Flesh & Bone (OMORI AU)

Chapter 14: Havoc

Hero, Aubrey and Francine entered the living room, the others immediately becoming defensive. Sunny pulled out a knife, Mari behind him. She frowned, and took it out of his hands, causing him to whine and reach for it.

"Look, there might be a way to help Mari without bringing her back to her grave." Francine said, adjusting her glasses. "It may just take a lot of research, but seeing how important she is to all of you, I cant help but feel bad for my actions. It was immature of me, and I'm sorry. I'm almost forty and I broke into another person's house." Francine sighed as she held the bridge of her nose. 

"How do we know if you're telling the truth?" Basil rose a brow. 

"Dude we literally spoke to her upstairs, it's chill. She wouldn't just offer to help us like this if she didn't want to help in the first place." Aubrey crossed her arms, Hero nodding. 

"But it's late.. I don't want you all to have trouble sleeping. I should probably start doing research anyway, until tomorrow.." 

"Francine.. Thank you." Mari smiled softly. "I'm hoping things can work out for all of us."

Francine smiled gently, nodding. "Nice hair by the way. I had a similar hairdo in college." 

"Oh! That's cool!" Mari lifted the knife in the air, Sunny trying to reach it, but she went on the tips of her toes to prevent him from grabbing it. Kel took the knife from Mari (which she was fine with) and held it. He was taller and stronger, so if Sunny tried stealing the knife it would be much more difficult. 

"Sunny... You don't need to fight her." Hero frowned, watching him jump for the knife in Kel's hands. "Did you even listen to what she said?"

Sunny paused, looking at Francine. "Oh. I.. I didn't... Sorry.."

"I said that there's probably a way to help Mari stay without having any problems. If we dig deep enough through records and archives we could find an older guide to the arcana that may have a solution."

Sunny hesitantly nodded, sighing as he slumped over slightly. "Sorry... I'm kind of stupid.."

"You aren't stupid, Sunny.. You just weren't paying attention. You've got some fighter instincts or something that's for sure." Francine chuckled. 

"That's a fact." Kel and Basil laughed. 

"Why would he need fighter instincts?" Mari rose a brow, smiling in confusion.

"He had a bunch of wacky dreams that-." Basil started, Sunny covering his mouth with his hands. He blushed in embarrassment. Basil nodded and his mouth was uncovered. "Sorry.." 

"Okay. I have to leave before Ayaka gets here; sorry, your mother..." Francine tightened her braid in the back. "If anything happens please tell me immediately. Got it?" 

The others nodded, watching as Francine closed the door and went to her car. Sunny groaned and leaned against a wall. He looked exhausted. Mari went to comfort him, asking him if he was okay.

"Is it okay if Kel and I sleep over?" Hero asked Mari and Sunny. 

"Sure.. That's okay." Sunny said as he calmed down. "You're all free to stay.."

Kel cheered to himself, Aubrey smiling in relief. She hated being at home, so this was a good time for her to be somewhere else. Basil fiddled with his fingers awkwardly. 

"I would need to ask Polly... I know she's okay with it but if I don't tell her she'll freak out.."

"That's okay. Do you want to go over and talk to her? It's probably best we bring our stuff over here anyway." Hero suggested. 

"Yeah I wanna get some Orange Joe from the fridge." Kel smiled, Aubrey pretending to gag. 

"Where are we all sleeping? There's six of us.." Mari asked. 

"Whenever we had sleepovers together in the past we had them in the living room.. there usually wasn't enough space in your room for all of us." Basil replied, opening the door. "I'm gonna tell Polly I'm staying over... Maybe I can bring some stuff for us to do."

"Do you have Uno?" Kel beamed. Basil shook his head, chuckling. Kel sighed a bit. 

"I have dominos... Monopoly... some other things I can't think of at the top of my head." Basil twirled some of his hair. 

"Bring whatever you want dude, within reason of course." Aubrey narrowed her eyes. "No ropes. No shears. Got it?"

Basil nodded frantically and left, closing the door behind him. 

"What do you mean... no ropes.. no shears..?" Mari questioned. The others began to sweat nervously. 

"Basil was trying to do a project for school and um.. He used a rope and shears and it ended up failing and he got hurt." Kel said. That excuse wasn't going to work. 

"I feel like you're lying to me." Mari frowned. "What really happened? Is Basil okay?"

Sunny looked down at his feet, glancing at his friends. Aubrey shrugged nervously, Kel nudging Hero to make an excuse. He couldn't think of anything.. He looked at Sunny sadly, as if he was asking if he should tell her. None of them wanted to lie to her anymore. And despite the risks that came with her memories returning, there was still a chance she and the others would be okay. Hero explained the fight, first. Why Sunny lost his eye and was in the hospital with Basil, and briefly explained Something, at least explained what Sunny and Basil had told them. He was hesitant to bring up the rope, close to tears as he choked on his words. Aubrey put a hand on his shoulder to comfort him, and finished the story for him. The aftermath of Mari's death. Basil witnessing Sunny push her down the stairs, killing her. Checking if she was alive, when she wasn't. And taking jump rope outside in the backyard to make it seem like she hanged herself. Mari gently touched her neck. That's why she had a bruise. Because she was hanged. She wasn't angry... She was confused. 

"Why.. Wouldn't you just tell the truth originally?" Mari looked at Sunny. 

"We were young... W-We didn't want to go to jail even though it was a mistake... Basil just wanted to help me, but didn't realize that his choice to frame your death would hurt us both.... For four years... the four years that you weren't here... we went through so much. If I hadn't gone into Basil's room that night, he would have killed himself. Of course, that caused me to sacrifice my eye b-but I'm okay with that.." Sunny trembled, his voice getting quieter the more he spoke. 

Mari simply stared at him with her eyes slightly wide. "Why didn't you tell me this?"

"I-I thought you'd hate me... I thought you'd hate Basil!! I-I didn't mean to hurt you... Basil d-didn't realize how foolish his choice was... We were twelve..."

"How would a twelve year old know how to tie a noose...?" 

"I...." Sunny looked up at her. "Don't know.." 

Instead of being upset with Basil and Sunny... She was upset with herself. Because she was the one who pressured Sunny in the first place. Who caused him to get upset and push her by accident. And they were so scared, they didn't know what else to do. So they framed it as her suicide. And as a result... the image of her hanging on the tree in the backyard haunted them for years, driving them to the point of suicide and self harm with the guilt they felt. Mari blamed herself for everything. Tears formed in her eyes, her eyes darting around the room as she felt herself begin to spiral. She heard a sharp ringing in her ears and fell to her knees, covering them as she winced. Sunny stepped back. 

"Mari...?"

The pain was unbearable. She bit her lip as tears fell down her cheeks, the ringing only getting louder. She heard muffled voices trying to talk to her, looking up as she saw dark figures walk towards her. She backed into the corner, still hearing the voices from the figures that continued to come closer. She tried to speak, but nothing would come out of her mouth. She couldn't speak. She couldn't think about anything except for how she blamed herself for everything. If she hadn't been so pressuring, none of this would have happened. If she hadn't died, nobody would have had to deal with trauma. Nobody would have had to deal with four agonizing years of pain, in the loss of their friend. Their partner. Their sister. Her vision started to darken, feeling her body slowly become limp as she fell onto her side, her eyes closing as a tear fell down her face. 

The others were freaking out. They tried to approach Mari, but she kept cornering herself into the wall. They tried speaking to her, but she didn't hear them. And when she passed out, they all grew silent. For a moment, Sunny felt himself stop breathing. The room was quiet. It felt empty. The lights flickered and shut off, leaving them in darkness. What were they going to do?

Sunny started to cry, Kel rushing over to comfort him. Aubrey had a horrified look on her face, frozen in place as she stared at Mari toppled over on the floor. Hero tried to compose himself, but he couldn't. Despite being the oldest of the group, he felt like he wasn't mature enough. He felt like he couldn't comfort his friends, or even his own sibling, without breaking down himself. Remembering how he reacted in the hospital after hearing the truth... Sobbing. Not just because of the news he had been told, but because he couldn't have helped Basil or Sunny. He blamed himself for not being there for everyone, for spiraling. He felt selfish.

Aubrey had gotten angry, nearly punching Basil in the face, as she was more upset with him. Kel held her back. He tried to be optimistic, keeping a smile on his face as he reassured his friends it was okay. But deep down, he felt a pit in his stomach. He didn't like what he heard. He didn't hate his friends... But he couldn't believe that he never knew the truth until then. Later that night he broke down in his bedroom, feeling like he could have helped but didn't. Hero tried comforting him, telling him he felt the same way, but they had an argument. The first argument since Hero's depressive episode. Hero ended up leaving the morning after to go back to his university. He felt he stressed Kel out. He felt like he was angry with him. In reality, Kel was angry with himself. 

There was a knock on the door. Gentle. Indicating that Basil had returned. Aubrey opened the door but walked outside, closing the door behind her. 

"Hey.. What's going on?"

"We told her."

"Told... her what?"

"The truth." Aubrey's voice cracked. 

Basil's eyes widened, and could already feel himself beginning to hyperventilate. He was thinking of the worst scenario possible; That Mari was gone again, that she hated them all. He flinched as he was embraced by Aubrey, to his surprise. She tried her best to comfort him. While she didn't always like Basil's choices, she didn't hate him like it seemed she did. She cared about him, just like all of her other friends. She just didn't want to feel vulnerable. She didn't want to show sympathy. But in that moment, she couldn't care less. She was tired of being angry all the time. She was tired of not being there for her friends when they needed it. And she was sure the others felt similarly. All when things were turning bright again, they all fell into a dark pit. 

Kel kept comforting Sunny as Hero went to search for the breaker, in hopes he could turn the lights back on. Sunny's house had a basement, but they rarely went downstairs. Not because it was scary, but because it was small and didn't serve much of a purpose. But Hero knew the breaker was down there, and he headed down the stairs, leaving the door open so he could see a bit better in the dark. He saw a blinking light. The breaker. He slowly stepped foreword, opening the door of the breaker, trying to read the switches and their labels. He flipped the proper switch, and the lights came back on. Momentarily.

The lights went out again, and the breaker burst into flames, metal flying in Hero's direction. He quickly stepped back, managing to avoid the metal, but winced in pain as he looked at his shoulder, which had been burned by the electrical fire. And now, there was a fire he had to get rid of, whilst being in immense pain and bleeding from his wound. He searched for the fire extinguisher. Thankfully it was easier to see due to the flames, so he grabbed what he needed and sprayed the fluid inside of it over what was once the breaker. He covered his mouth, coughing, trying not to inhale the smoke or fumes from the extinguisher fluid. Once the fire was out, he dropped the fire extinguisher.

He had to go back upstairs and treat his wound. Immediately. Because it wasn't just a simple burn. He had a third degree burn starting from his forearm to the start of his shoulder. He also felt a slight burning sensation on his face. Thankfully, the burn on his face was minimal, a first degree burn, but it didn't stop him from being uncomfortable and in pain. He rushed up the stairs of the basement, closing the door quickly behind him with his good arm, and running up the stairs to the bathroom. Halfway through running, he tripped on one of the steps and stumbled, landing directly on his burn. He let out a painful yell, wincing as he tried to pull himself up. The lights continued to flicker, and it made him dizzy. 

Kel heard Hero's yell, looking in the direction of the noise. He saw Hero on the floor, gasping as he rushed in the hallway. His hands shook, unsure of what to do. Sunny stared at them from the living room, his eyes wide. He glanced at Mari, who was still unconscious. 

"H-Hero hold on! I'm gonna get some help-."

"No! Just help me get upstairs. I can treat it myself." 

"You're severely burnt this isn't something you can easily treat, Hero!!" 

"I need to be there for Mari. I don't need the hospital." Hero tried to heave himself up with his good arm, groaning as he managed to sit up. Kel had already taken out his phone, Hero glaring at him. 

"Kel, it's fine! Just stay near Mari and the others, she needs to stay safe."

"But what about you!!?"

"It doesn't matter! Just trust me!!!"

Kel felt tears coming to his eyes, the flickering of the lights making him feel slightly nauseous. He nodded, hurrying to the living room to check on Sunny and Mari, while Aubrey and Basil rushed in the house after they had heard Hero yell. Hero got up onto his feet, and carefully went up the steps, leaning on the railing. Once he got to the bathroom, he looked frantically for medical supplies. And luckily, there was a lot of it. That made since considering Sunny had needed all of this to heal his wound back when he and Basil fought. 

He grabbed the gauze and ripped a large piece, taking off his shirt to get a better look at the wound, despite it making a hole in his sleeve. He winced as air hit his burn, but he knew it would hurt more to put anti bacterial solution over it. In that moment he was glad he was going to medical school, since he knew what he was doing. He didn't have all the right supplies, but he didn't feel he needed the hospital. He took a cotton patch and poured some alcohol over it, preparing for probably some of the most intense pain in his life thus far. Pressing the cotton over his burn, he clenched his fists. It stung, immensely.

He continued to treat the burn, and didn't shy away from cleaning it completely. As much as it hurt, it was important that he disinfected the burn thoroughly, especially considering it was an electrical fire that caused it. Once he finished the agonizing task of cleaning the wound, especially in the dark, he wrapped his arm in gauze, slowly and carefully to make sure it wouldn't unravel. Securing the gauze, he tried to examine the burn on his face, which was on his lower right cheek. Just as he suspected, it wasn't nearly as bad as the one he had on his arm. He gently dabbled alcohol over the burn, and while it hurt, it wasn't too bad. He then covered it with a patch, flattening it so the adhesive stuck. He let out a small sigh, putting the supplies up, when he heard screaming from downstairs. He quickly stopped what he was doing and rushed down the steps, horrified by what was in front of him. 

Basil laid on the floor with a knife jabbed into his left thigh, with Sunny trying to help him get it out. Aubrey was frozen in fear, but covered her friends, acting as a shield. Meanwhile, Kel was preoccupied doing something else... Restraining Mari. He grunted as he tried pushing her onto the floor, Mari yelling at him as she tried to punch him. Hero wasn't sure what to do... Help Kel... Or help Basil... His mind ran at sixty miles per hour, panicking to make a decision. He opted to at least help stop the bleeding until Hero could treat Basil. He might need stitches, considering the knife he was stabbed with was a Japanese cutlery knife. Shit. Thankfully he still had his shirt, and passed it so Sunny. 

"Don't pull out the knife, leave it be. Just try to put pressure carefully on the wound-. But don't push the knife further in his leg." 

Sunny hesitantly nodded, beginning to fold Hero's bloodied shirt. He compressed around the knife, Basil crying in pain as Aubrey tried to keep his body steady, as he was squirming. That wasn't going to help the pain go away. In fact it probably made it worse. Meanwhile, Hero hurried into the kitchen as Kel cornered Mari, whilst keeping her restrained. She screamed and kicked her legs as Kel restrained her, feeling horrible about what he was doing. Mari's head whipped to look at Hero, causing him to flinch in surprise. Her eyes were glowing a bright white. It was pretty much the only light in the whole house. Mari's hair was messy, covering one of her eyes. Her skin was pale, and cold to the touch. Her body had become larger and slightly distorted, with thin, elongated limbs. She had sharp teeth and unusually long nails, which dug into Kel's arm.

Hero rushed over to his brother, helping to pick up Mari and place her somewhere safe, whilst also being far from the others. They opted for Sunny's room, laying her on the bed and trying to calm her down. Hero and Kel were on different sides of the bed in an effort to keep Mari still. She continued to scream and kick her feet in an effort to escape. Suddenly, she pushed Kel and Hero away from her, causing them to fall backwards, losing the grip on her wrists. They tried to restrain her again, but she had gotten stronger than them. Kel was pushed into one of the walls, grunting as he hit his back against it.  

"Mari!! Please, can you hear me!!?" Hero exclaimed, trying to hold Mari's hand. He looked at her, but instantly regretted it. She looked furious...Hero was pushed to the floor, nearly running into Sunny's desk.

"Mari!" 

Mari fell to her knees, making a low gurgling noise as her body slowly reverted back to what it was when she had first been brought back, but she still retained her short, purple hair. She fell foreword, panting, her eyes slowly turning to their regular, dark color. Tears flowed down her cheeks as she began to sob, covering her face with her hands. Hero quickly got to his feet and comforted her, which she allowed him to do. He looked over at Kel, who had begun to stand up. He leaned against the wall, shaking his head slightly. He must have hit it on something. But other than that, he was okay. 

"What do we do now??" Kel asked Hero, fear laced in his voice.

"We have to comfort Mari... But we also have to get the knife out of Basil's leg. I'm the only one that knows how to do it, so take Mari for now..." Hero lifted the girl in his arms, and carefully passed her to Kel, who sat on the bed, making an effort to calm her down, since she continued to cry profusely. 

Hero rushed downstairs, seeing that Sunny was still compressing on Basil's leg. However, Basil looked weaker, and slightly dazed; He was losing too much blood. He ran over to him, motioning Sunny to move the compress off of his thigh, which he hesitantly did so. Hero managed to pick Basil up without moving the knife further into his leg and rushed upstairs to the bathroom. What was great is that he hadn't put away anything from earlier when he treated himself. He gently laid Basil on the floor, resting his head against a folded towel. His breathing was shallow, yet his heartrate was intense. Basil had gone into shock. Hero immediately noticed this and knew that he had to stabilize him without making the injury worse. He carefully rested Basil's feet on a small stool, which allowed his heart to return to normal after some time. He grabbed a heated towel from the warmer, checking if it was safe enough to put over Basil. It was warm, but not hot. Perfect. He covered Basil's torso with the blanket in an effort to keep him warm and prevent further shock. Then, the issue came into play; How would he get rid of the knife?

Hero had to be quick. Basil could be dying for all he knew, and he was sitting there, trying to remember something he learned from his classes. He thought deeply, trying to remember when he learned how to take objects out of someone's body safely. Because the object acts as a plug, which when released can cause further bleeding. Most of the time, that would cause the person to die. He realized that he didn't have the tools to remove the knife, beginning to panic as he shakily took out his phone, dialing 911.

"911, what is your emergency?" A soft spoken woman said in the other line.

"A friend of mine is suffering from a stab wound, in his leg. He's bleeding a lot... he's in shock."

"Okay, are his legs above his heart?"

"Yes."

"And is he being kept warm?"

"Yes... I go to medical school." Hero chuckled nervously. 

"Okay, we'll be on our way. Compress the wound but don't remove the object nor push it farther in. Keep him warm, and try to keep him awake." She then hung up. 

Hero knew that it would be a few minutes before the ambulance got here, so he did his best to do as he was told. He wished that he couldn't have helped Basil himself, but not only did he not have the proper supplies, he didn't have the proper training. He called out to Sunny, who quickly came upstairs, frowning at the sight of Basil.

"I-Is he gonna be okay??"

"I don't know. I just called paramedics. Can you stay outside and keep a look out for the ambulance?"

Sunny nodded, leaving the bathroom door open as he rushed to the front door, leaving it slightly open as he stood on the concrete path. His heart was racing. He was scared- no. He was terrified. What happened to his sister caused at least three people to be badly injured, one of them practically on their death bed. And in just a minute, he heard the ambulance sirens in the distance. They were almost here. Once the van parked in the road, a stretcher was pulled out of the back, people in dark blue jackets making their way to the door. Sunny stepped aside and left the door open, one of the paramedics quickly thanking him. Once they were at the bottom of the steps, they spotted Hero and Basil in the bathroom.

"Young man! Bring the kid to the steps, we'll take him to the hospital." A tall man said.

Hero nodded, slowly standing up and carrying the fragile boy in his arms, once again, being careful as to not make the stab wound worse. He went down the steps, where the paramedics carefully, yet quickly, strapped him on the neon orange stretcher. 

"Does this boy have a guardian with him?" A shorter woman said.

"Not right now, but his caretaker's house is all the way down the block-"

"Wait a minute, isn't this that kid who stabbed someone's eye out?" A tall woman questioned. "I took him to the emergency room last time."

"Let's not focus on that right now Britany." The tall man sighed, quickly moving the stretcher to go out the front door and into the van. 

"We'll be bringing his caretaker with him. I'm sure one of us knows the location of his house." The shorter woman glanced at the taller woman, who looked embarrassed. "But sir, you also seem to be injured... Do you want to ride along and get checked?"

"No, that's alright. He's in worse condition than me.  But thank you."

The rear end of the van closed, and the ambulance turned on its siren once more, driving down the street to Basil's house. Hero took a deep sigh, running a hand through his hair. He looked back at Aubrey and Sunny. 

"Are you two okay?"

"Y-Yeah.." Aubrey frowned. 

Sunny looked like he had been crying, his eye slightly swollen, and tears streaking his cheeks. He furrowed his brows, clenching his fists on his lap. "If I hadn't brought Mari back none of this would have happened."

"I mean... You are right, but, we also wouldn't have Mari, yknow?" Aubrey nudged him a little in an effort to make him feel better. He simply let out a shaky sigh. 

"But now Mari is suffering.."

Hero looked away, unsure of what to do or say in the moment. He felt lost. Hopeless, even. Kel walked down the steps, Mari following close behind him, her head hung low. She looked ashamed, her dark purple hair looming over her face. Aubrey stood up, slowly walking to Mari, who she now looked down upon slightly. 

"Are... Are you okay?"

Mari had a bitter frown on her face, looking up slightly. She lowered her head again and shrugged, holding herself tightly. Hero and Sunny approached her as well. She opened her mouth to speak, but waited a few seconds to think of exactly what to say. 

"I... lost control. It was like... something else was controlling me..."

"What do you mean?" Kel asked with a slightly shaky tone.

"When I broke down... hearing the truth... I felt like it was my fault. I wasn't mad at Basil or Sunny... but the more I spiraled, the less human I felt. It was as if rage took over my body despite me not being angry. I don't understand... I didn't mean to hurt him..." Mari sniffed as she rubbed her eyes. She then glanced at Hero, her eyes widening. 

"Hero... Wh.. What happened?" She stared at his arm, tears still streaming down his face. 

"Don't worry about it, I'm fine.."

"No! You're not! Basil isn't fine either! This is my fault..." Mari choked. "You all could have died if I hadn't regained control. I just dont understand... if I'm a spirit, why would my body be controlled by another force.."

"It's the curse." Sunny said with an empty expression. 

"The... failed ritual?"

Sunny nodded sadly, looking away. He continued to blame himself for everything that was happening. He didn't want anyone to suffer. He just wanted his big sister back, not whatever was happening. 

"I'm sorry.. Mari.." Sunny got onto his feet. "I just want to be alone for a bit.." He looked at the front door.

Mari gently grabbed his wrist. "I don't want you to hurt yourself..."

Sunny hadn't planned on doing it, but knew that he would do it without thinking. He had a habit on scratching and picking at his arms or legs when he was angry or upset with himself. It wasn't always on purpose, but it still counted as self harm. Not only that, if he had access to any sharp objects he would cut. But on his legs, so scars and cuts wouldn't be seen. He wasn't sure if the others knew about it though... aside from his mother, who caught him doing it in the bathroom when he was there for an hour one time. He felt his pockets, and realized he didn't have a knife.

"I would suggest staying indoors anyway... It's getting late." Hero looked at Sunny sympathetically.

"How am I supposed to sleep knowing you and Basil are badly injured, and Mari is at risk of losing control again??" Sunny cried, gripping onto his sweater. 

"It's going to be okay... Trust me..." Hero put a hand on Sunny's shoulder.

Sunny looked down, sighing softly as he nodded. He wanted everything to be okay. But nothing was okay. Basil almost died, Hero could have died if he didn't know how to treat himself, and Mari could have hurt more people if she didn't snap out of her daze.

He was afraid for tomorrow.