My Savior - Suntan

Twenty-Five

Omori ran through the Pyrefly forest, his friends at his heels. He was determined to get to the rest of the group. As he slashed the cobwebs, he heard Kel's laugher, then moments later, Aubrey's angry voice. As Omori finally slowed, turning to see what had happened to his friends, he saw Kel doubled over with laughter as Aubrey tried to wriggle her way out of the cobweb she had tangled herself in. Basil was looking panicked, but had managed to avoid the cobwebs littering the forest, but was eyeing the spiders scuttling around them warily.

"It's not funny, Kel!" Aubrey scowled, finally throwing off the rest of the cobwebs.

"Yeah it is!" Kel heaved, as he fought for breath on the coarse grass, trying to keep his laughed contained.

"Well, maybe next time I'll shove you into some cobwebs!" Aubrey huffed, scowling at him, before marching over to Omori, "well, at least I know me and Omori can go find Mari and Hero."

Omori shrugged, waiting for Basil to scoot closer and for Kel to finally drag himself up off the ground.

"We should get going," Basil suggested, trying to diffuse the situation, "Hero and Mari won't like it if you two are fighting again."

Aubrey looked down, seemingly guilty, while Kel shrugged. Omori rolled his eyes, leaving the awkward trio to follow him as he continued to slash his way through the trees, the spiders hissing angrily as they scattered out of the way of his knife.

As they headed back into the Vast Forest, Omori kept his eyes peeled for any more of the memory shards. He knew that there was only a few left, but he didn't know which, since he knew that he'd already collected all of the past memories from their old photo album, so he wondered which memories he would collect next.

He emerged back in the Playground, where he saw a few of their friends playing again, the Headspace around them, once completely shattered apart, now is almost sealed together again, like it was water... yet it also had little bumpy scars where it had torn and fused back together, like it had been stitched back together.

"Next stop: Otherworld!" Kel yelled, charging forwards, past Omori, grinning at him as he darted by, slipping occasionally on the sand that coated the Playground. Aubrey called after Kel, charging after him, her purple hair streaming out behind her. Basil tried to keep up with them, but he had to start heaving for breath, Omori walking quickly past Basil, following the deep grooves the previous two had left on their charge towards the Otherworld ladder. Normally, he would have run after them, but now he was keeping himself in check, trying to find the rest of the memories. As he passed by the stump once again, Basil happily walking in silence beside him, clearly relieved he wouldn't have to run anymore than he usually would have, or strike up a conversation like he did with Aubrey and Kel.

Just as Omori peered past an outlying tree, he saw a glimmering shard of something just wedged in the trunk of the tree, like someone had thrown it at it like darts, or been considerably angry and had driven it in, like a knife and someone's stomach. Wonder where that thought came from, Omori thought to himself as he pulled at the shard, it finally releasing itself from the tree. He glanced into the memory, seeing Sunny and Kel eating sandwiches.  Omori shrugged it off, seeing newer memories, pocketing the memory like he did with the rest. He continued on, Basil looking curiously at the mark in the tree where the memory shard once was, before quickly following after Omori, who sped up his pace.

The duo came across Aubrey and Kel as they approached the Otherworld ladder. Kel was tossing a rock in the air, darting around on the ground trying to catch it, while Aubrey was sat on the grass beside the ladder, holding Mr Plantegg close, cuddling with him as she swayed back and forth.

"Omori, there you are!" Aubrey exclaimed as soon as she saw him, jumping up and dashing over to him, hugging him and almost hitting him with Mr Plantegg.

"Oh, hey Omori!" Kel grinned, "I wondered when you'd get here! Aubrey was being all whiney since we left you guys back at the Playground, so I decided to be nice and wait with her here for you!"

"Don't lie, Kel!" Aubrey yelled, letting go of Omori and spinning around to face him, "you know for a fact you were the one who didn't know what to do once you ran away, and since you're so wimpy, you waited here."

"You ran away too!" Kel scowled, "don't act like you weren't whining about everything as soon as we were alone!"

"Was not!"

"Was too!"

"Let's go find Mari and Hero..." Basil muttered to Omori, who nodded in agreement. Omori led Basil past the two bickering friends, letting Basil climb up first.

"Wait for me!" Called Kel, jumping onto the ladder after Omori and Basil, matching Omori's climbing speed, Basil trying his hardest to hurry so he didn't have to make those below him wait.

"And me!" Aubrey announced, scrabbling quickly up the ladder after the group, close enough to poke Kel, who in turn glared down at her, which made her inclined to stick her tongue out.

Omori kept sight of Basil the entire climb, watching the relief wash over him after he made it to the top, laying on his stomach and touching the ground before rolling onto his back and laughing.

"We made it!" Kel cheered, "but uhhh... do we know where Mari and Hero are?"

"They're at the picnic blanket last I saw," Basil stated, staggering to his feet, following Kel and Aubrey further into the floating island. As Sunny was about to follow, something flashing caught his eye. He paused, looking over to where the flash of light originally came from, before stepping backwards a few steps, then moving forward again, seeing the light catching something inside a bush. He wandered over, peering into the bush, seeing that thorns coated the inside, but saw the comforting sheen of a memory shard nestled in the thorn covered roots. He reached his hand in, ignoring the feeling of the spikes slicing his hand and arm, until he grabbed it, feeling the reassuring weight in his hand, pulling it back out.

He laid the memory flat out on his palm, something in his head telling him this was the last, the world around him seeming back to normal at last as the small tears and cracks formed back together around him, as if everything was repaired again. As he looked down into the memory, he felt his eyes widen. The final memory say there in the palm of his hand, the light glinting off it, a rainbow of color emerging from it like a shattered piece of glass. Omori did a double take, staring at the memory.

"What?..."