Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Basil knew something was wrong before he even opened his eyes.

For one, he was standing up, which, considering he had fallen asleep in his bed last night, didn’t make much sense. Furthermore, he was outside; he could feel a slight breeze on his skin, and the warm morning sun on his back.

Tentatively, he opened his eyes to find himself standing on a sidewalk. In front of him was Sunny and Mari’s house. He could hear a commotion coming from somewhere inside.

…

Basil started to panic.

This didn’t make any sense… he thought he had finally moved on, accepted the truth! Why was he still having these nightmares!? Hadn’t he suffered enough? Why did he have to relive this day again!?

Now that he thought about it, though… this was the same day the recital had happened, right? Basil had forgotten in the confusion of his present situation, but today was the four-year anniversary of Mari’s death. Maybe this was somehow happening because of that.

But… he felt something was different. When he’d had these dreams before, he was just a spectator, unable to move or affect anything. But this time—he flexed his fingers—he felt like he was in control. It wasn’t the same.

And it didn’t feel like a dream, either. Dreams were always duller than real life, lacking color and detail. This, on the other hand, felt all too real.

But if this was real…

Basil knew it had to be a dream, had to be—it simply didn’t make sense for it to be anything else—but he couldn’t risk it. If he had even the slightest of chances to fix things, to stop the tragedy that was about to unfold, he had to act now.

He ran as fast as he could to the door and threw it open, entering the house. He heard yelling coming from further in, at the top of the stairs.

“I can’t believe this, Sunny. We all worked so hard to get you that violin! How—how could you throw it all away like that!?”

Basil ran into the living room. Through the doorway, he could see Sunny and Mari arguing at the top of the stairs.

Sunny tried to walk down the stairs to escape the argument, but Mari blocked him. Basil knew what happened from here all too well…

“I am not finished talking, Sunny. Don’t walk away from—”

Sunny pushed Mari.

“Sunny, no!” Basil screamed, running as fast as he could towards the stairs, but it was too late. Mari hit the floor with a loud crash. “Not again…”

No, no, no…

Why? Why did he have to fail again? He finally, finally had a chance to fix things, and he—he’d ruined it!

“Mari, no…” Basil sobbed, crouching down beside her with tears forming in his eyes. Sunny was silent, frozen at the top of the stairs.

Basil remembered what happened last time; when he’d made the biggest mistake of his life. He knew he couldn’t do it again. He would never be able to forgive himself if he did. This time… he would do the right thing.

Basil ran to the house phone next to the stairs and picked it up.

“911, what’s your emergency?”

“My friend… she… she fell down the stairs…”

Chapter Text

Sunny hadn’t left his house since the incident. Basil hadn’t seen him once since he went home that day three weeks ago. Everyone thought he was simply distraught over what happened to Mari, but Basil knew the real reason.

He just wished he had the courage to tell everyone else.

Basil hadn’t told anyone what really caused Mari to fall. He assumed they thought she tripped by accident. He wanted to tell everyone, he really did—but without Sunny there, it didn’t feel right. He didn’t feel it was his place to reveal something like that.

He’d been trying to see Kel, Aubrey, and Hero as much as he could, but it was hard. Everything just felt… off without Mari, and the weight of what had happened weighed over them. It also didn’t help that Basil didn’t have any classes in school with them.

Luckily, school itself was not difficult for Basil. He wasn’t actually twelve, after all, so he already knew everything in class, and his homework served as a nice distraction from everything that was going on. It was all routine—he just went through the motions every day.

Mari was in the hospital. She was in a coma after falling down the stairs. They’d all been going to visit her every few days, but it was starting to look less and less likely that she’d be waking up. They spoke words to her that she couldn’t hear, and left her flowers that she couldn’t see. Each time they went, everyone—particularly Hero—seemed less and less happy about going to see her.

Hero wasn’t doing so well, from what Basil could see. He’d closed himself in somewhat, and often didn’t show up when all the other friends met. Basil sincerely hoped that things wouldn’t get as bad as they had last time with him.

He remembered Kel telling him before he went back in time about how Hero had been in the first year after Mari had died. He’d said that Hero barely left the house and acted cold towards him. Basil hadn’t known, of course—he’d acted much the same way, staying in the relative safety of his room rather than facing the outside world. He regretted it now. Maybe things would’ve turned out differently if he’d come clean and tried to make amends.

Of course, Basil knew this was all a much better outcome than what happened in his timeline. No matter what happened from now on, it could never get as bad as that.

Besides telling the others about Mari, Basil also wasn’t sure whether to tell anyone that he’d gone back in time. He knew they wouldn’t believe him. He could hardly believe it himself, honestly. He kept expecting it to all turn out to be a dream, and for him to wake up, but it never happened. There was no possible explanation for it—but he wasn’t going to complain. He only wished that he’d realized a bit sooner, or ran a little faster, or—

He tried to convince himself that it wasn’t his fault, that he couldn’t have done any better, but it didn’t help. He felt awful about it. Was he really so useless that he couldn’t even fix things by time traveling? He’d wished for years for a second chance, and when he finally got one, he’d wasted it…

At least he could still try to make things better than they were last time. At least, that’s what he kept telling himself. He hadn’t actually done anything in the past three weeks to try and help Sunny, who was shutting himself in the same way he did in Basil’s timeline.

But today, Basil decided, that was going to change. After getting out of bed, he threw on his jacket and headed off to Sunny’s house. He had to at least try to talk to him. He’d already waited far too long.

Basil slowly approached the house. It seemed almost foreboding now, like the house itself was a harbinger of bad fortune. He knew rationally that wasn’t true, but the place still felt wrong to him. He didn’t want to be here. Nevertheless, he had a job to do.

He walked up to the door and knocked.

…

He knocked again.

…

Nothing. Not a sound.

“Sunny?” he called. There was no response.

“Sunny, please… I just want to talk to you,” he said. “Can you please open the door for me?”

Basil heard slow footsteps from within the house. When they stopped, the door slowly creaked open.

Basil was shocked at what he saw. Sunny looked terrible. He had dark bags under his eyes, and his skin was pale. He looked like he had barely slept or eaten in weeks, if at all.

“Sunny… are you okay? You look awful… have you been taking care of yourself properly?” he asked. Sunny stared at him blankly.

Basil sighed. “Can I come in? Please? I… I’d like to talk to you.” Sunny simply nodded, which Basil supposed was all he should expect to get from him. He entered the house, following behind Sunny.

“Why don’t we sit down?” Sunny nodded again. Conversation with him was going to be… difficult, Basil thought. Hopefully he could get him to at least say something. Clearly, Sunny needed help. They sat down on the two recliners on opposite sides of the room.

“So… Sunny. How have you been feeling?” he asked. Sunny stared off into the distance. “We’ve… we’ve been so worried about you, Sunny. All of us! I mean, we haven’t seen you in weeks!”

“I know you feel guilty. I do too,” he said. “I should have gotten there sooner. I could have helped.” Sunny didn’t know the whole story, of course, but the statement was true nonetheless. “But it wasn’t your fault. It was an accident, Sunny. An accident. You don’t have to blame yourself like this.”

“And you don’t have to tell everyone the truth until you’re ready, okay? I know they won’t be mad at you when you do. It wasn’t your fault,” he reassured.

“We just… we just want to see you again, Sunny. We’ve missed you so much…” he said. Still, Sunny didn’t respond. “Please… we just want you back.”

Basil looked at Sunny again. He really did look awful; he seemed lethargic and slow, like he had just woken up. He decided he would need to ask about this.

“Sunny… have you been eating well?” Sunny shook his head. “… what have you been doing?”

“Sleeping,” Sunny responded. Basil was surprised, to say the least—he didn’t expect that to be what finally got some words out of him. He’d take it, though.

“Sleeping? Anything else?”

“No.”

“Nothing? Nothing at all?” Sunny didn’t say anything else. Well, it was a start, at least.

“Alright, Sunny. We’re going to get you out of this house today, got it?” he said. Sunny looked apprehensive. “It’ll be fun! We can go to the park; the others are having a picnic today and they’d love to see you! And—”

Sunny shook his head. “You—you don’t want to? The picnic, you mean? We can… we can do something else if you want to! It doesn’t matter! Is there something you want to—” Sunny shook his head again.

“You… don’t want to do anything?” Basil asked sadly. Sunny nodded.

“We’ve all missed you so much, Sunny. We just want to hang out like we did before. It’s okay if you don’t want to, but… I really think this would be good for you.”

He paused, looking at Sunny. For a while, Sunny did nothing. Then, eventually, he sighed and stood up out of his chair.

Basil beamed. “Oh, that’s wonderful, Sunny! We’re going to have such a great time.”

“Would you like to have a picnic in the park with everyone else? We can go to our old hideout spot by the lake!” Sunny nodded noncommittally. Good enough. “Alright then, let’s go! It’s pretty cold outside, so make sure to put on a jacket first…”

By now, the fall was almost over. The leaves had all mostly fallen, and the weather was brisk. Sunny was shivering, clearly not used to the cold.

“It’s good that you’re finally outside, Sunny. Fresh air is important, you know…” Basil explained while walking, Sunny trailing behind him. It seemed even this short walk was quite physically taxing for him in his current state. “I’m really worried about your health right now, but let’s take it one step at a time. We should get you something to eat later.”

“Hey, I just realized…” Basil wondered, “Where are your parents? I didn’t see them anywhere in the house.”

“They’re not here.” Sunny replied. He looked a little sad.

“What do you mean, they’re not here? Did they leave?”

“Mom is out for today. She has a lot of errands. She’ll be back by tonight.”

“She didn’t have so many errands before… what happened, Sunny?” Basil asked. “Is… is she avoiding you?”

Sunny said nothing.

“Sunny… I’m so sorry…”

“What about your dad? Is he out, too?” he asked.

“He left. He said he wasn’t coming back,” Sunny explained.

“Oh, Sunny…”

Basil was appalled. He couldn’t believe Sunny’s parents would just abandon him like that—no wonder he’d barely been eating the past three weeks, with no motivation to do anything and no one around to remind him…

They didn’t end up talking for the rest of the trip, which Sunny seemed content with. They walked in silence, Sunny determinedly staring at the ground. Basil wished he was more open to talking, especially about what happened, but he wasn’t going to push Sunny. He didn’t want to make him feel any worse than he clearly already did.

Once they arrived at the park, they headed for the back corner, where the entrance to their hideout spot was. They made their way through the trees.

Kel and Aubrey were sitting on a red and white picnic blanket spread out on the grass. Noticing Basil and Sunny, they jumped up and ran towards them.

“Sunny!” Kel cheered, clapping Sunny on the back.

“We’ve missed you so much!” Aubrey exclaimed. “Where were you, Sunny? We haven’t seen you in so long!”

Sunny, as expected at this point, didn’t respond. Basil sighed. “He’s… he’s not been feeling too well, but he wanted to come out and see you guys.”

“Oh, I know what will make you feel better! Some Orange Joe!” Kel cried, pulling out a can from his jacket pocket.

“Ew, that stuff’s gross, Kel,” Aubrey said. “Do you really carry it around with you?”

“It’s for emergencies. You never know when the urge might strike…” Kel said seriously. Aubrey rolled her eyes.

Basil smiled. He was glad that those two were still in good spirits after all that had happened. He’d promised himself to not let the friend group drift apart again, and so far seemed to have succeeded. After all, this time Mari was still alive. She still had a chance. A very slim one, to be fair—but at least hope was not completely lost.

“Hey, do you guys know where Hero is? I thought he was joining us for the picnic,” Basil interrupted. Kel and Aubrey turned away from each other to face him.

“He said he was going to go get the food. He’ll be back soon!” Kel explained. “He’s picking up a pizza from Gino’s… I hope there will be enough with Sunny here too.”

“I’m sure we’ll be fine, Kel.” Basil said. “Maybe you should just eat a bit less than you normally do?”

Kel gasped. “Eat less Gino’s pizza? The inhumanity!” he scoffed.

“You’ll survive,” Basil said, chuckling.

“Look, guys, Hero’s here!” Aubrey exclaimed, pointing to the hideout spot’s entrance. Sure enough, Hero was making his way through the trees, pizza in hand.

He didn’t look so great either, Basil thought. Not nearly as bad as Sunny, of course, but he still looked like he hadn’t been sleeping much, and never seemed to be in a good mood. He hadn’t been taking what happened to Mari well at all.

Still better than your timeline…

It was true, to be fair. Hero had been much worse where Basil came from during this first year. At least now he was coming outside and being with his friends sometimes. Basil supposed this might be because he had no reason to blame himself this time.

Although… one reason Basil was hesitant to tell the others what actually happened was that he didn’t want to mess things up again. The way things were going right now, the friend group seemed like it might actually be able to stay together. But if they learned what Sunny had done…

Basil knew he’d promised Sunny the others wouldn’t be mad at him, but in all honestly he couldn’t know if they would be. He hoped they’d be understanding, but…

In Basil’s timeline, after Sunny had told the truth, nobody knew what to do or how to react. Sunny left the room as soon as he finished, evidently not wanting to see what his friends would have to say. Kel sat down and buried his face in his hands, his happy visage finally cracking. Aubrey left shortly after, saying she needed some time to think. Hero just started pacing, muttering to himself.

They didn’t talk for a while. The others all needed to think about things, and Basil was scared. He was worried they would hate him. He knew he deserved it, in any case.

But as time went on, they slowly started to forgive. Sunny wasn’t there, but in all honesty, that might have made it easier. Basil tried to stay out of things as much as he could. He was more to blame than Sunny, after all—without what he did, they wouldn’t have had to spend four years believing a lie.

And they didn’t hate him. He’d had no idea why. He’d done something unforgivable. They should have hated him. But… they were kind to him. They didn’t blame him. They gave him strength.

Eventually, they all gathered the courage to invite Sunny over to Faraway to talk. They all told him they forgave him, and that they knew how hard it must have been for him living with the guilt for all that time. They said they wouldn’t be able to live with themselves if they shut Sunny out. After all, it’s not like they had a second chance.

… but then Basil got one. And he’d wasted it.

Basil sighed. He couldn’t do anything about it now. And he certainly couldn’t let himself get into the same cycle of hating himself and avoiding everyone again. He had a job to do. He needed to get everyone through this.

Hero walked across the grass to their picnic blanket and set the pizza down. He seemed to have not yet noticed Sunny’s presence yet. “Hey, guys.”

“It’s nice to see you, Hero,” Basil said, as Kel and Aubrey raced to be the first to grab a slice of pizza. “We haven’t seen you for almost a week now.”

“I know,” Hero said resignedly. “I just need some time to myself sometimes, alright? I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay. Just… I don’t want you to close yourself off, got it? We all need each other right now.”

Hero nodded. “I’ll… I’ll try to see you guys more. I’m not trying to avoid you or anything. I… I just really miss her…”

“I know you do, Hero. We all do,” Basil said. “Maybe someday she’ll wake up. She’s still alive. There’s always a chance.”

“At this point, though? The doctors said they don’t think she will. It’s been weeks and nothing’s changed.” Hero looked crestfallen. “I just want to see her again…”

“It’s okay, Hero. Everything is going to be okay. Besides, I have some good news! Look who’s here today!”

“Who?” Hero turned towards Sunny. His eyes widened. “… Sunny!?”

Sunny waved at Hero.

“I—I didn’t know you were here! Basil, why didn’t you tell me before!? When did he come out?”

“Sorry. I guess I was caught up talking to you,” Basil replied. “I went to see him this morning.”

“I tried that too a while back, but he didn’t answer the door. He let you in?”

“Yeah, he did. It took a bit of work, but I managed to convince him to come here to see the rest of you.”

Hero nodded, looking at Sunny carefully. “He isn’t looking so great, is he?”

“I… I’m not sure how well he’s been taking care of himself. I asked whether he was eating enough, but he didn’t answer.”

“That’s… not good. Here, Sunny, why don’t you have some pizza?”

Basil looked down at the pizza. It was half gone by now.

“Kel!” Basil called out accusingly. Kel looked over at him. He and Aubrey were sitting by the lake, chatting. “How much pizza did you eat?”

Kel looked sheepishly at Basil, avoiding his gaze. “Not that much.”

Basil glared at him. Hero chuckled.

“Okay, okay, I may have eaten a bit more than I was supposed to,” Kel said, rolling his eyes. “Hey, I was hungry!”

“It’s fine,” Basil replied. “Just don’t have any more, okay? The rest of us are hungry too.”

“Alright, alright, fine.” Kel turned away to continue his conversation with Aubrey.

Sunny picked up a slice of pizza. He seemed unsure about it.

“Really, Sunny,” Hero said concernedly, “You should be eating more. You look so frail right now…”

Sunny took a bite. Hero smiled. “See? It’s not that hard. You’ve got to take care of yourself from now on, got it? I know you miss Mari, but she wouldn’t want to see you like this.”

“Speaking of Mari…” Basil said, “Maybe we should go to see her at the hospital. We haven’t been in a few days.”

Hero looked unsure. “I… I don’t know…”

“I know it’s hard, Hero. But I’m sure the others would like to go. And it’s good to be there for her.”

Hero sighed. “I guess you’re right. I’ll come. It might be nice to see her.”

“Sounds good!” Basil waved over at Kel and Aubrey. “Hey, guys! We’re going to go see Mari! Want to come?”

“Aw, but we only just got here!” Kel complained.

“We’ve been here an hour already,” Aubrey said. “Hero just arrived late with the pizza. You finished eating anyway, right?”

Kel sighed dramatically. “My hand was forced… I would’ve had the rest if they’d let me…”

“You’ll live, Kel. Besides, we can come back tomorrow. We’ve got time,” Basil said.

“Alright, alright, fine, I’ll go…” Kel said defeatedly. He ran back over to the blanket, Aubrey following behind him.

Hero stood up. “Okay. Let’s go see Mari.”

Chapter Text

After packing up the picnic, Basil and the others headed off to the hospital. Despite it being all the way on the other side of town, Faraway Town was so small that they wouldn’t have any trouble walking there. Well, most of them, anyway… Basil was worried about Sunny overexerting himself, but so far he seemed to be holding up fine.

Basil wished he had worn something a little more substantial than the thin jacket he had on; the wind seemed to go right through it. The sun had also nearly completely faded by now, taking away the only bit of warmth they had. Basil hoped Sunny wouldn’t get too cold—he was already shivering.

“Do you think they’ll let us all in at once?” Hero asked. “Last time they made us visit in groups of two. Apparently it would be too crowded otherwise.”

“Well, if anyone can convince them, it’ll be you, Hero!” Aubrey exclaimed, grinning at Hero. Hero blushed. “You always know what to say.”

“Well, I can try, I guess…” Hero said, chuckling. “But no promises. Rules are usually there for a reason!”

Aubrey sulked. “I know, I know…”

Basil grinned. Hero seemed to be in a better mood than usual today, which was a good sign. Hopefully he could keep his composure while in the hospital.

He also hoped Sunny would be able to handle seeing Mari. He looked apprehensive when Basil first suggested the idea, but so far he just seemed to be going along with it. Basil supposed he’d see what happened once they got there—if Sunny didn’t like it, they wouldn’t try to bring him along again.

After a long walk, they finally arrived at the hospital. They ran inside as soon as they got there to escape the cold air, and made their way to the reception desk. Hero moved to the front of the group to talk.

“Hello, how can I help you?” The receptionist smiled brightly.

“We’d like to visit our friend Mari. She’s been here for a few weeks now.”

“Oh yes, I think I recognize you. Room 143, if I’m remembering correctly?”

Hero nodded. “Yes, that’s right. And… I was going to ask… is it possible that we could all visit at once this time? I know about the policy regarding group sizes, but we’re all very good friends of Mari’s, and we promise not to cause any trouble.”

“Right, Kel? Aubrey?” Hero looked sharply at the two of them. They both nodded enthusiastically.

“Well, I suppose we could make an exception just this once. You seem like nice kids. You can go ahead and make your way up to the room,” the receptionist said, gesturing towards the elevator.

“Thank you so much! We really appreciate it.”

Everyone made their way to the elevator and piled inside. Once they were all accounted for, Basil pressed the button for the top floor, and the doors closed behind them. The elevator started to rise.

“Wait!” Basil suddenly realized something. “I forgot to bring flowers for Mari!” He had been bringing bouquets of flowers he’d grown at home every time he had visited so far, but must have been too distracted this morning, since he was focusing on heading out to see Sunny.

“It’s okay, Basil,” Hero reassured. “You’ve brought so many already… I’m sure Mari won’t mind.”

“Still…” Basil trailed off. The real reason Basil was upset about the flowers was that he was breaking a promise by forgetting them. It was one of the things he had vowed to himself to do to make up to Mari in some way for what he’d done to the other version of her. Of course, he couldn’t tell Hero this without revealing he was from another timeline, so he shut his mouth, deciding not to say anything.

“Basil? I promise it’s okay. You can just bring some next time!” Hero said.

“Yeah, it’s… it’s fine. You’re right.”

Hero smiled, just as the elevator stopped with a loud ding. “Hey, we’re here! Let’s head over to Mari’s room.”

They all headed out of the elevator, Kel running ahead in front of the others.

“Kel! No running in the hallway! Especially in the hospital.” Hero admonished. Kel looked back at him and rolled his eyes, annoyed, but after receiving a glare from Hero, he slowed back down to a normal pace.

Room 143 wasn’t far, and they reached it soon after. Kel, who was still at the front of the group, slowly opened the door.

The room was bright and sterile, and completely silent save for the steady beeping of a heartbeat monitor. Vases with various types of flowers sat on a table next to the hospital bed, on which Mari was lying, her eyes closed.

(Basil remembered all too well the last time he had seen one of her eyes opened…)

Basil took a deep breath to calm himself. Those thoughts were not what he needed right now; not when he needed to be strong for the others.

They all walked into the room; everyone except for Sunny. He was still standing just outside of the door, looking nervous. Basil walked over to him.

“Hey, Sunny…” he whispered, “I know it’s hard. You don’t have to say anything if you don’t want to, okay?” Sunny slowly nodded. “Great. Let’s head over to the others, alright?”

Basil led Sunny back over to the others by the hospital bed, where they were waiting for him. Together, they all stood in front of Mari. She looked peaceful, like she was simply asleep and would wake up soon. Basil supposed that wasn’t too far from the truth. Mari wasn’t dead this time, after all—she was just in a coma. Still, they had no idea when… or if… she would wake up, and neither did the doctors. All they could do was hope for the best.

Hero was the first to step forward, surprising Basil—he hadn’t been able to speak at all the other times they had visited. Hero turned towards Mari and cleared his throat.

“… Hello, Mari. I…” Hero swallowed anxiously. “I really miss you, Mari… I really don’t know what to do without you. I feel… incomplete, I guess? I…”

“Just… please… wake up soon. I miss you so much…”

Hero stepped back. Tears were forming in his eyes. “I… I think I need a minute,” he said strainfully, before walking out of the room and shutting the door behind him. Basil and the others looked back at the door, but it didn’t seem like he was going to be coming back in.

Well, this was some progress, at least. Hero had actually managed to say something this time, which had to be good for him—Basil knew from experience how bad things could get when you buried your feelings too deep. Hopefully Hero would be up to visiting again soon… though he had seemed pretty distraught just then. Basil would have to make sure he was okay after the others finished talking to Mari.

Kel was the next to talk. He cleared his throat and took a step towards Mari.

“Hey, Mari. I hope you’re feeling okay!” He grinned at her. “I’m sorry we haven’t been in a few days. But this time we even brought Sunny! Isn’t it nice to see him?” Of course, Kel recieved no answer, but he didn’t seem to be expecting one. “And we brought Hero too! I know he hasn’t been in a while.”

Kel lowered his voice. “You know… I’ve been really worried about Hero lately. He’s spending a lot of time in bed… and keeps saying he doesn’t feel like doing anything. He says he’s too tired to.”

“Please, Mari… please try to wake up, if only for him. I think he really needs it. He misses you a lot…” Kel started tearing up, which was quite unusual for him. Basil noticed that Aubrey didn’t laugh at him for it, which she probably would have on any other occasion.

Kel shook his head and smiled again. “But I’ve been doing great lately! We’ve all been going on lots of picnics together. I can’t wait to have them with you again once you wake up!”

Kel was the most optimistic one in the group about Mari. He’d been convinced since the beginning that she would definitely wake up eventually, and that it was only a matter of time before she did. He was almost the polar opposite of his brother in that way.

“I should probably give the others a turn to talk. I hope to see you soon, Mari!” Kel turned away from the bed towards Aubrey. “Why don’t you go, Aubrey?”

“Sure.” Aubrey walked closer to Mari and crouched down beside her.

After a brief pause, she started speaking. “I—” Aubrey’s voice broke. “I really miss you, Mari… it’s been so long now, it’s been weeks, and you still—and you won’t wake up—”

Aubrey started to cry. For a moment, she just sat there, sobbing next to Mari, while everyone else waited for her to calm down. Eventually, she managed to mostly gather herself. “Please, Mari… you’re like a sister to me. You’re all I have… please wake up…”

With all the other things he was dealing with, Basil had somehow forgotten about Aubrey’s troubled home life. He wasn’t sure exactly how bad it was at the current time, but Aubrey had told him enough after the friend group had gotten back together that he figured things probably weren’t great.

Aubrey wiped away her tears and stood up, walking back to the group. “I’m sorry I couldn’t keep myself together like Kel did, I just…”

Basil smiled at her. “It’s okay,” he reassured.

Kel looked over at Sunny. “You can have your turn next, Sunny!”

Sunny looked apprehensive. Basil stepped closer to him.

“Do you want to say anything, Sunny?” Basil whispered so only Sunny could hear. “You don’t have to.”

Sunny slowly walked towards the hospital bed. He looked at Mari silently for a while, the others waiting for him to talk, before shaking his head and stepping back.

“That’s okay, Sunny. Maybe next time!” Basil reassured, smiling. Sunny nodded, which was promising. At least he was willing to try again later.

“Basil, are you going to tell her anything?” Aubrey asked.

Basil looked down at the floor. He had so much he wanted to say, but… not in front of the others. They shouldn’t have to know how he’d failed Mari a second time. Maybe he’d come back tomorrow, just by himself. He felt he should at least tell Mari… not that she could really hear him.

“… Basil? Are you okay?” Aubrey looked at him with a concerned expression. He realized he’d been staring blankly at the wall while thinking, which must have looked strange.

“Yeah, I—I’m fine! I just… don’t know what to say.” It wasn’t a complete lie, at least. He didn’t know what he could say that wouldn’t feel disingenuous.

“I… I miss you, Mari. I hope you wake up soon,” he eventually settled on saying. Kel and Aubrey looked at him expectantly, but he couldn’t find any more words.

“Is that it!?” Kel exclaimed loudly.

Aubrey looked at him accusingly. “Kel! That’s not very nice!”

“I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to be rude… I was just surprised! Basil usually says more than that.”

“It’s okay, Kel.” Basil, with some effort, managed to smile at him. “I’m just not feeling my best today.”

“Maybe we should get going?” Aubrey suggested. “Hero’s waiting for us, so we shouldn’t take too long.”

Basil nodded. “Sounds good. We can come back again soon.”

They all waved Mari goodbye, then left the room one-by-one. Hero was waiting for them in the hallway, leaning against the wall. He seemed to have managed to regain his composure.

“You know, Basil,” Hero remarked as the group walked back down the hallway to the elevator, “You’ve been acting surprisingly mature recently. I know this must all be really hard on you… considering you saw what happened and all… so I’m really proud of you for taking it so well.”

Hero had no idea… of course, the real reason he had been acting “more mature” was that, mentally, he was still sixteen. Now that he’d gone back in time, he was technically older than Hero by a few months, though it was impossible to tell from the outside.

Although… now that he thought about it… if people were starting to notice a difference in his personality after only a few weeks, he really wasn’t doing a great job at acting like he was still twelve. He’d need to improve on that in the future.

Basil smiled slightly at Hero. “Thanks. I’m doing my best.”

“I know you are. I wish I was too… I haven’t been there for you all as much as I should have.” Hero looked at the ground guiltily.

“It’s okay. You don’t have an obligation to help us or anything,” Basil reassured. He also felt an obligation to help the others, though for a reason Hero wouldn’t be able to understand—time travel wasn’t something most people had to go through, after all.

Basil wanted to tell Hero and the others the truth as to where he came from, he really did, but he was scared. Not only would they most likely not believe him, but even if they did… they’d hate him, wouldn’t they? He had a chance to stop the accident and prevent Mari from falling, and he’d wasted it. He hated himself terribly for it, so he couldn’t expect the others to feel any differently.

“I know, I know,” Hero said defeatedly. “Still, I’m going to try and see you guys more. I… I really haven’t been a great friend lately.”

“Don’t say that! You haven’t done anything wrong,” Basil scolded.

Hero sighed. “If you say so, I guess…”

They continued walking in silence, and, soon enough, reached the elevator. Kel ran ahead of the others to get inside first.

“Wait for us, Kel!” Hero called out. They all picked up their pace to catch up.

Once everyone was inside the elevator, Basil pressed the button for the ground floor, and they started to descend.

The friends walked back down the street towards the plaza together. Everyone was exhausted after the long walk, and it was starting to get late. Basil was positively freezing by now; it had only gotten colder outside while they were at the hospital.

Basil was feeling pretty good about Sunny. Overall, he hadn’t seemed too bad today, he thought. He’d joined the others for a picnic, and even gone to visit Mari, despite not being able to say anything to her—which was not something he expected from him on only the first day out of his house in weeks. He did look extremely tired, though; the day’s events had clearly taken their toll on him.

They passed by the plaza quickly, having no need to buy anything (Kel begged Hero to go look at comics at Hobbeez, but Hero shut him down quickly), and moved on to the park. As they walked by the entrance, Kel stopped in front of the vending machines.

“Hero, please, can I at least get something from here?” Kel pleaded desperately.

Hero looked sternly at Kel. “No, Kel. It’s late, and you can’t be drinking Orange Joe—yes, I know that’s what you were going to get—” Aubrey snickered. “—at night. You won’t be able to sleep at all if you do. Besides, you already had one today, remember?”

Kel slumped his shoulders in defeat. “Aw, you’re no fun.”

Hero chuckled. “No, just responsible. How about we come back tomorrow? You can get one then, alright?”

“Okay!” Kel seemed satisfied.

“We should be heading back home, guys,” Basil reminded them. “It’s getting dark out. We can meet up again in the morning!”

“Sounds good to me,” Aubrey said, waving them goodbye. “See you then!”

They all waved back at Aubrey as she turned around and started walking back to her house.

“We’ve got to get going, too,” Hero said. “Mom won’t be happy if we’re late getting back home. Let’s go, Kel.” He turned and started walking away from the park, Kel unhappily following behind him.

“Bye, guys!” Basil watched them turn the corner onto their house’s street, then turned back to look at Sunny. He looked like he was practically about to drop off to sleep on the spot.

“We should get you home, Sunny. Your mom should be back by now, right?” Basil asked. He thought he remembered Sunny saying that she was only out for the day, but just wanted to make sure. He didn’t think it would be a good idea right now to leave Sunny at home alone, like he’d been so often over the four years he shut himself in for in Basil’s timeline.

Sunny nodded in response, reassuring Basil.

“That’s good. Do you want me to walk with you there, or…?”

Sunny shook his head no.

“Alright, then. Have a good night, Sunny… I’ll see you in the morning.” Basil said. Without a word, Sunny turned around and started walking towards his house, the same way Kel and Hero had gone.

Basil yawned. He was quite tired… he should probably be heading home as well. He crossed the street and began walking towards his house.

The evening sun had almost completely faded by now, giving way to darkness. The town was completely silent, save for Basil’s footsteps on the sidewalk and the wind blowing. There was nothing but Basil’s thoughts to keep him company.

There was one more day left in the weekend. After that, they’d all be back in school. Basil wondered if he would be able to get Sunny to come… it would definitely be good for him, and it would get him out of the house, at least. He hadn’t gone to school at all after the incident in the old timeline, but maybe this time things would be different; after all, Sunny already seemed a lot better than he was last time. He decided he’d just have to try his best.

Before long, Basil had reached his house. He opened the door and stepped inside, taking off his jacket and shoes. He headed towards his bedroom, trying to be as quiet as possible so he wouldn’t wake his grandma up—she was already asleep, since it was quite late by now. Basil usually arrived home sooner.

He lay down on his bed and slowly drifted off to sleep.

Chapter Text

Basil woke up much later than he had wanted to. He’d forgotten to set an alarm—it was late morning by now. That wasn’t good. They’d all agreed to meet up again this morning, so the others must have been wondering where he was… he shouldn’t be worrying them like that.

He got out of bed and rushed out the door as fast as he could. It was warmer outside today, thankfully, so his jacket would suffice this time. Though he knew he needed to find everyone else, he decided he’d drop by Sunny’s house first, since he highly doubted Sunny would come out on his own. He’d meet up with the others afterwards, as long as he didn’t see them on the way.

Basil was starting to feel a lot more confident about things. He really wanted to make sure the friend group stayed together this time, and so far, at least, he seemed to be doing an okay job… though he wasn’t entirely sure how things stood with Sunny currently. He hadn’t talked much yet outside of when Basil met him in his house, but at the same time he certainly wasn’t anywhere near as bad as he’d ended up last time around. He’d shut himself inside for four years before Basil had seen him in his timeline… he couldn’t let that happen again. He could never forgive himself if he did.

Basil hoped that Sunny would come out again today. It would be best for him to go outside regularly with the others, so he could get used to doing it again after all the weeks he isolated himself for. He just needed to realize that Basil and the others were here for him… that they all needed to be there for each other. Of course, Basil couldn’t be sure what they would think once they found out the truth about Mari’s death, but he wanted Sunny to be ready for whatever happened. He hoped they’d be understanding like they’d been after Sunny told the truth at the hospital in the old timeline, but there were no guarantees.

Later today, Basil planned on going to visit Mari again—just him, this time. Even if she couldn’t really hear him, he wanted to apologize to her for what he’d done: when he’d hung her back in his own time, and recently, when he’d failed to save her from falling again. He decided he’d go tonight after everyone else went home, to make sure he could be there alone.

Before anything, though, it was time to meet up with Sunny again.

Once he reached Sunny’s house, Basil walked up to the door and knocked, just like he’d done yesterday.

…

There was no response.

Not again… Basil had worried that this would happen. He knocked a second time, but still, Sunny did not come to the door.

“Sunny? Are you there?”

…

Still nothing.

Basil sighed. It didn’t seem like Sunny wanted to come out today, at least for now. He’d seemed to be doing so well yesterday… but it must have all just been too much for him. Maybe they shouldn’t have gone to visit Mari so soon—it was Sunny’s first day outside in weeks, after all. Seeing Mari in the hospital would have been a lot to process that early on. Basil would have to add that to his mental list of mistakes he’d made. It was quite a long list, at this point. He really wasn’t going a great job at this whole “second chance” thing.

If only Basil had gone to see Sunny earlier… if only he’d been less of a coward… maybe then Sunny wouldn’t be hiding away from everyone like this. Maybe then would be better. Apparently it wasn’t enough for Basil to let Mari fall again—he had to mess everything up with Sunny, too! He felt like a failure.

Basil decided he’d have to come and try again later to get Sunny outside. He’d give him a few hours, then come back to see if he was ready yet. He didn’t want to give up on Sunny, though he knew he couldn’t force him to come out. All he could do was keep knocking, waiting for an answer.

Defeated, Basil turned away from the door and started walking back down the driveway. As he turned back onto the sidewalk, he saw a familiar figure in a bright orange shirt running towards him.

“Kel? Is that you?”

“Basil!” Kel called, skidding to a stop. “I’ve been looking for you everywhere! Where were you?”

“I woke up late… sorry…” Basil said.

“Were you going to see Sunny? Can I come?”

Basil shook his head. “I was… but he’s not answering his door. I tried knocking, but I didn’t hear him inside.”

“Well, let me try! He’ll listen to me for sure!” Kel marched up Sunny’s driveway and towards the door. Once he reached it, he knocked on it aggressively. “Sunny! Open up! We want to see you!”

“Don’t be rude, Kel… that’s not going to make him come out.”

Kel huffed. “And what do you know about it? Clearly, being polite didn’t work, either!”

Basil held his head in his hands. “Do you want to make me tell Hero, Kel?”

Kel’s eyes widened. “No! No, anything but that, please! I’m sorry…!”

Basil chuckled. “I’m just teasing, Kel. You know I’d never… still, do try to be nicer to Sunny, alright? He’s been through a lot recently.” Even more than Kel knew.

“Okay, okay, fine…”

Kel knocked on the door one more time and waited for a response, but no sound came from inside the house. He sighed and walked back down to where Basil was standing.

“Doesn’t seem like he’s coming out,” Kel said. “I should have expected this by now… he hasn’t answered all the times I tried to see him these last few weeks, after all.”

“You were going to visit him?” Basil asked, though he wasn’t really surprised. It made sense—Kel had done that in the old timeline, too, even years after the incident. He was always the most outgoing one out of the group.

“Yeah, why wouldn’t I?” Kel looked incredulously at Basil. “We all want to see him, right?”

After hearing that, Basil felt even more guilty about not trying to get Sunny outside earlier. Maybe if he’d gone with Kel to visit, Sunny would’ve been convinced to come out before now…

“Yeah, we do…” Basil said, managing to pull himself back together. “Well, hopefully he’ll want to see us when we come back later. We might as well hang out in the meantime, though. Is Hero still inside?”

“He is. I said I’d come back once I found the rest of you guys. I’ll go tell him you’re here!” Kel sprinted back towards his house and went inside.

Well, that was a bit of a failure… Sunny had better come outside when they returned later, or Basil wasn’t going to know what to do. Was he still sleeping, maybe…? Sunny was known for sleeping in, after all. There had to be a good explanation for why he was staying inside today, when yesterday he’d at least been willing to give Basil a chance, but for the life of him Basil couldn’t figure out what it was. He couldn’t shake the feeling that it was because of something he did, though. He seemed to be messing everything up nowadays.

Now that he thought about it… Basil had really been the cause of pretty much all of the problems his friend group had dealt with, both in his timeline and in this new one. He couldn’t seem to do anything right. First he’d hung Mari’s body and lied to everyone about it for four years, and then, when he’d finally gotten a second chance to fix things, he’d wasted it—

Basil took a deep breath. Then another. Slowly, he started to calm down. He wouldn’t be much use to anyone if he let himself got all panicked like that, and he couldn’t afford to mess anything else up. He still had a chance to make things better. Things could be much, much worse right now for them, after all… Basil knew that all too well. There was still some hope.

After several minutes passed, Kel came sprinting back down his driveway, Hero following behind him at a considerably slower pace. Basil felt encouraged—this was now the second day in a row that Hero had come out to see them, which wasn’t usual these past few weeks. Basil had been worrying Kel wouldn’t be able to convince him to come out today after he’d had such a rough time visiting Mari, but it looked like he was being proven wrong. Hopefully this trend continued. It would definitely be good for Hero, in any case.

“Hey, Basil.” Hero said as he reached the sidewalk. “Kel said Sunny wasn’t coming outside?”

“No, he wasn’t… we both tried knocking, but he didn’t respond.”

Hero glanced over at Sunny’s door, his face unreadable. “Well… we can come back later, right? Maybe he’ll come out then.”

“Yeah, that’s the plan!” Kel said brightly. “I’m sure he’ll come around eventually.”

“We should do something together in the meantime,” Hero suggested. “Though, we should probably meet up with Aubrey first. She said she was going to meet us this morning, didn’t she?”

Kel nodded. “Yeah, she did.”

Hero spun around, like he was looking for Aubrey. “Have you seen her, Basil? You would have walked by her house on the way here.”

“No, I haven’t…” Basil said. “Could she still be there, maybe? We could head over and see.”

Basil didn’t really want to go to Aubrey’s house—even though it probably wasn’t nearly as bad yet as it had become in his timeline—but he knew it would be a good idea to at least check. If Aubrey needed help in any way, they all should be there to support her.

“Sure, why not?” Kel said. “Now that I think about it… we’ve never actually been there, have we? She always comes over to play with us.”

Hero looked deep in thought. “You’re right… she’s never invited us over to her place, has she? I wonder why…”

“Well, if we want to find her, that’s the first place to check,” Kel said determinedly. “Let’s go!”

It didn’t take them long to reach Aubrey’s house, and, soon enough, they found themselves on the sidewalk in front of it. Basil looked up at the house. It wasn’t in the best condition, but was nowhere close to how bad it had been in his timeline. There was no trash littering the lawn yet, and the house in general wasn’t quite as worn down at it had become before. Hopefully this time Basil could stop… whatever happened for the situation with Aubrey to get to the point that it did.

Carefully, Hero stepped up to the door and knocked. After a moment, it slowly started to creak open. Aubrey stepped out of the door, closing it behind her. Basil noticed there were tears in her eyes—had she been crying?

“Hey, Aubrey!” Hero said. “We were just wondering where you were, so we’d thought we’d check here first. Are you…” Hero looked closer at Aubrey, his expression growing more concerned. “Are you okay? You look like you’ve been crying…”

Aubrey wiped the tears off her face and tried to smile, though not convincingly. “I’m… I’m fine. It’s nothing.”

“Are you sure?” Hero placed a hand on her shoulder. “If something’s bothering you, you can tell us… we’re here for you. It’s alright.”

Aubrey stared blankly past Hero. “No, I… it’s okay. My mom just yelled at me, that’s all. It happens sometimes… I’m fine.”

So things really weren’t okay with Aubrey, even this many years back… how hadn’t Basil noticed before? How hadn’t any of them…? First he finds out about Sunny’s parents neglecting him, and now this…

But… this was something he could actually fix this time around. He wouldn’t let himself mess this up. Now that he had a second chance, maybe Basil could stop things from getting to the point that they did with her. He had a lot on his plate, but for some reason he felt more confident than usual right now.

Hero looked at Aubrey concernedly with his mouth held slightly open, like he was trying to say something to her but couldn’t quite find the words.

“You… you should have told us, Aubrey…” Hero eventually managed to say, shifting his gaze to the ground at Aubrey’s feet. “We had no idea… I had wondered why you were sometimes late meeting up with us recently, and why you… you sometimes looked like you’d been crying… I guess this explains it.”

Hero took a deep breath. “How long has this been going on, Aubrey?”

Aubrey sniffled. “A while now… ever since Dad left, Mom gets angry a lot more. She seems really upset.”

“Your dad left? Oh, Aubrey… I’m so sorry…” Hero said. “You should have told us this earlier. We could have helped!”

“I didn’t want to worry you… you’re already worrying about Mari.”

“We wouldn’t have minded, Aubrey. We need to be there for each other—that’s what friends do, right?” Hero smiled at Aubrey reassuringly.

“I guess so…”

Aubrey seemed to have calmed down a bit by now. She stepped off the porch, joining the rest of the group.

“Why don’t we go hang out somewhere else for now?” Hero suggested. “We can talk about this later, okay?” We don’t have to right now if you’re not feeling up to it.”

Aubrey nodded.

“So… what would you guys like to do? We just had a picnic yesterday, so maybe something else?” Hero asked.

“Oh! I know!” Kel said excitedly, jumping on the spot. “Let’s go to Hobbeez! We can look at comics together there!”

“Sure, if everyone else wants to,” Hero said. “What do you guys think?”

“Sounds good to me,” Basil said. “How about you, Aubrey?”

Aubrey shrugged. “Why not? I don’t think we’ve been there in a while.”

“Alright, that’s everyone! Let’s go!” Kel cheered. He immediately turned around and started running down the sidewalk towards the intersection, seemingly not planning on waiting for the others.

Hero chuckled. “We’d better follow him, or we might lose him. Let’s get going, guys.”

They managed to catch up to Kel before he got too far away from them, though Hero was panting pretty heavily by the end.

“Hey… huff… Kel… maybe… huff… wait for us next time…?” he said weakly, coming to a stop in front of Kel.

“What? You were the ones being slow!” Kel complained.

“Not everyone can run like you can, Kel,” Basil said. He was quite tired, too, after sprinting so far. “By the way… what do you guys think about checking in with Sunny one more time before we head to the plaza? Maybe he’ll open the door for Aubrey.”

“You went there earlier? He didn’t come out?” Aubrey asked, seeming disappointed.

“Well, obviously he didn’t, otherwise he’d be with us!” Kel said, rolling his eyes.

“Kel, now’s not the time for that. Aubrey had a very rough morning.” Hero reprimanded, glaring at Kel.

“Okay, fine… sorry…”

After Hero took a minute to catch his breath, they all continued down the street—walking this time, not running, as Hero looked like he might pass out if they went any faster—and turned left towards Sunny’s house.

It hadn’t been as long as Basil had originally wanted to wait since he’d first knocked on Sunny’s door, but he thought it wouldn’t hurt to try, since this time Aubrey was with them. He wondered if her presence would encourage Sunny to open the door in any way. He had confessed to Basil after they got out of the hospital that he’d had a crush on Aubrey as a kid… though Basil had suspected it before, honestly. He had no idea if Aubrey shared the same feelings, but maybe it could get Sunny out of his house, at least.

Once they reached Sunny’s house, Basil motioned for Aubrey to go up to the door. Tentatively, she walked up to the porch, everyone else following behind her, and knocked.

…

“Try calling his name,” Basil suggested. “That’s what worked for me yesterday.”

Aubrey nodded, then knocked again and called, “Sunny? It’s me, Aubrey.”

…

“Sunny… Could you please come out? We’d all really like to see you…” Aubrey looked less and less hopeful the longer she waited.

Finally, after a long moment of silence, the door slowly opened. Sunny peeked out of it nervously, looking over the group. Basil waved at him happily. “Hey, Sunny! It’s great to see you again. How are you feeling?”

Sunny shrugged non-commitedly. Better than nothing, Basil supposed.

“Why don’t you put on a jacket, then come with us? We’re going to go to Hobbeez to look at comics!” Basil said. Kel nodded enthusiastically, as if to corroborate what Basil was saying.

Sunny hesitated briefly, then, surprisingly to Basil, said, “Sure.” After walking back into the house to grab a jacket, he went back outside to join the others.

“Finally!” Kel said impatiently. “Can we get going now? It’s boring just standing around like this…”

“We needed to check with Sunny first, Kel,” Hero chided. “We wouldn’t want him to miss out… and you want him there with us too, don’t you?”

“Yeah, yeah, of course I do… anyway, we’re wasting time right now! Let’s go already!” Kel started back down towards the park, slower this time, and gestured for the others to follow.

“I’ll go ahead with Kel,” Hero told Basil and Aubrey. “Why don’t you two stick with Sunny? He doesn’t look like he’s much up to running right now… I’ll make sure Kel waits for you once we get there.”

“That should work. See you there!” Basil said, waving. Hero turned around and went to try and catch up with Kel.

“Let’s get going, guys…” Aubrey said. “We shouldn’t leave them waiting too long.” She started walking the way Kel and Hero had gone, Basil and Sunny following behind her.

Basil smiled to himself. Maybe today wouldn’t be a complete failure after all.