Chapter 3: Reunion

When Mari opened her eyes, she was surrounded by darkness.

For a second, she thought she was back in her little brother's Blackspace. But quickly, she dismissed the idea when she remembered she wasn't a floating black Something anymore, but a zombie.

She looked around but there was nothing, this wasn't a dream or a nightmare. It was weird. But standing there doing nothing quickly got very boring. She started to think about something, anything to beat the boredom down.

Friends… Sunny… Hero… Mom… Revival. Oh that could be interesting, she could focus on what she could remember from her resurrection!

As if on cue, a giant screen appeared in front of her and on it was projected from somewhere the image of a skeleton that had its muscles and flesh reforming on the bones.

"EW!" she yelped in disgust.

But wait, isn't that her?!

Images kept flashing on the screen, some of the body being restored to a human form. But most interestingly, there were images of a purple haired… Woman? maybe? She looked human but somehow Mari could tell there was something different… inhuman about her, beside the fact that she was 99% sure she was the one who brought her back to life.

Did she know her? Or did the woman know Mari?

As much as she tried to think about it, there was no positive response: that woman was completely unknown to her. She had never seen the woman before in her life, when she was alive or dead.

Well, in any case, she didn't know how long she's been in this black void but she decided it might be time to wake up. If falling asleep was like an on/off switch, maybe it's the same for waking up.

She closed her eyes and focused.

When she opened them again, she was back in Basil's home, she sat up and was about to yawn until she heard sobs and whimpers coming from her left. She looked to the side and saw her three younger friends crying.

"Wh-What do we do?" Aubrey sobbed.

"I-I don't know, she… Do you guys think she's—?" Basil answered with another question.

"No it can't be! There must be something we can do!" Kel exclaimed through his tears.

"Do something about what?" Mari asked as she joined them.

Aubrey and Basil's reactions were immediate as they stopped crying to stare at the zombie with wide eyes.

"Not now Mari, we're trying to find a way to bring you back to life once more, if you're actually dead again." Kel said, not noticing the stupidity of the scene at play.

"What do you mean? I am somewhat dead. Zombie, remember?" Mari asked again, now grinning.

"Come on, Mari!" he turned around to face her, "You know exactly what I meeeaaaaaaaaa…." he trailed off as he finally noticed that she was standing there in front of him, "MARI!" he hugged her.

The other two quickly joined the hug, resuming their crying.

"Oof! What's wrong?" Mari asked, the worry coming back.

Earlier that day.

Kel was the first to wake up, and didn't waste a second to wake up Aubrey and Basil soon after. But when he was about to wake Mari up, Aubrey slapped the back of his head to stop him. She probably lived a very exhausting day from being revived and all that and might want to sleep a bit longer.

After a quick breakfast, Kel was the first to run out of the house to see his family and change into his sportswear for some morning training with his friends at the Basketball court in the park.

Basil got dressed and left for his morning shift at Fix-It. Thankfully, it was still only morning so at noon he'd be able to hang out more with his friends. Now that he thought about it, he should take some days off this Summer. Mari is back after all!

Aubrey went to her 'home', quickly ignored her 'mother' who still didn't seem to have moved an inch since the last time she saw her. Once she was in the attic, she petted and fed Bun-Bun, who was growing old. She really wasn't looking forward to that day… She cleaned up a bit of her house, despite the fact that she knew that the trash will just reappear when she gets back home later anyway. And once everything was done, she flipped the bird to her mother on her way out to go work at Gino's Delivery for some quick bucks. Afterwards she could hang out with the Hooligans for a bit.

The three young adults met up again while on their way back to Basil's house around noon. Very eager to spend more time with the nice zombie Mari.

But when they enter the house, and when Basil asks his caretaker who was leaving the house for some groceries, how was Mari doing… And Polly answered that she thought Mari was with them…

There was no word exchanged as they all rushed to Basil's room as fast as possible, there she was, laying down.

She barely moved, heck actually she didn't move at all since last time they saw her that morning!

She looked…asleep but dead.

Just like six years ago…

Aubrey approached slowly and said what everyone was thinking.

"Sh-She's not breathing guys…"

Tears were starting to form in everyone's eyes. Kel was second to approach and touched Mari's neck.

"Th-There's no pulse."

"W-Wait, l-l-let's not jump into conclusions too quickly! M-Maybe it's a zombie thing?! I-I-I mean, we don't know!" Basil tried to rationalize but his tears and stammering didn't convince anyone, not even himself.

"Y-Yeah! You're right!" Kel stood up, trying to cheer everyone up before any grim confirmations.

The group huddled up to discuss their next steps, but it was hard to concentrate, the idea of losing Mari again and so soon made them sob almost uncontrollably. They didn't notice the zombie waking up.

"Wh-What do we do?" Aubrey asked with a sob.

Back to the Present…

"Awww I'm so sorry guys." Mari said as she hugged them all back tightly, "It's this new body, I swear! I have to learn how to use it better."

"What do you mean?"

"W-Well… Last night, I managed to sleep after I… 'ordered' my body to sleep. I think I woke up the same way. And because I'm a zombie, I just breathe because I do it automatically. I think that when my body goes to sleep it goes 'off', so everything stops."

Mari tried to explain, while rubbing the back of her neck, but it was hard for her too since she doesn't quite get it either.

"That sounds scary…" Aubrey whispered.

"Yeah…" Kel and Basil agreed.

"I know right?" Mari said with a big smile, "But it's alright! Now you know and everything will be okay. I'm still with you and I'm not going to leave anytime soon." She tightened her embrace before letting them go so she could see their faces again, "Come on, let's dry your tears and have fun!"

She cleaned everyone's tears away from their cheeks with her thumbs all while adorning a gentle smile on her face. She felt guilty for scaring them like this, she really hoped that her body won't do anymore scary things like this…

Once everyone was calm again, Mari asked for a reminder of when Hero and Sunny would come to Faraway.

"Hero is coming in a couple of hours!" Kel said, his face beaming with a big smile again.

"And Sunny tomorrow. I just talked to him on the phone." Aubrey answered with a small smile.

Mari noticed the grin on Basil's face when he heard the pink haired girl's statement. The zombie girl couldn't help herself but grin too, knowing exactly what he was thinking. But the teasing can wait.

"Alright!" she said with a clap of her hands. "What do you say we go get some presents for them?"

"Hehe, we had this planned already, but now there's an extra present!" the tallest teenager said.

"Oh, what is it?"

"YOU!" the three young adults exclaimed with big smiles, tearing up again.

They all decided to go get presents for both missing friends of the group, they first stopped at Hobbeez for Sunny's present. They chose a retro game, like the ones Sunny just loves, and they all hoped and prayed that he didn't already have a copy of it.

Mari remembered from her time as a ghost that Hero still loved to cook for everyone and suggested they get yet another cooking book, but maybe for food from other countries.

The suggestion was appreciated but then there was a debate on what kind of food everyone wanted to taste. Italian, French, Japanese, Indian, everyone wanted a taste of something different from Hero.

They decided with a game of rock paper scissors. The Italian recipe book won. Aubrey cheered with a loud "YUSS!"

Once the present had been bought, Kel told everyone that his brother was coming in one hour!

After a quick trip to Gino's to get Hero's favorite sandwich, they were all headed to Kel's house to prepare the surprise.

"Hey Aubs!" Someone called out.

"Oh, Kim! Vance!" Aubrey smiled at her friends.

"Hi Kim, hey Vance!" Kel greeted as Basil waved at the siblings, "Where are you two going?"

"We're going 'hunting'." Kim said with a smug smirk.

"Oh, I hope you have money this time. I don't want you two to get in trouble…" Basil said with an uncertain tone.

It's no secret to anyone that by 'hunting', Kim and Vance mean stealing candy from the shop.

"Yeah yeah, of course we have money~." The siblings sang with a very not discreet wink.

Mari was looking at the interaction curiously, wondering who exactly were these two who were very familiar. Then it clicked.

"Kimberly?!" she exclaimed.

"What the— Do I know y—" Kim started, annoyed at someone calling her by her full name but when her eyes landed on Mari she froze.

"You two have grown so much! I still remember when you used to wear that Dinosaur clothes! I believe Sunny even thought you really were one, hehehe." Mari giggled.

Kim and Vance were stunned, as the young woman in front of them rambled about childhood memories that flashed in their mind. She looked so much like Sunny's late sister, a bit… a bit too much even.

"M-Mari? I think we should go." Basil said nervously as he tried to pull her away from the group.

Kel laughed nervously too as he helped him.

"Oh, right, Hero. See you later!" Mari waved at the two siblings as she was pulled away.

Aubrey stood there in front of her two friends who looked at her with big wide eyes.

"Boss…"

"Aubs… What the fuck is going on?" Kim started in a scared tone.

The Hooligan leader sighed as she facepalmed.

"I-"

"Basil and that idiot of Kel called her MARI! As in, Sunny's sister Mari! You know? The one who died?!" the girl with red glasses yelled.

"Kim, I promise I'll explain later. But believe me when I say this: everything is fine." Aubrey smiled as she left her two confused friends behind.

"YOU BETTER!" Kim yelled before she let out a sigh.

When they got inside Kel's house, they quickly started to plan on how to break the news about Mari's return to Hero without freaking him out too much. Even the parents threw in their opinions on the ideas who were honestly not the best.

Seriously, a 'Guess Who Is Who' while having everyone disguised as Mari was one of the worst ideas. What the heck.

Sally was listening while sitting on Mari's lap, being cuddled by the undead girl.

But one hour had passed, there wasn't a concrete plan, and someone knocked on the door.

"Hello?"

It was Hero.

Mari quickly hid in the kitchen, unaware that Sally was following her while giggling, thinking it was all some sort of game.

"Everyone, calm down, I'll open the door." the father said as he walked towards the entrance, and when he opened the door.

"Hey Dad!" Hero greeted with a smile.

"H-Hey! Here's my big boy! Come here!" his father exclaimed with a forced smile before hugging his son and pulling him inside the house.

"Wh— Dad? You okay?" Hero asked, confused.

His confusion increased as he saw the rest of his friends also inside his house, greeting him with some… uncertainty, but yet also very happy looks on their faces. Are they planning a prank on him or something? Did it go wrong?

Was Sunny here before him?

He decided to play along and smile at everyone.

"Hey everyone." he said.

Everyone quickly started to surround him, giving him hugs but noticeably restraining his movements to go anywhere but the couch in the living room.

What was going on?

He was about to ask until he heard some shushing coming from the kitchen, along with some childish giggles, probably Sally. He was getting suspicious and honestly a bit scared.

"Uh… Guys?"

"Okay. Hero." Kel started with a serious tone, "We have to tell you something…"

The big brother froze and went pale, any positive emotions just disappeared as he heard those dreadful words from two years ago. He slowly turned to his little brother with big, scared eyes, only to see Aubrey jab Kel's guts with her elbow and Basil slap the back of his head.

"Not with those words, idiot!" Aubrey growled.

"I-It's okay Hero. It's nothing bad, we promise!" Basil tried to explain.

"On the contrary, even." Hero's Mom said with a smile.

Okay, seriously, what was going on?

There was more noise from the kitchen and even heard Sally squeal something about 'love' and 'big bro's lover'.

Ooooh? Was that the surprise? Did Kel get a girlfriend? Or boyfriend?

Now he relaxed, and a smile appeared again on his face. A teasing grin appeared on his lips as he looked at Kel who looked back confused. He opened his mouth, ready to jest but someone fell down in the entryway to the kitchen.

It was a girl from the painful yelp that escaped her mouth as she hit the floor. She had long black hair… familiar… black hair…

"Ouch, Ouch, Sallyyy… I told you to wait. I can't just show up like that." the girl said as she rubbed her neck.

Her voice… He recognized it… He dreamt of it so many times in the last six years.

Hero couldn't move, his eyes were transfixed at the girl who was slowly pushing herself up. And when she looked up, black and white collided with dark brown.

"… Mari…?" Hero whispered, not believing his eyes.

Mari for her part was paralyzed by how handsome Hero looked, or rather, still looked. She hoped she wasn't blushing too hard.

Oh.

Right.

Zombie, many things that she still can't do, like blushing.

But she still stood up quickly, coughed once in her hand. Trying to look cool and calm.

"Hey there, handsome! Or maybe you prefer…" she started.

Then Mari leaned against the doorframe and put on the smuggest expression she could make and said with a tiny hint of seductiveness.

"What's cookin~, Good lookin~?"

Hero stared at her with eyes wide as saucers, tears threatening to pour down his cheeks. He raised his hands towards her, trembling like a leaf. And slowly, oh so slowly approached her, afraid that this was all just a hallucination and that the moment he touched her she would vanish.

"M-Mari…? Is that really you? I-I'm not imaging—"

She didn't let him finish talking as she jumped in his arms in a big embrace. Everyone looked at the two lovebirds with big smiles, even Kel surprisingly. Sally was jumping up and down excited to see a scene from one of her princess movies in real life.

"Yes it's me, Henry! It's me, I'm back!" she laughed.

"B-But—"

"And just in case you don't believe me…" she said before leaning in and whispering something in his ear.

From one second to the other, his face turned red as a tomato. He looked at her, now fully convinced it's her. And with a surge of emotions, he leaned in for a kiss… that was interrupted by her hand.

"N-No, wait! We don't know if I'm infectious. We don't want to risk a zombie invasion now, do we?" she said apologetically and disappointingly.

"Wha- Zombie? Infection? Kel! What did you do?!"

"What do you mean, 'what did I do'?!" Kel exclaimed, insulted.

It didn't take a long time, as usual, to explain what was going on with Mari. She's a 'zombie' now. Simple as that.

"'Simple' wouldn't really be the word I'd use…" Hero murmured as he listened to his friends and family's explanation, all while hugging Mari tight.

He didn't let go since they sat back on the couch, almost like a koala. No one remembers seeing Hero in that state before but they understood why he was acting like that. Who wouldn't, honestly?

"I mean. I admit that there are unnatural things going on with Mari, despite her revival, like how she feels cold to the touch. But I think calling her a zombie is a bit…"

"Well I like it. Zombie Mari~ sounds fun. But I am very different compared to what we know about zombies in media. Like…" she smirked slowly, "I don't want to bite or eat anyone besides Hero."

"What." Hero said.

"What." Mari said back.

"What." everyone else said.

The oldest of the group of friends let go of the zombie girl, staring at her with wide, worried eyes.

But when they all saw the amused expression on Mari's face, they understood she was just messing with him, like they used to when they were young.

It's like she never left.

Dinner time was approaching and as everyone was now talking about how to break the news to Sunny this time, Mari pulled Hero back to the kitchen to talk privately.

She was drinking some water while Hero was examining her body, like a doctor. She was very tempted to make a dirty joke about the situation but her boyfriend's serious face changed her mind.

Hmmm…

Boyfriend?

Are they… still a couple? It's been six years since their last… 'date'.

She's been dead for that time. Maybe Hero moved on?

Wouldn't hurt to ask right? Well… It does hurt a bit.

"So, Hero..." she started to catch his attention as he was examining the fact that she didn't have a heartbeat.

He looked up with an eyebrow raised.

"Yeah?"

"Did you… get a new girlfriend since I passed away? Maybe in college?" she asked innocently looking away a bit to hide a bit of her nervousness, good thing she was a zombie now or else she'd be pink like Aubrey's hair.

"…No… There was only you." he answered almost immediately, without any stutter or embarrassment.

"Whaaaat? Oh Henry, no need to be so smooth with me, heehee~ Just be honest." she giggled from his answer.

But he didn't laugh, no in fact he looked sadly towards the ground.

"Oh. I… I see…" she said in a low tone, barely above a whisper.

Now there was an awkwards silence between them. Mari felt sad for bringing the mood down, but thankfully, it didn't take long for her to figure out a solution to make Hero smile again.

"Oooooh~" She moaned out loud in a dramatic way, bringing a hand up to her forehead, "Poor, poor Henry."

Hero raised an eyebrow in confusion.

"Couldn't find love, rejected by everyone. Only I am able to love this handsome goofball. Without me he would have ended aaaaall alone. Oooooh~ so sad." she said, faking a sad tone while holding her hand in front of her mouth, hiding a smirk.

"W-What?! That's not what I meant at all! I should let you know that I am the one who rejected them. Every girl AND boy!" he defended, face red as a tomato.

"Oh?"

"Y-Yes! And you should know that I was actually planning to get back on the dating stage next year. Yep." Hero crossed his arms, looking away.

"Oh. Is that so?"

"Y-Yes… But… Depending on… what happens… I'll change my mind…" he said, trying to not be subtle, a big failure.

Mari leaned in with a mischievous grin, "By that you mean… us?"

Hero was about to squeak a yes but he took a quick breath and looked at her with a smile as he nodded.

Wow.

Thank goodness she couldn't blush right now because all her bravado on teasing him just crumbled and she would have been left just as much of a bumbling mess as Hero earlier.

But wow. How much did she miss him? The cool but very very adorable Henry.

She could just kiss him!

Like MWAH!

MWAH!

She just can't wait for the day they can know if she infectious or not so she could just jump on him and-

Knock knock knock!

Someone just knocked at the door.

Everyone looked surprised since they weren't expecting anyone at this hour.

"I'll go open!" Kel exclaimed as everyone was looking at the door's direction, "Hello? How c— SUNNY?!" Kel shrieked in surprise.

"Surprise." Mari heard a familiar monotone voice say before walking in.

Even as she was shocked to see her brother much much earlier than expected, she couldn't help but smirk at Aubrey's reaction at seeing Sunny. She practically jumped over the couch just to be presentable and face him rather than just peeking over the couch like Basil and Sally.

But then she looked at her little brother… and she wished she could just cry right now from the emotion…

Sunny grinned at everyone's reaction at seeing him. Just as expected, they all were surprised.

Success!

He hasn't seen his friends in months because of his classes.

He was happy to see that he was veeeeery slowly catching up to Kel's height. And by slowly he meant that he still had one good head and a half to catch up.

Basil was looking much better since the last time they saw each other. More colorful and full of life. He was proud of him.

Aubrey still looked as beautiful as ever. Her dark hair was starting to show at the roots and it gave her a new charm that he simply adored and he should now look away before he blushes too much!

Sally has grown so much! Oh boy, she's going to do a Kel, eh? How long before she catches up to everyone?

Kel and Hero's parents looked the same though. No remarks there.

And Hero was there too! He was flushing… uh? He looked way happier than usual. How so?…

And then there was Mari—

What?

His good eye landed on Ma— a woman who looked just like Mari…

What the heck is this?

He frowned at her as he started marching towards the woman.

"Is this some sort of prank? Guys, that's super messed up-"

"Little brother…"

He froze.

That voice. How… How is this possible? This can't be…

"Look at you… you've grown so much." Mari(?) said as she approached him, and stopped in front of him to look at her little brother up and down, "You're even a bit taller than me… I'm so sorry… I missed so much…"

She reached with both hands to his face, hands shaking a bit. He didn't resist at all, too shocked from what was happening in front of him. Her left thumb rubbed the scar that went from his right cheek up to his temple, the injury that turned his eye white and blind. She then slowly pulled him down for an embrace, he bent his knees without resisting. She put his head against her chest as she wrapped her hands around his head, just like she used to do when they were younger.

"I missed you so much, Sunshine…" she whispered in a sad tone.

It was now his turn to shiver. Without looking up he whispered in a shaking voice:

"M-Mari…? I-Is that really y-you?"

"Yes… Oh! And check it!" she said as she let go, Sunny didn't move so she had to crouch a bit to be at eye level, she then pointed at her own right eye, also white, "We match!" she exclaimed with a big smile.

The eye, the same eye that glared at him when she was hanged, the eye that haunted him for six years.

It was too much.

Oyasumi.

Sunny fainted.

Baka's notes: And another chapter done!
I'm going to be honest, I have *NO IDEA* When the next chapter will be worked on. I still have the next chapter of Slayers to write and then I'll be working on either Spider Hope (it's a short chapter) or Library. Heck I might even start working on a very big Oneshot for a 5 parts crossover series: Doctor Who x OMORI.
We'll have to wait and see.
But until then, I hope you liked this chapter and will continue reading it.

See you soon