Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

A tear was slowly spreading through the fabric of reality. Since Sunny had stopped dreaming of Headspace over the last few days, it wasn’t a rare occurrence. Omori had done everything in his power to steer his friends away from the rips, but he knew this would happen eventually. Having just finished climbing the ladder to Otherworld, the group stood face to face with a fissure.

It looked like a rip in any ordinary fabric. The sky was sagging in such a way that one couldn’t see the other side. The violet was subtly turning to grey around the edges, but otherwise it would’ve been hard to notice if it were smaller.

“Uh, Mari?” Hero said, looking towards the picnic blanket where she and Basil were stationed, “What’s that?”

Mari gazed up at the gash. “I don’t know. I’m sure it wasn’t here earlier.”

At the same time, Kel ran up and reached out towards the tear. Omori tapped on Hero’s shoulder to draw the boy’s attentions and began adamantly shaking his head while pointing at Kel. Hero got the message and spoke up.

“Kel, you shouldn’t touch—”

At that moment, Aubrey shoved Kel forwards.

Kel’s vision became white, and he felt like he was falling.

“Aubrey!” Hero chided.

“What? He’s probably fine.”

“Um, Aubrey?” Basil spoke up “We don’t know what’s on the other side of that, but we couldn’t hear Kel as soon as he went through. That seems pretty scary.” Omori did know what was on the other side. It terrified him.

“Well, we just have to go after him. It’ll be fun!” Mari smiled and got up from the picnic blanket. One by one everyone stepped through the hole.

“It can’t be that bad.”

Aubrey’s vision became white, and she felt like she was falling.

Hero frowned, but didn’t say a word.

Hero’s vision became white, and he felt like he was falling.

“Alright. If we’re all doing this, then…”

Basil’s vision became white, and he felt like he was falling.

“Well, it’s just you and me, little brother. Are you ready?” Omori shook his head. “It’s okay! It won’t be so scary if we do this together.” Mari took Omori’s hand in her own. “1… 2… 3!”

Sunny’s vision became white, and he felt like he was falling.

Chapter Text

       It was a strange sensation to be standing on the grass one second and laying in bed the next. Omori was tucked in under a light blanket, and felt a soft pillow under his head. If not for the circumstances he might have enjoyed it. He didn’t want to face the music, but he had no choice. Slowly opening his eyes, Omori saw the most frightening thing he could imagine.

            The real world.

            He was in a dark room. The only light came through a small opening in the curtains. Next to the bed was a chair, seating Kel, who looked somewhat dazed. On the other side of the room Basil was laying in a bed surrounded by trophies and medals. Hero and Aubrey were getting their bearings in chairs next to him. Omori sat up, squeezing Mari’s hand.

            Mari.

            Omori reached over and shook Kel.

            “Huh? What is it, Omori?” The colorless boy pointed at Basil, Aubrey, Hero, Kel, and himself putting up one finger for each person. “Hm? Oh, Mari’s gone!”

            The other three were jolted by Kel’s voice. Aubrey looked at him and began scanning the room.

            “Where even are we?”

            “Good question, Aubrey.” Kel retorted.

            “How was I supposed to know? Plus, my side of the room is way cooler than yours.”

            “Now, now,” Hero said. “There’s no need to argue. We should focus on finding Mari and a way home.”

            “And where we are,” Basil added in. “Like, why are me and Omori in beds?”

            The group silently considered the question before Omori got up and motioned for the rest to follow. Despite having a leg up on everyone else in terms of knowledge, he still knew next to nothing about the current situation. All he knew was that this world was a scary place where his big sister had died.

            He couldn’t let that happen again.

————

            They searched the house room by room. Not much was upstairs, but apparently all the trophies belonged to someone named Henry Rivas. Downstairs, Omori found a note on the kitchen table. Aubrey looked over his shoulder and read it aloud.

            “Hi kids. We’re going to be gone for a couple days. Hector had to take an emergency trip the vet and-“

            “Hector? Why would a pet rock need to go to the vet?”

            “It’s probably a different Hector, Kel. Why would these strangers have your pet rock?”

            “Hey, he’s not mine. He has his own family.”

            “Please keep reading, Aubrey,” Basil said from the other side of the room.

            “Right. Hector had to take an emergency trip to the vet and might be there for a while. The vet is so far away we figured we’d just stay with a friend. We left some money for food in the drawer by the sink. Tell Sunny and Basil we hope they get well soon. Love, Mom and Dad.”

            “Basil?” Hero walked over to see the letter for himself. “So if Basil was in bed because he was sick, who’s Sunny?”

            Omori was trying to hide the fact that he was shaking. Luckily everyone was distracted by the note, but he could barely hear what they were saying over the sound of his own thoughts.

            What does Sunny have to do with all of this? Did he really get hurt in the fight? It was for his own good. I didn’t mean to hurt him.

            “-ri? Omori did you hear what we said?” Omori looked up at Kel, who was waving a hand in front of his face. He must have been spaced out for a while. “We’re gonna go explore outside. But first...” Kel looked back and forth to make sure the others were out of earshot in the other room, then dropped his voice to a whisper. “Hero said we shouldn’t take this, but I think it’ll be good to have some money. Just in case, you know? I can just say I found it on the ground if anyone asks.” He carefully opened the drawer and pulled out a green rectangle of paper. “This doesn’t look like any money I’ve seen.” Omori noticed a whiteboard on the fridge, and erased the grocery list to write his own message. 

‘It’s probably this world’s money. 20 clams isn’t enough to be a bill instead of coins so it’s pretty different.’

“You’re right! Let’s go before the others notice us staying behind.” Omori took the magnetic board and marker from the fridge and went to join the group. 

The kids walked through the front door filled with the familiar determination to find a lost friend.

Chapter Text

            Kel’s vision became white, and he felt like he was falling.

            He was too tired to notice the difference.

            Aubrey’s vision became white, and she felt like she was falling.

            She was already seeing red, so it wasn’t too strange.

            Hero’s vision became white, and he felt like he was falling.

            With the rest of his world crumbling, he could barely tell.

            Basil’s vision became white, and he felt like he was falling.

            He was already in a dreamless sleep.

            Sunny’s vision became white, and he felt like he was falling.

            He figured he must have fallen asleep, after all, this happened every night.

            Sunny’s body hit the ground with a thud. Pain shot through every inch of his body. He had just been discharged from the hospital, but was staying at Kel and Hero’s house because he still wasn’t feeling well enough to walk long distances. With his new home in the city, and his mom always at work, that would be a problem. Still, he wasn’t happy to be there, and he didn’t think any of his friends were either. 

           Sunny put his arms in front of him to try and push himself up. He was still weak and in pain, but it wasn’t too bad in this dream. The boy managed to stand and look around. He was in Otherworld. A bit strange seeing as he hadn’t visited Headspace since the fight with Omori. He was himself, still dressed in too-big clothes and with an eyepatch over his right eye. He glanced down and noticed that there were people laying on the grass.

           His friends.

           They didn’t look right. They were all older, and the bright colors that made up their dream selves were gone. All four of them looked real. Too real.

            Kel was the closest. He was breathing, thankfully, and seemed to be stirring. Sunny crouched down and shook him lightly. The taller boy groaned and looked up.

           “Oh, Sunny! You’re here too! Uh… do you know where here is anyways?” Reluctantly, Sunny nodded. At that point the boys noticed Aubrey, Basil, and Hero coming to. “Looks like the gang’s all here! We should start looking around.”

            ”Wait a second,” Aubrey interjected. “First we’ve got to figure out why we’re here.”

            Basil nervously agreed. “One s-second we were in your room, a-and now we’re in… space??”

            “This place looks kind of familiar…” Hero trailed off, contemplating the new scenery.

           “Sunny knows where we are!” Everyone’s eyes made Sunny want to run away and never come back.

            ‘Great,’ he thought ‘They probably think this is all my fault. I mean, it sort of is. If I had been brave this place wouldn’t even exist. I guess now I need to help them get out of this mess. I won’t run away again.’

            Sunny drew in a shaky breath and prepared to come clean. This whole scene was far too familiar. “When I was gone for four years, this is where I went.” That seemed to spark more confusion than clarity, so he pushed himself to keep talking. “It started as a dream, but the more time I spent here, the more this world and the people in it became alive. I think now it’s less a dream and more…” Sunny paused, trying to think of the right word. “A dimension.”

           Hero, who had barely spoken to Sunny since his last confession, now tentatively addressed him. “Sunny, just how much time did you spend here?”

           Sunny couldn’t maintain eye contact. “Almost every moment since her funeral.” The pink grass became blurry. Sunny refused to cry. He didn’t get to cry. He spent years in this rainbow-colored paradise while everyone else was facing reality. He-

           An embrace distracted Sunny from his thoughts.

           “I had no idea. I’m so sorry. If I had known I would have been there for you.” It was Hero.

           “Why are you-“

           “Shhh.”

           Sunny felt three more pairs of arms wrap around him. Any thought he had that his friends hated him melted away, at least for the time being.

           In this moment, all that mattered was that they were together.

Chapter Text

            This strange new place was overwhelmingly hot. Was it always like this? It reminded Omori of Orange Oasis, but without dinosaurs or candy. Not only was the sun scorching, but according to Kel the ground burned as well. The group had fallen into their usual marching order, meaning Omori was in the front. He had planned to try and lead them to where he thought Mari might be, but he had a new priority now. Scribbling on the board, he turned and showed it to Aubrey.

            ”Shoes? You’re right, Omori! We should go see if we can find some shoes.”

           After some wandering, the group stumbled across a small store. This seemed to be where people in this world congregated, or it at least had more people than anywhere else Omori had been. Until this point, he had only seen this realm’s residents from a distance. Now he could tell just how strange they looked. None of them had normal hair or eye colors, aside from a cashier whose eyes were green. The customers also seemed to be older on average than Headspace’s inhabitants, and dressed strangely as well.

           “Wait, hold on. How are we going to do this without any clams? Or, uh, money,” Basil asked.
           

           “Not to worry guys, look what I found on the sidewalk!” Kel pulled the crumpled bill from his pocket.

           Aubrey squinted at it. “Literally none of us saw you pick that up.”

           “Is that the money from the drawer?” Hero frowned. “You shouldn’t have taken that… but I don’t think we’ll be able to keep looking for Mari without shoes.”

           “I know! We can just earn some money to replace it! I’m sure it won’t be too hard.” Kel beamed at himself for coming up with that. Surprisingly, Hero was convinced.

           ”Alright. As soon as we find Mari we can all get jobs! Just make sure not to sign any contracts this time, alright?”

————

           They bought 5 pairs, one for everyone except Omori, which totaled exactly 20 dollars. Aubrey’s were sparkly and pink with a little plastic bow on the thong. Kel got the brightest pair they had, which happened to be an almost fluorescent green. Hero and Basil both got a practical black pair, and Omori picked out a simple purple one for Mari. Now they were actually ready to search for their missing friend. Omori had a sinking feeling that he knew exactly where she would be.

           He lead the group in search of a cemetery. 

           Of course, no one else know what Omori was looking for. He didn’t have the heart to tell them, instead opting to humor other places his friends thought Mari might be while subtly pushing them to move on.

           “Guys, look! A playground! Mari’s got to be here!” Aubrey charged in front of the group with a shimmer in her eyes. Omori could say with confidence that this world had pretty lame playgrounds. The place was drab and didn’t have much equipment, at least in comparison to what he was used to. Just thinking about it filled him with a strange homesickness. The park had a few people scattered around it, most prominently a smug looking boy in a garish yellow wig.

           Kel ran up waving and shouting “Hey Mikal!”

           ”Don’t call me by that-” Mikal(?)’s new furious expression melted back into smugness. “I see what you’re trying to do, fiend, and I will not be fooled! I, The Maverick, will defeat you once and for all!”

           ”Okay!” The gang, minus Basil, assumed fighting stances.

           ”wait you’re actually going to fight me?”

           ”Yeah, why wouldn’t we?”

           ”well i mean you usually refuse to fight me until you have something to gain from it.”

           ”Oh. Should I do that?”

           The Maverick looked at Kel warily. “No?”

           ”Okay! Let’s do this!”

What will OMORI and friends do?

KEL does a fancy ball trick!

THE MAVERICK shrieks like a small child!

OMORI’s party is victorious!

           “Ack! Okay, you win this time, but I’m still better than you! Your shirt is ugly! A-and I could hear your flip-flops from a mile away! Plus purple hair really doesn’t suit you, and you’ve definitely gotten short-” Kel absently tossed the basketball in his hands. “AAAAHH SPARE ME!!” The Maverick ran away screaming.

           After a long, confused silence, Omori turned and left the playground. The rest followed shortly after. There was no time for confusion. They had to get to Mari before something bad happened.