Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

My sister stood near the stairs, blocking me. I held my violin and bow in each of my hands

"Are you okay Sunny?" She said. She seemed concerned. 

Go away, I don't want to talk about it.

"No." I muttered while shaking my head. I clutched my violin harder out of anger.

I just want to rest. Move.

Sunny Became Angry!

"Do you wanna rest? We can continue this later, if you want." She looked at me with concern.

She was not concerned by the recital, but for me?

"The recital's tomorrow, so we still have some time to rest." She continued.

Y-yeah.

"Y-yeah, I need a break before we continue." I stuttered out.

 --- ---

Mari looked at Sunny, concerned. He had just stormed out of the room without warning, distressed. Mari noticed this and soon followed him to the stairs.

After a small exchange of words with him, she realized how fatigued he was, and reached out to him. She sighed with relief before continuing. 

"Then let's go." She extended a hand to him. He hesitated for a while before taking her hand.

Mari grabbed Sunny's hand and headed towards the stairs, however Sunny pulled back. He had a phobia of heights, so this was to be expected.

Sunny Became Afraid!

'Huh?' Mari however forgot for a while before remembering her brother's fear. 'Oh yeah, he's afraid of heights.'

"Sunny?" Mari brought him closer to herself before continuing. "It's alright, I'm here for you."

Sunny finally started to come down, albeit slowly. "It's alright Sunny," Mari comforted him. "Everything's going to be okay."

Mari didn't know, but her actions had saved both her own and her brother's life that day.

Alternate Way of how things may have gone, or more simply, the angsty version of this.

In blind anger, Sunny ran.

“Sunny!” Mari shouted as she gave chase.

Running towards the stairs with his violin in hand, he prepared to lift the violin and throw it down the stairs. 

“Sunny!” Mari’s voice grew louder as she saw Sunny bring his violin near his head.

Suddenly, Sunny’s arms gave out, as his exhaustion took the better of him. The violin fell to his knees unharmed, much to his dismay.

But he refused to give up.

“Su-nny?” She wanted to shout out, but then she looked at his hands in horror. Sunny’s hands looked like they were thrown into a fan’s blade, as multiple cuts adorned them.

“Oh my god, Sunny what-” Her anger quickly turned to concern as she got even closer to him. 

You did this.

She fell back as it hit her.

He kept on trying, yet you…

She did this. 

But why?

She forced him to play for hours on end. 

Why did you push him to do this?

She realized this now and almost broke down in guilt, but she knew that her sorrows would be for naught if the thing that enticed them was left alone. She took in her tears, trying to help Sunny first.

“Sunny, I-I’m so sorry…” She hugged him. Sunny recoiled from the hug and even tried to push her back at first, but he eventually gave in and started crying too. 

Meanwhile, Basil came in in the middle of all of this, staring at the two with a look of confusion on his face.

‘Did I come at a bad time?’

Oh Basil, you sweet, innocent child.

I found it funny how Basil is portrayed as an awkward third wheel in some non-depressing fics so I added this small thing in. Also, I am bad at angst, so if that last scene kinda sucks, I know.

Chapter Text

(Note: Play this as background music

The day of the recital came, bringing a wave of emotion for Mari, Sunny and everyone around them. Mari gracefully played the piano, just before Sunny's violin joined in seamlessly. The audience stared in silence as they played together in sync with each other in awe. 

The duo played their instruments, paying no mind to the audience. Except for Mari, stealing a glance at Hero smiling wile watching her play. He waved back at her, eliciting a faint smile from her while she performed.

The rest of the friend group, Kel and Aubrey shuffled uncomfortably in their seats beside Hero. Because of a dispute, they had to be taken to one of the farthest seats to not disturb the other guests.

"This is your fault..." Aubrey whimpered. She wanted to see her friends play for the first time, as Mari wouldn't let her in as they practiced, mainly because she didn't want Sunny to be disturbed by her and Kel who would always follow behind her for some reason. 

"But you were the one who-" Kel rebuked.

"Stop it you two," Hero stopped them from fighting, bringing his raised hand down along with the other, blocking the two from scuffling further as he spoke.

"C'mon guys, can't you stop fighting for once?" Basil chimed in from behind the three friends, while trying to get a steady picture. He came there when Kel and Aubrey did, concerned. Hero followed with the same intentions, as they were almost always loud in their fights.

"I don't know whatever you both did to be told to sit in the back, but can't you two keep it in until they're both done?" He said while looking at the two of them, then to the two performers.

"Okay..." The two troublemakers replied in murmur.

In one of the rows of seats closest to Mari and Sunny, their parents looked at them with tears of joy in their eyes. Seeing the two play on the stage, they felt accomplished.

End BM Here

When the musical ended, loud cheering and clapping began as many people stood up from their seats and congratulated the two loudly. Sunny bowed silently as Mari did the same before going down the stage. It didn't last long, but the two kept this small moment to their heart, knowing that this was the first time they played together with others, but not the last.

Chapter Text

After the recital, Sunny and Mari celebrated in Gino's, ordering 3 pizzas with the rest of the group. 

"Hey Sunny, that was amazing!" Kel pointed out whilst he stuffed a pizza slice in his mouth.

"Yea! It was!" Aubrey added while also eating pizza messily.

"Well, that's my brother for you!" Mari gleefully replied while patting Sunny's back.

"M-mhm" Sunny simply nodded while opening the pizza boxes, looking for whatever suited his taste.

"So Hero," Mari sipped on a cola cup as she spoke. "Why did Kel and the rest go to the back anyway?"

"Kel was teasing me!" Aubrey, almost shouting, accused.

"Did not!" Kel retorted loudly.

"Did too!" Aubrey responded almost immediately.

"Did not!"

"Di-"

"Okay stop it, you two." Hero stopped them from going any further.

"But-"

"But-" 

"No."

The two grumbled, occasionally sipping on their cola. The silence around them was almost deafening until Mari broke the ice.

"What did Kel tease you about?"

"H-He sai-" Aubrey stuttered.

"I thought she wanted to be with Sunny so I encouraged her." Kel opened up as if it was the most natural thing in the world, shrugging while grabbing another slice.

"K-Kel!" 

A wave of silence had hit the friends, which was broken by Mari's laugh, Hero and Basil's confusion, and Aubrey blushing a lot. 

"Hey lil' brother, what do yo-oh." Mari wanted to see what Sunny's reaction to the exchange was, only to see him with his head drooped down, silently gnawing on a pizza slice. From where Mari sat, she could see a faint blush on Sunny's face.

'Cute.' She thought while chuckling a bit.

And so the night fell as the friends chatted along till the sun set.

Basil, who kept quiet most of the time the others chatted, suddenly spoke up.

"Um, guys? I think Sunny just went to sleep. Should we wake him up?"

Mari looked at Sunny and said with a smile, "Let's just wait a while before we do that, I think he's having a good dream.

Where am I?

I awoke to a bright white space. The only semblance to a floor was a blanket. It looks the same size of Mari's picnic blanket, but it's the same color as the floor.

I tried walking past it and found out that I could still walk past it. I tried to run away from where I woke up, only for it to appear again in front of me.

Ok, this is a weird dream.

Hmm...

If this is a dream...

A flame rose from my hand. I tried putting my finger on it and to my surprise, it didn't hurt. But it did start spreading to my hand.

It felt uncomfortable seeing fire on my hand, so I waved my hand, dispersing the flame to nothing.

Now what if...

A white door appeared just a few steps away from the blanket.

It casted an eerie shadow directed at me.

Creepy.

I opened to space, like the one in the sky. It didn’t look like the one I know though, mine had stars.

When I thought about it, stars suddenly appeared here. Now it kinda looks like it.

But I think it’s still too… Bland. 

Now the black space turned purple, and in between stars were my drawings.  That’s how constellations work, right?

…

*cough* Anyway, it still seemed too dark, so I thought about adding something else.

Now a forest formed around me. I was curious if it floated in space or if there was a planet for it and sure enough there was, but the rest of it was all just an ocean.

Ah wait, this is too high up.

*sound of slowly falling down*

There we go.

Now that I think about it, everything here would be scary if it wasn't as if the entirety of this place felt like it was colored by pastel crayons.

I wonder, what else could I create here?

"Sunny..."

Hm?

I created many things that seemed otherworldly at first glance just for fun.

Wooden turnips with small, stumpy legs.

Round bunnies of all kinds.

And a few other things too.

Just when I finished creating a sentient boombox out of curiosity, a familiar voice sought me.

"Sunny... Wake up..."

Mari?

Oh yea, this is a dream.

Huh, I wonder if this all will remain when I leave.

Oh well, I can always recreate most of this. 

Hopefully.

It felt nice being all-powerful, even if it was only in a dream.

Goodbye... Uh, what should I name this place?

...

Headspace. It kinda makes sense to name it that.

It’s in my head and it’s a space.

Yeah, goodbye Headspace.

"Sunny, you awake?"

Basil clamored while someone else shook Sunny's head.

"Kel stop that!"

Someone else shouted as the shaking gradually stopped. Sunny's eyes slowly opened.

"Lil' bro, you awake?"

Mari soon came into view as the blurriness in his eyes faded away.

"C'mon, let's get you a bed."

Mari said while patting his back.

Sunny shook his head before standing up from the bench.

Mari took his hand and told him to follow in a gentle tone.

And thus, Headspace came to be.

Chapter Text

Headspace was no ordinary dream, and Sunny knew it. First of all, it always existed in his dreams. Even when he wasn't specifically dreaming about it, it always seemed like he could simply snap his fingers to come to it. The doorway to it always existed, along with that white, empty space. He called it Whitespace, for lack of a better name. The white door that randomly popped into his dreams never led directly to Headspace, it first brought Sunny to Whitespace, then he could enter Headspace through the white door there.

He filled Headspace with many things on his own whim, yet some things still appeared on their own. His subconscious had created more creatures and places in this world by itself when he was awake. 

Sunny soon found out about this aspect after a ladder that extended to the sky mysteriously appeared without his knowledge. But he could never climb it, for he had a fear of heights. While yes, Sunny had the power of a literal god in his dream, but his fears could never disappear. And so, he just put his mind to something else, as another incarnation of his fears, namely his arachnophobia, had appeared.

He tried to remove these incarnations, only for them to reappear almost instantly. He soon gave up and chose to explore the new place in the world that had popped up, a small playground full of many residents. Like the rest of the world, they looked as if their entire self was colored with pastel crayons. The residents played with a multitude of things, some played with a tetherball, some chased others around, and two kids shared a puzzle on the ground. There was also a monkey gym, but no one seemed to want to use it.

Sunny found it amusing how the kids played before switching to a colorful form like the rest of the world. He learned that no one could see him if he was in his real form, so he devised a new, more colorful persona on the spot. Why? Imagine a person and a gust of wind blowing on him. The person would feel the wind blowing on him, but never see the wind itself, right?

Now imagine Sunny's curious finger as the gust of wind and a poor, unsuspecting sprout mole on the ground in a deep hole as the person. Except instead of calmly dismissing it as the wind, it froze up for a second, visibly afraid before looking around for whatever touched it. Sunny touched it again, but this time he carried it to his face. Now the sprout mole just stared blankly before flailing in his hands.

He awkwardly let it go on the ground. Shortly after, it ran as fast as it could, never looking back.

"Hey look! A new guy!" One of the kids shouted.

"Hey! wanna play?" Another said before looking for someone in a bush.

This was the first actual interaction he had. He didn't know if changing forms would work. A part of him hoped it wouldn't have. Reluctantly removing his thoughts of introversion, he started walking and raised his hand...

"Suuuunny!"

Only for a voice to surround him, waking him up.

"Wake up! School starts today!" Mari called while shouldering a backpack.

Ah right, by then December ended and school crept into the kids' schedule once more. Sunny took a nearby bag and put it on his back before walking downstairs.

After many attempts and subsequent failures, the Dreamer realized that he could not go near the playground goers, for somehow, his introversion was especially present in his dreams. He didn't have any problem with his old friends, but making new ones was a hassle. Every time he went closer to the kids, it felt like his entire body froze up, shortly after he would wake up, usually in the early hours of the morning.

So, lacking any friends in his world, he started to take the ones he already had and put them in Headspace, starting with his imaginary friends. Eventually he had three imaginary friends, known as The Three Great Friends.

First came Humphrey, a giant light blue whale from a calendar. Or was it a cartoon show? Sunny used him as a catalyst to channel his imagination before Headspace, and as he, or at least the thought of him, had originated very long ago, the Dreamer paid his respects to him by giving him the title of, THE ELDEST. Humphrey ruled over all of Headspace, but he preferred to stay in one place, not caring much for most of Headspace.

Then came The Big Yellow Cat, or BYC for short. If he thought of something comforting, a cat would always be the first to appear. So, what could be better than that? To the Dreamer, that was an even bigger cat, and one with his favorite color. Thus, it earned the title of THE FAVORITE. BYC looked over what would eventually become The Neighbor's Room, a place of comfort in Headspace. 

And while the Dreamer never consciously tried to bring her to life, Abbi became the last of the three. As she mostly came from the Dreamer's subconscious, she ruled over the subconscious at work in Headspace, or at least the parts she could, making sure that the darkness of the dreamer's subconscious never reached him, resulting in her . She came from a... suggestive book in the library, but thankfully the Dreamer only saw what would eventually become Abbi, and not what happened in the next page, otherwise her role would have changed drastically.

Sunny was the quiet kid in his class. Aubrey and Kel were in a different class, not to mention that Hero and Mari were far away from Faraway, but Basil was there to help him, denying his introversion any further growth. Headspace grew with Sunny. Over the years, the Dreamer picked up a hobby of drawing, picking up many inspirations from reality and fantasy alike. After working for his local pizzeria for a few weeks, he managed to get hold of a small, blank book with a hard maroon cover to draw on in his spare time. It became a sort of dream diary, where he drew all of what he dreamed, from the vast forest to the ladder reaching beyond the clouds.

Soon, the Dreamer matured enough to forget Headspace. He could never pay any mind to the workings of his imagination, as responsibilities took hold of him, drowning his imagination to a dark corner in his mind, never to be found. Headspace fell apart, just like that. Or so _̵̾͝_̶_̵̇̋͂̓͘̚͠ thought.

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"Beep beep! Beep beep!" An alarm clock rang beside a bloated blanket on a couch. It shuffled around the couch before stopping abruptly.

"Mmmmm..." A hand sprouted out of the sheets, looking for the alarm clock.

"Beep beep! Beeeee..." The hand caught the clock and threw it across the room.

It landed perfectly on its bottom, silently. The beeping stopped, followed by the bloated blanket going limp and small snoring.

"Beep beep!" The rectangular clock started ringing again across the room.

"Damnit." An angry voice came from the blanket before being uplifted by a small boy inside of it. He mumbled something under his breath before standing up and walking to the alarm clock. He picked it up with a sleepy look in his eyes before turning it off and placing it back on the small table beside the couch. He headed for the couch until a yellow sticky note on its armrest caught his eye.

Hey Sunny, you ok? I know that you said you were okay last night but mom's still worei worried about you. I know it's just a week until you recover but our friends are still worried. Also when u wake up, there should be a packed meal in the fridge, just heat it and it's good to eat. 

With love, Mari : )

The note read. Sunny blankly stared at it before smiling faintly. He gathered himself once again and walked with a blanket wrapped around him. He walked to the fridge and found the lunchbox. While nomming on a candy bar he found in the fridge, he put the contents of the lunchbox, a ham and cheese sandwich, and a few cookies into the microwave. He turned on the microwave and set it to one minute and stood beside it, waiting.

While waiting, he hummed a tune while eating the last of the candy bar.

"Ting!" 

The microwave tinged. Sunny ate the sandwich before snacking on the cookies. He slowly walked back to the couch bed and slept the best sleep he ever had since four years ago.

In his dreams, he entered Whitespace once more.

Welcome back to Whitespace

It's been three years since you last came here.

Chapter Text

Where am I?

I awoke to a blank white room. I looked around curiously, finding a few things, a tissue box, a sketchbook, a small laptop blaring static on its screen. Curiously, they all were colored in either black or white. And... Mewo?

"Mewo?"

I went towards the black cat. It reminded me of my own, a black cat named Mewo, so I blurted out her name habitually. The black cat came closer, seemingly curious before rubbing herself on my leg.

Wait, am I wearing anything?

I looked down, thankfully finding that I had clothes. A black tank top and small white shorts. 

...Wait, why is my skin white? Am I dead?

...

No, Sunny, deep breaths, deep breaths, it's probably a dream. Or a prank. A very thought out one.

I sat down on the comfy white carpet in the room before checking the laptop. There was a log diary, or whatever they're called, on the laptop screen once I opened it. The part where the date should be was replaced by three question marks. The logs themselves are short, only detailing two things.

[Day ???]

[I spent time in Whitespace. Everything was ok.]

It was either that or,

[Day ???]

[I hung out with my friends. Everything was ok.]

Weird. It doesn't detail it directly but the logs seem to span out for a little over a year before abruptly stopping.

What does it mean by Whitespace? This place?  

I checked whatever was in the sketchbook and it was, odd, to say the least. The drawings aren't gruesome or anything of the like, but they just seem so… strange.

The first drawing was of a door, devoid of color. The next was of a four-way dirt crossroad in the middle of a forest. Now it was colored, but with a more happy, pastel color selection. The next shows four kids drawn with the same coloration as the last page. It looks like some of my friends in real life, but I'm not sure. Where the faces should be are replaced with scribbles. The rest of the drawings were giant pink castles among foggy forests, ladders that pierced through clouds, and a lot more.

This feels like reading those documentaries that Dad often read. Except more colorful and less text and graphicness. 

I closed the book and steeled myself, before finding another thing that stood out here, a white door casting a faint but noticeable shadow towards me.

A white door casts a faint shadow.

Do you enter?

Ignoring the black and white text above the door, I opened the door to...

A room with violet walls and in the place of a ceiling, a purple sky with simple white drawings accompanying it. The floor here is either a carpet or solid ground, I'm not sure. In the center of the room, three kids are sitting playing with some cards. The small one seems to be happy about something while the girl looked irritated. The tall one has a mix of confusion and something I don't know the word of from what I can tell.

Wait a minute, Hero? Aubrey? Kel? It's faint, but the three kids kinda resemble my friends, except younger. And colored with a pastel crayon. Wait, why is Hero in pajamas?

"Hey look! It's Omori!" The one that looked like Aubrey said, dropping her cards while running towards me. I think she also knocked out the other's cards too.

Wait a minute, Omori? As in the piano brand? 

"Hi Omori! We were hoping you'd come by soon. Wanna play cards with us? We were just about to start another game!" Well this is one heck of a dream, she sounds exactly like when we were twelve.

After saying that, she looked back, finding the mess she made of the others’ cards moments prior.

"Oh! Whoops... Nevermind...."

"Aww, man... What the heck, AUBREY!?" The small boy with a checkered shirt shouted, standing up. He must be Kel if that short stature tells me anything.

"You messed up all the cards! I was winning, too."

"Hey there, Kel. There's no need to get angry. It's just a game, after all." The Hero look-alike reprimanded.

"Don't give me that, Hero! You only say that 'cause you were losing."

“Pfft” Now that I think about it, Hero was always somehow bad at cards. His win-loss ratio on cards was basically 1:20. That one win was from Basil who played his first game against him, who promptly won shortly after on the second try.

"..." Dream Hero was silenced by that. Also, I guess I'll just call them Dream whatever they look like since they look like they came out of a dream. Or a kid's drawing.

I didn't notice it before, but Dream Aubrey moved back to her spot on the ground, visibly sulking.

"You ok Aubrey?" I asked silently after getting close enough to her.

"Why is Kel always so mean to me?" She grumbled. "You know, the other day that good-for-nothing stole my stuffed toy and hid it somewhere in this room." Her eyebrows tensed. "Why would he do something like that? He's so immature… what did I ever do to him?"

She seemed to be in deep thought before continuing. "Oh, I know! Can you find my stuffed toy for me, Omori? Pretty please?"

I nodded in return. Might as well go with the flow if this is a dream. Maybe Dream Hero knows where it is.

"Hey, Hero." I greeted after walking up to him. Is it just me, or did my voice get younger?

"What's up, Omori? We've been waiting for you. Kel and Aubrey have been fighting a lot again. You'd think they'd get tired after so long, but they have so much energy."

"Yeah. D-Do you know where Kel hid Aubrey's stuffed toy?"

Aw hell, my stutter is back too, I thought I got rid of it a few years ago too. Does that mean I regressed to my twelve(I think) year old self in this dream? Weird, but not the most concerning thing here.

"Yeah, I overheard you talking to Aubrey. I'm not sure where the stuffed toy is, I'm sorry. Maybe you should just ask Kel?" Hero replied.

"Yeah, I'll try that." I responded as I turned to Kel fiddling with a rock with a shaky face drawn on it. Is he playing with a pet rock?

"Hi Kel." I said while waving slightly.

"Yo, Omori! Check out what I found the other day!" Kel showed me the rock in his hands with a wide smile on his face. "It's a pet rock. Pretty awesome, right? I'm gonna name him Hector!"

"Kel, where did you hide the stuffed toy?"

"I'm not telling you where I hid Mr. Plantegg, Omori. Aubrey deserved it." His face almost immediately scrunched up in defiance.

"Did not!" Aubrey chimed in.

"Did too!" Kel shouted back.

"Settle down you two, please…" Hero sighed in exasperation.

"Hmph!" Aubrey turned her back on Kel.

Jeez, all they need is a weapon on their hands for them to go out of control. Those two in real life used to fight with each other for the most ridiculous of things. Guess my subconscious or whatever part of my mind that makes dreams for me had this part of the dream with that in mind.

Welp, since I can't ask anymore without risking a free-for-all fight between the two troublemakers, maybe I'll try looking for it by myself.

I searched the nearby toy boxes, to no avail. I did find an old trophy and a plushie of an obnoxious-looking person though. It's probably not Dream Aubrey's plush.

...

Why is there a watermelon out here?

Right beside the boxes of toys, a lone watermelon sat, out of place. I tried to lift it to look for the plush, only for it to break apart when I grabbed it.

Oh...

I looked at my hand in disbelief of what I just did before spotting something in it. I dug it out with my bare hands.

I wonder if this is what super strength feels like. Shame it isn't like that in real life. Hm?

Something else lay in the melon mess. A tiny plushie hand. I reached out to it and pulled it to myself.

It was a stuffed eggplant plushie with a blank expression on its face.

“I-is that… could it be?” Aubrey's eyes twinkled as she took the plush from my arms, seemingly coming out of nowhere. She twirled in place and shoved it in Kel's face while giggling. “Hey, Kel! Look, it’s my stuffed toy!” She waved it around in his face mockingly.

“Wh-what the heck? Where did you get that!?” Kel shouted in surprise.

“Omori found it!” Aubrey gave off a smug look. “Lucky for me, I’ve got some real friends.”

Ok, I can go with just about anything but why am I named Omori here? Since this probably is a dream about my childhood, why am I not called Sunny here as well? 

“Serves you right, Kel, you should know better than to pick on others.” Hero said.

“But Aubrey started it…” Kel whimpered, “she was the one making fun of me for the mole on my…”

“On your… what?” Aubrey's smug grin looked even smugger. Wait, is that the correct word? Ah never mind, it's not like my habitual inner monologue gets put into a book or something.

"..." Kel stayed silent as sweat seemed to rain on him. 

“Aubrey…” Hero said while eyeing her.

"But..."

"..." Hero gave off a stern look.

“Fine… I’m sorry, Kel.” Aubrey said.

"Apology accepted!" He said with a beaming smile.

“I’m glad that’s all settled.” Hero sighed with relief while putting his hand on his face dramatically. “Those two always seem to be bumping heads."

He seemed to realize something before putting his hand away. "Oh yeah, Mari and Basil invited us for a picnic at the playground! Did you want to go see them?”

"Sure, why not?" I replied, nodding.

Mari and Basil's here too? Neat.

“Alright! Everyone, let’s go see Mari and Basil!” Hero said, catching Kel and Aubrey's attention. The duo started to race towards the multicolored stairs beside me, avoiding a white snake slithering silently on the stairs.

Were those stairs always there? 

Hero soon starts to follow the two, and I tag along.

Ah y'know what, f*ck it. Might as well see where this takes me.

A lone tree with a large hole on the bottom stood in the middle of a four-way crossroad path, silently. Suddenly, it shook a bit, until Dream Aubrey's head peeked out of the hole. Aubrey seems to struggle for a moment, before pulling the rest of her body out of the stump.

Kel soon followed, along with Hero. They looked at each other enthusiastically and headed south before Hero stopped. He called out to the stump, as it shook one more time.

One more head popped out, a monochromatic one to be exact. It looked like it belonged to a twelve-year-old, as did the body that followed. Hero reached out to him as Sunny's eyes got used to the light outside the stump.

"Hey Omori, Kel and Aubrey already went ahead of us, c'mon let's hurry!" Hero said as Sunny took his hand.

Welcome to Blackspace

You have been here for three years.

A child floated in a seemingly endless void. The boy had curled into a fetal position, hugging his legs with his eyes closed. He had been in this state for three years. Suddenly, his eyes opened, albeit slightly. 

“Is he finally awake?”

He moved into an upright position before bringing his hands near his eyes. Unlike the black and white visage that his entire body was covered in, the boy's hands were colored in a blue and ivory form. He faintly smiled as he looked at them

He shook them in front of his face before stopping.

"It's not enough, I should wait a while before..."

Chapter Text

Chapter 6 - Snaley

Kel woke up as usual, one early morning. Take a bath, brush his teeth, put on his jersey: His normal morning routine. While still yawning, he sleepily walked downstairs with a hand on an empty coffee mug. He didn't like coffee, quite the opposite, but it did keep him up whenever he had it rough the night before.

He kept on shuffling slowly until a loud crash reverberated from downstairs, startling him.

"Ack!"

Along with an unfamiliar voice.

Kel ran down the stairs.

'What was that?!'

Thinking that someone might be robbing them, he wanted to run and get his mom and dad, but after some deep thinking, he thought it was just a stray cat who knocked down a pot. He sighed in relief, only to start running again towards the kitchen where the sound came from.

'No, cats don't have a voice!' He thought while shaking his head.

He soon found the source of a sound, an upside-down metal pot.

'Is someone hiding inside it?' Kel thought while eyeing the pot. He reached for it and pulled it up from the floor slightly, only to see...

"A giant marshmallow?" He exclaimed.

"Hey!" The marshmallow shouted, either in surprise or in greeting.

Out of surprise, Kel let go of the pot, making another loud metallic bang sound around him.

'An alien?!'

"The pot stayed still before rising up to a small child's height, Kel moved his eyes below the pot to a small, white body and a small body.

"C-Can you help me, stranger? I can't get this thing offa me!" The marshmallow alien asked while trying to shake the pot away from it's head.

'O-Ok Kel. This is just a dream, you are just having a weird, realistic dream where a marshmallow alien appears in my kitchen.' Kel pinched himself with closed eyes, only to open them almost instantly in pain.

"Gah!"

'Alright, this isn't a dream.'

He breathed heavily before reaching for the pot. He slowly brought it up to...

A small statured marshmallow with two small legs. It would look scary, if not for the fact that it looked like it came out of a child's drawing and a plushie at the same time.

"Thanks!" The white marshmallow spoke.

"Ooookay?" Kel sounded unsure of himself before leaning on the kitchen counter.

"Are you fine, stranger?" The marshmallow thing tilted it's head near him.

'Ah y'know what, I'll just go along with it. Worst case scenario I have to fight it out with a coffee mug.' Kel thought while organizing himself.

"I'm... alright." He muttered.

"Oh, okay! What's your name?" The marshmallow smiled before looking around.

"Wait, where am I? This doesn't look like Otherworld to me." It questioned.

'Wait, Otherworld? As in another world? Like aliens and stuff?' Kel questioned in his mind.

"You're in my kitchen, so that's something. Also it's Kel."

"Well, my name's Snaley! Nice to meet you!"

"Okay...?"

"Ah wait! Hmmmm..." Snaley trailed off as he seemed to be focusing on something before jumping on top of Kel's shoulders.

"Hey wha-" Snaley kept on climbing Kel until he stood right on his head. Snaley was light and somewhat fluffy, so this didn't make Kel fall over or anything, just surprised. Snaley looked around once more while Kel tried to get him off.

"Since you seem tall, I'll get on top of you to see better! I don't know where this is so I'll see for myself!"

"...Fine, I'll help you get back home or whatever, just wait for a while." Kel needed something to get him started, and this marshmallow on his head was almost enough for him to get back to his bed and dismiss it all as a very lucid dream. He reached for Snaley on the back of his head before laying him down on a counter. Snaley looks sad when Kel does so, but he pays no mind to it.

"Awwww..."

"I need coffee first." He muttered. 

"Coffee? What's that?" Snaley says while struggling to get up.

"Errrrrrrr... How do I say this..." Kel wondered while putting Snaley upright.

"Wait, how old are you?"

"I'm... uhhh..." Snaley trailed off. "I'm not sure."

If an armless creature could shrug, Snaley did just that from what Kel could see. Kel ignored it while tearing off a note from a thermos on the counter.

Hey son, if you're wondering where I am, I already left for work. I also left some coffee for you. Or mom if you can stay awake for your basketball round today without it. Maybe next time don't sleep as late.

- Dad

'Thanks Dad.' Kel thought while pouring out the contents of the thermos into his cup.

"Is that coffee?"

"Yep...eugh..." Kel spoke between sips while stifling the urge to spit out the drink in his mouth. Usually, he would be downing a Orange Joe drink to wake up, but somehow it became out of stock in the nearby supermarkets, and his Dad did not want to drive all the way to a different store to get them.

Snaley walked around the top of the kitchen counter, looking at, well, everything. This place was alien to Snaley, so he tried to familiarize himself with this place. And maybe find a way back home. Kel watched as Snaley marched on the counter before tearing a sugar packet and pouring it on his coffee.

'Maybe it just needs sugar' Kel thought before sipping on the coffee again.

'Still tastes bad, but at least it's bearable.' He mused.

Snaley walked up to him after jumping over the sink. "C-can I have some? I'm a bit thirsty."

"Sure I guess..." He passed the cup to Snaley before heading out of the room, looking for something.

“Did I hit my head too hard last night?” He muttered.

Kel soon came back with a basketball. He looked around and found Snaley with a comically long straw and the coffee mug almost knocked over the counter. Snaley struggled with the straw in his mouth before noticing Kel.

"H-Helw mwee..." The mug tipped to the side. It got closer to falling as Snaley spoke.

"Hup!" Kel caught it at the last second.

'Geez, where did he get that?'

“Wh- where did you get that?” 

“From there!” Snaley sat down and pointed one of it’s legs at the nearby open cupboard, all while faintly humming a small tune.

Kel peeked at the inside and saw more comically large straws.

“Ok then.” 

Kel was still too tired to aptly react to the discovery of a stash of giant straws in his house when he thought of something. “Wait a minute, what if…”

Suddenly, he sped up. Grabbing an orange juice carton and a sugar packet from the refrigerator and putting the contents inside the still half full mug of cup and mixing the mixture together so fast that some of it spilled out.

Kel then downed the mixture before blankly looking at space and muttering. “Holy fuck it actually tastes the same as orange joe.”

“Uuuuuh are you ok?” Snaley looked at Kel with concern.

“YYYYYES!” Kel shouted out. It was both a reply to Snaley and a shout of pure success.

“Wah!” Snaley was spooked by the shout.

“Woah!” Another person was spooked by it too.

“Uh, did I wake up mom?”

— — — — —

Huh? Hah? Whazat?

I suddenly woke up. As I tried to actually get myself up, the sun caught my attention.

Hmm, it’s already morning, guess I should make breakfast, if Kel is still there anyway.

I started to walk down the stairs, but for some reason, some weird sounds came from the kitchen. Is Kel attempting to cook again?

Once I got to the kitchen, I found Kel sipping… something. It’s probably coffee from my husband’s coffee thermos behind him, but I'm pretty sure he hates coffee, so why does he look like he’s enjoying it?

“Hi Kel.” I greeted him. Maybe the thermos is filled with something else?

“H-Hi mom.” He replied. Why does he seem like he’s hiding something? 

Ah nevermind, probably just overthinking it. After a while of sipping - and eventually chugging down the rest of whatever he was drinking he left, bringing his basketball and… is that a marshmallow plushie?

“Is that a plushie?” I asked him before he went outside.

“Uuuuuuuuh yeah. That’s it. It’s a plushie.” He squished it a bit. 

It looks cute.

“Hmmmm… Ok then. Come back later for breakfast okay?” 

“Okay mom, see you later!” He bolted out. 

He’ll probably only come around for lunch, but it’s the thought that counts I guess. Ah wait, he left his “coffee”.

Out of curiosity, I looked inside the cup, and there was a weird orangish-brown drink in it. Ew, wha- what is this?

— — — — —

Phew, thankfully she didn’t ask about Snaley much, I don’t know what I would say otherwise. 

“You alright Snaley?” I said as I put him on the pavement.

“Can I open my eyes now?” Oh right, I forgot I told him to do that.

“Yes.” 

Now what do I do now with him? I already struggled with trying to keep Hector before, and the only reason I was allowed to keep it was Hero and my dad who wanted a dog. Pretty sure my dad doesn’t want a new dog in the house, so that’s a no go.

I could probably ask one of my friends to take care of him, but who would? Hero and Mari’s gone for college, Aubrey seems too rough, Sunny’s too sick, and Basil… actually wait, maybe Basil can take care of Snaley for me.

“Hey Snaley, wha-where did he go!”

...