Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Sunny stared at his computer screen with his one good eye. No new emails, no responses. Nothing. The new home phone had no new voicemails, and Sunny double checked to make sure he emailed the right number to everyone. He supposed it was too hopeful for him to expect anyone to respond to him right away. Especially after all they found out. The only person Sunny thought would contact him right away was Basil, and he can’t, being in an institute and all.

While forgiveness did not come immediately, and probably may not come at all, Sunny was content. Yes, there was the selfish part of him that wanted to have friends, but this is both what he and they deserve. Sunny would gladly accept the blame his friends kept directed at themselves for years, they didn’t deserve to suffer like that. It was kind of funny, for the first time in his life (well in Headspace anyway) a painful truth will result in the people who heard it happier than before.

He pushed aside the feeling of disappointment and turned off the computer.

Finding his way to the bathroom was easier in the new one story house, Sunny filled the bathtub and started getting ready for his bath. Before Sunny could even think about going outside and “exploring” the new city he had to get used to his new house. His new home. And that meant establishing his routine here, and that meant a bath before bed. He was over his fear of drowning. He went in to save Basil just a week ago.

Settling into the now full bathtub of warm water, Sunny leaned his head back, careful to keep the eyepatch out of the water. It being a gift from Kel made Sunny extra cautious to not ruin it. And it’s not like he was comfortable taking it off, he could still remember Aubrey’s look of horror and disgust as she saw it, so Sunny wasn’t quite ready to fully confront it.

As he let the waters soothe him (he’s not scared of drowning, he’s not). He distantly registers the sound of the front door opening. A bit later he hears his mom shout, “Sunny, Aubrey left a voicemail for you!”

“Huh, that’s nice, ” Sunny thought. “ I’ll listen to it after this bath.”

“Hmm as this finished timeline is fraying, I can use one of him to heal another, opposite branch. I do believe I need your tentacles to reach, so I defer to your wisdom. What do you think?”

“. . . I want to. They deserve it. As long as one version remains, to heal and bond from a painful truth. We can’t take that from him.”

“By the word of the wisest.”

“ . . . Good luck Sunny, I’ll keep an eye on the one here.”

Sunny jolted. For a moment, a brief moment, he had that feeling like one sleeping on a perilous ledge about to fall. His head snapped up from almost dipping into the water. He must’ve dozed off, the water was cold now. Actually . . . the lights were off too. “ Did the power go out? ” Sunny thought. He must be hallucinating. There’s no way he can see the starry night sky right now. Focusing on his surroundings, he could not feel the sides of the tub anymore, and his back was no longer on a smooth surface. He scrambled to get up and found himself standing on the edge of a small pond, fully clothed and soaking wet.

“Ah,” Sunny said out loud. “I’m asleep.” He hasn’t visited Headspace since leaving Faraway, but it was only a matter of time before he returned. He liked it more than before. He’s not lying to himself anymore, so it’s probably healthier here or something. The night sky and slight chill air made Sunny think of melancholy acceptance, rather than denial or pain, like Headspace usually was. Stepping out of the lake he stepped into the forest ahead of him, setting out to explore what his psyche was now that it had changed. 

After a few minutes traversing the trees, Sunny shuddered and wrapped his arms around his torso. The cold wet water that suffused his very being it seemed, did not help. Maybe this was a metaphor for how he needs to improve? The better he becomes the dryer and more comfortable he gets? That sounded exactly like the artsy bullcrap he’d come up with now that he wasn’t traumatized out of his mind. Still traumatized mind you, just more in touch with reality.

He gave a bitter chuckle at his own internal monologue. The sound died as he heard someone speaking far away.

“-ven’t visited you as much. God, I feel so dramatic doing this before sunrise. But then again I couldn’t sleep.”

Wait a second. Sunny recognized that voice. That was Aubrey. 16 year old, gruff, can’t communicate to save Basil’s life Aubrey (Sunny knew that joke was unfair to her but Basil never really held it against her and he didn’t say it out loud. Besides, she’s better than him). 

He stepped closer, keeping his wet shoes as silent as possible, curious to hear what his subconscious thought of her now.

“School just started. We started on a Friday for some stupid reason. Had us back for one day before sending us back home for the weekend. Like a hiccup to summer vacation.” She paused. 

Sunny quietly agreed it was stupid. Stepping a bit forward he could barely see through the treelines, his old childhood friend. She was standing in front of a gravestone, her nail bat loosely held by her side. Oh, maybe Headspace now was about him working through his friends getting closure or something.

Aubrey continued. “God, I miss you. I wish our last summer vacation together lasted longer. If I knew it would be our last, I would’ve- we would’ve.” She sighed. “I guess it didn’t matter. It’s not like we could tell. I wish I could’ve at least told you goodbye Sunny.”

Sunny jolted in surprise. “I guess the jig is up,” he thought. As he took a step forward he whispered out, “Didn’t think you saw me.”

Aubrey jolted at his voice and whipped her bat up. Her eyes going up from the gravestone to the area Sunny was. “Kel? Is that you?! I swear to god if you-” her voice died in her throat as Sunny took the last step out of the trees. Sunny watched as Aubrey’s face melted from anger to shock and confusion.

He signed, “What? Didn’t you see me?”

Aubrey threw her nail bat at Sunny which he only barely dodged. “What the fuck?” She yelled. “What the fuck? Am I dreaming? What the fuck? Sunny?!”

Sunny resisted the urge to frown. He had no idea what was going on. The area was almost exactly similar to Faraway cemetery. Maybe Headspace was doing a “him going back home” scenario or something?

“Hey,” Sunny signed. “I know I left but-” he was cut off.

“Is that what you call it?” As Aubrey wrapped her hands around his collar and pulled him closer Sunny realized tears were at the corner of her eyes. Before he could comment he was wrapped tightly in a bone-crushing hug.

Sunny knew he still had a lot to work for in real life, and Aubrey would never be so emotional to see him in real life, but still indulged himself in his friend’s embrace.

“How are you here?” Aubrey asked. Before he could try to answer, she continued. “How are you alive?” Her voice cracked. Sunny’s eyes widened, and suddenly the warmth of his friend seemed so distant. Turning his head slightly, his one good eye could barely see the tombstone he was now standing next to. The tombstone with his name on it.

“Is this real?” Aubrey asked.

“I don’t know,” Sunny whispered.

Chapter Text

“Am I dreaming?” Aubrey finally asked. Her question jostled Sunny out of his detached state. They’ve been hugging so long Sunny saw his namesake peak over the horizon.

“I don’t know,” Sunny replied. “I was going to ask you the same thing.”

Aubrey sniffed, and reigned the tears back in. She gave him one last squeeze before letting go. By letting go, Sunny meant from the hug, she now had a hand on his shoulder. Now with enough sunlight she looked him over.

“Jesus, you’re almost as tall as me. Probably taller than Basil. Have you been growing up in the afterlife or something?” She asked.

Sunny shrugged. “I don’t know about the afterlife. But I’ve been growing.”

Aubrey gave him an odd look. “How old are you?” 

“16.”

“Yeah,” she nodded. “That sounds about right.” Suddenly a flash of anger overtook her features. “Sunny I swear if you were alive this whole time I’m going to kill you.”

Sunny paused. The nail bat was behind him, but she still could hit like a truck. “I don’t know about me dying, all I know is I woke up in the pond back that way,” he signed.

Her face fell. “Ah.” Aubrey went back to examining him. Her gaze fell on his face and her eyes widened in shock. “Holy shit, is that an eyepatch? Did you lose your eye?” Before he could stop her she reached up and lifted it up. She flinched in horror at the wound and let the eyepatch fall back down. “What happened?”

Sunny considered his answer for a moment.

“Rhino stabbed it.”

“what.”

“Yep, he feinted to the left and got me in the right when I was least expecting it.”

Aubrey stared at him incomprehensibly.

“Can’t believe rhinos these days have switchblades.”

And finally his deadpan delivery reaped benefits as Aubrey’s shoulders shook until repressed laughter bubbled forth. Giving Sunny a side hug, Aubrey started pulling him towards the church. “Let’s get you inside man. You’re probably freezing right now.”

Maneuvering through the gravestones Sunny felt a bit lighter. Aubrey leaned her head against Sunny briefly, and he could’ve sworn he heard her say, “God, I’ve missed you.”

While inside the church and drying off (using an entire roll of paper towels from the men’s room) Sunny and Aubrey fell into a comfortable silence. Well, comfortable for him. Aubrey would open her mouth to talk multiple times but never followed through, and Sunny just patiently waited for what she would say.

The two sat in the pews, feeling the sun’s rays warm them up as it rose, Aubrey finally said, “I just can’t believe you’re here.”

“I’m not even sure where here is,” Sunny signed.

Aubrey gave him an odd look. “The Faraway church. Don’t you remember? I know you were here a few times during the holidays.”

“That’s not exactly what I meant. But yeah I was here, like, last week fighting someone.”

Aubrey blinked. Ignoring the first part she said, “You? Get into a fight? I can’t imagine you getting-” her gaze fell on his eyepatch and fell silent.

Sunny shrugged. “Hey it’s cool, I can’t imagine you caring so much that I was gone.”

Aubrey flinched before she started shaking with rage.

“Don’t you dare,” she began. She slammed her head into his, knocking him almost out of the pew. 

He remembered a distant voice rom Headspace, “It was a moving attack! ”

“Don’t you dare say that!”

“Do you have any idea how much your death hurt us Sunny!” She yelled. Her eyes were completely dry. “I’m still grieving after 4 years! Does that sound like I don’t care?” She spat that last part out. “And I can tell you right now none of us were the same ever again! So do you think your family, Kel, Hero and Basil just moved on? No! We were all broken by it for the longest time. Basil still is!” Around here she started to lose anger, instead replaced by an undercurrent of sadness. “After your, after your suicide, none of us were friends anymore.”

Sunny glanced away. “Mari kept everyone together. Not me,” he whispered out.

“Fat load of good she did.”

Sunny sighed internally. Just because this version of Aubrey had to deal with his death right after Mari’s, she didn’t understand it was her, not him, that everyone loved. That everyone should love.

Before he could comment, the door to the church opened up and the preacher walked in.

“Tomorrow’s sermon,” he muttered, “that sermon will be different. I’ll-“ he stopped. His eyes landing on Sunny and Aubrey. No one said anything for a moment. “While I certainly understand worship can be done any time of day, what are you and your friend doing here at 7 on a Saturday morning Aubrey?”

She glared at him for a moment before grabbing Sunny’s hand and dragging him away. 

“Nothing Father Miller. We’re leaving,” she said. Sunny didn’t spare the man a glance as they left the building. Too focused on the feeling of his hand held by hers.

Father Miller watched the temperamental young girl and young boy leave. He was certain they weren’t using the church to make out or anything like that. Aubrey wasn’t that type of girl. But something about that boy was familiar. Something big. 

He did remind him of, no. It couldn’t be. Yes, the resemblance was uncanny but Sunny Suzuki was dead. He performed his last rites. Must be a family member. He did hear that the family was looking to move somewhere else after their daughter goes back to college.

Aubrey dragged Sunny down the street, set on a destination. Well, at least she wasn’t angry at him anymore. He was pretty sure.

“Where are we going?” he asked.

Aubrey did not look back as she said, “I want you to see some of my new friends. I think they’d like you.”

“As someone who picked fights with posters and struck conversations with air, you’re much smarter about your double checking of reality. Good job Aubrey, ” Sunny thought.

Strolling right up to Vance and Kim’s house, Aubrey banged on the front door.

After three sets of knocks, Kim in a tank top and sweats answered the door rubbing her eye, apparently not bothering to put on her glasses.

“Hey Aubrey, it’s the weekend, what’re you . . . doing here so early. . .?” Her question trailed off as her gaze landed on Sunny.

“Get everyone together, we’re going to Gino’s,” and without further explanation Aubrey turned heel and stomped to her next destination.

“Is Gino’s even open this early?” Kim asked.

“On Saturdays it is,” Aubrey said over her shoulder.

Kim and everyone else could do nothing but stare at the newcomer. Not only because he was a guy none of them know (though he did look vaguely familiar), or even because of his eyepatch. It was Aubrey’s body language around him. After picking up some pizza from Ginos, Aubrey took everyone out behind the plaza “for privacy.” And then, right when everyone was situated, Aubrey pulled the new kid down so that he was sitting in the grass right next to her and leaned her shoulder against his. Aubrey wasn’t the most physically affectionate or vulnerable. In her body language, this was the equivalent of full on cuddling (and Kim did not get jealous over that. No siree).

The group sat in silence for a few minutes as Aubrey finished her soda, anxiously waiting for what the point of all this was. The new kid seemed content to just nibble on his pizza slice.

“So,” Kim started. “What’s the deal with this? Who’s the new guy?”

“And why’d this have to be so early in the morning?” Angel asked. “It’s the weekend, we’re supposed to sleep until noon.”

Aubrey finished her soda and pointed at him with her soda cup. “Describe him.”

“What?” Vance asked.

“You guys can all see him right? Tell me what you see.”

“Uh,” Kim looked him over. “About my height maybe? Black hair, kind of a split in the middle with a bang.”

“Basic eyepatch. Very pale,” The Maverick said.

“Thin, deadpan expression. Wearing something like a school uniform,” Charlie said.

Aubrey nodded. Apparently hearing what she wanted. “And you guys can touch him right?”

Before Kim could even process that question, the guy reached forward and jabbed Maverick in his ribs with his fingers.

“Ah!” Maverick shouted in surprise. Kim knew it didn’t actually hurt. “What the heck man?”

New Guy shrugged and moved his hand in a circle around his chest. Kim blinked. 

“Did you sign sorry?” she asked. Barely remembering basic signs from her language phase in middle school.

He nodded.

Kim began to hesitantly introduce herself with what she remembered before New Guy shook his head and signed, “Not Deaf,” and then a couple of other things.

Charlie nodded her head.

Kim glanced at Charlie for a hot second before turning back to Aubrey. “What’s all this about?” Who is this guy?”

Aubrey grimaced. And that’s when Kim realized her casual, stoic demeanor was especially fake right then. “Aubrey’s scared. Of- no, for New Guy? ” Kim thought. It was hard to read.

Aubrey put down her soda cup “Look, can you guys just go along with this a bit more? If I don’t make sure you’ll think I’m crazy.”

“We won’t-“

“I think I’m crazy.”

Vance sighed and asked, “Alright, any other ‘clearance’ questions or whatever?”

Aubrey hunched forward on herself. “I don’t know. Is there any way he might be changing his appearance? Like wearing a wig or lots of makeup I’m not seeing?”

Everyone in the scooter gang leaned forward to physically examine the guy. Maverick focused on the hair while everyone else checked the skin. Kim saw no signs of makeup, and from the way, Vance pinched and prodded, he didn’t find any fake skin or anything like that. New Guy just let them do their examinations, not changing expression or offering resistance of any kind.

Everyone sat back down.

“Not wearing a wig or using hair dye,” Maverick said.

“I don’t think he’s got fake skin,” Angel said.

“And I don’t think he’s wearing any make up,” Kim said.

“Got no signs of surgery scars,” Charlie said. Oh yeah, her cousins had a few of those.

“So, we done yet Aubrey?” Angel asked. Earlier he was excited by the build up of this mystery, now Kim could tell he was getting impatient.

Aubrey gave one last look to New Guy. He caught her gaze a moment later and gave a thumbs up.

Aubrey rolled her eyes and took in a deep breath. Now focused, she turned to everyone and said, “Everyone, meet my old friend Sunny Suzuki.”

Kim didn’t recognize the name at first. And then her mind flashed back.

Having Aubrey sleep over at her house was weird for Kim. Aubrey never invited Kim to her house and when sleeping over at anyone’s, she established the couch as her territory. So even though this was her own home, Kim felt like a stranger, tip-toeing back to her sleeping bag, hoping she didn’t disturb Aubrey flipping through her binder. Kim just saw something personal about the way Aubrey ever so gently flipped through and stared at the photo album.

“I know you’re awake Kim,” Aubrey said, not looking at her.

Kim flinched halfway into her sleeping bag. “Sorry,” she whispered. “Didn’t want to disturb you.”

“You’re not.”

Kim paused, gathering her courage. “Can I see?”

There was a long pause and Kim thought she messed up until Aubrey said, “Sure.” Aubrey scooted over on the couch, giving enough room for Kim to sit next to her. Now having a clear look of the photo album, each page had three photos, and every photo had a delicately written down date and summary. As opposed to the “family” photo album her mom kept, Kim could see a lot of specific care and personality in the photos themselves and the descriptions next to them. It was obviously very personal, but Kim couldn’t imagine Aubrey using the language and style the writer did with these.

“Basil took these,” Aubrey said. Kim jostled at the sudden speaking. “He loved this so much. Treasuring natural poses and whatnot. Didn’t like people knowing there was about to be a photo. We all thought if he wasn’t going to be a gardener he’d be a newspaper photographer or something.”

“Basil,” Kim began. “He’s the guy who’s sick, right?”

Aubrey nodded. “Yeah, he couldn’t keep his album anymore since some of the photos would get ruined, which would stress him out and . . . make it harder for him to recover. So I promised him to hold on to it until he’s better.”

Kim looked back at the photos, paying more attention. She recognized the younger Aubrey, before getting her hair dyed. She recognized Kel, the popular jock asshole. She knew Mari and Hero from brief introductions by Aubrey. But there was one kid who barely made any appearances in photos, and if he did, was obscured so only his face was showing. At one point Aubrey flipped to the beginning and Kim saw a three-quarters image of the kid playing a violin, obviously on Christmas.

“Who’s that?” Kim asked.

In the quietest whisper Aubrey said, “Sunny. Sunny Suzuki”

“Was he one of your old friends who . . . abandoned you?”

Aubrey shook her head, her eyes starting to water. “Sunny, Sunny was my best friend. We all thought he was so happy, happy with us. But when he-” her voice started to tremble, “he killed himself, and Basil was sick, there was no reason for anyone to want to be my friend.”

Kim quickly pulled Aubrey into a hug, having no idea what to say. Aubrey whispered into Kim’s shoulder, “I feel like I abandoned him.”

“Oh,” Kim heard herself say.

“Sunny,” Angel said. “Oh yeah I heard about you. You’re the guy who drowned, right?”

Aubrey tensed up, her hand automatically reaching for a nail bat that wasn’t there.

“Coulda swore I heard he died,” Angel continued, unaware of the danger he was in. “Oh well, I guess that’s the thing about rumors, they’re always exaggerated. So, you visiting Aubrey or something?”

“He did die!” Aubrey shouted.

Everyone flinched at Aubrey’s shout. Except for Sunny, who just stared at the group interacting, face completely blank.

“I was at the funeral, I saw his body! I was just at his grave and then he suddenly walks out of the trees soaking wet without a care in the world! At first I thought this was a dream or I finally lost it, or a ghost, or something! But now people can see him and touch him and he said he didn’t die and now I don’t know what’s going on!”

Without any windup or draw of attention Sunny grabbed onto Aubrey’s hand. With her attention, Sunny signed something, and Aubrey watched, her face became more confused and broken.

“What’s, what’s he saying?” Maverick asked.

In a rare moment, Charlie spoke up, she said, “He said he once almost drowned 6 years ago, but Mari saved him. He never killed himself, and was just talking to Aubrey last week before he moved away with his Mom.”

Kim was reeling. “What? How does that-”

“I’ve got it!” Angel shouted. Everyone turned to him. “Be right back!” And without saying anything else he booked it back to the front of the plaza buildings. 

While they waited for Angel to come back, Aubrey tried to calm down as Sunny awkwardly comforted her.

Everyone looked at him with new eyes. Everybody’s casual demeanors and self important poses vanished to awkward worry and curiosity.

Angel finally came back with a comic book and a smile of victory.

Kim growled. “Angel, this is not the time for-”

“No no listen!” Angel said. “It’s just to make a point.” He flipped through the pages. “So an arc ago there was an “imposter” claiming to be Captain Spaceboy.”

Vance coughed. “Uh, didn’t we already see if he’s wearing a disguise?”

“No shut up,”Angel said. “But in the last issue we discovered it wasn’t an imposter. But a-” he turned the comic book over to show a panel of two Captain Spaceboys, one with an eyepatch on the wrong side, “-version of him from another timeline! See, the other Captain Spaceboy got divorced and in a depressive state drove through a black hole and-”

Kim cut him off, “Okay okay stop Angel.” She turned to Aubrey. “You okay Aubrey?”

Aubrey stared at the comic before turning to look at Sunny. “How does that sound to you? That make sense?”

Sunny shrugged and signed something.

“Well,” Aubrey began. “Is there anything I can do to convince you this isn’t a dream?”

Sunny shrugged.

“Can you feel anything around you Sunny?” Kim asked. Everyone, including Sunny, turned to her. “Can you feel the grass, or the sun?”

He nodded.

“Can you hear any background noises? Anything that isn’t us talking?”

Sunny tilted his head and pointed towards the parking lot.

“Cool, can you smell anything?”

Sunny pointed at the Maverick.

“Hey,” he protested.

Kim ignored him. “Great, now did you actually taste that pizza earlier? Do you still got some bits in your mouth?”

Sunny paused for a moment, considering. He nodded.

“Now, are your dreams usually fully of these types of details? Can you smell, taste, and touch?”

Here Sunny faltered. He looked off to the side, almost not wanting to answer. Finally he shook his head.

“Good, so you’re probably not dreaming,” Kim declared. She looked over to Aubrey and had to look away quickly. That vulnerable smile might kill her if she’s exposed too much. Even if Aubrey’s attention was split between her and Sunny.

Aubrey slung her arm around Sunny before looking at everyone and said. “Well, since you’re actually here-” Everyone ignored how her voice cracked. “Let me introduce you to my friends.”

No matter how many times she looked at this piece of paper, the words and numbers blurred together. This should be simple for Mari, she did senior level homework junior year.

“Come on Mari,” she thought. “Just prove you can do things by yourself. Prove to Hero you don’t need his help anymore, you can’t accept it anyway. Not after Sunny- Nope, you need to stop thinking about Suny every 5 seconds. Think about math. Prove you can do college level math you bitch and you can finally have a nap and see Sunny. A Sunny who you can be a good sister to.” Her thoughts stopped as she heard some scratching noise come from her window.

Mari threw her pencil down on her desk and went to shoo off whatever bird decided to mess with her window when she stopped. How did-

“Mewo?!” Mari asked. “Where have you been?”

Once everyone grew more comfortable with Sunny, well, being alive and not dead, conversation and movement flowed freely. And in that atmosphere Sunny realized something. This entire time, since Aubrey first saw him in fact, she hasn’t let him out of arm’s reach. Kept him close by when going into the church, she dragged him to Kim’s house, to Ginos, made him sit with her in the grass, and always stood up and walked with him when he did. It was getting to the point where he was scared to go to the bathroom.

“So, where’d you get that eyepatch?” Angel asked.

“Angel!” Vance shouted. “You don’t just ask that!”

Angel groaned. “Come on! It’s cool! And it’s not like-”

Aubrey cut him off, “It’s real and he does need it. I can promise you that.”

“Whoa!” Angel said.  “What happened?”

Sunny signed, “Fought a shark. In court. I proved he broke a contract so he leaped over the witness stand and bit my eye out.”

Aubrey translated, laughing slightly. Everyone else, not quite used to Sunny’s humor, wasn’t sure how to react.

With everyone awkward and unsure, Mikhael finally said, “So, Sunny, uh, how’d your family react when you showed up?”

Aubrey paled. “Oh shit Sunny. How’re we going to break the news to everyone else? Oh god, your family will- Basil will-”

Sunny signed, “Just call my mom and say you have something really important to show her so she’ll have a heads up and we’ll head right over.”

Aubrey took a breath and nodded. “Okay, yeah. Yeah, let’s go find a phone to call ahead. You think Gino’s will let us borrow theirs?”

Sunny shrugged and Aubrey sighed. Both of them stood up together while the hooligans watched them go.

Once at the phone, and number dialed, Aubrey shifted weight from foot to foot, one hand pulling and fidgeting with the cord. Sunny watched and gave her a thumbs up. Honestly there was little he could do to help. Aubrey gave a weak smile in return when the other end was picked up.

“H-hello? Mrs. Suzuki?” she said.

Something was said on the other end.

“Yeah it’s me, Aubrey. Listen, uh, I guess I wanted to give you a heads up that something big came up. Like, super important, I kind of can’t understate how important it is. Like, you all have to brace yourselves”

Aubrey grimaced at what was said on the other end.

“Um, it’s not really something I can say over the phone. I’m heading over to your house to show you. Again, really important. Brace yourselves. Bye.” Aubrey hung up. As they were leaving Aubrey said, “Oh wow, this is really happening.”

Sunny nodded.

In a quieter voice she said, “You’re really here.”

Sunny, using his voice, said, “Yeah.”

Aubrey side hugged him again.

“Well well well, look who we have here, another kid to join your loser squad Pinky?”

Ben smirked as his voice caused both of them to freeze. Aubrey turned around first, with the other kid doing so a moment later. Now with his facial features and eyepatch revealed, Ben had more material to work with.

“What’s with the eyepatch, small fry? You playing pirates?” he asked.

Aubrey grit her teeth. “Leave us alone Ben. I really don’t have time for this.”

“Calm down bitch, you already know what I want. Just hand over Basil’s shit and I’ll leave you and your boyfriend alone,” he said. His words made Aubrey all the more emotional, but so far the eyepatch kid hasn’t changed expression. “Is he dumb or something? ” Ben thought.

“Kel already has a lapdog Ben,” Aubrey said. “You won’t get anywhere trying to replace him.”

Before he could respond, the guy moved with his hands and arms in a weird way, instantly capturing Aubrey’s attention. “Uh, what’s with the jazz hands?”

Aubrey, completely ignoring him said, “Oh that’s Ben. He’s trying to upgrade from benchwarmer on Kel’s basketball team by doing favors to Kel, since he’s the most liked member or something? Honestly it’s too stupid for me to understand, the jocks at our school are crazy.”

Ben frowned. “Just because you don’t understand what it’s like to have competition and socialize doesn’t mean you can look down on me, ” he thought.

The guy did something else with his hands and Aubrey’s expression went from exasperated to . . . something else? Maybe a little sad, Ben didn’t know. But not liking being out of the loop he asked, “What the fuck are you guys talking about? What’s with the creepy hands? Why won’t he talk?”

Aubrey growled at him, “I’ll speak in a way you understand, tell Kel to go to the Suzuki’s house. I want to show him something there first and I’ll let him look at the photo album, okay?” She turned heel and dragged the kid behind her. “Come on Sunny, let’s go.”

Sunny huh? That sounded familiar. As Ben jogged to the park where Kel was he dismissed the name. Whatever, now he could be a better friend of the star athlete and be the first to claim the true best friend title.

Chapter Text

Julia glanced up at the clock. “Only 8:30 hm? ” she thought. Julia was just about to go on a quick run to the Othermart to get cat food for Mewo when Aubrey called. Maybe Aubrey visiting after so long would be good for Mari; the only thing she talked to her about besides school was news of said Mewo showing up this morning. Maybe a “blast from the past” so to speak was what Mari was looking for. Although from what she’s heard from her friends, Aubrey had gotten into a bit of a rebellious streak (seen around town with a baseball bat with nails in it of all things!), and the vagueness of the call wasn’t exactly positive. No, Julia still knew Aubrey when she was a headstrong little girl who cried when she lost her plushie. Besides, she’s seen her at church sometimes, the truth can’t be as bad as the rumors she heard.

A knock at the door interrupted Julia's thoughts. She put the car keys she was fidgeting with away (it would be rude to greet Aubrey while looking like she was about to leave) and headed towards the entrance. Opening the door slightly she saw the taller, older, form of Aubrey, one of Mari’s childhood friends, standing on the doorstep. Julia smiled through the crack. “Aubrey!” she greeted.

Closing the door to release the chain lock, Julia reopened it completely to let the girl inside. “It’s so good to see you! Come on in.”

Aubrey, to her surprise, shook her head. “Um, sorry Mrs. Suzuki, but uh, I can’t come in right now.”

Now concerned, Julia frowned. “Didn’t you have to tell me something? Come on inside if it’s so important Aubrey. Don’t worry, you’re always safe and welcome in our home.”

Aubrey shifted her weight on one foot. “I uh, I can’t really tell you without showing you and I kind of can’t come inside without you seeing, um, him.”

Now that rose a few alarms in Julia’s brain. Now looking over Aubrey’s posture she noticed she puffed her jacket out ever so slightly and was checking behind her ever so slightly, before her gaze quickly snapped back to Julia.

“Alright dear,” Julia said. “What is it?”

Aubrey took a breath and stepped to the side to reveal a boy. A small, thin, pale boy with black hair and an eyepatch. A part of Julia was going to joke about her introducing a boyfriend. Another part was confused why Aubrey would do that after so many years not talking to them. The last part was actually processing how familiar he was. His blank expression. His clothes. His one uncovered brown eye so dark it was almost black. And then the past hit Julia like a steamroller.

A preteen speaking through sign language. A little boy playing silly tunes on his violin in the music room. A 7 year old watching with a blank face and curious eyes as her husband showed him how to cut steak. A 4 year old petting the many stray cats around town. And finally her little baby being held close to her chest, looking up at her with the most fascination possible on a baby’s face.

“Sunny?” Julia asked.

And for the first time in 4 years she heard her baby’s voice. 

“Hi Mom,” Sunny said.

Sunny watched as his mother’s face went from confusion to shock, to a twisted ball of anguish and joy. Her hands shakingly reached out for him. Seeing her struggle Sunny grabbed one of her hands and helped guide it to his cheek like he knew she wanted. The other quickly followed and Sunny let his mom hesitantly touch his face as tears started to fall. 

“Is that really you S-Sunny?” she choked out.

Sunny nodded. “It’s really me Mom.” Before he could sign anything else she quickly wrapped her arms around him as she placed her chin on his head.

Sunny glanced to Aubrey awkwardly standing to the side. He quickly signed, “You’ll hold Kel up until we’re ready right?”

She nodded and made shooing motions.

Sunny realized she had a point and probably shouldn’t let the entire neighborhood see his mom have a breakdown in the doorway. He wrapped his arms around his mom, almost ironically causing her body to shake more as her crying grew stronger. Gently he pulled the both of them past the threshold.

Aubrey, without being asked, closed the door behind them.

Sunny and his mom stood there in the house for a long time. She sniffled and fidgeted with him in her grasp. Going from hugging him tightly to running her fingers through his hair and pulling back to properly look at him. Sunny caught the occasional, “My baby boy,” “you’re back,” and “I’ve missed you so much.” Finally, Mom got herself under control to pull away and manage the tears. Not turn them off, just manage.

“How are you here?” she asked. Brushing some of his hair she focused on his eyepatch. “What happened to you.”

Sunny shrugged. “I don’t really know. I took a nap and woke up in a world where I’ve been dead. I don’t really think the details matter.”

She nodded and her tears increased in intensity. “You’re right about that Sunny.” She hugged him again. “No matter what’s going on your Mommy’s here for you.”

Not entirely comfortable with all of her attention and emotion focused on him Sunny glanced around the house. Most of everything was where it should be and there were no signs of moving. “So,” he began. “Does Dad still live here?” He doubted Mom would live in this large house by herself.

Mom jolted. The question struck something inside of her. Before Sunny could discern more she turned towards the back of the house and shouted, “Everyone, come down stairs! Sunny’s home! It’s a miracle! Sunny’s home!”

Sunny startled. “Everyone? ” he thought. “ Who else could be here? ” A door slammed open upstairs. His bedroom door. Sunny bolted from the couch out of the living room. Up the stairs Sunny saw Mewo running down the steps. Once at the bottom, Sunny felt him rub against his leg, his tail brushing against his foot. But that didn’t matter. What did was at the top of the steps. Something, no, someone. Taller, older, and paler. Still dressed in her pajamas. Mari’s eyes stared uncomprehendingly down at Sunny.

Kel tore down the sidewalk, dodging the girl walking her dog and the man mowing his lawn. Turning the corner onto his street he saw Aubrey on the steps to Su- Mari’s home. Her nailbat and scooter were gone, and her posture was slouched on the stoop.

As Kel ran to her his mind blurred with ideas on what she was going to show him. “ Did she become friends with Mari, so she doesn’t need to hog the photo albums? Is Basil back and visiting the Suzuki’s? ” His thoughts stopped as he got closer. Aubrey’s eyes were pink, as if she’d been crying recently. She was nervously tapping her fingers and glancing over her shoulder to the front door repeatedly. Kel suddenly realized maybe it wasn’t good news.

“Uhh, hey Aubrey,” Kel said. “I’m here.” “Crap, ” he thought. “What are you supposed to do when you’re trying to greet a crying ex-friend you’ve been fighting with for years? ”

Aubrey looked up to Kel and nodded. “Hey Kel.”

“Okay, ” Kel thought. “She’s not falling apart immediately. That’s good, that means I don’t have to be so soft. ” Kel crossed his arms. “You said if you showed me something here you’d give me the album. So, where is it?”

Aubrey scooted over on the step slightly. “Sit down Kel. We’re waiting.”

Kel scoffed. “Okay you can’t show me the thing immediately, where’s the photo album?” he asked.

Aubrey, instead of yelling at him or doing something that would usually start and argument or fight, looked ahead towards the road. Almost ignoring him.

“Sit down Kel, we’re waiting,” she repeated.

Kel rolled his eyes and turned around. “Fine, whatever. I don’t know what you think you can get from me but I’m out,” he said. “See ya.”

“I have two questions for you,” Aubrey said.

Kel stopped.

“Do you believe in miracles?” Aubrey asked.

Kel turned around. “. . . Maybe,” he said.

And then Aubrey turned to look at Kel, her irritated, complicated eyes bore into his own. “Were you ever Sunny’s friend?” she asked.

Kel stepped back as if struck. He wanted to yell at her for that question. He really did. But there was something deep in that. More than the usual nonsense Aubrey would get mad about or pull out just to throw in his face.

“Yeah, of course,” Kel said.

Aubrey held her gaze. “We’re waiting,” she said. “Even if we’re not friends anymore, it’d be wrong of me not to show you this.”

Kel stood there for a few seconds before he leaned his back against the wall. The two shared a mutual space in silence for a while.

“So Ben said you had a boyfriend or something?”

Mari. A vision of a Mari that never died and got to grow looked down at him. Not Something, not the purple copy from dreaming, nor the black and white one that might have been something more. A living, breathing hallucination?

Sunny took a step back. No, no he could not indulge in this now, not when Mom’s home. He closed his eye and breathed in to focus and push past this. When he looked up she was still there, her eyes were locked on him and her breathing was unsteady. Sunny looked to his Mom hoping she did not notice his tailspinning from reality. But instead of confusion or worry or something similar he saw her just as emotional as before and acknowledging them both? She kept on expectantly looking back and forth between him and where he thought he saw Mari. One last time, Sunny looked up to see Mari still at the top of the stairs.

“M-Mari?” Sunny hesitantly asked.

“Sunny?!” Mari asked. Mari’s voice was older and scratchier than the version he heard dreaming. And then her feet pounded down the steps, her sock-covered feet barely maintained enough grip to not slip. And then, about halfway down the steps her knee suddenly buckled. The one she injured in softball all those years ago. She yelped in pain and surprise as her body began to fall forward.

Sunny would not watch again.

He ran up the last remaining steps and got there just in time to brace himself. Her weight slammed into him, and his hands shifted from catching her shoulders to holding her in a hug. She quickly readjusted her weight off her leg and onto Sunny. Mari was really relying on Sunny. Her pajama shirt had a different feel than what he remembered. Her smell was different, her height was different. But as they both wrapped themselves around each other, he knew this was his sister, this had to be Mari. 

Mari placed her chin on his shoulder. “Is this really happening? Are you- are you really here?” she asked, her voice shaking.

Sunny tightened his grip on her as some tears started to fall from his one good eye. He was not sure himself so instead he said, “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry.”

Mari flinched and pulled back. “Don’t you dare say that. You have nothing to be sorry for.”

Sunny shook his head. “No, I, I caused everyone so much pain. It’s my fault. I love you and I still hurt you. I’m so, so sorry.”

Mari gripped onto his shoulders so hard it hurt. “I’m serious Sunny, stop it!”

Her raised voice made him flinch. The last time he heard her raise her voice was 4 years ago. Sunny had to pull back. Had to keep her safe, safe from him. But when he let go and tried to step away, Sunny pulled Mari off balance. She yelped. Oh right, he forgot she was leaning on him. The two tumbled down the last few steps, Mari landing on her butt while he landed flat on his back. 

Mari immediately scooted herself closer and held Sunny’s head in her hands, moving it over checking him for wounds. “Don’t,” she began in a loud voice. But then she stopped and began again at a normal volume. “Don’t scare me like that Sunny.” She gave her best reassuring smile, but maybe it was because Sunny was older, but it looked shakier and more fake than he remembered. “Don’t you ever try to take the blame for what happened. We . . . didn’t know what you were going through. I,” her eyes flicked over to the side, where his Mom was. “I’m sorry Sunny.”

Oh right. This wasn’t Mari, his Mari, or at least the same exact Mari. He sat up slowly. Sunny couldn’t be so selfish and project all of his guilt on to her. To her all that happened was her sad brother came home. “It’s okay, you couldn’t have known,” he said as he hugged her again. “I still love you and I’m sorry you’ve been hurting all this time.”

Mari burst into tears.

Mewo decided at this time however was perfect to crawl on top of both of them. Mari’s sobs started turning into sniffles as she pet Mewo with one hand and tightly held onto Sunny with the other. Mom knelt down and wrapped her arms around both of their shoulders. “I love you both so much,” she said.

“What’s going on?” A rough and deep voice said. Sunny stilled. Why was it even when he was expecting him to be home it still caught him so off guard?

The pain in Mari’s knee was only a soft echo in the corners of her mind as she held Sunny on the couch. Because Sunny was actually here on the couch. Sitting next to her in real life, and she knew that because Mom and Dad both saw and acknowledged him, Mari felt like she could breathe easy for the first time in years. Sure she was still confused out of her mind and has no idea what’s going on, but she’s so relieved. Her brother’s here. 

But Sunny was acting odd. He fidgeted within her’s and Mom’s grip, and every once in a while his one uncovered eye darted to Dad before going back down. Mari had to do something. She was the older sister role model for Sunny. She had to help him.

“Hey Sunny? What’s wrong? Are you okay?” she asked.

Sunny didn’t respond at first, just like always, he had a “buffer” of some sorts between the question and his answer. Especially with big or emotional questions.

Sunny’s Dad reached across Mari and patted Sunny on the shoulder, “Come on son, you can tell us. We’re just so happy you’re home.”

When Sunny suppressed his flinch Mari had to control herself from glaring at her father. “Don’t you know anything about Sunny,” she thought. “Don’t you know he hates being touched like that and reminded of his silence and shamed like that? Don’t you remember anything about my baby brother?” She instead decided to keep her own attention entirely on Sunny, and rubbed his shoulder gentle and firm. 

“You’re going to hate me,” Sunny said. Mari’s mind flashed to an argument by the pond. She took a breath and focused on the present. She couldn't let herself wander like that.

“No, no Sunny,” Mari said. “We could never hate you. I could never hate you. Believe me on that.”

Sunny took a deep breath and nodded his head. When he opened his one good eye, Mari could see a resigned resolve in him, like the one time when they were little he got himself ready to tell Mom and Dad he broke the kite again.

“I’m not the Sunny you know.”

Mari’s brain received the message from her ears loud and clear, but she had no idea what it meant. No, no, this was Sunny. This was obviously Sunny. He couldn’t be anyone else other than Sunny. He can’t.

“Wha- what do you mean Sunny?” Mari stammered out.

“I’m not, I didn’t kill myself. Um, I, I’m a Sunny that didn’t do things you remember and did do things you, uh, don’t. So, while I’m not exactly your Sunny, I still am Sunny. But that doesn’t mean yours isn’t dead. I’m sorry.”

“Sunny’s here, but he is still dead, ” Mari thought.

Her Dad took a sharp intake of breath.

“Sunny’s dead, but he‘s here, ” Mari thought.

“What do you,” Dad began. “How is that possible? Are you sure? And that you-“

Sunny, uncharacteristically forcefull, said, “What else could it be? Why would someone come back from the dead in an older body and missing an eye? I’m sorry but once you accept the truth and don’t want me anymore, I’ll leave. I can stay by Aubrey’s house or something.”

“Sunny’s dead. Sunny’s home. ”

“Of course not!” Mom said. As she did her grip pulled Sunny closer to her, which in turn slipped him out of Mari’s. “No matter what happened or what’s going on, you’re still Sunny Suzuki, our son. We love you, you’re still our baby boy.”

“Sunny’s here. Sunny’s still buried six feet under. ”

Mari saw herself stand up. 

“Sunny fell into the pond. Sunny’s missing an eye. ”

Next thing she knew she was leaving the living room and going up the stairs; Mari pulled herself up by the banister to keep pressure off her bad knee. She felt something- someone approach behind her. Mari looked over her shoulder to see her distressed brother looking up at her.

“I’m sorry,” Mari said.

“No no no! ” She yelled at herself. “ Go back down there and love and cherish him! ”

“I just- I just need time to process.” And with that said, Mari fled up the stairs leaving her baby brother behind. She really hoped they didn’t see her tears.

“Sunny’s head hit a rock. Sunny doesn’t have a wound in the right place. ”

Mari closed the door behind her and collapsed on her bed, her eyes drifted to the right side of the room where Sunny’s things were and gone.

“No matter what, your brother’s back- ”

The world spun and grew distant.

“-and it’s still your fault he’s gone. ”

WELCOME TO SILVERSPACE

Sunny stood at the bottom of the stairs and watched as his sister fled from him and slammed the door shut to her (his? their?) room. Of course, why was he so hurt? Mari doesn’t owe Sunny anything, and certainly not immediate understanding and forgiveness. But still, he wished he didn’t have to hurt her with that painful truth.

He took a few steps into the living room where his parents still were. 

“Are you okay?” Sunny signed.

“Of course sweetie!” Mom said, wiping away the last of her tears. “You’re still Sunny! Right dear?”

His dad was lost in thought, hunched forward slightly, one arm rested on his thigh while the other clenched his chin and cheeks. Brought out of them by Mom, Dad took a deep breath.

“I-” he began. “I too need to think.” As he walked towards the kitchen, Sunny couldn’t suppress the flinch as he made sure to give him plenty of room. Almost entering the hallway, Dad stopped and looked back at Mom. The two shared one of their looks (not their lovestruck one, one Sunny had yet to identify) and Mom motioned towards Sunny with her head. Dad looked to Sunny and gave him a strained smile. “I, I promise that when I’m done, you’ll still be my son.” And with that said, he walked away.

Sunny starred as he left, before his eyes slid away to look towards his mother. Sure, Dad says that, but he doesn’t believe that, not really. If he knew what Sunny did, Dad may not leave with Mari alive, but he surely wouldn’t think of Sunny as his son.

KNOCK KNOCK

Sunny jumped and turned to the front door.

“Mrs. Suzuki! Open up!” Kel shouted from the outside. “Aubrey’s being weird and won’t show me what she brought me here for! What’s going on?”

Mom wiped her eyes clear of tears again. “I’m coming Kel, just give me a moment. Wait, Sun-”

Sunny was already walking to the door. Does she really think he’d let his mom answer the door like that after he refused to answer the door himself for 4 years? Un-fucking-likely.

Without and preamble he swung the door open to Kel mid knock, his fist frozen in the air. Aubrey was mid wrestling him to stop him, but once Sunny revealed himself Aubrey quickly let go of Kel.

“Uh, hi!” Kel said. “My name’s Kel! I don’t think I recog . . .” he trailed off.

“Hi Kel,” Sunny signed.

Kel did the following: First he smiled. Second he lost the healthy color on his face. Third he toppled backwards (Aubrey apparently had no interest in catching him). He then rasped out, “I like your eyepatch Sunny,” which Sunny only heard as he rushed to check on him. And finally he passed out.

Sunny supposed he should be grateful. If he didn’t freak out at least one person he wouldn’t truly be Sunny. The thought of everyone being happy and reacting to him positively did not settle well in his stomach. It reminded him too much of Headspace. Thank god for Kel tethering him to reality twice.

Chapter Text

“Bullshit you got Aubrey to give Kel the photo album,” Cris said. The other athletes nodded in agreement to her statement. All five of the self named “Jock squad” were at the park basketball court waiting for Kel to return. Everyone was standing in a loose circle as Ben told the story he was barely able to get out to Kel before the boy bolted.

Ben shook his head. “No! I swear to god I got Aubrey to agree to it. I just had to get them to meet at his neighbor’s house.”

Jay rolled his eyes. “So all she did was say she was going to? Like that means anything. She’s probably going to challenge him to a fight or something.”

“Hey, it’s not like she used my offer as an opportunity or anything, she offered it herself!” Ben said.

“You think that helps your case Ben? I think that's more evidence she just wants to beat him up,” Cris said.

“Oh are we talking about that brute who wants to hurt my Kelsey?”

All the athletes turned to see, the “queen” herself, Katarina show up. Her melodic voice and sundress stood out like a sore thumb at the Faraway basketball court with athletes in workout clothes.

Val sighed. “Hey Katrina,” she greeted. “What are you doing here?”

“What, can’t I want to hang out with my Kelsey and his friends?” Katrina asked. 

Bebe grimaced. “Katrina, I could see you waiting by the benches. You were waiting for your “dramatic entrance” and got impatient since there wasn’t a good enough one.”

Katrina ignored her and continued, “Look, we’re both on the same side. All of us here can see the sunshine within Kel and want to get closer to it. I’m fighting off hussys that desire him and you all are fighting amongst yourselves for the “best friend” honor.”

“Hussy? Honor? What is this girl from the 1800s? ” All of them thought at the same time.

“There’s no fighting like what you’re saying Katrina,” Ben said. “We’re just trying to be there for Kel like he’s been there for us.”

“And claim the “best friend of the most liked guy in school” title for ourselves,” they all thought to themselves at varying levels of self-denial.

“Yes, Kelsey is an interesting man don’t you think?” Katrina said. “Always smiling and happy, and helping others at their lowest, and seemingly never showing his own. But we all know he has one, no one who is so helpful and empathetic towards others suffering doesn’t have his own darkness inside.” She hummed. “I can only assume whichever one of you gets there first, and helps him recover from whatever tragedy or loss, will claim what you’re seeking. But you best remain vigilant. Someone may beat you to the punch.”

Ben scoffed. “Sure, some other, non-jock friend will just show up and give Kel all the comfort he needs.”

Sunny took back the compliment he made in his head. Kel was a disappointment. A traitor. A traitorous disappointment.

“I’m so glad you’re here!” Kel wailed into Sunny’s tear-soaked shoulder as he tried to awkwardly comfort him with one hand.

Sunny would use both but the other was being held captive by Aubrey. Oh right. And Aubrey was there too. Disappointing traitors the both of them.

“Do you have to straddle his lap like that Kel?” she asked, glaring at Kel’s position, who was only side sitting on Sunny’s thigh.

Kel glared at Aubrey through his tears. “Hey this is just how I show my best friend my affection.”

“I was fine with you holding Sunny because I was being nice. But if you’re going to put the moves on him it’s on.” Aubrey sneered.

Kel went red. “Hey, it’s not like that! Can’t you let me griev- uh,” his aggression stumbled to a stop, “reverse-grieve? I thought my best friend was dead for years.”

Aubrey bristled. “Yeah, I did too, but you don’t see me wrapping around him like a koala. Sunny’s all skin and bones, at least get off his lap.”

Sunny shot Aubrey a look that he hoped she understood as, “You’re being way too harsh with him but yes, I would like this ripped athlete to get off of my skinny midget body.”

“See! Sunny’s fine with it, stop being so mean!”

“What are you talking about? That look obviously means he wants you off! He agrees with me!”

“Between the two of you, you guys have both listened and completely ignored me at the same time,” Sunny thought. He then made the executive decision to shove Kel off his leg and onto the couch seat next to him. And to make sure Kel doesn’t get the wrong message, Sunny readjusted his hold on him, making it a side hug with one arm instead.

Kel easily shifted to continue and lean onto Sunny’s shoulder. He sniffled. “I missed you so much bro.”

There was a beat and Aubrey whispered, “I miss all of us being together.”

Kel slightly detached himself to look at Aubrey. “Me too.”

Sunny could see a bitter anger building up behind Aubrey’s eyes, and instead of exploding it hissed out like a steam pipe. “You could’ve fooled me with all the sports teams.”

Kel frowned. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Oh, I don’t know. You stopped hanging out with me and Basil pretty quickly, and were hanging out with those jocks almost immediately. Looked like to me you moved on pretty quick.”

Kel scowled.

“Oh boy,” Sunny thought. “Here we go again.”

“Like you’re one to talk. You were gone for months after Su- after what happened.”

“I was looking after Basil!” Aubrey shouted, standing up. “He was really not okay, more than I think any of us! You don’t get it Kel! I had to help him and no one was helping me!” Aubrey let out a shuddering breath. “You never visited him Kel, I know you haven’t.”

“Well it's not like I didn’t try!” Kel threw his hands up. “I went to the hospital, and no one there could tell me where he was in the long term care ward. I couldn’t even find him after knocking on every door!”

“Basil’s not- who told you he was there?” Aubrey shouted.

“You did!” Kel shouted, standing up to meet her eyeline.

“I certainly did not! You never asked!”

“Well yeah, cause everyone said he was at the hospital and you told them that!”

“Well of course I told them that! It’s none of their business!”

“What does that mean?”

“Basil’s not okay!” Aubrey screamed. “He still hasn’t recovered!” Before Kel could retort Aubrey continued. “He’s not right in the head Kel! He’s completely shut down! And the only times he isn’t he’s either attacking demons he sees or doesn’t remember what happened! Basil is my brother, just as much as Hero is yours! I didn’t want anyone who wasn’t a friend to see him like that! And since you never asked about him, only his album, I guess all of his friends have seen him like that!”

Kel stopped. His head went down and his eyes looked back and forth. Sunny could see a sudden reexamination of 4 years play out on Kel’s face. An expression he’s only seen before when he told his own Kel the truth. Except this one’s hurt was probably much more inward than outward. 

After some time Kel took a deep breath and said, “I’m- I’m sorry.” Kel said. “I should’ve tried to, I should’ve tried to actually talk to you.” Aubrey huffed out a little breath of satisfaction, much like how she did when she was younger. Perhaps it was a bit more mature or bitter than before though. “I guess I just should’ve thought about it more. Sorry for being so stupid.” He paused. “I still think you could’ve started a conversation with that,” he grumbled out

Before Aubrey could start a third argument in as many minutes, Sunny tugged on both arm to get their attention.

“We’re all only human,” Sunny said. “What happened was hard, so you need to remember that before you judge yourself or others too harshly. You just need to accept what you did and do better now.”

Kel smiled softly (“Oh no, not again,” Sunny thought) as he scooped Sunny off the couch into a hug again. “You’re so smart Sunny, I missed you so much.”

There was a moment of silence before Kel looked at Aubrey (while he was still holding Sunny) and said, “I don’t know if this means anything but Basil was my friend. And you were too. And maybe we can be again?”

Right when Sunny thought Kel was going to put him down and the two were going to focus on each other, Aubrey joined the hug on the other side, trapping him. “Just because you stopped being as stupid doesn’t mean you get to hog Sunny for yourself.” And the two hugged each other while also hugging him. This was so unfair, Sunny was never going to escape his friends.

“So when are we going to tell Basil?” Kel suddenly asked. Sunny felt Aubrey stiffen behind him. “You know, about Sunny not being dead, or uh, this Sunny being here? Honestly I’m still a bit confused.”

“I-” Aubrey disengaged with the hug, allowing Kel to do the same and Sunny was finally allowed his personal space. “I don’t know. He has to know. We can’t keep this to ourselves. But he’s not exactly stable, you know?”

Sunny knew that more than anyone. Sunny and Kel nodded.

“I think I’ll try to call his doctor or his nurse or something. I don’t think I can tell them the timeline stuff or whatever, but Sunny being bac- here has to be shared. I’ll ask Mrs. Sukuki if I can use the phone. And maybe she can help me prove to the doctor this is all real.”

And with that Aubrey left and Sunny and Kel were by themselves. The two stood there waiting before Kel turned to Sunny and asked, “So, uh, Aubrey’s taking awhile right?”

Sunny nodded.

“Uh, do you want to meet my friends?”

Sunny thought about how the Hooligans were much less violent here so whoever his friends with Kel couldn’t be that bad. Sunny shrugged.

“Great, they're going to love you!”

Sunny, in an almost nostalgic position, found himself being dragged by Kel from his house to the park. He was almost tempted to fake diving for the road, but he didn't think this Kel would find the joke as funny as his Kel did (which wasn’t a lot). While running by Angel’s house he saw his sister (Olivia was her name?) through the window. Sunny noted to visit all of his new/ old friends at some point later.

They made it to the park and Kel made a beeline for a group of 6 people that Sunny vaguely recognized. Kel called over to them with a, “Hey!”

The one with the ponytail turned with a smile and as the group moved to meet them, she asked, “Oh you’re back Kel! You look happy, did you get the photo album back?”

“The photo album?” Kel asked. “Who cares about that? I need to introduce you to someone!” 

The group almost stumbled as one on their way to Kel and Sunny. 

“Sunny, these are my friends!” he said. “Ben,” oh, Sunny recognized him, “Cris,” oh, Sunny recognized her too, he got to be friends with his timeline’s version, “Jay,” a blonde, tall, jock, “Val,” a taller girl with a ponytail, “Bebe” a somewhat familiar girl with brown hair “and Kristina, who, uh, is here too?” Kel finished, somewhat surprised. “Ev- I mean mostly everyone are friends I made through sports and what not! And, uh, Kristina I kind of know?”

Sunny nodded to them and turned to Kel. “I met Ben on the way home,” Sunny signed. “And Cris I knew in my old world.”

“Oh!” Kel said. “That’s nice.”

“What’s with the cre-” Ben started. “I mean, what’s he saying?”

“Oh, just that he’s met Ben and Cris before,” Kel said.

Ben glared at Sunny subtly while Cris frowned in confused, Sunny supposed that was fair

Katrina blinked. “Then I suppose you have us at a disadvantage then. Who you are and what your relation to Kelsey is?”

“This girl is definitely on online roleplaying forums,” Sunny thought.

Luckily Kel saved Sunny from answering and said, “Oh, this is Sunny! He’s my best friend!” while wrapping an arm around his shoulder.

Now Sunny thought he got along great in maintaining a strong grip on reality and letting go of the delusions of Headspace, and he wasn’t one to jump at conclusions about strangers, but Sunny could almost hear it, as if it was right behind him, “Kel runs around and annoys everyone! Jocks feel Angry! ” as the entire group of Kel’s healthy and fit friends shifted as one.

“I think you all will get along great!” Kel said, oblivious.

“Yeah,” Jay said with gritted teeth. “Just great.”

Jay wanted to wring the kid’s neck. How dare that little asshole come out of nowhere and hog all of Kel’s attention and love? How dare the little creep claim the best friend spot without knowing what it meant? And if that wasn’t enough-

“Good job Sunny!” Kel cheered him on after lifting Sunny up to dunk the basketball. Sunny’s face, as usual, was completely blank.

-the kid wasn’t even athletic! All of Kel’s friends had to be trained sportsmen/ sportswomen to keep up with Kel’s boundless energy and playing. Hanging out with Kel was a hard-earned victory where one bled and sweated to be on the squad. And Kel was just babying Sunny and never even letting him exercise, let alone exert himself. Jay knew he wasn’t alone on this. Val and Ben were similarly pissed and didn’t body check the midget because of Kel’s closeness.

“Hey Jay, are you okay?” Kel asked. “You getting mad we dunked on you? It’s okay, I know we’re no match against you in football.”

“I’m good Kel!” Jay said. No, he couldn’t move against Sunny now. It might alienate him from Kel forever.

Everyone paused in their scrimmage to drink, which unfortunately gave Katrina a chance to join the conversation again. Jay tuned her out as she set upon trying to warm Kel up to her.

Out of nowhere though Sunny pointed at Katrina, grabbing Kel’s attention, initiating a conversation for the first time.

“Hmm?” Kel asked. “What about Katrina?”

Katrina blinked. “Yes Sunny? Is there something you want to ask me?”

Sunny ignored her question and turned to Kel and with a flat hand rubbed his chin and brought it down to his chest twice. At this point Jay was thinking Sunny was talking to Kel in some sort of best friend secret code. He then pointed at Katrina again.

Kel looked over at Katrina and asked, “Sweetheart?”

Katrina’s composure broke and blushed. “I- I what?”

Kel frowned and scratched his head in thought. “Hmm, I don’t see it Sunny.”

If this were a cartoon a rain cloud would be over Katrina’s hunched over form.

“What makes you say that Sunny?” Kel asked.

Jay’s eyes locked onto Sunny to try and decipher what he was going to say to Kel next. Instead however all Sunny did with his hands was raise one sideways to his open mouth as his face became a perfect mimic of the mean girls from school.

“Ho ho ho~” he said. 

Jay almost spat his water out in shock at the over-the-top, and yet perfect, imitation of a woman he’d never met. And never in a million years would he think it would come from the quiet, stony kid.

“Oh yeah!” Kel brightened. “Didn’t you laugh like that for a month last year Katrina? Were you referencing those Sweetheart cartoons?”

Katrina, in a rare look of surprise and whiplash, could only blink. “Wait, you, uh, you think I remind you of the Sweetheart cartoon?”

Sunny nodded.

“I-” her mouth opened and closed like a fish a couple times before she got up and said, “I- I just remember I have to go.” And without another word left, completely forgetting to say bye.

Everyone in the group turned back to Sunny. Jay, and probably many of the other athletes, were gobsmacked. Kel was oblivious as usual, but everyone else knew how stubborn and bullheaded Katrina could be about trying to get Kel’s attention and “love.” They’ve tried for months to get Katrina to give Kel some boundaries, and this new kid comes in, claims the best friend spot and sends the girl off with hardly a word.

“Oh well,” Kel said. “I was hoping Katrina could join in a game, I always feel bad about her not feeling included.” He finished his water and sighed. “Man, I wish Orange Joe wasn’t discontinued. What I would give for a can.” Jay grimaced. The less to be said about Kel’s addiction to Orange Joe the better.

Sunny perked up and walked across the park to the vending machines, and Kel, apparently allergic to letting his best friend out of arm’s reach, followed after him. Jay and the others hesitantly did the same, curious and a little scared.

“Uh, Sunny?” Kel asked. “I’m not sure if you heard me but Orange Joe has been discontinued. So I don’t know if-” he was cut off as Sunny went to the farther machine and hit the side. Two more bangs and a can clunked at the bottom. Sunny reached in and presented the can to Kel.

All the jocks stepped back at once.

“Sunny, is that?” Kel asked reverently.

Sunny nodded.

Kel immediately opened the at least 3 year old can of Orange Joe and chugged it down. “You’re an angel Sunny!”

“Who is this devil spawn? ” Jay thought, eyes locked on the quiet midget that cared not for rules or logic.

“Good job Sunny!” Mari cheered. Sunny looked up at her and smiled. Mari was proud of her little brother setting this party up for the Ghosts and playing the music with her. She knew his friends wanted to use the party as a chance to dance with him and Hero wanted to dance with her, but Sunny was insistent they play together to make the party perfect, and Mari was a good sister that would do anything for her brother.

“Is this what you want to do when you grow up?” Mari asked. “Party coordinator?”

Sunny shook his head and nuzzled himself into her side. “I don’t care,” he said. “I just want to work with you.”

“You know I’m jealous,” Hero said. “I wish Kel was as sweet with me as Sunny is with you.”

Mari smirked. “Don’t worry, when we get married, Sunny will be just as sweet as your brother-in-law,” she teased.

Hero blushed that adorable dark red and nodded. “Y-yeah, maybe,” he said.

In the background of this reality, that this persona of Mari couldn’t acknowledge was real, but dreamed all the same, two monsters watched. A taller older version of Hero with eyes missing from his skull and a creepy smile carved into his face, and a floating pair of red eyes surrounded by rain. The ground underneath them was cracked and withered as if Goldspace was being corrupted by their existence.

However, in deviation to the norm, when Mari’s attention as the character and not the dreamer was drawn to them, their beings vanished and were replaced. In their place was a more mature Sunny wearing an eyepatch. He was glaring at her. The corruption exploded around him, and before Mari knew what was going on, everything was consumed by it. She watched her little brother scream in pain. Both of them. Her dream in fear, and her nightmare in anger.

Mari woke up.

“Really?” A man in a labcoat asked.

A young female voice on the other end responded.

The man began to draft an email. 

“The patient isn’t stable enough for visiting hours at the moment,” he said. 

The subject line read, “Faraway Town Investigation Required”

“But don’t worry, I’m sure we’ll be ready for you in just a few days.”

Chapter Text

“I can. Not. Believe them!” A girl’s voice shouted from downstairs.

Mari stumbled out of her room. The voice wasn’t an adult, so probably not one of her parents' friends. Besides, they haven’t had visitors for awhile now. So this person being connected to them was ruled out. 

“What, I can’t make one phone call before they both ditch me?!” she shouted.

As Mari thought about the voice it reminded her of school for some reason? Like, in person school, not homeschooling like she’s been for awhile now. Maybe she was a classmate?

“Arrgh, I’m going to strangle Kel!”

Kel? But, Kel’s, like, 12. Why would a highschool girl be shouting about a middle schooler in Mari’s house?

Gingerly stepping down the stairs Mari saw a very familiar (?) pink haired girl pacing angrily through the living room and hallway.

“And, Sunny, oooh, Sunny’s never leaving my- Oh.” She stopped as Mari walked closer. Much of the anger drained out of her body. “Uh, hey Mari. Um, long time no see?”

“Aubrey?” The name left Mari’s lips before she understood why. No, Aubrey was going to get her hair dyed when she was older. They were going to do it together. This couldn’t be-

Aubrey nodded.

“You dyed your hair,” Mari stupidly said.

“Yeah, um, I know you were busy with college and everything. So I did it awhile back. What do you think?”

Mari smiled. She tried to put on her big sister smile she retired years ago. Mari was out of practice. “It fits you.” Aubrey fidgeted with her hair very briefly. “A very teenage move,” Mari thought, reminded again Aubrey was now a teenager. Probably a little older than Mari herself when they met.

“Thanks,” she said. “Um, if you want, we could do your hair at some point. I, um, know you’re busy with school, but when you’re free we can do yours too?”

Mari blinked in surprise.

“You know,” Aubrey continued. “We said we were going to dye both-”

“I remember Aubrey,” Mari said. “And I’d love to dye my hair purple with you. I just, I guess I’m surprised you still wanted to.”

“I get it, you know,” Aubrey said. “I’m younger than you and you have college and stuff to worry about. Even if I’m a little mad.”

“If Aubrey is anything like the preteen I knew,” Mari thought. “Her just verbalizing her anger proves how deep it actually was.”

Maybe in another world Mari would’ve brushed Aubrey off, and tried to focus on her studies and getting ready for college. Maybe in another world she would’ve tried to attempt to do some desperate, last minute mending of her relationship with her little sister in all but name before leaving. In none of those worlds was her brother a living breathing factor.

“I . . . I would love to hang out with you again. If you’ll still have me, that is Aubrey.”

“Yeah,” Aubrey said. “But first-” her grin became fiercer “-we’re getting Sunny back.”

Mari agreed.

“So Sunny,” Kel began, “What are you thinking, do you want to hit up Gino’s next or Hobbeez? I’d be fine to just keep playing some pick up games but I think the rest of my friends are beat.”

Behind Kel his fellow athlete friends were lying on the ground in exhaustion. It was a bit odd since Kel felt fine and Sunny looked alright. Then again, they didn’t collapse until after their second break when Sunny miraculously summoned another can of Orange Joe. He knew they didn’t approve of his preferences but did they have to be so dramatic?

“Hobbeez,” Sunny signed. “I already ate at Gino’s this morning with Aubrey.”

Kel had to fight to keep from growling. “Come on, you can head there again, no one’s stopping you. You played hard today Sunny, I won’t judge if you want to head there again.”

Sunny shook his head. “No, I’m good. I just want to see what’s the same or different between our Hobbeez.” Oh right. Time stuff. Sunny wasn’t putting Aubrey above him, he just wanted to share with Kel his exploration.

Kel's smile became slightly less forced as he turned heel and headed towards the plaza declaring, “Alrighty Sunny, let’s go!” Their feet barely stepped off the court when Kel heard a voice.

“Hey Sunny!” Aubrey called, racing up the sidewalk towards the park. “There you are, I’ve been looking all over for you!”

Kel frowned when he knew they couldn’t see. Yelling back without looking Kel said, “Then keep looking for us at Hobbeez, cause that’s where Sunny and I are going!”

“Okay,” Aubrey said in a light tone. “I’ll be sure to tell Mari to hurry up then! I hope the running won’t be too hard on her bad knee!”

Without a word Sunny’s hand slipped out of Kel’s grasp and he heard his footsteps walking towards Aubrey’s voice. Kel suppressed a grumble and turned to follow suit. Kel glared when he saw Aubrey looking over Sunny’s head at him with a smug smirk. Using Mari against Sunny like that wasn’t fair.

The two of them sped ahead and Kel was quick to follow, but he stopped when he felt a buzz in his pocket. He pulled out his nokia to check the caller. It was a number he recognized. He rejected the call and put it away. He plastered a smile over his scowl and raced to catch up with his friend.

Mari tried her best suppressing her grunts as she hobbled her way down the sidewalk. She probably pulled something when she tripped earlier today, and not leaving the house for years probably didn’t help. She hated her stupid body, Mari could never get it to do what she wanted.

Right as she turned the corner to the block she saw her little brother and Aubrey racing down to meet her. And quickly catching up behind them was- Mari blinked. She recognized that face, but had no recollection of the body. The two pieces didn’t click until he called out, “Wait up Sunny!”

“Kel?” Mari asked. She grabbed onto her little brother instinctively while her gaze was locked onto the athlete running towards her. “You got so tall!”

Kel stopped in his tracks some feet away. “Huh? Oh!” he said. “Yeah, uh, I guess you missed my growth spurt a couple years ago.”

Mari smiled weakly. “Looks like your genes decided to give you all the luck. I hope you don’t hold it over Hero too much.”

A complicated expression passed over his face. “Don’t worry, I don’t tease him about that too much,” Kel said with his normal happy expression. In another time Mari would be able to press more, would know what Kel meant. But she had a lot of catching up to do. “So how’s college?”

“Huh?” Kel’s question interrupted Mari’s thought process.

“How’s college? Heard from Mom you’ve been busy,” Kel said.

“Oh, um, it’s tough, college you know?” Mari said, not thinking she could skirt around the truth. “It makes me kind of wish I started getting ready earlier!”

“Didn’t you start school work at home so you could get ready for college?” Kel asked.

Mari suppressed a flinch. That’s right, that was what she said when asked. “Well, I guess I should’ve started even sooner.”

“I don’t know,” Kel said. “If you’ve been working on college stuff nonstop for a few years then it just seems to me that there’s not much else you can do, right? Is there even a point of going to college?”

Mari was stuck at an impasse. Either reveal her weakness of inability to do basic schoolwork for years, or let Kel think that college wasn’t worth it. “Well,” Mari began, “maybe I just chose the wrong degree. But I’m sure you can find it worthwhile for yourself Kel, a lot of people can go through college just fine.”

“Huh?” Kel said. “Oh, yeah I don’t have to worry about that! I’m planning on getting in on a basketball scholarship!”

Mari smiled. “You’re really playing to your strengths Kel, but,” her smile grew tighter, “you should be ready just in case something bad happens. Sometimes things go wrong and you can’t go with your plan.”

Kel shrugged. “I’ll be fine. I take good care of my body. I’d rather risk it than waste it like becoming a shut-in.”

Mari didn’t know how to respond.

“Kel!” Aubrey hissed.

“What?” he asked.

“I want to go to Hobbeez,” Sunny said.

Everyone in the group startled at Sunny’s sudden voice. Even those years ago they weren’t used to hearing it all the time.

Mari jumped onto the lifeline. “Of course we can go Sunny, we need to get you used to this world after all.”

And as they went back to walking down the street, Mari clutching onto her brother, she thanked the stars for him. “I don’t deserve how good a brother you are Sunny. I never deserved it.”

Sunny didn’t really get what was going on with Kel, but he knew he had to start getting some happy memories with everyone together to make things better. It was a bit odd how Kel decided to mock him for his self isolation and not thinking about college back in his own world (Sunny didn’t quite remember telling Kel about it but he guessed he had to), especially since his own Kel didn’t hold it against him as much. But hey, it was fine, he would rather have some real bitterness than shallow euphoria.

Sunny stuck to the side of Mari with the bad knee to support her if she needed it. Mari just took it as an opportunity to hold onto him, seemingly unwilling to acknowledge why he was doing so. Aubrey and Kel briefly had a shoving contest to see who could get to walk on Sunny’s other side. Eventually Aubrey conceded and decided to help support Mari’s other side. It wasn’t until they crossed the street and almost bumped into someone that Sunny realized they were one of those people. Those assholes who took up an entire sidewalk or hallway, blocking everyone else’s traffic. “Well,” Sunny thought. “Most people don’t have to deal with injured sisters or dimension hopping, so I’m good. On the authority of me this is justified.”

Once everyone got to the Plaza they all beelined for Hobbeez. Walking into the store it seemed identical at a glance, except instead of the Captain Spaceboy arcade game to the left there was a small DDR type game on the right. Sunny blinked at seeing it in the store. He turned to Mari and pointed.

“Oh!” Mari said. “Do you want to play?” she asked.

Sunny shrugged.

“I’m pretty sure he’s surprised to see it there, which is unsurprising since it came in two years ago,” Kel said. “I’ve tried to beat the high score on that top song, Your Space, but could never get past second place.”

Mari looked over at the machine for a solid beat before she said, “I bet I could do it.”

Sunny and Aubrey made eye contact, together looked at Mari’s bad knee and back up to her. “Uh, you sure that’s a good idea Mari?” Aubrey asked.

“Your knee,” Sunny said.

“Oh, right,” Mari said, looking down at it. Looking back up at him she gave a smile, “Don’t worry, we can do it later.”

Sunny didn’t really see the point of doing it at all but he just accepted it with a nod and moved to help Mari to the table. 

Once everyone had sat down, Sunny forced to the head of the table with Kel on his right and Mari on his left with Aubrey next to her, Sunny just found himself overwhelmed with a reminder of how different it was here than his world. Everyone was still looking at him. Aubrey wasn’t mad at him. Kel wasn’t hovering an awkward distance. Mari was here and older. He had no idea what to do.

“So,” he signed. “What happened to the Captain Spaceboy arcade game?” He pointed to the other side of the counter where it once was.

“Oh,” Aubrey said. “Captain Spaceboy got a sort of personality reboot. They changed his character and backstory, and tweaked the genre a bit, and people weren’t as into the old arcade game. I think some old guy who was a fan of him before the preboot came to buy it and the owner sold it cheap.”

Sunny frowned. “What do they mean change Captain Spaceboy?”

“They got rid of some of the, I don’t know, cliche action heroness about him,” Aubrey said. “They made him really complex, now he’s got this whole thing where he feels insecure about how his crew and love interest see him. Instead of him being the adventurous, daring, perfect captain, it’s more of a role he’s trying to play. I think it makes the character more interesting.”

Kel frowned. “Eh, I kind of think he’s a bit whiny,” he said. “Like last time I read it it was basically: What if I don’t save the day? Oh I did? Well what if I didn’t? It’s not like there’s any reason for him to be so scared. He’s just nervous for no reason.”

“Well, him never having problems or issues was getting boring!” Aubrey said. “And besides, emotions are complicated, even if there’s no good reason to feel them doesn’t mean people don’t.”

“Yeah there is!” Kel said. “Sure I could get it if he had a past with that kind of thing but he was basically raised by his dad to be a captain! He never wanted to be anything else than a captain! If he was less perfect then I’d get it. But he’s not, it’s just stupid bull-”

“Um, guys?” Mari interrupted hesitantly. “Maybe we shouldn’t spend our time with Sunny doing something other than arguing about, uh, Spaceboy?”

Sunny shook his head. That’s right. They needed to figure out what’s going on with time stuff, besides, Mari was never a fan of Captain Spaceboy, it wouldn’t be fair to exclude her like this. Sunny was determined to use this opportunity to bond with her. He had to talk about something they both knew about.

“So Mari,” Sunny signed. “Uh, are there any big world events that are different from my timeline?”

Mari blinked. “Hmm, well is there anything big happening in yours that is different than here?”

They both awkwardly went over politics and national news and found everything was the same. The conversation reminded Sunny too much of when he would talk to distant uncles or older cousins. No damn it! Sunny refused to let it end there. Mari was always there for him until she died, Sunny had to have something to talk about with Mari.

“Well, uh, how’s Mewo?” Sunny asked, making sure to sign Mewo’s sign name correctly after many years (it was the sign for “misspelling” but using the sign for “meow” as part of the second half).

It took Mari a second before she remembered and she said, “Oh, well, Mewo was gone for a long time and just came back today actually. We were really worried about him being an indoor kitten, but apparently he was completely fine. We were really relieved.”

Sunny understood exactly what Mari meant. Mewo being gone for just a few days would be really dangerous around here, drivers weren’t the most alert. “Dad still working at that warehouse company?”

Mari shook her head. “Yeah, um, he got a promotion a few years ago. He’s now a regional coordinator or something, he’s working a lot more and has to drive farther.”

“Oh, um, are Mom and Dad thinking of moving then?” Sunny asked.

Mari waved it off. “Oh, Mom and Dad were thinking about it but now that you’re back there’s no way we’d leave now!”

Sunny nodded. That made sense, Mom and Dad would stay here since it would make Mari happy, because she was a good sister so she wanted Sunny to stay in Faraway with his friends.

“What about Hero? Is he training to be a doctor?” Sunny signed. And if Sunny weren’t as grown up he would’ve noticed Kel looked away with a more awkward smile. He had no idea what that was about but he’d figure it out later.

“Oh no,” Mari said. “Hero’s training to be a paramedic. I pushed him to take some cooking classes too but he’s mostly focusing on that. Why was Hero trying to be a doctor in your time?” She asked her question so earnestly. Mari was just genuinely curious, and she seemed so happy just to hang out with him. Hang out with him . He knew he had to tell the truth, Sunny knew he should.

Sunny looked down. He struggled to keep his breathing normal. “Not here,” he said. “I, I might be able to say later but not here. Not now.”

Immediately he felt four hands. Looking around he saw Mari had one arm on his shoulders, Aubrey had one hand grasping his (“ So gently, ” he thought) and Kel had walked behind him to hug him from above and behind the chair.

“Oh no Sunny,” Mari said. “If it’s too hard for you, you don’t have to tell us a single thing, okay? We trust you.”

“You shouldn’t,” Sunny thought. “This is important and you need to know.” And instead of saying that out loud, Sunny nodded his head.

When everyone backed off from Sunny again Kel said, “Yeah! Let’s just focus on some fun stuff.”

After a few hours of talking Sunny found out that most of the things about Faraway town were the same, minus some differences he already knew. One thing he did find interesting was that while Pet Rocks were still popular, rhythm, dance, and other coordination games were mildly popular. It was normal for people to all head to the nearby mall to play such games at the arcade. And one last key difference was that they were basically at the beginning of the school year, as opposed to a week after the end of it back in Sunny’s time. So Sunny supposed he was technically a little less than a year older here than in his time, which he derived no small amount of amusement from.

Eventually though, they all had to head home. Kel and Aubrey almost invited (read: barged) themselves into a spontaneous sleepover at Sunny’s house. Sunny put his foot down and had to play the card of “I need family time, we can hang out tomorrow” before the two of them eventually relented. 

Once he was back home Sunny continued to handle an almost overwhelming amount of attention, this time coming from his mother and father over dinner. “Maybe it was a bad idea to break off from Aubrey and Kel, they might’ve been a good buffer,” he thought. He shook his head. No, no matter how awkward it was for him to handle them, it was his duty to. He couldn’t help his mom and dad from his timeline but he can do something here, so he did.

Eventually, finally, after a seemingly endless day it was time for bed.

“Where’s Sunny going to sleep?” his mother asked.

Dad’s eyes widened. “We already sold his bed.” He put his elbows on the table and took off his glasses to rub his eyes. “All the stores are closed. We’ll get another one tomorrow.”

Mom frowned. “But where would Sunny sleep? The couch? No way is he doing that.”

“Why?” Sunny asked. “I’ve slept on the couch before.”

“Sunny, no,” Mom said. “You’ve just come back to us baby. We’re not making you sleep on the couch.”

Sunny didn’t know why she was being so adamant about it.

“Sunny can take my bed,” Mari said. “I can sleep on the couch.”

“No,” Sunny immediately protested. “You strained your knee today. You need to take care of yourself Mari. I can sleep on the couch just fine.”

Mari and Sunny locked eyes. He would probably cave immediately if it weren’t for the fact that this was for Mari’s health.

“I know!” Mom said after a moment. “Why don’t you share the bed for the night? You used to do that all the time when you were little.”

Sunny shot her the best deadpanned look he could.

Sunny had to admit, he did think back to those times fondly. He had fuzzy memories of going to Mari’s bed to sleep through a nightmare. Actively thinking about it, Sunny supposed he held on so tightly to the idea as a reminder to how their sibling relationship should’ve been, could’ve been. Full of trust and love.

But now that they were both in their PJs staring at Mari’s single bed, there was no way in Blackspace he was going to sleep there, and especially with her.

“How about we just wait until Mom and Dad fall asleep and I’ll get a sleeping bag from downstairs?” Sunny asked.

Mari smiled and nodded. “And you can go to sleep in my bed.”

Sunny glanced at the bed and offered, “We both sit on the bed, first one to fall asleep sleeps on the bed,” with no intention of falling asleep first.

Mari accepted and the two of them sat on the bed, side by side, their backs to the wall. They both sat there for some minutes, letting the grandfather clock downstairs tick by. Sunny, still a bit uncertain, hesitantly rested his head on Mari’s shoulder. Mari returned it with a side hug.

“I’m so glad you’re back, Sunny,” she whispered.

Sunny hummed. He so desperately wanted to say that he was too, but he wasn’t ready for Mari to know yet. Right before they were to fall asleep was probably the wrong time.

Mari’s breath suddenly caught. “I’m kind of scared to go to sleep, because I might wake up and you’ll be gone again.”

“This isn’t a dream,” Sunny said. “A friend helped prove that.”

“Y-yeah.”

The grandfather clock ticked on. 

“Sunny, if you- if you ever, and I mean ever need anything, you just come to me, okay?” Mari said. “I love you, and I care about you so much, and you don’t deserve a single problem.”

Sunny disagreed, but didn’t think to contradict her. “All it will cost is my love, right?” Sunny joked, bringing up her old phrase.

He felt her shake her head. “No, it won’t cost you a single thing.”

Eventually, Mari’s unsteady breathing evened out, and her hold on him loosened. As quietly as possible he shifted himself out of her grasp, tucked her in, and snuck downstairs to grab a sleeping bag. He rolled it out right next to her bed and went to sleep with tears drying on his PJs.

Chapter Text

Sunny shot up from his bag in a sweat. The images of his friends, modern day, real friends, and Mari so bloody and gruesome were a lot. Hero was missing his eyes, Basil’s body was stretched out and contorted, Aubrey’s sternum bludgeoned and concave, Kel with needles in his mouth forcing him to smile, and worse of all, Mari bloody and bleeding.

Sunny immediately reached up and around the bed to grasp Mari’s still living hand. “The body takes a long time to cool down,” a part of Sunny said. It was probably the same part that was still remembering that day when Sunny dragged her body into her own bed. So a pretty big part. Sunny’s grasp fumbled with her hand until he could feel her wrist, and eventually, her pulse. Once he had it he let out a sigh of relief and did not let go. That turned out to be the wrong move; Sunny’s shoulder was almost dislocated from his socket as he was yanked out of his sleeping bag into Mari’s grasp.

Mari’s face was scrunched up in worry and fear. “I’ve got you Sunny. Please be okay. Your big sister loves you, please be okay.”

“Oh,” Sunny thought. “Mari is having a nightmare, maybe of that time I almost drowned in the pond.” “I’m okay Mari, I love you too,” he said. He patted her back.

Mari hugged him tighter in response. For a few moments Sunny was worried that he was trapped and would have to wake her up. Eventually, she relaxed, making it possible for him to escape, but by no means easily. It was hard to maneuver so close to the edge of the bed. Sunny slowly shifted his legs onto the ground and gently removed himself from Mari’s hug. Apparently with that nightmare resolved Mari went right back to sleep.

Now free to start the day, super early apparently (who gets up at 6 am?), Sunny went to get ready. By the time he put away the sleeping bag and got dressed Mari was still asleep and Sunny wasn’t sure what to do.

After thinking for a moment he decided now was the perfect chance to see if there were changes around the house. Sunny crept down stairs and started meticulously looking for new or missing stuff (it was easier since he just helped Mom pack everything a couple of weeks ago). Sunny noticed downstairs that around the house many of the same knick knacks and mementos from his original house were still there. There were some things of Sunny’s that he couldn’t find, like his favorite cup or the umbrella he typically used for rainy days. But he did find a good number of different things that he supposed were here because Mari and Dad were.

Out of curiosity, and maybe a little self hatred, Sunny stepped to the glass doors and looked out to the backyard. The tree was still standing. Sunny’s mind flashed back to that day and he flung himself away from the door, putting his back against the wall. Okay, maybe he still had a bit more to go until he could handle the trauma. The four years of avoiding it certainly didn’t help.

Once he caught his breath Sunny decided to bite another bullet and check the closet. Hopefully this bullet wasn’t as traumatic or taste as sour. Going to the left of the stairs Sunny opened the door to the storage closet. Inside it was similarly disparate. Old boxes and chests, dusty shelves, and not much else. Speaking of chests, Sunny moved to the back to find the old toy chest. He found it underneath some boxes, buried to discourage casual observation no doubt. Opening it he startled when he found his broken violin inside.

He didn’t understand, he broke his violin but didn’t fight with Mari? Checking it over he confirmed, the violin strings were broken but untangled; no human hair to be found. Buried underneath were ripped up pieces of paper. Sunny was pretty sure after examining them that one side was sheet music, but the other had some handwriting on it. If Sunny had the smarts or the time he might’ve been able to piece them together but instead just put them back in the box and closed it. He frowned looking down at the box. So in the past he got frustrated at playing the violin but then killed himself? That didn’t make sense. Back then he loved life, and his friends and just wanted to be with them and Mari. There was something more here but he didn’t feel ready to directly ask about it yet. No one was ready for that.

By the time he finally left the closet, it was properly morning. Sunny didn’t want to have his Mom catch him up so early (he had no idea what her reaction would be) and crept back up the stairs, keeping one hand firmly on the hand rail.

Opening the door to his (hers? their? Sunny still wasn’t sure) room he startled as he saw Mari halfway off the bed and about to roll off in her sleep. Sunny startled and got to her in time to push her back near the center. Unfortunately while doing so, he accidentally pushed Mari’s pillow out of the way, which mader her flop back down on the bed without head support.

Right when Sunny was about to move the pillow back Mari’s eyes opened with a “muh?”

“Sorry Mari,” Sunny signed. “You were about to fall off.”

Mari blinked a couple of times. She slowly sat up. Sunny could almost see how her eyes slowly came into focus. “You’re . . . still here?”

Sunny nodded.

Mari wrapped him up in a hug. “You’re still here.” She had a moment of silence and Sunny wasn’t inclined to interrupt it. “I was so scared you would-” she cut herself off.

Sunny shook his head into the crook of her neck. “Never,” he whispered.

Mari eventually let go (Top 10 longest hugs in Sunny’s life, 6 of which he got these past two days) of Sunny and smiled. “Now if you’ll excuse me Sunny I need to get changed so-” she didn’t get another word out before Sunny was halfway out the door.

While closing the door behind him he saw his Mom halfway down the stairs. “Oh Sunny you’re awake! Did you have a good night?”

Sunny thought about the fact that he got about 6 hours, the nightmare, and Mari almost dislocated his shoulder trying to hug him.

He nodded.

Mom smiled. “See? Was sleeping in the same bed that bad?”

“ . . . the lies were a mistake,” Sunny thought.

Once everyone ate breakfast and Mom and Dad left to get some things for Sunny, Mari sat down next to him. “Well little brother, what do you want to do today?” she asked.

Instead of answering Sunny stood up and grabbed Mari’s hand, pulling her to follow. Mari allowed him to drag her into the living room and then into the hallway. She got a little hesitant when she saw he was going to the right of the staircase.

“Wait, Sunny-” it was too late. Sunny opened the door right of the staircase to reveal a room with a desk, a desktop computer, bookshelves, filing cabinets, and no piano.

Sunny stood still in the door frame for a few moments before he turned to look at Mari with absolute bafflement on his expression.

“. . . We sold the piano a few years ago for college,” she said.

Sunny’s look did not go away. “I thought you loved the piano,” he signed.

Mari shrugged. “It wasn’t right for me. It’s more important that I got ready for college.”

Sunny’s gaze went from her, to the office and back to her a few times. Eventually he asked, “Then what do you usually do?”

“Well-” Mari's brain blurred with memories of naps inbetween homeschooling and college prep textbooks she went through, “-study mostly.”

“What about for fun?”

Mari wished she could come up with something, or remember what she used to do, but she got nothing. She always was terrible with improv and she could never lie to her brother. “Don’t worry about me though Sunny!” she said. “That just means I can do whatever you want!”

“Do you have any friends in Faraway? Besides Hero, who’s at college.”

Mari shifted her weight from one foot to another. “Seriously Sunny, I’m okay. I’m fine doing whatever you want to do.”

Sunny stared at her for a good long moment. His cliff faced expression was a bit harder for Mari to decipher than it was years ago. Eventually he nodded and started dragging Mari to the front of the house. He started putting his shoes on.

“Oh, are we going outside?” she asked, trying to have an idea as to what was in his mind.

“I want to check on some people I know from my timeline.”

Mari smiled. It was good that Sunny had even more friends. Now then, time to be a better sister since her knee won’t hold her back anymore.

“Do you have any idea where we’re going?” Aubrey asked Kel.

Kel shrugged. “Do you?”

Aubrey rolled her eyes. “If I knew I wouldn’t have asked.”

“Hey, I didn’t know! You might’ve been trying to set me up for a jab at my attention span or something like that,” Kel defended.

Aubrey huffed and looked ahead to Mari who was happily being led by Sunny. The marching order everyone was in tickled Aubrey’s memories of before the suicide. The three of them, Sunny, Aubrey, and Kel would take turns leading, the other two and Basil stayed right behind, while Hero and Mari stayed in the back to watch over them.

“He looks like a man on a mission,” Kel said. And Aubrey had to agree.

Eventually they turned the corner and Aubrey recognized the house Sunny was beelining towards.

“Uh Sunny, why’re we going to Angel’s house?” Aubrey asked.

Sunny doesn’t respond and walks up to the door. Aubrey expected him to, you know, knock, or ring the doorbell. Instead he just flung the door open and walked inside. He ignored Mari’s comment of, “We shouldn’t barge in.”

Aubrey and Kel looked at each other before they both decided to follow. Walking inside they saw Angel sitting up from the couch confused.

“Uh, hey magic time kid I-” Angel began to say until Sunny completely ignored him and crossed the living room and into the hallway.

“Uh, what’s going on boss?” Angel asked Aubrey. Once Sunny and Mari were out of sight his gaze shifted between her and Kel. “Why're you here with the basketball guy?”

“You don’t know my name?” Kel asked.

Angel shrugged. “I don’t see you at school.”

“We’ve talked and argued about the photo- uh, stuff with and around you. How can you not know who I am?” Kel asked.

Angel threw his hands up. “It’s not like you ever, like, introduced yourself or anything. I didn’t bother to try and piece it together since we don’t, you know, hang out or anything.”

Before Kel and Angel could antagonize each other any further, they all heard someone deep inside the house shout, “INSPIRATION HAS STRIKETH!” Angel paled, and Aubrey bolted towards the source immediately.

Opening one of the doors in the hallway revealed a painting room where a slightly older girl (maybe a little younger than Mari?) stood in front of an easel, painting as widely and energetically as possible. Sunny stood off to the side where no stray paint splatters got to him, while Mari apparently did not react as quickly and got some in her hair.

“What happened?” Aubrey asked.

Mari shrugged a little helplessly (that description should not fit Mari). “I’m not entirely sure. As soon as Sunny walked in this girl started asking us about art advice. I tried to give her my thoughts, but she seemed to not like it. When Sunny agreed to all of her thoughts she suddenly went wild.”

“She just needed someone to listen,” Sunny said.

“So why’d we come here?” Kel asked “How’d you know she needed help in the first place?”

Sunny shrugged. “I knew her a bit in my timeline. I wanted to help her out in this one too. She was kind of my friend.”

Aubrey, Kel, and Mari all shared a look over Sunny’s head. “We can not let these new friends take Sunny away from us,” they thought.

So trying to get Mari to befriend Olivia was a bust. Sunny sat on the chair in Olivia’s house while he waited for Mari to clean the specks of paint out of her hair. When he first encountered her he didn’t care about the paint getting on him, but Mari was a responsible adult and wanted to clean herself up, which left Sunny more time to scheme.

A good number of the people Sunny befriended and helped during his last days in Faraway were a bust, they were either too old or too young for Mari. Sunny wasn’t bothered by things like that, but he did want to introduce Mari to some people that she could hang out with and connect to when Hero wasn’t here (when she doesn’t want to deal with Sunny anymore). So, the qualifications were: around the same age as Mari, just as passionate and talented, and cool. Well with Olivia not caring at the moment that took out about a fourth of Sunny’s mental list of those he knew. All that was left was the bread twins and that girl that worked at the candy store.

Sunny nodded to himself in determination as the plan was set. “Except . . .” he thought. “The Othermart is closed right now so I can’t get into the bakery or the candy store, which leaves the only option of breaking into the bread twins’ house since I know where they live.”

“H-hey time kid?” Angel asked.

Sunny turned to him and tilted his head.

“His name is Sunny!” Aubrey and Kel protested. Sunny didn’t mind.

“Uh, how’d you know about my sister?” he asked.

Sunny tried to think of a way he could communicate it in a simple gesture or with a monosyllabic response but couldn’t come up with anything and shrugged.

Aubrey stepped in and said, “Apparently he’s helped your sister multiple times with this sort of thing in his time, right Sunny?” 

If by multiple she means three then yes. Sunny nodded.

Angel gulped. “Wow, you must be pretty good to influence her opinion on art.” He isn’t and he doesn’t but Angel doesn’t have to know that. “Can you give me some tips to avoid her wrath?”

Sunny thought about what he remembered and then signed the most important tip he could.

“Uh, Sunny says that if you do not complete your errands for her in a timely manner your passion and treasure will be cursed to oblivion,” Aubrey translated.

Angel paled and dashed out of the living room. “No! Not my rare card!”

“That was kind of dramatic, don’t you think Sunny?” Aubrey asked.

Sunny shrugged. “It’s better than him forgetting and being punished for it later.”

“Wait,” Kel said. “You know what happens?”

“I don’t know,” Sunny said. “But based on the fact that Olivia is working on an art piece that she finished in my time there maybe some connections there.”

Kel shot up from the laid back position he was in on the couch. “Whoah, tell me if our team wins this season!!”

Sunny, instead of revealing he did not know because they didn’t hang out for four years, opted to shrug again, stone faced.

Kel scowled playfully and crossed his arms. “Fine, be that way,” he said. “But next time we play basketball together I’m not going easy on you.”

Fine by Sunny; he wasn’t that invested in winning or losing sports.

“So what’s next on the agenda Sunny?” Kel asked.

Sunny signed his plan. “I want to go to the bread twins’ house and help them with their ‘bad vibes.’ Maybe look around town and see what else that’s interesting is going on.”

Kel and Aubrey frowned. They tried to suppress it but they weren’t very successful. He didn’t get what the problem was, his plans were great.

“Alright,” Kel said. He got up and stretched. “So, ready to go?”

Sunny looked towards the hallway. “Mari is still getting the paint out of her hair.”

Kel rolled his eyes and flopped back onto the couch.

Sunny didn’t know why Kel looked so put out, Mari was part of the group too. Why wouldn’t they wait for her?

Aubrey felt a little weird playing hide and seek for multiple reasons. 1) She was doing it at 16 years old. 2) She was doing it while seeking two kids older than her. And 3) she was playing it with Sunny, her dead best friend that came back, and Mari, her perfect older sister figure.

It was a bit amusing seeing the normally super mature girl hesitantly look into closets and underneath tables for two twin teenage bakers. It helped that Sunny was somehow taking this seriously and not taking it seriously at all. It helped alleviate some of her anxieties doing this, but it felt too surreal. It was like the entire thing was just a mockery of a childhood memory.

She looked out of the corner of her eye and saw Kel stayed right next to Sunny. As much as Aubrey wanted to do the same, Sunny probably doesn’t want everyone to crowd around him. Besides, it would be unfair to be right by Sunny when that would leave Mari by herself. Aubrey didn’t want to leave her by herself.

Aubrey stepped up next to Mari and asked, “You think we should check for trap doors and secret holes?”

Mari startled and turned to Aubrey. “Hmm? Oh I don’t think so,” she said. “I think they’re doing this in good fun. I don't think they'd pick some secret hiding places. Don’t get worried Aubrey, we barely got started!”

Aubrey smiled in response. “Heh, yeah. So, do you think Sunny usually did this in his timeline?”

Mari’s eyes snap over to her little brother. “Well, he certainly doesn’t seem troubled or confused,” she said. “But, he’s always been that way, hasn’t he? Sunny loves helping people and doesn’t really judge. He’s not really concerned with how people see him. Right?”

Aubrey mulled it over in her head for a moment before she concluded that in a sense Mari was right. Yeah Sunny was really shy and didn’t like speaking his thoughts in detail, but whenever those problems weren’t a direct issue, Sunny flourished. He was somehow a combination of caring and subtle while being unflinchingly direct. Aubrey was sort of glad that Sunny didn’t lose that growing up.

“What do you think we should do? I don’t, I’m not sure if we can just go back to how things were,” Aubrey said.

Mari thought for a moment before she said, “Be the best we can be. I’m not going to fail him again.” She then turned around to continue searching.

While Aubrey appreciated the sentiment, it didn’t help the main problem that she had no idea what to do with Sunny. Last she remembered they were playing by the treehouse and sharing a swingset and some secrets together. And while, yes, Aubrey was enjoying playfulling exploring Faraway with Sunny, she wanted to do teenager things. She didn’t know what teenager things Sunny did in his time with his Aubrey or what he expected from her, and it was really awkward. Well, awkward wasn’t completely right, she was really happy, she just had no guarantee it was going to last.

Aubrey huffed through her nose. She was getting so scared over nothing. When she has a problem, if they have a problem, they’ll talk about it. Sunny taught them that, and she might as well respect him by listening to his advice.

She shook her head. Now, back to tracking the wonder bread twins.

As Sunny walked home, he resisted the urge to punch the air. Actually, he didn’t care as much about what people thought, he punched the air anyway.

“Did you have fun Sunny?” Mari asked. 

He nodded.

Of course he did. He got to hang out with Mari, Kel, and Aubrey, he got to introduce Mari to the cool baker twins and if he thought so himself, they got along well.

If only they were all able to find that candy store girl, then the day would’ve been perfect. Oh well, they’ll just check the Othermart tomorrow. Knocking on every door looking for her wasn’t that productive, but at least Sunny got to see that most of his neighbors were basically the same from what he remembered.

By the time Sunny ended his adventures with his friends all around town, the sun was setting and everyone scattered back to their homes in the warmth of summer dusk. Sunny was a bit worried about Kel, he was hiding some grump or irritation earlier in the day but when they all went back outside he got better. Sunny would have to remember Kel can’t be inside all day and needed some time outside to hang out.

When Mari and he got to their front door he swung it open and walked inside.

“Did you have a good time with your friends sweetie?” Mom asked him.

Sunny nodded as he slipped off his shoes.

“Good, I’m glad,” she said. “I hope you’ll have just as much fun as when you’re back in school with them.

Sunny froze, halfway through the living room. Mari stopped right next to him. He turned his head to Mom.

“What?” he asked with a raspy voice.

“The school year started! I know you might’ve forgotten since it was such a busy week but we can’t just let you skip school! Your education is important. Your father agrees.”

Sunny turned to look at his Dad who was sitting on the couch. “Don’t worry son, we talked to the principal, and you’ll be accommodated for any gaps in your education you missed due to everything that happened.”

“This is the worst possible outcome,” Sunny thought. He fell to his hands and knees. “My summer vacation got cut short.”

“Well . . .” Mari said. “Mom and Dad are right, Sunny, the world doesn’t stop just because of one miracle after all.”

Sunny knew that was Mari-speak for, “ I agree with Mom and Dad but know this is terrible too. I’m sorry Sunny. ” And it was appreciated.

Mewo walked up to him and mewed. When petting didn’t immediately commence, the cat started rubbing up against Sunny’s arm.

“Thank you Mewo, ” Sunny thought as he petted her. “ But no amount of kitty comforts can save me from the school system.”

Chapter Text

Sunny opened his eyes to see the familiar ceiling of his childhood home. In a practiced motion he sat up and swung his legs over the edge of the bed.

“Good morning Sunny!” Mari said. “Are you ready for school?”

Sunny fell right back onto his bed and curled up into a ball, turning towards the wall.

Mari laughed. “Come on, you have to actually go.”

“No,” he said. “I’m owed a month of summer vacation. And I want to stay with you.”

He felt the bed move as a heavy weight settled down behind him. “Sunny, I love you and missed you. But I don’t want you to lose your future just for me. You have to go to school and do well. I only want the best for you,” Mari said.

Sunny hated being a responsible person. He sighed and sat back up.

He grabbed his clothes (“Oh hey, Mom got the same brand of clothes that I showed up in, that’s nice,” Sunny thought) and headed towards the door. “I’m getting ready in the bathroom,” he signed. And not sure if he was overstepping a line tacked on, “I don’t want to risk you using up all the hot water first.”

“Hey!” Mari said.

Sunny closed the door before he could get a look at her facial expression and let out a deep breath. “She didn’t sound too offended right? That was just a normal sibling thing.” He went to the bathroom and saw his own frown in the mirror. “I don’t think I like making fun of Mari.”

Mari flopped down on her bed in thought. Sunny just teased her like that, she couldn’t tell if it was a good thing or not. “He never did that before, but maybe he picked it up as he grew up? He probably didn’t mean anything by it,” Mari thought. “But then again, they do say there’s truth in jest. Maybe this is payback for all the teasing I did to him? Maybe, the version of me in his world always inconveniences him and gets in his way, and he was trying to signal that he was sick of it? ” She grimaced. “ No, you shouldn’t judge the version of you who didn’t fail, the one who didn’t push Sunny to the edge.”

Mari shook her head, and pushed the thoughts out. No point obsessing over a dozen words that Sunny probably forgot about as soon as he said them.

“So Sunny, you ready for school?” Kel cheerily asked.

Sunny gave Kel the best deadpanned look of Despair, hoping against hope that his tired misery would wipe out Kel’s happy disposition.

Kel laughed a little self consciously. “Yeah, I know. In my defense I already had my first day of school. But look on the bright side! We can walk to school together.”

Sunny didn’t exactly see that as a positive, the walking or the school, but he understood what Kel was going for and nodded.

Kel’s smile widened at his agreement and grabbed Sunny’s hand before pulling him towards the bus stop. “Well, not all the way to school, the high school we go to is in the nearby town, was that the same for you?” he asked.

Sunny didn’t have enough time to go back to high school after recovering, so he didn’t have exactly “first hand experience,” but that did sound about right from what he’s heard. He nodded.

“Great!” Kel cheered. “Then you should be all good to go with school. Do you have any friends you want to reconnect with? We can try to sit with them at lunch.”

Sunny wasn’t sure what Kel thought of him, of his social life, but even if he didn’t commit manslaughter, he wasn’t exactly a social butterfly. A social moth maybe, but no way a butterfly. He shook his head. “I don’t have close friends like you all, I can sit wherever,” he signed.

Kel beamed. “Aww, Sunny, I- wait, ‘you guys?’” he asked. He turned in the direction Sunny gestures to with his sign.

“Hey slow down Kel!” Aubrey shouted. “I don’t have your freaky tall person legs, and in case you haven’t noticed, you and Sunny got a headstart on me being closer to the bus stop!”

Kel didn’t slow down his speed at all, and almost picked up, but was stopped as Sunny dropped what little weight he had, slowing Kel back down.

Once Aubrey caught up she looked at Sunny and said, “Thanks for waiting for me Sunny.”

Sunny gave her a thumbs up from the ground.

Kel rolled his eyes as he pulled Sunny back up. “Sorry, Aubrey, I thought you went to your bus stop like how me and Sunny go to ours,” he said.

Aubrey readjusted her backpack strap. “Yeah, but it’s not like it matters. We’re going to the same building. What’s the big deal?”

Before Kel could retort again, and Aubrey could raise the tension as well, Sunny interrupted by grabbing Aubrey’s hand, and held it and Kel’s hand in his own in front of them. The two of them stopped as Sunny had their attention. Using his hands, he bumped their hands together once. He hoped they got the message.

His two friends stared at the point of contact, before looking at Sunny, and then away. Kel let out a breath that took his tension with it. “Yeah, okay, whatever. But I get the aisle seat, okay?”

Aubrey nodded. “I wanted the window seat anyway,” she said.

Sunny frowned. No fair, he wanted the window seat.

“So, Sunny, do you know what your homeroom is?” Aubrey asked.

Sunny shrugged.

“What do you mean you don’t know?” Kel asked.

“Didn’t even know I was going to school until last night,” Sunny said.

His two friends both gave him a bewildered look. “That doesn’t sound right, right?” Kel asked. “Like, I’m not complaining or anything, but shouldn’t it take longer, and be harder than just figuring it out over the weekend? I don’t even think teachers work the weekend.”

Sunny shrugged again. “I don’t know,” he said, briefly freeing his hands to sign, “I just know my parents took care of it yesterday or something.”

His friends were quick to reclaim his hands when he was done. Sunny really hoped that Kel and Aubrey weren’t actually expecting to hold his hands all day.

“Well, let’s just hope you get into my homeroom Sunny, it’ll be great,” Kel said.

“Not likely numbskull, they do homerooms based on last names, so Sunny’s going to be in mine,” Aubrey said.

“Oh yeah? Well, at the beginning of high school sure. But why would they put Sunny in a homeroom that’s already full? Wouldn’t it make sense to put him in one that has a spot open like mine?” Kel said.

Aubrey raised an eyebrow at him. “Does your homeroom have an open spot?” she asked.

Kel shrugged. “I’m not sure, probably? From what I’ve seen in some other friends’ homerooms it seems smaller,” he said.

“Well, you haven’t checked out my homeroom,” Aubrey said. “We’ve got so many letters because there’s barely anyone at the back end of the alphabet this year. Sunny’s coming with me.”

And as if an angel descended from the heavens, the school bus pulled up to the corner and jolted as it stopped.

The two friends turned at the doors opening and, seemingly forgetting what their emotional state was not even five seconds ago, walked together up the bus’s steps in sync with Sunny. Aubrey somehow got up first before Sunny who was trying to escape the brewing fight.

The bus driver was an older woman that Sunny didn’t recognize. Now if it was a bus driver he did have and forgot after years in isolation, or if he truly never saw this woman before in his life, he didn’t know. But either way he met her searching look with the best expression of gratitude he could muster.

Walking down the bus aisle Sunny was confronted with how new and different everything was, just by the searching looks of the other teens. He didn’t know who any of these kids were, he didn’t know anything about high school, he wasn’t entirely sure how the whole taking the bus thing worked. And then Kel almost bumped into Sunny, reminding him to stop freaking out and just walk to his seat. It wasn’t like other teens freaked out from going to school, right?

Sunny moved down the aisle up to the seat that Aubrey just swung into, almost slamming into the wall. He remembered that Aubrey and Kel already agreed to sit together so he looked around to figure out where he was going to sit. Sunny had nothing prepared in school bus ecology and had no idea if a seat next to them vertically or horizontally was preferred.

And then his thoughts were interrupted as Aubrey grabbed onto his sleeve and yanked him next to her, with Kel plopping down right after him. Sunny looked back and forth at his friends who worked in sync like this. He didn’t know much about schooling, but he was pretty sure that you didn’t do three people to a seat when there were empty seats.

“Kel what are you doing?” The bus driver lady said into the microphone, her judging eyes were the only thing Sunny could see of her face with the long mirror above her. “You shouldn’t even be on the edge of the seat even if there weren’t any open seats. You’re about to fall off.”

“Sorry Mrs. L!” Kel said with a bit of forced cheer. “But I’m not moving from this seat!”

The woman held Kel’s look in the mirror for a moment before her eyes slid over slightly to Sunny himself. He wasn’t sure what her look meant but felt chastised at the same time. Unfortunately for her, Sunny had no power (or desire) to move his friends from the seat so he just gave her his best thumbs up.

He doubted the bus driver rolled her eyes and finally got the bus into gear due to his “devastating charisma,” but she did finally give up anyway so Sunny counted that a victory all the same.

As the bus rumbled into motion Sunny turned to Kel, observing his seating “situation.” “Are you sure you’ll be okay like that Kel? You look like you’re hanging on by half a butt cheek,” he said.

Kel gave Sunny a bright smile while he used his leg to brace against the cushion of the opposite seat. “I’m fine man, this is nothing.”

Sunny didn’t exactly believe him but also wasn’t going to argue with him on that. So instead he just nodded as he took his backpack off and put it on his lap to fully sit on the seat.

“Why’s your bag so stuffed anyway? You didn’t bring your school shit when you hopped timelines, right,” Aubrey said.

Sunny shrugged. “I wasn’t sure what I needed so Mari gave me some of her highschool textbooks and stuff. I don’t want to have to read over a stranger’s shoulder or something,” he said.

“Aw you didn’t have to do that Sunny,” Kel said. “Once we find out what your classes are you can just borrow mine, or Aubrey’s or something.”

“Don’t most classes just give you them?” Aubrey asked. “Do you have to actually buy them back in the other timeline?”

Sunny blinked at the question. Right, he wasn’t being homeschooled where his mom had to get his textbooks and stuff for him to teach himself. He shrugged. “Don’t know if they’ll have enough for me, since I’m a last minute student,” he said.

“I’m sure Mr. Del and everyone else won’t mind, they get you’re new,” Aubrey said.

Kel narrowed his eyes, “I think you mean Ms. Hart won’t mind,” he said.

Sunny sighed to himself. He could only hope this incoming fight wouldn't end with him like Basil’s photo album at the end, spilled on the floor. He didn’t like the idea of trying to explain to them the photos they’d see after knocking them out.

And as the voices heated up with Sunny in the middle cooking like a steak, his hope was granted. Unfortunately he had to deal with the shame and uncomfortability of not being able to stop a fight everyone was watching with either annoyance or intrigue. Maybe they’d be able to calm down, or Sunny would be able to get to fix it like Hero or Mari could.

The bad news was that the fight did not stop, not with Sunny’s words or even with the passage of time, in fact, with the fact that no matter if Sunny temporarily placated them or not the fighting would increase, Sunny was of the opinion that time was firmly on the side of conflict and chaos. But the good news was that after a while Sunny just zoned out and lost any attachment to his environment and social anxiety. Sure it wasn’t the healthiest thing to do what he did for years but to be fair he did seriously try to engage before he gave up.

But he would’ve preferred that situation than the looks on his friends’ faces when they all got off the bus and saw the vice principal waiting for them.

And next thing he knew, he was here, in this room, waiting for the teacher to finish grading his placement test.

Sunny idly swung his legs as he waited. He was confident he did well enough to place in the same grades as his friends (no he wasn’t, but Sunny refused to let himself spiral from uncertainty). From what he was told, this was normally done way before school started, or not at all. But since he showed up just as school was getting started, teachers thought if they did it quickly/ efficiently enough, he could join in easily.

The test was varied and covered basically every subject with some basic, miscellaneous “life skills” that Sunny just assumed that the school would’ve taught him up to this point, it was kind of weird how the subjects were all split apart through the test except for life skills. He wondered what they would do if he flunked the life skills part. Would they give him private tutoring or something or just look at him with pity and not do anything?

“Oh god, ” Sunny thought, “what if people assume I haven’t had the talk yet? I mean, I haven’t, but I know. What if my parents don’t know and start the talk even though I already know? Okay, if any adult even gets close to that territory I run. Ignore any and all social conventions and book it for the nearest exit. Maybe I should release a hive-flock of birds and bees into the house to prove I know.”

His different flavor of anxiety was interrupted by the door to the room being opened and two people walked in. Sunny technically recognized them both. He knew the man was the Vice Principal, Mr. Rosenberg, and the woman was the teacher who graded the tests, but he didn’t know her name.

The woman sat down at the desk in front of Sunny and said, “Congratulations Mr. Suzuki, you’ve qualified to be placed in 12th grade.”

Sunny smiled until he did the mental math. “Don’t you mean 11th year?” he asked out loud.

The teacher shook her head. “No, I mean you just proved your ability to skip to 12th grade with these tests.”

“There were multiple tests?” he asked.

“You mean you didn’t notice?” Mr. Rosenberg asked.

Sunny didn’t really see a good answer so he just shrugged: a yes without admitting it.

“I suppose it makes sense,” the teacher said, trying to cover for him, “if he learned the subject material the way he did then the distinctions between grade levels could be less clear for him.” And when she said that the woman and the principal shared a knowing look, and all of a sudden Sunny was reminded of something. Not everyone had first hand experience with what happened. While his friends and family knew and saw him dead, and the others who were told trusted his friends, all everyone else just heard what happened. And now they had a kid who aged, was missing an eye, and nobody was certain about what his school abilities were. Sunny would’ve thought it to be a perfect opportunity for pranks and jokes if it weren’t for the fact everyone else’s reputation was on the line. He was tempted to interrupt the silent communication between the two right now and set them straight, but he couldn’t muster the confidence and energy before the two of them continued.

“Ms. Bower isn’t trying to make light of your accomplishments Sunny,” the vice principal said (“Oh, her name is Bower,” Sunny thought), “in fact we’re both very impressed with what you proved yourself to do and think you should seize the opportunity in front of you now.”

Seize the opportunity? Those words struck a chord in Sunny. It practically struck a whole melody. Not seizing a chance? He only was being “pushed ahead” because he had almost a whole year on his friends, but all of that “education” was self taught for tests. What was being offered was throwing him into the sharks without his friends.

“Don’t want it,” he said.

The two adults blinked. “Excuse me?” Ms. Bower asked.

Oh, that’s right, he should probably find a better way to phrase it. “I . . . I need a chance, um, to get used to things again. I’m still . . . recovering, and I don’t think being advanced will help with that,” he said, barely able to keep his voice at a speaking volume. “So I’d like to join as a Junior please.”

The two adults shared a look before looking back at Sunny. They looked back at each other and Ms. Bower leaned over to whisper something to Mr. Rosenberg. After a moment he whispered something back to her. They continued with the “secret” exchange for a few moments before they both turned to Sunny.

“We understand Sunny,” Mr. Rosenberg said. “We can put you in the 11th grade class.”

“But we do want to let you know with these scores you’re eligible for AP classes, which would be good to help secure your future, getting some college credits taken care of without paying for them,” Ms. Bower said.

Sunny hummed. “AP means more work. But, Mari was saying she was having some trouble with college and wished she could get ready earlier,” he thought.

He frowned as he thought about what his answer should be. And which one would mean less work and studying.

It was as if Sunny walked under the shade of a tree of an oasis as he entered the cafeteria. Freedom and sanctuary from the harsh desert heat that was the public education system. Safe that was, until he was pounced on by two carnivores that ecologists called “extroverts.”

“Sunny!” his two friends said as they got up from their tables to greet him at the door. His thoughts turned to being preyed upon by them and quickly suppressed the heat that rose within.

It was a weird feeling, having such intense, positive attention on him from the people he cared about. He wasn’t sure what to do with it.

“Where were you man? The principal dragged you away immediately,” Kel asked.

Sunny shrugged. “Just wanted to talk about class placement,” he said.

Aubrey lightly elbowed him. “See, you had nothing to be worried about, now hurry up and tell Kel you’re in my homeroom,” she said.

Before Kel could retaliate as he normally would, Sunny pulled out his class schedule with his homeroom teacher on top and presented it to his friends. The two of them snatched it and briefly struggled between themselves trying to get a better look. That was they fought until Kel’s grip went slack as he read, “Ms. Bower?” he asked.

“What?” Aubrey asked. “I just talked to Mr. Del and he said your last name was in our classroom! What the fuck man?”

Sunny shrugged. “Something about how she would be better for me to adapt to the school,” he signed with one hand as he put the paper away.”

His two friends both took a few moments to grieve over it before Kel eventually shrugged and said, “Oh well, we’ll still get to hang out anyway, right Sunny?

Sunny nodded.

“Yeah, let’s start now, and come sit with my friends,” Aubrey said

Kel frowned. “Hey, Sunny was going to sit with me and my friends,” he said.

Aubrey opened her mouth as if to respond to Kel, before she looked back at Sunny and closed her mouth. “Well, Sunny?” she asked. “Who do you want to sit with?”

Sunny looked confused between the two of them before he asked, “Can’t we sit together?”

“Well I want to talk with my other friends too.”

“Same.”

Sunny, seeing the potential conflict, used “ol’ reliable:” Pick which one he actually preferred and make it up to the other person in another way later. The two groups were the athletes or the hooligans. Kel’s friends he barely knew, most he only met recently. Only person he could really vouch for was Cris, she was cool. But the Hooligans on the other hand, they fought Sunny  in combat. He and Kel used candy to bribe them and then caved out of mercy. Sunny stabbed a few of them, and pepper sprayed all of them. Also Charlene also knew sign. All these things big pluses.

Sunny pointed to Aubrey’s table. And when Aubrey perked up and Kel frowned, Sunny added, “I’ll join you at your sports practice later, alright?”

Kel looked at Sunny for a long moment before he shrugged and said, “Sure, yeah I’m fine with that man. Besides, we have math together later so it’s no big deal. See you later.” And with that he turned around and headed towards his own table.

Sunny watched him go, a little . . . concerned about that response. He wasn’t entirely sure, there just was something off about how Kel reacted, how it wasn’t what he was expecting that Sunny had to look at him to try and puzzle it out. But he didn’t want to ruminate on it long so as soon as Kel sat down and started talking to his friends Sunny turned to join Aubrey.

Aubrey plopped down in her seat next to Kim, leaving Sunny the seat next to her and Maverick to take. “Hey guys,” she greeted. “Brought Sunny over.”

Kim and a few of the others nodded at him or gave a slight acknowledgement.

“So why the fuck are your parents still letting this woman sleep on the couch?” Aubrey asked, picking right up a conversation with Kim.

“I’m not sure. Like, I know me and Vance both see her as our ‘Aunt,’ even if she divorced Uncle Dan, but our parents aren’t really, I don’t know, clear about it. They say we have no relation to her anymore, and then invite her over when she gets evicted. Maybe they’re just doing it because they know her? I don’t know. Anyway, Aunt Mia is my alibi now so me and Vance will be able to sneak out more.”

“Nice,” Aubrey said, picking at her food. “That sounds great cause, you know, I was thinking of maybe taking you all to meet my friend Basil.”

Sunny’s breath caught.

Aubrey continued without looking up. “He’ll be allowed visitors soon so, you know, might have a fun time with all my friends together.”

That- that, that was . . . based on some of the things Sunny heard or understood from implications. . .

“Hey Sunny, where’s your lunch?” Maverick asked.

Sunny snapped out of his stupor. He looked down in front of himself to confirm that, indeed, he did not have food in front of him.

“Forgot,” he said.

“You can just go grab some from the lunchline now if you want. No one’s there,” the Maverick said.

Sunny shrugged. “Can’t. Don’t have an account.”

Aubrey immediately patted her pockets and started rummaging through her backpack. “Hey it’s okay, I’ve got some cash on me maybe. You can at least get the sandwich or something.”

No, Sunny didn’t want his friends to spend money on him. “No no no, it’s fine Aubrey,” he signed. “We all used to forget lunch sometimes, you, me, and Kel remember? I can just wait until dinner.”

Aubrey froze and slowly relaxed back to a less active position. “Right, we all forgot. And it’s fine. But try to remember next time, okay Sunny?” she said.

Sunny gave a thumbs up.

Maverick cleared his throat. “Anyway what-”

“Kelsey Hidalgo to the attendance office. Will Kelsey Hidalgo come to the attendance office?” the PA announced.

Instinctively, Sunny looked over to his friend, as all people did when someone they knew was being called over a speaker. And he found a strange reaction. Kel’s face was twisted up in a scowl as he got up from his table and almost stormed away. Sunny looked back at Aubrey to confirm that she saw it too and he wasn’t going crazy, or if there was an easy reason why. Based on her expression she was just as lost as to why he was acting that way as well. Before she could respond, Sunny nodded to her and left the table, following after his friend.

Racing to follow his friend was harder than Sunny expected. One part because Kel had stupid long legs, one part Sunny wasn’t entirely sure where the attendance office was, and one part because Kel was actually trying to move fast. He hated it. He went down the wrong hallway a couple of times, but eventually with the help of some auditory clues. The one auditory clue being Kel’s shouts heard from the room with “attendance office” on a sign over it. A true “AP” genius Sunny was.

Opening the door to the office revealed two things. One was the actual contents of what Kel was shouting. “-thought you could never visit or do anything for us because you’re always so busy . But all of-” Kel continued.

The second thing revealed was the person Kel was shouting at.

“Hero?” Sunny asked out loud. “What’s going on?” His voice was barely above talking volume but somehow caught the attention of the two brothers who turned to him in varying degrees of shock.

Chapter Text

Henry blinked once, blinked twice. His mouth failed to do little other than open and close like a broken garage door. His mind flashed back to that afternoon by the lake as he tried to reconcile that with the person in front of him.

He was wearing an eyepatch. He was a few inches taller. He was standing in front of him right behind Kel who reacted to him as if he was actually there.

Sunny, his little brother, was standing in the same room as him and Henry was holding Kel’s (his biological brother) lunch. He had to put said lunch down on the counter so he could use that hand to hold himself up.

Meanwhile Kel could not look more smug if he tried. “See?! I told you Sunny came back,” he said. Henry could see now Kel’s stance had lost most of the aggression and hostility and instead he had an arm slung over his dead (not dead) best friend’s shoulders.

“Yeah, you- you did,” Henry said. Henry opened his mouth to say something, say all the things he wanted to say to this- to Sunny. But words failed him. He turned to his brother (not letting Sunny out of his field of vision). “But Kel, you understand why- why I- why we didn’t take you as . . literally as you were maybe hoping,” he said.

Kel frowned. “Not literally? How could me telling you guys ‘Sunny’s back’ not be taken literally?” he asked, as if Henry were the crazy one here.

“Sunny’s-” Henry’s gaze flicked over to the boy before he looked back at his brother. “-Sunny died Kel. Sunny had a funeral.” 

“Yeah, I know Hero. I was there ,” Kel said. “I would think you would trust me not to forget that Sunny died.”

“You weren’t there by the lake,” Henry almost retorted. Instead he bit his tongue and changed course. “Look, this- I wasn’t ready to have this conversation. How about we talk later, after school? It’ll give me a chance to . . . regain my bearings. Are you okay with that Kel?” 

It wasn’t exactly a grimace that Kelmade, but suffice to say he wasn’t looking pleased. But then Kel glanced over at Sunny who was watching the two of them with a curious expression. Kel turned back towards Henry, took a deep breath and said, “Yeah, sure, we can talk later.” 

Henry let some of the tension he didn’t know he had out as Kel acquiesced. “Good, good,” he said. He looked over at Sunny still watching the two of them interact. “I’ll,” he tried to summon a warm smile, “Let’s talk later, okay Sunny?” When Sunny nodded, Henry immediately looked back to the more familiar sight of Kel.

Kel’s arms were crossed as he visibly held back a sigh. “So, is that all Hero?” he asked.

Henry could only look at Kel in bafflement before he reached back to pick back up the paper bag he left on the counter.

“I wasn’t lying when I said Mom sent me over to drop off your lunch,” Henry said.

Kel rolled his eyes. “Fine,” he said as he snatched the bag from his brother. “See you later Hero.”

Henry dumbly watched his brother and his dead best friend leave the room. In the doorway Sunny turned back to look at Henry, his visible eye showing confusion and concern. Henry had no idea why but that sight of Sunny’s look made his breath catch in his chest. And before he could even respond the younger boy looked away and left.

Henry was alone in a building he left behind with some feelings he never thought he’d revisit.

“Hey Sunny, you excited for science class?” Kel asked as the three of them, Aubrey, Sunny, and him walked away from the cafeteria. “You think you’ll do okay? If you need help you can ask me for notes.”

His science knowledge was spotty but since it was basically the first week, it was probably going to be just review. Sunny nodded in his way of saying, “Thanks, but no thanks.”

“You’re right, you’ll do great,” Kel said.

As the two of them sat down at the two person lab tables (Sunny took someone’s spot based on how a girl hesitantly looked at his seat and an open one before sitting down), Sunny leaned over to Kel. “Hero looked surprised,” Sunny whispered, trying to bring up the “fight” he saw as gently as possible..

Kel’s smile twisted into a scowl. “Yeah, he had no reason to be. I told him you came back as soon as I got home the other day. I’m pissed at him checking on me because he’s ‘worried’ instead of actually checking to see if he should be, ya know?” Kel said.

Sunny frowned slightly at the response. The wording . . . the way Kel framed it, it reminded Sunny of something that didn’t fit. From Sunny’s perspective, Kel and Hero’s sibling bond was the best one he’s ever seen, one he wished he could’ve kept (“can now keep with,” he reminded himself) with Mari.

Maybe there was something going on there, something that Sunny could help with.

“I get it,” Sunny said. “It’s annoying to not be taken seriously. But also this whole thing is crazy for people who don’t know the truth. Maybe I could come over to your house after school to say hi to your parents?” he whispered.

Kel’s scowl melted away instantly. “Yeah, that’d be great. After practice though, right?”

Sunny nodded. Today was going to be great.

“Okay class, turn to page 15 in your textbooks, we need to go over some passages before we can start our first lab experiment,” the teacher announced.

“Ah, right. Which textbook do I need again?” Sunny thought.

As Sunny dropped his stuffed backpack (with two more textbooks than he started with, they were this close to Sunny not needing new textbooks), he let out a huge sigh. What a long day. After having only 3 days of social interaction over the course of four years, school was like Blackspace. The only difference between the two was that one was a specially constructed space to wear him down with stress and insecurities and the other was Blackspace.

Sunny shook his head. That joke was older than his dad, he needed to make sure his jokes were up to his standard of originality.

“Hey Sunny!” Kel shouted from the basketball court. Practice hasn’t officially started so about everyone else was in the locker room getting ready, everyone else except for the two who showed up early. Kel dribbled the ball a couple times. “This shot’s for you!” he said. 

Kel shot the basketball towards the hoop. It bounced off the backboard onto the rim, and then onto the rim again, and again, and again, before it started rolling around the edge and then fell off.

Sunny clapped, he could not think of a better shot done in his name.

Kel laughed weakly and got back his basketball.

And then some people started coming in. Sunny recognized some of them, Ben from his . . . memorable first impression, and others from classes or passing in the halls. 

After all the athletes came in from the locker rooms, an older man walked in from one of the gym double doors. The man was wearing shorts, a sweatshirt, and a whistle around his neck. He couldn’t more clearly announce his presence as a coach if he blew that whistle and called them all maggots.

With the coach’s presence, everyone moved in natural rhythm to warm ups and exercises. Kel was moving and warming up smoothly, until he looked up to the bleachers and his eyes widened as he stumbled.

Before Sunny could ask he felt two weights settle down next to him. He looked to his side to see Aubrey lounging back and Mari greeting him with a smile.

“Hey, what are you doing here?” Kel yelled out, turning his full attention back to the stands Aubrey and Mari were now sitting in.

“Mari wanted to know why Sunny wasn’t home so we came here together!” Aubrey yelled back.

Kel frowned. “Whatever,” he said. “As long as you don’t mess with me I guess you can stay.”

Aubrey rolled her eyes to show what she thought of Kel’s “permission.” The smile Mari made looked off, or was missing something, to Sunny.

“Of course Kel,” she said. “We’re here to support you.”

Kel didn’t respond, and instead turned away to half-jog over to his coach.

After that Sunny watched as Kel and the other athletes went through an intense variety of warm ups and exercises. Sunny was getting tired and sweaty just watching him.

“Should I start exercising?” Sunny thought to himself. “That looks like hell, but I’ve also been holed up in my house for years. But then again I’m not holed up in my house anymore. Besides, don’t people need to eat good to get exercise to mean anything? I’ll at least do that. Start working on keeping a meal down before I do anything else.”

“So that’s why Kel eats all the time,” Sunny said.

“Hmm?” Aubrey said. “Yeah I guess so. I won’t foot the bills for his meals but I guess I shouldn’t tease him too much for it. I’d eat like a whale too if I did this everyday.”

“I bet Hero has to cook overtime to get Kel enough food,” Sunny said.

Mari glanced off to the side. “No, I’m afraid Hero is too busy with schooling and paramedic training to even commute. He works hard and to keep up with his schedule he has to live away.”

“Oh, where’s Hero going?” Sunny asked.

“Haven College,” Mari said.

Sunny frowned; that college was almost a two hour drive away. He only knew about it after moving so close to it. It occurred to Sunny that maybe the distance put some strain on Hero’s relationship with Kel, and perhaps the rest of his family. “Does he at least get to see Sally?” Sunny asked.

Mari tilted her head. “Who’s Sally?”

Sunny opened his mouth to respond when a shout interrupted them.

One the court Kel was sitting on the ground by the basketball hoop. The rim trembled from aftershocks and Kel rubbed his hand.

Immediately his teammates went to help him up, but Kel already was pushing himself on his feet by the time they did. He waved off their concerns and showed them his face was without apparent injury. Now standing, he acted no worse for wear and his teammates moved on with only mild hesitation.

“Ouch, looks like Kel ate shit,” Aubrey said.

Sunny nodded in agreement. He opened his mouth to ask if Kel was alright but stopped. If Kel wasn’t going to say if he was hurt to his other friends, he wasn’t going to tell Sunny still in front of those same friends. Sunny should remember to ask if he’s okay later.

“Anyway, speaking of friends spoiling people with food,” Aubrey said. “Vance has been starting to learn how to cook. He mostly knows how to do meat and barbeque and stuff, but me and Kim have been pushing him to make vegetarian too.”

“Oh, are you a vegetarian now Aubrey?” Mari asked.

“Not really. But well . . .” she trailed off looking at her. Eventually Aubrey said, “Well, we were thinking about visiting Basil soon, and sometimes we’re even allowed to bring food, so, you know. I was thinking when I bring everyone to see him we can give him something made for him.”

“Basil?” Mari asked. “Oh, yeah, I heard from Hero how you still keep in contact with Basil. I’m glad you’re still so close. Do you think-”

This time with Suny keeping part of his attention towards Kel who was drilling did he actually see what happened. While dribbling the ball down the bourt, his gaze just briefly looked towards the three of them on the bleachers, and while he went to looking forward again, his hand stuttered in rhythm and jammed his ring finger on the ball. Biting down a curse, Kel hissed in pain and surprise as he lost the ball and grabbed his finger in pain.

“Ouch man, I hate when that happens, you good?” one of the other basketball players asked.

Kel nodded with a forced smile. “Yeah, I’m good, let me switch to my other hand and I’ll be okay,” he said.

“What’s going on with Kel?” Sunny whispered.

Aubrey shrugged. “If anything I would ask you. You’ve been hanging out with him more than me recently.”

“. . . I just showed up three days ago,” Sunny said.

Aubrey nodded. “And we haven’t been exactly on speaking terms since. .  .” she trailed off. “Well, you know.”

Sunny knew all too well, maybe a bit more than anyone here thought he could. After all, he had to deal with a worse version of what was going on.

“Oh, are you still fighting with Kel Aubrey?” Mari asked. “We’re all friends, we should all try to get along.”

Aubrey grimaced. “Well-”

“Whoah! You okay Kel?”

Looking back over, Sunny saw Kel pushing himself off the ground, the basketball bouncing away with no one paying attention to it. This time the other players were quick to help him back up but Kel didn’t seem to, physically at least, acknowledge their efforts.

“You’re out of your groove today Hidalgo,” the coach said. “Go and get a drink and take a breather. No point in practice if you’re out of it.”

Kel was about to protest before he stopped and, instead, gave a shaky smile. “Thanks coach. I think I need it.”

As casual as possible Kel walked off the basketball court and through the double doors into the hallway, sparing the three in the bleachers a glance before the doors closed behind him.

Sunny turned back to Aubrey and Mari, concerned about what was happening, and hesitant to get up and go after him. 

“That old man’s right, Kel looks really out of it right now. Did you see anything happen that could’ve caused Kel to be like this Sunny?” Aubrey asked.

Sunny shrugged and signed, “I saw the tail end of a pretty intense conversation with Hero earlier today. But I think he was mostly fine once we got to the next class.”

Aubrey’s eyebrows furrowed. “Huh, do you think something is going on at home? Like future planning stuff?”

Sunny turned to Mari to get her opinion but instead found he didn’t even have her attention. Mari wasn’t even looking at Sunny, but she still said, as if reading his mind, “I’ll go check in on him.” And without another word she stepped down the bleachers and walked out the same door as Kel.

Sunny was somewhat relieved and disappointed. He was relieved that someone with social grace like his sister would be able to comfort Kel and figure out what was going on. But he was also disappointed he could not do it himself and had to wait for her. Sunny sometimes missed the courage he had when he thought everything was a dream, both back in his home timeline and this one.

“Huh, you know, it almost reminds of old times how Mari and Hero would reach out to check on us,” Aubrey said. “Guess some things don’t change, you know?”

Sunny nodded, it was amazing that everyone was still together. “All our friendships survived in a world where Mari never died. A world where I d- nope. Things aren’t the same, it isn’t great because there is no change, it’s great that everyone’s here,” Sunny thought.

“Things changed,” Sunny said, “we’re different from middle school. But we’re still together, right?”

Aubrey looked away from the door to stare at Sunny. Her gaze flickered from his eyepatch to his eye.

“Yeah, I guess so,” She said. After a beat, Aubrey opened her mouth but then paused. Her contemplative expression changed to confusion. “Do you hear that?” she asked.

Sunny could, and he bet everyone else in the gymnasium could too. The coach wasn’t looking in the same direction as everyone else, but it was clear he was trying to ignore it.

“How could he not hear the growing volume of shouts coming from the hallway?” Sunny thought.

Everyone else was torn between sharing awkward looks or looking in its direction.

But all Sunny and Aubrey could do was share a look. At that moment, Sunny was certain of two things. They both knew it was Kel shouting, and they both were going to do something about it. 

Without a word, the two of them left the bleachers and went straight towards the double doors that their friends went through.

Stepping out into the hallway, Sunny could now actually hear what the voices were saying. Water spilled around the corner reflected the light of the hallway, Sunny shared a concerned look with Aubrey as they got closer.

“-bors Mari!” Kel shouted. “But you might as well be off with Hero! But oh wait, turns out you haven’t been keeping in touch with him either! You cut us off for three years and show up pretending it didn’t happen? Why are you doing this Mari? What do you want?”

Sunny turned the corner just in time to actually see his sister’s reaction. She stood frozen, staring at Kel.  Sunny wanted to do nothing more than comfort Mari and stop Kel from tearing into his sister, but something stopped him. While Mari’s facial expression was definitely hurt, and a little confused, she expressed no disagreement. Sunny knew his sister, so even if he hated what Kel was saying, Mari didn’t and was trying to listen.

And then Sunny turned to pay attention to Kel, and he was suddenly very glad he didn’t snap at him. Kel was frazzled. His fingers were gripping his hair and his shoes were wet from the open water bottle on the ground. 

All Sunny’s throat wanted to do was close shut down like a computer taking a bath, but he couldn’t let his cowardice hurt his sister and friend.

“Kel?” Sunny croaked out.

Kel froze, and almost with a look of horror turned to look at Sunny. Kel turned his face from one of fear, to the most plastic, brittle smile Sunny’s ever seen on his friend’s face.

“Oh, hey Sunny, I-” Kel said, before Aubrey interrupted him.

“Kel what the fuck are you doing, tearing into Mari like that? How-” Aubrey said, before Kel returned the favor and interrupted her too.

“Stay out of this! You don’t know what you’re-”

“Oh? I don’t know? You’re such a sack of-”

Sunny stepped between the two. They almost continued to shout over him (literally) before he raised his hands to get their attention.

“Aubrey, how about you get Mari’s side of the story while I find out Kel’s?” he asked. While doing so, he reached out to grasp Kel’s shoulder, hoping that he’ll interpret it for the gesture of support Sunny meant it to be.

Aubrey carefully regarded the both of them before turning to Mari and considering her expression. After a moment she nodded to Sunny and reached out to Mari. “Come on, let’s find a place where no one will overhear us.”

Mari looked like she was about to disagree, so Sunny gave his own pleading look to support Aubrey’s and she relented (He never remembered being able to “manipulate” his own sister like that back then, but then again, his therapist did say that sometimes details like that get lost or distorted by grief).

As Aubrey and Mari walked away together in one direction, Sunny pulled Kel along with him in another. He didn’t know the layout of the school, but he did know that Kel needed somewhere safe and private. Sunny just pulled Kel in the opposite direction. The two meandered down the hallways until Sunny thought they were far enough away from everyone else. 

Testing a few doors, Sunny eventually found a classroom that was still unlocked. He stepped inside and offered Kel a seat.

“What’s wrong Kel?” Sunny asked.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Aubrey asked for what was probably the fourth time since leaving the school.

“I’m fine Aubrey. It’s not me we should be worried about, it’s Kel.”

Aubrey tried her best to prevent her frown from turning into a full scowl. “Mari, he was yelling at you for trying to help him. I’m not that worried about him.”

Mari shook her head. “No, it’s, I did something wrong. He was obviously distressed and I made it worse for him. I can’t blame him for my mistake,” she said.

“Mari. . .” Aubrey trailed off. “Why won’t you stand up for yourself?”

“I don’t want to get angry, I just want to know what I did wrong?”

And Aubrey said nothing. The two girls sat in silence as they mulled over the question. Mari on the answer itself, and Aubrey on why Mari would ask it.

It was strange for Kel to be in an empty classroom after school. It was like being in a closed mall, or a church at night. Not to mention him recovering from a raw explosion of emotions with his best friend that he thought died.

“Heh, feels like I’m trespassing,” Kel said.

Sunny shook his head. “We’re in school anyway, doesn’t mean we have to be in public to talk about what’s going on.”

Kel looked down. Of course, Sunny wasn’t going to be distracted. “Right, yeah.”

The two fell back into silence, Sunny waiting for Kel’s words, and Kel waiting for himself to form them. Kel didn’t even know where to start. It felt like he was staring down a jar of wasps. No matter how long he waited for them to calm down to let them out safely, they wouldn't stop buzzing and shaking the jar.

“I . . . don’t know how to even start,” Kel said.

“Why not?” Sunny asked, tilting his head.

Kel didn’t want to say. He didn’t want to say the truth because he wouldn’t be able to take it back. It might ruin his friendship with Sunny. But he was asking and Kel couldn’t think of a way to lie.

“Because I’m pissed at your perfect older sister.”

Sunny’s breath caught in his throat. Kel tried not to cringe.