Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Marked on a plain of rusty red was a white circle, an equally white line cutting into its middle. One may find this image calming, perhaps liken seeing it to watching Saturn or the planet Uranus from such an angle that their rings may appear to be a simple line.

A foot - followed by a bouncing basketball - disturbed this perceived calm, stomping across this particular circle and kicking up a cloud of chalk dust.

Chip dribbled his basketball towards the tall hoop supported by a rather intimidating metal pole.

His energy unrelenting, the boy jumped with ball in hand(or hands), planting both his feet upon the red ground of the court, then using this to his advantage to propel himself up.

Tentatively while he landed on his feet on the ground again, Chip watched the ball, mentally willing it to drop back down through the hoop…

An uproar which consisted of applause and whooping commenced, prompting him to jerk his head to his side. A set of arena seats he hadn't noticed before suddenly existed. The culprits of the din were—

"Mari!" exclaimed Chip in delight, as he jumped with joy, all thoughts of concentration on the basketball leaving him, for the sudden applause told him all he needed to know about whether the ball sailed into the hoop or past it. His attention diverged to the two boys beside the older girl. "And you brought Sunny and Basil along, too! How'd I do?" He continued as he quirked a brow, a wide grin worn on his face.

Her purple hair highlighted a little golden, courtesy of the light from above, Mari sat on the bleacher, caught red-handed when her literal hands were poised for giving applause. “You did as well as usual, Chip!” she praised him, warm eyes glowing.

As usual, Sunny never showed much of a reaction. His thumbs-up and small lift of the corners of his lips proved satisfactory for Chip, however.

To Sunny's left was Basil, of course, his adorable flower clip holding back some of his golden locks, hands which had been originally cupped to his mouth, in his action of cheering, now lowering to his lap. Blue eyes shone on his freckle-sprinkled face, almost as dazzling as his loveable smile.

"You were so amazing, Chip!" Basil congratulated, hands clasped in his lap. "I never could have been able to shoot like that." The expression on his face consisted of both admiration and mild envy, more of the former. “And you even made it into the hoop on your first try…”

"Hey, it's never too late to keep trying it though!" encouraged Mari, turning to Basil with a knit of her brows, encouragement in her eyes, and the pumping of her fists. "And you're already amazing at a lot of things! Like gardening, photography, and you're also a really good friend!"

Grinning back at Mari, Basil mumbled, “T-Thanks…I’ll still try basketball someday! Hopefully.” He looked to Chip, attempting to configure his face into that of a confident look.

“Hehe,” Chip flushed, trying to search for the right words to say. Of course, he succeeded in this task. When did he not? “We could try it out, together. Someday.”

At Chip’s words and Basil’s subsequently reddening face, Sunny’s tongue stuck out as he blew a stray raven lock of hair out of his face with an impish whoosh and glanced with a pout off to the side. A giggle escaped Mari’s lips as the girl covered them with a hand, regarding her dear little brother who was acting with such childish scorn.

After facing Basil and Chip again, Mari reminded them, “Well, aren’t you two leaving a little someone out?” A groan was starkly audible as Sunny gave his older sister a glare, making it known that he knew who Mari was referring to as the “little someone.” Putting her arm around her annoyed brother was Mari’s response to his minor tantrum.

“Oh. S-Sorry, Sunny!” Basil apologized quickly, sheepishly smiling and frantically turning to his affronted best friend.

Warmth spread through Chip as he treated his friends’ bickering as pleasant background noise while he strolled over to retrieve his basketball. Brilliant! Everything was going nicely. His ball was even waiting for him on the ground instead of rolling away, never moving a bit until it was picked up by Chip.

Descending, echoing footsteps against a hard surface made Chip whip about to face a heavily breathing Basil, who bent over to catch his breath and wipe his sweat.

With a chuckle, Chip moved his basketball from his hands to under his arm, his other hand on his hip.

"You didn't need to run down here that fast, Basil," teased Chip. The blonde boy's eagerness brought a smile to his face.

After he took a second to breath, Basil looked up with a small smile of his own and a brush of his bangs out of his eyes.

"I-It's really alright, I just wanted to…um…" he hesitated, looking elsewhere and turning red, "I just wanted to come see you…"

The words were almost inaudible to Chip, "almost" being the keyword. "But you could already see me from there…?"

Basil's blush deepened as he scratched his head. "Ah, um…okay, just forget I said that, haha."

"Hmm, okay!" replied Chip, as chipper as usual, grin widening and showing his teeth.

A shy laugh was all Basil had to offer as a reply.

While Sunny stared blankly down upon the pair, Mari began to rise from her seat, patiently waiting for Sunny to get up, too. "I'd really hate to interrupt you two, but Aubrey and Hero are probably sweating a lot from sitting and waiting for us in this heat." She waved her hand and exhaled through her mouth for emphasis, resultantly emitting a wind-like whooshing. "You guys could still continue your little conversation once we get there!"

Surprised, Basil shouted, "Oh, I completely forgot that we need to help them with the stand, too!" His hands flew to his head as he freaked out. "We need to get there right away! Come on, Chip?" Basil extended his hand towards Chip, who grabbed it with his free hand, allowing for the flower boy to steer him out of the basketball court and onto the grass surrounding it, shining blonde hair flying.

The harsh sound of shoes on pavement behind the two gave way to the padding of feet against grass. Mari and Sunny must not be very far behind them, judging from the breathing and hysterical giggling.

Competitive streak reawakened, Chip's hand squeezed Basil’s tighter and took the lead this time, willing to stay ahead of the dark-haired siblings behind them, but not going too far ahead for the sake of Mari’s injured knee.

The green plain of grass didn't have much of a distance to stretch, so trees and structures of small houses began to appear, the occasional stand in sight. None of them could be identified as the one where Hero and Aubrey were….Chip grew impatient.

There had been an unspoken pact to end this unofficial race when the four had entered the tree-filled area, allowing Sunny and Mari to catch up to the two boys.

"Right, we need to walk a little slower so we don't accidentally go past Aubrey and Hero!" reminded Mari, walking at the rear of the group, Sunny in front of her. No longer did Chip feel Basil’s hand on his own, yet still felt his presence behind him.

Such a bright, warm day, yet Chip's orange T-shirt never clung to his skin via sweat, and his light brown shorts never itched sweaty skin. Everything was comfy. Even Basil, who had exerted quite an amount of energy in running towards Chip back at the basketball court, didn't appear to have even dried sweat tracks on his face.

"Hmph, you four finally made it," grumbled a voice belonging to none other than—

"A-Aubrey?!" yelped Basil, and Chip whipped around just in time to see him almost jump out of his skin, while a pink-haired girl had her arms folded across the chest of her yellow jacket, hood draped on her shoulders instead of over her head. Why would there be a need for her to cover her head, when the weather was all bright?

Apparently the four of them were just about to merrily stroll past their destination, had the pink-headed Aubrey not confronted them just now.

"Aubrey!" Mari merrily greeted her, hands clasped and placed to her rosy cheek in a charming gesture. "There you are! Where's Hero–"

Sunny quietly pointed at something in the distance, on Mari’s left.

A boy who looked like he was Mari’s age waved at them while standing behind a shadeless stand draped with a picnic blanket, with glasses holding orange liquid resting upon it.

"Hey!" called the boy. "I was wondering where you all were…" He fanned his face and wiped it with his hand, as if to wash off the heat somehow, then eyed the children with concern. "And you all look like you need some…Orange Joe." His nose, as well as Aubrey's, wrinkled at this.

"Oh~ has my Hero in shining armor come to rescue us from the burning heat?" quipped Mari with a smug look and a flirtatious tone as she walked over to Hero and leaned over the stand.

He fiddled with the fabric at the bottom of his dark green T-shirt while appearing to be flushed from both the heat and what was said to him. “Not now, Mari…” he sighed, trying to look away so nobody could see his face. Unfortunately, Aubrey and Chip still had reasons to cringe.

“Yeah, you two, stop being all lovey-dovey and gross!” complained Chip. Face screwing up in mock disgust, he sprinted behind the stand towards where Hero was. The older boy recovered from his flustered state to give Chip a hug. With a smile as bright as the light above, Chip leaned into his older brother’s arms. Unfortunately, peace never lasted forever.

“Same goes for you, Chip!” Aubrey’s voice stubbornly reminded him, and subsequently the impulsive Chip quickly pulled out of the embrace to counter her. Aubrey continued, hands on her hips, “You and Basil keep going off together holding hands and stuff…bleghh.”

At Aubrey’s words, Basil’s entire face turned red, and one could see steam radiating off of his ears. “Aubrey, please…” he weakly begged with a pout.

Nodding, Sunny showed his approval of this teasing. Traitor.

“Hey, everyone, let’s put aside our arguments for now and have some Orange Joe!” offered the cause of it all, Mari. Her head turned to Hero. “Do you want to have some, too? You don’t look….too hot back there.”

This set off Aubrey's cackling and Sunny's quiet groans.

Hero’s face turned gray with a shadow coming over it. “….That pun wasn’t necessary, Mari.”

“So will you have some for yourself?” Mari pressed on. One of the filled glasses was already in her grip, which was careful enough to not spill any juice on her light blue shirt, her other hand attempting to loosen her white collar. “You should take care of yourself, y’know. Too much heat could give you a sunburn!”

"Yeah! I've heard that sunburns are too dangerous, even dea–"

Interrupting the offended Aubrey's additional two cents, Sunny yawned loudly. "Mmm…the heat is making me tired. Can we not just…stand around like silly people?"

"You're sillier," Mari, having finished her Orange Joe, poked her head out from under the stand's shade. The stagnant grin she wore like regular clothes reminded Chip that she wasn't being malicious. Mari never was.

"No, you," replied Sunny as if that was the wisest saying he had, approaching the stand and taking some Orange Joe for himself, not without the light elbowing he gave his sister.

"Um, Chip?" Basil inquired, hesitating to tap the boy's shoulder. Excitedly, Chip turned to him.

"What? You found something cool?" asked Chip in his growing excitement, as he bounced on the balls of his feet. Rather, his sneakers.

"N-No….but I think we should get some of the Orange Joe, too," Basil glanced over at the already Orange-Joe-rejuvenated Aubrey, and Sunny currently chugging down three glasses of the orange potion. The black-haired youngster had the expression of "disgusting, I'll take more of it, please."

Chip, who had been wearing a simple satisfied look up until now, sent the corners of his lips up in a glowing smile. "Yeah, no. I already feel amazing! You could go on and drink some, though."

"Okay…"

"For someone who's a huge fan of Orange Joe, you sure aren't acting the part right now," smirked Aubrey, seating herself on the grass next to the stand. "Maybe you are getting smarter and learning about how bad-tasting Orange Joe truly is."

"Now now, Aubrey," seeing Chip ready to lash out in defense of his beloved drink, Mari sat down next to the girl, running her fingers through the pink strands of Aubrey's hair, while taking care not to disturb the blue bow's position in the sea of pink locks. "It's not good to be mean to your friends all the time."

An impudent huff. "Ugh, sorry, Chip." Aubrey relaxed with Mari braiding her hair.

Chip rolled his eyes and went back to idly watching Sunny chug some Orange Joe, eyes scrutinizing if any juice would spill on Hero.

“Haha…Sunny, you really don’t need to take that much,” Basil grew concerned, setting his own half-finished glass of Orange Joe on the surface of the stand.

Filling up several glasses with Orange Joe as fast as Sunny could chug the drink, Hero slowed his process, concern knitting his brows together. “He’s right, Sunny….” He stopped filling up the glasses, making Sunny frown at him, glaring. “It isn’t healthy for you to have so much of one thing.”

“And you might throw up,” Chip chimed in to involve himself. Plus, he didn’t want Sunny to get hurt in any way. But why would he? Everything was fine. Everything would be fine. They all would talk Sunny out of emptying Orange Joe into his near-exploding stomach.

Mari’s fingers stopped expertly weaving Aubrey’s hair. “Yeah, Sunny. You could have some of my cookies today, though! Could we go over to our house right now, guys? Is it alright with you all?”

After finishing his current serving of Orange Joe, Sunny set the empty glass down with a barf and looked up hopefully at Mari in anticipation of the cookies.

“I don’t see why not!” Hero replied happily, his expression dimming in joy immediately after. “But I’ll have to keep running the stand for a bit, so I won’t be able to come with you all….sorry. It’s just that someone else who’s in desperate need of Orange Joe might come along, and I wanna’ be there for them.”

“Awww, that’s what you say all the time,” whined Chip, tugging Hero’s shirt impatiently. “You really don’t wanna’ taste Mari’s cookies? They’re soooo yummy!!!”

“Stop it, Chip, you’re acting like none of us are nice enough to leave some cookies for Hero and bring them to him later,” scolded Aubrey, who would have quickly shot up from her seat on the ground if it weren’t for the delicate, tiny braids on the left strands of her hair, not confined by any hair ties. “And,” she pointed an accusatory finger at Chip, “you’ll have to stop hogging all the cookies this time!”

“But Mari’s cookies are good! Unlike yours….” Chip shot back at her to remind Aubrey of her sorry past attempts to replicate Mari’s cookies. He still clung to Hero.

“Chip! Be nice!” Hero reprimanded Chip sternly. The younger boy looked up, into the eyes of his brother, reminded of….something.

Hmm, must be something else.

“Okaaaayyyyy……” Chip gave in, dragging his voice and letting go of Hero.

Something apologetic flashed in Hero’s expression, then disappeared as quickly as it had appeared, a smile replacing it. “It’s really alright. Maybe when the weather gets colder, I can come along sometime.”

“I can’t believe I’m wishing the weather could be worse,” Mari laughed, doing Aubrey’s hair again and securing the little braids with orange and pink hair ties, courtesy of Basil.

Sunny leaned on a tree, trying to hide his impatience, which revealed itself in an occasional tapping of the feet. Resorting to watching Mari finish off braiding Aubrey’s hair did wonders to reduce the intensity of this tapping.

Detaching himself from Hero, Chip sat in the grass, not very far from where Aubrey and Mari were.

“Doesn’t seem that the weather will get colder anytime soon, huh?” Hero admitted, leaning his arms on the comfortable picnic blanket-covered surface of the Orange Joe stand. Chip knew this was directed at him, but pretended to pay attention to how Basil was admiring Aubrey’s braids and praising Mari’s handiwork. “I hope it can get colder though. So maybe I could hang out with you all again. And you can accep—“

His rambling stopped as Chip tensed. “Oh, sorry, I didn’t mean to go off like that….but I hope you can enjoy yourself at their house without me!”

Chip watched Hero run a hand through his own messy brown hair.

“Eh, it’s alright….” Chip assured him, watching Sunny talk with Basil after joining him on the grass, while Aubrey pointed somewhere and was supposedly ranting about it to Mari.

"Well, I suppose you could start heading to Mari and Sunny's now."

"Okay, Hero!" replied the ever-energetic Chip. Hmmm…..something to do with his hands…..oh, where did his basketball go?

Just as the thought entered his mind, he felt a grooved, hard surface along his palm. A quick look at his hand showed that he was holding that very basketball in question.

He didn't question how he had been able to handle the ball without setting it down anywhere upon meeting Hero at the Orange Joe stand just now.

"And keep up the basketball practice!" grinned Hero, settling himself in his comfortable, secure place behind the stand.

Chip smiled. A brother’s intuition knows no bounds.

"Yeah yeah, sure I will! You know how much of a basketball person I am!"

"Sure, we'll see," Hero’s charming smile reduced in size, but not in positivity or love.

Before the conversation with Hero could continue, Chip whined aloud, “Hey, why don’t we just go to the house nowwww? Pleeeaaase???” There, he said the magic word.

Aubrey jumped, her talk with Mari(who looked on in amused approval of Chip’s use of the magic word), Basil, and Sunny interrupted, and yelped, “Hey, you’re so loud! Be patient! Sheesh…”

Laughing, Mari gathered the four children together, waved Hero goodbye with a flying kiss she thought nobody else would see, and they were off.

Basil and Sunny just watched as Aubrey and Chip dashed forward, the former skipping merrily around Mari, the latter wanting to regain his regular position as the leader of the group.

“Mariiii…..” pleaded Chip with a begging face, jumping around the purple-haired girl, “I want to be the leader!”

“Classic Chip,” Aubrey grumbled. Her skipping died down to a stroll, retaining its high energy. “You were leader last time - no, you are always the leader! Just give Mari a chance to lead…”

Contemplation. Then a decision. Mari had always been nice to Chip— unlike how Aubrey was to him, so….

Chip approached Mari with a huge, squeezing hug – more squeeze than hug, though. There. He tagged her as the party's leader. Not so hard, eh?

"Heh, you didn't need to, but thanks for tagging me in!" thanked Mari, putting a hand on Chip’s shoulder. "You really are growing everyday, y'know. The Chip from a week ago wouldn't have given up his spot for me!"

Head turned away to hide his flattered smile, Chip mumbled, "Thanks…."

"Oh? What's that?" teased Aubrey, leaning in towards Chip with wiggling eyebrows.

"He said, 'Thanks,' Aubrey," Sunny chimed in. Whether his intentions were to further embarrass Chip or to genuinely answer the pink-haired girl's question, he still earned an indignant "Hey!" from Chip.

It wasn't good to sit fuming in silence, so Chip neared Basil.

"What're you looking at?" he questioned, struggling to follow Basil’s gaze, especially as the flower boy's face was turned away.

Mission successful, as Chip himself was able to make out the crystal blob on the group's left.

What a pity Basil himself lacked the ability to immerse himself beneath the translucent, crystal surface, and survive simultaneously.

"What? Sunny, you want to go to the lake?" Chip heard Mari say from the head of the group.

Chip sensed Sunny's half-hearted nod and Aubrey’s urge to roll her eyes. Looks like someone was impatiently hungry for cookies. Not that Chip could talk, though, but—

"Fine, let’s just go…" huffed Aubrey. She turned to Basil with concern. "Are you sure you wanna' join us, though?"

"O–Of course!" Basil stuttered, glancing away from her quickly to hide the slight apprehension in his eyes. He even followed Mari and Sunny to affirm his point.

Aubrey frowned, somewhat directing her scowl at Chip, who pretended not to notice.

You know what you did. What you're doing won't just fix that. Stop it. It's not all sunshine…Ke—

"Chip, you coming?" Annoyance permeated Aubrey’s words. She was just impatient with him and his momentary semblance to a sloth.

Keep telling yourself that.

"Ugh…'course I am, Aubrey!" Chip raced ahead of her, following the others.

Eyes narrowing, Aubrey raced after him. His ears catching the subsequent muffled pattering of Aubrey's shoes in the grass, Chip's grin only widened. Oh, it was on.

Their footsteps crushed many blades and clusters of grass as they neared the crystal-colored lake……the crystal shade as much as it was at first sight, giving way to a darker blue color.

Frowning, Chip thought….maybe this was some sort of a mirage. Wait, was that even how it worked—

"Haha, Chip, you lost!" Aubrey punctuated this with a blown raspberry.

The loser in question was brought back to this reality again as his eyes landed upon the pink-haired form of Aubrey already there by the lake with Mari and Basil, both of whom were waving over at him, beckoning him to come over.

Meanwhile, Sunny was crouched over, facing the surface of the water. The look in his eyes was distant, as if to avoid looking at something in the clear, almost glassy surface. His finger dipped into this surface to disturb its stillness, concentric circles spreading from where his finger tip was.

Satisfaction spread across his face, yet not uplifting the corners of his mouth. He didn't need to smile for Chip to understand his fleeting happiness.

"It's alright, Chip," began Basil, gingerly bumping Chip’s arm, "you were really fast. Just a little distracted…." He tapered off as he noticed his silent best friend almost fall into the water. "S-Sunny!" Running towards his friend and pulling him away by the arm, away from the water's edge, Basil continued to admonish, "You should be careful! You remember last time…"

Mari had also reached Sunny at about the same time as Basil had, and once she had checked Sunny all over for any injury, took a deep breath. "Phew…you're alright now…"

Sunny drooped his head against Mari, both sitting near the lake's edge.

"Sunny! You could've…" Aubrey didn't dare to finish that sentence.

Chip panicked for a moment, and glared at the lake as if it were the root of all misery in his world. Decisively, he sprinted forward and hurled his basketball at the water. Instead of breaking its surface, however, a splash sent water everywhere with the basketball slowly sinking into the water.

Anger subsided as the concentric ripples shining dull water visually(and ironically) calmed him down. Fascination caused by the ripples and what unknown things resided under the water drew Chip closer.

All he could see, however, was his smiling reflection staring back, and his friends behind him….

With an exception. Aubrey gazed at the four from afar, with concern and—

"Oh, shouldn't stay so close to the edge," Mari sighed while scooting both herself and the lazily smiling Sunny away from the lake. "Aubrey, are you okay?"

"Never been better," shrugged Aubrey while immediately skipping ahead, away from the lake. "Catch up with me if you guys can~"

"Aubrey…" Basil tried dissuading her from practically abandoning them as Chip got ready to race after the pink-haired girl, "running off without us is mean! You might get hurt!"

He himself jogged after Aubrey, not running too fast as to lose his breath. Chip remained behind.

"C'mon, guys, we can't let them have fun without us!" urged Chip, bouncing on his heels waiting for the two siblings to get up from the ground and join the fun. Perhaps going to Mari and Sunny's house could wait.

Promptly, Sunny leapt out of Mari’s lap with a competitive look in his dark eyes, leaving Mari to chuckle while helping herself up. Once she had adjusted, the three quickly jogged after Aubrey and Basil.

There they were, in front of them a road running as far as the horizon. About four feet separated the blonde boy from the pink-headed girl in front of him.

Both Mari and Sunny came to an abrupt stop behind Chip, who was filled with absolute terror…for some unknown reason, as he stared at this particular road. It was quite different from the other ones in the area. This one was dark grey….in its middle was a dotted white line.

His eyes met Aubrey’s, and everyone else faded away along with the world's light, replaced with a likeness to ink.

A messy spot on the road grew darker and darker, shaping itself into something.

All the liveliness left Aubrey’s eyes, hair stained with something.

"Hero….I saw what you did to He—"

No.

All alone, in an empty basketball court. Again.

Chip’s gaze traveled along the empty seats on stairs next to the court. Familiar people used to sit there, but now simply wasn't the time for that.

Abandoning his basketball at the bottom of the stairs, Chip climbed up the stairs in anticipation for something. He didn't want to do this though…but at the same time….there was a need.

He was at the top of the stairs.

A deep breath.

A sickening crack later, Chip's body lay lifeless on the concrete ground at the base of the stairs.