Archive of Our Own ^beta

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   Sunny opened his eyes for what felt like the first time in 4 years. It might as well have been, he's been alive these last 4 years but he wasn't “living” only acting on autopilot. Mindless repetition was the only driving force in his life. At first he was a little fearful for he thought he was still in White Space, but although this room was definitely a ‘white space” it was not the lifeless room devoid of character and warmth like he's so acquainted with.

   His memories, all of them at least to his knowledge, began to come back to him in small snippets. Most vividly he remembered his sister and her death. His recollection left him with one startling realization: Mari is dead. His big sister, the one who always protected him and even saved his life-the big sister who soothed his nightmares away with quiet lullabies when he was young, the same sister who encouraged him and loved him unconditionally despite him being a miserable excuse for a brother.

The same sister he murdered.

   Sunny noticed his eyes start to moisten as unbidden tears began to permeate their corners. That moisture soon turned into a torrential downpour as he felt every emotion he suppressed come forth. The grief of losing his sister hit him in its entirety and finality and he wept piteously. When she passed originally he never dealt fully with the reality of that situation let alone come to terms with his grief. At that point he'd already been disassociating quite frequently. After what felt like ages he finally found himself starting to wind down the torrential tears having trickled down to sniffles, but all the same, it still left him with that hollow feeling, an emptiness that felt strangely and somehow physically painful.

   Another ugly emotion came coupled with his grief; guilt. Only instead of a dull pang that was sooner forgotten; it was a full on ache. That feeling and the terrible truth that it held needed to be released. His friends…he'd let them live with that horrible feeling of crippling guilt for years, well he just kept to himself. 

   The small albeit RATIONAL part of his brain, told him that it wasn't entirely his fault. He must've been suffering from some form of Dissociative Amnesia because he didn't “just forget” he completely BLOCKED OUT every trace of the truth from his conscious mind, also given his reaction to anything pertaining to the truth, which usually led to violent panic attacks he probably had some form of PTSD.

   People just don't immediately forget traumatic life altering events. Be that as if may, that pesky rational part of himself couldn't really excuse what he'd done to his sister as anything else but exactly what it was: Murder. Accident or not it was still murder. It was completely senseless what eventually led up to her murder it was just a stupid argument and like most things it was all his fault.

   Just because he was a sniveling little piece of shit who couldn't handle the slightest bit of hard work. As the events of that night 4 years ago began to assault his mind he slips into sleep.

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   As the duo reached the crescendo of the piece his hand twitched. The string of the violin had caught him unexpectedly once more grazing one of his cuts and in reaction to the pain his hand jerked; resulting in his second to last note sounding more like the screeching of wood furniture being dragged across the floor instead of the dull tone that was meant to play. In reaction to his last minute hiccup Mari ended up screwing up her last note as well and shrilly slammed on the piano before whipping around. “Sunny really! On the SECOND to last note! The recital is NEXT WEEK!” She said in frustrated exasperation rather than anger and afterwards she proceeded to shut the cover over the keys of her piano and rested her elbows on top, placing her hands on her temples rubbing them in a methodical albeit soothing way.

   At least it was supposed to be soothing, however with how fiercely and frequently his sister had been doing so Sunny wasn't sure how effective it was supposed to be anymore. This was a common sight for Sunny in the last few months leading up to the recital that never was his sister growing increasingly more irritable and less patient. The room was silent now, Sunny just stood still nervously he felt his mouth go dry as he spoke. “Go on a break?” At that his sister sighed dismissively, waving her hand towards him but not turning to face him. “I suppose so, it's around lunchtime anyhow”. Her voice sounded flat and devoid of its usual chipper tone Sunny assumed exhaustion had replaced it, regardless he immediately if not a bit harshly placed his violin in its case slamming it shut than fleeing before his sister's reprimands could reach his ears, his bleeding fingers hidden from view.

   But he did not head to the kitchen as his sister thought, instead heading to the bathroom, running hot water on the bleeding cuts and hissing in pain as he turned and dumped isopropyl alcohol on them he bit his lip to prevent himself from crying out in pain, thinking only one thing about himself: Pathetic stupid piece of shit. He was just about to exit the bathroom when he heard muffled talking of sister from down below he'd forgotten how thin the floor was between the first and second floor: “I know Henry, I know he's not………………..trying….I don't think it matters even if he's taking this seriously, he's not skilled enough………he's……….useless!”

   He couldn't hear all of it but he heard what he needed to, what she really thought had become evident. At first he was in shock, he slid down the back of the door dejectedly as tears came back to his face, he could take the jeers and insults from his father, the disapproving glances from his mother but not both from his sister she was supposed to be his best friend his…his…everything. And suddenly everything became so pointless….He'd wasted so much….time…all for nothing. It was obvious now that her recent attitude had been perfectly explainable, quite simply she'd grown tired of him. All that preparation and trepidation turned to anger, a boiling deep seated rage took root in his heart, and he looked over to his violin in a rage. Sunny had never been a violent child always carrying an even temperament but now he was a beholden host to the sea of swelling anger that churned violently within he threw open the door violin in hand.

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   Mari wondered idly where Sunny was. She expected him back after 30-45 minutes, then again maybe she should tamper those “expectations”. Especially after her brief chat with Henry. Lately she'd been very hard on Sunny, he was definitely a natural musician, a talented violinist to boot and at such a young age too! But she'd let her expectations of him get out of hand or as Henry had so succinctly Put it: “¡Dios mío, Mari, tiene doce años!” She twisted her nose as if she smelled something foul, perhaps 8 hours a day was a bit much…okay it was pretty brutal. Coupling all of that with her increasing exhaustion due to her recent schedule and mounting stress she'd definitely been well…a bitch as of late.

   After all he was not privy to one of the foremost reasons she was so hard on him, and admittedly she'd been selfish with this particular information she was withholding that being the fact that this “little recital” was very integral to hers or rather both of their futures that is if Sunny wished to pursue a future in that sort of profession. Perhaps as a reward for all his hard work she'd make his favorite food for dinner- 

“KERR-KRAKK!!!”

   A loud thundering crash came from somewhere up above and from the sound of the multiple thumps said object of the crash had presumably bounced down the stairs violently. Mari was on her feet and out the door of the music room almost immediately at least as quick as her legs could carry her. Her one thought being: I hope Sunny is okay! She came across the scene of the crime at the bottom of the staircase-the victim was….

Sunny's violin case??? 

   She stared up from the bottom of the staircase in confusion and saw a familiar silhouette; that of her younger brother holding his prized Christmas present aloft but before she could even open her mouth to question him. Her moment of inquisition was taken as he with force akin to a pitcher throwing his best curveball sent his violin careening down the stairs. If Mari hadn't moved she would have no doubt been struck by the instrument.

   His violin hit the bottom of the staircase with a thundering crash with an unpleasant twinge at the end as if someone was attempting to tune an instrument and failing miserably. Mari looked at the pile of wood splinter and string that had once been a $1,000 instrument in pure astonishment. To say it was broken would be a gross understatement; the shape of what it had once been was completely indiscernible; it wasn't broken, it was utterly obliterated.

“T-that violin was worth a grand!” She staggered out and with the destruction of that instrument went both their futures as well and all of her sensibilities. If only she'd known just how unironically right she was. As she marched up the stairs towards her strangely still brother she billowed “WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU?!!!” all pretensive of rationality and calm went out the window. Sunny for his part reacted strangely; he had a look of unrecognizable fury the likes of which she'd never seen, but in the moment she didn't care about that, what she did care about was getting answers and she was hardly tactful in getting those results. “Do you have any idea what you just did!? That violin took 6 months worth of hard work. It was a gift!!”

   If she'd lived long enough she would have scoffed at that last statement as if any of their quote unquote “hard work” would be enough to really earn a grand during 2 months of their summer. Something she'd always neglected or more likely didn't want to think about was that by the time the summer was up their group had only collectively raised around $230 or so, and well her and Hero could work through the fall and subsequent winter the children could not. 

   Well hypothetically they could both work, it’d only be part-time jobs as they were still younger than 16. However, that was a big “IF”. It's no secret how overbearing both Henry's and her own parents were. And that's if they could manage to work a part-time job into their already busy schedules. After all, both of them were already taking night school on top of college classes to supplement their already perfect grades, not to mention extracurricular activities on the side. For Henry it was cooking and for her it was once softball and now it's nursing. 

   But that's still hinging on both of their sets of helicopter parents allowing such a thing which was frankly laughable. Mari knew with great certainty her father would just see it as her attempting to spend more time with that “insufferable Rodriguez boy.” so she was more than surprised when her dad cut her a check for $700 conditional on the fact that she would make sure both her and her brother pursued music careers and perfected the upcoming recital he'd entered them in non-consensually, something Mari was unfortunately used to. Normally she would protest on behalf of her younger brother as he had not even shown an avenue of interest in music, at least professionally even if he was naturally talented, he only desired to spend more time with her. 

   Not to mention the fact that he, much like herself, had every right to decide his own future. When she was 18 and off to college she intended on exercising her new Independence to separate herself from her overbearing father. However in that moment to the tired overworked 15-year-old teenager with a father bearing down on her with expectations too grandiose for any adult to even manage accurately without therapy it was a godsend or maybe more appropriately a deal with the devil as it were. At that point she was resigned to the exhaustion that had plagued her life, she was just too tired to care about the ramifications of what she would be agreeing to, so she acquiesced and just said “Yes”.

Little did she know that she had effectively drafted her own death certificate. And much later on her brothers as well. 

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  Haru Suzuki Answer me!”She snarled at him but he refused. Instead he averted his gaze and stared stubbornly seemingly at nothing but not looking at her. This only served to enrage her further. She was at the top of the stairs now looming over him, she noticed his trembling form but refused to let any of her sisterly concern for him override her fury. After all she had inherited her father's temper and she could be very vindictive. He finally looked up at her with a pained expression”…..couldn't take it…I'm not good enough…. Useless!!!” As he spat that last part he hit her with a glare. His eyes spoke of a betrayal she didn't know the origins of, as if he was accusing her of something. Regardless of if she wanted to or not performing well on that recital was her one ticket away from her overbearing father. There were going to be representatives From The Suzuki School of Music present and a potential scholarship on the line. “Everyone worked so hard so we could play in this recital and you never even cared, did you? Every word of encouragement or positive reinforcement were all wasted on you and all because you were too lazy to play a fucking violin!”

   He looked up at her with that same look of betrayal on his face as his lips twisted up into a sneer. Than he actually smirked at her. “Serves you right…” he said as he stuck his tongue out in a childish manner unfitting of the current serious situation. And that's when she fully lost it. Her anger had turned into a boiling hot rage. No that wasn't quite right, it was like anger distilled into pure malice. She raised her right hand and with a swift practiced precision she brought her hand down upon his right cheek. “Stupid ungrateful piece of shit.” she said in a tone and manner of speaking that was starkly similar to their father. After all that was his favorite nickname for his “beloved son.” Sunny stared at her eyes wide in fear as he clenched his cheek where she had slapped him. It was red and already starting to swell. That expression was a new one. In all her years as a big sister she'd never seen her brother look so utterly terrified of her.

   A wave of guilt and regret hit her almost instantly as soon as she finished her little outburst. Those feelings were magnified when she saw blood on his cheek where she'd struck him. And now it was her turn to stare in horror at what she had done. Her mouth was agape as she watched the blood drip off his face and onto the carpeted stairs. Had she really just hurt her brother badly enough to make him bleed? And all this over a stupid recital? “Sunny? Please I'm sorry I didn't- suddenly she could feel the words die in her throat whereas she had so much to say prior she couldn't even begin to conjure up the right words to fix this train wreck of a situation. Her brother backed away from the edge of the staircase and he had tears welling up in his eyes. God she's been an awful sister. She hesitantly reached out to place her hands on his shoulders reassuringly but as soon as she tried he practically threw her arms off of him. “S-stay, away from me!” he shrieked as he tried to get away from her. He tried unsuccessfully to barrel past her and down the stairs.“Sunny no that's dangerous!” She shouted suddenly concerned for his safety after what she put him through, all that anger and negative emotion having been released from her system left only the sister Sunny knew but given her previous actions he didn't even recognize this version of her.

   Determined to at least get him to the bathroom to treat his injuries or maybe move their discussion if one could even call that away from the potentially dangerous staircase, she once again gripped his shoulders and gave them a squeeze in what was supposed to be a reassuring manner. Instead, it only set off her brother, who began to thrash and try to duck around her. “Stay away from me, monster!!!” Sunny thrust both his hands forward in a manner meant to push something, and they did just that. Just as she was about to take her first tumble, she could see the look on his face. The same realization that had confronted her moments before was now completely obvious on his face. And before gravity took hold of her, she thought only one thing.

“I love you, Sunny.”

   She didn't know what part of her body made contact with the stairs first, but whatever it was broke with a deafening crack. One by one, as she fell, each of the steps took their turns beating on her body. She could feel nothing but bones cracking, blood vessels bursting, and her internal organs being ruptured. The pain was indescribable at first and so vivid that it was like nothing she'd ever felt before she was honestly surprised that she hadn't lost consciousness, but as soon as she was nearing the bottom, everything went numb, and the last thing she saw was her brother's terrified, remorseful expression.

   "Sunny, I'm-” was all she could think before her head impacted the remains of the violin, her skull fracturing in the process. Her vision went dark as her neck snapped just below her brain stem, and her spinal column was forcefully disconnected from her brain, ending all thoughts. Leaving only her brother to stare down wide-eyed at her mangled corpse in horror as blood slowly began to pool around it from the multiple injuries that covered her convulsing body. As Sunny slowly made his way down the staircase, he could hear a faint moaning come from his sister, followed shortly thereafter by a horrid gurgling noise as if she were drowning. As that noise started to lessen and slowly stop, so did his sister's movement, and her body went limp. Blood now seeped from both her nose and mouth. Her eyes stared lazily without any thought or intent.

She was dead.

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   Sunny shook his sister, she was still warm, but that was decreasing every second as he continued to shake her more and more vigorously. She did not stir. By this point, he was covered in her blood. The smell of iron and bile was daunting, to say the least, but somehow it didn't bother the boy.

   “Wake up, Mari, please!" She was not roused, so Sunny raised the bar. “I promise I'll try harder. I'll practice more until my hands—until my fingers are stumps! Please, just please, please, just wake up!!!”

   Still, however, she would not wake. Even if he desperately denied the thought, a part of him knew she was dead, and it was all his fault. Sunny had barely noticed his best friend shuffle in. He must have been watching the entire ordeal from the front door. Basil tentatively began to rub his back in what was meant to be a an attempt at soothing him, however due to the boy's obvious trembling it had the opposite effect, and only served to make Sunny more anxious. Basil had started to speak to him and although Sunny could hear him and see his mouth moving he heard nothing he also said nothing. This was commonplace for him as he often tended to freeze up when he was in tense situations, granted he'd never been in this intense of a situation before, he'd also never killed someone. Apparently he was experiencing a lot of "firsts" today. Due to how frequently Sunny tended to do this all of his friends were familiar with it so instead of trying to communicate with him verbally or otherwise he simply tapped him on the shoulder and gestured in a way that suggested they take his sister upstairs. Sunny seemed to understand vaguely what the gardener wanted as he followed his lead, thinking that perhaps maybe she was just cold; yeah, she was sick; that had to be it.

   However, the awful truth became a stark reality when, in fact, she did not wake up. The next thing Sunny remembers is looking back at the swaying corpse of his sister, her one vengeful eye staring back accusingly menacingly mockingly as if to say "I know what you did."

He just shouldn't have looked. 

He just shouldn't have. 

You just shouldn't have looked ba ck. 

Chapter Text

Henry or Hero to his friends, had been nervously pacing the aisles of Faraway’s sparsely stocked local grocery store as his mother aimlessly wandered looking for whatever item that was next on her list she definitely wouldn't find it. Henry tapped his foot in patiently before typing in Mari's number once more

The phone rang and rang before it had gone to a dial tone and then eventually it hung up. “Mari is still not picking up, ¡Algo anda mal mamá, puedo sentirlo! “¡Hay una extraña pesadez persistente!”

Without missing a beat his mother responded “En el nombre del señor te calmaras, además querida estoy segura que tu amiguita está bien”

This has been the third time he had called her and still no answer. Henry had thought it was odd the girl he knew always picked up on the first ring that is at least when he called her. Just about everyone in their little friend group save for maybe Kel knew full well that Mari hated cell phones. Despite how popular and cool one would be considered if they had one of the little devices she always just viewed them as a distraction. And that was certainly true at least if his fellow High Schoolers were anything to go by. Anyone who had one made sure you knew and they were always on the damn things.

It brought a wistful smile to the med student in training face whenever he thought about the day Mari received her first and only cell phone. You see it had been the climax of an already terrible 14th birthday party. That day everything that could have gone wrong did. The cake, it was burnt, store bought, and also Peanut Butter chocolate which Mari was allergic to on top of that her brother was deathly sick with some form of chickenpox and as for himself he was personally not invited courtesy of her lovely father.

Not that that mattered to him and never had, regardless of if he was wanted there or not he still showed up. It was definitely worth it just to see the menacing side eye Hiroto Suzuki gave him all throughout the night. It was definitely worth it to see the reaction Mari had upon opening the small box containing the purple bit of plastic that would serve as her phone. Her reaction wasn't something too grandiose as to warrant the use of any clever phrases and quite frankly saying her reaction was like night and day was just not accurate. Her reaction was more like night and an even darker night. Although he still stifled a laugh when he saw the morose look on her face somehow get more so.

Still at first when Henry saw the morose look deepen on his best friend's face. He was still perplexed as to the reason why she was so put off. But of course there was another angle to her thinking like most of Mari’s thoughts. She viewed it as not only a distraction as previously stated but also another way for her father to try and control another facet of her life. As all phones did in that day hers came with a plan or more accurately her phone was on the Suzuki family plan and as such her texts and calls were subject to being monitored by who else but none other than her overbearing father. The so-called gift also came with a note attached which was a guide detailing stringent rules of what she was allowed and not allowed to do with her phone those rules are as follows:

• She was not allowed to give out her number without her father's consent.

• She was allowed no less than 10 phone calls per month.

• She was absolutely FORBIDDEN from texting anybody

• She was not allowed to access the internet (as if she wanted to)

Needless to say she was never too invested in the plastic little thing much to her father's chagrin who probably intended to use it as another avenue to spy on her particularly her activities with him. However in one of her little acts of defiance or probably just to spite her father the only person she would ever answer the phone for on the first ring would be him or as she had so enthusiastically told him once.

“I don't answer for just anyone but I'd never leave you hanging pretty boy.” one of her nicknames for him besides Hero.

In hindsight Henry would think of that greeting as particularly morbid in its ironic foreshadowing. Although ironic wasn't the right word, “terrible” was more fitting or perhaps terribly accurate.

Regardless Mari was a character of repetitious habit so when she didn't answer her phone immediately he began to worry despite his mother's hollow insistences that he was ‘overthinking things”

Oh how he wished that were the case. It was his feelings of anxiety that propelled and gave wind to his quick footsteps as he exited Other-Mart ignoring the various unkind things his mother was saying to him in her native tongue as he left her to deal with her own grocery shopping.

But as his mother would later come to find out her son bolting on her was justified as an ambulance blaring its lights and screaming its sound came careening down the road towards the direction Henry had gone towards the Suzuki residence.

Chapter Text

Aww, c'mon, I don't want to wear a stuffy suit; those things are always itchy, and they smell!” Kel pouted as the ever-tolerant tailor aptly named Mr. Taylor took his measurements; he was a drab, boring-looking older man who seemed to always have a look of perpetual, undistilled disinterest. His eyes were a relaxed gray. “Hey Grandpa, are you done back there?” Kel asked impatiently, but before he got his answer, he was abruptly and rudely whacked by a purple object, knocking him off of the small stool Mr.Taylor had him standing on. The orange Joe enthusiast immediately rounded on the culprit, who was still holding the weapon and folding her arms indignantly. "Hey, what the heck, Aubrey, what was that for?” In response to his dumb question, he was promptly whacked again.

“..Dick..”

He immediately recovered from his beating this time and looked up at his friend, his flabbergasted mouth hanging open. “You can't say that, not when there are grown-ups around!” He whispered that last part as if to try and hide the fact that he said what he said. Discreetly, Aubrey waved her hand at him, gesturing for him to lean in so she could tell him something, and as soon as he was within earshot, she leaned down and very quietly whispered. “You're a dick, Kelsey, and you're the one that stinks, not the suit!” A loud whistle caught both the children's attention as they both looked up to the source of it and saw an impatient Frenchman who clearly hadn't had his coffee yet tapping his toe irritably.

“Back on the stool! Monsieur Rodriguez!”

He didn't like the way the Frenchman rolled his R's; for some reason, he found it offensive, like he was growling at him. After another seemingly impossible session, he finally had the measurements he was satisfied with. “You are done, Monsieur Rodriguez, now scram! Or as our fellow Spaniards say, Vamos vamos rápido!” He didn't have to tell him twice as far as Kel was concerned; any excuse to get out of there was a good one. Not a bit of the rude brute that her friend was, Aubrey thanked Mr. Taylor for his help. To which she got a curt but affirmative nod. Mr.Taylor was known to be a bit colder than most people, although that didn't make him a bad person; it just made him different. Before she left, Aubrey did a little curtsy and brought her head down in what she thought was a respectful bow. Mr. Taylor smiled appreciatively and ruffled her hair.

Mr. Taylor then took Kelsey's father aside, and the two adults began to talk in an animated fashion, probably about the price of his suit and Aubrey's dress. After all, that was their whole reason for coming here. Kel had been too small for any of Henry's hand-me-downs, and his mother positively balked at the suggestion he was allowed to attend Mari’s recital in shorts, granted it was his suggestion. And Aubrey, for her part, apparently didn't have any nice dresses, not for special occasions, which was strange to the hyperactive Rodriguez; he could have sworn she had at least one nice dress. But then again, he did hear her talking once to that weird red-headed girl about it. From what little he could make out from the discussion, apparently the dress kept shrinking, and Aubrey's parents offered it to Satan. Yeah, apparently her parents worship the devil. Little did Kel actually know it was a lot simpler than that Aubrey outgrew her favorite blue dress and her parents had donated it, or, in other words, “offered it to Santa,” as they had told the 12-year-old, despite the fact that she knew she was getting too big for it and that most likely her parents would be rid of it soon. It became somewhat of a joke amongst the four, as none were strict in their religious beliefs.

Regardless, the recital was next week anyway, so they had time to find clothes, get their haircuts, and all that other stuff. Aubrey did a little twirling in her new dress. “So do you think Sunny will like it?” Kelsey studied her for a moment, looking incredibly focused—something that Aubrey was sure no one in his family knew he was capable of doing. It was pretty much agreed amongst the collective Rodriguez family that everyone of the brain cells had gone to Hero, and Kelsey only got the short end of the stick. After what seemed like less than 5 minutes of uneasiness, her friend finally gave her his opinion. “I don't know if he'll like the dress. Kel averted his eyes slightly for a few minutes. Thinking about the time he found Sunny playing dress up in Mari's hand-me-down dresses, he thought he looked pretty good in it, even if Sunny made him take a blood pact and swear to never tell anybody what he saw. Pushing that thought aside, he continued, "I mean, you're wearing it anyway, and he likes you, so I wouldn't worry too much about it.”

Aubrey inhaled sharply. Kelsey Rodriguez was a lot of things: smelly, lazy, annoying, short, mildly decent at basketball—but most importantly, he lacked tact. He was often very blunt in his opinions, almost to the point of rudeness. It was that bluntness that Aubrey had come to begrudgingly respect, as she could always count on him to give her an honest opinion. Which is why whenever she tried on new outfits or did something, especially if she was trying to impress someone (mainly Sunny), she would ask for his opinion.

However, different from his usual, often borderline rude but scathingly honest response, he actually managed to compliment and insult her in the same breath. She would say she was honestly impressed had she not felt heat come to her cheeks. Kel had actually managed to fluster her. She quickly hid her face from him, not wanting to give him further ammunition for later teasing, not that she needed to do that in the first place because he was currently invested in picking his nose. That is to say, his pointer finger was currently submerged within the depths of his nasal cavity, up to at least the first knuckle. And just like that, any warm, buttery feelings she had towards him instantly dissipated.

How he managed to do that comfortably, she would never know; perhaps it was his lack of a functioning brain that provided room for him to insert his finger up to that degree. Well, how he did it aside, it was still disgusting, and if he didn't stop soon, he was going to give himself a bloody nose again. If anything she envied from him, it would be his unwavering confidence, or perhaps it was a lack of social awareness. Regardless, Aubrey wished she possessed the ability to just disregard everyone around her. Even if he was comfortable doing that right now, she was not comfortable being seen with him doing that, so she promptly turned to her second resort.

Kel felt a sharp, stinging pain in the back of his head, specifically his upper neck. He reached back to rub the area that was assaulted, and then once again found the culprit. Well, she didn't hide herself. “Why do you keep hitting me?!” He shouted at the girl, who simply crossed her arms, looked away from him, and lifted her chin haughtily. “Don't pick your nose in public, you pig! It's disgusting!” He puffed out his vhest. “I wasn't picking my nose; I was mining for gold! Don't tell me you don't want some of this cheddar!” He grinned as he held out his pointer finger with the offending bit of goo on the other end. Aubrey looked positively scandalized and like she'd hit him again. But instead of doing that, she decided to just get away from him, and soon a chase ensued as Kel began a hot pursuit of his quarry, a teal blue blur. She was quite intelligent in her fleeing, throwing multiple chairs in his way and weaving between tables as their chase took them through the food court.

It was no use as Kel was not only smaller than her but faster, and soon he had her cornered; thankfully, the food court was all but abandoned. Menacingly advancing towards her, he pointed at her, wiggling his finger in a taunting manner. “You want some chedda’ with that eggplant?” Aubrey held aloft her purple-stuffed plant egg plush. “Not on my new dress, you dick!” He was about 2 feet in front of her and just about to make contact when he felt a hand grab the back of his collar and pull him up. “Dios mío, so that's where you little rascals got off too!” Kel felt a moment of panic and temporarily forgot what he was doing. But he knew at once, when he saw the look on Aubrey's face, that she was about to tattle on him. “Mr. Rodriguez Kelsey was picking his nose and chasing me!” She said it in mock fear. Kelsey rolled his eyes. He was just waiting for the crocodile's tears. His father, who was a big bear of a man, put Kelsey down and turned him to face him. "Now, Kel, what have I told you about picking your nose in public?” He asked in a stern tone. Kel opted not to meet his father's gaze, instead preferring to look at his feet. “Don't pick my nose unless I'm in front of mom and you need a distraction.”

For a moment, his father looked flabbergasted. “No, no, that's not—I never told you that!” He sounded as if he said that more to reassure himself than he did to reprimand his son. Which caused Aubrey to raise an eyebrow in suspicion towards the older Rodriguez. Because what he just said sounded like a lie, not what Kel said. As if he had just suddenly remembered he was the adult in the situation, Mr. Rodriguez once again adopted his stern, disapproving parent expression. "No, son, no playing around. What did I tell you about doing such things?” This time his son did meet his gaze, but it was not with the sorrowful expression neither Mr. Rodriguez nor Aubrey had been expecting; it was instead a look of confusion as he tilted his head. "No, papa, you did tell me that! You told me to make sure to distract Mama when you want to go out with your friends. You said, “Tu mamá puede ser una auténtica perra si me pilla saliendo al bar con mis amigos, sobre todo los fines de semana!” Aubrey didn't think it was possible to see someone's jaw go that slack that quickly, but apparently Mr. Rodriguez was the exception as he furiously began to talk to his younger son in quick bursts of Spanish mixed with English.

She rolled her eyes when she heard Kel say that. No, she didn't know what he actually said, but she was pretty sure it was probably really stupid, and suddenly she became aware of exactly who Kel inherited his lack of a brain from. “I swear, kid, you're going to be the death of me! Anyway, don't pick your nose, at least in public!” He said that last part in a very non-committal tone, and Aubrey doubted he actually meant it. After that whole fiasco ended, the three of them had just settled down to order some lunch. Mr. Rodriguez's treat was “more like a bribe,” Aubrey thought to herself. They were eating at some Mexican fast food restaurant, and the platter of nachos she just ordered had finally arrived, accompanied by a couple of burritos. She was just about to tuck into them when all three were startled by a phone ringtone.
Luis fished out his cellular device and gave Kelsey a knowing look.

"It's your mother."

Chapter Text

Luis looked down at the phone and grimaced as he saw it was his wife calling him. If he remembered correctly, he should have been home about ten minutes ago.With apprehension, he flipped open the phone and pressed the green button. Ready to bullshit himself out of the dog house once more.

“¡Hola mi amor!”

He said it in as cheerful a tone as he could muster. For a moment, the other side of the line was completely silent, which was unusual for his wife. Camilla typically likes to talk more than people want to hear. She often spoke for him as well as herself. Which was exactly one of the reasons why Luis fell in love with her; he never really had to say anything because she said everything for him; she just knew him that well.

“Luis? Is that you?”

Her voice sounded faint, lacking its usual rigid sternness; in fact, it was devoid of any life at all; it sounded quiet. Another thing to add to the list of weirdness about this phone call in particular is that Camilla was a loud, boisterous, and very blunt woman. Their youngest son may have gotten his lack of intelligence from him, but he definitely got his lack of tact from his mother. “The one and only!” He responded, still keeping up the facade of cheerfulness.

"Luis, where are you?! You were supposed to be home ten minutes ago!”

Her voice came out so abruptly that Luis physically recoiled from the shock of the shrill sound that assaulted his eardrums. Under normal circumstances, he would definitely say, "Yup, she's mad at me!” And then proceed to kiss as much ass as he could to prevent his likely banishment from the bed chamber. But her tone didn't sound angry; it was frantic, like she couldn't keep her thoughts all together. That would be the third unusual thing about this phone call in less than a minute of talking. Since his wife likes to talk, she always had something on her mind and rarely ever jumbled her words. Something was wrong, and Luis knew it at this point.

“We were just eating lunch; the kids were hungry.”

He said this, dropping the fake cheerfulness he'd forced into his voice.

“No! No! You need to grab the kids, get in the car now, and leave right now! NOW!”

She spoke way too quickly; there was barely enough time for Luis to catch every word she said, but he did, and each word sounded more panicked than the last.

“What's going on, my love? You sound distressed. Is something wrong? I thought-”

Before he even had time to finish his statement, his wife interrupted him with less force than before, but noticeably, he could hear her voice start to crack.

“It's the neighbors next door-the Suzuki's that is…something happened.”

His face paled as he heard his wife finally break down, and the other side of the phone was filled with choked sobbing.

Aubrey and Kel looked at him with worried expressions. They didn't hear the contents of the phone call, or at least they didn't understand it if they did. But they could clearly see the distress on his face, and as a result, they were feeling uneasy as well.

“Kids, pack up the rest of your food; you can eat in the car if you're still hungry,” he said in an almost monotone voice.

Luis pushed his chair back under the table and whipped his coat on in one motion, still holding the phone against his ear using his shoulder. Kel had wanted to say something, probably ask why they couldn't stay longer or why he was allowing them to eat in the vehicle despite his mother's strict rules about eating in the family car. But the look on his father's face, one he'd never seen before, made him too nervous to even attempt to be disobedient. So he just packed his food, and Aubrey followed suit.

The three of them silently got into the family's shiny green station wagon. Kel hadn't wanted to say anything to aggravate his temperamental friend, even if he did enjoy pushing her buttons. She knew, just as he did, that there was a time for bickering and arguing, and he got the distinct feeling that this was not an appropriate time to do so. And besides, it wasn't as if he was the only one who noticed how badly she was trembling or how hard she was clutching her Mr. Plantegg plush. But despite that, he was still curious about what his father and mother were discussing.

When Aubrey was finally settled into her seat, sitting just behind the passenger seat, Kel leaned over and whispered to her.

“Mama and Papa always talk like this when they want to hide something, but if they don't think we're listening, they'll be too busy to notice us listening.”

Aubrey gaped at what she assumed was another juvenile stunt by her immature little friend, and of all times now, She was just about to protest loudly and tell Mr. Rodriguez about his son's antics when she noticed the look in his eyes.

Usually, when Kelsey Rodriguez was up to some bullshit, he had that mischievous glint in his eyes that said, “I'm about to fuck some shit up,” usually accompanied by his trademark shit-eating grin.

His face was completely devoid of any sort of mischievousness; that particular sparkle was missing. His eyes were more serious than she'd ever seen them in the brief time she'd known him. And that made her more uncomfortable than she was willing to admit, at least to him openly. She didn't put up any of her usual protests this time and just slowly nodded as he explained his plan, which was really quite simple: just pretend as if they're bickering with each other.

“Do you really think your parents will fall for this?” she whispered, to which he gave a curt nod in response. “My papa and mama don't really pay attention to me unless I'm in trouble or it's about homework.”

Kel wrinkled his nose as he thought about just how differently they treated him compared to Hero. Being involved in basketball intramurals, he had no choice but to get high marks in all his subjects. He was expected to be on the honor roll, and he was. But even that never seemed to be enough. He was still grounded after bringing home that 79 on his last math test. In his defense, he stayed up late studying and, as a result, slept through half of forty minutes. He only had twenty minutes to finish the entirety of the test, but he ended up only getting roughly more than half of it done before it was snatched up by his teacher, Miss Peterson. A miserable old bitch of a teacher, his father once described her as. Every question he did was answered correctly despite that he was punished.

Aubrey frowned. "Well, at least they pay attention to you.” Both shifted uncomfortably before they got back on topic.

Kelsey's face adopted an approximation of his usual smug self, and Aubrey took note of how it looked.

Needless to say, she was impressed by how easily he faked his usual smile. It seems Hero wasn't the only one in the Rodriguez family who was able to fake a charming smile. But it wasn't identical to that of his older brothers. Hero's fake smile was very charming, with an air of sophistication to it that spoke of someone who was more mature well beyond their years. It was a smile most girls would swoon over, one that Mari was inexplicably immune to, and like most things about Hero, it was almost perfect, at least to strangers.

To anyone who had known the elder Rodriguez sibling, his fake, charming smile was a cheap imitation of the original. An obvious facade that was easy to discern once you got to know Hero and became familiar with his facial expressions, his “charming Rodriguez smile” became almost comical in its blatant exaggeration—a caricature, if you will.

It was another story entirely when looking at Kelsey's fake Rodriguez smile. The smile he wore was a perfect match for his genuine smile, with the only noted exception being that his smile lacked that boundless energy he's so often conveyed. Instead, the smile was more lazy and uncomplicated, just a thin line arched in a sloped “u” shape.

Aubrey began to think that maybe the two brothers weren't so different after all.

As he drove, Luis continued his phone call with his wife, who had managed to calm down at least a bit. They elected to continue their discussion in Spanish as quietly as they could.

“Henry left me in the middle of shopping. He was worried about something; he told me he had a bad feeling, and when he saw an ambulance heading towards town in our direction, he took off running after it.”

His wife was silent for all of a minute; it was an uncomfortable silence that Luis was unfortunately becoming familiar with.

"Camilla, my love, please, please continue.”

Somehow, Luis could hear the hesitation in her voice even if she hadn't spoken.

“Are you sure the kids... are you sure they can't hear you... can't hear you?”

She asked as her voice came out in an airy whisper so faint that it was almost unintelligible.

He risked a glance back at his son and his friend and found them bickering, even if quietly. Their attention was squarely focused on each other.

“I am driving right now, and I have you pressed up against my ear; there's no way they can hear me. Besides, you know Kel is... Eh, well, lacking an attention span...”

At that assumption, his wife snorted indignantly. “Like another thing he inherited from you, just like his lack of forethought.”

Now that was the sass that he was used to from his firecracker of a wife, he missed her bite.

But the wind she managed to get back within her sails was gone just as soon as it appeared, and she was back to that listless unfamiliarity.

“It's Suzuki's daughter, Mari.”

“Henry's girlfriend, yes.” Luis said it fondly as he felt a familiar tug at his lips. Mari Suzuki was basically like a surrogate daughter to him and Camilla. They'd watched both grow up together, just like Sunny and Kelsey.

“Henry said—he said—her brother and that little blonde boy Basil found her—they found her—they found her.”

His wife let out a slightly muffled sound, as if what she was about to say next was physically causing her discomfort. He felt dread welling up in the pit of his stomach as he heard Camilla struggling to get a hold of her emotions.

Luis felt apprehensive; maybe Mari had injured herself again. What came out next, though, was the furthest thing from his expectations.

“Oh, Luis, she hung herself!”

“What? He breathed in disbelief. “That can't be; she'd never...”

And that was all it took for the fragile dam of Camilla’s emotional control to break, and his wife loudly screeched the next part.

“She's dead! She killed herself!”

Luis just couldn't believe it. He was more shocked than anything else. There's no way that the little ray of sunshine that is Mari Suzuki would just end her own life! She was a bright, happy little smug thing that was every bit as intelligent as Henry was and every bit the firecracker his wife was. Luis hadn't seen such a fire in a person since his wife; she was already planning her wedding with Henry, for God's sake!

There was just no way, no signs, nothing to indicate that she was. That's when Luis briefly thought of his brother. His older brother was Henry's namesake and every bit his twin in appearance, with the exception of his eyes. His brother had cold blue, intelligent eyes as opposed to the warm brown of his son's. In demeanor, he was actually most similar to Suzuki's son, a quiet, soft-spoken, and gentle person.

The last time he'd seen them was just over ten years ago.

_____

I remembered just how vividly icy the once lively blue orbs of light had been as they jutted out from his stiff, hanging corpse. At the time, I had not fully comprehended what I was seeing, and I simply thought it was the oddest thing. My brother's jaw, by that point, had gone slack, hanging open as a now-bloated tongue hung loosely out. It looked as if it would burst if you so much as looked at it the wrong way.

My brothers once had vibrant brown, smooth skin that looked faded, pale, and leathery. He was so pale he could have passed for being Caucasian, save for the violent tones of red that accumulated around his neck, right around the belt he used to hang himself from the clothes rod in the closest apartment attached to his restaurant.

He still remembered the alien sound of Camilla's screams, which finally snapped him out of his stupor. Camilla, at the time, had been his brother's girlfriend. She is, after all, 6 years older than him. This was long before she and Luis started dating.

Luis didn't want to think about the fact that his brother, after his examination, was revealed to have no fingernails, most likely yanked out of his fingers in his brother's attempt to pull his makeshift noose off of his neck.

His brother had been, at least to his family and girlfriend, a pillar of happiness, always greeting them warmly with a charming smile.

That's what they had thought, and to his brother's credit, he hid it very well. His brother was in a lot of financial debt, and his restaurant was simply not providing enough. Being unable to pay back his loan to the bank, he felt an immense sense of shame. He was about to lose his business, and he couldn't stand to face the reactions of his family and girlfriend.

Luis had failed to see even a hint of suicidal tendencies within his own brother; he had not seen the signs of them because he hid them behind that charming Rodriguez smile. He hid his pain behind a facade, and now suddenly, Mari Suzuki sporadically dying by suicide made much more sense to him. And Luis hated that sick feeling of familiarity.

Luis was so invested in the conversation with his wife that he failed to notice the abrupt cessation of activity in the backseats. He had so many other thoughts on his mind that he didn't notice how pale his son had gone, nor did he see just how hard his boy was clutching his friend's hand.

When Aubrey nervously inquired about what he heard, Kelsey simply said one thing: “Mari is... she's hurt.” She didn't protest when he slipped his hand into hers and held it firmly.

Chapter Text

The sky outside was already gray and overcast when Ma and I left for the store. But somehow it seemed even more devoid of its usual grayish tones; everything seemed black and white. I could feel the rhythmic thumping of my heart in my chest feeling as if it wanted to burst forth from my rib cage. My breathing had become erratic whether that was from my sporadic jog or just from the situation in front of me I would never really know. Even looking back in hindsight everything about that day was so vivid yet so blurry. I could feel the impact of my heartbeat but I couldn't hear it. Maybe I was too focused on the actual rhythm of my heartbeat? I tend to hyper focus on certain things when I get stressed out. Maybe that's why the only colors I saw that day were the flashing red and blue hues of the emergency service vehicle, parked right in front of the Suzuki residence. Even though I couldn't feel the breath escaping I was aware of the fact that I was hyperventilating. It was strange I'd had panic attacks in the past before but this one was anything but panic.

I was calm and collected.

There were approximately three vehicles parked outside, a slightly worn out police cruiser, with the abbreviation F.P.D. emblazoned on its side, an ambulance that was completely white save for a red strip that ran across the midsection horizontally, and a black beat up Ford pickup, on the left door of the pickup truck was a golden crest with the abbreviation F.F.D.

I unconsciously suppressed the lump that had begun to form in the back of my throat as I saw two of the strangers wheel out a metal cart of sorts with a black bag atop of it. I'd seen enough Forensic Files to know exactly what that was, but it was as if my conscious mind was actively fighting that realization.

Instead it was trying to distract me or I was trying to distract myself.

“Hey Henry there's definitely not three emergency service vehicles in your girlfriend/best friend's yard, why don't you focus on something else like the details of those vehicles!”

“Hey Henry, that's definitely not a body in that body bag! Focus on something else, oh why don't you count the amount of people in the yard!”

I knew what it was. I knew what was happening but I wouldn't accept it.

I physically couldn't

I mentally couldn't.

At one point one of these several strangers meandering about approached me cuz I was making a beeline for whatever they had just wheeled out of the backyard. It was so strange to be told off by one of the paramedics and actively choose to disregard everything he said simultaneously. I wasn't typically a bad or disobedient child in fact I was often considered a teacher's pet for my strict boring adherence to rules be they my teachers or parents.

But in the strange stupor I was inclined to do everything but listen to authority.

I wasn't even focused on his words at all. He was flapping his gums uselessly. I did not comprehend a word he said nor did I care to. Instead I was focused on his upper lip right below his nose. Anybody that looked at him could tell he had just recently hit a growth spurt. And the fact it was so obvious was embarrassing. You could count with fingers every bit of facial hair the man had. Sadly it was less than ten.
It's not as if I heard nothing, I could hear something coming out of the man's mouth but what I heard that's what confused me; the man like all the rest of them spoke in radio static.

The feeling of detachment I felt was very alarming, the tug of intense raw emotions was still there and threatening to spill from the facade I had unwillingly assumed. I could feel it as if I was teetering on the edge of a steep cliff and the only thing keeping me from knowing I was going to fall was the fact that I had my back turned, but I could still feel the wind at my back. I just refused to acknowledge it.

To this day I can't put words on paper for what I had experienced.

That's when I saw him; her younger brother Sunny. He was sitting on the front doorstep shivering with a blanket haphazardly thrown over him. The paramedics and the rest of the adults paid him no mind as if he wasn't there. They noticed him no doubt but every time they looked at him an uneasiness came to their eyes and just as quickly as they looked at him they would avert their gaze.

I tentatively said his name, out loud my voice shaking. He hesitated a moment I could see it but finally he lifted his head and looked at me with those chocolate brown eyes they both shared.

Except his eyes looked different vacant he was staring directly at me but he wasn't really looking at me. He didn't blink, or show any emotion whatsoever. He was just frustratingly neutral as if he couldn't even be bothered to care about what was going on around him. About what had happened.

“Sunny are you okay, what's going on, where are your parents?”

I moved to place a hand on him for comfort whether it was for myself or for him I don't really remember. But as soon as I got near him he practically scurried away from me. I withdrew my hand not wanting to make him more uncomfortable. It was then I knew. I knew something horrible had happened, but I had to ask anyway.

“Where is Mari?”

His head which had been previously nestled in between his knees and facing towards the ground shot up towards me and his eyes were wide.

Wider than I'd ever seen them, a look of absolute terror on his face but it was strange. Something about it was….off intertwined with that terror was nervousness, his gaze was shifting. As if he was sure he'd been caught doing something he wasn't supposed to do. But I shrugged that off perhaps it was just me misreading the situation. Although I couldn't shake the feeling of suspicion it left me with.

He quickly tore his eyes away from me and started shaking even worse as he violently shook his head. Screaming in between choked sobs that “he was sorry” and that “he didn't mean it” and “it's all my fault.”

I didn't know what else to do so I wrapped my arms around him as he tried to escape from my grasp but I didn't let him.

I just held him.

Then probably one of the most unnatural things I've ever seen or felt happened. He simply stopped quivering. But it wasn't a gradual stop, it was a complete stop, too abrupt and so alarmingly sudden I was sure he'd passed out from his emotional breakdown. That was until I felt him squirm in my grasp and he pushed me away gently. He stood up and I saw that he had that same expression on his face.

Complete neutrality, his eyes said nothing his face said even less. He stood up stretched and let out a tired sigh. I was confused by how nonchalant his attitude had become. But I didn't have long to focus on that confusion because what he said and did next I would never forget.

Sunny tugged on the hem of my shirt, something he used to do to get people's attention when he was a toddler and couldn't speak.

When I looked down at him he said in a completely monotone voice: “My sister is dead, she hung herself.” He must have noticed the disbelief in my eyes as he simply pointed at the body bag and upon closer inspection I could see strands of long black hair protruding.

Something in me seemed to break at that Revelation that I was finally allowed to realize.

“Hey there, handsome! Or maybe you prefer…What's cookin’ good lookin?”

I remember when she first said that to me we had just started dating and of course Mari being well Mari devoted an entire night to coming up with new greetings to tease me with.

“Look at you... Such a big, strong man.”

I was never really a fit kid growing up always too scrawny.

“One day, you're going to be a world-famous chef and you're going to cook me lots of yummy food!”

I wanted to be a chef or at least own a restaurant, I always loved cooking but now I realize that I always loved it because she was beside me every time or I was making them to impress her.

I would never again hear her sweet teasing voice. I could feel it becoming harder to even hear.

My first friend.

My best friend.

My girlfriend.

The love of my life.

Mari was-

His mind was fracturing under the weight of what he had just learned

Mari was-

Mari what? Who was Mari? For that matter, where was he? The world around him suddenly became devoid of details as if it collapsed into nothingness. Shades of Black and White. There were no people in this strange abyss, simply dark outlines of a human form with absurdly simple yet terrifying eyes. They all stared at him and made strange wailing noises, distortions of what had once been a recognizable language. If he had to give a comparison it was similar in sound to an out of tune guitar rift which had become even more unpleasant to listen to because it had been distorted beyond recognition. If the feeling of nausea had a sound equivalent it would be that horrid screeching.

In the abyss of blandness black and white with flashes of blurry red only one other color. Two pinpricks of warm brown stared out towards Henry. In his stupor he could only think one thing as he made his way towards those eyes. “Whose eyes are those?”

On some level Henry knew he was already in the midst of having a panic attack but now it had been dialed up to an unfathomable degree. Subconsciously he was aware of the fact that he had been in the throngs of one during this whole interaction, the prelude of a full-blown meltdown.

But for now all he could think about was those two orbs of warm brown.

It was as if he was seeing them for the first time. But they felt so familiar. As he drew closer he could see the rough outline of someone with long hair.

It was a familiar shape.

But something in the eyes didn't look right. They were warm foreign but familiar. And that's when he remembered. And the shape began to take on a different one of a much smaller person who shared her eyes.

As he latched around the only source of familiar warmth he had in this abyss all the color in it's grayness came back as did the details of the world around them and he was aware that he was tightly embracing. His best friend's younger brother. The only thing left of her was her eyes, the very same eyes Sunny possessed.

But that was inaccurate; it wasn't just her eyes. Sunny was all that was left of her now.

She was dead.

Mari was dead.

He openly wept as he felt the smaller arms wrap around his torso as Sunny buried his face in Henry's midsection.

Henry didn't just lose someone important to him.

Sunny had lost his sister, his first and best friend as well. He had been the one to find her.

And they just held each other.