Flesh & Bone (OMORI AU)

Chapter 31: Real girl, real boy

Summary of the previous chapter:
A man stabs Hero in the chest. His name is Ken. Ken, now revealed to be Sunny and Mari's disliked uncle, admits to having sexual relations with Mari when she was younger, but grew angry with her when Mari had come out as a transgender girl. Mari kills Ken, and Francine and another woman make their way to the others. Mari becomes defensive and transforms into a more scarce version of herself in an attempt to hurt Francine.

...

Aubrey and Basil gripped their weapons tightly as Ayaka led them to the top floor. Basil sneezed, rubbing his nose with an irritated look on his face.

"It's too dusty here.."

"What did you expect from an old warehouse?" Ayaka chuckled, reaching into her pocket. Conveniently she had a paper face mask, handing it to Basil.

"Thank you Ms. Zh- I mean... Ayaka.." Basil smiled a little as he strung the mask's string over his ears.

"Basil why are you allergic to everything." Aubrey scoffed.

"I'm not allergic to much... I just get reactions to the environment often."

"AKA being allergic to things."

Basil frowned, shrugging. Ayaka gasped, staring at the rickety looking door at the end of the hall. She could hear crying on the other side. She and the others ran up to it, Aubrey kicking the door with her foot before leading the way upstairs. They finally came across the door at the top of the stairwell, Aubrey pushing it open with her side, nearly falling into the room as the door slipped open. Her eyes widened as she stared at Mari and Francine, then saw Sunny beside Hero. They were both bleeding.

Mari cried, trying to hit Francine. She was unnaturally quick, and Mari wasn't able to use her abilities on her anymore. She then realized the new ring on her finger. Moonstone... Layla tried to keep Mari in the center of the room, but it became increasingly difficult as she was moving so much.

"LEAVE THEM ALONE!" Aubrey shouted, running up to Layla and hitting her across the face with her bat, causing her to drop what she was holding.

The glass container for each of the candles shattered, and Aubrey caught the strange device before it hit the floor. Layla hissed in pain, placing a hand on her cheek, which had been grazed by the nails of Aubrey's bat. Basil rushed over to Hero and Sunny in a panic, while Ayaka tried to stop Francine and calm Mari down. Sunny sat beside Hero, whose breathing was shallow. The bleeding had stopped, but the pain hadn't. Sunny had a small gash across his forehead and nose from the impact he took, but didn't bother to tend to it. Hero was in critical condition.

"Wh-What happened?" Basil stuttered, crouching beside his friends.

"He... hurt Hero.." Sunny shakily pointed at Ken's body, Basil squeaking. He didn't even realize he was there.

"Who is that!?" Basil squeaked, not even realizing that he was in front of a corpse.

"My uncle..." Sunny mumbled. Losing blood was making him feel dizzy and sick to his stomach.

"You guys have to get out of here, Hero needs medical attention-"

"Take Hero... I.. I want to help with Francine."

"Sunny you're injured and just got released from the hospital. I would advise against it..."

Sunny growled as he snatched Basil's sheers, stumbling over to Francine, who was still trying to keep Mari in place. Despite being stronger, Mari moved slower due to her size, making it more difficult to hit Francine successfully. Sunny picked up the speed and stabbed Francine in the shoulder blade, hearing her cry out in pain and anger as she shoved Sunny away from her, ripping the shear's blades out of her skin, heaving a shaky sigh.