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Chapter Text

May 7, 2007

If you were to ask Sunny Suzuki if there's anything special about him, he wouldn't be able to find a good answer. He's almost 8 years old at this point and somehow, he still has no clue on what he could do. It feels so odd that everyone else seems to know what they are and want to do. His sister Mari is really smart and talented, his next door neighbor friend Kel loves exercising and making jokes, Kel's big brother Hero makes the best food in town and is super nice, and Sunny still doesn't know what he's good at. Sure, he can sleep and daydreams alot, but isn't that just being lazy? And if you're wondering, his doodles are way too weird for anyone but himself and Mari to understand. At least Mari likes them a lot and she often encourages him to show his drawings off.

After dinner, he asked his dad about it and he said that it's okay to not figure out everything out immediately. Dad then decided to give a long anecdote about how he discovered his managerial talent. Sunny wanted to argue that there was a classmate around his age who can write poems but he's too tired to say anything right now. It's getting a bit dark now and he just wanted to go to bed and sleep already.

When he got all settled in his bed cozily with his head firmly on the cool side of the pillow, he glanced to the right and noticed something. Is it just him or does that coat rack look like a tall man in the dark? It's rather freaky to look at. As he closed his eyes, the last thing he saw was the coat rack distorting itself to look more humanoid.

When Sunny opens his eyes, he was expecting to see Mari saying good morning with a sweet smile as usual. Instead, the first thing he sees is a pitch black sky. He was so confused that he didn't even notice that he was laying on.... dead grasses? They felt so rough and coarse that his body could not stand to lay on them any longer. When Sunny got up and rubbed his eyes, he realized that this isn't his house at all. There's absolutely nothing but a vast field of grayed-out grasses. With nothing better to do, he started to walk through the field and figured that something will eventually happen.

~

Sunny's been wandering the place for what felt like an eternity and he's so confused. Why is he not in the town with everyone else? Where are his family? He kept shouting for his mom and dad as hard as his quiet voice could muster, but nobody came. He called out for anything from his friends Kel and Hero, but nobody came. Finally, he screamed out for the one person who's always there to protect him, Mari. Even then, nobody came.

Always in the corner of his eyes was a strange looking man in a coat that's constantly following him. Its woody skin is so dark to the point that its face are entirely nonexistent. Its tall and gangly appearance brings to mind, a tree that have recently lost its leaves. Its fingers are so long that they look more like the claws of a giant skeleton. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't just ignore the tall man following him at all times. In fact, the man seems to be getting closer as time goes on. His heart goes into overdrive as he starts running away from the man.

Unfortunately for him, he tripped on a rock and the man was rapidly catching up to him.

His knee was hurting so much and he could only shut his eyes in response. He could feel his spine chilling as the man stood over him. When it seemed like everything was over and the man was about to lay its hands on the terrified boy, he instead felt a familiar presence standing between him and the man. Still absolutely horrified, Sunny hesistantly opened his eyes and saw.... Mari?

She stood defiantly with her arms wide open to shield Sunny from the monstrous humanoid. "Stay back, you weirdo! Nobody lays a finger on my little brother!" She glowed so bright in her blue nightgown to the point that the landscape itself started to change a little. The skies turned from a black canvas to a wide starry sea of purple dotted with constellations. The previously lifeless grasses quickly took on a minty green hue and purple trees sprouts from the ground at a rapid pace. All the abrupt changes to this otherwordly place have caused the monster to scream in sheer agony. The black skin flakes off the body like paint chips on an old wall. Black smoke profusely pumps out from the burning holes on its back. Soon, the only thing that remained were its ashes, which were quickly blown away by the pleasant winds that now permeates everywhere.

Mari lets out a big sigh of relief and turns around to face him. "Hoo, that was close! Sunny, are you okay?" She asked with a somewhat worried smile. That urge to cry in fear was paused when he was chased by that thing but now that it's all over and his sister is here, he couldn't hold it in anymore. She gently holds him while rubbing circles on his back. "Shh, it's alright. I'm here for you. You're safe with me now. I don't know what happened but I'm glad you're not badly hurt," she spoke gingerly. The only thing he could do was to keep crying about how scared he was. Sunny was never an outspoken boy like Kel but Mari is the one person he could usually be most honest with.

He internally chides himself for not telling Mari about how his lack of talent. I should ask her to help me find out what I'm good tomorrow morning, maybe at the bus stop.

Eventually, they laid down on the soft and comforting minty grasses. The fact that this world is so much nicer than it used to be hasn't fully sunk in for Sunny until now.

"So pretty....." were the only things he could say when utterly dazed at the constellations floating far above him. The night skies at Faraway Town are really pretty, but this is something else entirely.

"I know, right? I can see a chair and your face up there! What do you see, Sunshine?"

"A cat and your face...."

"What, are you saying that I'm like a cat? Hmmm?" Even without looking at Mari, he could hear the smug self-satisfaction at the idea of being a cat. He could never forget last month when they all pretended to be cats for a whole day. Kel also joined in, but as a dog instead. Admittedly, he may have went a bit too far when he tried drinking from Mewo's bowl. That earned him a few angry scratches from the kitten.

Sunny kept gazing at the constellations with his sister for what felt like hours. Eventually, he yawned when he heard Mari humming a familiar lullaby to him. Has it already been a year since she last sang that to him? When he starts closing his eyes, he could hear her saying something along the lines of "Good Morning, Sunny."

~

Today, the morning sun is looking especially bright and cheery. Thank goodness, it's Friday already. Mari may be mature for a 11 year old girl, but even she could not resist the freedom that Friday promises for her. Needless to say, she was feeling so super today and she eagerly chomped down on her buttered toasts. Even her little brother next to her seems to be feeling great, judging by the way his lips curl up more than usual. Maybe his pillow stayed cold for the whole night?

Speaking of sleeping...

"Hey Sunny, guess what? Last night, I had this weird dream and you were there."

She notices that his surprised expression looks a bit different this time. Usually, it's pretty subtle but his eyes widens up considerably. "Uh, what was I doing?" He asked with some skepticism in his tone.

"I'm a bit surprised that I can remember it so well but anyway, you were running away from this super creepy and tall stranger in this gray world. You were close to being caught and I tried to save you."

Much like an owl, Sunny quizzically tilts his head in confusion.

"Weird, I know right? So I stood in his path and that was enough to burn that stranger into a pile of ashes. For some reason, that world we were in suddenly became all colorful. You cried so hard in my arms and sorry, but you were really adorable, haha....."

In response, Sunny's eyes squinted intensely. "That's weird, I had that same dream...."

"Yeah, that's really strange..... Wait, let's see if that's true. Let me think, hmmm........." Her mind tried to think of something that might be able to differentiate her dream from his. "Ooh, I know! When we looked up at the skies, was it purple?"

"Yeah, I guess."

Okay, what the heck happened last night for our dreams to be so similar? Did we swap our brains or what?

"What kind of constellations did you see?"

"A cat and a chair,"

"Seriously? I saw that too! Do you remember the last thing I did in that dream?" Surely, there's no way he would know that, right?

"............You sang a lullaby to me.........."

...

...

...

What? WHAT? WHAAAAAAAAAT?!?!

Is it actually true?!? Her brother can actually talk to her while dreaming?! The discovery was so earth-shatteringly huge that it made her jump from her chair. In fact, she practically leaped over to Sunny's side and accidentally spilled his cup of chocolate milk. Oops. "No. Freaking. Way!!! Does that mean you have..."

"Dream.... powers?" He mutters while trying to process this information. Even Sunny was shocked at the revelation by the way his pupils dilate. He stared at his hands like he just discovered what hands are. Then he touched his face like he just discovered what faces are for. It's so cute whenever he expresses his excitement in his own way.

It's from this moment that she knew that Sunny will do great things with this newfound realization. Wait, how does that one Spider-Man quote go again? "With great power comes great fun," right?

Chapter Text

July 7, 2015

When Sunny first found about his unusual connection with dreams, he was understandably quite baffled. Why him of all people? How is it that he gets to be the kid who can do literally anything in his dreams? Before that, he wasn't sure if there was even anything unique about him. Now, he is essentially the master of his own mind. Okay, that sounds really cool when you put it like it.

After the big discovery, he felt curious about the seemingly infinite possibilities and wondered if he could get other people besides Mari to join his dreams. After much trial and errors, he came to the conclusion that only people extremely, extremely close to him like Mari and his friend group can join. On the one hand, it's a bit of a bummer that he can't actually prove its existence to 99 percent of the world. Even his parents did not believe in any of this, even when Mari corroborated with him. However, that also means nobody else could snoop around and find out about his secrets and it's a good thing his friends (yes, that includes Kel too) are very reliable at keeping secrets.

To confirm that his new powers are actually real, Mari suggested a sleepover at Kel's place on that day. Somehow, it actually worked and all of them were walking around in this strange dreamscape. The first things they did together was frolicking around in the peaceful fields like they were in one of those old movies set in the Alps. For the rest of that dream, they only looked up at the purple skies and discussed on what to add to this brand new world. Mari suggested the idea of a love testing machine only for Hero to quickly shut it down in embarrassment. In hindsight, he shouldn't have done that. Would be nice to try it out with Aubrey.

As the years went on, this dream world now referred to as Headspace proves to be the perfect sandbox for Sunny to mess around with. With everyone's help, he lets his imaginations run wild and transformed this place into a bonafide wonderland. Everywhere you look, there's always something new to grab your interests, whether it be a location or an inhabitant. This year, he's planning on constructing a massive ski resort at Snowglobe Mountain. There will be yetis, snow angels, and so much more. It also helps that Sunny's group eventually recruited two new friends, Aubrey and Basil. It's honestly surprising how quickly he bonded with them to the point of being super close to them.

On top of all the fun adventures to do, Headspace itself proved its excellence in allowing Sunny and his friends to open up to each other. It's surprisingly easy for him to rant about whatever was bothering him on any given day and it feels so relieving to just let it all out. In a way, it functions like the playground swings but more inclusive to his friend group. Granted, he still sometimes tried to keep things to himself but it helps a lot.

All in all, Headspace is a pretty good deal and he can not imagine what his life would be without it. Maybe he would've offered to join Mari in her old high school recital a few years ago. She always played with him every night anyway. His only complaint is that his nightmares would sometimes try to bother him but he's learned a few tricks on how to ward them off. It's already been 8 years since he was chased by that tall man. He's not a little kid anymore.

These days, Sunny's been using this world to try dealing with the fact that he'll be 16 in a week or two. It feels odd whenever he wakes up and remembers that Mari isn't on her bed but away in college with Hero. At least everyone else is still here and plus, she'll be back home for summer break starting tomorrow. Growing up is still a bit frightening but he's just happy to be here.

~

To this day, Mari is still astounded at how far her brother's imagination goes. What other person would come up with a dessert made of brown sugar sand dunes and populate it with dinosaurs and spooky pastas? And why does she like to hang out here so much? Well, it's actually quite self-explanatory. Just look at how she would sometimes consume a big tablespoon of that delicious sand whenever nobody's looking. Lately, Sunny added in some cinnamon to sweeten the deal. He doesn't even like that spice yet he did it anyway to make the sand look a bit more interesting.

That's actually what Sunny often does in Headspace; he likes to create some stuff to spruce up the place just a little bit more. It's why he decided that there should be a music studio next to the tree room or that it's necessary for the floating pinwheel island to become a floating archipelago. Sometimes, she wondered if he could write about Headspace and make a book out of it. Now that would be an interesting read.

Tonight is a relatively quiet and peaceful one. With the exception of Aubrey who's playing with bunnies at the Vast Forest, everyone else decided to enjoy their own dreams so it's just Mari and her adorable little brother resting near the OJ oasis. An OJ-asis, if you will. If you see Kel hanging around this desert, he would always come up with the most diabolical food combinations possible. She's about 102 percent (with a 2 percent margin of error) sure that his Orange Joe-infused churro pizza ice cream cones could actually cause a world-ending pandemic in real life.

After a long period of humming and feeling the softness of Sunny's hair, Mari suddenly remembered that she's supposed to remind him of something. She found that an easy way to snap him out of his relaxing mode is by simply twisting the small tuft of hair on his noggin like a wind-up key. There's even a cute mechanical sound that comes with it.

"Are you ready for tomorrow, Sunny? You better give me a big hug when I see you at the bus stop, capiche?"

"Yeah, I can also show you some cool stuff."

"Even cooler than this world? I mean, I'm pretty sure our hometown isn't as interesting as this place. It certainly doesn't have cute space bunnies or even Herosaurus."

"Didn't you try to kiss the dinosaur before you dated him?" What, did Sunny honestly think that will work on her? She already admitted that to Hero and he was weirdly flattered at this information. In return, he also admitted that he had this weird dream where she was a velociraptor, as in the feathered kind.

"Says the boy who at one point, conjured up a horde of Aubreys fighting each other for the right to hold his hand."

".......Fine. You win," he begrudgingly admits as another attempt to out-tease her fails yet again. You still got it, Mari. Still got it.

"Also, don't forget to remind me to give you back that music CD you really like."

"Okay," he replied with visible stars in his eyes. It's been a year since she borrowed from his CD collection and when she visited him on spring break, she forgot to bring it back. He really missed the CD since it was given to him from a stray cat. It's a long story, okay?

Chapter Text

July 9, 2015

When Aubrey met Sunny for the first time, she thought he was just a normal if very nice kid like everyone else. He was pretty quiet and imaginative for his age but it's nothing too out of the ordinary. After a few months of getting to know him and introducing Basil to everybody, he confessed to her about a little secret. At first, she thought Sunny was just doing one of his weird jokes but he adamantly insisted that he can actually get his friends to enter his dreams. He even asked her if she could join a sleepover on Friday just so he could prove it. She didn't really believe him but since Sunny was always so sweet to her, she agreed anyway.

It's not an exaggeration to say that the sleepover changed her life and for the better at that. It was the catalyst for Aubrey eventually leaving old house behind to live with Basil instead (it's a long story). So for that, she is forever grateful to have lost her shoe and cried about it on that day.

Another side effect that comes with adventuring in Sunny's head was how it deepens her "feelings" for him. She always felt so oddly attached to Sunny ever since the beginning of their friendship. It's weird considering the fact Aubrey already had a close friend in Basil before then. It's like he has this inherent magnetic pull that always compel her to wrap herself around one of his arms. Could it be his adorably bright eyes and how it makes him look so innocent? Not quite. Is it for how his stone-faced expression contrasted with his gentle voice endears her to no end? Close but no cigar.

It's quite simple actually. Sunny is without a doubt, the most purehearted man she has ever met.

Basil's a really sweet guy but this guy is a different kind of sweet. Where as Basil expresses his kindness through things like taking photos or baking quiches with a bright smile, Sunny likes to make her laugh with his weird jokes or listen to one of her dumb rants at the swings. He's also a firm believer in actions over words. Whenever she felt terrible, he will do whatever it takes to cheer her up without bothering to explain much about his actions.

To give a recent example, there was that time in June when she told him about a horrible nightmare about being stuck in her old house. When Aubrey finished recounting the experience, she could hear HER shrill screams and that damn TV static in her head. She even shivered a little. He responded to all of this by inexplicably dragging her out of the park and all the way to Hobbeez. He didn't even tell her what he was doing but he had that determined look in his eyes.

The first thing he did there was buying her a limited time plushie of Snaley. "Take it. He'll protect you from any bad dreams," was his only explanation. She wanted to ask him why he would spend 40 bucks on a whim but that train of thought was stopped in its tracks by a sudden peck on her left cheek. It's one of the many moments that serves to remind her why she loves him so much in the first place.

He's done so much for her over the years, but he rarely ever asks for anything in return. It might sound a little strange to say this but she wishes that he could try to be a bit more 'selfish'. She will always treasure the rare moments when Sunny felt needy or clingy. Lately, he's been feeling lonely from Mari's absence (in the real world) and to satiate that craving for affection, he'd sometimes ask her to sleep with him on that bed. Every time, she would always accept his request in a heartbeat. The only reason she hasn't already moved into his house is because she feels personally indebted to Basil for letting her live at his house.

He's also kind of a dork whenever she brags about something cool that she and her Scooter Gang did. Normally, any guy would be at least a little scared of a delinquent girl who can beat up high school seniors but Sunny just finds that really cool. Even when she mentioned how a bully's nose got broken from one of her headbutts, his face quickly turned redder than a licorice from the candy shop.

Jesus, he's so fucking adorable sometimes. Aubrey promises to herself that one day, she'll pin him against the wall like how they do it in the movies and affectionately bully him for an hour straight. She wants to make him feel really tiny even if his height is exactly the same as hers. If Kim can do that with Mincy and it works out for them, then she might as well try doing that someday. Maybe not today, but definitely later.

~

Ahhhh, this must be what paradise feels like. Truly, nothing could compare to this. It's just Sunny and a dozen other versions of his pinky girlfriend huddling at the beach together. There's bunny Aubrey, pixel Aubrey, mecha Aubrey, anime Aubrey, ghost Aubrey, chibi Aubrey, male Aubrey, Aubrey but ripped as hell, worm Aubrey, mermaid Aubrey, candy Aubrey, and......... the real Aubrey. Hey, wait a minute....

His eyes laser-focused their vision to the one and only true Aubrey. She looks a bit miffed. "Sunny, are you really gonna have a clone kissing sesh without inviting me first?" Damn it, he forgot to ask her this time! He should really step his boyfriend game up soon.

"Please forgive me!" He bowed down in front of her and what he got was his face being cupped by one of her smooth hands. He could never get over how pretty her eyes are and how cute her giggles are.

"Oh, Sunny. You doofus. I can't get mad at you for that. Okay, maybe a mermaid version of myself is a bit much."

After his brief moment of grovelling, he looked back at all the other Aubreys and gestured for them to give him some alone time with the real deal.

The Aubrey clones all waves him goodbye before boarding the boat back to Cloney Island, the getaway resort for all the clones of Sunny and his friends. He could just erase them in an instant if he really wanted to, but worm Aubrey is just way too cute for him to actually pull the trigger.

After the coast was clear, Sunny decided to make up for that gaffe by spending some beach time with Aubrey. Swimming with the gators are still pretty fun and there's nothing quite like a refreshing milkshake at the bar. Just don't order the titanium flavored one unless your name is Kellen. Honestly, he cannot explain why he added that it in. Sometimes, he can get really carried away with building this world like an author writing a book with zero editors.

After sipping a fresh taro shake, Aubrey leaned over to his seat and rested her head on his temple. "You know, Sunny....... I noticed something interesting earlier. When these versions of myself were kissing you before I visited, one of them was a boy." He could feel the corner of her lips curving up against his head. When you've been dating for over 2 years, you can always tell when your girlfriend is smiling.

"Is that what you think I would look like as a guy? A blue haired dude with a cute little beanie?"

"Mhmm," he answered nonchalantly.

"You know, I sometimes wondered what you would look like as a girl. Do you know, Sunny?" She asked while breathing heavily, he could hear her heart beating at a faster rate. He realizes that he's having the exact same reaction.

"Uhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh......" Somewhere in his head, he contemplates on whether or not he should do it. On the one hand, it's really embarrassing. Possibly even more than when Aubrey interrupted his absurdly indulgent fantasy earlier. But on the other hand, his stupid teenage hormones have made a great point. No one is here at the beach except for him, Aubrey, and the merman bartender. Screw it, what's the harm in a little gender nonsense?

"Okay, um.... let me ask the guy at the bar." He straightened up his posture, cleared his throat a bit, and faced the fish-faced waiter who's cleaning some cups. "Um, excuse me but can I get 2 mystery potions?"

"You mean the Medusa special?"

"Yeah, th-that....." God, this is so embarrassing. The waiter immediately starts working on the drinks and it shouldn't take no more than 2 minutes for him to be done.

"Um, isn't that a bit like alcohol?" She asked with a hint of fear in her tone.

"Oh, no no no. The potion isn't intoxicating or anything."

"Whoo, that's a relief. I know you're a bit scared too. We'll just make this quick, alright?"

"Alright."

After some minutes of Sunny and Aubrey encouraging each other have passed, the shot glasses were finished and ready to drink. The vapors surrounding the bubbly pink liquid aren't exactly giving him much confidence. Even the little umbrella and the slice of lime could not fully remedy that anxious feeling of being judged, but he already commits himself to this. Might as well get it over with.

He holds his glass to clink with Aubrey's glass. "Cheers." Before his lips met the cup, he realized something he missed. "Wait, wait. Let's put our clothes back on."

"Oh, alright... If you say so." Did he just hear some dissapointment in her voice? Not that he can actually blame her. He would actually melt into a puddle if he was allowed to see her torso in masculine form.

After quickly putting his vest back on, he finally takes a sip from the mystery potion. Thankfully, it tasted rather pleasant; almost like a rose flavored soda with a small pinch of sea salt and cinnamon sprinkled on top. When he finished the entire drink and looked at Aubrey, the entire world was stopped in its tracks. It's like nothing in the world except for her matters. And it looks like even she feels the same way judging by how wide her pupils expand; she was particularly fixated on his little pigtails dangling to the side.

For whatever reason, he felt it necessary to pounce on Aubrey and pin her to the ground like a jaguar. He couldn't control himself when he started to kiss her so deeply. He felt so utterly deprived of oxygen when he lets go of her cotton-candy scented lips. Honestly, he wouldn't mind if he suffocated for kissing her too long though.

"Wow, Sunny! Just like that, huh? Not bad, you dweeb! Hahaha!" Even in her altered masculine-tinted voice, that laugh of hers still manages to sound like an orchestrated symphony to his ears.

Maybe it's just pure luck that he manages to take the lead but honestly, Aubrey is just way too handsome to not smooch. How could anyone resist the way her pink contacts contrasts with the blue hair so beautifully? What a hunk! Sure, there's already a male copy of her but seeing the real Aubrey like this just makes his heart flutter even harder. At this point, whatever shame he was feeling have more or less dissipated.

In the distance, he could hear two familiar kinds of giggle. One from a certain flower boy and the other from a certain big sister. Goddamnit, have Mari and Basil been watching them in hiding this whole time? Okay, he takes it back. This is his worst mistake ever! He should not have listened to that dirty side of himself. They will never let him live this one down.

The flash from Basil's vintage 90's-style camera only validates his belief even further.

Chapter Text

July 19, 2015

Spin, spin, spin. Just keep spinning.

While Headspace may be a wondrous place, the one region that Kel has come to appreciate the most is definitely Deep Well. There, he gets to meet talking gators, flex with mussels, explore an enormous, if a bit unsettling, whale's guts, walk around at Krilladelphia, and relax at the Last Resort.

This whole resort used to be run by this mean shark dude called Mr. Jawsum (very cool name, by the way) but he stepped down as CEO a few years ago. Instead, an evil copy of his big brother named Villain is now the boss around here.

Villain is so evil that he doesn't want to buy Orange Joe for Kel. He's so evil that the only one who likes him is an evil clone of Mari named..... Mario? Together, they make for a truly evil business couple. Sunny said that he needed to create them to supposedly "correct a cosmic imbalance" or something like that.

Sunny's busy hanging out with Basil at the Krilladelphia baseball stadium and Mari is outside at the ghost jacuzzi with Hero. The latter two are really taking their sweet time in that tiny pool of ectoplasma, huh.

Meanwhile, Kel's been stuck at the Last Resort trying to win anything from this dumb ass slot machine for hours now. He promised to Basil that he will get enough clams to buy two movie tickets for their upcoming date. The movie they were planning to watch - Jaws 19: Electric Eel Boogaloo - apparently costs over 300 million clams to make.

"Just one more spin..."

"Dude, you've been gambling for like 3 hours now. You gotta let go, man." Aubrey tiredly responds.

"Damnit, I was so close to getting all the slimes! Aubrey, could you get me some kelp juice?"

"NOT UNTIL YOU GET OFF THE FUCKING SLOT MACHINE ALREADY!!!" She barks.

"Oh hell no, I've spent way too many clams at this point. I can't just back down even if I wanted to!" He stubbornly defends his committment.

"Ughhhh, fine. I'll get it. You're just lucky that I'm feeling pretty nice today."

"I'll be sure to pay you back 25% of my winnings!"

"We'll see about that."

As she reluctantly leaves the underwater casino to buy his drink, she flips the bird at him. Typical.

It's not even the first time that he puts himself through hell and beyond for the sake of his boyfriend. There's this one time when he went on a grand adventure with Hero to find the rarest flower in all of Headspace to decorate Basil's shoe house. All the annoying fetch quests were ultimately worth it when Basil was completely overjoyed at being gifted the supernova flower and told him all sorts of trivia about it. Hell, even the shower of gentle rose-scented kisses absolutely made up for fighting the evil mecha dragon guarding the flower.

It's been over a year and a half since they started dating and he still could never get tired of seeing that wonderfully bright smile. Sometimes, all he needs is a cute little guy to brighten his day up and that desire to make Basil happy at all costs sometimes lead to situations like this.

BZZZZT!!!

Damnit, he's exhausted all of his (dream world) life savings! Now what? Is he just gonna go crawling over to Basil's feet and ask for forgiveness? But that means Auby would make fun of him for that and there's no way he's letting that happen. After some internal brainstorming, the genius part of his brain has come up with a brilliant plan: just wait for the other players to win big and steal their winnings! It was already a challenge for the Gator Guys to catch up with Kel's speed as a little kid. These days, it's pretty much impossible for them to stop him from whatever illegal move he's doing. He considers himself above any Last Resort-related consequences. Even snatching from poor Ducky Jr. does not deter him from being a shamelessly cackling clam crook.

He began to head towards Captain Pinkbeard's slot machine and he was about to steal all of the bivalves before a familiar muscular hand from a certain celestial body snatched his own hand. Wait, is that what he thinks it is?

He glanced up and saw.... Pluto?!

"KEL, WHAT ARE YOU DOING? YOU'RE SUPPOSED TO IMPROVE YOUR BODY, NOT STEALING PEOPLE'S HARD EARNED CLAMS!"

"Uhhh, I can explain! Master Pluto, please!"

"I SEE THAT I HAVE FAILED YOU IN MY TEACHINGS. I MUST DISCIPLINE YOU RIGHT NOW TO GET YOU BACK ON TRACK!!"

"No wait, please! I'll stop stealing!"

"WHEN I FLEX.......... I FEEL MY BEST!!!!!!!!!" Oh no! Not the white glow!

The entire building is shaking as the former 9th planet of the Solar System starts transforming into his EXPANDED form. The crowd began freaking out and that provided Kel with the perfect distraction to run away. He blitzed his way through the hysterical screams to the entrance but it was blocked by the gator guys. "We got you now, boy! There's no running away from us this time!"

The floors are falling apart from the sheer power emitted by Pluto's transformation, the people inside are panicking like a bunch of headless chickens, and Kel finds himself unable to escape. Where in the world is Aubrey right now when you need her?! This whole mess has escalated from 0 to a 100 so quickly.

Then, it finally hits him. To surpass Pluto, he must confront the planet by himself. If that's what it takes to go on a movie date, then it shall be done. With a newfound resolve in his heart, he heads back to Pluto EXPANDED and braces himself for the ultimate showdown. It's a good thing he brought some coffee with him.

~

Usually, the baseball games at Krilladelphia were pretty fun to watch even if Basil never quite understood the rules and terminology being used. Today, however, is the absolute opposite of being fun to watch. Why? Just ask the millions of anchovies blocking his vision from where he and Sunny are currently sitting at. It's pretty much impossible to change seats and Sunny was feeling too lazy to just push them aside so they're just hopelessly stuck here. To pass the time, they ate snacks and shared about some stuff going on in the real world.

Admittedly, 90% of the convo was just Basil reminiscing about the three photo albums he owns. Sunny didn't really mind that since he was never one to start a discussion anyway.

"Remember that time when Mari was the one who snapped a photo for the album? I kinda forgot what it was about..." His mind tried to rewind back to the subject of that photo but to no avail.

"You apologized to a caterpillar on a flower that it was eating."

"Oh yeah, that! I didn't want to move him away from his meal but I had no choice, you know? Still, I probably ruined his lunch that day." He could now clearly remember the week after that photo; it was when he had to endure a barrage of bug-related teases from Mari.

"I gave her some ideas for teasing you, sorry."

"Sunny, do you think he'll be back soon?"

Sunny took an overly long sip from his comically oversized cup of soda. He smacked his lips extremely loudly before answering with a simple "Sure."

"I dunno... it's just that it's been several hours and still, Kel's not here yet."

"He's strong. Just believe in him." He replied in full confidence.

"HELLO BOYS, I'M BACK!!!" Kel shouted while knocking away dozens of anchovies out of the way. Basil swore he heard one of them groaning about his leg.

"See?" It's feels so wrong seeing Sunny with such a smug face. Is Mari being a bad influence recently? He needs to have a word with her next time and correct this cosmic imbalance.

"Kel! Why..... are you all bruised up and covered in Life Jam?"

Kel bashfully rubs the back of his head and shakes off all the jam like how Hector (the dog) dries itself. "I can explain later, Bagel. But look, I got enough tickets for everyone to watch together! Sunny, you can get Auby to join too!"

Sunny's poker face falters at the suggestion of hanging out with Aubrey as always. Still, he tries to play it cool and gives Kel a thumbs up while hiding his fluster.

"Say, can I watch the games with you guys? I promise I won't eat too many hot dogs this time, okay?" If only Kel knew that you can't see anything from this view....

"Sure thing! First thing though, c-can you give me a hug?" He opens his arms, eagerly anticipating for Kel's warm embrace.

"Awww, miss me already? Come here, my little flower!" Oof, that hug was super tight, even more than usual.

"Can't. Breath."

~

After searching for the right vending machines (blame the Last Resort for only selling Gatorades) at the Underwater Highway, Aubrey finally came back with the kelp juice that Kel asked for and was completely shocked at the Last Resort being a complete wreckage. She exploded in a dangerous concoction of outrage and sheer confusion.

What the fuck happened while I was gone?!

Why is Pluto being interrogated by the tuna police and why is Snaley of all people being arrested? Who did this?!

Wait......... there could only be one answer to all of this. KEL. He is the only guy she knows that could cause this much damage.

As an act of pure spite at Kel for getting her precious Snaley arrested, Aubrey decided to give the juice over to Mari and Hero at the nearby ghost jacuzzi. It seems that they were having too much fun at the Ghost Party to notice the commotion caused by Kel. She makes a note to her future self that if he were to ask for a drink again, she'll drink it in front of him as revenge.

Chapter Text

August 1, 2015

For Sunny, having immense powers in your lucid dreams come with many benefits, one of them being able to create the perfect environment for contemplations. One of the first locations that he created for Headspace was a place tentatively called White Space. At first, it was pretty much barren; just pure white nothingness. It made sense when he was largely distracted with everything else to do anything there. So for years, he kinda just left it to rot away. It was only until last year that he bothered to do anything with it.

First, he transforms the ceiling into a pleasant evening sky and the floor a shallow pool of vaguely purple water. Then, he decorates the place with flowers like lotuses, tulips, and lillies. For the last touch, he added a few benches and a jukebox with music from his favorite games - mostly atmospheric tracks.

Sunny tried to give it a cool name but he was a bit stumped. Fortunately, Mari gave it the perfect name: Lavender Space. He initially wanted this room to be an exclusive Sunny zone, but he eventually gave permission for his dear sister to also visit at anytime. Sometimes, they would just flop in the shallow waters like a fish together. Mari may not look like it, but like her brother, she too has some pretty strange desires.

Once a week, he likes to just lay down on a bench and let the jukebox play a random tune. For him, it's the best place to just take a break from the chaos of Headspace and today was no exception. He just came back from doing jury duty for the unfair trial of Snaley and he managed to set poor guy free. Snaley isn't exactly his favorite creation, but Aubrey absolutely adores the talking marshmallow creature and he would absolutely loath to upset her.

That trial reminded him of a rather strange detail about Headspace that he could never find an answer for. Why is this world so lifelike? Like, even the inhabitants that he created act like actual individuals, albeit with their own quirks. To give today as an example, he noticed how Snaley was genuinely frightened at the prospect of being given a 4 year sentence to jail. When he created the little guy, he definitely did not envision him as a man with a wife and 2 kids.

And it's not just that. Some of the inhabitants surprised him with how observant they can be. Mr. Outback always seems to know a lot about how this dreamscape works but he never gave a concrete answer to any of Sunny's questions. Just a few vague sayings about reality's relationship with dreams and a big "Yee-haw!" after that. The Coral Tree was surprisingly spot-on with its musings about Sunny's worries and insecurities. It's not like he intended it to be so intelligent but it was apparently already there in the beginning somehow; in fact, it seems to remember when the world was still a lifeless plain.

Is it possible that Headspace isn't just a product of his own imagination? Could it be that it was actually on a separate plane of reality and that he just happened to be the first person to access it? If so, why? Why is it that he gets to be the one who has the greatest influence on this world?

He asked himself and Mari these kinds of questions for over a year now and they still could not come up with a concrete explanation for all of this. Oh well, dreams are not meant to make much sense, he figures. It's been almost 8 years and he has never seen a single person outside his friends that can be identified as hailing from the real world.

*splash*

Oh, that stepping sound must be from his sister visiting or at least, that's what he assumed before he got up from his resting position and looked around. Wait, that's not Mari.....

Instead, he sees a completely different girl who looks about his age. Her pigtails seem relatively well-kept and the sweater with the checker pattern in the middle looks really comfy. But why are her eyes completely closed at all times? Why does she seem even more stoic than himself? Somehow, the girl's overall vibes feels mundane yet unsettling at the same time.

"Who.... are you?"

"Tsuki." There was a brief yet strange pause in her voice before she continues. "Hi," she plainly greeted with a cadence that somehow matches his own dryness.

".....Sunny," he replied hesistantly. He tried to remember if he's ever created this girl before. Even if he did, that wouldn't explain how she was able to enter this room.

"I got lost. What do you do?" It's really hard to get a read on her expressions.

".....um, I dream stuff."

She slighly tilts her head. "Like me?"

"Huh?"

"I like to visit my own dreams. This isn't mine."

"I.... uh...... huh?!?!??!???"

WHAT THE FUCK. WHAT WHAT WHAT WHAT WHAT WHAT??????????????

"Wanna see this?" SERIOUSLY!? THAT'S WHAT THE FIRST THING YOU SAY AFTER YOU JUST DROPPED A BOMBSHELL LIKE THAT?!?

Suddenly, she pulls a bicycle out of thin air and her head turns into a street lamp. Then, the lamp head morphed into a frog. Finally, Tsuki's head turns back to normal and the bike vanished in an instant.

After a minute of awkward silence, his brain was able to partially calm down and keep it together, at least for now. Deciding to ignore her little demonstrations, Sunny asks her about what she said earlier, "What...... do you mean by visiting your dreams?"

Tsuki looks around the place, despite her eyes being shut close. "This is yours, right?"

"....Y-yes."

"Then, it isn't mine." Very helpful.

Tsuki places a finger under her chin as if to decide on the next thing to do. He notices that there's a knife handle in her left pocket. Then, she takes something out from the other pocket. "Here, have this."

In her dainty hands is a small slip of paper. He hesistantly grabs it and sees.... a phone number? It's ■■■-■■■-■■■■. On the upper left corner, there's a tiny doodle of a girl with an unnerving but knowing smile.

"I'm from Nearby City. Call me if you like." She's that close to him?!

"Wait, why?"

She just shrugged. "You seem interesting." There was another strange pause as she noticed the jukebox near his bench. "Nice music."

As if this couldn't get any weirder, she pinches her left cheek and fades away. The last thing he saw was a slight smile that appeared on her face for a sec. She didn't even say goodbye.

For what seemed like an eternity, he stares out into the vast room. Despite what just happened, Lavender Space remains calm and peaceful. The ankle-deep water doesn't change a single bit. All the flowers standing above the water did not react at all to Tsuki's appearance. It was like she was never there in the first place.

He stared back at the phone number on the slip of paper like he just discovered a foreign relic from outer space. Right now, there are too many questions that begs to be answered. Who the hell is Tsuki exactly and how did she get here? Is she even real? Is this phone number actually real in the real world? Why does she have a knife? Is she actually dangerous? When he entered Lavender Space, he did not expect to have even more questions than ever.

He really needs to get out of this room before he loses his goddamn mind. Earlier, Basil asked him to check out his newly-adopted pet King Carnivore. Apparently, it's actually quite affectionate once you get to know it properly. He didn't have the time to visit the house 'cause of the whole jury thing.

~

Whenever the kids aren't around to hang out with Mari, she likes to get weird with Hero. No, not that kind of weird; that's best reserved for real life stuff. What she meant by weird, she's thinking of things like turning herself and Hero into cute pets. For her, being a pianist is not her ultimate goal in life even if she doesn't actually mind being that. No, what she always wanted since childhood was to be a cat. For years, she envied Mewo's perfect lifestyle and would sometimes emulate her catty mannerisms, much to the confusion of her parents. Initially, her boyfriend was a bit hesistant about becoming a dog but when he saw her being poofed into a fluffy cat, he was instantly sold on the idea.

Who knew that the Pyrefly Forest would make for such a great spot for romantic getaways. Even the ever-present fog that covers much of the forest could not deter the two lovers from having a thought-provoking talk near the lake. In his canine form, the twinkles in Hero's eyes and his wagging tail proves to be irresistable as always. Surely, he too could not resist the allure of her feline fluffiness.

"Meow meow meow meow."

"Arf arf arf arf."

"weoM."

"frA."

"MeowwoeM."

"ArffrA."

This isn't even their most intellectual and philosophical conversation. In the past, the things they discussed in the language of cats and dogs would blow the minds of even the most brilliant thinkers like Socrates and Nietzsche. Of course, Mari would never ever reveal the hidden meanings behind their animalistic words to anyone. It's a couples secret.

Chapter Text

August 2, 2015

As far as summer days go, today is a bit on the boring side of things. Mari's having a horror movie marathon with Sunny and no one wants to interrupt them, Kel's hanging out with his basketball team, and Aubrey's just doing her usual gang activities like fending off rival gangs from neighboring towns so that just leaves him and Basil together.

A few hours ago, they had just finished playing a game of go-fish and this time, Basil managed to narrowly win by calling his bluff. Usually, that's something Aubrey would do but Basil of all people? Maybe she taught Basil a few tricks while he was away at college. Or it could be because he's probably just gotten rusty. It's hard to hone your card skills when you're busy at cooking school after all.

"Hero, do you have any idea on what to do next? I still have a few hours before I need to go home for dinner."

In his head, there's this tiny wheel of ideas spinning and it landed on........ cook something! But what should he make exactly?

He searches through the pantries and the fridge for any ideas. Nope, still got nothing. "Basil, what do you want me to make?"

"Well, today's a bit hotter than usual and we could try make something that will cool us down a bit........ maybe, ice cream?"

1 hour of making ice cream later (Yes, he's that good at cooking food, shut up).

"Sooooooo, what do you think?" He nervously asks while imagining himself making a massive sweat drop like on TV.

It's his first time making ice creams and Hero isn't sure if he mixed the creams correctly so Basil gets to be his test subject. He waits patiently as Basil delicately smacks his lips after tasting a scoop of vanilla ice cream. "Hero? Can I say something?"

"Yes, what is it?"

"This is...... amazing! How did you do it?" That's the kind of radiant smile that you'd only see from Basil if he was being kissed by Kel. It's fair to say that his test run was a total success.

"Ah, it's nothing too crazy. I just saved up to buy some vanilla beans and followed a Papa Chip's recipe."

"Polly has an old Papa Chip's cookbook; I could send some ice cream recipes if you like."

"I would really appreciate that, Basil. Thanks." There's only about 3 ice cream recipes on the General Home Cooking edition he brought home from his apartment. Back there, he has about 10 different editions. One of his favorites is specifically about authentic Mexican dishes and how to make them at an affordable price.

"Oh, n-no problem! It's no biggie! Hahaha..." Oh, Basil. Always acting so flustered at any compliments. Is it any wonder why he matches so well with Kel's virtually boundless enthusiasm?

He looks back to the kitchen on the left. There's still enough ingredients left that he could try make another flavor but what exactly? Damn, why is he struggling to figure stuff out today? It must be the scorching heat getting to his brain.

How on Earth could Kel and Aubrey even tolerate this year's summer heat? It's insane out here! I saw a dead squirrel being roasted by the sun today!

"I could make another batch, what flavor do you want?"

It took some time for Basil's fluster to finally go away, enough for him to speak at least. "It's been a long time since I ate mint chocolate chip. Would that be alright with you? Sorry if that's too much to ask for, haha...."

"Well actually, I do have some leftover mint leaves from making some tea with Sunny last week. That I can do. Just wait for about 30 minutes, alright?"

Then, he flashes the usual smile that people always call charismatic. He swears that it must have some kind of psychological effect to make him look 10 times more agreeable to people. Really, the only person that it doesn't fully work on is Mari and even then, she always giggles and calls it cute.

"That's okay, Hero. I can wait."

Then Basil heads over to the living room's couch and make himself comfy. He turns on the TV to watch a nature documentary series about the Amazon rainforest. There's David Attenborough as the narrator this time, thank God for that. He's gotta hand it to the Brits, their documentaries are far more calm and mature than whatever's on Animal Planet these days.

As Hero gets back to the kitchen, he wonders what kind of ice cream he could try making in Headspace. Now that he has the knowledge, the possibilities are practically endless. Really, the only thing to worry about is his brother's inclinations for making unusual food combinations. No offense to Kel, but his gummy coffee burger shake mixed with diet coke from yesterday could actually knock an elephant out into a nasty coma.

~

Jeez, Jackson vs. Frederick is such a terrible movie to watch on a marathon. It's not just because of the haphazard pacing or the horribly aged CGI effects, it's also incredibly boring to watch. Like, come on! You can go through an hour and 30 minutes and pretty much nothing progresses at all! Did they honestly think that they can just get away with this garbage?

For Mari, that overwhelming feeling of ennui only intensifies when she's being forced to sit through such a boring slog after viewing the gloriously campy Jackson V: If Looks Could Kill. Even the death scenes aren't as creative. At least the movie after this one, Jackson VI: Election Day Massacre, is a lot more exciting and funny. It's not quite as good as Jackson X: Suffocated in Space or even Jackson XII: Californian Carnage, but it's still a really good slasher flick. Plus, the movie's satirical jabs at America's election system still holds true even after 2 decades.

Unfortunately, there's still about an hour of runtime left so she might as well pass the time by having a convo with her little Sunshine.

"Hey, Sunny. Did you call that Tsuki girl yet?"

It took a while for Sunny to snap out of being zoned out and answer her question. "....Y-yeah, I did."

He starts to straighten his back a bit from slouching through the movie binging and makes eye contact with her. It's so cute whenever he tries to focus. "Can you tell me what that call was like? I still find it hard to believe that there's a girl who can just enter your dreams like that...."

"Okay, so stuff about her. She's 16 like me, she just moved to the city last year, she's partially Peruvian, and she doesn't go out much."

"Oh, you mean she only go outside sometimes?"

"No, I mean she barely leaves her apartment at all. I don't know why though. She doesn't like to say too much about her personal life."

Mari finds that to be very concerning to say the least. She may have never seen Tsuki's face or even talked to her before, but her sisterly instinct wishes that she could be there to help the poor girl with whatever's happening.

"Whatever she's going through, I hope that she'll be alright. Anything else?"

"For the most part, she asked me about myself. I was a bit cautious so I didn't say too much. I didn't even tell her that I have a sister at all."

"So was she acting strange or nah?"

"Well, she admitted to being terrified of the outside world. Her dreams are the only place that she has any real control at all."

Mari was going to ask something else but she suddenly remebered a worrying detail. "Wait a minute, didn't you say that you saw a knife handle in her pockets?"

"I asked her about that. She never liked holding sharp things, especially in real life, but she needs it for her nightmares."

That reminded her of Sunny's odd fascination with blades. She remembered seeing him searching up swords and knives on the computer and he'd always cover up the screen and act so embarrassed. Years ago, that would've been concerning. But these days, it's patently clear that he would never hurt anyone with a blade, unless if it was a fly that was being too noisy. If you know, you know.

"Are you saying that Tsuki's not a bad girl, right?"

"Not as bad as Aubrey at least......... and not cute as her," he noted. His cheeks visibly flushed red as a beet the moment he mentions her name. Ahhh.... the wonders of teenage love! So raw and undefined, yet so beautiful and free. The outside world is a cruel place for rejecting it in favor of more "mature" forms of love.

"Still can't get over how pretty your girlfriend is, aren't ya?" She smugly asked while the TV displays Frederick brutally murdering a man in his dreams. The loud and gory sounds of bones breaking could not distract Sunny from blushing even harder. "But if this Tsuki girl ever acted strangely, you need to tell me, capiche?"

"Kay, got it. But should I tell Aubrey about her?"

"You should, Sunny. You know it's bad to keep secrets from your girlfriend for too long. But don't worry, I've known her for a very long time..... she told me yesterday that you will always be her little Sunbun forever!"

The mention of his pet name was the straw that broke the camel's back. His face was practically steaming like a lobster. He keeps mumbling Aubrey's name over and over like he's trying to summon her with a Satanic ritual. He was a complete mess. Mari could not stop herself from laughing her ass off and that only embarrassed him even more. In response, her laughs becomes even more hysterically louder to the point of drowning out the screaming victims from the TV.

It's a vicious cycle, but it's also really funny.

Chapter Text

August 7, 2015

Tonight, Sunny asked Basil if he wanted to have some fun at the DreamLand amusement park with him. As far as big attractions in Headspace goes, Basil would say that it's up there with the Food Pyramid and RPGVille in terms of entertainment. Their other friends are already at the park so there's no harm in accepting the invitation. He already finished all of the flowers (even Kel's cacti) near his shoe house and he trusts Berly to take care of his pet King Crawler. Surprisingly enough, Sunny's dream equivalent to Kim is actually pretty good at pet-sitting; she even works at an animal hospital.

When they went past the entrance and walked over to the plaza, he could see all of their friends relaxing on a familiar red and white picnic blanket. Mari's talking about preparing to go back for fall semester while letting Hero resting on her lap. He looks super pleased to be here to say the least. Meanwhile, it looks like Kel is competitively throwing coins into the fountain with Aubrey. It's hard to say who's winning right now but Basil's bias tells him that Kel is totally gonna beat her.

"What's up, Basil? Did it take a long time for my brother to find you?"

"Oh, it was alright! We just used Pluto as a shortcut and it didn't take too long."

Upon hearing Pluto's name, Kel stops whatever he was doing and chimes in. "Ummm, did he say anything about me? I hope he still considers me a good disciple. Also, hi there! How's it going?"

"I'm doing fine, Kel! Anyway, Pluto said that you'll need to try beat him next time without any coffee. Other than that, he thinks that you certainly have the potential to surpass him."

"Hah! Fat chance!"

"I heard that, Aubrey! I'm not done with you yet!" Kel defiantly snaps back. Someday, these two are probably gonna get each other hospitalized.

To be honest, the only things that distinguish a dream picnic from a real one is the location and the special food everyone's having. This time, they're having sushi plates and ramune bottles. Apparently, it was Sunny's idea since he's been craving some Japanese cuisine lately.

After about an hour of chilling out, it's time to have some fun. While everyone else were discussing on what ride to take, all of their plans were derailed by Kel springing up from the picnic blanket and wanting to go by himself.

"Imma go to a ride myself, see ya!"

Before the orange blur could leave everyone else in the dust, he was snatched by Aubrey. "Hell no, you're not! Remember last month when I left you alone at the casino for like 10 minutes?"

"Oh, yeahhhhh! That! I have no regrets!" Kel looked so joyous when he said that, but Aubrey wasn't amused at all. Is she still that upset about Snaley's arrest?

"I'm coming too! I have to be the guy to mediate you guys. Again," Hero reminds them somewhat tiredly. Poor guy.

Basil flashes his anime eyes and angles his head in a very specific way to catch Kel's attention. "Before you go, Kel. How about a kiss, for luck?"

"Say no less, bagel boy!" Immediately, Kel rushed over and gave him a big kiss before he ran away. It was brief, but the sensation was downright unbelievable. There's really no other way to describe it than a big "woooooow."

"Kel, slow down for your big brother at least!" Basil notices that Hero's stamina is a bit higher than it used to be. Must be the results of hitting the gym back at the city.

Sunny didn't even have to say anything to get Aubrey to give him a little peck before following Kel and Hero. Awww, his ears are flaring up!

When he and Sunny decided that it's time to find a ride, he just realized something was off. "Mari, can I ask you something?"

"Yes, what is it?"

"Why didn't you give Hero a goodbye kiss too?"

"I gave him a ghost kiss. It's a couples secret," she answers matter-of-factly.

"Okay......? Sunny, can you.....?"

"Can't. It's a sibling secret," he answers while zipping his hand over his mouth.

"Let's just go."

Mari decided to stay back to clean up the picnic mess and asked them to meet her at the beach area.

~

On the sign, it says that only two people are allowed on each rafts. The Gator guy at the counter inspects their park cards carefully and asks Basil if he should be counted as half a person since he's so short. Basil was massively offended and staunchly defended his height while Sunny had to stifle his laughters. He set this up, didn't he?

It seems that this time, the raft is far bigger to accomodate teenager-shaped people. As the raft starts floating along the river, it feels so nostalgic to be here with his friend Sunny. It's such a calming ride and that makes it the perfect spot for talking. There aren't that much people rafting so they could usually use this as an opportunity to spill their secrets out.

"You know, Sunny, it's been a while since I went on this ride at all. How long has it been exactly?" He asks knowing that Sunny has the memory of an elephant.

"It was back in October of 2011, I might be wrong though," he answers. "That was when I confessed something to you..."

"Was it about...... that?"

"Yeah...."

"I remembered when you felt so horrible about not helping her earlier. You broke down."

"I was so stupid. I thought she was just doing fine performing by herself. If only I had seen the signs earlier," he regretfully says while a shadow looms over his eyes.

Oh no, did Basil just ruin what should've been a happy ride for the both of them? He mentally slapped himself for bringing that bad memory up again. Think, Basil, think! He's helped Sunny deal with things like this for several years now. Is there anything he can do to cheer him up?

As they entered the tunnel, the glowworms dangling from the ceiling provides their ride with some much needed light. One of the worms was enjoying a corn dog as a mid-work snack and that gave Basil an idea. Something to lighten Sunny up a bit.

"Sunny, remember when I took you to a hot dog place after that ride? You were still crying a lot back then."

"Y-yeah, I liked the cosmic dog," Sunny muttered. Basil could see that his lips were slightly curling up and the shadow over his eyes being less intense..

"When you bit into it, I couldn't help but laugh at how you reacted to the space flavors."

"Even when I was still crying, it felt so much better when the asteroid sauce exploded in my mouth." he speaks with his smile fully returning back. By the time the raft went out of the dark tunnel, all of the gloom in the atmosphere have more or less faded away. Mission accomplished.

"Yeah, then you also laughed with me. It's like all of a sudden, everything feels like it's going to be alright..."

Then, Sunny scoots himself a bit closer to Basil's seat.

"Basil....... remember when you struggled with your crush on Kel? It was when he just turned 15."

"Yeah, you were the only who knew about that. I was so afraid about it, you know? I was worried that he wouldn't like me back and call me a freak."

It was a stupid fear but it wasn't an unreasonable one. In the past, his classmates often picked on him for acting "too girly" and called him all sorts of horrible things. Even when he knew that Kel would never act like these people, that fear still held him back like a ball and chain. It was Sunny who freed him from the shackles and nudged him to confess.

Out of nowhere, Sunny wraps his arms around Basil just like what he did in that talk. "You encouraged me to ask her out when I almost gave up. It's only right that I return the favor," he whispers to Basil's ears softly.

He warmly hugs him back and also whispers in his ears. "Thanks, Sunny. Thanks for helping me so many times. Again, I can't thank you enough. You're the best."

They're only halfway done with the ride so they keep hugging each other in comfortable silence. The flowing waters and the screams from the nearby Elevator of Doom coaster does nothing to break that. For whatever reason, Basil always felt hesistant to go on that ride.

~

"Guys, I think I made a mistake by going on this ride," Kel finally admits as yet another error message appears on the screen. Another 30 minute of downtime is added. Apparently, someone's flower puzzle pieces got jammed into the coaster's mechanisms.

"You think?! We've been waiting for 3 fucking hours already!!" Aubrey snaps. She proceeds to go on a lengthy rant about how stupid Kel is and how this would never happen if Basil had followed him instead. For once, he could not find any reason to argue back with her. Oh, why did he have to pick the Cungadero 'Round Town? If only he went on the Marvelous Mystery Board......

"When will it start already? I hate this......." Hero's voice trails off as he's practically on the verge of dying from sheer boredom. Even he lacks the energy to calm Aubrey down from her righteous fury. "I wonder how the others are doing?"

In Kel's mind, they must be having the best day ever. Mari could be playing laser tags and absolutely crush the competition while his lovely Basil could be frolicking with Sunny in the Garden of Eden.

~

When Mari said that she'll be at the beach side of DreamLand, Basil didn't think she meant as in the local bar there. The tiki faces on the interior walls are a bit unsettling to look at. The staff members wearing fish skulls with some gnarly teeth definitely did not help at all. At least the background music composed by Sunny's pretty catchy. Apparently, he made that tune in only 50 minutes on FL Studio.

"Mari, are you sure you can drink that? You're only 19." He worryingly points to Mari's almost-empty mug of sake.

She sips the last bit from her mug and nonchalantly waves it off. "Don't worry, Basil! I asked for it to be heavily diluted with maple syrup and besides, even Sunny's drinking it! See?"

To her right, Sunny chugs down an entire bottle of sake much to Basil's dismay. He asked for it to be mixed with ramune soda because he likes it fizzy. "It's okay, I guess. 6 out of 10. I wouldn't have this for my dates though."

Basil looks down at his frothy mug of freshly-squeezed cane juice and looks back at their drinks in front of him. "Am I seriously friends with two burgeoning alcoholics?"

"It's my dream. Let me do what I want," he casually responds as he grabs another bottle to chug down. He's not even this fast at downing his favorite drink - Lemon Larry - in real life.

"I agree with Sunny here. Waiter, waiter! 5 more bottles, please! And don't forget the maple syrup," she eagerly requests with a cat smile on her face.

It's been 8 years since Basil met the rest of his friends and he's learned a very important lesson: when the Suzuki siblings have both agreed on something, no one could ever change their mind.

Chapter Text

September 6, 2015

Ahhhh, there's nothing in the world more blissful than this.......

It's just me and my friends as cute little animals in a seemingly endless field of grasses. Remarkably, the sky itself isn't purple like how it usually is in Headspace but blue like in the real world. It's a little odd that we have to go inside a moon's angry eyeball to get here but it's not like this dream world makes that much sense anyway.

While Mari and Kel are forming a hunter tag-team to chase Hero and Basil down as preys, here I am resting under the only tree in the field with my favorite dreamer in the whole world. One time, he said that he must have lived his previous life as a cat and I can totally see why. He even sleeps like one too sometimes. Yet another reason why he's the best.

As Sunny gently nibbles my bunny ears, that reminds me of how much I adore my dear Bun-Bun and how he sometimes nibble on my jacket. Thinking about my 13th birthday and how he was the last gift only brings me sweet memories of that day. It was actually Basil's idea to get it because he knew how much I envied Kel and Sunny having their own pets. I know I already thanked him a lot for that but I should do it again when he's done playing games with the others. If I had to kill someone (except Sunny) to protect my precious Bun-Bun, I would.

It's been a while since I've thought about my past. I'm more of a present kind of a person, you know? Plus, there's just some........ stuff about my past that makes it hard to remember fondly. Even still, it's nice to think about the simpler times. Back when I look at the world with less jaded eyes. I never thought about what I want to be in the future like Hero and Mari did. All I really wanted was to be with my friends who loves me more than SHE ever did.

As I watch Kel leaping on Hero's back and hear all the barkings between the two of them, I suddenly remember that time when Kel admitted to me about his little crush on a certain flower boy. As much as it pains me to say it but, that hyperactive doofus was the one who gave me the courage to ask Sunny out. I was so foolishly confident in my belief that I would never be good enough for him. My grades weren't as good as his, I'm not as polite and understanding as him, and I'm not even fully Asian like he is (Look, I thought his parents wouldn't want that. I was wrong). I'm such a lucky girl.

If an outsider didn't know any better, they'd think that we hate each other. But truth be told, my life wouldn't be as interesting without Kel around. He's kind of an annoying dumbass but he's not a bad dude. He's like a golden retriever in human form. Who am I to deny Kel the opportunity to be with someone as gracious as Basil? Besides, I can always ask the latter for any embarrassing secrets that Kel shared with him.

When Mari pounced on poor Basil like a leopard catching its prey, I breathed a soft sigh of relief. If you thought Kel's hugs were too strong, you clearly have not endured her reunion hugs last month. I should give Basil some of my snacks later as my condolences for his poor bones.

Kim always bragged to her classmates about how cool I am, but that's just because I'm basically taking on Mari's mantle. Yes, her of all people. I could never forget the day when she saved me and Sunny from a gang of bullies. She scared them so badly, that they backed off from Sunny and I. How did she do it, you may ask? Well, she punched the leader so hard that he lost at least five of his teeth. Mind you, that guy and his gang of a dozen seniors were holding baseball bats, brass knuckles, and even pocket knives. The rest were shaking in their legs and some outright prayed to God for mercy; really, all it took was for her to crack her knuckles a little and they immediately went scrambling for their lives. When the dust have finally settled, we cried so hard in her arms that it looked like her clothes just experienced a heavy rain storm. Over and over, we kept blubbering on about how grateful we were for Mari protecting us from certain death.

After that, she gave each of us a sweet little kiss on the forehead and bought us some ice cream. If that doesn't convince you that Mari is the coolest person ever (even cooler than Captain Spaceboy), I don't know what will.

From that day onward, I swore to myself that I will defend the innocent people of this town from thugs and bullies like she did for me. I was initially worried if Mari would disapprove of my Scooter Gang but she trusted us to never stoop down to their levels. The worst thing we ever did this year was doing grafittis on the gym coach's house. Even then, we only did that because he wouldn't stop talking shit about Basil's appearance. I'd say that I did a pretty good job in warding off any rival gang from terrorizing this town so far. Granted, I won't be able to do this vigilante shtick any more when I graduate. I just hope that some younger people were inspired to stand up for themselves at least.

My thoughts were interrupted when Sunny held on to me tighter than before. Here, I thought I was the clingy one in this relationship. "...Auby..." he mumbles as his paws gently caresses my fur. How is he this damn cute? I've been getting love letters and flowers from a bunch of other guys in the past, but that never distracted me from my precious Sunbun. It fills me with pride whenever a random dude in the school hallway seethed in jealousy at the sight of us holding hands together.

As Basil crawled back to the tree after being resoundedly defeated by Mari, he couldn't help but snicker a little at seeing Sunny on my back. "Howdy, Sunny. Is Aubrey being a good bed for you? How would you rate her? A 10 out of 10?" He smugly asked but Sunny's too comfortable in his position to even bother with an flustered reaction. But I can't just let this attempt to dishonor him slide by, so I countered Basil's teasing with my own teasing. "You're just jealous that Kel wasn't the one who tagged you."

"I-i Uhm, no... I'm not. Aubrey! D-don't say that, man......!" The white furs on Basil's bunny body turned totally red.

Got him.

~

"Hey, Mari told me that you saved a kitten from drowning today. Is that true?"

"Yep, and she begged me to adopt it. Heck, she was down on her knees and made puppy dog eyes at me. She only relented when it turns out that the kitten already had an owner. She even tearfully kissed the cat goodbye before returning it."

"I don't know.... it'd be kinda fun to have 2 pets to cuddle."

"Kel, I know you love Hector dearly and so do I. But just dealing with him alone is a lot of work. Two pets would actually kill me."

"Nah, I can handle two of them. Sunny's my best friend and he's basically a cat in human form, so I'm definitely an expert on cat-sitting."

"Kel, don't tell me you forgot that time when you were asked by Sunny to petsit Mewo while he's on a date with Aubrey."

"Hey, it's not my fault that Mewo doesn't wanna listen to me. She only ate from her bowl when I took a shower! She doesn't like me!"

"I see what you mean. Mewo doesn't listen to me either. She only does what Sunny and Mari says. Some cats are just like that, you know?"

"Yeah, even Bun-Bun isn't as mean as that cat. I just wish he isn't so prone to biting my fingers."

...

...

...

"Sooooooo, what now?"

"Wanna go back to the tree with me? I made some burgers for you."

"You betcha!"

Chapter Text

September 24, 2015

"It's finally over, thank God....." Hero whispers now that his studies and monthly bills are finished.

After a hard day's work, Hero could finally relax in his apartment. It's almost midnight but he still wants to have some leisure before dozing off. Initially, he was planning to have a movie night with Mari and do some.... funny business together but unfortunately, she's already conked out on the bed. Clearly, today's music lessons were even more grueling and tiresome for her. She didn't even kiss him good night!

A selfish part of him wants to be a bit upset, but the angelic aura emanating from her sleeping face instantly dissolves any of that feeling. It's best that he holds back his greed for Mari's attention for now. He could only wonder what kind of shenanigans that she's currently up to in Headspace. Is she perhaps gorging on sweets at the Orange Oasis again? He wouldn't exactly put it past her.....

It's tempting to just join her in the bed already but he drank a bit too much coffee tonight. There's still some energy that he needs to burn away. Since he's got nothing better to do, he slumps on the couch and checks his phone. He briefly debated on if he should check his Cookie Clicker game or browse through Tweeter posts. In his head, the coin lands on the latter so he decides to spend the next half-hour looking at how his colleagues and town friends are doing.

While he's in the middle of scrolling through some posts from the Bread Twins, he got a sudden call from his brother Kel. Shouldn't he be asleep and hanging out at Headspace by now? Regardless, he picks up the call and walks outside to the hallway as to not interrupt Mari from her beauty sleep.

"Hey, Kel. What's up? It's a bit late for your sleep schedule. You still have school tomorrow and it's like 1:20...."

"Heya, Hero. Sorry about the call. I drank some Orange Joe a bit later than usual and now I need to burn some energy, whoops. Hahaha....."

"Really? Cause I can't really sleep right now because of caffeine too."

"Hell yeah! Brothers struggling with caffeine and staying asleep! Did you drank an Orange Joe? What was it like?!" Hero could practically hear him eagerly bouncing up and down as he asks.

"No, it was just coffee. I was quite busy for most of today and I needed to stay active."

"Aw man, here I thought you were finally warming up to the best drink ever," Kel mopingly remarks as if the idea of refusing to drink such an unhealthy beverage offends him somehow.

"Need I remind you that you're literally the only person in Faraway who can actually tolerate its caffeine levels."

"You guys are just weak," he stubbornly huffs at Hero's factually correct statement.

While ignoring that last statement, Hero asks him. "You wanna do anything tonight? Got any ideas?"

"Hmmmm, let's see. We can: go look for scraps in Otherworld, join a hot dog eating contest, arm wrestle, or continue with our RPG adventure. What will it be, huh?"

"I'd say that we should pick up from where we left off in RPGVille. Sounds good, right?"

On the phone, he heard his mom calling out to Kel. "Okay, mom! I'll go to bed soon! Sorry about that, I gotta sleep now. But yeah, I can do that. See ya later, bye!"

"You too, and good night!"

After the call is over, Hero looks around the empty hallway and wonders if anyone heard his conversation. It's probably for the best that that they don't.

He lets out a big yawn and smiles at the prospect at being embraced by Mari's arms even when she's asleep. It's like an instinctual thing for her to sleep-wrap around her loved ones, just ask Sunny. Some of his colleagues at the city pokes fun at him for being practically brainwashed to do whatever she says but he doesn't mind that honestly. And besides, who could possibly ever say no to her?

~

Normally, a visitor to RPGVille would have to shell out about 5000 clams every time but Kel already got himself a Party Pack VIP ticket so they could always freely pass the counter with zero downtime. Hero often chides and nags at him to quit gambling - even in a dream world - but come on, he did save them a ton of clams because he got lucky with the prizes a few years ago.

Past the counter, there lies an enormous old-school TV personally designed by famed artist/prince Rococo. It's actually quite admirable how the space elf manages to balance his passion with his busy royal relationship with Princess Sweetheart and Captain Spaceboy.

As they entered the TV, Kel could see all of his equipments materializing out of thin air. It's like this whole time, he was always holding that golden ball. Hero strikes a charismatic smile as his chef uniform and frying pan appears on him. They're both ready for adventuring.

"Um.. do you remember what our quest was supposed to be?"

"We're supposed to go find an item that would let us solve some puzzles."

"That's really vague, Kel."

"Let's just go; I can help re-jog some of your memories."

Last time, they only managed to traverse through half of the whale's stomach and Kel's not sure what the item would be exactly. He speculates that it could be a device from one of the Slime Sisters. It's a bit odd to explore a virtual simulation of Humphrey when he already knows what it's like.

After battling a horde of sentient bubbles and genetically modified Sprout Moles, they came across a sign to an area called the Liver Lake. Hero tried to advise him to walk over to the Pancreas Plaza first, but that place sounds way too boring for his liking.

Unfortunately, he got too excited and bumped into someone without looking. When he looked up, he saw a massive lump of Humphrey reading a manga while sipping kelp juice. He looks really cranky for some reason. Also, he's really big. As in, big enough to swallow two whole elephants.

The lump turns around and angrily shoos him away. "HEY! CAN'T YOU TELL I'M BUSY WITH SOMETHING? SCRAM, KID!!"

Hero manages to catch up and tries to calm the fleshy giant down. "I apologize for my brother's hastiness but we really need to visit this lake."

Being intimidated by the lump's enormity, he frantically comes up with an excuse to avoid any trouble. "Y-yeah! It's really.... important, you see. I left my pet rock there and I need to get it back. It wouldn't take too long for me to find it!"

"NOPE! GET OUTTA HERE BEFORE I CRUSH YOU!"

"Look, can't we just talk it out? I'm sure that there's a way for us to move past you. Don't you agree?" Hero asks in a pleading tone.

"YOU ALREADY PISSED ME OFF BY INTERRUPTING MY READING AND NOW YOU'RE TRYING TO FOOL ME, HUH? I'LL CRUSH YOU ANYWAY!" The lump furiously beats his fleshy chest and lets out a mighty roar.

~

• Humphrey Guardian appears!
What will Kel & Hero Do?
Fight!👈
Run Away!

"I just realized that we forgot to heal so be careful, Kel."

"Aye aye, captain! You too!"

• Humphrey Guardian swings his tongue like a hammer. Hero takes 200 damage! Kel dodged and takes no damage!

"I FUCKING LOVE MARINA. EVEN MORE THAN AIR CONDITIONING."

• Kel used Run & Gun on Humphrey Guardian. Hero used Cook on himself. Humphrey Guardian took 300 damage!

• Humphrey Guardian lets out an extremely annoying laugh. Humphrey Guardian is Happy! Hero is Angry! Kel is Angry!

• Kel used Rally to heal and make himself Happy. Hero used the Joke Book. Hero is Happy! Kel is Ecstatic!

• Humphrey Guardian punches everyone. Hero took 80 damage! Kel took 60 damage!

"Y'ALL ARE SO MEAN TO ME FOR NO REASON. YOU CAN'T DO THIS TO ME, I'VE BEEN GUARDING THIS PLACE FOR 10 YEARS NOW!"

• Humphrey Guardian vomits out everything he ate today. Kel took 200 damage and is now Toast! Hero dodged and took no damage!

"UGHHH, I FEEL SO SICK. I NEED TO EAT A CAKE RIGHT NOW."

• Humphrey Guardian took a break and ate some angel food cake. Hero used Life Jam on Kel!

• Kel used the Annoy skill and infuriated Humprey Guardian. Hero used Burning Oil on Humphrey Guardian. Humphrey Guardian takes 200 damage!

• Humphrey Guardian chomped down on Hero. Hero took 120 damage!

• Kel threw out a banana peel. Humphrey Guardian tripped and hit the floor with his face. Humphrey Guardian is confused and also took 678 damage!

• Humphrey Guardian tried to slap Kel but facepalmed himself in confusion. Humphrey Guardian took 430 damage!

• Kel used Run & Gun on Humphrey Guardian but he missed! Hero used Share Food on everyone.

• Humphrey Guardian swings his tongue like a hammer. Kel took 100 damage! Hero took 120 damage!

• Hero analyzed Humprey Guardian for weak spots and found that he has only 530 HP left. Kel used Flex and raised his critical hit rate for one turn.

"HUFF, HUFF. WAIT, GIVE ME A SEC. I HAVEN'T FOUGHT IN A WHILE. SO TIRED...."

• Humphrey Guardian is super exhausted and lays down.

"Yo, bro! Let's do our newest bro attack!"

"You sure about this, Kel? I haven't practiced much with this move."

"You can do this, man! I believe in ya!"

• Hero's CONFIDENCE have been temporarily raised by 30! Oh yeah!

• Baller Combo
60 Juice
Time the A and B button alternatively to increase the power of this move! Deals critical damage if performed Excellently.

As Kel throws it over to Hero, he breaths slowly and in his focused vision. Only the ball matters. Come on, Hero, you can do it. Just catch it, throw it, and it's all over. He jumps into the air and readies himself for the final action. Unfortunately, he misjudged the trajectory and it's his face that catches the ball itself.

But somehow, the ball bounces off of his face in the right direction and lands on the Humphrey guardian's crotch area.

• EXCELLENT!! It hit right in the heart! HUMPHREY GUARDIAN took 14,300 damage!

"CURSE YOU, HOW WILL I EVER DATE MARINA NOW?! NO!!!!!!!"

• The big Humphrey lump de-clumps into a thousand little Humphreys and scurries away like a horde of rats.

• Kel & Hero have earned 10,000 EXP and 50,000 clams! Kel leveled up to 40! Hero leveled up to 42!
Kel learns the Caffeinated Carnage skill!
Hero learns the Gentleman's Resolve skill!

~

As they take the raft across the bile-smelling lake, Kel thinks about how ugly that Humphrey lump is. Did that guy seriously think he has a chance with Marina of all people? His odds are already low with Medusa or Molly but Marina?

If memory serves him correctly, Marina has only ever professed her love for women and Kel's like 90% sure that all of the Humphrey lumps are male. So yeah, zero chance. He's got better luck asking out a gator mom.

After a minute of rafting, they finally reached the other side of the lake and came across a treasure chest. Since Hero helped him alot for the boss fight, it's only right that his big bro gets to open the chest this time.

☆ You got the Cheese Wheel! Press the Z button to summon Ems the Hamster and use her small body to crawl through tight spaces.

Wait... what is she doing here in a whale's liver?

~

Ughhh, it feels like his head is being sloshed around. So groggy. Hero struggles to wake up but he could feel a certain Mari wrapping around him like he's her personal futon. To be fair, he kinda is. It's a side effect that comes with your beloved girlfriend being exactly one inch taller than you. It's actually kinda scary (but exciting) how much she grew in the past 2 years. Here's hoping for another 2 years!

Back in the old days before college, Hero used to be the tallest one in the group and Kel always felt so jealous of his stature. Is it possible that the same thing will happen to Sunny and Aubrey one day?

"Wakey, wakey!"

With a little effort, he forces his un-cooperative eyelids open to see the prettiest girl in the whole wide world. Instinctively, he could feel his cheeks turning rosy and her responsive giggles are as sweet as ever. "Good morning, Henry," she cheerfully greeted before giving him the mandatory morning kiss.

"Heyyyy, babe.... wassup?" He groggily asks. Last night was so much fun but the only downside was that he didn't get to see Mari much.

"I'm doing alright. What's cooking, good lookin?"

"Already feelin' better today..."

"What, from seeing me?~" She teasingly asks.

"Yeah, so pretty....." Hero mumbles with some intense admiration in his voice. Even when his eyes are getting rather hazy these days, she always manages to appear so crystal clear to him. If he were to ever become blind, he would never forget anything about her face. But seriously, he should probably make a quick appointment with an eye doctor though. She wouldn't mind if he started wearing glasses, right?

"Same goes for you, little man!~"

"Can we stay here a little longerrrr? I don't feel like getting up yet....."

This moment of laziness was largely motivated by his insatiable need to admire Mari's awe-inspiring beauty, both on the outside and on the inside. Practically sculped by the gods of all religions, she is far greater than even the most priceless of artifacts. Even the magenta-dyed underlayers of her hair alone are more captivating than anything that Vincent van Gogh could ever come up with. Her laughs are symphonic masterpieces, only rivaled by the likes of Brian Wilson, Shostakovich, and Mozart.

"Sure thing, honeybuns~" She sensually whispers while leaning over to intensely nuzzle his nose. Unlike him, her nose is oh-so wonderfully smooth and soft. He loves it when their fringes of hair join together like a pair of hands, and having his bare back being slowly caressed by her dainty little hands is an experience that could only be described as heavenly. If he was born with a tail, it would be wagging nonstop right now.

He knows that today will be a very demanding one but as long as he still has Mari around, there's nothing to worry about. Plus, her cookies are always worth it.

Chapter Text

October 4, 2015

For every month at Otherworld, there's usually a big event that a lot of people would participate in. Last month, it was the annual Frozen Lake fishing contest but personally, Kel isn't too interested in fishing so he skipped that one in favor of finding some treasure at the nearby junkyard. It's good thing that he did because he was finally able to find the TV girl's thingamajigs after 3 years of fruitlessly searching for them. For his efforts, he was rewarded with a ton of free coffee drinks.

But this time, Captain Spaceboy will be giving autographs at the Otherworld Outskirts after returning from his latest journey in space. To say that this is a big deal would be a massive understatement. That guy is literally his childhood hero and he gets to have a chance at actually being acknowledged by him. Kel knew that he had to get his basketball signed by him NO. MATTER. WHAT.

It's too bad he has to wait in a line of thousands of people from all over Headspace wanting to get his autographs. There's gator guys, spelling beez, mermen, sprout moles, bunnies, underwater biker gang members, and too many other people to mention. Needless to say, it won't be easy getting his ball signed.

Oh well, at least his pals are here. Sunny's behind him talking to this girl named Tsuki on his shellular phone. A few days ago, she accidentally interrupted everyone during their picnic time. Initially, Kel was super suspicious of this really strange girl who can somehow enter his best friend's dreams. Basil hid behind his stature in fear of this.... stranger. It didn't help that she was holding a knife, albeit passively. Hero stood in her way in a noble effort to protect the rest. The only other people who weren't super on-guard were Aubrey and Mari. Even then, the former cautiously approached her and awkwardly shook her hands. Mari already talked with Tsuki in real life before so she warmly greeted her with open arms. Hero was about to tell Mari to stay away before Tsuki put the knife away and hugged her.

After a few hours of getting to know her, she's actually not that bad. She's just very weird and withdrawn, so she's basically girl Sunny, but with some past trauma that she refused to disclose about. Tsuki said that she's not very good at entering other people's dreams so her visits will be pretty rare.

With this shell phone, Sunny can somehow talk to Tsuki while she's in her own dreams. Even he doesn't know how that works and it's not like she knew any better. "Huh? You flicked the switch and she turned into what again?" Sunny asks incredulously. Whatever it was that she just saw, it must be really baffling for Sunny of all people.

In front of him, Basil and Aubrey are talking about how to prepare for meeting a celebrity as renowned as Captain Spaceboy. She's planning to get her old Mr. Plantegg plush signed while Basil's carefully holding his prized sunflower pot as to not spill the dirt. "What if I acted too n-nervous.... and make myself look bad to everyone?" Basil worryingly asks as the huge line proves to be a bit much for him.

"Chill out, dude. I know it's a really big crowd today but take it easy, alright?" Aubrey pats his back with a confident grin. Kel would be lying if he says he doesn't envy her for being able to stay and sleep at Basil's house.

"Yeah! Don't forget that I'm always here for you, bagel boy!" Kel yelled from behind to catch his attention. To really sweeten the deal, he even tried to do Hero's iconic sparkly smile. Admittedly, it looks a bit silly on him but it always works on Basil.

As predicted, Basil's nerves have been calmed down and he even giggled a little. "T-thanks, Kel! You're so sweet.." He then walks over to give Kel a tiny kiss on the lips before moving back to his spot in the line. That kiss instantly replenished all of his energy that was spent from standing in this line. Now that he's got his groove back, he can't just give up right now!

After observing that moment, Aubrey tried to ask Sunny for a kiss to replenish her own energy.

Kel stares at his prized childhood ball that was thankfully preserved in this world when the real one was accidentally popped by Hector a few years ago. He contemplates about which side of the ball should Captain Spaceboy put his signature on.

Is it this side or the other side? No, wait... maybe this side will do.

If you're wondering where the hell are his brother and Mari at, don't worry. They already got the autographs and are currently at the Frozen Lake. Knowing Hero, he's probably making some shaved ice for everyone to enjoy.

~

If you were to ask Captain Spaceboy about his origin story, he would not be able to give a real answer. He just appeared in this place one day with no recollections of anything before that. Where is he? What is this place? Why is he dressed like this? But none of these questions really matter anyway. He only knew about his innate drive to be a hero and that's all that matters.

During his efforts to defend this place called Headspace from evildoers, he quickly gathered himself a loyal band of Space Pirates and even the dwarf planet Pluto as a valuable ally. It's rather strange that his subordinates all act like they already knew about him for a very long time. Did he meet them before?

Somewhere along the way, he became extremely famous to the point of being a household name. In fact, a lot of people started to act just like him too. A few of his subordinates told him that imitation is the most sincere form of flattery. Still, it really bothers him to be signing autographs from at least 40 of his impersonators so far. He's just grateful that none of them have managed to figure out what's inside his pants.

There's also the fact that so many people insists on wanting to date him even though he's already married to Princess Sweetheart and Prince Rococo. Wait, does that technically make him Prince Spaceboy?

While signing his name on a really nervous teenage boy's flower pot, Spaceboy could not stop himself from thinking about how his two lovers are doing right now. Surely, they must be so lonely at their castle without him around and he too yearns for their affection during his long adventure. Sometimes, he wishes that he isn't so busy saving the cosmos all the time. When this event finally ends, he will make sure to reward their patience and loyalty by having a very long vacation together.

The delightful mental image of being showered by their reunion kisses motivates him to keep signing the autographs. Little by little, he's one step closer to seeing them again.

Chapter Text

October 21, 2015

Have you ever went on a elevator and anxiously wait for when the door opens up? Have you ever felt this feeling of dread that looms over you like a dark cloud in the sky? Right now, that's what Mari and Sunny are experiencing as the elevator steadily moves down to a place far beneath the crevices of Headspace.

Sunny may be incredibly talented at dreaming, but that doesn't mean he can just stamp out his nightmares. They usually manifest as shadowy creatures that come in all shapes and sizes. A nightmare can be anywhere from a rail-thin humanoid to a monstrous spider with a toothy grin. Even after Mari taught him lessons on facing one's own fears, these horrible... things never truly vanished. Rather, they just retreated back into an obscure corner of the world named Black Space.

Most of the time, there's nothing about Black Space that makes going there worthwhile at all. Sunny would only ever go there if he really needs to confront whatever worries him right now. Last time, he brought Aubrey along to help manage his fears about ruining his relationship with her. He asked Mari to join him this time because she's the best at scaring away the monsters.

Seeing as Headspace is a really, really big place, there are multiple ways to enter Black Space but the most convenient one lies under the sea. At the Last Resort's executive office is an odd elevator that is almost never used by anyone, not even the evil (but very hot) CEO version of Hero.

It's been several minutes since they went into the elevator yet it feels like an eternity. The only way to recognize that you're not in Deep Well anymore is by noticing the lack of bubbly sounds. Instead, you'll hear a perpetual drones that only gets louder the lower the elevator gets. Mari has seen a lot of horror movies with her brother for much her life but they were always more campy and unsubtle. It didn't really matter if Jackson slashed a few guys with his chainsaw hands since the movies didn't take it too seriously. It's another reason why she hates this place. It's far too unnerving and subtle to elicit any positive reactions out of her.

Sunny fidgets around nervously and huddles closer to Mari. "Sorry for dragging you into my problems again."

"Oh, come now. There ain't no shame in asking for my help!" She replied.

Sunny stares down at the floor forlornly. "But I'm not a little kid anymore. I should be braver and less reliant on others. I'm still a coward." She noticed how his hands briefly clenched up in frustration.

Mari lowers her body down and gently picks his face up. "Look... I get that feeling, Sunny. Really, I do, but we can't always be at our best all the time. And you're not weak at all. A coward would never dare to face his sentient fears on a monthly basis, y' know what I mean?"

He slowly nods.

The elevator finally lands on Black Space and the door opens to a bleak and utterly desolate place. It's so devoid of color that even their colors were drained to a mere black and white. She personally doesn't mind being monochromatic but she despises how it makes her brother look downright ghastly, even if he's wearing a custom-made shirt depicting a vibrant yellow star.

In the middle of Black Space, there's a strange picnic blanket that looks a lot like hers but much grayer. It's rather jarring but she appreciates it for being the only thing that actually feels safe and secure in this hostile wasteland. It's like a bonfire in a dark forest.

Aside from the perpetual darkness and the picnic blanket, there's a bunch of pitch-black doors that always lead them to a scenario born from Sunny's subconciousness.

As they stepped out of the elevator, they heard a familiar voice to the left. "Welcome to Black Space. It's been a while since the last time you visited."

Sunny routinely waved at the man. "Hey."

Back when Mari first entered this dreamscape as a child, she thought the man in the trenchcoat was permanently destroyed by her protection of Sunny. But alas, it's always here to greet them instead. It's admittedly not that terrifying anymore. Even Sunny is barely fazed by the creature these days.

"Ahh, Mari. What a pleasant surprise. Here to babysit your brother again?" Despite the lack of an actual face, she can practically see its condescending smirk.

"You're just mad that I beat your ass up when I was 11." Mari cockily remarks as she haughtily points at the man's burnt marks.

"I must admit that the burns were pretty painful. I can still feel them every waking moment of my existence.... Still, that does not mean you beat me."

"Uh, yeah I did." She affirms her domination with one last smirk.

"Whatever.... old lady." It storms off to the distance, annoyed at their lack of fear.

"She's not old. Don't say that." Sunny mumbles. His heroic efforts were rewarded with a soft pat on the head from Mari.

Confusingly enough, there's just 3 doors to enter. It's always been at least 10 doors every time they visit. To add to the strangeness, there's a bunch of traffic cones and warning signs scattered across Black Space. Even now, their understanding of how Black Space operates are still quite limited.

Surrounding the doors, the whispers of a few dozen nightmare creatures taunts them. As usual, Mari gestures for him to never pay the monsters any attention as they walk over to the nearest door.

"You will never be as good as your sister, Sunny. Just accept it already."

"Grow up, you child."

"She only dates you out of pity."

"Still afraid of swimming? How pathetic."

He's done this so many times but he still fears for what's behind these doors. He takes a long, deep breath and slowly turns the knob open. Here goes nothing...

~

Upon entering this first room, the door behind them vanishes. It's kinda dark, but there's a lamp a few feet away from them and someone is reading near it. As their eyes adjust to the relative lack of light, they both realized where they are.

"Wait, is this just... our bedroom?" Mari asked.

Everything in this room is replicated to near perfection. The books inside the shelves are exactly the same and the desk are still covered in vinyl figurines of Pet Rock characters. It's honestly uncanny how even Mari's old softball bat retains the same old scratches from years of practice.

After being distracted by the room's replication, Mari sees a slightly taller Sunny sitting on his bed. In his hands is a crumpled sheet of paper. Out of curiosity, the real one slowly approaches him. "Hi there. I'm you."

After a period of silence, he finally registers Sunny's presence and cranes his face up. He looks a bit upset for some reason. "....oh, hey there...."

"What's in that paper?"

"Why do you care about this? But fine, take a look..."

Upon closer inspection, the paper is actually a letter from the Nearby University congratulating Sunny for being accepted as a student.

"Huh? Why do you look so upset about it?" Mari inquires.

"I lived in this town for my whole life. I don't know what I would do in the city." The older Sunny replies. "I remember when you had a really hard time in college, sis."

"Well, I managed to adjust to living there eventually! I don't see why it's so impossible for you...."

"I can't be as good as you! I just can't!" He snaps. "Now leave me alone....."

After Sunny was pushed away by his counterpart, he sheepishly looks up to her. "Sorry you had to hear all of that from the other me. I'm just... scared to do things, even when it's necessary."

Mari softly brushes some hair behind his ears. "It's okay, man. I don't really blame you for not wanting to leave. This town is a really special place, but don't worry. I can assure you that the city is actually pretty nice. Hero and I will guide you, alright?"

"....thanks, I guess..." He half-heartedly smiles.

As a response, she firmly grips his shoulders and looks right in his eyes. "And by the way, you are NOT inferior to me at all. You will always be the best brother ever and I wouldn't want it any other way. Never let anyone convince you otherwise, not even yourself."

After a few seconds passed, Sunny's smile becomes more genuine and hugs her. "Thank you, I needed that."

~

"When will it end?" Sunny murmurs to himself.

According to his watch, they've been walking in this strange hallway for 30 minutes already. The walls are all covered up with Sunny's drawings, some dating all the way back to when he was merely 3-years old. But there's no one around to appreciate the artworks except for them. Combined with the sterile lighting and the echoes of Mari's piano performances, it's enough to put them on edge.

Out of paranoia, Sunny often looks back to see if there's anything following them only to be met with.... nothing.

To keep herself distracted from the unsettling atmosphere, Mari tries to focus on how adorable some of these drawings are. It's honestly impressive how much black cats he drew in just 1 year. Half of them, the cats are usually accompanied by a pink bunny.

As they keep walking for another 30 minutes, the artworks gradually became less common. Meanwhile, voices started to circulate around the hallway. They sound a bit like Sunny, however distorted they may be.

"I can't do this."

"How is this sustainable at all? It doesn't pay my bills."

Eventually, the artworks are completely absent from the walls, and the lighting becomes brighter and brighter to the point of being unbearable. On the other hand, the voices are occasionally interrupted with loud ringings and printer noises.

It took them an eternity but they finally reached the end of the hallway. Expecting to see a door, they instead saw a blank wall with an old phone booth attached to it. The phone is constantly ringing.

Sunny momentarily reaches his hand out before suddenly retracting it like he just touched a hot stove. "Sis... should I?"

Mari briefly looks back and stares back at the phone. She sighs heavily. "I don't think we have a choice here. Might as well get this over with."

Sunny hesistantly picks up the phone and shakily puts it up to his ear. "H-hello? Is anyone calling?"

Through the phone, an middle-aged sounding voice pours out. "Yes, is this Mr. Suzuki? Last week, you applied to the Nearby University. I'm sorry to say that your records and credentials do not reach our standards. Because of that, we cannot accept you as a student."

"I hope you understand. And have a good day, Mr. Suzuki."

The message coming from the phone, the constant voices, the unbearably bright lighting, and the music produced a downright nauseating combination. As soon as a door suddenly appears in the hallway, Sunny quickly bolts for it as fast as he possibly can. Mari quickly followed him.

~

As the third and final door closes, Sunny and his sister find themselves in a... normal office space? There's actual people in their cubicles working on their 2000s-era computers. Heck, they even heard some workers gossiping to each other.

"I... did not expect your final door to be like this." Mari remarks.

It didn't take long for Sunny to find this place's equivalent to himself, but something must have gone terribly wrong for this version.

The man on the desk hardly resembles her brother at all. Saying that he looks terrible is an understatement. His hair are prematurely graying, he looks positively malnourished, and the light that used to be in his eyes have been completely extinguished. This shell of a human being is so focused on the monitor that he doesn't even register Mari waving in front of his face. It almost breaks her heart to see him in such a state. She could never forgive herself if this were to actually happen to the real Sunny.

On the right side of his desk is a framed picture of his friends smiling. It's a bit faded from age but their happiness were palpable. He took a brief glance and gave out a resigned sigh. "I'm so sorry, you guys..." he somberly apologized. "I failed all of you...."

That moment of regret was rudely interrupted by a knock on the walls of his pale cubicle. Reluctantly, the other Sunny turned around and sees a portly manager who reeks of arrogance. Just by looking at his obnoxiously red suit and his coffee mug that says 'NUMBER #1 MANAGER' in big bold letters, you can tell that he's so full of shit.

"Mr. Suzuki, I gotta ask somethin'."

"What is it, Mr. Minch?" He flatly asks with as much energy as a corpse.

"Have you ever missed anything from your childhood? Any regrets?" He asks before loudly sipping from his mug.

The older Sunny leaned back on his chair and looked at the ceiling. "Everything."

"Heh... I don't have any. Wanna know whyyyy?"

"...."

"Cause' I'm not a washed up loser." He points to himself while puffing his chest up proudly. "Hah!"

"I know...."

Mari could feel her blood boiling at the sight of this man going out of his way to belittle her dear brother. It doesn't even matter to her that this older Sunny is just a fabrication because no one should be allowed to do that and get away with it. Before she could release her anger at the manager, he quickly vanished into thin air.

She punches through the cubicle's wall and tries to cool down. "Calm down, girl. He's not real. My brother is fine." She repeats these worlds to herself a few times in a sort of mantra.

As the real Sunny opened a drawer as an attempt to not let the manager's words stung even harder, what he found inside was so horrifying that he couldn't even properly describe what it was. He gasped so loudly that it immediately caught her attention. "Sunny! What happened?"

Sunny shakily points to the drawer. "Th-that!"

When Mari dared to peek into the drawer, she too gasped at the contents inside and almost fell to the ground. She had no idea that thing was ever in Sunny's subconciousness.

All of a sudden, the office vanished away and they're back again in Black Space. When she looks at Sunny, he looks completely shaken up. How long has it been since he felt this terrified? When Mari hugged him, he probably didn't notice that he was already sobbing hard.

Chapter Text

October 25, 2015

Whenever Basil only has himself for company, the first thing he usually does is simply walking. Depending on where he is, the walk can be either pretty long or pretty short. Sunny and Kel are completely absent in Headspace for reasons unknown to him, Hero's having a lovely date with Mari at the Mustard Sub, and Aubrey said that she'll be back in a while after playing Dino's Dig so there's really no one but himself.

The Vast Forest is a relatively basic place when compared to areas like the Orange Oasis or the Deep Well, but Basil has enjoyed the simplicity of the forest. Unlike Sunny who regularly endulges himself in the strangeness of Headspace, Basil tends to be overwhelmed by its sheer chaos.

A few years ago, there was this awful monster with a singular eye and a gaping maw of darkness haunting this place for a few weeks. The reason it took so long for the creature nicknamed "Nanci" to be spotted for banishment to Black Space was due to its hiding spot being near an obscured, lonesome tree with a tire swing. Sometimes, he would check that spot to see if it was still there and every single time, nothing. The tire swing fills him with nothing but dread and he has no idea as to why.

After a few minutes of peacefully walking on the soft carpet of minty-green grasses, he comes across the long wooden pier. Back then, he used to be quite terrified of going anywhere near the pier and often asked Kel to carry him, bridal style. These days however, he finds it to be rather pleasant in its own foggy way. Even the vast sea that surrounds the bridges doesn't affect him much anymore. He still doesn't quite get why Sunny needed it to be so long to the point of touching the other side of the Vast Forest though.

He sits down and dip his feet down while humming contently. It's during these moments that his mind ventures back to a time when he used to live in Maine with his grandma. He was a very lonely kid, but he always loved going to the shores and chasing seagulls around. The waves rising up and down in an almost rhythmic fashion soothed his souls whenever he felt sad about not being able to see his parents. Sometimes, he would make up vivid hypothetical timelines where he stayed in Portland for his whole life. By the end, he always concludes that moving to Faraway Town was ultimately the best thing his grandma ever did.

The little splashes from his legs eventually gave way to a proper reflection of himself and something behind him. Wait.... is that Aubr-

"GOTCHA, BITCH!"

The sudden jumpscare from Aubrey accidentally pushed Basil over the piers and into the waters. For a brief moment, he had no idea what just happened but he instinctively beat his legs against the water. He almost felt a brief moment of terror at the possibility of drowning.

Fortunately for Basil, it didn't take long for him to realize that he's in no real danger at all. When his head rises to the surface, the first thing he notices is how Aubrey's hair is constantly changing colors every second.

"He-y...." he coughs out a bit of water before continuing, "why are you so....?"

"Colorful? Yeah, I always wanted to have rainbow hair as a kid. Come on, let's get you up, okay?" She extends her hand out while proudly showing off her vibrant hair.

"O-oh yeah."

Even with Aubrey's conveniently portable hair dryer, Basil is still completely drenched. He groused and pouted about her prank, but Aubrey shuts him up with a tiny pinch on the cheeks.

"Whatever you say, flower boy............" She tried to act all nonchalant and unapolegetic about it, but her guilt eventually won out.

".....Fine, I'm sorry about getting you soaked up, okay?"

Satisfied, he drops his half-serious anger at Aubrey and continues to let her dry his body. He just wished that she didn't put the blow setting to max.

When his blonde hair felt almost dry, he turned around a bit to ask Aubrey something. "Uhm, so do you know where Sunny is? I haven't seen him all night."

"Oh, Sunny? Before I went to sleep, he messaged me that Kel invited him for a gaming marathon. They're probably still up playing Mario Party or some other shit... What, are you still worrying about how your old crush is doing?~" She then follows up with an imitation of Mari's iconic smirk.

Utterly flustered, his thoughts were off the rails and he sought to snap back. "W-well, h-hey!! You know that he used to have a big crush on me too, right?" His face wasn't just red, it was straight up STEAMING hot at this point.

Aubrey looks completely unfazed.

"Yeah, and? He told me that when we first dated and I was like "yeah, that makes sense." before I smooched him again. By the way, did you also know that I used to pine for you at one point? You were so damn cute and you still are!" She countered back with an even nastier tease. The sheer embarassment rendered him almost catatonic and the only thing his brain was able to conjure up were the visions of his friends - Kel, Aubrey, and Sunny - asking him out all at once. Each of them were handing out their expensive chocolate boxes adorned with their own personal love letters.

Was he really that attractive to them and he somehow had no idea about it?

As Aubrey keeps teasing him and laughing her ass off like a hyena, the torture session was eventually interrupted by the abrupt sound of a foghorn from the distance. Emerging from the fogs, the source reveals itself to be a large pink steamboat full of Sprout Moles whistling a familiar tune from a certain cartoon mouse. Half of them can be seen wearing shirts and hats bearing Sweetheart's iconography. The other half is performing a cover of the Pyrefly anthem, all conducted by a ghost with a top hat.

The sight was enough to snap Basil out of his temporary shutdown.

"Woah, I didn't know that the concert was going to start that soon. Freakin' sweet!" Her eyes dazzled with stars, perfectly complimenting her rainbow hair.

Feeling rather out of the loop, Basil asked. "Huh? What concert?"

The stars blew up in Aubrey's eyes and she looked at him in sheer disbelief as if he just grew a second melon-colored head. "Wait, you don't actually know!? Have you been living under a rock or something?"

"Just tell me, man....." Basil insisted.

"Alright, alright. Okay, so.... there's gonna be this concert tour from Sweetheart and she'll be performing with her husbands at the Rainy Isles. I just didn't know that it'll happen like around this time."

"What do you mean? Shouldn't you know?"

Aubrey inexplicably pulls out a concert pamphlet from her pocket and gives it to Basil. It's surprisingly extravagant for a simple promotional poster. The lettering detailing the genres and dates are extremely flowery and the three performers - Sweetheart, Spaceboy, and Rococo - are illustrated to be as beautiful as humanly possible. In the bottom right corner, he sees an artist's signature by Sunny himself. The nice thing about Headspace is that his friend could alway flex his artistic skills without feeling egocentric or attention-seeking.

According to the pamphlet, the first concert will start at the Everbloom Forest. He's got some beef with the residential bees there, but he will always admit that the forest's eternally spring climate is simply beautiful. Oddly enough, the dates did not specify the hours of performance.

Looking back at Aubrey, she smiles in eager anticipation. "You wanna go see the concert with me?" She waves out two spare tickets that's a bit bloodied up. "I had to beat a punk up for these tickets, you know how it is."

"Okay, but I need to-"

"Alright, let's go now!" She yells out as she drags Basil along. Normally, he would complain about this but a concert is a concert. That reminds him of the time when Kel invited him to an LMFAO concert while vacationing together in New York. He's not sure if Kel still remembers them or if they're still even around at all, but memories like these are always worth remembering.

God, he and Sunny can be so sappy when it comes to reminiscing about the past.

I wonder how Sunny's doing right now?

~

Meanwhile in Kel's house.....

Somehow, Kel and his best friend has managed to stay up this late without his parents noticing; it's literally 2 in the morning! Granted, it took a lot to convince Sunny to play Burnout Revenge for the PS2 instead of sleeping. But now, he's starting to wonder if this was actually a good idea. Not only did he ruin his own chances of having a good Saturday via sleep deprivation, he's also badly losing to Sunny. EVERY. SINGLE. TIME.

"Dude, how are you still beating me at every race?!" Kel loudly whispers, annoyed that he just lost for the 30th time already.

Sunny shrugged. "Beats me."

He took another sip from his Red Bull before starting another race.

It's been so long since they both played the game together, but it's like Sunny never forgot how to play. While Kel was slowly remembering what the game was like, Sunny's just casually drifting around the courses with maximum efficiency even though he hasn't played it in almost 8 years.

The floor around the two boys are totally littered with empty bags of Doritos and cans of energy drinks. The sun still isn't up yet so the only source of light comes from Kel's old TV that he refuses to get rid of for sentimental reasons. Under his bed is a forgotten rolled-up poster of a music duo from 2012 that he used to listen to. As frustrating as constantly losing to Sunny is, he's just glad to spend an all nighter with his buddy.

A few days ago, Sunny went travelling down to that creepy dark world with his sister and whatever it was that he saw, it really scared him so badly that even Kel was able to notice it. Tonight, this is his latest attempt at casting away the clouds over Sunny's head and so far, it's working! His shoulders are much looser, his eyes being far more relaxed, and his voice aren't all that shaky no more.

But there's one more thing he needs to check. "So are you feeling any more comfortable lately? No big worries?" Kel inquires.

After a period of exactly 5 seconds, Sunny finally pauses the game and makes direct eye contact.

"Yeah, I'm good now. Thanks for helping me feel better, I really appreciate it." He answered with the utmost sincerity. Without any prompt, Sunny sipped the last bit of Kel's Orange Joe and unpaused the game.

Mission accomplished.

Chapter Text

November 5, 2015

Today was definitely not a day of relaxation for Kel, to put it lightly. The entire time at school was totally filled with exams after exams that pushed him to his limits. During lunch hour, he resisted the temptations of eating a bland square pizza and focused on reviewing materials for the history exam. The growing pit in his stomach was not enough to dissuade Kel from trying to get at least a B+. It didn't help that after school, he dealt with a lot of people's problems in the town with Sunny. Even after all of that, he still forced himself to finish his homework from yesterday. When he finally got to bed after saying good night to his parents and his precious sister Sally, he conked out immediately without bothering to remove off his Faraway Cats jersey.

It's hard to fully articulate the vibrant sensation of actually visiting someone's dreams since that one is an exclusive experience for Kel's friend group only. For him at least, it felt like everything that ever happened in his life flooded his unconcious mind. Through the kaleidoscopic tunnels of good and bad memories, he could feel his inner self blitzing by so fast that even a cheetah would be envious. At the end, he stopped at a ticket station helmed by a talking version of his pet dog Hector. Beyond the station is a giant swirling hole on the ground.

The process of entering the world of Headspace itself is a little different for everyone. Sunny walks through a white door, Mari manifests herself in a ghost-like fashion, Basil emerges from the grassy ground like a zombie, Aubrey hops into the world in her bunny form before poofing into her normal form, and Hero rides into view with his personal dog sled.

How does Kel do it? Oh, it's nothing special really. All he did was to fall from the sky and land on the ground like how they do it in the movies. This time, he wanted to really show off and decided to spin a bunch of times.

Instead of gracefully landing in front of an applauding crowd, what he got was a face firmly stuck in the ground like an oversized carrot in front of practically no one. While spitting out all the dirt, Kel hoped that no one saw this massive blunder and tease him about it in the future.

He was planning to ask his friends to join him on an underground adventure with mole people (different from Sprout Moles) but he stayed up a bit too late for his homeworks. Oh well, better late than never, I guess.

Speaking of his friends...... where in the world are they? He scans the vicinity around him and the only sign of life around him are a few bunnies and lost Sprout Moles.

First, he checked the rainbow tree spot.... nope. Then, he investigated the the beach to the North and found nothing but his old sand sculptures of Basil's pretty face. Next, he scoured through the Playground aaaaaand they're nowhere to be found. Instead, he almost got kicked out for disturbing the peace with his screams.

By process of elimination, the only possible place for Kel's friends to be hanging out at would be to the South.

While walking down the path to Basil's peculiar bjt cozy shoe-house, Kel notices that his friend group's flowers are recently covered in water droplets. They must've been watered today!

Feeling extra exuberant from knowing that his pals are close by, he picks up the pace and blitzes through the Vast Forest. Even in such a fantastical world like Headspace, he would never entertain the idea of going anywhere without being accompanied by a friend or two.

As he gets closer to the shoe-house, he hears a familiar song that his family absolutely loves to no end. All of their road trips were never completed without at least a few dozen sing-alongs. It's a melody that he will never forget. Yep, it's Funky Town and he starts to hum along to it.

When Kel finally arrived at the entrance, he heard a lot of chattering, laughter, and of course, Funky Town playing in the background. This whole time, they were just having a party and he was late. Time to invite himself in! Wait, is that the voice of Hero and Mari singing along to it? And why do they sound so slurred?

Come on, Hero! I know I called you an old man before, but I didn't mean you have to drink like one!

Kel slowly turns the knob and gradually opens the birch door, expecting to see a regular party like a few months ago. What he got instead was something that he never would've guessed in a million years.

As it turns out, his friends were completely stoned out on mariquana while he was gone! A herbal mist permeates through the whole house to the point of being almost foggy. Normally, the smell should've been revolting but instead, it felt sweet and almost pleasant, even. It's like a freshly-baked cookie or a fragrant flower has somehow been converted into gas particles.

Close to the door, Sunny can be seen lying on the ground while giggling like an idiot. In his hands is a large bong in the shape of a knightly Sprout Mole. He was so flabbergasted at the bong that he almost didn't notice the kiss marks peppering around Sunny's face. It's almost enviable how he looks so blissful and carefree in this moment.

Aubrey sits near Sunny's barely concious body holding an entire plate of greenish brownies. She digs into the platter like a ravenous animal who hasn't eaten anything for months. Her Kirby design shirt is totally covered with brownie crumbs and batter. Occasionally, she would pause her binging to give Sunny a few more kisses before going back to eating. If that's what being stoned does to her appetite, God have mercy on everyone, especially Hero, if Kel got high as well.

Just seeing these two was already shocking enough, then he saw Basil walking towards him. His eyes are as red as a pair of cherries and Kel can smell that weedy aroma emanating from his mouth. This is the most relaxed Basil has ever looked in his life.

"Howwwwdy, Kelly..... wassup?" He mumbled before giving Kel a long, sloppy kiss on the neck. "Love you, man...."

Basil's kisses are usually so quick and it's almost always on the lips; they're also very clean.

"H-hi there, Basil. Are you feeling uhm... alright?" He asked with a tinge of concern while trying to ignore the strange feelings of being kissed like that. He shouldn't like it but he does.

"Me? I feel greatttt, man! I gotta thank my guy Sunny for spicing up the party, dude." Basil responded with the most un-Basil voice possible. He sounds more like a surfer dude from California than a total sweetheart. He even went as far as to have his shirt unbuttoned to look like he's visiting Venice Beach, not that Kel's complaining about it.

Kel shook his head after a few seconds of stunned silence. "Huh? What do you mean by Sunny spicing up the party? What did he do?"

Basil gestures his head towards Sunny on the ground. "Sunster over here, tried smoking some 'cause he was curious, and then we took a whiff and boom!" Basil snapped his fingers.

"Don't you think this is a bad idea, though? Didn't our school force us to watch a PSA about that?"

"Man, that PSA was bullshit!" Aubrey commented.

"Yeah, what she said! I know I'm a bit far out but I feel so chill now." He moves his arms around in a wavy motion. "Anyway, wanna join the party, bro?"

"Can I at least see Hero first, though? Is he okay in the back?"

"Sure thing, babe! Just follow me and by the way, he's just having a fun time with Mari. Hehehe....."

Walking past the living room and kitchen, Kel's ears pick up his brother singing his heart out while Mari cheers along. The rational side of his brain yells at him for not trying to end the party but honestly, his heart doesn't see any real problem with it.

As Basil opens the door to his bedroom, the first thing Kel sees is Hero singing along to a karaoke CD on Basil's green bean-shaped TV while crossdressing as Alice from Wonderland. Sitting on Basil's flower-themed bed, Mari, dressed up as the Mad Hatter, can be seen clapping to the rhythm of Funky Town. The floor is riddled with half-smoked blunts and brownie crumbs. The walls are plastered with sloppily kissed photos of Hero rocking that Alice dress. Combined with the purple lighting stemming from the mushroomy lamp on the table, the room resembles a fever dream more than anything. He had to blink several times just so that his eyeballs could visually confirm what he just saw.

It's such an odd feeling for Kel, being the most responsible person in the whole building.

To gain their attention, Kel very loudly clears his throat. It's a rather fortunate timing because the song just ended so there was nothing to distract Hero from noticing his presence.

In the blink of an eye, he felt his entire form being embraced by Hero who seems to be crying so tenderly for some reason. Ignoring the blue dress, his brother looks and acts so much more vulnerable than usual.

"I missed you so much, Kel!" He sounds so overjoyed saying that.

"But I saw you last night at a Sweetheart concert. Don't you remember?" Kel said while trying to find some room to breath.

It's so rare for Hero to give this type of suffocating hug when that's usually how Kel does it. The last time he ever did this was when Kel got lost in an amusement park as a little kid.

"I know, but I kept thinking about how lucky I am to have you as my brother!" Hero sniffled really loudly before continuing. "In a few days, you're gonna be 71 years old and I just wanna say that I'm proud of you!"

Guess the cannabis really loosened his brother's inhibitions, huh.

He wiggled out a bit from Hero's embrace and bashfully rubbed the back of his head. "Awww, thank you, dude! But don't you mean to say 17 years old?"

"Ehhhhh, doesn't matterrrrr, Kelvin Jamessssss..... you will always be a super duper tupery cool guyyyyy and thaaaaat's what matters most!" Mari chimes in while smoking another rolled-up blunt. After she exhales a massive cloud of that kushy aroma, she just stares into the ceiling and giggles like a lunatic. Like brother, like sister.

My god, she must be higher than Jupiter at this point!

"So whatya say, Kevsi Kola? You wanna get high and chill out? It's 'kay to just let loose sometimes, you feeeeeel me?" Basil encouraged from behind.

For Kel, it feels like he just found himself in a den of stoned-out sirens and they're luring him into a trap. In any another situation like this, he would've taken on the responsibilities to do everything he can to help everyone.

But........ honestly, he's tired of being the guy that everyone can rely on all the time. That reminds him of the time when Hero did so much work for last year's Christmas dinner for his family that he almost collapsed. It took the combined efforts of Kel and Mari to convince him to get a break and let someone else do the hard work. Deep down inside, he admits that he would have worked just as hard as Hero on that day if not even harder.

He looks at Basil, Hero, and Mari all making bloodshot puppy-dog eyes at him, practically begging him to get high. Even when his boyfriend is totally zonked out, he still manages to be unbelievably adorable whenever he does that. He really is a siren.

After a minute of self-debating, Kel has finally come to a conclusion. "Hmmmmm, you know what? Sure, why the hell not?"

Kel could barely remember what he did while high as a kite but according to Hero's account, he apparently clinged on to Basil's back and kept murmuring about his hallucinations the entire time.

Looking back, it was just a weird little experiment that everyone did that night and Sunny thought it was too much. But damn, he felt so... free after inhaling that blunt. It's like all of the burdens the world placed on his shoulders just fell off. The troubles and the worries were all washed away with a tidal wave of transcendence. By the time he got up in the real world, he made a mental note to himself to thank Sunny for making last night's party so fun.

Maybe Basil had a point about letting loose every once in a while.

Chapter Text

May 19, 2008

Why does it feel so.... different? This isn't the spare mattress that she slept on with her friends. What happened to her fluffy blanket that she held onto so tightly during the cold nights? And most importantly, where is her oldest friend Mr. Plantegg? Something's going on with her first ever sleepover....

Then she opened her eyes.

For a moment, it was so bright that her eyes could not adjust to what's going on. During those brief seconds of blindness, Aubrey wondered if the brightness came from an angel that had just visited her from above, to tell her that daddy's doing alright up there.

When the shapes form in her vision, the surrounding world finally reveals itself to Aubrey and the first thing she sees is an intensely purple sky. Ideally, Aubrey would rather have it be pink, but she was totally dazzled by the constellations making out cute animals that it barely mattered at all. She could stare at this all day (or night?), but it was soon interrupted by a boyish voice from the left side. "Hey... I was worried that you wouldn't get up."

Sunny?!?

She reels back a bit upon recognizing his face entering her field of vision and yelps out a squeak that's rather unbecoming for someone who will soon be 9 years old.

"O-oh, sorry about that. I didn't mean to..." He meekly apologizes.

"Huh? Sunny? Where am I?" For a moment, she realizes that this isn't actually Sunny at all. This is clearly just something that her mind made up so she wouldn't feel lonely. Still, it's rather surprising how much he looks and acts like the real deal.

"Um, would you believe me if I say this?"

"I don't think so, Sunny almost never lies to me...."

Maybe he'll tell her that Princess Sweetheart is cooler than Captain Spaceboy? In that case, she wouldn't hold that against him. Spaceboy is still cooler though.

He took a deep breath, seemingly prepared for whatever outcome he's expecting. "Do you.... remember the swings today?"

"Of course! Sunny told me that people can go inside his dreams or something like that. Then he asked for a sleepover." She remembered feeling something fluttering in her stomach while the orange evening lights shine on his soft face.

"Well, you're inside mine now."

"........Huh?"

That statement was so incredibly unexpected that it ended up causing a lot of questioning from Aubrey's part and a lot of answering from Sunny's side. The entire time, Aubrey could not properly grasp that she is somehow occupying in his dreams no matter how much he explains. This went on for so long that eventually, she saw Mari, Hero, Kel, and Basil greeting her. Apparently, they were all waiting for Sunny to come back with her and that they encountered Basil before her. Judging by his expressions, he too feels overwhelmed and confused by this strange world.

When she saw them, she felt so much more comfortable and secure by their presence. It's almost kinda scary how she was able to so perfectly replicate her friends down to their faces, voices, and even their mannerisms. Is it even remotely possible to recreate someone as dumb, mean, weird, and annoying as Kel?

But then again, why would everyone insist that they're all from the real world? What's even weirder is that Basil is under the impression that this is actually his dream. None of this makes any sense and just thinking about this already makes her head spin like a top.

You know what? I don't even care anymore. Let's just have some fun!

And so, that's how Aubrey spends her time at this so-called "Headspace" with her friends. Even Basil eventually, if a bit reluctantly, decided that asking questions will come later. She honestly couldn't tell if he's actually supposed to represent her state of confusion or not.

First, there was this playground full of people that vaguely resembles her other classmates. Some of them bears a resemblance to monsters from the few books that she was able to afford. It seems that the area wasn't properly finished so there were these tiny holes in the ground with waters that reflected the stars. When Aubrey curiously stared at the occasional red tentacles trying to patch up the holes, Sunny clarified that they're actually from his old friend named "Abbi". Why the heck would her dreams make such a glaring spelling error?

Later on with tons of encouragement (and begging) from Kel, Aubrey went to a massive water park with a Giant Yellow Cat in the center. The cat stands proudly with an enormous fish bowl in its hands. You can see people of all shapes and sizes diving into the bowl like it's just your average swimming pool. Some of the slides are so incredibly tall that you literally cannot see the very top. Despite her bravery, she loathed to admit that she screamed and held on tight to everyone - especially Sunny - for dear life during the extremely tall water loops. Well, everyone except for Basil. He was too frightened to even dare; not that she could blame him at all.

When everyone dried themselves off, Hero suggested that it would be a real shame if they missed the upcoming Space Festival at the Nowhere Plaza. There, she ate so many snacks that looks like they came from the streets of Japan. That's a little weird, considering that she could hardly recall her own Korean heritage. Not to mention, the festival itself looked like something that only the Suzukis experienced in their younger years. In fact, Mari loved to tell her friends about what living in Japan was like. Something's not adding up.

The last thing the whole group did was running up a seemingly endless staircase of brightly colored cats. Kel and Mari took the lead with their speed, Aubrey and Sunny being runner-ups, and Basil and Hero are doing their best to catch up. All around her, there's planes shaped like sharks, swarms of flying bunnies, people playing on swings hanging off of planets, and so much more. By far, this was the strangest and most complex part of this (her?) dream. Everything around her looks like they were Sunny's drawings that came to life.

Tonight was an absolutely magical experience. It was probably the most fun she ever had since she first met her friends. But despite her efforts to just focusing on having a good time, she couldn't stop herself from asking questions about this world, sometimes outloud. Everyone but Basil seems to know the answers, as if they've already visited this dream before.

"I don't get it... why do you know so much?" Basil ponders.

"Yeah, I was wondering about that too." Aubrey added.

"Look, I know you two are still a bit skeptical but we really ARE in Sunny's dreams. If you want to confirm, just ask Mari for a secret codeword." Hero answers with some exasperation in his voice.

Basil and Aubrey walks over to everyone's big sister and she whispers the codeword to the both of their ears.

While sipping a bit of starfruit-flavored soda, Aubrey heard a loud ringing coming from Sunny. He pulled out a huge alarm clock from his pocket. "Okay, we need to wake up now. Bye, guys." He waved goodbye before walking away into the distance.

Hero placed a hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry Aubrey, he's just trying to find a door to walk through. Speaking of which, I gotta wake up to make sure everyone gets ready for today!" He whistled and a sled of puppies soon arrived. He got on the sled and rides off in Sunny's direction.

When Aubrey too felt that urge to wake up, she felt a pang of dissapointment in her heart. Why can't she stay here for a little longer? Why does she need to go back to her house?

Having noticed Aubrey's sadness, Mari kneeled down and gently hugged her. "Don't worry, Aubrey. Just know that this is real and you can come back every night." She warmly reassures her. "If you want proof, just tell us this codeword, alright?"

While adjusting her pink bow, she reluctantly nodded. "O-okay......"

With a small kiss on the forehead, Mari giggles and waves her goodbye before fading away. Her smiles are always so comforting and inviting; if only her mom could smile more. These days, she only got angrier and angrier. Aubrey swore that she was being a good girl....

Before Aubrey could say or do anything to thank the rapidly-fading Mari, there was a sudden flash of white light that envelops her vision.

~

Ughhhhh, that was one heck of a dream alright. Even now, Aubrey is still uncertain if this was actually her dream or not. She glanced at her old pyjama and sighed in dismay at the dissapearance of her pink festival kimono she loved wearing.

While stretching her arms out to a brand new day under God's watchful eyes, she hears Kel yawning in the loudest way possible.

"Hey, Kel....." She greeted half-heartedly.

"Morning, Auby!" That shout was so loud that it fully snapped her into proper conciousness. Sheesh, that boy could beat an airplane engine in terms of how LOUD he is.

Normally, she would tell him to pipe down a little, but she's already feeling pretty good so she'll let that slide for now.

Basil was the next to wake up. "Morning, Kel. Morning, Aubrey. I just had this weird dream, oh boy......"

Her morning bedhead was practically nothing compared to how utterly messy his head is right now. It looks more like he's wearing a bird's nest than anything.

Unfortunately, Sunny's still sleeping despite Kel's loud noises. Aubrey puffs her cheeks up in annoyance and Kel elicits a small snort.

The door behind them opens slowly to reveal Mari, still in her pretty blue nightgown, feeling quite chipper today. It looks like she had to resist the urge from saying "awwwww" upon seeing her brother's sleeping face. "How's it going with you three? Anything that you dreamt up?" She asks while repeatedly flashing her brows at Aubrey.

That reminded her to use the codeword to see if everything in that dream actually happened. She doesn't exactly see Kel as the most honest kid around and Mari would probably try to tease her instead of answering. Since Basil was also in that dream as an apparent newcomer, surely, he would be able to tell the truth.

"Hey, Basil. Do you know what you say before taking a picture of someone?" She asked with much tension in her voice.

When Basil rubs his eyes and smacks his lips together, Aubrey's heart suddenly slow down to a crawl. The whole world as she knows it depends on this moment of truth. If he doesn't know the codeword.....

After the longest 5 seconds ever passes, he finally answers. "I think it was "fuzzy pickles," right?"

Upon hearing that, the world resumes at last. She was so overjoyed that she screeched loud enough to give Sunny a rude awakening. "EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!"

She jumped on Sunny before he even had the chance to process what's going on right now. Poor guy.

"OHMIGOSH, THANK YOU THANK YOU! PLEASE LET ME HANG OUT AT YOUR DREAMS NEXT TIME, SUNNY! PRETTY PLEASEEEEE?"

Aubrey was so over the moon that she didn't even notice that her face was dangerously close to his.

Even Kel was caught off-guard by her sudden burst of energy and forgot that he was supposed to be brushing his teeth. While not quite as exuberant, Basil felt a sense of awe at the fact that Sunny really CAN do all that. But that life-changing revelation will have to wait later because Sunny's being suffocated by her sheer strength and he needs some help!

When Hero walked into the bedroom after a pleasant shower in the morning, he was dumbfounded to see the mess that the kids have made and surprisingly enough, Kel was NOT the culprit this time. Hero quickly rushes over to try and defuse it. It's like every time he wasn't there, the kids will inevitably cause a ruckus but honestly, he wouldn't want it any other way.

While all of this is happening, Mari could only smile at the downright precious sight of her Sunshine being nearly strangled by Aubrey. She knew that this would be the beginning of something truly special between them; plus, there's gonna be so many new ways to tease her little brother!

It's a win-win scenario if ever there was one.

Chapter Text

April 6, 2015

"You are the fairest of them all!"

"We are so lucky to be blessed with your presence, your Majesty!"

"Please sign my autographs!"

"Do you taste like an actual donut? Or is it the bagel?"

Except for the last one, these are the words that Princess Sweetheart would often hear on a daily basis. It's only inevitable given that she is after all, one of Headspace's most revered and beloved figures. Some people may call it a form of narcissism but she really does think very highly of herself. Her reflections certainly do not lie about her beauty, power, and any other positive qualities that she can think of.

But the thing that ticks her off the most is when some would claim that she is only ever capable of loving herself and nobody else.

She may be the prettiest girl in the world but that doesn't stop her from loving Captain Spaceboy and Rococo with all of her heart. A while ago, she feared the possibility of marrying either of them because that would mean breaking the other man's heart.

When the royal advisor suggested the idea of marrying the BOTH of them, he never realized that her life would finally be completed. Like there were a few pieces of herself that were empty and unfulfilled before the marriage. As a sign of gratitude, she made him a very nice room for him and his family.

But it's not just love in the romantic sense for she also greatly adores her family in the Orange Oasis. Yes, even the esteemed ruler of the Pyrefly Forest had a humble beginning in what used to be one of the most undesirable areas of Headspace. To many tourists, that is what convinced them to take a vacation there. However, it's been over a year since she last visited them. Time to correct that mistake.

~

When she decided to go alone on the Dorothi Express to the Orange Oasis, she didn't expect the ride itself to be so strange and even a bit surreal. In her mind, she thought the train cars would be full of stupid, adoring fans who'd trample over each other to get their autographs signed. But there weren't any of that at all.

Instead, she was met with a crowd of utterly silent people whose facial features are vague at best. They resemble the ghosts of office workers who succumbed to the intense work culture of Deep Well. When she tried to ask a lady if she knew about when the train will arrive at the desert, the only response was the wind howling through the tunnels that train was passing through.

Back when she was but a young little donut, trains weren't really a thing at all. During the Oasis Crisis, economic conditions were so rock-bottom to the point that even the local dinosaur businesses almost went extinct. Sweetheart would know what it was like because she experienced all of it. Despite the challenges, she managed to rise above all odds.

While reminiscing about her childhood, she noticed a bizarre deer-like creature crawling around the long train cars. Its hard clay skin is blacker than charcoal, its limbs are unsettlingly lanky, and the singular eye on the right side of the head stares into her soul. Despite the sheer strangeness of it all, the creature is actually quite harmless and it strolls through the crowd without ever bothering them.

None of the passengers seem to mind its presence at all. Some even offered it a snack or two like it's at a petting zoo. Near her seat, there's a pamphlet about proper train etiquette and one of the guidelines mentions how the Dark Deers are to be respected as an essential component of the metro system.

When the train slows down, the speaker announces the current location in a whispery and gravelly voice. It commands an ethereal kind of authority for the spectral passengers to obey. They seem to come and go in an almost automated fashion.

"WE ARE CURRENTLY AT THE CALUM HARBOR, THANK YOU FOR VISITING THE DOROTHI EXPRESS."

This is going to be a long ride, huh? Wish I brought some of my fruit juice along. Hmmm, I wonder how are my cute princes doing right now? A spicy painting session maybe?

~

"Oh my Dreamer, I miss this place....."

A few years ago, the Orange Oasis began to recover from its formerly pitiful state thanks to a community-led operation to restore the local businesses and natural beauty. Now, it's a thriving tourist hotspot with thousands of visitors at any given day despite being much smaller than Krilladelphia or even Otherworld.

A good part of the operation's funding actually came from the Pyrefly Castle as Sweetheart never truly forgot her roots there. For a few minutes, all she did was to look at the horizons and admire her old home.

Last time she was here, she never recalled seeing the brand new extension to the Dino's Dig pyramid before. It's probably just her nostalgia talking, but she isn't particularly pleased with the extension being a floating, futuristic pyramid (labeled NEO Food Pyramid) above the first one. Its ill-fitting appearance strikes her as being an eyesore at best and an outright disgrace to the community at worst. She fears the possibility that this would set a precedent for the Orange Oasis to scrub away its cultural identity.

But despite the changes over the years, she can always count on the skies to remain forever purple. The constellations of desserts that hangs over the desert reminds her of that restaurant she used to visit with her hard earned allowances. One of her favorites was the anti-hero sandwich. So spicy yet so good! Just for that sandwich alone, Sweetheart promises to herself to never allow the joint to fade away.

Along the walk paths to her family house, she saw a group of all-too familiar teenagers gathering around Orange Joe himself. The energetic one - Kel - was raving about being a fan of his energy drinks like a complete lunatic. She giggles to herself, knowing that Oragne Joe's drinks are of a much higher quality than everything else. In fact, there was an Oragne advertising campaign that featured an scantily-clad Sweetheart drinking from a bottle rather seductively. Of course, that campaign really boosted the sales by about 143 percent.

She wanted to quickly go to her house but all of the locals kept recognizing her and it took a while to greet them but she finally made it to the residential area of the Orange Oasis. The playground sets and equipments are all still there, enjoyed by kids in the desert. Some things never change, not even after the economic boom.

In hindsight, it's rather odd that she lived so close to the Toast Graveyard but her younger self thought it was pretty exciting. On certain nights, she would sneak out to the small canyon near the graveyard and tried to stop the Man on Fire from running around as a challenge.

Before she moved away to start a new life, she finally managed to stop the Man on Fire. She was pleasantly shocked to hear such a hopeful advice that it actually moved her to tears. Have hope for yourself and your future, he says. This was during when the desert's financial dires was at its peak so she witnessed a lot of people losing hope, herself included. Since then, he ran off to another part of this world and she hopes to see him again one day.

Before she does anything, she cleans her face up with some of her cinnamon sugar skin conditioner and raspberry lotion. NOW, she is ready.

*Knock
*Knock

"Who's there? Are you the landlord?" An elderly voice calls from within the donut-shaped house. The door opens up and she looks down to see an old, spectacled donut who shares her pink hair.

"No grandma, it's me Sweetheart!"

Her eyes began to glisten upon seeing her after over a year. "Oh my glutens, is that you?"

"Yep, that's me!"

"Oh, come here, my darling!"

It was a beautiful reunion for the princess and the one person who raised her like a mother. Eventually, the hug were joined by her younger siblings, Bagel and Lox.

For her whole life, she and her siblings lived with solely their grandma since her parents succumbed to a vicious bird. She felt an overwhelming sense of comfort and nostalgia upon looking at her childhood bed. Unlike all the other donuts in the town, Sweetheart was the only one who developed a humanoid form. As a result, her bed is quite massive compared to literally everything else in the house. Even then, it looks big enough to fit another person or a body pillow to go with her stature.

She was going to open up her royal suitcase and take out her gifts to them but her attention was caught by two squeaky voices.

"Yo sis, check dis out!"

Her little siblings gleefully tries to imitate her laughing posture but their lack of arms impedes that.

"Not bad, but let me show you two how it's really done!" She humbly boasted.

By pure muscle memory, her arms are positioned in that exact angle with the hand grasping for her mouth. Then the vocal cord within her doughy throat prepares itself for what she is about to do. Her siblings stare with much anticipation.

"OHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHO!!!"

"OHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHOHO!!!"

After that stunning display of pure mirth, everyone in the building laughed along with her. It got so loud that the neighbors had to file a noise complaint. Oops.

She checked the shelfs to see if her postcards and other gifts for the family are still there. Ok, not here, not here, not here. Then her fingers felt something between the books about how to be a good donut, gotcha!

Looking at her beach poster caused some jelly to bleed out of her nose so she had to quickly put the scandalous document of her beauty away. It would incredibly be rude and un-ladylike to make a mess when you just got here.

She blew the dust off from her first postcard from so long ago. On it is a photograph of herself posing in front of the construction of the Pyrefly Castle. It was during a time when she came across this quiet boy named Sunny. He didn't seem like much at first, but he volunteered to help build everything. The dungeons, personal theater, kitchen, everything. It was all because of him and his friends that she officially became the ruler of the dark forest. Because of that, his group are always allowed to come and go as they please.

Due to the passage of time, the photo became a bit ragged around the edges and there's some unwashable stains that smelled like hot cocoa. She didn't mind the aged appearance because it gives the photo a more vintage and personal feel.

In the bottom right corner, there's a partially faded message to her family. It's written in highly cursive handwriting.

"Don't forget to believe in yourself, alright? Even if you don't, just know that at the very least, I believe in you. I'll be back soon after the construction is finished. Tee hee!

Love,
Sweetheart 🩷"

Chapter Text

June 9, 2015

Where the hell am I? This isn't Headspace.

And indeed, this dark room is nothing like what you see almost every night for 8 whole years.

During the very few times that you didn't frolic around Sunny's dreams like a giddy child in a candy store, you always found yourself in places reminescent of your past. There's usually some consistent aspects to these odd dreams like how they're all so, so dark. The strangest part is how they only appeared after you entered Headspace for the first time. Your friends all claimed to have experienced that same kind of phenomena.

Damnit, why do I always get these types of lucid dreams? Just let me dream of something nice like being surrounded by bunnies for once.

Seeing no other choice, you got up from the rough concrete floor and look around a bit. It's a pretty small room and there's a rusty old door in front of you.

When you opened the door, you cringed a little from how painfully creaky it is. Beyond the door is a dark hallway that appears to be stetching for miles. You noticed that there's a flashlight rolling near your feet and you picked it up. It's still functional if a bit dim.

You steeled your nerves and trudged forward. Using the flashlight, the floor is a disturbingly rotten wooden surface. Rats and termites can be seen crawling through the openings as if this building (?) is their natural habitat.

The wall to the right is completely featureless to the point of being unnatural. No stains, cracks, blemishes, portraits, nothing. It somewhat reminds you of a blank canvas that an artist like Sunny would use.

Looking to left, the wall could not be any more different. The holes, broken windows, crawling spiders, exposed rebar, and graffitis makes it look positively war-torn at best. You hold back your breath for fear of accidentally collapsing the whole wall with your sneezes.

It took a while of walking, but you came across a door at the end of the hallway. Like the left wall, the door has seen better days but there seems to be something taped on it.

You shined the flashlight on the door and saw a paper written in Korean. Ever since last year, you've been taking online instructions on how to speak and read the language. Last month, you managed to impress yourself by successfully reading a simple speech without any guides. Still, you were only able to make out about half of what the paper was saying.

"I am forced to stay with... in America because he... just pull... and now I'm stuck. Lend me about 10 million won, please?" You said out loud. The paper was quickly crumpled by your hands.

That paper was all too familiar and that sent a shiver down your spines. Not wanting to dwell on the memory, you shook your head and hastily opened the door.

Another hallway? This time, it looks even worse than the last one. The wall to the right was covered in childish writings and drawings, clearly from yourself. Looking back, it's a miracle that you didn't become a total psycho from how awful your house was.

Conversely, the left wall is a bit more patched up, if not completely. The only other physical change was how moldy the floor looks now. Ewwww.....

Your breath shudders and you feel the cold winds of the night creeping around you like vines. You tried to think of Kel's exuberance to stave off the fears. He always knows how to lighten the mood a bit.

If only Kel was here with me tonight; I'd be too annoyed with his bullshit to even freak out.

Once again, you kept walking for what seemed like an eternity. You began to hear tiny droplets of water dripping down from the ceiling. It reminded you of the times when you had to deal with raindrops leaking down to your old attic.

Surprisingly enough, the second hallway was much shorter to go through and you already saw another door. On it, the note wasn't written in Korean this time. It's in your old handwriting and you cringed at how messy it looked.

"Today, I just met this boy in the woods. He was really sad and lonely and I did not want to let him be sad. He said his name is Basil..." You stopped reading, realizing that this was from your old diary that was lost a long time ago. You couldn't help but smile a little.

The page was stuffed inside your pocket as a sort of good-luck charm. Just thinking about it gives you fond memories of hanging out with Basil back in elementary school. You giggled at how you used to have a silly crush on him before Sunny showed up one day and tried to find your missing shoe.

For whatever reason, this door opened by itself and yet another hallway lies in front of you. The floor is partially flooded with rainwater and all the windows on left side have been crudely torn apart. The right side is plastered with your very rough sketches of your friends. You wanted to crack a joke about them being diplayed at a museum, but then you remember that there's a place in Headspace entirely dedicated to archiving Sunny's old drawings.

A long sigh escaped your throat as you grew tired of having to walk through these weird hallways.

Just let me leave this place already, damnit!

The hallway is so short that you can already see the door. The water felt disgusting on your feet so you quickly ran over to the end of the hallway.

Seeing as there's no note to be found and the door itself looks identical to the last one, you saw no reason to not open it.

Immediately, you regretted that decision because what lies ahead was not a hallway but a room. A dreadfully familiar room. It's an exact recreation of your old living room. You felt your whole body petrified like a statue.

You wanted to retch from smelling the piles of trash bags and the vaguely alcoholic aroma that smothers the room. The pests crawling around your feet only served to remind you of your impoverished past. How you used to dig through the dumpsters to find anything that'll cheer you up. Your body was finally able to properly move once you remembered obtaining a 35th anniversary poster of Captain Spaceboy from a neighbor's trash bin.

But you've only observed the left side of the living room because you hate to see what's on the right.

Reluctantly, you slowly tilted your head, expecting to see HER. Much to your surprise, nobody was sitting on the couch. Even the TV was completely turned off. It's so jarring, considering the fact that it was still on before you left the house forever.

Days before the place was demolished, the TV continued to display weather reports, movie trailers, infomercials, and raunchy comedies. You're still partially convinced that it was designed to mock your home life. Here, it's completely silent like it finally shuts up for once. A smile of relief creeps to your face.

You decided that it's not worth staying in this room any longer, you turned around to the door. Then the TV turns on without anyone touching the remote.

You looked back against your better judgement and saw.... your mother. She appears on the TV screen, ragged and filthy as ever. Her eyes are still hidden by her horribly unkempt hair. In fact, you don't even remember the last time you saw her eye colors at all. Holes are scattered across her dress like Swiss cheese. Even after several years since her arrest, you could never forget just how vile she was to everyone around her.

For a while, she did not make a single movement and you froze in place. That is until she started to place her hands on the screen. You tell yourself that she's trapped in there with no way of getting out.

That thought was brutally dismantled when she broke through the glass screen and started... to crawl out!

Sickening crunches can be heard as gangly arms started to sprout from her back. Her head contorted around as her neck stretches out like a snake. By the time she got out, she was no longer human. It harshly yelled at you with its demonic voice, "I AM NOT DONE WITH YOU, AUBERGINE!"

All of your adrenalines filled your body as you went running through the hallways. You can't stop now. Don't let that monster catch you this time.

The walls are starting to fall apart and even the floors could hardly handle the pressure the monster exerts with its dozens of spider-like arms. Massive lightnings and powerful storms can be seen through the windows. You heard your parents arguing with each other. And if that wasn't enough, a younger version of yourself can be heard crying.

After a long and perilpus chase through the hallways, you finally made it to the door that leads you to the first room. You eagerly twisted the knob but.... it's not opening.

"What.. the fuck?!?! Why won't this thing open?!?!"

You banged on the door, hoping that it would just somehow unlock itself for you. The angry yells became louder and louder but you didn't want to look back. It didn't matter that your hands were being scraped by the patches of rust. You kicked and punched more times than you could count, but the door would not budge one bit.

"AUBREY! AUBREY! COME BACK HERE, YOU UNGRATEFUL BRAT!"

You turned around and saw the monster. It extends its hundreds of arms, prepared to grab you. You silently prayed to God in the hopes that he will somehow save her from this... thing!

"I HATE YOU, YOU PATHETIC PIECE OF SHIT. YOU RUINED MY LIFE FOR 16 YEARS, NOW I DO THE SAME TO YOU!!!"

~

As soon as her eyes suddenly forces themselves open, she finds herself screaming into a pillow surrounding her mouth. She was extremely grateful that her shrieks of terror were muffled.

Her vision finally readjusted to the point where she could see where she is now. It's still night time and tilting her head a bit to the right, she notices that Sunny was sleeping next to her.

Oh, yeah. I wanted to sleep at his house tonight because I felt like it.

Words could not describe just how much relief Aubrey felt from realizing that he was there.

She was already on the verge of tears but his comforting presence was enough to get her sobbing hard against his shirt.

Despite being not awake yet, Sunny automatically hugged her entire body so firmly. To feel so smothered with his love even when he's unconcious, it warms her heart greater than the sun itself. In fact, that was enough to evaporate her crying.

Aubrey could feel the adrenaline wearing off as her eyelids struggle to keep themselves open. She grinned, knowing that the last thing she will see before sleeping again are Sunny's lips.

She whispered into his ears, "thank you, Sunny...."