Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“I have to tell you something.”

What happened after that was a blur, Sunny couldn’t remember much. Turns out he wasn’t as ready for that confession as he thought. It all happened so fast, all he could remember after telling everyone the truth was that he wound up on the floor, and his three friends had left the room. His vision had turned blurry but when he finally got up Basil had awoken, their Something’s slowly fading away from each other. It made Sunny happy to see Basil give him a genuine smile.

It took only one more day for Sunny to be discharged from the hospital, with Basil being discharged at the same time. Unfortunately, they didn’t get a chance to say goodbye to each other. So now, Sunny was forced to move away, with a picture of their shocked faces being the last memory he had of most of them, no goodbye or anything. As Sunny helped his mom finish loading up the car, despite her insistence that he should just sit in the back and rest, something snapped in him.

Was this really how he wanted it all to end? Was he just going to stand by and let this be how he leaves? How could he even face his friends though? Why did he care? They deserved better than what he gave them. That was the conclusion he came to as he finished packing up. The realization made him freeze up a bit, his whole body felt like needles were jabbing into it, his vision became a bit fuzzy, and he felt tears prick at his eye. Sunny had to focus all his energy into his legs to stop himself from collapsing to his knees as he felt his body go numb. He couldn’t, he wouldn’t, let it all end like this. The odds seemed stacked against him, like there was nothing else he could do, maybe he just had to force some more time.

Sunny could deal with his mom yelling at him later, he knew she would never hurt him intentionally. The real question was, where the hell was he supposed to go? Then he remembered all the flowers left at his hospital room. The people he helped, the friends he made. Kel and Hero’s house was too close, Aubrey’s house was a no go, and Basil was too obvious a place to hide, still, he just needed to get away from his mom. As he loaded the last box into the trunk of his mom’s car and closed it, he plotted. It wasn’t a well laid out plot, he just needed a thought to kick him off.

With a deep breath, he heard his mom call out to him, “Sunny? Everything alright? Come on sweetie, get in the car.” Sunny didn’t get in the car though, instead he turned around, and without a second thought, ran. “Sunny!” he could hear his mom call out behind him as he ran and ran down the sidewalk. Sunny was weak, but he was also afraid. He may have been skinny, incredibly unfit, but he could still run. He could tell his mom was still getting out of her car as the view of her disappeared behind the trees.

Where would he go? All the hangout spot had to offer was a lake view, the church shops would be the first place his mom would search, the church would only worsen his mental state. Instead, Sunny just continued to run and run, reaching the furthest house from his own that he had familiarized himself with. His lungs were giving out fast, leaving him gasping and wheezing for air, but that didn’t stop his movements. For some reason, he couldn’t get Kel’s reminder to not run in the road out of his head, stopping him from just dashing straight across the street, waiting until he reached the crosswalk to pass onto the other side.

His main motivator was his mom still calling out to him as his chest and legs stung with exhaust. Though, there was something that caught his eye as he tried his best to escape the inevitability of moving away. Basil’s house. The memories of Basil rambling to him about books and plants, Basil tying the noose, Basil falling into the lake, the fight where Basil stabbed his eye, it all came flooding to him at once. The idea of betraying Basil by leaving without a goodbye or thank you got a hard sob out of Sunny as his eye blurred with tears. The pain Sunny felt inside was enough to make him stumble, falling directly onto the pavement, searing pain ripping through his left hand and knee, but his adrenaline was pumping too much for him to notice. His surroundings blurred together, forming humanoid figures that Sunny could only associate with his friends disapproving stares and expressions of disgust.

The blood trickled down his leg as he sprinted, the tears rolling down his face as he muttered pleas to have more time. He didn’t need their forgiveness, he didn’t deserve their forgiveness, but he needed to give them a goodbye they deserved from him. Sunny did a horrible thing to them, he didn’t need to make up for that, he could never make up for what he did, but he had to see them one last time. That required a place to hide though, and as he reached the end of his familiarity with Faraway, he wiped his eye and saw the furthest home from his own, he had no idea where his mom was, unable to see her, but her cries for him could still be heard faintly.

That was all the motivation Sunny needed to begin pounding on the door. “Hey, hey!” he could hear a voice call out from inside the house. “Hold on, I'm coming!” It was the voice of a familiar young boy who opened. Eventually, the door opened, and eyes fell upon the crying, bleeding, messy Sunny. “Woah, knife guy! Aren’t you leaving today? What happened to you?” the young boy sporting an afro asked.

“Please, just let me in!” Sunny choked out, falling to his knees.

Chapter Text

“Who’s there Angel?” The artist called out to her younger brother.

“It’s Sunny!” Angel called out, letting Sunny stumble into their house.

As Nancy came out from the hallway she gasped seeing Sunny’s bleeding hand and leg and tear streak on half his face, the bandage over his right eye entirely soaked, and his clothes covered in dirt. “Oh my goodness! What happened to you!” Nancy gasped rushing to Sunny’s side, listening to him continue to sob.

Sunny tried to speak but couldn’t through the sobbing as Nancy and Angel sat him down onto a chair in their kitchen. He was trying to find some way to reasonably let them know how he felt, but could they even understand? Thinking back on it, this idea probably wasn’t the greatest, Nancy was fairly responsible despite how playful she could be, she may turn him over to his mom the moment she asked.

“Knife guy! What happened to you? I heard you got into an accident! And now Aubrey is acting super weird and not leaving her house! Did you get our flowers? I thought you were moving, why are you here? What’s it like with one eye?” Angel piled onto Sunny, who just sat there sniffling as he gathered his thoughts. He was feeling overwhelmed by the young hooligan’s questions, trying to speak but only getting shaky noises out. Sunny was starting to regret running, he had no idea what to do now. He was so ready to escape his mom that he never considered what to do once he got away from her.

“Angel!” Nancy yelled, “leave him alone! He’s clearly shaken!” she said, approaching Sunny with a first aid kit, starting to patch up Sunny’s knee. “Go to your room for now!” she sighed.

“What?! Come on sis! My friend hangs out with him!” Angel tried to protest. All Nancy needed was a simple death glare to scare Angel into running straight to his room. Nancy sighed, cleaning the dirt off of Sunny as she sprayed his hand with medicine. “Now then, do you mind telling me why you just came to my house, pounding on the door at 9 in the morning and bleeding?”

Sunny stayed quiet for a moment, trying to fish a single thought out of his racing mind. Nancy sat there, giving him an impatient stare as he stared off for a moment before finally muttering something.

“Come again?” She asked.

“Time! I need more time!” Sunny blurted out loudly.

Nancy sighed, “and what exactly does that mean?”

Sunny whimpered, “I don’t want to move away.” Sunny’s head hung in shame at the ridiculousness of his statement. He was beginning to regret this decision a lot more, he acted on impulse and so far all it has done is worry his mom, Angel, and Nancy.

Nancy took a moment before sighing and finishing helping with his scrapes, “so you ran here to hide?” she asked. Sunny slowly nodded, not wanting to look up at her, feeling her glare at him. Nancy let out a sigh as she set the first aid kit aside and gently ruffled Sunny’s hair before yanking on his ear.

“You can’t run away from something like this, you dolt!” She said sternly. Sunny yelped in pain, trying to free himself from her inescapable grasp. “Alright Sunny, let me find your mom, you need to get back to her now!”

“No! Please! Not yet!” Sunny pleaded.

“Why? What is there still for you to do?” Nancy asked, clearly upset.

“I…” Sunny had to pause. Did he need to tell them what happened? Nancy and Mari were friends. Sunny didn’t know a whole lot of Mari’s old friends, due to her friend groups being a bit more open in age range compared to Sunny’s. But after wiping away his tears, he came to the conclusion that those who he knew were Mari’s friends, and that he could consider his own friend, probably deserved to know the truth. He didn’t need to tell everyone, but it was something that more than just the three he grew up deserved to be in on. Sunny missed so much life inside that house, he deeply regretted all of it, especially after seeing how easily he affected people’s lives. He still had the notes from all of those flowers the residents of Faraway gave him.

“I need to apologize to a lot of people,” he told her. “I screwed up, and I have not even come close to making up for it. I want to stay here to atone,” he told her.

Nancy blinked for a second before rubbing her temples, “surely, whatever you did can be made up over the phone or something.” She was obviously losing her patience which made Sunny more afraid to tell her the truth.

“It can’t. I…I killed Mari,” Sunny admitted.

Nancy’s eyes got as wide as possible as she froze looking up at him, she could tell Sunny wasn’t joking, and she clearly had no idea how to react. After a minute with a ragged breath she stood up, swallowing before speaking again. “I see, well, that is a problem,” she said, not fully processing the confession.

Sunny watched, utterly horrified at her inability to realize what he just told her. Nancy slowly stood up, looking down at the ground, breathing still uneven as she carefully blinked. “How about, you go hang out with Angel for a bit, I’m just going to,” she paused for a moment, “have a seat.” Nancy sat down on the other side of the table, interlocking her fingers and staring into her hands.

Sunny shakily stood up as he walked over to Angel’s room, knocking on the door. As he waited for a response he noticed how soaked his eye bandage was, luckily his mom made sure to give him quite a few spares to carry in pocket, and he carefully changed the bandage as he heard a ‘what?’ from behind the door. Sunny took a short breath before opening the door, seeing Angel sitting on his bed and writing into his ‘Foe Factx!’ book. Angel looked up at him with a smile, shooting up quickly, “hey knife guy! Was my sister giving you a hard time? She does that quite a bit!” Angel admitted, nervously chuckling as he saw Sunny’s saddened expression remain unchanged.

“So, why are you here?” Angel tried to ask.

Sunny walked up to him, taking a deep breath before speaking, “do you mind if I sit down?” he asked.

Angel just shrugged, prompting Sunny to sit down on the bed and sigh, “7/10” he muttered to himself as he stared into his lap.

“What?”

“Nothing,” Sunny sighed, leaning back onto the bed and shutting his eye, gathering his thoughts.

“So, are you just going to take a nap or what?” Angel asked.

“I’m trying to think, please give me a moment,” Sunny said. The two sat there in silence for a bit, Sunny letting his mind race again. How would he even let Angel know he was a murderer? He broke Nancy so easily, how would someone much younger take this? Maybe he wouldn’t understand, he didn’t know Mari like Nancy did. Angel was a bit younger than everyone else, it may be too much for him, or he won’t realize how serious of a topic this was.

Sunny was beginning to rethink his tell everyone idea, maybe just those who it felt most appropriate for. He didn’t need to climb a tall building and declare he was a murderer at the top of his very weak lungs. Telling everyone was not needed, he just needed to tell certain people, and Angel wasn’t one of them. Still, it would not hurt to have a conversation, but what could they talk about? Did Angel play Pet Rocks? Maybe they could talk about art? Oh yeah, there was that card game that Angel played. Sunny used to play it a while ago but ran out of people to play with in isolation.

“Aubrey’s been really quiet,” Angel spoke up. Sunny’s eye shot open at that looking over at the scrappy young boy. “She came by the hangout spot on the day you went to the hospital, she was really upset about something but refused to say why, none of us have seen her since. Kim’s been super stressed about it, she tried to go to Aubrey’s house and came back very shaken,” Angel continued his rambling to Sunny, his expression dropping.

Sunny felt his heart drop at Angel’s rambling, remembering how pained Aubrey looked when he told his friends the truth. He had no idea what happened to her after he confessed but Sunny knew it couldn’t have been good. She was so torn apart by Mari’s death, clearly knowing the truth would have hurt more, and now she believed he was long gone. Aubrey was definitely his top priority, he had to get her taken care of. That thought led him to another one, after spending a whole five years crushing on Aubrey, was he really about to leave without letting her know how he felt? He couldn’t, even if she hated him, she deserved to know, worst case scenario, he would already tarnish a name that barely meant anything to anyone.

“Aubrey…” Sunny began, “she really needs someone right now.” Angel looked over at him, tilting his head in confusion. “I never should have left her, she needed me most and I left her,” Sunny continued, covering his face with his hands. Memories came flooding back to Sunny of all the times he let Aubrey vent to him on the swings, all the times they had hung out together, whenever she would cling to his side or the two would rest their heads against each other’s shoulders. She trusted him so much and he threw it into the dirt, he always felt a little guilty about it, and that certainly set in when he saw the inside of her house, but now that weight had doubled against him as he listened to Aubrey’s reaction to the truth.

“I’ve never seen you around before that fight at the park but you care about her,” Angel said laying next to Sunny. “Well, I think anyways, you did stab her at the park and then pepper sprayed all of us,” Angel added.

“Oh yeah, sorry about that, I also still need to apologize to Kel’s mom for stealing that from her purse,” Sunny nervously chuckled.

“You stole from Kel’s mom?! That’s awesome!”

Sunny smiled at Angel’s amazement, glad to know at least someone thought he was cool. “Yeah, but back to Aubrey.” Sunny paused before speaking, “I’m thankful she had people like you guys to look after her while I was…inside. She’s such a sweet girl, very caring. I see she’s become a lot tougher too, I’m glad she could get stronger.” Sunny laid completely unaware of Angel staring at him with a mischievous smirk as he rambled. “I went 4 years without seeing her but I thought of her everyday. She's one of the most important people in my life, and to see that even though things had gotten worse, she still had friends through it, I’m grateful. I want her to be happy more than anything, I just love her so much and wish I did more for her,” Sunny finally admitted, sighing to himself.

As soon as he looked over he noticed the odd gaze given to him by Angel “what?” Sunny asked.

Angel began laughing at him, “you’re in love with the boss?” he asked, holding his stomach in laughter.

Sunny paused before realizing he just told Angel of all people about his feelings for Aubrey. He felt his face heat up as he brought his hands to his face. As Angel continued laughing at him, Sunny let out a quiet groan before throwing his hands in the air, “alright yeah! I’m in love with Aubrey! I have been for years! So what? She’s the kindest, most sincere, most beautiful girl I’ve ever known!” Sunny shouted, getting more cackles out of Angel.

However, Sunny wouldn’t need to bear it much longer as Nancy quickly slammed the door open, eyes still wide as can be. Angel immediately shut up at that, shaking a bit at this interaction from his sister, backing up a bit. That upset Sunny a bit, seeing someone so afraid of their older sister, it reminded him of the night of the incident. He frowned looking over at Nancy.

“Sunny,” she began, “I need to speak to you,” she said.

Sunny nodded and stood up before a spark came to mind. “Can I finish talking with Angel?” he asked.

Nancy sighed, before shrugging, “sure, I guess, why not? Be fast,” she said before slamming the door closed.

Angel let out a sigh of relief as he stood up from his bed. Sunny cleared his throat to get Angel’s attention before facing him. “Look,” Sunny said scratching the back of his head, “I need you to know something. Your sister may act a little different for a bit, and I know she can be a bit…scary as is. I just need you to give her some time,” Sunny said softly, getting a confused look from the boy, “I know what it is like to be afraid of your sister-”

“I’m not afraid of her!” Angel shouted, crossing his arms. Sunny just gave him a look that came across as ‘dude, be real here.’ Angel looked down in defeat, knowing Sunny saw through his confidence.

“What I’m trying to tell you is, you should try to talk to her more. Let her know how you feel, and try to understand how she feels. If you bottle up everything, it will only lead to disaster. I promise, you’re going to regret it if you don’t value the time you have with her now,” Sunny told him, putting a hand on Angel’s shoulder. “When I go home, promise me you’ll try to talk to her, and let her know that even though you don’t get along, you still love her. You never know how long you might have her.”

Angel was shaking a bit at that, though Sunny couldn’t tell what part of it had gotten to him like that. Whatever it was, Angel took a shaky breath, looking unsure, so Sunny decided to say something that might have gotten to him. “I think it would be the coolest thing you could ever do.”

Angel steadied his breathing and looked up at Sunny before giving him a very serious look and nod, “yeah. I promise. Man to man,” he told Sunny, holding his arm out for a hand shake, which Sunny happily accepted, though his shake was much weaker compared to Angel’s enthusiastic, firm grip.

“Alright, before you confront her though, I have to. See you later,” Sunny said. “Oh right, I need to return this to you,” he said, setting Angel’s rare card on his bed. He could hear Angel let out a cry of victory as he left Angel’s room to find Nancy standing at their front door.

“I don’t take kindly to having a murderer in my house,” she said firmly, “but, I can’t deny that it was years ago, and you have definitely done your best to help me out with Lucas and my art, and my brother, regardless of all of that. You were clearly more hurt by it than me.”

Sunny knew how true that was.

“So let me say this right now, I don’t forgive you yet, I still need time to process, but you are always welcome here. That doesn’t mean I’m going to keep you here while your mom is scrambling around town looking for you. So here’s what is going to happen, you will leave and find your mom and tell how you feel, and if need be, I will vouch for you on staying. There are people you have hurt and you want to fix that, I respect that decision. So, please, get out, you’ve done enough,” Nancy had tears carefully drop down her face as she let all of that out to Sunny. She shakily opened the door for him, pointing to their front yard.

Sunny nodded, thanking her before leaving his house, the bright sun glaring down at him, making his one eye squint. “Now, I guess I should find my mom,” he mumbled to himself, shoving his hands into his, for some reason, still full pockets.

Chapter Text

Find his mom.

Sunny’s current mission was to find his mom. Unfortunately, he had no idea where she was. The guilt began to build up in him as he realized just how scared she might be for him. He ran off out of nowhere, he probably terrified her. On top of that, he didn’t even know how late they might have been. Then again, his mom could be awfully stubborn when she wanted to be, maybe it wasn’t the best idea to find her right away. Maybe he could talk to Aubrey or Basil again. Basil’s house came into view, making Sunny wonder if his mom had already stopped by there. No harm in asking and seeing his friend right?

Sunny carefully approached Basil’s front door, feeling his heart rate pick up. The memories of almost watching Basil attempt to take his own life, and getting stabbed in the eye began to flood back to him. His breath got shaky as he stared at the door, unsure if he should knock on it. As his fist approached the door, he heard a turn of the knob and watched as the door slowly creaked open, showing the older woman with red hair he’d known all his life.

“Sunny!” His mom called out, pulling him into a tight hug. “I was so worried! What were you thinking running off like that?!” She rambled on, asking him if he was okay. From over her shoulder he saw Basil and Polly staring at him like both him and his mom were deranged.

“H-hi…” he groaned, squirming in her grasp.

He heard his mom loudly gasp as she squeezed him tighter, “oh my gosh Sunny! You talked! I haven’t heard my baby’s voice in 4 years! You can tell it’s gotten deeper,” she said, failing to hold back her tears. Sunny had completely forgotten to consider that he hadn’t properly interacted with his mom since Mari died. That filled him with guilt remembering how quickly his home life devolved with his dad leaving and Mewo running away. She wasn’t around much but she tried to take care of him, and he cold shouldered her like everyone else, even after she picked him up from the hospital.

“Mom, can’t breathe-“ Sunny choked out as he squirmed in his mom’s tight embrace, gasping for air. She quickly let go of him and sighed, rubbing her temples as Polly carefully approached the two.

“Miss Suzuki, I don’t believe it would be very good to let you on the road while crying like that,” Polly told Sunny’s mom as she continued to weep tears of joy. It took a bit more coaxing before the woman let go of her son, allowing Sunny to catch his breath again. As he did his mom bombarded him with questions about his mental state, and then went into a full panic when she saw how his knee and hand had gotten bandaged up.

“Please Miss Suzuki! Give him some space!” Basil pleaded, noticing how anxious Sunny was looking and how he was trembling from his mom’s questions, clearly feeling overwhelmed. Sunny’s mom seemed a bit annoyed at Basil intervening but backed off of Sunny, giving him a chance to calm down. Sunny closed his eye and took a deep breath, smiling at Basil and whispering a thanks his way.

“Can we come inside?” Sunny asked Basil and Polly, getting a nod from them both.

“Oh, we shouldn’t bother them, I’ve already wasted so much of their time,” his mom tried to assure him out of their house but Polly placed a hand on Miss Suzuki’s shoulder.

“No need to worry about that ma’am. We’re more than happy to continue letting you be here. You and your son are always welcome,” Polly reassured Miss Suzuki, gently tugging her back into their home and allowing Sunny to step in. Sunny noticed how uneasy his mom looked as he took in the wonderful floral scent of Basil’s home. Why was she so uncomfortable?

“Hey Basil,” Sunny waved to him as he sat down next to his mom on the couch. Basil muttered a soft hello and waved back, gently smiling at him. It took him a moment to notice the discontented look on his moms face by the friendly interaction with Basil.

“What’s wrong?” Sunny asked, feeling worried.

“Nothing, it’s not important right now,” his mom responded, “why did you want to come in?”

“Well, I want to stay here,” Sunny said.

His mom paused a moment before rubbing her temples, “what do you mean you want to stay here?”

“I want to stay in Faraway for longer, I have…unfinished business,” Sunny replied.

At this, his mother gave him a blank stare. She took a few minutes to stare at him in disbelief before sighing, “unfinished business? Sunny, you’ve had four years to clear up unfinished business. I’m sorry but you can’t wait to tell me that you have things you still want to do until after we no longer have a home in Faraway. We have to go!”

“But-“

“No buts Sunny. I’m sorry that you want to stay but this has been a plan months in the making. I don’t want to stay in this place that keeps hurting my children. If you didn’t do something you wanted then it’s your own fault. I tried to get you out and I know there were some things I could have done but didn’t, but we can’t stay here anymore. You should have done this when we still had a house. I’m tired of all of this,” his mom continued to go off on him.

Sunny could only sulk down into the couch, fighting tears as he listened to his mom. He couldn’t think of any argument, it was his fault that he was out of time and his fault his mom hated being here. Maybe he should just suck it up and accept his fate.

“Miss Suzuki,” Polly said calmly, placing a hand on Miss Suzuki’s shoulder. “I believe it may be best to hear out your son’s thoughts. He has been through quite a lot from what I have been told.”

“I appreciate your concern but we are already running late, I can’t just let him stay in Faraway,” his mom protested.

Then Basil raised a hand to grab the two women’s attention, “he could stay here.”

Sunny was still frozen, sulking hard but managed to glance between his mom and Basil, noticing the death stare she was giving him. This didn’t stop Basil from continuing, “we could let Sunny stay here, and he can do what he needs to. This is about the others isn’t it Sunny? Please understand Miss Suzuki we had a really bad falling out and I don’t want to see Sunny leave like this either,” Basil begged.

Miss Suzuki didn’t know what to say as Sunny was able to sit up a bit, giving his mom a begging look like a puppy. His mom was struggling to stand her ground, but just as she opened her mouth, Polly spoke, “Miss Suzuki, I may have only known Sunny for a few days but I’ve seen how he has touched the lives of everyone here in Faraway. Ask anyone, he has made some major positive impacts on these people. If he’s finished something badly, I feel that he will not feel complete until he fixes it.”

“But, he can’t stay here! We don’t have a home!” Sunny’s mom objected but Basil followed as soon as she finished.

“He can stay here!”

Miss Suzuki froze at those words, very tense. She bit her lip before speaking, “no offense, but I’d prefer to not keep my son in the house he lost an eye in.”

Basil and Sunny both felt their heart drops at this, the guilt visible on Basil’s face. Though Polly was once again quick to step in, “there is no need to worry Miss Suzuki, as Basil’s mother and a working nurse I will be able to make sure the two are kept well. I’m no psychologist but I believe that staying a little longer will be much better on Sunny’s mental and physical health. You wouldn’t want him to go back to staying in that room again right?”

Sunny’s mom looked as though she wanted to be offended but couldn’t find the words nor reason for it. Instead she let out a defeated sigh, and stood up, “very well, I suppose I can’t argue with the opinion of a medical professional. I’ll get the car, Sunny kept most of his possessions in there.”

After that was decided Sunny and Basil sat there quietly as Polly insisted on preparing a to-go of tea for Sunny’s mom to take on the road as well as offering her a packet of tissues. Eventually Sunny felt the courage to speak, “so, Polly’s your mom now?”

Basil nodded, “yeah. My parents don’t want me so Polly is being paid to be my adoptive mother plus working as a nurse.” Sunny nodded along to Basil’s explanation, soon the two went back to sitting in the quiet, just enjoying each other’s company.

“So,” Sunny began awkwardly, “heard from the others recently?”

“Kel’s the only one who will talk to me, but he doesn’t seem too keen on seeing you,” Basil sighed.

“That’s fair, I don’t think anyone wants to see me right now,” Sunny chuckled defeatedly.

Basil took a sharp inhale and turned to face Sunny before speaking, “I’m sorry about your eye.”

Sunny was shocked to be hearing an apology from Basil but shrugged, “it’s fine.”

“No it’s not! You’ve lost an eye!” Basil yelped.

“Yeah, it was traumatic, I’ll have to regain some vision stuff,” Sunny shrugged again, “but at the end of the day, I did something worse. I put you into that mental state. I’m sorry for that.”

“You don’t have to apologize, I forgave you long ago,” Basil said.

That statement didn’t sit right with Sunny but he decided to let it go for now.

Eventually Sunny’s mom returned and the boys began bringing Sunny’s boxes into the house, of course they only pulled out a few boxes, as this was a temporary stay. Sunny was able to bring them into Basil’s room. Just some things such as bedding, his laptop, extra clothes plus eye bandages, stuffed animals, hygiene stuff, and a handful of extra things.

“Now, do everything Miss Polly tells you, I expect you to enroll in physical classes when September gets here, I know it’s tough but please try to be more social, no drugs, keep hygiene consistent, remember your bandages, and keep out of trouble! Also while I don’t mind letting you stay here, you better call me at least once a day and I want you to visit on holiday breaks,” his mom listed off the rules to him.

“I got it mom, don’t worry,” Sunny said, a bit overwhelmed.

“And please for the first little bit keep your distance from Basil, I know he’s your friend but it scares me that he was able to take your eye like that,” she said, feeling a bit ashamed that she had to say that.

“Both Polly and I will keep a watch on his mental health and make sure that he is doing well enough to not break down like that,” Sunny promised her.

She sighed and gave Sunny a tight hug, “please, get better. I wish I could have seen you grow up better,” she said.

“I’m sorry mom, but I promise to be the son I can from a long distance, I’m going to improve,” Sunny promised her.

Once they were finished with everything Sunny gave him mom one last goodbye and waved goodbye as she drove off, still showing that she wasn’t too sure about this decision. As they all come back into the house Sunny sighed and looked at his new home, examining the couch he was going to be sleeping on. “Excuse me Polly, may I head out for the day? I promise I’ll be back before the sun is down,” Sunny asked.

“Are you sure? You just moved in,” Polly asked.

“Yeah, you just came here,” Basil added.

“Yeah, I’m sure, I just want to be out a bit more, talk to some people,” Sunny explained, not sure how Basil would feel if Sunny just flatly told them he wanted to see Aubrey. “You can come with me if you want Basil,” he offered.

“No thanks Sunny,” Basil said, shaking his head, “I kind of just want to stay home for a bit, take care of my flowers.”

“That sounds fun actually, mind if I help you with them tomorrow?” Sunny asked.

Basil’s expression instantly lit up at that, “of course you can!” he said, smiling brightly.

Polly seemed satisfied with Basil’s excitement and nodded, “alright, you can head out then Sunny, have fun, and stay safe.”

Before Sunny left he grabbed his wallet and decided to quickly put on his seashell necklace and attach his chimera keychain to one of the belt loops on his shorts. Ruffling through his pockets, he emptied some stuff on top of one of his boxes, keeping only his pet rock in his pocket. The sunglasses would have been much, no way in hell he was going to put on that fedora, he didn’t need a ball cap either, a paintbrush and sheet of bubble wrap would have just taken up space, and Mincy’s gift was probably safest at home anyways, he’d have to get it framed.

Sunny gave them both a goodbye and left his new home, taking a quick right and crossing the street to the old rotting house his crush lived in. He felt horrible that she had to live here, especially remembering how she would vent to him about how horrible her home life was before, he could only imagine how much worse it got after Mari died. Once again he was feeling incredibly guilty as he approached the door, knocking on it a few times and waiting on someone to answer. Eventually the pink-haired delinquent slowly opened the door. Sunny was shocked to see how terrible she looked, as if she hadn't slept in days, with bags under her eyes and messy tangled hair. She tightly held her dirty Mr. Plantegg toy that she must have stolen from the treehouse, and had a thin dirty blanket draped around her shoulders.

“Oh, it’s you,” Aubrey spoke quietly in a defeated tone, “what do you want?”

Sunny nodded and waved to her, unsure of what to say. “I was just checking on you,” he said, feeling worried. He did this to the girl he was in love with. Her life was already so damaged and he just continued to take everything good away from her.

“Well, I’m fine, now leave,” Aubrey stated coldly.

“Hold on, please can’t we have a normal conversation?”

Aubrey harshly exhaled but obviously didn’t feel like arguing. She didn’t say anything but stared at him as if asking him to continue. Sunny could feel a storm of bad feelings swell up in his stomach as he stared back into her eyes. She looked so dead inside, so unfeeling. “Well, I heard Kim came to check on you,” Sunny began, but he only got a shrug in response. “They’re awfully worried for you, I talked to Angel earlier and he seemed afraid for your health,” Sunny continued. Aubrey blinked at his words and nodded, still not talking. “I’m worried too, I know you’re not happy with me, but it looks like you should come out some,” Sunny said, chuckling a bit and looking down at how hypocritical he sounded. Her silence quickly silenced him. He shouldn’t have been laughing. He abandoned those who needed him, he murdered his sister, this was not a laughing matter.

Eventually Aubrey did speak to break the silence, “I’m tired Sunny.” He glanced back up at her, hoping she’d follow that statement. “I’m tired of feeling hopeless, I’m tired of being stuck here, I’m tired of being angry and violent, I just don’t care anymore. Everything good eventually is taken or corrupted from me.” Her tone didn’t change, words sounding empty and hollow, as if there wasn’t a soul left in her body.

“That’s not true, your friends are always going to be there for you, and from now on I will too. Just like before I want to work towards making your life! I,” he paused questioning if this was appropriate timing, his sense of reason told him no, but he didn’t care, “I love you Aubrey. I always will.”

Aubrey’s expression finally changed at this, and it dropped into a scowl. She didn’t raise her voice as she spoke this time though, words still empty, though they did have a tint of disgust, “are you fucking serious? You take away the two people that mattered most to me. Lie to me. Humiliate me in my one place of peace. And now with just a two days notice to process everything, you want to confess some kind of crush to me? What the fuck is wrong with you?” Sunny felt his heart dropped at those words, but he also couldn’t fight the idea that he deserved them. “Maybe at one point I liked you too, hell maybe I still do, I don’t know anymore. I just want to be left alone for now. I promise though, I’m not going to end up like you,” she said coldly, moving to close the door.

However, Sunny quickly shoved his foot between the door and yelped, “wait!” Aubrey looked impatient now, but Sunny had one thing left to do. Sunny could only imagine what going through that kind of grief in such a terrible house would be like. He wanted to help her out in some way just like he promised her. Sunny quickly fished out his wallet, examining the roughly $350 he had in there and handed her about a hundred dollars in twenty bills. “Here, I know it’s not much, you probably don’t want handouts, but I don’t want you to starve in there, maybe you could get some other stuff too.” Aubrey shakily took the money without looking at him, muttering a thanks before closing the door.

Sunny sighed and shoved his hands back in his pockets and quietly dragged his feet along the sidewalk, head down the whole time as he slowly approached the park. The feeling of dread clouding his mind for the whole walk. Aubrey wanted nothing to do with him, Kel wanted nothing to do with him, Hero wanted nothing to do with him, and he didn’t even feel shocked. This was all his fault and he knew it, Mari and Basil may have forgiven him, he may have forgiven himself, but he still lost something he held so dear. His friends hated him now, he had convinced himself in the hospital that their feelings were not as important as his own, but he failed to remember that they still mattered. He hurt them more than any act of revenge they might want to commit could hurt him. Not only that, but this had a domino effect, seeing how worried for Aubrey Angel had been, and how worried Kim sounded, Sunny could only imagine how Kel’s friends like Cris and Jay might feel right now for Kel. These were the consequences of his brash actions, the pain he always feared of inflicting on them with the truth, the feeling of accepting himself had slowly washed away as he found a seat on the empty swing set and let the tears fall from his one working eye, silently sobbing to himself.

Chapter Text

The consequences of his actions weighed heavy on Sunny’s mind as he sat in the mostly empty park. He had irreversibly damaged so many people’s lives. Sunny felt like a monster, just like Omori had tried to tell him. He had broken them more than he could fix. Could any amount of atonement make up for this train wreck? As that question lingered in his head, he heard the crunching of sand as someone approached him.

“Mr. Tutor? Is everything alright?” The voice of a young girl asked him.

Sunny wiped his eye from the tears and looked up to see Joy staring at him confused. “Oh,” he said before rubbing his eye again and clearing his throat, “hello Joy.”

“What’s wrong?” She asked, frowning.

Sunny paused for a moment, he knew he couldn’t tell her he was a murderer but how else could he describe his situation? Eventually he landed on some words that felt safest. “I’ve upset some people, that’s all, and I’m not sure if I can fix it,” he croaked.

“Well, that’s okay!” She said smiling at him before taking a seat on the other swing, “we all make mistakes. But you just have to keep trying your best! That’s how people will know how awesome you are!”

Sunny chuckled at that, there was the positivity he remembered in headspace. Perfect for the role of Happy. “Well, this is a pretty big mistake, not an everyday one. And besides, you’re more awesome than me,” Sunny smiled, trying to move the conversation somewhere else.

“Everyone is awesome! We’re all just not good at some stuff. Like I’m not very smart,” she said.

Sunny dramatically gasped, “what? Who told you that? You are incredibly smart,” Sunny argued.

“I know I am, but I still struggle with stuff. But you know what? That’s okay! No one is perfect. If I give my best all the time then that’s all anyone can ask of me,” Joy cheered. “Dad told me I need to tell people I got that from my favorite cartoon.”

Sunny chuckled, surprised to hear something so wise come out of the little girl. She seemed super excited to give him that speech, as if she had waited that moment her whole life. Sunny’s tears had dried at this and nodded, “yeah, I guess so. I just have to do my best to make it better.” Sunny’s chest still hurt but now he found a proper place to keep that determination he held when it ran away from his mom. Sunny carefully stood up from the swings and stretched a bit. “So, why are you here? I thought you were doing summer classes?”

“Dad let me have a break to play. He said I’ve been doing really good in my classes so I’ve earned it! But I went to tell Michael goodbye first,” she explained.

Sunny nodded, remembering how excited Michael was to attempt to make his dream come true. He was happy to have helped Michael reach his goal. That was some of the good he managed to accomplish after leaving his house. “So, he’s going to be a star now huh?”

“Yeah,” Joy said, giving him a shining smile, “a nice red haired lady was moving to the city and had an empty seat and space for his stuff so she offered to drive him there to save him some money!” Sunny was shocked to hear that, the only person who could have possibly come to mind was his mom. She offered to take Michael to the city? He would have to thank her for that when he called her tonight.

“Well that’s pretty amazing,” Sunny smiled back. “I’m glad he was able to get more help, Michael will need it. But I’m sure with you supporting him he already knows he just needs to try his best,” Sunny said, patting Joy on the shoulder. Joy kicked back and swung a bit, giggling to herself. Sunny decided to join her, sitting back on the swing and gently moving alongside her. The two just laughed to each other as they swung for a while before Sunny felt like he needed a break. As his feet hit the ground, Joy slowed to a stop as well.

“I wish I could be here with my other friends,” she said.

Sunny looked at her and thought about her friends, “Brent and Jesse, right?” Joy nodded before Sunny got an idea. “Hey, how about we go find them then? I know Jesse has really missed you two,” Sunny offered. Joy let out a squeal of excitement and wasted no time jumping out of her swing and running to the park entrance. Sunny chased after her, “hey wait up!” he called out to her as she happily sprinted to Brent’s house.

Sunny needed to catch his breath, 4 years of sleeping 17 hours a day finally catching up to him as he leaned against Brent’s mailbox. He watched as a very giddy Joy cheered him on to get up to the door. Sunny’s knees wobbled, his legs feeling like pins and needles were pricking every atom of his from the waist down. He slowly approached the door, partly leaning against the outside wall as Joy enthusiastically knocked on the door. After a moment, Brent’s mother opened the door, surprised to see the two, “oh hello. My son isn’t in need of any more tutoring.”

“Hello Miss Principal,” Joy said, her energetic tone turned to a sheepish one in the face of Brent’s mother. Sunny assumed Joy may have been nervous around the woman, Sunny remembered her as a serious woman when he still attended school in person.

“Good afternoon Joy, Sunny, what can I do for you?” She asked.

Joy looked at Sunny shyly, prompting Sunny to ask the question, “ma’am, we were wondering if your son could come out and play with us today.”

The older woman gave him an odd look, “aren’t you a bit old to be playing with my kid?”

Sunny chuckled, looking over at Joy before getting an idea, “consider me a babysitter.” Joy gave him a shocked pout at the comment. “I’m just making sure they don’t run into any trouble. Ma’am, your son has been working very hard on his classes, I’ve seen that first hand when I tutored him. Don’t you think he’s earned a break? You don’t want to work him too hard, putting too much focus on your studies can make you do worse.” Sunny remembered first hand during headspace’s initial formation how he tried to drown out the guilt by studying. It worked for a week or two but eventually all the stress he put on studying made his A’s drop to D’s. That was when he found it more enjoyable to sleep all day instead of studying. Luckily his grades did raise once he stopped using school as a way to let out his stress. His mom had always worried that he may not do well in school due to his home classes being more advanced than the regular ones.

“A break? Well, I suppose he has earned it. And you’re certainly a smart young man. I guess his grades warrant a break. Besides, it’s been years since I’ve seen him let loose and play with his friends. Having some extra time to visit the neighbor would be nice too,” she said, looking over to the house Kim and Vance’s mother lives in. Sunny recalled how frequently he would see the two women gossiping.

“Yeah, consider it an extra break for you too,” Sunny convinced her. “The kids are in perfectly safe hands. They’re still young, let them be kids a little more. Trust me, time flies, you’ll want to see them be carefree more before time runs out.” Sunny hurt a bit at that promise. The regret of making his own mom watch his youth pass by came flooding back, but he knew now wasn’t the time to ponder his shitty actions. The woman nodded and quickly called for her son. Brent came into the living room and saw Joy and Sunny at the door.

“Oh, hello Joy! What are you doing here?” Brent asked.

“Son, today I want you to forget about your work, go have fun, go play!” his mom told him.

Brent didn’t even hesitate to let out a cheer as he dashed out of the hug, giving Joy a hug who happily hugged back. Sunny and Brent’s mother smiled at the sight. Brent’s mom gave her son a goodbye before closing the door, allowing the two children to run off to Jesse’s home. Sunny loudly groaned and he tried to run off after them, already running slower than before as he attempted to catch up to the hyperactive children. As he wheezed he finally stumbled upon Jesse’s house, noticing the two kids had already been invited. Jesse’s dad noticed Sunny gasping for air as he leaned against the door.

“Goodness,” the man exclaimed, “let me get you a drink. You look like you’re about to faint!” Sunny collapsed on the couch, legs aching as he gratefully took the water and gulped it down. “I’m assuming you came here in pursuit of Jesse’s friends?” He asked, getting a nod in response from Sunny. “Well I wasn’t keeping up but I heard something about the park, if it can get Jesse out of the house for a bit, please do it.”

Sunny nodded and carefully stood up once he regained feeling in his legs. After leaning on the walls over to Jesse’s room, Sunny saw that he missed the big reunion, as the three were already in a big group hug. Sunny smiled at the sight, giving Jesse a wave as Joy and Brent immediately began to ramble on about what they wanted to do once they got to the park.

Sunny spoke up as they talked about what to do, “hey, can we please walk to the park? My legs are killing me,” he groaned. The children nodded before agreeing to start their park adventure with a game of hide and seek. With Joy and Brent giddy as can be, and Jesse showing the same amount of excitement that Sunny usually would, the four began to return to the park. The three kids walked ahead of Sunny who tiredly dragged his feet along the sidewalk.

“Remember when the big kids used to let us play hide and seek with them? We always thought they were so cool!” Brent recalled.

“Oh yeah! Weren’t you there Mr. Tutor?” Joy asked, getting a nod from Sunny. “Why did we stop playing together?” Sunny felt uncomfortable from that question. It never dawned on him until now that there might have been people who looked up to him. They did play hide and seek with the others quite frequently whenever everyone was there. Then Mari died, Sunny could imagine that made it hard for those who knew to keep playing.

“Just, life caught up to us I guess, you guys know that right?” Sunny said, trying to play it cool. While Sunny was more than happy to give the kids some words of wisdom, the topic of death seemed a bit much to him even if they were at an appropriate age to learn about it.

“Yeah, I wish my parents let me play more,” Brent said, his expression dropping.

“It’s okay,” Sunny said, patting him on the shoulder, “your friends are always going to have your back. Maybe when we all get the time we can gather everyone like the old days for one giant game of hide and seek.” The thought of those big games of hide and seek he would play in headspace made him a bit excited. Something smaller would do good on his mind. As they arrived at the park, Sunny noticed that right at the entrance was Bebe. She looked sad and a bit antsy. Sunny waved to her to get her attention.

“Oh hello, you’re that boy who is always with Kel, correct?” Bebe asked Sunny. Sunny nodded in response as the kids stopped to wait on Sunny to finish his talk. “Have you seen the Maverick anywhere? I haven’t seen him in a few days?”

Sunny shook his head, “I haven’t, I only really got out of the hospital yesterday.” He scratched the back of his head finishing that response, only pausing when he heard a collective gasp from the kids.

“You were in the hospital?!” Brent asked, shocked.

Sunny was confused at first, knowing he received flowers from their families. Perhaps their parents sent those without telling them that he was there.

“Yeah, but I’m all better now,” he said, giving the kids a thumbs up before turning back to Bebe. “Are you looking for Mikhael again?” he asked, stifling a laugh as they sighed in relief.

“Yeah, I haven’t seen him all day! He’s usually doing some really cool stuff here!” Bebe said with a pout, crossing her arms, “my sister doesn’t even think he’s real, I’ll show her that I’ve found a super cool guy to be in love with!” Sunny had to stop himself from cringing as Bebe called Mikhael “cool.” That guy was a lot of things but cool was not one of them.

“I’m sure if you stick around you will see him, he’s always out doing something weird,” Sunny shrugged.

“You can play with us while you wait if you’d like,” Joy offered.

“I’d love to!” Bebe replied, following the group to the benches where Sunny immediately collapsed, his legs feeling like they were pulsing. As he slumped down, he let out a slight groan, feeling the relief of not having to stand or run for a bit.

The kids looked concerned for him and formed a small group huddle as Bebe took a seat next to Sunny. They appeared to be planning something for the game, but when they shot back up Joy and Brent both shouted out, “Operation Walker!” before storming off amongst the trees at the back of the park. Bebe giggled watching the kids run off.

“I remember being that excited over games,” she commented with Sunny nodding in response. “By the way, that necklace is beautiful, where did you get it?”

“Oh, a friend made it for me, maybe I can find some more seashells and ask her to make me one,” he pondered, examining the jewelry that was supposed to help him with moving, which he never did. “I know she’d love to make some more,” he explained.

“I really like it, I’ve thought about trying out seashell jewelry but my sister doesn’t think it looks nice,” Bebe explained, getting a nervous chuckle from Sunny. He had always been intimated of Brandi, she just seemed off to him, especially around Hero. “Maybe I need to stop letting her decide that stuff for me, I need to be more confident, like The Maverick! I’m going to choose how I want to look,” she told herself. Well, if there was one thing Mikhael had, it was confidence, a little too much if you asked anyone who wasn’t Bebe, but it was still confidence.

As the two continued a short conversation about looks, the kids emerged from the forest with a fairly big stick in Jesse’s grasp and an ear to ear smile from the other two. “We found you a walking stick Mr. Tutor!” As they handed Sunny the stick, he had to admit, it was a very nice stick. One of the best sticks Sunny had ever seen, nice shape, not too rough or splintery, and a good smooth end to set on the ground.

“Thank you,” he said, gently taking it and placing it on the ground before standing up, his legs still hurting a bit as he leaned on the walking stick. “It’s perfect,” he told them with a smile. This got a loud cheer from Joy and Brent and a silent fist in the air from Jesse. “Alright, tell you guys what, I’ll count, and the four of you can hide first,” Sunny offered, sitting back down as he put a hand over his eye that wasn’t bandaged. Bebe quickly shot up and once Sunny shouted ‘go’ all four of them took off as he began to count upward to 25. Sunny could have gone without the reminder that he only had one eye but he didn’t want to start crying in front of children again, so he suppressed those thoughts as he may or may not have skipped over one or two numbers. Hopefully no one was close enough to have caught him in that act. So, with the aid of his trusty stick, Sunny began to seek out his four friends.

The obvious place to start looking was the now rusty big cat. As Sunny approached it, trying to walk like a hiker and not an elderly person with his stick. Once close enough, he really began examining it, realizing how dirty it was, it was a little upsetting. Though after giving it a few taps with his stick he heard a stifled chuckle and turned around to see a head dart away behind the slide. With a smirk, Sunny slowly approached the slide and tapped it again with his stick, hearing a stifled giggle from behind it. Soon, he peeked his head behind the slide and said, “gotcha!” A spooked Brent shot up and yelped in surprise, getting a slight laugh out of Sunny.

“Dang! You found me!” Brent laughed, “now I can help you seek!” Sunny didn’t remember allowing others to help seek when they were little, but it sounded fun. The two continued their search for a few minutes before seeing a tuft of hair swaying from within a tree. Brent quickly rushed to the tree with Sunny trailing along, slowly. “We found you!” Brent shouted pointing up and seeing Joy and Bebe hiding together in the branches of a tree.

They were both laughing as Bebe jumped down. “Guess you found us!” She said happily before helping Joy get down.

“I didn’t expect anyone to hide together,” Sunny commented.

“One more to go! I can’t believe Jesse won!” Joy exclaimed.

“Where did he run off to?” Brent asked, looking around before everyone heard a shout.

“Just buzz off alright kid?! We don’t want you around here!”

Sunny quickly recognized that voice as everyone’s heads turned to the direction the shouting was coming from, before hurrying off to find Jesse. As Sunny suspected, Jesse had hidden close to the entrance of the hideout. There, they found him looking seriously up at Kim, Vance, and Mikhael. He was standing his ground but looked intimidated. Kim had a scowl on her face while Mikhael looked rather annoyed. Surprisingly, Vance looked worried, placing a hand on his sister’s shoulder, but Kim quickly slapped it away, causing Vance to frown. “I already told you kid, just beat it!” Kim yelled, her face turning red.

“Oh my gosh, The Maverick!” Bebe whispered to herself.

Sunny examined the situation, as scrappy as Kim was, Sunny knew she was not about to try to physically harm a child, that still didn’t make the situation any less dangerous. He needed a way to work around all of them. That’s when Sunny got an idea to use Mikhael’s arrogance to their advantage.

“Bebe,” Sunny whispered, grabbing her attention, “now’s your chance.”

“My chance?” She repeated, very confused.

“You distract Mikhael, and we’ll get Jesse out of there,” Sunny explained.

“Distract?” She stuttered, blushing a bit, “I can’t even face him. I can’t go in front of him right now, I need to look better, I haven’t prepared anything to say to him,” she panicked.

Sunny frowned listening to Kim continue to yell at Jesse as Bebe hesitated. Then Sunny sighed, thinking of something before getting an idea. “Look, not to ruin your immersion, but he is desperate for attention. Just ask him out.”

“What? Like a date? I can’t do that! Where will we go! What will I say! What if I make a fool of myself!” Bebe panicked more but Sunny quickly put a hand on her shoulder.

“Look, just, ask him to go to Gino’s with you. He’ll pay, he’s got the cash for it. You’re going to do great!” Sunny said, giving her a thumbs up.

“I don’t know, what if my sister sees us, she’ll judge me so much,” Bebe murmured.

Sunny remembered their previous conversation and got an idea, “hey, remember what we said? Be yourself, not what she wants,” he told her before taking off his necklace and putting it on her. “Go get him,” he encouraged her. Before Bebe could protest further Sunny pushed her out from behind the tree, revealing herself.

“Oh great, another person!” Kim said, clearly annoyed. Vance wasn’t paying attention but Mikhael had his eyes all over Bebe.

“O-Oh, hey there The Maverick, I-I know this isn’t the ideal time, b-but would you maybe like to go out with me?” Bebe stuttered as she tried to strike a charming pose for him the same way Mikhael normally struck a pose to look cool.

“A woman? Is asking me out? For real? Like actually wanting to go out with me?” Mikhael said to himself dumbfounded. He quickly adjusted his wig and approached her, “well of course fair maiden, how could I turn down such a beautiful and respectful lady like you.” Sunny practically gagged watching Mikhael’s ego inflate like a hot air balloon. “That necklace is quite beautiful too, it matches your eyes,” he followed, trying not to appear super weird for a girl who actually wanted him.

Bebe let out a slight squeal at the compliment about the necklace and bounced a bit as she failed to contain her smile. Kim, though, had a problem with this idea, “where do you think you’re going?” she asked Mikhael in a rough tone.

“Sorry, but I’d rather be around an attractive lady who actually treats me nicely than some wannabe boss,” he shrugged.

“Sunny, quick, Jesse,” Joy whispered, noticing how Jesse looked uncomfortable in all of this. Sunny nodded and quietly crept over to Jesse, patting him on the shoulder while Kim and Mikhael argued. Jesse looked over at him without a word and Sunny gave a wordless response, pointing to where Joy and Brent were hiding. As Jesse began creeping away, he paused as he felt a soul piercing stare strike his back, looking back to find Vance watching him. At first, Sunny expected the worst, but soon, Vance motioned for the both of them to hurry up and get out.

Sunny helped Jesse book it, but Bebe’s distraction soon ended as Mikhael took her by the wrist and fled, yelling at Kim, “later loser! I have a date to attend,” and dragged Bebe away from the scene. Kim was about to scream as she reeled her attention back to Vance.

“Can you believe this shit! They all abandoned us! Those bastards!” She screamed at the top of her lungs as tears began to drop down her face.

“Sis, come on, let's go get some candy,” Vance tried to comfort her.

“No! You don’t get it! I don’t want to be alone like this again!” Kim choked out, turning away. Though as she did, she noticed some black hair watching her from the tree. Despite the blurry vision from her tears, she had no hesitation in figuring out who was watching you. “YOU!” She shouted, stomping over to Sunny. Sunny gulped, ushering for the kids to hide as Kim approached, with Vance dragging his feet behind her. He turned around to face the girl who was wiping tears from her face. “What did you do?!” Sunny was confused as to what she meant at first until she shouted, “what did you do to Aubrey?!”

“Aubrey? I didn’t-“ he cut himself off remembering how she appeared at her home.

“Don’t play dumb! I went to check on her and she was a mess. She was yelling at me about being betrayed and hurting people! She’s never lashed at me like that! What did you do to her!” Kim yelled.

“I was in the hospital until yesterday, please Kim-“ but this time she cut him off.

“Don’t try to excuse it, she hates you and now she hates me!” Kim yelled. That stung Sunny pretty hard, even if he wanted to deny it, the sound of being told the girl he’s loved all his life now hates him began to ring in his head. “Now she won’t leave her house! And Angel and Charlie don’t want to hang out anymore either! This is your fault!”

Sunny was still a bit frozen in shock at the idea of Aubrey’s mental state. Sunny’s lack of response just pushed Kim to her limit as she clenched her fist and teeth and quickly lunged in an attempt to punch Sunny in the face. Sunny flinched, bracing himself for the punch but it never came, slowly opening his eyes he saw Vance grabbing Kim’s arm with an upset face. “That’s enough Kim, we all agreed to stop doing this kind of stuff.” Kim was clearly not listening as she struggled in Vance’s grasp, yelling at him to let her go. “I know I usually go with your flow but I’m not going to just let you just get into this deep of a mess. Let it go.”

It was the first time Sunny had ever seen Vance visibly angry. Kim, though, just stared at her older brother as if betrayed and eventually squirmed out of his grip, stumbling a bit away from the two boys. She was breathing hard, looking ready to have a coughing fit any minute. By now, she knew there was nothing left for her to do, but pull her hood over her head, not holding back her tears anymore, and shove her hands into her pockets, storming off as she grumbled with her head down. Vance sighed watching his sister walk away, though he knew she was just needing time alone. Soon, the kids emerged from the trees again, a bit shaken by what they just saw. As Jesse walked over, patting a still in shock Sunny on the arm to see if he was okay, Joy and Brent walked over to Vance.

“Wow, that was so cool how you stood up to her!” Brent said, staring up at Vance.

Vance seemed a bit confused, as Joy followed the compliment, “yeah, it’s just like how they show us to stand up to bullies at school!”

“Bullies? She’s just a bit misunderstood is all,” Vance chuckled, scratching the back of his head as he smiled at the kids. Then he looked at Sunny and put a hand on his shoulder, “hey man, you doing alright?” Sunny’s arms were covered in goosebumps as he stared into nothingness for a bit before nodding.

“Yeah,” he croaked. Once again, a good thing led him straight to remembering how he hurt the girl he loved. He owed so much to Aubrey, and had no idea how to fix it. How Aubrey looked at her home, telling how she wouldn’t end up like him, once again he felt hopeless to make amends with anyone.

Everything was once again crumbling around him as the damage he caused laid directly in front of him. Suddenly, he felt himself move rather violently and quickly realized he was being spun around by Vance. His eyes widened as he yelped, getting a laugh from the kids. “That did it!” Vance said before setting Sunny on the ground, “had to snap you out of it somehow.”

Sunny stumbled a bit, feeling very dizzy before shaking his head, “thanks,” he said, catching his breath.

“This guy said he’ll play hide and seek with us!” Joy said happily.

“I got some time to kill, and no one else to spend it with,” Vance shrugged. “Besides, it’s been a while since we played hide and seek together. How about I seek first? Not many places a big guy like me could hide anyways” he offered, handing Sunny his stick again. The other four nodded as he covered his eyes and began counting. Soon they had all split up to find a decent hiding spot.

That lingering guilt had continued to fester in Sunny’s mind, but those were inner demons he would have to face on his own time. He had kids to entertain right now. If he was going to make up for his misdeeds to the whole town, starting with the youngest seemed like a nice start. Though his mind never stopped feeling cloudy, as he looked around, more and more flashes of the times they had 4 years ago appeared. He missed his friends, he missed being happy, he missed Mari. He convinced himself it wasn’t too late to fix it all, maybe he was being foolish to think there was hope left for those friendships. As Sunny found a nice place to hide in the bushes, he collapsed to the ground, laying his stick by his side and curled up into a ball in the bushes. His actions never felt heavier than now as he felt like he was being crushed by everything that had happened. He fought back tears as he tried to focus on the game, but he knew this escape would only be temporary.

Chapter Text

Kim had her hands shoved into her hoodie pockets and her hood pulled over her head as much as it could, grumbling to herself. She felt betrayed by everyone she thought she could trust. She remembered Aubrey screaming at her and seeing the state of Aubrey’s house for the first time. Aubrey had never lashed out at her like that, it was terrifying. She was shaken up the whole day and spent that night crying. Charlie didn’t know what was going on but felt uncomfortable with Aubrey’s mental state and began to keep her distance. Then today, Angel said he didn’t want to mess with people anymore and was spending the day with his sister instead of them. And now Mikhael has left them with a rude statement and even her own brother has turned against her. She was alone. It was a new experience to her, and a terrifying one.

Kim carefully stomped through the doors of the Othermart, she could steal candy later, right now she needed medicine for her headache. She also considered buying some tissues but she had those at home, she just had to hold the tears until she got there. Dragging her feet through the pharmacy she scanned the aisles for acetaminophen. Though, she was so focused on scanning the medicine that she didn’t notice someone else nearby looking for the same stuff. With a weak thud, the two girls bumped into each other.

“Watch it!” Kim grumbled stumbling back as she saw the blue haired girl stumble back as well, recognizing her. “Oh, it’s you, miss spineless.”

Curtsey looked at Kim and frowned, “oh jeez, why are you here?”

“I’m just looking for some shit to get rid of my migraine, what are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be working?” Kim asked, grabbing a bottle of painkillers.

“Well, you and your friends cause Miss Candice so many headaches that she sends me here to get stuff for them,” Curtsey explained, also grabbing a bottle.

“Heh, serves her right. She’s a bitch. How do you stand getting yelled at by her all the time?”

“It’s not that bad,” Curtsey said with a shrug, “besides I have to make rent somehow. One day I’ll be able to pursue my passion.”

“Wait, you’re an adult?!” Kim asked, a bit shocked.

“Yes? I’ll take it as a compliment that you didn’t think that,” Curtsey smiled.

“Yeah, you’re welcome. Seriously, I hate Miss Candice, no one deserves to be treated that way, and you have to put up with it all day," Kim responded.

“Oh it’s no big deal, I get breaks, I like spending them over at Hobbeez.”

Kim nodded, feeling awkward having a conversation with someone she’s given a hard time before. “So, do you have any friends then?” It was an odd question, but considering she just lost most of her friends, she wanted to see how adults handle friendships. Her dad was the loner type and she only knew her mom was friends with the elementary principal and they tried their best to gossip in private.

“Not a lot, but I do like to hang out with Pedro at Hobbeez or Mando at Fix-It when I get the chance. I’ve tried talking to Gino too but he’s always so busy. I would work for one of them but they don’t have any permanent positions open, I can’t live off of their part time work.” Curtesy said before her cheeks flushed red, realizing she had rambled a bit.

Kim just nodded along to all of that, finding herself to enjoy her first non-argumentative conversation of the day. “Well, what is it that you want to do?”

“I want to open a hair salon, I know I can’t afford a building like Pedro or be given a business in someone’s will like Mando, so I want to open it in my house. I just need to buy all the proper supplies, and some sufficient advertising, and a coworker, and rearrange some of my house. Two years of cosmetology classes in the city and I’ve got nothing to show for it,” the cute girl sighed.

“You like doing hair? I’d love to work for you if I could!” Kim said, excitedly before blinking and clearing her throat, trying to cover up letting her excitement show. “I mean, that sounds pretty neat,” she said, crossing her arms.

“Well, until another job opens, I’m stuck being yelled at by Miss Candice, hopefully in a year or two I’ll have it all ready.” Curtsey sighed finishing that statement, “but I will keep you in mind when hirings open up.”

Kim was considering how much harder she had unintentionally made someone who had similar interests as her suffer. She knew that no one really liked Miss Candice but Cutsey had to put up with that treatment all the time, on top of how much worse she and Vance made it. “You should stand up for yourself!”

“H-huh?” Curtsey appeared dumbfounded

“I’m serious! You need to stop getting thrown around by her!” Kim said, stomping her foot on the ground. “You’re an adult, you don’t need to be yelled at all the time. It’s a horrible work environment!”

“I can’t just talk back to my boss,” Curtsey stammered.

“Why not? You’re an employee too, you deserve respect,” Kim said, not even bothering to consider her hypocrisy. She never cared about Curtsey before, their few interactions usually consisted of Kim calling her a mean name or bumping into her at the candy store. It did feel odd standing up for all of a sudden, but right now she was wanting to fight, even if it wasn’t her own battle.

“So, I just stand my ground and tell her I don’t appreciate how she treats me?” Curtsey asked, now seriously considering it.

“I wouldn’t exactly put it that nicely but sure!” Kim nodded, giving Curtsey a devious smile. The idea of someone telling off Miss Candice was just too good for her.

“Well, you know what, I’ll give it a shot! I’ll tell her how I deserve to be treated! Thank you sis, you’re not as bad as I thought” Curtsey said before rushing off to the cashier to buy the medicine.

Kim was stuck frozen though, she had only been referred to as ‘sis’ by Vance before. It felt nice to have a girl know her as a sister. Suddenly, an idea began to take hold in her mind. Maybe she didn’t need friends, she needed a family. A family that could show Sunny and Aubrey that she wasn’t someone small who could be kicked around. She never knew what it was like to have a sister, and maybe that was what she was needing. Sisters who could stand up for each other, have each other's backs, and make sure no one messed with them. Kim began plotting her revenge on everyone who had messed with her, she and her sisters were going to run this town. All she needed now was to find some more people to join the neo hooligans. The shadow sirens? The serpent sisters? She’d find a better name once she took her headache medicine.

Chapter Text

Basil wasn’t sure how to feel about everything that had occurred in the recent days. He had cleared everything up with Sunny and he was able to come to terms with Sunny leaving. Though at the same time, he had ruined his reputation with Hero. After he had been released from the hospital, Kel came to visit him. Basil was relieved to learn that Kel was willing to give Basil another chance and try to forgive him. Unfortunately, Kel didn’t feel the same way with Sunny. Kel wasn’t necessarily angry towards Sunny, but he was some form of upset, and really did not want to see him. Basil was worried that this would be the real permanent split of the friend group. However, Kel assured him that it would not be, he just wanted to organize his thoughts before he could determine if he could forgive Sunny.

Now, it was just a waiting game, leaving him to hope that Hero would eventually forgive him and Aubrey wouldn’t bash his head in with her bat the moment they crossed paths again. Basil wasn’t sure what to do, he wasn’t quite sure if he even wanted to leave his home today. As he went about his daily routine, he could smell Polly preparing something for breakfast. He wasn’t sure what it was but it was definitely making him hungry. Once he finished up with everything, he peeked his head out of the hall and towards the kitchen, seeing Polly hum to herself as she finished plating some french toast.

Basil carefully approached the woman, looking at the stove as she smiled at him. “Good morning Basil,” she told him, handing him one of the plates. “I know you were not in the mood to talk to me much yesterday but I was hoping some breakfast could open you up for a bit. I have some news I need to share with you.” Basil nodded and took his plate to the table as Polly prepared the both of them a cup of orange juice.

“What did you want to tell me?” Basil asked, nervously taking a bite of his breakfast as he considered what it was she may need to tell him.

“Well, with the unfortunate passing and upcoming funeral of your grandmother, your real parents were conflicted on what to do with you. However, they have decided to pass on legal guardianship to me. As such, I will be moving into this home. Don’t worry though, I don’t plan to change much of this place, you and your grandmother have done very well to make this feel like my own home too,” Polly explained to him.

Basil needed a moment to process all of that, taking another bite of his breakfast as he thought about the implications. “So…you’re taking grandma’s room?”

Polly took a seat next to him at the table and placed his glass next to his plate. “Yes I will be, but don’t worry. I don’t plan to do any redecorating or rearranging without your approval. It will be like I’ve adopted you. Or, I guess you’ve adopted me since I’m the one moving in.” Polly giggled at the joke as she began to eat his breakfast.

So much had changed in Basil’s life these last few days that he couldn’t remember the last time he genuinely felt good about anything. This, however, was like a breath of fresh air. He was going to have a caretaker again, and he got to keep his house and plants. He couldn’t stop himself from smiling as he looked at her. “I’m glad to hear that! Thank you!” he exclaimed. He could feel his heart rushing, probably from the anxiety of something new occuring, it was just instinct by now for him to be fearful of most things, but this was a good feeling of anxiousness.

The two continued eating their breakfast as they discussed what it meant for Polly to be living in the house as Basil’s official guardian, with Basil trying his best not to stutter as his heart pounded from the excitement. There was, of course, the lingering thought of how much he missed his grandma and how Polly would never be able to match her. However, Basil shut those out immediately. Polly cared about Basil, and though she may not be like his grandma, she was going to do her best, and that was enough for him.

Once breakfast was done with. The two began to wash their dishes together, figuring it would be faster to work together if they worked together. Basil had let go of his anxiety for just a moment to enjoy the moment as he worked with her. Somehow, he could tell they both wanted to thank each other for giving the other a chance. As they washed their dishes, they could hear a knock at the front door.

“Basil, could you finish this last cup while I get that?” Polly asked, getting a nod from the boy in response. Basil found his shoulders lowering slowly as he scrubbed at the dishes, sighing a bit as he heard the door open. Though, there was something that made his heart briefly stop from the front door.

“Miss Suzuki? What brings you here? I thought you were moving today.”

Chapter Text

After a long day of hide and seek with Vance and the kids, Sunny made sure to drop the kids off like he promised with Vance acting as a security guard to entertain them before the two older boys said their goodbyes. His regrets lingered consistently but that didn’t stop him from having fun, especially when he fell on the ground laughing at Vance getting stuck in a bush. Sunny’s mind was a blend of joy, fear, and sadness, he didn’t even realize he was so overwhelmed he was shaking until he examined his hand reaching for the door to knock on it. He remembered Mari’s advice and took a moment to breathe, slowly watching as his fingers’ twitching ceased.

After giving three firm knocks he waited a moment before Polly opened the door with surprise. “Oh! Sunny! You do know you don’t have to knock on the door, right? This is your home, you can just come right in!”

Sunny’s face went a little red in embarrassment as he nodded, “yes ma’am. Sorry.”

Polly just giggled as he apologized, deciding not to stay on that topic to save him from the embarrassment. “Basil is currently taking a nap, would you like to help me with dinner?” she offered.

Sunny nodded eagerly, looking forward to actually being a help around the house. Turns out Polly decided to do the all-time classic, pancakes for dinner. Sunny was not exactly a chef, but he still retained enough cooking knowledge from Mari and Hero to know how to make pancakes. The batter was fairly simple to make, though Sunny did have trouble remembering how many eggs were needed. Luckily, Polly was making a second bowl of batter right next to him, so if he got lost all he needed was to mimic her doing.

What caught Sunny off guard was when Polly brought out a small pack of blackberries. Apparently, Polly had learned a homemade blackberry syrup recipe from Basil’s grandma to make for the two of them while Basil’s grandma was in Polly’s care. Sunny watched with intrigue as Polly began to make the syrup, noticing the comfort he felt as she hummed a soft tune. It felt like when he listened to Mari hum to him whenever he needed help going to sleep. He couldn’t tell why, but she had a calming presence that he had not felt in years.

Once the syrup was at a good point to sit on the stove, Polly retrieved another pan and melted butter onto it before turning to Sunny. “Do you want to add the batter?” she asked. Sunny quickly nodded and gently tilted his bowl over the pan, allowing two medium sized circles to form from the batter. It was not until Sunny could smell the pancakes from the pan that he realized just how hungry he had become from being out in the park all day. His stomach couldn’t control itself, letting out a loud growl that made his face change to a light shade of pink.

Polly stifled a laugh as she flipped the pancakes, “yeah, I can understand. This smell turns my stomach into a howling dog,” she commented playfully. Sunny just glanced away, trying to control his stomach with his mind as Polly finished the first pancakes and continued adding the batter. The smell eventually made its way to Basil’s room, waking him and leading him down to the kitchen.

“Hey guys,” Basil yawned, dragging his feet into the kitchen.

“Good evening Basil, did you sleep well? We’re having pancakes for dinner” Polly replied.

Basil nodded and looked over at the stove, taking in the delicious scent before looking at Sunny, “you’re going to love the blackberry Sunny, I don’t think any of you guys got a chance to try it when we were kids.” Sunny appeared intrigued as he watched Polly plate another few pancakes. Basil walked over to a cabinet and got out the plates, cups, and silverware for the three of them. While Sunny and Polly took turns cooking the pancakes while Basil prepared the table for dinner.

Once everything was finished, they all took their seats and began eating. Sunny let out a soft sigh of amazement as he tasted the homemade blackberry syrup, falling in love with the taste. He didn’t even realize the pure enjoyment displayed on his face until Basil commented on it. “Wow Sunny, I don’t think I’ve ever seen you smile that big!”

Sunny blinked a bit before quickly taking another bite in order to not have to reply, making Basil chuckle. “So, Where did you end up going all day?” Basil asked him.

Sunny quickly swallowed the bite of the pancake before speaking, “I went to the park and some kids asked me to play hide and seek with them. They also asked Vance to join in too, so I was with them for most of the time,” Sunny explained, deciding to leave out all the stuff involving Aubrey and Kim.

“Oh how sweet! I see those kids at the shop sometimes and they always look a little lonely. I'm glad they were able to go out and play today!” Polly told him, exuding a feeling of proudness in him that Sunny had not felt in years. It felt nice to have someone be happy for him.

They spent all of their dinner discussing their day, with Basil talking about taking care of his plants and going to Fix-It to buy fertilizer and pesticides and Polly talking about her day at work as a nurse. Basil and Sunny even got to chat about the scooter gang, and how Basil was very aware of how most of them were not actually all that bad. That explained why he was talking to Kim when Sunny first left his house. Polly was also happy to see Basil talking about having good times with other people, not having known him for being all that social in the time she had been taking care of him. Sunny could tell Basil was enjoying feeling comfortable enough to talk casually about things that weren't plants.

Once dinner was finished, the three of them cleaned their dishes, and Basil began his nightly plant care routine. Sunny was going to offer to help but his repeated yawning during dinner made Basil shoo him away to their room, knowing Sunny was tired and needed sleep. Basil assured him that he could help out tomorrow morning, which seemed to satisfy Sunny. Sunny returned to their room with yet another yawn, examining his side of the room. There was not enough room for another bed, so Sunny had a sleeping bag that he was perfectly content with. He had a few things laid out but most of it was still in the boxes he took from his mom’s car. Aside from his sleeping bag, the only other thing he really had out was his computer, but he was too tired to get on that right now. Instead, he quickly emptied his pockets, changed into his pajamas, and curled up into his sleeping bag. Sunny had to quickly take the medicine for his eye that the doctors prescribed before going to bed, shuttering a bit at the taste, then he laid onto his new bed. Despite how tired he was, it still took him a moment to sleep, the weight of the events of today still heavy on his mind. Aubrey, Kim, Vance, the kids, it was all so much to think about. However, eventually his eyelids gave out and stayed shut.

- WELCOME TO GRAY SPACE. THINGS ARE A LITTLE DIFFERENT HERE. -

As Sunny felt his surroundings change, he groaned a bit, though feeling rested, no amount of rest ever made him prepared to get up when he awoke. He groggily opened his eyes and sat up, feeling a wave of confusion wash over him. Headspace never came back during his time in the hospital, so why was it back now? As he looked around, he noticed an environment that he had never seen before. Sunny was sitting in a fairly large room that was covered in a metallic gray shade of color. This was not White Space. As Sunny examined his new room, he heard an all too familiar voice reveal itself.

“Welcome back, Dreamer.”

Sunny turned around to see the silhouette of scribbles with beady white eyes that were made to resemble Basil. The locked away fragment of his mind that he dubbed Stranger. Sunny was baffled by its presence, he thought Stranger was gone forever. Wasn’t being on bad terms with Basil what led to its creation? So why was it back? What more could Sunny’s inner conscience want that Stranger had not yet been permanently erased?

“It is quite a shame that we can only ever meet on…uncomfortable terms,” Stranger said with a sigh. Sunny noticed the hesitation Stranger had when describing their meetings. “Though, I suppose making you uncomfortable was the entire reason you made me. If you’re not feeling at ease then I guess I’m fulfilling my purpose.” It let out a soft chuckle, clearly trying to lower the tension Sunny was feeling. Just before Sunny was about to voice all the questions he had bottled up, Stranger cut him off. “I know you are confused, allow me to give you a quick run down before I leave you forever.”

Those last words rang in Sunny’s ears for a moment, causing Stranger to quickly snap its fingers close to Sunny’s face for his attention. “Come on, don’t get hazy on me now. Yes, I’m going to be gone forever, quite frankly I should already be gone, but you being around your friend longer than you thought you would has bought me a bit extra time. He’s fresh on your mind, so I am as well, but you’ve already bid me adieu, so I cannot last long. I wish to use my last moments to prepare you for the roads ahead.”

The roads ahead? Sunny felt more confused now than ever, what could Headspace still have left for him to do? “Allow me to inform you, this place is crumbling, but it is currently at a snail’s pace. With it still around, there are things it still desires of you, stories you have yet to complete. But as you stay here, it is going to keep getting more and more warped. Your friends are the solution.”

“My friends? What do you mean?” Sunny questioned.

“Well, I cannot say, but I will inform you, that just like last time, you must come to terms with fate to escape the cycle. However, this time, it is your own fate.”

Sunny felt a bit ticked off by this. Stranger had always been irritatingly cryptic but this felt almost sinisterly vague. Stranger was going out with a chuckle from confusing Sunny.

“Remember, Dreamer, you must come to terms with your fate. I wish you luck on your road. Oh, and remember to give the real me a hug from time to time, from the way you made me, it sounds like he may need it.” Stranger gave his farewell before beginning to fade from Sunny’s vision.

“W-wait! What about this place I’m in, what about the changes in here?” Sunny called out, trying to reach for Stranger.

As Stranger began to disappear, they gave their equivalent of a smile as they turned and waved to Sunny, “do not worry, I’ve enlisted a very old friend of yours to help guide you through Gray Space. Goodbye Dreamer.” And like that, Stranger was gone, possibly forever.

Sunny was frozen, staring at the slight blur Stranger left behind before that was gone from sight too. Slowly, things began to fade into his vision, all of the other details that lay about Gray Space, it highly resembled White and Black Space, but more homely. The first thing to catch Sunny’s eye was the light. Rather than a single lightbulb, the room had a small piece of wood floating in the air that held up the ceiling fan that was currently spinning, gently blowing a cool breeze onto Sunny. The fan held three lightbulbs, one white, one black, and one that seemingly had burned out. It felt just as cryptic as Stranger’s warnings, but he couldn’t lie, a fan was a pretty good upgrade. The next thing though, immediately tore Sunny’s attention away from the fan. A fairly large cardboard box with a small cat bed in it, and resting atop that bed was Mewo, sitting in a perfect loaf. Next to the box rested two bowls for food and water, both marked with “Mewo” written on them. At least she was still around. Sunny quickly knelt down and began to pet her, feeling a wave of joy rush through his whole body as he felt her purring. He was fully encapsulated in feeling the soft fur brush past his finger in repeated strokes, feeling entirely at ease.

“Quite the good girl isn’t she?”

For the second time, Sunny was completely caught off guard as a familiar voice came from behind him. Though instead of the soft, whispery voice of Stranger, it was much more deep, firm, and concentrated, and contained the same hint of British accent that Sunny and Mari had in their voices. If not for their recent encounter a few days ago, Sunny would have no idea who this was. As he turned around, the familiar character of his childhood imagination stood tall. A 6 foot, bipedal black cat fully dressed to fit the butler themed it was named after.

“Master Sunny, pleased to be serving you again,” Butler bowed to Sunny. “I have been enlisted by the one called Stranger to serve as your aid whenever you come to Gray Space.”

“It’s good to see you too,” Sunny said with a smile, carefully moving his hand away from Mewo to approach Butler. As he did, the remaining items of Gray Space came to him. The same sleeping bag that he had gone to sleep in, his trusty laptop, a box of tissues, a single potted white tulip, a wooden bat with nails in it, a basketball, a frying pan, a collection of sheet music, and two floating shelves comprised of plushies and/or figurines of all the characters he met throughout headspace. That at least made note of how much bigger his room in Gray Space was. Though the mementos of his old friends were quite the bittersweet touch that he could do without for the moment.

“Should you have any questions, I will do my best to provide an answer. Granted, I do not know everything about this place, please keep that in mind,” Butler explained to Sunny. However, Sunny was instead more focused on the laptop, sitting down on the floor as he opened it, staring at the much more icons than his previous one did. On top of his calendar and recycle bin, this one also had a calculator, photo editor, sketch sheet, notepad, video caller, audio editor, snake, card games, and a mysterious icon that was only labeled with a question mark.

Sunny had very quickly opened up the card games and was playing blackjack, very focused on his game, not paying attention to Butler. Butler sighed and nudged Sunny, “please pay attention young master,” it said calmly.

Sunny blinked and looked up at Butler, who quickly snapped his fingers. At that sound, a door began to fade into the room. The door held a high contrast to everything else in the room, as it actually held some color. Aside from the figurines on the door, it was the only thing of color, sporting a mint green hue. It almost felt like the door was glowing to Sunny, captivating him as he stared at it.

“This door will lead you back out, however, I cannot be certain where you will find yourself once you step through,” Butler explained. “Should you go through it though, I doubt you will be disappointed.”

Sunny gulped a bit, feeling nervous to return to headspace, slowly stepping backwards, away from the door until his back hit the wall. He slumped down on the floor again, his eyes not leaving the door as his hand reached to his side, gently caressing Mewo’s soft fur.

“Come now young master, no need to be anxious. I understand that you may not be eager after last time, but I assure you that this will be best for you in the longer run,” Butler attempted to reassure Sunny, moving over to stand by Sunny’s side. “If it makes you feel any more comfortable, I was provided this, I’m aware you’re quite skilled with it. You’ll be able to protect yourself with it.” As it said this, it reached into its back pocket and pulled out Sunny’s old violin bow. It presented the bow before Sunny, who was still staring at the door. Sunny glanced down at the bow, which seemingly snapped him out of his trance, gently taking the bow from Butler.

“Thank you, I think I really will need it,” Sunny said, trying his best not to stutter as he shakily stood up.

“There we are, very good, I’d prefer not having to see you sulk about in this dull room. You’re going to have quite the adventure, I just know it,” Butler encouraged him, quickly ushering Sunny back towards the door.

“Right, a good adventure, just like I always do,” Sunny affirmed, still with uneven breaths as he shakily took the pale white door knob in his hand.

“Oh and one last thing master Sunny, should you ever feel the need to return here, you can find an entrance within the baskets of all those picnics you love so much. Now then, best be on your way, I await news of your adventures on your return,” Butler told him, giving him a small wave goodbye before Sunny opened the door, being met with a bright light.

“Here we go,” he thought to himself, “time to finish all those stories I never completed. And hopefully find some answers as to what I need to do.” Sunny stepped through the door, shutting his eyes to shield them from the light as he closed the door behind him, walking forward to his first destination in the new headspace.

Chapter Text

As Sunny stepped out into Headspace, immediately he noticed a cool breeze brush across his face as he walked across a new environment. It was very peaceful, a purple, starry sky, with only the waves of an unseen ocean to provide ambience. He let out a soft sigh and smiled, realizing that this might not be as bad as he initially thought. The moon soon came into view, with that same spider hanging from it. As Sunny embraced his surroundings, he soon came to the realization that most of his surroundings were involved with the sky. Pondering this, he slowly looked down. There, the rest of headspace lay, hundreds of feet below him. He was in the sky.

As if on cue with this realization, the nonexistent ground he was standing on gave way. Plummeting at lightning quick speeds, Sunny let out a panicked scream as his arms flailed, hoping for someone or something to help him out before he slammed into the ground. However, nothing came for him, as with a loud crash, his whole body plunged deep into the ocean. Despite no water entering his lungs, Sunny’s mind was rushing with panic too much to realize. As he slowly floated deeper, he continued to thrash and scream for help until his surroundings went black. The glowing silhouettes of anglerfish being the primary source of visibility. This led him to recognize where he was headed, allowing him to calm down enough to stop struggling as a suction beneath him pulled him closer until he once again fell a few short feet onto the ground.

With his heart racing, Sunny stood up, the only thing he could hear was his own heartbeat as his already not great vision worsened from the scare. He needed a few deep breaths, clutching his chest as he tried to slow his heartbeat. Once his eye adjusted again, his suspicions were confirmed as he looked around. Deep Well. Sunny coughed roughly, his throat feeling worn out from all the screaming and panicking he had just done. His legs were wobbly as he stumbled along the road, leaning onto part of the carved out mountain for support. He wasn’t even sure if he was going in the right direction, just moving along somewhere until his feet gave out and he stumbled onto the ground, panting as he stared up into the dark, murky waters that served as a sky.

He whimpered a bit as he felt the stinging of his blood rushing through his body, struggling to breathe as he laid there unable to process the sudden scare he just experienced. Sunny wasn’t sure how long he was laying on the ground next to the road, but eventually, someone came for him. The crunching of the gravel next to the road alerted Sunny of someone approaching, but he wasn’t sure if he even wanted to get up.

“There you are! We thought you had gotten lost!” a familiar voice called out to him. It was not anyone he recognized from headspace, but one he knew all too well from the real world.

A flash of pink loomed over him as his eye met two different colored eyes. “You’re not looking too good, did something bad happen?” the person asked as they extended their hand to help Sunny up. Sunny needed a minute, his throat rather dry despite his entire surroundings being water. Once he gathered enough saliva, he finally could register who was reaching to help him as he took their hand. Aubrey.

She definitely looked different compared to the last time he met her in this place. The short, purple-haired girl with the cute bow and a nightshirt that reached her knees had been replaced by someone who resembled her real life counterpart a lot more. As she pulled him up, Sunny noticed just how much Aubrey had changed, but also took note of the differences she had compared to the real Aubrey. To start, she was much taller, now roughly the same height as the real Aubrey, leaving her to stand a little over half a foot taller than Sunny. Her hair changed from purple to pink to better match the real Aubrey, however, her shade was a much more hot pink compared to the real Aubrey’s bubblegum pink. On top of this, her hair had grown a bit more, showing her black roots greatly contrasting with the pink dye, as well as blonde streaks throughout the ends of her hair. Her eyes were different colors, one brown just like her real eye color while the other was blue to represent the colored contacts she usually wore. Her clothes were primarily the same as her real world ones, the only difference being her typical black crop top now being a t-shirt that had the bottom of it bunched up and held together with a rubber band to expose her waist a bit. As she pulled him up, making him stumble into her arms, he noticed that this version of her was a bit more fit. Not exactly toned, but her arms and chest definitely felt like there was some more muscle in there than the real her. Her teal ribbon given to her by Mari was still tied up in her hair but it now more closely fit the shape of bunny ears, with the bow moving on its own as if they were ears. Despite all these changes, her embrace felt just as comforting.

Sunny didn’t notice yet that he had essentially just collapsed into her, giving her a firm hug as he clung to her to keep himself from falling. While Sunny still wore his pajamas within headspace, a nice baggy black t-shirt, gray gym shoes, and white knee high socks, Aubrey’s clothes were an exact match to her real clothes. The familiarity made it feel comforting as he hugged her.

“Look man, I understand being excited to see me, but hugs normally don’t last this long,” Aubrey commented as her grip on him loosened. Sunny blushed a bit in embarrassment and stepped back, letting out a sigh of relief at the familiar face. Of course, it took another minute of staring at her to register the guilt from earlier today. Should she even be here for him after he ruined her life? Memories of her yelling at him flooded back as he continued to stare at her, trying to find the words to apologize, but no words could make up for what he did. “Jeez dude, you’re looking pretty rough. Come on, let's get to Basil’s picnic, that’ll hopefully get you feeling better. He made us some really good tuna sandwiches.”

Aubrey took Sunny’s hand, squeezing it tightly as she guided him down the highway. Sunny couldn’t do much but hang his head and follow, still feeling bad for making a version of Aubrey here that didn’t hate him. They quickly arrived at the Last Resort hotel and casino, the jazzy music and glowing neon signs providing Sunny with a familiar feeling. The aquatic themed pathway to the resort had changed very little, surprising Sunny as he walked past people hoping to make shady deals with him and beach themed sights. Right at the end though, sat a sight that truly made Sunny feel at ease. The usual picnic table and basket that served as a rest spot on his adventures, and on the blanket, sat Basil, waving him and Aubrey over.

Aubrey pulled Sunny onto the blanket, the two having a seat across from Basil. Sunny still didn’t feel very comfortable next to Aubrey, the guilt of finding comfort from someone who he hurt weighing heavily. He crossed his legs as he looked over at Basil’s new look. Basil’s hair had grown out to reach a bit past his shoulders, tied in a nordic viking braid with flowers trailing down it. Basil’s hair had a mix of his real blonde and fake mint green colors, impossibly mixing amongst each other. His face had collected a few barely noticeable freckles. Unlike Aubrey though, his clothes were not at all like his real ones, instead being a soft looking white baggy long sleeved shirt and overall shorts, along with black knee high socks. He had a handful of small plastic bags next to him, containing peanut butter and jelly sandwiches & tuna sandwiches for the three to eat during their picnic, along with three cans of Mr. Jawsum off-brand cola. Sunny always preferred Smith’s cola over Koka-cola.

“Hey Sunny, I’m glad Aubrey was able to find you! I was beginning to worry that you had gotten lost along the highway!” Basil said cheerfully, handing both Sunny and Aubrey a sandwich and drink.

Sunny nodded and gave a faint smile as he opened the sandwich bag, “thanks. I’m glad she found me, where are the others?”

“Oh, I’m not sure. Kel and Hero kind of just wandered off somewhere, so it’s just us three!” Aubrey said, cracking open her soda can.

Sunny sulked a bit more as they both completely ignored Mari, maybe his headspace friends have also come to terms with the fact that Mari was dead now too. He didn’t want to dwell on it as he took a bite of the sandwich, the flavor making up for the fact that he wasn’t actually eating. At least it gave him the illusion of having a full stomach. Aubrey kept an eye on Sunny as the three ate, admiring the new light-up signs and billboards surrounding the resort.

“Everything alright?” Aubrey asked, gently patting Sunny on the back as Basil stared at him.

“Oh, yeah, everything is okay,” Sunny replied meekly as he slowly nodded his head.

As if she could read his mind, Aubrey wrapped an arm around Sunny and forced him to rest his head on her shoulder. Sunny was surprised but didn’t attempt to move away as she rested her head on top of his. Sunny let out a soft sigh as he relaxed into Aubrey, still feeling absolutely terrible for finding comfort in her. He shouldn’t be doing this, he’s just giving himself what he wants, it felt selfish.

“You don’t have to feel bad for wanting some comfort,” Aubrey assured him as she gently brought her fingers through his hair. Sunny felt his shoulders drop at the relaxing touch, though he still struggled to find words to express his feeling of sorrow for himself and moreso, his friends. He nuzzled into Aubrey’s neck, letting out a broken up sigh as he clenched his eyes shut.

“I’m sorry,” Sunny mumbled, slowly putting his arms around her, not looking for comfort in himself, but hoping to comfort her. The problem was, this wasn’t the Aubrey who needed a hug. He held back a sob as he practically squeezed her.

“If it helps you clear your head, say it all you like, we’re here,” Aubrey whispered back.

“Yeah, you can’t fix anything if you can’t focus clearly,” Basil followed. He didn’t touch Sunny, but his presence certainly helped.

Sunny had no idea how to even respond, how was he supposed to clear his mind. Instead, he did all he could, which was to softly breathe out a “thank you.”

Aubrey carefully scooted back and pulled Sunny down to rest his head on her lap, still playing with his hair. Basil helped move their snacks closer to them now that they were occupying the same spot. Sunny couldn’t rid himself of guilt, but maybe he could at least focus on something else as he enjoyed being pet by the girl he loved. He went back to eating his sandwich before carefully speaking up, “so, what’s going on in the Last Resort right now?”

Basil frowned looking over at the brightly lit up entrance, “it may look better, but it’s a lie. That place is in shambles without Hero, and Mr. Jawsum is too prideful to admit that his business is failing. He’s looking to scam anyone he can!”

“Sounds bad,” Sunny murmured in comfort as he softly purred into Aubrey’s hand as it brushed through his hair. The position he was in made it hard to want to adventure, when he was essentially cuddling with his lifelong crush.

“It’s very bad, all our friends from the playground are being tricked to help in his schemes!” Aubrey replied, the volume of her voice raising from the disgust she felt from it. Sunny noticed the way the ribbon moved, almost as if they were part of her, watching them fold and twitch like actual rabbit ears.

Sunny hummed in response, slowly nodding as the word ‘friends’ brought him back to how he hurt his friends. Sinking further into Aubrey as he frowned, copying Aubrey’s upset tone with those he cared about being manipulated. It felt hypocritical, but it didn’t stop him from being angry with the idea of those he cared about being tricked.

“So, I’m helping you guys fuel up to take him down again! This time you’ll free everyone from his contracts!” Basil cheered, getting a cheerful aye from Aubrey as she raised her free fist into the air courageously. Seeing them both so full of vigor convinced Sunny to sit up and crack open his soda, deciding to get to eating to go on another adventure with Aubrey.

With their food finished, the two got up, with Basil waving to them. “Remember, you can always stop by the picnic to rest up!” Basil reminded them as Sunny and Aubrey left.

“So, do we need to get something before going in?” Sunny asked, wanting to be prepared.

“Nah,” Aubrey replied with a smirk before pulling out from her invisible inventory pocket a brand new weapon. She was wielding a metal bat that had barbed wire wrapped around it instead of nails. She had a huge smile on her face as Sunny stared in shock, somehow falling for her even more just at the sight. He looked down at his violin bow and felt a little outdone in terms of strength or coolness.

“Well, yeah, that will do the job,” Sunny nodded in awkward shock.

Aubrey gave him a firm nod before taking his hand once again as they approached the source of the loud music and flashing lights where people friendly and shady alike were gathered. Sunny braced himself for whatever adventure laid on the other side, gripping Aubrey’s hand and his bow tightly as she opened the door, leading them to an unbelievable sight.

Chapter Text

The casino floor had been greatly transformed from what it used to be. The vibe of a fancy, high-class establishment had instead been replaced by that of a sort of Nightclub. Odd dubstep and pop played as various machines flashed neon lights all across a very dimly lit room. The chandeliers had been removed, and all the walls were now painted black. The slot machines and bar were still right where they all were, with the mermaids also still upholding their positions there as waitresses and croupiers, though they now sported much brighter colors, with their hair all in various styles and sporting a wide variety of accessories. The gator guys were now sporting more modern, black suits, though the ones on this floor looked much more like bouncers than agents.

As Sunny and Aubrey entered the place, they could feel the sharp blast of cold air against them as they examined the casino floor. As they entered, they were quickly greeted by Shawn and Ren, who now sported a sharp red suit and flashy red dress, as if the two were performers.

“Welcome, welcome!” Shawn said in his usual friendly, excited tone.

“We hope you two love your time here!” Ren followed, her tone matching Shawn’s.

Before Sunny or Aubrey could respond, a familiar voice shouted, “outta the way!”

A short lizard girl sporting short brown hair and red glasses, though now wearing a similar black suit to the gator guys. Berly clearly had received some kind of promotion since the last time they saw her. Though she wore a much cooler looking pair of shades, probably to present her higher rank in the company. Despite her significantly shorter stature, she leaned forward and lowered her shades to examine Sunny and Aubrey’s intertwined fingers.

“Oh, so while we were out here running the business, little miss secretary decided she wanted to seek out some kind of Romeo? Well congrats on the marriage you two but I got orders from the boss himself. Mr. Jawsum wants to see you,” Berly said, her speech having barely changed. She may have looked more formal and official but she spoke and acted just as childishly as before.

“Wait, hold on, we’re not-” Aubrey tried to speak up but was quickly shushed by Berly.

“I don’t have time for you to gush about your boyfriend! Let’s go!” The lizard girl shouted before turning away and marching off to the elevators.

“We apologize for our security’s brashness,” Shawn said, his voice still enthusiastic through his frown.

“Please, accept this from the Last Resort as compensation,” Ren followed, presenting the two with a matching pair of golden bracelets. Sunny and Aubrey hesitantly took them and put them on. Aubrey’s fit perfectly but Sunny’s was a little loose on his noodly arms, though he didn’t mind. The two slowly made their way to the elevators, watching as Berly repeatedly slammed her finger into the elevator button.

“Why do these things need to be so slow?” Berly groaned as the two approached her, just as the elevator arrived. “The boss needs to just make some teleporters or something.”

“That sounds like it would be pretty cool,” Aubrey said, pulling Sunny into the elevator quickly, still keeping a firm yet gentle grip on his hand. Sunny stumbled along as Berly pressed the top floor button before once again ramming her finger repeatedly into the close door button.

The elevator ride was long and awkward, the three of them standing there in silence as they listened to the smooth jazz playing over the intercom. Sunny felt like dying inside from how tense the air around them was.

“I’ll find you a reception gift for the wedding, don’t worry about that,” Berly told them.

“Oh, thank you, that’s, um-” Aubrey said, embarrassed, however Berly cut them off.

“No need to thank me, what kind of friend would I be if I didn’t?”

The two knew it would be better to drop trying to explain to Berly that they were not a couple. As much as Sunny wished it was true, it wasn’t. A slow elevator ride really made it hard for him to not acknowledge the fact that the girl he was dreaming of holding hands with most likely never wanted to see him again. The comfort of being within her grasp was countered by the lost hope that this feeling would ever come to reality. Aubrey could tell he was feeling bad so she gently leaned into him, hoping to put him at ease. The elevator took a few minutes to arrive at the top floor and Berly wasted no time marching out and directly toward the office. Aubrey had to essentially drag Sunny along with her to keep up with Berly, making him stumble along as he clung to her arm.

It took him a moment to gather his footing as he followed his crush though the halls. The upper levels of the Last Resort looked almost the same, except much older and not dusted. Berly didn’t seem to mind but it was obvious to Sunny and Aubrey that things were not as good as the main floor made it seem. Berly grabbed a radio attached to her belt and called in, “alright Boss, I got him here.” They couldn’t make out the reply but Berly quickly kicked open the door to the lobby, revealing a dark room covered in cobwebs. The only light was the dim light shining from the desk lamp sitting on the unattended secretary desk. “This place has gotten pretty crappy since he left,” Berly grumbled.

“What do you mean?” Aubrey asked, but only received a cold shoulder in response. Berly carefully opened the door to Mr. Jawsum’s office, allowing the other two to openly hear Jawsum screaming into a phone before slamming it into his wooden desk, putting a crack in it. The towering bipedal shark took a moment to examine his desk, completely frozen, before sighing and putting his head in his hands. Berly cleared her throat and approached the desk, motioning for Sunny and Aubrey to follow her.

Jawsum’s outfit mirrored the attire of his workers as well, swapping pinstripe for a slick black suit. Sunny couldn’t help but thank Omori as he saw that Jawsum had abandoned the fedora, though he wasn’t sure how much better the new bowler hat was. Jawsum’s gaze snapped up at the three and he quickly collapsed backwards into his desk chair. “Come in, come in, don’t mind the old man wallowing in despair,” he groaned, slouching further in his chair.

“Uh, Sir, I brought Aubrey and Sunny, like you asked of me,” Berly said, clear worry in her voice.

At those words Jawsum attempted to stumble out of his chair, falling onto the floor. After scrambling up and hitting his head on his desk, he finally gathered himself enough to look at the two, brushing off his suit. “Kids! You look a lot older, I hope the same isn’t true for me,” he nervously chuckled as he examined the two. “I see you two already got the couple’s bracelets, that’s cute. So listen, I need a favor, a very big favor.” Jawsum cleared his throat as he walked around his desk to stand face to face in front of the two.

Aubrey sighed, once again not bothering to explain how the two of them are not a couple. She slowly let go of Sunny’s hand, which he hesitantly allowed, his hand shaking a little from the lack of warmth and comfort. As the two stared up at Jawsum, they could only imagine what kind of sly scheme he was ready to spew. Though, they both knew better to sign any paper he offered them. What they did not expect was for Jawsum to immediately fall to his knees and grovel at the two. Before they even had a chance to question what he was doing he spoke in a loud, yet still pathetic plea, “please! Bring Hero back to me! WIthout that boy this place has fallen into shambles! We can barely keep the rooms livable, we’ve had to sell our pianos and chandeliers, and I’ve had to lay off so many of my mermaids. I'm close to firing my gator guys, I can’t lose them! Please bring him back, I swear to never take that boy for granted ever again!”

The two didn’t know how to respond to the sight. Even Berly appeared shocked to see Jawsum on the floor, begging for help from others. The big shark man did not seem like the type to ever admit his faults, but here he was begging for help from people who had already bested him. Sunny stared at Aubrey, unsure of what to do. They had no idea where Hero was and doubted that he would show up until he wanted to. Eventually, Aubrey spoke up, “we’re sorry sir, we don’t know where Hero has disappeared to. We can help you look if you would like though.”

Jawsum clenched his fists and slammed them on the ground, making Sunny jump in surprise. He calmly stood up, staring the two down before letting out a deep breath. “Of course you don’t, no one does.” Jawsum needed to take a deep breath before brushing off his suit. “I have the best private investigator I can afford looking for him, but maybe my guy is scaring him off. You’re his friends, maybe he’ll come out from hiding if he sees the two of you. I’m willing to pay you a million clams for this, I can’t keep this place afloat without him.”

By now he had grabbed Sunny by his shoulders, lifted him a solid foot off the ground, and began shaking him violently. Aubrey and Berly both had to jump up and grab Sunny by a foot, pulling him back down to the ground as Aubrey had to repeatedly scream at Jawsum that they would do it. Jawsum eventually dropped Sunny, causing him to fall on top of Aubrey in a dizzy mess, with Jawsum tossing a room key on top of the black and pink pile.

“That’s the detective’s room key, find him, get a report, and help him however you can. And Berly! Get me another coffee and some more acetaminophen. This migraine just won’t go away!” Jawsum shouted before returning to his, leaving Berly scrambling to drag Sunny and Aubrey back to the elevator as she gave a short ‘sir yes sir!’