Chapter Text
“Hello Dreamer, welcome to Whitespace!”
Sunny’s eyes opened slowly, his vision clouded by white text on black paper and-
“Abbi, what the hell are you doing?” A voice asked.
“Uh, giving the usual introduction! This happens every time, cards and everything,”
Sunny grumbled, pushing the paper out of his sight to see a familiar face, one with a large question mark on it. “Abbi… what the hell are you doing?”
“Uh, giving the usual introduction-”
“Bitch, I heard the first time!” Sunny sat up, groaning as he did. “I don’t need an introduction, I know where this place is.”
“That’s what I was gonna say but no~ Abbi needs to be dramatic…” Another voice said from the side.
Sunny turned his head, seeing that pitch black bitch that beat him black and blue. “Stranger…?”
“Yes…?”
“The hell is you doing here?” Sunny asked dryly.
Stranger rolled his eyes. “It’s ‘What the hell are you doing’-”
“I said what I said, asshat.”
“Ahem!” Abbi cleared her throat, interrupting the bickering before it could go any further. “Stranger… you remember what I told you, right?” She said with a slightly condescending smile.
Stranger sighed, his shoulders dropping. “Yeah…” He grumbled as he looked at Sunny and began to recite what was probably just a memorized apology. “I’m sorry I beat you to a bloody pulp while you were drowning, it wasn’t nice and I lost my temper. I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me…”
Sunny just stared at him, not saying anything.
“...Please say something…”
Sunny sighed. “You’re joking, right…?”
“I-...” Stranger glanced around, slightly fidgety. “No…?”
“That apology was shit, there was no fucking emotion to it. Plus, YOU BEAT THE SHIT OUT OF ME!” Sunny shouted. “I’m not just going to forgive you for that!”
Abbi put a tentacle on Sunny’s shoulder. “Okay, uh… maybe, instead of shouting, we could-”
“Get your slimy fetish shit off of me.” Sunny slapped her appendage off. “This is bullshit, he fucking assaulted me! I’m not gonna forgive him just because he said sorry!”
“Dreamer, now isn’t the time to be entitled.” Stranger sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose.
“Ex-FUCKING-scuse me!?” Sunny approached Stranger, grabbing him by the vest. “I’m being entitled!? What on God’s green Earth would even possess you to think that?! I’m sorry I’m not gonna forgive you for a major crime that you gave a recited apology to!”
“Well thank you for apologizing-”
“I’M BEING SARCASTIC, YOU FUCK!” Sunny threw Stranger to the ground, kicking him in the shin.
“... Ow…?”
Abbi stepped between the two. “Okay, how about we just calm down and work things out peacefully?” She suggested.
Stranger sighed in relief. “Glad someone else here is being reasonable-”
“NO!” Sunny shouted once more. “You fucking stay out of it, Abbi! I’m not gonna let this shit slide! What, you think just because he ‘apologized’ means he’s in the right!?”
Abbi shifted around on her feet. “... I thought the apology was okay…”
“... You’re the one who wrote it, didn’t you…” Sunny deadpanned, to which Abbi nodded. “You’re fucking unbelievable… How high are you right now?”
“I haven’t had weed in 7 hours, 32 minutes, and 17- 18- 19 seconds.”
“Fucking stoner…” Sunny grumbled, turning and walking away. He just… went to the corner… of the blanket, because Whitespace doesn’t have corners. Tangent aside, he sat down, holding his knees to his chest.
Abbi stared at him before silently going over to him and sitting without a word. Sunny glanced at her and sighed. “What are you even trying to do here?” He asked. “Why even try to make us get along… he’s like, the second biggest asshole I’ve met.”
Abbi smiled warmly at him. “While I’m flattered I’m the biggest asshole you know-”
“I’m the biggest asshole I know.”
“... I’m flattered I’m the second biggest-”
“I literally just said that was Stranger.”
“I’M FLATTERED I’M THE THIRD BIGGEST ASSHOLE YOU KNOW!”
Sunny shruged. “Sure, I’ll give it to ya.”
Abbi sighed, her body relaxing. “I do just want to help you… Stranger does too, even if he’s kinda stuck up… entitled… a jerk… a gaslighter… a-”
“I get it.”
“-He was made from your mind just like I was. That means he serves a purpose, one that is meant to help you out,” she explained. “I’m born from your desire for a friend, something you needed a long time ago before you met your real friends… and Stranger is kinda like… well, it’s hard to explain…”
Soft steps approached them. “I’m your sense of preservation: your survival instinct in a way. Just… personified.” Stranger said, leaning over the two.
“Yeah!” Abbi grinned. “He’s your fight or flight.”
“I can tell which he prefers…” Sunny grumbled.
Stranger sighed, hopping over the two to sit across from them. “Look… I’m sorry I beat the shit out of you… I was on edge and you happened to interrupt me when I was being dramatic about everything…”
“... But…?” Sunny inquired.
“But what…?”
Sunny groaned, leaning his head back. “Oh my GOD! My brain is full of assholes!”
“Okay, I’m sorry! I’m doing my best here! I wasn’t exactly made to be nice, I was made to keep you and your emotions safe from things!” Stranger exclaimed. “I am here to help you! I want to help you! I just… I’m way too defensive about everything… places, people, myself, my words… my ego. It’s just way too hard for me to genuinely say I’m sorry… and I’m sorry for that…” He glanced away, his eyes half closed.
“Huh…” Sunny hummed. “Definitely not a valid crashout but… I guess that's the best apology I’m getting for a while…” He sighed, his body relaxing. “Damn, you really are just a part of my brain, aren’t you?” He chuckled at how obvious it felt now. “You’re… half-forgiven.”
“Only half…?” Stranger asked with a raised brow. “I guess that’s the best forgiveness I’m getting for a while…”
Abbi giggled beside them. “See? Everything works out when we just talk it out!”
Sunny rolled his eyes. “You’re sounding like Mari,” he said, bumping his elbow into Abbi’s.
“Oh boy, I wonder why that could be?” Abbi inquired.
“I know you’re gonna say some brain shit and I don’t want to hear it,” Sunny said as he poked Abbi’s forehead. “One question I do have right now though is: why is your shirt black now? I’ve literally never seen anyone in Headspace change clothes…”
Abbi chuckled, remembering her meaningless sidequest. “Stranger said he was gonna get me weed and has yet to do so.”
“That answers nothing.”
“It was nothing important,” Stranger cut in. “I just told her to change because-”
“Sunny, what do boobs look like?” Abbi interrupted.
“I-... HUH?” Sunny exclaimed, flabbergasted. “Why the fuck are you asking that!?”
“It is very imperative that I know…”
“No it’s not! I don’t even really know either, you think a shut in like me has seen tits!?”
“Stranger…” Abbi ordered. “Get the laptop, we need to search up what boobs look like.”
“NO WE DON’T!” Sunny exclaimed.
“Stranger!”
Stranger shrugged. “I thought you had the laptop!”
“I-... what? No, you had the laptop before you left!”
Sunny sighed. “I don’t even think we could search it up on there if I don’t already know, why do we need the laptop so bad?”
Abbi put her hands on Sunny’s shoulders and shook him vigorously! “BECAUSE! It has our step by step plan on how we’re going to help you!”
Stranger pulls Abbi away from Sunny. “More importantly, it has the keys…”
“I- the keys?” Sunny questioned. “Like, the Blackspace keys? I remember that…”
“Yeah, the Blackspace keys!” Stranger shouted. “We need them! Without them, you can’t traverse Blackspace which you need to figure out the truth!”
“The… truth…? Okay…?”
“I feel like you aren’t taking this seriously…” Stranger deadpanned.
“What~? Nooooooo… I’m taking this seriously… definitely…”
Abbi sighed. “You’re not taking this seriously…”
“Nope!” Sunny shrugged, folding his arms. “Personally, I don’t want to go there! Why should I have to go to some place I got beat up in just to remember some arbitrary bullshit?!”
“Because it’s going to help!” Stranger groaned.
“Well maybe I’m content right where I am?!” Sunny argued. “Maybe, I’m happy that I finally have my friends back! Maybe I’m happy that I get to finally be happy with my friends! Maybe I’m happy that they’re happy! Maybe… maybe I don’t want to ruin that again…”
Abbi looked at him with a gentle expression. “I understand that… but really, I don’t think you are happy like this… And I definitely don’t think one of your friends is either…”
“... I don’t think you know what you’re talking about…” Sunny answered more quietly than usual.
“Sunny… I know everything about you… I essentially am you,” she replied. “You won’t be truly happy until you see what really happened…”
A low and sporadic tone quietly rang in Sunny’s ears. “... You can piss the fuck off. You don’t get to decide-!”
“Quiet!” Stranger called out, holding up a finger.
“Don’t fucking, shush me-!”
“Just listen!” Stranger growled.
The room was silent… just the ringing in Sunny’s ears. The low ringing… coming from right behind him…
Ring… Ring… Ring…
Sunny turned around, his eyes landing on the dark light bulb hanging from the infinite sky… and it shook… it shook every time a low and quiet ring tolled through the air. And that sound was so familiar… the tolling of church bells, just like the one in Faraway…
Ring… Ring… Ring…
Without warning, the ringing suddenly spiked in volume! A piercing ring shook the very air around it, assaulting Sunny’s hearing. He covered his ears in a desperate attempt to mute the sound, but it changed nothing. He looked around for Abbi and Stranger…
RING… RING… RING…
The two of them stood still on the blanket… their faces… blank… gone… null… yet they stared at him. They stared at him with heavy judgment. Sunny tried to look away, but there was just nothing else to look at. His eyes hurt, the bells shaking his very skull. He felt like his head was going to split.
RING!... RING!... RING!...
He stumbled back and forth, his jaw clenched as he felt his bones crack. But even that sound was drowned by the bells toll. His ears bled, and Sunny let out a visceral scream that not even he could hear over the bells constant
RING! RING! RING!
He writhed on the floor, looking at Stranger and Abbi, their skin melting and scorching black. Their bodies towered over him, amorphous and judgemental as they stared down. He could feel them whispering about him, but he couldn’t hear it over the
RING! RING! RING!
The sky of Whitespace was overtaken by a cloudy red fog, stains of scarlet dripping down over distant walls. The sky cried its blood with each toll. Not even the walls and sky could stand the
RING! RING! RING!
Sunny’s vision clouded with blood as his vessels popped and strained against his skin. He clawed at himself, trying to get the blood anywhere but in his body. And then… a sudden
Knock knock knock…
from the pure white door… it pierced through the ringing… the sound not drowning it out, but still overpowering the constant tolls. And with a creak, the door opened. And out came a monochrome boy, one so familiar…
“There you are… coward.”
“Omor-” His head exploded into fine, red mist… the ringing stopping as his body fell to the ground with a resounding
THUMP.