#Kel insists he's responsible for everything he likes and Aubrey is responsible for everything he doesn't

[charismabee]

thinking about the dumb swap au I have where Hero Aubrey and Kel all accidentally kill Mari (teamwork <3), go to get help, and Basil (who saw everything) decides to help his friends by framing her death as a suicide (he's such a little freak and I would argue the only one who would think to do this), gaslighting the trio as now everyone believes they are just feeling trauma guilt when they try to explain that they killed Mari. So now only Sunny doesn't know about the truth about Mari's death, and isolates himself bc they had a fight right before and he blames himself.

And then they proceed to have weird shared headspace dreams for the next four years. It's still Sunny's dreams, they're all just hanging out in there, unaware, blaming each other for the existence of Sweetheart (Sweetheart such an Aubrey dream creation - Kel) and figuring out the characters that relate to people they know (Okay, which one of you gave Daphne and Bowen depression - Hero). They never talk about the shared dreams irl, it's just a weird thing that's happening. Sunny feels all sorts of weird about his dream friends and their excentricities.

[omori-aus-archive]

Here we are. The LAST chapter of my Ghost/Resurrected Mari AU: "By Your Side, Always".

I should point out that THIS is supposed to be a belated chapter for Sunny's birthday, as the previous one was NOT suitable for his birthday. After this, I'll be making a thank you message of sort.

Hope you enjoy the finale.

Epilogue III: Chapter 40: Arc 12: Endings Are Beginnings Reprise: Onto Homeward Bound

—————————————————————-

Mari and Sunny sat at their grave. The group insisted in their wills that they should be buried together. The oldest of the two siblings, forcibly taking on her goddess form, leaned against her brother as he slept against her.

Even though their adulthood was full of joy, to Mari, it felt like it went by far too quickly. She knew Sunny felt the same. She was certain that the others did too.

"Do you think...it was best for us to go together...?" Sunny asked. His sister, without a second thought, gave a firm nod. "We're siblings. We were attached at the hip." She explained.

The woman took a deep breath, before saying, "We're sticking together. I don't want to imagine a life or afterlife without you or the others with me."

Instead of a word of response, the young man just hugged Mari tightly.

....

....

Aubrey would be the first to arrive, immediately sitting down and leaning against Sunny. Much like her husband, she looked how she did during the month of her and Sunny's wedding; hair cut short and her brown natural hair-color returning.

"Has anyone else arrived?" The younger woman asked. The youngest of the group shook his head, "Not even Basil has arrived.... Kel and Hero most likely are watching over Sally and Henry."

Aubrey nodded, before looking at Mari, "How are you holding up...?" The new goddess sighed, "Could be better.... Wish our adulthood lasted longer."

"It felt like we didn't get a chance to fully experience it. Or something akin to that...." She sighed.

Sunny held his sister's hand, rubbing her knuckles gently to coax her to relax.

....

....

Eventually, Basil did arrive...and much to the trio's surprise, happier. He still looked as he did when he was in his 20s, sitting down before giving a sad expression, "I'm sorry...for leaving so soon."

"And I'm sorry for not arriving sooner than you would've liked." The blonde added. "I needed to talk to Polly and Grandma." Instead of responding, Aubrey just pulled her adoptive brother into a hug, whispering, "We missed you."

Basil almost immediately returned the embrace, before hugging Mari and Sunny. "Kel's with Sally still, if you needed to be sure." He explained. Mari nodded, "Assuming's one thing...but it's better to have confirmation."

Sunny nodded in agreement, before the blonde continued, "Chances are that he'll be here with her and Hero after Sally joins us. She's in her 80s now."

The trio nodded.

....

....

Kel would ultimately arrive, guiding Sally while also dragging Hero. "Sorry we're late...." The athlete said with an apologetic expression. He then got the doctor to sit next to Mari, before he and Sally sat next to him.

Sunny and Mari could tell how tired Kel seemed.... But now that everything was done, they hoped he could find some element of peace.

Looked like they were more similar to the brothers then expected....

The goddess looked at her husband, "Hero.... Please look at me...." Reluctantly, Hero did so, cuing Mari to continue, "Hero, I...know this hard to accept, but...there was no way for Sunny and I to be saved."

"We were experiencing a cancer, a disease, or some sort of fatal injury or sickness that could be removed or cured...." Mari sighed. "Our encounter with my demonic doppelganger changed us completely."

The goddess rubbed her eyes, trying to think of the easier way to explain this, "Our souls changed. And because of that, they became incompatible with our bodies."

"Think of it as a file meant for a certain OS, but you have a different OS." Sunny added, with Mari nodding in agreement.

Hero gave a reluctant sigh, before leaning against his wife. It was honestly going to be hard for him to accept that there was nothing he could've done....

But he would get there. Eventually.

A few hours of silent peace fell on the group, now reunited for the second time after many long years.

Mari then asked the heavy question, "Are we ready? To head to that place?", only to find that everyone around was napping...save for Sunny.

"We'll head to the afterlife you spoke of after a nap." Her brother reassured tiredly. "We all need this...."

Mari certainly couldn't argue with that.

She kissed her brother’s forehead, humming, “Alright. Nap first. Then we’ll talk about heading out.”

With that, the two siblings, family by their side, went to sleep…before eventually the group went to the afterlife.

—————————————————————-

Now....

Firstly, thank you to @ksenya-and-the-artistic-cucumber, @toriwhitespace, @chommki, @besitosdeleche, @rubyspark1, @the-omori-archives, @neskastree, @daniople, @eggsoupery, @enigmaticallyartful, @megamiman, @oworii, @olouwi, @kitdreamzing, @shrimperini, and various, VARIOUS others on Tumblr, Twitter, and Discord for helping me get this far.

Secondly, I would like thank them for helping me realize my passion for writing. This was honestly more successful then some of my other projects. Honestly, I didn't think this would get that much attention after I left AO3 (best decision I made).

Thirdly, thank you to the ones who stuck around despite my behavior and frustration. Who stuck around despite the hiatuses. Who stuck around despite my writer's blocks. Who stuck around for the art and writing. And many more.

And lastly, thank you to the people who mischaracterized/demonized/vilified Mari and Sunny for reminding me WHY I made this in the first place and why I will continue to make stuff like this.

As a present, here the first Omori comm I purchased from @enigmaticallyartful again.

Omori: By Your Side. Always. (Ghost Mari AU)

(Cover art by @enigmaticallyartful and edited by me.)

—————————————————————

Chapter 1: Arc 1: Endings Are Beginnings: Death And Afterlife

—————————————————————-

At first, there’s darkness surrounding her.

All she remembered right now was….an overwhelming and unshakable feeling of regret and guilt.

An overwhelming sorrow and aching heart. A pain in the back of her neck and the cold welcoming of death….

An unbreakable….and UNSTOPPABLE amount of rage and hatred towards herself for harming someone she loved….

She remembered begging….pleading….PRAYING to that someone to forgive her. To not blame himself for her actions. For an accident that SHE caused.

Then darkness returned as a surprising, yet unsettling warmth greeted her….

—————————————————————-

The first thing that Mari noticed when she opened her eyes was that she was on the floor by the stairs, laying on her back. Much to her surprise, she wasn’t in pain. “Why am I….?” She began to ask herself, before she froze when she heard Sunny sobbing.

Immediately, Mari got to her feet, but stopped just short of the stairs when she noticed her brother’s destroyed violin. She remembered that Sunny had broken it in frustration.

Mari also remembered being shoved down the stairs by the younger teenager, only for him to immediately try and grab her hand to stop her from falling in panic and regret.

She then remembered her argument with Sunny that caused him to shove her, flinching as guilt course through her. She….really fucked up during that, for lack of a better term. She probably scared Sunny and made him hate her.

She then panicked and immediately ran up the stairs. Sunny was sobbing because she hurt him. Her brother was crying because of the argument they had. She needed to apologize, comfort him, help him in anyway she could think of.

Sunny may have broken his violin, but Mari now knew that he must’ve had a good reason for it. If she found out about that, then she could help him.

She then ran towards her room, though her panic was too high for her to wonder WHY Sunny was in there. Why Basil was looking inside. Why she ran THROUGH the door itself.

As soon as she made it in, Mari opened her mouth to speak, but froze when she saw HERSELF in her bed. Not moving. Not breathing. Not LIVING.

“Am I….dead?” Mari whispered in horror and sorrow, watching her little brother sob his eyes out as he held her lifeless hand. With Basil watching from the open door.

An older Mari, furious and frighteningly similar to an adult angel, shouted, “DAMN RIGHT! YOU SHOULD BE ASHAMED!” “HOW DARE YOU YELL AND TREAT YOUR BROTHER LIKE THAT!” The angel snapped in rage, causing the 15-year-old to jump in fright.

Another Mari, but as a saddened and heart-broken child, said, “Why did you push Sunny so hard? He was clearly becoming more frustrated and you….” “You didn’t seem to CARE….” The saddened girl said, nearly choking on her own sob.

Another Mari, who was mostly entirely in shadow, looked at Sunny and hugged him tightly. Or tried to anyway, as she began crying. The shadowed Mari began whispering to Sunny how sorry she was, but didn’t ask for forgiveness.

Mari then collapsed to her knees and broke into sobs, whispering, “God, what have I done….?” She knew what she did. She had FUCKED UP….

And she probably would never be able to get a chance to redeem herself for it. She was dead….because she hurt Sunny.

As far as she was currently concerned…..THIS was her penance. And she was MORE than certain that she deserved it.

After what seemed like hours of crying to herself, of feeling guilt eat away at her, of feeling furious with herself, Mari looked up at the bed, only to notice Sunny and Basil were missing….as was her body.

She then rushed around the house, searching for her little brothers. She then found them in the backyard, walking away with fear and trauma in their faces.

It was only when Mari looked behind them that she saw why. And she covered her mouth in shock and fear.

There was her body. Hanging from the tree with a jump rope used as a noose.

“Dear god…..” She whispered, immediately turning away and heading back into the house, where Mari slumped against the walls in the hallway, trying to calm herself down.

She was dead.

And now the boys have traumatized themselves by faking her death as a suicide.

She didn’t even want to know how everyone was going to react if they found out the truth.

As fear, anger, self-hatred, sorrow, hopelessness, and guilt coursed through Mari again, she knew that her new existence….

WAS going to be Hell on Earth.

Keep reading