Chapter Text
It was a peaceful late afternoon. The landscape of the lake, Mari and Hero smiling at each other, Aubrey and Kel sleeping soundly--these were the moments Basil wished he could have captured every single details forever so he could cherish them. A photo was already taken, but it couldn't capture that serenity hanging in the atmosphere. That was why Basil chose to put his camera down and tried to live in the moment as much as possible, and study the face of his most favorite person in the world. Sunny.
His black hair glistened under the orange shade of dusk, his eyes closed, his skin pale and pristine, his lashes perfect. Every about Sunny was just right.
Sunny was flawless...until that one evening.
After much thoughts, Basil decided he should pay a visit to both Mari and Sunny a day before the music recital. The siblings practiced hard for the performance, especially Sunny as he just started violin not too long ago. Sunny could use some encouragement and assurance. At least that was what Basil had thought.
But whatever was waiting upon his arrival, Basil could never have imagined.
The light in the living room was dim.
"Sunny? Mari?" Basil called out towards the dark. No one replied.
The boy walked towards the door, maybe his friends were in the piano room. But he didn't heard any sound--no piano nor violin.
That was when the stench of something hit him. It was like...metal smell. The scent was hanging in the air, as his eyes became used to the dark.
There he saw his friend. Sunny was sitting next to the stairs, hugging his knees.
"Sun..Sunny? What happened?" Basil approached his best friend slowly with a trembling voice.
Sunny didn't look up.
"It must...have been an accident. R--Right?"
Sunny didn't reply. Basil looked at the head with long dark hair next to his friend. That, he realized, was the source of the heavy zinc smell. It was getting stronger, and worse.
"Come on, M--Mari...This isn't funny..Get up.." He gave the body on the stairs a little nudge. It didn't move.
"You..I...What should we d--d--do...ohhh.." Basil tried to breathe. Basil tried to calm down. But it was too late to back out.
He was in it along with Sunny now.
It depended on him what to do. Or so he thought. So he decided.
Sunny WAS flawless, and would always be...at all cost.
Sunny never explained anything. Even when Basil tried, Sunny never told what happened, but he didn't have to. He might have not realized it at that moment, but he was not alone. Not when the person next to him was this light haired boy who has sworn to protect him with whatever he had.
Everything afterwards was a blur, it was not so hard as Basil was used to carrying bags of soil and fertilizers, he was stronger than he looked. Both of them dragging 'it' along to the backyard without tainting the carpet was an easy job, then Sunny worked his quick little fingers on the rope, both of them lifted 'it' up to the tree branch, and the deed was done.
"SUNNY...Everything is okay now, isn't it?"
...
It has been four years. Sunny was never seen again after the tragic incident of 'Mari's own action'. Nobody understood why, some didn't even understand what happened. She did not only passed away, as many were lost along her side.
Sunny was never seen or heard again. He locked himself in.
Hero went to college. His parents fully supported their soon-to-be doctor.
Kel took up basketball. He always looked forward to Hero's dish.
And Aubrey...dyed her hair. She had new friends now.
Some parts of them died along with Mari.
But Basil...Basil remained the same as ever.
He tended to his potted plants. He stayed at the same house with his grandma, with Polly, a caretaker his parents had hired to look after him and granny. He still held dear his photo album. His camera became dusty as he no longer had moments he wanted to capture, but it was still there, next to his bed.
And he still thought of Sunny as often as he used to, which was exactly why he never had a slightest hunch that one day he would get a chance to see Sunny again. Specifically, not how Sunny would just come visit him, in his own home. And dine with him.
Along with Kel, of course.
"Come on! It'll be fun!" Kel smiled, encouraging Basil and Sunny to look at the album together. Some photos were missing, but Basil was nevertheless glad to see that the rest of them were perfectly fine, not 'damaged' in anyway.
"Oh man... It looks like a lot of the photos are still missing." Kel mentioned after they went through the album. Basil noticed Sunny's gaze was still on the photos.
"Maybe AUBREY kept them for herself... We'll have to get those back later." Basil noticed Sunny seemed paler than how he remembered.
"On the bright side, look how short I was. Haha!" Basil noticed Sunny also seemed thinner.
"I know I've grown at least a foot since HERO left for college." Basil also noticed Sunny seemed...shorter? Or maybe it was him who grew taller. That would make much more sense, from all the gardening in the past few years.
"Anyway, don't sweat it about the missing photos, BASIL." Kel said "Me and SUNNY will take care of things for you."
"Okay. Thank you...I'll try." Basil managed a smile. Kel always meant good and he knew that. It's just...It's been four years since he had last seen Sunny. Or Kel. Or the inside of the album.
Basil wasn't sure what his feelings were. They were...complicated.
So complicated that Basil wasn't sure how to process. He already gave his album to Sunny, he knew Sunny would treasure it even when Basil was no longer there. But that decision did not make those feelings go away, if not even worse.
"That's so cool of you. Makes sense..." Kel talked between his chew at the dinner table. "..especially since SUNNY's moving away and all."
Basil almost dropped his fork.
"W-What?..SUNNY's...m-moving...?"
Basil wasn't sure what Kel said after that.
"M-May I be excused?"
And he ran away. He didn't came out of the bathroom until his guests left. Sunny was leaving town. They might never meet again. He also already gave his album. He would lose his keepsake of Sunny--what was left of him. He felt a knot in his stomach getting tighter and bigger, it was trying to find its way out, forcing its way through his throat.
Sunny was just back in his life. Now though, he was leaving. Again.
After all Basil has done for him...
After what they have been through together. All the pain and secret they have shared. The truth only they both knew.
Basil couldn't fall asleep that night...Not when he realized that shadow was there again.
It was coming after him.
It was only a matter of time before it would take him away...
For what he had done to Mari.