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.

Chapter Text

The ground proved itself insensitive to the tired boy’s back. A moment was spent in painful silence as he lay on his side, curled in on himself to somehow subdue the roaring areas of his back which harshly met the living room floor in his recent fall.

Gingerly, he turned himself so his whole back was resting on the creaky surface. Besides the first few bursts of pain, he was overall unharmed.

What was he even doing here in the first place? He asked himself this as he pushed himself up from the ground with his hands, for he hadn’t done sit-ups in a while.

A while being a week, which was still technically a long while. His mind was wandering again. Rubbing his cheek and pulling some hair out of his mouth, the boy looked from the couch and then to the table on the other side of him.

From his spot on the ground, he could see some messy piles of papers sticking out from the table’s edge. Some sheets had even fallen down next to his sleeping form in the night.

Ah, right. His homework.

He grabbed one sheet of paper and glanced down. “Kelsey,” read the word next to the “name” blank on the worksheet.

His lips pursed up. Mr.....whatever, wouldn’t be happy if he turned in his homework with just his first name….plus, there were multiple Kelsey’s in the school.

“Now, where did that go,” rambled Kel sleepily, turning over to get on all fours and search for his pencil.

Why was it so dark….oh. It must have been only a few hours after midnight struck. A faint buzzing in Kel’s head reminded him, bugged him that he didn’t have enough sleep. Nothing new. His head probably wasn’t even on straight, a weight looming over it.

Blinking rapidly to adjust his eyes to the dark, Kel could make out the lighting of the surfaces of objects in the room, the light source unknown to him. Especially visible was the surface of the table in front of him.

He turned around, ducked down again and squinted at the mysterious world in his couch’s underside, possibly just made out of several dust particles or even stray hairs. Guiltily, Kel remembered his own coarse hair with split ends, recently dropping some loose strands now and then. Mom wouldn’t like that.

Right, the pencil. Quite fortunate was Kel that he had chosen to wear his orange tank top today, for if he had worn something with sleeves, especially long ones, he would have a lot of washing to do. With reluctance, he poked his hand about under the couch, dirtying his fingers in the process. The stray hairs tickled them, heightening his annoyance.

Desiring a break from the dusty dirtiness, Kel pulled his hand back out.

Too slow.

Slender, skeletal fingers reached out from under the couch and grabbed his hand, securely wrapping its gray fingers around Kel’s wrist.

A scream caught itself in Kel’s dry throat, the same way he himself froze up, with the exception of his hyperventilating lungs.

So real. It felt so real. It wasn’t real, but….

Kel took in the texture of the rotting flesh against his hand, the fingers attempting to pull him under the couch—

Gone.

That he had been decidedly looking away from the terrifying hand went forgotten in the moment by Kel, who only figured it out when he actually looked back at the couch and saw no hand pulling him.

A memory.

“The ball!” Aubrey yelled, her hands shielding her eyes(dropping her baseball bat in the process) from the sun as she looked to the west. Silhouettes of the trees in the forest decorated the setting disc. "Kel, you could've caught that! Tol'ya you suck at catching."

Ego smarted by her words, the boy across from her and farther away from the welcoming picnic blanket than she was scowled. If nobody would search for the ball, then his parents would be mad at him if it ended up lost. And they had bought the ball just for Hero and Kel. That shiny white ball with red stitches - the baseball - would be ruined.

Just like what Kel does with all things. Taints them.

"You'll see!" Kel sent a holler back at Aubrey, already setting off into the forest near this picnic spot. "It isn’t lost, it's maybe just scared of your screaming and hiding somewhere!"

The stamping of his feet grew in intensity as his desperation increased with every step he took towards those looming trees. Another energy took hold of him, he didn’t know what.

Someone must have been calling out to him from behind before giving up.

Inky black trees reached out at Kel via their branches as he plunged deeper into the forest. If only Aubrey hadn't hit the ball so hard with the bat. Only then, would Kel not have needed to venture through the darkness which made him shake so much, lose his bravado.

“Kel!” A familiar voice could be heard behind him.

He whipped about with a start. There Hero was, huffing and puffing after him. He stopped for a moment, and guilt shot through Kel at making him worry and stress like this.

“Hero, it’s scary out here…” he whined, running into Hero’s arms.

“We were so worried about you,” Hero reminded him, not in a reprimanding way though. More in a worried, exhausted tone. He let go of Kel and walked in a particular direction. “Come on. We need to get you back to the others. They’re worried sick—”

Not seeing Kel follow him, Hero turned to see Kel, whose gaze darted here and there around at the rather intimidating trees. Expression softening like butter from a stern face to an empathizing one, Hero took Kel by the hand.

“It’s not your fault for not catching the ball, Kel,” he reassured. “We could get another anyway. It’s not the end of the world.”

Visibly, Kel relaxed. But—

“Can we please get out of this scary place? Pleeeaaaseee? I think there are ghosts here…” tears filled Kel’s eyes and he tried looking away from Hero.

Hero gripped his hand tighter. “Okay, Kel! Just….take a deep breath! Mari taught me that, it really works, heh.”

Distracted from the scary trees around them as the two made their way out of the forest, Kel grinned and looked at Hero, remembering his infamous fear of spiders.

They were in this together. And always would be.

First thing Kel would do when the two came back to the picnic spot was confront Aubrey though, no matter how much his friends objected to their bickering.

What was that? Shaking his head, Kel remembered what Hero had told him. Deep breath…..no, that shallow one wouldn't do.

He loudly breathed in….then out. Almost instantly, his shaking stopped. The hand wasn’t real. Boldened by this, Kel reached under the couch again, and after feeling under there for a while, retrieved his rather short pencil.

Now, where was that worksheet again? His hand landed flat upon something papery when he used it to stabilize himself on the floor. Got it.

Careful not to crumple it, Kel grabbed the paper, put it in front of himself, and attempted to sign his last name as neatly as possible.

Did he finish his homework? Check. He remembered that this very worksheet was the last homework assignment due….today. Right. Should he get ready for school, which would start about three hours from now?

To do that, Kel must walk upstairs to his room. Something was stopping him from doing so, however. Something other than the infinite blackness around him.

He shook his head, knowing that his schoolwear was already set and folded neatly - in an organized manner reminding him of someone - on one of the couch's arms. As usual, the particular arm the clothes were on would be the couch’s right one.

Placing his feet flat upon the ground, and propelling himself up using his hands, Kel finally stood up, albeit shakily, a straining weight still on the back of his neck and head.

Yep, he thought as he felt the couch’s arm. Those clothes are definitely there. Placing the clothes here instead of in his own bedroom so he wouldn't have to go there was the only sort of smartness Kel could pride himself in.

Someone else was supposed to be the intelligent one. Not him.

Reassured temporarily that he knew where his school clothes were, Kel turned to the couch. On it lay a crumpled blanket, the color of a night sky illuminated by stars. What a wonder that the blanket hadn't fallen with Kel out of the couch.

Of course, there were often times when he would be made to sleep in his original room by his concerned parents. Sleeping on the couch wasn't healthy, they'd tell him.

Kel didn't care.

Quickly, he needed to think of something to fill up the void of darkness, besides fiddling with his fingers.

What on earth were his old friends doing all this time? What was Hero doing? Wouldn't he be concerned that Kel was sleeping where he shouldn't have been?

His dream….something staining the road— he ignored it.

"Kel?" a voice rang out from the kitchen across. "Is that you? You know you aren't supposed to sleep on the couch. It's bad for your health."

"H-Hero?" Kel stuttered in surprise, jumping up and snapping his head in the kitchen's direction. Hero was here now? Hope bloomed in his chest. "You're h-here?"

"Haha…just wanted to make lunch for you. Don't you have a club meeting today? You'll be staying away from home for a longer time because of that….I really don't want you to go hungry."

Kel hadn’t realized he was so hungry. Dinner was something he'd usually skip with the excuse that he was sleepy, ready to drop off.

Ignoring how there was no light in the kitchen or any sounds of anything cooking in there, Kel staggered through the dark like a wounded deer. Eyes seemed to glance in his direction, the whites of them bulging and pulsating.

Kel’s walking grew more feeble as his imagination, aided by the empty rumbling of his stomach and his aching head, took over. Sharp teeth gleamed in the dark, hunger flashing in those accusatory eyes.

The path to the kitchen seemed much longer now.

Attempting to ground himself, Kel curled in his toes, with the childish notion that the hidden monsters wouldn't feel tempted to bite them off if he did this. Rather painful was this action, reminding him of his unnecessarily long and untamed toenails.

The ringing in his head grew stronger and too loud for even his own ears.

Overwhelming. So overwhelming. Dizziness overcame him, obliging Kel to drop down on his knees, the hard floor clashing harshly against them.

Nothing he didn't deserve. Why? He didn't know. But this was fine.

"...take a deep breath. Mari taught me that…."

Slowing his quick, panicked breathing, Kel deeply breathed in, noisily letting out all the air again. Opening his eyes, he peered around and saw….no eyes. No spiky teeth, either.

As an added bonus, the house's interior seemed to lighten up a little. Time must have been flying towards sunrise, just like a mosquito. Sucking the life out of Kel as it flew by.

"Kel? You okay?" Hero’s voice called out again. Oh right. Kel was just about to question why he even was walking in the dark in the first place, though it wasn't that pitch black anymore.

The route to the kitchen seemed much clearer and shorter.

"I'm fine!" Kel called back. Finally, he was at the dark kitchen's doorway.

Across from him was Hero, back facing his younger brother. A part of the fancy pink apron he used to wear flapped about as its wearer walked around to get ingredients and utensils.

"Hero!" Kel said, hoping to have Hero’s attention.

Immediately, Hero froze up, not turning around. Although the kitchen was illuminated by the day's fresh sunlight filtered through the small kitchen window, the room itself grew darker….especially at the edges of Kel’s vision.

Inch by inch, Kel approached his older brother. Inch by inch, Hero gradually turned around.

Kel stopped in front of Hero and busied himself with tapping his foot on the floor until….he finally faced Kel.

A gasp escaped Kel’s mouth, his hand covering it in horror.

Where Hero’s warm dark eyes and smiling mouth should have been was just emptiness…..and a smearing of blood across where Hero’s nose should have been.

More of it flowed down Hero’s empty face from his hair, freely flowing down his face without any obstruction caused by any facial feature.

Suppressing a scream, Kel sent a poorly aimed strike in this….thing's direction and ran back to where he came from; out of the kitchen.

The couch creaked obnoxiously loudly as Kel flung himself into it, curled up into a ball in the blanket. Laughing came to him easily at this moment, the way Basil would nervously do so when panicking. Hero was not here. How could he not know this? How could he forget? How could he be so dumb?

An image of something flashed in his head, crushed under the wheels of—

What was that— no, it must just be a memory from this dream-turned-nightmare he had just now.

That's it.

Continuing to huddle in on himself, Kel felt if he didn't focus on something else, then his brain would absolutely explode. With blood everywhere, just like something on the road—

Creak

Instantly, Kel’s thoughts were scattered by the sound of someone descending the stairs.

….

He must have woken up his parents with this whole fiasco.

His body straightened out of its curled-up position and his hands instinctively pulled the blanket up to his neck. Eyes slammed shut, Kel’s ears were peeled to sense where the person on the stairs was headed.

That person's destination was the couch on which Kel was "sleeping."

More creaking on the floor next to the couch in question, along with a heavy sigh, told Kel that the person - whom he was able to recognize as his mother from the voice - was kneeling down upon the floor next to him.

A hand could be felt striking his forehead, softly brushing aside the straggly bangs.

Unable to keep up the sleeping act, Kel slowly opened his eyes to see his mother next to him, keeping the eyelids half-closed to feign sleepiness.

"Mamá…?" questioned Kel with faux grogginess, rubbing his eyes to enhance the effect.

"...Kel!" she exclaimed, with a small smile gracing her tired face, courtesy of how early the morning was, . "You've been doing homework late, no?"

Kel slowly sat up, while his mother stood up, picking up a few crumpled papers from the ground. The stress lines on her forehead made him feel a teensy bit guilty. Never mind, very guilty.

Nothing but the truth could be told, with all the evidence right in front of her.

"Um, yes," Kel confirmed her suspicion, leaning back while facing her. What else could he say?

He waited for his mother to decide to go away. Worrying over him like this would waste her own time.

No surprise was in her expression, and she fiddled with her braid while thinking of what to say next.

She started with a deep breath, ending up appearing more confident. "Son, you can't keep doing this." This got a flinch out of Kel, whose gaze flitted about looking at anything but her. "We're worried— your father and I….you keep neglecting yourself. Please…."

Kel’s lips tightened up at this impromptu speech of hers. This talk wasn't new.

"You shouldn't fake being alright so much," continued his mother, brows knitting together. "You can tell us anything….you know?"

"...I'm good, Mamá…." mumbled Kel, scratching his head to distract himself from this awkwardness. Heart-to-heart talks weren't a strong suite of Kel’s, especially when he was the subject.

A look of disbelief was sent his way. "...sure? Everyone is worried, Kel. Your friends— friend is, too."

Against his will, Kel’s interest was piqued. "Friend….?"

His mother's face brightened up with hope, her posture relaxing. The fully-risen sun shone in all its glory now. Must be about half-past six.

"Mari was always asking for you before she went off to college— she has purple hair, did you know? It's quite beautiful actually - and Sunny, sh—" his mother stopped there as a ringing sound from upstairs disturbed her rambling and thought process. "Oh, get ready for school now! You don't want to be late!"

Kel stood up and started to walk towards the staircase when a hand on his shoulder stopped him in his tracks.

"Kelsey, promise me you'll talk to your friends today - or even tomorrow would be nice," pleaded his mother. "You haven't talked with them in years," she added under her breath, "and haven't contacted their parents in a while, either."

Unsure of whether he would eventually keep this promise, Kel responded, still averting his gaze, "I….promise."

"Thank you, son…"

As he ascended the stairs, he heard muffled sobbing from downstairs.

He forcibly turned his focus towards turning off the annoying alarm in his room upstairs.

The room was fairly bright, the lone bed in its middle catching light. A box in a corner told Kel where the trophies which used to be there were. The skeleton of another bed was leaned against the wall next to the box, its corresponding mattress nowhere to be seen.

A shiver shot through Kel.

Hero should be back soon to fill up this emptiness again….right? Something contradicted tha— no, stop. Think positive, come on Kel.

Newer trophies for academic awards filled the cabinet accompanying the bed - Kel’s bed - though it wasn't as much as the ones which used to be there.

Kel ignored the trophies of his own flimsy achievements as he spotted the alarm clock, vibrating like a scared animal, next to a trophy for a math contest, his only strong subject.

Slapping the alarm clock shut, Kel then took another glance about the room, and swiftly rushed out without a sound.

As he walked between classes, Kel grimaced.

To hear his classmates gush over how they got into this team, and that - occasionally a mention of the varsity basketball team, at which Kel had to busy himself with something else rather than listen to the conversation - was torture at times for Kel.

Sure, a bit of playing around in the court near Faraway Park sufficed to feed Kel’s desire to participate in the sport, but….

Hero would want him to give his all, though. What was that feeling of hurt whenever he thought of his older brother?

The deafening bell brought school to a close, at least for the kids who didn't have club meetings after.

Sign Language, that was the club he had a meeting for today. The precise(and personal) reason he had had for joining it was forgotten recently.

Kel waited for 2:35, when the meeting was supposed to begin. In the hall's middle, Kel contemplated sneaking a short nap in before the meeting. Surely, nobody would disturb hi—

"Yo, Kel!" Cris jumpscared him from behind, recognizable just from her spirited voice. Her energy had often reminded Kel of someone in the past….totally not himself, haha.

"AAAAAAAGH CRIS WHAT THE—" began Kel in shock, jumping and turning around to see the smiling ocean-lover. To prevent his urge to swear out of fright, Kel exhaled through his mouth, energy deflated. "Alright, Cris, you got me there."

A grin that might make any naughty older sibling jealous was the reaction of Cris to this, followed by mild concern. "You doin' alright, Kel? Looks like someone used a black marker or pencil to sketch under your eyes."

"What a weird analogy," thought Kel, putting his back against the part of the wall nearest Cris and himself. Sure, he talked with his classmates everyday, and he could tell they admired him, but there was a stiffness to those interactions, preventing any potential close friendships. They were keeping something from him, and it definitely wasn't that Kel hadn’t shampooed in weeks.

More students rushed past, behind Cris.

"Well, that comparison was….weirdly specific…." Cris sighed, flushing and idly curling a strand of blue hair, so much like the lake in Kel’s recent dream, around her pointer finger. She seemed quite dodgy at the moment while her other hand squeezed her gray backpack strap, then it was her turn to jump in horror. As if she had forgotten something.

"Oh! Speaking of sketches…." Cris excitedly told Kel, "Mincy told me yesterday about a friend of hers - they are so cute when you put them together side-by-side! Like twins! They both have black hair, I kinda' want a hair color buddy too ...."

"Me….too?" Kel awkwardly agreed, though he was aware many others shared his hair color. Especially one person.

Cris huffed at this, for the reasons listed above. "You're teasing me, aren’t you? Anyways—" her mood shifted to one of excitement again, "so like, that girl she's friends with is also taking art, that's how they bonded in the first place. She was so adorable with those tiny pigtails of hers…and this one red hair clip she wore fits her aesthetic so well…."

She rubbed her neck. "It's lucky Mincy learns ASL though. That's how both of us were able to talk to her yesterday! And she actually seemed to know you….asked how you were doing and stuff. So," Cris turned her grin into a devious smirk, "looks like someone's got an admirer~!"

"Whaaat?" Kel was so confused. "So a friend of the artist girl you keep making googly eyes at wants to be my friend or something….?"

"Dunno," shrugged Cris. She began briskly walking towards the place where other students were exiting from, Kel following up behind her. "Sorta' forgot her name though, sorry. I'll make sure to ask Mincy about it when—"

Abruptly, she stopped right outside the school, amid the multitude of people walking or biking home, an honorable mention being the schoolbus. Kel looked around quickly, wondering what made Cris stop so suddenly. Turns out, it was a "who."

A girl with short messy dark hair adjusted her glasses as she strolled down the sidewalk, sketchbook pressed against her full-sleeved shirt. Instant eye contact was made between Cris and the girl, the former with a flustered expression, the latter giving a small giggle and continuing on her way.

Almost like a secret message was sent between the two.

"A-Alright, uh, Kel, I guess I'll see you a little later," the smitten Cris mumbled, walking away from Kel and waving. "Just, stay safe, stay healthy and all that…."

Cris and Mincy were hopelessly oblivious, decided Kel, a rare genuine smile on his face.

No, now wasn't the time to dwell on memories like that. Hypocritical—

Heading back into the school building, Kel thought about the nap he didn't get to have as he made his way to the where the meeting would be held.

Everything school-related finished for the day, Kel headed home.

He was relieved to tell his mother he had interacted with someone - Cris - today, further paying off when he saw her smile with teeth showing and all. Papá was away at work, though, as Kel could see by the missing car in the house's driveway….

While chewing on his burger for dinner, Kel’s mind dwelled upon that black-haired girl with pigtails Cris had described earlier today. Someone was genuinely reaching out to him…? But he didn't need help, come on! He's doing just fine!

Is he? The memory of the morning talk with Mamá was on Kel’s mind.

Something else which was on Kel’s mind was this burger - and the goal of finishing up his only homework assignment for today: history.

Playing on the basketball court simply wasn't on his to-do list for today.

There, Kel thought as he put down his pencil after giving the paper a once-over. The burger was pretty much devoured by him. His mother knew him so well as to have bought this burger.

Nothing else was there to study, which meant Kel could turn in early tonight. The sunset was the remaining natural light source, exhibiting its red and golden shades across the sky.

Fortunately, it wasn't so dark that Kel would have to avoid sleeping in his own original bedroom altogether.

His mother wouldn't have to go through the added burden of putting a blanket on Kel if he ever slept on the couch, too.

Ignoring the part of him screaming to put on some proper bed clothes, Kel lay on the only bed in his bedroom. As he tossed and turned, messing up the bedsheets simultaneously, Kel cursed his mind for moving at the speed of light when it wasn't necessary.

Quickly. He should fall asleep quickly before it gets really dark. Staying awake alone in the night's darkness wasn't quite the inviting situation Kel wanted to find himself in.

Back facing the skeleton of the other bed, Kel drifted off…..

People were standing over him.

"Chip! Chip, wake up! Please!" yelled someone frantically.

With a wince, Chip got up into a sitting position. Lying down on the hard ground of the court wasn't exactly comfortable. Within his vision were Mari, wielding a pail of water - it was easy to guess how Chip had been awakened; Sunny, who was crouched over him with fear in his eyes; and finally Basil, who had yelled earlier.

All of them looked relieved, Mari setting aside her pail with a clunk sound on the cement. Looks like she emptied the whole pail.

"Chip! You had us so worried, you know…." It was then that Chip had noticed Mari’s trembling.

"Aubrey disappeared!" Basil looked ready to cry at any time, but somehow held it in, blonde head hanging.

Chip stood up. "Really?" he quietly asked, no specific emotion discernable from his tone.

"Hero said he couldn't find Aubrey anywhere," frowned Sunny, folding his arms.

"We can't give up hope, let's go!" Basil cried, tugging on Chip’s arm towards the grassy area around the court.

"You're right, Basil, but no need to rush!" Mari shouted after him. "I'm sure Aubrey is able to defend herself, plus, there's no real danger here!"

"Yeah, you're right Mari!" Chip smiled in relief, giving Basil’s hand a soft squeeze. "Aubrey will be just fine! Maybe she's just playing a really complicated prank on us…"

"...well, we can only hope," Mari responded, appearing more confident while guiding her little brother to the grass, too. "Now, maybe Hero knows where Aubrey is!"

Basil’s expression brightened at this new hope.

No wandering around, as the four got directly to business with finding Hero, behind the Orange Joe stand as usual.

"Hello, again!" Hero greeted them with his humorously charming grin. After scrutinizing them, he said, "Oh, hello again, Chip!"

"She was just lying on the ground in the basketball court, you know how much of a fangirl she is over that sport," chuckled Mari with a smug face directed at Chip.

"She"? What did Mari mean by calling him a girl—

Chip’s face twitched(–a sinking feeling in his gut at the mistake—), corrections made.

"Good that he's safe," Hero came from around the Orange Joe stand to greet Kel with a bear hug. "My dear little brother…"

Corrections had to be made. For Kel. Because no matter what, "she" wasn't…him.

Chip leaned into the embrace, squeezing his brother back. Hero loosened the hug to rub Chip’s hair when Chip stared straight ahead, over Hero’s shoulder, and saw….

A girl's shadow, her white eyes boring into his.

After blinking, it went away.

Finally, Hero detached himself from the hug and returned to his default spot behind the stand.

"Thirsty," coughed out Sunny, making Mari fuss over him.

"Hero, would you be a dear and give Sunny some Orange Joe to Sunny? He's somewhat dehydrated."

"Wh-What? Oh, yeah, right away. Hang in there, Sunny."

"Sunny, please…" Basil looked concerned at Sunny's greedy expression after downing one glass. He absentmindedly clutched at his dark green shirt. "Only one glass is necessary!"

"Don't worry, Basil," smiled Hero as he leaned forward against the stand. "I won’t make any more for him at the moment."

Sunny glared at Hero out of faux indignation and had to be placated by Basil.

"Getting down to business," Mari’s face took on a sense of seriousness, "did you see Aubrey anywhere, Hero?"

"Hmmm," Hero put a finger to his chin while his other hand rested on the stand, "I— sorry, I didn't actually see her anywhere, though I do have an idea, no, several ideas of where she could be."

A rustle of papers later, Mari had two maps handed over to her by Hero. Chip gazed in wonder at these.

Mari gave a satisfied hum as she looked through the maps. "Thanks, Hero! These places do look like ones Aubrey would hang around!"

Flushing, Hero seemed to have his ego boosted. Good for him.

Upon seeing Chip struggle to stand on the tips of his toes to have a look at the maps, Mari lowered the papers so Chip could see.

"Basil! Sunny!" Mari called the two best friends, who sat and identified small flowers together, according to their hushed whispers and their hands pointing at the many species growing a little out of the way of the shade.

In an instant, the four assembled into a single file line, bid farewell to Hero, who wished them luck on their noble quest, and walked off to their first possible location.

"I'm trusting you with this map, Chip," Mari told him with encouragement, as she handed it over to him.

"So, according to this map, Aubrey should be right around…here? In the area of the planteggs!" Chip announced to the other three, standing still in a clearing.

"I agree, Chip! Aubrey really adores planteggs!" Basil said with a nostalgic smile, although Aubrey was with them only a few minutes or half an hour ago.

"Careful though! They might be dangerous!" Mari assumed a protective stance around Sunny. "Last time we encountered one, it almost hurt Sunny."

Shivering at the memory, Basil rubbed his arm. "If we maybe sneak past them, we could get Aubrey and escape this place safely."

"You're right, Basil!" Chip thumped him on the back, making him turn pink. "Plus, we've got my basketball and Mari’s pail in our inventory to protect you guys!"

"But," Chip continued, and admitted, "I'm actually not that good at staying quiet, so, Sunny….?"

Sunny wordlessly tapped Chip’s shoulder and replaced him as head of the group for a while.

They traversed through the clearing, staying near trees which could be a quick hiding spot.

Unfortunately, something found them first, as they could tell by the quick, pounding footsteps against the ground, approaching them.

Chip pushed Sunny behind him, along with the others, to stare down this new threat.

A plantegg stood about ten feet tall, looming over the unfortunate friend group.

"WHERE IS AUBY!" it demanded. Mari, Sunny, and Basil couldn't understand this sentient plant, cowering in on themselves from this unknown fear.

Mari finally stepped forward, Chip next to her. "I don't know who you are, b-but, if you hurt us, you'll regret it!"

The plantegg roared once more, and the fight began.

Basil and Sunny were too afraid to move, the latter attempting to mask his fear with indifference.

Chip slammed his basketball into Mr. Plantegg's face, while Mari threateningly swung her pail.

Mr. Plantegg attempted to kick Mari clean off of her feet, but was countered with a pail-induced blow to the midriff.

This presented an opportunity for Chip to throw his ball at the creature, causing it to keel over.

No, that wasn't the end.

"IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT, KEL! ALL YOUR FAULT!" Mr. Plantegg seemed to cry hysterically as it rose from the ground.

For a moment, Chip saw the shadow girl.

Red tendrils extended out of the shadow's - Mr. Plantegg's - back and struck him, then he fell back onto a hard surface, his head exploded open, he—

Knock knock knock

Kel gasped awake, instantly sitting up in his bed. For a moment, he panicked, for the sun was too bright for it to be the early morning, yet his alarm clock hadn't rung yet.

That could only mean one thing.

It was Saturday today.

Knock knock knock

His panic slowly decreasing in intensity, Kel took a deep breath and his heart relaxed. No school. Plus, his head actually wasn't cracked open.

What - or who - on earth was that knocking, though?

Kel dashed down the stairs, making a beeline for the doorway.

"Kel."

Someone from the other side of the door said this. Someone who wasn't Cris, not Mincy, not Mari, not Hero—

"Kel. I know….you're there."

Oh boy. Oh no. His loud, obnoxious footsteps gave it away, didn't they? Typical Kel. Always dumb and loud.

Sunny. Sunny is knocking on his door at 9 A.M. on a Saturday.

Yesterday's talk with Mamá came to mind.

"It's Sunny. It's— er— quite Sunny outside here."

Hesitantly, Kel put on his most welcoming smile(despite that terrible pun, he'd be as welcoming as possible. Sunny never really spoke, after all), and fixed his fingers about the doorknob, expecting to see the quiet little boy, the baby of the group.

Chapter Text

One wouldn't expect mathematics to be Kel’s strong suit, especially after noticing his impulsiveness and general denseness.

Math….almost always resulted in just one answer, though only most of the time, not totally always.

Even then, the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle(he learnt this in class, during one of the times he didn't try making up for lost sleep at school), which challenged the preciseness of things, was always there. Kel aimed curses at himself for not remembering exactly where this principle was applied - possibly not math, maybe something about….quantum physics?

His brain hurt as the confusing sight in front of him continued to perplex him. Unlike the complex problems and shenanigans in real life, math had pretty much one answer.

No exact answer could have been placed upon the sight of the girl with short black pigtails standing in front of Kel.

Confusion only made his exhausted head continue to ache. Someone inside his head was banging against his skull, desiring escape—

Mildly mortified surprise - weirdly mixed with relief - shone through the cracks in this girl's monotone expression, her almost black eyes shifting as they rested upon Kel’s face.

Automatically, in the face of this unknown company, Kel felt heat crawling across his cheeks as self-consciousness about his current attire - yesterday's school clothes - reared its head.

For some reason, however, Kel felt a small sense of familiarity which mesmerized him and stopped him from dashing back inside again to change into something else.

With great difficulty in his embarrassment, he gazed at the girl, who appeared mostly satisfied by now. In this way, he figured out that the pitch black of her eyes was actually a chocolatey dark brown.

He could only guess who this was. "S-Sun….ny…?" His words were coughed up from his dry throat. Only then was Kel aware that he hadn't brushed his teeth last night - the last few nights, even.

After he got the word out, Kel grew a little confused on why Sunny was in pigtails. Well, it must be personal. He'd ignore it for now.

The girl - Sunny - nodded, then awkwardly stood there, too, the Sun making the red hair clip securing black hair blinding to the eyes, including Kel’s. Her tiny black earrings complimented the hair, along with the red hair ties confining the raven locks. Red always went well with black.

Sunny - who was this girl apparently - never spoke aloud that much, especially with strangers.

Was Kel a stranger, now that he hadn't seen or talked with Sunny in….a long unspecified time?

Mouth tightened in a thin line - bringing attention to the large white bandage covering her lower left cheek, which had a few scratches upon inspection, Sunny clutched a small gray notebook to her vest and seemed ready to open it. The pencil tucked behind her ear made her look like a journalist, author, or something along those lines.

"Um, oh yeah, Sunny!" Kel said again, a huge grin stretching his face(ignoring the throbbing in his head), a little confused. "How are ya'?"

With a free hand, Sunny trained her gaze upon the ground and gave Kel a small thumbs-up.

What Mamá had told him about Mari - and Sunny - wanting to reconnect with him resurfaced in his mind.

"You wanna'....er— hang out with me?" Kel asked Sunny, to which she gave a nod, dark eyes scrutinizing his face.

That feeling greatly unsettled something in his gut, almost like corrupted, deadly butterflies were flying around in there.

"I really can't go out like this, heh," a light chuckle escaped Kel as he examined his own appearance and how he was armed with just his unclean school clothes from yesterday. Turning back towards his house's interior, Kel peered back at Sunny and reminded, "I'll be back soon, okay? Just need to wear proper clothes…."

"And leave a note for Mom and Dad that I'll be with Sunny outside," thought Kel. Wouldn't do to have them worry.

Now digging through his closet like it was a mound of soil filled with treasure, he started freaking out whether he'd ever find the most decent clothes to wear during his hangout with Sunny.

Plus, Kel really didn't want to resort to actually going inside the closet, into its dark depths…..

Only one set of clothes could be worn, realized Kel with a groan, hand slapping his forehead and slowly sliding down his face - contorting it in the process.

His other set of school clothes. Man, if Cris or Mincy ever see him outside today wearing those clothes, he would definitely expect a teasing from the former(and if the latter saw him, she'd inform the former in question).

While he hopped into that set of school clothes, - now his hanging-out-with-Sunny outfit, what a well-rounded one - the mildly tired boy casually ignored the bed's skeleton to the side.

Just looking at it would make his paining head explode.

As he passed the bathroom while he was heading to the front door, contemplation brewed within Kel.

The positive side of this mental debate seemed to win, pros outweighing the cons, for the bathroom door swung shut after Kel flew straight in.

Teeth sparkly from being brushed, Kel felt motivation to actually brush his hair, then he secured it with one of his mother's hair ties in a low-ish ponytail.

After a second of thought, Kel grabbed his wallet from the drawer.

Oh shoot. Sunny was probably looking for something to do while waiting for Kel outside. Kel understood the feeling of being bored and having nothing to do with oneself. Naturally, this encouraged him to dash to the door, then fly it open, banging against creaky wood.

"Sunny, I'm here— oh, S-SORRY, SUNNY!"

A hyperventilating Sunny stood right beyond where the door opened. Had she been a second too late, she would have been squashed into Orange Joe, staining the house's exterior walls.

Cursing his impulse, Kel smacked his head. "Ugh…sorry Sunny! I'll be more careful next time…." He then looked into Sunny's disheveled expression.

Sunny took a second for a deep breath, averted her head while rubbing her nose a little, then stared back at Kel with a seemingly blank expression. A bit of forgiveness could be found there.

Or that was just Kel’s wishful, naive thinking.

As the two walked between the planted rose bushes decorating the front of Kel’s house(Kel decidedly turned his head away from these flowers), his focus fixated upon the two loose, bouncing strands of black hair sprouting from the top of Sunny’s head.

Speaking of Sunny, Kel thought of her new appearance.

He figured it out with a click of the puzzle pieces together, Sunny reminding Kel of Hero(and...Kel himself, in the..."opposite" way from Sunny) from a long time ago.

How Hero(well, and Kel too, in the same way, but this wasn't about him) used to look like a girl, long hair and “girly” name and all, but then one day, he’d told Kel he was a boy all along, just disguised as a girl. Their parents had paid no mind to this - in fact, welcomed him(so did younger Kel, for that meant his older sibling didn’t have cooties). Obviously, as Kel looked back on it now, the three had definitely had a talk about that before Hero came out. And Hero himself had helped Kel with that, too.

So….Sunny was always a girl all along. Kel smiled(ignoring the familiarity at seeing Sunny like this, her true self), an expression which immediately contorted into one of horror. Was “Sunny” even her name now?

For Hero and Kel, nothing had really changed. The nickname "Hero" had pretty much stuck with him, while for Kel, it was....Kelsey. Yuck. Still better than...his deadname.

If it wasn’t Sunny’s name now…..Kel really needed to ask her, as she wasn’t one to take the initiative and tell someone outright at times. At least, that was what he’d known of her in the past.

Should he ask her? Should he not? Why’s he so awkward—

Poke

Something much softer than a mosquito bite pricked his shoulder, making Kel abruptly look up to see Sunny, cheeks puffed out and her finger in a poking position. Plus, the pencil which was behind her ear earlier was now between her teeth. Looks like Kel figured out who the mosquito was.

Held in her other hand was the same gray notebook clutched by her earlier, but this time it was gaping wide, yielding a page with the sentence, “You look super out of it.”

A moment was taken for Kel to realize the two had stopped walking, awkwardly standing on the sidewalk of their neighborhood. He rubbed the spot where Sunny had poked him.

“Um, do I, uh—“ Kel looked to the side, not meeting those dark eyes out of uncharacteristic awkwardness. “Do I still call you ‘Sunny’? Sorry if that’s a weird question….”

“Still go by Sunny,” she wrote on the notebook and showed Kel. After a moment of silence, where Kel subconsciously let out his breath, Sunny turned the notepad towards herself again and scribbled in it.

Finally, she showed Kel two sentences, decorated by eraser marks so Kel had to lean in to see. “You know sign language? Would be nice if I used this notebook less.”

Thanking Lady Luck that he had taken ASL, Kel nodded.

The pencil was restored behind Sunny's ear, while she continued to grasp onto the notebook, which was closed now.

Cars roared past the sidewalk the two stood on, the screeching of rubber against asphalt stabbing at the taller teen's ears and throbbing head.

Sunny was staring at him again. Obviously, Kel was making a weird face or something out of fear.

"Your eyes look red," Sunny signed to him. "And look heavy, too."

"Eh, don't worry about me! I'm good!" Kel smiled at Sunny, a hopefully whole smile, as he rubbed the back of his hair. This casual gesture was actually him trying to soothe his headache in a way.

The girl's brow furrowed.

What was Kel thinking? Of course, Sunny would see through this. Of course, Sunny thought something was wrong.

Had their roles been reversed, Kel would definitely think Sunny wasn't fine, either. What kind of "fine" person randomly ignores all their friends for years? Especially after—

"Sure," Sunny verbally spoke now, her voice a little muffled. "But after Hero….." then she clammed up, regretful.

After Hero, what?

Oh, "After Hero left," was definitely what Sunny was going to say. He should be back from college soon…Kel would have to ask him what it was like.

Something was being forgotten.

"So….what do we do now?" questioned Kel, anything to fill up this awkward silence.

Playing with a sun-kissed black pigtail, Sunny pouted a little in deep thought, finally answering with a quiet, "Pizza."

Hmmm, what was that one pizza store called?

Giorno's? Giant's? Ginger?

"Gino's," Sunny dryly answered Kel’s mental questioning, which must have been on full display across his face.

"Oh! Um, heck yeah!" Kel lamely punched the air above himself, wincing as there was an audible cracking sound of bones at the same time.

Sunny's eyebrow raised ever so slightly, corners of her mouth lifted a teensy bit. The only thing distorting this almost-smile was those little scratches across the bottom of her face.

Maybe Sunny was participating in sports and received those scratches from small accidents. This explanation satisfied Kel’s gradually growing concern for now.

"What are you doing nowadays?" Kel inquired as he and Sunny fell into step side-by-side on the sidewalk, heading farther and farther away from the house…..and the neighborhood.

Their walking slowing down, Sunny flipped open her notepad to random pages filled with sketches. Rather awesome drawings, at least by Kel’s standards.

"Whoa…." Kel snatched the book out of Sunny's loose grip, ignorant that he even took it from her just now. Sounds of pages flipping filled the air. "This is amazing, Sunny! You should be an artist—"

He'd landed on a page filled with sketches of a girl, her hair fastened in a ponytail by a ribbon, and mostly smiling.

This didn't escape the notebook owner's sight, for the book was whisked away out of Kel’s grip by a red Sunny almost as soon as Kel’s eyes had landed upon the page.

"Your drawings of Aubrey are super cool! See, I was able to recognize who it was just from your drawings of her" Kel complimented Sunny, then remembered that he'd forgotten something. "Oh, wait, sorry Sunny! I'll try not to snatch away your notebook next time!"

Stupid, stupid Kel, he berated himself. If there was a way to beat himself up, he'd use it.

A soft hand instead of a poke rested on Kel’s shoulder, making him flinch slightly from the sudden touch.

A small touch which meant, "Hey, don't beat yourself up over it."

The subject really needed a fresh change.

Maybe ask about Aubrey? Or Basil.

"Oh yeah, speaking of Aubrey, how is she?" Kel asked, hands folded behind his back as he strolled alongside Sunny.

Her blush having paled, Sunny looked hard at Kel, almost a look of pity. Pity towards his ignorance.

"Uh, Sunny?" This probably didn't mean well….

Sunny pointed away from the two of them, then extended the fingers of her free hand, touching it sideways to her chest.

"Aubrey’s fine?" Kel questioned. Then what was that long pause about before Sunny told him?

Shaking her head, Sunny put her thumb under her chin.

Kel watched her closely as she signed her answer. "Not completely?"

Nodding, Sunny stopped walking and used her notepad again, seemed to be scribbling something again, then threw it into Kel’s hands.

Drawn on the page was a small chibi version of Basil with a sullen face, and another chibi of Aubrey, who wore a similarly angry expression. The two chibis seemed to be yelling at each other, judging from how their facial features were mildly twisted due to their open mouths.

Kel found himself smiling a little when his eyes lingered upon Basil’s chibi face. Honestly, he wouldn't be lying if Basil didn't look at least a little adorable in this drawing. His cheeks darkened.

"Ahem," Sunny cleared her throat, clearing out Kel’s little daydream, as well.

His attention turned to some writing near the drawing of Basil. "Idiot," it was written, an arrow pointing from it to the blonde.

Looks like someone was salty.

Speaking of "someone," Sunny held out her open palm. Chuckling, Kel closed the book and gave it back to Sunny.

Seeing Aubrey sent a little more pain through his head, even the chibi version of her.

"They’re….arguing now?" Kel questioned Sunny, continuing to walk. Gino's pizza was a very attractive option at the moment.

A rumbling which anyone could mistake for a falling building could be heard just now.

Upon noticing the sound came from Kel’s stomach, Sunny gave him a look which wasn't quite a smile, but gave off….smug vibes.

Speaking of being smug….

"Mari’s still at college, right?" Kel rubbed the back of his head a little harder. "Mom said something like that."

That Mari had tried reconnecting with Kel before went unsaid.

"Mm-hm."

"How's it there?" he eagerly awaited Sunny's answer.

“Said it’s nice,” Sunny signed, then shrugged. “And there are a lot of notes to take.”

Again, their walk to Gino’s continued, Sunny mostly leading the way. Frustration reared its ugly head as Kel thought how his and Sunny’s conversations just now were so repetitive and met several dead ends. Now, what was something they were both into, and would keep them talking for minutes - even hours?

A memory of two children, one of them wearing a bright orange shirt, sneaking into a certain comic book store resurfaced in Kel’s mind.

Ah! There it was.

“You still read comics?” Kel asked, leaning forward to see Sunny’s face, as she was leading in front of him. “Sorry if that came up out of nowhere.”

As she walked, Sunny nodded, paying attention to both Kel and to whatever lay in front of her.

Waiting for her right beyond the sidewalk was the open road.

Gulp. Kel saw no cars around, plus, the part of the road Sunny was about to walk across - in fact, walking across right this second - was a crossroads area.

About to set foot onto the crossroads, Sunny peered back at Kel, waving him over.

Oh right. Can’t get to Gino’s without crossing the road.

The crushed form of something was on the road again, spreading….about to get—

Sunny….

Rapidly, Kel blinked away the sight, remnants of it still etched into his vision. Wanting to not worry Sunny, Kel crossed the street to join his friend on the other side.

Phew. No cars randomly drove past….

Thoughtfully, Sunny looked at Kel.

"Sorry about the delay, oof," apologized Kel. A shower was desperately needed by him at the moment, and it took self-control not to scratch at his dry skin at the moment.

Sunny's eyes bore through the table the two sat at in Gino's. Softly tapping his finger on the table, Kel wondered when the pizzas would be finished—

And at that moment, they were given their pizzas.

With apprehension, Kel regarded the pizza across his own spot on the table, decorated with steak.

"Sunny, are you really going to eat all that?"

Sunny pointed back at Kel, eyeing the veggie pizza. Never was Sunny the veggie liker.

"Okay, okay, fine," Kel responded to her accusing stare. "Let's just eat. I'm basically starving!"

So far, Sunny had finished almost seven-eighths of her pizza. The steak definitely helped her to eat more quickly.

Waiting for the steak-lover to finish up while Kel himself took time to relish each bite of the pizza, he thought about what to do next.

Another thing on his mind was this whole development in general. For the first time in a long time, hanging out with his friends - or friend - was a thing.

What on earth happened between Aubrey and Basil? Had Sunny been joking when showing her drawing of them? Were both of them alright?

Hanging out with his friends was also an activity Kel didn't deserve to participate in, if he neglected them like this and didn't know what was happening between them.

He could've helped them reconcile - if he would even be successful at this sort of thing, Mari, Basil, and someone else were the true experts at this - but something kept him away from doing so.

Was it his own cowardice?

At what?

Contrasting Kel’s inner thoughts was the relaxing backdrop of chatter from the other occupants at other tables in the restaurant.

That he'd stopped chewing on his current pizza slice went unnoticed by Kel until the last minute, when he tried opening his mouth to talk with the now finished and full Sunny sitting across from him.

Blegh.

Immediately, Kel covered his mouth so Sunny wouldn't have to be blessed with the sight of a disgusting, gooey half-chewed pizza slice in his mouth.

Sunny just took it in stride, patiently waiting for Kel to finish while she drew in her notepad. Meanwhile, Kel tried not to be distracted by the laughing and screeching from other tables, whose occupants were mostly kids - teens - being silly together. At one particular table, Cris and Mincy were sitting together alone, digging into their own Hero sandwiches, the former talking rapidly to the latter, with food in her mouth.

"'Kay, I'm done!" Kel finished his last bite of pizza, and leaned back on his chair, folding his arms across his chest. "What do you wanna' do next?"

You don't deserve to talk with Sunny like this. She was abandoned by you, too. She probably doesn't even want you here.

"Comic book store." Sunny's voice came out a little raspier than when she had spoken at Kel’s front door.

Usually, Sunny would speak a little more around people she was comfortable with.

So she doesn't hate Kel at least? Or is she feeling obligated to speak? Is Kel being too much of a burden on her right now—

"O-Oh, yeah, we could go there, Sunny!" Kel forced a grin too wide to be sincere. "I wonder if the new Spaceboy comics are out. Haven't really kept myself updated on them in a while…."

In fact, Kel hadn’t even read the newest comics these past four years. They would be distractions, so addictive was the art and stories.

"Same," Sunny muttered.

Assertively, she stood up from her seat and headed to the counter to pay the person there about….twenty bucks? Kel’s mind was elsewhere.

What had happened in the latest Spaceboy comic? The thought ran through Kel’s head.

When the paying process finished, Kel swiftly ran ahead of Sunny, who was about to head for the door, and held that very door open for her.

"Ladies first!" Kel joked a little, watching Sunny lift a corner of her mouth in a nearly invisible half-grin.

"Sunny…..Basil and Aubrey don't seem to be anywhere, Mari and Hero are away at college….she must have been so lonely," thought Kel, gingerly closing the door behind him as he walked after Sunny. "I'm glad I answered her knocking today."

The duo headed through the marketplace and finally spotted the comic book shop, which…didn't appear to be that busy.

After entering the cool atmosphere of, well, comic books, Kel was sucker-punched by nostalgia.

He could almost see those two kids peering excitedly at the comic books through the window of the shop. Sneaking out to the comic store had been very fulfilling to Kel and Sunny in the past.

Sadness washed over him like cold ocean water over a sun-baked beach.

"I….don't really think I could read all those new comics so quickly," laughed Kel, rubbing his head again, though the hurt seemed to have died down after eating at least something. "Maybe you could give me a little summary of it, Sunny? Just to get the whole gist of it, ya know?" He turned to her.

She stared intently at a certain stack of Spaceboy comics, and by seeing her excitement, Kel could deduce that that particular set of comics was brand new. Recent. Whatever.

Without taking her eyes off of the new comics, Sunny flipped to a page in her notepad and handed it over to Kel. Strange, how she could trust him with it now, despite how he'd accidentally flipped to the pages with the drawings of Aubrey earlier today.

Wait, if Sunny had drawings of Aubrey, did that mean Sunny indeed was not alone all this time?

Something bugged Kel about Sunny, especially something about her hair….

Wait, black pigtails. Hadn't Cris described Mincy's friend that way before, including something about a red hair clip? Those descriptions fit Sunny like comfortable shoes, plus how Mincy's friend was said to like art.

Sunny truly was very much not alone, having people like Aubrey and Mincy as her friends. Kel knew, and had bickered with the former in childhood - something stabbed through his head again - yet the two had always felt comfortable enough with each other to keep arguing, eventually making up every time. Plus, Aubrey was a super loyal friend Sunny would be lucky to have!

His attention was drawn to Sunny's notepad again when he saw a little doodle of someone kissing Captain Spaceboy.

Someone being….sigh….Sweetheart. That hateful donut woman sporting a pair of long pink ponytails, and a huge bow adorning the top of her head.

"Wait, how does he get with someone not from the same comic as he is?" Kel slid the notepad back towards Sunny, who had taken the new release.

A smirk was sent Kel’s way to let him know that the drawing was a joke.

"Hmph…you're forcing me to actually read the comic, aren’t you?" groaned Kel, sliding a hand over his face. "Ugh, fine, I'll try….but not now, though!"

Rolling her eyes, Sunny walked up to the counter, fished out her wallet then froze. Kel could notice its unfortunate emptiness.

"It's alright, Sunny!" Kel took out his own wallet and paid the man behind the counter. "You don't owe me anything, by the way."

"Never said I did," Sunny signed as her cheeks puffed out and reddened.

Kel smiled. "Alright, fine. You've got a point there."

The sun was nearing its highest point in the sky. Soon, lunch would begin.

"Okay, soooo," Kel tried making more small talk as they both walked around town, "maybe we could play a guessing game?"

Because of the eyebrow raised in response, Kel was obligated to explain further. "So like, the topic is what we want to be when we grow up." Kel himself didn't know that. Great going. "Can I go first? By asking, I mean."

Sunny shrugged, then nodded.

"You're going to be a…..an actress?" Kel was goofing around with this first one. A shake of the head. "Artist?" Another hesitant shake. Why the hesitation? Oh. It was more specific than that. "Comic book artist?"

Seeing the affirming nod sent a pang of victory through Kel, so powerful that the pavement almost tripped him up, potentially sending him down to a grisly death.

"Oh, could we see the park? Just for good old times?"

Stopping her walk, Sunny perceptibly froze in response to this question. Spirits fallen, Kel thought he'd accurately predicted her next response. However, she nodded, yet not quite as enthusiastically as when she had confirmed her future career.

This time, it was Kel’s turn to walk ahead, not before he was stopped by someone clutching his arm.

"Huh? Sunny?" Kel yelped in confusion, seeing Sunny cling onto his arm. "What's wrong?"

After letting go of Kel’s arm, Sunny signed, "Be careful."

Anxiety shone through the cracks of Sunny’s usually neutral expression.

"It's really alright, Sunny! I've regularly gone to practice some basketball on the court near Faraway Park, so I know the way!"

Sunny clutched her elbow with the opposite hand and looked to the side. Oh. So that wasn't what Sunny was worrying about. If so, then why did Sunny not want them both to go to the park?

"Look - I don't think anything's gonna' happen to us there. I've been there a lot! Besides some rowdy kids in the playground area, it's fine—"

He couldn't ignore how Sunny flinched at "rowdy kids." Something was up….but it wasn't Kel’s job to be nosy.

"We'll….be okay," finished Kel lamely. Might as well just face it. "Look, I'll just go into the park itself first and see if anything's there that’s dangerous, then if it's safe, I'll come back to you and wave you in. That alright?"

Sunny looked very uncertain about this, and it appeared that she was nodding not out of true agreement, but just to pacify Kel for a bit.

Why did he have to be so annoyingly headstrong? Kel shook this thought away. For now, he just needed to focus on getting to the park.

Familiar, rusted yellow of a huge cat's head grew visible as the two friends neared the place of all childhood joys; the park.

Over the years, as Kel had played basketball all by himself on the court nearby, he had watched the yellow cat structure guarding the playground rust over the years.

No matter if it appeared more intimidating to most kids nowadays, it was nothing but comforting to Kel.

Cats…..pets…..Hector….

The day Hector had to be….taken away from this life eternally still loomed over him. There was simply no use for an animal, no matter how loveable and loyal, which had neglected itself. No use for it to stay in this world.

However, the cat above the playground was eternal. Nobody could easily get rid of it, especially without the proper equipment.

Kel had to look away from the cat.

"Uh— okay, so I'll go in first, Sunny," Kel called out to her, as the overhead sun showered its light upon the playground. "You could stay on that court over there…."

A deep breath taken in, Kel quickly headed around the rusted slides.

To the side were the upgraded swings.

Swings which sometimes Aubrey and Sunny used to sit on and talk. Swings on which Kel would have competitions with Aubrey of who would swing the highest. Swings on which he and Basil would talk just like how Aubrey and Sunny would; despite how short the talks were, they weren't any less precious.

Hero used to push him on these swings….Mari would swing beside and chatter over sports with Kel and tease Hero at the same time.

No other children were playing anywhere around here. Well, very few were. Perhaps the park's popularity had dwindled over the years, the way the perfection and newness of the structures had.

A gray figure, tall unlike the other few children playing, was sitting on Kel’s most favorite swing, especially.

"Hey," Kel gasped. "Y-You're back from college so early?"

Looking up, Hero was revealed to have an entirely gray face, gray eyes, gray clothes….you name it.

"Kel…." Hero was kicking his feet, "I wasn't there in the first place."

The hot sun appeared to melt his usually messy hair, dropping it down.

"Hero, come on!" Kel settled himself into the swing right next to where Hero was sitting. "You know you have to be in college for a good career and future blahblahblah…."

"I was never there in the first place," Hero’s gray eyes drifted to Kel’s as he repeated himself, this time sounding more ominous. "You forgot, right Kel?"

Confusion was in Kel's expression. "But what did I forget?"

"Something you shouldn't blame yourself for….Kel…." Hero smiled tenderly before staring down at the ground again.

He was gone.

Well, that was weird. Kel forgot he was shaking until Sunny had pointed it out when he returned to her on the court.

"Coast's clear! Let's go!" Kel cheerfully took Sunny's hand, attempting to forget the previous encounter with….Hero??

From behind him, Kel heard a loud sigh of relief. Apparently Sunny had been more stressed than she was letting on.

Chapter Text

Perched upon the bottom of the slide, Sunny brought out her notepad again, and soon the air was filled with the rough sounds of graphite against paper.

Kel smiled with relief at Sunny's peace at the moment, yet that grin was kicked out from his face by a look of confusion.

An intake of air one could mistake for just wind was the cause of this expression change, and when he whipped around to see what happened, all that was visible was a quick flash of green. It was easy to miss, still making Kel’s eyes narrow with anxiousness.

With uncertainty, he stared over at the group of kids just chattering away with each other. The green blob or whatever must have conveniently lost themselves in this crowd.

After he turned back around to his quieter friend, he noticed Sunny staring - glaring - blankly at a space behind him.

An inkling of suspicion told Kel it was the green blur which had caught her eye.

Thinking too much about it just conjured a painful storm in his head, which ached more than usual. Maybe this was something sleep-related, or the lack thereof. Maybe Kel was just seeing things.

Then why did Sunny look like that?

Having not realized how he was staring behind himself again like an idiot, Kel caught himself and approached Sunny with concern. "You good? You've been staring at something like you wanna' eat it or beat it up..."

As he scratched his neck, Kel awaited Sunny's response.

With just a shrug as an answer, Sunny turned her face down to look at her notepad again. Pursing his lips together, Kel huffed and checked out the swings again.

Tentative, he approached them and winced at the screech of metal against metal as he sank into the swing seat.

Would focusing on the ground suffice for now? No, Kel told himself as his attention was taken by the looming shadow of the nearby slide, which Sunny was sitting on.

“Anything else happen in life so far….?” Kel questioned, squinting his eyes as the sun directly hit them. He raised his head a little so the sketching girl was just within his field of vision.

Putting down her pencil with no indication that Kel had disturbed her in any way, Sunny stared at Kel. “Made friends,” she signed. Momentarily, she paused, seemingly judging how Kel was slouching on the swing.

Out of self-consciousness, Kel sheepishly straightened up his sitting position.

“O-Ooh, that’s nice!” Kel giggled, trying to get over this awkward moment by making a joke out of it. “Who are they? If you wanna’ answer, heh.”

On a hand, which Sunny scrutinized, seemingly thinking through her answer with care, she counted, “Aubrey,” another finger, “Mincy,” and after a long pause, she counted another finger. “Cris.” Yet another finger, “Charlene.”

Kel wasn’t shocked about Sunny including Aubrey, Mincy, and Cris in her friend list for obvious reasons. However….

To say Kel was surprised that Sunny hadn’t included Basil in the list would be an understatement. A terribly inaccurate understatement, as inaccurate as the laziest estimate done by a student just done with their math homework.

Memories of Sunny and the sweet, shy blue-eyed boy served as weak contradiction to this omission, weak because time eventually erodes close bonds. However, Kel would have never predicted that such a solid bond as close as Basil and Sunny’s would simply evaporate for no reason.

Perhaps there was a reason.

Before his big mouth could make the stupid mistake of requesting an answer for this apparent friendship break-up, Sunny beat him to talking.

“I got…other friends, too,” Sunny spoke without any energy or passion in her voice.

That alone was enough to tell Kel that asking her for their names wasn’t an option.

Those “other friends” weren’t true ones, Kel could guess….or they didn’t get along much. Or they did get along, but too much to the point where it’s fake, unlike his arguing with Aubrey in the past.

Ah, nostalgia.

As Sunny marked her page using her pencil as a bookmark, Kel poorly hid his wince.

“Too much sun?” Sunny’s voice made Kel jump, almost falling off of the swing, with a comically scared expression displayed on his face.

A smirk was visible on the pale, blank canvas that was Sunny’s face, as Kel grasped at the chains connecting the swing seat to the bar overhead.

How tightly he was clutching those chains didn’t register until Kel felt his uncut fingernails stabbing into his palms. Ouch.

Relief was felt by him once he eased his grip on those chains.

He peered at Sunny to scowl in retaliation to her mocking smirk, yet was greeted with an awkward concerned expression. The way Sunny was unconsciously squeezing the notepad of hers was going to crush her pencil, lodged between the book’s pages, into several sharp wooden pieces.

“When’s the last time you’ve eaten?” Sunny signed to Kel, biting her lip.

Growing anxious for no reason whatsoever, Kel wondered why he was so worried over Sunny getting to know that he had eaten a burger last night - though he’d eaten a pizza literally just now. Yet absolutely no breakfast besides some(actually tasty) toothpaste he may have accidentally swallowed.

That’s not counting how he’d not eaten much for breakfast and even skipped dinner entirely at times, with excuses believable to his parents.

Sometimes, however, those excuses simply didn’t fly past them, so Kel had ended up having to eat though he didn’t feel like it.

Perhaps that was the reason for his even being alive today. His gratitude towards his parents wasn’t as strong, though. Why did they have to worry about him so much?

Why did Sunny? Kel was perfectly fine. The pizza definitely made a good breakfast.

Slimy sweat leaking from his palms loosened his grip upon the chains hanging the swing.

Seemingly finding her answer from the way Kel averted his gaze to his lap, Sunny took in a deep breath.

“We’re going to my house,” she said, briefly and to the point.

What was unexpected was the way Sunny yanked Kel by the wrist away from the swing, leaving it oscillating violently in the wake of its customer’s departure.

Kel cursed himself for forgetting how much Sunny had actually grown and possibly worked out in the years.

“W-What?? Couldn’t we go to my house instead?”

While dragging Kel away, Sunny responded without missing a beat, “They might freak out.”

“They” was obviously referring to Kel’s parents.

Somehow, Kel could understand that incredibly unclear response of Sunny’s and just went along with her. Trees and familiar buildings in the shopping square seemed to fly by in a blur past Sunny and Kel, and what was strange was how the former - in a rather dodgy way - wasted no time in stopping to look at the scenery.

Well, with how fast Sunny was running, Kel now knew where Sunny’s strength really lay. Had Kel actually made efforts to join the basketball team - with all its regular practices - or really practiced his running, maybe he could have had fun races with Sunny during any spare time.

Once again, the two were in sight of a familiar neighborhood….Kel’s neighborhood.

Only this time, Kel was pulled over to Sunny’s house. Rather intimidating it was on the outside, until one passed through the door, as Kel and Sunny did now.

Neatly, Sunny placed her shoes near the door.

Contrasting the house’s austere exterior was the warm smell of cooking…..was that French toast being made right now?

“Back from your hangout so soon, Haruka Suzuki?” A voice said from the kitchen - or rather, the direction the cooking smell had come from.

A long time had truly passed since Kel had ever visited Sunny's house.

Truly, its interior hadn’t really changed that much - Kel could bet the piano was still there.

“You still play the violin, Sunny?” He turned to her, but she’d already headed in the direction of the kitchen, leaving her notepad on a table which appeared shiny and new. “Sunny….”

“Haruka, you’ve brought a friend over? Who— Kel???”

Kel appeared at the kitchen door, seeing Sunny peer over her mother’s shoulder at what she was cooking. Looks like Kel’s guess of French toast was proven correct.

Sunny’s mother stared at Kel with a mixture of disbelief and relief.

Backing down from her tippy-toed position with the soft thump of her heels against the floor, Sunny nodded.

“Uhhhh, yeah, that’s me!” Kel awkwardly answered, scratching the back of his neck, which earned an eyebrow raise from Sunny.

“I’m guessing Sunny’s invited you over for brunch?” She smiled, crinkling her hazel eyes. “Honestly, it’s good that you’re here. Your parents have been worried as you barely go outside that much.”

Her expression turned smug - oh dear, that must run in the family - as she ruffled Sunny’s hair with her free hand while the other held the spatula. “You did a good thing, bringing him out of his house, Sunny. Mommy is so proud of you.”

Both Kel and Sunny somewhat cringed as the latter scowled and pursed up her lips.

Something dark against the yellow wall caught Kel’s eye.

Neither Sunny nor her mother said a word about or against Kel approaching the thing, which turned out to be a horizontal photo frame. How ironic it was that the portrait was in landscape mode.

The subjects of this portrait were Sunny’s mother, as well as two familiar girls on either side of her; a beaming one with waist-length purple hair loosely secured in a low ponytail and a shorter girl, a smile only barely gracing her lips, with her trademark black pigtails. A small hot pink bow replaced the red hair clip, while the red hair ties were black instead.

Sunny’s family portrait was missing one person, however.

“Pssst. Sunny,” he called to her as quietly as was possible for him, though that wasn’t quiet enough, for Sunny’s mother looked up from her cooking, having finished making two slices of French toast.

“It’s alright. You’re allowed to explore a bit. You really haven’t been here in a while,” she chuckled, glancing a little at Sunny, who was patiently waiting on the kitchen chair and looking up at her. Then, her gaze turned to Kel. “You want me to make a slice of toast for you? You are almost like family to us.”

A weak, flattered grin spread across Kel’s face as he lowered his hand from his neck. “Aww don’t say that….but I’ll take some toast. It looks yummy. Plus, I haven’t eaten that much for breakfast.”

As she walked over to Kel, Sunny wore a guilty look. Oh shoot, Kel didn’t mean to make her feel bad for dragging him out before he could eat anything!

Kel widened his grin at Sunny so he could somehow get the message across through (possibly)nonexistent telepathy.

Changing the subject was definitely something they would have to do now.

“Sooo, Sunny, I was looking at this group portrait of yours and I was wondering….where’d your dad go?”

Sunny stopped in her tracks in front of her family picture, eyes not actually looking at any of the people in the portrait.

As Kel clamped a hand over his mouth and his eyes widened, horror spread through him while his heart beat more quickly. No no no- he should have guessed this was a touchy topic, why was he ruining things—

“Split up with Mom,” Sunny signed to Kel after a pregnant pause filled with sounds of sizzling from the kitchen. “Was distant, anyways.”

Not wanting to see the look in Sunny’s eyes, Kel turned his head away from his friend. “….sorry.”

“You didn’t know.” Sunny practically whispered the words.

“I— I should’ve read the room,” Kel tried justifying why he was to blame. Maybe the only reason Sunny was excusing this was that she pitied him or something. Possibly she only pitied him, didn’t actually want to be his friend, maybe that was the only reason she’d even pulled him out of his house in the first place—

“Hey.” There were two pale hands on his shoulders, and Kel looked up only to stare into a pair of dark eyes. Sunny continued speaking softly, “Don’t beat yourself up over that. It’s just stupid.” Sunny took one hand off of Kel’s shoulder as she stared at an empty space next to the Mari in the portrait. “Stupid…” To whom she was actually addressing this insult now was obvious.

Kel let out a huge breath he’d apparently been holding in.

“Basil’s also stupid,” he heard Sunny mutter to herself - okay, maybe partially to him. “He just isn’t the same…”

Honestly, he didn’t want to know. Maybe Sunny was just in jest. That’s it. She was just joking that Basil had changed…..for the better!

What was the whole “leaving Basil out of my friend list” about, though, Sunny?

Easily distracted by a flight of stairs to the left, Kel ran towards it, calling to Sunny, “Hey, is it okay if we check out your and Mari’s room?”

Not hearing footsteps running after him, he stopped on the second step from the ground and whipped about to face Sunny.

“We have separate rooms now,” Sunny signed to him, walking with no rush towards Kel. “She is at college now.”

Rolling his eyes while rushing up the staircase, Kel scoffed, “Wow, soooo clever, Sunny.”

Sunny smirked as she caught up with Kel, even zooming past him to a door on the right.

While Kel huffed and puffed, Sunny’s look sobered as she seemed to remember how he hadn’t even eaten properly yet. “We’re going to take just one look at the room and then I’m taking you downstairs to eat,” a deadly glint was in her eye as she continued to sign, “Even if I have to push you down the stairs to do so.”

“Ugh, okay okay fine!” Kel childishly whined as Sunny shoved open the door.

Two beds lay parallelly to each other on Kel’s left, marking two territories. On one side were lots of trophies, not unlike the few Kel had, while the other side had….some certificates and two medals - one was silver and the other was gold.

Sunny ran over to her own bed - the one on the right with the two medals - and pulled a case out, showing it off to Kel.

“So you do play the violin still,” Kel smiled at her. “Did you get all those certificates and stuff for it? Oh, does Mari still play the piano?”

For the first question, Sunny shook her head as she placed the violin case carefully upon her neatly folded bedsheets. The answer to what Kel could assume was the second question was a shrug, followed by Sunny muttering, “For fun sometimes.”

Kel could only guess that perhaps the studying kept Mari from practicing piano everyday. Perhaps there wasn’t even a piano at all in her college.

“Haruka Suzuki, if you don’t come downstairs right now, Kel’s French toast is going to go ice cold!” Sunny’s mother’s voice rang from downstairs.

“Wait, Sunny isn’t your real name?” Kel questioned, mouth open in wonder, staring at Sunny. “Sorry if I forgot or anything….but how’d it become a nickname?”

“Spelling error,” Sunny replied with a huff, then sprinted out of her - and Mari’s - room, meaning for Kel to follow her.

Despite almost falling down the formidable stairs, “Mission: Making it safely and swiftly to the first floor” was a success!

Munching into his savory slice of French toast, Kel withheld the urge to talk while eating. Without talking right now, he was satisfied anyways, for his stomach was full at the moment. Plus, Sunny’s house was a nice break from the incessant heat from the summer sun outside.

The toast tasted more like omelet than bread.

Only Hero would have been able to bring out the taste in both sides…..he really was - no, is - a good cook. Shame he was still at college right now.

Right?

His head throbbed again, this time not from the heat.

Sunny’s crunching on her own French toast served to distract Kel from the pain. With the way she was loudly chewing the bread, one would have thought she was trying to eat a piece of stale, expired steak.

Full of toast….as well as the pizza from earlier at Gino's…Kel rose from his seat with difficulty, for he had forgotten to push back his chair. For half a minute he was sandwiched between his tilted chair and the table’s edge.

"Ah, there," Kel sighed when he'd pushed his chair back enough so he had enough wriggle space to leave the table. "Uhhh sorry," he sent an apologetic look to the concerned mother of Sunny and the deadpan Sunny herself.

"Are you two planning to hang out more today?" Sunny’s mother asked, leaning her elbows against the table as her palms cupped her cheeks.

Sunny imitated Kel by getting up from her chair, too, and walked over to him. Ms. Suzuki took that as affirmation.

Putting the second half of her French toast to her mouth, she said, "Alright, stay safe! Remember to look both ways before crossing the road and don't accept things from strangers!" Then she stuffed the toast into her mouth, humming in contentment.

After reassuring her mother with a thumbs-up, Sunny grabbed her notepad and headed to the doorway to wear her shoes, Kel following her lead.

Though Kel had been expecting the sun's rays to hit him like a bullet the moment he would set foot outside, those expectations weren't fulfilled. Clouds filtered the sun's light into gray, duller shades which weren't any less pleasant in terms of aesthetics.

Rough rubbing noises as well as how Sunny slowed down her walking told Kel that she was attempting to produce an image of this lovely cloudy sky upon a page of her notepad.

Naturally being half a head taller than her, Kel bent his head over Sunny’s shoulder as easy as pie.

"That looks accurate!" He praised her.

Not disturbed by the fact that Kel was literally breathing down her neck, Sunny replied curtly, "Mincy's better though."

The lack of jealousy in her tone revealed her genuine admiration for the sweet bespectacled artist.

"Oh well, we'll see," teased Kel.

No response was there, though Kel was sure he had made Sunny smile. This hypothetical expression was difficult to confirm, however, seeing as Kel was behind her.

Continuing her stroll, Sunny resumed doodling upon the same page as the newly energized Kel walked beside her.

Trees came to being on the paper, by the magic of Sunny’s pencil.

Sunny didn’t seem to be paying attention at a certain moment that Kel was beside her and able to see what she was drawing, as her pencil started to lightly sketch a familiar girl.

Aubrey, Kel recognized.

With an abrupt halt, Sunny quickly flipped her pencil and almost crumpled the whole notebook page via her ferocious erasing.

"That was a pretty good drawing, Sunny!" Kel complimented again. Though his repetitive praises may seem fake or forced, they really weren't. Just….no other adjectives came to mind, though it was genuine.

Red tinted Sunny’s face, and she looked away from Kel. Wow, it must be super warm out here for Sunny, that her face must have burnt up like that.

"Oh, I've got an idea!" Kel said after a long time of watching some jock toss a crumpled wad of paper into the nearby recycling bin as he walked by the two friends. "You," he pointed at Sunny, who surveyed him in interest, "could sit in the shade and watch me play basketball! There are a lot of trees near the court you can sit under, by the way!"

"'S not that hot, but if you say so," Sunny told him, a corner of her lips lifting up.

"There should be some basketballs at the court already," Kel muttered to himself as the court came into view.

No spherical orange shape or shapes came into view against the rust-red of the court's ground.

Silently swearing at himself, Kel hoped that there was some basketball elsewhere he couldn't see.

That wasn't proven to be the case. Sunny exhaled so silently that only Kel could hear, sparking a feeling of shame into Kel’s soul.

He'd brought her all the way here for nothing. Idiotic Kel. Never prepared beforehand for anything. Kel should have brought along a basketball—

"Y-You could sit in the shade, Sunny," Kel muttered quietly to Sunny, responding to her look of curious worry at Kel’s almost blank expression.

He gave his sleeve a good squeeze. What on earth was he supposed to do now? Just run around like an idiot on the court without any objective?

His arm was being pulled, making the hand squeezing his sleeve fall to his side in the process.

"Sit in the shade with me, then," Sunny told him as if she were simply exhaling the words.

Kel pulled his arm away from Sunny’s hand, and followed after her to a tree with particularly larger branches, and with that came a canopy of leaves. This left a cooler sanctuary.

Sunny had already plopped herself down on the grass under the tree, hugging her knees to herself. Her notepad was clutched securely in her left hand and her pencil was tucked behind her left ear.

Head resting against the rough bark of the tree - a pretty good pillow, surprisingly - Kel allowed himself to sit there, think a little, and close his eyes; but without sleeping.

Kids were yelling at each other in the background….some of those voices were rather familiar - no, Kel, don't think about that - and he felt a quick whoosh of air next to him.

His eyes flew open when the sound of arguing and an exchange of blows grew clearer.

Sunny wasn't next to him anymore. In a whoosh of air, she had gone…..to the park?

Oh no. Oh no no.

Kel’s eyes must have been deceiving him. Definitely.

What he saw wasn't real…..though he must make absolutely sure of it.

Getting up was a hassle, for Kel had to try everything he could so as to not tip over from momentary dizziness.

Eventually, he gathered his bearings and dashed to the park, his shallow breathing causing him discomfort and stabbing at his lungs.

Already there was Sunny, who was approaching the two people in the altercation.

"Aubrey, you total thief!" growled a boy, dressed in brown overalls over a bright green shirt, and messier hair than when Kel had last seen him, and a…hat? Cap? Which rested upon the blonde nest of locks. "You want me to ask again, huh? That photo album was mine, not yours!"

"Was," cackled a girl in a yellow shirt, not very far from and opposite him, kneeling on the ground in such a way that Kel could assume she was keeling over in pain. The way she held her stomach corroborated this fact. She looked up with a defiant wince, shaking her head so the brown hair from her ponytail didn’t come in her face. "It 'was' your album. You've said it yourself, Basil.”

Basil? That cold, rude boy with messy blonde hair was BASIL???

“N-Nobody wants to hear what you're saying, smart aleck,” Basil said quietly with both his fists and teeth clenched. Even Kel could tell he was embarrassed.

Kel stood there, frozen while Sunny came in between the two and roughly pushed Basil back, a rare yet terrifying moment of anger in her eyes.

One thing was known to Kel from this.

This wasn’t anything new. Suddenly, he knew the answer to how Sunny had gotten those scratches and that one bandage on her face.

Or was Kel’s guess wrong, and this was completely new! Maybe Kel could help them all reconcile again! He and Aubrey had had lots of fights themselves in the past, which had always been fixed eventually.

Finally, both the girl on the ground and Basil turned their heads to Kel, his heavy and ragged breathing from running no doubt alerting them to his presence.

“…Kel.”

Basil’s eyes, a bright shade of blue, used to be comforting, soft, and gentle. Now they were like ice cubes, and not the comfortably cool types in ice packs. These were sharp spears made of ice.

Though Kel was a good amount taller than Basil - especially with the latter being on the ground right now, he still shivered in his shoes.

Pushing himself up from the ground with his bruised hands, Basil never took his eyes off of Kel….though he never looked directly into his eyes. The boy had had difficulties looking people in the eye anyways in the past.

“Y-You— you really had to come back now, huh?” Basil grimaced at Kel, whose heart beat fast with confusing emotions kicking up a whole storm.

The buzzing in his head grew louder than a whole pack of aggravated bees.

“Awww, Basil, you wanna’ bully Kel too or something?” The girl on the ground from earlier, being helped up by Sunny, mocked. Her voice, though it had obviously matured, was undeniably Aubrey’s. She blew her front hair out of her face, which had more scratches than Sunny’s face had. “He’s probably all tired from playing with himself in his little house for four years. Give him a break, you desperate emo.”

So this is what Sunny had meant when drawing those chibi versions of Aubrey and Basil being mad at each other, huh?

Basil turned his icy blue eyes upon Aubrey, and suddenly the summer heat turned oppressive again. Skin itching, Kel felt the sweat drops already before they had even fallen. He wasn’t about to witness anything…drastic, was he?

A stern look on her face, Sunny shortened the distance between herself and Basil, and put a firm hand on his shoulder. “Stop. We don’t have to fight.”

Scoffing, Basil wiggled his shoulder so Sunny’s hand would fall off. “Not a chance, Sun— H-Haruka. You little know-it-all.”

As he took a step forward, Sunny, while still being in his way, stepped back, her face level with Basil’s. Her lips pursed up again, eyebrows knit together and eyes narrowed.

“I. Said. Back off!” Basil reached into the pocket of his overalls and brandished something shiny in the air. In the blinding sunlight, the gardening shears clasped in both his hands and waved before him almost seemed to glow. Sunny quickly backed up, yet didn’t let him within range of Aubrey.

Hands subtly trembling yet tightly gripping the shears, Basil yelped, “Get out of the way, Haruka!”

Kel’s eyes dashed over the scene, going back and forth from Aubrey trying to mask her worried expression, to Sunny biting her lip as her eyes focused upon the shears in Basil’s hands, a small hint of fear on her face.

Something must be done.

When Sunny proved unrelenting, Basil raised his hand - with the shears in it - and the blade barely grazed the girl’s face, adding a newer scratch to the collection. It was hard to miss, so Basil must have been trying not to hit any….vital areas.

“AAAAAH! Ooourgh….” Basil groaned, clutching his hand to his chest as he fell to his knees upon the playground floor. Tears glistened in his eyes as he pressed them shut.

Pencil in hand, with the sharp end stained by Basil’s blood, Sunny looked down at him in regret and somewhat disdain as she slowly backed away from Basil.

This had to stop, Kel thought as he approached the two a little closer. It was getting out of hand and too dangerous. Swallowing his fear and taking a deep breath, Kel—

“Haruka, y-you freak!” The blonde seethed, slowly getting up. “O-Only someone like you would carry sh-sharp things around, of course! Why would I expect anything different from you?”

As he prepared to lunge at Sunny, who held her pencil at the ready and had a savage look in her eye, something stopped him.

Something with a pair of long, strong arms.

Whipping his head to see what - or who - was behind him, Basil gasped upon seeing Kel hold him back by the shearless arm.

Dark eyes met blue, and Basil’s shears dropped upon the grass, the soft sound of grass crumpling as it did so.

This rare moment of eye contact was broken, thankfully for Kel’s throbbing heart. Tackling someone with a potentially deadly weapon was scary enough.

“Should have expected that from you, of all people, Kel,” Basil grumbled as he looked away, wrenching his arm out of Kel’s grip.

Kel dropped to the ground quickly and grabbed the shears, stowing them in his pocket. Hopefully, this would go unseen by Basil, who looked in the direction of Aubrey and Sunny, though not actually at them.

“U-Um, let me see that,” Kel took Basil’s freshly wounded other hand in his, still not able to believe that Basil had become….this distant.

Although Aubrey was behind Sunny, arms folded, Kel was still able to feel her blank gaze on himself as he held Basil’s wounded hand in his. There was a mildly deep scratch across the back of his hand, making Kel wince as he thought of how much pain Basil must be feeling right now.

“Might need a bandage for tha—“ Kel was cut off by Basil whipping his hand out of Kel’s, and as he looked away, Kel noticed his ears going pink.

“J-Just go away….” Basil’s voice trembled, and he ran away from the other three, leaving Kel crestfallen. Something which suspiciously resembled a sniffle from the humiliated boy was audible to Kel, making him frown.

Frankly, when Sunny hadn’t mentioned Basil on her friend list and had labeled him an idiot, this disaster wasn’t expected.

“What was that all about?” Kel turned to the two girls in confusion.

Chapter Text

“Oh, nothing unusual,” huffed Aubrey in response to his question, decidedly staring away from Kel, hand on her hip. “Basil just woke up today and chose violence!”

A shiver from Aubrey ensued when a certain dark-eyed glare was sent her way via Sunny. “Stop joking around.” The pigtails girl played with her hair, eyes downcast. “I-I….really didn’t want you to see that. Kel.”

Kel tilted his head, eyes squinted and eyebrows furrowed, while looking at the two, until something in his mind clicked. Something which explained Sunny’s rush to get Kel through town, wasting no time on sightseeing. Something which Kel had heard when he and Sunny were at the park earlier, a green blur which his eyes had barely missed.

Basil was the “green blur” which had whipped past Kel and Sunny at the park. That was whom Sunny had been staring at in fear.

And then, there was how Sunny hadn’t listed Basil down as one of her friends, and how Basil called Sunny by her formal name instead of the nickname, “Sunny.”

That the situation was this extreme hadn’t been expected by Kel.

A sweat drop ran down the side of Kel’s face.

“H-He’s been…..b-bullying you guys?” Kel weakly questioned, his hands fidgeting with each other.

Tucking her pencil - the graphite that of which she had wiped clean - back behind her ear, Sunny then pointed to herself, shook her head, then pointed at Aubrey.

“Um, no, Sunny,” Aubrey rolled her eyes, still not looking at Kel now that his eyes were on her, “I’m pretty sure Basil’s new….attitude towards you is something called ‘bullying.’”

Sunny elbowed Aubrey in response, looking away from her. Judging from Aubrey’s reaction to this attack, Sunny didn’t elbow her that harshly.

“How….how did all this start?” muttered Kel to himself, feeling like sinking down into the playground floor.

“Huh? Couldn’t hear ya’!” Aubrey’s obnoxious voice rang in Kel’s ears, making him snap up his head.

He hollered back, temper ignited, “I SAID, HOW THE HELL DID THIS HAPPEN?” As his throat began to hurt with something suspiciously like tears springing to his eyes, Kel averted his gaze so the other two couldn’t see. He would never cry in front of girls…or anyone, actually. Slowly, he spoke so as to hide the tremor corrupting his voice. “Basil….I thought he was so nice….how could he….”

“Yeah yeah, reality isn’t that flattering and all, so suck it up,” Aubrey stuck out her tongue a little, which Kel could see from the corner of his eye.

Putting a finger against Aubrey’s lips to shut her up, Sunny tightened her hold on her sketchbook and made direct eye contact with the other girl. “Quiet.”

Blood rushed to Aubrey’s cheeks as she turned her head away, forcing Sunny’s finger away.

Many deep breaths were taken by Kel as he tried keeping control of his anger.

“Photo album,” Sunny told Kel as an answer to his - somewhat rhetorical - question, not before rolling her eyes at Aubrey’s attitude and folding her arms across her chest. “Basil’s blaming Aubrey for it….” Sunny gestured vaguely as to show something disappearing.

“Well, I took it!” smirked Aubrey, putting her hands behind her head as if in relaxation. “And I don’t regret it a single bit.”

“B-But…Basil knows the album’s basically for all of us, right?” Kel reasoned, ignoring Aubrey’s passive aggression. “After all, most of the photos there are of us.”

As she tensed up, Sunny shut her mouth tightly until her lips were squished. “Mari gave it to him first,” she signed, and it was Aubrey’s turn to roll her eyes with an exaggerated groan. Side-eyeing the girl, Sunny continued, “He feels like he’s its true owner.”

“You know what?” resolutely, Kel straightened up his posture and strode ahead, in the direction where Basil had just retreated. “I’m gonna’ knock some sense into him - not violently though! Just gonna’ talk a little…”

He heard a mutter, “Idiot,” from Sunny behind him.

Aubrey’s loud voice was audible now. “Oh Kel, you really think we haven’t been doing that for the past three years? You’re as dumb as when I last saw you. Maybe living without Hero has dumbed you down a little—”

There was a soft thump, and after stopping to look around, Kel could deduce, by how the scowling Aubrey was rubbing her side and Sunny had an elbow at the ready, that Aubrey had received quite the elbowing.

Wait….

“Why’d you even steal the album in the first place, Aubrey?”

As soon as the words escaped past Kel’s lips, the girl scowled. Still, her gaze was trained upon Sunny next to her. Almost on purpose. Certainly on purpose.

In a brief moment, she knowingly glanced into Kel’s eyes.

Such a seemingly insignificant action made his stomach twist and head ring like a slowed version of an alarm clock.

He could feel a pen clutched in his sweaty hands as he hastily scribbled over blank, fake, absolutely fake printed faces. Adding to the ringing in his head, a girl’s menacingly quiet voice could be heard, demanding an answer to what he was doing.

“Ugh….I’m going,” Aubrey headed away from Kel and Sunny with a lazy wave goodbye, in the direction of the….church?

All Kel could do at the moment was just stand there, petrified as Sunny ran to Aubrey.

What was that just now? He’d never remembered holding a pen….defacing such heartwarming photos like that…..

No, Kel thought as he also ran after Sunny. That’s not important right now.

Having already reached Aubrey, Sunny gave her a tug on the yellow(a shade typical of an equally typical raincoat) sleeve of her shirt using her free hand.

Aubrey’s face softened the slightest bit after Sunny’s eyes met hers, or at least that was what Kel could have made out from here. It was not to be assumed he knew his friends’ mannerisms that well anymore.

The emptiness and hostility in Basil’s eyes ingrained themselves into his head.

Or Kel just hadn’t tried hard enough. How could he, when something kept him from avoiding them and binding him to mainly his own life—

Resisting the urge to smack himself in the head, Kel kept his distance from Aubrey. Which meant also distancing himself from Sunny, not that his confused mind cared.

How much had they all changed— ah yes, back to overthinking again, huh, Kel?

Kel had to swallow his fear, just approach Aubrey, and face head-on why she was inadvertently making him feel discomfort at the moment. Wasn’t that the only thing Kel would ever actually be useful for?

As the girl in the ponytail and yellow shirt opened her mouth to say something to Sunny, the momentary softness still in her eyes, he strode over to his two friends, swallowing his cowardice(could it be called that?).

Her lips pursed as she sensed Kel’s approach via the sound of his footsteps, which weren’t as loud as they were when they were all younger but…..still pretty loud.

He noticed the physical difficulty with which Aubrey had to tear her eyes from Sunny’s, and a faint, guilty flush. Now, her face was directly turned to Kel.

Kel’s focus was hardly upon the fact that Aubrey was raising an amused brow at how unkempt his hair was, but that her gaze was directly upon him for longer than a few moments.

Swallow.

Then he immediately had to hold in a coughing fit caused by his suddenly(and conveniently) dry throat.

Blood leaking onto pavement with likeness to wine, a pitiful, helpless form crushed under the wheels—

It’s just Aubrey, Kel thought while wincing, clenching his fists, and staring back at her.

“You really thought you could just show up here after all these years, huh?” Aubrey smirked, some disgust in her eyes which wasn’t just a reaction to the state of Kel’s hair. “After what you di— never mind, forget it. I’m going,” she said the last part with such determination that Sunny immediately let go of her sleeve and stared after her.

Though Sunny’s face was turned away from the frozen Kel, he could guess there was some hopeless longing in her expression. After all, who would want to be left alone by their friend with HIM of all people— no Kel, don’t think like that. Sunny reached out to you first, remember?

His legs felt the sudden urge to move, commanded by his very anxious mind. He walked towards Sunny, who still stared after Aubrey’s retreating figure.

“We’ve gotta’ go find Basil, Sunny,” Kel urged her as she stared at him questioningly with her dark eyes. “We have to make things right— I’m sorry I wasn’t here for you guys earlier….” He looked to the side in shame as he mumbled this apology.

“Don’t,” Sunny said, though whether it was an answer to Kel’s apology or to finding Basil, Kel didn’t know.

A clear answer was given sooner than he thought, for Sunny headed in a direction which wasn’t where Basil had run away.

After Kel jogged to keep up with her brisk walking, Sunny mumbled as soon as he was close enough, “It’s alright that you weren’t able to talk with us. I’ve forgiven you a long time ago.”

There was a pause filled by only the sounds of two sets of footsteps - a quiet, dainty padding of shoes against the ground and the other set being loud steps - heading in the direction of the unoccupied basketball court.

“I would’ve done the same as you did had I been in….your shoes, you know. Locking myself away from you all…..”

This statement from Sunny made Kel pause in his walking and turn to her in disbelief.

“What do you mean….in my shoes?” Kel asked incredulously, standing there stupidly at the court’s edge.

Sunny stared directly in Kel’s face, and genuine guilt flashed across her eyes before she turned her gaze to her notebook as she sat upon the grass bordering the court.

“Never mind,” she said before clamming up and furiously drawing in her notebook. Upon a closer look, Kel saw she was drawing cats…..Mewo?

That unexpectedly unearthed memories of the dark furball which stuck with Sunny, even when Kel and the others came over. Kel himself wasn’t quite sure if the cat had even favored him at all, though that couldn’t stop him from feeling affection for Mewo despite his younger self having sworn that he would never like cats.

Asking, “Hey, Sunny, what’s happened to that cat of yours? Mewo, right? Is she, like, dead now?” would be super insensitive. Kel himself would know this, from….the thing with Hector.

Only now did Kel pay attention to Sunny furiously signing something to him, her notebook placed on the grass on her left.

“Oh, you want me to sit next to you? Sure!” Kel replied in excitement, relieved that Sunny wanted to do a “friends” thing with him.

“Your art’s super cool though,” he sighed, not thinking that Sunny might be fed up with the repetitive praise. “There’s an art club in my school….what about yours?”

Continuing to sketch, Sunny answered, “Yeah, it has one. I’m part of it.”

“I’m assuming you’ve met Mincy there— wait, you two go to the same school???” Kel yelled out, hands over his mouth dramatically.

“Yeah,” Sunny repeated with a scoff. “How else?” Her tone was progressively increasing in annoyance, though whether it was at the perfect curve she was trying to draw but kept erasing, or at Kel himself, couldn’t be deciphered.

Quite natural was the feeling of rambling to Sunny again, however. On the other hand, there was something missing, several parts to be specific. To be as specific as the most oddly specific detail, there were four other parts missing.

His gaze was drawn by Sunny’s bent-over head, to her well-kept black hair and pigtails, her pretty red hair ties. Again came the feeling of jealousy. Sunny was quite….neat and tidy actually. The envy grew stronger, as he grew more self conscious of his own, messier hair(in comparison to Sunny’s). He hadn’t had much time to tidy it up.

If only Kel could have his life together like that—

But his life was already together....right?

Embarrassed of this moment of...cheesiness, he flushed. Kel seriously needed a change in topic, though first there needed to be one to begin with.

“It’s actually getting late. Maybe we could go home after this?” he questioned Sunny, peering over her shoulder to see her drawing in progress. His flush was cooled by the light wind.

Sunny’s pencil stopped scratching against paper as her head tilted up to observe the sky…..which was a pale blue instead of a vibrant shade.

In the distance, people were walking together and laughing, shopping bags in their hands. Presumably, they were heading home.

"Oh," Sunny blankly stated, tucking her pencil behind her ear by instinct and shutting her notebook. "Dinner's in fifteen…."

As Sunny was rising from her seat in the grass, Kel gasped at how urgently Sunny was acting. Still not getting up, he countered, "You've got to eat in fifteen minutes, though. That's enough time left."

She stared down at Kel with her brows knit together. "Have to be there sometime before," she told him, rolling her eyes.

After Sunny walked away from Kel a few steps, she turned back to him, eyes lighting up with expectation.

Her hand made a waving gesture, which definitely wasn't for waving Kel goodbye. Rather, it was more beckoning.

Cursing himself for thinking Sunny would leave him behind to walk home alone, Kel awkwardly pushed himself off of the ground. Using his hands to do that was quite the folly, judging by the amount of brown particles and tiny strands of loose grass he saw on them after he stood up.

This earned a grimace from Kel. Going to the bathroom of his house would have to be his first task once he'd reach home.

A throat cleared, and Kel looked up from his hands at the only other person who could have made the noise. Sunny tapped her foot with impatience, the sound muffled by grass and soft soil.

"Sorry for blanking out like that," Kel fell into step beside Sunny as the sky progressively grew darker and of a more rosy shade. "I just couldn't believe how dirty my hands were."

Sunny gave him a bombastic side-eye, a criminal offensive one too, as a response. That she was also quietly regarding his hands was Kel’s accurate guess.

"It's alright, I won’t….er— hug you or anything with these hands," he awkwardly reassured her, reminded of the times he'd refuse to hold Aubrey’s hands in the past with his "cooties" excuse.

Doors gently shut as the duo passed by the shops in Faraway. The familiar "bread twins" were seen closing their shop's doors from the outside, locking them securely and heading away, presumably to their house.

From some other direction far away, Mincy and Cris were…..holding hands while admiring the sky. Mincy said something while pointing to Cris' hair and then to the sky again, making the blue-haired girl's face light up like a reddish-pink lamp.

These two walked away without seeing Kel and Sunny, who were, again, quite far away from them.

The pigtailed girl and taller boy exchanged looks at this interaction between their friends, saying no more about it.

Heading past Sunny’s home, they stopped in front of a familiar house with the rose bushes planted in the empty driveway and front yard.

Flowers.

Basil.

The earlier, negative reaction of his other friends, Aubrey and Basil, to Kel being there had seriously slipped his mind. Not that he didn’t want to forget it….but wasn’t remembering that crucial to reconciling with them in the first place?

In no time at all, they were at Kel’s front door.

Kel stared at the brushed black hair on the head in front of him in deep thought. Oh. He was home now. His thoughts cleared away. Mamá shouldn't have to see his face to know something was burdening his mind. Smile. Look satisfied, at least. Fists clenched, he shifted beside Sunny and knocked on his own door.

Answering his quiet knocking was a woman with hair secured in a messy brown bun, as expected.

"Ah," she stared at the dark-eyed, pale girl next to Kel and finally Kel himself, as relief was slowly written across her features, "thank you, Sunny, for bringing him home safely! Kelsey here never goes out with friends." She pulled Kel in by the arm and ruffled his hair, exacerbating the mess of a bird's nest by pulling some strands out from his small ponytail.

“Mmhmm,” Sunny gave Kel’s mother a small grin laced with warmth, face aglow, an expression the woman returned.

As quickly as Sunny checked the sky, she strode briskly out of Kel’s front yard without a goodbye…..wait, she stopped at the last second and gave a little wave to Kel and his mother. Only then did she nope the heck out of there and to her house.

“Sure hope I didn’t make her late,” thought Kel as he stared after the running girl, his mother slowly shutting the door behind her.

“Oh, um—“ Kel found himself stuttering as his mother turned from the door to face him with a soft smile. “You saw my note, right?”

His mother beamed at him, and confirmed this. “Yes. I’m so happy for you, you’ve reunited with your friends after many years! We have to tell your papá about this.”

“I-It’s not a big deal…..” sheepishly, Kel commented, his face turning red with bashfulness as his mother approached the telephone.

“You know what? It is!” His mother was as determined as that one unruly strand of hair which just wouldn’t get out of Kel’s eyes and face. She stopped in her tracks, not bothering to near the telephone anymore. “And it is so important I’ll tell your father in person. If he ever comes home right this instant,” she mumbled that last part with a scowl as she tightly crossed her arms across her chest.

“…..” Kel couldn’t utter a single word, being too stunned to speak. What did he have to do again, what did he have to do— oh. “Uh, I’m gonna’ go study, love ya’!” As he escaped to the living room, the sounds of his mother grumbling about his looking at books too often.

“I’m making dinner tonight!” he heard her yell across the house.

Sigh. Tomorrow was Sunday. A younger Kel would have thrown a tantrum about that, annoying both his parents and Hero, who’d try placating him despite his own irritation.

This memory invoked a chuckle from Kel.

If only Hero could just come home from college soon….so sad that people weren’t talking about him, wondering how he was doing. Not that Kel himself was…..for some reason.

Well, the reason was known to him. He knew Hero was doing just fine in college! Hero was always the smarter one, he’d get through just fine as smooth as butter.

Something was wrong.

Again he had that thought.

Maybe….Kel shouldn’t think about Hero for a second. Perhaps he was overthinking things unknowingly about all that could go wrong in Hero’s college adventure. No, he had forgotten one thing. Hero had Mari in the same college as him, and she would definitely swoop in to save him like a knight in shining armor at any moment.

Now, he was definitely overthinking, which was a very un-Kel thing to do because the surface-level Kel everyone knew never thought before doing regular things, such as speaking.

Something else to think about……something else…….

Oh, how would he ever get the friend group back together? He wondered distressfully as he picked his books out of his backpack and skimmed through the remaining things that needed to be learned for the rest of the school year.

The two only, well, only children of the group, Aubrey and Basil, were at each other’s throats, because Basil seemed to initiate the fights….Aubrey had “stolen” his photo album, too. That was the root of Basil’s aggression, though Aubrey didn’t seem to want to give up the album anytime soon.

If only there was a single solution to make everyone happy. No compromises. Only then would things go back to how they were before. Only then could Kel make up for leaving his friends when they needed him. The problem with Aubrey stealing Basil’s photo album could have been nipped in the bud, even, had someone like Mari or Hero been there to solve it. Or even Kel himself would have been able to find a solution, no matter how incompetent he was, for the matter would have been way simpler back then.

He lifted his legs to rest upon the seat of the couch, back leaning against the couch arm. Real-life problems, Kel mused, were super complicated. But this math problem he was ogling at the moment was super simple. Just one solution. No complicated schemes which would make Kel’s head hurt….or explode.

His jagged fingernail pierced into the page of the textbook, right onto where the solution to a problem was printed out. Feeling his nail actually cut through the paper, Kel cringed and shifted the book to hold it differently.

Truly, he hadn’t been expecting Basil, of all people, to have been behaving that way, especially to Aubrey. His first ever friend. That didn’t make sense.

How did Basil go from one of Kel’s friends to a mean bully?

Sounds of a spatula banging against a pan interrupted Kel’s overthinking and theorizing.

“Dinner’s ready! I’ve made your favorites!”

Filled with chicken with mole sauce and tomato soup, a satisfied Kel retired to his “bed” on the couch….in his outside clothes.

"Hmph. Kel…." he heard his mother sigh, while his eyes were closed. He knew that the cause of her sighing was his out-of-place sleeping attire.

Muttering something about teenagers nowadays, his mother walked away from the couch, then up the stairs.

Kel snuggled into his soft couch, his shirt contributing to the warmth.

Engines were running in the driveway, almost completely waking Kel up - though he was somewhat conscious still. Oh. Papá was home.

Lying as still as a board, Kel wanted to breathe as deeply and noisily as possible so he could feign deep sleep….while he also wanted to be as quiet as possible, like a mouse for some reason.

Well, carrying out that plan proved to be too late, for the front door clicked open, introducing the entering person to the darkness within the house.

Shoes were being taken off and placed upon the ground with a light thump.

The footsteps of his father were recognizable. And they were approaching Kel’s couch.

For a moment, the steps halted there, then faded away. Kel dared not open his eyes even a little peep. He already knew his father was heading away from the couch, anyways…..but he could always suddenly come back to check if Kel’s sleeping was authentic.

Kel’s guess was right on the money. Only the sounds of something soft and heavy dragging on the floor accompanied the footsteps.

As soon as something warm was draped over him, Kel knew what exactly his father had been dragging across the floor.

"Sleep tight," Kel heard his father's voice whisper before he heard the creaking of stairs ascending the flight.

His eyes opened a crack. An orange blanket with navy blue stripes - a blue shade which he wouldn't have been able to tell from black in the dark had the blanket not been etched into his heart by now - was over him, and his father had apparently gone up the stairs to the bedroom.

The mere thoughtfulness of giving him a blanket made a small, genuine smile appear across Kel’s features.

His smile took a long time to slip off of his face while he himself slipped into dreamland.

"Chip. There's no time to sleep."

Chip’s eyes flicked open to see a girl bending over him, urgency in her expression.

"Sunny? Where are the others—" questioned Chip after being helped up by her, wincing at how hard the ground of the basketball court was.

"Well," Sunny played with the orange bow resting in her black hair, which was divided into two black pigtails via black hair ties, "one second, we were all fighting Mr. Plantegg." She grimaced visibly. "I think I got hit….that's how I got back here. Then I tried looking for the others - Hero tried helping - and I got tired and thirsty enough to drink a random potion lying somewhere. And that's how I'm like," she gestured at her hair, "this."

"Nice of you to check back here," Chip sighed in relief, then gave Sunny a warm smile. "I could help you look for the others. You could count on me!"

In no time at all, he dragged Sunny by the hand through the grass surrounding the court, using the hand which wasn't holding his basketball.

"Hero," Chip sighed as he approached the Orange Joe stand, conveniently placed near where he and Sunny were standing. He let go of Sunny’s hand and sprinted to his older brother, Sunny following. "Mari and Basil are goneeee! They're safe, right? Right?"

Hero’s face screwed up in discomfort at this nagging from his younger brother on the stand's opposite side. As he clenched at the cloth of his shirt, he questioned with a furrowed brow, "What about Au—"

Mouth in an unnaturally thin line, Chip made a fidgeting motion with his free hand, and Hero’s visible apprehension disappeared at once.

"We wanna' know where the others are," Sunny reminded Hero, not unkindly.

Hero fanned himself as he looked up at the giant light in the sky in contemplation. "Hmmmmm…..hmmmmmm……"

Only then did they notice the destroyed, mutilated trees behind the stand. Suspiciously, there was a lack of other stands, too.

"Basil's going to faint if he sees this…." Chip heard Sunny mutter to herself.

"Don't lose hope, you two!" an encouraging voice reminded, its origin being Hero. "You could face whatever's out there, ruining those trees! I-I know you can!"

Chip looked straight at Hero, whose form was illuminated by….not the literal light above them all, but his own hopeful, inspiring glow. Truly, he was the best older brother anyone could have ever asked for.

Responding to Hero’s awkward grin with a confident one of his own, Chip tackled Hero with the speed of a bullet, wrapping his arms around him. Classic Hero ruffled his hair.

Soon, they separated, the younger of the two feeling a little pang of regret for not prolonging the hug.

"I suspect Mr. Plantegg," Sunny said quietly from behind Chip after the two set off and bid Hero farewell.

"Of stepping on the trees and destroying them and stuff?"

"He was able to knock you out."

Freezing in his tracks, Chip tensed. "What d'you mean—"

"Eh, nothing. I forgot what I was going to say."

"And that way it should stay," thought Chip, hiding his taut expression from Sunny, naturally since he was walking ahead of her.

As they passed a stump, Chip swore he could have seen a shadowy girl sprint forth from the concentric circles decorating the stump's insides.

He felt her white eyes boring into his head.

That she disappeared was easy to tell by how Chip felt no darkness near. Here, there was no such thing as a shadow in a place of eternal light. There never was.

And Chip would like to keep it that way, thank you very much.

"You think Mr. Plantegg would escape his literal land? Just to destroy some trees?" huffed Chip, strolling on lazily with his hand awkwardly behind his head. "Seems really petty."

"He is petty," deadpanned Sunny with a snort.

"Oh well, that doesn't excuse him from ruining all these pretty plants!"

"You're just saying that 'cause you don't want to see Basil sad. And you're all over him all the time…."

"H-Hey, quit it! Friends don't wanna' see each other sad anyways!"

"That’s not what I— never mind."

"See, Sunny? I'm always right." Chip smirked to himself.

"Shut up."

"Huh?? Oh gosh, Sunny, when we see Mari again, I'm telling her you said a bad word!" teased Chip, filling in a role that only someone else could have played. A shadowy someone, a vague stranger, who obstructed the light.

"Hmph."

Chip sensed her eye roll, and held in a laugh. They would find Basil and Mari soon, he was sure of it. No, he was certain.

Not if a walking, talking abomination in the shape of a cloud had something to say about it.

The fluffy cloud descended upon the ground in front of the two children, its little, thin black limbs holding its meager amount of weight.

"Is that cotton candy….?" Sunny asked, confused, from behind Chip.

"Even worse….it's cotton candy which can PEE!" exclaimed Chip in both horror and fascination, holding his basketball with both hands securely. "Get behind me, Sunny, there might be more from which this fluffy cloud came from…"

Sunny frowned at Chip so intensely that the back of his head felt it. One thing Chip knew was….Sunny didn’t get behind him.

"No need," Sunny said as the fluffy cloud in front of them both fell, a syringe embedded into its side. The cloud writhed pitifully before…..probably going to sleep for a very, very long time.

Chip exaggerated opening his mouth in shock that Sunny had thrown that syringe. "Oh my, Sunny, you’re all grown up and strong! You can defend yourself now!"

Excited, he made to give Sunny’s shoulder a violent pat to show his pride in her, when she forcibly moved away, eyes elsewhere.

The reason why was several other fluffy clouds behind Chip.

As the two turned around to face the clouds surrounding them from all sides, Chip thought having a little fun with these clouds before finding Mari and Basil wouldn't be too much of a crime.

Chapter Text

All tuckered out from the surprisingly ferocious fight given by the clouds, Chip and Sunny left behind a huge pile of fluffy carcasses with Orange Joe leaking onto the grass from them. Both their hands were devoid of any weapons at the moment, for they would obviously appear when needed.

"What are you looking for?" Sunny’s voice interrupted the heavy silence, causing Chip to stare directly at her frowny face. Grass crunched and folded under their feet. "Mari and Basil can't climb trees. You're wasting your time just looking at them."

Crossing his arms and frowning back at Sunny, Chip countered, "Give me a break! I was looking for something else…."

"Someone else," he thought.

Eventually someone else appeared as Chip and Sunny continued walking, the latter responding to Chip with an eyebrow raise. "Someone else" had a shock of messy brown hair, a protruding feature.

"HEROOO!!!!" an excited Chip yelled, sprinting towards the familiar Orange Joe stand, conveniently placed far from its original position. Several flowers were crushed under Chip’s harsh footsteps as he ran. "A bunch of peeing cotton candy came along and bothered us!"

Hero’s face had a default peaceful look to it, until it turned worried. "Oh….I've heard Orange Joe would be good for you. Yes Sunny," he sighed, giving Sunny, who was next to Chip now, a stern look. Chip winced at this.

"And those are called 'clouds,' Chip," reminded Hero.

"Isn't that the same thing?" huffed Chip, folding his arms as Sunny approached the stand for Orange Joe. Hero chose not to answer that question, Chip knew.

The stern look switched off, turning into one of worry as Sunny started downing her glass of Orange Joe at top speed. "No, Sunny, you might start coughing a lot and— just forget it." He said this last portion in exhaustion as he put his hand to his forehead, closing his eyes for a bit.

That left it to Chip to help Sunny not….choke or anything. He dared not to say "choke" out loud. Or anything to do with….dying—

No! Don't think about that - just watch Sunny drink and make sure nothing bad happens. You can do this, Chip. You HAVE to do this, Chip.

Dread slowly uncoiled and reared its ugly head deep within his gut, for reasons unknown.

Contemplation of whether he should also drink the Orange Joe or not to rejuvenate himself ran through his head. But drinking it would prove he was feeling weak at the moment to the others - Sunny and Hero. What if they became worried about him? What if any of them confronted him? What if it escalated into an argument and—

Cough cough

A horrified Chip turned his gaze upon the coughing Sunny. A half-empty glass was clutched by her pale hand, reaching for anything as support at this point. Copious amounts of Orange Joe were staining the grass, not unlike the way the liquid had flown out of the bodies of the clouds from earlier. Not unlike something. Not unlike bloo—

Sunny’s violent choking filled the air, and Chip could do nothing about it but look elsewhere, anywhere else but at his dying friend…..

Until he caught Chip’s eye.

It wasn't Hero.

The sunlight dimmed as everything else fell out of sight.

Air around Chip chilled, yet didn't make him emit a single shiver. He was too frozen in place to do so.

Yet there was enough light to highlight the blood dripping from Hero’s head, flowing down his featureless face.

His eyes opened once more to a clear, sunny sky, as he rested upon the familiar flat surface.

This place was truly safe, when the light from above was there to watch over him, and the basketball court guarded the area. A place where he felt fulfilled and at peace.

Unfortunately, this peace wouldn't last long.

The sounds of Sunny’s fatal choking burnt themselves into his ears.

Shaking slightly, Chip walked slowly up the stairs of the seats near the court, like he'd done many times before.

Crashed down upon the floor, with something leaking out of his wounds, Chip's vision slowly faded. And so opened Kel’s eyes.

"AAAUGH—" yelped Kel, sitting straight up in the couch, his blanket falling off of himself. The sun's light rays graced his blanket with warmth. Too much warmth.

Sweat pervaded his skin.

Whipping the blanket off of himself, Kel set his feet upon the ground on the side of the couch, motivated by his rumbling stomach.

Walking into the kitchen was an easy task - mostly due to the fact that it was daytime, or about dawn.

Out of the corner of his eye, Kel could see a faint silhouette. Of course, it disappeared when he actually turned around to stare at it, just like those weird transparent slug-like things he'd see at the edges of his vision when staring at the sky.

In the place of the silhouette was just the kitchen's corner, illuminated by the sun's warmth.

Kel steadied his breath as he opened the fridge with a shiver as a draft of cool air shoved itself up his face. Sitting on each floor of the fridge's interior were…..random bowls covered with aluminum foil.

The only "breakfast-worthy" item - in Kel’s eyes, at least - which could have been found was a milk container, its expiration date being a week and then some from now.

Tightening his grip on his sweater, Kel reached out a free hand, bracing himself for the numbing cold of the milk container upon first touch. He needed to push aside his disdain for milk at the moment for his hunger.

Sounds of the running microwave keeping him company, he rested his chin upon the counter….which was super painful but at least broke the trend of boredom - and actually restful sleep this time, look at that! - the day had started out with. His dark brown hair flowed onto the countertop around his head, no doubt spreading germs and dandruff everywhere.

As soon as the microwave beeped, Kel raised his head from the countertop, tucking his locks behind his ears and massaging his aching chin. Warmth spread through him as he touched the mug of milk, due to the obvious fact of the milk having been in the microwave for around three quarters of a minute.

His roasted tongue - a total exaggeration - harshly reminded Kel of how he had forgotten to stir the drink, so no hot pockets of milk could terrorize his mouth.

Stupid.

A grimace was worn on his face as he reached out for a nearby plastic spoon to stir the milk with.

Carefully, he set down the spoon on the counter next to the mug and took a small sip. Just right.

In no time at all, Kel downed the milk in one go….well, not exactly, but about that much.

Solid food was still craved by his stomach, which protested in the form of just flopping around in his body. Dizziness hit Kel like a rock as he keeled over on the kitchen floor in slight pain - no, extreme pain.

After an idea pushed itself into his mind sporadically, as Kel was experiencing these pains, he wondered, as he let himself curl his knees to his chest. How on Earth would he be able to go buy "normal" breakfast stuff at the store now?

Staggering to his feet, his mind made up, Kel made his way upstairs with some difficulty.

Luckily, his mother had actually washed and neatly folded his clothes, stowed away in the closet Kel checked. Guilt nibbled away at his heart as he thought of how much work she had to put in just to do this for Kel. Presently, he even missed how his mother had nagged at him in the past to do his chores….though his kid self - and present self, to be honest - had rarely felt motivation to work.

Kel was so useless. Couldn't even help his friends, not even help out in the house. Couldn't help his own family.

He gave his distracted self a good smack with the folded shirt he was holding momentarily. Obviously, the sudden feel of soft cloth against his face didn't hurt, though it served as a wakeup call.

Being free of his sweaty garments in place of cleaner ones was refreshing, Kel thought, promptly after setting his note to his parents upon the table.

None of them had woken up yet, of course.

Wouldn't have to have them worry over Kel being out at this time of day, so he wasn't complaining.

Pocketing the set of keys he used to unlock and lock his front door, Kel blessed the fact that there were two keys - the main door key and the car keys - then pocketed the door key and set out, without looking at the rose bushes.

There should be a grocery store around, Kel thought while walking along the sidewalk, eyeing the road for any cars. Especially speeding ones.

Despite having gone to the store a few times, the name of it slowly faded away from his memory over time, ever since three or four years ago. His grip on his pocketed wallet tightened. Better not let any potential pickpockets get the best of him.

Something sharp was also hanging around in his pocket….Basil’s gardening shears. Kel avoided touching these.

Cereal. That was on his mental shopping list. Despite having a trash memory in the morning - especially this early - Kel didn't bother making an actual shopping list on paper.

Well. It was only cereal. Nothing else was a possible candidate for being bought by Kel.

Oh, how wrong he would eventually be proven.

Like he was faced with the biggest plot twist of all time, Kel stood, shocked at the "CLOSED" sign over the grocery store door. How foolish it was of him to assume the stores in general would be opened this early.

With a defeated sigh, he dragged his feet on the way back home. Home wasn't what he reached yet, however.

"Maybe I could wait for the stores to get open," thought Kel as he sat on a bench in a slouching position his mother would be disappointed about. His back hurt so much when pressed against the wood that Kel hoped it wouldn't break……and that was referring to his back, not the wood.

In no time at all, as soon as he was starting to feel comfortable even when sitting on the hard wood of the bench, Kel stood back up again. Wouldn't people pass by, thinking he was a weirdo or something?

Something to do was very much needed at the moment. Kel couldn't just pace around on the sidewalk as he was somewhat doing right now…..well, he could, but his legs would get tired. Plus, his stomach was empty. Drinking milk in the morning wouldn't suffice. That was the reason Kel was even outside in the first place.

Honestly, one of the shops should actually be open, Kel thought, approaching the sound of footsteps which weren’t his own, and people talking.

All of this took Kel to Fix-It, and the sounds of talking came from—

"Oh gosh, Kel?" questioned Cris, running up to him with some panic in her eyes and voice. When she stopped in front of him, she brushed a strand of blue hair out of her face. Clearly, she had just woken up. Then, she looked at him again. "Could you….um….help me with something? I really didn't expect you to be here this early…."

Frowning, Kel scratched at the back of his head and looked away while grumbling, "What's that supposed to mean?"

"It's supposed to mean that I was gonna' ask you for some help with picking a thing out," responded Cris in delight, clasping her hands together. "I tried asking this other blonde guy and he wouldn't help…..just ignored me."

Kel followed Cris into a particular aisle. "Alright, so what are we getting?"

Rolling her jacket's long sleeves, Cris scratched at her head in thought. "Hmmm…."

For a moment, Kel felt a presence behind him. He whipped around, a movement which looked like a simple once over the store's filled shelves. Someone was standing behind him, Cris oblivious to this.

As they ran away, Kel’s recognition of him somewhat gave him a shock, and what Cris had to say next made him turn back to her.

"Oh, that guy?" pouted Cris at Kel. "He was the one I tried asking for help earlier. Kinda' rude how he just ran away as soon as he saw us."

"Uhhhh, he could just be really nervous around people," huffed Kel, looking to the side. He really hadn't been expecting to see Basil at Fix-It. Turns out, the only person he was mean to was Aubrey. And Sunny. Because if Basil was mean to Cris or anyone else, Kel would have to forget he was lifelong friends with Basil at the moment and confront him….which Kel wasn’t really in the mood for doing right now.

To be honest, ignoring someone was also somewhat rude….unless it wasn't. Oh, to see inside a shy person's mind…..

"Kel?" Cris' voice brought him out of his thoughts. "You're really sleepy, huh." This remark was punctuated with a chuckle.

"N-No, I'm not!" the affronted Kel exclaimed, jumping and immediately turning his head towards her.

Cris continued laughing for a while, doubling over with her hands on her knees as Kel could just watch this attack upon his dignity. If only he could change the subject. Oh wait, there was a subject which this whole fiasco could be changed to.

"Cris, you said you were going to buy something?" smirked Kel, hands folded across his chest. The smirk slid off of his face, in favor of seriousness. "Was it anything….important?"

"Nah, it's just—" and then she rattled off on what she had to buy.

"That’s a lot, heh," Kel wiped an imaginary sweat drop from his forehead. Maybe, just maybe he could stay outside a little bit longer.

Hopefully the note he left would ease his parents' worries.

"I've already bought like, seventy-five percent of these guys," laughed Cris dryly, clutching the filled brown paper bag.

Having finished helping Cris with buying her stuff, the two walked out of the store, Cris with two paper bags in hand.

"I noticed you in Gino's," Kel smiled at her as they walked on the sidewalk together. "You were with Mincy yesterday, right?"

Her face glowing, Cris replied, her grip around her bags tightening and making the sound of crumpling as she did so, "Y-Yeah…it wasn't anything that special though."

"Hmmm, okay."

Basil was nowhere to be seen. Kel cursed himself for thinking he even deserved to see him again, after he practically abandoned Basil and his other friends. Still, he didn’t know why the separation even happened in the first place.

"Kel, you're spacing out again…."

Turning his head to the blue-haired girl beside him, Kel laughed it off. "Nah, I'm not. It's just that an old friend reached out to me yesterday, to keep it simple."

"Oh, what's their name?"

"Sunny."

He wondered whether he should have used Sunny’s formal name or the nickname "Sunny." Oh gosh, he shouldn't have used the nickname, that could have been embarrassing! Stupid, stupid Kel—

"Oooh! Did she have black hair and pigtails?" Cris cooed in excitement, swinging her bags which were at risk of sending items flying. Unfortunately, there was no food in Fix-It at the moment.

"Yep. I think she was the girl you were mentioning the other day."

The rumbling of Kel’s stomach inconveniently paused the conversation.

"Dude….I think you need something to eat. Seriously. It's not good to go without breakfast," warned Cris, stopping her walking to eye Kel with concern.

"I drank milk. Was going to the grocery store to buy other stuff I could eat. But it was closed," Kel pouted and fiddled with his sleeve.

"Well, now you know that Othermart stays closed," Cris laughed, continuing to walk.

"H-Hey, I always knew that stores get closed! I don't think they are open 24/7!" Kel went after her, slightly offended.

"Hehe, it's okay, I know that," Cris smirked at him. She stopped for a second. "I guess this is where we just go our own way. You better get something to eat. Like, right now."

To wave Kel goodbye, Cris held both her bags in one hand and waved him with her free hand. Kel returned the wave more enthusiastically than he was actually feeling.

What if he just runs around on the sidewalk so anyone watching could think he's just exercising? Then he could just occasionally pass by Othermart to see if it was open.

Praising himself on his thought-out plan, Kel jogged for a few yards. Silence was interrupted by the loud sounds of his shoes against the pavement.

Another sound which was audible was Kel’s heavy breathing. Seriously,he hadn’t been expecting that running for fifteen minutes would have been this tiring. His exhaustion wasn't really physical, more of a lack of motivation to run.

Of course, his mind took over his actions and slowed him down to a lazy stroll.

The sun's warmth did calm him down a great amount. Speaking of the sun, how was Sunny doing right now?

What were Mari and Hero doing right now?

How would they react to how the friend group has changed— no, stop that Kel. They probably knew already…..

Maybe they were disappointed in him.

A pit opened up in his stomach.

What if Sunny— Kel remembered her loud choking from his dream— what if she was going through something and Kel was helpless, couldn’t stop it from slowly killing her? What if it was all Kel’s fault, and maybe it already was….

People started walking by, most of them appearing to be adults…..heading to Faraway Plaza, definitely. Sunday was part of the weekend, Kel remembered. Maybe they were just doing their regular shopping.

Cars also started up on the road, making Kel tremble a little as they zoomed by, messing up his hair simultaneously.

Rubbing his hair to adjust it back to how it was before, Kel stopped walking. Othermart should be open around this time, right? With all these adults typically out at this time, it would be convenient for the grocery store to open now.

Eventually, more people seemed to be out.

Happily, Kel ran from his current location to Othermart.

Most of the side-eyes he had gotten for his appearance were….thankfully in his imagination. It still didn't make just picking out a cereal box and package of paper bowls any less awkward.

As usual, he would give a small grin to everyone, genuinely happy to be doing everyday stuff which made him feel like a person at times.

Taking his change from the counter, as well as the cereal box and bag of paper bowls, Kel proudly strode out of the store.

Until he bumped into…..

"GAAA— Sunny?" a flabbergasted Kel yelled, disturbing some other people around him.

"Chill. Not like you ran me over or something," Sunny huffed quietly, patting Kel’s shoulder to stabilize him both physically and mentally. She seemed to wince as soon as she said "ran me over," as if that were a taboo joke.

Honestly, Kel could relate to saying stupid things without thinking at times— not that Sunny was stupid!

"No no, I should have looked where I was going," laughed Kel, ignoring how Sunny went silent immediately. "Uhhh, whassup?"

Sunny shrugged at him. Her attire consisted of a simple T-shirt and quite long shorts, her pigtails hastily tied and her signature hair clip still holding back some unruly black bangs.

Kel smiled. The girl in front of him had always been a fan of wearing shorts in childhood. "So are you, like, exercising or anything?" Jealousy bloomed in his chest at Sunny's dedication. If only Kel had that much motivation to practice basketball and maybe get on the school team.

"Yes," signed Sunny. Her eyes rolled, as she continued to sign, "What does it look like I'm doing?"

"Hmmm," Kel squinted, pretending to think deeply as Sunny’s scowl deepened. "You're going to a fashion show….?"

A heavy sigh escaped Sunny’s lips as she walked past Kel, who ran after her.

"W-Wait! Forgive me Sunny, I'm sorry—" it was difficult for Kel to run and talk at the same time, what with his helpless wheezing of laughter.

Sunny slowed down, turned her head, and offered him a smirk. "You're going to drop that cereal box. Be careful."

"Oh yeah, about that," Kel began to explain as soon as Sunny turned back around to continue jogging down the sidewalk, only to stop and listen to what he was saying. "I didn't eat breakfast today. My house ran out of breakfast stuff so I had to buy them." Kel wore a sheepishly grin.

"I see," Sunny approached Kel and seemed to think about something. "Uhhh, could we…" she stuttered, winced, then signed, "We could hang out after you eat."

"Okay! Uhhh, you could smack my door into splinters if I forget by the way!" Kel replied, heading back home as Sunny headed towards what he could assume was the park's direction after giving him a small wave.

Kel was greeted by a silent household as he closed the door behind himself, the items he had bought safely in his arms.

That was when he suddenly remembered Orange Joe….well, it was too late to buy that now.

Apparently Mamá and Papá were still asleep. Papá didn't go out yet, obviously, because Sunday just wasn't a working day for him. Plus, the car was still in the driveway.

Pouring some milk into one of the paper bowls he selected for his breakfast, Kel found himself smiling at the prospect of eating his cereal. Of course, none of it would ever be complete without washing everything down with some Orange Joe, but this would suffice for now.

The first bite of cereal was delicious, despite the fact that it contained milk. Just any food was fine for now. Maybe he could experiment with mixing cereal in Orange Joe - hey, why hadn't he tried that before?

Oh, to have a notebook like Sunny’s right now, so he could list down all the things he wanted to do so he wouldn't forget them….

Upon finishing his cereal, Kel tossed the empty and soggy paper bowl into the trash.

Speaking of doing things and not wanting to forget them, didn't he need to meet up with Sunny today again? For the sake of his door not being knocked into splinters?

He stared at his note to his parents, a note rendered useless at this point because nobody woke up to read it, and Kel was already back from his grocery store trip.

Scribbling over the note's original contents, he wrote another message on the other side of the post-it.

"....there!" Kel said to himself with satisfaction as he folded the sticky part over and stuck it to the fridge that way. The note wasn't that different from the one yesterday, its main premise being that Sunny was stealing Kel for the whole day.

Surely, Sunny must be at the park already, Kel hoped as he headed out of the house with a satiated stomach.

The rose bushes were past him now, and Kel looked around….to see Sunny heading out of the house from next to his. He had forgotten that they were neighbors……

She was in a different dress from when Kel had last seen her today. Had he really been that slow in eating his breakfast?

Naturally, Kel walked up to Sunny, who spotted him instantly with mild surprise shown on her face. Because clouds settled over the sun at this hour, Sunny was wearing a gray jacket.

"Sorry you couldn't break down my door, Sunny," Kel sighed, trying to appear serious despite joking. "Maybe some other time—"

A light punch was sent, courtesy of Sunny, in the direction of Kel’s arm.

"Sheesh, okay fine!!!" Kel chuckled at the scowling Sunny, who was also trying not to laugh. "I know people shouldn't have their doors broken down."

"I'd be concerned if you didn't know that," Sunny muttered, letting a small smile show as she folded her arms.

"Where do you wanna go first?" Kel asked as he grabbed Sunny’s hand and dragged her out of the neighborhood via the sidewalks.

Mild noises of protest from Sunny followed.

Kel slowed down to a walk. "Oops, sorry Sunny. Did I scare you?"

"N-No."

He saw Sunny pull her notebook and pencil out of her jacket pocket. "Oh, you want to draw while walking?"

Sunny’s response was a small nod.

"Well, sure. Not like we're in a hurry," added Kel.

A cold wind bit through Kel’s skin, raising several goosebumps.

The clouds should stop obstructing the sun soon. It was nearly summer, anyways. Summer, when school would end. Summer, when Mari and Hero would come back from college.

Wait…..

"Oh gosh, Sunny, we have to get something for Mari!"

"She's coming after a few weeks," Sunny signed, frowning after stowing her notebook and pencil away in her pocket.

"Come on, it's always good to be prepared in advance!" grumbled Kel. "What if she ends up coming home earlier to surprise you guys? Mari’s that kind of person…"

"Doesn’t work like that," signed Sunny. She paused. "I think…" she mumbled, fiddling with a black pigtail.

"Oh well, it's still good to be prepared!" Kel’s newfound enthusiasm was rooted in doing fun things for his friends. Truly, the old times seemed to be back—

A recorder scratched to a stop in Kel’s mind as he remembered Aubrey and Basil’s conflict. He was beginning to look stupid, just smiling like that in front of Sunny, looking nowhere in particular.

"Oops, sorry, I was spacing out again," Kel apologized, walking on ahead. "We're going to Faraway Plaza, and nobody can stop me!"

"Us," corrected Sunny, walking next to Kel, "nobody can stop 'us.'"

"Y-Yeah, same thing."

"It really isn't."

"Just go along with it, okay?"

"Whatever makes your world spin, I guess."

"W-Whatever, let’s just go buy something," Kel changed the subject - not really, but still. "What does Mari like now?"

"What did she like back when we were kids?" Sunny said back to Kel.

Oh right. Sometimes likes and dislikes didn't change from back when someone was younger.

"Uhhh….going on adventures? Flirting with Hero? Exploring outside? Wait, that falls under 'adventures,'" Kel continued thinking aloud in front of Sunny as the two walked. "She also liked plants and….piano I guess?" His mind went to the duet she had performed with Sunny about four years back.

"She….doesn't like piano that much anymore," muttered Sunny, averting her gaze towards the ground, her walking slowing down.

Right. Kel remembered Sunny saying yesterday that Mari only played piano for fun sometimes.

"We could get her a plant!" Kel encouraged the crestfallen Sunny, who seemed to be remembering something….possibly related to the piano? Or memories of the duet.

Kel also remembered Sunny’s equally crestfallen demeanor back when Mari had constantly pressured her to practice for the duet. Shoot…he probably messed up mentioning instruments - no, but Sunny had also said yesterday that she still played the violin—

Gosh, people were so confusing at times. Kel shook his head violently to stop this spiel of overthinking, just in time to see Sunny nodding in agreement to his suggestion.

"Back to Fix-It we go!" Kel beamed at the confused Sunny. "Oh yeah," he explained as they neared the shop, "I was there earlier and helped out a friend with stuff."

"Okay," acknowledged Sunny, face restored to default deadpan mode. She didn't feel like drawing anything anymore at the moment.

"So what flowers should we get? If we're even getting flowers…."

The rose bushes in his front yard came to mind, though Kel immediately pushed that idea down. He couldn't give a rose to Mari. Someone else was the rose, according to someone Kel had sat next to on the swings, someone who would wear flowers in his hair, someone whose blue eyes weren't comforting anymore.

Someone whom Cris and Kel had seen at Fix-It earlier today.

What if they see Basil again, and it all escalates?

No. He shouldn't overthink this. Maybe Basil just goes to Fix-It rarely, or when there would be less people. Kel had remembered Basil to be a little - no, very - socially awkward.

Basil also had no weapon, Kel felt the shears in his pocket. Unless Basil had an endless supply of gardening shears, hopefully for tending to his plants and not stabbing people.

"Kel. You're being very concerning."

Sunny’s voice interrupted Kel’s introspection and reflection. Her eyes glared into his eyes as she looked up at him.

"No, I'm not. S-So, what flowers are we gonna get?" Kel brushed Sunny’s concern off and tried forcing his expression into a casual one.

"I've already said it," Sunny scowled at Kel, arms crossed tightly, having stopped walking. "'Lily of the valley.' That was the flower. You were spaced out when I said that. Seriously, what's wrong?"

He couldn't escape this. "Fine….but like...Basil might be there." He winced and cringed at the fact that he was labeling a friend of his as a possible threat.

"...oh. I'll take care of him," Sunny said after a long pause, twirling a lock of her hair between her fingers, glaring at the ground. "Stick close to me if you're scared."

"I'm not scared!" retorted Kel, pursing his lips up. "I-It's just Basil!"

"Yeah sure," Sunny raised a brow and stepped back. Then, she approached the doors of Fix-It.

Following her, Kel protested, "No seriously, Basil doesn't scare me!"

"Whatever."

The person at the counter was pleasantly surprised by Kel’s second appearance in the shop.

Time to buy flowers!

Chapter Text

"Haven't really been here in a while," Kel laughed nervously at the shelves on either side of the aisle.

Having been staring thoughtfully at an empty spot surrounded by bags of soil on the shelf, Sunny quietly muttered under her breath. Honestly, this sounded more like wind whispering.

"Uhhh, Sunny, what was that?"

"Y-You said you were here earlier."

The shocked Kel’s eyebrows rose right into his hair. "Oh….oof," his former excitement died down, only for disappointment to rise from its ashes. "I completely forgot."

Thankfully, no comment was made from Sunny about his bad memory.

Sheesh. He hoped she didn't think any less of him for this little blunder. In this awkward moment, the background chattering of people - regular Fix-It clients - grew more obvious.

Random equipment unrecognized by Kel rested on the shelves instead of the potted plants he'd expected. Only when he spotted Sunny heading to the back of the store did he realize there was a "backyard" to this place.

To be fair, Kel hadn’t been here often.

Outside, there was a whole goldmine of things, including potted plants.

"Whoa….didn't know this place even existed here…." Kel made googly eyes at the shelves on either side of the aisle he was walking into.

"Hmph," was Sunny’s reply which at least acknowledged what Kel had just said. This was followed by a padding of footsteps against the bare dirt towards the aisle next to Kel’s.

Several plants, especially flowers, stared at Kel now, among them being a few sunflowers, tulips, and a gladiolus too.

His gaze decidedly traveled away from the gladiolus to a petal on the sunflower, admiring how the deep shade of orange near the flower's center faded out into bright yellow. Sunlight improved this rather calming effect.

Just as his focus was on the pale tulip, standing a few inches away from the sunflower Kel was admiring, the personification of the flower in question suddenly appeared and approached Kel, a medium-sized green pot in her hands. Sprouting from the soil in the pot was a beautiful Lily of the Valley.

Gesturing for Kel to follow her back to the shop's interior, Sunny had a mild spring in her step - ironic, considering that it was pretty much summer, and not spring - and a little white glow in her dark eyes as she shook down a rolled-up sleeve of her hoodie with a forcibly freed hand from the flower pot.

Thankfully, this time Sunny didn’t forget her wallet or its contents. Kel felt himself sigh in relief, as he and Sunny headed out of Fix-It…..after paying, of course. He himself had left his wallet at home, correctly thinking it would be useless on this day out - as Sunny wasn't regularly a forgetful person. So Kel wouldn't have to pay for her again in a weird "gentlemanly" way - oh wait there was nothing inherently weird about that.

"Phew, the person at the counter was nice."

Stopping to stare at Kel, Sunny signed with a teasing look to her eyes, "You were scared?"

"No!" Kel replied, pouting and shaking his head to convey the negative. "I was just commenting, Sunny!"

She stared back into the Lily of the Valley she was holding. "Hmm, okay."

Tilting his head in question, Kel asked Sunny, "Wait, are we going back to your house again?"

"No, we're going to Basil’s."

Kel’s face paled for a moment before he came to the realization that Sunny was being sarcastic.

"Okay, okay, fine. I know your house is the only place we could go to for this…."

His mind wandered to other places where Sunny could put her plant….such as Basil’s house. Hadn't he been super awesome at taking care of his flowers?

Oh wait.

How long would it take for it to register in his head that Basil wasn't…..necessarily a friend anymore?

Kel gripped his sleeve tightly. If it took him this long to come to terms with this, then how on Earth would he be able to bring everyone back together again?

A padding of shoes against the sidewalk later, Sunny and Kel reached the former's front door.

Having the front door's key on oneself when outside wasn't something restricted to Kel only, as, turns out, Sunny also did the same thing. Kel shouldn’t have been surprised when Sunny fished her key out of her pocket to unlock her door.

Sounds of someone eating breakfast greeted the two new arrivals into the house. Sunny's mother must have taken advantage of the fact that today was a weekend, so she could wake up a little later.

Well, almost everyone slept late on weekends.

Sunny gave him the side-eye when he tried taking a step into the house with his shoes on.

"Oops, I totally forgot. Sorry Sunny…." Kel’s face fell as took off his shoes with great difficulty. Meanwhile, Sunny had her shoes off in a jiffy so she could head over to her mother first.

After finally taking off his own shoes, Kel headed into the dining room to see Sunny’s mother, her breakfast set aside, pleasantly smiling at Sunny(as well as the flower she'd bought) and saying, "Yes, that’s a really nice gift! Mari would love it."

"Putting it in the backyard," Sunny muttered, averting her gaze from her mother's.

A dark cloud had come over their faces.

"Are you sure, Sunny? I could go do that—"

"No," Sunny cut off her mother with a shake of her head. "You don't have to. I could do it."

Without sparing a glance at Kel just standing there, Sunny headed to the room which presumably had the door to the backyard. Her shoulders actually shook a little….maybe from the pot she was carrying, though it looked more like a shiver.

"Hello, Kel!" Sunny’s mother - Ms. Suzuki - greeted Kel warmly, turning around and not focusing on her breakfast anymore. "You could sit somewhere or—"

"Could I hang around in the backyard with Sunny?" Kel excitedly asked her. The backyard had always been a cool place to hang out in, with its mysterious aura. Though Kel wouldn't hang out in it past daytime….

"Hmmm…." Ms. Suzuki's face lit up. "Yes, Sunny could have some extra company there. Just….d-don't dig up the whole backyard to find treasure, okay?"

Ignoring that oddly specific request, Kel sent her a bright smile in return, heading the same way Sunny had been headed. Upon reaching the backyard door, a figure standing in front of it was recognized by him.

"Sunny? Are you okay?" Kel questioned, feeling a sense of dread as he approached her slowly.

She seemed to be taking a deep breath, then having a few moments of silence.

Kel looked past her and into the very gray and plain backyard, to see a huge tree in its center. A very creepy tree, whose black branches stretched into and obstructed the sky.

It had traded away its elusiveness for being absolutely horrific.

“Kel,” Sunny broke him out of his thoughts again, poking his shoulder with her free hand. Her eyes were empty, save for the same creepiness that pervaded the tree outside.

Satisfied once Kel’s full focus was on the present, Sunny turned away to reluctantly place her hand upon the door’s handle…..then drew it open. Both of them stepped outside onto the almost bare ground, the shorter of the two doing so shakily.

The backyard stood stagnant against Kel’s memories of this colorful summer day. Despite having no blurry, scratched up glass separating it from his vision, the place still stood as drab and bleak. Not that he would ever tell that to Sunny or her mother, though.

Kel stood next to and looked down at Sunny, whose shoulders tensed and lips pursed up into a line. He feared that her tight, yet shaky grip on the pot would break it - and seriously injure her.

“U-Uh, Sunny, we just need to put this outside, right?” Kel made a motion as if to gently take the flower away from Sunny, whose grip on it eventually went limp. No answer to this question was needed, though Sunny gave a tiny nod.

Placing it under the tree wasn’t an option - Kel himself wouldn’t approach it with a ten-foot pole. What if some ghost popped out from it and right in his face? Carefully, Kel handled the potted plant, maintaining a firm grip to make sure to not spill any dirt or tip it over in any way. Walking around the yard, avoiding the big tree, he quickly spotted an appropriate place to put the plant. There…..right next to the door from indoors into the backyard itself.

This should have been obvious, Kel thought with a frown. The plant stood as majestically as ever, though it seemed to bend down a little in the shade of the tree and its lengthy branches. Mari’s favorite tree, remembered Kel.

Quickly setting down the pot upon some stable ground near the door, Kel looked at Sunny in justified concern.

A tremor slowly growing more visible with time, spreading throughout the rest of her, Sunny was somehow still standing straight. Sunny’s arms were glued to her sides as her gaze was upon the tree.

“Sunny?” Kel called out to her, frown deepening. Clearly, Kel wasn’t the only concerning person here. “Seriously, are you okay?”

His friend’s shoulders slowly rose and fell, then her arm rose to wipe at her face. Kel could have sworn he heard a small sniff.

He didn’t know what he had been expecting when Sunny turned to face him. Sure, Kel was expecting something other than the usual blank face of Sunny’s staring back at him.

She gave him a slow nod in response, then Kel noticed her looking at something on the ground behind him. Curious to see if there was a cat or something exciting sneaking up on him(hopefully not a ghost), he looked down on the ground behind him, only to find the potted plant he had placed near the backyard door.

“Oh yeah,” Kel rubbed the back of his head and flushed. “Was that a good place to keep it? I was rushing a bit, y’know?”

“Mm hmm,” hummed Sunny, giving the plant a very distant once-over as she approached. She walked past Kel, then crouched down next to the plant to give it a closer examination. “You’re good.”

Whether she was talking to the plant or to Kel was unclear. So, he would have to save his “Thank you’s” for another, more suitable time.

At least it was obvious that Sunny wasn’t complaining about the location Kel chose for the plant.

Kel’s eyes were drawn towards the huge tree again. “Hey, Sunny? You were staring at this tree earlier. Everything alright? You could tell me.”

“No,” Sunny said, quietly, yet loudly enough so Kel could hear her. Kel whipped around to see that she was still bending over the Lily of the Valley.

Eventually, she stood up to face Kel, her eyes appearing crestfallen and turned towards the ground, which was, again, bare, save for a few patches of grass. Most of which was….dry and pale yellow instead of a lush green.

She glared at the tree this time, quickly walking towards it.

“Seriously, you seem to wanna’ beat this tree up,” Kel chuckled lightly, making Sunny send her glare his way instead, making him subdued instantly. “I mean, it’s obvious you don’t like this….” He vaguely gestured at the tree behind himself while decidedly staring away from it.

He then stared at the ground, arms going limp at his sides. Dense Kel. What if Sunny doesn’t want to tell you? What business really is it to you, who calls yourself her “friend”? No good friend abandons someone(five other someones, actually) for four years and waltzes back in like this(Kel was forgetting that Sunny had reached out first). No good friend asks about a possibly sensitive topic. There could have been a serious reason why Sunny didn’t like that tree. Maybe—

Sunny’s voice sounded in the air again, causing Kel to rub his temples and directly look at her. “After Hero— I mean….t-that incident, Mari pretended everything was okay.”

She squinted her eyes at the ground in discomfort, counting the number of ants which marched in a line into a small hole made in the dirt.

What incident? Kel was ignorant to this. All he could do, as Sunny’s friend, was listen to what she had to say. Maybe make things better with this new information. What was confusing, however, was how what Sunny just said even related to her hatred(or possible fear) of the tree.

“She just buried herself under studies and stuff,” continued Sunny. Something hit close to home for Kel. “Stayed up overnight everyday. But she always had this weird smile on her face. Though she wasn’t….happy at all.”

Sunny looked away from the tree and at the closed door behind her. “She missed Hero a lot. But also….it was like something was in her head….telling her to die. That she wasn’t good enough.” Visibly, she scowled and gulped. The way she was saying these things seemed personal - almost like a firsthand experience—

Never mind that. Mari had been seriously suffering, Hero hadn’t been there for some reason(a sharp pain went through his head), and what was Kel doing all this time? (—The same thing Sunny said Mari had been doing—)

“I’m—“ Kel gulped loudly, finding it hard to look Sunny in the eyes - though the latter was also not looking directly at him. “I-I’m sorry….”

“She got help,” was all Sunny had to say in her usual blunt manner. “Luckily. Colored her hair purple, too.”

As Sunny stood there, quietly contemplating things, Kel looked back at the tree….again, wondering how it was related to what Sunny had just said(though he also thought he wouldn’t want to know, curiosity won him over - and killed the cat). Clearly, Sunny didn’t feel like talking at all, so Kel’s chance of asking was gone - plus it was clearly intruding on her business to ask further questions. This was a friend he was talking to, not a suspect to be interrogated.

Scrutinizing the bark of the tree in thought, Kel’s mind wandered to the jump rope he and Aubrey had forgotten one day at Mari and Sunny’s house in the far past….oh.

Oh.

Everything went more still than Kel thought was possible. He shook and turned away from the tree, which seemed to loom over him as soon as he came to this conclusion.

His head throbbed while his panicking heart beat fast.

He put a hand to his mouth, resisting the urge to scream or cry. Mari was going to….

Kel wouldn’t think about that anymore. The subject really needed to be changed….though Sunny hadn’t really said anything about the tree.

“S-Sunny, do you know how to take care of it?” Kel gestured to the plant after Sunny took a deep breath and turned her head to him.

She nodded, ruffling the top of her black hair with her hand. Must have been the dandruff.

Out of the corner of his eye, Kel eyed the tree, still as scary and dreadful as ever. He looked back at Sunny only to see her inside the house, right within the open door.

“You coming?” Sunny asked, a corner of her lips lifting up, as if she couldn't help but feel a little amusement at Kel not coming back in. Unless it was forced, considering the topic earlier….no, Sunny would probably be genuinely happy to take care of a plant now as a gift to Mari.

"Yeah," Kel said back with a small smile of his own, which didn't quite crinkle the edges of his eyes.

He speed-walked towards the open door, Sunny still stationed there.

"Thanks Sunny!"

"You thought I'd leave you alone here?"

"Uhhhhh no?" Kel replied, scratching his head after Sunny went behind him to shut the door. "Of course not! I have faith in you!"

The two remained silent, Kel finding himself staring at the oh-so-lovely floor design(literally just a wooden floor) instead of Sunny’s face. Turns out, if he actually looked at her, there would probably have been no face to stare at, Sunny herself looking to the side awkwardly as well.

"Sunny…." Kel raised his head, brows furrowed, as he dwelled over what to say next, "I— if you ever need to talk to me - or anyone about anything, just do that—"

Glaring at Kel all of a sudden, Sunny shook her head….as if there was nothing to talk about.

"Could say the same thing to you," she retorted, eyes narrowing. "Your brother is literally dead."

"Yeah I know but—" Kel stopped short. What? What brother? He didn't— Hero.

Hero was his only brother.

His head felt like it had been sliced open.

HAD BEEN his only brother, according to Sunny.

Did that mean Hero was dead? So college wasn't where Hero was all this time….but the afterlife was his new home instead.

Even his dreamy alternative of Hero running an Orange Joe stand instead would have been a better option.

Something was clouding his vision.

Kel’s gaze had a pleading look to it as he searched Sunny’s face for any sign that what she had just told him was really a big, mean joke, despite that being out of character for Sunny. With the way Sunny’s eyes widened and her hands crumpled themselves into fists, one would have guessed that she had just mentioned something completely taboo.

Yet something Kel was supposed to know.

"Sunny," began Kel, fiddling with his restless fingers and looking to the floor, its "lovely design" not providing him comfort this time, "Hero’s…."

Sunny’s face went blank as she processed these words, then empathy painted itself across this momentarily blank canvas. "Oh. Sorry. Shouldn't have said that."

She turned away so her back faced him. "It's been four years. But I shouldn’t have said that. Sorry."

He had seriously thought Hero was with Mari in college. That he was safe and alive. Maybe getting good grades as usual.

What was wrong? How did Hero even die? Why did Kel forget? He's not only a bad friend, but also such a horrible sibling.

All he could feel was nothing except the burning in his eyes, threatening to spill tears. Thoughts and gibberish rushed through his head at the speed of light….maybe faster. It was too much.

In a flash, he wasn’t in Sunny’s house anymore. A bunch of photos were in front of him….he was feverishly scribbling over the face of a friendly boy with messy brown hair— his blood streaked across the road like a messy red painting—

"You two were in the backyard for a long time now—" Sunny’s mother strolled in and stopped to see them both just standing there, Sunny faced away from Kel, who was snapped back into reality. Rubbing her head, she said with a sheepish grin, "Oh, you're back now. That's good! Do you need anything to eat? Sunny, having just steak isn't good for breakfast, you know." She sent her an admonishing look.

From what Kel could see, Sunny shook her head. Her mother's grin diminished with worry as her younger daughter swept past her.

Kel brought a hand up to his face to wipe a few tears which had fallen. Unfortunately, a sniff from him was audible to the room's other occupants.

"Kel, do you have a cold? Or allergies?" Ms. Suzuki directed her concerned gaze from Sunny at the doorway, to Kel himself. She stepped a little backwards. "I have tissues. I could get them now—"

"No, no need," Kel’s words came out more blankly than he had intended them to come out, as he walked past her to the waiting Sunny at the doorway. "Sorry. But thanks for the offer though!"

Ms. Suzuki looked after the two with mild concern on her face. "Remember to stay safe! Especially on the road."

Now next to Sunny, Kel could notice the exact moment when she stiffened up. "Mmm-hmm. I'll do that."

Sunny waited until the exact moment Kel succeeded in getting his shoes on to open the door.

"Sorry," Sunny said quietly to Kel again, once he was within hearing range. The two walked on the sidewalk, which was why Sunny was looking at the ground to check for any unevenness or cracks which could trip her up. "I didn't mean to mention him."

An elderly couple and someone with a baby stroller passed by them, the sounds of wheels rattling against the pavement.

"I-It’s all good now, don't worry about it, Sunny," responded Kel with a forced upbeat tone to his voice as he gave Sunny a close-eyed smile, while kicking aside a pebble. "I….think I've moved past it."

Liar.

Whatever incident that was Hero’s demise had just slipped Kel’s mind. That's all. He hadn’t moved on at all.

Kel felt his right hand uncomfortably clutch his left arm, nails digging into his sleeve as guilt seeped into him. Hero’s death was definitely the cause of the friend group falling out - so it definitely wasn't a coincidence.

"The bigger they come, the harder they fall." The friend group falling apart was a living, breathing example of this quote. Proverb. Whatever.

Couldn't he have stopped Hero’s death so the friend group could have not fared so badly?

How, if he didn't know how Hero even died? Heck, time travel is just a fantasy.

"Kel. You're being weird. Again." Sunny stopped walking.

"Wha—" Kel jumped and almost tripped on his own feet. Had he fallen onto the road, then— "oh no, nothing's wrong, Sunny! I've just got a really small headache."

Upon scrutinizing him closely, Sunny muttered, "Hmmm, okay. Not really convinced."

"Seriously! I'm fine!" huffed Kel, folding his arms across his chest and pouting.

"Whatever you say," Sunny sighed as she brought out her notepad and pencil…..again.

To distract himself from….news of Hero’s death, Kel forced his attention upon whatever Sunny was drawing. Or whomever Sunny was drawing.

"You really like drawing Aubrey a lot, don't you?" Kel commented, scratching behind his ear and chuckling a little.

After receiving Sunny’s nod - and her reddened ears - as a reply, Kel continued talking as Sunny listened. "I kinda' get it. She's super easy to draw. Like this," he drew something vaguely in the air as Sunny stopped her drawing to observe him.

Other people walking around them were so engrossed in their own businesses that they didn’t care to stop and stare at this “spectacle.” Perhaps they just weren’t that judgmental.

"Whoa, Sunny, you good? You look like a tomato. Someone should rename you from 'Sunny' to 'Red Giant'....or 'Red Dwarf.' Get it?" Kel made finger guns at Sunny while he winked. "'Cuz you're like, this tall."

"Lame….." Sunny mumbled, averting her face to the side.

"Oh come on! You know that was awesome!"

"...." Sunny continued sketching away, face still red from embarrassment.

"Anyways, nothing to be embarrassed about," Kel kicked some fallen pine needles aside as he stared up at the leaves hanging from random trees. "It's not like you have a crush on Aubrey or anything."

He looked to the side, at Sunny, who wore an annoyed look.

"W-Wait," he panicked, waving his hands everywhere to try explaining himself, "I didn't mean that it was something to be ashamed about—"

"I know what you mean," Sunny huffed as she scowled at Kel, the sketchbook snapped shut.

"Alright, but you didn't deny liking Aubrey that way~"

".....Are you asking for a fight?"

"No!" Kel answered, almost tripping over a crack in the sidewalk again. "I literally have no wea—" he remembered the gardening shears in his pocket practically banging against his leg all this time, "-pons…." He finished lamely, staring off to the side in thought.

Sunny gestured to grab Kel’s attention.

"Where to next?" she asked simply, placing her notebook and pencil back in her pocket now that her little sketch was finished.

"You tell me, Sunny," Kel retorted with a shrug and a roll of his eyes. The summer sun was beginning to live up to its title, though Sunny didn’t seem to be shedding a single drop of sweat despite having a jacket on.

Pointing at Kel, Sunny made it clear that the decision depended on his input.

“But what if I pick the wrong place? Like….the park?” Kel protested, arms dropping straight to his sides as he slouched forward in defeat.

Walking ahead in the familiar direction of the wrong place in question was the last thing Kel would have expected Sunny to do.

“S-Sunny!” Kel dashed up to her, then tried keeping up. “You remember what happened last time….?”

A nod was Sunny’s reply, accompanied by a raise of her head in Kel’s direction so her resolute, stern expression would be visible to him.

“I’m not the one who’s scared here,” she added quietly, with a small breath and closed eyes. “The idiot doesn’t even usually go to the park on weekends.”

So yesterday was a rare, “special” occasion. Wow, Kel felt honored.

He took a deep breath. Though Basil was…..not very cash money right now, an idiot was something he wasn’t. Maybe. Alright, fine, maybe Kel did somewhat agree with Sunny. Wait no, that wasn’t being fair to Basil— but why, when he wasn’t acting fair to Aubrey and vice-versa too—

Plus, Aubrey had basically stolen Basil’s photo album(after all, it was given to Basil specifically despite it being somewhat “shared” among the friends). Though Basil was taking his “revenge” too far. But still. Stealing. Is. Stealing.

A side-eye was sent his way via Sunny-mail. Oh boy. He must have been contorting his face into weird shapes others would call “thinking faces” or something.

“Oh yeah, Sunny?” Kel asked her, a finger to his chin in thought. His eyes were on some kid with purple highlights - and man, he felt jealous of that person. If only he could dye some part of his hair orange. “You said Mari made her hair purple, right?”

“Right,” deadpanned Sunny, seemingly not ruffled by the fact that Mari was mentioned. Then, Kel remembered that the problem was about three years ago, as Sunny had said. The two sisters must have moved on since then. Also, from the way Sunny had spoken about her, they were on good terms for Sunny to give her something as a gift, at least.

“You think I could dye my hair, too?” Kel excitedly asked, eyes sparkling with emotion.

The girl raised an eyebrow at him, as if to either convey why Kel was asking her this, or simply, the question of “Why not?”

“Well,” Kel rubbed his head, flushing a little pink, “I really want to dye my hair orange. It’s kinda’ stupid though—“

“Orange suits you,” Sunny said with a very unnoticeable smile only Kel could notice. The corners of her mouth lifted a little bit again, eyes sparkling like the dark night sky full of stars.

“Yeah yeah,” snorted Kel. “Hey, maybe we could all dye our hair in the future! It’ll be so cool….” He gave a dramatic sigh, which was genuine and not exaggerated.

“Aubrey wanted hers to be pink.”

“….Ew.”

“Hmph,” Sunny frowned a little but didn’t comment much on Kel’s opinion. “Don’t tell Aubrey that.”

Kel was quite sure he didn’t want to hear “You’re a gross color!” being spat back into his face as a retort again.

“Yeaaaahhhh, no, I’m good, heh,” Kel nervously laughed at the memory.

Bored, he stretched and cracked a few knuckles, earning several winces from Sunny.

“What. It’s not like I’m breaking my bones or anything.”

An empty crosswalk was finally in front of them, indicating that the two friends were making headway on their long(it really wasn’t) journey to the park.

A single car, or two, consistently passed in opposite directions on the intersecting roads. The air particles they activated hit Kel’s hair and clothes in a way which would make any mighty gust of wind jealous.

He found himself gulping as his eyebrows knit together, his whole body tensing up.

Something dark spread its tendrils across the road, and this time someone’s eye among the dark mass helplessly gazed up at him. Another car drove by, running it over and squishing it.

Fight, flight, or freeze, and out of all things, he had subconsciously chosen the latter of the three.

“Kel.” Someone said, and he knew it was Sunny. Come on, Kel. You can’t keep her waiting. Don’t be such a burden.

But he had no choice, no control—

Someone gently took his hand, lightly rubbing a thumb across his knuckles. “….it’s alright Kel. Take a deep breath. Count to ten, then exhale.”

That day, when he’d searched for the baseball in the dark forest, came to mind. Hero’s comforting words replayed themselves in Kel’s head.

He didn’t notice Sunny slowly and steadily guiding him over to a place away from the crosswalk.

No sounds of cars driving by reaching his ears, Kel relaxed his muscles(he didn’t even know he’d tensed up like that) and breathed in deeply….counted to ten, then exhaled.

“I—“ he started just when he’d come to his senses, “Sunny? I thought we were at the crossroads?” His eyes lingered upon the road, not seeing something anymore.

Sunny gave him a stare, not glaring as not to scare or startle him, but still enough to convey the message that Kel’s stability was still questionable in her opinion.

“It’s alright, Sunny! I’ll be okay!” Kel giggled a little, scratching at his hair again. It was true - he’d felt more relaxed after the deep breaths he had just taken. “Uhhh— thanks Sunny, by the way.”

Hesitantly nodding, Sunny walked ahead, Kel in tow.

Fortunately, they were able to cross the road.

Chapter Text

The sunlight’s reflection danced along the well-brushed strands of Sunny’s hair as the swing she was sitting on swayed back and forth. Frowning as he lazily observed her, Kel noticed Sunny’s unusual stiffness.

Her head was bowed down, but if one looked closer, her eyes occasionally darted here and there, almost as if….making sure something(or perhaps…someone) wasn’t present.

Something else from earlier bugged him, in the same annoying fashion as a bee buzzing in his ear. Sunny had been borderline afraid yesterday when Kel had been wanting to head over to the basketball court…..and then, the park. And now she’d said that Basil didn’t usually go here?

Reading too much into it hurt his head. Might as well directly ask Sunny.

This time, Kel was the one sitting perched at the end of the slide, since it wasn’t being used in the regular way by anyone else.

“Hey, Sunny, you looked scared yesterday when we went to the park,” remarked Kel. Sitting on the slide actually hurt his back a lot, courtesy of the hunched-over position he was forced into when sitting there. Once he stood up, Kel wiggled his shoulders back a little to straighten and stretch his back. And once again, Sunny made her discomfort at the sound of cracking joints apparent as her eyebrows promptly knit together.

Her immediate stare in his direction was something completely unexpected, considering how Kel didn't think Sunny would pay any mind to his….stupid inquiry.

“Hmm?” Never mind, to be more accurate, the obviously defensive Sunny GLARED in Kel’s direction.

Almost as if he were racing against some invisible contender, Kel quickly ran to sit in the swing next to Sunny’s. The latter’s response to this was to soften her gaze like melting butter, and have a very small hint of a smile on her face in reaction to Kel’s antics.

Breeze tickled his skin as he formulated in his head what to say next.

Nervously chuckling, Kel glanced towards the ground for a second as he steadied himself on the swing’s seat. The tips of his shoes, which covered his toes, dragged against the rough surface.

He expanded upon his earlier statement, “You looked super chill literally just now with going to the park, you even said Basil doesn’t go here often.”

Sunny’s shoulders rose ever so slightly with tension, and that her fists would have clenched tighter around the swing handles wouldn’t have been a big surprise to Kel. Obviously, since the implied question hidden in his words was, “Hey Sunny, yesterday you were acting paranoid, like Basil’s always at the park like some threatening stalker, so I think you were lying literally just now when you said Basil doesn’t come here often, am I right?”

Awfully and oddly specific, but that was far from the topic.

Face turned to Kel once more, Sunny twitched her eye a little bit, eyebrows forming a slight crease. She shook her head. “That’s nothing.”

“Nothing?” Kel echoed Sunny’s words in a questioning way, struggling to stare directly into Sunny’s stone cold eyes. Purposefully dragging the tips of his shoes across the ground, he continued with some mild sarcasm because of his frustration, “That sure didn’t seem like nothing.”

Kel could see it. His friend was so tensed up that she wasn’t doodling in her notebook - it wasn’t even in her hands right now.

“It….doesn't concern you. Please…." Sunny’s voice tapered off as it faded away into the air surrounding her.

The long silence following her final word seemed to answer what Sunny was probably going to say next.

"...stop asking about it."

"I—" what he wanted to say next hadn’t been determined. "Um, s-sorry. But…" Doesn’t concern Kel? But he was part of this friend group(which resembled a train wreck by now, to be honest) - or did this mean that he wasn't?

If so…he deserved it—

Violently shaking his head to rid himself of this thought, Kel met Sunny’s gaze with a glare of his own.

"Okay, okay! Fine then." Almost like a little kid bickering with another, Kel folded his arms across his chest, letting go of the swing handles, and turned his head away from Sunny. "Keep your secrets."

Quietly offering him a scoff in response, Sunny muttered, "No secrets to keep. Sometimes Basil is here, sometimes he isn't. Satisfied?"

Sunny telling him the truth now didn’t negate the fact that she’d lied to Kel earlier when saying Basil didn't hang around here that much. Well, being in the park sometimes wasn't much, but still….more than rarely.

"You….thought I was going to freak out or something? That's why you….lied?" The last word left a terrible taste on Kel’s tongue, something like Orange Joe, but an expired version. Expired, somewhat like the friend group's bonds. He flat-out refused to look directly at Sunny for now, focusing on how the handles on his swing glowed blindingly bright in the sunlight.

No reaction from Sunny, other than an exhale.

Why the heck was he overreacting? It was possibly Sunny’s little slip of tongue, or tiny white lie! A white lie never hurt anyone….until when Kel experienced it. A white lie made out of fear that he wouldn't take anything, even mildly bad news, well.

Come on. Come on, he can't obsess over this, especially in front of Sunny, she would think he's more of a total drama queen— king!

His headache, which had been laying low until now, returned with a vengeance.

"Sunny," began Kel, slowly beginning to inch his way off of the swing, holding onto the handles as support, "I….I think I really need to go home."

One glance at Sunny showed Kel her seemingly blank expression, save for her raised eyebrow, which betrayed her true reaction to what Kel had just said. Her mouth gaped open in surprise.

Pity wormed its way into Kel’s sensitive heart.

He was leaving Sunny alone. Being selfish - his head throbbed at this point - though Sunny clearly wanted company today….no wait, Kel had been the one to ask her first to hang out today.

Almost instantly, Sunny’s face shifted back to what was normal for her, then closed her eyes and turned her head away, as if in resignation of the situation.

Finally, he was standing on his own two feet, leaving his empty swing hanging behind him.

Getting away from Sunny for now was his top-most priority.

In the wake of Kel’s departure there was just silence. He had been fearing that Sunny’s footsteps would be echoing behind him in pursuit, so this quiet gave him some relief.

Background noise of faraway(and Faraway, of course) such as the chatter of teens gossiping, arguments, and kids complaining to their parents still ensued, only serving as a form of white noise.

Slowly, cars drove past him, and he hadn't even realized how he deliberately yet unconsciously stuck to a particular side of the sidewalk far away from the roadside, hunching in on himself.

Soon enough, silence wasn’t the only thing accompanying him.

That he was staring at the ground while walking was unknown to him until he spotted much too late that another pair of feet was approaching his.

Then came the rough impact, followed by a high-pitched scream. Of which the source certainly wasn't Kel’s vocal chords.

No, seriously. Even Kel’s screaming voice didn't sound like that!

"Ow!" Kel squeaked on the ground, rubbing his mildly aching shoulder. He flinched when he tried pressing his bruised hand against the pavement to stabilize himself yet accidently touched one of the sharp cracks. Immediately, he straightened up from his fallen position though not quite standing up yet, and turned himself around, gently holding the bruised arm.

Wait, who was that on the ground across from him?

As if on instinct, Kel rather slowly got up, still rubbing his hurt arm and hand, then extended the other to the other fallen person.

"Basil? Are you alright?"

Tentatively, Kel offered Basil a hand after he stopped rubbing his hurt arm.

Someone he used to know was hidden behind those eyes, staring up at Kel, who would swear on his life that Basil was seriously considering his help in that moment. Unfortunately, the help wasn't taken, seeing as Basil pushed himself off of the ground, dusting off his hands, less bruised than Kel’s, afterwards.

After he steadied himself on his two feet, Basil just awkwardly laid eyes on the pavement between Kel and himself before muttering, "Y-You didn't have to help me."

"I…..didn't???" Kel questioned, tilting his head to the side in confusion. "Well, if I'm remembering things right…." The punchline of course was that Basil had refused his help. That little joke should have been cringey enough to break the solid ice.

Right?

Hands balled into tight fists, Basil closed his eyes with a huff, then opened them to look up at Kel, mouth in a thin line. "You know what I mean."

As Basil’s blue stare sent shivers through Kel, his attention was drawn towards the shears in his own pocket once more. No other place was eligible to keep them, so pockets it was, for a suitable "gardening shears hiding spot."

Still, the annoyance of the shears rubbing against him was….almost….enough to drive Kel mad. Without any conscious thought, Kel’s hand slid into the pocket holding the shears captive.

"You didn't look like you were gonna refuse though, at first," sighed Kel, breaking his eye contact with Basil before dizziness would overwhelm him.

"Why are you acting so…f-friendly?"

Although evening hadn't come over Faraway Town quite yet, the chirping of crickets filled the silence….in Kel’s perspective, at least.

"We're friends though?" Kel remarked as he folded his arms across his chest, holding onto any scrap of hope that the bond of the friend group from long ago was salvageable. Perhaps Basil’s answer to this question would reassure him—

"Kel," Basil started off, then rubbed at the back of his blonde hair, "y-you can drop it."

"Drop…..what?"

Kel’s expectations were upset by Basil’s answer.

"This whole act of yours. I just….things have changed," he continued staring away from Kel. "I don't know what you're doing, still thinking…no, pretending we're friends. Especially after—"

—he had shown his very obvious dislike of Aubrey….and Sunny. One might say Basil was on bad terms with the two.

Wow, what a genius Kel was for figuring out that last bit!

Kel’s grip on the gardening shears tightened….

Basil’s disinterest in completing his statement, by cutting it off and letting it fade into thin air, and not physically walking away from this conversation, paved the way for Kel to try talking Basil out of this….

Though some nagging feeling deep inside of himself adamantly refused to do that. Almost as if Basil were the fearsome dragon Kel needed to slay - only Kel was far from being a fearless knight.

"C-Can't we just be friends? Again?" Kel asked lamely, having not a single well-structured plan in mind for this. Sweat drops were forming on his face….was he THAT socially awkward now? Or was his fear of Basil that great— wait, who said anything about being scared of Basil?

One last look at Kel’s face in disbelief, then a groan, then the only thing being evidence of Basil having even been there was a whoosh of air past Kel, which he still felt as it ruffled his sleeve.

"Um, Sunny’s at the park by the way!" Kel called out to Basil in a hurry, after whipping about to see Basil striding away from him. "Just…..don't bother her…"

His words must have had an effect on Basil, who stopped suddenly, his slumped back still facing Kel.

"I wasn’t going to go there, anyways," he said finally, after a silence filled with the leaves of trees rustling in the wind.

Embarrassment taking over and coloring his ears a bright red, Kel bashfully stared down at his own feet.

The crackling of dry leaves accompanying the occasional footfall signaled Basil’s inevitable departure from this conversation.

After letting out a sigh, eyebrows knit together, Kel turned on his heel and continued on his way home.

Murmurs of quiet conversation, with an occasional laugh added to the mix, reached his ears from the sidewalk parallel to the one Kel was walking along.

Only when the wind gushed by, hitting the back of his neck, did Kel finally realize he was actually, seriously sweating because of the extreme heat. He would never get to know how Sunny survived this heat wave with her jacket on—

Sunny…..

The sun was baking his ears and neck at this point, causing him to scratch and pull a little at the side of his head as he winced. Home should be about less than a mile away.

He must be a real jerk in her eyes, especially after he'd just left like that and acted all offended.

But seriously, who wouldn't have been offended if they thought their friend was treating them like a bomb set to go off at any moment?

Okay, maybe not like that…..Kel was just exaggerating it in his head. If Sunny thought of him as super unstable, then she would have told him outright, in her quiet, simple, blunt way.

Oh wait. Kel would have two dollars for every time he could remember Sunny calling him "concerning." Two, yes, but it was weird that it happened twice!

Kel let out all the breath he’d been holding in his lungs, rubbing at a slightly itchy eyelid. How the heck was he supposed to bring everyone back together again if he was like this?

And he didn't even know about the whole "photo album drama" between Aubrey and Basil…..why would Aubrey steal? She wasn't like that at all…..unironically.

Someone couldn't change that much, could they?

Another set of footsteps and pair of shoes approached him, and this time, Kel was ready enough to avoid bumping into someone else.

Raising his head naturally as he made ready to move aside to walk around that person, his eyes widened in shock.

"Whoa there, buddy. What were those deep sighs of longing about, huh?" Aubrey remarked, hands on her hips, with an annoying grin on her face. "Broke up with someone?"

Well. Aubrey wasn’t quite wrong. "Broke up" in the more….platonic sense actually, to be clear. Unless Sunny still thought of him as a friend even after he rudely left her in the park.

There were more pressing matters at the moment. So Aubrey could hear Kel sighing like that? His ears, which were already pink from the sunlight, reddened a considerable amount. What if everyone could hear him internally monologuing, too?

"Sooooo, you gonna answer?" Aubrey pressed, adjusting a lock of dark hair behind her ear(revealing a small set of newer and deeper scratches on her cheek) and rolling her eyes away from Kel. A faint tapping of her shoe against the pavement further proved her impatience, her smirk turned into a grimace. "Oh please. Stop looking like someone just died in front of you! Sheesh…"

Kel worried his lip between his teeth. Aubrey was right on the money with that…..somewhat.

After all, Sunny had told him Hero was….well….dead, instead of staying in college. Which reminded him…..why hadn't his parents said anything about it—

"Helloooooo?" A hand, presumably Aubrey’s, was violently waving in Kel’s face, dangerously close to slapping territory. "Anybody home????"

And oh boy was Kel starting to get a teensy bit annoyed.

"Stop that!" Kel yelled, shoving Aubrey’s hand away as he scowled. "What's your problem?"

Aubrey’s expression looked blank for a second, almost like Sunny’s resting face but less genuine and more eerie, her hand dropping limply to her side after it got shoved away.

Almost like something were lagging, all other noises grew muffled as Kel’s focus fell on Aubrey and her momentarily empty eyes.

Instantly, her expression changed back into her smirk, her empty eyes refilled with something else as they crinkled up. "Everything, actually. Anyways," she gestured wildly at the tensed Kel, "could you like, get out of the way? Unless you really wanna hang out with me, but—"

Looking to his right, Kel noticed the gaping space between himself and the not-so-busy road. Unfortunately, he had to get close to the road to move around Aubrey….unless he moved around the other way, of course.

Common sense.

He flattened himself against the fence on his left to shimmy past her, who….also didn't seem too inclined to move backwards to make room for Kel.

As he stopped for a moment, finally past Aubrey, then walked away for a bit, a loud gasp - that wasn't from him - reached his ears.

Whipping about to face Aubrey, Kel was startled upon seeing her.

Whatever color she had in her face was washed away by a paleness, and her mouth was in a thin line. "W-Wow, Kel. Lucky you didn't shove past me or anything. I would’ve been roadkill, if you know what I mean."

The empty silence following her words stretched and grew. Forcibly, Kel made himself shake his head and look away from Aubrey.

Only for his gaze to meet the road.

No, something spreading across the road.

For a moment, he could find himself unable to lift a finger, hand clenched so tightly around the pocketed gardening shears that they could potentially draw blood. Unknowingly, he shivered a little, his sweat growing as cold as ice.

He forced his eyes shut and turned his head away from the road, taking a breath.

Quickly, Kel wiped a heavy drop of sweat from his brow.

"C-Come on, Aubrey," he opened his eyes to make eye contact with her. "I wouldn't do that. You're just teasing me. Stop joking around."

The corners of Aubrey's mouth turned down before she countered, "Oh, really, I’m ‘joking around’ now?” What she said had a little mocking lilt to it. “Well, you didn't do it to me, of course,” she paused for a second, eyes appearing dull very briefly. Then, she began to suggest, with some irritation and something else in her eyes, “But if you were angry enough…." Aubrey opened her mouth to say something else, then turned her face away. "Whatever. Go and have fun or whatever you were doing before.”

Casually walking away as she kicked against the ground with her heels, Aubrey nonchalantly gave Kel a tiny, sassy wave goodbye.

Kel had no chance to get angry at this casual wave, as if Aubrey wasn’t totally acting very weird just now. No, he stared at the road once more, frozen in place.

Aubrey didn’t know him like Kel himself did! That was true. So why would she say with such certainty that he would push someone into the road, right in the middle of those moving cars? Especially when angry—

For a moment, a faded outline of something rested on the road, then as a car roared by, it was there no more.

Kel’s heartbeat sped up that it was impossible to tell which beat from which.

No, Kel didn’t get angry! He shouldn’t get angry. Only bad people would get angry enough to push their friends - was Aubrey even a friend anymore? - into a busy road…..Kel wasn’t bad, just pathetic.

Pathetic.

Pathetic enough that Aubrey and Basil didn’t want to be friends with him anymore. So pathetic that he didn’t even remember that his own brother had passed away…..how he’d passed, and that Sunny probably thinks he's pathetic too—

Again, he forced his eyes away from the road and broke into a run back home along the sidewalk.

All that he could think about was to just get away from the outside world.

Both his eyes and the back of his throat stung harshly by the time he had reached his house. The rose bushes in the front served to catch his attention, though not to hold it for long, as Kel was already past them and unlocking the front door.

What greeted him wasn’t his mother….or either of his parents at all…..but a nice smell coming from inside the kitchen.

"Kelsey, is that you? How was your hangout with Sunny???" Someone yelled from the kitchen.

Before his mother could yell more at him or potentially give him a lecture about ignoring someone when spoken to, Kel dashed up the stairs to his room.

Right at the moment the door to his bedroom closed behind him, he heard his mother sigh to herself, "What am I going to do with this child…."

Breathing deeply, Kel ignored the rest of his bedroom - which was his bedroom in name, but not really used as such.

Usually, he would avoid this room like the plague and choose the sofa downstairs as a makeshift bed. However, what he needed was time by himself just to think—

Then his eyes opened, gaze landing on the one bed he was supposed to use. As if a switch had been flipped, Kel’s sleepiness finally made itself known to him. Ignoring how his stomach was rumbling loud enough to sound like thunder and that it was a little past lunchtime, he practically jumped into the bed, outside clothes still on.

Who cared about some thinking time alone? What he wanted now was sleep.

Who knew, Kel mused as his thoughts slowly became less intelligible and more muddy. Maybe this little afternoon nap would help him a bit…..

Once again, Chip opened his eyes to the sky above.

Strange, how the sky's light, which used to be so blinding to the eyes, now served as a mild irritation when one first looked at it after a long time in the darkness.

Groggily, he reached out for his trusty basketball. Naturally, his hand touched it as it was always within his reach, and rolled it towards himself.

With some difficulty, Chip dragged himself up to an awkward standing position, adjusting his grip on the basketball. He dribbled the ball lazily for a while, feeling lucky that nobody was on the bleachers next to the court, watching him fail…..

The sky's light dimmed as a shadow made itself faintly visible on the highest part of the bleachers. It was shaped…..like her. She was laughing at Chip, her giggles silent….

Yet to Chip, they were as loud as eggs exploding in a microwave oven after leaving them in there for too long.

The shadow girl kept holding her sides in her mirth, then she froze completely stock still, having noticed Chip glaring at her, ready to throw the basketball.

Her glowing eyes, which had been squeezed shut during her fit of laughter, now opened like a blossoming flower bud…..but less in a beautiful way and more of an unsettling way.

Condescension filled her stare, making Chip frown, especially at how she seemed to be mocking him from her place, which was literally higher than where Chip was standing. Threateningly, he took a step forward, towards the bottom of the bleachers, wielding his basketball.

Too late, for the girl let out a final giggle, judging from how her shoulders were shaking and her hand went to cover her mouth, then flipped her hair, in which a braid was coming loose, turned on her heel and vanished.

Chip bit his lip in anger. Of course, had Aub— this stranger not been able to fade away, he still wouldn't have been able to do her any damage. The ball would have flown right through her, anyways.

Again, he practiced his dribbling, then once the ball was in both hands, he took a shot at throwing it into the hoop.

He made it!

Yay!

Yay…..

Awkward silence filled the space once Chip was hit with the realization that nobody had appeared on the bleachers next to him. Nobody witnessed his awesome shot!

Maybe he should ask H/3÷%R*%0.

Yeah, Hero was the best! He was the one to know everything about this world.

But….to do that….

He must admit that he didn’t know where Sunny, Mari, and Basil were.

…..

Come on, Hero wouldn't judge him! He was Chip’s trusty older brother!

Still, some second thoughts remained as Chip sprinted across the grass…..and this lasted a few seconds only.

Huh.

Something stuck to the bottom of Chip’s feet…..

He halted then looked down, to see bright orange stains dotting some parts of the field.

Rubbing the bottom of his foot against the ground to get the orange stuff off, Chip continued walking, slowly this time so as to carefully avoid the patches of orange.

Where could this have come from— oh wait, Orange Joe!

Did someone happen to spill Orange Joe everywhere?

As he got closer, he saw that the trees had orange stains as well, some of the stains having more of a defined shape, one of them on a tree trunk, vaguely looking like….a handprint?

Chip raised an eyebrow in suspicion.

First, the sky seemed dimmer, and now this?

Maybe…..Hero would know something about it. Well, duh, it wasn’t like Chip wasn’t heading over to Hero right now in the first place.

“Chip! You’re here!” Someone yelled from a place with a lot of those orange stains plus the occasional handprint. “Over here!”

Squinting, Chip followed a vague path made up of all those orange stains on the grass and trees, until he reached…..

The boy he had been looking for was sitting, appearing to be a little sad and lonely, on the grass, on a spot which looked as if it were completely dyed orange instead of having those wispy, small stains. Although the day was a little darker than usual, whatever light was left still illuminated Hero’s hair a golden-brown.

He looked around, and once he faced Chip’s direction, his eyes widened as he made himself ready to stand up.

“Phew,” huffed Hero, standing up from his sitting spot against a tree which was almost completely dotted with orange stains. “I was starting to think that you would never find me! Don’t worry me like that, please!”

At once, all of the tension in Chip melted away at the sight of his dear older brother. However, as he started to take a step forward…..

……the copious amount of orange stains on the tree Hero had been resting against started to overwhelm him…..some of the stains fading to a darker shade of orange, almost red.

Chip took two small steps back, staring straight at those stains. Mostly at the ones which were nearly red.

“Chip?” Hero asked, just standing there. No efforts were made by him to approach his younger sibling in his intimidated state. “Are you alright?”

At once, Chip’s attention was brought to Hero and he nodded his head with enthusiasm. “Yup! I was just…..wondering where the others were….” His head drooped as he stared at the ground sadly….more bright orange stains catching his eye.

“Huh? What— wait, that explains it,” muttered Hero, putting a hand to his chin and directing his focus somewhere as his eyebrows knit together in deep thought. “Hmmmm….”

“Explains….what?” Chip questioned, tilting his head with an innocent look.

“Sunny wasn’t with you today,” explained Hero, expression becoming more serious as he looked at Chip again. “And neither were the others.”

“But what if they’re at your Orange Joe stand?” Chip suggested, scratching at where his hair tickled his cheek as he stepped closer to Hero. His innocently curious look hid suspicion and worry. “Wait a minute, why aren’t you at the stand?”

“Well, I said earlier that I’d be able to leave the stand if the weather got worse,” Hero laughed a little, messing up his already messy hair. “So I kept my promise. And I thought all of you were at Mari’s house for some reason and tried going there to surprise you all. Not that much of a surprise anymore, huh?” His words were filled with mild disappointment towards the end.

“It’s alright, we’ll check Mari’s house first! And that way, we can BOTH surprise them!” Chip piped up, without missing a beat. Instantly, he deflated. “Well, if they even are there….”

The grass made rustling sounds approaching Chip, and when he looked up, Hero was standing in front of him.

“We’ll find them, don’t worry!” Hero ruffled Chip’s hair so he wasn’t the only one with a bedhead. Chip smiled in response to Hero’s reassuring grin. “You’ll have to trust in them if they ever get into any trouble while we’re gone.”

“Okay! Yes sir!” Chip gave Hero a cheesy salute with his free hand after shoving Hero’s hand out of his hair.

Hero’s smile turned sheepish as he turned away to start walking away from the tree where he had rested. “Don’t make fun of me like that….”

“Off to Mari’s house we gooooo!!!!!”

“Hey! Let me catch up!” Hero gasped indignantly as he fell behind, Chip speedily sprinting up ahead.

In the distance, Chip spotted the lake….which he could see very well without shielding his eyes. Was the light getting that dim here?

Eventually, he stopped hearing Hero’s slower footsteps behind him. It was eerily silent…..

Chip called out, looking behind him and noticing nobody there. He cupped his hands to his mouth to make his voice louder, to no avail. “HEROOO??? WHERE ARE YOU?”

Finally, he figured that Hero had been so sick and tired of Chip running ahead, that he took another route to Mari’s house.

He rolled his eyes in mild annoyance as he made his way until he reached a certain road.

A white dotted line went through it’s middle, on its other side was—

“HERO!!!” Chip’s momentary fear disappeared, and he sprinted towards the edge of the road before stopping short. That person across from him was too tall to be Hero.

Too ghostly to be Hero.

Chapter Text

Taking a hopefully quiet step back, Chip kept a cautious eye on the back of “Hero”’s see-through head.

Light from above brightly illuminated this entity’s figure so much that Chip even felt relieved that it was darker than the norm today, for “Hero” would have been blinding for him to see, had it been as bright as usual.

“I know you’re there. Don’t run away,” this person said, almost pleading in the last part. “Hero” turned around, but instead of being devoid of a face and having blood dripping like syrup from his hair, he wore an amicable smile….tinged with a drop of sadness. “Not anymore. Please….”

Now that “Hero” had shown his face, Chip wasn’t able to run anyways, let alone move his feet at all, so frozen in place they were in the moment.

No.

Nononononono—

Why was Chip feeling so scared? This? This was nothing to be afraid of! Chip had this all under control. Being crushed into Orange Joe was the obvious fate of this Hero wannabe, with how powerful Chip was. Although his feet felt like they were rooted into the ground, he was able to - albeit stiffly - move his hands and bring out his trusty basketball.

“You’re right,” said Chip quietly with an expression as unreadable as a straight line, while he balanced the ball on his pointer finger, “I won’t run away. Instead, I’ll make you EAT THIS!” Violently and without breaking a sweat, he flung the ball in the direction of “Hero”’s face.

The impostor’s eyes didn’t widen a single bit, nor did he display any surprise at the ball hurtling right onto his nose. Almost like it were just a toy bouncy ball, Chip’s weapon simply bounced off of the Hero wannabe’s face like it was a trampoline.

As the ball bounced back onto the ground and into Chip’s hands again, Chip’s eyebrows furrowed and teeth clenched in agitation. This impostor must go.

Now.

Perhaps this person’s defense was just really high, that’s why “Hero” didn’t take any damage—

“Please. I don’t want to fight you,” rang out the impostor’s voice. He wasn’t posing as much of a threat……physically, that was, as he wasn’t crossing the road to fight Chip or anything. His expression grew sorrowful as he continued to look at Chip.

Chip didn’t want to listen as his panic rose quickly. “COME OVER HERE AND FIGHT ME YOURSELF!” He feigned a playful expression of challenge, with a determined grin, which hid the apprehension underneath.

“You’re making this more difficult than it needs to be!” “Hero” pleaded. “I just want to say something….”

He appeared to be more downcast, a hand rubbing at his opposite elbow as he looked down sadly.

“About what?” Chip grumbled, lowering his basketball back to an idle position. His expression still held distrust for this doppleganger.

Against his will, a looming sense of dread had come over him.

“Hero” looked up to directly stare into his eyes.

“I hope you’re still in there…..Kel…..”

Another slow step back was taken by Chip.

“Please……don’t bottle it all up. Memories of that day—“

Mid-step, Chip tensed up, gritting his teeth as sweat almost dripped from his hair.

“—oh. You aren’t ready,” said Hero, the emotion in his face going blank as something akin to disappointment was visible in his eyes now. Slowly, he turned around, away from Chip again. “Kel, deep inside, I know you’re in there. No matter what, I’ll always love you. Even when you’re not doing so well.” He turned his head a little to his left, making his small smile visible to Chip.

Even Chip couldn’t find his voice fast enough to reply, “No, you fake, I never ‘not do well.’ And second, you don’t know me. You aren’t the real Hero.”

“What…..” Chip actually said, breathing out inaudibly, shakily seizing his basketball and staring after Hero - no, “Hero” - for a few seconds. By the time he’d gathered his bearings and was ready to aim accurately, in Impostor Hero’s place was just thin air.

Stopthinkingaboutthatdaystopthinkingaboutit—

Chip gave himself a sharp slap on the cheek with his free hand. “Ugh….” He rubbed the hurt spot on his face. “Sheesh, what was THAT???” Pretend that everything was normal.

Tucking the ball under his arm, he approached the road slowly. Hmph. Once he’d gotten a close look at it, it was…..empty. Not that wide either. Well, at least not as wide as the lake.

Nothing was going to hurt him.

Nothing was going to happen.

Reluctantly, Chip gulped and drew in a deep breath……then slowly breathed out. He could do this.

Steadily putting one foot in front of the other, he found himself on the road’s other side in a matter of seconds.

You’ve gotten over your fear of roads.

A weird sense of pride surged through Chip at this new achievement. No, it was NOT thanks to whatever had happened earlier…..that was a fake Hero.

Yes. Chip stopped for a moment to tell himself that. That “Hero” was fake. Only the real Hero would know and understand that there was no such thing as being “down in the dumps” here. Being all wimpy and sorrowful like that made Chip weak. And then he wouldn’t be able to protect his friends from danger, if so…..

Oh, here he was, doing the exact thing he preached against! Moping! Again, Chip slapped his cheek and grit his teeth when it stung. Get a grip. A dangerous enemy might catch him unawares, so he must be alert.

Even so, he found himself relaxed enough to whistle a silly little tune…..a familiar tune. A tune which was a mixture of being somber and being joyful, therefore, not that appropriate a piece for one to whistle to.

His grip on the ball loosened, arms relaxing as he admired the trees and grass, his whistling slowing to a stop.

What broke him out of this self-indulgent stupor was—

A harsh shove later, Chip was tasting the grass and soil as something’s feet were planted on his back.

“Ghhh— h-huhh?” With great difficulty, he turned his face from the dirt it was planted in, to behind him to identify who was foolish enough to pin him down……

Only to see the cloud creature from earlier. One of the enemies he and Sunny had been fighting.

Insolently, the cloud cocked its head - if that was even possible - and bent its legs a bit as Chip looked up at it.

In pain, Chip scowled, looked away from the cloud, and eyed the grass for any signs of his basketball…..of which there were none. Shoot. It must have been knocked out of his grip the other way when the cloud had caught him off-guard just now.

“Ughhh…..you again…..” groaned Chip, dropping his head back into the grass, but with his mouth away from it. Soil may be appetizing to worms, but unfortunately, Chip wasn’t one.

Bending its legs repetitively, as though bursting into a fit of laughter, the cloud seemed to summon…..other clouds with its “noisy” laughing.

As soon as the walking cloud creatures gathered, the sky appeared to dim much more…..

Something in Chip broke…..and it wasn’t a bone. He’d never see the others again. Without his basketball, he was weak…..he had even been caught off-guard…..what kind of friend was he? And he called himself someone who protects his friends? What a joke.

Little by little, icy cold rain fell on the back of Chip’s shirt for half a minute, its source being the cackling cloud creature, which hopped off of his back after seeing him not put up a fight.

The grass lightly ruffled nearby, and a few moments later, Chip felt a sharp kick in his side, strong enough to roll him over.

See? Pathetic.

Though the other clouds shook silently, their mean-spirited giggles were as loud as Mr. Plantegg’s footsteps, in Chip’s ears.

The cloud which had kicked him over suddenly swelled up, only for two cloudy arms to emerge from its main body. Getting closer to Chip, who lay completely weak and cold on the ground, the cloud outstretched its arms……and reached inside of Chip.

He could hardly breathe as he felt the iciness in his chest, practically being strangled at this point. Perhaps that was this cloud’s intention.

Cold. So cold.

His chest tightened up, and the shallow breaths he took almost made him sound like he was….crying?

The sky looked - no, also felt - so cloudy. So, so cloudy.

He was never going to be able to save the others. Never was he going to see them and their happy faces again.

Slowly, the coldness faded away, and thin rays of sunshine reached Chip. Was this what it felt like to face the end of one’s existen—

Something flew through the air, then a light thump was audible on Chip’s right, and out of surprise, Chip blinked his tears away to see what fell.

With a syringe embedded in its side, a cloud, obviously the one which had tortured Chip just now, lay on the grass, melting in the newly bright sunlight.

Face wet with gradually drying rain and tears, Chip shakily got up from the ground to see who had just saved him.

Syringe in hand, Sunny had just finished cutting up one of the clouds near her. Right before another cloud, gray with anger, charged at her, she wiped her raindrop-filled face and flipped a wet pigtail over her shoulder with a free hand before Chip caught her eye.

The sun had come to clear out the clouds.

Ugh. Cheesy.

“Sunny? Y-You’re here?” He gasped in shock and awe, prior to Sunny’s attention being directed away from Chip towards the attacking cloud again.

Right after cutting up this particular cloud creature, Sunny spoke without bothering to look at Chip. “Don’t just stand there. I’m buying you time.”

Oh. All around them were multiple cloud creatures, sprinting on their little legs in two different directions depending on how brave they were; either charging towards Sunny, or disappearing into the thick of the forest where they couldn’t be told apart from the fluffy leaves on the trees.

Chip’s gaze darted here and there among the grass before he found a familiar shape; the round outline of the basketball.

Stepping over and on the fluffy wet carcasses of the other fallen cloud creatures, he spotted another running cloud creature, whose path(charging towards Sunny) was just about to intersect with the path along where Chip was running.

Wait…..he had an idea.

Right before he and the cloud were about to butt heads, Chip suddenly dropped to the ground, wincing a little from the fall impact, then curled up in a little ball before rolling between the cloud’s spindly little legs. He felt a sense of victory once he got the basketball, and immediately got up from the grass.

"SUNNY I'VE GOT THIS!" yelled Chip, before throwing the basketball at the cloud with all his might, clearing a circle-shaped hole in the creature before it collapsed onto the grass and lay there melting, some Orange Joe-like substance leaking from it.

All the remaining cloud creatures paused for a second as they observed this happening, then immediately ran away from the two friends. Obviously, they didn't want to end up looking like distant cousins of holey cheese.

An odd look on her face, Sunny stared past Chip, at the clouds scramming, then back at her friend.

"I wasn’t buying you time to get the ball and fight these creatures, Chip," Sunny said bluntly, tilting her head a tiny bit. There was some relief in those dark eyes.

"Then what else were you buying time for?" asked an innocently curious Chip with a teasing grin, a hand scratching his chin and his eyebrow being raised. A sense of dread rose in his stomach upon his further questioning of Sunny.

Scoffing, Sunny answered, brow furrowing, “Obviously some time for you to escape.” Her gaze softened as a small smile played on her lips, and somehow, she pocketed her syringe. “Of course, you had to go ahead and risk it like an idiot.”

Being called an idiot wasn’t what irked Chip at the moment, rather, it was—

“Time for me to escape? You thought I’d leave you here? Alone?” Chip asked, quietly and expressionlessly. Easily, his basketball fell out of his grip to the ground beside his feet.

Sunny’s eyes narrowed. “Of course not. I could’ve taken care of these,” she gestured at the melted remains of the few brave clouds who died by her hand…..or her syringe. Eyes closed, she turned her face away to mumble, “That one cloud on top of you seemed to make you weak…..”

No malice was in her tone, however—

"Oh." Chip said this blankly…..at first. "Let's just go."

The bright sky above highlighted everything as much as before the cloud attack, though Chip didn’t know whether it was brighter or dimmer than how it had been originally.

Although he walked past Sunny, no hurriedly following footsteps were audible.

"You aren't yourself right now."

With a grimace and a roll of his eyes, still faced away from Sunny, Chip huffed, "What d'you mean?" Was he starting to get more irritated with time?

"You need to take some rest. Those clouds did a number on you."

Chip gulped a little as he pictured her glare of agitation boring holes through his stubborn back. Huh? But he wasn't scared of Sunny!

Not at all….

“N-No! I don’t need rest, Sunny. What are you talking about?” He whipped around with a wide smile on his face, which hurt his mouth muscles. Hurt? No, smiling wasn’t supposed to hurt like this—

“If YOU’RE tired, then just say so!” Chip forced a little bit of faux teasing into his tone, for otherwise, it would have sounded passive-aggressive. “I won’t judge! You fought off all those weird creatures all by yourself after all!”

Still not approaching Chip to continue this journey to get their friends back, Sunny remained rooted to her spot. Syringe not visible in her hands anymore, she averted her gaze from her friend as she fiddled with one of her pigtails. “I….didn’t mean that. Just concerned about you.”

“Well, I DID mean what I said about you fighting off almost all those cotton candy creatures!” Chip also remained rooted to his spot, as if waiting for Sunny to finish resting or something. Which she obviously wasn’t planning to do, judging by the look on her face. “So yeah, you could get some rest if you wanna.”

“……no.”

“‘Kay, suit yourself!” Walking on ahead, Chip felt like letting out a breath he didn't even know he'd been holding in. Lucky, that this interaction hadn't escalated as negatively as….that other one.

Some stiffening coldness remained in Chip’s throat, almost obstructing it every time he had to swallow. Almost. Had it been always, there would have been a string of drool dripping down his chin.

Yuck.

How could that stupid cloud have been able to overpower him like that?

Sure, the clouds greatly outnumbered him.

However…..

Chip had always been able to defeat enemies bigger than and even greater in number than him.

The way they had easily pushed him into the ground….kicked him over……..strangled him….

His skin was turning to gooseflesh at this point, and strangely, cold drops of sweat dripped down the side of his face.

Had Sunny seen him like that, rendered vulnerable and defenseless by a gang of stupid, flimsy - and very, very cold, - clouds?

A shiver was sent through him.

The heat exacerbated the sweat. Shoot.

This time, footsteps crunching against the grass neared him from behind, and one could tell these quieter footsteps from Chip’s louder, confident ones.

Wait a second, how did footsteps "sound" confident?

"You have any idea where they are?"

Imagining the eyebrow raise as Sunny was saying this, Chip didn’t stop his walking as he replied confidently, "Yup! Just follow me!"

Mari’s house. That had been the location he and Hero had decided on checking out first.

He turned around to make finger guns and cheekily wink at Sunny, instantly facing forward just in time before potentially bumping into a tree.

Apparently narrowly side-stepping the tree was funny to Sunny - ohoho that rhymed in Chip’s head - considering how a snort followed by the clearing of a throat was audible behind Chip.

Well, this wasn't something important enough to get himself into a twist over. Chip was sensible enough to know that.

"You….miss them." Sunny’s voice took on a softer tone.

Chip’s breath hitched. She wasn’t….she wasn’t talking about…..yeah, she must be only talking about how Mari and the others were missing.

That's it.

"Uhhh, yeah? Of course? But we're gonna find them soon, don't worry, Sunny!"

The footsteps approached him slowly and stopped a couple feet away from him.

"Is that why you didn't want to take a break?" inquired Sunny. "Just rest, I won’t make fun of you. It's alright if it's a while before we see them."

"No, it's not alright! They could be—" Chip stopped himself just in time and faced Sunny. "Just….trust me, okay?"

"Never said I didn't," scoffed Sunny quietly with a sudden glare, which softened once she added more to her statement. "Without rest you can't refresh, and without that, you wouldn't be able to save them and have enough energy afterwards."

"But I don't need to rest, Sunny—"

"Liar. Saw you shivering. That cloud really got to you."

Somehow, Sunny was able to wear a satisfied look on her face without a hint of a grin….which at least made Chip feel better than those wide dirt-eating wicked grins Aubrey used to make. Wait, who?

"Are we really bringing this up again?" huffed Chip, clenching his fists at his sides and knitting his brows together in a frown.

"Why not?" Sunny’s smug look disappeared in favor of a questioning expression. More like a "you dare question me?" expression, emphasized more by how she folded her arms across her dark gray shirt in a business-like manner.

Had this occurred at any other time with a completely different mood, Chip would've had a good laugh at Sunny(baby of the group) being all "grown-up" and sassy. Her reaction, which would have consisted mostly of her puffing out her reddened cheeks in slight irritation, would have been an amusing sight to behold.

Now, Chip was too intimidated to even open his mouth.

Swallowing with great difficulty, he gathered himself together and took a deep breath before speaking. "We can't waste time talking about this though! We've gotta move on!"

Sunny’s arms dropped to her sides as her blank expression simply stared at him. An urge to say something was explicitly shown on her face, especially in the way her mouth gaped open for a second or two.

"...."

Nothing more was said on that topic.

It was final.

Although the basketball was still in his inventory as he continued traversing along the grass and among the trees with Sunny, Chip couldn’t help but feel some worry nibble away at him.

After all, hadn't the cloud creatures retreated back into these trees Kel and Sunny were walking past?

The feeling of being caught unawares without a weapon in hand wasn’t a nice one. Preferably, Chip wouldn't have to go through that whole ordeal once more.

After a second, maybe even a jiffy, Chip felt the texture of the ball at his fingertips again.

Which reminded him…..

"Oh yeah, Sunny, what happened?" Chip asked without needing to turn around again as he slowed down so Sunny could walk right next to him.

"What?"

Crestfallen, he elaborated, "Well, I was feeling super alone in the basketball court today, because I didn't see you there…..did anything happen?"

Chip carefully watched Sunny’s reaction. If she really didn't remember what had happened last time, then all was still going well. If she did, then….

Simple. He would simply have to take care of that. Not in the same way as he did with Aubrey, however. Sunny didn’t deserve that.

Aubrey…..

Chip’s crestfallen expression intensified in sadness at this thought, not that Sunny would have noticed.

As for her reaction, it was a simple shake of the head. "I don't remember. I was…..knocked out for a while."

"Oh," Chip side-eyed her, eyes narrowing. "Anything you remember? Did some big jerk knock you out? You know, after we find the others, we can—"

"Don't," huffed Sunny, cheeks puffed out, a little bit of pink sprinkled across them. "I wasn’t knocked out. And no, you don’t need to go pick a fight with some 'big jerk' for no reason, because nobody knocked me out."

"Hmmm, wonder what happened," wondered Chip, feigning curiosity and exaggerating a bit by putting a finger to his chin in thought.

Phew.

Both suspiciously and fortunately, the Orange Joe stains were completely gone from this area past that road from before. Strange, that Chip had gotten over an obstacle which had seemed so big before.

Equally strange was that he didn’t like it a single bit, for some reason.

He gave his cheek a harsh rub to direct his focus back to the task at hand.

Get his friends back together.

Some stupid road and orange stains shouldn't be his top priorities and worries right now.

To the point of being blinding, the light above burnt bright.

A flurry of eyelashes from the person beside him told him that Sunny was rapidly blinking to adjust to this new light. Too bad she didn't have a cool pair of good sunglasses to help with that…..

There had been no need for sunglasses here, after all.

Chip let out a sigh, followed by, "Welp. Sunny, wanna go sit in the shade?"

"No. Where are we looking first?" Sunny stared at him stubbornly.

"You'll see!" Chip was practically dancing around getting to the point and telling Sunny they were heading to her very own house. "Maybe you could guess."

Stopping, Sunny looked behind herself, then in front of herself again, eyes widening in realization….somewhat. "Hmmm. I recognize this route."

"You might like the place where we're looking. Maybe even recognize it, too. Hehe."

"That sounds suspicious."

Chip’s stomach lurched. "Well, we're going there anyways!" he said a little forcefully.

They needed to get there quickly, as Chip wasn’t sure Sunny would survive in this heat.

Grass rustled, making Chip freeze still again.

Sunny didn’t question it, judging from the silence next to Chip.

Of course, she had caught on very quickly.

Some more rustling later, Sunny had her syringe in hand again.

To Chip, it was a whoosh of air past him, barely brushing his face, then he saw the thrown syringe flying into a tree. Right after the tree got punctured, something….actually someone, fell out from behind it.

What the heck?

"H-Hey! HOW DARE YOU DISTURB THE COOL ROASTED POTATO'S SLEEP?"

The one saying this was basically the title by which it had introduced itself. A roasted potato. With sunglasses.

"You weren’t sleeping. You were hiding," deadpanned Sunny, rolling her eyes.

"Yeah, Roasted Potato! We heard you!" yelled Chip, gripping the basketball tightly.

"You were sneaking up on us, weren't you? Potatoes don't sleep against trees."

"Sunny’s right!" Challengingly, Chip strode up to the big, walking(and sweating) potato. "You were planning to steal from us, weren't you?"

He stared up into the potato's eyes….at least the main pair of eyes, which were covered by the sunglasses. It was then that he had a lightbulb moment.

"We're gonna have to steal from you, too, then!" Chip readied his basketball. "Right after we defeat you!"

"What—" the poor, confused potato started, but it was too late. Doom was already upon it.

No way could this potato win against Chip’s special skill, "Yeeet Da Ball." Also Sunny’s "Stabby McStabby."

Seconds later, the potato turned into a pile of mashed potato with multiple syringes embedded in it and some sunglasses lying on top. How convenient.

With some disgust, Chip approached the mashed potato and carefully took out the sunglasses, wanting to not get any potato innards all over his hands.

Unfortunately, there was potato all over the glasses, causing Sunny to grimace as he handed them over to her.

"I'd rather let my eyes burn out, thank you very much."

"No, you don’t," Chip shoved the glasses into Sunny’s hand. "You could always eat the….potato bits. Ugh. I'm not doing that though."

Chip looked on with his eyebrows raised in disgust as Sunny licked the potato remains off of her glasses.

"You really had to mark your territory like that?"

"Nobody will steal my sunglasses if they know I've licked it," reasoned Sunny, folding and unfolding the glasses again and again for no reason then putting them on.

Seriously, what was up with that logic?

How would one know if Sunny had licked her sunglasses— wow, Chip should really stop asking himself disgusting questions at this point.

"Uhhh— wow Sunny! You look super cool!" Chip said with genuine pride - she did look cool, actually.

All Sunny had to offer was a thumbs-up in response, which was more than enough validation for Chip.

Basketball still in hand, Chip continued walking ahead, thinking of how he'd tell Mari and the others after rescuing them about how both he and Sunny had valiantly fought off the big bad potato. And taken its sunglasses as a victory prize.

Chip totally wanted to pick a fight the potato just to put it out of its misery - it was practically roasting in the sun - and totally not because he detested potatoes in general. Yeah, he definitely wasn't THAT petty!

"We're almost there, Sunny!" Chip told her happily. Now they could make some headway with Operation: Find The Others Before Something Bad Happens To Them.

"Headway" in the sense that he and Sunny could confirm that they weren't lurking in the latter and Mari’s house, eating dozens of cookies to their hearts' delight.

Again did the stains of Orange Joe appear, in the form of a pathway leading to somewhere. That "somewhere" was, suspiciously, along the same route which Chip and Sunny were taking to go to the house.

As Chip inherently knew he was getting closer and closer to the house, the stains grew bigger and more bunched up.

What if he tried something out…..if what he was thinking was true—

"Hey Sunny," he stared at her, watching for any reaction, which she didn't give as per usual, "you see those on the ground?" He pointed at a thick bunch of Orange Joe stains near a particularly funny-looking tree.

"What?" deadpanned Sunny with mild tiredness, raising a brow at him as she tilted her head in question. "That’s a tree. You don't know that?"

To be relieved at this or not to be relieved at the fact that the stains weren't visible to Sunny. That was the question.

"Haha, nothing," his grin turned evil. "Just thought I saw a spider there."

Sunny’s eyes widened a bit as she purposefully walked a little away from the tree.

Hah. Payback for questioning his knowledge of the existence of trees.

"We're here!!!" Chip jumped with joy as Sunny simply stood still with a scowl next to him.

"You just had to tease me with a spider— oh."

Sunny also saw her very own house, some relief in her eyes.

"After you!" said Chip, standing a little way behind Sunny, watching how the stains thickened to form a path in itself, leading to the ajar door of the house.

Ajar? Maybe Mari and the others were there and had forgotten to close the door! Yeah, that was totally it!!

Staring up at the house as Sunny gingerly opened the door a little wider, Chip noticed how it appeared mildly sketchy, especially in the higher parts. Overall, the house looked neat and concise.

Just like Sunny’s house.

"Coming? Or will I leave you behind?" Sunny was standing in the doorway, facing Chip with a slight frown.

Forcefully, Chip lowered his face and looked to the doorway. "Sorry Sunny! I was looking at how awesome your house is!"

"I-I— it's nothing. Let's just go inside."

"Awwww, you're all red! It's adorable—"

Sunny gave him a bombastic side-eye filled with annoyance before he walked past her into the house.

"Hey MARI!!!! BASIL!!!!! HERO????? HELLOOOOO????" hollered Chip, sprinting around and going through all the rooms.

Standing still amid all the sounds of the doors' hinges squeaking as they slammed open and closed, Sunny looked on with utter pain in her eyes at the loud noises.

"I'm looking in the kitchen," Sunny deadpanned, more to herself than to Chip as she did exactly what she'd just said.

However, upon somehow hearing that, Chip took that as an order. He dashed up to the pigtailed girl. "Okay!!! They might be eating cookies there without us! Let's go!"

"I—" Sunny protested, but Chip had already dragged her by the hand into the kitchen.

If it could be even called one anymore, with how trashed it looked, the smell of burnt cookies everywhere.

Had Mari or someone else tried to bake cookies here?

Chip examined the burnt cookie tray in the oven, like a fictional detective.

Sounds of Sunny’s coughing ensued.

Sunny coughing…..

Tensed up and ready for any potential surprise, whether it be good or bad, Chip slowly turned around to see Sunny simply coughing on some smoke. There was no…..Orange Joe flying out of her mouth as she coughed.

"Didn't find anyone. Maybe we could find some clues, ugh—" Sunny had another non-lethal coughing fit, taking off her sunglasses.

Multiple Orange Joe stains were gathered in one place next to the oven, with the tray of burnt cookies.

Something opened behind him, making Chip look around.

The shadowy girl from earlier in the court stood in front of the open fridge, seemingly the only thing intact in the kitchen.

Chapter Text

“K-Kel,” Sunny’s wheezing voice coughed out to ground Chip back into reality. “Nobody’s here.”

Unfortunately, this “wake-up call” served to scatter his focus right before the shadowy silhouette of the girl in front of him disappeared.

He steadfastly stared at the place where the girl’s glowing white eyes once were before her vanishing act.

“There’s nothing interesting about this fridge. We’re wasting time here. Let’s go.”

Careful footsteps resounded across the floor, getting closer to him.

As Chip grit his teeth, his gaze almost burning holes into the intact fridge, a small hand with a firm grip on his arm started pulling him away from this “attraction.”

Out of surprise, he would have jumped, but contained himself just in time for Sunny - or anybody else - to notice. There was actually nobody else in here besides himself and Sunny….

That shadowy girl was just a shadow. Nothing else. She wasn’t even recognizable to Chip in the first place anyways.

Totally.

The trashed kitchen’s burnt stench did more to get him to remember where he was and about the current mission.

“I’m coming, Sunny!” Chip said as he forced his gaze away from the strangely alluring fridge and relented to his friends initially unsuccessful attempts to drag him away. Because of his complete submission to Sunny’s pull, Chip almost slipped on the floor, which had ashes strewn across it. “Uhh, you don’t need to pull me.” Tripping, he nearly fell on the unsuspecting Sunny, who stopped because of these words.

They were both right in the doorway of the kitchen when this was said.

A bit of gratitude was felt by Chip towards Sunny for taking him away from that weird fridge……no, it wasn’t the fridge that was weird, it was that girl—

All Sunny did was give Chip one blank look, then let go of him before simply standing there in the abandoned house aimlessly.

It was only after he had realized that she was confused on what to do next that Chip let out a groan of hopelessness, smacking his forehead. “Oh no….what’re we supposed to do now? They aren’t here….where could they be?”

Although he looked off to the side while saying these overly dramatic lines(in his very honest opinion), Chip quickly glanced at Sunny out of the tail-end of his eye to gauge her reaction.

“…..I have an idea.” Her brows had knit together in thought right before her lightbulb moment. “We could search the ‘Plantegg’ area.”

Sigh. “Again about the planteggs," sighed Chip, again dramatically rolling his eyes. "Fine, we could look there after we get outta here."

As they both simply stared at each other, seemingly not knowing what to do next, Chip was the one to make the first move to break the temporary silence. "Too slow!" he yelled, grabbing Sunny’s hand to energetically drag her completely out of the kitchen with a smug look.

Seriously, Chip was getting some déjà vu from dragging Sunny around like this, likewise with Sunny nearly wrenching his arm off.

Should be nothing.

Both safely and swiftly, they were able to pass through the doorway back to the bright outdoors. The light was as welcoming as usual, giving Chip at least some relief after that….shady encounter.

"YEAAAAHHHHH WE'RE FINALLY OUT OF HERE!" Chip screamed for practically everyone to hear, after violently letting go of Sunny’s hand so her arm swung energetically to her side. Turning to her again, he raised an open hand, palm facing Sunny.

"Are we about to take an oath?"

"....no, what even is that? Anyways, it's high-five time!"

Sunny cocked her head to the side, pigtails falling lightly over her shoulders, in mild suspicion. "We haven't found them yet. What. You found a clue or something?"

Pouting and straightening up indignantly, Chip retorted, "What? No! I mean, we have less places to search, now that we've narrowed it down!"

"By one place," continued Sunny for Chip with a little frown as she looked to the grassy ground in slight disappointment.

Absentmindedly, Chip also just stared at the ground…..until he saw something weird.

Or the lack thereof.

There had been no squishy sounds as they had walked out of the house.

Somehow, the stains of Orange Joe had disappeared. One couldn't tell if it was even there in the first place, even though there had been a lot of them concentrated around the house and near the door.

Chip grit his teeth, then raised his head to look at Sunny again in order to talk to her.

"It's still more than zero places though!" he reminded Sunny cheerfully, walking over to her and clapping her on the back.

Oops. Maybe that was a little too hard.

Catching herself just in time, Sunny sharply turned to Chip with a scowl…..and had nothing to say, really.

Well, there was no need to say anything.

“Uhhhh— oopsies?” Chip awkwardly replied to Sunny’s hostile look with an equally awkward shrug.

Sunny seemed to be considering this “apology” for a moment, then her brow cleared.

“Don’t do that again,” she replied simply, back to her usual deadpan expression again.

The girl whipped around to set off walking in a direction away from her house, Chip slowly following from behind her at a good distance, lost in thought.

Wasn’t he getting a little too careless?

Shaking his head immediately, Chip ran to catch up with Sunny.

“Sorry, Sunny,” he cleared his throat, then looked away from the girl beside him so she couldn’t see how temporarily distressed he was. “We’re really looking through the place where the planteggs are, huh?

“Mm-hmm.” The glance Sunny briefly sent him told Chip that he was forgiven for his nearly back-breaking smack. “We’ve already decided that.”

“Right right, I know that,” Chip casually brushed off with a roll of his eyes in Sunny’s direction. “You sure about it though?”

“Scared?” Sunny’s voice held no teasing or malice, which led Chip to conclude that her one-word question stemmed out of genuine concern.

“N-No. We could go there, but….let me know if you change your mind, okay?” Chip flashed a wide grin in Sunny’s direction to mask both of their worries.

“You’re sounding like Hero,” she sighed with a tiny smile, going back to a deadpan expression once she turned her gaze back to the ground as she walked.

Hero….

Some food for thought was….where Hero— the real Hero— had been up to all this time.

Wait a minute, was that an orange stain on the grass near Sunny’s foot just now?

Never mind, Chip must have just been seeing things.

“We know where we’re going, right, Sunny?” Chip asked with uncertainty, casually staring here and there at the trees.

Although there was no tell-tale rustling of leaves signaling a potentially hostile third party(those cloud creatures were still on his mind, unfortunately), Chip still felt the tension and awkwardness from the silence. Sunny’s lack of response told Chip more than he wanted to know. To put it simply, she didn’t know where she was going.

And neither did Chip.

But he was wrong about Sunny not knowing….kind of. Well, he was wrong about her not knowing what she was doing. Not about being clueless about where to go.

“Once we hear a lot of stomping coming near us, we’ll know we’re there.”

“What if it’s just someone being super happy to meet us and just rushing towards us?”

“…..I meant stomping so hard that the ground shakes, Chip.”

“O-Oh, oops,” Chip shyly giggled, rubbed at the back of his head, and looked away from Sunny’s frowny face.

Sunny slowly looked away from Chip, her gaze softening, then said, “You’re ready to face Mr. Plantegg, right?”

“Of course? I’m MORE than ready!” To Sunny’s disdain, Chip attempted to flex his muscles to show off.

“After last time?”

“What? What ‘last time’?” Chip concentrated hard on Sunny’s face, his expression nearing that of a frown. “If you’re talking about the time I completely wiped him out last time, then you don’t know what you’re even talking abou—“

“The time he literally knocked you cold—“ Sunny froze for a second, then as if a switch had flipped, the seriousness in her expression suddenly disappeared in favor of mere blankness. “Hm. You did wipe him out last time. But still, we need to be careful.”

“Aww, Sunny….” Chip’s mouth stretched into a broad grin, bordering on sickly sweet, as he poked Sunny’s cheek playfully. “Always so serious! We’ll be fineee!”

Very lightly, Sunny brushed Chip’s finger off, giving a little scowl. “I just don’t want a repeat of the clouds.”

Oh no. Sunny still remembered that.

“Hey, I’m as good as new after that! Those clouds didn’t even bother me! I was just a little….” He couldn’t admit he was distracted— “….just— I could still deal with them, Sunny. I just had too much Orange Joe from Hero.”

He hoped that his grinning face made him look trustworthy enough. Sunny did nothing more than just raise an eyebrow at him, then shrug.

“Weird. I never thought you’d actually drink it someday. But….that explains it.”

Phew.

Hopefully, Sunny didn’t notice Chip’s exhale of relief as she turned away from him yet again to resume wandering aimlessly towards possible doom.

Possible doom? No, Mr. Plantegg wouldn’t be able to defeat Chip and Sunny! If they could defeat a handful(actually a lot) of puny clouds, they could beat Mr. Plantegg.

Yeah….

Then what was this unease in his stomach? Definitely wasn’t the nonexistent Orange Joe making a mess there.

A bright shade of orange caught his eye.

Gulping, Chip looked away, trying to focus on finding the way to the land of the planteggs or whatever. It had been a long time since they had gone from Mari and Sunny’s house to that place. And vice-versa.

Soon enough, Chip’s gaze was unable to evade the multiple splotches of bright orange on the grass and even on a few tree trunks around him and Sunny.

Obviously, Sunny wasn’t able to see these stains.

Although nothing loud was really happening in the first place, besides the crunch of grass(and the squishing sounds of the orange stains, which made Chip wince) under Chip’s and Sunny’s feet, a great silence seemed to come over them.

Echoing Chip’s thoughts exactly, Sunny remarked, “We’re almost there.”

Chip jumped. “Huh? You heard his footsteps or something?”

“No.” Sunny brushed some hair out of her eyes. “Some of the trees over there have fallen over.”

With a squint, Chip tried to make out what Sunny was pointing at.

Sunny wasn’t lying, of course. A few trees lay crushed on the ground, as if dea— stepped on by something huge.

Hesitantly, Chip approached one fallen tree, a little fearful that the cause of all this damage might still be close. Now that he was really paying attention, large stains dirtied the fallen trees.

That wasn’t what made Chip emit a soft gasp.

Unlike the other stains he had seen so far, these ones were bright red.

This strange new color kept him entranced….for a second.

Something sharply tugged on the back of his shirt, taking him completely by surprise so he was easily dragged back, away from the trees.

He whipped his head around only to see Sunny’s face, as pale as snow. “Whatever knocked them over might still be here.”

Casually waving off Sunny with a roll of his eyes, Chip said, “That’s why I was careful not to get too close! Anyways, nothing happened to me, right?”

“I saw you getting closer to those trees. Don’t lie to me.”

“W-What? I wasn’t lying! I wouldn’t do that!”

“Well, you just did. Stick close to me.”

With one last glance towards the pile of fallen trees, Chip tore his eyes away from this scene and back to Sunny. “Fine…I’m letting you be the leader for a while,” he grinned as he dramatically put his hands on her shoulders.

“Hm. Okay,” deadpanned Sunny, all the worry out of her face for the moment.

Grimacing as he tagged along behind Sunny, Chip kept himself alert and looking everywhere for any possible signs of danger.

Everything was still eerily quiet.

Nobody’s footsteps other than Chip’s and Sunny’s.

“Sunny, I don’t think they’re here….”

“….”

The red stains dirtied the grass.

“Sunny, can we go now?”

No answer.

“Sun—“

A sharp pain in the back of his neck interrupted him, and next thing he knew, he found himself back on the flat ground of the court.

More silence.

Nothing else.

Everything seemed normal, yet something in the air……

No. He wouldn’t think about it.

Something watched him as he plummeted to the ground from the top of the stairs.

His eyes flew open, as he remembered where he was. The bedroom.

There was an unusually copious amount of sweat all over him.

….ew.

But how—

Oh right, hadn’t he gone to bed with both a hoodie and the blanket on?

For a while, Kel just lay on the bed, clueless on what to do next. What was he supposed to do now?

What time was it?

Currently, the ceiling was the most interesting thing to Kel’s eyes, as he observed every single ridge and bump in the surface above him. So unlike the sky, which was a smooth blue—

Wow, he was getting super poetic.

Well, what else was he supposed to do? Get up?

Yes. Some tingly feeling in his gut felt that he needed to get up now. But the reason wasn't that clear…..

The events of yesterday were clearer than Kel’s unknown reason to get up, which wasn't much, actually. Should he meet with Sunny again today to make up for the absolutely stupid things he'd said?

No, didn't he have something else today? Something important? What was it?

Obviously, the ceiling had nothing to say about the whole matter.

If….whatever he was supposed to do or go to today didn’t stick in Kel’s mind, then it must’ve not been very important in the first place. At least to him.

Kel would have smacked his head out of pure cringe at himself had his hand not fallen asleep. There was always his other hand, of course….

All this thinking tired him out conveniently so that he couldn’t smack himself with the other hand.

Yeah. Maybe he should just drag himself out from under the covers once his arms regain their senses, then find Sunny.

Wait, what day was today? Yesterday was Sunday……so today must be—

Shoot.

For a few more seconds, he just lay there again, then with an annoyed groan, immediately got up. At least he'd be able to meet Cris or some other friends today.

Well, they weren't really friends. They didn't know him the same way—

Memories of the group of childhood friends from the past resurfaced.

No, he shouldn't be stuck on that.

He felt eyes on him from one corner of the room….where that mattress was leaning against the wall.

Deciding not to look there, thank you very much, he opened the door to get out of his room.

After a few minutes of getting ready - and somehow, his sweat had dried off during the whole thing - Kel considered eating breakfast.

When he found himself in front of the fridge, about to open it, he stopped. Wasn’t this a bit familiar?

A silhouette seemed to stare at him with its white eyes.

Nah, maybe that's just his reflection.

Ignoring that Kel didn’t have completely white eyes. Whatever. It wasn’t like he was seeing things or anything.

Blinking away…..whatever he was seeing, he took a deep breath, which he released immediately upon opening the fridge. The amount of edible stuff there satisfied him, showing that his dad really did buy groceries when he was out yesterday.

A few seconds later, Kel was casually hitting his foot against a table leg while digging into breakfast.

Judging from the time the clock was telling him right now, school should start at….hmmm….

Kel’s math wasn't mathing in the early morning hours.

Let's just say it didn't start in less than three quarters of an hour.

While one hand was holding his breakfast, the other just twirled a piece of brown hair around itself, the way Kel had seen Cris doing that to her own hair. Oh, speaking of her, would she be there today? Well, she wasn't the type to skip school, of course.

Unless she was sick.

Having no one to talk to today would suck.

After all, who else was he really close to and on really good terms with?

Sunny, Basil, and Aubrey were out of the question. What Mari even thought of him was unknown….wait, hadn’t she been trying to reconnect with him again, according to his mom at least?

She could have just felt obligated to do so— wait, Mari wasn’t even here.

Expecting someone who was far away, in college right now, to be there for him…..that was idiotic.

Hero…..

Kel’s chewing slowed down as it hit him.

Hero was out of the equation for obvious reasons.

Vigorously, he rubbed his eyes. Nope, the day shouldn’t start out with those negative thoughts!

Though it would be good to talk to someone else about it.

Nope, Kel could get through this on his own.

A steady ticking made him turn to the clock once more…..confirming that more than a full quarter of an hour was spent by him just being a hopeless romantic deep in his thoughts. Before his parents could wake up, Kel gobbled down the last bite of breakfast and headed out of the house, not without getting all the stuff he needed.

Though he expected cold air, a wave of heat hit him directly in the face, coupled with blinding sunlight. Oh.

The sun was bright at this time of the day, though not bright as it would be in the afternoon. Some part of him hoped to see Sunny, while the other half readied him to run away the moment he saw her.

Sunny wasn’t like that.

Kel’s footsteps tapped against the pavement of the driveway, slowing down as he inched around the car parked there. Birds chirped, almost like the morning equivalent to when crickets would chirp during awkward situations.

Wait, were crickets even nocturnal— whoa, Kel was going off track here.

She wouldn't bite his fingers off or something if she was still mad at him. Of course, that wasn't what Kel was afraid of.

Would she be disappointed in him? For just running off like that?

What kind of a friend does that— running off like that, Kel meant. Not about being disappointed in him.

As Kel stopped right where the rose bushes were, almost out of the whole area of his house, he took a deep breath for a second to calm these thoughts rushing through his head. All the while steadfastly staring away from the rose bushes.

Just staring at some blank spot, such as the pavement of the sidewalk right in front of him, should do(nobody was even walking there yet).

That deep breath from earlier had cleared his thoughts already. Maybe he should think of this from another perspective…..that was something Mari or….Hero, actually, had told him.

Say he was in Sunny’s place. And he'd finally gotten Sunny out of her house after about four years of separation from her. Then he'd have an argument with her, and she'd storm off.

Anger would be Kel’s knee-jerk reaction, obviously. Then after beating himself up a little, he would maybe try seeing it from Sunny’s perspective, and understand what she would have been feeling to make her to run off.

Wincing out of cringe, Kel wondered how on Earth he was reassuring himself using an alternate role swap universe. Which was hopefully hypothetical, considering who would have to pass away for that to even happen.

Alarm hit him as soon as he looked up and noticed other people his age walking on the sidewalk opposite his. Some of them were recognizable to Kel - they were from his school. Shoot, he was going to be late! Hypothetical alternate universes would have to wait.

What an interesting story idea for English class, though…..

Paying no attention to the rose bushes towards the side, he stepped forward onto the sidewalk, then took the regular route through which he wouldn't have to cross the road. At least, Kel hesitated before doing so, then stared out into the large expanse which was the road.

Which he would have to cross in order to take the shorter way.

Swiftly, he turned his head away from looking there as soon as he noticed something dark spreading across it.

Running all the way - a whole mile there, at least that's what it felt like - didn’t make him that tired…though it wasn't his very strong suit. Maybe Sunny could even beat him in a race. Maybe not.

Either way, he entered the building feeling tired in some way.

No obnoxious ringing of the bell happened yet, so one could see Kel visibly relaxing and exhaling loudly. He looked around at the other people standing in the hallway, relaxed and giving Kel a side-eye for that loud exhale.

His face burnt a little pink as he gave a few of his peers a small sheepish grin, then scanned for the bright blue hair of Cris. Perhaps she had already gone further inside the building. Or she was outside, talking with Mincy.

As Kel wasted no time and strode further into the building, someone got to him first.

"Hey!!" A loud, familiar voice cried out as he felt himself being pushed by the shoulders. "What's up?"

To Kel’s dismay, he had let out an undignified scream(even worse than Basil’s yesterday when he'd bumped into him), which attracted even more side-eyes from the people standing around. He would have given everything for the bell to have rung at this very moment to cover up the noise.

"Cris!" He hissed as she took her hands off of his shoulders and turned around to send a playful glare Cris' way. "Don't surprise me like that. You did it again!"

"Sorryyyy….." apologized Cris, looking away and appearing decently apologetic in the face of Kel’s indignation. "I was excited to be back here after the whole weekend! You did the homework," she raised an eyebrow at him, "riiiight?"

Panicked, Kel took off his backpack while trying to remember what homework they had.

Wasn't Cris also sorta friends with Sunny? Should he ask her about Sunny and how she was doing? His head was abuzz with activity due to these burning questions.

In a moment, as soon as he was about to rip open his bag(not literally, of course), he remembered. Sighing while letting his bag hang from his hand then eventually drop, Kel replied with a tired "yes" to Cris' question.

This tiredness didn't last for long though.

".....ummm….alright. I almost didn't finish mine. Just started it this morning!" Cris cheerfully piped up with a close-eyed smile, head tilted to the side while pumping a fist. Her enthusiasm died down as she looked to the side, arm dropping. "And I finished it. Though my handwriting looks like something out of a complete nightmare…."

Sensing a tinge of regret radiating out of his friend's soul, Kel lightly patted Cris' shoulder with a sympathetic expression. "It can't be any worse than mine….it looks like someone tried writing using an eraser. Then rubbed the eraser bits or whatever with sweaty hands. Yuck." Visibly, he grimaced at the floor.

"S-Sweaty hands???" Cris exclaimed, stepping back in her surprise, causing Kel’s hand, which was on her shoulder earlier, to violently swing back to his side. "That was weirdly specific!"

Kel’s eyes widened.

Oops.

"N-No, I didn't do any of that! I swear!" Kel shouted back desperately, in an attempt to defend himself, and almost tripped over a strap of his backpack. Which was on the floor. "Ugh….geez…." He stabilized himself for a moment with his hand on the wall, "anyways, I swear I didn't do any of those weirdly specific things!"

"Okayyyyy….." Cris grinned at him(Kel thinking she didn't quite believe him), then walked in the direction opposite to him. "We'll see! Gotta' go! Byeee!!!"

"....h-huh—?"

The bell interrupted his hypothetical sentence, leaving him to just stand there, shocked at the audacity of Cris to not warn him about the bell - he saw it coming, definitely - and watching the girl in question disappear right around the corner.

Groaning as other people flew by him, - not literally - Kel whipped around, set on the task of finding his first class, not distracted as the initial shock from the bell had scattered pretty much all his thoughts.

No thoughts, head empty. Just get to class on time. Got it.

By the time he’d gotten there and sat down in his seat, however, his head wasn't empty at all.

Not empty enough to focus on whatever anyone was saying.

Of course, this was normal for him. Kind of. Only the nonsensical thoughts rushing through his head did so at the speed of light instead of the usual.

And towards the end of the last class he realized that the reason he was so hot and bothered was that he was mulling over yesterday's events.

For the last two minutes, he picked at a particularly long fingernail while thinking of all he could do after this to take his mind and worries off of whatever had happened yesterday. Maybe he could talk with Cris and hang out with her and maybe someone else at Gino's? Another option was finding Sunny and apologizing—

Kel felt both satisfaction and disgust on the inside as a huge piece of the long fingernail peeled off after he picked at it a little too hard.

He jumped as the sound of the bell hit him directly in the heart. Yeah, weird phrasing, but seriously, it was a way of saying that it was so loud it made his heart leap in his chest.

Leaving the room a few moments later, and giving the occasional wave or smile, he thought about it a little. Talking with Sunny definitely would help - he gulped, entering a more empty place in the hall - but he wasn't sure whether she'd just walk away without a single word to spare.

Well, Kel somewhat would deserve that…..

As he stopped walking, he gulped another time while staring at the ground.

He could take a risk.

Since there were no meetings and stuff for him right now, he had the opportunity to find Sunny - unless school ended much later for her.

Also, where did Sunny usually hang out anyway?

Definitely not near the lake. Not after that incident….

Kel’s hands curled into fists. He didn't see her for four years, yet he's acting like he knows her as well as he did before. In these years, she could've "gotten over" her fear of water or something. Shoot. He hadn't asked her about that.

Did he even know her that well at all before Hero died—

Of course he did! Kel and Sunny had been pretty close(just like everyone else in the former friend group), sharing things and even taking interest in the same comic books. Heck, they'd been the first members of the group. Well, besides Mari….and Hero.

Correction: First members of the group who were the same age as Kel.

He felt a little better about Sunny after thinking about this.

Oh wait, he was still staring at the wall like some suspicious shady(or daydreamy) person.

Before anyone could just walk by and question Kel's sanity…..because he seemed to be just staring at the wall, from an outsider's perspective at least; he quickly escaped from this empty hall, towards the exit of the building.

Surprisingly, there was nobody with blue hair near the door. Not that he was expecting everyone there to have blue hair, he was referring to Cris.

Wait. Didn't she have swimming practice today?

There went his chances of putting off the dreaded confrontation with Sunny, using "eating pizza at Gino's with Mincy and Cris" as an excuse.

At least he wouldn't be third-wheeling now. Though that seemed a much better ordeal to go through in comparison to confronting Sunny. Cringing was better than being scared or tensed up.

Nobody was at the exit.

Might as well just go out…..though Kel did feel a little down in the dumps at having absolutely nobody there to chat with. And maaaayyyybeeee put off that eventual conversation with Sunny.

How he wished he were like Aubrey, Kel thought with a little shame and envy as he walked out and tasted the sunshine again. She was always so stubborn and set on her goals, never taking a chance to avoid them.

At least, that was how he’d remembered her.

Taking - no, stealing - Basil’s photo album and refusing to give it back even after years could be considered stubborn, though. But not in a good way.

Unless….it was revenge for how Basil was treating her. In that case….

His shoulders were feeling a little heavy from his bag. Until about two years ago did he not feel any pain from carrying it.

Though now he felt it, alright….along with a sense of responsibility that he needed to bring the group back to how it was again. Which was difficult, since he didn't know why Basil was acting like this, how Hero even died—

It felt like all the thoughts racing through his head during class were hitting him again but this time he knew what those thoughts were. Making it more painful and confusing.

The sun was suddenly too hot and bright. His skin felt too slimy and….weird from the sweat he didn't even know was there…..the shirt he was wearing prickled at his skin too much though it wasn't even new.

Sweating made the prickling sensation even worse.

As his heart beat faster, his stomach lurched. He felt like he was going to faint….

Overthinking never ended well for him. Especially when it was hot as hell(literally) outside.

All he wanted to do was sit down somewhere….where the grass wouldn't poke at him and the sun wouldn't be practically baking his ears.

No seriously, that was what it felt like.

Good that there was a tree nearby. For some reason(well, actually an obvious reason), grass never grew under trees. Plus they provided shade.

A weight seemed to lift itself off of Kel as he stumbled towards the tree and dumped his bag there. When he joined the bag by sitting right next to it, leaning against the tree trunk, Kel realized something.

He'd forgotten to drink water today.

It was fortunate that it was just the afternoon.

Aaaand he was very lucky to not have gotten a nosebleed.

Next time, he should bring a water bottle.

Once he felt cooled down enough, he continued staying in the shade, even closing his eyes….until he heard the distant sounds of shouting.

Arguing.

Chapter Text

Alone.

With the smoothed-out blanket under her, she stared out at the wide expanse of the lake, its innumerable tiny waves crossing over each other as soon as a slight wind hit its surface. Now and then, that same wind would blow a few thin strands of her dark hair into her eyes, forcing her to blink, then shove those unruly locks behind her ear.

After doing so, she'd lower her hand from the side of her face again, then lightly rest it on the blanket.

The rest of her hair, luckily, was secured by a cute pink ribbon. At least, Aubrey(would have) thought it was cute.

If "cute" could be applied to something that was practically fraying at the edges.

Yuck. Deep poetic thoughts.

As she rolled her eyes and shifted her sitting position to something a little more comfortable(something which didn't make her legs fall asleep), the red-and-white checkered pattern of the blanket caught her attention. And so did old memories.

Being lost in thought definitely wasn't how she predicted she'd spend her few minutes of peace up here after school ended earlier for her. Only until a certain event replayed in her mind(—Aubrey bit her lip and flinched—) did she mentally get back into the real world.

Had things been different, Aubrey would have not enjoyed this silence as much as she did now. Maybe it was something about being older and needing some more quiet time.

Or maybe she'd just picked that up from Sunny. Possibly, considering how she'd hung out with her sometimes….no, a lot of times, actually.

Her ears heated up a little.

"I wonder how Sunny’s doing," she wondered, settling on sitting in a criss cross-applesauce position while still staring out at the water. Honestly, it sucked that Sunny still had something at school to do before she could finally be released. Something like a boring meeting.

Had Aubrey said that last part aloud, and had Sunny been right next to her(both of them preferably not sitting anywhere near the lake), the girl with pigtails would have just rolled her eyes with a huff and maybe frowned at the crime of calling an art meeting boring. Most of the time, the girl seemed calm like that. Emphasis on "most of the time."

Just sitting somewhere with Sunny reminded Aubrey of the good old days, where they sat on the swings, with Aubrey dragging her dangling feet against the ground as she would ramble to Sunny. And sometimes vent.

Those days were long gone now(ugh, so cheesy, she thought with a scowl) of course. Especially the days when she and Basil were friends. Not being so angry at each other as they were in the present. Also not getting bothered by him over that stupid photo album….

Who was she kidding? She literally stole it from him - all their memories—

She suppressed the guilty feeling in her gut as she balled her hands into fists, clinging onto the blanket under her so tightly that she felt the nails almost bite into her skin through the picnic blanket.

Though Aubrey couldn't see it, the statue in the middle of the lake appeared to loom over her.

Soon enough, the lake water wasn't the only "background music" for her anymore.

Sounds of grass rustling, mixed with some footsteps disturbed Aubrey enough for her to quickly turn around, and let go of the part of the picnic blanket she was clutching.

Tensing up and suddenly feeling a little stressed sadly wasn’t unfamiliar to her. Especially when seeing her former friend right there.

Far away from her, but still there.

And he looked ticked.

Not sparing another glance at the shiny surface of the lake, Aubrey sighed and stood up, momentarily looking away from Basil as she did so. For a second, she almost tipped over and had to steady herself on the dock…..

Careful not to damage the picnic blanket too much, she stepped off of the dock…..away from the lake, of course, and onto the grass.

“Seriously,” Aubrey began with an eye-roll and a sigh, while folding her arms across her chest, “it can’t be a coincidence that you keep bumping into me recently. At this point, I’m starting to think you wanna be friends with me again!”

The mild annoyance in her sarcastic tone was genuine.

She looked at him through the corner of her eye.

From what she could see, Basil was silently staring at anything other than Aubrey’s eyes(maybe some guilt? No way!), and for a second, he looked a bit serious. And sad. Aubrey couldn’t put her finger on it.

Not that she wanted to. Despite what she’d just said, she definitely didn’t want to be friends with Basil again. Ever since….Kel had come out, things had gotten progressively worse.

She bit back more guilt, to the point where she was literally biting more than just that nauseous feeling in her stomach. The sharp pain stabbing at the corner of her lip was evidence of that.

Frustration replaced the remorse(?) in Basil’s face in a heartbeat, making Aubrey resist the urge to sigh, out of not just annoyance.

"You're the one following me everywhere just to mess with me," replied Basil, trying to appear calm while staring down at his hands. "Leave me alone…."

"Huh? What was that? Look who's talking!" huffed Aubrey with a sneer, a hand on her waist. "Seriously, the world doesn't revolve around you. I'm not a freaking stalker, so leave your weird fantasies outta' this! Geez…"

Poking the bear here was successful(...accidentally on purpose in this case), unfortunately for Aubrey, as Basil clenched his fists and his brows knit together.

All she could do was brace herself.

She side-eyed the lake behind her, and quickly inched a little away from it.

Last time Kel had been just chilling and resting under a tree, he'd heard arguing. Now, it was happening again.

Something heavy in his pocket made him aware of the shears….yet again.

He felt his heart beat faster as he tensed up. Would anything really bad be happening right now? Was the argument even between the people he thought it was between—

Enough of that! Kel shook his head as well as that thought away, then clenched his teeth. Whether the people arguing were his old friends or not didn't matter. What did was that nobody would get hurt. Especially near the lake…..

At least that's where the voices were coming from.

Somehow, Kel was taking shaky, ragged breaths as he got to the other side of all those trees near the site of the argument. Maybe it was…..nervousness? Obviously?

Kel tossed that thought into the garbage bin and focused on the scene in front of him.

Two people.

Two angry people— no, one looked noticeably angrier than the other.

And those two were recognizable. No point sparing a thought about who they were.

Aubrey and Basil.

Kel kept his distance, exhaling with the purpose of momentarily hating that he'd seemingly gotten used to this….new dynamic. Painfully, he gulped and eventually started forward, in the middle of the two.

The lake water, that he hadn't noticed earlier, sparkled but without the comforting familiarity it used to bring. Almost menacing, in a way.

Oh.

He'd just walked in between the two people without saying anything, and just stared at the lake like an idiot.

Oops.

As expected, when Kel looked to either side, Aubrey and Basil were just staring at him, the latter's expression having more surprise than the former. Well, at least the fighting stopped.

Once he became more aware of what he casually just did, Kel flushed red and cleared his throat, backing away to put a little more distance between himself and…..his friends. Just in time, Kel stopped backing away in some surprise of his own. He wasn’t scared of Basil and Aubrey, was he?

Firmly, he stood his ground. Now, if only he could do that figuratively to convince these two to not do anything drastic.

Would Sunny be better at handling this? Definitely not Kel, not after abandoning them for years— no, focus Kel!!!

"W-What do you want…?"

Kel stopped absentmindedly looking out at the lake(though unintentional). Of course, his walking in on the fight would have been the last thing Basil(and maybe Aubrey? She did appear less surprised) expected.

His eyes darted to Basil, who looked the same as yesterday.

Well, without the weird beanie, which was the only change.

"Stopping you guys, of course!" Kel yelled in response, then his eyes widened. He didn't mean to yell…..though he was so tensed up and hadn't noticed before. He cleared his throat….then took another step back before trying to look Basil in the eye.

From what Kel could see, Basil was staring at him with a mixture of anger and….regret? He noticed Kel’s stare and looked away, towards Aubrey though not at her, then opened his mouth as if about ti say something—

Before Kel had time to think, his body moved on its own, closer to the site of the argument. Perhaps it was the adrenaline?

Was that even how it worked…?

Anyways, Basil’s mouth was open from mild shock now rather than a potential conversation.

"So….guys, uh…." Kel stared to the side at the grass on the ground, as if he would find the answer there, "why were you guys arguing?"

He hadn't noticed how quiet and small his voice sounded until he heard a clearing of the throat on his right, followed by a—

"Huh? What did you say? Don't waste my time any more than HE has,” Aubrey pointed at Basil. “Ugh, it's almost like you two were made for each other!"

“I— Don't change the topic! Geez!” Kel grew a little flustered at how unable he was to maintain order. Of course, looking back on this incident, he'd cringe, for obvious reasons. “I'm not even trying to waste your time! It's not like you've got anything better to do…”

Tapering off right there, Kel realized that sounded kinda….mean.

Oops?

“Look who's talking,” muttered Aubrey. Well, she definitely meant for it to be audible, very pointedly side-eyeing him. “I bet you're butting into my business just ‘cuz you're probably sooooo bored and got basically nothing else to do!”

She stared directly at him, eyebrows knit together, an eye twitching, and her face turning a little red. The two others had to collectively take a step back at this unexpected show of raw anger.

After what seemed like a few moments, Aubrey’s face went blank, some other emotion reflected in her eyes. For some reason, this made Kel more tense than her earlier expression did.

He blinked.

The wind violently interrupted the extreme warmth of the day, blowing some of Kel’s hair into his eyes.

“Ugh…” he internally swore as he momentarily looked away from Aubrey to get the hair out of his eyes.

A quick glance again at Aubrey showed Kel a scared girl with a crooked pink bow hanging onto a loose strand of hair, and watery eyes. When he blinked again, she…didn't look like that. Obviously, the anger on her face didn't look like what Kel thought of just now.

That felt like some weird memory instead of something random though….

“I-I'm going,” unless Kel was seeing things, Aubrey’s eyes seemed a little blurry and moist for a second. “Don't even try following me, by the way!” She sneered before turning on her heel to walk away from him.

Kel couldn't even bring himself to be angry at her for some reason. However, Basil, who had gone silent for quite a while, seemed to feel otherwise.

He moved past Kel, stopping near Aubrey. Being behind him, of course, he couldn't see Basil’s expression.

“Don't leave yet! You have to give the photo album back!”

He guessed that the look on Basil’s face must have been quite the frantic one.

Aubrey’s shoulders visibly stiffened as she stopped walking, though she didn't turn around yet.

“So desperate, huh?” Aubrey faced him. “Afraid I'll find something you don't want me to see in there? Well, here's some good news! I sure didn’t find anything suspicious when I looked through it!”

As Basil’s hand neared his pocket, Kel immediately stepped between the two. Again. For the second time today.

That pocket must have been the one Basil kept his shears in.

Gulp.

Out of the corner of his eye, Kel saw Basil sport a face full of confusion(at least not anger anymore) when his hand came out empty. Shoot.

“Guys, let's not do this. What about we just…uh…talk this out?” Anything besides fighting it out….

“Pffft…you should become a comedian, Kel. As if that idiot,” she pointed at Basil, “could talk things out peacefully. He likes using his shears too much for that.”

Yet AGAIN, she turned to leave, before something caught Kel’s eye as he quickly glanced around.

“You forgot something,” he pointed to the picnic blanket on the dock to his right. Nobody stopped him from heading there and picking it up.

He took a few steps away from the dock, towards his….ex-friends(?). The blanket hung limply in his arms.

“I mean, I don’t know, but…is this yours?” he asked with a small embarrassed smile.

Aubrey looked at him in surprise, then walked past Basil and towards Kel. “...Yeah, of course.”

No eye contact was made while Kel handed it over and Aubrey casually took it and backed away slowly like she was preparing to say something else.

Until now, Basil was being suspiciously silent.

Emphasis on “until now.”

As Kel raised his gaze up to the faces of the other two, Basil began talking.

And the words which came out of his mouth weren't pleasant.

“Ever since you've come along….” he started of with a blank tone, somehow making Kel feel all stressed and bothered, “...you've got all….friendly with us.”

A shadow seemed to be cast over Basil’s face as he quickly moved forward, closer to Kel, shoving Aubrey aside in the process. The girl in question surprisingly and easily fell to the ground, eyes widened and the blanket lying on the ground beside her.

Startled by this turn of events, Kel took a step back.

“You've been pretending we're all friends again.”

Another step back. A bigger step. The dry grass crumpled underneath his foot.

“W-Why? After all this time—”

There was a weird mixture of sadness and anger in Basil’s eyes.

He slowly backed away from his former friend, despite being the one with literal shears. In a pocket.

Basil’s eyebrows knit together.

“You’re just like Haruka.”

“W-Who— what? How? Heh…that was completely out of nowhere….” Kel nervously chuckled, rubbing the back of his head and looking off to the side. Yup. Just play it casually.

Another step taken forward by Basil, resulting in two(or definitely more than one, perhaps more than two as well) steps taken back by Kel, who was trying not to look into Basil’s face at the moment.

“You l-left us for years and…..now you're acting like nothing happened? Like Hero didn't—”

To stop Basil from completing that statement, Kel interrupted, his temper rising. “T-That doesn't change anything! I still think of you guys as my friends! Just— why're you like this towards Aubrey? This isn't like you! What you're doing's just….” a quick glance at the brown-haired girl on the ground, “...wrong!”

He ignored the scoff coming from somewhere behind Basil.

“Things have changed. She's the reason the photo album’s gone.”

That he'd taken multiple steps back wasn’t registered by Kel until the hollow sound of wood under his feet reached his ears. Nope. Nothing to worry about. The dock was pretty big anyways.

Quick, soft footsteps echoed from behind Aubrey and Basil, along with the rustling of leaves in the trees. Must be some random animal. It went ignored.

“Yeah, so?” He was getting more irritated by the millisecond. “That’s no excuse for you to act like a jerk towards someone! I'm sorry, Basil, but you're being stupid!” His fingers dug into his skin as he clenched his fists, too angry to even be scared of making eye contact with Basil now.

The way Basil’s eyes seemed to almost glow blue in rage and the clenching of his teeth should have been a warning to Kel about what was going to happen next. Or maybe he should have checked behind him for how big the dock was.

Either way, none of these speculations mattered as he felt a violent push, before toppling over the edge of the dock and hitting the icy cold water he DEFINITELY wasn't prepared for.

The last thing he heard before falling in was a loud, terrified gasp, followed by someone(presumably Aubrey) shouting, “Basil, what the fu—”

A loud splash later, any voices were muffled and distorted, reduced to mere noise.

It was so cold that he couldn’t breathe. As if human beings could even breathe underwater in the first place.

A more accurate statement would have been that it was so cold that he couldn’t move a muscle.

Immediately, he gasped for air, only to find none, instead greeted by more cold, cold water.

Cold water, piercing right through him.

Too cold…

Too…..

Was it even a minute yet? Or two? He couldn’t hold on any longer….

Kel’s vision blurred….wait, who was swimming towards him?

They reached out a hand towards him, face blank save for a smile. Yet it didn't look creepy at all. Weird.

There was no mistaking that messy brown hair.

With a small smile back at his familiar savior, Kel closed his eyes.

Hero was going to save him.

Cold….

Cold snow hit Kel right in the face.

“H-HEY! WHO DID THAT?” he yelled in confusion, shaking his head and wiping the snow off.

The moment he opened his eyes again was the moment he saw something white pelting straight at him.

Well, not really at him, as a loud whooshing sound right past his ear implied that the snowball nearly missed him. Seeing the girl standing with her mouth stupidly open before him told Kel all he needed to know.

She was probably disappointed that her snowball missed him.

“You're going down, Aubrey…” he gritted his teeth and muttered to himself. The adrenaline and intensity of the situation(at least to him) made him oblivious to the cold biting at his face.

In his gloved hand, he picked up a snowball and launched it straight at Aubrey. Hopefully that caught her off her guard….

He saw her cover her face with her arms, the snowball crumbling into just….snow immediately after it hit her jacket sleeve. Some bits of snow were stuck on the brown strands of her hair. So he almost got her.

And of course, it was on.

Kel got a faceful of cold snow, and hid behind a day-old snowman(oh, how much fun he’d had building that one yesterday!) while attempting to scoop up another bunch of snow into a ball.

At this point, both of them were giggling and red in the face

“Your aim is sooooo—“

Kel peered out from behind the snowman and threw it right at the girl before she could complete that insult, resulting in a scream - mixed with some giggling - that could be heard for miles. On his face was a wide, toothy grin as he looked at the fallen Aubrey(the snowball must have really caught her off-guard), remnants of a snowball yet again in her hair.

“Be careful!” A familiar voice called out from a small distance away, laced with playfulness and a bit of genuine concern. “Don’t fall!”

Automatically, Kel felt himself rolling his eyes like the rebellious teenager he was going to be. Aubrey was just being dramatic. Who even falls from getting hit by a snowball?

“Yeah Kel! Listen to Mari!” Aubrey stood up with a very visible scowl. Steam could be seen coming out of her ears, despite her wearing ear warmers. Wait what—

“Don’t look at me like that! It’s not like I pushed you over or something. Get over it!” He kept himself standing behind the snowman just in case Aubrey secretly wanted to get some revenge. Both of them knew each other’s tactics by now….

“Whatever! I’m going back to Mari right now, you jerk!” Aubrey turned a little, at least from what little that Kel could see, as if she were going to walk away from him.

Kel poked his head out from behind the snowman, almost feeling the steam coming out of his ears as well. “You’re just mad that you lost the snowball fight—“

At once, he was overwhelmed by something soft quickly smacking him in the stomach.

“What—“ he toppled over, his fall cushioned by the snow under him. The last thing he saw before his great fall(it wasn’t really, though) was the devious twinkle in Aubrey’s eye.

No! He couldn’t allow her to win….

He pushed himself up, his hands sinking into the snow, Aubrey’s giggles reaching his ears.

“Y-You’re gonna pay!”

“Pfft!”

So that was how they ended up running around, attempting to dodge each other’s snowballs. There would be an occasional tree here and there to hide behind temporarily, though the afternoon was mostly filled with running around.

Things escalated when they both reached the snowman the rest of their friends were decorating at the moment, and Aubrey quickly ducked behind it.

And that was how Hero, who was working on putting “buttons”(in other words, random tiny stones) on the snowman got a snowball right in the face.

“I- what— Kel???”

Basil, who was admiring the snowman’s face, and Sunny, who was staring off into the distance, wondering when Mari would come back from getting a new pair of gloves, immediately looked from Hero to Kel in surprise.

Kel turned red, embarrassment taking over. “Uh— t-that was Aubrey!”

Frustratedly, Hero raised a brow at him. Nobody was going to buy that. Aubrey was behind the snowman right at the moment Hero got hit.

He gulped as Hero took a deep breath, and everything seemed peaceful for a moment until he abruptly stumbled forward.

It was obvious. Hero had been hit from behind by a snowball, and the culprit was obvious as well.

Aubrey had a cheerful grin on her face as she already had another snowball in hand….or glove.

Kel pouted at her, as he’d wanted to be the one to hit Hero with a snowball first.

As he reached down for some snow, Aubrey’s snowball narrowly missed his head.

“We need to finish the snowman first—“ Basil’s words got cut off by Kel’s snowball hitting him in the chest, and as expected, he stumbled backwards, his fluffy cap falling off of his head in the process.

A smile tugged at Kel’s lips, his heart skipping a beat and feeling all warm inside. Something about the way Basil laughed awkwardly….how he was looking around for his fallen cap at present….how his face was pink from the cold was….cute. In some weird way which made Kel feel equally weird. But it didn’t feel bad.

He didn’t notice how intently he was staring at Basil until something(obviously a snowball) hit the side of his head.

Glancing to the side, he saw Sunny staring at him with those dark eyes, mouth curved the tiniest bit in a way that Kel could notice the small smile.

“Look out,” Sunny warned, gaze drifting to the right of Kel….or Kel’s left.

Sunny’s advice was heeded just in time for Kel to notice a snowball missing him by a wide margin.

The quietest “oops” could be heard from Basil, the obvious thrower of the snowball. He winced at his very lame throw(and attempt to get his revenge).

Kel almost felt bad for him. “Hah, missed!” he ended up yelling.

That was….fun. One of the many times they had enjoyed themselves together before all those good times slowed to a stop like some car which had to do so at an annoying red light.

Wait, a car? Oddly specific analogy.

Somehow, he felt himself regaining consciousness. And very vaguely, a flat(well…not quite) surface behind his back.

He gasped, his eyes opening.

Someone leaned over him, obstructing the rays of the afternoon sun, so Kel couldn't see their features very clearly as they looked like some weird silhouette. They didn't have the messy hair he'd expected them to have. Quite the opposite.

Surprisingly, he felt no grass blades itching at his head from underneath him, though he currently was in no position to care. Something else which was quite the head-scratcher to him was why….this particular person….who rescued him was here right now.

“Ma…ri?” Kel coughed out(it was so cold that he was shivering), and attempted to push himself off of the ground with his hands. Task failed.

At the same time, he felt that he was on some blanket of sorts. How long had it been since he'd been….rescued? His hair didn't feel wet…

Face breaking into a relieved smile almost immediately, Mari straightened up, tucking some long-ish(and slightly wet) purple hair behind her ear. She turned to someone who was out of Kel’s line of vision. Not that he could turn his head much right now.

“Is he alright?”

“He's okay, Sunny! He even recognized me,” she chuckled lightly with a bashful grin.

“...dyeing your hair doesn't even change your looks by much.”

“I’m….not going to answer that,” Mari sighed, then looked back at Kel, who finally turned his head to see the other person. In other words, Sunny.

The girl in question had been staring stonily at Mari(and seemingly other people in the distance on Kel’s other side), but within a few seconds of Kel facing her, she spared him a glance. Something about seeing her made something stir up in his gut….

…until he remembered their most recent interaction.

In shame, Kel turned his head away from her and tried getting up, succeeding this time.

“Ugh…” he violently rubbed the back of his hair while flinching, and his other hand rested on the blanket. Upon looking down, it was clear that it was the picnic blanket that Aubrey had dropped.

Speaking of Aubrey….

He instantly felt two more pairs of eyes on him, and he glanced up to see Aubrey and Basil standing there(the former sat on the dock, which was quite the distance away from Kel), the latter wearing a more readable expression than the former.

Guilt. That was the emotion distorting Basil’s face, as well as the first expression he'd seen Basil have aside from irritation ever since Kel had seen him again. In comparison, Aubrey just appeared….blank, aside from her brown hair which glowed a mild shade of gold in the sunlight. Her eyes were basically two eerily dark circles, unable to catch any light, and to top it all off, her mouth was set in a line.

Kel looked away from those empty eyes which bored into his soul, and Basil’s face.

With a solemn(and mildly exhausted) expression, Mari said, “I'll….ask more about this tomorrow. Now, we need to get you,” she side-eyed Kel, “to your house. You're probably tired from….whatever happened here. Is that okay with you?” her hand reached out to Kel, who took it and got up from the ground….a little slower than he would have liked to admit.

It was then that he noticed that there were no shoes on his feet. A once-over of the blanket he was on showed that they were just neatly placed in a corner of it.

As he walked over to the pair of shoes and bent over to put them on, he responded with enough enthusiasm(he hoped, at least), “I’m good!”

Once he put the shoes on, not without some struggling with tying his shoelaces, he turned to look Mari in the face. Guilt shot through him as worry and some stress showed through the cracks of her attempt at a reassuring smile. “Like, I’m all dried up, you see?” He held his arms up as if to show that no comically large drops of water were dripping from then.

Well then. Where was his sweater— oh, it was(albeit sloppily) placed on the grass next to the blanket. Quickly, he crouched down to retrieve it, and it felt a little cold, as if it were soaked some minutes ago. Just like Kel. Probably.

“I insist! You must've had a tiring day, huh? I would've given you some of my cookies, if I even had the time…” she murmured the last part, looking down at the grass and fiddling with the light brown sleeves of her shrug.

She was mentally beating herself up, wasn't she?

The implications of what Sunny had told him about Mari back in her backyard were still in Kel’s memory, bright and clear as day. He fiddled with his fingers in discomfort.

“….nah.” he waved off that last, almost whispered part she'd said. “I already ate enough for today! And there's always tomorrow!”

A smile(more genuine this time) was sent his way in response. “Yep! You're right about that. But now we've got to get you home, whether you like it or not!~” her voice became a little sing-songy towards the end of this as she clasped her hands together with a close-eyed smile.

Kel could hear a loud exhale from the left. Sunny.

Stubbornly, he refused to initiate eye contact with her. This didn't change anything. She probably resented him for their little argument.

That's what he kept telling himself.

“Hey,” Mari’s voice made him jump, all of a sudden, “thanks, you two!” Referring to Aubrey and Basil. “For trying to help….and you must've been so scared when he fell in or something. Well, if that's how it even went down.” She bashfully laughed, a hand on the back of her neck. “We'll talk tomorrow about it, okay? Phew, Kel,” she redirected her focus onto him, “you sure are lucky I came back today to see you all!”

“....when he fell in or something….” Kel almost felt like laughing at this. That violent push, as well as the sight of the fury in Basil’s icy eyes, was still ingrained in Kel’s mind. “Fell in”? Heh. He wasn’t THAT clumsy.

A smile spread on his face. “Thanks, Mari.” The water….so cold…

He almost couldn't breathe while thinking about that.

Gasping for breath.

Falling further and further into the oppressive darkness—

“Let’s go,” Sunny dismissively deadpanned, already turning away from the lake(Kel dared not to look at it, the thing which almost took his life) and starting into the trees to exit the secret hangout spot. “We can't waste time here.”

“Sunnyyyy!!!” Mari groaned, looking back at her little sister, not starting to walk after her. “You've got to wait for us!” Turning to the other two on Kel’s right, Mari called out, “Hey, Aubrey, um….” she squinted at the blonde boy, “and Basil, do you two think you guys could walk back home by yourselves?”

“Weird,” thought Kel, scratching his head and even having to jog a little to catch up to Sunny. Not fast enough to be walking right next to her though, as that would be awkward. Considering their last interaction. “Mari was always the caring type, but not the overprotective type. Welp. Maybe she's just concerned.”

“Ahem, I'm not twelve anymore,” he heard Aubrey say. He scowled at this.

“Awww that's true….but never hurt to ask!”

A scoff, presumably from Basil. “I'm going.”

“Oh and you might wanna supervise Basil though,” he heard a snicker, “because he's toootally the type to do something stupid!”

Kel stopped walking, and he guessed that Basil(and Sunny) had, too. Though he couldn't see Aubrey’s face, he bet that she was smirking. Of course she was.

“Okay, Aubrey, first of all, that's….rude. Second of all, he's not that type of person!”

Sunny huffed. Her walking had stopped, her fists were visibly clenched as her shoulders stiffened.

“So you don't even know?” A dry chuckle, obviously Aubrey’s again. “He's changed, and he was stupid enough to push Ke—”

That's it.

Whipping around before Aubrey could even finish that sentence, Kel said loudly to Mari, “Sunny looks like she's super tired of waiting for you! Uhh, sorry, but can we….go now?”

Now that he'd looked around, Basil was nowhere to be seen. Good.

Good in what way, he couldn't figure it out.

As she looked over at Kel, Mari’s eyebrows rose, though more out of confusion rather than suspicion, while Aubrey’s mouth was clamped shut in a pout. With an apologetic glance back at Aubrey, the older girl approached Kel, a new smile growing on her face.

“Alright, then! Let's go.”

Sunny was several steps ahead of them both.

“Several” was probably an exaggeration, because it didn't take much time for Mari to reach her younger sister in spite of her knee. Kel was next to them but a little behind, on the other side of Mari and opposite to Sunny.

“....why do I feel like I was missing something really important?” Mari spoke up again, slowly. The three were able to walk at a relaxed pace once they reached the sidewalk.

“It's nothing. Don't worry about it.”

It was probably just Kel, but Sunny’s tone carried some bite to it.

Maybe it was something to do with being in Kel’s presence….

….or not?

He stared down at his feet until some random crack in the sidewalk tripped him up.

“I— whoa! You should watch where you're going, Kel!” He heard Mari say, and felt a sturdy arm holding him, saving him from falling and potentially breaking all of his bones. Guessing who was supporting him wasn't a difficult task.

When he looked back at her with a sheepish expression, Mari chuckled as she let go of him once he had regained his balance. “There’s got to be a lot on your mind. It's alright.”

For a moment, they all stopped walking.

“N-No, there isn't! Uhh…I was just admiring the sidewalk! It's really, uhhh, pretty?”

The awkward grin and thumbs-up didn't convince the very smug Mari. Oh wait(and oh no!), she was looking smug now! Sunny was either not looking at them because she refused to have any sort of eye contact with Kel or it was out of second-hand embarrassment. Like she could feel the smug energy emanating from her sister.

Now that Kel was actually looking at Mari, it was difficult to tell whether she was the same height as him or a teensy bit taller. The other change was that her hair was not only dyed purple, but also a little shorter than it was in that one family picture in Sunny’s house.

“…can we go? Or will this take all day?” Sunny looked back at them with a mildly irritated look.

Mari glanced back at her sister, and her smug look was replaced by an embarrassed one. “Oops, I’m getting super carried away, aren’t I? It’s just— sorry, I haven’t really talked with you in four years….geez, was it really that much time?”

AND AGAIN, they started walking, Kel still paying attention to the sidewalk, dazed from what had just happened but still focusing on Mari’s words.

Oh.

He’d just remembered what his mother had said about Mari - right before Sunny had knocked on his door, too!

“O-Oh, right. Mom said you tried talking to me in the past before going to….uh….”

“University,” Mari completed for him, beaming. “Oh yeah— well look at us now! I….kinda’ succeeded at that….”

Sunny gave her a look of questioning.

“O-Okay, never mind, Sunny got you out. Sorry, I mixed things up a little. Didn’t catch up on much,” she laughed a little, rubbing at the back of her head. “I was in a hurry.”

“….wait,” Kel raised his head to squint at Mari, “how did you get to the…” he gulped, “…hangout spot so quickly?”

Mari’s expression darkened ever so slightly before she looked away, at nothing in particular. “That. Sunny said she and Aubrey were supposed to hang out after school, but Sunny got out later because of some extra work. She was worried, then suddenly suggested we look for her in our old secret hangout spot. And….she was right.”

In the air, lingered the unspoken thought of what would have happened had Sunny picked any place other than the hangout spot.

Two things that Kel had found out today: Sunny’s school did usually end earlier than Kel’s. And what the weird movement in the trees before Basil pushed him even was.

He looked at Sunny, who was still in front of them. Lucky that her guess was right. Or else….

Violently(at least that was how it felt to him), he shook his head. Sunny’s guess had been correct. He was alive right now. No need to be thinking of any alternate universes where he ended up drowning or something.

Would “or something” have been a reality where Aubrey or Basil jumped in after him— nope, time to put an end to this train of thought.

And put an end to this awfully awkward silence.

“Haha….yeah….” He needed to change the topic quickly. “…..sooo…what are you doing nowadays?”

Ah yes, very specific. Surely, Sunny was suffering in the front with these (sort of, no, really awkward)extroverts behind her.

Mari perked up. “Studying….but it’s fun!” An obvious lie - and no, Kel totally wasn’t biased with his hatred for studying for a long time. “And the people are nice. Well, most of them!”

“Cool! I have some friends like….uh…Cris! And Mincy. And a bunch of others but I forgot their names….and Sunny, of course!” Kel said with multiple pauses. “Sorry, Sunny,” he muttered in his head. There was no reason he said her name last. It was just a really vague and complicated question.

Not really though.

Sunny was someone he did truly consider as his friend, but….he wasn’t sure if that feeling was returned.

Cheesy. But still true.

No reaction from Sunny in front of them. Of course, she may have just not heard them.

Mari raised an eyebrow for a hot second, then it cleared as she said, “Oh, that’s nice! Also you two must’ve been so excited being reunited. Did any newer comics come out? Did—“

“We had pizza. There were no new comics, though,” Sunny turned around to face them. A corner of her lips lifted. “Kel was behind on the ones about Spaceboy.”

So Sunny WAS listening to the conversation!

He huffed indignantly. “Hey! I didn’t have much time to read it….” Wait, since when did he ever lack the time or motivation to read those comics? He’d loved those!

Come the end of the school year, and Kel would try catching up on those over the summer. Maybe with Mari and…..Sunny.

“Heh, you're awfully quiet about that, Kel,” teased Mari, a hand under her chin in a mock thinking pose as she raised her eyebrows at him. Finally, they were getting closer to their destination: Kel’s house.

“...ugh, fineee,” he whined a little. “I'll catch up on those though, just wait and see!”

He heard Sunny scoff. “Sure.”

Kel gave an indignant huff again. "I'll prove you wrong - just wait!"

The moment all the fight left him, he thought about how this day had went.

To be honest....he could do with a good night's sleep. Or just a nap right now.

They were in his house's front yard.

"....oh!" Mari looked around at the rose bushes, eyes widening a little and making Kel stiffen.

Confidently and not without a deep breath, she walked right ahead and knocked on the door, leaving Sunny and Kel behind her.

Chapter Text

Chattering had begun as soon as Kel’s mother opened the door. A few parts of conversation were overheard by Kel, and some of it was on the topic of—

"...yeah, he's alright, a little drenched, though he's mostly dried up by now..."

Oh.

Kel had temporarily forgotten that Mari would tell her about that....

His fingernails dug into the heels of his palms a little harder.

A distraction was needed. Nope, not anything to do with the conversation Mari was having with his mom. Just a distraction for himself.

The only other available person here was Sunny.

"H-Hey!" he awkwardly tried initiating this conversation with her. Which was difficult to do considering that she was staring straight ahead, at nothing really—

—aaaaaannnd now she turned her head to look straight at him.

"What."

"Uhhh....actually, nothing," backtracked Kel, who had forgotten what to say. He turned back around, away from Sunny.

"Hmm. Okay."

The silence, filled with Mari cheerfully talking to his mother and steering the topic smoothly into more positive matters, was growing to be unbearable. Taking a deep breath, Kel—

"Just say it already."

Nearly jumping out of his skin, he turned to her. "I was just about to say something!" Too loud. He cleared his throat, then lowered his voice. "But uh...how do I say this...." he gulped and decided to look Sunny straight in the eye. "I'm sorry for uh...yelling at you for no reason last time. And for kinda being a jerk."

"A....jerk?" Sunny raised an eyebrow in confusion as she tilted her head. Had her pencil been tucked behind her ear, it would have fallen off. At least, that was what Kel believed would have happened. “What do you mean?”

"Okay, okay! Fine then. Keep your secrets.”

“You….thought I was going to freak out or something? That's why you….lied?”

“Sunny….I think I really need to go home.”

Alright, maybe the last example was him being a jerk necessarily.

“....yeah!” said Kel with some hesitation. “I….” he looked at Mari, whose conversation with his mother continued with no sign of ending, “...was being kinda impatient with you. Pushy. You get the idea.”

Sunny gave him just one look and sighed. “No, you weren't. Kind of.”

Huh?!

“You were super confused by everything and irritated.”

Beginning to understand what Sunny had just said, Kel still protested, “....b-but—”

“I did say ‘kind of,’” Sunny sighed and fiddled with a pigtail, “though it's easily forgivable.”

As soon as she stopped fiddling with her pigtail, she looked straight at Kel again. “Yeah. So you didn't commit a serious ‘friendship crime’ or whatever.”

“Friendship crime”? What— no, that wasn't important.

“R-Really?” Kel said slowly. After all, it wasn’t that easy to completely digest someone else's words and talk at the same time. He stood back and thought of the whole situation from Sunny’s perspective.

Until the part where he “acted like a jerk” came up.

That was when he visibly cringed and flinched.

“But—”

“No ‘but's, you did almost nothing wrong.”

“....’almost’?”

“Hm.”

Leaning a little towards her, Kel intently stared at Sunny for about fifteen seconds(oddly specific). He sank back, weight shifting to the other foot as soon as he realized she was serious.

“So you're NOT making fun of me….thanks, I guess, Sunny.” Kel couldn't help his flat tone.

“I'm not,” agreed Sunny, scratching at her cheek. That's when her attention was brought to a band around her wrist. “Oh. Here,” she took the band in question off, handing it to Kel. Oh, so it was a hair tie.

And not just any hair tie in general.

KEL'S hair tie.

His first reaction, though, was to just look at it in confusion. “How did you even…?”

“….yeah. It didn’t fall off or anything,” Sunny continued to hold the hair tie forward. “I took it off of you after Mari….got you out of there. Now take it.” Her tone turned a little irritated.

Oh. Sunny’s arm was probably sore from handing out the hair tie like that for so long(that being a few seconds to a minute), especially with Kel not taking it immediately. And also what with Mari taking a long time talking to Kel’s mother.

With a small smile, he finally reached his hand out and gently pulled the hair tie out of his friend's loose grip. For a moment, Sunny’s dark eyes met Kel’s brown ones, the former's hand still outstretched.

“Do you wanna…hug?”

Sunny’s eyes widened the tiniest bit at Kel’s question. A very random question, so random that Kel was sure she would say no—

“O…okay.” Sunny looked down, appearing mildly embarrassed. She nodded, “Yeah.”

Still clutching the hair tie in his hand, Kel leaned forward, slowly putting his arms around the shorter girl's shoulders so as to give her time to pull away if she wanted to. As Sunny hugged him back, her arms under his and around him, Kel gulped, feeling a lump in his throat. Nobody else aside from his mom or dad had really hugged him recently.

Well, Hero(and the others) had done so in the past but he was gone. All of it was.

Which was why he thought, “recently.”

Obviously until now.

“S-Sorry. I'm so sorry Sunny….” Kel couldn't stop his voice(as well as himself) from trembling even as he whispered this second apology of the day.

Her earlier objection to his apologizing came back, seeing as she hugged him tighter.

“Shut up,” she mumbled back. “Don't…” her breath hitched, “...be like that to yourself.”

Kel held onto her a little bit longer, not wanting Sunny to see how his eyes were watering, and his mouth trembling. And she felt…..warm. Not the white-hot heat of the sun's rays earlier that afternoon, but not the icy, numbing cold of the lake.

A frightened shiver went through him at the thought, so he tightened his hold on Sunny the tiniest bit.

“...are you okay?” Kel heard Sunny ask. She probably felt him shivering.

Oh shoot.

Immediately, Kel pulled away from the hug, leaving Sunny’s limbs hanging at her sides loosely. He scratched his head, looking a little away to blink the tears away.

“U-Uh—” Kel’s ears burned. “Yeah! Just felt a little…cold. Might just go inside—” he turned to the side to see Mari and his mother STILL talking, though the conversation was slowing down and breaking apart a bit. “Or….not.”

Glancing down, Kel saw the hair tie still gripped tightly in his hand.

“They should stop soon. Not like they could keep us out forever.”

Sunny was right. The sky truly was getting darker and darker by the minute, the day growing cooler and cooler. A thin sweater such as the one Kel was wearing wasn't enough to keep off the cold.

“Hey, Kel?”

Mari’s voice made him jump, hand clutching at the opposite arm. Meanwhile, he heard Sunny sighing.

“Y-Yeah? Mari?”

His mom was looking at him from the doorway, while Mari was a few steps in front of her, therefore closer to Kel than she was. She must have really quiet footsteps like a cat. Or maybe Kel just hadn’t been paying attention to his surroundings that much.

“Sorry for holding you up…heh.” Mari turned to Kel’s mom, then to Kel himself again. She shielded her eyes despite there being no reason to, as she gazed up into the sky. “Oh! It really is getting pretty cold. Sunny!”

With a parting wave at Kel, Sunny turned on her heel, heading out of the driveway of Kel’s house.

”Well,” Mari sheepishly grinned, flushing, “looks like I didn’t need to tell her. Um, Kel?” He had already started walking over to his front door, but turned around the moment Mari began speaking.

”Yeah…?” What could she possibly want to say? Was there anything else to talk about? Unless it was just—

“Stay safe! You had a pretty….long day today…” chuckled Mari, with a hint of nervousness. Because that “long day” wasn’t fun at all, and she knew it firsthand.

”Hm…” Kel absentmindedly hummed, hand dropping loosely to his side. Immediately, he became aware again of the attention on him. “O-Oh! Yeah, thanks Mari! You also need to get some sleep though. I'm....not the only one who had a long day today." A grin with a sly undertone spread on his face.

And of course, as the master "smug"-ster herself, Mari caught onto the undertone. "Hmmm, very clever. You dare to use my own tricks against me, Kel?" Her tone turned smugly dramatic as she smirked back at him.

"Wait, I know that reference!" Kel piped up in excitement(at least this kept his mind off of...what had literally just happened). A familiar-sounding groan came from behind him. Yikes, he really needed to go back in.

After frantically waving his goodbyes to Mari(not without catching a morose look in her eyes) and Sunny, Kel turned back to his mom. Fresh goosebumps made him more aware of the cold again, as he rushed back inside.

He waited for the door to close behind him, and for the torrent of questions that would eventually begin pouring forth from his mother(or anyone else). Straight-away bolting up the stairs to his room was the most attractive choice to him at the moment, but not the wisest decision, exactly. Of course, Kel didn’t pick that choice.

After all, it was just a question of what he would regret doing more: Staying downstairs and facing a potential(no, it was likely, bordering on possible) and well-intentioned rant, or going back upstairs and worrying his mom more than he already was.

Whatever. Not like Kel really felt like really listening to anything.

After he turned around, the angrily concerned face of his mother was visible to him.

As soon as she opened his mouth to no doubt deliver him a scolding, Kel exhaled and stared elsewhere. Occasionally, he could catch the "What do you mean, you almost drowned," and "You were lucky that nice friend of yours was there to save you."

At least, it was something along those lines. Slowly, he looked up at his mother again, the worry etched heavily in her face.

Anger shot through him. At whom? Basil for pushing him in? Mari, for even telling his mother about it? Or his own mother right now?

Though she did have good reason to worry—

Guilt replaced his anger, making his breath hitch. That was...right.

She had already lost one son. Why would she be alright with losing another?

Stopping that train of thought, Kel bit his tongue. Ouch. But still. He wasn’t the one who was at fault here! Basil’s no, Kel shouldn’t be pointing fingers here. Just defending himself.

Finally taking a deep breath, Kel interrupted his mother when she seemed like she was about to start talking(scolding or ranting was the more accurate term) again. How he was going to say this without ratting out Basil, Kel didn’t really know.

Without even clearing his throat to signal that he was going to start talking(ah yes, desperation), Kel began defensively, hands balled into fists, "I-I didn't fall into that lake on purpose or anything! I..." this time, he did clear his throat, if only just to calm himself down(or appear calm at least), "...didn't. I'll just not go near the lake again, it's fine!" To be honest, it wasn’t fine, but Kel wasn’t about to tell her that.

And risk worrying her more.

No, but it seriously wasn't a huge deal sinking into the endless abyss right?

Though the six five of them had sworn not to hang out near the lake area, especially with Sunny, that much. For a reason.

A very good reason.

And Kel had actually figured out why first-hand.

"But—" his mother's voice stopped, and Kel didn't have to look up at her face to know that some sadness had seeped into her expression. "What if it happens again? What if you...."

And boy did Kel not want to be reminded of the other things which could have happened.

Awkward silence again.

"....I'm going," Kel said, feeling shocked about how tired he sounded. Nope, not tired. Exhausted. To the stairs he headed, and nobody followed him, to his relief.

Too tired to even listen to a lecture on his own safety. Ugh.

The moment he reached the door to his room, was the moment stress hit him. His heart beat fast, the tips of his fingers growing moist.

Did he do his homework for tomorrow?

Hand on the doorknob, Kel tried as hard as he could to remember.

History....nothing. English....nothing. Any clubs? Nah, why the heck would they give out homework? That's just mean. Math? No.

Very unreliable was his memory(couldn't even remember his own brother's death) usually, anyways, but who said Kel even cared at all right now? Nobody.

He was near to practically shutting off, his eyelids growing heavier and heavier. Was that his mother's equally exhausted sigh from downstairs? Eh. His sleep-riddled brain was probably playing tricks on him again, like that one time he saw that creepy silhouette with white eyes.

The very specific yet relatively insignificant act of walking to his bed wasn’t remembered by Kel, despite finding himself in front of his own bed in no time. Heh, maybe he'd figured out how to teleport. Woo-hoo. Time to high-five himself. On the face.

Just kidding! The urge to giggle a little at his inner monologue was irresistible. He made ready to untie his hair until....oh wait, it was already untied. Something tightly clung to his wrist. The hair tie. Given to him by Sunny.

A smile grew on Kel’s face as he felt...warm. And...choked up a little, his throat aching again. His sight grew blurry and why was there something moist trickling down his cheek?

Collapsing onto his bed was painful(and very stupid of him to do). At least he drifted off into sleep almost immediately....no, on second thought, scratch the "almost."

Nothing.

Get up.

Almost mechanically, Chip sat straight up from the ground.

The sun was shining, the grass was green, the court was still there, but something was off.

Oh.

It came to him as no surprise that nobody else was there.

Weird. Whether it was about Chip not being surprised, or nobody being there, he didn't know.

Come on. There are no weird orange blood stains anywhere.

There's nothing wrong.

Except....

He started to stand up, one hand itching at the back of his neck from the heat—

Huh? The heat hadn't ever been this unbearable. Well really, it had before. But like a pot slowly cooking a frog, it wasn’t noticeable until...now.

Make it stop....

Chip shielded his eyes with his arm.

Even if he made a shot on the court, he had a feeling the others still wouldn't be there.

Not that he'd really want them to be there right now—

Hm? What was that?

No, it was just this stupid, stupid heat of his surroundings just bearing down on him. Making him feel funny, and not in the laughable way.

His energy was completely depleted, he realized as he tried heading to the bleachers, the only cool place. Or was it?—

Using up the last of his energy(weird, he'd never really run out of energy besides the clouds incident before) to run over to his last resort proved useless. Chip nearly let out an embarrassingly high-pitched(and overdramatic) shriek as soon as he just touched the seat.

Ugh. Hotter than expected, he thought with distaste as he jumped out of shock.

Uncharacteristic shock.

Nothing had changed before like this here. For one of the first time, Chip wasn’t fully in the know about what in the world(literally, in thus case) was going on.

Everything looked the same....but....

Quickly, Chip looked around.

All the trees stood still. None of those weird clouds around. Grass was....still green.

Feeling like he had less control over things than usual. Such a weird, familiar feeling.

Heightened by the incessant burning on his skin. If only he could destroy that sky(though he actually didn't want to).

Stop. Please. This is so stupid....

He didn't even have to rub at the back of his itching neck to know it was dripping with sweat.

His head was raised, though he didn't look up at the sky. Once again, he could feel eyes on the back of his neck screw that familiar stupid stranger. Always messing with him lately.

Throw it.

Throw it.

Was it just him telling himself this? Or someone el— make it stop.

A sudden feeling of his arm being backwards, then forward again. Then a whoosh past his ear.

A split second.

Mustering enough courage in his surprise, Chip actually looked up at the sky.

His own basketball, flying straight at the Sun huge light in the sky.

Like someone turning off the lights of their living room, everything turned off in an instant. No more eyes on him.

He did destroy it.

Was it completely black? Or just some super dark grey? He couldn’t know that. Everything looked the same.

No familiar grass under his feet. Panic overtaking him again, Chip whipped around. Nope, those seats weren't there anymore.

W-Wait, where was—

The slightest gush of air was audible to Chip. Though it didn't stop him from being taken completely by surprise, by the heavy object falling straight down towards him, fast as a bullet...

Alarmed, Chip jumped backwards as the ball literally cannonballed itself onto the ground(or floor?) so hard that it bounced up again. Multiple times.

Even weirder was that it made no sound against the floor. Yep, Chip was going with "floor" for now. Must be a pretty...huge monochrome room. Not an actual place....right?

Not the whole place with the trees and everything, but without the sky, right?

Of course! Maybe Chip had just teleported for no reason whatsoever to this place.

But why though?

Again, he wasn't aware of these strange things. Gritting his teeth, Chip bent over to pick up his basketball. At least that was in his control and didn't....bounce away by itself or whatever.

Might as well try finding an exit from this place.

...though it didn't seem to have any walls.

Chapter Text

There was no other person to talk to here, besides himself.

Of course, talking to himself wouldn’t be fun at all.

Soon enough, he wouldn't have to even consider that option.

All of a sudden, he stopped walking.

Why? Chip didn’t know the reason. His feet shifted on the flat surface underneath them, strangely with no familiar crumpling sound of grass. But there was something odd right in front of him.

Chip was NOT dumb. Something which most likely wasn’t a tree was definitely hidden right there, in plain sight on the dark floor.

Only one way to find out. Which didn't involve throwing himself right into danger, of course, no matter how much he was tempted to do so. The sudden unfamiliar(yet somewhat familiar) darkness made Chip slow his walking as he cautiously looked around.

Well, before suddenly stopping because of whatever was right in front of him.

Chip’s one way of finding out was pretty simple, he thought as the basketball manifested in his hands. Sweaty hands.

Come on. Nothing was going to happen. Nothing.

With one final breath, he threw the ball right in front of him. He didn’t remember there being any sound as the ball ricocheted off of the ground, but clearly, there was nothing strange there.

The basketball disappeared, yet that didn’t faze Chip at all. That it was back in his inventory again was known to him pretty much immediately.

Shrugging, he continued to walk forward. Sure, there was no sign of the environment really changing(and therefore, of him even making progress to get out of here) but there should be a sign eventua—

“H-Huh?!” A lurch forward later, as his heart jumped in his chest, his face not-so-gently met the floor(or ground?). Pain spread all throughout him, not just because of his face.

As he groaned, raising his head and immediately trying to push himself up from the ground, some small, yet extremely sharp sparks of pain shot through his right arm, which was awkwardly bent right under him. He flopped down upon the ground again, the arm in question not under him anymore. Chip flinched as he bit back a scream with some effort, laying his face on the side. That fall - well, both of them - had nearly knocked the breath out of him.

The plain floor was all Chip could stare at while he lay face down. Should he move his arm?

Chip bent his arm by the elbow just a little, shooting yet another overwhelming stab of pain.

Nope. Nope nope nope. Not happening.

Feeling along the floor with his left hand was his only option. With a painstaking effort, he pushed himself up using only one arm, wincing every time he had to tense up his right one. Finally, he wasn’t lying on the ground anymore, just sitting on it. Whether Chip was blinded by pain or whether his surroundings were just super dark was unknown.

Against Chip’s will, his gaze fell upon his right arm. Just a normal arm. Nothing was weird about it. Nothing bleeding from it.

Were there any bruises? Hissing through his teeth, Chip flipped his right arm over to check. None.

Of course, due to the ground not being rough enough, there were no scratches. Plus, Chip was just awesome and invincible that way. Sure, he could fight off any unknown enemies with one uninjured hand! Especially when using his basketball….

The ball in question was back in his hand. His left hand, to be more specific. For a while, he simply stared at it.

A few seconds later, the dark stillness grew louder and louder, if that were even possible. Again, he was all tensed up, momentarily ignoring the throbbing in his right arm.

Something else was definitely here.

No. Someone.

”You….fell in.” A voice, known by Chip to usually be so childishly animated, was now monotone. “Guess it really worked!” The childish joy was back but….weird.

Chip turned his head, and didn’t need to squint in the dark to see the girl with vibrant pink hair and equally bright yellow jacket standing right there with a cheerful grin. His eyes narrowed in suspicion as he tucked the basketball under his arm, though he didn’t quite get up from the ground yet.

”Who….?” Chip didn’t know how to feel about all this. Despite definitely knowing the name of this girl was(he desperately wished he didn't), all he could utter right now was a question.

How strange. Was he.....panicking?

Rolling her eyes as she flipped some pink hair(it was now a little messier, a small braid in it getting almost completely undone) out of her face, she said, "You don't remember it me? Don't play dumb! I saw you a while ago!"

Sure you did.

"I'm not—! Ugh," Chip groaned as he almost waved his injured arm. He stared straight at the floor, basketball slipping out of his now slackening grip. Giving a look at the girl soon after, he complained, "I-I still remember you! Don't mess with me Aubrey!" 

Anybody else looking at this would think of this as a childish argument, perhaps between two best friends. Or frenemies.

Only Chip knew. Did Aubrey?

"Hey! I'm not the one messing with you!" Aubrey hit back with a huff, arms folded across her chest with a pout. "You just asked who I was! You're being mean!"

Silently, Chip sent her a glare. Both of them quieted down by now.

Appearing more serious now, her gaze directed here and there in the darkness, Aubrey fiddled with her fingers. "Do....do you know where we are? I just ended up here...."

Chip continued to stare hard at her, uncharacteristically quiet.

"Just" ended up here? No, it was a few days ago. Only Chip knew that.

And he would keep it that way.

He sighed, "I don't know what place this is, too. Why're you asking me?" A deep breath was taken before Chip made a very sorry attempt at getting onto his knees.

His cry of pain after falling on his bottom effectively alerted his pink-haired friend.

"Huh? Your right arm's hurt! I completely forgot about that...." Aubrey quickly walked towards him(with a growing smile on her face, Chip hated that he couldn’t figure out why she was making that face), and bent down to Chip’s level.

Chip merely stared at Aubrey’s hand, blindingly pale against both of their surroundings. The time to act was....now. It was so convenient.

Wildly, he raised his right arm, gripping Aubrey’s hand tightly. There was a moment of incredulity, for Chip, at how small and delicate - and cold - the his friend's hand felt. He yanked her hand - and by extension, Aubrey - downwards, raising his basketball in his left hand, when—

Cold eyes playfully stared at him, all the childish innocence gone.

A thin smile played on Aubrey’s lips as she quickly dodged the ball, her swinging pink hair nearly hitting him in the face and adding to his shock and fear.

What....

Chip gaped at the girl, ball still in hand, though not held as tightly.

Big mistake.

Taking advantage of this moment as her eyes fell upon the basketball, the girl snatched it in her own two hands. One second later, Chip was on the floor, his back against the ground as a growing, sharp pain throbbed in his chest where Aubrey just kicked him.

Brown eyes appeared black(perhaps they were) as she continued to wear that empty smile, watching him closely. Her yellow jacket was nearly unaffected by this minor squabble, in comparison to the dust staining Chip’s bright orange shirt from Aubrey’s foot.

She had known all along, hadn't she? His little ploy just now.

"Come on. Get up." A giggle. "Awww silly me! You don't want to!" The way her voice sounded...was a little....older? "You still wanna be the one getting saved, don't you? Sooo useless. Couldn't even save yourself, or him! Not even in your own dreams!"

The braid in her hair was undone, as it always had been. Just....Chip hadn't even known it, upon being forced into this horrible place.

And just what was Aubrey planning to do with his own basketball...?

Bash his head in, there was no way out of this maybe just steal it for a while to be her usual annoying self, or to mess with him.

Now, she was holding the ball under her arm. The exact same way its original owner had held it. She tilted her head, not breaking eye contact with the boy on the ground.

"Are you going to...cry or something?"

Chip remained quiet against the terrible mocking tone Aubrey’s voice had just taken, paired along with her face. Which just didn't sit right with him.

"Because you won't be doing that very soon~ or you just might not be able to!" Her voice turned sing-songy as she now spun the ball on one finger. A move that was only Chip’s, so naturally he scowled at her. "Well....only if you give me a reason to."

That was it.

Did Aubrey’s words hold a warning? To Chip in the moment, that didn't hold any importance whatsoever. His fists clenching until his nails nearly impaled his skin, Chip got on his knees to stand up and fight.

For one second, he saw Aubrey blankly staring at him, all traces of her empty smile gone from her face. Then a basketball was right in his.

Ow.

Pain nearly burst his head he could practically almost die at this point, the basketball's signature design - and the blank face of Aubrey - burnt into his vision as everything simply disappeared. Had there really been anything in the first place to have disappeared?

Slowly, he blinked, the motion of his eyelids itself assuring him that his eyes were actually open. Well, there was also just the action of waving his own hand in front of his face to check, though it was....less convenient.

He pushed himself up into a sitting position with both hands, blinking and squinting around at his surroundings again.

There was nothing. Again.

The plain floor was all Chip could stare at while he lay face down. Should he move his arm?

”You….fell in.”

Cold eyes playfully stared at him, all the childish innocence gone.

Hissing, Chip held his head, fingers running through his hair.

Better to get back on track.....ah yes, there was his basketball. Remembering something from two other instances, Chip securely held it as he got up to stand on his own two feet.

Without looking back, he set off instantly. Wasting time wasn't an option here.

Aw, but there was a really cool Orange Joe stand here!

Drool nearly fell from his open mouth as he stopped, literally just staring at the stand. He bounded towards it, feeling very warm on the inside, eyes sparkling.

The sign above it was there, not held up by anything. Anything visible, really. On it were the words "Oragne Joe."

No matter if it looked like a bad drawing, or had weirdly thick black outlines(making the brightly-colored stand - which would've burnt Sunny’s eyes out - stick out like a sore thumb amid the dark surroundings), the stand was the same, good old Orange Joe stand......

....and upon peering into the stand and the containers there, Chip detected no Orange Joe. Wow, that rhymed. Bravo to his random poetic abilities.

What a dirty trick, he thought to himself, resisting the urge to throw his basketball right into the middle of the stand. Watching it break would have....not been really fun, actually.

As he turned away with difficulty, he wondered why he felt a twinge of sadness in his chest at the thought of the sloppy stand breaking. 

Eh. Maybe it just reminded him a teensy bit of Hero—

Stopping in his tracks, he tensed up his shoulders.

What was that?

Chip scoffed to himself, all the while every step of his made him farther and farther away from the “Oragne Joe” stand.

Was that something else in the distance? Something bright and funny-looking? Well, the stand had been like that, too…..

Somehow, he both knew where to go, and didn’t know where he was going at the same time. Chip’s teeth clenched. Something felt very fishy about this.

He didn’t like it - or any of this - at all.

Approaching the significantly bright thing, Chip recognized how it appeared....rectangular.

And bright.

A hand of his reached out towards it as soon as he was right in front of it.

.....where was he?

Bright colors, everywhere. Despite liking them, usually, Chip felt a little jolt in his stomach as he walked between the colorful lanes.

Random columns, each made out of three white circles decreasing in size as one looked at them down-to-up, decorated the sides of the lane Chip was on. There were simple, yet surprisingly not unnerving smiles drawn on the topmost circle of each.

Snowmen.

Continuing to walk with no end in sight(the snowmen continued to smile at him, so white against the colorfully fake background), he finally gave up upon seeing one particularly friendly snowman. At least, it looked friendly, with its smiling mouth more crooked than that of the others.

He ignored the desperation that gnawed on him

Chip didn’t even need to start talking for the snowman to initiate conversation, somehow without opening its mouth.

"Do you know what a snowman with a sunburn is called?" it said, coal-black eyes staring at Chip(who eagerly awaited what would be said next). "A puddle!"

Maybe there was some glee in the motionless snowman’s eyes, or perhaps it was just the snowman’s tone. Either way, Chip started feeling a little bit happier - though whether the joke could even be considered funny or not was questionable.

All he could offer the snowman was a huge smile in return for the joke. He thought he saw it smile a little more now. There. His mood was back to normal.

Then again, the snowman’s smile diminished a tiny bit as its already-dark eyes darkened more(...sinister).

"Look behind you."

Everything paused. He Kel felt the eyes of all the snowmen everyone on him.

Basketball manifesting in his hands almost immediately, Chip whipped around to see.....

.....a giant puddle, nearly stretching across the whole path to his left. Completely light blue, it hardly showed any depth or waves.

Oh. There was no actual light above him, either.

Chip wasn’t back yet.

Quickly turning back around to question the strange snowman, Chip was only answered with—

"Ohoho! A puddle! Get it? Get it?"

Ugh, lame. Ignoring how Chip had somewhat thought it was funny just now.

With an air of dismissal, the boy in the orange shirt turned away from the snowman with a frown. Who cared. The snowman didn't have feelings. Probably just as cold as the snow or person which had made it.

The puddle drew his eyes in like a magnet to a fridge. What even was a fridge again— the puddle's bright blue color nearly burnt his eyes, and Chip felt that it wasn't just because of the color.

As if entranced, he approached the puddle. Slowly, he began to sit on the edge of it to merely stare in contemplation at the bright blue expanse.

Tiredness washed over him, slumping his shoulders as he kept his hands on the bright orange ground beside him. No rough texture that he expected touched his hands. All of the ground was just....flat.

But he wasn't able to put all his focus on this for now.

"Help me, please!"

The voice came out of the puddle. Strange. It was familiar— WHAT WAS CHIP THINKING? He should be helping them(no please no)!

Getting up, Chip leaned forward, a hand outstretched. Soon enough, another hand grabbed his, ripping through the surface of the blue "water" as if it were wrapping paper.

Soon enough, he was dragging them out.

With a thump, they fell upon the ground beside him, and Chip couldn’t know if the heavy pants of exhaustion were from him or the other person, whom he'd just saved. Usually, he hadn't ever been this exhausted....then again, he hadn't ever saved anyone in this way before. Not....there.

"Huff...huff....what happened....?" The person beside him breathed out.

Chip couldn’t look at them yet, still keeled over in exhaustion himself. "I....I dunno. I—"

"....Chip?"

A pause. Then, "Aubrey."

Chip stared at her disheveled appearance, while she got to her feet, unintentionally blocking him from seeing the snowman which was right behind her.

"Are you going to...cry or something?"

"Couldn't even save yourself—"

He didn't feel himself do anything, just heard the something heavy hit something soft, then bounce on the ground. Eyes widening, Chip looked up to see the basketball on the ground in front of him.

And Aubrey was staring back at him, eyes also wide. Utter disbelief.

Chip remained quiet against the terrible mocking tone Aubrey’s voice had just taken, paired along with her face. Which just didn't sit right with him.

"Because you won't be doing that very soon~ or you just might not be able to!" Her voice turned sing-songy as she now spun the ball on one finger. A move that was only Chip’s, so naturally he scowled at her. "Well....only if you give me a reason to."

That was it.

Did Aubrey’s words hold a warning? To Chip in the moment, that didn't hold any importance whatsoever. His fists clenching until his nails nearly impaled his skin, Chip got on his knees to stand up and fight.

For one second, he saw Aubrey blankly staring at him, all traces of her empty smile gone from her face. Then a basketball was right in his.

Ow.

Pain nearly burst his head....

Chip rubbed at his head, hissing at the slight pain. Of course, this moment of "peace" was soon to be interrupted.

"Y-You threw it....at me...." Aubrey gasped and wheezed, holding her arm. The boy couldn't bear to look at her, not wanting to see the possible bruise(wait, a bruise?) forming on her. "...why? Why did you do that?"

Keeping his eyes on the ground didn't help at all to diminish this....feeling. Not even staring at the water behind her - it turned a darker and darker blue - did wonders for his relaxation. In fact, it exacerbated this feeling.

"I....did?"

"Don't lie to me yourself, Chip Kel, I...." another, heavy, pause, "....know. All of it."

That empty look in her eyes. Chip looked at her face, wanting to look away, though his stupid head wouldn't turn away! All of what? No, Aubrey wasn’t talking about....

In a strangely familiar fashion, Aubrey took a few steps towards him.

Immediately, he became unwillingly aware that he was sitting on the ground - at a significant disadvantage - when something soft sharply shoved him to the side, hitting him right in the stomach. Aubrey put her foot down from the kick just now, and looked Chip in the eyes.

What was noticeable was that her yellow jacket was gone, in place of a pink shirt. The jacket, of course, was lost in the depths of the blue puddle lake.

Somehow, Chip knew that. Of course he would.

Because he was going to join that jacket. Share its fate, he thought as the blue puddle slowly expanded, approaching him.

The snowmen behind and around them simply stood, fading away into mere, shaking, scribbles.

With a panicked expression, Chip quickly turned to Aubrey. His hand pressed against the ground as he attempted to drag himself.....then a stabbing pain in his side drew a loud gasp out of him. He collapsed back into his original position, basically lying down again.

Aubrey blankly looked down at(...and on) him, hands behind her back. Her pink shirt and hair were too vibrant for Chip to stare at, though he couldn't really look anywhere else instead. Either it was Aubrey, or it was the stressfully growing puddle right there.

Right before everything progressively darkened(and faded away), he noticed something flickering in Aubrey’s face, specifically her dark eyes. Sadness—?

What didn't get noticed by him was the blue puddle spreading towards his leg.

It was under him now.

Aubrey’s face instantly appeared smug at his carelessness. Of course.

Familiar coldness as he sank in, deeper and deeper in the dark.

Something cold choking him up. Killing him making him gasp for breath, for air that wasn't there.

Stop fighting it. It's useless.

You know how this will end.

His eyes opened to darkness. Not that darkness— huh? What other darkness?

With a little more energy this time, Chip got back up, on his feet as he shook his head which felt a little....foggy? Full of water.

The only objective in mind was to get out of this place. Something changed, he thought as he stared around at his surroundings....again.

As he tilted his head up to see if there was some escape hole or whatever hidden up there, he suppressed a small shudder. Nope, nothing up there, he decided as he immediately looked forward again.

Light pattering of footsteps.

In one quick motion, Chip whipped around with his basketball in his hands. Here and there, his gaze went. Something was watching him.

Get rid of it

He could barely breath as he continued to stare at a specific spot it stared back at him.

His stomach lurched as he quickly threw the ball at the spot in question. Watching as it flew back at him, rolling at his feet.

Snatching the ball up in his arms again, Chip looked away from that spot. Hardly could he breath easily with the notion that someone else was keeping him company in the dark with him. Hopefully it was not a ghost—

As if answering his thoughts, a....bright glowing thing appeared in the distance.

Wait, "that bright glowing thing" was actually just a door. A potential exit from this place?

Hope was all Chip could feel as he stared at that distant door. Then, he turned back to face the spot he'd thrown the ball at.

A pair of white dots eyes which glowed faintly, occasionally flickering off blinking. They were faded at the edges, and appeared a little....sketchy. 

He barely made out a dark outline, with a very conspicuous bow shape on top.

No way was he going in that direction. 

Another pair of these dots appeared some distance away from this one, and another, and another. And another—

Yeah. Chip definitely knew where he was going now. Away from these....things. Immediately, he turned away, ignoring any other potential weird stuff.

In no time, he neared the door. Relief washed over him as he yanked the door open(right in the face of a silhouette, somehow darker than the surroundings).

There.

Chip took in the fresh air, feeling quite relaxed for once.

He was greeted by the warm, familiar light again.....but....shouldn't he have been more excited?

No, this was not fine. The trees were intact, not a stain or anything strange to be seen from here.

Something swiftly moved, and Chip couldn’t see it anymore. Easily, he could guess that it was hiding.

Whoa! Was that.....

The way the light had illuminated whatever had moved just now a bright yellow.....Chip knew what this was. Rather, who it was. Happiness and excitement made him widely grin, cheeks flushed.

"BASIL! I know you’re there!" He yelled, running to the place where he'd seen him. Or thought he'd seen him.

The place in question was a random tree. Upon reaching it, Chip slumped over in exhaustion, his smile diminishing in brightness as he caught his breath to walk a little around the random tree.

Basil wasn't the type to mess with him and hide behind random trees....or maybe even circle around the tree, just beyond of Chip’s vision. That would be something that Mari would do. Or Aubrey.

"Hey Basil! Where'd you go?" continued Chip, an eyebrow raised as he eventually walked away from this particular tree to another one nearby. His friend couldn't have gone very far....right?

Carefully, Chip listened for any sounds - while being very noisy of course, stepping around on the grass. Such familiar grass, too. The feeling under his feet made something in him relax.

All of a sudden, this specific area unsettled Chip. Too still. Where were the others? 

Look to the side.

Oh, how Chip wished he hadn't looked.

A tree. Lying on the ground, a huge part of the trunk had fallen down, its edges all jagged. Even Chip couldn’t tell whether the tree had just fallen by itself, or someone(or something) had deliberately cut it down.

But how? How would someone cut it down - had that really happened?

Not able to resist tearing his gaze away from this unusual and slightly terrifying sight, Chip looked at it for a few more moments and—

—orange stains. All over the place where the tree had been cut.

Walking a little further to look for Basil thankfully wasn’t necessary, as something bolted out of the clump of trees into the clearing(where Chip was) and knocked him right into the ground.

Lying on his back for the umpteenth time recently, Chip stared up at the blinding light of the sky. Only until he heard a quiet cough from his left did he turn on his side, getting up.

He squinted at the other kid, who sat clumsily on the ground, with something shiny in his hand.

"Basil...?" His guess was correct, after all!

Blue eyes wordlessly stared back at him, full of fear as Basil trembled. Not in a very subtle way did Basil hide whatever was in his hand, behind his back.

"Y-Yes? Oh, Chip!" Basil managed a weak smile, somehow doing so with a sweaty face. "I didn't know you would.....um....be here....sorry for bumping into you."

Wasting no time at all, Chip jumped to his feet like some Jack-in-the-Box, then held out his hand with enthusiasm.

"No, it's okay!" Chip grinned as Basil took his hand with the one which wasn't hiding anything behind his back. "Where were you? And Mari? Sunny and Hero and I were super worried!"

Nervously staring at the ground as he adjusted his standing position, Basil chuckled, "Heh...we weren't far away— I-I mean, we were looking for my camera. That's it."

"Hold on....where's Mari? Is she still....with you?" Chip leaned to the side as if to look behind Basil, making him giggle.

"She's taking rest somewhere." Basil stopped talking, immediately looking somewhere else, blue eyes appearing watery and blurry. He trembled the slightest bit, the arm hidden behind his back increasingly tensed up. "I-I....sorry, but actually....I don't know where she is."

Everything in that clearing became even more still, if that was even possible. Even with what Basil had just told him, Chip couldn’t bring himself to be mad at him.

Though now he thought about it, where were the others?

Unless.....this wasn't the place—

Carefully, he put a hand on Basil’s shoulder(gosh, he really was scared) - slightly awkward considering how he was....about Basil’s height, not taller. His friend stared back at him. Pink blush spread across Chip’s face, as he awkwardly decided what he was going to say(what would he do in this situation? So confusing).

He cleared his throat - a little too loudly, with how Basil flinched the tiniest bit - then began, "We'll find them!" A bright, toothy grin on his face. Hopefully it was reassuring. "Mari and Sunny, I mean."

"Is Hero still there?" A question that came out of nowhere. Just kidding, it came from Basil.

Still where? "Yeah!" Chip gave an energetic thumbs-up after taking his hand off of his friend's shoulder. "He's safe and all. At his stand." Yep, the stand was probably what Basil was talking about!

His hand falling to his side, Chip looked closely at Basil’s face. Maybe this action wasn't quite subtle, seeing as Basil averted his gaze to his side again, fiddling with the collar of his dark green shirt while adjusting his arm behind his back a little more.

Seriously, it was driving him crazy.

"G-Good...." Basil stuttered, staring up at Chip again. The air of this conversation was unexpectedly heavy to Chip. "Why’s Sunny not with— I mean, not here?" Very clearly, panic could be seen in his eyes, and with how his mouth tensed. Almost immediately, he scratched his ear awkwardly, "Sorry. I didn't mean to get scared—"

"She's....safe." Basil was right. Where is Sunny— no, they needed to look for Mari first. "Hey, maybe she's with Mar— I mean, Mari found Sunny and they're together right now! Hanging out without us...."

He squinted at Basil again. The unnecessary amount of childish indignation in that last spoken sentence had a purpose. Which was fulfilled, as he saw how Basil sent him a small smile of amusement instead of questioning him about that minor, silly slip-up about Sunny.

Come on, Basil would have just questioned nothing about it.

You must really hate not knowing anything about what's going on, huh? Or where Sunny - one of your own friends - is. The only people you're with are Hero and Basil, and Basil literally found you randomly. And Hero - do I really need to say i—

Shut up.

"Are you okay?" Basil asked softly, his head tilted in curiosity and concern. Mostly the latter.

Trying to get rid of his headache - or whatever it was - under the guise of scratching his head, Chip sighed, "Yeah....just thinking about where Mari could be."

"You...don't know where she is?" asked Basil, his voice suddenly empty.

Alarmed, Chip stared with wide eyes. Basil’s expression slackened into one that was as empty as his voice.

"I thought you always knew everything about this world."

His fists clenched as he tensed up again.

Almost in an instant, the light returned to Basil eyes as a smile stretched his lips again. "Of course! I forgot about that, hehe....do you have any ideas?"

Quickly, Chip nodded. "We could go to the left, see? Over....there." He pointed vaguely, watching as Basil’s gaze followed.

"Thank you Chip!" Basil certainly looked thankful. Well, at least less stressed than before. "You're really the best...." He blushed slightly as he shyly smiled at Chip.

As Chip began to respond to that, he stopped short as he stared at Basil’s hair.

Where did that sweet pink flower clip go?

"Um...is there anything wrong?" The boy in question nervously asked.

"N-No!"

Absolutely nothing was wrong. Mari and Sunny would be found, and they would all reunite at Hero’s stand. Then they would have fun. Forever.

And Chip was determined about that.

But....what if—

Better distract himself from any doubts or anything like that.

Boldly, he took Basil’s free hand, pulling him in the direction he'd pointed at just now.

"CHIP— I'M GOING TO FALL!"

He could only grin to himself at how uncharacteristically loud Basil was when caught off-guard. "Just run faster!"

Honestly, he could worry later about Basil's flower clip, or whatever Basil was hiding behind his back all this time. And that tree.

Chapter Text

All had gone silent for a while, with Basil not huffing and puffing from Chip running. Because both of them actually weren’t running at all anymore, slowing to a tired, lazy stroll(to Basil’s delight and Chip’s dismay). Long since, they had let go of each other’s hands, too worn out to even do that.

As Chip side-eyed Basil, whose other arm was conveniently hidden from Chip’s view, apprehension grew in his stomach. Had this been any other moment - where nobody was hiding anything - then Chip would have gladly held his hand regardless of any exhaustion. This feeling was…..strange.

Nobody got tired. Not usually. Except in the most recent incidents here.

Warily, he continued subtly eyeing Basil, who thankfully didn’t notice this display of suspicion despite being right next to him. Good, Chip had made sure of that. Whatever Basil may be hiding, Chip didn’t want to hold his hand anymore. At least for now. He would find out.

Eventually.

…..did he want to figure it out, though?

No, that wasn’t the real, important question here. Chip fully turned his head towards Basil again, and somehow, without any sound being made, the other boy knew he was being looked at immediately, then blushed and looked back at Chip, his smile filled with awkwardness.

At least he was back in the safe place. After he’d find out whatever was being hidden here(what Basil was hiding, in particular), everything would go back to normal for Chip. What had happened before literally just now would be forgotten. Just some insignificant thing— wait, what had happened some time before? That was more like it.

Might as well start now.

”I think we’re getting close to where Mari is,” Chip casually remarked, immediately putting an end to his lazy strolling. Little effort had been taken by him to stop himself from saying “where I think Mari is.” Basil shouldn't be feeling anything other than security and safety. Not uncertainty.

"Are you going to...cry or something?"

His nails sunk painfully into his sweaty palms. What an unsettling feeling....ew.

His eyes opened to darkness. Not that darkness— huh? What other darkness?

With a little more energy this time, Chip got back up, on his feet as he shook his head which felt a little....foggy? Full of water.

The only objective in mind was to get out of this place. Something changed, he thought as he stared around at his surroundings....again.

As he tilted his head up to see if there was some escape hole or whatever hidden up there, he suppressed a small shudder. Nope, nothing up there, he decided as he immediately looked forward again.

What was this?

He felt another's eyes on him, wait, Basil was probably worried. Of course he'd be, when one of his friends was just staring at a specific spot on the grou—

Oh, how Chip wished he hadn't looked.

Dark liquid spread everywhere on the ground.

A tree. Lying on the ground, a huge part of the trunk had fallen down, its edges all jagged. Even Chip couldn’t tell whether the tree had just fallen by itself, or someone(or something) had deliberately cut it down.

Oh, just the tree. Just the tree that Chip was concerned and overthinking about.

Blinking rapidly, he raised his head and tilted it as he peered at Basil from under his slightly disheveled brown hair, the only form of shade he could get right now. Seriously, whatever was up there in the sky was making everything hot his skin prickled everything burnt it hurts please! This was impossible.

What if....it was?

Chip swatted the thought away like it was some incessant, annoying bug.

"Ch-Chip?"

Did he visibly...flinch or something?

"Yeah? I said we're getting closer to where Mari is!" Chip beamed at him, straightening his posture to look less...woebegone? Or something similar to that.

Crickets filled the awkward silence. Not really, there were no crickets in this area. So it was just the sounds of grass and trees rustling,  unprompted by any wind.

Judging from what energy this specific area gave off, Chip deduced that they were both on the other side of.....that pathway. No, he corrected in his head. That road.

Really, he could confirm this by literally going on for a distance and not finding any stands anywhere. Especially not Hero’s Orange Joe stand.

Would the clouds be there again?

Quickly, he shook his head, turning it towards Basil again.

His friend stared down at the side, still hiding his arm behind his back.

"You....really don't know where she is."

What?

The moment the quiet, yet unusually confident voice reached Chip’s ears, was the moment he froze. Everything appeared to freeze, in fact.

As he looked at Basil— it was not Basil it was not Basil who stared back— Basil wouldn't wear such a look of terror and guilt— and something softly fell on the soft grass beside him. Oh.

Chip stared at his friend's loose right hand, which now shook, just like the rest of Basil.

Gardening...shears?

Indeed, those were what caught the light and nearly blinded Chip upon first looking at them, standing out from among the stems of grass. Never had Chip seen such a thing before— wait, no! He had seen it - during the little battles the whole party would have against other, aggressive, things.

When he saw what was staining the shiny metal of the shears, Chip couldn’t— he couldn’t breathe. Easily, that was. All of it was caught up in his chest, in his throat, and the look on Basil’s face didn't make it any better.

"I- It's nothing! Please, Chip, I....I—" Gosh, even Basil was choking up now.

None of that, however.....not a single shred of panic Basil showed him in this moment refuted the obvious. Somehow, somewhere, and at some point, Basil had.....Basil had cut down the tree.

Basil? With those gardening shears, made for cutting the tops of much, much smaller plants than tall and sturdy trees?

Now that he thought about it.....that tree had been skinnier than most.

Branches spread out like arms splayed out from a body

No! Stop it! Stop thinking of these, you—

With wide eyes, Chip glanced at Basil again. His hands were clutching at the blonde hair on his head, fingers combing through and pulling at the soft strands. His shoulders heaved from the shaky, irregular breaths he was taking.

Why was Chip mad at him? He took an unsteady step back, only for the skin of the back of his leg to graze roughly against an equally rough surface— oh, another tree trunk. The startled look at whatever was behind him wasn’t necessary, yet fitting, considering how jumpy Chip had been getting recently.

How jumpy and tensed up everything happening around him had made him, recently. Yeah, should be more accurate.

A quiet - or was it just super noisy and Chip hadn't been paying attention? - sniffle yanked him out of his temporary daze. "Please....forgive me," Basil almost sounded pitiful, "I-I didn't mean to do that. I just got...."

".....angry?" Chip looked him right in the eye, uncharacteristically quiet.

A chill came over them, and just them(or was it really?) in the area. Visibly, Basil shuddered, a hand clutching at the opposite arm. If one looked closely, his nails poked into his skin.

Not enough to make him ble—

"You couldn't find Mari," continued Chip monotonously, and despite being a little shorter than Basil, the latter found himself wanting to inch backwards. Away from whomever this was. "So you got angry, didn't you? Didn't you?"

With a small nod, and an uncomfortably loud gulp, Basil stood a little straighter. Although everything seemed....chillier.

"Yes."

Basil’s voice was equally as monotone as Chip’s.

The shears, still basking in their shiny(blindingly so) glory, lay on the grass beside Basil, who made no movement to pick them up. Not that he wanted to.

Something was definitely wrong here.

Well, Chip knew the drill by now. Whenever he'd smell something fishy, it would just dissappear. As if it hadn't even happened.

"I...." started Basil, pinching at a bit of skin on his arm again, "....I wasn’t thinking. I didn't m-mean to.....cut that down."

That last bit rang in Chip’s ears, nearly making his breath stop. Wait, he knew what Basil was referring to. He knew.....had seen it with his own two eyes. Of course, what was being referred to was the tree.

"I felt alone." Basil's turn to speak wasn’t over yet. "I.....maybe Mari and y-you all left me and were having fun. Without me. I-I thought that and....."

Chip let out a breath, then tilted his head at Basil. Something in his chest ached for him, badly. So Basil was lonely. Sad. And mad.

Did that excuse him from chopping down that tree no but it was....understandable. Hating Basil, not being his friend anymore, wouldn't bring the tree back. Nothing would.

His throat ached now. Some other, burning feeling behind his eyes greatly annoyed him, and he didn't know why.

He hated it. Despised it. It wasn’t supposed to— he wasn't supposed to feel this. Everyone else could. But. But....

A shaky breath....and it wasn’t from Basil, of course, and Chip knew firsthand.

And you know, doing a bad thing doesn't really make you a bad person!

Who said that? Some familiar voice....was it his own—

Oh, he was staring at the grassy ground. Everything else seemed much more alive lively now, almost immediately after Basil’s little confession.

The two locked eyes, making the shorter boy's face turn a little shade of red. Haha, no, that wasn't from embarrassment, was it? Blushing from those....icky feelings only, yeah, that seemed like a proper explanation. Weirdly different from Hero and Mari being yucky together and how they described it though....wait, Mari.

Gulping, Basil broke the eye contact, back to his usual shy self as he tugged gently at a few strands of the hair near his ears. His fingers, fortunately, had relinquished their hold on his arm. "C-Can we look for Mari now? Again? You said you probably knew a place where she was." A small, smug, smirk tugged at his lips, showing that he wasn't quite done speaking. "Or you didn't know in the first place, after all, heh."

"H-Huh?" Chip clenched his teeth, feeling very defensive all of a sudden. "Hey! How did you— oh come on. Fine. Do you wanna guess where she is now?"

Leaning back against the tree behind him, Chip folded his arms across his chest with a competitive, equally smug grin. Not as smug as Mari's own trademark expression. The same could be said for Basil - that his own smug grin couldn't compete with Mari’s.

"Actually....yes," Basil stared down at his fingers, visibly avoiding looking at the shears which were still lying on the ground, near his feet. Some of his blonde locks fell past his ears, his bangs shading his eyes. "We marked the trees we've been near....didn't help." He wore a small pout.

Continuing to stare at Basil once again, Chip then gasped.

"Wait, uh, Basil, I've been wanting to ask you this, but um.....where's your flower clip?" Comically(or at least that was the intention), he put a hand under his chin, with an eyebrow raised. "Don't tell me it just randomly got invisible or something! Though that's super cool!"

Basil’s eyes softened at that last part, though he looked away to presumably think through his answer. Carefully, considering the amount of time he was taking to do so.

It's okay. Chip could wait. He could.

"Lost it," Basil's voice sounded so quiet and small, that it could barely be heard by Chip.

Basil raised an eyebrow, as one of his hands went through his hair in a specific area - where the clip had been holding back some hair - and stopped doing so with wide eyes and a small gasp. Quickly, he pulled his hand out of his hair again, a worried crease forming between his two eyebrows.

”I-It’s not there,” he stated the obvious, his voice shaky. And Chip had a tiny idea of where it could be.

Chip had a literal lightbulb moment, that it wasn’t even funny. “Hey, it’s gonna be okay Basil! I know where it is! Uh, you know that….tree? Back there?”

”What tree?” Basil knew, from how he faced downwards yet still stared at Chip out of the corner of his eye. His breathing was more even, he was shaking less if not at all, and….

Chip thought as his gaze fell to a certain spot on the soft grass next to Basil’s foot. No shiny material met his eyes.

Guess it was back in Basil’s inventory, then.

Good.

Relief hit him like a basketball would do so, to Chip’s enemies. He could barely hide his small sigh of relief. At least this showed that the boy was calm enough, for now.

Hadn’t there been something small and pink in….that place?

Only one way to find out.

Footsteps pattered behind him, as expected. Until there was a light tap on his shoulder.

Oh, so Basil wanted to lead. Good, since Chip had forgotten where exactly that horrifying sight was.....also it would be better for Basil himself to get his own clip back.

With a warm smile, Chip turned around, put his hands on Basil’s shoulders, then steered him to be in front to face the direction of....wherever they were going. Despite appearing taken aback by all of this(well, Basil really hadn't been used to being a leader), Basil wore a small, grateful smile before turning to face forward.

Until both of them reached the place where Basil had lost his clip, Chip settled with staring at the back of Basil’s blonde hair. The strands of hair, which were supposed to be separate - huh? They didn't have to be, not in here - ended up melting into each other and wriggling around. Not in a weird spidery way, but it wasn’t disturbing enough to immediately take Chip’s attention away from it.

"U-Um, Chip, we're...."

Chip blinked, everything coming back into focus. Oh. The tree. Fallen over. No. Very deliberately cut. Near the foot of the mere stump the original tree had become, a small, pink flower, with a green leaf poking out from under, stood out from the surrounding grass - and the bright orange stains.

Well, on the ground it wasn't anymore. He watched as Basil crouched on the ground to pick up the clip, carefully sliding it back into its usual place in his hair once he stood back up again.

As Basil faced Chip yet again, this time with the flower clip back on, his smile widened into a grin.

"Chip? We could go now."

Tearing his eyes away from the orange stains, how they darkened, the closer they were to the fallen part of the tree trunk, Chip managed to beam at Basil with a thumbs-up.

No other words were needed for both of them to continue going, from this particularly strange bloody and deathly scene, Basil still being in the lead. No literally, he was still in front of Chip, not just telling him directions.

Honestly, Chip didn’t feel like taking back the role of leader from Basil at the moment. He should, this was wrong wasn’t Kel supposed to be a more reliable friend than this?

His jaw tensed. No, this was just a good opportunity for Basil to be the leader! Chip DID have an idea of where Mari could be, he was just giving Basil a chance. Though he himself SHOULD be knowing exactly where Mari was....

Come on. Just stare at the back of Basil’s head or whatever and just stop thinking about it.

Chip was acting....not like himself. But so much like him.

To distract himself, he started with the usual, expected, and obvious, "Are we there yet?"

Hopefully, his irritation wouldn't be heard through his tone.

Sure, it wasn’t any anger or annoyance directed at Basil, but.....wouldn't he overthink it? He was the type to overthink....and Chip knew it.

"S-Sorry, I'm sure she's somewhere around here....we'll be there soon!" Basil tried to reassure him, not facing him and continuing to forward.

Whether the mild tremor in Basil’s voice was him being his usual self, or him being scared of Chip being irritated with him. Impossible! There was no reason for Chip to feel that way. At least with Basil.

Everything was weird. Grass melting into grass, Chip noticed as he stared down in shame, though each blade wasn't really moving. Just wiggling around, among themselves and inside themselves. Yeah, this was not weird, actually. The wiggling wasn't, at least.

The way they looked all...sketched up....now that was fishy.

Now why was he focusing on all this when someone was right in front of him in this very moment?

"Are you okay?" Chip heard Basil ask, his voice not sounding very clear. Also a little off-putting.

"Hmmm...." he hummed in response, though that type of question didn't involve much thinking. Not much. "Yeah!"

Right after this, he promptly looked into Basil’s face(without getting flustered, what an achievement, Chip). A face filled with some....questioning, with a mouth pursed together, and eyes narrowed slightly at him.

Would it still work? Chip tried. Tensed up, while clenching his fist, he temporarily stared at something other than Basil. Maybe something right next to or behind his friend.

Though he couldn't really see Basil right now, Chip knew he was relaxed. He himself let out a sigh of relief. A soft one, not a super loud one that could rouse Basil’s suspicions.

Good, Basil just turned back around to continue walking.

Then, he abruptly halted his walking.

"She's h-here..." a hushed voice said. Despite not really facing him, the brown-haired boy knew it belonged to Basil. A very scared Basil.

"Really? Wow! So you were right!"

"Um....I don't know....I don't hear anyone? Except for you," Basil giggled lightly after this, facing Chip with a sheepish smile.

So he wasn't really scared or stressed out.....good.

"I know!" chirped Chip with a grin. "She could be playing hide-and-seek with us."

"But her knee—"

"Nope!" Chip disagreed. "It's not 'tag'! And she's good at hiding. I think...." he grimaced.

"We could look behind all these trees here but," Basil sighed, appearing sad, "I'm.....some scary enemy might run at me from behind a tree....can you come with me? Chip?"

Chip knew. Knew that it wasn't really fear— maybe fear, but also the guilt. Eating away at him. He was....afraid he'd get angry and hopeless after not finding Mari.

And take it out on the trees

"Uh-huh!" Chip accompanied his response with an enthusiastic nod as he walked up beside Basil.

Tentatively, Basil reached out a hand, then set it on Chip’s shoulder after a few moments of hesitation. As usual, Chip stepped forward - literally and figuratively - to be in the lead. What a comfortable position.

See, he was even getting less distracted no—

Behind him, Basil also stopped, at the same time as Chip did. Of course, since the latter was the leader now! That was just how it worked! But why did Chip suddenly feel like stopping now?

Not like some sentient pickle would start rushing towards him.

It was coming from that tree, near him. No, it wasn’t a sentient pickle.

More orange stains, instead. Chip would have personally, and happily, chosen fighting the pickle over seeing....those again.

Especially after he'd just seen the stains at the site.

Maybe....maybe Mari got really thirsty, found some Orange Joe somewhere and was super careless about drinking it?

Careless? Didn't sound like Mari. Mari was.....perfect. At least in here, in this place.

"Chip? Anything wrong? W-We could always stop if you're getting sca—"

"No," that came out colder than expected. "Um, no! I'm not getting scared! Not like there are any ghosts here."

"What?" Basil fortunately didn't seem too worried over Chip, his voice taking on an amused tone. Well, only mildly amused, seeing as the situation didn't really call for....much positivity. Except for Chip himself!

He was the leader, after all.

"N-Nothing!" Gosh, he was tripping over his own words. Come on, keep on walking. "I'm not scared or anything like that! You know me!" His tone of voice was filled with teasing, making Basil’s breath audibly hitch.

"I-I do! I mean, I know you aren't scared. S-Sorry."

What was this? Something stabbed at Chip’s heart - if he even had one. What feeling...?

Guilt

"I'm.....sorry too."

What was he saying? Why was he giving into this—!

"O-Oh. Um, it's okay."

They had to continue, no delays.

They had to look behind that tree, in particular. The one which had....scared Chip. No, it just alerted him to something strange, that's all. Maybe it really was Mari, showing some rare(if not nonexistent) carelessness.

Maybe Sunny was the one there? She was definitely a little more careless than Mari was, in drinking Orange Joe at least. The way she would quickly drink it up....then choke to dea— and spill some on her own shirt sometimes was very concerning, if not funny.

Heh.

He noticed that he stopped, yet again. Obviously, Basil was silently behind him. And not questioning why they had suddenly stopped.

Who else would be there?

Hero, perhaps?

Slowly, he raised a foot, put it in front of the other. Then the other foot.

Now, Chip was the only one approaching the tree, its strange stains growing brighter and more detailed as he drew closer and closer. No sign of any breathing or panting from behind, yet still....

....he walked towards it.

Once he was very, very near, he leaned a little to the left to see.

Oh.

Nobody.

What if he just....walked around the tree? What if whoever - or whatever - was there was just avoiding him, for some reason?

Just playing a mixture of hide-and-seek and tag with him, he guessed. A wide grin spread on his face as he ran behind the tree to see.....

A mess of orange stains, gathered together, growing darker and darker and spreading across the grass. It stared. Stared him down, despite being on the ground.

Unnoticed by Chip in the moment, everything else around him had gone dark. No Basil. No tree.

Just him.

And the thing.

Continuing to stare straight at him— his head hurt, make it stop, please JUST LOOK AWAY— it reached out to him, one of its many long tendrils— it lightly touched his hair as he stood still, eyes wide at the thing

He pulled out his basketball

Got ready to throw it

Except....

It pleaded, "Kel, please! You're being—"

Darkness, once again.

This was getting old.

His spirits sank as he realized that place he'd been in, just now....

It wasn’t....the real thing.

Basil wasn't....it wasn’t Chip’s Basil, really, was it?

Sure. The real Basil wouldn't get so mad that he'd....mess up like that. Would he?

None of his friends would. They wouldn't get separated - well, except for Chip, getting separated from them, but that was different.

Used to this already, Chip awkwardly rose from his sprawled position on the ground. Plus, he'd been lying facedown. Good that his nose wasn't hurt. That meant he wasn't dropped onto here. He just....randomly appeared here.

"Guess you fell into my trap~!"

That sing-songy voice again.....Chip held his head with one hand, the other now holding his basketball. Yet again.

He didn't know why, but he'd have to watch his step a bit. And also maybe not open random suspicious-doors.

That would be a great plan of action.

Almost like his body was moving on its own, Chip moved forward with a slower, cautious walk.

...ignoring all the white dots around him, and the vague silhouettes which had those dots as eyes.

He was led to another door.

And somehow, his free hand was placed on it, - there was no knob to turn - pushing it open....

....to reveal that he'd gotten....nowhere? Seriously, the other side of that door was as dark as the original side Chip had been on.

Ohhhhh no.

He slowly, and more closely looked around at the interior of this room - or whatever this was supposed to be called, anyways. 

There was more.

White scribbles, drawing out some kind of landscape, were there. All over the place, and seemingly never-ending.

Definitely different from the colorful places he was used to.

Yes, there were a lot of things in here.

Random clouds flying above, wings coming out of them - fortunately not the same clouds which had....which had—

Chip tore his gaze away from them - he seemed to be avoiding looking at a lot of things lately.

Random, sketchy - in a more....literal way - pathways were laid out in front of him. The basketball disappeared out of his hands, as he stared at how infinite it all seemed.

Far from relaxed, Chip had no other choice but to proceed, down that path. Fortunately, it wasn’t anything like that roa— no, just focus on getting out of here.

This place lacked the warmth of the other place - or places - yet it wasn’t completely freezing either, despite the clouds overhead. Maybe it wasn’t going to rain, which was good.

It just felt....gray. Like its appearance.

Very simple looking birds - blatantly obvious that they were drawn on the grey-blue sky above - flew above Chip. They weren't close enough to....attack him or anything. Not that they could peck him, as they lacked beaks.

Actually, they seemed literally stuck to the sky. Flat against it, like stickers against a ceiling— wait what was that?

Maybe something from Mari and Sunny’s house. But Chip didn’t remember the inside of the building having decorations, especially on the ceiling.

Last time he remembered it, it was messy and burnt on the inside.

He swallowed, passing by a row of messily drawn trees, each one uniquely messy in its own way, he guessed. Something which was messily drawn, and right in front of him, was—

"Sun...ny?" He squinted at the being which had somehow shifted over to a spot right in front of him without moving its puny-looking stick-legs. A comically large pencil, with its tip resembling some kind of blade, was in her right hand.

If Chip could even call it a hand....

His gaze shifted up to her face, made up of simply-drawn eyed and a smile made out of one, flat, line. Her nose was a dot, that was barely visible.

Really, one of the only things making her recognizable as "Sunny" was the shape of her hair, and two lazily drawn black pigtails. Oh, and her usual cliff-faced expression, how could Chip forget that.

"I'm," began Sunny, "Snuuy." No change on her face, literally. Her mouth didn't open as she spoke, somehow.

And somehow, this didn't take Chip aback. Plus, the sharp pencil in her hand didn't intimidate him at all. What he felt right now was something dropping in his stomach.

This wasn't his friend, Sunny. Just something trying to be her...was it?

Anyways, guess this was Snuuy. She truly did look like a Snuuy.

"Hi Snuuy! Are you....uh...are you also lost?" Chip scratched at the hair on the back of his head as he looked around, away from Snuuy. No, he was NOT getting intimidated by this creature. He wasn’t.

Whatever freakish stuff this "room" had, was making him show awkwardness. Ugh.

"No." Snuuy turned around, taking Chip aback even more as he literally saw nothing as she turned. She was basically like a piece of paper, or even flatter than that.

Would it kill her to use her legs?

....maybe.

"Stupid..." she mumbled, with no emotion in her words. Not that Chip could hear it - well, he could hear it, but....not in that way.

Not that confusing, to him at least.

Snuuy wasn't done speaking, "Would it kill you to stop wondering about my weirdness?"

Now she was mad. Great.

"Not lost....I don't know the way out of here," she continued yet again. "You came through that door, you could always get out."

Her way of speaking was weird, but then when Chip started wondering about it again, it sounded....normal.

So having resolved that(not really), Chip went past Snuuy.

....she was still right behind him, wasn't she?

At least she wasn't an enemy.

But....although she was supposed to be "based off of" Sunny.....something about her seemed different.

Maybe a few years older?

His nails dug into his skin. No, it can’t be that.

"Okay?" The being was beside him. "Are you okay?"

Oh, good. Chip nearly believed she was calling him "Okay."

"Mm-hmm!" He quipped with a wide grin. Though he didn't stop walking. "We'll get out of here in no time anyways! Just watch me do that!"

Chip had a feeling that Snuuy wouldn't, and wouldn't be able to, get out of this place with him. Or even at all.

It was okay. Everything was alright. The real Sunny was already there, in that bright and sunny(no pun intended) safe place. Everyone else, too. All Chip had to do was just....

....get there. Before the others do something stupid by accident, before Kel—

"Don't go back there."

A short, yet chilling piece of advice, given by his temporary companion beside him.

Not wanting to look at her, Chip remarked, "Like you could do anything about it."

If "Snuuy" could be like that, then Chip could be cold too.

Both of them shut up, the birds and much fewer clouds flying overhead. The trees died out, giving way to thin rectangles lining the sides of the path Chip had taken.

One was a darker shade than the others.

"Go," was all Snuuy had to say.

"Go where? You're being confusing!" pleaded Chip. Covering up the fact that he knew, and how he didn't want to know what she was talking about.

"Go." Snuuy just stood there, arms still spread out, with one of them holding the pencil. Not in a threatening way.

If she tried to make him go by force, then Chip had his basketball. As much as he didn't want to defeat someone who resembled his friend....

"Stop waiting. Go."

"That’s....that's not the exit to this place, is it?" Chip backed a step or two away from Snuuy, not bringing out his basketball yet. "You're playing with me!"

"No. Go."

That word....it was beginning to grate on Chip’s ears terrify him.

.....

Go.

Someone else said.

Oh. It's him again. Of course.

Chip didn’t remember opening the door, walking in.

Scribbled figures sitting around. One, smaller scribble who was oddly recognizable sat the farthest from the other ones. Shaking. Crying...?

"...why...why am I so s-stupid....such a loser...why am I crying like this? This is so....pathetic, I'm not supposed to be like this.....I— he's the one who should be—"

Nope.

Chip backed out casually, turning back to where Snuuy stood. Rather, was standing.

She'd vanished into thin air.

Now Chip really was alone.

Suck it up. Chip told himself that. Whatever you saw just now...don't let it shake you up.

He continued along the path, having no other choice.

Someone else approached.

Chip’s eyes narrowed, and he stopped again. 

For some reason, the appearance of the pink-haired girl right there made him freeze up in his spot.

Whatever he had experienced that made him feel this tensed....Chip would be prepared this time to deal with her.

....right?

Chapter Text

Maybe it was foolish for Chip to expect himself to be prepared for whatever this pink-haired girl would do, when he couldn't even remember what she had done to him that was so....scary.

His confusion could clearly be seen in his eyes as he continued to look at the girl, who was a little distance away from him.

Should he have expected Aubrey to be as confused as he was? She definitely seemed to be that way, with her eyes wide and her mouth open in surprise.

Either way, the sort of sad look(a pitiful mix of fear and surprise and hurt that greatly confused him) on her face - oh, and a blue shadow had come over it - made something twist in Chip’s stomach. Some....weird feeling. Again, yet another familiar sensation.

Are you scared? Hah.....

What are you doing here?

"A-Aubrey." Again, he was uncharacteristically stuttering. Very, very gradually, Aubrey grew smaller in front of him.

Of course, that wasn't really happening. Just little by little, he was taking slow steps backwards.

Ugh, his neck and shoulders ached. Stopping in his tracks, keeping his eyes on the grey ground in front of Aubrey instead of at her, Chip relaxed his shoulders.

Instantly, the pain left him.

Of course, the pain would go away quickly. This wasn’t that place, after all.

Again, as if she had done NOTHING wrong, Aubrey stared at him with those wide eyes, so much like a deer in the headlights—

What were those? Breadlights? Breadfights? Maybe just some more nonsense from him.

Aubrey’s bright pink hair wouldn’t stop being so startling, especially against a landscape so plain and monotone. With a huff that only he himself could hear, Chip set off towards the girl with nothing particularly deadly in his hands with a determined look.

He was going to take charge, and get to the bottom of this absurd nonsense that was going on. First, whatever had happened with that strange door just now— no, everything before that, too!

So annoying.

A tiny, shaky step back was taken by Aubrey, and that action as well as her shivering - her jacket wasn't on her - betrayed the emotions she tried to hide with a pout she swiftly put on. Negative emotions.

She always was— no, only sometimes, (some sympathetic part of Chip thought) bringing negative thoughts upon everything with her presence. Strange. He’d never thought such….disparaging thoughts of his friend Aubrey.

Both confusion and fear swirled around him and Aubrey? She seemed pretty perplexed too as they continued to stand on the grey path.

Leave me alone.

Only a darker grey circle, with a smaller circle on top of it(most likely the head), dared to cross his path while he walked away from the girl. A little stem with a leaf growing out of this head indicated that this was just Oragne Joe. Orange Joe looked a little bit....different.

No footsteps came after him.

Familiar.

The houses and separated doors, which suddenly appeared for some reason, were still lined up on either side of the path. Which one was the escape....wait, no, Chip meant "exit." He wasn't scared of this girl behind him(who even knew if she was STILL following him anyways), he wasn't.

No, his hands were just sweating and trembling with....excitement, not fear. Same with this tight feeling in his chest, ready to explode right out of him if he didn't hold himself together right now.

His hand continued shaking as he approached one particular door. There it was. His hand continued to sweat, sticking to the knob and nearly melting into it, well at least that's what Chip saw. Almost there.

Before he had even pulled the door open after turning the knob however, Chip fell.

A dark grey, that was not quite black, engulfed his surroundings. Despite everything appearing the same, Chip felt himself fall on a surface.

Only until the voice reached his ears did he finally see the sketchy outlines of grass. And pavement, just beyond his line of vision.

"No...."

The voice again.

He looked up, not believing his ears nor his eyes.

The familiar couple was faced away from him, so Chip got up from the ground to have a better look.

No. This couldn't—

"You didn't do that. Kel couldn't do that." The one saying this was still faced away from him. "We didn't raise him to be like this...."

So it was the taller one speaking first. None of the people were moving really, though Chip knew....they were speaking.

"He's always been jealous, always annoying him with his antics." The other figure said. "I cannot believe we've kept up with him for so long. Just being lazy, not joining anything just because he was the cause of—"

"Now we know the reason. We don't need him anymore. He's a bad person."

The last part sticking with Chip and rendering him silently surprised for some reason, he didn't have to even try or make the effort to stay quiet.

Finally, the other figure nodded. "Yes. You're right. He's not our son."

Chip stepped backwards, wide-eyed with a gasp.

"You didn't do that. . ."

Again, the conversation between the two looped back from its beginning, though the rest was tuned out by Chip. He needed to get out of here too. This was also a trap.

Was his basketball with him? Slowly turning his back on the couple, after making sure that the two were merely some kinds of "cardboard cutouts,"(Chip didn’t even know really what cardboard is) he glanced around the area. Where he was standing at the moment was another path, but smaller and abruptly ending around....an arm's length from Chip.

Looking back at the familiar couple again and having the random sketched-out bushes around them catch his eye, Chip immediately got down to business. First, was there any walls limiting his movements, right where the path ended?

He reached out his hand, which was impeded by nothing. Unless the wall was super flexible....but then wouldn't Chip feel it? Things like this were of the many things Chip had control over....usually.

Quickly, he continued on forward, ignoring any other white sketches all around him.

But then there was one....which was hard to ignore.

What appeared to be a completed(and lost) game of hangman, was on Chip’s left.

Try as he might, to look away from the hanging figure, though its long hair caught his eye.

"Kel, why?" she was too familiar. Someone who was always available to talk to, play with, and was flirting with his older brother in that annoyingly yucky yet endearing way. "Why did you leave us..."

She It didn't follow him as he backed away, without any change in expression.

Until his foot hit something hard—

With a jump, a surprised Chip swiftly turned around to see....what he'd totally been expecting.

It was nice to see his basketball again, though not that much of time separated now from the last time he'd seen it. As usual, it didn't roll away from him as he picked it up.

Maybe there were no enemies in here. Maybe, if ever encountered one down here, he'd be absolutely cooked without the rest of the gang. But he knew, the only enemy here was—

He hadn't moved even five steps forward(thankfully that cursed hangman didn't appear again, having completely vanished without a trace) until another sketchy abomination caught his eye. Yes, it was merely standing there and minding its own business. And Chip took that personally.

Nope, not even that innocent smile drawn on it would change his opinion on it. Because it was a pickle. His mood soured immediately, even just thinking about it.

Fitting, as pickles tasted way too...sour to Chip.

....who was feeding him all these lame puns?

Somehow, the pickle, which had a sketchy and wiggling white outline, was able to keep itself up without any limbs attached to it. Good, at least it was nothing like those....those clouds.

He walked up to the pickle, whose mouth instantly turned upside down as it looked worried. Well it was right to be.

With a sharp grin, Chip slammed the basketball into that pickle's stupid, stupid face.

He looked down at the crushed pickle, watching it crawl away from him, battered and broken to pieces yet moving. Trembling and falling apart, but still moving.

His basketball still with him(though it wasn't in his hands, that was usual), Chip took a few steps forward to chase after that abomination, stamp every lingering flame of life out of that thing—

No. Don't do it.

Stupid. It wasn’t like it has feelings or anything. And it was disgusting. Just some really bad...food. Yet something still stopped him from attacking it further.

He backed away, reluctance slowing his steps.

Those two talking, sketchy figures were nowhere behind him now. Huh. Almost as if things in this place erased themselves as soon as he went out of a specific area.

Static.

Somewhere up ahead.

A horizontal line appeared in the distance,(somewhere opposite of where that pickle had gone) though it was understandably blurry.

As he stepped forward though, the line grew....another line perpendicular to it, from its middle? Strange.

Continuing forward through the darkness, Chip felt something....pulling him back. Nothing physical but—

Stop. Don't go there. No matter what.

Always, he'd done whatever he wanted in this - no, his - world. Nothing, or no one, had ever told him what to do, until....recently.

It was weird, hearing whatever was ordering him around. A weird change.

And boy, was he not happy with that.

More white scribbles, on the growing number of sketched lines, gradually appeared, moving and...chattering amongst themselves.

"What's this....can't believe she did this....lies...."

Soon, Chip was at a...familiar....junction, all drawn in sketchy lines. Now that he was practically at this site, the scribbles were on either side of himself.

In confusion, he stared around at them as they whispered and continued trembling in that sketchy way. No, not "sketchy" as in "suspicious."

They were harmless.

No need to equip his basketball—

"Kel!" yelled someone.

It came from right in front of him, right....from where the roads crossed and reached a dead end.

He looked.

"Hey!" A girl stood right at the crossroads. There, Chip finally found a simple term for it - the crossroads, that was. The girl in question had her hands balled into fists at her sides, almost like a...little kid.

Speaking of that, she wore an equally childish pout on her face. "Why do you keep leaving?" And she sounded frustrated. Whiny.

Desperate.

Chip blinked, and hesitated at the edge of....the sidewalk, wasn't it?

No, he thought as he stepped back. Stepping onto the road would probably....not be very helpful here. Maybe Chip should just get away from this pink-haired girl?

But he just couldn't.

What with the way the girl stared at him with big, pleading eyes. Which soon filled with triumph as they seemed starry and bright.

"I always knew you would come back!" Her smile wasn't creepy or fake or anything like that, but Chip still scowled at her. "You're not that good at being mean, you know."

Chip said nothing. Quite unusual for him, but then again, this was an unusual situation.

Finally, he spoke. "Why are you here." Literally not a question, because how would it be a question if Chip already knew the answer?

"I...thought I was supposed to be here?" Aubrey stared at him in confusion, tilting her head innocently. 

She wasn’t so innocent, was she? 

A puddle grew from underneath her feet, and looking at the parts of the road around her, Chip found that there were other such puddles around.

He didn't know what colors they were, but he just knew....they were there.

A flash of white caught his eye as he swiftly glanced over them. It....wasn’t reflected light, showing how shiny and liquid and slimy they were.

Eyes...veiny and greyish-white...rolling around and turning towards him....

....and the ones in the puddle under Aubrey increased in number, some of them looking directly at him. Meanwhile, the newer ones which had formed at the edges of the ever spreading puddle were looking up at Aubrey, who paid no attention to them.

Her eyes were solely on Chip.

"Why....w-why are you looking at me like that? You dummy!" Aubrey frowned at him, still rooted in the same spot. "Help me out of here—!"

And only now did she look down at the puddle she stood in, stepping out of it. Or at least, trying to do so. The fluid stuck to her feet and stretched like cheese in a burger(when it's bitten of course) when she tried stepping out.

The sight was strange enough for Chip to hold in his retort of "Get out yourself!"

Fortunately for her, the puddle wasn't that sticky. Not so much that she was unable to step out of the puddle and....walk towards Chip.

She stood just barely within the boundaries of the road, and smiled up at him. Her smile would have been sweet had Chip not felt a sudden wave of....was this hatred? Fear?

Don't let her....erase it....finish it off....

What was he supposed to do?

Aubrey continued to stare at him.

"There! I got out of that gross puddle without your help," she teased with a triumphant grin. The bright colors of her hair and jacket nearly burnt Chip’s eyes out, with how they contrasted against the dark background.

"Can we go? Nooowww? Please???"

So annoying. She always got what she wanted and knew it.

Though what she wanted was...understandable, as Chip himself wouldn't have liked to stay in a place like this either.

"Okay okay!" he huffed back at her. "Just let me think!"

Aubrey’s mouth contorted in a pout, though she still waited there. Looking hard at Chip.

He hated how her expression appeared blank.

And how every time he looked at her out of the corner of his eye(all while trying to think like he said he would), her hair suddenly darkened and was adorned with a bow. Then tears would bubble up in those stupid big eyes of hers—

"Why...." the girl sounded strangely sad. "Why did you do that?"

This again.

"You could have....just stopped being such a clumsy, emotional jerk!" Her voice trembled, then broke. "All this would ha—"

Instantly, Chip faced Aubrey. This time, her hair was permanently a dark shade, some of the strands strewn across her face and mixed with her tears, and her clothes were....completely different.

Chip didn’t like that at all.

An image of that road from earlier suddenly appeared and disappeared. And that road in question wasn't from this place, rather, the other place that was full of light. Or was it...?

He didn't look at them, though he knew the dark puddles were turning a dull maroon....nearing a shade of red.

Not as bright as those Orange Joe stains back there, but....

Swallowing, Chip got ready to attack. Attack....what? No, attack who.

The answer was right in front of him.

Tears were bubbling out of the girl’sAubrey’s eyes at a worrying rate. Then her tone grew angrier.

"I hate you—"

For Chip, everything was just....jumbled up. Everything around him seemed to swirl around, something in his chest tightening.

He looked down, the dark stains of footprints trailing behind the girl in front of him.

He shouldn't have done that.

Again, those creepy eyeballs rolled around to glance at him, one of them in question continuing to stare at him and pulsate.

"Kel .....I'm....sorry....."

.....

Chip looked away from that.

As soon as his gaze fell upon Aubrey again however, his panic rose as he raised a hand, eyes screwed shut. He barely felt himself holding something, before throwing it into something.

Or someone.

There was no sickening crack to be heard after the sound of the ball bouncing on the ground.

Opening his eyes, Chip found Aubrey collapsed into a heap near the edge of the road.

He couldn’t see her face. Good.

Yet he knew she was....gone. Finished. Defeated. Whatever it was, Chip felt relieved. Never mind the other feelings that came with it.

They were probably just....side effects.

"Come on. Get up." A giggle. "Awww silly me! You don't want to!" The way her voice sounded...was a little....older? "You still wanna be the one getting saved, don't you? Sooo useless. Couldn't even save yourself, or him! Not even in your own dreams!"

"Are you going to...cry or something?"

Those words made Chip clench his fists as he scowled down at the girl. And maybe, just maybe he felt this mild twinge of victory.

Who was crying now?

". . . Couldn't even save yourself, or him! Not even in your own dre—"

He let out a yelp as he pressed a hand to the side of his head, flinching.

But no, he couldn't just stay here and waste away......and waste time.

Chip had to....had to go somewhere.

....

There was another door.

Those crossroads weird sketchy lines had disappeared. Maybe they weren't even there to begin with.

He thought, as he ignored how Aubrey’s fallen body rapidly fell to pieces and faded away into the dark floor.

"Just another door," Chip told himself, hyping himself up in the process as he walked through the thing in question. "This has got to be it."

It had opened for him just now, which was why he was feeling so hopeful.

Or perhaps it was because his basketball was with him, as usual. Giving him encouragement. Not in a literal sense of course.

This was....

Straining himself as he looked around, Chip admired how orange this room looked.

....where he was supposed to be.

The exact place he'd been looking for.

Red stains led in a pathway up to a specific spot. Nothing really marked it besides the fact that it was at the end of that pathway, obviously.

He ignored the squelching under his feet as he ran joyfully up to that spot, then he turned around—

Kel hated Tuesdays, and one reason for that was how it made the week seem as slow as hell. 

And then there was the other reason. A Tuesday would always feel like a Thursday, maybe even a Friday sometimes.

Until he would just lie there on the bed, counting out the days(taking a couple minutes to do so), coming to the crushing and despairful realization of the truth. The truth being that the week had practically just begun.

And so had the torture method known as school.

After actually and properly getting ready(including showering) for the first time in days - or weeks, actually, Kel stared at the orange shirt in his closet. Picking it up, he felt the material, staring at it in curiosity as he hummed with uncertainty.

Maybe it still fit?

And it did. Sure, it was slightly....loose....due to him thinning over the years, but at least it wasn't that bright orange hoodie which made him a literal living sweat dispenser in this heat.

Wait, weren't all "sweat dispensers" living?

Checking himself out in the mirror wasn’t something he really wanted to do right now....and he was still a little too sleepy and lazy to sneak past his parents' bedroom again.

As soon as something warm was draped over him, Kel knew what exactly his father had been dragging across the floor.

"Sleep tight."

Kel smiled at the memory, though it dimmed as soon as he remembered the "little" argument he'd had with his mom yesterday. Come to think of it, what did even happen the day before?

Absentmindedly, he descended the stairs, his fingers lightly brushing against the railing. Mari had....chatted with his mother, while he and Sunny had ended up hugging about something?

Oh.

He pulled at the hairtie that was around his wrist and flinched with a small yelp once it snapped back against his skin. Unfortunately, those weren't his only immediate reactions.

"W-Whoa—" Kel stumbled forward in a familiar motion, then clawed for the nearby railing or at least something to steady himself.

Those few moments felt like minutes, where he felt light as a feather, yet less secure than one.

Perhaps because he actually wasn't as light as a feather.

Despite having successfully grabbed the railing, Kel hunched over in pain due to a sudden pricking sensation in the bottom half of his leg. His other leg barely supported him.

Carefully and slowly, he peered down at his injured leg and tried moving it. Maybe swing his leg to the sid— ow, what the hell, that was as painful as the lovechild of a needle and a knife.

With sweaty palms, he grip the railing tighter despite the slipperiness nearly making it slip off.

Why the heck did he rush so much just now? He didn't even wake up that late - in fact, Kel remembered the time from the clock from earlier, he was pretty early. Well, earlier up than usual.

Whether this was generally commendable or not, Kel was clueless. But then again, that was his natural state of mind.

Gritting his teeth as he tried to ignore the pain from his right leg, Kel pushed himself to stand up a little straighter by adjusting his hold on the railing. That was the moment when he thanked his lucky stars - ahem, Sunny, pun intended— no, he was just kidding - that he wasn't wearing socks.

His gaze wandered from his feet to the rest of the steps, which descended down to the house's first floor. As they should, instead of leading to a different realm altogether. That was the closet's job.

A huge wheeze of laughter nearly bursting out of him at the reference, Kel put his injured leg forward gingerly, slowly placing it on the step below the one he was initially standing on. Shifting his weight to that foot was an equally gradual process, but as long as Kel held onto the side rails, he wouldn't die by slipping and falling down these stairs!

So basically it was better to be safe than sorry, in this case. A rare case it was, for Kel applied "You only live once!" to basically everything else which happened in his life.

That was, except for the weird paranormal stuff.

Sitting up in bed, he thought he should've been able to just leap off of the mattress immediately. However, someone - other than Kel - appeared to disapprove.

He stood still in the corner, no facial features to more obviously indicate his stern, unrelenting gaze. Had he any distinguishable features however, they would have anyways been covered by the dark, syrupy(yuck) liquid dripping down from his hair, spreading across where his face should have been.

As if the blanket would protect him as effectively as a strong piece of armor, Kel clutched it close to himself, staring with wide, slightly twitching eyes at the specter. It never came any closer while it was there, just sticking to its usual spot near that skeleton of a mattress that was leaning against the wall. His mattress by the way, not Kel's.

He felt his shirt sticking to his skin, his sweat feeling like glue during an art project, all slippery and loose and stuff.

An embarrassingly noticeable tremor in his voice(he sounded weak), Kel ventured to ask, "W-What do you want?"

Strange. Usually, he was rendered speechless and stuttering in front of such apparitions much to the malicious amusement of Aubrey and annoyance of Sunny yet he had just managed to spit out a few words. Almost as if it were....natural?

Almost as if....he spoken to him before. In a different form.

"I love you....please....I'm so sorry, little brother."

His stomach went cold as a little shiver ran through him at the very memory of that cold face, almost like a cursed Halloween decoration but....

....somehow worse. Because along with that feeling of fear came a twinge of pain in his heart. That....monster looked like someone familiar.

His thoughts went to those of an older boy hugging him awkwardly after Kel had squeezed him in an embrace first. A hand ruffling and messing up his hair. Awkward laughing, followed by stern words whenever Kel would bicker with her(it wasn’t his fault that she was so mean!), then the concentrated look on his face whenever he'd do...literally anything, from putting some more final touches on a cake to arm wrestling with Kel.

He was dead. Come on, Kel. Sunny had told you this a couple days ago.

At the bottom of the staircase he stood now, mentally praising his ability to distract himself from the pain by just...monologuing. Geez, was he that interaction-starved?

Alone time drained him so much that it wasn't even funny.

Oh gosh, wait, did he even do his homework— eh, Kel didn’t care about that, as he could always rush it right before class started.

....maybe.

Shoving everything in his bag proved to be no problem, because....well, everything was already packed up. Albeit more neatly than usual.

What did this— oh.

He'd hardly taken anything out of the bag once he'd come home yesterday.

Once again, Kel wondered about that argument he had with his mom which ended up in him storming up the stairs to his room. Mari....yeah, he had met her for the first time in what seemed to be forever, and yeah, he and Sunny had reconciled. The hug— and then what had happened before?

Munching on some biscuits for breakfast, - no matter how many times his mother had told him not to shove multiple of them in his mouth at one go - Kel felt something tight around his waist. Upon looking down, he was mildly surprised to see the familiar orange hoodie tied around his waist.

....and....decided not to question it. Hey, maybe this was some good thinking on his subconscious' part! What if he would have to be out late, for whatever reason, and it got super cold? Nights in Faraway were always freezing. Kel used to not mind it, but now that he was older....

....so yeah, it was definitely a great idea to keep it around his waist.

Anyways....he continued to think while munching on the last biscuits that were in the plastic packet, what had happened before Mari talked with his mom?

The crunchy taste filled his mouth. Yes, it tasted crunchy, though it would take experiencing it to actually understand the taste.

Sunny had....given this hair tie back to him, right?

How had he even lost it? Or dropped it?

Or maybe....he recounted how drenched his hair was at some point yesterday....maybe she'd taken it off of him?

Why was his hair even wet in the first place?

The way Basil’s eyes seemed to almost glow blue in rage and the clenching of his teeth should have been a warning to Kel about what was going to happen next. Or maybe he should have checked behind him for how big the dock was.

....

Cold water, piercing right through him.

An argument....with Basil?

It was more possible than he thought, given how everything and everyone....changed.

The memories came flooding back, just as he swallowed the biscuits then stood before the front door. Memories of lying on the picnic blanket, opening his eyes to see Mari for the first time in a long while, and Aubrey and Bas—

Come to think of it, how were they faring? Basil...definitely hated him. That chilling look in his eyes right before he pushed Kel in....

....not even the warm sunlight of the early morning hitting his face could stop Kel from shivering a little at the thought, no, the memory.

Remembering what Basil had said when cornering him at the dock worsened the tightening feeling in his gut. Or maybe that was just because he ate only biscuits and nothing else.

Oh well, going back inside the house to get some more food wasn’t something Kel wanted to do right now. Yeah, maybe he could buy some food. What was he, sixteen? Yup, he was more than old enough to do that.

“You l-left us for years and…..now you're acting like nothing happened? Like Hero didn't—”

Kel knew what he was going to say, had he let Basil complete his sentence.

“T-That doesn't change anything! I still think of you guys as my friends! Just— why're you like this towards Aubrey? This isn't like you! What you're doing's just….!”

“Things have changed. She's the reason the photo album’s gone.”

Roughly, Kel rubbed at the side of his head with a flinch. The way Basil glared at him....had that been what Kel himself looked like before....

....before what?

Not having realized that he stopped walking, Kel scrunched up his face as he tried to remember. Hmm....no, maybe it was just déjà vu. Or maybe he was just using the term incorrectly, but eh, he forgot that too.

Deciding to go buy his own food for today was a good idea. He had this feeling that he'd be out of the house today for a long time.

Totally not because of yesterday night's argument with his mom.

Should he check on Aubrey today? Something, someone, told him not to, but maybe he hang out with Sunny instead? Again, his stomach ached as his guilt intensified. Would she still talk to him after yesterday? They did make up with each other, but would she still need some time away from him?

Sunny did hold grudges...he'd seen it in the way she used to glare at Mari not-so-subtly every time she'd called her to practice for that recital years ago....but she'd also changed from back then. Of course, that was to be expected as one grew up, but....

....could Kel accept that, and how very unpredictable his friends - especially Basil - had become?

Oh wait. He'd completely stopped walking, hadn’t he?

With a small chuckle forcing itself out of his lips, Kel ventured forward, trying to find some hope for what could possibly happen today.

And so far, he was somewhat succeeding.

"Today," he thought, tightening his hold around his bag as he idly watched the schoolbus drive by, the loud engine nearly destroying his ears. It was heading for the neighborhood where his own house was located. Maybe Sunny used that bus? He hadn't seen her on any early morning runs today....maybe she had a specific schedule for them.

"Today," he thought again, glancing up ahead, "will be...."

....the one where I fix everything.

Chapter Text

Today left a sour taste in Kel’s mouth, especially with nobody to talk to(like Cris) to distract himself from his inner ruminations. He stared at the ground whilst leaning against the outer wall of the building, no doubt looking like an edgy teenager.

Having had to speedrun his homework at the last minute proved to be far from relaxing. Not that he'd been expecting otherwise - or maybe he had been doing that. Whatever.

Plus, there was that intense pain in his leg from earlier, in the morning....

Remembering how much his heart pounded in his chest in those moments(both while rushing to do his homework and that stupid incident in the morning) only worsened the ache spreading throughout his empty stomach. He raised his head to look around at his various classmates who stood around....or just walked away from the school building.

Until one of them caught his eye.

And no, it wasn’t a classmate. Actually, not even someone from his school.

She was still recognizable to him, though.

Jumping up from his painfully stiff position, he dumped his bag on the ground, his eyes appearing to light up.

"Hey!! Mincy!" Kel borderline sprinted towards her, not knowing or caring at all that a few of the people standing there outside were giving him looks of alarm.

Or that too much pressure was being put on his hurt leg.

In a messy whoosh of shining dark hair, the girl whipped around to stare, wide-eyed, at the guy running straight towards her. Surprisingly, her glasses didn't come off, and equally surprisingly, she wasn't holding her usual huge sketchbook under her arm. So she didn't happen to drop that out of shock, either.

Nearly hurting his toes(hah, blame the tighter ends of the shoes he was wearing), he skidded to a stop within a foot of Mincy. For moment, Kel stood still, bending over to catch his breath, feeling the pain stab through his leg(ouch, why the hell was it still hurting?), then he peered over at Mincy.

The girl in question had her mouth open as if she were about to ask a one-word question(and Kel definitely knew what it was going to be, he wasn't that dumb). What scared Kel was the way the bottom of her eye twitched, her mouth in a wobbly, thin line.

Geez, guess he wasn't the only one here who was scared.

With a deep breath and in a frantic tone, Kel gushed out, "Sorry sorry sorry! I mean uh—" he cringed at himself, scratching at the side of his head before straightening up his posture again, "s-sorry about that! About...uh, scaring you just now!"

Almost in an instant, Mincy’s face broke into a warm, apologetic smile. Wait, why apologetic? “Oh, you didn’t need to say sorry! I’m sorry for not seeing you there earlier, hah…”

”Nah, don’t sweat it. I’ve just got a….” he paused. “A habit of doing that. Surprising people, I mean. But don’t worry! You don’t need to apologize for anything. Unless you secretly sell some illegal stuff….” His lips pursed up at the thought, a mild shiver going through him.

Mincy ruffled her already messy hair and stared off to the side. “Okay, but I think I’d be far from apologizing if I did…that.” A corner of her lips lifted as she side-eyed Kel. As if she were expecting some extremely comical reaction.

”Mincy!!!” Kel chided with a scowl. He took a deep breath, before asking, “Hey, by the way, do you know where Sunny is?”

By around now, the others around him, having gotten used to his antics a long time ago, were back to minding their own businesses. As Mincy hummed in thought, rubbing at her nose, Kel felt himself focusing on the tidbits of conversations in the background.

”That guy was loud.”

”Dad’s gonna kill me for this…”

”You’d better not take my fucking candy when I get back, nerd!”

”…ughhhh…”

His brain hurting from trying to make some sense out of these words, he ultimately failed to do so due to the lack of context. A very understandable lack of context.

”She left school early - wait, but why though?” responded Mincy, an eyebrow raised. She scratched at a spot behind her ear, flinching very visibily in the process, then upon seeing Kel’s concerned reaction, she mumbled, “Ouch…I think I scratched myself a little too hard.”

Instead of being as overbearing as it was so far today, the sunlight filled Kel with warmth, which only increased with the hope he could find in these words. That meant Sunny was available to hang out with today, wasn’t she?

Suddenly, he remembered that Mincy had asked him a question the last time she spoke just now, and was awaiting his response. Instinctively, Kel pushed some hair back with his hand as he thought through his response. Might as well skirt close to the truth in his answer.

”We might hang around Othermart or something,” he grinned sheepishly, also secretly glad that he hadn’t needed to adjust his hair by that much, since most of it was confined in a fairly loose ponytail. Kel had given in sometime halfway through the school day, deeply annoyed by some loose hair strands hanging near and touching his face.

In hindsight, maybe that was some good forethought, for he had this feeling that he’d sweat a lot today. The day was slowly getting hot as heck and cooking everyone - well, that’s how it felt to Kel.

“Wait, you guys are childhood friends, right?” With her free hand, Mincy pulled slightly at the bottom of her pale purple T-shirt, and shifted her jean-clad legs. How on Earth she was surviving the heat in jeans, Kel didn’t - and probably would never - know. She glanced up at him. “S-Sorry if I forgot…I mean, I did see you two sitting together on the bus a lot when….we were kids. With…..two others, I think.”

At the mention of the “two others” in particular, the taller boy grimaced. “Y-Yeah. Sunny and I.” He made no effort to talk about or even utter a word about the other two.

Flushing in embarrassment at what she was about to ask, Mincy mumbled something.

Kel’s face lit up in curiosity, his mouth slightly opened. “Wait, what was that Mincy?”

”I-I don’t know, but….are you okay?” Mincy awkwardly pulled a stray hair back, out from behind her glasses. Sheesh, it really must have been bothering her. “You looked…weird just now.”

An eyebrow of Kel’s rose in confusion as he tilted his head at her, taking one small step back. Seriously, the heat was making him light-headed. Or heavy-headed. Wait what?

Mincy’s expression changed from one of uncertainty to horror again, and she started frantically waving her hands in front of her face, apologizing in an equally frantic way. “Ohmygoshsorryaboutthatitwasstupid! Uh— I didn’t mean that you look weird, you look fine don’t worry, but what I meant was—“ she hunched forward, exhaling as her shoulders lowered and visibly relaxed. Wiping some sweat off of her forehead with the back of her hand(somehow not dislodging her glasses in the process), she finally made eye contact with Kel again. “What I meant to say was…you looked kinda mad. Or sad. I dunno, it was just when I talked about Su—“

Her eyes widened as realization came over her. “Wait, did I accidentally say something wrong then?”

Kel felt himself nervously laugh, then he took a deep breath, closing his eyes for a second. “No. You didn’t. Uh, I just….it’s just been a long time, you know?” He smiled - or at least he tried to.

“Oh….” Mincy’s lips curled into an understanding smile of her own, "okay, I see."

The two tiny hairs that seemed to stick out more prominently on the top of her head began to droop down slightly, matching her downcast expression. Guilt once again unfurled in Kel’s stomach as he looked around, as though that would help him figure out what he should say next.

His eyes and his mood lit up the moment he remembered a certain someone.

Mouth widening into a grin, Kel shifted next to Mincy. "Heyyyy, don't tell me you're here because you're looking for her!" 

For a second, the girl blankly stared up at Kel, her mouth slightly open, then she gave a little start, briefly losing her balance. As expected, a bright red flush spread across her face.

"Her?" she squeaked, a trickle of sweat running down her face. "U-Uh— who? No, I'm not waiting for Cris!"

"You just said it," his voice was filled with triumph and he sure did feel it too. "Did you two manage to.....you know?"

Mincy wore a sheepish expression at his very vague and wild gesturing. Her blush had died down by quite a lot.

"You mean....c-confess? I don’t– I think I'll give her some time or something."

"C'mon...." sighed Kel, then he put his hand Mincy's shoulder and looked at her as if he were a mentor giving some very wise advice, "she clearly feels the same way! You have got to trust me on this."

At his determined look, Mincy exhaled slowly. Then she said, "But last time we went on one of our dates— I mean, hangouts, she left super early and looked very bothered about something...."

"Bothered?" Kel asked, then put a finger to his chin in thought. Cris was quite fond of Mincy, especially in that way, he knew.

But why would be be bothered by something when she left, like Mincy said—

"No, she definitely wasn't thinking anything bad about you!" He heartily reassured her, patting the crestfallen girl on the back, a wide grin spreading across his face yet again. "Maybe she was just...." he remembered how Hero’s face used to turn as red as a tomato every time Mari would say something, especially in her smug flirtatious way(did she still have that kind of charm?). "She probably doesn't.....hate you or anything."

Speaking of hating....he thought as he took his hand back off of Mincy's back and stared at the ground. 

Basil.....do you hate me?

....

Kel recounted memories of always staring at Basil, trying to get his attention, regardless of whether those attempts were annoying or not. Eh, he was always super dense. Maybe the flower boy was just done with him for this very reason.

That was just too bad....Kel missed the uplifting feeling in his stomach every time he set eyes on that shy, freckled face. That feeling was....whatever Mari felt for Hero every single time she got his attention by flirting or whatever, right? Nevermind that sharp twinge of envy and longing, that was totally part of a normal...crush.

Totally.

Still, those feelings lingered, coupled with something like desperation now. Something he also felt whenever the thought of Aubrey crossed his mind.

He had to. He had to get rid of—

An image of a faceless, pink-haired little girl flashed before him.

Shaking his head, - and shaking away the memory of how cold Basil’s gaze was the last time Kel saw him, and how much colder the water surrounding and enveloping him was - he beamed at Mincy again.

She appeared....less down in the dumps, hopefully because of his words. Well, OF COURSE it would be because of what he said, what else?

"Are you sure—"

"Of course!" Kel huffed. "Now just get together already or something. And get a room...." he grumbled at that last part, jokingly making a face that resulted in Mincy giggling.

"Thanks," she eventually stopped chuckling, then audibly gasped before kicking out at a humongous leaf, which had happened to fall right there.

Kel kept his eyes on it, the leaf having landed only a few inches away from Mincy's foot. Her kick had been very half-hearted. Guess she hadn't really wanted to....get rid of the leaf completely or something. Just startled. Well, he'd have been startled as well, in her shoes(not literally of course!), with a leaf as heavy as that.

Had the season been autumn right now, there would have been a huge pile of leaves. And everyone knew what that meant....though the fun of jumping into the pile and throwing the leaves everywhere didn't last for long. Eventually, they'd all have to go home.

Bummer.

At least he'd look forward to hanging out with the other five in....whose house again? Definitely not Aubrey’s, she would always act shifty and change the subject once Mari or someone would say anything about her house. Kel hadn’t really thought much about it....

....or the random scratches, which were surprisingly deeper and harsher than he thought, on the side of her face the last time he'd confronted her up close.

Continuing to stare at that particular leaf, Kel mulled over that latest interaction in question. What had she been on about....?

Why was everything so confusing after talking to his friends - no, old friends - again? They definitely weren't how he'd remembered them.

Wouldn't Aubrey have dyed her hair with Mari by now?

But why not, if they hadn't had a fall-out or anything like that? Or maybe they had and just weren't showing it— gahh, people were too confusing.

The awkward silence was seriously doing loopy stuff with his mind.

His gaze shifting from the leaf to the sun-kissed grass, Kel muttered, "You know, I don’t know where Cris is, either."

"What do you mean?" Confusion was laced in her voice.

Kel’s breath hitched. "I-I don't know! To be honest, I didn't know what to say just now either...." he laughed a little again, taking a step back.

Or he tried to, at least, having forgotten that he wasn't leaning against a wall anymore, but thin air instead. A yelp escaped his throat, as Kel placed his foot behind just in time to catch himself.

This was just like earlier, on the stairs. Stupid, clumsy Kel....ugh.

Tightly hugging himself, digging his nails into the skin of his arms in the process, he let out a deep sigh. "S-Sorry about that. Again."

More giggling, in a voice that held concern and a shakiness to it. "It's okay. Are you alright? You almost got your head busted open...."

Kel turned his head to smile at her, his arms relaxing by quite a bit. Mincy's small jokes were always a key part of the normalcy he so desired, especially at present.

However, at the memory of that swooping, stomach-flipping fall, so similar to the one from earlier(that's what he must have felt when—), he clenched his fingers around his arms again.

"I'm okay...." then he caught himself just in time, "....I mean—! I mean, uh, I didn't get my head busted open!"

That last part was said with such indignance AND a lot of volume that the people around both of them would have turned heads in his direction out of surprise or annoyance. If there were that many people there at all, which there weren't.

Ah, most - or almost all of them, that looked to be most likely - of them must have been picked up already, or they walked home. Anyways, that louder girl with the mouth of a sailor and an extreme affinity for candy wasn't there at least, nor was that boy who insisted on calling himself......wait, what was that title again?

"I said 'almost'...." Mincy muttered back to him, the soft sound of wind swirling around in the background.

The wind....

Kel didn’t feel very cold yet, not even slightly cool either. Sure, the day would get less warm as it went by, swept into nighttime.

Nighttime. Oh. What was he doing, wasting his time?

Making sure - unnecessarily - that it was still afternoon, he stared up at the sky. "Hey, Mincy, what time is it?" Blinding sunlight glared back at him.

"Three-ish? Well it was almost 2:30 the last time I checked a clock...."

"And you said Sunny left school early? Do you have any idea where she is?" Kel scratched his head, looking over at Mincy next to him. "Not that you need to tell me of course, or like, just in case she doesn't want me to know."

"Why wouldn't she want you to know?" Mincy had this genuinely innocent glow in her eyes as she cocked her head at him. "Oh! Uh, did you two have a falling-out today or something like that?"

"Uh, no," Kel stated what was technically the truth, as he ran a hand through his hair again out of some jittery sensation. "We're fine! I-Is she near the lake?"

"The lake?" Mincy appeared to be more concerned, the innocently curious glow in her eyes turning more and more worried.

Fortunately her glasses caught the light almost perfectly, so Kel wouldn't have to face the full force of this uncomfortable feeling. A feeling with mostly some kind of guilt mixed in.

But....why? Whatever he'd just told her wasn't a lie. There was absolutely nothing for him to feel guilty about.

Wait, why did Mincy sound so confused when asking about the la— oh.

That place was called the "secret hangout spot" for a pretty good reason.

He felt his heartbeat rise with the minor realization that he may have nearly revealed the "secret"(which he still wanted to keep, for some reason) to Mincy. Quickly, Kel brushed it off.

"Haha, never mind. I was talking about some...uhhh, some other lake in some town near Faraway." Never was he good at this whole "lying" thing, so it was relieving to him that he wasn't used to it. Which was how many of his attempted revenge pranks on Aubrey in the past tended to backfire terribly.

Hopefully, Mincy would accept this tiny little fib as just a typical Kel statement.

Her brows formed a crease between them in concern, making Kel’s gut uncomfortably twist. "You think Sunny could go that far? I mean, I know she's pretty good at running," her eyes shone slightly with admiration as she smiled a little, "but....anyways. D-Do you need to...um, go now?"

The downcast expression and melancholy tone from the other girl nearly made Kel’s mood the same way.

"Sorry 'bout that," he leaned forward, staring in Mincy's direction yet not quite directly at her. "I'll see your newer drawings next time!"

Slowly, he walked away from her, towards the sidewalk, until something told him to stop right there. So Kel did, obeying his instinct or inner voice or whatever. Or maybe he just didn't want to leave her alone looking like a lonely little raccoon in the rain.

"Oh, by the way, Kel?" Her voice calling him again. "I didn't draw anything new at all....I had no motivation today, to be honest." A chuckle.

"No, it's okay!" Turning towards her again, he flashed both a grin and a hopefully encouraging thumbs-up at her. "Everyone's got those days! Even I do." He grimaced slightly as he remembered that he hadn't practiced basketball in days.

Could he even call it practice? It was just him screwing around with a basketball and missing a lot. And getting a lot of them into the basket. Wow, he didn’t even know some of the basic terminology. Shouldn't Kel have joined the team if he had the chance?

No, the problem was that he didn’t even stand a chance there. And never would.

"Alright!" Wow, Mincy seemed happier. "I've got some ideas....to be honest, I kinda didn't have any motivation for a long time. Maybe I could take a break." It seemed like she was thinking aloud with that last part, quite fitting for someone who could be as eccentric or dreamy at times like her.

"Bye Mincy! See you later!" He yelled, jogging away. The pain came in small stabs now, but it wasn't like he was flat out running.

Until she was out of sight - and she waved enthusiastically back at him with a wide smile stretching her mouth - did Kel stop jogging and hunch over in exhaustion, feeling the brunt of the pain in his leg again. In the process, he faced the ground of the sidewalk, all grey and grainy.

Haha, "greyny." Nice.

So concentrated was Kel, in regaining his breath and scrutinizing each and every shade of grey and every crack of all sizes in the sidewalk, that he didn’t hear someone walking up close to him from behind. Only until he heard a quiet "ahem" did he nearly jump out of his skin and nearly lose his balance when whipping around to see who had startled him.

Holding out Kel’s very own jacket towards its owner, was Sunny. Embarrassingly enough, she didn’t seem to be sweating at all(Kel felt a few enormous drops of sweat running down his face from his hairline) despite visibly having tousled hair and pigtails and labored breathing, all signs of her having been running all this time. Or having done some kind of exercise.

Or maybe she was just running after him to give back his jacket. No, but her footsteps sounded like she was walking—

"Here," she practically thrust the orange jacket towards Kel, appearing slightly annoyed when he just stared at her like a dumbass, "don't tie it around your waist so loosely next time." Sunny watched as Kel fumbled frantically with the sleeves, trying to tie it back around himself again. "Or else I might not catch it for you, then."

After tidying himself up, - aka just brushing down his shirt and making sure the jacket was tied tightly enough - Kel brushed aside some unruly brown hair to get a better look at Sunny. As usual, she was cliff-faced, but it appeared that today she chose to wear something different, like the light grey shirt and denim skirt. What didn't change were her neat, simple shoes.

There was one time, he remembered, when Sunny had been out running on one particular morning and Kel had talked to her then. He'd never seen her wear tennis shoes - speaking of which, he should ask her whether she plays tennis or not, because that was pretty cool - before, like she'd done then. Now she wasn't wearing those.

Oh, well that disproved his earlier guess that maybe she had been out on an evening run just now.

Perhaps it was just an evening walk.

Or afternoon walk, the sun was too bright and hot for the day to have reached evening yet.

"Haha, I know, I know," Kel said half-heartedly in reply, rolling his eyes and looking away from his friend.

Soon, they fell naturally into step beside each other.

"Hey, how's Mari?" asked Kel leaning a little forward to get a look at Sunny’s face from next to her. This was a weird habit of his, something that always put a little twinkle in Sunny’s eyes back when they were rowdy little kids. Made Sunny feel...included, that was the vibe Kel always used to get from this subtle expression.

Momentarily(without halting), Sunny widened her eyes, which seemed to have a brighter glow to them, her grimace from earlier fading completely. Instantly, Kel was thrown back into the past. When they would read comics together, eat lunch at school at the same table, sometimes sneak into the comic book store at cursed hours—

—and that one Christmas party the six of them had together. That one present which all of them besides Sunny had saved up for, which they all couldn't wait to give her.

Though, in hindsight, something felt a little off with how Sunny stared at the brand new, shiny violin after unwrapping it, though she did seem to admire it too as she felt it beneath her fingertips.

....

What was that?

Why did he feel that...her apprehension at the time ended up—

—no, stop it.

Sunny was right there, next to him, and there was nothing he could ask for besides feeling completely normal and at ease with a friend. Especially a childhood friend, who was still cool with him.

Or was she?

....

Why should he even try looking for something that probably didn't even happen—

"Kel." 

Geez, Sunny was probably ticked off at him. Maybe she didn't forgive him after all for that....other interaction. Maybe she only accepted his apology yesterday just to comfort him, because she's a good person and doesn't associate with bad people. But she maybe truly did not want to be his friend anymore. Maybe Kel got this whole thing wrong, but then why did she choose to walk right next to him just now?

"Kel!" Sunny’s voice grew harsh, and Kel blinked rapidly as her face came into focus.

He was instantly taken aback by her scowl, which wasn't that scary or intense(by the usual Sunny standards), but drastically different compared to her earlier stoic expression. Definitely, Kel wasn't daydreaming or anything....and he wasn't acting very suspicious. Actually, he wasn't being suspicious at all!

"Kel. What are you saying?" hissed Sunny. At a closer look, her eyes, possibly her most expressive facial features, held intense concern.

"Wait....w-what....?" Kel put a hand to his forehead and screwed his face up. Oh, wait, then it hit him.... "Whoa, Sunny? Did I say weird stuff out loud?"

Almost immediately, the look in Sunny’s eyes disappeared as she folded her arms across her chest. "Yeah. Just forget it."

The atmosphere between them felt heavy as their footsteps echoed the slightest bit, while Kel sincerely hoped Sunny wouldn't notice his irregular footing.

Well geez. Kel....he'd done his recent thinking OUT LOUD, hadn’t he?

Even the ones where he was overthinking about Su— oh no.

"Forget...it?" The tone with which he said this was neither confrontational nor hostile, merely showing his confusion. "I thought about a lot of....concerning things just now, Sunny" He glanced over at her, admiring how the sunlight highlighted a few loose strands in her otherwise tidy hair. "Geez...I said a lot of messed up stuff, didn't I?"

And Kel wasn’t just referring to what he said to Sunny just now. Did she forgive him for the time he had shouted at her, which had been the cause of that falling out—?

"...." Sunny remained silent, yet Kel had this feeling that it wasn't out of resentment. No, this was just....normal Sunny. How could he forget that?

She merely nodded at him, then sighed, her eyes closed for a second as she slowed down her walking.

Slowly opening her eyes to stare down at the broken squares of pavement that made up the sidewalk, Sunny absentmindedly tucked a black strand of hair behind her ear before she muttered, "I didn't hear all of it though. I mean," she huffed, "you didn't make sense."

So what Kel had said was literally messed up. "Messy" or "jumbled up" would describe it better.

The topic needed a quick change, Kel thought.

Wasn't he supposed to do something else today....? Other than talking to Sunny. No, it was related to talking to her, actually.

And not just her.

"Hey, do you know where Mari is?" he watched Sunny warily, as if he could actually read facial expressions. Spoiler alert: Kel couldn't. And probably he never would.

And he was surprisingly okay with that. Keyword: Surprisingly.

"She's buying stuff," replied Sunny off-handedly. Guess Mari wasn’t buying that much. "Why?"

That last part seemed a little defensive, making Kel feel like the full question Sunny wanted to ask was "Why do you need to know?"

...probably.

"Like, come on! I didn't see her for...." the more Kel thought about it, the more he felt like he just had the air knocked right out of him, "....three years...? Four years? Yeah, anyways, it was a lot of years."

His determined look seemed to win over Sunny, though she did roll her eyes at him in the typical teenage fashion(this was also done in reluctant agreement to whatever Kel had just said). Though something told him that she'd do it even in her twenties or something. But not in a teenager-y way.

Well, anyways, that was bound to be one thing that wouldn't change about her.

And many other things which were hard to get rid of with age.

Like...those memor— okay, Kel didn’t know really.

Perhaps he should just stop thinking for a second....

Kel continued to eye Sunny for a single hint of a reaction, just any kind of reaction.

Ow, why the heck was it getting so difficult to walk— oh, wayyy too much pressure was being put on his leg. Had he seriously been sooo distracted by his own overthinking right this moment, that the earlier incident today had completely slipped his mind?

Very Kel-typical.

Hissing as a particularly sharp twinge made him keel over, Kel heard something from beside him.

Of course, Sunny was the one who uttered that unusually loud gasp. "You....hurt your leg. Didn't you?"

An accusing glare was directed towards him, one that he felt all too well.

Kel couldn't lie. Not that he'd be good at it.

For a few seconds, he just glanced over at Sunny, but not directly into her eyes. Yep, there was no way he could say anything other than the truth. Just....right now he was feeling more 

Might as well come out with it.

"I just slipped and fell down the stairs," laughed Kel. Well at least he tried laughing it off. "Pssh, it's not like I broke anything really— Sunny?"

A shadow came over her face, one eye twitching as her mouth appeared painfully tense.

"....really?" Her voice sounded scarily concerned, and she even stopped walking. Scary since Kel was NOT used to the protective side of his friend.

"Yeah?" Kel didn’t know what Sunny was even questioning here. "I'm okay though!" He gave a thumbs up and grinned widely. At the moment, Kel stepped to his side.

And his leg practically collapsed under him.

"I- w- AAUGHH—!" yelped Kel stopping himself from nearly getting crushed against the sidewalk by putting a hand to it to steady himself. Hissing through his teeth, he temporarily forgot that his friend was right there. "Shit..."

Sunny wasn’t visible, due to him being keeled over in pain(gosh, it hadn't been this bad earlier), and he couldn't even hear her voice thanks to the roaring in his ears. Like listening to the ocean through a seashell but less calming, with thoughts rushing around in his head at breakneck speed.

He unstuck his palms from the ground - which he noticed, was pretty darn rough - to hold onto his leg, as if that would alleviate the sharp ache, until some kind of stinging discomfort on his hands began to bother him.

....peeled skin, revealing the raw redness underneath. Without a second thought, Kel rubbed his finger against one particular skin peel. Only to feel like he was getting stabbed through the hand - an exaggeration, he would think as he'd look back on it.

One glance at Sunny’s face near him was all it took for Kel to quickly move back(nearly falling on the ground of the sidewalk, so he guessed it was actually good that nobody else was walking around there right now), - wow, he didn't feel any pain this time - with an awkward grin as he felt his heartbeat rapidly increase again, his breath quickening. Sunny herself was half bent over him, a hand outstretched absentmindedly.

At least it looked like that, especially with the glassy look in her widened eyes.

No doubt about it. She was probably super confused at how Kel was somehow unfazed - outwardly, that was - after looking like he was having an extremely painful time in the bathroom. Yeah, a rather oddly specific analogy.

All he could do was stare back at her defiantly.

"You didn't break anything, huh?" Sunny deadpanned to him, her tone heavily dripping with sarcasm.

Which left Kel somewhat pissed.

"I didn't!" Kel screwed his eyes shut from the pain as he dusted his hands off and slowly got up. Not without a few pauses and sharp breaths, when a stab of pain would prove to he particularly unbearable.

Something slid down his waist....

....and looking down, Kel found that the jacket had somehow loosened from where it had been tied around him. Great. Just one more inconvenience today to add to the ever growing list.

Staring back up at him defiantly, Sunny muttered, "You should've tied two knots. Makes it tighter."

"I-I know!"

"Sure."

Guess it was too hot out for everyone else, and that was probably why nobody besides Sunny and Kel were out walking. Wait, but if both of them were able to go out, then wouldn't that mean there were probably tons of others their age hanging out somewhere? Maybe they were in the plaza - more specifically Gino's or something, where they were possibly plotting world domination.

Yep, seemed like a typical activity of a kid in Faraway.

"Is she at Fix-It?" joked Kel with a small, hopefully light-hearted chuckle. He took a few steps forward as he looked back at Sunny, as if prompting her to also resume walking again.

Maybe that was the intent. Imagine making things so awkward that one would have to practically psychoanalyze even the casual things that could be done. That was Kel right now.

"Heh, you don’t need to tell me actually," continued Kel after a small, silent pause, filled with Sunny’s footsteps due to her catching up to her taller friend. Then he came up with this wonderful idea that totally couldn't go wrong. "Oh! Maybe I could guess instea—"

"—she's at the comic book store," responded Sunny, scratching at a spot behind her ear and averting her gaze. "She told me she'd be at Fix-It. But she's Mari."

So much for that idea for a little guessing game to decrease the awkwardness.

Anyways, that last thing Sunny said just now made a lot of sense. Though it could also apply to a lot of people - including Kel himself. Sometimes, he'd find himself at Gino's instead of Othermart when he was actually supposed to buy groceries.

Heh, guess Mari and Sunny's mom - wait, no, Ms. Suzuki - was making her older daughter run errands already. Though there was no doubt that Mari was up to it, she'd always have this very selfless streak in her nature. Despite this, however, she was a lot less of a...pushover(in the nicest way possible) than Hero.

Hey, speaking of Hero, maybe both he and Mari would go out on dates after he'd come back from coll—

....

—Hero wasn’t at college. What a forgetful moron Kel was. 

Having it slip his mind that his own brother died....what the heck was wrong with him?

Again, he stared down at the ground - well actually, more like scowled at the pavement, which he knew did not deserve to be on the receiving end of his anger. Only Kel himself deserved that.

And Aubrey

What? Kel put a hand to his head. Sure, he could be mad at Aubrey for taking Basil’s photo album, but she was also being tormented by him!

Then what was this visceral fear and....was that hatred?....building up every time he thought of her? What about those nightmares—?

Boy, he was looking like an idiot right now. Just putting a hand to his head, running his fingers through his sweaty hair while his screwed-up expression made him appear constipated. He could count himself lucky that he was a little in front of his friend, just enough for her not to see his face.

Though.....

"Does your head hurt?" Sunny asked. The complete and utter dryness of her tone made Kel have an inward sigh of relief.

So she wasn't too concerned right now....

"Nah! I'm good." Should Kel change the topic? Well, yeah. That was definitely what he desired right now, more than pizza rolls or burgers or whatever. "Oh yeah, I forgot to ask Mari herself but....what's she majoring in? Or like, what does she want to be or something like that."

"....well, she wanted to become a musician, remember?"

"Yeah? Oh! She's becoming a musician then? That's so cool!" Kel was amazed. A simple hobby like Mari's could be pursued as something lifelong? Seemed awesome.

"No," scoffed Sunny. She quickened her pace as she walked up to him, not looking directly at his face. "Of course not. That's not what she wants to be." Her fingers combed through her pigtail. "Not anymore."

“So you do play the violin still,” Kel smiled at her. “Did you get all those certificates and stuff for it? Oh, does Mari still play the piano?”

For the first question, Sunny shook her head as she placed the violin case carefully upon her neatly folded bedsheets. The answer to what Kel could assume was the second question was a shrug, followed by Sunny muttering, “For fun sometimes.”

Guess it remained a mere side hobby. "Remained"? That would imply that it was insignificant to Mari even before....whatever had made her lose interest in playing the piano. No, piano had consumed her entire life.

At least that was what young Kel had seen it as; as Sunny not being able to hang out or sneak out with him like they'd used to before all those practices. Sure sure, he had held all that frustration in - of course he had to, there was no way the two siblings could go perform without practicing! - but it was still so....

"Oh! Really?" Kel had shaken the previous thoughts out of his head before saying this. "Then what's she doing now? Uh, besides shopping." He scratched at his face awkwardly, wincing as he did so - even though that particular pain was nothing compared to the one in his leg, and geez he was thinking about it again. Making it more painful.

After sending Kel a dry look at his small joke, Sunny mumbled, "A doctor."

"Huh...what did you say again?"

"A doctor," she huffed. What went unsaid was "Don't make me repeat myself." "She's pretty good with kids. That's what she told me when I asked her why she...." she fiddled with a strand of her hair again.

"Oh....so...." Kel hummed in thought, putting a finger to his chin, "....oh, right! She wants to be a podiatrist, right?"

"...." Sunny slowly turned her head towards him, an eye twitching and her eyebrow raised, "...what the hell?"

Kel gulped audibly, defensively and indignantly holding his hands out in front of himself. "H-Hey! Did I say anything wrong? Why're you looking at me like I just pushed your newborn baby into the ocean?"

"Pediatrician, not podiatrist," she hissed with a scowl, and Kel thought her eyes looked a little red. Not in the "crying" way, but how Spaceboy's would look when he was super angry. Like, murderous angry.

Anyways, he resisted the urge to cower back, and fortunately, Sunny’s face went back to normal. "Wait— oh, oof, I forgot. Pediatr— I mean, podiatrists, are the ones who do uhhh...feet stuff, right?"

Seriously, he wasn't completely stupid. Not so clueless that he wouldn't know what a freaking podiatrist was. It just came out like that, so freaked out was he by Sunny’s extreme reaction. Okay, maybe it wasn't that extreme, but it seemed so compared to the possibly usual reaction of "Wow Kel, you're so dumb. Imagine not knowing what a pediatrician is."

Oh wait, Aubrey probably(no, definitely) would have said that. Not Sunny.

But still....

Anyways he had just temporarily forgotten in the moment. That was a good - and a very true - explanation. Not an excuse. Totally.

Did Kel even know anymore?

"Kel," Sunny’s voice rang in his ears. When he looked at her, she gestured at the road in front of them.

The road in front of them....

...well it was great i t wasn't the same road as—

"Okay Sunny!" He frowned at the concerned glint in Sunny’s eyes. "Hey, I'll be fine! I promise."

Once again he sent her an enthusiastic thumbs-up, causing her to roll her eyes in her usual deadpan manner and swiftly walk right ahead of him.

Once he'd caught up to her, both of them were on the opposite side of the road. And on the way to the plaza, that explained the huge number of people in comparison to the near emptiness of where they were before.

There was this taller girl carrying a bag, while walking beside a guy who was wayyy shorter - Kel had flashbacks to how painfully short he'd been when he was a kid - and complaining a lot about something. Kel just knew he was complaining because of his childish and demanding tone.

Another girl was standing at the doorway of....was that the candy store?....while sweating and whimpering as she was getting reprimanded by the creepy lady who ran the store. Presumably for stealing from it again. That girl was always so weird - her name was Kim, wasn't it? Always acting so full of herself, then crumbling to pieces whenever someone would call her out on something.

Making his way across the road with his hurting leg was nerve-wracking for no reason, even when there were no cars. Not even any random bikers, especially on those extremely loud motorcycles.

Maybe they'd not see Cris or Mincy hanging around or doing stuff here. What a bummer, he thought. It really seemed like the two of them and Sunny were on friendly terms, especially Mincy and Sunny.

"Soooo let's go to the comic book store!" Kel tried framing this as a suggestion, grinning at Sunny as he walked up a little in front of her, very successfully(or so he thought) hiding his flinch.

Apparently, framing this as a suggestion did NOT work at all, with how Sunny stared at him like she was about to say, "Do I have to?"

"But we're going 'cause Mari’s there!" he whined desperately, pouting. "She's my friend too!!!"

"Ugh. Fine," Sunny continued to walk on ahead in a certain direction, passing by Fix-It.

At first, Kel tried catching up to her by jogging, but him nearly screaming from the piercing pain(and potentially causing a whole scene) forced him to resort to just walking super fast.

"Hey, slow down!" yelped Kel, huffing and puffing as he just barely caught up to her as soon as they both reached the doors to the comic book store. "It's not like we're on a time limit! Geez..." his cheeks puffed out.

Looking at Kel, Sunny almost seemed sorry for a moment before she turned away, pulling on the door handle. 

Finally, they were here again, embraced by the comforting cool atmosphere of the store's interior. Plus the comforting presence of the one and only....

"MARI!" Kel hollered, sprinting up to the girl who had peacefully been picking out a thin comic book from a particularly low shelf on the left side of the shop. For this reason, he was careful not to drag her into a tight hug. Having a broken spine would be detrimental to Mari's dreams of becoming a pediatrician.

So, he simply resorted to standing there like an obsessed fanboy. Well, he kind of was, but not in the "celebrity fan" way. And he wasn't obsessed. Just really excited to see his friend again and hang out with her after not seeing her for years.

"Kel? Wow, it's you again!" Mari beamed at him, straightening up and neatly(weird, with how quickly she'd done it) placing the comic book back on its shelf.

Unfortunately for him, the shopkeeper made a sound of disapproval from all the way behind his desk. Actually, his desk wasn't that far away - ironic, considering the town's name, and boy, were his puns lame - but still, it was at a considerable distance away.

Stopping himself from glaring at the shopkeep(not in a hostile way, Kel would swear on his life!!!), he carefully lowered himself onto the ground - though no matter what, Kel would feel some uncomfortable pressure on the hurt part of his leg - and resorted to sitting on the floor with his legs sprawled out. From what Kel saw when looking up at his older friend, a lightbulb seemed to go off in Mari’s head, her eyes sparkling as her grin grew wider.

She shuffled up next to him, her back against the lower shelves, and gestured in some other direction, presumably towards where the store's entrance was. Was someone else there— oh, how could he have forgotten Sunny?

"Hm." Sunny’s hum of agreement was followed by light footsteps towards the two of them, before she sat on the other side of Kel.

Guess they were all going to read the comics together!

Kel could hardly contain his excitement - which was coupled with some apprehension, because what if these newest comics sucked?

He had always known that his standards were pretty low, so he'd enjoy anything that would vaguely appeal to him - while simultaneously and ironically being super picky about some small, insignificant things in the plot(those could seriously make his interest disappear). Okay, that was what scared him.

Both he and Sunny watched as Mari fished a comic out of the shelf and opened it up to the first page. Ugh, it was the most recent one. Meaning that Kel would be completely clueless about the plot....but he didn't want to admit aloud that he hadn't read them at all for some reason all these years. What kind of fan was he.....

....then came a memory of yesterday. Walking home with the two sisters after drying off....

Oh. So Sunny had told Mari at that time. Judging from that small smile, which now held a hint of smugness, she knew of Kel’s predicament.

Yikes. They really were trying to get him to read the comics again. But how would Kel even catch up? Obviously the comics from years before wouldn't be on the shelves right now, and Mari or Sunny probably wouldn't let Kel borrow any copies....wait.

They probably would, wouldn't they? If he was friends with them again— no, it wasn’t like he wasn't friends with them at any point in time. Unless he counted that quarrel he'd had with Sunny, or the unusually long time he'd stayed away from his old friend group.

Quickly, Kel pinched himself and blinked hard as he tried reading whatever was in front of him. Oh, oops, the book wasn't even open yet. Concerned, he glanced up at Mari.

Wow. Her mouth was open, as if she were about to ask a question. And she had that worries look on her face which send shivers of guilt down his spine.

"Got something on your mind?" she asked, setting the book down on the floor - apparently not minding that the seemingly clean and shiny surface was most probably teeming with germs. "You could always talk about it!"

Kel studied her small smile of encouragement -seriously, he was put off by the absence of its usual smugness(before remembering that Mari was usually pretty caring) - and bit down on his tongue. Ouch.

"Y-Yeah," he answered, looking away with a huff and also leaning back further against the shelf. Then he remembered what Mari’s question was, all of a sudden. "I mean— no! It's nothing," he grabbed the book from the ground and started flipping over to a random page....there. Page 69.

"Huh?" Mari chuckled lightly, not before shooting Kel another heavily concerned glance. Her head tilted as she looked with amusement at what page he'd landed on. "So...I'm guessing you really did read everything before this page here, right?" The heavy teasing in her tone made it very obvious that she knew he was just flipping to a random page.

"Uhhh...." Kel’s mouth hung open cluelessly as he stared at the comic panel, which showed Captain Spaceboy proudly proclaiming that he'd explore deep inside Uranus.

Maybe this was a "special" kind of episode? Where Spaceboy would visit their very own solar system instead of those other ones with super cool and creative names?

"What...happened here again?" Kel poked at his own face in thought as he stared at all the other panels on this page and the subsequent one. "Okay, fine. I guess I didn't read this one..."

"Heh. It's okay Kel." Mari lightly giggled as she tucked a purple hair behind her ear, while watching Kel turn to the book's first page. "I'll explain the lore as you go!"

"You still have to read the others," remarked Sunny softly, most likely out of consideration for the shopkeep's sanity. "I..we...have all of them at home. Just read them."

His eyes significantly brightened at this confirmation that he was officially allowed to read those comics he'd missed out on. Energetically, Kel turned to grab Sunny’s hand, which felt concerningly warm against his own two hands.

"Haha, thanks!!!" he beamed at her, and had he been standing, he'd have been bouncing up and down like an excited dog. Fortunately for Sunny, at least, none of this happened. "You're the best!"

"I— just—" Sunny turned slightly pink out of embarrassment and pouted, averting her eyes. "...you're welcome."

Though it wouldn't have seemed like it from some rando outsider's perspective, Kel knew that under that borderline monotonous voice, there was something genuine in her words. Meanwhile, Mari gasped at the first page. Which was a pretty normal reaction, if one was waiting very long for another comic to come out after an annoying cliffhanger, only to see the most confusing stuff ever on the first page of the new comic in question.

Wait, had there even been a cliffhanger last time? All the more reason to catch up.

The three of them got comfortable as they read the most confusing comic book of all time....in terms of plot. Okay, maybe it seemed that way for Kel only.

"I think we've read a little bit too much," teased Mari, quickly snatching the book off of the floor and putting it back. "You two don't wanna stay here 'til midnight, right?~"

Kel’s heart nearly stopped, for more reasons than one(wow, guess time had really flown while he was having fun reading comics just now). "Hold up, y-you knew?" he asked incredulously, looking up at Mari with widened eyes.

Though he was about to ask another question, Kel realized he couldn't, with his mouth simply and uselessly hanging open.

"Of course! I'm not that much of a heavy sleeper, after all," Mari rolled back her pink sleeves, the only part of her shirt which was that color as it was part of a long-sleeved shirt she wore under the light blue T-shirt. "And Sunny was...not as sneaky as she thought she was~"

He heard Sunny’s breath hitch from beside him. Then— "S-Shut up," grumbled the girl quietly.

"Hehe, but I haven't told Mom yet!" Mari remarked, then gave Kel a sly wink. "Or your mother, either."

So Mari thought telling his mom about the lake was okay, while tattling to her about those childhood sneakouts wasn't? Geez, was Kel still bitter about that? Well, thanks to whatever had happened yesterday, he hadn't even seen his mother all day today.

To be honest, it was partially his fault. For eating a meager, quick breakfast, then going out to school early. What did he expect?

For the first time today, he thought about how he'd been needlessly aggressive yesterday in his....argument with his mom. Reflecting on it was hard, with how he blocked out what he remembered of the specific words he used, but still, he seriously behaved like an asshole that time. Maybe Kel really should get her a gift today....

....but....could he even face her anytime soon?

Oh, what was that terribly loud noise? It not only harshly interrupted this quick flash of thoughts on yesterday's happenings, but also called attention from pretty much everyone around him. "Everyone" included Mari, Sunny, and Shopkeep.

Shit. That meager breakfast he'd eaten earlier hadn't done his stomach any justice. Plus, it felt like his stomach was devouring itself - well, it was at least trying to. Maybe. He'd heard something about the topic.

"Oh, uh—" Kel chuckled a little to lighten the mood, keeping his eyes off of the two sisters' faces(sheesh, this was awkward), "is it okay if I sleep at your house today? Your mom could call mine and tell her it's just like....a sleepover! Yeah!" He did finger guns at Sunny, finally feeling confident enough to look her in the eye in this awkward exchange.

"Mm-hmm!" Mari picked up one other comic book - which was pretty much the same thing as the one the three of them had read together, but a different copy. Brushing some hair out of her face, she continued to speak while holding the book under her arm with a satisfied smile, "And it is a sleepover, silly!"

"Silly? I'm not—"

"Yeah," Sunny cut in, walking up next to Kel as both of them watched Mari walk up to the shopkeeper, bringing along the book, "you are."

"....this is a betrayal. I'll never forget this," Kel said back, but in a very dry voice while scowling at his friend.

"Hm." Sunny folded her arms across her chest and just stared at the two at the front, who were presumably chatting merrily away about something. Her mere stare could bore holes into Mari and Shopkeep.

After buying the comic book, Mari walked back to then with a wide grin. "So where do you two want to go from he—"

"—didn't you hear Kel’s stomach earlier?" huffed Sunny, interrupting Mari instantly. "You're hungry." This was directed at Kel, as she turned her head to stare at him.

Fiddling with the sleeves of the jacket around his waist, Kel found an excuse to look down. His dirty yet bright orange shoes also stared back up at him, still being quite eye-catching.

"I'm not!" Kel finally looked up, resolutely denying what Sunny said. "Seriously Mari, I'm not," he continued more quietly, resisting the urge to cower in guilt under her gaze of concern, "uhh...we could do other stuff!"

"Hmm?" Mari made a noise of confusion, as if she were processing what Kel just said. Her dark eyes owlishly blinked, making Kel notice the flecks of brown in them thanks to the light coming through the glass. "But we could do...both!"

"Huh? Both?" Kel put a hand on his waist, his head tilted in curiosity. At least he wasn’t getting hit by those pangs of guilt anymore.....for now.

Mari's eyes sparkled in delight, and she would have clasped her hands together had one of them not been holding the Captain Spaceboy comic book. So she just gave him a half-hearted thumbs-up.

"Eat stuff and do other stuff, of course, what else?" Her smug grin was back, as she put both hands behind her back, slyly side-eyed both Kel and Sunny, leaning forward. "Of course, we could stay the whole time at Gino's...."

"W-Wait, no!" Kel said back indignantly. But why? What else was he wanting to do, that left something nagging and ripping at the back of his mind? "I....also....sorry, uh, give me a minute."

He stared into the space next to Mari, trying to recollect himself with a sigh, and also attempting to remember what on earth he'd planned for today. Oh, that's right!

Eyes lighting up, Kel excitedly said, "Okay, so can we go to...uhh..." how would he go on about this again? "Uhhh....Basil’s house? Can we go to Basil’s house?"

A deafening silence fell over the three, especially Sunny.

"Hey, you three," sighed the shopkeeper, glancing over at them. "You're done here, aren't you? Then take your little drama outside."

As obvious as it was that Shopkeep hadn't been listening to every little detail of their conversation - possibly catching a few words of it here and there, Kel still felt embarrassed to the point of being ashamed as he walked out the door with his two friends. The moment the door closed behind them, the silence seemed to end abruptly, and not just because of the ruckus going on outside.

"Are you serious?" Sunny glared straight at him, grimacing. "After he almost killed you."

"W-We can...." Kel’s voice wavered, then he looked over at Mari helplessly. "Did she....tell you?"

Eyes staring at him with pure hatred no, Basil did not feel like that when pushing Kel in, did he? then breathtaking coolness surrounding him, freezing him—

"....yes." Mari's voice turned grave. "I...still can't believe it. That kid was Basil?"

The last part seemed to be a question she was asking herself, with how she nearly whispered it. Also, it was unfortunately followed by an awkward silence.

"Hey," Sunny nudged something towards him, and it poked at his elbow. "You also dropped this. Forgot to give it back."

Suddenly taken out of his initial tense mood, Kel jumped a little then carefully took his bag out of Sunny’s hands. The grin was back on his face, as his immense gratitude was obvious. After all, the bag was stuffed with important school stuff. Yet somehow, it had slipped off of his shoulder and onto the floor, presumably while the three of them were deeply immersed into the plot of the comic book. Just as Captain Spaceboy stated he would be....deeply immersed in Uranus.

Mari led the way as the trio walked in a line, away from the doors of the store, and further down the sidewalk. Somehow, this reminded Kel of something.....eh, must have been a game of "follow the leader" from when they were all younger.

And happier.

Were they, really

"You know, Kel," Mari finally spoke, again, breaking this silence, "ever since I went to college, I....let's just say I couldn't keep up with everything that's happened. With all....five of us."

"Huh? But why?" Kel frowned, walking behind Sunny so he wouldn't slow them down with his leg(well, they were already going slowly enough, with Mari's knee and all). It seemed to be hurting a lot worse.... "Like, you came back yesterday because of a break or something, didn't that happen before too?"

If Mari had been there - which she probably was - then the whole issue with Aubrey and Basil would have been resolved! Right? Right??

"No," Sunny said shortly, then immediately going silent as she stared elsewhere, stopping her walking.

"What she said," Mari sighed, also stopping. Luckily, nobody else was on this path, so they weren't blocking anybody. "I stayed behind in college for....extra classes over the last two summers."

"You could do that?" Kel nearly yelled, jaw dropping in astonishment. What else could he feel about this? Also what kind of person would voluntarily stay at school during a long break? At least that explained why those calls from Mari which his mother talked about only occurred around the spring break, Thanksgiving, or even winter break. Never the summer, really. Actually, there was this one call during the summer, maybe Mari had little breaks in between—

"...yeah," Mari still looked subdued, clutching at her arm. "I'm—"

Kel still didn't know how to react to this, aside from changing the subject. Which he promptly did.

"Hey, do any of you guys remember the way to Basil’s house?" He rubbed at the back of his head awkwardly, ignoring Sunny’s piercing glare.

"Huh?" The purple-haired girl was taken aback by this sudden interruption. "O-Oh!" She gave him a small smile. "I remember! What about you, Sunny?"

As a result, Mari was the next victim of Sunny’s glare. "Why are we visiting him?"

"Why not?" A look of confusion was on Mari’s face. "If this is about him pushing Kel in....the lake, then—"

"—he was horrible to Aubrey for years," scoffed Sunny. "Just because she took something of his."

"Took...what?" Mari asked, progressively sounding more and more apprehensive.

"The album," Kel found himself saying, and judging by Mari's expression, she knew what he was talking about.

"Why didn't you..." started Mari, then she looked down at the ground, "....never mind."

Why didn't you tell me all this earlier? Despite the question being most unspoken, it still made a wave of guilt wash over him. He shouldn't be feeling this way, Mari had only said this to Sunny. Imagine how Sunny felt!

"..." Sunny’s mouth pursed up in a thin line as she stared off to the side. "...didn't Mom ask you to buy some more bread?"

"I-It's alright, that can wait," huffed Mari again, running her hand through her purple hair. "We'll just quickly head over to Basil’s house and....if he's not there then....I guess we'll go someplace else and I'll go buy stuff for Mom."

A feeling of dread, that was nearly nauseating, rose in his stomach, and Kel hoped against hope that the jacket around his waist wasn't tied too tightly. If so, then he'd have to tie it again, but loosely, even then, thanks to his own incompetence, the jacket would be more likely to fall. Kel would lose it, both his sanity and the jacket. Sunny couldn't pick it up for him all the time, he knew that all too well....though she only did it only once today because the jacket only fell once.

Yet still, for some reason, the pang of guilt joined the dread - oh, and don't forget the pain in his leg - to screw him over in this moment. All he could do was gulp down the bile and stare on ahead, even with that overwhelming feeling of impending doom. For about the second time since the three of them had left the shop - it was...Hobbeez, right? - Kel was grateful for being behind Mari and Sunny. He'd definitely slow them down.

Or maybe they'd slow down anyways....if they were waiting for him, that was.

Kel sincerely hoped not. He was supposed to support his friends, not literally drag them down like this.

"He's where???" gasped Kel, an eyebrow raised and his mouth agape. He felt his blood rushing through his ears as his heart beat faster.

Rubbing at her nose and slightly messing up her neat brown bangs in the process, the caretaker huffed, "Oh, sorry. I meant...he was visiting his grandma in the hospital. He's alright!" There was a sad smile on her face, which immediately fell. For obvious reasons.

"Oh!" Mari said. Then her expression lit up, not in a positive way, rather a more concerned way. "What happened to her?"

The other woman fiddled with her yellow skirt, then adjusted a loose sleeve before finally looking Mari in the eye again, as if she were summoning all her strength to perform some final attack or something. Though...it was literally just explaining what happened to Basil’s grandma. Oh, wait, his.....

Polly's brief explanation to Mari went unheard by Kel, as relief overwhelmed him, nearly making him fall onto the ground and faint. That wasn’t the only reason he felt like that, he knew, with the lingering pain in his leg serving as a grim reminder of that, but it was just less impactful this very moment.

"What." Sunny’s voice snapped Kel out of it.

"Ghh—! What d'you mean, what?" Kel yelped, nearly disrupting Mari and Polly's rather loud exchange. The look of indignation on his face was replaced by something more apologetic as soon as he noticed Sunny's concern for him.

A mild blush spreading across his cheeks, he sheepishly rubbed at the back of his head. "Oh, whoops. Were you asking something?" Seriously, what could Sunny have to ask at a time like this - though it wasn't like Kel wasn’t up for helping her, or any of his friends for that matter.

Sunny signed something to him, not before giving him a blank yet knowing look. Somehow, Kel was able to concentrate on this while the two older people were chattering in the background, no doubt surrounding topics other than....Basil going to the hospital.

Though Kel had this feeling that talking about other things wouldn't resolve it really. Like, that was common sense!

Then what was that funny feeling he had again?

....he should really focus on Sunny and what she was saying right now.

"Uhhh, 'what's wrong?'" Kel watched as Sunny stared back at him and nodded. "Nothing! I just got a lil' shocked is all! I mean," he teased lightly, walking up closer to her and elbowing her gently, "don't tell me you didn't get even a little surprised when you thought—" he briefly paused, feeling something heavy somewhere in the jacket around his waist, "—Basil was in the hospital!"

"I didn't think that," scoffed Sunny with a slight frown.

Attempting to subtly check his pockets without Sunny seeing(and without looking like a complete idiot), Kel let out a small gasp as he felt something hard and possibly metal against his fingertips. Whatever that was.....was actually Basil’s gardening shears?!

How on earth did they manage to stay on him this whole time? Having underestimated the shear(possible pun intended) power of his pockets in the past, - well, to be fair he had lost a lot of things thanks to them, including a couple of pencils - Kel now felt some shame.

....though there was no reason to feel glad that he still had the very weapon Basil would have used to pose a very possible threat to....pretty much anyone who would have backed him into a corner. Or anyone who so much as stared at him.

Kel didn’t know anymore.

And once again, he did NOT like it.

"Wha- haha?" He stupidly chuckled - no, a more like he made some random sound, his mouth awkwardly hinged open.

Sunny narrowed her eyes at him, then instinctively reached into her pocket for something.....which wasn't there, judging by how her eyebrows raised. What she did end up pulling out was her signature pencil, that she'd used to tuck behind her ear around....a day or two ago?

Well, of course she'd rather not keep it there while running outside! She'd lose it like Kel’s jacket pockets would make him lose his pencils and erasers in the past.

"He's changed. . .those plants are the only thing he. . ." Polly's voice, laced with concern, fell upon his ears.

What she and Mari were chatting about....was more than plain and simple gossip. In fact, the conversation was far from that, from what Kel gathered.

Exactly, he knew what they were talking abou—

No, Kel, you're eavesdropping! You're not talking to them, you're supposed to be talking to Sunny and minding your own business right now, stupid.

His nails dug into his palms, his fingers nearly wrapping themselves around the blade of the shears, and—

Back into Sunny’s skirt pocket returned the pencil, before she just stared at him with her neutral expression, the only thing on her face moving being the strands of black hair. Blushing to the roots of his hair, a cringing Kel - after pulling his hand out of his jacket pocket in a flash - tried to casually brush down on his jacket that was around his waist, and scratched at the back of his hair.

"Uhh— sorry that I was...being weird earlier. But..." he felt that his eyes were very noticeably lighting up as he finally remembered what the topic earlier was, "..come on, admit it. You thought he was in the hospital, didn't you?"

He shimmied - at least he tried to, without limping, though he knew he wouldn't be able to hide this from the observant eye of Sunny - his way up to his friend, and the friendly smack he gave her on the back luckily didn't send her into a coughing fit. Unlike the one Kel had done to Mincy before.

Though it did result in having a borderline glare sent his way. "Quiet. I....wasn't. Wasn’t," her eyelashes fluttered as her eyelids lowered, "worried about him. Or anything."

With such heaviness, this was said, so much that Kel couldn't even find it in himself anymore to tease her lightly about this anymore. That she was worried for Basil, was obvious!

No, seriously! Very vividly, as clear as day, Kel remembered how Basil and Sunny were practically glued to the hip back in the day, so similar they were. There was no way all of that could just...vanish! Just like that....

....well, it was still possible, he thought, remembering the unfortunate events of the past few days.

Something that was quite unusual for him to do, Kel chose to keep quiet after Sunny’s resentful reply just now.

"Hey, wait a second," he suddenly said, feeling like a lightbulb had instantly switched on in his head. "Maybe we could go visit....Aubrey instead?"

Oh gosh, he hoped Sunny hadn't noticed his slight hesitation while saying this.

Sunny’s shoulders quickly hitched up a bit at the mention, though she kept her gaze averted from him. "Her...? ....yeah. Don't leave Mari behind." Her cheeks blushed rose red.

Roses....

". . .guess I'll be seeing you after some time!" From what Kel could see from behind her, as his heart nearly jumped up his throat at the sudden sound of her voice, was Mari tucking a hair behind her ear. Oh, she must be sweetly smiling in that very Mari way of hers.

No, it wasn’t her trademark smug grin. Just that really nice smile, so full of warmth, that she'd use on people while encouraging them.

The sound of a door, gently yet firmly shutting, was followed by a beaming Mari coming up to both of them.

Patting Sunny’s shoulder lightly, she glanced from her younger sister's cliff face to Kel. "So....where to now?"

Wait....Basil was in the hospital, wasn't he? And so was his grandma.

Only once, or maybe twice - no, actually a few times, had Kel seen Basil’s grandma. She was really nice....despite her dry, sarcastic sense of humor. In fact, it did make her a lot cooler. Especially since she took care of her grandson while his parents were who-knows-where.

So yeah, maybe....just maybe the three of them could visit her? But would they even be allowed there?

Basil hated them, mostly Kel himself, actually. 

Might as well just go with what he himself had said earlier.

"H-Hey, what about we go to..." Kel paused, catching himself just in case he'd say anything completely wrong or insensitive by accident, "...uhhh," he stared at Sunny, one hand scratching at the back of his ear. After getting a nod from the girl, Kel continued speaking to Mari, with a significantly brighter expression, "Yeah, is it okay if we went to go check on Aubrey?"

"Huh? Where could she be?" Mari put a finger to her chin lightly and faced the side. Then her hand dropped to her side as her expression suddenly turned smug.

Oh no. Not again.

"You're worried about her? Wow geez, who possessed you? Sunny?" She joked, then chuckled. "Because I remember you shouting at Aubrey for something like it was yesterday!"

"No I don't! I don’t shout at her like that!" Kel did the very thing he just said he hadn't done, his screwed-up face flushed and hands balled into fists at his sides. Sheesh, he was acting childish again, was he? Still fuming, he asked in confusion, "And what do you mean about Sunny possessing m—"

"—that's not your business," Sunny cut in, nearly making Kel jump because of her sudden close proximity right next to him. Though in terms of height, she did only come up to his shoulders. Nah, he should give her more credit, because more accurately, she was only a little less than a head shorter than him.

Heh. Still a lot shorter compared to him.

Despite not looking at Kel - nor Mari, well, at least not directly - it was obvious that the shorter girl was pretty embarrassed. Her nearly glowing red ears was proof of that, as well as her twirling a short lock of black hair around her fingers.

"J-Just don't ask about it." Just like that, she firmly shut down the discussion, though that didn't entirely stop Mari from laughing - and she never even bothered to hide it. "...let's go. Now."

Still, Kel couldn't understand what was seemingly an inside joke, though he mulled over it after he gave Sunny a friendly pat on the shoulder, letting her lead in the front. Though they were nearly next to each other, Mari was also walking right in front of him(the reason for that being his leg, of course, but not that her knee was any better) - but behind Sunny, of course!

So, Mari had joked about Sunny possessing him after he'd...apparently expressed his concern for Aubrey? No, he'd literally just asked whether they could go over to her house to check on her - oh wait, that was practically the same thing.

Not that he wasn't worried at all about the girl with the bow. As usual, something was off.

Anyways, what was that about Mari embarrassing Sunny just now, in their typical sibling fashion? Something about Aubrey, something that was most likely a lot less serious topic—

—oh.

He was so dense, this being something he'd always known from random lighthearted(and sometimes not so lighthearted) comments from a few classmates, and Aubrey herself. Well, back when they were all together.

Sunny, he deduced, has the same feelings for Aubrey like Hero and Mari did with each other? Like Kel totally has for Ba— wow, that actually made sense now that he took the time to think about it.

Like that one really cute looking letter he'd found in a random drawer in Sunny’s house - was it still there? Kel wondered - sealed with a heart-shaped sticker. When he'd read the name on it to whom it was addressed, he had hardly gone past the letter "A" before a silently furious, flustered Sunny had snatched the letter out of his loose fingers.

That piercing look Sunny had given him ensured that his lips wouldn't have been as loose as his grip on the letter back then.

....and "A" stood for "Aubrey"....he really was stupid sometimes, wasn't he? It was sort of funny, actually. With this silly little incident as an example, in the very least.

Memories of the day before yesterday - or was it? - came flooding back.

Oh. He'd lightly teased Sunny about Aubrey that time. Yet it wasn't in a "haha, gotcha!" way, more like something super random.

Heck, he hadn't even known it was true. That Sunny had a thing for her.

They were nearing the edge of the sidewalk, making Kel nearly lose his breath at the sight. Though the edge wasn't that "tall" or anything - like, literally a centimeter tall - he still would've felt the same way towards a cliff, with jagged, deadly rocks at the bottom.

Then....Sunny sharply took a turn to the left. Guess Kel had really forgotten where Aubrey’s house was, all this time.

Had he even known in the first place?

He sharply sucked his breath in as he narrowed his eyes, temporarily staring down at his feet as the two sisters ahead of him walked forward. What was up with his leg? It shouldn't be hurting that badly, especially since he'd fallen in....worse ways before(Kel couldn't help but flinch while thinking about those past, yet somewhat funny, experiences).

"Guys!" He finally summoned the strength to stand a little bit straighter, hands on his knees, to holler at the two who were ahead of him. Unfortunately, other people stared at him, wide-eyed, before turning back away and speeding up their walking, as if they were evacuating a building that was on fire. Well, almost all of them were doing that. "G-Guys! Wait up!"

"There’s no rush!"

"...."

Once he reached the two who were waiting for him, Mari eyed him with concern, more of it than she'd usually have, for some reason(or maybe it was just the intense lighting from the sky just exagerrating everything, who knew). Kel wanted to look away from Sunny’s face, quite the concerned expression. Scratch that, she looked super worried, her mouth in a tense line and her eyes narrowed.

"Was it your leg?" she asked bluntly, taking a step towards him again. Out of instinct, Kel stepped back. Again.

Cornering him at the dock, was his old friend. The water was awfully close....

...without him noticing, Kel’s breath started to quicken as he clutched at his arm, nearly stabbing through to his skin, with his nails. And again, the pain in his leg nearly took his breath away, as if the injury was fresh.

Count from one to. . .

. . .focus on your. . .

Slowly, his chest rose and fell, as he just stared down at nothing with seemingly empty eyes, stray brown hair draped past his ears. Weakly, he then tilted his head so he would be able to get a better look at Sunny, clearly and very obviously the more concerned-looking one.

Though by the time Kel came to, the other two were just looking at him like he'd just downed a trillion containers of Orange Joe. And he probably would have done that....had he been in the mood, of course.

The concern on Mari’s face grew more intense, and she stood up a little straighter when Kel did - or tried to.

"That fall must have been pretty bad, huh?" remarked Mari softly, trying to help him up.

As he lightly brushed her arm off, Kel stared at her with wide eyes. She....she knew?

Oh. He'd nearly fallen over just now, hadn’t he? That's what she was asking him about. Not about him nearly falling down the stairs, of course, because Sunny definitely did not know that.

And Sunny had obviously told her - and when she'd informed her, he both didn't know and probably didn't want to - about Kel nearly collapsing onto the ground when she'd first seen him today on the sidewalk.

Not wanting to seem suspicious, Kel grinned widely at her with a thumbs-up. "No! I-It wasn’t! I mean, it didn't hurt! We could go, so don't worry about me."

His voice nearly broke at the last part, making him flinch and wince internally, like he'd just heard nails scratching a chalkboard. Or even worse, nails scratching across a paper. Much more painful, and the highest form of torture to his ears.

Sunny huffed and tilted her head slightly. "Okay, then." And whipped around to continue right on ahead, though her speed this time was a little slower.

Mentally thanking Sunny, both for that and for putting an end to the discussion, Kel awkwardly looked over at Mari, who hadn't resumed walking yet, and gave her an exaggerated shrug with a sheepish grin. Mari giggled in response, a hand to her mouth, though the worry didn't quite leave her eyes, with how her stare lingered on Kel’s face for a second longer before she finally turned away.

The weird, concerning feeling in his gut had long since gone away, yet some uneasiness still stayed. Perhaps his not knowing about Aubrey’s....home situation played a role in that. A pretty big role.

"Fear of the unknown," huh?

He shook his head with a scowl. Nope, not getting all poetic today.

First, they all needed to check on Aubrey. To see if she was okay and stuff, of course, not whether she spilled the beans about—

What was that even about? Ugh.

"So is Aubrey’s house....just down here?" Kel felt like he was flailing about helplessly with how he was poorly attempting to change the subject to something lighter. He could have talked about anything else, like the comic the three of them had read earlier.

Even something about that really out of context line Captain Spaceboy had said, in that page Kel had opened to by accident back in Hobbeez. Though Sunny would probably roll her eyes at that, or look disinterested with the goofy randomness. Or she would, who knows.

Or maybe she'd tell him to focus on the lore more. Sunny had always been a little plot-crazy like that, but not in that annoying judgy way. Unless Kel was thinking that way only because he was - no, is - her friend.

As some cars passed them by, the tires screeching against the asphalt, Kel let his mind wander. Hopefully, Basil hadn't lied to Polly and gone to get the album himself. There must have been a reason Aubrey took it, right?

Also, that could lead to something super bad. Like last time.

Especially if he saw—

there were deep indents, suspiciously shaped like scratches, across the polaroids, where every word was painstakingly written in black pen. Speaking of the pen, he grabbed the closest thing he could find an—

Her pale empty face stared at him with such disbelief

"H-Hey, guys!" called Kel after Mari and Sunny, having to awkwardly and quickly limp over to them(while attempting to hide it).

The two didn't turn around, though he knew they still heard him.

"I...don't really think Aubrey’s at her house, to tell the truth...." Kel voice nearly went silent towards the end, then he lit up with an idea(lightbulb moment!), pumping his fists in victory, "but, I've got an idea where really might be, though! You guys have just gotta trust me on this!"

Raising an eyebrow at Kel’s sudden but not surprising burst of optimism, Sunny turned to him. "What makes you think that. We haven't seen Aubrey at all, all day, Kel."

"She could have been hiding though!" Mari piped up, and Kel was somewhat inclined to agree with her, though his hunch was much stronger. In his own, totally humble opinion.

Sunny mumbled, "She was...okay at hide-and-seek when we were little, I guess."

"Hey, I was better!" was what Kel strongly felt like retorting, but he just bit his lip and steadily inhaled. Then exhaled. There was a time and a place for focusing on the little stuff. Huh. It was strange being so rational, so maybe it was just the stress affecting him.

Wait, what stress?

And he was stressing over what, exactly?

Oh well, if only he'd always been this rational.

What he really ended up saying, his arms folded across his chest, was, "So what I was thinking was....maybe she's in the secret hangout spot? She was there last time, so....yeah?"

At the mention of the hangout spot, the atmosphere around the three suddenly went cold. Whether it was because a cloud covered the sun that very instant, or because Kel brought up that spot, was unknown.

Oh.

A shiver went through him as his eyes went wide. The place where he'd almost....almost—

His shoulders trembled, his hands in shaky fists. Only until someone spoke did he look up.

"We don't have to go if you don't want to," Mari said gravely, and her very serious expression made something in Kel’s stomach drop to his feet. "Or if you can't." Her mouth tightened.

"I can! I swear," Kel sighed, taking a deep breath before continuing. "Let's just...go there. Not many people are at their houses anyway around now...right?"

At a nod from Mari, they all headed towards the hangout spot, wherever that was. Alright, but Kel still remembered the spot.

Some feeling built up and painfully gnawed at him as he dragged his feet along. Why wasn't he leading them? He had suggested the idea in the first place, hadn’t he? Did they all even remember where the spot was located—

—he gave his wrist a quick pinch, taking in a sharp breath at the same time. Nobody saw him wince of course, being at the back of this three-person line.

What was he thinking? Of course the two knew where the spot was! How else were they able to come and save him?

Why, just why was he feeling angry at them, of all the people in the world....even when the two were the very reason he was still walking with them right this very minute?

He hated that. So, so much. It took all his effort to not slap himself out of....was this some visceral feeling of cringe? Shame? But...he was thankful to them for saving him, right?

Of course, Kel was. Though...did they really have to go through that extra trouble to walk all the way there, and for Mari to dive in - with her knee, too! And what if she had drowned, like Sunny almost had when—

Kel gulped, at the mere memory of how stressed and scared he - and Hero, though he wouldn't have shown it - was, back then. Those sensations had hit him hard right after he'd felt nonchalant about Sunny sinking beneath the clear water, when he realized his friend hadn't resurfaced to breathe yet.

And now, at the thought of it, his heart beat much faster. The lake, he knew, was pretty deep.....and Sunny had almost died there, and so had Kel himself....

A harsher gust of wind blew by, shaking some trees on the sidewalk opposite his. Strangely, the sound was calming and scratched an itch in his brain, as he slowed his breath. Only the distant sounds of the kids and other teens over at the plaza filled the air, besides the three's footsteps and the wind.

.....

Something hit Kel, hard. 

"AAAAAAAHHH!" yelped the scared boy, his heart jumping to his throat. He clutched at something next to him. "W-WHAT THE F— I mean, w-what the hell was that?!"

His eyes darted everywhere in his sudden frenzy of fear, until they rested upon a large, green leaf slowly swaying and falling to the pavement. The way it landed with a light thump made his heart do so, too.

....guess that was what hit him.

"Aww, Kel you silly!" Someone's hand was in his hair, shaking it up. "Did you think that leaf was a bird or something?"

Her younger sister just stood there, side-eyeing the two of them. Then she rolled her eyes so much that they nearly fell out of her sockets. Okay, not really because that would be concerning.

Kel loosened his grip, and in confusion, he quickly looked down to see that he had been desperately clinging onto Mari’s arm for dear life. Then he quickly moved backwards, face red.

"Sorry about that! G-Geez, did I hurt your arm...?" Kel looked at Mari's elbow in concern, though there were no marks or anything to indicate that he'd held onto her tightly enough to hurt her.

"No! But you didn't answer my question!" Mari responded with a wide smug(oh no) grin stretching her face, making it more lively and also like her younger self(that Kel, to his shame, was more used to). "Heh. Don't avoid it~"

"I-I....dunno," he huffed, then his face turned into a color shade that would have made Sunny’s vibrant hairclip jealous(if you remembered its color, this would be more understandable). "It's just— something that humongous," he pointed accusingly at the large leaf on the ground next to him, "would surprise anyone anyways...."

"Can we go?" Sunny deadpanned, and the two jumped and looked at her.

"Yeah!" Both Mari and Kel said at the same time, then promptly followed Sunny.

Along the way, Mari did end up asking a bit more about the photo album. Most of it was just concerned questions rather than angry demands to know what really happened, luckily.

As quickly as he could, Kel limped between the trees, nearly tripping over something again. Those darn tree roots....he'd really taken his legs for granted, hadn’t he?

Just the previous day, Kel had been able to sprint like it was nothing, through this thin forest-like area to get to Aubrey and Basil.

Now....what if he wasn't fast enough and—

Stubbornly, he kept his eyes on what was in front of him, still being cautious of where his legs were going. If he didn't count the time when he tripped over a random thin stick that was lying on the ground.

Hero wouldn't have let such things bother him....even if all his bones were broken.

Would he have....?

Come on Kel, don't think about the past right now.

Huffing and puffing, Kel emerged on the other side of all those trees after what seemed to be a few minutes. Anything could have happened in a few minutes, even a few seconds. Though...he didn't hear any sounds or the screams of a fight, like he did yesterday.

No, what he heard now, near the lake, was a far softer sound. Or sounds. Sounds that pierced through Kel's heart and made him want to disintegrate, then sink into the floor.

Standing almost at the edge of the dock was Basil. He appeared to be still, though the sounds escaping him proved otherwise.

Sobs. Only then did Kel notice, even from the distance, how the other boy's shoulders shook, ever so slightly.

Basil was....at the edge of the dock. Why? Why was he there at all?! He could easily fall in, and....

....Not wanting to even think about it, he ran past Mari and Sunny(whom he hadn't seen standing there and about to approach Basil), not caring about his leg.

Until, that was, when he skidded to an abrupt stop, right behind Basil so as not to accidentally knock him over and into the water(though that would definitely have been some sick kind of revenge...). As he stopped, he naturally hunched over, feeling the pain come rushing back and nearly take his breath away again.

His loud, ragged breathing - whether it was for the better or for the worse, as he was just about to find out - caused the boy in front of him to immediately turn around. Thanks to that, Basil’s tear-stained face was exposed to Kel, and by extension, Mari and Sunny who were currently far behind them.

"You....?" started the sniffling Basil, taking a step backwards, away from his taller friend. His own breathing was rough as well, in small gasps, and his light eyes were glazed over.

"Yeah, i-it's me," said Kel, taking a slow step forward. "It's.....Kel."

Another step backwards by the boy in front of him. Mouth trembling, with tears threatening to bubble out of his eyes, Basil could only let out a small, pitiful whimper.

Only then did Kel realize he was taking steps towards the edge of the dock. Wait.....

Panic rose in his chest, more than it already had. His hair stuck to his face, his cheeks especially, due to the sweat. The sound of paper and cloth falling on grass filled his ears, but he didn't quite fully register dropping his bag.

Was Basil doing this....endangering himself....on purpose?

Perhaps it was for the better that Kel had "confiscated" Basil's shears, in some way. They hung heavy in his pocket still, serving as a grim reminder of that day.

He could hear scared cries coming from behind him.

And a lot harder did his heart thump under that added stress.

No way in hell was Kel going to let him d—

Despite not being right at the edge of the dock, Basil took another step which sent him toppling. Backwards. Because it was close enough.

No!

And just in time, Kel sprang into action, leaning then reaching forward and gripping Basil by the shoulders.

At least he tried to, when one of his hands nearly lost its grip on the terrified Basil, slipping to grip his sleeve instead and nearly tearing his shirt instead.

His other hand still clung tightly onto Basil’s other shoulder, and if it did hurt him, Kel couldn't see that, thanks to Basil’s expression only being of extreme shock. Maybe his surprise was the only thing keeping him from feeling the pain.

He...hadn't expected Kel to stop him like this, had he?

Adrenaline coursing through his veins, Kel groaned as he used practically all his strength to tug Basil by the shoulders, away from the edge. He couldn't tell that Basil’s legs went limp until the boy was practically falling against him, his blue eyes blank and his face still stained with dried tears.

All Kel could do to support him was hold him up by the arm.

How he'd even managed to lead Basil away from the dock, he didn't remember with his memories of that not being as clear. His tension-addled brain at the time wouldn't allow it, his primary concern being that Basil should be safe, and preferably far away from any place that was near the lake. The dock included.

Mari approached them out of concern that was clearly displayed on her face, - perhaps she wanted to help? - though he ended up unintentionally ignoring her. His ears barely registered a yelp, presumably from Mari. He shouldn't have left the bag carelessly on the ground - though he had dropped it out of fear, in his defense. Still, it was pretty easy for anyone to trip over it.

Basil had regained the use of his legs after some time, weakly flailing out his arms to push Kel away. Staggering backwards, he just stood there wide-eyed, staring at a specific spot on the ground and taking in shaky breaths.

Birds were chirping and the wind was blowing through the trees, making a fine peaceful atmosphere.

No, it was supposed to. That's....almost funny. In a sick sort of way.

No, more like ironic.

Kel was unaware of his own hyperventilating until he seemed to be hearing everything again - it all seemed blocked out from when he was pulling Basil away from there - and just awkwardly stood there while trying to catch his breath. Oh, he could see that Sunny and Mari were right there, still.

The latter being closer to Basil now, she tried to say something.

Meanwhile, her younger sister stood rigid, next to Kel. Turning his head at a sudden intake of breath, he noticed how Sunny stared, silently fuming, at the shaking Basil.

"Why....." Sunny whispered, and if it were a little less silent in the area then they all wouldn't have heard her, "....y-you...."

The trembling in her voice, as Kel immediately found out, wasn't due to fear or anything like that.

To see such a usually unexpressive person like Sunny display anger was quite the scary sight, though not an unfamiliar one.

Despite not necessarily seeming like a very....emotional type of person, Sunny had always been...somewhat easily pissed off whenever, say, a random bug would fly in her face.

Or she would flush slightly pink and mutter to herself after Kel would say something goofy. Or goofily stupid. Or she'd visibly seethe and go really quiet, more than she'd usually be. Especially when Basil would make knowing looks towards her whenever Aubrey would have clung onto Sunny while reading....Sweetheart comics. One of the rarer times Basil’s light teasing side would let itself show - though it was soft unlike Aubrey’s harsher insults and jabs(seriously, how had she even come up with those in the first place???).

Yes, Kel could say that, after having been friends with(and still being friends with, of course) the shorter girl for ages.

As he could see now, her teeth and her fists being tightly clenched as her eye twitched, appearing red(—was it from crying, or.....maybe she was about to....?—). That familiar emotion came out at present, but changed with age and the seriousness of the situation(obviously).

"Sunny...." he found himself quietly - as possible - calling out to the girl, who was swiftly and silently walking towards the blond boy. And her sister as well, by extension, who moved a little in front of Basil.

Trying to follow what was happening, Kel ran up to the three, and stood near Sunny.

Just in case.....

Just in case....he needed to restrain anyone. Or talk anyone down from doing anything stupid.

"Basil," Sunny’s voice continued to tremble, as she stood right in front of the slightly taller boy, her front hair falling over her eyes to create a shadow. "Y-You...." she repeated, continuing to stare down at the ground with wide eyes.

Basil stared at her...or at least that was what it seemed to be true. No, Kel saw how his eyes darted around from up close.

He was looking everywhere on Sunny’s head except her eyes.

And...Kel couldn't blame him.

The sunlight forced every part of the anguish on Sunny's face to be visible.

When she opened her mouth again—

"You're.....so...fucking stupid!"

Her voice cracked slightly, because it was much louder than it was used to. Almost in a flash, she looked up with a face that Kel desperately wished he could just forget, and after that her hand shot upwards, towards Basil, as if to grab him by the collar.

"SUNNY NO!" screamed Mari, her voice also breaking and nearly piercing Kel's ears.

Even a split second before Mari just yelled at her, the shorter girl had already restrained herself, her arm dropping down. The look on her face the next time she glanced at Mari was understandable actually, Kel also seriously hating it whenever someone would tell him to do something he was already doing. Or going to do - but that would have been hell to explain.

At Sunny's expression and Basil's apparent nonchalance(at being nearly attacked, of all things), Mari tiredly placed one hand on her hip and wiped across her forehead with the back of the other. Some shorter hairs stuck to her skin, and Kel was able to tell that she was sweating profusely.

Oh, and he was, too, he realized, straightening up in his shock at the sudden feeling of a strand of hair a little in front of his ear. Yikes....it felt super slimy. Cold and wet, as well. His nose wrinkled as he adjusted his hair slightly(basically just keeping some of it off of his neck...eughhh).

"Don't do that." Sunny said flatly, her voice steady. Though it didn't stop unnerving Kel. "Don't do what I— d-don't even try that. Ever again."

"I-I'm—" Basil's eyes widened again as he gasped, turning away from her, then he covered the lower half of his face with a shaky hand, "—I'm....sorry...Sunny."

Despite having actually interacted with Basil for only a few days after all those years, Kel felt his heart give him a jolt at Basil using that familiar nickname instead of her more formal name. However, he couldn't bring himself to smile at this right now of course.

"....sorry?" Sunny questioned, seeming more disappointed than surprised. Fortunately, she stood back, not threatening her former friend very much. "You're saying that like it so—"

"—guys! Let's first uh....get out of here!" Kel interrupted, standing closer to Sunny to calm her down....in some way. In hindsight, yelling that they all needed to get out of here was far from effective for making her chill out.

His own feelings towards Basil’s quiet apology could be dealt with....later, maybe.

Mari closed her mouth and stared at Kel cluelessly.

Wait, so she had also been about to say what he said just now.

Oops. Awkward.

She calmly put a long, stray purple strand of hair behind her ear, before clearing her throat. 

"Yeah, Kel, you're right!" Her smile wasn't even that bright or joyful, yet it still seemed heavily inappropriate for this occasion. Standing closer to Basil, she continued, "We'll talk about this later and....somewhere else, okay?"

At least her voice was a lot more reassuring than her expression was.

Basil’s breathing was getting ragged and noisy again....

....Kel felt himself shudder, somehow overwhelmed by this. Though he wasn't the one crying here.

No, he wasn't the one who had almost tried to—

His heartbeat sped up at the thought, and he warily eyed Basil as the four of them headed out of the secret hangout spot.

"W-Where are we going?" Basil sounded unusually subdued, his head down as he continued to stare at the pavement below.

Kel's bag was back around his shoulder, and luckily nothing had fallen out of it when he'd dropped it on the grass.

Catching Sunny giving the blond boy a quick side-eye, Kel hesitated before saying, "I....guess we're taking you home! To....Polly, was that her name?" he wore a soft smile while looking at him, and all of a sudden Basil unexpectedly raised his head, his mouth a little open in mild surprise. The moment his eyes, with unusually dark and heavy bags under them, met Kel's, the other boy stiffened up, his cheeks turning the color of a garden rose. Kel felt his shoulders stiffen up as his heart beat a little faster, before his own face also turned red and he awkwardly smiled again to the side.

"Yeah. T-That's her. I m-mean, her name," replied Basil, raising his hand to adjust some blond hair which had been swept away a little by the light breeze. Bright sunlight continued to illuminate the blush on his face, and he stopped talking once more after taking an uncomfortable-looking gulp.

Once he'd realized he was staring at Kel for way too long, he turned a brighter shade of pink and immediately stared at the ground again. Meanwhile, Kel found himself thoughtfully gazing at Basil for a little longer - ignoring the scoff from Sunny next to him - and then averted his eyes from him, not feeling very flustered anymore. Discreetly, he rubbed at his aching leg, flinching and feeling lucky as a result that nobody was really looking at him at the moment.

Perhaps this was a good thing, as the sight of those dried tear stains of Basil's were starting to stir something in Kel's gut.

Though the sky - well, clouds, actually - wasn't turning orange(Kel's favorite, so he was somewhat excited for it to be honest)....or pink yet, the overall sudden coolness reminded him of evening. Or dusk, whatever it was called.

Mari's slight pout, as seen from her place next to Basil, caused him to nearly jump back, and he possibly - and accidentally of course - could have pushed poor Sunny onto the - thankfully inactive - road in his hypothetical overreaction. It was good that the face Mari was making at him wasn't out of malice, but out of.....

....concern?

Ugh, Kel was just not having this again. But the older girl hadn't talked at all so far this whole time, on the walk to Basil's house. What she probably needed right now was some reassurance.

Mari didn't need reassurance, did she? Kel guessed - correctly or incorrectly, he didn't know, though he suspected the former - that she thought he was the one needing a pep talk. Well, nuh-uh! Kel was the one who gave pep talks!

"....Kel," his thoughts were interrupted by a voice that sounded closer than it actually was. Glancing up at the girl across from him, Kel thought about how much Mari had to raise her voice just now.

In a pleasant way though, not like Kel's chaotic shouting. The strangely satisfying type that he'd hear in nature documentaries and other similar stuff.

"Kel?" repeated Mari, her hands behind her back as she leaned forward to see Kel across from Basil. "Oh, I thought I left you two behind on accident!" She chuckled.

He heard Sunny grumbling from his left.

"Oh, no, you didn't. Y-You're not mean like that!" Kel protested with a sheepish expression. His hand was raised automatically to rub at the back of his neck, until it made harsh contact with skin.

A sharp intake of breath from behind him made him quickly look around to see a scowling Sunny rubbing at a slightly reddened part of her cheek. Upon noticing Kel looking at her, she scowled lightly. And calmly, in the same way a certain fictional character shouted calmly.

"Hehe, I know, I know," laughed Mari again, then she side-eyed him. "Or am I?"

"She is," Sunny bluntly stated.

However, Kel could tell that she was being sarcastic.

"Sunny!" rebuked the purple-haired taller girl, leaning a little more forward to see her little sister clearly as well. Some of her long hair hung forward. "Anyways," she continued, after putting a fist to her mouth and clearing her throat, "we'll uh...drop you off after him, is that okay with you?"

"Him" was obviously referring to Basil. He heard someone suck in a sharp breath from next to him, speaking of the devil. Eh, he probably didn't want to see Polly after....whatever had just happened today.

Was Kel himself okay with it? Being dropped off at his house so soon, like a little kid. The sky wasn't even slightly dark yet.

And....he - and not even any of them, as far as he knew - hadn’t even seen Aubrey yet. They needed to get the photo album back from her and resolve this whole fiasco.

"Already?" he probably sounded confused - and he actually felt that way. "B-But we haven't even talked to Aubrey at all today!"

Instantly, he heard ragged breathing from next to him - Basil - and looking down, he found the boy tugging at a strand of hair on one side of his head. A fairly large drop of sweat ran down and past his ear, making some of his hair stick to his skin as he trembled.

Oh. Of course her name would cause him to react like this.

But Kel had to go on, because Mari also looked extremely confused, her eyebrow raised and her mouth open as if to ask him a question - or a lot of them.

"J-Just—" Kel's breath hitched as a gust of wind flew by - maybe some dust got stuck in his throat? Though....he didn't really feel the urge to cough. "The photo album."

Even if that was all he could manage to say, an understanding look appeared on Mari's face, followed by some mild confusion. Kel couldn't find the words for it, but just....the way Mari looked at him gave off confusion, as if she were questioning....why on earth would Aubrey have done that? Anyways, she obviously remembered that talk they had earlier about the whole thing. No other way she could have understood him....maybe.

Now, if Sunny had told her about it a lot earlier....no, Kel, don't go pinning it on your friends. This is just a misunderstanding! Just a misunderstanding, nothing else.

"She gave it," Basil blurted out, still keeping his head down, but from what Kel could see, he was screwing his eyes shut. "Before you guys...."

....found him at the secret hangout spot.

Really? Literally right then, the two had just reconciled?

Just because she gave it back doesn't necessarily mean—

"Really?!" Kel nearly shouted and stopped walking, - giving his leg much relief - his eyes widening at Basil incredulously. "That's awesome!"

Sunny wasn't uttering a single peep on the matter.

"....well that's surprising!" Mari's voice was as relieved as Kel's was - albeit more enthusiastic compared to hers - though it was still guarded and cautious as she stopped walking in her own shock. "I mean, uh, Kel, we could still do what you said! About visiting Aubrey? Maybe after we drop Basil off. It's been a....long day for all of us."

"For Basil especially" went unsaid.

A quiet scoff from next to him. "Really? Just that?"

Finally, Sunny had spoken.

"Eh? Oh, Sunny? What d'you mean?" Kel turned around, surprised to see that Sunny hadn't walked on ahead of the other three.

Her face was half covered by some strands of hair that had come loose from one of her pigtails. Both, actually.

"You know what I'm talking about," said Sunny. "Forget it. Let's just....go."

Only now did she walk ahead of the rest of them, making Kel go after her with an indignant, "HEY!"

"Not all of us are training for track-and-field, Sunny!" reminded Mari a little teasingly, - and if Kel listened closely, her voice was strained - from behind the two ahead.

"Hmph." The girl stopped going ahead so fast, with a slight flicker of apology in her expression, as Kel saw when he finally and slowly - gingerly - caught up to her.

"Sunny...." sighed Mari again, softly as if she wanted neither Kel nor Basil to hear, "we'll...talk about it later, alright?"

This last part was much softer, though Kel’s ears ended up catching what was said. At her tone, another fresh pang of negativity hit him in the heart, sending the feeling right down to his feet.

Poor Mari....she sounded so stressed - and probably was, too.

Poor, sweet, and caring Mari. Always making sure Kel and Sunny were okay and having fun, especially when making them read that Spaceboy comic. She knew they loved Captain Spaceboy - well, she did too, but other, more important things were probably on her mind too around then.

And—

"She missed Hero a lot. But also….it was like something was in her head….telling her to. . .that she wasn’t good enough.” 

N-No, how could he—

Well wait a second, hadn’t he forgot about something? Completely, one hundred percent, it had slipped his brain.

"Wait, Mari, how's that uhhh....wide regret orchid Sunny gave you coming along?"

Everyone nearly stopped.

"What?" Kel tilted his head and glanced around at his friends. He shrugged. "I dunno. Did I say anything wrong—"

"It's a white egret orchid. That's the name," came the answer from a certain unexpected someone. Basil raised his head, his blond hair still hanging loose. Only then did Kel realize that neither his beanie nor his flower clip was resting in his hair.

Almost as swiftly as he lifted his head, Basil put it down again, rendering himself silent once more.

Sunny huffed before saying, "That’s....right. I didn't give that though."

Scoffing in disbelief and folding his arms across his chest, Kel eyed her. "Yeah, sure. It totally looked like that weird bird shape or something!"

"Well, actually it's a lily of the valley, and it's beautiful," Mari finally said, with a charming smile that Kel wouldn't believe wasn’t the number one cause of cavities. "But hey, uh, Basil," no matter how composed she tried to be, she was always hesitant when addressing the shorter boy at present, "you really still have your flower facts all figured out, don't you?"

"N-Not just flowers," retorted Basil, still not keeping the edge out of his currently hoarse voice, "plants in general, too."

Sunny’s initial slight tug of her lips in a tiny smile was soon to be replaced by a frown. And who could blame her? Kel didn’t understand but....

...okay never mind, he somewhat - no, very much - did understand, actually.

Bored, he looked to his left, beyond Sunny. There was the junction of those two roads, so familiar.

Except....that silhouette-like figure - or was it a figure-like silhouette? - right in the middle of it.

Surprisingly not him. Someone shorter.

They faced away from him, until....

....that was when they noticed his petrified stare.

...she turned around—

Kel yelped as the wind blew yet another small yet annoying leaf in his face. Geez, his eyes were going to be damaged at this rate....

"Wait, what if we....looked at your photo album together some time?" Mari beamed around at everyone at this suggestion.

Unfortunately, everyone wore less than satisfied faces.

"Seriously?" Sunny hissed quietly - at least for anyone listening from an outside perspective.

"Already?" thought Kel, in reaction to Mari’s idea. Then he and Sunny exchanged looks, despite the former being the one who initially wanted all of them to get along.

Not this. Not being overly cautious and having all this happen so....slowly. Anyone would think that he'd have enthusiastically nodded his head to Mari’s quite inviting suggestion.

After sending Sunny an apologetic glance, which made the girl’s dark eyes widen as her eyebrow raised, Kel turned to Mari and remarked in a rather subdued voice, "Sure....why not?"

Then instantly, this terrible sensation of stress overwhelmed him, making him clutch at his arm with shame. Not shame for having just talked over Sunny and Basil, but....

....that feeling from earlier. Like he remembered something cringey he'd done in the past but....

Oh well. Must have been the thousands of photos he'd taken after he hogged Basil’s camera back then. Those were embarrassing. Sweet, but embarrassing, sort of like baby pictures.

"....maybe," was Basil’s reply.

Towards the end of the awkward silence that reigned over their moods, a familiar house caught Kel’s eye.

"We're here, Basil!" he said, beaming in Basil’s general direction. For some reason or the other, he couldn't look directly at him anymore.

Maybe the full gravity of the situation had finally hit him, and what could have happened had the three not intervened at the hangout spot. The person he wanted to look at now....could have died, deep under the lake's surface. With no one there to find or save him until it was too late.

His grin dimmed down a little.

Of course, before Mari could, Kel marched right up to the door(to the best of his ability) - leaving the others standing awkwardly in the front yard - and knocked on the door without hesitation. In an instant, the knob clicked then turned.

The door opened to reveal a stress-stricken, red-eyed Polly, wringing her hands after she let go of the doorknob. At least most of the stress was covered by a tight-lipped smile as soon as she laid eyes on Kel.

"Oh....you're the boy who came here earlier?" She asked politely, then she put a hand to her mouth and looked to the side to clear her throat. "Wha—"

Before her sentence finished, Kel stepped back, giving her a better view of the yard.

"B-Basil?" her hands finally relaxed as soon as her gaze fell upon him.

The instant relief on her face warmed Kel’s chest. Basil really was in good hands.

Mari came forward with her warm smile. Guess she was going to tell her the same thing she'd told Kel’s mother the other day. 

Oh shit....his mom must be super worried right now. Guess he'd prepare himself for a long lecture upon getting home.

But why would she tell Polly about it? It wasn't like Basil had.....fallen in today.

Basil’s tear-stained face, despite his eyes practically being empty, still haunted him. 

The look on his face after Kel had grabbed him, then dragged him away from the dock....

.....yeah, maybe it would make sense for Mari to tell Polly all about it.

To his left, Kel saw that Sunny was focusing intently upon the two who were talking. Her eyes had this really blank look. Yikes, she really was concentrating hard instead of hardly concentrating.

For a split second, her eyebrow twitched and her lip trembled slightly after Kel heard the words "Basil" and "look out for him" in the same sentence, then followed by a sharp exhale and calm words. He himself had tuned out most of their conversation, yet....

...even he couldn't resist flinching at the implications of those words. Or what had just happened to make Mari say that to Basil’s caretaker.

Only one thing he could do right now, amid these feelings of nagging, annoying guilt.

"Sunny?"

She sharply turned her head to him, and Kel saw her nearly jump a little, her eyelids fluttering shut, then open. Maybe she really was a little surprised.

"Hm?" She asked, playing with a pigtail, curling some of the hair around her finger then letting it go.

"Do you still know where Aubrey could be? I mean, she could be back....there again," he shuddered slightly at this last part, and hoped Sunny didn’t notice.

At his extremely worried look, Sunny sighed, closing her eyes. Then she looked to the side. "I don't know. But she's definitely not at her house."

"Why? We could still search there—"

Unfortunately, Kel’s well-meaning suggestion wasn't favored by Sunny. At all, it seemed, judging from her icy, direct gaze towards him.

"Do. Not. Don't ever go there," she said, her voice a little louder than usual. Then her look softened greatly, "Sorry. But don't. Just....don't."

"Oh...." Kel softly let out, probably appearing very down in the dumps right now. Then his eyes brightened up as he suddenly got a new idea. "Maybe she's at Gino's?"

Sunny tilted her head at him. "Remind me why you want to look for her again."

He didn't want to— wait, no! Kel wanted to! Of course he'd be concerned after one of his friends seemed to be completely wiped off from the face of the earth. Why did he have to keep convincing himself like this....?

"Because," gulped Kel, shifting his weight from one leg to another to relieve the pain, "my friend. Our friend."

Whether "our" also included Basil or not, he did know.

Shrugging at his answer, Sunny pursed her lips and went back to staring at the front door of Basil’s house. Only this time, Kel could tell, her eyes were staring into nothing.

Until he looked away from Sunny and at Basil(who was caught between the two chatterers), did he become aware of the shears in the jacket around his waist. It weighed heavily, well, that's what it seemed like now.

He should give it back— NOPE, he had seen with his own eyes what Basil had tried to do back there.

Both instances; the one where he'd barely grazed Sunny’s face with the shears a few days ago, and the other today.

.....

All he could do right now was wait for that very somber conversation happening in front of him to end.

Both Basil and his caretaker stood just within the front door, the latter waving at the three and the former simply staring straight at them.

Kel hated how piercing those blue eyes were.

"Bye! Uhh, Mari, was it?"

"Yep, that's me!"

"Bye Polly!" Kel swallowed his earlier fear and raised his hand as high as possible, waving it around wildly above his head. This was worth it, considering how Polly's slightly nervous expression broke into a warm smile. "See you later!!!"

Sunny waved too, but less wildly. Something Kel noticed was that Basil’s hand rose a little, giving a small wave towards his former best friend, before he dropped the hand with a scowl. Said former best friend's reaction to that was a harsh scoff.

The three didn't turn back around to walk away immediately, though they gave each other knowing looks, as if asking each other something. Some question they didn't know in the first place.

Kel, after giving Mari a questioning look, wondered whether Basil’s "hangout" with them had been cut too short. Though he had nearly......no, maybe an outing with his friends would make him feel a lot better!

Even if it wouldn't fix his problems outright.

But it was too late now. They had already dropped Basil over at his house.

That figure he'd seen at the junction....she was—

He froze as soon as cold, hard realization hit him, sending a chill through him.

Basil had visited the hospital....for his grandma....and right when he had come back he.....

He clutched at his stomach, fighting the urge to throw up and inconvenience everyone even further.

No wonder....maybe right the next day they'd go over to Basil’s house and check on him....

....but did he really want to do that, either?

He'd seen how Basil acted towards Aubrey the previous few days.

Could that....really just be fixed? Just like tha—

Footsteps - abruptly interrupting Kel’s thoughts - rang loud and rapidly against the pavement behind them.

With a start, he turned around only to hear that the footsteps had stopped, and Basil was bent over, trying to catch his breath with a pained expression. Looking to his right, Kel saw that Basil’s front door was closed.

Polly allowed Basil to go? Guess Mari hadn't really told the caretaker every little detail. Strange.

The boy then looked up, his gaze flickering from Sunny, to Mari, to Kel, then back at the ground as he finally stood up. His hair clung to the sides of his face more than ever today. Basil really needed to be in the shade.

Mari was the one who took one or two steps towards him, though she still kept her distance just in case Basil didn't even want that at all. "Hey, do you need anything? If you...forgot anything then—"

"P-Please," he wheezed, rubbing at his forehead, his gaze darting everywhere, "just, w-wait for me. Please...."

Only Kel and Sunny stood still, rooted to the ground in their collective shock.

This was seriously like a scene from a soap opera. Or a dramatic TV show, with lots of crying and laughter.

This couldn't be real. No way.

No way that Basil could have recovered from whatever that was earlier, and immediately wanted to do stuff with his old friend group again.

"We weren't planning on doing anything else today," Sunny spoke first of the two. She didn't look like she was totally against it, as long as they'd go search for Aubrey later.

"Uh— yeah Basil," Kel looked from Mari to Sunny. "You should really take some rest right now. I mean, today was a long day, and....it's not even evening yet, and yesterday was pretty stressful, too."

What was he saying? That little sliver of happiness - at Basil wanting to....hang out with them, he guessed? - that had seeped in, totally disagreed with that.

The unspoken question was...."Why? Just why? After everything"— well, maybe that was just Kel. Or Sunny, perhaps.

Either way, it was far from not being extremely awkward.

Basil stared into a space between Sunny and Kel, suddenly appearing serious and resolute.

"I....want to help....."

"I.....also want to look for Aubrey."

Turns out, Kel hadn’t really been that quiet when talking to Sunny a few minutes ago.

Chapter Text

Awkwardly waiting for Mari outside the bakery of the well-known "Bread Twins" wasn’t something the three younger ones expected to do today. Not able to bear the silence that Sunny and Basil so stubbornly maintained, Kel found himself pacing back and forth - over a short distance or else his legs would feel like exploding, his hands in his pockets.

Sunny leaned back against the wall, arms folded across her chest, her eyelids lowered as she stared down at the pavement, while Basil was slightly hunched over, clutching at his opposite arm and staring at the wall on the other side of the bakery door. People walking down the sidewalk - a large group of friends included - either absentmindedly shoved right past him or just stepped aside, giving him concerned or curious looks.

The wind - and the day's weather in general - grew cooler as time went on, seemingly quickly, though the warm and loud chatter of the customers or just visitors in general seemed to give off this warm, busy aura even when it was a little late in the day.

While he was putting on his jacket earlier, he probably thought he was super smooth and all(Sunny had narrowed her eyes at him a little bit then rolled them and looked away), shifting the shears so they wouldn't fall out and against the ground for everyone - including its original owner - to see.

Tightly holding onto the shears in one pocket, while leaving his other hand hanging out, Kel walked up to Basil. The poor guy looked super uncomfortable and out of place here.....and no doubt this was felt by him too.

Good

Nope nope nope, not thinking that—

"B-Basil? You doing good?" Kel started off awkwardly with a sheepish smile and a red face. He looked down at Basil’s face, searching for a hint that he was even listening. "Because your....I mean, uhh is your back okay from being bent over forward that much?"

Alarmed, Basil raised his head to look up at Kel, mouth agape.

Oh shoot. Wrong question. But it was true though....

Still a weird thing to ask. Not between close friends though.

They weren't close friends anymore, were they? Basil last words to him before pushing him in there came to mind.

What Basil was even growing in his garden was still unknown to Kel, and in fact, the only way he had figured out that the boy was still growing one was by overhearing what Polly had said to Mari. Right before they found Basil again at....

.....it had completely slipped his mind that all this happened today.

Again, - after backing up near the wall to let other people by easily, though he didn't dare go anywhere near Sunny - Basil lowered his head with what seemed to be a grimace, his hands beginning to clench into fists then releasing. "I-I'm good. You s-shouldn't be worried about it." His head raised, this time with a harsher look. "You aren't supposed to be."

Kel saw red, the frustration from this minor insult adding to the - currently minor - pain in his leg.

"Basil, we talked about this." At a small eyebrow raise from the other, Kel backtracked, "Okay, maybe not a lot, but still. I'm still your friend....I m-mean, I still want to be but not if you're acting like this. Especially towards...." His voice tapered off, as he cautiously stepped back and looked at Sunny, not wanting to say the name out loud.

But they all knew. The one who had taken his photo album in the first place. The one who had also given it back, for some reason.

More silence, deafening this time. Shakily, his fingers tightened around the shears again, and not just on its handles, judging from how something seemed to prick through his skin and make him bite back a confused, terrified yelp.

From next to him, Sunny turned her head to face Kel. "Is everything...okay?" she grunted to clear her throat a little, pouting off to the side, then she continued with a shuddering sigh(geez, how was the start of the evening so cold?), "You looked...scared. And still do."

Raising his head, Kel promptly leaned back, then looked down again. As if the ground of all things would have an answer. And he couldn't even find one in the random labels on brands of shoes always walking in his line of vision, people whooshing by quickly and busily. Huh. One would even have thought it was Christmas, with how much the place was bustling with activity.

His gaze traveled up one particular streetlight - that was off of course, but not for long - ignoring the dark road just behind it. Though he didn't even have to try avoiding looking at it for long, something else catching his attention. Someone's gaze seemed to be boring into him, and his suspicions were confirmed once the tail-end of his eye caught a blur of blond and pink.

Basil’s head was slightly turned to face him, his eyes half-lidded and blinking slowly. Then his look shifted right the moment he noticed Kel’s returned eye contact.

Coolly this time, he ended up casually staring somewhere else with a huff and a grumble. Though Kel didn't fail to notice the small speck of red on his cheeks, fading into his skin.

That was so Basil of him.

Fondness swelled in his chest.

Feeling an intense blush growing on his face, Kel cleared his throat then tilted his head to look at Sunny at the side again.

"D'you think Mari'll come out anytime? Right....now maybe?" His smile turned slightly coy as he scratched at the back of his ear as soon as Sunny’s deadpan expression stared back up at him.

"Hm," Sunny turned her head to face the ground. Two people walked by together in particular, their hands barely brushing together as their cheeks appeared pink with excitement, and right that moment, Kel noticed Sunny flinch then scowl. "Hopefully not flirting with anyone there."

Huh?

"Hey, Mari doesn't do that!" Kel responded to Sunny’s grumble, bending to her level in his passionate rant in favor of his friend's older sister - and his friend by extension. "Does she?" His eyebrow quirked in suspicion.

Silently, but not without a very unnoticeable, quiet ruffle of her clothes, the short girl folded her arms. Then she softly exhaled. "I was kidding. Sorry."

She didn't seem sorry, with the slight tug at the corner of her mouth and the slight color in her cheeks, highlighted further by....whoa, the streetlights were on already?

The sky wasn't even that dark yet.

"Well that wasn't really funny," huffed Kel back, also folding his arms across his chest but with more exaggeration and faux frustration than Sunny. "Hey, got any idea why those lights are on?"

Though Sunny was the person nearest to him, Kel hadn’t just been asking her.

"W-Which ones? Like....that one behind m-me?" Basil awkwardly started to answer, playing with his fingers as his eye darted from the streetlight in question next to him and back to Kel, then Sunny. His blonde hair was illuminated a little more golden by the streetlight which was practically above his head.

"Yup!" Kel laughed, standing up straight again, then approaching Basil before stopping to point and laugh again. "It's making your hair glow. Just look at it! It's super cool!" Just as he said, a mild glow seemed to radiate off of Basil’s fluffy but ironically somewhat rough hair, or at least the part of it that was under the light.

He was fortunate that there was no other passerby to see this.

Kel wouldn't have known just how invested he was in how cool Basil’s hair appeared in the moment until Sunny muttered behind him, under her breath, "Just like an excited puppy...."

Plus, Kel himself had forgotten the ache in his leg, in the midst of his excitement.

Aannnnddd how could he forget the reaction of Basil himself? The poor boy's face was nearly as red as blood— no, red roses, and his hands were tightly clutched to his chest, his tightly intertwined fingers seeming to literally be strangling each other. His eyes were as wide as saucers.

"C-Cool?" He timidly questioned, peering up at Kel from under his eyelids. "Don't c-call me that. I'm not...."

"...I don't deserve to...." and his whisper trailed off there.

Was Kel making Basil...uncomfortable?

....geez, was it really that hard for Kel just to read the room sometimes?

"What d'you mean? You do look cool! Maybe Sunny could draw you like that, with the lighting and everything," Kel pulled out random terms he'd learnt from his school's art class, gesturing about wildly and passionately. His mouth was as runny as someone's nose during the winter.

"....what." Kel jumped then quickly whipped around to see that Sunny had stopped leaning against the wall and was standing only one or two steps away from him, her gaze subtly shifting from Basil and back to Kel again.

"Oh I— sorry Sunny!" Kel nervously chuckled again, violently scratching at the back of his head - ow. "T-That just came out of my mouth, just like that, you know how I am, you don’t need to though!" He grinned widely at a very confused Sunny.

To be honest, there was some truth in his light-hearted request that Sunny draw Basil. But that wouldn't happen now, the two weren't friends. And Basil–

"—are you listening to me?" Sunny voice suddenly cut through his thoughts, making him jolt and stare at her, wide-eyed. "I said maybe."

"R-Really?" Kel asked incredulously, his eyes widening even more as he excitedly brought his hands up. "That’s....awesome!"

"I'm...." began Basil quietly, and if people had been noisily walking past right now, Kel would have pretty much ignored him. Maybe heard him a little, yes, but something in him wanted to keep himself from even looking at Basil sometimes. For obvious reasons. "....I....would you be...o-okay with that....?"

Kel frowned at how Basil stumbled over his words. Poor guy was uncomfortable - why was he even feeling like this?

"....hm. Yeah," scoffed Sunny quietly, but not whole-heartedly. However, Kel felt like her response wasn't half-hearted, either. "Whatever."

After a sudden whoosh of air hit the three - mostly Kel and Sunny - the door loudly swung shut, followed by a merry, melodious voice.

"Alright, guys, I'm done~!" Mari literally sang, swinging a see-through plastic bag around as the three could see, after turning to the bread shop's entrance. Her cheeks were red and her smile was as wide as the Cheshire cat's, though not as unsettling.

She stopped near where Sunny was standing, and looked from Basil to the other two, then her head tilted upwards as she noticed the streetlight, her face immensely glowing thanks to the light beam. "It's getting late, isn't it? Hey, maybe I could drop this," Mari held out the bag with the wonderfully crafted bread(as could be seen at a closer look), "of at the house then we could try to find her."

"'Her'?" Kel continued to stare at Mari’s plastic bag, admiring its shining exterior.

Shouldering her bag, Mari spared Kel a quick glance, before saying matter-of-factly, "Aubrey, right? Guess you're really getting sleepy right now!" she chuckled merrily at that(hopefully not at the mental image of Kel just snoring away).

"I'm not! I'm super awake!"

Swallowing down his indignance, he stared blankly as Sunny and Mari started talking about....something - eh, maybe it was insignificant. Mostly the latter sibling seemed to be contributing more to the exchange.

But....what was that? That look Mari had given him before just flat out saying Kel was sleepy - not like he was, though!

Concern. That was concern. Again, the guilt pricked at his skin from the inside, agonizingly sinking down to his feet.

She did not need to worry.

And Kel was going to prove it to her.

A grin grew on his face at the thought of it. Then everything would go back to normal....

As he looked around, his gaze landed on Basil. He was almost leaning on the pole of the streetlight - not a good idea with how narrow it was - his fingers intertwined together as he stared at the ground in front of him.

Kel immediately approached him, then nearly jumped back the moment Basil’s head rose to reveal his ironically dull blue eyes, the eyebags much more prominent than ever. His mouth, originally in a thin line, opened slightly.

The light shining from above him should have made him more unsettling to look at, greatly pronouncing and emphasizing the shadows under hid eyes. What it actually did was stir something in Kel’s gut, something like....some pity. Stabbing at himself.

"Can we....go now? To get her?" Though Basil didn't move his mouth much and therefore didn't say this very loudly.

Kel’s heart wrenched, and desperately, he wanted to believe that Basil was also helping them in looking for Aubrey out of concern for his - former - friend. And not just to make himself feel good. Or even worse....look good.

Surely, Basil’s reputation was not that positive with the people of Faraway, right? But then....wouldn't that mean they'd gang up on the blond easily and.....possibly hurt—

No, why was he thinking of all this? This wasn't like him, it wasn’t....

“–yep!” Kel said in a squeak, so unlike his own voice. He cleared his throat after flushing red and putting a fist to his mouth. “I-I mean, yup, we can go. But uhhh….didn’t Mari say we're going to her house first? I mean, Mari and Sunny’s house. Not….Aubrey’s.”

As Basil’s eyes widened in surprise, Kel noticed that his expression looked more alive. “S-She said that? Oh….their house, huh?” He muttered that last part to himself, either unaware or not caring that anyone might hear him. “I….sorry, I dozed off a little.”

Some hair came in the way of his mouth, but despite that, Kel still caught the tiny curl of his mouth into a smile as his fingers gripped his arm a little tighter. Genuine happiness was shining in Basil’s eyes, not just because the darkness made them glow like literal car headlights.

A hand was placed lightly on his shoulder. “Looks like Basil’s not the only sleepyhead here!” quipped Mari, and Kel quickly turned his head to her, attempting to get her hand off of his shoulder with a playful jerk. “Careful there, Kel!”

“I'm not a little kid anymore,” he found himself grumbling, as Sunny also came into view while approaching Basil. Then Sunny and Mari’s own mother came into mind. “Anyways, how's she?”

“How's who?” Mari scratched her head after taking her hand off of Kel’s shoulder, and now that she had stood back a little, he saw that she was carrying one bag with her other hand.

The other bag was carried - in some weird nonchalant way at her side, as if it wasn't even there in the first place - by Sunny, as he could see in front of him. Kel hadn’t even noticed the other bag there at first - guess their mother must really love making a lot of French toast.

The bread in Sunny’s bag - and Mari’s, that he saw from stretching his neck over a little - was in the same shape as the toast Kel had been given. Even just the memories of the rich, savory taste lit up some warmth inside of him, of eating at the same table as Sunny, seeing how her and Mari's room changed….how kind their mother was…..

Kind and good at cooking like he was.

Speaking of cooking….or baking…..

“Wait, Mari,” Kel looked up at her with a very overwhelmingly wide smile full of hope, judging from how his cheek muscles hurt and Sunny side-eyed him, “you still make cookies, don't you?”

An unusually loud sigh resonated from somewhere to his right - Sunny. Oh, he should have asked her this before. Whom better to ask than Mari's own sister? Well, other than Mari of course - but she herself hadn't been there when Kel had first reconnected with Sunny.

….perhaps he had already asked her and just forgotten. Explained Sunny’s huge sigh of what seemed to be disapproval or disappointment. Hey, why not both?

“I do! Why? You want some?” She smirked triumphantly at him, then swung the bag of bread around her finger with an almost casual look. “Sunny tells me they still taste the same! I hope she's telling the truth, for the sake of your guys! And….your taste buds.”

Without a word, Sunny scowled at her older sister, her hands stiffly stuck to her sides the way some salty kid might position them, then walked off by herself with a small crackle of plastic from the bag she was holding. Seemingly towards….nowhere.

While Kel and Basil stood with their mouths gaping wide open, the former making a move to sprint after the shorter girl, the taller girl just huffed with a pout.

Taking long yet steady strides, Mari easily caught up to her little sister, her hands - one of them holding the plastic bag of bread loaves - behind her back.

“Awww, Sunny, don't go home without us!” With the hand which wasn't holding the bag, she raised it to Sunny’s level to give her cheek a quick pinch from what Kel could see.

That slowed her down by a little - no, a lot - as Kel saw Sunny’s ears glowing red(they could light up in the dark, he thought amusedly) and she immediately stopped walking. So did Mari.

Still excited by the prospect of cookies, especially Mari’s cookies, Kel felt his heart beat uncontrollably faster as he also strode over to the two siblings, all his willpower being taken to keep himself from bouncing all over the place in excitement. Quick footsteps closely following him signaled that Basil was also catching up.

……something flared in Kel’s chest as he clenched his teeth, feeling himself slightly shaking. Was he about to say something….stupid? Just because Basil was kind of approaching him? His fists tightly clenched, then released as he focused intensely on the conversation between the siblings right in front of him.

“I wasn’t going to leave you behind,” mumbled Sunny, using her free hand to play with her pigtail. Her head was slightly bowed so she couldn’t look at Kel or Mari - or Basil, who was now on Kel’s left though still pretty close by.

The awareness of that made the back of Kel’s neck go sweaty.

Seriousness suddenly laced Mari’s tone. “I-I know you wouldn't do that, Sunny. Just don't worry I'm— I was j-just joking around!” Though Kel didn't - and couldn't, due to the onset of evening - see Mari’s expression that clearly, he caught a hint of desperation in her voice.

A scoff. “I know, I know.” Sunny’s tone subsequently softened as she put her hand to the spot on her cheek where Mari had pinched it, rubbing it. “You're okay.”

For a few moments, Mari’s gaze was still on Sunny’s face, and then her face caught some of the last bits of light from the fading day. In an instant of clarity, it seemed, Kel saw relief blatantly etched into all the features of her face as they relaxed.

Someone's breath hitched from behind him. Oh, guess Basil was just as confused - and somewhat concerned - as Kel.

A lump was swallowed down his throat as he clenched his fists again, and inadvertently he inched to the right. Away from the blond boy.

Despite Mari’s relieved look, he personally felt some dread creeping upon him, adding to….was this anger(but why???)? He was…safe with his friends, right? And they were safe too…..but what was all this? All these strange sorrowful moments they often shared as of late? Kel felt like he was suddenly being made to professionally play soccer, what with how out of place he was feeling in the moment.

A wide grin flashed onto Mari’s face, nearly making Kel jump. “Aaaalrighty everyone! Who's ready for some cookies~!”

There were a couple seconds of delay before someone answered this, breaking the awkward silence.

Of course, that someone was Kel, who totally had a thing for Mari’s cookies. Merely the mention of them was enough to send positivity through him.

“Me! And you guys too, don't lie!” Kel shouted then made fingerguns at Basil and Sunny after going a little in front of them.

Mari’s light giggles faded away into the cool breeze of the evening as the four started heading down the sidewalk.

“Searching for Aubrey could wait,” he told himself repeatedly, staying right ahead of the other three. “Searching for her….could wait….right?”

Somehow, he thought if he so much as glanced at the faces of his three other friends - which they were, now, right? Ignoring how mad he was at Basil - his fleeting happiness at the prospect of visiting his friends’ house again would get snuffed out.

In favor of seething, hot anger and…..fear.

He was still scared, wasn't he?

“I…..can't.”

Basil’s step back from the front door made the rest of them look back, to see the boy cowering in on himself and shakily staring down at the pavement of the front yard.

As usual for her, Mari was the one who stepped out and towards Basil, albeit carefully, as if she were a taming a wild beast in one of those TV shows.

“Hey, what is it?” She asked softly. Sunny loudly sucked in a breath from next to Kel, not facing Basil yet though her eyes weren't on the door. “You feeling okay? If you're not feeling well then—”

“What do you mean, you can't?” someone asked directly……and a little aggressively.

And Kel found himself surprised that the question had come out of his own mouth.

“I can't,” repeated Basil quietly, hanging his head.

The sight he looked was the most pitiful Kel had ever seen.

Something again bubbled up, that same feeling from before.

“You….you can't be serious. Right?” Kel laughed incredulously(Basil shook a little more), taking a few shaky steps back until he hit the house's outer wall.

Laughing…though it made him look a little - no, completely off his rocker, was pretty much the only thing he could do to make sure he doesn't lash out or say something stupid. Or both.

Maybe having this emotional outburst near a sidewalk wasn't the best idea, though Kel was fortunate that it was evening. When other people would scarcely frequent the sidewalks.

Nope, that was nighttime, with most of those people being other people his age.

Steadying himself against the wall with his hands, Kel glanced around again. The other three didn't seem to be looking at him the same way they'd stare at some cursed creature, so maybe he'd overestimated how bad his reaction had been.

No, their stares were even worse.

“Kel.” Concern. Sunny was worried about him.

No. No no no. He didn't mean to—

“Come on!” Kel huffed, then was faced with Mari’s own caring, gentle loon now directed at HIM instead of Basil. Meanwhile, the flower boy himself sent Kel his own look of alarm and worry. “Come on guys, I'm good!—”

“We didn't say anything,” deadpanned Sunny after turning herself away from the front door, now completely facing Kel and the others with her arms folded across her chest.

Even worse for Kel, she hadn't knocked on the door yet. So the chance of Sunny’s mom coming out and interrupting this whole awkward fiasco was zero. Or close to it, at least.

“Okay, guys, j-just listen,” Kel held out his hands in a gesture that hopefully made everyone want to hear him out, “we can't— what I'm saying is that, you can't just….back down now!”

The last part came out all rushed, yet was still understandable enough for Basil to suddenly raise his head, then stand there frozen with with wide eyes that Kel’s heart dropped to his shoes. Did he….feel bad?

Whom was he even talking about? Basil, of course! He really didn't feel bad, did he? That's why he didn't want to come inside.

“B-But I—” Basil tried to make Kel hear him out, finally standing up straighter and taking a step or two closer. That pitiful expression on his face….no, that must have been the same one he'd ignored in the past from Aubrey.

Kel had thought for a SECOND that everything would get back to normal, but THIS?

Trying to make excuses for himself, was he?

Did he not WANT the whole friend group to get back together? After practically bullying Aubrey over just a photo album for what, more than a year? Maybe even THREE?

His heart continued to race.

What the HELL'S gotten into Basil, huh?

Something

snapped

His fists clenched, his heart beating even faster, so much that he thought it would explode. But very obviously not from excitement, lime earlier.

“You don't….you want to turn back now?” muttered Kel - not as quietly as he'd thought in hindsight, pushing himself off of the wall and walking towards Basil. Weight was being put on his injured leg, though he didn't care.

He definitely would regret doing that later, however.

“Kel—” he heard Sunny caution sternly, and rapid sounds of shoes against the pavement echoed from behind him. “You idiot,” was left as an added, barely audible whisper, followed by some more footsteps.

He stopped at some point, not going past the confused and still concerned Mari, then heaved a sigh, wiping sweat off of his forehead and adjusting some wet strands of hair in the same motion. A dull ache throbbed all throughout one arm, as if something was always hanging on it. Or for a long time, at least.

Because there was something hanging on it, and it was the bag he that he took to school.

That reminded him, for how long had he been away from home?

From his mom? His dad? The room—

“Basil, I— just forget that I said that,” Kel huffed, his shoulders sinking despite him not being even close to calming down. The adrenaline didn't leave him yet, however, as he felt no pain in his leg. Yet. “I mean….come on! I'm— You're– We're all making up, right?”

"Kel don't," began Mari quietly, but it was as if something put a barrier between Kel’s ear and any other noise in the moment.

What else Mari said just now, he didn't know.

Though he didn't - and wasn't planning to - wait for a response from anyone else, Kel still stole a cursory glance around at them. If one of them had opened their mouth to speak, he would sadly and immediately have nipped their response in the bud.

“We…we're all back together, Basil,” Kel sighed again. “Your photo album’s back, and- and Mari’s back from college, and I finally got to see you guys, or whatever– so what's wrong?”

“I shouldn't—”

“—well, yeah, you should!” was Kel’s instant response, sweat dripping down the side of his face as his nails nearly bit clean through his skin. “Why're you so scared? What are you even afraid of? It's just Mari’s house." Mari’s cookies. "Doesn't ring a bell? Why DON'T you want us to—”

“Because I just can't!” yelled Basil back, and even from a distance, Kel could see how the tears gleamed under his eyes, one of the droplets already spilling over and down his cheek. “Just s-stop it, Kel! I c-can't do this so easily. Just….stop it!"

And at that last part, his voice came out bolder and louder, making his heart jump. Almost just like his voice that day.....the day Kel had actually interacted with them all again. Though....the circumstances in which they had done so weren't so pleasant.

Well.....that could apply here. Except Basil’s expression was that of anguish, not pathetic anger, and he wasn't holding the she—

Memories of that day knocked basically all the fight out of Kel, and his fists relaxed as he backed away. He slouched over, staring at a specific spot in the sidewalk again. Had his back hit a wall?

"....come on," he heard someone with a soft voice say, followed by a rough, shaky intake of breath. "...you don't have to.....Kel didn't...."

While he was continuing to check out the pavement below, a pair of tennis shoes came into view, making him take a couple quick steps back, even almost stumbling. His gut twisted into a tight, painful knot, making him swallow hard as he looked up.

Shame. Weird that the feeling had fully registered in his head by the time his gaze had fallen upon Sunny’s face. Wait, why had she even walked up to him in the first place...?

With an impending loom of doom, he slowly and steadily raised his head - despite the shaking of his hands and the irregular beating of his heart. 

After a few seconds of silence, Kel concluded that nothing bad was going to happen, and he mustered all his courage to say something. The moment he opened his mouth, its dryness exposed to the outside air, a violent cough escaped his throat, forcing himself to put the back of his hand to his mouth as he quickly turned away from Sunny.

Geez....this had happened for the.....second time today, right? Why the hell was he keeping track of this, he was so weird.

"Kel—!"

"—u-uhhh sorry about that!" Kel’s coughing fit seemed to be over when he turned back to give Sunny an apologetic look. "I j-just didn't have wa—" Oh shoot. Kel and his big mouth.

He shouldn't have said that. And he shouldn't have said that either earlier just now, to Basil, his former friend.

But–

—Sunny scoffed quietly, though not quietly enough so as to not interrupt Kel’s thought process. "Hiding it won't help."

Kel felt himself jolt back, and he felt that the wall behind him was quite near to him. Shit, he'd nearly crashed into it. Imagine how much that'd hurt and.....

.....nope nope nope, definitely not thinking about that right now.

"Hiding what?" His voice sounded dryer than he'd expected it to sound, though that didn't mask the defensive tone.

Almost like.....he'd done something wrong?

Something else.....

"...." Sunny wordlessly gave him a look of disapproval as she tilted her head, arms folded across her chest.

Oh. That he was dehydrated. His stomach felt pretty much nonexistent right this very moment, his throat causing him this really sharp twinge of pain every time he took a breath.

Finally, he became aware of the others and what they were doing behind Sunny. He tilted his head a little to the side to see them more clearly.

And he....sort of wished he hadn't.

Mari’s voice. "Basil, it's alright. We could take you back home if you want!"

The firmness in Basil’s voice made him suppress a gasp in his throat, dry as a croissant. Which....brought his attention back to that bag of bread Mari kept hanging over her shoulder at present. Of course there were probably a few croissants in there, maybe she had gotten them for free as a gift if she were a frequent familiar customer.

Yeah, she definitely was, what else had she been doing in that bread shop or bakery or whatever it was called, besides having an extremely engaging conversation with the employees there? Including the "Bread Twins" themselves, perhaps.

His gaze lingered in some random area in between Mari and Basil in the distance. Until, of course, he realized how much he was staring at the random space in question.

"W-What's happening?" began Kel, avoiding Sunny’s eyes - as well as his own little dehydration problem at hand - as he shifted to the side, though not quite approaching the other two yet. Once again, he felt that spark. He couldn’t do anything, could he - trying to fix things just made things worse, all because he— "What're we gonna do now?" Irritation made him drag out that last word.

At whom this anger was directed however, he didn't really know. Or even want to know that much, actually.

Having been averting his eyes from Mari’s until now, Basil suddenly stared at Kel across the distance between them.

A stare that was fixed upon him iciness, the same kind Kel had seen up close literally the day before. In much more dire conditions, too.

His voice as cold as his eyes, - sending another shiver down Kel’s spine as the little attention he'd had on Sunny in this moment got sapped away - Basil immediately straightened up with a huff. "You forgot why I'm here....why I even came along with you all in the first place."

Even Mari was silent.

Why? Why he was here?

Looking for....someone.

Someone, someone....who was missing? Besides He–

A flash of pink in his mind told him all he needed to know.

"Aubrey," said Kel slowly, thoughtfully, and temporarily feeling his heart rate slowing down by a lot.

Then he jolted as soon as the full realization set in. "Aubrey....b-but– we can't look for her today! What if she's...."

"Kel," Sunny said, not without a hint of a sigh, "aren't you the reason we're even looking for her in the first place? Don't be stupid."

Her own voice, a little louder than it usually sounded, was laced with concern for the girl in question, which she had very obviously felt earlier. So, it wasn’t like she could talk, Kel thought bitterly.

His mind would always be set on something as quickly as he'd change it, though this? This was strange, even for him.

Never had he ever changed his mind for such....important, serious matters.

Without another word - or even a sound, Basil swiftly turned on his heel and walked away.

"Hey, Basil! Where are you–" he stopped immediately, as Mari’s wide gaze fell upon him before she turned her head back to Basil, running after him.

His surroundings were blocked out. The only thing he could really focus on was....was.....

What on earth had he just done? To Basil, to all of them???

He was ruining everything with his own fucking selfishness

It dawned on him; he'd yelled at Basil. He'd yelled at him. In front of Mari and Sunny, too, and for no....no reason at all. And in front of Mari and Sunny’s house, which was supposed to be a super warm and inviting place.

But he ruined it.

Clutching tightly at his lower arms was all he could do, as if he were literally pulling himself together.

....as if he'd just....shattered at this.

Dramatic, but true. Figuratively.

All he knew was shame. And that Basil was walking away, not so fast as to send Kel into panic mode, but—

Somehow, the noise of the air around him felt blurred out, if that was even possible. To Basil, Kel called out, cursing how his voice broke. Even worse, he couldn’t move at all, and no, he couldn’t just freeze up right here and right now with Sunny waiting for him and no gosh, Mari was approaching him and Basil had suddenly stopped and Kel didn’t know what he was thinking or any of them—

…..

This wasn’t like him at all, wasn’t it?

His vision blurred out, even when Mari’s face was right in front of his. Whatever she said, he couldn't make it out. Something dropped to the ground with a crackle, then some weight was taken off of his shoulder - and whoa did two heavy things - wait, bags?! - just fall?!

Another voice, and another.

............

10:43 P.M.

......

...............

Look at this. All of this.

His vision blurred until everyone else around him was a misshapen blob, then darkened until everything in his point of view was completely black. 

Look at what you did. Everything's now messed up. Figured it out yet, dummy?

Ohhh of course! That's right. It all happened when YOU tried butting in. "Tried" fixing things.

Someone shorter materialized clearly in front of him, clear enough for him to recognize him and no he didn't

and this is why you should just—

A zap later, the figure in front of him has disappeared. Something faded away into him - how on earth that was even possible, he didn't even know.

Hey, maybe that was the exact reason they all called this place the one of your dreams!

"They," meaning-

-Chip Kel and the other fivefour, of course!

It fell back down through the hoop again. Swinging the net upwards wait since when was it even there in the first place then jerking back down again as the ball rolled back towards him.

Clapping. Them sitting on the bleachers on the side, uttering their usual praises, Basil taking his hand and leading him through the field beyond.

The two sisters followed immediately behind him - no, them, as in him and Basil - until they reached where the first tree was supposed to appear. And of course, it did, though.....

There was supposed to be something else here, right? Or some....things? More than one of them.....

"Hero!" Someone called out, and Chip found that the sound had left his own mouth. Without him knowing....huh?

But what had caused him to say this aloud—

A taller guy with brown hair, waving at them from behind a stand, protected by the shade of the tree and its branches. A huge jug of something orange stood upon the checkered blanket that covered the stand's top surface, an unlimited stack of empty and shiny cups right next to the jug.

Somehow, his eyes couldn't linger on it any longer - how in the world he had been able to see exactly what was where on the stand, including the exact design and shades of the checkered blanket covering it, was completely unknown to him - before something else ended up drawing his gaze.

Someone else.

Someone else.

Someone else—

The familiar striking shade of pink hair was burnt into his vision once more like so many other times before, and the bright yellow jacket the girl wore didn't spare his vision either. All of this was merely a blur once he'd zoomed by to tackle Hero again in a tight hug.

He was.....here. And so warm.

That was....all he could think of.

......

More voices, leading Chip to turn his head his neck was starting to hurt so he saw his friend Sunny retching on some of that Orange Joe. The big bow on her head remained unscathed throughout it all.

A bow.....on someone's hair.

Besides the bright pink hair of Aubrey, something else had caught his eye.

A bright, blue.....bow?

Lifting his face as he resumed squeezing Hero tight(and the hand in his hair followed by the chuckles helping soothe him a but, actually), his eyes fell upon the top of the motionless Aubrey’s head, with a searching glance.

Nope. Nothing. Not even a trace of the bright blue - or was it cyan? - bow having been resting atop her head, in her unusually neat pink hair.

He burrowed his face back into Hero’s shirt immediately, when Aubrey’s head showed the slightest of movement despite her expression being frozen stiff. Unsettling.

Despite his brother's warmth, he still sensed chills running down his back. Less than how he would've felt had he not been practically choking the daylights out of the older boy, but still a lot.

She looked somewhat.....

....sad....?

"A-Aubrey!" He heard Basil call out - finally - after having been unusually silent near Chip all this time. Footsteps dashed towards the girl, presumably, and the start of a conversation(begun by Aubrey’s voice which was both brash and sweet at the same time somehow) could clearly be heard.

Finally ripping himself away from Hero, he quickly dashed towards Sunny, who appeared a little paler than usual, her mouth hanging open very slightly as she leaned back against the nearest tree. Mari’s hand rested on her shoulder, her shoulders heaving with an overly dramatic(and loud) sigh once Chip had approached them.

"Really, Chip," she started with a light tone, thought laced with underlying concern, "maybe you should tell Hero to make the stand 'Sunny-proof'!"

As Sunny leaned forward, her pigtails hanging over her shoulders slightly, her older sister tilted her head - looking away from Chip for a second - while she patted Sunny’s back. Well, not really her back, as the best she could, albeit awkwardly, reach was up to the back of Sunny’s shoulder.

"Hey, why do I have to tell him?" whined Chip with a huff, stamping his foot down on the grass and getting a satisfying crunching sound as a result. His hands balled into fists, making him look the part of the typical loud and noisy brat. "He listens to you because....euughhhh...."

Turning her head the slightest bit to see Chip still just standing there, ending what he said with those fake retching noises, Mari continued with a widening grin stretching her face as her eyes wickedly glinted, "Or maybe...yep, you're right, Chip! I'll go ask him."

Her tone was all jovial and jokey.

"Finally!" cheered Chip, exagerratedly flopping down on the grass but not lying down in it. Simply sitting there was fine, actually.

"But," Mari’s eyes were unusually bright as she continued to rub Sunny’s back - and yikes, did she still appear pale and sickly despite not coughing or retching anymore, "you'll be right here watching while I do my 'yucky lovey-dovey stuff,' as you always say! Wouldn't want that, wouldn't you~?"

The smug grin on her face took Chip aback, but at least he knew she was just joking.

Probably.

It wasn’t like she hadn't been acting all mushy and gushy with his older brother in front of him before though. Ewwww.....he felt sick just thinking about it!

Though someone or certain two friends of his would have begged to differ.

Aubrey would have squealed her head off over their two older friends, especially just to make him angry. Meanwhile, Basil would have called them adorable and cute and whatnot. Maybe even taken a picture of them, and put the photo in his album.

Speaking of his album.....

.....no. Did it even exist in this plane of....well....existence?

He sensed that the basketball was still in his inventory. And everyone else's weapons were, too. The pail which belonged to Mari.....

.....what was that huge dent in its side, huh? What had she attacked with it to make it appear so....deformed....?

Only something that big and strong could have dealt so much damaged....Chip felt a chill going through him again, though his skin didn't immediately turn to gooseflesh. Hey wait, what in the heck was that supposed to mean?

His eyes closed, then reopened, taking in the greenery surrounding him as well as the gentle overwhelming warmth of the light above. Then out of the tail of his eye he saw Hero again, and heard the voices of his friends around him once more.

"Chip, are you alright?" asked Mari and whoa how on earth was she already right beside him—

He couldn’t help but pout, not before rapidly blinking his eyes. His arms folded across his chest in defiance.

"I aaaaam!"

"Hehe, you sure look a little....perturbed...."

"Ewww Hero, not those fancy words again!!!!...."

Did Chip say that? Was it Aubrey? Was it.....him?

It wasn’t. It very much wasn't, and Chip was going to make sure of it. Even if it was the last thing he ever did in his tiny, insignificant existence. But....was it really insignificant if he—

To say that Kel was in a daze would have been the overstatement of the millenia.

Yet here his friends were, gazing upon him as if he were some dying patient. Or maybe like he was in an open casket lying down surrounded by flowers that everyone else was staring down at.

Although their reactions, in that case, would have been completely different, Kel thought. Guessed. No, knew.

Their faces would have be—

No, how on earth would he know? Not like he was some great psychic or mindreader. Good that he wasn't actually a mindreader, considering how much his brain would hurt from all those unwanted thoughts.

With the other three four appearing to literally stand right over him, Kel would have really thought he was lying down somewhere. Would have, for obvious reasons - he felt himself standing right now - because where would he even lie down?

Kel and the other three, their faces still blurry as he blinked away the uncomfortably warm moistness under his eyes. The moment a tiny tear slowly trailed out the corner of his eye, a fresh, cool breeze hit that area - or maybe he just felt it there the most since that spot was wet.

He was....crying?

A clumsy step was taken backwards, though he nearly tripped over his bag lying sprawled on the ground behind - or next to - him.

No, he couldn't be. Not crying at least. Nothing really....sad had just happened now, right?

A pair of blue eyes stared back at him. Then everyone else actually came into view - well, he’d just actually realized they were all looking at him like he was crazy. Mari, Sunny, and Basil. The former holding two bags now, her younger sister silently approaching Kel and bending over to pick something up. His bag. Seriously, who did she think she was, a hotel employee?

Oh… Basil.

”K-Kel….” started an extremely concerned Mari, a hand lightly brushing against the side of her own face as her head tilted to the side.

Shoot. He screwed up.

"We could take you home if you're not feeling well!" began that same voice again, but more sure of itself - back to normal basically. Mari was always sure of herself. 

His hands nearly flying up out of his mild surprise at where he was, Kel quickly turned around. Only to see Sunny and Mari’s house.

Great. He'd almost fainted against the outer wall of their house. Or the door itsel— wait no, he wasn't even close to it. Silly Kel....

He turned back, but only halfway, unintentionally giving the house a side-eye - not actually looking at it though. What was he supposed to do again....?

A painful jolt in his chest nearly shook him as he fully turned back to his friends were they really anymore even after his little - no, big - outburst just now please no please yes

Sunny’s usually stoic face filled with worry, her mouth slightly open and her eyebrows forming a deep crease between them as her grip nearly tore through the fabric of Kel’s bag.....Mari appearing fine from a distance but with her smile being all shaky.....Basil’s mouth twitching as he itched to say something, anything but also appearing far from angry.

Yep, maybe it was just the shock. From seeing Kel literally almost faint, if that even was what had happened just now.

Resolve instantly came over him as his mouth tightened into a thin line decisively. Suddenly, he walked up to his friend, without any prior notice. Weird, seeing Basil shrink back when his own friend was approaching him.

How cool the day was now, in terms of temperature, Kel didn't know until yet another cool breeze hit him in the face and he kinda deserved it. His hair whipped around his face, not easily confined by his simple way of tying it up(though it at least got most of the hairs out of his face).

Oh wait. Kel did walk right up to him without any prior indication that he was going to do that.....the poor guy must have been scared out of his mind. Paired with what outburst Kel had had earlier, directed towards Basil.

Shameful, really. How could he do this to his friend - no, all of his friends actually?

He'd had that argument with Sunny that one time. Shouted at Basil. And did that in front of Mari and Sunny’s house when Mari was probably looking to bake some cookies with love and warmth as she usually used to do - though she couldn't anyways since Basil had already refused to go inside.

He had just refused to go inside. Just that, and it made Kel go off in the deep end?

With a deep, sad-sounding sigh, Basil’s shoulders heaved then his eyes stared at the ground, vacuously. Still, he shook very mildly. Taking the hint, Kel stepped back, fiddling with the sleeves of the jacket tied around his waist, looking down in the process as well.

"U-Um, how do I even begin?" He thought aloud, but at least nobody was staring at him like he was a crazy person.

He had to focus on Basil right now. Nothing else, no one else.

His determined expression returning, he looked up, straight into Basil’s downturned face.

"Hey buddy," he said, softly at first and making the blond jerkily lift his head, wide-eyed and a little flustered, "I'm....sorry. I was being really crappy to you earlier, and a really crappy friend in general, and um- yeah, I should've not forced you. Or tried to." Gulp. And since when had it been this difficult to pick out what words to say? "You weren't okay with it...like....at all. I-I'm— it's alright if you don't wanna talk to me right now, okay?"

Kel was definitely, and seriously sure he wouldn't talk to himself for a long, long time had he been in Basil’s shoes, making his words towards the end of the apology completely genuine. Especially when he'd shouted at him that one ti—

—no. He'd had plenty of silly old sibling fights and squabbles with Hero before he.....died, though those had always resolved pretty quickly. But...

His chest tightened, Basil slowly fading out of his vision. But.....rarely were those little fights personal, though they did harness the pettiness of a kid whose seat was stolen at school. That was normal.

Then why.....

.....oh wait. Maybe the reason behind this tight, uncomfortable feeling was that Mari and Sunny were probably - no, definitely - staring at him right now like he was crazy.

Plus, that was saying something, considering the crazy stuff he'd already done in front of them before. Before now, and before.....four years ago.

"....Kel!" yelled Basil, before Kel himself felt his shoulders being grabbed, then he was pulled slightly forward and a little down too by them. "I-It's not your fault! I-Idiot! I— w-why would you think you're not a good friend when you've been anything but– you–"

Basil’s grip on his shoulders loosened before Kel could have even registered what was going on.

All he could see right now was the blond in front of him, his blue eyes shining with anger and of course, unshed tears. His hands were still on Kel’s shoulders, keeping him grounded back to reality.

With another difficult gulp, as well as a pinched expression, Kel exhaled. Slowly standing up so Basil’s arms could drop to his sides without startling him that much, he felt a small, slow smile grow on his face, his chest all warm. Not a safe, cozy feeling but just....warm from relief.

"Re....Really?"

Kel knew what Basil had probably been about to say before he'd cut himself off. Though the latter was still unsatisfied with how he'd left it off like that.

"No....no crappy friend would have pulled me away from the dock like some s-stupid person!" continued Basil, saying what he wanted to say, his hands now balling into fists as he seemed to resist the urge to stomp his foot on the ground for emphasis. A part of his bottom lip worried between his teeth.

"Even if I deserved it."

Obviously, Kel thought, Basil wasn't talking about Kel "saving" him when he referred to "it" just now. And the gardening shears continued to weigh heavier and heavier in his pocket. Wait, no. Basil didn't deserve to have that happen - or do that to himself - even if he'd nearly ripped the whole friend group apart at the seams, probably like his photo album right now what if he'd destroyed it or something would Kel put something like that past him nonono Basil couldn't have changed that much could he have...?

.....

Maybe that was why he'd felt that way - and still did - in the first place?

How much could you screw up before you'd have to....have to.....

Basil’s hands were now raised, but not in fists anymore, so Kel could rest easy that he wasn't about to get punched. Though did he probably deserve it? For that outburst just now, possibly and most likely yes.

Whatever he was hesitantly about to do,  was interrupted as soon as Sunny came into Kel’s view behind Basil. Her face was blank, though unlike the way it usually appeared while not being totally unsettling.

Was Mari nearby? Had they just forgotten about her? Something told him she was right behind him or something like that, watching this all play out, perhaps.

Shoulders visibly tensed up before she spoke, the sudden sound of her voice making the blond boy jump and turn around to face her, Sunny started with, "Your leg's still hurt."

"Why - and how - the hell're you still standing right now?" was the underlying question laced in those quiet, accusing words. Not word for word.

All heads turned to the sidewalk with a gust of wind blowing leaves and other stuff into their faces. One small speck of dust seemed to have fallen into Kel’s eye, and he harshly rubbed the back of his hand over his face. As if doing that would get it out, he thought bitterly as he squinted and rapidly blinked.

A trio of people around Kel's own age were squished together like pickles(ew, he resisted the urge to gag at the mere mention of the thing he hated the most) in a jar on the sidewalk. Not that they were really taking any great care to keep space amongst themselves anyways....

The cackling of satisfied voices faded away into the distance, though not completely disappearing as quickly as Kel had wanted it to. Strange, since hearing others laugh - no matter how obnoxious it sounded - was always his jam, until now.

Maybe.....maybe he was just tired, that's all! His head wasn't spinning or anything, and he wasn't feeling nauseous at all! He should just go....home.

"Maybe I'm not—" Mari begun, then she cut herself off with a loud sigh as she very audibly smacked her forehead. All three of the younger ones stared at her. "J-Just forget that. Kel? Are you okay with going back home for now? I'm sure Aubrey’s okay. We know her....o-or maybe I could look for her myself, okay?"

All these words came gushing out, especially seen through how Mari’s shoulders immediately dropped down right after her last word. Some strands of her from her bangs dangled in front o her face, over her nose once again. Kel felt a little ticklish from just thinking about that.

What Mari had just said wasn't fast enough sound like gibberish - to Kel, at least - and his spirits fell at the thought of going back home. Or was he....relieved?

That sudden sensation of wind being taken out of his sails and all the energy being sapped out of him.....it definitely felt relaxing, to be honest. To not have to worry about any of their friendship troubles - not lighthearted enough to be classified as drama - was actually...not that bad.

They could just look for Aubrey later. Tomorrow. Or never. Aubrey could take care of herse— no, she needed her friends! Who knew what—

"It's okay Kel, I'll make sure you don't get in trouble with her. You know, because your mom is obviously super worried about you right now." Mari, after stating this, gave him a small smile, like a bandaid simply put over the wound. Was the wound ever there in the first place?

A quiet scoff from Sunny, followed by a huff from Basil.

Any awkwardness that could have been in the situation was taken away by the mere sight of Mari standing there confidently, reassuringly, aa if she knew what she was doing. It was going to be alright. Aubrey would be in good hands with Mari looking for her - that was, if Aubrey wasn't just in her house all this time, and Mari would take care of matters with his mom.

.......

....................

10:43 P.M.

.........

Doors. Doors. Everywhere.

Such a bummer that a nearly empty place was unsettling Chip like this, more than usual.

And so, past the familiar colorful imagery, hidden behind those doors, he went quickly as though he were nothing, and something told him he didn't need his basketball. No, not because it was so easy to destroy.

Whatever he'd needed to defend himself from, all this time, couldn't be defeated with something so....weak.

Fickle. Insignificant. A long forgotten, hopeless dream, could also describe it. Just....wasted away.

What appeared to be giant cookies stood upright, somehow without falling. Huh? They always could balance themselves, right? Chip shouldn't be focusing on that kind of specific stuff....it wasn’t needed.

Ah, there it was. Among the pile of chocolate chips at the end of the road - it looked like it was going on and on beyond this point, but Chip just knew this was the end - was the specific chocolate chip he was looking for.

There it stood out among the other brown ones, being dark blue and giving off this bright aura. Chip felt safe upon looking at it.

When he'd approached it, he felt it growing closer and closer until— it wasn't there anymore. However that feeling from earlier, the warm one, so unlike the vibes given from this sickly brightly colored room, was....a part of him. Whatever he was.

"We could always go over to my place and....I could bake some cookies for you if you want!"

He felt himself gasp, nearly losing his balance.

Then intangible darkness.

.......

Calm colors, deeper shades.

Though easy on the eyes, they definitely weren't easy on Chip, making him on edge.

Who knew what such a calm-looking place could do to him....or contain.

At least staring at the ground didn't make matters worse, as it was composed of white powdery stuff which was slightly damp. The wetness didn't freeze Chip’s legs however, it was more like a break from the heat and chaos.

What in this world did he mean about heat and chaos?

No matter, all he could do was focus on the little imprints his feet left in the ground, those very imprints fading away as soon as he traveled a few steps more forward. No footprint trail, huh?

At least the footprints weren't stained orange.

Even without a visible trail being left behind by him, Chip still knew that he'd find a way back. In the blink of an eye. Now, if only he could actually find what he was looking for here....

Lying horizontally upon a secluded spot, was a white packet with a dark blue stripe going across the middle. As Chip approached it, the label on the stripe came into view after....it wiggled and vibrated slightly.

"Snow," it read.

The dampness was gone, so was the uneasiness this whole place had brought upon Chip.

.......

Walking from Mari and Sunny’s home to his own wasn't actually some huge journey, due to them being neighbors. However, Kel wished it was, the moment he laid eyes on the empty driveway.

All that walking, all that fuss, for nothing?

His parents weren't even home right now - and some relief seeped into him - so Mari’s whole speech just before was useless.

As for all that walking....

....despite the intensity of the pain in his leg having decreased noticeably by now, it was still very much there. Annoyingly so.

The ache only showed on the outside in the form of a slight, unnoticeable limp. Walking faster either did or didn't help.

As he looked down at the ground with a glare, as if it were the cause of all his problems, the still figure of Mari caught his eye. She was standing the closest to the front door, out of all four of them, only her back invisible to him.

Her head tilted and a few strands of hair falling loose in front of her nose, Sunny folded her arms across her chest and averted her eyes. Not from Mari, but from the slightly cowering and trembling blond boy a few feet away from her. A distance that they had willingly created.

The sky was a dull pink, as Kel could see from the corner of his eye, though it still highlighted part of Mari’s purple hair a slight shade of gold.

Unless his eyes were tricking him, her shoulders were shaking, then suddenly went rigid before she quickly turned around. A smile full of apology was sent Kel’s way.

"Oops...haha. Guess I was....distracted earlier!" Quickly, she hopped off the front doorsteps and strode back over to the three younger friends, standing the closest to Kel when she stopped walking. Though her eyes were on the three of them, they didn't actually seem to be seeing them.

Lights are on, but she's not there.

"Yeah! Kel, you could actually stay over....hey, what about your house, Basil?" suggested Mari, and Kel marveled at how she'd come up with that idea seemingly in an instant.

What about her?

Looking for her....hadn't they all agreed on—

SHE COULD TAKE CARE OF HERSELF! And unfortunately, Kel had to repeat this to himself time and again.

Basil, with no real change in his expression, clutched at his arm. As he eyed Mari’s confident smile, he sighed with a downcast look, "...y-yes. I mean, y-you could stay over— I mean, Kel can!" he added as he suddenly perked up, flustered.

A scoff from Sunny again. "I don't want to stay there anyways. Don't just assume that I...."

She gave a huff, interrupting her own quiet sentence and then eyeing Basil, "....whatever. You know."

"Huh?" Kel was pretty sure he sounded confused, or confuzzled or whatever, but that suggestion brought up by Basil appealed to him at present. "Oh, yeah! Thanks Basil! You're...heh..you're even becoming like your old sweet self. All kind and stuff," he joked around a little, taking a few careful steps towards the blonde boy, just within arm's length.

This was useful since Kel outstretched his hand to give Basil a few tentative, careful pats on the back of his shoulder - one of the few times he'd ever thought twice about anything really. He grinned widely, teeth showing - and no, he was not worried about how many freaking food particles were stuck between them - and saw Basil lurch a little forward, hands clutched to his chest, not out of any injury though his cheeks did end up flushing a deep shade of rose.

Turning his face away, while gently pulling away from Kel’s hand on his shoulder, Basil conveniently let a few loose blonde locks cover a good side of his burning face.

The hint was taken, and Kel dropped his hand down at his side - lightly brushing against the heavy shears once again.

Ignoring this whole exchange save for a brief glance at Sunny - presumably for what she'd said, Mari beamed at all three of them. "Well, let's hurry up then! It's getting super cold right now....though that sunset is pretty."

Just as the four of them were about to set foot upon the sidewalk, the older girl - no, wasn't she practically an adult by now? - paused her brisk stroll(two very contradicting acts which she had managed to somehow pull off just now) and wore a more somber, yet genuine expression. Kel could only notice this since she had just turned to face them, allowing the last of the day's sunlight to fall on her features.

Her already shining dark eyes were brightened by the twinkle of an idea, that she voiced out loud immediately as soon as everyone's eyes were laid upon her. "Basil, do you happen to have your camera on you?"

"If it even was on him now," muttered Sunny, walking up to her sister, "then we would notice."

Not sparing Sunny even a mere glance, Basil answered Mari’s question - probably a request in disguise, if Kel read into it a teensy bit more. "No....I-I don't really do that anymore."

At questioning looks from his three friends, his face lit up, followed by a vibrantly pink blush. A shade that Aubrey would have liked a lot....what a gross color.

This remark in his head was immediately retracted thanks to the image of pink - or were they magenta? roses. Of course, he'd never call them disgusting or gross or yucky or anything like that.

"O-Oh, now that I have it back...." started Basil, and Kel noticed how his sentences seemed to end right before he was about to say something he thought was too important to bring up out loud.

Nope, there was a term for that. Too embarrassed.

Naturally, his sentence just could not go interrupted.

"Sooo now that you have the album back..." Kel began slowly, knowing that he was right about whatever Basil meant by "it," "you could....maybe...uh, you know!" He put his hands into the shape of two L's in front of his face while making a clicking sound with his mouth that was supposed to resemble a camera shutter going off.

Sunny’s wry deadpan expression. Basil’s awkward small smile, filled with warmth that was rare a few moments ago. Mari’s grin, which wasn’t smug, though it made something in Kel feel…a little bit hollow. Something wasn’t there….it was supposed to be but it was all Kel’s fau—

Just the reactions of his friends to his goofiness was enough for an equally goofy grin to grow on his face.

"Now that's our Kel!" beamed Mari. After strolling over to him, she reached out a hand to mess up Kel’s hair a little.

Several brown locks of hair loosely hung in front of Kel’s eyes, partially blocking his vision as he half heartedly laughed. Swatting Mari’s hand off his head, his mind went elsewhere.

A warm, familiar heaviness sinking itself into his scalp.

"Heroooo!" he whined, blowing a raspberry at the chuckling taller boy.

One of his hands was still, next to his face, then slowly lowered as the memory threw a damper over the whole mood. A specific empty spot on the sidewalk was all he could blankly, wistfully stare at.

Wind finally brushed some of his messy hair out of his face again, calming him down, until Mari spoke again, making Kel quickly look up to see a mild sprinkle of understanding in her eyes.

“Sorry about that, whoops!” A teasing lilt was added at the end, lightening up the mood by…a lot, actually. However, the familiar smug look didn’t reappear. Though the day was definitely becoming cooler and definitely evening time by now, she began rolling up her sleeves - easily somehow, as Kel himself would definitely have taken a gazillion years to get the folds to stay up his arm properly. Then, she put her hands on her hips in a business-like manner. “Guess we’ve got no time to lose!”

"Fine..." sighed Kel, then he side-eyed Basil. "Alright, to Basil's we go!"

Welp. Mari was really going to lead the way this time, and judging by her determined look, there wasn't going to be any debate about it if she had something to say about it.

Kel's limp was practically unnoticeable as the four of them, lead by Mari, headed away from his house. A small yelp(that went unheard by Mari) reached Kel’s ears as Basil nearly tripped over his own feet, followed by Sunny quickly turning around, her arm jerking out towards him as if she were about to try helping him up. Wobbling, the boy steadied himself somehow as the girl narrowed her eyes at him, retracting her hand.

Watching Basil back slightly away from Sunny, then suddenly realize he was supposed to walk forward, was quite the amusing sight for Kel to watch. At any rate, this distracted him from the rose bushes planted in the front of his house.

And they had already passed those.

The usually observant Sunny was, well, observant but in a really unwanted way, as Kel flinched from how her gaze shifted from the now-steady Basil to Kel himself. Shooting a grin back at Sunny, while feeling the burdens of the more pressing issues at hand, he upped his walking speed a little - it wouldn't hurt, would it?

And he was right - it didn't.

The unspoken question of Aubrey's whereabouts hung in the air - Kel had feared the others would have forgotten that whole issue altogether. Yeah, maybe they'd look for her tomorrow? No, but what if she was in danger? What if—

No, they would have to worry about that the next morning, after being well-rested over at Basil’s house. If there even was something to be worried about.

Something in the way Mari gazed at the road now and then, when she'd think nobody was looking, really activated Kel’s gut feeling. Not that anything was wrong, that wasn't it, yet....

.....he carefully strode up to the college student - past the silently walking Sunny and Basil - subsequently shocked by her lack of reaction. When the light caught her face, her eyes appeared completely glassy and....lost.

His eyes drifted past the girl’s face, and to what it was directed at.

Shining asphalt, with a few tire tracks.

Tire tracks.

Tire tracks....?

Which ones were the—

He jolted, nearly stumbling back on his hurt leg on a - phew - an extremely uneven crack in the sidewalk. Heartbeat instantly slowing down as he continued to stare down at his feet as he walked, - keeping out for any other cracks - Kel tilted his head to look over at Mari again.

Still looking at the road, but for a longer period of time than usual. Usually it would be quick little glances, then back to whatever was ahead. Whatever was expected.

An unexpected sharp pain in his bottom lip - he really bit it hard - was a kind of reality check that immediately got his mind to be all made up.

With a huff, he stopped walking and said, a little more loudly than necessary, "Mari, why d'you keep staring at the road like that?" Geez, the tension was seriously getting to him, making him somewhat huffy and a little irritable - and wow that was a huge word. Mari’s small and uncharacteristic flinch made him regret using such an unintentionally sharp tone just before.

The thing was, he was genuinely worried. Though there seemed to be something else pissing him off too at the same time. Maybe it was just how everything and everyone had changed a lot, and not necessarily for the better. Not always.

Or maybe it was the feeling of something big being kept behind closed doors, a secret, something taboo. Something nearly bursting, nearly revealing itself very soon.

But this was Mari, his kind-hearted, friendly childhood friend - and they were definitely still friends too. "You okay?" Some - no, a lot of - worry was laced in his tone. Hopefully he didn't sound too pathetic or frantic....

Though he was pretty desperate for things to get back to normal, honestly.

"Road? What're you talking about, Kel?" laughed Mari, a very tinkling giggle that gave off eerie vibes instead from how utterly fake it sounded.

Guess that was something he and his worst childhood rival(friend(?)) had in common - hating fake people. Though Mari definitely wasn't fake.

Oh well, maybe that was just a weird blanket statement - about hating fake people, he meant. Ironic, considering that the "childhood rival" herself was acting pretty weird and suspiciously wasn't even here at all.

Nowhere to be found....

....a gladiolus. Otherwise known as a swor—

"Hey! Don't be like that...." Kel gulped before continuing loudly, "but you were definitely staring at the road. I-I mean—" now that was a weird thing to say, and he didn't need to see Mari’s widened eyes to know that. The look on his face looked determined. "There's no real rush!" Not true of course but— "If you're feeling sleepy or anything, you could rest and..." yep, maybe her knee was just being super annoying right now, that was why she....she.... "maybe the other two and I could hang around here!"

Hopefully his determined expression would win this one for him....though it was nowhere near as convincing as the dorky "charming" face Hero would use on their mo—

No. Not Hero again.

His eyelids pressed shut as he stumbled slightly to his left, temporarily looking away from Mari.

Mari, who had winced at Kel's choice of wording just now. Mari, who was now standing quietly, blankly staring at the edge of the sidewalk that was closer to the road.

"We don't need to," she responded, sounding stern with an uptightness to her voice that wasn't there before, though not in the same deadpan as Sunny’s. "We're going to Basil’s house, and that's final."

A gasp trapped itself in Kel’s throat as he resisted the urge to step back. This side of Mari...was pretty rare.

Wait no....there were those little games the six of them had played when they were younger....

.....and whenever Mari had participated in them...

....and she'd not do well in some of them....that was the same tone she'd use when addressing the other five.

Perhaps that was why she'd not enjoy silly, casual little games like that - Mari would always be a little grumpier than usual whenever she'd lose.

....he should've realized this earlier, how hard she was on herself.

And then there was the piano, - Omori, was it called that? - and how she'd not be satisfied with a simple B+(honestly, that used to have been the highest grade Kel himself would have gotten).

"We don't need to go there, really...." Kel heard a whisper - obviously in response to what Mari had just said - from a little distance behind him. Basil’s voice, of course.

"Kel, I'm fine. For the— I mean," Mari pressed a hand against her forehead with a dismissive expression, "I already said this. My knee was just being...you know. And I'm a little sleepy now too, so are you guys, I'm guessing?"

Not another peep.

Kel’s heart sped up at the borderline cold look Mari was giving, then there was how her hands slightly shook while her face was downturned.

What else was audible from behind him was the pattering of shoes against the pavement, sounding somewhat intense despite not being that loud. Not loud enough to rupture someone's ear drums, at any rate.

To the side Kel stepped, allowing Sunny to take a step next to her older sister. For a while, or maybe it was just a moment, time seemed to drag as the younger girl just stood there stiffly, her face pinched into a scowl.

To Kel’s own surprise, Basil was the one who initiated the eye contact when he and Kel exchanged glances. Poor, worried Basil, in that moment. Well, even Kel was as clueless as he was now.

No, he wasn't. There was that thing Sunny had told him back at that time in her backyard.

She hadn't told him that but....he'd figured it out. Of course that had to be one of the only things he could find out. Maybe Sunny even intended for him to connect the dots, who knew?

Mari had been staring at the road. Staring at it - was it with longing? A fascination mixed with horror?

Did she..want to....?

Time stood still, and suddenly, Sunny spoke.

"Mari." She began shortly and quietly, and though her tone was dry, there were undercurrents of irritation. "You can't just hide it from me— us."

Like her older sister, she also stared at the road after this, though only sparing it a mere quick glance.

"There’s nothing wrong, Sunny," spoke Mari again, her cold tone replaced by a tremor. Not a graceful violin-like sound, but more like a tremble an amateur violinist would make. "Now why don't you just—"

"You were staring at the road," pointed out Sunny, arms folded across her chest.

"Hm. First Kel, then you, huh? I'm okay, Sunny. This isn't like that time," Mari said dismissively, the tremor in her voice completely gone now though she subtly fiddled with the ends of her sleeves. Fiddling with her long, purple strands of hair would have been more conspicuous, so unlike how Sunny would fiddle with her own pigtails whenever she would get embarrassed.

"Mari, you could tell us when you're not okay, you know?" Kel tried encouraging her, eyeing Sunny as he did so. Her brow seemed to twitch. "You're all grown up now, but that doesn't mean you don't need help dealing with some crap. I mean, you don't need to deal with alone, y’know?"

He managed a wide, toothy grin, which was able to catch Mari’s eye.

Something in her expression softened, before she stole a quick glance back at the road now behind her.

She relented.

"T-Thank you, Kel," she said with an uncharacteristic quiver in her voice, clutching at her other arm. Very visibly, her grip formed many small wrinkles. Her eyes grew glassy again, though for a different reason now.

The tension could be cut through with a knife - or some shears, which Kel had on him at present - and speaking of the Devil, a worried Basil approached the sibling pair and Kel.

He also...cared.

"I...guess I could tell you a little...but....it's about—" Mari gave a tiny gasp then averted her gaze, also physically turning away.

Hero.

Guilt, guilt, and more guilt, and suddenly Kel couldn't take it anymore and—

"I-I— whenever I see this place...." Mari gestured around the general area, and if she were pointing at a specific area then Kel wouldn't have known, "....all of it— I just remember him. L-Lying there like that."

"Dead."

Hero....?

A distant, unbearable memory.

Nothing more had to be said as, surprisingly, Sunny was the first to throw her arms around her, bags of bread be damned.

Not really that surprising though, as she was standing the closest to Mari, and....

A blur shot by Kel and suddenly Basil was also hugging Mari, his face hidden from Kel’s view.

Meanwhile, though her face was partially hidden by her dark purple hair, silver drops of tears could be seen falling from her eyes. Eyes which fell upon Kel.

Should he join them? Mari should already be feeling better from just the two of them - Basil and Sunny - hugging her, right?

Kel continued to stand back, eyeing his three other friends. They looked complete enough...without him coming in and ruinin—

"K-Kel..." sniffed Mari. "Come on...a group hug, just like o-old times!"

Even through her tears, she was managing a small, wobbly smile, one that both warmed and broke Kel’s heart at the same time.

He was being metaphorically pulled into the hug - drawn closer and closer to the group - and he knew it. Until finally he smiled sincerely and wrapped his arms tightly and securely - they had grown quite a bit - around the other three easily.

"Group hugs, huh?" He laughed a little.

Silently, they agreed to stay like this for a little while, through how Basil linked an arm around Kel somehow, and Sunny tried reaching for him to include him in this - to be honest - pretty awkward embrace. Of course, Mari was in the center of it so she couldn't really move so much aside from literally getting suffocated by their affection for her.

"I'm sorry," she said in a muffled voice.

"Hey, it's alright. You could let yourself loose sometimes, it's fun," suggested Kel.

Though he definitely wasn't letting himself loose right now.

Fucking hypocrite.

His teeth grit against each other.

He didn't know if his own tears were part of the stains now forming on Mari’s shirt.

.........

...................

10:43 P.M.

A pale rose in the middle of a pathway, not unlike the other such items Chip had collected.

He just knew it was a rose

It wasn’t supposed to be here.

But then again, he wasn't supposed to be here either.

...

...........

Wait, what was that polaroid which had just fallen ou—

Once again, maybe for the third time that day, Kel was watching the back of Mari’s purple hair, this time not shining in the sunlight because, well, there was no sunlight anymore. The sky was a mere grey-blue.

A dark shade of it.

The bread bags had been kept where they were supposed to be - in Mari and Sunny’s house, and man had they almost forgotten to put the bags there. Luckily, their mother had approved of them staying over at Basil’s. At least that was what Kel thought happened, as he hadn't been listening in on their conversation. Hopefully, they had packed up a change of clothes for this "sleepover" as well.

The other two his age were on either side of him, though Basil was already making his way forward. And Polly - wait, that was the name of his caretaker right? - hadn't even opened the door yet. Perhaps Basil was really fond of Polly after all, despite the fact that he'd most likely get in trouble with her after being away from home the entire day.

Especially after....his visit to the hospital.

Best to not think of that now.

They were going to have a nice, fun sleepover.

Shears...weighing against his leg....

The three perked up as soon as the door clicked, swinging open to reveal the same young woman from before.

"Oh, Polly!" Mari sounded relieved and delighted as well. Kel hadn’t really forgotten how much the two had bonded the last time they had talked....which was today. But it felt like a few days ago....oh, how time dragged by when one wasn't having fun.

"Mari? Oh! Basil!" Polly's delight also turned into relief as soon as she tilted her head to squint at Basil who was right behind Mari at this point. "Are they staying over for the night?"

Basil’s sheepish grin betrayed the obvious answer.

What the night would bring, Kel would never know. At least sleeping over with his friends would be fun!

Come on, Kel, think positive!