Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

In the small community of Faraway Town, there lies a completely dysfunctional family. This family contains one kid— Basil — who has seen too much in his short life. He was faced with extreme torment, causing his consciousness to split into fragments.

Basil was born into an unlucky family. He was a product of sexual assault that went unknown to anyone but the victim and assaulter. He was surrounded by abuse. His father didn't cease his toxic tendencies with the assault; he would constantly abuse Basil’s mother— and occasionally Basil himself— in various ways. Alcoholism ran through the family, causing Basil’s father to fall victim to the disease. He was always abusive, but got worse once drunk. shock led Basil into partial silence, leading him to talk to only those he trusted.

Due to the child’s uncharacteristic silence, his father drunkenly decided he didn't want to watch over the child due to his strange behaviour. He threw Basil into the care of the child’s grandmother Darcy, and he was only allowed to visit on weekends. The 6 year old was relieved yet upset. While escaping the torment he faced for years was great, it hurt to see his own father throw him away like a banana peel.

Darcy was a lovely grandmother. She was kind and generous towards the damaged child, unaware of what went down in Basil’s old home. ..It wasn't even a home, was it? A home is for a family, and they sure as hell weren't a functional one.

Regulardless, Basil continued on. Multiple people helped him, actually. Venus was his biggest “help”. She would occasionally lash out at people, but at least it protected him! Then there was Dahlia, she was an ethereal being who helped sort dilemma for when someone wasn’t present. She’d let Basil rest when he needed it and kept him company.

There was also Tobi and Zane. Tobi was the one who was a broken child, more so than Basil. Basil’s memories of trauma were pushed onto Tobi. On the other hand, Zane was very outgoing. He’d talk someone’s ear off and was overall fun.

The five were semi-functional. Basil, Zane and Venus would switch out depending on the situation, while Tobi and Dahlia stayed in their headspace and took care of internal activities.

No one knew about them all, aside from Basil and the others. Basil always thought that they were just imaginary friends. They never were, but what else would a naïve kid think?

Anyways, the five did their best to work together. It was a mess, but at least they made it.

Chapter Text

Basil only had one friend growing up, and that was Aubrey. Aubrey was a kind, playful girl that Darcy would babysit on occasions. She would sometimes drag Basil into trouble, but nothing too serious. Today, Basil was being dragged to meet other friends.

Basil hated socializing, causing Zane to front for the day. He had to do his best to pretend to be Basil, though it proved to be hard at times.

“So, Basil! You ready?” Aubrey chirped as the two steadily made their way to the park, where they would meet up with Aubrey’s other friends. Zane personally was excited.

“Yeah!” He responded, before remembering he had to act like Basil. “I’m a bit nervous, though.”

“Oh, don’t worry! They are all great. There’s Sunny who is quiet but fun, Kel who is a goofball, then Mari, Sunny’s older sister, and-”

“Zane.” A stern voice distracted him from what was being said by Aubrey. The voice belonged to Dahlia. Only Zane could hear this voice. He nodded to Aubrey as he responded internally to Dahlia.

“What? Something wrong?” He replied, trying to act as nonchalant as possible. Dahlia does occasional check-ins, but you never can read her tone. Zane was a tad bit scared about what Dahlia would say.

“No fooling around. You always end up acting like someone else. We are supposed to act as one.”

“Sorry, Dahl, I’ll do better.”

“Thank you, but please stop calling me Dahl.”

To that there was no response, as Zane runed back into Aubrey’s rambles.

“...and then there’s Hero, Mari’s “best friend” and Kel’s brother!” She looked towards ‘Basil’. “You got all that?”

He nodded, smiling. Friends were fun to meet, what’s the worst that could happen?