Rear View Mirror

by WidgetMcWhopper

Summary:

“M’scared of Something behind the door.” Sunny mumbled into his shoulder.

“What exactly is behind the door?”

“…”

“M-Maybe if we see what’s behind it, It’ll stop being so scary.” Basil suggested. Sunny nodded.

Together, they walked up to the small door. Basil took a knee down to it as Sunny stood to the side.

With another nod from Sunny, Basil grabbed onto the edge of the door and pulled—

***

Something happened to Mari almost three years ago. It’s up to Sunny and Basil to find out what happened with help from Kel, Hero, Aubrey, and other residents of Faraway.

All they know is that Something behind the small door had a part to play in all of this.

Three days left Omori plot mixed with Coraline plot

Chapter 1: Important Info

Notes:

Chapter 9 progress:

IM BACK AND WRITING AGAIN AS OF 8/2/2025!!!!!!!

Currently editing stuff for new planned ending of this fic so I'm like negative 1000 words into the next chapter lmao.

 

 

 

Notes before Reading!

Upcoming Chapter Updates in Notes!

 

 

TW: panic attacks, violence and blood, body horror, swearing, dark humor, hallucinations, suicidal thoughts, drowning, (more to be added) be sure to read tags for other warnings too.

 

Spoilers for Omori and Coraline.

 

All art is done by me (unless clarified otherwise).

 

Loosely Follows the three days plot in Omori with variations relevant to Coraline and other twists to keep things interesting.

 

Setting is Faraway with more forests surrounding it. Sunny, Kel, Hero, and Aubrey live in the Pink Mansion from Coraline (it’s call Neighbor’s Home in this fic). Basil lives out in the woods with his grandma and Polly.

 

Focused on Sunny and Basil. I like Sunflower, but this story focuses on plot and characters than ships, so can be read as platonic or romantic.

 

Updates will be slow as I have too many hobbies and have adult obligations (cringe)

Betaless story. My eyes are the one thing that peer edits this thing so sorry for mistakes for I am a little stupid and a little silly.

 

If you like stories where Kel, Hero, Aubrey, and Basil explore Sunny’s Headspace, you’ll probably like this too ;)

 

 

(old title art)

 

Enjoy the story! (this is a threat 💀)

 

 

 

Chapter 2: Entamaphobia

Summary:

Entamaphobia: fear of doors and what lies beyond them.

Notes:

Basil and Sunny are not friends pre Mari incident in this story. Its in this chapter where they actually become friends after Mari is already gone (there will be more elaboration on this later in the story). Sunny was friends with Kel, Hero, and Aubrey before Mari's incident though.

We also use Omori plush unironically here :)

 

 

 

 

 

Welcome to Whitespace 

This is your 1092 visit since ???

 

 

 

Sunny opened his eyes to the blank slate of Whitespace. Greeted by the blinding white that most would find annoying, but to Sunny, it had a numbing sort of comfort. Most things in Whitespace had that numbing effect. The blanket under him didn’t feel soft nor did it feel scratchy. The air was a perfect room temperature without a feeling for warmth or cold. The silence was drowned out by the quiet purrs of Mewo who sat at the edge of the blanket.

 

And then there was Omori

 

Sunny looked over to see what he was doing. Omori sat crisscrossed on the other side of the blanket. The laptop sat next to him, turned on and showing his journal, but Omori was more focused on him instead of the laptop. 

 

Sunny remembered looking at the journal one time. Most of the entries said the same things following the lines of “Sunny visited today. Everything is okay”.

 

He didn’t even notice Omori move until the boy was standing over him. He held his hand out, waiting for Sunny to grab it.

 

Only one time could he remember actually taking his hand. It felt like an eternity ago, but Something happened last time that made him never grab it again. 

 

He would always look down on Sunny with indifference, keeping his hand outstretched hoping he’d grab it. Omori would give up once Mewo would ask if he was ‘waiting for something to happen’.

 

But something was different this time

 

Sunny wasn’t quite sure if his eyes were tricking him or if something was wrong, but he swore he saw the corner of Omori’s lip twitch downwards. Even his eyes seemed more downcast than before.

 

Omori looked… SAD?

 

Sunny was sure he had never seen Omori show any emotion before, but it definitely made him feel…something.

 

The feeling gave him a sense of motivation. A feeling he hasn’t felt in a long time. 

 

For once in a long time, he wanted something to happen.

 

Sunny reached out and took Omori’s hand. 

 

He was pulled to his feet with ease. Omori’s hand felt cold against his. Sunny looked down at Omori’s face and for a second, he swore he saw a ghost of a smile. Yet when he blinked, all he saw was Omori’s normal cliff-faced self. 

 

With no warning, Omori walked up and hugged him. Sunny was startled by this, taking a step back, but didn’t resist the motion. Even with how cold Omori felt, there was a sense of comfort in the action. He let himself lean into the hug awkwardly due to the height difference. Omori seemed to have no problem holding him up and Sunny hugged him back.

 

A moment passed as Sunny felt a smile creep onto his face. Sunny held on a little tighter as he felt Omori’s arm move against his back.

 

Sunny let out a sharp gasp as he felt something pierce his back. An overwhelming sharp feeling ran through his spine. It made his eyes water and his breath stutter. He closed his eyes as he felt something warm run down his back, almost unnoticeable over the pain that ran through his body like a poison.

 

All his weight was now supported by Omori as he let himself fall to darkness...

OOO

Sunny slowly blinked himself awake. A soft gray light shined through the window from the other side of the room. It must be a cloudy morning if the lighting outside gave an indication. His back tingled uncomfortably, like the feeling of waking up a limb after keeping it still for a prolonged time. 

 

Normally, Sunny would just go back to sleep. Only really getting up for the bathroom and eating food, but after that dream…sleep for once seemed unappealing.

 

He tossed the blanket aside as the cold morning air caused him to shiver. In his arms was his favorite plush. 

 

A button eye plush of Omori. He has had the plush for as long as he could remember.

 

Sunny held the doll securely in his arm as he got out of bed. He was only wearing the button up tee and cadilllac shorts.

 

Another shiver ran through his body. It felt too cold to wear just shorts and a t-shirt. Sunny walked to the dresser and pulled out one of the drawer. He found some baggy green pants at the bottoms of his dresser under a sea of shorts and jeans.

 

Next was a warmer shirt. His closet though was filled with only t-shirt after t-shirt. Definitely not warm enough. 

 

He looked to the other side of his room, but didn’t move closer to it. He never went to that side of the room. Something about it just felt somber, like he’d outwear his welcome just from staring for too long. 

 

Boxes line the walls of the room. Everything was covered in a thin layer of dust, untouched and forgotten.

 

But one of the boxes sat slightly open with a gray sleeve peeking through. Sunny shuffled his feet as he debated whether he should take the sweater from the box or not. 

 

He let out an involuntary shiver and he held onto Omori tighter. He quickly walked over to the box and pulled the sweater out. He heard something clatter on the floor after the sweater came out. Sunny looked down and saw a pink and purple dragonfly clip. He picked up the hair clip and ran his thumb over the small grooves that divided the insect’s body. The clip felt heavy in his hand, regardless of the light plastic that made up the dragonfly. 

 

Sunny quickly left the room, taking everything he grabbed into the bathroom with him. The light flicked on showing Sunny’s reflection in the mirror. 

 

He had barely changed since the last time he looked at himself. Same black greasy hair. Same pale skin. Same dark gray eyes with light bags under them. Same Sunny.

 

He looked away as he put on the baggy pants and gray sweater. Both items were one size too big, but they were comfortable and warm so it worked well. 

 

Last thing was the dragonfly pin. Sunny ran his hand through his hair and moved it to the side. He pinned it to the left side and looked back up at the mirror.

 

There, Dapper Sunny, new Sunny... same Sunny?

 

Sunny let out a sigh as he grabbed Omori and left the bathroom. He went down stairs expecting to see his mom awake by now, but the entire downstairs was dark. The only light came from the small amounts of gloomy day light peaking through the blinds. 

 

Something flashed at the corner of his eye as he stood at the bottom of the stairs. The right hall was much darker than the rest of the house, tucked away just right to hide from most of the daylight. At the very end of it was a large silver mirror. He could hardly make out his reflection in the old mirror, but a blinking red light was shining against its frame.

 

He could recognize that red blinking anywhere. Anytime he went to eat food, the home phone would blink when there was a message. 

 

But the room the blinking was coming from wasn’t the kitchen, but the lounge room. 

 

Sunny slowly walked forward. He held onto Omori tighter as he got closer. With each step, the weight on his chest got heavier and heavier. It was becoming hard to breathe.

 

He held his breath as he turned the corner into the lounge room. 

 

The room was pitch dark. With each red blink, he could make out bits and pieces of the room. A worn out couch. A broken fireplace. A small table. The home phone. 

 

Sunny released the breath he was holding. Everything was okay.

 

He walked into the room and looked closer at the home phone. There was a message from his mom on the phone. Sunny got on his knees and pressed the play button. 

 

A buzz sounded as his mother's voice came through.

 

Hey Sunshine! This is mommy, I have to go out of town for a job meeting for a little while. I made sure to leave leftovers you can microwave in the fridge. I should only be gone for about three days. If you need anything, don’t be afraid to ask your friends downstairs if you need any help. Oh! And don’t forget to do you chores!—bzzz

 

Sunny clicked the end button on the phone. The phone turned off leaving Sunny in complete darkness.

 

Creeeeak

 

Sunny jumped up and looked towards the other side of the couch. A crimson red light emanated from behind a small door. Sunny thought his eyes were playing tricks on him at first, but every time he blinked, the red light intensified in brightness. From the red light, a black hand slowly creeped from the gaps behind the door, gripping the small door frame. 

 

Sunny breath caught in his throat. He couldn’t move. He couldn’t look away.

 

Sunny was AFRAID.

 

The door creaked loudly as dozens of black hands suddenly started clawing their way out from behind the door. White piercing eyes opened from the hands. All staring at him. 

 

The darkness grew darker. The pressure grew heavier. The scratching grew louder.

 

The small door burst open, slamming loudly against the wall. Something from behind the door rushed forward with all its hands and eyes. 

 

Sunny was finally able to move, scrambling backwards frantically as the shadow-like hands reached out to him.

 

Sunny RAN AWAY.

 

He blindly ran out of the lounge and out the hallway. He kept running as his shoulder slammed open the front door. He felt a burst of cool morning air as he ran out from front porch. The gravel of the driveway dug into his socked feet only pushing him to run faster. The gravel turned to grass, then to dirt and sticks. Sunny could hardly see what was in front of him as tears blurred his vision. 

 

Something caught his ankle causing him to fall forward. Sunny curled into a ball as he rolled down a hill. Twigs and rocks digging into his skin uncomfortably with each bump.

 

He finally came to a stop at the bottom of a hill. Sunny let out a quiet groan from the now present aches and cuts all over his body. He laid there for a while, staring up at the cloudy sky partially blocked by the trees. 

 

Yup, Sunny decided that he wasn’t going to get up. He was just going to stay here and turn just into fertilizer. 

 

For a while, Sunny was left alone with just the sounds of breathing and listening to the wind. It wasn’t long until it was interrupted by the sound of leaves shuffling next to him. Oh, so maybe some forest creature was going to get him. At least it’ll be a quick death. Maybe he’d even taste good to what ever forest creature decides to eat him. Any fate was better than what laid behind that door. He closed his eyes as he waited for his demise.

 

“mmrp”

 

Sunny’s eyes shot open at the familiar sound. He turned his head to the side.

 

“Meooow”

 

The cat was staring at him with white silver eyes. It looked like a stray with its messy black fur and its crooked tail. Sunny sat up and tilted his head at the cat. It just stared back at him as it flicked its tail.

 

“Stranger!” A voice called out from the forest. The cat's ears perked up as Sunny looked towards where the voice came from. A blonde boy with a bike was running down the path towards him. The boy looked at him and seemed to freeze up at the sight of him. 

 

“O-oh, um” the boy stuttered, staring at him like a deer caught in headlights. He had baby blue eyes with messy blonde hair. He wore a flower pin and a yellow rain jacket that looked to be way too big on him. He even wore yellow rain boots. 

 

“I-I didn’t know you knew Stranger, S-Sunny” the boy bent down and smiled nervously at him. 

 

Sunny squinted his eyes at the boy. He doesn’t remember ever meeting the boy before. And what kind of name is Stranger? 

 

The staring must have made the boy uncomfortable as he started to chew on his lip.

 

“Ah, I-I must of forgotten to tell you my name last time we met, my name is B-Basil.” Basil said shyly.

 

He held out his hand for Sunny to take. He looked at it for a second before taking it. Basil pulled him up quite quickly causing him to stumble forward a little.

 

“S-sorry, I didn’t realize how light you were” Basil apologized as he caught Sunny. 

 

“S’fine” Sunny mumbled. He had dirt all over his sweater and pants. Even Omori had dirt on him. He scratched at some of the dirt that clung onto the white fabric. What a mess he made.

 

“Y-you actually kept the doll?” Basil said in surprise. He stared with wide eyes at the plush doll, looking like he had seen a ghost.

 

“Omori?” Sunny said as he looked up at Basil curiously.

 

“Is that what you named him? That’s a good name. I always just called him S-Sunny 2.” Basil chuckled nervously. “But, uh, w-what are you doing so far out in the forest?”

 

Sunny looked away from Basil, not really sure how to answer the question. He held Omori closer to him as he thought of a response. He was doing a horrible job at interacting with Basil, leaving him to carry a conversation with essentially a stranger. A quick glance at Basil showed just how uncomfortable this interaction was. Why did he have to go running out of the house?

 

“You don’t have to answer that question i-if you don’t want to. If a-anything, I should be apologizing to you. It’s probably weird for some p-person you barely know to walk up to you after not talking in years and-"

 

"Why is the cat named Stranger?" Sunny blurted out suddenly. His face immediately heated up at his own words. He was so focused on thinking what to say next that he had just completely cut Basil off.

 

“Oh! M-My grandma actually named him. H-He would come to the house for food while we were gardening. She would greet him by saying ‘hey stranger’ a-and it kinda stuck after that.” Basil explained as the cat walked between them. Sunny bent down and pet Stranger along the back. He purred happily before rubbing against Basil’s leg next.

 

Basil picked Stranger up before looking back at Sunny. “Um, are you b-busy at all today?” He asked quietly. Sunny shook his head no.

 

Basil seems to take a second before looking back up at Sunny, an air of confidence came from him that wasn’t there before.

 

“Do you want to come over for a little b-bit?” Basil asked. He had a tiny smile on his face as he looked at Sunny for an answer. 

 

This was a little overwhelming for Sunny. It’s the first time he has been out in ages and all the sudden, he meets someone with fluffy blond hair he has never seen before and they are randomly inviting him over to… hang out?

 

Sunny’s social battery never existed in the first place. He is cold, tired, and covered in mud and missing his bed like never before. He needed to escape this interaction before he made it worse.

 

There was only one right answer for this.

 

“Y-yes” Sunny answered quietly.

 

…damn it, saying no is a lot harder than he remembered it being. 

 

“It’s okay i-if you don’t want to—wait really!?” Basil said in awe as he put Stranger down. The black cat ran off somewhere in the woods. Basil got onto his bike and looked back at Sunny.

 

“Alright! We can take my bike! Ready to go?” Basil said with a new energy in his voice. There was a large smile on his face like Sunny just hung up the stars. The smile must have been contagious as Sunny felt his lips twitch upwards at the sight.

 

Yeah, he has to commit to this. No running this time.

 

“I won’t be able to keep up.” Sunny warned as he looked at Basil's light green bicycle.

 

“I-I’m not going to make you walk! You can ride on my bike with me and I’ll pedal us there.” Basil explained.

 

Sunny walked up to the bicycle, but suddenly stopped. He looked at the bike helplessly, already biting off more than he could chew.

 

“What’s wrong?” Basil asked, his nervous demeanor started to return.

 

Sunny looked down, feeling embarrassed. “I-I’ve never ridden a bicycle before…”

 

“Oh, well…that’s okay! It might be scary at first, but I won’t let us fall. I normally take this bike to pick up fertilizer from Fix-it. So I’m used to the extra weight.”

 

Sunny took a deep breath before getting on the bicycle behind Basil. The back of Basil’s bicycle had metal supports meant to hold things on the back so luckily, Sunny could sit down. 

 

There were two metal bars for his feet, but nowhere to hold onto like Basil has on the front of the bike.

 

“What do I hold onto?” Sunny asked quietly, his hands hovering awkwardly at his sides.

 

“You can hold onto my shoulders or w-waist. Whichever is most comfortable for you.” Basil said as he kicked the stand up.

 

Sunny put Omori in his sweater pocket, making sure he wouldn’t fall out. He put his hands on Basil’s shoulders and tensed up, ready (not) for the ride.  

 

“Here we go!” Basil said as they started down the dirt path. 

 

And it was terrifying .

 

Basil was going fast and it wasn’t smooth at all! The dirt path was filled with sticks and rocks and he just rode over them as if it didn’t take hitting one just right to send them crashing towards the ground.

 

Yup, if he was going to crash and burn with his new friend(?) with zero self preservation skills, then he is going to make sure he couldn’t see it when it happens. 

 

He quickly moved his hands down to Basil's waist and held on for dear life. He buried his face into his back, blinding himself from the most likely inevitable crash.

 

Sunny was on the bike for DAYS (it was only a few minutes) before they finally came to a stop. The bike was tilted to the left as Basil started to get off.

 

“We’re here Sunny!" Basil announced.

 

“…”

 

"…umm y-you can let go now?”

 

"..."

 

Basil shifted uncomfortably. “Uh, S-Sunny? Are you okay? The ride wasn’t that bad…right?”

 

“…neber…agamph” Sunny mumbled into Basil's back. 

 

“Wha?” 

 

Sunny finally looked up, giving Basil a deadpan expression while still clinging to his waist. 

 

“Never again.”

OOO

 

OOO

“Polly! Grandma! I’m home!” Basil called into the small cottage. It had a very warm homey feel to it, small but lived in. 

 

Sunny followed Basil into the living room. Basil kicked his boots off to the side next to a rack of other shoes. Sunny instinctively tried to take his shoes off as well, but entirely forgot that he only has his (now ruined) socks on. 

 

A young woman with wavy, light brown hair walked in wearing a cooking apron with some sort of food pun on it.

 

“That was quick! I have breakfast here when you're ready to eat—Oh! Who’s this?” The woman, Polly said.  

 

“T-This is Sunny! He is one of the kids that lives in Neighbor’s Home.” Basil said as he looked back at him.

 

“You live in that big mansion? I don’t believe I’ve seen you in town at all.”

 

Sunny looked away from her gaze. “I don’t go out often…”

 

“Well from the looks of your clothes, it looks like you fell down a mountain and back up it again. You're covered in mud.” Polly said pointing at his sweater.

 

“...Sorry.” Sunny spoke softly, looking downwards.

 

“Oh, you’re not in trouble honey. You should have seen the state Basil was in when he came home yesterday. I’m just worried.”

 

“P-Polly!” Basil stuttered out, looking a bit flustered.

 

“Hey, I’m just saying.” Polly said as she put her hands up in surrender. 

 

“Anyways, you two seem roughly the same size. Basil, go grab Sunny an extra pair of clothes.” Polly instructed.

 

“Umm, o-okay.” Basil gives Sunny one last glance before walking farther into the house. Sunny looked at Basil pleadingly, not wanting him to leave him alone. Polly seems nice, but there is this underlining girl boss aura to her and it is scary... Oh god she is still staring at him—

 

“Alright Sunny, first things first. What happened to you to end up like...this?” Polly gestured to all of him.

 

“I fell down a hill.” Sunny said quickly.

 

“Fell down? Were you alone?”

 

“Yes.”

 

Polly gazed hardened for a moment. He finally met her gaze as she let out a tired sigh, “Okay, I believe you. Sorry for questioning you like that. I just…had a hunch is all.”

 

Sunny tilted his head at the woman, not quite sure what she was on to. She seems to pick up on his confusion.

 

“When Basil came home yesterday, he was all roughed up like you were. He also said he just fell, but I knew he was lying. Basil can’t lie to save his life. Anyways, I think he’s getting bullied and refuses to get help from anyone.” Polly explained. “I was afraid you were getting hurt too, but it seems like you're just clumsy.” she chuckled.

 

Sunny let out a hum at the information. He didn’t know Basil well enough to give any information on the matter. He wishes he could be of more help, but if Basil isn’t even telling his parents (older sister?) what was going on, there was very little chance he would tell anything to Sunny.

 

Footsteps sounded from the other side of the room as Basil came in with a fresh pair of clothes. “I-I got the clothes. I can show you where the bathroom is.” 

 

Sunny started to walk over to Basil before Polly stuck her hand out stopping him from going forward.

 

“Hold up, take your socks off.”

 

Sunny looked at her with an absolutely baffled face, like he had been told to strip right in front of her.

 

“Hey, don’t look at me like that. I don’t want you trailing mud through the house.”

 

Oh, that made sense.

 

He handed her his socks and walked over to Basil, now barefooted. Polly told him to give her his dirty clothes once he got changed so she can clean them. 

 

Basil led him down into a hallway with three doors. He takes him to the middle door that opened up into a small bathroom. 

 

“Here you go! Oh, and you can take a shower if you want to. There’s only a little dirt in your hair, but I understand if you're not comfortable enough to shower here, let alone wear…my clothes.” Basil said as he shrank into himself.

 

“It’s fine, I need a shower anyways. Thanks for the clothes.” Sunny stated simply, instinctively bowing slightly.

 

Basil lightened up a little, seeming happy that he wasn’t making Sunny uncomfortable. “Okay! When you're done, just c-come into my room. It'll be the door to your left.”

 

With a small nod, Sunny shut the door as he started his new side mission: 

 

Figuring out how to work someone else’s shower.

OOO

After spending a concerning amount of time trying to figure out the shower. Sunny finally made his way towards Basil’s room in a fresh get up (and by get up he means a black t-shirt and sweatpants).

 

Polly picked up his dirty clothes on the way out. He had taken Omori out of the sweater pocket earlier. Polly noticed him holding the doll and offered to clean him as well.

 

“Don’t worry, I’ll put it on the gentle cycle.” Polly reassured. Sunny reluctantly let her take Omori away. At least she didn’t question why a 15 year old teen was carrying a plush doll around. 

 

Sunny knocked on Basil’s door. It felt like barely a second passed before Basil opened the door.

 

“Welcome to my room.” Basil said as he stepped aside. 

 

Sunny walked in and was hit with a floral and earthy smell coming from the room. There were flowers lining the shelves and window seals of his bedroom. There were quite a lot of plants for how small the room was.

 

There was a comfortable twin sized bed off to the side and some pictures of (you guessed it) flowers. Oh, there was also a picture of Basil and his grandma (with more flowers).

 

“You really like flowers.” Sunny said as he walked over to Basil's bookshelf. 

 

“Y-Yeah, I know it’s weird for a boy to like flowers, but it’s just my favorite interest. I’ve also been t-try out photography.”

 

“I’m not exactly one to judge you for liking flowers." Sunny said, thinking back to the fact that he cuddles with a doll that looks just like him.

 

“You really think that? That’s so nice of you.” Basil said quietly. Sunny looked over at him to see him smiling warmly. Silence passed over as an awkward stare down started between the two of them. Neither teen had the experience to keep a conversation going smoothly.

 

Luckily, Basil was able to break the ice, “It’s been a long time since I-I’ve had someone over. Is there a-anything you want to do?” 

 

“Hm,” he looked around the room until something caught his eye. “...Books.” Sunny said lamely as he grabbed one of Basil’s books off the shelf that caught his attention.

 

“Oh! That’s one of my favorites! It’s about exploring a hidden island full of amazing creatures. The forest there is filled with giant plants that have advanced sentients!” Basil rambled excitedly. 

 

Sunny hummed as he climbed onto Basil’s bed. He looked over at Basil and patted the space on the bed next to him. 

 

Basil realized what Sunny wanted and quickly scampered over to take a seat next to him.

 

They sat shoulder to shoulder. Sunny placed the book between them. He couldn't help but notice how warm Basil felt compared to him. Even with the minuscule contact between the two, Sunny couldn't help but relax deeper into the bed at the contact. 

 

“H-How exactly do you want to read this?” Basil asked, shifting nervously causing their legs to brush against each other.

 

“We could silently read, or you can read aloud. I like listening.” Sunny said.

 

“Okay. I always liked r-reading out loud anyway. Me and Grandma would do it sometime together. We would even give the characters different voices.” Basil said.

 

Sunny hummed as he handed the book to Basil. They moved the blankets and pillows to create a more comfortable space and Basil started reading. 

 

Basil did most of the reading. Sunny mostly just leaned against Basil to see some of the book's illustrations. Sunny did volunteer to voice one character, but they only had a few lines of dialog before being killed off (so sad). It was very entertaining for Sunny at least. Basil had different voices for each character adding an extra layer of depth to the story. He could tell Basil really liked the book based on how well he knew the plot. He created the right tones for every section and anticipated plot twists as well. 

 

It seemed like he was really enjoying himself.

 

Sunny and Basil are HAPPY.

 

 

 

 

 

“—and with that, no trace of the virus was found on the island ever again. The end!” Basil finished, closing the book with a satisfying clap. Sunny started clapping in applause, causing Basil to giggle “Awe, thank you, thank you.” Basil bowed exaggeratedly.  

 

A knocking sounded on the door startling Basil. “Y-Yes?” He yelled to the door.

 

“It’s Polly! Dinner is done if you two want to come and eat.” Her voice said through the door.

 

“We’re coming!” Basil replied as he closed the book and hopped out of bed. Sunny followed him as he walked out to the living room and kitchen. It smelled really good whatever Polly was making.

 

“Oh! Grandma, you're out of bed!” Basil said as he walked over to an old women on one of the dining chairs. She had pale blonde hair and wore an old green dress. A pink ribbon holding her hair up in a ponytail. She looked a lot like Basil.

 

He thought that Basil would look good with a ponytail too.

 

“I’ve been out of bed for hours! You’ve just been locked in your room all day and even missed lunch.” Basil’s grandma scolded. Basil shrank into himself a little, looking embarrassed. Sunny's eyes widen, how did time fly by so fast to the point that day was almost over? “Oh I’m just teasing you Sunflower." She continued playfully. "You were just having fun with your friend.”

 

“R-Right! Um, this is Sunny. Sunny, this is my grandma.” Basil introduced the two of them. 

 

“Sunny? What a sweet name. Though, I feel like I’ve seen you before.” She said as she tapped her chin. “Hmm, are you Mrs. Suzuki’s boy?”

 

Man, what was up with people knowing him? Sunny thought maybe his mom must have been behind this.

 

“Yes, she’s my mom.” Sunny responded.

 

Basil’s grandmother gave him a small smile, “You probably don’t remember me, but I’m the landlord of Neighbor’s Home .” Her voice turned sour at the mention of the mansion. It was so subtle, Sunny thought that he didn’t hear her correctly, especially when she continued talking with a sweet tone. “You’ve barely changed since I last saw you. You seemed like a shy little thing. Personality wise, you were the complete opposite of your sister—

 

“Here you all are!” Polly interrupted. She held all four plates of spaghetti in her arms like a waiter would, placing one in front of each chair. 

 

Thank yous came from everyone as Basil and Sunny took a seat. Sunny poked at the spaghetti. The noodles looked different than the normal thin noodles he was used to. It did smell good though, so Sunny took a tiny nibble of it. 

 

Hmm…it’s as good as it smells. Sunny kept eating, eating more than he had in a long time.

 

Four whole bites, now that’s a new record.

 

“Does everything taste good you two?” Polly asked him and Basil.

 

“Yup!” Basil said as he took another bite. He had spaghetti sauce on his chin. 

 

“S’good, the noodles are weird.” Sunny said. 

 

“Well, they aren’t noodles. They’re actually shredded squash.” Polly said.

 

“Grandma’s on a strict vegetarian diet.” Basil whispered to him before taking another bite.

 

“Noodles aren’t vegetables?” Sunny said, tilting his head.

 

Basil choked, trying to discreetly cough into his arm. Guess Sunny didn't do a very good job at portraying sarcasm.   

 

Everyone finished up pretty soon after that, taking their dishes to the sink. Sunny noticed that Basil’s grandma was still staring at him. 

 

“You should probably head home soon, Sunny. There’s supposed to be a bad storm tonight and I wouldn’t want you to get sick. Feel free to come by anytime though. It’s good to see Basil finally bring someone over. I was started to think I’d never see the day.” She said, looking over at Basil teasingly. 

 

He flushed pink as stuttered out something about getting Sunny’s clothes before walking out. Sunny looked back over at Basil’s grandma who had a saddened expression on her face as she looked back at him. It gave him whiplash when a mischievous smirk suddenly reappeared on her face.

 

“Hey Sunny, want to see some baby pictures of Basil?” She said as she pulled a photo album out of nowhere.

 

“Yes please.” Sunny said with absolutely no hesitation. There was no doubt in his mind that the photo album contained enough cuteness to last lifetimes.

 

“I HEARD THAT!” Basil shouted through the wall as he stormed into the living room holding his clothes. “Okay meandsunnyaregoingtogonowbebacksoon love you bye!” He said quickly as he grabbed Sunny’s hand. Sunny pouted as he didn’t even get a glimpse of baby Basil before he was dragged through the front door.

 

Basil quickly handed Sunny his thing as they both started to walk towards the forest. Omori sat comfortably on top of the freshly cleaned clothes in his arms. “It will t-take a little bit to get to your house on foot. But the quickest way to c-cutting through the woods.” Basil said as he led the way.

 

He quickly came to a stop though. “Oh! I almost forgot!” Basil said as he quickly ran back to the house and brought something to him. “They might be too small, but you shouldn’t walk through the f-forest barefooted.”

 

Basil handed him a pair of old brown boots. Sunny could see old cobwebs clinging to the bottom of the soles.

 

Sunny handed Basil Omori and his green pants as he quickly slipped on his now clean socks (there was a small hole on the bottom of them now), his sweater, and then finally the old boots.

 

He was surprised that they fit quite well. The good thing about the old shoes was that they were already broken in as well.

 

Sunny gave Basil a thumbs up as the blonde handed Omori and the pants back to him, leading the way towards home.

 

The forest was really quiet compared to before. No bird sang as the sky got darker. It started to become hard to see through the dense vegetation. It got to the point where he had to grab onto Basil’s rain coat to not lose him. 

 

Normally, he was fine with silence. As of right now though, it was starting to freak him out. Gathering every bit of confidence he could (essentially none) Sunny decided to start up a conversation.

 

“What was your favorite creature from the book?” Sunny said, silently complimenting himself for his improving social abilities.

 

Basil glanced back at Sunny, his light blue eyes seemed to glow in the surrounding darkness. “F-Favorite creature? H-How can I just pick one?. Umm, I really liked the SnapDragons, it would be so cool to grow a plant that had a dragon shaped flower, and acted like a dog! Oh! And there was also—”

 

Basil kept rambling about the creatures from the book. Ah, his plan worked way better than expected. It didn’t really surprise him that Basil’s favorite aspect of the book were the creatures and characters. Most of them were inspired by plant based puns or just mixing animals with plants.

 

It was much nicer listening to Basil ramble about fictional plant creatures than listening to a silent forest. He noticed that Basil didn’t stutter when he was talking about plants or just things he likes. He pocketed that information for later.

 

It was nice, especially how effortless it was to get him going on a tangent.

 

“—Ah! I’ve b-been going off f-for a while. S-Sorry if I was a-annoying.” Basil said, cutting himself off.

 

“No, I don’t mind. I like listening.” Sunny said, saddened that the blonde had stopped.

 

“A-Are you sure? I must get annoying after a while. Y-You don’t need to lie just to make m-me feel better...” Basil said, his voice getting quieter with each word.

 

“Not lying. Listening is what I’m good at. It makes me happy. S’Not annoying.” Sunny stated.

 

A pattering sound started to echo throughout the forest causing the two to freeze up for a moment. Sunny felt something tap his head as he looked down to see what it was. 

 

It looked like a shiny crystal before disappearing into the dirt. Many more white specks started to litter the forest floor as the noise got louder.

 

He felt Basil pull him forward by the hand as they started to run.

 

“Y-Your house is just up here! We can wait for the hail to pass in there!” Basil yelled as they broke through the tree line. 

 

Sunny let out a grunt in response. He just focused on running and the grip Basil had on his hand. The pieces of ice raining on them was starting to hurt.

 

They ran past the Neighbor’s Home welcome sign as they ran onto the front porch. Safe under the porch cover, Sunny let go of Basil’s hand as he bent over to catch his breath. Good lord was he out of shape.

 

Sunny finally recovered as he looked over at Basil. The blonde was hugging himself, shivering slightly. Sunny thought maybe he was cold, but the look Basil had on his face…

 

Basil looked like he was AFRAID.

 

He wasn’t really sure what to do in this situation. Basil looked frozen in place, staring at his front door. Sunny reached out hesitantly before stopping himself. Maybe he just needed to be reminded that he wasn’t alone.

 

Sunny reached out once again and took Basil’s hand. He flinched harshly before turning towards Sunny. He seemed to relax a little before scratching the back of his head nervously. “S-sorry! I’ve always been k-kinda afraid of this house.” Basil explained, not being able to meet Sunny’s eyes.

 

“Wanna talk about it inside?” Sunny said, reluctantly letting go of Basil's hand. 

 

“S-Sure. It’s s-silly to be scared of a house.” Basil whispered as Sunny led the way to the front door.

 

“Just a house.” Sunny reassured. Whether he was reassuring Basil or himself, he wasn’t sure.

 

He opened the door to reveal the dark front entry. Sunny felt along the wall for the light switch, finally brightening the inside of the house. Basil seemed more confident than before with the lights on, taking his muddy rain boots off by the front door.

 

“This isn’t as bad as grandma made it seem to be… oh crap! Grandma is going to kill me when she finds out I came in here!” Basil panicked as he ran his fingers through his hair.

 

“Your grandma?” Sunny questioned.

 

“W-Well, grandma said that I needed to avoid ever going to the Neighbor's Home mansion. She always talks about how it was cursed a-and it turned into a horror story for me. Even after everything, I’d still come by and look at the backyard and imagine it full of flowers. It’s the perfect yard for it, you know?” Basil explained. Sunny nodded along through the whole explanation. 

 

...He couldn’t help but agree with Basil’s grandma about the house.

 

“I should p-probably call home and l-let them know I’m waiting the storm out in here.” Basil said as he took off his raincoat. “Is there a phone I could borrow?” Sunny nodded his head as he walked towards the kitchen. He hadn’t even made it to the kitchen entrance before remembering that the home phone had been moved from its original location.

 

Sunny suddenly stopped, accidentally causing Basil to run into his back. The impact caused him to drop Omori and his green pants. He quickly turned around and grabbed onto the blonde, preventing him from falling completely.

 

“Ah! S-Sorry, I-I wasn’t expecting the sudden stop.” Basil said with a wobbly smile.

 

“Wrong place.” Sunny said as he led Basil towards the hall with the mirror. Just like before, he felt his heart rate pick up with each step closer he took to the lounge. The sound of his heart beat was almost deafening as they inched closer to the lounge step by step. Sunny tried to ground himself by digging his nails into the palm of his hand. Instead, he felt his chest suddenly tighten. It almost felt like someone was crushing his chest preventing him from catching his breath. He—He couldn’t—

 

“Sunny?” 

 

Sunny sucked in a sharp breath…He wasn’t alone now. Not like before.

 

Sunny let out a shaky sigh as the weight lifted slightly off his chest. Regaining his composure, he silently led Basil into the lounge. The weight on his chest wasn’t entirely gone though. He kept his breaths short. Not making the same mistake twice, he turned the light on revealing the rest of the room.

 

Everything was in its place still. The couch, table, the fireplace, the phone.

 

…The little door.

 

Everything looked a lot less menacing when showered in light. Regardless, he wasn’t going to take his eyes off that door.

 

Something was behind that door, after all.

 

He heard the phone buzz as Basil picked up the phone and dialed his number.

 

“Hello? O-Oh, umm, grandma! Hi…”

 

“I’m safe, I’m inside Sunny’s house—“

 

Though he couldn’t make out what Basil’s grandma was saying, she had a… strong reaction to the news.

 

“I-I’m fine grand— No! Sunny is right here with me.”

 

“Uh, Sunny’s parents?” Basil looked up at Sunny with pleading eyes.

 

“At work.”

 

“They’re at work… we’ll stick together, don't worry! I’ll come home as soon as the storm passes…love you too, bye!” click

 

“That’s done n-now. I’m probably going to get an ear full from her when I g-get home though.” Basil said as he let out a sigh. He looked over to Sunny who seemed to be spacing out.

 

“Uh, Sunny?” 

 

He walked over to him and finally saw what he was staring at. 

 

“Is that l-like a little cubby room?” Basil asked. He started walking over to the small door before Sunny grabbed his wrist and yanked him back.

 

“D-Don’t.” Sunny said, his voice was much raspy than before. The weight against his chest completely restrained his breathing. His ears started to ring as oxygen failed to get into his lungs. 

 

He only started to panic more as his knees gave out. He fell forward, only to be caught in someone’s arms.

 

“S—ny!—-Sun-y! ——u have—CALM DOWN—just focus on breathing—in for 5 out for 7 like this.” 

 

Sunny felt his hand get pressed against someone’s chest. He focused on them breathing as the weight on his chest seemed to lighten. Breathing became easier as he rested his head against the person's shoulder.

 

Sunny learned to CALM DOWN

 

“Hey, a-are you okay now? That was kinda s-scary that you just suddenly h-had a panic attack on me.” Basil said, still holding onto him. 

 

“M’scared of Something behind the door.” Sunny mumbled into his shoulder.

 

Basil looked at Sunny with increasing worry. “What exactly is behind the door?”

 

“…”

 

“M-Maybe if we see what’s behind it, It’ll stop being so scary.” Basil suggested. Sunny stiffened at the idea. Glancing back at the door, it somehow look far less menacing than a moment ago. With reluctance Sunny nodded at Basil's idea.

 

Together, they walked up to the small door. Basil took a knee down to it as Sunny stood to the side.

 

With a nod from Sunny, Basil grabbed onto the edge of the door and pulled—

 

The door shook in place. It didn’t open.

 

“Must be locked.” Basil muttered to himself.

 

Sunny let out a sigh of relief. If the door is locked, Something on the other side can’t get out.

 

“Do you know where the key is?” Basil asked Sunny curiously.

 

Sunny opened his mouth to say no, but a clatter coming from the kitchen interrupted him. Basil shot up onto his feet.

 

Sunny walked to the lounge entry and looked down out into the hallway. Basil followed more timidly behind. The kitchen light was still off, so Sunny walked down the hall and flicked the lights on in the kitchen.

 

Nothing at first seemed out of the ordinary other than his green pants that he dropped early with… Omori…

 

Omori wasn’t there.

 

A quick look around the kitchen answered his question. Omori sat next to an open drawer on the other side of the kitchen.

 

“U-Uh, S-Sunny? Are y-you sure we are a-alone?” Basil whispered from behind him.

 

Sunny didn’t answer as he walked over to where Omori sat. He picked up the doll and not only found him next to a kitchen knife 

 

But Omori also sat next to a black key with a painted white eye on it.

 

Yeah…This is totally not creepy.

 

He put Omori back in his sweater pocket and picked up both the knife and…the key.

 

…After this, there is no way he is walking around his house unarmed.

 

Sunny handed the key to Basil as he started to walk back towards the lounge with kitchen knife in hand. Basil followed behind him, muttering to himself.

 

“—instead of the h-house being cursed, maybe it just h-has a friendly poltergeist problem? Or maybe O-Omori is magical! A possessed doll maybe?” Basil theorized as they entered the lounge.

 

Sunny didn’t hesitate walking up to the door as he gestured for Basil to unlock the door. He held the knife firmly in his grasp, giving him a sense of confidence and determination that had previously eluded him. The blonde got on his knees and stuck the key into the lock.

It went in smoothly with a satisfying click .

 

He didn’t turn the key immediately, instead looking back up at Sunny. 

 

It wasn’t too late to stop now, to just leave the door locked. Something would never get out. Basil was silently giving him a choice.

 

He was still afraid of what was beyond the door, but now he has the power to STAB.

 

He tightened the grip on the kitchen knife as he nodded to Basil. He turned the key as another click echoed through the room. Basil pushed the door in as it creaked open. Cobwebs stuck to the edge of the door as Basil pulled it open. Sunny held his knife up, ready to attack whatever was on the other side. 

 

The door complete swung open revealing a—

 

A dusty brick wall?

 

…Huh, kinda underwhelming. Sunny couldn’t tell whether he was relieved or disappointed now. He got himself hyped up for some fight and got a brick wall instead.

 

He can’t exactly STAB a brick wall…

 

“It’s blocked up? W-Well at least there is nothing to be scared of now.” Basil said as he closed the door. “Grandma must have b-blocked it up when dividing the mansion.”

 

Sunny held out his hand for Basil and pulled the blonde up. He hadn’t even realized before now, but there was no sound of hail hitting the house anymore. Basil handed him the key as he looked towards the exit of the lounge.

 

“I should p-probably get going now though. Grandma’s already mad at me f-for being here, but we should hang out again soon? Ah, preferably at my house?” Basil nervously said as he looked back at Sunny.

 

After everything that had happened today, all Sunny wanted to do was sleep. 

 

But hanging out with Basil again seemed nice. Especially at his house. Really, anywhere but at his supposedly haunted house would do.

 

“Tomorrow.” Sunny said as he pocketed the kitchen knife.

 

“R-Really? Okay! I’ll meet you in your backyard tomorrow evening. I-I’ve got a bunch of gardening I have to catch up on tomorrow morning!” Basil smiled happily as he ran out the lounge in excitement. 

 

His footsteps echoed through the hall. They were suddenly cut off by a small yelp followed by a thud . 

 

“Ow… I’ll see you tomorrow Sunny!” Basil's voice came from the hallway followed by the front door shutting.

 

Sunny stood there for a moment, not really sure what to do with himself.

 

Hmm, he feels like he forgot to tell Basil something…no, give Basil something.

 

Oh he remembers now! 

 

He’s still in Basil’s clothes, woops.

 

Eh, he’ll give them back tomorrow. It’s sleep time now.

 

OOO

 

OOO

 

 

Welcome to WHITE SPACE

Three days until the anniversary of ???

 

 

Sunny’s eyes shot open as he was greeted by the endless void of WHITE SPACE. Omori walked into his eyesight and held out his hand like he always did.

 

Sunny squinted his eyes at the monochrome boy, ignoring his hand as he sat up himself instead. The laptop, tissues, notebook, and resident Mewo were all still here. 

 

Even the white door was ther— wait what?

 

At the edge of the blanket stood the small door. It was much cleaner here than the version in the house. It was still the same small door though. Sunny pushed himself off the ground as he walked over to it. He crouched in front of the door and slowly opened it.

 

There wasn’t a brick wall anymore, but a rainbow colored tunnel. Wind blew his hair back as he stared at the memorizing colors. 

 

He looked behind him at Omori who was watching him carefully. He wore a blank expression as he continued to watch Sunny, though his eyes seemed to open a little more when Sunny made eye contact with him.

 

Omori held up his hand and gave Sunny a small wave goodbye. Sunny held up his hand to wave back, but on impulse held his hand out for Omori to take instead.

 

Omori walked over to Sunny and instead of taking his hand, he handed him a large kitchen knife.

 

That’s… not what he held his hand out for, but at least he didn’t stab him this time.

 

Sunny held the knife back to him before trying again. “Do…do you want to come with?” Sunny asked. 

 

Omori took the knife and looked down at him for a moment. He shrugged as he got on his knees behind Sunny.

 

With that, they started their crawl through the rainbow tunnel to the other side.

 

The tunnel itself was soft and caved to his weight like a feathered pillow. He could feel Omori’s weight behind him as they crawled to the small door on the other side. 

 

He pushed against the door as it wiggled in place. 

 

Locked. Good thing he still had the key.

 

He took the cold black key from his pocket and unlocked the door with it.

 

It swung open allowing Sunny and Omori to crawl through.

 

Sunny quickly realized that the door lead into the lounge, well a different version of the lounge. 

 

Everything was much more colorful and saturated, more vibrant and filled with life than the lounge that he was used to. White cream floors, pink walls, an orange couch. The fireplace looked like it wasn’t ready to collapse into itself anymore, and above that was a picture of him and all his old friends.

 

Except they all had button eyes? Even Basil was there too with green hair and a flower crown. There was Aubrey, Hero, Kel, Omori—

 

…Mari

 

Sunny looked away from the picture and looked back at Omori. He stood near the lounge exit, waiting for Sunny.

 

They walked out into the hallway with Sunny being hit with the delicious smell of fresh baked cookies. The smell led them to the kitchen where he saw—

 

“Sunny! Omori! I was wondering when you two would show up!” 

 

Sunny froze as he watched Mari take out a fresh batch of cookies. She looked at him with a smile and plastic button eyes. 

 

“What’s wrong Sunny? It looks like you’ve seen a ghost!” Mari giggled to herself. 

 

It was really Mari standing in front of him. He wanted to… No. 

 

He knew he was dreaming.

 

He didn’t deserve an amazing sister like Mari. Not in a dream, not even in reality.

 

But Sunny was SELFISH, he always was.

 

He walked up to Mari—Dream Mari and hugged her.

 

It felt fake warm, she hugged him back. 

 

“Awe, I missed you too Sunny. All your friends are waiting for you in the BACKYARD. Why don’t you go join them while I finish the desserts.” Dream Mari said as he let go of Sunny. He didn’t want the hug to end, but he let go of her anyways.

 

Omori led the way to the back door. Sunny’s eyes widened as he saw what the backyard had transformed into.

 

The entire backyard was a colorful mix of a playground and a giant garden all in one. The plants themselves were full of life and personality, just like the ones in the story Basil read to him. He even saw SnapDragons tickling a sproatmole a little ways off. In fact, the playground itself was formed by the plants, like the vines happily swinging a hamster and a rabbit like a swing set.

 

Off to the side, he spotted a picnic blanket that had three people he recognized on it.

 

Kel, Aubrey, and Hero were here. 

 

Kel seemed to notice them first as he waved at them. “SUNNY! OMORI! OVER HERE!!!”

 

He followed Omori through the playground, doing his best to avoid the button eye plant/animal children running around. He almost accidentally bumped into the mandible of a giant sleeping centipede. The children were using its rainbow legs as monkey bars as the insect slept on its side.

 

“Sunny! Catch!” Kel suddenly yelled as he threw a ball at him.

 

Using his amazing reflexes, Sunny did nothing as the ball hit his arm and rolled away sadly.

 

“Nice try!” Kel said as he walked over to pick up the ball. Sunny noticed he also had button eyes, just like almost every resident here with him and Omori being the only ones with normal eyes (ironic since Omori has button eyes in the waking world).

 

“Kel! You can’t just throw a ball at someone who isn’t even looking!” Aubrey yelled from the picnic blanket. There were bottles of nail polish sitting in front of her. She had painted her nails pink. 

 

“I gave him a heads up! Plus he’s fine, right Sunny?” Kel looked over at him. He gave a thumbs up. Kel looked back at Aubrey who blew him a raspberry.

 

Sunny, Omori, and Kel took a seat on the picnic blanket with Hero and Aubrey. Sunny was sitting next to Aubrey, who grabbed a bottle of black nail polish. “Can I paint your nails Sunny?” She asked. Sunny shrugged as she let her take his hand.

 

Hero, Kel, and Omori help him put together some sandwiches for the picnic. Mari joined them soon after with a bowl of freshly baked cookies. Aubrey had just finished painting his nails. She even let him keep the rest of the black nail polish, saying that black was a good look on him.

 

“Where’s Basil?” Mari asked as she took a seat next to Omori and Hero. 

 

“He went to go get flowers to make flower crowns out of. He should have been back by now. I’m starting to get worried.” Hero said as he looked off into the garden. 

 

“What if he’s in trouble!” Aubrey said as her lips wobbled slightly. 

 

“Why don’t we go find him together!” Kel shouted as he jumped to his feet.

 

“That’s a good idea! You guys go and find Basil while I get the rest of the picnic ready. My bad knee would just slow you guys down anyways.” Mari said.

 

“But we can’t leave you here all alone.” Aubrey retorted.

 

“Oh! I have an idea!” Kel said as he held his hand up to his mouth.

 

He whistled loudly before yelling—

 

“HECTOR!!!!”

 

Rustling was heard from the distance as heavy steps came closer to them. The ground shook with each paw step as a giant corgi came from deep within the garden with a happy Ruff!

 

“There! Mari won’t be alone now.” Kel said happily. Mari pet the giant dog on the nose. Hector let out a happy yip.

 

“I guess that works.” Hero said.

 

Everyone but Mari stood up and got ready to look for Basil.

 

“Guard the fort Hector! Papa Kel is counting on you.” Kel said, pointing finger guns as the giant dog.

 

Ruff Ruff!

 

They walked through the garden with Omori taking the lead followed by Sunny, Aubrey, Kel, then Hero. Sproatmoles and small Eggplantians walked past and around them as they moved further into the garden. The flowers were moving around them, most of them curiously looking towards the group. He even felt a SnapDragon tickle his hair. He walked out of reach as they made a sound that was reminiscent of laughter. 

 

They were nearing the entrance of an opening when they heard someone yell out from a distance. 

 

“ —L-Let me go! ” A voice echoed from the clearing.

 

“Is that…?”

 

“Basil!”

 

Everyone ran into the small clearing to see a large, four petal flower monster in the middle of it. It had one button eye on each petal with sharp teeth in the middle of the flower. It held Basil in the air upside down by the foot.

 

“You're not going nowhere, flower boy” it hissed. The plant had a deep feminine voice.

 

“B-But I have f-friends w-waiting for me! I can c-come back and help laaAAAH!” 

 

Basil was tossed up into the air and caught around the chest by another vine.

 

“I need your help now! Can’t you see it’s an emergency?! ” The plant bellowed. “ My beautiful thorns have turned an ugly orange color! They are supposed to be black! Oh, you have to fix them now!” It yelled as it slammed one of its vines against the ground.

 

Sunny recognizes the plant monster from the story. It’s supposed to be some carnivorous poppy plant. He remembers Basil saying it was his least favorite creature from the book.

 

“HEY!” Kel yelled. The Poppy wiped its head around looking right at them.

 

“YOU! ” The plant yelled looking straight at Kel. “ YOUR THE BRAT THAT SPILLED ORANGE JOE INTO THE DRINKING WELL. LOOK WHAT IT DID YOU MY POOR THORNS!” The Poppy wailed, showing off the now bright orange thorns on its vines. 

 

“Kel!” Aubrey yelled at the boy.

 

“Uh, woops?” Kel shrugged.

 

“Watch out!” Hero yelled suddenly. A vine came crashing down towards Kel. Omori quickly pushed him aside causing the vine to miss.

 

“You think I’m just going to let you get away with what you did?” More vines shot up from the ground, attacking the group. Everyone pulled out a weapon, or well, something close to a weapon. The only one with a real weapon was Omori. 

 

Sunny focused on dodging, not having anything other than his fist to fight back with. Omori was easily slashing through any vine thrown his way. Kel dodged every vine that came his way through sheer speed. He even managed to hit the poppy in its button eye with his basketball.

 

Sunny saw Hero get pulled up in the air by a vine, joining Basil in vine jail.

 

Kel and Aubrey were quick to follow as the vines become too numerous to dodge. The poppy now has four hostages. At least Aubrey got a good hit in with her mailbox.

 

Wait where did she even hide a mailbox—

 

Sunny let out a grunt as he was yanked backwards. A vine was wrapped around ankle pulling him upwards. Omori quickly turned towards him and grabbed onto his arm. The vine pulled them both in the air. Sunny held onto Omori’s wrist tightly while Omori tried to cut the vine holding them up

 

“What beautiful shade of black your hair is, boy ” the poppy said looking at Omori. The plant held them over its mouth lined with sharp orange teeth. “ Just let go, and I’ll free the rest of your friends” it purred to the monochrome boy.

 

The poppy started to lower them closer to its mouth. Omori looked up at him with an expression that reminded him of a sad kitten. 

 

 

 

Sunny’s eyes widened when he suddenly got an idea. He started to swing Omori back and forth. 

 

“Brace yourself.” Sunny said to Omori as he let go. The momentum from the swing made Omori to successfully fall past the poppy’s mouth. Omori fell into a roll when he hit the ground.

 

At least he was safe now.

 

But the vine kept lowering him towards the monster's mouth even with Omori out of danger.

 

...Oh crap, he has black hair too. Sunny started to struggle in the vine holding him up. He bent up and tried to get the vine off his ankle when he felt something fall out of his pocket. He was able to save the key from falling, but sadly, he was unable to reach his black nail polish.

 

He watched the polish fall down into the plant's mouth. It paused for a second, its button eyes widening as it swallowed the polish.

 

And just like that, its teeth and thorns started to change from a bright orange to a shiny black.

 

“Oh my! My thorns, they look beautiful!” The poppy cheered. It lowered everyone to the ground, freeing them from their viney prisons as it admired its newly colored thorns. 

 

“Is everyone okay?” Hero asked as everyone gathered up.

 

Everyone nodded, even though they all looked like they just walked out of a hurricane.

 

“Thanks for saving me guys!” Basil said as he straightened the flower crown on his head.

 

“No problem! You should thank Sunny though! He is the one able to stop the plant monster!” Kel said as he looked over to him.

 

“Sunny! I’m so glad you're here.” Basil said as he smiled widely.

 

Sunny stared at Basil with wide eyes. He looked good with mint green hair. He even had bright blue button eyes instead of the normal black/purple ones everyone else had.

 

“Omori’s here too! We almost have the whole group together now.” Basil said as his attention moved to Omori.

 

“We should probably leave now that we have Basil. Don’t want to keep Mari waiting for too long.” Hero said as he walked back towards the clearing exit.

 

“Let’s get out of here.” Aubrey said as she walked away.

 

“Yah, I’m so hungry! I could eat everything at the picnic, even the basket!” Kel said following Aubrey.

 

Omori and Basil followed them as Sunny took the back of the group.

 

“You got good friends, you know. Be sure to keep them close.” The flower said randomly from behind him. Sunny glanced at the poppy.

 

“Oh, and the black nail polish looks amazing on you honey.” 

 

Sunny glared at the plant before following his friends back to the picnic.

 

The walk back felt short compared to before. They all got around the picnic and finally had some well deserved food. The area was filled with the familiar sounds of Kel and Aubrey teasing each other with Hero mediating. Basil and Omori were even making flower crowns together.

 

Sunny’s eyes drooped as he watched everyone. He barely even noticed when Mari placed her hand on his shoulder. 

 

“You can lay down if you want Sunny, you look ready to pass out.” Mari said as she patted her leg.

 

Sunny didn’t hesitate as he laid his head on her thigh, eyes already falling shut.

 

“See you tomorrow Sunshine…” 

OOO

Notes:

Let me know what you think of the story so far in the comments. Comments give me serotonin :)

Chapter 3: Ochlophobia (1-2)

Summary:

Ochlophobia: the fear of mobs and crowds

Notes:

Shout out to all the homies that commented and left kudos it makes me real happy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sunny woke up to the early morning sun shining on his eyes. He gave them a quick rub as he sat up. It was a bright day out, much sunnier than yesterday. Sunny looked over to his bedside and checked the time.

 

11 a.m. He still had a couple hours to burn before him and Basil could hang out.

 

He didn’t really know what to do with himself until then. He kinda hoped he would just sleep until it was time to hang out. The dream he had was really nice too, he actually felt well rested for once.

 

If only it could have lasted longer.

 

Sunny rolled out of bed with Omori in hand and got his clothes together. He walked into the bathroom and changed into his recent new get up.

 

Gray sweater, green pants, dragonfly clip, and black painted nails.

 

Yup, New Sunny… wait—

 

Sunny looked back at his nails. They were indeed black. He stared at his hand in confusion. That—he got them painted in a dream . 

 

He rubbed his thumb against the polish, feeling the smoothness of the paint. Okay, so the black nail polish wasn’t a hallucinations. 

 

Maybe he was still dreaming? Sunny pinched his arm.

 

Ouch, not a dream.

 

Did that mean…that everything that happened behind the door…really happened?

 

Sunny quickly ran down the stairs and into the lounge. He fell to his knees in front of the small door. He paused for a moment, his hand hovering close to the door’s edge. He closed his eyes as he pushed the door, letting it open in front of him blindly. 

 

With a deep breath, he opened his eyes to see—

 

A brick wall.

 

Sunny let out a huff of annoyance. Great, now he has no idea what could have caused him to wake up with painted nails when he distinctly remembers not getting them painted when he was hanging out with Basil. 

 

Maybe the ‘friendly poltergeist’ Basil mentioned painted them in his sleep. Omori could have painted them last night for all he knew. Considering that he moved on his own yesterday, it’s not beyond possibility now.

 

Just thinking about all the weird stuff that happened yesterday was just exhausting. He will look into it more later. For now though, he had a different and way lamer task to complete.

 

…Chores… ugh

 

The list of chores he needed to do were placed on the fridge. He decided to start with the longest one, that being sweeping the floor. With broom in hand, it was time to battle every speck’o dirt and dust bunny he could find!

 

Sunny encountered a Horde of Dust Bunnies!  

 

 

Sunny used SWEEP

 

Dust Bunny was hit!

 

Dust Bunny was hit!

 

Dust Bunny was hit!

 

Dust Bunny was hit!

 

Dust Bunny was hit!

 

Dust Bunny Horde was defeated!

 

Sunny won!

 

Sunny found Long String!

 

 

…Well, he guessed imagining it as a game made things a little more entertaining. 

 

Sunny picked up the string and held it in front of him. It was more of a long and thin piece of yarn. It gave him an idea as he stuck his hand in his sweater pocket. He was careful to not poke himself with the kitchen knife still in there as he pulled out the black key. 

 

Sunny tied a knot around the key making a necklace out of the yarn. He had no idea if he would even look good with a necklace, but he thought he might as well try it. Standing in front of the hallway mirror, Sunny brought the necklace over his head and took a look at the key now resting against his chest. The painted white eye at the key’s center started back up at Sunny through the mirror. He shuddered as he tucked the key under his sweater, deciding to keep it out of view.

 

KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK!

 

Sunny jumped at the sudden noise echoing through the house. He made his way to the front door as another round of loud knocking came from it. Sunny grabbed the front door knob as he slowly opened the door. 

 

Kel stood in front of him. He still had his long messy hair and wore an orange jersey with a long sleeve jacket over it. Even with the cold early spring weather, he was still in a pair of black shorts. Knowing Kel though, it wasn’t too much of a surprise.

 

What was a surprise though was the absolute jump in height Kel got. Last time he saw Kel, he had a least an inch in height over him. Now, Kel towered over Sunny with a whole head worth of height.

 

“SUNNY! It’s good to see you again finally!” Kel yelled at him. Sunny cringed slightly at his voice. He had forgotten how loud Kel’s volume was, having gotten used to the quiet that surrounded him most days. Basil’s voice could barely be considered a whisper compared to Kel.

 

“Hehe, I actually didn’t expect you to answer the door. It’s normally Mrs. Suzuki that answers the door whenever I come a'knockin!...Anyways! Since you’re here, do you want to hang out today?” Kel asked with a hopeful smile. 

 

Sunny looked behind him as he glanced at the time. It had just turned noon, so Basil still wouldn't be over for a little while longer. 

 

He could either finish doing his chores and be bored out of his mind while doing them, or he could hang out with Kel and maybe have some fun. It would probably be exhausting to keep up with him, but the mental torture of boredom seemed much worse at the moment. 

 

Plus, being with all his friends in his dream was really nice. Maybe, things could be like that here in reality…

 

Sunny already knew it wasn’t possible, not after what he took from all his friends. 

 

Not after what happened to Mari.

 

Even if he didn’t deserve it, dream or reality–

 

Sunny wanted to be HAPPY…

 

Sunny turned back to Kel and gave him a short nod.

 

Kel’s eyes lit up as his jaw dropped in surprise, “Really?! Okay! Let’s go then!” Kel said excitedly. Sunny leaned the broom and dustpan against the wall as he slipped on Basil’s old boots.

 

As soon as he walked out onto the porch, Kel gave Sunny a side hug, almost knocking him over from the taller boy’s sudden added weight. He awkwardly patted Kel’s back causing him to give Sunny a big smile. 

 

“Man! I can’t believe you finally came out of the house for once! What did you even do there the whole time?? I would have lost my mind being stuck inside for that long!” Kel said as he started walking away from the house. He dragged Sunny along with him, keeping his arm around Sunny’s shoulders.

 

Sunny wasn’t quite sure if he should be offended that the taller boy was using him as an arm rest or not. 

 

“I slept.” he answered quietly 

 

“Ha! There’s no way you slept for almost three years!” Kel chuckled looking down at Sunny. He looked back up at Kel with the most deadpan expression he could pull off.

 

The confidence Kel held seemed to waver slightly under his gaze, “Unless…? Oh man, Do you realize what that means?” Kel said with an uncharacteristically serious look on his face. 

 

Sunny braced himself for either some kind of lecture or pity party from the boy. He had hoped that Kel of all people wouldn’t think twice at the implementations of sleeping his life away for almost three years straight but, Kel had probably changed over his years of isolation–

 

“—You’ve missed SO many issues of Captain Spaceboy!!!” Kel gasped. “We have to go to Hobbeez right away!” 

 

Never mind, he was definitely the same old Kel.

 

Kel already started to run ahead as they made their way towards town. “Come on Sunny!” 

 

Oh great, they were running there. Sunny let out a sigh as he ran behind Kel.

 

He could tell that Kel was actually going at a slower pace to help Sunny keep up. It didn’t take long for Sunny to quickly become winded though, having already slowed back down to a walking speed not even two minutes later.

 

“Hurry up Sunny! There’s no time to waste!” Kel cheered, trying to urge him to move faster while jogging in place.

 

“M’tired.” Sunny sighed as he walked slowly behind him.

 

Kel came to a stop in front of Sunny “No worries! I can give you a piggyback ride for the rest of the way there!” He said as he crouched in front of him.

 

Sunny knew immediately that this was a bad idea, but the burning in his legs and lungs told another story. He reluctantly hugged onto Kel’s back as he held him up. 

 

Kel stood up tall not showing any sign of struggle to support his weight.

 

“Oh wow, you're super light! Welp, the Kel Express is leaving the station!” Kel said. He made a choo choo! noise as he suddenly ran forward. Sunny grimaced immediately as he tightly held onto Kel’s shoulders.

 

Oh god, this was almost worse than going mock 7 on Basil’s bike through the woods. If anything, the piggyback ride was worse due to the none-stop rocking from each giant step Kel took. It was making him nauseous.

 

Luckly, it didn’t take long to get to Hobbeez, but boy was Sunny glad he hadn’t eaten anything before going out. It would have been bad to start his day off with throwing up on Kel after finally deciding to hang out again.

 

Kel set him down in front of the store entrance before holding the door open for him (no, he did not almost fall over due to nausea).

 

The store had changed quite a bit since the last time he came here. There were more stands with comics and video games. More cut out characters also stood around promoting new series and chapters. One character was a pink girl with two large pigtails promoting a special edition poster being sold for a rather expensive price. There was a crowd of fangirls standing there admiring the new merchandise and obsessing over getting one for themselves. Sunny noticed a tall girl looking at the new poster from afar, but she never moved to join in with the other girls. 

 

Besides the crowd of girls, there weren’t many people in the store. The guy working behind the table definitely looked like he didn’t want to be there. He looked dead on the inside as he watched the girls touch every piece of merch and smudge the glass frame protecting the special edition poster behind a lock. 

 

“Ugh, I can’t believe so many people like Sweetheart.” Kel sighed from beside him. “They did a crossover with her and Captain Spaceboy, but it was hot garbage at best.”

 

“Don’t worry though! We can skip that arc when we get to it. It doesn’t affect too much moving forward which was a major relief!” Kel brought him over to where all the Spaceboy comics were. To say he missed out on a lot would be an understatement.

 

“—Oh! And this is the chapter where they explain how Captain Spaceboy lost his eye! Turns out some monster that kidnapped his little sister slashed it out when he went to save her— ah crap! I didn’t mean to spoil that. It’s still something you have to read though.” Kel said as he added the comic to the quite large stack of comic chapters he needed to read (according to Kel). 

 

“And here is the latest chapter!” Kel said as he opened it to the first page. Sunny gathered his stack of comics that he needed to read in order to get caught up on the series when he heard a dramatic gasp from Kel.

 

“SUNNY LOOK HERE!” Kel shoved the comic into Sunny’s face. It was on the advertisement page at the start of every chapter that normally just showed off Spaceboy merch. On the page though was an ad announcing that an amusement park was dedicating a section of the grounds to a Captain Spaceboy themed area.

 

“Woah.” Sunny said under his breath.

 

“We have to go sometime together! Maybe we can get Hero to drive us there when it opens!” Kel said as he ripped the ad from the comic. Sunny’s eyes widened at Kel’s blatant disregard of the fact that he tore an entire page out of a comic they hadn’t even paid for. Kel seemed to realize his mistake as he turned around to see if the shopkeeper saw him.

 

Crap, he totally saw Kel rip out the page out. The guy was just glaring at the two. If looks could kill, they’d both be dead by now.

 

“Uh, woops? You’re planning to buy the comics anyways, right Sunny?” Kel looked at Sunny apologetically as he placed the comic with the others.

 

Sunny sighed through his nose as he took up all the new comics to the front counter. He did his best to avoid the large crowd of Sweetheart fan girls. 

 

It was just his luck when one of the girls backed up right into him causing him to stumble backwards.

 

“Hey! Watch where you're going!” The girl hiss at him with an obnoxious voice. The other girls of the group whispered to each other as they moved closer to the commotion.

 

Sunny froze up under the girl’s harsh gaze. His hands shook lightly while holding the Spaceboy comics. He found himself unable to meet her eyes and instead looked down on the floor.

 

He was never good when it came to confrontation.

 

He was terrified of crowds. 

 

Sunny tried to say something to the girl. He tried to say ‘sorry’ or maybe even ‘excuse me’, but he couldn’t get anything to come out. It was like his throat would seize up every time he tried to speak. 

 

He heard someone walk up behind him and put their hand on his shoulder. “Hey, sorry about that!” Kel quickly said as he dragged Sunny away from the now hostile fangirls and towards the front desk.

 

Sunny continued to stare at the floor, not really registering what was happening around him. “Sunny? Suuunnny~” Kel waved his hand in front of his face. Sunny was trying to CALM DOWN but it wasn’t working that well. He could still feel everyone’s eyes burning into his back.

 

The grip on his shoulder got tighter, “Hey Sunny, don’t mind those crazy Sweetheart fans! Just focus on me!” Kel said into his ear. 

 

Sunny slowly looked up from the floor and finally met Kel’s eyes. “Ayo! Welcome back to earth Sunny!” Kel smiled as he gave Sunny a slap on the back (it totally didn’t almost knock him over).

 

“...Thanks Kel.” Sunny said quietly.

 

Kel gave him a big smile. “Anytime! Now let’s get those comics!”

 

Sunny handed the shopkeeper all the comics he had. He watched the cost climb up on the register with each chapter he scanned. Sunny had a lot of money saved up from all the time his mom would leave him some money to buy takeout with (most of the time he just didn’t buy anything). It was still a lot of money for all the comics, leaving Sunny with a measly seven dollars after paying.

 

But hey! He has a ton of comics to read now. Maybe he can read them with Basil when he comes over. A small smile appeared on Sunny’s face at the thought. He really enjoyed the last time Basil read aloud to him.  

 

“Oh, I completely forgot! Do you have sugar at your place? I originally came over to ask Mrs. Suzuki for sugar so mom could bake cookies.”

 

Sunny shook his head. All that’s at home are leftovers and easy-make meals. 

 

“Mom is probably mad enough that I’ve been gone so long!” Kel scratched his head nervously. “Can you do me a quick solid?” 

 

“I forgot my wallet at home, so can you spot me? I’m going to buy my mom sugar since she would probably ground me for life if I took this long and came back with nothing.”

 

Sunny shrugged as he handed Kel the seven dollars. It was the least he could do with him saving him back at Hobbeez earlier.

 

They entered Othermart together as Kel ran off to find the sugar leaving Sunny to explore. He walked off to the right and saw that the candy store was still open. 

 

He also saw a pink haired woman (that looked a lot like that Sweetheart character) chase two teens from her store. Candy trailed behind the teens as they ran out of Othermart in a panic. The pink haired woman yelled threats at the teens for shoplifting. Her frustrated gaze suddenly fell on him.

 

Sunny cowarded away from her anger eyes, quickly walking away. Thankfully she didn’t follow him and stormed back into the candy store.

 

After that close encounter, he just walked around Othermart aimlessly. He kinda just wanted to find Kel and head back home. It’s probably almost time to meet up with Basil soon.

 

As he looked for Kel, he saw a job offer in front of the fish mart. He made a note of it and walked deeper into Othermart.

 

Sunny finally spotted him by the exit with a small bag of sugar. He waved him over as they exited Othermart together.

 

“Thanks again for the money! I can pay you back tomorrow if you’d like? Hero will actually be coming home from college then so we can all hang out together—”

 

“Meow”

 

Sunny looked over to the ground and saw Stranger.

 

“Hello kitty!” Kel gasped happily as Stranger rubbed up against his leg. "He loves me~"

 

“Hi Stranger.” Sunny said as he crouched down with his hand out.

 

Stranger purred as he walked over to Sunny. He had something pink in his mouth that he dropped in front of him. Sunny eyes widened when he saw what exactly the item was.

 

“Basil’s flower clip?” Sunny said under his breath with surprise.

 

“ Mrrw”

 

“Basil? Who’s that?” Kel said as he looked on in confusion.

 

Sunny crouched down and picked up the flower clip. The fabric felt soft under his fingers. 

 

Stranger suddenly yanked the flower out of his grip and started running down the street.

 

“Hey!” Sunny shouted as he chased after him. Kel followed behind him, still entirely confused as to what was going on.

 

“Is this cat yours Sunny!?” Kel yelled after him. He was hugging the bag of sugar against his chest as he ran beside Sunny. Sunny didn’t respond as he focused on trying to catch up to the cat. He swung his bag of comics over his shoulder as he tried to pick up his speed.

 

Despite this, Stranger was much faster than Sunny or Kel. He soon lost sight of the cat as he took a turn into the woods. Sunny entered the forest behind him and looked around for any sign of the cat. 

 

For a moment, Sunny thought he lost him. He took a second to breath before he finally spotted it.

 

A trail of red paw prints painted a path on the forest floor. 

 

It scared him at first, thinking that the red paw prints were from blood and that Stranger was hurt. Sunny was quick to realize that the red paw prints were way too bright of a red to be blood. They almost looked like red wisps, leading him deeper into the woods.

 

“Uh, Sunny? What are you staring at?” Kel said from behind him. Sunny jumped from his sudden appearance, having forgotten that Kel was right behind him.

 

“The red paw prints. You don’t see them?” Sunny looked up at Kel.

 

“Hmm…” Kel hummed as he focused very intently on the ground. “Oh!…no wait…yay I have no clue what you're talking about.” he shrugged.

 

That’s…concerning. Sunny blinked hard, but the red paw prints were still there. He wasn’t sure if he was hallucinating, or if this was another weird paranormal thing he was gonna have to figure out later with the other pile of supernatural stuff that has been happening (god what was up with his life recently?)

 

The weight in his sweater pocket felt heavier than before.

 

“ Ahhh!”

 

A yell from the distance echoed from through the forest. Birds called out and scattered at the sound. It sounded like it came from farther up the trail…

 

Where the paw prints led.

 

Sunny shot up to his feet as he followed the red paw prints deeper into the woods. He followed them at a fast paced walk that quickly ramped up to a full sprint. 

 

A branch suddenly caught onto the plastic bag holding all his comics causing them to scatter all over the forest floor. Sunny skid to a stop as he watched all his brand new comics fall all over the ground. Kel had just came up behind him having to witness the comic storm raining around them. 

 

“You go ahead and I’ll get the comics!” Kel said as he started gathering them. Sunny hesitated for a moment, not wanting to be left alone. “Don’t worry Sunny! I’ll catch up!” Kel reassured with a smile.

 

Sunny gave a small nod as he continued to follow the red trail. The farther up the trail he went, the more familiar the area became. He remembered taking this path with Basil when walking back to his house.

 

A commotion was coming from ahead. The sound got louder the closer he got to where his home was.

 

Right before the forest ended, Sunny spotted Stranger sitting at the end of the trail. Basil’s flower clip sat in front of the cat as his tail swayed patiently. Stranger looked up at him before turning his attention towards what lay beyond the forest. 

 

Sunny picked up the flower clip and placed it in his pocket where Omori and his kitchen knife were. He continued forward exiting the forest tree line. It opened up to reveal his backyard.

 

There was a group of teens he didn’t recognize surrounding someone. He walked closer, doing his best to stay out of sight.

 

He saw an intimidating pink-haired girl standing over someone. He couldn’t tell who the person was from this angle due to the other teen’s surrounding them.

 

“I thought I told you to never come close to here again stalker!” The girl yelled. The downed kid tried to back away, but was kicked forward by the other teens.

 

“I-I-I a-already told y-you, t-those picture w-weren’t what you t-think. P-Please just give the a-album back.” a familiar voice begged.

 

Sunny could recognize that quiet stutter from anywhere. Those teens were surrounding Basil.

 

And they were bullying him.

 

“Hell no! I caught you taking pictures of the backyard! I warned you that I’d beat your ass if I ever saw you back here again, yet here you are standing here alone like a creep.” 

 

“I-I’m not h-here for that! I’m here t-to meet w-with Sunny!” Basil said as he slowly stood up. He had several scuff marks on his yellow coat from being thrown around. One of them must have hit him in the face with his upper cheek looking red.

 

Sunny continued to move closer, using the dead bushes and trees as cover.

 

The pink haired girl laughed maliciously as she shoved him back down to the ground. “What, are you going to stalk him next? That shut in hasn’t left his house in years!” She shouted. 

 

“Y-You’re wrong! Sunny will be h-here soon!” Basil glared at the girl with defiance.

 

Basil let out a small yelp as the girl quickly pulled him up by the collar of his shirt. “Sunny is not coming!” She yelled into his face.

 

Snap!

 

Several heads turned over to where Sunny was standing. A dead twig laid snapped in half under his foot. Damn it, he really didn’t want to get caught like this.

 

“Holy shit. Sunny ?” The pink haired girl said, dropping Basil back onto the ground.

 

Sunny froze up at everyone’s eyes locked onto him. The voices of surprise from the other teens started to turn to static in his ears. He could feel his chest tightened as everyone's staring eyes started to change into horrifying familiar glowing white eyes.

 

Something was here.

 

Shadows covered the once bright clearing. The teens were replaced with several black figures. They had long distorted limbs with giant claws, broken bodies that barely looked human. Several eyes blinked at him from random spots on the figures. Every single eye was glaring at him. 

 

He tried to CALM DOWN, but it only caused his breathing to pick up. His limbs felt heavy as his heart started to beat rapidly. He took a step back as Something moved forward. It was saying something to him, but the only noise that came out were static gurgles.

 

Sunny wanted to RUN AWAY, but he couldn’t get his feet to move. He was entirely overwhelmed by Something crowding around him. He felt himself tense up as he tried to force himself to move away, to leave, to—

 

“ Sunny?! ” A voice buzzed over the static. Sunny saw a glimpse of Basil behind Something. His eyes seemed to glow blue as he grabbed onto one of the Somethings. He pulled them back away from Sunny, only for the Something to swing its arm back hitting him right in the face. Basil let out a sharp cry as he fell back down. A red liquid traveled down from his nose and onto his lips.

 

Something hurt Basil.

 

Sunny sucked in a sharp breath. He couldn’t look away from the blonde’s watery eyes. Basil looked back up at him with fear.

 

His hand mindlessly reached into his sweater pocket. He felt Omori and the flower clip rub against his hand as he pulled out his kitchen knife. He tightly gripped the handle as he tried to steady his breathing.

 

He focused on the weight of the knife in his hand. Something started to fizz away as he concentrated on Basil.

 

He had to save him.

 

Sunny learned to FOCUS.

 

The static in his ears faded with the darkness as he looked the pink-haired girl right in the eye. Her bright teal eyes glared at him with a terrifying level of hatred. She held onto a bat that looked like it was spray painted with many different colors. He also saw several nails sticking out of it at all different angles. She had a large blue bow that almost looked like mini bunny ears.

 

“Quit staring and say something!” She yelled, slamming her bat against the ground.

 

Sunny held himself up straight as he glared back at the girl. 

 

“Leave Basil alone.”

 

She smirked as she swung the nail bat onto her shoulder. “Are you actually friends with this psycho ?” She laughed as she walked closer to Sunny. “Do you even know what kind of picture he had in his little photo album? Why bother defending a stalker?”

 

Sunny gritted his teeth. Ever since he walked out of his home, it’s like everyone recognized him while he was stuck in the dark. 

 

He didn’t care what his connection was to this stranger. Nothing could justify beating Basil down like this.

 

“ Leave us alone. ” Sunny took a step forward. He swore he saw a flicker of surprise cross the girl’s face. It was quickly gone as rage shook through her whole being. The other teens started moving forward, backing up who he assumed was the leader of the group. He remembered seeing some of the teens while in town with Kel, luckily none of them were armed like the pink-haired girl.

 

“The hell’s wrong with you!? Are you looking for a fight cause I’ll give you one Sunshine!” She hissed that nickname like it tasted vile on her tongue. 

 

Sunny’s eyes widened at what the girl called him. That was Mari’s nickname for him. No one else had ever called him that. He doesn’t want anyone else calling him that ever .

 

Sunny was ENRAGED.

 

The girl’s hand shot forward and harshly pushed his shoulder. He stumbled backwards slightly before quickly regaining his balance. He took a lower stance as he watched the girl ready her bat.

 

She swung in a wide arc downward missing Sunny by a hair. Caught off guard by the dodge, she failed to move away when Sunny slashed his knife against her arm. 

 

 

 

She let out a sharp hiss of pain as she dropped her bat. She stumbled backwards as her hand clutched onto the gash now present on her arm. He could see blood between her figures as her friends gathered around her.

 

“What the hell?”

 

“Is that a knife?”

 

“This kid is crazy!”

 

Sunny glared at the other kids whispering their shock and surprise at him using a knife to defend himself, as if their the other girl hadn’t just swung a nail bat at at him.

 

“You okay Aubrey?” The one with the red glasses said as she helped support her. 

 

Sunny eyes widened at the name, “Aubrey ?” He whispered to himself. She didn’t look anything like she did before, but the more he looked, the more he noticed tiny details that screamed Aubrey peak through her new look. The love for the color pink, her softball bat, the bunny patch on her jacket—

 

Aubrey looked back up at him with furry. “This isn’t over Sunny! You’ll pay for leaving me behind like everyone else!” She threatened as she shrugged the other girl’s hand off her shoulder.

 

Right at that moment, Kel finally broke through the tree line holding a pile of comic books. “Sunny! There you— Aubrey!? What are you doing here?” Kel looked on with concern and confusion.

 

“Mind your own fucking business Kel.” Aubrey snapped at him as she turned away. “Let’s get out of here.”

 

Before another word could be spoken, Aubrey and her gang went over to their pile of scooters and bikes and quickly rode away from the scene leaving Sunny, Kel, and Basil all alone.

 

With the coast clear of bullies, Sunny walked over to Basil. The blonde was wiping away the blood coming from his nose when he looked up at Sunny. He had tears running down his face as he looked at him with sadness.

 

“I-I’m s-sorry for-for dragging y-you into this, S-Sunny!” Basil sniffed as he tried to wipe away his tears. 

 

Sunny crouched down next to Basil, putting his hand on his back. Basil looked up at him in surprise.

 

“Are you okay?” Sunny asked. His eyes were focused on the bruise forming on Basil's right cheek.

 

“W-What? W-Why are y-you worried about me? Didn’t you hear w-what she said about m-me!? You s-should hate me!”

 

“I don’t believe her. Even so she shouldn't hurt you for it.” 

 

“S-She going t-to be after you n-now though! A-And it’s my f-fault.”

 

“I’ll probably be fine. I cut her with my knife and she never even landed a hit on me.” Sunny shrugged

 

“YOU STABBED AUBREY?!” Kel shouted from behind.

 

Sunny looked over to Kel, “Self defense. She swung first.”

 

Kel crouched beside him and took the knife out his hand. “No more stabbing for you.”

 

“My backyard, my rules. Give it back.” Sunny pouted as he tried to take the knife back. 

 

“Technically, it’s both of our backyard.” Kel corrected. Sunny still tried to get the knife back regardless, but Kel simply stood up and held it out of his reach. Curse Kel and his superior height.

 

“W-Who is this S-Sunny?” Basil whispered behind him as he grabbed onto the back of his sweater.

 

“This is Kel, he also lives in Neighbor’s home.” Sunny introduced.

 

“Oh! So this is Basil? Hi! Sunny mentioned you earlier.” Kel held out his hand to Basil while still keeping the knife out of Sunny’s reach. 

 

Basil hesitantly reached his hand out and grabbed his hand. Kel excitedly shook it real fast. Sunny finally gave up trying to get the knife back as Kel pocketed it in his black shorts.

 

“So, what put you on Aubrey’s beat-up list, Basil?” Kel asked as he crossed his arms.

 

“W-Well, She saw me t-taking pictures of S-Sunny’s backyard. I know it s-seems stalkerish, but my grandma u-used to grow a big garden back here and I j-just wanted some pictures of it, e-even if all the plants are gone.”

 

“S-She stole my camera and photo album when she caught m-me here two days ago. I-I was going to get it back yesterday, but I met Sunny and f-forgot about it before A-Aubrey caught me here again.”

 

“She stole your stuff? I knew she got into a bad crowd but I didn’t think she would steal from someone like that.” Kel commented as he got lost in thought for a moment.

 

He suddenly snapped his fingers. “I got it! Sunny, we should help Basil get his things back!” Kel smiled as he looked towards Sunny.

 

Sunny shrugged, still eyeballing his confiscated knife resting in Kel’s pocket.

 

Oh! He almost forgot!

 

Sunny reached into his pocket and pulled out Basil’s flower clip. The blonde’s eyes widened.

 

“Oh! My flower clip—?” Basil’s face reddened as Sunny got closer to him.

 

Sunny brought his hand up to the blonde's hair as he tucked the loose strands behind his ear. His hair felt soft against his figures as he put the flower clip into place to keep his hair up.

 

“There.” Sunny said he stood back. Oh wow, Basil’s face was really red. He didn’t realize how hard the bullies had hit him in the face. They should probably get a first aid kit soon.

 

Basil hid his face behind his hands, seeming to notice him staring. Sunny heard a quiet thank you from Basil before his hands finally fell away from his face. He looked towards the ground shyly before muttering his next words. “Y-You guys really w-want to help me?” 

 

“Of course! A friend of Sunny’s is a friend of mine!” Kel pulled Basil into a side hug. Basil tensed up under his arm but didn’t try to escape it. Sunny tried to get away, but Kel quickly pulled him into the hug as well with his other arm.

Mission Start!

Retrieve Basil’s Camera and Photo Album!

OOO

OOO

It wasn’t long before the trio were ready to head back into town. Sunny had dropped off his comics while Kel went to his part of the house to give his mom the sugar.

 

As they waited for Kel, Sunny double checked to make sure Basil was alright. He insisted that he was okay, but Sunny wanted to make sure. His nose seemed alright and his face wasn’t as red as before.

 

During this, Sunny and Basil pretended to not hear all the colorful Spanish words coming from Kel's mom as they waited by the stairs leading to his front door. Kel’s front door was a staircase that was built into the ground creating an entrance straight to the basement. It was probably installed as an extension when the mansion was divided.

 

“OKAY I GOT TO GO LOVE YOU MOM!” Kel yelled as he left through the front door. Kel suddenly ducked as a flip-flop collided with the wall behind him sending the tall boy running up the stairs.

 

Sunny wouldn’t be surprised if Kel's mom had killed someone with that flip-flop before. Sunny shuddered and thanked whatever god was watching that he had never been on the receiving end of the dreaded choncla . From looking at Basil’s baffled expression, he could tell that he felt the same.

 

“Alright! What’s the plan Sunster!” Kel said happily like there wasn’t just an attempt on his life from his mom.

 

“We check Othermart and the park. Saw some of them hanging out there earlier. Also don’t call me that.” Sunny explained as he led the way towards town.

 

“W-What do y-you plan to do w-when we find them?” Basil asked as he trailed behind him. He had grabbed Sunny’s hand at some point during the walk. His tight grip made it obvious how nervous Basil was to confront his bullies.

 

“We ask them where your stuff is and then get it back, simple.”

 

“The hooligans probably won’t hand it over willingly.” Kel added. He silently tapped his chin before coming up with something “Oh, I know!”

 

“We can single one of them out and interrogate them! Sunny can play the good cop, I’ll be the bad cop, and Basil can be the mediator!”

 

“…”

 

Kel pouted at the unimpressed expression on Sunny’s face. “Oh come on Sunny! That’s a good idea!” 

 

“M-Maybe we can u-use blackmail?” Basil quietly suggested.

 

“Hm, good idea.” Sunny nodded in approval for the morally ambiguous plan from Basil.

 

“That's kinda dark though isn’t it?” Kel questioned. Poor innocent Kel.

 

“It’s better than my original plan.” Sunny said.

 

“Which was…?”

 

“Light torture for info.” Sunny eyeballed the knife in Kel’s pocket. He felt no remorse for the bullies and was not afraid to let that be known anymore.

 

“SUNNY NO!” Kel shouted before lightly flicking Sunny on the nose. Rude.

 

They continued to brainstorm ideas as they continued towards town. The air was light between them as the planning mostly devolved into light teasing as Kel started coming up with some rather absurd plans. Basil even pitched in with goofy plans of his own. Sunny liked the one where they leave a trail of candy that leads to a pit trap.

 

After entering the plaza, they quickly encountered the first victims hooligans.

 

It was the two teens he saw earlier running from the candy shop. The girl with red glasses and the boy wearing the flannel. They were leaning against the wall beside the Othermart entrance.

 

Kel was the first to move forward, “Hey Kim, hey Vance!”

 

“Ugh, Kel. What do you want?” Kim sighed.

 

“We’re here to get Basil’s stuff back!” Kel announced valiantly. 

 

“Well, we don’t have it. Now leave us alone, we’re busy.” Kim blew a bubble of gum as she turned back to Vance.

 

Kel turned back towards Sunny and Basil helplessly. They hadn’t actually settled on any of the plans after all the brainstorming on the way here.

 

Sunny decided to take a shot at getting info from the duo. He ended up dragging Basil with him since the blonde refused to let go of his hand even when they got closer to the bullies. Kim noticed them coming. Her relaxed demeanor seemed to tense at the sight of him. 

 

“Tell us where Basil’s stuff is.” Sunny glared at her.

 

“Why should I, Knife boy? You gonna stab me if I don’t?” Kim took a step forward, attempting to look more intimidating. Sunny quickly say right through her facade with her teeth gritting and her hands subtle shaking.

 

Sunny gave her a big smile. “Wanna find out?”

 

The tough act Kim was putting on seemed to falter further. Sunny was thankful that his (partially) empty threat worked. His first impression on the hooligans was working wonders. 

 

Basil was staring at him with complete awe. It was probably still shocking to see the shy and reserved Sunny threaten random teens who bullied him. Sunny surprised himself at his sudden spike in confidence he’s gotten recently. Only a few days ago, he wasn’t even brave enough to leave the house, but now he felt braver than ever before. But was it even bravery that he felt? Or was it the lack of self preservation?

 

“Aubrey is the one that took it! Why don’t you go bother her?” Kim answered, gritting her teeth. Vance backed her up as her frustration started to grow.

 

Sunny (honestly terrifying) smile dropped. “Where is she?”

 

“No way in hell am I telling you that! You just stabbed her not too long ago.” 

 

“Yeah, you’ll have to fight us for that information—”

 

“What, no Vance you dumbass! They’re armed!” Kim snapped at him. She eyeballed his sweater pocket that he was hiding his left hand in.

 

Little did they know that he was hiding a plush in his pocket and not a knife.

 

She suddenly paused for a moment as her frustration seemed to disappear. Instead, a smirk appeared on her face as she looked back at Sunny. “You know…if you do us a favor, I might tell you where you could find her.” Kim offered.

 

Tempting. He could get the info in a possibly nonviolent way, but he had to do what Kim told him to. A tough choice indeed.

 

“What’s the favor?”

 

“Simple, I want you and your boyfriend to steal us some candy.”

 

“B-Boyfriend!?” Basil stuttered from beside him.

 

“Yeah? You’re holding hands aren’t you?” Kim pointed out. Basil’s face flushed red as he quickly let out of his hand. Sunny wouldn’t admit it, but he was saddened by the loss of warmth from holding hands. It was a simple comfort that's been absent to him for so long that craved it with little thought.

 

Sunny checked his pockets only to be reminded that he was dead broke after spending everything at Hobbeez. He turned towards Kel, “Did you bring your wallet?”

 

Kel perked up as he dug into his pant pockets, “Yeah! Hold up…” 

 

Kel checked every pocket before looking back at Sunny in defeat. “Ah…Never mind, I forgot it at home again. I swore I remembered this time!”

 

“Oh! I-I can pay f-for it.” Basil said as he pulled out his own wallet.

 

“I didn’t say I wanted you to buy me candy, I said I wanted you to steal it.” Kim clarified. “I don’t want that witch to getting more money from me after she banned me and Vance from the store.”

 

Basil seemed uncomfortable with the prospect of having to steal from someone. Sunny just shrugged, after everything that happened today, stealing would be one of his lighter crimes.

 

Kel also didn’t seem too thrilled about having to steal either, but he was quick to follow along with it as he started thinking of different plans on how to pull off the heist.

 

 

•••

Side Mission: Candy Heist!

Steal 2 bags of candy for Kim and Vance!

•••

Kim and Vance waited outside the candy store entrance, sticking to the groceries section of Othermart. For the Candy Heist though (as Kel has named it), the only problem they had to overcome was making sure they didn’t get caught. There was only one worker in the store: the Sweetheart look-a-like that he saw earlier.

 

She didn’t look as miserable as the Hobbeez worker, but she still looked bored as she picked at the dirt under her fingernails. He wondered if she even noticed the trio enter the store. 

 

Sunny and Basil each grabbed a plastic bag as they gathered candy. Kim didn’t specify what candy she preferred, so Sunny just kinda grabbed random stuff. Sugar is sugar, it’s all probably good.

 

With step one complete, it was time for the hardest part. The counter was right by the entrance meaning they had to walk past the owner to escape.

 

This is where Kel came in.

 

“Wait, what am I supposed to do again Sunny?” Kel questioned as they peeked past a candy stand.

 

“Distract her so me and Basil can escape.” Sunny reminded.

 

“Hmm... oh! I know exactly what to do!” Kel snapped his fingers. Sunny and Basil stayed hidden as Kel strutted up to the counter. They watched as Kel pulled something out of his pocket and slammed his hand against the counter.

 

“I challenge you to a Pet Rock Battle!” Kel announced to the women. 

 

The woman slowly looked up at him, seeming uninterested at first. Kel started to get nervous before the woman started to giggle. The giggle slowly evolved until it turned into manic laughter. It was kinda intimidating even with her laugh being obnoxious.

 

“OH Ho ho ho~! Boy, you don’t stand a chance against me!” She shouted as she pulled out her Pet Rock. To no one’s surprise, her Pet Rock had a bunch of Sweetheart keychains latched onto it.

 

The Pet Rock battle was intense to put it lightly. Kel was sweating as he carefully planned out every move. The woman kept taunting him, doing things like yawning and expressing her boredom as she won turn by turn. It was painful, watching Kel get destroyed by the random candy store owner. 

 

He was down to his last life while the candy woman still had three. He weighed his options before settling on Rock. A very bold move on Kel's part! There as no way she would expect Rock of a THIRD TIME- and she picked paper... It was a massacre so devastating that it was unlikely that Kel's pet rock could ever recover. A crushing defeat no doubt.

 

Kel slouched in utter defeat as the candy woman basked in her glory. Her laughter echoed through the whole store as she reveled in Kel’s misery. Sunny tried to comfort him by patting him on the back.

 

“T-That was a good try Kel.” Basil said beside him. Head low in respect of Kel's pet rock (gone but never forgotten).

 

“Thanks guys, I’ll win next time! Don’t you wo—wait what are you guys still doing here?” Kel whispered under his breath. 

 

Oh yeah, the heist. Somehow, Kel ended up distracting everyone. Curses his amazing charisma!

 

Basil quickly salvaged the situation by pulling out his wallet and paying for the candy (the woman didn’t suspect a thing). Kim didn’t even have a way to tell if they stole it or not anyways. It definitely made Basil feel better to pay for it instead of stealing it.

 

Even if they technically didn’t steal the candy, Sunny chalked this heist up as a success.

Side Mission Complete!

“Sweet!” Kim said as she reached to grab the two bags of candy from Sunny. Sunny pulled them away from her, “Tell us where Aubrey is, then they’re yours.” he shook the bags.

 

Kim scoffed before spilling, “She is at the church. Now hand over the candy.” Sunny didn’t stop her from taking the candy from his hand this time. She gave Vance his share of the candy as they happily walked off with the goods.

 

“Church? That doesn’t seem like somewhere where Aubrey would go.” Kel commented as they all walked out of Othermart. 

 

That was the last place he expected to find Aubrey, but they had no other leads to follow. Kel led the way with Sunny and Basil following behind. Kel was messing with his Pet Rock settings as he walked, leaving it up to Sunny and Basil to fill the vacant air. 

 

Luckily for Sunny, Basil was the one to start the conversation. 

 

“I-I like your nails.” Basil said, looking down at Sunny’s hand. Oh yeah, Sunny almost entirely forgot that he woke up with them painted. So much had already happened today.

 

“Thanks.”

 

“Did y-you paint them yourself?” Sunny contemplated whether to tell the truth or not, but was quick to shut those thoughts down. Basil had already see unexplainable stuff while in his house. It was just another oddity to add to the concerningly growing list.

 

“No… I honestly don’t even know exactly how I got them.” Sunny said honestly.

 

“W-What do you mean?” Basil looked up at him warily.

 

He took a deep breath, knowing he had a lot to explain. “I had a weird dream where I went through the tiny door. It led to a place where everyone had button eyes and everything was more colorful, more alive. It was nice. You were there too. You had mint green hair.”

 

“T-That does sounds nice…” Basil mumbled. Sunny nodded.

 

“Aubrey used to be friends with me and Kel a couple of years ago. In the dream, Aubrey painted my nails black and I woke up this morning with them still painted black. I don’t know how exactly it happened.”

 

“O-Oh, that’s kinda scary. N-Nothing else has happened to you because of this weird stuff right?” Basil asked in concern.

 

Sunny thought for a second before suddenly remembering something else. “Stranger left a trail of red paw prints that led me to you, but I’m not sure if that was a hallucination or not. Kel couldn’t see it.”

 

“W-Well, hallucination or not, I’m glad you found me.” Basil gave Sunny a soft smile. Sunny couldn't help but give a small smile back.

 

“Here we are!” Kel announced as he walked up the steps to the church. It was a small, but well loved church building with statues in the front. Kel took a peak in the hall before quickly looking back at Sunny and Basil.

 

“It looks like they're having a sermon right now. I think we should just wait for Aubrey out here.” Kel recommended.

 

Sunny walked up to the door and took a peek inside himself. Not many people were there, but Kel was right about the sermon happening. He saw a glimpse of pink-hair confirming Aubrey’s presence. 

 

“I-I know we probably shouldn’t interrupt, but wouldn’t now be the best time to talk to Aubrey? S-She has to stay civil in a church.” 

 

As messed up as it was, Basil had a point. If Aubrey was attending church, she probably didn’t want to pick a fight in the middle of a sermon. It was a safe bet to get Basil’s stuff back without out a fight. 

 

Sunny opened the door more as he looked back at Kel. The taller boy scratched his neck nervously before following the two inside the church. They were all careful to be as quiet and respectful as possible as they passed several different pews. Most of the occupants were the elderly residents of Faraway. Aubrey stuck out like a sore thumb among the more formal attire everyone else present wore. She sat alone with the seats surrounding her vacant of people.

 

Sunny led them to the pew behind Aubrey as they took a took a seat. Kel leaned forward as he poked Aubrey on the shoulder. She turned around seemingly caught completely off guard by their appearance.

 

“What the hell are you guys doing here!?” She whispered to them harshly, almost coming out like a hiss. 

 

“You need to give Basil’s album and camera back!” Kel whispered back, gripping onto the back of Aubrey’s seat.

 

“ I’m not giving that creep back shit!” She turned her eyes over to Basil as she looked at the blonde with disgust. “ Do you want to tell them what pictures you had in there or should I?” Basil flinched at Aubrey’s words.

 

“ Cut it out Aubrey! Mari wouldn't want you to be acting like this!”

 

Aubrey let out a weak chuckle at Kel’s words. “It doesn’t matter what Mari would want. Mari is dead.”

 

“And all I know is that freak you are helping has pictures of her when I know she has never once mentioned him before.”

 

Kel seemed to hesitate from Aubrey’s claim. He looked over at Basil, waiting for the boy to defend himself or at least explain. 

 

Basil was shaking where he sat. Tears had already watered up in his eyes. He opened his mouth as if to explain, but the only noise that came out was a choked sob. He covered his mouth with his hand as he squeezed his eyes shut.

 

Sunny wasn’t really doing much better. He was blankly staring at the back of Aubrey's seat still trying to process everything that was said. It almost felt like too much, it made his head hurt the harder he thought about it. 

 

Sunny’s eyes widened when he realized something awful.

 

He couldn’t even remember what happened before Mari disappeared. The only thing he remembers is the crushing guilt. He could remember the funeral for a girl whose body was never found. He didn’t cry. He wasn’t allowed to grieve because he was the reason she was gone.

 

And all he knows is that it’s all his fault.  

 

Regardless, Sunny continued to be selfish and hid away from everyone. Drowning himself in nothingness and self-loathing.

 

Aubrey was right, he abandoned her. She became a bully because he didn’t care enough. He abandoned all his friends. He tore everyone apart.

 

He was SELFISH. He took Mari away from everyone.

 

He was snapped out of his thoughts as harsh whispers echoed throughout the church.

 

“That Aubrey girl is at it again”

 

“What is she even doing here”

 

“—so disrespectful”

 

“She’s making that one boy cry…”

 

Aubrey looked around with wide eyes. They had unintentionally gotten the other church members' attention. The sermon was put to a pause as everyone's eyes laid solely on them.

 

Aubrey stood up, clearly angered by the passive aggressive whispers. “I can’t deal with this shit right now.” She said as she started walking away from them.

 

“Aubrey wait!” Kel stood up, blocking her path. “T-There has to be more to it than that! Maybe we can—

 

Kel was cut off as Aubrey harshly pushed him backwards. Many of the church goers let out sharp gasps, filling the church with more noise. Kel clearly wasn’t ready for the sudden push as he was knocked over onto his back. Basil was quick to stand by Kel’s side as he slowly sat up. Sunny followed close behind Basil, keeping his eyes locked on Aubrey.

 

“Can’t you guys take a fucking hint!? I don’t want you guys back in my life! I have new friends now, one that won’t abandon me when I need them the most!” She yelled at them. Sunny hadn’t even realized it till now, but Aubrey brought her bat with her to church. He could see the slight vibrations travel up through the bat as she gripped onto the handle tighter and tighter.

 

Aubrey was FURIOUS

 

It was Basil who walked forward first, standing between Aubrey and Kel. “P-Please Aubrey, j-just, I know it seems bad but—”

 

“I’m done talking! I should have put you out of your misery the first time I caught you creeping around the house!” She yelled as she swung her bat. It was a wide side arc forcing Basil to step back. The bat barely clipped the end of his oversized rain coat, tearing a hole on the edge of it.

 

Basil seemed completely frozen in shock having narrowly avoided the bat. Aubrey took advantage of this and  punched him in the gut. Basil was instantly winded from the hit as he doubled over in pain.

 

Aubrey tried to get a swing in while Basil was down, but Sunny ended up throwing himself at her. He slammed his shoulder against her side, interrupting her swing. He wasn’t able to get another hit in before Aubrey kicked him in the knee. His leg gave out from the force, but he was able to catch himself on a pew beside him. Sunny was really starting to miss the kitchen knife Kel took from him. 

 

Kel snuck up on Aubrey and grabbed onto her wrist while she was focusing on him. He tried to disarm her by pulling at her bat, but was met with a headbut to the nose. 

 

Kel let out a pained yelp as he let go of her. He was clutching his nose as Aubrey followed up her attack with an elbow jab to the rips. He stumbled backwards running into a pew that tripped him. Sunny flinched as Kel fell onto his back. That definitely looked painful. The groan that came from behind the pew seemed to back that up.

 

“A-Aubrey! That's enough!” Basil yelled as he stood up in the center of the walkway. “T-There’s no need to fight over this!” Sunny was surprised to see that Basil genuinely seemed angry at Aubrey. His eyes were red from tears, but he still came off as slightly intimidating as he glared at Aubrey.

 

Aubrey turned towards the blonde before stomping up to him. “You want the fighting to stop!? Then throw a punch! End it right now!” She yelled as she stood in front of him. Basil flinched at her words as his anger seemed to melt away almost immediately. 

 

In that moment, all he could hear was Aubrey’s breathing as she waited for Basil to make a move. Sunny watched on, standing to the side of Basil between two of the pews. 

 

A moment of tense silence passed. Basil’s stance completely fell as he looked back up at Aubrey.

 

“We don’t have to fight.” Basil said firmly, the stutter normally in his voice was absent.

 

Aubrey stared back at Basil with cold eyes. She gritted her teeth as she rested the nail bat against her shoulder. “Fine.”

 

Aubrey suddenly turned to the side taking a batting stance, “If you wont end it then I will.”

 

It felt like everything was moving in slow motion as she swung the bat. All Sunny could see was Basil and Aubrey as everything else vanished into the background. Watching the nail ridden bat fly towards Basil, its spray painted colors blurring together. Sunny didn’t even register that he was moving forward until his hands pushed against Basil’s side. For one moment, Basil’s eyes met his.

 

All he saw was terror in his eyes.

 

A loud thwack sounded through the church as the bat met flesh.

 

And Sunny screamed.

OOO

 

 

 

 

 

Notes:

Part 2 will be posted next week
(Sorry for the cliffhanger lol)

Chapter 4: Ochlophobia (2-2)

Summary:

Church aftermath and the second visit

Notes:

Sorry for cliffhanger last chapter. I’m not the best writer so bare with me, I just really like making AUs and drawing art for them :P

ALSO new title page art on info chapter! Go check it out if you want to see art I made for the whole gang!

 

 

 

 

Nothing around Basil felt real at that moment. He didn’t want what was happening to be real.

 

He couldn’t move as he watched Aubrey wind up her bat. He just wanted the fighting to stop, and this is what he got for letting his guard down.

 

He hated that the only two people that he considers friends were getting hurt, all for his stupid camera and photo album.

 

It wasn’t worth it. Especially as he watched Sunny throw himself into harm’s way.

 

All just to defend him, some random kid he stumbled into from the woods.

 

Whenever he thought of Sunny, he’d always thought of the boy’s monotone voice and the way his face betrayed little to no emotion. There was just something about his presence that seemed so calming, so right . It felt easy to talk to him, regardless of the topics they discussed.

 

It should have been more intimidating to talk to someone with such a stoic demeanor like Sunny, but Basil didn’t find any discomfort in it. 

 

He was quick to realize why, having found himself staring when searching for a reaction out of Sunny. 

 

It was his eyes. He had never seen so much emotion expressed through the eyes alone. It was mesmerizing.

 

And now, Basil found himself staring at them once again as the nail bat sailed straight towards them. 

 

All he could do was watch as the bat slammed into Sunny’s back. 

 

The cry of pain that came from Sunny felt like absolute agony against his ears. Basil could hardly keep up with what was happening before Sunny was harshly pushed into him, sending them both towards the ground. The back of Basil’s head slammed against one of the pews as Sunny fell on top of him.

 

Basil gritted his teeth against the sharp pain in his head. Black spots flickered in his vision as he focused on his breathing. He could hear yelling and shouting from the other church members now, but it was hard to understand what they were saying or what was even going on over the ringing in his ears.

 

He could feel Sunny laying on top of him. His breathing was shaky and uneven with random groans of pain escaping past his lip at every small shift he made. He seemed like he was trying to get back up, but his arms kept giving out on him leaving the two boys chest to chest. He could feel Sunny’s stuttered breaths against his neck as he rested his head next to him.

 

A part of him wanted to just stay laying down like this. His head hurt a lot and it made it hard to think straight, but one thought broke through the static.

 

He needed to help Sunny.

 

“I’m g-going to sit us up, okay Sunny ?” Basil whispered. Sunny didn’t respond, but he could feel the boy’s grip on his shirt get tighter.

 

Ignoring the throbbing pain in his skull, Basil slowly sat up with Sunny still resting against him. He could feel the other boy shake at every move he made. He brought both of them to their knees, making his head spin violently. Basil breathed heavily against Sunny’s shoulder as he focused on not passing out.

 

He felt Sunny completely relax against him at some point. The blonde could now see over his shoulder. Holes and tears covered the back of Sunny’s sweater where the nails cut into them. 

 

Several lacerations peaked through the shredded fabric. It looked bad, like a wild animal had rapidly clawed at his back. He couldn’t tell how deep they were due to the remaining fabric covering the wounds, but there were a lot of them.

 

Movement caught his eye as he looked away from Sunny’s back. Kel was standing in the walkway, looking at them between the pews. Kel’s expression was downcasted, filled with worry, sadness, and shock. Blood was trailing down his nose sluggishly.

 

“Y-you good Sunny?” Kel asked. He wore a shaky smile as if trying to downplay the stress of the situation. The smile was quick to turn into a grimace as his eyes met Sunny’s back.

 

Sunny didn’t respond. Basil was quick to realize that he was now completely limp against him. His breathing was even and slow, like he had fallen asleep.

 

“K-Kel… I d-don’t think he’s conscious.” Basil said as he met the other boy’s eyes.

 

“Okay, um, that’s probably not good, uh here—” Kel came over and gently lifted Sunny from Basil’s grip. He was awkwardly holding the other boy up from under his armpits. Sunny was entirely rag-dolled in his grip, like a puppet that got his strings cut.

 

“Help me get him on my back, then he can piggyback him back to my place.” Kel told Basil. 

 

Basil silently helped Kel get Sunny on his back. He accidentally put his hand on Sunny’s back as he lifted him onto Kel. There was a small smear of red on his hand. Basil frantically rubbed his hand against his pants as the two of them stood up from between the pews. 

 

He noticed that all the other church members were gathered at the entrance of the church. The Preacher stood in front of the crowd trying to calm the chaos. He didn’t get to see much more as his attention went back on Sunny and Kel.

 

They rushed towards the back door leading out to the cemetery. Kel flung it open revealing the orange evening sky. Basil could hear the preacher shout something at them before he shut the large wooden door behind them.

 

With no heisitation, they were both quick to start there way back to Neighbor’s Home. They kept an urgent pace as they cut through the woods. Basil led the way this time, having mezmorized every trail in the woods long ago. He constantly would check behind him to make sure Kel was keeping up and to make sure Sunny was still there too. Even if it was irrational, there was a looming fear that Sunny would disappear if he didn’t keep an eye on him. It felt like no time had passed before the forest opened up to reveal the front of the large mansion.

 

“Mrrw”  

 

Basil let out a startled yelp at the sudden noise. Stranger appeared out of nowhere getting both of their attention. Basil probably wouldn't have even noticed him if it were for him meowing. The stray was standing on top of the mansion’s welcome sign staring down at the three of them. 

 

The cat flicked its tail as it suddenly jumped down onto the edge of one of the garbage bins. He landed on it just right, causing it to tip over. The contents of the bin spilled onto the ground right in front of them.

 

“Hey! Bad kitty!” Kel yelled from behind him.

 

“ Mrrow”

 

“S-Stranger! Why did you—oh.” Basil paused as he saw something familiar sticking out from the trash. He walked forward, careful to avoid stray pieces of trash as he pulled the item out.

 

Kel let out a gasp having seeing the item that now rested in his hands. “Is that your photo album?” 

 

Basil stood up, hugging his photo album close as he looked back at Kel. It seemed that was enough to answer his question. “Let’s just get Sunny inside, I’ll clean this up later.” Kel said. Basil followed Kel down the stairs they led down into his house. Kel gestured for him to be quiet as he opened the front door. 

 

He was immediately greeted with the smell of food cooking in the kitchen. Basil stood directly behind Kel as he led him through the house. They were sneaking through the living room when Basil felt something tug on his leg. 

 

“Eaya bwah!” 

 

Basil looked down to see a baby girl grabbing onto his leg. She was happily tugging on his jean pants.

 

“Oh, hi there .” Basil whispered to the girl.

 

“That’s Sally, she’s my baby sister. She must have escaped her playpen...again .” Kel whispered back at him. 

 

A clatter came from the kitchen as Kel’s mom said something in Spanish that he didn’t understand. Whatever she said though seemed to get Kel to start panicking.

 

“Quick! To my room !” Kel whispered as he booked it to the stairs. Basil tried to follow behind, but he realized that Sally wasn’t letting go of his pant leg.

 

“ Kel! I need a little help!” Basil pleaded, but Kel was already out of hearing range. In a panic, Basil picked up Sally causing her to giggle happily at the blonde. He looked around the living room in search of the girl's play pin, but he was quickly distracted as Sally started to pulling his hair.

 

“ Ow, ow, Sally please.”  Are toddlers supposed to be this strong?!

 

Basil finally found the pin and quickly placed the girl down in it. Sally pouted at him when she realized where she was placed.

 

“ Sorry Sally, b-but I gotta go! ” Basil quickly said as he booked it up the stairs. He pretended that his heart didn’t break when Sally started to cry.

 

He bursted into Kel’s room and shut the door behind him. Basil let out a sigh, glad to be in the clear now.

 

Kel had already sat Sunny down on his bed. His bedroom seemed to be split in half. Kel’s half was much messier than the other half which was filled with academic rewards.

 

“Y-You have another sibling?” Basil asked. He watched as Kel pulled out a large first aid kit from under his bed.

 

“Yeah! His name is Henry, though we call him Hero. He actually comes home from college tomorrow.” Kel said as he pulled out bandages from the kit.

 

“You should remove Sunny’s sweater and shirt while I get stuff ready.” Kel instructed.

 

“Ah, uh o-okay.” Basil stuttered. He made his way over to Kel’s bed and sat next to Sunny. He sat the unconscious boy up as he awkwardly started to peel the sweater off of him.

 

As soon as it was off, he placed the sweater to the side next to his album. He noticed Omori slightly sticking out of the sweater pocket, though his attention was quick to turn back to Sunny.

 

Next was his shirt. Basil totally didn’t blush when he realized that Sunny was still wearing his shirt that he borrowed from him. His face just feels warm from the blunt force trauma of getting hit in the face by Aubrey. Yup! Flustered? Never heard of her…

 

…He really needed to stop overthinking all these small things and just get Sunny’s shirt off. He made an attempt to distract himself while slowly lifting the shirt up by talking to Kel. “So, um w-why do you have a-a giant first aid kit under your b-bed anyways?” Basil asked. He found it hard not to stare at Sunny’s back as the cuts were slowly revealed.

 

“I get hurt a lot from sports and stuff. Normally Hero just patches me up, but I learned how to do it on my own now that he is at college.” Kel shrugged. 

 

“No, he’s just clumsy.” 

 

Basil flinched at the sudden voice. Sunny was now awake and looking at him with his usual cliffed-face expression. 

 

Basil watched in horror as Sunny looked down at his shirt only to see that he was half way through removing it. Basil was afraid that Sunny would look back up at him in disgust, but instead Sunny smirked at him.

 

“I never took you as the type to be into somnophil—”

 

“S-SUNNY!” Basil shouted. He could feel his face heat up in embarrassment. He let go of Sunny's shirt causing his to fall on his back. Sunny hissed in pain but still had the audacity to laugh at his misery as he buried his face in his arms. He was not ready for Sunny to say such a dirty joke. Though, he couldn't help but smile a little. It was kind of funny and its nice to know that Sunny was comfortable enough to make such jokes with him.

 

“Hey Sunny! Welcome back to the living world!” Kel cheered, completely overlooking what Sunny had said to Basil. His smile was quick to turn strained though as he pulled a bottle from the first aid kit. “But, it might have been better if you stayed asleep for this part.”

 

In Kel’s hand was a bottle of hydrogen peroxide. Sunny’s eyes widened a bit as he looked back up at Kel.

 

“No.” Sunny said as he moved himself behind Basil.

 

“S-Sunny, we h-have to. What if it gets infected?” Basil said, trying to coax Sunny from behind him.

 

“No, just let me die.” Sunny mumbled miserably. 

 

“Trust me Sunny, we definitely want to clean those cuts. I tried skipping out on it before, and the infection I got after hurt like crazy.” Kel warned as he poured some of the disinfectant onto a cloth.

 

“No!” Sunny pouted as he scooted farther away from Kel. 

 

“Please Sunny, I d-don’t want you to get hurt more because of me.” Basil pleaded. Sunny’s eyes softened at his words. He let out a relunctant sigh as he moved to take his shirt off.

 

Most of the smaller cuts had crusted up already leaving behind scabs. He had a large bruise with most of the bigger cuts going over it. With his shirt removed, Basil finally noticed that Sunny was wearing a necklace that was now fully on display. He recognized the charm being the black key that opened the small door. It reminded Basil of all the weird things that happened that day. Yesterday was one of the happiest days of Basil’s life, yet it was also one of the most terrifying. Thinking about that day too hard made his head hurt worse, so he quickly focused back on Sunny.

 

“Don’t worry Sunny! It’s not that bad…” Kel attempted to reassure him.

 

Sunny glared at Kel.

 

“…Okay, that’s a lie, this is going to suck.” Kel said as he moved closer to Sunny. Kel tossed Sunny a pillow to hold as he positioned behind him. Basil also let Sunny hold onto his hand for support.

 

“You got this Sunny.” Basil gave him a thumbs up with his other hand.

 

…Sunny totally didn’t have this. Basil almost regretted holding his hand during the disinfecting. He is pretty sure he lost all circulation in his hand from how strong Sunny’s grip was. Basil watched Sunny bite into a pillow Kel gave him. He was surprised that Sunny didn’t tear a hole in it as the peroxide cleaned out his wounds.

 

Thankfully, it didn’t take long before they were wrapping up Sunny’s back with bandages. None of the cuts were super deep, so hopefully everything would heal okay. 

 

Kel let Sunny borrow his jacket due to his shirt and sweater being torn up. Kel’s jacket was way too big for Sunny and made it look like he was wearing a robe instead of a jacket.

 

After that, it was Kel and Basil’s turn to get patched up. Basil had a small bump on his head, but no concussion (probably) and Kel’s nose wasn’t broken either, so they were mostly good! 

 

Basil looked back over to Sunny. While he was waiting for Basil and Kel, Sunny had started looking through all of Kel’s comics. He glared at the comics before looking back at Kel.

 

“Kel, do you have every chapter of Captain Spaceboy?” Sunny asked.

 

“Of course! Why do you ask?” 

 

“Couldn’t I have just borrowed your copies instead of buying all of them earlier?” 

 

“I mean, sure! I don’t see what…oh, I see what you're saying.” Kel said as he scratched his head nervously. “Um, sorry?”

 

Sunny sighed through his nose as he picked up one of the comics and started reading. Basil and Kel were quick to join, not really having the motivation to do much more. They started from the very beginning since Basil had never read the series before.

 

Basil actually enjoyed the comic so far. He only really read chapter books with the occasional illustration. It was nice to see so many drawings of all the characters, especially seeing them during the action scenes.

 

They were about to start another chapter when Sunny whispered a quick “wait” before standing up. He made his way to Kel’s bed as he grabbed something before suddenly freezing up.

 

“Aubrey gave the photo album back?” Sunny asked as he held the green album in front of him. It looked like he also grabbed Omori from the bed too.

 

“N-No, we found it in the t-trash out front. We d-didn’t find the camera.”

 

Sunny walked back over to Kel and Basil. He silently took a seat with his eyes still glued onto the cover of the album. “Can…can we look at the photos?” 

 

Basil hesitated to answer at first. He had never really shown anyone his album other than Polly and his grandma, but he knew he couldn’t refuse. Not after everything they went through to get it back to him.

 

“S-Sure.” Basil mumbled quietly. Sunny opened it to the first page with Kel looking over his shoulder. 

 

Each page had six different pictures on it. The photos were taped to the page from the top. The first page was filled with pictures of his different flowers. Basil reached out to the picture with his sunflowers and flipped it to reveal a small description along with the date under the photo.

 

5/12/03

 

Grandma helped me grow some sunflowers during spring break. They ended up growing super big! She also told me about how sunflowers always face towards the sun. That's how I want to be like, someone who always looks at the bright side of things!

 

Sunny smiled at the light hearted description. He continued flipped through some of the other pictures, all of which had small descriptions for their respective flowers.

 

“This just looks like a cute album full of flower pictures.” Kel pointed out. “Did, um, do you actually have pictures of Mari in here? Or did Aubrey lie about that?”

 

“S-She wasn’t lying. I do have pictures of M-Mari, but I w-wasn’t stalking her!” Basil defended.

 

“Don’t worry! I believe you. You definitely don’t seem like the kind of person to stalk someone.” Kel reassured. Sunny looked up from the album to Basil. 

 

“Can we see the pictures of Mari?” He asked quietly. Basil couldn’t help but notice how Sunny’s eyes seemed to dull slightly after asking the question.

 

He almost looked ashamed.

 

“T-They should be towards the back.” Basil said, still trying to get a better read on Sunny’s expression.

 

Sunny nodded his head as he started flipping through various pages full of flower pictures when he finally reached the end. 

 

The last few pages were blank.

 

“W-What? The pictures should be here!” Basil panicked as he took the album into his hands. He double checked to make sure they didn’t miss it, but it became obvious that the pictures were removed based on the faded outline of where the pictures once sat.

 

Knocking sounded through the room causing the three of them to look behind them. “Kel! What are you— oh! Kel, why didn’t you tell me we had guests!” Kel’s mom said. She was holding Sally who happily greeted them by grabbing towards the trio.

 

“Is that you Sunny? I haven’t seen you in such a long time mijo !” Her gaze fell onto Basil, “ Who’s your other friend here?” 

 

“M-My name’s Basil ma’am.” 

 

“No need to be so formal rubito . You can call me Jenny or Mrs. Vincente.”

 

“O-Okay Mrs. Vincente.”

 

“Why don’t you boys join us for dinner? We are having tamales.” Kel’s mom said. Kel gave of a small cheer as all three of them followed her into the kitchen. She quickly served them all plates of tamales with different toppings being placed at the center of the table.

 

Basil hadn’t had Mexican food in a long time. The last time he had Mexican food was some cheap tacos he remembered having. Needless to say, authentic homemade Mexican food was amazing. 

 

He ended up cleaning his plate quite quickly (Kel managed to clear three in that time). Sunny only got through one tamale before calling it quits.

 

“You know * munch * I bet Aubrey still has * munch* those pictures of Mari. * munch* She probably still has the camera too.” Kel mentioned between bites. 

 

“W-We don’t have to k-keep trying to get my things back. You guys have already gotten h-hurt enough just for my album.” Basil said.

 

“We’ve gotten this far. Might as well try and get everything else too.” Sunny countered. 

 

“B-But, look how hurt you got!”

 

“It’s okay. We got the album back so it’s worth it. It’s just the camera and the missing photos left to get now.”

 

“W-What about your back?”

 

“Doesn’t hurt that bad, m’fine.” Sunny assured. Basil bit his lip, not knowing how to convince Sunny against going after the items.

 

“—So! How about we meet back here tomorrow to get the rest of Basil's stuff back?” Kel cut in, having finally finished eating his last plate.

 

Sunny nodded in agreement while Basil hesitated before nodding as well. No matter how much he didn’t want them to, he knew that he couldn’t talk the two out of retrieving his stolen items. Basil never liked to admit it, but he was always a bit of a push over. 

 

He’ll just have to put forth more effort into making sure nothing bad happens this time!

 

After planning the meet up time, they all departed from Kel’s house. Sunny’s house was literally just upstairs from Kel’s so it was mostly just Basil who had to leave. He didn’t mind though, he always loved walking through the woods (though, his still present headache made the walk hard to enjoy all that much).

 

Walking through his front door, Basil was surprised to see that his grandma was still awake.

 

“Welcome back Sunflower. Did you have fun while you were out?” She asked while resting on the couch. 

 

“Oh, yeah! We’re meeting again tomorrow.” Basil said. He discarded his raincoat and boots as he took a seat next to her.

 

“Hmm, I heard you had a bit of a tussle at the church.” She looked over at Basil expectantly.

 

“Ah! Uh… h-how did y-you know a-about that!?” Basil stuttered nervously.

 

“It’s a small town Basil, I got friends that go to church you know. That red stain on your pants and the bruise on your face only confirms their words.” 

 

She giggled softly as she watched the boy shrink into himself in shame. “Oh, quit your stressing Basil! I just want to know if your new friend is alright. He’s got a lot of people worried about him after taking such a hit you know.”

 

“He’s alright. It looked a-a lot worse than it was.” Basil said. He looked off to the side, thinking about Sunny. His grandma was quick to pick up on this.

 

“What wrong Basil?”

 

“I…it’s nothing. I’m just thinking about Sunny.” He mumbled under his breath.

 

She let out a hum as she leaned forward, “I’m worried about that boy too. He looked real skinny and pale when he came over yesterday. Not only that, but…” she sighed as she looked away from him.

 

“I just got a bad feeling is all. Be sure to watch each other's backs when you hang out together okay?” She slowly stood up and gave Basil a kiss on his forehead. “I’m going to bed. Don’t stay up too late.”

 

Basil watched his grandma walk away leaving him alone in the living room. It wasn’t long before he left to go to bed himself. 

 

Until tomorrow…

OOO

 

 

OOO

Sunny woke up again for what felt like the thousandth time that night. He always found it hard to sleep in any other position other than his back and for obvious reasons, that wasn’t really an option for him. He managed to fall asleep on his side throughout the night but he would always end up waking up with his back burning due to having rolled over in his sleep. 

 

God, he’d give anything just to fall asleep and wake up in the morning feeling well-rested. Hell, he would just settle with resting in white space with Omori at this rate.

 

Sunny idly felt around his bed for the doll. Even after untangling the blankets, Sunny couldn’t feel Omori anywhere on the bed. He must have accidentally knocked the doll off the bed from all the tossing and turning he was doing. 

 

He reluctantly sat up in his bed with a sigh. The room was still dark outside with the dim moon light shading everything in soft grays and blues.

 

Creeak…

 

Sunny slowly looked over to his bedroom door. More light creeped into his room as his door cracked open. A shadow of a silhouette was casted against the floor as the door opened more little by little. 

 

His initial reaction was that his mom was just checking on him, but that thought was quickly thrown out the window as soon as he remembered that he was home alone. He squinted his eyes as he tried to see through the darkness.

 

A small white hand grabbed onto the edge of the door as it was completely swung open.

 

Oh, he must be dreaming. It’s about time he finally fell asleep.

 

Omori stood at his door, looking at him with a neutral expression. They both just awkwardly stared at each other in confusion. He didn’t really know what to do here to be honest. He may have spent several years with Omori in white space, but he knew very little about him beyond that. The most interaction he had with Omori was in his dream last night. He silently pinched himself while looking at Omori.

 

Ow…

 

Welp, either this dream is super vivid or he is awake. This is fine.

 

Omori walked over to his bedside during the mini crisis he started to have over this dream. He focused back onto the monochrome boy as he suddenly took his hand. It felt ice cold compared to his, he let out an involuntary shiver as he gripped onto the boy’s hand.

 

Sunny saw a flicker of yellow on Omori as the boy started walking back towards the door. Sunny willingly followed the boy as he dragged him across the house all the way to the lounge room. He couldn’t say he was surprised that Omori led him straight to the little door. If anything, he was kinda excited to go through it. 

 

The door was locked again like last time, but he still had the key on him. He pulled the necklace off over his head unlocking the door. He smiled when the colorful tunnel greeted him from the other side of the door.

 

Sunny and Omori were quick to crawl to the other side. The more vibrant colors of the other lounge room greeted him at the end of the tunnel. 

 

He stood up and stretched his arms. He held back a hiss of pain when he felt the cuts on his back get irritated. He’d hoped that pain would disappear at least for this dream.

 

Well, at least he is pretty sure it’s a dream. It could also be an extremely intense hallucination, though he tended to only see things under stress so probably not. He helped Omori to his feet as he heard footsteps approaching the room.

 

“SUNNY! OMORI!” The dream Kel yelled from the lounge entrance. He paused for a second to catch his breath, having looked like he just ran a marathon. “Come on! Everyone is waiting outside! I don’t want to be late for the grand opening!”

 

“Grand opening?” Sunny found himself questioning out loud.

 

Kel let out an exaggerated gasp, “Sunny!? How could you forget the grand opening of the most amazing Spaceboy Amusement Park?!!” He cried out in disbelief.

 

Sunny looked over at Omori for answers, but the monochrome boy just shrugged before going back to watching Kel.

 

Kel’s button eyes looked down at his wrist (there was a drawing of a watch on it), “Hector should be ready to take to Other World by now. Follow me!” He waved his hand at the two before running down the hall.

 

Sunny and Omori followed more slowly behind. Sunny couldn’t help but soak in all the small and colorful details that made up the interior of the dream home. Kel led them to the front door where he saw a large snake resting over the door’s trim. Its red button eyes glanced at them happily as it lowered its head in front of Sunny.

 

“Sssss, Going sssomewhere Sssunny? Don’t forget thissss.” It hissed slowly as it opened its mouth. Two golden tickets rested in its maw. Sunny hesitated to grab his, but Omori didn’t even bat an eye when he reached into the snake's mouth for his ticket.

 

“ Have fun ssss…” 

 

The snake lifted his head out of the way as they left the house together. Everyone was standing on a rainbow drive way around the giant Hector. The dog was laying down as dream Hero strapped a multi seat saddle onto his back. Aubrey was trying to help Hero while Mari and Basil were packing up some bags. 

 

Dream Basil was the first to notice them, “Kel, you found them!” He cheered happily. He ran over and gave both Sunny and Omori a hug. “I’m so glad you guys are here! It wouldn’t be the same without you two.”

 

Sunny hugged the smaller Basil back. His mint green hair tickled his chin as the smaller boy leaded against him. He was taken aback by just how wrong the hug felt in that moment. Dream Basil felt cold against his chest and his small arm against his back felt stiff. He suppressed a flinch when his back flared up in an achy pain.

 

It felt unnatural. It felt fake. 

 

The hug was over before he knew it as dream Mari approached them next. He noticed Omori take a step behind him as she walked over carrying a picnic basket. 

 

“Welcome back you two! You're just in time, Hector is almost ready to take to Other World.” Mari said as she gave Sunny a quick hug. Omori didn’t join in, instead opting to stay behind Sunny.

 

Sunny let out an involuntary hiss when Mari’s arm rubbed against the bandage on his back uncomfortably. He squirmed away from the hug as Mari looked at him with worry.

 

“Oh, did you hurt your back?” Mari asked. Sunny didn’t get a chance to respond before she was reaching into her picnic basket. “Here! This should help you feel better!” 

 

Dream Mari handed him one of her cookies, except there was a colorful frosting on the top of it. It looked really good, even if the sparking frosting was slightly suspicious (that’s a lot of glitter).

 

He took a bite and was met with a shock wave of delicious sweet flavors. Sunny felt his back tingle as his aching dulled. He sighed happily as he finished his first bite.

 

“Hehe, I’m glad you liked it!” Mari smiled happily, watching the boy's posture melt at the taste of her cookie. “I’m going to finish packing, come help me finish up Kel.”

 

“Yeah! I think there should be extra Orange Joes in the cooler…” Kel muttered as he followed Mari to Hector.

 

“Oh! I have one last thing for you.” Mari said as she pulled something else out of the basket. Sunny let out a gasp as she pulled out an identical copy of the sweater that got torn up earlier that day. “Surprise!” She cheered as she tossed him the sweater.

 

He quickly pulled it over his head letting out a content sigh. The inside felt softer than before, it smelled clean and had lingering warmth like it was fresh out of the drier. He let out a small “thank you” as she gave him a warm smile. Sunny watched as Mari gave one last glance towards Omori. Omori was peeking at her from behind him, seeming to not want to be approached. Dream Mari seemed unbothered by his glare as she skipped off back to Hector. Basil walked over to Omori as Sunny took another bite of his cookie.

 

“A-Are you okay Omori?” Basil asked. Sunny looked behind him curiously. He hadn’t even realized Omori had grabbed onto the end of his sweater during the whole interaction.

 

An idea suddenly popped into his head as he broke what remained of his cookie in half. He silently held the two pieces out to Omori and Basil.

 

“Oh! Thanks Sunny, that’s so nice of you.” Basil said as he took the cookie piece. He was curious to find that Basil looked confused as he stared at his cookie piece. Omori took his piece silently, but Sunny saw his eyes lighten up at the kind gesture. He mentally gave himself a pat on the back for successfully making the smaller boy happy.

 

It wasn’t long before the others were calling them over. Sunny led the way over as the other two followed while munching on their cookie pieces. 

 

Hector wagged his tail happily as he climbed onto the giant several-seat saddle. Sunny looked down from the top of Hector’s back after having taken a seat. Sitting in the saddle really put into perspective how big Hector was. He must be almost double the size of a horse, maybe even bigger than an elephant.

 

It was a tight squeeze to fit all of seven of them on Hector. The dog didn’t seem to mind the weight of them as his tongue flopped to the side happily. Sunny and Omori sat towards the front of Hector. Basil, Aubrey, and Kel sat in the middle with Mari and Hero taking the back.

 

As soon as everyone was ready, Hector started walking down the rainbow driveway. Sunny held on tightly to his large collar as the saddle shifted with each step Hector took. 

 

He let himself relax against the saddle once he got used to the movement of Hector. It was definitely a much smoother ride than riding Basil’s bike or piggybacking on Kel.

 

Sunny let his eyes wander around the colorful surroundings of the dream world. The forest wasn't as thick in the front yard as it was in the backyard. He saw a lot of random structures sticking out in the distance like random neon tentacles and excessively long cats. He even saw a whale swimming through the air. 

 

That’s when he noticed the large land mass in the sky. Bright colors beamed from the floating island with rides peeking from the top of the planet. He stared in awe as they got closer to the colorful amusement park. Sunny looked away for a second only to realize that they were floating in the air. He instinctively looked down and— holy they were high up off the ground . He was quick to look away from the ground as their height only increased.

 

It wasn’t long before Hector finally landed on the amusement park planet. The entrance was being guarded by space bears collecting tickets from all different creatures and people waiting to enter. Spaceboy cut outs and advertisements lined the area with colorful text expressing the fun and wonders that lay beyond the entrance. Hector laid down allowing everyone to slide off his back with ease. 

 

“This place looks sooo cool!” Kel shouted happily. His button eyes glittered with excitement as he looked all around him. 

 

“We finally agree on something Kel.” Aubrey said while looking all around in awe.

 

Hero giggled at her commit as he helped Mari down. She gathered everyone around as they started forming a plan to traverse the park. 

 

“It looks really crowded there.” Hero said, glancing at the ever increasing number of people.

 

“Yeah, that might be a problem.” Aubrey added.

 

“Isn’t Sunny afraid of crowds?” Kel mentioned.

 

All their attention diverged onto him, wanting to hear his input.

 

“They just make me uncomfortable.” Sunny responded. Considering what happened earlier that day, he can for the most part tolerate crowds. Kel may have had to save him from the Sweetheart fangirls, but he was later able to confront Aubrey and her gang all on his own. If he can handle all that, going through a crowd of button eyed creatures with his friends should be a breeze. 

 

“Yeah! It  shouldn’t be a problem with all of us sticking together!” Kel smiled.

 

“A-Actually,” Basil shyly joined in. “I-I think it would be better to d-do a buddy system. It would be hard for all seven of us to s-stay together in that crowd.”

 

Hero let out a hum in thought, “You do have a point. We can split up based on who wants to do what first. Me and Mari need to set up an area where we can all eat, so I'll stick with her.”

 

“Well, I want to ride the biggest roller coaster first!” Kel said. Aubrey was quick to look over at him with a smug smile. “You probably couldn’t handle that, the baby teacup ride seems more of your style.” She teased.

 

“Is that a challenge?”

 

“If you fail, you have to dump all the Orange Joe you brought.”

 

“Alright bet!” Kel said as he ran ahead. Aubrey chased behind him leaving Sunny, Omori, and Basil behind.

 

“I-I’m not sure about you guys, but I don’t think I could handle any big roller coasters.” Basil said. Omori nodded in agreement as Sunny thought about what the three of them could do all together instead.

 

“How about amusement park games?” Sunny suggested. Both Basil and Omori seemed to brighten the idea.

 

“That sounds fun! Let’s do that!” Basil smiled. Omori gave a thumbs up.

 

They made their way towards the crowded entrance. Sunny led the way when he suddenly felt a tap against his back. He looked back to see Omori looking up at him expectantly. Sunny tilted his head as he waited to see what the monochrome boy wanted. Omori moved in front of Sunny dragging Basil between them.

 

Oh, Omori wanted to lead the way.

 

Sunny tagged Omori .

 

All three of them formed a line. Basil held onto both of their hands as Omori took the front and Sunny followed in the back. 

 

It was surprisingly easy to traverse the crowd. They gave their tickets to one of the guard bears giving them the okay to enter. Needless to say, inside the amusement park was even greater than the outside. Everywhere he looked was a Spaceboy reference. Laser lights beamed through the air as space music played throughout the clearing. 

 

Omori led them to where all the different games were. Time seemed to fly by as they tried out all different kinds of  amusement park games. He found out the hard way that Omori not only had a secret competitive side, but he was also really good at the majority of games. Sunny thoroughly got destroyed every time he went against Omori. Not even Basil cheering him on could save him. 

 

Despite every L he took, Sunny was really enjoying himself. He could tell Omori was having fun from the slight yellow glow surrounding him. He could even see the glow around Basil as well.

 

Omori was currently going against Basil to see who could pop the most balloons with darts. It was obvious to Sunny that Omroi was taking it easy on Basil, letting him score over him. Sunny would know, he already got his ass handed to him when he went against Omori before.

 

He continued to watch the two, silently cheering on Basil when he suddenly felt a shiver travel down his spine. Sunny felt goosebumps rise on his neck as he looked around nervously. It felt like someone was watching him.

 

He continued to scan the area when his eyes finally landed on the perpetrator.

 

Stranger stared back with his glowing white eyes. Sunny was surprised to see that the cat didn’t have button eyes like everyone else in his dream. He truly looked like a shadow here, a drastic contrast from the colorful stands he stood between. The cat flicked his tail as he turned away, leaving behind bright red paw prints.

 

There was a strong urge to follow where the trail led, but not knowing where they ended made him hesitate. Last time this happened, the trail led him straight to Basil. Yet, it couldn’t lead to Basil this time considering the boy was right next to him. Maybe the red wisps led him to where he needed to go. Maybe they led him to danger. He never actually considered the intentions behind the odd stray cat.

 

Guess there was only one way to find out.

 

“—nny? Sunny!”

 

Sunny looked away only to see dream Basil looking at him with worry. “What a-are you staring at?”

 

Sunny silently glanced back at the red trail before looking back towards Omori. He noticed the monochrome boy was also staring at the red wisps. He wondered if he could see them too.

 

“Oh! Is there a game over there you want to play?” Basil seems to notice both of them staring at the same spot.

 

Sunny nodded as he led the way. Omori and Basil followed close behind as they squeezed between the two stands. They only walked for a moment before the area opened up again. He let out a shiver at the sudden change of scenery the area brought. This area was drastically more dull than the rest of the park. There were no laser lights and any scembence of color looked faded. The music from the park barely reached this point even though that didn’t even walk that far. The trail continued forward towards what looked like a worn down maintenance shed.

 

He felt a hand suddenly grab onto his hand. He looked back to be met with Basil looking up at him nervously. “S-Sunny? I-I don’t think w-we’re supposed to be here. We should turn b-back—

 

“Curious, I’ve never seen It’s toys go out of bounds like this before.”  

 

Everyone froze up at the intruding voice. There was a low echo to the voice, making it impossible to locate its origin. Sunny felt unnerved by the whole situation, going on guard as he searched the area. Dream Basil held on close to Sunny while Omori also went on guard. 

 

“ An old, broken doll. A new shiny toy. A foolish boy. Quite the group you’ve created.” It hummed.

 

Sunny spotted movement by the shed as Stranger moved towards them from behind it. The cat's body looked more like a fuzzy shadow now in the weird haze that covered the area. His big glowing eyes stared back at him.

 

“ I’ve got Something to show you. Something you’ll need.” The voice sounded again. Sunny quickly connected the dots as he realized that it was Stranger that had been talking to them.

 

Sunny bit his lip anxiously as he thought about what to say. Stranger was always unusually smart for a cat. A strange cat with a strange behavior and appearance. A true Stranger. 

 

“What is it in my dream that you’d even want to show me?” Sunny questioned.

 

The cat gazed at him curiously. “ Dream? For you to be dreaming insinuates that I am dreaming, but I can assure you, I’m wide awake.” Stranger suddenly perked up. His ear twitched as if hearing Something from the Distance. “ It’s growing weary, I would hurry if I were you.” Stranger didn’t wait for a response as he strolled into the shed.

 

Sunny felt a tug on his hand, “We s-shouldn’t f-follow a s-stranger. What if h-he is l-leading us to a trap?” Basil whispered nervously. He could feel the slight shaking in his hand through his grip. Omori, on the other hand, was already ahead of them. He waited patiently for them to follow. 

 

The two of them seemed to have already made up their minds on what to do next. It was now down to him to choose what they do. To go back to the park, or to move forward into the unknown. 

 

With his mind made up, Sunny gave Basil’s hand a reassuring squeeze. “We’ll be okay. It’s not as scary as you think.”

 

For some reason, those words made his heart squeeze.

 

Basil seemed to relent as he let Sunny drag him over to where Omori stood. The three of them stood in front of the worn out work shed. It looked one strong gust of wind away from falling over.

 

Omori acted first, opening the wooden door to the shed. Its hinges creaked eerily in protest against the movement. The three of them walked into the dusty shed.

 

The whole area was covered in a thick layer of dust. The tiniest of movements in the air cause clouds of it to rise in the dimly lit area. The shed appeared much larger on the inside than the outside. It looked like the shed stretched on a long way into the darkness.

 

Omori continued onward, leading the way deeper into the shed. He didn’t even notice it until now, but Omori had pulled out a large kitchen knife at some point. The only noise to break the silence in the shed were the constant creaking of the floor under their feet with the occasional crunch of broken glass. It felt like the shed got darker and darker the deeper they went. With each step he took, he felt his heart beat a little louder.

 

For what felt like an eternity later, they finally reach the end of the shed. Right in the center sat a black music stand. Sheets music laid scattered and torn on the floor. On top of the stand laid an unfamiliar old timey hat. It reminded him of the hats boys would wear in the nineteenth century. 

 

Sunny picked up a piece of sheet music resting by his feet. He didn’t know why, but looking at the music made his head hurt and his eyes burn. He averted his eyes from the paper when his headache became too much to bear. It feels like he is forgetting something important when he looks at it.

 

Sunny dropped the paper back to the ground as he blinked away tears. He didn’t notice them forming while staring at the paper.

 

“—was t-there something sad on that paper?” Basil asked him quietly. He wiped his eyes with his arm real quickly, having forgotten the presents of (dream?) Basil beside him. He gave him a small nod. The mint hair boy frowned at the answer, but accepted it nonetheless.

 

Sunny’s headache was quick to lighten as he looked over to see what Omori was doing. He stood in front of the music stand with old timey hat. Omori was squinting at it, as if staring at it would unlock all the secrets of the universe.

 

Sunny walked over to take a closer look at the hat himself. He was starting to understand why Omori was glaring at it for so long the more he looked at it. This hat looked surprisingly well preserved compared to the ruins of the shed that surrounded it. Not even a speck of dust laid on its surface. Curiosity got the best of him as he gently picked up the antique hat.

 

A distorted moan sounded throughout the shed as soon as the hat left the stand. The walls shook unsteadily as everything started to grow darker and darker. Sunny shoved the hat in his sweater pocket as Omori and Basil pressed closely against him. Omori pointed his blade out ready to fight while Basil cowarded behind him. Sunny took a couple of involuntary steps back as the music stand started to shake violently. The clattering of the music stand echoed throughout the shed as its metal surface seemed to expand and melt at the same time. Its surface turned an oily black as it’s shaped distorted and stretched out. The sheet music scattered about morphed in eyes as every pupil stared at them. A maw filled with sharp white teeth opened in the middle of the mass as it let out a broken cry. 

 

Fear rippled throughout every fiber of his being as the adrenaline sprung him into action. Sunny grabbed onto Omori with his free hand as he turned and ran to the shed exit. Omori and Basil were dragged behind him as he ran down the seemingly endless hall. Black tendrils snaked across the walls and ceiling around them as Sunny tried to pick up the pace. 

 

Basil suddenly let out yelp as his hand was ripped out of Sunny’s. Omori and Sunny both skid to a stop to help the other boy. Something from the Distance had grabbed onto his ankle causing Basil to faceplant. He heard a muffled crack when his face met the ground. 

 

Omori reacted first with him running to Basil’s side. He used the kitchen knife to slash through Something’s limb. It screeched in agony as its severed limb flailed in the air. It wiggled in the air erratically like a snake that got its head cut off. 

 

Sunny quickly pulled Basil up from the ground while Something was distracted. The boy held a hand over one of his button eyes as the other button eye looked back at him in terror. He wasn’t able to get a better look at where he could be hurt before focusing back on escaping. Omori led the way this time while Sunny and Basil followed behind. He held on tightly to Basil as he tried to get the other to speed up, but the boy’s speed drastically dropped after falling. It was like every other step the boy took caused him the stumble, forcing Sunny to put more effort into keeping him up than escaping. 

 

Something ended up being able to grab onto Sunny’s hoodie, once again forcing them to a stop. He wasn’t able to escape the first vine before more of them grabbed onto him and Basil. He desperately kicked and pushed against them as they dragged them away from the entrance. 

 

A bright red light flashed from near the entrance. Several large red hands speed towards them, zig zagging through the air similarly to how the black vines moved. The hands grabbed onto both him and Basil. They were ripped from Something’s grasps as they were now being dragged to the entrance. Sunny hugged onto Basil, keeping the injured boy close as they were dragged through the shed.  Before he knew it, they finally broke free from the shed being abruptly dropped on the ground. 

 

Sunny scrambled on his feet with Basil still in his arms, ready to defend against another nightmare creature that grabbed them. Instead, he found himself facing a scared Omori as the red hands retreated behind his back. Both of them stood there catching their breath. They stared at each other with wide eyes, trying to process what was happening.

 

Sunny gulped as he opened his mouth, “Um, the hands are new?” Sunny internally slapped his head at the stupid comment.

 

He let out a small ‘oof’ when Omori ran into his side. The smaller boy pulled him and Basil into a tight hug. Sunny hugged back, rubbing his back to comfort him. The hug ended when Basil squirmed between the two of them. They pulled away as Sunny looked down at Basil. He failed to suppress a gasp when he took a look at the boy’s face. His left button eye was cracked and chipped. His face had small cracks around his eye that looked similar to shattered porcelain. Pink juice leaked out of the cracks. It smelled like watermelons.

 

Basil seemed to realize that he was staring for too long. He shied away, blocking the left side of his face with his hand. “It’s n-not as b-bad as you think.”

 

“We should still find someone to patch you up.” Sunny said.

 

All three of them were exhausted as they walked out back to the park. It gave Sunny whiplash returning back into the loud colorful crowd, but in the moment, he preferred it over the dull lifelessness of the shed. He was surprised that they found Mari as fast as they did. Her words of worry felt fuzzy in his ear as he simply followed along silently.

 

The ride back was a blur, he barely remembers even getting on Hector at all. He does know that Hero, Aubrey, and Kel all stayed behind at the park while the rest of them went home.

 

Sunny soon realized that he was walking in Neighbor’s home when he started to focus on his surroundings again. Sunny was being led gently to his room by Omori. He felt bad that the younger boy was forced to step up due to him dissociating, but he silently appreciated the effort nonetheless. Mari had split up from them at some point, taking Basil away to get patched up. Sunny couldn’t help but notice Omori’s relinctants to leave Basil alone with Mari, but he continued onward to his bedroom anyways.

 

With his body feeling like jello, Sunny jumped into his bed with no hesitation. He let out a long sigh as he settled into his other bed (he gives the bed a 9/10). The pocket of his sweater weighed heavy on his stomach as he laid there staring at the ceiling. He pulled the old timey hat out, smoothing out the wrinkle from being crammed into his pocket. Looking at the hat made his thoughts spiral. It was well taken care of even if it was slightly worn, whoever owned it cared a lot for it. It felt important, but as to why, he wasn’t sure. 

 

He looked over to Omori, who at that point was blankly staring off into space. He was sitting in a wooden chair placed next to his bed, idly rubbing the handle of his knife. Omori kinda looked tired, but he continued to stay on guard regardless.

 

“Omori.” Sunny said. Omori perked up, turning his attention to him. Sunny scooted over, patting the open space next to him on the bed. Omori looked down at the bed and backed up at Sunny. His face slightly lightened up as he crawled into bed next to Sunny. “Thanks for saving me and Basil back there. Means a lot.” Sunny whispered, tossing the blanket over the two of them.

 

“Goodnight.” Sunny mumbled as he closed his eyes. Omori watched him fall asleep as he reached over and turned the lamp off.

“… oyasumi…”

OOO

Notes:

Hoped you enjoyed!
Things start to ramp up next chapter(s)
(Next part is probably going to be multiple chapters too)
Let me know what you think so far in comments. I like reading them a lot :D

Chapter 5: Thalassophobia (1-3)

Summary:

Thalassophobia: fear of deep waters and drowning.

Notes:

What's up, I'm back after being gone for over a month. College kick my ass so I didn't have a lot of time to write or draw. I ended up scraping a bunch of stuff for this part so it's the shortest one so far now. Anyways thanks for over 500 hits and all the kudos. Special shout out to Athing, Trans basil, saltedcarrots, Rolldens, Nobody_in_particular03, and Prunejuice100 for the comments. You all are my main sources of motivation so thanks for all the support.

Alright that's enough mushy shit enjoy the fic :)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sunny woke up to the dull ceiling of his room, feeling genuinely well-rested despite struggling to fall asleep the night before. His bed was comfortably warm and his back didn’t hurt despite lying on it. He sighed and relaxed into his bed, feeling the warm weight on his chest move as he breathed. Suddenly, he realized that the weight on his chest was none other than Stranger, who started to purr.

Sunny sat up slowly and instinctively went to pet the cat. He only got a couple of pets in before suddenly stopping. The memory of his dream came to the forefront of his mind as he stared at the cat. He remembered Stranger talking in his dream; leading him, Omori, and Basil into a shed with the old hat and Something.

He had conflicting feelings about Stranger after everything that had happened. It was impossible to read the cat's intentions, and every trail seemed to lead to Something, but every path always led to something of importance as well. As Sunny tried to make sense of it all, he couldn't shake the feeling that he was starting to go insane. If what happened last night wasn't a dream, then how did he wake up in his normal room? Where was Omori?

Sunny looked at Stranger, distantly hoping for answers. "Can you actually talk or was I being gaslighted by a dream version of you?" he said aloud.

Stranger flicked his ear and looked at Sunny with an unamused expression, but didn't say anything. Instead, the cat hopped off his chest and dug at the blankets with his front paws, looking up at Sunny expectantly.

Sunny grabbed onto his blanket and flipped it over, heart racing with anticipation. He almost choked on his breath when he saw what was hidden underneath: the old timey hat he found in the shed. It looked exactly like how he remembered it - gray and unassuming, worn but well loved. Sunny gently picked up the hat, holding it as lightly as possible, and rubbed his thumb slowly against the fabric, feeling every individual groove on the fabric.

It felt too real to be fake or made up, so that means... he really wasn't dreaming.

Sunny noticed a white tag poking out from the back of the hat and tugged on it to reveal a name scrawled in marker:

Barley Hallward?

The handwriting was difficult to decipher, resembling that of a child's scribbles. He thought that whoever wrote it could give Gino a run for his money in terms of penmanship. Despite this, the surname seemed oddly familiar to Sunny, getting him to wonder where he had heard it before.

As he looked up from the hat, Sunny realized that Stranger had vanished, leaving him with no answers regarding recent events. He groaned in annoyance, knowing that he had missed a chance to figure out what the hell was going on. Moreover, it was nearly time for his scheduled meetup with Kel and Basil. With a resigned sigh, Sunny decided to get out of bed and prepare for the day.

He was still wearing what he would usually wear on a normal day, even wearing the new gray sweater he got from… Mari. Sunny was quick to shake his head, clearing his thoughts as he continued getting ready. He donned his key necklace and felt satisfied with his appearance. Curious about the old-fashioned hat, Sunny decided to try it on. It was a bit snug but surprisingly comfortable for its age. Attaching the dragonfly clip to the brim, Sunny finished his new look.

There, Dapper Sunny.

However, he couldn't shake off the feeling that he was missing something important. Then it struck him – he still needed to find Omori.

As Sunny searched his room, he couldn't spot the doll anywhere. He figured that Omori must have moved somewhere else in the house. It still felt crazy that he had started normalizing Omori moving on his own accord already. Regardless, he still needed to find the doll. His search started upstairs, where he combed through his mom's room but to no avail. However, he did stumble upon a can of pepper spray. Considering the threat the hooligans opposed, Sunny pocketed the pepper spray thinking that it could come in handy.

Soon enough, he located Omori on the floor in the lounge room beside the little door. It wasn't shocking to find him there, considering everything that had been occurring in the past couple of days. Sunny picked up Omori, the doll feeling pleasantly warm in his grasp. Omori's button eye stared back at him blankly.

Knock Knock Knock!

Sunny looked up from Omori to the front door. He instantly knew it was Kel at his door, his absurdly loud knocks being a dead give away. Sunny put Omori in his sweater pocket with the pepper spray, answering the front door to Kel's cheerful smile. He was surprised to see Basil standing beside Kel, giving him a shy smile.

“Heyo Sunny! How is your back feeling?” Kel greeted.

“S’fine, doesn’t hurt anymore."

“T-That’s good. Have you changed the badges yet?” Basil asked.

Sunny tilted his head in confusion, realizing he hadn't thought about it. So much had already happened this morning.

Seeing his confusion, Basil looked back at him with concern, "We should p-probably check on it, even if it doesn't hurt much."

“Oh! I’ll go grab some more bandages real quick! Also nice hat!” Kel said. Sunny wasn’t able to get another word in before Kel had started running back to his own front door. With Kel leaving Basil behind, Sunny stepped aside and let him inside the house. Basil was quick to step inside. The blonde took off his boots, and though he seemed nervous, he was less so than the first time he visited Sunny's house.

"I-I like your hat too. It looks n-nice on you," Basil said, giving Sunny a shaky smile.

"Thanks," Sunny responded, feeling his face warm slightly at the compliment. It was nice to receive positive attention for his new look.

As they headed upstairs towards the bathroom, a sudden thought crossed his mind now that it was just the two of them now. He knew Basil had already seen some of the bizarre things that have happened in this house. So maybe…instead of there being a brick wall behind the small door, maybe he could finally show someone else the rainbow tunnel. Basil was the one to help him get over his fear of the door in the first place after all.

Basil gave him a shaky smile, interrupting his thoughts. “A-Anyway, where’s your bathroom? We should probably get r-ready to change your bandages.”

Sunny decided to save his thoughts for later. He wanted to show Basil the tunnel eventually, but not right now. He needed to focus on getting his back checked first.

Once they reached the bathroom, Sunny wasted no time in removing his sweater and shirt. Basil averted his eyes shyly, searching through the cabinets for a first aid kit. He found a mini one meant more for small cuts and bruises.

Sunny sat on the toilet, trying to remove the gauze wrapped around his torso. He tugged at the ribbons, but couldn't find where they ended. It felt like he checked everywhere he could reach, yet he never could find it. What made it even worse was that the more he messed with the bandages, the itchier they felt against his skin. He let out a frustrated sigh, hopelessly pulling at the annoying bandages.

"D-Do you need help?" Basil asked, noticing Sunny's struggle.

Sunny looked up at him. Basil was looking at him with a nervous smile ghosting his lips. Sunny nodded in defeat, unable to loosen the annoyingly well-wrapped bandages.

Basil moved behind Sunny and placed his hand against Sunny’s back. He heard the sound of tape ripping before the bandages loosened from around his chest and abdomen. He couldn’t help but sigh happily, having been finally freed from the itchy gauze.

“Umm, S-Sunny??” Basil stuttered quietly. Sunny looked over his shoulder and was surprised to see how shocked the blonde looked as he stared at his back.

“What is it?” Sunny replied, a slight feeling of anxiety crawled up his spine.

“Y-your back, it l-looks uh entirely n-normal.”

Sunny tilted his head in confusion, “Isn’t that good?”

“N-No, I mean that th-there's nothing here! Not a scratch or a scar o-or anything from when you got hurt!”

“What?” Sunny quickly brought a hand towards his back and reached as far as he could. He felt nothing but smooth skin under his hand. In that moment a sudden memory flashed in his mind—

— Mari handed him one of her cookies, “Here! This should help you feel better!”—

Oh shit, he hadn’t even considered what the cookie did to his back when he ate it! The only thing he could focus on in that moment was just being relieved that the annoying aches and pains from his back had finally stopped.

Basil must have noticed his change in demeanor as he looked at him with wide eyes. “D-Do you know h-how it happened?”

Sunny opened his mouth to respond but was cut off by the sound of the front door being opened. Kel must finally be back from getting the med kit. He quickly stood up from the toilet and looked back at Basil, “I can explain, but not now.” Sunny said standing up abruptly. 

Basil grabbed his hand, his grip was gentle but firm. “You promise to explain later?”

Sunny held out his pinky, “Promise.”

Basil hesitated for a moment before quickly locking pinkies, sealing the promise.

Kel's boisterous footsteps thundered through the house. Sunny rushed to throw on a shirt as Kel barged into the bathroom without even knocking. "Kel has arrived!" he exclaimed, throwing a large first aid bag onto the floor.

"We already changed the bandages," Sunny interrupted.

"Wah?" Kel was caught off guard.

"Uh—I-I found a first aid kit here in the bathroom." Basil said, going along with Sunny's story.

"Oh! I didn't even think about Sunny having his own first aid kit. We probably should have checked first, huh?" Kel said sheepishly.

"Anyways, with that all said and done, I came up with a game plan to get Basil's stuff back!" Kel announced.

"R-Really?" Basil and Sunny both perked up in surprise.

"What's the plan?" Sunny asked, curious on what he could have come up with.

"I'll tell you on the way! Let's gooo!" Kel grabbed Basil, who in turn grabbed Sunny allowing the taller boy to drag them down the stairs and out of the house.

Kel never did explain the plan as he dragged the two along, the both of them being too busy trying not to trip over their own feet from the fast pace Kel kept. Thankfully, it wasn't long until they arrived at Othermart.

Sunny thought that Kel was going to lead them to the candy store. It would be an easy place to find Vance and Kim and buy information off of them with more candy. But he was surprised to see Kel head to the back of Othermart instead. Curious, Sunny continued to follow Kel, wondering what the taller boy had in mind. Basil seemed pretty confused too. It looked like he wanted to ask something, but remained quiet as he followed along with the mystery plan.

They walked by the fish mart with the job offering and towards the fresh bread section. Kel had completely lost Sunny on his supposed plan at this point as he casually walked up to the bread twins. Kel leaned against the counter getting the twins' attention.

"Order for Vincente!" Kel said. Sunny glared at the back of the taller boy's head. Did he really drag them all the way over here just to pick up a bread order?

Sunny didn't remember the twins' names, but the female twin nodded silently as she went to one of the bread racks in the back. The male one continued to knead some fresh dough quietly.

Kel's attention suddenly shifted to the male twin, "Hey Bowen! I gotta quick question." Kel asked. Bowen looked up from the dough to Kel. "Do you happen to know where Mikael is?"

Bowen let out a quiet hum in thought. "I think he ran off to the water tower with a friend. He was supposed to help today, but I'm not surprised he didn't show up."

The female twin came back with a paper bag holding some fresh bread. Kel smiled as he took the bag from her. "Thanks! Have a good day!" He said to the twins. Kel turned back to Sunny with a smirk. "Mission accomplished!"

"Was the whole plan just you picking up bread?" Sunny asked, unamused.

"What? No—well, getting the bread was part of the plan. Mikael is one of the hooligans, and I just got us the first lead to getting Basil's stuff back!" Kel explained.

"Couldn't we just go to Aubrey's house? She literally lives upstairs," Sunny pointed out.

"Me and Kel already checked to see if she was home before v-visiting you. She d-didn't answer the door," Basil added.

"See? This was a good plan. Now, off to the water tower!" Kel announced, running towards the exit.

“W-Wait up!” Basil yelled after Kel as they followed the boy from behind, struggling to keep up with his fast pace. The water tower wasn’t far from Othermart, although Sunny had never visited it before. It was down a one-way rock road that led to the base of the tower. As they approached, Sunny noticed a tall figure standing guard in front of the long metal ladder that led up to the water tower. Upon closer inspection, Sunny recognized the girl; he had seen her twice the day before, once at Hobbeez when she was looking at Sweetheart merch and once with the hooligans.

Sunny was jolted out of his thoughts as he ran face-first into Kel’s back. The tan boy had come to an abrupt halt in front of the girl. She was honestly quite intimidating, somehow being taller than Kel. At this rate he was going to develop self esteem issues over his short height. It made him wonder how Basil felt being shorter than all of them.

Kel put his hand up and gave an energetic wave. “Hey Charlene!” Charlene continued to look down at him blankly, causing an awkward pause. Kel tried to break the silence. “Wow, the weather is nice out isn't it? Say we need to talk to Mik—The Maverick about something, so can you let us through?”

Charlene didn’t budge. She continued to block the way with an unwavering resolve. Basil stepped forward and stood next to Kel. “I-I know The M-Maverick must be busy, but this is really important.”

Still no reaction out of Charlene. Basil seemed to slump into himself at the lack of response. Sunny thought of a possible way to get around her. She seemed pretty adamant at staying put. It would be suicide to try and force her to move as well and even more so to tell her why they were actually there. She was on the level of intimidating on par with Kel’s mom, who he was sure had a body count.

A sudden idea clicked in his head. Bribery worked once, so it’ll probably work again. It would probably take more than candy this time to convince her though…

Good thing he knew exactly what she wanted.

Sunny walked up to Charlene, looking up at her with an equally blank expression. “You were at Hobbeez yesterday looking at the Sweetheart poster, weren’t you?” he pointed out. A light pink dusted her cheeks, and a hint of shyness peaked through her previous stoic expression.

“If we get you that poster, would you let us see The Maverick?” Sunny asked. Charlene seemed to silently contemplate the offer. Sunny noticed her lips twitch upwards at the thought, giving Sunny enough of an answer to go through with his plan.

“Sunny, that poster was like $40!” Kel exclaimed. “I forgot my wallet, and I know you don’t have money…unless…” Kel turned to Basil. The blonde dug out his wallet and pulled out a single $20 bill. “S-Sorry, I don’t have enough this time.” He apologized. Kel paused for a second before looking back at Sunny.

“Oh! Are we going to do another heist?” Kel whispered loudly to the two of them.

“No, but I know how we can get enough money for it.” Sunny said as he led the other two back down the rock road to Othermart.

Once there, they stood in front of a yellow poster with a job offering on it. The woman at the fish mart noticed them and asked in a heavy Japanese accent, “You want job?” With a nod from Sunny, all three boys were handed fly swatters. Just like that, the three of them were sent off to war, a war against the invading flies.

 

Side Mission: Lord of the Flies
Get money to buy Charalene the Sweetheart poster!

 

 

 

 

 

OOO

(I forgor to draw Sunny’s hat💀)
OOO

 

 

 

 

 

To say it was a massacre would be an understatement. So many soldiers dead with many, many more injured. No fly was left standing, all having fallen to the wraith of Team Cheeseburger (Kel’s idea). No side was left untouched. Kel was injured the most, having hit himself in many attacks (he also received some friendly fire from Sunny). Thankfully, Kel survived the whole ordeal. Basil and Sunny were left mostly unharmed, but Basil was definitely leaving with some PTSD. The battle may have left them with mental and physical scars that will never heal, but they got what they were looking for.

Basil hugged a cardboard tube containing the special edition Sweetheart poster. He took the lead as he walked up to Charalene. The girl seemed genuinely shocked as the small blonde held out the cardboard tube. “S-So, uh, can we talk to The Maverick now?”

Charalene popped the tube cover open and took a peak at the poster. She smiled and nodded her head, seeming satisfied with the bribe. Kel was quick to hop on the ladder with Sunny and Basil following behind. Before either of the two could even touch the ladder though, Charalene blocked the way once again. Sunny glared up at the girl who looked back at him unphased. “Only one.” She said quietly.

“Why?” Sunny asked. There was a hint of annoyance in his voice as he continued his stare off with the tall girl. Charalene didn’t respond and instead made her way to the metal ladder. She rubbed her hand against the rusted metal bar holding the ladder to the water tower. Orange flakes fell to the ground as Charalene held out her hand showing the rusty dust felt on her palm.

Sunny hadn’t even considered the condition the water tower was in. It seemed to have been abandoned, left to collect rust and slowly wither away. Kel must have not noticed as he continued to climb higher without a care in the world.

The ladder groaned and creaked with each step Kel took higher. Basil seemed to become worried as he cupped his hands to his mouth, “Be careful Kel! You have to go a-alone! The l-ladder isn’t safe for all of us!” He shouted up the water tower. Kel paused for a second before giving a thumbs up at the two below. “Don’t worry! I got this!!!” He shouted back down. They continued to watch anxiously as Kel ascended the death-trap ladder farther up.

Kel finally made it to the top railing of the water tower, getting off the old ladder. Sunny let out a breath he didn’t even realize he was holding when Kel made it up completely.

Sunny tried to watch what was happening from afar. He could roughly make out Kel and Mikael's figure from here, but couldn’t make out anything else. It definitely looked like there wasn’t a lot of room up there based on what he could see from below.

“Um, Sunny?” Basil whispered, causing Sunny to turn and look in the direction of Basil’s gaze. Down the road sat Stranger, the cat staring back at them with unblinking white eyes. Sunny knew instinctively that he wanted to follow the cat to wherever he was going, but he also knew that every time he did so, someone got hurt. And that someone was always Basil. Despite this, Sunny felt drawn to the cat's presence and made up his mind to follow him. He turned back to Basil, “Wait here” Sunny said as he started walking down the road.

Basil hesitated for a moment before grabbing Sunny's hand. “Wait! Y-You can’t go alone! I’m coming with you.” he said determinedly.

Sunny looked back at Basil, “…please stay.”

Basil faltered at this. He looked at Sunny with conflicting emotions swirling in his eyes.

“I-I…” Basil shook his head, looking back up at Sunny with a new resolve. “I’m not letting you go alone.”

Sunny was pretty surprised by Basil’s response. He knew from the short time he has spent with him that Basil had a hard time saying no, especially when pressured. Seeing him so firm on his resolve to stay by his side, to not leave him alone: Sunny really didn’t see a way to force the blonde to stay.

If he wanted to see what Stranger had to show him, then he couldn’t afford to wait. Sunny looked back up where Kel was, giving him a silent apology as he and Basil started their chase after the estranged cat.

Hand in hand, they chased after the cat as he led them past Othermart and towards the park. They ran through the playground as they approached the tree line. As soon as the cat entered the forest, familiar red paw steps started to appear as Stranger disappeared deep into the woods.

Sunny came to a sudden stop when he felt Basil’s hand get ripped from his grasp. The blonde stood frozen a couple of feet behind him as he stared at the ground. Sunny was quick to realize that he was staring directly at the start of the red trail left by Stranger.

“I-Is this what you we’re talking about y-yesterday? About S-Stranger??” Basil mutters under his breath.

“You can see it too?” Sunny looked at Basil with wide eyes. The blonde swallowed nervously before nodding his head. Sunny watched Basil step past the red wisps, careful to not step directly on them as he grabbed onto his hand once again.

They continued to follow the red trail as it cut through a dense part of the forest. The path they followed was off the trail with branches and foliage blocking the way, but there were signs of someone cutting through this area.

Sunny pushed yet another branch out of the way, careful to not let the branch swing back and hit Basil (he totally didn’t let that happen with the first few branches). He was surprised to see the forest suddenly open up with the red wisps coming to a stop.

The area seemed pretty well taken care of with short grass and no foliage. Sat in the center was a small lake. The water lapped lazily at the short with the surface reflecting the evening sunlight. An ancient and broken down statue sat in the lake, having accumulated moss and several cracks due to age.

Sunny's attention drifted to the old pier sitting on the shore in front of them. As his gaze landed on the pier's end, he noticed a person with familiar pink hair. His eyes widened in recognition.
Aubrey was sitting there, feet dangling idly over the water. She seemed lost in thought, staring at the water's surface, having not noticed the two of them approaching. Sunny had always found Aubrey to be intimidating, but now she seemed almost serene.

Basil's grip on his hand tightened. Sunny met his uncertain gaze with a small smile before making his way towards the pier. The wooden planks groaned under his weight, but Aubrey didn't seem to notice. In the silence, Sunny heard the faint sound of sniffling coming from her. He continued down the pier and stood beside her at the end. Basil stayed close, trying to avoid Aubrey's gaze. She wiped her face quickly, seeming both annoyed and embarrassed by their arrival.

"What are you two doing here?" Aubrey's voice was quiet, but her irritation was apparent.

"You still have some of Basil's stuff," Sunny said as he sat down next to her.

Aubrey sighed, her anger dissipating. "Mikeal has the camera. I threw away the album, so it's probably long gone by now."

"I-I actually found it yesterday, but some of the pictures are m-missing," Basil said from behind them.

"I still have some of the pictures, but I'll only give them back under one condition," Aubrey said, her gaze still fixed on the lake.

"What c-condition?" Basil asked.

"I want you to explain how you know Mari and why you have pictures of her," Aubrey said softly, the sharpness in her voice now gone.

"I-I probably need to explain that, huh?" Basil stuttered. "Did you see the back of the pictures?"

"Yeah, I saw them yesterday when I removed the photos from the album, but I still want to hear the full story," Aubrey said, her gaze finally turning to them.

“Okay, it’ll probably b-be easier to explain with all the pictures. Um, w-where are you keeping them anyways?”

“They’re back at my place. I’ll bring them over here, but you better expl—”

A groan from the pier interrupted them, and all three turned towards the source of the sound.

“Dang it Angel, this was supposed to be a sneak attack!” Vance complained, giving the smaller boy a playful slap on the back of the head.

“How was I supposed to know that wood would be that loud!” Angel retorted.

“Really guys!? They know we're here, just charge them!” Kim exclaimed.

“Yeah!”

“Get away from the boss, losers!”

The hooligans (minus Charlene and Mikhael) rushed towards them, causing the pier to groan and creak under the added weight. It felt like a mini earthquake, the pier shook violently with each step. Fortunately, Aubrey acted quickly, standing up to block them from the hooligans.

“Hey! You guys need to stand down! They weren’t even attacking me or anything.” Aubrey shouted at the group.

Before the hooligans could respond, a loud CRACK echoed beneath their feet, and the pier leaned to the left as one of the wooden supports gave way to the weight of everyone standing on it.

“Shit! Everyone off the pier!” Aubrey yelled.

With structure of the pier compromised, the other supports began to creek and splinter, no longer able to hold the weight of everyone. Sunny grabbed Basil as he started towards the other end of the pier. The hooligans were already on the shallow end of the pier, having been the last ones to get on it. Aubrey was the first to react to the pier collapsing, giving her a head start over him and Basil.

Another sharp crack rang out as one of the planks under Sunny’s feet gave way, and he fell forward, getting his foot stuck through the pier. Sunny tried to push himself up, only to realize his foot was stuck. Basil noticed his predicament and stopped to help him up, but it was already too late.

With one final crack, the last wood pole holding up their end of the pier gave out, sending the two plummeting into the frigid water below. Sunny heard Basil cry out before they both landed hard into the water. The cold temperature shocked Sunny’s muscles, causing them to freeze up as he tumbled into the water. The cold bubbles tickled his skin as he tried to orient himself, his arms and legs ached from the sheer coldness of the water. He felt his clothes weighing him down, making it difficult to move.

A flash of yellow caught his eye. Basil was sinking much faster than he was, flailing helplessly in the water. Dark tendrils swayed lazily in the water as Something in the depths stared back up at him, pulling them down deeper.

Basil looked up at him, his eyes glowing blue with fear. The blonde reached up towards Sunny, bubbles escaping his mouth, his words silenced by the water's turning. Sunny’s lungs burned, desperate for air, but he couldn't let Something drag Basil down.

Sunny learned to PERSIST.

He forced his legs to push him deeper into the water towards Basil. He grabbed him, and pulled him up into his arms. Sunny began his desperate ascent to the water’s surface. He kicked his legs with every bit of energy he had. Despite his effort, It felt like they weren't even moving at all. If anything, it felt like they were still sinking. Basil had stopped struggling entirely at this point, leaving it up to Sunny to swim for the both of them.

But Sunny doesn’t even know how to swim, let alone swim while holding someone. Even with Something dragging them deeper, Sunny still struggled to reach the surface with every bit of strength he had.

But it just wasn’t enough.

His movements were slowing as his muscles failed to move against the cold water. He went limp as the last bits of air escaped his burning lungs. He didn’t want to die, but he no longer had the strength to keep going. He lazily looked up to the shining surface of the water, watching the rays of light blur together. He watched as something entered the water, a white dress and long black hair swaying against the current above him. Mari’s hand reached out towards him as he finally closed his eyes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Notes:

Once again, sorry for being slow with updates. I'm simply out here doing my best with my ass writing skills. I will finish this fic if it kills me so expect me back soon.

Chapter 6: Thalassophobia (2-3)

Summary:

Kel gets some help to save Basil and Sunny.

Notes:

Sorry that this chapter is super late. Got busy with life and stuff. Summary: Adulting sucks.

Anyways, 1000 hits??? That's about a 1000 more than I thought I'd get lmao. The kudos also went silly thanks to all who left some.

Special thanks to Athing, CosmicDreamr, Tsu, Letumstar, and Prunejuice100 for the comments and AU ideas. I kept coming up with more while writting and added other ideas to the list of AU I'd be willing to write if you want to check them out.

Enjoy this chapter and stay hydrated!

 

 

 

 

 

 OOO

 OOO

 

 

 

 

 

Kel felt the wind blow against his face as he looked up the ladder. He was almost at the very top, having climbed up the metal ladder alone. The ladder was kinda shaky, making creaking noises with each step. It was definitely unnerving climbing the rusty ladder, but he had faith that he would be fine. Besides, Charlene wouldn’t have let him climb up if it wasn’t safe, let alone let The Maverick climb it. It still sucked that he had to go alone though, but if it meant Basil and Sunny were safe then it was fine by him!

 

Kel pushed himself up completely onto the platform. The platform circled around the base of the water storage like a ring around a planet. 

 

He couldn’t help but shudder at the wind, it felt much colder up here than down by the ground. The cold metal that made up the entire structure probably didn’t help much either. 

 

There was some graffiti painted against the water tower. A lot of it was just senseless scribbles with some decent art sprinkled in. He recognized some of the signatures for works done in town. It was definitely the work of the hooligans, especially Aubrey though. He’s never admitted it, but Aubrey’s spray painting was actually pretty good. Kel would probably like the art a lot more if she hadn’t painted ‘Kel smells’ on his trash can that one time.

 

Thoughts aside, he needed to focus on getting Basil’s camera back. He couldn’t see Mikael from where he was, so he quietly made his way around to the other side of the water tower. It wasn’t long until he could see him. He wasn’t surprised to see Mikael trying to take selfies with, what he assumed, was Basil’s camera. He had his back to him, so he hadn’t even noticed his presence. 

 

Feeling as they would say, a little silly, Kel decided to photobomb his next picture. He silently got into position, making the goofiest face he could pull off while giving The Maverick some go old bunny ears.

 

Click

 

Bzzzrt

 

The picture slid out of the camera as The Maverick waited for it to develop. Kel was trying so hard not to burst out into laughter from behind him. It was honestly impressive how unaware Mikael was of his surroundings. Kel concluded that it was probably his wig ruining his depth perception. 

 

You know…he could help with that! 

 

Kel grabbed onto the Mavericks wig. He quickly pulled it off, revealing the Maverick’s messy black hair underneath. The Maverick let out a high pitched squeak at the sudden loss of his beautiful, golden locks. Mikael wiped his head around to see Kel chuckling to himself while holding his beloved wig.

 

“AH, YOU FIEND! HOW DARE YOU INVOKE THE WRATH OF THE MAVERICK!” Mikael dramatically pointed at him. 

 

Kel hesitated for a moment, not really planning what he was going to do next. Maybe he can interrogate him like Sunny does!…yeah no, he was never good at intimidation.

 

Oh! He knew what to do! Kel just had to match The Maverick’s energy, like fighting fire with fire.

 

Kel gave off a dramatic evil grin, dangling Mikeal’s precious wig just out of his reach. 

 

“HA! YOU FOOLISH, uh—BOY! YOU LET YOUR GUARD DOWN IN FRONT OF THE COOLEST-GUY KEL ! NOW I HAVE YOUR BELOVED, SWEATY WIG AS A HOSTAGE !” Kel announced in the evilest voice he could pull off. He gave himself a quick high five at his stellar performance. 

 

“GAH! A HOSTAGE SITUATION! WHAT ARE YOUR DEMANDS, YOU DIABOLICAL CRIMINAL!” The Maverick posed dramatically, his hand reaching out while he looked away with a saddened look of defeat. Holy cow he even had tears in his eyes!

 

This was going surprisingly well for Kel. It was kinda fun, messing with Mikael a bit. Made him wonder how far he could take it. He placed the wig upon his own head, letting the now messy blonde strands fall in front of his face. 

 

“OH, MY DEAR, POOR MAVERICK! IF YOU WISH EVER SEE YOUR WIG AGAIN, THEN YOU MUST DO ONE—I MEAN TWO THINGS FOR ME!” Kel demanded. 

 

“FIRST! I REQUIRE THAT CAMERA. THEN! YOU HAVE TO— Pfft! Ha! Sorry um, Y-YOU HAVE TO TELL ME HOW AMAZING ORANGE JOE IS!!!” 

 

Mikael looked at him with utter disgust at the demand. Hesitant, The Maverick reluctantly gave in, “AS YOU WISH, YOU BEAST…” He handed over the camera as he took a deep breath.

 

“BELOVED ORANGE JOE. THE ESSENCE OF LIFE. THE NECTAR OF THE GODS. ONLY THE FRESHEST OF ORANGES GRACE THE PRESENCE OF THIS, MALEVOLENT DRINK. IT'S ABSURDS AMOUNT OF CAFFEINE, OUTDOING ALL OTHERS. THE MOST EXQUISITE DRINK TO GRACE US MORTALS!” The Maverick praised.

 

Kel was actually flabbergasted at the absolutely beautiful words used to describe Orange Joe. It was enough to make a single manly tear fall from his eye. 

 

“Wow…thank you for your amazing words.” Kel muttered quietly, letting a moment of silence permeate the air.

 

“Anyways!” Kel said, immediately returning to his cheerful self. “Thanks for the camera, I’ll see you around!” 

 

Kel turned around and immediately started climbing down the ladder of the water tower. He heard Mikael yell at him, but he couldn’t hear what he said over the wind, so he just continued down the ladder. He took a peek down to the ground during his descent and was surprised to see only one figure beneath him when there should have been three. He assumed the singular figure was Charlene based on the height, but it soon became apparent that it was someone else entirely.

 

“ Kel?” A voice yelled up at him. Kel immediately perked up, recognizing the voice. He slid down the rest of the ladder in excitement, getting slight ankle burn after landing on the gravel harshly.

 

“ Ow ankle burn, ow— HERO!!!” Kel cheered as he flung himself at his brother. Hero caught him in a hug, almost entirely getting toppled over. Kel was entirely koala-hugging his brother as Hero struggled to hold all his weight.

 

“Hey Kel! Ha, m-miss me much?” Hero said, still straining to hold up all of Kel’s weight. 

 

Kel finally put his feet on the ground, ending their wholesome sibling hug. Hero let out a sigh, which devolved into giggles due to his younger brother’s antics.

 

“What are you even doing at the water tower…wait what’s up with the blonde wig?” Hero asked.

 

“Oh! I forgot to give that back!” Kel laughed at himself as he removed the wig. It’s no wonder Mikael started yelling at him just as he left. 

 

Not even a moment later, The Maverick suddenly yonked the wig right out of Kel’s grasp. Neither Hero or Kel could get a word in before The Maverick started running away, saying something about reuniting with his true love. 

 

Hero looked back at Kel in pure confusion as the boy just smiled back at him. “Oh don’t mind him, we just got done with a hostage negotiation.”

 

Hero squinted at him, “What do you…actually, I’m just not gonna ask.”

 

Kel let out a laugh, “Yeah! I’m helping Sunny’s new friend Basil get his stuff back from Aubrey's gang.”.

 

Hero’s eyes widened at that. “Aubrey? She became a part of a gang?”

 

“Crazy right?! She’s like a completely different person! She literally hit Sunny on the back with a nail bat! In the middle of a church sermon of all places.” Kel explained.

 

“That doesn’t sound like her at all.” Hero said. His expression became unreadable as he looked down at the ground, processing all the information Kel just dumbed on him.

 

“I know I’ve missed a lot because of college, but I think we should try and get everyone together. Things have changed a lot since before, but I think we should still make an effort to get back together.”

 

Kel smiled softly at Hero’s words. “Yah… that definitely sounds like something Mari would have wanted.”

 

A pinch of sadness crossed Hero’s face for a moment before quickly being covered up. “You know, when I went to Othermart to look for you, the bread twins said that you, Sunny, and some other kid came here, but I didn’t see him here.”

 

“That’s the thing, I honestly have no idea where they went…unless… No! This can’t be!” Kel exclaimed.

 

“Charlene must have taken Sunny and Basil hostage as revenge for taking The Mavericks wig hostage!” Kel deducted. 

 

Hero raised an eyebrow, “That doesn’t sound plausible, like at all—”

 

Kel immediately interrupted him, completely ignoring Hero, “That evil genius, I can’t believe I let this happen!” Kel looked off to the distance only to let out a surprise gasp.

 

“Stranger! Purr fect timing!”

 

The black cat once again sat on the gravel road watching the two brothers. Hero swore he saw the cat roll its eyes before approaching the two. Kel was quick to squat down, giving the stray pats on the head.

 

“Do you know where Sunny and Basil went kitty?” Kel asked. Stranger blinked up at him, before turning and running down the gravel road. 

 

“Awesome! Come on Hero!” Kel grabbed his brother by the wrist, encouraging him to follow.

 

Hero held his ground, looking at Kel with a baffled expression. “Kel, that’s just a cat. I don’t think it’s gonna lead us to Sunny.”

 

“Sure he will! It Stranger, he’s a really smart cat!”

 

Hero looked at his younger brother in deep contemplation. This was starting to feel beyond normal levels of crazy, even for Kel. “Kel, I know I haven’t been around much,” Hero breathed in deeply before continuing, “but have you been drinking? Drugs maybe?” Hero said in a serious tone.

 

“Wah—No! I only drink water and the occasional Orange Joe!” Kel huffed. “Seriously though, I need you to trust me on this. Stranger has lead me and Sunny to where we’ve needed to go before and I’m sure he’s doing it again.”

 

Hero stood silent for a moment. He was used to Kel’s antics from when he was younger and he honestly hadn’t changed much since then. It was jarring to him for Kel to talk about something so absurd in a genuinely serious tone. 

 

Letting out a sigh, Hero decided to trust his brother, even if the idea still felt outlandish to him. “Okay, let’s go.”

 

Kel gave him a determined smile as the two of them chased after the black cat. Hero ran by so many familiar land marks during the chase, each one hitting him with a wave of nostalgia. Hobbeez, Gino’s, the park; he honest didn’t realize how much he missed everything after being stuck in college for so long. 

 

Kel was still in the lead with Hero close behind. The cat led them through the park, disappearing past the tree line. Kel was quick to run into the forest, but came to a quick stop causing Hero to almost ram into him. 

 

“No way! Sunny wasn’t kidding from before!” Kel said in absolute wonder. Confused, Hero looked past Kel to see what his younger brother was talking about. 

 

He was definitely not ready for what he saw.

 

On the path laid a trail of crimson red paw prints the led deeper into the wood. They had a slight glow to them, giving the forest surrounding an iry red tint.

 

There was no way that he was seeing things correctly. No, his dorm mate must have spiked his brownies again or something. Yeah— but, that doesn’t explain how Kel was able to see it too.

 

“…W-What the hell? Has that cat done… this before?” Hero asked, gesturing to the path before them.

 

“He sure has! I couldn’t see it the first time, but Sunny mentioned something like this happening!” Kel said, entirely unphased by the bizarre phenomenon laying right in front of them. 

 

Hero wasn’t even given time to formulate a response before Kel dragged him deeper into the woods. The red trail continued for a bit, seeming to get brighter the further they followed. 

 

Hero somehow grew even more concerned at the situation when he heared yelling up ahead. Kel seemed to have noticed the commotion too, having picked up the pace. 

 

They burst through the tree line, revealing an awfully familiar area. Hero’s eyes widened when he realized that the trail led straight to their old hangout spot. A quick glance around showed how little things had changed in the area. The only glaring difference was the missing picnic blanket and there being a group of teens near the end of a now destroyed pier. 

 

“Quick! Pull her up!”

 

“Holy shit!”

 

“Did that just really happen?”

 

Hero quickly snapped out of his thoughts as he ran up behind the group. He saw the teens pulling a pink-haired girl onto the pier. Only her lower half was wet, seeming to have caught herself before completely falling into the water.

 

The pink haired girl went to stand up, only to stumble back onto her knees. “Ow! Fuck! I think I cut my leg!” She hissed under her breath.

 

“Hold on, let me see.” Hero said as he moved in front of the teens. He moved on instinct, kneeling in front of the girl and inspecting her leg. She had a long laceration on her calf. It looked bad at first glance, but Hero could tell that it wasn’t deep enough to warrant any stitches.

 

“Wait, Hero!?” The pink haired girl exclaimed. Hero’s movement froze for a second, surprised that the random teen recognized him. Kel pushed his way past the hooligans and kneeled down next to him.

 

“Aubrey, where’s Sunny and Basil?” Kel asked, his voice sounding uncharacteristically stern. Hero’s eyes widened. He didn’t realize it before, but the pink haired girl in front of him was none other than Aubrey herself. It was quite jarring just how much she changed over the years. Long gone was the sweet little girl from his memories, now replaced with a hardened teen. 

 

“S-Shit, I think they're still in the water.” Aubrey said, her voice shaking slightly. She immediately tried to stand up again, but Hero was quick to keep her down.

 

“Kel! Help Aubrey, I’m going in after them!” Hero said. He wasted no time, standing up and searching the water. There was no sign of struggling at the water’s surface. The only evidence of someone having fallen in the water was a lone hat floating on its surface. 

 

Silently praying that he wasn’t too late, Hero took a deep breath and dived head first into the murky water. He gritted his teeth so soon as he was submerged. The freezing water made his skin burn from temperature shock. He could hear his heartbeat pound against his ear as he scanned the dark water. 

 

… … There!

 

Floating in the water a little ways deeper were two figures. Hero pushed his way deeper into the water, the depths getting darker and colder the farther he swam. He quickly recognized Sunny through the water. He hadn’t changed all that much in the years he had been gone. He was clinging onto a blonde haired boy who he assumed was Basil.

 

…Neither one of them were moving. 

 

Hero forced himself to move faster, finally reaching the two. For a moment, he saw Sunny’s eye flicker open, before shutting completely again. Hero used both his arms to grab onto the boys, hugging them close to his chest. He was forced to use only his legs to swim up, kicking them against the water faster than he ever had before. His lungs started to burn, have to swim for himself and two other people. He managed to push himself harder, knowing that time was of the essence: That time meant the difference between if the two lived or drowned. 

 

Hero breathed in a gasp of air, having finally breached the surface. Hero forced Sunny and Basil’s head above the water, hoping that he wasn’t too late. It was difficult keeping both their heads above the surface while trying to swim. Neither boy had woken up after finally breaching the surface causing Hero’s worry to double.

 

Was he too late?

 

God please don’t let him be too late. 

 

Kel helped drag the two on land once he was close enough to shore. Hero placed them both in the recovery position, going through the steps in his head on what to do.

 

“Crap, they aren’t awake. They're not dead, right Hero??” Kel said. The stress of the situation seemed to be getting to him. Hero could tell his brother was seconds away from breaking down into tears.

 

Hero placed one hand on Basil and one hand on Sunny. His palms were flat against their chest as he focused on feeling their vitals.

 

…Both of them were breathing…both still had a heartbeat.

 

They were still alive.

 

The other teens gathered around looking stunned and horrified at the scene before them. Aubrey was now standing limply, tears were already cascading down her face as she looked on helplessly.

 

“Th-They will be okay, we just need to move them somewhere s-safer.” Hero said, his teeth chitter slightly from the cold. “Somewhere close and w-warm preferably.” 

 

Weak coughing came from below him. Hero quickly looked down, seeing Sunny slowly open his eyes. 

 

“ H—hi” Sunny muttered under his breath. His breathing quickly devolved back into coughing. Hero turned Sunny onto his side, patting his back. He looked down at Sunny in sympathy, cringing slightly when he coughed up some lake water.

 

“H-Heyo Sunny! You should really consider passing out on me less, ya know?” Kel said, standing over Sunny with a shaky smile.

 

Sunny gave them a small smile, before it quickly turned into a worried frown. Sunny quickly tried to stand up, but Hero kept him down. “Hey, what’s wrong?”

 

“ It-its B-Basil. Where…?” Sunny turned to his other side, seeing the blonde laying next to him. He quickly calmed down at the sight.

 

“Hero said he’d be alright! There’s need to worry!” Kel reassured, patting Sunny on the shoulder. 

 

Hero knew that wasn’t entirely true. They were still at risk of secondary drowning or hypothermia, but it probably wasn’t best to worry then more than they already were. 

 

“Oh! And Vance managed to grab this for you!” 

 

Kel held something in his hand before placing it on Sunny’s head. Hero recognized it as the lonely hat floating in the water. He felt his heart skip a beat when he saw the pink dragonfly pinned to the hat’s brim.

 

…Mari used to wear that pin. Hell, she loved putting cute little pins in her hair. Flowers, gems, butterflies… he would know.

 

He was the one who got her the dragonfly pin in the first place, after all.

 

Sunny picked up the hat, wringing the excess water out of the fabric. He moved his hair out of his face as he placed the old cap on his head. Sunny seemed to notice Hero staring and looked up at him. There was a distant happiness in his eyes, but it was mostly clouded by exhaustion. 

 

Hero let out a shudder. A strong gust of wind blew by, amplifying the coldness against his wet skin. He really needed to get Sunny and Basil somewhere warm and quick.

 

“Alright, Kel I need you to help Sunny. I’m going to pick up Basil so we can move somewhere warm.” Hero instructed. Kel gave Hero a small salute. Hero then turned his attention to Aubrey, “Do you need help to walk? That cut seems pretty painful.”

 

Aubrey bit her lip before responding. “No, I should be fine. I’m just going to send the rest of the hooligans home.”

 

Hero gave her a small nod before turning his attention to the small blonde. The first thing he noticed on the boy was the damp flower pin that sat lamely in his hair. It made him think of Mari again…he quickly shook off the thought.

 

Basil was pretty light, though he weighed more than what Hero thought he would. The blonde was somehow shorter than Sunny, who looked like he didn’t age a day since he was 12. He held him up bridal style, letting his head rest against his shoulder. Basil looked like he was built like a twig, but he could feel a decent amount of muscle on the kid just from picking him up.

 

Kel had picked up Sunny piggyback style by the time he had picked up Basil. The clearing now felt empty with the hooligans other than Aubrey having left.

 

Speaking of, Aubrey approached Hero and Kel. “So, we heading back to the mansion?” She asked.

 

“That’s the plan, unless you know somewhere closer.” Hero said.

 

“B-Basil’s house.” 

 

Hero looked over at Kel. Sunny looked up at him from Kel’s back with half opened eyes. “It’s close. I know where f-from here.” Sunny said weakly.

 

“Alright, point the way Sunny!” Kel said, leading the way down the trail. Hero and Aubrey followed behind silently as they walked back into the eerily quiet forest.

OOO

OOO

 

It wasn’t long until the gang found their way to a lonely driveway within the woods. It led to a small house located in a sunny clearing. Flowers lined every corner of the area, all different colors and sizes. It gave the cottage a very homey feeling. Despite all the plants that grew around the home, it looked well taken care of. 

 

Aubrey opened the fence allowing the brothers to walk through. Kel wasted no time, walking up to the front door. Three loud knocks sounded against the door, courtesy of Kel. 

 

A quiet voice came from behind the door. Polly was the one to greet them at the door, looking at the teens in surprise. She quickly noticed Basil lying unconscious in Hero arms.

 

“What happened?” She asked in concern.

 

“The pier by the lake gave out. Basil and Sunny fell in.” Hero quickly explained. 

 

Polly looked at them with concern, quickly moving aside allowing everyone to come inside. The house looked just as homie on the inside than the outside. Plants and pictures lining every wall, making the small home feel lived in. It was just the same as Sunny remembered.

 

Polly looked over at Hero, “Basil’s bedroom is this way.” she said. Hero nodded as he followed her deeper into the house. Kel put Sunny down. Sunny thanked Kel quietly, getting a small smile in return from the tan boy. He looked over at Aubrey curiously. She was looking down at the floor, seeming lost in thought. The three of them stood awkwardly by the front door, not really knowing what to do with themselves.

 

Movement suddenly caught Sunny’s eye. He looked over to the couch to see none other than Basil’s grandma looking over at him. She slowly stood up and made her way over to the three.

 

“It’s good to see you again, Sunny.” She greeted warmly. Sunny nodded in return. Her eyes wander over to Kel next, “Oh! Is that you Kelsey? You’ve grown so much since I last saw you.”

 

Kel’s eyes seemed to light up in recognition, “Mrs. Hallward!?” He gasped. “Are you Basil’s grandma???” Sunny’s eyes widened at the name, but he remained quiet.

 

“That would be me. It’s nice to see that you remember me. I haven't gone out too often recently. Age hasn’t treated me all that well.” She explained. Her eyes wandered over to Aubrey, “And who might you be, young lady?”

 

“A-Aubrey.” 

 

“Aubrey? Oh! You’re the sweet little girl living in the top section of the mansion with your mom. Quiet the new look you have. I didn’t even recognize you at first.” She giggled softly.

 

“How do you know who I am, or where I live?” Aubrey asked, giving the older lady a weak glare.

 

“Why, I own that mansion the three of you are living in.” Mrs. Hallward answered. “I’m not too surprised that you didn’t remember, let alone recognize me. Haven’t stepped foot inside that house since I started renting it, though I do see your parents every once in a while. Most of our talks just end up being about the rent and repair and all that lame stuff.” Mrs. Hallward reminisced.

 

“Less about me though, it looks like you got yourselves in a bit of trouble huh?” She walked over to the kitchen and pulled out a first aid kit from under the kitchen sink, handing over to Aubrey.

 

“Think you can patch yourself up dear?” 

 

Aubrey nodded, taking the kit from her. Kel moved over to Aubrey, putting his arm around her shoulder. “Don’t worry Mrs. Hallward! I can help Aubrey out with patching herself up!”

 

Aubrey ducked under his arm, punching his shoulder in retaliation. Kel chuckled at her, putting his arms up in surrender. Mrs. Hallward pointed out where the bathroom was for Kel and Aubrey. The two walked off leaving Sunny alone with her.

 

Mrs. Hallwards warm demeanor melted away as soon as Kel and Aubrey were out of sight. Left behind was a tired woman who looked over at Sunny with an unreadable expression. “Follow me Sunny, I wanna ask you about something.” 

 

Sunny followed behind silently, curious on what she wanted with him. Being alone with her actually worked in his favor considering he had questions for her as well. Though, he could help but feel anxious about why she wanted to be alone with him.

 

She led them to the back of the house to the hall. Basil’s bedroom and the bathroom door were both closed on the right side of the hall. He could hear Aubrey and Kel bickering with each other from out here unsurprisingly. 

 

Mrs. Hallward led him to the singular door on the left side of the hall. The one room in the house he hadn’t been in before. 

 

She opened the door revealing a simple room. It was the same size as Basil’s room, but it felt more spacious due to there being less stuff in her room. There were pictures on her wall, though they looked much older than the pictures Basil had. 

 

Mrs. Hallward walked over to her nightstand. There sat a single white flower, a small photo frame, and oddly enough-a small kaleidoscope. They all seemed like important items, being the most noticeable things in the simple room. Sunny continued to observe from the door way, silently waiting for something to happen.

 

Mrs. Hallward picked up the picture frame and slowly sat down on her bed. Sunny watched her carefully, noticing how her movements were stiff, likely due to her age. She looked up from the pictures towards him, patting the spot next to her on the bed.

 

Sunny moved towards her and sat next. The bed was really soft; although, it was almost too soft. Definitely not as good as his bed or even Basil’s bed (6/10). 

 

“I’m sure you’re wondering why I brought you here” Mrs. Hallward started. Sunny looked over at her, giving a small nod.

 

“Well, it’s just your hat reminded me of something. Haven’t seen anyone wear a hat like that in a long time. Made me curious on how you got it.” She said. There was still a sense of warmth in her words, but they were much more careful now. She talked almost like a parent would when setting up to have a serious conversation with their kid.

 

Considering that the hat had her last name on it, it was safe to assume that the hat belonged to her. With that fact in perspective, all it did was create more questions for Sunny. How did it get behind the little door? Had she actively been there, or was brought in by someone else? 

 

Sunny didn’t answer her at first. Instead, he silently took the hat off and handed it to Mrs. Hallward. She took the hat without saying anything, letting it rest in one of her hands. It wasn’t long before she flipped the hat, taking a look at the white tag. Her eyebrows furrowed as she let out a quiet sigh. She handed Sunny the picture frame, letting the boy get a look at the old picture inside.

 

It was a simple black and white photo with two kids. A teenage girl hugging a smaller boy. The boy was wearing the exact same hat Sunny had. He was quick to realize that the girl in the picture was Mrs. Hallward. At closer look, the little boy in the picture actually looked a lot like Basil. The only glaring difference was the boy had freckles and shorter hair that peaked from under the hat.

 

“Is that your brother?” Sunny asked.

 

“Yes, when I saw you with his hat, I couldn’t help but think of him.” She smiled wistfully 

 

“He wore this hat religiously. Barley didn’t go anywhere without it. I’m surprised this hat didn’t stay with him when he…went missing.”

 

“When…when did he go missing?” Sunny asked carefully.

 

“He was only 12 when he disappeared. No one was ever able to find him, no matter how hard we looked. Though, there was something that always bothered me about how he went missing.” She placed the hat in her lap, giving Sunny her full attention.

 

“No matter how hard I tried, I could never remember the moments before he went missing. Whenever I thought about it, all I could think of was that little cubby he liked to hide in.” Sunny perked up at the mention of the door. 

 

“I grew up resenting that house for that reason. I knew my hate and fear of the house was irrational, but I couldn’t help but feel the house was to blame for taking my brother from me.” She said bitterly.

 

“When I inherited the house from my parents, I refused to move back into it. I needed the money though, so I put my feelings for the house aside and rented it out. The first people to rent it were a couple and their young daughter. She was such a sweet little girl…when she also went missing, it was hard to believe.”

 

“With their daughter gone, the couple were quick to leave the mansion. I was forced to go to that mansion again, knowing that another child went missing on the property. One of the first things I noticed was that damn cubby door being wide open. It made me feel horribly bitter looking at it. She loved that cubby just like my brother did and they both went missing, so I blocked the cubby up, brick by brick.” 

 

Mrs. Hallward paused, seeming to become slightly nervous.

 

“Ah, I probably sound like a crazy paranoid huh?” She huffed. 

 

Sunny shook his head quickly. He was interested in what she had to say. Luckily, it was enough to get Mr. Hallward to continue.

 

“For some reason, I thought blocking that cubby would fix things. I don’t know why I felt that way…regardless, I rented that section of the mansion to your family next. I thought it was fine now, your friends’ families had already been living there for a bit without incident.”

 

“But then, your sister…” she trailed off.

 

Mrs. Hallward sat in silence for a bit. Sunny took the moment to soak the information in. Was the house really connected to all the disappearances? Was it just an unlucky coincidences? 

 

Was… Mari’s disappearance truely his fault? It had to be…right? He wouldn’t feel guilty thinking of it if that otherwise.

 

“Why tell me all this now?” Sunny asked. Mr Hallward looked to the floor solemnly before meeting his eye again.

 

“To put it simply, I’m worried…worried that something might happen to you.” She said.

 

“I was really happy to see you with Basil the other day, not just because the boy finally made a friend, but now I knew you wouldn’t be alone. I know how hard your mom works to support you. It worried me knowing you were home alone so often, yet I wasn’t in the position to help with my deteriorating health keeping me home.”

 

A knock on the door interrupted their conversation. Polly peaked her head through the door, “Basil’s awake now. He was asking for you Sunny.”

 

He nodded, handing the photo back to Mrs. Hallward. In return, she gave the hat back to him which he didn’t expect. He didn’t take the hat back immediately, looking at her curiously.

 

“You can keep the hat. I’m not going to be using it anyhow. Plus, I think you look handsome with it.” She said.

 

Sunny blushed slightly at the compliment, taking the hat back from her. He silently followed Polly out of the room and towards Basil’s room.

 

Hero walked out of Basil's room, giving Sunny a small smile before going to the bathroom where Kel and Aubrey were. Sunny pushed open the door.

 

Basil sat at the foot of his bed. He was no longer wearing his raincoat and was instead wearing a pair of baggy pajamas. His hair was dry now, but kinda frizzled. He looked really tired. 

 

Basil heard him walk in. He seemed to perk up instantly at the sight of Sunny.

 

“S-Sunny! You're okay!” Basil greeted happily. Sunny walked over and sat next to him. The bed gave way under his weight, causing Basil to accidentally bump his shoulder.

 

“Ah, um, I-I remember how you tried to save me.” Basil started. 

 

Sunny nodded, “it was more like Hero saving both of us…”

 

“Well, I-I don’t see it that way.” Basil smiled.

 

Sunny smiled back, “We should learn how to swim together sometime.”

 

Basil giggled at the comment, pink dusting his cheeks. “Yeah! We should sometime… but there’s something I want to ask you.”

 

Basil paused for a moment, seeming nervous. Sunny waited patiently, leaning closer to the blonde.

 

“D-Did you see something in the water with us? N-Not just the broken pier, but something down in the depths?” Basil asked quietly. Sunny bit his lip, thinking of a response.

 

“Did it look like a giant shadow with bright white eyes?” 

 

“Yeah, did you see it too?”

 

Sunny nodded, “Was that the first time you saw something like that?”

 

“N-no, I saw something similar w-when you fought the hooligans. I-I thought I was just seeing things, but after seeing it again…I wasn’t so sure anymore.”

 

“I thought they were hallucinations too, but I don’t think they are anymore. I’ve seen four Something’s so far. Stranger led me to three of them.”

 

“Y-You don’t think Stranger’s behind their appearance, do you?” Basil whispered.

 

“I don’t know, but I plan on looking for answers tonight if you want to join me.”

 

“Uh, s-sure! What do you even plan on doing though?”

 

“We can have a sleepover at my house. Then we can start investigating from there. The first Something came from the small door, so we can start there.”

 

“S-So that’s why you were afraid of it before!” Basil exclaimed. 

 

Even though that wasn’t entirely true, Sunny nodded at his comment. He feared that door for years, Something just solidified his fear.

 

The door suddenly creaked, bringing their conversation to a stop. Aubrey peaked her head through, “Hey…we’re all out in the living room. We’re gonna talk about what to do next.” She said softly. 

 

Basil kept staring at her with wide eyes, like a deer caught in headlights. Sunny nudged him, causing Basil to flinch. It was enough to snap him out of his stupor as he gave her a shaky smile.

 

“W-We’re c-coming!” Basil stuttered. They both stood up from the bed and followed Aubrey out to the living room. Polly was in the kitchen cleaning some dishes while Kel and Hero sat on the couch.

 

“There you guys are! Glad to see you are all alright.” Kel said. He spread out comfortably on the couch, giving the three a big smile. Aubrey rolled her eyes.

 

Hero chuckled at her reaction, “This definitely isn’t how I thought my return to Faraway would turn out.” 

 

“It’s definitely been a chaotic few days! Ever since Sunny came out finally, it’s been nonstop!” Kel said.

 

“Well, I’m glad you finally came out again Sunny. It’s really nice to have everyone here again like this.” Hero said. He gave Sunny his iconic Hero-charming smile. 

 

“Alright, that’s enough of the sappy reunion.” Aubrey cut in. “Now that Basil is awake, we should go back to the mansion so I can get his pictures and finally have him tell me how he knows Mari.” Hero sat up straight at the mention of Mari. 

 

He looked over at Basil in surprise, “You knew Mari?”

 

“Um y-yeah. I-I promised Aubrey I’d tell her how we met.” Basil stuttered. He messed with his shirt nervously, not being able to meet Hero’s eyes.

 

Kel suddenly let out a dramatic gasp, “Guys! What if we all had a sleepover at Sunny’s! Just like old times.” 

 

Everyone perked up at the idea. It was definitely one of Kel’s better ideas. Sunny had already planned to have a sleepover with Basil, so it worked in his favor. At the same time, it could also be a problem. He was just planning to show Basil the little door considering he knew he was seeing the same things as Sunny. He wasn’t sure if he should let the others get involved considering Kel wasn’t able to see some of the things he did when he mentioned them before saving Basil from the hooligans. Regardless, he was still curious on how Basil knew his sister. Maybe he knew something that led up to her disappearance, something he was missing. Sneaking to the door with Basil during the sleepover shouldn’t be too hard.

 

Sunny nodded in agreement to Kel’s idea. Luckily, everyone else also seemed on board with the idea.

 

“I’m down for that. I need to get home anyways, I haven’t even unpacked my stuff from college.” Hero said. 

 

“I have to go to my room to get the pictures too anyways.” Aubrey added. “We all meet at Sunny’s once we’re done.”

 

With no contesting, everyone got ready to leave. Polly seemed to notice from the kitchen walking over to them, “Leaving so soon?”

 

Kel was the first to respond, “We’re all going to Sunny’s for a sleepover!” He said enthusiastically.

 

“Alright, try not to overdo it though. You guys have already had an event. I’d like to have Basil come home without bruises or being half-drowned for once.” Polly joked. Basil playfully stuck his tongue out at her from behind Sunny. Polly just laughed at his reaction. “Try not to have too much fun!”

 

“Of course, thanks for everything.” Hero waved goodbye, leading the others out of the house. Sunny let out a quiet sigh. After everything, it was finally time to go home.

 

Mission Complete

Successfully retrieve Basil’s Camera and Photos

 

…..

….

…

..

.

It had been a quiet Autumn day when he first saw her. Grandma hadn’t been feeling too great that day, so Basil had to set off to get some fertilizer alone today. Grandma didn’t want him to go into town alone though, but he knew he could handle himself! He needed to move some of the plants inside with massive rain showers risking to drown some of the early spring sprouts. She wouldn’t be happy to hear that he snuck out while she was resting, so he had to be quick. If she asks about the fertilizer, he could just say that he found some in the old shed out back.

 

Sneaking out was easy. Sneaking back on the other hand… is proving to be more of a challenge than he thought. 

 

Grandma always just drove them both to Othermart whenever they needed anything. The walk there and back wasn’t that far, but it was rather difficult when carrying a giant bag of fertilizer.

 

Basil was once again hunched over in the forest, taking a break from carrying the fertilizer. He was completely out of breath. It felt like his lungs couldn’t get enough oxygen and his arms felt like jello. He could carry the fertilizer for less and less time with every break he took. 

 

At the pace he was going, Grandma would be awake and see he was missing! He couldn’t let his Grandma down like that. He needed to prove to himself that he could do this. 

 

Gathering his strength, he once again lifted the fertilizer off the ground. His arms immediately burned in protest, but he fought through it and started to move forward again.

 

He was cutting through the woods connected to the playground. Basil had found a small hidden path that connected the playground to his house. A path only he knew about.

 

…well, so he thought.

 

“Oh, Hello!” 

 

Basil let out a shout at the sudden voice. He turned around quickly to face the stranger, but with the added weight of the fertilizer, he ended up losing his balance. He panicked as he felt himself fall backwards before suddenly being caught.

 

“Sorry! I didn’t mean to scare you.” A young, female voice said. He was pulled forward, finally being able to regain his balance. Basil looked up timidly, finally meeting the girl’s eyes.

 

She was definitely older than him, but not old enough to be an adult. She had long black hair with a pink flower clip pinning her hair back. She was smiling softly at him, appearing friendly enough. 

 

“I don’t think I’ve seen you around before. What’s your name?” She asked him.

 

Basil gulped as he took a step back. He hadn’t interacted with anyone here yet, being too intimidated to try and make friends due to all his failed attempts when he used to live with his parents. The girl seemed nice, but most people do until you get to know them.

 

Regardless, he couldn’t just not say anything. She did save him from face-planting, so the least he could do is say his name.

 

“B-Basil” he stuttered out quietly.

 

“Like the plant? That’s quite the unique name you have. My name is Mari.” She said. 

 

“W-Well, you have a un-unique name too. I-I’ve never heard of anyone named Mari before.” Basil replied. 

 

“I guess you’re right. Funny how a name feels less unique when it’s yours.” She hummed. 

 

Being distracted by the conversation, Basil didn’t even notice that he was losing grip of the fertilizer bag. He wasn’t able to regain his grip before the fertilizer fell to the ground. There was a soft thunk leaving the fertilizer slumped against the forest floor. 

 

“Sh-Shoot, sorry.” Basil stuttered. He quickly leaned down to pick it back up again. He lifted the bag awkwardly in his haste, only causing him to drop it once again. 

 

“Need a little help?” Mari asked kindly. Basil didn’t get a chance to respond before she was already lifting up the fertilizer for him.

 

“Uh, thank y-you! B-But you don’t h-have to!” Basil looked up at her nervously. 

 

“I don’t mind really. So where do you need this?” Mari shook the fertilizer bag slightly. It’s shocked Basil how the weight of the bag didn’t even faze her. He felt bad that she had to help him, but he knew he needed to get home quicker. A random girl was offering to help him. Who was he to refuse?

 

“M-My house is j-just ahead.” Basil turned back towards the path and silently led the way back home. The trek down the path was surprisingly peaceful. It was slightly off putting to hear another pair of footsteps behind him instead of just his own, but he was quick to grow used to it. It was weird in a nice way. He wasn’t alone in the woods and it was a good thing. Basil also noticed Mari humming to herself quietly. He didn’t voice it outloud, but he thought her voice was really pretty.

 

“Woah, is this where you live?” Mari said from behind him. Basil looked up from the forest floor and saw that they had already arrived back home.

 

“Yeah, I live here with my grandma.”

 

“Wait! Is your grandma Mrs. Hallward?!”

 

“Uh, y-yeah that’s her…d-do you know her?”

 

“Yup! I live at Neighbor’s Home! I see her sometimes when she meets with my parents.” Mari explained. Basil led her over to the side of the house by the kitchen window. He peaked in and saw that grandma was still asleep on the couch. He let out a sigh as he looked over to Mari.

 

“Let’s t-take the fertilizer to my backyard.” Basil said. Mari nodded as she followed him to the back. The majority of his grandma’s garden and flowers were back here. Most of them were fine to leave outside since they came back every year even if they died during the winter. 

 

This wasn’t true for all of them though. Some of the more rare and exotic flowers in grandma’s collection couldn’t handle the cold and needed extra care to keep from dying. 

 

“Holy—that’s a lot of flowers!” Mari said in complete awe. “Did you grow these?”

 

“Most are my grandmas, but some are mine. I-I help take care of them.” Basil explained. “I-I know that l-liking flowers is k-kinda girly.” he added quietly.

 

“It doesn't matter if it's girly or not! I think it's a cool hobby. I’m kinda jealous, I’d love to have a garden like this.” Mari laughed softly. “I don't exactly have a green thumb like you.”

 

Basil felt his face blush in embarrassment. He was not used to being complimented for his choice in hobbies. Almost everyone from the city teased him for liking flowers. It didn’t help that he would accidentally go on long tangents about flowers and plants he liked. It made him come off as annoying and weird so he became more careful about what he said to others.

 

Mari suddenly perked up, “Oh! Basil, do you know how to make flower crowns?” she asked. Basil looked back up at her curiously.

 

“N-No?” 

 

Mari smirked as she looked towards his flowers, “Then let me teach you how…”

 

.

..

…

….

…..

 

“It wasn’t long after that when my grandma took this picture.” Basil finished, raising one of the pictures. It was a faded portrait of Mari and Basil sitting together in the grass. They were both weaving flowers together. Both had big smiles on their faces.

 

“I took the camera back from her after that. Mari asked me about the camera, so we took some more pictures together.” Basil pointed to all the other pictures…all except one. 

 

Everyone was looking at the photo. It was different from all the others since it wasn’t a picture of Mari.

 

It was a picture of Sunny.

 

Basil wordlessly picked up the picture. The room fell into silence as everyone waited for an explanation. 

 

Everyone sat in a circle in Sunny’s living room. Basil’s photo album sat in the center with all the photos Aubrey stole scattered between them. Pillows and blankets littered the floor with everyone in pajamas.

 

Sunny sat next to Basil as the blonde looked at the picture. It was a picture of him holding his violin, eyes closed with a peaceful look on his face. Sunny could tell the picture was taken inside his house from the wall paper behind him. He doesn’t even know how Basil even got this picture of him. He hadn’t even met him until a couple of days ago, so how could he have gotten it?

 

“I-I didn’t take the p-picture.” Basil said. Sunny’s eyes widened a bit, realizing he said some of that outloud. 

 

“Me and Mari exchanged items that d-day before she left. She gave me her flower pin and I let her b-borrow my camera with the promise to trade items back next time she came over. When she did return my camera, she gave me that picture and let me keep her flower pin saying it looked like I needed it more to keep my hair out of my face while I garden. She had more pictures, but she kept them to herself. T-That was actually the day she invited me to the resital. She wanted to introduce me to you guys, but when I went to her house that day…”

 

Basil trailed off. He looked at the ground nervously as he bit his lip. The mood of the room turned somber. Everyone already knew what happened next, leaving his words unspoken. 

 

Hero was the first to snap out of it, “You said Mari took other pictures?” He asked.

 

Basil nodded his head silently. Aubrey eyebrows furrowed before looking over at Sunny. “Have you ever seen those pictures?” 

 

Sunny thought for a second before shaking his head. “Not that I remember. All her stuff is still in our room though.” 

 

“Great,” Aubrey said while sitting up, “let go look for them then.”

 

“W-wait, should w-we really be looking through h-her stuff l-like that?” Basil stuttered out nervously.

 

“What? Afraid she’ll haunt you if you good through her things?” Aubrey teased. Basil shrank into himself at the comment, failing to respond. 

 

Hero, being the peacekeeper he is, was quick to step in. “Guys, what if we just—

 

A loud snore cut Hero off as everyone looked at the source of the noise. Kel had completely out cold while still sitting upright somehow. Looking at the time, Sunny understood why considering it was almost midnight.

 

Hero let out a sigh before continuing. “How about we save it for tomorrow. I think we all need the rest after today.” 

 

Everyone seemed to be in agreement as the room fell into a comfortable silence. Everyone got ready for bed while Hero laid Kel in a more comfortable position. A small mercy from the inevitabile neck pain that would come if he slept up right the whole night.

 

Sunny laid down against his makeshift bed on the ground. It definitely wasn’t the comfiest, but sleepovers always made mediocre beds feel like 10/10 regardless. 

 

He pulled Omori from under the blankets towards his upper body. He hugged the plush with one arm as he stared up at the ceiling idly. Soft breathing came from everyone in the room as they all slowly fell asleep. It wasn’t long until he was sure he was the only one awake.

 

Sunny turned his head over to where Basil was sleeping. The blonde was facing towards him, sound asleep like everyone else in the room. He looked peaceful at that moment. There wasn’t a single sign of worry to be found on his face.

 

Sunny let his eyes close as exhaustion pulled him to sleep. He wasn’t worried about sleeping through the whole night. Omori never once failed to wake him up every night since first overcoming his fear of the little door. 

 

Even with sleep slowly claiming him, Sunny knew that the day was just beginning.

 

 

 

Notes:

Shit goes down next chapter. Its either going to be one big chapter or two different ones based on how long it takes me to get it done. Hope you enjoyed it :D

Hold up, I just had an idea for all the AU ideas I've been having. I think I'll make a separate post that just has a one shot of different AUs I'd be willing to write more on. I can have people vote in the comments for the one they like the most and I'll make a full blown story of it then instead of having people vote here with only an AU idea without any content with it. Still would like to hear your thoughts though, reading comments makes me happy :)

Anyways, have a wonderful day!!!

Chapter 7: Thalassophobia (3-3)

Summary:

Sunny and Basil search for answer.

Notes:

I was gone for a while but I'm alive now. College and a part time job has completely destroyed my free time and social life but I'm still hanging in there. Updates will still be slow though :(
Uhhh, thanks for the unholy amount of kudos and hits from last time I check and shout out to anyone who commented you are da best <3

 

  OOO

 

 

 

 

 

OOO

 

 

Creak…

 

Sunny peaked his eyes open. At first he was confused. He didn’t immediately recognize where he was. He was used to waking up in his bed, so it was odd to wake up to the living room instead. 

 

Sunny sat up and looked around the room. He let his eyes adjust to the dark as he quietly stretched. He saw that everyone was still where he last saw them, all fast asleep.

 

No wait, Kel somehow ended up on the other side of the room. It wasn’t unusual for Kel to move so much while he was sleeping but it was still impressive that he can even stay asleep when lying in what looked like a very uncomfortable position. 

 

Sunny tossed his blanket aside. He shivered as the warmth from his blanket left him. Looking down, he wasn’t surprised to see that Omori was missing once again. Sunny did a second look around the room to see if he could spot the doll. He frowned when he saw no sign of him. 

 

He also noticed that the key was missing around his necklace. He has never locked the little door before so he probably won’t need it but it’s still inconvenient nonetheless.

 

Sunny suddenly saw some movement to the left of him. He looked over and saw Basil slowly sitting up from under the blankets. Basil rubbed at his eyes sleepily before looking up at him. 

 

“Hmm, Sunny?” Basil mumbled. Sunny put a finger up to his mouth, signaling Basil to keep quiet. Basil seemed to realize that everyone else was still asleep and went quiet. 

 

Dead silence permeated the air. Basil looked up at Sunny expectantly, waiting for him to say something. 

 

Tonight was the night that they were finally going to look for answers for all the weird things happening here in the mansion. Basil was going to be filled in on everything he has found so far and hopefully together they can find out more. Sunny was really hoping to find Stranger again when they went through the door. Maybe he can get the cat to be less cryptic this time.

 

The silence was interrupted by a sound coming from the hallway. The unmistakable sound of footsteps sounded from the pitch black hall. The sound got quieter as the steps went deeper into the hall before disappearing entirely.

 

Sunny felt something warm wrap around his hand. He looked back towards Basil and saw that he had grabbed it. He looked scared, staring down the hallway with an uncertain fear. Sunny gently squeezed Basil’s hand. He squeezed back in response.

 

With Basil having relaxed slightly, Sunny stood up from his makeshift bed. He gently pulled the blonde up as well. 

 

“ Ready ?” Sunny whispered. Basil looked back up at him with wide eyes.

 

“ A-Are you s-sure we should be doing th-this? What if it’s a-actually an intruder or s-something dangerous?” Basil stuttered back. 

 

“Don’t worry. Stuff like this has been happening almost every night for the past couple of days. Besides,” Sunny reached into his pocket and pulled out the can of pepper spray he found the other day, “ we can defend ourselves if we need to.” 

 

Basil stared at the small can for a moment. He relaxed a little before responding with a quiet okay . Sunny gave him a small smile before putting the pepper spray back in his pocket. He was pretty sure the footsteps were from Omori so he wasn’t too worried, but he can understand why Basil would be scared. 

 

Sunny led the way as he slowly walked towards the lounge. He could just barely make out his and Basil’s reflection in the mirror at the very end of the hall. Both of them had messy bed-heads and baggy sweatpants for pajamas. Sunny still had his sweater on while Basil just wore a plain t-shirt. 

 

Sunny walked into the room and came to a stop almost immediately. The small door was partially open with pale neon blue and purple light peeking from around its frame. He could still see the key sticking out of the lock. Its single white eye glowed against the dark room as it seemed to stare at them. 

 

“S-Sunny, h-has the door d-done that before?” Basil asked from behind him. He looked towards the blonde before nodding.

 

“D-Do you know what's on the o-other side?” He whispered. 

 

Sunny nodded again, bringing Basil closer to the door. He kneeled down and opened the small door entirely revealing the rainbow tunnel. Basil let out a quiet gasp as he kneeled down next to him.

 

“Woah…” Basil said under his breath. Sunny looked over to him. He could see the absolute wonder in his eyes as he looked down through the door. No trace of fear remained on his face now replaced with curiosity and awe.

 

“On the other side,” Sunny started getting Basil’s attention, “it’s like here but better. Everything is more colorful and fun. I thought it was a dream at first, but changes that happened there happened here as well. Like my back getting healed and my nails getting painted.”

 

Basil hummed in thought, “Didn’t you say that a younger version of Aubrey painted your nails?”

 

“Yeah, there are different versions of everyone, but they are all younger and have button eyes. Oh, and Stranger could talk when I found him,  but he said a lot of… cryptic stuff.” Sunny explained. 

 

“Button eyes? So are they like animated dolls?”

 

“Maybe? I’m not sure…” Sunny took a second to think about the question before remembering something. “Actually the other version of you got hurt last time I was there. His face cracked like it was made of porcelain and it leaked watermelon juice.”

 

Basil tilted his head in response, “that’s… uh kinda random? Was he alright?”

 

Sunny shrugged, “He seemed alright, but we can ask when we get there.”

 

Sunny moved his gaze back towards the rainbow tunnel. The door on the other end was already cracked open, but not enough to reveal anything on the other side.

 

“It'll probably be easier to show you rather than explain everything.” Sunny reasoned. He didn’t wait for a response from Basil before entering the rainbow tunnel.

 

The plush walls dipped under his weight as he crawled forward. He felt the tunnel shift as Basil entered just behind him. The crawl forward felt much shorter than he remembered as they were quick to make it to the other side.

 

He pushed the door all the way open and crawled through. The shiny hardwood floor was cold under his hands and feet as he pushed himself up from the ground. The room looked the same as before. Still colorful and whimsical like last time. Though he did see something that stuck out to him.

 

“Omori.” Sunny muttered.

 

He could see his jet black hair peeking from behind the couch. The boy turned around and looked at him passively. Omori silently made his way around the couch and stood in front of him. The boy looked at him for a moment before his attention was suddenly diverted to behind him.

 

Basil crawled out of the tunnel behind him, “Omori? What do you mean—

 

Basil cut himself off as he saw the pale boy. His jaw dropped as he quickly got back onto his feet. 

 

“Y-You didn’t mention that your doll c-could come to life here!” 

 

Sunny just shrugged in response. There were a lot of things here he can’t really explain. Omori’s presence was always kind of a mystery in itself. He always stuck out in this place, not fitting in with the whimsical world around him. An oddity among oddities.

 

Omori cautiously walked up to the pair. He squinted his eyes warily at Basil at first, but the suspicion in his face was quick to disappear. Omori raised his hand and gave a small wave to Basil.

 

“Oh, H-Hello.” Basil waved back. Omori continued to stare at him with a stoic face. Basil’s hand flopped to his side awkwardly.

 

“Uhh not much of a t-talker huh?” Basil muttered. He smiled shakily as Omori continued his silent stare down at the blonde. His gaze seemed to unnerve Basil, but his nervousness was quickly replaced with curiosity. 

 

“Hey, Sunny.” Basil turned towards Sunny. “Didn’t you say everyone here has button eyes?” He questioned. 

 

“Almost everyone does from what I’ve seen. Before you came, it was just me, Omori, and Stranger that didn’t have any button eyes here.” Sunny responded.

 

“Maybe it's because he’s from our side of the door?” Basil wondered out loud.

 

The idea definitely seemed plausible. He never really thought about the reasons why Omori could just come to life here. Not only that, but he was capable of moving around on the other side of the door as well. Was that unique to Omori? Or did this place affect anything brought into it? Maybe it could be possible to bring another doll here and see if it came to life like Omori.

 

Footsteps suddenly came from the hallways rushing towards. Everyone’s attention was diverted to the entrance to the room. 

 

“You guys are finally here!”

 

Aubrey stood at the entrance to the room. Her button eyes shined brightly in the colorful room as she looked at them happily. She skipped forward joyfully and hugged Omori from behind. Omori didn’t even finch at Aubrey’s sudden hug. He didn’t try to escape and merely watched the girl with a blank face. 

 

“W-Who is she?” Basil asked Sunny quietly.

 

“That’s Aubrey.” He responded.

 

Basil’s eyes widened at the response. “Really? She looks so d-different here.”

 

Their conversation seemed to catch Aubrey’s attention as her hug with Omori came to an end. Her button eyes met Basil’s as she tilted her head curiously.

 

“Are you a friend of Sunny and Omori? That flower in your hair is really cute!” She asked.

 

“Oh, um t-thanks…” Basil trailed off shyly, his hand reaching up towards his flower clip.

 

“My names Aubrey! What’s yours?”

 

“M-My names Basil.” 

 

“Oh! Mari mentioned that you would be coming to visit soon with Sunny!” Aubrey said with an unnaturally big smile.

 

What? Sunny thought to himself in surprise. He never mentioned his plan of being Basil here. She shouldn’t know about this, yet she does. Basil was also shocked by her words, though not for the same reasons.

 

“M-Mari’s here?” Basil muttered under his breath. His eyes widened as he looked over to Sunny for answers.

 

“Not our Mari. She’s still…missing.” Sunny explained. 

 

“O-Oh! S-Sorry, for a second I thought maybe…” Basil trailed off, looking down at the floor nervously. An awkward moment of silence passed between the two before it was quickly interrupted by Aubrey. 

 

“Hey! Why do you guys look so gloomy all of the sudden? Don’t you guys remember what’s happening today?” Aubrey asked with excitement.

 

Both Sunny and Basil looked up at the girl. Neither had an answer for Aubrey causing her to huff in annoyance. 

 

“It’s Sweetheart’s giant ball tonight! I can’t believe you forgot about it when it was advertised everywhere at the Otherworld amusement park.” Aubrey said. Her cheeks were puffed up from her frustration. 

 

“Oh, I must have overlooked them.” Sunny said. He had to try twice as hard to keep a straight face in front of Aubrey. She was trying to look intimidating but she just looked like an angry kitten. A drastic difference from her real world counterpart.

 

Aubrey seemed to accept the answer before suddenly going back to being excited. “Oh! Before I forget, Mari wanted to see you two!” She looked towards him and Basil before looking over to Omori.

 

“You can come with me Omori! We can get ready for the ball together. We can even get matching dresses!” Aubrey said happily. She didn’t wait for a response before grabbing Omori’s hand and walking off. Omori didn’t seem too happy with the idea and tried to drag his feet against the ground, but that didn’t deter Aubrey at all. Omori looked back at him and Basil in silent desperation as he was dragged away. 

 

Basil and Sunny were left alone in the room. A moment of silence passed as Sunny silently wished Omori luck against whatever Aubrey had in store for him. 

 

He looked over at Basil who had his attention on the portrait above the fireplace. Sunny followed his eyes and looked at the large picture. 

 

Sunny’s eyes widened as he noticed how different the portrait looked from when he first came here. The other Basil was completely gone from the picture, instead being replaced with the real Basil but if he had button eyes. Not only that, but Omori was completely missing from the portrait now.

 

The random change was definitely starting to put him on edge. 

 

“Hey Sunny?” Basil suddenly cut in. Sunny looked away from the photos towards him.

 

“Didn’t you say that the other me had green hair?” He asked in confusion. Sunny nodded, turning his attention to the door.

 

“We should probably go see Mari. Maybe we will run into the other Basil.” Sunny said. She was probably the best person here to go to for answers. Plus, she wanted to see them anyway.

 

“Oh, okay. Lead the way.” Basil said. He made one last glance back at the picture before following Sunny towards the hallway.

 

The layout of the mansion here was the exact same as the mansion back home. The main differences were just the differing decoration and level of upkeep. Not a speck of dust could be spotted here while the mansion back home couldn’t get enough of it.

 

Basil couldn’t help but look all around him as Sunny led him towards where the kitchen should be. There were so many random things that kept catching his eye. Like the big snake just sitting above the entrance and a random tentacle poking out of the floor where the coat hanger would normally be. 

 

He noticed that Sunny had gotten ahead of him while he was looking around. Basil sped walked his way towards the kitchen spotting Sunny almost immediately.

 

Sunny’s back was turned to him. Basil walked up to stand beside him when a voice made him freeze in place. 

 

“Oh Sunny! You finally brought Basil along with you! I was wondering if you were ever going to let us meet him.” A vaguely familiar voice cheered.

 

Mari(?) stood in front of him and Sunny. She had a soft smile on her face with her button eyes looking right at him.

 

He wasn’t sure how he would feel about seeing the other Mari for the first time. He thought he would feel happy? Sad maybe? He wasn’t sure but he didn’t guess what he was feeling now.

 

He felt unnerved by the sight of her. She looked almost exactly how he remembered except for the eyes and the purple hair. And her smile, it just didn’t look right. There was a word that grandma used to describe this feeling… uncanny valley or something like that.

 

“There is no need to be shy!” Mari giggled. She turned around and grabbed one of the plates on the kitchen counter. Freshly cut watermelon slices sat on top of it.

 

“Here, why don’t you try one?” Mari held out the plate in front of her. Basil hesitantly grabbed a slice from the plate. He took a small bite and was instantly hit with its sweet flavor. He has never had a watermelon taste this strong. Basil couldn’t help but melt at the taste, letting out a content hum.

 

Sunny, on the other hand, didn’t reach for a watermelon. He continued to watch Mari stoically, before finally asking something.

 

“The other Basil, is he okay?” Sunny finally asked. Mari looked at him curiously before tilting her head in confusion.

 

“Basil? Of course he is fine! He is right next to you after all!” Mari answered.

 

Sunny frowned at that. Was she messing with him? Or was she genuinely confused? 

 

“No I’m talking about this place’s Basil, not— mmf!”

 

Sunny was cut off by Mari putting a piece of watermelon in his mouth. Sunny glared at her, but chewed the watermelon anyways.

 

“The only thing you need to be worried about is what you are going to wear for the ball!” Mari said. She put the watermelon plate down and put a hand on both of their shoulders.

 

“There is plenty to choose from upstairs. Omori and Aubrey should be finishing up now.” Mari explained as she led them up some rainbow stairs. The upstairs was a single colorful hallway with three different doors. Mari led them towards the pink door on the left. 

 

The door opened in front of them revealing a dressed up Omori and Aubrey. Sunny was surprised to see that Omori’s face wasn’t smothered in makeup after being dragged off by the younger Aubrey like that. She even let him wear a tux instead of a dress like hers. 

 

“Aww~ you two look amazing!” Mari swooned. Aubrey smiled happily while Omori seemed to ignore her in favor of standing next to Sunny.

 

“Thanks Mari! I bet your dress is going to look amazing also.” Aubrey did a little twirl making the pink fabric of her dress flow majestically. Her dress was all different shades of pink with a large magenta bow around her waist. 

 

Omori just wore a simple black and white tux. The only thing that stood out was the pink bow he wore on his collar. 

 

Sunny felt a gentle nudge come from Mari, encouraging him to move forward into the dressing room. Basil was also nudged forward while Omori grabbed onto his sweater sleeve and followed along.

 

In his version of the mansion, this room would lead to his mother’s plain and empty room. That is definitely not the case in this world.

 

The room looked like a dressing room for a famous actor. There were giant mirrors with fancy and colorful lights. Props and other outfits lined the walls with different shoes sitting underneath them. There were even mannequins wearing an array of outfits. The room should have felt crowded with how much stuff there was, but it was all neat and organized making the room feel spacious.

 

Mari walked ahead of him and Basil. She stopped in front of a rack full of different suits before grabbing two different ones.

 

“I think you two would look amazing in these.” Mari held out both the suits in front of them.

 

Both the suits were the same style with the main differences being the color. The undershirt for both was the same color of pink while one had a white suit and the other was black. Sunny reached out and grabbed the black one while Basil grabbed the white one.

 

“You guys can pick whatever accessories you want for your outfit.” Mari said before grabbing a light purple dress of her own. She went to walk out of the room but stopped in her tracks and quickly turned around. “Oh! And don’t forget that the ball is ocean-sunset themed.” She closed the door behind her leaving the three alone in the dressing room.

 

An awkward silence filled the air for a moment. Sunny stared at his suit, running his fingers against the fancy fabric. He looked up when he heard Basil shuffle farther into the room. More specifically, towards a shelf that hung several different tie designs. 

 

“Uh, h-have you ever been to a ball before?” Basil asked as he pulled one of the colorful ties from the shelf.

 

“No. Have you?” Sunny replied, walking up to the shelf next to Basil.

 

“Nope, but they are just fancy dances right?” 

 

“I think so…I’m not really sure though.” 

 

Sunny took a closer look at all the ties. It felt like there was a tie for everything on the shelf; from fancy and simple to complex and silly.

 

“Hey Sunny, look at these.” Basil said.

 

Sunny looked up only to see Basil wearing a giant pair of star shaped glasses. Caught completely off guard, Sunny couldn’t help but giggle at the silly appearance of the blonde.

 

“Hehe, I actually managed to make you laugh.” Basil smiled teasingly. Sunny stuck his tongue in out in response which only caused Basil to laugh more.

 

Basil put the glasses to the side and went back to looking through the ties. Sunny did the same and it wasn’t long before he found something that caught his eye.

 

He pulled out two matching ties from the pile. Both ties were orange with one having embroidered green and gold flowers and vines and the other having purple and gold clouds.

 

Sunny tapped Basil’s arm and handed him the orange and green tie. 

 

“Wow, this is pretty.” Basil said as he inspected the tie. He tilted the tie at different angles making the gold lines shimmer under the room's light.

 

Sunny placed his own tie on top of his suit. He looked around the room, looking for a place to change. He noticed that there were dividers on the other side of the room. 

 

Sunny turned to tell Basil, but was stopped when he felt a tug on his sweater. Sunny looked over and noticed Omori was holding something out for him. 

 

In his hand were two flower pins. One white tulip and one with a sunflower. Omori placed them into his hand.

 

Sunny turned towards Basil, getting the blonde’s attention. Basil looked at him curiously as he handed him the sunflower. “Look what Omori found for us.”

 

Basil’s eyes widened, “I love sunflowers!” He looked past Sunny towards Omori. “Thanks a lot for the pins.” Omori nodded before leaving to sit in one of the chairs against the wall. 

 

With everything they needed, it was finally time to change clothes. Sunny moved behind one of the dividers and changed while Basil went behind to a different divider. Sunny was surprised to find that the clothes were actually really comfy. They fit perfectly, unlike the suit he wore to Mari’s funeral…

 

Sunny rubbed his head, feeling what felt like the start of a headache. He jumped when he felt a light tap on his shoulder.

 

He turned around and saw that Omori was behind him. The boy had walked past the divider while he was lost in thought instead of waiting for him. 

 

“…why didn’t you just wait for me to finish changing?” He asked Omori. He looked up at him innocently and grabbed his hand.

 

“You could have walked in on me naked. You don’t want to see that.” Sunny told the smaller boy.

 

Omori pointed to his eye and then gestured to all of Sunny. It took Sunny a second to figure out what Omori was trying to say. When the realization struck, his face heated up in embarrassment.

 

He has changed in front of Omori in his doll form multiple times over the past three years. Omori has no doubt seen just about everything. Sunny didn’t even think about the experience his doll had gone through translating directly to here. 

 

Omori doesn’t seem bothered at all by it but Sunny definitely felt a little awkward. At least the ache in his head had faded by the time the interaction ended.

 

Basil’s shadow appeared on the other side of the divider. “Are y-you finished changing Sunny?”

 

“Yeah.” Sunny walked past the divider with Omori. Basil stood in the middle of the room wearing his white suit. He was fidgeting with the buttons when he turned around to face them.

 

Sunny couldn’t help but stare at the blonde in his new suit. It looked really good on him with the white, pink, and orange contrasting perfectly with each other. The pink flower in his hair even matched what he was wearing along with the floral sunflower pin on his suit pocket. 

 

“I-I look silly, don’t I?” Basil said as he slumped into himself. Sunny blinked at the comment before shaking his head.

 

“No, I think you look handsome.” Sunny responded. Basil blushed at the comment.

 

“I probably don’t look as good as you.” Basil said under his breath.

 

Sunny smiled at his words. He wasn’t able to respond as a knock on the door caught their attention.

 

“You two almost done in there? It's almost time to go to the ball!” The voice of Hero came from the other side of the door.

 

Sunny walked over to the door revealing the younger Hero on the other side. He wore a dark purple suit with a red rose. His button eyes looked at the three of them as he gave his signature charming smile.

 

“You guys look amazing! We should head down stairs to the others though. The ball should be here soon.” Hero said as they followed him out of the room.

 

“‘The ball should be here soon?’” Basil repeated what Hero said with uncertainty. They quickly reached the bottom of the stairs where Hero grabbed the door knob to the front door. The large snake that rested on top of the door’s frame watched them making quiet hissing noises.

 

“Yeah, it should actually be here right now.” Hero opened the door revealing what was outside. 

 

Past the front porch on the driveway was what looked like to be a giant whale. Basil looked at the whale in confusion while Sunny instant recognized the whale. It was a character from a children’s book he used to read. It was… um Hubert? No—oh! It was Humphrey!

 

The others stood just in front of the whale. Everyone was dressed nicely, even Kel wore a fancy suit, though he was constantly tugging on the suit's collar in mild discomfort.

 

Hero led Sunny, Basil, and Omori to the rest of the group. Humphrey’s giant oversized button eyes slowly followed their movement. His smile filled with human teeth grew larger the closer they got.

 

“So, uh where’s the ball?” Basil asked. Sunny was starting to wonder the same thing. He kinda just thought Hector would give them a ride like last time but after what Hero said and Humphrey being here, he isn’t quite sure anymore. 

 

“The ball is quite literally in front of you!” Mari giggled as Humphrey opened his mouth. His tongue rolled out of his mouth. The whale's tongue shifted to create a staircase going up to the back of his throat.

 

A singular pink bump popped up from the top of the tongue stairs. A face appeared on the bump exactly matching the face of Humphrey. It even wore a small black bow tie.

 

“ They dance and sing and laugh in here. Come one come all, no need for fear .” The pink bump sang.

 

Kel and Aubrey were already racing up the stairs. Hero and Mari held hands as they made their way to the front of the stairs. 

 

Basil nor Sunny had made a move towards Humphrey. Basil looked uncertain, shifting his feet idly. Sunny left a tug on sleeve. He looked over at Omori who seemed to be looking at him expectantly.

 

Straightening himself up, Sunny turned to his right and grabbed Basil’s hand. Basil looked up at him in surprise as Sunny led him and Omori to the staircase. 

 

Sunny took a hesitant step on the first stair step, expecting it to be mushy and soft. He was pleasantly surprised to find that it was quite firm under his feet. 

 

Sunny continued up the stairs with Omori and Basil by his side. Mari and Hero were just ahead of them leading them farther into Humphrey’s mouth.

 

“Hmm.” Basil hummed curiously. Sunny looked over at him and raised an eyebrow.

 

“Oh, I just thought it would smell really bad in here, but it actually just kinda smells like a new car.” Basil commented. 

 

Sunny took a sniff at the air. “Huh, It kinda does.”  

 

It wasn’t long before they reached the back of the throat. Where the uvula should be was instead a fancy elevator that led down to what appeared to be the throat.

 

The smiling bump reappeared by the elevator. The doors opened with a ding noise. It was a double sided elevator with one side having a window and the other side being a plain wall with an old advertisement on it featuring three different colored fish women.

 

They all piled onto the elevator which was just the right size to fit all of them on. Kel was closest to the buttons.

 

“I think the ball is on the bottom floor.” Hero told Kel.

 

“On it!” Kel shouted as he pressed every button on the elevator.

 

Hero audibly slapped his head while Aubrey scoffed at Kel’s behavior. Sunny heard quiet giggles come from Basil.

 

“Kel didn’t change much from when he was younger did he?” Basil commented. Sunny shook his head. 

 

Only one of the buttons Kel pushed actually lit up prompting the doors to close and the elevator to start moving. 

 

Kel immediately went to jump, but was held down by Hero putting a hand on his shoulder. Kel stuck his tongue out at his older brother and received a noogie in return.

 

The elevator dinged again as it came to a stop. The opposite doors opened revealing the ball on the other side.

 

The first thing he noticed was the music playing. Elegant and smooth as many different people danced in the distance. The whole group walked out of the elevator into the main room.

 

Sunny couldn’t help but let his jaw drop at the sight around him. He expected it to be a simple dance room inside the belly of a whale but it wasn’t like that at all. The area was completely open with the sky being a dark blue. Corals glowed all around the place with fancy decorations covering everything. There was a light blue lake that lined the whole place. It was like someone just took the inside of a castle and put it outside by a lake shore. There were floating hats, glasses, and bow ties all around the place like the place was filled with ghosts. There were also sprout moles around the place but it looks like they were in charge of the ball instead of guests.

 

“This place is beautiful.” Basil whispered under his breath. Sunny could help but agree. 

 

“Me and Hero are going to check out some of the food. Stay and pairs and no wondering off following strangers!” Mari said. She was looking right at Sunny who looked away in response.

 

“Hey! I wanna come with too!” Kel said as he followed close behind Mari and Hero.

 

Aubrey walked up to the three of them before her eyes landed on Omori. “You should come dance with me Omori!” 

 

Omori stood closer to Sunny, almost hiding behind him. Sunny looked at the boy, who was hiding his face against his arm.

 

“Are you afraid to dance with Aubrey?” Sunny guessed. Omori shook his head no.

 

Sunny took a second to think before guessing again. “Are…you afraid to leave my side?” Omori looked up at him with pleading eyes.

 

Sunny looked over at Basil who was watching the interaction quietly. “Do you want to go to the dance floor with them?”

 

“S-Sure! But I don’t really know how to d-dance?” Basil said.

 

Sunny shrugged, “I know a little, but I’ve never really done it.” 

 

“Oh, well maybe we can suck at dancing t-together then.” Basil joked.

 

Sunny smiled, looking back towards Aubrey. “We can all go to the dance floor together.” 

 

Aubrey let out a small cheer as she grabbed Omori’s free arm and dragged all of them towards the dance floor. “Let’s go then!” 

 

They follow a wet sandy path down towards the dance floor. Sunny looked down and noticed blue spots glowing in the sand with each step he took. Looking at the dance floor, he saw that the bioluminescent algae covered the entire floor making each step a person took glow a beautiful blue. 

 

Aubrey grabbed onto Omori’s other arm, “Let’s go dance!” She tried to pull Omori away from Sunny, but he stubbornly held on. 

 

Sunny let go of his hand and gave Omori a reassuring smile. “We will be close by. Go have fun.”

 

Omori looked up at him before reluctantly letting go. Aubrey grabbed onto Omori’s other hand and spun him around happily. 

 

The dance floor felt empty even though there were a lot of ghosts on it. Their hats and glasses swung with the rhythm of the music. The tempo was slow, so hopefully it wouldn’t be too hard to keep up.

 

“Ready?” Sunny asked, squeezing Basil’s hand. 

 

“As ready as I’ll e-ever be.” 

 

Basil grabbed his other hand as they both awkwardly tried to swing with the music. Sunny felt like he was getting a hold of it but noticed that Basil was still struggling.

 

“Here, follow my lead.” Sunny looked down at his feet and stepped with the music. Basil looked down also, trying to follow along. They slowly got the hang of it, managing to match their steps and stay on rythme.

 

 

 

 

 

 

“Look! We’re doing it!” Basil cheered. Sunny smirked at the blonde. He suddenly lifted his arm and twirled Basil. The blonde was surprised at first by the sudden change, but was quick to follow along. 

 

Basil started giggling as they continued to dance, no longer appearing tense or uncertain of his movements. 

 

They continued to dance to the music, carefree of all the others around them. Sunny led the dance for a while before letting Basil take the lead. 

 

Basil was quick to hold his hand up for Sunny to twirl under. Sunny moved to spin under his hand, but he felt himself lose balance when his foot caught something mid twist.

 

He felt himself falling backwards. Sunny didn’t even get a chance to brace for impact before he felt himself get caught mid air. A pair of arms were wrapped around his waist, keeping him from falling straight on his back.

 

“I-I got you!”

 

Basil was leaning over him. His face was really close to him as the blonde looked down at him. He could even feel the ends of Basil’s hair tickle his face as he continued to stare. Basil’s face suddenly turned red as his grip on Sunny’s back completely loosened. 

 

Sunny fell the rest of the way onto the floor. It wasn’t a hard fall by any means, but it was unexpected enough to still knock the wind out of him.

 

“Ah! S-Sorry Sunny!” Basil stood over him with a panicked expression.

 

Sunny just stared up at the blonde. The floor felt nice and cool against his back. It was comfy enough that Sunny was tempted to just lay there and let his tired body rest after all the dancing.

 

“Oh no, did you hit your head?” Basil was sitting next to him now. Sunny shook his head in response and sat up. 

 

“That’s good…sorry for dropping you like that.” Basil apologized, not being able to look him in the face.

 

“It’s fine. I was getting tired of dancing anyway.” Sunny said. Even though the two of them were sitting in the middle of the dance floor, most of the ghost easily danced around them without bumping into them

 

“Why don’t we find somewhere to take a break.” Basil suggested. He stood up on his feet and offered Sunny a hand. Sunny grabbed his hand letting him pull him to his feet.

 

Together, they walked off the dance floor and looked for somewhere to rest. Sunny ended up looking back at the dance floor and noticed that Omori and Aubrey were missing. He looked around the ball, hoping to find a glimpse of black hair amongst all the ghosts and sproutmoles.

 

Sunny felt a tug on his hand and looked back at Basil. “I think there’s a spot over there.”

 

Basil pointed off to the distance by the lake shore. There was a lone bench seated on the sand facing towards the endless lake. I did seem like a good spot for the two of them. Away from all the noise with a beautiful view to boot.

 

Basil had already started moving towards the bench and Sunny was quick to follow. The music from the hall had already started to fade when he suddenly heard footsteps behind him.

 

Sunny turned around and was almost knocked over by someone running right into him. He looked down and saw Omori hugging him like his life depended on it.

 

Sunny hugged back with one arm. Omori looked up from his chest and glared at Sunny.

 

“Sorry for leaving. I thought you ran off with Aubrey.” Sunny apologized 

 

“Where is Aubrey?” Basil asked from behind Sunny. Omori leaned away from Sunny and pointed off towards where the food stands were. If he squinted, he could roughly make out two small figures that looked like Aubrey and Kel.

 

“Oh, well at least you didn’t leave her all alone. You c-can come with us if you want.” Basil said. Omori just stared at him before grabbing onto Sunny’s hand.

 

The three of them walked along the sandy shore of the lake before finally making it to the bench. The bench itself looked pretty old and worn. It was drastically different from the rest of the fancy decorations closer to the area of the ball.

 

Basil took a seat first, sitting on the far left. Omori sat in the middle leaving Sunny to sit on the right.

 

It was almost entirely quiet out here. The water was almost completely still with there only being small movements close to the shore. 

 

“Tonight was a lot of fun.” Basil said, breaking the silence. “Even though I remember waking up and following you through the tiny door, it all still feels like a dream.” 

 

Sunny looked away from the lake and towards Basil. “I used to think that too, but I know now that it’s not.” Sunny responded, frowning in thought. “Every once in a while, I’ll notice things about this place that just feel wrong. Like dark cracks hidden under all the colors. I think Something might be hiding—

 

“So you’re finally starting to see what’s right in front of you?” A voice interrupted Sunny. A shadow jumped from under the bench onto the armrest next to Sunny. 

 

Stranger sat down, his tail curling around his paws. “And to think I was starting to lose faith in you, letting yourself get blinded by the facade of this place. Especially after foolishly bringing Basil here with you.”

 

“Oh wow, your voice is a lot deeper than I thought it would be,” Basil cut in. Stranger flicked his ear in response before Basil continued, “but don't you think you're b-being a little rude.”

 

“Rude? I don’t really see it as rude. More like being realistic.”

 

“W-Well, I chose to come with Sunny cause I wanted to help him find answers.”

 

Stranger looked back at Sunny, “Choosing to be proactive? Quite the change of pace for you Sunny.” 

 

Sunny glared at the cat, but chose to overlook all the jabs he threw at him. “You know more about what's going on with everything than we do. Want to fill us in?” 

 

Stranger’s ears perked up. He stood on his paws and looked off to the distance. He suddenly jumped off the bench and looked back at the trio. “If you want any answer then it’d be best if you follow me. I can explain more on the way.”

 

“Why not explain now?” Sunny said as he stood up off the bench.

 

“It’s looking for you. It has eyes everywhere so you don’t have much time to idle around before you’re dragged away. I wouldn't be happy to see you talking to a stranger after all.” Stranger flicked his tail as he walked towards the shore. Stranger suddenly jumped forward towards the lake. He didn’t splash into the water like Sunny expected, instead he landed on its surface as if the water itself was solid.

 

“This world was made to keep you happy and safe so you can’t drown here, but you still need to know how to swim if you want to get to where you need to go.” Stranger turned and watched as he waited for the three of them on the water.

 

Sunny let out a sigh before looking over to Basil and Omori, “Ready to learn how to swim?” 

 

Omori nodded as he shrugged off his suit vest and took his shoes off. Basil, on the other hand, was more hesitant. 

 

“A-Are you sure about this? We got lucky last time when we almost drowned. Maybe there's another way around?” Basil suggested.

 

“I don’t think so.” Sunny said as he took his suit vest off. “Stranger knows that we aren’t good swimmers. He would have picked a better path if that was an option.”

 

Basil bit his lip nervously, “I want to trust Stranger, b-but what if he doesn’t have our best interest in mind?”

 

Sunny walked closer to Basil and took his hand, “I don’t know for sure, but I’m willing to take the chance to find answers. I won’t force you to come, but I did say that we should learn to swim together, so why not now?”

 

Basil seemed to contemplate the words, before looking back at Sunny with confidence. “Okay. Let’s do this.”

 

Tossing their suit vest and shoes aside, Sunny and Basil caught up with Stranger and Omori. Sunny took his first step into the water to find it was a pleasantly cool temperature. They wadded through the water at first before the water started to reach close to their chest. 

 

Being the shortest, Omori was the first to start swimming completely. He seemed to struggle a bit to keep his head up at first, but seemed to get used to it pretty quickly. Sunny took a closer look at how he was swimming and tried to memorize the movements 

 

Sunny went to test his ability to swim once the water was up to his neck. He experimentally kicked his legs against the water and was happy to find he could support himself. 

 

He turned back and saw that Basil was struggling slightly, not being able to keep his head up as well as he could. Sunny swam next to Basil and grabbed his upper arm to help his head stay above the water.

 

“Just kick your legs like me. Think of it like swinging your legs when they dangle.” Sunny instructed. The chaotic movements of Basil's legs slowly changed to a more rhythmic kicking. Before long, Basil was able to consistently keep his head above the water without his help.

 

“W-We’re doing it Sunny! This isn’t as bad as I thought it would be.” Basil said as he started to swim forward.

 

Sunny was quick to catch up, swimming ahead to be close to Stranger. 

 

“Eager are we? Let’s start with you telling me what you think you know.” Stranger started. 

 

Sunny took a second to gather his thoughts before saying what he thought was happening. “I don’t know much, like the why or how things are happening. All I know is that ever since I’ve taken Omori’s hand in whitespace, all these weird things keep happening. Something appeared behind the door and Omori was able to move on his own. I don’t know what this place is but I do know that it’s connected to Something and that it’s connected to Omori.”

 

“So you know something is wrong and you traced it back to here?”

 

“Yeah, I don’t know anything beyond that, but you do, don’t you?” 

 

A light fog had started to settle on the water's surface now that they have swam out this far. Sunny could still see everyone around him, but he couldn’t make out anything in the distance.

 

“It shouldn’t take long to realize that this place is a colorful mask holding something behind it. You’ve already seen the cracks.”

 

“This place was made for you. A perfect world that trumps anything reality can offer. A mouse trap designed to make you want to stay forever.” 

 

Sunny’s eyebrows furrowed, “Why does it even want me to stay here?”

 

“It wants something from you. What exactly, I’m not entirely sure. Maybe it wants your love, your happiness, your fear. Maybe it just wants something to eat.” Stranger giggled softly.

 

Sunny felt a shiver travel down his spin at his words. A part of him didn’t want to believe everything around him was just bait to lure him into a trap, but he can’t deny that there was just something off about this place that prevented him from being complacent to its beauty and wonder.

 

“S-So this whole place is just a giant trap for Sunny from, uh, something? Is it some kind of monster?” Basil asked from behind.

 

“There is nothing else I’ve seen like it. Call it whatever you want.” 

 

The fog was getting pretty thick now. There was a distant sound of moving water ahead. Stranger pace seemed to have slowed down a bit from before, “I’ll answer one more question.”

 

Sunny thought for a second before figuring out what he wanted to say. “What do you know about Omori?”

 

Stranger hummed at the question, taking a second before finally answering. “Omori was created to connect you and your dreams to this place. A mere doll used to spy on you like every other doll here, but dolls break over time. Normally broken toys are discarded but yet Omori remains, acting like a marinate whose strings are cut.”

 

“You’re starting to sound cryptic again.” Sunny remarked.

 

“Let’s put it this way then, if Omori was void of free will, then there is absolutely no way we would have made it this far without it trying to stop us or something else doing so. It doesn’t really like cats.” 

 

Stranger suddenly jumped forward out of the way of a splash of water. Omori was glaring at the cat from behind him, seemingly getting ready to try and splash him again.

 

“Looks like I offended it.” Stranger laughed.

 

The sound of moving water was louder now. His arms and legs were starting to get tired. Sunny noticed a subtle current pulling them forward, but it was still too foggy to make out what was ahead.

 

“W-We almost there?” Basil asked, exhaustion clear in his voice. “I’ve never swam this long before.”

 

“Nope, but I will have to leave you on your own now.”

 

“What? Why?” Sunny asked. He stalled swimming forward to look towards the cat.

 

Stranger looked over at him with a smug expression. “I don’t like getting wet.”

 

Sunny realized that even though he wasn’t swimming forward, Stranger had to keep walking to keep up. The current was pushing them forward alone without having to swim.

 

“Wait, h-how will we know where to go? W-What are we even supposed to look for.” Basil said as he swam towards the cat.

 

Stranger sat on the water’s surface, watching as the current dragged the three of them forward. “You will know it when you see it. The current will take you where you will need to go.”

 

“Oh, and don’t forget, as long as it wants you alive you can’t drown here.”

 

“Why would we—

 

Sunny stopped suddenly when he noticed how much stronger the current had gotten. By the time he looked back, it had already pulled them out of sight of Stranger, the cat having disappeared in the distance. The fog had cleared up ahead, finally showing where it was taking them.

 

“Oh shit.”

 

The current was dragging them into a fucking whirlpool of all things. Sunny turned around and tried to swim against the current. He was quick to realize that it was a pointless endeavor as he wasn’t moving anywhere.

 

“Sunny!” Basil shouted 

 

Sunny looked to his side and saw Basil and Omori be sucked towards the whirlpool with him. Omori was grabbing onto Basil's arm causing the two to sink quicker. 

 

Kicking as fast as he could, Sunny swam over to the two. He grabbed onto Omori and Basil pulling them all close together. 

 

Sunny opened his mouth to say something, but almost instantly regretted it as the current roughly shoved them under the water. The water was quick to fill his mouth. Surprisingly, his lungs didn’t burn when he accidentally took a sharp breath. 

 

It was hard to describe how it felt to breathe in the water. It felt like taking a deep breath of dense cold fog. It was nothing like actually inhaling water, but it didn’t feel like he was breathing normal air.

 

Sunny looked over just in time to see a bunch of air bubbles escape Basil's mouth. A look of confusion crossed over his face as he inhaled the water around them. 

 

Omori looked a little on edge as he looked around them, though his expression didn’t show it. The current was still pulling them down deeper into the depths.

 

An endless dark blue void surrounded them. Looking straight down, there was a blue light that was fast approaching. It quickly blinded him as a light tingling sensation washed over him. It only took a second for the odd sensation to completely pass.

 

“Ugh, that didn’t feel good.” Basil said from behind him. 

 

Sunny rapidly blinked his eyes to get adjusted to his surroundings. He was sitting in what looked like a shallow pool. It was a bright blue, bright enough to light up what seemed like some sort of cave. 

 

Sunny stood up from the weird glowing water and looked ahead of him. In the center of the cave was a small hill with a giant red coral that was the size of a tree. It had an eerie red glow that pulsed slowly.

 

“You think this is what Stranger wanted us to find?” Basil asked aloud.

 

Sunny nodded as he started to move towards the coral. Basil followed close behind alongside Omori.

 

There was a neon patch of green grass at the base of the coral. Looking up, he saw what looked like two fruits hanging off one of the branches.

 

It was only after he squinted at the fruits did he realize that they were both human heads.

 

“What’s wrong?” Basil asked while walking up behind him. He was quick to follow his gaze and saw the two heads.

 

Basil’s jaw dropped in silent horror as he gazed at the unmoving heads. The worst part was that the heads were recognizable with one looking like Sunny and one looking like a younger version of Basil’s grandma of all people. 

 

Sunny jumped when he saw something move out of the corner of his vision. He looked over and saw Omori climbing up the coral tree.

 

“Omori! What are you—

 

Sunny was cut off as Omori ripped both the fruits off the tree. The pulsing red light of the coral seemed to slow down with its red light dulling significantly. 

 

Omori jumped off the coral from where he was and held out both the heads towards them.

 

Sunny reluctantly took his own head into his hands, holding the thing as far away from his body as he could. Basil grabbed onto the ponytail of his grandmother's head, creating a quiet gang noise as it swung idly in his grasps.

 

“W-What are we e-even supposed to d-do with these?!” Basil stuttered.

 

Omori held both his hands up like he was holding a sandwich and made a eating motion.

 

“N-No way! I-I can’t eat this!” Basil held the head out farther from him. 

 

Sunny grimaced as he looked at his own face peacefully resting in his hands.

 

“We might have to if we want to find out what's going on.” Sunny pointed out.

 

“It can’t be worth eating a human head for!”

 

“It might not be a real head though!” 

 

Basil looked back at the head dangling from his hand “H-How can we know that for sure?”

 

Sunny took a deep look at the head. It was smaller than his own and honestly felt like he was holding a deformed apple with the cool texture it had. “There are a couple of reasons. I’m pretty sure a real decapitated human head would be heavier and bigger than this. For all we know, it could be a fruit in disguise.” 

 

Basil grabbed onto the head with both hands and gave it an experimental squeeze. The fleshes of the head was completely firm, grabbing onto the jaw, he realized that the mouth couldn’t be opened.

 

“O-Okay, I think you might be right.” Basil still looked uncertain. 

 

“How about on the count of three, we take a bite?” Sunny suggested.

 

“Umm, I guess that’s fine.” 

 

The two stared at each other as they both held up their respective head.

 

“1”

 

“2”

 

“…3!”

 

Sunny brought the head up to his mouth and took a bite into it. The text felt horrible against his tongue, like he just took a bite from rotten fruit. Juice from it traveled down his chin as he gulped the bite down as quickly as possible.

 

He coughed as the piece traveled down his esophagus leaving a taste in his mouth that words could never describe. 

 

A dark red liquid spilled from the head as Sunny hastily dropped it. Wiping his chin, he realized that he got the juice all over his mouth.

 

“Ah!” Basil suddenly yelled

 

Sunny looked up to see what caused him to yell only to be hit with a strong pain in his head. He grunted as the sharp pain amplified from behind his eyes as he fell to his knees.

 

Through the fuzziness ringing in his ears, he heard a light thump from in front of him. Blinking away his tears, he saw that Basil had collapsed in front of him. 

 

Sunny’s arms finally gave out as he fell on his side also. He let his eyes fall shut with his last sight being the panicked expression on Omori's face.

 

“…You shouldn’t have done that.”

OOO

Notes:

I find it very funny how inconsistent my art is while making this since they're such giant time gaps between when I do each piece lmao. Not only that but I defiantly put more effort into some pieces more that others and it shows :P

Also silly cliffhanger go burrrrr

Chapter 8: Eisoptrophobia (1-5)

Summary:

Eisoptrophobia: the fear of mirrors or one’s reflection.

Notes:

I’m finally here with an update. I will finish this fic if it kills me, writers block be damned. Hopefully you enjoys and thanks to those who are still sticking around despite my abysmal update schedule.

Also 2700 hits holy moly :O

(Also yes I accidentally deleted the chapter and had to reupload it for those who noticed. It sucked but I save everything on a Google Doc so it wasn't a big deal just inconvenient. Yes I'm also impressed that I somehow messed up this bad lmao. So shout out to Kk system [i think that's their username] cause poor bro’s comment got deleted but I saw and read it before deleting the chapter and I really appreciate the support)

 

 

 

 

OOO

 

 

 

A fuzziness washed over his ears, like an irritating ringing muffled by cotton. There was no sense of touch anywhere around him. There wasn’t even a sense of gravity. It was as if he was floating in nothingness. Basil didn’t even have a way to tell if his eyes were open.

 

The ringing got louder before there was sudden quiet. With the silence came the sudden return of all other senses. Basil stumbled backwards, finding himself suddenly standing upright. He blinked rapidly as he tried adjusting to the brightness of…wherever he was.

 

Everything around him was a faded tan color. It looked like he walked into an antique photo that was damaged from being over exposed to sunlight. He realized he was outside, more specifically, what looked like the backyard of Neighbor’s Mansion. 

 

The backyard was much more alive than he remembered.  There were flowers everywhere with bushes cut to look like animals. There was even a giant functional water fountain. 

 

Basil flinched at the sudden sound of ruffling leaves. He turned to see two bipedal animals holding hands skipping straight towards him. They were a frog and a rabbit respectively, both having a pair of button eyes. Neither creature seemed to react to his presents.

 

He realized a little too late that they weren’t slowing down and we’re on the verge of running right into him. Basil opened his mouth to shout a warning to the creatures, but he was too slow.

 

He braced for impact, only to feel them phase right through him. He shuddered at the feeling. It felt like a cold wind had pierced right through him. 

 

The sound of talking came from the distance grabbing Basil’s attention. It sounded like the laughter of children coming from somewhere in front of him. Not knowing what else to do, he moved forward to investigate.

 

The voices got louder the closer he got. It sounded like two younger kids based on the pitch of their voices. 

 

“You brought that with you?”

 

“Of course I did! It’s like a lucky charm to me. Plus I just love all the pretty colors that it creates.”

 

Basil made it to the top of the path and looked ahead. He can finally see the two kids that he heard before.

 

There was a blonde hair boy with a hat and a blonde hair girl that was standing next to him. They were both standing in front of a patch of large white orchid flowers. The girl was holding a very familiar scope to her eye as she looked around. 

 

“Grandma…” Basil whispered under his breath.

 

She looked like she was a young teenager. The kaleidoscope that always sits next to her bed was now being used to look around.

 

Something was off though, the smile on her face seemed to fade as she continued to look through the kaleidoscope. She suddenly looked unnerved as she looked around the place more frantically.

 

“B-Barley, Somethings wrong.” She said, taking her younger brother's hand. “We n-need to get out of here!”

 

She started dragging him towards the mansion doors, but Barley quickly ripped his hand out of her grip.

 

“What do you mean? What’s wrong?” Barely asked.

 

“The kaleidoscope! It made everything look all d-dark and scary a-and it looked like there were eyes everywhere!” She shoved the scope into her brother’s hand as he took a look.

 

Barely looked around through the scope. His jaw dropped slightly before he shook his head. “What if the kaleidoscope is just broken?” 

 

“Broken or not, a kaleidoscope shouldn’t be able to make anything look like that!” She explained

 

Barely handed the kaleidoscope scope back. “Well, it doesn’t mean anything in the end. What it shows is not really there. That’s how kaleidoscopes work right?”

 

“We can just ignore it! Hasn’t this place always felt a little off to you? That kaleidoscope might have just given us a glimpse at—

 

“No! I don’t care what some stupid kaleidoscope might show me! This place is the best thing that’s happened to me.” Barely cried. “It’s one of the best things to happen to us!”

 

Her eyes softened at his words. The grip on her brother’s hand loosened. “I… I know things at home right now aren’t great, but we can’t just ignore what we just saw.” She reasoned. “Maybe this place was always just too good to be true.” 

 

Barely looked away from his sister, dejected by her words. He gripped his hands into fist tightly, his fingers turning white from the pressure. A sudden frustration seemed to wash over Barley. Tears gathered in the boy’s eyes as he looked up at his sister in silent anger.

 

“No, I won’t believe it.” He hissed under his breath. Barley suddenly turned away from his sister and ran deeper into the garden.

 

“Barley wait! Come back!” She cried out chasing after the boy.

 

They were quick to make a good distance away from Basil. He went to move to chase after the two but found himself frozen in place. He tried and tried to get his limbs to move but nothing was working as he was forced to stare ahead at a now empty clearing. Not even his vocal cords would move in his attempt to cry out.

 

His surroundings started to literally unravel. It was like the sky itself was pulling at strings and ripping apart the floor beneath him. All he could do was close his eyes and brace himself as the nothingness got closer and closer and—

Basil jolted awake. He quickly sat up and tried to calm his racing heart. He groaned as he felt a light pulsing behind his eyes. He squeezed his eyes and rested his palms against them gently. His hands were nice and cool against his face. Luckily, it wasn’t long before his headache lightened up. 

 

Basil's thoughts were racing with all the new info he just got. His grandma had been through the door? Why hasn’t she mentioned that before? She said Barely went missing just like Mari and that one girl that lived at the mansion as well. 

 

There is also the weird thing with the kaleidoscope. What she described seeing sounded similar to what he saw in the water when he and Sunny fell into the lake. Dark shadows with white glowing eyes that just stared at you. 

 

Regardless, he wasn’t expecting to see all that after taking a bite from…whatever that head fruit was. Stranger made it seem like it was important, so maybe that kaleidoscope is important to what they are doing as well.

 

With his thoughts cleared up, Basil let himself rest there for a moment, calming his breathing after everything and getting a sense of his surroundings.

 

Basil was quick to realize that was definitely not where he last passed out. There was no bright blue water, no gray stone walls, no cool breeze, and no red coral tree. It was dark and warm where he was. The walls were a deep pink that had bumps scattered across the surface. The ground beneath him was wet and squishy and the air had a putrid and stuffy smell to it. 

 

If he didn’t have doubts before, there would be none to be found now. He was definitely inside a whale. 

 

Basil heard a slight shuffle next to him. A figure was laying down on the floor next him that he could just barely make out in the dark.

 

“S-Sunny?” Basil whispered out. The figure sat up beside him and looked at him with his black eyes. “Oh, Omori! I thought you were…”

 

Basil trailed off as he got a better look at Omori. His suit was completely shredded. His arms and legs had multiple bite marks that punctured his white skin. White and red cotton stuck out of the gashes as a thick red substance leaked out of it slowly.

 

“Omori! You're hurt!” Basil crawled closer to the pale boy. He reached out to grab Omori’s hand but hesitated. “Um, can I take a look?”

 

Omori shrugged, putting his arm in Basil’s hand. His skin felt cold against his hands. Considering the state he was in, Omori somehow still held a neutral expression. It was almost as if all the injuries didn’t bother him, or he was just really good at hiding his pain.

 

“D-Does it hurt?” Basil asked quietly. Omori simply shrugged in response. 

 

With a little more confidence, Basil lightly touched close to one of the puncture marks. The red liquid that was leaking out of the wound felt sticky against his fingers. It was also weirdly clumpy looking, nothing like blood at all. 

 

He took a closer look at the substance that was sticking onto his hand. It smelled weirdly sweet, kinda like strawberries. He remembered Sunny mentioning that the other him from here bled watermelon juice at one point.

 

Against his better judgment, he licked his figure covered in the stuff. He was met with a very familiar taste.

 

“Strawberry jam?” Basil questioned as he looked up at Omori. The pale boy was glaring at him, his face having a subtle look of disgust on it.

 

Basil’s eyes widened. “S-Sorry! I shouldn’t have done that… I-I was just curious I guess.” Embarrassed, Basil wiped his hand against his pants, getting the rest of the sticky jam off his fingers.

 

Silence rested between the two. Basil continued to check on Omori’s wounds in the meantime. The pale boy never once flinched as Basil continued to poke at his injuries. Thankfully, the worst of it seemed to be on his arm. Everywhere else just had light scratches and marks.

 

“Are you okay to m-move.” Basil asked him. Omori nodded before quickly standing up. Basil stood up next to him and took a quick look around. He was hoping to see if Sunny was nearby, but he couldn’t see very far with how dark it was.

 

“How about we try and look for Sunny?” Basil suggested. He wasn’t expecting Omori to respond, so he was surprised when the pale boys grabbed his hand. Omori pulled at his arm, trying to get Basil to follow him.

 

“Oh! Do you know where Sunny is?” Basil said hopefully. Omori didn’t respond and just kept leading him deeper into the bowels of the whale. 

 

He had a lot more questions for the younger boy, but Basil had a feeling Omori wouldn’t give him any answers. It was honestly a lot harder to read the boy compared to Sunny. Both have a stoic exterior, but Sunny showed a lot more emotion from his eyes. Omori’s eyes were a black hole compared to his. Rarely did it give anything away on what the pale boy was thinking.

 

Crunch!

 

Basil looked down towards his feet at the sound. It sounded like he stepped on a twig, but it felt more like sharp stones under his foot. A single glance was all it took for him to realize what he stepped on. 

 

“B-Bones?!” He stuttered in horror. Omori didn’t even turn to look at him when spoke up. Omori kept pulling him ahead, not even giving Basil a chance to think about what he just stepped on.

 

More on edge, Basil spent the rest of the walk taking in every detail around him. He bit the inside of his cheek nervously, staring at every dark corner as if something would jump out at any second. It felt like his heart was going to beat out of his chest from the paranoia. 

 

He hoped they would find Sunny sooner than later. Then they could get out of this whale together and find something to patch Omori up with.

 

The ground beneath them suddenly became solid as they continued forward. It felt much cooler under his feet compared to the warm flesh that he was forced to trek through before.

 

Omori let go of his hand and slowed down his brisk walking pace. Basil looked ahead and saw… a piano?

 

Up ahead was what appeared to be a large classic piano. It was a deep black color that made its ivory keys stick out like a sore thumb. It was covered in a thin layer of dust, but it still looked like it was in good condition considering it was inside the stomach of a whale. 

 

There was another thing that stuck out to him. A small scarf stuck out from under the wood panel that hid the piano’s strings. Unlike the piano, the scarf looked like it was in rough shape. It was a dull faded blue color with what looked like seashells patches embroidered onto the fabric.

 

A glare caught his eye from next to the piano. Looking towards its direction, Basil saw a randomly placed large silver mirror. The mirror itself looked dirty. Dirty enough to where there was hardly a reflection to be seen against the glass. Like the piano, the silver rim and the glass of the mirror were caked in dust; however, the mirror definitely appeared in worse shape with small cracks and scratches scattered across its surface.

 

Omori walked up to the mirror first. He kept staring at it like he was looking for something. It gave Basil an idea as he walked up behind the smaller boy. 

 

“Here,” Basil stepped in front of the mirror and wiped some of the dust off the glass. He used his sleeve and was able to get a decent amount of dust off, at least enough to see his own reflection.

 

He took a step back to allow Omori to look at the mirror. “Look! It’s you!” Basil cheered quietly. Looking back at the mirror, Basil could see his own reflection in the mirror standing beside Omori. Basil smiled at the reflection, noticing that Omori was looking at his reflection now instead of his own. 

 

Basil also noticed a bit of jam that he accidentally smeared on the mirror from his sleeve causing his smile to fall. Looking down at his hand, he saw a trail of jam coating his palm and arm. He was surprised he didn’t even notice it until now. He must have gotten caught up in the moment. Being stuck inside of whale intestines with bones in it would do that to anyone.

 

Basil turned around and looked back at the piano. The scarf he saw earlier was still stuck in it. The frills on its end swayed lazily against the black ivory of the piano. It could make a good temporary bandage until they found a way out. Once they do get out, he can ask Sunny what he did here to get the cuts in his back to heal so rapidly. Omori would be fixed up in no time after that!

 

With a plan in mind, Basil walked over to the piano and grabbed the scarf. He gave it an experimental tug. The scarf stayed firmly stuck making Basil sigh. The wood panel that covered the piano stings was large and probably heavy. Basil was hoping the scarf would slide out easily but it looked like he was going to have to try and lift it.

 

He dug his fingers under the panel and got as good as a grip he could manage on it. Grabbing on with his other hand, Basil started to lift the panel. He let out a grunt as he shoved his arm between the wood panel, keeping it elevated so he could grab the scarf. 

 

Basil yanked the scarf from the piano, “Yes!” He cheered quietly. The scarf wasn’t very long, but it should definitely be enough to cover most of the gashes on Omori’s arm.

 

Speaking of, his arm holding the panel up was already starting to fall asleep from the weight. He pulled at his arm, but the panel was too heavy to just yank it out. He tossed the scarf on his shoulder and lifted the panel a little more to pull his arm out. 

 

Suddenly, a black tendril shot out from within the piano. Basil let out a startled scream as the panel fell back down on his arm painfully. He tried to pull his arm out, but the piano started to warp around his arm making it more stuck. The black ivory wood looked as if it was melting and expanding. He could feel a weird pulse going through the black mass against his trapped arm. Distorted moans sounded from the thing as it grew larger and larger.

 

More tendrils formed from the black mass, wiggling aimlessly in the air. Basil dug his feet into the ground and continued to try and free his arm. The black stuff had almost completely engulfed his right arm and was holding on real tight. He tried to claw the stuff off him, but it didn’t do anything to free his arm.

 

The white piano keys moved across the black mass, creating a shape similar to a mouth with sharp teeth. A single white eye appeared from it, staring right at him. The pupil on the eye seemed to shrink as the moans turned into jumbled words that were spoken over each other.

 

“̸̠̌̊̊͊̋I̶̧̹̝̜͗’̸̨͕͔̣̙̅m̶̵̛̱͍͕̲̲̃̂̽̋̾́͐̚s̴̫̘̍͛̑̔͗o̷̩͈͎͗r̵̛̬͉̻̱̗̃̓̀̂r̷̳̟̙͚̓̆̾͊͑ý̵̦̳̜̌D̶̻̗̳̼͕͆î̶̛̹́̂̊ş̷̢͙̬̗̑̐̊́̈a̶̹̲̼̗͓͒͛̃͌p̷̦̣̀̑p̶̯͔̜͐̈́̄͒̓o̷̙͓̙͔͛͊͘ǐ̸̗̀̓ņ̷̢͓̗̈́͐̕t̶̝̤̠̎̾̈̍͝i̷̢̬̹̟͉͊͊͋͝͠ņ̸͚̒̽g̷͚̮̘̳̈́̏̽̑͝N̴̟͇̝͝ǫ̴͗̈̏t̸̝͔̯͆̿̽̕ͅG̷̩̟̯̅o̵̱̝̖̠͖͒͒̓̀͋o̵̧̝̺̳̩͐̍̍̕d̸̡̰̏̏͘e̴̢̬̥͎͙͆̍̀n̸̬̮̦̾̌͗̈́͗o̸̘̝͆û̷̧̢͔͔͈̊̽̾̈G̴̖͈͋̓̽ḧ̴́̽͊͑͜?” 

 

“I-I don’t understand!” Basil cried out in panic. The black mass reminded him of the…thing that he and Sunny saw in the lake. Something(?) didn’t respond immediately. Its pupil was twitching, seeming to look at every little detail on him from top to bottom.

 

Basil looked behind him to see where Omori went, but couldn’t spot the boy anywhere. He must have been able to escape, but that left him all alone.

 

He tugged at his arm some more before looking back at Something’s eye. “Please, c-could you just l-let me go? I need to h-help Omori—

 

Something let out a loud scream suddenly, cutting Basil off. One of the black tendrils wrapped around his free arm pulling him closer to its mouth.

 

M̸̯̘̣̉̿͛e̷̯̾͆̈́͜ͅs̸͓͎̞͋̌S̶̝̗͂͗̽i̷̢͖̲͚͋̈́́͜n̷̲͎̘̮̓g̴̳͖͇͖͐͐͊̒̈́Ų̷̡̩͔́p̷̯̠̂̈̋̄B̷̨̝͓͕͕͑̆̽ḛ̷̱͌̄̈Ḃ̶͙̌͜ę̷́̕ẗ̴̛̯̯̰̣̠́͆T̶̰͖̰͔̃̀̉̄e̵̢̨͆r̷̖̱͚͘̚͜͠R̸̯̐̈́e̴̯̱̤̱̽̐́͝c̸̠̓̔̽̚̕i̴̡̖̣̹̓̏t̵̟͉̾̾ͅA̸̛̦̱͍̫̣͋̾l̶̨̟̮̔̇̓̈̒! It screeched as its white teeth moved closer to him.

 

A bright red glow suddenly caught Basil’s attention out of the corner of his eye. Multiple red hands seemed to burst out from somewhere behind him out of nowhere. The hands scattered all around him. He felt some of the hands grab him by the shoulders and waist. Other hands went directly at something, pushing against the black mass that made up its body.

 

Something screamed as the hands pushed it away from Basil. The black mass shook as it struggled against the force. Basil could feel himself being pulled away by the hands. One of them ripped the tendril off of his left arm, but his right arm was still stuck. He was being pulled away with more and more force but Something still wouldn’t let go. 

 

Basil grit his teeth. His arm felt like it was on fire from the strain. Tears built up in his eyes. It felt like with anymore force his arm would rip off.

 

Basil was suddenly jolted backwards as his arm was finally released. Something screamed at him as it lunged itself at him, ripping through the grip of any red hands that held it back. 

 

Right before Something could grab him, a cold feeling swept through him. It was like the feeling of jumping into water but still being surrounded by air. Something seemed to suddenly disappear from view as if he had phased through a wall into a completely different room. 

 

No longer was he surrounded by flesh, but with dark and dusty concrete and rotting wood. The red hands that held him up suddenly dropped him onto the hard floor. He let out a small “oof” from the impact, spreading his arms out on the floor. Basil could hear his heart beat in his ears as he took a second to calm down.

 

The cold air felt good compared to the humidity from before. Adrenaline must have already started to fade as the pain in his arm started to amplify. He really hoped that he didn’t mess up his arm too badly during that, but the fiery throb in his wrist seemed to indicate otherwise.

 

Basil let out a shaky sigh. He heard quiet footsteps move closer to him causing him to tense up. Basil was quick to relax though as Omori stood over him looking down at him with his usual blank face.

 

“Omori!” Basil smiled. “You're okay! I was worried when I couldn’t find you.” 

 

Basil used his left arm to push himself up. He slowly moved his right arm close to his chest. Basil bit his lip as the throbbing pain amplified for a moment, before calming back down. 

 

Omori squatted down next to Basil. He seemed to be staring at him curiously. Omori leaned forward and pointed at his cheek. 

 

Basil touched his cheek and was quick to realize he was crying. “Oh,” he looked back at Omori, “you don’t have to worry about m-me.”

 

Omori didn’t seem phased by his words, instead reaching behind him and grabbing something familiar.

 

“Y-You have the scarf? I thought I lost it.” Basil sighed in relief. 

 

Omori held the scarf out towards him. He could tell Omori wanted him to use the scarf to wipe the tears away, but he didn’t take it from Something to just use it as a napkin.

 

Basil took the scarf from Omori, “Thank you, but I think you need this more than me.”

 

Omori squinted his eyes in confusion before shaking his head in disagreement. 

 

“B-But your arm! It’s still bleeding jam now even after everything. Wounds shouldn’t bleed for that long unless it's serious!” Basil retorted.

 

Omori held out his injured arm for the blonde to see. With no hesitation, Omori dug his figures into the wound and pulled out some jam cover cotton. He tossed the cotton on the floor, seeming completely unphased by his own self mutilation. 

 

He went to grab more cotton from his arm, but a basil was quick to grab him,  “Wait! I-I get it! You don’t have to do th-that.” Omori nodded, grabbing Basil’s good arm and pulling them both up in a standing position. 

 

Basil wiped away the tears with his shirt sleeve, opting to save the scarf. He couldn’t use it for Omori’s wound after making it clear it didn’t affect him. He just put the scarf on since he didn’t have any other use for it. It was kinda cold here anyways.

 

Basil took a second to look around. It looked like he and Omori were in a small bedroom. The lighting was a dark blue but there were no windows or even lights. There was a mental bed frame with a single sheet and no mattress. Looking at the wall he came through, he saw the frame for the silver mirror, but the mirror itself was gone.

 

Basil walked up to the silver frame. He slowly put his hand closer to the wall he came through. His fingers brushed against the cold concrete. He rested his hand against the wall, giving it a small push to confirm that there was no going back through it. 

 

“Um Omori?” Basil turned around. “I-I think we might be—”

 

Basil cut himself off as he noticed something moving on the bed. A pale glow seemed to emanate from under the sheets as it rose from the bed frame. Omori seemed to notice it too as he turned around and seemed to brace himself for a fight.

 

“ Look, it’s someone new.”

 

“Shhh! The doll might hear you!”

 

“It doesn’t have button eyes though… maybe it’s broken.”

 

The light under the sheets flicked as the two individuals talked. They sounded like children, having higher pitched voices that echoed as they whispered to each other.

 

“Hello?” Basil called out. “Um, who’s there?”

 

Omori seemed to relax at the sound of the children’s voices. The pale boy walked towards the bed and pulled the sheets revealing what was underneath.

 

Two ghost-like children sat on the bare metal bed frame. One was a girl with long blue hair and the other was a young boy with blond hair and freckles. They both had button eyes and were translucent, but that didn’t stop Basil from recognizing the young boy.

 

“B-Barley?” Basil stuttered out. The young boy’s head shot up at the sound of his name.

 

“ You know my name?” Barley floated closer to him. His mouth hung open in awe as he looked up at Basil.

 

“Yeah, your sister is my grandma. S-She has a p-picture of you two in her r-room.” Basil explained. He bit his lip softly as he fought the fear that seemed to well in his chest at the sight of two ghosts. 

 

Barley’s expression seemed to sink at his words. “ It’s really been that long? ” He said solemnly 

 

The blue haired girl hovered over to Basil next, “ What about me? Do you know my name?” She asked quietly, a hit of excitement leaking through her words.

 

Basil shook his head. The blue haired ghost seemed disappointed by the answer but quickly brightened up again. She pointed at his neck with a smile on her face.

 

“ That scarf! It looks a lot like the one I used to have!” She hovered closer to Basil, looking at the old scarf. The girl tried to grab at the end of the scarf, but her hand phased right through it. Basil felt her cold finger phase through his chest accidentally. The feeling making him shudder.

 

“ Sorry! I forgot I can’t touch you ‘cause you're still…” she trailed off before looking back up at him with her button eyes.

 

“A-Alive?” Basil finished quietly. The room felt colder than before. No one spoke for a moment after what he said. Basil started getting nervous, thinking that he shouldn’t have said that out loud. Luckily, the blue-haired girl broke the tension.

 

“ Oh! I almost forgot ,” the ghost girl floated back shyly, “ my name is Cris .”

 

Basil smiled shakily, “My name is Basil!” He instinctively held out his hand for her to shake but quickly dropped it remembering that they can’t touch.  He looked up at Cris to see if she noticed, but her attention was directed somewhere behind him.

 

“…Basil?” 

 

A voice whispered his name from behind him in what sounded like surprise. It sounded familiar, just with an echo similar to the ghost. They sounded older than the kids, more like a young adult or teenager instead of a child.

 

Basil turned around, not entirely sure who he would face once he did. His eyes widened when he saw the transparent figure of a familiar young woman. 

 

“Mari!?” Basil shouted in surprise. Mari silently hovered closer to him. Her entire figure was transparent with her eyes replaced with buttons like the other ghost children. She had a white dress that flowed calmly behind her.

 

…It was the same dress she was supposed to wear to the recital.

 

Mari was floating really close to him now. She had a look of shock and worry on her face. Her arms were raised as if to grab him, but instead moved to hover close to his shoulder.

 

“Are you okay?! You're not hurt or anything right?” Mari asked quickly. Her hands moved close to his face as she seemed to look right at his eyes. She seemed to relax a little after a moment of staring. Basil couldn’t help but tense up at the closeness, shivering at the cold that seemed to radiate off of her.

 

Luckily, Mari seemed to catch onto his discomfort and moved out of his personal space. “Sorry, I just was worried that…it had gotten to you already.” 

 

“I-I’m okay! I think I just hurt my arm a little but it's probably nothing serious!” Basil quickly reassured. “But, uh, what do you mean? Are you talking about Something?”

 

“Something?” Mari asked curiously.

 

“Oh, it’s what me and S-Sunny have been calling these weird black blob creatures with white eyes.” Basil explained.

 

Mari’s button eyes seemed to widen at the mention of her brother. “ Sunny’s here? Is he okay?”

 

“I-I don’t know, we g-got separated. We were trying to look for him b-before Something attacked me.” Basil grit his teeth at the thought of Something. It made the full throbbing in his arm more prominent than before. 

 

“ Have any of those things offered to sew buttons into your eyes?” Mari asked suddenly.

 

“Wha—sew buttons into my e-eyes?” Basil sputtered. “The only S-Something I’ve seen spoke in jiberish.”

 

“ Not those things, it’s disguised as one of the button-eye dolls. They look like the people that are most important in your life. Like friends or family.” Mari clarified.

 

Basil thought back to the short interactions he has had with button eye people and creatures. He remembers his first interaction with Mari… well the other Mari. He remembered the shock of seeing her again, every part of her the same before she went missing besides the purple hair and button eyes. But Basil also remembers how unnerved he felt. There was just something off about her that he couldn’t quite place.

 

The Mari in front of him felt more real , and that’s saying a lot considering she is a button eye ghost. Thinking back also brought to mind what Stranger said to Sunny:

 

‘This place was made for you. A perfect world that trumps anything reality can offer. A mouse trap designed to make you want to stay forever.’

 

“They all look like Sunny's friends and family.” Basil said confidently. “There are younger versions of you, Kel, Aubrey, and Hero. Oh! And there is also Omori but he is different from them.”

 

“ Omori?” Mari questioned. Basil looked behind him to where he last saw Omori. The pale boy stood off on the other side of the room watching them interact silently. 

 

Mari followed his gaze and stiffened at the sight of Omori. The boy walked closer to them, no longer hiding behind Basil. 

 

“ It doesn’t have button eyes.” Mari said quietly to herself. “ He, uh, kind of looks like that doll you wanted to give Sunny. ”

 

Basil’s eyes widened. “You r-remember that?”

 

Mari smiled at him, “ Of course! You were so nervous about giving it to him .” Mari hovered closer to Omori, getting a good look at the pale boy. “ I’ve never seen one of the dolls have real eyes before .”

 

Omori seemed to have lost interest in the conversation and walked away from the two. Basil watched Omori sit down in front of the empty silver frame. The boy stared at it as if waiting for something to happen. 

 

“Um, Omori? What are you doing?” Basil asked. Omori ignored him and instead continued to stare at the mirror. Basil pouted at the lack of acknowledgment.

 

“ It’s probably just waiting for the mirror to come back.” Mari reassured. 

 

Basil looked back at Mari nervously. There were questions still burning in his mind, but he wasn't sure how to ask. It was a difficult topic to bring up especially since he didn’t want to upset Mari.

 

“ What’s wrong?” Mari asked, noticing his sudden shift in confidence.

 

“I-I just—I…,” Basil took a deep breath. “How did you die?” He blurted out.

 

A bitter look appeared on Mari’s face. She didn’t  look angry, but more ashamed. “ I… messed up. I got upset and yelled at Sunny. He ran away from me and I thought he went to hide in his cubby behind the small door like he normally did when it all became too much, but I couldn’t find him .”

 

“ That’s when I first encountered Something. It—that thing dressed like a doll version of Sunny. I knew it was a fake and kept asking where my Sunny was. I made it mad and it turned into…something else. ” Mari shuddered. 

 

“It offered to let Sunny go if I stayed. I wasn’t thinking straight when I accepted, but I quickly learned that Sunny wasn’t even there. By then it was already too late…” Mari shook her head. “ But what happened to me doesn’t matter. As soon as that mirror comes back you need to find Sunny and leave.”

 

“But what about you?” Basil asked.

 

“Basil, I’m already dead. You don’t need to worry about me.” She smiled sadly.

 

Basil shook his head, “No! You said that you were stuck here, but there has to be a way to get you out with me and Sunny!”

 

“There might be a way…” Barely spoke up . Mari looked as if she was about to retort, but seemed to think better of it.

 

“It took our eyes and fed off our lives.” Barely continued. “All of our emotions; love, fear, happiness, sadness, agony. It used it all to make it stronger. If you steal our eyes back, I think it would free us. It might even starve to death without them, or at least it would become too weak to hurt anyone else.”

 

Basil nodded at the explanation, his mind racing with all the new info he had received. “Okay, so I just have to find all of your e-eyes and then you’ll be free.”

 

“It won’t be easy.” Mari warned. “I’d rather you just find Sunny and leave instead of risking everything for us…but I can’t stop you from trying. Just remember that it will do whatever it takes to keep you here so you can’t play fair.”

 

“I know,” Basil smiled shakily. Despite the ever present fear, he felt a sense of confidence. All the information he had learned from Stranger, the head fruit, and the ghosts; there is enough to make the task seem possible. There might be a chance to outsmart Something. 

 

Mari was one of his first friends. He had to try for her.

 

He had to try for Sunny.

 

“I think I have a plan to save everyone.”

OOO

Notes:

I was going to make this chapter much larger with both Basil and Sunny pov but I’m saving Sunny pov for next chapter due to how long it’s taking me to write this

Moral of the story: going to college and working part time sucks :(

Notes:

I know what I'm going to make for my next Omori fic >:)

I'm still getting some stuff figured out but it'll probably be a mix of an Omori "What if" kind of fic that is mixed with a mystery plot I've been wanting to write with these characters.

It'll come out sometime after I complete this fic so I hope to see some of you guys there :D

EDIT: My ass is NOT working on another OMORI fic anytime soon. If my hyper fixation on the game comes back then maybe but I'm just gonna finish this fic first at least.