Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Knock, knock, knock.

A tanned teenager steps off the green mattress of his neighbors house, awkwardly shuffling his feet. Gentle sunlight falls down as he wipes his brow, gazing up at the door. The breeze lazily gusts through the streets, and a car comes flying past, leaving a ghost of its roar in its wake. His body felt clammy, stiff, even though there was nothing out of the ordinary. A day like any other.

But then he gazed back, and regarded the recent sign, paint peeling from the heat, and an uncomfortable sensation settled in Kel's gut. Despite the fact that Sunny had shut away from life four years ago, he couldn't help but feel as was only yesterday. He thought about the few times he tried to coax Sunny outside, like his other old friends, Aubrey and Basil, before the call of the old basketball court in the park and new, present friends finally snuffed his efforts out. How Hero, by contrast, never tried to get Sunny out, not yet ready to face those stinging memories. How Kel left his friend, so that he could live his own life, for the time being.

But now he was back, trying again. It couldn't hurt, right? To at least try one more time, even if it didn't pan out? Seeing his old friend would make his day, no, his week, even if it was only the two of them. There was so much Sunny had no doubt missed out on. The poor guy needed some fresh air. But as the clock continued to run along, and the world went apathetically by, and Kel's brow began to bead up with sweat as his lungs subtly tightened, doubts set in. Sunny hadn't left his house in so long. A knock on the door seemed less and less likely to cut it. He had to go the extra mile for his friend, even if it was all for nothing. So Kel spoke up.

"Hello? Sunny? It's your old friend, Kel."

Nothing happened. He waited a moment, and tried again.

"I, uh, noticed that sign saying that you were moving and wanted to try calling in."

A few bird sung in the trees. Another car went by. Still nothing.

"Can we go chill out together, again? Just for old times sake?".

Anxious, tingling buzzing fills his head. It's not working. Kel knocked again, and the door mocks him, staying resolutely shut, just as it always did. Minutes dragged on. Was Sunny coming out or not? He could have been merely getting ready, but surely he would have been there by now, right? But there was nothing. The house stayed stubbornly silent. There was no footsteps, to indicate somebody approaching. No groan, as the old door hinges strained under rare usage. No Sunny, peeking out the door, curious, to join his old pal for the day, and see the town one more time. Just a coffin of a home, that housed terrible, nightmarish memories, and an old friend, wasting away.

Kel tapped his fingers off his shorts. Once, twice, thrice. He wanted to stay, to try again. But he couldn't bring himself to stay any longer. He felt as though he could scarcely breathe. The weight of those awful, confusing years seemed to bear down on him as he waited. And there was only the park and his new life left to promise of simplicity and happiness for him. He was starting to feel less and less capable of convincing himself that this was all worth it.

He tried once more, waited another moment. Nothing.

And finally gave up. It had been fifteen minutes of nothing. There was nobody coming, the same as before, and again, before that. He let out a strained sigh, turned on his heel, and went to leave. Maybe Hero and he could try again tomorrow. Even though he has a feeling that would be just as pointless. Until a thump paused his retreat. His gaze snapped back to the house as something came, behind the door. Despite not stamping their feet, the weight of their stride was still evident. A shadow filled the mirror, blotchy black and white, and Kel's confusion mixed with excitement. The doorknob twisted, and Kel swore he was seeing things, unable to accept that this was actually happening. He was so excited, in fact, that he didn't consider the height of the blob. And when the door began to swing open, he was too busy psyching himself up by shaking himself off to notice the sheer size of who is answering the door. Kel's eyes shot open with an ear to ear grin on his face, and he started to excitedly greet his friend.

Only to pause, as the figure stared down at him, only a little shorter than the door frame around him, and only a little less wide than it, too. His eyes were relaxed, neutral, the colour of charcoal. His hair was the same colour, slightly messy, and a little longer than Kel remembered. His skin, despite his appearance, was rather pale, and his build was terrifying. He had arms like great, knotted tree trunks, with bulging veins and tendons that strained out like suspension wires on a bridge. His hands were like catchers mitts. His chest was clenched against a white collar shirt, covered by a black sweater vest, along with tan pants that looked a little too small for his elephantine build.

"...Sunny? What the - Is that you?".

He nodded. 'Christ, this was going to be anything but ordinary, wasn't it?'

About four years before this point, Sunny had been languishing for a month in his home.

Which was understandable, since two months ago, he'd shoved his beloved older sister to an early grave. And his ever wise best friend had decided that an impromptu suicide framing was the smartest course of action, which happened to involve stringing along a catatonic Sunny for the ride. Somehow, despite having the build of a feather, Basil had managed to turn Mari into the forbidden pinata, while Sunny stared up at the clouds and zoned out, not-so blissfully unaware. Sunny still wondered how the hell they got away with it, but they did. Which wasn't exactly a great thing. Now, two months on, he wished his damnable friend had never shown up. He'd been scared, and wanted someone to help him, but not like THAT.

Nowadays, his life consisted of sleeping away the days, sparingly eating whatever his recently divorced mother could bring home, and cowering in the corner from another claymation abomination from his nightmares. He was slipping fast, and the idea of leaving his home seemed less and less likely as time went on. Until he woke up one night in his ever eerie yet comforting white space, and there was no monochrome doppelganger to take the identity of. Instead, a newcomer, in a white dress, with silky black hair, floated alone in a soft white dress. His beloved, bereaved sister, Mari. Naturally, Sunny panicked a fair bit, seeing his sister back from the grave and reporting for duty. He felt certain it was a horrible vision, rearing to torment him. She made no moves, and her expression held no malice, but he couldn't help but grip his knife a little in his pocket. Even if he was uncertain if he could fend her off. Or even bring himself to hurt her again. But she whispered to him, gently.

"Deep breaths Sunny... this isn't as scary as it seems. It's really me. I really am your sister."

No, he... he couldn't believe her. It had to be a lie, a trick of his feeble mind, but she wasn't moving. Surely she would've by now, right?

"I know this is a lot, dear little brother... but don't be afraid. Your big sister is really here..."

He swallowed, but his grip on the handle loosened. Could it really be? He could feel distressed tears pressing against the back of his eyes.

"Sunny... don't be afraid."

Her voice was so soft, barely above a whisper.

"I only want to talk... stay with me, won't you, Sunny?"

Sunny took a deep breath, noticing the prideful look on Mari's face as he did so. She spoke up again.

"Sunny, I came here to talk about what happened... that night."

His breathing hitched. He had to run. She would scream, curse his name, and that would break him beyond repair. He just knew it. But she did none of that.

"I am upset, brother... but I want you to know that I want to forgive you. But there is something that you need to do first."

Sunny perked up. Anything, he would do anything if she would forgive him. He may be weak, and lazy, and a coward but damn it all, he would move mountains to earn her forgiveness. It was all he needed. To know that despite everything, his sister loved him and forgave him for his actions.

"Anything." His voice, raspy and frail, spoke up. Her smile widened. "In that case..."

Sunny waited, with bated breath, awaiting the ordeal. Would he be told to confess the full truth to his friends? The whole town? Would he have to work tirelessly, to pay off his debt to her in unpaid labour? Or maybe put up a hand crafted monument, in her likeness, chiseled from fine marble with a butter knife? But no, instead, Mari said;"I want you to a hundred push ups, in a single day, then fall back asleep and see me, little brother!"

Sunny blinked.

"What."

He... he was in disbelief. That's it? No hellish suffering, besides potential cramps in his arms? No hellfire and brimstone? Just... a hundred push ups. As he silently stared at her, bewildered, she continued. "Shouldn't be too tough for you, Sunny! You're quite a strong-willed character when you want to be. I know you'll pull it off!" Sunny shook his head a little, but his brows knitted together in a serious frown, and he nodded hard.

"If that's what it takes... I wont let you down, Mari." She chuckled, pleased, and nodded. "In that case, you'd better to wake up. The sun is just rising. It's better to start early in the morning, right Sunny?" He nodded, and pulled out his knife, ready to end the dream. Mari didn't seem to react to the blade.

"Don't forget to have a decent breakfast, little brother! You'll fall apart without some energy, you know!" Sunny put his thumb up and approached her, arms raised slightly. She eagerly lifted her arms, to hold him for a moment. The two shared an embrace in the starkly void. As Sunny withdrew, he plunged the knife into his gut, keeling as he began to fade away again, like he did the night before. He didn't notice his sister wince. When she was alone, she sighed.

"It's not a great start... but Sunny is strong. He can do that." She didn't know what lengths Sunny would be willing to go to to 'honour' her, but Mari wasn't keen on testing that, in case Sunny grew to mistrust her and ignore her. For now, all she could hope to do was keep him in decent shape, so that he didn't completely atrophy. She couldn't risk making him go outside. Too much for him, and he didn't trust the fact that she was his sister yet. At least, not fully. She felt awful, guilting poor Sunny like that, but it was for his own good. He would surely decay without her to help him along.

As she closed her eyes, her smile became a smirk. How far could she push this? Her friends could be in for an amusing surprise...

Kel was at a loss. Nothing made sense. How was Sunny like this? Had he left the house, and Kel was unaware to the fact? How the HELL was he more buff than Kel was? The poor orange clad boy felt his pride crumble, as he stared at the tank jogging down the path in front of him. His fitness was kind of a big deal for him. He'd just been bragging last week to the team about his progress with his personal record for pull ups. And now his shut in friend was making him look scrawny by comparison. It felt mortifying. As the two made their way past the park, Kel glanced into the courtyard, eyeing the well worn hoops, bent and crooked from their constant abuse. He'd have to give his friend a match, to see his potential in a medium that he could understand. The air was sweet with a nostalgic smell, and the sky was a vivid, vibrant blue, with fluffy white clouds drifting in it. Yet despite how... ordinary it all felt, and no matter how many things were exactly as they were when Kel strolled home last night, nothing felt right. Not with that mammoth that was masquerading as his friend stomping ahead in front of him.

He didn't see Sunny stop though, and ran into his back. Kel was more than a little unnerved at how little he seemed to push Sunny off balance. It felt like walking into a brick wall to him, what kind of workouts had he been doing? He wanted to ask, but Sunny gazed back at him, cliff faced as always, and Kel realized they were at Hobbeez. Oh, right. Hero's gift, he'd nearly forgotten. The two made their way in, Sunny barely fitting through the door frame. Once inside, Kel turned back. "Okay, so... we gotta get something Sunny? Any ideas?" Sunny held his chin, contemplating, before walking to a CD rack and pulling something out. Kel gave it a look. A workout tape.

"Heh heh... nice one, Sunny, but I don't think Hero needs this, he isn't an athlete like me you know! Lets try something else, yeah?"

Sunny didn't seemed all that disappointed, replacing the CD and beginning to wander along the shop, picking out random items and turning them into Kel's expecting hands.

"Hmm, no." "Nope." "I don't think he likes that music much, man.." "WHOA, hey, that's way too expensive for me, Sunny!"

Until finally, Sunny pulled a battered book off the shelf and handed it to his pal. Kel was delighted, it was none other than Papa-Chips-Chip-Off-The-Old-Block-Cookbook! (Copyright 19** All rights reserved). It was right up Hero's alley! The two made their way to the cashier, after Sunny was kind enough to spot Kel twenty. It was good to know Sunny was still a great guy, even all these years later. It's like it never bothered him at all! The two made their purchase, the cashier furtively eyeing Sunny. Then they were out the door, and off to Othermart, which Sunny seemed to want to check out. The two browsed the shelves of assorted fresh produce, and checked the chemist and sweet shop, before arriving at a fishmonger, ran by a stern-looking foreign lady. When the woman offered him a job in broken English, Sunny nodded, and Kel decided to let him get along with it, turning on his heel to leave.

Until he heard the job.

Smacking flies? With a frame like HIS? He could kill somebody if he swung at the wrong time! Kel hastily decided to keep an eye on him. He tailed his friend, watching him from behind the corners of the shelves. Fortunately, Sunny didn't seem that clumsy, and he managed to kill a dozen flies without any homicide incidents. But as he squared off against another micro-swarm of flies, one of them went buzzing right next to his ear, and Sunny ended up giving himself a slap as he tried to shoo it. Kel snorted, amused, but the situation soon proved less than comical when Kel saw the look on his friends face.

To say that Sunny was pissed was an understatement. His eyes bugged out slightly, with a mouth caught in a toothy snarl and brows curled into a nasty frown. What followed was a brutal massacre of flies and vegetable produce alike that left Kel rattled. Every impact with fly to swatter sent it rocketing out of existence before Kel could blink, if not just thoroughly disassembling the poor thing. Once he swore that Sunny hit a wasp so hard it literally squeezed through the gaps, like a potato in a potato chipper. More than a few products were caught in the crossfire, suffering a similarly grisly fate. By the time that he was done, he was covered in juice from various fruit, and still slightly angry looking. He marched back to the fish market, handed the lady her swatter, and took his twenty. The poor lady didn't say a word.

"Note to self, don't get on Sunny's nerves...", Kel mumbled.

Soon, the jobs were done, and Kel watched Sunny carry armfuls of tools back and forward from the shelves of Fix-It. He'd just finished a round of pizza delivery, and was now polishing off the tasks with a nice bit of organizing. Kel couldn't help but feel a little proud, despite still feeling a fair bit rattled. He smiled as he watched his friend go, sorting like a champ. After he collected his pay, the two made their way out, headed to the park. Kel tapped his pal on the arm.

"Hey, Sunny, just wanted to say, well done with the jobs! We should do a few together, earn some money, y'know? I'm glad you're adjusting quick!".

Sunny blinked back, but his eyes glimmered a little.

The two arrived at the park, and took the serenity and peace in blissfully. The rays of light cast a radiant shine about the park, the gentle green glow of the trees and grass intermingled with the laughter of children in a play. Sunny's gaze seemed caught on the ancient swing set, his eyes fogged in distant memory. The two sighed, finally ready to relax. At least, they would have, until shrill begging shattered the reverie.

Poor Basil was begging a mean looking girl about something, and she seemed to be picking on him right back. Kel, not willing to stand this, marched right over and began arguing with her, while Sunny stood in the shadow of a tree, keeping an eye on his friends. As tensions rose, somebody roared out from behind the trees, and out came a gang of scooter riding misfits. The terrors of faraway town, the feared criminal gang that terrorized the innocent pavements with graffiti and sometimes the candy shop. It was the infamous (read: mildly annoying) hooligans, lead by pink haired Aubrey, glaring straight at Kel. Being naturals at setting each others tempers off, the two began shouting at each other back and forth, trying (and failing) to make any kind of solid headway into resolving the conflict. Eventually, though, Kel got a devious idea, and Aubrey paused as a shit-eating grin spread on his face.

"Something funny, Kel? Whats that grin about?"

Kel just smiled wider at her facade. He turned his head back to Sunny.

"Come on Sunny, tell her! She ought to leave Basil alone, right?".

Aubrey paused, curious.

"Sunny's here? Where's he at?"

She seemed a little off balance. Her glittering teal eyes scanned about the park, searching for the boy, but finding no-one. Until Kim's finger pointed out the giant, clomping over, and she froze. Her brain did a triple take as it took in the bizarre sight. It seemed like a joke, a mad hallucination, but those eyes, that face... those were his, as much as it confounded the girl.

"I-Is that someone you know, Aubrey?"

Kim's voice was a rushed whisper, like she was contemplating either an all out assault or running away ASAP. Aubrey just gaped at the sight, forced her jaw shut, and replied,

"Ye-ep, I think so..."

Kel only grinned harder, somehow. Sunny stared on, his head tilting a little as he took in Aubrey's changed appearance. The pink hair was a throw-off, but he could tell it was her by the shape of her face and the little bow on her head. He was confused about his... good friend Aubrey's behavior. But he stayed calm, despite the nail bat slung on her shoulder.

For a second, Aubrey was still and uncharacteristically quiet.

Then...

Aubrey's gaze settled, as she marched over to Kel, grip tightening on the soft fabric of her bat. Her feet shifted, and a well aimed strike with the pommel knocked the irritating nerd unconscious, and made his 'giant' of a traitor friend tremble in fear. She sneered at the unconscious, orange clad annoyance, then stormed over, broke into a blur of a dash, and with a might whallop, Sunny was bought on his knees with a sickening gut punch. Aubrey shoved him over, mocking his weakness, as her gang cheered her on, amazed at their leaders strength and bravery. Her chest swelled in cathartic pride, justice was finally served, she was finally even with those cowards she naively called friends...

Of course, this was all Aubrey's wishful thinking about what would happen.

In reality she awkwardly waddled over to Sunny, now in front of Kel, fumbled her bat and dropped it, scrambled to her knees and snatched it up, then shot up and squeaked something at Sunny that could generously be described as 'Intimidation', but could also be called 'Desperate pleading for one's life', her bat trembling in her frightened hands as she aimed it at his chest.

Sunny looked unimpressed. Aubrey wondered if she was going to go see Mari prematurely at the hands of her old... good friend, Sunny. She stood her ground, but her legs felt ready to give out any minute. Eventually, after several seconds of nerve-shredding silence, Sunny shrugged and made his way towards her. Aubrey silently began to pray, but fortunately didn't find her face being tenderized. Instead, she felt him brush roughly past her, towards Basil. =She couldn't help but sigh in relieved. Until she remembered that Sunny was headed towards Basil. Then she blurred her head to see what he was up to, and whether she was going to have to sacrifice herself to save her bullying victim.

Sunny was not intent on violence, though. Instead he knelt to Basil's level, looking him in the eye. Basil gazed back up, astonished. Sunny had came back? He was there, looking him in the eyes again? He'd finally came back to Basil's side, after all those lonely, awful years! Basil suddenly felt relieved, at last, he wasn't alone anymore. He would be safe, and Sunny was there, to brighten his day and be his friend, at his side, always. The blonde eagerly went to talk with Sunny, to catch up briefly with him. Only to be promptly smothered by the giant's hand.

Fingers the width of salami sausages wrapped around Basil's head, meeting at the back of his skull. Sunny threw his arm over his head and hurled Basil into the air, and caught him by the legs as he crashed onto the behemoth's shoulder. Sunny turned on his heel and marched off, jerking his head at Kel, who began to follow. The three went off, leaving the hooligans alone in the park with their traumatized leader, whose legs promptly gave out. As they crowded around, offering help and comfort, all Aubrey could do was shiver. That meeting had left her chest feeling tight and stiff with anxiety. She could hardly speak, her mind drowning in prickling static.

Maybe she should go pay the church a visit. Her nerves were still like wires.

Kel followed along after Sunny, who was marching over to the fountain. He was, frankly, crapping himself.

The walk back to Basil's home was a quiet affair. After Sunny dropped Basil home, the shaking flower boy seemed upset over what went down earlier. When Kel pressed him on it, he nervously confessed that his- no- THEIR beloved photo album had been snatched away by Aubrey, who was now hogging it all to herself. Kel, absolute moron that he was, promised to get it back for the guy, feeling awful and enraged on his behalf. He did not notice Sunny's gaze begin to darken with a rather guilty air, and by the time he did, Sunny was on a warpath to the park, with no way of stopping him.

Kel followed him along, concerned at his behavior, until they arrived at a clearing in the park with Angel and Charlene. Then Kel nearly ended up in two aggravated assault cases, when Sunny non- verbally threatened to fucking mince Angel and Charlene's skulls unless they told him where Aubrey had ran away to. They hadn't a clue, however, but Angel recommended seeking out Mikhael, much to Kel's exasperation. And now Kel was being dragged into a third potential fight/Geneva convention violation.

The two came to a halt, Mikhael's paid girls scattering at the sight of Sunny, while Kel desperately tried to signal to Mikhael to not mess around. Fortunately, despite his 'unique' public persona and generally oblivious attitude around nearly everyone, Mikhael was not completely stupid. As soon as he met Sunny's frosty gaze and noticed his not-so subtly clenched fists, he buckled like Mari's shitty knee on the staircase and blurted out that he had no idea where Aubrey was at the moment.

So Sunny and Kel searched around Othermart, trying to find Kim and Vance to interrogate instead. The two were found stuffing sweets into their alarmingly enlarged pockets, away in the nearby sweet-shop. When they were cornered, Kel opted for diplomacy and tried to blackmail them, threatening to tell the shopkeeper, Miss Candice about the robbery. Unfortunately, Candice found the four of them arguing minutes later and concluded that they were all involved in the petty theft. When Kim and Vance pulled a runner on her, she went to give out to the other two instead.

That ended with her stuffed headfirst in a bin, screaming impotently about pressing charges. Kel couldn't even feel bad about it.

The two cornered the candy thieves outside, demanding Aubrey's location. Despite the six foot-five mountain of sinew and muscle behind Kel, the rogues opted for a brawl. Apparently, they felt confident in their ability to take them both on. Kim and Vance were quick to get their fists up, and before Kel could ready himself, Vance threw a jab at him. Kel threw up his arms to block the punch. The rapid blow knocked him back, throwing him off balance. Vance readied a wide swing, but feinted, while Kim threw herself at Kel for a headbutt. Kel stumble back, disoriented, and thought that he'd barely managed to evade the strike for a moment. Until he realized that Sunny had Kim's head caught in his hand, stopped dead in it's tracks. Sunny shoved her to the tarmac, and then hurled himself at Vance and wrestled his arm about, getting his fist into his hands in a vice grip. He began squeezing down on it like a hydraulic press, going down on his knee's as he strained, until the bones in Vance's hand gave way and Sunny shattered his fingers into dust.

While Vance roared and curled onto the floor, he bounced alarmingly nimbly on his feet over to Kim and delivered possibly the most horrifying right hook Kel had ever had the misfortune of bearing witness to. It sent her hurtling face first into the pavement and tore her glasses from her face onto the road, where a truck ran them over into the tarmac. The fact that Kim was alive and even intact was a miracle to Kel. The mauled delinquents soon changed their tune, with Kim hissing something about Aubrey being at the church, before stumbling off with her babbling, cursing brother to the chemist. Her face was entirely purple where Sunny's fist made contact, while her brother's hand resembled a rubber glove full of water. Sunny snorted and began marching down the road. Kel rushed along after him, wondering about how screwed he was when his mom heard about this.

The door to the church nearly got blown off their hinges five minutes later, and Aubrey went stark pale as she realized what was happening. Resigned to her fate, she weakly limped out of her pew and drew her bat. Her body trembled with fury when Kel demanded the album. She couldn't believe the nerve of him, demanding that prized tome, after that freak she had called her friend ruined it. So she was the bad guy, after Basil ruined it and tried to blame a- a ghost? After she spent all those hours fixing them, straining her arms to breaking point over them with that cloth, soaked in rubbing alcohol? She wanted to scream and maim him and his oaf of a friend, but her breathing was shallow just looking at Sunny.

She couldn't force herself to fight him. Not just because she felt as though she would be crushed into a pulp if she tried to. It didn't sit right with her.

But the two would not relent, and a last vestige of anger welled up, and broke her dam of fear and loathing. She screamed frenziedly, and broke into a run at them, hefting her bat thoughtlessly.

Sunny's hand shot out on reflex, and caught the bat, as a pair of nails sunk into his palm. He gasped sharply, and clasped his hand tight around the bat with shaking fingers, as his knee's began to wobble.

Aubrey froze. The whispers of the church-goers silenced. What had she done? She was a goner, this was it.

Her grip faltered, while Sunny's tightened, his teeth gritting as his eyes swam in agony. The bat was ripped from her hands, and Aubrey watched in dead silence, as her weapon was raised above Sunny's head, clasped in both his hands, and bent. It splintered and cracked, then snapped like a twig. The two halves clattered to the floor, the top half slick with thick crimson blood, and Aubrey hit the floor, on her knees, with them. She stared, very still, wide eyed.

Kel swallowed thickly, while Sunny glared daggers at her with a pained, snarling look. A sniffle from her broke the tension as she began to quake. Like a bullet, her second wind sent her tearing out the door, clutching at her face, as her footsteps became sharper on the concrete outside the doors of the house. Sunny and Kel immediately gave chase, the taller one clutching at the wounds on his hand. When they reached the unholy trash heap Aubrey was forced to call home, they found her hurrying to the bin, before throwing a book away and rushing back into the decaying hovel, slamming the rotted door behind her. Kel, always willing to get his hands dirty for a friend, fished out the album and began to make way to Basil's home, keen to end this absolute mess of a day. The two were silent for the rest of the walk home.

Sunny tramped through the door, and shut it, leaving his friend for the day.

His mind recalled the smell of freshly cooked dinner and sweet, soothing flowers, still clinging to his senses. The warm feel of Basil's house, as he sat by the snapping, twisting fire with Kel, basking in it's soothing heat. The soft cotton bandages staunching his wounds, courtesy of Basil's sweet caretaker, Polly. The amber glow of the sky, as the last rays of reddish-gold wandered in through the windows, while he and Kel reminisced on the photo's that they had retrieved. It felt like a dream. His life of repetition and drills was broken, for just a moment, and it felt wondrous, incomprehensibly so. As he made its way to his room, up the stairs, more recollections came to his mind. The warmth of the evening, off the concrete pavement. The sound of crickets, dancing to their song in the lovely green grass, as moths twirled and spun about in the evening breeze. That ever elusive scent in the air, that only ever seemed to hang there at that time of day. He missed it already. Was this what he'd been missing for so long? How much had happened in his absence? Certainly a lot, if Aubrey was any indication. As he turned in for the night, he decided to forgo exercise tonight. It could wait, another day. The cycle could be broken, for now.

The bed sagged under his weight, but his body felt light as sleep began to take him. He could almost see the ever-infinite void of white before his eyes, as he drifted off. Tomorrow would be another day, to see his friend again. Sunny finally relaxed, and within a minute, was back to his safe space, yet again.

Chapter Text

Years in the past, a pair of inky black eyes peeled open, in a harsh white void.

Sunny slowly lifted himself to his feet, somehow tired in a dream. His gaze flitted to the contents of his room. There wasn't much, besides a roll out foam mat, a few assorted dumbbells (lifting them, sadly, did not translate into any real life exercise), and a large cork board, covered in planners, schedules, and diets. And beside it floated his sister, Mari, inspecting a list with a pensive look on her face. Her eyes met his, and she lit up with a radiant smile. Sunny was always confounded at how a murdered girl could smile like that at her murderer, but Mari was a bit weird like that sometimes.

"Little brother, you're back! Did you manage okay with the extra sets today?"

Sunny shrugged. It was sort of challenging, but all Mari had really done was put an extra three or four sets on his schedule. She seemed to think he was capable enough to handle more intense regimes now. And though he was skeptical at first, he soon found the change more than manageable. Turned out Mari finally figured out what proper pacing was. All it took was Sunny sending her on a no-frills, one way ticket to the ground floor. At least she wasn't shredding his fingers anymore with non-stop glorified torture. Come to think of it, he really had come a long way with his fitness since he started, hadn't he? In only two short years as well. It was kind of surreal-

"-ello? Mari to Sunny? Are you there?" The boy blinked, and shook himself off, while his sister giggled. Crap, he'd zoned out again.

"How do you space out in a dream? You're such a little airhead, aren't you?" Sunny grumbled, pouting slightly, and stood up straight. He downright towered over his still (technically) older sister. She just sighed with a smile.

"Well, maybe 'little' isn't quite right anymore. Come on Sunny, lighten up! Get it?" Now the not-so little boy was groaning. The puns, no matter how terrible, never went away, and he suffered for it. All he could do was endure it, until Mari decided to actually get down to business. Luckily, she glanced back to the board, and the new sheets pinned to it, and decided to have mercy.

"Alright, I think we should talk about this, since you seem fine with the new changes. So I've decided to add a few new things to try here..."

Sunny listened, and nodded along, despite not really understanding everything his sister was talking about. Apparently, Mari's newfound un-death didn't stop her from being able to research and learn new things through books she acquired... somewhere. Nor did it kill the overachiever in her, and she had taken to reading into all things bodybuilding related, chewing through books for every facet and spitting their knowledge out in digestible plans and guides for her brother. Sunny tried to follow along with what she was telling him, but it all got so complicated that he decided to just let her do her thing, and focus on getting through the never-ending workouts. After all, he was still yet to earn her forgiveness...

Sunny's gaze dimmed a little. His thoughts drifted again to after he came back to his white space, body aching from it's newfound exertion, having finished his first hundred push-ups, Mari had sadly smiled, and asked him to try another few sets of a different exercise, pull ups. Then she gave him sit ups, and squats, and it all kept going, until Sunny realized how naive his initial hopes were. Why did he seriously think that all his sister needed was a little mildly strenuous exercise from him? This was going to keep going, and get harder and harder, until he did something. Maybe she did want him to confess. Maybe the statue was still on her wish list. Whatever the case was, he was clearly nowhere near done, even now.

As the two wrapped up their discussion, Mari noticed her brothers somber look, and thought that she ought to give him a little boost for his morale.

"Sunny? Are you upset about something?" Sunny blinked, but shook his head, failing miserably to fool his sister.

"Is all the non-stop training getting to you a little?" He sighed, and decided to nod his head and be honest. Last time he bottled up his anger it blew up in his face badly, and he did not need a repeat. Mari seemed sympathetic, however.

"I get it, Sunny... I know this seems to just go on and on. But trust me, I am so, so proud of your progress. I mean it, honestly!" Sunny regarded her sadly, and decided to ask her something.

"Is there a point to this, Mari? We've been at this for two years... is there even an end goal?" Mari blinked. She hadn't expected him to be this blunt, even if the honesty was a welcome change. But she figured that if he was being honest, she might as well be, too. It was only fair.

"Trust me, little brother, there is an end to this. I will forgive you, someday. There's something else you need to do. I think you already know what it is. But it won't be as simple as what we've been doing so far. You'll have to be brave, Sunny. If you do the right thing, when the time comes... I will forgive you. And your friends will too, someday." Sunny blinked, his friends? He had no more friends as far as he was concerned. They all either hated him, didn't remember him, or both, somehow. How could they possibly forgive him if he told them what happened?

Dark thoughts manifested from a deeper, more sinister place, not unlike where he now stood. Creeping slowly in a ring from the distance. Slimy, void black, ice cold to the touch. Only his sister's presence warded them off.

"I think it's time to wake up, Sunny" His eyes gradually closed, as phantom limbs wrapped around him, and his vague senses dulled, only to sharpen as he came to, beneath the bright morning sunlight...

Wait, bright sunlight? When he woke from that dream, the sky's were grey and overcast. This is all wrong, whats going on?

Then Sunny heard someone knock at the door, and he snapped from his reminiscence, and realized that all that had happened years ago, in a darker, more uncertain time, years ago. That was all in the past, and today was simpler. Go hang out with Kel, his old friend, for the day. Easy enough, right?

Kel was overjoyed to see Sunny at the door again.

He'd had his doubts again, despite how silly they seemed, but Sunny seemed determined not to fail anymore. Once more, his giant of a friend pushed his door open, and squeezed through the frame onto the cool concrete pathway. Sunny stretched out his arms and took a colossal breath of crisp morning air, ready to get to the day ahead. Only for the both of them to catch a hushed, but perceptible mewl from above. Sunny's head darted to the bleached roof of his house, and Kel followed his stare, only to find a sleepy, orange-furred cat, resting on the roof of Sunny's house.

Sunny stared at the cat, eyes a little wider and more curious then usual. The feline stared back. Kel couldn't help but marvel at their perplexingly similar expressions, despite his gargantuan friend's build. Sunny's gaze met with Kel, and he immediately understood what Sunny was thinking before he said it.

"I'm gonna feed that cat." Kel snickered, and held a fist to his mouth. That's Sunny speaking, alright. No matter how much his friend changed, it seemed he would always be a cat lover. The thought definitely reassured Kel. His old friend was still there, despite his towering stature. Things weren't as different as Kel had thought that they were.

"Alright Sunny, fair enough. I bet Othermart's got fish for sale. Why don't we grab a few there? I've got an order at the bakery to collect anyway." Sunny nodded firmly, and the two set along their way, leisurely strolling down the old, grey pathway. The weather was holding up great, just as airy and temperate as always. As Kel drew in a deep breath, an idea struck him.

"In fact, it's actually perfect weather for a little physical activity..."

As the two approached the park, Kel jogged up to Sunny's side, grabbing his attention. He grinned confidently, finally having an opportunity to see just how he stacked up against Sunny.

"Hey, wanna race to the shop?"

Sunny blinked, a little surprised, but nodded. The two shuffled into positions, Kel shifting his feet as he readied himself, and...

Kel wheezed and groaned by the fountain at the plaza. His legs were ready to crumble harder than Sunny's will to live, and his lungs burned from exertion.

The race was close, with Kel only barely winning. Sunny had shot ahead of Kel, driving his feet hard into the tarmac. Kel had just been able to pull ahead at the last second, but Sunny was right on his heels the whole time. Sunny, granted, seemed similarly exhausted, hunched over and clutching at his knees, as he heaved in massive gulps of air. But it was an alarmingly close call for Kel. The two decided to shake hands about the whole thing and get right into Othermart. The cool, air conditioned climate was a wonderful blessing for them both, and they were soon on their way to the back of the shop to get their respective items. As they reached the end of the shelves, Kel began to split from Sunny, ambling over to the counter of the bake shop to collect his order from the dreary-eyed bread twins.

"See ya in a second, Sunny!" Sunny nodded, and began making his way to the window at the fishmonger, asking the lady for a fresh fish. Kel rushed to the till, and asked for his mother's order, collecting the loaf of freshly baked bread from one of the twins. Daphne, he was pretty sure. He rounded the corner to meet up with Sunny, and...

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN THERE'S NO FISH."

And Kel nearly jumped out of his skin, as Sunny bore down on the lady behind the till, roaring like he had a megaphone lodged in his throat. The woman looked fit to pass out from stress, trying to explain that they had no fish, while Sunny glared down at her like he was ready to raze a city. Apparently, her explanations weren't satisfactory for Sunny, who continued to do his best to level the store with his booming voice.

"IS A FISH SHOP. THE SIGN SAYS FISH. WHY IS THERE NO FISH. DO YOU NOT UNDERSTAND WHAT IS AT STAKE." The woman finally blurted out in broken English that they had just gotten a shipment of fish, but the crates were incredibly heavy, and had yet to be unloaded. Sunny stared at her for a moment, and asked her, abruptly calm.

"Where's the truck?"

Sunny strolled away from Othermart, with a fresh fish twenty minutes later. He'd carried every crate down off the delivery truck, despite their crushing weight, and opened them up for the shopkeeper. The lady had tried to insist on paying him, but Sunny refused, ashamed of himself for yelling at her like that. In the end, he accepted a free fish instead, and with Kel by his side, the two jogged back to Sunny's house. The cat, surprisingly, had stayed on his roof, and Sunny tossed it the fish, watching it chew strips of soft, pale flesh off the bones. Then it picked the remainder up, and kicked something down for him, before disappearing into the foliage nearby. Kel leaned over to inspect the present...

"...it's a piece of bubble wrap."

The two stared at it, before simultaneously groaning.

"...Did you actually threaten somebody for this, man?"

Sunny had no comment.

The bell rang out in Gino's pizzeria, and our dynamic duo stepped into the brick and mortar restaurant.

The interior of Gino's still effortlessly put Sunny at ease. The smell of freshly baked food, and sweet herbs hung thick in the building. The faded, cotton tablecloths, coloured white and red in a checkered pattern, with faint grease stains. The varnished wooden chairs, with their red cushion seats, and the mahogany floorboards. The old jukebox in the back, LED's flashing with bombastic pale reds and yellows, flanked by a vending machine, it's contents stained misty blue by the lights inside. It was as homely a place as could be, and was a cherished spot for Sunny and Kel.

But then the sound of rowdy conversation broke the reverie, and the two realized that the central table of the place was occupied by all six hooligans. They were conducting a loud meeting, with a lot of shouting and laughter involved. Kim, Sunny and Kel soon noticed, had a large bandage on her face, like a cartoon character who'd been in an accident. Vance was nursing a hand in a cast, covered in multicoloured signatures from his friends.

"C'mon Sunny, lets just get the job. We shouldn't start anything in here." Sunny agreed, and begun to tread over to the counter. Sunny thought he was being quiet enough, and halfway to the store owner, he paused, to make sure nobody from the hooligans had spotted them. Turned out his footsteps only alerted the entire shop. The gang of delinquents were now staring at the two like they'd just fell through the roof.

"We're rumbled, Kel." Sunny mumbled.

"Yeah, I know, just... uhh... act natural, okay?"

The two stiffly marched to the till, ignoring the wide-eyed stares at their back, and requested a job. The two got their list, and threw on the well-worn uniforms, before peeling off the concrete on their issued bikes.

(Sunny's bike was hilariously small, despite being the largest that they had.)

Kel squinted at the directions given.

"Sunny, what the shit am I looking at?"

Sunny shrugged, poring over the note, apparently well-versed in chicken-scratch. He pointed a house out, and the two strode over, Sunny pushing the doorbell and almost crushing the button completely. They had thankfully gotten it right, and they made their way to the next street. After straining their eyes at the note, they both decided "fuck it", and just picked the house that seemed to roughly fit the criteria. When the door opened, the shadowy resident snatched away the pizza without paying, and slammed the door, locking it shut. Kel slumped, deflated by their failure, but Sunny simply walked up to the porch and grabbed the door, bracing slightly.

The entire door, and most of the frame around it, came flying off the house a second later, causing the front of the building to sag. Kel stared, still as a mouse, as Sunny lumbered into the house, rolling up his sleeves. The next five minutes were filled with a lot of shouting, thumps and shattering glass, as the two men rationally discussed the situation and came to a peaceful agreement. When Sunny emerged again, his outfit was torn asunder, and in his right hand sat the pizza box, slightly dented but otherwise intact. Without exchanging a word the two walked to the correct house, delivered the pizza, and left to finish their rounds.

Kel had never had a more busy day in his whole life, and he was the "hyperactive" kid in his household.

Sunny's hunger to solve more random problems for strangers was made manifest today, and his drive was unreal to Kel. Granted, his solutions were blunt at best, and kind of destructive at worst, but he did technically finish the jobs. The two had gone speeding around the whole of Faraway town, and had helped just about every person they met with their personal woes.

Their first problem came when they found a man panicking over his wedding ring, which he had dropped down the plughole of his sink. While Kel tried in vain to maneuver his long fingers down past the cover, Sunny bent down, and opened up the compartment where the piping was located. Then, in true Sunny fashion, he gently took hold of the U bend, and skillfully tore out the entire fucking pipe so hard the sink caved in. Then he reached into the wreckage and dug the dust-coated ring out, and deposited it into the man's hand, before jogging right out the door. Kel followed along, hastily belting an apology on the way out to the dumbfounded man.

Other jobs included picking out a video game for an old man's son, for his birthday. (For some reason, he rewarded the two with a seashell of all things...). Then they dropped into Fix-It, where Sunny found yet another seashell hidden in the back of the shop, along with a bunch of flowers, which Sunny was going to give to Mari. (He decided to let Kel hold them, because despite how clumsy Kel could be, Sunny was liable to squash them by stretching slightly.). The two were also invited by a gruff-looking guy to go watch him fix a pipe of all things, which Sunny agreed to, presumably influenced by the voices in his head that occasionally demanded him to kill.

On their way to the gruff guy's house, they stopped to chat with an artist, sketching on a notebook in the middle of the park. Mincy was her name, and she had a talented hand for drawing. Despite this, she was struggling to be accepted into an art college, and was rather disheartened by how unnoted she was. Hearing this, Kel poured heaps of encouragement onto her intricate work, while his friend settled for an awkward thumbs up, instead. She was possibly shyer than Sunny, but accepted the praise, deeply flattered to have a pair of fans cheering her on. The two took their leave afterwards, waving her goodbye, while she blushed, abashed, and promised them that she'd have another work done for the two when she next saw them.

The two finally returned to the park after watching the man fail pathetically to fix his pipe, at which point he flung himself like a bulldozer at the wall, punching a hole clean into it. After finding another seashell in the wall(?), Kel suggested going to another friend of his, who was reputably into all things ocean related. They found her hanging around at the park, having a barbecue with her family. Kel eagerly introduced her as Cris, a friend of his who was renowned for her talent as a swimmer. Kel forked over the shells, asking if she wanted to have them, and she eagerly took them up, bundling them together and stringing a thread into them. Then she handed the seashell necklace to Kel, who tossed it to Sunny. Sunny glanced at the simple pendant, before shrugging and donning it.

Overwhelming strength surges into Sunny's veins. Every fiber of his body burns in raw, incomprehensible power, as the very earth shakes around him. His muscles swell and go taut as he gasps, the feeling of unbelievable energy and vigor threatening to vaporize his entire body. The wind howls, the sky goes pitch black, as great claps of thunder snap and roar in the air. Sunny falls to his knee's as reality itself seems to melt away in a blinding, all consuming explosion of searing light-

And then Sunny came to, lying face up on the floor. He rose up on his elbows and spotted Kel sitting on the ground nearby. His friend wore an unsettled look on his face.

"Sunny, what the heck just happened? You put that necklace on, and all of a sudden I black out, and can't remember a thing when I come to! What did that thing do?"

Sunny didn't respond, still struck dumb by the experience. He wordlessly got to his feet, while Kel got up, disoriented, and stumbled out of the clearing, hollering a shaky goodbye to Cris. As he made his own way out, Sunny absentmindedly swatted at a short, growing sapling, striking it at a point roughly halfway from the ground.

The young tree snapped on the spot and fell over. It felt practically effortless.

Sunny's jaw unhinged slightly, and he whipped his gaze at Cris, his eyelid twitching. Despite everything that just took place, the girl with blue hair just smiled innocently back. Sunny hastily made after Kel, trying not to think too much about what just happened.

After catching up with Kel, Sunny found himself invited into his household for the evening. Before the two could relax for long, however, a newcomer came knocking on the door. It turned out to be Polly, who hadn't seen Basil for several hours and was worried that something had happened to him. Kel and Sunny volunteered to search for him. They both scoured the town top to bottom, but saw neither sight nor sound of him. As they were just about ready to give in, though, a shrill cry for help rang out in the park, where they were looking around in. They recognized it as Basil, and Kel realized that it had came from the old hangout spot. He was quick to break through the foliage towards the hidden spot, Sunny right on his heels. As they broke into the clearing, past the rusting stop signs and old, rotted barricades, the two found Basil, surrounded by none other than the hooligans. Basil was quaking in a heap on the floor, as they ganged up around him, hissing something the other two could not make out. Kel stormed into the hideout, angrily yelling at the gang.

"HEY, STOP IT! What are you doing to Basil!?"

"What the- oh GREAT, it's... Kel..." The scooter gangs faces fell as they noticed the walking WOMD by Kel's side, regarding them with an unreadable expression. Kim and Vance recoiled on instinct, retreating slightly, while the rest of the gang nervously shuffled about, budging away from their "target". At first, it seemed like they were ready to cut their losses and scurry out of there as fast as possible, but nobody actually made the first move. Kel stood his ground, waiting for something to happen. Eventually, whispers broke out in their ranks.

"What do we do?"

"I don't know, gimme a minute to think..."

"I say we run, that big guy is scary..."

"What! We're running away!? We can take them!"

"Are you insane Mikhael!? Look what he did to me and Vance! He'd kill us!"

"But think about our numbers! There's six of us and two of them! We can overwhelm them!"

"But that giant's a menace! One solid punch and he'd break our heads open!"

"We'll confound the beast! Rush him from different places and bring him down by sheer numbers! He can't get us all!"

"I... Well..."

"...Lets do it."

"You-You're serious, Aubrey? You think we can take them?"

"I know we can."

Aubrey turned back to the pair, a frown curling into her brows. Her teeth bared in a snarl as her gang rallied behind her.

"Alright, Kel, you still wanna play the hero? Fine, you can take all of us on then! How's THAT for fair?" Aubrey pointed at Sunny.

"And YOU, you're getting it bad now, Sunny. You got me by surprise last time." She bent down and picked a sturdy looking branch off the floor, holding it like a makeshift bat.

"This time, you go down."

Sunny clenched his fists, readying himself, but Kel stopped him, putting an arm out.

"Not this time, Sunny. You won't be fighting. I'll fight them." Sunny blinked, worried, but Kel gave him a confidant grin. "But I can't handle all of them myself, so can you keep 'em off my back while I fight? Just don't hurt them if you can help it. I just don't want you badly hurting anybody again."

Sunny frowned, considering his friend's words. He did go kind of overboard last time, in all fairness. The mammoth gave an affirmative thumbs up, and the two squared off against the six gang members, already in position.

"Fine! You wanna give yourselves a stupid disadvantage? Go ahead!" Aubrey's voice was a rallying war cry, and her gang was raring to go. "Come on hooligan's... let's teach 'em a lesson!"

The six charged, and everything was a blur.

Kel weaved in and out of danger, hurling his basketball with remarkable accuracy into their ranks, only to catch it as it rebounded. He scored hit after hit, occasionally walloping anybody who came too close with a two-handed slam. He was virtually untouchable, too, courtesy of his behemoth of a friend. Sunny took hits like a champ, dashing alarmingly fast into harms way and shrugging off numerous punches, kicks and slaps. He didn't seem any worse for wear, even going on the ten minute mark, swatting away most attacks and barely reacting to any one's that connected. As they delinquents began to grow sluggish from the exertion and non-stop barrage of orange blows, Aubrey went to desperate measures, running at Kel with her makeshift club, intent on clobbering him. Sunny, however, appeared out of nowhere from the corner of her eye, catching the bat again in his hand, before squeezing with his newfound strength.

"NICE STICK." Sunny snapped the bat, with only one hand. Then Kel hurled the ball at Aubrey while she was dazed, knocking her over and giving her a shiny black eye.

THUMP. Angel teetered backwards, clutching his side. THUMP. Mikheal keeled over with a nosebleed. THUMP. THUMP. Kim and Vance collapsed, too weakened to fight on.

After fifteen minutes of non-stop combat, the scooter gang were on their knees, too battered and bruised to go on. Kel rose, fit to pass out from exhaustion, while Sunny stood ahead of him, watching the six. As they rose to their feet, the whole group, save for Aubrey, seemed to lose any drive to go on. They all rushed for their scooters, hurrying out of the park, as Aubrey began to shake. Then the girl with pink hair hit the floor, and had a complete meltdown, on the spot. She screamed bloody murder at Kel and Sunny, before storming over to Basil, pinning him on the pier. After giving out to him too, she seemed to calm herself. Only for him to reach out, saying something, and for her to snap, charging at him and shoving him straight into the lake.

"O-OH CRAP!"

"WHAT THE HECK, AUBREY! BASIL CAN'T SWIM!"

"This again?" Sunny thought.

"SUNNY! Quick, get into the lake and get Basil! I'll deal with Aubrey!" Sunny nodded promptly, and barreled over to the rich purple lake, just missing Aubrey's face contort in fear.

"WAIT-SUNNY'S-"

SPLASH

"afraid... of..."

A tidal wave of water surged from where Sunny made impact, drenching Aubrey and Kel in the process. However, once the two on the dock cleared their eyes, they realized something simultaneously.

"Are you serious?! His head's still above the water!" Sunny's head, sure enough, just poked out of the cool surface of the lake, drenched, but otherwise perfectly able to breath.

"What were you about to say there, Aubrey?"

"Oh, uhmm... Sunny's afraid of water, y'know? I didn't think he could swim."

"How the heck did you remember that? I'd forgotten and I was with him all of today and yesterday."

Kel began to bicker with Aubrey, teasing her over a blush she apparently had, while Aubrey stammered and threatened to knock him out. Sunny blinked, but shrugged, sluggishly wading through the icy water and sticking his head in, searching for something yellow and green. It was a little tough, through all the twisting weeds and silt that he kicked up, but he forged on. He dived after spotting something and caught it, only to toss a green bicycle back to shore with a yellow helmet resting on the handlebars. It was slimy, rusty, and carpeted with moss. Sunny sighed and ducked again, seeing another figure, weakly thrashing in the depths. Taking another plunge, his hand wrapped around a limb, and Basil was soon dragged to the surface, and pulled to shore, unconscious. The three stared, unsure where to go from there, but soon saw another figure emerge from the bushes, dressed down in a cotton blue jumper, with messy brown hair, the same as Kel's. He knelt over Basil, holding an ear to his mouth, and gave his chest a few pumps. Basil spluttered, and coughed up a few streams of water, before relaxing, his breathing steady.

Hero rose to his feet, and picked Basil up, before nodding his head at Kel.

"Come with me Kel. Basil's freezing, we have to get him somewhere warm before he gets a fever." Kel nodded, and waved at Sunny to follow. Hero stared at his old friend and did a double take, but seemed to take it in his stride. The three made their way out of the hangout spot, leaving Aubrey alone, again.

Sunny, Kel and Hero walked through the door to the Sunny's house, and shut the door behind them. They'd agreed to have a sleepover together, seeing as though it was Sunny's last day in Faraway. All three of them, Kel and Sunny especially, were absolutely worn down to the bone. Hero had been driving home for hours, fueled by a constant stream of coffee and eighty's pop bands that no-one besides him had heard of. Meanwhile, between the jobs, the fights, the near death experiences and the ominously cryptic things Basil whispered to Sunny, he and Kel were fit to drop. Hero and Kel stared around the living room, astonished.

"Sunny... holy moly, this place is like a gym!" Kel gawked at the various assorted exercise equipment. The benches, the various types of weights, the machines, of all shapes and sizes. The place was indeed a veritable private gym. Sunny couldn't help but try to fathom how his mother payed for all this stuff, plus the groceries. He knew his mom was a workaholic, but this begged belief. Hero sighed deeply, examining everything in the room, before giving Sunny's physique a glance.

"Hmm... Decent range of different equipment, great spread of muscle training, by the looks of things... How's your diet, by the way, Sunny?"

Sunny pointed out a faded list, taped to the wall. Hero leaned over and squinted at it.

"Yeah, looks like you're eating all the right stuff, too. You must have done your homework, Sunny. I'm really impressed!"

The three traipsed up the stairs, and Sunny split off to use the bathroom. When he got back, a bed fort was set up in the room, with Kel and Hero squeezed inside. Tragically, Sunny's gargantuan build could not fit inside of the fort, and he could only retreat to his bed, instead. It was probably comfier, anyway.

"You must have done your homework, Sunny."

Sunny sighed. As if. All he had done was copy down what his sister wrote out for him a year ago, in his notebook. He glanced to the side, spotting it, discarded by the corner of the room. It was dusty and beaten up, but full of valuable information. Everything that he needed to know, picked out by Mari.

As sleep began to wash over him, a twinge of melancholy stung him. Looking at the notebook always did make Sunny sad.

After all, what he wrote inside of it were the last things Mari told him. Before she vanished from his dreams, a year ago.

Chapter Text

Sunny knew something was very wrong, when he entered White Space.

The room was barren, devoid of its usual assortment of effects. Only Mari remained, floating a foot off the ground in front of him. She seemed... remorseful? Pitying? She gazed down at him with somber, resigned eyes. Anxiety began to well up in his guts, as Mari greeted him.

"Sunny. You're here, then." Her voice sounded so guilty, and tired, too. Just like it had been for the last few months. Like a delicate glass sculpture, like she could break down in tears at any moment. But she just kept looking at him, as worry churned and bubbled inside him.

"I have to tell you something, little brother." That tone... it only worried Sunny more. Like she was about to announce the death of a beloved relative, or friend. Phantom needles began sinking terribly slowly into the back of his neck and shoulders. He listened on, as she continued.

"It's been nearly three years, Sunny. I thought that if we kept doing this, you would soon grow confident enough to step outside, and live your life again. But I see now, what's really happening. All I did was replace one cycle with another, didn't I?" Sunny paused. What was she on about? Wasn't this his road to redemption? Or was it something else? He just couldn't recall, and his fear wasn't helping him think. He took a deep breath, trying to compose himself.

"Mari... It's-"

"It's not okay, Sunny. This was meant to help you live your life. It wasn't supposed to become it. You have to move on." His lungs tighten. That sounded like...

"Even if I can't be there, with you." No.

"I know that you never meant what you did to me. I know you didn't want to be pulled into the lie. But you have to own up to your mistakes, even if it's hard, or scary." This can't be happening. What did he do wrong? Why was this happening to him?

"You're stagnating, Sunny. You might be getting bigger and stronger, but it's meaningless in the grander scheme of things. You have to break out of this cycle. I can't just sit here and watch you go nowhere." 

"Mari, wait, you-"

"I'm sorry. This has to end. And the only way that I see it ending is through this. You have to make the hard decisions from here. I won't hold your hand anymore, little brother. It's time to take control of your life, and stop letting the past rule over it. But that's your choice to make, not mine." Mari started to shimmer, her glow growing paler and weaker.

"I guess this is goodbye, then." Sunny's heart thrummed in his throat. His fingers were shaking uncontrollably, as he reached out for his sister's hand.

"Mari... wait..." She only grew more and more blurry, as the light around her began to die out. She wouldn't take his hand, even as her heart seemed to break from it.

"Please, Mari. Please... you can't..." He croaked out, his voice weak and strained with grief. He could barely see her now, his vision foggy, as the corners of his eyes began to sting.

He blinked, and she was gone. Mari was gone.

No more soft, soothing light. No more miscellaneous facts, boring, curious and fascinating. No more terrible puns and warm, affectionate hugs. No gentle hand, to guide him forward. No more Mari.

His shoulders began to quake, as his lip trembled. Then his knees gave out, abruptly, and Sunny curled up on the floor, shaking and sobbing to himself, his face drenched in anguished tears. Alone, again. And as his safe space began to come apart, as hissing, whispering shadows crept in on all sides, as he began to slowly waken, faint words crept into his ears.

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

Day broke, and Sunny rose to the smell of bacon and eggs, hanging in the air. The delectable scent had his stomach rumbling, and he rolled off the bed, nearly caving the roof in as he landed on his feet with more enthusiasm than he could remember ever waking with. His strident footsteps sagged the distorted stairs as he made his way down, the smell of breakfast only getting stronger as he reached the outside of the kitchen. 

There he spotted Hero, busy over a pan of eggs, with a small crowd of bacon sitting on a plate on the counter nearby. Kel was gobbling his own breakfast nearby, his mouth coated in grease and char. Hero shifted his head towards Sunny, lifting a generous pile of fluffy egg onto a spatula, before laying it beside the slick bacon.

"Oh, there you are Sunny! I guessed that was you I heard." Sunny grunted his affirmation, making Hero chuckle. "Breakfast's all ready. I took care of those chores your mom gave you, too. I was up early for my morning jog." Hero motioned to the plate, and Sunny gave a hushed thanks, before taking it over to the table to eat with Kel. Shortly after he sat down, however, the doorbell rang, and impatient knocking pounded on the door.

"Who could that be?" Kel wondered aloud. He rose up off his chair, after stuffing another mouthful of food in first. "I'll go check. Be right back." He mumbled, through a mouthful of eggs. Sunny shrugged, inhaling the rest of his food effortlessly. A spewing sound from the door shortly followed, along with a shriek. Hero and Sunny jostled to the living room, only to find a bewildered Kel, facing a mortified Kim, covered in egg. While Kim screeched at Kel for spitting food all over her face, Hero tried his best to intervene, which worked when Sunny stepped into view. The argument died on the spot, and Kim hastily rushed the story out.

"Aubrey's holed up in her house! We've been, y'know, throwing rocks at her windows, tryin' to bash the door down, calling her, but she won't answer! I know you three did this!" She pointed an accusing finger between Kel and Hero, pointedly ignoring the humongous terror three feet beside them.

"All of yous are gonna come with us, and help us get Aubrey out, got it? No questions asked!" Kim crossed her arms, glaring the three of them with cross, impatient eyes.

"Of course we'll go." Hero suddenly spoke up. Kel's head whipped around towards him. "Aubrey's our friend, after all. We all have to be there for each other-"

"What are you talking about, Hero?!" Kel interrupted. "Aubrey isn't our friend! She hates us! She nearly got Basil killed yesterday! If Sunny hadn't-"

"Hello?! Are you two gonna keep arguing over there? I'm still waiting!" Hero groaned, raising his finger to silence the room.

"Alright, alright. Kel, I hear what you're saying, but we should really hear Aubrey out before we come to any conclusions. Have you even tried to talk with her? Once, even?" Kel frowned, eyes shifting to the floor.

"Of course! She won't listen to us! <small>Plus, Sunny kinda scares her a bit...</small>" Hero sighed, massaging his temples.

"Well, we'll just try again, then. We can't just write her off, Kel. It's not right, and you know that." Kel huffed, tapping his fingers in an agitated manner against his arms.

"...Fine. I'll go." He relented.

"FINALLY! Can we get a move on?!" Kim pointed impatiently at the path. Kel threw his gaze up to the roof.

"Alright, don't get your hoodie in a twist..."

"AUBREY! ARE YOU THERE!? AU-BREY!"

Sunny stared on, listless. After countless failed efforts to catch her attention, Kel, Hero and the scooter gang had resorted to banging on the front door and screaming at the house fruitlessly. His patience, never his strong suit, was beginning to fray, and the yelling and hammering of fists and scooters on wood was only intensifying his temper.

"AUBREY!! IT'S KEL! AND HERO! AND KIM AND-"

Sunny winced, trying to take a deep breath. "Just calm down, keep your temper..."

"AND ANGEL AND MIKHAEL-" 

"IT'S THE MAVERICK!!" 

"CAN IT, YOU-" 

A horrible grating noise promptly silenced the small crowd. They turned, nervous, but it was fortunately just Sunny. Holding an uprooted trashcan the size of a refrigerator over his head.

"Sunny, what the-"

CRASH.

The hooligans, Kel and Hero collectively shrieked and dove for cover from the bin that was tearing towards them, only for it to crash into the door. A cloud of dust, plasterboard and concrete erupted from the collision, as the house violently quaked from the impact. When the smoke settled, the front of the house was half missing, a huge square-shaped hole cut into the wall. The place sagged, threatening to collapse entirely.

"...Holy shit, Sunny." Kel turned, pale faced, as Sunny began to wade through the rubble, stepping over the threshold into the house proper.

"Uhhh...tell you what, you guys stay here. We'll deal with this." Hero mumbled, pulling a faint-looking Kel after their absolute unit of a friend. The hooligans did not comment, mute and utterly shell-shocked.

Aubrey was not having the best of days.

First, Sunny barged back into her life, alongside Kel. Then he started beating her and her friends up, poking his big nose were it didn't belong anymore. Then she nearly drowned Basil like a moron, and all her friends abandoned her. So she lay in her room, despondent and miserable, ignoring her friends pleas as they tried to catch her attention. As she contemplated the irony in her situation, her house erupted into waves of tremors, as an almighty crash sent her room into disarray.

Her little pet bunny, Bun-Bun, had begun to panic, and was scrambling around, terrified. Despite the thunderous footsteps approaching the ladder to her room, Aubrey rushed over and picked her little rabbit up, before noticing the countless photo's strewn over the floor. She shoo'd Bun-Bun into her pen, before scrambling over to gather up the polaroid photos. Then the attic door was shoved off it's hinges, and mammoth hands emerged, pulling Sunny up into her room. Aubrey paused, briefly wondering if he could actually fit, but he squeezed right through, followed by Kel and Hero. The room lapsed into silence, as both parties stared at one another.

"Hey Aubrey! Great to see you!" Hero greeted, stepping forward with a grin like nothing was out of the ordinary. Kel tugged at his collar, staring to the side at the wall. Sunny puffed his cheeks out, shuffling his feet uncomfortably.

For a moment, Aubrey was sure that she would burst into a fit of rage. The perfect situation had presented itself, and she could feel the gnawing agitation in her chest. But for whatever reason, she couldn't muster up any vitriol. Aubrey visibly deflated, blowing a breath out her nose, before crumbling onto her bed, rubbing her eyes.

"What do you all want?" She whispered, utterly burnt-out. Her bow had drooped like a wilted plant on her head, and her voice was uncharacteristically small. Hero stepped over to the small pile of photos, inspecting them.

"Are these the missing photo's from the album, Aubrey?" She nodded, exasperated. Hero shook his head.

"Aubrey, you can't just keep these. They belong in the album." Aubrey jerked her head up, irked.

"Yeah, well-I...I-" She cut herself off, grunting and shaking off her drowsiness. "Look, just-okay, I-first of all, what was that crash I heard downstairs? Did Sunny break down my door or something?"

"Did a bit more than that" Kel mumbled. Aubrey turned towards him, giving him a dirty look. "Did WHAT, exactly?"

"He...uhh...how do I put this..." Hero stammered, before Kel loudly cut in.

"He threw your bin at the door."

"Caved most of the front of your house in with it." Hero added.

Aubrey just crumpled, fed up, her face sagging as she held her head. Sunny looked down, abashed, and mumbled a sheepish apology, to which Aubrey raised her hand.

"Don't even bother. I'm just...done. I don't care anymore." Hero gave her a pat on the back, as she started to curl up a little.

"Hey, Sunny, have you got the album on you?" Aubrey flinched, her gaze snapping at the giant.

"What? I threw that away...how did you get it?" Kel waved, and she stared at him blankly.

"Seriously? You rooted around in my bin?" 

"Yep."

Aubrey snickered, and stepped off the bed, gathering the photos on the floor up. She turned back to the three, holding them gingerly.

"I guess we should put them back, then."

After putting back the photos, Aubrey teared up, overwhelmed, and the four had an impromptu feelings jam. Aubrey apologized for attacking Sunny and Kel, acting sour around them, and the incident at the lake. Kel apologized for being judgmental towards her and ignoring her, and Sunny said that he was sorry for scaring her and beating her friends up. The reunited group climbed down the ladder. Aubrey whistled at the destroyed door to her house, impressed.

"Damn, Sunny. Guess we'll have to get those renovations done after all, then." Sunny side-eyed her, raising an eyebrow. She grinned, a little red-faced. "Don't sweat it. This house's a pile of crap anyway. It's probably gonna suck when it gets colder, though." The hooligans, who were sitting around, staring into the house, perked up when they heard their leader. Kim sprung into the house, eager to make sure that Aubrey was alright, but Aubrey waved her off. 

"We'll talk later, Kim. I'm hanging with these guys today." Kim seemed hesitant, but relented, leading her friends away. Sunny marched ahead, and his three friends followed along, into the dazzling afternoon sun.

Sunny looked down at the seat of the swings, disappointed. Aubrey stood at his side, holding her arm.

"Sorry Sunny, I don't think you'll fit in there anymore." Sunny tried his best to squeeze into the swing, but couldn't maneuver the ropes into a comfortable position, nor even fit into his old little seat. Eventually he gave up, while Aubrey sat into her seat on the swing, looking up at him. She seemed saddened, kicking back and forth by herself.

"If you wanna, like, lean on the poles next to me...that's okay." Sunny shook his head, before moving in front of her. He sat in front of her in the sand, and Aubrey flattened her skirt between her legs, staring off to the side. Sunny raised one of his feet up, and gave her swing the gentlest push he could. After confirming that he hadn't sent her into orbit, he let her sway a little, before giving the swing another gentle kick. His... good friend gave a genuine smile, glancing away a little.

"Alright, I'm cool with this."

The two sat there for a while, in tranquil stillness.

"Hey, Sunny... sorry for being mean to you." He gazed up, curious.

"Seeing you kinda caught me by surprise...but that's still a pretty crappy excuse." Sunny hummed, idly pushing the swings as he listened.

"I'm so sorry about your hand, by the way...those bandages look really old, I think they need to get changed. I'll buy you a new pair and replace them, alright?"

"I hope you've felt okay and stuff... being in that house all that time must've been lonely. I really think that I should've been there for you." Aubrey trailed off, frowning regretfully. She blinked when Sunny nudged her with his foot, and her small smile wormed it's way back onto her face.

"A-anyway, I want you to know...I still care about you, and stuff. I'm really glad you've been taking good care of yourself, I just hope that you haven't been pushing yourself too hard..." Sunny frowned. He had been pushing himself. Why was that? What drove him to keep working harder? Was it habit, or something else?

"I couldn't help but notice, though...you're still really pale. I guess you didn't go out much. After you move, promise me you'll go outside often, okay?" Nodding, Sunny went to get back up, only for Aubrey to catch his collar.

"Hey, hold up! I wanna try something. Just sit right here...and..." Sunny blinked, as he sat in front of the seat that his friend was sitting on, only to feel her clamber on to his shoulders, sitting down with her legs draped over them.

"ALRIGHT! Come on, stand up, stand up!" Gripping onto her legs, Sunny got to his feet, hearing a whoop above him.

"HECK YEAH! Hey Kel, I'm taller than you!" Kel whipped around from his conversation with Hero, only to do a double take.

"What the-hey! Why don't I get a piggyback! That's not fair!" Kel pouted, while Aubrey stuck her tongue out at him.

"You're probably a bit too big for that anyway, Kel..." Hero pointed out. "Aubrey's the shortest, so she's a better candidate for that kind of thing anyway." Despite his obvious disappointment, Kel relented, huffing in discontent as he marched off.

"Come on, you two... I think that we should just go to Ginos." Hero rushed ahead, trying to catch up to his brother. Sunny strolled along after him, enjoying the cool breeze that blew by. He could feel Aubrey holding onto his head as he made his way towards Ginos.

The air was somber, when the gang arrived at Sunny's house. A sense of dread hung between the four, as they made their way towards the sliding door.

When Kel and Hero stepped outside, Aubrey stopped Sunny, trying to tell him something. "Hey, Sunny...before you move, do you think you could-" But she was cut off by Kel calling them, and dismissed it. "A-actually, never mind." Sunny was intrigued, but didn't press on it, choosing to continue into the backyard, where the other two were waiting. In a corner, near the trees, lay a stump, worn down substantially and rotted from the elements. Hero was standing right in front of it.

The three were saying something, discussing something grim from long ago, but it all registered as murky static to Sunny. There was no stump. His friends were not here. It was evening, and the last cry's of evening light were flitting down, through the thick, obscuring foliage. He could see a great, wrinkled tree above him, stretching for what seemed like miles into the sky. Knots were littered along its aged bark, and it's branches eclipsed the sky. He could hear something fumbling about in the darkness, nervously mumbling to itself. He could feel the soft, dewy grass under his body, though his mind felt far, far away. He was being pulled away, back to the house. 

He could hear the whine of a rope, straining behind him.

He could see something, swaying in the wind, even as something tried to pull him back, away from the sight. A pair of socked feet.

He couldn't see, or feel, or hear anything, anymore.

Then he was back, and his friends were there again, walking to the clearing where the treehouse resided. Shaking off, Sunny lumbered along, ignoring the stump. He followed the three up the ladder, wincing as the rungs wailed under the foreign strain. Inside, his friends were remininscing, fondly inspecting the many beaten up effects the lay strewn along the floor, faded and worn down by time's march. Aubrey fretted over a filthy Mister Plantegg. Hero pondered aloud why a toaster was sitting on the shelf.

Sunny stared at a photo, in his hands, that was taped to the wall. On the back was a key, and a hastily scrawled message.

DON'T FORGET. IT'S IN THE TOY BOX.

Aubrey shuffled up behind him, peering over his shoulder. He hastily snapped the key off the photo, turning it back around.

"Hmm? Did you find a photo, Sunny?" She gently slid it out of his hand, inspecting the faded memory, frozen in time and battered by it's passage.

"Hey, that's the last missing photo!" Hero perked up, glancing from the side at it. Kel lit up with a grin, bounding over the the group.

"What are we waiting for then? Lets put it where it belongs!"

With the last photo slotted into place, the four friends took one last look over the completed album. They laughed, fondly sighed, and swapped little anecdotes and stories as they read the little captions underneath each cherished polaroid. When they had finished, Sunny gently shut the album, and held it by his side, under his arm.

Aubrey, however, seemed a little distant, as they stood up. Hero spoke up, trying to find out what was wrong, only to be sent spinning when she blurred past him, her hair like a long stroke of vibrant pink on a canvas. She flew down the ladder, and vanished just like that. Kel and Hero raced after her, Sunny right on their tail, taking it slow as to not accidentally crush his friends.

When they passed the clearing, Aubrey was crouching at the stump, digging a little pink pinwheel into a gash in the old wood. She stood after watching it dance for a moment, turning to her friends with an inscrutable expression on her face.

Then she started to talk about what happened to her, after Mari died. A lump of lead sunk into Sunny's gut as she recounted her loneliness after the funeral, how everybody was either ignoring her or holed away in their homes. She told them about her brief reunion with Basil, and how they had planned on spending the day at his home.

But then she brought up the photo album. Sunny's gaze went vacant, as the world around him seemed to melt away into blobs of colour and senseless static noise. He was staring down at a tile floor. A pile of haphazardly scribbled-out pictures lay in front of him. A permanent marker lay at his side, the cap rolling back and forth along the floor.

"I ruined the photos. I blotted them out. And Basil..."

"Basil took the blame for the album, didn't he? "

"What have I done? "

Instinct makes him step back, as a front of cold shame washes over his neck and face. Aubrey is sobbing, stuttering that she's an idiot as she confesses how she bullied Basil because he ruined the album. And even as Kel and Hero step forward to comfort her, Sunny remains rooted to the spot, teetering back and forth as if on the verge of collapsing. He stares through his friends, still stuck on that thought. And when Hero pulls him by the hand into a firm group hug, as he feels Kel give reassuring pats on the back, and Aubrey nestles under his arm, crying her heart out, the weight of everything finally comes crashing down on his shoulders.

"What have I done? " 

When the hug breaks apart, Hero recommends paying Basil a visit, so that Aubrey can properly apologize. Sunny leads the way, absentmindedly walking along down the road to Basil's house. His legs move of their own accord, while he drifts away, lost for thousands of miles in his own head. There's something else that he's forgetting. What is he forgetting? It feels too important to shrug off. Ever since he remembered how he ruined the photo album, everything feels so much more vivid, and real. Like he's really present, in this moment, rather than living a waking dream. But his memory feels foggy, like everything that happened before was just a dream, and he's already beginning to forget it. 

As his mind wanders deeper and deeper, he's brought out of his delusion by a hand, tugging at his sleeve. Kel waves a hand in his face, and Sunny recoils, realizing that they're already at Basil's.

"Yes, come on inside, I'll make you all some drinks..." Polly was ushering them inside. She explained in a low tone that Basil's grandmother had just passed away, and Basil hadn't taken it well. Sunny followed his friends up the stairs, only to find that Basil had locked himself in his room. Aubrey tried to apologize through the door, but there was no response, and Hero's efforts to reach Basil fell on deaf ears. In the end, they agreed to have a sleepover in the living room, and set up a handful of sleeping bags and pillows on the floor (Sunny just took a duvet instead, being unable to fit in the bag.) The four chatted away, casually watching the TV, until they began to nod off, one after the other. In the end, all four were asleep, their forms still illuminated by the hushed glare of light coming off the set in front of them.

In his dreams, there's just an empty room. The light from the bleak white walls has never felt so harsh, and it's never felt so bitingly cold. Something  and terrible is about to happen. As Sunny turns his head up, a black light bulb swings into his field of vision, pulsing with misty, murky darkness. Cracks are littered along it, forming a spiderweb along it's shell. It's on its last legs, now. This, Sunny realizes, is the source of his confusion.

He reaches up, and unscrews it, holding it in the palm of his hand. It's intensely icy to the touch. The slick, slimy shadows within it writhe about with a fervor as he closes it in his grip. One solid squeeze, and-

The bulb shatters. The room is consumed in a void. Only Sunny is left, to confront a shadow, hanging in the dark.

In the dead of night, Sunny's eyes snap open, wide and horrified. He killed his sister. He murdered her, and Basil covered the whole thing up. At first, he'd been able to deal with that truth, thanks to his sister's presence, but when she left? He buckled under his guilt and loneliness. His inability to act, and be brave, cost him his sister, again. But now was not the time for dwelling on that. Basil was still locked in his room, and the sinking feeling in his gut, coupled with the revelation that he had just had, was giving him quite the urge to go check on his friend. Gently, slowly, he rises from his bed sheet, tip-toeing along the floor towards the stairs. Several neighbors are woken up, confused as to why construction work was happening at this hour of the night, but miraculously none of his friends are roused. He sneaks up the stairs, quiet as an artillery cannon, until he stands outside of Basil's room. He tries the doorknob gently. It opens, surprisingly, and he enters, shutting the door behind him.

There, Basil stands. He's staring out the window, at the moon. The cold midnight light casts a faint blue glow on Basil. He turns, eyes just a little wider than they should be.

"Ah, Sunny...you're here..." His tone is a whisper, but it's saturated with anxiety, built up and fit to burst at any moment.

"I'm glad you've came back for me...It's been so long." His smile is just a bit too wide, his enthusiasm too forced. His body is trembling like there's soda water in his veins. Despite how calm Basil is attempting to come off, it's plain to Sunny that the guy is three seconds away from having a conniption. The flower boy begins to approach him.

"That thing came to you, when Mari...fell. It couldn't have been you, Sunny. It was something behind you, wasn't it?" Sunny seizes up at the mention of that thing. Basil can see it, too?

"You're a good person, Sunny. You came back to me!" Basil seems to relax, only to stiffen completely. "But tomorrow...you're moving away..." Sunny goes to take a step forward, only for Basil to explode. "HOW COULD YOU DO THAT!" He turns, eyes wild and frenzied, tears already racing down his face. "That's mean, Sunny. That's really mean! " 

Sunny takes a deep breath. Obviously, Basil is in an awful state of mind, but it isn't too bad. He can still reassure his friend, try to calm him down, maybe get him to put those awfully sharp shears that he just pulled out of his pocket while they're at it. Sunny settles himself, and tries to say something consoling to his friend. But Basil cuts him off.

"Can you see it, Sunny? There's something all around us, now. There's no way out of this, is there?" ...nope. Fuck this. Fuck the whole rescue mission, this kid's not right. Gently as he can, Sunny tries to inch back towards the door. Maybe he can get a friend to help, or call the police, whichever can help faster. When he turns to open the door, however, the looming eye is plastered on the door, causing him to freeze. And Basil darts up to him.

"Where are you going? Are you leaving again?" He cries. While Sunny tries and fails to speak up, his friend starts screaming at him to stop, over and over. Eventually, he backs off, and Sunny slowly approaches him, trying to calm him down. Basil seems to get better, but all of a sudden a purple-black, shadowy maw of razor-sharp, yellowed teeth and bulging, staring eyes surround him, Basil squarely trapped inside its "mouth". Sunny tries to flee, one last time, as Basil rambles about "protecting him". But the glaring mass of pitch black hair behind him won't let him. And Basil is getting closer again, this time brandishing his shears.

Cut after cut rains down on Sunny. He tries his best to disarm Basil, but he's an alarmingly slippery little bastard, ducking and weaving Sunny's swipes and grabs. The darkness and horrifying manifestations of guilt crowding the room didn't help Sunny focus in the slightest, either. Eventually, he gave up and began swatting at Basil, trying to knock him out at worst, or just daze him. But that just makes Basil fight back harder, and Sunny begins to panic at how much blood that he's losing. 

He takes a swing at Basil, knocking him into a wardrobe and knocking a vase over. For a moment, Sunny dared to hope that he'd stopped him. But Basil rose up, clutching his ribs and quaking violently, his shears still in his grip.

"WHY!? WHY WON'T YOU STOP!?" He lunges, shears aimed for a stab, and Sunny misjudges his timing.

SHUNK

The shears go straight in his eye, sinking in with a sickening squelch. As Basil backs off, turning pale, Sunny grips the shears, still in his eye, and rips them clean out, roaring like a wounded animal. They clatter to the floor as Sunny holds his face, feeling the warm, chunky blood roll down his cheek and nose. He can taste it, backed up in his throat, and it stings. Basil looks shocked, but his face contorts in anger as he snatches the shears off the floor.

"STOP STRUGGLING, SUNNY!" Sunny pauses, heaving as he stares at the boy with his one good eye. "I'M TRYING TO PROTECT YOU, AND YOU'RE FIGHTING BACK!" Basil pauses, composing(?) himself. "This is for your own good, Sunny. And I won't let you keep trying to-"

And at that moment, Sunny's patience dies for good. And he grabs Basil's leg and:

Basil lies on the floor, twitching and staring at the ceiling. The floor is barely intact, the room thrown into complete disarray. At that moment, the door bursts open, revealing all of Sunny's friends, Polly, and several concerned neighbors, still in their pyjamas.

"What the fuck, Sunny!?"

And it was then that something occurs to Sunny, as he stands there, deathly silent. His eye really hurt. Like, really hurt. In fact, so did his entire body, which simultaneously ached and felt drained.

So he screams, loudly, as waves of earth-shattering agony rocked over him, and that makes everybody else scream, and Sunny keels over, succumbing to his injuries.

When Sunny opens his eye, again, he's back in white space. As he slowly comes to his senses, he suddenly realizes that he was not alone. A girl that couldn't be older than fifteen is floating in front of him, dressed in a plain white dress, with silky black hair.

"Mari...?" Sunny groans, his voice weak and small. The spirit grins at him, nodding eagerly.

"Sunny, there you are. I am so, so proud of you." Sunny's jaw goes slack. His eyes begin to water, on the verge of spilling, but he blinks his tears away, standing up.

"Mari...I'm so sorry. I'm such a coward, I probably nearly killed Basil, I'm a liar and-" Mari stops him, holding a finger up.

"Maybe." She whispered. Her brother stared at the floor, in shame. "But maybe that's just what you believe that you are." He starts, staring up.

"If that's what I think that I am...what am I, really? Am I a bad person, Mari?"

"No, you're Sunny."

Sunny squints at Mari. She stares back, blank faced, before bursting into fits of giggles. He sighs, pinching his nose.

"I was being serious, sis." She fans her face, trying to control her shaking.

"Okay, I know...Sorry, I really don't know why that was so funny, I think I'm losing it here..." Mari trails off, before giving Sunny a gentle smile.

"You're a person, Sunny. People do good and bad things all the time. You can't just overgeneralize yourself like that, because it really isn't that simple." Sunny tilts his head, confused, and Mari sighs, reaching out to pat his head.

"You've always been judgmental, Sunny. Of others, but mainly yourself. The way I see it, you can think of it in two ways. One way is thinking "I'm a terrible person for doing bad things." The other is "I'm just a person, and just because I've done bad things, doesn't mean I need to define myself as bad." And if you choose the latter, you can still fight, and try own up to those things that you've done, rather than sinking into more negative thinking and bad decisions."

"..." For a moment, Sunny was still, letting her words sink in. Finally, he asks her something.

"What's up ahead of me?" She floats back a little.

"The last hurdle to overcome, you could say." He nods.

"I'll face it, then."

Mari smiles, as he begins to march forward, towards the center of white space. As he approaches a figure, waiting in the void for him, he turns his head.

"Are you gonna be by my side?" Mari pauses, but nods resolutely.

"Always. Even if you can't see me, or hear me, I'm there, with you." And she hugs him, one last time, and is gone. Sunny turns to face the newcomer. A boy who looks to be around twelve, except he's ludicrously swole. He's twice as tall as Sunny, and nearly twice as buff, too. His only outfit is a simple black tank top, and stripy white shorts. A comically tiny kitchen knife is gripped in his enormous hand.

Sunny breathes deep, and shuts his eyes, preparing himself. His mind is clear and focused. There's no noise, save for a distant chorus of violins. The giant lunges, taking a vicious swipe, and Sunny barely dodges, throwing a hook to his jaw. The reflection deflects the punch with his arm, and Sunny catches his other arm with his hand, halting its next strike. He throws a jab with his other hand, however, and Sunny, is knocked back, wincing from the shooting ache in his face.

"You've caused so much suffering, but do nothing." He speaks, in a hollow, monotonous tone. "And so, you earn nothing in return." He swipes again, grazing Sunny's arm.

"Your friends will never forgive you. They'll abandon you like you did them... and it's exac-" 

"Okay I'm done here, just can it already." Somebody's voice cuts across the piano man's monologue, and the two turn to find some guy stumbling into sight, with massive purple eye-bags.

"...Who are you?" Sunny asks, completely bewildered. The guy waves his hand.

"Musashi. Author self insert. Sleep deprived degenerate. Not actually Japanese, or even from Asia." Sunny experienced several brain aneurysms as he went on. The black and white guy didn't seem that bothered.

"I-what..." 

"Look, it's 01.54 in the fucking AM right now. This is taking way too goddamn long and I want this out sometime this decade. So, go fuck yourself, Omori. Go sit there and seethe and eat shit while this guy gets his fucking happy ending, and I get four hours sleep instead of my usual three." The self insert pulls something out from a floating shelf. He hands it over to Sunny.

"Here, take your inferior bootleg guitar and go get over yourself. I'm done here." Sunny stares at the violin, having a miniature existential crisis, before putting the instrument to his chin. The barely visible red filter around the room immediately washes away, as a soft piano begins to play. Sunny shuffles about, bringing his fingers to the violins neck-

CRUNCH

The neck splinters and breaks like a Kit-Kat. Musashi groans and holds his head in his hands.

"Fucking cheap piece of shit. Alright, wait a minute, I can fix this." Turning, he walks into a nearby door that suddenly exists, and begins rummaging around, swearing to himself as crashes and thuds ring out from the closet. When the guy re-emerges, he's holding a cello, along with a bow.

"Alright, here, just use this. I don't even know if it would work and I'm too lazy to try finding out." Sunny takes the cello and holds it like a violin. The music resumes, and Sunny begins to play. Omori gives up and leaves to go find a better fic to be in, while Musashi stumbles away, mumbling to himself while clutching at his head as waves of nauseous tiredness overtake him.

"Can't believe I actually pulled that shit. Thank fuck this is a crack-fic and I can do whatever I want... I'm never pulling this bullshit again, I swear."

Sunny drags his bow along the cello, ending the duet. He bows to literally no-one, and walks over to a white door, opening it and leaving White Space, this time for good. 

When Sunny opens his eyes, he's laying in a bed. It's calm, and the only sounds are the sounds of the AC running in the corner. Flowers are littered along the room. Sunny lifts himself off the bed, only breaking one of its legs as he does so. Inspecting the flowers, he finds notes attached to the stems, from various people he "helped". But he isn't interested in reading them right now.

He approaches the mirror, nearby, and inspects his appearance. He's slightly thinner, and there's a huge bandage covering his right eye. It's probably shot for good, on account of Sunny ripping the shears straight out of it like that. But it doesn't really bother Sunny, anyway.

He walks down the hallway, following a mass of phantom black hair on the floor. He comes to a hospital room, and inside are his friends, and Basil. 

Sunny walks inside. Shuts the door, as his friends turn to him, concerned. And decides, for once, to try being brave, and to break this cycle that he's been stuck in. Not because he needs Mari's forgiveness. Not because it's easy, or because it'll fix things. But because it's the right thing to do, and because he owes it to everyone that he's hurt. His friends, and Mari. He decides to just speak up, and stop thinking about himself.

"I have to tell you something."