I know canonically this game takes place in like 1999-2003ish but like,,,,I don't want to have to be thinking about which tech appropriate things I'll be limited to and such so I'mma just like,,, ignore it for the AU ngl.
Also If you don't mind spoilers; I have a Tumblr post about this AU/fic. (My URL is the same as here w/ no space ofc. The post is under the tags #omori au & #mari lives au)
Thx for reading! I'm really pumped about writing this! :D
Hero was getting ready for Mari and Sunny's recital while the sky still was taking time to wake up. His brother was still asleep, but that's okay. Kel's only 12 and he'll let him sleep for just a bit longer. He knows he can whip up his brother to look presentable on short notice.
Comes with the older brother territory
His mom was going to be the one picking up the rest of his little friend group to take them to the large auditorium anyway. So it was to be expected he'd be ready first.
"Ugh." he sat back on his bed. He was still tired for sure and didn't get as much sleep as he'd like since he and Mari had texted a fair bit before he truly tucked in for the night.
She still had some nerves about the recital. She worried over some notes that Sunny was still messing up on, even on the day before. He hopes that whatever last minute practice they had would calm her mind. She was a bit of a perfectionist with the piano ever since she lost softball.
He frowns.
Hopefully it'll all be okay. If Sunny still makes mistakes today, he hopes it'll be undetectable to the average person's ears. Only a true connoisseur would notice, and at that… Sunny's clearly just a kid, you can't expect perfection from him. Not everyone is a child prodigy.
Like the way most thought Mari was… But Hero knew better. She was just a teenage girl like any other. She hated messes, loved cats, and had a knack for entomology.
She craved validation from family and peers alike, she wanted to play sports again, she loved the sun on her skin. (She fought so hard to get where she is.)
She was so close to her little brother, but even they squabbled. He'd heard about it. She never found his clinginess to be off putting, and would go to the ends of the earth for him.
Which made him wonder if the months of her music practice wore her down. She expressed last night how she felt so bad for blowing up on Sunny earlier that day. Her temper and stress had gotten the best of her. He had his usual expression, but she noticed a tremor in his hands.
She told Hero how she'll make it all up to Sunny once the show is over tomorrow. Buy him whatever treat he wanted, get whatever art set he needed.
Yeah, Mari was just some girl and sometimes even she had to say sorry.
Kel flips over in his sleep and startles him. Hero smiles fondly at him and grabs his phone to check for texts…
Hmmm, nothing.
Huh, he thought that maybe Mari would…
Ah, nevermind. She was probably trying to cram in last a second practice before dolling up. And if he knew a thing or two (which he likes to think he did) probably was helping Sunny get in his lil suit.
That kid hated whatever fabric his suit was made of. Made him upset when he felt it, yet his parents didn't bother to buy him a new one that didn't trigger his…
Hero sighed. He gets they're busy and already accommodate Sunny plenty but surely something as important as his outfit for a big event should be in that category too?
Hmmm, maybe it's because Sunny has always been a frail boy and the suit was tailored to his weight and height? Would explain it…
Hero stands back up and decides maybe he should make breakfast real quick. He can feed Kel first before getting him through the ringer. Should make him more agreeable.
He pockets his phone and strolls down the stairs.
Hero's humming to himself while he butters some toast and lets the bacon cool off on paper to soak out some of the grease. He eyes the pot of boiling water that houses the eggs. Hard boiled should be fine for today. He needs to mix it up a little, but his parents keep stocking the fridge with the same rotation.
Ah well, if it's not broken, don't fix it.
He nibbles on his own slice of toast and goes to turn off the stove top. Grabbing the metal scooper he carefully places the eggs on their own plate. He'll deshell Kel's for him but his parents will manage on their own.
He blows on the eggs while fixing the plates with food just right and waits for the eggs to cool down enough for him to deshell when he notices that huh, the siren noise isn't actually just fading off into the background. No… it's getting louder.
There's-
There's red flashes that bleed into his house from the windows. He squints. Mom and dad were out collecting the corsages Mari's parents ordered for all the kids.
So they couldn't be hurt, and he just saw Kel.
Oh.
Oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh—
His blood ran cold. His house was the last on the block and if he could see the lights bleed into his house-
Hero was out the door without even thinking about putting on shoes. His off white socks takes the full force of the concrete and grass between him and the ambulance.
Who–who was hurt? How badly? Was the ambulance just a precaution? He hoped it was. He fiercely did.
He didn't want either of the siblings to be hurt but the ambulance was firmly parked in their yard. He stood there for a second. Trying to decide the best way to go about this. Should he walk into the house? Go up to the EMTs and ask what was going on? Should he check from the backyard first?
One of the EMTs on standby noticed his presents. "Hey kid!"
Hero snapped to his attention.
"Don't even think about-"
The first responders' words didn't register any further with him when he saw long black hair.
Mari.
He sprints to get a closer look, almost slipping on the grass where there was more mud than plant in the damp morning air.
"Mari?!" He called out to her. He didn't hear the noise of annoyance the EMT on standby made.
The girl on the stretcher slowly turns her head to him. Oh thank God, she's still conscious.
It doesn't last for long as she looks back to the medical worker asking her questions. Hero thinks she's repeating herself to them but the siren makes it hard to make out anything cohesive.
He helplessly watches as they load her up and take her away.
Mari…
What happened to her?! So suddenly too!
He glances back at the neighboring house.
Sunny must still be inside, their parents left crazy early for the auditorium. They were among those to help set up.
Sunny… Did Sunny phone it in?
Then again, Mari was still awake, he saw her. She could've called.
He looks back to where the ambulance took off to the only hospital in town. And promptly walks into the open doorway of the house.
"Sunny?! Sunny are you there?!" There's no initial response, and Hero worries if Sunny had also been loaded in while he was still in his house.
Gas leak? His mind supplies to himself. But then wouldn't other services be here if that was the case?
He steps further in, and sees a broken violin.
Oh.
Oh my God.
Blood.
"Hero?" Somebody gasps behind him. Whipping around faces him with the sorry sight of Basil with a tear stained Sunny behind him. The pale dark eyed boy was clinging onto the other like he was scared someone would attack him from the front.
"Guys." He breathes a sigh of relief and goes to hug them. Basil flinches into it but otherwise doesn't resist. Sunny doesn't react at all.
He frowns but understands.
"Guys, what happened?" He speaks quietly. From sight only he knows something happened that they shouldn't have seen. Basil fidgets, bites his lip, and looks away. Sunny though…he isn't even looking at him.
His brows furrow. That…was normal. Sunny didn't like to keep eye contact with most people normally. He must be so scared right now of course he can't look at him at the moment! He stops the hug to bend down to be more eye level with the kids. "Sunny," he goes for a gentle tone, but the worry licks at his senses, "what happened? How did Mari get hurt?"
Sunny looks up for just a second before tears start rolling down his face. He buries it into Basil's shirt. The blond squeals from initial surprise but doesn't stop him.
Hero blinks. Oh.
He gives Basil a pleading look and the boy misinterprets its meaning.
"He-" the blonde boy stutters a bit before sealing his words. "He can't talk right now."
Right…right. Sunny does that sometimes. He was like that all the time when his family first moved in. He must've went non-verbal from stress and shock. Mari was diligent about telling him these sorts of things. She wouldn't stand for mistreatment of her brother.
He gives them a small sympathetic smile. "I see." He acknowledges. "Are you okay with talking right now?"
The 12 year old seems to mull it over for a few seconds before giving the teen a tentative nod.
Hero has to stop himself from letting out another sigh of relief. He continues to smile at Basil when he directs the question to him.
Basil takes a shaky deep breath and explains. He sounds like he's nearly gonna cry the whole time but Hero listens carefully.
He went over to cheer Sunny up. He saw them arguing. The violin was destroyed. Mari backs too close to the lip of the top stair.
She slips.
She hits the ground.
They bring her up to her room. She wakes up and makes Basil call an ambulance.
Hero listens quietly til the end. He brings up a hand to cover his eyes as he just…processes. All of that.
No wonder Sunny is a mess right now, he saw his sister fall down the stairs. Basil saw. "You did the right thing, thank you for calling them." It's not typically advised to move an injured person around before first responders arrive and they should've called an ambulance right away. But he doesn't have the heart to tell them that.
Not at the moment, anyway. When everyone sees that Mari's alright he'll pull them aside and explain why you shouldn't move someone like that and the importance of getting emergency services right away.
For the moment though, he brings them in for another hug and lets Basil cry. Sunny peers over his friends shoulders to look at him, but it's brief and he goes back to hiding his face.
They stay like that for a bit. In the otherwise silent lit up house.
"Hero?"
He turns around to see Kel still in his pjs staring at them from the doorway. His face is confused and a little frightened.
Oh shit. He totally forgot about his brother in all of this.
I deadass wrote this ch all in one sitting but it took me like 3? 4? days to write the prologue? Bruh moment fr.