Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It flips through the book.

   A very old photo album that it’s had forever, ever since its creation; untouched by BLACK SPACE (for the most part, anyways - STRANGER was choosing to not notice the blackening edges of the cover). A relic of time.

   The photos are so old, yet they’re not yellowing or cracked. It hurts to look at them. It feels like forever ago. It was, it thinks sadly. It’s been decades for us. Only three years for the DREAMER .

   Only three years. Of course, things came to light now - the DREAMER was no longer with them. BLACK SPACE and its surrounding areas were officially safe, with no threat of OMORI. But it couldn’t help but worry… things were off.

   It needs to focus. 

   TOUCH: the slick coverings of the photos

   SOUND: nothing.

   TASTE: nothing.

   SIGHT: the photos. BASIL smiling back at it, surrounded by three others.

   SMELL: dead fish.

   It looks next to it, at the source. ABBI’s head is looking over his shoulder, her eye blinking as though to conceal long-since-fallen tears. “That is… me?” she asks, her wet breathing starting up again. She brings up her one good arm shakily, pressing a blood-soaked finger to a photo. In it it’s a photo of her - the real her, with the childlike smile and enthusiasm. It’s kind of blurry, but her face is solid. Part of a tentacle covers the lens with the caption, TAKO stole my camera today! It’s kind of hard taking photos with no hands, though…

   It nods after a moment of hesitation. “That was you,” it gently corrects, going to rest one of its own hands on hers. It sucks in a quick breath. “Not anymore.”

   It gets the impression she’s frowning. “But… how not?” ABBI asks, moving her hand off of the photo and up to her face. She examines it thoughtfully, looking back down at the photo as if she expected one or the other to suddenly change.

   STRANGER winces. “That’s something to discuss later, ABBI.” it can’t help but feel… guilty . Guilty for how she is now, hardly able to form a sentence with proper grammar. Guilty for the way she cries and keens and covers where her ears would be when someone raises their voice, when someone mentions OMORI. But it wasn’t your fault. You didn’t get them… punished.

   But it wasn’t here to remember TAKO. It looks through the other photos on this page - flower crowns, OMORI and it (when it was still a he, and he was no longer a stranger, but BASIL), various other pictures of it and TAKO. Icy hands of steel grip at its heart, squeezing.

   It flips the page again and again. By now it’s close to the beginning - it’s a rather thick book, from all the rewrites it was present for. It had only been about two, but all of the new photos.. It looked rather like a chapter book than a photo album.

   Finally it gets to what it’s looking for - a clear photo of it, TAKO… MEIDO, and UNI. Just an otherwise normal picture - the four are smiling (or, well, UNI didn’t really have a mouth, but it was happy), MEIDO even giving TAKO a poorly-positioned bunny ears. If they were happy then… why couldn’t they be happy then?

   It looks sadly to ABBI, then down to its barely-visible reflection in the slick encasing. It sees its red eyes look back at itself, the black figure standing out against the white, colourful backdrop of the photo. Because we’re not us, it decides finally. We can’t be happy… because we’re not us. Times are changing.

    The MEIDO it knew now was not the MEIDO it knew before. She now took on an unsettling smile… a worrying, new attitude that said Watch out, world, better not get in my way and I’ll do what I want when I want to and nobody will stop me . She had been energetic before - she had been excited and impulsive and even bossy at times… but now she was scary. This new, unchained side of her scared STRANGER as to what she would do. She was unpredictable. HUMPHREY was unpredictable. 

   It couldn’t imagine what having to be him for years on end did to her. She was different - not in the good way. She thought it didn’t see how she looked at SOMETHING, how she bared her teeth at AUBREI behind her and its back. How she acted so sweet to cover up something much worse.

   This was why it was looking in the photos. Did it miss something? Had she always been like this? Something had to be wrong. She couldn’t be like this, suddenly and out of nowhere - she had to have acted this way before. It didn’t want to believe it. It wouldn’t . If something, even the tiniest thing, alluded to her behaviour before…

   The door opens, followed by a “I told you to wait!”. It turns around in its chair to the source of the commotion, although it has a feeling it already knows who.

   MEIDO, as confident as ever, strolls in, her tail held high and perked up instead of dragging uselessly on the floor. She’s sporting one of her offputting grins, and trailing her is UNI, and behind him SOMETHING, standing helplessly outside of the door.

   It squints at UNI. He hadn’t changed much - being a … cat for years probably didn’t do as much as, say, being alone and tortured (like ABBI) or being a human, meat-eating whale (...like MEIDO). Instead, now two of his head points curved off into ears and he donned paws, haunches instead of legs, and a tail. His white coloration he normally had was off, too, turned a sickly-bright blue or red or yellow. He was more LOQUACIOUS than BIG YELLOW, although he was originally the latter.

   MEIDO walks right up to it and thumps its shoulder playfully with her own. “Whatcha doin’, BASIL?” she purrs, as slippery as oil, looking down at the photos. It recoils inwardly, briefly stunned by the use of its old name - MEIDO and UNI still knew it as BASIL. As their brother. It knew this, but it was like a punch to the gut every time they used it.

    Am I letting them down, changing myself completely?

    UNI sidles up next to ABBI, also looking down at the photo album. “Woah, you still have all of these?” his voice betrays no emotion - he just sounds monotonous-ly calm “I had thought…” he trails off, placing a hand down on the album and turning his one eye to STRANGER. 

   “No,” STRANGER responds, the hands around its heart returning, this time threatening to choke it. “I couldn’t. I wouldn’t.”

   ABBI looks to UNI finally, squinting her one eye. “Who..?” she asks quietly, looking to the void creature in bewilderment. STRANGER leans in close and whispers back that it’s UNI, but she doesn’t look any more comforted.

   MEIDO, on the other hand, is frowning down at the photos. “You should get rid of these,” she finally says with a shrug. “You have no reason to keep them anymore. Plus, we could go make some new memories!” her grin gets even wider as she turns to it, a new, dangerous light in her eyes. It shudders inwardly. You’re being unrealistic, it shuns itself inwardly. She can’t do anything.

   It catches up with the rest of what she’s said. “What? I’m not… going to get rid of them. They’re important to me.”

   MEIDO shrugs again. “They’re worthless is what they are.”

   It squints at her. This was the her that it didn’t like. “I don’t care if they’re worthless,” it says simply. “They mean a lot to me and it’s my photo album. I’m keeping them.”

   She fixes it with a long, odd look, as though he’s being unreasonable. “You don’t have to get all worked up. I was just giving you a suggestion.”

   It fixes her back with the same stare. Was it being unreasonable? Was she just ‘giving a suggestion’? Looking at UNI’s equally surprised look (as surprised as someone with one eye and no facial features could be), it thinks not. But it doesn’t have time to respond before she’s talking again.

   “Anyways, about those new memories . We can go make some right now . I know the perfect spot to do things and get a snack, nyak nyak !” she laughs that horrible laugh. That was new, too - STRANGER didn’t like it. But she’s my sister. She’s…

   It shakes itself. “I’m sorry, I can’t right now. I have things to do,” it adds quickly as it notices her injured look. It casts a glance to SOMETHING again, standing outside the door, wringing her hands together nervously. MEIDO tilts her head in SOMETHING’s direction, but doesn’t react.

   “But you’re my brother!” she pouts, frowning at it. “We need to go have adventures!” she cries. “Like we used to!”

   “And we will,” it assures her softly. “I have a whole church to run and towns to look after. Although OMORI’s gone…” it says, noting how ABBI and SOMETHING both shudder, “... tensions are still high. I need to clear speculation and set records straight,” it explains. Specifically it was SHATTERED OMORI - others thought it would end up like OMORI and others thought it had every right to live in BLACK SPACE. It had gotten so particularly bad, that others tended to actively harass it.

   “I thought you loved us?” she asks flatly, giving it the same odd, hard look. It gapes at her, speechless. Everyone seemed to be taken aback, too, the room suddenly growing quiet outside of the lick of flames from the candles.

   “Ex…cuse me?” it blinks, stunned. “I do, but I have to divide my time-”

   “And how much have you exactly spent with us?” she frowns at it now, crossing her arms. SOMETHING blinks incredulously at her from the doorway, radiating nothing but a newfound fury. “You’re always in here or with your… other friends.” her voice trails off, but it’s not hard to hear the bitterness underneath it. 

   Is she mad because it spends time with… AUBREI and SOMETHING? That was just silly - it didn’t love MEIDO, UNI, or ABBI any less. It feels ABBI shift next to it, pressing close into its body. “Loud,” she whines softly into her sibling’s ear, tugging on its shirt sleeves. It nods absent-mindedly.

   “I can’t focus on you all the time,” it explains after a moment of thinking. “I run a safe haven, MEIDO. I… I don’t have time for games or adventures anymore.” as it says the words, it feels a longing tug at its heart. It should have time - it had its .. technical childhood ripped away by OMORI. “I love you and UNI, you’re still my siblings… but I have responsibilities now.”

   “So you love us and not TAKO?” she flares, her voice raising. ABBI winces again. “She’s your sister too, and you’re telling me you don’t love her? I thought you were better than this,” she growls, not bothering to listen as it stammers to correct itself. She spins around on one heel, flipping  her hair back. “Come on, UNI, TAKO. If we’re not wanted , then we’ll leave.”

   UNI glances at STRANGER for a moment, as if it’s debating - only to be summoned as MEIDO barks another “ UNI , TAKO ,” and it blinks sympathetically at it and scurries off. ABBI, however, doesn’t move. She wraps her arms around the smaller’s torso in what seems to be a hug, shaking her head to MEIDO and pressing her head underneath STRANGER’s chin. “Loud,” she whines again.

   It strokes her head tentacles for a second. “I know,” it murmurs, going to stand up and pull her up. “I need you to stay here for me for a minute, I’ll be back, I promise,” it adds upon seeing the other’s brief distress. I won’t leave you, but I won’t let UNI and MEIDO leave us… no matter how maddening they are. (rather, how maddening MEIDO was.)

   It dashes out of the door, briefly stopping by SOMETHING. “Can I leave you here?” it asks, words spilling out of its mouth. “I mean, with ABBI. She needs - she needs someone for her.”

   SOMETHING hesitates for a moment. “Sure,” it responds icily. “I’ll be fine.” she turns from it to elegantly waltz into the room, leaving it to scramble after the two departing creatures. Running throughout the church earns it some surprised looks from some visitors - it’s small and nimble, skillfully hopping over the pews and weaving between the other creatures.

   It finds them outside of the church, right out of the doors and sitting on the cliff. It pays no mind to the chilly air and cold snow, instead tramping over to them and sitting down. Shame floods over it. “I’m sorry,” it says. “I didn’t mean that. I love all of you and I’ll spend more time with you. If you still want me to, I mean.” it says, sounding small - briefly it feels itself slipping back into the timid, soft-spoken BASIL. It shakes itself inwardly. “I mean, I will spend more time with you. I want you here. We… we all do.”

   MEIDO turns back to it, tilting her head to the side just a bit. “We weren’t actually leaving. I was just playing with you -” she gives it a wide grin. “- but now that you’re here we can go do things.”

   It blinks, bewildered, casting a glance back to the doors of the church. “But-”

   “No buts , little brother,” MEIDO purrs (it always was the younger of the four), placing her webbed hand on its head and pulling it into a hug. “Your maid or whatever can look after everyone, can’t she?”

   STRANGER hesitates. “SOMETHING isn’t-”

   “Well, whatever she is,” MEIDO shrugs, pulling it into another hug, “she’ll take care of the place. “UNI and I were discussing what we could do, you know? We were thinking you could show us around the place, since you haven’t yet.” there was an emphasis on haven’t yet , and it feels guilt wash over it. MEIDO was right - it really hadn’t put much time into them.

   It nods after a moment. “Of course. I should do that.” It looks down at UNI - at the mention of him, he still hadn’t said anything. He looked away from STRANGER, tail flicking ever so slightly and ears pressed back as though uncomfortable.

   It looks back to MEIDO, who’s giving UNI a frown. Maybe she’s just mad he’s not as enthusiastic as she is? Those two had always been exceptionally close - if one was there, the other was usually not far behind. But a notion… a creeping, slithery feeling up its spine…

    No. She’s your sister, and you have to learn to trust her again.

    But the way she looks at everyone as though sizing them up… the way she treats everyone around her…

   It wonders if it’s even MEIDO anymore.

Chapter Text

“We have a problem.”

   It lifts its head up from the map of BLACK SPACE it had been working on charting, piecing together where this and that were. It was the first priority on its mind, actually, but apparently it had other things to do. It brings its gaze to the creature standing in front of the door - it takes a moment for it to realize who it is.

   “LIONHEART,” it gives him a warm, tired smile. “What can I do for you?” LIONHEART didn’t speak often, but when he did, he was typically worth listening to. He looked just like HERO, outside of the right side of his face being torn away to reveal black void and glinting red eyes, his weirdly-grown mane that flowed around his chest and neck, and his (ironically enough) lion tail. Very somber and mellow, one of STRANGER’s most trusted… well, it was still hard for it to keep ‘friends’, but it thought fondly enough about him that he might be considered one.

   He dips his head respectfully. “Others in the church have had some concerns about your current project and what you wish to achieve. Many believe that BLACK SPACE and BLACK SPACE TWO should be kept separate instead of conjoined as you suggest.” it blinks at it.

   STRANGER has to bring up all its energy to not sigh, or facepalm, or groan, because every time this topic came up, everyone had their own opinions on it and everything was already a lot, so this made it worse. 

   There were two things that those in BLACK SPACE seemed to dislike:

• OMORI
• BLACK SPACE TWO

   … which made satisfying everyone a lot harder than it should have been. STRANGER, personally, wanted to conjoin both BLACK SPACE to make them as one. Of course, BLACK SPACE TWO was deeper and more complex so it would keep its name, but it wanted it to become inhabitable . Many things there were either capable of speech and thought or completely wild, as BLACK SPACE had been originally, and STRANGER wanted to give those lost a chance.

   Another chance, anyways.

   Like - like SHATTERED OMORI (or ECHO, as it had begun to call itself). Completely from BLACK SPACE TWO and a fragment of OMORI, so everyone automatically hated it and used it as a reason to not chart BLACK SPACE TWO or do anything with it - it was absolutely stupid and for once STRANGER found itself losing its cool over how everyone treated it.

   “ Respectfully , really, and I mean respectfully ,” it says, rubbing the bridge of its nose. “I’m not at all interested in their concerns. I have too much to worry about and what they want is not one of my concerns.” it allows itself to frown just a bit. Wait, a part of it says, sending alarm bells ringing off, was that an evil thought? Wouldn’t OMORI say that about others?

   This had been more frequent now - these thoughts, these visions of it throwing anyone who disagreed with it out. Anyone who had an opinion - and that wasn’t what it did. That’s not me .

   Panic wells in its chest - it feels LIONHEART’s presence suddenly at its side, pulling it into a hug, as a mother or a father would hug their child - a hand on it’s head while gently rocking.

   “You’re okay,” he murmurs. “The world isn’t ending. You’re all right.”

   It blinks, dazed - LIONHEART would never understand what it had to go through in terms of it’s own worries, but it admired the other’s loyalty. It grips the desk it had been carefully drawing on to gather itself, looking back up to the taller one.

   “Come with me for a walk,” the HERO offers. “There’s something we need to talk about that’s important.” his face drops for a moment, worry showing through - that wasn’t good. His voice drops and he moves to the other’s ear - “Bring AUBREI, SOMETHING, and whoever else you think needs to come. Meet me just outside of the RAFT PATH, at the river - be quick.” and as quick as he was there, he was gone again.

   It looks back at the nowhere-near complete map and sighs. It guesses that won’t be done today.

-

   Among those chosen, MEIDO and UNI had not been one of them. It had wanted to bring them, but MEIDO would have asserted leadership and bossed everyone around (and STRANGER didn’t like the energy that spun between SOMETHING and MEIDO and thought that keeping them apart would make it go away, whatever ‘it’ was) and UNI… well there really was no complaining about bringing him. It wanted to bring the former protector as to show him the danger and constant need for survival, but if MEIDO had figured out that UNI had gotten to go and not her?

   Which was why it had to leave ABBI. It didn’t have a ‘council’ per say, but it normally brang its sister everywhere with it, and in important situations like this, the ‘council’ always consisted of LIONHEART, itself, SOMETHING, ABBI, and AUBREI - they had already asked why ABBI wasn’t with them as they headed to the meeting spot and it had to tell them the truth. SOMETHING had just snorted and AUBREI had seemed confused, but pressed no further.

   “I have a feeling I know what this is about,” SOMETHING says from ahead as she pushes past some black fronds. “All over the town’ve been whispers about … well, something on our eastern border.

   It perks up, lightly placing a hand on AUBREI’s back to stabilize itself as it hops over a fallen tree. AUBREI’s one eye blinked at it patiently, and it feels a pang of a guilt it hardly ever revealed, even to itself. AUBREI had been someone, just like LIONHEART or SOMETHING - in fact, she was the first ever AUBREY to be thrown to BLACK SPACE. She and STRANGER had been friends for the longest time (longer than it had known SOMETHING and HELLMARI, actually) and it thought fondly of her as a sister.

   Unfortunately, enough rewrites (with the full intention of killing, as this was before OMORI realized that BLACK SPACE could only be repressed, not destroyed), as always, got to her and now she was as much of a DOROTHI as she used to be an AUBREY… hence the name. But what made her so, so special was that she remained intact. She had all of her memories, which was rare for an original BLACK SPACE being - so she remained with them.

   But now she seemed to have no idea on what SOMETHING was talking about. “You mean you’ve heard things I haven’t?” STRANGER asks - no malicious intent, or jealousy, or envy is present - it genuinely wonders.

   “Of course, if you listen hard enough,” SOMETHING says. “But you’ve been too wrapped up in those other two that I’m not surprised you haven’t heard enough to have even a lick of an idea of what’s happening.” she casts a steely glance back at it, her singular eye glinting.

   It takes it a moment to realize what she’s said and who she’s talking about. “You- you mean MEIDO and UNI?” it blinks, dumbfounded. “I don’t spend every moment with them. What?”

   SOMETHING looks away again. By now the sound of rushing water was a background noise, getting louder the closer they got. “That’s not my point,” she says, her voice lowering. “You spend every day worrying about what they think of you and what you should do with them. I’m going to be blunt - perhaps they don’t need to be in BLACK SPACE.”

   It freezes, staring at her with its mouth half-open. Shock reverberates throughout its body as it stays on her last statement - perhaps they don’t need to be in BLACK SPACE. Of course they did - they had every right to be here as anyone.

    But the way MEIDO acts toward SOMETHING , it’s mind whispers. How she treats everyone as though they’re below her.. how she’s disrespectful. Could SOMETHING- it slams a barrier down it’s thoughts, pushing everything out of its mind. It focuses on the nearest thing - AUBREI, who’s avoiding its face as though she agrees. 

   But it’s just a phase , it thinks hopefully, finally letting another thought through. She’s still there, underneath that angry demeanor. She’ll come back to - she’ll come back to us. It digs its fingers into the tree limb it hadn’t noticed it had grabbed onto. I thought SOMETHING, out of everyone, would understand she’s just angry and she’s been lied to. I guess I was wrong.

   It doesn’t bother justifying her with a response, too angry at her to care. It puts one foot in front of the other, taking in long, slow deep breaths until it feels something grab onto its shoulder.

   It whips around with a ferocious hiss, reeling its arm back in preparation to strike before it realizes it’s just LIONHEART, who’s regarding it with a rather concerned look. “Apologies,” it rumbles cautiously, “but you were about to walk straight into the raft path. I think we’d all prefer you alive and not…” he trails off, not having to say anymore. 

   Embarrassment floods throughout it, looking LIONHEART in the eyes to avoid the piercing stare that SOMETHING is giving it. “Thank you,” it says, giving him a nod and looking out past the thrashing water. In the distance you could see HEADSPACE breaching - toward the horizon, the black faded to a dark purple. “What did you need us out here for?”

   It hears SOMETHING huff, but doesn’t get to fix her with a look before LIONHEART is off over the bridge which connects one side to the other. It’s high up so rafts can still pass by underneath - it wasn’t really high-traffic but the BASIL who lived here passed by sometime, when he felt like it.. and those who wished to visit WEATHERVANE came through. 

   “There’s been concerning movement on our eastern borders, as you know,” LIONHEART says, gingerly stepping onto the bridge and leading the three across. “LONGSNOUT’s report was…” he makes an odd face. “Well, they’re saying that HEADSPACE inhabitants have been seen on the border.”

   STRANGER flicks one of its wings back, stepping off of the wooden planks onto the opposite bank, still following behind LIONHEART. “That happens,” it says “Or happ ened . Not anymore… but it’s not uncommon for someone to stray too far.”

   “That’s not the odd part,” he worries. “The odd part is that they got out.”

   This stops it, AUBREI, and SOMETHING in their tracks. It opens its mouth to respond, but is abruptly cut off by an outraged “ What ?” from the bushes behind them, only to have a bright blue bundle tumble out of the bushes, her round black eyes blinking incredulously - behind her, more slowly, follows a particularly spikey, multicoloured creature.

   “MEIDO, UNI !” it smiles at them, a dizzying rush of excitement overcoming it as it bounces over to them, offering a hand to MEIDO. She ignores its gesture and, instead, pushes it back and shoves herself up with a low growl. It blinks at her, bewildered as an all-too-familiar hurt wells up inside of it.

   “ You ,” SOMETHING snarls, taking a step toward them - her hair is frizzed up, uncharacteristically angry. It doesn’t get why she’s so mad at them, and it feels itself shifting into something unfamiliar inside - it’s not anger… it’s something so different that it finds itself taken away from the current situation trying to figure out what it was.

   MEIDO fixes SOMETHING with the deepest frown she could make, it assumes - it’s still not entirely sure what’s going on between them - it just knows that they … hated each other for unclear reasons. SOMETHING never told it what the issue was and MEIDO would typically just bad-mouth, spew off about how SOMETHING was ‘annoying’ and ‘freakish’ and how she ‘wished she were as good as MARI’ - so there really was no clear answer. “Me,” MEIDO shrugs at her. “Bet you wish you got welcomed like that,” she sneers before turning to LIONHEART.

   LIONHEART looked… uncomfortable. His normal smile was now replaced with a serious expression as he looks down at the smaller… he didn’t look nearly as happy to see MEIDO as it had hoped. 

   It got that MEIDO was … a lot. It got that she was mean, but no-one seemed to know her like it did - it knew she was lashing out. It knew there was a problem… it just didn’t know why or what had caused the problem. It also knew she was disrespectful toward everyone, but she always shot it down when it tried to tell her anything - now looking at how upset SOMETHING was and how uncertain LIONHEART was, it wonders if it should’ve tried harder to get to her.

   “So you’re telling me that the whole time we’ve been able to go see OMORI?” she frowns. STRANGER winces and AUBREI takes a step back - it forgets it hasn’t told MEIDO about … him yet. She knew what he’d done but apparently she didn’t care - she still talked about him as though he were still her friend. 

   Of course, it had mentioned before that OMORI was ‘gone’ - but she never seemed to notice it. If anything she just assumed that he was out of BLACK SPACE, even if that was kind of the case. But it has a feeling it should step in here. “MEIDO,” it says carefully, stepping lightly toward her.

   She whirls on it, her anger now directed at it. “And you don’t care about this? OMORI’s your BEST FRIEND, BASIL.” it recoils at the pure fury in her voice, blinking several times out of shock - OMORI had been its friend a long time ago. It had been BASIL’s friend.

   It casts a glance at UNI. He doesn’t seem particularly thrilled or invested in this conversation - in fact, he’s sitting down and carefully licking his paws as though to groom particularly stubborn fur. Upon catching the other’s eye he stops and shakes his hand out. “Uh… OMORI. Uh. He’s our friend, I guess… I guess she has a point?” he looks away, his tail flicking ever so slightly.

   SOMETHING gets between them, steely, cold fury radiating off of her. “OMORI is dead.” her voice is low, menacing, and not open to negotiations. “He has never been your friend and never will be your friend. He kept puppets and playthings, not friends.”

   MEIDO’s shocked - stunned, even - by SOMETHING’s tone and revelation. SOMETHING’s hand twitches every so slightly as though she’s having to restrain. “ Someone should have told you by now.”

   “But BAS-” MEIDO goes to whimper, cut off as SOMETHING, quick as a snake, moves forward to be face-to-face with MEIDO, although she has to look down at her.

   “It’s name is not BASIL ,” she hisses. “Get back to the CHURCH right now .”

   UNI looks up, bemused, in the middle of licking in between his paw beans. “Huh? What?” he blinks a few times, probably also noticing the icy tension sparking between the air. “What’d I do? What?”

   MEIDO looks at SOMETHING for a long, long moment before finally looking to STRANGER. “We’re not leaving,” she says silkily-smooth, “until … he tells us to.” she gestures toward STRANGER, obviously unsure of what to call it now. SOMETHING turns her head to look at it, her singular eye betraying nothing. It’s a test, it realizes - it has to pick a side here.

   It hesitates, looking down. “MEIDO, UNI, get back to the church. We’ll …” it trails off. “We’ll talk later.” STRANGER’s normally been pretty good when it came to disciplining others, but with these two it was at a loss for its voice. ABBI was different - she was never a problem. Some insane, deep part of it expected MEIDO to be the one voicing punishments or disappointments instead, as she always did, and it finds itself utterly shocked at this notion - You had to bury that part of yourself a long time ago, it shuns itself inwardly. You can’t be showing it again. It’s how you survive.

    MEIDO blinks at it a few times then shrugs. “All right.” her voice is impassive and unbothered - no trace of the sudden rage a few seconds ago. “Lets go, UNI,” she says, pushing past SOMETHING and STRANGER to disappear into the dark undergrowth.

   UNI looks up again, just as confused as before. “Huh? MEIDO? Are we leaving?” he jumps up and plunges into the vegetation she had just disappeared into, letting out an, “ME IDO, wait up!”, his tail swallowed up by the ferns and the fading sound of his bewildered calls.

   It sighs, turning its head back to SOMETHING. It’s gonna get lectured, it knows, meeting her eye. LIONHEART looks as though he’d eaten a bucket full of limes, his face a grimace and his hand halfway up as though he were thinking if he should speak.

   “Good job, O-Great-Leader,” she snorts, turning around. “Fantastic show of power.”

   “That wasn’t my intention,” it hisses, clenching its fists. It’s not taking this today - it has enough to deal with on all sides. “You know it wasn’t. I’m not like OMORI. You don’t have to be a jerk for no reason.”

   She whirls around on it, fast as lightning, baring her teeth. “It’s not for no reason . You choose to not see how she hates all of us, how she treats us. You think she’s entitled to do whatever she wants to do because she’s your sister and she had a hard time as HUMPHREY,” she takes a step forward, throwing her arms up in exasperation. “Guess what ? We ALL had a hard time out there. She’s not special ,” she spits. “She’s just like you or me - ordinary. ”

   Its wings fluff up defensively, rage spilling over - “Maybe MEIDO’s right. Maybe you are MARI - you certainly expect everyone to be perfect like she did. And do you see where that got her?” as soon as it’s said the words, it throws its hands over its mouth. SOMETHING reels back, the jab clearly hitting deep.

   LIONHEART steps forward now, in between them. “Hey, now, both of you, stop it.” it tips its head forward, its many eyes pinned on STRANGER. It’s impossible to tell his emotions or feelings from his voice… but it has a guess. 

   “SOMETHING - I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it…” it says, finally moving its hands from its mouth. SOMETHING radiates hurt, anger, and a hint of betrayal… guilt sweeps over it as it realizes it truly had hit deep.

   “You’re right,” she finally says, a tremble in her voice. “You’re not like OMORI. You’re worse ,” she says and turns away. gliding off into the forest elsewhere. AUBREI bounds forward a bit, looking back to STRANGER. She blinks a few times as though to say She’s right, you know, and scampering off after SOMETHING.

   LIONHEART watches them go for a moment, before turning to STRANGER. Instead of calling it a name or accusing it of anything, it holds out a hand. “Follow me,” he says earnestly. It carefully takes his hand, all the warmth sucked out of its body. All it can think of how it’s hurt SOMETHING and how she’s right - it’s … it’s acting like OMORI.

   It doesn’t even notice that LIONHEART’s walking somewhere, the smaller one in tow. Ferns whip around its legs, little ones scurrying out of the way as they walk. Once or twice it hears shrieks of laughter, although it can’t identify who they come from or where they are. It feels so, so horrible after what it said to SOMETHING. SOMETHING was its sister… its friend. She and AUBREI were the only ones who deserved both titles.

   If it loved someone so much, why did it snap on them like that? Why was it so mean to them… especially when she was right. It had been ignoring how MEIDO treated everyone. It did think she was just a bit entitled to how she acted, but SOMETHING had a strong point - she was just like them. UNI didn’t act like she did, STRANGER didn’t act like she did (at least.. it strongly hoped it didn’t)... no-one did. She didn’t need to have special permission.

   The sound of rushing water fills its mind and it zones back in as LIONHEART lightly taps its forehead. It blinks, taking in its surroundings - wooden plank below them, water crashing against the docks and land behind them, lures sticking out of the deep water as curious ANGI’s watch, assessing the potential threats. “THE DOCKS,” it says aloud, looking up to LIONHEART. “Why?”

   “Because I know it’s your favourite place in BLACK SPACE.” LIONHEART simply responds, staring off out past the horizon. Salty water sprays up over the two creatures. “And I know that something’s going on. What is it?” his voice is serious and he doesn’t move his gaze from the distance.

   It shuffles its feet, grabbing at its shirt nervously (the first time it’s done this in a while, it notes). “I don’t know,” it says only half-truthfully. “I’m not sure.”

   “You’re not sure about a lot these days,” LIONHEART says softly. “I don’t try to intrude on your life. You’re my friend and you have privacy just as I do. But I’ve seen the way you look at things now. Everytime you look at SOMETHING and MEIDO you don’t know whether they’re a friend or enemy. You didn’t even tell MEIDO about OMORI.

   “You always seem out of it. I’ve come in on you looking at that photo album of yours over and over again. I’m not telling you to let go because I know how hard it is, and I can only imagine for you how difficult it must be. I’m not saying this to hurt you or make you feel bad about yourself.. but you need to figure out what’s wrong and tackle it.

   “You look like you could deal with some rest. I know everything’s been a lot. OMORI being gone makes BLACK SPACE even more restless. It was easier for them to all listen to you when they had to be united under a single threat, but now they’re expanding themself. They don’t all agree with what you’re doing and that’s okay. You can’t control everyone.”

   It blinks. “I’m not trying to control anyone. I just want them to know that BLACK SPACE TWO is a part of BLACK SPACE. They’re misunderstood just like us and I don’t get why nobody else sees that.” it looks down, frowning. “I just want to make a change.”

   LIONHEART turns to look at it. “You’ve made changes. You’ve changed this place for the better. When I was thrown out, I thought no-one wanted me, especially since my best friend didn’t. But you all found me and made me feel loved and wanted. You’ve done so much. I think you deserve to rest.”

   STRANGER looks down into the water. “But I can’t. I have to do other things. I .. see where you’re coming from but I can’t.”

   “Because you think that if you stop to take a break even for a minute then you’ll lose them as you did your siblings all those years ago.” LIONHEART’s gaze softens. “I understand, but you need to. OMORI’s gone. I know why you’re not as equal to UNI and MEIDO when getting onto them - you’re scared you’ll push them to leave. It would kill you if you lost them again. But you’re losing SOMETHING and AUBREI and everyone else when you do that.

   “They’re treated unfairly. I know you see this. By giving them a slap on the wrist for the harassment, the anger, the tantrums, you’re pushing SOMETHING and AUBREI away. She targets them every chance she gets and they have to watch as you give her a simple scolding. She knows she can walk over you.”

   “That’s not-” STRANGER cuts itself off. It really couldn’t defend MEIDO for her actions now that LIONHEART put it this way - it had never considered how SOMETHING or AUBREI felt about how she treated them. It had assumed… MEIDO was the natural leader of the four. She had always made the decisions whether she had to carry everyone along kicking or screaming or not.. although usually everyone listened to her.

   UNI had always been the follower - he followed MEIDO to the moon and back no matter what, and even now he still did. ABBI and STRANGER (at the time TAKO and BASIL) had been the softer-spoken of the group. The more likely to look into MEIDO’s decisions and carefully steer her onto the smarter choice (such as not biting someone who happened to upset her).

   But now it seemed as though she would do whatever no matter what. No more tweaks or tugs from her friends - the superiority complex had more influence over her than STRANGER and ABBI did. Because she was left alone. Because I didn’t try hard enough to reach her.

   It feels a hand on its shoulder. lightly digging in. “It’s not your fault what happened to them. I know you don’t want anyone else to go through what they had to. I know you blame yourself for what OMORI did. You can’t do that, STRANGER. The entirety of BLACK SPACE needs you - you can’t have yourself tied up in the strings of the past and the possibility of the future.”

   It smiles just a bit. “How are you so good at these things? I mean the heart-to-heart talks. You understand a lot of things.”

   LIONHEART considers this for a long moment. “When you’re on your own for a while…you learn. You have time to think about things. Everything that’s happened, what’s happening now, and what could happen. It’s hard not to wonder about others and what they’re going through. I do believe it’s mellowed me.”

   STRANGER looks up at him and blinks. “Turned you into a bigger sap than OMORI’s HERO is too. That’s not a bad thing, though.”

   He laughs, a low rumbly purr. He takes in a deep breath and goes to scratch at his mane before nodding. “I guess so. I do think you need to offer SOMETHING another apology, though.” he says, serious once more. “What both of you said was uncalled for.”

   It nods, dread dripping into its stomach once more. “I know. I’m going to go back to the church and deal with MEIDO and UNI - for real this time - and then wait for her to come back. I don’t want to approach her when she’s not ready to talk to me.”

   LIONHEART thinks for a minute. “I think that sounds okay. Before you leave, though, I will ask - what would you like to be done about the border? I can tell LONGSNOUT to keep an eye on it, and as soon as I return to the church I’ll construct a patrol to go watch it. Does that sound good to you?”

   STRANGER nods. “Take some of the AUBREY’s,” it says thoughtfully. “I.. think a MERCI told me they kept trying to play baseball across the pews.”

   It rumbles a laugh. “She would be right. They have been. I’ll take ECHO, too - he seems lonely. You know he’s been waiting in the CHURCH for you, right? He’ll sit away from everyone else and look around. He asked me - very shyly might I say - once when you came out of your office. You’re the only friend he has.”

   It blinks, momentarily shocked. “No, no, I don’t take friends - I’m sure we can find him someone to get along with.” it says quickly, noting LIONHEART’s narrowed eyes at the first statement. “Someone not shy. Not BLUEGIRL - she’s just mean.” it thinks.. although no one in specific comes to mind.

   “HELLMARI,” LIONHEART suggests. “She likes everyone. I think she gets a bit lonely without a… OMORI counterpart. Maybe they could keep each other company.”

   STRANGER looks at it, surprised he kept track of everyone as he did. “How do you know all of this?” How did he manage to infer so much about people?

   “By watching and listening,” he smiles. “I know that SWETHORT and SPECE BOIFREND are on their sixteenth divorce this month. I know that UNI’s got insane luck when it comes to uno - he wins every other match. I know that the scribbles tend to repeat back rumors and blow things out of proportion, that CRAB is finally tanning and that OMOLI and MONEY SPACE KEL got into a fight over a scam of exactly thirty-eight dollars and fifty-one cent.”

   It gapes, genuinely stunned at the extent of his observations. “Wow. So - HELLMARI, ECHO, a few AUBREYS - I was thinking maybe AUBAT, AUBUST, and AUBODY?” it smiles thinking of their names. When they had asked to be named, they had all fought over and over about being named the ‘true’ AUBREY - they had actively pulled out their weapons and were, quite frankly, about to kill each other. So they’d been named after their weapons instead - AUBEGG (MR. PLANTEGG), AUBOX (MAILBOX), AUBUST (SWEETHEART BUST), AUBODY (BODY PILLOW), AUBOODLE (POOL NOODLE), AUBAT (BASEBALL BAT), and AUBAMMER (COMET HAMMER).

   Of course they still argued, but at least they didn’t try to kill each other anymore. It thought that, even though they could be a lot at times, they were still reliable enough to send on something as important as this. They weren’t infatuated with OMORI anymore so they wouldn’t bother ECHO - this would work well.

   LIONHEART nods. “I see. But now you need to get to the CHURCH - deal with those two siblings of yours, I’ll get word to LONGSNOUT and he’ll take them out. But you - CHURCH, MEIDO, and UNI, then you sleep.” STRANGER opens its mouth to protest, but it continues on. “In the upcoming few days I’ll come get you and a few others and we’ll investigate HEADSPACE in a safe and timely manner. If you rest it won’t be the end of the world.”

   It stares at him. But it could be, it worries. But not anymore. OMORI is gone. You can have time for yourself - it’s not selfish… unless you choose for it to be. And I don’t. I choose to work on myself.

    It nods. “You’re right.” turning away, it casts a look back to LIONHEART. “Thank you… friend .”

Chapter Text

   0 / 267 

   > STRANGER, CHURCH OF SOMETHING

   You don’t know me, I’m sure, so I will keep this letter as breef as possible. I am from NORTHRRN BLACK SPACE, at the town we call HORIZON - I’m not sure what you have called our town, but it is the place with the many HEROs, KELs, BASILs, AUBREYs, and MARIs… you can’t miss us.

   But I have somerhing that I think you would like to see or you woukd be inyerested in. And SOMETHIMG.

   My workshop afdress is 412 LILY LANE. I look forwzrd to seeing you.

   Please forgive any spe;ling mistakes, my sight is not the best in the world. And these tyoewriter keys are clpse together.

   Sincerely,

   ALGERNON

   “That’s it ?” STRANGER raises its eyebrows, turning the yellow-papered letter over to make sure there was nothing on the back. This was … a turn of events. Another thing to put off going to HEADSPACE.

   LONGSNOUT shrugs its wings apologetically. “I’m sorry, sire,” it says, tapping its pouch of mail with a feathered finger. “That’s all. We don’t get many messages from HORIZON, so I’m just as surprised as you are. I met the original messenger halfway through my rounds - a small, energetic KEL who was more fur than skin. A rabbit, I think. Called me down and told me to deliver it straight to you, so I did.”

   It nods absentmindedly. ALGERNON of HORIZON. Not familiar to me at all. “Do you think I should go? I am interested,” it says, more to itself than to anyone else. LONGSNOUT just stares at it. “I have things to do here, though, but I’m curious.” STRANGER draws itself up, running a hand through its hair. “LONGSNOUT, send for LIONHEART - he’s down at the LOST LIBRARY helping KEEPER. Tell him I need him to watch over while I’m off - I’ll tell FACECLUSTER to take care of the place until he gets up here.”

   LONGSNOUT falls into a deep bow (STRANGER thought it told them to stop with the formality), quickly turning around, ducking through the small doorway, and flapping off into the main church hall.

   STRANGER is still staring down at the letter, though. 412 LILY LANE. 412 LILY LANE… of course, it was going to keep the letter with it - it just thought it should keep that address in mind.

   For once it looks away from the letter on the desk, turning to look at AUBREI next to its bed - she’s giving it as skeptical of a look a one-eyed deer can give, as if to say You’re not seriously considering this, right?

    “What’s the harm?” it asks, giving her a hard look back. “SOMETHING will be interested, too. Besides, I need to get this little town mapped out - I’m not sure how we’ve missed it yet. Uh.. you don’t mind if we use you, right?” its look turns wry and it can tell she sighs, but simply nods instead. AUBREI was its main way of transportation (and she didn’t mind, generally, as long as she agreed to it. but lately she was more nervous, more… worried.), and with her being the size of a small horse, she could easily carry two people. SOMETHING wouldn’t mind.

-

   “And you’re sure this is worth it?” SOMETHING calls from in front of it, holding onto the deer fiercly as she bounds through the forest. It notices that she’s not sightseeing or looking around as she might normally do - she’s looking forward, eye screwed shut.

   “I hope,” it chuckles. “I’ve got you if you fall, you know - if you need AUBREI to slow down just tell her. She’s not trying to knock you off.” it smiles, perfectly fine on the back of its friend. It doesn’t need to steady itself on her - it keeps its hands on SOMETHING’s waist so she has the extra support. It casts a glance out to the left of it at the choppy waves hitting the edge of BLACK SPACE, water being sent up and disappearing into a sea spray. They had taken the EASTERN BORDER because of the GRAINGELS on the west side - they didn’t particularly feel like dealing with them today.

   “AL-WHATSIT better have good reason for this,” she mumbles, daring to open her eye and peer over the edge of the deer once. “I have terrible motion sickness. What’s that note say again?” 

   “He has something that he thinks we’d like to see,” it responds simply. It doesn’t want to pull it out right now, in the unfortunate accident that the ocean breeze knocks it out of its hands, but it has it near memorized. “Asked for you and me specifically, but I’m sure he wouldn’t mind AUBREI.”

   “Hm,” SOMETHING more-or-less agrees. “We’ll see.”

   AUBREI makes quick work of the terrain - her legs pump as she makes haste in rythmatic leaps. The ocean was soothing to it - it liked the noise of the waves, the look of the blue ocean against the fade-into-indigo backdrop, with the stars barely visible. Of course HEADSPACE wasn’t visible here - it was enveloped in a heavy fog anyways, and if you went out far enough into the ocean that’s what you would find.

   It hesitates - but then, what was that? Past the fog?

   “AUBREI,” it says, voice loweing as it pats its friends side. AUBREI tosses her head back to look at it, but doesn’t break stride once. “Slow up to a stop. There’s something - something in the water.”

   “What?” SOMETHING demands as her bounds gradually stop, to where she’s finally at a slow trot. “Why are we stopping?” she opens her eye and dares to glance around, blinking quickly. “We’re not going to up and run again, are we?”

   “No,” it says, hardly paying attention to SOMETHING anymore. “Out there past the waves - can’t you see that?” it squints, pointing a black finger in the direction.

   “See what?” SOMETHING snaps, but as her face turns to the water, it’s obvious she can, too, judging by how quiet she is.

   Just through the fog, a dark shape was rocking with the waves. It was easy to miss at a first glance - just another rock jutting out in the ocean, or a trick of the light. But this was no mirage - this was a little boat rocking gently on the waves, clear as day could be (which, to those in BLACK SPACE, was impossible to imagine unless you could remember it).

   “LIONHEART was right,” it breathes out, voice lighter than a feather. It hops off of AUBREI carefully and takes a few steps to where the land juts down into the churning water below. “There are things on our border.”

   “Glad you’ve finally stopped sticking your nose into those other two and can finally see it,” SOMETHING says dryly, sliding up next to it. STRANGER shoots her a look, but she doesn’t say anything snappy back. “We’ve seen a few of these. Some farther out, but the majority of them on this border. No one has passed the fog yet,” she says, running a hand through her frizzled hair. “But it doesn’t mean they won’t .”

   “We’ll keep an eye on it,” it bites its lip in thought. Many eyes, assuming LIONHEART also keeps his on the situation. Knowing him, he will. “Don’t suppose that’s our ALGERNON friend, do you? But I don’t think that - I mean, a BLACK SPACE inhabitant would know better than to go off like that.” it answers itself, turning back to go back to AUBREI. “But that’s absurd.”

   SOMETHING just shrugs. “I don’t know. I’ve stopped trying to find out the answers to impossible things long ago.”

   “That’s what makes you so charming,” it rolls its eyes, giving AUBREI a pat on the neck as she eyes it, concerned. “Your blatant pessimism about everything. Really lifts the spirits.”

   “As if there’s any to be lifted,” she snorts, climbing up onto the pink blanket that worked as a saddle. “If I was a ghost I’d fuck off anywhere but here.”

   “That’s the spirit ,” it responds as cheerfully as it can, hopping up behind her. AUBREI lets out a low huff, taking a few steps forward before casting a glance out to the water herself - the little ship is no longer there, as far as any of them can see. No longer visible, STRANGER wished that could ease its mind - but if anything, it made it more wary. Don’t worry about that right now, it shuns itself. We have something else to worry about. 

-

   It wasn’t exactly hard to figure out where the town was. The first clue was the docks that jutted out of the land, swarming with activity - a few vessels anchored down bobbed on the murky, foggy waves peacefully (but too big to be what was on the water earlier, it was sure), and it thought it could see a house or two. The most interesting thing of all, though, was that HORIZON was made up of mountains.

   That was how it had flown under the radar, for the most part - mountains jutted out of the land, pointing toward the sea like sharp, rugged claws. Trees and other sorts of wild foliage grew off of the stone-ground, trailing down where the little town of HORIZON was in a nice, safe swampy cove.

   It was obvious, even from the outside, that there was little danger here. Paper lanterns hung from moss-draped trees, decorated in ornate designs and intricately drawn lines - an egret orchid blooming here, a painting of red hands swarming up out of the sea there. Flowers bloomed along the ground, lights flickered further past in the forest where voices rose conversationally - no one speaking in hushed, worried tones like they would have anywhere else.

   SOMETHING moves closer to STRANGER, now that they were off of AUBREI and simply walking side by side. “They wouldn’t know a snake if it bit them,” she hisses into its ear, and it catches a slight whiff of her syrupy smelling breath - the remnants of the quick snack one of the nuns had made before they left. “They’d walk all over it before they even realised there was a lick of danger.”

   “Stop that,” it hisses back as the undergrowth begins to thicken and the area darkens. “We’re moving into their town perimeter, and I don’t want them to think we’re rude or uncivilized. This isn’t RESPITE or the CHURCH OF SOMETHING.”

   SOMETHING simply rolls her eye and shrugs, but quiets as PYREFLIES begin to flicker in the foliage, sending messages to their buggy friends as they pass on light-based patterns. As the ground underfoot turns marshy, sinking the two travellers every-so-slightly more with each step, corrupted frogs chirp and bounce away in alarm.

   “Ugh,” SOMETHING growls, pulling her muddied robe up. “This is going to take forever to wash out.” STRANGER gives her no verbal answer but simply nods in agreement.. and then the town is upon them.

   At first it was just lights in the newly-settled fog - it had assumed they were bugs, too, but the shape of a dock loomed in front of them out of nowhere, and now that it focused it could hear the voices of people, the noises of footsteps on the docks, and even the distant arguing of a KEL and AUBREY, it thought.

   It squints, eyeing throughout the bayou before glancing to SOMETHING and AUBREI. “I think we go further inland, closer to the mountains. There has to be some way up on the dock, unless they’ve developed fins and gills and live under water.” 

   AUBREI nods, jumping off ahead of them and sending water up and onto STRANGER, who simply sighs and shakes the muck off. It couldn’t complain - it didn’t blame her for wanting to get out of this swamp. Newly alert about the possibility of new dangers, it scans the waters for the glinting eyes of an what might resemble an alligator or the lure of an ANGI - clusters of LILLI weren’t uncommon in lily pads, but it didn’t see any yet

   Trudging up onto mud (the closest thing to solid ground), it finally begins to spot people - or, well, what resembled people. A half-finished structure of packed mud and clay were built between three close trees, an abnormally tall and slender HERO smothering a laugh as a conjoined AUBREY and KEL tussled with each other in front of him. Another HERO, this one with a twisted ankle, his face covered in scars (and only one eye present), with features that looked like that of a BASIL (hair and build) looked on with a tired smile.

   In an instant something dashed between SOMETHING and STRANGER, nearly running over AUBREI - a little creature that looked like an AUBREY (albeit very small)  with folded back mint, butterfly-shaped wings and fuzzy yellow antenna calls back a “‘SCUSE ME!” as she darts about, flapping her wings to gain momentum as an abnormally cold force blasts past them a second after her, this time a little blue-and-white toned KEL who creates slushy mud below him as he steps. STRANGER stares after them as they’re enveloped by the dimly lit fog, turning to SOMETHING who nearly lets out a mutter it doesn’t catch.

   “Looks like they know what they’re doing here,” it says finally. “I didn’t expect HORIZON to look like this.”

   “Typically, people’s expectations of us aren’t really met,” a new voice greets them. It jumps, AUBREI whirls around to face the newcomer, fur bristling, and SOMETHING, if shocked, showed no indication of it and only turned to face them. 

   In front of them stands someone who looks .. a LOT like SOMETHING, but one side of her face is pure white to show a single eye and half a grin. Long, shaggy black hair drapes down the other side and down her back, her body in a dress robe similar to that of its friends’. Her voice is silky, oozing, and near hypnotic, but it doesn’t detect any malicious intent behind it. 

   “Hey,” she says, not even batting an eye at SOMETHING. “I’m MARI. or NEVER-MARI, as some people call me. I don’t mind - not like they’re wrong. You three are new here -” now she looks at them each, and STRANGER thinks she keeps her gaze on SOMETHING a bit longer than the other two. “Looking for someone, or banished here like the rest of us?”

   It meets her eye, raising its chin. “An invitation.”

   “How fancy,” her grin widens. “Right. Well, if you need anything, ask around. We don’t bite.” and then she’s off, in the direction of the base of the mountains. The three stare after her for a long moment, before STRANGER finally shakes itself.

   “Right. Let’s move, then.” it decides, taking the lead and finally following after where the AUBREY and KEL ran off to, more lights gradually lighting up the damp, gloomy atmosphere. On the jutting docks, some dutifully built wooden houses stood out of the water on strong foundation, various little signs written on them or someone outside conversing with another. The docks were full of people, but one thing that was sure was that the newcomers gained attention .

   People would glance at them and quiet down to hushed tones, now talking about them - STRANGER, SOMETHING, and AUBREI stuck out like a sore thumb with how darkly coloured they were, considering that STRANGER hadn’t seen the first pitch black being yet. Various whispers were heard concerning them ( “is that a BASIL?”, “poor BASIL and MARI.. don’t deserve this”, “look like they’re tired. what’s that animal?” ), with loud topic changes about other things while their eyes still trailed the newcomers.

   “You’d think they’d take a picture,” SOMETHING growls not-so-quietly, shooting a hostile glance at the nearest KEL (who didn’t try to hide his wonder, eyes wide and curious) and sweeping it across all their watchers. “If they’re so interested in watching us.”

   STRANGER bites its tongue, resisting its urge to snap at her. Instead, it takes a deep breath and gazes at the audience they had conjured, full of various shades of the darkest purple to the brightest yellow. “We’re looking for - for someone called ALGERNON. Can anyone help us?” it says, holding itself up as it registers the other’s looks.

   Pure silence - before finally a, “That lunatic? Probably holed up in his workshop like he always is.”

   “Really?” this time it’s a… vaguely MARI-shaped thing that asks, but her entire hair is covered in faces of MARI, but her actual face was looking at the AUBREY who had made the first statement. All of her faces are different, some looking at STRANGER and the other two, some looking at the AUBREY. “I thought that crazy old nut was on about some new guys out by the lily groves. What he said to me last time I was there.”

   “Why do you go to him, anyways?” a BASIL with various dark tentacles poking out of his body at his head, for his arms, and off of his legs calls languidly from a chair outside of a house, with a similar-looking (yet more brightly coloured) AUBREY and KEL sitting next to him. “He’s got a rodent-wheel for a brain.”

   “Yeah,” chimes in the KEL, who’s tentacles are pink and yellow rather than dark, before the MARI can respond. His hair is a dark pink-purple in comparison to the BASIL’s pale blue and the AUBREY’s mint green. “ Our experiments are far more efficient. Hey, mister!” he says, now turning his gaze onto STRANGER, giving it a grin. It shudders inwardly at being called a mister . “Why don’t you ditch the rat and come to us instead?”

   “Your experiments aren’t even ethical !” an AUBREY cries, her face twisted in outrage and her two long, pink ponytails frizzled up. In one hand she holds what looks like a mace made out of a stick, string, and golf ball with pins stuck in it.  “What happened to my sweetheart when he went to you?”

   “Calm DOWN lady,” the KEL snaps back, now also bristling. He steps up out of his seat and turns to look at her, where she’s leaning on a lamp post. “Not our fault he went missing the day after he came to us! I won’t disclose if it WAS or not, but he didn’t even like you! He was BEGGING to get away from you!”

   “Hey now, hey,” a HERO shoulders himself past a few onlookers, up to the three who looked rather bewildered amidst the sudden fight. He sounded normal, but he didn’t look it - out of his head, through his hair, was a sprout and his hands and feet faded into a diluted brown colour. “Don’t scare the new people away.” he faces those around him with a stern look, although not exactly mad. “For HEADSPACE’s sake, have none of you ever seen someone new? Go on! Mind your own business! You can ask them about themself later , after they’ve spoken to who they need to. Go on, get!” he snaps when his words do nothing. 

   STRANGER catches the KEL roll his eyes and sit down with a huff, crossing his tentacles. The AUBREY (mint green hair tied in a bun on the lower back of her head, with actual hands and tentacles rising up from under her puffy dress and legs) leans forward and whispers something to him, which causes the BASIL to bring one tentacle to his mouth and laugh, while the KEL frowns and glares at her. But the HERO had seemed to make his point - the watchers began to (slowly) move on their merry way, but glances were still shot at them as the hubbub returned.

   The HERO now glances down at STRANGER, then has to look up at SOMETHING (as she was two inches taller than him), then back down at AUBREI with a smile. “Hello you three. Sorry for the fight back there - they’re always at each other. SHORTFIN, SWORDTIP, and SEA WASP have trod on everyone’s tails.” he glances over to them as he says their names - BASIL, KEL, and AUBREY. SLIME GIRLS , it registers in its mind. MOLLY, MARINA, and MEDUSA. AUBREY MEDUSA is an interesting choice, it catches itself thinking, but I can see KEL MARINA. MOLLY BASIL…

   “It’s fine,” SOMETHING answers for it, snapping it out of its thoughts. “Some people just need to learn to mind their business. About that ALGERNON guy, you got an idea?” she asks impassively, as though she’s not bothered, looking down at him. She shifts back and forth on her mud-soaked feet, leaving smudges of brown on the wood below her.

   “Everyone here does,” he explains. “412 LILY LANE. I’ll show you - he doesn’t actually live or work out here,” he continues, beginning to walk down the main dock. “He and a lot of others live inside the mountains - we call them DREAMER’S MERCY - if they can’t make out here work. We don’t mind, and besides, the caves in there are big and airy. Perfect for having homes in. Oh!” he stops abruptly, putting a hand over his mouth and looking back at them. “I completely forgot - my name’s BIRCH.”

   STRANGER nods, glad to be out of the cesspool of hostile, aggravated thoughts. “I’m STRANGER, this is AUBREI, and this is-”

   “SOMETHING.” SOMETHING cuts in flatly. “I can introduce myself.”

   It stares at her incredulously for a moment. What’s her issue? I wasn’t trying to upset her. AUBREI looks at her, too, blinking a few times before turning to give STRANGER a troubled look. It simply gives her a curt nod and runs its hand down her neck in a comforting pet.

   “STRANGER, SOMETHING, and AUBREI,” BIRCH muses. “Forgive me if I’m wrong, but are you three a BASIL, MARI, and a…” he trails off, giving AUBREI a long look as he steps onto the solid ground, beginning to take them down an illuminated path. “Well, judging by your name, AUBREY?”

   STRANGER elbows SOMETHING before she can speak, not bothering to return the blazing glare she gives it. “I used to be a BASIL. I was OMORI’s first - SOMETHING here isn’t a MARI, she was formed after the true DREAMER’s fear and guilt, and AUBREI used to be an AUBREY before she was mutated into a DOROTHI. There’s tons more like us back at where we come from - the CHURCH OF SOMETHING.” FACECLUSTER would love this place , it realises with a jolt. The people here are like them.

   “The CHURCH OF SOMETHING,” BIRCH echoes, curiosity in his voice. The path they were taking branched off in various directions, houses still thrown up with others outside. This place seemed better than the water-town - two MARIs, one who was a steely-blue colour with glowing blue eyes and what looked like joints, and another who looked to be melting with two misplaced dot-eyes waved at them as they passed. The little bug AUBREY from earlier was sitting in a tree, swinging her legs back and forth as she chatted to a KEL who’s entire lower, centipede-like half hung down and met the ground.

   “It’s kind of like this place,” STRANGER says, matching pace to walk right next to the HERO. “People there have befriended and work with one another to make things possible. Not everyone finds it easy, and most have their own opinions about what I do, but we don’t mind. It’s safe for everyone there.”

   “It’s safe here, too,” BIRCH agrees, waving to a particular white-toned BASIL with wings and a tilted halo who was tending to a flower garden of what STRANGER thought was bellflower and heliotrope. They look up from their flowers (although not actually look , it notes, as their eyes are closed) and, after a second, send a wave back. “Everyone is at peace - well, if you’re not those four from the bayou-town, that is. DREAMER’S MERCY protects us from the resets and from anyone malicious - most don’t think about what the mountains may carry. A legend around here is that they were formed from three strokes of OMORI’s knife, brought to fruition to protect us from his further attacks.”

   STRANGER blinks, considering this. This place was so different from RESPITE and the CHURCH - they didn’t have any sort of mythology like that there. Then again, they were the ones who had built both of them up - not the CHURCH, actually, but the furnishments inside of it. The CHURCH was there when it had arrived. “OMORI is no longer here,” it decides to say instead of commenting on the myth.

   BIRCH whirls around to face it, eyes wide. “ What ?” he asks, genuinely stunned and taken aback by the reveal. STRANGER simply dips its head.

   “OMORI is gone. He and the DREAMER have seen the truth and, together, chose to face it. They will no longer bother HORIZON or the rest of BLACK SPACE.” it says, bringing its head back up to look at him.

   “Well I’ll just be,” BIRCH says, following the path to where it finally enters a cave. Firelight hangs from the high-up ceiling and directions are put on each wall, branching paths. “ALGERNON theorised that something had happened, but everyone thought he was insane. That’s generally the reaction to him now - but there is wisdom and intellect in what he says. LILY LANE,” he murmurs to himself, looking at the directions. “LILY LANE is a part of the production district, where markets and such are. Which means it’s closer to the entrance than most of the housing districts. This way!” he takes a sharp turn right, the three nervously sticking to the wall as people passed them. In the hall, market stalls are carved out of the stone - natural formed groves fitted with wood that acted as a counter, colourful displays of goods or services offered by people. STRANGER inwardly cringes, not a fan at all of how filled the hallways were - it wasn’t claustrophobic, but it didn’t like when several people pushed it into a crush.

   Throughout the bustle it could make out a few shops - a KEL that had long, green hair with a singular curl at the front had drawings of various styles set out on display and was passionately working away on a drawing of what looked like a blooming rose. A bigger cleft in the rock housed a HERO who had a set of blue spines running from the top of his head to his short, fat, white-fade-into-teal tail. Behind him, fish hung on a fishing rack and he de-scaled one on a butcher’s table with his sharp claws before depositing it in a bucket next to him.

   The patrons consisted of a wide range - the tiniest HERO and the tallest KEL to what looked like a KEL wearing a hat and goggles carrying a basketball kite. BIRCH didn’t stop to look at any of them (and neither did the bustling group of people look at them ), and simply proceeded down the long hall, weaving between clusters of AUBREYs and MARIs, groups of HEROs and KELs. Toward the end of the hall the crowd seemed to thin out just a bit, where the shops which were not active were.

   “ALGERNON doesn’t get many visitors, so he’s in his own little quiet corner. Oh, no, we didn’t make him go there,” he adds, apparently noting the unfriendly look SOMETHING gives him. “He chose it there. Your business with him is not mine, so I’ll leave you three alone.” he smiles and tentatively reaches a hand out to AUBREI, who sniffs it and hesitantly rubs her snout into it. “Go this way,” he pulls away from AUBREI and points down a hall which led the district further into the mountain. “and take a right, then a left, and then another right. The tunnels down there are … natural-formed without any help from us. Stalactites and stalagmites and underwater rivers will be much more prominent - same with glowing algae and various mushrooms. It’s not dangerous, the way I gave you - there’s a marked path. You’ll just have to see the wonders.”

   STRANGER dips its head to him. “Thank you, BIRCH. We will remember your kindness. May the DREAMER be in your favour,” it says diplomatically, bringing its head back up as AUBREI lets out a farewell bleat to BIRCH, who slips away into the group of people again with a final wave.

   SOMETHING pushes past it, already on her way down the cave hall. STRANGER stifles a sigh and follows after her, AUBREI behind it as the three travel in a single file line. It’s not sure what it’s done to upset SOMETHING - as far as it was aware, virtually nothing. It had apologised to her about MEIDO and UNI - it had . She had just shrugged it off and said it was ‘no big deal’, but it knew better than that. They had hugged it out and had left it at that. STRANGER was sure it hadn’t done anything to piss her off now, and it wasn’t going to ask her.

   Lost in its thoughts, it jumps when it hears a low rumble in the distance. It was dark in the narrowed passageway and AUBREI kept glancing around nervously, her noose-tail tucked between her legs and her ears pressed back. Even SOMETHING had slowed up just a bit, and sometimes it would catch her eye dart back at them and then forward again.

   “So,” it says, unable to take the silence any longer. “What do you think we’ll find?”

   “How would I know?” SOMETHING snaps at it, glaring back at STRANGER with a fire so intense it stops dead for a moment. 

   “I don’t know,” it responds, sheer flabbergasted. “I just thought you might have an idea that’s better than mine.”

   “Well, I don’t.”

   AUBREI snorts out a sigh and STRANGER has to catch up to her, only to stop as the cave opens up in front of them once more - even SOMETHING doesn’t try to stifle her gasp of surprise.

   The path was so slim against the wall, and opposite of that it abruptly fell down, down into the tumbling, rushing river below. Stalactites that jutted from the ceiling were covered in dimly glowing lichen, and the rocks that were visible just below the river provided an eerie, multicoloured glow to the roaring water. Opposite of the river, the cavern yawned open, providing a view to several pools of water that had natural ore veins inside or surrounding them - a beautiful purple-dotted rock here, a yellow one there. Glowworms dotted the ceiling all the way down to the further caves the trio couldn’t see, as if the stars from HEADSPACE were present and shining down on them.

   “This is the closest we’ll ever get to HEADSPACE,” STRANGER hardly dares to breath, completely mesmerised by the experience. It sets itself down carefully on the ledge, letting its legs dangle over the side as it takes in the view. The longer it looks, the more it notices - bioluminescent flowers peeking out of cracks, prominent by the water pools which, evidently, trickled into the river anyways. Purple and white morning glory lookalikes with dusted-on yellow shine, a cluster of crocus flowers that sparkled, bushes that were decorated with glowing moss…

   AUBREI sets down next to it, also gazing out at the vast cavern, her eye twinkling. SOMETHING lets out a gruff sigh and also sits down crisscross, looking down at the river.

   “Are you mad at me?” it asks after a long few minutes.

   “Yeah,” SOMETHING responds after another moment of silence. “I am. Not just you though, I guess.”

   It’s quiet.

   “Can I do anything to help you?” it tries.

   “I’m tired of being seen as nothing but MARI,” she finally hisses, bunching her dirty dress up in her hands. “I’m sick of it. I’m not MARI. I never was her, and I never will be her. And I think about what you said about how I was just like her, always expecting everyone to be perfect.” she casts it a dark look. “I don’t. We’re not perfect. I’m not perfect. I can’t be this MARI stand-in everyone wants me to be. That NEVER-MARI from earlier - the way she looked at me said Another me . She thinks I’m just like her and her stupid lineage of the piano-player. I hate it. Every newcomer at the CHURCH asks me if I’m MARI - people whisper about me. They think I don’t notice it, but I do. I always see it and I always have to suck it up and act unbothered. I’m tired of it. I’m tired of them doing it where you don’t see it and can’t do anything about it. I don’t even know how to play piano. I don’t even know the DREAMER’s real name. I don’t know how to read the lyrics to that stupid duet or how to tell a flat from a sharp. I don’t know what to do anymore. That HERO assumed I was a MARI. All I could think is I wish you would ask me. I wish you wouldn’t assume who I am or where I come from. People outside of them exist, I just don’t think they know it. They don’t stop to think about anyone else’s. Will I ever be seen as anyone other than just an extension of her ?”

   STRANGER and AUBREI are silent. AUBREI is still as a statue and STRANGER has to think. “I’m sorry,” it finally settles on saying, as it can say nothing more. “I should have noticed and said something. I’m sorry.”

   “Thanks.” is all she says. “We need to get this visit with ALGERNON over with. Come on,” she says tersely, pulling herself up and dusting her dress off, frowning down at the mud which has crusted on it. AUBREI pushes herself up next to her, shaking her pelt off, and STRANGER follows more slowly, taking the lead as they continue down the small path, until finally the first sign of life is spotted.

   A house.

   A little wooden house built into the stone, planters hanging from the jutting out roof and a firelight hanging on each one. A compact door with a stained-glass mosaic window is shut, a sign hanging on the doorknob.

   STRANGER steps forward cautiously to examine it, having to look down to see the door itself. The sign reads ALGERNON’S EXPERIMENTS AND ENIGMAS (we’re open, just walk in!) .

   “I’ll stay out here,” SOMETHING blinks. “This place is nice and all, but that looks small. I don’t think we’ll all fit in there.” she eyes the door for a moment, sizing it up, and then looks back out to the river. AUBREI nods in agreement and presses her snout against STRANGER’s shoulder, moving over to SOMETHING and sitting down next to her.  

   STRANGER just nods. “Call me if you need me. Don’t hesitate.” it says, and opens the door slowly, having to duck just a bit before stepping into the dimly lit room. A bell rings as the door closes behind it, and it can hear rummaging noises and can see various clutter around the room - books stacked unevenly here, papers on the floor there, a desk with a lamp on it which holds down even more papers. Two side rooms seemed to be present, one labelled LABORATORY and the other BEDROOM , both with dark purple dyed curtains acting as doors.

   “Coming! I’m coming, hold on,” a shrill voice calls from the LABORATORY room, followed by various little curses muttered as the curtain is shoved aside. His eyes move from his coat (which he were dusting off) to STRANGER, instantly lighting up. “Oh! You actually came!”

   In front of STRANGER is the smallest HERO it had ever seen.

   He was tiny . Maybe just about four-foot-one, but one hundred percent four-foot at least . His nose is pointed outward a tad and pink, and his hair is messy and frizzled up. Two tawny-coloured ears poke out of the top of his head, twitching back in surprise. His eyes are a bright orange, sparkling with interest at the sight of STRANGER from behind his small spectacles, his long, slender pink tail twitching excitedly. His hands and feet faded into furry gray paws. “Oh, wow. I really didn’t expect you to show up. STRANGER, is it not? This will be so very very embarrassing if it isn’t.”

   STRANGER blinks at him. “Erm - yes, it’s STRANGER. You said you had something I would … like to see?” it asks, pulling the neatly folded up letter out of its pocket, handing it over to the little rodent to see.

   “Yes, yes, yes, I did . I must say, you’re more yellow than I’d imagine,” he says, moving his spectacles down as he takes the letter and squints at STRANGER. “ Are you yellow? I do have a hard time seeing the colour red and various other shades of it - that’s one of the many things I need to work on, haha,” he grins, pulling them back up. “Right, right. Where’s the mistress?” he blinks, peering around the other’s shoulder.

   “SOMETHING’s outside with someone else,” it responds cautiously, patiently. “Your little shop looked small from the outside, so we didn’t want to clutter it any more. Whatever you have to show me you can - she’ll see it eventually.”

   “Of course, of course!” it clasps its hands together, turning around and nosing its way back through the LABORATORY door, motioning for the other to follow him. “We had three new visitors recently,” he chuckles, sort of dancing on his feet as he moves through a sterile, clean room filled to the brim with books. A cot sits in the corner with a few drinks on it. “And I really didn’t know what to make of it. They’re very different - I think otherworldly,” he grins, looking back to STRANGER as it continues through the miniature library.

   “Oh?” it asks evenly, eyes taking in everything - the nearest escape route was behind it if anything went wrong, and it wasn’t going to lie and say it enjoyed the cramped space. “New arrivals are always … interesting.” Either very lucky, or very unlucky. “We haven’t had any since the resets stopped.”

   “Well, that’s around the time these three showed up,” it remarks, finally hesitating outside of what looked like an actual door built into the wall. It was wooden - easy to open and close. Not good for keeping anything in or out. “I’m not sure what to do with them, but I know you and the mistress are go-to for anything. I thought you might take them in if we didn’t.”

   STRANGER nods in understanding as he moves forward to open up the door - the shadowed creature is met with the three weirdest looking things ever.

   One perked up - “Oh, hello. Are you the food man?” they ask, tilting their head to the side. They’re an entire shadow - wisps of the black smoke that made them up billowed off their body, yet left no trace as they broke off. It was going as far to leak out of its clothing - very victorian, as it wore a small, flat, brown cap on its head and what looked like a hastily put on dusty overcoat -, yet it seemed to be contained. Wide, white eyes blink at it hopefully.

   The one next to it was quieter - they seemed to be hunched over, water steadily dripping off of them yet not leaving an imprint on the ground. A single antenna with a glowing yellow bulb on the end of it protrudes out of their head, between their seaweed-green-textured hair. A single yellow eye avoids STRANGER’s gaze, and they seem to just pull their tattered, worn pale-yellow blanket closer over them with a shake of their head.

   The third and final one - as black as the other two, this time with what looked like little spider legs poking out of the sides of its face… which was also furry. It had eight glinting yellow eyes, looking at the stranger with a face as though it had just eaten a bucket of limes - and its arms were crossed as though it didn’t like STRANGER already. Dressed in a similar fashion to that of the first, it struck STRANGER with a jolt of familiarity - all of them did, actually. It just wasn’t sure what.

   “These three,” ALGERNON says, voice trembling with barely concealed excitement. “Claim to come from the DREAMER’s world.”

   It whirls its attention onto ALGERNON, its surprise written all over its face. “The what?” it asks, genuinely stunned, turning to the three newcomers now. “You three come from the DREAMER’s world? How?”

   “Um,” the first responds. Its face contorts into what STRANGER things is deep in thought. “I… don’t know? One day we just kind of woke up here. After being at his stairs all the time. I don’t know?”

   “DARK,” ALGERNON says, pointing a finger at the shadowy-wisp. “WATER,” he moves his hand to the shy one, who simply presses against DARK upon the extra attention. “And WALLS.” the third, spidery one just frowns harder. “Named after the DREAMER’s three greatest fears. Of course, we could all call them SOMETHING, or SOMETHING IN THE DARK, WATER, or WALLS - but we have a SOMETHING.”

   It blinks, still completely utterly shocked. “This is … a lot. Thank you for actually - I mean, thanks for telling me?” STRANGER turns to ALGERNON, then back to the three. “I’m STRANGER - I apologise for not introducing myself earlier. I come from RESPITE, a town that’s south from here. We’ll provide a safe harbour and shelter for you if you… wish to come. I am sorry that this is all so sudden - we can’t take you back immediately today, but if you do want to come… well, we can get an arranged date.

   “I’ll do whatever these two want to,” DARK replies warmly, smiling down at the smaller two. “I’m not really that important here. I just need to make sure these two don’t get into trouble - especially WALLS,” it brightens. 

   “I do NOT NEED SOMEONE TO WATCH ME,” WALLS snarls, but STRANGER can tell it’s not nearly as hostile as it sounds. “I CAN WATCH MYSELF PERFECTLY FINE. SO CAN WATER.” now it turns its fierce glare onto STRANGER. “And who are YOU supposed to be?”

   This receival is so familiar that STRANGER half expects to see someone else - it blinks for a long moment, wracking its mind. “MEIDO,” it finally realises, head popping up. “ THAT’S who you remind me of. And you two UNI and ABBI,” it says, resting its gaze on DARK and WATER. “I knew you three were familiar. But I’m-” it’s cut off from a noise not too far off. It turns its head just in time to hear the entrance slam open and furious ruckus of things being thrown around.

   “What-” ALGERNON blinks, bewildered, as a familiar, tall, lanky being fumbles through into the room, followed by a darker, smaller figure with her arms out.

   “LONGSNOUT? SOMETHING?” STRANGER blinks, going to take a step forward to grab the lanky bird before it hit the ground in what it thought was a panic attack.

   “I don’t know,” SOMETHING responds, going to check the other’s pulse. “It showed up and it couldn’t get its words out. Something about the CHURCH, though,” her eye looks up and meets the ex-BASIL’s, a shared worry that it couldn’t quite put into words spoken between them.

   “And where’s AUBREI?” it asks, alarm drumming at the back of its head. Surely SOMETHING hadn’t sent her off to the CHURCH?

   “Outside, making sure no one gets in. LONGSNOUT stirred up a crowd.”

   STRANGER merely grunts in response and pats the other’s snout lightly, their beady eyes blinking rapidly as their breaths come in quick and shallow. “The CHURCH,” it manages to get out, voice barely a whisper. They hardly ever spoke, so something was wrong - icy terror runs down the other’s spine.

   “You’re not at the CHURCH right now,” it murmurs, stroking its cheek lightly. “You’re okay. Tell me what’s wrong,” it urges.

   They take in a shuddering breath. “People are dead.”

Chapter Text

   CONTENT WARNING FOR DEPICTIONS OF GORE AND DEATH (IN DETAIL?), CONTINUE AT OWN RISK!

It bursts into the CHURCH, the two doors slamming open. An eerie wailing sounds from the inside, sending chills down STRANGER’s spine as the eyes turn to it with horrified looks.

   Behind it is SOMETHING and AUBREI, shouldering themselves in beside it, with LONGSNOUT sweeping in over them, perching quickly on the back of one of the pews. Eyes look at it from every direction, none acknowledging the ghastly scream that sounded broken, as though fragmented.

   “What happened here?” SOMETHING is the first to speak, straightening herself up as she surveys everyone. “Who’s dead? Who’s hurt?”

   A shadow slinks out from down the row, their dark, worried eyes coming into view as they sidle up to the three: FACECLUSTER. They look down at STRANGER, long, flowing dark hair framing their face. “We don’t know,” they say as quietly as they can - although, with three voices fighting for dominance, it’s hard. “LIONHEART and HELLMARI went off to go supervise the border with DREAMERS, like you wanted. We - we were put in charge,” they add dejectedly, wilting a bit. “I’m sorry. We didn’t notice they weren’t back until someone pointed out that HELLMARI would’ve been back to check on ECHO..” they trail off, moving their eyes to look in the direction of the crying.

   “Oh, no,” it says in a quiet whisper, the dots connecting. It knows what it’ll see before it even approaches, but it has to confirm its thoughts. Slowly, with AUBREI and SOMETHING behind it, it creeps up to the base of the stairs. 

   There sat ECHO, face buried in HELLMARI’s robe as he emits an ear-splitting, jagged, keening sound. For a horrible, horrible moment, STRANGER thought she was dead - until it noticed her chest rising and falling at an unsteady pace. Dark red blood bubbled at her mouth, and as it looked closer, her neck and robe had horrible gashes, running red with scarlet liquid that seeped into the towel below her.

   “Where’s LIONHEART? He knows medical remedies better than I do,” it snaps itself out of the shock, its mind refusing to see the truth that was beginning to seep into its mind.

   AUBREI is now alert at the mention of her friend - they had been buddies forever, even if they hardly got to show it anymore. LIONHEART had personally helped her with adapting to walking on four legs, and he had assisted her with the most minimal of things when she couldn’t do it anymore. STRANGER also turns to FACECLUSTER, a futile hope bubbling in its chest.

   But FACECLUSTER can’t meet their gaze. They look down, shoulders sagging. “He wanted to see you,” they say, voice dull with exhaustion and grief. “He wanted to talk to you one final time. I… we sent for you as fast as we could, STRANGER.” they say, quieting down. “But we couldn’t keep him alive. I’m sorry.”

   It stares at them for a long moment, and next to it AUBREI lets out a thin, grief-filled wail that joined in on ECHO’s. She presses herself into STRANGER’s side, muffling her own sobs as she digs her hooves into the ground.

   Next to them, SOMETHING works her fist. Clenching and unclenching, her singular eye betrays nothing but a cold, fiery rage. “ Where ,” is the only thing she hisses, her voice dripping venom. FACECLUSTER flinches backward.

   “He’s- He’s, um- he’s at the cemetery - we haven’t buried him yet, I didn’t…” they trail off, tears brimming at their eyes as their voice begins to hitch and stutter. “That AUBREY is w-w-with him,” they choke out. SOMETHING blazes past them, leaving a trail of anger behind her as she stomps out of the graveyard opening. AUBREI removes herself from STRANGER, thundering after SOMETHING.

   STRANGER moves its gaze from FACECLUSTER, down to HELLMARI. Its mind is an icy, numb landscape as all it can think about is HELLMARI and LIONHEART.

   Once again, it feels all of the eyes on it. “HERB and ABBI - you two, deal with HELLMARI. If she’s still alive, there’s a chance to save her.” It’s not even sure if they’re present, it just knows that a moment later HELLMARI is gone, and someone new is pressed against it.

   “BASIL?” MEIDO’s quiet, subdued voice comes. “It’s okay. Don’t leave me again, please,” she says, her voice quickening just a bit.

    I’m not, STRANGER thinks, or thought it had thunk, because MEIDO is nodding a few seconds later. She lets go of STRANGER and moves down to ECHO, who was curled into a ball on the floor with his hands covering his face. She wraps her arms around him in a hug and starts a back-and-forth rocking motion with him, humming quietly. Briefly, it thinks She’s returning to us. with brief surprise, but can’t bring itself to feel any more.

   “STRANGER,” FACECLUSTER’s voice comes again, chillingly quiet. It turns to them. “There’s… one more thing you need to know. There was a warning written - on LIONHEART.”

   It blinks at them. “On?” its voice is oddly calm, collected - it’s not sure how or why.

   FACECLUSTER nods. “We - we covered it up, because he didn’t deserve to be seen like that. But it -” they shudder, clearly sick about remembering. “It was carved into him. Jagged, uneven, small lines - the blood was still running when we got there.”

   “Well, what did it say?”

   FACECLUSTER takes in a long, trembling breath. “Here. Tomorrow. Dawn. And it had a drawing of an… of an egret orchid.”

   The egret orchid was what the members of the CHURCH used when signing letters - they would write their name, alongside a signature of the flower. It meant ‘My thoughts will follow you into your dreams’, but for those at the CHURCH… it meant so much more. It meant a hope for peace, dreams of a better future…

    Focus.

   “I don’t know.” is all it says - all it can say. “I don’t know. FACECLUSTER, fill me in on everything - get whoever else was with you when you found the bodies to write down everything. The location, who was around, stuff like that. I need to.. I need to gather the crowd.”

   FACECLUSTER nods quickly, disappearing once more into the turmoil of faces. It seemed as though the entire CHURCH were grieving for the loss of LIONHEART, the only noise being the humming of MEIDO and the crying from ECHO. It brushes past them, climbing up the first flight so that it could be at the second level - this was where ABBI’s little water pool was, where she would often stay and draw. But now… she wasn’t here. It hoped she was with HERB.

   “CHURCHGOERS,” it forces out, voice strong and steady as it addresses the crowd. Worried, sad, tired eyes turn to look up at it. It notices a particularly pink, mantis-like, kind-eyed HERO weaving through the pews, checking on others. ORCHID, if it thought it remembered correctly. An AUBREY which burned as bright as any lantern was being shushed and condemned by a wispy, smoke-like HERO to be more quiet and to pay attention, their eyes darting up to STRANGER. 

   “Things have been bad today,” it starts off, taking a step forward and sweeping its gaze across the audience. “I’m sorry I wasn’t here to help deal with it. I apologise - but I tell you all right now that we will figure out what happened.” its voice grows hard and cold, a growl beginning to rise from its throat. “In all of our years living here peacefully, we have never had to fear living inside of our own territory. We will not let some unforeseen threat try to chase us off - we have had the worst of our days against OMORI. We have fought endlessly, and I will not let fear be driven into us again.”

   The eyes turn off of it and to the doors as they creak open, loose snow blowing in as they’re pushed open. The figure is just barely able to be seen at first, but it should’ve been able to guess from the shrieks that erupted from the pews nearest to the doors - how those sitting there had jolted up and fled nearly instantly.

   Standing there, at the door, was OMORI.

   He tilts his head forward slowly, nearly robotic-like, surveying the inside of the CHURCH. His eyes meet STRANGER’s, and he dips his head respectfully to the ex-BASIL.

   “Greetings,” he says in his monotonous, deadpan voice. “Have I come at a bad time?”

   No-one dared to move. Fear, despite what it had just said, was driven too far into them - it didn’t blame them, though. OMORI was not a force to be reckoned with - he had been scared into the youngest AUBREY to the oldest KEL’s heart.

   “OMORI,” it forces itself to speak once more. It had to have everything under control - it needed to. And even … even OMORI couldn’t be worse than what was going on, surely. It doesn’t let the exhaustion creep into its voice - but it can’t get rid of the suspicion that OMORI had come to kill them all. “We presumed you were purged.”

   Angry yowls of protest met these words - it thought it heard a KEL throw an insult similar to ‘sister-killer’, or a HERO accuse OMORI of coming to torture them. It sees MEIDO hop up from ECHO and whirl in the direction of OMORI, baring her teeth in a vicious hiss. ECHO simply whimpers, although unheard from the ruckus, and flinches backward more.

   “Purged? We can’t let a murderer stay here if his own creator got rid of him!” this was IMPERFECTHEART - her voice was oily and slick, you could always tell when it was her speaking. “The DREAMER didn’t even want him.”

   “Perhaps let’s let him know what we went through,” a HERO suggests over the yelling. His voice was garbled, scratched, and bit-crushed, as though he were speaking through a television. “My hands and I have a few words to share with him.”

   “Stop that!” STRANGER tries over the cacophony of voices, attempting to be heard. “Nobody is laying a hand on him until we know what he’s doing here!” but it’s no use - no one is listening, anyway. It looks around in distress, noticing that SOMETHING, AUBREI, and the gravekeeper AUBREY had come inside, watching the crowd spit and snarl at OMORI.

   OMORI raises one hand up, a knife materializing out of thin air into his hand, Red hands explode out of the air behind him, yet stay stationed next to him as though threatening to grab anyone who comes near him. “Silence.”

    That does it - everyone, if they hadn’t gone quiet from the knife, they were quiet now. Expectant, hopeful faces were looking at STRANGER now, as if they expected it to do something. OMORI turns his gaze onto STRANGER now, too. 

   “I answer to STRANGER only. No-one else.” he dips his head respectfully once more to the shadow BASIL, dropping the knife as it begins to disintegrate into thin air. “The DREAMER, as you know him, has allowed me to return and take care of my own world, as you take care of yours. Life goes on here, even without one of us.” he raises his eyes to meet STRANGER’s. “I come to ask for your forgiveness and mercy, STRANGER.”

   The caterwauls began once more. “Look at him! He won’t even admit he was wrong!” comes the sneer of what STRANGER thought might have been a SPACE BOYFRIEND. Snarls of agreement came after him, and OMORI snaps his gaze onto the cluster of them.

   “What I did was wrong,” OMORI says calmly, his serene voice making it over everyone else. “I did what I thought was right. I did what I was made and told to do.”

   “So then what made you kill poor LIONHEART?” IMPERFECTHEART challenges, letting out a hiss-click noise at OMORI. “What did he ever do to you? No-one told you to do that!”

   OMORI sucks in sharply. “What?” he snaps his gaze up to STRANGER once more, and it can see the confusion in his face as the accusing howls go up around him. He jerks backward as a melted KEL lunges at him with a snarl, only to be pulled back by the same, pink HERO from before.

   SOMETHING and AUBREI are next to STRANGER now, AUBREI’s ears flattened and her little tail lashing back and forth. STRANGER looks at SOMETHING helplessly, who’s surveying the crowd and OMORI at the same time.

   She steps forward, raises her foot, and brings it down - the floor echoes back a loud BANG at the sheer force, heard over the cries. “SILENCE,” she commands, just as OMORI had, her voice an irate snarl. “Stop acting like children with no raising. What happens to him is not for any of you to decide,” she hisses, her singular eye sweeping over the onlookers. There wasn’t complete silence - people still whispered to each other, casting her and OMORI hostile glances. The first two rows of pews were empty now - no one wanted to be near OMORI.

   “So you’re letting a murderer stay here?” IMPERFECTHEART challenges from her little web on the wall. She positions herself in such a way she can look at SOMETHING, all four eyes glinting at the shadowed MARI. “Just what I would expect from a MARI,” she sneers, a few in the crowd chuckling. “They’re always too soft.”

   SOMETHING tenses and starts forward, but AUBREI intercepts her before she can get down the stairs. The DOROTHI stares at SOMETHING for a long moment, emotions beyond words spoken in the look they give each other, before SOMETHING steps back beside STRANGER and crosses her arms.

   OMORI’s red hands wrap around his arms and legs, before disappearing as he dips his head respectfully to SOMETHING and STRANGER once more. “I understand I am not welcome here,” he says. “I understand I have done some things that I thought were right and were not. That is why all of you are here,” he raises his head up and brings his empty stare across the bristling crowd. “But I swear on anything you all hold sacred I did not hurt your friend. This is my first time back here.”

   STRANGER notices a few people slink off, trying to go unnoticed - a SWEETHEART with too many arms and eyes quickly, quietly, leaves through the cemetery exit - a bluebird-KEL hybrid follows her, casting a nasty glance back to everyone before leaving. Others enter the spare rooms that were designed for the people there, peering out ever so often. It bites its tongue - it can’t worry about them right now. It turns back to OMORI, dipping its head back in a sign of respect.

   “I understand, OMORI,” it says simply, lightly. “We have all done things that we thought were right and were not. I don’t blame you,” a warning is in its voice that the crowd could surely understand. Its final verdict were not to be challenged. “But others here might. If you wish to come here and ask for forgiveness… you will have to work for it. You will have to earn your right to be forgiven… to be a friend to us.

   OMORI is quiet for a long moment, head tilted to the floor and eyes closed as he thinks. The air crackled with tension, and for an awful moment it thought someone might attack - it was keeping a particular eye on IMPERFECTHEART, but when it goes to glance at her, it realises she and her web are gone. I need to find her later. Keep someone watching her. It didn’t trust the imperfect PERFECTHEART for a second… she had already openly challenged STRANGER and SOMETHING before, and acting as if she owned the place… MEIDO, too, was a worry. Her tail was kinked and she was shooting nasty looks at OMORI, while keeping a hand on the pile of glass that had been ECHO. He would reform in a minute, it knew, but it still was worrying.

   Finally, OMORI raises his head and meets STRANGER’s eye. “STRANGER,” he says, raising his voice so he could be heard. “I hear and understand your terms and warnings. Which is why I humbly ask to help figure out the killer.”

   Shocked, absolute silence - STRANGER can’t say it’s not taken aback, but it doesn’t show it. It simply just raises its eyebrows in surprise. Next to it, SOMETHING chuckles darkly as though she can’t believe what she’s hearing. AUBREI stands tall next to STRANGER, looking down at OMORI through a slitted eye.

   “This isn’t your issue,” STRANGER cautions. “We are capable of dealing with this ourself. Why do you want to help?”

   “It would prove my innocence,” he responds, still not moving from his spot in the doorframe. Snow was gently falling, collecting on his head and clothes. But he didn’t seem to notice or care. “I would like to redeem myself, STRANGER - I would like to be a friend, if you would have me.”

   STRANGER stares at him for a long moment, narrowing its eyes in thought. It takes a quick glance to SOMETHING, who looks back at it.

   “I might not agree with what you want to do,” she says quietly, roughly, moving her head down to the other’s so they could converse semi-privately. “But I agree with you . And I know you know what the right thing is, so I’ll back you up on whatever you do here. It should be the same for whoever’s listening, too,” she hisses, her pupil darting to the audience, voice raised just a hair.

   STRANGER nods, before looking back out. “I accept your request. I accept both of them - you may help to figure out the killer of LIONHEART, and you may earn your respect here once more. I ask everyone here to give him a chance - see him and hear him out. I am not asking you to like him, but I don’t want you to hate him, either. Before any of you are dismissed, though,” it says, noting how the others seemed to be breaking apart from their groups, casting wary glances at OMORI, “I want to take a patrol out to examine where the body was in the morning.”

   Surveying the group once more, it picks out a bunch that it wants to take - the ones it thought would be good, anyway. “OMORI, I want you. ORCHID..” it glances down at the mantis HERO - he was gentle and didn’t absolutely hate OMORI. “Are those AUBREYs still here? LONGSNOUT, go get AUBAT and AUBOX from RESPITE.” they nod and shoot out of the church, tucking their wings in for a dive as they pass over OMORI’s head. “FACECLUSTER, you can go with us to show us the spot - and I’ll take PEKU and…”

   “I would like to come,” a new voice speaks. It takes STRANGER a second to notice who it is - slinking out of the room which had belonged to LIONHEART is the BUTLER, patting his rag to the corner of his eyes. “If you would have me of course, sire. I would like to accompany you to figure out who did it.”

   STRANGER nods. “I understand. You may come with us. Go notify PEKU of the situation, please.” BUTLER had been sweet with LIONHEART for as long as STRANGER could remember - they’d often hang out with DADDY LONGLEGS, KEEPER OF THE CASTLE, and the BRANCH CORAL and speak about HEADSPACE to each other. I would have taken LONGLEGS, if I knew where he was. He had this funny way of showing up sometimes, and other times he was nowhere to be found.

   BUTLER doesn’t respond, simply walks out past OMORI without even sending him a glance. His tail whisks behind him as he disappears off to the left to get PEKU from the doghouse.

   It suppresses a sigh as MEIDO pipes up now. “I want to go!” she whines, stomping. “I want to whack some bad guys!”

   “With luck, there will be no whacking,” STRANGER gives her a hard look. More gently, it adds, “ABBI and UNI need you here, too. I know you want to help, don’t open your mouth and frown at me - you can help me by staying and looking after them.” MEIDO might have been infuriating sometimes, but she would do anything for ABBI, UNI, and STRANGER.

   “What about us?” SOMETHING’s gruff voice comes from next to it. AUBREI raises her chin, snorting as though to show how tough she really was.

   “I know you two want justice, but that’s what we don’t need right now. Before you look at me like that, AUBREI, think about it - we’re going to investigate. If they had a good reason then we’ll hear it - we won’t fight them immediately. You two can keep this place on lockdown until we’re back - hopefully it won’t take too long.” STRANGER didn’t want to tell them about the message - they would just insist harder. It would tell the patrol in the morning.

   AUBREI snorts once more, shoving past it down the stairs while SOMETHING just looks thoughtful. “You’re right,” she says finally. “I think everyone here would go into a panic if we all disappeared. We’ll keep a lookout for you.”

   STRANGER nods. “Thanks, SOMETHING. Everyone else, you’re dismissed.”

-

   The time of day in BLACK SPACE was weird. Whenever it was night, the sky would be a pitch black with few white twinkling stars, which gave way to a gray-streaked dawn, and finally day - gray with black, tendril-ly wisps of clouds covered the sky like a spider’s web, before eventually swallowing up the gray to bring sunset.

   So STRANGER was up at three. By three twenty, FACECLUSTER and ORCHID were with it, sitting on the steps of the CHURCH. HELLMARI had been moved to one of the side rooms which worked as an infirmary, and HERB had reported that she wasn’t doing any better, but not any worse. ABBI had been asleep on the floor next to her bed when STRANGER had last checked - she was doing good, learning how to use the many flowers and plants of BLACK SPACE to create medicine and apply it.

   On the other hand, LIONHEART still hadn’t been buried yet. His wounds were cleaned and his eyes had been shut, but the body was still being prepared. He no longer carried the scent of warm cinnamon or fresh-baked apple pie, instead replaced with a chilly lavender that masked the smell of death and blood. His burial would be held later today, when the patrol would be back, but STRANGER had still said its final goodbyes to its loyal friend by leaving him an egret orchid.

   Other things had been with him, too - a rose from the BUTLER (who, when STRANGER had went to check on the body, was with LIONHEART. he had requested a few more minutes to mourn, which had been granted of course), various trinkets from the KELs and AUBREYs (cool looking rocks and sticks, drawings or kind notes), and a daisy from SOMETHING. AUBREI hadn’t been able to give anything.. she was just with him all the time.

   “Why up so early?” FACECLUSTER yawns a bit, twitching. “Yeah, AUBREY kept me up ALL NIGHT ,” KEL complains from inside of them. FACECLUSTER’s head abruptly jerks to the right, frowning at someone unseen - “I so did NOT ! HERO kept ME up all night with HIS moping!” she retorts. “He didn’t even KNOW her and he was crying all night long! I hate this body and I hate you !”

   FACECLUSTER shakes their head, hitting it a few times with one of their hands. They frown, although not unkindly, and look at STRANGER and ORCHID. “Sorry,” they say. “They weren’t wrong though. Um, they did kind of keep each other up… and by each other, I also mean me. So I didn’t get that much sleep.”

   “It’s fine,” STRANGER assures them. It looks over at ORCHID, who was quiet. His antenna twitched ever so often. He looks up for a moment, then turns to look at STRANGER with worried eyes. “Rain coming soon. Um. Why are we up this early? I thought you said dawn?”

   STRANGER nods at him. “I didn’t want to alarm anyone inside the CHURCH, but there was a message from whoever killed LIONHEART. Here. Tomorrow. Dawn. ” it shudders. “I have no clue what it means. That’s why we’re up so early - I want to get there before dawn, so we can outsmart… whoever. I’ll explain this to PEKU and BUTLER. I don’t know what we’re up against… I don’t know who could kill just to kill. It wasn’t even self defense.”

   FACECLUSTER shakes their head sadly. “I wouldn’t know.”

   STRANGER is silent for a long minute. The unspoken thought comes in its mind once more - Do you hate ECHO for what he did to you? ECHO had been one of the two OMORIs that had ever existed. He came into fruition for a bit, directly after the beta generation, while SUNNY and the OMORI now had to get better. But he had failed his job, ultimately, too fragile to go on… and so he had cracked under the pressure. FACECLUSTER was ECHO’s first ever reset, and he had done something wrong, so now they existed as one.

   Getting up, STRANGER dusts some of the snow off of its pitch black form. “Right. We need-” it’s cut off by the trees that surrounded the path to the doghouse shaking, followed by the small form of BUTLER and the much bigger form of PEKU. PEKU was … peculiar. That was where his name came from, actually - standing at twenty-two feet tall, he was actually very friendly. If you looked past his height. And his acidic spit. And … his general appearance, actually. 

   He was unique in more than one way, though - coming from WEATHERVANE, most of those within BLACK SPACE 2 (with the exception of ECHO, KELOMETER, and a few others) were in a resistance group against the CHURCH and tended to be aggressive. There was no sign of the HERO and AUBREY that went alongside PEKU (although, STRANGER was sure they existed), so all it could assume is that they were also a threat. Not PEKU, though… his entire, seven-legged self was full of nothing but affection for whoever befriended him. Case in point now.

   His tail wagged, swatting aside the tree limbs as though they were nothing but a toy. Swaying on his paws, he presses himself down to the ground as BUTLER leads him to the group to get eye level with them all, collar jingling as it does so. Trailing behind him, seemingly glued to his leg, a much smaller figure (smaller than STRANGER!) stood awkwardly, a paper tail safety-pinned onto his shorts. One white eye, yet his skin a pale, dark lavender unlike SOMETHING’s pitch black, blinked nervously at the group. His messy hair seemed bedraggled, as though it had been sleeping previously before being roused, and his bun was falling. He wore the clothes of a KEL, although his demeanor was the opposite - he was hunched down, as though scared, and kept close to PEKU.

   “PIT,” STRANGER greets it. “PEKU, BUTLER. Thank you for joining us. I apologise for waking you two - three - so early, but it was important. I’ll explain it to you later,” it blinks, moving its gaze to PIT. “Hello, little one,” it smiles at PIT, dipping its head. “You can’t come with PEKU, I’m afraid.”

   He blinks, and nods as though it had understood this. It gives a little pat to PEKU’s leg, who simply lets out what STRANGER assumed was reminiscent of a bark, though garbled, before turning away and weaving through the trees, against the CHURCH, to avoid the range of the dog-KEL’s tail.

   STRANGER looks at the group with it: FACECLUSTER, ORCHID, PEKU, BUTLER, and finally, bursting through the doors, AUBAT, AUBOX, and OMORI.

   “Sorry we’re late~” AUBAT purrs in a sing-song voice. “SOMEONE wanted to INSIST WE GET FOOD.” she growls, frowning at AUBOX.

   “Well I was huuuuuuuuuungryyy…” AUBOX whines back at her, pouting. The seven AUBREYs were virtually indistinguishable outside of the weapons they had… which they were also named after. That was the only thing different about them all, actually - they all wanted to look the same. 

   “I apologise. I thought you might want me to watch them, to make sure they did not do anything they were not supposed to.” OMORI dips his head to STRANGER, amusement glimmering in his eyes as he throws a glance to the AUBREYs.

   “It’s no worry,” STRANGER shrugs. “But you need to know we’re all up early for an important reason.” it relays through to the listeners the plan - the message, the worry, and the tactic. “I want to get there before … them. Are we all ready?”

   The others nodded agreement - except for PEKU, who really didn’t understand the situation but nodded vigorously anyways as the others did. It had assumed BUTLER had explained the ordeal to him in simple terms - knowing him, he probably had.

   So at three forty, they were all on the move, and by four ten they had reached just before the spot.

   STRANGER felt exceptionally sick - it was a little clearing in the densely packed forest, just on the border of the property of DREAMERs, yet the little town still wasn’t visible. The ground was still stained with the dark crimson, it could see. There was a clear struggle - the grass was flattened and churned up, blood spattered against a rock that was at the edge of a clearing and around. 

   Its breath hitches as it sees tufts of purple hair torn out, scattered about, mixed in with black hair. Behind it, PEKU was allowing for the least stealthy approach possible - even though his tail wasn’t wagging anymore, he was still big and had trampled the undergrowth around him in a futile attempt to be unseen.

   It shakes itself. No sense in waiting - it glances at the others and nods slightly, slinking out of the undergrowth into the oddly calm clearing. The scent of blood hit it immediately and it recoils back, screwing its face up. It was overwhelming - although the blood on the ground wasn’t enough to produce such a smell.

   “EW,” AUBAT proclaims, frowning instantly. “EW. EW. EW. SMELLS LIKE BLOOD.”

   “Well, OBVIOUSLY,” AUBOX rolls her eyes. “SERIOUSLY? SOMEONE DIED HERE!”

   “No need to argue,” BUTLER chides. “But something is off. This is… a lot of blood. Smells like a lot.”

   “A struggle, perhaps,” OMORI suggests, looking up at the dark sky.

   STRANGER nods, noticing how ORCHID recoils too. It thinks that he looks faintly sick, but he doesn’t complain while he pokes around the clearing. He just keeps his mouth firmly shut, poking at tendrils of grass or suspicious-looking bushes.

   FACECLUSTER turns around, shuddering. “We don’t like this place. We’re going to go back now - we hope you guys find what you’re looking for,” they turn away, moving through the foliage, before freezing up.

   STRANGER blinks at them. “FACECLUSTER? What is it?”

   At the same time it asks, ORCHID’s head pops up, a look of fear on his face. “STRANGER, there’s other people here-”

   “S-s-s-” FACECLUSTER sputters out, voice shrill with fear as they take a frantic step back, shivering. STRANGER jumps forward to grab them before they fall back entirely, and it gets the chance to see what scared it so bad.

   Eight red glinting eyes from the foliage, yet the face and body obstructed from view. It blinks, and then they’re gone, accompanied by the rustling of ferns and branches. Spider .

   In a horrible, horrible moment, it realises that they hadn’t outsmarted something - something had outsmarted them .

   “Defensive position!” it barks out, feeling OMORI press his back up against it. “Two people or more to a group!”

   No questions were asked - AUBOX and AUBAT were already on two sides of PEKU, weapons ready with a glint in their eyes. They were always energetic and ready to fight - it just hoped that they would be able to listen before they went off clobbering. PEKU looked moderately confused, although his hair still bristled as though he were tensing up and preparing for something - his tail wasn’t tucked between his many legs, yet it wasn't wagging either.

   ORCHID’s wings flickered up and out as though to make himself seem bigger, but the effect was muddled by how nervous he obviously was - glancing around as though expecting an unseen enemy, jumping whenever BUTLER accidentally bumped into it.

   But there was nothing - not a single sound. An eerie quiet had blanketed the group, closing in on them. Suffocating them.

   “Now, that’s not very friendly,” a new voice purrs at them. STRANGER snaps its attention over to the left of it, one of the only positions not covered by anyone else. Two red eyes peer at it from the shadows, gradually revealing itself as it moves forward strongly. Just staring into those eyes makes STRANGER feel some way - as though it were staring down a pulsating void that sucked one in.

   Which is why it doesn’t notice that it’s an AUBREY until OMORI elbows it, apparently noticing the effect. It was an odd AUBREY at that, with an entirely blue hue. She was taller than the two that were eyeing her, sizing her up as a potential threat. She wore a varsity jacket with skirt-shorts and a bow tied in her hair, sticking up. She looked almost … older.

   She looks down at STRANGER, eyes gleaming as though she’d just found an answer to one of her biggest problems - as though it were nothing but prey. She grins.

   “I don’t plan to hurt anyone,” her voice comes, but it is not her voice. It sounds like AUBREY, but there’s another voice layered over it - a heavier, thicker one that seeped and oozed as though it were trying to get into its mind. It shakes its head, trying to clear it of the weird effect. “That isss, unless you make me.” her voice had a certain emphasis on the s sound, almost like how one would imagine a snake. She looked entirely too gleeful and sounded too cheery. “Yesss. I know who you all are. STRANGER, I’ve heard so much about you,” she chortles, moving her gaze to OMORI. “And the DREAMER himssself makes an appearance. How thoughtful of a presssent.”

   OMORI is the first to react. “We are no-one’s gift, AUBREY. We have come here as you request. Speak now or forever hold your peace.”

   She laughs - she laughs and laughs and laughs, bringing a hand to her head as though she might pass out from the apparent hilarity of the situation. “I’m not AUBREY, you fool,” she laughs once more. “Of courssse, I can sssee how you might confussse us.”

   OMORI blinks, narrowing his eyes at her. It notices him tighten his grip on the knife, as though contemplating using it. “Who you are does not matter to us. What you want does.”

   She snaps her attention onto him once more, her face suddenly a mask of hatred. “ I matter to you,” she snarls, her facade gone. “This place was mine . It belonged to me ,” she growls dangerously. her red eyes blazing with anger. “Until you and your defective MARI showed up,” she hisses dangerously, turning her malicious gaze to STRANGER now. “Acting asss though you were better than everyone elssse. Taking what was not yours.”

   STRANGER fixes her glare with an even face, shoving its fear back down. It can’t show weakness - not now, when everyone expected it to be strong. It straightens itself up, wings flicking back. It takes a step toward her and dips its head respectfully. “I sincerely apologise. I … did not intend to take anything of yours. Why don’t we get this sorted out here and now?”

   Something glints in her piercing red eyes and she narrows her eyes at it, as though considering. “That’sss what I plan to do, BASSSIL .”

   Somewhere, far off, thunder rolls - a malicious rumble.

   “Why did you kill LIONHEART?” BUTLER jumps in before STRANGER can respond. His voice is taut with grief and fury, trembling. “What did he ever do to you? And HELLMARI?”

   She turns her gaze on him slowly, slowly, nearly robotic in movement. She considers him for a long moment. “They didn’t matter to me,” she says finally. “They were just an example of what I would do to you all if you dared refuse - you are all pointless to me. Everyone but the DREAMER and the little BASIL who thought he could.”

   “And if we refuse?” STRANGER challenges, voice light and taught as it hides the despair. She really didn’t care - it had thought that whoever had killed them might have been negotiable. That maybe there was a reason LIONHEART had died - that he didn’t die in vain. Not for someone’s own selfish reasons.

   Her eyes narrow as she faces it now, seemingly having forgotten about BUTLER. “It wasssn’t an option,” she spits finally. “But if you need a little persssuasion…” she hisses, the same emphasis on the s , and the area around them explodes with movement.

   People showing up out of seemingly nowhere, all red-eyed and blank. It notices what looks like a KEL with a long, slender, green-tinted maw and sunglasses; an AUBREY with glitched out, missing textures; a NANCI with various scars; a MERCI or two.

   They’re outnumbered. A quick headcount shows about maybe twelve or thirteen people… all with the same red eyes.

   “My name is MARI,” she snarls, they snarl - her voice comes from everyone all at once, all layered over the original’s voice. It feels itself press further back into OMORI, its muscles tensing up as it knows there’s no way out other than to fight… and as it pushes back a sickening realization to what is happening. “I have come to take back what is rightfully mine. I would prefer the easssy way, but the hard way is always a nice touch.” she grins, they grin.

   BUTLER lets out a shriek of rage and flings himself at her, full force, bowling the AUBREY into the underbrush, its rag for wiping tears left on the ground as it turns its sorrow into anger.

   Thunder bellows across the sky once more and lightning splits the darkness as something slams into it and FACECLUSTER, sending the two skidding across the ground.

   It finds itself face-to-face with a suited KEL, snarling and biting and clawing at it viciously. It kicks outward with its legs, pushing the other off and back onto the ground before he can do anything else. Rain begins to fall as it launches itself back at the KEL, pinning his head into the muddied ground and one of his arms behind his back, struggling to stay on as he squirms.

   It doesn’t have a grace period before it’s on the ground again, though, this time a distorted BASIL. Opening its mouth, it lets out a horrid garbled screeching noise - STRANGER has to go to cover its ears, pain lancing through its body as something bites its arm.

   The BASIL’s shriek only gets louder as a new figure appears behind him, slicing at his back. It hardly reacts at all, though, as the blood falls down and drips onto STRANGER below - fear pounds throughout its entire body. They didn’t react - they didn’t react to the pain at all . 

    No , it corrects itself. They do. She doesn’t.

   OMORI doesn’t stop slicing, though - it feels as the BASIL’s hands grab at its throat, closing around it, and no matter how hard it pushes, he doesn’t budge - his hands are locked firmly around its throat, cutting off its vocal chords and strangling it. Not until OMORI aims for his neck.

   The knife makes contact with his throat easily, spraying crimson blood all over the black figure below him, but he staggers off and down, blood gushing onto the muddied ground without getting back up. OMORI stares down at the body for a long moment, his face emotionless, before finally holding a bloodied hand to STRANGER. 

   It takes it, lightheaded from the lack of oxygen, and gets to check the surroundings. AUBAT and AUBOX batting a HERO with claws and a tail back and forth as if he were nothing more than a ping pong ball, PEKU letting out a broken howling noise. It noticed that no-one was attacking him, though - scared?

   ORCHID, on the other hand, was getting the worst treatment - one of his wings had been shredded and blood was welling from several scars all over his body. A melted-ish GATOR GUY nips at his other wing while a figure that looked similar to BUTLER sliced at his abdomen and legs. The buggy HERO feebly strikes back - STRANGER knew he was tenderhearted by nature, there was no possible way it could expect him to fight.

   It prepares itself to lunge at one of the attackers, delirious from the frantic oxygen gain, but BUTLER is faster - he manifests out of seemingly nowhere, pulling the similar figure back into the bushes as they tussle onto the ground. He must have given up with AUBREY. That is, until it realizes she’s nowhere to be seen.

   FACECLUSTER and AUBREY are nowhere to be seen, actually. It takes in deep breaths, adrenaline pounding through its veins as it surveys the landscape. The ground was churned into a lumpy red-brown mixture, water puddles filling the small dips. The fighting figures were slicked and clumped with water, dirt, and blood, itself included - it’s not sure how much longer anyone can keep up.

   Within just a few seconds, it can see that AUBAT and AUBOX were overrun - they were gradually split up from each other, more of the ‘zombies’ filling the space between them. It thinks it can hear AUBOX call out for AUBAT just before the other is pulled down under a writhing mass of bodies. At least two others had appeared, grabbing at ORCHID once more - OMORI’s red hands grab and pull at the attackers, but they resisted with powerful swipes of coordinated skill. It thinks it notices one grab a hand and break its wrist, dropping the now drained-of-colour hand onto the ground before joining the fray.

    We can’t win this, it says to itself, even though it already knows - but it’s not sure how they would get out of it, either.

   “PEKU!” It shouts over the tussling and rain, swerving under a leaping dog-like KEL. “PEKU! SPIT AT THEM!” it yells with its heart, throat beginning to hurt from how hard it was having to scream. PEKU perks up and looks at it, eyes wide. He lets out what it knows is a whine and shakes his head, looking down at his legs (where there was a lack of AUBAT and AUBOX and he was being surrounded by red-eyed figures).

   His spit was acidic, and he was a gentle giant - he didn’t want to hurt anyone. But he had to, if they were going to get out.

   “PEKU-” it goes to call out again before everyone around it lets out a howl of fury and it feels a force crash into it, slamming it down onto the ground. Its head makes contact with the ground and it lets out a cry of surprise, AUBREY shoving it down on top of it. Her eyes glint with fury as she looks down at it, teeth bared in a snarl.

   “I’ll kill you,” she hisses. “I’ll kill you if you don’t call your little friends off. I’ll make an example out of you. You won’t ever see that BASIL or MARI of yours. Poor little TAKO, UNI, and MEIDO - left without a brother again . You don’t want that for them, do you?” she growls, pushing a hand down on its throat to block its chords once more. It doesn’t know what’s more terrifying - the fact that AUBREY had a vicious gash across her neck and was bleeding her life out onto STRANGER, yet hardly reacting, or the fact that she knew . She knew things that she shouldn’t. How did she know?

   Something goes hurling above it, above AUBREY - a giant glob of something. It weakly sees it hit the clearing, or something in the clearing, and then it hears screams. Shrieks that rip the air that don’t come from the attackers, but from its friends.

   With a new burst of energy, fury for its friends, the rage it kept under when realizing LIONHEART was dead… it surges upward, slinging the figure up and off of it. It quickly dives away and into the group of people, when it realizes everyone isn’t fighting as they were earlier.

   A large, dark glob lies in the middle of the clearing, two bodies submerged in it, sizzling away. It’s acutely aware of the smell of the burning flesh, going queasy the longer it stares. The good thing is that it doesn’t recognize either of the melted bodies, the bad thing is that it can hardly bring itself to look away. If there was any chance the rain could save them … it was gone, because instead of a downpour, it was a steady mist.

   Looking around, stumbling on its feet, it can see that ORCHID is shell shocked - his face is a mask of pure horror and fear as he, too, can’t seem to look away from the scene in front of him - The two who were previously biting at him let go and began to slink away, the undergrowth swallowing them up without a trace.

   It sees the group of four who had AUBOX under them release her, too, and also begin to disperse, the shadows consuming them as they finally disappear. AUBOX’s mailbox was broken and dented, slung off to the side away from her - AUBOX herself looked fine, outside of the blood that pooled at her waist and came off of the various claw marks on her.

   It’s numbly aware of AUBAT rushing over to her and BUTLER limping up next to it, his leg twisted awkwardly. Eyes dull with pain, it turns to look at him, noting his damage - his ears were shredded at the tips and clumps of fur were ripped out here and there. His suit was no longer crisp and clean, it was shredded and bloody. His eyes gleamed, although exhausted, with a fire that told STRANGER he thought that their dear friend had been avenged.

   It looks away, feeling sick once more. “No-one should have died here,” it murmurs, casting a glance up to the sky, the wisps of gray beginning to fade in as midnight turned to dawn. Clearing its throat, it looks back down at the others. “Any serious injuries? Is everyone okay?”

   ORCHID, still looking paler than what seemed possible, had sunk down to the muddy ground. His eyes were wide yet full of sorrow as he grips his shirt. STRANGER couldn’t see anything too bad on him, outside of the mangled wing (which, both the membrane had been torn and the bone itself had been twisted) and the bite marks… but the shock would be a problem, if he hadn’t already gone into it.

   AUBAT had pulled AUBOX up, pulling the exhausted AUBREY’s arm behind her neck and shoulder. AUBOX looked utterly battered and defeated, her hair a mess and full of muck, her breathing shallow and rugged, her eyes unfocused and staring at the ground. One of her arms was bent out of shape, sticking out at an odd angle, and one of her eyes had a scar running straight through it - it now looked like a cloudy orb rather than her normal eye colour. AUBAT, on the other hand, looked virtually unharmed outside of the mud and blood smeared on her. No visible scars.

   PEKU was looking down at the sizzling mass of his spit, his face troubled. He looks away after a long moment though, sitting down and pawing a clump of the mud around. AUBAT and AUBOX hobble over to him, resting against one of his legs for support. It sees AUBAT murmur frantically to AUBOX, but the rain had picked up and it was a tad harder to hear.

   OMORI steps up next to it now, surveying the destroyed landscape. The churned, muddy-bloody-soupy ground, leaves and a few sticks caught in the mixture… five, six bodies...

   “This shouldn’t have happened,” OMORI says quietly, his voice ever so monotonous. “It shouldn’t.”   

   STRANGER presses itself into the other’s side, nodding quietly. It had never expected to be physical or buddy-buddy with OMORI … but right now, it didn’t care. It had seen too much to think of OMORI as ‘the enemy’.

   Because right now, they had a worse one combined.

   “Where’s FACECLUSTER?” it rasps, taking a heaving breath. OMORI takes the other’s hand lightly to keep it stable as it wobbled on its feet.

   “I told them to go get help,” OMORI blinks. “I didn’t want to make them fight.”

   “You did good,” it assures him quietly, nodding, checking itself. Its hair was frizzled out and it’s flower was gone, yet its pearl bracelet was still on, somehow - just covered in muck. It’s own hands and chest was covered in blood that both belonged to it but did not belong to it - casting a little glance back at its wings, it can see they’re shredded, too - but they were made of nothing but fluff, so it wouldn’t hurt anything.

   “Did you hear what she said to me?” it asks OMORI finally. “She - she mentioned the three. And BASIL - and SOMETHING.”

   OMORI’s head snaps up to it now, face serious and alert. “What?”

   “She mentioned - she mentioned ABBI, MEIDO, and UNI. She said that it would be bad for me to … to leave them.” it takes a breath. “Again.”

   OMORI is silent for a long moment. “So she has spies,” he concludes finally. “She has someone in the CHURCH working for her.”

   “I don’t… I don’t think that’s what’s going on,” its throat tightens as it swallows. OMORI gives it a curious, polite glance. “OMORI … she spoke through them. When she laughed … they laughed. When she spoke … some of them spoke, too. Everything against us was coordinated - it was as if -”

   “- she were inside of them,” OMORI muses. “As if she were controlling them. You saw how they didn’t react to direct pain.” he frowns, clearly remembering how he had killed that BASIL - STRANGER wishes it could offer support for him, knowing that he had tried to avoid any death… but right now, it couldn’t offer any.

   “She has someone in the CHURCH,” it says after minutes of silence, voice barely above a whisper. “She’s using someone to spy on us. Someone who’s - who’s close to me .”