more and less sense.

Sunny.

Mari.

Recital.

Practice.

Violin.

Stairs.

Broken.

Anger.

Mari.

Sunny.

An argument.

A push.

A fall.

The stairs.

Basil.

Waiting.

Dreading.

Checking for a pulse.

Denial.

More waiting.

An idea.

A way out.

Mari.

Backyard.

Jump rope.

A tree.

Swaying.

A lie.

The truth.

Aubrey knew herself. She knew if she had learned this weeks earlier, before Sunny came out, she might’ve rethought the purpose of her nailed bat, originally there only as an intimidation tool.

She knew how quick anger consumed her, how she always went for the easier way, losing any sense of control to the burning rage.

So, it was all a lie ? All these years ? They had preferred to lie to protect themselves ? Had preferred shattering Aubrey’s whole world to preserve their safety ? Ruining Mari’s image to preserve theirs ?

It would have been a lie to say she was angry. She wasn’t just angry, she was enraged.

It might’ve been an accident, but she didn’t care. She couldn’t care. Mari was dead. She died. She was killed. She was murdered.
And then her murder had been framed. Her body had been mutilated. Her image had been.
How dared Basil ?! How dared Sunny ?! A mistake was something, but making the whole town believe she had-.. How could they ?! How could they even think about this ?!
They were sick ! Utterly sick ! And to think she had felt bad for both of them ! They had ruined everything ! Everything ! They deserved everything that had happened, if not more !
Nobody in their right mind would’ve done this ! Aubrey couldn’t even fathom doing that ! She’d never frame or lie about someone’s death if she had had a part in it ! How dared they ?! She was impulsive, but not to the point of straight up murdering someone with her own hands ! She had a minimum of self control !

But she had been surprised at how quickly this feeling of rage had been replaced with one of pure, complete dread. Petrifying her in place.

Or had she..?

She suddenly couldn’t get the lake out of her head, buzzing only intensifying in her hears.

Yelling.

Anger.

A hand on her shoulder, pleading.

A shove.

A splash.

Sinking.

Waiting, waiting and waiting.

Doing nothing.

Standing there.

Sinking.

Watching.

Others diving in.

Salvaging what she could not. Salvaging what she had almost teared apart in a fit of rage.

Horrendous luck.

Two situations drastically similar. Only change was that others had been there to interfere with Basil and Sunny’s fate.

Neither could swim, she knew it, yet she pushed Basil to his death and hadn’t moved an inch as he sunk. Hadn’t moved an inch as Sunny sunck after him in a hopeless attempt to retreive the other.

She could have helped, but she was petrified. Convinced she had just killed someone. Not daring to move to try and change it, as if accepting it already.

Trying to find a way out for herself.

She realised oh so quickly how she understood all too well Sunny’s point of view. The despair in pushing someone to their death. Being able to do nothing to prevent it, frozen by fear. Stairs or lake, it wasn’t much of a difference.

And Basil’s. He wanted to protect Sunny, not destroy Mari. Aubrey would have desperatly cried for help too, if she had robbed Basil of his life. Asked for help, a way out. She hadn’t meant to hurt Basil this much. Yet out of impulse she had nearly killed him. And had just stood as she waited for someone to fix the situation for her.

She’d have done the same as Sunny, accepting anything, any idea to get out of this mess. Accepting an idea such as Basil’s, as messed up as it was.
She’d have grabbed the hand thay would have offered a way out. Thankful for the way out. Thankful for the will of the other to lie for her, cover her sins.
She’d have sobbed in the other’s arms, the witness’s arms, as she would have robbed them of their innocence, dragging them down with her. Understanding they had just destroyed their life and more to protect her, and being infinitly grateful for it, yet it never would have been enough.

She didn’t want to understand. She wanted to believe she’d have done anything else. She wanted to believe she was different.

She had stood as both her former friends were drowning, because of her. Because she pushed Basil. Not caring how much seeing this scared the others. What if Sunny and Kel had never heard Basil’s pleas as he was cornered by the group of delinquents ? What if he had sunk under the water with no Hero coming to save him ?
What if he had died ?
How far would things have gone ?
What if it was only the Hooligans there ?
What if they were the only witnesses ?
Would they have made up a plan to hide it ?
Would they have hidden the truth, said he jumped to protect Aubrey ?
And would have Aubrey hated them for suggesting the idea ?
Would she have went along with it ?
Would her friends and her have kept the secret until their dying breaths ?

She wanted to say none of this would have happened. That she’d have told the truth. That she’d have told the truth and accept the judgement of everyone around her.

But she knew she wouldn’t have admitted to it. She knew she’d had done the same. She knew she’d have lied too. She could only understand both the boy’s reactions, oh so clearly. Empathising so much. The complete fear that froze her that moment, when she saw the flower boy sink and disappear in the waters. She hated it.

She understood all too well. It was horrible. She hated it so much. She hated it.

She hated how lucky she had been, and how unlucky Sunny had been.

She hated he had been so unlucky that he was now waiting for something to happen, silent tears rolling down his cheek and shaky breaths audible as his chest quickly rose up and down.

Waiting for them to cast their judgements. Waiting just like Aubrey had waited when they had taken Basil out of the lake.

Would they blame Sunny ?

Had they blamed Aubrey ?

Had Sunny blamed Aubrey ?

Would Aubrey blame Sunny ?

...

She wished she could.

She wished she could hate him. She wished she could hate him and Basil. But she couldn't. Hating them would only be like hating herself.

She did the exact same thing, only was there a better outcome.

She understood. She related so much. She was still angry. She had so much anger boilling inside her. But she knew she couldn’t not forgive them.

She had already, and would be unable not to do it.
They had forgiven her, after all.
She had done the same thing as Sunny. She would have done the same thing as Basil.
And yet they forgave her for it.

She could only do the same for both injured boys.

Aubrey wouldn’t be able to bring herself to hate them, even if she tried. She was done hating on others, she was done hurting others.

But she felt so lost, despite everything.

So lost. So full of guilt. Bitterness. Anger.

What had she done to be this lucky ?

She had hurt Basil so much. She now knew his attempt wasn’t completely on her, but there was no denying her behaviour had played a part in his decision.
And yet, despite her having done so many wrong things, he had survived. She had pushed him in a lake, and he survived. She had relentlessly tormented him as he already was deeply unwell, and despite him attempting suicide, he had survived. Not thanks to her.

Neither Mari, Sunny or Basil had done anything wrong before, and despite it, Mari still died. They were all innocent kids, but she had died. Sunny was innocent, and yet he had pushed her to her death. Basil was innocent, and yet he had hung her. They hadn’t done anything wrong before that and yet they’d been turned into criminals, or killed by accident. They had been punished, but for what ? They hadn’t anything to be guilty of. They were just kids living their lives.

Aubrey wasn’t that innocent when she had pushed Basil. She had done wrong things, and yet she hadn’t been turned into a murderer. She didn’t have blood on her hands. She hadn’t been punished for the pain she caused. She wasn’t a good person, so why had she walked away free of any consequence ?

Why did she get to walk away free of the guilt of being a killer and they did not ?

It wasn’t fair.

Mari, Sunny, Basil, they were good people. They didn’t deserve all this.

Aubrey wasn’t a good person. She didn’t deserve to be this lucky.

It wasn’t fair. It wasn’t fair, and she hated it.

She wanted to tear apart this world that was only hurting her and her loved ones. And for what ? For nothing. None of this had to happen. None of them deserved it.

She wished things had gone differently.

She wished for it so hard.

But the past couldn’t be changed.

And so, she had tried to process her emotions, not lash out, stay calm, and joined in the hug Hero had given Sunny as the latest collapsed.

They all needed support. Aubrey, Sunny, Basil, Hero, Kel.

Each other’s support, specifically.

And just as they had promised days before, they’d be in this together and wouldn’t make the mistake of drifting apart no matter how hard things turned out to be.

They’d mend it all. Their relationships, feelings.

Aubrey was done destroying stuff. She’d try fixing stuff this time.

And if she felt the urge to break shit, then, she guessed she’d spend her nerves on the trash scattered across her house. Too bad if it disturbed her mom’s TV. She’d had to live with it.

Despite everything bad that had happened, she was glad it hadn’t been worse.

Shortly after the truth got out, they had been told Basil had woken up. It was a good thing.
He had been avoiding her ever since he opened his eyes again. That was understandable. But at least he was out of the hospital now, and most of all, alive. It didn’t matter he wasn’t replying to her texts, her attempts at apologies, or that he wasn’t coming out of his house when she was near, or even that he stopped coming to school altogether. She understood. He needed peace, and most likely to be away from her.

The Hooligans hadn’t left her. Good thing. They were paying attention to her, maybe a little bit too much. She wasn’t made out of glass, but eh, if they stayed despite everything she could live with it.

She had managed to get back her old friendship with Kel. With the bickering, but that was more of a stress relief and a funny thing than a negative aspect. Even though Kel wasn’t too keen on hanging out with the Hooligans, she could share, split up her time between them. If she got to annoy the fuck out of him, she was willing to pay the price of annoying him alone. And also, the inevitable revenges he gave her weren’t seen by her friends. That was a perk.

She hadn’t talked to Hero a lot since he left for college again, but they exchanged by texting from time to time. He made sure she knew he was there if needed. Maybe he was too worried at some times, and asking questions about her home life she hadn’t been expecting nor knew how to respond to, but she assumed he wanted to make up for all the time lost. He tried his best, as they all did, after all.

She couldn’t contact Sunny. Even if she could, she didn’t know how to initiate the conversation. "Hey, I forgave you for killing your sister. I understand, I almost killed your best friend and you yourself. Are we cool ?" She couldn’t just say hi as if nothing had happened either. She had despiced this behaviour, so she wouldn’t do it.
Even though she was begining to understand the comfort pretending brough. She wasn’t allowed to take the easy path, she had done it too long. She just hoped Sunny would be okay with communicating with her. Basil wasn’t, and even if it wasn’t the most important here, it hurt her a little. Heck, it hurt her a lot. But... Basil’s reticence towards her was well deserved and rightful.
But she hoped Sunny wouldn’t hate her.

She had changed. They all had. But they could be friends again, right ?

Aubrey was glad she was able to keep both her group of friends. The Hooligans, and her childhood group.

She had spent a lot of time with first lately, and they knew she would try doing the same with the other soon.

"We’re still there if you need to, y’know, vent or something" Kim reminded her as Aubrey was about to say her goodbyes for the day.

They had hung out a few moments, after she had gotten out of church, but she had recieved a text from Kel.

Kel - 10/22/00 - 10:43 am : yo aubry, just to let u know, sunnys here we managed to convince his mom, u can come if u wanna :|

Aubrey - 10/22/00 - 10:46 am : OMW

Aubrey - 10/22/00 - 10:47 am : Also my name is Aubrey not Aubry you dork !!!

Aubrey - 10/22/00 - 10.47 am : Gonna do a detour so I might be a little late

So, Kel actually threatened Sunny’s mom, huh ? And it worked ? I knew about Kel’s whole... plan, but who knew dude could actually be scary.

...

So Sunny’s back in town, huh..? At Kel’s. Having a sleepover, like old times, mmh ?

She wasn’t exactly all calm about it. Pretty anxious about it, even. But she wanted to go see them, even if she disliked feeling nervous like this.

So, she said her goodbyes to the group of delinquents, and hopped on her scooter after shooting a circular look to the park, suddenly nostalgic of the hours of playing they had had on the playground area. Something caught her eyes inside the Yellow Cat build for a second.

Huh.

A bunch of kids were already in there. Odly enough, the one poking an eye out awefully looked like Sunny. And he was staring right at her.

She didn’t bother keeping looking at them. She probably should sleep more this night.

If thinking of Sunny and old times is starting to make me straight up hallucinate them, that’s concering.

She brushed it off, and left the park. Not like the past could magically manifest itself and walk around town.

The kid probably wasn’t even close to looking like Sunny. There was a lot of black haired boys out there, she was just apprehending the reunion so much she was just about beginning seeing him everywhere if she kept on staying awake this late.

This was just a silly kid playing with his friends. They had nothing to do with images of Aubrey’s past.

Though, it was a funny thought.

She couldn’t help but make a detour to Basil’s house.

She kept on holding on to the hope that maybe he’d agree to talk to her at some point, that she just had to keep trying. Any day now. She wasn’t hurting him, after all. She was trying to make things right. She was trying to reach him.

She wasn’t being pushy coming here every two days or so, was she ? She just needed to know if the situation had evolved somehow.

Aubrey put her bike against the fence, and braced herself.

Okay. Here we are again.

She took a deep breath and knocked at the door. She glanced at the different flowers around the place as a way to distract herself.

She didn’t know why she was growing anxious, so short of breath all the time when she knocked.

Why she was apprehending the confrontation so much.

Footsteps were heard, and the door soon swung open.

But today just as every other day, it wasn’t Basil that opened. It was Polly.

Aubrey tried to put up a smile.

Polly reciprocated without struggling a second, expression gentle despite being tired.

Polly didn’t hate her. She knew it because Polly had never shown any anger towards her.
She didn’t know how or why, but Polly hadn’t shown any resentment. No matter how tired Polly had been, how scared she had been for her caree, she hadn’t lashed out.

She didn’t know why Polly wasn’t screaming at her to fucking leave, or to never touch Basil, or else.

Wasn’t she at least a little mad...? It was no secret what Aubrey had made Basil endure during those years.

She couldn’t grasp how Polly was still so welcoming despite knowing. How Polly still had it in her to smile at Aubrey, in that caring way of hers.

But Polly managed, and Aubrey was glad.

She needed to be able to reach Basil to fix things. She wasn’t doing anything wrong, was she ? She didn’t have any intent to harm him anymore. It was okay for her to come around regularly to see if Basil had manifested anything that meant she could talk to him in person.

"Hi...! Uh... is Basil here...?"

Polly turned around, and Aubrey heard what was unmistakably Basil running out of the living room.

The oldest shot her a genuine sorry look, hand against the doorway. "He... well, he was."

Aubrey looked at the ground. She shouldn’t be frustrated. She shouldn't be.

"Oh." She just let out, dejected.

Well. It’s not today.

There was a short silence.

"Did you need to tell him anything...?"

Fuck.

Aubrey had come here out of habit. She never really thought of anything to say, other than she missed him, and asked Polly to ask Basil if he’d be okay with hanging out, maybe. Always with the same result : Polly going to ask Basil, and coming back with the usual answer. He wasn’t ready just yet, sorry.

What to say, what to say, uh...

"Sunny’s back in town for the break" she blurted out, voice getting a pitch higher.

Okay, what the fuck was that-

It would have to do, right ? Plus it wasn’t like Kel didn’t plan on telling Basil at some point. Sunny being in Faraway wasn’t a secret.

Polly rose a brow. "Oh..! Is that why you stopped by...?"

Aubrey couldn’t resist the urge to hop on one feet then the other, nervous. "Well, uh... mmh" she lied.

Then she felt bad about lying. "And, uh, I also wanted to know if he said anything about, uh, being okay to talk...?"

Polly sighed. Not a sigh of annoyance, but a sigh nonetheless. "Aubrey... I’m sorry. He’s sorry about it too, but he’s not ready."

She had expected that, but she couldn’t help but feel a pinch in her heart. Would he ever be ready ? Or did he just say it to avoid her ? She got why he would be worried, but to think he’d rather run from her forever...

"O-oh. Okay." She muttered.

Polly ran a hand through her own hair, as if slightly tensed. "Don’t worry, though. He’ll.. be ready eventually. You just have to leave him time."

But it’s been two months, he...

She wasn’t in the right to complain.

She weakly hummed.

"Okay... please tell him I’m sorry."

Polly’s gaze softened. "He knows you’re sorry" she gently said.

After all, she had apologised every single time she came. It would be impossible for Basil not to be aware of it, but she felt the need to know he knew she was sorry.

"And he’s trying his best to get pass all of this, just like you did. Everyone makes mistakes, but he still needs a bit more time" Polly repeated.

Aubrey nodded.

"I know. I just..." it was her time to sigh. "I wish I could take all the shit back, y’know ? If I had known..." she awkwardly swung her arms a bit, trying to release the tension in her.

"But you didn’t. And you couldn't" the caretaker reminded her.

The teenager shrugged.

They exchanged a quick goodbyes before drifting apart. Aubrey had to leave to head to Kel’s, and Polly had to go shopping. She said she’d make sure she told Basil about Sunny as she waved a small goodbye to the pink haired one.

As the latest once again jumped on her bike, she hoped with a bittersweet apprehension things would be okay during the vacation.

What could go wrong, after all ?

She settled to punch anyone who’d try to distrub their search for peace.

-☆-☆-☆-

Omori had waited for his friends to wake up to begin his search for the mailbox.

He couldn’t leave the party alone, and he didn’t like to be alone either.

As he was waiting, he was peaking an eye out in the park, slowly getting filled by a few joggers, and a bunch of older kids.

All human-looking. They were fun to look at. Surprisingly, very few stayed static in one place, and some came and then went away. Also, unlike Omori and his friends, their skins had color. A bit like Sweetheart. Maybe all those people were her long lost family or something ?

That’d mean he had ended up in donut land, right ? But that... wouldn’t make sense. From what he had understood, Sweetheart had a family, and her hometown was in Orange Oasis, not here.

Plus, Sweetheart made sense, unlike this place and its cold temperatures.

He was still a little uspet about the persistent feeling of freezing, but looked around to take his mind off of it. Also to get a glimpse of what the inhabitants of the place looked like, and what the theme of the area was. Because that theme was sure hard to figure out.

His eyes had trailed off to the group of teenagers, sharing what appeared to be candy.

He suddenly realised he wanted some too.

But he couldn’t leave the safety of the Big Yellow Cat build, nor abandon his friends. So he stared, putting candy on his mental list of things to buy once they found the mailbox.

Another teenager had ended up joining the group. She looked more normal to him, pink-ish hair. It wasn’t much more, but she looked more bright in colors than the others. All the other’s hair were shades of brown, or black. He had seen blond people too, but why weren’t they more flashy like the usual Headspace inhabitants were ?

Odd.

So he stared at the pink-haired girl, as she somehow felt familiar because of the little sense of normal looks she had. She looked -a little bit- like a Headspace citizen in his eyes.

And at some point, as she was about to leave, their eyes linked.

Briefly. She quickly left on some kind of engine he had never seen, but he watched her as she disappeared in the distance.

The small surprise he saw in her eyes as she noticed him peeked his interest. Maybe she’d be a major figure of the area, perhaps even a boss ? Or, someone to help against the boss of the area ? She seemed important.

Well, she had caught his attention, so she must mean something.

She left, and he decided to shake his friends awake.

Once that was done, he listened to them talking a little, reminiscing about the events of before they slept through the darkness, and then they were able to get to move.

Omori went to see the old man from previously, and he was still there. In daytime, the area appeared clearly dirtier than what he previously had seen. Seems like the lack of light made it hard to see some obvious things.

He didn’t like that fact very much. He liked his visibility to be clear.

He and his friend stood before the man, waiting to see if he’d give any more information or new dialogue since time had passed. Though, they hadn’t completed any quest or side quest since then, so he might have a limited amount of things to say.

The man ended up looking at them, sensing a presence, and just as he was to begin talking, his eyes got wide.

"Oh, the clam ki-... "

There was a short silence, before he exclaimed "Are ya kids really freezing that much...?! You’re all just.. white..!"

Omori and his peers shot each other confused looks. What did that mean ? Of course they were white. That wasn’t weird. They were created like this, that was all. If anyone was to blame, it was the Dreamer, not Omori. Did Omori ask the man why he had this brown variations as his color palet ? No he did not.

Well, at least, it matched the dull color background. Omori would admit it : his flashy friends stood out. But that didn’t matter. What mattered was that they needed scarfs.

So without answering the guy, Omori left. It wasn’t worth bothering to stay if it only meant getting confused looks.

So what if the man was confused ? He probably didn’t move a lot, if he was surprised at the mere sight of purple-ish and white kids. They just didn’t match with the environment a lot.

And apparently, the few people that they met on their way West didn’t go far either. They had finally arrived to the "Othermart" place, and already three passers had asked them if they were cold because they looked "awefully pale", and "where their parents were".

What did being pale have with being cold ? And what was with the parent question ?

This place was definitely weird.

Omori stopped questioning this when he saw the mailbox. He went straight for it, the perspective of soon holding a warm scarf between his hands bringing him relief.

He waited for the offers, staring at the mailbox.

Strangely enough, he didn’t see the usual eyes staring back at him, nor did he hear the shushing urging him to check the products out.

The blue box didn’t even displayed or promote its products.

What, was it broken ?

Omori turned around, trying to get it to interact.

Asleep ?

He then poked it.

Even tried slipping clams into the fent.

Why wasn’t it working ? He needed this scarf ! Would he have to fight it ?

But why ? Why where things so different here ?

He was starting not to like it.

Omori kicked the mailbox, only getting a loud noise. Not even a complaint, or a "okay, okay ! Just say what you wanna buy !"

And also, the kick hurt his knee.

It wasn’t supposed to hurt !

He stopped his foot, red outline around him.

This whole place was dumb ! It was stupid ! Sunny was stupid for having created such a boring and incomprehensible location !

Hero tried to place his hand on Omori’s shoulder to calm the boy down, but he pried it off.

He wanted Mari. Mari was the only one that could touch him. Hug him. She was the only one that was able to calm him down. She had the same effect as dandelions.

Thankfully, just as he thought that, Aubrey handed him one. At least his friends still understood him.

He blowed on it, sitting down to think. His friends mirrored him.

They wouldn’t leave. They were in this together, after all. They could rely on each other.

Omori understood Mari wouldn’t have a picnic set here. It was a location with a higher difficulty level. So he’d need to look around to see where would be the safer place to set his sister’s picnic. She’d know what would be safe, and she’d provide good advice too. He needed to see the bright side of things, and who better than Basil to help him with that ?

They were both still in the known Headspace locations. Omori needed them here.

So, how could he bring them...?

Ah, idea. He conjured a red hand, and stared at it for a couple of seconds as it hovered around him, then willed it to go in Headspace, to lead his sister and best friend to them. He and his friends watched it as it went flying away, in direction of where they came from. Ignoring a man wide eyed, blinking at them, frozen in place that quickly went away once he snapped out of shock.

"You sent it fetch Mari and Basil ?" Kel asked.

Omori nodded.

"Good idea," Hero approved. "They’ll know what to do. Nice initiative, Omori !"

Omori threw the now used dandelion away, wishing it would still work. The praise was nice, but getting happy outside of battle was useless.

They leaned against the mute mailbox, thinking, while Kel occasionally tried giving it clams to see if it would react.

"What are you doing...?"

Omori lifted his head. He was met with a woman’s confused gaze. She was looking at him, then at Kel. She was frowning in an expression Omori wasn’t sure to identify.

She was frowning, though. Was she angry ? Then why didn’t she have any outline ?

Kel pointed at the blue box, then at his monochromatic friend. "We’re trying to buy scarf for our friend Omori. He doesn’t have any, so he’s cold."

As he talked, Omori detailed the woman before him. Pretty young, probably around... a bit older than the unbread twins...? Brown eyes and brown hair, bangs, small eyebags. She wore clothes that were warmer than theirs, for sure. A gentle gaze. Was whispering something about his friend’s purple hair... dying ?
He didn’t hear her well.
Oh, and she held two plastic bags.

How was she able to equip two weapons at the same time ?
Also, those didn’t seem to make very usefull weapons. She must not know a lot in battle, like Snaley. It didn’t seem practical, though he’d like to learn to wield two weapons at the same time. He wondered if using his old dull knife, plus the red one would make more damage.

"A.. scarf ?" She looked at Omori, who was being pointed at by his friend. "I don’t think a scarf will help a lot, considering you’re all in pyjamas... why are you even out in those ? And, only wearing a scarf, or a beanie or gloves will not help either" she said, eyes on Aubrey, Kel and then Hero. "It doesn’t keep the heat at all..."

"I knew something was odd !" Kel exclaimed. "I... I didn’t want to say anything because I thought the beanie was broken..."

"That it was what...?" The woman looked utterly lost.

"Now that you say it, it’s true the gloves only warm up my hands..." Hero’s gaze trailed to said hands.

"Did you expect them to warm your whole body up ?" The woman dropped her bags, and looked through them. "Okay, you kids look like you’re literally freezing to death. How long have you been outside ? I’m trying to find something to warm you all up, but seems like there’s nothing... yeah, I only bough food or medecine. Sorry.. ah, anyways. Since when are you here..?"

Aubrey thought, counting on her fingers than gave up. "I don’t know... we did spend hours in the dark, though. We slept through it but it was very cold."

That made the woman’s expression finally clear to Omori. Well, a bit clearer. She looked some kind of variation of afraid.

Odd. There wasn’t anything scary near.

To make sure, he looked over his shoulder. Nothing.

"You spent the whole night outside ?!"

Hero and his brother shrugged. "Yeah...? We kinda didn’t know where to go."

"Well shit, do you... where do you live ?"

Kel snorted at the swear word.

"Neighbour’s room. Omori lives in the other room, though. The white... space ?"

The woman seemed lost. "Is it... far...?"

Aubrey shrugged. "A little."

"Are you lost...?"

Omori was about to shake his head, then second-guessed it. Technically, they didn’t know where they were, or where they were supposed to go.

So he nodded.

"Oh..."

The woman lost herself in thoughts for a while. Then she looked at them, the same twinge of fear in her eyes as before.

Why was she afraid ? She seemed afraid for... them ? Oh ! Right. That was the same expression Aubrey wore when Basil used to go missing.

She was concerned.

"Well, uh... what are your names ? I’m Polly."

"This is Omori. I’m Hero."

"The name’s Kel ! A-And this is my pet rock, Hector junior !" The purple haired kid informed her loudly, practically shoving the rock in her face. "Isn’t he awesome ?"

"U-uh, yeah-?"

"Don’t pay attention to this dork" Aubrey plastered her hand on Kel’s face, pushing him away from the woman. "He’s a dork. I’m Aubrey ! And this is Mr. Eggplant ! (She displayed her plushie, not hearing Polly muttering about where it had appeared. Well, from Aubrey’s inventory. Where else would it be from ?) He’s very pleased to meet you. And he’s not saying hi being throwned into your face" she added, glaring at Kel. He stook his tongue out, and Omori dragged him away before Aubrey’s outline got two times red and smacked the goofball with her bat.

"Huh. It’s funny..." 'Polly' whispered to herself.

"Huh ? What is ?" Kel tilted his head, having heard it just like the three others.

She shook her head "No, it’s just... I know other people with those names. What’s funny is that you look similar to them, too..."

Omori blinked. What a funny thing indeed ! Well, it was just a coincidence.

That, or she had heard about them from some Headspace citizen that may travel. They were quite famous, he’d admit. They had overpowered strong entities such as Spaceboy -or more exackly, Space ex-boyfriend/Space ex-husband-, Sweetheart, the slime girls and so on.

"Though I don’t know any Omori" she added.

Strangly, that disappointed said monochrome boy. It would have been funny to meet someone with the same name. Surely funnier than meeting Sunny, or meeting any of his black space doppelgangers.

Oh well.

He shivered. Right, despite the current interaction, he still needed a scarf.

He glanced at his friends. And other scarfs too, since these didn’t work.

Polly saw him trembling, and that seem to snap her out of her thoughts.

"Listen, uh, kids... do you have anywhere to go ? You can’t just stay outside, not dressed like this. You’re paler than ghosts.."

Ah, that wasn’t true. Ghosts were invisible. Omori would know better than her, he attended a ghost dance. Clearly unlike her. She had weird expressions.

"Not really.." Hero admitted. He was about to add something, but Aubrey devanced him.

"Miss Polly, could you bring us somewhere warm...? Please, we don’t know where to go.."

Omori looked at the woman, that was caught off guard. Was she the type of entity to be a host ? Did she own a property they could settle in when they visited the... Faraway ? Ah, was her house supposed to hold the picnic ?

Okay then. He’d go with it.

"Oh, well... I..." she sighed. "Where are your parents...?"

"That again ?" Kel exclaimed. "We don’t need parents...! Why do everyone around here ask us about them ? Hero’s old enough to watch over us, if that’s what you’re worried about...! We’re allowed to be here." He pouted.

Omori understood. Being treated as defensless was annoying. They weren’t ! They were strong. Stronger than what most could imagine. Especially after nearly three months of no reset.

"You didn’t, like... run away ?" Polly looked awefully conflicted.

Kel sighed in an exaggerated manner. "No, we did not.. we’re just exploring. But we’re cold. And Omori injured his knee so... well he’s injured."

Said boy had forgotten about it, until Kel mentionned it. He had lost balance previously, when it was dark, and fell on the pavement. He had expected Hero’s cookies to heal him up, but oddly enough, they hadn’t. His knee was... scrapped.

And seemingly, his hands were still bruised.

Okay. That was really odd.

He tried to check his HP level.

Nothing happened.

He stood up, not liking this realisation.

He tried to get a look at his friend’s status.

The stats wouldn’t appear.

He did not like that. Not at all. What if they went into a fight ? If he had no way to know if his friends were low on HP, he couldn’t know when they might be toast ! It wasn’t an issue to him, as he wouldn’t succumb, but he’d rather be able to know.

He didn’t have time to dwell on his thoughts, though. Polly spoke, and he couldn’t help but pay attention when anyone was talking. Even if she wasn’t talking to them, but to herself.

"Okay... uh, okay. I might have stuff to help with the kid’s injury, and... maybe I can ask him if he still has old clothes he could lend them.."

She looked at them. "Okay... okay. I have a suggestion, but I need to make sure you guys get safe to your parents after."

"But we don’t have anyyyy !" Kel whined. "Do we look like we need any ?"

Polly looked lost. She resorted to shoot an interrogative glance at Hero.

"Uh... you’re the one looking over them, right ?"

"Actually, Omori is the one leading us" Hero informed her.

She frowned, and the oldest kid added "B-But yes, I’m the one making sure they... stay safe..?"

It wasn’t exactly a lie. He was the healer of the group, after all.

Polly sighed, nervous.

"Okay. If you’re okay with it, we’ll swing at my place, just the time for you kids to get warmed up, eat a little and then you’ll go back to your pa-.... families." The woman rectified herself quickly.

"Oh, that we have !" Aubrey smiled. "Omori’s big sister is the one that always takes care of us. Omori called her, so she should be coming soon."

Polly looked reassured as the young girl mentionned an older one.
Omori thought it’d be better to avoid mentioning she was 15, so his friends didn’t speak up about that.

"We won’t bother you long" Hero assured. "Thanks for the offer, it’s gladly accepted" He smiled at her, genuinely thankful.

Even though they had slept, it wasn’t well. They were all still tired, and above all, cold.

"You’re welcome. But... promise I won’t be accused of.. kidnapping, if I take you home just for a few hours...?"

Kel snorted. "No offense, but if anyone tried to kidnapp us, Omori would beat them up. He’s real strong !" The energetic pre-teen pat the black and white one’s shoulder, and as Polly hummed weakly, they began walking.

Omori hadn’t exactly tagged the woman, but he assumed she... tagged herself ? Could people do that ?

Huh.

Aubrey and Kel were bickering, as always, and Hero was chatting with their host-to-be. She looked like something bugged her mind, though, so she turned to Kel.

"A last question. Why were you, uh, Kel, putting... purple clams..? In the mailbox ?"

Said box shot her an amused glance. "Well, to get it to sell us the scarfs ! What else would I be doing with it ?"

Polly’s face expressed utter confusion.

Omori could tell, it’d be a wild ride for her. If she knew nothing about how the world worked, he wasn’t so sure she’d be able to provide them actual help. They might need to look for someone else, one who knew how things worked unlike this kind yet seemingly ignorant woman.

Polly muffled a scream as she saw Aubrey’s outlines flash red at one of Kel’s jokes.

After all, this was Omori’s world, and he knew its rules.

Right ?

"Huh... no offense, but aren’t the two younger ones too young to have their hair dyed ?" He heard Polly whisper to Hero after she had rubbed her eyes several times.

The latest blinked, confused. "Their hair isn’t dying ?"

Polly sighed, breath trembling a little, eyes looking overwhelmed by the situation yet determined to help.

This would be a wild ride for sure.

Chapter Text

"Learn to spell, dork." Aubrey shoved her phone in Kel’s face, pointing out the obvious mispelling of her name.

Said dork nearly jumped backwards, as the first thing he had seen right after opening the door was her hand merly an inch away from his eyes.

"Whoa ! Nice to see you too, Aubrey !" Kel exclaimed, then leaning against the doorframe, blocking her the path to enter his house. "Ah, so polite..."

Kel put a hand over his heart, wiping an imaginary tear.

Aubrey was just hilarious to mess with.

"Let me in or I’ll punch you in the face" she crossed her arms, raising an eyebrow.

Kel snorted, grining. "If you do that, you’ll loose your breakfast privileges. Hero-made breakfast."

"Oh, cause you’re still having breakfast ? Have you seen the time ?"

"Hey, it’s the vacation, we get to oversleep. Take back the 'dork' thing and I might not eat your whole plate."

"What if I don’t want to ? You are a dork."

"I’ll do it. You’re missing out on Hero’s good, yummy bacon. Such a shame... well, a shame for you. I’ll only have more to myself."

"Okay, then I’ll tell the whole town Kelsey Desoto’s pyjamas have cartoon dogs with woogly eyes all over them."

Okay. She’s hilarious to mess with, except when she does that.

He jolted away from the entrance. "HEY ! That’s blackmail ! Rude !"

She just smirked.

Ah hell no, you didn’t win this...

"I swear I’ll eat your food. It’s not even your food anymore. It’s mine."

"What, you wanna fight over food ? As stupid as the reason is, I can throw hands, y’know."

A-HA ! Imma show you violence isn’t the universal solution. She better prepare herself for the power of dissuasion.

Kel grinned, looking over his shoulder then back at Aubrey.

Yup. His brother and Sunny were hearing everything.

They’re about to witness the proof of Kel’s superiority over this cotton candy haired individual.

He put a hand on his hips, using all his high to look down on her with a smug face.

"So you wanna loose the fight ?"

This is going where I want it to go, for once. Ah, sweet glory. I can finally win the arguments again, like old times...

"And why would I loose against you ? I can take you real fast, dork."

She went to smack his head, but Kel caugh her wrist, grin widening.

"Can you take Sunny ? No you can’t. Both of us ? Nope, even less."

Bet she’ll back away with that. Sunny may not look like it but he is the best fighter in town. He beat up literally everyone last summer. And he’s on my si-

She stopped trying to pull his hair, eyebrow raised. "What makes you think he’s on your side ?"

Huh ?!?? What does she mean ?? Of course he’s on my side. Duh ???

"Cause we provide the food, shelter, and uh..."

"And ?"

"And I convince everyone to be on my side. And I’m obviously the favourite. You’re a delinquent and you’re never happy and uh..."

"What do you mean, never happy ? I’d be more than happy to let the whole town know about your divine pyjamas choices"

Aubrey tried to grab and pinch his nose. Kel scooted backwards into his house.

Ah no, she won’t win this !

He was out of attack material, though... so he settled for the usual one he pulled out when he was out of good shots.

"Well your hair’s a gross color !"

Aubrey looked unimpressed. "Seriously ? That again ? You should just say you’re out of options, it’d work just as well" the teenager then effortlessly pushed him out of the way and stepped in the house.

Kel stook his tongue out. "Nanana, you’re out of options..." he mimicked her, pouting as he followed her into the kitchen.

How dared she pretend he wasn’t there ? Rude. Just rude. He offered free food with kindness and selflessness, and that was his payback ? Rudest thing ever.

Well, sure, he wasn’t the one making the food, but Hero was his food dispense- brother.

Yup. Hero was his brother alright.

"I still get the most food !" He bragged, dashing to seat faster than her and taking his seat next to Sunny, who was looking slightly tired but gazing at Aubrey without a word. He waved at her and she did the same, looking hesitant, before resuming her bickering under Sunny’s eye that began flickering with amusement.

"In your dreams, Kel" Hero and Aubrey spoke at the same time.

Now they’re forming an alliance ?! What did I do ??? At least Sunny’s on my side. Yes. Sunny isn’t a traitor, Hero.

Kel excessively frowned and pouted at his brother and his treason against him. Siding with Aubrey ?! How rude.

"Why though ?! Why’d she be the one to get all the good food ?"

Hero rolled his eyes. "There’s several reasons. Want me to list them for you ?"

"No, no ! Let me." Aubrey smirked.

"Don’t you da-"

"First, I bet you ate like a ton of bacon already" she cut the basketball player off, putting her hand over his mouth.

Kel settled to make her regret that.

"Second, I’m a guest, so hospitality, y’know ? Or are you just the uncivilised dork I know you a- "

Aubrey screeched, pulling her hand away. "HE FUCKING LICKED MY- EWWW !"

Kel burst out laughing, jumping out of his seat, Aubrey after him as he was running in circles around the table to dodge her. Hero sighed, that making him look even more tired as he quicky set a plate of bacon and eggs down to avoid getting it kicked and spilled over. "He did that again...?" The oldest whispered in disbelief.

Kel then disappeared upstairs to quickly get out of his pyjamas and get dressed. He came back soon enough, and seemingly Aubrey was still set on making him pay, face red. She walked towards him, threatening.

"Sunny ! Protect me !" Kel went hiding behind Sunny’s chair. "Pull out your trusty knife and defend me ! You’re my only ally !"

His friend blinked, confused, and took a butter knife in his fist.

That.. that’s probably the only knives Hero would let Sunny touch- He realised, nervous laugher escaping his lips as Aubrey was coming closer, determinded to make Kel pay for his crime.

Hey ! It was unfair. Kel’s attack was justified ! She was being mean ! To him, her host ! Rude.

And Hero just stood there. Betrayal. He was the only one holding the power of appeasing the Aubrey-zorus. And yet he was watching his unfair fate try and destroy him ! Double rude !

How dared they. He was the one who had invited Sunny. Therefore he got the Sunny on his side privileges. And who would dare attack Sunny ?

He was both as adorable and redoutable as a cat.

"I’m innocent !" Kel pleaded, still hiding behind his friend’s chair.

"Innocent my ass, you’re gross !"

Kel continued to use Sunny as a supporting ally possessing the courage and strengh to face his nemesis, and not a shield. Definitely not a shield. Yup. Ally, not shield.

Kel wasn’t scared. Nope. He wasn’t.

Hero ended up gently pulling Aubrey away to seat again. She wiped her hand over the napkin, grumbling. Kel stook his tongue out and sat back too, shaking hands with Sunny.

Thank you, fearless and LOYAL companion, for having faced the wrath of the Aubrey-zorus by my side.

Yup. We’re a team. A team that won this victory.

Sunny’s eye expressed a slight confusion regarding the gesture, but was quickly overcome by a twinge of amusement when he saw Kel’s sparkling eyes. He put away the butter knife that had ended up useless.

After that, he spent a few minutes catching up with Aubrey, who got less tensed when she saw the conversation was going okay and slipping a few jokes with the one eyed boy, while Kel was dwelling on what he considered his victory.

See ? Power of the Sunny dissuasion. Now give me some baco-

Hero grabbed the plate and slid it towards Aubrey.

"Whaaat ? Bro !"

"Kel. You already got a lot. I’ll make more."

"Not fair ! Not fair." He pouted, arms crossed.

The whole world was against him, huh ? Had he mentioned it was rude ?

"It’s alright.. you can get mine" Sunny spoke, shrugging.

Ah, not the whole world, on second thought. But, well-

"No way." Hero blurted out, getting all their gazes on him. "Sunny, that’s very kind, but Kel got enough already. He won’t starve waiting five more minutes. And you didn’t eat anything yet."

Silence fell in the room.

Hey ! What if I did strave, huh ?? I’m so hungry !

Aubrey began eating without waiting, quick glance at Kel to make sure he wouldn’t dare steal her food. "Bro, you’re acting like you’re, I don’t know, Sunny’s mom ?"

Kel cringed. "Actually, he’s acting the opposite of how she-"

"HAHAHA yeah it’s FUNNY, Hero acting all mature and all but anyways Sunny please try to eat a bit" The oldest talked over him, with a bit of some sort of a warning look.

Aubrey’s gaze became questionning, frowning at Hero. "What’s that about ?"

"Hero. She knows, remember ?" Kel rolled his eyes.

Hero stopped in his tracks, blinking.

And that’s him remembering the way Aubrey straight up screamed she’d murder Ms. Suzuki when we told her about our suspicions.

Funny moment, except for my eardrums.

"Eat" Hero shook his head and pushed the plate in front of a reluctant Sunny, dismissing any possible further conversion on this.

"Uh... Not very hungry.."

"Eat the yummy Hero bacon, Sunny" Aubrey joined in. "Not to agree with the dork whom I won’t name, but you wouldn't want to miss out on that, uh ?"

Why did she feel the need to insult him everytime she opened her mouth ? He wasn’t saying her hair was a gross color that often !

Well, except when she deserved it.

Which happened to be everytime she offended him.

"I don’t usually eat breakfast at home, I’ll be fi-"

"If you eat your plate, Kel will give you 20 dollars to buy whatever you want at Hobbeez" Aubrey declared.

"WHAT ?! You’re giving away my money now ?!" Hero’s brother exclaimed.

"Indeed I am" she bluntly said, smirking. "So, what do ya think of that offer, Sunny ?"

"Uh..." Said teen looked uneased, blinking at his plate.

"Do you want to make it like, 30 dollars ? I’m sure Kel has them."

"HEY !"

The injustice was too much to bear.

I just gotta use my convincing techniques and keep my 30 dollars.

"Sunny," Kel declared, getting up. He got two confused pair of plus one eye as to what he’d do on him, and grabbed Sunny’s fork and knife.

He made them clash against each other, producing metalic noises. "Es. Hora. De. Comer."

Please. For the sake of everyone here, eat, bud. For your sake too. And the sake of my 30 dollars as well.

Thankfully, under everyone’s -confused- silence, Sunny took the cutlery back and began picking at his food in silence.

Kel felt relieved.

Thing was, he wasn’t dumb or oblivious, unlike what he was used to show.

He knew the situation with Ms. Suzuki neglecting Sunny’s well-being was worrying, and so was the fact Sunny seemed to struggle as he chewed and swallowed.

But worrying too long wouldn’t solve anything, right ? Just as slipping into fear or any negative emotion, really. Proof was there : no need to be dwelling on the serious, bad stuff if it could be solved with a bit of fooling around. Sunny was eating now.

He knew there was a time to be serious. He was working on giving serious talk a shot, as uncomfortable as it was to have uneasy emotions inside and all around him, clearly expressed. But it wouldn’t hurt to goof around most of the time, would it ?

Kel found it easier for him this way.

Hero let him do so, he seemingly was beginning to get his sibling’s reasoning.

Aubrey wouldn’t let him do so. Well, most of the time they did goof around when they hung out. Just sometimes she’d force the silly act out to sit and talk.
Kel wasn’t sure to like it, but he knew he didn’t despise it either.

Figures letting a small portion of it all kinda helps. Just gotta make sure it doesn’t come all out flowing.

Yeah. Because that would be bad.

He was bad with emotions, especially the bad ones. It’d be best not to take the risk to drown in them, even if it meant letting go of the possibility of feeling just a tiny bit better, right ? It wasn’t worth loosing composure, to force people to see him like this. They weren’t supposed to see him like this.

He didn’t even want to see himself like this, he wasn’t supposed to be like that. So he didn’t want to risk it.

Feeling upset already was hard enough. Looking upset would only be worse.

Other people needed the worry and attention more than he did.

And it wasn’t like he was upset often, after all ! It was so rare he’d rather just ignore it, push it back down where it was supposed to be. Being happy, it just felt better.

He wouldn’t risk his reliability on a small moment where he felt bad about.. well, anything he felt bad about.

It wasn’t like his problems were anything other than silly compared to other’s.

Sunny had lost his sister and his eye. He might have thought he lost his friends forever over a stupid mistake made as a kid. He had done a mistake and just knowing it could’ve been avoided must still be tearing him apart from the inside, even now.

Hero had lost his girlfriend when he thought he’d spend his whole life happy with her. Now he was struggling with a major he never really wanted, while trying to process a painful truth when he couldn’t possibly unlearn everything he did to prevent harm to those he loved over a lie.

Aubrey had had to live her whole life in a dysfunctional household and lost the first good family figure she found, and felt as if she was alone for years. Then she had found a new group of friends, but together they had done something that would haunt them forever.

Basil had been alone for years, crushed by a secret that was poisoning him from within. He had lost everything he could ever fear to lose and more, and when he lost too much it had been his final straw and he just tried to throw it all away. And now he was stuck trying to find a reason to go on when he didn’t really seem to even want to.

Kel was okay in comparison to all of those issues. Next to all of that his life was perfect. He had nothing to complain about. And, no one to listen to him complain without feeling forced to and annoyed at the futility of his concerns. Even Aubrey, he must be annoying her even if she was the one to make him talk when she wanted to, so he’d rather not talk about it. Not feel it. He wasn’t used to feeling this anymore, not to this intensity. But he remembered how to pretend it wasn’t happening, and that he was just as okay as he should be, like the old times. Because he was okay.

But sometimes he really felt like-

He should probably stop thinking about this, or else he’d really get upset over... being upset sometimes.

That was even less of a reason to be upset as his other ones. Who were silly too, not worth any thought right now, but maybe just a little bit less than being upset at being upset.

Plus hey ! Sunny was there now. Whatever upsetting thing there was, it would be mended in those two weeks, right ?

They would have a lot of fun, and sure, talk about sad and scary stuff, but that’d be quick, right ? Kel could be composed talking about sad stuff. He had been composed when he told Sunny about that day he had an argument with Hero. He was composed when Aubrey got him to let out a little of upsetting stuff -mostly-.

He managed to get him composure back pretty quick that day in the hospital too ! Well, not as fast as he would’ve liked, but fast enough to avoid crying in front of them.

It wouldn’t be exactly fun to talk about certain things, but he’d make sure to be as he was, cool and reliable !

Yep. Cool and reliable Kel, that’s me !

And he was glad to be everyone’s support. After all, him being the reliable one worked wonders, right ? Most of the time..

He managed to get Hero out of bed, even if the argument wasn’t pleasant to him, it wasn’t to both of them. And now Hero was doing great ! For the most part. But he was out there building his future, and that was what he deserved. Kel was glad he’d helped, just a little.

He managed to get Sunny out of the house that day, that way they all reconnected. Sure, unpleasant stuff happened and was revealed, but now it was only going to get better. Kel was glad he succeeded to give Sunny the small push he needed to go outside and live again.

He managed to mend his relationship with Aubrey, and even if he wasn’t too keen on the suggestions of hanging out with her other group of friends, he was glad to have ber back, and to know she had a lot of support. He was glad he was there to see her finally learn from her mistakes this summer, even if it meant learning the hardest way possible. At least now she was improving her behaviour, and despite the guilt she was trying as hard as she could, and it was showing. She earned her second chance.

He was glad he’d managed to kick Basil’s door down in time that night, even if he realised he should have maybe pushed Basil’s boundaries further a lot sooner. But Kel knew what happened couldn’t be taken back, and so everyone had to move forward and forgive each other.

And all of that was by being everyone’s support. By acting strong and reliable, like he knew what to do to feel better despite the pain of the situations they got in more or less recently. It was proof he acted right by behaving the way he did, right ?

And he felt better. He felt good and happy about what his life was today, most of the time.

Most of the time.

They all looked a few moments at Sunny who was eating, and once they noticed it was making him uncomfortable, they started talking again.

"So !" Kel looked around. "Sounds like the gang’s back together, huh ?"

Awkward silence met his words.

Right... not completely.

Just as the last normal summer day they spent, Basil’s absence was louder than it had ever been.

And of course, this time, they had to acknowledge and adress it.

A few seconds went by before Kel opened his mouth again.

"So... what are we gonna do ? Break his door down ?"

"NO !" Hero and Aubrey yelled at the same time again.

Sunny nearly choked on a piece of bacon. Kel pat his friend’s back.

Yeah- don’t die on us. That wouldn’t be cool at all-

"Thanks" Sunny managed to get out between a few coughs.

"You’re welcome, bud. Please don’t choke, it’d be dumb to die during vacation."

Small pause.

"Nah, it’d be dumb to die at all. Especially choking on bacon."

"Yeah.." the other replied, reaching for a glass to help with swallowing.

Sunny brought the glass to his lips just when Hero deemed it’d be a good time to warn Mari’s brother of the contents of it.

Of course he was too slow and Sunny instantly spat it out, almost dying for the second time during breakfast.

Knowing what it was, Kel was desperately trying to hold back his laughter.

Also knowing what it was, Hero looked in utter despair and was shaking his head, one hand holding his temples.

Knowing as well, Aubrey rushed to rub Sunny’s back to get him through the experience.

"The hell ?! You drink fucking Orange Joe in the morning, Kel ?!" Aubrey was in disbelief.

Kel shrugged "Yeah ?? You thought I drank what ? Milk ?"

"I wish you did" Sunny blurted out.

Poor Sunny. Breakfast is trying to murder him.

They all looked at each other, and Kel lost it, bursting out laughing.

Soon after, they all followed. Even Sunny, with a little chuckle.

Until he stopped, gaze drifting.

Something’s up, right..?

Kel wasn’t the best to decode emotions, even now when he was still trying to get better at figuring those out, but he knew by the way everyone was back to looking slightly uncomfortable that something bothered them again.

But what ? Thankfully he didn’t have to ask since Sunny seemed about to talk, because he wasn’t sure he’d manage to seem caring and soft enough to succeed in asking like Aubrey would if she managed to sense something upset him.

Yeah, how’d she do that ? Sometimes I don’t even get I’m upset and somehow she knows ?? I’m not sure to like that cause that would mean it would be obvious to others while I don’t even get it ??

Ah, anyways.

Sunny’s voice was heard a bit over a whisper. "It’s good to laugh like this again, but.."

Kel knew they had to talk about the unpleasant stuff at some point.

But he didn’t like the "but". He didn’t like how they were all laughing together, doing fine, and then they couldn’t anymore suddently. He didn’t like the fact they had to talk about it.

He knew they had to, but he hated it.

And he hated how soon the talk seemed to happen. Even though it appeared logical to adress that before Basil got around - because he would tag along, Kel would be ready to pull him out of his house if the gardener decided to mimick the Sunny from a few months ago-.

The issue was hanging over their heads, ready to fall and crush them like an anvil if they didn’t speak up about it.

He wished it would be okay to simply hang out like before, when it hadn’t happened. Not pretend it didn’t happen, no. Just, act like it didn’t matter. Make it not matter.

It hurt, what happened. But it didn’t have to matter. That it hurt didn’t matter to him. If no one was there to see it matter to him, then it didn’t matter to him.

It could matter to the others, but it should matter to him.

Wait, why was he thinking this ?

Focus Kel, focus. Unpleasant shit on approach, you need to focus and keep it together. Shouldn't be too hard.

They all waited for Sunny to go on.

"But it doesn’t feel..." the teenager cleared his throat, frowning a little. "I mean..."

"Take your time" Hero said, sitting down in front of his brother and next to Aubrey, who herself was in front of Sunny.

Sunny nodded, once again clearing his throat. He looked for words, and when he was unable to find proper ones to word his feelings, he resorted to pointing at an empty chair and saying "Basil".

They all kind of got it.

He’s not there. He should be, if we want to make things better.

Hero got up.

Sunny did to, looking towards the living room.

"You’re not eating your toast ?" Kel asked.

Sunny looked at the bread weirdly for a second, then at Kel, as if he had suggested eating a living thing. Then he shook his head. "I’m... full."

Well at least he ate the bacon and eggs.

Since his friend wouldn’t eat it, Kel grabbed the toast and followed his brother into the living room, Sunny and Aubrey tagging along behind.

Aubrey and Sunny took the couch, while the Desoto brothers sat on the ground.

They followed the conversation, with in background noise the sound of Kel’s toast crunching as it was eaten under Sunny’s odd gaze.

"So... anyone knows how we can get him to hang out ?" Aubrey asked, legs crossed. "I mean, he’s not answering me wether it’s texting or going knock on his door."

"Well, I don’t have his number" Hero mumbled. "And I haven't really went to his house yet, since well, just got back from Uni yesterday."

Aubrey nodded, then drifted her eyes on Kel, who was finishing his food.

"Whot ? Why you lookin’ ach me like thawt-..?"

"Y’know what ? Finish your mouthful, I’ll just move on to Sunny.." Aubrey quickly said. "Then you’ll answer. After you’ve finished the toast that is."

Sounds fair, he admitted to himself. Who would want wet crumbs all over them ? Not Aubrey and not Kel either.

"So Sunny, did you manage to get any hold of Basil ?" She asked.

"I didn’t have anyone’s number" he shook his head. After a small pause, he looked up at the others and asked quietly "Do you know if he’s okay ?"

Kel wiped his hands on his trousers quickly before feeling his pocket, where his phone was. "Well, he’s back home since he got discharged a few weeks ago" he informed Sunny. "He told me that physically, his recovery was doing well, Polly’s taking a good care of him. Other than that he’s tired."

"He’s answering your texts ?" Aubrey asked, despite looking like she knew the answer already. She softly scoffed. "Yeah. Figured he’d be more comfortable talking to you after all that."

She looked uneased by the silence and the sorry gazes on her. The pink-haired teen then clapped her hands together. "Anyways. Kel, do you think you’d be able to ask him to come over over text ?"

"Well, yeah, asking isn’t the hard part to be honest. It’s making him agree" Kel scratched his nose for a second.

"But he’s okay with seeing you, right ? You two talk" Aubrey frowned a bit.

"Ah, well, we do talk, but.. well, he doesn’t seem all comfortable when I go see him. He really does look exhausted so I figured talking over text was better."

Talking over text was easier for Kel too. It would be a lie to say either of them were comfortable in front of each other. Basil was stressed because Kel knew everything, and Kel was stressed because he didn’t know how to act to make Basil comfortable now that he knew. And that Basil knew he did know.

Over text, he didn’t have to wonder how many amount of eye contact would be okay, or how loud or quiet he had to make his voice be to not make the other even more anxious, and so on.

It used to not matter, Kel used to go and interact with the photographer without too much of a second thought, but now he felt like he needed to make sure he wouldn’t break him further. Sometimes he had the impression he was asked to hold an already cracked glass on one finger and try to avoid having it fall and break.

He wasn’t used to directly comfort people. He always tried to cheer up others by being the smiling funny one. But he didn’t feel like it would help Basil anymore at this point, and so he was lost as to how to help. But he did the best he could.

Just as he did the best he could to help Sunny.

"Oh" Aubrey just said. "But, do you think he’d agree ? To hang out with us?"

A silence greeted the interrogation.

They all understood Aubrey’s concern. Basil had reasons to want to hide from them for a while.

"...do you think you’ll be able to see him without.."

Sunny’s voice was hesitant. He stopped talking for a few seconds. He wasn’t lifting his eye from the ground as he ended up asking it clearly "...do you guys hate us ?"

Oh.

Kel hadn’t really thought about that part.

Much.

To him it was quite easy to think he had to forgive the two boys. He couldn’t understand how they could believe Kel would hate them for what had been done. They were just kids when it happened.

Don’t get him wrong, he loved Mari just as much as they all did.

But that was the thing. Sunny and Basil loved Mari just as much as he did. He knew they hadn’t meant any harm. And damn it, they were kids.

He knew kids fucked up a lot. Hell, he fucked a lot of things up. Sure, he hadn’t killed or framed someone’s death, but everyone made mistakes. Especially scared kids.

And after all, those were his friends. He loved his friends, and honestly, he just wanted for things to be happy and cool again with every single one of them.

Aubrey frowned even more. "If we did, you wouldn’t be here hanging out with us. Dummy." She looked about to shove him for asking it, but she softened her gaze when she realised it was something that seemed to really bug Sunny.

Hero slightly sighed and shook his head. "Sunny, we went over this already. Nobody hates you. Or him."

"You talked ? When ?" Kel had been with Sunny the entire time since he got here and he hadn’t seen Hero and Sunny have this conversation already ! And Kel hadn’t had it yet either, so what was his brother talking about ?

"It’s nothing," Hero dismissed it. "We talked a bit last night. No need to spend time on that" the Uni student then turned back to Sunny.

"I’ll be able to see him, y’know ? Like I told you, if it’s too much for me, I won’t hurt either of you."

"But.."

They waited for Sunny to go on.

"It’s not going to be the same."

Kel didn’t like that fact. He really didn’t. He wished it could be the same. And it was possible, right ?

"Hey, Sunny, bud. We’re not gonna look at you guys like you’re... I dunno. Criminals ?"

They all cringed at the term. Even Kel.

Yeah, that wasn’t a good word. Damn. I don’t know how comfort works, haha.

"Ah- anyways. Both of you fucked up. Yep. But you were kids. And you’re our friends. Don’t forget that. We may not fully get the reasoning behind why you decided to, uh..."

Okay. Okay. Why was he talking about it. He literally didn’t want to. And now he had to say it, and hey were looking at him. Great, he just brought the mood down. Fuck. He had to change it, but how ?

Fuck.

"...to make her, uh, into a piñata, but-"

"KEL-" Sunny burried his face into his hands, voice strained.

The other two looked at him in disbelief.

"Oh. Damn. Fuck, uh... fuck"

"Yeah, what the fuck indeed, Kel ?!"

He wanted to burry himself under the house. Where the hell did that come from ?!

"Aubrey, I literally didn’t think it though, I’m sorry-"

"Okay, okay, uh.. both of you, stop. Let’s not... try to find ways to image it, my brain can’t take that" Hero mumbled.

"I’m sorry, I really didn’t meant to.. I mean, it was very tense, and I just-..."

"Kel, I get humour is how you cope but please," Aubrey grimaced "never do that again."

He decided to just give her a thumbs up. "Sorry" he repeated.

Hero sighed. "It’s okay, just... no more, piñata joke, or we’re all gonna loose it for sure. Basil too."

Yeah..

Kel should really focus on not saying weird shit out of nervousness. Even if the ambiance was too heavy.

Where did that come from...? He wondered again, ashamed. He wouldn’t joke on that, normally. Why did he ?

And great. Now the ambiance was even more tense.

"Okay, since it seems we all can’t not.. avoid it, let’s just go over it quick now since Basil isn’t here yet" Hero decided.

Neither Kel or Sunny seemed too enthusiastic about it, but it did look like Aubrey and Hero wanted to talk about it.

They might as well just do it, yeah. It’d be quick, as Hero said, so Kel would manage not to fuck it up. Right ?

I just hope Sunny will be okay with, uh.. discussing it.

If it only was up to Kel, he’d have avoided the topic entirely, for the whole break. But oh. It wasn’t up to Kel, after all.

"So.. does anyone has anything they wanna share about... everything, now that we’ve all had a lot of time to mostly process it ?"

Not me, Hero. I processed it just fine. I freaked out at first, yeah, but they were kids and they were scared and they made a mistake, and that’s just it. We should go forward. Not look back on the ugly parts of the past. Like the image of that goddamn not-a-piñata.

"Well, I kinda do," Aubrey hesitantly raised her hand. "But I’m not sure I’m allowed to say anything.."

"Why wouldn't you be ?"

"Hero, I... the lake."

The oldest sighed. "Aubrey, we forgave you for that. And we’re... working on forgiving Sunny and Basil as well. But remember ? We have to get everyone’s side of the story and everyone’s feelings to have everything we need to do that. So how do you feel about it ?"

"Well, I..." Aubrey’s eyes trailed to the side of the couch Sunny wasn’t on. "I’m angry, obviously. But I get why you.. why Sunny pushed her."

Sunny slightly stiffened at that part, but he kept a somewhat neutral expression. Though Kel’s heart ached when he saw the pain present in his eye nonetheless.

"I did the same, and I got lucky. He didn’t. And even though I know that, as much as I hate to admit it, if I hadn’t got so lucky I.. might have done the same. Hiding what had..."

Kel was honestly still surprised. She had told him about it briefly, that if the lake incident had led to Basil drowning and that Kel and Sunny hadn’t been there to help, the Hooligans might have hidden how exactly he died.

But if there was one thing he didn’t get regarding the two situations, it was why they chose -or would have chosen- to lie.

They were friends. They would have understood it was an accident. Wouldn’t they have ?

"But I don’t get why Basil and you chose that lie over all. I mean, it would have been better to say she had slipped, and if you ever wanted to tell us what had really happened it wouldn't have been far at all, and..." Aubrey looked lost. "I’m not saying you should’ve said she tripped. But... it would’ve hurt less than to think she..."

Hero finished for her, as she seemed unable to finish her sentence.

"Why did you choose suicide, out of all the ways you could’ve said she died ?"

Sunny didn't answer for a moment. He might be looking for his words, the right way to say it. Or, he might be trying to find the energy necessary to push out the words.

His voice was very quiet. But, as the silent in the room was here, he was perfectly heard.

"I... I don’t really know. I wasn’t... I wasn’t realising it was real until I turned back, and... so I just let things happen, I thought it was a nightmare and I would wake up soon. But... it wasn’t. And then... I don’t know. It seemed like..." he gulped, nervous as he recalled the event. "...the only way out."

Sunny seemed to shrink on himself more. "It was to Basil. Don’t blame him, we panicked, and he just wanted to protect me, I wasn’t fully aware of... anything, I wasn’t... processing it right, and... I just let him do that, and I thought it’d be okay afterwards, and... but it wasn’t, and..."

"Sunny, Sunny, it’s fine, it’s okay" Kel gave in to the urge, stopping Sunny from spiralling in apologies like he did when he explained what he had done and what had led to it back in the hospital.

"Kel, you know it’s not 'fine'," Hero reminded him. "We’re not used to it, we’re not okay just yet."

Kel nodded and shrugged, sighing. "I know, I know, it’s not what I meant. I was just... listen, we know Sunny’s point of view already. He can’t tell us why Basil did that, why he thought this was the... best thing to do. He’s not Basil. If you really want to know this bad, Sunny’s not the one to ask. Just ask Basil at this point."

"Kel, that would be everythint but a good i-"

"I know, it was sarcasm, bro-" he sighed again. "I know it’s messing you guys up. But Sunny doesn’t have all the answers, he already told you he wasn’t like, uh, how did you say already ? Conscious ? Aware ?"

He gave up on looking for the word. "Ah, anyways. He wasn’t realising what was happening. And I bet that Basil wasn’t exactly all happy with doing that."

"We know" Aubrey said quietly. Then, louder "but still, it’s just... the more I think about it, the more disturbing it gets. Just to imagine him tying the-... why that..? It’s so fucking creepy. We had to see her hanging, it was just- I can’t."

Kel understood that. He hadn’t told anyone, since nobody had asked nor would’ve cared, but the sight gave him nightmares for a few days straight.

Thankfully his memory of that part of the day got blurry. He still remembered the image, but not clearly, and he was grateful for it. It wasn’t one of the memories of his childhood he wished to live again.

"Aubrey..." Sunny spoke weakly, almost in a complaint. He was covering his eye.

"I’m sorry, Sunny, but I just-... Just knowing we could’ve not seen her like that, I really get why you both did it, but she-"

"Please, I... Aubrey, please." He pleaded.

She stopped, and they all watched Sunny in a confused silence as he briefly covered his ears, opened his eye and quickly glanced over his shoulder.

What just happened ?

Did he hear something ? Or see something ?

Kel looked behind Sunny, but there wasn’t anything. Maybe the other just felt like there was something.

Maybe Hector ? But I would’ve heard and seen him, though.

He didn’t take the time to dwell on this question.

"Guys, we said asking questions was okay, not... I’m not sure any of us wants to talk about what we saw. You said yourselves it was about what you felt, not... that."

Sunny sent Kel a small thankful glance.

Hero and Aubrey exchanged looks, then nodded.

"Yeah, you’re right."

"I know I am. I’m always right. Even when I’m wrong" He tried to allievate the tension, poking at his own brain. Aubrey rolled her eyes, whispering "dork".

"But seriously. Can’t we just... I dunno. Stop talking about that ? You can always talk about it later"

When I’m not there, he added in thoughts. Though, I wished they could somehow get their answers without asking Sunny about that. Or Basil. They’re supposed to be trying to get better, right ? It’s the vacation, it should be chill. Stress-free.

"Like, I get we were all kinda freaked out and that seeing that stuck with us, but I don’t think Sunny likes being reminded of it either. He doesn't need to get like... I dunno, punished ? By you guys just like, talking about it, the memory is unpleasant for everyone of us. Cause like, Sunny got punished enough and like he didn’t even deserve to be punished ? Does that make sens- Sunny don’t you dare make that sound again you do not deserve to be punished."

Sunny shrugged, and Kel got to his feet.

"Nope. You do not deserve punishment. Bro. You’ve been through enough."

And he’s looking at me like that again.

What does he want ?! He wants for us to like- punish ?? Him ??

???

Kel sighed.

Okay. If that’s what he wants, he’ll get it.

"Okay. You want for me to tell you how I think you should be punished, then... consider... well, your punishment from me shall be drinking one can of Orange Joe with me everytime I do."

Sunny lost his serious/sad/guilty expression in favor of a confused/scared/regretting-to-have-whished-for-consequences one.

"And no. Complaining."

Aubrey seemed to decide to let go off the topic, dropping her tension. "That’s very cruel, Kel. I would’ve suggested he’d... I dunno... give me like, money to buy candy as a way of saying sorry if he really wanted to prove it physically since he doesn’t seem to believe us when we said we accepted the apology, but since you’ve decided to sentence him to worse than death I’ll drop it."

HEY ! Drinking Orange Joe is NOT worse than death !?

Hero’s demeanour also changed. "Yeah. I guess we’ll have plenty of time to discuss it. After all, there’s no deadlines."

"But Sunny will go back to the city after the vacation" Aubrey reminded him.

Kel did not want that to happen.

"Yeah, but that doesn’t mean we’ll never see each other again. We’re friends, and we’re staying in touch, or else I’ll allow Kel to make you drink his Orange Joe."

Kel wanted for Sunny to stay even after the vacation. But sadly, kidnapping was illegal.

Wait but is it kidnapping if Sunny agreed to stay ?

He glanced at said black haired teen, who was looking at Hero with a glad gaze, appreciating the "we’re friends" everytime he heard it. Kel noticed how Sunny’s face always softened slightly when he heard it and so he settled to say they were friends as many times as he could.

"So, so. What are we gonna do now ? We gotta do something, we’re not gonna stay here all day" Kel got up.

"I dunno" Aubrey shrugged. "Hero, do you gotta do your homeworks today ?"

Kel’s brother looked about to say yes, but stopped to think. "I suppose it can wait" he admitted. "So I’ll tag along, I guess."

"Yay ! The gang’s back together !" Kel raised his fist in the air. "We just gotta get the other plant !"

"What plant ?" Sunny looked confused, in which response to Kel chuckled.

"Basil. Cause like... basil’s a plant. And Basil likes plants. So Basil is like basil which is a plant and Basil likes plants, and- wait I wonder how Basil would react if I asked him to eat something with basil in it"

"Kel- you literally did that already a lot of times when we were kids" Aubrey sighed. "And you said Basil so many times you literally lost me there. I heard Basil-basil-plant-plant-basil-eats-Basil."

She got up too. "But yeah, we ain’t staying in here all day. So... you’re saying we should get Basil ?" She shifted her weight on one feet to the other, nervous. "Like, we just show up ?"

"How else do you wanna get him ?"

"I dunno... text ?"

"He usually takes a while to answer. Getting him in person would be faster."

"Yeah... but..." Aubrey bit her lip. "He might not come out, and uh, I’m not sure he wants to see me."

"Hey, it’ll be fine" Kel pat her shoulder, watching Sunny get on his feet as well. "So, we go get Basil and what then ?"

"We should see that once he’s there," Aubrey hesitated. "But we should wait, I was just at his house before and Polly went shopping. She’ll wanna know if he goes anywhere, I think."

Yeah, that’s... understandable.

He did quite scare us this summer, Kel reminisced, a twinge of the same worry he kept for their gardener friend poping up. He shook his head to kick the feeling away.

"Okay, okay, so... what do we do in the meantime ? The park ?"

"I mean, we could, but the Hooligans are there so they might wanna hang out with us" Aubrey notified him.

Oh, okay. Yeah. Kel still hadn’t completely forgiven them.

He could forgive easily, but it only came easier if the people to forgive were his friends, and especially if what they had done was a mistake with no intent of harm.

Aubrey’s other friends weren’t close to him, in fact they were quite rude towards him, before. And what they had done to Basil, his friend, was not only pulling themselves in something that wasn’t their buisness, but also hurting him while being fully aware of it and intending that.

They might have been punished enough with the big scare they got from his attempt, but they were a part of the reason he did it. So Kel prefered avoiding them if he could. He might get upset towards them if they happened to mention his friend, and say stuff he wouldn’t want to say.

Kel was angry at them. But honestly, if he saw the group, he’d also get angry at himself.

He saw them mess with Basil a few times, and yet he had barely done anything to stop them permanently, and he should have. Just as he should have seen the signs the three days prior to Basil’s near death.

But he wasn’t good at seeing them. Heck, he hadn’t even noticed Basil was getting this bad. He had thought he was okay, since when he had diner over Basil had beeing smiling and wasn’t looking very anxious, but... Kel wasn’t an observant one.

He was trying. But he didn’t see anything, especially when he wasn’t looking for anything specific.

He felt like it was his fault too. But, it was majorly Aubrey’s new friend’s faults.

Yeah, I’d rather avoid them. Maybe one day I’ll manage talking it out with them but not until they apologise to Basil. Even if it doesn’t seem it’ll happen anytime soon since he only comes out when I can’t go to his house while Polly’s there. Otherwhise he’s sticking with Polly, and they don’t go to the park when she needs to do the groceries.

"Oh, then we’ll... I dunno. Ideas ?" Kel asked.

He then got one right before anyone could even begin to think of some.

"I KNOW ! Why don’t we go see the treehouse ?"

"It’s... actually a good idea" Aubrey let out, looking almost surprised.

Actually ? Hey ! I have good ideas !

"Yeah, it would be, but only problem, uh..." Hero looked at the both of them on turn. "Sunny kinda moved, remember ?"

"Oh" Aubrey realised.

Kel, on the other hand, didn’t see the issue. "And ?"

"And that means it’s not his house anymore. We can’t go there, like... anymore."

Kel frowned. Oh. That sucks.

He paced around a few seconds, before stopping, a smile on his face.

"Hey, the house isn’t sold yet, right ?"

"I don’t think so, no ?"

"And that means the lock wasn’t changed yet, right ?"

"I suppose, but-"

"We still have the keys to his house, right ? Since Ms. Suzuki used to trust us to have a copy and all."

Hero frowned, confused. "Where are you getting at ?"

"We can still go in ! And there’s nobody there yet, so no one will know."

"Kel, that’s kinda illegal" Aubrey warned him.

He snorted with a defiant look, eyes sparkling. "Oh my god, Aubrey the deliquent telling me to follow the law. Didn’t think I’d see that one. I told you, you’re going soft."

She smacked his shoulder, face going a little pink. "Oh, I’ll show you following the law ! Fine ! Let’s do that ! But if you break anything, I’ll blame you."

"I’ll be careful. Plus there’s literally going to be nothing, like- the house is empty !"

"Uh, Kel," Hero grabbed his brother’s shoulder "I don’t think that’s a good idea. Aubrey said it, it’s not legal."

"C’mon ! It won't hurt anyone ! Besides ! We’ll be in and out. Promise. Pretty please ?" The basketball player tried to make puppy eyes.

"It’s not going to work on me, Kel."

Of course it will.

Just wait three seconds.

1, 2, 3.

"I happen to have gotten stronger, you know ? Drop it, it won’t work no more." Hero chuckled.

WHAT ?? NOOOO

Kel once again grabbed Sunny, and put him in front of him to face the older one. Sunny let himself be dragged, looking up at Hero, lost as to what to do, and seemingly lost as to which side to be on. So he just stared at the med student.

"Hero. Hero. Look at Sunny. He wants to go to the treehouse. He, uh... left the jacks there, and we need them to throw at the Hooligans."

"I’m sorry why would you-" Aubrey looked genuinely perplexed and concerned.

"Kel, does he even want to go, like really-? I- what are you doing to his face ??"

Kel was squeezing Sunny’s cheeks, who did not seem disturbed by it, if maybe a little confused. He let his friend create sorts of grimaces while Hero looked concerned about if Sunny wasn’t getting pinched too hard and Aubrey trying not to snort.

"I’ch o’ay, I ’an ’o i’ ’he ’eehouse" the poor eyepatch boy tried to utter, giving a thumbs up.

Hero seemed to be one inch from falling on the ground out of despair, and mumbled in spanish something about having to always keep his friends out of trouble.

And YES HE’S AGREEING, I knew Sunny was the real decision maker here.

And so after putting the dishes away, Kel happily tagged behind Sunny as they grabbed vests and went out the house.

They approached Sunny’s old one, and Aubrey tapped Kel’s shoulder. "Remember, I can and will blame you if anything breaks while we’re there."

"Yeah, yeah" he rolled his eyes.

Then nearly crashed into Sunny as the latest suddenly stopped near the driveway, next to the mailbox that was once his family’s.

Aubrey did not stop in time, and bumped into Kel. "Oof- Hey, why on hearth did you sto- oh my god, what the fuck"

Sunny’s old house’s door was not only almost broken in two, but hanging from the bottom gong.

Aubrey broke the silence through which they had stared in shock at the destroyed wood.

"If anyone ever asked, Kel did that."

-◇-◇-◇-

Basil was doing just fine.

Yep.

Basil was doing just fine. Basil was okay, doing fine, and also Basil was a liar.

He’d have chuckled if his throat didn’t feel like it was trying to choke him and being tightened by a rope.

But it wasn’t really the case.

Basil wasn’t being choked by anything, he was fine, really. He was gardening.

Well. Kind of.

He was technically using gardening as a coping skill. Or, as he thought, more as distraction. This term was more fitting.

He was trying to keep his mind off all the dark thoughts that constantly floded his mind.

Thoughts that, despite what all the doctors had told him, wouldn’t leave even now.

Oh, but how many time had they told them it’d work out with time ?

More than he could remember.

They’d also told him the efforts would provide results, if he actually tried to get better.

Well, as unsurprising as that could be, it wasn’t that easy.

Making efforts weren’t just that easy. Imagine having spent your whole existence fully aware you shouldn't bother living and then suddenly having to try and do bother living.

Imagine knowing you’d never get any result even if you tried, because there wasn’t anything to salvage for the sole reason you’d never even been sane at any point of your life ?

And even if there had been even the smallest scrap of good in Basil at any point, it wasn’t worth trying to dig out to save what was left of him. It was probably being poisoned as time flew by.

He had learned some things over the course of the summer, amongst other things.

No matter how much he yearned for it, he didn’t deserve to be saved.

And he should not he saved.

Even less tried to be saved. The first who tried died, the second who tried got his eye gouged out in the process.

He shouldn't be saved.

That wasn’t what he deserved.

He deserved to be rotting underground. Rotting underground instead of Mari.

Thing he was actively not doing.

He was actively trying to spray some water over a bunch of sunflowers. Trying to keep them all healthy and alive. Despite his fingers twinkling with the desire to rip them apart to shreds.

His hand holding the water spray shook, and so he tightened his grip on it.

It was stupid, tensing up only managed in accentuating the shaking more. He resisted the urge to violently throw it on the ground, and put it on the shelf near the pot, the shelf next to the libraries that were standing right of what used to be his Grandma’s room.

He wasn't worth saving. If anything, the events of the summer had solidified a belief of his : he was truly and utterly insane.

He was so far deep in his delusions that him having hallucinations got him to stab someone’s eye out.

Someone who he loved more than anything.

Someone who he had ruined.

Someone who he had ruined the whole life of.

Someone he had ruined from the moment he decided to come over a bit soon to offer 'support' on that one evening, as if him trying to be good towards anyone had ever helped the person.

Someone who he had ruined because he was himself rotten, and couldn’t help but spread that poison to everyone around him.

There wasn’t any monster anywhere. Those which he were seing were just another proof amongst dozen of his insanity.

The only real monster was him.

And him being so slow to understand stuff just ruined everything.

He had realised another thing just in time to admit how much of a monster he was to his best friend the boy who he had ruined.

And despite it, despite him being the monster, his best friend the boy who he had ruined had once again cruelly chose to save him further.

Basil was shivering, and just as that day in the hospital, he couldn’t bring himself to stop.

Just like that day where Sunny had walked into his hospital bedroom, coming back for him. Coming to reveal to him that he could finally drop the lie - they were both free of it, Sunny having admitted to the truth.

That day, Basil had been shaking bad when he saw his former best friend there. That day he had his cold, itchy bedsheets to clench instead of his sprayer.

It had been the third time he woke up.

The second time Sunny was there when he woke up.

---

He was standing there, looking like he wanted to say something. To say something after being silent for those three days that Basil believed would be his lasts.

He was standing there, here, as Basil was awake for the third time since the night his Grandma died.

He was standing there, as Basil was aware he was awake for the second time since he woke up to Sunny’s bright smile.

He was standing there, as Basil only realised now how badly he had hurt the person who he had ruined in every possible way for the first time since he woke up.

The gardener was stiff, horrified eyes wide opened as he stared at the place where a bandage and gauze filled the socket where his eye should have been.

Where his eye would have been if it weren’t for one delusional freak convinced he saw a monster’s eye.

"Oh..." His voice was horribly, disgustingly strained.

Basil wanted to say something. Anything. But he couldn’t.

Every single action he had done regarding Sunny, any action for Sunny had ended up only spreading Basil’s rot onto the other.

So Basil was just there, mouth slightly opened, wishing he could scream until he passed out, tears welling up in his burning eyes.

He was there for his friend to judge.

He was there for his friend to judge, and for his friend to realise how utterly monstrous he was. For his friends to realise how wrong and stupid it had been to save someone -something- like him.

And just as Sunny would be able to realise that, he himself understood more things following up the horrifying realisations he had moments before once again those already bloody shears into his hands, about to cut through those black tendrils and suffocating feelings of never ending guilt to finally get rid of them and everything permanently.

Moments before raising them once more he had finally realised there was never a monster looming over his friend’s shoulder. That monster he thought he saw inside him, that monster parasitising Mari’s brother’s eye and killing him from the inside was never only anything but him.

It was all ever him, and he had killed Sunny.

Or so he had thought.

Now Sunny was standing in front of him, seeing him for what he was, really seeing the real him as best he could with only one eye.

Sunny only had one eye left because Basil had been driven insane by dozen upon dozen of them constantly staring at him relentlessly throughout all his life.

Sunny was ruined even more. Basil could not stop ruining things, apparently.

He had ruined Sunny mentally. Something was never there, Sunny shouldn’t have been seeing it, but because Basil believed it existed -wanted to believe it existed-, Basil had poisoned Sunny’s perfect mind.

He had ruined Sunny physically because he wanted to get rid of that poison he put himself into the other’s head. The only eye he manage to gouge out was the only real one there.

And now Basil could only think and think and think and remember every single thing he did everytime he ever was near Sunny in his life, he could only see how much he was making the other rot.

"I..."

He was pathetic.

"I’m so sorry, I..."

What. He didn’t meant to ? What the heck did he mean to do else ?!

He was a liar even now.

"I’m so, so, so, so sorry"

He was pathetic, and he should have died. Sunny would’ve been safe.

Sunny would’ve been safe from him and he would not be standing there with this confusion in his only eye left from an apology he wouldn’t need to understand.

"I... oh my god, y-your eye, I-..."

Sunny would’ve been safe from him, and he wouldn’t have to be the one endlessly holding Basil’s hand as Basil was more aware than anything the only deservant of comfort was Sunny.

"I’m so sorry. I’m so sorry."

Sorry wouldn’t bring an eye back. Sorry wouldn’t take the pain from it back. Sorry wouldn’t untie the noose. Sorry wouldn’t bring Mari back. Sorry wouldn’t ever be enough.

"I thought I-I was helping, I-I.."

Any of his excuses of justification would never be valid because they’d only be deranged. He had no justification for stabbing in the face a boy whose sister he had hung from a tree. No reason to do any of that.

He thought he was helping ?

The only thing he could’ve done to help from the start was to stay away from the group. He knew someone like him would only ruin their hapiness sooner or later, and yet since Basil was not only a sick rotting monster but also selfish he had stayed. He had stayed fully aware he’d be the reason for this beautiful people to fall apart because why else would they fall apart if he hadn’t been there to destroy everything ?

Just as taking care of his flowers, Basil pretended he was able to care and make something live.

He had pretended and as always, other people payed the price of his audacity to dare think he could be something to be loved.

"There wasn’t-.. I’m so sorry, there wasn’t Something, ah, there wasn’t anything, I messed up so bad, I am so, so sorry, I... thought there was b-but there wasn’t-.."

There wasn’t any monster there but him.

So why, why was Sunny looking at him relieved when he heard his voice say those words ?

How could he not look at him in complete, utter disgust as he should be as Basil blurted out muttering those words out pathetically, those excuses of explanation or apologies that wouldn’t change anything of the hell he imposed on Sunny ?

Basil was rotting. He was disgusting and rotting, and just like any sick plant, was infecting the good, beautiful ones such as Sunny.

"I-I know the truth, t-the real truth, b-but don’t worry I-I know y-you didn’t do it on purpose, i-it’s not because there wasn’t anything to do it i-instead of you that I hate you, I-I could never hate you, I..."

Basil hated every singke word he uttered. Every bit of every single one of them. He was not controlling the flow, or not enough in his opinion. He knew he was only going to manage hurting Sunny more somehow by talking to him but he could not bring himself to stop the word flow and he hated himself for it.

If Sunny hated Basil, it would only be the fairest of things. Basil was the worst thing to have ever happened to Sunny, Sunny who didn’t deserve it.

Sunny who had made a mistake.

Basil had made mistakes.

But Sunny was still perfect and good, but not because every bad thing he did were because of something else. Sunny was perfect and a good person because even now he was looking at Basil gently, Basil who was insane and rotten and a bad person.

"I’m so sorry. I-I was trying to help b-but everytime I do I mess up, I’m so, so sorry.."

No, no no no. Why was Sunny still there, why was Sunny still there and not yelling at Basil, trying to destroy him as he had been destroyed by this excuse of a human being the photographer had pretended to be ?

"I’m..." Sunny’s voice was strained from not being used for a long time, but his tone was gentle. Too gentle, way too gentle.

"I’m glad you realised that." Basil didn’t deserve to have Sunny supporting him. He did not deserve that.

"We... there wasn’t any monster anywhere. We both... made bad mistakes. But, it’s... we can improve on stuff. A lot. And... we won’t be... you won’t be alone now,"

Why was he staying ? He should leave Basil now. He had to. He had to, or else Basil would never stop clinging on and hurting Sunny, he knew now he was the very reason Sunny was dying a little bit more every time they were together but if Sunny did not make Basil pay right then and there Basil would not be able to let go off this as if cursed friendship even if he knew what price Sunny would have to pay, why would Sunny even want to pay a price as big as that for staying near the freak that had-

"Basil..."

Basil’s hand was sweaty. How was Sunny not disgusted yet ?

"Basil, I told them."

How, why had Sunny not jolted away yet-

Wait, what ?

"What do you..."

"I told them everything."

"... W-What...?"

Basil’s voice was horrendously strained. Sunny’s voice was just above a whisper.

Sunny’s eye glimmered with a near imperceptible twinge of pain.

No. It couldn't be that everything, right ? It just couldn’t-

"They know the truth, Basil."

No.

No, no, no, no no no no no.

The heart monitor’s beeping got horribly louder and quicker, bursting through Basil’s ears.

No, please, everything but this.

Why did he do this ? They’ll hate him ! They’ll hate him ! It wasn’t- but he didn’t- it was not- no, no no no they can’t throw him away please everything but this he doesn’t deserve that please no-

The now distorted high pitched ringing was floding his whole senses, merging with the intensified ventilation and other ambiant sounds grew louder and louder and louder as the colors around became too bright, blured together, until his heart ached so much it felt like it’d pound out of his chest, or explode after the beeping’s intervals would be reduced to nearly any like a bomb’s would, his lungs were unable to breathe any air, eyes darting around only to be met with blured bright colors and all too familiar black tendrils wrapping all around him.

Everything but this, Sunny, why would you do this to yourself, why

He felt like dying. Like he was dying. Not that he didn’t want to, he did. But the universe wouldn’t grant him that, no.

No matter how much pain he was in, no matter how much he’d do to bring it to stop, he just didn’t deserve peace.

He'd endured hell keeping secret what had happened in order for Sunny to be able to not be blamed. For Sunny to be loved despite the accident. For everthing to be okay for him. It was for Sunny so it’d be okay.

He'd endured hell stabbing, cutting and twisting the blades through his stomach in order to finally die and for everyone else to be free of his existence.

The first time he tried to alleviate their -and his- suffering by finally disappearing, to do something good for once, he had once again failed miserably.

He was useless and a failure, who'd fail no matter what he tried to achieve was bad or not.

His mistakes and failures -his existence- only brought pain to those he loved.

All his suffering had been for nothing and he wouldn't be allowed to be free from it.

He was not allowed to die. He deserved to, but he didn't deserve to get that relief.

That was how bad he was.

All his suffering would never be enough to pay back what he had done. How he was.

He had to be horrible to deserve that.

He had to be a bad person. And he was.

Nothing ever happened for no reason.

There was a reason he couldn't manage to do anything but rot away in guilt for merly existing, at what his existence had brought to every single of his lived ones.

There had to be a reason.

And so he hated himself.

And oh, would you look at that. Turned out coping skills weren’t doing their trick, huh ?

He had drifted away in thoughts again.

Basil sighed, taking the water spray again.

Okay. You know you can’t do this, but let’s pretend you can. Just for today. A small hour. It’s already been 30 minutes ! You can’t keep yourself distracted or away from specific wants, but let’s pretend you can !

After all, what was he if not a liar ? That was all he did, lie.

Lie, lie, lie, lie, lie, lie, lie, over and over again as the days passed and passed and passed by, more days were he was consious and awake and oh so terribly alive.

"Yes Polly I’m using my coping skills"

"No Polly I didn’t forget to take my medication"

"Yes Polly I’d tell you if I’m about to have a breakdown"

"No Polly I won’t relapse in any unhealthy habits"

"Yes Polly I’ll try to talk about my emotions more"

Polly knew he was a liar. She knew he was a monster. She knew he wasn't something to be saved. Polly knew she couldn’t trust him with anything. Polly knew she should just leave.

But Polly, despite all that, had stayed.

She had stayed when he had been straight up panicking and spiking up his heart monitor enough for several nurses to come rushing to his room the third time he’d woke up, worried he was doing a remake of the second.

She had stayed, trying to calm him down as said nurses escorted Sunny out of his room to go back to his own, as the now one-eyed boy was yelling the best he could for him to trust and tell Polly.

As he promised in the distance as he was being taken away that 'everything was going to be okay now'.

As he had heard that, Basil had frozen, hesitating between sobbing, laughing, screaming, choking, or doing all of them at once.

So he had ended up staring in shock, stupidly, pathetically and disgustingly as the hysterical, twisted in the head teenage boy with endless tears falling from his bloodshot eyes and snot running down his nose he was. Clenching his hospital bedsheets until his knuckles were white.

How could anyone want to comfort him ? He’d put on quite a show the second time he woke up, and now that the nurses were looking at him expecting a round two, Polly’s eyes didn’t express that ?

Why was she still looking at him and pretending he was even human ?

From the outside he looked like one. But he knew not deep inside at all he was just a wilted, rotten, disgusting, dangerous monster.

But Polly pretended not to see that.

Somehow she did not see him like the others did.

He knew it, and he did not understand why.

He had never done anything for her, merly talking to her at all during the time she spent trying desperately to help him.

So why did she not see him negatively ?

To his parents, he was the child that was never planned, never desired, a regret. A burden. Something without what their lives would have been so much better. Something to be forgotten.

To the kids at school, he was someone to be picked at, an easy target that would never complain enough to get them in trouble. He was the one you could call slurs and on which new rumors would spread on every months.

To the teachers, he was a lazy student who had the capacity of succeeding, but deliberately did not give his best in the school work. He was that lost case who they had given up on seeing how he had given up on himself.

To Aubrey, he was the traitor whom she wished she had never introduced to the group. He was who she hoped to see disappear from her life, from her future, present and even past. He was the one she wished to forget and would make pay everytime he reminded her of his existence and what he had supposedly done.

To the Hooligans, he was the creepy one that had abandoned, hurt Aubrey the worst way anyone had. He was one to be punished, and conveniently the one they could spend their repressed anger or frustration on without too much of consequences.

To the town people, he was just that quiet wierd kid, the one who despite used to be shy and kind, had always been odd, different. The one who they’d whisper about when he turned away from them to go on his merry way after they had given him bright smiles and telling him how much of a lovely pretty boy he was. The one who was now always alone, and had to be for a reason, and that they knew would end up badly just as every lone quiet kid did.

To Kel and Hero, he was a distant memory of their past, someone in the background trying to make himself forgotten. Someone who they didn’t have time to pay attention to as they tried to cope and get better.

To Sunny, he was the worst. He had destroyed the boy beyond repair, and somehow Sunny did not want to acknowledge that. Sunny just wanted to run from him whenever Basil’s mask shattered and showed his true colors, which was the thing Sunny should do : run from Basil. But Sunny didn’t do that, and rather than try to be looking for some positive things his old friend could still feel towards him, Basil had to remember it would only be another ones of his delusions. Sunny should hate him and it was the only way for Sunny to survive, because somehow the sunflowers had managed to suck up almost all of the sun’s energy.

To Mari, he was the worst disgrace he could ever have been. To Mari, he was a liar. To Mari, he was a monster. Maybe he had hallucinated it, but her last gaze to him meant nothing else but 'You’ll pay for this', and that was more real than anything. She had never been anything but kind to him and he repayed her in the worst way ever.

To his Grandma, he was the echo of the boy who once used to be her grandson. He was all wilted. He was dead long before she felt her time come. To her, he was someone who had lost himself at some point and that she could have never done anything to help. He was her biggest regret.

To Polly, what was he ?

What did her eyes make her see when she looked at him ?

What did she think he was like ?

There were dozen of things he knew she should see him as, but her eyes made it clear it was none of them.

Because if it was any of them she wouldn't be so gentle.

Her eyes wouldn't be so gentle. So soft. So... calm.

Unjudging.

That was driving him mad.

He shouldn't get that. He didn’t deserve that. He did not. She should hate him. She should despise him. She should leave and never come back. She should find a nice patient to take care of, one who’d show gratefulness unlike the scum he was.

But in order for him to get what he deserved, he had to tell her the truth.

The truth about what monster he was.

For her to see how selfish he had been not opening up because he knew she’d go, for her to be disgusted at the mere thought of having lived under his roof, slept on the couch because of the lack of bed, uncomfortable for him to be comfortable, and more sacrifices she had done for... that.

He had stared at her as she looked at where Sunny had been dragged away, closing the door and going back to sit on a metal chair she put next to his bed.

And she had put her gaze back on his, her horrendously soft gaze on him who did not derserve any good thing.

And he had stared, because that was all he ever did, watch, watch, watch as everyone ended up finding him creepy.

And as she opened her mouth, he expected her to kindly ask him to stop making her uncomfortable, but obviously he was stupid and should have expected to be taken aback by her kindness.

"How... how are you feeling ?" She had asked in that clumsy yet infinitely caring way of hers.

And just as he was used to, he fell into mutism, petrified by the fact he knew the truth was out and that he had to get it out and expose it to the one who cared for him without knowing.

He was selfish, he dreaded to see hatred on that face which he only ever saw kindness or worry, even if he knew he’d deserved it.

"..."

"Did... talking with Sunny make you feel better...?" she tried again.

It had. It had not.

Basil was conflicted.

Sunny being alive was a relief beyond possible explanation.

His desire to disappear from the surface of the earth was stronger beyond explanation.

He was so, so, so afraid to speak up, to tell what had happened, which he had hidden and intended to take to the grave.

He kept failing over and over again.

But Sunny had asked him to do this.

Sunny had asked one thing and it was to tell Polly the truth. He owed so much to Sunny, so he’d do whatever his old friend would want him to.

He’d go as far as Sunny wanted him to.

If telling Polly made her hate him, it would probably be the best outcome. Hopefully the emotional distress he might feel if she yelled or just stared disgusted would somehow destroy what was left of him, or she’d leave the room long enough for him to be alone and find a way to finish the job.

No one needed him anyway. No one would mourn him, once he’d tell Polly how truly fucked up he was.

So he took every bit of courage he had and talked to her.

"I am glad he’s... he’s alive."

Her eyes shone with surprise. She clearly wasn’t expecting him to talk that fast, or even at all, and looked pleasantly surprised.

She attempted a comforting smile, but she was nervous so he wondered if she wasn’t forcing it.

"We’re all glad he is too" Her voice was shaky, but it was barely perceptible. "We’re glad you’re okay too" she added, and Basil saw her get lost in her memories for a moment.

He didn’t deserve a caretaker like her. She deserved so much better than a caree like him.

One who wouldn’t say nothing after having almost probably ruined Polly’s future career by attempting to leave under her care.

One who wouldn’t scar her as he had done with his choice.

He should apologise for that, even if apologising once again would not take it back. She had been scarred emotionally just as he would be scarred physically, because he was so horrendously alive.

"...I’m sorry."

He wasn’t even looking at her.

She must be angry. I can’t even stand her gaze, it’s pathetic.

"It’s okay. I’m just... glad you made it" Polly’s voice cracked a bit.

She wouldn't be stuck with me if I hadn’t survived.

"..."

"Do you want to talk about it...?" She tried.

She’s still trying. She’s still trying and I don’t deserve it. I don’t deserve her. She should go.

Preferably before he got too attached.

He didn’t want to be, but he knew he was failing at that too.

Not getting attached.

He was already used to her presence, and so that meant he knew he’d be doomed the moment she’d leave.

But he had to push her away.

"No."

Except this time he had to push her away by stopping to keep her away and finally tell her why he was the way he was, and in this case the major reason why he had done what he had.

She had a pained look from his refusal. He was about to make it so much worse.

But at least she’d be free from the torment of not knowing.

And then she’d hate him. She’d finally hate him.

"But..."

She turned her gaze back on him, worried sick yet hopeful.

How horrible of him. He’d ruin yet another person further. She had cared for a monster.

"B-But I think... you should at least know why."

She was there, silent, waiting. Listening. Worried.

He began talking, painfully aware how much he’d destroy something else again because that was all he ever did.

"I... I used to be apart of a friend group. When I was twelve."

He paused, lump in his throat. He wanted to cry and just lay back down, ask her to leave and hope they’d mix up the dosage of his meds administrated through his IV, causing him to die.

But he had to go on.

Just a little bit longer. Sunny had asked him to do this.

"It was Sunny, Kel, his brother and Aubrey, right ?" His caretaker asked softly.

"There... was another person. Sunny’s sister."

"Sunny has a sister ?"

"H-Had."

Polly’s eyes expressed sudden guilt. "Sorry, I didn’t mean... I didn’t know."

"No. Don’t be sorry. Please." He pleaded.

He couldn’t do this. He could not do this.

But he had to.

He had to tell her. He had to tell her about how Mari had died. How she really had died, and now he knew the whole truth.

Not the lie he had made himself believe, or the other lie he created to decieve the others.

And so he told her.

He told her everything, from the very beginning.

Every bit of context.

Admitted to every little thing.

He told her how these people had so kindly accepted him into their lives, only for him to ruin everything as payback.

He told her how he chose to tie the noose with his own hands.

He told her how far, at what extent his insanity went.

He told her how no matter what he did, he’d always ruin everything he got too close to.

And he couldn’t stop crying. That was all he ever did. He couldn’t stop crying but he had brought this pain on himself a long time ago.

He was just like that. Something to be hated.

And now she’d hate him too.

That was what he figured, somewhere horrendously relieved through this sobbing mess he was. It would be over. She’d leave, and it would just be over in a matter of time. Nobody would be able to keep him alive after that for the sole reason nobody would be believing in the illusion he gave of being someone good.

Expect... she wasn’t leaving.

He waited, waited, waited.

She was still sitting on her chair, processing everything.

Any second now, she’d get up and go out slamming the door behind her without a look behind.

He waited.

He waited for that to happen.

And as she didn’t do anything for long seconds, he got more frantic. Shaking.

She was not leaving.

He’d take anything. Yelling, leaving, insults, slapping, anything but this shocked gaze not doing any of these.

He was stuck there, in a hospital which he never asked to be brought to or kept alive in, as he waited for something to happen.

And after countless seconds that seemed hours long, something did happen.

Something he did not want to happen.

But did anything he want ever really happened ?

She was slowly moving closer, dragging the chair nearer the bed. She tried to look at him in the eyes, to get him to glance at her, to listen to what she’d say. Trying to find the right words.

She reached out her hand.

"Basil."

He couldn’t stand it. His ears were ringing. He couldn’t stand it.

"Basil, I’m so sorry all that happened."

"No."

She didn’t flinch at his blunt, strained voice. She kept her gentle tone.

"I am. You didn’t deserve to go through all of this. You-"

He snapped.

"SHUT UP"

She didn’t expect it, and she stopped her sentence there, eyes wide in surprise, hand still reached out to him, frozen.

He smacked it away.

"YOU’RE NOT SUPPOSED TO SAY THAT !"

She didn’t yell back. She stared, not even blinking.

He wanted her to get angry. He wanted her to stop staying in her delusion he was someone who deserved to be helped, saved. He wanted her to hate him.

He needed her to hate him.

"Why are you like this ?! What’s your problem ?! Why do you keep telling yourself you have to save me ? I don’t want your fucking help !"

He couldn’t exactly scream. All he did was a desperate attempt to push the words out as loudly as his closing up throat would allow, to just make her leave, to have her go away from the hysterical mess he was.

Every syllable hurt physically, voice more strained than it had ever been.

He hoped she hurt as much as he did.

He wanted her to leave. He needed her to leave. If she wouldn’t leave first, he’d push her away first.

And it would hurt less.

"I know you don’t even want to help me ! You’re just doing it for the money, the moment I’d turn eighteen you’ll just leave ! You’re just a hypocrite ! You say you want to help but you’re a liar ! You’re just a liar ! You don’t care ! You don’t care at all !"

No staff was coming. He may feel like he was screaming but his current high pitched excuses for yells were so strained they were barely above average talking volume.

And Polly was just sitting there, taking it all, probably too stunned to call for other nurses to make him stop whatever the hell he was doing.

"You just want to give yourself a good conscience by helping a fucked up kid ! But guess what ?! You’re just lying to yourself ! You’re not doing anything ! You’re not helping ! I know it’s nothing but a job to you ! You don’t give a shit about me ! And I don’t want your help !"

Maybe she was stunned, but she didn't really look like it. He felt like she was hurt but she wasn’t letting it show, same concerned gaze on her face.

He couldn’t stand seeing it any longer.

He curled into a ball, the stitches on his stomach hurting bad as he did so but he ignored it, gripping his hair.

He wanted it to be over. He needed it to be over.

Why wasn’t she leaving ?!

Why did people he didn’t want to leave did and people he wanted gone stayed ?

This was torture.

"Just leave already ! Go away ! Get out ! Get out ! Get the fuck out ! You’re useless ! I hate you !"

He choked on the lump in his troath, coughing and sobbing.

He couldn’t get another word out, and she still wasn’t leaving.

He had been so mean and she wouldn’t leave.

Why wasn’t she leaving ?

He was a monster.

And now he couldn’t breathe. He was shaking from head to toe.

Everything he just said bounced right back at him and his blood stopped boiling on the spot, now leaving him with a freezing, sheer terror.

He suddenly felt like he was falling.

"No, no, no, no, no no no no no..."

His hands wanted nothing more than to grasp onto the one Polly had handed out moments before.

But he had thrown it away.

And she wasn’t reaching out anymore.

He had ruined it.

He covered his mouth, trembling.

He had just ruined it.

He could not do anything but ruin things. She was just trying to help and he had hurt her.

Just like he had hurt everyone else who ever tried.

"I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean- please, I- I’m so sorry"

He was back to being that disgusting blubbering mess he had been.

What had he just done ? What had he just done ?!

That was why he never let himself break down in front of people.

He’d let his emotions get the best of him and he’d lose himself.

Not for long.

But long enough to shatter any chance he had with the person trying to comfort him.

And now she was going to leave.

She was definitely going to leave.

It shouldn't have been a realisation. He needed her gone.

But now that he knew for a fact she’d go and he’d be alone, really alone, he couldn’t feel nothing else but pure dread.

He had shrunk as far away from her as it was possible in a hospital bed, curling on himself in the left corner of the matteress, head throbbing, hands shaking.

The heart monitor was spiking again as he lost control of his breathing once more.

He had wished her gone and yet he couldn’t stand being alone even if he deserved to be.

And now he simultaneously wanted her gone forever and her to tell him she knew he hadn’t meant it.

That his words hadn’t impacted her.

But he had called her useless.

And he knew she felt this way, he knew saying that would be hitting her weak spot. It was something he was aware of, that he had noticed and felt guilty for.

But he had attacked her there.

He had done the exact same thing as those school bullies did to him so relentlessly. 

He was horrible.

He was horrible and he deserved to die.

She probably felt useless right now because he was spiralling and there was nothing he allowed her to do about it.

It was all his fault.

And he was wailing.

Please. I’m so sorry. Please, don’t leave me. I’m so, so, so sorry. Please don’t leave me

He couldn’t stand staring at her but he did.

What would she do ?

Would she leave ?

Would she stay ?

Why would she stay ? He had expressed he wanted her away.

But wasn’t telling the truth. He never told the truth.

Basil was nothing but a liar.

He stared into her eyes.

He knew he had wounded her in his words. He could see it and he wanted to scream.

He couldn’t stop hurting people.

If she walked away he wouldn’t be able to hurt her anymore and she had to know that.

He felt so light headed. His lungs fought to breathe and hearing his own erratic breathing only made him want to silence it more.

The beeping of the monitor was not helping.

He wanted to cover his ears. He wanted the noise to stop. He wanted everything to stop.

And then, without a word, Polly stood up and began walking.

He couldn’t hold back a scream.

She stopped right away, and her eyes detailed him.

He could not read her gaze for once. He had so many tears flowing his vision was all blury but all he understood was that she was leaving.

He wasn’t in control of his reactions, arms jolting forward as if they could grab her from the distance.

He’d have tried getting up but he knew his legs wouldn’t be able to sustain him, so all he could do was desperately hold his arms steady and stare and cry.

She had slowly begun walking again, going around his bed near the side he was at, and only drifted her gaze away from him the seconds it took her to switch a few things on the machinery on that side.

His eyes followed her all the way through.

He didn’t know what she had just done, but he could hear the buzzing in his ears more clearly now. The beeping had toned down a little.

But he saw she was talking and he wasn’t hearing her.

He couldn’t hear her, his thoughts filling all the place.

He couldn’t focus on what she was saying as she was going back towards the chair.

She’d just take her bag and leave. She was just telling him how she’d leave because he wasn't worth her efforts.

It had to be that.

His panic was only growing more.

She pat the side of the bed he wasn’t on and said something Basil did not comprehend.

He stared.

She reiterated her demand after a lack of response, but he wasn’t answering, having only grasped she was asking a question but not the actual request.

He stared.

She hoped onto the edge of the bed, sitting there, watching him with a slight worried frown. Her eyebags made her look as if she would fall asleep right away if she closed her eyes, but she had that one gaze of someone who would not fall alseep until they were sure they were completely safe.

From there she looked at him for a few seconds, before reaching out again despite what had happened moments ago.

And Basil had felt like he’d die on the spot. He couldn’t hold a pained complaint.

He didn’t deserve that.

She knew it, despite she tried again and again and again and again.

She wasn’t losing hope in him.

It wasn’t fair. She had so much care to give and she had to found herself caring for the one person that did not deserve any single second of her presence.

There was no hope left for him. She should leave him here to rot from the inside out, yet she still was there.

Reaching out to him.

But he couldn’t allow himself to grasp her hand. So he just stared.

After a while she had moved just a bit closer, and looked about to begin rubbing his shoulder or something along these lines, but she froze last moment.

He still wanted to scream. He wanted to say he was sorry. Because he was. But she had to leave for her own good.

But, he knew she had to stay for his own good.

And she knew it too.

And somehow, she seemed to choose his safety over hers.

He still heard buzzing and his head hurt so much. But he managed to read "can I ?" on her lips, and the rest wasn’t needed to comprehend she was asking for his permission to make contact.

Which he wasn’t allowed to give.

He had to say no. But he needed her to stay.

He wanted to say yes. But he needed her to go.

Saying yes would only be selfishly getting the comfort he did not deserve.

Saying no would only be another lie and watching her drift away even slightly would definitely end up shattering the tiny bit of control he had over his reactions.

While he was debating that, she kept staring. And at some point, she lightly stroked his shoulder with the tips of her fingers, as if she was afraid he’d bite her and made sure she would have the time to retract her hand.

It broke Basil’s duality and he felt shortly relieved he didn’t have to chose.

It was an odd middle ground. He hadn’t said he was okay with it but he hadn’t been against it either.

And he wouldn’t have been able to make the choice anyways. Her taking the initiative took away the majority of the guilt that would have overwhelmed him if he had chosen either.

He watched her do that, the attempt at comfort and the contact breaking his train of thoughts enough to end up shushing the buzzing.

He had still been parasited by all the sounds of his perpetual sobs and incoherent breathing, the beeping was still heard even though it was quieter.

But he could hear Polly too, for now.

"You’ve been through a lot lately"

It was surprising he could hear her at all, since she was talking in a gentle voice that seemed akin to how loud a whisper would be.

"And if I’m being honest right now, I... I’m a little lost as to how I could help you" she admitted.

She could keep rubbing his shoulder. Now that she was doing it he dreaded the moment she’d stop and he’d be all alone again.

Truth was, he didn’t know how to be helped. He didn’t know if he could even be helped at this point. He believed he didn’t deserve any, and that he was too far gone for any anyway now.

"Do you want anything specific right now...?" She asked, now having the palm of her hand on his shoulder.

I want to die.

He didn’t see any way out. This moment could maybe be nice, but there will always be the downfall sooner or later, and he did not want to be there to go through it.

Polly gave a sad shivering smile. "I can’t let you do that."

He had thought out loud.

He had wanted to cry even more.

She didn’t deserve to go through that ever again.

"I’m sorry" he sniffled, voice strained and cracking.

He chocked on a sob. "I’m sorry" He reiterated.

His chest was burning so bad. He had felt as if a spike was being pushed through his ribs. His breathing wouldn’t steady and he couldn't do anything more than dig his nails into his shoulders to try and focus on someting else the time his breaths would calm down.

Polly had felt the shaky tensing and gently pried his hands away. "Stop that, you’re making it worse.."

He coughed, unable to sustain her look.

Then what should he do ?

He was lost. So lost. He couldn’t calm down. He was afraid. So afraid.

She didn’t know what to do. He could see it and she had admitted it.

But if he had to be honest, he’d take anything. Anything to make it stop.

He wasn’t calming down anytime soon.

She realised it quickly enough and let out a small sight, gaze sad yet determined to find a way out of this.

She hesitantly suggested something after reminiscing about several months before.

"Your... Your Grandma used to tell me she used to hug you when you were upset as a kid. Do you think a hug would help...?"

He didn’t budge.

He... he didn’t know.

Thinking of his Grandma... it only added on to the agony.

After Mari’s passing, things had changed.

It was true he used to ask for physical proximity when he was distressed, but after that day, he just stopped asking as he didn’t want to spread his rot to any more person. He wouldn’t accept any kind of support, believing he deserved to rot and slowly die alone.

He would’ve declined.

He still felt this way, even more than he had ever did.

But there was this something in her eyes -Basil was so weak when it came to eyes- that just...

She was so afraid she would end up completely useless. She had let her face slip for a second and he had seen that fear of never being able to help him at all.

He had to give it a try. For her sake.

He had attacked her for no reason on her insecurity. He had to make it up to her.

"I..."

He couldn’t push any other word out.

He was shaking to bad and it was painful.

So he gathered all he could and slightly leaned onto her side, tensed, fists grasping his gown as he waited to see what would happen.

She looked a bit surprised at his way of agreeing, but did not comment on it. And he was thankful for that. He was already panicking enough about so many things and worrying about yet another was definitely not necessary.

She clumsily brought him close so he’d be resting on her chest, his head leaning on one of her shoulders arms wrapped around him as if she’d protect him from danger. Hesitantly, she ended up rubbing his back with her thumb as she kept her light grasp onto him.

He was still hyperventilating, but despite it, he was somehow calmer. His breathing ached, but the contact was warm.

He had kept on shaking, but he had hoped she wouldn’t let go thinking it wasn’t working or helping.

The embrace couldn’t help but make him think that it looked like she had decided to keep him with that gesture, and he knew he was now officially screwed.

He felt worse, but he didn’t want her to let go. He wouldn’t de able to let go off her anymore.

He felt worse because he knew he would not bear to see her go, and that she’d be stuck with him until she got angry and decided to leave him behind.

And from now, it would only be a matter of time before it would happen. Because he had gotten attached, and with Basil, it meant he’d be dependent. Completely, disgustingly dependent.

And he knew he’d suck out all her energy sooner or later, if he didn’t end up somehow killing her.

...

But for now he hadn’t killed her yet.

He had scared her a lot of times since the day he decided to try and let her help, but she wasn’t dead and she hadn’t left -yet-.

And right now he was untrusted to be alone for the first time since he had been admitted to the hospital.

It was supposed to be a huge step forward.

Thing was, Basil didn’t trust himself.

But he trusted Polly. Factually, she had never left or lied, despite what his paranoia sometimes made him believe. So he had grown to trust her for a few things during the last few weeks. And it was sufficient.

Basil didn’t trust himself, but he trusted Polly to an extent.

Polly was trying to trust Basil, but of course it was with precautions.

She had the key to the bathroom cabinet and had hidden the sharp objects long before he was discharged.

Understandable.

Basil knew what he’d be tempted to do if he had the knowledge of the whereabouts of the access to any of those things.

It’s only fair. I guess.

He could lie if he wanted, but Polly wouldn’t let that slip anymore. She was perceptive.

He almost couldn’t keep anything from her now.

He sighed.

I should probably just leave the sunflowers alone.

He wasn’t in the best mood he could be, still all jumpy after almost being face to face with Aubrey moments before.

And today wasn’t particularly a very good day.

He grimaced, trying to stay focused and not drift into thoughts.

The memories running again and again through his brain today weren’t pleasant at all.

And he knew he had to try and be better.

He still didn’t see the point, but Polly was so hopeful he felt bad if he wasn’t trying, despite not believing he could really heal.

But.

It was for Polly. He trusted her.

He had to make himself as less of a burden he could. If he could avoid snapping and making her worry today, especially if she came back to him having a breakdown or anything, she’d not only lose her trust in him more or less, but be worried too.

And she was doing so much she did not deserve to be worried.

Okay. Try to breathe in, and out, just like she showed you.

In, and out.

Okay. Okay.

I breathed. That means I’ll be fine for the next ten minutes until she comes back. Yeah. Sure.

He glanced at the clock, waiting for her to come back.

He didn’t want to be alone too long.

Oh, he used to isolate himself before. He didn’t like to be alone then either. But then again, let’s say, he didn’t have any reason to force back certain urges that helped him handle the feeling of loneliness before.

And now that he had been accustomed to have Polly around almost 24/7, he often found himself having to fight those thoughts, which he was not accustomed to at all.

She couldn’t find out, so he had to resist for a bit.

She’d be here soon and he’d feel less stressed. Right ?

She had no reason to be late.

It’s not like she used the groceries and that whole step forward stuff as an excuse to run off and never come back and leave me, haha.

She wouldn’t do that.

She... she promised she’d not leave.

She’ll be on time. Yeah.

It would be useless to stand in the living room and stare at the clock for ten whole minutes, so he settled to go into Polly’s room and get a look at the flowers there.

He pushed the door, heart aching, and stepped in what used to be Grandma’s room.

It wasn’t too long before he would be discharged. Basil, integrating the fact that Polly would stay living in his house, had begged her to take one of the rooms.

He couldn’t stand the thought of her sleeping on the couch all the time, especially now that one of the rooms was free.

His Grandmother’s stuff was in a few cardboards near the library. Her wheelchair was long gone, too.

Though the egret orchid was still by the window.

The room was still pretty much the same.

Polly had moved the sofa chair near the entrance so that she could put the new bed closer to the wall, and on the small table were now a gladiolus, a cactus, a rose, a lily of the valley and a white tulip.

That was one of Polly ideas of therapeutic exercises.

She had noticed how he had been associating his friends and himself with different plants. His caretaker had taken notes of how he always seem to somehow "forget" to tend to the sunflowers or even mistreating them, and had suggested he tried to tend for them because they represented him in a way.

It was more difficult than he had thought it’d be, and she had assured him it would surely help him improve his self-care. That it was because he saw a part of himself in them he had such a hard time not wrecking them apart. And he had to tend for them, because he’d be figured out if they wilted or got bruised or torn. It was sometimes scary how much his state could impact the plant, and how Polly would know if he was getting bad again just by looking at the flower.

His friend’s flowers were also a part of his exercises.

She had ended up getting him to briefly open up about how he felt he had ruined his friends, and it had been enough for her to invent another thing to reassure him when he got too freaked out.

Basil didn’t feel like he could keep either a friendship or a plant alive. The two meant the world to him.

And because of that, he believed he would ruin them.

So Polly had showed him he could tend to those plants without killing them, and had offered her help if he worried he’d do wrong, even if he was the one with the most knowledge on the topic.

She was always there as he tried to tend to them, keep them healthy and alive.

And he only felt safe to do it alongside her. He was convinced he’d kill the flowers somehow the moment he’d have to tend for them alone.

He felt like he’d do something wrong with the gladiolus, and that it would get dry. No matter what he knew it wouldn’t bloom again if he was the one watering it.

The cactus made him sad. He felt so bad it would survive even without care, because everything needed care. And with it it’d be more colourful, but Basil didn’t know how to provide such care. He wasn’t capable of it.

The rose’s thorns made him feel like the plant was angry at him. It didn’t want his care and didn’t trust him to watch over the other ones. Basil would feel like the flower would reject what he could try and give it, and so he’d let it alone. But it would dry and wilt.

The lily of the valley was the one he dreaded to touch. If it wasn’t for Polly it would be long dead, because Basil could barely look at it let alone keep it alive.

And he knew he’d overwater the tulip and drown it, because he was constantly afraid it wasn’t getting enough. But when anyone else watered it, they knew how much it needed and didn’t mess up. Which he could not avoid doing constantly.

But Polly was there when he tended to the plants. It was really more of an exercise than a way to get him back into the hobby.

But he felt as if she hoped he’d go back to his other plants one day.

And that he’d go back to his friends too.

...

He looked at the clock in the room and tugged at his vest.

Polly should be here any second.

And so he waited, sitting on the bed.

It wouldn’t be so hard, right ? Any second now.

...

She hadn’t left, right...?

She wouldn’t do such a thing. She... she’ll be here any second now. There probably was a lot of people at the register, that’s why she’s late.

She could have a lot of reasons fo be late.

And it’s not like I should’ve expected her to be here at 11 am sharp, right ? It’s dumb.

She’ll be here any second now. Any second.

He waited. He waited, growing more anxious as the seconds ticked.

He stratched at his shoulder.

Any second.

He heard the front door open, and was about to run out of the bedroom when he froze in his tracks.

He heard someone talk and it was not Polly.

"WOAH ! It feels much better here !"

The voice felt oddly familiar. A loud child-like voice, and the sounds of running around.

"Man, my feet hurt ! The ground here’s so soft at last !"

It’s... did Kel break into my-... did he inhale hellium ?

"Shut up ! You’re so loud, idiot ! My ears bleed !" Another complaining voice rose.

Basil felt as if he got punched.

That voice... he knew it, too.

"H-Hey ! I don’t think you should take this...?"

He knew that third voice too.

"But... it looks like yours !"

"Other people than your brother have frying pans you imbecile !"

Basil heard a soft thump, as if someone was hit by a pillow. A complaint rose immediately after. "OUCH ! OMORI, TELL HER TO STOP HITTING ME WITH THAT!"

Silence ensued.

He was petrified.

Those voices... it was impossible.

Basil went to sit back on the bed and plastered his hands over his face.

Fuck. I thought the hallucinations were going away.

He felt sick. What would be next ?

He wasn’t used to auditory ones. Visual ones, okay.

But that was not a change he liked, nor was it an improvement.

And it was coming out of nowhere.

Well... maybe not. I had been... I was thinking about the plants, and them, so many that’s why I...

He wanted to find a reason. He had to.

He didn’t get the time because he heard Polly say something, then her footsteps came and opened the door.

She looked at him, and quickly closed the door behind her.

For a moment, Basil’s brand new hallucinations got louder.

Logic would advise him to tell Polly. But he wasn’t there yet.

Trusting her not to leave was already hard enough. He was not ready to be telling her about anything that was going on in his head.

It seemed she wanted to talk to him.

"Uh..." her voice was hesitant. She looked like she had seen something that made her brain break. "So, first of, how did it go for you ?"

She tried to initiate the conversation normally, but she was talking fast.

"It was fine" he said, shrugging. His shoulders itched a little.

That was a lie.

But he hadn’t put himself in danger so at least there was that.

Spiralling was a thing, but it could’ve been worse.

"That’s great."

He could tell she was bothered.

"Is something wrong..?"

She made a 'I dunno' motion with her hands.

"Okay, so, a really weird thing happened, and I think I need you to see... something."

"What is it...?"

Whas that why she had been late ?

"So, when I went out the market I found something really weird, and-"

He slightly jumped as he heard the sound of shattering.

Polly jumped too.

And he understood something was really in the house, and the voices weren’t in his head.

For some reason, it scared him even more than the possibility of hallucinating.

Those voices were not supposed to be heard.

Not here.

At least not like this.

Not this... high-pithched.

Polly glanced over her shoulder. "Ah, one minute. I just gotta..."

She grabbed a few blankets and quickly disappeared out the door, not allowing him to peek out.

"Wait here, okay ?" Her voice asked from outside the door through the wood.

"AUBREY ! You spilled dirt all over the place, what the heck ?!"

"Shut up KEL ! How could I know it would do that ?!"

Wha...

He got to his feet and, ignoring Polly’s request, and swung the door open.

He ran throught the corridor, and stood in the doorway to the living room and kitchen.

He was met with the weirdest hallucination he had ever had.

Polly followed after him, and she looked in the same direction where he did, sighing.

Then looked at the damage with a confused and upset frown.

It was just a coincidence. It had to be. She could not see them. At least not like thought he saw them.

Could she...?

This made no sense.

A twelve year old white and purple Kel look-alike pointed at him, gazing at a twelve year old Aubrey and a fifteen year old Hero both with the same colors. "HEY ! That guy looks like BASIL !"

Polly talked quietly next to him. "That’s the weird thing I found out of the market."

She sees them too.

He wasn’t hallucinating.

And they knew him ?

He stared, wide eyed.

The small Aubrey had a bright pink bat, and had seemingly bashed one of the big flower pots with it.

The younger Hero looked right at him, confused, mumbling something about him having grown and... changed color ?

The younger Kel was then running to a spot of the room he didn’t see from where he stood.

And he dragged a twelve year old black and white child, and Basil’s heart might as well have stopped beating.

The small Sunny stared at him.

"..."

The silence was now absolutely unbearable.

Basil ran out and shut the door to the bathroom.

He sat against the door, making sure no one would open it. He couldn’t lock it anymore so this was the best he could do.

The teenager heard Polly trying to silence the kids and attempt to talk to him, but she ended up leaving him the time to process the surnatural thing he just witnessed.

And Basil was not processing it well.

He frantically pulling out his phone, opened the messaging app and began frenetically typing, not in the state to worry about how much of his panic he shared just now.

Chapter Text

That Polly woman was... very nervous, to say the least.

She was very nervous despite the current area being her home, supposedly, and houses were out of reach for any foes if they weren’t abandoned.

Maybe that had to do with the pot Aubrey smashed.

Maybe Omori should’ve waited to look inside it, for Polly to go. Was Polly upset because they were thinking of taking her items ?

Well, normally she wouldn't be supposed to even question it, but the area was challenging everything they knew. And besides, there had been nothing but too much sharp pieces in the place of the usual reward Omori got anyway.

It had been useless and weird.

This place was really weird.

Polly had a big house, for a semi-important entity. Semi important because her place would be very likely to hold the picnic, and because she had led them here when they were lost. Her role would likely stop here. That made a little sense in all this confusion.

On the other hand, he did not understand why this woman had a BASIL doppelganger. Older, blond, and seriously looking like he got punched in both eyes because of how pronounced his eyebags were. A bunch of faint scratch scars on his face too.

That did imply she had to be important, but keeping a BASIL here ?

More than odd.

But again, it couldn’t be black space, and he had no previous memory of interacting with an older BASIL there. This one was new and different from the BASIL he knew.

BASIL was twelve, and he had teal hair, a flower crown and was always here to brightly smile as he went through their always happy memories together. Even as they were fighting in the boss rush, his best friend would be there to support him when he was low on HP, and share the burden of emotions with him. Though it didn’t seem to be a burden to him, the emotions. Well, maybe the fear he seemed to have everytime he discovered the truth again and again, then having to be wiped out and reset, rebuilt for it was a burden. But the other emotions did seem okay to him.

Oh, and there was the Stranger too. Most of the time he looked like the flower boy, so that had to count as a BASIL, right ?

Omori knew BASIL, and he knew Stranger.

Stranger also seemed to be twelve, but he sure didn’t act like it. Well, technically, BASIL acted mature too, a bit like MARI in a way, but Stranger was the annoying type of "mature". The one that wouldn’t have fun and always be serious, at all times. Not to mention he despised Omori, for no reason. In other words, Stranger was boring and rude, and used to constantly try and ruin Omori’s hard work. Though, it would be potentially interesting to fight him, to see what skills he had. Omori wondered what happened to him after the final reset. He wasn’t even doing anything but stare and disappear the last time BASIL ever went missing. It was odd but at least Omori had been able to save BASIL like he used to be able to before Sunny decided he wanted the truth more than anything; and it had been relatively easier than it ever had been this time.

Omori knew BASIL and he knew Stranger, but he did not know the blond older BASIL.

He would’ve gone after that new version to see what it, or he, was like, but Polly looked opposed to him doing so.

She physically put herself in front of the door so he wouldn't open it.

Okay. Okay, but no.

This was not was the normal behaviour Headspace entities had. They were not supposed to deny access to anywhere.

Should he tag KEL and get him to throw a peddle at the woman ? ...Would that make her disappear ?

He glanced at KEL, and seeing how he was going around the room looking at the plants, and pretty much everything there was, he got discouraged at the mere thought of trying to get the boy to join the party.

He gave up.

Well, not for long. Nope. He’d be back.

He sighed internally, and went away from the individual blocking his path to the room where the weird BASIL had hidden in.

That seemed to relieve Polly. "Hey, uh... what’s your name again ?"

He turned around. Why was she talking to him ? Wasn’t she wanting him away ? So why would she call him back ?

He stared, waiting.

"You’re the only one with a different name, so I kind of forgot..."

He stared.

"...so, what’s your name again ?"

He stared.

Polly seemed to grow nervous, shifting her weight to one feet then the other, still holding a bunch of blankets.

"Not very talkative, huh ? I guess that’s like the other... you ?" she trailed off.

He continued to stare. She was definitely odd.

"But he talked a bit. Ah, anyways, that won’t help me remember your name..."

He didn’t mind her not remembering. Usually, the Headspace inhabitants never even refered to him as Omori. He was always the "one with the blank eyes", "the one with the bulbous face", and so on. He was never "Omori", only his friends called him that and it was okay.

So why was Polly trying to do the same ?

Weird, but eh, he didn’t care much.

He shrugged it off. It felt weird interacting with her himself. Couldn’t one of his friends do the talking for him...?

Seemingly no, HERO was too occupied trying to get KEL to chill, while AUBREY was laying on the couch.

"It... doesn’t matter to you that I don’t remember your name...?" Polly seemed confused.

Once again, Omori shrugged. He felt..

Weird.

Interacting was... odd. He felt odd. He did not exactly want to be talking with her. Well, he wasn’t talking. But he was expressing things, such as him not caring. And even expressing nonchalance felt like too much exposure already.

"Don’t you... I don’t know, talk ? Are you shy ?"

Was he ? No, he wasn’t. People didn’t scare him. That would be fit BASIL more, but not Omori.

He stared endlessly.

"Are you mute...? Or something ?" She hesitated.

Mute ? Of course he wasn’t. Where did that come from ?

He shook his head.

She looked more and more uneasy as the interaction continued, and the blankets seemed to weight more and more as time passed too.

"So you just... don’t want to talk ?"

That wasn’t quite right either. He could talk if he wanted to, he just didn’t need to. His friends understood him enough without words, and he didn’t need to talk to enemies to engage in fights. Sure, he had his "painful truth" skill that required talking out loud, and sometimes he had to read sad poems to friends or foes to gain an emotion advantage, but other than that, talking didn’t bring him anything.

He only used his voice to inflict emotions on beings. Mostly sad, and in one instance for one precise individual, fear.

He wouldn’t need that anytime he opened his mouth, no thank you. So no talking. He could but just didn’t need to.

"Would you want to.. write instead ?"

Polly looked out of options.

Omori decided he’d end her suffering in that awful attempt at an interaction with him and dismissed it with a sign of the hand and a head shake.

The adult pressed her lips together, still looking for a thing to say or a way to get him to express anything.

She opened her mouth, but stopped before making any noise, trying to hear better, if Omori assumed from her demeanor now.

Out of curiosity, he tried to focus on any unusual sound and he caught what seemed to be ragged breathing.

Polly was frowning noticably, and quickly walked to the living room. Omori, not knowing what to do, stood where he was, plastering his ear against the door.

The BASIL inside seemed to be having a bad time. Omori had never heard anyone breathe like that, and if he was able to feel fear, he thought he’d be concerned.

But he wasn’t able to be, so he didn’t especially care, other than having his interest peaked. Curiosity wasn’t an emotion, so he could feel it. It wasn’t useless.

Polly came back without the blankets, with which a quick glance to the other room Omori learned they were now on the couch.

She knocked on the door and tried to push it open while gently talking to the person inside. As she was doing that, Omori’s friends were coming closer into the corridor, them able to be concerned and thus, being so.

"Basil...? Basil, it’s Polly. Can I come in ?"

"His name is also BASIL...?" KEL blinked in surprise. He probably would've commented how funny it was if HERO hadn’t asked Polly a question first.

"Uh... what’s happening ? Is he okay ?"

Polly briefly glanced at him, trying to put on a reassuring smile. "Oh, it’s... complicated. You guys should rest in the living room, I brought you blankets to get warmed up. I should be back soon, and then... I’ll make you kids hot chocolates, is that okay ? For now, I’ll just need you guys to give us space, okay ? It’s better if you stay in the living room until he... feels better. Everything’s fine, you guys got nothing to worry about. I’ll handle that."

With a last smile, she went through the door. Omori was not convinced she believed in the lies she was telling as she ended her sentences. He saw she wasn’t telling the truth, but she managed to fool his friends. Eh, he wouldn't try and worry them. After all, what happened in the room was probably not important if they couldn’t witness it.

After all, the world wouldn’t not show them anything that could be important in their understanding of the place.

Though he’d want to know if it somehow happened again. Omori did not like when things were kept from him. He was the one chosing what was to be hidden away, and no one should even try and hide stuff from him.

It just wasn’t logical. He ruled over this world, even if in its story he didn’t seem like he was in control.

But he was.

And... but, even if things were not exactly going how he wanted, or would've wanted, he was entertained. Intrigued.

New stuff was exiting.

And it had been a while since he had felt exitement. It was so much better than this aweful boredom.

So, he decided he liked the new stuff, for now. Only issue, some of the new stuff, was new stuff. And he didn’t know what it was.

"What’s... hot chocolate ?" KEL asked.

"I don’t know," AUBREY replied, shrugging as she held her plushie.

"Well I kinda wanna know now" KEL admitted, eyes glimmering with wonder.

"I guess we’ll see soon !" HERO said, smilling. "But for now, let’s go back on the couch. I don’t know about you, but I’m all sore from the night. It wasn’t all comfortable, and those blankets look really soft."

Omori could only agree.

"Yeah... I wouldn’t mind sleeping a little" AUBREY’s eyes expressed envy as her gaze drifted to the living room.

To that to, he agreed. He hadn’t slept all night, and now, he could not ignore it anymore. His body felt fuzzy and he had a little bit of trouble thinking.

He wasn’t sure to like that, but the sort of daze he was in toned down the feeling.

He was... tired.

Omori was tired.

It never happened before, or hardly. After days or weeks of being awake, he usually slept a bit, either in white space or in that other version of Neighbour’s room. But he had to spent days before feeling a twinge of fatigue.

Now he had spent mere hours in the new location, and he was already feeling his eyes shut.

He’d be upset, but all he wanted was to take a blanket, and sleep.

And Omori always did what he wanted.

The blond BASIL could wait. His friends looked tired too. So, they all went to the living room, and saw the blankets.

Omori took one, and each of his friends did so too. He watched them try and get comfy on the couch together, and he decided he didn’t want to be next to anyone, nor did he want to wait to see any space he could use on the couch. He had his fair share of snuggling close to others the night before, and he needed alone time now.

So, under their eyes, he wrapped himself in the blanket and simply laid on the ground.

He was content with himself, really. Laying on the ground was a habit. The blanket was warm. It was a relief from the cold.

He felt good. They all could sleep now.

He was sleepy. So, his friends were too. They’d sleep, and wake up when he would, Omori decided. Yeah, it would be the plan. They’d rest, and then...

And then, they’d explore. But for now...

"Omori ? You good ?" KEL chuckled weakly, his eyelids already beginning to fall again.

"Don’t disturb him, he’s trynna sleep, dummy..." AUBREY whispered, softly shoving him. He was then already asleep, unable complain about it, and she followed right after.

HERO made sure everything was okay with the two, before making himself comfortable. "Everything okay Omori ?" He quietly asked him.

He would’ve given a thumbs up, but his arms were in the blanket. So he nodded, eyes now closed.

Omori was a cocoon.

Yes. That was what he assumed he would look like to anyone looking.

It was a funny thought.

"I am a cocoon."

---

Half an hour later, after helping Basil to calm down, she brought him in her room so that he’d have a little bit of privacy to process and recover from the panic induced by that peculiar lot of living memories.

And then, Polly was confused even more by the black and white one of the lot, sleeping on the ground, resembling a catapillar or a maki with the way he was wrapped in the cloth.

She decided a picture would be a fun reminder of the witnessed scene. They wouldn’t mind. And, she had to make sure they weren’t a sort of collective hallucination her and Basil had, too.

They weren’t, or didn’t seem to be. They could be seen clearly on the picture, only surnatural element being their snow white skin, purple hair, and blue-ish tones.

After that, she took out a few ingredients and quickly made one hot chocolate, leaving composants for others later, once the kids would wake up. For now, Basil could probably use every scrap of comfort she could provide. Which she gladly did.

If only he saw he wasn’t utterly worthless...

But at least he was accepting her attempts at support. It was so much more than before.

She glanced a last time at the kids. They seemed fine. They’d be okay, they were asleep. So she should go back to her caree.

And off she was, being careful not to make a sound as she left the room where the otherworldly kids slept.

-◇-◇-◇-

"Okay. But uh- what the hell actually happened here ?!" Kel was genuinely confused, just as the others. "We all know I didn’t actually do that-"

He then frowned and pulled out his phone. He unlocked it, and stood aside. "Okay, give me a second, guys."

The others got closer, examining the bashed door. Aubrey was peeking through the entrance. "Oh my god, what the fu-"

"Language, Aubrey.."

"Hero, the walls over there look like they were literally slashed with... I dunno, a sharp thing. A knife or something."

A what...?

Sunny scooted closer, glancing at the direction where she was pointing at. She was right, the wall near the fireplace had several gashes, the paper on the wall damaged, all slashed at.

Did someone try to rob an empty house ? But.. why ? Why slice up the walls...?

It was absurd, pointless.

"So... do we still go in ?" Aubrey wondered, hesitant.

"Honestly, I don’t think we should. I’d rather tell someone about this," Hero’s eyes were concerned as he examined the door, or what was left of it.

He looks like he wants to get out of here. Is the person that did this still around ? Is he worrying for that ?

"Yeah, but who ?" Aubrey asked him. "It’s... nobody’s house anymore, who do we tell ?"

He was about to answer when Kel’s voice rose, concern dripping from it.

"Uh... guys ?"

They all looked towards him. He still had his phone out, frowning at the screen.

"What’s going on ?" Aubrey came closer, trying to get a glimpse of the screen.

Sunny was feeling uneasy. The house being in this state was eerie enough, so to have Kel worried on top was that wasn’t a very favorable context in which he could feel calm. Not to mention he still felt the dread from the breakfast conversation, and the one the previous night.

For a moment I worried I would throw up again..

Thankfully he had not, but now his stomach was aching. And the anxiety was not helping.

"Oh damn" Aubrey let out. "Yeah, we should definitely go check on him, whatever happened here can wait."

What’s happening...?

Sunny just waited for Hero to inevitably ask so he wouldn't have to.

"What’s up ? Kel, Aubrey ?"

Kel grimmaced, fingers typing a message as he replied. "Basil. Dunno what’s happening in detail but he’s clearly freaking out."

If Sunny wasn’t anxious before, well now he definitly was. He couldn’t stand still and went closer as well, cursing internally against his height making his eye unable to reach Kel’s phone. His friend did en up noticing him struggle to make himself taller to read and lowered the device, allowing the eyepatch boy to decipher the texts.

What’s wrong ? Did something happen ?

His mind was already making up dozen of scenarios, growing worse and they grew in number.

"Tell me when you’ve finished reading, we gotta go to Basil’s right after. It ain’t looking good."

"Maybe I should wait here," Aubrey stated hesitantly. "I’m not sure I would help-"

"You’re coming wether you want it or not, you cotton candy haired idiot. Friends are supposed to be there for each other."

Kel landed Sunny his phone, who scrolled up to see the beginning of the "conversation".

Though he scrolled a little too far up, so he quickly went over messages until he found the ones Kel seemed concerned about.

Kel - 10/20/00 - 4:03 pm : YO BASIL THEY ANNOUNCED CAPT SPACEBOY WAS GETTING A MANGA ??

Kel - 10/20/00 - 4:03 pm : I CANT WAIT OMG

Kel - 10/20/00 - 4:04 pm : WANNA READ IT TOGETHER WHEN IT COMZ OUT ???

Basil - 10/20/00 - 4:32 pm : I didn’t know there would be a manga !

Basil - 10/20/00 - 4:33 pm : you must be exited !

Kel - 10/20/00 - 4:35 pm : I COULD ??? EXPLODE ??? LITERALLY

Kel - 10/20/00 - 4:35 pm : BUT WOULD U READ IT W/ ME WHEN ITS OUT ??

Basil - 10/20/00 - 4:36 pm : I didn’t keep up with the story, sorry !

Basil - 10/20/00 - 4:36 pm : I’ll tell you if I find my old comics tho, for me to get back in the lore and all !

Basil - 10/20/00 - 4:36 pm : Don’t wait for me to read it tho !! I’m a slow reader

Basil - 10/20/00 - 4:37 pm : sorry I have to charge my phone, I have to go !!

Kel - 10/20/00 - 4:37 pm : oh OK !

Kel - 10/20/00 - 4:37 pm : dw lol

Kel - 10/20/00 - 7:18 pm : BTW ! Will u be back to school in two weeks ?

Kel - 10/20/00 - 8:56 pm : Sally ate Hector’s food again...

Kel - 10/20/00 - 8:56 pm : I teached her well

---

Basil - 10/22/00 - 11:37 am : KEL

Basil - 10/22/00 - 11:37 am : KEL

Basil - 10/22/00 - 11:37 am : IMSO SORRY I NEED YU TO COMZ I DONR KNO WWHAT TO DO

Basil - 10/22/00 - 11:37 am : THERES KI

Basil - 10/22/00 - 11:37 am : KIDS THAY LOOKJ UST LIK YOU BUT

Basil - 10/22/00 - 11:38 am : BUT THEIRWHITE ADN

Basil - 10/22/00 - 11:38 am : THERS A MINI AUBERYSHE HSA A BAT SHE JSUT BASHD AFLOWER POT

Basil - 10/22/00 - 11:38 am : IM SOSORRY TO AKS YOUT HAT BUT ITHINK I NEED YUO TO COMEOV ER

Basil - 10/22/00 - 11:38 am : ID ONT KONW WHATT O DO

Basil - 10/22/00 - 11:39 am : ILL DO ANYTHUNG PLAES JSUT

Basil - 10/22/00 - 11:39 am : IL L TALK ABUT WHATEVRE YOU WAN T

Basil - 10/22/00 - 11:39 am : PLEASEJ UST

Basil - 10/22/00 - 11:39 am : IMS CARED

Basil - 10/22/00 - 11:39 am : HEW AS LOOKIGN AT MELIKE HE HATES ME

Basil - 10/22/00 - 11:39 am : HE HAE BOTHH IS EYZ BUTH E

Basil - 10/22/00 - 11:39 am : KEL PLEASE IDONT KNWO WHATTO DO

Basil - 10/22/00 - 11:40 am : ILL DO ANYTHINJ PRMISIE

Kel - 10/22/00 - 11:40 am : BASIL BASIL SLOW DOWN-

Basil - 10/22/00 - 11:40 am : ILL COMEOUT TO THE PRAK JUSTP LEASE I WONT ASK FOR ENITHING EVER AGAIK

Kel - 10/22/00 - 11:40 am : BASIL

Basil - 10/22/00 - 11:40 am : I PROMIS EYOU JSTU PLE

Basil - 10/22/00 - 11:40 am : KEL

Kel - 10/22/00 - 11:40 am : IM HERE IM HERE.

Kel - 10/22/00 - 11:41 am : PLEASE DUDE CHILL, CALM DOWN-

Kel - 10/22/00 - 11:41 am : UH

Kel - 10/22/00 - 11:41 am : BREATHE AIR

Basil - 10/22/00 - 11:41 am : AM BRRQTHING

Kel - 10/22/00 - 11:41 am : UH

Kel - 10/22/00 - 11:41 am : ITS GOOD

Kel - 10/22/00 - 11:41 am : NOW PLS EXPLAIN AGAIN WHATS HAPPENING

Basil - 10/22/00 - 11:42 am : THERES A BUNCH OFKIDS THAT CAME INTO MY HOUSE

Kel - 10/22/00 - 11:42 am : OKAY OKAY

Kel - 10/22/00 - 11:42 am : AND WHATS WRONG WITH THAT ARE THEY TRYINT TO HURT U

Kel - 10/22/00 - 11:43 am : IS IT THE HOOLIGANS ??

Basil - 10/22/00 - 11:43 am : ON

Basil - 10/22/00 - 11:43 am : NO bUT

Basil - 10/22/00 - 11:43 am : INEED YUO TO COME YOUW ONT BELIVE ME IF I SAID

Basil - 10/22/00 - 11:43 am : SAID IT LIKETHI S

Kel - 10/22/00 - 11:44 am : I WILL JUST TELL ME PLS-

Kel - 10/22/00 - 11:44 am : WERE COMING OVER WERE COMING JST TELL ME

Basil - 10/22/00 - 11:44 am : YOUW OULDNT BELEIVE M

Basil - 10/22/00 - 11:45 am : ME I RPOMISE IMNOT LIYING IM SO SORY IJST NEED UYO TO COME IM SO SORRY i

Basil - 10/22/00 - 11:45 am : wonr bother you aGAIN PLEAS EJUST COME I CAN’T

Basil - 10/22/00 - 11:45 am : IT TJOUGHT I WAS HALUCINARING BTU POLLY SEES THM TOO

Kel - 10/22/00 - 11:45 am : QHATS GOING ON BASIL I CANT UNDERSTAND-

Kel - 10/22/00 - 11:46 am : YKNOW WHAT WERE COMIN JUST WAIT DUDE

Basil - 10/22/00 - 11:46 am : IDONT UNDERSABD HOW ITQ POSIBLLE

Basil - 10/22/00 - 11:46 am : THHAK YOU

Basil - 10/22/00 - 11:46 am : THANKY OU SOMUCH

If Sunny wasn’t feeling so worried for the photographer, he’d be amused at how he wasn’t the only one to not know how to properly have an interaction or correctly type.

He gave Kel his phone back, and after exchanging a quick glance with all his friends, they ran to Basil’s house a quick as they could.

For once, Sunny wasn’t leading the party, for the sole reason he had troubles with keeping up with the pace. He was already out of breath mid-way, but did his best to stay close to them.

He thought he would collapse once they reached his house’s door, and had to actually lean on the wall to avoid it.

Yeah... I guess staying inside doing nearly nothing wouldn’t help in having a good endurance or whatever...

He had somehow foolishly thought that because he wasn’t sleeping all day long anymore he’d get a bit of his physical condition back. Turned out he would have to acutally exercise to get that back. Yikes...

Hero knocked. "Hello ? Polly ? Basil ? It’s us ! We’re here !"

He knocked on the door, but there was no response.

I’m the only one out of breath... embarrassing. I... life is cruel.

"Aren’t they here ?" The adult questionned Kel.

"They should be ! Well, Basil should, he wouldn't ask me to come over anywhere else than here !"

"Maybe he’s in his room ? Or the bathroom ? He could not hear us" Aubrey suggested, eyes narrowing away from the door.

"Polly should hear us, no ?" Hero commented.

"Last time I was here she went to get groceries, she may not be back..."

Sunny tried to knock, with little sucess too.

Well. I guess I tried.

"Then we’ll wait for her to be back, I suppose" the uni student sighed.

A short silence fell as they looked around to see if the caretaker would show up anywhere.

"Say, uh, Kel..."

"Mmh ? What is it Aubrey ?"

"He talks to you, right ? Basil."

"About what ?"

"Y’know..." Aubrey hopped on one feet then the other. "If he feels bad and all."

Kel shortly pressed his lips together, kicking around a rock on the ground. "Not really. He does talk to me, but like..."

The basketball player scratched at the back of his neck, thoughtful.

"Only when I say something first. If I don’t send the first text he won’t. And he avoids like, answering some of the questions I ask. I know he sees them, but he ignores them, I guess. For instance, I’ll ask 'are you okay' or, 'how are you doing today', radio silence. But then I add something like 'I have so much homework I’ll drown in them' and I get a reply about that."

Oh, so... he’s doing that again. Avoiding the conversation so he won’t have to lie about anything.

How much was the flower boy even doing this ?

It’s better than lying to himself, I think ? But he shouldn't...

Was Sunny even in the right place to judge ? He wasn’t especially talking about his feelings to anyone either.

Saying Basil would need to would mean he should as well, which might be true too, but if he pointed it out he’d have to acknowledge he needed it as well.

Which he wasn’t ready to admit, nor ready to give the burden of being listened to to anyone.

But talking about the truth, as painful as it had been, had relieved just the tiny bit of guilt necessary to make life... bearable.

Had Basil shared anything about it yet ?

"But yeah, he’s... isolating again. That’s actually the first time he reaches out first, and like... shows he’s not fine ? I mean, I had a hunch he wouldn’t be exactly okay, but that, it’s... a bit worrying. I think. But he’s okay, right...? Yeah... he’s safe, he has to be.." Kel whispered the last part for himself.

"Have you..."

Kel turned his head to Sunny. "Mmh ? "

The smaller teen cleared his troath. Right. Uh, talking.

"Have you tried talking about... you know, what I told you ?"

"Huh ?" Kel looked lost for a split second before he remembered what his friend was refering to. "Oh. That, haha. That thing, yeah, haha. Well... uh."

Hero’s brother ended up sighing. "I mean, I... tried ?"

What does that mean..?

"...once. I told him he could talk about it if he wanted to, like, if he felt he needed to give any explanation I’d be here to listen, or like, I’m open to discuss it and I wasn’t like, mad at him ?"

He’s not mad..?

That thought gave Sunny a scrap of relief and hope. Though it got crushed quickly by a sense of guilt, as if he could not feel glad about anything without feeling he didn’t deserve it.

He should be mad. He has the right to.

The previous consequences discussion may have ended quite comically, he still felt he deserved some.

He’d go with the Orange Joe drinking, but he knew he deserved something actually...

Would bad be the word ?

Sunny knew he deserved bad things. Yet he didn’t get any, or barely to the amount he should get.

Oh, but wait.. this was Basil they were talking about.

Should Kel be mad at Basil ? Or- any of them, really ? Should they be mad at Basil ?

Sunny didn’t control what the others felt, nor wanted to anymore -one of the lessons his time in Headspace gave him was showing how wrong it was to bend other’s feelings to what you wanted them to be-. But... Basil had only wanted to help.

It’s still my fault. If I hadn’t pushed her, he wouldn't have had to resort to that just to protect me. It’s on me, not him.

His friends should be angry at him, not at Basil who had only been dragged into it all. At least, it was what Sunny believed. He could take all the anger in the world if it meant they’d feel better. He deserved that anger more than any of them.

Kel looked around, Polly still not showing up. He resumed talking.

"I told him that, over text, but he didn’t answer for a whole week after that, so... I dropped it. Kinda freaked me out, haha... I asked Polly if he ever shared anything about it when I went to see if he was doing okay, cause y’know, he wasn’t responding, and she told me he never did. He doesn’t want to, I think. She says he’s not ready."

Aubrey gave a scoff deprived of amusement. "Yeah, of course Polly would say that."

Sunny’s pink haired friend’s intervention reminded him of another question he wanted to ask.

"Oh, uh... Kel, Aubrey..?"

"Mmh ?" The girl hummed.

"How is he... doing ? In school ?"

Kel tilted his head in confusion. "What do you mean ?"

What do I... what do you mean, "what do you mean" ?

"In... school," the eyepatch boy reiterated. "He isn’t getting..."

Bullied ? Harmed ? Hurt ? Made fun of ?

How to word it ?

"Oh" Aubrey let out. "He’s not coming to school."

"What..?"

"Polly said he was being homeschooled," Kel precised, seeing his friend worry. "Until he could go back to public school. I think he should be back after the vacation ? Or when the semester’s over. No clue."

"Oh, okay" Sunny let out under his breath.

Well... it was a relief. But it also wasn’t too. If the flower boy stayed at home, he couldn't get targeted anymore. But it meant he would also be very lonely, which would not help if he wasn’t okay. Sunny would know, speaking from experience. Being alone hadn’t especially beneficiated him, unlike what her mother thought it would. "He needed space" ? Yeah. See what being alone led him to do.

And led Basil to do.

He didn’t like to be alone. Neither did Basil.

Hero knocked more loudly, seemingly deciding to give knocking another shot. "Basil ? Polly ? Anyone home ?"

Yeah. Trying won’t hurt, I guess... I just hope Kel won’t really break Basil’s door down like he suggested- bet he would even try if it weren’t for his brother being here-

Hero tried several times, while Kel, out of patience, peeked throught the window. Sunny saw his friend stiffen, eyes wide.

"What the hell is th-"

The door swung open, Polly looking more tired than Sunny remembered her.

As they were lately, his first thoughts were ones of worry.

I hope she gets enough sleep... she looks like she didn’t get any since... last time I saw her.

The young woman looked quite ashamed as she stepped away from the doorway. "Oh, I’m so sorry. I... wasn’t hearing you. I just heard-... I thought it was the others who were talking, since, uh.. ah, just come in."

And so they did. Kel was blocking Sunny’s view of the room, but that wasn’t a problem just yet as he was taking his shoes off.

I think they go... there ? Yeah, that's the place.

"So, first, hello to all of you !" Polly continued. "And, uh, welcome back, Sunny."

He gave her a thumbs up from behind Kel’s back.

Sorry I can’t face you. I have a severe case of being too small and Kel is unfairly tall.

Ah, he did miss the time where he was taller than him for sure. He could dream of being taller again, but it would only be dreaming now.

Headspace pun not intended. Sunny cringed at the thought. Nope, he did not want to go back to that.

Yeah. He... he didn’t. It was a fantasy, and he had to stay in the real world. He could. He was stronger, he’d make it. Besides. He was back in Faraway, on his way to mend it all, right ? Headspace wasn’t needed, he didn’t have to miss it.

Ah ! I don’t miss it at all. Why would I ? It.. It was just fake. Nothing more. I’m over it. Yeah. I don’t need it anymore. I’m done with it. Yeah...

Breath in, and out.

Maybe just a tiny bit of denial wouldn’t be too bad, right ? He didn’t miss that delusion that much, did he ? He was okay with the fact he couldn’t -wouldn’t- go back to it. Yeah. He made his choice and he’d stick to it.

It would be easier as time would flow.

...right...?

There was nothing to miss. Nothing at all.

...

I don’t know if I should hate or love the fact lying still feels so relieving.

But it wasn’t lying much this time. He’d wait and then it would be true.

Time would pass and he wouldn’t miss it anymore. He’d be okay with the thought of forgetting it.

Because these moments there were fake, meant nothing. They were fake. Had never happened. The people there were fake, mere souless shells, reflections of people he knew, manipulated in biased, surreal, edited and glorified memories.

Yeah. It... it means nothing.

It didn’t have to mean anything if he didn’t want it to.

"I assume you’re all here for Basil ?"

Sunny could not see Polly’s face, but she still sounded nervous.

"Yeah, he sent us messages where he sai- OH MY GOD WHAT THE FUCK" Aubrey ended her sentence shouting as she looked at where the couch was -from what Sunny assumed.

He didn’t know. Kel was too tall, and it was now bothering him.

Kel why- what did you eat all these years-
... why didn’t I eat all these years, gosh, I’m stupid-

Kel and Hero and Aubrey looked towards the same spot of the room, gasping, stiff.

What’s there ? What’s it ?

Would it be okay if I just- pushed my way through- just a little-

"Yeah," the caretaker’s voice wavered. "That’s... Basil’s in another room. They freaked him out and honestly, they’re... weird, to me too."

How bad could it be ? What was it ? Animals ? But Basil wasn’t freaked out by them ?

Maybe there’s... cats ? I hear breathing, so it must be- but cats aren’t scary !

Sunny pushed his way through and he finally saw it.

He froze too.

Rubbed his eyes. Blinked.

What...

There wasn’t any cats. Or any animals.

On the couch were versions of Kel, Hero and Aubrey he knew all too well.

Versions from a world he wanted to cast away. That he had cast away.

And on the ground, sleeping, or looking like it, was the little god of said world.

Until he wasn’t sleeping anymore. If he ever was. The commotion must’ve ended disturbing him enough.

He slowly got out of the blanket, yawning in silence, sitting. Shifting his gaze to his friends who wouldn’t wake up until he decided they would, then to Sunny and his friends.

Surprise was probably the expression Omori would’ve shown if he was even capable of feeling it.

Sunny stared into his younger black and white self’s eyes. The latest got up, holding his blanket in his fist.

He would’ve looked like an innocent child, if he wasn’t what Sunny knew he was.

He went up to Sunny, under all of the people there’s gazes. Including the Headspace kids, who had woken up, glaring at their real world older copies, too confused to utter a word, rubbing their eyes as well.

Sunny imperceptibly shrinked away, Omori stopped.

He looked at Sunny who knew those blank, empty, souless eyes all too much. Sunny who stared at the being who was supposed to be everything but real.

Said being didn’t budge. Or blink. Or talk.

"..."

Neither did Sunny.

"..."

Sunny was feeling too much emotions to think straight. Omori wouldn't feel any emotions as always and he probably didn’t even have thoughts in the way a real person would.

"..."

Well. They’d go very far this way, right ?

Silence was the only thing heard as both sides detailed the other.

"There’s an older Omori too !"

"Yo, that little Sunny’s taller than little me ?!"

Both Kels said in the same time. They looked at each other and Sunny just knew they’d get along from the glance they shot each other.

He and his double went back to staring at each other. Message was clear : neither were confused here -except on why they were in the same world now- about who tye other was, nor had they forgotten on what terms they left each other last.

But now, as Sunny’s and Omori’s friends all begun talking over each other, pointing at their respective copy, both boys stayed silent.

Glaring.

Omori was here somehow, and Sunny did not feel like he would have a good time.

On the other hand, as Omori stared into Sunny’s eyes -eye (Why did he bother living, seriously ? Having only an eye ? Must be aweful. Having no sister ? Worse.), he felt like he was about to have a whole new set of great times planned.

Omori found his creator. He would stay for as long as he needed to get what he wanted from him.

Sunny had -somehow- been found by his creation. Seemingly he couldn’t unmake it -him ?-. He didn’t know how in the world Omori had gotten real, but he knew one thing : he wanted Omori to go back to not being real and forget he even created him and his whole world as well.

Somehow, both of them felt like they still wouldn’t agree on what to do in the very, very near future.

They stared at each other.

And there goes my vacation...

God, why couldn’t Sunny’s life be normal and calm for once ?

...maybe because the closest thing to a god here was this small monocromatic child, standing so still he might as well just have been straight out of an old picture.

And the small god would always do whatever he wanted to, no matter what Sunny desired.

-☆-☆-☆-

MARI chuckled, looking at the tree near the bench. The sound was pretty much drowned by the noises of the kids -and that one Gator Guy- having fun in the playground.

Despite it, BASIL and someone else clearly heard her.

"You don’t have to keep hiding and looking at us like that, y’know ? We’ve seen you a while ago" MARI talked towards the same direction.

BASIL gently waved at the person too, trying to motion it was safe to come out.

The shadow-like child didn’t budge, but kept looking at them.

"Do you need anything ?" MARI tried again.

She got no response. Oh, but at least, the... person ? Wasn’t hiding anymore.

But she wasn’t discouraged by the lack of reply. "What’s your name ?"

BASIL scooted closer, dropping the flower crown in his lap for a second. "His name’s Stranger" he hesitantly whispered.

The latest and MARI heard perfectly, despite the background noises.

MARI blinked and kept on smiling, patting a side of the picnic blanket while Stranger looked surprised, glancing at BASIL then MARI repeatedly. He ended up slowly getting out from behind the tree, looking around, and sat with the two.

"How do you know my name ?" He sounded more surprised than worried. Despite previously hiding, he seemed pretty chill.

"Oh, I... well, I saw you before. And I remember you." The flower boy explained quickly. "It was a while ago now, it seems foggy but still, I know who you are"

He shrugged, and MARI slowly nodded. "You’re one of those who helped the Dreamer figure it out, hmm ?"

She got a nod in response.

"So, why were you hiding ? There’s nothing to be hiding from, you can go around as you like now"

"I assume you could say that, but technically I shouldn’t exactly be 'going around' as I like" Stranger seemed amused at the thought.

It was a little odd to BASIL, but Stranger sounded a lot like he did, and had the same way of chuckling. His voice sounded slightly distant from them, with a tiny echo, but other than that, it was the exact same. The boy was his shadow, after all.

"Is there really anything you 'should' be doing ? Technically, neither of us -or them-" MARI gestured to the folks playing around "have a role or purpose anymore."

"That’s true, but he likes to follow the way this world was made. And I never was a part of the story -not an intended one at least-, so I am not technically a normal... Headspace citizen as you both are."

'He'...? Oh, right, Omori.

MARI rolled her eyes, grabbing a candy and tossing it to the newest guest there. "Are we really normal Headspace residents though ? It wasn’t intended for BASIL to know the truth, nor was it intended for me either. I bet it was even less intended for me to be some sort of vessel for my dead counterpart at times," she smirked.

Stranger scoffed. "I can’t deny it’s true."

"Out of anyone or anything here, you of all wouldn’t deny whatever truth there is" the oldest joked, smug faced. "So ! What brings you around here ?"

"Quite nothing, really. I mean that literally. Nothing happening is quite new. This long without a reset hadn’t happened since the first times they occured. And this time, seems like there will never be any more of them, because of the lack of reason to resart the cycle. It feels odd to think this is... it."

BASIL could only agree. "It feels weird, but honestly, I’m relieved. It’s finally over."

"That’s the ending I wished I would see," Stranger crossed his legs. He looked like he settled to stay for a bit. "I just didn’t expect to one day feel... bored. So, I ended up walking around. Thankfully I didn’t cause anything to break by doing so." He looked like he grimaced, according to his tone. The shadow around him was so thick it was impossible to tell.

"Why would you break anything ? And what do you mean by breaking ?"

Stranger’s shining gaze went to the teal haired version of him. "I think both of you know how controlling he gets whenever it comes to altering the normal course of events in Headspace. I’d rather avoid him seeing I’m still around, if he assumed I was up to something such as, plotting against his peace here, he might tear it apart thinking it would get rid of me. It wouldn’t do any good, and wouldn’t do anything either. You both remember despite the two last resets."

They shrugged. "Oh, well, things have changed since those events" MARI handed BASIL a candy as well.

Yeah... things have changed. But also, they didn’t ?

It was odd.

"Everything still looks exactly the same, though..." BASIL expressed. "So much changed yet it looks like nothing even did... the loop went on even without the Dreamer, we continue to... exist, live, or whatever it is we do, and... we just simply lived peacefully for what I suppose would be... months, in reality ? It feels like a long time. And... we don’t do nothing, and nothing looks like it changed..."

"This world hasn’t changed in appearance, but the way it feels did. We do not sense the Dreamer’s presence anymore, and his absence makes this world a little dull. Am I... I am talking in a way that is understandable...?" Stranger worried.

The other two shook their heads. "Don’t worry" BASIL reassured.

"It’s true Omori seemed upset about things being boring to him lately. It could be because Sunny’s moved on... and doesn’t need this world or Omori anymore." MARI reminisced. "This didn’t please my brother, of course. I don’t need to explain how much he took his role seriously. I wonder what he’s up to now.."

Stranger was silent for a little, lost in thought. "Well, whatever it is, he... does not seem to be in Headspace."

The shadow’s voice expressed surprise. "It is harder to sense him without the Dreamer’s presence, but he usually can be felt no matter where he is. It’s disturbing. I’m used to tracking him, but now I can’t locate him."

BASIL shifted nervously. "But... if he’s not anywhere in Headspace, that would mean he would be in..."

The flower boy grimaced as he rubbed his own arm. MARI quickly took him into a hug, not needing the gray outlines to know he was distressed.

"Not necessarily. Even when he is walking through what’s under this world, I can tell where he is. It’s actually the place where I sense him best, due to the nature of my purpose. So I can assure you he isn't there."

"He’d have no reason to go there anymore too. Even less a reason to bring you back there." MARI stroked BASIL’s back, soothing. "There’s nothing to hide anymore, remember..?"

"I know, but..." BASIL burried his head into MARI’s shoulder. "But if he figured out I actually still knew, I don’t know what he’d..."

The turquoise haired child tightened his grip on the older girl. "A-And what if he figured out you knew, too ? Or that we’re letting Stranger hang out with us ? Or even that we know he exists ? I don’t want to be back there, but I don’t want you to be sent there either.."

She kept patting him, then grasped his shoulders to look at him in the eyes, comforting smile on her face. "Hey, BASIL. You know that as long as you don’t mention it explicitly, it’ll be just fine. And don’t worry about me. If there’s a thing Omori will never do, it’s hurt me. I’m sorry he did to you in the past, and I know him thinking you can’t remember what he did doesn’t make him less worrying to you if he were to figure you out, but I can tell that whatever happens now will be different."

BASIL sighed, trying to calm down.

I shouldn’t get worked up like this... I’m not even supposed to.

"I’m... tired of playing that role, sometimes..." He softly spoke, hesitantly admitting to it. "Tired pretending that... nothing happened, that this all..." he gestured with an arm to the whole playground, or metaphorically, their world. "...means anything anymore."

Stranger nodded, somewhat understanding. "This world has no purpose anymore. It is odd it even still exists."

MARI scoffed, patting BASIL’s head as he got out of the embrace. "I don’t need for it to have a point, and it doesn’t have to have one for it to matter. I’m not too keen on disappearing. Dying. Whatever would happen to us... people ? Things ? Whatever we are," she ended up saying, a bittersweet look in her eyes.

"But I get it, BASIL. It is tiring sometimes, but... what else can we do ?" She gently said. "Besides breaking from the script whenever Omori isn’t around, what can we do ? What could we do ?"

That’s the thing. I don't know.

"I don’t even want to leave the blanket anymore," he confessed. "But even if I’m scared, I... I don’t want to keep doing whatever it is we’re doing anymore. I mean, I love my friends, of course I do. I love going through the pictures, but... I’m not just that. I’m not just the friend you look through the memories with whenever you have a picnic and that’s it. I’m more than that, it’s..."

He sighed, looking at his hands. "It’s frustrating. And boring, too. I know Omori knows I’m so much more. But he doesn’t know I do know it. It’s frustrating. I love him, he’s my best friend, but... he’s done stuff, and keeps things in a way that isn't feeling right anymore now that I know what this all is."

He gave another circular gesture.

"I’m tired of doing nothing. But I’m scared of doing anything that he might not want me to do. We know how he reacts when something upsetting happens to him, and I don’t want to be cast aside just because I’m 'acting out' to him. I just-... I care about him, but it’s tricky when he only cares about keeping us how he wants us to be."

BASIL was tired of having to be gentle and happy and positive and only that, to only be the one on the picnic waiting for the friends to swing by.

He was tired of seeing MARI have the same fate, and knew she had been bound to the blanket for longer than he ever had. He couldn’t recall her ever wandering around the world, even now that he somehow got all of his memories back from all the previous resets.

"I don’t want to 'act out' in his eyes. He might... reset again, and I don’t want to go back there, or for the others to look for me again, it’s... Omori doesn’t have to hide the truth from Sunny anymore, but he still resets if I talk about it, like the last time, I talked about it. I went missing and Headspace got reseted."

"But... this time, it didn’t. It’s been two or three months without a reset. You didn’t talk about it, and it didn’t get reseted." MARI pointed out gently.

"But I would like to talk about it. With him, you, without having to do it when he’s not here. I’d like not to pretend to be a mindless puppet. But, if I did even ask him, he... would just reset again. Sunny’s not even a pretext anymore. I mean, he never was, but... Sunny doesn’t need to be a factor in his descision to start over the second something he doesn’t like happens."

The sole consolation was that MARI and him could talk about those secret memories and other secret aspects when they were alone, when a certain someone didn’t hear them going 'out of character'.

BASIL didn’t know Stranger very well, but he assumed in his place he wouldn’t be too content on having had tried countless times to make the Dreamer seek the truth, only to succeed and see that he was still around in a world that didn’t seem to have changed at all.

Well, consolation could be the Dreamer was moving on.

But us... we’ve just been cast aside just like that.

Oh, it made sense in a way. The Dreamer didn’t need them anymore. To him, this world was a dream.

And now that dream was controlled entirely by the Dreamer’s alter ego.

But them... they were still there. They were directly impacted by the consequences. The Dreamer being okay or so was a relief to all of them who knew, but... lately, BASIL wished he was seen as more than just... barely nothing, a thing to manipulate and change to one’s will.

He was someone too.

"It’s just that... since we don’t have to, well, since we’re not there to hide anything anymore, I just hoped Omori would let us break from the script, you know ? But he didn’t, and... I don’t know, I want to. I want to talk about so much things, with him too, but if he gets upset..." BASIL let the end of his sentence trail off.

"Honestly, I don’t think he even thought about it. Breaking from the usual... story there is we have to follow. He might not even realise we’re more than people he can bend to his will" Stranger assumed.

"Not to mention we’re the ones that are the most sentient about all of it" MARI reminded her friend. "AUBREY, KEL and.. even HERO might not even know at all." Mari looked pained there for a second.

BASIL understood. Their friends could be so much more. But they weren’t. They were mere puppets that followed Omori because he wanted them to. They could barely think for themselves.

"They’ve been toast since the last reset, any potential memory of before is long lost. Finding them would perhaps be possible, but complicated. We might ourselves -you and me, BASIL, Stranger’s another case- have lost memories. You could have been toasted in a reset at some point."

"Well... I don’t remember it happening.."

Stranger couldn’t help but snort. "That’s... kind of the point, flower boy.."

Yeah... he’s right.

"But I know for a fact I didn’t get toast in that reset. I also remember the one before too.."

"I remember a lot more" MARI said, with a sad frown. "Omori must’ve been really careful about you during the boss rushes he did."

BASIL shrugged. "Yeah..."

Omori was an odd person. He could go from preserving his friend with all his might in combat, spend days and days searching for him, to end up brutally killing him for knowing something he shouldn’t with no chance nor time to say he wouldn’t tell anyone.

So loving yet so cruel. Simple yet complicated.

"Though I mostly remember... that place, than the previous resets..." the young photographer reminised, uncomfortable. "But besides all of that, I... wonder where he is. It’s been quite a while we saw him, at any picnics... he might show up anytime though, right ?"

Stranger shrugged. "Like I said, he seems to be out of reach. Not in this world, or worlds, that would be a more accurate thing to say. He’s... away"

The shadow still seemed confused about this. "It’s like he disappeared."

"Is he okay, though...?" MARI worried.

"I cannot know that. But, if there’s one thing he has shown, it’s that he’s the most stubborn entity here. He will not succumb no matter what."

"What about the others...?" BASIL added in concern.

"I never could sense them, it doesn’t change now. Sorry, flower boy, I do not know."

"Hey, but if Omori’s with them, they’ll be fine !" MARI gave a reassuring smile. "What’s the worse that could happen ?"

"Yeah... you’re right. I should probably stop worrying. He wouldn’t hurt them."

He wouldn’t hurt them, no.

"I-I mean, he wouldn’t let them get hurt !" He rectified himself upon seeing both of his companion’s gazes. "I spoke too fast, haha..."

MARI frowned a little. "No, don’t apologies, BASIL. You kind of have a reason to be... worried at times."

"No, it’s..." he sighed. "I don’t want to be afraid of him, y’know ? I know he did what he did because he thought it’d be the only thing to do, but... I wished it was enough. He’s my friend, I know he cares, but I wish it wasn’t conditional like he’d feel like he had to get rid of me the moment I diverge from his vision of me and how much I should know."

"Hopefully, it’ll change. There might be a possibility for him to grow and change. Anything is possible in Headspace, right ?" MARI cheered him up.

"We can’t really age, you know ?" Stranger pointed out. "And technically, we’re four years old, not 12 or 15."

"Ah, if you think like this, we’ll just begin breaking our brains. Yes, technically we have been existing for four years, but physically we’re 12 and 15. Mentally, it could even be another story."

"Omori has been created with the Dreamer’s mindset of what he thought would be perfect when he was 12, and extremely unwell. Sunny grew out of that, but I fear Omori might be unable to. It is the core of who -or even what- he is."

"Oh, what bad can a little bit of hope do ?" MARI went to poke Stranger, but her hand went through him.

Despite her cheerful expression, BASIL couldn’t but feel slightly bad for her. Omori was her brother, and just as he loved his best friend, she loved him. But their relationship with the monocrome entity was complicated, as the child detained all the power in their world and could wipe them out the second he found them to be 'broken'. If he wasn’t capable of change, their existence would progressively get worse as time went by, sentenced to an eternity of being static and hiding their sentience.

Stranger looked amused, seemed to put on a smug smile. "Yeah, that wouldn’t work, piano girl."

"Not a piano girl, burnt BASIL. See, I can do nicknames too." She returned the smug expression.

"Rude."

"Of course, of course, I’m soooo cruel. I’m the cruel MARI, tormenting others with poor nicknames. What’s up with calling everyone by nicknames, by the way ? You can just call me MARI, y’know."

"You’re not wrong," Stranger admitted. "Though it seems like I was made to be mysterious at times."

"Are you trying to be funny ?" MARI was attempting to hold a laugh.

He does seem serious, BASIL thought, but didn’t say. I didn’t even know Stranger could look embarassed...

"I wasn’t ? My... purpose was to give clues about the truth, never explicitly. I am used to using nicknames to never refer clearly to anything." The shadowy boy almost seemed lost.

"Stranger, misterious and cryptic clue giver, leader to the truth" MARI motioned to said child as if she presented him on a stage, taking a funny voice. "Behold his enigmatic words, for he is the wisest of them all !"

Stranger’s cheeks probably would’ve flushed from embarrassement if the shadow surrounding him wasn’t so dense.

"I am not the wisest ! That would be someone else, even though she was stripped from her- are you making fun of me ?"

"Kind of," MARI confessed. "You do find inaccurate nicknames sometimes. I can’t even play piano, I’ve never even seen one, if you don’t count my original self’s memories she allowed me to go through. You know alot, but not everything, burnt flower boy."

BASIL was trying to refrain laughing, for Stranger’s sake.

"You’re unfair ! It’s not my fault I’m this way- I see you trying not to laugh !"

That was the last straw and BASIL burst out giggling. "Sorry, it’s just... 'burnt' me, I can’t unsee it, I-"

Stranger probably pouted. "Your brains are cursed to imagine such things..."

"Hey, saying that while we were made inside the mind of a traumatised kid kind of justifies our weird thought processes," MARI pointed out.

"Tsk" Stranger scoffed. "I cannot deny it."

" 'Course you can’t" MARI laughed.

Stranger mimicked her. "Nyeh nyeh nyeh..."

That just made the girl’s hilarity increase. "Oh so you are a child too ! Fragile ego, eh ?"

"And I thought the black space folks were getting on my nerves..." he mumbled, letting his head fall in his knees. "At least they respect me..."

"Oh, it’s just teasing, Stranger," BASIL told him. "She’s not serious, of course she does respect you, don’t worry."

"Doesn’t anybody ever tease you back where you spend your time ? Or are they too scared of the burnt cryptic mysterious flower boy’s wrath ?" MARI went to bump his shoulder, but stopped when she remembered she couldn’t. Then ended up doing as if she could.

"Well, they don’t fear me, but there there’s not really any teasting in Black Space. More like, endless torment and agony."

He fell silent, before adding "also, I have something that can serve as a weapon if I want, therefore I suppose you could say they would 'fear my wrath', as you said. Though I’ve never fought any of them."

"Something ? Something as in Something Something or just something ?" BASIL asked.

"Wow, that’s a lot of somethings in one sentence" MARI slipped in.

"Yes," Stranger sighed, "Something as in Something Something."

"My brain just exploded. Just saying. That’s even worse than the cryptic mysterious nicknames" MARI then added.

"That... thing can serve as a weapon ?" BASIL never thought it could, not to mention he assumed it couldn’t even be controlled.

"It can" the shadow confirmed. "I assume you wouldn’t be too keen on a demonstration ?"

"Nothankyou" the photographer blurted out.

He’d rather never be exposed to Something ever again, if he could avoid it. Even if it was in an instance where Something was under control.

He earned a scoff from Stranger. "I assumed."

"I’d be interested" MARI raised her hand, genuine.

Arghh... MARI why-

BASIL looked around, searching for anything that would make the attention go on another subject. He found one, or, more exactly, it found him.

"Oh would you look at that ! A distraction !"

"BASIL it’ll be fine, I’m sure Stranger will be careful !"

"No, literally, there’s a... hand ?"

BASIL’s gaze followed carefully the red hand that was now hovering around them. I don’t... trust these things much.

He entertwined his fingers together, keeping his own hands close to him, eyes on the crimson one. He felt uneasy and afraid a little, grey outline poking out again.

Please don’t mean that he knows something’s going on- please don’t mean he’s coming for us- breathe, breathe. MARI’s here, it’s okay, you’re safe. Yeah, you’re safe.

"Well, that’s Omori’s" Stranger bluntly said. "Hey, hey. Stop. Go away." He pried the hand away when it hovered around him and surprisingly managed to pull a bit of his hair. "He’s... still not there, though. I still can’t locate him."

If the hand was able to hear it, it seemed to react to that. It flew in circles around BASIL and MARI, then pointed towards the exit of the playground.

"I think it wants us to follow it ?" MARI tried to guess.

The hand gave a thumb up, and BASIL would have found it comical if he didn’t remember his previous encounters with flying hands.

"That’s a yes," he pushed through gritted teeth, everything but eager to go after the detached floating limb.

Yeah, but I suppose we don’t have the choice, eh ? Well. Just gotta keep my fingers this time. On the bright side, one can’t do much harm, can it ? ...I could defend myself. Still got my shears.

He reluctantly got to his feet, sighing. MARI did the same thing, quickly feeling her knee, then looking at Stranger.

"You’re not coming ?"

"No, I do not think he would want me to" he pointed out, probably grimacing according to his tone and the slight frowning perceptible.

Good point-..

"Well, I guess we’re going. See you around, Stranger, okay ?" BASIL waved goodbye, slightly moving sideways to distance himself from the hand that had come closer to him, almost looking curious about his flower crown. "Hey, uh, no, go away, you... pshht. Pshht."

The Shadow waved back, and BASIL took the lead, MARI behind him. He heard her tell Stranger he could take all the candy he wanted before they took off.

Well, there goes... whatever this is, he thought, lump in his stomach. Hopefully this didn’t lead to anything upsetting.

But hey ! Bright side : he was out of the picnic blanket, and Omori, judging by the presence of the red hand, agreed and even wanted him to do so.

And somehow wanted MARI to leave the blanket as well.

As soon as he was thinking this, as if she read his thoughts, she spoke.

"It’s odd to leave the blanket after all this time.." She took BASIL’s hand as he offered help when they went up the stairs to exit the area, following the hand seemingly to the space in between.

We might go to the stump, because I doubt Omori would make MARI walk to the castle, the well or climb that latter to Otherworld. There’s Pluto’s spaceline for this, BASIL brainstormed.

Oh, but right, Omori’s sister had talked.

"Yeah, I... I suppose it would be. I remember doing so myself, so it isn’t too weird. Feels good finally walking, though."

There was a small silence as MARI got to the top of the stairs. She looked behind her, softly scoffing.

"And that’s something I hadn’t done in a while.."

"What, walking ?"

"Ah, no. I actually walked around two resets ago, I led Omori to the deep well, you know, at the part where KEL, AUBREY, HERO and all the kids got hired by Jawsum."

"Oh, yeah... that’s the part where they forgot about me shortly after, right..?"

MARI patted his back. "It is. But don’t worry. They found you, eh ? You’re here now, not going anywhere."

It was true. But to know your friends forgot your existed, countless times before, wasn’t a particularly pleasant thought. Even with those two months or so after MARI told him what the plot was up in Headspace when he was sent to Black Space, he still felt hurt to know it.
But hey ! As she said, it wouldn’t happen again. It wouldn’t, there was no reason for it to.

"So, uh... what haven’t you done in a while, then ?" He cleared his throat, wanting to change the subject.

"Oh, gone up the stairs" She said, pointing at them. "I mean, other me has beef with them, and I’m sure Omori is convinced stairs have beef with me too."

Basil almost froze.

"You did not just found it funny- you did."

She gave a small laugh. "Hey, it’s better to laugh about it than cry. Bright side, I can’t actually die from it here, too."

"I’m not sure Omori would find that funny..." BASIL couldn’t help but let out, seeing the red hand tugging her shirt towards the stump, as if impatient. He hoped Omori couldn’t hear them thanks to the hand, because if he could, then they were already toast.

"Oh, he probably wouldn’t. But hey, jokes around here are pretty bad anyways, just take a look at that joke book. Neither of us have a good humor, so what’s another bad joke ?"

"I kinda liked the construction joke, though... it was the less bad"

"Oh, the one that goes like 'I’m still working on it' ?"

"Yup !"

"Oh yeah ! Apparently it was, Weeping Willow liked that one. She gave HERO that... weird sword."

"I still don’t understand how it’s supposed to wooO- OKAY-"

The red hand lost patience and grabbed BASIL by the shirt, pulling him forward.

"Yes, yes, we’re- I’ll walk ! Just- get off me, ah-"

The hand reluctantly let go, not before poking his forhead in annoyance.

How do I even sense this thing’s emotions ? Wait, does it even have emotions ??

A question for another day.

They both followed the hand in silence, going into the stump, not needing to express how they both had not been in the Neighbour’s Room for a while.

BASIL looked at the Big Yellow Cat, whose eyes followed him and his older friend as it always did.

His eyes narrowed across the room and landed on a door that had never been opened before. His memories might be foggy but they didn’t lie : that door had remained closed before.

"Huh ! Well that’s new" MARI commented, shortly stopping, a hand on her hip. "So should we..."

The hand flew right in the room.

"Well, that gives us the answer, I suppose."

Yup. I does indeed, BASIL thought, still working on shaking the last bits of anxiety. Thankfully he felt better, and curiosity was raising inside him, overtaking the nervousness.

He stepped into the white void and kneeled on the rug, rubbing his hand against it.

"It’s soft !"

MARI mirrored him. "It is," she sounded almost admirative of it. "Well that’s some quilt I’d gladly take out to the picnic, if that means having Omori over more. Bet that would make him talk to us."

Ah, talk ? I’m not that sure, but maybe... hey, I guess we can’t know without trying, eh ?

Would it be funny for Omori ? Taking his blanket could be a prank, right ? KEL would probably do such a thing if he thought the quilt was why Omori spent so much time here. Thanks to MARI’s knowledge about the nature of the room -knowledge obtained thanks to her other self’s spirit when she was around, apparently-, her and the flower boy weren’t too startled by the void.

"I knew it would be empty, but I guess that was something I didn’t assume would be to that extent," the girl admitted nonetheless.

"Well, there’s not much to do around here," BASIL said as he stroke the cat’s fur. It looked at him, surprised to see colors other than black and white. Though the surprise only lasted for a few seconds, and it went back to purring, eyes closed. "Your other... well, she didn’t tell you this ? How empty it was ?"

"Well, she did share her feelings about the place, but it’s different when you see it with your own eyes. And, I don’t really have the same references as she does, about what is supposed to feel normal, cause we’re not exactly- okay, I’m just going to put that down" MARI closed a sketchbook she had been going through.

"I wonder how it feels to be able to talk with the.... y’know, person from who we were based on and all. You’re the only one to get to interact with her."

He was a tiny bit envious. MARI could get glimpses of a whole other world, another dimension to them. Meeting another version of you sounded like a fun adventure. He wished he could suggest to Omori to create a plot with something like that, give any ideas to extend Headspace. Sadly it wasn’t possible.

"It’s true I enjoyed the company. I remember when I started to piece the truth together, I was very lost, but she kind of always was around, and at some point she engaged with me and explained the details I missed. It’s great to have her around and gossip about our worlds, but most of our conversations aren’t usually always fun" the girl had a blue outline flickering briefly. "I wished things would’ve gone differently for them. She’s mostly sad. She misses her friends a lot."

BASIL nodded. "Yeah, it would make sense.."

He got up again, seeing the hand motion to a string dangling from... a hole very far up in the ceiling ?

"I do wonder how my... other me ? is doing. How his world is. What kind of plants he has. Does he even like plants ? He would, right ? I wouldn’t like them if he didn’t..."

"I can ask other me the next time she shows up, if you want" Omori’s sister offered.

He nodded, thanking her. Then, he reported his attention on the floating limb, trying to piece up its request.

"Uh... I don’t know if it’s what it wants, but... I think it wants us to... climb the.. that ?"

He got on the tip of his toes and grabbed the string.

Well this is going to be easy, he sarcastically thought. He sure was thankful for the infinite stamina.

MARI helped him up, and once he’d secured his grip, he began his ascension very slowly. He looked down to see his friend get help from the red hand that acted as a step. Just as he was about to continue climbing, he heard a grunt, followed by a surprised yelp and a thud.

Panic floded his chest and he let himself slid down, landing next to MARI.

She’s fine, she’s fine, she can’t die, remember, but she fell, what if she-

"Okay," She pushed air out, blinking as she painfully sat, rubbing her back as she could, getting her arm in a weird position to acheive that movement. "Well my knee did not agree to that."

Ouch. That would be an issue. If they couldn’t go up, seemingly to wherever Omori was, it’d be a problem.

"Do you think you’ll be able to climb up ?" He asked, trying to even his shaky voice. Everything’s okay, she’s fine.

"Well, definitly not like this," she grimaced. "My back hurts, now."

"We should get back to the picnic, get you some snacks." BASIL suggested, helping her up. "We never know, you might’ve lost a few HP.."

The red hand did not seem to like that, expressing its disagreement by shaking its finger and pointing at the string, insisting.

She soflty scoffed "BASIL... I didn’t even fall from that high. Plus I don’t think falling from high places actually hurts you in any way."

BASIL glared at her, the irony making him hesitate between laughing or sighing. "Uh... actually, you of all people saying this..."

She realised what she said, and seemingly it was funny to her, since she burst out laughing. Once her little hilarity passed, she assured her friend she was fine.

"Really, I’d be reassure if you at least took this," he handed her a bunch of tofu from his inventory.

She looked at him with a small smile. "I won’t deny it, but I swear, I’m fine."

She ate a square in front of him, giving a thumbs up. "Even more fine now. Thanks, bud."

MARI patted his head, and they went out of the room, trying to ignore the hand flying around angrily as they exited the stump.

"Okay, so now, we have to figure out a way to go up without having to climb..." she told him, which in response to he nodded.

"Yeah, but we can’t just fly up there..."

"Hmm..."

MARI tapped her chin with one finger, lost in thought, trying to find ideas.

She suddenly perked up, snapping her finger, pointing at BASIL. "Hey ! Actually I think we can !"

"Huh what"

Last time BASIL check, neither of them had a skill allowing them to fly.

MARI took the lead, heading East of the stump. BASIL tagged along, a bit confused. That was until he saw the spaceline’s station.

Oh... that makes sense.
... wait no, it didn’t ! How would Pluto fly them through White Space ?! He couldn’t go there !

"Uh, MARI...? Pluto never... I mean he can’t go in White Space, he’d probably bash the door and the ceiling !"

MARI called for Pluto and turned to face her friends, grining. "The ceiling already looked broken, what’s more ? Plus, Pluto will only fly us up there, as an elevator."

"I never want to step foot in one of those-"

"Okay, uh... like, he’ll fly us up there and we’ll go out ourselves. Like if... the ground raised to the top."

"Okay, okay, but... that leaves the door. And how is he going to go through the stump- ?"

He thought MARI’s smile would fade, but it got mischievous and wider.

Okay now I am scared

"Hey, Omori wants us to go up. He’ll sure understand... and anyways, I’m sure the stump will be repearable. Pluto might only lift it."

"Uh... what about the door to White Space ?"

"Well that will give Omori more reasons to socialise" she waved her hand dismissively. "Oh, here’s Pluto."

She greeted him, and after a bit of explaining and negotiating, she managed to get the planet to follow them. While they walked, Stranger caught sight of them and joined the party.

"You’re still there...?"

"Yeah, Omori apparently expected us to climb on a string in White Space. Since he didn’t ever heal my knee, he’ll have to deal with... collateral damage to his proprety."

"The string of the lightbulb ?"

"I suppose it was that" She shrugged. BASIL wasn’t quite understanding all of the things she said or refered to concerning the true nature of the place, but he was sure she’d end up explaining to him. "So, Pluto here will help us up. Adding a knew destination is only good for buisness, right ?"

Pluto confirmed, and Stranger almost tripped.

"You are going to put a station in White Space ?!"

"Why not ? It could be easier to get him out if Pluto can go through" She once again smirked. Stranger was in total disbelief.

"He is going to be very mad" The shadow warned her. Then he burst into laugher, demeanour changing radically. "This is absolutely hilarious-"

BASIL didn’t find exaclty what was, but both his companions seemed to get a good laugh out of the idea/plan, and judging by their exchanges of looks they took it as a prank to the black and white boy.

I suppose it would be like putting a station in my house, or next to it... it would look weird, but would I like that...? He wondered.

Actually, he wouldn’t mind. If he could leave the blanket and go to his house, or just around Headspace generally, having a way straight to his home if he was tired sounded like a good plan. But he was sure Omori would be... angry ?

The flower boy glanced at the planet that, like he supposed it would, lifted the stump to fit in the entrance without absolutely blowing it up. He went after MARI, Stranger on his trail, still weezing about the idea of bashing Omori’s door and setting a station in the boy’s private space.

Strangely, BASIL could only figure his friend would be confused about such a thing happening. Which was odd since he had never seen him emote anything other than the combat emotions during fights. But Omori was used to controlling everything, and if he saw a non truth related change, maybe he wouldn’t be upset, but just... weirded out ?

Now that was something BASIL would want to see, and he didn’t know why. Maybe if Omori saw they could use their awareness in other ways than push the truth to be acknowledged, he’d let them a little bit of freedom ?

He felt a twinge of hope. That would be a good thing.

Well, hoping Omori didn’t get mad at the destruction of his room’s door, and the the incorporation of a station in the middle of said room.

Maybe he should warn MARI and Pluto about it before they-

CRASH.

"GWHAHAHA !"

Aaand it’s too late to go back-

A Pluto-shaped hole now replaced the door. Mewo looked utterly confused as the weird group of four -a teenage girl, two twelve years old based off the same person, and a planet- stepped in, and went behind the laptop. Pluto followed MARI’s directions, and glanced up at the empty string.

"So that’s place you want to go to ?"

MARI nodded, thumbs up. The red hand also gave a thumbs up, which looked weird because now MARI looked like she had three limbs. Thankfully, the hand quickly went back to insistantly pointing at the far away gap in the roof.

"Yup. We just need a lift, and then you can put a station there for when we’ll want to go back."

"Well, little girl, it’ll take a bit of work to put a station here, I might need to ask some of the construction folks back in Orange Oasis, but it should be done. Hopefully I’ll have more clients afterwards !"

"Hey, that’s actually a good idea !" MARI smiled. "I bet you’d get more money if my brother and his friends weren’t the only clients you had."

"More money ? They don’t pay me !"

MARI mimicked being shoked. "Well, they should pay you ! You’re the one who works, Pluto."

The planet seemed to take the words into account, and BASIL seriously thought MARI was trying to purposefully get on Omori’s nerves.

"Uh... why are you doing that- Omori will not be pleased at all-" He warned her, or at least tried to warm her.

"Oh," Stranger joined in, "I’m sure he has enough clams. It’s not like he gains any everytime he fights someone or something. Plus, I believe it’s time for Headspace to change. If he ever decided to blame anyone, well, he wasn’t there to say no, so... if he decides to go away, he shouldn’t expect nothing to change"

"Uh- actually, this is kinda how this world works- only changing if he wants it to ?"

"Eh," Stranger let out. "That has been going on for so long it is boring. He would get it : piano gi-... MARI, said he was bored. We are too, so therefore, he shall understand."

"What if he doesn’t ?"

"Oh, he will. He’s not dumb. That will just be a way for him to grow a little. Things aren’t always in his control, and learning this might make him grow." MARI shrugged. "Now, let’s do this, alright ? Pluto, I’m your new customer ! Take those 50 clams ! I’d like to go up, please !"

"I actually like you a lot. I’ll think about remaking my business. Thanks for the ideas ! Is everyone strapped in ?"

MARI climbed up on the planet’s... head ? While BASIL hung on to his arm. Stranger looked at them.

"What ?" He ended up saying. "He’s waiting on you. Go ! I’ll just wait there. I’ll use his absence to, I guess, go around without having to hide or look for a certain Dreamer. I am not denying it sounds like vacations, finally... after 4 years... wooh, seemed like more.."

MARI looked at him, nodding. "Okay. But let’s just say this, alright ? If you wanna come, through the station or if you feel like climbing the string to whever this -she motioned to the ceiling- is, do it. I think it’s about time we use our independence. Omori’s old enough to understand. I’m sure he wants change, and I’ll try to talk some sense into him. Things are about to change around here, wooh !"

Stranger shrugged. "If you say so. Farewell, pian- MARI. See you, other me !"

"Are you all strapped in, then ?" Pluto repeated.

"We are, captain !" MARI confirmed, raising a fist, eager to fly for the first time."Let’s gooOOO-"

That’s how her and BASIL learned how fast Pluto could actually fly when he was taking people places.

Maybe KEL wasn’t exagerating about the "hanging for dear life" part- BASIL realised, grip as tight as he could make it around the arm.

A few seconds later, they found themselves going out of a piano. If Stranger was there, he’d probably say something along the lines of "well now you saw a piano, piano girl".

"Hey ! That’s my brother !" MARI pointed at the instrument and that was when BASIL thought she had definitely lost it, her braincells having flew off during the ride.

Or maybe not. The piano was quite literally named after their friend.

The red hand happily flew around them, pointing at the door, motioning them to get out and find their little god.

Chapter Text

It’s not everyday you meet your dream alter-ego that tried to get you to off yourself as a way to help with the pain a few months ago; and of course Sunny acted like anyone would in those peculiar circumstances : he was absolutely and utterly freaking out.

Omori, on the other hand, seemed perfectly calm about the whole situation. That wasn’t new, the boy wasn’t ever phased by anything. And of course he was back to ruin Sunny’s life, again.

I just can’t live in peace, can I...?

Of course he didn’t. He didn’t even deserve to live at all. He should be dead, and Omori was probably there ro remind him of that fact. That was probably what the monocrome kid thought as he stared into Sunny’s mind he knew all too well with his souless dead eyes.

Sunny would’ve said anything to get Omori to go away, but his voice had died and was unusable right now, locked away deep in his throat, seeled with that massive lump threatening to not only cut out his ability to talk but also his ability to breathe. And he also knew Omori would not take 'no' for an answer.

Damn it.

He knew Omori wouldn’t succumb. But he had at least thought -hoped- he’d get a longer rest before he had a huge fight for his life once again. How would that even play out if it took place in the real world ?!

Sunny stared at Omori.

Come on. It wasn’t fair. Not that he deserved fair, but he had done a pretty good job at keeping certain toughts away as he spent his days drawing mostly happy things -the happy and peaceful sequences of Headspace to slowly sever the ties with it, that was what he told himself he was doing- as he coped the best he could.

Omori stared at Sunny.

Why now ? Why now when he was with his friends again ? The timing was the worst ! Did Omori enjoy ruining his life this much ?

Sunny stared at Omori.

Hey but wait... Omori wasn’t supposed to enjoy anything ! He didn’t even have any intent but to sheild memories away, he wouldn’t plot against him !

Omori stared at Sunny.

Well, it was hard to think rationally because Omori had literally clawed his way out from the depths of his mind and come torment him in the real world. And he didn’t have the decency to 'just' be a hallucination, which would’ve already been a lot to handle, no. He HAD to get real. Of course he HAD to.

Sunny stared at Omori.

And he brought his little squad with him too, of course. Of COURSE.

Omori stared at Sunny.

If that wasn’t plotting against Sunny’s recovery, what else in the world was it ?! It’s not like Omori would come all the way there to play with him !

Sunny stared at Omori.

Did Omori want a rematch ? Was that it ? Sunny couldn’t get his violin in the real world, and Omori wanted to throw hands with him again because he knew Sunny didn’t have his... 'weapon' anymore ? He wanted to have the advantage now that Sunny couldn’t play his part of the recital at all -he couldn’t without the violin, and even if he had it it’d be broken, not to mention he hadn’t practiced for four years a music he never succeeded to play perfectly ever- ?

Omori stared at Sunny.

Omori wasn’t supposed to want anything ! He wasn’t supposed to resurface in Sunny’s life to try and make him give up ! Hell, he was not supposed to be real, but here he was ! Did that mean he’d attack Sunny at any given moment ?

Sunny stared at Omori.

He was anxious. So anxious. He tensed up. If the child took out his knife and stabbed him, he’d actually get hurt. And he didn’t have a metaphorical mental weapon to smack that kid in the face with to make real as Omori could make himself real. How could Sunny get rid of his creation ?!

Omori stared at Sunny.

How could you deleted something that regenerated itself endlessly ? Was that backfire for when he had decided to create Omori with the ability to not succumb because he wanted an immortal alter-ego to use ? Was he screwed because he wanted to be an immortal video game character ?

Sunny stared at Omori.

Come on ! Sunny knew he was childish ! Okay ! He’d admit it ! But he didn’t need one of his worst mistakes to be literally shoved in his face IN FRONT OF ALL HIS FRIENDS-

Omori stared at Sunny.

HIS FRIENDS ! How would he explain it to his friends ?! "Hey so meet your versions of you I made up to live with in a magical world where nothing was wrong when you all suffered because of my actions ! Versions of you I altered to fit my desires of what I wanted you to be like ! Also here’s the alter ego I made up for myself, he’s so nice, he allowed me to escape and forget all the agony I caused you, and he almost helped me end my own life ! Isn’t he so cute ?"

Sunny stared at Omori.

He could take Omori if the latest didn’t pull out his knife in time, right ? A punch in the face, and done, right ?

Omori stared at Sunny.

NO, HE COULD NOT. His worldbuilding came, once again, to bite him in the ass. If Sunny functioned by Headspace’s rules, he’d be level 1. The. Lowest. Level.
Omori was level 50 when he last used his body to level up. The highest level. Not to mention the plot armor he gifted his counterpart with. Good idea, me. VERY VERY good idea even.
Ah. How ironic. He couldn’t stop crafting his own demise, could he ?

Sunny stared at Omori.

Maybe if he snooped around his old house, he’d find the violin ? If would be in shreds, but in Headspace, the more used things were, the more damage they did, right ? It worked this way with Omori’s knives.

Omori stared at Sunny.

They weren’t in Headspace, though. So maybe... yes ! That would be perfect ! If they were in the real world, Omori might play by real world rules now, right ? He was just a kid ! Nothing to be afraid of ! Even an out-of-shape hikikomori as Sunny could take him in a fight, right ?

Sunny stared at Omori.

Okay, but how to start the fight ? And what to do if he ended up being wrong ? Omori could be hiding a knife in his pocket. If he pulled it out, Sunny might just do game over. For good this time. At the hands of Omori. So, himself. Hey ! He settled to not kill himself ! That would not happen, he decided. Omori killing Sunny would just by extension be Sunny doing it himself, since Omori wasn’t a person nor actually had a will. So Sunny would not be killed by Omori.

Omori stared at Sunny.

Okay. Okay. But that didn’t answer : how to deliver the first -and preferably, but Sunny didn’t get his hopes up, final- blow ? Would Omori finally succumb in the real world ? Would he just be knocked out or would he die ? If he did die, would he... disappear ?

Sunny stared at Omori.

Hey ! But that just brought a mountain of other issues ! If he attacked Omori, the others -his friends and his living delusions- wouldn’t know why he did ! To them it wasn’t normal, it would be like when he attacked Aubrey with that knife in the summer out of the habit in his dreams. They might misunderstand Sunny’s self defense as unsolicited attack !

Omori stared at Sunny.

Omori was a threat to Sunny just by existing. He existed too much right now, to the point he had gotten real. This entity wasn’t a child, it was a feral menace with unhinged behaviours that would not accept any authority ever under the belief it was an all powerful god with every right in the world.
Wait, so Omori was a child then. What were child but feral mena- and that child had a knife.

Sunny stared at Omori.

This child had a knife, probably. Very probably. Very very probably. It was as probable as Kel and KEL deciding to do a match over which would drink the most Orange Joe until they... passed out ? Exploded ?
Whatever.

Omori stared at Sunny.

Wait, but they were staring at each other for a while now. What was it about ? Did Omori not want to attack Sunny ? Then why was he staring like this ? When would he strike ? When Sunny wouldn’t expect him to ?

Sunny stared at Omori.

Oh. OH. So that was what Omori was doing. He was waiting for a moment of inattention. That was it. That was what he wanted.

Omori stared at Sunny.

If Omori wanted a staring contest, he’d get a staring contest. Sunny was good at staring endlessly into someone or something or nothing’s eyes. Staring contest ? It was on. Winner would get to annihilate the other’s existence. Yep. Sunny could manage.

So both of them stared at each other, one waiting for the other to give up when he knew the other physically would never give up, and the other stared and what he waited for was as obscure as his gaze.

After all, neither would know what the other wanted of they didn’t communicate.

And Sunny would not try to argue with something he created and that should normally follow his will. But since Omori was stuborn and wouldn’t give up, well neither would Sunny.

AH. What do you have to say about that, Omori, huh ?! Nothing I bet ! Huh ? Because you never say anything !

So they stared and stared. In absolute silence.

That silence ended up being audible. All the others, as confused as they were about seeing their respective counterpart, were growing more intrigued by the duel unfolding in front of them. Both of the quiet boys were silent, and even for them, it was odd they kept the no-speaking act in a situation as shaking as this. Both the Headspace kids and the Faraway teens -plus Polly- eyed the original and the copy.

"Stop" Sunny let out, voice cracking, finally daring to attempt ordering his rogue puppet around.

Wether or not Omori understood Sunny meant for him to stop existing or just assumed he wanted him to stop staring at him didn’t matter since Omori did none of the two.

He could’ve been expected to reply with a "no I won’t" impertinent tone of voice or a defiant look, but he stayed silent and blank staring.

A few moments passed by, and all this not-doing-anything annoyed both of the Kel’s enough that they said in the same time "what’s with them ? Are they gonna keep this up lo- HEY WE’RE SAYING THE SAME STUFF AT THE SAME-"

The sudden yelling made the two 'fighters' jolt in surprise and break their eye contact. One yelling Kel was loud. Two yelling Kels were even louder. They both looked at their respective Kel, Sunny with a surprised expression and his hands hovering near his ears in case they would yell again and Omori with a neutral expression and his hands hovering near his ears in case they would yell again.

"Hey, they stopped..." AUBREY stated, unsure of how to qualify it.

"...whatever that is they were doing" Aubrey finished, gaze going back at her purple younger self, then at Sunny. "Hey, uh, what was all that staring about ? Were you that shocked about... that, that you couldn’t like, move ?"

"Well, who wouldn’t be ? It’s not everyday you meet another... you," HERO said awkwardly, probably wondering if he could actually talk to an Aubrey older than him and more scarier than he probably assumed AUBREY would turn out to be.

Wait, but to them it must be more than weird ! They never grow up, so the mere thought might be...

Well, it was 'more than weird' to the Faraway teens too. Like his delusion of Hero said, 'it’s not everyday you meet another you', older or younger, and it didn’t matter if you were familiar with the concept of getting older, or even the concept of time.

"Like he said," Aubrey nervously gestured to HERO. "Though I kinda expected more... I dunno, more reaction from you, Sunny ?"

"Who’s Sunny ?" AUBREY asked, looking at Omori and then at Aubrey, then back at Omori and so on.

Kel pointed at the eyepatch boy "Him !"

"Older Omori’s name is Sunny ? But why ?" KEL frowned.

"Why is younger Sunny’s name a piano brand...?" Hero wondered, lost. He looked more nervous as he got a glare from Omori. "Uhh... it’s not an insult ? Why is he... looking at me like that ?"

Yeah. Now you get why I wasn’t keeping my eyes off him. I bet you feel threatened...

"What do you mean ? He... looks at everyone like that ?" HERO glanced at Omori then at Hero.

"Like he’s constantly angry at you ?"

"Oh no, he’s definitely not angry, where do you get that ? Hey, is older HERO blind or somethin’...?" KEL whispered the last bit to AUBREY.

"He’d be all red if he was angry, though he only usually gets angry in fights, so he’s definitely not mad here." AUBREY informed Hero, shrugging.

"Is he... that expressive ? I don’t recall Sunny turning red when he was angry as a child..."

"Omori isn’t me" Sunny blurted out, mumbling and looking away.

Sunny didn’t know if he should feel frustrated at Omori for giving a thumbs up in confirmation because they finally agreed on something for once since a few month ago, or if he should feel, on the opposite, glad that they finally found a middle ground. Sunny knew he wasn’t Omori and didn’t want to 'be' him anymore at all, but the thought of his alter-ego having any individuality bugged him.

"But... he’s literally the spiting image of you as a child ! ...except he’s in black and white..." Kel detailed the two, eyes going left and right. "He may not have the exact same colors as you but other than that you both are the same person ?"

Sunny shook his head, and so did Omori. The first looked at the latest, frowning. He got the same neutral gaze and this time, almost felt like the monocrome kid meant "what ?".

"Stop" He said again, looking away and crossing his arms.

"...okay, why do I feel like I missed a huge episode ?" Aubrey stepped forward. "What do you want him to stop ?"

Sunny tried answering, but he had so many things he wanted Omori to stop doing -staring, breathing, standing, looking around, existing- his words mixed up and died before they went through his lips. He gave up trying to formulate a coherent sentence and just gestured to Omori with both his hands as if he was the cause of all problems in the world.

Unfortunately, even if for Sunny it was obvious Omori was the issue, the eyepatch boy’s mannerisms didn’t help clarify what he wanted to express.

Omori, right here, is a problem. A problem. So are his friends. Omori’s dangerous, because I am too. But he’s a problem and I wish this was a nightmare and that I’d wake up right now-

Wait, maybe this was a dream ! That’s what it was !

Sunny felt a wave of relief wash over him. Of course this would only be a dream ! What was happening didn’t make sense ! How silly of him, he had forgotten dreams weren’t only lucid ones and could -and did most of the time- be utterly senseless. He had a lot of options on how to get rid of this dream ! So, by extension, getting rid of this Omori-related dream.

He walked around, not taking into account the confused glances from the whole living room’s population he got from his sudden change in demeanour.

Either he waited to wake up and watched how this dream unfolded, or he tried to control it. He was used to lucid dreaming, and now that he knew he was dreaming it’d be a piece of cake. Or, if he really wanted to wake up, he just had to grab a knife and, well, wake up.

He looked over his shoulder and decided he was way too uncomfortable with the looks he got in this dream to want to stay in it.

I might just wake up. I’m at Kel’s right now, and it’s no time to sleep in even if it’s the break. I can have a better time in the real world.

He went to the kitchen, others exchanging perplexed whispers and guesses about his behaviour.

So, knife drawer, knife drawer... where are they...

He opened a few, knocking his hand a few times due to misjudging the distance -cons of missing depth perception. Seems like this dream was so realistic it added his injury and its consequences.

Heh, my head does like to play tricks on me. Can I just find the knives and get this over with, please ?

Okay, there wasn’t any in the drawers. Maybe in the shelves ? But he was too short to reach them !

Ugh. He’d have to climb.

"Okay, uh, Sunny, what on earth are you doing exactly ? You’re acting hella weird" Aubrey tried to pull him away.

Should I explain to her ? It doesn’t matter, it’s a dream. Won’t have consequences.

"Where ?" He turned around to face Polly, confused by his request.

"Where... what ?"

"Knives" he went back to trying to get himself on the counter. Aubrey put her arms around him and pulled him away.

Hey ! No ! Stop !

He uselessly went limp in her arms, pouting. How is he going to wake up if he didn’t find any knives ?

"Nope. No. No knife for you. Why do you even want one ?!" His pink haired friend asked, still holding him as he tried to weight himself enough so that she let go off him.

Unfortunately he was light. Still too light. Argh. Pain.

"Sunny. Answer. You just stared at this kid you and then you ask for a knife like it’s the most normal thing ever- I bet they’re not even in there !"

A glance from her to Polly confirmed this by the caretaker giving a quick nod.

Oh, right, Basil. But this is a dream, so I will get a knife and wake up because I am getting seriously inconfortable and he keeps looking at me like he wants to do telepathy I-

His thoughts literally got shaken away as Aubrey shook him.

"Sunny ! Why. Did. You. Ask. For. A. Knife."

Might as well give her an answer if she won’t let go until I reply.

"To wake up" he simply stated, and tried to break free from her grasp.

"To wa- what the living hell, this is already confusing to have those doppelgangers here so I swear if they broke Sunny’s brain I-"

"What do you mean, 'wake up' ?" KEL asked, tilting his head.

"This is a dream" Sunny still struggled against Aubrey. "So I want to wake up. I won’t lose my time in Headspace or in my dreams while I’m at Kel’s, I have things to do."

Talking in dreams was easier. There was no consequence to what he’d say and when he’d wake up it would be as if he never uttered those words. So, technically, he wasn’t even speaking.

"Also, Omori, leave me alone, I won, you lost, go away and let me live, or else I will smack you with my violin until you succumb, I will not die, listen to me, do as I say, go away, I will not accept a rematch, I won, you did not, that’s it, it’s not my fault if you’re a sore loser, you lost, I didn’t, accept that and leave me alone and let me live my life, live yours if you can even call what you do living, also you’re not real and I am and I am out of breath so I will stop talking and you will go awa- wheeze"

Sunny sure did love being able to talk without this pressure in his chest and lump blocking his words. They felt light, and since this was a dream they would just fly away and never have any repercussions ever. It was just a dream and he could provoque Omori as much as he wanted because Omori wasn’t real and never would be, he was just a figment of his imagination and would never pose any threat to anyone in the real world.

He took a moment to catch his breath, and gladly noticed Aubrey had let him go, staring at him in complete incomprehension. "Okay, that was a lot of words and they did not make any sense" She let out, blinking.

Sunny ignored her and went back to his attempt at climbing. "Knife time"

"NO NOT KNIFE TIME."

And he was back at being restrained in his movement.

This dream was a huge annoyance. He just wanted to wake up and stop seeing Omori’s gaze on him. World was cruel. Was that payback for using dreams as an escape ? Now he was blocked in one with all the people he tried to run from in the past additioned to the things he ran from now ?

He grunted and went limp, eyes closed. I might as well wait this out then. It’s not real. Kel will probably wake me up soon. I hope.

His real and dream friends then tried to get him to open his eyes, bombarding him with questions. Did he know Omori ? How did he ? Why did he want to wake up ? Did he go to Headspace ? What was a Headspace ? Why did he seem mad at Omori ? Why did he want to smack Omori with a violin ? When did they fight and why ? How did he win against Omori ?

Keep your eyes closed, he told himself. Close them. Keep them closed. You’ll be there soon. Wait it out.

He got poked on the forehead. He ignored it. So he got pocked again. So he ignored it again.

So he got pocked a lot of times and pretty hard. He got pocked enough to actually get frustrated. He just wanted to wait it out, come on !

He opened his eyes, frowning, teeth clenched. It didn’t matter he expressed anger, he was in a dream and-

"Aubrey, stop it, I just want to-"

He screeched and jolted away, knocking Aubrey back and falling backwards as well.

Okay. Okay. It was not Aubrey poking him, it wasn’t AUBREY either. It wasn’t Kel or KEL, it wasn’t Hero or HERO and it wasn’t Polly.

Of course it had to be Omori.

He rolled away, peeking through his fingers covering his eye as if he’d see Omori’s monocrome face in huge again. Was he going to headbutt him ? But that was AUBREY’s skill !

Okay. Omori was still kneeled next to the now laid on the ground Aubrey, head turned to look at Sunny with a -you won’t believe it- neutral expression.

Would you look at him, Sunny fulminated. Acting all innocent, putting up this face while he almost gave me a heart attack.

"Okay, okay, just wait a damn second. Sunny, do not move and quit the weird act right now, you will answer truthfully and so will the mini Sunny." She sat up, accusatory finger going to her friend and his younger duplicate.

Sunny sighed, pouted, and tried to get back to neutral. This dream was really getting on his nerves, going as far to simulate the pain from a fall. He couldn’t wait to wake up and flee Aubrey’s frustrated gaze to wake up to Kel’s room and its posters. And its normal inhabitants, its normal, REAL inhabitants that WEREN’T straight out a fantasy.

"Sunny. Do you know what’s going on ?"

He shook his head, angrily looking down, sitting with his legs crossed. He didn’t care if he looked like a kid having a tantrum, he’d wake up soon. He’d wake up soon and they’d actually go see Basil in real life, and the gardener’s house would have normal and real inhabitants.
Oh, hi Basil. Welcome to this chaotic dream. Why don’t you come out from the corridor and stab Omori for me ? You have my full permission. Don’t worry, he won’t die, but he’ll disappear and it’ll be GREAT.

"Sunny," Aubrey’s tone got slightly threatening.

He scoffed. "No," He spat out, trying to tilt his head away even further from her but his neck ended up aching. "I don’t know."

"Do you know that mini Sunny ?"

"Sadly yes." He shot a glare at Omori, who replied with his usual one.

And for some reason, even if he was supposed to know it was a dream, he felt a rush of uncomfortable doubt, unsure of that certitude now. It had no way to be real, but it felt real. The confused glances from everyone, the slightly upset one from Aubrey, the worried one from Basil, still in the doorway and hesitating to come in, the faint pain from the fall to the ground all felt true.

He pinched his arm, closing his eyes. When he opened them, nothing in the scenery had changed.

"Uh..." great. The lump in his troath was back. "This is a dream."

The statement felt more like a question than something he was sure of, and maybe it was more a question if he was honest.

"Not real" he pointed at Omori and the other Headspace friends. "From... my dreams." His voice was almost desperate.

It had no way of being true. If he wasn’t dreaming, he was hallucinating. But if he was hallucinating, his friends wouldn’t see what he saw too.

"These other us are from your... dreams ?" Aubrey’s expression changed from an exasperated one to a lost one.

Okay, not only this was going to get painful to explain but also really embarrasing.

Sunny’s face flushed, and he hid it with one hand as the other gave a thumb up in confirmation.

"You’re from Sunny’s dreams" Aubrey’s voice dripped with disbelief as she asked Omori. Surprisingly, he gave a response and shrugged.

Kel snorted and pointed at the monocrome kid, whispering to Hero that 'the mini Sunny shrugged a lot too' and 'it must be a habit of theirs now'.

"And all of you are too ?" Her gaze went over the room, landing on Basil, and she lost all focus on the reply they’d give. "Oh" She couldn’t help but let escape.

Basil didn’t utter a movement, eyes wide opened and focused on the otherworldy kids.

"We’re from what ? Older Omori’s... dreams...?" AUBREY looked as perplexed as her counterpart had been. "No, we’re from Headspace, not Omori’s dreams !"

"And what’s Headspace...?" Hero had a hand over his temple, trying to keep his composure in the weirdest situation he had been given to witness.

"My dreams" Sunny croacked out, pointing his head.

So this is real ?

Trying to figure out how or even why made his brain go static.

HERO slightly frowned and looked at him. "No, Headspace isn’t a dream, it’s our world...? We... we’re in Headspace right now"

The poor fifteen year old seemed not even sure of his words. Sunny almost felt guilty for being about to shatter the boy’s whole world.

"No," he shook his finger to add to the gesture. "This is real world. Headspace, dream. Mine. It’s not real."

Ironic how he said it so nonchalantly when just a few months back he wouldn’t have even questioned Headspace being the real world.

"We’re not rea-... but we are real !" HERO’s confusion grew.

"So..." Polly tried to pitch in and combine the informations they got into an explanation. "You had a dream of a world called 'Headspace', and... it had younger versions of some of your friends and you, and now they’re... here ?"

This will have to do as an explanation, Sunny decided as he grimaced and gave a thumbs up, using the other arm to push himself up and stand. Not that the ground wasn’t comfortable, but if Omori randomly attacked he’d have to be prepared.

"But how...?"

I don’t know, Polly. I don’t know !

He noticably shrugged, swaying his arms in the air. How could he know ? He had no clue at all !

"Wait, wait," HERO put a hand to his forehead, comically mimicking his older self. "So we’re not in Headspace right now ?"

Sunny shook his head with a sigh.

He eyed Omori, and he swore he could've seen the slightest frown pass through Omori’s face. What...?

"So where are we...?"

"Basil’s house," Hero answered his purple teen self.

"BASIL lives in a shoe, not here" KEL pointed out.

Basil lost his nervous expression for an utterly confused one. "What"

They all turned their eyes to the gardener, who lost his perplexed face on the spot. "U-Uh..."

"The older BASIL !" KEL jumped on place. "He’s back ! Hi !"

Eyes wide, Basil hesitantly waved, looking like he expected to wake up any second. "I don’t... live in a shoe...?" Was all he managed to muster out, gaze fixed on KEL. He didn’t seem to have noticed Sunny yet.

"You do" KEL kept on assuring.

"This house isn’t a shoe" the photographer’s voice seemed like he wasn’t even sure of it.

KEL stopped and looked around. "Huh" was all he let out.

"We’re in Faraway Town, more precisely," Hero told HERO.

"Never heard of it," HERO said, looking around as if he’d see the town from this living room.

"Well, uh, welcome, I guess...?"

"T-Thanks...?"

Then, silence fell on the room, as none knew what to say. Sunny’s gaze drifted away from the two Hero’s, and he finally got a decent glimpse of Basil.

Kel wasn’t lying when he said his friend looked exhausted. His eyebags led Sunny to ask himself how much sleep Basil actually got, but he knew it wouldn’t be much. He was pale, but not more than last time he had seen him. Thankfully, other than that, he looked pretty healthy. He could stand up, which meant his injury was healing well and not hurting much, and the scratch marks on his face were completely healed. His hair was cleaner than last time, way less messy or dirty. He also changed clothes -which would be logical due to the seasonal change, but since he had not for three days this summer it was good to see a change-, wore a sweather vest and comfy pants. Of course, he still looked nervous, probably due to the situation, but he was alive and that was already enough.

Basil’s eyes locked with Sunny and he blinked, noticing his presence and slightly jumping. Sunny waved, still silent -everyone was, and he wasn’t too keen on having everyone’s eyes on him again-, and watched Basil awkwardly mirror him.

Okay. Okay, okay. Basil saw him, and nobody had freaked out. Everything was still kind of calm. Major good thing, maybe this day couldn’t entirely be ruined by Omori.

Oh, right, Omori. He was still there.

He was still there and he was still looking at Sunny, as the others had gone back staring at their respective counterpart, no one daring to break the silence. Sunny frowned at Omori.

What do you want...?

Obviously no one possessed telepathic powers, so his question got no answer other than that endless stare.

...

Sunny stook his tongue out to Omori, who blinked twice. Probably his way of being confused.

Then he mimicked Sunny, without the mean glare.

Sunny did not feel threatened anymore, gradually feeling more safe and more frustrated at than scared of Omori’s presence. If he wanted to attack, he would’ve already, unless he waited to be alone with Sunny to strike. Or maybe he didn’t want to show his true nature to his friends. Either way, the older one of the pair settled to be very careful not to be alone with the younger one.

Basil eyed Polly, and opened his mouth to talk. "Uh,..."

He was cut off by the sound of someone’s belly rumbling. Pretty loudly.

For some reason, everyone looked at the Kel’s, Faraway at Kel, Headspace at KEL. Kel looked at KEL who looked surprised.

"What was that ?!" He screeched, looking at his stomach.

"Dude, that was loud" Kel laughed. "You’re that hungry ?"

KEL’s face fell and he looked horrified. "Oh no. Am I becoming Humphrey...?"

"Becoming what ?" Aubrey frowned, getting more and more lost as time passed and visibly being annoyed by it.

"Am I gonna want to..." he shivered, looking at his brother HERO with despair in his eyes "...eat you all...?"

"What the actual fu-"

"Language !" Both the Hero’s cut her off.

"No, no, KEL, uh..." HERO went to pat his sibling’s head. "You’re just really hungry, but you can’t actually eat us, you’re too small"

"Hey ! I’m not that small !"

Well, seems like he’s not scared of eating us anymore at least-?

"But I’m hungry though... why ?"

Everyone but Sunny and the Headspace kids didn’t get the question. They never actually felt hunger.

"When was the last time you ate...?" Polly asked, glancing at the clock that read around 12:15 am.

KEL put a finger on his chin. "Uhh... when it was still dark, we ate cookies, but nothing after until now. But-"

"Okay, that’s it." Polly sighed. "You kids are not leaving this house without having eaten. A real meal. Plus it’s time to eat anyways, I’ll order Gino’s. What do you want, everyone ?"

Is she really gonna pay for all of them- and us ?? I’m not even hungry !

Wait, or was he ? All he knew was that his stomach hurt now that he was thinking of food, but he couldn’t figure out if it was because he was nauseous or hungry...

"Gino’s...? What’s that ?"

"Pizza" Sunny just tossed them the word, too tired to explain further to KEL or any other Headspace kid.

It seemed to satisfy them, and Polly took out a piece of paper and a pen, and began taking everyone’s oder. First, she asked Kel and Hero -the latest ordered a sandwich, causing Kel and Aubrey to snort-, Aubrey, then Basil, and Sunny tried to tell her he wasn’t angry but since she wouldn’t take that as an answer -neither would his friends from behind- he ended up saying he’d go with a cheese pizza. Then Polly turned to the Headspace kids and things got pretty messy, and, once again, confusing.

"What type of pizza do you want ?"

"They’re free ? Like, you’re just gonna give us pizza like that ?" KEL tilted his head.

"No, but I’m paying, it’s- why are you handing me clams- okay uh stop I don’t need- how much is that- UH-"

Thankfully for Polly(’s sanity) HERO made KEL keep his clams in his pocket, telling him how he should stop spending money so carelessly and how Polly was nicely offering the food.

KEL collected the purple shells and Polly resumed asking questions, her head looking like it was spinning a little.

"So, uh, what type of pizza do you want...?"

"Whole pizza" KEL said as if it was obvious.

"Uh... okay, but what type of pizza ?"

"Whole pizza" He said again, starting to look confused too. "A... whole pizza."

"I understood, but what... type ? Like, cheese pizza, chorizo pizza, magarita...?"

The Headspace kids looked at her like she just spoke another language.

"Uh... what’s a chorizo ?"

"What’s a chorizo ?!!" Kel looked nearly horrified. "You don’t kno-... Polly, mini me takes chorizo."

"I do ?" 'Mini Kel' blinked in confusion.

"Yes. Please do. It’s the best pizza there is. Oh ! Polly, can we take drinks too ?"

Okay, I know where this is going and I am sca-

"Sure" the careraker agreed.

Unsurprisingly, Kel took Orange Joe for him and his double. While he talked about the drink to KEL -upon learning KEL didn’t know what it was, he settled to fix that and therefore without knowing it would change KEL’s equivalent of a character sheet in the 'likes' section-, HERO and AUBREY decided to trust their older selves and told Polly they’d take the same as them.

Then Polly turned to Omori.

"And what do you want..?"

"..."

"Uh... did you hear me ?"

He did, he just expects you to magically know what he wants, Sunny resisted the urge to roll his eye.

HERO saw Polly struggle with Omori and asked "what’s going on ?"

"I was asking what he’d like but he keeps staring at me, I’m not sure he heard me.."

"Oh ! Okay. Uh, Omori ? Do you have a preference for any pizza ?"

He got a few blinks out of the child, but nothing more than that.

"Don’t any sound better to you amongst what they said ?" he tried again, gesturing to the Faraway teens.

Omori just stared at them, then went back to Sunny -to the latest’s regret.

HERO shrugged. "Maybe he’s not hungry"

Almost as if it was on purpose, it was now that Omori’s belly rumbled. The boy himself jumped from the noise.

"I think he is," Polly couldn’t help but smirk. "So. What sound the most appetising ?" she turned towards Omori, tapping his shoulder to get him to look at her. "There’s regular pizza, chorizo pizza, vegetarian pizza, cheese pizza, and Hero sandwiches. Any that could interest you more ?"

Omori blinked.

Does he not get she expects a response ? Really ? He’s not that dense.

"She wants you to tell her what you’re taking." Sunny gave in to the urge to just tell him, tired of watching Polly struggle with the kid. His tone may be harsh but he didn’t care a lot. Just to think of having to handle Omori’s presence already made him exhausted. So to talk to him...

I really believed I went over that already. Seems like it wasn’t completely done.

Would Omori even make it easier for him ? Knowing their last interaction, he most likely wouldn’t. But please, come on... just say what pizza you want. Oh, look at me, trying to ask someone -something?- that tried to get me to die what he’ll have for food as if we were the bestest of friends.

Omori wouldn’t make his presence that much of an inconvenience to him, would he ? Sunny really hoped he wouldn’t. And to think he assumed the only source of stress for the vacation would be seeing his friends again and talk about the past... now he had to deal so much more. Yeah, he used to want surreal things to happen before, that was a part of why Headspace was so supernatural. But now he just wanted to be able to chill. Which he wouldn’t get to, obviously.

He already wanted to lay down and sleep the annoying things away but obviously he didn’t want to resort to that anymore, and it would not be ideal at all to let Omori of all people alone with his friends.

Nope. Not good at all.

So he had to handle his creation. Which, right now, meant getting out of the monocrome kid what pizza he wanted. But of course Omori wouldn’t tell him, because Omori was absolutely annoying, and Sunny wanted to shake him until he talked and just told Polly what dang food he’d take, because he was obviously hungry, and if he was busy eating, Sunny would get more time to think of a plan to get rid of Omori as soon as he could, because there was no way he’d let this entity walk around and create chaos.

"Omori," the name almost seemed to burn his lips, he never wanted to utter it ever again, but he knew he’d have to and he already was frustrated and tired about it. "Just pick a pizza."

Maybe Sunny shouldn’t expect Omori to listen to him of all people, because apparently, lately Omori had taken a liking to questioning his authority and doing the opposite of what Sunny requested him to.

And Sunny wouldn’t make any efforts for long if the black and white version of him kept on wordlessly stare at him. Was he trying to annoy him ? Seriously ? It was better than try to make him off himself, but still, the most pleasant thing he could do was just disappear. Which he still didn’t.

"Omori. Pizza ?" Great, now his troath was giving up on him again.

He was glad his mother wasn’t here to force him to 'try and use his words', and glad Hero repeated him that he’d be okay with Sunny writing. If not, he wouldn’t have taken a notebook with him in case that happened.

Well, for now, he wasn’t the mute one that had to put an effort in communicating, verbally or not.

Would he have to punch the words out of him...?!

Omori tilted his head sideways, at least motionning he didn’t get something in the 'conversation'. It was at least that, but it would require more communication if Polly wanted to know what he’d have.

Sunny gave up on trying to get Omori to chose or find out what he wanted and just motioned Polly the child would take the same as he did. Omori, either oblivious to what was happening or simply not caring, didn’t protest, so the adult assumed it was fine with him. Too bad if he didn’t like the pizza, he just had to talk or express what he wanted himself. If he wanted to annoy his creator, then the latest would make sure it’d bounce right back at him.

So, Polly took the order and they begun waiting for the deliviery, because no way the only grown up would leave this bunch of children who probably would accidentally burn the house down the second they’d be left unattended.

Sunny went to sit on the couch, eager to get away from Omori.

The world seemed to have settled to be against him, because not only the other followed him and stood in front of him, but all the others went around him, bombarding him with their questions.

Why me ?! Just ask Omori !

Wait, on second thought, maybe not. It would be best if Sunny was the one exposing his point of view of why they knew each other.

I just feel like Omori doesn’t exaclty see things the way I do...

Yeah, because apparently, this supposed-to-be mindless vessel had its own point of view, and its idea of how and why the events had played out would most likely impact Sunny negatively no matter how untrue or messed up they’d be. He wouldn’t have that.

Sunny had to be the one to explain it, he knew it, but oh god did he not want to. He did not want to, and his troath wouldn’t allow any word to get out right now. Too much eyes on him, too much expectations, to much pressure.

If only he could just normally and simply catch up with Basil and the others as it was planned instead of having to handle some kind of surnatural breakout of his own mind. Welp, he’d need a paper to write on. Good thing he always had his backpack with his stuff around now. He took out a notebook.

`I’LL USE THIS TO EXPLAIN, IT’S EASIER FOR ME RIGHT NOW`

"Oh, okay" Hero nodded, trying to get all of the kids and teens to slow down with their questions. "Everyone, uh, don’t expect him to know everything either, leave him space, and time to write, okay ?"

He didn’t have much authority, but at least they chilled enough for Sunny to be able to hear one question at the time and write the answer as fast as he could before having another interrogation thrown at his face. And thankfully, no one questioned why he wouldn’t be vocal. Not even the younger ones that never saw him used writing as a replacement for his voice when that latest thing betrayed him.

I guess being friends with a silent person like Omori can make this easier, in a way.

"So you’ve dreamed of Headspace and us ? Is that how you knew who we were, because you dreamed of us ?" KEL jumped in place, probably having missed the part where the older version of his brother warned them all about Sunny not being all-knowing. Well, at least that he could answer.

`YES`

"Did you dream of us often ??" He added, without letting any place for another person to ask anything.

Uh... for some reason, Sunny felt a bit uncomfortable replying. His dreams were supposed to be his private thoughts and private world.

Well, they used to be supposed to. It would be hard to hide anything now that this private’s world major occupants had manifested themselves into reality.

`KIND OF OFTEN`

It wasn’t the truth but it wasn’t a lie, technically.

"But... if they are from your dreams, how are they here ?"

`I DON’T KNOW`

That was the truth. Well, how could he ? Did Kel assume he would know ? Would anyone think he knew how they had-...

"Maybe... maybe older Omori can dream of parallel realms ? That’s why he’d know us ? I mean, obviously, we can’t be from someone’s dreams, we exist !" KEL theorised.

`TO ME HEADSPACE IS A DREAM, IT WASN’T SUPPOSED TO BE REAL. WE DON’T HAVE SUPER POWERS IN THE REAL WORLD, DREAMS ARE JUST DREAMS`

Once again, he’d never have said those words months prior. But despite the small pinch that reminder was, he knew now what was -supposed to be- real and what was not.

And, he added `MY NAME IS SUNNY, NOT OMORI`

"But why would you dream of us then ?" AUBREY, just as the rest, was lost.

Okay, now that was something he did not want to answer. Why did he dream of Headspace ? He’d have to tell how he created their world from nothing just to dream away a specific truth. And explain them the truth.

He wasn’t ready to have to see his friends react to it all over again, no thank you.

He eyed Omori. I bet he wouldn’t be thrilled with all of them knowing, either. Knowing what he does whenever Headspace BASIL figures it out...

"Maybe you just randomly dreamed of us ? It’s not like dreams are something you can control..." The little girl tried to find a reason, not realising the lack of response was from Sunny not wanting to write it down and not because he didn’t know.

"Actually, lucid dreaming is a thing" Hero pointed out. He explained further after the Headspace kids expressed confusion.

...Hero wasn’t exaclty helping Sunny. He felt which questions would ensue, and of course, they did ensue.

"Was it lucid dreaming, Sunny ?" Hero wanted to make sure, seemingly.

Sunny nodded. He didn’t need to write 'yes' down.

"You... chose to dream about us...?" The other Hero looked more and more confused. In fact, everyone was.

Except for Omori, of course. He had backed away and sat on the ground with the rest, but still stared at Sunny. Of course, what else would he do ?

Sunny nodded, bitting his lip. This was getting to what he had wished it wouldn’t but oh, like he could control it. It still felt like a dream. Or, nightmare. But it wasn’t.

Ugh...

But he had to do this, didn’t he ? Maybe if he answered the questions, they’d all chill and go back to Headspace if they deemed the real world too boring ?

Yeah, not a chance that would happen, but a man could hope.

"But... why would you ?"

Ah, HERO, you do not want to know. Sunny grimaced.

"You made yourself dream of, uh... us but younger ? Like, childhood ?" Hero asked.

Huh, looks like the two Hero’s are the ones asking the most questions.

`KIND OF. I CHANGED A LOT OF THINGS, IT ISN’T LIKE THE ACTUAL CHILDHOOD WE GOT`

Sunny did not grow up surrounded by talking planets, humanoïd animals or talking 'monsters', neither did he spend his early years fighting foes RPG style. It was more his dream then, and what he made to be his reality for a while, but it was nothing like what he had in reality.

`AT ALL` he added for good mesure.

"Yeah, we can see that..." Aubrey glanced at the color scheme of their counterparts, then at the monocrome one. "You even changed your name, like... just, why do that if you kept ours for... uh, them ?"

Sunny was not ready to answer that.

Uh... I hate myself so much I made up a persona to exist in my place in that idealised version of my childhood life ?

Once again, he couldn’t help but grimace. It was quick before he reverted to his neutral epxression, but long enough so that they all saw it.

Thankfully he didn’t get the time to be asked to answer that, the younger ones impatient to ask more stuff.

"Are you exited to meet people you saw in dreams ?" KEL got up, looking at him write while lightly bouncing on his legs.

`I WOULDN’T SAY EXITED,` yeah, he was horrified, that was the word, but he couldn’t tell that to the kid’s faces without having to explain the not-so-fun reasons why. `I NEVER EXPECTED FOR IT TO HAPPEN SO I’M MORE CONFUSED THAN ANYTHING`

"Understandable..." someone whispered under their breath.

Basil ? Yeah, it was his voice. Now that he thought of it, Sunny realised his friend hadn’t uttered a word to him, merly a look. It could be comprehended, even in... normal circumstances, it would be complicated to communicate after months of separation, just like it had been awkward with the three others. Except there was a supplement of awkwardness due to... well, all they had been through together. Now that the truth was out, it would be the first time they’d all be reunited fully all aware of the real events, and Sunny had no idea on how Basil was holding up since he left. To think they were supposed to be best friends, Sunny surely didn’t act like a good friend to him. Or anyone, really, if he had at least-

"Oh wait ! But you already knew Omori, did you ? You said it earlier I think !" KEL perked up.

He almost missed the question due to having slipped inside his thoughts.

He nodded. Sadly yes...

"You also said you wanted to... uh, smack him with a violin ? What was that about ? Did you fight ? Your weapon’s a violin...?"

Okay okay this was getting worse, that was NOT something he wanted any of his friends to know about at all. Quick, quick, think of a thing to justify why-...

Wait, but the question wasn’t why they had fought, but if ! Sunny felt relieved for a quick moment.

`...YES. BUT A VIOLIN ISN’T A WEAPON`

"I know that," KEL frowned "you’re the one who said you’d want to use it as such though. Who won ?"

Why does he wanna know-... y’know what it doesn’t matter

He pointed at himself. And glanced at Omori with a small bit of defiance in his eyes. I survived. See ? You can’t kill me.

Omori didn’t budge.

Sunny was almost disappointed. You could’ve thought the kid would be a little bit more upset at losing any fight and having his failure shoved in his face in front of his party. But he didn’t move. Was this a form of provocation...?

"WHAT ?!" KEL screamed, making everyone flinch. He looked like Sunny had learned him something impossible and life changing had occured. Well, it may not be life changing, but to him, Omori losing was impossible. "HOW ? Omori’s invincible !"

He knew it was odd and pointless, but Sunny felt a twinge of pride. To the Headspace kids, he had beaten their god in a fight. Well, not that they knew Omori was close to a diety with the control they didn’t know he had. But still.

`I HAD MORE TO LOSE THAN HIM IF I LOST. I HAD A BETTER STRATEGY THAN HIM AND MORE THINGS TO FIGHT FOR. LET’S SAY WE HAD AN DISAGREEMENT, AND I FOUND THE BEST ARGUMENTS`

Okay, maybe that was too close to the truth and a deliberate provocation to Omori that he’d need to explain later, but hey, he could at least brag about his victory for once. He had fought for his life and won.

"Was Omori the one that gave you that ?" KEL gestured to his eyepatch and all the real world people in the room momentarily froze.

Sunny didn’t know what face he made, but he figured it wasn’t too far from the expression he saw on Basil’s face when they made locked eyes for a second before the photographer tilted his head away, shaky hand covering his mouth.

Thankfully, none of the Headspace made the link even when Polly lightly pat the blond’s shoulder and brought him closer, nor did they pay attention to the glances the teenagers exchanged. They were too focused on Sunny.

`NO` his handwriting was a little bit messier, but he got a hold of himself quick as he wrote the following explanation to avoid other questions on the topic `I GOT INTO AN ACCIDENT.`

Before the kids could ask more about it, Hero decided to divert the subject elsewhere.

"How... did you even fight someone from your dreams...?"

Sunny hoped the pizzas would come soon and that the food would divert the attention away from him.

`IN MY DREAMS`

"Oh, makes sense" the uni students blinked. "But, why would you even fight him ? I mean, a kid version of you, it doesn’t make a lot of sense..."

Oh, believe me, it does. Omori isn’t exaclty me at 12, and even if I had my twelve year old self in front of me, I’m pretty sure I’d also smack him with a violin and maybe even throw him down the stairs, he bitterly thought.

Ugh... so he did end up being asked the motive of the fight. He should have expected it. Why did he thought he could avoid it again ? Might as well stay vague, he decided. It would have to do, he hoped.

`WE DIDN’T AGREE ON SOMETHING`

It didn’t suffice. AUBREY and the other kids, and the original them wanted to know too. Oh, Sunny didn’t blame them. He’d be curious too. It’s just, uh... he wished he could magically take back the moment he said they fought. Why did he have to start acting carelessly when he thought it was all just a dream ? Hadn’t he learned it could have consequences ?

He did, but seemingly he had a shitty memory when it came to recalling stuff that would keep himself away from trouble.

`IT’S NOTHING IMPORTANT, IT’S BETWEEN US`

For once he was glad Omori wouldn’t talk. He couldn’t just say the motive of the fight out loud to annoy him.

Wait, but would he ?! Sunny glared at the boy, who didn’t utter a word.

Well, Sunny was out of trouble for now. If Omori kept his mouth shut, he could keep that secret. And Omori was good at keeping his mouth shut.

"Oh..." KEL looked a bit disappointed at not knowing.

"Do you agree now that you won ?" AUBREY wondered, looking at Omori and his counterpart.

It doesn’t work like that here, the winner doesn’t impose his will on the one who lost... and Omori didn’t look at him in a very friendly way. Well, he always looked at everyone like that. And he didn’t say anything ever, so to ask if he dropped trying to get Sunny to...

Actually, Sunny didn’t care if Omori did or not. He had his life, and he’d fight for it as many times as he’d have to.

`I DON’T KNOW. BUT I DON’T REALLY CARE IF HE AGREES WITH ME.` he quickly wrote.

AUBREY slightly frowned. "That’s... a bit rude..."

...rude ? He’s the one that told me that I should kill- ugh...

He wasn’t going to just say that to her face. Either it would shatter her vision of her friend or she wouldn’t believe him and get mad. He needed none of the two upset versions of her reactions right now, not to mention if he told her they’d all hear as well.

"But... how can you not agree on anything if you and Omori are the same person ?" Kel scratched the top of his hair.

`WE’RE NOT THE SAME.` Then, he added for clarity : `PHYSICALLY HE’S ME BUT YOUNGER BUT MENTALLY HE’S DIFFERENT THAN ME.`

"But even then, can’t you... find a middle ground, whatever it is you’re disagreeing on...?"

Ah, HERO, always trying to solve fights... sadly this is not one you can solve. It’s between me, myself and I. Or was, before Omori decided to become his own entity.

`IT ISN’T SOMETHING THAT CAN BE TALKED OUT. IT’S TOO COMPLICATED.` Sunny sighed. He wasn’t oblivious to all the curious gazes but he would not be telling anyone about these thoughts he had because if his friends were worried about the fact he wasn’t as hungry as he was, what would they think of him wanting to be gone ? Well, now he was getting better, but still, sometimes, he... ah, anyways.

Don’t think about that.

"Are you... angry at him...?"

Seemed like AUBREY got bugged enough to ask, eh. Sunny wondered how much he could share without being pushed to reveal the whole deal.

He eyed Omori. How would he take it ? It probably didn’t matter. Not like he could actually get hurt.

So Sunny just nodded. And the silence that ensueded allowed him to finally observe a little all of his friend’s and their duplicate’s reactions.

Aubrey didn’t seem to understand a lot of what was going on. Kel looked confused about how Sunny and his counterpart had fought. Hero looked more intrigued about the reason why Sunny held a grudge, which wasn’t something Sunny did a lot at all. Basil looked awefully nervous and he was hard to read, as he avoided Sunny’s eyes. Eye. Polly was glancing at the children with worried eyes, then at the clock, probably wondering when Gino’s would arrive.

AUBREY looked sad Sunny would be mad at Omori. It could be understood, to her eyes, Omori was the most perfect person to exist -Sunny really was uncomfortable now with the way he made her with that huge crush he never knew was reciprocal or not now that the real Aubrey would most likely witness her dream version act... as AUBREY did. KEL was more focused on muttering about how weird a violin was as a weapon, HERO detailed respectively Omori and Sunny, wondering what could have his girlfriend’s brother done to be angry at.

Omori, was, well, still staring. But there was this tiny bit of... it looked almost like confusion. It didn’t last, but it flashed through just enough for Sunny to notice the slight widening of the boy’s eyes.

Yet, he probably just imagined it.

"Why are you angry at him...? What happened ?"

AUBREY, what you should ask me is more 'what did he do'. But I know you won’t. Oh, I shouldn’t have made you like that, seriously, that’s so embarrassing, what was I thinking, oh god I hope she won’t flirt with Omori, please do not, if she does I swear I’ll just burry myself alive I-

He sighed. He couldn’t blame her for her thought process, only himself. He made her think Omori was perfect, that he couldn’t do anything wrong. That he was the hero of the story, that the meanest thing possible for him to do was 'though love' when he fough foes or people to help such as Spaceboy. He made her have that overbearing crush on him. Wish fulfillement, eh... and she was a kid, always would, once again thanks to him. He couldn’t be too harsh for a bunch of reasons. But also... this was still disturbing. He felt like he was face to face with the past Aubrey, the happy and innocent kid she was before Sunny ruined it all-and she was, in a way.

As much as he disliked Omori now, he knew he couldn’t ruin the other kids’s lives. They didn’t deserve any of it, especially not to have their world crushed. They still had the opportunity to remain innocent, and Sunny hoped he wouldn’t ruin thay for them as he did with his versions of his friends.

He wouldn’t do a remake of last time when he destroyed his whole friend group because he was mad at himself for not doing things right. So he’d just suck it up for a while and if it had to happen, deal with Omori alone, whatever Omori wanted of him. It shouldn't be too hard if it didn’t mean going back to what he did before, right ? Perhaps there would be a peaceful bargain. Omori asked whatever he had to ask if he went here to ask something, and Sunny answered or whatever, then Omori would go and all of this could just be done and wouldn't have to be acknowledged ever again.

Okay. Nice and calm, Sunny. Nice and calm. You’re older, you won’t get anger get the best of you, even if it’s one of your biggest personified mistakes shoved in your face right now, deal with it responsibly, you will be better than him, and maybe you might actually deserve to stay alive if everything turns out okay once whatever this is ends.

`HE SAID VERY MEAN THINGS TO ME WHEN WE FOUGHT. IT WAS VERY HURTFUL.`

Okay. Okay, it migth seem childish said this way, like a toddler crying to their parent that their sibling called them a poopy face when pulling their hair, which could give the rest a cursed image of how Sunny and Omori’s fight looked like, but between this and the truth of it, Sunny prefered this; for now.

"Oh !" Somehow, the kid with the pink bow let out a sigh of relief, dismissively shaking her head. "It’s just that ! No, don’t take it to heart, he probably used his painful truth skill. It’s nothing personal ! He does that in fights, it’s nothing specifically targeted towards you. He just wanted to make you sad to have the advantage over you."

Oh, AUBREY-

She couldn’t know how cursed it sounded to all the real world people. To them it was just clearly admitting Omori was a bad person.

And sadly, the wording she chose and the theory pushed Sunny further down in the mess he was in. Painful truth ? It didn’t mean much at all to the Headspace kids, but to his friends... they could figure out so much from just this and judging by their looks, they were getting there.

Great. Omori and Headspace’s goal was supposed to hide away things he wasn’t ready to admit to. Now, unknowingly sure but still, they were pushing him to admit stuff he was everything but close to himself get through. How did they go from their whole purpose being to shield away the fact he killed his sister from himself, to push him to say he almost and still can want to kill himself in front of literally every person he would not want to know it ?

"Painful truth-...? Wait, Sunny, they... how do they know the truth...? Why ?" Hero seemed as lost as the otherworldy kids after he asked this.

The question made no sense to them. Sunny wasn’t ready to answer, but what choice did he have besides choosing what words he’d write to control what was revealed and how ?

`THEY DON’T. ONLY OMORI DOES, SINCE HE WAS SUPPOSED TO`

Supposed to what ? Be Sunny, but better ? Originally, Omori was a him that didn’t know. His purpose was to hide it away. But he couldn’t tell them that. He didn’t want to, not yet. How would he justify the kid’s knowledge, then...?

He settled for a somewhat twisted version of reality. For now. Promise, he’d tell the truth later. Just, not now.

He scribled the 'supposed to'.

`A VERSION OF ME. THE OTHERS DIDN’T KNOW, LIKE YOU. HE KNEW BECAUSE I DID`

But apparently Sunny never thougt things through, because he may have explained to his friends and got them to understand part of it but had confused the kids further.

"What truth are we talking about ?" KEL tilted his head sideways.

The other Kel choked on nothing, and that was close to what Sunny’s reaction was inside his mind. Basil had his 'Oh no' face on, Aubrey clenched her teeth in a grimace and Hero looked like Hector bit his butt.

Sunny decided that lying here was okay, and the glances his friends shot him clearly meant he shouldn’t probably tell kids 'the truth'.

Therefore, he lied. Because he was a liar anyway, so-

`THAT YOUR WORLD ISN’T REAL`

That excuse did not make any sense if you thought about it, and Omori would have a word to say about this lie but he didn’t utter a word. But thankfully it diverted the attention to another thing.

"Omori knew that...?" KEL frowned, perplexed.

He got a nod.

"But he never mentioned it !"

`HE HAD NO REASON TO. WOULD IT HAVE CHANGED YOUR LIVES TO KNOW THAT ?`

Looks like he was the one asking the questions now. Well, it wasnkt really one, he knew the answer. But why did he want to know their answer ? Probably because somehow, hearing that they wouldn’t have been affected from the kids themselves would somehow be comforting.

Comforting ? Why would it be ? They would be okay anyway ! And they weren’t real, so-, well, they were now.

Probably that was why.

"Well, not before, but... I mean, we are now ? Not that I feel any difference, but... we’re real now, right ?"

"Well, you’re in the real world now for sure" Hero answered his counterpart before Sunny did.

"So your dreams became real" Kel stated, as if no one had realised already. Probably he was still a bit disturbed. "Like, they spawned here just like that"

Sunny shrugged. `SEEMS LIKE THEY DID` he started. He then turned to HERO, purposefully avoiding Omori’s eyes still fixated on him. `HOW DID YOU EVEN GET HERE ?`

"We... climbed a string, and then we got out of a piano. Then we were there...?"

"You what ?! How do you come out of a- what" Aubrey’s confusion was not the only one still persistant despite the absurdity of the situation.

You could’ve thought we woud’ve stopped trying to question supernatural stuff by now-

But even Sunny got confused.

`YOU MEAN THE CORDS OF INSIDE A PIANO ?`

"No" KEL shrugged. "Like, there was this huuuuge string and we climbed it. I think you should ask Omori, we went through his room to get here."

His ro... white space ?!

That would make more sense, there was a string in there. For the lightbulb. But how in the world would it lead to a piano ? But climbing it ?

...wait. What piano were they talking about ? Sunny already knew, but he needed to ask. His friends were also slowly getting which instrument they were refering to.

`WHERE WAS THE PIANO ?`

"Oh, in a house somewhere outside. It was the only thing interesting. Besides the closet room, we found the scarf, gloves and beanie there. There was also a weird big box but it wouldn’t open..." KEL reminesed.

Basil visibly flinched, so did Sunny.

Well, at least that got the question of the location out of the way. But it didn’t ease the wierdness.

`YOU BROKE THE DOORS DOWN ?`

"They wouldn’t open !" KEL put his hands in a defensive motion. "Plus it was AUBREY that bashed them ! Not me !"

Aubrey and Kel exchanged glanced. Kel snorted and Aubrey looked two inches away from wiping the smug grin off his face by smacking him with a pillow like her younger self was doing to Kel’s double.

"Uh" Hero blinked, looking like all the craziness was getting to his brain. He looked for a normal question -if any was even deemed normal- that wouldn’t have a link to an uncomfortable topic. "So why are they purple ? And why is mini you black and white ?"

Mari’s colour. Omori was supposed to be neutral in every way possible, from the emotions to the colour palette.

Nobody would get that. He needed an answer though, so he gave another shitty one, but it would have to do.

`I GUESS I REDESIGNED MORE STUFF THAN I SHOULD`

Thankfully they accepted that. "Huh" Hero just let out.

"Say, Sunny !" Kel perked up, watching unfold the KEL-AUBREY bickering. "What happens in your dreams ? Like, I’m there so obviously I wanna know, ya see ?"

That makes sense. Honesty, I would know if anyone dreamed of me, like-... especially if they choose like I did. Hoping they wouldn’t... I don’t even wanna know what cursed stuff a brain can do.

Well, he knew what cursed stuff a brain could make up. But anyways.

Let’s just continue that QnA... I really REALLY hope they’ll stop bombarding me like this-

`WE GO ON ADVENTURES.`

"Woah ! Like when pretended as kids ? But better ? OH. Did we get powers."

`KIND OF ? I THINK I COULD COMPARE HEADSPACE’S FONCTIONING AS A VIDEO GAME, SO YOU HAD SPECIAL SKILLS`

Aubrey snorted. "Ah yes, Sunny and his video games. How did I even forget how obsessed you were with those ?"

Sunny slightly frowned. Rude. Was she making fun of him ? How dared she ? The situation was stressful enough for him ! And now she was embarrassing him too ? He was already embarrassed that those iterations of his friends were there ! And some were more or less out of character, so that...

Eugh...

Sunny drew an angry face and threw the notebook at the pink haired one. That was a foolish impulse cause now, he wouldn’t be able to write anymore.

Thanfully, it wasn’t an issue for long, as the doorbell rang almost instantly after the attack, and Sunny took the opportunity to run from the people and opened the door.

The pizza guy held not only an insane amount of pizza boxes, plus bags with the drinks, but a paper with a sadly familiar excuse of a writing.

"Sorry for the delay. I had a hard time... finding the house." The despair in the delivery guy’s tone earned him a compassionate look from the eyepatch boy.

"I’ve been there. Worked there." He uttered, trying to get his voice back now that the interrogation would end. It was complicated, but he had practiced talking more during the months he was alone so it could’ve been harder.

The guy groaned. "I know your pain. You better enjoy these pizzas. I spent more time than I should’ve delivering those. Who even orders this much pizzas ?! And to think I still have the whole day of work..."

Polly payed the guy, and then they all sat at the tables the best they could, Polly having to take one from the corridor and move the bonzai that was on it for everyone to be able to sit at a table.

The Headspace kids were at their own table, but they weren’t isolated, as mostly Kel wouldn’t stop solicitating them, asking so many things they could barely begin eating with how they had to reply question after question. Only Omori had the time to eat, as he kept silence.

Well, eating was a big word. He didn’t seem to comprehend he had to cut the pizza, and he ate it weirdly, not even folding it and just taking bites off the circle.

Kel actually stopped the question agression when he noticed it and laughed so hard Sunny actually thought he was choking and dying all the way dead. When the others spotted the monocrome kid’s bizarre way of eating, they all more or less chuckled. Even Basil. Sunny was more confused, but not for long. The pizzas in Headspace were already cut, plus no one ever had a full one for themselves, the item being a group healing one. He still felt the urge to laugh too, seeing the absurdity of the thing. He gave in when Omori stopped, putting the pizza down, noticing he was the reason of the hilarity. There was something about that piece of cheese stuck on the kid’s cheek and his blank gaze going over every Faraway teen, blinking a lot, confused. Omori then questioned silently HERO with a look, only getting a shrug as the purple teen had no clue either.

"W-... why is little Sunny eating like that ?" Kel managed to utter, himself not eating very cleanly as he also had chorizo sauce all around his mouth, but Omori was more noticable. And less expected. It was a Kel thing to do, not a Sunny one.

None of the Headspace kids had an answer, so they all just looked at each other, more and more confused. "We... we don’t know, actually"

The hilarity doubled, and Hero gave in, still smiling in amusement as he went over to them, cut HERO’S pizza as a demonstration. "That’s how you do it. I can’t believe you don’t know how to do that."

He proceeded the same way with AUBREY and KEL’s pizzas, but when he went to Omori, the kid grabbed his and stood, getting away. And began eating like he did previously.

Looks like he doesn’t want the help. Sunny felt a smirk only asking to spread on his face. He kept it in, but for a split second, it showed. Omori would have to figure it out on his own, then. Too bad for him. If that was the extent of his desire to know everything, and that was his reaction to not knowing everything, so be it then. It was entertaining to Sunny especially. Watching his counterpart being the one to struggle for once, and with something such as correctly eating had something comical.

Sunny felt superior to Omori on the correctly eating level. Sure, battle-wise, let’s not start on that. But Sunny was actually better than Omori at at least one thing and it was another victory of his to add against the monocrome kid.

"I’m not gonna steal your food, S... mini Sunny." Hero tried to get closer. He earned a warning gaze, and for a split second, Omori’s outlines flickered red. It destabilised Hero enough for Omori to give a kick in his leg.

Not very effective, but the medical student decided to drop the deal. "Okay then, do your thing, I guess...?"

While that happened, Omori’s party were looking at their piece of pizza like they were the oddest thing. "They’re warm" AUBREY noticed.

"Well, of course they’d be" her older counterpart said after swallowing a piece of her own. "They’re better like this. C’mon, take a bit or somethin’. Tell me what you think."

AUBREY did so, and after the first bite she ate the whole piece, giving a thumbs up, as if at lost for words.

A bit excessive for a pizza, Sunny thought, before remembering how hungry the kids had been.

Well, he could go days without eating, and he assumed his sense of hunger would be somewhat broken by now, but maybe a normal person would feel the equivalent of his level of hunger when he reached a week of starving in bed after half a day.

He didn’t know, the comparaison he had of himself before he locked himself away and rot in bed were foggy on the food side. He knew he always never ate thag much, but he knew it was still more than he did now.

Thinking of which, he glanced down at his own pizza. At the sight, his stomach hurt, twisting. He didn’t know if the nausea would continue if he ate, but he wasn’t sure he wanted to risk it. It hurt enough already. But, what if it’d tone down once he’d eat ? Should he give it a try or not ? And what would he do if it got worse ? Would he throw up ? He glanced around, there was a bin, but he didn’t want to thrown up, it would just burn, and worsen the already existent stomach ache. Decisions, decisions...

At least he had something else to focus on for a bit. He was glad for the few minutes he got where Omori and his friend’s presences stopped concerning him. But eventually, those worries came back with the noises they made, starting responding to Kel again who had begun asking more questions.

"So what’s your favourite drink, me ?"

"Milk’s awesome."

"MILK ? WHAT HAPPENED TO ORANGE JOE ?"

"That again ? But... Why would I drink that guy ?"

Aubrey exploded in hilarity as Kel’s face expressed the most despair and anguish Sunny had ever seen.

"LITTLE KEL HATES ORANGE JOE ! HE HATES IT ! OH MY GOD THIS IS THE FUNNIEST SHIT I EVER HEARD" Looks like it was her turn to seem to be dying from laughter.

Sadly for her, Kel threw a can of Orange Joe to KEL -he sure looked like he got used to their existence and presence quick- and rapidly, KEL discovered despite the deleting of that drink by Sunny in his dream world how good it tasted to him.

And Sunny not only got a reminder of how chaotic Kel was when he drank it, but a reminder of how chaotic a kid KEL got when he drank it.

Yep, the addition of any Kel + caffeine equals a nuclear disaster.

Both the Aubrey’s were now next to each other, the smaller one pointing her bat defensively at the two Kel’s while her and Aubrey exchanged grimaces. "Kel" they just sighed at the same time. Then, both the Hero’s proceeded to try and calm their brothers who were running and jumped on the couch, KEL screaming about flexing and attempting to teach Kel that skill. Basil was watching this unfold with his eyes wipe in not fear for once, but half confusion and half entertainment. He was eating his pizza, but he gave Sunny the impression of eating popcorn with the way he gazed over the scene. Sunny ended up chosing to give the food a try before Polly settled to verbally tell him to eat -her staring was intensifying, and so was her apparent desire to make Sunny eat.

Except just as Sunny was about to reach for a piece of his pizza, a certain kid snatched his box and ran to his table to eat it.

Sunny would’ve exclaimed "HEY !", but the surprise momentarily stole his voice. He managed to push out a strained "whAt" though.

He earned nothing from Omori, who began eating Sunny’s food.

Sunny found himself very offended by this.

Was Omori trying to starve him to death ? Was that why he came here ? He came here to eat Sunny’s food ? Omori, who had never eaten real food and would probably get a stomach ache if he continued to eat that much, would prioritise annoying Sunny over his well-being ?! That was taking it a bit too far !

The eyepatch teenager would not have this, therefore he confronted Omori for the first time and attacked back.

He took the pizza box back, shoting a dark look to the slice Omori had stolen.

Just as he put it back on his table, Omori jolted up and snatched it back, somehow looking offended too despite his blank eyes.

The black and white pre-teen stole a second piece of pizza, reducing the number of pieces to 6.

Okay. Sunny knew for a fact he would not be able to stomach the whole pizza, and he would have let anyone pick in his plate, but not Omori. And now Omori was appropriating himself the whole thing.

Sunny took the cardboard and its content back, and just as he was about to tell Omori to stop, he received and empty Orange Joe can on the face.

It didn’t do any damage, but now Sunny was angry for sure.

Oh, you wanna throw hands ?! You wanna throw hands ?! Now you’ve done it !

He picked the can up and threw it back, but missed his target. Cons of missing an eye...

Omori looked almost smug at Sunny’s failure -despite not emoting anything still- and jolted forward, managing to steal a third piece. He shoved it in his mouth and a second later, Sunny, very frustrated, tried to grab Omori by the hair, but the latest managed to somehow not only dodge but grab the pizza box back.

Sunny grabbed an empty one and proceeded to attempt smacking Omori’s head with it.

Somewhere in the middle of their very dramatic fight, the rest of the room’s occupants stopped their activities and decided this was the moment to break the fight. Kel grabbed Sunny’s wrist.

Allowing Omori to break free and eat yet another slice. Only four were left.

"Hey ! Bro, what happened ? I turned my eyes and suddenly you were trying to beat other you to death-"

"My pizza." He grunted, struggling to break free, pointing at his opponent. For a split second he expected Omori to flip him off as he devoured his food.

"Lil you is eating your pizza ?" Kel couldn’t supress an amused snort.

"Want it back. Now. He’s eating all of it !"

"So you two fought over pizza just now- and you lost ?!"

"You stopped me ! Let me go now ! I want my food !" Sunny turned to face Kel, pouting, trying to get his attention as Aubrey stole his with a remark about fighting over food.

He stepped on Kel’s foot to get his gaze back on him. "Let me go !"

Kel let him go.

And Sunny braced himself for another duel with his alter-ego, only to be met with a sight that would’ve made him go up another tier of anger if the Headspace rules applied to him.

Omori had managed eating the whole set of pieces in the few seconds Sunny looked away, and had taken another pizza. A glance to the other table informed Sunny it was Basil’s, who was blinking, looking back and forth at Sunny and Omori.

"He took my pizza" the gardener let out, confusion in his voice.

"Speaking of which, where’s mine ?" Kel frowned, coming closer to the table Basil was at. He left to goof around with KEL but now the rest of his food had mysteriously vanished.

Basil, Kel and Sunny turned their heads at the same time to Omori, who served them with the innocentest gaze he could, half of his face dirty with grease and sauce, a bunch of pizza boxes around him.

Kel let his mouth drop. "Don’t tell me he did it"

"He kinda did" Basil whispered, as if the consequences would fall on him and not the culprit of the crime.

"POLLYYYY !" Kel whined. "Small Sunny ate everything !"

Polly, who was trying to handle the rest of the kids with Hero, sighed and came closer, followed by HERO. The other one was occupied trying to break a fight between a caffeine exited KEL against two Aubrey’s.

"He what ?"

"He ate his pizza, and then he ate mine ! And Sunny’s ! And he’s eating Basil’s ! And I’m pretty sure he ate your too !"

Polly’s eyes got concerned right away. "You shouldn’t de eating so much... you’ll get sick" she told Omori. "Why are you even eating that much...? You can’t possibly still be hungry !"

"Oh, he’s not hungry" HERO pitched in the conversation, frowning too, but for another reason. "He’s trying to heal himself. Why doesn’t it work, though...? Even my cookies didn’t..."

"He’s trying to what...?" Basil was baffled.

Sunny finally found the reason.

Oh. Omori didn’t have murderous intent behind his motiovations eating everyone’s food. He believed the Headspace rules applied here.

Wait, heal himself ?

Sunny detailed his younger self precisely for once, not turning his eye away. He got a glimpse of the monocrome kid’s scrapped knee and bruised hands. How did he even get hurt ?

"He fell down when it was dark" HERO explained as Omori grabbed another pizza piece -at this point Sunny stopped wondering who’s it was, but more how much more Omori would he able to swallow-, a red outline begining to show. He must be really frustrated...

"And I don’t know how he hurt his hands." HERO looked distraught. "I tried everything I could to heal him up, but nothing worked. I thought the pizzas would work, but..."

"Wait, wait, you thought him eating would heal that ?" Polly rubbed her temples. "Is that how it works in your... okay, I’m having a hard time believing all this, but seriously, who in the world decided food would heal and expect the kids to survive in the real world ?"

Hey ! In my defense, they were not supposed to get real ever ! Sunny defensively thought.

"Oh, anyways... he needs bandaids. I’ll go get those." She turned around as she was about to disappear in the corridor. "And please, for the love of god, make him stop eating or he’ll throw up."

Easier said than done... Sunny wanted to give up before trying, seeing the defiant look on his other self’s face who had the rest of a pizza piece in a hand.

"It won’t work" Sunny pushed through gritted teeth. "Food doesn’t heal here."

He would know. He nearly forgot this summer. Just like he forgot people couldn't just attack with knives and expect the other person to walk away fine.

Oh dear. Would he have to explain that to Omori ? Even making him stop eating was hard enough, and Omori himself looked unwell right now ! Did he have this much pride ? Okay, he wasn’t eating to steal Sunny’s food and kill him, but did he seriously continue it just to annoy him ?

When Omori looked away, still trying to eat, Sunny realised it might not be that. He really believes he will heal himself and won’t stop until he does, will he ?

It wasn’t compassion Sunny felt, but he tried to rip the food away from the other, as reluctant as he was to touch him. "Come on. Stop. You’ll be sick. It’s useless."

As soon as Sunny uttered the last words, Omori’s outline flashed red again, and he pointed an accusatory finger on his taller self. No words escaped his lips, but they silently formed the words 'no, you'.

Sunny would’ve found something to throw back at him, insulted when he only was trying to help, but Omori dissolved into coughing.

The sound alerted all the Headspace kids, though it wasn’t even the loudest thing. AUBREY and KEL stopped fighting, and HERO automatically croughed down next to the usual party leader, hand hovering around his back, hesitant to pat his friend. "Omori ! What’s happening ? Omori ?"

Basil blinked, and despite the situation not being life threatening, worry flashed through his eyes and he ran to get Polly, who was already coming back anyway with the pack of bandaid.

Sunny stood as she cursed, not knowing what to do with himself, and watched her as she seemingly understood the situation, grabbing the bin and passing it to HERO.

"I told him this would happen...!"

"W-What am I supposed to do with th-"

"Give it to him or he’s gonna throw up on the floor !"

"He’s gonna wha-"

Hero took the bin from his double’s hands and took his place next to the sick one. Just in time, as soon as the bin was shoved in his hands, Omori coughed up all he ate. He spent a few seconds sniffling, and Polly wiped the boy’s mouth, letting another sigh escape her lips. She had a small compassionate smile on her face, though. Omori let her do so, and didn’t budge as the older Hero pat his back. He looked shocked with what just happened.

"Hey, bud, I told you this would only make you sick. At least now you won’t do that again. Sometimes you should give listening to others a try before learning the hard way, huh ?"

Omori did not stay in shock for long. He blinked, and got up quick, shaking his head as if to order his thoughts.

That brought Sunny to ask himself again if Omori actually had any.

The kid looked down at his hands and knee, and stomped his foot, outline flickering bright red, teeth clenched, looking enraged. Which he probably was, given that he emoted this time.

Okay, he still thought it would work ?

No one had the time to ask him anything though, as he stormed his way out the room and went in the corridor, AUBREY and KEL on his trail.

The rest decided to leave Omori alone, the 'culture shock' as Kel called giving him a hard time. They cleaned the scene up, Polly throwing the bin out and the teenagers pilling up the cardboards and reuniting what was left of the pizzas in a large plate -despite Omori eating a lot, he hadn’t eaten everything, not even the half of everything. But still, he ate a lot.

After that, the Faraway teens sat on the couch and in front of it with HERO, as Polly went to check on Omori.

The poor Headspace citizen took Sunny’s previous role in being asked more questions, and Sunny felt sorry for him.

A lot of the questions were pretty light, such as which items healed, what they were accustomed in eating, what was the weirdest one there was they could eat, how many they could eat without getting sick and more. HERO ended up answering the last with 'we never got sick before, Omori freaked them out'.

"What’s with the red glowing Omori had ?" Hero wondered.

"Oh that ? Well, we told you before, didn’t we ? That’s how we know he’s angry. He gets red."

"But I thought you meant his face got-... nevermind. And that’s how you tell if people get angry ? They glow red ?"

"Yeah. That’s how we tell how everything’s feeling. It also does it when we’re happy or sad, except the colors change, obviously. Respectively yellow and blue. Why are you asking this, you didn’t know ?"

"Well," Kel observed "we don’t glow here, when we’re like... experiencing emotions. Like, we can tell if someone’s mad if they frown and yell or stuff like that, we don’t get a glowing to indicate it."

"Oh" HERO rose his brows. "Well, we emote too, but we get the glows."

"Your Sunny doesn’t emote though" Basil pointed out, hesitantly joining the conversation.

"Oh, he usually does when we battle," HERO shrugged. "Other than that he doesn’t need to."

Sunny saw his friends give up trying to understand what he meant by that.

"And do you guys turn... I dunno, green when you’re disgusted ?" Aubrey scratched her cheek, then used her hand to put an emphasis on the question.

"Uh... no. We don’t."

Let’s not try to explain this emotion doesn’t give any advantage in battle. That would mean having to explain the battle system and since HERO won’t be able to answer why it’s like this, I’ll have to and I am not in the mood to explain the world building. I just want to put on my earplugs and listen to music, Sunny resisted the urge to sigh in despair. How did this happen, already...? He was getting too tired to ask himself why the universe had played this ultimate huge prank on him.

"Huh." Aubrey resumed fidgeting with a strand of her hair.

A small silence unsued, and Basil’s timid voice rose and broke it.

"U-Uh... hey, Sunny...?"

First Basil interaction, Sunny realised, anticipating anything. He got a bit stressed for no reason. Probably due to the fact he hadn’t probably reunited with his friend yet, disturbed by the otherworldy kids. Or maybe it was because he still had not appologised for the hurt he caused to the gardener, and didn’t deem to priorotise his friend over the odd stuff when he settled to take care of the problems and try to help Basil, and probably gave the impression he really did not care about him anymore since he didn’t bother even say hi and try to talk, gosh what kind of friend was he-

Calm down. Deep breaths. It’s fine. Literally.

He hummed in response.

"So, uh,... Kel and Hero and Aubrey all have a... Headspace version ? And so, they were in your... dream world, right ?"

He nodded. It was obvious, wasn’t it...? Then why-... oh.

Of course Basil would wonder that.

"Do I... have a Headspace version too ? I mean, I’d understand if no, it’s not even a big deal, I just wondered-"

Basil shut his mouth, with the look of someone who said too much and assumed they made no sense. His gaze went to the ground. "No, it was dumb, sorry, you don’t have to answer, I..."

Aubrey shot the photographer a worried look, and HERO replied for Sunny, who’s stomach was twisting at the sight of the blond’s anxiety showing so clearly over something like that. Why is he apologising ? And why does he think he wouldn’t have a-...

"Yeah, we got a BASIL ! He lives in a shoe."

"Oh, that’s why your KEL thought I..." Basil looked relieved. "Okay... uh, how is he like ?"

"Well, he looks like you obviously, but his hair’s teal. And he’s twelve. He likes flowers, and photography."

Kel chuckled. "Yup. That’s our Basil boy too. Flowers and photos..."

Sunny, observing his friends talking, noticed Hero’s and Aubrey’s faces change at the same time, the two getting a question in the same time.

"Hey, uh, can I ask if-"

"Say, why isn’t he here if-"

Aubrey glanced at Hero. "Oh, sorry, you go first."

The young adult looked a bit nervous. "No, no. You. I’m not sure I’ll even ask my question, I..."

He eyed Sunny, who automatically understood what Hero’s question was. 'Hey, can I ask if...'

He was going to ask me about her, was he...? Dread washed over him.

"Oh, okay. Uh, other HERO, why isn’t the other Basil... tagging along ?"

"He’s not a huge fighter, so he rarely... well, never comes with us. We do get in a lot of fights, so..."

"Where is he, though ? In the shoe ?" Kel put a finger to his chin, making himself look slightly comical.

Well, Sunny would’ve found it funny if he didn’t know what topic they were nearing.

A knock on the door saved him for the second time, distracting everyone’s attention from Kel’s question.

Sunny was about to get up to go walk towards it when he got devanced by a dashing Omori, who opened it wide without any second thought.

And Sunny learned he actually did not get saved by the door this time, as the answers to Hero’s unsaid question and Kel’s question were both standing at the door, a flying red limb hovering around grabbing a wrist and pulling a purple haired teenager towards her monocrome brother.

That silence was the loudest thing Sunny ever heard as every single person’s gazes were focused on Headspace MARI.

Chapter Text

Omori could pretend he cared that the room fell silent, and act as if he wondered why it did so, like his friends did. He could pretend he cared and asked himself about the strained exclamations the older versions of his friends made, or about Omori’s original self’s ragged breathing. Or that the blond Basil ran out of the room after a bunch of seconds passed after Omori himself ran to his sister.

He could pretend he cared, but thing was he didn’t. All he cared about right now was that his dear sister was finally there. Finally. She was there, and she’d know how to heal him. She’d know. And maybe BASIL would too, with his herbal remedies if MARI’s food didn’t somehow heal him entirely.

Oh, he didn’t have to pretend to hear the noises around. The gasps, complicated breathings, aborted attempts at talking, Polly’s whisper of 'please not again, it’s the second time today' as she ran after the other BASIL. He heard all of that, he just didn't acknowledge them. Why would he, after all ? That was Sunny’s business. If they were in 'his world', if that 'Faraway' was the 'real' world, every inconvenience would be Sunny’s to handle, as it was his world. He also had to handle his own friends just as Omori handled his. Not that Sunny was the ideal party leader, but hey, it just wasn’t Omori’s business and he didn’t care for those iterations of his companions.

He babysat Sunny long enough, no way he’d care for people he didn't have any link to other than being the inspiration for his friends.

Plus, his friends were better, just as Omori was better than Sunny was. They were made to be better, so who would care about flawed versions of his friends and himself ? Not Omori.

Omori was in MARI’s arms, enjoying her warmth. The annoyance from a few moments ago’s frustration faded. He felt content as she briefly ruffled through his hair, shortly laughing before breaking the hug.

"Well, you sure went far this time. I’d like to remind you one of us here has a bad knee, and I bet BASIL’s not able to carry me -no offense, BASIL !"

"None taken" the flower boy shrugged, chuckling.

It was good that every one of Omori’s friends were there.

Oh ! Of course, they had to set the picnic. No way Omori would let his sister and best friend under the treath of harm any longer.

The monocrome kid looked into MARI’s picnic basket, pulling the rug out. He looked around the room, being met with indescribable gazes fixated over his shoulder from the Faraway inhabitants and happy ones from his friends, but he didn’t focus on them and pushed the table he and the other Headspace kids ate on. On it’s place, near the couch, he laid the rug and sat on it.

He expected MARI and BASIL to come sit with him, on the spaces he pat to indicate what he needed them to do.

Well, his friends greated them and blocked their way, so Omori assumed he’d wait a few more seconds the time KEL, AUBREY and HERO finished talking to the two. Though KEL was already about to spill everything they learned about their world, so Omori got up and motionned to his friend to save it for later -after the two new arrivants sat- by slightly pulling the boy’s wrist.

"Oh ! Sure, sure !" Clearly, the weird drink the other Kel gave KEL still affected him. "Both of you sit, you’ve came a looong way ! Oh ! But say, MARI, with your knee, you know, how did you climb the-"

Omori really, really wanted his sister and best friend to sit. But now, not only his own friends distracted the two from that, but also the other iterations.

The pink haired Aubrey had a hand to her mouth, cursing under her breath.

The other Kel tried to rub his brother’s shoulder, without lifting his gaze from Omori’s sister, eyes wide.

The other Hero looked like he’d burst into tears if you gave him the slightest poke anywhere, mouth half agape, finger pointed at MARI with a shaky hand.

The other O- wait no, Sunny, why did he almost call him other Omori in his head, that made no sense; Sunny was the calmest of them, but he still looked disturbed, breath shaky and grasping the edge of his shirt.

What was with all these reactions ? Omori wondered, and so, so did his friends. KEL would ask even if the question was inappropriate to ask, so he did.

"Hey, are you okay other us...? Ya’ll look you saw a ghost ?"

It wasn’t a poke anywhere, but with that, Hero broke.

Aubrey too. "If we’re OKAY ?! How could we, you guys just- she- Sunny, tell them ! Oh god, Sunny why-"

As she turned to Sunny, the latest got distressed, tensing up, looking at MARI then Aubrey then MARI again.

Well that was messy. Why were they acting like that ? What happened ? MARI and BASIL came in and it broke them ? But-

Oh... Right. They didn’t have a MARI anymore. But this was Omori’s MARI, so why did they look at her as if she was the ghost of theirs ? Yeah, sure, they looked alike, but this MARI was Omori’s.

But seemingly, that didn’t stop the older Aubrey from looking frustrated yet highly distraught, the older Kel from trying to comfort his brother despite his own voice cracking once or twice, the older Hero from crying, and MARI from being perfect and kind, worried for them, especially Hero.

Even though it wasn’t HERO.

"Hey, uh... what’s wrong...?" Her voice was infinitly soft, but the comfort did not have any effect on Hero.

In fact, it might have made it worse somehow, judging by the emotional state of the young aldut’s intensifying. Going up another their of sad.

Without the blue.

"No, I... I can’t. I’m sorry, I-I can’t, that’s... oh my god. This... is too much"

He was about to exit the room too, but turned around last second, fidgetting with his fingers, eyes fixated on MARI. And stayed. Weird thing of him to say he’d do something then deciding against it.

The Headspace kids -minus Omori- were growing more and more confused.

"Why am I crying...?" HERO nervously shifted his weight on each feet. "Did I miss something...?"

He turned to the older ones, not getting a response. Expect Sunny, who breifly gestured to MARI, looking more and more unwell too. He was now giving MARI the Omori treatment, which meant avoiding looking at them at all cost and seemingly pretend they did not exist.

Typical Sunny.

"Woah, uh..." BASIL finally noticed everyone, and the obvious duplicates of his friends. As he eyes landed on Sunny, they squinted in a moment of perplexity then widened. "Oh no"

The fear only lasted a couple seconds though.

Omori was already frustrated again. Why was that ? MARI had calmed him, hadn’t she ? Seems like his... issue with what he ate still influenced him. They were all going though emotions, well, the Faraway ones, and those were distracting the two that needed to sit. Omori wanted them to sit, he needed them to sit, they needed to also, to be safe, they needed that, and that was more important than having to witness and deal with a bunch of teenagers spilling their emotions to someone who shouldn’t exactly care.

Why exactly did MARI care...? It didn’t make sense, she wasn’t supposed to.

Oh, but, maybe it was because she just was this way. She was made this way. So kind, so supporting of anyone, always trying to comfort and help. The fact they were in another location of-... well, out of Headspace didn’t change that.

So Omori couldn’t do much but observe right now. Sunny was looking at him like he’d pick up that cardbox and smack him again or who knows what other thing he’d do if Omori physically dragged MARI anywhere. Well, Omori felt he’d get smacked anyway the moment he’d do the tiniest movement.

Not that he’d get actual damage, Sunny’s hit rate sucked in the waking world just as in White Space, but being hit wasn’t particularly something he looked forward too.

Plus, he... Omori’s throat felt weird, for some reason. He didn’t like the taste that stayed in his mouth, bitter and overwhelming. It took a lot of his focus. It never occured before. Any taste never stayed. Even if it was a good taste, like MARI’s food or even HERO’s cookies, he wouldn’t want it to stay. It disturbed him. He wasn’t eating anymore. And now, the taste wasn’t even of the slices he ate. He wanted to get rid of it, it was bitter, sour, his throat itched and all his attention or almost all went into acknowledging this and he needed to focus on his surroundings but what was happening and what he felt inside overtook everything and it did not feel good in the slightest and all the noises around were not helping he wanted them all to just shut up for a second and-

Omori froze. Even if he already wasn’t moving. Well, he more like... tensed.

Whatever was happening to him, the horrid taste that stayed, and this disturbing burning itch across his body, never occured before.

That was a change.

And oh dear did Omori hate change.

It was time he’d regain control.

He used the confusion of the Faraway teens about MARI, and the confusion of the Headspace about the Faraway teens about MARI to quickly grab BASIL and gently yet firmly making him sit on the quilt, getting a slight surprised gasp.

"Omori...? What are you... Oh"

BASIL made a weird expression that Omori couldn't place on either emotion he knew.

...Hey, was something up with BASIL again ? Didn’t he express fear just a few moments ago, when he saw Sunny ? What did that mean, would Omori have to send him back to-

"WHAT THE FLYING FUCK IS THAT"

Omori fliched at the sudden yell and plastered his hands on his ears.

Now the pink Aubrey was screaming too ? The two Kel’s and the sobbing Hero made enough noise already, what was that about now ?!

A hand.

A glance to them gave that answer : a simple hand.

They were all screaming now, all the Faraway friends -minus Sunny, who’s expression took a giggle out of KEL-, because of a flying little red hand.

No reason to shout, yet they sounded as if the hand put its fingers in each their eyes. No reason to shout, the hand was there the whole time, behind MARI.

Didn’t they see it before ? Was MARI really that big of a distraction to them ? And what was so odd about a flying hand ?

Omori sighed, and commanded the limb to just come and disolve into his back. If it could stop the screeching..

It did not.

It intensified it.

Hero yelled and grabbed MARI into his arms away from the spot the hand was before it went to Omori, how dared he touch MARI ?! That would not be happening, where was his kni-

Omori felt himself lifted under the armpits and suddenly all he was able to do was dangle his legs in nothing after the few seconds of shock.

And the he was shook.

"MINI SUNNY, MINI SUNNY ARE YOU OKAY ?! THAT THING ATTACKED YOU, ARE YOU OKAY ?! SAY SOMETHING"

Hearing Kel scream from across the room was one thing. Hearing Kel scream with his older deep voice being lifted by him and having his face right behind yours was another.

Omori probably lost a few HP, but he couldn’t check.

One, this world didn’t allow him access to his menu for some reason. Second, hard to access anything as you’re being shaken by a comically tall -for Omori’s point of view, seriously, why was Kel taller than Sunny, KEL will not get taller than Omori, Omori would make sure of it, why had Sunny let that happen- version of your friend that expected to shake away a hand that was never a threat to begin with.

Omori went limp, hoping that’d make Kel chill.

Why was he surprised it did not ?

Kel screamed. "OH MY GOD I THINK I KILLED HIM"

Maybe death would be a preferable fate than hearing another second of Kel’s yelling in his ears. Sadly, Omori couldn’t be toast.

HEY ! But he wouldn’t succumb to this !

"SUNNY I’M SORRY I THINK I KILLED MINI YOU HE’S NOT MOVING ANYM- OH WAIT HE IS MOVING NEVERMIND"

Omori tried and tried to land any attack, but somehow his current position did not allow him to give any damage to his opponent. How unfaire was that ?! Kel had his turn to use whatever skill that was that restrained Omori, now it was Omori’s turn ! Battles worked like this !

Omori tried to trash around, but Kel’s grip was too strong. He couldn’t even reach his pocket to pull out his knife with the way he was held ! That wasn’t fair at all ! What would it take for this titan version of KEL to let him go ?!

Omori’s outlines flickered red, kicking his feet around.

And with a surprised yelp from his captor, he crashed down.

That would’ve given him a good 10 damage.

It hurt.

He really needed MARI’s food. Or BASIL’s remedies.

He stood up.

If only MARI wasn’t being crouded right now. If only all the Faraway inhabitants let her be ! And why weren’t Omori’s friend engaging combat to free MARI from her adbuction ?! Hero didn’t even look like he’d be a hard boss to win against ! Sure, the pink Aubrey radiated a certain level of threat, but they’d fought a buff planet before ! Sunny was not a problem to acknowledge regarding his catastrophic combat stats, but sadly Kel joined him and that version possessed horrifically high stats ! And they were shielding MARI from her little brother ?! And letting Sunny close ?! How stupid were they ?!

And why couldn’t Omori’s friends just chill and sit at the picnic as they were supposed to ?! They had no point in talking to each other and making theories about what was happening ! This was anew location, and the picnic was finally set, so logically, they should have a picnic ! And listen to MARI and BASIL give their thoughts on the place !

They should SIT and THEN listen about their thoughts on the place !

KEL was not supposed to give his before MARI ! And he was not supposed to tell them to BASIL ! The order of the thought giving was MARI, BASIL, then Omori’s party could give their own ! How would there be any stability and reliability if not ?!

At least BASIL looked confused about this too ! KEL keept rambling, and BASIL clearly didn’t know what to say or do, he was clearly confused about that ! What else could he be confused about ?

"So this place is called the Faraway or something and guess what this is another me he’s so tall it’s so funny and actually like he gave me this drink that’s called Orange Joe yes like the Orange Joe who has a brother named Oragne Joe in Orange Oasis but here it’s a drink and it’s better than milk like would you believe that and it gives me so much energy I feel so great oh and also that over there is Sun he’s an older Omori and apparently guess what he has dreams of us wait no his name’s not the Sun is it Sunny yes that’s it and for some reason other me said Omori was a piano brand and also there’s another you but he ran out like when you came I think he might have needed to go to the bathroom for some reason but oh well we’re actually not real to them we’re a dream like did you know that can you believe this it’s insane right they’re us and we’re them and we’re in a dream but it’s weird because what aspect of our world could be dreamlike like there’s nothing odd about it anyways can you believe that ?!"

"Ah-" BASIL got up, blinking quickly as KEL’s words washed through him like a wave, taking a step back and motionning with his hands to calm down. "KEL, KEL, please, slow down, you’re talking too fast-"

Thankfully for Omori, MARI ended up freeing herself thanks to the power of her reassuring words, seemed like that was a good skill to use against Faraway Hero, Omori would remember it. Wait, no no no ! No, and no ! MARI did not need to participate in battles !

But does freeing herself count...?

He’d have care longer if she didn’t finally bring the Headspace kids to calm down and do what Omori so deeply needed them to at that moment : sit by the picnic.

He exhaled, and went to sit besides his group.

And eyed the Faraway individuals. Couldn’t they just go away ? Or shut up the time they talked that out ? Hey, hey, no no no, why were they taking out a quilt and sitting near them, this was a big no no, yes Hero’s cries had toned down but having whispering and awkward people that close was not on Omori’s plans, why couldn’t they simply behave as NPC’s and be silent and static while Omori’s group exchanged, why was this place seemingly randomly bashing Omori’s authority ?!

...wait, was it because it was Sunny’s world...? Was this Sunny’s doing ? Did he need to fight Sunny over control ?

Because two game masters in the same game didn’t work, especially if the two seemingly had divering opinions about a lot of things...

He’d have to think about it later. Yes, sure, the Faraway teen’s presence was a tad too much, but at least something was finally going how it should : a picnic with MARI.

Where was the music, though..? MARI was by his side, but the gentle tune wasn’t around.

Ah, he’d ask himself about it later, too.

Thankfully, the Faraway teens shut their mouths as soon as Omori’s friends started talking, and even if the wide eyed gazes and loud silence -how was that even a thing ?- made their presences... present.

Still better than hearing Hero weep with the most confused look ever, Kel muttering words to his friends, Aubrey cursing, and Sunny...

Well, Sunny still stared at Omori, but this time it wasn’t an excuse of warning look -warning against what, really ? What could Omori ever do that would inconvenience anyone ?-, he was staring at his alter-ego and crafted friends as if a saw a memory break from the chains of the past and come to life.

Okay, enough of that staring at people he didn’t care about now thag they were finally silent and had stopped interupting their activities for the sole purpose MARI was there. Now, focus should go to the righteous people : his friends.

"MARI, MARI ! You’re not gonna believe it but you see those people ? There ? The girl with the pink hair and the guy that’s dressed in orange and the guy with hair as messy as HERO and the guy with the eyepatch they say they’re actually-" KEL wouldn’t stop shifting, even sat down. MARI chuckled, unexpecting of that sudden word block, motioning a pause with her hands before getting drowned in words.

When did the drink stop its effect ? It was similar to coffee’s boosts of speed in battle, only it lasted one turn and they weren’t fighting anyone. Omori’s head was starting to turn a bit, KEL’s incessant moving added to the conversation constantly pulling his attention back and forth. Hopefully the effect would die out soon.

"Woah, woah, KEL, slow down please ! I get you seem exited but I won’t understand much if you talk this fast" MARI advised the boy, shivering from excitement. It was quite concerning to see. Omori felt like KEL was a ticking bomb that would explose, and he wanted neither for KEL to die neither for him and others to get the equivalent of nucked.

KEL-nucked. Huh. It was a good way of phrasing the boost the boy got with the combination of estatic, coffee, and when he flexed then used run-and-gun.

"So what about those people ? They really look like you guys.." MARI slightly frowned, thoughtful.

"Yes well actually they are us but like older of course and their colors are different and also they told us this place was actually-"

Once again, MARI gave a small laugh, reiterating the "slow down" gesture. Seemingly KEL would not succeed, and acknowledging it, bumped HERO in the shoulder.

"You explain then"

HERO nodded, taking a couple of seconds to find words to explain.

"So" He crossed his legs another way, getting comfortable. It looked like he thought the explanation would last long. "The other people here, so them" He gestured towards the Faraway inhabitants, who all nervously shifted with the exception of Polly who didn’t know what else to do than wave at the sudden two pair of eyes from a sister and a best friend detailing them.

The other kids got comfortable too, a bit like if MARI would begin telling a story.

"They’re actually... Well, they look like us because they are versions of us."

A weird light breifly glimmered in MARI’s eyes. "Versions of us ?"

"Yep. Versions of us. And uh... we’re... like, not in Headspace right now. We’re in a place called Faraway... ville ?"

"Faraway town" Hero croaked out, staring into space with the same disbelief in his now red eyes.

HERO gestured to Hero in a "what he said" gesture.

"And apparently those version of us are older and for some reason they have weird colors see they’re all Sweetheart coloured or stuff approaching and also the older Aubrey has pink hair like why and-" KEL couldn’t resist talking again, pointing fingers to the older ones.

"You’re a weird color !" Aubrey returned the pointing at KEL, looking offended for some reason.

KEL took no notice of that and simply went to exitingly examining BASIL and MARI’s reactions to that information.

"And guess what-"

He tried to explain more, but AUBREY got annoyed and tried to get him to shut up, wanting for HERO to explain rather than the hyper KEL, HERO trying to gently tell his bother to let him explain, and MARI was giggling at the chaos. Everyone talked over everyone and Omori grasped bits of sentences, turning his head all sides trying to catch everything, but to his frustration failling.

"-they’re actually from an alternate dimension we’re in right now and-"

"KEL SHUT UP HERO’S BETTER AT EXPLAINING THAN YOU ARE YOU-"

"KEL please, slow down okay ? You’ll talk after this, uh, drink’s effects goes out and-"

Giggling.

"-Older Omori dreams our world and apparently he made us so that’s weird he thought we weren’t real can you realise that-"

"I know, I know, KEL, uh please slow down I know it’s shocking at first bu-" BASIL was having troubles keeping up and visibly wanted to cover his ears, KEL being right next to him.

The flower boy’s discomfort was pretty visible, and so KEL earned a smack on the back of the head from the girl with the pink bow -he’d have taken around 10 damage.

Oh, did Omori wish he could access the stats. Why wasn’t this place normal ? All his friends acted normally, thankfully.

Wait.

Omori thought back quickly on what BASIL said the moment KEL explained.

"WAIT WHAT you know about this ??!"

Everyone winced from the yell. BASIL opened wide eyes, grey outline flashing a brief second. Was it even there at all ?

"What ? N-No ! I didn’t mean it like that, I mean how could I know ?" Nervous laughter made its way out the teal haired kid’s lips.

"Oh" KEL blinked, and there was a brief silence. "Yeah makes sense"

Once again, silence. Though it seemed tense for a reason ?

Well, Omori’s party seemed just fine minus the confusion and twitching KEL. The other two looked... well, it looked like some kind of surprise on their part, but there was a bit of other thing to.

Ugh. Was that even possible ? To combine emotions ? How would that even be possible ?

Anyways, now the ambiance was odd and heavy for some reason, why wasn’t anyone talking ? Couldn’t they talk ?

Omori wanted them to. Why didn’t they stop looking at each other without word ?

Omori centred his will on a conversation happening.

Thankfully, MARI began talking again just the milisecond before the wait would’ve becomed weird.

"So, they’re older us, right ?"

Frenetic nod from KEL.

"That’s nice !" MARI warmly smiled, and the heavy feeling disinterested. "Say, the... orange ? Kel’s really big ! Does that mean you’ll grow that tall ?"

MARI playfully said. KEL got even more hyper at that, went rambling about how he knew it and his wish to be as tall as the woman in the Otherworld fields would come true. Kel winced slightly as he heard MARI refer to him.

MARI didn’t stop smiling, but she caught a glimpse of the taller Kel’s expression, and hers... something differed about it, but Omori wasn’t qualified enough to know exactly what.

MARI was now adressing the Faraway people, to Omori’s disappointment. Why couldn’t they go on with their picnic...? Where was the food ? He wanted to heal !

"Hey... Hello, by the way ! I don’t think I correctly greeted you moments ago" the purple haired teen apologiesed. "I mean, when I stepped in it was... intense ?" She hesitated on the phrasing.

Kel squeequed, weird quivering smile on his face. Was he glitching between neutral and happy ? Odd.

"So, here’s to the proper greeting !" MARI slightly shifted, facing the older ones.

They were all still standing still and they all had their eyes on Omori’s sister.

"Yo, older Kel ! Hi, older Aubrey ! Hey older Hero !"

Everytime they got their turn, the teens stiffened and didn’t greet back. Hero made a weird sad sound, Aubrey almost coughed, Kel tried to reply but his voice cracked.

Then MARI turned to the boy who caused it all, and Omori found himself growing frustrated. Enough attention to those iterations...! Couldn’t she go back to caring for them...?

"Hello... Sunny" A slight shift in her tone Omori didn’t understand. Why was she even greating Sunny ? Now he was looking at her ! Omori did not want that.

He wanted Sunny to stop looking at his sister. He wanted every Faraway person to stop looking at his sister. Why did his sister talk to them...?

"Hey, Kel, I-"

"Yeah what is it MARI" KEL replied automatically.

MARI laughed. "No, I meant the other one.."

"Oh okay" KEL began detailing his other self again, a giggle escaping his lips. "He looks funny and tall. I like it I want to be like that one day soon."

Kel visibly didn’t know what to respond to this statement, and so gave a thumbs up and a shaky "I guess you will lil me".

MARI went back to trying to interact.

"Why don’t you all sit down too ? You can all use the couch, like that we’ll all be comfortable ! I’m sure we all have a lot to say to each other, right ?"

Hero chocked.

They all then sat on the couch, as if hypnotised by Omori’s sister’s words. Ah, if only they could listen to Omori’s will and wants like that... what was MARI’s secret for that ?

"So, you’re us but older, right ?"

MARI’s attempts at communication were quite fruitless. She got no real response, so she had to repeat herself.

"Right ?"

"Oh, uh... yeah, I guess yeah" Kel’s expression was one a kid would have when unsure about his answer in class as the teacher just asked him a question he didn’t know the reply to in front of the whole class.

"That’s cool ! Very awesome even !" The heavy atmosphere had sadly gotten back full force. Even the picnic girl looked unsure about how to lighten the mood.

And the Headspace kids looked confused as to why it was that uncomfortable right now.

"You’re really tall, uh, Kel ? I can’t believe you’re taller than HERO here, whoa-"

KEL laughed and pointed at his brother as if his other self’s height was the best personal accomplishment he could ever do. Kel only managed to smile and nervously laugh.

"Oh, and, Aubrey, I really, really like your hair !"

Aubrey touched it as if she just acknowledge it’s existence for the first time. She croacked out words so unarticulated they weren’t recognisable as anything but a mere noise.

MARI gave up trying to compliment them as it seemed to hit deep somewhere it shouldn’t. Hero looked like he’d do a round two breakdown if MARI did any more than looking at him.

Thankfully, the situation couldn’t get even worse.

"Oh so I guess we saw how we look like in Faraway ! That's so funny ! Say but where’s Faraway MARI ?"

Oh come on.

As that simple question shattered Hero and Aubrey and left Kel nervously laughing, patting the two’s backs and Sunny for some reason looking straight to Omori as of he was the cause of this event, Omori decided that if Kel ever gave any more Orange Joe to KEL, he’d personally toast his friend’s variant the moment he pulled out the cursed can. It seemed to seriously debuff not KEL’s, but Omori’s luck. In control of and course of events.

Omori chose to ignore the breakdown and waited it out, as the Headspace kids tried to console Hero and Aubrey while the Faraway teens tried as well to maintain every ounce of composure they had left.

So, he waited, sitting on the blanket alone now, blankly staring into space.

The only positive aspect about this place was that he wasn’t bored anymore. But why, why did he have to end up in Sunny’s world ? Sunny was not good. He killed his MARI, and Omori did not like his sister being near the murderer.

Not a lot of things made sense there. Firstly, why were Sunny’s friends... well, why were they Sunny’s friends ? They hated Sunny, so why ? Sunny had killed Mari, shattered Basil and his friend group. He broke and deceived them all. Sunny knew what he did, Omori knew what Sunny did, Everyone knew what Sunny did, so why didn’t everyone abandon Sunny yet ? Like he did them ?

Odd.

Omori tried to stay in his thoughts until he heard the question repeated once that the emotion had settled down.

"Where’s Faraway MARI...?"

KEL noticed he apparently said something wrong last time he asked, because now his voice was softer and calmer. Or it was the effects of the drink dissipating.

Please let it be that.

Omori saw the Faraway teenagers all look at each other, then at Sunny. Then they whispered stuff to each other, hands covering their mouths.

It upset Omori. Why were they keeping from him what they were saying ?

Sunny ended up nodding to whatever was said, and kept silent, servously looking away and clearing his troath.

He didn’t start talking though. Sunny sure did a lot of useless things when he was himself, did he ? Omori should have known. Telling the truth, even remembering it were useless after all. It wasn’t surprising everything else Sunny did would be just as pointless to some degree.

Hero was the one to talk. Uh. He did regain his composure, then. It would have lasted long.

Next time it happened, Omori would just shove him a dandelion. The emotion, whatever tier of sad Hero had gone through, would leave just like that rather than annoyingly persisting for minutes without purpose.

"She’s... not around."

"Not around ?" AUBREY tilted her head, then looked around. "We can see that. That’s why we asked ! Is she in the Faraway ?"

Hesitance. Hero looked at his friends. "Wait, do they even know about... can they..." A look asking for permission, then once again annoyingly whispering to Sunny. Who ended up shaking his head no, a twinge of shame on his face.

"That makes sense..." he mumbled, before lifting his gaze and clearing his throat. "She’s... uh, she’s gone."

Silence.

"Where ?" HERO frowned, confused.

Hero looked at his other self in such pity it made the purple teenager’s outline flicker gray for a second.

"Did she... go missing ?"

Aubrey let out a noise of frustation and twinge of agony. "Why can’t you understand ?" She complained. "Do we have to spell it out for you ?"

Sarcasm was not a thing Omori understood just right now in this very moment, so if course AUBREY didn’t either "You can, yes ?"

She earned a grunt.

And a look.

And another grunt.

And a bomb.

"She died."

Omori would’ve rolled his eyes. So much fuss for that ? It wasn’t that big of a deal, really. It wasn’t a big reveal they needed to make last as long as possible before dropping the words.

The purple kids looked at each other, then at their MARI, perplexed.

"What ?" KEL exclaimed. "Uh, no."

Hero made a face of despair, disbelief dripping from his tone everywhere, moving his arms from overwhelming confusion "What do you mean 'no' ?!"

"Well, no she’s not" KEL said as if it was the most evident thing ever said by mankind. "She can’t die, die. That’s a strong word. And she never leaved the picnic so how would she even get to-"

"I give up, I give up, Sunny what the hell did you create why did you..." Hero let himself fall back on the couch, closing his eyes. "I’m out of there."

He stayed there.

"Uh... you’re not moving though ?" KEL tilted his head.

Hero grunted and grabbed a pillow, burrying his head behind it.

"I’m out of this discussion if they don’t understand the concept of death we won’t go far."

If they didn’t... Omori frowned. Of course they did understand the concept of death ? They always neared it in fights, like all the time ? Hello ? If anyone understood death here it was those who experienced it, therefore Omori’s party. Faraway Hero was dumb.

"Faraway MARI’s dead ?" HERO said, frowning, trying to find a sense to a situation he didn’t understand.

"I... assume things for us and you are different, so your MARI must have been able to leave the picnic blanket and accompany you on your quests, despite her bad knee, but.." a short pause. "It’s odd she’s still... I mean, what happened ? Who did you guys fight for her to succumb ?"

The Faraway inhabitants -except Sunny, who was grimacing slightly, cringing for some reason- looked lost as to half the vocabulary HERO employed. Once again, obligatory look amongst themselves and whispering. This time the burden of talking went to Kel.

Really, Omori didn’t understand how hard it could be for them just to get any words out. Talking was easy. They made it look like the mere thought of it chocked them.

"She... had an accident, actually."

"Accident ?" KEL echoed his older duplicate.

"She, uh... fell down the stairs."

Omori waited for the rest. And for the previous context too. The tiny part about Sunny pushing her.

It didn’t come.

Omori’s friends waited for the rest.

"Uh... and then...?" HERO hesitantly asked.

"Uh" Kel nervously laughed. "That’s... basically it. How she died. She fell, and uh... she died."

"By falling down the stairs ?" AUBREY squinted her eyes, trying to understand how such a thing could even happen.

Kel weakly hummed, shrugged. "Yup" he simply popped his mouth, unsure as to what to say now. He shot a breif glance at Sunny.

Odd that he was making sure he was okay when he should despise him.

"That... sucks" KEL grimaced, as awkward as Kel.

That sentence sent Hero into coughing for some reason. Looks like he was listening after all, not having withdrawn in his head. Not very wise of him, now he was chocking.

As if he ran to make electricity in Sprout Mole Village, or if he climbed that Otherworld latter.

If mere words sent him into such a state, Sunny’s stats were not the only ones that sucked in Faraway.

Only Kel was all-powerful. Kel... Kel’s stats must be ones of a level 100 at least. Omori did not even know it was possible to go higher than level 50.

Wait

He got a sudden energy boost. Could he and his friends level up here ? Over level 50 ? Get new skills ? To reach Kel’s level in battle ? Could KEL learn that skill that forcibly petrified Omori ? What kind of skills would Omori himself grow to get ? Hopefully, he’d get better ones than Sunny’s...

As his mood got improved, the Headspace kids seemed to read the room enough to notice their counterparts were not too keen to pursue that specific subject.

And just as Omori’s mood got high, it got crushed by a suggestion he did not even know where came from.

"Well since your MARI’s... uh, dead for now, we can share ours ?"

Oh.

No.

No, no no no no. Nope.

Not happening.

AUBREY, you are very nice and empathic, but that

No

Just no

Omori would NOT share his sister, especially NOT with people such as Sunny.

It was his sister. HIS sister. Sunny had his, and killed her. No way Omori would even let Sunny even speak to MARI.

And where was BASIL going now ?! Wait wait wait no, he was not supposed to leave the blanket, what was going on ?!

He shot a look at HERO, he needed explanations. What was happening ?!

HERO did not pick up. He was too busy talking with the Faraway ones. Who were trying to hold a conversation with MARI.

Omori’s outline flickered red.

Nobody was explaining anything to him.

He jolted up, and grasped BASIL’s wrist, stopping his walk near Polly just before they entered the corridor.

BASIL winced in surprise, turning to his monochrome friend.

"Oh ! What is it, Omori..? Something’s wrong..?"

Omori simply gestured to him, the corridor, then soflty threw his arms up. Where was he going ?

"Oh !" BASIL got the hint. "Where I’m going ?"

A nod.

"Well, Polly wants to go see the other me" BASIL said, shifting his weight on his feets. "I haven’t met him yet, and apparently he doesn't like to be alone a lot so Polly doesn’t want to leave him out. Apparently he’s a little sad right now so maybe I can help ? Is... it’s okay, is it ?"

BASIL’s tone got slightly anxious, and Omori didn’t get why. Of course it was fine ? It was just... he left the blanket just like that, and this wasn’t...

Oh, and it didn’t matter. The house was safe, after all.

Omori nodded, growing tired of the constant noise in the room. Polly and his best friend left, and then he was alone to watch the rest of the two groups merging, focusing on MARI.

Omori didn’t want this to last long. He just wanted to get his friends back in his party and for MARI or BASIL to heal him.

But of course MARI was monopolised by the Faraway ones, simply because they didn’t use their brain and went to fetch their own. BASIL had been taken for his counterpart. Omori’s friends were focused on their counterparts. Their counterparts on MARI. MARI had no space to breathe.

Omori grew more and more frustrated as he looked at the scene, despite how many pokes he gave any of them he wouldn’t get acknowledged. By anyone.

He wanted MARI to sit by his side, he wanted her to chill, he wanted the Faraway teens to just stop thinking they could just "borrow" her, Omori did not agree. It wasn’t fair, Sunny was selfish, he killed his sister and now he was taking Omori’s, he was getting more attention than Omori and this was not fair and Omori could feel himself about to get angry and he did not want it, why didn’t the teenagers just go take their own MARI instead of HIS-

Omori stomped his foot down.

Would he have to do it ?! Did he have to babysit every single person of Faraway ? Show them how things were rightfully done ?!

Fine then !

But they better leave him his sister then ! And help him heal from the damage the stupid Faraway ground did !

He gathered all the strengh he could, and after elaborating a strategy shortly, he grasped HERO’s arm, forcibly making him tag along. He earned a surprised sound, and questions from the boy and his other friends, but he didn’t want to reply in any way. He was too upset for it. He pulled HERO towards the door, because HERO would not get the full hint and simply follow him out, why was that-

...why was older Hero pulling HERO his side too ? Uh, no, HERO would get outside, Omori needed him.

"What are you doing ? Hey ? Kid ? What are you-"

Omori pulled harder on HERO’s arm, causing the purple-ish teen to gasp from surprise and a bit of pain.

"Hey ! Sunny ! Sunny, the kid you is taking kid me, what is he-"

Why was Hero calling Sunny ?! Could this day even get worse ?!

It could. Just as Hero called out, Sunny came closer. Out of everyone, why call Sunny ?!

Oh well at least now he was away from MARI. So it was a plus.

Omori used a moment where Hero dropped HERO’s wrist to point at him to yank HERO out the door.

He was followed by HERO’s yelp, Hero’s "hey !" and Sunny.

Finally, he was out the house. With HERO. Why had it been that hard ?!

Omori looked around. Well, no dandelions. Thankfully he had other things to focus on than his emotion right now.

HERO was asking him what was this about, but he didn’t bother try to explain. He just started walking.

Wait a minute.

Two things stopped Omori.

Hero grasped his arm this time, going in front of him to demand explanations.

Also, Omori had no idea where Faraway Mari even was now.

Bitter, not believing he had to do this, he turned to Sunny.

He sighed heavily.

Today could not get any more frustrating.

Chapter Text

Sunny did not know what Omori’s deal was this time. In fact, now that the kid became sentient somehow he completely lost not only the ability to control him -though technically that one was lost even more earlier-, but also the ability to read through his alter-ego’s intent.

Sunny did not know either if it was safe for Hero to block Omori’s path, given how the latest acted when confronted with obstacles.

Hopefully the monocrome being would register Hero as a huge obstacle -not too hard given the height difference- and would not try and slash the college student. That would not be beneficial at all and life jam was no thing here.

Omori, if he even possessed enough brain cells, would rather go around Hero than through Hero.

...Aaand great looks like he can feel when he’s stared at cause now he’s giving it back, I should not have looked at him, I am so stupid why-

Omori did not look that upset at Hero obscuring his path, but Sunny grant him he never looked anything other than neutral most of the time. Impossible to say how the monocrome kid felt precisely, but he didn’t glow red or any other color.

He looked at Sunny through his dead eyes. For a bit of long time.

What’s that about...?

Sunny kept himself from walking backwards when his younger self took a few steps forward to be face to face with him. Not that he’d do anything, right ? Plus Hero was there in case, and Sunny was ready to bet Hero would do much more damage with his bare fists than him with a mental violin.

So, Sunny waited. And Omori kept staring.

"Okay, Sunny, uh... got a clue on why he’s acting like that ? I mean he is you, kinda ?"

Sunny shook his head, and went back to giving Omori’s stare back after shortly glancing at his friend with a sorry look.

Does he want a rematch of the staring contest or something ?

No, it couldn’t be that, if it was, Omori would’ve pulled Sunny out, not HERO.

Which was odd, because why on earth would Omori take only HERO out and leave the rest of his friends ? And what was the goal of that ?

Granted, there was a lot of noise inside Basil’s living room, with the overlapping discussions and random words thrown at the poor MARI. It hurt Sunny’s head to, so maybe Omori wanted fresh air ?

No, it made no sense. If that was the case he wouldn’t have brought HERO, and Sunny knew Omori would normally never leave his friends and sister alone in a place he wasn’t at. Especially with the looks he gave everyone as they all crouded MARI.

So what was it ? It was hard to say as he just stared into the kid’s eyes.

And the kid stared into his eye, more and more intensly.

What. Did he have something weird on the face ? Was Omori confused about the eyepatch ?

Oh, come on, what was that about ? Sunny sighed.

It’s not by making your gaze more and more insistent that I’m gonna magically guess whatever the hell you’re trying to say to m-

Omori kicked Sunny.

Not that hard, barely a poke, but did that matter ? No. What mattered to Sunny was the agression. Because it was. An agression.

Hero looked about to say something, mouth open and finger in the air as he gazed over the two boys, but Sunny did not take the time to care about that.

He poked Omori in return.

And earned the most offensed face he had ever seen on the other’s face.

What ? I’ve barely gave more than you did me ! Don’t act as if I-

He received another poke, but this time rather than his index, Omori used his whole palm to hit Sunny’s chest. The kid’s eyes clearly expected a reaction.

And oh boy, no matter why he suddenly wanted one from him, he’d get one. He was really started to get angry. And he never wanted to get angry if he could avoid it. Being angry just pushed him to do things he regretted, but in this case, pushing Omori was nothing like pushing anyone else.

So he did. Not with all his strengh, but with enough to send the kid a few steps back. Hopefully this will get the message through Omori’s thick skull to stop bothering Sunny, because Sunny just wanted to-

A now red-glowing Omori mirrored Sunny’s attack, and despite the height and age difference, Sunny nearly fell down.

Perhaps Omori being in better health at 12 than him at 16 played a part.

Anyways, that sent Sunny above the slight annoyance he felt and straight up shoved Omori to the ground, the latest tripping backwards and nearly onto the road.

Hero let out a concerned yelp, watching out for any potential car. HERO quickly dashed to help Omori back to his feet, but the boy was fulminating, red glow having deepened.

He reached in his pocket, and Sunny braced himself. So that was gonna happen now ? Okay, okay. Not that he was ready, but he had beaten that kid before, he could do it twice ! He prepared himself to swing a punch, and-

-got restrained by Hero the moment Omori got his wrist grabbed by HERO.

Sunny tried to trash around enough to get out of the older one’s grip, but quickly gave up, going limp and making noises of protest. Should he bite Hero to try and lunge at Omori ?

On the other side, HERO was doing his best to make Omori chill. He was showing the kid one, two and three dandelions, which after a good 10 seconds of trying to yank his wrist out the teen’s grasp, Omori took, sat and stared intensly at before blowing at them respectively.

Once Hero felt like Sunny wouldn’t try and throw his younger self under a car, he let go off him, not without giving him a quick light scold about the place they were in - the road.

"I know anger is hard to manage, but this.. uh, is a lot for just a few pokes ? Why did you react like that ? " Hero then gently tried to ask Sunny.

Sunny grew more mature in the time he spent away from everyone, wether awake when a shut in or in his new house. Or, he liked to think he did.

But he chose to ignore that question, pissed about Omori’s mere existence. He crossed his arms, pouting.

"Well now that’s more like how you acted when you were angry years ago." Hero sighed. He then looked at Omori and his double, before gazing back at Sunny in silence for a good 10 seconds.

"Why do I feel like you’re hiding something from us ? About him ?" He gestured at Omori.

Sunny nearly choked on nothing. What was there to hide about Omori and him ? Nothing !

Well, a lot. Actually.

But that part didn’t affect his friends ! Therefore it didn’t matter !

"Not hiding anything." Sunny mumbled.

Hero raised a brow. "Really ? Then why does it look you’re upset at kid you ?"

Sunny flinched. Wait, was he that easy to read ?! How did Hero even- if he couldn't hide his emotions properly anymore he was pretty much doomed.

Why ?

...

Sunny escaped that question as soon as it echoed in his own mind.

Sunny once again displayed his maturity by ignoring Hero’s question yet again.

Before feeling bad.

"It’s nothing. Important." He tried to dismiss.

Clearly, Hero didn’t believe a word of that, but he let it slide for some reason. He walked towards Omori, mumbling something about "yet again being the mediator for a bickering such as Kel and Aubrey’s".

Sunny and Omori heard it, and both were very displeased by the comparaison.

Bickering ?! That kid tried to make me jump off the damn- AUGH-

Hero then kneeled down to Omori, who purposefully got up at this moment.

Probably just to annoy you. See, he’s a pain, right ? Sunny ironically said in thought.

Maybe Omori wasn’t actually doing any actual wrong right now, but Sunny felt bitter about him now. Just as much as he felt bitter about himself, how he turned out, so that said a bunch.

Omori represented so much of himself that Sunny was ashamed of, wanted and had cast away, but Omori clearly wanted to remind Sunny of what he did, making him cringe and choke in shame.

Wait was that his goal then ?! Kill him with shame ? Was that even possib-

"Why did you hit Sunny ?"

Sunny held the bitter laugh.

Had he not learned from the pizza "discussion" with the black and white entity ? He wouldn’t get a word out of him.

But Hero, resilient as he was, kept trying. Under Sunny’s pained for him, HERO’s half confused and Omori’s blank gaze.

"Why did you get your HERO out and then hit Sunny ?"

Silence. Hero didn’t give up though.

"Are you angry at Sunny ? You know hitting isn’t the solution, communication is good. So why don’t you say what Sunny did that upset you ?"

Omori was looking at Hero like he was the stupidest person on earth.

As if you expect him to know your reasoning for whatever it is you brought us here ?!

After a few more talking attempts to a silent Omori, Hero sighed yet again and got up from kneeling, facing HERO.

"Is he always like this..?"

HERO tilted his head slightly, confused. "Like what..?"

"Silent. Refusing to talk. Is it because he’s upset ?"

"He’s... not upset though ?" HERO still glanced at Omori as if not fully sure. "And what do you mean by he’s refusing to talk ?"

"He’s literally not speaking to me ?"

"You’re... expecting him to talk ?"

If Hero wasn’t tired before then he definitely was now. "Yes ?"

"Oh" HERO simply said. Then he watched Hero resume trying to get words out of Omori, not knowing what to say.

Sunny did the same, beginning to question himself about if he should just tell the uni student to drop it and stop trying.

"So, uh... what’s happening ? Why did you do that ?"

Omori kept silent, kept staring. He blinked more and more, and then at some point got closer, and intensly looked into Hero’s eyes.

Hero grew confused. "What... is he doing exactly...?"

He turned to Sunny, who shook his head and shrugged. I don’t know either.

Hero took his chance with HERO. "Do you know ?"

Another shrugg.

And then Omori stomped his foot, red outline flimmering once again.

What ?

He tried and looked into HERO’s eyes, blinking, and when HERO lifted his hand motioning he didn’t get it, Omori walked towards Hero, tugged on his shirt to get him to look down at him, repeaded the process of staring.

Same thing.

"Sorry, I don’t understand ?"

Omori was now visibly upset. He looked at the ground, kicked the ground before sighing heavily.

What ? Why are you acting like we’re supposed to know what you’re up to ?

Sunny was pissed too, Omori was trowing a tantrum for some reason.

The kid walked up to Sunny, and reluctantly did the same thing he did with the two Hero’s : staring expectantly into his eye.

Sunny frowned. It won’t change the outcome no matter how many times you do that.

Visibly Omori ended up getting that, as he sighed sharply, turned around, walked towards the entrance of the house before flipping and holding his hand out for them not to move. He then ran into the house.

Hero, HERO and Sunny looked at each other, all shrugging, sharing a perplexed silence.

Soon after, a few voices of protestation rose from inside, and Omori emerged with MARI.

She waved at them, not too sure about her brother’s deal either. "Uh- hi there ?"

Sunny frowned at Omori. He should stop pulling her by the wrist, he did not like Omori doing that. Well, he liked nothing Omori did today, but this more than anything. Mari was prescious, did Omori just assume he could make her do whatever he wanted ?

Said pre-teen the presented MARI, and with both arms dramatically gestured to her, then rose his hands, turning as he motioned to the space around, then back at MARI.

Sunny tilted, and his stomach dropped.

"He... asks where Mari is."

Omori visibly de-tensed, poiting at Sunny in a "FINALLY." energy, before crossing his arms.

It would’ve been easier if you just talked yourself ! Don’t give us that attitude, you... UGH.

Hero got uncomfortable as soon as Sunny translated. "Oh, uh..."

He diverted the topic quickly. "Can’t he talk...? Is he mute ?" The young adult turned to the two purple teens, wincing for a split second when his gaze landed on the girl.

"Uh... well, he never did ?" HERO recalled.

It only seemed to bother him a little, while Hero’s mouth was agape.

"So he can’t talk ?! But... what"

Hero’s day was visibly more than killing every ounce of logic he had at a rapid pace.

"No, he can talk." Sunny spat out, bitter. It was no lie, and if Omori wanted to express anything then he’d talk. No way Sunny would be a translator. Too bad if it inconvenienced his alter ego. If it was the case, then Sunny would take it as vengeance.

After all, if Omori could say all he told Sunny, then he could form actual sentences.

What are you looking at me like that for ?! You know you can, and you know better than anyone I know you can. He shot a blunt gaze at the monocrome kid.

He earned a kick, and the smaller version of him pointed his finger at MARI, then the road.

"Why ?" He asked, crossing his arms. He was ready to argue, really.

But someone didn’t let that happen.

A gentle hand landed on his shoulder, and Sunny froze.

Oh, it didn’t feel like those numerous hallucinations or things he experienced, but the person doing this had not physically done it for years and it took all he had in him not to jump out of his skin.

"Hey" MARI softly said, gently smiling. "I’m sure he means no harm, okay ? And, maybe what he wants to show could be a good thing ? It won’t cost anything to give it a try, right Sunny ?"

Sunny begged her not to say the thing he knew she’d say.

"Well" she chuckled "All it does costs is..."

Please, please do not-

"...your love !"

Sunny mentally dissolved.

Hero once again made a choking sound, and HERO pat his back in worry.

Omori looked upset.

Sunny must’ve made a weird face because a flash of concerned went through MARI’s face. She mouthed "you okay ?", which to he nodded the less convincing way ever.

His braincell were just cooked more than his steak ever could be. Why did that sentence, directed towards him in that moment, wrecked him like that ?

He did not know.

Fog clouded his brain, and he mechanically took the lead, and began walking away from the flowered house. He turned to see if the rest followed, and upon getting what that meant, Omori looked satisfied. Hero went behind Sunny, and Omori tagged behing the man, MARI then HERO on his trail.

He might as well go to the cemetary. It wasn’t like whatever Omori wanted from a grave would kill Mari again, or hurt her in any way.

Why he wanted to go there was as unclear as the lake’s water in the secret hideout, but eh. If it meant he’d stop trying to pull everyone one away from MARI, okay.

It wasn’t the real Mari, of course, but she was close enough for Sunny’s friends. Them, they even might not really see the twinge of modification Sunny made, and she had no reason to display -or in this case, no display- any perfectionist traits. Not that it’d matter.

Since in a sense they randomly got Mari back. Well, a Mari-like MARI.

Wow, Sunny’s thoughts sure were coherent and normal.

They arrived at the church, and a peek through confirmed Sunny’s suspicions : since it was Sunday, a sermon was curently happening.

And if he learned anything from the last time he barged into one, it was that he shouldn’t and should wait unti-

Omori pushed the doors and went into the building the moment Sunny spent too long in front of the doors.

Omori NO DON’T-

Now Sunny understood how Kel must’ve felt when he witnessed him breaking through without being able to catch him before he slipped in. And very similar to that day, Sunny sighed and nervously entered followed by the rest -the two Hero’s and MARI-, bracing himself to hear the comments he’d get.

Hopefully they forgot about me by now...

As he made his way through the aisles, the whispers he heard in the awkward silence made clear they in fact, had not forgotten him.

He blocked out the glances, voices, and let Hero do the job of whispering apologies to the priest when they passed near him before pushing the doors to the graveyard.

Once they all passed the doors, Omori looked at Sunny blankly, and the latest shot an annoyed look back.

He wants to make me starve, push me into traffic and now die from shame and embarrassment ?! Better and better, uh ?

The eyepatched boy ignored the kid, focused on processing or ignoring the sinking feeling he got now that he was surrounded by graves, and would soon be near the one of the person he took the life of. Wether he’d push it down or allow it to scratch the surface would depend on the strength of the emotion.

Right now it was bareable, but it would be really easier if Omori would stop...

...doing whatever it is that he was doing.

Sunny heard Hero take a shaky breath, MARI ask if he was okay, the low positive response, a whisper from HERO to MARI he couldn’t decode, and after a second of gathering the courage, he walked towards his sister’s grave, peculiar party on his trail.

Once in front of it, he stopped and stood, unsure of what to do now. He detailed the flowers. The egret orchid was still there, in pretty well state, surprisingly. Unlike the bouquet he had bought on the last day.

Figures... the fact the egret was in a pot and the bouquet’s flowers weren’t probably played a part. ...very probably even.

Anyways. Enough plant reflection.

But he wanted to focus, but on what exactly ? He was there now, and he still didn’t know why. He was by Mari’s grave.

With... the MARI from his dreams.

And a version of himself he spent years hidding behind. And Hero, plus his dream world counterpart Sunny crafted.

A weird set of visitors, really.

They were there with no purpose.

Sunny eyed the grave, a pinch in his heart as he read the words on the stone. "Our dearest Mari. The sun shined brighter when she was here."

He knew she was dead. He had grown to accept it in those few months. But it still, seeing her grave...

It was... more than odd.

He knew that she was dead. It was real, it felt real now, with all the pain it came with.

But now that he had that purple MARI next to him, glancing at her 'own' grave, it just felt irreal again.

Well, not like the whole situation made any sense, technically.

HERO was looking at the headstone too, but with the biggest amount of confusion Sunny had seen on his face through Omori’s or his own eyes combined.

"So uh... Faraway Mari is... where ?"

The younger HERO looked at Hero then Sunny, shifting his weight on each feet as he nervously waved for a second at a curious old bearded man peeking at them.

Sunny simply pointed at the ground under the grave.

Come on, I know there’s no grave in Headspace, but he... well. It shouldn’t be a surprise he doesn’t not, actually. Ugh. Why didn’t I give them that knowledge, it would have prevented me to have to...

Wait but no they were still not supposed to be more than dreams.

Sunny resisted the urge to facepalm at his own thoughts.

No but they were. They were that other reality I made up where death was no thing, while this was the dream or something. But still. Why did they have to spawn here.

Whatever. Not like things could somehow get any weirder from now on, right ? The worse had been long passed, now that they visited Mari, they’d go back to Basil’s soon, it was starting to rain, they had not brought any umbrella, Sunny would gather the little squad and head back, now just what was Omori doi-

Hero screamed.

And not that Sunny didn’t want to do the same, simply his voice quacked as he was proven this day could, in fact, get not only weirder but worse.

Out of everything Omori could've done with the exact precise whereabouts of Mari('s body), he began to dig.

The ground.

Over her grave.

And he was damn effective and fast too, sending chuncks of dirt fly and land on the others.

"What are you doing ?! Stop ! STOP !" Hero yanked Omori backwards.

The kid steadied his feet in the ground, tensed to keep himself in place and pushed Hero away. The doctor to be stumbled on his butt, his balance lost easier as his feelings clearly weakened him. Poor Hero. After the day he’s had, I can’t blame him.

Sunny realised he was just as wrecked by Omori’s behaviour the second he had the thought of Hero’s emotions punching him.

Speaking of punching, that’s what Hero tried to do to the kid. Only Omori did expect it, and summoned a huge red hand to push Hero back as he resumed his absolutely okay actions.

Sunny would’ve stopped him but he was frozen in place, whole body aching from an emotion he couldn’t put a name onto. All he knew it wasn’t a pleasant one and was in the fear area. But end result was : he was so shocked he could not utter a move, as if cursed to watch the scene unfold in front of him.

Oh, how similar did that feel. He couldn’t place the other moments he felt that

for the sole reason he couldn’t

Think

About anything, really

Except what he saw. One positive thing

Was that he didn’t exactly feel any emotion ?

Just blank static running accross all his body

As his brain filled with fog

He saw the images in front of him, but processing

He couldn’t right now

Hero was yelling words at Omori

Omori was willing more and more hands into existense to assist him in his deed

"Why would you put toast in the ground ?" HERO asked.

"WHAT THE ACTU- TOAST- BUT- TELL HIM TO STOP, HE’S..." Hero replied.

Hero tried to restrain Omori the second he broke free from the hand.

Omori commanded the hand to plaster Hero on the ground.

Hero screamed in response to that.

Hero also transhed around in response to that.

MARI was trying to explain Omori was trying to help.

"HOW IS DIGGING UP HER C... CORPSE GOING TO HELP ?!" Hero asked, and so did Sunny ask himself.

Omori was really digging fast.

Well, the red hands were numerous.

Forteen huge extra limbs would tend to help, Sunny figured.

Sunny felt very far away.

HERO was trying to stop Hero’s trashing.

MARI was trying to explain something Sunny didn’t hear to that old bearded man.

Hero was yelling.

The church’s bells were ringing.

Probably that was why nobody was coming to see why was Hero yelling.

The sound of the now pourring rain wouldn’t help either.

Omori used his crimson hands to pull the casket from the hole it was in.

Sunny felt like he was punched in the stomach very very very hard

The boy’s sense all came back to him violently, and as he realised what Omori would very likely do, he let out a weird hoarse complaint that strained his throat further than it already was, and he dashed forward.

No no no no no what the hell is wrong with you you can’t do this you

And then Sunny punched Omori in the stomach very very very hard.

-----

Omori had the least trouble in the world catching Sunny’s fist.

Now that was really growing to be annoying.

First, he had to handle everyone crouding MARI. Now, they were all crying like that would bring back their Mari and preventing him to do so ?!

What was with these people ?

He knew Sunny was one thing to deal with, that he was incoherent with the way he could just decide to change his mind, but all of them ?!

Omori swung back, and unlike Sunny his fist landed on his target : Sunny’s face.

It sent the eyepatched older him away, and for good mesure, Omori commanded a hand to hold him as well. The others weren’t needed anymore just now, so he got them to dissolve into his back.

He sighed.

So much trouble for what ?

For a big box of wood. In the ground.

Well that was one convenient place to put a toast.

Only positive thing, it wouldn’t be rotten and soaked or anything from being in the ground for that long.

Still, it was a weird idea to put toast underground.

What was even weirder was that they left her dead.

He knew Sunny was not the brightest. After all, Sunny killed Mari.

Not a bright thing to do.

Sunny let his emotions control him.

Not a bright thing to do.

Sunny used emotions outside of battle.

Not a bright thing to do.

Sunny probably never thought of restocking life jam.

Not a bright thing to do.

Sunny probably didn’t keep any clams.

Not a bright thing to do.

Omori sighed, willed red hands to force the box open.

...not a bright thing to do.

Omori’s nose instantly squinted at the horrid smell that literally attacked him.

He coughed, even. That’s how horrid it was.

Now, where did it come from ?

The box ?

But there was just toast inside, it made no sense, unless toast smelled like that here which would suck, Omori looked downward peeking in the wood and

...

Okay.

Okay.

It wasn’t toast.

Definitely not toast.

He heard a hoarse deep yell, a slightly higher yelp, a rush to his side and witnessed Hero’s face turn pale as he gazed at the box’s content.

Not a second later the young adult was spillig his stomach’s contents two steps aside.

Omori rolled his eyes.

Now that was exagerated.

He went back to looking at the...

The what ?

It somehow resembled MARI, but like one of those Black Space variants.

Or, even Sunny himself in some pictures of that Blacker Space than Black space. Or simply how he saw himself in that room’s mirror a tiny bit before reminiscing the whole truth.

Well, by "it resembled Sunny at those moments" meant "the skin of the thing resembled Sunny’s at those moments." Without the blood all over her, though, but the skin did look gross. It somewhat resembled and old parchemin, and here and there the extremities looked darker or even burned. Huh. Gross.

It smelled bad, that he had already noted, but it smelled so bad he’d not it twice.

Around the... girl ? thing ? Mari ??? Were brown rotten little things folded on themselves.

The girl ? thing ? Mari ??? had a white -well, he assumed it used to be white, because now it was really dirty- dress, stained pretty much everywhere with brown-ish... ??? Whatever.

She had hair too, but Omori was almost 100% sure that if he touched it it would not feel like hair.

He kept looking at... it ? Her ? Mari ??? with morbid curiosity.

Hero curled away, winning as he was curled into a ball and looked at Omori with an angry heavy and tear filled look.

Sunny was pretty much doing the same, hiding his head into his knees, hands over his eyes. He wasn’t worth looking at, he was in his own thing right now and would likely not be a bother.

MARI and HERO were concerned about the smell and HERO approached when Omori motioned him to.

The random old guy, having witnessed the whole scene, was, well, there.

A quick evaluation told Omori he wouldn’t be a bother for some reason, not that he really minded anyway, and he reported his attention to HERO.

The teenager’s face displayed utter terror and disgust when he caught a glimpse of the thing ? Girl ? Mari ??? in the box.

And Omori noted for the thrid time how bad it did smell.

HERO looked eager to pull away, but not before doing what they came here for. Omori kept a grip on the older boy’s grip, and expectantly gestured towards the box’s content, then MARI, and made another gesture towards the thing ? girl ? Mari ???.

HERO looked as if Omori just asked him to marry Sweetheart.

But hey. If that meant afterwards the Faraway iterations would leave MARI alone, he was willing to sacrifice a few seconds of comfort of his friends.

Plus he’d just have to pull some strings and erase that moment from his brain if it was too much of an inconvenience. He could fix it just like that, so it didn’t matter in the slightest.

So, reluctantly, HERO used his homemade Jam skill, and made Life Jam.

Nice, looked like they could use their skills out of combat here.

Well, not like HERO needed that skill out of battle anyways.

HERO looked at Omori.

"Please don’t make me" he mouthed.

Omori rose a brow. Well... HERO had the skill. Omori didn’t. So... he had to.

HERO knew this.

So, he heavily sighed, breath going out shaky. "Okayyy..."

He closed his eyes, grimacing as he put Jam all over the girl ? thing ? Mari ???

Huh. It... didn’t ease the sent.

And great, Hero was screaming at the top of his lungs again now.

Come on ! What was so shocking about what they were doing ?!

It was starting to get really annoying !

"What the fuck, what the fuck, I’m b-begging you stop, this is a nightmare this has to be this-" Hero cried.

Well. The Faraway citizens were all dumb. And odd.

Omori sighed, and went back to looking at HERO, who was finishing putting Jam literally everywhere he could.

With his eyes closed.

Ugh.

It’d take longer if he didn’t look.

Omori snatched the Jam pot, yanked the butter knife away -HERO gladly scooted away, going to MARI for comfort talking about something more terrifying than spiders-, and Omori emptied the bottle, spreading the jam around.

The texture of the jam was gross, and the texture of the thing ? girl ? Mari ???’s skin underneath didn’t feel better, but that was quicker.

Come on.

He wondered how Faraway Mari would look like. She was 19, right ? Since Faraway Hero was 19 too. The Faraway ones were four years older, and Omori had seen how they looked, but he hadn’t seen Mari. For obvious reasons.

So, he focused on making her alive again, since no one else bothered to do so and of course he had to do it himself as if he was the only one with a brain in the world and even worlds at this point, and also he was hoping it’d be quick now because the rain had now completely drenched him, his hands felt sticky and would likely stink and he was not looking forward to keep that scent as long as he had kept that bitterness in his throa-

He was almost blinded by the sudden light that flashed from under his hands, and with a surprised gasp jolted away, landing in the grass. He took the opportunity to wipe his hands thoroughly.

---

The first thing she acknowledged, or noticed, was the smell.

What the hell ?!

Horrible would barely scratch the mere surface of it. She smelled it everywhere, it was coming from everywhere.

She wanted the smell gone right now. It made her eyes sting. And they were closed.

The second thing she became aware of was the sounds. It was raining, but that wasn’t what held her attention. Somebody was crying. Sobbing.

As if engrained into her very core, the sound shook her and automatically, her eyes shot open, concern flashing through her.

Who was crying ? What happ-

The sudden brightness blinded her for a few seconds.

She blinked, getting used to the light. Which was the third thing she became aware of.

The question of where she was lingered in her mind, but all thought got momentarily blown away like the breeze and rain she felt on her, diming the scent for a split moment.

...why was that black and white version of Sunny looking at her ?

She frowned on the spot. This face did not mean anything good. And last time she got a glimpse of him through Sunny’s mind when she stayed around in Headspace, this entity was not the kindest. Was she back in Headspace ?

Oh, no... that would’ve meant Sunny-

The sky was gray and rain was pouring.

...okay, where even was sh-

She felt the wood beneath her, fourth thing she became aware of, and rather quickly regained feeling in all her limbs. And felt a sticky substance on all her body, red-ish jam-like texture that she noticed with a glance down her body. Also, that dress was everything but okay to wear in any other context than a Halloween party.

She sat up

She felt slightly heavier than...

Last time she had a body.

Oh, like last time she took on that purple MARI’s. She smiled and waved at her, and should probably thank her now that she got her own back.

...

Wait.

"WHAT THE FU-"

---

Omori did not expect the older Mari to straight up burst his eardrums.

Also, he didn’t think she’d swear as her first 'back to the land of the living' words. Perhaps a 'thank you' or something near that field.

But swearing ?

Did ALL the Faraway iterations succumbed to emotion as simply as that ?

Even Mari...?

Well. That must suck for them. But if they were weak like that, no wonder stuff happened to them.

He watched Mari exit her woden box thingy on wobbly legs, almost trip, stand for a few seconds, and walk with the most dubious balance Omori had ever been given to witness in his four years of existence, walk near the source of constant sobbing -Hero- and just stand there.

"What the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck, Jam, he just pourred jam all over you, he just pourred jam all over you, now you're alive, what the fuck..." And with that Hero just ful,y broke down, like, physically. He collapsed, and Mari caught him.

Dumb decision. Now Hero was covered in smelly sticky jam everywhere.

And Mari did not help that fact by wrapping her arms around Hero, and patting his hair.

Sure, the soothing words may potentially end up calming Hero at some point, but the fact the man was now just... jammed was...

Well, he had jam all over him.

In his hair.

Omori felt physical discomfort at the mere thought of getting jam in his own hair, so Hero’s pain would be atrocious for him to go through.

Ew.

Omori looked somewhere else. His job there was done, now he’d like to go back to Polly’s. The blanket was good, and the 'hot chocolate', however you’d heat up a chocolate was, he wanted to know. Also try out the healing items Polly apparently possessed.

Jam and scratched on his hands did not work, even after wiping off the red mixture.

He glanced at his friends. They were okay. Well, they tried to explain to the man what had happened, and he caugh the words from him "you can’t leave that grave dug out you’ll get in legal troubles".

Omori didn’t comprehend the 'legal' part, and the tone it was said with reminded him of Mr. Jawsum’s vision of the world for some reason, but he understood 'trouble' so he figured he’d erase what he had done.

He summoned his hands again, shoved the box inside the hole, gathered the dirt -and now mud- and did the same. The area was obviously weird compared to the other stones, so he sent a few hands grab grass in the area behind the stone with Mari’s name, and put the grass over the returned earth.

Omori found himself very pleased with the result.

"That... will have to do" he heard the man mumble. "Now if you’ll excuse me I’ll return to having a normal day" he went away.

Most normal and useful interaction of the day.

And Omori didn’t even think this sarcastically. The man had provided info that if they didn’t hide their evidence, they’d get in trouble, and then left. No question asked, no dramatic response.

Perfect.

Now, he had to do the last annoying thing before being able to go on with his day in a way he’d like.

He went to Sunny, still curled into a ball, and kicked his sides.

He got a pained hiss mixed with a cry, and a "what was that for ?!" look.

So he gestured at the freshly revived -less fresh smelling though- Mari, healthy looking 19 year old Mari he literally pulled out from the dirt for him and feeling like he was handing him her on a silver plate.

And yes, he will admit it : Omori exepcted praise.

After all, he did revive his sister. Not that the gesture was alien to him, he revived his friends all the time, but he revived Mari for Sunny despite the fact Sunny deserved death more than he deserved to get the chance to get Mari alive again as a way to make it up for it.

Omori knew as much as Sunny death was the only correct thing he deserved, yet he had offered Sunny the brighest life ever, swooched all his mistakes away offering him the cleanest slate ever.

So yes. He expected -and deserved- praise.

Didn’t matter in what form. Just acknowledgement, and a break from that upset look he had since he dared exist in Sunny’s presence like that was the most offensive thing he could ever do.

...But no.

Sunny didn’t give him the deserved praise. He didn’t even look at Omori. He stared.

Well, not at Omori, but at Mari.

He stared, mouth agape, frozen so still he couldn’t even be seen breathing.

So much for a thank you.

Omori turned around, kicking the ground.

Nobody appreciated him. Nobody appreciated his actions and it was not fair, Omori just solved every possible problem Sunny had, but no, that was not enough to be appreciated, not that he cared about Sunny’s view on him, but nobody even thanked him for what he just did.

Arms were wrapped around him and he felt his head be pat. He registerer who it was the millisecond before he pried the person off with all violence he could muster, and sighed as he let himself lean into his sister.

"Thank you for having done that, little brother" she softly said.

Ah. Praise gladly accepted.

He warmth was comforting, after all the rain.

Though, he expected for his annoyance to fully be wiped out by her embrace. A deep pinch in his chest lingered, which he hated.

What was that about ?

He put it on the cold that was beginning to get at him again.

Of course it wasn’t any emotion. Tsk. What would that even be ? A new one ?

Of course not. That wouldn’t be useful.

He got out from the embrace, and tried to gather the people around to go back to where they were before. He was cold. The thing was done. Therefore, he wanted to go back.

But visibly, Mari, Sunny and Hero were too visibly occupied crying their hearts out -great now Sunny was covered in jam. When did he even get up, that was a mistery, but now he was being squeezed in Mari’s arms with Hero suffering the same fate-, so Omori just stood there, waiting for that to be over.

It lasted long.

Too long to his eyes, but of course not that they’d judge him worthy of a glance to know he wanted out.

Mari ended up sneezing, and that was the thing that decided Hero to head back.

No no. Not Omori, Omori who had just fixed all the issues ever. Not Omori who still hadn’t gotten his thank you’s. Not Omori, who was soaked wet.

But because Mari sneezed then it was the end of the world, and now they had to walk fast and head back.

Of course they had to go and climb up the fence to exit the graveyard, because Hero gave an excuse like what "the church peope might freak out". For some reason. Tsk.

It was all for Mari, nothing was for Omori, uh ?

Yup. Nothing.

At least they were heading back home, hopefully to people who’d recognise Omori’s actions.

That hot chocolate thing better be good, because he was sure he could blow all the dandelions he wanted, he’d still feel bitter about this.

They walked in the street a bit, before stopping midway.

Omori heavily sighed. What now ?!

Would they talk, no, cry for a thousand years again ?!

He really should’ve ran when he pulled HERO out. Like that he wouldn’t have had to pull the emotional burden Sunny and Hero were, and maybe Mari wouldn’t have cried upon seeing them and would have kept that in for when they’d be somewhere warm and dry.

Great. Now she was looking at him again.

What was her deal ? Her gaze was unreadable.

Omori returned her glaring by his signature blank look.

Whatever reason that was she had to glance at him every now and then and now stare like that, he didn’t care.

All that mattered was to go to Polly’s place, and to finally have his sister for him.

...

And that hot chocolate thingy.

Chapter Text

To say Mari was confused would obviously be an understatement.

Though, she felt like some other people would be more confused than her.

Hero, who was right next to her, as a start. He was a pretty good example.

Poor Hero didn’t know anything about the Headspace functioning.

She knew the basics, and despite not knowing how the hell she was back, well, she got life-jamed back to life, she understood the obscure logic behind why jam could revive. She knew the concept of LIFE jam. Hero didn’t have that explanation, and less knowledge than her. She understood a tad more.

What she did not understand was how it manage to work in the real world.

Or how was Omori in the real world.

And the purple versions of her and friends.

She had stopped walking the moment she comprehended barging into Basil’s house -thanks to other her for the whereabouts of their destination and the context- would not do any good, at least in the state she was in right now.

And hell, was she nervous about seeing the others again too.

It took a lot in her not to shake as much as Hero was. She could feel it through the fingers of her right hand holding his, and by glancing at him she saw the look he had. He was barely hanging by a thread, and that man needed to chill or he’d break down. ...again.

Seeing him like that...

She never wanted to see anyone like that again.

And if that was the reaction to seeing her, she didn’t want to see the other’s just then.

She wouldn’t be able to stay calm either. And she needed to be calm. In that moment, at that moment where she’d see all the others again.

Just as she needed to stay calm, strong for her brother and her...

...and Hero.

Can I still consider him my boyf-

She shoved this question away. It was literally. the worst. time. to ask herself such futile things. She had more important things to worry about than her silly question about how he percieved her now that she was supposed to be dead.

But got back to life.

Anyways.

As so immensely futile as it was, the heartache it slammed her with was a nail slammed through her slim cracked wall of composure, and she needed to keep it up long enough.

For Hero.

For Sunny.

Oh, Sunny.

He had never asked for any of this. None of them had, but all he had to bear because of one single mistake, of that sick twisted addition of circumstances...

She wished she could take it all back. That she could’ve just went back in time and scream some sense into her 15 year old self instead of lashing out from frustration at her little brother. Her anger wasn’t even directed at him. She always was the one to preach about the necessity of properly talking things out, never to bottle up emotions and share what upsetted oneself to others; always the one to insist on the effects that could have, how destructive it could get and could lead to saying or doing things you didn’t mean. And yet, she had not applied to herself that lesson she teached all her friends.

She was always the one to tell Sunny not to push away his fears, for that would just worsen and delay the issues, make the fears come back worse every time he’d try and face them, that he didn’t have to face them all alone, that she’d always be by his side if he needed help.

She was always the one to tell Aubrey she was allowed to be mad that her parents weren’t treating her right, that it didn’t make her a bad kid for being angry, and expressing her anger, talking about it to trusted ones wouldn’t result in her being left alone, that she’d always be by her side if she needed help.

She always told Kel it was okay to be scared, to cry, because he didn’t have to put on a show to be taken seriously, or not cast aside for being 'too childish' to have such emotions, that emotions were okay, everyone had the negative ones, that he wouldn’t get mocked because he didn’t want to get on that ride in the park or have nightmares after that one horror movie watched in secret; and that these emotions weren’t only felt by kids anyways, that she’d always be by his side if he needed help.

She was always the one to tell Basil times and times again that he didn’t have to keep acting cheerful and happy if he wasn’t feeling good, that locking himself in the bathroom in secret to have nobody witness the often violent explosion of repressed sadness or stress while he didn’t tell anyone how bad he felt to avoid burdening them would not only not help him in the moment, but also worsen the issue; that everybody had good days and bad days, and being on bad days wouldn’t result in abandonement the second he’d break out of his positive attitude, that he could ask for comfort and that it’d be okay, and he should not respress his stress or it would blow up sooner or later, with possibly dangerous consequences, that she’d always be by his side if he needed help.

She was always the one to tell Hero he did not have to keep up the good grades, that he didn’t have to please his parents, to promise he’d drop out of his hobbies for a more serious future soon, overall that he could simply take breaks and allow himself to just be who he was around her and the others. That she’d love him even if he wasn’t picture perfect, that it was okay to not be loved by everyone; and that being loved by everyone was actually impossible, and trying to achieve such a thing would just ruin Hero more than anything. That she would always be by his side if he needed help.

And yet, she had never applied none of these words to herself.

She never let go off her fear of failing, letting it control her rather than facing and processing it correctly. She knew what she was doing would damage her in the long run, but she ignored it.

She never allowed herself to get upset at her parents for the amount of pressure they put her and Sunny through, for the sake of showing off their kids in front of the whole town at the recital. She made up excuses for them, that 'they just tried to assure them a bright, successful future and were helping by showing how hard work would pay off', or similar shit. She knew deep down thay what they were doing was wrong and damaging to Sunny and her, but she ignored it.

She never allowed herself to be sad or stressed about her mistakes in a way that would allow her to fix the issues, all she did was stay in that frustration growing at each new mistakes she made, that Sunny made, that she made by not properly explaining how the melody went at this or that part, that he missed the tempo because she wasn’t clear enough. She felt stupid for getting worked up so easily and didn’t want to show it in front of anyone, not her parents, not her friends; not even Sunny, the other part of the duo of the waltz. All for the sake of looking like she knew what she was doing, to look like she knew what she was doing and never complained despite the difficulties, because this song was difficult, but of course she wanted to prove herself and expected herself to do it right. She knew this wouldn’t help her and would turn the rehearsals into a chore rather than hobby, but she ignored it.

She never talked to anyone about how stressed she was, how that anxiety grew the closer and closer the date grew by, thinking that Sunny was already stressed enough for both of them. She kept it inside, barely allowing herself to let a few silent tears of frustration out at night when she was sure everyone slept soundly enough, assuring herself she wouldn’t keep up this work ethic the next time they’d plan a recital for Sunny and her, but needed to keep this up until the recital because changing anything this late would mean all she practiced for and how she did was just wrong and she’d have to do it all again, but there was so little time it would just straight up be admitting not only she had failed to learn the song right but also she could not work properly and couldn’t be trusted for she waited until the very end to talk about the issue and couldn’t talk to anyone. She knew it was wrong, but ignored it.

All for the sake of 'being perfect'.

But, being perfect for who, really ?

And why ?

It had all seemed so important back then.

Now, it just seemed so silly.

That this one mistake of her resulted in Sunny being rightfully angry at her for all the pressure she put on him, and she yet again made another one by stupidly jumping in front of him when he tried to run to Basil down the stairs for comfort, to go away from her yelling. And this resulted in what she knew all to well.

And all of this, all that resulted was on her.

Sure, she was a teenager at the time, but would that stop her from blaming herself now ?

She knew it wouldn’t.

And deep down she knew she shouldn’t blame herself, that no one was to blame.

But she needed to point a finger at someone, and in no way would it be at Sunny.

Forgiving Sunny for what he did had not been hard at all. She understood. The consequences had been what were the hardest and most hurtful parts to accept. The fact this very mistake led to her death was the part that hurt most, but she didn’t blame it on Sunny. Because really, how could she blame him ?

She couldn’t even fathom holding it against him.

She would’ve not forgiven him for not forgiving himself. And, he was on that path.

If anything was to blame, it was the circumstances. And, in her opinion, she was to blame too. She was the oldest, so that played a part. She should’ve been more mature, she should’ve known.

But you could drown in all the 'should’ve', and what happened happened. So now she just needed to live -yes, now she could think it and it’s not a bitter formulation anymore- with what had happened.

But anyways.

She didn’t know anything that happened to everyone else but Sunny. She didn’t know how they all reacted. She had her ideas, but she didn’t know.

She stuck around Sunny because she had to somehow help him. Her buisness wasn’t done there, and she was too focused on watching over him the best she could, to try and reach him to even spend a thought on if this was the afterlife, or what would come after she fulfilled what she wanted- needed. Well, honestly, she never really felt ready to let go anyways.

She was never ready to.

Just as much as Sunny wasn’t. She had no interest in seeing the 'big after' for the sole reason she 'agressively' stayed around Sunny, holding onto him and that fake world that had the only advantage of somehow allowing her to stay into that odd middle ground between the land of the living and the one of the dead. Maybe she was a ghost then. She didn’t care at the time, neither did she now.

The fact Headspace kept reseting provided her with a sort of excuse to present to whatever, whoever (if there even was anything or anyone) would try and pull her into the afterlife and rip her away from her brother and her friends, and her very life. A 'my job can’t be done here if my whole progress is wiped all the times he nears the truth' card.

For some reason, even once her job was finally done, she didn’t get an 'okay now it’s time to leave and like,  actually die' in any shape and form, and honestly she was glad, and kept staying around Sunny, using Headspace as a place to 'crash'.

She never did try to visit the others. She didn’t know what would happen to her soul -if that’s what it was that was left of her- if she went too far from Sunny and this world that allowed her to set her last anchor in existence; and was too afraid to find out, and potentially disappear. She was too afraid to leave that golden cage that Headspace was, and to even leave her house, when she could manifest there, though not being a lot of reasons to do so as Sunny always slept.

And in a sense, she was also too afraid to face the other’s reactions to her being gone.

And oh boy did she hate it.

She hated that she was afraid.

She hated that she had to see Sunny in such a state.

She hated she didn’t know how the others were holding up regarding her death. She didn’t know how they reacted to it. She didn’t even know who found her first after Sunny pushed her. What he had done after she fell. Who did he go to ? Did he stay next to her ? Go to his friends ? To their parents ? She hated how clueless she was.

She hated that she had to die to notice how unhealthy her work ethic was.

She hated how she had to die for such a stupid reason.

She hated that she had to die, she hated that she died, she hated that she couldn't turn back time, she hated she couldn't just wake up and all of this just be a bad dream, she hated that she couldn’t change this, she hated that she couldn’t magically come back to life, that the universe couldn’t and wouldn’t do an exeption for her.

That’s what she couldn’t stop thinking about during her time around Headspace. Trying to bargain with death itself, pleas never to be answered, for there was no one, nothing to hear nor care for her lonely soul wandering through the factice world in her sibling’s mind. Trying to salvage him the best she could from her place, unable to reach him properly, always from a distance despite being around. Pleas for just another chance, a chance to prove she could do things right this time.

But those pleas were ignored.

Until today.

Odd thing, because they had been answered just when she had stopped pleading. Just when Sunny had managed to grow past the incident, and accepted to live with the consequences.

Right when Mari had accepted she couldn’t live with the consequences, lacking the factor of being alive, had stopped asking and set to stay around in Headspace the time she’d be ready to... disappear, however that would happen, she had been pulled out by that iteration Sunny made.

That being that turned against her brother. Or did he ?

That being that tried with all its power and might to help Sunny, with the mindset her brother had at twelve year old.

That little kid, akin to a god in his supposed to be non existent world, that wasn’t supposed to be there.

Mari had stopped walking a little while ago now.

Amonsts her many concerns about reuniting with the others, she was worried about Omori.

Or, about what he could do. The danger he could represent.

He was already a threat to Sunny when he was merly a concept, an avatar, a vessel in her brother’s mind able to affect him mentally.

So now, in the real world, being able to interact physically, it was a whole other deal. While being not so different simultaneously.

...

I don’t know if it’s funny, but.. well, it’s ironic. He doesn’t seem threatening at all just now.

The kid was drenched. He purposefully disdained her, hands in his pocket, looking away with the slightest frown. The motion was clear. 'Do not talk to me, I don’t care about you'.

Did he know she had so much to say to him ?

So much she wanted to scream at him for what he said to her brother ?

Yes, she knew Sunny believed those things said then, and that it was why Omori said all this to him before she gave Sunny all she could to push him to continue, her music, all of her by his side; but seeing Omori now, even in such an odd context as this one, she couldn’t erase the scene out of her head.

"People like you don’t deserve to live."

She had been in agony seeing her brother hit deep in the heart by those words. Thoughts.

"It would be better to just die."

Mari had felt his pain. Sunny’s pain, tearing at his very soul, the way he just wanted to scream and cry and for this to just come to an end as he battled for the outcome of everything. As he battled himself, his younger self, his younger self’s beliefs on himself he still struggled to let go of, that were so engrained in him, characterised in one person for his very life.

Omori.

In a few words, Omori was the worst version of Sunny. Or, the version of Sunny at his worst. That made him dangerous, even now. He was dangerous no matter the order of the way you chose to put it.

But...

It was so odd.

That pouting entitled-looking child in front of her, as he was in this very moment, didn’t look dangerous. He looked just like her little brother four years back, when he’d have gotten upset at her, usually when she’d suggest he’d take a bit of his free time to practice when he wanted to do literally anything else.

There was the dead eyes, though, and that was everything. The distinction, the very thing that separated the two.

Sunny was alive. He had fought to be, and he was alive.

Omori wasn’t. Or, not in the sense that felt like living. And...

It seemed he didn’t care about it. Didn’t care, didn’t know, didn’t acknowledged it. He existed, that was for sure, especially now.

But he looked like he had something missing. At his very core.

Empty. That’s it. He looks empty. Just as his eyes are.

Mari detailed him.

He refused to grant her a gaze, for some reason. Not that she minded. He looked upset at her, and she was at him too.

But she had more important things to worry about than him.

She turned to her actual brother, paying attention not to be too sudden with her movement.

Earlier she had grasped his hand when they began walking, and he flinched violently, trying to pull away.

She didn’t want to startle him. She didn’t mean to. That movement pinched her heart so hard it might as well ripped a chunk off.

She knew what he had been through. What he had seen, even she hadn’t seen all of it.

She had been told some of it, though. Some of the places deep under the saturated sweet world he crafted. The iteration of BASIL and the Shadow BASIL; the Stranger, had described her things. She wished she didn’t know some of them, but she had asked and they had answered.

...

Her heart ached.

For her brother, still in a daze under the rain, right eye covered in an eyepatch as if he had gotten in a fight. When she’d find who had done this to him... he still looked so thin too. She was mostly able to follow him in his dreams, it was harder in the real world. Him being awake made it harder for her to be around in the physical world.

She really didn’t get how it worked.

She was just... there.

And now she was there, but for real. Not as.. a ghost ? Was that what she was ?

Ah. That was besides the point.

She knew Sunny had it hard during those years. She’d witnessed it first hand. Always around, always unable to interfere. Unable to do anything right. Unable to just make up for the mistakes she made that led to her death. And it hurt. So much. So damn much, especially the first months after she died. Seeing how hard he took it before he forgot himself, the terror as she witnessed him wither away.

Sunny was soaked wet and he didn’t dare look at her. His hand may have tried to pull away at first but now it was almost crushing hers, as if she’d disappear if he moved, talked or even looked at her. It didn’t hurt though. She felt the pressure but it wasn’t actually crushing her hand.

Unlike her right one. Hero had... a tighter grip. Figures, he was way taller and he was older too. And looked in better health than Sunny.
Oh, when she meant her hand hurt, well, obviously it was being crushed, but it wasn’t like, that bad. She didn’t want him to let go, but she wouldn't exactly mind his grip loosening just a little.

But she didn’t want to complain.

He was holding her hand. It didn’t matter how much it could hurt because she got that back.

She felt their touch. They were tangible. She felt their warmth. They were there, she was there. Alive.

Alive.

By their side.

Hero didn’t refrain from looking at her. Occasionally letting out words too. He didn’t dare directly talk to her just yet, but mumbled about the most recent even -her random jam flavored revival.

"Jam... he... como en el mundo... this isn’t logical, he... marmelada, con jodida mermelada..."

He sniffled from time to time. Now that they had stopped walking, all he did was look at her, mutter in a mix of spanish and english about jam, cry, and squash her right hand (that was beginning to hurt a bit, ow-). He was drenched in jam, and soaked wet.

Sunny was staring into space, bitting his bottom lip, seemingly to prevent it from quivering. Little success on that. He didn’t dare to glance at her, rather acknowledging her throught physical contact as if he no longer trusted his eyes to tell the truth. He squished her left hand (less hurtful. His hand shook a bit. Hard to tell because of the rain, but maybe it was a tad sweaty too). He was also drenched in jam and just as soaked wet.

HERO and MARI weren’t drenched in jam, but they were soaking wet. HERO looked a bit disturbed still, MARI looked at Mari and the two Faraway boys with a bit of a sad yet hopeful smile.

Omori was soaking wet and now looking at her in annoyance.

What ?

What is it ?

The kid sneezed.

Oh, right.

They were in the middle of the street under pouring rain. She kept getting lost in thought, questionning this or that, while they were supposed to go back to Basil’s house.

She didn’t know what to say. Or even if she should say anything.

Well, she was the one who had stopped, so maybe she should.

Awkward.

Why is it awkward ?!

She cleared her troath.

God, this is worse than stage fright.

"Hum. Uh. So. Uh."

Wow. Just wow, Mari, yes, that’s exactly clear and comprehesible. Yup. Yes, understood that. If I was either of them that would’ve made complete sense. Hense their totally absolutely entirely looks of understanding at whatever the hell I said. God that wasn’t even saying anything it was just noise. Sounds.

Argh.

Once again, she cleared her throat.

Come on. You can do this. You’ve done way more complicated things than to speak to your brother and your boyf- to Hero. Even if last time you actually spoke to them was four years ago and you were alive-

Oh come on. Her own thoughts swung her sarcasm right back at her. She preferred to be the one choosing to use it. Preferably, a teasing sort of sarcasm. Though she got used to the bitter one as she almost only held conversations with herself during four years.

ANYWAYS. MARI, WORDS. YOU CAN DO THIS, WORD IT OUT-

"So what are we doing ?" Her voice cracked mid sentence and the last bit of it got higher pitched. Very noticeably.

Oh, come on.

And it didn’t mean anything in the sense of what she originally meant.

At least she had all of their attentions to one again rephrase it.

Yup. No pressure.

...literally. Why are you feeling so stressed ?! Okay, deep breaths.

"I don’t think I can barge in Basil’s house just like that."

Woah. Finally. See, it wasn’t that hard, was it ?

It was. It was horrendously hard.

Hopefully she’ll get more used to being back soon. As in, very soon. Like, in the next minute.

Hero still looked at her, and slowly nodded, whispering a tiny dazed "yeah". Gazing at the state of her...

Well. Of everything about her.

She suddenly became hyper aware of the texture of the (pretty rotten) funeral attire -yes that was what the dress was, not creepy at all-, and the jam still on her.

"Oh god I need a shower right now" Despair dripped from her sigh as she hung her head down, dejected.

"...Yo también" Hero blurted out as if only realising his own sticky clothes. And sticky hair.

I really should have refrained from touching his hair-

Sunny pulled at his own clothes, grimacing for a second as he also just took notice of the amount of jam on his sleeves and overall every part of his sweather.

Oops...?

She sighed.

"Oh god the rain does not help at all" She grunted upon realising trying to wipe the jam off only spread it, rain making it worse for already drenched clothes.

"So uh... Yeah. I can’t barge in with you guys. And... I don’t think you should either."

"So... what do you suggest ?" MARI asked, looking at Basil’s house across the road with a slight grimace. "I wouldn’t want to be stressful, but if they look out the window like right now they might see us. So we should get moving qu- Omori !"

The boy loudly sighed, and after a red flash, he suddenly ran and crossed the road, going into the house.

Mari felt frustrated. And freaked out a bit too. God could this moment get any more anxiety inducing ? Okay, she got standing in the rain was annoying, but this just forced them to speed up the plan.

Of course he left the door open. Now anyone can just go close it and they’ll see me, GREAT, I DO NOT WANT THEM TO SEE ME LIKE THIS.

Oh, how Mari wished she could just be that reliable figure everybody used to see her as and save the day.

"Okay, let’s move" MARI urged.

At least one version of her was good enough not to mess this up.

They all went north. Convenient, as it gave her an idea. Hopefully it would be a good one. She needed to think she still could make good decisions.

They all stopped at the next crossroad.

She could see her street. The one she had walked for years to go to the parc on sunny days, eager to enjoy a picnic with her friends.

She never thought she’d ever walk there again.

And yet she was just about to.

...god this felt so rushed. Would she ever be ready for anything ?! First she couldn’t talk properly, then she freaked out at the thought of seeing the others again, then she felt on the brink of panic for some reason, now she felt like her heart would explode at the mere thought of simply walking down a street ?!

What was with her ?!

...deep breaths, deep breaths, control your emotions, you can do that.

She was the one giving advice. To everyone. About this. Surely she could handle herself. What image would that give of her if she couldn’t ? Shameful irony. If she couldn’t handle herself again, that would just mean she was simply a hypoc-

"-Mari ?"

Her Headspace counterpart’s concerned call snapped her back.

"O-Oh." Deep breaths, Mari. "Sorry, got lost in thought. What was that about ?"

Every one of them looked at her with more or less concern.

God, she hated that. She was okay. She was finally back alive, she shouldn’t be freaking out, there was nothing for her to freak out about, it was such a positive thing it was stupid of her to freak out about. She was back and they might need her, her comfort, whatever, they needed her so she needed to get a hang of herself.

She tried to clear her troath, but ended up coughing.

"Are you okay ?" Hero’s voice wavered. He was also trying to calm himself down. She could see it.

She felt guilty he had to do it for her.

She nodded, attempting a smile.

Come on. This literally should be awesome. You should be screaming your joy and hugging everyone, not-

On second thought, she shouldn't hug anyone else right now.

"I really really need a shower" She stupidly said again.

She shook her hands quickly, trying to get some of the jam off and hoping part of the itchy anxious feelings would come off with it.

"So, uh... so sorry about that. But, could you repeat please ? I didn’t, uh, quite hear the first time" she apologetically smiled at her purple duplicate.

God, this was awkward. She wished it wouldn't be.

Thankfully the younger her didn’t take notice of that. Still so perfectly nice and caring as she was made to be, as she was to everyone including her in Headspace. So perfectly nice, like Mari should’ve been.

"It’s okay. I was asking Hero -ah, yours, not mine- if he had a place where you guys could get all that jam off, and then I noticed you were making a face. That’s quite all, really"

'Your' Hero ? Did she just call him my H-

NOT THE TIME TO BE THINKING ABOUT THIS, MARI. SHE LITERALLY IS TRYING TO EXPLAIN, STOP THINKING ABOUT THIS AND LISTEN OR ELSE SHE’LL HAVE TO EXPLAIN A THIRD TIME OH MY GOD I CAN’T WITH MYSELF TODAY.

Mari once again cleared her throat.

She really needed to clear her thoughts as well.

"Oh, okay. Okay."

"So, he said he-"

It took a while to set in, but suddenly Mari recalled a thing MARI said.

"Wait what-.. what face was I making exactly ?"

Looked like she really needed time for the cogs to start working again in her brain.

Why does it matter ?! Why am I wondering about such things ?!

She really wanted to rip her hair off because of her current stupidity, but she still had jam all over her and she’d rather not make it worse. Than it already was.

MARI mimicked what she saw, and Mari grimaced.

Well I bet that was something not nice to see especially with the mess of how I look like right now.

Anyways. Get a hang of yourself, Mari, get a grip and just settle this.

"Ouch. Anyways. Sorry about this" the purple MARI briefly that it was no problem. "So, what did he say ?" She turned to the young man, still a little bit in a daze but holding up better than she did.

"I, uh... Well. Sunny can.. I think, well, maybe, since it’ll be weird if none of us come back soon, especially since the little Sunny already went in, Sunny should like... argh, sorry, give me a second here" Hero let out a frustrated sigh, holding his temple.

"I-It’s okay" Mari automatically said. "Take a deep breath, it’s all okay, alright ?"

All she managed was getting out another grimace out of her childhood companion. He did attempt a smile in her direction right after though, motionning a 'thanks'.

She mirrored him, the nervous grip on her chest vanishing just for a moment. For just once second she was back four years ago, as he was worrying about passing this or that exam and struggled to recite his lesson out loud.

Just as soon as that feeling came it went flying by.

She felt bittersweet.

But that didn’t matter just now.

"What I’m trying to say," he repeated slowly to make sure not to loose his words, "is that Sunny could go back with the... dream us, but before he does so, I can go back home to take a change if clothes for him and then he’ll go back to Basil’s to shower or something; and I think it’s best if, uh, Mari doesn’t.. like, we’re all pretty shaken still. With the dream MARI. If they saw you right now -especially like, uh.. this-, they’ll freak out. Especially Basil, I think, given how he reacted to the purple you."

He took a breather. It allowed Mari to let a few thoughts fly through her mind quickly.

Yeah, that’s fair, I’d probably freak myself out too... especially if they just see me in the rain like that.

'Especially' Basil ?
I don’t get why he phrased it like that... maybe it’s nothing, but it’s true he was really attached to everyone in the group. I hope he took it okay when I..

...I hope they all did. Then again, I’ll figure it out soon anyway.

A silent sight.

Whatever happened couldn't have been this bad. I need to stop freaking out, really, what’s the worst that could've happened ? Yeah, Sunny went through hell and back, but he’s finally getting back on his feet. Hero did freak out upon seeing me, yeah, but who wouldn’t after seeing someone that was dead for years suddenly being revived with jam ?

Everything would be fine. It would be fine from now on even if she hadn’t come back. Maybe her coming back would just be double fine ?

She hoped.

But... it had been four years by now.

Sunny had just accepted she was gone. He didn't need to be watched over now. He had grown up without her.

Aubrey must've grown up now. She probably outgrew Mari creating fancy matching hairstyles for the both of them. She had grown up without her.

Kel must’ve grown up by now. He probably outgrew endlessly playing pet rock clashes with her until she’d let him win. He had grown up without her.

Basil must’ve grown up by now. He probably outgrew Mari’s assistance with his garden or photography. He had grown up without her.

Hero had grown up. He very likely outgrew... everything about her, because, why wouldn’t he have ? He had grown up without her.

Where she had promised they’d never drift apart no matter what, but ended up leaving them in the worst way possible.

Didn’t they all have time to move on from her ? They must not need her anymore. They must’ve all outgrown the time which she was there. Outgrown her very existence. If she came back, wouldn’t it be barging into a group where she had no place in anym-

...Hero was talking again, and was she thankful for it.

"So... if that’s okay, I think we should swing by my house to get... Mari and I cleaned up, and get Sunny a change of clothes before he goes to Basil’s to get cleaned up. If that’s okay with you, Sunny. And... and you, M-Mari."

He nervously concluded.

"I don’t see why I wouldn't agree, I guess" Mari approved the suggestion, not really having an alternative in mind at all.

Sunny nodded.

"Okay then, you all do this. We should get walking towards other me’s house, then, right ?" HERO asked.

They all begun walking, Hero taking the lead. While they walked, they tried to find an explanation as to why Sunny was all covered in jam, and as to what they did outside.

They failed to find something about the jam, but chose to go for a half truth for the mysterious outside activity part, given that they all agreed Mari’s revival shouldn't be the last bomb dropped on the rest of the group just yet, in fear of causing heart attacks to some of them. Sunny had went to the graveyard, because Omori was curious and didn’t really believe in Mari’s demise. HERO had went too because... well, because Omori didn’t want to be alone while making sure, and went back to get MARI as well because he decided last minute he needed extra support just in case.

Sunny clearly didn’t know if the rest of his friends would believe the excuse, but Hero reassured he would’ve believed it given the amount of weird things that kept occuring. And he noted the excuse was by far more normal than the actual events that took place at the cemetery.
And that they wouldn’t risk cause the others to have a full on breakdown.

With that, Mari’s brother nodded, convinced.

Just a house before Hero’s they stopped again.

"I’ll... get the clothes for Sunny. You all wait there. I.., don’t think risking my parents seeing you" -he gestured at the purple teens- "would ease having to bring.. Mari, in the house." The oldest said, fidgeting with a strand of his endlessly messy -woah, even after four years that hadn’t changed at least- hair.

As soon said, as soon done.

He disappeared into the house, running to be as quick as possible, given that the peculiar lot of young people were still in the pourring rain.

After a good two minutes, he came back, shoving a bag of spare clothes for Mari’s sibling in his duplicate’s hands -didn’t want to risk it getting jammed by giving it to the owner of said clothes-.

Then he took another two minutes to stop panting while they all awkwardky watched him take his breath.

That stayed the same too. Poor Hero. He really still didn’t improve on that stamina part-
Well. Not that Mari could judge, she couldn’t run quarter of a mile before her knee straight up giving up on her.

Soon after he recovered, Sunny and the two dream iterations had to leave. Well, not that they had as in HAD to leave, but if they didn’t catch up to Omori soon it would raise questions.

Mari wasn’t ready to leave Sunny’s side just yet. Neither was he. But it wasn’t like she’d go anywhere.

"I promise, I promise you I won’t be gone next time you go back to Hero’s. I promise. Okay ?" She grabbed his hands as soon as she saw that all too familiar now fear in his eyes. He wasn’t getting frantic -thank goodness because if he had she would not have been able to leave him either-, but he lost his composure for a few seconds, trying hard to refrain crying again.

He nodded, shaky lips pressed together, sniffling. He was trying so hard to believe her. That it’d be okay.

But he was still scared she might be taken from them again in a blink.

He trusted Mari. He didn’t trust the world to take care of her newfound life.

Mari hoped so bad she could take care of her newfound life.

And oh god was she scared she’d blink and all of this to be just another one of her daydreams.

But daydreams didn’t usually include her feeling every part of very-bad smelling jam drenched clothes.

So that was a reassuring fact. Well. In a way.

Not that she liked this situation. But she liked being alive to hate every single bit of that specific situation.

In a blink, Sunny and the two Headspace teenagers were gone.

Leaving Hero and her.

And as she not ready to leave Sunny, she was NOT ready to be on her own with Hero.

She had been with Sunny in his dreams, so she was more used to that, in a way. A bit like if she rehearsed.

But with Hero, that was just reality smacking her in the face with a big "hey so you’re back and everything you do now has everlasting consequences you won’t be able to see get washed away with a reset of the world and here’s your (ex???)boyfriend he’s clearly and visibly more than emotionally punched by your return, handle that while you’re also wrecked right now but no pressure !!"

And it seemed to hit him too, now that they were both on the sidewalk alone together, staring at each other, feeling, hearing every droplet of rain all around them. The reality hit him too.

Just as it did her. Again.

She was back. She was dead but she was back. She was back and maybe it was to stay. She was back now. She was alive again. She was alive and she would be able to do all the things she and all those around her believed she’d never do again. Talk. Walk. Breathe. Have picnics with everyone. Make flower crowns with everyone. Go to the beach with everyone. Bake cookies for everyone. Read comics with everyone.

Take pictures of everyone together, all together again, missing no one.

And just as it hit her again, she fought back the urge to collapse from the realisation. One of them had to keep their composure, and no way it’d be Hero.

"I-If you need a moment before we go inside, it’s totally okay-" she uttered as gently as humanly possible with that itchy rising feeling in that throath of hers.

Hero dismissed it, and shook his body as if to wake himself. "No, i-it’s okay. If you... if we stay in the rain we might catch a cold, and I’d rather not.. have any of us get sick"

His voice was still all hoarse from the crying earlier. Given his tone, he might have it even more strained the moment anything slightly emotionally charged would occur.

Hopefully not too soon.

Mari went to hide in a dead angle of the Desoto house while Hero opened his door again. A voice rose from inside- Mrs. Desoto’s.

"¿Hero? ¿Eres tú otra vez?"

And just like that Hero broke down, collapsing in the entrance.

His mother’s footsteps instantly rushed towards him and just like that she was right next to him, confused about the state of his clothes she clearly hadn’t noticed when he sped through the house moments ago, and worried about the hiccups and sobbing.

"¡Oh, no, no, no, no! lo que está sucediendo ? qué pasó ? Hero, cariño, ¿qué pasó?"

Mari ached to rush to him as well. His cries made her want to break down as well, but she bit her tongue and held it in. She couldn’t comfort him right now, she couldn't reveal her position and (re)exitence just yet, not before he explained. Even letting out the slightest breath in her opinion would wreck it, alerting Hero’s mom and drifting her concern from her son who needed the comfort Mari could not provide.

Mrs Desoto was lost. So lost. She didn’t dare hug her jam drenched son, but pat that one clear spot on his shoulder soothingly.

"Inhala y exhala, ¿vale? qué pasó...? Oh, Hero... está bien, está bien..."

Mari understood basic Spanish, though she was rusty given the four year leap in her practice of the language. But she got the idea of what was being said.

Especially with Hero’s confused mix of English and Spanish. She understood half the words and half understood the other half.

"Mamá, Mamá, le poured mermelada all over ella, y now, and ahora she’s... fucking mermelada, Mamá..."

...Hero’s dad ended up coming as well, and did Mari itch with the desire to run up to him as well.

But would she be able to comfort him now that she’d been gone for years and missed out on everything ?

-------

Sunny did not even try to push out a word for the short trip back, and neither MARI or HERO tried to talk. They walked in silence, allowing him to try and calm down from the emotional agression Mari’s revival was.

They arrived to Basil’s door.

Leaving Mari away made the time go by infinitely and painfully slow. Sunny’s senses were screaming at him to run backwards, to go back to Mari before something terrible happened to her. They were yelling at him that by leaving he’d never ever see her again. That if what just happened was another of his delusions, then it’d only be his last chance ever to be with Mari again. That it had to be a delusion, because not only was he back with his friends with nothing horrible happening, but Mari was suddenly back to be apart of their lives.

Like they all wanted her to be. Like they all still needed her to be.

But he had to resist dashing back to Hero’s house. Repeating to himself over and over again that she wasn’t going to disappear once the icky feeling of being covered in jam would be washed away.

Following her instructions that she gave her all those years ago and minutes -or was it hours ?- ago.

Breathe. Steady your thoughts. It’s not as scary as you think.

Instructing himself through her voice in his head to help him walk straight and go on with the day how they needed for the rest of whatever would happen to go well.

Because helping himself on his own without any kind of exterior help, imagined or not left him feeling utterly alone, worsening it all.

Sunny wished the time would go faster. Not feeling it uncomfortably burning and running down on him like that jam was.

But it didn’t.

He should open the door.

Open the door, take a shower quick, and then-

Or should he take time ?

Would it occupy him long enough for him not to notice how slow the time went ?

What should he do after ?

Talk ?

Eat ?

Read comics ?

Look at the flowers ?

Sleep ?

How long would that take him ?

How much time would pass before he’d see Mari again ?

Before he’d see her again alive, alive, alive, in the real world, being really alive this time ?

Seconds ?

Minutes ?

An hour ?

Several hours ?

Half a day ?

A whole day ?

Several days ?

A week ?

Spending mere seconds away already felt like days.

He was feeling sick now, the emotions having settled to stay in his throath, chest, stomach, everywhere, feeling light headed.

It didn’t feel real.

It was real and it didn’t feel real.

It was finally real and it didn’t feel like it.

When it wasn’t real it felt real.

Now that it was real it just felt like a dream.

And did he hate it.

He loved the fact she was back so much he hated it.

Did that make sense ?

Not to him.

He stepped away from the handle, MARI opened it for him. His hand was still covered in jam.

They went in the house.

All the others automatically crouded them, before MARI motionned not to.

They took what felt like hours to back away.

The noise and flying questions banged on Sunny’s head. He really was having a migraine now.

"Where did you go ?"

He wanted to cry.

"Why did mini you come earlier than you did ?"

He wanted to scream.

"Uh... is that jam ?"

He wanted to laugh.

"Hey, where did Hero go ?"

He was so terrified.

"Oh, he’s staying with-"

Sunny acted on impulse, because of course he did, and clapsed his hands over HERO’s mouth.

As the Headspace variant suffered to spit out some jam he got through his lips, Sunny somehow managed to croack out some excuse of a reply that wouldn’t give away anything suspicious.

"Graveyard, he. Will go to his.. house. After. Tired now."

Sunny’s head really throbbed.

He just wished his own throughts would stop going crazy all over the place.

Thankfully, MARI took the relay and gave them the crafted version of the story, her mere existence once again attracting all attention from his friends.

He chose this time to leave into the bathroom, hoping oh so dearly the water would wash away any scrap of discomforting feeling he sensed everywhere inside of him.

Hopefully nobody would notice he was even gone for the few minutes he’d need.

---

Hero wished he could stop crying. It was at least the third time he had a full-on breakdown today, and he wasn’t even sure of the number.

He wished he could calm down, and he would, but right now he couldn’t.

And his parent’s arms, even if they weren’t around him in the hugging sense, were helping.

He still felt so vulnerable. Especially now.

Yeah, he was an adult, but then again that didn’t mean he had everything figured out.

But he had to calm himself now. It felt nice to allow himself that moment of vulnerability, but he couldn’t leave Mari -oh god, Mari- hiding like that behind the wall in the pouring rain. Who knew how she felt ?

He couldn’t stop dread from washing over him for the god knew how many times now this day. I can’t let her feel bad. For me, or anything that’s going on around. Anyone’s reactions. Anything. He shivered.

Okay, okay. Get a grip, Hero, get a grip.

He took a breath, lifted his head to face his parents, readied himself to talk.

...He failed to stop crying.

"Oh come on" he muttered in between sobs.

Hero held out a hand, asking for his mother to stand a little more back instead of scooting closer.

"I-I’m fine" he uttered, swallowing. "Estoy bien, estoy bien. I just.. need, un minuto. Un minuto."

So he took a few breaths.

Come on, come on. It’s not that hard. Comfort was nice. But now you enjoyed it enough, now you need to explain. Don’t freak them out, Mari...

He focused.

Mari needs y-

A pretty loud sneeze.

Hero’s heart dropped, his parent’s heads shot towards the place where one person was hiding from them. Now they knew someone was watching.

Mrs and M. Desoto exchanged looks, and with a quick silent nod M. Desoto got up, about to go check.

Hero shot up.

"¡ESPERA-! W-WAIT, PAPÁ-!"

The older man froze, shooting a look of concern at his son.

"Hero...?"

The latest almost forgot to answer to his father’s interrogation of why he asked to wait as he brainstormed an explanation that wouldn’t confuse of freak his parents out.

He tried to give an answer and an explanation at the same time, and the result was... well, not very clear.

"It’s- I’m going to explain, just don’t- don’t worry there’s no danger, she- I mean, don’t look, not before I tell you- argh"

If only Mari could simply come out and this be the end of it. Like the old times.

As if they had to run from the bus stop to his house under a sudden rainstorm, and to be taken in with not so dissimulated chuckles from Hero’s mom and a mocking grin from Hero’s father.

Well. No turning back now.

He took a deep breath. Very deep breath, and he almost chocked on it given how deep it was.

"So, well. There is someone, but... like, behind the wall."

"We... okay" Hero’s father was confused and alert. Understandable given how Hero collapsed as soon as he opened the door. "Why are they hiding ?"

Hero swallowed.

Bit by bit. He’d tell it bit by bit.

"She’s... well, something happened and she’s kinda.. let’s say she fell-" poor choice of explanation, Hero, like that will explain the jam- "ah, I mean.. her clothes are kinda.. dirty, she doesn’t want to.. we didn’t want to freak any of you out...?"

"Dirty...? Dirty as in how..?"

"Huh... well... as in... dirt." God I hope it’s dirt and not ro- "and, uh.. jam."

The words seemed like they took forever to come out of him.

"¿Marmelada...?" Mrs. Desoto was even more confused.

Honestly, I understand, mom. Oh god, I’m about to make it so much worse.

"L-Long story."

"Do we... know her, Hero ?" M. Desoto asked, less tense. Probably because there didn’t seem to be a danger.

"Uh..."

The conversation was happening way too fast for him to be able to stay chill.

He would not be able to say yes in a million years. Because then they’d ask who it was. And god knew he would not have the strenght to explain it was Mari, and yes the same Mari that was dead.

But in the meantime, how was he supposed to...

He shot Mari a look of despair.

"How do I..." his voice came out in more of a squeak than a whisper.

From where he was he could see Mari, who shot him a look of understanding and compassion, though a bit of anxiousness lingered in her eyes. She fidgetted with her dress.

"Hum" she hesitantly cleared her troath, still not coming forward but announcing herself from behind the dead angle. "So..."

Silence ensued.

They exchanged looks.

Neither could actually form a coherent sentence.

Neither knew how to announce this.

Neither knew what to say.

It reminds me of when we tried to tell my parents we were dati-

Mari hung her head down, shoulders shaking. Hero tensed, worry flowing through every part of his body, before realising.

She wasn’t crying. Or, not entirely. She was laughing.

And crying. Both at the same time.

And soon, so was he.

Two idiots, laughing in the rain. One hidden, one not. Hero’s parents, here as well but still and even more perplexed. Not understanding the incoherent changes in their son’s mood, or why he was struggling to show who was also laughing or/and crying as she was hiding.

The pressure gradually fell for a moment, as both of the younger adult’s laughers intensified.

Why are we laughing ?

Hero didn’t know. Neither did Mari, judging by the teary look she answered him with when he glanced at her with an akin gaze.

Neither knew, but did they need that break from the pressure. Who cared if they didn't understand why they were struggling to stop their hilarity, or why it had even began ?

There was a lot of things they didn’t understand happening. Especially Hero. This day didn’t make sense.

It made zero sense.

Hero preferred to always understand what was happening, fearing to miss every single detail, but in this moment, even if he didn’t fully understand how Mari had cheated death, he was glad. He didn’t care because Mari was there.

Mari was there. Mari was-

Mari was cold. She sneezed again, and that small moment of light feeling tore, and the world felt heavy again. Heavy with all its concerns, fear in anticipation of every single thing that could go wrong. Catastrophic scenarios Hero knew were absurd, but that his mind tortured him with.

What if she stayed under the rain for too long and died ?

What if she had a scrap here or there and some of the rot from the dress got into it and would make her sick and cause her to die ?

What if right now there was a car accident and she’d get hit if she didn’t come in the house and would die ?

What if she saw how messed up things turned out to be while she was gone and she hated it there now and would really do it of her own accord this ti-

"Okay, this is starting to get awkward and I’m cold so here goes nothing I guess, I am not ready in the slightest wether mentally or physically but hey who cares we gotta do this so I might as well just-" Mari’s voice was hoarse, cracking from stress as she ended up taking a huge step sideways to stand next to Hero in the doorway.

She didn’t move, smiling but slightly grimacing. She was shaking.

Was she cold ? Was she afraid ?

Perhaps a mix of the two. Hero hated each option equally and even more the possibility of them being fused. He couldn’t do nothing to help. Again.

Or he could. He could ask his parents to let her in, apologise for the eventual dirt, rain water and jam that would end up on the ground inside, but just like the not dead anymore girl besides him, his parent’s shocked faces froze him in place.

It took a good 15 seconds for his mother to utter a few words to Mari.

"Well... you surely do look a lot like... someone we knew"

Mari winced. So did Hero.

Oh, I hate this. I hate this so much. But I love this so much in the same time.

He hated the feelings of dreadful paranoia and crushing anxiety that came halfly from the fact he’d have to explain and halfly from he didn’t knew what. But he loved the implications that came with... well, with Mari. She was here. She was alive. She was alive. Alive. Alive. Alive. Mari was alive.

Mari. Alive.

Mari was alive.

Mari was alive and she was right there.

Mari. Was. Alive.

Mari was alive, and she let out a nervous chuckle. Hero felt his hand be crushed a little.

He didn’t even notice her taking his hand into hers, but for nothing in the world would he pull away. He squeezed it back, whishing he had the strenght to tell her everything was okay and would go well like she did to him countless times before, he resorted to think it so loudly he hoped she’d somehow hear it.

"So. Funny story..." Mari’s voice trailed. "Wait, no, on second thought it’s literally everything but a funny stor-"

"¡Ay dios mío ! ¿Es eso realmente...? ¡Hero! Es... pero ¿cómo...?" Mrs. Desoto’s voice wavered as well.

M. Desoto was stuck staring wide eyed at the girl. They both had understood who it was. They both had been just as confused as their son.

Hero then witnessed his mother getting her senses back quicker than he ever could get his own.

"Dios mío... ah, both of you, no more standing in the rain, come in ahora mismo. You both got... mucho explaning to do."

So they got in.

Mari apologised for the mess she made, wet muddy footprints on her trail. This was visibly the least of anyone’s concern, but noticing Mari’s look of discomfort and shame at how she dirtied the floor, Mrs Desoto put a shaky hand on the girl’s back, flinched when it landed on said back, and with a matching shaky voice suggested to take the path to the bathroom; and not to worry about the dirt, that it’d be cleaned, and the guest’s towels were right were they used to be, at the bottom of that one closer under the sink if she forgot.

Mari nodded, and turned to Hero, like she needed to glance back to know if she was acting correctly.

It was the little things she did nobody noticed but him, that she somehow still did now. That anxious look asking if she wasn’t messing up with the way she interacted with his families, usually followed by the "do you think I upsetted them when I did this or that thing ?" question once they’d be alone together afterwards. That fear that she wasn’t acting up to god knew who’s expectations of perfection, to be labelled as imperfect thus unworthy of the attention and care of those she loved. Usually dissimulated behind smug grins and poor taste jokes. Fleeting moments of fear, he knew she wasn’t constantly afraid of messing up, calculating every action she did all the time. But he used to worry about how much she was doing it.

Used to worry and cry about if she had been plagued by that worry so much she took her own life before he knew how she really died.

And now he wanted to cry because of how she was worrying about how his mom would have to clean up behing her and the eventually of a frustration that would never be real apart from Mari’s worries, as if that even mattered; rather than how she herself was holding up.

---

Sunny, unsurprisingly, did not feel okay when coming out.

As unsurprising still, the looks he got from KEL, Kel, AUBREY, Aubrey and HERO, his absence had been noticed.

MARI didn’t seem surprised to see him coming back now though, she greeted him with a soft look rather than a questioning one.

Omori was the only one ignoring him, looking at his knees that now had bandaids, fixated on them. Someone must’ve ended up patching him up instead of Polly, since the woman still wasn’t in sight.

It seemed that they all were waiting for him to discuss something.

He wasn’t feeling okay, but he felt okay enough to be able to sit with them in the circle they had made on MARI’s picnic rug without making a remake of the 'freaking out internally about what just happened'.

About which he supposed he should stop thinking about or he would make a remake of that feeling he felt.

And it’s not like you don’t do that often. Suppressing stuff that you don’t wanna deal with.

Bitter thoughts.

Anyway.

MARI gave him a heads up of the topic they had to reunite for.

"So" she held out Sunny’s notebook and pencil.

She must’ve picked it up while I was gone, but what for I have no idea.

"I’m sure we’ll all agree this place is nice, but we can’t all stay here."

Both the Headspace and Faraway friends automatically expressed confusion.

"Uh, we know, we weren’t planning on living at Basil’s..?" Kel said, head tilted, at the same that KEL, head also tilted, said "What but whyy ?"

They had to repeat separately because two Kels talking over each other wasn’t the most comprehensible thing ever.

Especially for someone like me who can’t form a coherent though after today-

MARI explained.

"Well, from what AUBREY and HERO told me, the person living here with Faraway Basil probably can’t handle all of us, and from what Faraway Kel told me, Faraway Basil needs to rest. So since it seems none of us -as in us, from Headspace- wishes to leave right now for various reasons,-"

"The food is so cool here ! And other me too !!" KEL jumped on his feet.

"I want to hang out with other me too !" AUBREY said more calmly, looking a bit nervously at Aubrey, as if hoping she wasn’t bothering with that request. "She’s really pretty and I wanna know what her life is like here !"

"I’d like to hang around a bit too, maybe my Faraway self can teach me a few recipes ?" HERO wondered.

Omori stayed silent.

Oh great, Sunny bitterly realised, he’s staring at me. Again. What did I do now-

"Yeah... like I said. Lots of reasons, but this house isn’t the Last Resort, and we can’t steal already occupied rooms."

Omori looked offended at that statement, but nobody other than Sunny realised.

And was he thankful for that because he was embarrassed.

"So, basically, we have to set up who goes where to spend the nights."

"Spend the nights ?" KEL looked confused.

"Like, where ya’ll will sleep" the older him pitched in the explanation.

It took a few seconds, and visibly AUBREY, HERO and KEL all understood what it meant to different degrees -sleep wasn’t something done as often as in the real world in Headspace-, but they didn’t seem to say anything against it.

"So" MARI clicked the pencil and wrote what seemed to be her friend’s names. It did seem like that from upside down, from the other side of the rug where Sunny tried to decipher with only one eye. "Who wants to go at who’s place, and who can actually take in some of us ?"

KEL flew to his older self and locked arms with him. "I want to go with him !! He said he had a pet rock too, I wanna clash !!"

HERO shrugged. "I think I’ll go with him. Just to make sure he doesn’t do anything... stupid. Can we come ?"

Kel thought for a second. "Well, I’d have to ask Hero, and my parents, but Hero’s brain probably shut down and explaning your existences to my parents will be super complicated. But, I can try ?"

KEL took it as a yes, and after a few questions of confirmation and a text to Hero, MARI wrote 'KEL and HERO -> Faraway’s Kel&Hero house'.

Then she turned to AUBREY. "Where do you wanna go ?"

"Can I go with you ?" The purple Aubrey pulled her older self’s sleeve.

Aubrey’s eyes darted away, and Sunny’s heart sunk seeing the sorry gaze. He knew Aubrey clearly didn’t want to explain. He knew why.

He hated Aubrey had to live like this. He’d seen the state of her house and if only Kel and Hero’s house wasn’t about to be crouded, he would have asked if she could come with them too.

"I’m sorry, buddy... you don’t wanna go anywhere near my house. It’s a mess right now. Stay with your friends, okay ? And we won’t anywhere, so you’ll see us around."

"Oh.." the smaller girl looked disappointed, but for a split moment only. "Well, okay ! Then in this case I think I’d rather stay here. Is that possible ?"

MARI wrote it down. "Well we’ll have to ask Polly, but maybe. I assume BASIL will stay there too, I think at least ?"

She cleared her throat. "Okay, well now remains Omori and I."

Sunny frowned. You won’t come to Hero and Kel’s.

Well. MARI was no issue to him, but Omori... he was. Problem was Omori would not allow MARI to be separated from him, given how he acted earlier.

And given how he looked now, it would be hard to even separate the whole Headspace gang. Omori was staring daggers at every Faraway version.

"Well, I’m sorry but I think we’ll be a lot already" Kel apologised.

MARI nodded. "I understand. Well, problem is that there’s two of us at Faraway Kel’s and two here too, if BASIL and AUBREY do end up staying." The purple teen turned to the pink haired one. "Are you sure you can’t have anyone over ? Is it a room problem ?"

Aubrey hesitated to answer. She shrunk in her seat in the couch, sighing nervously. She didn’t look into MARI’s eyes when she replied, voice dim. "It’s... not really. I can probably set both you in my room, it’s possible, I’d just rather avoid any of you near that mess. Especially the younger ones."

Heavy admosphere back. Kel rubbed Aubrey’s shoulder while the kids looked confused, but still sensed something was wrong.

Aubrey ended up sighing under everyone’s gazes. "I mean... okay, come. But only you two." She pointed at MARI and her monocrome pouting brother. "And it won’t be for long. You’ll have to go somewhere else after."

After a few protests and questions from AUBREY and precisions asked by MARI, settled it was.

Which brought the next question.

"Say, how long exactly do you plan on staying around ?" Kel asked right before Sunny began mustering up the courage to.

Thanks, Kel. Really, his friend wouldn’t stop saving the day.

Bringing him out this summer. Pulling him out of his appartement, no matter how odd the way. Having grabbed him on the couch and squeezed him bewteen Aubrey and him when he saw Sunny looking down, and now asking the same questions he wondered. A thankful glance wouldn’t be enough but Sunny hoped it would do.

"Oh" MARI paused. "Well no idea. How long it takes for us to... see around, I guess ? Hanging out sounds fun, especially with our us from here. If that’s okay with you of course" she quickly added.

Oh. Well I guess that’s better than them staying forever.

Sunny sighed. If only this could all be a dream. How simple would it be if he just went to sleep right then and there, and wake up with all of this to be a dream ?

As soon as he thought this, he felt a pinch in his heart.

No, not at all.

Mari was back.

Positive, Sunny, be positive. After all, what could go wrong now that she was back ?

Everything would finally be okay.

After all, the near future consisted in the fall break, which he’d spend here in Faraway. Reconnecting. With his friends. Getting used to the fact the truth was out. Trying to find a way to announce Mari was back before the next day. Getting used to that. Spend the rest of the vacation. Have fun, basically, as Kel said.

The near near future would have every Faraway iteration spend the rest of the afternoon with their Headspace counterpart, because why the hell not ? had they decided.

What could go wrong with that plan ?

Sunny sighed, and at the same time, so did Omori.

This is not going to be easy, that’s for sure. But it’ll be fine.

It would be fine. What danger was there, after all ?

Chapter Text

BASIL assumed his real self would be struggling with the whole Mari thing. Well, more than assumed, he knew he would be. He himself was bugged by it, despite the events not having directly concerned his MARI, technically, so of course his other self would.

BASIL struggled with the fact he had the knowledge of the version of him that witnessed it all, even if said knowledge was a bit altered given how it was only Sunny’s idea of how his Basil saw it.

BASIL saw it through a twelve year old Basil’s eyes, but with Sunny’s thoughts plaging all the room, leaving none for Basil’s.

BASIL knew the events, had seen them through his own eyes, but only knew how Sunny felt about them. He knew the facts of it, and Sunny’s feelings regarding it. He didn’t know hiw own, as he hadn’t been given any clarity on what he himself felt then.

After all, Sunny didn’t know. He was so deep in his own mind panicking that he couldn’t, on the spot, wonder about what Basil felt. So BASIL knew perfectly how Sunny had felt, feeling his emotions while he saw the scenes through his own eyes yet with no feeling of his own. BASIL wasn’t the one that held the idea Sunny had of what the 'real' Basil felt; it was Stranger.

A perception split in half, just as he was.

It was an odd point of view, but BASIL hadn’t ever had another, and given what he was seeing he wasn’t sure he’d ever want to know how a whole Basil took it. If the fragment he knew he was hurt because of the truth, it wasn’t anywhere close to how a whole version of him suffered because of it.

"Basil. Basil, do you hear me ? Can you hear me ? It’s Polly. Can you nod if you hear me ? Basil ?"

For Polly, it visibly may not be the first time she’d saw someone act this... scared. Because that’s what it was, right ? Fear ? It had to be some kind of version of it. Variant of it ?

BASIL believed he knew what fear was like. He’d felt it endlessly wandering through this Black Space, so he thought he knew what it was like. That freezing ache flowing through every vein of his body oh so horrendously slowly, his head spinning, world bluring and lack of air he felt as he realised he was not going to make it, all for knowing a little too much.

But this... he was able to walk, talk coherently while this feeling overtook him. Form sentences, be aware, maybe too aware at times of his surroundings.

That Basil couldn’t even breathe.

He was chocking on this feeling.

He was chocking on it, or it was chocking him. As if tendrils wrapped around his neck and only tightening which each slight move, slight shake. The teenager wasn’t being coherent in anything he did, going from pulling at nothing near his neck, trying to pry off something only he could see, Something BASIL was familiar with as well; to straight up freeze, head burried in his knees clutched to his chest when just a second ago he was borderline trashing around screaming in utter silence.

All of that screaming, crying, it was done in absolute silence and it just felt so... wrong. Well, of course something was wrong, Basil’s state was enough of an indacator, but the way he was manifesting that fear just stroke BASIL right through the chest.

He was so used to screaming out so loud he’d almost feel his vocal cords snap, to just yell and make the more noise possible to just get any attention from Omori, from his friends, from the world, from anyone or anything so that someone, if not for something to just take pity on him and not let him fall apart, break into pieces again and again as he felt he crossed the line anytime he spoke in that twisted place.

He was never a loud person. He was never the type to scream or shout for any reason. He was never the type to want the world’s attention on him unless he was in immediate danger, and begging for help. Heck, he didn’t even like loud noises to begin with, the act of yelling himself scaring him with the way he felt his voice amplify, be distored and shake through his whole body.

He was ready to bet the person he was based off felt like he did about the matter.

Screaming wasn’t in character for him, maybe that felt horrendous to him because he was made like this, or maybe just simply because he grew to resent it with the way no amount of pleas, no matter how loud would grant him one merciful act from his world, from his creator, from his friend.

But as much as he hated loud noises, he wanted nothing more than to hear anything else other than this quiet, quiet, quiet room only disturbed with Basil’s movements as he retreated as further as humanely possible in the corner of the room, to hear anything else than the ruffling of his clothes against the walls and Polly’s attempts at whispering to get the teen’s attention without startling him, he wanted nothing more than to hear Basil just scream.

He hated screaming, he hated hearing screaming, he hated loud noises but god did he hate that suffocating feeling of being nothing more than an useless witness to someone going through this amount of sheer panic in utter silence. He hated that feeling more.

BASIL was nothing more than a bystander, unable to reach his older self who was drowning so deep into his own mind and feelings of fear, who was screaming soundlessly as if so deep in water, drowning and being pulled down by something BASIL couldn’t fight in any world, pulled down in an abyss BASIL would not be able to break through the surface for that wasn’t an ocean, a river, a lake from his world.

He wasn’t familiar with something like that. With fear, he was. To that point, he wasn’t. He didn’t understand what was happening exactly but just by seeing it occur he could get a slight idea. And he did not like the little amount he understood of that.

BASIL was nothing more than a witness to someone drowning, he was nothing more than that, and he saw that drowning was something that could happen in a surprising amount of silence.

And he hated it, he hated it so much.

How unnoticeable it looked.

Someone trashing into the water, screaming with no air. In silence.

Someone chocking on their own feelings, their own feelings strangling them. In silence.

Someone so deep underwater they wouldn’t even know, notice if another person jumped in to try and save them from the water. In silence.

Someone so deep into their own mind imprisoning them they wouldn’t even notice their surroundings, fallen prey to their own feelings. Trying to get out of this, or at the very least struggle against this. In silence.

Everything done in silence.

BASIL wanted to scream for his counterpart.

He wanted to scream for the teenager, because if Basil didn’t scream then who could know ? Who could notice he was drowning ? Chocking ?

Why wasn’t he making any sound ?

Was he going to die ?!

What were you supposed to do when someone was drowning ? Or chocking ? BASIL could breathe in water and in space, how could he know how to help someone chocking as only air surrounded them ?

Nothing was strangling him ! Was it invisible ?

Why didn’t he notice them ? Why didn’t he hear them, why didn’t he seem to see them the brief times he’d glance up, why-

Why did he even fall into this state ?!

BASIL tried to recall with as much detail as he could. Going over the events in the most concentration he had.

It was stupid, because he already knew. He already knew, but he needed to be more than sure. Because the truth hurt. It always did.

MARI and him had opened the door to the green flower house. Had knocked on the door. Wait, no, the other way around. Then they had stepped into the house’s room. Had looked at the stunned gazes from older look-alikes and happy ones from their friends, at Omori’s blank one. BASIL’s eyes had landed on the blonde teenager, whose face went pale as his gaze stopped on the girl next to BASIL. The teenager had tensed and without warning, turned around and ran away, slamming a door into the corridor behind him. Merly seconds after, the only unfamiliar person, the older woman with the brown hair, had followed, pleading something along the lines of "not this, not again" with desperate frustration. BASIL and the others reunited. Then BASIL had seen the woman come back, looking for something on the counter, and had approached her asking about the blond person he had learned was his other self.

BASIL had only seen his duplicate’s face fall to terror. Not his previous expression, or not very long. So that meant it had to do with his arrival, in a way.

Well. It’s probably not me that sent him like this.

There was one other option, of course, and it was logical.

MARI.

It would make sense. Given what Basil had seen, and to see MARI after, it would be... disturbing, to say the least.

But MARI... MARI wasn’t angry. She wasn’t blaming anyone. She wasn’t blaming Basil.

Plus, it wasn’t even this MARI that Basil had...

MARI was fine. MARI was fine, she was okay, she was alive and she couldn’t get hurt by anyone or anything.

Maybe Basil should know that. Would that help him ?

BASIL wasn’t sure. But even if telling his older self this didn’t calm him down, he hoped he could at least distract him. Engage in a conversation. That was MARI did with him when he was freaking out about the past memories, though he never freaked out to this extent.

Fingers crossed it’d work.

"Uh... me ? Older me ? Basil ? Hey ?"

The only glance he got was from Polly, surprised he spoke up. She shook her head, apparently still a little processing the fact her caree duplicated. Understandable.

"Don’t touch him" she quickly notified him as she saw the kid get closer to the blond teenager, who still had his head burried into his knees. Polly’s voice went less precipitated when she saw he listened. "I know you want to get his attention, I do too, but trust me when I tell you, touching him out of nowhere won’t do any good."

He responded by an understanding nod, though still on edge by it all. Guess he’d have to throw words out and hope Basil managed to catch them.

"So uh.. I can talk to him though, right ?" He preferred making sure.

"I would’ve told you not to speak too loud, but it should be okay if you keep this voice to this volume." Polly advised him. "And I know it can be frustrating to you if he doesn’t respond, but he’s not doing it on purpose, so I’m gonna need you to be patient okay ?"

The teal haired kid quickly nodded. "I know, I know, I won’t be mean, or anything. I mean he’s the one that’s unwell and I really don’t wanna make it worse."

In fact he wasn't even sure he should say anything to his other self by fear it’d just do the opposite of what they were trying to. But he had to try, didn’t he ?

So, he cleared his throat after getting the small nod from the woman meaning he could begin speaking.

"So, uh... hi ? I don’t really know if you can hear me at all, but if you can... well, I hope you can. This must be really.. confusing. To you. Us showing up, and all. I mean we’d be weirded out too if you showed up to Headspace..."

For now, Basil still didn’t budge from the corner he was in. Hopefully talking to him as he was static would be easier than when he was trashing around as if trying to flee something. Well, it was easier, as it meant he could potentially focus on listening to BASIL rather than running away.

"Maybe I should explain a bit ? What Headspace is, I mean. Maybe it’ll help, in a sense that, if I give you a bit of context to us it won’t be as scary ?"

BASIL shifted from on his knees to sitting with his legs crossed. Sitting like that seems less like it could be threatening, right ? Ah, I hope. I don’t know.

"So, Headspace... it’s where we live. It’s very nice, most of the time. Well, I mean, nothing bad happens, I guess every world has its down sides anyways but it’s nothing actually like, bad bad, haha."

Shouldn't talk about Black Space.

"For example.. there was this one time where, like, KEL, AUBREY and HERO all got tricked into having jobs. They weren’t even paid ! Can you imagine ? And also, they had to fight Sweetheart one time, because she wanted to marry HERO. Gross, right ? Like, HERO’s with MARI. Who would want to meddle with their relationship, like... no, right ? And-"

Maybe this wasn’t the thing to say, because Basil tensed at MARI’s mention.

Right. That’s the root of the problem, isn’t it ?

MARI. What happened, what Basil saw.

"Uh... I... I don’t know how to approach this." BASIL ended up admitting. He sighed.

"Okay. Honestly, I don’t know how to approach this at all. Like, zero idea on how. And I don’t know if I even should, given that, uh, you don’t look very okay, right now. I really don’t wanna make it worse. But I also wished you’d like... not feel like this anymore ? It doesn’t look like something anyone would like going through, so... hey, say, but, you do hear me right now, right ?"

For a while, no response. Only Basil’s, Polly’s and BASIL’s silence. Then, almost imperceptibly, Basil, still with his head down, gave a nod. No glance up, but it was already much more than a minute before.

Well. Just don’t gotta say anything that’ll mess it up.

Oh, how did BASIL hate how his words always seemed to wreck things apart.

"Okay. Okay, uh... well that’s a good thing. That you can hear me, I mean. So, I.. I’ll go on, if that’s okay with you ? Me talking ? I mean, I am saying words about.. my life I guess ? I don’t know what I’m doing but does it help ?"

A shorter delay this time, and it wasn’t a nod but a weak shrug. Ah, well, there was an interaction so it had to be a win, right ? Polly let him go on, so he had to not be messing it up. Probably.

"So.. I guess I continue ? So... there’s Headspace. We live there. And we’re.. you guys, I guess. Instead that, we don’t.. well, we don’t have a Sunny, or we do but his name’s different. He’s Omori. And he’s our friend. So I guess we can say we’re all of you guys, but younger apparently ? Well, Sunny’s older, and you seem to be too, so safe to say we are younger. Than you guys are."

Now BASIL didn’t know what else to say. Should he talk about-

"I-It’s a dream."

"What ?" BASIL’s train of thought snapped at the new voice.

Basil just spoke. Well, it was him, right ? Had to be. Not Polly’s voice, it was BASIL’s but in a lower pitched and really sore sounding. And muffled. So, yeah. Definitely Basil’s voice.

"It’s a dream. Headspace. S-Sunny... Sunny said it was." The teenager repeated.

He didn’t move or raise his head, but Polly and the younger version exchanged hopeful glances. So this may work, didn’t it ?

Just, how to respond to that statement ? It wasn’t like BASIL wasn’t aware of the nature of his world, but would it be safe to say he knew ?

Omori isn’t in the room. So I guess it’ll be fine ? I hope.

"Ah. Uh.. yes. It is. To Sunny at least. To us it doesn’t feel like it. I mean, we just... live our lives, even if the others knew it was a dream it wouldn’t change our lives. It’s always been our world and our everyday life, so.. it’s our normal, there. Ah, I make no sense and I dunno what point I’m even trying tk get across- what I’m trying to say, it’s a dream to Sunny but to us it’s our lives. Like... you live your life, right ? It doesn’t seem like a dream to you, doesn’t it ?"

He didn’t know if he got a sniffle or a scoff in response. A mix of both, perhaps...?

"...no. It doesn’t."

"Right. So... well that’s what we feel like. I mean, I know it’s a dream, for Sunny, but it doesn’t change anything. Even if the others knew I don’t think they’d see any difference"

I hope they wouldn’t.

"Well they know. Now. They were confused, I-I guess ?"

Wait, what ?

"W-What do you mean they know ? KEL, and AUBREY and HERO ?"

Oh no no no, this wasn’t good, who told them ? What’s going to happen, is this close enough to the truth to mean everything’s going to get-

"Sunny told them. Well, he explained to us. Headspace, I mean. He explained us."

BASIL tried not to freak out at this. Great, Basil was finally calming down, even hesitantly looking up, and now BASIL was beginning to be scared ? Not the time.

"O-Oh. H-How did he take it ?"

"..Who ?" Basil’s puffy eyes blinked in confusion.

"Omori. The other Sunny."

"How did he.. take what ?"

"Ah, uh.. to the others knowing. Knowing it’s a dream. Did he like... get angry ?"

"I.. I wasn’t paying attention to him, I’m s-sorry, I..."

Both Basils fell into silence.

It’s... good to know. Well, good. They know and he’s fine with it. Well, if he didn’t have a notable reaction that must mean he’s okay with it right ?

A few sounds made BASIL turn his head a second.

Basil was still curled up on himself, and despite having ended up lifting his head and talking, he wasn’t anywhere near exactly calm. He was still shivering and his breathing wasn’t steady.

It hit BASIL. The other him... well, to put it not so nicely, he looked like crap. Compared to him. The blond teen’s hair was messy, and did look dirty. It fell in front of his eyes, that by the way were puffy, and darting around a little. He had eyebags, and he had some marks on his face that didn't look recent, but not old either.

Polly whispered a few things to the boy, which BASIL didn’t pay enough attention to to understand, but his counterpart nodded imperceptibly, shifting his gaze as his caretaker sat near him and put an arm around his shoulders, allowing him to lean on her for support.

If he accepted that from her, it meant they were on the right path, right ? BASIL didn’t know how this worked. But they were making progress, and-

-why is he staring at me ?

Oh, it wasn’t a hateful or angry stare. Just... a stare. As in, he was being looked at. Why ? He didn’t know. But he didn’t feel threatened by said stare. Just detailed. Looked at. Yup. Eyes watched stuff, and he was being watched because Basil obviously had eyes. Two whole blue teary puffy slightly confused eyes pointed straight at him.

"You’re white" Basil flatly said, pressed against Polly. "And green too."

Accurate observations...?

"I... I am. Yep. I am white and green." Well this might not be the most information exchanging conversation, but it was one. "And you’re... beige and.. yellow ?"

A hum from the 'beige and yellow' teen.

"Why are you here..?"

Why was he here ? "Well, Polly told me you weren’t doing very well, so I wondered if I could help, I guess."

"No" Basil rectified himself "I-I meant, you and your friends."

"Oh" well that was a trickier one. "I, uh... I don’t know, actually."

"Oh"

"Yep. MARI and I kinda followed the rest of us a bit later, so we don’t know why they decided to- sorry, did I say something wrong ?"

Again with the tensing. Polly worryingly glanced down at her caree. This time, Basil didn’t answer before a good fifteen seconds. "Don’t worry."

Silence ensued. Now BASIL really was out of things to talk about. Visibly, everytime MARI was brought up, Basil freaked out.

"Should I not... talk about.. her ?" He slowly asked, voice a bit lower, knot in his troath.

I really hope I didn’t mess it up. Please. Please, tell me I didn’t mess it up.

He didn’t get a response.

Seconds went by, feeling like hours.

He should apologise. Because he messed it up, didn’t he ?

"Listen, I’m so-"

"She’s okay, r-right ?"

What ?

"Huh ?" BASIL blinked, and his duplicate painfully swallowed, rubbing his own shoulders, eyes adverting the kid’s gaze.

"Yours. She’s... Mari" Basil’s voice weirdly got higher at that name, cracking. "she’s okay, right ?"

"She... she is." BASIL’s heartbeats steadied. So he didn’t wreck it apart completely. "She’s okay."

Awkward silence.

"I’m... I’m glad she is t-then" Basil uttered.

He then took a few breaths, progressively steadying his inspirations and expirations. Polly whispered that he was doing great, and gave a rub of encouragement on the teen’s back. He didn’t look completely okay though, gaze fixated on the ground, eyes wide open. But he was getting there.

BASIL didn’t know where to put himself now. Basil was going to be okay now, wasn’t he ?

"Take c-care of her." Basil spoke out rapidly.

"Huh ?"

"Take care of her. Make s-sure she stays okay. A-And if you have to, get away from her. She’s everything e-everyone needs to keep. Step away from them if you notice you’re going to break what they have. You can’t ruin them like I did."

Wait, what ? The first requests made sense, but then, they did less, and Basil’s voice had a weird pleading tone that-

"And don’t stay. Y-You should leave them, actually. You might hurt them, a-and, and you can’t ruin things, you’ll hurt them so bad, and they’ll hate you, they’ll hate you so much a-and M-Mari, if you stay around them s-she’s going to-"

BASIL shot Polly a concerned look. Why was Basil spiralling again, what happened, did BASIL miss something, what was with these requests ? It had to do with what happened to his version of MARI, but what in the world were these 'advises' ? BASIL’s stomach fell into a pit. They were loosing all their progess with Basil and it had to be his fault somehow, right ?

Polly softly nudged Basil, trying to it him to get his attention, worried eyes. "Hey, hey, Basil, slow down, look at me. Basil. Basil, hey. Basil."

The boy wasn’t listening, growing frantic, both his younger self and caretaker’s worry increasing yet again.

"I-I just- Polly, it’s, I have to warn him, what if it- happens to them, he’ll- I’ll mess it up, I- I always-" he tried to explain himself, gesturing towards the teal haired child with a shaky hand.

"No, Basil. You don’t always- Basil, hey, don’t give me this look, I know you mean well, but it’s not something that’s gonna happen to them, okay ? And it wasn’t your fault in the first place- what did I say about that look ?" Polly kept patient, speaking softly yet firmly at times. Basil was shrinking under her gaze, though not moving away from next to her, huge teary eyes pointed right at her.

"But I-"

"Basil. Hey. What happened here wasn’t your fault. No, it wasn’t. And it clearly did not happen with them."

"But what if-"

"Omori doesn’t play the violin" BASIL hesitantly slipped into the discussion, gripping his overall’s shorts in nervousness.

He earned two confused glances.

Well, Basil doesn’t exactly look confused. Maybe... I mean, not shocked ? I don’t know.

This emotion was hard to read, but he did stop in his tracks to stare wide eyed at the kid.

Polly was confused, though. "Huh... I don’t really see the.. link there ?" She carefully chose her words, turning to both Basils respectively in hopes of this getting cleared out.

"Sunny played violin, and then he broke it one day, and Sunny and Mari from your world fought, and-"

Basil’s face made BASIL agree to summarise it up, even if it was bad summary, and Polly knew about... this, since she referenced it earlier, right ?

"-that’s why your world’s Mari, uh, why the thing happened."

Polly slowly nodded. Oh dear, thank you, she actually understood despite that crappy explanation-

She turned to Basil again, who muttered something about a "gift" and a "violin", and maybe something it being his fault.

Now that probably reached a territory of memories BASIL didn’t have access to, but still.

"Uh... If it can reassure you, so, Omori doesn't play the violin. MARI -ours- doesn’t play the piano either. Her and I actually never move from the picnic rug, so.. well, we’re fine. We’ve always been fine, and we’ll always be."

Basil looked shocked. Or, again, that expression I can't put a word on.

"She’s fine" his voice was dim, but audible. It had a bit of disbelief in it.

The teal haired kid nodded. "She is. We’re all fine. Really. Nothing really bad happens, and any inconvenience is quickly overcome. Sure, Omori and the others can have it rough at times when battling foes, but they swing by the picnic and they’re good as new !"

Seeing someone in the state Basil was now, even if he was way calmer than before, was still deeply.. it felt uncomfortable. Something was still wrong. But what ? Basil was calm. He was listening, very intensely even, but... something in his expression while doing to stuck.

"They even stick around most of the time. We get a good chat, we binge on candy or whatever food we get according to what MARI makes with what we have around. We even make flower crowns, though KEL usually makes mashed flower soup after too many fails- I get it, some knots can be hard to get the hang of, and-"

Strangled laugher. Oops, better change the topic fast and pretend I never said that. Poor choice of words.

"Ah, anyways. Picnic stuff. It’s not much, and that’s all we do, really. MARI and I. It gets repetitive, but it’s worth it when we know..."

It’s not worth it. We’re in a golden cage. But can we complain ? Sure, that’s our whole life stuck on a loop, but to you guys, our loop is a memory you’ll never get back.

"...well. It’s not a bad life at all. Everyone’s really nice, and the Headspace folks do give a good chat when they happen to stop by. Spaceboy’s really nice, he offered us some snowcones once. KEL got so jealous when we told them when they got back !"

Basil wasn't particularly emoting anything. But his eyes... ha, it was always the eyes, wasn't it ? When Omori-

Oh. There it is.

Basil’s stare had a part of blankness to it. Wether he wasn’t fully registering what was going on, or feeling numb after the rush of emotion, BASIL didn’t know. But that look in his eyes.

For a moment, Basil’s eyes went black, and so did the world around.

"T-Though there was this time where we got surrounded by mussels in the Endless Highway. It’s underwater, and uh... well, the mussles were all flexing around us. For some reason. It was weird. We did tell KEL, AUBREY and HERO about it when they came back after trying to get Omori out of White Space, but they didn’t believe us."

Should he keep talking about this ? How everything was going on fine for him and MARI in Headspace ?

He assumed he should. So, he did. And after a while, Basil ended up talking again, voice quiet, with a bit of hesitance to it. "So everything is okay for you guys ?"

"Everything’s okay." BASIL promised him.

He didn’t know what to think of the blissful smile he got from that statement.

After all, he wasn’t telling the exact truth. But it wasn’t exactly a lie either.

---

"And so.. BASIL went missing ?"

"Mmh." The smaller AUBREY nodded, looking up and rocking a bit as she reminisced. "Omori found him, thankfully. Then everything got back to how it was !" She cheered, grinning as she gladly took a candy from Aubrey’s palm.

The pink haired version was sat on the couch, while the little girl in pyjama was next to her, legs crossed, plushie under her arm. The Kels and the purple HERO were further away in the living room, or rather in the kitchen at the table, and despite them talking quite loud, the two girls could still hear each other. Probably thanks to the HERO regulating his brother, and older younger brother.

"Did you ever find out where he was ?"

Aubrey’s head was spinning. From the supernatural adventures her younger purple self told her, and from the fact she more or less literally had her past self shoved in front of her, reminder of what -who- she had tried to kill metaphorically. Except seeing her in front of her made it feel literal.

Oh, and she had to keep it together. Yep. Tried to kill that kid and now I can’t even fathom letting her get hurt by anything that fucking world has to smack you with.

"We didn't, no. But he said he didn’t know either, that he didn’t remember, but that it didn’t matter, since he was back after all."

How cruel of a reminder it was to her of how innocent and sweet she used to be. Now she had sinned so much, and was simply just so bitter.

This little her even seemed like she had never been hurt by anything, unlike the actual kid she had been at that age.

At her age, I already knew better than to interfere in my parent’s fights. She didn’t hesitate to yell at, uh, a guy with a laser gun. Or a pink dictator with a mace.

Heck, at her age the mere sight of that God-forsaken woman holding an empty bottle towards her was enough to send her climbing her latter to her room, hide under her bed and pray for her mother to be drunk enough not to be able to follow her up.

Yep. Now way I’m letting her near that damn house.

And to think she’ll have to host the black and white Sunny, and the purple... MARI.

Now that made her nervous for a hella lot of reasons.

First, she hoped it’d be one of the good days. As in, that her mother would be drunk enough not to give a shit about her surroundings, and not sober, or half drunk and getting mad at her daughter for existing wrong or whatever.

Second, she didn’t want the looks of pity, or anything similar. There was a reason she avoided letting people in the place. And during that golden time that was her childhood with the group, she hadn't wanted any of them to know. Especially not-

-Third, OH MY GOD, MARI. MARI, MARI, MARI IS THERE, MARI WILL BE AT MY PLACE, OH MY GOD, OH MY FRICKING GOD, MARI. WILL. COME. OVER. AND. AAAAAAAAA.

"Huh.. are you okay ? You’re... making a weird face ?"

Aubrey grimmaced. Again, probably, given how little her repeated "you made another one, is everything fine ?"

"Uh... yeah, yeah, I’m fine, I’m fine. Was just thinking. Anyways."

The purple kid blinked. "Oh okay." She then, once again, grinned. "So, what’s your life like ? We keep talking about me, but what about you ?"

Woah. She seems exited at basically... everything. Wait was that how I was ?! I don’t remember being like that, but... aaaah, this is so weird.

"What about me ? As in what ?"

"Like, how do you spend your days, for example ?"

"Oh, okay. Well... usually I go to school. Kinda. Then I hang around with my friends, swing by church, go visit Mari... stuff like that."

"Visit Mari ?" AUBREY frowned in confusion. "So yours isn’t dead ? Why did you say she was ?"

Ouch.

"I meant, visit her grave."

"Her what ?"

What do you mean her what-

"Her grave. Like, at the cemetery."

It didn’t help, apparently. "The what ?"

Aubrey frowned as well. Now this was just creepy now, did she really not know ? No, she must not hear with the Kel’s noise, it had to be that. Right ?

"Like, the graveyard. Where she’s burried."

"Why would you burry MARI ?!" the little girl’s face displayed utter horror.

Aubrey fell into despair, holding her head. "Cause she’s dead. What did you expect us to do ?!"

"Put life jam on her ?! Why would you burry her when you can just revive her ?!"

WHAT DOES THAT MEAN

"LIFE WHAT."

"Life jam ! Like, when one of our friend’s toast, you just put that on them and they come back ??"

"You what ?!"

"What do you mean you what ?! You take the jam and you revive her !"

Both the girls were in despair because of the other’s incomprehension of their world’s rules.

"It does not work like that at all here !"

"What ? But what do you do when someone gets toast ?"

"You mean dies ? We can’t do sh- anything about it ! They’re dead ! And like, death is death- it stops there ??"

AUBREY stopped the conversation for a second, blue outline glimmering.

Whoa. Uh.. that means sad, right ? God I’m not gonna get used to this.

"But... you don’t have life jam here ?"

The pink haired version sighed, shaking her head. "No. We don’t. When you die, it’s forever."

I promise you if we had life jam, or whatever, none of what happened would’ve happened.

"You guys are really lucky to have it." She chuckled, bittersweet.

"I... I guess we are. Is that why all of you reacted weirdly when you saw our MARI ?"

Aubrey shrugged, then nodded. "I guess so. I mean, we haven’t seen her in four years, and we never expected to ever see her again."

"That’s... sad."

Short silence.

"But... hey, at least we saw her again !" I won’t let her be sad over this. "Sure as hell gonna thank you for that. The last image we had of her wasn’t the best. Glad to have a new one."

Aubrey gave a grin, and nudged her younger self’s shoulder.

"The last image ? What do you mean ?"

Hanging, her eyes opened ? In a casket, looking like she’d wake up anytime when you know she won’t ? Yep, not gonna tell her that in a billion years.

"Fooorget I said this. What I meant was that you did us a big favor by, I dunno. Coming, existing and all. It’s really nice and all. So, uh, thank you. And stuff."

She was bad at feelings, wasn’t she ?

"Oh" AUBREY blinked, blue outline poofing out. "Well you’re welcome ?" The kid then giggled. "It’s odd to be thanked for existing but it’s nice of you !"

Huh. It’s true it’s odd- but glad it made her feel happy ?

She gave a thumbs up. "No problem !"

Both the girls then turned their heads at the same time towards Kel, who had straight up screamed.

They both sighed in accord. "Kel." The Aubreys shook their heads, then looked at each other, smirking.

"Well that’s something both our lives share."

"Yup" AUBREY rolled her eyes. "That dingus is annoying in every world, isn’t he ?"

"Yep" Aubrey mimicked the Headspace kid. "But hey. At least he’s a good friend, can’t take that away from him. He’s a dork but I’m glad we’re friends still. You get it, right ?"

What the-

AUBREY had the most outraged, offensed and horrified expression her counterpart had ever been given to see on anyone’s face.

"You are insan-"

---

"Dude. DUDE. Why would I lie to you man ?"

"Because you just told me you fought. Captain. Spaceboy. ?!?!?!" Kel flew his arms around, emotion running through his veins so kick it was unthinkable to sit straight.

"We did though ? I mean, never said it wasn’t hard, though I won’t lie that if you compare the second fight to the first, he was easy to beat the first ti-"

"NOW YOU’RE TELLING ME YOU FOUGHT HIM TWICE ?! DUDE."

"Kel, KEL, uh Kels, please I’d like to keep my eardrums-" HERO pleaded.

His pleas went ignored.

I’m sorry, younger big bro but. What the living everlasting heck.

"BUT- He’s saying you fought CAPTAIN. SPACEBOY ?!! T W I C E ?!?!!"

HERO’s pain wasn’t near its end. "We did" he hung his head down in defeat, accepting the fate of his eardrums, begs for mercy useless face to the never ending confusion of Kel. "I mean, we had to, he was a danger to others the first time, and to himself, kinda, the second time ?"

THEY FOUGHT HIM BECAUSE WHAT NOW

Fighting a comic character for these versions of him and the others made sense, in a way, considering they were from a dream. So that Kel understood.

BUT EVEN IN A DREAM, WHY WOULD THEY EVEN WANT TO MESURE THEMSELVES TO THE CAPTAIN OF THE SPACE PIRATES ?!!

What did fight him because he was a danger to others even imply !? Spaceboy fought for justice and justice only !! He wouldn’t hurt innocents !

And fighting him because he was a danger to himself ?! When did that even happen in the comic ?! Him being a threat to himself ?! Not only was that really dark, but how would fighting someone being a threat to theirself would help in any way ?!

You wouldn’t catch Kel go boxing Basil into not feeling like shit ?!?!

Or should he ?! According to his purple self’s logic he could punch the painful feelings away ?!

Kel mentally shook his head. No, nope, that was dumb as heck in their world, maybe that worked for theirs but if he went to see Basil and randomly hit him it would just make things worse.

Was that Aubrey saw of him when she looked at him ? Or anyone else ?!

A purple overexcited kid oblivious to serious struggles ?

No, but that wasn’t what Kel wanted to give off though ! He was supposed to be proof moving on was possible, keeping positive and occasionally joking around, but uh...

This was a lot.

I will not ask mini me for advice if he suggests punching everything that isn’t, well, nice to him/me or sad-

"Your lives are really, really weird. Man... Captain Spaceboy. You guys saw Captain Spaceboy. Talked to Captain Spaceboy."

What I wouldn’t give for him to be real. I want to speak to him now, it’s not possible but they did.

"You guys are so so so so luckyyyy..." he sighed. "Like ya’ll got everything. You got Spaceboy, you heal with food, you have powers..."

"We don’t have the awesome drink though" KEL pointed out.

"Hell, I can’t believe I’m about to say it, but it doesn’t even compare to what you guys have. Like. I’d give up Orange Joe for your life. You have MARI, dude. MARI."

KEL scratched his neck, in thoughts. "Yeah, true, true." He sighed. "Not gonna lie, in a sense your life sucks. Like, you can’t be a space pirate, and like you don’t have MARI... dang, it must suck for your Hero. And your Omori."

"You said it."

"Dang stairs."

"Huh-?!" Kel chocked. Well I wasn’t expecting to hear that- but true. "Yeah.. damn stairs."

"Well anyways. How y’all doing ?"

Kel didn’t know how to respond to that accuratly. Well, replying for him would be easy, he was doing good. The others... well, depended.

Hero was, well, hard to read since he was away at uni, but he was telling Kel even though he could be better, he was hanging on okay.

Aubrey was trying to get better, find some peace, as she did for years, and she looked about pleased with her progress most of the times.

He didn’t know for Sunny.

Basil wasn’t looking good lately, even though he had been discharged for a good month already.

"Well, we’re... we’re all kinda good. I mean, our lives compared to yours are really different, and uh, let’s say, we’ve had our share of bullcrap to deal with in the last months. But we’re holding up. We were about to all hang out and stuff before ya’ll spawned in."

"And what do you do, usually ? What kind of adventures did you go on ? Has your Basil ever went missing ?"

That’s a lotta questions- let’s try to remember the order to answer hahahskx-

"Usually ? Well, I go to school, try not to fall behind -again-, don’t want to re-do any year again. Play sports at the campus, or around town. About the adventures, we don’t really get what you guys have, so we used to pretend we had what you had ? When we were kids. Like, we imagined scenarios and played them out, though Mari and Basil usually watched."

"Mari’s bad knee ?"

"Yup. And Basil always tried to take pictures here and there, and he didn’t want to join us at all, I think. If I remember he said it was often because he was tired, and would rather watch us get the fun, that it did the trick for him. To see us happy and stuff."

"Oh. Our BASIL just doesn’t like to fight, so he stays behind."

Well that must be kinda boring-

"And uh, about Basils, ours hasn’t gone missing." Wait no he has "Actually no wait, he has. Wasn’t for long though, we found him quite fast."

...The, screaming. kinda helped.

Yep. Not the kind of additional detail he’d share-

"We found him fast too !" KEL seemed to think there were implications behind what his counterpart said. "Well... uh, I guess it was fast ? Dunno."

Short silence. KEL glanced at the corridor, where in the bathroom, MARI, Omori and Sunny had a chat. They had to go there to have privacy to discuss 'private matter', as MARI had explained. The reasons behind the two boy’s 'fight' or stuff apparently weren’t ones neither Omori and Sunny wished to discuss in the open just yet. And they chose the bathroom because Polly and Basil, plus BASIL were already in Basil’s grandma’s/Polly’s room, and Sunny wasn’t keen on going in Basil’s old room for understandable reasons.
Their voices weren't very audible, not understandable. Well, 'their' voices. MARI was the only one speaking, occasionally interupted by Sunny’s voice quickly.

"Say, why did your Omori, I mean, Sun ? ...The guy with the eyepatch. Why was he covered in jam when he came back ?"

Why indeed ? I have no clue-

"Hey, the confusion and weird stuff’s from your world. I dunno. Y’know what, maybe once he’s done talking with the smaller him you can go ask."

"Oh. So what was he doing in the bathroom ? Not now, I mean, earlier. Why did he change clothes by the way, does he have a ceremony or anything ?"

What ?

"Uh... no ?" These aren't even formal clothes-

I mean sure a purple sweather over a white shirt and all is stylish-er than that sweather I have but still-

"He just took a shower. He was covered in jam, for whatever reason, and yeah so I’m not sure anyone would want to stay this way. So he went to take a shower, and yeah we’ll have to wash his clothes too."

He should remember that, and drop the bag where said clothes were in the washing machine once they’d go home. Hopefully he wouldn’t dorget to do that-

"He went to take what ? He doesn’t have anything new besides his clothes though"

Did I speak too low or something ?

"No, he took a shower."

That clearly didn’t explain anything to the other KEL.

"What’s that thing ?"

Now Kel turned to the small HERO, in total disbelief.

He has to be kidding. Right ? I know people ask me if I know what showers are but that’s a joke, and he has to be joking right now.

"Why are you looking at me like that...?"

"Small me just... he’s kidding, right ? I can’t tell, he looks dead serious. But he is joking. Right ?"

"Uh... no ? I mean, I don’t know what you’re talking about either..." HERO awkwardly laughed.

No way. No. Way. Yeah, Kel forgot to shower sometimes, but his parents reminded him. But when he forgot to do it he didn’t forget the very concept of it ?! What was that ??

"No, you’re kidding" what the heck... "you both have to be kidding... don’t tell me you don’t get cleaned up after like, a basketball match ?"

They don’t shower in their world ?! What the heck ?? He’s been going through 12 years without-

"A what ball what"

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN A WH-"

---

MARI was sat in front of her brother and Sunny. Or could it be 'brothers' ? Omori was supposed to be Sunny, and since Sunny was Mari’s brother, was he any Mari’s brother ?

Ah.

Besides the point.

She was looking at the both of them expectantly. Omori was sitting too, knees against his chest, hugging them with an arm while the other rested to his side. He was side-eyeing Sunny, also sat the exact same way.

The latest didn’t like how Omori’s position was the mirror of his.

"Now I know you’ve had your... differents, in the past. Recent past. About what you wanted to do, wanted to happen. But both of you should know, this isn’t going to get fixed without communication. So you need to talk to each other. Now, preferably."

Omori’s head snapped right to MARI, blinking repeatedly. His eyes were slightly more wide opened than usual, and even if it wasn’t a big emote, the fact it was even noticeable betrayed his shock.

Sunny was taken aback too, but not as much. It had been implied to him the version he crafted of Mari wasn’t completely ignorant at some point, no ? But the fact she knew about their near resentment towards each other was odd, given how recent it had began to sprout. Well, the resentment on Sunny’s part was new.

I don’t know about how Omori feels about.. well, me, and I didn’t think it mattered because he’s not supposed to be real, arghh-

Omori looked like he felt flabbergasted, somehow. Funny to see, in a way.

"Hey. Come on, boys. You gotta talk." She gently urged them, her voice having a twinge of firmness in her demand though.

Sunny pouted, and he hated how Omori did too, because he bet he looked as childish as him. Which he didn’t want.

"Come on." The girl sighed. "We all know both of you are actually mature enough. So go on."

Mature ? Omori ? He acts like a dang child ever since he popped up here- didn’t you see how he just stole all my food and beat me up for standing up against him about it ?!

Well. Beating up was a strong way to put it. They threw stuff at each other.

But it was an agression.

Not to mention Omori basically committed a crime just half an hour ago.

Well, then again, Mari was alive again, ...thanks, to that felony. Mari being alive...

Oh god, oh god, this was... getting so scary, but also increasingly so... amazing.

Sunny was at the same time overflowed with an immense amount of joy, blinded by the chance he had, but also he was really stressed too. And frustrated, because why, why did it have to be Omori who did that.

Why Omori.

Omori was literally the only one who didn’t deserve any thank you, even for what he did. That one good thing didn’t balance all he ruined. Hey, Omori was Sunny, after all.

Sunny had ruined things, so, so had Omori.

Sunny ruined everything by killing Mari, it was only normal and the least expected from Omori that he’d revive Mari. It made sense.

But it didn’t make up for how Sunny shut himself away for years, leaving everything to crumble and rot away being his bloody trail. Omori had been that version of him that relished in his blissful, willingfull ignorance, while the rest of the group suffered because of him.

MARI was beginning to get frustrated, but she stayed calm despite the faint red flashing around her.

Maybe I should talk.

He didn’t want to. But he also didn’t want to see MARI get actually mad.

Never again.

"Don’t want to talk to him."

It was the truth. Sunny didn’t want to speak with Omori. They never had an actual conversation, and what came closer to it wasn’t... particularly pleasant for the teenager.

MARI sighed, but nodded. "I can see that." She looked like the thought about what to say next. "Listen, I know it’s complicated for you to see each other."

It’s the less intense way to say it. I just want him to go back to being at best a character I draw.

"But you need to communicate. Sunny, we’re probably going to stay for a while. The others, and.. me included, we need new horizons, at least for a bit." She explained, voice growing even softer for a moment. "And I don’t really want you both to end up lashing out at each other after constantly refusing to make peace. I doubt you want that to happen either. Both of you."

Omori didn’t look at her as she turned her gaze towards him. He adverted his, puffing his cheeks.

Make peace ? That formulation left a bitter taste in Sunny’s troath as he tried to reply. It’s not about making peace. It went too far for that, and just... I don’t want that. I don’t need to make peace to feel okay. I need Omori back to being... nothing I can't control.

I’m not his puppet. He thinks he can order me around. Well, order what I remember, decide what I can and can’t. He tried to stop me from telling the truth and to instead-...

No.

"Don’t want that" Sunny mumbled. MARI looked pleased with the statement, and about to say something as she again looked at the monocrome kid when Sunny pursued his sentence. "But also I don’t want to talk either. He ruined things."

Omori’s head shot towards Sunny, red glowing instantly around him a bit too intense to just be the first tier. The child pointed an accusatory finger at his original self, mouth opened as if he was about to shout at him.

Then, he seemed to notice he snapped, or was about to, because he furiously crossed his arm, eyes staring daggers at Sunny as he gritted his teeth.

No, talk. Go on. Go on, yell at me and snap like that childish kid you are, I want to see that, huh ? Because yeah, you’re so mature and of course you know better than anyone, huh ?!

It was easy to be angry at Omori, really. Sunny was always bitter when he catched a glimpse of his reflection in mirrors, and Omori was the worst mirror ever.

"He ruins things ?" MARI echoed Sunny, eyebrows slightly furrowed. "...I get why you’d think that. I mean, you’re angry at him. I know you have... your reasons to feel this way. Though I don’t think Omori understands why you’re angry."

It was easy to explain. It was so hard to explain. It made sense when Sunny thought of his reasons. They wouldn’t make sense if Sunny tried to word them out. He was bad with words and his reasons to get angry were often futile. If not always.

Why was MARI trying to get them to... what, be friends ? It wouldn’t happen.

Visibly, as soon as Sunny had that reflection, the girl sighed. "Listen. I’m just trying to calm things between you two. You both, as I keep saying, need to talk. Otherwise the issues won’t go away. You know ignoring the problems don’t work out." she slowly said, glaring at the both of them.

Sunny felt slapped mentally. Yup. That felt and was meant to be personal.

Omori, him, pouted even more. His lips moved, and though he didn’t make a sound, it could be made out he said something along the lines of "no, it works."

"So. Sunny, maybe try and explain to Omori why you’re mad ? What did he do wrong in your eyes ?"

"You know." Sunny’s voice was sour.

It wasn’t fair. She knew, he didn’t have to say it out loud. It wasn’t fair she was trying to make him say it, he hated it. And he hated how close this situation felt to that one time his mother tried to bring him to therapy, or whatever it was.

That feeling of being watched as he was supposed to talk, he hated it, he hated talking, he hated talking about his feelings, about what happened with his sister, he hated the idea of talking about his feelings about what happened with Mari and the aftermath, he hated how this man had looked at him in silence judging him as Sunny tried to stand the eye contact by distracting himself with the long nose of the guy while he was only beginning to desperately shove the truth down, he hated the situation back then so much, the idea of therapy too, so why did this feel close to it ? He didn’t need it, it didn’t work for him, wouldn’t work, it wasn’t for him, he went there but had decided it wasn’t for him, it wouldn’t work.

"You know why I’m angry." He repeated nonetheless. If he had to do this -which he felt like he had to-, then he’d get it over with as quick as possible. "What he did."

MARI glanced at her brother, who impertinently shrugged, motioning "what the hell is he talking about ?".

The purple teenager sighed for what seemed the hundredth time. She looked older, for a split second. In her sort of parental demeanour.

"Omori... did a lot of things that could’ve upsetted you. I don’t know which one exactly you’re talking about, though I have my idea. But, I’m sure he has his own point of view on how things happened to his eyes, Sun-"

Sunny snapped.

"His own point of view ? He was trying to-..."

He cut himself short, lowering his voice. No. No yelling, not at MARI, and he might be heard. It seemed the conversations in the living room to lower in volume, wondering what was going on with them.

MARI mistook his interruption as giving her the turn to say something. "He wasn’t trying to hurt you, you know ? Not willingly. He believed it was what you wanted, I think. Right, Omori ?"

Omori shot a look at MARI, then almost imperceptibly nodded his head. His gaze got less provocative there.

Sunny, on another hand, didn’t feel appeased by any mean. In fact, his alter ego’s confirmation only added fuel to his anger.

What I wanted ?! I-

This was so wrong, it felt so wrong

"I think Omori thought he was protecting y-" MARI began, but she was cut off.

"Protecting me by trying to get me to die ?!" Sunny whisper-shouted, voice strangled in his troath.

MARI fell silent, and Omori shot Sunny a dull glare, a sense of bitterness to it. Sunny was focusing on managing his anger, and didn’t want to pay attention to the kid.

Don’t mess up, don’t mess up, don’t mess up, it’s MARI, don’t get angry at her

Take a deep breath. Calm down.

"You can’t say he did good with it. No good intention makes up. Don’t try to excuse this." Please. Sunny pleaded, pushing out the words, wishing she had taken his notebook with her.

He didn’t know if he should be thankful for his mother forcing him to talk more in times like this, where his emotions chocked down his words, threatening to do the same to him. It hurt, both mentally and physically. But he managed to push words out. Good thing or bad thing ? He didn’t know. Didn’t have the time to care for now.

He looked at MARI, who was blinking, and suddenly, Sunny became aware of how exhausted he felt. He might have overestimated his own capacity to hold up a whole day, assume that since at his new house he stayed awake all day, it meant he’d be fine not resting, but he didn’t take into account the fact socialising, even at Faraway with his friends, would take such an emotional toll on him, and how he’d have to move around and not lay in bed sketching all day. Also, he couldn’t expect the Headspace to break the rules of normalcy and pop into existence.

It was frustrating. Sunny was so tired, and wanted to sleep. But he needed to make the most of the two weeks he was in town. He barely had the time to reconnect with his friends. He didn’t spend enough time with Kel, or Hero, only a breakfast with Aubrey before everything stopped making the least sense. And let’s not get started on Basil, who he hadn’t even been given the opportunity to actually say hi to normally.

It was tense. MARI wasn’t responding to Sunny’s question.

Sunny wasn’t waiting for her reply. He knew what it was just by looking at her pained expression she couldn’t really hide.

Omori was waiting for her reply. Oblivious to her expression’s meaning, growing impatient, shifting. It wasn’t nervousness, but something was heavy in the air, and he wasn’t dense enough not to feel it.

MARI ended up lowly uttering the answer, without the heart to it. She almost looked as if giving up trying to justify anything.

"You’re right. I can’t excuse that at all."

----

Omori made a strangled noise, and his whole body winced with a sense of betrayal.

What ?

What ?

What did that-

What did she mean ?

What was there to not excuse ?

Helping ? Was that it ?

But he didn’t mess up ! Omori hadn’t messed up ! He simply did what he was intended to do ?

She had to mean it towards Sunny, right ? He was the one that had gone against the normal course of things ! He was the one that always looked through the cracks of Headspace and played around with them without caring for the consequences ! And Omori was always the one that had to fix it.

Omori had to adapt to Sunny’s shifting demands, requests. He had to so he did. It was simple. Simple solutions he provided to simple demands, as unclear as they could be, he obliged. He crafted solutions from mere feelings of wrongness.

He never failed to please Sunny for years.

He never failed, and he did what he was intended to.

He stayed true to how he was intended to be.

Unlike BASIL, who by the way, Omori always fixed only to watch him be broken times and times again by Sunny, not trying to understand Sunny’s desire to again and again make the flower boy glitch and fixing him nonetheless without questions.

Omori did his job. He considered to be very good at it. He handled his world’s near destructions so many times before, the half dozen times Sunny had -accidentally, it had to be accidental- tried to uncover the truth, almost wrecking the Headspace.

Sunny was clumsy, and Sunny wasn’t a good person either, and Omori knew how to fix everything Sunny broke -he was made to, after all. Omori was good. Omori fixed things.

Omori was better.

Omori was holding himself together much better.

Omori wasn’t affected by emotions, and always acted cold-headed. He kept things straight on the storyline for Sunny’s comfort. Omori was order, after all.

Emotions were chaos, a chaos handled in battles, battles where their disadvantages became advantages. The only place where they belonged.

Omori had no reason to feel anything outside battles.

Logical.

But Omori’s chest hurt. That pinch, again. That he felt at the place where the Faraway Mari was revived, but somehow worse. Breathing was a bit harder too.

It made no sense.

Omori felt like that, he didn’t know why, it wasn’t something he knew, it wasn’t normal, this place messed with him, it messed with MARI-

-Because MARI wouldn’t say that, MARI wouldn’t know, MARI wouldn’t know and she wouldn’t care, MARI wouldn’t even disagree with him, MARI wouldn’t say she couldn’t excuse what he did, MARI’s usual warm and caring eyes wouldn’t make him feel like his chest was being stabbed through

What was this ?! What was happening ?

Was MARI derailing ?

Did Sunny break her too ?

No, no, no, Omori didn’t want to have to do what he had to do to BASIL to her too ! Doing it to BASIL so many times, he hadn’t liked it, not at all, and he didn’t like the thought of potentially having to brutally fix her too !

Why did Sunny always do this ?!

Omori was made to help ! So were Omori’s friends ! Why did Sunny break them ?! It wasn’t fair !

Omori didn’t even want to babysit Sunny anymore ! Omori just wanted to explore new stuff, since Sunny threw them away -which he didn’t care about at all, he didn’t care about Sunny anymore, he didn’t- and wouldn’t update Headspace, he was just bored and found a new playground, but Sunny was breaking his friends now !

They all left his trail, and Omori was stuck in an unpleasant situation. It wasn’t fair. Omori just fixed Sunny’s life all the time, now even more than he had ever done, and Sunny was still being pissy ?

Tsk. Omori stood by what he said about Sunny. He only cared about himself, he was selfish and using others and then throwing them away, not that Omori cared to be thrown away, he had his friends and MARI and all but he didn’t like this pinching feeling, he wanted it GONE.

His eyes itched the more he looked at MARI’s expression.

The pinch worsened, getting accompanied by a rising bitterness.

His whole existence, Omori helped Sunny. It wasn’t his fault Sunny randomly decided after four years he didn’t agree anymore. Omori didn’t ask for anything in return.

Omori didn’t complain when Sunny slashed him with his bow, rejecting Omori’s help full force after annoyingly refusing it more and more during those three days for some reason.

Omori didn’t complain when thrown away, and he didn’t care anyways because he just didn’t care.

Omori came here asking for a favor, because he didn’t complain when he noticed he wasn’t made with Sunny’s imagination.

He didn’t complain as he laid down for hours, frustrated as he longed for that one thing he never knew he’d need not to feel that horrendous emptiness after being cast aside without warning.

Omori never complained.

He just wanted payback. Nothing much.

New locations in Headspace.

It wouldn’t kill Sunny to brainstorm a few new ideas, would it ? It wouldn’t, since Sunny disgustingly clung on to that life he didn’t and wouldn’t deserve in a million years. Omori deserved his life to be improved because he hadn’t wrecked his whole friend group apart and hadn’t hurt anyone. Contrary to Sunny.

Omori helped Sunny when Sunny didn’t deserve it.

Now, Sunny would help Omori, who deserved it.

"I don’t want him here" Sunny mumbled. Omori picked up he was being talked about, and for a split second the annoying pinch intensified.

Tsk. Go away. You’re useless, useless inconvenience.

Omori stuck his tongue out.

He’d have to deal with it. At least until he gave him what he deserved.

A thought then sprouted in Omori’s mind.

No, it didn’t make sense that Sunny wouldn’t think he was desservant of compensation. Omori helped so much.

Was Sunny actually... not understanding what Omori wanted ?

Was that why he shoved him on the road earlier when Omori tried all the tags he could think of with Sunny ?

Because he didn’t understand what Omori expected of him ?

It was... odd, but it would make sense.

What did Omori have to do to be understood ?

He did try staring at Sunny, to motion him his request all the time they were shoved together or near each other with glancing. Did Sunny not reply because he didn’t get the intent ?

Didn’t he get what Omori wanted by looking into his eyes ?

Huh...

It was odd, but it could be that.

Okay. Now, what ? How would Omori formulate his request ?

He crossed his legs, scratching his chin, thoughtful. Ah, wonderful, the pinch was gone.

Thinking helped, apparently.

"I’d like you to go away" the older boy muttered under his breath.

A lightbulb flashed in Omori’s mind.

Ah ! Talking would to the trick, wouldn’t it ?

Omori looked at Sunny. You want me to go ? Me too ! Let’s make a deal, right ? You update Headspace, land me a bit of your imagination for me to add more when I want, and I never bother you again. I can even give you a few life jam jars for next time you kill somebody. Free of charge, he added for the effect.

Now that was a fair trade, right ? A bit to Sunny’s advantage, but Omori didn’t mind, he just wanted what he originally came here for.

Sunny frowned.

Ah, right. Silly, he hadn’t talked out loud. Hey. He didn’t talk usually, so yeah he was rusty.

Omori readied himself to talk.

"I would li-"

Omori dissolved into coughing.

His voice came out all wrong, all itchy, all raspy, ouch, it wasn’t planned at all-

It was really awkward now, as he cleared his throat, since the other two had a stunned silence at his intervention in the discussion.

Come on, he knew he didn’t talk much, but come on !

Talking was dumb, and useless, usually. He resorted to it simply because Sunny was too dumb to understand Omori’s wishes just like that, just like how it was supposed to be.

The monocrome kid shook his head, finishing to ease his troath to be vocal again. Hopefully his voice wouldn’t tear his vocal cords again.

It was odd they did it at all. He hadn’t talked in months, why did they hurt ? They hadn’t been used, it made no sense to him.

Anyways.

"I would like for you to update Headspace."

That was as explicit as Omori could get, so if Sunny didn’t understand with that, Omori would...

He didn’t know, but he sure wouldn't be pleased. It was already frustrating enough he had to go out of his comfort zone just for someone who didn’t deserve any more effort from him.

"What."

What does he mean, what ? Please, tell me he didn’t get it.

Omori knew Sunny was stupid and weird but come on !

"You update Headspace." Omori slowly repeated. "You give new locations, new bosses, new side quests."

"So you were bored, Omori. I suspected that" MARI said.

Omori nodded to that.

For some reason, a split second, the pinch came back when MARI looked at him. It felt stuck in his troath, the reason why. Something in her look-

Nope. No dwelling on the feeling, the feeling was useless and therefore, didn’t deserve to be taken into account, even better, it didn’t need to be percieved and thus, didn’t exist.

"You were bored." Sunny repeated. As if he didn’t believe Omori.

Tsk. Omori spoke the truth. Why, did him being bored seem that unbelievable ? What was unbelievable was Sunny’s audacity to keep burdening the world with his existence.

Though, Sunny’s existence could benefit Omori, because Sunny hadn’t had the decency to give Omori his own imagination.

Ugh. Was that being dependant ?

"I want you to create new places in Headspace." The black and white kid just said yet again.

It wasn’t that hard to get through one’s thick skull, was it ?

Omori scanned Sunny, waiting for him to agree and get this over with.

"I don’t want to."

Great ! Now with that being said, they would just-

Wait what.

Did he just...

Omori stared at Sunny. He had to have misheard it.

"I don’t. Want. To." Sunny repeated more harshly, his eye darting away.

Coward. Face me. Face me while you say this, look at me with your stupid one eye, your life sucks you have one eye you sick but you don’t get to make my life boring just because you’re mean and a bad person you don’t even deserve to live you’re useless but you have your imagination it’s the only good thing about you, give it to me at least.

"Why."

Omori didn’t actually care about Sunny’s stupid reasons. But for some reason he couldn’t scan how Sunny felt, so he’d have to have Sunny tell him, so that he could use the feelings to his advantage.

"I don't want. And I don’t want to go back to Headspace. I don’t need it. It should have disappeared. And I don’t care. About it."

Liar. You’re a liar, Sunny. You lie and you’re sick and you’re stupid. What do you have to say about that ?

"I want it to disappear, and my friends are better. ...My life is better now, so, go away."

Haha. Sunny was a liar, he lied. He was nothing but that. 

"You’re a liar."

Sunny’s face fell from mild annoyance showing to a mix -how did he mix emotions ?!- of fear and rage. You-"

"If you don’t care about Headspace then why did you draw it everywhere in your sketchbook ?"

Also you draw less good than me.

Omori was pretty proud of his statement he threw at Sunny to justify.

Unfortunately for him, Sunny apparently performed his usual move : ignore a fact he didn’t like.

"I don’t want to. Just go away. I don’t owe you an explanation."

You owe me so much more than just an explanation.

"You owe me compensation. Update Headspace, and I’ll-"

"No."

You didn’t let me finish ?!

Omori wished he had a dandelion near. Oh wait, he did, didn’t he ? He reached into his pocket, and tried to pull it out.

Sunny reached towards him and yanked Omori’s arm away before he could pull out the flower.

The kid grunted in frustration, now definitly unable to hide or do anything about the red glow anymore. He shot an angry glare at his older self.

Too bad. Whatever could happen now because of that stupid emotion would be on Sunny then.

"Update Headspace."

"No. Go away."

"No, update Headspace."

"I said no !"

I don’t care !

"Stop looking at me like that."

Frustrated, Omori jumped on his feet to tower over the other. "So update Headsp-"

"I won’t do it !" Sunny mimicked him, and now Omori was smaller again.

"You will !"

"No !"

"Yes !"

"No !"

"Yes !"

"I won't !"

"Yes you wi-"

"Boys !" MARI interrupted the bickering, going in between the both of them, having to get up too. "It’s great you’re finally talking, Omori, but Sunny, I didn’t mean 'shout at each other' when I said 'communicate', you know ?"

"He started it" Sunny mumbled, looking away.

Coward.

"Didn’t." Omori crossed his arms. "He’s a liar."

"Shut up."

"No. Update Headspace and I will."

"I said I won’t !"

"Hey." MARI, once again, sighed. She lifted her hands, motioning she’d like to appease the tension there.

Tsk. Sunny started it.

"You can’t force each other to do anything, okay ? I know it matters to both of you. That what Omori’s asking matters to him" she glanced at Sunny, who shrinked under her gaze "and that Sunny’s need for distance matters to him" glare at Omori.

Omori wasn’t a coward, so he didn’t advert his eyes. Ha, he had both his eyes and a pinching feeling because of a something in that glare

MARI gave a tired smile to both of them, looking glad they both were calm, despite Sunny’s angry attitude and Omori’s red glow. "Listen. It matters to both of you. Both your demands are valid."

She looked back and forth to the two. "I would want you both to manage to get along, even for a bit. Then we’ll find a way to get you both what you want. Then, not only you’ll both have your wish granted, but also it’ll be better in the long run if you can find it in yourselves to make amends."

Make amends ? Sunny was a stubborn idiot. Omori didn’t need to make amends with someone immature who was pissy about Omori disagreeing with him on something where Omori was right. Plus Omori hadn’t done anything wrong. And he actually had reasons for some stuff he did. Stuff that he didn’t like doing. Stuff he did for Sunny, that was worth mentioning wasn’t it ? Tsk.

"Okay ?" MARI’s voice was soft. "I really care, okay ? For the both of you. I love both of you, so it’d be really cool and better even for you if-"

Omori’s ears buzzed. He didn’t hear the rest.

What.

What.

She loved both of them ?

She loved Sunny ?

Sunny ?

Something bitter rose in the kid’s throat.

Sunny didn’t care. Sunny didn’t give a shit about MARI.

Sunny killed his sister.

Then made up another one as he regretted his crime.

And then, he had discarded her.

Along with everyone else he made.

He said he meant for Headspace to disappear.

It didn’t happen. But it was Sunny’s intention.

He had meant for everything Omori had to be gone.

He had meant for MARI to be gone too, since he shoved her in the same basket as Headspace.

He’d create her just to discard her once he was done playing.

How disgusting.

MARI was the best sister Omori could ever ask for. She was perfect. She was too perfect for someone like Sunny. She was perfect and Sunny was disgusting and horrible and he didn’t deserve anything, and since MARI was perfect she even cared for someone like Sunny, Sunny that had killed her other self and tried to get rid of her.

Sunny didn’t care about her.

Why did she care about him ?

How could she love him as much as she loved Omori ?!

How dared Sunny make her love him ?! He knew he was sick, twisted, disgusting, nothing but a monster underservant of life, he

Omori saw red.

Sunny didn’t deserve shit, Sunny had to pay, Sunny couldn’t escape his demise forever, if he wouldn’t do it himself then Omori would always have to take matter into his own hands, getting his hands dirty, getting his hands red all for the sake of doing what Sunny never could

Omori shoved Sunny violently, sending the teen crashing back on the sink with a surprised yelp.

Then, he swung back. Omori didn’t expect it and wasn’t able to block, and took the punch in the face.

He didn’t see how many damage he got, and was momentarily blinded, his eyes burning as much as his nose that took the kick.

He waited for his vision to clear to ripost, stumbling back as he held his nose, only seeing black and intense red when he opened his eyes. Enraged.

Alright. More damage, less defense. Sunny was angry too, so he couldn’t have the advantage of-

He received another kick, in the leg this time, and cried out briefly in pain and surprise.

It hurt. Very much so. He retreated as far as he could, back hitting the door, forcing his eyes open despite his nose stinging.

His left knee hurt even more now. But Omori was furious now.

Sunny didn’t respect the rules. He didn’t respect the rules. He attacked twice. Sunny attacked twice. He shouldn’t do that. He couldn’t do that. And it hurt.

Omori saw Sunny try to grab him by the hair, and lost any coherence in his set of attacks, pushing Sunny away as well as he could, and kicking him in the legs best he could trying not to trip from his aching knee. Omori then prared to lunge forward, set to punch Sunny in the face too, and-

MARI went between both of them, intense red flashing around her.

"BOTH OF YOU, STOP IT, DAMN IT !"

She pushed both of them opposite sides to each other, with just enough force to separate them without sending them stumbling against a wall.

"YOU DON’T DO THAT ! WHAT THE HELL, BOTH OF YOU."

She was yelling ?! Oh, she was yelling at him ? At Omori ?! She was angry at him ?! HOW DARE SHE, OMORI WOULD SHOW HE-

Omori’s outline flashed blue the moment MARI’s disintegrated.

She was angry. She was angry at him. Omori had made her angry. And now she was yelling. She was yelling at him. She was angry and she was yelling.

He went into a corner, and sat, hugging his knees. His knee hurt. His face hurt. His eyes stung, and his chest burned with that stupid, stupid ache.

Sunny was freezed up, eye wided opened. He was shivering a bit. He was pale.

MARI’s face wasn’t as pale as Sunny’s. She was mad, so she had an angry flush. It looked odd, for some reason. Something was missing ? But something seemed knew ?

Omori’s eyes probably played tricks on him, because they stung, and he was feeling that stupid, stupid, stupid feeling even though the battle was over, and that stupid emotion troubled his judgement and the ache did too, and his eyes felt weird and he wished they didn’t.

MARI took a few breaths, calming down. The outline was already gone somehow, yet she still looked angry, with her expression. It was weird. She looked weird too. Her face was still warmer as if she was still angry, it didn’t make sense.

She ran a hand through her hair, sighing deeply. "I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to yell at either of you. It’s just... you can’t keep doing this. Getting violent towards each other when you disagree."

At that moment, the door opened, and pretty much every Faraway and Headspace iteration of Omori’s friends tried to rush in, asking about the commotion heard anxiously. MARI lead them out rather than having everyone crowding the small room, and they settled in the living room.

While they did so, Omori was thinking, as he rubbed his nose that still ached.

He couldn’t keep doing this ? Of course he could. He always found a way to force his will to foes. If Sunny wanted to be a foe rather than simply agree to Omori’s request -that literally didn’t cost Sunny anything-, then Omori wouldn’t care. He knew he was right. Sunny had to know Omori was right. So if he was that stubborn to deny Omori of what he deserved, then Omori would fight to reclaim it. Rightfully so.

He wasn’t at fault for simply asking for compensation. He had done so much for Sunny without asking anything in return. This was the only thing he asked for. He’d get it.

Sunny wouldn’t get away with antagonising Omori. The monocrome one would make sure of it. And if Sunny even dared to, then Omori would make sure he did the exact same to him. Yup.

Until Sunny did what Omori asked of him, the tiny thing he asked, Omori would be really annoying.

Okay. MARI said no fighting. He didn’t want to be scolded ever again, it made him angry sad, and emotions were futile, so he’d stay level headed, neutral, and become an inconvenience to his creator while staying pacifist.

Well. He won’t start fights. That’s all he’d promise. If Sunny started it...

Welp. Not my fault.

The others still wanted to know. Omori was on the couch, far away from Sunny, who was at the diner table side-eyeing him. Basil -oh, the blond one ended up getting out of the room he was in. He still looked like crap.- was hesitantly near Sunny, not looking at him in the eyes but worryingly discussing the bruise Sunny had from the altercation.

The rest were listening to MARI relating the events, how they briefly threw hands since they still disagreed on yet another thing, without going into detail. The Headspace kids worried about Omori, and the Faraway ones about Sunny.

Stupid. Shouldn’t worry about this stupid murderer.

The Faraway Kel nudged Omori, who flinched away with a glare.

Don’t touch me.

"Hey- oh, sorry. Uh... say, why’d you hit Sunny ?"

He really wanted to know ? Tsk.

He was in no mood to give the actual long explanation.

"Oh, right, he doesn’t talk. Uh... MARI, why -oh god it’s weird talking to you, haha- did he.. punch Sunny ?"

But Omori could just throw a bitter statement. That, he was in the mood for.

So he did.

"Sunny is ungrateful."

...Tsk.

Chapter Text

Basil heard -MARI- her say something about having to talk with her brother.

He was trying really hard not to pay attention to her.

While simultaneously trying not to put all his focus into Sunny. Because if he did so, he’d think about-

His stomach twisted.

No, don’t think about this.

How dumb it was.

Now he was thinking of both things.

MARI. Sunny’s ey-

His stomach twisted.

Stop, stop, stop thinking about this

Factual events, factual events. What was happening, factually ?

Yeah, yeah, he should focus on that, and not the fact MARI was here and that Sunny too, and that his e-

His stomach twisted.