#a sunflower stan a suntan stan and a cactiflower stan

[bengallemon]

Welcome to a little series of Hikikel drabbles that I wanna turn into like little comics/potential videos. I'm just gonna write out the scenes in this form and then hopefully I'll remember them and I can do stuff. This drabble is just gonna be Kel leaving his house for the first time, so onward!

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The knocking was quiet on the outside, but on the inside of a cold, desolate house, it echoed mightily, making its way into every nook and cranny. Wandering up the stairs, to pierce the ears at the top and disrupt the suffocating silence atop tragedy itself.

What tragedy? Nothing happened up here except for last night...

A voice breaks the house's lone dweller from his thoughts. Oddly enough, it is crystal clear, almost unrecognisable. "Kel? Are you in there? Hello~? It's me, Sunny! You awake?"

Sunny?

The only image that comes to his mind is a quiet child, looking around shyly but with huge eyes, drawing in every detail. A child that barely spoke, much less speak so loudly.

Out there, however, is a stranger that calls itself by the same name. Almost like...

"I know you're still in there! It's been four years, Kel!"

Four years? How has it been so long... Maybe that's why... I can't recognise that as Sunny...

A curiosity grips him. A desire to see if it really has been four years, if that really is Sunny and not some twisted vision of him.

Steadying himself and calming down, Kel begins to quietly move down the stairs, one at a time.

Sunny almost gave up again on knocking. It's been so long, so long since he saw Kel again. So long since he stopped leaving the house. His image is but a blur, a melancholic memory of a happy kid, so bright and energetic.

He kept knocking and calling for so long, but he cannot understand why he came back again. But Sunny waits, a little wisp of hope still left that he can fulfil his promises.

He isn't coming out again, isn't he. Maybe I should go grab Basil and see if we can't... Force something to happen. Maybe later today, or tomorrow. No... not tomorrow... she's coming back tomorrow. I'm sorry, H-

A board creaks inside, and for a second, Sunny is perfectly still, his eyes wide. Another creak and step confirm that someone is moving. There is no car in the driveway. There is only one person home in Faraway's "House of Tragedies". The tragedies of a family breaking, the death of the most golden child in town, the loss of a ray of sunshine so strong it burns the eyes.

Sunny keeps knocking, just to assure that he's still right there, outside, waiting. He's terrified at what he may see greeting him, knowing full well that the joyous and wild kid he grew alongside is long gone. But he swore on the grave he'd save the five of them that remain, no matter what.

Are you in there still? Is the old Kel still alive somewhere? He has to be, Kel wouldn't die so easily.

The door opens slowly. At first, only a crack, before it opens fully, and Sunny can no longer breathe.

Kel looks a lot different than before. Somehow, he's the smaller one now, though only just barely. But that isn't what's the most jarring. No, it's the completely dead, lightless eyes. A murky, dull mix of greys and browns, not truly focusing on anything. The dead, clammy skin barely only shows a hint of the tan once there.

The tangled, matted mess of dead browns that make a man of hair that falls below his shoulders, the way the long shirt he wears hangs off a tiny, broken frame. The hopeless, empty expression.

It's the most heartbreak Sunny has felt in a long time, ever since he found the body, or saw Mari.

Nonetheless, the way Kel's eyes lighten slightly upon seeing him makes Sunny move forward to envelop the now smaller boy in the biggest hug he has ever given. He smiles, trying to ignore the tear that slips from an eye.

"Good morning. It's... been a while, huh?"

Kel doesn't respond, but he does let his eyes close, focusing on the warmth around him.

I'm so sorry.

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It's been a while, huh? Since I wrote anything, that is. I posted last night so it can't be on just posting in general. I continue to rotate Hikikel in my mind like a rotisserie chicken. I'm thinking the next drabble will be focused on one of the (many) fights between Sunny and Mari in the aftermath. Either that or all the reactions to Hero's body. That's gonna be fun to write.

Anyway, if ya like what ya see, reblog! It spreads the work and the algorithm doesn't care for likes unless you're like me and dig through the omori tag daily for new content.

See y'all soon! Hopefully maybe tomorrow I can give another drabble, and I'll make sure to link all of them.