Chapter Text
As soon as Basil closed his eyes when he laid down, it opened.
The dim darkness of his room was replaced by a moss-colored roof. Trails of vines loosely hanging from its edges with rays of light passing through between the sturdy planks of the place he was in. A single sunflower adorned his sage green mane in exchange for his usual pink flower with his blonde locks.
Once again, he finds himself in this fantasy.
He wasn’t certain when exactly he started getting these kinds of dreams, somewhere around after Mari…
After Sunny shut himself in. After their group slowly crumbled away, leaving no speck of dust or trace of their existence. Strangers who don’t bat an eye whenever Basil passes by. As if they were all never friends in the first place. The photo album was the only remaining thing left as sole proof of the friendship that had blossomed long ago but now wilted.
Basil’s dreams will always be either pure nothingness; surrounded by a stretching never-ending pitch-black space, as he is left alone with unstoppable thoughts of self-hatred ringing up to his ears as he continues to be swallowed by guilt or dreams like this.
A complete mirror of the first one; a huge weight lifted off his shoulders, the gaping hole from the guilt that always torments his mind when he is awake dissipated, the chest-clenching anxiety seemingly just vanished off into thin air. All of that gone and he was left with the same innocence and wonder he had from four years ago. A trauma and guilt-free life.
As if he really is his young self.
Basil got off from the hammock he ‘slept in’, the creaking of the wood reverberates throughout the room.
Why does he dream of a world where everything is okay? Where Mari is here, a Sunny to be with, a Hero to depend on, a Kel to laugh with, and an Aubrey to play with... He doesn’t question it further. A selfish thought of wanting things to go back as it used to be was good for an answer.
He glanced at his surroundings.
The warm cozy carpet that touched his bare feet, the usual potted flowers that resembled each of his friends was set aside near the edge of the room, a single white egret orchid resting on top of a small table, faint light emitted by a lightbulb from above that was supported by a vine, his camera was on its respective place-
The photo album is gone.
Basil felt a small panic surge through his body.
Maybe his mind just forgot to manifest it or something? Is that even possible? That never happened from the countless times he dreamt of this world! Even if this was all made-up, it still holds a sentimental value to him, not as much as the real one but still.
A sense of déjà vu waved upon him as he came to the realization of what happened to the real one.
Basil took a deep breath, the gears of his head slowly moving as he tries to puzzle the pieces and remember everything the last time he went here.
Tree House.
Right. This place he lives in is one.
Flower Meadows.
Right. That’s where this place is located. Along with the rest of his fabricated friends are at…
His friends.
Right. Of course, they obviously knew something or even knew everything about it.
Basil stepped out of the door and stood on a porch, various overwhelming colors of skies ranging from yellow to blue bounced against his small form as the warm pastel hues surrounded his open view. Compared to the real world, a large number of colors from here have drastically changed, be it a different shade or a total opposite. With little observation, he noticed that only plants remained the same as it is from the real ones.
He went his way down the scorching hot surface of the ladder, presumably caused by the fake sun from above while carefully avoiding innocent vines that were tangled around the woods.
Basil passed through the mass of field with very much difficulty. An all too familiar figure he recognized even from a great distance gradually getting larger in view.
The person raised a watering can on hand away from the greenery as Basil made his appearance.
“Oh! Basil, there you are!”
Mari.
The first time he saw Mari here, he thought he would run away, cry until he had no tears left, and have actual bile forcing itself way out of his throat even with his empty void of a stomach. He didn’t though. Instead, he jumped to Mari’s welcoming embrace. She was here… As if a miracle downed on him even against all odds and all of his terrible doings.
She really was alive.
However, after he woke up- he did.
“I haven’t seen you in a while! I’ve been taking care of these while you were away.”
She gestured to the plants she was watering a minute ago then tucking a loose dark blue strand of hair to the back of her ear. She was wearing the usual sunhat which had a lily of the valley on its band.
“…Basil is here?”
A tulip shyly poked out from Mari’s back, until he came to see-
“Hi, Sunny!”
Sunny quickly rushed up to him, their faces nearly only a few inches apart. Sunny’s eyes concentrated as he stared intensively.
Basil felt his face heat up in perhaps embarrassment and confusion then raised his hands in a defensive stance, slowly losing his composure from his best friend’s sudden actions.
“Uhm…?”
Sunny blinked, “…You’re not Basil, are you?”
“Sunny, I told you to forget about what Kel said. Basil isn’t possessed by the bed-ridden laziness of Kel. He was probably just busy inside the Tree House.”
Basil’s eyes traced to the location of the voice. Hero was sitting on top of a picnic mat, a white rose placed on his hair and an excited tail-wagging Hector beside him.
Sunny mouthed an ‘o’, his pensive look long gone then took Basil’s hands with his and motioned him to sit down alongside Hero.
Basil made himself comfortable as Hero offered them both some freshly baked cookies.
He always wondered where and when does Hero even cook them...?
Sunny soon drifted his attention towards a small rock with a scribbled cat face and ears over it.
The Sunny from this world possessed the exact personality as the real one from four years ago. Except for this time, he could actually read his face clear and Sunny seemed to be more honest about his feelings.
Basil didn't really seem to mind the change, it's still Sunny.
He missed the real Sunny.
They were all sheltered from the harsh heat by the shade of a big tree hovering above them although with some sunlight phasing through the bits of spaces between the leaves. He felt a pang of nostalgia hit him. Even that they were all outside, even that this was all just inside his head. With all of his friends by his side, he felt as if he really was at his home.
At Faraway.
Mari laid her watering can aside near her picnic basket and eventually joined them.
“What’s cookin’, good lookin’?”
Hero sank to his place with his cheeks burning up. “Mari, please…”
Sunny looked up from his pet rock and gazed at Basil. “What’s bloomin’… Flower lookin’…?”
Basil gave him a wholehearted laugh. He was starting to act more like his sister. You tried, Sunny.
Mari audibly gasped, her eyes sparkling as she repeatedly slapped Hero’s arm. “Are you seeing this, Hero? My little brother is growing up so fast!”
Basil helped himself with a cookie. Dream food always has been weird to ingest, each bite he takes, it would just fade itself away as if there wasn’t any food in the first place.
The taste was still there though, it was good. He liked it.
Okay, he was getting distracted again.
“Where’s Aubrey and Kel?” Basil questioned.
Sunny merely shrugged, “Kel… Probably drowning himself in milk.”
Basil took that answer rather quite literally then began to think of any places in this world that contain milk. Even in a place made out from his own memories… he sure doesn’t know himself. Then he remembered a location called Milky Waves around here. Again, very literally. It was a waterfall and a river full of milk. Was Kel that desperate to grow tall?
The flower boy didn’t notice the said missing kids approaching the picnic field.
“It’s Kel’s fault!”
“What! No! It’s Aubrey’s!”
“No way!”
A lit-up Aubrey with puffed cheeks showed up with bits of dirt tainting her pink dress and the gladiolus flower behind her ear accompanied by Kel who looked like a thunderstorm passed by him as water mixed with little mud trickled down his yellow raincoat. What did these two go through?
Hero tried to intervene. “Guys… Calm down.”
“It’s Kel’s! If only I didn’t go with his plans to steal it!” Aubrey crossed her arms and scoffed.
“It’s called ‘borrowing’! Not stealing! It’s actually because of you being so sappy and crying over how you missed the fun times we had!”
“Y-you saw me…!?” Aubrey’s eyes widened, her form faltering for a moment as her eyes started to brim with tears, “I’m sorry, Basil! It was my fault!”
Kel had an unreadable look on his face. “Hey! W-wait! No! It was my fault! I’m sorry, Basil!”
Basil simply just went stiff and awkwardly waved it off. His eyes darted towards Sunny who was ignoring the common commotion and was just petting ‘Mewo’.
The gardener had a slight clue on what they were apologizing for.
Mari walked over, crouching in front of them. Her voice ever so gentle and tender. “Calm down you two. I promise I’ll help whatever is the problem.”
Aubrey sniffed as Kel avoided everyone’s gaze.
Mari smiled and placed each of her palms on top of them. “Now… what happened?”
“…I saw Aubrey crying and I asked her if we could take a peek at the photo album. So, we took it from the Tree House earlier.”
Mari tried to reassure him. “You just wanted to cheer up Aubrey, right? That’s really nice of you! But you shouldn’t take things from other people without their permission, okay?”
Kel played with his fingertips, eyes downcast as Aubrey lightly kicked a stray pebble.
“Kel-“ “Aubrey-” they apologized at the same time, “I’m sorry."
“…We’re sorry too, Basil!”
Mari clapped her hands. “Why don’t you guys help yourself first with Hero’s signature cookies?”
The bickering duo’s eyes lit up in delight but were quickly replaced by guilt and disappointment once more. Aubrey dragged her bag that resembled a rabbit plushie and took out the album.
Hero threw them both a confused glance, scratching his cheek. “The album seems to be here. What’s wrong?”
Almost in sync, they both replied,
“All of the pictures are gone!”