#*stares at Sunny and Basil from a mile away*

[quiverymango]

Omori Eater!

Fanart of @beeejayy's Omori x Soul Eater AU!

I love this funky little AU so much <3

Ref image below cut:

[sixpossumsinatrenchcoat]

Talking to Ghosts

[an Omori epilogue immediately following the good end/"true" end. 12.8k words, Sunny POV, literally rife with spoilers so like. watch urself]

Sunny’s new room is big and empty, like the rest of the house. It’s clean and white and so new he can still smell the sawdust, even though Mom hired cleaners to scrub away every last speck. The cleaners were very thorough. There aren’t any cobwebs in any of the corners, not even the little crannies that most people miss, like behind the sink or under the bed. They even folded the hand towels in the bathroom into little swans. 

If only they could do something about all the ghosts.  

Sunny didn’t know what to expect after everything that happened, with Headspace and Basil and Omori and—with Mari. It would be nice to think that everything would be better now. But Sunny is quiet, not stupid. He knows his Something isn’t really gone, it’s only gone inside him: behind his eyepatch, under his tongue. He knows that it was always only him. He cut Mewo open, till she was only mush. And he killed Mari. 

So he's not surprised to find her waiting for him, swinging from one of the exposed beams in the vaulted ceiling of his clean new room.

She’s not all swollen and broken like she was after he killed her. It’s just Mari, dangling like a windchime and spinning very slowly in the draft. If the rope were tied around her waist, it might look like she was opening for a troupe of acrobats. But it isn’t. It’s around her neck. 

Sunny looks at her gravely, waits for her to say something. Of the two of them, Mari was the one that spoke, filling the silence that swelled around him. But she doesn’t. She only smiles at him, sadly. 

“Are you stupid?” a voice jeers from his bed. Omori. That is a surprise. Sunny hadn’t expected to see him again. “She’s dead, stupid. Dead girls can’t talk.”

Sunny is pretty sure they can, actually. But he doesn’t feel like arguing. The drive from Faraway to the Glittering Harbor wasn’t long, but sitting next to his mom made it feel a lot longer. And his eye aches horribly. He needs to sleep. In large mammals, the majority of tissue healing takes place when you’re asleep. He shakes his head at Omori and shuffles past him, into bed.

The bed is new, too. Most of the furniture is. Maybe Mom thinks that if she replaces all the tables and chairs and even the walls and the roof and the floor, it won’t be the house where Mari died anymore. But it doesn’t seem to have worked. After pulling into the driveway, Mom only carried his suitcase as far as the porch before she hugged him hard and smiled a bright, brittle smile. 

“Well!” she said. “Isn’t this nice! A fresh start! I’ll have to give you the tour later, they need me at the office an hour ago but, well, I expect you can find your own way from here. Your room is the biggest one, at the top of the stairs. It’ll be nice for you to have a little more space.”

Sunny stared at her. He'd had plenty of space, miles and miles of it. Space is the only thing he never needed more of. 

“Love you, sweetie!” she told the air above his head, and then she was off. 

So the new house probably won’t be so different, even though Sunny is, and so is everything else. Mom will still be gone, and Mari will still be dead, and Sunny will still be alone, but with plenty of space. 

And the ghosts. They’re the same, too. Except now he knows more about them, and he’s not as scared to look. 

He looks at Mari now, curiously. She’s still spinning in place, three-quarters left, three-quarters right, like she’s caught in an eddy of some ectoplasmic stream. Maybe she is. Air is always moving, just like water. Maybe there’s a river running clear through his room, and if he caulks the right crack in the walls, it’ll fountain straight up in a geyser strong enough to lift his feet off the ground and flip Mari the other way around, so she’s falling up into the rafters. Would she like that? Probably not. Sunny wouldn’t. 

He’s tired, so he lays down on his new bed, which is clean and white and a little softer than he likes. But he doesn’t sleep. Maybe he can’t. Maybe when he killed Omori, he killed the part of him that sleeps and dreams, and now he’ll never sleep again. How long can humans go without sleep until it kills you? Hero would probably know, but Hero is— 

Sunny doesn’t want to think about Hero. 

When Sunny told his friends the truth, Hero was so, so quiet. They all were, even Aubrey and Kel, which was much worse than if they’d shouted. But Hero was quiet with his whole body. He’d smiled in relief when he saw Sunny walk in, and the whole time Sunny talked, his smile didn’t fade, it just—hardened. His eyes were still creased but there was no light inside. He looked like he was carved from glass and the smallest flinch would shatter him. Sunny had wondered, only briefly, if Hero was going to kill him. It was a hopeful thought. Mari would be disappointed if he didn’t persist, but she couldn’t be upset with him for being murdered. 

“You’re so silly, Sunny,” Mari tells him fondly, from the rafters. “My silly little brother. Of course I would.” 

Yes. Of course. He was only being silly. 

Sunny closes his eye, but he doesn’t sleep. 

###

Then everything is different and the same. 

The water comes out of the taps differently, in a fizzy white cylinder instead of a gloopy uneven stream. It pours out of the showerhead different, too, in thin little lines that prick too hard at his skin. Sunny imagines that it’s the first wave of an ongoing invasion, the stinging tendrils of a much larger hivemind. With enough time, water can wear stone away to nothing. The skin of a few flimsy humans would be easy pickings. And the Hive Mother is old, so old that she no longer sees the years flashing by. To her, the whole of the Glittering Harbor is just another little flicker of light. Her foot soldiers advance and the skin on Sunny’s back falls away cleanly, baring dripping meat and stark white bone. She yawns and the city stands empty, apartments stiff and silent like toy soldiers. She blinks a thousand onyx eyes and the harbor’s boiled dry, the skyline only dust. A city for ghosts. 

Also, the ceilings are higher. And Sunny can see the ocean from his bedroom window. He likes to watch the fog crawl over the Glittering Harbor is just another little flicker of light. Her foot soldiers advance and the skin on Sunny’s back falls away cleanly, baring dripping meat and starkC before the sun banishes whit20one.ns and the city stands empty, apartments stiff and silent likeack to the sea. 

Here’s what’s the same: The house is big and white and empty. Mom doesn’t come home. She doesn’t make him go to school, so he doesn’t. His sister is dead. Sunny is alone.

###

A package arrives. It’s the new eyepatch he ordered. Sunny has a dozen already but he doesn’t like the way they feel on his skin. The one he wore in Headspace was made of something even softer than silk, like the brush of a cobweb on your cheek. But he hasn’t found anyone who makes eyepatches out of cobwebs. 

His depth perception is dead and gone, so Sunny has to face the bathroom mirror to find the clasp on the one he’s wearing now, smooth black leather painted with an enormous sea-green cat’s eye. He closes his good eye as soon as he’s got it, but he isn’t fast enough. He’s already seen Omori leering from the empty socket. 

“You look ridiculous,” Omori informs him. “Like a little kid playing dress-up. What do you want to cover it up for, anyway? It's cool. It’s the only thing about you that’s cool. You should fill it with fake blood and scare people.”

Sunny frowns at him. Omori knows why he covers it. The empty socket is pink and raw and there’s always milky fluid seeping out of it. It makes people uncomfortable. 

“Sounds like a them problem,” Omori sniffs. “It’s not like anyone ever sees you, anyway.” 

Well. Yes. But still. 

Sunny doesn’t like the new eyepatch. He likes how it looks, a soft heather gray embroidered with tiny bell-shaped flowers that remind him of— It doesn’t matter who they remind him of. But he doesn’t like how it feels. The strap bunches his hair so it tickles his ear, a constant prickling itch. He fantasizes idly about cutting it off. 

“The hair, or the ear?” Omori snickers. 

Does it matter? 

He’s distracted by a sharp little chirp from his laptop, sitting open in his bedroom. That’s different, too. In his new house, his laptop is always chirping. Kel insisted on setting Sunny up with an AIM account before he left town. Then Kel insisted a few more times, at higher and higher volumes until Sunny went limp and let him do what he wanted. 

It’s not that he doesn’t want to hear from his friends. He always wants to hear from his friends. He just doesn’t want to not-hear from his friends while knowing that he could, if they actually wanted him to. Which they don’t. Why would they? He killed someone they loved. 

As usual, the exception is Kel, who never acts the way he should. Kel messages Sunny every week about little things, what he had for dinner or what he got in trouble for at school. Sunny never answers. He doesn’t know what he’s supposed to say. 

(If Mari were here, she could tell him what to say. She always knew when someone said something that meant something else. She could listen to the silence between each word and sift out every secret meaning, all the things the speaker didn’t want to say but still expected you to hear. But Sunny killed Mari, and now all her knowledge is locked away forever. So it’s safer just to say nothing.)

Sunny doesn’t want to look at all the messages he hasn’t answered, so he turns on the TV. In the new house, the TV doesn’t only play static. It plays weather alerts and local news and procedurals where angry men kill other angry men. Mostly, though, it plays commercials. Today it’s an ad for something to do with cooking, or possibly cleaning. One type of towel is clearly much more absorbent than the other. Mari holds out one in each hand and smiles at him, sadly. 

“But aren’t you lonely?” 

Sunny gives her a dirty look. Of course he’s lonely.

“You don’t have to be alone, you know,” she tells him kindly. “There are dozens of hot singles in your area, just waiting for you to—” 

Sunny turns off the TV. 

“God, you are such a loser,” Omori sneers. “You'd think a murderer would at least be interesting. Is this really what you were fighting for? If you were just going to sit in your room and stare at a wall like some loser shut-in freak, you should’ve let me win. At least I would have been interesting.”

Sunny’s mouth thins. He can’t pretend he hasn’t thought about it. But it doesn’t matter, and even if it does, it’s too late. Sunny is still here, and Omori is just another ghost. 

He wanders reluctantly toward his laptop. Sixteen unread messages. 

[kelkelkel]: sunny!!!!!! tell aubrey to stop bullying me!!!

[kelkelkel]: every time i go outside there's someone from her gang out there with their arms held out like a bunch of freaky scarecrows!!!! 

[kelkelkel]: sometimes it’s ALL OF THEM 

[kelkelkel]: and they don't even say anything!!!! 

[kelkelkel]: and anytme i ask her abt it she just says their ESTABLISHING DOMINANCE

[kelkelkel]: jokes on her cuz tomorrow im leaving thru the window >:] 

[kelkelkel]: i broke my ankle!!!!!!!! 

[kelkelkel]: cast.jpg

[kelkelkel]: now were twins

[kelkelkel]: bandage bros 4 lyyyyfffeee 🤜🏽🤛🏻

[kelkelkel]: math test today🤢🤢🤢do u think basil would tutor me if i get him a new plant? 

[kelkelkel]: TRICK QUESTION, t he answer is DEFINITLY and he’ll do it for free

[kelkelkel]: don’t wrry bro im no mooch ;) ill bring the flower boy a flower 

[kelkelkel]: suunnnnnyyyyyyyyy 

[kelkelkel]: i told aubrey my secret plan for acing trig nad she LAUGHED AT ME and she won’t even tell me why!!!!!!!

[kelkelkel]: ur the only one who appreciates my jenius >:( 

###

Sunny’s hands squeeze to fists, twisted in the fabric of his shirt. Warmth builds in his belly till he burns with it, limbs jittering and sparking. It’s always been like this, with Kel, because Kel has always been like this: too big, too loud, too bright. Just thinking about him almost hurts. 

It was the same at the hospital, when Sunny told his friends the worst thing they would ever hear. Kel’s face fell and his smile died, but his glow never dimmed. His hands danced like two fish but his eyes stayed fixed on Hero’s face, long legs coiled like springs, synapses readying to— To what? To fight his brother? To throw himself between them? Sunny doesn’t know, because Hero didn’t move. Statues never stood so still. 

Sunny becomes aware that his hands are shaking. He forces himself to take a breath. He doesn’t want to think about Hero right now, or any of the others either. Sunny isn’t hiding anymore, but it’s not lying to need a break sometimes, surely. When the other option is to let it break you.

He closes his laptop. 

“Told you,” Omori jeers, singsong and mocking. “Same as you always were. Can’t do anything without your big sister, and you took care of that, didn’t you? Now you’ll be useless forever.”  

Sunny scowls. He already knows that. It doesn’t mean he wants to hear it.

[Read the rest here: https://archiveofourown.org/works/43929270]

[parageist]

Chapter 1 [still kind of a work in progress. i should also probably post it somewhere else when it’s finished]:

The second Sunny's knees buckled, any resemblance of anger vanished from Hero's mind, as if it was never there in the first place. Every nerve in his body was focused on one thing: stopping Sunny's head from hitting the ground. It was almost superhuman the way Hero leaped towards the fainting boy, clutching his bandaged head like it was an antique artifact. For a moment, his hands lost all sensation as his mind was haunted with grief. A little thought from a deep dark place told Hero to smash Sunny's skull into the floor. But that thought wasn't intrusive enough to break from its subconscious chains. And even if it had, it wasn't long before Hero was hauled away by a security guard. A soft "Sunny, please forgive me..." was drowned out by shouts originating from all parties.

Kel sat biting his nails, rocking back in forth in the hospital lobby next to a distraught Polly. The ambience of babies crying, equipment beeping, and nurses rushing slowly became audible to him again after what felt like an hour of pure ear-ringing. Kel wiped his red, tear-stained face and looked up. He wasn't sure what managed to snap him back into reality, but whatever it was, he was grateful for. He had to stay happy and grounded, especially after what just went down.

Kel fumbled with a plastic object in his pocket, which produced strained beeps followed by a series of pixels materializing onto the LCD screen of Kel's Pet Rock game. His gaze was met with the same old Pluto pet he had been training his entire childhood. Wow, it was still absolutely wrecked after Sunny clashed with him a few days prior. As his friend entered his mind, Kel felt a brief smile take hold of his face. For a minute, it felt like he was back wandering around Farawy town with Sunny by his side, doing whatever odd-jobs he could find. The more he reminisced, the easier it was to forget about whatever Sunny had said earlier this morning. That fight didn't even happen, as far as Kel was concerned. But what did happen next, was the familiar rachet of his parent's arguing. Yet surprisingly, it wasn't about him this time, as when Kel turned towards the noise, he saw his older brother sandwiched between their parents, surrounding him in a cage of stern looks and serious conversations. Kel pressed a button on his Pet Rock keychain, and slid it aggressively into his pocket. As his parents and brother walked closer, Kel's father shot a quick glance at him and motioned for him to go.

"Bye Polly," Kel blurted as he quickly stood up and followed his parents out of the lobby.

The woman weakly smiled at him, before continuing to stare worrying down a hallway where Basil's room stood.

By the time the family had found their parking spot and gotten in the car, they were no longer scolding anyone. Hero and their parents remained silent during the ride home, as Kel stared out the window at something imaginary in the distance. He frequently peeked to his right, trying to get a read on Hero, but his brother kept his face hidden against the door. Occasionally a sharp sniffle would pierce the silence, as Hero wiped his nose and adjusted his lanky body. There had always been a duality between the brothers when it came to maintaining a comfortable position: Kel could sit on a jagged rock all day and be fine, while Hero was constantly shifting himself, even in his sleep. Every time they passed a mile marker or exit on the freeway, Kel wanted to break the silence holding the car hostage. He wanted to just slide across the back seat and hug his brother, but feared what might happen after an old attempt at comforting him went south. Hero just needed his space, something Kel struggled to accept.

As their car pulled into the family's driveway, Kel noticed a large white truck parked outside of Sunny's house, with the text PACK 'N GO printed on the side. A decal of a cartoonish man with a cardboard box for a head smiled at Kel, as if mocking him. His best friend really was moving away.

~~~~~~~~

Aubrey stared absently at her reflection. Any chance of a staring contest was off the table, as she blinked away her tears. Despite being right next to Faraway Plaza and the park, the lakeside hangout felt quieter than ever, so much so that she could hear her tears dripping into the water. Maybe she could just let go from the dock, and let the ripples consume her. Strands of pink hair brushed by in the wind, clouding her vision.

"Mari would want us to be happy," Kel's words echoed through Aubrey's head.

She let her bangs fall further across her face, as she shifted away from the edge of the dock and sighed. Even though he wasn't here, Aubrey wanted some reason to be mad at Kel. She wanted to curse him out for putting words into Mari's mouth. But was he really wrong? The only person who knew was dead, but Aubrey still needed answers from her, desperately.

She pushed away a branch that stood in the way of the path to the lake, as she emerged into the park. Not a second passed before she spotted Kim, Vance, Charlie, Angel, and Mikhael riding their scooters down the sidewalk which ran parallel to the park, forcing her to duck back behind the branch and hide. Hopefully the setting sun's light wouldn't reveal her neon-pink hair hidden amongst the park's verdant trees.

"Do you think she's back from the hospital yet?" Aubrey overheard Mikhael as the troupe rode by.

"She should be soon. I think she's just waiting for her friend to get better," Kim said.

"That nerd Sunny? He has to challenge me to a rematch!" Angel cackled.

"Relax bud, he still needs to heal up," Vance said gruffly.

"Yeah whatever..." Angel looked over at Charlie, who shared Vance's sentiment, before pouting and looking at the ground.

"Perhaps it's time this gang got a new leader... THE MAVERICK!" The wigged boy laughed as he stopped his scooter and posed dramatically. Angel cheered in agreement, before realizing the other three continued on ahead without acknowledgement, and left The Maverick behind in the dust. "Hey wait up guys!"

Her odd gaggle of friends were surely far away now that Aubrey could step out into the park without being recognized. She hurried across the grass and down the sidewalk, and as she reached the intersection that sat behind her home, a familiar red truck drove by. Through the pink hairs blown across her face by the passing truck's force, she saw Hero looking out the back window. Neither of them reacted as their gazes met, and as soon as the road was clear, Aubrey continued on to her destination. The church was locked, and as she peered into the stained glass windows, empty. Not surprising, given the fact it was a Thursday night. She carried on the side path into the cemetery, which had always existed but for whatever reason most people would rather cut through the church and take the back door instead.

"Aye, Aubrey," an old beardy man with whitened hair nodded his head in greeting. "Mari's been talking to me all day. Y'know how she gets when you keep her waitin'!" he let out a shortened, raspy laugh.

"Thanks Scott..." said the pink-haired girl quietly, not stopping her walk until she arrived at Mari's grave. Aubrey looked down at the pot of flowers recently set there by her friends. The wind grew still as she kneeled before the headstone.

"Mari... what happened? What the hell happened to you?! WHAT THE FUCK IS GOING ON??!!" Her eyes quickly filled back up with tears as her hands fell to the ground and grasped the earth. "I thought I had made peace with what happened, and then that pyschopath of a brother you have shattered it all with his stupid cryptic words. But... I just want to know what you have to say. I just want a sign from you. Anything, Mari. Please... I'm so confused." As she wept, her tears watered the frail valley lilies placed on her grave. "Nothing makes any sense anymore. I thought it did. Even if I acted out against him, I was happy to see Sunny for the first time after all these years. Ha... and now there's a part of me thats happy he's moving away." Aubrey's little chuckle fell right back down into a frown. "But he can't! He can't just pull some shit like that!! He can't just 'bring the gang back together' and then knock out Basil and lose an eye the same god damn night!!! Who the hell am I kidding... Sunny has never made sense. Every time I thought I understood him... every time I started catching feelings for him, his sorry ass had to mess up everything and turn my world back upside down." There was a long period of silence as Aubrey tried gathering her thoughts before letting out the next rant in front of the potted flowers. It was dark enough for the streetlights to blink to life and for Venus to become noticeable in the fading sky. The old bearded gravekeeper shot a weary glance at Aubrey before packing his things and exiting the cemetery.

"Lock the gate for me when you're done, okay?" Scott said, leaving the keys on a nearby sign.

The lack of his presence didn't change the girl's thoughts or manner. She was just as confused and frustrated as ever, but she didn't have the energy left in her to yell. And even if she did, Mari didn't deserve to be screamed at. Nor did the other spirits resting here.

"Will you at least let me know? If what Sunny was saying is true? Even if it... really fucking hurts," Aubrey wiped her tears and let out a trembling sigh. "I'm sorry. I know saying those things about him probably scared you but... I hope you understand why I'm mad at him. If you can't that's okay too... I guess... I'm sorry Mari. I love you..."

Aubrey had the unusual talent of being able to stand up very quickly after sitting for long periods of time without her head getting dizzy. Yet she did still stars, this time being real, slowly emerging into the darkening sky. Her mother would be furious for staying out this late, if it wasn't for her near comatose state of alcoholic depression. Still, Aubrey didn't need to see her tonight, even if it was for just a few brief seconds as she rushed pass her snoring form on the couch and up to her attic bedroom. For a while she considered asking Kim to spend the night, before realizing she wasn't with her dad on Thursdays. Kim's mom would've called Aubrey's right away if she found her in their house. Perhaps Charlie? He was very sweet, but Aubrey was worried about his creepy older brother. Last time she was there, him and a bunch of guys 10 years older than her tried hitting on her. Angel's older sister was kinda cool, but Aubrey didn't know her well enough to feel comfortable asking to spend the night.

As she pondered her choices, she realized something blatantly hypocritical about her earlier avoidance of her friends at the park. She needed space. She didn't want to bother them with her grief. She just wanted to talk to Mari.

But now that conversation was over, did she still need space? Of course she did. Even if she didn't, it would be rude to ask something like that from them, they're probably already asleep by now. As Aubrey let out a final sigh, the last remaining traces of daylight fell below the horizon and a patchwork of milky stars spilled across the eggplant-colored sky.

She wasn't planning on run away, but right now every other option felt too complicated. Everything was so confusing and broken, after what felt like a final moment of clarity and reunion. What was she even thinking back then? Aubrey was a fool, no, a complete idiot for thinking she could ever be friends again with those traitors. She left a trail of tears as she ran in a random direction through the forest. Twigs crackled under her burden, as if her sobbing wasn't enough to alert all sorts of nocturnal creatures to her presence. Maybe it was fate, coincidence, or a message from Mari, but eventually she emerged from the woods with sticks and leaves entangled in her hair, into a small clearing. It was hard to tell under the light of dusk, but perhaps she had gone camping her once long ago. Out of the corner of her vision, a shining pair of eyes stared unwavering at her.

"Hey!" Aubrey shouted, attempting to make herself look bigger. Or wait, maybe it was a cougar? In that case she should play dead. Either way, it didn't matter in the end, as the creature continued staring directly into her soul. It wasn't alive, Aubrey soon discovered, slowly walking closer, until a pair of binoculars stood at her feet. The moonlight must've been reflecting off of its glass lenses. She picked it up, examining the roughened faux leather grip. The faded name YUMEWOMIRUHITO was written on the side in Sharpie. When she read that last name, a shock rang throughout her body. Aubrey wanted nothing but to chuck these stupid binoculars as far as she could into the trees, for they belonged to none other than Sunny's father.

For a moment she remembered that day and it played out before her like an old film reel. Aubrey, Kel, and the Yumewomiruhito siblings were out in this forest catching bugs. Sunny's dad had let him borrow his old binoculars he used when hunting. How binoculars would help a boy catch tiny bugs was beyond even 12-year-old Aubrey's understanding, but at least he wasn't as stupid as Kel, who was looking through them the wrong way and calling Sunny a bug because of how small he looked. Kel must've dropped them after Mari called them over to show off a cool bug she had found, or got them mixed up with his net when he was assessing inventory, for they never found their way back into Mr. Yumewomiruhito's hands. Hopefully he didn't go too hard on Sunny after finding out they were missing...

Ha... Hoping something good on Sunny? Aubrey quickly dismissed the thought as she turned off the imaginary memory recording. The chattering of the film camera's motor was replaced by the harsh shatter of glass and plastic, as bits of the thrown binoculars scattered across the forest. Why was she doing this?? Before she could answer her questions, her destructive tendencies carried her back into the forest, where everything but answers lie.

~~~~~~

[the rest of the chapter is still in works but here’s an extra bonus scene i wasn’t sure where to place in the narrative]:

Welcome to White Space. You have no longer been living here.

A small black cat sat happily in the boy’s lap, as he looked off into the empty white abyss of his room. A peculiar cable dangled from somewhere in the heavens, ending in a gnarled mess of wires after someone had ripped it in half. The boy stared ahead at the perpetrator. Another boy, similar yet aged, sat in a hospital gown at the other end of the room, crying softly. Omori gently pushed the cat off from his lap and walked over to the crying boy.

"You may have stripped me of my power here," he looked back at the bulbless cable which hung from his ceiling. "Yet I will always remain."

The kneeling boy looked up at him with one eye, the other covered in a tear-soaked bandage.

"Don't worry. I'm not here to harm you. You've already let the genie out of its bottle. Do you understand, Sunny?"

The boy's crying quieted, yet he lacked the strength to reply.

"I told you they would hate you. I tried to stop it. Everything I did was always for you. But you're just too selfish and stubborn." Despite his calm, monotone voice, every word Omori uttered was an assault on Sunny's eardums and a knife directly to his heart. "Still, I offer you an escape. Will you accept?"

Sunny wiped his teary, red face and looked up at Omori's outstretched hand. Many times he had reached up and let him take him away into his embrace, and it was itself a battle to resist doing the same here. He shook his head weakly.

"Very well," Omori said, his white hand dropping back to his side. "But know this world is not made for you. You cannot leave the bounds of this white room." The boy in the tank-top walked over to a white door that cast a soft shadow, sat back down, and beckoned for the small black cat.

the prologue of an omori fanfic ive been working on [title still undecided]:

“I have something to tell you.”

Kel, Aubrey, and Hero turned to meet Sunny, still in his hospital gown and bandages, standing at the entrance of the room.

“Hey Sunny!” Kel yelled with excitement, despite the puzzled looks on everyone else’s faces.

“Sunny, how did you get in here?” Aubrey said, hiding her happiness under a brash remark.

“Where’s your nurse?” said Hero. “You should be lying down right now.”

Sunny’s only acknowledgement of Hero’s words was a pained grimace, before he repeated the same statement.

“I have something to tell you.”

Basil, who at first smiled upon Sunny’s unexpected appearance in his room, sat up in his hospital bed with a worried look on his bandaged face.

“Sunny, a-are you sure about this?”everyone turned back to face Basil. “Maybe we should wait before…”

“If you’ve got something to say, then say it!” Kel interjected, unintentionally blunt.

“We are here for you if you need to tell us anything,” Hero paused before quickly adding “but I really think now’s the time to rest, don’t you think Sunny?” he finished with a caring smile.

Sunny’s heart was trying to escape his chest as thoughts freshly excavated from his subconscious filled his mind.

“I need to tell you guys something. I don’t know how much longer I can keep this in,” his voice began to break.

“Hey it’s alright, I’m not mad, just making sure you’re healthy enough to be out of your bed!” Hero said warmly, as he and Kel approached Sunny for a hug.

“You should get him some water,” Aubrey spoke as she shuffled over to the three boys, pulling up a chair for him.

“I’ll get it for you Sunny!” Kel hurried out of the room, almost colliding with a passing-by nurse.

Sunny wanted to thank Aubrey for the chair, but he couldn’t leave Basil on the other side of the room. He pointed to his friend’s bed and hoped she would understand. She didn’t, but Hero did.

“Come sit with us over here,” he said, moving Sunny’s chair back to where Basil was. Aubrey didn’t seem to mind, and joined them in the back of the room.

Sunny’s one eye stared absently at the floor. Basil looked around aimlessly before closing his eyes and taking a deep breath.

“So… what’s up?” Aubrey spoke after a few minutes of silence.

Despite Aubrey and Hero’s understanding presence, Sunny and Basil’s minds were burning with turmoil.

“It’s about Mari,” is all the black-haired boy could muster. This instantly changed the look on the other two’s faces, yet they remained silent.

“She…” Sunny gulped as tears began to rise in his throat and drip from his good eye. The other one stung with pain under its patch.

“Mari didn’t end her own life.”

“Sunny, what do you mean? You’re not making any sense.” Aubrey said after a fleeting thought of confusion.

Hero pondered Sunny’s words, bargaining with his own mind, before simply telling him “I really think you should lay back down. A couple years ago I got my wisdom teeth removed, and that recovery was a mess! I think I told Kel that aliens were doing surgery on me, or that Hector was in the operating room next to me.” He flashed a brief smile and chuckled, but deep down there was a part of him that believed Sunny’s words. Then the boy spoke again.

“That day there was… an accident.” After that, Sunny’s mouth continued to move but no sound escaped him. There were too many thoughts and not enough words to keep up with the speed his mind was racing at. After a long silence, Aubrey finally replied with

“We all know what happened that day,” Sunny’s heart skipped a beat after hearing her words, thinking she somehow knew the truth the entire time, before she completed her speech and snapped him back to reality. “Don’t put the blame on yourself. Nobody could’ve predicted she would… do that to herself.”

Hero stared at Sunny’s hands. They were trembling. Why would they be trembling so much if he was just saying something delusional from the medicine? Nothing was making sense to him, but before he could think about it more, Basil cried from his bed, “I’m so sorry everyone. I’m so sorry…” Hero looked over at his stitch-covered face, crimson as tears poured from his eyes and snot dripped from his broken nose. There was no way both Sunny and Basil could be thinking the same random, delusional lies about Mari’s death and acting this paranoid about them. Something was very wrong. But he could not speak, and continued to stare at the floor and cover his mouth in a distraught state.

Kel suddenly appeared back in the room, carefully juggling the cups of water and jello in his hands.

“Hey guys, I’m back!” he spoke enthusiastically before noticing Aubrey comforting Basil as he sobbed in his bed, and Hero looking as if he had seen a ghost. Kel rushed over to Basil’s bed, “Wait Basil are you okay? Here, I brought you something,” but his offer was stopped as Hero reached his hand out to block his brother.

“Thank you Kel,” he spoke, taking some cups from Kel’s hands and placing them near Basil. “Could you step back out for a moment?”

“Why? What’s going on?” Kel handed the other cups to Sunny, who grasped them weakly with his still shaking hands, and then sat next to him and Hero.

“N…nevermind. I’m sorry,” his brother recoiled, hiding a bad thought that had surfaced onto his face.

“What’s up with him?” Kel said to Sunny, pointing to his distraught brother, before realizing the look on Sunny’s face and shifting the conversation’s subject to him.

“Hey what’s wrong?” Kel whispered as he nudged closer to Sunny, who then stood up suddenly with a deep, trembling breath.

“Mari didn’t kill herself. That’s the truth. The reason I’ve been trapped in a prison of my own creation,” Sunny spoke with an unexpected clarity despite the unease in his throat. “I need you guys to listen to me. You deserve to know what really happened. I’m so sorry we’ve kept this from you for all this time. I’m sorry.” His voice broke into a violent sob and he collapsed back into his chair, holding himself in a fetal position. A wave of dread passed over the room. Aubrey, who was holding Basil’s hand as he wept, froze, unsure what to do with the muscles on her face. Kel kept trying to hug Sunny, to pat his back or hold his hand, but hesitated right before making contact each time. Hero looked away, his absent eyes glued to the wall, before uttering something.

“Basil, is this true?” His desolate, glazed expression turned to meet the flower boy, who lay paralyzed in his bed. Not a moment of silence passed before Aubrey forced a confession out of him.

“Say something! You’re freaking us all out here!”

Hero wanted to tell her, and if he was being honest, himself, to settle down, but Basil replied

“Yes. I’m sorry,” with a yelp.

Kel continued to awkwardly hover around Sunny, as even he felt himself beginning to cry. Aubrey looked like she was about to throw up. Hero had began pacing about the room uncomfortably.

“If Mari’s death really was an accident, then how did she end up in that tree?” His voice felt both fast and slow at the same time, a dichotomy of confusion reflecting his inner doubts. Hero intended for the two confessors to answer, but kept pacing the room anxiously, unable to rally the courage to ask again.

But wether he wanted to or not did not matter, as all the trauma Hero had deep within himself furiously erupted like a volcano, ignited by Sunny and Basil’s revelation.

“HOW THE FUCK DID SHE END UP IN THAT TREE, SUNNY?” he screamed, grasping Sunny’s shoulders as tears burst from his crazed eyes.

“Hero stop it!” Kel jumped up and ripped his brother away from the quivering boy. “What has gotten into you?! How could you do that to him after what just happened?!?” Hero ignored his brother’s words, staring at Sunny with anguish as Kel pulled him further away. Aubrey burst out of the room, completely disgruntled, leaving the four boys to themselves.

“I’m sorry I’m sorry I’m sorry I’m so so sorry,” Basil cried, helplessly watching from his bed as his friends fought.

Sunny began to shut down. The whole world was spinning around him. Hero’s screaming words echoed through his mind. The mortified look on Aubrey’s face as she ran out of the room was all he could see, as everything continued to spin. Telling the truth was supposed to be the good decision, right? The last thing Sunny saw was his best friend Basil’s blurry face as he tumbled to the ground and the Earth’s spin slammed to a halt.