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Chapter Text

Omori stared at himself in the mirror. There was SOMETHING nothing behind him. His dress shirt tank top seemed a little too small for his tastes.

He sighed. Today would be another long day. Mother was having him do chores again. Apparently she had to go back to Faraway Town and was bringing him with her. That was a shame. Omori's purpose was to keep the truth hidden even though it's already out idiot, and Faraway Town was the worst place for that. On top of that, Omori had gathered that one of his chores was to bring something to Kel and Hero. Truly, the worst outcome.

"Sunny, come downstairs," Mother called. Omori turned on his heels and left. How he hated when she called him Sunny. He was not, after all, the Dreamer. The Dreamer was far away, unable to see the world and let me out let me live quietly wasting away in the darkest recesses of his own mind. Omori was not Sunny, nor was he wasting away it hurts it fucking hurts. He was here to help the Dreamer maybe we should try therapy next time, to take over when needed and provide an escape. It was not his fault that this "escape" came in the form of shutting down completely. I wanted you to take over for a minute, asshole, not my entire life.

Omori nodded at Mom Mother, his face carefully neutral. Mom come pick me up im scared She smiled down at him. _____ didn't like to see that smile. Mom was in pain, and there was nothing I could do, and all I have ever done is hurt her and make her face like that.

"Ready to go? I've got your chores all ready," she told him, that careful smile still on her face. She lifted a piece of paper and a small package that smelled like cookies. They smelled stale.

Omori nodded. He didn't want to couldn't handle see Kel, Hero, Aubrey and likely Basil, but he had no other option. 

"Well, then, here," she sighed dreamily, handing Omori the two items. The package was marked with Kel and Hero's names, like Omori expected. It was truly a shame that these cookies would never meet Kel and Hero he always loved her cookies. In fact, Omori fully intended to do as little as possible as fast as possible still avoiding them like the coward I am. He had absolutely no intentions of meeting up with Kel or Hero, much less talking to them, god, where would I even start giving them anything. He followed Mother into the car, sitting behind her and staring at the window. Don't make me go back there, please, I'm literally begging you.

Time seemed to hit a standstill as he gazed out on the sweeping landscape. The bright blue sky melted into purple constellations as the dull greens of the grass lightened into pastel blues, greens, and purples. That nagging, grating, pleading voice in his head let out one last scream and quieted for now. Omori blinked, and he was laying next to Mari on the picnic blanket.

"Hello, Omori," she breathed out, smiling her gentle smile. It seemed like her smile was slightly off, slightly different than normal, but a moment passed and the corners of her eyes remained crinkled, so Omori put it out of his mind. 

He nodded once in greeting.

"Stoic as ever, Omori," Mari chuckled. "Not in the mood to talk?" She had stopped calling him "little brother" at some point, and Omori was vaguely upset about that, but he brushed it off.

He shook his head before jumping at someone touching his back. The contact startled him, and he nearly yelped aloud. Instead, his body twitched slightly and he glanced back.

"Hi Omori," Aubrey called, wrapping herself around his arm.

"Hey, let the rest of us play with him, too, Aubrey," Kel pouted. Hero scolded the pair, Mari chuckled, and Basil... was missing again. Dreadful. Omori stood up to go find Basil, only to hear him run up from behind the group. His footsteps were oddly heavy and he seemed to be breathing heavily.

"S-so sorry I'm late," Basil panted out, falling to his knees. "I got caught up in Otherworld with Captain Spaceboy." Omori raised an eyebrow and Basil flinched slightly.

"Omori," Mari called, waving. "I've got some steak for everyone. Your favorite!" Omori shot a glare at Basil before sitting down and taking a steak from Mari. He glanced around him as he gnawed thoughtfully on the steak.

Headspace was peaceful as usual, today. Aubrey, Kel, and Hero were all behaving as normal. Basil was a little suspicious, but at this point, Omori had gotten used to it. And Mari seemed slightly off, but that was likely paranoia. After a brief moment of deliberation, Omori decided that everything was normal, and that he was satisfied.

He opened his eyes at the car door opening. The pastel scenery vanished finally in an instant, and Omori had to suppress a sigh. He opened his own door, expecting to see Othermart or some other Faraway landmark. Instead, he was greeted by the sight of Mother walking around to his side of the car, opening the door to my best friends' Kel and Hero's house. Their mother was standing outside, smiling gently, her hands folded properly in front of her. Was she always that formal? Hero was standing next to her, a yellow rose pinned to his apron. The one Mari had given him.

A rose. A yellow rose, specifically. Now, why would Hero be wearing that, Omori wondered. Has everyone taken what I and Basil did that well? Do they even know?

A faint memory came to mind. Basil, gently touching a rose bush. Pricking his finger. He cried, and Mari soothed him as Hero, bending down to tend to the wound. As a band-aid was laid across his finger, Basil gave a really sweet speech about Hero. A gentle speech about roses. 

Roses reminded Basil of Hero and Yellow roses symbolized friendship. Was I the only one who pulled back like this?

That raised more questions than answers, Omori thought. To his utter dismay, Mother pulled him out of the car, breaking his concentration. As he was pulled along, he nearly dropped the cookies. 

"Hello," Kel's mother called, nodding her head slightly. Mother, still holding Omori's hand, approached.

"Hey, Sunny, ma'am," Hero smiled and nodded. It was such a fake smile that Omori wanted to puke. How could he smile? How could he be happy? After the Dreamer had gone poking around in Blackspace, Omori was fully able to recall what Sunny and Basil had done. To smile in the face of the lie they had told was putrid. Revolting. I would protest, but he's right. But even so, Omori inclined his head slightly, playing the part of the Dreamer as well as he could.

"Hello, you two," Mother replied. In all honesty, Omori had vaguely forgot she was there. How do you forget her? She's my mom. A strong hand pushed him from the back. He glanced up at Mother through the corner of his eye. "Sunny is here." She made eye contact. "He brought cookies for the potluck, didn't you, Sunny?" There was a familiar glint of a threat in her voice, and her hand pushed him a little harder, to the point where he stumbled.

Omori nodded meekly in the way he deduced the Dreamer would likely nod under these circumstances. 

"Do you remember what today is, Sunny?" Hero asked, sadness creeping into his gaze.

Omori shook his head.

"He hasn't really left the house in years," Mother explained.

"It's the day she," Hero paused here to take a breath and his mother gently rubbed his back. "The day she died." Omori widened his eyes already. This was the worst possible time to do this. Of course, he did not wish to be in Faraway at all. But on the day of her death? This was the worst possible scenario. It seemed as if the quiet nagging voice in his head agreed. 

"Come on in, Sunny," Hero and Kel's mother invited. Hero's hand replaced Mother's and Omori was guided inside. For a brief moment, he considered asking them to call him by his name - he hated being called by the Dreamer's name, of course - but that was too much of a risk. After all, he had Mother's safety to consider, even as he wasn't actively prioritizing the Dreamer's health or safety. In the end, Omori allowed himself to be guided into the living room without a sound. A girl with pink hair was sitting on the couch, hitting a boy who resembled Hero playfully. Omori felt like he should recognize these people, but Hero was the only one who looked even remotely familiar. 

"I got Sunny," Hero announced, pushing Omori in front of the pair. They glanced at him, a look of contempt crossing the girl's face and joy overtaking the boy's. In an instant, he was up, arms wrapped around Omori. It was suffocating.

"Sunny! I haven't seen you in years, dude! And now you're out of your house by yourself," the boy called. Omori dropped the cookies on the ground, reaching his hands around the boy to grab at the back of his shirt.

"Gentle, Kel," Hero scolded, and Omori was set down.

"Whoops, sorry, Sunny. I didn't mean to overwhelm you like that," the boy chuckled. Was this Kel? He seemed to react when Hero called him that. Although none of this was right. "Aubrey, come say hi!"

"No way," the girl refused, shaking her hair. The neon strands floated around her hair, and Omori's stomach turned when he realized what "Kel" had called her.

"Come on, Aubrey. We haven't seen him in forever," "Kel" complained, walking over and leaning on the couch above Aubrey.

"We've been over this, Kel."

"Yeah, and I thought you promised to make an effort."

"For you, Hero, and Basil. Not for him."

"Come on, you two," Hero sighed, "can't we just hang out? Sunny brought cookies." Hero lifted the package of cookies that he appeared to have picked off the ground. He turned to Omori. "Sunny, you like melon smoothies, right?" 

Omori pondered the question for a moment. Omori was partial to melon smoothies - they were cool and refreshing, in addition to healing 80 juice to the entire party. Omori did rather like them. Finally satisfied with his decision, Omori nodded at Hero, who called into the kitchen.

"Basil, could you grab a melon smoothie while you're in there?" 

"Oh, of course!" There was a rumble from the kitchen and Basil stumbled out. Unlike Kel and Aubrey, he looked exactly as Omori remembered - skinny, nervous, blond, a singular flower in his messy hair. He was wearing a dress shirt that was stained with various foods, one of which appeared to be the melon smoothie he was holding. "Here you go-"

Basil dropped the glass containing Omori's smoothie.

"Sunny's here," Hero told him, pointing at Omori.

"No," Basil breathed out. Aubrey stood up, concern crossing her face.

"Basil, you okay?" she asked.

"That's not Sunny," Basil whispered. Omori blinked in surprise.

"What do you mean?" Kel asked.

"That, right there. Him," Basil stammered. "I don't know who that is, but it's not Sunny. It's not my friend."

Omori watched as Basil walked over to him. He was lifted by the shirt and pinned to the wall by a furious Basil. Almost instantly, he was dropped as Basil was yanked back by Aubrey. He was treated to a firm scolding and an interrogation. Omori did not particularly care. Seeing all these people who he used to know was tiring and horrible. He did not want to do this as his chores. He wanted to go home, clean his room, and sleep. He was tired. So, so tired.

Omori closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep.

Chapter Text

Welcome to White Space.

You have been living here as long as you can re-

Wait. Aw, fuck, who are you?

Shit, you're not supposed to be here. Now what are we supposed to-

Basil opened his eyes to endless white. He looked up - wherever up was - and saw nothing. He looked to the sides and saw the same. Belatedly, he noticed that he was laying down and sat up. Finally, he could see the ground properly. There was a white carpet on the white floor. A sketchbook sat in the corner next to a laptop, with a tissue box across from them. A single tissue was laying crumpled on the ground next to it, and Basil could see someone had been crying. He hoped with all his heart that they were feeling better now. There was a single thread from the ceiling that Basil played with for a minute. It was fun, but this whole place was unnerving. 

That was when he saw the door.

It was already open before he got to it. He could see a rainbow staircase and a purple sky behind it. With no small amount of trembling, Basil climbed the stairs. He still didn't really like the stairs. He still remembered what he had done to protect Sunny. He didn't regret it at all, of course. But it still made him nervous. He got to the top of the stairs to find Hero, Kel, and Aubrey standing in a circle. Aubrey was shouting at Kel, who was laughing, and Hero was looking around with a look of deep-seated concern. He perked up when he saw Basil.

"Oh, Basil, good. Do you know what's going on?" he asked, walking over. 

"Um, n-no. I just sort of got here."

"Dang it," Hero sighed. "All I can really tell is that the cat is watching us." He pointed at a giant yellow cat looming over the room with a disconcerted expression on its face. That look sent shivers down Basil's spine. 

"Oh, I didn't even notice that. It's a little creepy, to be honest."

"Be nice, it's the Dreamer's favorite," a voice sighed. It sounded tired and creaky, like the owner had not used it in a few years and didn't want to be using it here. It only helped to worsen the fear flooding through Basil. Everyone turned around as one.

"Sunny?" Aubrey asked, rolling up her sleeves. A short, monochrome boy of about 11 was standing at the top of the far staircase, one hand just barely out of sight.

"It's you," Basil breathed. "The person replacing Sunny."

"That's right," the person grinned, a look of MANIC excitement filling his eyes and his entire body glowing bright, static yellow. "My name's Omori. Nice to meet you." He turned up the stairs, his aura dimming almost immediately. "Get your ass down here," he called.

"What are you doing? Stop, Omori, let go, that hurts," a voice gasped.

"I don't care. I need you." Basil watched in horror as Omori yanked another boy of the same age from the shadows and threw him down the stairs. Everyone else moved to help the boy. Basil felt like he was frozen, that feeling only intensifying as the boy lifted his head and Basil saw his own face staring back at him. The face was younger and framed by green hair instead of blond, but every other detail was right.

"Help me," the boy begged, extending a hand.

"Wow, that must suck," Omori deadpanned, examining his hand. "Imagine seeing your friend get pushed down a flight of stairs. Probably pretty traumatizing, right?" Dread flooded Basil, feeling unnaturally cold.

"What the fuck are you doing?" Aubrey yelled up the stairs. In response, Omori walked down the stairs, pulling a cheeseburger out of his pocket and sitting up the kid that looked like Basil. Kel grabbed him and yanked him away.

"Hey, you're going to hurt him," Kel protested. Omori glanced at Kel and then down at the kid.

"O... mori," the kid gasped, reaching out for Omori. A bit more forcefully this time, Omori grabbed the kid and this time succeeded in feeding him the cheeseburger. Instantly, all of his injuries were healed, and he was left breathing heavily in the monochrome boy's arms.

"Is this a dream?" Hero asked, lightly touching the boy's arm.

"You're not supposed to be here," Basil's double whispered. 

"You're not supposed to know about that, Damsel," Omori sighed. "That's your name now," he proceeded, his eyes focusing on the distance. "Let me just change it." There was a brief shimmer in the air around Basil's double and then he blinked a few times.

"Got it, Omori, I'll now respond to Damsel. Unfortunately, any further modification to my personality, behavior, and knowledge is prohibited due to safeguards put in place by the Dreamer and my contact with Black Space," the boy now known as Damsel replied. It was terrifying for Basil to hear his own voice but younger speak so robotically. It was only a second before something else happened. "Omori, stop messing with me. That really hurts, and its gotten more painful over the past year." His voice was back to whiny.

Omori shrugged, which was a response on its own.

"Can you stop doing that, please?" Damsel asked, rubbing at his head.

Omori chuckled and shook his head once. Basil was completely lost at this point.

"That didn't answer my question," Hero mentioned. "Is this a dream or something?"

"Let's play a game of hide-and-seek," Omori deflected, helping his friend to his feet. "There's a place known as Black Space. You 'win' if you make it there, and you 'lose' if you give up. Once you're there, you can keep anything you find."

"What the fuck are you talking about?" Aubrey demanded.

"How is that hide and seek?" Kel asked.

"To make it fair, I'll give you Damsel and her," Omori elaborated.

"You're not answering any of our questions," Hero pointed out.

"Who is this 'her'?" Basil stammered. Omori predictably did not answer the question, instead walking partially up the stairs.

"Get your ass down here," he shouted. "I need you." There was a loud huff before a familiar girl with long hair walked down the stairs. She was holding a picnic basket, and her hair was purple and looked more like a child's drawing than the ordinary black hair Basil was used to seeing on her. It was still terrifying to see her.

"Don't curse, Omori," Mari sighed, shaking her head. "What did you need me for?"

"Hide and seek."

"I don't help with hide and seek, remember?"

"Visitors," Omori sighed, pointing at the group. Mari glanced over at them.

"Are you sure?" she asked. "It's Headspace. I'm not entirely sure anyone can get in."

"They did," Omori sighed. "I don't know how, but they did." Mari whipped around, her hair fluttering gently over her body. She stared for a second before taking a run up and jumping onto Hero.

"Hero? Is that really you?" she asked, her arms wrapped around him. She looked so small next to him, her head barely coming up to his chin. 

"Mari?" Aubrey asked. Kel was covering his mouth - probably to muffle his crying - and Basil was frozen in fear. First watching himself get pushed down the stairs by someone who looked like Sunny, now actually seeing Mari as Hero ran a hand through her hair. Before anyone could go any farther, she pushed herself back and turned to Basil.

"Hello, Basil," Mari told him, delicately lifting one eyebrow. "How have you been?"

"I, uh, M-mari," Basil stammered, grabbing his hands anxiously. "H-hey, I, um-"

"Don't worry," Mari sighed. "I understand. I'm not mad at you or Su-"

"We do not speak that name," Omori hissed, glaring at Mari. She placed a hand on her hip.

"I'm not allowed to say my little brother's name?"

"Mari, I'm warning you."

"What are you going to do?"

"Send you to Black Space."

"Oh no," Mari chuckled, "what a terrifying threat. I'll get to brighten up Black Space a little."

Omori and Mari made direct eye contact for a few solid minutes before Omori finally blinked and relented.

"I've sealed the picnic blankets for you and Basil who I've renamed Damsel. All areas are unlocked and keys count as collected, so Black Space is open. You win if you get to Black Space. You cannot actively guide them there once you open it, but Damsel has no limitations on it. If I separate you or Damsel from the party, that's an automatic lose for me. To make it less tedious, I'm opening Pluto's service for you. Also, I'm sealing off all previous entrances to Black Space, so you don't have to double check them. That includes Damsel's house." Omori sighed. "I've added some more areas, too. That's all." He gestured up the stairs. "I'm going away. We won't meet again for a while." With a winded puff, Omori left, leaving Basil's double and Mari behind. 

"We'll be here a while," Mari chuckled, her skirt fluttering in the wind as she spun to face the group. "Let's catch up."

Chapter Text

Basil stared at Mari as she pulled a picnic blanket out of thin air and laid it on the ground. 

"It's a shame my picnic blankets have been sealed off," Mari chuckled, smoothing the patterned fabric out. "But at least it's comfortable to sit on. Come on, sit down." She sat on the ground, Damsel running over and clinging to her arm. "Don't mind him, he's a Headspace resident."

"Hey," Damsel whimpered, sounding more scared than offended.

"What the fuck is Headspace?" Aubrey asked, looming over Mari.

"It's where you are now," Mari explained. "Hero, I believe you were right - it's a sort of dream world brought about by the Dreamer. Unfortunately, Omori has banned me from saying the Dreamer's actual name. All I can really say is this is his dream world, where everything is perfect. Honestly, the best way to learn it is to see it, and we'll be walking around soon enough. I'd rather hear what you've all been up to."

"Wait, why would you want to know? I thought you were part of the dream?" Hero asked, sitting down next to her. Even sitting, he loomed over Mari.

"It's complicated," she murmured. "I'd rather not talk about it."

"I don't want to talk about any of this," Basil whispered. Even just looking at Mari made him uncomfortable, but it was like he couldn't look away. Mari, for her part, looked straight at him.

"You okay?" Kel asked, walking over and placing a hand on Basil's shoulder. 

"It's okay, Basil," Mari soothed. "Why don't you tell me what's happened since I've been dead?"

"You know?" Hero asked, his voice catching in his throat.

"Yes."

"Is it painful?" Kel asked, sitting down on the other side of Hero.

"Not as much as dying was."

"Why did you do it?" Hero begged, reaching out and placing his hand on top of hers. She froze and Basil got a sinking feeling in his stomach.

"What do you mean?" she replied, arching an eyebrow hesitantly.

"Why did you decide to t-take your own life if it hurt? Were we not good enough?" Even from a few feet away, Basil could see Hero's grip on Mari's hand tighten, and his grip on his tears crumble away into nothing. He could see Aubrey's rage at being left behind bubbling up again, and Kel's growing anxiety at everything falling apart. Basil could feel his own terror and anxiety rising to the surface, threatening to consume him.

He watched as Mari made eye contact with him.

"I'm not entirely sure," she responded slowly, still holding Basil's gaze. "There was a lot of stress on me. My entire life felt like I was tumbling down a set of stairs, and it was hard to handle. I think it was just one of those moments where your brain cannot quite keep up with you, and you make a choice you regret very quickly." Basil fiddled with his hands anxiously, regretting all of his life choices. Finally, finally, after what seemed like an eternity, Mari looked away from Basil and he nearly let out an audible sigh. 

"I'm just glad to see you," Hero whispered. It was so quiet Basil almost didn't hear him.

"I'm glad to see you, too. It's been a while," Mari hummed. 

"We missed you," Aubrey admitted. "It really felt like you left us behind."

"We had a rough patch in our friendship, but it's okay. We made up, everyone's alive and well, and everything's good," Kel told Mari, smiling brightly. Basil had been around Kel enough to tell that Kel was smiling a smile that was reserved for times when he was stressed, or when someone needed reassurance. A flash of guilt tore through Basil as he remembered stabbing himself with gardening shears and being rushed to the hospital. He had turned out fine, but it was only due to the diligent work of doctors and Hero's quick thinking a little under a year ago. If Basil recalled correctly, it had been a few weeks after Sunny had moved Mari smiled.

"I'm glad that everything turned out okay," she replied. 

"Well, we haven't seen Sunny before today," Aubrey grumbled. "He fucking abandoned us and then he just shows up like this."

"That's not Sunny," Basil muttered on instinct. 

"Omori's been in charge for a long time," Mari explained. "I think it's about a year now."

"Wait, a year?" Kel asked. "Isn't that when Sunny moved?" There was a long, awkward pause where nobody spoke and Basil felt nausea flooding his stomach. Finally, Mari broke the silence.

"He moved?"

"Yeah. Your mom got a job in Closeby City and sold the house. She called it a fresh start," Hero explained. "Then she called mine and Kel's mom and got him to come to..." he trailed off.

"Got him to come to our little gathering that we started holding on the day you died," Aubrey finished, looking at the wall above Mari instead of Mari herself. Basil didn't blame her.

"Well." Mari stood up, Damsel staggering to his feet as well. Basil had honestly forgotten about his younger doppelganger. "I guess we have to play Omori's little game, then. Come on, let's go." The picnic blanket folded itself up and disappeared into the basket that Mari was still holding. 

"Wait, what?" Hero asked, pushing himself to his feet. "We have to go?"

"Why are we doing anything that monochrome freak says?" Aubrey asked.

"Come on, guys, hide and seek like we used to do," Kel pointed out. "It'll be fun! Plus, it's in our friend's brain, right? Sunny was always really creative. This place will probably be fun, right guys?" Basil looked at Kel, whose smile didn't quite reach his eyes. 

"I'd rather not be here," Basil whispered. Mari turned her piercing gaze on him. Despite her gentle smile, Basil felt like she was tearing him apart with her expression.

"We need you, Basil," Mari told him. "I can't do this without you."

"Y-you're just saying that," Basil blurted out.

"Basil, you're far more important to Headspace than you probably realize."

"How can I r-realize anything about here? I've n-never been here before."

"Basil." He tensed up and his eyes darted around the strange room in a panic. 

"Yes, M-mari?" 

"Please, help me. Just play the game. If you give up, we lose, and I lose my only chance to say everything I want to say," she pleaded. He glanced at her. Her eyes were wide and earnest and Basil realized that he was actually slightly taller than her. The purple hair was a strange disconnect from the long, shiny black locks he associated with her, and Basil briefly imagined a young Sunny scribbling in a drawing of Mari with a purple crayon.

"O-okay," he practically whimpered. She smiled at him briefly, reaching out with the hand Hero had been holding and squeezing Basil's before turning back to the group.

"Come on. It's time to show you around Headspace."

Chapter Text

Basil watched as Mari grabbed Hero's hand tightly and began walking up the stairs. Everyone else followed slowly, until Basil was left in the room with his double. 

"Do you remember?" Damsel asked, peering up at Basil with strangely green eyes. 

"R-remember what?" Basil asked. 

"The Dreamer didn't remember, either. Now Omori has to leave us sometimes." Damsel whimpered quietly. Basil felt sick. "I don't like when Omori leaves." 

"I-i don't understand w-what you mean," Basil stammered. He glanced at the staircase. "W-we should go. They're w-waiting for us."

"Waiting for something to happen?" Damsel muttered under his breath.

"What?" Basil asked. For one horrible, terrifying second, fear shot through Basil as Damsel moved forward. His heart was still pounding a mile a minute when his hand was gently grabbed and he was guided up the stairs. Basil nearly got caught in a tree stump, but Damsel managed to pull him through.

"Mari," Damsel cried out. A familiar head of purple hair appeared, holding her hair out of her face. (Basil was extremely grateful that she was doing that.)

"Ah, there you two are," Mari chuckled, turning around. "I've found them."

"Sheesh, Basil, it's been two seconds and you're already lost? Try to keep up," Aubrey huffed, appearing around the corner and holding Kel by the elbow. Damsel let go of Basil and sprinted over to Mari, hugging onto her side and eying Aubrey and Kel warily. Hero appeared from behind Mari and Damsel jumped slightly. 

"It's a good thing we found you," Hero said. "We should probably stay together. After all, we don't really know what's out there."

"Not even I know everything that's out there. Omori did say there would be more areas," Mari pointed out. 

"Ugh," Aubrey groaned, "no offense, Mari, but Omori's a bit of a dick."

"Aubrey, language," Mari scolded. 

"I'm 17."

"Still no excuse for that sort of language."

"You're such a nag sometimes, Mari," Aubrey sighed. Basil tensed up slightly. Mari chuckled.

"Come on, let's go," she called to the group, turning around. "There's a playground ahead of us that acts as sort of a hub of people. Well, it might be empty, but Omori isn't really a fan of being alone." She started walking away and Basil immediately scrambled to follow her. The rest of the group fell into a line, Mari in front with Damsel clinging to her, Aubrey second, Kel third, Basil fourth, and Hero bringing up the rear. Basil fiddled with his hands in front of his body. 

"Hey, you okay?" Kel asked, turning slightly.

"Y-yeah, I'm fine," Basil muttered.

"Dude."

"What?"

"You're clearly not okay," Kel sighed. 

"I'm fine," Basil repeated. "Everything's going to be okay."

"Dude, it's okay to not be... okay. We're trapped in our best friend's dreams, playing a demented game of hide and seek. Preeeetty sure it's okay to be freaking out a little," Kel chuckled. His smile was unnaturally bright.

"Are you okay?" Basil asked quietly. Kel's smile strengthened a little and he turned around wordlessly, leaving Basil to curse himself over his mistake. Fortunately, he didn't have long until the group emerged on an empty playground. There was a picnic blanket in the corner with a pile of candy wrappers, and a floating mirror, but that was it. 

"I thought as much," Mari sighed. "No one's here."

"What's the plan from here?" Hero asked. 

"Well, we could go to Sweetheart's Castle, but Omori took that over," Mari hummed. "We could head towards the Last Resort or Orange Oasis. He'd likely not expect us to go there. Although there are a lot of areas I've never seen. There's a pretty good chance that he's hidden the entrance in one of those." Mari started twirling a piece of her hair absentmindedly, and Basil's chest tightened at how much like her the action was. Finally, she glanced behind her. "What do you all think?"

"I don't care," Aubrey shrugged. "I don't even want to be here, but there's no way in hell I'm giving up this game."

"Orange Oasis sounds kinda fun," Kel suggested. 

"You and your orange joe addiction," Aubrey scoffed. "Seriously, grow some taste buds."

"Can't knock it til you try it."

"Like I'd ever try that abomination," Aubrey fake gagged and Kel gasped dramatically.

"Orange Joe - tm - is not an abomination," he defended.

"Guys, we have other priorities right now," Hero sighed, massaging his temples. "Let's debate Kel's questionable beverage choices later."

"Well, where do you want to go then?" Kel asked.

"How far away is everything?" Hero asked, turning to Mari. 

"Travel times aren't an issue, luckily, but Sweetheart's Castle and Otherworld are the closest," she explained. 

"You said Omori has control of the castle, right?"

"Yes. It's completely his, and he can bend the inside to his will more than he can the rest of Headspace."

"Let's go to Otherworld, then," Hero decided.

"What about you, Basil?" Mari asked. "Where should we go first? Otherworld or Orange Oasis?" Basil glanced at Hero, and then at Kel, then back at Hero. Neither of them seemed particularly impatient for Basil's answer, and Basil doubted that they would care too much one way or the other. That didn't make speaking up easier, but it did make his decision slightly easier. 

"Um, Otherworld, probably," Basil stammered. "That makes the most sense, right?" 

"Alright, let's go then. Pluto's Spaceline is going to be the easiest way around," Mari replied. She turned around and tugged Damsel with her, heading out of the playground. Basil fell back into his place in line as she led the group out and into the forest. It wasn't long until the group ended up in front of what looked like a bus stop. Mari reached up and tapped the bus schedule once. There was a few seconds of silence before what looked like a giant rock with surprisingly chiseled muscles plummeted towards the ground and stood up on the floor of the bus stop.

"Mari!” The rock cried, flexing for some unknown reason. Basil watched in confusion as it picked up Mari in a spine-snapping hug. She hugged it back.

“Hello, Pluto,” she replied. “It’s nice to see you.”

“Wait, Pluto? Like the planet?” Hero asked.

“The one and only," the rock laughed. "Nice to meetcha!"

"I'm slowly going insane, aren't I?" Hero asked in the most deadpan tone of voice Basil had ever heard him speak in.

"That's so cool," Kel called, running up to get closer to Pluto. 

"Pluto, it's lovely to see you, but we need to get to Otherworld," Mari explained. "Would you mind taking us?"

"No problem, Mari! Just hop right on and you'll be in Otherworld in no time!" Pluto cackled, stretching his arms out. 

"Aw, sweet, we get to climb on you?" Kel asked, his eyes sparkling.

"Yep! Get your butt up here so I can get my butt in the sky," Pluto affirmed. Kel was the first one onto Pluto's back, followed by Mari, who perched elegantly on his right arm, and then Aubrey, who began hanging off his left. Basil, in a panic to not be left behind, scrambled for a handhold and ended up right next to Kel. Damsel seemed to have the same idea, and he glanced momentarily at Basil before whimpering and running over to Mari. In a surprise twist, Damsel seemed to be the most agile of the group (after Mari, of course). He jumped up and wrapped his body around Pluto's arm before plopping down next to Mari and hugging onto her. The last person on the ground was Hero, who seemed to be struggling in his journey of sitting next to Aubrey on Pluto's left arm. He managed to just barely jump up before Pluto pushed off the ground with his entire strength. 

Basil squeezed his eyes shut as the ground fell away under him. The sudden weightlessness didn't help the nausea that had been roiling in his stomach for a while now. Once his stomach calmed down a little, he pried his eyes back open and looked around him. The sky was purple and seemed boundless. Stars were littered around them with actual white lines drawing constellations. Every few minutes, one of them seemed to rearrange itself. Pastel pink clouds floated around them. Basil watched in utter astonishment as Mari reached out and grabbed one of them, putting it in her mouth. Next to Basil, Kel reached out and bit a cloud as well.

"No way," he muttered around the cloud in his mouth.

"Cotton candy clouds," Mari called up. "One of my favorite parts about Headspace."

"Aw, yeah," Pluto put in. "They're delicious, guys! Try some, my treat, gwahaha!" Basil looked down at Hero and Aubrey, who both reached out to grab a passing cloud. His hand trembling slightly from nervousness, Basil reached above his head for a cloud right above him and tore a small piece off. It certainly felt like cotton candy. Nervously, Basil bit into the cloud piece. His eyes widened in surprise as it began to melt in his mouth, tasting of spun sugar and pink food dye.

"It actually is cotton candy," he whispered. Aubrey snorted.

"Of course it is. What else would stupid dream clouds be made of?" she asked, raising an eyebrow at Basil. Hero was sitting next to her, holding a half-eaten piece of cloud in one hand and staring into the distance. He did not react to the fact that they had discovered literal clouds of cotton candy. Damsel was still curled up at Mari's side, his face buried in her stupid, unnerving hair as she played with the spun sugar in her hands.

"Hold on to your butts, guys, we're going down!" Pluto called immediately before pointing his toes and plummeting to the ground. Basil screeched in terror, throwing his arms around Kel and dropping his cotton candy in the process. The nausea came back stronger than before (not that it had ever subsided), and Basil squeezed his eyes shut to avoid seeing the sky pass him at light speeds. A comforting arm was wrapped around him and Basil huddled into it until he felt the air return to normal speeds. The nausea didn't go down nearly as much as before, but it at least got down to bearable as Basil felt his body stop falling. 

"Hey, you okay?" Kel's voice asked. "You need help getting down?" Basil nodded once and the arm was joined by a second one, which wrapped around Basil's body and gently lifted him into the air. The grip on him shifted slightly and finally, finally, Basil's feet hit the ground again. He stumbled for a second and fell back into Kel, his eyes flying open.

"S-sorry," Basil yelped, embarrassment flooding him as he backed away from Kel. How could he have stumbled like that? Oh, and he landed on Kel? This was an absolute disaster and Kel would hate him forever and how could he make such a mistake-

"Hey, no worries," Kel assured, smiling brightly. "You didn't do anything wrong, just got a little airsick." Relief flooded through Basil.

"O-oh, good. I'm glad that you're not mad or anything."

"Nope, not mad!"

"Hurry up, guys," Aubrey yelled. "We're gonna leave you behind."

"Right," Kel replied, grabbing Basil's hand and dragging him towards the group. Basil stumbled after Kel towards their friends. Mari seemed to be muttering under her breath, and she glanced warily at Basil for a second before turning to the group with a smile. Basil's nausea still hadn't faded, and he was honestly starting to doubt that it would fade at any point.

"Alright. Welcome to Otherworld. Just up that path," Mari explained, pointing up. The group filtered through, one by one, down the path and into the clearing. 

Basil's first impression was the color purple. 

Basil's second impression was fire.

Cars were littered everywhere, fire and smoke billowing from the wreckages. Pirates were running and screaming in panic, and there were large, bladed machines sawing down trees left and right. Half of the landscape was on fire, and Basil could swear he saw robots holding down some of the fleeing pirates. In the background, there were a couple of large, destroyed buildings. There was one building that was vaguely shaped like Sweetheart's head that was being painted to resemble a robot. Mari walked up behind the group and stopped abruptly.

"Well. This is certainly... not what I expected," Mari stammered. "Otherworld is usually... different than this. Less... chaos, I suppose. I did think Omori and his friends had been here recently, but it certainly wasn't like this last time I was here." 

"What's even happening?" Hero asked. 

"It appears as if Otherworld is currently under attack from robots," Mari pondered. "How curious."

"That's not supposed to be happening?" Kel asked. "I honestly thought it was pretty cool." Aubrey bonked him.

"Space is being sieged by robots and the only thing you can think is 'that's pretty cool'?" Aubrey asked.

"Well, yeah, it's space and it's being attacked by robots. How is this not cool?" Kel shot back.

"Kel, you're a fucking idiot."

"Aw, thanks!"

"Mari, thank god," a pirate called out, running over and interrupting Kel and Aubrey's bickering. "Some Sweetheart-shaped robot showed up and now we're under attack! You need to help us." They froze. "Wait, where's Omori? And who are these people?"

"I'm otherwise indisposed," a voice called. Everyone turned to look at the source, finding Omori leaning against a tree, his face blank as he twirled a knife. 

"Omori?" Mari asked. "What are you doing here? I thought we were playing your game." 

"Oh, and you are. I'm just here to watch and provide snarky commentary. Did you forget? As Aubrey so eloquently put it, I'm 'a bit of a dick'," Omori deadpanned. Basil was honestly unnerved by how much like Sunny Omori seemed to act.

"Have you been watching us?" Aubrey asked.

"Yeah, I am," Omori admitted. "Pretty boring so far. Can we please get some conflict up in here?"

"Can you show us to Black Space?" Mari asked, batting her eyes. Omori put a finger to his chin like he was deep in thought.

"You know, I don't think I will."

"You used to store Damsel there," Mari pointed out. Basil felt a little bit more sick at the thought of a weird clone of Sunny keeping a child version of Basil stored like an object. Omori shrugged.

"Just doing my job."

"Your job includes vicious torture of Headspace residents?" Mari arched an eyebrow.

"I wouldn't say vicious torture," Omori replied in the most deadpan voice possible, putting a hand to his chest in mock offense. "Just, hm, repeated murder for a justified cause." 

Mari's only response was an arched eyebrow at the words 'justified cause.' Oh, yep, that's the nausea, Basil thought. Still there, reminding Basil of his failures and mistakes. God, he wished he hadn't done... that. Would make this easier to bear. Although he didn't regret helping Sunny. It was the only good result of his horrible decisions. 

"What? My cause is plenty justified," Omori defended, walking over to Mari. Basil noticed he was still holding the knife. It was shiny. 

"If you say so," Mari sighed. Omori started glowing red. 

"What is that supposed to mean-"

"Aren't we playing your game?" Mari interrupted. "I thought you wanted us to run around on this wild goose chase." Omori's red outline faded slightly - only slightly - and he scoffed.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. Get back to it." He waved dismissively and walked off. Basil watched as he disappeared among the flaming forest. The pirate blinked in confusion for a moment, turning back to Mari.

"So Omori's not going to help?" they asked.

"No. But we will," Mari reassured, gesturing at the group. Basil smiled and waved awkwardly for a moment, lowering his hand and smile when he realized no one else had moved. 

"But Omori's the best at fighting. Heck, Omori's the best at everything," the pirate said, glancing nervously at the group. "How do I know they're any good?"

"Just trust me," Mari told them, smiling gently. Next to her, Hero shook himself. Basil thought it looked like he was shaking himself awake.

"We'll protect you, don't worry," Hero assured, flashing a stupidly award winning smile at the pirate. They looked at him, their face flushing for a second, before glancing away.

"Oh, uh, okay, I guess I'll just, uh, leave it to you," they stammered, playing with a tassel on their outfit before leaving. Mari turned to the group, her skirt fluttering around her and her hair flowing in the wind.

"Are you all ready?" Mari asked. 

"Sure," Hero sighed. "I just charmed a pirate into letting us fight an army of robots. I think I'm ready for anything." He slapped his cheeks a couple times and blinked. 

"I'm always down to beat a bitch into submission," Aubrey grinned, earning a firm "language" from Mari. 

"Um, if we have to," Basil whispered. "Violence... isn't exactly my thing."

"Do we have weapons or armor or something?" Kel asked. Mari blinked.

"Oh, I thought I had given them out already. Whoops!" she laughed and opened the picnic basket hanging on her arm. Basil watched with bated breath as she pulled out a set of flower hair accessories and started to give them out. She grabbed a gladiolous headband and gave it to Aubrey, pinned Kel's bangs with a cactus hairclip, kissed Hero as she pressed a rose clip into his hand, and then pulled back, rummaging through her basket. Mari pulled out a tulip hairstick and twisted her hair into a bun, pinning it up. 

Finally, Mari pulled out a flower crown woven from sunflowers, tulips, and what appeared to be flowers from a succulent of some sort. She gave that to Basil, who placed it on his head, taking the flower in his hair out. She started on weapons, giving Aubrey a baseball bat, Kel a basketball, and Hero a tenderizer. She didn't grab any weapon for herself or Damsel, but she did grab Basil a weapon.

She reached into her basket one more time and pulled out a jump rope. 

A jump rope.

Mari pulled out a jump rope.

For Basil.

To use as a weapon.

This dream was fucked up, wasn't it? 

Basil wanted to go home-

He didn't know why he chose the jump rope. Maybe because the house didn't have any actual rope. Not everyone had rope, and apparently they didn't. That was fine. The jump rope would do just fine. As long as it didn't snap, that is, but it was made of a very sturdy sort of rubber-plastic material. It would be good enough. As long as he didn't get in trouble. As long as he didn't have to bear the weight of this. Hang her up by her neck and he would be fine. And look at that! She was all tied up! He was proud of his handiwork, he guessed. Was it alright to be proud that he successfully made this murder look like a suicide? Yes, of course. It wasn't covering up an accidental murder, it was protecting his best friend! He was allowed to be proud of protecting his friend. This was okay. Everything was going to be okay. Everything. Everythi-

Basil shook himself slightly and smiled nervously at Mari.

"Alright, that's it, I believe," Mari sighed, turning around. "Come on, let's actually start our job." She strode over to a robot and the group followed her. Basil was... nervous, to say the least, and that didn't even cover the nausea that wouldn't fucking go away already! The entire group stood in front of the machine, and suddenly, Basil's vision started to blur and blend together. Something that appeared like a battle screen from an rpg forced its way into his vision and suddenly, the world was right side up again. 

"What's happening?" Basil asked.

"I'm going fucking insane," Hero groaned. 

"Are we in a video game?" Kel asked incredously. 

"Classic rpgs aren't really my style, but whatever, I guess I can get behind this," Aubrey cackled, adjusting her grip on the bat.

"Alright, it's tutorial time," Mari chuckled. "It's a normal rpg, for the most part. You have skills, basic attacks, attack items, and healing items. The biggest twist is emotions. Each emotion does a different thing. HAPPY is strong against ANGRY and increases your LUCK and SPEED but drops HIT RATE. ANGRY is strong against SAD and increases your ATTACK but drops DEFENSE. SAD is strong against HAPPY and increases DEFENSE but drops SPEED and deals damage to JUICE, which is like your mana. Each emotion has three stages for you and certain bosses. You can change emotions if you'd like. Person with the highest SPEED goes first, so Kel, that would be you. I'll let you figure it out from there. The best way to learn is by doing, after all!"

"Got it," Kel cheered, smiling a bright and slightly dangerous smile. He dribbled the ball a few times and then shot it at the robot. A number around 200 appeared in front of Basil's vision as the ball rolled back to Kel, who picked it up, grinning like an idiot. 

"Great job, Kel," Mari encouraged. Suddenly, a menu of some sort appeared in front of Basil and he jumped out of surprise. He supposed that this was how the fighting was done. He imagined moving an invisible cursor over to the SKILL tab and clicking on it. He had four skills - CONFESS, which made one friend or foe sad, FLOWER CROWN, which dealt a lot of damage four times, SHEAR, which dealt massive damage once and did more if Basil was any tier of SAD but also hurt Basil, and HANG, which did medium damage to all enemies and inflicted a random emotion. Basil stared at the last option for a few seconds before selecting SHEAR. 

To Basil's surprise, once he selected SHEAR, his body moved on it's own. A glowing set of garden shears appeared in his hand and he rushed towards the robot, stabbing it in the eye. The shears stayed stuck in its eye for a few moments until Basil managed to pull it back. The force of his effort caused him to fall over and a red 10 appeared over his head, knocking his HP down to 320. On the plus side, 450 appeared above the robot's head and its color inverted. Basil flinched at a cheery noise that played in his head before the menu faded. There was a long, awkward silence.

"I guess that's the end of the battle," Mari chuckled.

"Look at you two, hogging all the fun," Aubrey scoffed. Kel laughed.

"Aw, is someone jeeealous?" Kel mocked, leaning on Aubrey.

"Shut the fuck up, Kel," Aubrey said, shoving him sideways. 

"Aubrey," Mari warned. 

"Sorry," Aubrey grumbled. Kel snickered and Aubrey shoved him over.

"Anyways," Mari sighed, "I suppose that's that. Do we need to go through another battle first to get the hang of things?"

"I'm good," Aubrey replied. "Seems pretty intuitive if even a weakling like Basil can figure it out."

"I-I'm not a weakling," Basil protested. 

"Yeah, he just killed a robot with a pair of garden shears," Kel cheered. "That's awesome!"

"That just means I've got to be even better than you," Aubrey cackled, leaning on her baseball bat. "Shouldn't be too hard." Suddenly, a metallic clang rang out and a robot girl descended from the sky. All the robots turned to look at her.

"ALL UNITS: RETURN TO BASE FOR EMERGENCY BRIEFING," the robot girl declared. Aubrey dropped her bat, nearly falling flat on her face.

"You okay, Aubrey?" Kel asked, leaning down to check on her. 

"Yeah, yeah, I'm good, I'm fine," Aubrey stammered, standing back up. "Just, uh, startled."

"You don't get startled," Kel pointed out. Next to him, Mari grinned.

"Yes, Aubrey," she chuckled. "You don't get startled by surprising noises. Unless it's not the fact that she suddenly appeared that startled you?"

"Shut up, Mari," Aubrey grumbled, turning away. 

"Roboheart is quite lovely," Mari hummed, walking closer to Aubrey. "I haven't talked to her, but her body was well made. In addition, she was built after Sweetheart, and I know Sweetheart doesn't care about gender." Aubrey covered her face. 

"Mari, shut up," Aubrey groaned. "Let's just go beat up all the robots for the space pirates."

"Aw, are you embarrassed, Aubrey?" Mari teased, poking Aubrey's cheek. 

"I think you broke her," Kel laughed. Aubrey groaned again.

"I'm fine," she whined.

"I think you're right, Kel," Mari replied. "I'm sorry, Aubrey. Come on, stand up. Didn't you want to fight the army of robots now?" Aubrey glanced at Mari through closed fingers. From what Basil could see, her face was bright red. She looked angry, and Basil could swear that she started faintly glowing red. Mari was blatantly glowing a HAPPY yellow.

"Fine," Aubrey grumbled. "Just stop teasing me. You're an asshole."

"Language, Aubrey," Mari scolded. Aubrey sighed.