Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Sunny woke up with a start, soaked in a cold sweat. His breathing was shaky and shallow. He tried to block out the horrific dream he had just experienced, as he steadied his breathing and CALMED DOWN. Once he regained his composure, he sat up and looked at the clock on his bedside table, which displayed the time in a bright green fluorescent light. He stared for a second as he tried to focus his good eye on it, eventually reading 5:30 AM. He groaned mentally as he laid back down, knowing he wouldn't be able to get back to sleep after that dream, and dreading the day that awaited him. He'd be going to school more sleep deprived than usual, he'd sit through his classes trying not to fall asleep, and at the end of the day he'd get beaten up by Zach and his goons. After stewing on the inevitability of Zach beating the shit out of him, Sunny's thoughts were interrupted by an all too familiar voice.

"Y̶̹ó̷̺ů̷̖ ̴̡̿d̴̮͒ȩ̶̅s̵̞̊ě̸͓r̶̜̅v̶̜̑e̴̻̅ ̴̫̉ḯ̴̦t̸͉͘ ̶̤͊t̸̫̄ḫ̸̂ȏ̴͙u̷͔͋g̸̗͘h̸̤̉,̴̳̅ ̷̫̄a̴̺̎f̷̫͆t̶̨̕e̵̠͂r̴̛̮ ̶̠̃w̶̨͝h̵̼͠a̴̫̐ẗ̵̡́ ̸̳͐y̶̼̿o̴̠͑u̸ͅ ̶͎̽d̸͉̈́i̶̤̎d̴̨̉" The voice stated, in a cold tone. It sounded like a mixture of Sunny's own voice from when he was twelve, and someone scraping nails on a chalkboard. Sunny knew the voice belonged to the embodiment of his desire to escape, and the embodiment of his guilt complex, Omori. "𝐀̵͆A̶̫̓f̵̺͗t̵̳͗e̷̛͎r̵̒͜ ̶̋ͅä̶̩́l̴̫̀l̶̠̚,̴̛͕ ̶̥̈́ȳ̴̟o̸̗͒u̵͍̓'̴̣̎ṛ̷͝ë̸̮́ ̴̦̈t̴̯̕h̷̨̓e̵̢͐ ̶̻͝ṛ̸e̵̥̅ă̵ͅs̶̎͜õ̵̘n̷͖̈ ̸̖̎M̴̗͝a̶̩̚r̴̩̄i̴̡̓'̶͇̽s̵̠̏ ̶̛̦ḏ̴̔e̶̲̅a̷͂͜d̵̿͜,̷̢͊ ̴̯̓t̵̡̅h̸̤̊e̶͚̅ ̵̜́r̷̺͆è̴̖a̵̫̒s̶̰̊ò̶̠n̵̖͊ ̴̰̒B̷̯̓a̵͖̋s̷͓̕i̵͔̽ĺ̷̲ ̵̛̘w̴̠̿à̶̞n̸̗̕t̴̟͛ȇ̴͔d̴̟͌ ̴̱̈́t̵̮͒o̸͙͑ ̷̗̉k̵̼̃i̷͚͘l̷̲͑l̴͔͑ ̶̬h̵̯͘i̴̙̐m̸̹̌s̴̹͐ȩ̴̃l̷̬̈́f̷̤̊,̸̤̄ ̶̫̈́t̴̮̒h̸͈͝ȩ̸̄ ̸̜̾r̴̺̍ę̸a̷̪͑s̶͉͒o̷͝ͅn̸͙̎ ̵̥̀A̵̙͆ú̶͇b̷͎́r̷̮̆e̸̻̾y̴̧͛ ̵̡͊b̷̙̋e̶͓̎c̶͎͊a̷̲͒m̸͊͜e̵̦͛ ̶͚͝a̷̜͋ ̴̥̄d̷̠̂e̵̺͋l̷̗̄i̸͚͑n̵̩̚q̴̲͊u̷̧͗e̵͎̐n̴̝͆ṱ̶̇.̴̟́ ̷̥̀Ÿ̶͖o̵̰͠ṷ̴͐ ̴͎̾r̶͇̃e̵̺͆ă̵̝l̷͈̽l̶̼͊ÿ̸͇́ ̸̟̑a̷̼͑ȓ̵̲ẻ̶͜ ̸̬̕ĺ̴͓e̸̙s̸͉̚s̶̩̚ ̶̘̈t̶͕̿h̷̗͆ä̶͇n̴͕̚ ̶̘̀ẅ̸̫o̸̘͂r̷̝̅t̷͇̏h̶̯̃l̶͖̈́ȩ̵̌s̶͈͝s̷̜̃.̵̜̒"

Sunny tried to block Omori's voice from his mind as he dragged himself out of bed and to the kitchen, his dreams always left his throat dry nowadays. As he stepped out of his room and into the hall, he could hear his Mom's gentle snoring. She would have to get up for work soon. Sunny wished she didn't have to work so much, for her sake. As he reached the kitchen he grabbed a glass and filled it with cold water. He brought the glass to his lips and drank the cool clear liquid, downing it in a single gulp, and nearly choking. Refreshing. He placed the glass by the sink and sluggishly dragged himself towards the bathroom. He entered the bathroom, glanced at the mirror, and stumbled backwards tripping over his own feet and falling backwards onto the floor. As he recovered from his thankfully not serious accident, he dragged himself to his feet, and looked at the mirror again. He was alone. He had thought he'd seen her, his sister, not as a twisted corpse, and not as S̶̎ͅǒ̶̝m̸̮̌ë̸̱́t̵̠̂h̸̪͘ï̸͍n̶̞̍g̶̜̒, but as if she were alive again. It was like in the Piano room at his old house. He steadied his breathing and CALMED DOWN. He decided he didn't have to use the bathroom that badly after all, and left, still shaking slightly as he made his way back to his room, and back into bed. Even if He wouldn't be able to sleep, he at least wanted to be comfortable.

He lay in bed for a while, lost in his thoughts. He eventually heard his mother leave for work, and knew he'd have to drag himself out of bed soon enough, and decided to do it sooner rather than later. As he once more left his room to grab a quick breakfast, he felt uneasy. He hadn't seen a hallucination that vivid in months, yet here he was. Sometimes he wished his brain would just leave him alone. He retrieved his backpack and prepared himself for the day, both physically and mentally, and stepped out of his apartment, making sure it was locked. As he made his way to the elevator, he kept seeing things in the corner of his eye, things that looked like what he saw in the mirror. He tried to ignore it, but was finding it rather hard all things considered. He stepped into the elevator room, pressed the button and waited. And waited. And waited some more. It was after waiting for a few minutes that he noticed the Out of order sign on the elevator door. He sighed as he left the elevator room and moved towards the dreaded stairwell. As he stepped into the stair well, he began his slow descent, his fear mounting with each step. He began to feel light headed. His vision swam. His legs began to buckle a bit. His backpack felt heavy. He started to sweat. His breathing started to grow heavy. He saw shapes beginning to appear out of the shadows on the stairs in front of him. Hands reached out to him, trying to pull him down.

Sunny became AFRAID.

Sunny had thought he managed to conquer his fear and move past most of his trauma, but it seemed said fear and trauma had other ideas. His panic began to increase, as his breathing quickened. Just one misstep, one slight error in judgement is all it would take for him to fall to his doom, just like Mari had. As he reached a landing, he collapsed to his knees, his breathing shaky and uneven as beads of sweat steadily trickled down his face. He heard a familiar voice in his head.

"Take a deep breath, it's not as scary as you think."

Sunny Breathed in, and then out. Sunny managed to CALM DOWN. After calming down looked up and stumbled backwards in surprise. Standing before him was Mari. She appeared slightly transparent and ghostlike, but her small smile emanated the same warmth he remembered. She seemed so...real. He was stunned, in shock, as he stared at the shimmering form of his dead sister. Even Omori was silent for once.

"M-mari...?" He managed to stutter out in a tone of disbelief. "Is...is it really y-you...?" Her smile turned sad as her form began to flicker.

"W-wait! Please don't go!" He pleaded before she faded away, leaving him alone in the stair well. He felt a tear role down his cheek. After gathering his thoughts, he stood up and wiped his face dry, and carefully made his way down the stairs.

School sucked. As usual. It wasn't as if the work itself was very difficult, quite the opposite in fact. Indeed, Sunny sometimes wondered how he managed to practically skip four years of school and somehow not only get into the proper grade, but also be near the top of his class. It was strange. So no, it definitely wasn't the work that Sunny hated. The teachers were tolerable as well, so that wasn't the cause for Sunny's immense dislike of school. So what you might ask, did Sunny hate about school? The people of course. Most people there ignored him, but the ones who didn't would cast quick judging glances at him when they thought he wouldn't notice. He always noticed. They were also loud. Very, very, loud. That was part of what he hated. But there were three specific people Sunny hated dealing with more than anyone else. Those being three classmates of his who seemed intent on bullying him, and only him. As he walked into his classroom, he spotted them immediately. Zach, the leader: he was tall and fit, with piercing blue eyes and short dirty blonde hair atop his slightly broad, well defined face. Jackson, the big one: he was, frankly speaking large in everything except height, in which he was severely lacking. His brown main of hair hung down around a perpetually scowling face, out of which two dark eyes peered. Then there was Ricky, the smart one. He was tall and thin, with black shoulder length hair, and unusually pale skin, which contrasted greatly with his amber colored eyes. His face held a perpetually bored expression. Ricky tended to not be as involved in the actual bullying as Zach and Jackson, but he did nothing to stop it.

Sunny walked to his seat. They never bothered him this early in the day, instead opting to wait until after school was out, when they were least likely to get caught. The worst part was how well it usually worked.
Sunny glanced around the room from his seat, and someone caught his eye. Someone new, but familiar. Sunny used to know this girl. She wore a white varsity jacket with yellow accents, and her hair was a faded pink, with a blue bandana tied into a bow sitting stop her head and slightly to the left. Her name was Aubrey, and she was once Sunny's friend, before that day in the hospital. Sunny forced the thought from his mind and turned his head away, hoping he could go unnoticed by her. He wasn't exactly looking forward to what she'd say, because after all, the last time he had seen her was when he'd told his friends the truth about his sister's death.

The day passed by quickly, which for Sunny, was both a good and a bad thing. It was a good thing because it would mean less time at school, but it was a bad thing, because now he was lying on the ground in the school courtyard, gasping for air as Zack and Jackson beat the shit out of him while Ricky stands nearby.

He had just been pushed to the ground and kicked in the stomach, hence the gasping for air. As he struggled to try and get to his feet, he was kicked in the side, and sent sprawling again. Zach laughed sadistically at Sunny's limp, struggling form, lying on the concrete before him.

"Man, you never learn, do you. You know we're just gonna beat you down to your proper place again, dipshit." His voice had a hint of pleasure in it. "But keep trying, I'm having fun, so don't stop trying to stand up, by all means."

Sunny did just that, managing to get to his hands and knees, before another kick to the side sent him sprawling on the ground. He began struggling to his feet again, before getting sent sprawling once more. He brought his face up, and with his one good eye, flashed Zach a murderous glare. Zach caught this glare, and his expression changed into one of annoyance.

"That look... y'know you're really starting to piss me off, freak." The tone of his voice changed from sadistic pleasure anger. Raw anger. "You really aughta learn your place!"

Sunny felt a sharp pain in the side of his head, as he once what was sent sprawling across the ground.
His vision started to blur, and through the newfound ringing in his ears he could hear muffled angry speaking. Something about someone going too far. As the ringing began to subside, he heard the sound of a blunt object connecting with someone's stomach, with a loud 'thwack' sound. He heard a female voice speak, directed at Zach's cronies.

"You two better fuck off, before I decide to get 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 violent! And take your boss with you!" The voice dripped with malice, and he heard sounds of people scurrying about, before the sounds of hurried footsteps receded into the distance. The owner of voice muttered some insults under their breath before turning their attention to Sunny. "Hey are you alright? You took quite the beating there, here lemme help you up." And without waiting for an answer, the person had grabbed and pulled him to his feet.

As Sunny vision cleared, he looked at his savior, and his thoughts immediately did a 180 from thankfulness at being save, to pure shock as his blood froze. Standing before him was Aubrey, and the expression of shock on her face mirrored his own. It seemed Aubrey hadn't realized who he was until just now. Sunny started shaking slightly as he took a step back.

"...Sunny...?" Her tone was surprised, but didn't exactly sound angry. "Are you-"

Before she could continue, Sunny bolted. He ran as fast as he could, faster than he even knew he could. He didn't know where he was running, he just ran. He hadn't even realized he was running until he found himself at home, collapsing into bed and drifting off into a dreamless sleep.

Chapter Text

Aubrey woke up to the beeping of her alarm. With a groan she attempts to silence the infernal sound that emanates from it. After hitting her bedside table multiple times, she finally manages to shut the thing up, and with another groan, drags herself out of bed. She sluggishly went about her morning. It had been around a week since she left Faraway, after the husk that was once her mother vanished without a trace. Just gone, as if she never existed in the first place. She was left with nowhere to go until her cousin Sterling, who she'd met once, offered to let her stay with him. Not really having any better options, she accepted, and has spent the past week adjusting to her new life. Today is different however, as it's the first day of school in this new foreign environment. Aubrey is slightly nervous, she wasn't sure what to expect. She's snapped out of her thoughts however, by a buzz from her phone. A message from her cousin, letting her know there's some leftover pancakes in the fridge, and several messages from a certain group chat, containing a certain gardener, and a certain Orange Joe addict.

6:25 AM
Flower_Boy: Reminder to Kel to actually get up for school
Flower_Boy: And Aubrey I don't know when your school starts, but you should probably also get up.
Orange_Joe_Man: thnaks bsail
Flower_Boy:...
Pink_Delinquent: Jesus fucking Christ Kel, learn to spell
Orange_Joe_Man: Nha I domt want 2
Pink_Delinquent: You're going to make me commit a war crime
Flower_Boy: P-please don't Aubrey
Pink_Delinquent: Try and stop me, Gardener
Flower_Boy: ):

Aubrey smiled as she put away her phone. She was exceedingly grateful to Kel and Basil for being willing to remain friends with her. Just after Sunny told them the truth she got really angry and aggressive, but as time wore on she came to a few realizations, and made amends with Basil. It was too late at that point to make amends with Sunny, unfortunately, but at least Basil accepted her back as a friend. Kel also became friends with Basil again, and the three of them hung out through the rest of the summer. She found her thoughts wandering to Sunny, the boy who she had at one point wanted to hate, the boy who she had once had a crush on. She wondered what he was doing now. Though she might not have wanted to admit it, she missed him.

'Enough of that Aubrey, you've got things to do today,' She forced herself back to reality as she finished preparing for school. She left her apartment complex and journeyed to the street below. The walk to school was short, and there wasn't much interesting stuff on the way. When she finally arrived at the school building, she took a deep breath to calm her nerves, before stepping across the threshold, ready for whatever this new school through at her.

School was surprisingly enjoyable. The work itself wasn't the enjoyable part by any means, but it felt nice not to have people constantly throwing wary and judging glances at you. The school day passed by quickly and enjoyably, and Aubrey was having a pretty good day, all things considered. The day would take a turn for, not necessarily for the worse, but a turn nonetheless, when Aubrey was leaving school. Firstly, as she was walking through the courtyard, she nearly tripped over a baseball bat, which wouldn't have been pleasant, but was not day-ruining. No it was the Second thing she saw which really changed her day. Said second thing being a group of three people, laughing and standing over a fourth person who was lying sprawled on the ground, trying to stand up. The sight made her blood boil. After she learned the truth and made amends with Basil, she made a promise to herself. She wouldn't let anyone go through what she put Basil though, not if she could stop it. She picked the stray baseball bat up off the floor, and approached the group. She didn't say a word, instead opting to communicate through actions. Specifically the action of getting the attention of the one who seemed to be in charge, and swinging the baseball bat as fast as humanly possible, right into his stomach, sending him crumpling to the floor and gasping for breath. It was only then that she spoke.

"You two better fuck off, before I decide to get 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 violent! And take your boss with you!" She could feel the anger and malice emanating from her own voice. She muttered a curse under her breath as she watched the three flee, the two uninjured one's practically dragging their leader, she felt the anger die down a bit. She shifted her attention to the boy laying sprawled on the ground, still struggling for breath. There was something... familiar about him. "Hey are you alright? You took quite the beating there, here lemme help you up." She could feel the concern in her own voice as she helped him to his feet. He was unusually light. Then she saw his face. That unmistakable face. The face of her childhood friend. The face of Sunny Suzuki. She could feel her own face shift into an expression of shock, which was mirrored on the face of her old friend.

"...Sunny...?" She spoke in bewilderment. He was here. In front of her. She had a chance to make amends. She made the decision to focus on that later, and focus on making sure he was okay. "Are you-" he bolted "-okay..."

She'd never seen him run that fast. He was gone before she could even think of pursing him.

"...Damn it..." She sighed. She can't say she didn't expect something like this, if they ever met again. At the hospital she had been angry, and she was sure it showed on her face then. She sighed again.

'I can't exactly blame him though...' Lost in her own thoughts, she slowly made her way back to her apartment.

As soon as she got home she went to her room, and threw her bag on her bed. Sitting down at her desk, she looked at a photo of herself Kel and Basil that had been taken before she left, reminiscing of better times.

"God damn it..." She said as her thoughts were interrupted by a growl from her stomach, followed by a buzzing from her phone.

Sterling: jsyk, bringing a friend over today.
Sterling: Mentally prepare yourself
Aubrey: k

Her cousin was possibly the luckiest man alive. For one, he one a scholarship at a big medical college in the city. Then there was also the fact that he had one the lottery. Twice. He was loaded, and very, very lucky. Aubrey was just grateful he was sharing his good fortune with her by letting her stay there. He was generally pretty cool as well, and just kind of left her to her won devices, which she didn't really mind. Focusing on her mild hunger, she made her way to the fridge and glanced around, before deciding on a bright red apple. She rinsed the apple off, before eating it. It was crisp, and had the perfect flavor balance. Aubrey was eating what was, quite possibly, the best apple ever. Of all time. She couldn't really focus on the immaculate flavor of the absolutely perfect apple however, as her thoughts kept wandering back to Sunny. She was snapped out of her thoughts of Sunny, as she heard the door open and the now familiar voice of her cousin called out.

"Helllllooooooooooo" His voice was loud, but somehow not grating. "I am Hooooooome, and I brought a friend."

"Yo" She greeted her cousin, as she walked into the living room, seeing Sterling in all his messy bright blue haired glory. There was something that caught her off guard however, that being the friend Sterling brought. The friend in question was someone who Aubrey was already fairly familiar with, due to being friends with him.

"Allow me to introduce my pal, my chum, my buddy-pal-chum, drumroll please, Henry!" Sterling proclaimed in his usual over the top manner.

Aubrey stood there in a slightly stunned silence for a moment, trying to piece together how someone like Hero could wind up being friends with someone like Sterling. Hero was the first to break the silence.

"Hey Aubrey. It's uh-this is a bit surprising in all honesty" There was an air of surprise in his voice.

"Yeah, it's good to see you again" Aubrey replied still trying to piece together the bizarre situation she found herself in. her thoughts were interrupted by Sterling.

"Wait you two already know each other?! What a small world amiright?" His voice indicated that he either hadn't noticed the faint awkwardness that permeated the situation, or he just didn't care. Honestly with him, it could be either one. "Well, you two catch up or whatever, I'm gonna grab some drinks." And with that, he left the room. An awkward silence once again filled the space between the two friends. A silence which was once again broken by Hero.

"So uh, how've you been Aubrey?" Aubrey could tell there was more he wanted to ask, but was starting slowly.

"I've uh, I've been alright. How about you? How's college been treating you?" There was one major question she was holding herself back from asking, at least for now.

"it's been alright, not too terrible" His expression shifted a bit. "So why exactly are you living here with Sterling?" Straight to the point.

"Figured you'd ask eventually. Well, a little after... 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 day, my mom vanished. Gone without a trace. As it turns out I happen to have a cousin in the city, who is quite possibly the luckiest man ever. So without a lot of options, I ended up moving in with Sterling, and now here I am." That was the heavily condensed version of it. "I actually have a question for you, about... that day at the hospital...if you're comfortable." She could hear his breathing falter a bit, and his expression noticeably changed.

"Alright...I'm willing to answer what your question" His voice sounded just a bit strained. Aubrey took a deep breath before continuing.

"Do you...do you think you forgive them?" The question was hard to ask, and apparently hard to hear, as she could hear a change in Hero's breathing.

"I...I don't know for sure...but I feel like I can. I don't know if I'm there just yet, but I think I can...Eventually" Aubrey could hear the strain in his voice as he said that. "Enough of that sort of talk though, lets catch up a bit"

"Yeah, lets do that" Aubrey found herself smiling as she said that.

It was around 8:00 PM now. Hero had left. Aubrey was working on schoolwork, and trying not to let herself think of Sunny. She was finding the second part of that rather difficult, so she decided to check in on the groupchat to help distract herself.

Pink_Delinquent: I have made a few Shocking realizations today
Orange_Joe_Man: Oh?
Flower_Boy: What kind of realizations exactly?
Pink_Delinquent: 1 my cousin is a horrible disgusting Orange Joe drinking imbecile
Orange_Joe_Man: I msut meet hiim
Pink_Delinquent: 2 He knows, and is friends with, a certain stressed Medical student who we all know
Orange_Joe_Man: WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAt
Flower_Boy: So I'm guessing you talked to Hero today...?
Pink_Delinquent: Yeah
Pink_Delinquent: Don't worry though Basil, he says he'd be able to forgive both you and Sunny someday.
Flower_Boy: Oh...That's good
Orange_Joe_Man: Pog
Pink_Delinquent: Shut the fuck up Kel
Orange_Joe_Man: Mak me
Pink_Delinquent: I'm too tired for this. Basil, I'm leaving you to deal with Kel's idiocy.

Pink_Delinquent: Night you two
Flower_Boy: Night Aubrey
Orange_Joe_Man: C ya Aubs

Aubrey put her phone aside and went to bed, drifting off to a deep sleep.

Chapter Text

Sunny slowly faded into the waking world to a loud obnoxious beeping sound. He found two things odd about today so far, the first being his alarm clock waking him up, and the second being his lack of dreams the night before. The alarm clock was odd because he was usually awakened by something from inside his dreams, though it would be difficult to get woken up by a dream, if you don't have a dream. And that was the other thing, he always had dreams, although nightmares might be a more fitting term. In any case, dwelling on the circumstances of how he woke up would get him nowhere, and so he reluctantly dragged himself out of bed and quickly changed into some new clothes. Now dressed in black pants a white t-shirt and a gray hoodie with a white cracked lightbulb on the front, he made his way to the kitchen to grab a quick breakfast before leaving for school. He was trying not to think of the inevitable interaction he'd have to have with Aubrey. He wasn't scared of what Aubrey would do to him, he was scared of what she might say.

"Ẉ̵̐h̷̼̎a̷̝̾ẗ̸̼́e̷̡̔v̸̡ȩ̷̔ȓ̴̲ ̷̭̏š̶̙h̴̪͂e̶͖̚ ̸̢͘d̵̝͆o̵͔̾ë̸͙́s̵͖̑ ̵̟̈́o̷͇̚r̸̦̒ ̷̧̇s̸͕̅ã̴̮ȳ̴̺s̵̼̏,̷͓̐ ̶̨y̷̤͐ọ̶̊ú̷̗ ̶̰̉k̴̪͛ṋ̶̈o̸͓͒w̴̙̆ ̴̞y̶̢̌o̷͕̓ů̵̠ ̶̡̃d̵̺͠e̷̬̎s̵͍͗e̴̱̾r̵̊͜v̵̧̛e̶̛̯ ̷̘̊i̷̞̚t̷̫͘" Sunny signed when he heard the voice of his monochrome younger doppelganger. He just wished Omori would leave him alone. "Y̵̳̅o̸̖͋ư̴̮ ̵͉͗d̷͚̈́ö̷̬ň̷͎'̸̩͛t̶͈̓ ̸̠̾d̶̢͆e̶̘͋š̶̰ȅ̸͜r̴̢͌v̶̜e̶͈̽ ̶͔̉t̷͍͌o̵̖͝ ̶̬͝b̷̟͐e̴̮͊ ̵̮̍l̷̯̏e̵̢̚f̶͎̋t̷̞̍ ̵̥̈́a̷͕̐l̸̢͝o̷̝͐n̸̨̆e̸̳͆"

Sunny tried his best to ignore the voice in his head as he made himself a piece of toast. After putting the bread in the toaster he waited. While waiting he let his mind wander. Eventually his mental wandering would lead him back to thinking of Aubrey. No matter what he did he couldn't stop thinking of what might happen later. He was snapped out of his thoughts by a 'ding' sound, letting him know his toast was ready. After carefully extracting his toast from the toaster, he coated one side of it in the delicious, wonderful, spectacular substance known as strawberry jam. He proceeded to consume the now exponentially improved toast, savoring every bite. He finished the toast all to quickly for his taste, and regretfully retrieved his school supplies before making his way to the door of his apartment. As he stepped out of the kitchen he stopped dead in his tracks. Standing just a few feet in front of him was Mari. The same Mari he'd seen in the mirror and on the stairs yesterday.

"M-mari...? Is it-is it actually you?" His voice was shaking, and he could tell. Mari simply looked at him with a sad smile before turning and passing through the door. "W-wait!"

Sunny stumbled towards the door, fumbling it open and stepping outside his apartment to be greeted by nothing but empty space. He sighed before closing and locking the door behind him. He walked to the elevator room. Thankfully, the elevators were no longer out of order, so he pressed the button for down, and waited. When the elevator arrived he stepped on and pressed the button labeled 'L'. The doors closed as the elevator began it's descent.it arrived at the lobby with a ding, and the doors slid open. The lobby was a bland room, with beige walls and ceiling, and a faded maroon carpet that smelled old. The entire room smelt of cleaning products, and Sunny wasn't the biggest fan. He quickly left the building to escape the not so great smelling lobby, and made his way down the street. The street looked like that of your typical city, if a bit cleaner than most. It didn't exactly smell any better than most other cities though, that was for sure.

Sunny stood on the street outside the hellish brick building known as Nearby city Highschool, by far the single worst place in the city. He took a deep breath as he stepped into the courtyard. There was a little while before class started and there were quite a few people in the courtyard. People wandering around, talking, running, yelling. It was too loud here. It always was. Luckily Sunny didn't see any sign of Zach and his goons. Yet. He quietly made his way to class. As he approached the door, he could hear Zach on the other side, talking to Jackson and Ricky. Sunny took another deep breath a d stepped through the door, and was absolutely dumbfounded when Zach completely ignored his existence. He was honestly relieved, and quietly made his way to his seat. He sat down, and looked around the room, beginning to people watch. There was a small group of your typical popular girls chatting animatedly in one of the front corners, a group of your average nerds talking about the latest video games, and a few other noticable groups that weren't super distinct. Sunny seemed to be the only one who wasn't in a group. That was normal. But there was one other person who wasn't in a group, and that wasn't normal. The person in question was Aubrey, and as his gaze fell on her, she turned suddenly and locked eyes with him. Her expression remained neutral, and Sunny wore his normal cliff faced expression, but could tell it faltered slightly. After what felt like an eternity of a silent conversation, the bell rang and they broke their staring contest to focus on their teacher. History was their first class, and the teacher was a thin, bespectacled man, with a noticeable hunch, and gray hair which was balding at the top. He started prattling on about the French revolution, and it didn't take long for Sunny to completely zone out.

The rest of the school day passed in a similar manner, with the teachers rambling about some topic or other, and Sunny tuning it out for the most part. It was only after the school day was over and Sunny was visiting his locker that this status quo was truly interrupted. When he opened his locker, the first thing he noticed was a stray piece of folded paper, which was odd because Sunny kept his locker pretty organized. The other odd thing about the paper was that it was addressed 𝘛𝘰 Sunny, so there was no way it was in the wrong locker. Sunny unfolded the paper and read the contents of the apparent note.

"Sunny, go to the large rock formation in the south part of nearby city park at 4:30"

There was no signature to indicate who put it there, but Sunny knew who it was. Maybe he recognized the handwriting, or maybe just how straightforward it was tipped him off, but either way, he knew it was Aubrey. After mulling over the note some more, he decided to head home. He didn't live very far from Nearby park, and he had about an hour to kill before he'd have to be there. He stepped into the courtyard and was met by...no one. It was kind of off putting. No scratch that, it was 𝘝𝘦𝘳𝘺 off putting. He'd grown used to Zach jumping him in the courtyard after school, but he managed to actually leave the school grounds without incident. He traced the path back to his apartment, and upon arriving, went straight to the kitchen and drank a large glass of water. Feeling refreshed Sunny thought about the note. There was no doubt in his mind that Aubrey was the one who wrote it, and that's what scared him a bit. He figured she wanted to talk to him outside of school because she didn't want to cause a scene. He wasn't sure if he was ready to face her yet.

"I̴͉͠ ̴̍ͅt̵͜h̶̫̃o̴̪̓ū̷͖g̸͓͂h̵̦̓t̵͔̊ ̷̻̂y̸͇o̷̰̒ṵ̶͛ ̵͉͒d̴͓̓e̸̘̐c̷̛͖ḯ̵̻ḓ̵̎e̸̊͜d̴͇͆ ̷̡͝y̴̮̾o̷̲̿ù̴͇ ̵̦͂ẅ̵̤́ḙ̶̏r̸̮̔e̵̢̿n̵͚̈́'̴̉ͅt̷͇̎ ̸̜͆g̶͎͂o̶̝͝i̶̗͂n̴̰̾g̶̡̎ ̷̜͗t̵̬͋o̵̼̾ ̶̥̑r̷̫͆u̶͓͝n̴̫͐ ̷̙́a̵͇͒w̴̥͝ḁ̵̄y̵̙͠ ̵̙̈ȃ̸̙ń̸͍y̴͈͂m̷̢͛o̵̟͂r̴̲͊e̴̹̽,̸̻̽ ̷͍͛o̵̱̊r̵̺̄ ̸̱́w̴̒͜ḁ̸͊s̵̯̈́ ̷̳͑ṯ̵͑ḧ̷͜a̸̠̎t̴̲̀ ̶͓̅ÿ̸̖́e̴͎͊t̶̼́ ̶̝̇a̸͉̽n̵̦͂o̸̤͆t̵̨́h̶̙͠e̸̎͜r̸̼͠ ̷̻͋l̴̋͜i̵̝͗ë̸̖́?̶̧̚"

Sunny grimaced when he heard the voice of his doppelganger in his mind. But his grimace changed to an expression of shock as another, familiar voice spoke, not from within his mind, but from behind him.

"Sunny, listen to me."

Sunny whirled around and saw the figure of Mari before him.

"Mari... you- are you really here?" His voice was shaking, and he could feel tears springing to his good eye. "This isn't just a hallucinations, is it?"

"This is real Sunny, I'm here, but I can't stay for long." Her voice sounded clearer, more present. Sunny approached her and reached out to try and touch her, only for his hand to pass through her. Her expression turned slightly sad at that. "I'm sorry I can't be here for you physically, but I'm here brother."

"What should I do Mari, I want to face her, to face my mistakes, but I'm...I'm scared Mari. I'm scared of what she'll say." Tears had started streaming down his face.

"You shouldn't force yourself to go if you aren't ready yet. You will have to face this someday, but it's okay if it's not today. I believe in you Sunny, I believe you can accomplish whatever you set your mind to. You're so much stronger that you realize, and I'm proud of you Sunny."

The tears streaming down his face turned into full on crying. He looked up as Mari began to flicker out of existence again. "W-wait... Please don't go!"

"I'm sorry Sunny, I can't stay any longer. I'm proud of you, and I'm proud of how far you've come. Please try to remember that I'll always be watching over you."  With that she faded, leaving Sunny alone in the kitchen.

After crying for a while, Sunny stood up and steeled his resolve. He had made up his mind, he was going to face Aubrey, face his mistakes, not for the sake of atonement, but for the sake of finally putting all of this behind him. For the sake of moving forward. For the sake of trying to heal. Sunny took a deep breath, before stepping out the door of his apartment and beginning the journey to the park. And for once, Omori remained silent.

Chapter Text

Aubrey was having a strange dream. She was wandering alone through the halls of a hospital. It was dark inside, and the only source of light was the strange red glow emanating from outside the windows. The entire place smelled like mold and blood, and the ceiling occasionally dripped a foul smelling dark liquid. It was unbearably quiet, with the only sound being that of the occasional drip as the black liquid fell to the floor, sometimes splashing in a puddle. As she wandered, she found a trail of red footprints leading to the stairwell. Aubrey entered the stairwell and began the climb upwards, still following the footprints. As she climbed she could hear strange whisperings around her. She wasn't able to make out what they were saying. She finally reached the top of the stairwell and before her stood a black door, red light shining from underneath it. She reached for the handle, and recoiled as she touched it. It was colder than ice. She braced herself, and grabbed it again, this time throwing the door open to be greeted by the roof of the hospital. It took a moment for her eyes to adjust to the harsh red sky as she stepped on the roof. Once her eyes had been adjusted she took in her surroundings. Puddles of the dark liquid from earlier were scattered across the roof, and the entire place smelled strongly of blood. While this was by all means concerning, what caught her attention the most was what seemed to be the source of the red footprints. A silhouette standing against the crimson sky. The being seemed to be made of darkness, with the only thing interrupting it's dark visage being to faintly glowing white spots for eyes. Before she could further analyze the figure, it spoke.

"You are not the dreamer. Who are you, and how have you come to be in this world?" The voice sounded both familiar and completely foreign, and it made Aubrey uneasy. Before she could respond to the it however, a new voice spoke from behind Aubrey.

"Y̵͚̜͊ǒ̵̪̝͂ṳ̸̓ ̴̢̌͌d̶̘̣͊̈́o̴̟͌̎ ̷̩̅͐n̷̖̔ȏ̶̰̠t̷͚͗̄ ̶̼͜͠b̶͈̒͛e̶̟̽͠ḷ̵͑̔o̵̠͘̕n̸͈̭͠͝g̵̫̰̈́ ̴̢͉̄̉h̸̞̉ȩ̵̌̕ŕ̸̦̤ȇ̷̯̲." The new voice sounded cold and grating on the ears, like someone scraping their nails on a chalkboard. Whirling around to face the source of the new voice, she was met by a monochrome boy, who looked almost exactly like a younger Sunny. He wore a black tank top with white shorts adorned with thin black vertical lines. His feet were covered by long black socks, and in his hand was a shiny knife. "Y̷̛̭͖ö̸̱́͐ů̸̙̰ ̷̰͌ͅḁ̶̈́r̵̯͗̑e̵͍͛ ̵̧͙ṋ̸͑ô̷͙̼t̷̯̊ ̷̬͙͆̚ṡ̶̤̰̆ų̷̫̂p̷̯̄͠p̸̰̓ỏ̵̖ș̵̑ě̸͖d̷̰̽ ̸̻͖̽͑t̵̢̠͝õ̸̺̩ ̶̰̝̑̃b̸͎̤͊ę̵̛͊ͅ ̶͕͈̀h̷̨̲̍̽ḙ̶̰̐͊r̷̆͠ͅe̵̩̳̒.̴̦̦̊͊ ̴̧͕̆̐L̸͓̬̾e̴̡͌̑a̵̰͊́v̴̨̥͛̂e̶͕̱̐.̸͎̍"

Aubrey looked warily at the boy. He didn't seem like he was much of a threat, so she wasn't exactly afraid of him, but there was something off putting about him, like he had some strange tricks up his sleeves. Before she could decide on a course of action, the sound of rushing water filled her ears. Torrents of the same black liquid began to pour from the sky. It began to pool at her feet as the hospital roof faded, along with the shadow and the monochrome boy. The ground beneath was suddenly gone, and she was sinking into the black liquid. It was cold, and the more she struggled against it, the more it dragged her down. As Aubrey began to lose hope, a white light shine above her, and almost out of instinct she reached out to it, feeling a hand grasp around her own and pull her up. She caught a brief glimpse of a girl with long black hair and a white dress before her vision faded to black.

Aubrey jolted awake, heart hammering away in her chest. She was breathing heavily, no doubt a result of the dream she had just had. She took a moment to steady her breathing before checking her phone. 6:47 AM. No new messages. No missed calls. She sighed, deciding to just get up now, seeing as it was close enough to when she'd need to anyway. Dragging herself out of bed, she made her way to the bathroom to freshen up a bit. 

When she saw her reflection in the bathroom mirror, her first thought was that she looked like shit. Her hair was a mess, and she had dark circles just beginning to form under her eyes. Putting that aside, she began the daunting task of combing her hair. After what felt like hours of battling her own head, she had finally managed to get her hair to look presentable. After reveling in her small victory for a moment, she splashed some water on her face a few times. After washing her face, she looked at herself in the mirror again, nearly yelping in surprise at the image she saw. Standing just behind her reflection was a figure that looked like Mari. She whirled around, only to be greeted by the empty bathroom. She turned back to the mirror and only saw her own reflection staring back at her. She initially shrugged it off as the after effects of that dream she had, before a voice echoed faintly from somewhere nearby.

"Please...help him"

Aubrey looked around the room quickly and warily, confused and growing slightly afraid. The voice had sounded exactly like Mari. Who had she been talking about, who needed help? Aubrey could only think of one person that she might need to help, but the question was, would he even want her help? Judging by the fact that his initial reaction to seeing her again was running away as fast as he could, probably not. And why did he need help? Forcing the questions from her mind, she made a decision. Whatever the reason, and wether he'd accept her help or not didn't matter, she had to try. Not just for her sake, but for Mari's sake as well. 

She was snapped out of her thoughts by a growl from her stomach, and quickly decided that her thoughts of helping Sunny could wait, she needed to get something in her stomach, and she recalls seeing some waffles in the freezer the other day. Leaving the bathroom, headed to the kitchen, where a delicious breakfast of frozen waffles was awaiting her.

Aubrey was sitting at her desk in the rather noisy classroom. While most would find it hard to focus on something in the din permeating the room, Aubrey's attention was glued to the piece of paper in front of her. She had formulated a plan for how to make amends with Sunny. The plan was simple, place the note (which she had just finished writing) in Sunny's locker, telling him to meet her later today in the park. She had even picked the quietest place she knew of in the park so they could talk freely, without fear of interruption. There was only one problem. She didn't know which locker was his. That would be pretty simple, she just had to either discreetly follow Sunny to find out which locker was his, or she could 'convince' someone, possibly the three from yesterday, to tell her. Neither plan was perfect, but she had all day to decide. 

Relaxing her mind for a bit, she looked around the classroom at the varied array of students and their cliques. As she surveyed the room, here gaze locked with that of the eyepatched boy she had just been thinking about. His face, which normally maintained an expression akin the a cliff, faltered for half a second when her teal eyes met the one dark orb peering from his face. She tried to maintain a neutral expression, but couldn't tell how well it was working. They stared at each other for what felt like an eternity, ignoring the cacophony exuding from their surroundings. Their silent conversation was only interrupted by the ringing of the bell, and their elderly history teacher entering the classroom. As he begins some meaningless lecture about the french revolution, Aubrey began to tune him out, opting to think about more important things. She cast a quick glance at Sunny, taking notice or his completely zoned out look in his eye. To the average person he'd look like he always does, but Aubrey could tell he was not paying attention in the slightest. She had to stifle a giggle.

'Some things never change' she thought to herself, before once more delving deep into her thoughts.

Lunch, the best time of day to work on her plan. The halls would be mostly empty, and what few people there were in the halls, she could just scare off, if they got in her way. She was now on her way to what she had learned was Sunny's locker, after politely convincing (read: threatening) one of the three from yesterday. There was no one in the hallways, or at least no one who cared what she was doing. She passed locker after locker before stopping at one. Taking the folded paper from her pocket, she carefully inserted it into one of the slots on the locker door. Once finished, she made her way back to the cafeteria, where she promptly found an empty table and sat down. There wasn't much she could do but wait for the best at this point, so that's exactly what she did.

Aubrey sat on a bench near a rather odd looking rock formation in the south part of Nearby city park. It was 4:35 PM, five minutes past the time allotted on the note. She tried to convince herself it was fine, and that he might be just late, or mentally preparing himself or something. But no matter how much she tried to push away the bad thoughts, she couldn't help but feel discouraged. It would only make sense that he didn't want to see her, if his initial reaction was anything to go by. She thought back to the day at the hospital, and how much raw anger she felt at him that day. She thought back to the state he'd been in on that day. He was thin and pale, almost corpse like, and had barely grown in the four years since she'd seen him. Not to mention he practically broke down while telling them the truth. How could she blame him when he already blamed himself so much. Adding on the fact that at the lake she would've been in almost the same situation. If Hero hadn't shown up when he did, she very well could've killed two of her best friends. Before she could continue this dark spiral of thought, she heard a quiet voice coming from behind her and to the right.

"H-hey... Aubrey..." She'd recognize that voice anywhere, and her mood shifted to a more optimistic one as she turned to look at the boy. She felt a small smile creep onto her face as she replied.

"Hey Sunny."

Chapter Text

Sunny walked down the street, going toward nearby city park, his resolve cracking with each step. With each step his pace would slow, and more doubts would worm their way into his mind. There was no way Aubrey would, or even wanted to forgive him. The last time he'd properly spoken to her, discounting the small interaction from yesterday, was at the hospital. The memory of that day was still vivid in his mind. How Hero simply left without saying a word, how hurt Kel looked as he followed his brother, and the hate filled words Aubrey had screamed at him, before leaving the room with tears spilling down her face. 

"I̴t̵ ̸w̵a̴s̸ ̷y̸o̴u̸r̴ ̴f̵a̴u̸l̵t̶ ̸y̵o̸u̶ ̴k̶n̴o̸w̵." The familiar voice of Omori in a tone that could only be described as icy. "I̷t̴ ̵w̸a̵s̶ ̴a̴l̵l̶ ̴y̴o̵u̵r̴ ̷f̶a̶u̸l̶t̴.̵ ̴H̷e̴r̶o̶ ̵b̴l̶a̵m̷i̶n̸g̵ ̴h̴i̷m̷s̷e̷l̴f̵,̵ ̴A̷u̷b̸r̴e̷y̵ ̵b̵e̸c̸o̶m̵i̸n̸g̵ ̷a̸ ̵d̸e̵l̷i̷n̵q̶u̶e̸n̸t̵,̶ ̴K̸e̵l̴ ̶h̶a̸v̸i̶n̶g̵ ̸t̴o̶ ̷w̵a̴t̸c̴h̵ ̷a̶l̵l̷ ̴h̶i̶s̴ ̵f̴r̴i̸e̴n̴d̷s̵ ̷d̴r̴i̸f̵t̶ ̶a̷p̷a̸r̵t̴,̷ ̴ ̶t̷h̶e̷ ̷s̶u̴f̸f̵e̷r̶i̵n̷g̸ ̸B̸a̷s̷i̶l̶ ̴w̵e̸n̵t̵ ̵t̵h̴r̶o̵u̵g̴h̷.̴ ̴I̵t̷'̵s̴ ̸a̴l̴l̴ ̷b̶e̴c̸a̷u̸s̷e̷ ̵o̴f̶ ̶y̵o̶u̶.̷ ̸Y̶o̶u̵ ̵s̵h̴o̶u̵l̵d̷ ̵j̴u̸s̴t̵ ̵d̸i̴e̷.̸"̶ ̷

Sunny was finding it increasingly difficult to block out his doppelganger's voice. He could feel tears beginning to form in the corners of his eyes. A part of him agreed with Omori. If he had never existed, none of this would have happened. He was the reason for it all. But it was what Omori said next that chilled him to the bone.

"Y̷̳̺̌̂o̸̬̫̾u̷̬͝ ̷̫̳̫̐́s̸̹̖͐͆h̶͚̪̃̌́o̸͕͋u̴̳̯̎̉̕l̸̖͗d̸̢͚͛̑͝'̶̟̝͗v̴̫̅̍e̶͎̊ ̵̰̝̻̒̒̄ḑ̶̞̱̾́͝i̷͇̙̯͌ē̷̲̈́̈d̴͔̺̹̎̋ ̷͙̅̓͘î̵͓͍̘n̵͔͉̕s̴͉̻̏̚t̵̺͍̅̀e̷̯̅̑ȧ̸̰̪d̸̗͐͌͘ ̷̞̬̩͑͆̒ò̶͈̂f̷̳͠ ̷̱̲͕̈́M̵̫̅̾́ä̵̺̜̟́͐̽ṟ̶͗͝i̶̤̣͛.̵̘̫̜̎́"

Sunny fell to his knees, his breathing growing shallow and shaky. Why was this happening? He had started moving forward after the hospital, why was he getting worse? His head was starting to hurt. He wished it would all stop, that he could just fade away and let the world forget him. It was his fault, all of it. He should just-

"You'll forgive yourself, right?"

A feeling of warmth enveloped him, a familiar warmth that brought safety and calm with it. Sunny steadied his breathing and got to his feet. Yes ultimately it was his fault, but despite - no because of that - he needed to do this. There was one thing Omori was right about, he can't run anymore. He won't run anymore. Taking another deep breath, he set off once more, his resolve reforged, and strengthened.

The leaves crunched under his feet with each step as Sunny wandered the park. The treetops were painted in shades of red, orange, and yellow, shouting to the world that it was fall. Sunny liked fall, the temperature was the perfect balance between the often sweltering heat of summer and the bitter cold of winter.

He was searching the park for the 'strange rock formation' that was to be where he faced Aubrey. He had already passed three rock formations, all of which seemed pretty strange to him. He was on the verge of giving up and believing that this was all some sort of joke. As he once more surveyed park with his eyes, he saw a flash of pink a little ways away. Steeling himself, he took a deep breath as he approached the girl from behind, his heart threatening to break out of his chest. Although he couldn't see her face, he could tell she was deep in thought. He breathed in before speaking.

"H-hey... Aubrey..." He had definitely improved from the days when he would never speak, but still wasn't great at speaking. He averted his gaze as she turned to him. 

"Hey Sunny." There wasn't a hint of malice in her voice, which sparked a feeling of surprise growing inside Sunny. "Here, take a seat."

Sunny looked up and saw her gesturing to an empty space on the bench beside her. After brief deliberation, he sat down. 

"So how've you been recently?" The question caught Sunny off guard. Was she not mad? Did...was there even a chance she forgive him? A glimmer of hope began to form inside of him.

"I...I've been alright I guess..." He cursed himself for not improving at talking more. "Well... mostly..."

"I'm assuming the mostly is because you're getting bullied?" Sunny nodded at her words. "Well you shouldn't have to worry about that anymore. I uh, 'convinced' them to stop."

"Thanks." He mumbled in response. Sunny knew what she meant, and despite himself, felt the corners of his mouth curve upward, ever so slightly. 

"No problem." A silence briefly filled the space between them, neither wanting to break it first. Eventually, Aubrey was the one to pierce the fragile silence. "Look, I'm not sure how to say this, so I'm just gonna say it. I'm sorry Sunny."

There were many scenarios Sunny had theorized might happen here, but this was not one of them. He had never even considered the possibility of anything like this. 

"...what?"

"I'm sorry. After the hospital, I got angry. Probably the angriest I've ever been honestly, and faraway suffered for it." Her tone was regretful. "Eventually though, the anger faded away, and I was left with nothing but sadness. I isolated myself for a week after that, but that week helped me come to a few realizations.

"You were 12, Sunny. A kid who made a mistake and suffered for it. If I had been in your shoes, I can't even begin to imagine what I would've done." She took a breath to before continuing. "And at the lake I almost was in your shoes. I pushed Basil away, but I never intended to push him into the lake. He could've drowned and it would've been my fault. You could've drowned and it would've been my fault. I got lucky."

Sunny's mind was racing. This was pretty much the opposite of any scenario he had imagined. She continued.

"I got lucky, and you didn't. Thinking back to the few days before you moved, you were thin. Too thin. Correct me if I'm wrong, but you hated yourself, and put yourself through hell because of it, right?" Sunny couldn't deny what she said, so he remained silent. "Thought so. So I came to a decision. I don't forgive what you did, cause that was fucked up, but I do forgive you, Sunny."

Sunny's thoughts were scattering all over the place. She...forgave him? Did she really? He...he didn't deserve forgiveness. He never deserved forgiveness. 

"...I don't deserve forgiveness." He hadn't fully meant to say that aloud, it just slipped out. Despite that he decided to continue, as if all of his self loathing and guilt was finally finding a way of escape. "It's my fault Aubrey. I abandoned everyone. I abandoned you. I deserve to be hated, I should've been the one to...the one to..." His voice was shaking as he struggled to finish the sentence, and years threatened to spill from his eyes. "I'm the one who should've died that day."

A silence filled the air. Sunny still couldn't bring himself to look at Aubrey. He heard movement from beside him. He wasn't sure what he should expect from her at this point, but he didn't expect to be pulled from the bench into an embrace. Aubrey finally spoke, her voice held a feeling Sunny couldn't quite place.

" I don't give a damn if you think you deserve forgiveness or not, I think you deserve forgiveness, and I'm going to give it you damn it! So please..." Sunny could feel the tears that fell onto his hoodie as she embraced him. "Please try to forgive yourself... For your own sake."

"You'll forgive yourself, won't you?_

Sunny felt the tears that had formed at the corners of his eyes begin to spill, as he finally returned Aubrey's embrace. He buried his face into her shoulder as he continued to cry, uttering out countless apologies as they stood, both crying. They had both said what they needed to, and could finally begin to heal.

Chapter Text

Sunny sat alone on the park bench, as Aubrey had gone to grab them a some sodas from a vending machine. Why there was a random vending machine in the park was beyond Sunny, but it worked fine, so he wasn't about to question it. The raven haired boy's thoughts lingered on the conversation that just transpired. Aubrey forgave him. She wasn't lying, he could tell. He wasn't sure how he felt about being forgiven by her, as he hadn't fully forgiven himself. He pushed those thoughts aside. He was too tired to think about stuff like that. He leaned his head back and closed his eye, taking in the sounds and smells of fall. It was nice. He wouldn't have minded if this moment lasted forever. Aubrey sat down next to him with a slight sigh.

"I grabbed you a cola, hope you don't mind." She handed a can of said drink to the boy next to her as she said this. Sunny gratefully accepted the sugary beverage, opening it and taking a rather large sip. Aubrey giggled at his enthusiasm. "You uh, look better by the way. Less like a zombie."

"I did want to break anymore promises," was his quiet response. He was able to speak full sentences now, but preferred not to when possible, and when he had to did so at minimum acceptable volume. "Especially after everything..."

Aubrey wrapped an arm around him, pulling him into a side hug.

"...thanks."

"Don't mention it. We just reunited, I'm not gonna let you be all sad when I can do something about it." She tightened her side hug, and Sunny felt his ears grow warm. He hoped that Aubrey didn't notice. 

The two fell into a comfortable silence, peacefully drinking their sodas. Neither were aware of how much time had passed, and neither really cared all that much. As they sat, Sunny had a realization. He had no idea why Aubrey was even in the city. He could not for the life of him, figure it out. It just didn't add up. 

"Hey Aubrey?" He asked, receiving a questioning hum as an answer. "Why are you in the city anyway? I mean it's great that you're here, but...why?" 

"Ah yeah, I guess you don't know yet..." She seemed to think for a moment before continuing. "So I guess I should start from the beginning, huh. So long story short, my mom vanished. You know how bad she was, but she just... disappeared. It was like she was never there to begin with. As it turns out, I have a cousin here in the city, who reached out and offered me a place to stay. I ended up accepting cause I didn't really have a lot of options, and I don't exactly have the best reputation back in Faraway..."

"I'm sorry..." He felt bad for bringing it up. 

"Eh, don't be. It wasn't really that hard a choice. I'm gonna miss Kel and Basil though. It's not all bad though, what with you here." Sunny felt his ears grow red again, but was distracted by something else she had said.

"So...how are Kel and Basil doing...?" He asked the question hesitantly. 

"Last I checked they were doing fine. Kel forgave Basil pretty quick, and even though he couldn't tell you, he forgave you as well. Basil's in therapy now, and seems a lot healthier than he was before." She stopped and thought for a sec. "And Hero...well he says he's not ready to forgive you yet, but he thinks he'll be able to eventually."

"Right...I guess it would've been stupid of me to believe that everyone would forgive me. Wait... didn't Hero go back to college? How did you...?"

"Oh, I guess I forgot to mention that, huh. Well Hero's friends with my cousin." Sunny took another sip of his soda. " I think his college is here in the city too." 

Sunny nearly choked on his soda when he heard that. After successfully preventing himself from experiencing a humiliating and embarrassing end, he managed to sputter out a question.

"H-hero's here? I-in the city? Th-thats..." Sunny could feel a dull panic rising inside him, and it apparently showed.

"Hey, it's alright. You don't have to face him until you're ready to. And...and I can be there when you do." Sunny wasn't sure but thought he could see a faint blush creep onto her face. 

A whispered "thank you" was the only way he could respond.

The two once more fell into a comfortable silence. They sat for a while, merely enjoying each other's company. Time continued to pass by around them. The silence was broken by a question from Aubrey.

"Hey Sunny, do you have a phone?" The question cought Sunny off guard.

"What? O-oh, yeah I do... Why?" A grin began to form on Aubrey's face. "... Why do I feel uneasy all of the sudden..."

Weirdo group chat: 

Pink_Delinquent: Hey guys, you're never gonna guess what happened today.

Flower_Boy: Why does that sentence make me ever so slightly uneasy?

Orange_Joe_Man: tlel uus of ur aafventurrs Aubrry.

Pink_Delinquent: okay, ignoring Kel, but I ran into someone today.

*Pink_Delinquent added Sunmori to the group*

Sunmori: hello

Chapter Text

Basil had been having a pretty good day. Polly had made him breakfast and they had one of their now standard chats. After that he had met up with Kel on the way to school. He was glad that both Kel and Aubrey had forgiven him. Aubrey took a little while before she forgave him, and he couldn't say he blamed her. In fact, he didn't expect her to forgive him at all. After school, he had gone to his weekly therapy session. Therapy was helpful, and his therapist was a very understanding person. after therapy, Basil met up with Kel and their new friend Cris at the park. After a while Cris had to leave, making it just Kel and Basil. They talked about various topics, like Kel joining the basketball team, how Basil's gardening was going, etc. They tried to stray away from heavier topics, which Basil was thankful for. Lying back on the grass, Basil reflected on the day. Overall, it was a pretty good day. Nothing of note happened whatsoever...until the evening, that is, when a buzzing from his phone interrupted his thoughts.

*Weirdo group chat*

Pink_Delinquent: Hey guys, you're never gonna guess what happened today.

Flower_Boy: Why does that sentence make me ever so slightly uneasy?

Orange_Joe_Man: tlel uus of ur aafventurrs Aubrry.

Pink_Delinquent: okay, ignoring Kel, but I ran into someone today.

*Pink_Delinquent added Sunmori to the group*

Sunmori: hello

Basil was shocked. There was no way. No possible way, no physical possibility that the person Aubrey added to the group chat was who he thought. But then...who else could it be? Basil looked up at Kel, seeing his equally shocked expression. Basil took a deep breath before beginning to type out a message.

Flower_Boy: ... Sunny? 

Sunmori: hello Basil.

Flower_Boy: oh my god it is you...

Pink_Delinquent: last I checked it was him.

Orange_Joe_Man: YOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO SNUUY!!!!! HIW R U?!?!?!

Sunmori: hello Kel

Sunmori: I'm fine. How are you?

Basil was in shock. His best friend (could he still call him that?) was talking to him. Aubrey had moved to the same city as Sunny, and had added him to their group chat. The sheer coincidence of this whole situation was bizarre. He turned his attention back to his phone.

Orange_Joe_Man: im duing gud, I joint the basketball teem.

Orange_Joe_Man: also Sunny, I just want you to know that I forgive both you and Basil. And I'm sorry for not trying to keep in touch till now.

Sunmori: thanks Kel. I don't deserve friends like you guys.

Pink_Delinquent: holy shit Kel just spelled multiple sentences correctly. Wait, since you obviously can, does this mean you misspell you sentences intentionally?

Orange_Joe_Man: meyb

Pink_Delinquent: I hate you.

Sunmori: Basil, how are you doing after...all of that?

Flower_Boy: I've been doing a lot better. I'm on medication, and I go to therapy now, and they're both really helpful. I...I missed you Sunny. We all did.

Sunmori: I missed all of you as well... And I'm sorry for not keeping in touch. 

Orange_Joe_Man: wel it doesn't matter now, cause we're all hear now, wnd can talk whenevr we want.

Pink_Delinquent: yeah, for once Kel's right, we can talk now, so let's make the most of this. 

Flower_Boy: Yeah, you're right.

Pink_Delinquent: HOLY SHIT SUNNY'S SMILING

Flower_Boy: aaaahhhh I wish I had a photo!

Orange_Joe_Man: histoirik moment.

Pink_Delinquent: now he's blushing and trying to hide it. 

Flower_Boy: another missed photo albumable opportunity.

Sunmori: no comment

The 4 friends spent a long time catching up, with Kel and Basil eventually heading to their respective homes. Basil now lay on his bed. He was watching Aubrey and Kel arguing about which school subject was worse, math or English, with Aubrey being on the side of math, and Kel on English. Sunny or Basil would sometimes throw their own comments into the battlefield. 

It was getting pretty late, and Basil bid his friends goodnight. Thinking back on it, today wasn't a good day. Indeed, today was not a good day, but a great one. Basil could finally talk to his best friend again, even if it wasn't in person. 

As Basil finished getting ready for bed and turning out the lights, he smiled, and hoped tomorrow would be as good as today. As he drifted off to sleep, he heard a voice nearby

"Sleep well, Basil"

Chapter Text

Aubrey woke up to the much hated sound of her alarm, beeping away as if there was no tomorrow. After several failed attempts, she finally succeeded in silencing the infernal racket. She sat up, groggily. It was a Saturday, wasn't it? Why the hell would she set an alarm today? What time even was it? A quick glance at the clock determined it was 9:30 AM. The time felt important somehow. Oh that's right, she was going to Explore the city a bit with Sunny today at 10:00. That gave her half an hour to get ready, and get to the park, where they were meeting. She groaned, and dragged herself out of bed to prepare for the day. 

Aubrey now sat on the bench that had become their meeting place. She had arrived slightly early, and was letting her mind wander, not lingering on any topic for very long. She was distracted from her mental exploration by a familiar quiet voice.

"Hey Aubrey." Though his voice was quiet, it held a hint of confidence that wasn't there when they first truly reunited. "I hope you weren't waiting for very long." 

"Nah, I just got here a little while ago." Even after everything, conversation with Sunny just seemed so... natural. "So, you've been in the city longer, where should we go first"

"Uh well..." He fidgeted slightly, which looked a little odd in conjunction with his stone expression. "The truth is, I actually haven't really done much in the city..."

"I guess some things don't really change, huh?" A slight chuckle accompanied her voice as she spoke. "Alright, I guess it'll be an adventure for both of us. I think I saw an arcade over west as I was coming in, you wanna check that out?"

Sunny nodded. He still didn't talk much, especially when he didn't have to. He never really explained why he didn't like talking, but at this point Aubrey had accepted it. 

"Right, let's go then. Who knows, we might run into some cool stuff on the way." Aubrey was filled with an unusual enthusiasm today, and she had noticed this herself, taking note of it, and trying to reign it in as the two friends set about their walk to the arcade. 

They didn't end up seeing any cool stuff on the way, unless you count some nutcase shouting about the how 'the end times are coming.' Aubrey and Sunny had completely ignored the possibly deranged man who shouted at all passerby. When they did arrive at the arcade, they were greeted by a magnificent symphony of retro beeps and boops. They wandered around, trying various games, with a new high score being added to almost all of them, credited to SUN. It was honestly kind of scary how good he was at games, most of which he insisted he hadn't played for years. Aubrey herself was pretty decent, earning herself a modest spot on several of the score boards under the name AUB. While the arcade was beyond fun, they decided that they did want to see some of the other sights the city had to offer. 

They wandered around, and after not managing to find anything as interesting as the arcade, they decided to grab lunch. Lunch would come to them in the form of a hotdog cart. As Aubrey sat eating her hotdog, she looked over at Sunny, and noticed a bit of ketchup had made it's way from his hotdog to the corner of his mouth.

"You uh, you got something right here," she said gesturing to the corner of his mouth. Sunny wiped it off as his cheeks turned ever so slightly pink. Heh, cute. Wait, did she really just think that? She mentally slapped herself for the thought. Apparently, Sunny had noticed her spacing out, and concern was vaguely evident through the cracks in his cliff esque expression. 

"Are you ok?" Sunny kept his question as simple as possible, which was by no means unusual.

"Y-yeah, I'm fine...just spaced out a bit." Aubrey's reply was quick. A bit too quick, but Sunny let it go, much to Aubrey's relief. They both finished their hotdogs after that, and just talked for a while. It almost felt like nothing had ever changed between them. Almost.

Pushing those thoughts aside, Aubrey stood up and stretched, followed by Sunny stood as well, both preparing to continue on their exploration. 

Aubrey got home and fell onto her bed. Today was tiring, but not in a bad way. On the contrary, Aubrey has a great day. There wasn't much other super interesting stuff, aside from the Arcade, but even without really doing anything she had fun. Until their reunion, she hadn't realized how much she missed Sunny. There was something different about her relationship with Sunny, to the point where even after she learned the truth, she cared about him. They had always been close before it all happened, with Sunny always listening to her problems, acting as a way to vent. He still had that general aura of someone who cared, despite his overall statuesque facial demeanor. She smiled to herself. Despite everything, he was still the Sunny she knew back then, and deep down she was still the Aubrey who he knew. 

Putting all mental effort aside, she got out her phone and engaged herself in a conversation happening in the Hooligans group chat. The Hooligans we're good friends to her, and she missed all of them, just as much as she missed Kel and Basil. She shook her head, as if to free it from the negative thoughts that kept plaguing it. Eventually she decided to eat something, as the last food she had was a cheap hotdog. Pulling herself from her bed, she went to the kitchen.

Sterling was out, probably doing something weird, knowing him. That was fine though, she didn't have the energy to deal with his antics. He reminded Aubrey a little to much of a certain basketball player.

She rummaged through the fridge, eventually taking out a sub roll and various types of winch meats and cheeses. She carefully began the process of making a sandwich.  

After creating the perfect sandwich, she began to eat. The flavors were in perfect balance, the cheese and meat creating a perfect blend. After consuming the sandwich with much enthusiasm, she was at a loss for what to do. Eventually she sighed and decided to finish up some homework that she'd been putting off. 

It was getting fairly late. Aubrey decided that she'd done enough homework, and was hit full force with how tired she actually was. She stood up and stretched, and went about getting ready for bed. Her mind started to wander, eventually leading her to reminisce about the past, before it all happened. As she thought, she finished getting ready for bed, and turned out the lights, laying down and preparing to sleep, while her mind still wandered. She thought back to when they all would go on picnics, when she and Kel would get into arguments and Hero would have to step in, when Basil would take pictures of them all, and Sunny would ask to look at the photos. Her mind ground to a sudden halt as she realized something. Thinking back on it, the times Sunny seemed most eager to look at Basil's photos were when they were of Aubrey. Aubrey sat bolt upright as the gears in her head began to spin. Was it possible? Did Sunny...like her at some point? And if he once did...did he still? Aubrey pushed all these thoughts from her mind, and forced herself to sleep, eventually succeeding in entering the realm of unconsciousness.

Chapter Text

Sunny found himself laying on his back In a field of black grass, staring up at a familiar red sky. A familiar set of words flashed through his mind.

"Welcome to red space. This is your punishment."

He sat up and looked around. The grass was fairly tall, and swayed despite the lack of wind. There wasn't much of note in the field of grass. He stood up, and not having a better idea, he walked forward. He walked for a while, the scenery remaining much the same. Eventually, he stumbled across a small circular area where the grass had been cleared away. At the center of this circle, was nothing but a hole. The hole seemed to call to Sunny, inviting him within. He could feel it pulling at him, wanting to take the perilous leap inside. He felt himself take a step towards it, as a cold feeling crept along his spine. He heard voices. They were shouting... No they were arguing. Sunny recognized one of the voices as his own, and the other one... He knew what the argument was. He saw dark shapes swim before his eyes. S̶̤̎ō̸̙m̷̬͗e̶͍̐t̶̥̏h̶̥͒i̵̝̒n̴ͅg̵͗͜ grabbed onto him. He pushed it off, his surroundings changing as he did. The hole had changed into a flight of stairs, the field of grass, shifting around him to resemble his old home, and S̶̤̎ō̸̙m̷̬͗e̶͍̐t̶̥̏h̶̥͒i̵̝̒n̴ͅg̵͗͜ changed into... No. Nononono. Not again. Please not again.

Sunny became AFRAID.

He felt blood on his hands, as tears poured down his cheeks. He collapsed to his knees, he clutched his head, begging it to stop. His surroundings shifter around him. He was now in what was once an empty white room, now cast in a blood red light. 

"Ī̴̟ẗ̵̞'̴̥̊s̴̢̅ ̸̱̅ŷ̶̰o̶̟͐u̴̧̕r̶̹͝ ̷̘̈́f̶̨͋ă̶͕ṵ̴̌l̵̯̿t̶͔̒.̸͂͜ ̵͈̕" The cold voice was all too familiar to Sunny. "I̷̙̿f̷̫̉ ̷̅͜y̶̛͙o̸̙̊u̵̧̽ ̴͈͋h̵̫͆á̴͜d̷̠͝ ̸̫̆j̵͎̕u̸̹̐s̷̺̎t̸͈̽ ̷̡͋c̸̮͂o̸̙͗n̵̼̓t̷̡͠ř̵̡ơ̸̧ļ̷̄ḻ̵̔e̷̠d̵̥͒ ̷̥̂y̸ͅo̴͓͆u̴̪̚ŕ̵͕ ̵̪͊t̵̬̂e̸͈m̸͈̈p̷̱̅ȩ̸̐r̷̼̂,̷̘ ̵͙̊i̵̟f̸̩̎ ̸̲̒y̷̧̾o̶̢̐ů̷͉ ̵̻͂h̷̥̀ả̷̝d̸͓̕ ̴͚̀j̸̯̒ȗ̷̩s̷̤͌t̸͈ ̴̦͐p̴̹̓l̸̠̿á̶̡y̵͖̐e̸̗̊d̸̺͊ ̶̻̚w̴̟͌e̸̳̍l̵̰̃l̷̯͝ ̶͓͌ẹ̸̽n̸̙͛o̷̫̐ȕ̸͍g̵͇͝h̷͎͐.̶͚̀.̴̭̿.̵̨̏n̷̲͠õ̵̟n̵͉è̴̢ ̷̟͆o̵͉͛f̶̹̈ ̴͕̐t̸̟̏h̶̗͋i̵̮̇s̷̮͝ ̵̜̆ẉ̵̾ỏ̴̺u̵̺͝ľ̸̜d̵̖̈́'̵̯v̴̠̅e̴͇̎ ̷̰̆h̶̡̅á̴̙p̵̛̠p̷̯̃e̵̬̎ṉ̸̄e̴͍͝d̴̪̚.̷̠͐"

Sunny felt his chest tighten. It was his fault, all of it. 

"Y̵̦͋ǒ̷͓u̵͖̽'̸̙͝r̶̙̈́e̷̺̓ ̷̲̑s̸̯͌o̶̪ ̶̪̐s̸̈́͜e̴̫͛l̷̩͊ḟ̵̹i̷̡͛s̶̀͜h̴̼͊.̸̯͘ ̴̥͋Y̷̪̊o̴͌ͅu̵̯͐ ̵͉̋d̴͉͊o̵̬̒n̵͙̐'̸̺͋t̶̫̏ ̵̟͂ḍ̶̛ė̸̙s̵̢͗ĕ̵͍r̸̤̀v̴̜͋e̸̡̒ ̷̟̈́t̸̨͠o̷͙͠ ̴͚̉b̸̪̽e̵̜ ̶̡̋f̴̬̐o̷̼̿r̷̗̈́g̷̗i̷̗̿v̴̙̆é̶̙n̵͖̉,̷͚̕ ̷̉͜y̵̬ö̴́ͅư̸̞ ̸̜͂d̴̺̈́o̴̘͊n̵̮̊'̶̜͐t̷̒͜ ̸̫̊e̶͉v̵̹ĕ̶̱n̸̤̓ ̴̠̈d̷̜̓e̸̬͛s̶̪̏e̸̗̋r̷̘͒v̷̟́e̴̟͒ ̸̝̆ẗ̴̳o̶̻͒ ̸̜̈́ľ̷̘i̶̬̎v̶̯̽e̴̞̅.̵͙̂" 

Sunny heard footsteps as Omori approached him.

"J̶̫͗u̷͎̿s̷̡͠ẗ̵͚́ ̸̢̛ḑ̶̌i̷̟̔e̶̟͋ ̸̨͋a̸̜͛l̸̦̔r̷͉̄e̷̛͖a̵̘͌d̸͇̋ÿ̷̞."

Sunny felt a sharp pain pierce through his entire body, as if thousands of needles were stabbing him at once. He heard the sound of running water as cracks began to form in the ground. The sound of shattering glass could be heard as he fell through the ground of red space, into an ocean of dark water below. Hands reached from below and grabbed him, pulling him deeper into the only blackness surrounding him. The red light above began to grow dimmer and dimmer.

"S̶͕̎h̷͕͝e̶͎͌ ̵̪̈w̴̙͝ȍ̶͔n̶̢̍'̴͔̊t̷̤̊ ̷̡̈s̷͙̍a̸̪v̵̹̅e̵̤̔ ̷͉̌y̸͓ŏ̶͜u̸͂ͅ ̵̱̊ẗ̴̬́h̷̛̻i̷͘͜s̷͙̒ ̷̽͜t̶̙̓í̵̠m̶͔͐e̵̻̓.̵͇͠ ̷̩̍T̴̗͂ȟ̵͎i̸̦͑s̶̰̓ ̶̻͑ǐ̴͇s̶̮̔ ̵̯̉w̷̹͠h̷̗̔a̷͉̚t̵̤́ ̶̖ẙ̶͈ö̷͔u̵̖͊ ̸̱̄d̵͈̎é̵̟s̷̡̀e̵͚̔r̶͇͐v̸̧̊ė̷̫.̸̯̽"

Sunny felt his sense dimming, the world fading around him. As he felt the darkness begin to drown him,  he saw a figure shrouded in white light reach out to him, before everything faded. 

Sunny jolted up, gasping for breath. He could still feel the needles piercing his skin, and the cold of the darkness around him, but worse, he could still feel the blood on his hands. He was shaking, and felt like even the slightest breeze could shatter him. He tried to CALM DOWN, but his breath caught in his throat. He could feel bike beginning to rise in the back of his throat, and rushed to the bathroom, throwing the toilet open as he violently expelled the contents of his stomach. The sound of his wretching could be heard by any who were listening for it, and he hoped his mother wasn't, he didn't want- no he didn't deserve to burden her with any more than she already was. Eventually, his stomach no longer had anything to remove, a his wretched was replaced by a quiet sobbing, accompanied by whispered ramblings.

"I'm sorry...please...I'm s-sorry...so sorry...please, no more..." He could feel tears spilling from his eyes, until he eventually had none left to spill. He stood up, separating himself from the stench of his vomit. After flushing the mess, he went to wash his hands, trying his best to avoid looking in the mirror. No matter what he did, however, he felt drawn to it, and eventually relented, allowing his gaze to fall upon the reflective glass before him. His gaze briefly fell upon his face, which had seen better days. He had dark circles under his eyes, his hair was a mess, and although his right eye was still there, it was nothing but a circle of silver, out of which nothing could be seen. His own face wasn't what caught his attention however, as floating behind him, was S̶̝̍o̴̖̒m̴̟̚e̴̟͆t̴̞̔h̵͕̐ỉ̷̲ń̶̙ĝ̶̰, watching with a single judging eye. 

Sunny became afraid

Sunny's body froze, his breathing quickening. He hadn't seen S̶̝̍o̴̖̒m̴̟̚e̴̟͆t̴̞̔h̵͕̐ỉ̷̲ń̶̙ĝ̶̰ outside his dreams since he moved, so why was it here. He could feel something rising in the back of his throat again, so he rushed to the toilet, only for it to be met with a violent expulsion of air. His stomach had nothing left to remove. He stood up, and looked in the mirror again. He was alone. He sighed in relief, and returned to his room, collapsing onto his bed, and closing his eyes. Eventually, though he would regret this later, he drifted back to sleep, once more being greeted by a red sky and familiar words.

"Welcome to red space. This is your punishment."

Chapter Text

Aubrey was worried. She had woken up Sunday morning to several worrying messages from Sunny that he'd sent throughout the night. It was Monday now, and Sunny hadn't been at school. To make matters worse, now he hadn't been responding to her. She had asked Kel and Basil if he'd messaged them, and he hadn't. She looked over the messages again. Most of them contained frequent misspellings, which was very uncharacteristic of Sunny. So yes, Aubrey was worried. She was currently pacing around her room. She wasn't sure what to do. She'd been to his apartment once to do homework when it was too rainy to do it at the park, but she wasn't sure if she should show up unannounced, or if she even remembered the way correctly. Her pacing was interrupted by a familiar voice.

"Please...help him!" 

She spun around looking for the source of the voice, only to see a faint shimmering in the air behind her. She reached out, only for the shimmering to cease. The voice had sent her mind into overdrive. Though hollow and echoey, she'd recognize that voice anywhere. It was the voice of Mari. This marked the second time that Mari's voice had pleaded with Aubrey to help Sunny. It was too weird to be a coincidence. She had made up her mind, and immediately set out from her apartment.

Sunny was lying in his bed. He wasn't sure if he was dreaming or not. No red light filtered through the curtains, but he could still feel blood on his hand. His head felt like it was about to split open. He vaguely remembered messaging Aubrey last night. He wished he hadn't, he didn't want her to feel responsible for his problems. 

"Y̷̳͂ǒ̴̥u̷̹̔ ̶͍̃t̷͓̾h̶͓̕ḭ̵n̶̮̑k̵̘̊ ̴̯̎ṣ̸̔ẖ̵̃e̴̫̓'̶͑ͅd̵̡̀ ̵͇͌c̷̭̾a̷̪̎ȓ̵̫e̶̫͝ ̶̯͊e̶̖̔n̸̻̅o̴͓̊u̶̳̾g̷̛͔h̸̠̍?̴̼̐ ̸̻͑Y̵͓̌o̴̯͒u̴̲͐ ̴̫͗h̸̪̊o̶͕̽n̸̥̽ě̶͍s̵̻̅t̴͈ḽ̵͒y̵̪̓ ̶͉͘b̸͉̾e̴̼͋l̸̟̚i̸̦̽e̶̩͗v̶͓̓e̷͙͂ ̷̺͐a̵͑ͅn̵̼̐y̸̙̋ ̷̨̈́o̷̡̓f̴͕̅ ̷̡̕ṱ̸̾ḣ̴͓e̴̤̎m̴̪̒ ̴̤̚s̷̺̃t̸̹͑i̶͚̾l̸̫l̴̬̓ ̸͔c̵̤͝a̶̜̍r̴̻̾e̷͔ ̷̩͝å̵̱b̶̳͘o̸̡͠u̸̢͆ṫ̴͉ ̴͈̕ỳ̴͎ơ̴̗u̸̟̅?̸̼͝ ̴̻̔Ỹ̵̳o̷̦͌u̸̝̚'̸͕̃r̶̰̆ę̵̃ ̶̰͊w̴̹͊o̴̹r̷̍ͅs̴͍̋ĕ̷̺ ̶̬͑t̴̩̀h̶̝̄a̸̭͒n̸͍̔ ̵͍̓I̶̠̋ ̷̫͝t̸̕͜h̷͕̄ő̶̞ṷ̴͐g̵̰̎h̴̫͒t̴̡̊.̵̈ͅ"

Omori was sitting at the foot of the bed. The light filtering through the curtains turned bloody red, and Ṡ̸̟ó̸̞m̶̻͗e̵̮͋ţ̵̉h̶̙͗ḭ̸͂ń̸ͅg̸̟̅ appeared in the dark corners of his room, watching with a single eye. That confirmed not for Sunny. This was a dream. Sunny waited for himself to wake up. He waited a long time. Omori spoke again.

"Ÿ̸͙́ō̵̼u̵̱͗ ̷͇̇k̶̫͐n̵̠͂o̷̮͘w̸̡͗ ̴͉̒ḧ̸͔́o̸̫̔w̵̟̉ ̶͙̋t̷̹̉o̴̦͝ ̷̖͒w̵̕͜ã̸͕k̴͖̈́e̶͑ͅ ̵̝̈́ù̷̗p̵̺͘,̴̟̾ ̶͖̆s̷̳͝ȏ̴̤ ̵̼̚s̶͓͑t̵̖͛o̴͖͒p̸̑ͅ ̶̬̒b̴̺͐e̷͓͒i̴̦̒n̵̛̤g̸͕͒ ̷̛͙à̵̭ ̷̼́c̸̼͌o̸̞̐w̶̦̍a̷̧̓r̸̹͗d̵͖̿ ̷̢̒ạ̸͛l̷̨̈́r̷͙͊e̵̪͒a̵̘͐d̸̡̂y̷̮͌.̴̫̀" Sunny had hoped it wouldn't come to that, but accepted it. He dragged himself from his bed, and walked to the hall. The hallway looked like it was stained in blood. The floor was covered in a pool of black liquid. He made his way to the kitchen and grabbed a knife from the block. 

He entered the living room, and held the knife up, looking at his reflection in the blade. Bloodstains were splattered across his face, focused around his right eye. 

"W̵̯̾e̴̪͛l̴̘͊l̴͙͝,̴̙͝ ̷̮͒ẅ̵́͜h̴͙͛â̴̢t̸̙͒ ̴̖̈́a̵͈͆ŗ̴̓è̸͓ ̶̼͊ÿ̴̰́ȍ̴̬ǔ̷̟ ̴̟w̵̮̐á̸̰ị̸t̷͍͘ǐ̶͈n̶̳̊g̷̨̃ ̶̙̈́f̴̪͒o̸̝̅r̷̦̋?̵̱͝ ̵̦̑Ḓ̴̓o̴̫̾ ̴̦͌ị̶͋t̴̩̋ ̵̣̚ȁ̵͙l̶̝̓r̸̦͘ė̴̥a̷͕͋d̶͉̍y̸̧̛.̷͈̕"

He lowered the knife and pointed it towards his chest.

Aubrey approached the door and knocked. No response. She knocked again, more forceful this time. Again, no response. She knocked again, her worry increasing with each passing second. She tried the handle. It was definitely locked. She needed to get inside, she could feel that something was wrong. She searched for a spare key or something. No luck. She tried shouting through the door.

"Sunny? Are you there? Hey if you're there please open the door." No response. At this point she was scared that something had happened. She pounded on the door. "Sunny please...open the door."

She couldn't wait any longer. She had to get inside. She dug in the pockets of her varsity jacket, before finding what she was looking for. Inserting the thin metal object into the lock, she moved it around before hearing a small click. She threw the door open and rushed inside. 

The first thing she noticed is that it was dark. The lights weren't on. 

"Sunny? Are you there?" She called into the dark as she moved through the hallway. She stopped before the doorway to the living room, horrified by the aight before her. "Sunny!"

She felt herself rushing forward, towards the boy in front of her, the boy pointing a knife towards his own chest. She found herself grabbing his wrist and throwing the knife from his hand, letting it clatter across the floor. She grabbed him by his shoulders, and could feel tears springing to her eyes.

"Sunny... Why? Why would you...?" She couldn't finish the sentence. All she could was grab onto him and sob. 

Sunny didn't understand what was happening. This was a dream wasn't it? He was just trying to wake up. But Aubrey was here, and not as some twisted nightmarish version of her. This... wasn't a dream then. The realization of what he'd almost done hit him as tears welled up in his eyes. He began crying, as he began breaking down. He'd almost stabbed himself, due to a hallucination. Aubrey was asking him questions, but the only response he could give was repeated apologies.

"I'm sorry...I'm s-sorry... I didn't m-mean to... I'm sorry" his voice was hoarse, and soon faded into an incomprehensible mess of choked sobs. His legs gave out and he fell to his knees, now shamelessly crying. Aubrey helped him to his feet, allowing him to lean on her as she walked him to his room. 

Aubrey wasn't sure how to feel about what just happened. On the one hand, she had just walked in on Sunny about to...to stab himself. But on the other, she had managed to stop him, and if his reaction afterwards meant anything, he wasn't fully aware of what he was doing. He was now lying in his bed, not asleep, but not ready to talk yet. She was willing to give him time, and so she waited. Occasionally she would hear him take a deep breath, or sniffle. 

Had he really been trying to stab himself? If he had been, why? Was it... because of her? She was interrupted by movement from Sunny, as he sat up and faced her. Before she could say anything, he spoke.

"I...have to tell you something."

Chapter Text

"I...I have to tell you something."

Sunny took a deep breath. He wasn't sure if he was ready to explain his dreams, but it didn't matter. Aubrey need to know the truth. 

And so the the told her. He told her about Omori, about S̷͕͝o̶͝ͅm̵̖͒ě̵̲t̸͔ḩ̷͑ī̸̳n̶̨͘g̴̡̅, about headspace and black space, about red space, and finally about his hallucinations. After he finished his explanation, he simply stated at the floor. Sunny didn't want to look at her. He had lost any hope that she, or anyone else still cared about him. He was worthless. Less than worthless. He was a freak. He should just disappear. He should just-

He felt a pair of arms wrap around him, pulling him into an embrace. 

"I'm sorry. I should've been there for you, and I wasn't. I... I had no idea what you went through every night. I... damn it..." She sounded like she was crying, and indeed Sunny could feel tears falling onto his shoulder. 

"...why...? Why would you...still care about someone like me...? I'm...a freak..." As he spoke he could feel tears beginning to form in his own eyes. Aubrey tightened her embrace around him. 

"Stop it. Please. I...I can't lose another friend... So please...you have to let yourself be forgiven Sunny. For your own sake." She pulled back from the hug, and put her hands on his shoulders, staring into his eyes. "You're not a freak, Sunny. You have to accept that what happened was an accident. A horrible fucking accident. An accident that could've happened to anyone. I know I can't begin to imagine what you must be feeling right now, but please... I don't think I could take losing another friend..."

She...was being genuine. Sunny could tell. He'd always been good at reading people. She definitely meant what she said, but...why? He was a monster, a freak. He couldn't understand...

"...I'm sorry..." He couldn't hold back his tears, instead letting them flow down his face. He shouldn't have told her. It just burdened her with his problems and made her worry about him. She shouldn't worry about him. He disgusted himself. 

" I already forgave you Sunny...now you need to forgive yourself. Please... Forgive yourself." 

"You'll forgive yourself, won't you?"

"...I'll try..." He meant it. He knew it would be difficult, but he would try. For Aubrey's sake, and for... For Mari's. She wouldn't want to see him like this. Aubrey wrapped him in another embrace. 

They stayed like this for a while, until a growl from Sunny's stomach led to him revealing that he hadn't eaten all day for fear he might just throw it up. Aubrey was insistent that he eat something, and Sunny reluctantly let her almost drag him to the kitchen. She was also insistent on being the one to make the food, so he sat himself down at the kitchen counter. As Aubrey made cooked some steak, thankfully in a pan and not a microwave, he realized there was one thing he hadn't told her about. When he told her about his hallucinations, he hadn't said anything about the times recently when...when he'd seen...Mari...

She had to know. He was done keeping secrets. Well, most secrets. There was one he wasn't quite ready to share yet. But he would tell her about seeing Mari. 

"Hey Aubrey?" She hummed in acknowledgement. "I forgot to tell you about something." 

"What is it?" There wasn't anything in her voice that suggested any malice towards him. This fact gave him confidence to continue. 

"Well...you know the... hallucinations?" He took a deep breath. "Recently I've... I've been seeing...Mari..."

Aubrey froze. 

"What?" Her tone of voice was worried. She didn't even seem to try and hide it. It made him nervous to continue, but he knew he had to.

"Usually only for short periods but..." He hesitated. "That's actually how I found the courage to go to the park that day... I saw her and she...she encouraged me..."

This was a hard topic to talk about, but he had to. This was the first step towards forgiving himself. That's why he couldn't keep his hallucinations a secret, no matter how painful it was to talk about them.

Aubrey remained silent. She seemed shocked, which wasn't entirely unexpected, but after what Sunny had said earlier, it was slightly surprising. Finally she spoke, her voice wavering.

"Sunny... I..." She paused, as if trying to collect her thoughts. She took a deep breath before continuing. "I've been... seeing...her as well."

Now it was Sunny's turn to be shocked. Aubrey wasn't lying, he could tell, but still... Aubrey had been seeing Mari as well? Did that mean that those weren't just Hallucinations? Was she...was Mari...? There was no possible way. That was impossible, she couldn't be...and yet, Aubrey claimed to have seen her too. Sunny looked up at Aubrey, who stared back at Sunny, a mixture of concern and slight fear etched on her face. Sunny finally broke the silence.

"...you've...you've been..." He quickly tried to formulate an understandable sentence. "That's...that can't...how could you have..."

"You said she spoke to you, right? Did she actually have conversation with you?" 

"Y-yeah...she did..." Was that not normal with hallucinations?

Aubrey looked like she had just been trying to solve a riddle, only for the answer to be the most obvious thing possible. Sunny felt sweat on his forehead and palms. He clutched the side of his head with his right hand, realizing that he still hadn't put his eyepatch on. He didn't fully need it anymore, especially when indoors, but he still felt weird without it. Aubrey spoke again.

"There's no way that this is just a coincidence...and yet..." She trailer off. Her eyes wandered to look just past Sunny, and her expression shifted into one of sheer shock. "... M-mari?"

Sunny turned around in his seat, slowly, half of him not wanting to see what inevitably stood behind him. But turn he did, his eyes landing upon the ghostly form of Mari. She looked more solid than when he had last seen her. He couldn't speak. He turned to Aubrey. They both saw her, she was really there. 

"Hello Aubrey...and hello Sunny." 

Sunny shot out of his seat and ran to her. He wrapped his arms around her, to his surprise actually being able to touch her. She really was there. Soon Aubrey had also latched onto Mari, tears openly spilling down her cheeks as she hugged the spectre before her. 

"I missed you so much Mari..." Aubrey spoke through her tears. "It was so hard without you..."

Sunny looked up at Mari's face, which desplayed the kind expression he remembered. He broke into tears. She was actually here, he was actually touching her. He finally managed to choke words out through his sobs. 

"Mari...I'm so sorry... I'm sorry...for everything I'm so sorry..." All he could do was repeat his apologies, over and over. The next words she spoke would be ones that stuck with Sunny do a long time to come.

"It's alright Sunny...I forgive you."

Chapter Text

Aubrey was on her way to Sunny's apartment. It had been exactly twelve days since she and Sunny had learned that they hadn't been hallucinating when they'd seen Mari. Twelve day since they learned that ghosts were real. Sunny had been doing much better since then, or so he claimed. Aubrey could tell he wasn't exactly lying, but he wasn't exactly being truthful either. 

The three of them, primarily Aubrey and Mari, had spent the past twelve days planning a reunion of the old friend group. It was arranged that Kel and Basil would come over this Saturday and stay the weekend. Hero, due to currently living in the city, was planning to visit today, and tomorrow if he could. Sunny had been a bit nervous about seeing Hero again, but after some encouraging from Aubrey and Mari, he had agreed. Honestly the speed at which Sunny adjusted to his dead sister being a ghost was alarming. 

Aubrey had arrived in front of Sunny's door, and had barely knocked when it practically flew open and Sunny welcomed her inside. 

"Hey Aubrey." His voice held more confidence ever since Mari came back, but was still quiet. "Come in." 

Aubrey obliged, stepping into the apartment. She could hear sounds from the kitchen. Oh that's right, Mari was going to make cookies today. Mari's cookies... That brought back memories. She still wasn't sure how much Mari could interact with the world, and Mari refused to explain. She soon joined Sunny in the living room. He had apparently been looking back through the photo album that Basil had given him. Aubrey took seat on the couch and glanced at some of the photos... good times. Sunny took a seat next to her. He didn't wear his eyepatch that much anymore, and Aubrey thought he looked better without it. Eventually, Mari emerged from the kitchen. She looked the most physical she had before, and bore her old smile. 

"Oh! Welcome Aubrey!" Most of the times Aubrey had seen her, she didn't really seem to mind being a ghost that much. "Sunny didn't tell me you were here yet."

"Yeah, I just got here. When do you think the others will arrive?" Aubrey couldn't wait to see the looks on their faces when they saw Mari. "Kel and Basil we're taking the 9:00 AM train, and Hero was gonna pick them up at the train station, but if hero drove to pick them up it could be hours before they her here, with the traffic in this city."

"I don't know, but I doubt it'll be too long now." As if on cue, a knock sounded on the door. Mari chuckled. "Speak of the devil..."

Sunny stood up and began slowly making his way to the door, Aubrey followed him for moral support. As they approached the door, they could hear Kel on the other side. Sunny stopped as he out his hand on the doorknob. He took a deep breath before turning the knob and pulling the door open, to be greeted by a shout of excitement from the giant that was Kel.

"SUNNY!" Kel wrapped Sunny in a bear hug. "It's great to see you again man!"

"Kel...can't...breathe" Kel quickly released Sunny.

"Oops...sorry bout that," Kel replied with a sheepish grin. " It great to see you again though."

"Yeah...same here." Sunny's gaze shifted to a short blonde haired boy.

"Hey Sunny." Basil greeted Sunny. A genuine smile on his face, not the nervous smile from before. "How have you been?"

"I'm fine. How about you?" 

"Ah, I've been doing a lot better since... A-anyway I go to therapy now, and it's been very helpful."

"That's good." Sunny shifted his attention to the older boy standing behind the other two. "H-hey hero..."

Hero, to Sunny's relief, smiled slightly as he replied. 

"Hi Sunny. Have you been doing alright?" Sunny nodded. "That's good... Sunny I already told Basil this...but I forgive you...both of you."

Sunny took a long time before responding.

"...thank you..." Was what he mumbled out.

"Well are we all just gonna stand here, or are we gonna actually do some stuff?" Kel questioned, effectively ruining the heartfelt moment. Aubrey glared at him, causing the sheepish grin to return. Basil spoke up to prevent Aubrey from killing Kel purely by looking at him.

"Kel's right, we should go inside." Thankfully that stopped Aubrey's death glare, and the group of five entered the apartment, with Kel and Basil catching the other three up on the recent going's on of Faraway. Sunny led the way into the living room, where three out of the five froze.

Kel's face bore a mixture of confusion and open mouthed shock. 

Basil's face was clouded by confusion, shock, and fear.

Hero's face was impossible to read. He was the first to break the silence.

"M-mari...?" It was a simple question, but one that might as well have held the fate of the world. Mari smiled at Hero.

"Hey there handsome. Or would you prefer what's co-" She was interested by Hero running to her and wrapping his arms around her. It was a touching reunion, even if the circumstances were slightly... unusual. 

Today was going to be a very good day. 

After the initial shock of seeing a dead friend  back as a ghost, the rest of the day could only be described as amazing. The friends enjoyed Mari's cookies, and Hero's delicious food. Much of the afternoon was spent reminiscing about old memories, although quite a few new ones were added. Basil had apparently starter a new phot album, and of course brought his camera. Mari had a strange effect on photos, appearing as a strange shimmering. Today really was a good day. 

Chapter Text

Okay so I don't think I'll ever go back and finish this, I became dissatisfied with it. I will, however, write a spiritual successor. Be ready.