Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Four years.

It had been four long, arduous, agonizing years since the worst mistake of Sunny’s life: four years, and not a single day had gone by in which he wasn’t forcefully reminded of the price he had to pay to repent for his sin.

Four years with his body and mind tethered to a demon, four years of carving away his heart and soul piece by piece to add to the demon’s growing collection, all in exchange for fixing what never should have happened to begin with.

It had hurt, at first. It still did, on some level, but akin more to the pain of a mild bruise or a surface-level cut rather than the deep, excruciating pain he’d felt the very first time he’d stabbed the demon’s knife into his chest, carving out the smallest sliver of a shard that the demon had greedily snatched up.

At the very least, though, the demon—Omori, as Sunny had eventually come to refer to him as, the longer the two remained connected for and the more entwined their thoughts and feelings grew—granted him the power to create a space that was all his own in return: a place where he could interact with the people he loved to his heart’s content, and go on all the adventures that he wanted, without ever having to leave his house and face the outside world.

An outside world where his beloved older sister was stuck in a hospital bed, hooked up to wires and machines and just barely clinging to life.

(An outside world where she shouldn’t have even been alive at all. Where she hadn’t been alive, until Omori came and granted his wish for a price he deserved to pay.)

(An eye for an eye, a soul for a soul, a life for a life.)

And so Sunny spent his days and his nights locked away in the safety of his own mind, indulging in the toxic comfort that Omori’s gift granted him as he let his soul slip away piece by piece, his life dwindling away to counterbalance the life that was slowly but surely returning to his comatose sister.

Until he found himself hardly anything more than an empty husk of a human being, with only four shards left of his soul to give, and only three days left to live.

Yet three days was all that was needed to take what little life Sunny had left and turn it completely on its head.

Someone was knocking.

It wasn’t an uncommon occurrence—in fact, Sunny heard the sound more often than it actually occurred, making it difficult to distinguish whether the sound was based in reality or if it was his anxious mind playing tricks on him yet again.

Sometimes it was just easier to assume it was all in his head.

(And by sometimes, he meant all of the time.)

Yet today, for some reason, Sunny felt compelled to leave his bedroom as the sound continued to echo through the empty house without showing any signs of stopping, his legs shaking and his heart pounding in his chest as he walked step by agonizing step down the stairs and towards the front door.

“ Helllooooo… Helllloooooooooooo?”

“Sunny? Are you there? ”

The sound of a voice physically reaching his ears was jarring. He didn’t usually hear voices outside of his head, not unless they were his parents’ voices coming from their house phone’s answering machine.

He wasn’t hallucinating, was he…? The voice sounded familiar, too: it was a bit deeper than the last time he could remember hearing it—in Headspace, or in reality—but Sunny was almost positive that was—

“ Do you remember me? It’s your old friend, Kel! ”

Kel… of course Sunny remembered him. How could Sunny ever forget someone like Kel? He was so bright, so full of life , all smiles and optimism and boundless energy. Someone like him should have been the last person Sunny would ever want to be around even before The Incident, given Sunny’s more withdrawn personality compared to Kel’s outgoing one, but the fact that they practically grew up together as best friends aside… Sunny needed someone with that kind of warmth in his life, someone who would reach out and pull him out of his shell and into the sunlight no matter how many tries it took.

Or at least, Sunny had needed that, back before he’d ruined everything for all the people he loved. He couldn’t even remember what the sun felt like, anymore.

“ So I… uh… I noticed the ‘FOR SALE’ sign in front of your house… and I… err… heard from my mom that you were moving away soon. ”

That’s right, they were moving. That’s why his parents were nowhere to be found: they were busy getting everything set up in their new apartment in the next town over. Apparently there was a better hospital there that would be able to treat Mari more efficiently, or so they claimed, and so Sunny’s parents had decided to pick up and go in order to help the daughter that they were always so proud of return to her old, vibrant state.

(No one cared about Sunny’s opinion on the matter. Not that he had one in the first place, not anymore.)

(Besides, it didn’t matter. He had three days left to live, and three days left until the move. Omori couldn’t have timed it better if he tried—or maybe the perfect timing actually was his doing, so that Sunny could die in the same house that he’d taken his own sister’s life, while his family was able to move on and leave him behind.)

“ I was wondering… if you wanted to hang out one more time before you go… or whatever… for old time’s sake, y’know? ”

Hang out? Sunny hadn’t spent time with him—at least, not outside of his own Headspace—for four whole years, and Kel still cared enough to want to hang out together?

Could Sunny really do something like that? Was that allowed?

He told himself he couldn’t for so long now—he couldn’t be around anyone, his friends would hate him if they knew they truth, he might end up hurting them too one day, everyone was better off if he just stayed away—that it was difficult to even attempt to wrap his mind around the idea of interacting with anyone outside of the demon in his head and the caricatures of his friends in his Headspace.

Did he even deserve to step foot outside, into the light of day and the warmth of a friendly presence, after what he’d done to Mari?

His hand twitched at his side, his eyes locked on the doorknob that was just within arm’s reach, yet paradoxically felt so far away.

Sunny knew he didn’t have all day to stand here and decide. If he didn’t do this now, then Kel would most likely just give up and leave—and that would be easier, it would be what he deserved, but yet…

He only had three days left. Out of any person in the world that could have come to see him at such a crucial time, knowingly or not, the fact that it was one of the most important people in Sunny’s life wasn’t lost on Sunny in the slightest.

Yet even beyond that, in the end, what it came down to was simple: he just couldn’t say no to Kel.

Not when they were younger, before everything in their lives went to hell, and—as his trembling hand slowly reached out, clearing the gaping chasm between himself and the barrier leading to the outside world—apparently not now, four years later and starved for nothing more than the warmth of his best friend’s presence by his side, no matter how much he knew he had no right to want such a thing for himself after robbing Mari’s warmth from all of them.

His hand came to rest on the doorknob, and he could feel Omori shifting, watching him in what was either intrigue or disapproval (or perhaps even both) as he gripped the knob, turned it, and pulled open the door before he could second-guess himself.

The sunlight was much brighter than he remembered, almost to the point of being painful as he was forced to briefly shield his eyes until they could adjust—but as soon as they did, he was met with a sight that was even brighter and warmer, one that he hadn’t realized just how much he missed seeing (physically seeing in reality, not within the confines of his own world inside his dreams) until it was right in front of him:

Kel’s smile, tentative and a bit startled and awkward, yet so genuine and filled with warmth that Sunny knew he would have smiled back in an instant, if he were capable of making such an expression anymore.

“Woah, you actually came out!”

Sunny couldn’t blame Kel for the blunt, surprised exclamation. Honestly, he was just as stunned as Kel apparently was, now that he was properly beginning to process what he’d just done.

Apparently Kel had gained at least somewhat of a sense of awareness over the past few years, since his expression immediately shifted to one of sheepish embarrassment as he rubbed the back of his neck.

“I-I mean…,” Kell trailed off for a moment, before letting out a sigh. “Okay, I’m going to be honest with you, Sunny: I really didn’t expect you to come out today, so I don’t really have a game plan here.”

To be fair, Sunny mused to himself, Kel wasn’t the only one that hadn’t expected him to come out today. He could hardly fault Kel for not being prepared for what to do if he actually opened the door for him.

(The thought that Kel was so blindly focused on trying to get through to him for four whole years, persistently calling and reaching out to him and now even coming straight to his door to ask to see him even just one last time… Sunny still didn’t think he deserved it, but somewhere in the depths of his empty chest, the few remaining small scraps of his heart felt just the slightest bit touched by the sentiment.)

Kel’s brows furrowed as he hummed in thought, before perking back up with a bright grin as an idea came to him.

“Wait, I know! Let’s go to Hobbeez—y’know, the hobby shop in the plaza! We haven’t gone there together in forever!”

The prospect of walking all the way from his house to his plaza was… daunting, at best, but Sunny wasn’t given much of a choice as Kel grasped his wrist in a gentle yet firm hold and eagerly began tugging him along.

“You haven’t been outside in a while, right? Just follow me, I’ll lead the way!!”

For a moment, Sunny found himself glancing back towards the safety of his house longingly as he stumbled after his energetic friend—but he knew that if he really didn’t want to go along with Kel’s whims, all he had to do was open his mouth and say the word, and Kel would change their impromptu hangout plans on the spot for him without missing a beat.

It was tempting. It was very, very tempting.

The outside world was too bright, too loud, too much after four years of solitude.

Kel was too bright, too loud… but never too much, oddly enough. Maybe it was because he’d been seeing Kel in his Headspace pretty much every night, albeit a younger version made up of Sunny’s memories and Omori’s magic, but the fact that he was still the same person in reality even after all the time that passed was… comforting, honestly. It was the only reason why Sunny gave up on looking back at what he was leaving behind, and instead turned his gaze forward for the first time in a long, long time as he pushed his weakened body to keep up with Kel’s quick pace.

(He didn’t deserve comfort, he didn’t deserve to look forward, he didn’t deserve any of this, why was he letting himself go along with Kel like this when he didn’t deserve it after what he did to his own sister—)

Already, Sunny could tell that this was going to be a long, long day.

Granted, he wasn’t sure whether that was a good thing or not, but… it was certainly something, he could say that much.

Surprisingly enough, once Sunny grew used to the sights and sounds of the outside world and the constant presence of people scattered all around town, it was almost… fun, walking around Faraway with Kel like old times.

He couldn’t express it well, and it was dim and quick to fade compared to the strong, lasting memories of the fun times he used to have with Kel and the rest of their group, but the fact that the feeling was there at all was a surprise for both himself and the demon that continued to silently observe him from behind.

Regardless of how fleeting and dull the feeling was, it was still a small bit of proof that he apparently wasn’t as much of an empty shell as he thought.

Still, empty shell or not, Sunny felt exhaustion and the slightest hints of anxiety creeping up on him after spending a couple of hours walking around town. It was almost like how he spent his time in Headspace, helping out people with little problems here and there—and even working a few quick part-time jobs for some spending money, much to Kel’s pleased surprise—but too much of a good thing was still too much, and Sunny had a feeling he was quickly approaching the limit of what he could handle for one day.

And then he saw Basil, and Aubrey, and everything started to fall apart.

This… this wasn’t the Aubrey he knew. Sunny’s Aubrey was a little violent, sure, but in a headstrong, playful way—but this Aubrey was just… angry. Angry at Basil, angry at Kel, angry at him, angry at the world.

(Angry at herself, Omori’s voice echoed through his mind, the first he’d spoken up since Kel’s arrival. Though Sunny barely understood what was going on with Aubrey, he somehow felt inclined to agree with the demon’s assessment.)

And Basil… Basil was nothing like the boy Sunny knew either. Starting—most importantly—with the fact that Basil was looking at him with raw fear in his gaze, his eyes blown wide in panic.

Or maybe it wasn’t Sunny that Basil was looking at.

After all, Basil knew about Omori’s existence as well: he’d been the one to volunteer his life and his soul alongside Sunny, in order to convince the demon to bring Mari back. The question was, why did he look so afraid? What had Omori done to Basil that he hadn’t done to Sunny?

He just took a bit more… convincing, to give me the pieces of his soul that he promised, Omori replied. I didn’t hurt him, if that’s what you’re implying.

That was… concerning, but ultimately not too surprising, at least not enough for the emotion to stick for longer than a second or two of acknowledgement. If Omori said he didn’t hurt Basil, then Sunny believed him.

Was it wise to trust the words of a demon? Probably not, but considering how Omori was the only conversation partner he’d had in the past few years outside of his Headspace, it was almost second nature by this point to take whatever Omori told him at face-value without questioning him too much. Especially because it became harder and harder to form opinions and emotions of his own, with each piece of his soul that he handed over to the demon.

As his gaze remained locked on Basil in silent inquiry and his mind remained occupied with conversing with the demon observing them from his shadow, Sunny habitually found himself tuning out the back and forth shouting match between Kel, Aubrey, and Aubrey’s friends, especially as he felt himself drawing ever closer to his limit for social interaction for the day. It was normal for Kel and Aubrey to argue, anyway, even if this felt a bit louder and more bitterly heated than their usual arguments from Sunny’s memories and in Headspace. It was fine, though, everything was fine—

Aubrey suddenly pointed her nailed bat at him and Kel, and Kel grabbed a basketball off of the playground floor and brandished it as he stepped forward to return her challenge.

Oh. They were fighting now. That… probably wasn’t good.

“The two of you against me, huh? Fine, come at me!” Aubrey shouted.

Wait, two?

Sunny blinked.

Okay, apparently he’d been even more lost in thought than he realized, if he’d somehow gotten roped into this fight as well.

He wasn’t entirely sure how that happened, but… even if he didn’t like the idea of fighting a friend, he’d been through enough fights in Headspace to be able to handle something like this, regardless of how weak and fatigued his body felt in reality.

All he had to do was swing Omori’s knife like always, and—

Aubrey’s pained shout abruptly snapped Sunny’s mind out of its detached, exhausted state and back to awareness, bringing the sight of her clutching her bleeding arm into sharp focus.

Bleeding?

Why was she bleeding?

No one ever bled when he cut them with Omori’s knife. He never bled when he stabbed himself with Omori’s knife.

The last time he’d seen blood was—

Oh god.

Oh no.

No no no nonononononono—

He did it again. He hurt someone again.

He knew this was going to happen. It was too dangerous for him to be around people. He’d been right to hide himself away from the world, he never should have left, he had to go, he had to get out of here before he hurt someone else—

Sunny was AFRAID.

There weren’t many emotions that could reach him in the real world anymore, and the ones that did often faded as quickly as they came—but fear, fear was the one single emotion that still managed to seize Sunny’s mind, his throat, his lungs, his heart, everything and anything all at once until all that was left was a blind, frantic panic.

Sunny ran.

He ran, and ran, and ran as fast as his weakened body would take him: away from the people, away from the noise, away from the blood, back to his prison, back to his grave, back where a violent monster like him belonged—

His legs wouldn’t move.

Sunny was wholly unprepared for his legs abruptly locking up, forcing him to a dead halt as Omori’s shadows wound around his feet and held him in a vice grip—and he was saved from falling forward off the edge of the sidewalk and into oncoming traffic by a hand hastily grabbing his arm and yanking him backwards, away from the car that was just coming around the corner.

With his legs abruptly freed and his upper body following Kel’s momentum, Sunny stumbled backwards, Kel taking a few steps back to steady the two of them and bring them away from the street corner before finally allowing himself to take a long, shaky breath of relief.

“That— that was way too close…,” Kel muttered, his voice hitching just the slightest bit as he spoke. It took him a moment longer, but he managed to regain his composure as he looked down at Sunny worriedly and asked, “Are you okay? You’re not hurt, right?”

If Sunny had the capacity to, he would have laughed. He was tempted to force out a laugh anyway, because Kel’s words couldn’t be anything other than a joke.

Was he seriously asking if Sunny was alright, when Sunny was the one that just hurt their friend?

(When Sunny was the one that took Mari away from all of them? When Sunny was the reason why Aubrey and Basil were so broken?)

Kel continued to inspect Sunny, apparently realizing that he wasn’t going to get a response and instead settling on affirming with his own two eyes that there wasn’t any physical damage to Sunny’s body that he could see.

“You really shouldn’t be running around with a knife like that, Sunny,” Kel continued once he’d inspected Sunny to his satisfaction, before reaching out and gently yet firmly prying the blade from Sunny’s grip. “I mean, it broke up that fight before it could get any worse, so that’s good I guess… but still!”

Sunny winced slightly at the reminder and dropped his gaze, forcing himself to try and steady his breathing to keep from lapsing back into panic.

“Ah— b-but, I mean, Aubrey’s okay, I think! You just scratched her a bit, and… well, you know her, it takes way more than just a scratch to take her down!” Kel hastily added, clearly trying his best to cheer Sunny up and help him calm down. “Plus, you helped save Basil, so that’s a good thing! Just… no more knives, alright?”

Sunny nodded, his fear gradually ebbing the longer he focused on Kel’s voice for until the tightness in his chest faded into nothing more than the usual dull ache, his mind returning to its default state of fuzzy lethargy.

Knives hurt people in the real world. Sunny didn’t want to hurt anyone else. No more using knives in the real world.

He could remember that much.

(Even as Kel tossed Omori’s knife in a nearby trashcan, Sunny could feel it reappearing in his pocket where it belonged the second Kel turned away from it.)

(It was fine. He wasn’t going to hurt anyone ever again. He wasn’t.)

“We should really go back and check on Basil…,” Kel said, glancing back in the direction of the park with a worried look. “I hope Aubrey and the rest of those jerks didn’t go back to picking on him when we ran off.”

They left. Basil is alone in the park, Omori supplied, his voice a whisper of temptation in the back of Sunny’s mind. You don’t have to go. You should go back home and rest.

That sounded good. He could go home, go to sleep, and forget all of this happened.

He could go back to his Headspace, where knives didn’t hurt people and friends didn’t attack friends. Where Aubrey and Basil both wore carefree smiles, their gazes filled with happiness—not anger or fear—as they looked at him.

Just as Sunny was formulating a way to try and convey his desire to return home to Kel, he felt Kel’s hand gripping his own and tugging him along just as it had earlier—and just as easily as he had before, Sunny let himself be dragged along to Kel’s whims.

Just say no. You can manage one word, can’t you?

It was easier said than done, when faced with Kel’s determination. Or rather, it was easier to not say or do, and instead to just allow Kel to keep a tight hold of him as he led the way back towards the park.

Back towards Basil, who was waiting with clear traces of lingering fear and apprehension as the two of them entered the park and made their way over towards him.

Omori must have let Basil know that they were coming back; Sunny couldn’t think of why else Basil would have been waiting in the same spot for them, unless he had that much faith that they would return to check on him. Considering how Sunny didn’t even have that much faith in himself let alone in another person, it was a bit difficult to wrap his mind around the idea.

“Hey Basil! Sorry about before, I wasn’t expecting Sunny to run off like that so I kinda took off after him without thinking,” Kel greeted with a weak laugh, pointedly avoiding mentioning the fact that Sunny had nearly ran straight into traffic in his panicked state. “Are you okay? Aubrey and her gang didn’t do anything to you, did they?”

Basil shook his head slightly, nervously toying with the bottom of his shirt as he replied, “I’m… I’m fine, don’t worry. They didn’t… do anything, just—”

He paused for a moment, before shaking his head and giving Kel a smile.

“Sorry. I didn’t mean to drag you into all of that, but… thank you.”

With that, Basil turned his attention over towards Sunny, his smile turning slightly more strained as he clearly forced himself to meet Sunny’s dull gaze.

“Um… hey Sunny. It’s, uh, been a while, haha….”

Sunny gave a small nod. Omori’s shadow shifted at his feet. Basil paled slightly and took a small, shaky step backwards.

Kel threw both his arms up in a cheer.

“WOO-HOO! WHAT A HAPPY REUNION!!”

Well, at least one person here thought this reunion was going well.

Sunny idly wondered how much of Kel’s exuberance was genuine, and how much was just him trying to wield his optimism like a weapon to beat away the awkward tension that was hanging in the air.

“So, did you wanna hang out with us today?” Kel asked Basil, with a grin still on his face.

Sunny wasn’t exactly sure that was a great idea considering how Basil looked to be two minutes away from a panic attack, but he had to commend Basil on at least keeping it together enough to try and give Kel another, almost passable smile.

“S-sorry… I’d love to, but… I-I should probably head home— my, um… my grandma hasn’t been feeling too well lately, so….”

Kel’s grin died down, his excitement visibly dimming.

Sunny felt a slight twinge of something at the sight. Omori's shadow shifted again in clear agitation. Basil’s breathing quickened as he tensed up.

This reunion was going wonderfully.

“B-but! Um, if you… want, you guys can, uh… walk back to my house with me?” Basil offered with a quiet, nervous laugh.

Kel brightened back up, accepting the offer without batting an eye at Basil’s nervous state.

Sunny couldn’t help but wonder if Kel was just so used to seeing Basil like this that it didn’t even register for him to be worried about it anymore, or if he just genuinely didn’t notice Basil’s clear discomfort.

Either way, Kel was happy, the twinge of something in Sunny’s chest had died down, and Omori had gone back to passively observing everything, so maybe it was for the best that no one brought any attention to Basil’s behavior at the moment.

“Great! Let’s go!”

The walk to Basil’s house was just about as awkward as their meeting at the park—or at least, it was for Sunny and Basil.

Kel seemed unperturbed as he walked between the two of them, chatting away and acting—intentionally or not—as a medium between the two quieter boys as he guided the conversation back and forth between all three of them. Even if Sunny’s responses were limited to nonverbal replies and gestures, it was still further than Basil and Sunny might have gotten on their own, and by the time they actually arrived to Basil’s front door, things felt almost close to being somewhat normal between them.

Which was probably the only reason why Basil spoke up, tentative as it was, when Kel said goodbye and told Basil to let him know if he ever needed anything.

“A-actually, wait!”

As soon as Sunny and Kel turned back towards Basil in silent inquiry, Basil froze up for a brief moment, before shaking his head slightly and forcing himself to continue.

“I… I’m sorry. I have a favor to ask, if that’s okay.”

“Anything, Basil,” Kel quickly reassured him. “What do you need?”

“Well… you see… something important was taken from me,” Basil began hesitantly, one hand moving to grip his wrist nervously as he spoke. “When we were all… still friends… do you remember how I used to take pictures of everyone?”

“Of course I do, those pictures meant everything to you!” Kel replied.

“W-well, um… you see, Aubrey, she… took my photo album, and—”

“She what?! ”

Kel didn’t even give Basil a chance to finish before indignant anger burst out of him, his hands balling into fists at his sides.

Sunny continued to watch the two impassively, though he was admittedly the slightest bit confused why Aubrey would steal Basil’s photo album.

She saw what you did to the pictures, Omori replied casually, with a hint of dark humor to his tone. Or rather, what “Basil” did.

Ah. Well. That explained that, then.

No wonder Aubrey was being so antagonistic towards Basil, if she thought he’d defaced all of their happy memories together.

Sunny could distantly remember the fury and frustration he’d felt all those years ago, before the argument, before things had escalated far beyond what he ever meant it to: he’d needed some sort of outlet for his anger towards his sister, and Basil’s photo album had been the perfect momentary release. All it took was a black marker and a few minutes to let his anger bleed out onto the photos, covering up every last trace of his sister’s existence, blocking out the happy memories so that they would stop hurting every time he thought back on them and remembered the times when Mari didn’t yell at him for making mistakes and pressure him to keep up with her perfectionism.

He felt a twinge of regret for his actions now, especially since the repercussions had apparently trickled down to Basil without his knowing, but… 

Actually, if Omori knew this was happening, why didn’t he let him know?

Would you have done anything, if you did know?

Okay, that was a fair point. He probably wouldn’t have risked interacting with everyone again just to clear up a misunderstanding about some pictures, especially not when having to explain why he’d done it would have just revealed to all of them what had happened hardly a week or two afterwards, the sin that he was trying so hard to hide in the first place—and even if that secret hadn’t come out, they all would have hated him for defacing the pictures of Mari regardless.

In the end, though, none of that even mattered, since Kel had already decided on his behalf that the two of them were going to go get Basil’s photo album from Aubrey no matter what.

“By the way, about what you said before….”

Kel took a step towards Basil, though his gaze flitted between Basil and Sunny as he gave them both a smile.

“We’re still friends. I want you to know that, okay?”

Though he knew that, realistically, there was no way that Kel could possibly know the kind of thoughts that had just been going through his head (that had been going through his head nonstop for years, now), Sunny couldn’t help but feel as if Kel was trying to assuage his fears along with Basil’s.

They’re still friends. Right, that… was difficult to accept, and would probably change if Kel knew the truth about Mari’s condition and what Sunny had done, but… the fact that Kel had tried so hard to get him to leave the house just so he could see him again was enough for Sunny to accept that, at least for now, his words had some truth to them.

Basil seemed to be similarly hesitant to fully accept Kel’s assurance, but he gave Kel a weak smile in return regardless as he nodded.

“... Okay.”

With that, Basil took a step backwards towards his front door, glancing between the two of them with a hint of awkwardness in his expression as he forced a wider smile and said, “Well… I’ll see you later.”

His gaze lingered on Sunny for a moment longer, and Sunny calmly met his gaze straight-on until Basil turned away and fled back into his house, leaving Sunny and Kel alone.

Of course, Sunny was completely unsurprised to find himself being pulled along once more the second Basil was out of sight, with Kel completely focused on his righteous crusade.

“C’mon Sunny, there’s no time to lose! We’ve got a photo album to find!”

You don’t have to go along with this, you know. Kel is capable of finding the album on his own.

It was tempting to listen to the metaphorical devil on his shoulder, coaxing him to return back home to hide away in Headspace for his remaining two days of life, especially when he could feel the exhaustion of the past few hours’ worth of social interactions and physical activity weighing him down. It was tempting to try and pull away from Kel, to tell him that there was no point to any of this, to tell him that he shouldn’t be getting reattached like this because he was just going to be gone soon anyway—

Yet Sunny continued to remain quiet, allowing Kel to pull him along to his whims yet again.

Coward.

He was a coward.

How cruel.

It was cruel of him.

You really are a perfect match for a demon, aren’t you.

No wonder he got along well with Omori, while Basil remained afraid of him. Sunny was just a corrupt person at heart, the perfect match for a literal demon straight from hell.

Even if he didn’t physically hurt Kel, or Aubrey, or Basil, or Hero… he was going to destroy them all, just because he was too selfish to let go now that he’d gotten a taste of friendship and the outside world again after so long.

They found Aubrey in church.

It was admittedly the last place that either of them expected to find her, especially given her current behavior, yet there she was: sitting in one of the pews during a sermon, her hands clasped in front of her and her eyes closed in prayer.

Sunny refused to step foot inside—or rather, Omori wouldn’t let him—and Kel was reluctant to go in alone, so after peeking inside and confirming that she was there, the two decided to wait until church let out before cornering Aubrey and confronting her once she stepped foot outside of the holy building.

Which was a good thing, since the confrontation turned physical pretty quickly, just as it had before.

He knew that Aubrey had a violent streak to her when she was younger, and he knew that Aubrey was lashing out at them because she was upset by Mari’s comatose state and their friend group drifting apart and abandoning her because of it, but… okay, when he put it like that maybe she had a good reason to be upset—but regardless, it shouldn’t have been to the point of jumping straight into a fight just because Kel wouldn’t let the subject drop.

Sunny felt the knife in his pocket. He could end this fight just as quickly as before—

He caught a brief flash of the bandages around Aubrey’s arm and the dried blood on her sleeve, and immediately pushed the invasive, violent thought aside.

No. He wasn’t going to use the knife. He refused to hurt Aubrey again.

Which meant the only way he could join in and help Kel was by using his fists instead… except he, as he quickly realized, couldn’t throw a punch to save his life.

(If it wasn’t for the fact that he wasn’t even capable of feeling much of anything anymore, Omori’s laughter ringing out in the back of his mind in response to his pathetically weak attempt at a punch—which ended up being more like a shove that didn’t make Aubrey budge even the slightest bit—might have made Sunny feel offended and mortified.)

Needless to say, the fight was entirely one-sided, with Kel using nothing more than the same basketball that he’d taken from the park earlier as a weapon while Aubrey was armed with her nailed bat.

Sunny didn’t bother trying to fight back beyond his first experimental punch, and she, in turn, didn’t bother aiming her bat towards him at all, even after she’d forced Kel to his knees.

He might have felt insulted normally, but again, all he could feel was numb disinterest. There was no point to all this fighting, so if he didn’t have to defend himself against her, then he wasn’t going to senselessly attack her either.

Instead, he focused on helping Kel up as Aubrey scoffed at them and moved around them to return home.

“Wait—!!”

Kel grimaced as he managed to return to his feet while leaning against Sunny for support.

(Thankfully, Kel was so focused on Aubrey that he failed to notice the shadows wrapped around Sunny’s ankles, helping to keep them both from collapsing with the majority of Kel’s muscle mass weighing down Sunny’s weak legs.)

Aubrey didn’t respond beyond flipping Kel off over her shoulder, prompting an irritated frown from Kel—and without thinking, Sunny found himself moving a hand to rest over Kel’s arm, preemptively stopping him from trying to go off after her.

“... Sorry about that, Sunny,” Kel apologized, after taking a moment to compose himself, before straightening up and giving him a smile. “Thanks for the backup. I’m alright now, I promise.”

Sunny nodded slightly in response, before turning his gaze back over towards the direction that Aubrey had walked off in, her pink hair disappearing into one of the houses towards the end of the street.

Kel followed Sunny’s line of vision, and quickly perked up with a determined look as he caught a brief flash of Aubrey’s pink hair before it disappeared. “Hey, she doesn’t live that far from here! We can still catch up with her and get the album back, c’mon!”

As if he hadn’t just been in a fight, Kel grabbed Sunny’s hand and sped off in the direction of Aubrey’s house, while Sunny stumbled and struggled to keep up with his friend’s swift, determined stride.

By the time they found the right house, they were just in time to see Aubrey dumping something into the trash can outside and retreating back inside.

She threw out the photo album, Omori supplied. Check the trash and bring it back to Basil so you can go home already.

Sunny wasn’t about to argue with that. He was beyond exhausted—both mentally and physically, and he would have felt emotionally exhausted as well if his emotions were capable of existing inside him for longer than a second or two at a time—and even if he knew that going home meant being one day closer to his death, he didn’t have the capacity to care as he turned to Kel and pointed at the trash can.

“Yeah, that’s what I was thinking too,” Kel said, before making his way over to the trash can and digging through it without hesitation.

It took hardly a minute or two for Kel to straighten back up with a victorious grin and the album in hand, and before long the two of them had made their way back to Basil’s house to return the stolen album to their friend, who seemed genuinely surprised to see the two of them again so soon, and even more surprised to see them with the photo album that he hadn’t been able to get back from Aubrey on his own.

Basil’s caretaker, Polly, invited Kel and Sunny in for dinner—and while Sunny really just wanted to go home, Kel couldn’t turn down a free meal, and Sunny couldn’t turn down Kel’s puppy eyes, so… dinner it was.

Even if the air between Sunny and Basil was almost painfully awkward, especially after Kel rushed off into the kitchen to help Polly out.

“... I’m sorry,” Sunny murmured once it was just him and Basil sitting together in the living room, the photo album spread open in front of them on the floor.

Basil jumped slightly and turned to face Sunny, quickly shaking his head and waving his hands as if physically waving off Sunny’s apology.

“N-no, no, it’s— you don’t have to apologize,” Basil quickly replied. “None of this… none of it was your fault,” he added quietly, shooting a quick, accusatory glance at the shadow between them and flinching as an eye briefly opened to stare up at him in response.

“It is,” Sunny replied quietly. “I dragged you into it.”

“You didn’t—”

“I need to apologize. At least once, before….”

He trailed off into silence, not wanting to say the rest aloud in case Kel happened to come in and hear them—but even though he didn’t finish his thought, and even though his voice was emotionless and hoarse from disuse, Basil still seemed to glean a sense of genuineness from his words, since he reached out to take Sunny’s hand in his own, trembling one.

“You really don’t have to apologize, Sunny. It was my choice, and I… I don’t regret it.”

Liar.

Basil flinched, but Sunny showed no reaction, neither to Basil’s response nor to Omori’s accusation.

He’d just been reading words off of the script that he’d written back when he was younger, after all. He didn’t have the capacity to wholeheartedly care what Basil’s response was anymore, so long as he was able to put the words out there and check one past regret off of his list while he still had the time and ability to do so.

Still, the feeling of Basil’s hand in his own was… almost pleasant. It was a foreign sensation, one that he only ever experienced in Headspace anymore—and even there it was never the same, since the memory of the feeling always grew a bit hazy once he left Headspace and returned to reality.

“Thank you.”

Sunny hardly even realized that he’d spoken the stray thought that crossed his mind aloud until Basil’s head suddenly whipped around to face him once more—but he could hardly feel inclined to retract the words when he saw Basil’s face light up in the first genuine smile that he’d seen from him all day.

“We’ll be together forever, right?” Basil asked quietly, his voice almost a whisper between the two of them.

Sunny gave a silent nod in response.

Basil squeezed Sunny’s hand, nearly to the point of cutting off his circulation, as he asked even more quietly, “You won’t leave me, right? You’ll stay with me?”

“Until the end,” Sunny replied, simple yet bluntly honest.

“... Yeah. Until the end.”

While Sunny’s expression remained impassive as always, Basil’s relaxed into an expression of content resignation, his smile softening wistfully as he laced their fingers together.

“We’ll go together, right?”

That was the deal, Omori replied in Sunny’s stead—and while hearing the demon’s voice in his head normally terrified Basil, the reminder that he would be leaving this world alongside Sunny was a genuine relief.

Sunny couldn’t say he felt the same, but he did experience a faint twinge of the feelings that Basil was experiencing through Omori’s connection and their linked hands.

It felt warm, and sad. So, so sad.

And it was all Sunny’s fault.

Yet even knowing this (knowing it was his fault Basil was so fearful and sad and broken, knowing it was his fault Basil withdrew away from their friends and closed himself off from the world, knowing it was his fault Basil was going to die in just two more days alongside him), Sunny selfishly continued to hold Basil’s hand, the two of them quietly existing in their own private bubble, where they could pretend that everything was normal for just a little bit longer.

Though the moment was shattered when Kel called them over to join him and Polly at the table for dinner, he supposed it didn’t matter in the end. Basil still had a content smile on his face, and Kel was beaming and excitedly talking in between shoving food into his face, and Polly seemed happy just seeing Basil happy, and Sunny… 

Well, Sunny was honestly just ready for this day to be over by now.

It wasn’t often that something could manage to squeeze emotion from what was left of him, but this day had done a good job of doing just that, multiple times even. Fleeting as they may have been, it was still draining and mentally taxing on him each time that it happened, and Sunny was looking forward to sinking into the blessed numbness of White Space and letting Omori take control for the night.

Thankfully, Kel had a curfew to keep—so before long he was thanking Polly for dinner, passing on his address to Polly in case she ever needed anything, and bidding goodnight to both Polly and Basil with Sunny by his side as the two of them left Basil’s house and began the trek back home.

There was a silence between the two of them as they walked that Sunny might have questioned years ago, but was now only briefly curious about before dismissing in favor of enjoying the peace and quiet. Kel would talk when he was ready, and Sunny didn’t have the energy for meaningless conversation at this point.

(Not even with Kel of all people, who Sunny could admit—at least to himself, and by extension Omori as well—that he somehow still had a clear weakness for even after four years of not interacting with him in reality, which was undeniable by this point given everything he’d tolerated all day today just to keep that usual bright smile on Kel’s face.)

(Had it been anyone else, Sunny wouldn’t have even bothered opening the door this morning in the first place, let alone allowed himself to be dragged around town all day.)

It was only when they reached Sunny’s front door that Kel finally broke the silence, his voice coming out slightly hesitant yet filled with just as much warmth as the friendly grin on his face.

“Hey, Sunny? Thanks for hanging out with me today.” His smile died down slightly into a more sheepish frown as he added, “Sorry about all the craziness, though. I know that was probably… a lot for you to deal with, after so long.”

Sunny shrugged slightly, which seemed to be enough of a reassurance to set Kel’s mind at ease, since the smile quickly returned to his face as he continued to speak.

“I can tell you haven’t talked to anyone in a while… but that’s okay! It just takes practice, and you did your best!”

Was Kel trying to reassure him, now, or was that an insult?

No, that was definitely an attempt at reassurance, even if it was a poorly phrased one. Sunny wasn’t offended, and he doubted he would have been even if Kel had said the same thing to him four years ago, when he could have a more proper reaction to Kel’s words besides continuing to blankly stare at him.

Besides, it wasn’t like it mattered. What would be the point in practicing something like that, when he wouldn’t be able to put it to use, anyway?

“Anyway, Hero’s coming back from college tomorrow, so I’m sure he’ll want to see you before you leave.”

Sunny very nearly winced at the mention of Hero’s name, but thankfully his reaction was so minute that Kel didn’t even pick up on it.

“So… if you don’t mind… I’ll be coming back for you again in the morning.”

Again, Sunny was faced with Kel’s hopeful grin—and again, he found himself caving and giving a nod in response, despite his stomach turning at the thought of seeing Hero again.

Hero had been the most deeply affected by Mari’s comatose state, after Sunny and Basil. Hero was hurting so badly because of Sunny’s actions, because of Sunny’s mistake, because of Sunny’s sin.

Even with most of his emotions gone or dulled to the point where he could barely feel them, guilt was still one of the few that was still able to grip Sunny strongly enough to make him almost physically ill at times.

This was one of those times.

(He had a feeling he’d be regretting eating a full meal at Basil’s house in just a few more minutes, unless Omori could pull him into White Space faster than his nausea could catch up with him.)

Sunny had no idea how he was going to look Hero in the face tomorrow, let alone spend a day in his presence.

Just forget everything. Stop thinking, and you’ll stop feeling.

Right. He just had to breathe, calm down, and focus. He didn’t have to think about this, he didn’t have to feel guilt, he didn’t have to feel anything.

The gut-wrenching guilt slowly ebbed away, allowing the usual numbness to take its place—and just in time for Sunny to register the sound of Kel bidding him goodnight and waving goodbye, which Sunny returned in the form of a halfhearted raise of his hand in Kel’s direction.

Even that was enough to cause a beaming grin to spread across Kel’s face, which brought with it a much more pleasant sensation inside Sunny’s hollow chest as his gaze unconsciously followed the sight all the way back to Kel’s front door, as if chasing the receding warmth.

A wordless, mental nudge from Omori pulled Sunny from his dazed state, and he turned around without needing to be told, entering the house and closing the door behind him.

“Had fun?”

Sunny glanced behind him after locking the door, only to find a mirror image of his twelve-year-old self—albeit a completely monochrome version, wearing pajamas and holding the knife that had just been in Sunny’s pocket hardly a second ago—standing behind him.

He shrugged in response. “Fun” might not have been the word he’d have chosen to describe his first time outside in four years, but he also knew it could have been a lot worse.

“Are you going to face him tomorrow?”

Sunny knew exactly which “him” Omori was talking about, and immediately, his stomach began to turn once more at the thought.

“You don’t have to, you know. You wouldn’t have to feel any of this if you just stayed inside. It isn’t like you have much more time to live anyway, right?”

He knew Omori was right. He knew it would be easier, he knew he wouldn’t have to feel any fear or guilt if he just avoided his friends altogether—

And yet, the thought of Kel’s smile kept coming back to the forefront of his mind.

Kel, the person who hadn’t stopped trying to reach him for four whole years, when everyone else had moved on with their own lives and distanced themselves from him.

Kel, the person who could make him feel emotions that he thought he’d never experience again outside of Headspace, even if they disappeared as quickly as they came.

Kel, the person who was so determined to help not only him, but all of the friends that he cared so deeply for. Who nearly ran straight into oncoming traffic to rescue Sunny, who fought tooth and nail to get back something that meant the world to Basil, who pushed Aubrey to try and make her see reason and help her return to her old self.

Omori let out a sigh, and Sunny honestly couldn’t tell whether the demon was annoyed or amused. Perhaps a mixture of the two, or perhaps something else entirely.

“Well, it’s your choice in the end. As long as you still keep up your end of the deal, I won’t stop you from spending your time however you want.”

Sunny nodded. He’d promised his soul in exchange for Mari’s, and his life in exchange for Mari’s. He wasn’t going to back out of that now, not when they were so close to finally bringing her back.

Kel was happy to see Sunny again, but surely he’d be happier once Mari was back. Sunny knew that Hero would definitely be happier, and so would Aubrey.

(Even if the thought hurt, the pain was gone just as quickly as every other feeling, so it didn’t matter. Nothing mattered in the end, except bringing back the life that he’d robbed from his sister.)

Omori held out his hand to Sunny, and Sunny took it without hesitation, relaxing in relief as he felt the demon’s shadows pulling him under.

No more thinking, no more feeling.

It was time to sleep, and to dream, and to visit the friends who were waiting for him.

Kel, who could be his normal joyful self without needing to worry about any of his friends.

Aubrey, who wasn’t filled with rage towards him, towards the world, towards herself.

Basil, who could smile at him without any traces of fear in his gaze.

Hero, who had no reason to feel grief or regret or anger at him for taking his Mari away.

And… Mari, who was still alive, still conscious, still smiling and laughing like her old self, still flirting with Hero, and teasing Kel, and having girl talk with Aubrey, and giving advice to Basil, and—

And still calling Sunny her little brother.

He knew he would never get to experience any of this again. He’d never get to hear her voice again, he’d never get to see her smile again, he’d never get to feel the warmth of her hugs ever again.

But here, in Headspace, he could.

Even if it was Omori fronting, even if everyone addressed him as “Omori” and not Sunny… that was what he wanted. He didn’t deserve any of this anymore, and hearing them all call him by his name would just serve as a reminder that none of this was real.

But if he was “Omori”, then it was okay. He could keep playing into the illusion, letting himself sink deeper and deeper into the dream world that Omori helped him create without ever even needing to remember that someone named “Sunny” ever existed.

Here, Sunny was “Omori”.

And here, even as he felt the demon’s knife in his chest…

“Omori” was HAPPY.

Chapter Text

To say that the past four years had been rough would be the understatement of the century, at least for Hero.

That wasn’t to say that he let it show, of course: even if it felt like torture to do something as simple as drag himself out of bed in the morning, especially in the first few months after Mari first fell into a coma, Hero still did everything in his power to keep himself together.

If that also involved emotionally withdrawing from everyone and everything that reminded him of Mari, and burying himself in his studies… well, at least he’d been able to pass it off as just buckling down in preparation for college, and not because he was trying to cope with the aching void in his life that Mari’s absence had left.

The only person that he kept up somewhat-awkward contact with, aside from Kel, was Aubrey—whose recent behavior was admittedly concerning (dyeing her hair, dressing like a delinquent, constantly covered in bandages in different spots each time he saw her), though the two of them had a tentative unspoken agreement for him to not question it in exchange for her not bringing up his own, more withdrawn behavior. Instead, the two sat by Mari’s bedside whenever they happened to bump into each other at the hospital, talking about whatever safe, mundane topics they could think of for a few minutes before giving each other some privacy to speak with Mari one-on-one, in hopes that their voices would reach her and help her wake up.

Hero knew that there was much more involved with a comatose patient regaining consciousness than just that, but he’d also heard of plenty of miraculous cases in his extensive research, and… well, he needed to hold on to some semblance of hope, no matter how illogical it may have been.

If anyone could make the impossible happen, it was his Mari. One of these days, she’d open her eyes and interrupt his pained, rambling soliloquies with a quiet, teasing remark or a flirtatious comment, and everything would finally be right again in Hero’s broken world.

For now, though, all he could do was continue to put one foot in front of the other, moving forward step by agonizing step with a single-minded focus on his new goal in life: to pursue a medical degree just like his parents always wanted, and to train to become the best neurologist possible, all so he could help fix whatever was keeping Mari out of his reach and bring back the love of his life.

Leaving Faraway was both a blessing and a curse.

It admittedly hurt to leave his home—the town that he’d grown up in, that he’d spent the entirety of his 18-year-old life in—in favor of moving into one of the dormitory rooms at his college, but at the same time… it was almost a relief, to be able to step foot out of that town filled with so many happy memories.

Now, he could finally look around and not see ghosts of his past in every nook and cranny. He could finally go out for a walk and not instinctively expect to see a familiar head of black hair peeking around a street corner looking for him.

The void was still there, and still hurt as deeply as ever, but… at least now, he didn’t have the pain of hoping for something that was no longer there weighing him down.

At least now, he was secure in the knowledge that the only time he’d ever see that same head of black hair was whenever he visited the hospital, which was unfortunately now even farther away than it had been back when he’d been living back home. The extra train ride that he had to take was well worth seeing Mari’s face each and every time, though, in his opinion. At least Nearby city had much more accessible public transit than Faraway town did, so he could catch a train just a short walk away from his campus that would take him to the bus that went directly to the hospital that Mari was at whenever he wanted to visit her.

The only downside to being isolated away from his family and friends still living in Faraway was the fact that there was no one around anymore to force his attention away from his studies so he could properly take care of himself, but… well, that didn’t matter too much. As long as he did the bare minimum—which essentially meant keeping up his persona of being a well-put-together, charming, functional human being whenever he had to go out in public, and occasionally remembering to sleep and eat—then everything was fine as far as he was concerned. All of his hard work would pay off once he was able to help figure out what was wrong with Mari so she could finally wake up.

So he pushed himself to and beyond his limits, making sure he was at the top of each and every one of his classes, while politely declining all attempts that his classmates made at trying to coax him into joining them for drinks and parties and other experiences that he might have let himself indulge in if Mari had been by his side.

But then again, if he had Mari by his side, he might not have even needed to push himself to try and become a doctor to begin with. He might have decided to take a completely different path in life, he might have—

No, it was pointless to waste his time on hypotheticals. Besides, he genuinely did like the thought of having the knowledge and ability to help others in need, even if it would always be weighed down with the reminder that he’d gotten serious about his studies too late to help the one person in his life that he would have wanted to save above all else.

In any case, with Hero’s mind so focused on his studies, two years passed in the blink of an eye—and time would have continued to pass in the same manner if it wasn’t for both Kel and their parents wearing him down and getting him to agree to finally come back to Faraway for a proper visit, even if it was just for a week.

(How sad was it, that the only time he’d visited Faraway in the past two years was on the day that his baby sister was born? He’d stayed long enough to see his baby sister and have some professional photos taken of the family at his mother’s behest, before fleeing back to his college campus with the excuse of exams that weren’t for another few weeks and papers that weren’t due until next month.)

(It just hurt too much , looking at Sally and thinking about how happy Mari would have been to get to see the newborn baby and hold her in her arms. She was born to be an older sister—maybe even born to be a mother, someday—but now…)

Hero packed a luggage that was filled more with textbooks than clothes, fully intending on holing himself up in his room for as long as he could possibly get away with while in Faraway for the week, and dragged his feet all the way to the train station even as he talked to his mother with a cheerful voice over the phone, going through the motions as he boarded the train that would take him to the one bus that ran to and from his hometown.

It took all of a few minutes upon arriving back home, however, for things to start falling apart.

According to his mother, Basil’s caretaker had come to their house to see if Basil was with Kel and Sunny (which in and of itself had brought forth a slew of stunned questions, most of which were tinged with guilt because he knew he should have kept trying to reach out to Sunny instead of pouring all of his focus into trying to help Mari, he knew that Mari would be so disappointed with him, but he just wasn’t strong enough to try and help someone else when he could barely even help himself on a good day anymore)—and apparently when Kel heard Basil’s caretaker mentioning that Basil was missing, he’d charged out with Sunny in tow while saying that he would find Basil and bring him back home.

That had been about a half hour ago, now. Granted, Kel could still be searching, but…

Seeing Mari in a hospital bed for so many years came with the downside of making it far too easy for Hero to picture anyone else that he cared about trapped in a hospital bed, unmoving and unresponsive and dead to the world—

No. Not dead, not in any capacity. Alive, Mari was alive and she would wake up someday, Hero would make sure of it.

In any case, Hero had a bad feeling sitting like a heavy weight in the pit of his stomach, one that he oftentimes felt whenever any of the kids were out of his sight for a bit too long and were getting up to something dangerous.

(A feeling that he’d shut himself off from for far too long, now. It was about time that he properly stepped up and acted as the big brother that he used to be to everyone, and not just some distant acquaintance only connected to them by a person who hadn’t opened her eyes in four whole years.)

With that in mind—and with a hasty apology to his parents—Hero dropped his luggage off and rushed out the door, pulled and guided by the incessant feeling of something is wrong even as his lungs and legs both burned from the strain.

God he was out of shape. Granted, he’d never been the most fit person to begin with, but he could practically hear Mari’s teasing laughter in the back of his mind as he struggled to run even just the distance from his house to the park.

If there was anywhere that Basil would have gone to, Hero was almost positive it would be their hangout spot. Surely Kel, and even Sunny, would think to look for him there first, right?

But then why were they both gone for so long, when it only took a few minutes to get to the park?

The foreboding feeling in the pit of Hero’s stomach grew stronger, overwhelming him with nausea as he suddenly, vividly remembered an incident when they were younger.

A lake, and a pier. A person who couldn’t swim, and was all by himself.

To add to his worries was the belated realization that Basil had been increasingly more withdrawn and paranoid ever since Mari was hospitalized, something that should have set off alarm bells in Hero’s mind so much sooner than a whole four years after the fact, especially as someone who was studying to be a doctor.

He could only pray that he wasn’t too late as he heard shouting in the distance, and rushed through the undergrowth hiding their hangout spot from the rest of the people in the park.

“—all your fault!! You know Basil can’t swim—!!”

“I didn’t mean to!!”

Hero only allowed himself one second to survey the area and take in as much information as he could—Kel and Aubrey were fighting, they were close to the pier, Sunny and Basil were both nowhere to be seen but there were clear ripples in the water—before rushing towards the lake without even stopping to say a word to either of the two arguing teens.

Playing peacemaker could wait. Saving Sunny and Basil came first.

Hero felt the memory of Mari jumping into this same lake to save Sunny overlapping with his own motions, as if Mari’s spirit was guiding him even as her comatose body was miles away, and he allowed his instincts—her instincts, their instincts—to guide him as he dove into the murky water and opened his eyes to search for Sunny and Basil.

The darkness beneath the water’s surface felt almost unnatural, and though Hero knew logically that the shadows that seemed to move all around him were just reflections from the light and the rippling water, he still felt a chill run down his spine at the uncanny timing of the shadows seeming to part in time with Sunny and Basil appearing within his line of sight.

He should have felt relieved to find them so quickly, so why did he still feel like something was wrong?

No, this wasn’t the time or the place to start overthinking things. Basil was clearly already unconscious and Sunny looked like he was seconds away from following after him—Hero had to get them both out of this lake, fast.

With that in mind, Hero kicked towards them, grabbing the unconscious Basil with one arm and the struggling Sunny—who thankfully stopped struggling as soon as Hero had a hold of him, so Hero wouldn’t lose his grip on him—with his other arm before kicking his way back towards the surface as quickly as possible, his legs’ previous exhaustion be damned.

The second his head breached the surface, Hero took a well-needed gasp of air, feeling relief and concern in equal amounts as he heard Sunny copying him while Basil remained unmoving.

“Hero!”

Hero looked over in time to see Kel swimming towards him, and he relinquished Sunny over to Kel without complaint, allowing him to focus all of his strength on carrying Basil over to the water’s edge and checking his breathing and pulse.

Thankfully, there was apparently some sort of higher power looking after Basil, because despite being underwater long enough for his body to be freezing cold, his pulse was still steady and his breathing—while a bit shallow—was steady as well.

“Oh thank god…,” Hero muttered, just barely keeping his composure as a wave of relief washed over him. Straightening up slightly, he looked over at Sunny to make sure he was alright, and was again struck with relief at the sight of him sitting up and looking perfectly fine, though soaked and a bit shaken.

“Basil’s breathing is steady, but we need to get him somewhere warm, quickly,” Hero informed Kel and Sunny, as well as Aubrey, who was watching them all from a slight distance with the slightest hint of a shaken, haunted expression on her face.

He would have a talk with her later, once Basil was safely resting at home. Now wasn’t the time to start questioning what had happened, and he was sure he’d be hearing plenty of Kel’s side of the story all night anyway.

“Yeah…. He’s had a rough day,” Kel agreed with a downcast expression, his gaze locked onto Basil’s unconscious body as Hero lifted the smaller boy into his arms. “Let’s get him home as soon as possible.”

Sunny, though even more quiet than Hero could remember him usually being, was watching Basil like a hawk as well—and despite his expression seeming completely neutral and unperturbed, Hero could tell that he was concerned in his own way.

After all, Sunny wouldn’t have jumped into the lake to save Basil despite his fear of drowning if he hadn’t been worried in the first place.

As Hero turned to leave their hideout spot, with Basil safely in his arms and Kel and Sunny trailing close behind, they were brought to a halt by Aubrey shouting out to them.

“Wait!! Where do you think you’re all going?”

Immediately, Kel whirled around to glare at Aubrey, and Hero glanced back to find that Aubrey—though clearly holding back tears—was stubbornly glaring back just as harshly.

“That’s enough,” Kel said firmly. “Don’t you think you’ve caused enough trouble?”

Hero felt a sudden chill run down his spine, as if the temperature in the air was rapidly beginning to drop, and he forcefully repressed a grimace as he said, “Kel, drop it, we have to go bring Basil home and get changed out of these wet clothes before we all get sick. Aubrey, I’m going to have a long talk with you later about all of this.”

Aubrey looked like she wanted to argue, but one more glance at Basil caused her to hold her tongue and instead glance away, her arms crossed over her chest and her hands clenched into fists as she glared holes into the ground instead.

That was good enough for Hero—and thankfully, it was good enough for Kel as well, since he let the matter drop like Hero asked and turned back around to leave the area alongside Hero and Sunny, the three of them rushing out of the park and towards Basil’s house as fast as they could manage.

Basil’s caretaker—Polly, according to Kel—was understandably distressed to see four soaked teenagers at the front door, especially since Basil was still unconscious in Hero’s arms, but she quickly ushered them inside without complaint and helped Hero get Basil set up in his bedroom before giving Hero, Kel, and Sunny all some towels to dry themselves off with.

“Basil’s gonna be just fine,” Hero assured the two younger boys with a small smile, as he saw Kel repeatedly glancing in the direction of Basil’s bedroom while they dried off.

Unsurprisingly, Kel was quick to show his relief in the form of a long sigh, before perking back up with a grin on his face. “Man, things would’ve been really rough if you didn’t show up when you did. How’d you find us, anyway?”

“Well, mom mentioned that Basil went missing and that you two ran off to go look for him,” Hero explained. “I had a hunch where to look, so I went straight to the park… and it’s good that I did. It looks like I got there just in the nick of time.”

Though part of him was reluctant to poke at an open wound, Hero knew he had to bring up the subject of Kel and Aubrey’s argument now that things had settled down, so he could hear Kel’s side of the story before finding Aubrey and listening to hers.

“So, about what happened back there…,” Hero began with a slight frown—and that was all he had to say to get the ball rolling, since Kel immediately jumped on the chance to rant about what had gone down between the four of them.

“Aubrey pushed Basil into the lake!” Kel began, looking both furious and hurt at the same time.

(Which Hero could completely understand: though he knew there had to be more to what happened, even just the thought of one of the people he loved hurting another person he loved like that was enough to make his heart clench and his stomach turn.)

“She’s changed, Hero, I’m telling you. She’s gotten so much worse after you went off to college!” Kel continued. “It’s like she just doesn’t even care about any of us anymore!”

“That’s not true,” Hero replied, putting his hands up in a calming gesture and gesturing pointedly in the direction of Basil’s room when it looked like Kel was going to respond—and thankfully, Kel realized he was getting a little too loud, since he quickly shut his mouth so as not to disturb Basil, which gave Hero the chance to continue speaking. “I’ve been speaking with Aubrey occasionally, even after I left for college—”

“You have? When??” Kel blurted out, before quickly slapping a hand over his mouth and glancing nervously towards Basil’s room, only lowering his hand with a relieved sigh when Polly didn’t come out to reprimand him for his volume.

“We occasionally bump into each other at the hospital, when we go visit Mari,” Hero replied, noting out of the corner of his eye the slight flinch from Sunny at the mention of Mari’s name—the first sign that he was even processing any of their conversation at all, given how quiet he was and how he was blankly staring between him and Kel without acknowledging either of them.

Kel deflated slightly at the mention of Mari, turning his gaze away with a guilty expression. “Aubrey… visits Mari that often?”

“She’s there practically every time I go. I think she might actually go more often than I do,” Hero added with the slightest hint of his own guilt—he would be able to manage more trips to the hospital if it wasn’t so far away from his college, and if all of his time wasn’t spent working on assignments and studying for exams.

Did that make him a bad person, if he was prioritizing school over visiting his comatose girlfriend? But then again, the whole reason he was working so hard in school to begin with was to try and help her, so… hopefully Mari would forgive him.

“Oh…,” Kel murmured, looking clearly ashamed as he rubbed the back of his neck. “I… know I should’ve tried to go more often, but… man, now I feel like a jerk. She really misses Mari that much, huh….” As if trying to bolster his own weakening resolve, he added, “But that doesn’t excuse what she did to Basil!”

“It doesn’t,” Hero agreed. “That’s why I’m going to talk to her—not now, of course, but… tomorrow, after everyone’s had some time to cool off. For now, I think we should let Basil get some rest, and head back home before mom gets any more worried than she already is.”

Kel grimaced. “Aw man… mom’s gonna be so mad….”

“I think she’ll be more relieved than anything, once she sees that you two are okay,” Hero replied, smiling slightly as Kel rolled his eyes in clear disbelief.

They made their way back over to Basil’s bedroom to say goodbye to Polly, who thanked them again for bringing Basil home, and they said a quiet goodbye to Basil as well despite him being asleep before heading out of his room and making their way outside.

“You know, Sunny….”

At the sound of Kel’s voice, Hero paused a few steps away from the fence around Basil’s house, glancing behind him to find Kel standing next to Sunny with a smile on his face.

“You were pretty awesome back there, jumping in to the lake to save Basil like that,” Kel continued. “Even if Hero ended up saving the day, I think you deserve some recognition too. How about a high-five?”

Hero couldn’t help the soft smile that tugged at the corners of his lips as he watched Sunny hesitantly lift up his hand to meet Kel’s, just barely seeming to keep his balance as Kel gave him an energetic high-five with a bright grin on his face.

It was a relief to see that even after four years of shutting himself away from the world, Sunny could still manage to get along with Kel just as well as they used to, even if Sunny was clearly more reticent than he used to be.

(Not that Hero had much room to talk in that department: after all, he hadn’t locked himself away in his house for four years, but he’d still cut himself off from everyone—mentally and emotionally, and now that he had moved away to go to college, physically as well—so he could fully understand Sunny being more withdrawn than he used to be. Honestly, it was still a wonder how Kel had managed to get him to finally leave the house in the first place, though Hero wasn’t complaining if it meant getting a chance to finally do things right and support Sunny like the older brother that he should have been.)

“I agree with Kel,” Hero said, turning to properly face the two of them and taking a step towards Sunny so he could give him a gentle pat on the head. “It was dangerous, of course, but… I’m sure that took a lot of courage. I’m proud of you.”

For the briefest of moments, a surprised expression appeared on Sunny’s face as he looked up at him—but just as quickly as it came, it was gone, replaced with the look of blank indifference that Hero was beginning to suspect had become Sunny’s default emotional state.

That was… concerning, to say the least, but Hero was sure they could do something to help bring Sunny back out of his shell, even if they only had today and tomorrow left to try.

“Come on, let’s get going,” Hero said as he withdrew his hand, turning back around and gesturing for the two boys to follow him.

After all, they still had a worried mother to appease waiting for them back home, and they had the whole rest of the night to spend catching up and working on helping Sunny back to his old self.

As expected, Hero and Kel’s mother hadn’t been pleased when they finally arrived, hours after they were supposed to have already eaten her freshly-cooked dinner—but Hero was quick to turn up the charm and soothe her ruffled feathers enough that they were able to get through their warmed-up dinner without any fuss.

(Hero appreciated that Kel took the initiative and made sure Sunny’s plate was filled, considering how the quiet boy had been ready to sit down to eat with just a biscuit and a small piece of chicken on his plate. Given how pale and skinny Sunny was, combined with how little food he’d taken for himself, Hero could only imagine what his diet had been like for the past four years.)

(Though, considering Hero’s own tendency to bury himself in work and forget to eat, sometimes until he was close to passing out… maybe Sunny wasn’t the only one that needed to fix his unhealthy eating habits.)

All in all, it was a pleasant dinner, with conversation flowing easily as Hero caught everyone up on his progress in college and Kel and his parents talked about everything that had been going on here in Faraway while he was gone—and though Sunny was as quiet and distant as he’d been all day, he at least showed that he was paying attention in the form of nonverbal gestures whenever the conversation turned in his direction. Granted, Hero and Kel usually had to be the ones to interpret Sunny’s gestures for their parents, who weren’t as used to reading between the lines with Sunny as his friends were, but it was still enough participation to make everyone happy.

As their mother excused herself to go change Sally and their father began to clear off the table, Kel pulled Hero and Sunny aside with an excited grin.

“I just got an idea!” he whisper-shouted. “You know how Sunny’s only got tomorrow left before he leaves, right?”

Though Kel’s excitement visibly dimmed as he brought up that reminder, and though Hero himself felt a bit disheartened by the thought of Sunny and his family (and Mari) moving away, he gave a smile and a nod in response, gesturing for Kel to continue.

“Soooo… why don’t we go sleep over at Sunny’s place tonight? Y’know, for old times’ sake?”

Hero… couldn’t say he was opposed to the idea, honestly: though it was Mari and Sunny’s house, Hero, Kel, and even Aubrey and Basil had practically all grown up there with how often they all hung out there. They weren’t just losing their friends with this move, they were losing a second home, a place where they’d been able to hide away from the rest of the world and just surround themselves with smiles and laughter. There were so many memories attached to that house that Hero couldn’t even begin to pick apart one from the other, and the thought of never getting to step foot inside that house again…

Well, suggesting it “for old times’ sake” was a light way of putting it, but Hero couldn’t agree more. He had a feeling that they all would regret it if they weren’t able to say their goodbyes to that house at least once, before Sunny and his family moved away for good.

Still, it wouldn’t be right to just invite themselves over, especially since this was only Sunny’s second day outside in four years from what he’d gathered—the last thing he wanted was to invade Sunny’s private space if he needed time away from people to decompress for the night.

“Is that alright with you, Sunny?” Hero asked, noting the slight flash of startled surprise that appeared on Sunny’s face as quickly as it left, as if he wasn’t expecting to get a say in any of this. “I know you’ve had a very… busy two days, so if you would prefer to just have the night to rest by yourself….”

Sunny remained silent, presumably mulling over his choice and not giving any visual indication of which way he was leaning—until Kel took his hands in his own and leaned close, giving his best puppy eyes.

“Pleeeeeease? This could be our last sleepover forever, for all we know!”

Hero let out a sigh as he shook his head in amused exasperation. “Kel, don’t be overdramatic, it’s not like he’s leaving the country—”

Before Hero could even finish trying to scold Kel, Sunny gave a nod, and Kel threw his arms up with a whoop of joy.

“Awesome, sleepover time! I’ll go grab some stuff! Hero you go tell mom ‘kay thanks bye!”

Before Hero could stop him, Kel had already grabbed Sunny’s hand and rushed off with the smaller boy in tow, leaving Hero with the oh-so fun responsibility of breaking the news to their emotional mother that he would be spending his first night home with Sunny instead of with her.

“Guess it’s time to turn up the charm and hope for the best,” Hero muttered dryly as he eyed the staircase leading up to his parents room.

What was the worst that could happen?

Of course, the worst that could happen was that his mother started crying and getting upset, but one quick trip with Kel and Sunny to Fix-It to buy some flowers, and she was appeased enough to allow him to get away with spending the night over at Sunny’s house as long as he promised to do the dishes with her every night for the next week.

Considering how he usually took over dish-washing duty whenever he was home, it was essentially a free pass, so Hero was more than happy to take it if it meant not having to see his mother cry again.

It was a bit sobering to stand outside Sunny’s house, staring up at the place that they’d all associated with being filled with so much life and light and seeing it completely dark with a “for sale” sign sitting on the front lawn—but it was something that Hero had braced himself for by now, so he only let the thought stall him for a moment before following Sunny’s lead through the front door and into the house.

As soon as he stepped foot inside, Hero felt a chill run down his spine.

It was empty—which wasn’t a surprise, given how they were moving away, except… it didn’t feel empty. More than just the overlaying memories in his mind, filling in the empty spots in the living room with furniture that had once been there and kids running around with smiles and laughter, was the distinct feeling of being watched that Hero just couldn’t shake despite knowing that no one was in the house except for him, Sunny, and Kel.

He would have brushed it off as just his imagination if he hadn’t seen Kel tensing up from next to him, visibly on edge as he eyed the unnaturally dark shadows in the corners of the room.

Still, Sunny seemed completely unfazed as he led the way further into the house, so maybe… maybe the two of them were just feeling unsettled from the house being so barren after practically growing up here. After all, they’d never stepped foot into Sunny’s house before without at least one or two other people here with them, and it was never this dark either. Plus, it had been a long, emotionally stressful day for them all.

They really just needed to unwind and get some rest.

As they followed Sunny, Hero found himself stalling near the piano room, his heart clenching with an aching pain at the oppressive silence coming from the room that always held the soft sounds of piano keys and Mari’s quiet humming. It wasn’t until he was staring at the piano itself—seeing yet another fragment of his memories, in the form of Mari sitting at the empty piano bench and glancing over at him with a smile—that he even realized that he’d wandered off on his own.

“Oh, you guys didn’t move the piano?”

At the sound of Kel’s voice, Hero glanced over his shoulder to find Kel and Sunny entering the room after him, with Kel’s attention turned over to Sunny in inquiry.

Sunny shook his head, clearly avoiding looking at the piano entirely.

It wasn’t hard to guess why. Hero was having a hard time continuing to look at it as well, with how many memories of Mari were associated with it.

Still, he had to set a good example for Sunny—to show him that it was possible to move forward, that it was okay to move forward, that associating things with Mari didn’t have to be bad because she would wake up and come back to them one day—and so he stepped further into the room, clearing the small distance between himself and the piano before reaching out to run his fingers over the dusty keys.

“It’s been so long since I tried to play,” Hero said, a small, sad smile on his face as he sat down on the piano bench. Forcing a more amused expression, he glanced over his shoulder as he sheepishly added, “Don’t judge me too hard, okay?”

With that, Hero turned back around and closed his eyes, letting muscle memory and the faint echo of Mari’s voice in his mind guide his movements.

It wasn’t a difficult piece by any means, at least not compared to what Mari had tirelessly spent her time practicing, but there was still a sense of satisfaction that he hadn’t felt in a long time when he finished the song without—to his knowledge, at least—a single missed note the whole way through.

“Show-off,” Kel groused good-naturedly as the last of the piano’s music faded into silence.

Hero couldn’t help but laugh at that, as he stood up and faced Kel and Sunny once more.

“Guess I’ve still got it,” he said teasingly in return, shooting Kel a smile before turning his full attention over to Sunny, who was still just as quiet as ever. A bit more softly, he asked, “How’s your violin practice going, Sunny? Do you still play, or—”

Sunny sharply shook his head, seeming to curl in on himself as he took a step backwards—and at the same time, a sharp, almost painful chill rushed down Hero’s spine, as if something was somehow warning him not to press the issue any further.

Hero always considered himself a logical, grounded person, but even he couldn’t ignore the inexplicable feeling of foreboding that was turning his stomach. Plus, the last thing he wanted was to set Sunny back and hurt him when he’d just been trying to help Sunny overcome the feelings that were clearly holding him back.

Before Hero could try to say anything else, though, Kel let out a loud—almost exaggerated—yawn, stretching his arms high above his head before letting one drop around Sunny’s shoulders, startling the smaller boy enough to make him jump slightly as he straightened up and looked over at Kel in confusion.

“Man, all of a sudden I’m getting really sleepy,” Kel said, and it was almost impossible to tell if he was just faking it for Sunny’s sake or if he genuinely was getting tired—but regardless, it was a safe enough topic to change to, if the room’s heavy atmosphere immediately fading away was anything to go by. “Maybe we should call it a night.”

“That sounds good to me,” Hero agreed easily, as he followed Kel and Sunny out of the room.

“We’re sleeping in your room, right Sunny?” Kel asked with a grin. “We can even make a blanket fort on the floor, for old time’s sake!”

Sunny seemed to hesitate for a moment before giving a nod, which was clearly enough for Kel, who immediately rushed off to go find as many blankets as he could gather.

“Well, he seems pretty energetic for someone who was just complaining about being tired,” Hero muttered wryly, shaking his head slightly in amusement before turning his attention over to Sunny with a gentle smile. “Are you sure you’re fine with us spending the night in your room? I know you used to prefer not sleeping alone, but if you need a night to yourself, we don’t mind—”

Sunny shook his head, clearly radiating nervousness—though from what, Hero didn’t know, nor did he have the opportunity to try and ask before Sunny went off after Kel, leaving Hero to make his way up to Sunny (and Mari)’s room all by himself.

The first thing that Hero immediately noticed was the lack of Mari’s bed, which… hurt, but was understandable, especially since they were moving in just two more days. After all, there was no way that they would get rid of Mari’s bed just because she was in a coma, right?

Yet it wasn’t just her bed: her desk was gone, all of her belongings were gone, the closet held none of her clothes… it was as if every last trace of her had been removed, leaving what had once been a shared bedroom between siblings feeling barren and lonely, with a single bed pushed up against the wall and far too much empty space filling the once-cluttered room.

Still, Hero tried to remind himself, they were moving. Sunny was still living here, so of course it made sense for only his stuff to remain right now.

(If it was Hero, though… the last thing he would want would be to let any of Mari’s belongings leave his sight. He would make sure that she had a bed to come home to, that she had all of her stuff organized just the way she liked it, that—)

(But Sunny wasn’t Hero. Maybe to Sunny, it had just been a painful reminder, to wake up every day to an empty bed next to his and see all of Mari’s untouched belongings collecting dust. Hero couldn’t say without asking Sunny himself, and he had a feeling that Sunny wouldn’t have an answer to give him.)

There was only one thing in the room that Hero could recognize as belonging to Mari, and that’s because it was something that she and Sunny had shared for years: the bookshelf that sat against the wall, filled to the brim with different novels, comic books, and a few thick tomes that still sent a shiver down Hero’s spine even all these years later, a nervous laugh slipping out as he carefully pulled one of the books free and flipped through it.

Mari and Sunny had always been fans of this kind of stuff, even if Hero could never see the appeal: ghost stories, horror movies, books on the occult… it made them happy, and it was common ground for the siblings to bond over—one that didn’t involve the stress and pressure that Mari felt with trying to push herself and her brother to greater heights with their music—so Hero was always fully supportive of the two of them no matter how many scary stories and movies he sat through, and how many creepy bookstores Mari excitedly dragged him into.

(He had a feeling at least half of her enjoyment stemmed from seeing his reactions, but… well, what could he say? He was in love and would do anything to see his girl smile, even if it was at the expense of his pride.)

Hero continued to carefully thumb through the book’s yellowed pages, feeling a strange mixture of nostalgia, morbid curiosity, and foreboding dread as his eyes skimmed the contents of the old tome. He was pretty sure this was one of the books that Mari had bought at some hole in the wall bookstore that she’d found when their families had gone on vacation together one year, so it was nice to see at least one piece of Mari’s past still in this room, but at the same time….

His eyes came to rest on a page towards the middle of the book, as if drawn to the words—though they were worn by time, they were still just barely legible enough to make out.

“Demon summoning ritual…,” Hero murmured, reading the words at the top of the page aloud, before letting out a quiet, nervous chuckle. “Can’t say I see the appeal, but if reading this kind of silly stuff makes Sunny happy, then I guess there’s no harm…?”

Unless, of course, Sunny actually tried to do any of the stuff in this book—which Hero doubted he would, and even if he did, well… it wasn’t like any of this stuff was real, right?

“And if this were a horror movie, this would be the part where I would turn around, and some sort of monster would be standing right behind me just to prove me wrong,” Hero said to himself, another quiet, nervous laugh slipping out.

This wasn’t a horror movie, though, so why was his body suddenly freezing up? Why was his heart starting to pound in his chest, his hands trembling as they tightened their hold on the book?

Why did it feel like there was someone watching him?

No, he just had to take a breath, calm down, and focus: the same techniques that he helped Mari with when they were younger, just two kids navigating life side by side, trying to be more responsible than their age to set a good example for the two baby brothers in their life.

It was just the darkness of the room and these silly thoughts about horror movies and occult nonsense getting to him. There was nothing behind him, and there was nothing watching him; it was all just in his head.

Still, even as he tried to convince himself of this, it took all of his willpower to turn around, just to prove to himself that there was absolutely noth—

Someone was there.

Dead black eyes staring straight through him—

(an unsettling grin that sent a rush of instinctive Fear through him—)

translucent skin—

(a knife, gleaming ominously in the dim lighting of the room—)

shadows dancing around and obscuring their body—

Hero just barely bit back a scream, unintentionally dropping the heavy book—which of course landed right on his foot, turning his would-be scream into a pained yelp and a grimace.

At least the pain was enough to shock him back to reality: what had once been a vague, unsettling mass of shadows in the shape of a person with cold eyes and pale skin was merely Sunny, standing in the room with an overabundance of blankets bunched up in his arms, making it practically impossible to see anything but his face and his arms from around the mass of white.

“S— Sunny,” Hero breathed out, hastily snatching the book off of the floor and shoving it back onto the bookshelf before reaching out to take some of the blankets from Sunny’s arms. “You… you startled me. How long were you standing there?”

Sunny shrugged, moving over to the middle of the room and unceremoniously dumping the rest of the blankets in his arms onto the floor.

Though Hero wanted to question him—though to ask what, even Hero himself wasn’t sure—he didn’t have the chance before Kel rushed into the room, also carrying a bunch of blankets and pillows in his arms.

“Man, can you believe there were still this many blankets and pillows and stuff?” Kel said with a grin, as he dumped his armful onto Sunny’s pile—and Hero, with a sigh, did the same before stepping back to take a look at the mound of blankets and pillows that they had to work with.

“Did they really leave this much behind…?” Hero muttered incredulously, scratching the back of his head in bewilderment before shrugging off the thought—along with the unsettled feeling lingering in the back of his mind—in favor of giving Kel and Sunny a smile. “Well, I guess we should get to work. This blanket fort won’t built itself, you know!”

As Kel gave an enthusiastic cheer, and as Sunny’s entire demeanor seemed to soften in clear response to Kel’s excitement, Hero allowed himself to relax as well.

Just like he figured, he’d been overthinking things and letting his imagination get the best of him.

Everything was perfectly fine.

Sunny was gone.

Hero hadn’t meant to wake up at—he briefly checked the time on his phone—almost three in the morning, but between Kel’s snoring and all of the thoughts going through his head, it had been hard to manage to fall asleep, and apparently even harder to stay asleep, at least for more than just three hours.

It hadn’t even been his intention to look for Sunny, either: he’d just crawled out of the blanket fort that he and Kel were using for a bed, so he could stretch his legs and maybe sneak downstairs for a glass of water to help him relax enough to try and go back to sleep, when he glanced over in the direction of Sunny’s bed and found it completely empty.

Immediately, Hero’s heart dropped, even as he tried to convince himself that he was worrying too much. Maybe Sunny was just in the bathroom, or maybe Sunny had trouble sleeping just like Hero and went downstairs, or…

Well, Hero would like to hope that Sunny hadn’t left the house entirely. While it was good that he was finally comfortable with going outside after four years of hiding himself away from the world, it would still be dangerous for him to wander around so late at night all by himself, even in a small town like Faraway.

Quietly, so as not to disturb Kel’s sleep—though he knew from experience that it would take a lot more than a squeaky floorboard or two to wake his younger brother up—Hero made his way out of the room, stopping first at the bathroom to check if Sunny was there (he wasn’t) and then taking a quick glance in Sunny’s parents’ old bedroom to see if Sunny had hidden himself away in there (he hadn’t) before finally deciding to try checking the first floor of the house.

If he couldn’t find Sunny in any of those rooms, then… well, Kel would just have to deal with being woken up in the middle of the night to go searching for their missing friend.

Hero carefully made his way down the stairs, squinting to see in the dim light and keeping a tight hold of the banister until he safely reached the bottom of the staircase. He knew it was just his imagination getting the best of him, especially from his earlier scare before they went to sleep—but it felt as if with each step that he took, there was an increasing pressure pushing down on his chest, making it hard to breathe and even harder to ignore the unnatural movement of the shadows in the corners of his vision.

Breathe, calm down, and focus.

With that mantra running through his mind, Hero eased himself back into a calm state, enough to continue moving and resuming his search for Sunny.

First stop was the closet, which was empty save for a few sealed cardboard boxes and a single toy chest—though Hero wasn’t too surprised to not find Sunny there, considering how Sunny hadn’t gone anywhere near the room earlier that evening.

Next was… the piano room.

Even after going there earlier, Hero’s heart still clenched as he stared at the door, mentally willing the sound of Mari’s playing to reach his ears despite knowing that all he would hear was silence.

He would get to hear his girl play again someday, he reminded himself. He would study hard, and do everything in his power to bring Mari back to her old, lively self.

Right now, though, finding Sunny was his main priority. Which meant he had to cross the threshold into that room all by himself, without anyone around to be strong for.

Okay. He could do this. All he had to do was open the door, peek inside, ignore the phantom images of Mari’s smiling face sitting at the piano beckoning him towards her, and check to see if Sunny was in the room. Easy.

Hero hesitated for a moment longer before solidifying his resolve, reaching out, grabbing the doorknob, twisting it, pushing the door open, and—

W̷̢̨̦͈͍͕̭̫͖̯̪̺̺̰̾̌̂̌͌̀̽͊̑͋͗͘͠ E̸̡̨̡̫̞̼̩͈̘͉͕̘̳̱͗͗̍̋̀͗̆̎̀̀͝͝͝ L̷̞͇͕̝̗̪̍̾͊̑́̂̿̈̋̾̄̕͝͝ Ĉ̵̺̗̙̝͓̬̩̕͜ Ǫ̸̢̦̺̹̯͙̯͊͂̾̓͜ M̶͇͈̟͓̗̠͚̝̮̆͑͊ Ě̶̳̜̌́̓ ̷̘̓͠ T̶̢̲̠̬͍̭̒͆́͐̽̐̆̈́̆̕͘̚̕͝ Ơ̸̡̨̯͕͓̩͖̱̗̼͕̗̤͗͑̔̏̚̕̚̚͜͝  ̵̢̛͇̦̯̝̝̽͆̑̒͛̒̚͝͝W̷̟̦̬͖̻̓̾̄͗̍̈́͝ H̴̛̛̗̘̣͈̼̖͔̔͐̄̂̓̅̽̏͛̊̉͜ I̴̭͙̰̼̪̋̂̆̊̾͛͑͝ Ṫ̶̹̲͍͔̖̲̲͕̬͙̭̖͇̺̂̿͐͝͝ Ę̵̞̲͓̠̼̮̲͍̠͉͇̱͗̍͗͗͑̅̍̕͝  ̸̘̝͓̰͍̈́̈́̓̈̌͂S̴̛̛̯̣̙̾̿̌́̌͘̚̚ͅ P̴̖̫̈́ A̷̯͚͓̤̯̮͈̓̅́̀̾͗̾̂̒̚͠͝ C̷̢̼̦̻̖͖̗̟̰̥͛̾͋̉̓̔̑̕̕ E̸̦̫̖̖̤̲̲̾͂͆̋̏͘̕

̷̛̬̲̹̞̫̯̥̓̄Y̵̢̢̪͚̳̗͍̳̘̲̹̪̺̥̿͛͂͗͌̓̍̈́͊ Ơ̶̡̨̳̝̱͇̊̑̓̒̇̎͑̉ Ų̸̧̛̩̙̖̰͕͈̩̖͖̔̓͊̅́̄̔͂̚͝͝ ̴̢͖͚͚̩͇̙̠̭̹͍̬̣̫͛̿̍̃̒̎̂̎͂̄̈ S̵̛̛̫̤͙̲͖̜͎͍͂̒͂̉̓̇̈̔͘͘ H̸̗̤͋͗͝ O̷̪̝̔̋̔ Ŭ̶̧̨̱̻̳̰͓͎̕͜ Ļ̴̨̢̺͖̠̙̥͙̳̖͖̗͍̄͊̉̉̕͘ D̶̢͙͎͙̞̓͋͋̉́̆̓̈́̆͂  ̶̛̘͍̰̈́̏̾̉͐̿͆͗̕̚̚͠͠Ņ̷͔̯͉̦̞̟̀̊̍̾͋̂͆́̂̊ O̵̧͈̫͛͐̀̑̈́̇̈́̏̈́̅̍̕͠ T̸̨͎͕̫̳͔͕̉͛͑̎͛̂̄͑ ̵̢̱̭̥̀ H̸̢̢̢̩̟̦͔̎̀̓̏ A̸̛̩̜̟̥̼̻̓̽̆͐͘͜ V̸̨̭͕̙̜̩̰̞̔̍̈́̅͌͂͊͛̅̿̽͑͠͝ Ȩ̶̡͍̼̻̗̳͇̩͖̻̰̬͓́͂̐̕͜ ̵̢̧̡̺͖̩̟̯̠̘̩͕̝̽̍̈̄͛̌͋̌̈́̇̕͜͠͠ͅ Ç̷̛̻̠͚͈̘̗̰̫͍͉̋̑̒̄̽̉̚͝ͅ O̸̗̦̞̹̜̥̥͎͋͐̑̈́̓̓͘͜͠ M̶̨̖͍̮͈͈̺͉͈̈́͘ Ȩ̸̮͉͓̬̗̬̳͚̫̙̤̘̦͛͋̑̍̄̆̐̕͘

White.

All around him was an expanse of blinding white stretching as far as the eye could see.

Hero squinted, his eyes gradually adjusting as he tried to reorient himself.

What happened? Where was this, and why was he here? Last he remembered, he was in Sunny’s house, looking for—

Hero sucked in a sharp breath as his memories came rushing back to him, his heart leaping into his throat and his gaze flitting around in a panic.

That’s right, he was looking for Sunny, so why…?

He looked around, trying to figure out how he got here and how to leave—but there were no doors, no windows, no floor even: just white, white, and more white, as far as the eye could see.

And then suddenly, in the blink of an eye, there was a mass of black standing in contrast to all the white around him.

Though Hero instinctively felt himself wanting to draw back in fear, there was something about the shape of the mass that urged him forward instead: step by step, walking on something firm yet soft, his footsteps echoing yet not making a single sound, until he was close enough to realize why the shape looked so familiar.

It was Sunny.

Not his Sunny, not the Sunny he’d just been looking for—no, this Sunny was one that he hadn’t seen since Mari had been brought to the hospital four years ago. Small, pale, staring up at Hero with wide eyes—

And with a knife in his hand.

“You shouldn’t be here.”

The voice that left Sunny’s mouth was both familiar and foreign, quiet and loud, soft and distorted, and Hero felt a shiver running down his spine from the unsettling feeling that rushed through him from the sound alone.

“Sunny—” he began weakly, only for his throat to seize up as he noticed a second figure behind the twelve year old.

Sunny. His Sunny.

His gaze was vacant, even more than it had been all night, but that was definitely the Sunny that Hero had been looking for.

Which raised far more questions than he had answers for: who was the child standing in front of him, then? Why did he look so much like Sunny? Was he the one that brought them to this place?

“I’m giving you one chance,” the smaller Sunny continued, in that same voice that filled Hero with in explicable dread. “Leave, and forget what you’ve seen.”

The logical part of Hero’s mind urged him to listen, to turn around and find a way out of this place—but in his heart, he knew he’d never be able to look Mari in the eye if he turned his back on Sunny not once, but twice in one lifetime.

So instead, Hero moved to take a step forward, to reach for his Sunny, to ask what was going on and what this place was and who this child that looked so much like Sunny was—

—only to feel something pinning his legs in place, keeping him from moving.

“I warned you.”

Hero paled, daring to turn his gaze away from the child in front of him so he could see what was keeping him from moving, only to immediately regret it as a feeling of nausea washed over him.

Hands.

There were red, disembodied, human hands snaking their way up his legs, grabbing onto him with inhuman strength, keeping him from moving no matter how hard he struggled to pull free.

“What— what is this? What is this place? What are you?” Hero asked, his questions coming out in a panicked rush as he lifted his gaze back up to the child.

The child, whose eyes were no longer the dull, black eyes that Hero had seen on him before.

No, the gaze that Hero was met with didn’t belong to a child, or to a human being at all.

“You were not meant to find this place,” the child(?) continued, his glowing red gaze seeming to pierce straight through to Hero’s very soul. “If you won’t willingly leave, then you leave me no choice.”

The ground beneath Hero’s feet suddenly began to give, and Hero’s heart shot up into his throat in panic as his body slowly began to sink, being pulled inch by inch into a dark abyss as the disembodied hands continued to keep him from escaping no matter how much Hero struggled.

“Sunny—!!” Hero called out to the older Sunny, who hadn’t so much as glanced in his direction this entire time—only to suck in a sharp, alarmed breath as he watched the younger Sunny turn and hold out his knife towards the older Sunny.

Immediately, Hero doubled his efforts to try and pull free of the hands dragging him downward.

Trying to hurt him was one thing, but hurting Sunny—

“Get away from him!”

Hero was briefly startled by the force behind his own voice, though his glare didn’t falter in the slightest as he reached out towards Sunny, trying to force his way over to the boy who had been—who still was—like a younger brother to him for as long as he could remember.

Yet all of Hero’s resolve immediately crumbled in stunned shock as Sunny not only ignored him, but willingly reached out towards his childlike doppelganger and took the knife from his hold, before—

No.

This was all some sort of nightmare, wasn’t it? None of this was real.

It was a bad dream, borne from all the stress from today, combined with his guilt from not having seen Sunny in four years.

That was the only logical conclusion Hero’s mind could draw as he stared numbly at the sight before him.

After all… a knife wound should bleed, shouldn’t it? It wasn’t even about having medical knowledge, it was just common sense.

Yet the knife that Sunny drove into his own chest before Hero’s eyes—without hesitation, without even a single flinch or a sliver of fear—had no blood gathered around it whatsoever.

So that had to mean this was all just a bad dream.

A nightmare that was pulling him down, further and further into the dark abyss below, until all Hero could see was a ruthlessly cruel smile on the face of a child who would never hurt a fly, and an empty, broken gaze on the face of a sibling he’d neglected for far too long.

Hero’s eyes shot open, and he quickly sat up in the blanket fort, his breathing shaky as he looked down at himself only to find no traces of the red hands nor any signs of the tight grip that they’d had on him.

So it really had been a dream, then.

The realization should have been a relief, except for the fact that he clearly remembered waking up and leaving the blanket fort earlier to go downstairs—but maybe that had been part of the dream, too?

Hero ran a hand through his hair with a grimace, and he just barely managed to stifle a groan as he checked his phone and saw that it was just past five thirty in the morning.

There was no way he would be able to go back to sleep after a dream like that, not to mention that he’d been planning on getting up by around six anyway to help Sunny out with the list of chores he’d seen sitting untouched on Sunny’s desk, so… might as well just get an early start, then.

He quietly made his way out of the blanket fort, his gaze reflexively shooting over to check Sunny’s bed—and immediately, relief washed over him at the sight of Sunny peacefully asleep in bed, his chest steadily rising and falling.

That proved it, then: it was all just a stress-induced dream, nothing more.

Of course, with that knowledge came a rush of exhaustion as his poor night’s sleep quickly began to catch up with him, but he forced himself to shake it off as he gave Sunny one last glance before turning his attention over to the list of chores.

Hero could already tell that this was going to be a long, long day.

As soon as Hero left the room, silently closing the door behind him, Sunny’s eyes cracked open, his blank gaze fixed on the ceiling above him while the dull, phantom pains of Omori’s knife lingered in his chest alongside the memory of Hero’s panicked gaze.

It was going to be a long day indeed.