Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

After running into the woods with absolutely no direction in mind, Sunny nearly collapsed.

He'd made it pretty far. Through the layer of trees behind his house, across the road he'd forgotten was there, and quite a ways into the woods behind that. He was slumped against a random tree. Panting like he'd run a marathon because, once again, he was not athletic by nature. Everything smelled like pine needles. And a little like blood.

Crap, blood?

Now that he'd thought about it, the blood smell was overpowering. He reached up, and touched his face.

Sure enough, two fingers came away red. Nosebleed. Sunny hadn't had one since... Since before. They were caused by dry air, or sometimes stress. Considering the Summer, lakeside humidity, he could make a guess.

It didn't matter. They always stop by themselves eventually.

(He knew that. When he'd gotten them the most, he'd already stopped going to Mari for anything. She used to always have tissues nearby.)

Nosebleed aside, he needed to find somewhere more familiar. Sunny had never been in the deeper parts of the forest by himself before, but, if the treehouse was off-limits, maybe he could find his way to the lake?

There were probably people at the lake. The Hooligans, Recycultists, maybe even some of his friends- Old. Old friends. Maybe someone was visiting for old times sake. Still, a peek couldn't hurt. Probably. Maybe.

He'd go anyway. If anyone was there, he'd leave before they could see him.

Bracing against the tree, and with great effort, he stood up.

Ow- Jesus, what- Ow!

And he was back on the forest floor.

Well.

His legs hurt. A lot.

The aching burn was unbearable, and almost certainly caused by his little journey from the night before. Sunny hadn't noticed it when he was running. Adrenaline clogging up his pain receptors, or something. Whatever the case, he wouldn't be moving around much for a while.

Carefully, he adjusted himself into a more comfortable - crisscrossed - position against the old tree. Roots dug into his legs, but it didn't really hurt. No, the discomfort was thoroughly drowned out by the burn in his muscles.

Later, his shorts would be covered in dirt. Later, he'd have to figure out how to clean off the already drying blood above his lip. Later, he'd have to make the trek back to the treehouse, pain put aside. He'd need shelter, at night. But right now, his shelter was occupied.

He honestly didn't care who was in it. Maybe the new people who'd moved in to his house. But more likely, Aubrey, Kel, or Hero. They certainly couldn't know he was here.

It wasn't as if he thought they would never speak to him again. These were people he'd known his whole life. They were much, much too kind for that.

No, they'd... They would talk to him again. Eventually. Not forgive. He wouldn't get that. But... Maybe understand.

The issue, of course, being time.

(It was always time.)

If he went and told them he was an orphan now, that he had nowhere to stay, they'd feel rushed. He needed to wait until they were ready to see him. So, it was far too early to talk to them.

Then, there was the looming threat of it becoming too late. If Sunny waited too long, the first question asked of him would be 'why did you take so long?' There would be more anger, more confusion, and definitely no hearing him out.

There existed a very small window, where he could talk to them again, and they'd be okay with that.

The issue being that he had no idea when that was.

As he often did in times of stress, and too much thinking, he felt himself falling asleep.

-----

Welcome To White Space

You Have Been Living Here

For As Long As You Can Remember

...

Shit.

...

He hadn't been to White Space, Headspace, or Black Space since the reveal.

...

He hadn't even dreamed, at all.

...

Sleep brought only lovely, safe darkness.

...

He'd thought all of this was gone.

...

It was so hard to think, here.

...

He had taken his new, sharper senses for granted, in the real world.

...

But it was all duller now.

...

Everything was slower. And so very quiet.

...

The simple, empty music was drowned out by the overwhelming silence.

...

The white was blinding, and somehow wasn't bright at all.

...

Sickeningly, it felt like home.

...

Omori was standing over him.

...

"Dreamer."

...

Sunny nodded.

...

"Why... Why am I back?"

...

"You wanted to be."

...

"No. No I didn't."

...

There wasn't usually this much talking, telepathic or not.

...

"You wanted to stop thinking about your friends. And about your mother. You wanted to stop thinking. That is what this place is. You wanted to come back."

...

That... That was true. He sat up.

...

"Okay. You're right."

...

Omori just stared at him.

...

Sunny stood up, and looked around. He was, as always, in the middle of the white blanket. Somehow, it didn't have a texture.

...

The laptop, all of its Keys safely in place.

...

His sketchbook, all darker pages. It had never been used for anything nice. Not like the one in real life.

...

A box of tissues. Unused.

...

A distinct lack of a black cat.

...

A lightly swinging cord, hanging from the ceiling, wherever it was.

...

It was interesting, to see that cord without a foreboding lightbulb dangling off of it.

...

He found himself walking over to it.

...

Omori spoke again, "Don't touch that."

Half out of spite, and half because he wanted to, Sunny reached up, and touched the end of the cord.

...

...

...

Sunny was lying down again.

...

Omori was standing over him, again.

...

"I told you not to touch it." He said. "It's live."

...

There's a bit of a pause.

...

"Oh."

...

Omori shook his head.

...

"Everything is still here. But there's a bit of a problem in Headspace."

"What problem?"

...

Omori, for the first time Sunny could remember, looked unsure.

...

"You'll see. Go to sleep, Dreamer."

...

That was how it always went.

...

Sunny would fall asleep in the real world, and 'wake up' here.

...

Then, Omori would check in on him. Usually without any talk.

...

Then, Sunny would sleep..

...

When he slept, he would disappear from White Space, and watch Omori from above.

...

He had some sway over what Omori did. He could choose whether to stay there, or explore Headspace.

...

He could suggest which directions Omori went in.

...

He got to explore with him, in a way.

...

But in the end, Omori explored, and the Dreamer dreamt.

...

He felt his metaphorical eye close, as Omori walked to the door.

-----

A white door casts a faint shadow.

What would you like to do?

NOTHING
-> OPEN THE DOOR

-----

You are greeted, as usual, by the familiar music of Neighbors Room.

Its little hoots and lullabic tune are comforting. Its soft, purple tint more so.

The red Tentacle is still there. The blue watermelon next to it has long been smashed. There is no Toast in the toaster. An eye peeks out from the cabinet below a framed Photo of Someone Familiar. Snake is draped along the stairs. This is all normal, after so long without a true Reset.

Abnormal, however, is the complete absence of your friends.

Their white and red playing cards sit in a messy pile. Their toys - minus those used in battle - are still scattered about the floor.

But no heads of dark hair poke from any hiding spots. No pink bows bob up to you to say hello. No smiles - charming or grinning - flash rows of teeth.

It was the same, yesterday. When you explored without the Dreamer.

Now, you can feel it as he wonders where they went. You are also wondering.

Yesterday, you checked.

Today, you will check again. You will show the Dreamer what you saw, before.

You look up, as if to say, "Okay, watch."

You begin to leave, by way of the shimmering, rainbow stairs.

Snake stops you.

"Sssssssssssssss...? (Going out, Omori?)"
"Sssssssssssss... (Here is your allowance for today.)"

You got 50 clams.

Same amount as yesterday. It isn't increasing as it usually does.

You leave.

The strange, echoing music of the stump's clearing does not play for long.

You walk down to the Playground.

Its playful, honking music does not last long either, as you move to Mari's blanket.

She is there, as are the typical Headspace denizens.

The rest of your friends are not.

You eat from Mari's pile of candy. You feel better.

You almost want to hum along to her music. It's calming. It is sure of itself.

She smiles at you, but seems to understand that you have things to do, and doesn't start a conversation. Your sister is smart like that.

You feel the familiar tug of the Dreamer suggesting where you should go next. Down. Basil's house, then.

You leave the park. You are not stopped for a game of hide-and-seek.

You walk down the winding path to the Old Shoe. A whispering, whistling song plays, somewhere. You've never questioned the music.

You get to Basil's clearing, cross the bridge, and pull open the wooden door.

There is no music.

There is no one here.

You look up again.

You can feel him start to get the point.

Still, he directs you to Deep Well. Usually, when they all disappear, it's because they've taken jobs there.

You start heading to the nearest Pluto's Spaceline station. He needs to see for himself.

You wave to Mari on your way back up the path. She seems a little sad. You can check on her later.

You stand on the platform and wait. When Pluto lands next to you, he looks around, confused.

"Where are your friends, child?!"

Pluto is very loud. You didn't travel with him, yesterday.

You shake your head. He seems to take this as an answer, and allows you to climb on.

You have him take you to Deep Well. When he takes off, you can feel your hair fly up above you with the force of it.

The vague percussion sounds feel strange in your ears.

You walk away, and get a taxi. When you arrive at the Last Resort, Kel is not at his post by the front gate.

You look up, and mentally say 'See?' to the Dreamer. He pushes you to go inside, and to the Concierge, where Aubrey usually is.

You go. If he needs to see what you already have, so be it.

When you enter, the gaudy music is mildly annoying, but you have better things to worry about. You get on the elevator, and use your Cool Key Card to head to the fifth floor. No one is guarding the elevator.

You go up to the concierge, and down the long hallway. Sure enough, Mira is the receptionist.

You feel the Dreamer start to panic. Oops. You were hoping to avoid that.

You hurry back to the Pluto's Spaceline station, and get back to the Vast Forest. You rush through the Playground, and get into the stump.

You get back to White Space, and will the Dreamer to wake up.

-----

Sunny was really freaking out. Basil was the only one ever missing, where could the rest of them be? Sure he hadn't expected to see them ever again but that was- that was- That was on his terms! that was because he was supposed to have left Headspace behind as a whole. It wasn't supposed to break down like this, it was his own head. He should have enough control over it to prevent some of the most important pieces from just- just- Just disappearing-!

He registered Omori, kneeling across from him on the blanket. He was just staring, but it did the trick.

...

The familiar calm emptiness of White Space settled back into him.

...

He felt his senses dull back into only a vague awareness of where he was.

...

Omori started talking.

...

"They're missing. I don't know where they went."

...

"...No- Neither do I. ...I didn't do anything."

...

"Okay."

...

There was a long pause.

...

Then, Omori spoke again.

...

"You should wake up, now. The forest isn't safe to sleep in, in the real world."

...

"...Oh. Okay."

...

STAB

STAB WHO?

-----

Sunny woke with a small, sharp gasp.

It was strange, to feel his sharper senses rushing back into him.

The root digging into his leg was quickly starting to hurt, the light filtering in through the leaves was brighter than it was this morning, the smell of blood was gone, on and on and on. Registering a million tiny things, with the frantic energy of someone who hadn't seen anything interesting in far too long.

Eventually, he settled. And stretched out his leg.

His Headspace friends were gone. Not for adventuring purposes, not for the plot, and not for any real reason, as far as he could tell.

That was weird.

Sure, he hadn't thought he'd ever see them again, but that had been his own choice. He was never going to see them again because he wasn't going to use Headspace to repress his memories again, not because they were just gone. He knew he was just rehashing his own thoughts from maybe five minutes ago, but this time his head was clear. He could think properly.

He didn't like this. Not at all.

It gave him a bad feeling, like something was going to change in Headspace forever, and there was nothing he could do about it.

He could tell Omori felt it, too,

Fight-Skills-Calm Down

He took a deep breath. Then, he was mildly surprised at his own reflexive battle tactics. The last time he'd needed those was...

He shook his head. No need to worry about any of that. About Headspace, or his real world old friends. He couldn't do anything about it now,

Anyway, the blood on his face was dry, and crusty. It was really uncomfortable. Focus on that. Where could he find a place to wash up?

Slowly, Sunny stood up.

His legs still burned, but not nearly as much. He took a step in what he hoped was the direction of the lake.

The forest thinned out a little, at one point. He could look around. The light was coming from almost straight up, so it was probably somewhere around noon. That was good to know.

Eventually, when his legs had started burning almost as much as before, he saw open space past the tree line.

Sunny couldn't make out where, exactly, he was walking to, but he hoped it was the lake.

Breaking into open air at last, he found himself exactly where he'd hoped to be.

One problem.

Someone else was there.

-----

Vance had gone out, ten minutes ago, because his mom was in one of her moods. The cleaning frantically mood, to be exact.

It was uncomfortable to be around, so Kim left to Hobbeez, probably to sit around on that arcade game they have, and Vance went to the lake.

He just sat on the blanket, staring off into space. Angel had brought it up, along with the basket, a few months ago. It'd just been starting to warm up, and the kid had insisted they have a picnic. The... Um... "Food" he'd brought hadn't been eaten, and then Aubrey shot down Mav's offer to grab bread from his house for sandwiches. They didn't have a picnic.

But Angel forgot to bring the blanket back home, and it'd lived at the hangout spot ever since. His sister hadn't mentioned it, so it was probably fine. The blanket was dirty now, and kind of starting to become one with the moss.

But it was peaceful. Vance liked being there. He loved Kim and Aubrey and the gang, but they could be a little much.

There was a rustling in the trees to his left, and he brushed it off.

Then, something moved in the corner of his eye. He looked over. What he saw made absolutely no sense.

It was that stabby kid Aubrey had been freaking out about- Sonny or something. But he moved away yesterday. Everyone heard about it.

He was wearing the same black sweater vest/white shirt/khaki shorts combo he had been almost a month ago, at the start of summer.

Also, he was covered in leaves and a good amount of dirt.

And, he had an eyepatch.

And there was quite a lot of dried blood on his face.

What the fuck?

"Uhh..." Vance said, dumbly.

Stabby Kid blinked at him, in what looked like shock, for a while.

Then, he walked over to the edge of the lake, knelt, reached into the water, and splashed some on his face. He rubbed at the skin, until he got all the blood off (Probably, Vance couldn't see his face from here), and checked his reflection.

Then, scarily, Stabby Kid walked back to the edge of the trees where he'd come from, faced Vance, put a finger to his own lips, and shushed him.

Then, he left.

After a few moments of confused silence, Vance decided he would never speak of this to anyone, ever.

-----

God, that was awkward.

Vance looked so confused that Sunny actually felt really bad. He probably wasn't going to tell anyone, though. That was good.

Sunny made it a little ways into the forest before the burn got to be too much to bear. Thankfully, he was sure his footsteps were long out of earshot, by then.

As before, he slumped against a random tree, and got comfortable.

This time, though, when he fell asleep, he didn't dream.

-----

When Sunny woke up from the peaceful darkness, the pain in his legs had mostly faded, as had the sunlight.

It wasn't night, yet, but it was somewhere in the late afternoon, if he had to guess.

He stood, and started the walk back to the treehouse.

By the time he'd gotten back to the little clearing behind his old house, the burn in his legs, as he'd come to expect, was back in full force. He was starting to get used to it, though.

He'd broken through the tree line and hadn't heard anyone nearby, so he figured it was probably empty, and safe to sleep in.

He climbed up, his legs loudly complaining the entire time, and got inside.

Now that he was relatively safe, Sunny let his legs buckle underneath him. Then, he looked around.

Things were moved, a little. Just nudged around. A telltale sign that someone had been inside for more than a glance around, but not really a big deal.

God, he hoped no one showed up tomorrow, too.

He didn't think his legs could take another day in the woods.

He laid himself down, in the same spot he'd slept in last night.

And, for the third time in a day, he fell asleep.

-----

Waking up with a throbbing headache from oversleep was a shock, after so long.

During the four years, eventually, his body had gotten used to sleeping for most of a day, and had stopped complaining.

Then, more than three weeks of hospital schedule had canceled that out.

Still, it was a new day. The sun was in his face, and his back hurt from the wood flooring he'd slept on, but he couldn't hear any footsteps coming to take his place here, and the nights here were warm enough in the summer.

He was okay.

He had no idea where to go from here, but for now, he was okay.

Sunny spent the day sitting in various positions around the treehouse, passively worrying about both sets of his friends.

-----

When he woke up the next morning, the first thing he noticed was the distinct lack of sun in his eye.

Then, the ache in his back, again.

Then, the sound of rain.

Oops.

There were two spots in the treehouse roof, he knew, that could never keep water out.

When they'd been here, before, they would carefully keep anything paper, or otherwise easily water-damaged, out of those two spots. One was by the door, about a foot in front of the calendar, and one was right in the center. It had, over the years, bore a hole in the old rug they'd laid down.

It was also, terribly, where Sunny slept.

His sweater vest, now that he'd noticed, was very damp.

A fat drop of water, making fun of him, dropped directly onto the center of his torso, adding to the growing spot of cold-and-wet.

He was cold.

Very cold.

Damn, he was shivering.

He- He needed to do something.

All at once, and with a sudden urgency, Sunny realized that he couldn't stay here.

Now, he needed to find a route to Basil's house that wouldn't let anyone else know he was here.

Chapter Text

"I don't think I can live with my mom anymore."

...

If he was going to be honest, Hero had had no idea how to react to that. He didn't have to, though, because Aubrey continued.

"I- I just- She left. A while ago. Came back a couple days ago and- Hero you saw her. When you came to see me? before everything? Hero, she was worse than that." Her words were fast, jumbled. She was stumbling over herself to get her point across.

He'd seen her upset before, but not like this. She was so vulnerable, it seemed almost unnatural.

"She's- She's been getting worse." Aubrey was tearing up. "For years."

She stopped, then. Hero still didn't know what to say. He didn't know what he could possibly do to comfort her in this situation, and honestly, he didn't think he was equipped for this at all.

He did have questions, though.

"What- Aubrey, what do you mean she left?"

"I mean she left. The- The day Basil got out, she said she was going out, and she didn't come back for two weeks, Hero. I don't know what to do."

...

Okay. That... was really bad.

Alright, procedure. First thing's first;

"Are you okay? Physically, I mean."

It seemed more than a little insensitive to ask that when she was actively holding back tears, but he had to. It was important to make sure she wasn't injured or sick, before starting in on emotional questions.

"...Yeah, I guess. I mean I skipped a lot of meals but I didn't like. Die. Or anything."

Good, that's good. Well, it's incredibly concerning, but it's good.

"Okay. Okay, are you- What are you planning so far?"

"Uh... Mostly just call you? I don't know- I don't- I don't know." God, she was nearly frantic. What could he do about this?

"Okay, okay. Um. Is... Is there anyone you can stay with?"

Then, through her tears, she looked at him like he was the biggest moron on the planet, and like she was completely shocked by it. In his opinion, she really shouldn't be.

"...Hero. Why would I be getting advice from you if-" She sniffed, "If I already knew what to do?"

But Hero didn't know.

He couldn't handle this.

His parents would have questions, if she stayed with them. And as much as he loved them, they could be the 'parent knows best' type. They might send her back to her mom.

So she couldn't stay with them.

And if no one else could take her in...

Hero knew, was absolutely sure, that Aubrey would rather run off and sleep on the streets than be institutionalized.

No one in Faraway would ever see her again.

...

He couldn't have that.

...

They've already lost three friends. If Aubrey leaves, then it's just Kel and Hero.

...

"Aubrey, I... Honestly don't know what to do here."

She looked at him like she'd just heard the worst news of her life. Like she'd just lost everything she cared about all over again.

She stopped trying to hold back her tears. She was openly crying, and she didn't even say anything. It was tragic, in a way Hero hadn't felt in a long time.

"But." He says. She looks up, then.

Issue; he had no idea how to finish that sentence.

He put a hand on her shoulder, trying to play this awkward pause off as being for emphasis.

"But... I'll figure it out. I promise.

She looked up, and sniffed. She nodded, and for the first time since before the hospital, Hero saw hope on her face.

Then, he saw all expression drop, and she lifted her jacket over her face to wipe off her tears.

A second after she did, he heard Kel's over-energetic footsteps coming towards them.

He moved away from her, sitting adjacent at the table.

"We're gonna get you out of there, Aubrey."

Her head popped out of the fabric, face now dry, and she gave a little smile.

Then, Kel appeared.

"Hero! Dude! What the hell, man?"

-----

When Kel woke up that morning, the first thing he noticed was that there were only two minutes until seven.

After a brief panic while he tried to remember why he needed to be somewhere at seven, and why his alarm hadn't gone off, he remembered that Hero had said he'd wake him up at six thirty.

So, why didn't he? Maybe he overslept too? Except Hero wasn't in the room.

Now panicking a lot less, and for a different reason, Kel went downstairs to look for his brother.

He wasn't anywhere.

Quickly, Kel checked the fridge. He'd need energy for the manhunt he was already planning.

Except there was a Hero-made breakfast in the fridge, with a sticky note.

The note read:

"Hey, Kel. I made you some breakfast, but I didn't wake you up since I know you're not a morning person. Neither is Aubrey, though, so we probably won't start for a while, anyway. Catch you later!

-Hero ♡"

Wow, that was complete bullshit.

Then, after thinking that, Kel finally remembered what he was even supposed to be doing at seven AM on a Monday in summer.

Aubrey was the one who'd scheduled this. She wouldn't have placed it in the morning unless she knew she was going to show up on time.

Hero would know that. Also, there was no chance in hell that Hero would not wake Kel up for this without a reason.

Okay, so Aubrey and Hero want to talk about something without him. That was... Fine. That was fine.

He wouldn't rush, to eat. Give them some extra time. When he finished his cold eggs, toast, and blueberries, he, slowly, got dressed and ready to leave.

Then, he grabbed some pencils from Hero's desk upstairs, and an old notebook from his backpack last year. He checked, the book was unused.

He figured that if this meeting was about planning, then someone would be writing things down at some point, and he doubted Aubrey or Hero brought any pencils to their secret mini-meeting.

By the time that was done, the clock above the stove said it was seven-forty-three.

That was probably enough time.

He left the house, and walked down to where Mr. and Mrs. Brown lived, now. He went around the far end of it, since the closer one had a fence, and wove his way through the trees into the old backyard. From there, he started running. Running usually resets his head, at least some of the way. He needed that, right now. He'd been a bit bummed since this morning. It didn't matter, he had planning to do!

Also, the noise from his footsteps would probably clue them in that they needed to wrap up their super-secret talk about super-secret things. Or something.

He climbed up the ladder, and, for a second, saw the tail end of a sad smile from Aubrey.

Then, he decided he might as well break the tension before it started.

"Hero! Dude! What the hell, man?" Playing fake-mad was really easy when you were actually a tiny bit mad. "You said you were gonna wake me up!"

Hero immediately seemed relieved for the distraction from whatever they were talking about before. Good. Smart move, Kel!

"Sorry, Kel, I thought Aubrey would show up later than she did."

"Hey, what the hell, Hero?!" Aubrey butts in. This is going great, actually.

"Sorry! I figured we wouldn't end up starting until eight or so, so there was no harm in letting you sleep in."

"But you didn't call to wake me up when you were wrong!"

"...Kel, there's no electricity up here, how was I supposed to call you?"

"Oh..."

Aubrey snorted, and that was that.

Kel was mildly embarrassed for a second, before shaking himself off, and holding out the notebook and pencils.

"ANYWAY. I brought us supplies!"

"Oh hey, those will be useful. Thanks!" Hero said, and gave a smile. Kel sat down across from Hero at the low little table.

Now that no one was arguing, he could take a look around. The treehouse was just as dingy as it was the last time they were here. Aubrey was wearing her trademark clothes, jean shorts, black crop top, and her white-and-yellow bomber jacket. Hero had on his college sweater and light jeans, as per usual.

Aubrey's eyes were just a little red around the edges.

Suddenly, Kel was a little glad he hadn't been there for all that.

He shook his head. Aubrey started talking.

"So. Um, when is the," She glances at Hero. "The Not-interrogation happening?"

"Well, we said a month from. From then. And that was the fourth, wasn't it? June fourth?"

"...Yeah. Yeah it was." Hero looks sad, now. Shit.

"Wait-" Aubrey says, "Wait, so we're having the interrogation on the fourth of July?"

"Oh shit, yeah."

"Kel, language!"

"Sally isn't here!"

"Still."

"Shut up you two!"

Cheering Hero up is ridiculously easy, sometimes. Not always, but if it's just baseline sad rather than full-blown breakdown, a tiny argument will work in less than a minute. It's almost impressive!

Aubrey continues, "So we're going to be having this serious conversation with fireworks going off in the background?! That's so dumb."

"...Actually, that might be great."

"What the hell are you talking about, Kel?"

"No, think about it! Your mom doesn't care if you do fireworks, our parents will be too busy keeping Sally from sticking sparklers in her ears to notice we're gone, and Basil hates fireworks, 'cause forest fires, so he won't have an excuse! That could totally work!"

There was a long pause, where Kel awaited approval, and Aubrey and Hero tried to decide whether that was the dumbest idea in the world or not.

It wasn't.

They decided on Friday, July fourth, at seven PM. They'd show up at Basil's house, as a group, and walk with him to the treehouse. Then, they'd ask their questions.

Hero wrote the plan down on the first page of the notebook, and then he got a bit of a confused face, and started talking.

"Wait, Which questions?"

Aubrey, who was fully ready to leave by that point, groaned. The treehouse got really hot during the day in summer, and with her long hair and jacket, Aubrey got the worst of it. Hero's sweater was shed ages ago in favor of the plain white t-shirt he wore underneath. Aubrey stubbornly refused to take off the jacket, though.

She glared at Hero, but didn't leave. He gave her a look that said 'what the fuck did I do.' Kel giggled. Aubrey's glare swiftly turned toward him. Kel stopped giggling.

She turned back to Hero, "What the fuck does that mean?"

"Uh... Just that we don't have any specific questions in mind? We could make a list."

Aubrey groaned again. Then, seeming to concede that she wasn't going to be leaving in the next thirty seconds, she finally took off the damn jacket. Kel could literally see how fast her mood improved. Still, Aubrey was always irritable.

"Give me the notebook."

Hero gave her the notebook.

She set it flat on the table, grabbed one of the two leftover pencils, and pressed its tip to the top of the page. There was a pause, and then she curved her arm around the notebook so neither of the other two could see, and started writing.

Hero and Kel, for their part, looked away. Hero stared off into the high up window of the treehouse, while Kel stared straight at the ceiling.

After a while, Kel looked down to see if she was done, only to find that the notebook had been passed to Hero when he wasn't looking.

"Hey!" He shouted at Aubrey, startling Hero.

"What?! You weren't paying attention! That's not my fault!"

Kel went back to staring at the ceiling, but this time, distinctly, he was pouting.

Eventually, Hero poked him in the arm with the eraser end of the remaining pencil. He took it.

The list was long, and sad. He read through it.

In Aubrey's handwriting:

-what did you do during the twenty minutes when sunny was alone in the room
-where did you go after everything
-what is wrong with you
-why was that your first idea
-why would you go through with any of that
-why didnt you say anything for so long?
-why did you ruin the photo album

Then, in Hero's:

-What caused the fight between you and Sunny?
-(Continuation) Why did you hurt his eye?
-What did you guys do in the hospital after we left?
-Did he tell you about our reactions?
-Do you know why he stayed inside? Or what he did with all that time?

It seemed like Hero saw that Aubrey already had all the basics, and he decided to just add a few simple, clarifying things she hadn't thought of.

Kel could only think of one thing that the two of them missed.

So, in his own, messy handwriting, He wrote down a question.

-how did you know how to tie a noose?

He shut the book. They didn't need to see that. It would just bring the mood down even further. The air was already sad.

He put his pencil down with an audible click, alerting them that he was done.

He looked down, for a minute. 'Cheering up' too fast would just make Aubrey mad. Then, when he hoped it had been long enough, he said, "Hey Aubrey, guess what?"

"...What." She snapped.

"We still have a Gameboy, you wanna go kick my high scores' asses?"

She stared at him. Clearly, she saw straight through his lousy attempt at changing the subject.

Despite knowing exactly what he was doing, she went with it.

"...Sure, let's go."

Aubrey had always been better than him at video games. His Tetris score was a sacrifice he was willing to make.

They left the treehouse, and with a fond smile, Hero followed.

-----

Aubrey spent most of the day at Kel and Hero's house. It was nice, she got lunch, she beat Kel's ass in every game on the shelf and, after Mrs. Garcia fussed over her for several minutes, she stayed for dinner. And a couple hours after, too. By the time she left it was dark out.

The walk home sucked.

In the nighttime air, there wasn't much to think about except for the days earlier events.

Hero was supposed to fix it.

She knew, somewhere in there, that that was unrealistic and unfair.

But Hero was supposed to fix it.

When she was a kid, when her problems were smaller, Hero, with Mari, could fix all of them.

"Wow that coat is really old, I have some extra cash, let's go get you a new one! Mari, do you wanna come with?"

"Why are you crying? You scraped your knee? Here, have a Band-Aid and some food! Also, Mari's making cookies soon, so you can have those when they're done, too."

He was like that with everyone, always had been.

He was a Hero.

Then, the biggest problem of her life, Mari's death- No, murder- And Hero was just. Gone.

Then, four years later, when she was more angry and volatile than ever, he came back. And for less than a day, they were okay again.

And when she came to him with a problem, for the first time in four years,

"Aubrey, I... Honestly don't know what to do here."

And she didn't, either.

She'd gone to him for answers, like she had been for her entire life, and she'd essentially been told to wait it out.

She stepped into the threshold of her house.

Her mom was already passed out on the couch. The floor was, as always, covered in beer bottles and other trash.

She went upstairs. Upladder, really.

She refilled Bun-Bun's food bowl, gave the sweet thing a little pet, and went to bed.

It took nearly an hour to get to sleep.

-----

Aubrey is in a bed, in a room, and she's just woken up.

No, not a room, Sunny and Mari's room. Sunny's bed.

Was she at a sleepover? She doesn't remember that. Also, no one else is here, and it's the middle of the night, so they didn't just wake up before her.

(Where's Mari's bed?)

There is a knock downstairs. A loud one.

Really, more of a pounding than a knocking.

After it goes on for a while, she realizes that no one else is going to get it, and whoever is on the other side is not going away.

She gets out of bed. She leaves the room.

Suddenly, she is terrified.

The stairs.

What's wrong with the stairs?

Why are the stairs so scary?

Why is just looking at the stairs making her freeze in place?

Carefully, she forces herself to go further.

She takes the first step down.

Her right foot, then her left, on the first step.

She shivers.

Her right foot, then her left, on the second step.

Third.

Fourth.

Fifth.

She is petrified.

Right, left.

Her movements are stiff with fear.

Right, left.

The banging is getting louder.

Right, left.

She closes her eyes.

Right, left.

She tries to breathe.

Right, left.

She dashes down the remaining however many stairs.

She breathes.

There is absolutely no reason for that to be that scary.

(At least, not one that she can remember.)

The banging is almost deafening, now.

Still shaking, she walks to the door.

The second she gets near it, the noise stops.

It is replaced by a soft, melodic voice, speaking through the door.

"Hey Aubrey! It's Mari!" Instantly, her fear melts away. Mari is home. Everything will be okay. "I'm finally back home, but I forgot my keys... Could you open the door for me?"

Oh, okay. Mari's done so much for her, it's the least Aubrey could do.

She reaches for the doorknob, and feels the smallest twinge of fear.

But it's just Mari. Everything is going to be okay.

She opens the door.

Her face is wrong. Her eyes are gouged out, her mouth is a gaping hole stretched much farther than it should go, her hair is stringy and clumped and-

And-

And her neck is snapped.

She is floating.

Aubrey slams the door.

She takes several short breaths, and then runs up the stairs as fast as she can.

She goes into the bathroom, and splashes some water on her face.

That wasn't real. That wasn't real. That wasn't real.

But she looks up.

And in the mirror.

Right behind her.

Just over her shoulder.

Is that dreadful, terrible Mari.

It got in.

-----

Aubrey woke up.

She barely had the sense to stifle her scream in a pillow.

Chapter Text

"Hi, Basil."

Basil blinked.

He blinked again.

But Sunny did not disappear.

"You- ...What?!"

Sunny just sort of smiled, like this was funny. And it kind of was? In the sense that it made absolutely no sense, and that made it worth laughing over. Basil leaned to the side, and there was no car on the street behind Sunny. How did he get here?

So, with a bit of hysterical laughter, Basil asked.

"H-how the- I mean- how did you-? What happe-? Just- Just- What?!"

"...Um, can I come in?" Sunny's voice was scratchy.

Shaking himself partially out of his shock, Basil realized that Sunny was still just standing in the rain. He turned himself out of the way.

"Yeah, yeah- Yes, Of course I just- What?!" Sunny came inside as he was talking, and Basil shut the door behind him.

In his bewilderment, Basil switched automatically to 'aggressively good manners' mode. "You- You sit down, I'll get some water-"

He rushed to the kitchen and filled a glass from the sink, too frazzled to think about ice, and walked briskly back to the couch where Sunny had sat down. He handed the glass to him, and he took a sip. Then, he drank the rest much faster than he should have, blinked at the cup in what looked like confusion, and set it down next to the little cactus on the end table.

"Sorry, I didn't know I was that thirsty."

"No, no, it's fine, I'm just- so confused? How did you get here? And- Why?"

Sunny's little smile fell all too fast. He looked down, for a moment, before he spoke.

"Y'know how I said I thought my Mom knew? ...About Mari, I mean."

Wincing a little, at the thought of her, Basil responded.

"Yeah... That's what you said."

"Well... I was wrong. I went to- To tell her that everyone knew, now, and she-" His voice went a little choked, and he shook his head "She threw me out of the car. I walked back here, and stayed in the treehouse for a couple days."

"...Then it started raining, and you panicked, and you came here, yeah?"

Sunny brought that little smile back up, but there was something sadder in it, now.

"Yeah."

Carefully, Basil took the empty glass back to the kitchen, refilled it, handed it back to Sunny, and sat down next to him.

"...So. What do we do now?"

"I was hoping I could just... Stay here? But- I don't know how the rules work but- Wouldn't Polly have to report my Mom?"

Sunny looked so worried.

"I don't know... Polly isn't here today, though. I could... Hide you? Then that wouldn't be an issue."

"...That could work. Do you think you can?"

"I mean... Probably? But you'd have to stay in my room unless she's gone. ...And if you don't want the others to know you're here then you couldn't leave the house either."

Sunny looked at him. And, for some reason, gave that something's-funny smile again. "...Yeah. I think I can handle that."

...

It took a second, but Basil got the joke.

He buried his head in his hands. "S-Sunny- That is not funny!" But the meaning of his words were dampened by the fact that he laughed as he said them.

Softly, Sunny laughed, too.

-----

After Sunny had been fed, taken a well-needed shower, and gotten a third glass of water, Basil set him up in his room.

Sunny was sat down on Basils bed, given clean, dry clothes, and generally fussed over. Basil had never been more thankful that they'd always worn the same sizes.

After he'd changed, his own clothes were carefully folded and placed in a hidden corner of Basils room, behind a plant pot. Neither of the boys knew how to do laundry, and Polly might've noticed that they weren't Basil's, if she washed them.

Then, Basil had left Sunny there. He'd grabbed something from a drawer in his bedside table, and said he was 'going for a supply run', whatever that meant.

So, here Sunny sat, on top of a comfortable bed, with absolutely nothing to do. As he always did, he sat there, and thought. Staring off into space, thinking about where the Headspace friends were, what the real world friends were doing, what Basil was doing, what happened in the treehouse while he was gone, and eventually, drifting off to half-sleep.

At one point, passively, he noticed his own drawing of Basil's Headspace house, pinned up on the little bulletin board on the wall across from him. It was nestled between a couple of old photographs, several old sticky note reminders, a calendar, and what looked like it might be a watering schedule.

A door closing nearby brought him back into himself. The bedroom door opened next, and a bright blue eye peaked out from around it. When Basil saw that Sunny was awake, and there was no need to be quiet, he opened the door the rest of the way.

Basil moved to sit on the bed next to him, and smiled. His hands were behind his back.

"I had some leftover birthday money, and I didn't know what to do with it, so I got you something!"

Then, from behind him, Basil pulled out two things.

One, a set of fancy-looking colored pencils. The kind with gold lettering on the side spelling out some brand name. The kind where you have to buy a special eraser separate. The other, an equally fancy-looking sketchbook. Its cover had a black and white sketch of an apple, in a little box surrounded by a field of beige with variously sized, white lettering.

He took them in his hands, and when he flipped the cover of the sketchbook away, the pages were thick, and light grey instead of white. That was fancy.

God, how much did this cost?

To his own utter embarrassment, the first words he said in response were: "I forgot your parents were so rich."

Basil's face went flushed, and then he covered his face and started laughing.

-----

Polly was starting to get suspicious.

When she showed up to work on Thursday, and went to say hello to Basil, he seemed just a little more skittish than usual. And that was fine! He was an anxious kid in general, maybe he was just having a bad day.

She helped him water his plants, as usual, and made breakfast, as usual. Then, he'd taken more of the scrambled eggs than he usually did, and two pieces of toast instead of one. Well, he might just be hungry. He was a teenage boy, after all, and wasn't a large appetite supposed to be normal?

Then, he'd retreated to his room and eaten there. And not left until lunch. Okay, again, maybe just a bad day.

And then he took a second bowl of salad when he'd thought she wasn't looking.

And now she was pretty sure he was hiding something. Potentially, something living.

Basil loved plants, he had since long before she met him. Was it really such a stretch for him to sneak in some small forest creature?

So, she stood outside of his room, listening for, maybe, some kind of chirp or chitter. But all she heard was the faint scratch of pencil on paper, and Basil's voice. She couldn't make out what he was saying, but he was definitely talking to someone.

Okay, that basically confirmed it.

So, she knocked, and, without waiting for an answer, opened the door.

And stopped in her tracks.

How did Sunny get here?

-----

Basil had thought he'd been doing a good job.

Sunny was having a no-talking day, probably exhausted from his few days in the woods, and he was already quiet in general. Basil thought that that would make him easy to hide.

But, Basil had, apparently, not been nearly as good a liar as he'd thought.

Because Polly was standing in his room, looking utterly shocked, and Sunny was looking up from his new sketchbook, with a similar expression.

And now, Polly would report Sunny's mom for child abandonment, Sunny's mom would get arrested, Sunny would go into foster care or something, and Basil would never see him again.

And, though he didn't quite know how she'd figured it out, it was all his fault. Somewhere, he'd slipped up, and now everything was going to go wrong.

Well, no use in lying now.

He didn't quite know what he was saying, just that it was complete babble. He needed Polly to understand, and he couldn't put his words together in any way that made sense. He was begging, pleading with her to let him stay, to not send him away because he had no where else to go and Sunny couldn't leave him now not when he'd just come back and it didn't matter what the law said she couldn't report this she just couldn't because that would mean Sunny going away and Basil was so sorry he hadn't known she'd find out and it was all his fault and-

"Woah, hey, Basil can you take a deep breath? We'll figure this out, I promise, you just need to calm down first"

And suddenly, he noticed he was crying. And Polly was sitting in front of him on the floor.

Muttering apologies, and senseless pleas, Basil sat, and let Polly calm him down.

-----

After a lot of sitting wide-eyed on the floor, feeling utterly useless while Polly calmed Basil down, Sunny was sitting uncomfortably on the couch in the living room.

He held a mug of peppermint tea with honey, matching Basil's. He wasn't very thirsty. Polly was still fussing around in the kitchen, putting kettles and things away. He and Basil were carefully avoiding eye contact, with both her and each other.

Sunny... Had only ever seen Basil like that once before. That complete meltdown state. Sure, the vaguely sui-slash-homicidal intent was missing this time, but he still couldn't help but be reminded of the fight.

The other times he'd seen Basil freak out had been more... hollow? He hadn't been melting down, just- Just shaky?

Like in the bathroom during dinner, when he'd just stood there, staring at him. He'd said some really concerning things, things that Sunny had only half understood, with all the repressed memories. But Basil hadn't cried. He'd been cracking, but not melting.

His voice, in the bathroom, had been shaking, and emotional, but it'd seemed... Solid. Not like today, when it came out all in a rush. All in a wave. It was watery. That's what had changed. Phases of matter, solid to liquid.

Sunny took a sip of his tea.

Polly finished up in the kitchen, pulled up a dining room chair, and sat down in front of the couch. With a stern, caring expression placed purposefully on her face, finally, she asked.

"Now that we're all calmed down, would anyone like to tell me what is going on?"

...

Sunny opened his mouth to explain, to take some, any, of the pressure off of Basil, to help, even just a little...

And nothing came out.

Basil set down his mug. Started.

"W-" He looked around, nervously. "What are... What are the rules of- Of mandated r-reporting? For- For you, I mean, for a c-care nurse."

His voice was shaky, and Sunny wished, to anyone who would listen, that he could be able to talk, right now.

Polly looked at Basil, startled and concerned, and answered.

"...I ...Have to report anyone who I suspect of ongoing child abuse or neglect. Why is this relevant? Sunny, is someone hurting you?"

Sunny shrunk back from her gaze, and it seemed like that only made her more suspicious. Thankfully, Basil cut into the tension.

"Ongoing? So- So if the person was- was somewhere else, now, you wouldn't have to- To say anything?"

"Basil I need you to tell me if anyone is in danger. You can't keep avoiding the question."

Polly still seemed concerned, but that stern expression from earlier was back. Basil was shrinking away into the couch, and biting his lip, seeming more nervous than ever. Sunny just sat there, looking between them.

Terrified.

His mom couldn't go to jail. What she did wasn't even that bad. He was within walking distance, technically, from a place he could stay, and she was fully justified! Ditching an actual murderer on the side of the road couldn't really be a crime, right? Even if it was your kid?

But he couldn't tell the police that. Because then they'd ask why he thought it was okay for his mom to leave. and then he'd go to jail, and he'd never see Basil, or anyone else again, and he'd definitely miss his window of apology opportunity with the others because he'd be in jail. And his mom would still get arrested either way because she hadn't called the police the moment he told her.

Polly was looking at him. Polly was asking a question.

Suddenly, Sunny felt very, very small.

Basil was saying something. About him?

Sunny snapped back into himself, kind of.

"-op asking him, he can't talk today. That- That just happens, sometimes. He's not going to answer!"

Polly looked away from Sunny. He felt something tense come undone.

"...Okay. Okay. Just tell me whether or not someone is in danger. Right now, Basil."

There was silence. For the first time in a while, the boys looked at each other.

Then, finally, Basil started explaining.

"...Sunny's mom left. When they were driving to their new place, Sunny told her... Something. And- And she kicked him out of the car. He walked back here."

Polly squeezed her eyes shut. She faced the ceiling, and took a breath. Sunny took a sip of his tea.

"Okay. Alright. And you've been hiding him since?"

She looked back at them. They looked away.

"Actually... He slept in the woods until yesterday."

"In the woods?!"

"Wait! Wait! Not really? I-It was... A treehouse?"

"That... That is only slightly better. Basil, you do understand how serious of a matter this is?"

There was silence, for a moment.

Sunny had been sitting, wide eyed, for a while now.

His life, essentially, was in Basils hands. What Basil said during this conversation controlled whether or not Sunny went to jail. Whether he ever saw anyone he cared about again.

After too long without a response, Polly sighed.

"And you were asking about mandated reporting, because you don't want me to report her?"

Basil didn't say anything, and eventually, Sunny realized that this question was for him.

He shook his head no. Rapidly.

She took a breath, and the next time she spoke, all of the exasperation was gone from her voice, leaving only concerned, caring, and hints of I-know-better.

"Can I ask why? This woman abandoned you on the side of the road, why are you so determined to protect her?"

The question, technically, was asked of Sunny, but really, it was directed toward Basil. Polly knew, now, that Sunny couldn't talk.

"...I'm not sure, but I think he thinks... That it was justified?" Basil looked at him, and, softly, he nodded.

"Why would that be the case?" Polly seemed at least a little astonished.

Basil looked away. "...I c-can't tell you. Sorry."

"...Because you don't know, or because it's a secret?"

Basil looked down.

Polly seemed to get the point.

"Okay."

Basil looked up, hopeful. "...Okay?"

"Okay, I won't call child protective services on your mother, Sunny, and of course you can stay here. God knows I make enough food for everyone."

And enough money, from the sounds of it. Sunny heard Basil exhale a releaved sigh.

Polly didn't hear that, though, because she continued.

"And, tomorrow, maybe, I'll tell Mr. and Mrs. Miller that Basil needs a new mattress, and then we can go out and get you a proper place to sleep?"

Basil smiled, wide-eyed and grateful. Sunny did, too. He gave a little nod, and then they sat there, while Polly started dinner.

They were going to be okay.

-----

That night, several houses down, Kel went to bed.

Now, he's lying on the ground in a forest. The grass pokes painfully into his back, and the skin of his legs.

It is dark. Instead of a sky, there's a patchwork of distorted images. He can make out an outline of Mari, a collection of tally marks, and a black and white picture of Sunny's house. When he looks a little closer, he sees a curving line of what might be teeth.

Disturbed, he stands up.

The grass is grey. The trees are scattered sparsely, and all dead. Their wood is dry and cracking. They have no leaves. There are black, impossibly long arms, ending in hands, reaching out from the floor.

The forest stretches out beyond his line of vision.

When he turns around, he sees the world abruptly cut off a few feet away, dropping down too far to look.

He looks down at himself, and he, with his orange jersey, is the only thing with any color as far as he can see. It makes him nervous. He feels like he's sticking out too much, like he'll get caught. By what, he doesn't know.

"Liar."

What?

For a second, he goes to correct the disembodied, emotionless voice, but stops.

No words will escape his mouth.

It's as if they just don't want to.

His breathing gets a little faster.

With nothing else to do, he starts walking.

"Liar."

That doesn't make sense. Kel hardly lies about anything.

Still, he keeps walking.

He passes a figure, who looks a poorly done sketch. She is wearing a dress, maybe. It's more like her body is just one misshapen cylinder, with no legs, so he assumes it must be a dress. Her hair is stringy, and looks like it might be made of yarn.

"Liar."

Stop it. That's not true.

He passes another one, and this time, he stops.

Because this time, it is bent in half, at what might have once been a waist.

"Liar"

She is stuck, in a cruel backbend, and when he approaches, she doesn't look at him, with the gaping holes in her face in place of eyes. She doesn't speak, with the wide, black mouth locked in a permanent scream. She doesn't move, because she can't.

Either she is long dead, or was never alive.

His heart pounds.

He takes a step back, and starts walking away.

Next, after a while more of dodging trees, he sees a black smudge, with what might be a face peeking out from the middle. The same gaping holes where orifices are supposed to be stare straight at him.

"Liar. Liar. Liar."

Then, he tries to start running, but can't seem to make his legs move any faster than a walk.

So he stops looking, and walks.

The next two grey-black shapes are only seen in the corners of his eyes.

Kel doesn't want to look at them.

For a while, all he sees are those same dark, barren trees.

Then, where one should be, there is a stump.

Then, there is a hole.

It's perfectly square, and just big enough for him to fall in, if he's not careful.

But that's not the worst part.

The worst part is the complete lack of depth.

The hole in the forest floor makes it look thin, and brittle, like it could break underneath him at one wrong step.

The ground ahead is littered with the same, square, uniform holes.

And there are no more trees.

There are many more of the hands than there were, before.

"Liar. Liar. Liar. Liar. Liar. Liar. Liar. Liar. Liar. Liar. Liar. Liar."

He wants to ask what the hell he's lied about.

But he can't. He can't speak. He can't run.

And, for an unknown reason, turning back feels like the worst idea in the world.

Kel is completely helpless to do anything but walk forward.

He is terrified.

He keeps walking.

"Liar. Liar. Liar. Liar. Liar. Liar. Liar. Liar. Liar. Liar. Liar. Liar."

The holes are getting more frequent. Closer together.

He is limited to certain paths.

Soon, he breaks into an open space, he is free to walk, in this small area. Except for a stump, right in the middle.

He looks at it, and blinks. Then, there is something above it.

A vague black shape, draping downwards like hair, with an eye right in the middle. It gives him a bad feeling. His stomach sinks.

Then.

Then, that is not what it is.

Then, it is not a strange, unsettling shape.

Then, it is Mari.

It is Mari, floating.

Her neck is broken.

There is something tied around it.

A jumprope. A jumprope is tied around her neck.

She is floating. Not floating. Hanging.

The stump has suddenly grown into a tree.

A familiar tree.

A tree he climbed about a million times, as a kid.

And Mari is in it.

Hanging.

Dead.

She sways in the wind.

-----

Kel woke up.

His head was turned to the side, facing out into the room.

She was still there.

In the room.

Just. Hanging there.

Then, she was gone.

He took in a large breath.

One.

Hero was fast asleep.

Two.

Mari was not there.

Three.

None of that had been real.

Four.

None of that was ever going to be real, from the feel of it.

Five.

Black and white forests with patchwork skies and doodle monsters couldn't exist in real life.

Six.

Seven.

Eight.

Nine.

Ten.

He let out the breath.

Felt himself un-tense, some of the way.

Held his breath again. Counted to ten. Let it out.

None of that was real.

...

That was a new one.

Strange. Usually it's the same few on repeat.

Maybe everything coming back up made his brain think up some new ones. Whatever. It didn't matter.

He closed his eyes, and hoped he'd get back to sleep before morning.

-----

When Basil woke up, Sunny was still asleep. On the couch, absolutely covered in blankets. He looked a little silly, in the cocoon, and Basil giggled.

Polly shushed him, lightheartedly, from the kitchen. It was Friday, so fancy breakfast day. (Aka; french toast.)

Basil smiled, and sat by his best friend on the couch.

He heard a small groan from the pile of blankets, and it twisted around on the couch. Now having confirmed that Sunny was awake, Basil was free to giggle as much as he wanted.

After a while of it, Sunny pried the blankets off of his face, specifically to glare at Basil. This was ineffective.

Through his laughter, he said, "S-Sorry, sorry. You're just- Really cute..."

Sunny's glare dropped into a tired smile, and he began the laborious process of untangling himself from the mound. By the time he was done, he'd ended up on the floor, his hair was a complete mess, and he was breathing heavy from the effort. Also, breakfast was ready.

They all sat down at the table, and while they started to eat, Polly started talking.

"So, I was wondering if you wanted to come with us mattress shopping, Basil? Just so Sunny's more comfortable."

The boys shared a glance.

"...Do I have to come?" Sunny asked.

Polly looked a little surprised, maybe because Sunny was talking, and maybe because he didn't want to go shopping for his own mattress.

"...Well, it's your bed, Sunny. I don't know why you wouldn't want to pick it out yourself."

Sunny seemed uncomfortable being asked questions directly.

"...No one else in town knows he's back. And... And he doesn't w-want them to... So he doesn't want to leave the house."

Polly, for a second, looks terribly exhausted. But she shakes herself out of it.

"...I see. Well then, Basil, do you know what he likes?"

"Uh..." He looked at Sunny. "You called mine a ten-out-of-ten, once, right?"

Sunny smiles, covers his mouth in what might be embarrassment, and nods.

Polly looks at him. "You... Rate beds?"

He took his hand off of his face, seemed to steel himself, and, completely deadpan, said; "Every single bed in Faraway."

Polly laughed.

-----

Later, Basil and Polly got in the car, and drove to the strip mall just outside of town.

There'd been a mattress store there since before he was born, probably. And a little furnature store, since last year. He'd gotten a new bookshelf there, when Fix-It was closed for being shortstaffed and a shelf popped right out of the old one. That incident had broken a plant pot. They couldn't just go to Fix-It, though, because in a town as small as Faraway, someone might ask why he was getting a new bedframe, and no one could know someone was living with him.

Anyway, when Polly had emailed his parents (who had no idea how much a normal mattress costed) the night before, they had promised her more than enough to cover the costs of both a mattress and a frame in her next paycheck, so she could splurge from savings with no long term damage.

The place was dead empty - the fourth of July was bad for non-fire-based businesses - and the fluorescent lights buzzed just a bit too loud.

Still, it was a room full of very soft things that he was fully allowed to lay on, so it wasn't that bad.

When they'd found one that, Basil thought, felt close enough to his own that Sunny would like it, one of the workers came over to discuss price.

Suddenly, Polly turned into a monster of lore. Basil hadn't ever gone shopping with her anywhere that prices were negotiable, so he'd never seen this before, but god, she was a beast. By the time she was done, she'd gotten the price down from $199 to $95, and even gotten the poor guy to agree to help them stuff it into the car.

The whole time, Basil was just sitting there wide eyed.

They got to the furnature store, though, and, still a little stunned, picked a bed frame that almost matched his own, except for the darker wood.

Without the haggling, or the ferocity, this time, Polly convinced an employee to help them load it into the car.

She dropped him off at the plaza, as he'd asked her to do, and went to get the car back to his house.

He stepped into Hobeez, and grabbed a Captain Spaceboy pillowcase. He was pretty sure something that small wouldn't be questioned like whole pieces of furnature would.

He'd liked Spaceboy stuff fine, as a kid, but Sunny, Kel, and Aubrey had been the ones who were really into it. Hopefully, even if Sunny didn't like that stuff anymore, he'd still think it was funny. If he didn't, they have other pillowcases he can use. And sheets weren't an issue. Their seemingly endless closet of blankets had other linens, too.

He payed with the leftovers from their earlier shopping, and started to head home.

No one was setting up fireworks in the park, yet, but they would.

When he got there, Polly was still in the car, parked scross the street from Basil's house. He held up the pillowcase for her to see through the window, trying to communicate 'I'll be out to help in a second, I've gotta give this to him first.' She gave him a thumbs up in response. When he got inside, Sunny was on the couch, drawing in his new sketchbook.

Basil sat next to his best friend, and looked over his shoulder. Lighter pages, today. Actually, darker pages might not exist in this one, yet.

He was drawing what looked like a strange, bigger version of the treehouse. At the moment, he was sketching the trunk of a tall tree with large, defined leaves, but Basil could also make out a tentacle peeking out from a watery hole in the ground, the table from the treehouse with a so-far-empty plate on it, and what looked like a staircase, leading up and out.

None of it was colored, yet, aside from the line work done in a pinky-purple. Sunny seemed really in the zone. He hadn't even looked up when the door opened, or when Basil sat down.

"That looks really cute."

Sunny jumped, and looked at him with a wide eye.

"When did you get back?!"

"...About a minute ago. I have a gift! We'll bring in the rest in a minute, but I wanted to give you this first." He pulled the pillowcase in its packaging out from behind him, and showed it off as best he could.

Sunny's face, suddenly, was filled with wonder. Score!

"Oh my god it's Captain Spaceboy. I love Spaceboy."

Despite his comedic monotone, Basil could tell he really did like it. It was cheesy, and made for ten year olds, but really, was anything better? Not really knowing what to say, Basil smiled. Then, Polly knocked. "Hey, I need an extra set of hands out here!" She said, in a friendly voice.

"Sorry! I'll be right out!" He smiled at Sunny, who was putting away his art already.

When they got all the furniture inside, Sunny was standing at the ready, looking rather awkward in the process.

Then, Polly announced that they'd put everything together after lunch. Sunny visibly deflated in relief.

-----

Several hours later, when the bed frame was finally put together in his bedroom, and Polly and Sunny were slumped on the couch from the effort, Basil went outside.

Every independence day, Basil soaked his entire yard, front and back, and any surrounding trees he could get the hose to reach.

That way, nothing near him would catch fire.

One time, before everything, the whole group spent a full day watering basically the entire town, at his hesitant request. Basil had left his camera at home, to avoid it getting wet, but it was a nice memory anyway.

Hero and Basil being the only ones taking it seriously. Aubrey and Kel spending over an hour just trying to soak each other. Kel bringing several water guns, instead of everyone else's buckets and watering cans. Sunny, having Aubrey dump water on him on purpose, because apparently, it was too hot out.

Mari. Spending the whole time laughing at their antics. Keeping Kel from splashing anyone who wasn't part of the fun. Solving Aubrey and Kel's disputes. At one point, stealing one of Kel's water guns specifically to get Hero wet, both of them laughing all the while.

He missed her.

He missed all of them.

Basil realized he'd been watering one patch of dirt for a little too long. He shook himself, and returned to his fire-prevention tasks.

-----

It took a lot of maneuvering, and a test-run by Sunny (resulting in an ill-timed nap), but they got the mattress into the bedroom.

Getting it onto the bed frame was a different issue.

Sunny felt a little bad for it, but the room had been rearranged to account for his presence. The houseplant that used to be in this corner (hiding a pile of no-longer-damp clothes that Polly had laughed at), had been moved to the other side of the room, at the foot of Basil's bed. His new bed frame had been put where the plant used to be, so that his bed and Basil's would be opposite each other, on each side of the room.

Sunny would be sleeping under a lightbulb.

A lightbulb that had a tiny, fake plant inside, instead of a repressed, terrible truth, and the thing wasn't black, but it would still be unsettling, at least for a while.

Anyway, the problem with getting the mattress in place was that it would hit the lightbulb on the way down, potentially breaking it. Which, with this one, would not be a good thing.

So, instead of setting it in place and letting it fall, they had to move several plants out of the way, and tried to slide the thing in from the foot of it up.

It worked! The mattress was in place!

Now they had to get the sheets on.

Polly left to start on dinner, leaving the boys alone to figure it out.

-----

When they'd gotten the plain, white sheets on, and Sunny had picked out a pillow, a thick black comforter, and a little, loose knit, purple blanket, mostly there for show rather than warmth, Dinner was ready.

They ate, and talked, and Polly practically interviewed Sunny on his favorite foods for future reference, and then they sat on the couch. They'd hardly settled before the first firework went off, making both boys jump, Sunny suddenly remembering the date.

A few minutes, and two more loud bangs later, Someone knocked.

Sunny ducked behind the couch, just in case, and Basil got up to answer.

Chapter Text

The next three days were relatively uneventful. Aubrey spent about an hour in bed with her heart racing, and never did get back to sleep, but once she was pretty sure at least Hero would be awake, she made her way to their house.

They spent the day much the same way as they had before, minus the planning. She beat Kel in every video game they could find, they ate lunch, they went to the park, etcetera etcetera. The next day, when it was raining, she did essentially the same thing, but with Kim and Vance, instead of Kel and Hero. Invited herself over, and they hosted and fed her for the day. Beat Vance in games while Kim looked on and snorted. Then, It was back to Kel and Hero's. Repeat.

It was nice.

Today, though, she stayed in her room until it was almost six PM.

It had been a month. Today was the day.

She was ready. Hero and Kel were, too. Probably.

They'd get answers.

Her mom was still awake, as evidenced by the fact that the tv hadn't been turned down. She was probably super drunk, though, by this time of night. If Aubrey was lucky, she wouldn't even notice her go by.

So she fed Bun-Bun, and put on her bright, gifted sneakers. She climbed down the old creaky ladder, and walked past her mom, careful to miss the noisiest floorboards.

But, halfway to the door, her mom saw her. "Aubrey, sweetie, where you going?" She slurred. Fuck.

"Just... To see some friends. ...We're gonna set off some fireworks." Shit cover story, but okay.

Her mom seemed confused, probably didn't know the date, but forgot about it quickly, and turned back to the tv.

Aubrey made it out the door. She leaned against it, for a second.

Her mom... Fuck, not right now. She could think about her mom's... State, later. She had other things to worry about.

So, Aubrey pried herself away from the door, and started the walk to Kel and Hero's house. By the time she got there, they were already putting on their shoes. Seems like they'd gotten the same 'early start' idea as she did. It was still six, and they'd agreed on seven.

No words were said, as they got ready to leave. Hero grabbed the notebook on their way out the door. Kel stuffed a mini keychain flashlight in his pocket. The walk to the park was just as quiet.

Then, they sat on a bench, just past the playground, and watched people set up their firework displays. The sun was setting. They'd start going off, soon.

Kim waved from the court, where she, Vance, and their dad were setting up some smaller things. Mini fountains and ground bloomers and stuff. The big things would be later.

Eventually, Kel broke the silence from where he was sitting on the opposite side of Hero.

"So... What do we open with? Do we just go in the order we wrote them down in? Who reads them out?" His voice was just a little too bright.

There was a pause. Aubrey debated whether to answer seriously, or the way she normally would talk to Kel. She settled on the latter.

"You asked, so you do it."

"Hey! That's hardly fair! You wrote the most questions!"

"You wrote last!"

Hero smiled, a little, at their antics, but Kel seemed to sort of... Shut down? For a moment he just seemed... Something. She didn't know. His face was just. blank.

Whatever it was, he got over it fast, his face melting into a much more familiar 'defeated pout' expression. "Fiiine. I'll ask the questions. But you owe me!"

Brushing off his earlier... Stuff, Aubrey snorted, and they fell back into silence.

After a while, Hero spoke up. "...How about we get moving when the first one goes off? Instead of seven."

Kel gave a non-committal "Eh, why not?"

Then, Aubrey shrugged, and pointed out "It's not like any of us have watches."

As if in planned, perfect unison, both brothers looked down at their wrists. Aubrey gave a half-hearted snort.

They sat for what couldn't have been more than ten seconds, and there was a high whistle, and a loud pop. A wheel of multicolor burst out from somewhere along the tree line

Their little group exchanged 'are you kidding me' looks, and then they stood up.

With dread in their hearts, over what they might learn, they started the walk to Basil's house.

-----

When they got to the door, it was decided without words that Hero would knock.

Basil opened the door, went wide eyed, glanced around, and slowly stepped out.

Kel watched as he closed the door just behind him, and kept his hand on the knob, like he might have to make a run for it.

"H-hi. Guys. Um. Can I- Help you?"

Hero held the notebook in front of him. "Hi, Basil. We... We still have some questions, we wanted to head to the treehouse, if that's alright."

Despite being phrased completely polite, Hero's tone made it clear that Basil wasn't getting out of this.

Kel saw him glance at Aubrey. He watched Basil take in her glare, and ever so slightly shrink into himself.

"Oh. Okay. Let- Let's... Go?"

Basil looked terrified.

Basil helped kill Mari.

Kel shook his head. Don't think about it. Not yet. You're going to be talking about it soon, there's no need.

Hero walked in front. Then Basil, then Kel, then Aubrey.

When they got to the treehouse, it was fully dark out. Just enough moonlight through the windows to see each other's faces, and that would fade as the sky filled with smoke.

Basil sat on the ground on one side of the little table. The other three crammed in on the opposite side. Kel was in the middle. Aubrey was closest to the door. He watched Basil look around. Oh, right. He hadn't been here since. Since before.

Basil looked a little sad, when he noticed the hole in the carpet.

Hero put the notebook on the table in front of Kel.

Kel took it, and pulled out the little red flashlight he'd taken off his key ring. He clicked it on.

Then, he opened the book.

In Aubrey's handwriting:

-what did you do during the twenty minutes when sunny was alone in the room
-where did you go after everything
-what is wrong with you
-why was that your first idea
-why would you go through with any of that
-why didnt you say anything for so long?
-why did you ruin the photo album

Then, in Hero's:

-What caused the fight between you and Sunny?
-(Continuation) Why did you hurt his eye?
-What did you guys do in the hospital after we left?
-Did he tell you about our reactions?
-Do you know why he stayed inside? Or what he did with all that time?

Then, dreadfully, in his own:

-how did you know how to tie a noose?

Kel took a deep breath. He heard Hero do the same next to him. He looked over at Aubrey. She stared straight ahead, her jaw set, like Hero on the walk home from the hospital.

He brushed that thought off fast.

Kel looked back to Basil. Might as well have some kind of intro?

"Hey, Basil. We have a list. The first bit was Aubrey, then Hero, then me, alright?"

Basil looked terribly uncomfortable with Kel making eye contact with him. But, after a moment, he nodded.

"Okay, then." He looked down at the book again. "What did you do, during the twenty minutes that Sunny was alone in the room?"

Basil paused, seemed to gather his thoughts, and answered.

"I... I was hiding the violin. I paced for a while, trying to... To figure out what to do, a-and then I got out that old toy chest? The one with the lock." Kel watched Basil shut his eyes. Lost, in a terrible memory.

"And I put the- The violin in it, and I p-put the key in my pocket. And then I tried to... To think of where I could put it so that- So that only Sunny would find it. And then I- I decided to..." A firework went off, a big one, and Basil jumped, and his face was washed in purple, for a moment.

"...I put it here. I t-took an old photo, and I taped the key to the back, and I wrote on it. And- And then I put it in here." Basil swallowed, loud enough to hear.

"I... I wrote. 'Don't f-forget, it's in the toy box' and I put it on the counter, b-below the window."

Finally, his eyes opened.

Aubrey's breathing was shaky. Hero was holding his breath. Kel nudged him. He started breathing again.

"...Okay, that one was... A lot. Um." He glanced down at the page. "...Where did you go? After everything."

"My house. I- I didn't know what else to do? Sunny was... R-really out of it. I don't think he... He didn't see me. I don't think. I- I mean he knew there was- Was someone there, but I don't think he knew it was... Was me."

Basil seemed more unsure, this time. The first question he was just terrified.

"I thought, maybe, if he recognized my house, he'd snap out of it? I don't know."

After a moment, Kel figured he was done, and went to move on to the next question.

Aubrey got there first, though.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?"

"-Aubrey." He gave her a look, but she was staring straight at Basil, her face unmoving.

Basils eyes dashed between the two of them. He looked so scared.

Despite everything, Kel felt bad for him.

"...Okay! Why don't we move on to the next question?" His voice was too loud, too cheerful and he winced.

Still, it worked. Aubrey glared at him, but didn't argue. Basil was visibly relieved.

"Alright, um... Why was that your first idea?"

There was a pause.

"I just-" He takes a breath. "I wanted to- To protect Sunny. 'Cause I d-didn't even think he did anything! And- And on m-my way back from- From here, I- I saw the t-tree. And the... The j-jumprope. And that's... That's when I thought of it."

Basil kept looking at the door. Kel couldn't wait to leave. They weren't even halfway through the list.

"What do you mean you didn't think he did anything?"

Basil went even more wide-eyed than he already was.

He opened his mouth to respond, closed it, repeated.

"I..." Basil was breathing too fast. "I- When I saw... When M-Mari... Fell, I thought- I thought I s-saw something... Else. Push her. Not... Not Sunny. I- I think I j-just couldn't... Couldn't believe he'd d-do that."

...

Jeez.

That was... Heavy.

...

A firework goes off. Yellow.

Back on track.

"Why would you go through with that... Idea."

Basil took a moment to gather himself, still shaken from the previous question. A firework, green light.

"...I don't know? I mean- I was- Was f-freaking out and- I just didn't want him to get in trouble-"

"For murder!? What the fuck is wrong with you?!"

"Aubrey-!"

"No! He covered up a murder because he didn't want his 'best fwiend' to get hurt!" She was moving erratically, all wide gestures and mocking tones. The fireworks are really starting up now, several just went off at once, washing them in a million, indistinguishable colors.

"I need to know. I need to know what the hell makes a twelve-year old boy do something like that! I need to know what the fuck is wrong with him!"

A firework. Pink.

She stops. Pauses.

When she speaks again, her voice is choked.

"What... What happened to you?"

Orange, white, blue, pink, again. Green. Purple.

"I... I don't know."

Breaking out of his shock to look at them, Kel watched as tears escaped Aubrey's eyes.

She closed them. Breathed.

...

"Okay."

...

Kel and Hero shared a glance.

Green.

Basil was staring at Aubrey.

Pink.

Her eyes were still closed.

Purple.

With nothing else to do, Kel kept reading.

"...Why didn't you-" Kel jumped, this time. Red. "Why didn't you say anything? For so long?"

White.

Basil briefly looked away from Aubrey.

"...I couldn't. I still thought that- That s-Something... Else. Did it. Not Sunny. So I couldn't tell. Not-" He took a breath, "Not w-without him there." Basil kept glancing at her. Pink. White. "And. W-Well. He wasn't."

Aubrey's eyes opened. She didn't look at anyone. She stared straight out the window.

"...Okay. Last one of Aubrey's. Why did you ruin the photo album?"

Basil's attention fully left Aubrey for the first time since she shouted.

"Um." He glanced to either side, nervous. Tense. Then, he slumped, a little. "I-I'm sorry. I can't t-tell you that." He looked down, at his lap.

He jumped. A bang.

In the flash of green light, Kel could just barely make out Aubrey's look of shock, and anger, and disbelief.

She put her face in her hands, exasperated, for a second.

Then, she braced her hands against the table. She pushed herself away. Now against the wall, she had physically removed herself from the conversation. An unsaid, 'there, happy? I won't interrupt again.' now that her part was done.

Passive aggressive, but overall helpful in getting through the list.

"...Alright, then. I guess we're moving on to Hero's. Uh..." He looked at the paper. The light from the flashlight was briefly replaced by an orange bang. Another. Blue. Kel realized that Hero hasn't said a word since Basil's house.

"What caused the fight, between you and Sunny?"

Kel watched as Basil blinked, recognizing the tone switch from Aubrey's accusatory questions to Hero's clarifying ones.

He also watched him process the question itself. Kel saw, with startling clarity, the moment that Basil chose to lie.

"I... Didn't w-want him to leave. He was going to- To move away and just- Leave me-! With... W-with that secret. And I didn't want him to. So we argued, and it just... Escalated."

Kel looked to his right. Saw Hero nod to himself. Sad, but satisfied with that answer.

Kel knew, knew, though he didn't know how, that that answer was fake.

But it was Hero's question. And Hero was satisfied.

So he left it alone.

He stared at Basil. Maybe, he'd crack, and give the truth, but that was as far as he tried.

It had been silent for a little too long.

Time to keep going.

"Why did you go for his eye?"

There was a split second, where Basil seemed almost relieved to move on. Then, he tensed back up, and answered.

"I... Wasn't seeing straight. Or- Or thinking st-straight. I don't know, really."

That one didn't seem quite true either. Kel went on faster, this time.

A bang. Orange.

He wanted to leave.

It was so uncomfortable, to be the only person to notice something. Especially when you can't mention it without causing problems.

He wanted this to be over.

Green.

He kept going.

"What did you guys do in the hospital after we left?"

"L-Like right after? Or the- The whole stay?"

Kel looked at Hero, who seemed a little out of it. Not quite there, anymore.

Blue.

It took a moment, for his brother to notice he was being looked at, but when he did, he just shrugged.

Kel turned back to Basil, and shrugged as well.

"...W-Well. The a-answer's the same, anyway. We just... Talked. A-And Sunny drew. Then, I-I got discharged, and then-" Basil glanced to the side, "H-he left."

Kel rushed to get the next question out. This was starting to drag on and he wanted to leave.

"Did he-"

Several fireworks go off in quick succession. Red, blue, white. Orange, pink, purple. Green, twice. Then more than three at once, coloring the treehouse and its inhabitants in muddled, unidentifiable colors.

Kel forced himself to breathe. Slow down. There were only a few more questions, he could leave soon enough. Rushing would not help.

"Did he tell you about our reactions?" Another. Blue.

"...Yeah."

Okay, that one was fast, anyway. Green.

"Alright, last one of Hero's. Do you know why he stayed inside? Or what he did all that time?"

Basil looked down. Sad, maybe. "I'm... N-not sure."

Red.

But the way he said it implied that there was more, there. So, begrudgingly, as he did still want to leave, Kel stayed quiet, until Basil continued.

"It... It m-might have been... Because it was- It was really hard. To... To look at you guys? That- That m-might've been it. B-but I didn't ask- So- So I don't know."

...

Alright. That was... Kind of really upsetting.

Still. Only one question left.

"One left, from me."

The worst one.

He looked at the page, probably, for the final time. Clicked off the flashlight.

A blue firework went off, and Kel could see Hero giving him a strange look.

Hero didn't know what the question was.

Kel closed his eyes, and took a very deep, very careful breath.

A bang, and a flash of green light, that he could see through his eyelids.

Another, Orange. Or maybe white. Hard to tell.

Kel could bet that Hero was still looking at him, with concern.

He opened his eyes.

Basil was looking at him, with dueling expressions of 'are you okay?' and 'please get it over with.'

"How..." He steadied himself. This one would be hard. "How did you know how to tie a noose?"

Kel heard Aubrey shuffle behind him, and saw Hero jerk in surprise out of the corner of his eye.

Basil, for his part, just went wide eyed, and blinked a few times.

Then,

"...I'm sorry. I can't answer that."

For the first time all night, Basil didn't stutter. The fear ever present in his voice had changed into a blend between defensive, and uncertain.

In a flash of red light, Basil shook his head no, as if to say 'Really. I can't.'

Then, Basil asked, in his normal, stuttering tones, if that was all, and if he could go.

Dimly, Kel remembered nodding.

Then, the treehouse only held three friends, all stuck in some variation of shocked silence.

-----

Hero had not known what Kel was going to ask.

It had made sense, though.

He was... A little ashamed that he hadn't thought of that, actually.

When he'd seen Aubrey's questions, his own had only sought to fill in the blanks. And he'd missed the biggest blank.

There was a long while, there in the treehouse, the air slowly filling with smoke, where no one spoke. They didn't even make eye contact, in the moments when they could see.

It was dark, and he nearly bumped into the table two different times on his way up, but Hero stood.

He offered a hand to Kel, who was still sitting, staring ahead at where Basil had been. After a moment, Kel noticed it. Hero watched his little brother shake his head clear, and smile, just a little, before he took the hand.

Not getting an answer to a question like that one was worrying enough for Hero, it must've been much worse for the one who'd actually thought of it.

Kel got up, and Aubrey did too, behind them.

She was looking at the ground. When she looked up, just for a moment, a pink light illuminated wiped-away tear tracks. She looked back down.

Hero could feel a wetness on his own face that was sure to match hers soon enough.

With nothing to do but think, all three friends just stood there, two of them quietly crying, silently pondering what Basil's answers meant, waiting for someone to break the silence.

(Waiting for something to happen.)

Eventually, in a choked voice. Aubrey spoke.

"We... Should probably get to your parents, huh? They might be wondering where you are."

Kel jumped at the chance for a distraction.

"Yeah. Yeah! Let's get going. They should be at the park."

And with no objections from Hero, they started the climb down the ladder.

When they reached the bottom, Basil was already long gone.