Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Sunny wakes up at exactly 3 am, still sweating from a nightmare he doesn't remember.

The ceiling is dark. Shadows dance on his window, from when a car passes once in a while. A chill goes down his spine.

He wills his trembling hands to stop shaking, wills his breathing to soften, but stares at the ceiling, wide eyed. He can't move. His muscles tremble, they exert force, but it goes nowhere except to his pounding heart. His pupils constrict. He needs to move. He can't. There's a weight on his chest, like a anvil, slowly crushing his ribcage. 

A faint piano melody drifts from downstairs, a slow, dark version of the waltz they were supposed to play that day. But it's not beautiful. Its reverberating, bouncing off the walls, bouncing off his skull, filling it up until it's all he can hear. The piece ends, and then it starts again, the piano playing on loop, on loop, until morning comes. He knows how this goes.

He knows no one is really playing.

Sunny is home alone.

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Basil wakes up at exactly 3 am, still crying from a nightmare he doesn't remember.

The ceiling is dark. Shadows dance on his window, from when a car passes once in a while. A chill goes down his spine.

He is awake, yet he doesn't dare open his eyes. He knows what happens if he does. He knows what he's going to see. So he keeps them closed.

There are footsteps in his bedroom.

Muffled by the carpet, by the wooden boards, naked feet on the floor of his room. Basil needs to swallow, but he fears the thing may hear even the slightest sound he makes, so he lets the saliva pool in the back of his throat, slowly breathing through his nose. 

His bed creaks, dipping with unseen weight. 

Basil's breathing quickens. Something is here. He feels it straddling him, pushing against him, a foreign breathing cold on his face. Hair tickles his cheeks, and he knows who's there.
He knows how this goes. The thing on top of him won't move until morning comes. It will stay there, rasping hoarse breaths, until the sun peeks from behind the mountains.

Basil still doesn't open his eyes.

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Sunny doesn't eat breakfast.

He would certainly like to, but the fridge is as empty and cold as the day his mom left, a week ago. Sunny doesn't know why she leaves him with nearly nothing every time she travels for work. There is cold steak he could heat, but it's moldy and rotting, and there is a stack of money on the table, untouched. He had to content himself with ordering small amounts of food and reaching a thin arm through the door's mail slot to reach the package.

How could he go buy something, when he couldn't even leave the house? 

That thing wouldn't let him leave.

And Sunny didn't want to, at first. He draped himself with blankets of stars, of distant dreams and carefree adventures. Ignoring the past. Ignoring his mistake. Unconsciousness was better than reality. Kinder. Brighter. 

But even that ran its course.

Sunny attempted to leave, once, miserable and itching for human interaction, but the door had slammed closed in front of his eyes before he could even set foot outside. He thought he was hallucinating at first, that maybe he hadn't quite woken up, but that wasn't the case.

Sunny was very much awake.

So it was something else in his house.

It liked to break dishes, and move objects. It liked to make him watch as the grandfather clock's hands went backwards and backwards, rewinding centuries and seconds in one single move. It wanted to disorient him. It succeeded, most of the time.

It played the piano often.

Mocking familiar melodies, and ripping them apart with discordant notes until Sunny slammed the lid down hard, breathing heavily. It never mattered. The lid was always up again when he woke up the next morning.

And don't even talk to him about mirrors. Those hellish images caused Sunny to haphazardly tape spare covers over them, hoping to erase the entity from his memory. It never quite worked. 

Sunny stared at the door, shuffling his feet in discomfort. Time to try again.

His thin hands gripped the handle of the door, sunshine dripping under the wood, lighting up his feet. He tried to pry it open, twisting the metal, but it wouldn't budge. The door wasn't locked. It never was, but he still couldn't open it. Same with the windows. Sunny bit back a sob. Would it never let him leave? Would he rot here, just a corpse, melting and blackening until someone found him?

He touched his forehead to the cool wood, and felt something dripping down his nose. Blood. Sunny winced, and grabbed at it, only to feel something wiggling within his fingers and he snapped his hand away with a whimper.

A maggot fell to the floor.

Sunny gagged, feeling tears blurring his vision. Why was this happening to him?!

...

Right. Because he killed his sister. What a monster he was.

But he needed to get out of here. He needed to see that person again, assure him Sunny didn't want to break his promise, that it hadn't been his choice.

So Sunny tried again and again to pry the door open, without result. Hours ticked by, or maybe minutes, and it was still locked shut.

Sunny kept trying.

He had to get out of here. To fulfill his promise. To face this together. Like he swore he would.

He had to leave.

Another maggot fell to the floor.

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Basil doesn't eat breakfast.

His shelves are full with snacks and food, but he can't stomach anything. He hasn't been able to, ever since that day.

He greets his grandma, nods at Polly, and leaves for school.

Alone, alone, always so alone.

Basil wonders where that person is. Why he didn't return. Was Basil's promise such a hard thing to fulfill? Maybe he shouldn't have asked. He shouldn't have been so selfish. That person might have made a horrible mistake, but Basil knew he didn't mean to. He only meant to secure their future, help him face what they'd done, together.

But Basil was alone, alone, alone.

Except for that thing.

It twists and turns, like snakes inside his stomach, something so much more than anxiety, so much more than nausea. It made him want to tear into his stomach, tear it to shreds, just so he could see what exactly caused him so much pain.

But he had to endure. Just in case that person returned. 

So Basil kept his head down and sat in his chair, wanting the world to swallow him whole. Aubrey and her friends enter next. She gives him a glare. He doesn't notice, too busy tapping his fingers on top of the desk, tapping, drumming, in a pattern he can't quite define. A distant melody, shrouded in darkness. Strings against a blood stained floor. A shivering, tight noose. Drumming, tapping, drumming still–

"Oh my God, can you stop?!" someone says.

Basil does.

Aubrey approaches his desk at break, hands on her hips. Basil isn't scared. It's more like resignation, because there are so much scarier things out there than a girl and her friends. It still hurts when she sneers at him though.

"Can't you sit still for one second?" she growls. "I could barely concentrate on our lesson because of you"

"S-Sorry" he mutters, feeling bile rising in his throat. Snakes, snakes, all wrapping around his lungs. Sorry is all he can say, but it doesn't feel like enough.

"Why can't you just be normal? Oh, right" she mockingly taps a finger against her chin. "It's because of the ghost, isn't it?"

Basil tensed. Oh, what a horrendous mistake. Several of his dear photos, burned to a crisp. The stove had turned on on its own, the pictures flew to the flames, and Basil had burned several fingers while trying to retrieve them. Aubrey was outraged, finding him with the ashes and remains of the pictures. The proof of the crime. Basil had been hysteric, in shock, since it was one of the first times the entity made itself known. He'd labeled it as a ghost, because that was the only thing he could associate it with. 

The only thing he did was dig his own grave.

Dig his own grave, and dig hers.

Basil gagged, suddenly finding it hard to breath. He didn't stop to hear Aubrey's protests as he flew to the bathroom, locking the stall door behind him and dropping to his knees. He couldn't breathe. Something was constricting his airway. He coughed and shoved his fingers in his mouth, trying to grasp whatever thing was there. Nothing. Deeper still, another gag, and tears came to his eyes. His cheeks burned red, red like the flames, red like her blood, bright red as he looked deeper and deeper and–

There!

He pinched the object with shaking fingers and dragged it out, fished it out, and it was long, so long and when it came out he could finally breathe. 

It was a long string of tangled black hair.

Basil curled up in the bathroom floor, and resisted the urge to scream.

Chapter Text

Sunny was chewing the stale cookies slowly, resolutely ignoring the dark playing form the piano room, when it happened.

Loud knocking on his door.

Sunny didn't think anything of it at first, all too accustomed to hearing things he shouldn't, but when a familiar voice drifted through the wood, he nearly choked in surprise.

"Hello? Hellooooo?"

Kel.

Sunny scrambled to get off the chair and ran to the door, pressing his ear against it. He hadn't misheard, right? He wasn't hallucinating, right? The entity did a lot of things, but imitating voices was not one of them, so maybe...

"Sunny? Are you there? It's your old friend, Kel!"

Sunny's eyes watered in relief. He opened his mouth to speak, but nothing came out, nothing but a croak. He lifted a hand to his throat. He hadn't spoken in so long...

"Uh...so, I've been thinking...about a lot of things, really" he heard Kel come closer. "And I think...I think none of us should be alone right now"

Sunny nodded, like Kel could somehow see him. Sunny was sick and tired of being alone.

"I know I might seem like a jerk by saying this, and it might be too late...it has been two years..."

Two years? It felt like much longer. Sunny couldn't trust clocks, couldn't trust scribbled out calendars. Only the sun and moon signaled the start and end of his monotone days.

"But, I think we can heal together, if we really make the effort. I know we've made mistakes, and I've left you alone, but..."

Sunny held his breath.

"Would you like to spend the day with me, at least? We can see what to do from there"

Sunny huffed out a laugh, watery and relieved. Someone finally came for him. Kel was here. Out of instinct and excitement, he turned the door's handle, only–

It was locked.

Again.

A wordless sound of frustration slipped past his lips.

"S-Sunny? Was–was that you?"

Sunny cleared his throat, wishing speaking was easy, and thumped a hand against the wood in response.

"Holy–dude! That's great! So, uh–I mean, can you hear me out at least? Do you want to come with me?"

Yes, yes! he wanted to say, please let me come with you!, but the door was steel and ice, iron and rocks.

"...It's fine if you don't want to"

No, he did! Sunny wanted to!

"...Open" he rasped out at last, shaky and painful.

"What?"

"Won't...open" 

Icy black fingers against his throat, trying to prevent him from speaking. Strands of long black hair slipped past his shoulders, and a stony weight against his back made his knees shake.

"Won't what open? The door? Is it jammed?"

"Mhm"

"Is it unlocked right now?"

"...Yes..."

"Oh, don't you worry about a thing, Sunny! I got you covered!"

Thank God for Kel. He was such a good friend.

The door rattled strongly, Kel trying to open it from outside. It wouldn't budge. 

"Whoo! This thing is seriously stuck!" Sunny could almost see Kel scratching his head, and the memory brought a smile to his lips.

"Uh...okay, I have an idea" his voice was cautious. "But you might wanna stand away from the door"

Sunny raised his eyebrows, but did as he was told. Kel couldn't possibly be thinking about...

"...I'm assuming you're far away right now! Alright!"

Sunny heard Kel's footsteps fading in the distance. Oh wow, was he really going to–?

"COMING IN!"

With a startlingly loud crash, Kel forcibly burst through the door, leaning on his shoulder and landing heavily on the dusty floor. Sunny squinted at the sudden rush of light from outside, flinching away from his friend. 

Wait–outside.

He stared at the door with wide eyes.

Outside. Outside. The door is gone. I can go outside.

Sunny barely spared Kel a glance as he practically flew to the front yard, not wanting to give a chance to the entity to somehow trap him again, stumbling to his knees on the overgrown grass, feeling the grass because he was outside, the breeze messed with his hair, the sun on his skin, and he was really outside for the first time in two years–

I really don't deserve any of this.

Sunny started crying.

"Sunny? Are you okay?"

Kel's hand rested on his bony shoulder, warm and heavy. A human hand. Sunny hadn't had human contact since his mom left, and even that was scarce. He cried harder.

"D-Did I scare you? I'm sorry, I didn't mean to!"

Sunny shook his head, blindly grabbing at Kel's hand and holding it in his. Alive, alive.

"'ank you"

"Huh?"

"Thank you" he rasped out, and blood slid down his chin, staining the grass, he could see maggots, maggots, but he didn't care, he was outside.

"Thank you so much"

"Okay? I didn't really do anything, but you're welcome, I guess?" Kel's tone was tinted with confusion, but it was still gentle. "Do you need to lie down? You look kinda pale–oh shoot you're bleeding!"

Sunny felt the grass against his skin, the dirt under his nails, the sun on his skin. He felt the wind chill his nose and he let himself be fussed over by Kel. He felt, he felt, he felt.

The thing observed, behind the house. Its mangled neck snapped every time it blinked, hateful. Sunny didn't care. The thing didn't go away, it would come with him wherever he went, but for the first time, he didn't care.

He was outside.

And that was a start.

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Basil was trying to get up from the dusty ground, blocking out the cruel mocking from above, shaking at their secret hangout spot, when it happened.

"Hey! What are you doing to Basil?!"

Kel. Basil didn't dare raise his head.

"This isn't any of your business, Kel!" Aubrey barked out. "Leave it alone!"

"How could you?! You used to be friends! We all used to be! Don't you remember?"

"What does it matter what we used to be?! You abandoned me! Where were you when Mari died, huh?! Where were any of you?!"

Dragging her body up the stairs, trying to get her to wake up, panicking when she didn't, dragging the body back down, trying a noose, hanging her, desecrating her–

Basil whimpered, grabbing his stomach. The snakes were biting again, shredding again.

"Look, if it's an apology you want, here: I'm sorry! But bullying Basil isn't the right thing to do!"

No, Basil deserved this. He deserved it, because–

"Tell her, Sunny!"

Basil froze. Bit by bit, his eyes lifted up, up into the air, up into Sunny's twin black eyes.

His best friend, half hiding behind Kel, thin and pale, dark circles under his eyes, was here. He came for him at last.

Basil wanted to smile, yet instead, the snakes coiled tighter than ever. He gagged, head lurching forward, and pressed a hand to his mouth in an effort to contain whatever wanted to come out of him. Aubrey was saying something. Yelling, echoing, reverberating in their hideout spot. In the empty space, echoing, echoing, fuzzy and oh, she was facing him and moving closer, she towered over him with a snarl on her face. Basil pressed his hand harder into his skin, digging his nails in his cheeks.

"And you. You're the worst. How dare you show your face to me after what you did?!"

Basil shut his eyes, dizzy, and leaned over the end of the dock, facing the water. He dry heaved. Was it hair again? He hoped not.

"What? Can't even face me? Are you going to deny it again?! God, you're just–!"

Several things happened at once.

Aubrey's hands touched his back, to do what? Push him probably. But she never got to. Because two hands shot out of the water, pale and cold, and took him by the neck, scratched and squeezed and dragged him into the icy lake with inhuman strength. Basil barely had time to scream before his mouth filled with water.

Instinctively, he kicked and squirmed, trying to dislodge the hands, but they were iron, they were ice, they were tighter and tighter, a rope against his neck, and wasn't that ironic?

Basil knew what happened every time he opened his eyes at night, yet he dared to look this time.

A distorted face, framed by dark hair, looked back at him.

He was running out of air.

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Sunny honestly didn't know what he was thinking.

He didn't even know how to swim, and his weak legs wouldn't be enough to keep him afloat, mediocre as his kicks would be.

But he saw.

Kel didn't, and Aubrey didn't, too busy yelling and staring each other down, but he did. He saw.

He saw the hands, wrapping around Basil's fragile neck, the widening of his blue eyes, his cut off scream.

Sunny couldn't breathe, his surroundings darkened, strands of long black of hair in his vision, weight on his back, maggots wriggling under his nails.

"Aubrey!" Kel's booming voice snapped him out of it. "What did you do?!"

Aubrey flinched away from the splashing water, paling.

"I-I–"

"You've gone too far!"

"I didn't do anything!" she snapped at him, but here eyes were wide with shock. "He just–I didn't–!"

Sunny clenched his teeth. Basil was in danger. He would be killed. That thing would kill him. He needed to help him.

Almost unconsciously, his feet ran towards the lake, feeling like an out of body experience, ignoring the hair, the weight, the maggots, the fear. 

He jumped.

"Sunn–"

Kel's shout was cut short as the water filled his ears. A rush of bubbled obscured his vision for two seconds, before his body sank deeper to the freezing liquid. He didn't have to look far for Basil.

His friend was wrestling with the thing, hands still wrapped around his neck, steadily dragging him to the black abyss that was the lake. The thing's white dress floated around, like an apparition, deceptively graceful, and its black hair spread around Basil like a spider's web. Sunny's heart beat painfully against his chest, and he forced his stiff limbs to move erratically until he was in plain sight.

Basil's fearful eyes locked on his, and somehow that was enough.

Sunny clasped his fingers around the thing's wrists, trying to make them leave Basil's throat, all without result. His friend's struggling was getting weaker and weaker, and Sunny couldn't afford to take too long either, but the entity's grip was unyielding. Iron, ice, metal, rocks. Unmoving. It wasn't Mari, it wasn't his sister, it couldn't be, not his sweet, kind big sister, but it looked so much like her. Mouth opening wide, like a black hole, sunken eyes, crushed neck, it wrapped its hair around Sunny's ankles and tugged him down too. Sunny's breath was taken away by the sudden action, a flurry of precious oxygen leaving his lips.

Would he die here?

Was this it?

He hadn't fulfilled his promise.

He hadn't told the truth.

He hadn't apologized.

Apologized to who?

Mari, Basil, Kel, Aubrey, Hero–

He could almost see the oldest's brown eyes widening in fear...

Wait, no.

Sunny's lungs burned painfully, demanding to breathe, but his vision was clear enough to make a shape skillfully swimming closer.

Hero?

Sunny turned his face down, expecting to see the entity's hateful eyes, maybe warn Hero about it, but there was nothing.

Nothing, nothing, empty, just water, just Basil and him, floating, holding hands. 

A strong arm wrapped around his, and dragged him up, up, up, where it was light, where he could breathe, and Sunny broke out to the surface with a strangled gasp. Almost immediately, a coughing fit took over, and he hunched over at the shore once Hero–helpful, kind, dependable–placed them gently on it. He gulped down mouthfuls of air, so very precious, so necessary, valuable air that had been taken away. 

He started shaking. Because of the cold or the shock, he couldn't tell.

Either way, that had been close. Too close.

"Basil? Basil, can you hear me?"

Sunny wiped dripping water from his forehead as he looked over to Hero, leaning over Basil's trembling body. His friend was vomiting water like there was no tomorrow, and Sunny's own throat ached in sympathy. Aubrey and Kel were rapidly approaching, one faster than the other. Sunny scooted closer, wanting to see his friend, wanting to check if he was okay.

And for the first time in two years, cloudy blue eyes met his.

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Basil finished dry heaving into the ground, murky brown water, no hair in sight, before lifting his eyes.

Sunny's face was inches away from his, pale, soaking wet and worried. Basil didn't dare move, because what if this was a dream? What if he moved and he woke up in his bed, alone, alone, alone?

"Sunny...?" he whispered hoarsely. "Are you–are you really there?"

And Sunny's eyes softened, looking relieved, looking alive and real, and could Basil really be this lucky? Sunny took such a long time, but now at last...

"Yeah" he whispered back. "Yeah, I am"

Basil flung himself into Sunny's arms, clutching him close, shaking, tears coming to his eyes, and Sunny held him just as fiercely. His throat burned and they were both freezing in the cool air of the hangout spot, but he didn't care. Sunny was here.

Sunny was here.

"Oh, guys..." he heard Hero mutter sadly, but his brain couldn't process his voice, couldn't understand words about high school, about having come here just in time, not while his best friend had come back at last.

Sunny pulled back first, keeping his hands on his upper arms.

"I'm sorry" he croaked out immediately, his voice unused and raspy. "I'm sorry"

"No, no, don't be sorry..." Basil shook his head, wet bangs falling in front of his eyes. "You–You needed time, I understand–"

"No, that's not–that's not it" Sunny coughed, teeth beginning to chatter. Basil himself was ice cold. Hero cut in gently.

"Guys, we need to get you somewhere warm, quickly–"

"Wait–" Sunny leaned away from Hero's offering hand. "Wait–I need to–"

"It's okay, Sunny" Basil tried to smile, holding Sunny's hand. It came easier now that his best friend was here. "I get it, I'm not mad. I promise"

Sunny opened and closed his mouth, but then–

"It wasn't me!"

Basil paused, and turned back. Kel and Hero exchanged perplexed glances. Aubrey hung back.

"What?"

"It was the–the thing" Sunny swallowed, traitorous tears making his black eyes shine. "It wouldn't let me leave"

Basil's eyes widened. Sunny...Sunny couldn't possibly mean...

"What thing?" Kel asked. "The door was stuck when I came over, but..."

Sunny ignored him, staring Basil down.

"You...Basil, you see it too, don't you?" he whispered. "That thing...the one with the long black hair and–"

"–and the white dress" Basil finished, feeling dread creeping up his spine. "It...Sunny, it has bothered you too?"

"Wait, what are you guys talking about?" Hero cut in, rubbing his arms. Right, he was drenched too. They should continue this elsewhere, but Basil couldn't unglue his eyes from Sunny's. Basil thought he was crazy for so long...he thought he was hallucinating, and then he thought he was being tormented, but he never thought Sunny could have been hurt too.

"...It locked all the doors" Sunny confessed, lower lip trembling. "It locked the doors, and the windows...I couldn't leave. I wanted to, but it wouldn't let me leave. I'm sorry"

Basil took both of Sunny's hands in his, beginning to cry again.

"No, Sunny...I'm the one who's sorry...I had no idea..." a sob escaped his throat. "I didn't know you were also being haunted"

"Haunted–?" Kel repeated.

"You too...?" Sunny said softly, eyes going to Basil's neck. Basil rubbed a hand there, self conscious, and was surprised to find long, surface level cuts there. Nail cuts. He winced.

"Y-Yeah..."

They looked at each other, an understanding no one else could get passed between them. They'd both suffered so much, had feared so much, and the pain wasn't over, not yet, but they at least had each other now. They could share their burdens, like they'd promised to do so long ago.

Basil held onto Sunny, and let himself cry.

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.

Sunny finished his little crying session with Basil, and it was honestly pretty cathartic.

Only, it had been interrupted by a loud sneeze, courtesy of Hero.

They were all pretty soaked and cold, so they finally agreed to take this somewhere warmer and went on their way, street lamps lighting their path in the dying light of the afternoon. Sunny was pretty tired after running around with Kel all day, and nearly drowning in the lake, but he pushed himself just a bit more and forced his heavy feet to move. 

Sunny held onto Basil's hand all the way, a tremendous weight being lifted off his chest. Not that he enjoyed Basil being haunted, but he was grateful for having a person who truly understood what it felt like to be subjected to such a horrendous torture, day after day.

Maybe now, they could do something about it.

Aubrey was trailing behind them, ashen faced and tense, but no one had said anything about it. Sunny could feel Basil was a little nervous with her there, and he didn't know how much she had bullied him, but with Sunny and Hero here he was sure she wouldn't dare do anything.

They went to Basil's house, first.

Polly–who was his grandma's caretaker apparently–had been worried sick, and she fussed over the three of them, bringing hot towels and spare clothes and offering the shower so they could warm up. They did. Sunny caught Hero zeroing on Basil's neck wounds, from the thing's hands, and his own scratches on his fingers, from months of trying to get the door to open. He didn't say anything.

So now Sunny was sandwiched between Basil and Hero, and Kel and Aubrey waited in the other chairs. Aubrey hadn't looked at them in the eyes once, and now that Sunny had calmed down, he could see she was no longer the happy, go lucky girl he knew from two years ago. She had this...shadow over her eyes...they all did. Kel just hid it. Hero just buried it.

Sunny had been the one who put it there.

Basil rubbed his arm uncomfortably, eyes darting around his living room, and Sunny wondered if the thing haunted his house too, if it locked the door, if it trapped him, mocked him. He glanced around as well, but there wasn't anything. 

They were alone, alone, alone, just them and their thoughts, them and their sin, them and their three victims.

Where was the fourth?

"So..." Hero began. "I think–I think we all need an explanation, from all parts"

Aubrey made herself small. Kel motioned to Sunny with his head.

But Sunny knew what they needed to do. He nudged Basil gently, and stared at him when he lifted his eyes. He knew Basil would know what he meant without words. They'd always been like that. And sure enough, his friend paled, squeezing his hand.

"S-Sunny...are..." he swallowed, blinking rapidly. "Are you sure?"

"It's been too long" Sunny's voice broke. They needed to do this. They'd been too late, they'd taken too long.

Even if the thing haunted them both, and never stopped, they had to get this weight off their chest, or else it would grow and grow, take over them both, choke and kill, and it had already been doing that, had almost taken the two of them just minutes prior.

Sunny needed to get this dead weight off his back, this parasite off his heart. And he was sure Basil needed to as well.

Wasn't this what they had wanted to do all along? Wasn't this the promise they had made?

Besides, even if...even if their friends didn't forgive them, which was very probable, then...

Then at least they would have each other.

Basil's eyes filled with tears, but he nodded silently, turning to their friends. Sunny did too, watching as Hero, Kel and Aubrey's faces filled with trepidation. They sensed something was amiss. They sensed this was big, that this would change everything.

Sunny opened his mouth.

"We have to tell you something–"

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And the window behind them exploded in a million shards.