Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

It was just another day in Faraway Town. The sun was shining, filtering through the foliage of the woods as the local gang of delinquents navigated its maze-like trees on their way to the secret lake hidden inside.

“And then, I unleashed my full power on the invaders, and they had no choice but to flee in fear of THE MAVERICK!” Mikhael boasted as his young apprentice stared at him, wide eyed in awe and almost walking into a tree as he remained fixated on the story. “Wow master, that's so cool!” he exclaimed, mimicking Mikhael's signiture pose.

Kim, walking in front of them with Vance and Charlene, let out an exasperated sigh. “Angel, do you seriously believe what this idiot's saying? He doesn't have any powers. Aside from being a moron, of course.”

Angel gasped, as if taking offence to this. “What? That's not true! Right, master?” To which Mikhael responded with The Maverick's pose once again. “Of course not, my dear student! You know a pure-hearted warrior like THE MAVERICK would never lie.”

The excited boy looked at Kim with a triumphant expression. “See! He's telling the truth!”

Kim facepalmed, Mikhael's meaningless rambling was not helping her already bad mood from their failed candy heist earlier that morning. “No shit he's going to say that, why would he tell you he's lying?” Charlene patted her head wordlessly in an attempt to sooth her anger. “Why do we even hang out with you two…” She asked no one in particular with a defeated tone. Vance put his arm around her. “C'mon sis, just ignore them.”

Meanwhile, the pink haired leader of the group walked ahead of her squabbling friends, tuning out the conversation to focus on her own thoughts. It had been 4 years, but walking through this place always brought back memories of her old friends. Even though they had left her, and she hated them for it, she still missed them and the times they had together. Especially Sunny

She remembers the first time they found their secret spot after Kel and Sunny found it and told the rest of the group. Basil, her first friend, reassuring Hero, the older brother of the group, as they walked behind her that even if a spider were to jump out at them, it wouldn't hurt him.

Meanwhile, Kel, the energetic boy she always playfully argued with, walked ahead of everyone else, attempting to guide the rest of the group toward where he remembered the lake being and somehow choosing to take every wrong turn possible before being corrected by Sunny.

She walked alongside Sunny, her closest friend and her crush who was always there for her when she wanted to hang out with someone or needed someone to talk to about her situation with her parents, as he listened to her talking about anything and everything that came to her mind. She never let her problems upset her for long, because she always knew that he would always be ready at their swings for her, and he would always make everything feel right again.

And on the other side of him, holding his hand as she watched the two of them with her signature smug grin, was Mari. She was Sunny’s older sister, but was like an older sister to the other younger members of the group, Aubrey included. The girl who smiled warmly at her as she tended to whatever wounds Aubrey had after she tripped and fell down, who would help her with her schoolwork when she was worried she was going to fail and would tease her relentlessly when she would gush over how sweet Sunny was.

Who had suddenly left her behind on the day that was meant to be one of the happiest of her life, tearing the friend group apart and leaving her without anyone for support.

She sometimes wondered what it would be like if it never happened. Would all of her dreams and fantasies about what her life would be like as an adult come true?

Would she have been able to watch Mari play her beautiful melodies to the whole world?

Would she have been able to taste whatever delicacies Hero would have crafted as a professional chef?

Would she have been able to celebrate Kel returning to faraway as a basketball champion?

Would Basil have continued to immortalise their memories together just as he did before he defiled them when everything went wrong?

Would Sunny have kept his promise to save her from the hellhole she called a 'home’?

It didn't matter anymore. She had her new friends now. All that mattered to her was the present. She didn't like to think about her future anymore, the last time she had dreams she had to accept that they would now never come true after the two people one person who cared about her, who would never abandon her, was taken away by a rope hanging from a tree, and the other by a locked door which would never allow the sun's light through again..

Tears began to form in Aubrey's eyes before she quickly blinked them away. Now was not the time to cry over Mari's passing, especially not in front of her friends.

Her thoughts were cut short as the group drew closer to the hangout spot and heard the faint sobbing of a child.

Kim groaned. “First we get caught by Miss Candice, and now some kid gets into the hangout spot. What's next, Kel shows up and tries to fight us again?”

“Just remove her like we usually do.” Aubrey said in an attempt to keep up her delinquent persona by hiding the strange sensation that bubbled within her mind as she heard the child cry, which she chalked up to the sound irritating her.

“But she's crying. We should help her.” Came the quiet voice of Charlene in a rare instance of her talking rather than communicating in gestures and facial expressions.

The hooligans are no strangers to upset kids. Though they weren’t proud of it (especially Charlene, being the most gentle member of the group), they often had to remove young children who had wandered into their secret spot.

However, it always brought back the same memory for Aubrey.

”Hey, you good?” A bespectacled girl said to a dark haired girl with a bow in her hair, sitting down next to her. “Me and my bro Vance saw that you looked sad for the last few days, and that you were sitting by yourself. Something up?”

The upset girl started to sob. “M-my friend d-died, and all of my other friends left me.”

The girl was in tears at this point. Kim was shocked, she didn’t expect her situation to be this serious, but decided to try her best.

”They left you? Well, you could be our friend if you want to. My name's Kim, what's yours?”

”My name's A-Aubrey…”

Aubrey shook her head, and snapped out of her reverie as they reached a parting in the trees through which the gang could see the clouds drifting across the blue sky and the water, shimmering as it reflected the sunlight, was visible behind several traffic cones and barricades.

But she isn't focused on the scenery right now. She looked at the girl sitting on the picnic blanket. Mari's picnic blanket.

The girl looked to be about 7 years old, with long black hair and a purple bow. She wore a pink dress and held a familiar eggplant toy, the same one Sunny gave her when they were kids, although this girl's toy looked slightly old and worn.

She reminded Aubrey a lot of herself, when Mari found her crying on the ground. She doesn't remember what she was crying about, but could clearly recall her and the other 3 people who would quickly become her friends for the next few years comforting her. Mari crouching down to brush the dirt off her clothes, Kel trying to distract her by doing a trick with his ball which ended with the ball falling on his head, Hero trying to figure out why she was crying and Sunny sitting next to her, his presence reassuring her as if he exuded an aura of comfort. Even when they had met for the first time, and before they even knew each other's names, he always made her feel safe when she was with him.

Vance was the first to speak. “So, what do we do about this? Just get Charlie to carry her back-”

He was cut off by Aubrey holding her arm out in front of him. Normally she would have gone through with his plan, but something felt different about this girl.

Rather than wanting her to stop her crying from disturbing the peace of their group's space, she felt like she wanted to protect her. To hold her close and tell her that everything is okay, that she is safe with her.

The other hooligans watched in confusion as their leader walked toward the girl, stepping carefully and slowly so as to not intimidate her. “Aubrey?” The voice of Kim calling out to her was ignored as Aubrey continued to walk toward the girl, stopping at the edge of the blanket.

The young girl, however, immediately stopped crying and turned toward Aubrey upon hearing her name. She suddenly threw herself at Aubrey and wrapped her arms and legs around the delinquent's leg, her soft hair, very similar to how Sunny's hair felt when she would hug him years ago, tickling her exposed skin.

The girl looked a lot like her. She had the same hairstyle as Aubrey's younger self, wore a similar pink dress and even had a bow in the same place Aubrey used to wear her bow. Although, she also reminded her of Sunny in a few ways; she had his delicate hands, his black hair and the same eyes she always thought were so beautiful, the eyes she could get lost in, finding constellations and galaxies that don't really exist, wondering if what she was seeing was just her imagination or one of the vibrant, surreal worlds he would create with his.

It felt like a part of him was there with her.

The child's tears soaked into the material of her clothes, but she didn't care. She couldn't think about anything other than her. It was as if they were the only people left in the universe, like the whole world had shrunk to a miniscule space which contained nothing but Aubrey and the girl latched onto her leg.

“MOMMY, YOU CAME BACK FOR ME!”

Aubrey flinched, the girl's words returning her to reality. ‘She thinks I'm her mom? That would explain why she's clinging to me…’ But why did it feel right to be called that? Why did she care about this random kid so much?

Her thoughts were interrupted by a confused sound from Angel.

“But she can't be your mom!”

“But she looks like my mom and she has pink hair!” The child innocently looked at Angel. “And you're my mom's friends!”

The girl pointed at each of the hooligans excitedly “You're Aunt Kim and Aunt Charlene, and they are Uncle Angel, Uncle Vance and Mister Mavick!” The girl twirled around like Aubrey used to when she was happy, proud of herself for reminding her mother's silly friends of their names.

The hooligans looked at her in shock with the exception of Mikhael, who had a hurt expression as he complained: “Why am I not an uncle!?”

The younger girl gave them a smile that Aubrey recognised as the elusive, adorable smile that Sunny normally only ever showed Mari aside from the time he smiled at her after she hugged him when he gave her Mr. Plantegg.

Aubrey turned to the energetic child and crouched down and saw that, to her relief, her face had no trace of the tears which rolled down it a minute ago. “What's your name, kid?” Earning a confused look from the child.

“My name's Mari, but you already know my name, mommy.”

At this point, Aubrey's brain had completely shut down. Mari looked at her, her shock visible in her eyes.

“You didn't forget my name, right mom?”

Aubrey began to panic, both due to Mari being upset and the fact that a kid claiming to be her daughter had the same name as her late friend.

“I- I think you’re confused, I'm too young to be your mother.”

At these words, the child noticed something and stepped back. She looked between the 6 delinquents, her blank expression as she concentrated once again reminding Aubrey of her old friend. Eventually, Mari smiled before twirling again in joy.

“I know, it's just like Captain Spaceboy!”

“Captain Spaceboy?” ‘Haven't heard that name in a while. What's spaceboy got to do with anything?’

“In captain spaceboy, he goes to the past and sees his dad when he was little! And my mom and all of your friends are little!”

Aubrey inhaled sharply as she realised what the child was trying to say. There's no way, right? Time travel isn't real. But what else could it be that makes her so drawn to this child if she wasn't her mother like she said?

Kim’s mouth gaped at Mari’s words, completely bewildered. “Seriously? You actually think you're from the future, and Aubrey's your mom? You hit your head on the way here or something?”

Vance, however, disagreed: “There's too much coincidence though. She looks like Aubrey, Aubrey is clearly drawn to her and she knows all of our names. She even has the same name as Aubrey's friend.” His voice lowered during the last part; the hooligans knew about the situation with Mari and hated bringing her up so as to not incur their leader's wrath by putting her in a bad mood.

The other 3 hooligans watched in silence. Charlene in amazement at the scene, which was like something out of a comic book and was unfolding in front of her eyes, and Angel and Mikhael because they know that if they said anything stupid in front of a child who could be their leader's daughter, they would probably be killed.

Aubrey silently agreed with Vance. There was just too much pointing toward the child telling the truth, however unrealistic it was, and there was no way a child this young could have planned all of this as part of a prank for the hooligans. Despite this, she still didn't want to accept that Mari was her daughter, because that isn't possible, right?

Her attention shifted to the battered Mr Plantegg toy left on the picnic basket.

“Mari, where did you get that toy?”

“You gave it to me!” Mari gave her an ecstatic smile. “We went home after we visited Aunt Mari in the church, and I was sad so you singed her song and gave me your Mr Plantegg because he made you happy when you were sad.”

The mention of Mari- the older one- and Mari's song, presumably referring to the tune Mari used to hum to her, along with little Mari's mother giving her a Mr Plantegg that used to belong to her was all the evidence Aubrey needed for a wave of euphoria to wash over her, compelling her to pick up her child, who started to nuzzle against her cheek affectionately.

“Oh my God, I- my… daughter?” Aubrey's heart was pounding as a smile crept onto her face and she looked at Mari, who had wrapped her arms around her mother and was looking into her eyes.

The hooligans were completely baffled by this interaction. Only Kim and Vance knew that this softer side of their intimidating and short-tempered leader existed, and they hadn't seen it since they helped out the crying Aubrey years ago.

“She's actually… what the fu-” Kim received a glare from Aubrey “-heck? She's really your daughter?”

The delinquent leader was completely speechless, only being able to nod to her friend. Mari remained in her mother's embrace, clinging to Aubrey how she used to hold onto the older Mari.

The lake was quiet, save for the rustle of wind blowing through the trees and the satisfied sighs of Mari as Aubrey ran her hand through her hair. The peace would eventually be broken by Aubrey regaining her ability to speak.

“Mari, how did you get here?” She set the girl down on the edge of the picnic basket as she started to play with the grass.

“I was walking with you here and I tripped and then you were gone.”

Mari started to frown, prompting Aubrey to pat her head to soothe her.

“Don't worry, Mari. We'll find a way to get you back to the future later. Are you hungry? Should we get something to eat?”

Mari nodded. Before Aubrey could suggest something to eat, Mikhael struck a pose.

“Fear not, for I, THE M-” Mikhael yelped in pain as Aubrey cut him off by kicking him in the shin. “I bought food, fresh from my family's bakery.” He set down an assemblage of baked goods, from which Mari picked up a cookie and started nibbling at it while the rest of the hooligans took their own meals.

Aubrey finished her snack first. “I find my time travelling future daughter, on the same day Mikhael decides to be useful. Are we going to run into Sunny next?”

The black-haired child immediately looked up at Aubrey with stars in her eyes, the sudden movement causing the crumbs of her cookie to fall off her clothes.

“We're going to see daddy!?”

‘What.’

Aubrey's face became red as she processed her daughter's words. “Sunny… is your dad?”

“Yeah! Is daddy here?”

‘There's no way. I haven't seen him in years. He can't be…’ Aubrey was a volcano after finally comprehending that she would not only marry Sunny in the future but also have a child with him. Meanwhile, the hooligans were frozen statues who prayed she wasn't about to erupt.

She didn't know how this revelation made her feel. If all of her thoughts and emotions could be summed up in one word, it would be one of the unintelligible noises Kel would make after he drank 10 times the legal dosage of Orange Joe.

She was confused as to how she could get with someone who has been locked away for almost half a decade. She was mentally yelling at herself for being an idiot and not putting the pieces together and realising that the kid who shared many of Sunny's physical traits was obviously Sunny's daughter. She was excited, which was definitely because she had a daughter and absolutely not because her abandoned childhood dream of marrying Sunny would apparently come true in the future.

Mari finished her cookie and enthusiastically tugged at her mother's arm, pulling her out of her thoughts. “Can we go to the park? I want to go on the slide and on the swings and go in the cat! And then we can see daddy!”

“...Sure” The park would probably be a nice distraction from what Mari had just told her. ‘How am I going to explain that me and Sunny aren't married?’

The gang packed up their belongings before leaving the hangout spot and heading toward the park through the woods. The leader of the group held Mari's hand in one of hers while the other hand wielded her nail bat in case anyone would try to harm her daughter. She knew that would never happen in faraway, but she also knew it was her job to protect Mari.

“So, how's that Sunny guy end up with you? Don't you hate those nerds?” Kim asked with a curious glance at Aubrey, her hands in her pockets either to look intimidating or to look for leftover candy.

“What?” Mari looked like she was about to start crying again. “You don't hate daddy, right mommy?”

Aubrey looked at Mari.

She hated Kel. Before meeting the friend group, she would occasionally grow envious of the other kids who would playfully bicker with their siblings. Kel would eventually fill that void. They would fight all of the time, but they would always be friends again in a few minutes. But he never really cared about her, or Mari, he just made new friends and forgot them.

Hero wasn't much better. He and Mari were the older brother and sister of the four younger members of the group. He would support them as much as Mari did. When she and Kel got into a fight, Hero would always act as their mediator, and even taught Basil to take that role when he wasn't around. She thought that he cared about them, but the moment Mari died he just packed his bags and went on his way to college. He didn't care about any of them. He didn't even care about Mari. His own girlfriend, and he didn't visit her once.

Most of all, she hated Basil. She was his first friend when he was all alone. She was the one who introduced him to the friend group. He claimed to treasure his friends and their memories together above everything else. And then he destroyed those memories, ruined everything they did when they were happier.

She loved Mari. Of course she did. The girl was an older sister to her. She would never abandon her. She might have left her, but that wasn't her fault. She was suffering and they were all blind to it, and she lost her battle. Aubrey could never hate Mari.

But Sunny?

Sunny had abandoned her. He meant everything to her and then he was gone. He supported her through the torturous life her parents made her endure when she wasn't with her friends. When she first joined the friend group, she was worried they would all leave her one day. But whenever she thought that day would arrive, he would always be there at their swings. He would always make time for her, listening to her talk for hours. He would drag her out of the abyss, he would always put her fears to rest. Until she lost Mari. He hadn't come back for her after that.

But she couldn't hate him. Sunny had locked himself away, rotting away in a house that likely saw no sign of life aside from his parents. Of course he did, Mari was his sister. He wasn't just living in his own bubble, he had lost the person who cared about him most out of everyone. He has suffered more than Aubrey had.

Until she met their daughter, she had tried to push down her feelings, to convince herself that she hated him, that he was the one who was meant to be there for her despite having no obligation to be. He had done so much for her, and she had never asked about his issues once.

And now she realised that if anything… She abandoned him. She should have been the one to save him rather than pretending she didn't care. She knew how to pick locks, as well as where the house's hidden spare key was kept, and she had a nail bat that could probably break the door down or smash a window. And yet she did nothing, because it took what was probably some form of divine intervention causing their future daughter to time travel into her life for her to realise that she had been selfish this entire time, that she believed she was entitled to help from the one person she should have saved years ago.

Maybe she'll take Mari to that house later and make everything right.

“...She's right. I don't hate Sunny. The others, yes, but not him.”

Mari, not realising who she was referring to by “the others” gave a satisfied smile, holding her mother's hand tighter and bouncing up and down, seemingly trying to fight a tree that they were walking past. Kim looked at her friend in bafflement. She decided not to press the topic further while the child could hear and instead opted to change the topic.

“So, kid, do I get married in the future too?”

Mari nodded ardently, fallen leaves and plants crunching as she mercilessly jumped on them, decimating the evil tree Lord's forces and saving the kingdom. “You marry uncle Basil!”

Kim paled to a shade that Mari's piano would be jealous of. Aubrey stared at her in shock while the other hooligans, who were chatting (or, in Charlene's case, slightly changing facial expressions) amongst themselves, went silent as the entire group froze in place except for Mari, who continued to bounce around the area she could reach with her movement restricted by Aubrey's hand. The entirety of the woods was silent except for the distant sounds of the park and Mari playing with an ant she had found.

“No way. No fu- freaking way. I MARRY BASIL!?”

“Yeah! You always talk about how cute he is, and how you love how gentle he is when he's taking care of his plants.”

“B-but he hurt Aubrey! And he's a soft wimp! How could I possibly marry someone like that?”

The four other hooligans had escaped their dumbfounded stasis and, excluding Charlene, had burst into laughter at the image of Basil the flower loving boy in a suit, watching in awe as Kim walked toward him in a bride dress and-

“WHY ARE YOU LAUGHING, OF COURSE I’D NEVER NEVER MARRY THAT-!” Yelled Kim as she strode toward the laughing boys, Charlene covering her mouth to stop her foul language from corrupting the child.

Mari's attention, however, had shifted from her game to what Kim said before as Aubrey continued to lead her toward the park. She looked at Aubrey, perplexed. “Uncle Basil hurt you? But he's your friend, why would he do that?”

“It's… complicated. Grown up stuff. Don't worry about it, you'll probably get an explanation from future me.” Aubrey tried her best to give a reassuring smile to her daughter as she brushed some dirt off the child's clothes.

“Okay…” Mari was not completely convinced, but chose to ignore it. Her parents told her that a lot of “bad stuff” had happened to their friend group as teenagers, maybe that had something to do with it. She decided to go back to her game.

“Hey mommy, I want to try the bat! Why does it have sharp things in it?” The bat was so cool! Maybe she could use it to fight the tree monsters!

Aubrey snickered as she watched her daughter creating a story in her head. “Sorry Mari, this is too dangerous for you.” The kid looked slightly disappointed but didn't seem to mind too much. “You’ve got a very good imagination, Mari. Your dad was like that too, when we were kids.”

“You and daddy say that to me all the time! You say that I'm very ima- ge- uhh..”

Aubrey smiled at her daughter's attempt to remember the word. It seems like his good looks weren't the only thing her husband gave to her.

‘...Why did I think that? He's not my husband, I haven't even seen him in years.’ Aubrey flushed, trying and failing to ignore her own brain as she distracted herself by paying extra attention to her daughter, which was a bad move since she reminded her more and more of him as she played.

Eventually, the group reached the exit of the woods into the park. It was mostly empty at this time, with a few young kids running around the basketball court while a group of teens tried to ignore them. A few hobos could be seen around, with the trash collecting old lady at her stand as usual and a boy sitting at the bench. Mari immediately ran toward the cat and started fighting something in the dark area inside. She then ran across the park to the slide and began to climb up. Aubrey stood underneath her as she climbed the ladder, ready to catch her if she slipped.

Kim appeared behind her. “You don't need to do that. She's not going to fall.”

Mari waved at the two delinquents the same way someone would to signal to someone far away, despite the slide not being very tall. “MOM, AUNT KIM, LOOK! I GOT TO THE TOP!” she called proudly, receiving a smile from Aubrey, who had not moved from under the ladder despite Kim's reassurance and Charlene standing to the side of the slide, protectively watching Mari as she bounced at the top instead of sliding down.

“So, why don't you hate Sunny? He abandoned you like the others, didn't he?”

Aubrey nervously adjusted her jacket as she began to explain. “He didn't. It was less of me hating him and more convincing myself that I did. Really, I was the one who abandoned him. He's suffering a lot more than I did.”

Kim was confused at this. “But didn't you say that Mari was like a sister to you? How's it any worse for him?”

“Because Mari was his actual sister. She basically raised him like a third parent.”

“Oh… damn.” Kim didn't really know what to say in this situation.

“Yeah. It took Mari coming here to make me realise that it's my fault he's still in there. Maybe I'll break into his house with Mari later and we'll talk to him.”

Kim grinned. “And then you'll marry him?”

Aubrey reddened at her remark. “I haven't even seen him in years! And anyway, what are you going to do next time you see your Basil?”

Now it was Kim's turn to blush. “He's not my Basil.”

They were interrupted as Mari came down the slide and tugged at Aubrey's clothes. “Mommy, I want to go on the swings, can you push me?”.

“Sure Mari, let’s go.”

Mari immediately dashed toward the swings and sat down on the left, Aubrey standing behind her to push her. She watched as the girl's giggles filled the air while her long hair flowed in the air behind her. Was she like this when she used to swing here? When they were innocent and knew nothing of the suffering that would befall them soon? Maybe she would ask him when she enters his house through completely legal means later today.

Mari stared in amazement as Mikhael tried to show her and Angel how he “casted spells” which mostly consisted of throwing confetti into the air, choking on it as it fell down before tripping on his own untied shoelaces as the other people in the park, which had gotten more busy while Aubrey was distracted by pushing her daughter's swing, laughed at his antics.

And the blonde haired boy who was passing by watched in complete bafflement as the girl who had made it her mission to turn his life into a living hell played with a random child, looking genuinely happy for the first time in years.

Chapter Text

A small voice rang out from the entrance of the park.

“Aubrey…”

The joyful atmosphere vanished in an instant. Kim and Vance immediately stopped their conversation and looked toward the source, Kim slightly red and making sure not to make eye contact, as Angel and Mikhael assumed their battle stances that looked increasingly more stupid every time they were used. Their audience of their “magic” failures cleared away, not wanting to be involved in the conflict.

Charlene just stood there, menacingly.

Aubrey cautiously picked Mari up from the swing, prompting her to give her mother a confused look, and carried her toward the cat, placing her inside.

‘Damn it, why now?’

She had planned to play with Mari for a little while longer and then take her to visit Sunny. ‘Sorry Sunny, you're going to have to wait a little longer’.

As Aubrey groaned in indignation, Mari whispered to her in fear, not having seen Basil or heard his voice. “Mommy, what's happening?”

Aubrey stroked the girl's hair in an attempt to alleviate her worry, the same way her dearest friend used to do for her. “It's alright Mari, I just need to deal with something.”

Leaving the girl inside the cat, she strode toward the other hooligans to face Basil, picking up her nail bat which was propped against the swingset on her way to the where the trembling blonde boy stood.

“Please Aubrey,” whimpered Basil. “I need it back!”

“And you aren't getting it. If it really mattered to you, why did you ruin it!?” Aubrey's rage only made the boy quake further as she raised her bat. Normally she would push him away from her, or threaten to smash his head like a watermelon. But she couldn't, she was a mother now and refused to be a bad influence on her daughter.

“Hey, quit picking on Basil!” Called another voice from behind the smaller boy.

Kim groaned. “Looks like we gotta deal with Kel again.”

“Stop messing with him, Aubrey! We all used to be friends, don't you remember?”

“We used to be friends before y-” The delinquent was cut off as she caught sight of who stood behind him. Her body froze up in shock. She was completely speechless, her voice catching in her throat as the boy blankly stared at her.

“Sunny?” She managed to choke out in disbelief.

“Wait, this is the guy?” Asked Vance. “I thought he never left his house?”

Aubrey completely ignored her friend's words. Sunny held his blank stare. He was very pale, and thin enough for a light breeze to snap him in half. How was he even able to walk here?

And then there were his eyes. His eyes that were like the most beautiful gemstones, conveying an understanding warmth to her when she would cry into his arms, had been replaced with dead, empty black holes. There was no light, no warmth, no life visible anymore, completely snuffed out by her own inaction.

His expression, normally showing emotion that could only be read by his close friends, a title Aubrey once held, was now replaced with the shattered appearance of someone who had none at all, who was completely dead both inside and out.

He looked more like an animated corpse, someone who had not been a part of their world for years, rather than a teenage boy with his whole life ahead of him. Like he was still asleep, his body being moved around like a puppet. What horrors had he gone through in that house?

Aubrey lowered her bat and signalled for the hooligans to stand back.

Kel stepped forward. “You can't just keep hurting Basil! Tell her, Sunny!”

Sunny stood completely still, not even opening his mouth.

“See! Even Sunny wants you to stop!”

“He didn't even say anything!” Angel countered as Aubrey tried to make sense of the situation.

Kel ignored him, instead opting to ready his basketball.

“Please, I don't want to fight you!” Aubrey yelled desperately as Sunny started to search his pockets for something, still staring forward.

Aubrey was contemplating her next move when a black-haired blur rushed into Sunny, wrapping herself around his leg. Tears poured from the little girl's eyes as she wept into Sunny's clothes.

Upon seeing the girl as she wrapped around him, repeatedly begging them to “please stop fighting” through her tears, he felt something change. He felt himself grow aware of his surroundings. He wasn't in headspace, this was the real world. The pink-haired girl in front of him wasn't an enemy encounter or a boss fight, she was his friend, and he was about to hurt her. The holes in his memory seemed to fill, remembering how he had lost his sister to her own hand after she hung herself and how he had forgotten everything. How the world he lived in wasn’t real as his lifeless body lay on his bed, ignoring Kel’s attempts to reach him while he allowed them all to rot in their grief.

Aubrey watched in amazement as Sunny appeared to wake up in front of her, the light returning to his eyes, his gentle warmth reignited by their daughter's touch.

Sunny also felt something new inside him. A protective urge, one that compelled him to start patting her head the same way Mari used to, the girl's flow of tears stopping immediately. Was this how his sister felt when she was around him?

“W-who…?” Sunny managed to ask, the feeling of his throat as he spoke and the sound of his own voice unfamiliar to him.

“Woah, Sunny, you talked!” Aubrey found it refreshing to see Kel had his priorities completely wrong as usual. Basil watched in puzzlement as one of his usual altercations with the delinquent gang turned into something else entirely.

Aubrey looked at Sunny as he met her gaze. Looks like she was going to have to explain a lot earlier than she was prepared to.

“Sunny, this is my Mari, my daughter.”

Kel's jaw dropped to the ground as Basil's eyes widened. Sunny was equally dumbfounded as the girl continued to hold onto his leg and look up at him, just as he used to hold onto Mari. He could definitely see it, the resemblance between the two. However, he felt like there was something Aubrey was hiding from him. He looked at Aubrey, even after 4 years apart they could still read each other just as well as they could as kids.

Aubrey sighed and turned red as she spoke again. “Well, she's actually… our daughter.”

Kel's jaw was probably eating the core of the earth like it was a fruit right now. Sunny wondered if it tasted like oranges, he knew his athletic friend loved them.

Basil was wearing his best friend's blank stare, his brain completely shut off as Sunny imagined him making the noise the phone in his room would make when his mom called him.

Sunny was still processing what Aubrey had just said.

His and Aubrey's daughter.

Their daughter.

He and his crush had a child.

‘WE HAD A CHILD!?’

“She's our daughter?” Sunny asked in disbelief, reddening as he eventually comprehended the situation he was in.

The still blushing Aubrey could only nod, her voice failing to make any sound.

“Yeah! You're my daddy!” The child declared proudly, looking at him with a smile- his smile on her face.

“H-how?” Was all Sunny could stutter out.

“She came here from the future...” Aubrey’s voice faded away as she realised how completely insane she sounded. Oh God, Sunny must think she’s stupid now-

Her panic was interrupted by Kel bursting out in laughter. “Good one Aubrey! Really, time travel? You weren’t this funny when we were kids!”

“Yes I w- I’m not joking, Kel!

Sunny stopped their argument before it had a chance to get violent again. “I believe her.” He couldn’t explain why but he felt like Aubrey was right. She knew her well enough to tell that she was serious. Not to mention the immense effect that this child had on him, just seeing her was enough to break him out of a waking coma and awaken some form of parental instinct inside him.

“Hi uncle Kel!” Mari turned to Kel, before looking at the top of his head. “Even you’re smaller here!”

“I GET TALLER IN THE FUTURE!?” Kel exclaimed in excitement, prompting a groan from Aubrey.

“I thought you didn’t believe her!”

As the two started to bicker again, Sunny attempted to pick up Mari, but was barely able to lift her an inch off the ground. Instead, he decided to crouch down to the child and hold her. “Mari… my daughter”. He looked into her eyes, the eyes he used to see in the mirror before it was occupied by whatever distorted form of his sister was haunting him that day.

Was he ready to be a parent? He already failed his sister, and was still in terrible shape both physically and mentally. But her excited smile, the way she looked at the scrawny, hollow shell he was and still saw her father, no doubt a much healthier man if he had had a child with the girl he's loved for years, steeled his resolve.

Even if he wasn’t good enough, even if he would never be good enough, he decided for the first time in years that he would try. Try to be a good parent. He would try to live.

“Daddy, let’s go on the slide!” Mari was very energetic, she must have got that from her mother.’

“Um… Mari…” Basil walked up to the two, an uneasy smile on his face. “Am I… w-what am I like in the future?”

“You marry aunt Kim!”

Basil's brain shut off once again as he stared blankly at Kim.

Kim gave an uncharacteristically nervous laugh. “Y-yeah, there's no way that happens, right?”

“Haha… That's silly… You're s-strong and pretty… And I'm just a weak n-nerd like you always say…” Basil attempted to calm any rage that Kim might have, clearly not thinking about his words.

Kim went completely red. Kel, who had reached the end of his argument with Aubrey, gasped. “Basil, you're dating Kim?”

“NO WE AREN'T!” They yelled at the same time.

Basil’s eyes met Kim's again before he quickly turned and, with one last glance back at Sunny, ran off in the direction of the plaza.

“But if you're going to get married, you have to be dating, right?”

Aubrey sighed in defeat. “That’s not how it works.”

“So you and Sunny aren’t dating?”

Sunny and Aubrey blushed profusely as Kim breathed a sigh of relief now that she was not the topic of the conversation.

Sunny locked eyes with Mari, wordlessly agreeing to go on the slide with her.

“Seriously, Kel? We haven't even seen each other in years!”

“Oh right, didn't think of that.”

As the two started to argue again in what would hopefully stay as a civil debate which Sunny tried his best to tune out to avoid embarrassment, he held his daughter's hand on the way to the slide while looking at her face. She looked… determined? Looks like she had his imagination, and would hopefully use it better than he did.

He hadn't really thought about it until now, but Mari was adorable. She had Aubrey's hair and was dressed like her. A lot of her features looked like Aubrey's did when she was younger. She also had his eyes, Aubrey used to like them a lot when he was younger. She held his hand just as gently as he held hers.

But what struck him the most was her smile. It was the same as his. He didn't like it as a kid, it always looked weird to him despite all of his friends saying it was cute. But now, seeing Mari, he understood why they liked it.

Maybe his sister was right- he should smile more.

The sound of Mari's laughter permeated the air, standing out against the clamor of the other kids in the park playing and the footsteps walking up behind him as she climbed up the ladder. He felt unusually worried as she climbed the ladder, but a fall from that height would probably not hurt her much. It was probably just a combination of his fear of heights and being overprotective of his daughter.

“Daddy, look how fast I can go!” Mari called as she slid down the slide, Sunny giving her a thumbs up as she twirled around in excitement.

“Hey, Sunny.”

Sunny turned around to see Aubrey, her eyes softer than they were when she was talking to Kel and her lips curled into a nervous smile. “Sorry about leaving you to fight Kel, can we talk about stuff?”

Sunny nodded. “Like before?” Aubrey understood what he meant, her nervousness subsiding.

Sunny beckoned Kel toward them, the hooligans who were talking about something- likely involving Basil, judging from Kim's angered expression- followed.

“I need to talk to Sunny, can you guys watch her for a while?”

The group all gave their own forms of agreement.

“And if there's even a scratch on her…” Aubrey raised her bat, causing them all to nod. Kel especially, shaking his head hard enough that Aubrey wouldn’t have been surprised if his tiny brain fell out.

A boy and a girl sit on the swings, the boy on the right with the girl on the left, just as they did years ago.

The blue skies, now with very few clouds in sight, watch over the playground as the children play. The light whispers of the wind disturbed the leaves of the plants from their rest as they rustled like they would when a group of 6 children would run through the woods smiling and laughing as they played.

‘This place hasn't changed at all’.

The peaceful atmosphere of their old spot remained the same, along with all of the people who frequented the park, like the old lady who collected trash and exchanged it for some of her seemingly infinite amount of money.

He recognised some people his age from when they were younger. A basketball player who used to play with Kel sometimes, a boy sitting on the bench, and the hooligans. They had all changed in some ways, but Sunny could see that they were still the same people he knew, even if he wasn’t close to them and never even interacted with some of them outside of taking turns on the slide or swings. Some things were new however, as expected after 4 years, such as the strange cult-looking group who wore trash cans on their heads, a few new people who most likely weren’t in faraway when he was younger, and Mari.

The boy looked at his friend as she sat next to him, swinging while keeping a watchful eye on their daughter. She had dyed her hair pink, like she said she would. She looked a lot stronger physically too, though that was probably to be expected from a delinquent. Aubrey, a delinquent… He knew she wasn’t a bad person, she was still dealing with everything even if her methods weren’t the healthiest or safest way to vent her frustrations.

And he would be lying if he said her new look and tough demeanour didn’t make his heart race, but that wasn’t what they were here for today.

He decided to be the first to break the silence. “How have you been? After… Everything that happened.”

“It was… hard.” Aubrey admitted, her hair flowing behind her, blowing in the wind as she swung forward. “My dad left me with her and she got worse when he wasn’t there.” A flicker of dread appeared on her face, as if she had noticed something she was unaware of. Sunny could tell from her expression that he shouldn't press it. Everyone else stopped talking to me, Mari was gone forever. I didn't have anyone to turn to until I met the hooligans.”

“What about Kel and Hero? And what happened with Basil?”

“Hero packed his bags and moved on with his life. Kel found new friends and replaced us. Basil was the worst, he blacked out all of our photos in the album.”

Sunny looked at her, confused. “Basil did that? It doesn't sound like him.”

“I just don't get it, did he really care about our time together that little?.

Sunny thought to himself. “I don't think that's it. He probably had a good reason for it.”

Aubrey didn't reply, instead opting to just look at the ground appearing to shift below her.

“I should thank your friends later for helping you.”

Aubrey snorted. “Heh, that's just like you.”

Sunny gave a slight smile for a second before his expression turned apologetic. “I'm sorry too. I shouldn't have abandoned you when you needed me.”

Aubrey shook her head. “No, don't apologise. You lost your sister, if anything I should have been there for you, like you always were for me. But that's enough about me, how've you been doing? No offence, but you look awful.”

"I slept most of the time.”

Aubrey was shocked, she expected him to have at least been playing videogames or with his old toys. “You just slept? Nothing else?”

Sunny’s swinging slowed, his shoes grazing the ground whenever his swing reached its minimum point. .“I did chores or studied sometimes. Only ate every few days. Dreamed about adventures with everyone. Just repressed everything until I thought it was all real.”

Aubrey looked completely horrified. “...I should have got you out of there… I knew you were suffering. And I just chose to pretend you abandoned me, that I was the one who needed you. I could have saved you.” Tears started to form in Aubrey's eyes before she noticed something else. “You repressed everything? Like, you forgot what happened?”

“Yeah. I forgot Mari was dead.” Sunny had stopped swinging completely by now. “When I saw Mari- our daughter- it was like my sister was pinching my cheek to wake me up like she used to. I still don't remember much around the time she did it.” He sighed. “I hope I don't fail our daughter too…”

The pink-haired girl suddenly turned her head to look at him. “'Fail her’? Are you… blaming yourself for what happened to Mari?”

Sunny wasn't normally one to burden others with his problems. But he had already decided that he would try his best. And that meant that he would need to ask for help sometimes, even if it felt wrong.

“...Yes. I feel like it's because of me she's gone. I pretended to be someone else in my dreams because I didn't deserve to be with everyone.”

Aubrey grabbed his hand and began to rub circles into the back of it, the same way he did for her when they were younger. “Sunny, please don't think that. Mari loved you more than anything else in the world, she wouldn't ever do something like that because of you. And I promise you, I’ll be here for you from now on, no matter what.”

Her hand was rougher than before but still warm and soft as it was when they were kids, enough to calm him down. “I almost hurt you too.” He withdrew a steak knife from his pocket. “I fought monsters in my dreams. I probably would have used it to fight you.”

“And you aren’t the one who carries a bat with nails in it everywhere. I don’t really think that fight would have gone well for you anyway, even if you did have a knife.”

Sunny looked at the knife and then at Aubrey, holding it out to her. “I don’t want to hurt anyone. Or myself.”

“...You do realise that I’m even more likely to hurt someone, right. You’re giving your knife to an angry delinquent.”

The boy smiled at her. “No I’m not. I’m giving it to my friend." He knew that she wouldn't hurt anyone with it.

She turned slightly red, looking away from him as she muttered something Sunny couldn’t hear, and was only able to make out the word “dork” before she eventually complied, taking the knife out of his hand.

“Well, it’s a good thing I can be there for you now. We’ll stick together this time, right.”

The hermit looked up at nothing in particular, his friend noticing his melancholic stare. “We can’t even do that now. Me and Mom are moving away to the city.”

“Oh” Was all Aubrey managed to say. Sunny was leaving? That would explain why he came out today. She finally had her friend back, and soon would lose him again. It was like fate, a higher power trying to keep them apart, to take away the one person who made them feel complete in a way that their other friends did not. “At least we could enjoy what time we have left. And we could keep in contact. You have a phone, right?”

Sunny nodded. “I could visit you sometimes too. Or you could come to me.” Wanting to change to a lighter mood, Sunny started to swing again. “What have you been doing while I was away?”

Aubrey continued to swing in sync with him. “I normally hang out with the hooligans. They aren’t bad people if you get to know them. There was even one time when I was walking outside othermart with Kim…”

They spent the next half an hour there. The two watched the cars drive by and the passers-by going about their lives just as they used to during their talks. Sunny mutely nodding, humming or smiling in response to Aubrey’s grand stories of how she met all of her friends. Her tales of all of their Othermart food heists when she was starving and without money to buy anything, and of the times when they would vandalise people’s houses. She often shot a guilty and apologetic glance at Sunny, which he would pick up every time and always respond by gently squeezing her hand to assure her that he wasn’t mad or disappointed. Aubrey was glad he didn’t seem to mind everything they did, even though she couldn’t put it into words he seemed to understand that everything she did was her method of coping, of surviving despite everything her cruel reality threw at her.

Her friend had always been a great listener. It was something that she used to talk to the other members of the group (excluding kel) about often, and how Basil and Mari worked out her crush on the boy. Sunny on the other hand, loved to listen to everything she said, no matter how boring her story would seem to any outsider or how depressing her situation became. Hearing her talk for hours was an enjoyable experience for him. It was nice knowing that he could be there for his friend, that she trusted him with her deepest emotions that she wouldn’t show anyone else.

Eventually Aubrey fell silent as she sighed. “Right after I say I’m going to be there for you, I make it all about myself again. Sorry.”

Sunny hummed to indicate thay he didn't mind. "I’ll never leave you again, I’ll be there for you too.”

Aubrey smiled at him. He really would follow her to the corners of the Earth, through any calamity that would occur, to the end of the world itself. And should he need her, she would follow him too. She started to feel emotions she thought had died with Mari’s passing and Sunny’s isolation bubbling up from within.

“Maybe they’ll have some swings in the city and we could continue this over there. Damn it, it’s been less than an hour and you’ve somehow turned me into sweet little girl Aubrey again.” She started to laugh. “I almost forgot how nice it is to do this together.”

“Well, if we’re going to have a kid in the future, this is a step in the right direction.”

They both blushed at the implications of his statement, Sunny realised that if he was going to try being more vocal, he should probably learn to think before he speaks. Aubrey caught sight of Kel leading Mari away from the group toward one of the recycultists.

“Speaking of our kid… we should probably stop Kel from getting her kidnapped to become a cultist.”

Sunny nodded in response as they dismounted the swings and Aubrey grabbed her bat.

The recycultist flung an apple core, knocking Kel in the head, before grabbing Mari. “A young one. She must be recycled.” He started to drag a now crying Mari away from the fallen Kel, still dizzy from the throw, before being cut off by a delinquent girl brandishing a nail-covered bat in an attempt to intimidate him.

“Upon reevaluation, this may reduce our organisation's progress. May the Holy Bin watch over you.” He let go of Mari running away in fear.

Aubrey ran over to the still recovering Kel and kicked him. “Are you serious!? We were away from you for forty freaking minutes and you almost got her KIDNAPPED!”

“Sorry Boss” Came the voice of Vance as the gang approached the pink demon. “We were distracted for less than a minute and he snuck off.”

While she proceeded to verbally eviscerate them, Sunny held Mari close to himself as he checked her arms for any injuries, feeling the soft touch of her skin to his as he panicked.

Mari giggled. “I’m okay, daddy! He didn’t hurt me, I was just crying because he scared me.”

Her dad breathed a sigh of relief as he drew her into a hug.

“Mommy was like a superhero, she was so cool!” Mari started bouncing up and down as she looked in awe at her mother, who had now calmed down and was talking to Kim with an occasional glance at Sunny.

Sunny, with a light blush on his face, hummed in agreement.

Meanwhile, Aubrey looked at Sunny fussing over Mari. “I expected he would be a good father if we ever had kids. Future me made a great choice.” She stated absent-mindedly, a faint blush visible

“So you do like him?” Asked Kim.

Aubrey immediately became defensive, realising she had spoken out loud. “W-what makes you think that, Kim? I mean, we hadn’t even seen each other in years until today!”

Kim snickered, wrapping an arm around her friend. “Sure, Aubs. Don’t worry, I’ll carry your secret to my grave. I could help you plan the wedding, too.”

The delinquent started to melt into a puddle as Sunny and Mari walked up to them, hand in hand.

“So what’re we going to do now? Just hang out like we were before?” The athlete asked.

“We aren’t going to be doing anything with you.” Aubrey said coldly, still bitter about the recycultist and her abandonment.

“What? But Sunny’s my favourite bro!”

“And you're an idiot.”

“What’s that got to do with anything?”

Sunny broke up their argument by placing a hand on Aubrey’s shoulder. “He can come.”

Aubrey reluctantly agreed, taking Mari’s other hand.

Angel started to walk away from the group. “Actually, I needed to show Charlie something.” Charlene gave Aubrey a nod as she followed.

“And I, THE MAVERICK, must prepare for a duel against my arch-nemesis.” Kel groaned as Mikhael sped toward the plaza. “Is he going to try and fight me again.” He asked, more of a statement than a question since he already knew the answer.

“I’ll be leaving too. Gotta help Mom with something.” Vance was clearly hiding something, his sister could tell that there was another reason for him leaving, but decided to ask him about it later.

Kim stood behind Sunny, Aubrey and Mari. “Guess that leaves the four of us and the kid then.”

“Alright, where are we going, then?” Asked Aubrey, instinctually looking at the boy who held Mari’s hand; he would sometimes lead their old group around Faraway when they wanted to hang out but didn’t know where to go.

“Follow me.” was the only response he gave as he walked off in the opposite direction of the plaza.

While they were walking, Mari had an idea. If her parents weren’t together yet, then she could help them! She tugged on both of their hands, pulling them closer together until they were touching and she was hugging both of their hands close to her. The girl looked up at her parents, they were both a bit red, and Uncle Kel and Aunt Kim were laughing behind them. Did that mean she was doing it right?

Mari decided: Her mission would be to make her parents get married. It was going to be so much fun!

Sunny saw her daughter’s smirk and caught on to what she was trying to do. He silently prayed that Aubrey hadn’t noticed. Mari seemed to see that he knew and looked into his eyes, telling him that she was going to help him. Sunny nodded at her, unsure of what to do in this situation.

Aubrey avoided looking at Sunny. Was Mari going to try and get them together? It would make sense since they were married in the future. Being married to Sunny, like she dreamed about so many times as a kid…

She thought that it didn’t sound too bad.

Chapter Text

Aubrey was completely stupefied.

When he had started leading them away from the park, she had thought he was going to take them to hang out at his house, or in the treehouse. She was not expecting him to solve half of the town's issues.

In under two hours, he had helped Kim’s mom find her lost garden shears, fixed a leak in her dad's house with Aubrey's help, found a man's lost TV remote, ran to othermart to deliver an elderly woman her medicine, committed fly genocide, bought exactly 6 fish, tutored two kids and inspired two artists, and now led the group toward the plaza for Gino's.

How did he even have the energy to walk this much after sleeping for four years? How was he still alive?

Mari seemed to be enjoying every second of what she was calling a ‘quest’, holding onto her parents’ hands almost constantly. They enjoyed it too; both teens had gone almost half a decade without any physical contact with anyone save for Aubrey getting into fights or punching Mikhael in the face whenever he attempted to flirt with her. Her hands were soft and held their hands gently, like Sunny and the older Mari would.

It was also the reason that Aubrey could enter the houses Sunny visited. Even an armed delinquent who had terrorised the town for years didn't seem intimidating when her other hand was occupied with the small hand of a cute, innocent child.

Sunny was also having the time of his life. So many hours spent locked away, hiding in the vibrant prison that eroded his memory, holding onto the one thing that he thought would protect from the darkness that scratched at his mind and filled his thoughts with guilt and grief, only for it to quiet to a whisper as he returned to his old normalcy of exploring Faraway with his friends.

“Hey nerd, how are you even finding all of these people?” Kim asked as she adjusted her glasses and dipped into the candy reserves she stored in her pockets.

Sunny turned to look at her, gave her a thumbs up before he turned back around and continued walking.

Kel laughed. “Well, that's just how Sunny is!”

As much as it made the pink-haired girl nauseous, she had to agree with Kel. Despite how accurately the group was able to read Sunny's subtle expressions, sometimes even they were completely clueless as to what he was doing. His mind had always worked in the most mysterious ways, but it always built something beautiful, like the artworks all of his friends watched him sketch that she always thought rivalled the seemingly unparalleled artists in books at school, or the world he had trapped himself in for the past few years.

Or a way to somehow find the exact locations of everyone who found themselves caught up in even the most insignificant problems.

The group came to a stop outside the rightmost building of Faraway plaza. As they set foot in the building, their conversation ended as they were all completely entranced by the scent of freshly baked pizza.

As they approached the counter, a look of pure, unbridled terror appeared on Pizza Man's face.

“N-no! I'm not making another sandwich! Not today of all days!”

Kel smiled at him. “Don't worry, we were gonna order a pizza today.”

“Oh… Thank God…” He wheezed and clutched his chest, as the other members of the group stared in bafflement at his dramatic reaction.

“I know, I know! Cheese for aunt Kim, one of each for uncle Kel, spicy for mommy and meat for daddy!” Mari looked at her parents for approval, receiving a slight smile and a nod from Sunny.

“All right, that'll be… Wait, aren't you a little too young to be parents?”

Aubrey took a step forward. “Aren't you getting paid for pizza? Why does it matter to you?”

“Fair enough. I'll go get the pizza now. And a kids meal for her.”

The teens sat down at a table, Kel and Kim sitting next to each other with Sunny and Aubrey on the other side. Mari sat at the edge of the table, pushing Aubrey's chair closer to Sunny with her legs while giggling.

“So, Aubs, how are you going to get your daughter back to her time? Kim asked as she opened her pizza and started to tear pieces off.

“No clue. We need to work out how she got here first.”

Kel, in his infinite wisdom, already knew the answer. “Well, she must have got here in a time machine, did you see one where you found her?”

“Kel, I'm pretty sure we would have noticed if there was a time machine. And she's 7, how would she even use one?”

“Are you sure? Maybe-”

“She just said no!” Kim interjected as Kel inhaled his third pizza.

Before another argument could break out, Sunny rested his hand on Aubrey's shoulder. “You could just… ask her.” Aubrey chastised herself for arguing with Kel again like when they were friends.

They all turned to Mari. “I don't have a machine, I just tripped…” she was frowning now, likely due to not being able to help the situation.

“It's okay, Mari. We'll find a way to get you home.” Aubrey grinned at her daughter, her upset expression reversing into her normal smile.

And then she noticed Sunny's pizza.

“Sunny, you haven't eaten anything.”

The boy looked at his food despondently. “I'm not really used to eating…”

Aubrey internally cursed herself again. She had completely forgotten that he didn't eat much while he was locked away. Why hadn't she stepped in, said something about how he hadn't been eating? After all of her grand promises to support him, she had forgotten something as simple as this.

The table fell silent, Mari, Kim and Kel were confused, not knowing that he had starved himself for years. “Sunny… I'm sorry. I shouldn't have-”

“Don't worry” He placed his hand on hers. “It’s not your fault.”

She knew he would deny it. He's Sunny, of course he would. But if she had been a better friend, if she had just chosen not to give up on the one person who never gave up on her, this wouldn't be happening.

Did he really not blame her for abandoning him, or was he just saying it to make her feel better? She already knew the answer, Sunny was too pure, too kind to blame anyone else for what had happened. But even if he didn't fault her, she knew that she was the one who caused this.

Mari… What would she think? Would she be mad at her for letting her brother suffer? It was unrealistic, Mari had almost never been angry at anyone, the only instance she could remember being when she laid into Kel and Hero the time Sunny almost drowned.

Aubrey still missed her, she would have known what to do. She always did.

Until she didn't, and she couldn't endure it any more.

Aubrey sighed, trying to hide her guilt. “Just… Try to take better care of yourself when you leave, alright?”

“Yeah, Sunny, that’s not healthy. You’re our friend, and we aren’t going to let you suffer. We don't want you to get hurt” Kel added. Sunny gave him a slight smile.

‘At least he can be serious sometimes…’

The athlete switched to a more teasing tone. “Especially one person in particular.”

‘Never mind.’ Aubrey made a gargled noise as she crammed the last of her food into her mouth to stop herself from yelling obscenities at him in front of her child while Sunny turned away.

Kim, however, was a lot less subtle. “You heard them, nerd. If you're gonna marry Aubrey, you gotta learn to get your own stuff in order first.” Aubrey's blush intensified, causing her to look away.

Mari was still confused. She knew her dad didn't eat as much as people like her uncle Kel, but he wasn’t eating at all? That wasn't good. “And I don't want daddy to be hungry too!” She wasn't really sure what she could do to help, but she would help anyway. Sunny patted the girl's head.

“I'm sure Hero would agree too.” Kel leaned against the back of his chair, a smile on his face. He turned to Aubrey. “I forgot to tell you, he's coming back tomorrow.”

Aubrey didn't care about Hero. Hero was almost as close to Mari as Sunny was, and he just ignored her death like nothing happened. He never once came back for her, or for Aubrey or Sunny.

“I guess he could help. He’s an actual chef now after all.” She tried to prevent the vitriol from dripping into her words, though it was likely present enough for Sunny and possibly Kim to pick up on it.

Kel looked down at the table, newly formed holes in his carefree mask revealing a dejected expression both of them had only seen at the funeral. “He's not. After Mari died, he just… gave up on all of his dreams and now he's trying to become a doctor like our parents wanted him to be.”

The delinquent didn't know what to think about this. Hero didn't move on from Mari? But why didn't he ever visit her, or try to help the rest of the group?

“That… sucks I guess.”

“But at least when he comes back, we can all hang out again like before!” Kel's energy had returned now, but they couldn't tell if he was genuinely hopeful for the future of their group or if he was keeping up his happy act.

“Ooh, and Uncle Hero can cook for us too!” Mari chimed in.

“Hero's cooking is good.” Sunny added.

As the group was immersed in their discussion again, Sunny noticed the 'help wanted’ poster by the counter. He signalled to the others before talking to the Pizza Man.

Aubrey watched as Sunny wore the uniform over his clothes. He had the same focused expression as he used to have when he was concentrating on his school work or a game when he looked at the notes he had been given from the manager, one that looked like he was staring into the object of his interest, looking inside it to see every minute detail, everything that would be invisible to everyone else. He and Mari had always been very perceptive, and she thought it was cute how hard he concentrated. “It's nice to see Sunny is just as selflessly kind as he was before.”

Kel shifted his chair, pulling it closer to the table and keeping his voice low so Sunny couldn't hear. “So Aubrey, do you still like him?”

The girl immediately turned into a tomato for what felt like the fiftieth time that day.

“S-Shut up Kel!”

Kim snickered. “Don't pretend you haven't been all soft and cute with him all day.”

Aubrey glared at them in an attempt to look intimidating despite being flustered while Mari fixed her with a smirk she knew all too well.

After Sunny had returned from his job, the group headed toward Hobbeez. Mari had told Sunny that she wanted to read comics and play on the arcade machine, and that they normally take her there when they visit Faraway.

“I think I'm gonna hang around outside, I'm not really into the nerd stuff they sell here. Let me know when you're done.” Kim turned and walked off in the direction of the fountain as the others entered the shop.

Aubrey was amazed at how similar it was to the last time she came here. The shelves were still lined with comics, there were still posters and instruments covering the walls, and the same man was still running the shop.

She noticed Mari wasn't holding her hand anymore, and noticed her staring at a poster in the corner of the store. She approached the girl, who appeared to be in some sort of trance.

Mari walked toward the monster. Its silver chainsaws caught the light, shining as the crimson blood of its victims dripped to the ground. It inched closer to her, eager for its next feast, the chance to tear through the human's flesh as if it were carving through a block of clay. Mari, however, would not let it. She suddenly lunged forward, smashing her fist against the bloodthirsty creature’s mask. Cracks spread through it like mould growing through brick. She didn't give it a moment to recover as she kicked it in the stomach and sent it flying into a wall. Before she could finish the job, it slashed at her with one of its chainsaws. She caught it with her bare hands, twisting it to remove it from the monster's hand before impaling it on its own weapon, pinning it to the wall. It gave a gargled cry, then faded into nothingness.

“Uh, Mari? Are you okay?” Came the concerned voice of Aubrey. “You've been staring at that poster for a while.

Mari looked up at her mother with a proud smile. “I'm okay! I was fighting it!”

“Wait, fighting it? Is that why you were staring at it earlier?” Kel turned to Sunny as the pair walked up to Aubrey and Mari.

Sunny nodded, causing Kel to laugh. “Wow, she really is your daughter.”

Aubrey couldn't help but giggle along with him. She remembered how she would play games with Kel and Sunny, the latter pretending a character from the cover of a book or comic was an enemy they had to fight. “She really got a lot of her personality from you.”

Sunny ran a hand through their daughter's hair in response. The girl smiled at him, she started to lead her parents to the arcade machine at the front of the store.

Sunny recalled all of the times he would take his sister with him whenever he wanted to see something. Mari was always happy to go wherever he wanted to go, she enjoyed the time they spent together even if she wasn't interested in whatever he wanted to show her.

She had always taken care of him, and he would make his daughter feel loved the same way his sister would for him.

If only he had helped her feel loved too.

He quickly composed himself, hoping Aubrey didn't catch onto his sudden drop in mood.

Pedro chuckled as he looked at the child who started to play on the machine. “Sorry kid, I don't have another prize since my score got beaten, but I'm pretty sure your friend's score's unbeatable anyway.” He said, nodding toward Sunny.

The girl ignored him. Her full focus was on the game. Sunny was amazed, her fingers danced across the buttons on the machine with the grace and accuracy of a piano player.

…Why did he know what someone playing the piano looked like? He must have seen it in a movie, but the thought still gave him an uneasy feeling.

Eventually Mari's game came to an end with her score more than tripling Sunny's score.

“Daddy, look! I got more than you!” She gave him a proud smirk she got from her mother.

Sunny gave an impressed hum while Kel and Aubrey were dumbfounded, someone being better than Sunny at a videogame was unbelievable. Though it would make sense for that someone to be his own daughter.

Mari immediately turned toward the comics. “Can we read Captain Spaceboy now?” Sunny nodded, walking over to the comics area with Mari and Kel.

“You're that kid's Mom?” Pedro asked Aubrey in confusion. “Huh, I thought that you and your husband looked a bit too young to be married.”

Aubrey did not reply, only walking toward the others with a heavy blush painting her face. She sat down next to her ‘husband’ as she silently prayed that he didn't hear what Pedro had said.

Mari was reading a comic that Kel would probably have enjoyed if Mari hadn't been spoiling every major twist before even reaching them. The group, save for Hero and Basil who were never interested in comics, would often read them together. The kids were in awe, watching the action scenes with wide eyes, and after finishing each comic Mari, Sunny and Aubrey discussed the plot twists and complex relationships between the characters (even though Sunny would be mostly listening to the conversation and nodding rather than talking).

Mari seemed to be enjoying the story even though she had already read it. “Mommy, did you always think that spaceboy's eyepatch is cool?”

Aubrey was confused. Why the eyepatch specifically? “I… don't know. I haven't read Spaceboy in years.”

Mari seemed to be satisfied by the answer. “I knew it! You only thought it was cool because daddy has an eyepatch!”

The entire group froze.

Kel and Aubrey were in shock. “Mari, why does he wear an eyepatch?” Aubrey asked with a shaky smile.

Mari frowned, her head dipping slightly. “He said he got hurt. Daddy gets sad when I ask him, so I don't ask him anymore.”

Sunny loses an eye?

Sunny's reaction was, understandably, much worse. His body started to convulse as perspiration formed across his skin.

However, his panic wasn't for the reason the others thought it was.

Sunny's imagination had always been a blessing and a curse. While he did create his stories, his art and his world, he also tended to get lost in it, or imagine things he didn't want to see. He would often wake up from a nightmare and think about how it ended, the horrors he faced remaining in his mind and following him into the real world.

Hearing that he only had one eye, all he could see in his mind was himself with one eye. He looked just like it. That thing had one eye. It was going to take one of his.

The image seemed to flood into his sight, infecting his thoughts, controlling them, making them its domain.

It's all around him now. Suffocating him.

He wanted Mari to save him again.

He can't breathe.

She always did.

He wants to run.

Mari can't save him.

He can't run.

Mari wasn't here to save him any more.

It was breaking his neck, a rope tying around it, constricting him.

Black hair blossomed in a web of inky shadows that clogged his lungs and pulled the moisture from his throat.

Its tendrils crawled toward him like wisps of smoke, enveloping one of his eyes and tugging. He felt the organ tearing out of its socket as his vision twisted and distorted, his friends' shocked faces becoming the horrifying visage of his sister with her mouth wide open and her neck stretched at an impossible angle.

Mari rushed forward, dropping the comic and wrapping her arms around him. Aubrey did the same, his skin was slick with sweat and his clothes felt damp to her touch. Kel was still in shock from how sudden the situation was.

Aubrey was unsure what to do in this situation but tried her best despite her own heart's pounding as she saw what was likely only a glimpse of her friend's suffering. “Sunny, remember what Mari said, deep breaths.” Sunny followed their advice. His friend and daughter steadied their breathing too, attempting to guide Sunny into a steady rhythm.

The boy's breathing slowly started returning to normal, the hammering of his heart slowing as his body stopped shaking. The black slime faded as his vision returned to normal. The rope untying itself, freeing his neck from its cruel grasp. He took a few more deep breaths as Mari pulled away from him. “Thank you…” Sunny rasped.

“Daddy… I'm sorry, I didn't mean to make you scared!” Sunny's clothes were wet with his daughter's tears.

“It's okay Mari. It wasn't your fault.” Sunny managed a smile at her. He moved a still shaking hand to her hair. “You didn't know that would happen. Sorry for making you worry…”

“Kel, do you have any water on you?” Aubrey looked toward the still shocked athlete, continuing to hold Sunny in her embrace.

“Wha- Uh- yeah, here.” He passed Sunny a bottle he had been carrying. Sunny sipped from the bottle.

Mari continued to sob as Aubrey pulled her closer to herself and Sunny.

“Sunny, that wasn't just about what Mari said would happen, was it?” Aubrey asked, her voice laced with concern as she held the boy.

“No…”

“I don't want to trigger you again, do you want to talk about it later?”

Sunny hesitated for a moment before nodding, he didn't want to be a burden but he also knew that ignoring it wouldn't help him. “Sorry you had to see-”

“Stop apologising.”

Sunny complied before picking up the comic which had been dropped to the ground, its pages folded and creased from its sudden fall, and handed it back to Mari.

“It's okay Mari, I just got a little bit scared. You did a really good job helping me.”

Mari's tears started to dry. “I saw that happen a few years ago and Mommy told me what to do if it happens again.”

Sunny started to pet the girl's hair again as he smiled at her. “Do you want to read the comic again?”

Mari hummed, her voice still sound slightly dismal as she opened the book back to where she was and started reading it again. She nestled herself against Sunny, resting her head against him as Aubrey removed herself from him and held his hand instead. She glanced at Kel. He was still frozen, staring at the ground. What was he doing? Did he not care? He only seemed to have made himself useful because he happened to be carrying water.

She didn't have time to waste thinking about him. She was more worried about Sunny. She knew his mental state was bad, but she didn't realise how vulnerable he truly was. Even after what just happened, it was unlikely that anyone could even imagine how much pain he was in. The boy had suffered for four years, running from reality, drowning in his guilt. She should have expected something like this, but she was so caught up in finally seeing him again, being friends again that she has neglected his issues twice in one day.

At least Mari was starting to feel better, her crying had stopped as her eyes scanned the story, taking in every detail, every colour. Both parents enjoyed seeing their child happily immersing herself in the comic, bringing every single panel to life in her mind as her father did many years ago. Even Sunny, despite his clothes still being soaked in sweat and looking like he was about to collapse, couldn't help but give a genuine smile at the nostalgic memories returning.

The group met up with Kim at the fountain after they spent some more time reading with Mari. Sunny could walk again now, but Aubrey remained alert in case he collapsed or had another panic attack.

Kim turned to Sunny. “So, where are we going now?”

“Basil.” He pointed in the direction of Fix-it.

The pink-haired girl looked at him in shock. “We're going to see Basil? Why?”

“We all need to talk about… everything.”

Aubrey wasn't sure she wanted to talk to Basil. Not after what he did. But maybe she should, for Sunny's sake of course.

“Alright…” Aubrey's voice was hesitant, betraying her true feelings on the matter to Sunny.

“Then we can all be friends again!” Kel cheered, his usual smile had returned despite it being noticeably more fake than usual.

Aubrey didn’t reply, only walking ahead of the other two members of the group with Sunny and Mari.

She really didn't want to talk to Kel right now. What was wrong with him? He had done nothing to help her for the past four years, and then he did nothing to help Sunny inside Hobbeez. She had thought he at least cared about Sunny, but even that wasn't true! And now he thinks they can be friends again?

Mari was chatting with Sunny about the comic. Lost in her thoughts, Aubrey hadn't realised they had reached the store until Sunny turned and entered.

She knew this place well, often having to come here when a wall started to rot or the toilet decided it was time to fall apart again. When they lost Mari, staying at her and Sunny’s house or Basil’s house were no longer options, and Kim's mother didn't like Aubrey staying for long periods of time. It was the definition of insanity, repairing that place over and over again hoping for it to eventually become livable only for it to fall apart again every single time due to being maintained single-handedly by a 16 year old using cheap tools and guides from rotting booze-soaked scraps of paper.

The smell of flowers wafted toward them as they entered the garden area. As expected, Basil was crouched down inspecting the flowers in the middle of the room.

Upon hearing footsteps behind him, the flower boy turned around. His expression lit up when he saw Sunny, Mari and Kel, only to drop when he noticed Aubrey and Kim.

“H-hey everyone, what are you doing here?” He forced a smile that was as fake and weak as paper, his hands fidgeting with a packet of seeds he was holding.

Sunny stepped closer to him. “Basil, we need to talk about what happened.”

“W-what? While everyone else is here?” Basil had dropped his nervous smile as he looked at Sunny in shock.

Sunny looked at him with his confused expression that only his friends could read. “Aubrey told me about the photo album. We can all be friends again if we talk about it together.”

The blonde boy's expression still contained hints of worry, but he appeared to be relieved. “Oh! Maybe w-we can talk about it later?”

“How about tomorrow, at the lake?”

“O-okay!” The fake smile had returned to his face. Kim started looking at the plants he was inspecting before turning to Basil.

“What's so special about Sunflowers? I noticed you had a lot of them.”

“A few y-years ago, I chose flowers to represent all of my friends, and the Sunflowers represent m-me”

“Hmm, what's this one” She pointed at another flower next to it.

“That's a tulip, I chose that one for Sunny!” His smile brightened, happy to talk about his interest in flowers with someone other than his caretaker and grandma for the first time in four years.

Sunny nudged Aubrey. “We should leave them here. Maybe they'll stop wanting to fight each other.”

The delinquent was hesitant about leaving her best friend with that creep, and it was unlikely any change in their relationship would stem from talking about flowers, but she seemed to be genuinely interested in what he had to say rather than trying to mock him.

Mari tugged at Sunny's arm. “Are they going to get married now?” She asked excitedly.

“Maybe.” Sunny joked, as Aubrey laughed before her eyes caught on to another flower.

A lily of the valley.

“That's aunt Mari's flower!”

Aubrey turned to her daughter. “Yeah. You said that we take you to visit her, so you must see them a lot.”

Mari hummed, twirling around. “And they were all over the secret lake when you found me!”

“I didn't know they grow at the lake.” Sunny commented.

“I didn't see them there when I found her. Maybe I didn't notice them.” She wasn't sure how she would miss the flowers contrasting with the emerald grass, but Mari seemed to be sure that they were there.

Sunny looked at the flower again. His thoughts were overwritten by a sad longing to see his sister - the real one who rested behind the church and not the brightly coloured, purple haired girl whose existence was precipitated from his mind in an attempt to keep him imprisoned. He averted his eyes before motioning for them to follow him. Kel hung behind the other three, still staring at the ground blankly.

After his sister died and he had locked himself away, he couldn't visit her even once. He abandoned her just as he did Aubrey, Basil, Kel and Hero.

Mari meant everything to him. He didn’t want to abandon her again. Even if he was the reason she did it, like the evil that was squirming and writhing beneath the surface of his skin told him… she would want him to visit, right?

Aubrey watched as Sunny spoke to the man at the counter, Mari holding his hand and looking up at him, her mood clearly elevated by whatever he was talking about.

Eventually, he turned around, holding a bouquet of flowers. His countenance was empty as always, but his friends could see through it. No words were needed, the others already knew who they were for. Aubrey and Kel both nodded as they left the store and followed him toward the church.

Chapter Text

Aubrey pushed the church doors open as the group entered the nave of the church. She held Mari with one arm, with Sunny standing next to her and Kel trailing behind her.

Whispers emanated from the crowd.

“It's her again.”

Look at that bat. I can't believe she would bring a weapon here…

She felt something grab her hand, holding it tightly. She traced the hand back to Sunny. He didn't squeeze hard enough to cause harm, but it was enough for her to notice something was wrong. The boy showed no emotion as normal, but she was able to peer through his eyes into his psyche to see something new. A foreign object that did not belong with him, a new appearance unrecognised by the girl.

Anger. An ally she had held on to for what felt like eons, one who protected her and built her up from when she became nothing.

His anger wasn't an all-encompassing fury like hers was for years, nor was it an enraged, destructive instinct that wanted to tear apart the source of his issue.

Sunny was too gentle to attack anyone or even retort any of their insults, so she wasn't worried about him getting hurt. At least, not physically hurt. She was worried for another reason.

She had almost never seen Sunny angry before.

She had seen him happy, he always was when he was with his friends. When he showed her his smile, one so rare and so beautiful it seemed like something out of a myth or a fairytale, that had set twelve-year-old Aubrey's heart alight with a flame that shone in a million different colours, a multitude of emotions causing her veins to pulse as it melted to leave a tickling sensation that flooded throughout her body.

She had seen him sad. When he comforted her, soaking up her misery like a sponge cleaning up a spill as her tears reflected in his face, no water released but present in his gaze nonetheless. And when she saw him broken at the funeral and when she had first seen him at the park earlier, the lifeless shell that would be easily mistaken for a puppet held up solely by a set of invisible strings, with his eyes replaced by black pools of tar and his body thin enough that anyone would surely see a network of bones in place of muscle if his bare skin were observed.

She had seen him afraid. Anyone who loved him as much as she and the rest of the group did would have seen it. She had seen it whenever a spider had climbed out from under a table, how he would cling onto his sister tightly as she soothed him. He was afraid of being alone too, and spent four long years in isolation likely dealing with horrors beyond Aubrey's comprehension, a torment manifested from guilt and grief which seemed like a punishment that even the cruelest sinners damned to the depths of hell would not suffer, let alone a kind and gentle soul like his.

But she had rarely seen him angry.

There had been times when he looked to be angry at those people after they hurt her. But any trace of it was always banished, erased from his mind in favour of assisting her. She remembers seeing a hint of annoyance, the faintest indicator of irritation flashing across his profile whenever he was pulled from whatever activity the group was enjoying to practise his violin.

“That boy's holding her hand.”

“Is that kid theirs?”

“At their age… I shouldn't be surprised.”

Aubrey was furious. They could insult her as much as they wanted to. She was used to it. It was part of her reality now, facing verbal abuse and disgusted looks at every turn, be it from the churchgoers or from the thing that remained fused to the couch in its lair.

This time, however, they had slandered her friend. That wasn't something she could allow. She was ready to scream at them, to return the torrent of abuse she had endured even after the wounds it inflicted became insignificant and everything it attacked became numb, the pink demon eager to bare her fangs and her claws.

And then she stopped as she realised that Sunny wasn't gripping her as a way of harmlessly venting his anger, as she noticed the concern etched into his face as he looked at her. He was trying to comfort her. All of these people were wounding them, trying to hurt him, and still she remained his priority. She needed to support him too.

She didn't have a free hand, the one he grasped holding her bat and the other holding Mari, so she awkwardly tried to pull him closer with her arm to no avail.

Thankfully, their daughter had also noticed something was wrong despite not being able to understand what the churchgoers were talking about. She reached down and placed her hand in Sunny's hair, attempting to emulate the way he would stroke her hair. Sunny smiled at her as they reached the graveyard.

Aubrey crouched down to place Mari on the ground. “Sunny… I'm sorry. They only said those things because I was with you.”

Sunny drew closer to her, wrapping her in a hug. He felt her previously tense body relax as she reciprocated. After drawing away, he held her hand. “Not your fault.” Sunny stated softly as he began to lead her toward the grave.

He came to a halt as he noticed a jet of light shining upon Mari's grave. At first he thought it to be another hallucination, until he saw Mari also staring into the sky.

“Daddy, what's that light?” The girl asked, grabbing Sunny's leg and pointing at the clouds above the grave.

“I… don't know.” He looked to Aubrey, hoping she would have an explanation, to which she just gave them a confused look.

“What light? I don't see anything.”

Sunny and Mari looked at each other before the boy turned toward the grave, placing down the flowers.

Aubrey watched as Sunny sat in front of the grave before joining him.

The air was still, no wind ruffling their hair or scattering the flower petals from the bouquet Sunny held. It was quiet here, especially in comparison to the clamour of words inside the church that tried to cut them like razors. It was peaceful, and reminded the delinquent of old times when there was no cloud of regret fogging their sight and their minds, no poisonous tongues that signified an acidic rain of hurtful words, no forceful tug of a jump rope to tear away their innocence. Of when Mari would comfort her, and she would hug her, and she would love her. Of when she was here, and the sun shined brighter for everyone.

Mari's grave had been the only constant in Aubrey's life after they lost her.

It was here for the first days after her passing. During the days she would knock on Sunny's door every morning, waiting for hours outside his house hoping he would let her in, hoping that he would come back for her, until evening when she would cry and sob until night upon the same patch of grass she sat on today.

Then the days when it all changed again; when that man left and the monster started to drink endlessly, the liquor fusing with her being, becoming part of her blood and watering the seeds of blind rage that had been present for years until they cracked open and the foul creature got angrier and angrier. When waking up became a coin flip between finding that the thing's body had become an ugly, rotting ornament that had taken root in the couch or the crunch of glass shattering as the girl's flesh was torn by glistening shards that bore the reflections of herself and the beast. When she had nobody to turn to except the grave she now sat in front of.

After that, when she found new friends, ones who were loud and boisterous and had no care for rules or punishments. When she found out that a boy she used to think of as her friend was a freak, a fraud who ruined all of the memories of the good times, who signed in black ink a declaration of his disregard for Mari and for everything they had done together.

It was there when she started to curse the names of her friends, bullying the freak and clashing with the athlete in more violent ways than the playful sibling-like banter they were both used to. When through her rage the scared little girl evolved and adapted to become a demon, a demon who would not fear the mound of flesh that lived in their shared hell, a demon who punished the blonde fraud and the orange-wearing basketball player who defended him. A demon who never stopped caring about her sister when no one else did, not even the brown haired man who she once thought loved Mari more than she did.

A demon who had the power to protect herself, and had the power to protect the one person who still needed her or the others or anyone to save him. Who instead chose to give up on him and delude herself into thinking she hated him like the selfish brat that the fiends who lurked in the wasteland made from mounds decaying bags and bottles of acid always told her she was.

“Hey Mari. It's me again…” Aubrey placed a hand onto the grass, feeling the waxy strands flatten underneath it. “Sunny's here too. And we have a daughter now.”

Mari walked into the gap between Sunny and Aubrey. “Hi Aunt Mari! I came from the future and I'm going to make Mommy and Daddy get married!”

Aubrey, who was now slightly red, smiled at her daughter for a moment before her face reverted back to it's normal hue and she turned back to the grave. “Her name's Mari. We probably named her after you.” She started to gently stroke the girl's hair. “I'm not sure if I'll be a good parent, but I'll try. I know Sunny will be. We're trying to copy how you looked after us. I think you would have made a good aunt.”

She looked at Sunny, who was staring at the grave with their daughter leaning against him.

Sunny had been broken by Mari's death, his soul feeling like it had been pulled out by the same rope his sister had hung herself from. He didn't remember much from around the time he did it, most likely a product of the panic he was surely being consumed by at the time and his years spent locked in his fantasy prison repressing everything.

Every day was the same for him. He would wake up in a cold void, a blank canvas with a door that could be opened leading to a colourful world, where his sister was alive and he could play with his friends forever. Forever, until something happened that caused his surroundings to become black and grey. Sometimes he would enter a dark room or other times he would see dark tendrils that exuded dread, just the sight of them filling him with fear, grief and guilt until he suddenly appeared back in that white room.

And then when he woke up, he would continue to see his beloved sister. But he wouldn’t see the girl who raised him from the day he was born. He would see a hellish apparition, one which lacked the arms which carried him when he was tired or held him close when he was scared. A phantom with its head bent at an unnatural angle, its skull stretched like a plastic toy would by a child. Its eyes and mouth were hollow chasms devoid of any guiding light or loving warmth.

It was nothing like the girl who rested before him. The girl who would sleep next to him, her arms, her warmth and her light his shield, sword and armour to protect him from the claws and fangs of the shadows that lurked in the corners of their room and entered his mind in an attempt to sully the perfect fantasies that were once just a form of fun rather than a way to hide from the reality that no one was there to save him.

‘Mari… I'm sorry I didn't visit you more often. And I'm sorry if I made you do it. We're moving to the city soon, but I will come back to visit. I should have been a better brother. I will try to be a good dad too. I don't know if I can. Our daughter is very sweet, I know you would have loved her as much as you loved me.’

Aubrey wondered what Sunny was saying. He didn't audibly speak, only looked at the grave blankly as if he was in a trance. She could see his sadness in his expression, a sorrow that threatened to leak out and run in saline river down his face.

“Mommy, Daddy, what does Aunt Mari's flower mean?” Mari looked up, tugging lightly at the fabric of Aubrey's jacket to catch her attention.

“It's called a lily of the valley. Basil said it meant… a bright future?” She looked to Sunny for help, he had always had the best memory out of everyone in the group.

“Warding off evil and seeing a bright future.” Sunny corrected.

As much as she hated Basil, Aubrey had to agree with his description of her sister. Their future had always seemed amazing before they lost her. They all had dreams and plans for how their lives would unfold, everywhere they would go together and everything they would do.

And then it was gone. Taken by a tree, a rope, and their inability to see their friend's suffering.

Sunny knew how Mari would protect him from evil. Nothing would hurt him, nothing would crawl out from under the bed or the surface of the lake. And if it did, he knew she would be there.

She couldn't be there any more. The markings left on her neck were left on the other's lives too, and out of then scuttled an evil that she would never be able to save him from again, that he thought he would have to face alone until be reunited with Aubrey and met their daughter.

The tears attempted to spill once again. Mari took notice of this. “Then Uncle Basil was right, because if I'm in the future and Mommy and Daddy are happy then it must be bright!”

Aubrey couldn't hold back a smile at Mari's words, and Sunny felt the corners of his mouth turning up.

“Maybe you're right, Mari.” Aubrey picked up the girl and placed her in her lap, flattening the remaining blades of grass that still stood where the girl sat as her daughter leaned backwards against her.

They sat in complete silence for the next few minutes, no ambient melodies of rustling leaves or crunching footsteps breaking the peace, before they were interrupted by a voice from behind.

“When Mari died… Hero was broken…”

The three who were sitting at the grave turned to see Kel standing behind them, an expression greyer than the stones that lay hidden in the verdant patches of grass. He had been quiet the entire time, so much so that Aubrey had completely forgotten he was there.

“For a year after… it happened, he didn't leave his bed unless he was going to the bathroom.”

He took a seat next to Sunny, setting himself down in front of the grave.

“He stopped cooking, he barely ate, all I could hear while I tried to sleep was him sobbing.”

He dug his hand into the ground, away from the graves so as to not disturb them, exposing fresh dirt that lay under the surface.

‘Doesn't Uncle Hero love cooking though?’ Mari wanted to raise the question, she didn't understand why Hero would stop doing something he liked. But she said nothing; she could tell this was important to her parents and her uncle.

“Me and my parents tried to help him, but nothing worked.”

Aubrey listened to his story as her entire view of Hero, the man who she believed had abandoned his friends and even his girlfriend, started to burn to ashes while every word Kel spoke added more fuel to the funeral pyre on which her narrative was cremated.

“And then one day… I said her name. I told him that Mari wouldn't want to see him like this.”

The flames grew into an inferno as Kel shook the dirt around in his hand, watching as the brown powder bounced and small grains spilled onto the ground.

“He got up and screamed at me. He said some really hurtful things. Then Mom and Dad ran in and comforted him. They kind of just… ignored me.”

Kel wore another smile now. It wasn't a fake one this time; it was one of pain. He closed his hand, compacting the particles into large clumps.

“And then he ran to me and hugged me. He got better after that… but he still didn't do anything that he used to do with Mari, like cooking. I don't think he wanted to any more.’”

The last of the flames died down, leaving a set of pieces that fit together like a puzzle. Aubrey didn't know if they had been forged in the embers or if they had always been there.

But they clicked into place, sticking together perfectly.

Hero hadn't abandoned Mari, or her, or Sunny or anyone. He was hurting. Why wouldn't he be, he had lost the love of his life, and to her own hand! He probably didn't want to be reminded of Mari because it hurt to think about her. Did he just go to college as a distraction?

And Kel… she thought he was happy. That he just didn't care, that he moved on. But that wasn't the case at all. He just didn't want to be hurt by anyone else like Hero's thorns had cut him. She had been hurting her friends this whole time, and deluded herself into a twisted lie that she had used as a support for her cause in the arguments and fights.

“You didn't just leave me. You were just trying to give me space.”

Only by saying it out loud was the realisation released from the depths of her mind. How stupid she was. How selfish she was. The lingering hatred was blown away by an absent wind that did not really exist, just as the reality she created for Hero and Kel's lives to justify her own actions did not exist.

“Yeah… I just didn't want to make things worse, you know? But now I think I should have. I haven't been helping much at all, just running away. Like how I abandoned you, and how I didn't help Sunny when he had a panic attack earlier.” Kel dropped his dirt next to the wound he had dug into the ground.

“Kel… you got me to come out. And Hero.” Sunny reminded him.

“But Hero probably would have got out by himself. And Aubrey would have helped you.”

“But I didn't.” Aubrey interjected. “You did that, Kel. And I'm sorry for how I've been acting all this time.”

Sunny gave him a small smile as he gently brushed the pile back into the ground where it belonged. Kel smiled back, a genuine, happy smile this time.

“So does that mean that everyone is friends again?” Mari asked her parents excitedly.

“I guess so.” Aubrey was smiling too now, a warmth that she hadn't felt in years now returning. A warmth not like a raging inferno, but like a fireplace on a cold day, one that reminded her of her family. Of when Kel and Hero were her friends. Of the days she hoped would return.

“Yeah!” Kel had regained his energy, revitalised by the rekindling of their bond. “Now we can all hang out properly, and stuff!” Sunny nodded in response.

“And I can help plan for your first date!”

Sunny and Aubrey went bright red. “I can help too!” Cheered Mari.

“S-shut up Kel!” Aubrey stammered, raising her bat in an attempt at intimidation.

“Oh no! I am so scared!” The athlete spoke in a robotic tone to mock her.

The group went silent for a second, time seeming to freeze due to the lack of evidence that anything continued to move.

And then they all burst out laughing, their elation condensing into jovial tears which pricked at their eyes as if to remind them of the days when they were a near-permanent feature of their faces, or to act as proof that their joy had overshadowed the sombre recollection that had been divulged moments ago.

There was a disapproving grumble from a man who had just entered the graveyard, evidently annoyed at the group of kids disturbing its peace.

“We should go.” Sunny turned to Aubrey and tried to pick up Mari from her lap, failing once again. Aubrey giggled as she lifted up the girl before turning to the grave.

“We'll see you again later, Mari.”

The group moved toward the church doors. Mari's grave remained silent and still as it always had. As it always will. She would always be here for them when they returned, just as she was four years ago.

As Aubrey headed toward the exit, she noticed Sunny was not standing next to her. She turned to see him standing at the front of the church.

Next to the piano.

Sunny did not know why he was so drawn to it. No graceful hands floated across the keys, yet he still felt the strings vibrating, trembling both inside him and inside the piano, filling his mind and his body with both a rhythmic pulse of shadowy dread and a gentle, melodic echo of something bygone that had no discernable form yet felt like it was something beautiful. It resonated within him, amplifying the symphony of static noise that was formed from screams of terror and steady piano notes melding together in an uncoordinated catastrophe.

The girl knew what was happening. The piano must have reminded him of the good times he and Mari had together practising for their recital. Aubrey felt a pang of pity stab at her heart like a knife piercing her skin to allow his sorrow to permeate through her. He had been so broken, every reminder was cutting him on a piece of his shattered soul.

He wasn't sobbing, just looking on in confusion and silence. The tears seeped out of his eyes, but he didn't seem to even notice that he was being blinded.

The hermit felt a pair of warm arms envelop him. “It's okay, Sunny.”

He realised as he shuddered against Aubrey's body that he had been shaking, and raising a hand to his face confirmed the transit of wet droplets down his face. He squeezed her hand gently in order to signify to her that he was okay, hoping she didn't mind his now wet hand against hers. She gripped it tightly as she lead him toward their concerned daughter and friend.

“...And that's why I think the gladiolus represents Aubrey!”

Kim was very confused as he watched Basil show her each flower in turn, explaining why each of them was important to him. She could almost see the memories materialising in his mind, as if the plants had spread their seeds into his mind where they were watered by his passion for both his friends and his flowers so that they could grow into his memories.

Basil was engrossed in his opportunity to talk to someone about the plants. He had not been able to talk to anyone other than Polly and his grandma after Something had taken Mari's life and his friend group had decayed like the dead leaves that often littered his garden. He had even forgotten that the girl was his tormentor, that she had been a key ingredient in Aubrey's bullying.

Something was not adding up, the bespectacled girl thought. Aubrey had told her that he didn't care, that he hated her, that he had declared their past happiness as meaningless in his eyes when he blocked them out with a deluge of black.

But the way he spoke about them, how without them he continued to grow his plants waiting for them to bloom, patiently expecting them to open up and reveal the insides of their petals as he had nothing else to do to pass the time. How he used to preserve their memories as best he could with his camera in the hopes that the six of them could look over them and remember their childhood as they grew old together.

It didn't seem like he didn't care about them, or that they never mattered to him, or that he hated any of them.

“Oh… I just realised it's getting late. I need to go home, or they'll worry about me.” He set down a plant he was planning on buying, it would have to wait until tomorrow.

Kim looked at him for a second before speaking. “You know, nerd… I don't think you're as bad as Aubrey thinks you are.”

Basil's eyes widened. “W-what? Why do you think that?”

“I mean… You clearly care about them. I dunno.” She contemplated what to do next. “I'll walk you home. I'll try and get the others to stop messing with you too. No promises though.”

The flower boy didn't know what to think of this. Kim was… being nice?

“T-this doesn't mean we're friends or anything, though!” Kim tried her best to act indifferent, but did she really not care? Aubrey was her friend, and from Basil's words before it seemed like he used to view her as a surrogate older sister. Wouldn't she appreciate it if she was able to regrow their bonds, to nurture their friendship the same way Basil did to his plants?

She also wouldn't mind talking to him more. Despite his plant thing being nerdy, she would be lying if she said it wasn't intriguing.

“A-alright. I'll lead the way…” Basil started to walk from the store, Kim followed slightly behind him. He was still on alert, it was very possible that Kim intended to prank him again, but he did not object.

Kim pulled some candy out of her pocket and handed it to the boy. “Candy?” She offered.

The boy took it and placed it into his mouth. It was tough, chewy and hard to swallow, but very sweet. The girl gave him a thumbs up as he continued to walk.

He felt something stirring inside him, a new feeling like hundreds of waxy petals swirling around on a light breeze inside his stomach, tickling his insides and leaving a warm sensation. Maybe it was the feeling of making a new friend after all this time in isolation with no other interaction with anyone his age? Yes, that was probably it. Nothing else at all.

Chapter Text

Hero stepped down the steps toward the bustling crowd of students below. Each step down passed another poster, placed by the college in an attempt to - for whatever reason - line every wall in the building with meaningless motivational quotes and common sense knowledge.

He could read fast enough to read each one during the single second they were visible before another step downwards caused another to take its place, but chose not to. They all just became a mix of pointless mush clogging his mind, blocking out his thoughts like a blanket a broken teen once swaddled his thoughts in.

Why did they even bother doing this? It wasn’t like the young adults would care. The kids probably would have enjoyed them, trying to find meaning in them as they passed - or rather, Sunny and Basil would have. Kel and Aubrey would probably be racing to see who can run down the stairs faster, and would need to be grabbed by the two teens before they fell into the swirling storm of people below.

A flicker of a smile appeared on his face before fading.

“Hey, Henry! Are you done with the project yet?” A tall boy, slightly shorter than Hero, had somehow shoved himself through the stream of students on the stairs to appear next to him. Kyle was Hero’s roommate, and one of the more athletic students while also studying to be a doctor. They reached the corridor below, younger students walking slowly in lines and holding up the older students.

“Yeah, I’ve got it mostly complete. Just going to do the finishing touches after I get back from my trip.” Hero grinned as they neared the exit of the buildings.

“Great! So, uh… would you be willing to share some of your notes? I kinda got distracted and shit.” Kyle asked him, causing Hero to sigh. He seemed to get “distracted and shit” every time they had a project to hand in.

Though Hero himself wasn’t perfect - he learned that four years ago - he had tried his best to fulfil his parents wishes and become a doctor. It wasn’t like he didn’t want to become a doctor; all of his dreams being ripped from him at such a young age had of course played their part in his caving to his parents’ desires, but he knew they would have supported him regardless and chose to become a doctor himself.

His justification at the time had been that he had failed to save the most important person in his life, so why not try to save others.

His justification failed now, the crushing realisation that he was just running had set in already. Just running - as he did for the first year before arriving at college - failing to see that the broken pieces she left behind had not been able to fit together, to be complete despite her absence without each other.

Without him.

“They’re in the top drawer next to my bed.” Hero said as they stepped into the darkness of night, an inky covering whose attempts to obscure all from sight failed at blotting out the light scattering from every building around the two boys, some radiance streaming from the building they just stepped out from. He stared into the dark and the blinding buildings that inhabited it, a sadness festering within as his thoughts plunged deeper into the dark.

“So uh… you’re going to visit your friends and family in Faraway Town?” Kyle questioned as the two made their way toward the dorm.

Hero nodded. “I’ve barely been home for the last 3 years. I went back for a day or two sometimes, but not very often.”

“Guess you’re visiting your girlfriend as well? Her name was… Mary?” Kyle didn’t notice his friend’s expression falling. That was a good thing - He didn’t need Kyle to find out just so he could blow up on him if he tried to help. He had done enough of that in the past.

“Mari.” He corrected.

“Right, Mari! You should introduce us sometime, I don’t think we’ve even spoken over the phone!” He exclaimed.

Hero looked away. “I should.”

“Maybe I can take my girlfriend and we can do a double date or something!” Kyle suggested.

A double date. When Mari told him about Sunny and Aubrey’s mutual crush, that idea had sounded perfect. To him, it had sounded like a chance to go on a date with Mari and get closer to his friends, to spend time with the people who were closer than family to him. They would have enjoyed it too, even if it would be a bit embarrassing for them

“She would like that.” Hero replied, the sound of their footsteps echoing into darkness as they neared the dorms.

They stopped at a set of traffic lights, the black poles standing tall against the dark sky. They told him to stop when he wanted to keep walking forwards, just as every part of his body told him to stop walking long ago. He remembered how he kept walking anyway, ignoring all he dropped and all he left behind, hoping that the weight he discarded would allow him to stop hurting with every step he took.

He was wrong. No matter how far he walked, no matter how much he tried to replace the weight with that of a top student’s expectations or trying to stay relatively stable financially, no matter how much he tried to not look back and avoid all he once was in the belief that all the wounds would suddenly heal, it never stopped hurting. And it never would without his family.

Hero took a moment to look around at all of the buildings as the light informed him it was time to move forward. Their college and dorms were in the busiest part of Nearby City, where all the tallest buildings stood. Buildings that appeared like they could touch the clouds, that the people within could reach above the sky itself. Hero knew that wasn’t true of course, but it looked like it sometimes.

People often would see places like Faraway as the epitome of beautiful scenery, with silence finding its home in every inch of the town, roads and playgrounds alike in peace never unbroken by the seemingly unlimited kindness of its citizens. All corners of the town hide a secret spot for kids to claim as their own as if every walk through a forest was following a path to a treasure.

Hero and his friends once had their own spot, a small grassy area surrounding a lake that was cleaner than anything near the city and held more memories than it did water - good memories that shimmered across the surface, and bad ones that sunk to its depths to embed themselves under all the rest. There was a statue, too, one that watched until the spiders that crawled across the cracked stone decided to betray, and in their treachery became a promise not to repeat his mistakes.

Despite everything, Hero thought the city was just as nice as Faraway in terms of scenery. Grey took green’s place as the most prominent colour, but the world was filled with light from the dim blues, purples and pinks of signs that hung on walls inside shops and the bright greens, whites and oranges from towering buildings.

He would have liked to take them here. All six of them, together.

A set of benches in the shade cast under a few trees, a respite for a child who avoided summer’s oppression under the garden that was closer to a forest in his imagination. Hero’s younger brother would have loved to sit here, relaxing on one of the benches while the others talked amongst themselves, their words fading in and out as the sun shrouded itself in clouds until he would provide his own inputs in the form of a nod or a hum.

A store painted in pink and lined with all sorts of clothes and toys - the kind of shop made to appeal to kids. Hero didn’t know why a shop like that was here, but he was sure that his younger sister would have loved it. Pink was her favourite colour, and she even planned to dye her hair with Mari; a plan that the older girl wouldn’t stop repeating to him for the next few months. Hero hadn’t seen the girl in years, was she still the same as she used to be?

A gardening store, contributing most of the greenery visible in the city with twisting vines hanging from the roof and the ledges below the windows, flowers shyly peeking their petals out from gaps between vines and baskets to nervously add their own colour to congregations of brick and wire. He knew his younger brother would have loved it here, always tending to his many plants the same way a parent would tend to a child, and teaching his friends to do the same. Hero wondered if he still got along with Kel - he was more of a sibling to Aubrey than Hero was, they were likely still friends.

A sports store. Hero’s brother - the only one bound by both blood and friendship - loved basketball. Maybe he could get him something, like some… shoes? Probably not, Hero wasn’t enough of a sports guy to know what a basketball player would like. If Kel were here, he would probably run straight into the shop, outrunning Hero and Mari’s calls into the shop and disappearing into its crowded depths to the dismay of the older teens.

A smile started to form on his face before he looked at a restaurant next to his dorm.

His grin faded.

This restaurant was a popular date spot for students since it was next to the dorms and was cheap for a place that felt like an expensive fine dining place. The food wasn’t really anything special, but that wasn’t why Hero disliked it. After he left Faraway, he had taken a random girl to this restaurant for a date.

He wasn’t angry at the girl, but rather at himself. All the girl was attracted to was his face and his grades, not him. All he was attracted to was the idea of being able to move on, to avoid the pain. And so he tried to replace what he had with Mari with a girl whose name he didn’t even remember.

Hero considered himself to be a forgiving person, but how could he forgive that? Every time he saw the building, he felt regret boiling through his blood, his doubts returning to pounce upon the weaknesses that revealed themselves when he even just looked at its pale bricks and fake gemstone decorations, even at a time his thoughts remained almost silent.

Did he really not love her?

Was that why she left him?

It should have been Mari there with him.

He pushed open the clear glass door, his reflection staring at him with messy hair carelessly brushed from when he rushed to college before it was shoved out of sight, as Kyle followed behind him.

“You’re looking kind of down, man. Are you okay?” Kyle asked, looking up at Hero as he started to climb the steps.

“No, I’m just a little stressed” Hero lied. “Since I’m going back to town for longer than I normally do and all.”

“Right, you’re not used to taking breaks. You gotta rest instead of working all day sometimes!” Kyle reminded his friend with a grin.

“I guess so.” Hero pushed open the door to their room and stepped inside.

It was a simple room, with a bed on each side, a table and a set of drawers next to each of them as well as some shelves for other personal belongings, which consisted of trophies and a single photo on Hero’s side, and everything from action figures to broken lamps on Kyle’s side.

Hero pulled the top drawer next to his bed open and took out a folder filled with notes for his project, handing it to his friend before sitting on his bed. He picked up the photo from the shelf from his sitting position.

It was a photo of Mari, smiling so brightly he never could have imagined her mind was steeped in enough despair for her to leave them in that way, that there was a darkness despite the abundance of light dragging her toward a fate he was blind to no matter how close he thought they were.

She looked into his eyes, and even without the picture he would have remembered how it felt, the warmth from her face only making his face even more red - not that it wasn’t already a deep red because of his blush. The sound of a camera clicking was drowned out by his heart doing the same and its flash turned to nothingness in the light she already radiated felt as her fingers lightly grip onto his face to pull it closer, just waiting for the blonde boy to go back to the others before she pulled him closer to give him a light peck on his lips.

He didn’t know where he got this photo, he just found it in his pocket a little while after he moved into the dorm. In fact, he didn’t even remember Basil making a copy of it. Basil must have given it to Kel, who slipped it into his bag before he left.

“You really miss her a lot.” Kyle frowned, noticing Hero’s sadness showing through his normal mask. “You said she wanted to go into culinary stuff and went to Someplace to study. You didn’t want to go with her?”

He did.

For a long time, he did want to go with her. He wanted to see her face, to hear her laugh, to spend the rest of eternity with her. Even if that meant going to Heaven to be with her - if he was even allowed there, after he failed her and hurt his brother. If not to be with her then at least to know why she did it. Sometimes he would wake up crying, the fabric of his pillow soaked with sweat and tears from nightmares, just wanting to feel her curled around him like she would at their sleepovers when she wasn’t holding her brother instead.

But she wouldn’t ever be there. His limbs would wrap around a blanket that fell short of the softness of her skin, and the only warmth came from the heat from his body soaking into the bedsheets. No repositioning of the pillow would make it feel as comfortable as the flower petal texture of her arms, so beautifully elegant yet gentle and smooth as he wrapped them around his head.

And when he woke up to the photo, seemingly glowing as it caught the moonlight, the curtains billowing in the wind like the white dress she wore when the wind carried her body too, he longed to see her again.

But he never could. Every time he tried to run away, it hurt him more. And he still had people who were hurting, who hadn’t expired yet, and who he still had time to save.

“Well, our careers were a bit too different. Her college is really good for culinary, and our college is really good for medicine.” Hero lied again. As much as he didn’t want to lie to his friends, he needed to. He would just hurt him again.

Kyle shrugged, lying down on his bed and starting to read the notes “Yeah, I guess that makes sense.”

Hero sighed. “Oh, I just remembered, there’s a few mistakes on the page about the lungs, the-”

His voice was cut off as Kyle gave a loud snore and dropped the notes on his face. He really was just like Kel sometimes. Hero laughed for a second. Kel did that a lot, suddenly dropping asleep, as if someone had just walked up behind him and knocked him unconscious. There was a time when Mari told him that Aubrey had accidentally knocked him unconscious, and had apologised after he woke up only for Kel to forgive her and then immediately start another argument.

He remembered her mentioning that she saw Sunny trying to carry Kel to the couch, before realising he was too heavy and instead placing Kel’s rubber ball beneath his head in an attempt to let him rest on it. He was very grateful to Sunny for helping Kel that day.

Hero hadn’t been able to help Kel. Sure, his brother had been doing better since that day, but Hero knew that everything had hurt Kel more than he liked to show. Everything from his own words to losing his friends, and he could hear the hope in Kel’s voice dying every time he said in their infrequent phone calls that Sunny still hadn’t come out of his house.

Sunny… If Hero was broken by Mari’s death, Sunny had been shattered into a million pieces. While Hero and Kel had tried desperately to move forwards, Sunny just stopped. Trapped inside the house, rotting like a corpse stuck in a time capsule while something - whether it was fear, guilt or a different horror stitching itself across the door.

It was as if a weight had been tied around him after the loss of his sister, a weight that Hero saw forming as he stood next to a sobbing Basil and stared at the corpse blankly, blind in the darkness as his sister, his guardian angel hung above him without any light left to guide him. And Hero stood there, failing to help them, unable to think about anything but Mari.

A weight Hero saw sink deeper as the coffin was lowered into the ground, Sunny not saying a single word; no goodbyes, no final messages, no tears shed over the bed of flowers she rested under. Sunny didn’t talk much, but this time was different; it was like he was being silenced, his mind muted and made unable to do anything but stand and stare. And Hero didn’t try to free him, or try to talk to him, or do anything to be the older brother he was supposed to be.

A weight Hero knew had buried itself deeper after Sunny had locked himself away and Hero remained paralysed in sorrow, a deluge of painful emotions festering from the wounds while Kel tried his best only to meet rejection from Sunny and misguided frustration from his older brother.

A weight Hero had the opportunity to lift when he took the spare keys entrusted to him by Mari, a chance to right his wrong, to free the boy he considered to be a brother as much as Kel was, who Mari had trusted him to take care of whenever she was away, or whenever she needed his help.

A weight that sunk further as he reached for the door.

”Hero.” Mari called. “Can I just talk to you?”

The boy looked toward the ground, blades of grass swaying around his feet in the wind, as if trying to push his feet off of the ground. He looked up to the girl who stood in front of him. She was beautiful as always, even with soaked clothes and hair that clung to her wet skin, and the slightest hints of anger across her features. The clouds rolled above them, swirling to distract from heaven’s attempt at claiming Sunny’s life.

”I… I didn’t think he would fall in. I’m supposed to be the mature one, the one who looks after them.” Hero said, sighing as the girl sat next to him.

Mari just stared at him for a second. “Yeah. You should have known better than to do that. I know Kel was encouraging him too, but he’s a kid. And you know Sunny can’t swim.” She swept a rock off of the bench so she could move closer to Hero. “But you still didn’t mean to do it. Sunny even said he forgives you, and wants to see you again.”

”I guess so, but…”

Mari cut him off. ”Yes, I’m a bit mad, but Sunny is okay and that’s what matters to me.” She placed her hand on his, her warmth coursing through her skin into his as she smiled at him. “And you promise you’ll do the right thing next time?”

The boy nodded. A part of Hero wanted to cry, but he didn’t, and instead just gave him a teary smile. “As long as we can all be friends again.”

”Hm, you can be friends with the others again.” Mari stated as she pulled him off of the bench.

”The others?” Hero asked, feeling his heart break slightly. What did she mean by that? “What about you?”

Mari started to laugh. “Oh, Hero. We passed ‘friends’ a long time ago.“

Oh. That was what she meant. Hero gave a deep sigh of relief, calming down from the heart attack she had just given him. She seemed to notice this as well, her grin only widening. “Well, we should go back to them. I want to apologise to Sunny.”

”Yeah. You’re brother-in-law is waiting for you.”

”So is yours.” Hero replied.

A weight that buried itself in the ground, rooting Sunny to stagnation as Hero retracted his hand, realising that the door would never again swing open to reveal the love of his life, the girl who bound to her soul all of his dreams, and would only ever open into a vacuum without her to breath life into his lungs when they felt like they would decay into nothing but a pile of broken futures.

Hero felt the tears gathering in his eyes once again, a burning sensation pricking at them like tiny needles as he looked at the photo.

The small polaroid was exactly that - just a conserved memory, the only way he would ever see her again, and a reminder that he would never see her again. Her long black hair flowed down along the picture, but he couldn’t ever affectionately run his fingers through it again. He could see her hands clasping his, but looking at them just revealed empty air holding them in her place. As if the picture held the very essence of who she was, he could feel her as he dragged his fingers along the paper, yet all he could feel was paper.

It told him she was there, and that she wasn’t, and that she won’t be.

He lay down in his bed, slipping his legs into the blanket and placing the photo on his pillow to hold it close to himself. He could see her eyes, even if they were closed in the photo, staring into his as he got ready to sleep.

And got ready to keep his promise.

He wasn’t going to run from Basil anymore.

He wasn’t going to run from Aubrey anymore.

He wasn’t going to run from Kel anymore.

He wasn’t going to run from Sunny anymore.

He wasn’t going to run from Mari anymore.

He wasn’t going to burn all of his bridges and cut himself off from all of his friends to stop the pain anymore.

“I’ll do the right thing, Mari. For Sunny.” He couldn’t stop crying any more, warm tears leaking down his face, onto the pillow, his arms making sure they didn’t get onto the photo he held close to his face and they fell like the rain on the days they spent together, just disappearing into the bed instead of gathering into puddles for the kids to play their games in.

“For you.”

Chapter Text

The fic is not dead or abandoned. However, I am not working on it right now.

Hello, sorry for disappearing for months only to return with this, especially after I said in the previous chapter that I didn't want to make an announcement/update chapter. As I briefly mentioned in the last chapter's notes, I was struggling to write due to personal reasons. Unfortunately, my situation seems to be getting worse and as a result I haven't had the energy to write anything close to a standard I am satisfied with. Because of this, this fic will temporarily be on hiatus until I am able to write again. I'm sorry for making everyone who followed the story until now wait, but for the sake of both myself and the story I think this is necessary. Thank you for waiting for the past few months, I will try to get back to this as soon as I can but I do not know how long that will take.

As with previous chapters, I post updates for this fic to my twitter @the4802 and in Sunburn Central so you can check there for updates, if you want to talk to me, or (in the case of the latter) for more sunburn content.