Chapter Text
A man could be seen sitting in his bed, groaning as his eyes fluttered open yet tried to shut.
He couldn't stand his headache, the coldness of the room soothing it nonetheless.
Though the young man has awoken from nightmares like these multiple times, he couldn't handle it.
He was followed by none other than her in his dreams, and he's starting to lose it.
He forced his eyes to open, to the extreme sound of rain splattering on his singular window in his college apartment.
It wasn't even morning yet.
He hates the nights where his dreams took him to the places he hated the most.
He hates to look back and question what he's done wrong.
He groaned again, slowly cupping the pillow and making it cover both his ears.
"Hero."
He hated it.
"Henry..."
Hearing her voice.
His headache grew stronger by the second.
His nerves gave in, his nose felt weird and he clenched his jaw.
Silence.
The apartment was quiet.
In reality, no one had spoken, nothing was heard but the whimper of a man and the splattering of rain on the window as a thunderstorm roared through the city and campus.
The rain droplets quickly sped down the window.
The clouds covering up the moon.
Everything felt dark for him.
"Morning classes Henry..."
The man sat up and reminded himself, opened his drawers to reveal medication.
He snatched two tablets and chugged the water.
"She wouldn't have wanted me to fail School."
A silent thought, finally in his own voice.
"I need to stay strong."
A silent reminder for someone who's been losing his sleep a bit too much as of late.
He grabbed his phone off the drawer and turned it on.
A blinding light hit him but he quickly grew accustomed.
"4:49am".
"Wasn't so late into the night after all huh?"
Hero stood up, stretched and sighed deeply, his arms falling from the sky, tiredly to his sides.
His desk was on the other side of his small room. He tiredly shifted towards it, a simple yawn escaped his mouth and a gaze upon his books that were assigned for the year to be used for studying.
He never enjoyed consuming this info.
A tiring task to do if he had to describe it.
But he gained happiness from it as well.
Whenever he'd come home, his little brother, little sister and parents would accept him back with loving arms.
Proud stares and questions about girlfriends.
He laughed it off, saying he was too focused on his studies to date.
Of course his parents would nag him but, maybe they realized they wouldn't come through to him.
This was to make his parents and siblings proud, so they looked up to him.
His singular reason to keep on moving these days.
Those tired eyes of his.
They adored and hated those books.
What a complicated feeling he got from a source that gave him both a reason to keep moving and both a feeling of wanting to give up and throw everything into a burning fire.
"Man, where'd good ol' me go wrong?"
A chuckle came out of his mouth as he slid into his chair.
"Back to square one, Pathology here I come."
He grabbed one of the books and started to slowly skim through it.
"What's in it today?" He took out pieces of paper from a drawer and marked yet another day on his calendar.
"Probably a grumpy Professor and more and more studies." He answered himself.
His eyes skimmed a paragraph he copied down on his sheet of paper.
His hand skillfully traced along the lines of the book, making sure to try and understand every detail.
He's used to studying a lot.
After all, medical school was no joke, and his dear parents encouraged him to go there.
Of course, this wasn't what he actually wanted to do, but making them happy gives him some type of happiness too.
Hero cracked his back and neck, not fully realizing how tired he is.
Before he knew it the sun came up.
Rays of red and yellow hit his skin, the sky rather cloudy, with a purple tint in between that was mixed with orange.
Hero smiled thinking back on all the nights he and his friends and brother used to stay up, watching captain spaceboy movies.
He fell asleep so quickly every time, but he'd see Sunny and Basil wide awake in the morning.
The thought made him look up to his calendar again.
Hero's eyes skimmed over the calendar counting down the days his bus back home would arrive.
"1...2...3...4..."
His smile grew wider and wider.
"14."
"Wow… 14 days?" The voice in his head echoed.
The boy felt like a child, he couldn't wait to see his brother and baby sister again.
Finally an actual smile appeared, and he couldn't wait to get his exams done to get out and meet his family.
But, suddenly it faded.
He looked up for a moment as if thinking someone was watching him, his eyes reflecting conflict in them.
He sighed and melted into his own arms, his eyes struggling to find something to focus on, a sudden pang of guilt hitting him right through the chest.
"I'll.."
He muttered.
"I'll see you this year...Mari."
His voice cracked in the middle of the sentence.
The sentence somehow felt dry, as if he's been saying it to reassure something that might not happen at all.
A false hope? Maybe a way to keep her hoping in his mind.
His chest started to rise normally again, his eyes closed for a short time, and he stood up smiling.
Another day for Hero, nothing new.
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(A X days earlier....)
"Hey Henry.."
The boys sat in a big classroom, listening to the professor talking about causes of death that can be caused by allergies.
Hero's eyes didn't leave the board.
"Hm?"
The guy next to him started playing with some paper and wrote down an address.
"How ‘bout we meet up this weekend? This might be the last time we get to hang before the final exams hit us next week."
His grin was huge and the sparkle in his eyes even bigger, Hero looked over for the first time upon feeling the paper hit his hand.
"Oh geez" He snickered, "That's outta nowhere you know Luca?"
Hero snatched the paper and looked over to the board again.
The boy next to him, apparently called Luca, sighed and pondered.
"You got any plans for the summer break or do you wanna hang out with good ol' me?"
Hero played with his pencil.
"Sorry, unlike you I do wanna meet up with my family again." A smirk forming on his face.
Luca acted offended, turned his head back to the lecture and puffed out air.
"Last thing I wanna do is clean the pool out all summer because my stupid siblings wanna swim around."
Hero glanced at his notes,
"I don't know, it seems like a fun family activity to me." He snatched the address from in-between them again and looked at the name.
He slowly turned to Luca.
"Where is this anyway?"
Luca’s big grin re-appeared and he put his hands together.
"Well, my sister is doing a sucky performance tommorow night with some other classmates and to make her feel a bit better I wanted to get more guests."
When Hero even slightly looked at Luca wrong the guy almost automatically made a praying motion.
"Please come with me, you know how to make things interesting, yeah? Maybe you could even give sis some tips!"
Hero’s face mustered a confused expression.
"Tips..?"
Before he got an answer, a big bell rang and the students started packing up and slowly rushing out.
Hero suddenly realized the rush and started to pack up his notes as well.
When he turned again to ask Luca some questions he was already gone.
Hero turned his back and saw Luca booking it, sprinting out the door as if his life depended on it.
A huff came out of Hero.
"What a handful he is".
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Hero sat down and looked up the address on his phone, the warmth of the sun hitting his face and making it hard to read what was written.
His eyes narrowed and a place could be seen.
"A rentable theater..?"
He knows this, doesn't he?
Wasn't this the place Sunny's and Mari's parents rented?
Sweat formed on his forehead.
Hero took the paper and searched for any available buses for when the performance will be starting.
Maybe the feeling of needing to please his pears is making him do this.
When was the last time he played the piano, or any instrument really.
He would need to brush up on that if Luca really wanted him to give his sister some tips.
Adding that to studying will be a chore, but Hero is used to this, constant work, constant chores.
After writing down his new plans he stood up and marked a day on his calendar.
'Day of the performance'
Hero was hit by Déjà Vu.
Yet he decided to stay ignorant, there is nothing in actuality that is keeping him from going there.
No...
Even he knew that was a lie.
He never dared to look behind himself after what happened.
He never dared to see his own judging glances.
He moved on, right?
Then why is there a sinking feeling in his stomach when hearing Piano music?
He glanced to his sides, the sun going down. The room is slowly darkening, he has to snap out and go to sleep.
A shaky breath and an eyebrow narrowed he stood up with his eyes closed, slowly feeling for the bed, not daring to see what was watching him.
He hoped to God there is nothing, he hoped that his wishful thinking was right.
He sunk into his bed, and put his hand over his eyes.
Suddenly a loud sound enveloped the room.
Some type of pop song started playing and a buzzing was heard.
Hero jolted up and finally dared to look, it was his phone.
A shaky laugh left his mouth and he stood up to pick it up.
...?
"Hello? Kel?"
"Yo! Hey Hero, checking up on ya big guy!"
A smile formed on Hero’s face and suddenly without him even having noticed this before, the room became brighter.
"Kel, I'm glad you called, is there anything you need?"
"Heh, just had a feeling I had to call ya! Have you been eating? Did you skip dinner today?"
Kel seemed to want to stray from something, he'd never call Hero without a reason.
Kel's voice was rather hyper until a bang on his door was heard and a far away voice told him to hush.
Hero snickers a bit.
"Yeah I ate, but I'd keep down. Sounds like Sally is sleeping."
Kel laughed with a stutter.
"Yeah, you're right hehe."
"....actually, I've seen something strange today, Hero."
Hero walked over to his bed and lied down.
"What's up?"
Kel went even quieter for a moment and put up a smile "I've seen lots of people come in and out of Sunny's house."
Kel looked out of a side window, staring down Sunny's house.
'Huh?' He thought to himself.
"What do you mean?"
"If I didn't know better Hero, I'd say people are looking through the house...
I haven't seen a sign for sale yet, but if I'm right, Sunny might be actually moving away."
Hero took a moment to take it in, he didn't seem phased at first.
"Do you maybe wanna go over and ask them? Maybe wait til I come around and I could do it too."
Kel sucked his air in through his teeth.
"No Hero, it's fine, I think I'll do this by myself, besides, I told myself that I will when I do end up seeing a sale sign."
Hero didn't hear Kel be so hesitant often, but he didn't dare to question why his little brother was in denial for now.
"Well, it sounds like a good plan Kel, make sure to stay safe, alright? I need to sleep, I have some plans for tomorrow."
"Oh yeah! Of course dude!"
You could hear Kels good mood through the phone.
"Bye bye! I'll cya soon!"
"See ya Kel."