Phytoremediation

Will you lead me straight to paradise?

The two headed into the next room. An entirely white void was before them.

"Are we... back..?" Basil carefully asked.

"Back where..?" Stranger asked a bit confused.

Before Basil could expand on the nature of where he wakes up in whitespace, a black figure formed before them.

Slowly proceeding towards the figure, Basil noticed the ground was covered in a thin layer of clear liquid. Basil hoped it was water.

The black mass opened two eyes, and stretched itself into the shape of a tree.

"Hello, Basil. I will allow you to proceed if you choose one of my propositions." The creature had a wide smile, stretching from one branch down to the base of the trunk.

"Fine... t-tell me what you want." Basil tried to sound confident, but he was scared, just like Stranger was.

"You must decide. Either I take one of your fingers, or I can take one of your companion's legs."

"Don't worry about me Basil, I can-" Stranger was cut off.

"Take my finger, then!" Basil yelled.

The creature's branch snapped forward like a snake, and bit off two of Basil's fingers.

"A snake's bargain is always rigged! Bahahaha!" Its eyes and mouth disappeared, leaving a pure black tree, a door appearing on its trunk.

Basil clutched his hand as blood poured from his hand. Stranger rushed to Basil's side.

"Here, Basil, put your hand in the spinal fluid, it will heal over your wound!" Stranger smiled

Basil complied hurriedly, ignoring the fact it was spinal fluid, which was a bit gross.

"There you go, all better!" Stranger hugged Basil.

"He would've taken both of your legs if I chose you..." Basil said with guilt at the alternate timeline in which he did choose for Stranger to lose a leg.

"Well, you didn't, so it's okay anyway!" Stranger countered, trying to cheer up Basil.

"I guess..."

Basil stood up from his knees soaked in gross spinal fluid, Stranger following, standing from his crouched position.

"We have to keep going. I promise we will both get out of here alive." Basil said with a serious look.

Stranger giggled a bit, then looked into Basil's eyes, "As long as you get out alive, then I'll be okay."

"I mean it, alright? Don't try to be a martyr like back there!" Basil stared back at Stranger.

"Okay, I'll try not to. Just promise me you will never ever sacrifice yourself. You are incredibly important for the future of the last dreamer, and your own future too."

Basil nodded, unsure of what Stranger meant, but opened the door to the next room.

Once again, nothing visible through it before putting yourself entirely inside the room. The two carefully entered through the doorway. They turned around to double check they hadn't been tricked by the monster, but the door wasn't visible, so they let their bodies fully enter the new room.

The "room" was a massive beach, with sunlight coming down on them.

"Hey, this isn't so bad!" Stranger said with a smile.

Basil was less excited. Beaches were fun when he was younger, without body image issues, with all his friends, not scared that any second a weird monster could come out and ask who should lose a limb, or play chess to the death, or some other ridiculous request they would be forced to oblige.

Stranger excitedly ran towards the water. "Basil, look! It's clear, and its swimming depth over there!" He said pointing at somewhere Basil couldn't see.

"Um... I... I can't swim, you know..." Basil said embarrassed.

Stranger nodded understandingly, "It's okay! We can just sit on the dock then!" He smiled at Basil.

Basil nodded. The dock was a newer kind Basil saw once at one of his grandma's friends' house. Floating and made of plastic, supposed to last for years, and sturdier than wood. Basil sat down at the end, next to Stranger.

"It's nice to have a break from all the intense shit we were being put through before..." Basil said.

Stranger looked shocked at Basil's foul language, but shook his head and smiled, "Yeah... it's been a difficult day for both of us."

Basil laid on his back, staring at the blue sky. "Things have just been so weird lately. Even when I'm... awake..." Basil said it in a way trying not to offend Stranger. He looked at Stranger for a sort of "no offense" look.

It was Sunny.

"You can tell me if you want." Sunny looked into Basil's eyes patiently.

In a bit of surprise, Basil's eyes widened, and he spoke a bit loudly, "Wait, where did Stranger go..?"

"I want to make you comfortable, Basil. Just tell me what's been going on in your head."

Basil sighed, and laid back again, looking at the clouds. "I just... I'm in love with Sunny... like the real one... and I'm scared if he finds out, he won't want to talk to me ever again."

Sunny said nothing.

"I wish I could just let these feelings go, but they're too strong. I can't just stop hanging out with him either, he's my only friend, and... I think he likes hanging out with me too, which is why he agreed to go with me to Guangzhou. I can't just be selfish about this..." Basil spoke softly, sadness tinting his voice.

Sunny laid back onto the dock next to him. "I know he likes you back, but you will think that I'm just a dream, so you think I'm just affirming what you want to believe."

Basil stared at the sky, him being silent this time.

"I think you just need to wait. I think Sunny will be the one who asks you out."

Basil laughed a bit. "As if."

"I hope this dream helped you, Basil. I'm really lucky you went into my room first. Only 10,662,009,812^166 of the doors would lead you to me."

Basil looked at Sunny confused by the extreme number. Sunny stared into the sky, and then sat up.

"Basil, I want the best for you. Don't let your guilt control you." Sunny said, looking at Basil.

"O-Okay. I won't." Basil said. Even if it wasn't the real Sunny, Basil didn't want to disappoint him.

"Good" Sunny smiled. His smile as pretty as Basil remembered it.

They walked down the dock, Basil spotting a familiar pink haired girl face down and bleeding all over her body.

"Sorry, but I had to do that otherwise she'd disturb us. It was one of those things where it was going to make you relive trauma." Sunny rolled his eyes, and kicked the corpse in the head. Black fluid seeped out of the impact point for a few moments, before disappearing into the dirt.

Basil made a disgusted expression from the corpse, and the fluid. "I think we should go... where's the door..?"

Sunny stared at the body, then back at Basil. "Polly will wake you up soon. You slept in." Sunny said quietly.

"What happens to you when I wake up..?" Basil asked with worry.

"I don't know." Sunny shrugged.

"Oh... I hope you'll be okay..." Basil hugged the fake Sunny. Sunny turned back into Stranger again.

"I'll see you later!" He smiled at Basil.

"B-" Basil's farewell was interrupted by his awakening. Polly had only just finished opening the door to his room.

"Oh! Good morning Basil! We're going to have pancakes for breakfast!" Polly smiled at Basil, who had jolted up in bed when he woke up.

"Good morning..." he said still half-asleep, rubbing his eyes.

I hope I can see Sunny today...