Flesh & Bone (OMORI AU)

Chapter 18: Scarring over

It was morning. Sunlight poured through the bedroom window, shining on the carpet and bed. Mari was cuddled up beside Hero, still sleeping peacefully. Hero had awoken a few minutes prior, and patiently waited for her to wake up. He relished her beauty, and felt lucky to have her back. Or to have her at all. He then heard a small mumble.

"Good morning...." Mari yawned, looking up at Hero tiredly, smiling slightly.

"Good morning, Mari.." Hero smiled back, gently kissing her forehead.

"What time is it..?"

"A little after eight thirty."

"Ah, okay.."

Mari and Hero pulled away from one another and sat up in the bed. Mari stretched her arms, hearing a pop in her shoulder. Hero hissed through his teeth worriedly.

"Don't worry, it didn't hurt." Mari chuckled.

Hero sighed softly. He slowly got out of bed, looking out the window of his apartment. He could see the school campus nearby, and cars passed by one another in the quiet streets below. He still had a few days left before he needed to go back to school, but Thanksgiving was in a few days. He didn't know if Mari was aware of that.

"Hey, Mari?"

"Yeah?"

"Did you know its almost Thanksgiving?"

"Oh my gosh no, I didn't." Mari gasped. "Normally I would have begin preparing a week in advance!"

"Its in four days, we have time."

"Only a week?I don't know if that's enough time!"

"Mari, hold on, relax. It's not just you cooking, every year we used to help one another... this is actually our first Thanksgiving together in four years."

"Wait, you guys didn't hang out for that long?

Hero sighed. "After you passed, as you know it was difficult on all of us. We kind of separated and didn't interact much for so long, until Kel decided he wanted to see Sunny. He hadn't left the house in four years at that point,"

"So... that's why he had all those dreams he told me about? He shut himself out from the world for so long.."

"It's okay now. We're all here again, and I'm especially happy to have you here. The last few major holidays have felt off without you. Also, now that I'm an adult, they have sort of lost their charm." Hero bitterly smiled.

Mari got up from the bed and turned to Hero, one hand on her hip. "Then I'm going to make sure its the best Thanksgiving you've ever had. Are we going to your house to do it like we used to?"

"Yeah, that's the plan but... my parents kinda don't know you're even alive.."

"Oh. Shit." Mari chuckled nervously. "Pretty much everyone has cried about seeing me again.. it's sad. Maybe they'll understand like you all have."

"I hope so. Thankfully now that your dad is out of the picture we can actually be together like how we wanted."

"What exactly happened to him? My dad..."

"Sunny told me that after your parents found out about the accident they blamed him for everything. While your mom was quieter about it, your dad lashed out at Sunny constantly. He cut down the tree you were hanged from, and said some pretty nasty things before just leaving for almost four years."

"Our dad was always pushy... sometimes he hit Sunny when he cried or messed up while playing violin... he eventually stopped when I finally got tired if it and yelled at him... but he seemed to have continued after I died.."

"That's not too important right now. What's important is that we're all together again." Hero wrapped his arms around Mari gently.

"You're right... but I'm anxious about the three of them being unsupervised. My mother rarely comes out of her room after work anymore."

"Well they aren't twelve anymore, Mari. They're almost adults."

"Yeah.. it just feels so bizarre.."

"And it will be for some time, but everything will be okay. After breakfast we'll pick up the others and visit Basil in his house for a bit. Polly called me while you were getting dressed that he was going to be discharged this morning. He really wants to hang out with us but I'm not sure if its a good idea."

"I still feel so horrible about what I did.."

"It wasn't you, it was the curse."

"But my hands hurt him, Hero."

"Its okay trust me... lets have something to eat and then head to the house, okay?"

"Okay..."

After getting dressed and eating breakfast, the two of them drove back to Sunny and Mari's house. They could already hear chattering and laughing from inside. Hero knocked on the door gently. Sunny slowly opened the door, an anxiety look on his face.

"Uhh hi um-" He struggled to find his words. "Something happened.."

"Wait are you guys okay?"

"Y-Yeah but uh.."

Sunny moved out of the way. Kel and Aubrey sat on the couch with Basil in the middle... Why was he here?

"Basil why are you here? You should be resting.."Mari said worryingly.

"Oh, the thing is, I'm fine! Last night in my sleep the wound just healed by itself... clearly it must have been your doing?"

Mari blinked. "I had a dream about healing you in the hospital... how would that work?"

"I don't think you were dreaming, Mari. I think you went to the hospital yourself, or rather, your soul did."

"But I'm a spirit, how could I do that?"

"Only demons don't have souls. Some people, notably spirits with physical forms can detach their souls from their bodies and be more like a stereotypical ghost. In this form you can manipulate objects, heal wounds and return your soul to your burial site."

"Basil how the FUCK do you know all of this?" Aubrey barked.

"I-I do research on the paranormal when I'm bored..."

"You're a weirdo."

"I know.." Basil laughed awkwardly. He then stood up and shook his leg a bit. "See? It doesn't hurt or anything. And the stitches just fell out."

"Yeah he ran all the way here just to tell us." Kel grinned. Basil nodded shyly in response.

"Basil we still have to dye your hair or something, I have leftover teal dye from my own experimentation." Aubrey turned to him.

"Oh yeah, sure! Polly doesn't really mind this stuff. Maybe my parents but um, i haven't seen them in a while.."

Aubrey nodded, stretching her arms. "Can we like, do something fun?"

Basil gasped. "Kel! We can play more basketball!"

"Oh you're right! Anyone wanna join or watch?" Kel smiled.

Sunny raised his hand slightly. "I'll watch.."

Mari playfully nudged her little brother. "Oh cmon you should try playing, get back into shape."

"Im not fat.."

"You're really thin, though. And you've been eating more so exercising could balance things out."

"I guess so.. i can try" Sunny shrugged with a small blush.

"Hero, Mari, guess what Kel and Sunny did~?" Aubrey deviously smirked.

"Aubrey please." Kel flushed. Sunny had already left the room in embarrassment. "Otherwise I'll tell you that you invited Ki-"

"Okay you got me." Aubrey turned red. Sunny peered from the hallway, sighing in relief.

"So about that basketball game... I can join." Mari grinned. "And Hero will be my team mate."

"Wh-What!? Mari you know I'm not good at sports."

"And?"

Hero sighed. It was going to be a long day