Fallout and Future

Chapter 13: Eclipse

A/N: Beta read by UdonPuddle and JoesAlot. CWs at the bottom.

i'm only 1 day late or something like that woooooooo

i probably hav e a nnnouncements to make but i forogor them lol iy's like 1 AM

this shit's tkane me weeks man

maybe new bladesil coming soon. new longfic idea might get a proof of concept chapter soon, too

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Sunny's life didn't immediately get better after the confession.

...

That was an understatement. It got worse. He was barely able to even see his friends leaving the hospital room, one by one, through the tears in his eyes – Aubrey at a full sprint, Kel slowly, but with a contemptuous and hurt glare, and Hero shoving past him, stone-faced.

Aubrey had listened silently, tears running down an unmoving face; once it was over, she managed to shout something to the effect of them all being 'sick in the head' before breaking down and leaving. Kel's fists had tightened and he shut his eyes tightly before untensing slightly, then left without another word. Similarly, Hero said nothing; his posture hadn't changed, fists hadn't clenched, but his movements were robotic and face shadowed as he, too, left.

Sunny staggered to his feet, throat sore from finally talking after four years. He wiped his eyes, feeling the uncomfortable slick of tears against the back of his palm, and dried it on his hospital gown. He stared ahead unblinkingly, one inky black eye meeting both of Basil's iridescent blues.

Basil had woken up during his confession. Sunny had said something to the effect of, "And Basil helped me hang her," which he promptly interrupted by saying it had been his idea.

...Well, it going over well hadn't been the point. Or so Sunny told himself.

Now, Basil stared back at Sunny from across the hospital room, looking just as wide-eyed and frozen as Basil had during his panic attack in the bathroom and... confrontation in the bedroom. "...Sunny."

He watched Basil swallow nervously, then approached the boy's bed with slow, uncertain strides. Visions passed through Sunny's mind: shadowy figures wandering black rooms, calloused hands wrapping around a jump rope. Those same calloused hands wrapping around his throat, raising a pair of well-worn gardening shears to the sky.

Sunny watched those calloused hands tremble as they gripped the hospital bed sheets. He looked Basil up and down, at the dozens of cuts on his face and the bandages on his arms and legs. Had he really done all of that?

Lost in thought, Sunny barely noticed Basil trying to crawl away from him, pressing his back up against the rear frame of his bed and curling up as best as he could. He'd seen fear on Basil's face many times. When they were kids and he'd watch his friends doing something stupid, over the past three days, in his dreams, and now. A part of Sunny, buried deep down, reflected that Omori's slaughter of Headspace Basil and the way his vision went unsteady as he stared at Basil said something about him. Something he didn't like.

"I... I'm so sorry." Basil hugged his knees to his chest, wrapping his arms around them as he avoided Sunny's gaze. "I thought I was helping..." His voice shook as he spoke. Most would've taken it for an excuse, but Sunny knew better. Basil didn't make excuses. Not for himself, at least.

Helping was something Basil did – or tried to do – frequently, Sunny reflected. He didn't seem to succeed often at it. Sunny flexed his fingers, wiping a last stray tear from his functioning eye.

These hands had murdered Mari and could very well have murdered Basil last night. Running a hand over his raw knuckles, Sunny wondered if that was what both of them had wanted.