~

   "She... s h e ' s  w h a t . . .?" Basil chokes out, feeling the pressure inside him become too overwhelming.

   "Basil?? Are you okay???" Kel sets a hand on his shoulder, but Basil jerks away.

   "I don't think you should touch him Kel..." Hero warned, "He knows something we don't... we shouldn't pressure him."

"And... I think I do too." Aubrey stared at her feet, remembering the revolting pictures she saw that day.

"You do??" Kel and Hero turn their heads towards Aubrey, who was looking away shyly.

"I... he had a photo album.. not ours... but another one... and... there was someone in them with him... a 𝐠𝐢𝐫𝐥..."

Basil swallows, feeling the world collapse around him. He couldn't stop rereading the words.

She's... she's... c o m i n g b a c k . . . ?

"What were the pictures???" Kel got too curious, asking a question that even made Basil flinch.

"Everything is going is be okay,
Everything is going to be okay,
Everything is going to be okay,
E v e r y t h i n g
i s
g o i n g
t o
b e
o k a y." Basil said this sentence over, and over, and over again, in some sort of trance.

"It... it wasn't good. I don't think I should talk about the rest for..." Aubrey glares at Basil, "his... sake..."

"Oh..." Kel sighed, while Hero bent down in front of the crouched down Basil.

"Whatever that girl did to you... it's just like Sunny said... that doesn't define you." Hero's words did little to comfort the panicked Basil.

"Everything is going to be okay... everything is going to be okay... everything is going to be okay..." He started to scratch at the bandaid on his wrist, making the cut underneath bleed.

"Damnit! He's not listening!! What should we do??" She taped her foot against the wood dock.

(OMG WHY DID I JUST REMEMBER THAT IN THE LAST RESORT THEY WERE SUPPOSED TO FIGHT BUFFED UP PLUTO I TOTALLY FORGOT IM SORRY)

Kel grabs Basil's hand to stop him from hurting himself, but all Basil does is screech in his ear, "LET GO!! GET OFF!!!"

"I can't let you hurt yourself!!!" Kel tries to stay calm, but it seems worthless with Basil in this state.

   "NO, STOP!! PLEASE!!!" Basil cried out, starting to silently sob.

   Hero paced back and forth, puzzled, trying to figure out what to do.

   "PLEA... Pleas... ple... please..." Basil's eyes fluttered softly, his body going limp.

   "Basil??" Kel held up his hand, but he had already passed out.

"That's gonna be fun to deal with later." Aubrey'a sarcasm was through the roof LMAO.

"What do we do now? We can't just leave him here." Hero sighed in some sort of relief, glad he didn't freak out to her point of hurting others again.

"Wait- what's that??" Kel points to the whirlpool that took Humphrey's place, the water menacingly swirling around.

   "Should we go inside?" Aubrey frowns.

   "... it's the only place to go from here..." Hero slowly wraps Basil's arms and legs around his body, holding him up and carefully carrying him.

"But we could go back to Mari! We have all of they keys now! We were supposed to go back to Basil's house once we had them all." It was Kel's turn to pace back and forth.

"Yeah, but going back to her will take more time then we have." Hero looks at the map, and they have 5 hours left, "and maybe this will be a shortcut."

"But what if it just takes us down more unnecessary paths?" Aubrey and everyone else seemed stuck.

"Let's do a group vote, quickly. Who wants to go down the whirlpool?" Hero raises his hand immediately, and Kel's slowly comes up.

Aubrey scoffed, "Fine." She flips her hair, not hesitating to jumping into the water.

"She's got a stick up her ass." Kel is next to hop in, getting emerged by the water.

   Hero sighs, holding up Basil, "Guess we're gonna have to face our fears together, right?"

   He takes a leap, making sure to hold on to Basil.

．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．．
   They find themselves swimming through a tunnel once more.

   "So... what were those photos?" Kel had curiosity doing laps around his head, and he finally snapped.

"Kel, we shouldn't talk about it." Hero looks back at the unconscious Basil on his shoulders.

"But I wanna knowwww~" Kel whines.

"Fine. If I tell you, would you shut up for five minutes??" Aubrey hissed.

"Mhm!" Kel splashes in the water, content that he got something his way. (HES SO PRECIOUS GAH)

"... it was... 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠." She laughed, but it was a nervous chuckle, "... it was of Basil... and this 𝐠𝐢𝐫𝐥. She looked older than him, having blond hair and green eyes."

"Ooh- sibling drama?" Kel got shushed by Hero.

"They looked pretty similar in some ways, so I assume they were siblings. Which just... makes it even more fucked up."

"What happened?" Hero was now worried, checking on Basil.

"... In the first set of pictures....

Basil didn't have any clothes on."

Everyone stopped swimming.

"What?" Hero cocked his head, trying to hold steady on Basil.

"I... I think she 𝐫𝐚𝐩𝐞𝐝 him. She didn't have anything on either, and... the notes... they were even more horrid."

"What.. what did they say?"

"I... I don't know, it's all a blur, but I remember the a few of them barely..." Aubrey took in a shaky breath.

"It was something like... 'Me and Basil... together forever'... and... 'Join me'... I don't know... it was all too much."

   "Holy shit." Kel muttered, suddenly everything making more sense.

   "That's why..." Hero looked up at the unconscious Basil, who seemingly looked peaceful.

   "All these years... I wonder where the girl went?" Kel pushed along Aubrey, and they continued moving forward.

   "I assume something happened... cause I'm sure we would've seen her already." Hero sighs even deeper this time.

   They all swim in silence, burdened by the trauma of Basil.

   Then, Hero gasps, freezing in place.

"What's wrong, Hero?"

"Oh my god. Guys, do you remember how Mari had that one friend?? The one she would always talk about???"

"Yeah...? I don't remember much about her though." Aubrey said quietly.

"I think that was Ellie."

"What?!?!" Both Kel and Aubrey made an echo.

"Yeah, I knew her name started with an El... and she did have green eyes and dirty blond hair! I met her once, she seemed... nice, which is surprising. Especially after... everything."

"Yeah, but maybe she was faking it?"

"... I'm more worried about if that monster did anything to Mari..." Hero clenched his fists.

   "Well, let's say she died or left. Wouldn't Mari say something?"

   "Yeah..." Aubrey kept treading forward.

   "Then something must have happened between them. Cause if she died, I assume there was a funeral, and Mari said nothing about that."

   "This all hurts my head..." Kel cleared his face with water.

   "It hurts mine too, fucking trust m-" Aubrey stopped, making Kel run into her, "Hey! Why'd you stop??"

   "G... Guys..."

   The other two swim into the clearing.

   Its like a giant mural, but it's covered in bloody handprints and in its center, a drawn noose, with a Something with its eye closed inside it.

"Woah..." Everyone stares in disbelief.

"So... it's a dead end?" Aubrey looks around, and it was in fact nowhere else to go, "Fucking great." She grumbled, swimming back where they came from.

"I'm sorry, Aubrey!" Kel followed after her, but Hero pulled on his hoodie, "Gah!"

"Guys. It's Basil." Hero lays out Basil in his hands, and the other two circle him.

"He's... crying?"

*sniff* *hic* *sniff*

"Mhm..." Hero held his back steady, seemingly making him float.

"What do we do? Do we go back?"

Basil started to cry louder.

"Is he okay??" Aubrey, now panicked, tries to keep herself afloat.

The small sob turns into a gut wrenching wail.

"Bro!! What's wrong???" Kel has to yell over his cries.

"Uhm...???" Aubrey touches his arm, and that only makes him louder.

"What do we do????" Kel looks frantically at Hero, who looks stuck, staring at the wall.

"Was that eye open before...?"

Everyone examines the wall.

The something's eye was now open, staring at Basil, who was still crying, yet being not awake.

The something then pops out of the wall, making everyone freak out.

"ITS COMING TOWARDS US!!!"

"GO THE FUCK AWAY!!!"

"STOP!!!"

It inched closer and closer until-

everything went black.

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A/n: cbt