CONTENT WARNING: FEAR/ARACHNOPHOBIA/HINTS OF PHYSICAL & VERBAL ABUSE

   Ellie's cold smile.

   How could I forget?

"That's Mari....?" Aubrey follows Basil's gaze.

"Dang. I guess he's really shaken up, huh?" Kel puts his hands in his pockets.

"It's alright." Ellie smiles and slowly walks up to Basil.

Her voice.

   ... it terrifies me.

"S-STAY AWAY..!" He chucks a rock at her, but she catches it without even flinching.

"You okay, Basil? I'm not here to hurt you."

"I... I..." he holds his head, "but... but..."

He looks up to see Mari in her place.

"Wha...?"

She puts a hand on his shoulder and grins, "You're okay, I promise.

...

evẻ̶̗r̷̻͆y̴͗͜t̵̰͋i̵̹̚ņ̵̊ğ̸̣ ̶̞̿i̴̡̓s̷̹̋ ̴̝͐g̸̱̔ơ̶̪í̴͖n̸̲͂g̶̥͝ ̵̤̉t̷̙̋o̷̟͑ ̸̘̍b̴͈͛è̵̻ ̷̖̆o̷͌͜k̶̰͆a̸̹̍y̵̟̍—"

........................................................................
"Hmm... so we've gotten a few letters..." Hero holds the sheet.

E _ _ _ e i _ c _ _ i _ _ b a c k

Aubrey and Kel walk beside each other. Basil is moving hesitantly behind.

They're walking back to the playground again, getting ready for their next environment they'll encounter.

They see Mari, with her usual warm welcome and sweet eyes, "Congratulations! You're officially the end of the first day!"

"Really? That quickly?" Kel surprisingly looked around, "Are we gonna be able to do it??"

She smiles, "I believe in you!"

"Okay. Where to next?" Aubrey asked eagerly.
She giggles, "Next, you'll be needing these."

Mari takes out 4 small tickets.

"Again?" Basil looked confused.

"Take a look."

They all grab the tickets. They're tickets... to some sort of show! It reads,

*THE QUEST FOR HEARTS EPILOGUE*
*COME ON DOWN TO 𝐌𝐘 CASTLE TO SEE THIS EXCLUSIVE EVENT!*
*EXTRAVAGANT -SWEETHEART*
*AMAZINGLY BRILLIANT -SWEETHEART*
*SPROUT MOLE/10 -SWEETHEART*

"WOAH, HOLY SHIT!!" Aubrey cries out, "𝐓𝐇𝐄 SWEETHEART?? NO WAY."

Mari laughs, "Yes, way. And you guys should thank me! It took an arm and a leg to get those tickets!!" Mari sighs happily.

Basil kicks at the ground.

"Okay, so how do we get to this said show?" Kel asked, definitely not thrilled. Hero smiles at him.

"Well. Through the Lost Forest... but... it's littered and crawling with spiders!"

...

"H-huh...?" Hero's smile quickly fades.
...

"WHAT. NUH UH. WE'RE NOT GOING THERE." He crosses his arms and shakes his head violently.

"But what about Sunny??" Basil was starting to get anxious.

"... SCREW HIM. I'M NOT DOING... THAT."
"Damn, Hero! Kel snarks, "Didn't know you hated Sunny that much."

   "I DON'T-" Hero paces back and forth.

   Mari turned her head, "You're going to dig a hole into the ground if you keep doing that."

   "DAMNIT. UGH." Hero continues to trot back and forth.

   "Hero. 𝐂𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐥. It's just a few spiders. They can't hurt you!" Aubrey tried reassurance.

   "ᵃᶜᵗᵘᵃˡˡʸ ᵗʰᵉʸ ᶜᵃⁿ" Mari mumbles.

"Not helping!!" Kel goes up in front of Hero and stops him in his tracks.

"HEY. Dude. Me and Basil both had to do things we didn't like- well... so that's why you need to face your fears too!!"

Hero started to tense up, "Hey- Basil? Where's that knife you have-"

"No!! We're not leaving Sunny! So just please! I'll protect you!! You won't even have to get close to them!! You don't have to fight them even!! .... Just... please..." he started to tear up, "I can't lose... another friend..."

"Mari... she'd wanted us to try and save Sunny, no matter what." Aubrey bittersweetly smiles.

Mari looked back and forth around the group and beams, "They're right, Hero."

   "I- I- ugh. I hate you guys so much."

  .........................................................................
   "This should be it." Basil stops in front of a large cobweb. He takes his knife and slashes across, "Ready, guys?"

   "Yep!"

   "Might as well."

   ".... yeah."

   They start their way in.

   .........................................................................
   "Nope. Not doing this."

   𝐇𝐞𝐫𝐨 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐥𝐬 𝐚𝐟𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐝!

   Not even a minute in and already Hero has to be detained by Kel's grip.

   "Bro! Remember... you don't have to fight them. You can even close your eyes if you want."

   "DUDE. THOSE ARE FUCKING BUNNY SPIDERS!!!" Aubrey snaps at him.

   "YEAH, BUT THEY'RE STILL SPIDERS!!" Hero yells back, keeping his eyes firmly shut.

   "... AND THEY CAN STILL CRAWL IN MY EAR AND LAY EGGS IN MY BRAIN!!"

   "O. M. G. (눈_눈) that's literally the most bullshit, childish belief I've heard from a FUCKING ADULT! And you're a DOCTOR TOO!! WHAT. THE. 𝐅𝐔𝐂𝐊." Aubrey hisses, "OH, AND DO I MENTION THOSE ARE- 𝐁𝐔𝐍𝐍𝐘 𝐒𝐏𝐈𝐃𝐄𝐑𝐒?? NOT- 𝐙𝐎𝐌𝐁𝐈𝐄 𝐒𝐏𝐈𝐃𝐄𝐑𝐒!!"

"YEAH... BUT-"

"B-B-BUT 𝐖𝐇𝐀𝐓." Aubrey looked at him, pissed.

"Guys!! Jeez, I never thought I'd had to split up an argument with you two." Kel hangs his head in shame.

.........................................................................

Making their way through the Lost Forest, they find many a creatures.... All with spider parts. Hero keeps his eyes shut and holds on to Kel for safety, putting his fingers in his ears. (I gave Hero my fear lmaooo)

"Guys..? What's this..? A matchbox?" Basil picks up the small thing and holds it in his palm.

...

Aubrey freezes in terror.

Everyone else is talking, she can't hear them properly.

~

"Quit your yapping! You're so fucking annoying." He takes his match and puts it against her tongue. The pain is unbearable.

"There. Maybe that'll get you to stop talking." She spits out the match. Pieces of burnt flesh fall out of her mouth. She trembles in horror... knowing that if she says anything she'll be punished even worse.

"Kids these days are so obnoxious." He puts a cigarette in his mouth. "You know? I never wanted to have a disease for a daughter. What a waste. You could've been so beautiful too."
stop it.

"You could've been so beautiful too."

Stop IT.

"I never wanted to have a disease for a daughter."

STOP IT.

"You don't deserve to live, you're a waste a space."

STOP IT!!!!!

"You are such a disgrace."
   S̴̜̥̞͇̞͉͗̈́͌̿̓̀̾̌̏̿͘͝T̵̢̹͓̘̦̲̺̻̰͉̞̠̍͆̈́Ȍ̶̟̖͙̥͕̓̒͗̆͌̔͗̈̚P̶̡̤̹̽͋͆́͒̊̓̂̈͗͂̀͗I̶̢̯̗͉̪̯͓̩̹̞̳͑̐͜T̵̢̞̳̝̻̭̰͊͌̆Š̶̨̹͇̟͎̟̰̫̓̏̒̽̈́Ţ̵̡͖͕̘̙̤̲̭͉̹̝͙͙̿̍̑̀͌͝͝Ò̸̬̗̤̙͍͚̟̐̎̉̌̉̓̆̒̕͝P̷͕͙̝̟͎͇͎̝̖̞̿I̴̛͖̞͔͈̟̳͓͈̱̳̞̯͍͎̒͛̂͠͠T̶̡͕̤̩̼͖͔̲͍̞̯̎͐̀͒̌̓͛͊͐͗͆͘S̴̭͓̩̘̓͛́̏͑̈́̂̑̐̉̓͘ͅT̵͈͇̬͉̪͛̎̔O̶̺̗̤̙͕̫͍͇̬̦̦̟͇͑̃͊̕ͅP̸̧̡̱͚͉͇̳̙͖͙̼̻͌̇Ì̴̧̩͉̞̟̩̺̰̫̎̆͒̀̌͂́̚͘T̴̼͈̟̺̯͑͌̐̓́̎̍̌͘͝Ş̵͓͓̠̣̦̦̞̙̺̄͗͌̽͊͠T̵̢̧̩͕͖̩̩̤̃͆̀̏̒͗͋̅Ő̵͔̭̈́̈P̴̧̛̺̞̯̣̰̘͉̣̪͈͈͔̖͒̄̈́́̊͂̊Ḯ̶̡͎͙̘͎͙̰̤̀͊̓̇͆͆̓͋T̸̘̼̜͙͖͖͖͎͖̗̳͍̠̼̈S̷̩̬̖̀̈̈́̎̄̽̊̇͝͝͠T̸̨̰̦̰͔̝̭̤̕͜Ö̶̧̡̨̪̳̹͓̤̱̟̩̩́̈́̽͠P̸̦̠̰̞͇̮͖̤͈̰̩͂̀̑̏́͌̓͋̄͗ͅI̵̬̠̫̮̺̯̳̫̹͕̼͑̆̈́̓̅̿͆̐̑͗͘͝T̶̨̯͎̪́͑͌̑̆̔̈́̆̽̔̚Ş̷̢̛̖͚̟̤̻͍͇̅̅̏̈̀̃̀̀̓͂̃͘͜ͅT̵̡̠̱͙̞͖̺̙̫̦͔̞̖̾̇̀̂̈́̄̓̐̅̕Ǫ̵̜̜̻͎͈̞̦̼͆̔͋̔̑̚͜P̶̮̰̺͚͍̝̭͉̐͆͂̈́̎̽̈̑͋̀̿̍͜͝I̵̢͚̬͔͋̋̽͊͜Ţ̶̨͍̻͎̠̼̫͓͙̝͕̋͋͊͜
   
   ~

   "Aubrey?" Basil calls out to her.

   "Y... yeah?"

   "You were spacing out... we're going..."

   "Oh... okay."

𖤐~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~𖤐
A/n: I am not okay mentally :D
No fr tho I'm back in the clinic. Which is not ideal. But eh. It's whatever.
Don't know if I should make sweetheart's section about Aubrey or Hero.
Maybe both? Idkkkk lmao
Anyways, I hope u enjoyed the chaos. We're not even halfway in this >:3
Still plenty more to go, I assure u!
Btwwww, the Ao3 version of 'Into Your Dreams' is almost to 2000 hits! I can't thank y'all enough ^^ it means smmm <3333
See ya later!! •>•