Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

When all was said and done, Stranger hadn’t expected the world to still exist. He hadn’t even suspected he'd be alive. Headspace was much older than the Dreamer, yes, but surely the fantastical technicolour worlds along with White Space and Black Space-- Everything the Dreamer constructed would disappear once they weren’t needed anymore, wouldn’t they? Let alone any of the abandoned inhabitants, now that the Dreamer had accepted the truth and was ready to live in the real world with his friends again. They had new memories to make. There was no need to relive his Headspace adventures with children who no longer represented the friends he cherished now.

Yet here Stranger was, walking along the restored Vast Forest. It was as bright and cheery as he always remembered it being. Sprout Moles wandered about, and the flowers… His old garden. --The flower boy’s garden, he corrected in his mind. No longer were all the flowers dead, but they bloomed cheerfully as if nothing terrible here happened at all.

It was curious. Why had the world restored itself? He was certain the Dreamer would not return here, so why…? 

Stranger fretted for a moment, thinking perhaps something had gone wrong, or that he’d been wrong in his judgement, but reaching toward Sunny and Basil in the real world garnered only feelings of peace. Acceptance. And it washed over him like warm honey. He calmed and took in a breath. When was the last time he had a moment like this to breathe ? Somehow… he knew the Dreamer was happy to stay in his reality. But Headspace had taken a life of its own and was moving on, without Sunny.

It occurred to Stranger how tired he was, suddenly. He’d been working so hard, and though he did not possess any need for sleep or physical rest, his heart was exhausted.

Collapsing next to the tulips, Stranger unceremoniously sat down in silence. 

He guided the Dreamer to the truth. He did it. And now the Dreamer could forgive himself, give his friends the truth they deserved to know so they could grieve properly, and all of them could heal and move on. Stranger had done so much good for the real people, but what about him? What about Headspace, and these facsimiles of people he still had the empathy to care for despite their counterfeit nature? With the assumption he, and they, and everything here would cease to be, Stranger still bravely carried out his duty. A suicide mission. He had no plans for anything beyond that. If the world was gone, what use for plans would there be? 

But the world was still here, and Stranger ceased to have a purpose. He didn’t even belong here anymore. Not if the shadowed wisps of hair in the corners of his vision, his translucent form, and blood red footprints that led to the grassy spot he sat at had anything to say about it. It so contrasted the bright colours of the Vast Forest, that Stranger grimaced at how much he likely stuck out like a sore thumb. Why hadn’t the world reset his previous, colourful form along with everything else? Was he too corrupted at this point? Stayed too long there to the point he now simply belonged in a place like Black Space? But he did not want to go back there. Not yet. Some part of him… missed this place. Missed when things were simpler. Before he was forced into a fate bigger than he could fathom. 

A dry chuckle escaped his lips. Maybe the Dreamer was not the only one who needed to do some inward healing.

Idly, Stranger’s hands grasped the blades of grass he sat beside. None of this was real, but it was the world he resided in since conception, and so it was real to him. That had to count for something, did it not? His feelings must be real too. After all, he’d grown independent of the scripts and one-dimensional characterizations the Dreamer’s friends would follow, and had his own thoughts, reasonings, actions… What made a person real anyway?

…He missed gardening. There were no plants in Black Space. Not any that weren’t dead or corrupted in some way. Perhaps that was how he’d gotten in the habit of thinking so deeply. There wasn’t much else to do when trapped in the vast nothingness for years, other than walk, and wander, and think and think and think, and maybe explore Sunny’s subconscious guilt-- though Stranger was not a fan of the rooms where he’d be forced to watch the flower boy die as a representation of burying the truth. 

And he missed taking pictures of… his friends. Even if they were not of the same sentience as him, they were once still his friends. He loved and cared for them as much as the flower boy did, and as much as the Dreamer did. The first iteration of friends were surely long gone by now, corrupted in the depths of Black Space or the Abyss beyond any chance of getting them back. …Well, obviously except one.

“You.” A voice, unmistakable, spoke behind him. There was no accusatory tone, yet it strangely was not indifferent; simply factual and plain.

Omori. Stranger caught himself nearly ripping the grass out of the ground and quickly released the blades of grass from his grip, patting the small plantlife apologetically. 

Someone who’d been a dear friend, made his heart flutter at his very presence, who was always there to listen to his worries or stories or passions-- Was a memory that long turned sour, bitter, upsetting with an awful taste in his mouth. Stranger was not a crybaby by any means, but tears dared to prick at the corners of his glowing eyes. Every memory of Headspace was tinged with betrayal, and it was all thanks to Omori. Suddenly Stranger remembered why he did not often visit his former home. Too many memories that distracted him from his goals. …But he'd completed those goals, so perhaps now he was allowed to be selfish. It was his turn.

“Hello to you too.” Stranger replied, sparing not a glance at the monochrome boy’s direction. Although the Dreamer had been freed from Omori’s ‘protection’, it would be ignorant for Stranger to deny Omori, too, was trying to help in his own way. Unfortunately for both of them, what he thought was best was not, in the end. 

After a lengthy silence (which Stranger knew would continue as Omori, like the Dreamer, was more of a listener than a talker), Stranger found himself falling into his old roles again. Whether out of pity, compassion, a longing to actually talk to someone within his own reality again, or fill the stifling silence-- He could not answer.

“It is understandable why you did what you did.” Stranger began gingerly, still refusing to look at the Dreamer’s previous form. “But the Dreamer was not the only one to suffer. Many more suffered by his isolation than himself, and it was suffering that could have been avoided had he been honest from the start. True, he was not ready for that at first, but these pushes outside of his comfort zone were necessary, and ultimately, they helped.” He settled his gaze toward the white tulips in front of him, continuing to speak and knowing Omori was still listening even if his words were not directed immediately at him, “You did what you could for the Dreamer, I know. You were created to shield him from everything painful. But pain, and hurt, and sadness, are sometimes needed to overcome. As the Gladiolus said, he must allow himself to feel every emotion… and have patience throughout that time.”

Another silence occupied the air, although it was somehow less stifling than before. Peaceful, once again. Just how the flower boy’s garden should be. More surprising, however, was the sudden movement Stranger felt as the non-emotive boy sat down beside him, neither facing each other, but each acutely aware of the other’s presence. If he closed his eyes, Stranger almost felt like he was transported back to a more blissful moment. Before the truth was hammered into his brain, the very essence of his soul, and the darkness of Black Space became his home.

It took maybe several minutes of wanting to savour this moment, before he forced himself to tear away from that fantasy and come back to the present. His lower lip trembled as he cautiously looked at Omori for the first time in this entire interaction. “...Why me?” He asked in a smaller voice than he meant to.

Sunny always had cat-like mannerisms, perhaps from mimicking Mewo, but that also meant Omori had those same quirks. Omori tilted his head and stared back at Stranger in curiosity. There held no animosity behind those eyes, now that they were unspokenly no longer enemies.

Stranger tried again, “I… understand Basil’s role and his involvement in the truth. And you were merely keeping that truth away from him, but… But why be so cruel to me?” 

His calm demeanour shattered, and in that moment, he resembled Basil more than he ever did in the last four years. 

“How could you , Omori!? You were my best friend…” His voice stirred with multitudes of emotions he thought he’d long since buried for the Dreamer’s sake. He sounded like a hurt little kid. He sounded like the same hurt 12-year-old Basil all over again. “All I wanted was for Sunny to be happy again. We all did. Why… Why did you have to get rid of me for that to happen? I was so alone… I missed all our friends… It wasn’t even my fault I found out the truth. All Basils and Maris here are cursed to find it sooner or later; we’re the only ones other than Sunny who know , but… Why Black Space? Why replace all of us? Replace us like none of us even mattered? Like I didn’t matter? I care about Sunny, but… I cared about you first, Omori…”

The pathetic crack in his voice was a telltale sign he was near tears, and Stranger was glad the shadows made it that much harder to visually notice that. He didn’t want to cry in front of his former friend. But a gentle gasp escaped his lips as Omori’s response was simply to lean towards Stranger, butting his head against his shadowy shoulder gently as if he was a cat trying to reassure him. It was that small gesture that made Stranger break for the first time in years. He shuddered and sobbed softly to himself, trying to keep quiet, but surprisingly feeling comfortable and safe in Omori’s presence. ‘Safe’ was a funny word here. Stranger thought that was no longer applicable since Omori's betrayal and the plethora of times he’d watched him violently kill the next iterations of the flower boy who’d been freshly trapped in Black Space. But even after all the trauma, and regrets, and anger, that word somehow still felt right. Only because it was Omori.

Omori only leaned away once it seemed Stranger was calming down. He sniffled, embarrassed, “I apologize. I lost myself for a moment there…”

“Basil…” He winced at the name coming from Omori’s lips. He could feel Omori’s stare fixed intently on him.

“Whatever you call me, I cannot say I am him any longer.” Stranger denied, shaking his head, “I’ve spent too long away from Headspace. Seen too many memories. I know too much. I am… not the same as I once was. Can you truly say I am akin, or even similar, to the likes of the flower boy? How much can a person change until they become someone completely different?”

It seemed Omori was not having any of his melodramatic speeches today. “Basil.” He repeated firmly, this time taking his pointer finger and poking Stranger right at his translucent chest as if to accentuate his insistence. 

Stunned for a moment, Stranger’s mouth opened, then closed, then opened again as he spoke, “...I see. I… Well… Thank you.” Being covered in shadow had its perks. For one, Omori could not see Stranger potentially blushing, from how hot he could feel his cheeks getting. It was odd, but that small gesture of recognizing him as Basil despite all his anguish made him feel warm.

Satisfied, Omori took his hand back, moving to stare at the white tulips with Stranger once again. Stranger had assumed that was the end of that, until he heard Omori mumbling, “…Missed you the most.”

“Y-You did--?” Stranger blinked, staring at Omori in shock. 

He barely had time to process before Omori responded with a firm nod of his head. “And… Sorry. For everything.”

…Sorry would never take away the time Stranger spent in Black Space and restore him to the way he was before. Sorry would not undo the horrible deaths those unfortunate Basils received at the hands of Omori. Sorry would not bring back the previous versions of Aubrey, Kel, and Hero whom Stranger mourned for every single reset Headspace had undergone. But he knew-- He should know-- more than anyone, that sorry would never take back Sunny’s actions at the top of the stairs on the day of the recital, and yet what Stranger had always led him towards was not just the truth… But also the fact that even he deserved to forgive himself, and accept the reality of what had happened. That forgiveness from his friends was not guaranteed, but what mattered was that they deserved to know the truth, and would not continue to agonize over a false reality. For Stranger to find himself on the receiving end of a similar apology was really some level of irony.

Stranger nodded slowly, choosing his words as he tried to keep his emotions under control this time. “I’ve made peace with what happened to me. It does not stop me from missing what we once had, but I have accepted my role for the Dreamer’s sake. I’ve just… I’ve always wondered about you. If you missed me, or regretted what you’ve done, whether you even cared for me to begin with, or knew how trapping me in Black Space would affect me… If I was meant to rot there forever, or you’d come rescue me, or if you thought I’d just die there on my own eventually.” Stranger gave a humourless laugh, “I suppose I have the answers to all of those now.”

Omori stared at him some more. It appeared he was not going to respond in words, so again, Stranger filled the silence. He was just good at that, even more so around Omori.

“I cannot deny I am still a bit… angry. And upset. But mostly numb to the fact it happened at all. You cannot conceive of the immense loneliness residing in Black Space inflicts upon you. After knowing of friendship all your life, and then abruptly having it stolen away… It is impossible to understand. Until the moment it happens to you. But I suppose the Dreamer knew that feeling best of all, as do you and I, because of that.” Stranger said idly, the stronger feelings beginning to seem a bit farther away now that he was finally having this chance to talk to Omori again. Looking back at the tulips, he attempted to lighten the mood, “You couldn't have thought to send a camera, or a potted plant or some mini gardening kit over to Black Space all these years? It gets quite boring there, you know…”

Stranger looked over at Omori again, just in time to see a small twitch at the corners of his mouth, as if he smiled a bit at the joke. A dark joke, perhaps at both of their expenses (what with Stranger feeling it hit too soon, too close to home, and for Omori, the fact he put Stranger there in the first place), but as if no time at all had passed between them, they still knew each other well to understand these nuances. A little burst of pride swelled in Stranger upon seeing that smile, knowing he was the reason for it, and… it really did almost feel like better times.

But he should not be indulging in that nostalgia for too long. Stranger could only guess that perhaps he should not overstay his welcome. After all, this was the longest he’d spent outside of Black Space ever since he’d first gotten trapped there, and he did not know yet of the consequences of being outside for too long now that he was accustomed to that place. Suddenly melancholy, Stranger began to stand back up. Omori watched him inquisitively.

“Speaking of Black Space, I suppose I should get going now. If all of Headspace has been restored, your friends must be searching for you. You should not keep them waiting…”

As Stranger began to turn to walk away, he suddenly felt a weight on his leg. …Looking down, there was Omori hugging onto his leg with his entire body. His arms and legs wrapped around Stranger’s leg tightly. It was oddly cute, but Stranger sighed in slight exasperation yet familiarity at Omori’s clinginess, and gently attempted to shake his leg to get the boy off.

“Omori… Surely, you have better things to do with your time. We are not of the same worlds. You were the one who sent me away, and now I do not belong here anymore. I do not wish to return.” Not because he didn’t want to, but more so because he felt like he did not have a choice after everything he went through. After all, he truly did not belong anymore. Even if he got to see all his old friends again, things would never be the same. Everything in Headspace was so bright, and cheery, and innocent. All things which Stranger no longer was and never would be again. “Come on… Don’t be so childish. Let go of me.”

“Nuh-uh.” Omori responded by shaking his head and hugging onto Stranger’s leg tighter. Oh god, Omori really was such a child, wasn't he… This all powerful, ruler of Red Space, who’d been violently determined to keep Sunny away from the truth, was an overpowered toddler. 

Stranger sighed, “What purpose will doing this serve you? If you truly wish it, I can come visit you next time, or you can come to Black Space… Look, I don’t know. But I know I do not belong here. I do not wish to be seen by this world's inhabitants, and I have already stayed here long enough…”

“Our friends. Picnic.” It was evident in Omori’s voice that he was pouting as he spoke. “Come.”

Our friends. Stranger could swear his heart skipped a beat at those words, coming from Omori. “You… want me to join you all?”

Omori nodded, his face buried into Stranger’s leg.

He was still apprehensive, but he did miss the others dearly. So much so, that his heart couldn’t take much longer of being away from them now that he was being handed this opportunity by Omori himself, and there was suddenly no danger in interacting with them directly. After all, there was nothing to hide anymore. Surely… this was okay. Right? And if so… Maybe then, he would no longer be a Stranger to them.

“If you insist… But…” And there were Basil’s familiar doubts and reservations shining through. Stranger did not enjoy those aspects of himself. But perhaps Omori found them endearing, or at least did not hate those parts of him as much as Stranger did, judging by the fact Omori had always stuck by him and stayed his friend… during the times before banishment. “--But, what if they’re scared of me? Of… How I look. I am not… a regular inhabitant of this area. Not anymore. A-And… Is the flower boy there as well? A new copy? Would it not be confusing? If you keep calling me by his name?” Which, he still disagreed with that idea, but had no desire to argue against Omori’s beliefs regarding what he preferred to call Stranger. ‘Stranger’ was not a real name, but having spent so long casting aside his identity of ‘Basil’, he felt as if there were no other names which suited him anymore.

Nonetheless, Omori was not letting go of his leg. Nor did it seem he intended to do so any time soon, even with the extended silence as a glaring non-answer to any of Stranger’s qualms. 

Stranger sighed and decided to finally relent. “I see. I do not have a choice, do I? Well, lead the way, Omori. Where are they? The Playground?”

Hearing this, Omori perked up faster than Stranger had ever seen. The monochrome boy practically jumped off of Stranger’s leg to instead grab hold of his shadow-covered hand and begin tugging him along northbound to the Playground, confirming Stranger’s guess.

He was not embarrassed by this, rather finding Omori’s excitement… flattering. As if it was more than he truly deserved. To go to all this trouble, displaying such excitement and energy just for a former friend turned former enemy? It was silly. Ridiculous, even. Maybe after all that talk of missing their friends, this must have been Omori’s way of making it up to Stranger. But Stranger certainly was flustered at having to be dragged along, partially running to keep up with Omori’s excited pace. 

“I can walk on my own…” He muttered, mostly to himself as it seemed Omori either had not heard him or elected to ignore him. 

It was a stark contrast to the leisurely pace Stranger would often walk at, and running speed was not a pace he was particularly accustomed to. By the time they reached the Playground together, Stranger was slightly too out of breath to take notice of all the colourful characters running around and playing as they always did, and more importantly, the group of four near the northwestern corner gathered all around a picnic blanket, chatting and eating together happily. All to truly confirm that Headspace really was… as normal as it could ever be.

When Stranger doubled over to catch his breath, Omori finally stopped to allow him that moment of reprieve. Only to poke fun at him. Literally. The boy poked Stranger’s cheek and struggled to contain his giggles as he commented, “Just like Hero…”

“Omori…!” Stranger whined in mock offence. Hearing Omori’s laugh again made it hard to stay mad. “You know I am not as bad at this as Hero is! I just… have not run in a long time… I’m fine. I’m fine!”

Omori responded with a small grin and a teasing humming sound, as if he didn’t quite believe that. Still holding onto Stranger’s hand, he tugged again impatiently, as if asking if he was ready to walk a few more steps yet. They were almost there anyway. Nodding, Stranger squeezed Omori’s hand in his own and pushed onward even though he still would have appreciated a few seconds more. He was excited as well, too much to keep himself waiting, yet at the same time did not know what to expect. His hopes were not too high, having learned not to be so optimistic as to be crushed when those optimisms weren’t met. But knowing Omori and knowing he was trying to make up for what he’d done… Stranger had faith that Omori was doing his best. That truly was all he could ask for.

Standing before the oh-so-familiar picnic blanket, Stranger drank in the sight of his friends once again. Curiously, they were all… different, than the friends he’d come to know in Headspace. Older. More like Sunny’s friends. It was quite a change he’d have to get used to, but Stranger supposed that in many ways, he’d gone through very similar changes too.

“Yo, Omori!!” The taller Kel shouted and waved to him excitedly, “Heya, buddy! It’s good to see ya!” For a moment a spark of confusion crossed his expression as he looked at Stranger (as did with Hero and Aubrey. The only one who had not seemed confused was… a spirit-like Mari). It had not at all diminished Kel’s usual friendliness, but made Stranger the slightest bit nervous nonetheless. “And hey to you!! Omori, who’s your friend there?”

Oh. So they did not recognize him? It was understandable given how much he had… changed. Stranger looked down at his blackened form that obscured all his features in shadow. How he wished to scrub all of it off, but that never had worked in the past… He wondered why Omori had not done anything to make Stranger more identifiable. More normal. Perhaps these effects of Black Space were beyond even Omori’s control.

Omori responded by pointing at Stranger proudly. “Basil.”

Stranger nodded slowly, still unable to internally connect himself to his former identity but desperately hoping his friends had not forgotten Basil at the least. He wrung his hands together anxiously, “...Hello, everyone. It’s, um… been a while…?”

Being the same Kel as always, he didn’t think at all before speaking, “OHHH! Duh! Sorry, Basil! I guess I couldn’t tell it was you without your flower crown on… Hehe…” He chuckled apologetically. Was that really it…?

“I have to say,” The pink-haired Aubrey shot him a grin of her own. One that was a lot less friendly than her younger self’s, and much more menacing and tough… but somehow without any malice directed at Stranger? Huh. How did that work? “That new edgy look you have going on actually kinda fits you! Good for you.” …What on earth did Stranger look like to them?

“Oh… Uh. Thank you, Aubrey.” He tried to smile back, although was unsure if it would actually come across that way with his face forever in shadow. Perhaps he would just have to settle for smiling with his eyes.

Hero stood up, “Here, Basil. We saved your flower crown for you!” Ever the model young adult he was, it made sense he was keeping it safe for their lost, now found, friend. Carefully, Hero placed it atop Stranger’s head and smiled as he pat the shadowy boy on the shoulder in such an older-brotherly way before taking his seat on the blanket again.

His flower crown. His flower crown. It was almost as if, if Stranger focused hard enough, if he could reach into the knowledge of Headspace… He’d find it really was the flower crown he’d been wearing on the day he was split in half, banished to Black Space. It was entirely preserved, as if the flowers had just been freshly plucked and woven into the crown mere seconds ago. Had Omori kept it safe for him all this time? Through every reset? Tears once again caused his vision to waver, and even if no one could see his face, the glowing yellow outline shining clearly around his shadowed form was unmistakable. He turned to Omori, in a low voice, asking, “Is… Is all of this real? Are they real? You brought them back… for me?”

Omori nodded, clasping one of Stranger’s hands in both of his own and patted the back of his hand gently. Interlocking their fingers, he replied, “It’s my apology... My best friend.”

“Now come on!” An older Mari invited them. She looked older than she had been when her real counterpart had passed, which should not have been possible for a recreation of Sunny’s memories, unless-- …Suspicions aside, this Mari really did look the same age as Hero currently was. But her smile was still as beautifully kind as Stranger always remembered it being. “Sit down with us! We can’t have a picnic without Basil and my darling little brother. We saved some of my cookies, just for you two! Hurry up before Kel eats them all!”

“Hey!” Kel pouted, despite… Yeah, he was definitely still eating most of Mari’s cookies. Not that anyone could blame him.

Now there was a delicacy Stranger did not want to miss out on after years of going without it. Her cookies always had so much love baked into them… It was moments like these he missed, and plenty more. He and Omori sat down on the picnic blanket together, happily reaching for the plate of cookies. They were still warm to the touch, and though he did not need to eat, it didn’t mean he couldn’t still enjoy doing so.

Aubrey looked on fondly as the two ate their cookies, addressing Stranger and his newly reunited flower crown. “Hey, there’s the nerd we all know and love! Didn’t take you long to put some colour back into your wardrobe, did it? …Nerd.”

“Aubrey!!” Kel scolded, “You’ve been hanging out with Berly way too much… Don’t call Basil a nerd! You’re gonna hurt his feelings!”

“Well, that’s rich coming from Jem and the Holograms, over here.” Stranger easily countered back, chewing on the delicious cookie. On the contrary, Kel, Stranger thought to himself, I appreciate the concern, but it is vastly misplaced.

Most of the party looked shocked at him for a moment, that their sweet, mild-mannered Basil would say something with so much… sass. But at least Aubrey understood the tone Stranger already had gathered from each other’s remarks; that they were both joking around. She guffawed loudly, a wide grin spreading across her face as she held up a high five toward him. “ Wow , I did not think you had that in you. Guess the nerd grew a spine lately, huh?”

“Indeed.” Stranger gave a shadowy, sly smile of his own as he high fived her. “Perhaps you are just that good of an influence, Gladiolus.”

“...What?” Aubrey looked quizzically at him, wondering when he’d started talking… like that . Truthfully, he knew not when that first started either. He shook his head and seemed embarrassed for a moment. He shouldn’t have to be overly formal or mysterious with his friends. Not when it was obvious they did not regard him a stranger anymore. And being away from the Dreamer’s prying, yet denying eyes, there was no need to be indirect in his wording.

“Ah. Forgive me, Aubrey. Force of habit.” Stranger shrunk into himself momentarily, sheepish. “I’m just… I’m so happy to be here with you all.”

“Aww! So sweet!” Mari smiled as the others earnestly agreed with her, “We're happy you're here, too. We’ve really missed you, Basil.”

It was still unclear to Stranger how the logistics of their friends’ memories worked. How long have they ‘missed’ him for? Was it four years, or the moments he’d been sitting by the tulips? Were the gaps getting filled by false memories, or were their minds not predisposed to think about any of the faulty logic entirely? Part of him did not care to understand or seek to find out. He had spent too long knowing more than he ever bargained for, becoming a guide of sorts for the Dreamer’s journey for the truth. He simply wanted to go back to being Basil, chatting about plants and photography, and enjoying his time with his friends again. With nothing to worry about beyond that.

Omori suddenly leaned toward Stranger, brushing against him with his head until he lay his head directly down onto Stranger’s lap and stayed there while eating his cookie. He must have noticed how silent Stranger had become, and realized he’d been thinking too deeply for his own good. How thoughtful. He raised a hand to pat Omori’s head gently, running his translucent fingers through the fluffy hair.

Kel began to speak… with his mouth full, “Anyways, I dunno if Omori told you already… But we’re gonna take a trip to some Meadow together! After we’re done eating, of course. And maybe once we’re not too full, ‘cause we might get a stomachache if we go too soon. It’s gonna be really cool and fun! None of us have ever been there before except Omori. Right, dude?”

“...Meadow?” Stranger blinked, suddenly once again preoccupied. Too much to notice Omori’s nodding in response to Kel. That… was not a location in Headspace. “Isn't that--?”

“Yeah.” Hero nodded, answering without letting Stranger finish. Whether he knew what was going to be asked, or was merely assuming he did, was unknown. Stranger took a guess on the latter. There should be no way his friends knew of Black Space. “It’s really far away, apparently… So Mari was kind enough to pack us some extra snacks for the road. Omori knows a shortcut though, and he says the trip will be worth it. We all have a feeling you’re gonna like it there.”

…Huh? What? He’d like it there? Did all his friends know something he did not? Were they all in on this apparent secret? Stranger was not used to… not knowing things. Nor was he used to being on the receiving end of such cryptic statements. That was his thing. But now he could see how infuriated the Dreamer must have felt throughout his journey from one measly sentence. No offence to Hero. But had Stranger seriously come off that pretentious this whole time? Good grief…  

He’d rub his temples, but did not want to appear rude, opting instead to look helplessly back and forth at his friends as they seemed to completely ignore his internal plight. 

--Or he could just ask them like a normal person. Unfortunate how he had spent long enough with the absence of companionship to forget that was an option. 

“Oh… I see. And why is that…?” He asked cautiously, gaze drifting towards Omori again. Why did he want Stranger to go there , let alone with all their friends? Surely, they should not be able to traverse Black Space… And Basil’s Meadow was not an area even Stranger himself could go to on his own, as it was only meant for the Dreamer’s will, should he seek it out by his own volition-- which he’d already done.

Aubrey scoffed, retorting, “Whaddya think’s up there, genius? It’s a Meadow .”

Oh, I don’t know. Stranger stared at her dryly, not wanting to say this knowledge out loud, The truth? A room in the heart of Black Space, seemingly untouched by the corruption of Black Space and the delusion of Headspace? My other half who’d been torn apart from my very being, who’d waited years for the Dreamer to seek him out? …Is he still there as well…? 

“I hope there’s a bunch of new flowers we’ve never even seen before!” Kel exclaimed, right on cue to pull Stranger out of his thoughts with another of his simple, yet genuinely tender sentiments, “That way you can tell us all about them, and maybe we can get some new pictures there, and have another picnic… Aw yeah… That’ll be awesome!”

Stranger blinked. Ah, that’s right… Pictures. “Has anyone seen my camera?” He asked aloud. He didn’t expect them to know. The last time he had his camera was before he was banished, but if his flower crown was returned in mint condition… Stranger could allow himself that small gleam of hope.

“Riiiight over here! Sorry! I just couldn’t help myself. I hope you like the picture I took. It’s a little blurry, so I didn’t think we should keep it… But you deserve to see it first. It’s of you and Omori, after all!” So it was Mari who’d been keeping his camera. And she had stolen a picture of him yet again. Stranger could feel another smile creep onto his shadowed face. (...His cheeks were beginning to ache. But it was not surprising that he hadn’t smiled this much in a while when there had not been anything to smile about until now.) He was glad that though many things changed them all, Mari’s playful, mischievous nature had stayed the same.

“I’m sure I will love it regardless,” He held out his hand to grab his camera back from her, along with the new photograph he was undoubtedly excited to look at, “You’ve always had an eye for good photo opportunities.”

Mari giggled in gratitude, “Oh, stop it! You’re making me blush… Everyone knows you’re the photography expert here! When I first got you that camera, you got the hang of it so quickly…”

“It was probably the best birthday gift I could’ve asked for.” Stranger immediately reminisced right along with Mari. “Of course I wanted to use it as much as I could… I guess it’s just that practice really did make perfect.” Stranger replied, nostalgic thoughts drifting to memories of his 12th birthday… Or rather, the real Basil’s. But he remembered it so vividly like it happened to him. He stared at his camera, feeling how achingly familiar its weight was in his hands, running a finger over the ridges and corners of its sides as he inspected its condition. As he suspected, it was like his camera was nearly brand new, and unaffected by the years that had passed since it had been last touched at all. “...Well, it’s been a while now since I’ve used this camera. It is possible I’ve become rusty too. But I really missed taking our pictures, so… I’m certain it’ll get a lot more use again in no time.”

With that settled, Stranger finally took a look at the photo Mari had taken. Omori perked up as well, getting off his lap and sitting up a little straighter beside Stranger to get a better view of the photo. Stranger decided to lean towards Omori this time, close together as they both looked at the photograph.

It was indeed a bit blurry, like Mari said it would be. But it wasn’t too bad, at least, not enough to make it look completely incomprehensible and have to throw it away or anything. Ignoring the blur, he could still make out the basic visuals in the photo. Stranger was sitting cross-legged, nibbling on his cookie with his colourful flower crown providing obvious contrast against his darkened hair, face, skin, clothes… Yep. He certainly was still completely obscured in shadow, save for his glowing white eyes gazing down at Omori. But even without being able to see his face clearly, his eyes were… happy. Stranger looked happy. And it wasn’t just him; Omori was as deadpan as ever but he, too, still looked so peaceful and content in the subtle nuances of his expression. He was pretty clearly happy with the way Stranger had been stroking his hair, as Omori rested on his best friend’s lap and ate his cookie with a small, but noticeable amount of crumbs on his face. 

…This was definitely going into his photo album, Stranger decided. Even if he still looked like, well, a Stranger-- It was still himself , and this memory was a happy one that he was confident he wanted to look back on.

Stranger smiled, “Thank you again, Mari. I’m keeping this. I told you I would love it.”

“Hey, wait, I wanna see it! Lemme see!” Kel exclaimed, “Show us the picture! Please? Pleeeeease?”

Aubrey elbowed Kel innocuously, “Jeez, can you act even more like a kid than usual?”

“C’mon, you know you wanna see it too.” He grinned, elbowing her back, “Plus, there’s nothing wrong with being kid-like! Right, Hero?”

“Why am I getting dragged into this…?” Hero chuckled awkwardly, “Well, I guess not. I mean… you guys are still young! It’s not wrong to be excited about stuff, in any part of life.”

“...Ewwwww, don’t sound so old , Hero.” Kel stuck out his tongue in mock admonishment, “You’ve only been an adult for, like, one year! C’mon, now, grandpa.”

“Yeah.” Aubrey tsked, shaking her head disappointedly as she shifted gears to now poking fun at Hero in a sudden unspoken truce with Kel. “I can’t believe you. Seriously. You’ve changed, Hero. You’ve changed.”

“What did I say now…!?” Hero looked at them, confused, before giving up and silently pleading to Mari for help. Which, obviously, was of no use either. She just giggled and joined in with the other two. 

“This is what you get for going to college! All the lectures must’ve really aged you by fifty years.” She teased.

By this point, the group’s psychological barrage on Hero was suddenly interrupted by the sound of laughter. Loud, genuine laughter that no amount of covering his mouth or years of conditioned politeness and formality could do to stop the wheezes from escaping. Stranger could not contain himself any further. Kel and Aubrey’s trivial squabbles… Everyone’s silly antics… He missed this. He missed all of this. Sure, he watched the Dreamer and his Headspace friends doing nearly the same thing countless times from afar, but it was different somehow knowing he was part of it this time. God, his stomach… He remembered to breathe only after another moment or two of laughing. The topics of their chatter may have changed due to being older, but everyone really was just the same underneath the surface. 

“Don’t… Don’t mind me.” He said in between laughter, “Just… Here. Take it before I bust a gut.” 

Stranger placed the photograph on the middle of the picnic blanket, smiling to himself as Kel and Aubrey clamored over each other to get a better look at the photo. Only they could make looking at a photo into a contest somehow… Then the bickering turned to compliments directed at Mari, and to himself and Omori for being the subjects of the shot.

At the same time this occurred, he tried not to devolve into another laughing fit as Hero lamented with a forlorn, “Not you too, Basil!” at Stranger’s failure to come to his aid, instead pretending not to hear him. Or look at him, from the hilarious way Hero had been clenching his heart in that overdramatic ‘woe is me’ pose at Stranger’s betrayal through inaction. Those puppy eyes would not sway Stranger; he was too busy regaining his composure.

It seemed it wasn’t only running, photography, and socializing that he’d gotten out of practice with, as it turned out. He felt like he'd busted a blood vessel from laughing the hardest he had in a long, long time. Even if it was hard to get used to again, he could not deny that every second he’d spent with everyone today was one to be cherished and enjoyed. He’d thank Omori later. His best friend deserved something special to really show Stranger’s gratitude for returning the gift of hope and connection he had thought was forever lost.

His friends here may not have been exactly the same as their real counterparts-- Perhaps there were still a few stereotypes they still seemed to follow, and they were still idealized versions from Mari never having died at all, but it was evident to Stranger that there was a certain… realness to these ones that previous iterations did not have. Less of a stranglehold on their souls, to allow the freedom to grow beyond a mere secondhand recollection of personality and snippets of self that could be pieced together from the Dreamer’s memories and stories. He could see it in their eyes, and feel it in their voices and actions. Not that he did not love even his younger, more one-dimensional friends… but it was clear that the Dreamer, and subsequently Omori, no longer had reason to hold them back from becoming themselves. Something like what made Stranger the person he was today. …It also helped that, assumedly, resets on all of Headspace and their friends would no longer occur either. That would certainly hinder a person’s development , he mused.

Above all, it just felt like they had been given more reason to exist than to love and to scream eternally for the Dreamer’s help. A purpose that was the same as people had in the real world: not to exist for another's sake, but simply to exist . 

And even though the present was a happy moment, Stranger did find himself hoping that these friends would also be allowed to face the less desirable emotions as well. The negative, the ugly, the hard, and messy feelings without any of the frills Headspace filtered them through. Because that would make it real . Such as the Dreamer had learned to experience that, Stranger, too, wanted to feel it all. The good and bad. No more lying. No more delusion, or willful ignorance. …And he hoped Omori had learned the same. It would disappoint him greatly if after everything that happened, Omori somehow learned nothing from Stranger’s interference and the Dreamer’s trauma journey. But considering the fact that Stranger was here with his friends including Omori? It was doubtful that was the case.

…What was that odd groaning sound?

“Is Kel alright…?” Stranger finally took notice of Kel, lying face up sprawled on the ground like a starfish. Omori had moved to his side, patting him gently-- And stealthily confiscating a half-eaten candy bar from Kel’s hand as he did so.

“Food coma.” Hero responded, “He’ll be fine in a couple of minutes. You know him.”

Indeed he did. Stranger sighed to himself, an amused grin gracing his expression. Just Kel being Kel…

Chapter Text

“So, Basil? Are you gonna add this one to your photo album?” Aubrey asked, giving a curious look towards him as she handed back the picture.

“Of course I will.” Stranger said, “Even if it isn’t perfect, it’s still a special memory I want to treasure.”

It was a sentiment directed especially at Mari. Perfectionism was too often seen as a mere quirk of personality, instead of the monster it could grow into. Though, he supposed anything taken to its extremes would be detrimental. As the years passed, the more Stranger understood the younger Hero’s words about balance and moderation that he’d sometimes lecture about in the Dreamer’s previous Headspace adventures. Though Kel and Aubrey had scolded him for it back then for being wishy-washy, Stranger could see how there was truth in that sentiment. Nothing was ever as simple as one or the other. Of black versus white. Yet another thing the Dreamer himself had to face at some point. So it was with that knowledge that Stranger was glad to see Mari smile and accept the compliment, rather than deny or shoot him down, even if she seemed so bashful doing so.

Aubrey nodded in approval, “You really should. It's a cute picture, and… It’s nice to see you this happy, you know?” …She must have somehow sensed the look on his face despite Stranger’s face not being that visible, “What’s with that look? I mean it! Come on, you don’t have to be so weird about me saying something nice to you… It’s embarrassing enough.”

“I’m not being weird!” Stranger replied defensively. But he stopped as soon as he noticed Aubrey looking a little more upset than before, “…Well, I apologize if I do seem off. It’s not that you were being nice; that’s really sweet of you, but it is just that I do not know how to react…”

“Yeah. I get how that feels, don’t worry. …Look,” Aubrey glanced away from him, staring down at the picnic blanket, keeping her voice hushed so as to not involve the others, “I just-- I don’t know what’s with you, but has something been bothering you since you came back? Don’t think I haven’t noticed you spacing out so much.”

“Ah. So it’s that obvious…” He muttered to himself, only for Aubrey to stare at him like he’d grown a second head.

“‘It’s that obv--’ No duh, it is!!” She snapped, before looking away guiltily, “Sorry. It’s just… I know it’s none of my business, but it just feels to me like you're being distant. Like, on purpose or something. And I just want you to know: whatever it is, we’re all here for you. You shouldn’t have to deal with everything on your own. Don’t ever forget that, okay? You don’t have to tell me what it is, or anything, but if it’ll help to talk about it, then I’d be happy to listen.”

…Right. They did not regard him as a stranger, yet he was still acting as if that was the case. Maybe it was mostly because Stranger did not regard himself as Basil. How could he? Try as he might, it was but a futile effort. It was much too late to change things-- To change the patterns of thought, his own perceptions-- But perhaps with time… Stranger certainly had a lot of time, now. He did not want to be distant towards people he should think of as friends, but in a way, they were seeing him for someone he was not. Expecting him to be a person he wasn’t. It was a confusing situation for everyone. Omori surely had not meant for it to feel the way it did, but with any luck, their friends might soon adapt and adjust to the ‘new Basil’s’ demeanour the longer he stuck around.

He bit his tongue, choosing to say what he could without potentially confusing Aubrey further. “It’s complicated. A matter that is very difficult to understand or even comprehend. I don’t mean to distance myself, but I just have a lot to think about lately. I promise, if I could tell you everything, I would. It is… not that I don’t want to, but rather, I don’t know if I can. It’s difficult to explain all at once.”

Thankfully for him, Aubrey nodded slowly as she tried to understand instead of choosing to really press further, “…Alright. Just remember what I said. I’m here if you need me. Maybe this is weird, or selfish of me to mention, but… I just don’t want to be such a bad friend to you. If there’s anything I can do, you let me know. Or else.” She gave a half-grin, teasingly.

Stranger barely had time to do as much as raise a brow to what that foreboding ‘or else’ could even mean.

“--Ow! Hey! Omori! Quit poking me with that stick, you’re tickling me!” Kel's voice rang out, devolving into a fit of giggles. “Stop it!! Stooooop!! My riiiiiiibs!!!” It seemed he was back to normal, sitting up and ready to bring his energetic mood back into the group. He always had a lot of that, and reassuringly, that had not changed.

“Mornin', sleepyhead.” Aubrey called out in a louder voice, turning her attention from Stranger to Kel. “Took you long enough.”

“You okay after all that food?” Hero asked. “Mari and I were thinking we should all get going soon, but if you still need a minute, we can wait for you.”

That seemed to startle Kel for a moment, “What? No, it’s okay! I’m fine, don’t worry. Sorry for holding everyone up… ‘Specially you, Omori. I know you’ve been looking forward to this.” He apologized. Omori did not seem bothered by this at all, reassuring Kel with a simple thumbs up.

Stranger still was not sure how he felt about the thought of Omori bringing everyone into Black Space. Perhaps it was a lingering trauma from how his own experience went, but regardless of if there might be any problems bringing their friends into Basil’s Meadow, Stranger would do everything in his power to keep them safe. To spare them from whatever corruption had happened to himself. They did not belong there, just as he no longer belonged here.

…Aubrey looked like she wanted to slap him upside the head upon noticing him spacing out on his less-than-savoury thoughts. Stranger decided to push those thoughts aside again. At least if not for himself, then for the sake of being in the present moment with his friends. The Dreamer’s mistakes greatly involved dwelling in the past, and Stranger knew it would serve well to not follow suit even if it was reluctantly.

Grabbing a slice of fruit for himself, he took his time to eat it before standing up. “Well then, if we’re at an agreement, let’s head over there.”

“Right! C’mon, everyone!” Kel grinned and sprang to his feet, spry as always despite his earlier incident.

Omori, too, began to stand and he waved goodbye to Mari expecting her to wish them a good trip. Which ultimately did not happen. Mari exclaimed, “Wait! I… want to come with you all this time.”

It seemed none of the group expected that, from what Stranger could tell. It was unexpected for Omori, especially. Not knowing how this would play out, Stranger took to his habit of merely observing.

Omori only seemed to stare back at her, a conflicting look in his eyes. She continued, “I know you might be worried about me, but you know how important this trip is, don’t you? And if you’re taking S-- Basil there with everyone else, then I want to be there for him too. Please. Let me come with you?” …Interesting slip-up. Mari was standing, walking to the edge of the picnic blanket as she spoke.

It took a few seconds of silence, ignoring the sound of other Headspace residents playing in the Playground, with the rest of the group’s eyes on him until Omori finally relented. He nodded, and Mari exhaled in relief as if she wasn’t even certain he’d say yes. She stepped off the picnic blanket, wrapping Omori up in a big hug.

“Thank you, little brother. I’m proud of you for being so grown up now, you know.” She said, patting his head gently. Perhaps ‘grown up’ was right. After all, he and the Dreamer had learned to allow experiences to happen again, in spite of the fear of things going wrong and not being able to prevent that. Though Stranger couldn’t see him beaming from the praise, he could definitely notice the warm, yellow glow emanating between the monochrome siblings. Mari stepped back once again, coming to stand by Hero’s side and hold his hand, “Well, shall we go?”

“Lead the way, Omori!” Hero nodded encouragingly. There was a light dusting of a blush on his cheeks from Mari’s casual affection.

As everyone began to follow Omori back down South of the Playground, Kel’s voice suddenly caught Stranger’s attention. “--Uh, hey, Basil? Have you been stepping in red paint lately, or…?”

“Hm?” Stranger looked back only to spot the red footprints that continued to follow his steps all this time, even after having nothing more to lead the Dreamer towards. He explained, “Not exactly. Pay no mind to these footprints; they are merely symbolic. Nothing to worry about, Kel.”

“…O…kay…?” Kel looked confused, and maybe even a little worried at Stranger’s response. Well, that was to be expected. It was the truth, but these were the types of things Stranger knew would be difficult to explain to his friends. Kel perked up suddenly, “…Oh! That reminds me, can you do me a favour?”

“What sort of favour?” Stranger asked as he and Kel walked side by side, trailing a little behind the group now. 

Kel reached into his pocket and carefully pulled out a string of twine with little shells decorating it, trying not to let them slip off of the open ends of the twine. The ends were frayed apart, and there was already a knot where presumably it was first tied together before the middle had snapped. “So, I have a friend who made this seashell necklace for me… And, uh. I kind of broke it. And I feel really bad, but I didn’t wanna let her know I broke this thing she spent her time making for me, and I know this isn’t, like, plant stuff, but I was thinking-- Hey, Basil is probably good at craft stuff too, ‘cause I mean, you got the hang of making flower crowns really quick that time Mari was teaching us! Or maybe at least you can probably help come up with something to fix this!! I dunno! Maybe there’s, like, a glue tree you know how to grow or something!?? Anyway… Please help?”

“…Ah. Well, that’s a predicament.” Stranger concluded after listening to Kel’s increasingly frantic rambling. Seeing as Kel was looking at him expectantly, Stranger sighed and held open his palm. “Alright. Give it to me, I’ll try to tie the broken ends together again for you.”

Kel was right in that craft was not ‘plant stuff,’ but twine was a material he was at least familiar with. Mostly in the sense of tying garden trellises to support his taller plants. …It felt nice to remember details like that. The idea of craft, too, brought him memories of paper flowers to decorate the treehouse with-- Another memory that was not his own, but Basil looked upon… fondly? Bittersweetly? Hm. Or some mixture of the two that was not easy for Stranger to fully decipher between.

“Uhhh… Basil? Baaaaasil? Earth to Basil?” Kel’s voice brought him out of his mild dissociation again.

“Yes? Sorry, were you saying something?” Stranger apologized, looking at him once more.

“It’s just-- I mean, not that it’s a bad knot, you tied it really well! Better than what I did when I tried to fix it myself. Good job, dude! But, uh… it kind of looks like… Um… Well, I’m just saying, I don’t think I want that around my neck…” Kel trailed off, looking away uncomfortably.

“What? I--” Stranger looked down at his hands and finally noticed the knot he’d made when tying it on autopilot while he’d been lost in Basil’s memories. A hangman’s noose. You’ve got to be kidding me. “…Goddammit, Basil.” He cursed under his breath.

“--Woah now! Hey! Don’t be so hard on yourself!” Kel said, holding his hands up as he talked to Stranger, “I mean, if it works, it works! Right? As long as it doesn’t break again…”

“No.” Stranger insisted, already undoing the knot and starting over. This time, taking care to actually look at which knot he was tying. “I’m sorry, Kel. I just… I wasn’t paying attention. Here. I’ll try again.” …Stranger was still a Basil in a lot of ways, wasn’t he? It wasn’t his fault that the way those very specific motions from his hands felt so familiar. And morbidly comfortable. 

After he tied a proper knot (not a noose,) that he was sure wouldn’t come undone, Stranger handed the necklace back to Kel. Kel looked grateful, but even more worried than he already had been. Taking the necklace back and putting it over his head and around his neck to wear it, he hadn’t stopped looking at Stranger with that concerned expression. 

“Are you okay?” Kel asked.

He did not mean to come off as frustrated, but that just might have been how he responded, “Why would I not be?”

“It’s just-- Well, y’know what? Nevermind…” Kel finished lamely, floundering to come up with something else to talk about that he knew he wouldn’t screw up with until he settled on, “Uh-- Hey! I know what’ll cheer you up! Check this out!” And without even waiting for an answer, Kel started spinning in place like he was Diana Prince transforming into Wonder Woman. Stranger could do nothing but helplessly watch Kel with disbelief making its home in his glowing white eyes. Why was he being subjected to this all of a sudden…?

As Kel spun around faster and faster, miraculously not tripping over anything all the while, he seemed to clearly be fiddling with something in his pocket until he suddenly stopped (albeit swaying from the vertigo of spinning in circles) and triumphantly held up in the air… a can of Orange Joe. “Ta-da!” He grinned, “Good ol’ Orange Joe! And it appeared outta thin air…!!! OooooOoooOOoo, spooky!”

Next thing Stranger knew, he was being handed an old can of Orange Joe that was uncomfortably warm from Kel’s body heat and lack of refrigeration. Yuck. “…You mean your pocket.” Stranger deadpanned.

“A magician never reveals his secrets!” Kel continued to grin. 

It was ridiculous how much Stranger wanted to facepalm and burst into laughter again all at the same time.

Stranger was silent for a moment before feeling himself crack an invisible smile as he held the can back out towards Kel. “Thanks. You’ve always had a talent for cheering people up, but you can keep this. I know you enjoy these more than I would.” Which was an odd thing to voice aloud. Up until now, Orange Joe was not a snack, but a person in the Orange Oasis. Despite knowing this, Stranger knew that how he felt of the beverage was still true outside of Headspace upon ‘remembering’ what he knew of Kel and Basil in the real world. It was just natural to think of it that way. --Speaking of which, when did Kel start drinking expired Orange Joe !? It was not surprising to Stranger somehow, but… yeesh. Why. Surely that had to be disgusting. Concerning, even. What on earth was going on in the real world, Sunny?

“You really mean that?” Kel looked surprised, but in a happy way, before smiling wide and taking the can back gladly. As he thanked the shorter boy, Kel patted Stranger on the back with a little too much force-- Which ended up making him stumble forward a step or two. “--Whoops! Sorry, Basil. Hey, have you been eating okay? You seem kinda… light. I bet I could totally carry you! Hm… Maybe I should . We should probably catch up to the others somehow. Yeah! Let's go!”

“I can walk perfectly fine on my o--”

A sudden bout of deja-vu was not enough to warn Stranger that he would suddenly find his walking speed no longer under his control. Although he was not forced to run as with Omori, he found being picked up piggyback-style to be similarly undesirable as Kel started sprinting at breakneck speed towards the rest of the group. Stranger knew Kel always was the fastest out of anyone. Even the faceless copies of Kel stranded in Black Space always had a faster base speed than the other Headspace friends (not even getting started on a very particular Kel who ran around one of the deeper Black Space forests). So much so, that he barely had time to mourn the loss of his autonomy as he and Kel rejoined the group in no time at all.

“Kel! Basil! There you two are!” Hero called out upon their arrival, looking back at them just as the rest of the group turned to face them, “We were wondering why it got so quiet back there all of a sudden. Welcome back!”

Omori stared at Stranger in particular all the way from the front. It was all the more humiliating that Kel still had not put him down yet. Seeing the slightest smirk appear on Omori’s expression did not help either. “Having fun?” Omori teased.

Full of spite, Stranger stopped squirming in Kel’s grip as he responded, “Quite. The time of my life, in fact.”

“That’s great! I’m glad you’re having fun up there!” Kel said, not noticing the sarcasm dripping from Stranger’s voice. Not that anyone was going to correct him. At least someone around here wasn’t absolutely rubbing in Stranger’s embarrassment.

“Hey, at least you get to experience being tall for, like, 10 seconds.” Aubrey laughed, not even bothering to conceal her mirth.

“How dare you.” He stared back at her, expressionless. Though, Stranger did not take much offence as it wasn’t particularly hurtful, or anything. It wasn’t the type of friendship he was used to, looking back at how the Headspace group previously acted, but he couldn’t deny that it was a friendship that somehow meshed well with Stranger’s current disposition in a way that felt like home.

But perhaps it was good that he could rely on Mari to come to his rescue all the same. “Hey now! It’s not ‘Pick On Basil’ day! I know he’s emo now, but cut him some slack, guys!” …Emo? “You can put him down, Kel. I’m sure he’ll appreciate that. After all, he’s not going to be able to grab his photo album from up there.”

Photo album? --Ah, right. Speaking of home, he could see now how close the group was to the Old Shoe. How disquieting. It had been a long time since Stranger ever thought of the area as more than a means to lead the Dreamer to the truth. Could he even call it his former home, or… his home , now that it was evident Omori and the others wanted him to stay? Either way, this place was all too familiar in ways he never expected it to be.

The group pressed onward, Stranger following behind closer than he ever had followed them in the past. And still, they wanted him closer. 

Kel once again noticed him lagging behind and pulled him by the hand, ever inclusive as he was. Some part of Stranger was glad for that. Longed for that. For someone to actually show him that he belonged and was wanted, until the point where he could believe it himself. To know that he hadn’t been abandoned. …Ugh, he was sounding more and more like Basil by the minute, wasn’t he? Perhaps that part of himself undeniably was Basil. It was merely how he felt. His feelings just had the unfortunate coincidence of being the exact same as that of a flawed flower boy.

It was only when they had all reached the Old Shoe, with his friends around him-- looking straight ahead at the house and the trees and the beams of light shining through the leaves, the not-red water and very alive plants-- that it was suddenly hitting Stranger how real this was. This was really happening. He had been reunited with all of his friends and it was more or less just like old times. The normalcy of it all was both comfortable, and one that set off a constant itch in his head at the same time. As if something bad would happen the longer it seemed like things were fine.

Everyone expected him to go in first, and so he obliged. Stranger reached for the doorknob, pausing a moment to hold in his breath bracing for something unpleasant to ruin all his nostalgia. He turned the knob and opened the door.

…The stark lack of Black Space bleeding into the room was the first thing Stranger noticed. The second thing was that everything was exactly how it always had been, everything exactly where he would have left it in all its places. His plants, his books, his bed. It was like visiting your childhood home years after you’ve moved away, which to some irony, might as well have been exactly what it was to Stranger.

“It feels like forever since we looked through all our pictures together!” Kel exclaimed, unnervingly on the nose much to Stranger’s discomfort. It wasn’t as if he knew how right he was, and so that was no fault of his own.

“Yeah. Well, we can look through it after Basil puts that picture in, right?” Aubrey questioned, lightly elbowing Stranger as she smiled.

“Right.” He said, coming out of his mental stupor. Stranger shot another glance at Omori, only for it to earn no reaction from the monochrome boy. What did Stranger expect anyway? A big ‘Gotcha!’ as Omori pulled a curtain to reveal this was just another messed up Black Space room? A thought like that would only come about from not trusting Omori. …Maybe he still didn’t. Maybe it was hard to, despite how much he wanted to believe otherwise. Of his paranoia, where did it begin with him and end with Basil’s own fears? He was still thankful for Omori and all Omori had done for him this day, but it didn’t mean his fears completely left him. 

“Are you… having trouble remembering where you put it?” Mari offered, trying to help as she noticed Stranger had not moved in some time. The others were giving each other increasingly worried looks, and the drop of the mood in the air was palpable. “We can help you search, if you’d like.”

Stranger blinked, “…Ah. Right. No, sorry. I’m sorry, everyone, I was just-- Just thinking. About where I put my photo album. It’s… uh, it should be on the shelf, I’m certain.” He stiffly began walking over to his bookshelf. It wasn’t even dusty this time around, to his pleasant surprise. And sure enough, there was his photo album. Stranger was glad he was right about that, not wanting to waste everyone’s time some more.

He pulled it out and opened the photo album, slipping the new picture Mari had taken next to the last of the previous Headspace pictures. Pictures he’d never seen before, personally. They surely had not been taken by him, and similarly had no captions about them in his own writing, yet they all seemed familiar somehow. 

A photo of Omori, Aubrey, and Hero with their backs to the camera, facing a TV screen as Kel lounged on a bed. Omori seemed to be playing a video game while his friends looked on excitedly. He was probably winning; the Dreamer always had been good at these sorts of games and Stranger imagined it was no different for Omori. A photo where Aubrey’s fist was out, with Kel seeming to be the instigator for it. He was lying on his back looking dazed while everyone else sat, gathered around an open comic book on the floor. A photo where everyone was sitting around a table, an empty pizza box open with Kel looking satisfied while everyone else looked annoyed at him. Of course he’d eat all the pizza without them… Stranger chuckled to himself at the thought. A photo with a picnic basket and a potted white egret orchid next to a headstone--

“Hey! I thought we were gonna look at those together! You’re doing that without us?” Kel pouted, coming up next to Stranger.

“Oh, leave him alone.” Aubrey said, “You know he’s having a weird day, or something…”

“Well, I didn’t mean that in a bad way!” Kel frowned, and then looked at Stranger with an apologetic smile, “Sorry, Basil… I mean, don’tcha wanna come over so we can all see it? We all miss looking at our pictures together, y’know…” 

Stranger responded with a single nod, walking over to the middle of the group and placed his photo album down for everyone. Though, very specific questions burned into his mind all the while. 

Why had new photos (that weren’t actual photos) materialized into his photo album? As far as he could tell, they were… memories. Sunny’s memories. And if that were the case, would it be fine to show them to his Headspace friends? There was no truth to hide, but Stranger felt as if there were holes between his own and his friends’ understandings that were being filled in very weird ways. Perhaps a dream world did not need to make sense, but Sunny’s Headspace was normally much more structured than any regular dream. Kel, Aubrey, and Hero somehow had not seen these pictures in a long time, and that again brought the question of when they last had seen Basil . And just why did they so readily accept Stranger as him? Just because Omori said so? And-- And Hero was in college . Was there a newly-appeared college in Headspace? Or had Mari only said that because he was created from facts based off of the real Hero and that’s just what the memories associated with him were now? Stranger had no answers and it was that very aspect out of this whole experience that he was most unused to. It was frustrating, to say the least.

A sudden grab at his shoulders was enough to make Stranger jolt in shock for a moment, until he realized who had touched him.

“Sorry! Didn’t mean to scare you.” It suddenly occurred to Stranger that Hero really had the same smile as Kel did when they looked apologetic like that. “I noticed you and Aubrey talking earlier, and I’m just… a bit concerned. You can say no if you want to look at the pictures with everyone all together instead, but I just want to have a chat with you for a bit too, if that’s okay? We can step outside and come right back to join everyone else. Again, I don’t want to pry you away from spending time with everyone, but…”

“…You sound like a teacher.” Stranger commented, catching Hero off guard.

“Do I--? I don’t know if that’s a good thing or a bad thing.” Hero muttered.

“I meant no ill will,” Stranger said, “You’ve always been older than us; it only makes sense that you’re so mature. You just… sound more so than I remember. It’s not a bad thing.”

“Oh… Well, thanks!” Hero smiled, “So, um. About my question?”

Begrudgingly, Stranger gave it some thought. He nodded slowly, “I don’t mind it, if you must. I do have a few things I would like to talk to you about as well.”

“Then, in that case…”

Hero ushered Stranger out the door, shutting it softly behind him so as to not even let the knob give any audible ‘click’. 

He turned to face Stranger again, taking a slow breath in and out before beginning, “Alright. So, you mentioned you’ve been thinking a lot about something lately. It really seems like it’s been bothering you, whatever it is. And I know you didn’t want to talk about it with Aubrey, so I won’t push you into talking about it with me, but if it’s something serious or important… Well, I just think it’ll be good for you to say something to someone . Even if I won’t be able to understand it. Even if it’s hard to listen to, or you think it’s silly to get worked up over, or anything else like that. We’re all friends, and everyone cares about you, Basil. I just want to be completely sure that you’re okay. Or that you’re safe.” Hero shot him a bittersweet smile, “I’m gonna be a doctor, after all. It’s my number one priority to help people, and that goes double for my friends.”

Now how was Stranger supposed to respond to that…? Did Hero think he wanted to off himself? Was that it? Did everyone else think as much too? Well, it would certainly explain the way some of them had been talking to him lately. Perhaps that concern should go towards Basil in the real world considering what the Dreamer had been through before their hospitalizations. Stranger, however, felt much differently. …Ignoring the fact he very recently assumed that helping the Dreamer accept the truth would mean Stranger would cease to exist entirely. But that was a different matter than committing such a gristly act directly, obviously.

Thinking about it, Stranger tapped a finger to his chin, “…I suppose to answer your questions, you will have to answer some of my own. Of which, there are several questions that have been on my mind this whole time. I do not expect you to have any concrete answer, so I will word them in ways which you are able to respond to with some degree of certainty.”

“Well, I’ll do my best.” Hero nodded, looking puzzled over what Stranger could possibly want to ask him and how that would help. But if that could help him in some way that Stranger was sure of, Hero was willing to do what he could for his friend without a doubt.

“That is all I ask for.” Stranger nodded, and then held up one finger, “When was the last time you recall seeing me? Talking to me, spending time with me… The last memory you have of Basil .”

“I mean, we’ve been hanging out a lot all day toda--”

“Before today.” Stranger clarified, suppressing an annoyed groan, “Specifically before I joined you all for the picnic in the Playground. Before you returned my flower crown to me. Come on, Hero.”

That forced Hero to think a moment longer as he looked through his mind for a genuine answer. “I… I’m not sure…” He blinked, confused at his own memories-- or lack thereof. “I don’t know if I’ve thought of it that way before.”

“As I expected. Which is why I’m asking you these questions in the first place.” Stranger was about to move on to another question, until Hero interrupted him.

“It feels like… yesterday? But… that’s not right. It’s like-- Like it’s been years since we’ve seen each other. You look older, too. I guess it’s like… I blinked and you’ve grown up a lot. I guess that’s why we miss you, huh?” Hero was stuck in his own thoughts for a moment, “Why… did we stop hanging out, again? None of us would’ve wanted that to happen, right?”

Ha. None of them except… “Well, then I suppose this question has a part A and B.” Stranger held up his second finger, “What do I look like to you? As in, my physical appearance. And if I say the word… ‘Stranger,’ does that jog anything for you? Or do anything for how you perceive me?”

Hero cautiously looked at him. Really looked at him. His gaze took in Stranger’s features, the details of his clothes, stared back at his eyes, darted down to the hand he was holding up-- Or at least, he was trying to focus on all of that. He really was. He shook his head slowly upon finding his gaze fixed solely on the flower crown Stranger was wearing. The only source of colour on his person. “...Blurry. You’re entirely blurry, and shadowed, without any colour and that’s not even in the same way Omori is, and-- And it’s hard to look at you or focus my eyes on you, like, physically. Except your flower crown. And your eyes… They’re… not blue? Is this what's wrong…? What happened to you--?” He swallowed, his throat suddenly feeling dry, “ ‘Stranger…’ Now that you mention it, you… look like… a stranger.” Yet even with his previous confirmation of what the shadowy boy looked like to him, Hero could somehow sense Stranger was suddenly crestfallen at the revelation. “--But! I know that it’s you, Basil. Even when I can’t really see you. I just… I can’t understand why I can’t look at you. Why do you look like this…? Please answer me, I-- I’m worried .” He was looking more afraid than anything, which did not make Stranger feel any better.

Three fingers. Maybe this one was risky, especially after the reaction he got just now. But Stranger needed to know for his own peace of mind. “If you can tell me what you think of this, I’ll know whether I am able to explain everything to you: Do you know what you are, Hero?”

“…What I am?” Hero questioned, frowning with uncertainty. He was clearly trying hard to think in spite of his addled mind, “I… I’m just Hero? Or, Henry, I guess. I’m you guys’s friend. I’m Kel’s brother, Omori and Mari’s next door neighbour, a pre-med college student… I-- don't think I understand why you're asking me that…?”

Stranger lowered his hand and sighed. No, Hero was not ready for this yet. Well. There were Stranger’s hopes dashed. But perhaps Hero was just not the right person to be talking to about all of his issues. If anything, there were only two people he either knew or assumed would truly understand, and of whom knew the Dreamer’s truth to begin with. That had to make it very easy to talk about certain things without the mind-melting catch-up context Stranger would ultimately have to provide to a person like Hero, who knew none of this beforehand. If there was anything Stranger learned from guiding the Dreamer in facing the truth, it was that it was fruitless when he was not ready and all Stranger had the power to do was plant the seeds in the hopes it would one day grow soon. Perhaps the case with Hero and the rest of his Headspace friends functioned in the same way.

“…It’s nothing, Hero, you are correct. And you are a very wonderful, caring friend that I am lucky to have. Don’t worry too much about how I look. It’s a personal issue that I’m sure Omori and I might figure out how to solve soon enough.” Stranger pushed gently on Hero’s back, trying to get him back inside the house, “Let’s join the others. I’m sure Mari misses your charming face.”

Wow. Hero was so out of it, that not even that was getting him blushing. Uh oh. 

Stranger guiltily turned the knob again and pushed the door inward, along with Hero. His friends’ heads raised from looking through the photo album as Stranger made his unceremonious entrance with Hero.

“I, um… May have broke Hero.” Stranger mumbled, glancing away from everyone else, “Can someone give him a hand here?”

Kel and Aubrey yelped in surprise as a weird, wiggling, floating, red hand attached to a disembodied arm suddenly materialized from Omori and flew directly towards Stranger and Hero. Stranger only stared at Omori with mild disbelief before giving up entirely, throwing his hands up.

“Okay. Sure. That’s fine, that’s what I asked for. Good job, Omori.”

Chapter Text

This might as well be happening. Yes, why not. Stranger pinched the bridge of his nose in exasperation, all concerns about not wanting to be rude long thrown out the window by now. Aubrey and Kel just looked on, slightly horrified, sharing equally shocked glances at each other as the red hand patted Hero on the head gently in an attempt to help. What exactly it was helping with, was unclear to Stranger. 

Seeing as Omori had stood up and was walking towards him, Stranger just stared at him. “Why.”

“Helping.” Omori replied. 

“I see.” Stranger responded. “What happened to being subtle?”

Omori shrugged, “No need, Mister ‘I must lead the Dreamer to the truth’.”

“Wh-- You do not get to make that jab at me.” Stranger crossed his arms, trying not to sound too flustered, “Besides, the truth was a different matter than exposing our friends to entities that were beyond their perception until just recently. Look at Aubrey and Kel; you're scaring them.”

“Excuse me--?? What exactly did you do to Hero?” Mari interrupted.

“…Exposed him to concepts that were beyond his perception until just recently.” Stranger answered sheepishly.

It didn’t help that Omori was staring at him with such an endearingly annoyingly smug look. Stranger just shot back a stare that demanded for him to not say a word before he even said anything.

“Will someone please tell us what’s going on!?” Kel cried out, his gaze darting back and forth between everyone in the room.

Aubrey began, “I’d hate to agree with Kel--”

“Hey!”

“--But I think we deserve some answers. What the hell is happening here!? What’s wrong with Hero? What’s with those… those things that came out of Omori!? Is this what you aren’t telling me, Basil?? Because yeah this sure looks ‘difficult to explain’!”

…Things? Plural? Stranger was about to question that specific phrasing before realizing he no longer needed to. Two more red hands floated up to Stranger, carrying a potted plant. One that was clearly taken from one of many plants in his own home. Stranger turned again towards Omori.

“You wanted one.” Omori pointed at the potted plant as the red hands emphasized their ‘gift’ by moving even closer to Stranger.

“Very funny. Better late than never, I suppose.” Stranger muttered, taking back the potted plant to put it back where the red hands stole it from, “If I may say, however, now is not the time for this, Omori. I believe we owe them an explanation or two.” He gestured to everyone else in the room who were all completely lost in one way or another-- or several at a time, more likely.

“Later. At the Meadow.” Omori said, plopping himself down to sit by the photo album again, hugging his knees as he looked up at Stranger.

“Even if we wait until then,” Stranger frowned and stretched his arm towards the boy standing by the doorway, “Hero is still catatonic.”

Omori tapped a finger to his chin in thought, glancing over to Hero. They certainly could not leave him like that; after all, it just wouldn’t be the same to explore without him in Omori’s party. In an instance, the red hand stopped patting his head, and moved around to pluck a flower from one of the fully bloomed plants that had been growing around the house and carried it over to Hero. It waved the flower gently in front of his face. Hero still hadn’t reacted so the red hand apparently decided to just shove the flower’s petals into Hero’s face.

“What the- Aaaah- Aaaaaah-- Achoo!” Hero sputtered, then sneezed. Which was a very effective way to spit out the petals that had gotten into his mouth. Gross… And sad. Stranger winced out of a small sense of grief for the poor flower. But at least Hero was moving and talking again. He blinked, looking around as he familiarized himself with his surroundings upon realizing he was back indoors. He sniffled, “Ah. Excuse me. …What’s with all the staring? Come on guys, not even a ‘bless you’?”

And then his gaze froze directly on Stranger. Stranger held his breath, not wanting a repeat of what happened, but everyone was looking at him like they expected him of all people to say something. “…Feeling better, Hero?” Stranger asked.

Hero thankfully responded as he normally would, although he had quickly averted his eyes from Stranger. “Yeah, I think so… I’m alright. Sorry if I worried everyone.”

“Good… That’s good.” Stranger sighed in relief, running a hand through his shadowed-out hair. “Sorry about earlier. Just, uh… Don’t think about it too hard. It will make sense in due time.” That is, if Hero remembered what had happened at all. The ways in which Omori handled these mishaps were still an enigma to Stranger. Maybe he should actually ask at some point. At least the red hands had dissipated back into Omori, now that they were no longer needed.

His eyes shifted to stare at Aubrey and Kel who looked on disappointedly as they were still left in the dark. Right. Next matter.

“Aubrey, Kel,” Stranger began promptly, glancing at Omori who suddenly seemed troubled the moment Stranger addressed them. Oh, for the love of…

Certainly, it was Omori’s role to conceal the truth. But they both knew everyone would know by the end of this trip. On the other hand, Stranger could admit that this truth was less pertinent than Sunny’s, and if all would be clear once they got to Basil’s Meadow…

For the sake of Omori’s comfort, Stranger backed down. “…How do you two feel about waiting until we arrive at the Meadow?” Omori perked up, a pleased undertone in his neutral expression. “I promise, it will be easier to say more once we get there. Either that, or someone will not have the choice to keep stalling any longer.” That final comment earned a pout from Omori, and so Stranger smirked to himself. Fair’s fair.

Kel’s disappointment only grew, “What? Why? Come on, Basil! You can’t do this to us… Hero’s my brother, I think I at least deserve to know what was up with him even if he's fine now.”

“And you will know. Later.” Stranger replied, only to continue defending himself the more Kel looked at him the way he did, “I know, I know. My deepest apologies. It pains me to withhold the answers you seek as much as it does you to not know them. Trust me.”

Even if Kel had mumbled a grumpy-sounding ‘Fine…’ it seemed Aubrey still needed to voice her own concerns.

“Okay. No. Sure, you have every right to not tell us what’s up, or whatever, but you’ve been making it pretty clear every chance you get that you do want to say something. So what’s with that ? Is Omori making you keep it secret? ‘Cause if it’s that, then I have a whole other issue there…” She looked like she would be rolling up her sleeves if they weren’t already rolled up. Jeez. He knew the previous Aubrey was only a product of a younger, crush-stricken Sunny’s fantasies, so this was a much more honest version of her than he knew. But jeez . Why did her face have to default to looking so scary these days? “If it’s something serious you need to talk to us about, don’t let us stop you from making your own choices.”

“…” Stranger and Omori looked at each other in stunned silence. 

Aubrey had a point, didn’t she? Stranger did not need to abide by the ‘rule’ of Omori smothering any ounce of the truth being said. Not if he truly was making it up to Stranger by giving him the freedom to say anything without being stopped. There was no danger. Stranger could just tell everyone right here, right now, with no regard for what Omori would or would not allow.

But… “I’ll admit, I have not thought of it that way before.” Stranger slowly nodded his head in thought as Omori looked the tiniest bit fearful, “…Then, I have made my choice. Omori and I promised each other that we would face things together, and no longer will we break our promises. Isn’t that right, Omori?”

Omori, stunned, responded with a delayed but earnest nod.

Seeing that, Aubrey’s expression softened as she accepted their decision. “Alright then. Good. Just making sure.” She sat down next to Omori, beside the photo album again, “If that’s the case, then I’m fine with waiting a little more too. C’mon, Basil, you haven’t looked through the photo album with us yet, right?”

She smiled, and Stranger, knowing that all was well once again, smiled back. Omori pat the other space on the floor next to him, beckoning for Stranger to sit with them. So he sat. Kel slid onto his knees behind Aubrey and Stranger, placing his hands on their shoulders with a big grin as he crowded around to see the photo album too. Hero and Mari followed soon after. 

Stranger watched as Omori flipped its pages to the beginning. Before that, he couldn’t help but notice that the pages everyone had been looking at before he interrupted with an unresponsive Hero were definitely not any of the pages with the Dreamer’s memories in them. It could have just as likely been that they hadn’t gotten to those pages yet, just as much as Omori was again preventing them from seeing those ‘photographs’ for whatever reason. 

The photo album. Focus. Stranger stared down at the first page of photos Basil had taken. Including every photo that reminded the Dreamer of the truth, which Stranger hadn’t yet seen for himself, but innately knew like they were memories of his own. They might as well have been, anyway. Seeing the other pictures brought Stranger a sense of pride. Sunny was healing . This was proof of that.

…Hang on. Upon closer examination, these photos were in a different order than the photos Stranger had seen in Headspace all this time, especially the most recent reset before the Dreamer confronted the truth. Despite this, Stranger couldn’t help but feel like this order was most… familiar. Not even in the way these were part of Basil’s memories. These photographs were part of Stranger’s memories, here in Headspace. He hadn’t given much thought about the differences in each photo’s order in the album in the past couple years, but suddenly it made sense now. The Dreamer always had a good memory-- It was why Omori deemed it necessary to erase all traces of the truth, for if the truth never existed, there would be nothing to remember. --But even still, the Dreamer was human, with a memory that was not completely perfect. Over the years, (especially going four years without seeing the original photo album,) Sunny was bound to forget some pictures, their captions, or even the exact order in which they had been taken. 

Minus the photos that reminded Sunny of the truth, this was the same order from Stranger’s photo album before he’d been banished. The first iteration of the photo album directly after the incident occurred and the Dreamer’s Headspace was formed as Stranger knew it today. Sunny hadn’t gone years without seeing the real photo album at that point; it was merely days at most. So it made sense that the one Stranger had was the closest to being identical to Basil’s photo album. And with the addition of photos involving the violin and Mari's piano, it was now more like Basil’s than it ever was. 

The fact that Sunny had actually gone outside and seen the real photo album several times again for the first time in years had to have a hand in that. Headspace could now restore the photos to the way they should be.

“--Lookit! We were so small !” Kel suddenly pointed, his arm coming in between Stranger and Aubrey to block their view of the picture he was pointing out entirely. “It’s funny in hindsight how much I complained about being shorter than all of you back then. I think maybe I shoulda complained more . That way, I’d be even taller than Hero now!”

“I don’t think it works that way…” Hero mumbled, clearly holding back a chuckle.

“Obviously not.” Aubrey stated matter-of-factly, pushing Kel’s hand away. Doing so revealed the pictures from Basil’s birthday party, with the minor difference that everyone looked as they did in Headspace. “If it did, Omori would’ve been just as tall as you literally the day after your growth spurt hit.”

It was incredibly entertaining for Stranger to watch as Omori’s face turned bright pink and he gently butted his head against Aubrey’s shoulder in protest.

She just replied with a laugh, “What? I’m just saying! I’m right, aren’t I?” Obviously she was, and Omori was not happy about it. Stranger did his best to hold in his own laughter.

Aubrey knew just how to remedy the situation-- She raised her hand and pat Omori’s head. He responded by closing his eyes peacefully and leaned into her touch, causing her to laugh a little more at how content he suddenly became as if her earlier transgressions were completely forgiven.

It was enjoyable enough just to sit in the moment. Stranger had always liked when Omori had that happy look on him and displayed his affection in that way that was so him . The way that made Omori Omori and not just a vessel for the Dreamer, even as similar as they were. Well, not to say that Sunny did not have similar behaviours when he was younger; but it seemed he’d grown out of it the past few years. Although… isolating himself certainly left him with no one to be affectionate towards anyway.

Glancing back at the photographs, he decided to comment, “…We really do look like babies this far back in the photo album. It feels so long ago now… It’s nice to see how much fun we had then.” Feeling everyone’s eyes on him as he spoke, Stranger’s cheeks got hotter. “Sorry. Just thinking out loud. I mean, all of that was clear enough without me saying anything, so…”

“Nonsense.” Mari reassured him, “Sometimes it’s nice to point out stuff like that. When things go unsaid, it’s easy to take it for granted. I think even though we’ve all gotten older, it’s nice that you’re still such a sweet boy who’s always here to remind us of how special we are to each other.”

Stranger wanted to cover his face, only for the fact he no longer knew how to respond to such a compliment. “Ah… Come on, Mari, no need to get sappier than me about it…”

Mari giggled, “Well don’t blame me! You started it! Besides, that’s nothing to be ashamed of. We love you for you, sappiness and all!”

“With that much sap, I might as well be a tree, not a Basil.” Stranger mumbled in an attempt to push aside his embarrassment, earning laughter from the rest of the group.

Kel’s voice cut through the moment, “Oh, hey! Hero, look at this one!” He pointed at the pictures where they arm-wrestled each other. “I wanna rematch! I’ll beat you this time!”

“What? Right now?” Hero glanced over at his brother, who promptly jumped over to a space on the floor away from the photo album.

“ Yes , right now! Unless you’re chiiiiiicken !” Kel taunted, proceeding to make chicken noises until Hero finally relented and came over for their rematch just to get him to stop.

Kel and Hero clasped their hands together, Kel grinning all the while with Hero sporting a grin of his own despite being initially hesitant. Kel announced, “On three! One… Two… Three!” In an instant, the two brothers pushed on each other’s hands as hard as they could as they arm-wrestled. Stranger should not have been as surprised as he was that Kel was slowly but surely dominating as he pushed Hero’s arm towards the ground at a steady pace-- even with Hero putting up a substantial fight so that they could have been evenly matched if Hero had been a smidge stronger. Four years was a long time to grow and change. And it only made sense. After all, a soon-to-be doctor against a basketball player? Of course Kel had bulked up over the years; it had been obvious when he’d carried Stranger and ran with him on his back like he was nothing.

With a final push, Kel slammed Hero’s hand to the ground and immediately threw his arms up in celebration. “I did it! I won! I won!!!” Kel cheered as if not even he was expecting that outcome. A bright yellow glow emanated from Kel, more happy than Stranger had ever really seen. And from Kel, that was saying something. Not only that, but Kel’s happiness and excitement had always been contagious. Stranger thought so, at least.

“Good job, Kel! I’m proud of you.” Hero congratulated, taking his loss with grace. Kel’s happy glow got even brighter upon hearing that, if you could believe it. 

“Really? Thanks!” Kel smiled, though upon looking closely, Stranger noticed his expression drop the slightest bit out of hesitation, “You didn’t let me win, didja?”

“Of course not! You won that fair and square. Have I ever let you win before?” Hero replied with a smile, though Kel just seemed to look away and grumble something under his breath. “You’ve gotten stronger than me and you’ve worked really hard to get there. And you can take care of yourself so well now; why wouldn’t I be proud of my little bro for that?”

“Well… Thanks, that means a lot coming from you.” Just like that, Kel’s smile was back, brightly as it always was.

Omori knocked on the floor to get Hero’s attention, and then mimed rubbing his hands together with a faint smirk on his face.

Hero laughed, “Oh yeah, and you don’t need to be reminded to wash your hands anymore… Most of the time.”

“Omori!! No fair!” Kel whined. “A guy goes through the trash and then forgets to wash his hands before dinner once and no one lets him live it down!”

“…You still dig through the trash?” Stranger stared at Kel with a wilting expression. Suddenly he felt a little worse about being carried by him earlier, although surely his hands were clean that time… Right…?

“See, Kel? Basil thinks it’s gross too.” Aubrey said.

“Don’t look at me like that! There’s good stuff in there sometimes!” Kel asserted, “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure, as I always say!”

Aubrey scoffed and rolled her eyes, “Guess you've been digging through bullshit too; you don’t always say that.”

“Language, Aubrey.” Mari reminded gently, not chastising the pink-haired girl for it but it seemed Aubrey was still ashamed anyway as she mumbled an apology. Though it was clear to Stranger that not even she could bother hiding her fond grin as she glanced back at Kel. Stranger felt similarly, in all honesty. Kel may sometimes have his idiot moments, but he was still their idiot.

Stranger’s attention returned to the photo album, quietly flipping the page and settling his gaze not on the picnic photos that he’d seen countless times in Headspace, but one that looked out of place between the antics with Kel and Hero’s dog and of flower crown making. A single photo of Mari carrying a sleeping Omori on her back, taking him back home. His translucent fingers brushed over the caption that a seemingly younger him wrote… though Stranger knew for a fact that he did not write it. This photo was not part of Headspace until now, but he knew the words on a fundamental level that could not be explained otherwise.

I caught Mari carrying Omori on the way home today. He must have fallen asleep on the train. I thought it was so cute, so I got my camera out as quick as I could to snap this once-in-a-lifetime photo! Sigh… Sometimes I wish I had a sibling.

How cute. He allowed a small smile at the caption. In a way, he felt like he could say his friends had always been like family to him anyway. At least, that was how Basil felt. They were more important to him than anyone else in his life. That was how it was before everyone had drifted apart. Before Basil lost all that he loved the most. And similarly, so had Stranger lost what he had upon being banished. But that was what Omori had been resolving to fix, and he reminded himself of that fact so constantly. A broken plate could not be glued back to the way it was before; as seamless as the cracks could be, there would always still be cracks. Scars. Proof it had been shattered once, and then put back together-- And Stranger supposed the latter was what mattered in the end. That any effort at all was spent to make things better. 

Then again, there was also that gap between them and Stranger that made things hard to reconcile. That leap of logic. The way that it felt like no time at all had passed for his friends despite acknowledging it every now and then, and the way they all behaved so… normally. 

Of all the scenarios Stranger dreamed of where he’d be meeting his friends again, the last thing he expected was this sense of normalcy . It was invalidating in a way, to know what he knew, to be gone for years, only to be welcomed back like nothing had changed at all. Like he’d been blipped in and out of existence with none but himself and Omori the wiser. That for all his friends knew, Stranger’s suffering did not matter. He knew it would be pointless to blame anyone for that. It still didn’t make the urge to fulfill a desire lasting four years-- of a young Basil’s wish to hug them all one by one and sob his sorrows into their shoulders, to feel them reciprocate and miss him half as much as he missed them-- go away, but he remained composed for this long and decided against making a scene out of nowhere. Besides, that wish was no longer applicable when Stranger’s feelings towards his banishment were simply numb acceptance. It was just how things were now, nothing more, nothing less.

Another page flip. A rainy day, eating popsicles together (banana was okay, but he still wished Mari got him strawberry instead. …Where did that thought come from?), everyone’s feet in a circle… 

Stranger flipped the page again, this time garnering the attention of the others who noticed Stranger had silently dropped out of the conversation. Omori had already noticed long before them, but not exactly being very talkative, he had opted to look at the pictures with Stranger in such a quiet way that not even Stranger was aware he was doing so until now. Not that he was surprised.

“Oh, the beach! I miss going there. It’s always such a fun time.” Mari pointed out wistfully.

“We should go again sometime soon!” Kel suggested, “Maybe we can bring Sally with us too! If there’s any place we gotta show her that’s cool and fun, it’s gotta be there!”

Sally? “…Your baby sister?” Stranger asked hesitantly, the knowledge faint and just outside his reach, but still tangibly there. “Perhaps you should wait until she’s older to show her the beach. I doubt she’ll remember much of it as young as she is now.”

“Well yeah, of course! I mean, like, it’ll be fun to bring her now and when she’s older. I can take care of her while we’re there no prob, and it’ll be fun having some baby pics at the beach to show her in a few years too, right?” Kel elaborated, smiling as Stranger considered his words. Huh. That was pretty sound logic, and it was a given that Stranger would snap some more photos of any future beach outings they’d have together. And Kel not even suggesting Hero help him with taking care of their sister? Someone had become surprisingly mature over the years. It was delightful to see, truly. Made sense anyway, with Hero having been gone for college in the real world.

“Fair enough. Then I suppose Omori is no longer the baby of our group.” Stranger declared, shooting Omori a small grin. 

Omori only responded with a look that reminded him of the flower boy’s angry expression through previous iterations of Headspace: harmlessly annoyed in the most cheek-pinching way possible. 

That made Stranger laugh heartily. “You can't be that pressed about losing your ‘title,’ can you? You know you’re still our favourite bulbous boy regardless of whether we can coddle you, right?” He nudged Omori with an elbow before gently taking hold of Omori’s hand.

It only made Stranger laugh a little harder as he watched Omori appear to seriously think over that sentiment for a moment before nodding and giving him a thumbs up with his free hand. At least he was satisfied with being bulbous. Though Stranger knew that was code for perfect , what Basil had described Sunny as originally, he was not entirely certain Omori was on the same page.

“As for me, I’ll look forward to going to the beach with everyone the next time we go there. But I am not looking forward to getting sunburnt…” Stranger grimaced, one of his captions reminding him of how easily that could happen.

“Can that still happen to you?”

Stranger blinked. “Pardon?” He asked, looking at Hero.

“Oh. Sorry if that was rude, I just…” Hero looked away briefly before repeating his query as he gestured to the whole of Stranger. “I was wondering if you can still get sunburnt considering… You know. If you’re all shadow, can the sun even affect your skin, or…?”

What an interesting development. Hero could now conceive of Stranger’s ‘condition’ without freezing up, and even treat the whole thing with more casualness since he was no longer afraid either. Was he somehow becoming more accustomed to him as time passed?

Stranger stared at Hero quizzically, but attempted a response all the same, “Well, I don’t think I actually know the answer to that. I have not tried sunbathing as I am now. I haven’t exactly… had the time or means to do so. What’s more surprising to me, is that… you can see me? Like last time, or-- Or can you remember something about our conversation?”

Hero nodded slowly, “Bits and pieces. I, um, I think I can see you a little better now, if that makes sense? I don’t really know how to describe it. I just… I can look at you now.”

“I see.” Stranger hummed, thoughtful. Maybe even hopeful. Before anyone else could question Hero or before Omori could use his pitiful puppy-dog pouting abilities on Stranger, Stranger turned the page again and let his pointer finger rest on the first photograph he could think to comment on. “Oh… wow… Remember how much Mari would try to scare Hero with bugs? That was funny. Haha. How’s your entomo- and arachnophobia doing, by the way?” Silently, he apologized to Hero in his head for throwing him under the bus. Not his fault he was the last person he’d been talking to and was therefore the person already on his mind to change the subject towards.

Even if it was a throwaway question, it appeared Stranger was getting a very obvious answer anyway. Hero was again frozen like a statue, a heavy silence falling over the group.

“…Hero? Hero-??” Stranger called out, turning away from the photo album to look at Hero. “No, not again…! Please tell me I didn’t break him again…!!” He fretted, an anxiousness both familiar and unfamiliar creeping into his voice.

“Bro?” Kel poked at Hero’s cheek, as Mari similarly called Hero’s name and shook his shoulder. Hero continued to stay frozen with that thousand yard stare.

It was only when Stranger turned the photo album’s page once more that Hero moved again, taking a huge gulp of air as if he hadn’t even been breathing that whole time. Stranger stared at him in disbelief, “…So your phobia has become worse than ever. Got it.”

“Hero… That was only a picture of a beetle this time.” Mari said, frowning, “I’m getting very worried about you.”

“Yeah! Seriously.” Kel agreed, “You weren’t like this before… What even happens in college, dude? What did the frat bros do to you?”

“I don’t think it’s college that’s the issue here.” Aubrey muttered.

“You don’t know that!” Kel snapped back.

“Neither do you!” Aubrey retorted.

“Hey, don’t fight you two!” Hero did his best to calm down the quickly escalating atmosphere. Good thing he was a lucky guy; he’d need his luck stats up dealing with Aubrey and Kel. “I’m fine, don’t worry about me! They just… creep me out.” He shuddered. “It’s no big deal, I’m alright now, aren’t I?”

Stranger scoffed, “Oh, so creepy crawlies that are beneficial to my plants and harmless to humans scare you, but you’ve gotten over your fear of me? I could show you something of mine to really be scared of…” It was getting very, very tempting to summon a tendril, or a fang or twenty from Something just to spook an easy target. Out of love, of course.

“Look who’s subtle now.” Omori teased as he squeezed Stranger’s hand in his own to remind him that, no, it was definitely not a good idea to scare Hero if even Omori was reprimanding him for it.

“Hey, I am not the one who actually summoned anything for our friends to bear witness with their naked eyes.” Stranger stated. “I merely implied I could.”

“What!? You can make the jazz hands appear outta nowhere too!??” Kel exclaimed. “Man! What else are you people not telling me? Next you’re gonna tell me Mari can like, secretly fly and walk through walls or something!” He said, as Mari very coincidentally looked like she swallowed an entire frog whole, hearing Kel’s words.

Stranger shook his head, trying to contain another giggle at Omori’s expense. “Well, not jazz hands , per se.” Should he? Should he really ? …No, he should not. He was a representation of the truth, but he knew better than to use his truths for shock value. Mostly. “Let’s just say… It is Something else.”

Omori stared at Stranger with the most dead look he’d seen on him yet, which Stranger considered a major victory in an immature sense of glee. He could practically hear Omori’s voice asking him, ‘Oh, you think you’re soooooo clever.’ Yes. Yes, he thought exactly that. Screw it. Stranger deserved to have fun with his spooky nature after everything he’d been through.

“…I’m just going to ignore everything that just happened and pretend we’re all having a good time looking at our memories.” Aubrey deadpanned, blunt as she stared down at the photo album’s pictures again. 

Seeing where the photo album was open to now, Hero stared at the pictures as if recalling something on the tip of his tongue. “The treehouse…” He uttered, suddenly appearing confused at his own words.

“Hm… I mean, yeah! I guess we could say the Neighbor’s Room is pretty much a treehouse! It’s like a house down a tree stump, after all.” Kel said, nodding along as he pointed out the photo of Hero climbing the ladder up to Neighbor’s Room. …Climbing up? Kel suddenly faltered as Hero spoke again.

“No, not Neighbor’s Room. I meant-- Didn’t we… build it together?” Hero asked, looking at everyone for confirmation. 

Stranger looked towards Omori, accusatory. As he suspected, the truth was coming like a tidal wave and it would not stay contained for much longer. There were already discrepancies between their friends’ memories, and the photo album as there was bound to be now that every photo the Dreamer remembered was here. And with what Stranger did to Hero earlier, perhaps that had more of an effect on him than Stranger initially thought. As much as it seemed Headspace attempted to replace some details of Faraway to make it make sense with that of Headspace, there were some things that couldn't be explained away in this world. 

Would they still need to go to Black Space? How was he supposed to handle this situation with his friends? He’ll have to explain soon, and he was already planning to do that with Omori anyway, but… But… Was all this worry causing that sudden queasiness at the bottom of his stomach--?

Automatically, Stranger stood up. “Excuse me.” He mumbled before rushing out of the room. …Since when did the Old Shoe have multiple rooms? Why was he fleeing instead of calmly explaining things to everyone? --A bathroom?

He was in the bathroom. Why was this so familiar? He already knew the answer. Basil. It was always Basil, wasn’t it? It was always when these things Stranger could not otherwise explain in himself occurred. He should not be here. Not that he didn’t trust Omori, but there was no doubt that Omori would be hiding information rather than giving them what they needed. They could wait, but… Black Space. They had to go into Black Space for that. Kel, Aubrey, and Hero would have to go into Black Space. And the photo album was almost towards the end, so they would have to leave for the Meadow soon. It was coming so soon.

Get out of the bathroom. Stop being so useless.

A few breaths and Stranger could feel himself gradually calming down. He was not nearly as bad as Basil was in dealing with his anxious feelings, but only because he needed to be. If he didn’t help the Dreamer, who would? That was what he often told himself. And that would be good enough for now to motivate himself to be there for his friends too. He just needed to calm down.

Things were changing, but it was a good change. It had to be. Questioning their realities would be vital to revealing all that happened with Stranger, and Headspace, and whatever else was messed up in their memories. It would lessen the impact that way.

…Staring into the mirror was something Stranger had not done in a very long time. Had he ever, or was that another thing only Basil had done? He certainly did not recall the flower boy peering into any Headspace mirrors with his and Omori’s friends. In a weird way, he kind of still looked like the flower boy-- aside from the flower crown, obviously. His silhouette was the same. The way his hair fell. His eyes, though no longer blue, were not as dissimilar as he’d thought they would be. They did not feel the same, having grown older and less innocent, but they just looked like they resembled his former self. Somehow. He could not explain the exact similarities.

What an odd train of thought , he mused. Everyone kept calling him ‘Basil,’ and he responded to that name with little difficulty, but never once had he connected to that name for years now. He still hadn’t. It was a name reserved for the flower boy, and for the Dreamer’s best friend. Not Stranger. It wasn’t that he personally believed he didn’t deserve a name, or that he wasn’t Basil in some capacity. Rather, he was much too different and too disconnected to whoever he used to be to even consider referring to himself that way anymore. He was neither the flower boy, and was not the Dreamer’s best friend, so… Who was he? Some other person entirely? That was not correct, but it was not wrong either.

For the heck of it, what if he just tried to-- “…I am Basil.” Stranger declared aloud, staring intently at the mirror as if convincing his reflection would suddenly make that statement true. Just by looking at himself, the words only felt all the more foreign on his tongue. “I am Basil. I’m Basil. My name is Basil.” He repeated, hands gripping the sink lightly.

A long beat of silence passed. And then he started chuckling to himself, shaking his head. No, that felt just as ridiculous as he thought it would.

“Ah… That might be the dumbest thing I’ve ever done.” He mumbled to himself, taking a step away from the mirror. 

At least it was a good laugh. He felt calmer already, even considering going back to the others until he suddenly heard a knocking on the door behind him. Without much else of a warning, Stranger noticed a flash of black and white in the mirror’s reflection. 

“…Mari?” Stranger asked after turning around to face the now open doorway. “This, uh… This room is occupied. Unless you need to go, then I suppose I’ll leave…”

“Oh, no!” Mari replied, “I just thought I’d find you here. It looks like you’ve been pretty busy staring at that mirror, haven’t you?”

Stranger chuckled awkwardly, unsure of what to say, “Well, you caught me. I was just about to join everyone else again, don’t worry… But did you, um, happen to hear anything from outside the door?”

“Just a bit.” She smiled in that knowing way of hers. Ugh. Figures. Then she said something that really knocked his expectations out of the park, despite having seen this coming a mile away. “So… Do you still go by Stranger, or not anymore?”

Stranger’s heart took a moment to slow back down. “I… I don’t know. I suppose I go by Basil now? But also, I don’t really go by Basil. Nor do I feel anyone has quite directly referred to me as Stranger either-- Maybe other than Hero, very recently. I am impartial to these names, if we’re being honest.”

“Oh, okay. I’ve just always wondered… ‘Stranger’ always felt a little mean to me. You aren’t a stranger! You’re our friend. You always have been.” Mari answered softly, stepping into the room and shutting the door behind her. Well, the privacy was appreciated but did not make this encounter any less awkward.

“I know that.” Stranger said, mildly flustered. But if they were alone now… “…Do you miss Sunny? It must not be a pleasant experience, inside his Headspace rather than, I don’t know-- Whatever afterlife you believed in.”

Mari looked a little sadder, “Of course I do. But on the bright side, it’s kind of nice being here, seeing our friends again and how they’ve grown up. It’s thanks to you that he’s doing better now. There are times I can kind of see what’s going on in his life, especially with how this place changes… and there’s some times I could even get back to our old house, though not for long.”

Right. There was that moment with her piano… Sunny and Hero both heard her playing. Stranger nodded. “The bright side… I’ve always admired that about you, Mari. And you deserve some credit too. Swimming to the Deep Well? The Lost Library? You were a greater help to my efforts than you realize, and I cannot thank you enough. And Kel-- the real one, may not be here exactly, but he was also a big factor in finally pushing your brother to confront the truth. If I may say, every little thing these past couple days were integral to him breaking free of his delusions.”

She nodded slowly in return. “I guess so… Thank you.” Mari bit her lip, conflicted, before deciding on simply saying, “I don’t like how you say delusions, or ‘real’, implying our friends here are fake. They aren’t the same, I know, but they’re still friends. And Omori’s like a second little brother to me. --Or, I guess in a way, Sunny isn’t so little anymore if he’s… He’s 16 now, isn’t that right? Gosh… and I was only 15…”

“I see. I’m sorry, I meant no harm.” Stranger replied, compassionate. He attempted to comfort her, “Uh… There there. Well, I do not consider our friends here to be fake. They are certainly real to me and you. But not to the Dreamer, and therein lies the difference. He’d use them as mannequins to escape what he’d done and fend away the loneliness in an empty dollhouse when all they were at that point were merely blurry reflections of the real thing. But in our case, we have no reason to be with them other than simply being.” He stared like he was looking past her for a moment, though he snapped back to focus imperceptibly enough. “Indeed, four years have passed. I, um-- I am, frankly, surprised we have not spoken like this within all that time before now. Perhaps we would have been a little more coordinated with helping the Dreamer if that was the case. Good thing it all worked out anyway, then.”

Mari laughed hearing his attempt at a jokey tone, “Hah, yeah… That is a good thing. It’s what Sunny deserves. And everyone else, too.” She shifted where she stood, suddenly uncomfortable. Maybe the heavier things were not what she needed to talk about at the moment. Stranger felt the same, no matter how much he was predisposed to think of the Dreamer’s burdens.

“About our friends,” Stranger glanced at her. “How does it feel being with everyone?”

“Really, really… strange. Pun unintended.” She shot him a half-grin. 

He laughed and waved a hand. “I didn’t even notice.”

Mari continued, “In a way, it’s like I have another chance to be with them, you know? It’s nice! Kel’s gotten so tall and he’s grown up in so many ways too. Hero… I know he’ll make a wonderful doctor, but I just… I’ve always loved his cooking. I know I can’t be too sad; he is very smart, and it’s wonderful to know he’s the same Hero, always wanting to help people. And I’m so glad I get to see how pretty Aubrey’s pink hair looks… I still feel bad I couldn’t keep my promise to dye mine purple. I… don’t know if I can change my hair colour here anyway…” She pinched a lock of her jet black hair in her hand, looking at the strands regretfully. “And they aren’t the same people I knew in life, but… That’s kinda how life is, anyway, when you’re growing up. And these ones…” She hesitated, opting not to call them mannequins like Stranger had, for the exact reason she soon revealed, “They’re not just Sunny’s imaginary friends anymore. This time around, it’s different. You feel it too, right?”

“Indeed I have.” Stranger answered, “They are more than fragmented memories now. It must have been much more freeing for the Dreamer than I ever anticipated, to affect his friends’ copies to the point of gaining their own wills.”

“Huh. Is that what that is…?” Mari tilted her head at Stranger’s words.

“I’d assume so. What else could it be?” He would have raised a brow at her if that action was visible in any capacity.

“I don’t really know. I’m pretty sure you know more about this Headspace stuff than me…” Mari looked away, before finally answering, “My guess was just that… If Sunny or Omori aren’t really ‘controlling’ them anymore, this is just the kind of people they’d be like?”

“That too, that too…” Stranger agreed, nodding his head in thought. “Not a bad guess, honestly. It is not as if I am the all-knowing arbiter of Headspace. That title fits Omori much better, though not even he can predict or control all that happens here either.”

Mari looked like she was still struggling to comprehend Stranger’s words, but she nodded along anyway. “Makes sense. He couldn’t control that black void from breaking through this world, or you leading Sunny towards accepting what he did.”

“Exactly.” Stranger confirmed, then he paused for a moment. “…Why are you here?”

She scrunched up her nose as she questioned him, “Is that… another existential question of yours, or are you asking why I’m in the bathroom talking to you?”

Stranger hummed in mild amusement, “Humour me. Why not a bit of both?”

Mari just replied with another laugh, “I didn’t know Basil got so philosophical and snarky while I was gone.”

“He didn’t.” Stranger admitted, “Quite the opposite, actually. I am simply the remains of whatever happens when you take a 12-year-old Sunny’s perception of Basil, strip away all that makes him him, and leave him stranded in Black Space for four years.” Oh. Oops. It appeared Stranger had succeeded in making Mari give him the most concerned-looking face he’d ever seen in his life. “…Um. Forget I just said that. There’s no need to worry anyway.”

She hadn’t said a word, choosing to just keep staring at him with that concerned expression while he slowly cracked under the pressure on his own.

“--Okay. Okay, perhaps it is fair to worry about me. I promise I’m fine now.” Stranger mumbled, “If anything, my real world counterpart is where you should place your concern.”

“Oh… That… doesn’t make me feel better.” Mari commented, not quite knowing how to respond. She decided that if she couldn’t do much to help Basil and lessen her worries about him, she could still do what she could in Headspace and help Stranger. He clearly needed it too, in spite of his objections. Mari toed the grout in between the bathroom floor tiles with her foot, hands clasping together behind her back, “--Anyway, I just wanted to come get you. That’s why I went looking for you, by the way. You just ran off and hadn’t told us what you were in such a rush for. We got pretty worried…” 

“I was-- I suppose I just got nervous.” Stranger sighed. It was just easy talking to Mari about things, much like it was with Omori. “You know we’re going to Black Space, I assume. I cannot be certain that our friends will be okay there…”

“It’s okay to be scared. It doesn’t at all sound like it left a good impression when you were there. I think it’s only natural to not want the people you care about to feel like you did, but still… There’s something important there. Or should I say someone ?”

Stranger stared at her, “Are all the things you do or do not know going to be this unpredictable? I cannot begin to guess what aspects of Headspace you are already privy to.”

“Oh come now, where’s the fun in taking all the mystery out of it? For a shadow, you really like things being clear-cut even though the way you talk is pretty much the opposite too.” She teased, then added, “Oh, and Omori wanted to get moving soon, so he put the photo album away for you. Now we’re all just waiting around until you’re ready.”

Stranger couldn’t even retort Mari’s words-- Not when he had more important things to address. 

“Omori wants to leave? Now?” He asked, incredulous, as if the concept was unthinkable to him. 

If it were days ago, it would have been unthinkable. Black Space was the forgotten truth. Omori was made to repress the truth. It was antithetical to his entire purpose to seek out the very place that would undo all his efforts-- To be so eager to lead his own friends there. But their purposes were no longer necessary now. Stranger knew this. Besides, if anyone was getting judged for acting outside of their unofficial roles, it should be Stranger for hiding away in a bathroom of all places, out of something as meagre as fear . He should be able to move past that, as long as it was for the best. It was for the best. He’d been through worse anyway. Why was this stopping him? It clearly was not stopping Omori.

“He’s being very brave lately, you know.” Mari continued on as if she’d heard Stranger’s thoughts. “Even if it doesn’t seem like it, he’s probably as scared as you are. They’re his friends too, and he knows what being in Black Space was like for you… But that just shows how much he cares about you, and how important this is. He’s willing to do something risky and scary for him because you’re more important than what could become of you if you don’t take this chance. Won’t you try to be brave for him too?”

That shouldn’t even be a question. Stranger found himself nodding before he realized he was doing so. “Of course. I am not one to succumb to the possibility of ‘what if’. The Dreamer overcame his own fears, and it would be hypocritical of me not to do the same.”

“Well, be careful holding yourself to the standards of someone else. If there’s one thing I’ve learned from all this, it’s that.” She replied, somber. “You’re not Sunny. You’re just you, and hypocritical or not, I think you should probably go because you want to. Not because it’s an expectation you put on yourself. You’ve already done so much for everyone… It’s only deserved that you do stuff for you now.”

Either way, Stranger had his mind made up. “I do want to. For myself and everyone.” 

It was somewhat revitalizing to admit that. Like he remembered what he was striving for, being here with everyone in the first place. At least, that was what he knew he wanted the moment he was reunited with all his friends at the picnic. It was that moment when he remembered what his goals were once again. Long before he was needed to guide the Dreamer, he existed to be a friend. And if everyone else was going into Black Space for his sake, he would be right by their sides.

Mari’s face broke into a more lighthearted grin, “Then… Let’s go! Omori said they’d be waiting around the back of your house outside. Sounds like we’ve got a fun, new adventure ahead of us, huh?”

A new path? Stranger was normally knowledgeable to the more inaccessible areas of Headspace, having travelled them countless times between guiding the Dreamer and residing in his former ‘home’. The back of the Old Shoe was definitely a new one. But it only made sense if Omori had apparently discovered, or made, a shortcut of sorts to the heart of Black Space. It was better if his Headspace friends spent the least amount of time there as necessary.

“Hm. Not sure how I feel about accessing Black Space through an entrance not even I have been through. But if everyone’s going, then I’d have to assume it’s okay…” Stranger said, as Mari opened the door again and held it for him expectantly.

“I’m sure Omori knows what he’s doing. I trust him, and you trust him! Everything’s gonna be okay, right?”

Stranger narrowed his eyes at her momentarily as he passed through the doorway. “…You stop that. No. Not now.”

Mari tilted her head, but her brief giggle made him doubt her innocence. “Hey, what did I do? Why are you looking at me like that?”