Chapter Text
“Hey, Omori! Omori, look at me!”
A small monochrome boy flashed his empty, pitch-black gaze at an equally small figure, who happened to be waving her hands in the air and calling out the boy’s name. She had long purple hair and wore a light blue gown, with a small pink bow resting on the side of her head.
The boy, dubbed Omori by the girl, nodded at her with a thumbs up. She practically sparkled with joy at the acknowledgment, then turned around swiftly on her heels at a practiced rhythm, charging at the giant creature in front of them.
It was as black as Omori’s eyes, and towered above them, its inky arms reaching out to grab them. Its mouth was gaping and horrible, like a black hole that desired to vacuum them up. Its eyes were no better, although they were white and full of menace. The huge, inky blob certainly had the intent to kill.
The girl ran with gaining velocity at the monster, a stuffed eggplant toy raised high. As soon as she was close enough, the toy came crashing down on one of the arms, forcing it to separate from the rest of the creature’s awful body, if you could even call it a body.
It howled with a sickening volume, its despair resembling that of a falling bomb. Omori winced, but he did not falter.
He took a split second to glance at his other side, seeing two other kids running at the monster. They had the same purple hair and colorful nightwear as the girl. Omori, with determination, readied his blade and pursued the creature as well .
“Get ‘em, Omori!” shouted the shorter boy, who looked immensely proud, dashing around the creature to either taunt it or distract it. Or both. The taller boy simply flashed a smile his way, then swung his spatula at their foe. It roared angrily and slowly bent down toward the tall boy, its moving body sounding like a million bones cracking and breaking at once.
While it was preoccupied, Omori leaped into the air with his knife in hand, and he propelled himself at the enemy, descending upon where he guessed the ‘heart’, or vital, was.
Once he was close enough, he plunged the sharp blade into the monster’s body. He squinted as he dug in with as much force as he could, and let it fall with him, remaining inside the void-like mass.
It let out its horrible shriek again. Omori ripped out his knife and backed up, as did the other three. Their enemy roared and screamed in agony and fury, then collapsed onto the grass with a harsh thud.
“Ohhhhh yeah,” the shorter boy whooped, pumping the air with his fists, “another scary void monster down!”
The tall boy chuckled, patting the other’s shoulder. The four watched as the creature’s form slowly melted and dissolved into the ground, until it was completely gone. The grass it had landed on was now gray and brittle as if it had been scorched several days ago.
“Thank god,” sighed the girl, “I’m getting sick of these things. How many can there possibly be?” They all gathered together now, putting away their weapons and sitting down on the untouched grass. It swayed peacefully and held onto its precious green color.
“I’m wondering where the heck they even come from,” responded the tall boy. His hair was big and puffy and, quite frankly, a mess. He had blue and white striped pajamas on and looked a bit older than the others.
“Well, wherever they’re coming from, and whatever their plan is, we’re lucky they can’t beat us! We’re just too strong a team, right, Omori?” boasted the shorter boy, nudging Omori with his elbow. His hair came straight down, and he adorned an odd, colorful checker-like shirt. It reminded Omori of a dance floor.
He nodded at the enthusiastic kid’s inquiry and glanced over all of his friends’ faces. The boy’s expression became even more proud, mostly of himself. The tall boy was smiling at his antics, and the girl rolled her eyes, looking away, but Omori could see the smile she was trying to shroud.
“Well,” the tall boy sighed, “Kel, Aubrey, Omori, we should probably go tell Mari now. I’m sure she’ll be very pleased to know we got rid of this thing. Basil’ll probably be glad to nurse this grass back to health, as well.” The older kid stood up, encouraging the others to follow suit.
“Oh Hero, I bet you just want an excuse to get her praise, don’t you?” the girl, Aubrey, smugly smirked at the tall boy, Hero, who quickly turned red.
“W-what? No, of course not! She would just probably like an update. I would like to know if the giant scary monster roaming around the forest was gone or not too. She was also the one that told us about it in the first place,” he struggled to defend himself.
“Whatever you say, Hero,” Aubrey giggled, butting into his arm with her shoulder as she walked past him, beginning the journey to Mari. Hero sighed in defeat and followed after her, Kel hopping into step next to him. Omori took the last place in line, watching and listening to his friends’ antics.
Things had been… odd since the Dreamer left, to say the least. The story didn’t loop anymore, for it had no reason to. Everything was different now.
Omori had always been a pretty decisive person. He was sure in his goal to protect the Dreamer, to hide him from the Truth. He was sure in his decision to banish Basil and suppress the very idea of him in Headspace. He was sure when he fought the Dreamer, sure that the Truth was something he could not handle. He was sure that the Dreamer was the most sickening living thing in existence.
He may have been wrong on one or two of those things, but the fact of the matter was that he was certain about them. But now, as he is faced with a different story, a new plot, and a future he cannot fathom, he is unsure.
He is unsure whether he likes it or not.
The droning repetition of the loops was a comforting cycle, where Omori knew everything and anything that would happen. He didn’t have to guess or let it concern him. Everything was unpredictable now, and he wasn’t able to discern if he enjoys it or despises it.
Perhaps it’s a good thing. The Dreamer is gone, he is healing, Omori is with his friends, he has Mari, and Basil is no longer a threat.
It would’ve been logical for all of Headspace to fade away. Omori in fact expected to disappear along with all of it. He didn’t expect to find himself in White Space again, and he certainly didn’t expect to open the door to find the Neighbor’s Room with his friends waiting for him.
He had even been a little angry, under the assumption that the Dreamer had fallen right back into old habits, leeching off of the safety of Headspace again.
When he first opened the door to Headspace, it at first seemed like the loop had started again. But his friends weren’t gathered around a card game. They didn’t repeat the same lines again, and they even seemed a little confused.
That made sense, he thought. A lot had happened where they left off, after all, in the final loop. But it was no matter. They all continued on, enjoying Mari and Basil’s company, and playing with the children in the playground.
It didn’t take long after that for the creatures to show up.
They came in many different shapes and sizes, but they were all pitch black in color, with the occasional white for teeth or eyes. If Omori wasn’t confused before, he definitely was after they started to show up.
But he and his friends vanquished each and every one. They never had any idea where any of them came from, or why they were seemingly trying to destroy Headspace, but they got rid of them nonetheless.
They were starting to appear more and more frequently, however. It was… worrying. What could it possibly mean? The Dreamer was supposed to be healing. But Omori couldn’t even see the Dreamer anymore. It was almost as if the Dreamer wasn’t… the Dreamer… anymore.
If there was one thing for certain, at least, it was that Omori was not a fan of not knowing things.
He did have an idea, though. He wondered if the monsters came from Black Space.
It wasn’t that far of a stretch, considering their nature, but it only left an even bigger question.
Why is Black Space leaking?
“Hey Omori, you coming?” called Kel, snapping the black-and-white boy out of his thoughts. He nodded and picked up his pace, catching up to the others. They greeted him warmly, smiling like always, as if there was nothing ever wrong.
“I guess we need to change our pace if you’re gonna be walking so slow all the time now,” Kel joked.
“Oh, leave him alone, Kel,” Aubrey defended him, “he’s probably just got a lot on his mind. You don’t have to worry, Omori! The monsters are nothing we can’t handle!” She grinned at him with a sparkle in her eyes. He gave her a thumbs up and the tiniest curve of his lips upward. This seemed to satisfy her, as she hopped forward, Kel coming close at her side to annoy her some more.
Whatever was going on, Omori was glad his friends were here to endure it with him.
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Drums. Muffled drums, like they were underwater. They boomed rapidly in Sunny’s head, quiet and unnoticable at first. He had no awareness of anything. He couldn’t see, he couldn’t feel, he couldn’t hear except for those drums. He was nothing in nothingness, an atom in a vast, pitch-black sea that stretched on infinitely. He didn’t even think. He didn’t need to here.
He hadn’t even noticed the sound of the drums until they gradually got louder and quicker, like they were urgent. Like it was a scene in a horror movie where the protagonist was just about to open a door or pull away a shower curtain. He took notice of them then.
And once he was aware of the drums, he was aware of the Nothing. The drums invaded his ears until they were deafening. He felt his anxiety rise.
His ears boomed with the pressure of the noise and the feeling of being underwater. It crushed him, and he was no longer floating. He was falling. Falling into the infinite abyss that was the Nothing.
Fear flipped inside every single one of his organs, spreading ice along his entire body. The world felt like it was collapsing, it felt like he was collapsing. The drums relented until they were all he could possibly focus on, until--
Sunny jolted awake. His single eye flew open. He was laying on his back on his bed. He wasn’t falling, there were no pounding drums. It was in fact rather quiet, spare the birdsong faint from his window, and the distant honking of cars.
As he readjusted to the waking world, he fell back into his normal neutral expression, the anxiety from his nightmare ebbing. He sat up in the bed and rubbed his eyes-- well, eye. At reflex he had reached to rub the missing one, but instantly regretted it as he sucked in a breath harshly at the pain.
After two weeks, it still hurt to touch. He put his hand over the socket, wincing. He waited for the pain to subside, then he slowly reached for the eyepatch on his nightstand.
It was white with padding in the center to cushion his wound. He would’ve preferred it black, like a pirate’s, but you can’t win at everything.
He strapped it on and stood up groggily, shivering as the covers came off of him. He held up an arm to block the sunlight glaring through his window. He walked over and pulled the curtains closed, not appreciating being blinded as soon as he woke up. He already lost one eye, he didn’t need the other gone as well.
“Sunny!” he jumped at the familiar shout of his name. His mother.
She creaked open his door, initially looking at his bed, but when she realized he wasn’t there, she glanced up to see him at the window. She smiled at him fondly.
“Oh, you’re awake already!” she observed warmly, “Well, that’s good. I made breakfast! I’ve got to go to work in half an hour, so I thought we could eat together one last time before I miss you all the time!”
Sunny nodded, and watched her close the door. He listened to her receding footsteps idly.
They had been living in their new apartment in the city for a week now. It felt… different, that was for sure.
It didn’t have the same dread as their old house did, but it also didn’t feel as welcoming. It didn’t feel like home.
For the whole time they had been here, his mother hadn’t been going to work. Basically, she was staying home with him to make sure he was okay. But she was finally going to be going now, and Sunny was going to be left alone at home for a while again thanks to her crazy work hours.
Nothing he wasn’t used to.
She was trying, at least. Throughout the entire week she stayed at home, she would spend as much time with him as she possibly could. It got pretty annoying at times, but other times he kind of enjoyed it.
It was nice to have her around for a change.
But of course, these things don’t last.
He went up to his door and pulled it open, stepping out into the rest of the apartment. He scanned the place briefly.
There were still some boxes here and there, some still full of things, some half-empty, and some completely empty. They hadn’t entirely finished moving in, but they were nearly there. Even still, they had to leave some things at the old house. They were just too big to fit in this tiny apartment.
Like the grand piano.
It was certainly a downgrade, but he didn’t mind. He wasn’t such a fan of having as big a house as they did when there were only two of them living there, and one of them barely even stayed in. This apartment was small, but it fit them.
It didn’t feel so empty and hollow, in other words.
A plus side of apartments as well, was there were no stairs.
… Until you went outside and had to go down the floors.
Yeah, they weren’t on the first floor, surprise-surprise.
But whatever. He didn’t have to go down them much anyways. Despite being New and Improved, he still didn’t go outside often. If at all, really. There was simply no reason to. Also the neighbors intimidated him. But he would have to in about a week.
His mother was putting him back into school again.
She’d told him he didn’t have to if he didn’t want to, and believe him when he says, he really didn’t want to, but he had to force himself.
Otherwise he didn’t have much of a future, did he?
He had spent long enough in his own head, it was time to actually do something with his life, as hard as it was to even remove himself from bed most of the time.
“You gonna stand there all day or you gonna come get your food?” his mother called from behind the kitchen counter. Sunny flipped his gaze to her in surprise. She was wearing an amused expression.
Ah. He must’ve zoned out again. Turns out his brief scan wasn’t so brief.
He walked over and sat down at one of the stools on the outside of the counter. It was kind of like a bar counter, and it was the only separation between the kitchen and the living room, except for the wooden floor turning into tiles.
“Sorry to leave you alone again, but I’ve gotta start going to work at some point,” his mom chuckled, the warm smile not leaving her face. She grabbed a plate full of toast and put it on the counter, then put down two other plates and accompanied them with their own pieces of toast.
“It’ll help out a lot, though. Especially for when you go back to school! I’ll make sure to leave you plenty of food in the fridge, so don’t worry about that!” the older woman attempted a conversation.
Sunny very nearly let out a premature snort at her words. He kept it in, and kept his blank expression, staring down at the toast. She was trying, he guessed.
He looked up as she took cheerful bites of her food, and he looked down at his own uncomfortably. He had to at least try to eat it, even if he really wasn’t in the mood for it. It was probably the last breakfast they would have together, after all.
He missed his mother.
The frail boy managed to start nibbling at the toast, looking down to avoid eye contact with his mother. They sat in awkward silence like that for a bit, until the woman finished eating.
“Well, I should go ahead and get going,” she stood up and took her plate to the sink, then grabbed her purse and headed for the door, “make sure you finish all of that, Sunny! Bye, honey!”
Sunny nodded as she opened the door and quietly said in his crackly, unused voice, “Bye, mom.” The door closed, and Sunny was left in silence.
His mother had been constantly making sure he was eating since he got out of the hospital, since they mentioned how underweight and malnourished he was. He winced. She wasn’t very happy to hear that. Although, he did notice a slight look of guilt in her face as well.
Sunny wouldn’t blame it on her.
He simply stared into space while nibbling at his food, his mind full yet blank at the same time. It was a little bit weird, but he didn’t mind. Either that or he didn’t notice.
Once he finally finished, he got up and put his plate in the sink on top of his mom’s, then rushed up to his bedroom to snatch his sketchbook.
It was a new one that his mother got for him as a present for getting out of the hospital. He really did appreciate it. He still had his old one, the one he hasn’t touched in so long…
But he’d rather not. It could stay as an old relic of the past now, and he didn’t have to see his old drawings unless he willed it. He didn’t want to see them.
But that didn’t mean he wanted to forget them.
So it stayed in his closet, and he wouldn’t take it out for a long time, probably.
With new sketchbook in hand, he went back out to the living room and plopped himself on the couch, pulling his pencil out from the binds of the sketchbook. He flipped it open and went through the few pages he had already drawn on.
There were only three, but all of them meant something to him.
They were all of Headspace.
The first one was the playground, with all of the children playing in it. It was at such an angle that the picnic was out of view, however. He… didn’t have the courage to draw that.
The second one was of Captain Spaceboy pointing his laser gun into the skies, a determined expression on his face. He’d even included a tiny Sweetheart in the background, looking very angry. The third one was a scarecrow being flown through space by crows that were carrying it.
He turned to the next blank page, and began sketching out his next drawing.
He didn’t know why he could only think to draw Headspace. He did sort of miss it, but at the same time he was glad it was gone. It was somewhat like a prison, once he looked back on it. A self-imposed prison that seemed nice and happy on the surface, but really it was only causing him more suffering.
And yet still, he kept its memory alive, through his drawings and the occasional daydream.
The daydreams were not real Headspace, though. It didn’t feel the same. He wasn’t sure if it ever could feel the same again.
Before he knew it, he was faced with the drawing before him. His arm had been going mindlessly, shaping line after line, until it resembled something very familiar.
It was him, or rather, Omori, in White Space.
The boy was curled up on the floor of the endless white void, cuddling a scribbled black blob that somewhat resembled a cat. He drew in the background, which wasn’t much considering it was White Space, but it still helped, he thought.
The laptop was sitting behind Omori, its screen blank. The tissue box was a bit of distance to the side of the kid’s head, and the wire that used to hang a lightbulb hung nothing now. He scribbled the faint outline of the door to Headspace farther back in the perspective.
White Space. A place he despised so much yet couldn’t ever stop himself from enjoying at the time. He wondered what happened to it now, or if it even still existed at all. Probably not. That made him both glad and sad, like he’d just lost something important, even though he knew it was bad.
Either way, he didn’t think he wanted to forget about it completely. It was a dark time in his life indeed, one that he was still attempting to claw himself out of, but it reminded him of what he had to atone for, and that little bit of time he felt peace.
Because he didn’t think he would ever feel peace like that again.
As he absent-mindedly colored in his dream counterpart’s hair, he heard his phone ding to the side of him. He looked up and glanced at the small device. The screen was lit up, and a message popped up.
He picked up his phone and read the message.
Basil: Hey
He figured it would be Basil. Basil was the only one to reach out to him since the… since he told the Truth. Probably because he was the only one with Sunny’s number. But the others didn’t want to talk to him, anyways, did they?
Sunny: hey
He hadn’t even spoken to Basil that much. They texted a few times, and went on call once, but it was incredibly awkward, so they agreed not to do that again for a while. Turns out, it’s pretty hard to go back to normal after four years of self-isolation and telling all of your old friends you murdered your sister and framed it as a suicide.
Yikes.
Basil: How are you…?
Sunny paused, trying to think of how to answer that question. He wasn’t really good per say, but he couldn’t say he was doing bad, could he? So he needed to find the perfect word to describe just how exactly he was at this moment.
Then it came to him. A word he was quite familiar with, its convenience and simplicity and vagueness summed up into a mere four letters, providing him with the best description possible of how he could be doing when he was at a loss for the answer himself.
Sunny: fine
Nailed it.
Basil: That’s good…
He did get the impression that Basil did not believe him. But hey, text messages were never the best at conveying emotion. Something he was both glad for and very annoyed by.
Basil: Kel was asking about you… he wants to talk to you
Sunny froze. Kel wanted to… talk to him? But why? Was it about what he said at the hospital? Was he mad after all?
Kel’s reaction wasn’t nearly as straightforward as Hero’s and Aubrey’s were. He had seemed confused, shocked, stunned, all those types of words, he even cried a little. But he was the only one who still came in to see Sunny and Basil while they recovered. Well, regularly at least. Hero did it a couple times. Sunny wasn’t sure if Hero ever visited Basil, however.
And as much as Kel tried to appear happy and friendly with them, Sunny saw something underneath, and it unnerved him. Like Kel was just pretending to be nice, and deep down he hated both of them for what they did. Hated Sunny.
His heart pounded and he felt the cold claws of fear climbing his back. Its claws were tiny needles right now, but they could grow to a monstrous size very easily.
Basil: Sunny?
He blinked out of his oncoming panic attack and down at the message that just appeared. He breathed shakily.
Sunny: why?
He felt a lump in his throat. What could Kel have to say to him? The athlete had never been serious before, until that time at the cemetery… It was so foreign to see from him, that look on his face, and that tone in his voice. It wasn’t bad, it was just strange.
He wondered if he would have to face that or the wrath of a broken boy, a boy he had broken himself.
Basil: I don’t know… I think he misses you
Basil: Don’t you?
He did. He really did. He missed all of them. But after he told them all, Aubrey stormed out and never came back, Hero tried but the way he looked at Sunny… Kel’s face as he stared off into space when he thought Sunny couldn’t see…
But Kel misses him?
Did he just want to have a normal conversation, like normal friends? Was he overreacting?
Basil: Give him a chance?
Sunny didn’t respond for a moment, just staring down at the message, until Basil typed again.
Basil: Give yourself a chance?
His mouth opened slightly. Give myself a chance.
Of course Basil had to convince him into facing whatever Kel had to say to him. Although, he wasn’t even sure if it would be as bad as he thought before. The nerves still wracked him anyways.
Sunny: ok
He breathed in through his nose and shut off his phone, discarding it to the side again to resume his drawing. Guess he was going to talk to Kel now, at some point. As much as he wanted to run away from it altogether, he knew he had to face him sometime. Face all of them. He couldn’t hide away like he did four years ago.
He finished coloring in his drawing of Omori and White Space, took a moment to stare at it, then closed his sketchbook and looked at his phone again. Basil had texted him once more with Kel’s number.
He’ll just have to wait for Kel to text him now, he supposed. Or call him. Whichever one. It would probably be call, knowing him.
It would be okay. Kel couldn’t have anything that horrible to say, right?
Surely, there was nothing to worry about.