You're back, Mari

Chapter 5: Success and Setbacks

"I'm...moving." Hero froze. Sunny similarly didn't move, hand still slightly outreached. "So..." Sunny smiled, "...you're lying." Hero felt a cold chill. "I...I'll be alone..." Hero's outstretched hand began to shake. Sunny wasn't thinking straight. The flowers were fluttering all around him.

"Sunny, that's not–" Hero's words caught in his throat as the world seemed to move in slow motion.

Sunny had taken a large step back.

Hero reached forward to grab onto Sunny's wrist, but his hand held onto nothing. Sunny freely fell back, and Hero could only stupidly stand, watching as he fell.

Sunny, instead of appearing peaceful, had an expression of fear as if he expected Hero to catch him. Sunny cried out, reaching out as if Hero could still save him.

"SUNNY!" Hero dropped to his knees, but the boy was already out of his sight.

A sob tore out of his throat, despair overwhelming him to the point of insanity. He quickly gathered the flowers that didn't fall over the edge and thought that maybe if he put them together, he could bring Sunny back again.

But instead, when he put the flowers together, what formed wasn't the Sunny he knew. Instead, a mangled body that had hit the ground below lay limply in his arms. Hero held onto the body while tremors crawled up his spine, fear almost preventing him from breathing. Hero opened his mouth to scream, but nothing came out. He could only helplessly stare down at Sunny's unmoving form.

"It's all your fault."

Hero looked up and saw Mari staring down at him with closed eyes.

"You broke your promise, Hero."

He panicked. "N–No! No, I didn't! He's...he's going to be okay!" Hero went to stand up, to rush and get Sunny treatment, but he was frozen in place. Sunny's body, which was cradled in his arms, was a gruesome reminder of what had just taken place.

"You promised me, Hero," Mari looked so sad, so disappointed. Tears fell through her lashes. "I trusted you...I loved you..." The more she spoke, the more Hero felt that his world was collapsing. "But now everything's ruined."

"I–I–" Hero looked down at Sunny, but saw that the body was becoming transparent. Hero thought if he held on tightly, then maybe Sunny wouldn't disappear–but he could do nothing but watch as Sunny dissipated into flowers.

"Since it's like this, I don't want to be around you ever again." Mari waved her hand, and the flowers in Hero's lap faded out of existence. "And neither will Sunny. You don't deserve us. You don't deserve anything."

Hero tried to move forward, to grab onto her and beg for forgiveness, but it was as if gravity was pulling him down, making him unable to reach out.

"I hate you."

Hero's heart dropped, shattering into a million pieces. He was shocked to the point of having no expression at all–letting out a pathetic whimper. "M–Mari...please..." Hero finally managed to lift his arms. "Please don't leave me...please..." She stepped back before he could reach her.

Mari looked down at him, mouth curled into a hateful frown. She walked away from him before going to the edge. Before Hero could say a word, she had already stepped off of the roof, just like Sunny did.

Hero stared blankly. He expected the flowers to come back, to cloud his vision like before–but there were none. Hero gasped for air, searching around himself for any sign of either of them. "Mari? Sunny? Please...I know...I know you wouldn't leave me..."