Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

BASIL woke up gasping for air, feeling like he was suffocating for a long while before suddenly being exposed to oxygen again. MARI looked down at him, concerned. "You alright, BASIL?" He nodded and sat up, looking around. It was not the first time he'd woken up on the picnic blanket in the PLAYGROUND, but it was certainly the first time that he'd found everyone else in their friend group other than OMORI sitting around the picnic blanket. 

BASIL, when not at home or at least in a proper bed, slept lightly enough that even just KEL approaching him would easily wake him. And since this wasn't their usual spot, he should have been able to hear them approach. 

It is their usual spot. 

He didn't remember falling asleep here, either. It was like he was just here... From the beginning...  

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BASIL wakes up on the blanket, MARI smiling down at him. This was fine. BASIL smiles back. Everything was okay. 

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He knows he planted some adorable little sprouts yesterday. He doesn't remember, not really, but he knows. 

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KEL and AUBREY have always squabbled with each other. He dutifully ignores the fact that he doesn't quite know how long 'always' has been. 

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He spots a photograph on the floor. He doesn't know how it got there, there must have been a photo loose in his album. He picks it up and turns it over. Is that... MARI? Why was she on the floor? Why was her arm twisted that way? 

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BLACK SPACE is cold and disturbing. There's no ceiling, no walls. Just an endless void of black. Eerie music echoes through it, somehow giving it the illusion of being impossibly vast and suffocatingly small all at once. BASIL's breathing quickens. He doesn't like it here. 

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BASIL talks to what appears to be their shadow. They don't know how a shadow can exist in a place where it seems like all light is sucked from it. A shadow can't exist without light, after all. 

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BASIL's shadow introduces himself as STRANGER and tells him what happened to MARI. Even though he's absolutely horrified, he can't help but think of how familiar the story feels, and how resigned STRANGER sounds, almost as if he was told this story thousands of times before, and BASIL just kept forgetting it. But surely he'd remember something this worldshattering.

•

STRANGER asks them for help. BASIL accepts without a second thought, and they think they spot something bittersweet in STRANGER's eyes. 

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'OMORI! My best friend!' BASIL cries, almost sobbing in relief. Even with STRANGER, they still got desperately lonely, and referring to him as SUNNY just felt weird. Besides, dream or not, OMORI was still their best friend, come hell or high water. OMORI looks at them, and BASIL is taken aback by sheer amount of apathy in his eyes. Something inside them practically screams at them that that isn't SUNNY OMORI, it can't possibly be OMORI, but BASIL presses on. 

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Blood and death and pain and violence and STRANGER's pearly white eyes watching him with such weariness and understanding that it shakes him to his core. He can't bring himself to be angry, not at STRANGER, not at OMORI, not even at SUNNY. BASIL keeps trying. 

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Everything B̶̤̆͘̕͝ ̶̛̘̣̹̋́̈͝R̸̰̝̣͆ ̸̅̓̔ͅͅE̵̠̭̓͌́ ̸̙͖́Ȃ̶̞͈ ̶̨̨̼̝͖͂Ḱ̶͚͜ͅ ̷̮͝S̴͕̱͈͍̹̊̋͂, and BASIL watches with a detached, morbid fascination as his guts spill out of his body. Somehow, it reminds him of watermelon. Just a whole lot of blood and watermelon. He raises his eyes to meet STRANGER's. STRANGER nods sadly, raises his hands and signs: 'Next time.' BASIL never remembers learning sign language. He closes his eyes. Maybe next time. Eventually, everything would be okay. He's lost count of how many times he's said that, and yet it's only the first. 

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In the deep, yet comforting darkness of the subconscious, eerily similar and yet somehow completely different from THE ABYSS or BLACK SPACE, just for a moment, BASIL remembers. Then he forgets all over again. 

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BASIL wakes up on the blanket, MARI smiling down at him. This was fine. BASIL smiles back. Everything was okay. 

•

BASIL faded back into reality to find not only MARI but the rest of the gang looking at him worriedly. 

"Are you okay, BASIL?" AUBREY asked. 

"Yeah, I'm fine. Why?" 

"You looked like you were having a panic attack," HERO explained. 

"Are you sure you're okay?" KEL pressed. BASIL knew he meant well, but he really couldn't deal with the ball of energy that is KEL at the moment. "Yeah, of course I'm okay! I think I'm just going to go home and lie down. Just enjoy your card game, alright?" he tells them, keeping just the bare minimum of politeness. They all looked at him suspiciously but bid him goodbye. He waved at them and ran home, tears streaming down his cheeks. He smiled, a rare, soft, genuine smile. Finally, something was going to change. 

Again...

And again...

And again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again and again... 

Until something breaks. 

The floodgates have been opened.

Chapter Text

BASIL wasn't angry, or hurt, or scared, or anything of that sort. He was more relieved than anything. He just got a little too overwhelmed. He hoped his friends weren't too worried. 

BASIL slows down and waters his flower gardens outside while he makes his way back to his house. Plants were always a constant in BASIL's life, as taking care of them always helped him calm down. There was something about taking care of a living thing always soothed his nerves. He stepped into his house only to pass through the nearly hidden back door. 

BASIL's backyard was where he grew all of his vegetables and fruits. Sure, flowers were pretty, but a bite of something that you've grown yourself was heavenly. He was pretty sure OMORI didn't really know about it, considering he'd never seemed to have even noticed the back door. It kind of baffled BASIL that you could have complete control over a world but not know everything in it, but he was grateful for it in a way. His backyard was a safe space, where he could simply relax, unbothered by anything, friend or foe. He'd put up a tall wooden fence to keep out any visitors from the forest, but he was pretty sure no one had found it yet. It was the only place in HEADSPACE, as far as he knew, that didn't reset when HEADSPACE was. 

He picked up a basket that he kept on the wicker table by the door, and then turned to the accompanying wicker chair. He'd accidentally left it too close to the green beans when they were starting to grow, and their vines had wrapped around the legs. He'd let them have it, he had other chairs, after all. He crouched down in front of it and plucked off a handful of pods. Even though they were called green beans, they were a little closer to a mint colour than a true green. Then again, he assumed that was close enough. He got up and moved on to the grape tomatoes next. 

And so he went on, picking grape tomatoes (too many that were split, but the taste was the same, so he wasn't too bothered), kale (not many people liked it, which he thought was a shame. You just had know how to prepare it right! His kale chips were practically addicting, if he dared say so himself), basil (he smiled at the irony), mint (which was actually green instead of mint, really, what was up with the naming process of plants?), raspberries (the thorns didn't bother him too much anymore, and the reward was more than worth it), and a couple other vegetables, before finally ending with the old peach tree. 

The peach tree was very tall and very old, and by far BASIL's favorite of the garden. The branches seemed to shelter him from harm, whether he sat in it or under it. The spring blossoms would bring a wonderful glow to the garden, and the viridian leaves of summer coupled with the peaches hanging from the branches made it look great and strong. 

He stepped up to the tree and picked a few peaches, then made his way back inside. He set the basket down on the table before getting ready for bed. 

He still wasn't ready to talk to his friends, but maybe he'd go and explore tomorrow, take a walk, find some new plants to take care of. BASIL closed his eyes and fell into a dreamless sleep. 

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Hi! How are the, uh, probably very few people reading this? Hope you're all doing well!

It's been about two years since I touched this thing, and wow, have those been some years! I had all the story notes for this written down on my phone, but lo and behold, I lost it. Unfortunately. Then I (temporarily) fell out of this fandom, got a new phone, lost the new phone, my schoolwork proceeded to violently remind me of it's existence, made a new face-to-face friend, so I've been a little busy. I finally came back to OMORI about a month or two ago, and only just recently remembered the existence of this story. I've read it over once or twice, and honestly, it's a little... iffy. You can definitely tell I'd only just started writing. 

I'm probably going to rewrite this entire thing (once I find the time), so I guess this story is... pretty much discontinued? I might leave it up, might not. 

Thanks for reading, have a wonderful day/night/in-between time!