Chapter Text
Basil was sitting down, arms across his legs, on the shore of the lake that everyone used to hang out at. He watched the wind sway the grass and move the water around as though they were ocean waves with a dark look across his face. For once, it was not any sort of look with regards to making any sort of......decision. Rather, it was a look of apprehension, and fear for the future.
Basil let out a long sigh. It had been a few days after the confession, where Sunny told everyone everything. About the accident, about covering it up, even about parts of Sunny's life after everything that Basil didn't know about, like him sleeping his days away and seeming to forget what actually happened. He....even told about the photographs. Basil looked downwards at his own knees. He and Sunny had a long conversation after everyone left the room. Basil was still unconscious so he wasn't sure what everyone's reactions were, and he feared the worst when Sunny told him that he told everyone. He even managed to convince Basil that it.....really was Sunny that did those bad, terrible things. All along.
All this time Basil managed to convince himself that Sunny wasn't at fault, that it was some.....thing that did it. But Sunny wrenched him out of that fantasy he made for himself, and so he finds himself here, lost and unsure of what to do. Maybe....he'll visit Sunny at the hospital again today. Basil had been careful to make sure he didn't run into anyone whenever he went out lately, namely Hero Kel and Aubrey. Talking to them might be....way too much for everyone involved.
As these thoughts were consuming his mind, he heard footsteps approaching behind him. Fear grasped his heart as it started beating faster, but he knew that whoever it was wouldn't let him get away that easily. So he simply sat there, hoping that they don't notice him as the footsteps suddenly stopped, then started approaching again, slower this time, until they came to a halt next to him. Basil chanced a glance over to his right, and saw a bat and a person leaning on it. Aubrey. Of course this is how his life would go at this moment.
Basil closed his eyes and breathed in deeply. Well, it's been.....a run. Out of everyone he expected Hero to be the one most likely to kill him, but Aubrey is a close second. He let out his breath and waited for whatever she had in store for him. And waited.
And waited.
It had been about a full 3 minutes before Basil started getting confused at why nothing was happening. He slowly uncurled himself, feeling his muscles untense as he dares to take a glance up at Aubrey. Her face was maintaining a neutral position as she glanced down at Basil's obviously confused face. It was then that she actually started to speak.
"Basil."
"A-Aubrey."
"Why did you let me think you were the one who defaced the photographs for so long?"
Oh lord. Of course, they all still need answers and stuff, and Sunny and Basil were the ones who could give them to her. Basil sighed as he looked over to the lake's surface once more, a tear threatening to come out of his eyes.
"I....felt like I was protecting Sunny because.....b-because I imagined that he didn't do it. And so I....took the blame." Basil curled himself back up into a ball again. "A-also I......was hiding the truth for so long and....was so afraid someone would find out that....I....I felt like I needed to be punished." Phew. There. He managed to say it. It was....slightly relieving to actually say it out loud like this. Basil glanced over to Aubrey, but her face was hidden by her pink hair this time. She was also slightly trembling and had a white-knuckle grip on her bat. Yep, this is probably it.
Suddenly, Aubrey took her bat and threw it violently behind her with a yell, hitting a tree with the handle end. She looked down at Basil, again with that neutral expression on her face. "Get up."
"H-huh?"
"I said get up." Basil fearfully complied, slightly trembling himself as he wonders what's gonna happen. If she was gonna beat him up, she would've done it by now, right? As he was thinking this, Aubrey got right up next to him, looking him square in the eyes, her own brimming with emotion beneath the neutrality. What's.....
"Punch me."
Huh???? "W-wait what?"
"Punch me as hard as you can, Basil. Do it, right now." Basil backed up a little bit as he heard those words. Punch Aubrey??? Wait, she wants him to punch her??
"W-what are you t-talking about Aubrey? I-I can't!" Aubrey steps closer as Basil backs away. Basil notes that he's thankfully not moving towards the dock this time.
"Yes you can, and you're going to do it now, come on."
"N-no!"
"Just do it!" Aubrey angrily gave Basil a shove, not hard enough to knock him down but enough to move him. "Come on, I treated you like shit for years man! Just go ahead and punch me!"
"A...A..Aubrey I don't....!"
"I convinced other people to treat you like shit too! I made your life a fucking nightmare!" Aubrey's face was starting to contort in anger, tears forming in the corners of her eyes as she gave Basil another shove. "Don't you fucking hate me?! Haven't you wanted to get back at me at all?! Just fucking hit me in the face, you dumbass!"
Basil's emotions were starting to become overwhelming, and the shoving was certainly not helping. He wasn't even sure what he was feeling right now; Confused, frightened, yes. But beyond that? All he knows is that he's feeling sad and helpless and angry and frustrated and why was she even speaking to him? Why does she want him to hit her? Basil just wants this to stop!
"S....stop it, please...." Tears were starting to fall from Basil's face as Aubrey's reached a new level of anger, grabbing onto Basil's shirt and yelling right in his face.
"I'm not stopping until you fucking punch me damnit! How hard is it, huh?! I almost killed you! I almost killed you and Sunny! Just do it! Do it, you miserable sack of shit!" Basil's trembling so hard right now, and everything is so loud and confusing and please please please stop! His hand moves on it's own, wanting nothing more than for this emotional torture to end. It forms a fist and reels back, then moves forward and connects it with Aubrey's face.
Aubrey lets go of Basil's shirt as soon as she gets punched. Wow. He actually had some muscle under there. God damn that hurt. A light smile comes onto Aubrey's face as she rubs it, and she starts making her way back over to Basil. "Bet you feel better now, huh?" Her face is one of confidence, the earlier frustration seemingly disappeared into nothing. That confidence slowly fades as she sees Basil staring at his hand, a sad defeated look on his face. He shakes his head slowly.
"Aubrey I.....I didn't want to hurt you. I don't want to hurt you."
What? That's.....hard for Aubrey to believe. He....had to have had some kind of catharsis from it, right? She tortured him for years! She literally almost killed him! She.....she wanted to make things better....
"You....you can't be serious Basil. That....that had to have felt good, right? It....it helped, right?"
Basil closed his eyes, more tears pouring out as he grabbed his hand and shook his head harder. His knuckles sting from hurting Aubrey. "Aubrey I......I never hated you."
That stopped Aubrey right in her tracks. Before she can say anything, Basil continues speaking.
"E-even on the days when......when I was really angry at you for how you treated me, I....never hated you. I never wanted to hurt you. I...I didn't mean to....hurt anyone....." Tears were flowing faster and faster as Basil started sobbing. "I just...I always cared about you...an-and everyone and....and I did something so terrible! I...I..I couldn't hate you! I could never want to hurt you, Aubrey!"
Aubrey, upon hearing this, starts trembling again. Her fingernails dig into her palm as she clenches her fist, emotion welling up inside her as she starts walking, then running towards Basil, pulling him into a tight hug. Tears fall down from her face onto his head as she loudly sobbed.
"Fuck! Fuck Basil I'm sorry! I'm so sorry! I'm so fucking sorry! I'm sorry! I'm sorry....." She apologized over and over to the surprised Basil, who slowly acclimated to the hug, resting himself in it's warmth and hugging her back as tears flow fresh onto Aubrey's shirt, his face buried into her shoulder. The two stayed like that for several minutes, crying and sobbing and apologizing to each other. It eventually settled into just sobbing and crying, then just crying. And then, a silent comfort as the two of them just held each other, and the two of them sat down onto the grass still holding each other. Eventually, they pulled apart, both of them looking into each other's crying, messy, red faces.
"Fuck, we must look awful." Aubrey rubs her eyes, getting rid of the slight tinge of pain from the remaining tears in her eyes. Once she finishes doing so, she looks at Basil with a soft smile that Basil hadn't seen in years. Basil's heart simultaneously ached at how long it had been, yet filled with warmth at seeing such a familiar sight.
"Basil?"
"Yes Aubrey?"
Aubrey places her hand on Basil's.
"I forgive you."
Basil starts trembling once more. Oh god he's about to cry again. He just barely keeps his cool long enough for him to put his other hand on top of Aubrey's, with a smile.
"I forgive you too, Aubrey." He barely manages to eek out those words as his tears flow out. Aubrey's own tears soon followed suit, and she grabs his hand with both of hers, bringing it up between the two of them.
"We're never gonna leave each other like that again, ok?"
Basil nods. "Ok."
Aubrey nods back, then takes in a deep breath and lets it out, emotional exhaustion starting to set in as she lays on her back. Basil soon follows suit, laying next to her as naturally as he had so many years ago. And as he looked up into the blue sky, the mid-morning sun beating down on the two of them, he had a thought he had not legitimately believed in a long time.
Everything was going to be ok.