Chapter Text
"Basil! W-What are you doing?! Stop it!"
"IT HURTS PLEASE,,, PLEASE STOP!! STOP!! STOP IT!!!"
"PLEASE SUNNY!! WE-...WE CAN BE TOGETHER FOREVER!! LET ME DO THIS"
"AAANGHHHH-"
Screams of agony rushed through Basil's head, as if his life was flashing before his eyes. He quickly woke up in a cold sweat, unaware of his surroundings. A white light blinded him, depriving him of his senses, the smell of chemicals and death haunting him. His head was pounding, driving him close to insanity...
An overwhelming wave of remorse and confusion engulfed Basil. He couldn't even fathom what had driven him to act so hurtfully towards his closest friend. In Basil's eyes, Sunny didn't deserve such treatment, nor did any of their friends. In fact, He didn't deserve them at all. He should have just been left for dead, not that he didn't already feel dead inside.
Self-reproach gnawed at him, his heart weighing heavier with regret by the second. He mentally scolded himself for their recent fight, striking his head with the heel of his palm, inflicting pain to balance the internal distress and mental strain; He and Sunny had always been inseparable, and their... "friendship," if it could even be called that, was unshakable. Their shared trauma had been the only thing keeping them together since Mari’s-... nevermind that. Like a wasp stuck in amber, neither of them could leave, even if they wanted to. Basil— Basil was the only one who was ever there for Sunny, so how could he do this?! Basil didn’t understand it at all; what did he ever do wrong?
The rest of the friend group, Kel, Aubrey, and Hero, soon walked into the room through the door in front of Basil's bed. The blond boy was surprised to see them so early, and so were they when they saw he was actually awake! Aubrey ran to his bed, her hair messy—well, all of them looked unkempt, Sunny and Basil's condition probably kept them up all night— and hugged him hard. He flinched at the sudden hug but quietly melted into it as Kel and Hero joined in.
"Basil... I'm- I'm so sorry. I-Is it my fault? I'm.. so sorry..." She buried her head in his shoulder. He always saw the best in his friends, and even if Aubrey did bully him, he still put up a smile and told her it was okay. Kel wiped his face and started to ask, "Wh-why did you and Sunny fight? I thought you guys were on good terms?" He shuddered, remembering the sight of both of them in the middle of the night.
Basil's blood ran cold as he recalled that night. He remembered feeling terrified, he felt the cold presence of Something behind him, and he swore he could see Something behind Sunny as well. He... He only wanted to save both of them from those bone-chilling nightmares. Hero noticed this and patted Basil, bringing him back to reality. "You, you don't have to answer, Basil." Hero had to be the calming voice of reason here. He didn't want to escalate any negative emotions.
A gnawing unease as they talked over each other ate at Basil, compelling him to ask about Sunny's condition.
"S-so..." he spoke shakily, voice cracking, "How i-is Sunny, anyway...?"
The three others looked at each other, and Kel rubbed the back of his neck, looking away. "We visited him for a while, but he was still asleep... so we just left flowers in his room."
Basil's distress grew. He shakily stood up from his bed. He stumbled, his bare feet feeling the cold tile of the room. Hero helped him stand up correctly, but slowly backed him up to stay on the bed. "You can't leave yet, Basil. The doctor said you're hurt. It's best to just stay in bed." He said, trying to stay calm.
"N-no... I need to check on Sunny..." He pushed through Hero, running to the door. Kel and Aubrey yelled for him to come back, but they only decided to follow him after he left the room. The hospital was quiet, and the only sound heard was his feet pattering on the hall's tiles, briefly followed by shoes stomping after him.
Ignoring the discomfort in his own body. He moved hurriedly through the corridor, trembling with urgency, the rest of the group slowly catching up—he wasn't a very fast person, and he was only being slowed down by his condition—. he kept repeating in his head that Sunny was not okay, and that they needed each other to function; soon after, he reached the room's door. He knocked on Sunny's door three times hurriedly.
There was no response, and an anxious mind pushed him to reach for the doorknob. His hand shook inexplicably, eyes shut, before he threw the door open. Inside, there was a mirror in front of him, and he noticed how terrible he looked. He quickly looked to his right, The white room characterized by colorful flowers all around. The bed was disheveled, and the blanket was on the ground, as if someone had left it in a hurry. Basil's heart sank. Where could Sunny be? Ignoring the others who caught up to him and had been trying to stop him, he pushed past them and rushed to the rooftop, hoping he wouldn't actually find his best friend there.
"Basil! Where are you going? Wait for us!" The sound of Kel's concerned voice became a blur to Basil as the three of them rushed to catch up. Making his way through the hallway and to the hospital roof, stumbling slightly on the way, Basil found Sunny staring down at the ground from the rooftop.
The sight was so distressing. Basil couldn't think straight. Sunny heard the door slam. He slowly looked behind himself, smiling at Basil. They stared at eachother for a moment. Sunny smiled softly before looking back down. Both their hospital gowns flowed in the wind. The air was much thinner, not to mention colder too. Sunny had bandages wrapped tightly around his eye, yet blood had still stained it, which made Basil sick to his stomach. It was all his fault. The fight, being in this hospital, Mari... Sunny stepped closer to the ledge, and Basil broke down crying. Snot and tears rushed down his face as he stumbled towards Sunny, screaming for him.
"SUNNY!! DON'T -hic- L-LEAVE.. DON'T LEAVE ME AGAIN!!! I- I NEED YOU!!! -hic- You... You PROMISED!!!" Basil was screaming at the top of his lungs and needed to get closer to Sunny. Sunny was scared. It... it was that same face from last night. Chills ran down Basil's spine, and his legs couldn't move. Was he in the wrong again? He fell to the floor, and Sunny paused too, taking a tiny step, as if flinching towards the pained Basil by instinct. He looked behind Basil, his eye widening, and Basil noticed it. "O-oh...S-Something's behind me, isn't it...?" He looked behind himself, not seeing something, but another thing much worse. The group had caught up.
"Sunny... Please... step away from the ledge..." Hero slowly walked past Basil to Sunny, reaching his hand out. Sunny held his hands close to himself and looked back down.
Kel and Aubrey looked like they were about to be sick, sticking close to Basil. Aubrey looked away from Sunny, scared for him. Her pink hair stuck to her face, glued by tears. Kel wiped his face and helped Basil stand up.
Basil wasn't even able to talk anymore. All his words got caught in his throat, and he could only choke out sobs.
"It's... a long way down..." Sunny mumbled, no longer looking back. His foot... moved off... the floor. Basil could barely hear anything being said; it was all a blur.
Sunny
Jumped
Down
...
He fell so fast, Hero didn't know what to do. Basil felt a rush of adrenaline and pushed Kel away, running towards Sunny. His hand gripped the railing, and his feet scrambled to climb it. His other hand tried to reach out to Sunny. He let out an ear-piercing scream as Hero pulled him away. Aubrey ran into the hospital, her face practically green. Kel stood frozen and didn't know if he should help Hero or go with Aubrey.
"Sunny... Sunny. SUNNY!" Basil finally managed to say something other than a scream when he finally caught up with reality. His anguished cry was close to becoming his last, as Kel and Hero desperately held him back from the ledge. Tears welled up in their eyes. How had this tragedy befallen them? Basil was left with an empty hole in his heart that could have only been filled by Sunny, feeling abandoned by Sunny, who had seemingly left him to face the consequences of their untold actions alone.
The cold, breezy wind flowed with the eyepatch as it played with the gang's- or what was left of them, anyway- hairs. As they huddled on the rooftop, the wind's mournful howl also served as an eerie backdrop to their disbelief. The same wind that ruffled Sunny's eyepatch and socks and sent a shiver down their spines now carried a profound sense of loss.
They cried and cried and cried. the tears felt never-ending. The hospital staff rushed to the rooftop and hurried them back inside. The hospital's sterile, white walls seemed to close in around them as they slowly followed the staff into Basil's room. Basil couldn't shake the feeling that the hospital's flickering fluorescent lights, usually ignored, now accentuated the uncertainty that surrounded them.
The friends stood in hushed silence, tears still staining their cheeks, their voices trapped by the magnitude of the moment. Basil's gaze lingered on the space where Sunny's presence had been so 'vivid' just days ago. He missed seeing Sunny quietly hiding behind Kel, he wished he spent more time with him. Oh god! He felt so stupid for just taking Sunny for granted. Now, both Suzuki siblings were gone, thanks to him. It was all his fault. he wished he had never been born.
A few days had passed since the incident. Basil felt like he was going insane. He swore he could hear Sunny's quiet voice, every day it got more distorted. Something still lingered in his fantasies. It clawed and itched in the back of his brain and he couldn't handle it any longer. He wished he could just see Sunny one more time. And that's what he was going to do.
As the days turned into weeks, the hospital room felt increasingly like a prison to Basil. His remorse had transformed into a heavy burden, one he couldn't escape from. It wasn't just the loss of Sunny that weighed on him; it was the guilt of what had transpired between them. His closest friend was now gone, and he couldn't make amends, couldn't say sorry, and couldn't tell Sunny how much he regretted their last fight. Sunny lost an eye and his life, all thanks to Basil.
Basil's room had become a dimly lit sanctuary of sorrow. His friends had stopped visiting, their lives moving on, leaving him to grapple with his misery in solitude. The bright white lights hovering over his hospital bed had become his constant companions, their erratic buzz echoing the chaos in his mind. He couldn't sleep, couldn't eat, and couldn't forget.
A few days later, Polly, his caretaker, had picked him up from the hospital and the drive back to Faraway Town felt as lonely as it could've possibly been.
Every night, Basil would close his eyes as he lay on his bed, and replay the events leading to that fateful day, each time hoping to find a different outcome. He wished he could turn back time, undo the damage that had been done, and salvage their friendship. But the past was an unyielding force, and all he had were regrets.
─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───
One evening, as the room fell into shadows and the flickering lights cast eerie patterns on the walls, Basil had a dream. It was a dream that felt more like a vision, a chance for closure he had been yearning for. In the dream, he found himself standing on the same hospital rooftop where he had last seen Sunny.
As he gazed at the spot where his friend had stood, he heard a whisper in the wind, a faint voice that called out to him. "Basil," it said, and he turned to see Sunny, standing there just as he remembered him, eyepatch and all. Tears filled Basil's eyes, and he rushed to embrace his friend. But as he got closer, the image of Sunny began to fade, like a mirage in the desert, slipping through his fingers.
"Basil," Sunny's voice called out one more time, "I We forgive you."
─── ･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ. ───
Basil awoke with tears streaming down his face, but it was the first time in weeks that the tears brought him a sliver of comfort. He understood that forgiveness was a gift from his friend, even in his absence. He knew he couldn't change the past, but that dream showed him that there was a way he could still see Sunny.
And that was by forever sleeping.