Forward: After Omori [DISCONTINUED]

Whatever Happened Then

The sound of the violin filled the room, soft and beautiful. With it came the piano, playing a fast melody that was almost the complete opposite of the violin, but went with it perfectly. Kel, Aubrey, Hero, and Basil sat on the floor as Mari and Sunny gave one of their duets. The group's eyes were closed, their bodies completely still, concentrating on nothing but the music.

Smack in the middle of the group but invisible to all except himself, sat Omori. Due to the lack of anything else to do in Blankspace, he had made a hobby of entering Sunny's memories. Besides the first one, they had all been replicas of memories Omori already had, which was understandable, but this one was completely, uniquely Sunny's. It was intriguing.

The duet ended with a long, low note on Sunny's part. There was silence for a couple of seconds, then his friends exploded with applause. Mari got up from her seat in front of the piano, going to stand next to her brother. She held his hand tightly as they bowed playfully. 

Omori's eyes landed on the violin in Sunny's hand. He remembered how the present-day Sunny had used it in the fight against him, how he used it to persist against every merciless blow Omori had dealt. It had become Sunny's most vital tool, even after years of him hating and avoiding it. It confused Omori.

Sunny placed his violin on top of Mari's piano as Mari and the rest of the group left the room, then ran off to join them. Omori continued to stare at the violin, wondering. What was it about this simple instrument that broke Sunny's repression and guilt? 

And what would it feel like to play it?

Almost without knowing what he was doing, Omori got up from his seat, walking slowly towards the piano. Reaching it, he reached out and ran a finger over the strings of the violin. It felt odd, both familiar and foreign. He lifted it, placing it on his shoulder the way he remembered Sunny had, and took the bow. He placed the bow onto the strings, his hands shaking slightly.

Just as he was about to play, he felt a chill in between his shoulder blades, the kind a person gets when they are being watched. Omori looked around quickly, but as far as he could see he was still the only one in the room. Then his eyes landed on Sunny.

Sunny stood at the doorway, technically still in the other room, but looking in. Looking at Omori, directly at Omori, as if he could actually see him. Omori stared back, unmoving.

In the back of his mind, he saw the battle, saw Sunny as he collapsed under the weight of his guilt. "You should just die," Omori had said to him, in a vain attempt to get him to give up. But now, staring at a version of Sunny who had no reason to feel that way, Omori couldn't help but wonder, why had he done that?

"You were afraid," Sunny said, and Omori took a step back. What was this? Omori waited to see if Sunny would elaborate, but Sunny's gaze shifted to something just behind the monochromatic boy. Another chill went through Omori's spine, and he turned around.

It was Something, all right. It hovered only a few feet away from Omori, its single eye trained on him like a lion's on its prey, silently judging.

"You could either live with it, or make it better." Sunny turned to Omori. "We're the same now, you and I." He gave him a small smile, then walked away, disappearing into the other room.

The violin fell through Omori's hands as if it was made of water. Before it could hit the ground, everything disappeared, and he was lying on the floor of Blankspace, as if none of that even happened. But Omori was alone before. Now, the one soulless eye of Something stared at him through the darkness.

Something laughed, and Sunny's words echoed in Omori's mind.

We're the same now, you and I.

The air suddenly felt much colder than before.