FULL SUMMARY: A Mari lives AU fanfic. She still falls down the stairs but is rushed to the hospital. Makes Basil and Sunny swear up and down that they'll tell people that she tripped by herself for fear that Sunny will be taken away by CPS and be hated by family and friends.
She took some hits to her ribs and spine. She'll be wheelchair bound until she relearns how to walk. Months of physical therapy is planned ahead for her.
But it's okay. Her family is still together. She still has all her friends, right?
Sunny...? Where's the blood from...? What did...
You Do To Your Eye ?
Bro the way I immediately dropped (and deleted!) my original story I was working on the moment my brain cooked up this idea. I only looked into this game for 3 days before I started writing fanfiction.
I just had so much brain rot and wanted to make smth bc I was looking at Mari Lives & Mari Resurrected AU fics on AO3 and didn't find what I was looking for (will admit that I didn't look at every fic in those tags).
This fic will be written mostly in third person limited following Mari but the start won't and I may have parts or whole chapters following other characters like Hero and whatnot. (I will however try to avoid ever doing Sunny's pov for reasons as I think it might be better for this AU to always have him be observed instead.)
Hope you enjoy! :D
Lil notes I gotta add for this site cuz there's so little fics we don't have a character category. (and lack of tags like AO3!)
-Hero/Mari ship ofc and minor Sunflower (Basil/Sunny).
-Basil has a crush on Sunny
-Autistic Sunny HC, he uses Sign Language, Nonverbal Sunny (can be verbal but shuts down for awhile)
Basil just stares. He was frozen, petrified.
He had come over to his best friend's house to cheer him on about the recital. He knew that Sunny had been kinda anxious and stressed out about it. He was sure what his friend needed now was a pick-me-up before Kel and Hero's mom would pick everyone up for it.
The door was unlocked.
That's normal. Farway Town is relatively safe and Kel's always barging in from next door.
It's only as Basil hears the click of the lock that he sees it.
A small figure stands at the top of the stairs. The house is ill lit and feels still as stone. And yet…
Thump after sickening thump is heard as another figure tumbles down the stairs. Basil got a front row seat as the door lined up to the stairs leading to the second floor.
He stares. And stares. And stares.
"▇-▇▇▇▇?" It was a choked question, a silent prayer. Sunny goes sprinting down the stairs, almost tripping himself. He bangs his knees to the wooden floor and turns the body-
Oh my God, that's Mari.
-over.
Basil feels sick to his stomach. He shakily makes his way over to his friends as the raven haired boy shakes his sis. "Mari? Mari. Mari, get up. Please. I didn't- I didn't mean to." The child whimpers.
He slowly goes to place his hand on Sunny's shoulder. The boy snaps up to look at him at a moment's notice. There's tears in his eyes and shock and horror swirling in those dark irises Basil is so well acquainted with.
"Sunny?" The first thing he's said since he's gotten here. His voice is cracky and nervous. The usual, but-
Sunny is all tears, his hands trembling. "I didn't mean to. I didn't mean to."
He nods. He knows. Sunny is his best friend who he thinks the world of. He'd never do such a horrible thing on purpose.
He averts his eyes so as to not linger on Mari's prone form.
He doesn't wanna look, he doesn't. He just focuses on his shaking friend.
Sunny's eyes are blurry when he makes eye contact. And Basil can't help but retreat his hand in astonishment. "Basil-" he takes a quivering breath, "help me, please."
Something in him snaps.
Mari.
Mari.
Mari.
Is she okay? Is she breathing? What's going to happen to them? To Sunny?
"Maybe-" Basil hesitatingly glosses over Mari.
Red.
Blood? She's bleeding?
Basil realizes he's shaking too when Sunny squeezes his hand, his other tightly gripping his sister's shoulder.
"Maybe she's sleeping." The blond chokes.
Dark eyes turn away to look back at her. Sunny numbly nod. "Yeah…" he goes, "she's sleeping. We have to put her back in bed." He lets go of them both and slowly rises to his feet. Basil steadies him when he stumbles, his heart pounds so loudly in his chest he wonders if he'll pass out.
No. I have to be strong. For Sunny! Basil's gaze turns back to Mari and he remembers that he'll have to be brave for her too.
She's just sleeping. Surely?
Sunny lifts her from the arms and Basil scrambles to lift her by the legs. They are slow and unsteady as they ascend up the stairs. Sunny is letting out breathy cries the entire time. He pushes open their bedroom door and Basil helps him lift her back onto her bed.
Sunny kneels at her bedside, tears flowing freely as he grips his sister's hand. He mumbles things incoherently. It's a jumble of pleas and apologies.
The blond sits tucked back-to-wall, hugging his knees; waiting. Watching.
Watching Sunny clings to the lifeless for life and begs countless times for forgiveness from Mari.
…
It goes on long enough for Sunny's tears to dry up. He only hears his friend's sniffles every couple of seconds. Little gasps for breath.
Basil grinds his teeth the way his grandma has reprimanded him for in the past. His hands ball into fists. Is she really dead? He worries.
He glanced out of the window, they were losing the morning light. What time was it now? Would someone be coming by soon for the recital? What if someone saw?
Fear, terror, and trepidation twist in the pit of his stomach. He looks back up and Mari lays flat, her arm is limp by the bedside. He chokes up all over again. Oh my god. Sunny killed her. Mari isn't waking up.
She's…dead…isn't she?
It was a dreadful thought.
He scrapes by with enough courage to quietly get up. He feels like he can't breathe as he goes to stand behind his friend. His friend who won't look at him. Who's staring into something he can't see. His lips tremble as he tries to find the words to tell Sunny that-
That they need to do something about this. No one can know. NO ONE.
Mari is gone in the dark. They still have time! They need to—
To…
Basil tries to steel himself. He needs to protect Sunny.
He has too.
No one will understand. But he does.
"Sunny…"
The boy turns to him for the first time since they've arrived at the bedroom. His eyes are hollow and red. His face is clearly tear stained. It makes Basil freeze long enough for the other to speak. "She's not getting up."
Basil bites his lip.
Sunny looks lost. "She's not getting up." He bows his head like a prayer.
He lets out a breath. Sunny doesn't know what to do, but he does.
He looks over and can almost see her face twitch through the parts in her hair. The dark must be coalescing on her face. Making him see things. She's..she's gone.
He's seeing things.
Before he dares to speak again. To tell his best friend his plan to make this all go away.
Something stirs.
Basil nearly topples over from shock and horror.
She-!
Was Mari moving or? Was her ghost haunting them? So soon?!
Sunny makes a noise that he couldn't quite label. The blond continues to stare in horror as Mari's hand begins to twitch and he prays that she isn't undead.
A groan is heard and he swears up and down that his heart definitely skips a beat.
Sunny on the other hand…
Explodes.
"Mari! Mari! Mari! You're okay! You're alive!" The boy can't continue further as his words diverge into racking sobs.
The teen hisses. "Fuck." It's under her breath and alien sounding to his ears. At least…coming from Mari that is. In the dim lighting of the room, he (more clearly then makes him comfortable) makes out her eye slotted right between some of her hair parting. It stares at him.
His mouth felt so dry.
He's thankful when Mari's gaze leaves to fall to the kneeling boy. "Sun…ny?" Another hiss of pain. Then a gasp.
Basil starts to shake again. Just when he got himself to stop too…
"What happened?" The inquiry is brought by a hoarse voice. There's silence for a couple of seconds as Basil figures out that Sunny isn't in the right shape to be answering right now. He can only stumble over half formed words before abandoning them in favor of trying (and failing) to level his breathing.
So he steps in again. Despite how he feels. Despite everything.
"You fell," his hands are fists clutching his chest, "Sunny pushed you." The truth comes out easier than he assumed it would. "I saw-" everything he thought, "I saw you go down."
Mari doesn't seem to acknowledge what he'd just said as her other arm that was previously hidden from his sight rose slow and unsteady. She examines it with a morbid curiosity, as if it wasn't her own limb. That it didn't belong to her. "I'm bleeding." She says in a way that Basil can't decipher if it was matter of fact or a question.
It scares him all the same.
It was an inch or two, he couldn't tell from where he stood; below her wrist.
He remembers. Blood. The violin. She fell on it, it must've cut her up. "The violin." he squeaks.
Mari trembles in a way he hasn't seen since that time she fished Sunny out of the lake.
When she breathes, it's shallow. "Ambulance." she mutters. "Call the ambulance, Basil."
The boy practically jumps at the mention of his name.
Right. Yeah. He would have to do it. Mari's the one hurt and Sunny's…
He turns on a dime to bolt to the open doorway when Mari chokes out another noise. The blond stares back in terror (not at her, but at the thought of somehow already doing something wrong) as Mari chants 'wait'. "The story," she goes, "what are you going to tell them?"
His mouth falls open like a fish. He…he was going to ask for an ambulance. Say his friend fell down the stairs and there was blood. "You can't tell them Sunny pushed me…" He wasn't going to mention that! He wasn't!
Basil begins to hear Sunny's cries.
He gulps. He desperately wanted to soothe Sunny but the idea of getting closer to Mari made his stomach twist. He hopes his best friend will forgive him this one time.
"I tripped, okay?" she insists. "No one pushed me, we were arguing by the stairs-" Mari coughs and chokes on air.
He waits. His own tears remind him he's still shaking and NEEDS TO STOP.
"My heel…" a gulp. "Caught the edge of the stairs and I fell. Do you understand?" He could almost hear the scowl she had.
He nods dumbly. It's not directed at me, she's just in pain. He hastily reasons with himself. He grinds his teeth again. He just needs to listen.
"I mean it. No one can know, they'll take Sunny away." She hisses and Basil backs up. Mari seems to notice and pause. "Basil," she's serious, "I'm begging…"
He wipes his tears. "I understand. I don't want Sunny to get in trouble."
"Okay," it was almost a sigh. "Okay…" She lays her head back down to the pillow. "I wasn't paying attention and fell…" She looks at her brother and laments. "Oh Sunny…" It's so soft and hurt and-
He shouldn't be here. He needs to leave. He needs to make a phone call.