Mari loves you

Sunny wandered into the kitchen, to find Mari cooking him some lunch, since he slept through breakfast.
"Oh, good morning Sunbun!" Mari called out. Sunny shivered at that. Mari never gave him a nickname like that.
"Good morning." Sunny replied, trying his best to put on a smile, but he couldn't.
Mari looked at him, worried. "Is your eye feeling okay?"
Sunny instinctively reached up to touch the eyepatch on his eye. "I think so. It doesn't hurt."
Mari seemed delighted by this, and walked over to pull him into a hug. He was almost as tall as her, but she still had an inch or two than him.
"I'm so glad, it hurts when my little brother's in pain and I can't help." Mari continued pressing him into her hug.
Sunny couldn't help but feel weird. Mari's hugs were always so comforting...and yet it made him feel so funny now.
Mari released him, and started petting his head. It felt less rough. He leaned into it this time.
"Your so funny, Sunny." Mari seemed to smile a little at that, which made him finally able to return a smile.

Why were they doing this? This question continued to gnaw at the back of Sunny's mind. Ever since she showed up to visit him, she seemed keen on "fixing" herself, which she seemed to think meant acting like Mari. Before he knew it, he accidently called her Mari once and it stuck. Now...she's acting like she is Mari. He tried calling her ______ a few times and she got pretty pouty at him, once she got a little mad. So, he's been calling her Mari now.

The oven timer beeped, as Mari went back to the oven to pull out the steak. It wasn't grilled, but it was better than a microwave.
Sunny sat down at the table, as Mari pulled out a piece and set it at the table. Asides from just steak, her cooking had been noticeably improving.
Sunny cut himself a bite of steak and tried it. It was good, as good as oven steak can be.
"Is it good, Sunbun?" Mari asked, again making him shiver slightly. This is wrong...
"This is good." Sunny said whike taking another bite.
"Phew. I was worried I'd mess it up this time." Mari started eating her own steak.

The two sat in silence after that, quietly enjoying their steak. He was glad Mari also liked steak. Than again, considering her home life, she'd probably-
Sunny inhaled sharply, causing Mari to flinch.
"W-what is it? Crap, is it actually bad?" Sunny quickly shook his head, and continued to eat. Mari seemed worried, but resumed eating.
This is wrong. This is really, really wrong. It's not Mari, it's ______, his childhood friend. He doesn't know why she's going so far to actually call herself Mari, but she doesn't need to become Mari, as it seriously seems like she's intending too.
"Sunny? A-are you ignoring me?" Mari spoke in worry. "You've been ignoring me recently, am I being a bad sister?"
"N-no, Mari. I'm just...thinking." He hoped she'd believe it, because that really is all he's doing.
"Okay...I suppose you always are lost in your head." Mari conceded, finishing the last bits of her steak. Both of them did, actually.

Mari stretched her arms above her head, and let out some odd noises that come with it.
"Well...I know you just woke up, but I'm feeling pretty tired out. Do you want to take a nap with me?"
Sunny froze. Sleeping with Mari was always so weird. The way she pressed him to her chest like always, whispering words in his ears, he...he kind of...
....He sort of....liked it...
"Oh, come on." Mari spoke, and walked over to take him out of his chair, and walked him to the bedroom.
He needs to stop this somehow. He fears that...if this keeps going, things might just get weirder.

First of all, it's not Mari. She's not Mari, she's ______. She can't do this forever, once Mom get's back from that "golden opportunity" or whatever she called it, she's going to find this and be incredibly weirded out and disgusted.
Second of all, their friends are going to want to know what they're doing. When they hear what's happening, they'll be horrified and hate them, him in particular more than they seemingly already do.
Third of all, IT'S NOT MARI, IT'S AUBREY!

"Seriously, you're acting really weird today. Do you actually need some sleep?" He felt Mari tugging at him, both standing next to their bed.
"Really?" She asked, blankly. "It's not good to lie to your big sister, little brother."
But she's not his big sister, she's...she's...
Sunny felt his mind go blank as Mari started to lie down in bed, and pull him into it, resting him into her chest like she always does.
Sunny tried to think, tried to figure out how he could stop this, tried to not want this, tried to think, but he couldn't.
Why does he have to be like this, why is he always like this, even back when Mari died, he almost convinced himself she hadn't with all sorts of excuses that made no sense, but he's still...still...

"Okay ,seriously. Sunny, please tell me what's wrong?" Mari repeated, giving him a both concerned and harsh look.
"I'm...just...confused..." Sunny spoke, still trying his best to remind himself that Aubrey is right in front of him, not Mari. Mari's taller than him, she spoke in such a gentle voice, and Mar- AUBREY's is still fairly rough, Mari would call him sunshine, not sunbun, and she's also dead, because he-
"Shh, Sunbun...It's okay, I'm here...you're going to be okay...you can trust your big sister, right? Please, tell me what's wrong..."
Sunny felt himself shiver yet again, as he sat there in her hug. He always loved Mari's hugs...he...
...
He misses her. He misses Mari so, so much. He wishes for nothing more than to have her back. He loves her, he...
He...

Mari

"Mari...I missed you..." Sunny let out, as he wrapped his arms around her.
"Sunny..." Mari tightened her arms around him. Her dear little brother.

...

...

Apparently, they had slept the whole day away. Guess it was going to be an all-nighter.
Sunny was finishing up his homework while Mari was cooking him something, a soup of some kind.
"It'll be ready in 10 minutes, Sunbun."
"Thanks, Mari.' Sunny let out, finishing up the last few problems. He was once again thankful his mom home schooled him, even if it was with Mari's ridiculously hard text books, because these problems were almost nothing for him now.
Seems getting back into school wasn't going to be as hard as he feared.
They missed a call from Mom, so she left a message saying she'd be back home by tomorrow. Seems this "golden opportunity" was an office job that would pay a good amount of money, and it was close to home so she wouldn't have to leave him alone for as long.
But he wasn't alone. He had Mari.
Speaking of, Mari placed a bowl of soup in front of him, as she sat next to him.
It tasted good. Really good. Mari's cooking hadn't gotten any rustier these last few years.
Sunny gave her a thumbs up, making her smile.
"Good, I tried some different spices, so I was worried. Glad it worked out, hehe."
Sunny smiled, tasting some of it. It actually...tasted like steak? Was that a thing? Steak spice? Or did she experiment to make it taste that way?
Either way, he loved it.
"Oh, I need to go do something!" Mari almost shot up, and walked into another room.
Sunny continued eating in silence.
...
beep, beep
Sunny heard the beeping of their phone, and decided to take the call.
"Hello?"
"Sunny?"
"Oh-" Sunny froze. Hero? He thought that he didn't want to talk anymore, why was he-
"Hey, I, uh..."
...
"Wanted to ask how you were doing?"
...
"I'm fine." Sunny spoke, feeling antsy. He thought...
"Oh, good. Things have been...okay, over here. All things considered..." Hero mumbled that last part out. Both knew why.
...
"Okay, I lied. I wanted to ask you a question."
"Yeah?"
"Have you seen Aubrey? She kind of...disappeared. Kim was knocking at our door to ask if we'd seen her, and we spent all day looking for her. We were thinking that she might have gone to visit you."
Sunny nodded to himself, before realizing he had to speak.
"Yeah, she visited for a while."
"Wait, she did?"
"Yeah. It was for a while. I don't know when she left, though. I haven't seen her for a while."
"I see...crap, at least we know she was at your place."
"Mmhmm."
"Well...thanks, Sunny. I uh, have to go, but...anything you want to ask?"
"I'm fine."
"Alright than, I guess I'll tell Kim what happened."
"Okay."
At that moment, Mari came back into the room. "Did you enjoy your food? Oh, who's calling?"
"Wait, who's voice was-"
"Our friends called. I'd like some more, Mari."
"Wha-"
Sunny put the phone down, hanging up.
Mari gave him a nice, warm hug.
It felt nice...he closed his eye as he leaned into her, feeling her giggles against him.

Aubrey

"Aubrey." Sunny stated firmly.
He felt her shake hearing that. "Wh-what? N-no, Sunbun, it's-"
"Aubrey." Sunny stated again. "This isn't okay...you can't keep doing this."
Aubrey seemed upset. "Why?"
"You're not Mari, you can't keep just...pretending she's still alive."
Her brows furrowed. "I'm not doing that, I'm just trying to be more like her, and-"
...Aubrey looked at him, confused. Then she seemed to realize what he was implying.
"Oh...oh my God, Sunny, were you-"
Sunny looked away form her, guilty. Oh, oops...was he the only one doing that?
Aubrey started putting the pieced together...and realized. She...had been really pretending she was Mari..
She wanted to be more like Mari. But then...she was pretending Mari never died...if she was Mari. If she was Mari, it's like she wasn't gone, she'd have her sister back, and everything could...what...
The absolute lack of logic hit her like a spiked bat.
"What the FUCK is wrong with me?!" Aubrey screamed out, overwhelmed with disgust for herself. How did she think this was a good idea?!
Sunny cringed away, as she moved away.
"Oh my God, I'm not Mari! I can't be Mari because I'm Aubrey, what am I thinking, I'm-"
"Sorry..." Sunny mumbled, just loud enough for her to hear.
"What-no, Sunny, you were just, well, um...you see, yeah...uh, hehe, er..." Aubrey started stumbling over her words, too flustered and confused by everything that had been happening these last few days, and by the fact that she had seriously been deluding Sunny's and herself into thinking Mari was still alive, and that she was her.
Once again, she was given a reminder by how precarious Sunny's mental state was. Jesus Christ.
And she wasn't much better either, realizing she hadn't once thought of herself as Aubrey a single time today until now.
...
"Sunny, we're both really screwed up, aren't we?"
Sunny nodded.
...
"I'm sleeping on the couch."
Aubrey go up and started to leave, mostly so she didn't have to face Sunny after all this. Fucking hell...
Sunny rolled over, and closed his eyes. What was wrong with him...
It took a lot of time, but he managed to fall asleep eventually.

...

...

Sunny woke up seeing it was dark out. Guess it was going to be an all-nighter.
He also finally registered that Bunbun's cage was on a table near the wall. How did he miss a bunny in his own room for so long?
He found Aubrey in the kitchen, cooking some soup. It was good.
...
Neither wanted to say anything.
...
"Aubrey, what were we doing?"
Aubrey cringed away, afraid he was going to ask that.
Aubrey looked like she wanted to say something, but didn't.
Sunny decided to ask an easier question.
"Aubrey, why are you here? How did you even get here?"
...
Aubrey let out a long sigh.
Sunny stayed still, ready to listen to Aubrey for however long this took.

"I...wished I was more like Mari. Maybe if I had been, I wouldn't have pushed everyone away, all while blaming them for it. Maybe I would have listened to Basil, instead of just blaming him. Maybe I wouldn't have bullied him all these years. Maybe I wouldn't have..."
...
"Then I decided...to try and become like Mari. I washed my hair until it was back to normal. I tried cleaning my house and helping Mom, but gave up on that. I reached out to Kel and Hero, and talking with them helped me feel better than I had in years. And at some point I wanted to try forgiving you."
"I visited Polly to ask if you left your new address with Basil, took Bun-bun with me, rode a bus over, and well...yeah. And before I knew it-"

beep beep
The two were interrupted by the phone beeping.
"Oh, is that your mom?"
Sunny walked over, and picked up.
"Hello?"
"Sunny?"
Sunny froze. Why was Hero calling? He thought that-
"Was that Hero? Let me take it."
"Hello Hero."
"Aubrey?! Where were you? Kim was freaking out, saying she hasn't heard from you in days, and when you weren't home she went to us, and-"
This conversation would go on for a while, especially when Kel got Kim and she started yelling over the phone.