Chapter Text
Hero felt like he was lucid dreaming. He hasn’t had a lucid dream since he was a child so it was off-putting, to say the least. He looked down at his hands to see he was holding a pair of cards. It was an awful hand, Hero could tell that with a look. He noticed Kel was sitting in front of him, staring at his cards as well. Aubrey sat nearby, holding her cards to her chest as if to hide them.
They all looked weird. Hero was wearing what looked like striped pajamas to him. Kel wore this weird shirt that looked like a bunch of colorful squares were shining on it. Aubrey had on what looked to be a nightgown and a blue-purplish bow on her head.
They even had items Hero could tell belonged to them nearby. A purple doll that for the life of Hero he couldn’t remember the name of. Kel was sitting next to a strange colored ball while Hero had a spatula. He had to wonder why any of them were going to need these items but decided to just roll with it.
Honestly, this gave him a nostalgic feeling. Everything felt like it was real, even though that their surroundings were colorful. It honestly looked like something out of a fever dream than his normal dreams with the colors everywhere, not like he was complaining though.
“Hey, I know this question is going to sound weird but where are we?” Kel randomly spoke up.
“I was wondering that as well,” Aubrey muttered.
“Oh, so we’re all just randomly playing cards not knowing how we got here?” Hero spoke up with a tiny laugh.
“Guess so…?” Kel trailed off, something suddenly felt wrong. It was as if they weren’t meant to be self-aware of their surroundings.
Suddenly a white door on the other side of the room opened up to reveal a face Hero hasn’t seen in a long time, he could barely remember what they looked like. Though unlike Aubrey and Kel, who looked like younger versions of themselves, the person who walked out was black and white with a dead facial expression.
“Um, hello?” Hero decided to try to talk to the familiar face, he, for some reason could not remember their name.
The child waved back and proceeded to sit down next to them, not uttering a word.
He seemed interested in what the group where doing, looking at the cards in their hands.
“W-we were getting bored of cards, we should head out and explore.” Kel awkwardly got up, not wanting to be near the boy. For some reason, he feels...off.
Everyone followed Kel and got up. The child however began walking away and up some stairs with a snake laying on it.
“Ssssssss (Ḩ̴̭̝̲̿̅̾̾̓͑̚e̸̡̞̓͆̇̍ḁ̸̥̰̞͕͈̺̓͛̆̉͒͝d̵̡̟̘̋̑͒i̵͇̼̜̳͐̈́̏̕͘n̶͚͓̯̼͓̙̈́ḡ̶̛͈̏͒͛ ̴̨̢͚͕̟̙͋͌̿͊̕͝͝o̷̭̖̬̣̝̗͔̓u̵̢̮̗̟̫̹̔̽̃͛̓̀͒ͅt̸͍̾̒,̴̡̧̟̳̤͍̜͊̆͗̏̚ ̶̛͎̙̖̮̮̲̑̐̋̄͝O̸͙̤̯͗̇̔̆̕͠͝ͅm̵̬͌o̸̺̣͍͐͋͌̿͝ͅr̷̛̭̮͑͂͐̅͒i̷̛̛͚̞̺͈̅̈́̆͘?̶̡̛̛͓̮̖̣̞͐̆͂̑̚)” The snake spoke but no one understood.
Well everyone except the boy didn’t understand as the snake spoke to him a bit more before handing him 50...clams? Hero wasn’t going to question it, dreams were weird like that.
He climbed out and watched as the others did as well. Aubrey somehow managed to get stuck while climbing out and Kel proceeded to laugh at her.
“Kel! Stop laughing and help me!” Aubrey shouted.
Kel, still laughing, walked over and grabbed Aubrey’s hand before pulling her up. “Took ya long enough!”
“Gee sorry, not my fault you got stuck.” Kel stuck out his tongue.
Aubrey, instead of taking Kel seriously, proceeded to flip him off.
Kel let out a fake gasp, “Rude! Manners were thrown away, huh?”
Aubrey let out a groan and looked like she was about to swing a punch straight into Kel’s jaw before Hero stopped her. “Please don’t punch my brother.” He sighed.
Aubrey sighed as well and turned away from Kel. In a dramatic voice, she muttered, “You get to live another day.”
“I am flattered.” Kel laughed as Aubrey rolled her eyes.
The child began to walk ahead, not caring about what the others were saying or doing. He made his way to a playground with everyone following him behind. He turned his head to spot a picnic area with a girl that had dark purple hair and a very familiar smile.
Hero couldn’t believe his eyes. It...It was going to be one of those dreams again, wasn’t it? The one where he spots Mari somewhere with his friends and she turns towards him with black, void-like eyes, begging him to save her.
He never could. She would already be long gone, out of reach screaming his name. He would then be left alone feeling like a million eyes were on him for being a failure.
This Mari however did not immediately have her eyes go pitch black, instead, she waved the group over happily. Hero approached cautiously, still not trusting his mind, along with Kel and Aubrey who also seemed on edge. The boy however immediately ran to her side as if she was his best friend.
“Omori! It has been a while since we talked, hasn’t it?” Mari asked the boy. So his name was Omori? It sounded...familiar. Hero couldn’t place why, though he could have sworn that wasn’t the boy’s name at all.
“Oh! Hello everyone! It is nice to see you again! How has your day been?” Mari asked.
“Um, well, we played cards! That was fun!” Kel began, hoping no one would be able to tell how nervous he was.
“Really? I bet you were winning Kel, Hero is awful at cards.” Mari teased.
“Hey! I am not that bad...am I?” Hero asked himself. He was glad nothing bad had happened yet. Though he is just waiting for this dream to get dark. All of his dreams do after all. It was only a matter of time before this one did.
He wasn't going to be caught off guard. After all, he knows how his dreams work.
“To be honest, you suck, a lot.” Kel laughed at him, not knowing how anxious he was.
“Has anyone seen Basil? We were going to make some more flower crowns today but I haven’t seen him anywhere…” Mari trailed off, looking around to see if she could spot the flower boy.
“Maybe he is at his house?” Aubrey spoke up. Why did it sound like she didn’t want to see Basil though?
Mari nor Omori seemed to notice, “Great idea Aubrey! You guys can go find him while I set up this picnic!” Mari grinned. Hero could feel his heart in his chest, though the pain of remembering that this is a dream began to hurt more.
She isn't real. She isn't coming back.
Omori moved away from Mari and moved south of the playground. He stopped suddenly however and looked at a floating mirror. Hero and the others stood behind Omori and gave him a supportive smile, hoping that maybe he would show a bit of emotion. His face didn't move a muscle as he continued along.
The trio followed Omori as he walked downwards past a couple of mini gardens filled with plants. Hero wasn’t educated that much on plants only recognizing some like Sunflowers, Cactus, and Roses. They were really pretty to look at though.
Omori suddenly ran forward and Hero looked ahead to see Mari with another picnic set up, “Oh hey guys! I figured you might get hungry so I brought you all snacks!” She smiled brightly as she held up some food for everyone to enjoy. He wondered how she even got there but decided not to question it.
She handed some to everyone and they began chowing down. The food tasted the same way Mari used to make it. It honestly made Hero’s heart ache more. Is this the universe’s way of torturing him?
“Thanks for the food, Mari!” Kel grinned before everyone got up again, “Now let’s go see Basil!”
The group walked forward again this time through a straight line leading to a giant lump in the ground. Omori walked around to reveal that the lump was a cave.
“Ooh, it’s big in here! Echo!” Kel screamed startling everyone but Omori.
“Kel! Gee, I am sure Basil knows we are here now…” Aubrey sighed.
“Isn’t that a good thing?” Kel asked.
“Yes, but you didn’t have to kill our eardrums…” Hero groaned.
“Well, where is the fun in that?” Kel laughed.
The group finally arrived at Basil’s house which was just a giant shoe surrounded by a tiny moat. It honestly looked peaceful. Hero did find it a little funny that Basil lived in a shoe of all things though.
Omori walked forward and didn’t even bother knocking on the door before entering.
“Omori! You shouldn’t just-” - “AHH!” Basil’s sudden scream ran out as he landed on the floor, apparently unaware of them in the cave.
He took in a deep breath before looking at the group, “Please knock next time…” Basil sighed out as he stood up. “Honestly, you scared me half to death!”
Basil looked a little different, wearing overalls and having teal-like hair. He was also wearing a proper flower crown which looked professionally done.
Omori gave an apologetic look which was the first time he has seen any emotion on the boy’s face. Basil was holding a photo album to his chest tightly like if he loosened up the book would fly away from him.
"How have you been Basil, it has been a while since we've talked." Hero decided to make small talk.
"Oh! Um, I-I have been good! Uh, do you wanna look in my photo album?" He asked nervously as if talking would get him in trouble.
“Oh sweet! I would love to! It's been a while since I have seen it!” Kel grinned, happily tapping his feet on the ground.
“Um, alright. H-Here you go. Be careful with it, okay?” Basil nervously handed it over. He immediately sat down on his bed as Kel opened it up. Hero, Aubrey, and Omori walked over and looked inside of the book as well. It looked near identical to the one in the real world, the only differences being some words when describing the events and the fact all the photos were taking place in the dream world.
Kel handed back the photo album, thanking Basil for letting him look before a photo suddenly fell out.
The sudden feeling of a chill ran down Hero’s spine as Basil picked up the photograph. Basil looked at the photo and his eyes went wide and red. Hero knew this good dream wouldn’t last. It never did.
“MARI…I'M SORRY-”
Basil didn’t get to finish his sentence as Hero’s mind suddenly flashed to a broken violin at the bottom of a staircase. Before Hero could even process what that meant, he woke up in his college dorm room.
He shot up and held his chest before taking in a deep breath. He didn’t know what he was expecting, nightmares plagued his dreams for a long time. Though this was the first time he dreamt of anything like that. He wondered what the violin meant, maybe he could search it up?
Later, he decided. He will search it up later. Right now he needs to try his best to go back to sleep. He needs to be well-rested to get ready to go to Faraway.