Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Being alone was a weird feeling. In a way, Marina had never truly been alone. From birth, she'd been raised in a community rather than by parents. Her room was shared with many other young octolings, allowing her little to no privacy. Even when she graduated from military school, nothing really seemed to change. She just got out of a room filled with children to a place filled with adults instead. At the young age of 9, Marina began to work on weapons in a military base crowded with people that were at the very least twice her age. She was proud of what she was able to accomplish. After all, everyone called her a prodigy. She was THE Marina, the one kid that managed to create portative bombs more powerful than anything her elders had ever managed to make. People adored her, and her accomplishments became so well known that before she could even become fully grown octoling, the little girl was already working under DJ Octavio himself. For her entire life, she felt so proud of herself, feeling like this was her role in life. She was celebrated for her ability to hurt others, and it made her feel valued. That was ... Until she heard the Calamari Inkantation. It changed her entire life in merely a few seconds. And the moment she left, she knew she would never be able to come back.

To say the truth, Marina was scared. Not just nervous, or apprehending a little what could happen to her outside. She was risking everything for this newly found desire she had. The idea of doing something else than weapons was entirely new to her, and she wasn't even sure if she could be good at music. This was already bad for someone who's been praised for her entire life, famous throughout the entire Octoling nation and who'd only ever lived through the eyes of others. But the real problem was that she was abandoning everything for an uncertain idea. A dream that may not even be achievable. She wanted to just sing and be happy ... But the Octolings would never allow her back in their ranks if they found out. And her face was too famous to hide herself properly. As for the inklings ? They were supposed to have a deep hatred against the Octolings. Would they even allow her to stay in their city ? What kind of torture would they put her through if they were against her ? Did they even know that she was the one designing those murderous weapons ?!

It all felt like too much for her poor little head. So she fled. Marina left the place she'd grown up in to go outside, in a place where no one could find her. She just wanted to do music. No need for a public, right ..?

Wrong.

Marina had never known loneliness. She'd never really had a moment of her time where she was truly on her own, not surrounded by a couple of other soldiers sleeping in their common room or watching over her activities. And the first night she spent on Mount Nantai, she truly understood what fear was. The eerie feeling of being watched yet having no one around her, the idea she was alone, truly alone, and that she may have to spend the rest of her life like that ... It broke her. She cried quite a lot that night, until her tears brought her to sleep. However, the next day, she was woken up with a sound that somehow brought her warmth.

Now, it didn't sound familiar. But it did sound like a person. They were pretty loud but it didn't sound like they were just yelling. They were singing. And that song ? Now that song was GOOD. This was what Marina wanted. The reason why she left her beloved home. She didn't care about the dangers any longer, she NEEDED to know who could that person be. She ran off to try and look around to seek where that noise came from, until she saw her.

It was an inkling. Or at least ... What she assumed an inkling would look like. They were small, especially considering how powerful their voice was. The squid was holding a microphone, singing apparently whatever came to her mind with the biggest smile, making a large part of the mountain shake. Marina simply laid down where she was to observe the stranger. They weren't that far, just about a few dozens of feet down the woman. Marina just stayed voiceless, watching the inkling for about half an hour, until she accidentally moved her arm, making a few rocks roll down the mountains side. The squid turned around in horror, finally noticing that she'd been observed this whole time. They immediately began to blush heavily before grabbing their mic and running away from the scene, leaving behind a confused little octoling who already found herself praying that they could meet again.

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Marina had waited an entire week roaming around the mountain in hopes of finding that inkling again. She didn't especially need to see her again. After all, this was a stranger. They hadn't even exchanged a single word. But the thing was, this squid had been the only other sentient being Marina had seen for a while. No one else seemed to be coming to that mountain, and the octoling was too terrified to try and go down on her own. She wasn't sure how squids may react to her being around. After all, they'd been enemies for centuries. Yet, surprisingly, Marina wasn't scared of that little inking she'd seen. Perhaps this was because she seemed to enjoy music. Perhaps this was because she seemed to be barely 4'9, and Marina could easily take her down if needed. But either way ... If someone has to be her first contact with this new world, Marina had decided that it would be her.

So she waited. She didn't have much hopes, and every day seemed to take her even further away from the possibility that she may see her again. And yet, one day, just a few hours after she'd woken up, Marina heard her. That loud, bold voice, piercing through the sky as the inkling put her entire soul into her art. Marina didn't think twice. She ran out of her hideout, sprinting until she could see the woman. This time, the squid did not flee. Their eyes met and the two stared at each other for a little bit before the squid sighed and looked down, visibly saddened and stressed.

"Sorry about that."

Marina rose an eyebrow before walking up to her.

"... Huh ?"

"Listen, I get it ... You live here, you don't want to hear someone scream all day. I'll go somewhere else."

The inkling began to walk away, biting her lips in embarrassment

"What ?! Hey no, that's no what I meant ! Come back here !!"

Marina watched the woman turn around, confused and a little annoyed.

"Huh ?! Listen, I don't have anything else to say. I just thought that last time you were just passing by through the mountain, not that you lived here. I'm gonna go now, so leave me be."

"Please, just ... Listen !! I didn't mean to upset you. Sorry, if I did. I just ... Really love to hear you sing. I've been meaning to find you all of this time to tell you that ! It wasn't really nice of me to just watch you from afar last time, but you were just really cool and I couldn't help myself."

"... The hell ?"

"... ???"

"Girl, if you're here to mock me you can fuck off. I've had enough people laughing behind my back for the rest of my life. I'm not letting myself be stomped once again."

"What ?! NO NO, I LITERALLY JUST SAID I LOVE YOUR VOICE !! I mean it ! It's just ... Really special. I've never heard anything quite like it before ! I love music, it's my passion. I can't help but be curious about someone with such a beautiful voice."

"Wait ... Wait. So you actually mean it ? You like my voice ?"

"Yes !! I umh ... I actually don't have anything else to say. I just came to tell you that. That's a bit embarrassing. I just wanted to tell you that I find you really cool and all. Ah ! Maybe you could allow me to listen to you sing if that's not too much ..?"

The inkling looked around, trying to gather her thoughts before awkwardly scratching her neck with a little blush on her cheeks.

"I mean, I don't know ... You're like ... My first public in ages. I came to this place so that people wouldn't have to hear me. It feels a little weird, hehe."

"I can imagine why ... Sorry again."

"Hey, it's all good ! I appreciate it. Most people who heard me told me that I was awfully loud and that I destroyed their ears. It's a nice change to learn that someone wants to listen to my stuff."

"I guess I can understand that."

"So uuuuh ... You said you like music, right ? D'you sing too ? Maybe play an instrument ?"

The tension in the inkling's body seemed to have gone down. It was as if the simple idea of seeing someone like her was enough to get rid of her weariness

"I used to DJ a bit in my free time. I know how to play a lot of different instruments, but it's mostly at a basic level, just what I need them for them to sound alright."

"Ooooh, like what ? That sounds impressive on its own."

"Piano, Guitar, a bit of bass, otamatone ... I mostly learned that one because I think it sounds funny."

"NO WAY !! I've never heard of anyone else knowing about otamatone !! I love how specific the noises it makes are. It makes some super unique samples."

"You're right. I loved to use it to go along the singer in my compositions."

"You make stuff up ?! Can I hear it ?"

"Well ... I would love to show you something but sadly, there's not many instruments I could use here."

The inkling smirked and giggled like a little kid.

"Oh, I've been coming up this mountain for YEARS. You bet I brought stuff with me. It may be a little old and dusty cuz you know. It's kinda abandoned in the mountains. But hey, maybe you can try to do something with it anyways."

Marina began to follow the woman around as she climbed up to a hidden cavern, move up some rocks and got out an old electric piano.

"Here we gooo ! I mean. If you want to play it. I'm definitely not forcing you here."

Marina took the piano in her hands and felt her heart pounding in her chest.

As if, once again, everything was about to change.

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Marina took a deep breath as she looked at the piano. This wasn't nothing important, truly. She'd played in front of many people in the past, and it had never been a problem. Maybe ... The only difference was this inkling didn't know her. Marina had always kind of been a celebrity in her own world. She'd been considered a genius for her ability to create insanely powerful weapons, so when people heard she wanted to do a little bit of music, they all got curious and immediately cheered her up. Not because they knew the kind of music she was doing, but because she was Marina, so she was bound to be good. But right now, the world was just her, this little inkling, and this piano. After closing her eyes for a few seconds, Marina began to let her fingers play around the notes, whatever felt good in this instant. Even if she was bad, she could handle the criticism. Perhaps it was time for her to learn about how it feels not to be a prodigy. When she opened back her eyes, she realized that she didn't even to what she was playing. She'd been way too lost in her own thoughts. However, the one thing she saw was that the inkling was looking at her with her mouth wide open

"... HEYO YOU WROTE THIS ?!"

"Y-Yeah ? I think I did ? Sorry, I kind of spaced out for a moment ..."

"DAMN ... Hold up, hold up. Can you do something like that again ? I have an idea."

Marina shyly smiled and nodded before doing a little melody, much simpler in shape but a little faster than the last one. The inkling began to jump around excitedly before trying to freestyle some lyrics, raising her hand up in the air as if she was holding up a mic. It was a bit childish, in a way. The words were a bit random and some sentences didn't really make sense, but that was to be expected for a first time on a new song. And yet, Marina couldn't help but be fascinated by the woman. She just had this intense personality about herself that made her stand out. She would be recognizable between hundreds of her kind. And as the song ended, the two girls looked at each other and just had the same thought in mind.

"THAT WAS AMAZING !!"

Pearl shook her hands, jumping around before sitting down with the biggest grin she could hold, looking up at Marina.

"It's been so long ever since I last had so much fun ... You're amazing !! Wait. I didn't even ask your name ! Damn I guess this first meeting really was a mess. A good kind of mess but a mess anyways."

"Marina. You can call me Marina."

"Yeah, that suits you. I like it. The name's pearl by the way."

"Pleased to meet you, Pearl."

"Same ! It's so good to meet someone who just ... Has the same kind of vibe as me, y'know ? I wish we could've met before. I'm guessing you came here not too long ago, or something else you would've noticed me much faster."

"Indeed. I believe I came here about two weeks ago."

"Why did you even come here if you like loud and extraverted people like me ? That place is desolate. I doubt you're able to get proper food and drinks, even less contact with other inklings."

Marina flinched after hearing that word. Inkling. She didn't really think about it before, but it was true that she was supposed to be at war with this species, and Pearl didn't seem to be reacting aggressively in any sort of way around her. She wasn't even weary. But that was the answer. She just thought she was an inkling. Was it because she hadn't really looked at her hair ? Maybe she didn't know what Octolings looked like ? Either way, Marina was most certainly not going to point this out.

"I ... Left my home. Because it was no longer a good place for me. I felt like I would never really belong there ever again. I didn't really have a plan, if I were to be honest. Now I'm just ... A little lost."

Pearl smile and gently touched her shoulder.

"I know the feeling. I always felt like I didn't really belong in my home either. Never had the courage to leave though. I respect that."

Marina smiled and hid a little shiver of relief. She was glad Pearl didn't ask her more about her past. The octoling looked down at the piano before looking back at Pearl.

"Are you up for another round ?"

"OH I COULD DO THAT ALL DAY !! Literally. I have nothing to do today except yell into the void. But this is so much more fun !"

The black woman smiled and slammed her fingers down on her instrument.

"You know what ? I'd be happy to do that."

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Pearl and Marina went from strangers to really close friends faster than what they could've ever imagined. Now, the first time they ever met, they quickly understood that they had a good feeling together. Things were going smoothly even if the way they met was a bit strange, Marina was eager to have someone to share her music with and Pearl seemed even more eager to have someone that didn't judge her for her songs. She was just full of energy and ready to share as many things as she could, as if she'd never truly had anyone to tell her deepest secrets to outside of this desertic mountain. As for Marina, well ... She liked talking about herself. She was a person with her own thoughts and feelings, had specific tastes and was proud to share her creativity. But when it came to her past, she preferred to stay silent. Marina knew little to nothing about inklings. To her, both biologically and as a society, they were a complete mystery. She learned little by little the customs of the species thanks to Pearl talking about her childhood, but was never sure which parts of her own civilization matched with hers. Thankfully, while Pearl seemed to be curious about Marina's past, she never really tried to dig into it that much. She asked a little question here and there while they were on a specific subject, and the second Marina told her she'd rather not talk about it, Pearl simply nodded and changed the subject. Perhaps she was trying her best not to offend her new friend since it seemed it was the closet she'd been to someone in a while. Perhaps she was just like that naturally. But either way, the octoling deeply enjoyed the privacy she had with the woman.

While Pearl was supposed to come in the mountain only once a week for training, the inkling didn't take more than two meetings to come more and more frequently, to the point that no matter her schedule, she tried to at least come an hour to be with Marina. More than once, the octoling worried about it, since the city seemed to be pretty far, and the mountain could be a pain to climb. But Pearl reassured her pretty often, saying that she came because she wanted to. But most importantly... Because the idea of being with Marina gave her a sense of comfort. She had a friend. And while they spent a lot of their time together playing around with songs and experimenting with the instruments Pearl tried to bring, they could just have simple relaxing moments where the two of them would just ... Exist together. It was a sweet sensation that Pearl seemed to experiment for the first time, and that Marina had missed terribly after she'd left the army. The loneliness she'd experimented felt weird because she grew up to always have someone with her. And that didn't mean she always had someone talking to her or doing something with her. No. Sometimes, a good relationship was laying down in a corner to do something, and simply seeing that this person you loved so much was right next to you. A little presence telling you that you're never truly alone and if something, anything happens, they're right next to you.

Pearl didn't talk about her home very often, but Marina managed to understand tidbits of what her overall situation was. Pearl's mother had died a few years ago from a very aggressive illness. She didn't seem too distressed about it, but the problem was that it only left her with her father. The problem ? Her father was CRAZY rich. And with that sort of wealth, the man couldn't help but be busy all the time, leaving Pearl to be on her own most of the time. The kid was homeschooled to avoid getting into problems about her wealth, but never managed to make friends outside of the house. She was allowed to leave the house and spend time in places she wouldn't be recognized in, but finding friends in a place where no conversations naturally sprouted was terribly difficult. There were these games called turf wars that she played with other people of her age, but sadly she was never able to find her teammates ever again once the matches ended. It all seemed like a very lonely life. All of that ended up leading her to music, which brought her the freedom she always saught, but sadly her bandmates rarely liked her. She was way too loud for her own good and tended to break the material despite her best efforts to fit in, hence why she came to this place. To be free. Alone, but careless. And that brought her to a new friend that somehow managed to understand.

And as Marina watched Pearl coming back to her once again for another day to spend together, the woman could not help but think that this was the exact kind of life she wanted.

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With time passing by, Marina started to settle in and get more used to the idea of actually living on Mount Nantai rather than simply surviving there. It did feel like a place of transition. Somewhere she knew she was bound to abandon one day, perhaps when she would get enough courage to actually move out near inkopolis. But for now, she was okay with it.

The cave Marina had decided to inhabit had started as place that didn't really feel welcoming. Stones, more stones, perhaps a little pile of berries Marina had found for this night's meal... It looked like a cavesquid's home. But with time and Pearl's belongings, the two of them had managed to make this place feel actually cozy. Pillows everywhere, some inflatable mattresses, snacks laying around everywhere, a few instruments, a radio ... This was their little hideout. Their place to be.

It was starting to get a little late but none of the two friends cared. Pearl didn't have to be back at her place for the night, as she was only meant to have some economy lessons in the afternoon for the next day, and Marina never had the best sleep schedule to begin with. The octarians encouraged to put the wellbeing of others before yours, which meant that Marina often had to choose to stay up until very late to finish a weapon project rather than getting the sleep she deserved. When she told Pearl that (obviously making sure to avoid talking about the military aspect of it all), she told her that this idea was stupid, but admirable.

Marina softly hummed along the radio as she read a book before hearing the song switching out and letting out a little gasp. Her eyes met with Pearl, which made her a little embarrassed and made the inkling chuckle.

"Squid sisters again, huh ? You sure love the calamari inkantation."

Marina chuckled nervously before turning the radio off.

"You know I love them. They're my favorite duo !"

"I mean, definitely not judging you on that. They do nice stuff. Their music sounds nice and I could see people dance over it in a vacation club or something. But overall, I feel like stuff that goes on the radio is just ... Boring. Y'know, it's just plain. It doesn't explode in your ears like a good song should ! You don't have these moments of "wait that's pretty fuckin' good, get the sound up !" anymore !! It's just ... Okay."

"I guess that if one of our songs landed on the radio, it could get people to react like this. I guess that even if you don't have the pop style people seem to really enjoy, you still have that "wow" effect. We're not exactly perfect yet but ... They're just what we want to do. That's why I love singing with you, it's always something were we pour out our hearts... I guess I can always dream. There's no way a song from two random girls playing in a cave could make it on the radio."

Pearl froze for a moment before looking down at the radio post.

"... But what if we could ?"

"Huh ?"

"Rina, what if we could make it happen. Our stuff, together, on the radio. Do you think it could work ?"

"I mean ... It costs a lot of money, right ? And I'm not sure how do those people even get selected. But it must be hard, isn't it ?"

"AS IF !! Did you hear the stuff they put on ? Always the same basic poppy things with urchincore samples or some kind of guitar ... Maybe we could get there."

"But the money ..."

"Money ? HA ! As if that's ever been a problem ! Rina, we could do this !! Hell, this may be the day I could start my actual singing career, like I've always wished for !! Well, I did try that before but ... I never really thought it could work. My group never really liked me. Like always, they thought my voice was ... Too loud."

Pearl was about to jump off her mattress before she glanced outside. Seeing the sun setting through the mountains reminded her why she was here in the first place.

"... Maybe you should be the one to sing, actually."

"WHAT ?! Pearl, you're the main singer here ! I mean, have you heard your voice ?!"

"YEAH ... And everyone hates it."

"I don't. It makes you unique. You've been training here for years upon years. Maybe your voice sounded off at the beginning. That I won't deny. But ... You've grown. And I want to believe that your voice did too. That, or I have really bad taste, and in that case I would be a little offended."

"... I don't know. See, i do want to believe you but on the other hand ... Up until now, nothing really changed."

Marina sighed and looked at her friend. She seemed genuinely troubled. The Octoling gently took her hand and looked down, avoiding her eyes.

"Maybe ... We could sing together ? If we're a duo, we should be equal. So it's you and me. And if we fail, we fail together, alright ?"

Pearl looked at Marina's hand against hers. Despite her determination, she seemed ... So soft. So gentle. She couldn't help but feel a little warm thinking about that idea.

"You know what ? Let's go."

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It took them a few days of preparation to make a demo that sounded somewhat good. Pearl insisted that they should go to her house for the demo work, but Marina felt like she was better off staying in mount Nantai for this kind of work. She truly appreciated Pearl's enthusiasm, but still felt like she somehow didn't deserve to go to her place. Every time she describe it, it sounded so immense that it was somehow oppressive. Marina was scared that she just wasn't good enough for this kind of world. Making mistakes because of situations she may not even understand way pretty terrifying. That and also... Obviously, she had no idea how inkling households even functioned. The place she lived in was mostly built thanks to Pearl bringing continuously her belongings to form a hideout that catered to her needs, and more than once Marina was confused by items that seemed to be used every day by inklings. So Marina waited until the very last moment, making her entire demo by herself using the half busted keyboard she has on hand to compose the base melody, an old computer to add on some instrumentation with a few broken keys and trying to sample her voice to replace pearl whenever she was gone. But here it was, the Demo of Ebb and Flow was completed and Pearl deeply loved it. She wanted to make it real, and so ... It was time. Pearl had promised that the two of them would record the final vocals in her personal studio at home for a much higher quality before adding up some touches on brand new computer and sending the result to local radios. And to say the truth... Marina was petrified. She walking alongside pearl to ride her motorbike back to her place, she couldn't help but ask questions every two seconds."

"W-what if your father doesn't like me ?"

"He's never home, remember ? The chances he'll be here are close to zero. Besides, even if that was the case, he'd be too busy to actually come up to greet us."

"And what if I break something ?"

"I guess I'll just buy new material !"

"But what if I break something valuable ?!"

"I don't know how you imagine my place Marina, but it's a house, not a museum. We don't just have paintings worth thousands upon thousands in every room, no millennial vases exposed on our shelves and certainly not any kind of grandiose collection that you could accidentally set fire to. Our place is just ... Big. The things that cost the most are the furniture and computers. And while I guess you could break a computer, I highly doubt you could just ... Break a table made out of marble. Plus, computers are your thing !! You're insanely good with them, much better than I am. So yeah. Chill out ! I'm inviting you because I WANT YOU HERE. And ... I kind of hope you want to be here as well."

"Oh !! Yes, yes, I do !"

"Great ! So we're on the same page here. Now, there's my bike. Hold up for a sec, I need to get on it first."

Marina stood still as she watched the little inkling jump on a bike that was obviously way too big for her, but she seemed to handle it pretty well. The bike was entirely black with some fish bones motifs on it, which clashed vividly with her cute pinkish style, but weirdly complimented it. Pearl drove right back to marina before looking at her with a grin.

"C'mon, Jump in !"

"I'm ... Not sure how. I've never been on such vehicle before."

"It's easy ! You climb behind me, get your arms around my waist and hold on tight so you don't fall !"

Marina awkwardly tried to get on the bike, fearing that she may make it fall, but eventually got comfortable enough to wrap her arms around Pearl. She felt her heart beating slightly faster as pearl smiled and looked behind her.

"You better get comfy, cuz I won't go easy on ya ! That thing goes FAST, and I like it that way !"

Marina chuckled and got a little closer to pearl.

"I'm ready."

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Pearl sure wasn't lying when she said the bike would be fast. Marina was used to all sorts of vehicles, but this felt a little different. Being able to feel your hair floating in the air and see everything around you so freely was kind of magical. For someone who'd never left Mount Nantai, the world was slowly uncovering through the roads Pearl took. Plants slowly growing into forests, wild animals walking freely in nature, the city and finally ... The ocean. Yes, the city was important in Marina's eyes. It was the place she would have to go to if she ever wanted to live with people again, to truly dive into inkling society and become one with their culture. But this wasn't exactly special in her eyes. She'd seen building before. Wildly different, yes, but buildings still. But nothing could even begin to compare to the Ocean. This place was sacred in all sorts of way, both for the inklings and Octolings. A place where everything began, where all life sprouted. A mother that bore children that would never be able to get back to her. While regular water could hurt octarians and inking alike if exposed for long periods of time, salt water was often considered deadly. It dug through your skin, gnawing your tissues and dissolved your organs. And yet ... Diving in water often seemed to be desirable, bringing a nostalgia of a place that was never known. Marina never had the opportunity to witness such place before. And it almost brought her to tears. She had to stop herself from actually crying, as doing so while being unable to wipe away her tears was always a little difficult. But she did come close. She often wondered if her imagination made the outside world look too perfect. That she had too many expectation for it. She'd never been happier to have been wrong.

"Yo, we're here !"

"Oh ! I guess it's one of the houses up that hill ?"

"Houses ? Nah, these are storage rooms. The actual house's a little further. What I mean is that we're on my father's property !"

Marina glupped as she looked around, very much shocked but quickly reminding herself that she'd been warned about Pearl's money. This place was immense, probably twice the side of the giant military base she'd been affected to. Base that was known for its wide space, really appreciated by the soldiers that were able to jog around a field in the morning instead of running in small circles. After a little while, Pearl finally stopped her Bike in front of a gigantic mansion and smirked to Marina.

"So !! Whaddya think ?"

"... Big."

"HA ! I mean, I kinda expected you to say that. I didn't bring that many people here before, just a few guys from my old band who wanted to record in my studio ... They all said the same thing. We should go right there now, that way we'll be done quicker and I'll get to show you your room ! Oh cuz yeah, you're definitely sleeping here tonight. Not only I'm not driving off back to Mount Nantai late tonight, but I want to give you an actual bed too. You know, a place where you can be actually comfortable to sleep and all ! Our spot in the mountain is fun to spend time but it's not exactly the best to sleep. Follow me !"

Marina simply nodded, almost expecting to be taken by the hand to walk around the palace that was Pearl's villa.

Now, she was kind of right. The place was very white. Little to no decorations, mostly giant empty hallways and windows covering space that just felt unnecessary. If it wasn't for Pearl by her side, Marina knew she would get genuinely lost in this place in a few minutes. There was little to no way to actually see where you were in the house and if you went in a place more than once outside of the windows. After a bit, Pearl stopped in front of a door, smirked and opened it to reveal a full on professional studio. Everything seemed to be of the highest quality, and the room had been obviously designed by a team of professional. This wasn't just amateur work of taking expensive items and trying to mash them together in hopes of doing a good looking setup. Marina was barely able to approach all of the buttons on the board without feeling overwhelmed. She knew what they were supposed to do. She was just scared of actually being able to touch them for once. Before, she only learned about them just in case. As a way to entertain herself. She couldn't believe she was in front of the real deal.

After a bit, Pearl smiled and slammed Ebb and Flow's CD on the nearest table and pointed Marina towards the recording studio.

"So. Are we gonna do these vocals or nah ?"

Marina nodded. She wasn't exactly sure if she was ready but in the end, did that even matter ?

Chapter Text

Everything went well. Truly, there was nothing else to say. This recording session was just a pure pleasure and really fun. Marina hadn't been able to record in a proper studio for a while, and the familiarity of the place helped her to feel at ease. It reminded her of the time she spent working as a DJ for Turquoise October, even if the methods of recording were wildly different. Pearl was full of surprises, often changing the lyrics without a warning, trying out new things and freestyle whenever she felt like it, even making up stupid lyrics on purpose to see Marina laugh. This didn't feel like a professional recording, just two friends being given the keys to a high quality studio and a green light to whatever came to their mind. Turquoise October was all about being precise and straightforward. All of the musics they provided were meant to further empathize the idea that music could be used as entertainment, but definitely not for fun. The rhythms were always precise, close to a regiment marching in unison. The sounds used to make up a melody were always the same, creating a notion of free will without the possibility of a choice. People may prefer one soundtrack or another. But the concept of genres didn't exist. The music was meant to reunite everyone under the same banner, the idea that all octolings enjoy the same thing. Not many artists were allowed to produce music to keep that idea of everyone having the same taste. But Inkling society seemed to encourage diversity and trying out new things. Marina found the idea rather charming, and the fact that she could contribute to this diversity made her even happier.

"Alright ! I'm sending this to someone I know to get a few test on the radio during the night. Right now, we have the copyright on this thing but that's all. No agent, no distribution ... Hell, we don't even have a band name ! Maybe we should try to make one before we start. Something that stays in mind, that way people would easily find us back ! Do you have any ideas ?"

"I'm not sure. What kind of name are you looking for ? I've ... Never really tried to make up a band name before."

"Mmmh ... I'd say a strong concept is a good thing. An idea that sticks with people. It can be anything as long as it's strong ! A bad pun or something disgusting often works. Like, I don't know ... Damp socks !"

Marina chuckled with small hint of disgust on her face.

"Yup, I see what you mean. I think I'll remember that for YEARS."

"HAHA ! I'M THE BEST !"

"How about ... Off the Hook ?"

Pearl rubbed her chin with a smile, sitting down to look at their computer before remembering that she had no idea how to use this thing and leaving the writing to Marina.

"I like that ... It sounds Fresh. Care to explain your thought process ?"

"You said you wanted to do things that aren't like the others, right ? These people, they're making the same kind of music over and over again because it works. It's like bait. The fans are simple fishes that see something simple and bite the hook without thinking much about it. Our music is meant to be different. We're not doing this just to be like anyone else. We're not luring others with simple mindless lyrics and repetitive rhythms. We're getting them off the hook."

"YOOOO !! I may have the talent for rhymes, but you sure have the braincells here, Rina ! I'm definitely down for that name. Off the Hook ... Mmmh ... Don't get cooked, Stay off the Hook. That has a thing to it. So, are we going with that ?"

"Definitely !"

The duo high fived with a laugh before Pearl let out a loud Booyah and jumped out of her chair. She is expected to have Marina cheer up in return, but merely ended up with a confused stare.

"Heyo ? Whatcha doing ?"

"Ummmh ... I'm not sure ? Did something happen ? I didn't expect you to yell."

"Damn, y'all didn't booyah back at your place ? I knew it was lame when you said there was no turf wars, but now I'm worried about you. So. Booyahs are a way to cheer each other up. And when someone says Booyah, no matter the reason, you ALWAYS Booyah back. Got it ?"

"Booyah !"

"BOOYAH !! HAHA, YEAH, THAT'S THE SPIRIT !"

The duo began to laugh as Marina stared down at the new CD they'd just printed. Was she scared ? Yes. But in the end, did she care ? No. Not really.

Chapter Text

The second Marina gets into her room, she feels uneasy. Pearl's gone. And she's alone in a place that is way too big for her. It's weird and confusing, and she doesn't really understand why that feeling is so present, but the loneliness overwhelms her instantly. She hadn't felt that in a while, even on mount Nantai. But that's probably because this place is meant to be inhabited. It's a construction, not nature. Buildings are meant to have people in them, not that weird feeling of abandonment attached to empty hallways. Marina knows that for rooms upon rooms, she's lonely. And somehow, it breaks her. She tries to fight it off at first. Hey, it's just an empty room after all ! Why the hell would she feel so bad about it ? But it grows and grows until the tears cannot be stopped. It's an irrational fear, and Marina has no longer control over it. She jumps onto the bed and grabs the nearest pillow, burying her face and limbs into it and whimpers. She stays like that for a while, hoping everything will stop soon, before she hears a voice.

"... ina ?"

The woman freezes. She doesn't move by an inch and watches her door open silently. It's Pearl.

"Rina ? Hey, is everything alright ?"

The woman struggles to answer at first. She takes a few deep breaths, hugging her pillow as if her life depended on it, trying her best to stop her shaking limbs to appear somewhat normal. She didn't want Pearl to see her like that, and kind of hoped that this gigantic house would help to hide her tears. It didn't. Pearl shouldn't have to handle her at her worse, and she doesn't want her to get her out of her sadness either. She invited her here, she gave her pretty much everything she owned in this new world that she barely even understood, and she was ... She was her only friend. Marina didn't want Pearl to help her once more for a situation that was most likely going to end with Pearl getting angry.

"Marina ..?"

"I'm ... Fine ! I'm fine. You don't need to worry about me."

"You're not fine. It's OBVIOUS."

Pearl jumps on the bed and wraps and arm around Marina's shoulders. The octarian shivers and almost gags. She's terrified. She doesn't know what Pearl wants to do in this instant. She has not a single clue of how inklings deal with others when it came to situations of emergency. She expects to be hit, and immediately covers up her head. Pearl backs down in confusion. The two stare at each other for a while before marina finally manages to get out a few more words.

"I'm not okay. But I'll be fine soon, I promise. I can handle it myself !! Please, please, I didn't mean to cry !!"

Pearl takes a bit of time to breathe and tries her best to take the most gentle voice she can. She's not exactly good at it. She's more used to be snarky and playful. But you can feel how much she wants to appear as anything but a threat.

"Marina. I'm not mad at you. I hear you crying and I came here because I thought something bad happened. I'm not sure how well you're doing but ... Do you want to talk about it ? Maybe get a snack or something ? It's totally cool if you don't want to do into details and all. It's just... I'm just really worried. I've never seen you like that."

Marina puts the pillow down and begins to hug her knees instead. She's still tense, but she somehow feels a little better. However, confusion has taken over the sadness she felt.

"What do you mean by ... Talk ?"

Pearl clenches her fist and looks down.

"Y'know ... Say what's wrong to get it out ? Just vent a little. I'm not sure if I can understand everything but hey. Even if I can't, I'm sure it'll be better for you afterwards. Didn't you do that back at your place ?"

"... No."

"Then what did you even do when you saw someone crying ? Let them be ??"

"No. Crying is a bad thing, it makes you weak and it's a loss of time, so it's important to get out of it quickly. When we find someone crying we just ... Shake them up. A good hit on the head or yelling at them for a bit is usually effective to get them out of trouble. I ... Expected you to do that. But I wanted to try and calm myself down without being yelled at so ... Yeah."

Pearl mindlessly stared at Marina's shaking hands for a bit, trying to process the informations she'd just heard. After a bit, she shook her head and growled.

"Okay, first of all, I'm NEVER hitting you. Under no circumstances. Second, here, when someone's sad, we help them to get better. We don't just "shake them out of it". Third, I changed my mind. The first thing you're going to do when you go to inkopolis isn't turf war, it's seeing a therapist. I don't know who raised you, who your friends used to be and what kind of hell it was, but one thing is sure, I'm never letting you go back there. Ever. Now ... Do you want to talk about it ?"

Marina rubs her eyes and sees no tears. She's not shaking anymore, she doesn't feel the need to take any large breaths ... She feels good. She doesn't feel just out of it. She's feeling better.

"Actually, I think I'm much better now. I don't know what you did to me but ... Thank you. I'm ... Really happy you're my friend."

Pearl smirks and hugs her friend. Marina hugs her back. She wishes the two of them could stay like that for eternity. When the hug finally breaks, Pearl holds Marina's hand for a bit.

"Rina, do you want us to spend the night in the same room ? I've ... Never really done stuff like sleepovers and such, and I know we may be a little too old for that, but if I were to be honest, I'm a little scared too right now. Probably not for the same reasons as you, but hey. We can be stressed together ! It's easier when we're two. I'm ... Thinking about our song. I know it's silly. It's just a first single and all, barely played a few times in the middle of the night, but ... I still want us to succeed SO BAD ... I want music to be a part of my life. It never worked. Everyone tells me I'm waisting my life, and I'm starting to feel like it's the case, y'know ? It's just ... Fuck. I'm rambling. The point is ... Do you think we could try to stay together ? Just for this night ?"

Pearl feels like a little child. In a good sense. She seeks comfort, and Marina wants the same thing. They both need it in this instant. She hugs pearl once more, jumping on her so hard that she makes them both fall down on the bed. Pearl buries her head against Marina's shoulder. And ... Before she could end the embrace, Marina feels her head getting lighter and lighter. Crying so much had exhausted her. She doesn't get enough time to think. She feels warm. She feels at home. Not because she's been there long enough to consider this a place that she knows. But because she feels safe in it. And therefore, she lets herself drift away into a deep and sweet slumber.

Chapter Text

Waking up with someone between her arms was a strange feeling. Yes, Marina was used to sleeping with people in her room. Even her bed, sometimes. But between her arms ?! Now that was new. It took her a few seconds to even understand the situation she was in. To remember why was she like that. She began panicking at first, feeling like she'd just stuck Pearl in an uncomfortable situation for the night, but after a bit, she realized that Pearl had actually put herself in a rather comfy position, her head against her chest and her back being stuck to Marina's belly, making her perfectly fit in the octoling's arms. Marina couldn't help but stare a little bit, finding Pearl rather cute in this position. But before she could bring herself to take a decision about what to do, the woman let out a loud sneeze, shaking the two of them up for good. Pearl let out a whine before stretching and getting off Marina's embrace.

"...hgnnn ... 'Morning, Rina."

The squid jumped out of bed before walking up to the door with a yawn.

"Wanna grab breakfast ? We have a bunch of things in the kitchen."

Marina blinked a few times before silently nodding and watching Pearl leaving the room. She stayed in the bed for a good minute, wondering if all of that was just a dream. Even if she didn't want to think about it too deeply, she thought Pearl would at least comment the situation ... But no. She just acted as if everything was normal. Maybe this was just a thing inklings did ? Sleeping together like that for comfort ? It did feel warm, she couldn't deny it. Well ... She would just try not to mention it again.

Arriving in the kitchen, Marina watched Pearl as she digged into her fridge, obviously trying to find something but apparently failing. Marina grabbed one of the many boxes of cereal laying on the table and poured herself a bowl of ... Something. The package had way too many weird words on it for her to actually understand what it was. She dipped a spoon into the mix and shoved it into her mouth before smiling. She has no idea what kind of flavor that was supposed to be, but this sure had sugar in it. That's all she wanted anyway.

"HAHA !! Found it ! My precious orange juice. Do ya want a glass ?"

"Does it have pulp in it ?"

"You know me, of course it does."

"Then no, thank you. We already talked about it before, I'd rather not die of choking in your house. It would be too bad if you were suspected of murdering me right after inviting me. Can I have some almond milk to go with my cereals instead ?"

"Tch ... You have NO TASTE. Cereals taste better with no milk too. How are you supposed to get the crunch out of it if they're soggy ?!"

"And you're a barbarian. Who eats cereals with no milk ?!"

"Me. Duh. Here, enjoy your cereal soggyfier. I'm gonna check what's up on splatnet real quick. To forget this interaction even happened."

Pearl sits down, takes sip upon sip of her orange juice, starts scrolling on her phone and immediately spits out the entirety of the the juice she accumulated in her mouth on the table. It's so surprising that Marina immediately laughs. She'd only seen people do that in cartoons so far.

"Did you choke on the pulp ? Ha ! Told you you would one day."

Pearl coughs a few times before holding up her phone to her friend

"N-NO !! FUCKIN ... I CAN'T ... JUST LOOK AT THAT."

Pearl throws the phone across the table they were sat upon and Marina catches it before reading the article that was displayed on the screen.

"Ebb and Flow, the new hit single of the week ?
For a few hours now, the only thing squids have on their tongues is the first single of a group that seemed to have came from nowhere, Off The Hook. Many speculations have sprouted about this mysterious new duo that broke all records. The radios are currently waiting to get the authorisation to put up the music again as their contract stipulated that the single could not be brought back after 7 am. Theories are already popping up about one of the singers possibly being none other than Pearl Hoizuki, already known for her wishes to get into a musical carrier. But one thing is sure, everyone is waiting to see what that new duo has in stock !"

Marina scrolled down a little to see the article's comments section flooded with positive messages. "that sound is a BANGER!!" "I don't know what kind of accent the singer has but it's FRESH" "Isn't that the same girl that sung fuckin dudes be fuckin sleeping ?! Damn, she sure knows how to get the best people around her." The poor octoling didn't understand half of the words, but ... It did sound nice. She looked back at Pearl who was looking at the floor, her hand covering up her mouth to hide the fact that it was wide open.

"...Pearl ?"

"PEOPLE LOVE US MARINA !! I mean ... Woaw. I expected this to be appreciated by a few peeps, y'know. We're good at this. But it was a song put up in the middle of the night because the radio stations didn't want to take too much risk with a new random group. BUT NOW THEY'RE BEGGING US FOR MORE !! I didn't show you, but I have at least twenty missed calls and some of the names I've seen are BIG. Most of them leaders of music distributions, big guys that own most of the market. They probably want to buy our image."

"Woaw ... I'm ... A little lost, I'll admit. I don't know much about how music works here. Is that good for us ?"

"Yup, that's good for us. These guys spend money whenever they see a new emerging talent to make sure they have their grubby little hands on everything that's trendy. They know how to form a pop star's image to make it fashionable and loved by everyone."

"Oh, good ! I'm trusting you to accept whichever contract sounds the best then. If needed, i will work extra hard for future betas in return !"

"You kidding ? I'm saying no to all of them."

"What ?! You literally just said these people want us, and that they owe most of the market. That must mean they have money, right ?"

"Yup. And that's EXACTLY why we're avoiding these douches. These people offer trendy kids enough money to grow and once they've grown enough to spread their own wings, they understand they've signed contracts of ten, sometimes even twenty years of working for them. It's a scam. But we have the money. While I may not be working and technically I don't have any kind of salary ... I have money my family gave me over the years. I can spent it on us."

"Are you saying you want to spend your life savings on a band that quite literally just started, barely has a single out and is only known by the public as the people who got their song on the radio a couple of times in the middle of the night ?! Listen, I want this to work, even if I didn't expect to have to deal with everything that implies so soon. But this sounds ... Insane."

Pearl freezes and looks back at Marina. Something in her seems to break. Just like an hopeful child seeing an adult stomping on their dream before they could even try to realize it.

"... Yeah. I guess that you're right, huh. Maybe I didn't think this through. I wanted to go fully off the hook, but the music industry is rough and I ... Yeah."

Marina shivers and shakes her head before walking up to Pearl. She feels awkward. Trying to find the right words has rarely been her forte after all. She tries to think a little and finally comes up with an idea.

"What I'm saying is, maybe you shouldn't try to spend everything on this project so soon. We need to test the waters first. And I may have got an idea for it. People said they wanted CDs in the comments of the article. Maybe we could try to restrain radios to just a play or two per day and after making everyone wait a little, we put up the single for sale. And with the sale's money, we can see how much we can make and therefore how much we can spend on the band. I believe we don't need anyone. "

"Marina ... You're a genius. YOU'RE AN ACTUAL GENIUS !! WE'RE STAYING OFF THE HOOK, IN YOUR FACE INDUSTRY PLANTS !!"

Pearl jumped into Marina's arms before running off to her living room to scream. The plan had worked.

Chapter Text

Marina felt like she was floating in some sort of dream, completely disconnected to everything that was going on around her. To be fair, everything that Pearl brought in her life kind of sounded like a dream. A rich kid who comes out of nowhere, brings her to her gigantic house, brings her anything she wants, comforts her out of her misery and makes her a star ? All of this looked too good to be true. Her brain couldn't process all of these things and therefore Marina kind of acted like she was in some sort of simulation, doing whatever came to her mind with little to no limitations as if there were no consequences. Well, outside of doing anything that could annoy Pearl. She was the one taking the lead for everything now, and the last thing Marina wanted was to hurt her in any kind of way. It had barely been an afternoon since the two of them had realized they were now famous out of nowhere, and the little inkling had taken at least 25 calls in a row, somehow managing all sorts of infos at once while Marina was just doodling on every piece of paper she could find and trying to think about new melodies they could use in the future. This was already stressful for her. She couldn't even imagine what pearl was going through.

"What ?! An interview ?! We don't even have our faces revealed to the world yet ! No i don't want the reveal to be exclusive to anyone, I already had that offer given to me at least fifteen times today. I'm trying to keep up the suspense until the CDs are up. Wait, masks ? That could be a good idea ... Like the drift punks. Yeah, yeah ... I could get on with that. No personal questions tho ! Nothing about our identities. Hold up, I'm checking with her real quick. HEY RINA !! Would you be okay for an interview tomorrow ?!"

Marina gets out of her transe for a second and looks down at what she just doodled. This is one of the most horrid pieces of art she's ever done. But this wasn't meant to be pretty, rather to get herself relaxed, so who cares ?

"I guess ? If you can guide me a little, i guess I could try that. I've never done anything suite like it though."

"Got it. So yeah, we could do that, but you're going easy on my partner. No trick questions, or I'll kick your ass. Got it ? Yeah yeah, alright. We'll be there at 4pm. See ya."

Pearl sighed, threw her phone back in her pocket and jumped right on the couch where Marina was sitting. It didn't take more than a few seconds for the phone to start buzzing again, which made her growl and turn her phone off.

"Don't you want to respond to that ?"

"Nah. I had enough for the day. If anyone else wants something from me, they'll leave a message and I'll keep in touch with the most interesting offers. Oh, and the CD company told me they went to printing right away. They'll just need us to do a cover for it. Maybe I'll ask for a photographer to come here tomorrow. But now, I need to REST."

"I can imagine why. You've been working all day. I'm really sorry I couldn't be of much help, I just feel ... So lost. I thought this would be a simple night at your place where we could record a song and now we've been thrown into celebrity out of nowhere and I have to stay here for it to work ... I feel a little guilty about it."

"Hey, I may not look like it, but I'm used to that type of thing. For all of my life my dad has been training me to deal with all sorts of contracts and overwhelming situations, and this is far from the worst thing i had to deal with. Plus, you've been working on stuff as well ! Let me see ..."

Pearl grabbed the numerous sheets covered in random doodles Marina had left.

"H-hey, no !! They're not really good, they're just things I drew to calm myself down !"

"Woooawww ... I never knew you drew like that. That is SO COOL !! You can sing, making music and art ? Talk about a prodige."

Pearl quickly got over a few of the doodles as Marina awkward waved her hands around trying to stop her. But after a bit, the squid became stuff on one of the pictures Marina drew. It was ... Nothing incredible. Not too realistic nor an impressive pose that showed her ability to draw perfect anatomy. No. It was just the two of them taking a small pose together on some giant speakers. Pearl seemed to just be just obsessed with this simple piece of art.

"H-hey ... Is everything okay ?"

"Marina. I know exactly what I want our cover art to look like."

Chapter Text

An interview. Said like that, it didn't sound so bad at first. But now that they were in full costumes, even wearing helmets to avoid being recognized, Marina couldn't help but worry. The interview was scheduled to happen in just a few minutes for the most popular radio station of inkopolis, yet Pearl seemed to be doing just fine.

"Relax ... I'm telling you, I asked them to go easy on us. Just a few questions and we're done. The exclusivity of this interview was enough to get them hooked ! ... Get it ? Hooked ? Like Off the Hook ?"

"I'm ... Nervous. I've never done anything like this before. I don't really know how to act in front of people I don't know."

"Bullshit. You basically jumped on me when you saw me at Mount Nantai. You'll be fine."

"N-NO !! Pearl, i did that because I had already embarrassed myself in front of you before and I wanted to give you a proper explanation ! This is not the same. This is people I don't know who are going to ask me questions I won't know how to respond to about music I just ... Made up."

"I mean yeah, all music's made up. It's kind of the point. You don't have to take it all too seriously. Just say whatever comes to your mind. It's okay if you don't have a long and poetic explanation for your ideas. And if you're really struggling, let me answer first and say something along the same lines as me."

"And what if people don't like my answers ?"

"It's an interview. They don't want to hear anything specific, they want to hear what YOU want to say. Hey, i bet something controversial is always more interesting than something bland ! Gives us some drama."

"... I guess ?"

Suddenly, a small ring resonated through the room. The signal that the interview was about to begin. Pearl didn't even wait for Marina to get herself ready. She grabbed her arm, good her things would be fine, and dragged her to the small cramped room that was meant to be used for the interview. Just a large stereotyped radio station with machines everywhere along with chairs for the duo to sit down and an animator that immediately cheered up as they walked in.

"And now, I'm glad to present to you all the first ever interview of Off the Hook !! This duo, coming out of nowhere, blasted off all records with their first single that came out just two days ago ! Now, we're all very curious about who you two may be, but did make it very clear that you wanted to wait for the CDs to come out before revealing your identities. So, is there any aliases you'd like to use for the meantime ?"

Pearl let out a satisfied huff before shaking her fist in the air.

"You'll know who we are soon enough, y'all can trust me on that. But in the meantime, you may call me M.C Princess, and call my friend here DJ_Hyperfresh !"

"Got it ! Now there's something we've all been wondering ever since Ebb and Flow came out. Why you would name yourselves Off the Hook ? Many of your fans have been curious about your name."

Marina shivered. Fans. That's true. They have fans. Community that barely knew anything about them, just a simple song, and who already wanted to call themselves fans. It was a little overwhelming to think about. Marina quickly looked at Pearl, who simply nodded and looked back at the interviewer. Marina focused on her breathing before finally speaking up.

"I was the one to come up with the name. For us, it symbolizes two things. The fact that we're not putting up random pop music that everyone would enjoy, like bait on a hook. We want our fans to be free. To take themselves off the road to listen to us and see new things this world has to offer. But we also meant that we didn't want to be a normal part of the industry. So far, P- ... My partner has refused any kind of contract that would put us in a situation where we're no longer on our own. We're producing discs of course, but they were self produced. Directly from the artist to the fan, nothing in-between. That way, we can full choices upon our actions."

"Interesting ... That is quite the explanation ! I'm willing to bet most people would've thought your reasoning was more simple. Now, next question. There has been rumors that one of you two could be Pearl Hoizuki, the old vocalist in the emerging band SashiMori. Anything to say about that ?"

Pearl snickered under her mask and rolled her eyes up to the sky.

"Guess you'll see that for the reveal. For now, have fun with the theories."

"Good, good ... Now, how would you say this duo was formed ? Fans have been trying to dig through your history and found nothing. No previous records, not even a small concert at a local bar ... How did this all happen ?"

Pearl stretched to make herself herself at ease before answering.

" DJ_Hyperfresh and I met thanks to our mutual love of music. We started having fun with random songs and after a while the idea of us making some actual recordings sprouted naturally. I had some prior contacts in the industry and just decided to show our first recording to everyone just because I could. We didn't think it would blow up. Hell, we thought of band's name just about an hour before the first diffusion."

"Woaw, that is quite something ! And now, for the last question, it seems that your music had some influences external to inkopolis. Where are you two from ?"

Marina felt her heart sink the second she heard these words. And at this moment, she realized that ... She had no cover up story.

To this point, she'd mainly interacted with Pearl, who understood her boundaries and never tried to dig into her past, just like Marina didn't really think about digging into hers either. She forgot that people may not even think of her as an inkling either. She wasn't a part of them. The reveal meant that she would have to show that to the world. But now, having to decide where she was from was already a challenge in itself. The only thing she knew about their culture was from Pearl. If she were to make up a village, everyone may be able to know that she lied. And if she were to use the name of the of the cities she'd learned about, Pearl would be the one to know that she was a liar. She was trapped. She stared at Pearl as she simply answered without thinking too much about it.

"I'm from Inkopolis, Born and raised even if I did spend a bit of my childhood in Calamari county. As for DJ_Hyperfresh ..."

Marina took a while to think about all possibilities. Nothing sounded like a good idea at the moment. Yet, she didn't want to look like a liar. Therefore, the woman went with the only option that made sense to her eyes.

"I'd prefer not to answer that question."

The interviewer simply smiled and nodded, much to the octoling's surprise

"Oooooh, we have some mystery here ! Well, I can see why you would keep your secrets, you're the real mystery of the band after all ! Many have theories about you, but so far, none seem to have found a single answer about your identity. Well, I guess we'll see in a few days ! That's all folks, thank you for listening to waves radio, and an even larger thank you to Off the Hook for this interview !"

The musicians walked out of the room after thanking the man they'd worked with and Pearl immediately took her helmet off.

"See Rina ! I told you this would be fine. And now, we even have a juicy check for future productions ~"

Marina clenched her teeth and looked down.

Was the interview a success ? Yes.

Were things going to be fine ? She wasn't so sure about it anymore.

Chapter Text

After the interview, Marina had been thinking. A lot. Perhaps she would've preferred to say that this wasn't truly important and that she was worried about something that wouldn't have any true impact. But that wasn't the case. People could find out that she's an octarian.

She may get the entire inkopolis population against her simply for existing.

She no longer wanted to do the reveal. And Pearl was having none of it. Her reaction was completely normal, as it did look like Marina just had a simple stage fright. But it still hurt Marina.

"I know you want me to be part of the reveal, but I just ... I can't, Pearl. I really can't."

"Of COURSE you can. We did this together. I was afraid of my voice, you cheered me up, now it's my time to do the same for you."

"It's not ... About the voice ..."

"Come on Rina ! I know you were stressed for the interview too. But you did great back there ! People are waiting for our reveal. They want us. And I mean ... I could understand why they wouldn't be exactly interested in me. I'm not exactly Impressive. But you ? Please. You're gorgeous."

"No, you are impressive !!"

"Oh please. Look at me. I'm five foot tall. I dress and act like an hyperactive sea bunny. And my forehead is as big as mount Nantai."

"...I like your forehead. It makes you unique."

"Tell that to the crowd ... But anyways, my point is, you're GORGEOUS compared to me. You're tall, you're thin, you're conventionally attractive !! What makes you think people won't like you ?!"

Marina knew she couldn't answer. Because this wasn't just about appearances. She wasn't scared to look bad. She was scared that people would recognize that she is an octoling. And while Pearl never really understood that she was of a different species entirely, she may not be as lucky when it came to other inklings. Marina looked down as she nervously played with her tentacles before Pearl let out a gasp.

"Oh ... Are you nervous about your hair ?"

Marina froze. She took a few deep breaths, trying to see if her partner had seen anything she didn't notice before. It didn't look like it was the case. Or at least, she didn't act as if the situation was a big reveal. So she simply ended up nodding with a whine.

"Man ... I mean ... I did notice that it was different. I've never seen anyone with suckers on the outside before. I'm guessing it's some kind of genetic mutation or something ? Your tentacles do look quite different from others's at time. They're always moving and look so light ... But in my opinion, that's not something bad. It's just different. Y'know, sometimes it's even an advantage for people to recognize you !! I know a girl, her name's Yoko. She's a small band's singer who usually plays in bars and stuff, and she has quite the talent. But I know that most people remember her for her hair. Her tentacles ? All different colors. It's soooo weird. Apparently she can't change their colors at all, which means she's never played turf !! People think that's so fresh ... And it's true ! I don't see why you wouldn't have the same kind of notoriety for your style."

"... Pearl ..."

"Trust me. You and me ? We make a banger of a duo. We're so weird together that we make a perfect match."

This wasn't about trust. This was about potentially ruining her chances to have a somewhat normal life. Would inklings think of her as one of their own ? Or would her fate be ended on that last note of celebrity ? Would Pearl even think of her as a friend after learning she was the enemy all along ? And if she still wanted to be friends, would she be able to protect her from other's hatred ?

She was terrified. She was betting everything she had. And yet ... The way Pearl looked at her was deeply reassuring. Something about it made her want to trust this friend she had.

"... Okay. I'll do it. I'll come out with you on that scene. We're doing this reveal together, and you better put on a show like you always do."

"You BET I will !!"

Marina would be happy
Or die trying.

Chapter Text

Marina expected the reveal to be big. Medias had been talking about Off the Hook for weeks, ebb and flow had been spread everywhere on the internet for various discussions, multitudes of theories regarding Marina's identity had sprouted with very active people in the boards dedicated to them ... (There weren't that many for Pearl. Most people had recognized her voice from her old albums)

But still, Marina thought that this would be a quiet first concert. It was a rudimentary set-up built in the middle of the inkopolis square for them, with just a few quickly printed banners to decorate around and a bit of ink spread around the scene to make things a little more colorful. That place was known to be much less crowded than the more popular inkopolis square, barely twenty minutes away from this street, but somehow many, MANY people had gathered around the scene, some already holding gifts for the performers. This was insane. Flower bouquets that looked quite expensive, boxes of chocolates, hand-crafted food and many more... For a concert that was meant to barely last half an hour. Plus, only ebb and flow would be a song from them. Outside of that and due to the lack of time to make up new songs, Pearl had decided to do simple covers of well known songs to try and make something that is long enough to make up a concert. Starting off with their own single, the girls would do popular turf war songs like splattack or seaskape, and would end on a pretty personal version of now or never. Squid squad had always been alright with remixes of their songs, so it was a good opportunity to take advantage of that.

Pearl and Marina were sitting on some nearby restaurant tables in disguise, watching the crowd wait for their arrival. They were far enough from the crowd to be able to see people, but definitely not close enough to be a part of them. Pearl couldn't help herself but grin as she watched people wave around their banners in excitement.

"Can you see that Marina ?! They're waiting for us ! They love us !! They want me !! Not just because they think I'm a cool rich kid or because I'm part of an already popular band. This is just ... So dope ..."

"I guess we really were lucky on that, huh."

"LUCKY ?! NAH ... Rina, you're totally putting yourself down. We worked for this ! You did one hell of a demo, you sung so well and you did all of the mixing, you totally nailed it ! People don't just get popular out of nowhere. They work for it, or have people paying radios to spam their works all day until people just have to listen to their stuff."

"I guess so ... I still feels like we were lucky though. Many good sounds must've gone through the radio at night before, but I doubt that many had the same success as us."

"Heh. I guess I can't make you change your mind on this. But either way, we're the ones that did that. At least congratulate yourself for it."

The octoling didn't have enough time to respond, as a young inkling ran to their table panting and slammed her hand on it to get the two girl's attention. The poor kid took a few breaths to get her lungs filled back up before speaking up.

"E-excuse me ... Do you know if that crowd over there is for the off the hook concert ??"

Pearl rose an eyebrow and chuckled.

"Off the Hook ? Who's that ?"

"Oh, they're a new band that's been getting popular and I just ... It's their first concert and I wanted to be here for it !! But I think I got lost ... Inkopolis is so big ..."

Marina rolled her eyes to the sky before elbowing her partner and looking back at the kid. She had orange hair, had a large amount of colorful bracelets around her arms and ankles and wore a black t-shirt with "DJ_HYPERFRESH IS THE BEST" awkwardly painted on it with white acrylic paint. And despite her visible exhaustion, she couldn't help but have a large smile on her face. The octoling nodded and pointed towards the crowd.

"I know Off the Hook, and you're at the right concert. They should be taking off at 3:30, so be ready ! I love your shirt by the way. But how do you already have a favorite between the two singers ?"

"I just love her voice ... And she sounds so nice in her interview !! I'm just so excited to see her in real life... OH NO, IT'S ALREADY 3:25 !! I'M GONNA BE LATE, THANKS AND BYE !!"

Marina smiled and glanced back at Pearl.

"She's right, the concert is soon. Shall we go ?"

"Yeah, l think it's time for the show. Ready, Rina ?"

"I'm not sure ... But I guess I don't have much of a choice."

The stage opened. The crowd cheered. Pearl immediately jumped in and began to wave her hands around, jumping on the stage as the fans were yelling their lungs out for her. Marina watched for for about a Minute before finally allowing her body to move. She took one step, a second one, and before she knew it her body couldn't stop moving. She was on stage. People were stilling yelling and smiling, and she was a little too lost to understand what was going on.

Until she saw her.

A small inkling with orange air and a black shirt, smiling at her with teary eyes and a jumping around yelling her stage name as loud as she could. At this moment, Marina truly saw the rest of the crowd.

Everyone was looking at her. And they were just smiling. No hate. No anger. Just pure joy to meet the mysterious figure they'd been idolizing for days without knowing it. Marina yelled in happiness. The crowd yelled back. And so, the concert could begin.

Chapter Text

Callie sighed as she scrolled down her phone to make sure to keep in touch with the news, already feeling like the world loved to put up the craziest things up while they were at work. Working on live news was fun, sure, but it didn't give her much time to actually have a life on the side ... And she did feel like she was missing on a lot of things. She would kill to go to a concert instead of making one, but ... That's what celebrity does to a squid, she guessed.

A new haircut getting trendy, Inkopolis tower getting a renovation, a festival in the honor of the mammalian deities of the plaza ... Yup. Everything seemed nice and fun. But something Callie truly loved was to check on other groups to see what they could be doing. Becoming friends with fellow musicians was a good way to keep her head out of the water, and a lot of them, rather young like her, preferred to stay humble when it came to their peers.

Squid squad putting up a new single, High Tide Era announcing new concert dates ... All of that was nice. But there was one thing that caught her attention more than the rest. Off The Hook, a new duo that had started a couple weeks ago, had finally done their face reveal. She didn't know much about them yet, but was a little curious and clicked on the pics, but ... Her face froze in shock.

That ? That wasn't good. That wasn't good AT ALL.

The woman immediately jumped off her couch, looked at her watch and growled. Three AM. Marie would be mad if she were to be woken up. But this was an emergency. Callie slammed her cousin's door open, walked up to her and began to shake her up.

"Marie. Marie you HAVE to see this."

The inkling hissed and hid herself under the bed's covers.

"... Callie, it's the middle of the night. I don't HAVE to see anything. Let me sleep."

"Marie this is IMPORTANT."

"I'm sure it can wait."

Callie shoved her phone against her cousin's face before backing down a little and letting her admire the picture that it displayed. An octoling and inkling, singing together on the Plaza in front of a giant crowd of fans. Marie blinked repeatedly before shaking her head.

"What ... WHAT ?! IS THAT AN OCTOLING ?! WHAT IS SHE DOING HERE ? I don't get- what's the context ?!"

"I have about as much info as you do, I think. Apparently, this is a new duo that just formed, and their first single was a hit so they're trying to make themselves a name in the industry. What do we do ?! Do we act on it ourselves ? Should we try to go fetch gramps ? Do you think she's a spy or something ? I kinda hope she's not ... She looks really cool. BUT SHE'S AN OCTOLING."

"Hold on. Maybe we need to think before we act. This is an octoling, there's no doubts about it. And she does have hypnogoggles on her forehead, so we can confirm that she's from Octavio's army. However ... The weird thing is that she's not actually wearing them. I've never seen any octoling without these things on their eyes."

"Yeah but outside of that, why would she make a public appearance if she was supposed to be on some sort of mission ? Like. Showing her hair to the public is kinda stupid if she's here to trick us."

"No, I don't think she's trying to do such thing. Only agents like us know the difference between inklings and octolings. But making herself a public figure could be a good strategy to fund her plans and be able to integrate herself in society while having a strong private life. Therefore if we try to attack her, she may be able to change the public's opinion and make us look like we're the villains."

"That's a good argument... So ... What do we do ? She sounds like bad news. And seeing that right after the great Zapfish has returned makes it even worse."

"I don't know ... I'm genuinely hesitating right now. On one hand, she's very obviously trained to be a soldier and we have every reason to believe Octavio could send spies around he music industry since he knows our identities. On the other hand ... We can't rule out that she could be a refugee."

"Oh !! Like she escaped the army and all ?! Man, that's so cool ... So she could be a friend. Huh."

"For now, I think the best thing to do is not to tell gramps. At all. Knowing him ... He may send someone to splat her. And while I'm weary of octarians, I would feel guilty for the rest of my life if gramps were to splat someone innocent because of me. But we need to watch over her. Wait until they're a little more famous and try to befriend them may be a good plan. And before that, we'll just make sure nothing suspicious happens around inkopolis."

"Got it !! I'm glad I woke you up ... I was TOTALLY going to call gramps on her."

"Mmmh. You made the right decision, i believe. Now, if you don't mind ... Would you let me sleep ? It's three AM. If you keep asking me to take decisions at that time, I'm bound to say things I'll regret."

"Oh !! Right, right. Sorry. Night Marie !!"

"Goodnight, Callie."

Chapter Text

It has been about two weeks since Off the Hook's first concert and things didn't seem to be stopping any time soon. Pearl was having the time of her life. Marina ... Preferred things being a little more quiet.

She was never really acclimated to the spotlight, and going from the comfort of dark a silent octarian world really made her overwhelmed. It's not like she didn't enjoy it. Who wouldn't like to show off their art to the world with their best friend on a stage, adored by everyone and being hyped for every step you take ? People loved her.

Her partner often complained about the fact that some fans only described her as the "tall exotic girl standing next to Pearl". Marina felt bad to be described as such but never took it personally. It did make Pearl pretty angry though. But truly, the thing that made Marina feel bad was all of that new environment she had to get used to. The interviews and increasingly intrusive questions often made her panic, and Pearl had to ask the interviewers to back down more than once. The stress of possibly being seen as an octoling drove her sick more than once. The lights of the scenes often made her head hurt. The sound of the speakers blowing up music for hours straight made her ears ring, so much that Pearl ended up having to buy her a pair of noise canceling headphones to help with it (Marina was deeply thankful for it ... So much that she never truly got them off her head after receiving them.)

It was all just ... Deeply overwhelming. And that night was no exception. Technically speaking, it wasn't much work. Off the Hook simply did a few songs before a big concert of a currently very popular band called Squid Squad. The group needed someone to cover up the beginning of the night and remembered the fact that Off the Hook did a lot of covers of their songs ... And so the deal was pretty simple to make.

It didn't last long and shouldn't have been too much. But Squid Squad had invited the girls to eat out after the concert and the two couldn't refuse the opportunity to not only get more friends in the music industry, but also simply go out like normal people instead of being chased around by paparazzi. So not only the duo had to stay for the entirety of the concert, but also has to eat with the others until pretty late. Marina got a lot of compliments during the night. Some about her voice, which made her happy, some about her hair, which made her feel more and more stressed. And after the night ended, Marina's social batteries were so down that she didn't even realize how little energy she has left. And the second she took a step in Pearl's house, she immediately fell on the ground, unable to get back up. Pearl barely had the time to say goodbye to their driver before running to her friend's side.

"Rina ?! Heyo what's up ? Did you hurt yourself ?!"

"I don't think so ... I think I may be ... Just a little tired."

Marina took a deep breath, pressed her arms against the floor to try and push herself back up, but eventually fell back on it with a grunt. Pearl frowned and got on her knees to be at her level, feeling her heart ache.

"Is ... Everything alright ?"

"Don't worry, I just need to rest. I may have overdone it, just a little. A good night of sleep and I should be feeling better !"

The rapper shook her head and sighed

"Marina. What I'm asking you right now is how are you feeling right now, not if you're going to be okay tomorrow. I'm not going to be angry if you tell me that you're not doing well."

"..."

"So. I'm asking you again. Is everything alright ?"

"... I think this is too much for me. The concerts, the interview, the meetings ... My body can't take it anymore."

Pearl's frown shifted into a soft saddened smile before gently taking the woman's hand.

"It's alright. We'll work on that later. But right now, I think you should just take some time for you. Do you think you can walk back to your room ?"

"Umh ..."

"Be honest."

"No. No, I can't. I don't think my legs will take me any further."

"Alright ... This is gonna get a bit complex but hey, I'm glad you were honest. And now it's my turn to say the truth : I DEFINITELY can't get you back into your room. I may be able to walk, but I'm exhausted as well. Jumping around for the finale destroyed me. So uuuuh ... Do you mind if you sleep on the floor ? I'll bring pillows. And sheets."

Marina smiled and nodded. She'd slept in far worse places before. This didn't sound like a problem. Pearl smirked and immediately ran into her room, and came out with a giant sheet in her arms and awkwardly holding two pillows by biting into them, waddling around trying to drag it across the place even if the sheets were about three times as big as her. She let go of the pillows before throwing the sheets over Marina, grabbing the pillows back, putting one of them under Marina's head and laying down against her with a hug and a chuckle.

"Even if I kind of wish he was at home more often, nights like these are why I'm glad my dad is never here. Oh he would KILL ME if he saw me sleeping on the floor."

"W-what ?! Pearl, i don't mean for you to sleep with me tonight ! You have your own room, I'm the one who's unable to walk here."

Pearl looked down, clenched her fists and hugged Marina even closer. Something about it seemed ... A little too strong to be a normal hug. It made Marina shiver.

"It's my fault, isn't it ?"

"... Huh ?"

"You're unable to walk because I pushed you too much. You're not used to this kind of life like I am. I should've noticed it sooner. It's my fault. I'm ... Sorry Marina."

"Pearl ... It's not ..."

"Don't defend me. I'm okay with taking the blame. Just ... If I'm the one who did that to you, and you have to sleep on the floor because of it, the least I could do is take the blame with you. You're not alone. I don't know how much I can help, I'm not always good at giving encouragements when it comes to situations like these, I just ... I'm sorry. I can't leave you alone if you're suffering."

Marina's heart sank. She rarely saw Pearl being so serious, let alone say sorry. The octoling took a bit of time to think. She wasn't sure of what to say. Don't be sorry ? Thank you ? It's not your fault ?

What ended up coming out of her mouth was none of these choices.

"I'm glad you're with me."

Chapter Text

Waking up on the floor was an experience Marina had kind of forgotten. In a way, it didn't feel bad. She got pretty used to it whenever she needed to be on the move back in her engineer days. It just felt different from waking up in a bed. It had this moment of confusion. Everything around you feels a little too big. There's little to no perception of the floor and what's over and under you. It always took Marina a bit of time to get used to that feeling. And immediately moving around and feeling that Pearl was by her side was another layer of things that she had to unwrap. She yelped in embarrassment as she saw the inkling yawn and stretch. She'd just woken her up.

Pearl looked around her and seemingly had this moment of confusion as well, confusion broken when her eyes met with Marina's. The inkling blushed and began to nervously rub her arm. She sighed and began to open her mouth.

"Marina, I'm s-"

"Stop. I don't want to hear you say it."

It takes Pearl by surprise. Marina is rarely this direct. Yet she doesn't sound mad or stressed. Simply strict.

"I know you want to apologize. But if you do, I'm gonna feel the need to do the same. I'm not exactly sure how important apologies work with you. But I feel like this is just going to be an uncomfortable moment for the both of us. So ... Can we just move on ? I don't want this. I really don't."

Pearl took a while to gather up her thoughts, visibly trying to find a counterargument, an excuse ... But nothing came up. She simply nodded and looked down.

"I get it. But ... I'm gonna be honest, I think that the one thing we need to focus on is taking more care of you."

"I've been doing fine ... I think."

"I doubt it. You don't just get exhausted to the point of being unable to stand up in just one night that seemed to be like any of the other concerts we did in the past two months."

"... Okay. What are you proposing ?"

"We stop concerts for a while. And we focus on something else. Something less exhausting for you."

"What ?! You always told me concerts are important for bands. We can't just leave that behind !"

"Yeah. We're not fully leaving them behind of course. But if they're not your thing, we need a replacement. You work well when you're just on your computer doing your things. I think that the time and energy we don't spend on concerts, we could use to make some new songs. Y'know ... Actual things we could use for CDs ? For now all that we have is Ebb and Flow."

"That's ... True."

"Do you do well with computers at home ? We've done Ebb and flow on our own but I know some people need studios or something ..."

"I think we have everything we need here. I like working in places where I can be on my own a lot better, actually. It helps me to focus."

"Great !! Then I think we should work like that. We write songs at home, maybe go out once a month for a concert and then we'll see how things work out. We don't need anyone else for making a song, right ?"

"No. With you at the vocals and writing the lyrics, I can be the DJ, do the mixing, writing the melody, inserting the instrument samples in the track and perhaps even use some instruments that you have to create more things to work with."

"Woaw ... You really are a genius. I wonder how you got so good with computers. You always keep telling me that the place you grew in had no turf war, no outside communication, no telephones and stuff ... Did y'all even have machines like these ?"

"Oh, we actually did ! I used to work with them on my previous job. People often told me that I have some kind of gift with them."

"Huh. You truly must have one hell of a brain if you got so good with them in such a short time."

"What do you mean ?"

"Y'know... You're nearly 17. I'm guessing you got your first part time job as a kid around 14 for some quick money ? I don't even think people are allowed to have full time jobs before 16. So yeah. Even if you got computers at your place before I highly doubt you did professional level stuff on them back then. You got good quick."

"Oh no, I actually got my first full job at 9 ! I started my training for it when I was 6. It wasn't the kind of computers you gave me though, they were much more intricate machinerie. But I guess technology just comes up naturally once you start to learn about everything."

Marina said these words feeling proud of her achievements. She rarely ever talked about her past, and always yet hoped that Pearl could find her impressive in some way, and this sounded like the perfect opportunity to showoff. After all, Pearl was always the one with the fun anecdotes and impressive achievements. But this did not get Marina the reaction she expected from her partner. She didn't look at her with sparkly eyes or a surprised face. She was horrified.

"... Pearl ?"

"What do you MEAN you started training at 6 ?! Did you ... WERE YOU EVEN ABLE TO WALK IN BIPEDAL FORM AT THAT TIME ?!"

"I mean ... No, but I knew how to use my tentacles fast enough to be effective. My teachers immediately saw my potential."

"What the fuck ... What the FUCK ?! Marina, that is NOT NORMAL !!"

"I know it's not, like I said, most people told me that I was really talented ... Calm down, Pearl ! It was just what did before being with you."

"I'm NOT calming down. I can't even- ... Did you even have friends ?! Hobbies ?!"

"Yes, I told you I did some DJ work for a popular group ! Well, it was a commission from my work ... But still. I really enjoyed it. I had a few friends there ... I kind of miss them. I didn't have any at my work though. Most of them were much older than me. But hey, I have you now ! A friend that I get to see every day, and that I can play music with ! I guess that means I get to truly appreciate my life with you now."

Pearl didn't answer this time. She took Marina in her arms and hugged her so tightly that a little squeak escaped the woman's lips. The octoling took a few seconds to understand what was going on before seeing that Pearl wasn't just hugging her. She was crying.

"Pearl ... Is everything alright ?"

"... Remind me to never force you to do anything ever again."

Marina glupped. Pearl hands were shaking.

"... I don't get it."

"Yeah. You don't. And I think that's what's scaring me."

Chapter Text

Things had gotten better. A LOT better.

Now that the concert frenzy was over and that Marina could work at home, she finally felt like she could rest once more. Working until late at night, choosing when she had to be productive and when she could rest almost made her feel like she was back ... Home.

Home. That was a strange word to think about now. It was something she still deeply linked to the domes and octarian society. She grew up there. She lived her entire life in this place. But still, this new life with Pearl also felt like home. It was genuinely confusing, two words repeatedly clashing in her mind that never fully seemed to make sense. One day, she would think of this mansion as home, slowly getting used to its immensity as pearl made sure that she could get a space of her own. The black and white blank room she used to live in was now covered in random little accessories Pearl bought her, posters of the squid sisters and plushies so that Marina wouldn't feel alone at night. After the accident, Pearl always made sure to pay extra attention to Marina's feelings to make sure she would get everything she needed. Every time she mentioned a cute item she saw on the internet, she would discover a package on her door the next morning as a gift. It was a little overwhelming at times, mainly because Marina felt like she couldn't repay her. Pearl answered that they were getting money from their sales now, and that she shouldn't worry about it. Marina couldn't complain either. She had everything she wanted. But ... Sometimes money wasn't enough to cover the wounds that leaving everything behind created. Her old bandmates. Her house. Her culture. It was all ... Gone. Octarians could never come to inkopolis. And she would never go back to the domes. Life would keep on going without her. And it made her feel a little sick. Nothing to the point of making her cry nor stopping her from working. But it wasn't rare for her to need a pause and just ... Think.

And at this instant, Marina was thinking about it again. She'd just finished a melody for her next song with Pearl, Acid Hues. She really enjoyed the simplicity of it. The song had been made for people to sing it as a duo without too much training to be needed. Just a song you'd blast in sleepover with your best friend and sing without caring too much about how you sound, but rather how happy you are to share this moment with them. This was meant to be sung with Pearl. And Pearl only. But after listening to her first demo of the lyrics, Marina's mind went back to someone she'd tried to forget.

Marina was Pearl's first real best friend. But the opposite wasn't true. Marina did have a previous best friend at some point. One she abandoned without any second thoughts when she left the domes. It was too easy to just ... Put that thought aside in the back of your head and just hope it won't come back. But it did come back once in a while. And it made Marina feel like she was the worst person to ever exist.

She'd left her behind, without any kind of clue that could help her understand what happened. Officially, Marina was probably considered to have died during the fight with Octavio, a brave soldier that fell for her kind, a sacrifice in hopes of making their world a better place. And while this was considered to be the most honorable death an octarian could have ... It was still a death. That morning, she said goodbye to her friend saying this would just be another small operation. That night, she probably had to learn that Marina would never come back. It must've been soul crushing.

But Marina's act was irrational. The Calamari inkantation had done something to her, gave her impulsive thoughts about wanting to create music and live along with the inklings. None of it was supposed to happen. But once she fully understood what she'd done, it was too late to ever go back. And at this point, if she has the choice ... Marina wasn't sure if she'd take the same path.

"Hey Rinaaaa ! How're you doing ?"

Pearl has just entered the room. The octoling hadn't even noticed it. She shook herself up and smiled before looking at the squid.

"Pretty good. I just finished the demo version of Acid Hues."

"Already ?! But you also finished Color pulse two days ago !!"

"Yes, yes ... What can I say, I've been feeling pretty well lately."

"Damn ... Hope you keep that mood up then, cuz you're certainly being wild !!"

"Thank you. That means a lot."

"Oh, oh, we need to celebrate that. Do you want anything ?"

"No, I'm good, thank you Pearl. You've already done enough for me today, after getting me these new boots."

"Are you suuuure ? Because maybe I was thinking of getting us a bucket of ice cream and watching a stupid movie together. Maybe. You won't know if you don't accept."

"I thought you liked cake more ?"

"Pshhh. I can make an exception if it means I can be with my favorite nerd in the entire world ! Sooo ? Deal ?"

"... Do I get to choose the movie ?"

"Only if you take something stupid enough that we can laugh at."

"I heard a new teen romance movie just came out. It's about a werewolf and a vampire falling in love. I really wanted to watch it seriously but apparently, the reviews have been ... Not that good."

"HAHA ! YUP, THAT'LL DO IT."

Marina nodded as she followed Pearl already rambling about how vampires were much better than werewolves.

And after thinking about it

Marina believe that she would've taken the same path again.

... It kind of scared her.

Chapter Text

".... Dad ?"

Now that was a word Marina hadn't heard from Pearl in quite a long time. She didn't think it would be brought up again so soon. At least ... Not on the phone.

During the five months Marina had spent in Pearl's house, she didn't even get to learn his name. Pearl rarely mentioned him simply because she didn't like to talk about her childhood. "It's just boring. It was mostly studies, me accidentally destroying stuff with my voice and asking when I'll get to see my dad."

He seemed to be pretty absent during most of the girl's life and yet, Pearl never talked badly about him. As if despite everything ... She couldn't bring herself to think badly of the man.

The two partners were sitting down in Pearl's couch, talking about their plans of making making merchandise of themselves. Marina was unsure of if they should do such thing, but after Pearl had showed her a picture of handmade plushies of the duo sewn by a fan, the octoling immediately squealed with joy and accepted her idea. When suddenly, Pearl's phone began to ring and the inkling answered the call mechanically. It's only after hearing the voice on the other side that she understood who called her.

"Ah, I'm glad you could answer me ! I don't have much time, but I'm currently taking the train back to Seafoam Shore and I couldn't help but try to call you go get news from you ! So, how's my favorite daughter doing ?"

"Uuuh ... Great !! A lot of stuff has happened since you've been gone. Good stuff !!"

"Ah ? That sounds nice ! Tell me all about it. Oh, and what about your new band, SashiMori I believe ? Is everything alright with them ?"

Pearl took a small pause, looked at the ground and clenched her fingers around the phone.

"It ... Didn't work out with them. I broke too many speakers after getting excited on scene and they got angry at me. B-but it's alright ! I met someone new, and she's soooo much better than them ! Her name's Marina. She's this kind of genius who knows how to sing, dance, write songs, DJ, she also knows a lot about computer and plays a ton of instruments ... And we made a new band !! Just the two of us. We already put out a few singles and they've been doing insanely well, all thanks to her !"

Marina could only sit down a listen quietly to Pearl rambling about her. It was ... Really cute. Pearl often jumped around a lot whenever she got excited, and for every compliment she gave, the inkling bounced a little on the couch. Of course, all of these compliments also made Marina feel a little shy. She never knew how to act whenever Pearl got so vocal about her appreciation for her.

"That sounds rather nice ! Now, do tell me if you need me to send you anything, alright ? And please, keep taking your economy courses. Your teacher told me you no longer showed up to her classes. It made me worry a little. I know you must really enjoy yourself with this project, but don't take your future too lightly."

"B-but this may as well be my future ! I'm telling you, stuff has been working pretty well for me lately, I don't even use your allowance anymore !! If I work enough, maybe I could find another path ..."

"Sure thing sweetie. I know you worked really hard for this. But still, you never know what might happen. I'm just making sure you don't jump into your dreams without making sure you have a plan B"

Another silence. This time a lot deeper. Pearl's face was shifting into something that looked like ... Perhaps a childish kind of sadness. Pearl often seemed to handle her emotions in a pretty mature when way when it came to sadness. She often seemed to have some sort of depth to it, being able to analyze why she was sad and how to calm herself down. But this just looked like a child feeling bad. Like seeing a little kid being refused to get a teddy bear from the store after it had obviously grown attached to it. It hurt to see Pearl being unable to control herself.

"... Yeah. Sure. Thank you for keeping an eye over me, dad."

"It's all good my sweetie. You know I care a lot about you, right ? I hoped I could come and see you this month but there was an accident in camp triggerfish caused by an anti-inkling terrorist and I just ... Had to work on that. I genuinely hope we'll be able to see each other soon. I'd love to meet your new bandmate. She sounds lovely."

"Do you think you could come by for squidmas ? I haven't been able to celebrate it with anyone for the past three years, you know ... Ever since mom ..."

"I'd really love to give you that promise. But sadly, people have been pressuring me into being out in public more often and I'm scared I won't make it. I'm going to try my best, you have my word for it."

"... 'Kay."

"Oh, hold on a second sweetie. What ? Right now ? But sir, I'm trying to talk with my daughter, I haven't had that opportunity in months ! What do you mean ? Mammalian fossils discovered near the Sturgeon Shipyard ?! No ... No we can't risk a polemic with archeologists. I'll come with you right away. Pearl ? I'm sorry, daddy has to leave you. There's ..."

"Another emergency ?"

"... Yes. I love you. Please, don't forget that. See you soon ... I hope."

And so the phone was shut off, and Pearl finally let a few of her tears out. She sighed, and looked up to Marina as she felt her hand being held.

"Are you okay ?"

"Yeah ... I know he means it when he says he loves me and wishes the best for me. I just ... I failed too many times. I get why he doesn't trust me. It still hurts though."

Marina wrapper her arms around Pearl's shoulders, finally feeling the inkling letting their tension out to cry real, painful tears.

"Pearl. If he doesn't trust you now, we'll give him a reason to make him believe in us. We're rising to the top. And one day, we'll be high enough for him to see how far we've come."

Pearl didn't answer. She just nodded against Marina's chest before sniffing loudly.
They were going to make it

Chapter Text

Pearl was down BAD for Marina.
And it was starting to worry her.

At first, she tried to brush her crush off as just her feeling insanely happy to have a friend she could count on. Marina was everything she could've ever hoped for in life. Caring, sweet, talented, willing to stay by her side not just because she was rich, but because she genuinely loved her ... Who wouldn't want that ? A friend, a real friend, perhaps the kind of person kids tend to call their best friend. But after a while, she began to notice things she couldn't attribute to friendship, even a particularly intense one. Her selfish desire to be able to sleep by her side all the time like they did whenever Marina felt bad. Her heart skipping a beat whenever their hands touched. The warm feeling in her chest whenever the two of them ate breakfast together and Marina playfully rubbed off the little bit of egg white that she'd accidentally spread on her cheek ... It was just too much to ignore. And when she stopped ignoring it, she finally understood that this feeling wasn't just a crush. She was in love.

The two of them had been acting like one would imagine a couple living together would. It had a nice feeling of routine. The two of them just eating together, working in their own little place while frequently visiting each other to see how they were doing, watching movies late at night all cuddled up in bed as the lights of the screen burned their eyes ... It was the perfect life. But Pearl felt guilty about appreciating it so much.

She shouldn't have fallen for her so deeply. Everything about this made her stressed because she felt like she wasn't good enough for Marina, or that something was inherently wrong about this relationship. She was the one with all of the power here. She most often took all of the decisions and the interviews about off the hook due to Marina's anxiety. For now, the duo had decided to keep the money they'd earned from their work in their bank before deciding on doing anything with it, therefore every single cent they spent came from Pearl's pocket. Marina was also younger, and much more inexperienced with the inkling world thank Pearl. She was still learning !! Was Pearl ... Holding her off ? Was she a bad person ?? Were her feelings simple made out of a selfish desire to keep Marina all for herself ?

And yet ... So many counterarguments piled up.

Marina was younger, yes. But she was much smarter than Pearl, and despite her lack of experience, she was much faster to pick up on little details and overanalyzing things. More than once she'd read the little lines on contracts and avoided the duo to fall off into traps the music industry had set them in. And despite Pearl being the one who took all of the important decisions on the phone, Marina was still the one making up everything at home. She worked on the organization of events, made up the demos of every song, often cooked for Pearl and was often here to comfort her whenever things weren't going as smoothly as planned. After learning the concept of helping someone to feel better with words, physical touch and patience, she'd gotten really good at it. So much that Pearl didn't even care about feeling down anymore ... She knew Marina would be by her side. That if things weren't okay now, they would be soon. It reminded her of the idea of family she cared so deeply about.

Yeah, family.

Pearl wasn't sure if she could allow herself to confess to Marina ... Ever. This relationship was special to her. She didn't want to take a risk to ruin it by accidentally hurting Marina in one way or another. She was supposed to be responsible ... And she couldn't allow herself to put her in danger.

But there was one thing she could do

It was to call Marina family.

Chapter Text

It had been a year ever since Pearl and Marina had met up. Squidmas was approaching, sales were were skyrocketing, and Pearl's idea to make a parody of a cheesy Christmas song had been so good that their single had stayed on top of the most listened to songs for two weeks straight. Every time time the duo had doubts about their ability to get any further, they'd been proven wrong. (Or at least, any time Marina had doubts. Pearl was very, very confident about their success. Probably bragged a little too much about it, but hey ... It was part of her charm)

And looking at the money they'd accumulated, the girls couldn't help but think that they should be able to spend it. For themselves. Millions upon millions of gold coins staying in their bank doing basically nothing frustrated Pearl. And after going back and forth with Marina, they'd finally decided on something. This house ... Wasn't theirs. Marina had always seen that even if she tried to hide it, Pearl wanted more independence. And Marina always felt a little bad that Pearl was just housing her for free. So they made a decision. Together, they would give themselves a big but well deserved squidmas present. A house.

They would leave this mansion behind them and finally start a life of their own, giving themselves a place where they'd truly feel equal. And it felt GOOD.

Doodling up on her notebook anything that came to her mind, Marina thought about how things had evolved lately. Off the Hook was no longer "Pearl's new group with a random girl dancing next to her" like some called them at their beginning. They'd been established as one of Inkopolis's most important music groups, and things seemed like they could only get better and better.

The octoling smiled as she quickly sketched pearl taking a cool pose like she knew how to do so well. Ah ... She truly was amazing. She put down her pencil and got up to get herself a glass of water, but heard a noise not so far from her. The front door was opened. And she knew for sure that Pearl wasn't outside. Someone was there, someone she didn't know

The woman froze as she watched the two inklings walking confidently into the house, looking around before spotting Marina in the corridor. One of the two, visibly the youngest, hid behind the other and began to look at the woman with curiosity. The older inkling sighed and walked up to Marina.

"Hello. I believe you are Marina ?"

She hesitated for a bit before silently nodding. How did these people even get in ?! There were supposed to be security cameras everywhere.

"Good. We're Pearl's cousins. I'm Emperor, and this is my little sibling, Prince. We're here to have an important talk about the group you've formed ... This conversation is mostly coming from her father, yet we also play an important part in it."

Before Marina could answer, Pearl sprinted out of her room, letting herself slide on the floor for a few feet due to how fast she was and let out a gasp.

"WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU TWO DOING IN MY HOUSE ?!"

"Your father gave us the keys. You didn't answer my phone calls and I needed to contact you as fast as I could."

"Tch. What does the old man want from me that he couldn't tell me himself ?"

"Sit down and let's talk about it. You too, Marina. I'd like it if you could participate as well."

Pearl jumped on the nearest couch she could find (this part of the house had MANY couches, which always impressed Marina ... She imagined it was most likely to deal with professional meetings) and invited Marina to join her. The two siblings simply sat down in front of them in armchairs. Pearl immediately started to growl, leaving both prince and Marina silent as they simply watched the conversation happen.

"So. You said this was about Off The Hook. If dad told you it's just another hobby of mine that overtook my life, he's wrong. We're doing great, and I'm already looking to buy a new house with the money we made."

"Actually, I knew that already. And while your father had been sceptical about your musical carrier in the past, he has admitted that he's rather impressed with your current status in the industry and wishes you well. He even listened to a couple of your songs and called them rather pleasing to hear."

"Huh ? Now that's new. What's all the fuss about then ?"

"As you know, while my part of the family does own a large percentage of our company, it is your father's side that will end up inheriting the company itself and therefore will own a majority of the funds. The problem is, with you being busy with your newly found carrier, you won't be able to actually be of use to the company. So we've discussed about another possibility. How about prince and I take your part of the company ? That way, we would be able to hold up with the family's name, your father won't have to worry about not having anyone to keep the company alive, and you can do whatever you want with your carrier."

"That sounds like a pretty good idea. But tell me, what do I gain from it ? I mean. If I accept your thing, it means that I'd gain much less. You know, i could very well pay someone to run the company instead of me, and I'd still make bankers. Right now, all that you're offering to me is to steal my heritage. That doesn't sound fair at all."

Emperor visibly shivered and lowered his head down.

"Yes, you're correct, yet we ... We had the idea to keep ... To try to-"

"Nah, just kidding. I'm messing with ya, Emp. Honestly ? I'd be happy to let you hold it up if you feel like you have the shoulders for it."

"A-are you sure ? I mean, you were correct about the fact that we're technically taking a large part of your inheritance and-"

"Yeah yeah, whatevs. I love our fam, but I just don't think that business is meant for me. Honestly i don't even know a single thing about how I could try to run it if I were to own it some day. You two look like you trained for that all of your life. I know we haven't really kept in touch, but I'm still watching over you two. Just yesterday, I saw that you two won the contest held for the new emerging turf talents ! That's three years in a row for ya, and two for Prince. It's incredible ! Booyah, man !"

Prince blushed and looked down as he whispered a little booyah in return, making his brother chuckle.

"Understood. Thank you. Yet, even if you're okay with letting us take the lead, I still want to show that I do come here with the idea of bringing you something in return. First of all, I do want you to know that you will get a large amount of money to compensate the loss of your heritage as a percentage of he company's revenues. While it may not fully replace your loss in the long run, I promise we will make it significant enough to prove that this was done in good faith. Second, I'm actually here to tell you that ever since squid squad broke up, we've been looking go aquire new copyrights of emerging artists to keep up with trends. And, you know ... It seems like a new group called Off the Hook fits our criteria perfectly."

Chapter Text

They did it. Without even trying, off the hook had been selected to be part of the very few artist groups to be heard during turf wars. Yes, the fact that Pearl was a part of the family that owned a majority of the turf war industry really helped. But still. Despite the fact that Pearl had been in many groups in the past, some even being quite popular, but none has even been close to even trying to go for preselections in this post. Being used in turf war battles was basically the officialisation in the music industry that you were uncontestably an iconic group. Pearl had been overly excited about this. Marina ? Not so much.

After all, she knew about turf wars in details, but had never truly experienced it. She'd listened to the songs that were put up during battle, and found them quite nice. She understood the way it was supposed to work, how teams were formed, the friendships that were created by it, the cultural impact of such sport in the world ... But she'd never tried it. Something about it deeply scared her. Just the world war struck her as something she should not participate in, for other's sake. It's not like she didn't understand that this was just a game. But it was instinctive. War was bad. She didn't war to happen. Therefore she avoided this game. But this time, Pearl was NOT going to let that slide. They HAD to play together at least once before the year would end. For her, it wasn't even a question anymore, simply a necessity.

And yet, even in the Splatfest hall, Pearl still had to drag her best friend to the terminal to enter.

"Come on Marina !! It's the first day where our songs will be playing there ! Don't you want to try and fight with that in the background ?! It'll be amazing !!"

"I don't know ... I don't feel like it's for me."

"YOU NEVER EVEN PLAYED IT !! How can you say that ?!"

"I'm just ....I'm not ..."

Pearl looked at her friend's face for a second and looked at the wrist she still had her fingers clenched upon. She felt a little ache in her heart before letting it go and looking down.

"... I'm not going to force you to do it, alright ? I promise. I just think you could enjoy it. It's something everyone likes here. There's no pressure if you loose, especially since it's your first match."

Marina looked down. It wasn't about pressure of loosing. She was scared to go back to her days of military training. She wasn't exactly sure of what could be worse. Finding herself in a situation of high stress where she could end up having a panic attack, or accidentally going back to self defense and actually hurting someone who would be playing this game for fun. Either way she wasn't exactly sure if she wanted to test it out.

"It's not about losing. I'm sorry Pearl, there's just ... Too much for me to explain here. I wouldn't even know where to start."

The inkling sighed and shook her head.

"It's alright. How about I do a match first ? See these little screens there, next to the benches ? They display ungoing matches. You could watch me do my match and maybe that'll warm you up to playing ? If it doesn't ... You at least came here. You tried, and it's all that matters. And we'll celebrate by going out for some pizza."

"Okay, but I get to put on pineapple on it."

"You are an awful, awful creature... Trying to murder me like that just because I wanted to bring you to turf. I'm going into battle. I'd rather die there than keep this conversation going."

The two girls looked at each other frowning before chuckling and waving each other goodbye. Marina sighed as she walked up to the screen Pearl had pointed and sat down on a nearby bench before hearing a gasp next to her.

"Oh my cod, are you Marina ?!"

The woman's heart skipped a beat before turning around to see an inkling that looked just a little older than her staring with her mouth wide open. Marina shook her head and nervously began to twirl her tentacles as the woman got closer.

"Y-yup, that's me ..."

"Oh, oh, I'm a huge fan of yours !! I've been following off the hook since your face reveal ! Can I get an autograph ?"

"Sure ... Just please, can you avoid speaking too loud ? I'd rather avoid having hoards of fans coming here, especially since it's our debut as turf war artists ..."

"Oh of course ! Sorry, i got a little too excited after recognizing you."

Marina quickly grabbed the piece of paper the woman was holding, signed it and looked back at the screen. She immediately noticed that Pearl was on it, her ink color changed to a beautiful lemon yellow as she jumped into battle.

"Oooooh pearl is here as well ? Why aren't you in battle with her ? Were you scared of being paired against each other ?"

"No ... I'm just a little nervous about turf. I've never played it before."

"Why is that ? You look strong. Much stronger than her at least. No offense to Pearl, but you do look like you could punt her into the sun effortlessly."

Marina chuckled at that mental image, even if she did feel a little guilty about the simple idea of hurting Pearl.

"No ... I think I'm just ... Worried about turf in general. She wanted me to be there, but I think ... I may be scared of doing something wrong. I don't what or how, but it feels like I'm going to mess up somehow."

"Hey, it's alright ! We all mess up in turf war. But it makes pretty funny stories ! Look at me. My first war, I chose to use an aerospray. I thought it was an attack weapon so I just went straight into battle and got splatted in loop for four minutes straight. My best friend still jokes about it to this day. But now, I use rollers. I just LOVE to splat people with this thing and still being able to ink ! I'm a proud killer on the battlefield."

"You take pride in splatting others ?"

"I mean, the goal is to do what you're good at in turf. What feels right to you. I'm a real natural when it comes to Splating, but maybe inking or defense may be more your thing ? I guess you can only find out when you play. That's what I did, anyway."

Marina felt a little something in her chest as the woman smiled at her. She couldn't see her eyes as they were hidden behind a pair of shades, but she felt like they were probably as sparkly as the rest of her body. The octoling sighed and shook her head before noticing pearl coming out of the terminal with a stretch and walking up to her.

"Yo I fucking destroyed their asses !! 15 kills on one game, I think I broke my personal record there ! Did you see that Rina ?! Your girl ain't just good at rhymes, she's a monster on the battlefield as well !!"

"Oh, well, I didn't really... I was just talk-"

Marina turned around to point at the woman she'd been talking to, but ended up finding ... Nothing. The inkling had purely and simply vanished. Trying to erase her surprise, Marin shook her head and clenched her fist. Maybe the woman was just busy and had to quicky leave. It was alright.

"I was thinking a lot. About turf war. And while I'm not exactly sure if I want to participate, would you allow me to take a look at the weapons with you ? Just to see if anything would be fitting for me."

"YO REALLY ?! OOOOOH AWSOME !! I don't know which one you should try first. Sloshers maybe ? Nah. Maybe too difficult for ya. Mmmmh ... Maybe a blaster. Yeah, i could see you using one of those. Or maybe, we could..."

Marina smile as her friend lead the way. Surprisingly ... It didn't feel so scary anymore.

The inkling growled as she took off her shades to type in the number she wanted to call. This place was way too dark for her, but it was the only corner she could find where people wouldn't be able to track her down.

"Agent 2 ? Yes. Agent 1 here. You were right, I found our target out in the wild today. She seemed hesitant about participating in turf war, but I managed to convince her to do so. I'm gonna try to match up with her and see how she behaves. This may be our clue to see if she's a danger or not. Over."

Chapter Text

Having to lie about not knowing how weapons worked was a little difficult for Marina. She'd never played turf in the past. Therefore, in Pearl's eyes, she didn't have any reason to hold a weapon before. Marina wasn't exactly a soldier. She was an engineer, a technician, a mechanic and she mainly worked in the back lines. There had been times where she'd been called to work in places where conflicts could sprout, but it was never anything that required her to be perfect with a weapon. But the thing was, every single female octoling was trained for combat at some point, most often during their school years, and they did have to train a bit with the weapons they felt the most comfortable with to avoid loosing their shape.

"That's a blaster. They're really good if you're going for something offensive, and if you don't know how to aim very well."

Blasters were usually assigned to people that knew how to aim well in her regiment. One shot could rip someone's arm off if it was well executed.

"And these are rollers. They're really good if you like to ink and just roll over people that don't check behind them, haha !"

These could be terrifying if left in good hands. Marina had heard horror stories of Octavio's Splatoon being decimated in one go by a splat roller. Five people killed in a minute.

"I think that's all ... Oh no ! I forgot, these are brellas. I think they're pretty meh, not gonna lie ... They're the only weapon that can protect you from other people's ink. And for their shoots, they're basically blasters but less strong."

That was new. That was a weapon Marina had actually never seen. Protect, huh ? So ... There was no need to always be on the offensive ?

"I think I'd like to try that one. Even if it's for one game."

"Oh ! Welp, i guess I can't judge you. I'm a sucker for offense but ... You know what ? Maybe a brella could fit you, yup. Sheldon, we're getting this one !"

Taking a bit to train in the waiting area, Marina could feel her heart flutter as she began to try on her brand new brella. The shots were a little flimsy indeed ... But the feeling of protection it brought her made her feel insanely less nervous. It didn't feel like she could be in danger anymore. She could protect herself and ... She had Pearl by her side.

"Yo Rina, the match is starting in a minute ! Come here to meet the rest of the team before we get in !"

"Understood !"

Marina dashed to see the people she was to be paired with, a young boy wearing two pairs of goggles one on top of the other, and a slightly older kid wearing an Hawaii shirt and a bright pink cap. She quickly greeted them before glancing at the other team, made entirely out of women, with one of them standing out a little more than the rest. Marina gasped and waved at her with a smile. It was the inkling that talked to her earlier. She immediately recognized her and waved back with a smirk.

"Hey you ! Don't think I'm gonna go easy on ya because you're a newbie ! We learn by getting out asses kicked here !"

Marina chuckled as Pearl sticked her tongue out as an answer to the lady. The idol was glad that the inkling didn't mention her name. Being noticed by other people was the last thing she would've wanted in this instant.

"Noted, but I won't go easy on you either !"

"Got it ! Best of luck, you'll need it ! I'm a pro splatter !"

Marina felt her heart pound in her chest as she walked towards the superjump pads.
She could do this.

Chapter Text

Inking turf was a lot easier than what she expected. And a LOT of fun. Marina had expected turf to be very focused on splatling with how Pearl described it. But no. It seemed that she was the only one that really wanted to focus on absolutely destroying the other team. Overall, Marina felt surprised to see how much she enjoyed turf. She'd feared to remember too much about her military training, thinking that a battle where splatting happened rather often would ultimately make her fear for her life ... And that's what happened, for the first few seconds. But soon enough, Marina realized that this battle was made specifically to make sure that everyone knew this was a game, and nothing else.

The music in the background was hers. Shark Bytes, to be precise. A music that she'd written specifically to be sung with a friend as a duo. And with Pearl by her side smiling during the battle, she didn't feel like she had a single reason to be stressed. Even her opponents didn't look threatening. Everyone had a huge smile on their face as they swam around and inked as much turf as they could. Marina had gotten herself splatted a couple of times already, but every time she did, the only thing she had in mind was to get back to the middle of the map and ink the turf they'd just lost. The adrenaline made her forget about the fact that splatting could be dangerous. It just ... Felt good.

She'd made a great team with Pearl. Her brella was an excellent way to protect her beloved inkling from shots as she did her side roll to activate her dualies's boosts and destroy their opponent. Slowly changing the world to their colors was deeply satisfying. But ... It didn't look like it was enough. Marina was having fun, yes. But the other team was winning. And after a while ... The woman just had to admit that they couldn't keep going like that. They only had one minute left. Marina and Pearl had just gotten splatted, and the duo had just respawned at the other end of the map.

"Sorry Rina ... Looks like i couldn't do enough to make us win."

"We still have one minute left, don't we ?"

"I'm not sure if that'll be enough, though."

"Wait. I have a plan."

"Mmmmh ?"

"Don't think, and do as I say. I need you to get on the bottom left of the map and ink as much as you can before running away from the other team. And this is important, try NOT to splat anyone for as long as you can. I just want you to get their attention."

"Oooooh ? Gotcha. No idea what you have in mind, but I'm trusting you for the job."

Marina nodded as the duo swam back to the middle of the map, the octoling immediately hiding into ink as her partner began to ink a little and caught the attention of the enemy's roller and their blaster. They were powerful, yes. But Pearl was faster. Her side rolls, swimming form and ability to ink fast with her dualies was more than enough to keep them at bay. After making sure that everyone else was occupied, Marina swam through the middle ground and jumped into the enemy's camp, going as deep in it as she could before she started inking. Ink, ink as much as she could, cover up the maximum amount of ground with her colors while the enemies weren't watching. That was the only way they could win. The music in the background was going faster. Time was almost over. Marina heard a noise of a respawn pad being activated. She turned around, only to see her roller friend running towards her with a smile.

"OH, YOU LITTLE -"

The music stopped, and so did everyone. A little moment of silence came before the roller user began to laugh.

"That was a REALLY good strategy. I'm willing to bet your team won because of it. Well done !"

"T-thanks ! You did a really great job too. I bet you're the one that painted the most in this team."

"It's just my job as a roller. Plus hey, it's fun. I like that. Wanna try and do a rematch after we get the results ? I'd love to see if I can get you next time."

"Oh that would be lovely !! I'd love to !!"

Marina could deny it no longer
She loved turf

Chapter Text

Callie gasped for air as she jumped on the scene and waved at the cameraman to start the announcement. 2:03 PM. She was three minutes late, and she knew it. Marie glared at her, knowing that their manager was going to blame both of them for that error. Callie just tried her best to act cool on camera and act like everything was fine. Because being late was one thing. But trying to hide the tension she'd just accumulated from the things she learned was completely different. Marina Ida was the only thing she had in mind. And the second the live was out, Callie grabbed her cousin, dragged her to their changing room and sighed as she watched her take one of her signature snarky looks.

"You were late."

"I know, I know ... Sorry. But I've got the info you wanted me to take ! I just took as many rounds of turf as I could because who knows if I'll ever get the occasion to do such thing again ?!"

"I see ... Well, I can definitely cover up for you if it's about our ... Other job. How much did you gather ?"

Callie silently glanced around, checking one last time if the two of them really were alone.

"She's not a fighter. She knows the basics of fighting, and has good reflexes, but it's nothing like someone who's been trained specifically for this."

"How can you be so sure about it ? If she's soldier, she must be good at faking her own weaknesses to make others less weary."

"No. I doubt it. See, she was kind of ... Slow. More than once, i was able to come from behind with my roller and she didn't notice me until it was too late. It wasn't even a splat roller, I used a dynamo. She lacked awareness of her surroundings. But that led me to notice something else about her. She's very, very intelligent."

"... So intelligent that she gets herself splatted by a dynamo ?"

"That's just her not paying enough attention to surrounding noises. But I played five matches in a row against her. And guess what. I lost every single time. Not just because they were especially aggressive nor strong. But because every time that octoling took the lead, she managed to make up a strategy to destroy us. Pearl just blindly followed her instructions and they won. I don't know if they sent someone from their war council or just a random genius troop leader, but either way, this isn't good. We need to find a method to monitor her ... Anything could be good. Because if she lets out infos about what she found out, inkopolis is done for. We only have kids playing turf war here, not soldiers. Any ideas ?"

"... Didn't we agree that she could be friendly as well ?"

Callie sighed as she clenched her fist.

" Yeah, i thought so at first ... But, you know ... Maybe I'm just too nice. It's easier to hope for the best... But I saw her on the battlefield. Did I splat her ? Yes. But by the time she was down, her team had already won. I just ... Think about the kids that would be brought into this, Marie !! Agent 3 was enough ! Do you want another war to sprout up because we want her to be nice ?!"

Marie softly wrapped one of her arms around her cousin's shoulders.

"I get why you're scared. But we've been watching her from afar for a year and nothing bag happened. We can't just assume she's a bad person."

"Have you ever seen an octarian not being a bad person ?!"

"... And have you ever seen an octarian without their hypnogoggles ?"

The silence that came after these few words was heavy. The two cousins looked at each other, and Callie's body began to get more and more tense.

"Are you saying they could all be like that without their goggles ? Just ... Nice ?"

"I don't know. I don't think we can know. But but what I know for sure is that I'm not giving up on Marina just because she's too intelligent for her own good. Something must've happened. Something that we may not understand yet. And I need to know what it is."

"And how are you supposed to know that ?! What ?! Will you just... Ask her what happened ?!"

"Yes. And I think I know exactly how I will do that."

Chapter Text

It's squidmas. The one holiday everyone had been talking about for at least two months, visibly the most important inkling celebration there is. Marina could get why it would be. A large family reunion where you share gifts and a large buffet for everyone to eat ? A moment where everyone shared their most precious thoughts, went to see people they haven't been able to talk to in a while and have a simple wish for sharing happiness with others.

At least that was its concept. And people who could celebrate it like that most likely had a fun time. This was not Pearl's case.

Marina knew she'd been waiting for this for a while now. And even if she didn't get any news from her family, she was still hoping she may be able to have at least someone, anyone !

And hearing her broken voice on the phone through the walls destroyed Marina.

"I know you tried really hard, and It's just ... No, I don't want your excuses !! I know you're busy, dad !! I just ... I don't ask you for much. I'm even going to stop using your house next month, so i won't have to owe you anything. But ... It's been four years in a row. Yes, YES already. I just wanted to have SOMEONE to spend the day with this time... Emp and Prince ? No. No they told me they had to go to Calamari county. No, I'm not going back there. No, dad, i just ... You know what ? Let's hang up. I know you're busy. You're just loosing time here. Yeah. Merry squidmas. Bye."

The second the call ended, Marina heard the sound of something being shattered on the ground. She ran out of her room to get into Pearl's and found the woman in tears, clawing a pillow as a freshly broken vase laid next to her. Marina took a step down and shivered as their eyes met.

"I'm sorry, I just- I wanted to make sure you didn't hurt yourself. I'll go."

"No, no, no !! WAIT !! Please, wait Marina ..."

The two girls stared at each other for a bit, trying to find a way out of the tension that had just been built up. Marina sighed and finally broke the silence.

"Listen ... I know this day was important to you. And I know you're probably feeling awful right now. I'm ... Not the best with this kind of situation. I think things will get worse if I stay with you. If you want to see me, you can come in my room. Otherwise ... You can come to eat lunch whenever you want. It's already cooked, and set on the table."

"No ... Please, don't leave me ..."

Another silence. Pearl still had her pillow against her chest, and was visibly putting all of her strength into compressing it.

"Marina, I ... I'm sorry. That you had to hear that. It's not your fault, and I guess it's not mine either, it's just ... URGH. Family. I fucking hate how much I miss them. I don't want to go back to Calamari county, it reminds me of bad memories ... But everyone in my family goes to party there. And I'm just left here. All alone."

The octoling sighed and shook her head.

"I know. You care a lot about your family, I've seen it. And ... I believe that your loss hasn't helped."

"... I guess. You know, my mom's death never really hurt me as much as people believe it should've. I loved her, don't get me wrong ... But I didn't spend enough time with her to feel like I would deeply miss her. She was always running around on the field, and showed her affection by buying me overpriced gifts. Like yeah, I have a boat. I got it on my tenth birthday. But that's it. We just shared a cake and a hug and that's all I got that day. I felt like it didn't leave a hole in my heart like other people described death to be like. But it's at times like these where I feel like I'm just ... Being abandoned. My dad has to put up with all of the work she left behind. And while everyone else gets to talk about how good of a Squidmas they had, i just think about ... How everyone left me. I feel alone."

Marina hesitated for a bit. She didn't want to put herself as a savior. She couldn't bring herself to hurt Pearl any further. But still ... She needed her to hear it. At least once.

"I'm not leaving you behind. I know, I'm not part of your family. It's probably not the same as being with them. And ... We haven't even known each other for that long, all things considered. But I'm here... And I promise that I will stay. It's the best I can do right now."

For a moment, Pearl's world stopped. It was as if everything has been turned into black and white, a place where nothing could bring warmth to the broken person she was. And yet ... Marina was still here. In colors. A deep turquoise that felt so real, and so intense ...

Pearl wasn't alone. She hadn't been ever since she'd met Marina. And the reason why she hadn't noticed such thing is because she'd brought a sense of routine to the weird a confusing life Pearl had been going through so far. She only felt alone when she thought about the people that weren't there. But Marina never left her. She was always by her side, comforting her when she was at her worst. And Pearl had done the same for her. It didn't feel like something that was owed to each other, just a natural reaction for seeing someone you deeply care for in distress.

Pearl took a deep breath, trying to stop her tears from falling down. It didn't work. She could feel her heart pounding in her chest, a heart that wanted to lead her to the person that has brought her so much joy in the last few months.

She slowly walked towards her partner, raised her arms up, and let herself fall against Marina's chest. Everything still felt out of place, all except her. Marina didn't say anything. She simply wrapped her arms around her beloved friend and gently pat her head

Pearl's father wasn't her world. This house, this city, her music weren't her world.

Marina was her world.

Chapter Text

Pearl woke up with a warm feeling on her chest. It took her a while to register what could be going on. Her mind was still blinded by the alcohol she drank the prior night. The scattered dinner plates around the bed, the confetti spread around the room, a faint smell of chocolate cake and... Marina.

Marina. Sound alseep. Laying on her chest.

Pearl took every single big of strength that was left in her body not to throw her body off out of fear. What the hell even happened last night ?! Alcohol, most likely. Pearl was used to it. But Marina ? Urgh ... The inkling wasn't so sure anymore. Probably not. She didn't look like the type of person to drink. And the place where she lived didn't seem to have any alcohol at all.

Pearl took a deep breath, slowly trying to get out of the woman's embrace, accidentally slipping under her as she tried to slide out of the bed, ending up with her chest right in her face. Pearl growled, trying her best to keep her mind clear as possible while finally escaping from the bed. Marina was driving her insane. There was no other word for it. Being in love with that woman was hard, and trying to hide her feelings was even harder than expected. She was ... Terribly addictive. Yeah, that was the word. Addictive. Living together like that, spending every day of their life side by side, having someone to see whenever she woke up ... It felt like something Pearl could no longer live without.

With a slight groan, Pearl managed to get fully out of Marina's grasp and jumped out of the bed to finally understand the reason why there were so many plates around the bed. Squidmas. They'd just celebrated squidmas together, eating stupid amounts of cake as they laid down in Marina's bed, drunk with all of the champagne they'd sipped over the night. The night was overall pretty blurry and Pearl did remember venting and crying a little, but overall she just had this warm feeling in her chest that couldn't leave her. She had a good Squidmas. It was something that hasn't happened to her in years. And ... Yup. What a year she'd just went through. She couldn't believe that it was almost over.

Pearl walked out to the kitchen and grabbed herself an orange that she bit like an apple. It took her a few seconds to realize what she'd done and spit out the bite before taking a knife and cutting the orange properly. Woaw ... Maybe she didn't handle last night's alcohol as well as she thought. She sighed and grabbed her phone, immediately scrolling down her social media, quickly putting up the usual Merry Squidmas post to make her fans happy and looking down at her private messages. Most of them were either fans showing her their off the hook merch (most of them were pretty young and to be honest, it was kind of heartwarming) or people from the music industry who were trying to win her over with nice words ... But she never took the bait.

However, one message for her attention. It was from someone who'd never contacted her before, someone she knew too well though.

Marie Cuttlefish.

"Hello Pearl !
First of all, Merry Squidmas if you're celebrating it ! I hope you and Marina got the gifts that you wanted."

Gifts ? Oh shit. She'd completely forgotten about the gifts. Man ... She really wanted squidmas to be an excuse go eat a lot, didn't she ... Welp. It's not like Marina had gifted her anything either. It should be fine.

"I've been meaning to contact you for a while now, but I felt like i never had the time to do so lately. Thankfully, the Squidmas rush is over and I have more time to talk to people other than Callie and my producers.
I know that Marina has been very vocal about appreciating our music, and I must say that the feeling is shared. Your songs are really fresh. And I say that because I believe it, not because I'm forced to be nice in front of a TV audience or anything like that.
So I've been wondering, would you be interested in spending some time together in the future ? I could be very professional and try to ask for a future collaboration or something like that, but I don't think it's off the hook's style to do things this way. And to be fair, I kind of like it.
I feel like we could just share a drink or two and just learn more about each other, if you're okay with that."

...

Holy shit

Well, maybe she did have a gift for Marina after all.

Chapter Text

It had been about a month since the Frostyfest season had ended. The girls didn't have much to do and had decided to use this time to relax. And nothing more relaxing than inviting two of the most well known celebrities of the city to your house, right ?

"Oh my cod, oh my cod !! Can you believe it Pearl ?! Callie and Marie. THE squid sisters !! Coming to OUR HOME !! There's no way ... There's no way !!"

"There is a way, Reena. Cuz I'm the one who invited them, duh. They're just another duo of singers ! You gotta relax."

"You don't get it ... They changed my life !! I wouldn't be with you if I hadn't heard of them !! They're ... They're everything to me. D-Do I look good ? Should I take a more casual outfit ? No ... Maybe something more fancy ??"

"Ya ain't got time to change left, girl. I can see their car outside. C'mon, let's get them in."

"WAIT !! I DON'T THINK I'M READY !!"

"Yes you aaaaare just go for it and things will be smooth."

The poor octoling tried her best to calm herself down as Pearl slammed the door open to reveal the two cousins waiting behind it with a big smile.

"Heyo girls !! Come in, everything's ready. Thought we'd start it off with something simple, just sitting around with snacks and talking about whatever comes to mind. Does that sound good to you ?"

Callie chuckled and nodded.

"Food ? You know me too well. I can't argue with that."

"I mean ... I did because I know I like it. But looks like we have the same taste ! We're off to a good start. C'mon, follow me."

The little group walked up to the living room (well. At least the closest living room. This house had too many rooms with similar functions, it was pretty ridiculous) And settled down after opening a few different bag of chips and a bottle of fancy soda. Pearl was already laughing with the squid sisters, talking about random anecdotes that came to her mind. But Marina ... Was still a little too lost. These were her idols. The people that she admired more than anyone else. And yet she was absolutely unable to speak up a single word. It ... Hurt. She simply watched everyone talk and laugh and felt her mind slowly drift away, until she felt a hand up against her shoulder.

"So ! Marina, huh ? We've talked to Pearl before, but I think that for you it's a first ! She told us you're a reaaaally big fan of the squid sis ~"

Callie had spoken to her. She was directly looking at her with a big smile. This wasn't a dream.

"Ah- ! Well ... I am ... You're really important people to me. Sorry if I sound weird or don't know how to act ... I've been trying my best to prepare myself to be normal today. But ... I think I'm a little stressed at the idea of meeting my heroes, you know ?"

"Awwwwh ... It's okay ! We're all the same here. Don't worry, I also got nervous when I first met squid squad. Take your time, breathe in and breathe out ... And maybe start by talking to me. Avoid Marie. I know she's the most intimidating person in the room."

The green squid huffed and rolled her eyes to the sky.

"Callie, you're scaring her even more ! I'm not that intimidating ... Am I ?"

Marina softly chuckled and shook her head.

"No, you're not. Don't worry. I'm just the one stressing out here. I'm just ... Really happy to see you. I hope we can get along"

To that, Callie responded by letting her tongue out and giggling.

"No need to act like you're on a job interview here. Be wild ! Just spill your heart out on the table ! I know i won't restrain, and I'm willing to bet that there will be at least one embarrassing anecdote about me created today."

Marina clenched her fist and slammed it against her thigh.

"Alright ... I suppose a little bit of spark never hurt anyone. So let me start off the wildfire. Pizza is better than burgers."

To that, Marie let out a beautiful laugh while Callie gasped dramatically while taking a theatrical pause.

"BETRAYAL !! AND HERE I WAS OFFERING YOU AN ALLIANCE !! PEARL. PLEASE. TELL ME YOUR TASTES ARE BETTER THAN THIS FOUL BEING'S."

"Ye I think burgers are far better than pizza."

"HAHA !! THEN IT'S TWO VERSUS TWO !! THE BATTLE HAS BEGUN !! ... We can fight this off on super smash squids. We brought our switch."

"BET !!"

Marina finally felt her tension slowly disappearing as she began to let herself be caught into Callie's happy-go-lucky mood.

Perhaps this would be more fun that she'd expected.

Chapter Text

Actually spending time with the squid sisters was a dream come true. Marina couldn't believe it. Her saviors, the ones that gave her the motivation to come to the surfaces, the people directly responsible for her meeting with pearl ... They were right here. And they didn't treat her like a fan. They treated her like an equal.

It had been one hell of a day, talking about random things, laughing and sharing food with her idols ... But now, Marina desperately needed a break. Pearl and Callie were really hyperactive, and their energy was exhausting her. Walking up to one of the house's balcony, Marina got out to take a breath of fresh air. It was already late, and the sun had set down, leaving the stars to shine bright in the sky. Another thing she couldn't have done without the cuttlefish cousins. Stargazing.

"Hey there. Can I join you ?"

Marina shivered and turned around to see Marie walking up to her with a smile, leaning against the balcony to look up at the stars as well.

"O-oh ! Of course !! I just needed a calm moment. Away from all the noises ..."

"I get you. Callie can get pretty loud whenever she's excited. I love her but ... Sometimes I do need a break as well."

She chuckled and Marina sighed, trying to stay composed. That woman wasn't just her hero. She was actively trying to be her friend. She needed to act normal.

"It's strange, whenever I see the night sky like that, I can't help but think about my old home, back at Calamari county. We used to chase bugs together with Callie under the moonlight, beetles tend to like coming out at this hour. Now that I think about it, where do you come from ? I don't think I've ever heard your accent before."

"Oh ... Well, my home country is pretty far away. We don't really go out at night there ... Because it's often too dark to see. The moonlight doesn't reach our roads because of umh- ... Trees."

"Like a tree canopy ?"

"Y-yes. That's right."

"That must be quite beautiful. I wish I could see it by myself."

"Oh ... Sadly, I can't show it to you. Even I can't come back there."

"I see ... Well If the transportation's a problem, I'm sure we could arrange a way to get you something like an helicopter or a boat."

"No ... No. I don't WANT to come back there. Ever."

Marina instinctively hugged her knees as her breaths deepened. She could feel her hands shaking, grasping her legs like her life depended on it. She spent a few seconds out of her mind before a gentle rub on her back brought her back.

"Marina ? Is everything alright ?"

"I umh ... Sorry, I ..."

"No, no. I'm the one who's sorry here. I should've guessed this could be a touchy subject since you didn't mention it by yourself. Forgive me."

"Yes ... I suppose it is. I try not to think about it too often. This place ... Has tainted me. Thanks to Pearl, I'm doing better now but ... I don't think I'll ever be able to fully heal from the damages it caused. I don't want to go back there. Ever again. And if I'm being honest, I don't think I want to hear from it again either."

"What matters is that you're here now. You're safe and no matter who they are, i doubt they'd be able to reach you now that you're on top of this world. Things are better now. And hey, you even got to meet your favorite idols. Ain't that neat ?"

"Y-Yeah !! I'm not exaggerating when I say that you changed my life ... I mean it. Your songs are what lead me to believe I didn't have to spend my life in a place where I no longer belonged. You may have saved my life, and I'm not afraid to say it."

"Oh. I see ... That is quite the compliment you're giving me. I couldn't be happier to know that I made such a huge difference in someone's life, let alone such a talented artist. Did a song in particular made you change your mind ? Or did you just happen to stumble upon one of our albums ?"

"It was the Calamari Inkantation."

Marie took a small pose and nodded.

"That's good to know."

Chapter Text

Neither of the two groups wanted the day to end. It had just been a pleasure to spend time together, but in the end, The squid sisters had to leave as they could only leave inkopolis news for so long. It was a little sad, but in the end, the girls promised they would see each other again whenever they could.

Everyone was genuinely happy. That was for sure. But ... The conversation that started when Marie started the car was much different from what they shared with the duo.

"Callie, I'm pretty sure Marina's a good person. I talked to her earlier. She started to dissociate when I mentioned her hometown, and tried to avoid the subject despite me never mentioning anything about Octolings. I think she's a refugee."

"..."

"Callie. Don't ignore me. I know you saw it too. You weren't acting it out when you had fun with her. You were being genuine."

"I know. I did have fun I'm just ... Scared of trusting her still."

"Again, I think we were too rough on her. It's weird to see how weary you are of octolings when you're always one to assume the best out of people. She's just like us. The only difference is that she was unlucky enough to be born in a place that happens to be against inkopolis. She deserves a chance."

"... You don't like to listen to Gramps's war stories. But I do. And I know we shouldn't trust them so easily. They almost won the war, and I doubt that we would be living underground if they did. I doubt we'd even be alive."

"Listen Callie. I love gramps. We both do. But he's obsessed with octarians and ... He may be a little senile. Times have changed. And so should you."

"... I'm scared of loosing you, Marie. If a war happens, you know we'd be on the front line. That's what agents are for. And if I'm able to defend myself on the battleground ... I doubt that you could do the same. Once a sniper is cornered, you know they're doomed."

"Callie ..."

"Is it so bad to be scared of the people who we fought again and again ?! They almost got us. More than once. She looks nice, I'm not saying that she isn't but- !! ... I'm scared. I'll admit it. This is the first time I'm so lost about what to do."

"Then maybe you could trust me ?"

"I ..."

"I'm scared as well. But you know what ? I know Marina is too, and for much better reasons. Can you think about it ? She ran away. If they catch her back, she's probably done for. Killing an enemy is one thing. But if they are as bad as gramps says, killing a traitor is most likely going to be their priority."

Callie sighed and hugged her knees.

" I know. I'm probably wrong about her. She looks nice. She's kind. And I think she's being genuine when she says she likes us. But she's the opposite of what gramps taught us Octolings were like. But when I think about it ... Wasn't she in the military ? Wasn't she meant to be part of the bad ones ?!"

"Well ... I guess ..."

"THINK ABOUT IT MARIE !! If she's supposed to be a strategist. A leader. Someone who puts up orders for others to kill. Why is she so nice ?! Why does she love us so much ?!"

"I'm not sure where you want to go with your arguments."

"... If she's not lying, it probably means that she's not an exception. There's no way a true monster could redeem herself simply because she liked a nice little song. And there's no way she could be a complete exception ... For her, being nice seems to be normal. The people we killed on the battlefield... They probably weren't bloodthirsty. They weren't seeking war. Maybe they were hoping to escape as well ? I think ... I think I'm scared of being the monster here."

Marie clenched her fists around the car's wheel

"... Then I guess we'd both be monsters."

The rest of the ride ended up being silent.

Chapter Text

Marina sighed as she waited for appointment with the duo's distributor. Things had been ... a little rough with them lately. Now that the girls were truly loved by everyone and that their first album had officially become a best seller, the people saw money. A LOT of it. The disc company wanted more rights to their musics, being able to sell the rights themselves for things like movies or advertisment production. But the thing was, Pearl refused categorically to have these unless she had some previous contacts with the people working on it. There was truly nothing someone could hate like a stupid little bit of music used as a jingle in loop in some annoying add, so much that you can no longer appreciate the original title. Pearl wanted her sounds to be something people could appreciate, not a way to advertise phones and food. And that Marina deeply agreed with. Sadly, Pearl had been pretty busy that day and couldn't make it to the appointment. She'd been trying to contact more tv shows to do some interviews or have them as guest stars. Marina was very nervous about being on her own for such an important discussion, but she knew her goal and would go straight for it. She could do it !!

The office door finally opened to let out the previous person who came in. The company would probably need about half an hour to discuss about what happened before she could come in, therefore marina didn't even bother to look off her phone to check what was going on. But suddenly, a voice rose up. One she recognized.

"Marina ?! No way !! To think I'd find you here ..."

The woman looked up and her eyes met with a red octoling's who was smiling at her. Wait. An octoling ?! Marina's hear began to pound in her chest. It had been more than a year since she's last seen someone of her kind. She struggled for a bit to recognize the person, as they were very different from any member of the army she'd ever met. Piercings, wildly colored fingers and hair, a half torn shirt ... But the man's smile was what got her to remember.

"W-WARABI ?!"

"Ah ! Good to see you remember me."

"OF COURSE I REMEMBER YOU- WE WORKED TOGETHER FOR YEARS !!"

"Who knows ? Sometimes, being a celebrity gets up to your head and you start getting snooty. Glad to see it's not the case."

"What are you even doing here ?! Are you still into music as well ?"

"Yeah of course ! It's the one thing that makes me feel alive. Kinda got into a fight with the team today. They want to use our stuff in adds and I'm really not into that. My partner doesn't care so I had to do it all by myself. Guess it's the same for you ?"

"Yes ... We agreed that we don't want it, but she couldn't make it today."

"Damn. That sucks. Welp, good luck for that. The dude doing the negotiations is as stupid and arrogant as he looks. So how have you been ? I've been meaning to check on you for a while but it's been a little hard to find your number for ... Obvious reasons. I know you look pretty happy with that little inkling of yours. What's her name again ? Pearl I think ?"

"Yes, that's it. Pearl is ... Wonderful. I have no other words for it. She's full of energy and always smiles. She loves to go out and bring me to try out things with her, but she's also so attentionate and cares a lot about me ... I don't think I've ever had anyone else being so insistant to make me comfortable. It's a nice feeling. She ... Hasn't noticed my "difference" yet. I'm not sure if I'll ever tell her about it, I don't want to ruin our relationship. How about you ? Did anyone notice ?"

"Nah. I don't think I've ever heard octolings being mentioned since I came up to the surface. The inklings ... They're pretty dumb, let's be honest. They can't even tell that we're not one of them despite the fact that we have so many differences. But ... I don't really mean that as a bad thing. My associate is also an inkling. His name is Ikkan. He's bold with his words, very stubborn and we fight pretty often. He likes conflict, that's the way he works. He kind of feels empty if there's no one to actually criticize his music, to be rough and kind of an asshole towards his work. And of course he wants to do the same for his partners. And ... I kinda dig that vibe. It helps for improvement. But the thing is, our fights never last. The second we finish yelling for an hour about whether we should use a trumpets or a saxophone, we can just sit down and talk about something else as if nothing ever happened. Can you imagine that back in our regiment ?! It would've taken weeks for anyone to make up after a fight. There's tension everywhere in that place. Here it's just ... All fun and games. It's a bit dumb but it doesn't need to be more than that. It makes me feel like i can actually breathe. It's a nice change."

Marina smiled as she watched her old friend ramble. He just felt so ... Different. As if the inkling world had allowed him to bloom. It was really nice to see that. But now that she'd seen him here ... Marina couldn't help but wonder about the rest of them. Their old group.

"...Do you know how the others are ? I've been away for so long ... I didn't even think twice about leaving. I wonder how everyone's doing."

"Turquoise October, huh ? Well ... As you can see, I'm doing just fine. I helped Paul to get up there too. That kid may be a genius, but I couldn't leave him behind on his own. He's gone back to music, just like all of us. He found a new band for himself, SashiMori. He lives with me, but it's more of a collocation than me taking care of him as a kid. You know how he is, he knew how to cook before I did. We should definitely hang out one of these days ! I'm sure Pearl would enjoy these guys. They have the same vibe as her."

"And ... What about Mizuta ?"

The man took a small pause before looking at the ground and sighing. He sounded ... Tired. His fists slightly clenched and his tentacles began to twirl.

"... I'm afraid she's no longer with us."

Another pause. The time needed for a realization. Marina's mind went blank for a few seconds before it hit.

"I ..."

"Don't worry. You don't need to try and find your words. I didn't know what to say either when it happened."

"Was it her treatment ..?"

"Yeah. I knew it was a bad idea, but she was already dying and had nothing to loose, y'know ? And yet ... She just became a walking corpse. One that knows how to make music, that's all. Her body's was still moving when we left. But she wasn't even able to smile anymore. I heard that she was going to be sent to a special facility to experiment further on her case, but I don't have much hope. I think it's better to accept that ... Our old friend is gone."

Marina sighed. She'd learned to accept death quickly. That soldiers died, all the time. No matter how close you are to someone, there's barely any chance you could've done something to save them if their life had ended. Blaming yourself won't help. Going further was the only way not to let yourself be hurt. But ... Marina wanted to let herself to be in pain. Perhaps this was just like Pearl had taught her. Grief was just another type of distress she needed to let herself cry for. She'd try to wait and do it at home, at least.

"If you want to talk about it, I'm here, alright Mar ? Here, there's my card. My phone number's on it. Feel free to text me whenever you want."

"Thanks ..."

Marina's voice betrayed her sadness with a slight crack at the end of the word. Warabi's eyes softened as his hands started to rub the woman's shoulders. After a bit, a small ring was heard from the man's pockets and the octoling growled.

"Fuck, my manager wants me with Ikkan in twenty minutes ... I have to leave. I'm glad i could see you again Marina. It was nice to see that you're doing well. Oh, and ... One last thing."

Marina shivered and slightly tilted her head. His voiced had changed tones. Drastically.

"If somehow your infos got leaked ... You're safe with me. I'm trying to unlearn the things I've been taught in the military. But one thing I'm trying to keep is the desire to protect my friends no matter what. I know a bunker near Mount Nantai, a place inklings would never find on their own. It's a place that was built up during the war to escape the Squidbeak Splatoon's aim. If you ever need help, call me. I'll bring you there to hide together. Y'know, they're nice today but ... Our ancestors know too well how they can be in times of war."

Marina nodded with a glup before watching the man walking out waving her goodbye as if nothing had happened.

In a way, she was happy that they got to see each other again, but ...

Now, she couldn't help but feel like she would've preferred not meeting him at all.

Chapter Text

If there was anything in her life that Pearl wanted to do more than anything else, it was to prove to others that she was able to do things on her own. Being raised spoiled and with quite literally anything she wanted was nice. She knew how lucky she was to have such privileges and she couldn't say she was unhappy with all of the toys she got as a child. Perhaps she could've wished for a closer family. She loved her family, of course. But maybe that was the last thing she truly missed to have a perfect childhood. But in the end, this life had lead many people around her to believe that she would never be able to create things on her own. If she were to have a future, it would be in the family business. If she were to have a career, it would be brought by her name and her name alone. If she were to do nothing with her life, she would only subsist on her dad's allowance. Throughout the years, this had made Pearl's blood boil with rage. She was capable of doing great things, she knew it, she just wished she had the chance and didn't just ... Blow it all away. Every time people learned her full name, she just knew that she was done for. That they'll no longer know her as Pearl, but rather as a HOUZUKI. But today ? Today was the day to change that.

Today, Pearl was standing in front of her house. The one she paid all on her own. The one that worked so hard for, without her family's help. She wasn't useless nor only counting on her family's name. But for the first time in her life, she had the physical manifestation of her thoughts to prove it. Yes, she bought it with Marina. It was THEIR house and THEIR work. But Marina used to be a nobody. It wasn't her name that brought her fame. It was her talent. And that made her even more worthy.

"Can you believe it Rina ?! This is our house ... Our very own place. We earned it. Together. From scratch. I just ... I can't believe it. I DID IT. LOOK AT ME MOM, I DID IT !! I'M ADULT NOW !! Well, at least I think so."

Marina chuckled and looked at her partner.

"If you're really an adult, I guess you could be the one who cooks tonight."

"...Oh nooo I'm still a litol baby look at me I'm so small I can't do anything noooo ... Okay, but seriously Marina, I can buy a house, but if you don't want our brand new kitchen to burn, you either make the food or we're buying fast food."

That was enough to make Marina genuinely laugh for a while. Pearl blushed in embarrassment, but ended up following her in that lighthearted moment. Not being able to cook at 20 years old was pretty laughable indeed.

"So ... Do we get to go inside ?"

"Of course ! Like I said, we got the keys now. We're not getting in today because we still need to add some furniture but we'll get there eventually. This is our house now. Ours, and no one else's."

Marina began to happily hop around before taking a sprint in the garden, lazily followed by Pearl who was taking her time admiring this new environment she would soon learn to live in.

"Pearl, Pearl !! We have a whole orchard !! Oh, it's so pretty ... I can't wait to eat so many fruits this summer !!"

"Lemon trees, huh ... Hell yeah, I bet we'll be able to get banger fish and chips with them"

"Lemons ?! Are these all lemon trees ?! Oh no ..."

"Don't worry Reena, I know you don't like them ... We have other trees over there. I thought about you. Plus, since we'll live together here for the future, we can try and plant new trees ! Can you imagine ? Cherry trees everywhere, beautiful flowers in the spring and so many cherries in the summer ..."

"Don't cherry trees take years upon years to fully grow up, thought ?"

"Yeah, but who cares !! This our house today, it'll probably be our house in ten or twenty years, right ? By then, we'll probably have tons of cherries."

Marina felt a minty blush sprout on her cheeks before nodding. She looked up at the sky and laid down on the grass, admiring the floating clouds between the tree's branches. Pearl looked at her in confusion before laying down by the octoling's side after she invited her by patting the grass. The two of them stayed silent for a little while before Marina finally blurted out a few words.

"I'm so happy I met you, Pearl. I don't think it's an exaggeration to say you're the best thing that ever happened to me."

The taller woman's arms wrapper around Pearl's body. The inkling closed her eyes, sighed, slightly buried her head against her partner, and smiled.

"Same thing here."

Chapter Text

Boxes. Boxes. BOXES. Pearl had heard how annoying moving out could be. Getting a new home was an exhausting process, checking if everything was working properly was difficult, but the BOXES ?! Oh. Pearl never wanted to do that again. It had been a WEEK and she still had to beg for help to everyone in her phone list in hopes that someone would be nice enough to help her out for what she hoped would be their final day with these stupid boxes. Surprisingly enough, someone accepted. Her cousins, Emperor and Prince, were apparently free that day and after a bit of negotiations (the promise of having a video game party together that night), they gladly came to help.

The process had still been laborious, but MUCH faster, and sooner than expected, the little family was set in one of the girls's living rooms, finally taking some well deserved rest. Pearl and emperor were sitting down on a nearby table enjoying a little drink while marina and Prince were hanging around the couch.

Marina quickly grabbed her graphic tablet and her computer, stretching before immediately doodling something on a new canvas. She couldn't have been happier to draw right now. She didn't have the occasion to do it often lately, and it truly helped her ease her mind.

"What are you doing ?"

The woman's eyes rose up to meet with golden ones who seemed to be observing her. Prince was looking at Marina's computer from behind the couch with a body language screaming shyness, but eyes filled with sparkles. It was ... Kind of cute. The woman pat the place next to her and handed the computer over for the teen to sit by her side and look.

"I'm trying to design some new spaces for the house. Pearl told me we should spend extra money to make our rooms to be sure that they'll look perfect. She told me she wanted her bed to kind of look like a pillow fort to be extra comfortable and feel like a little hut. I want to imagine how it could work and then we'll probably build it together."

"That is sooo cool ... You're really talented. How can you imagine things like that on your own without any exemples ?!"

"I like learning how things are made. It's a natural curiosity of mine. Usually it's more about mechanisms and machinerie. I like to take weapons, dismantle them and redraw them to understand how everything fits together and maybe imagine how to make up my own."

"I see ... I guess reverse engineering would work pretty well on turf war weapons. They look very complex but their mechanisms are pretty simple ! It's a bit difficult for me to imagine how people made them up in the first place, but once you have it in hand they look just perfect. Right now, I'm a big fan of dualies. A lot of people think they're complex, but when it comes to mechanisms they're actually two miniaturized splattershots. Oh and the rolls they make you do are actually electric impulsions that give you a muscle impulse on your legs to help you move faster !! Aaaand ... I'm rambling again. Dad said i talk too much."

"No, no, keep going ! I've actually never got to see the insides of dualies. Pearl told me she wants to keep her favorite weapons safe from my grubby little destroyer hand ... I'm good at taking things appart, but building them back up can get difficult, if you know what I mean ... Sometimes, destroying is more fun that making."

The young boy let out a chuckle with a nod.

"Oh, wanna see my weapon ideas ? They're a little rough, but maybe you'll like them."

"OH YES !! YES PLEASE !!"

the octoling let the teen lean a little more against her shoulders as she began to dig into her computer. She wasn't sure how a big family was supposed to look like but ... This sure felt like it.

After serving yet another glass to her thirsty cousin, Pearl smirked and kind of elbowed the man with a quick nod.

"It's weird to see that you were available to help us move when you're always on the run. Is there something on your mind, Emp ?"

The yellow inkling sighed, downed his drink in one go and slammed the glass back on the table.

"Well ... We've been working pretty hard with my team lately, and I thought we could all use some rest this weekend, especially Prince. He's talented, but he's still young and he needs some time to be a kid."

"Mmmh. Yeah. Helping someone to move out. What a time to be a kid."

"I'm not talking about that, idiot. Look at them."

The inkling pointed towards Marina and Prince. The duo seemed to be drawing together on her computer and talking about turf war with a large smile on their face.

"I saw that him and Marina seemed to like each other whenever we talked about getting your songs in turf war. Prince ... Doesn't get to talk to many people outside of the team. Let's be honest, this family is a mess. Our parents are overworking themselves, and they expected us to follow the same path. Personally, I don't mind. I know I'm fit to be a future CEO"

"Yeah, talk about an ego."

Emperor rolled his eyes with a smile as he heard his cousin snicker.

"Anyway ... I know I'm okay with being as busy as they are. But Prince doesn't handle pressure well. He'll be the one to make his own choices in the end, but ... I'd feel really guilty if he didn't get to be a little more normal."

"So you think Reena and I are normal !? HA ! Sorry man, the Houzuki can't be normal, and I've had a really bad influence on my girl."

"Well, at least you don't spend your day learning about politics and economy anymore. I don't mind taking the lead of the company ... But sometimes I'd do anything to avoid listening to someone trying to teach me something I've learned when I was six years old. If you want to challenge me to a duel of knowledge, at least do it properly !!"

"Well at least you were a quiet kid !! Imagine me, the Great but hyperactive Pearl, having to sit straight for three hours in a row to listen to boring teachers telling me stuff I already knew !! ALL I WANTED TO DO WAS CATCH GRASSHOPPERS IN OUR GIANT GARDEN !!"

The two cousins looked at each other and began to laugh. This was stupid. But ... It felt like they could understand each other. She knew this moment would end soon. That tomorrow, the boys would leave and she would only get to see them again in months.

But hell, Pearl loved her family.

Chapter Text

Marina couldn't help but excitedly flap her hands around while she walked towards the secret place Warabi had told her so much about. Pearl had always been insanely important to her. Her closest friend, her partner, the one that helped her through it all ... But deep down, she knew that she needed to see other people. To hang out with a group of friends, to exist in a world where she's get to interact with other people than her ... And the squid sisters too. They'd became quote close lately.

And just a few days ago, her old companions Warabi and Paul had told her that their groups wanted to hang out in an old storage shed that Warabi's partner had turned into a spot for his artist friends to hang out without being spotted by hordes of rabid fans. Marina just HAD to accept. And she couldn't have been more happy to see that Pearl wished to try it out as well.

"What's the worse that can happen huh ? If I don't like their style, I'll just get back to the house and let you be. Ya need to take some time for you Reena."

The Octoling took a deep breath before shaking her hands one last time. She could barely contain her excitement, it felt a little embarrassing but at least she knew that Pearl never judged her for it. The shed was barely a few feet away, and Marina was about to walk in when she heard the noise of a phone buzzing behind her. Pearl growled, rolled her eyes to the sky and gasped.

"Oooooh it's from Marie ! Sorry girl, I gotta take that call. Get in here first ! I'll join you in a sec."

Marina simply nodded and opened the door to get inside the building, and immediately got surprised by how welcoming the place was. It wasn't perfectly clean nor very well made but it felt ... Natural. Half eaten candy bags scattered around, a few guitar string cleaners and a bunch of plectrums in a random box on a desk, a few amateur murals ... It felt like a place you could call home.

"Hey there ! You're Marina, right ?"

The woman flinched and turned around to see a volcano snail, a koi fish and hairtail were sitting together on a couch with a tv screen on and a video game controller in hand, apparently playing some kind of fighting game. She shyly nodded before approaching them, a little uneasy at the idea of seeing new people without anyone to help her socialize. The hairtail smirked and dropped his controller.

"If you're looking for your friends, I think they'll be here in about thirty minutes. Paul and Warabi wanted to come together with Ikkan. We're Paul's gang ! I'm Taichi, the Koi's Ryu Chang and that's Karla. Our little dude talked sooo much about you, it's nice to finally meet you !"

"I-I see. It's nice to see that Paul managed to get himself some new friends."

"Oh yeah, we love him. He's a good kiddo. I'm pretty sure he's smarter than everyone else in the band."

Marina nodded, knowing full well that this was probably the truth. The fish got off the couch and stretched, quickly followed by his companions, took a handful of candies, shoved it in his mouth and glanced at the back door as it opened once more. Pearl came in the room with a large smile, waving her phone around.

"YO REENA !! Guess who's getting on Marie's radio show next week ?!"

The Inkling's joy was short lived. Her eyes met with everyone else's in the room, and her smiled immediately disappeared, leaving her face blank for a few seconds. Pearl took a few breaths, her eyes visibly loosing focus. She was dissociating. And when everything came back at once her hands began to shake, her body became tense, and her back started to curve as she slowly walked back to the door.

"... Fuck."

The hairtail sighed as he rose an eyebrow and glared at the inkling.

"Hello, Pearl."

The short woman's body state was worsening by the second. It seemed that every possible way she had to show uncomfort had sprouted up at once, and she genuinely struggled to stay on her feet. She maintained eye contact. But her body was too out of it to make her look confident in any way.

"You know what ? Fuck this. I'm out. I hope you enjoy yourself, Marina. I mean it. But I'm not staying here any longer."

Most people simply stared silently as the inkling as she walked out, until someone walked towards her and grabbed her arm. The small woman grunted as she tried to get herself out of the grip, increasingly panicking as she understood that there was no escape from it. Her eyes finally met with the woman that took her arm, a beautiful black volcano snail that seemed to be rather calm for the situation they were in.

"You're not leaving now, Pearl."

"I AM. LEAVE ME THE FUCK ALONE. I'M DONE WITH SASHIMORI, AND I HAVE NOTHING ELSE TO SAY ABOUT IT."

"Pearl. Calm down."

"I-I ....I KNOW I'VE DONE SHITTY THINGS TO Y'ALL ALRIGHT ?! I HAVE NOTHING TO SAY FOR MYSELF. NOTHING. I LEFT THE BAND, I GAVE YOU MY INSTRUMENTS, I JUST ... I CAN'T DEAL WITH THIS. NOT RIGHT NOW."

"Pearl."

"I'M SORRY, OKAY ?! I'M SORRY. I HAVE NOTHING ELSE TO SAY. I WAS THE ASSHOLE HERE. I'M SORRY, I'M SORRY !! Please ... Just let me go ..."

"We're not mad at you. Not anymore. Can you please calm down ?"

The singer looked around her. There was no escape. There was no place for her to hide. All that she could do was face everything she'd done. And ...
She had to do it in front of Marina.

Chapter Text

Marina took a step back away from the scene. She'd never seen Pearl acting so vividly scared before. It all seemed unrealistic. Pearl may have been an hyperactive and overly excited squid, but she was awfully good at hiding her emotions most of the time. This wasn't like her.

As she kept stepping away, her eyes met with one of the group members who'd been staring at her. She glupped and clenched her hand, trying to gather up her thoughts.

"What's going on ..? Do you know Pearl ?"

"Yeah. We know her pretty well. She used to be our old singer. We kicked her out because we didn't have the best of relationship. Pearl was often very ... Aggressive."

The inkling sat down, trying to take her breath back, arms and legs shaking like she was going to pass out. She couldn't look at them in the eyes.

"Listen. I-I don't know what you guys want from me but I don't know what I could tell you. I was the asshole, I know it but now ... I don't think there's anything I can do to change your opinion of me. I'm being genuine when I say that I want Rina to stay with you guys ... I just- I can't make it up to y'all."

The hairtail sighed before growling.

"Make this easier for everyone Pearl. Shut up and listen to us. Then you'll see if you want to leave."

The inkling suddenly froze, took a few breaths and ended up nodding, hiding a sob behind a hum. The volcano snail sat next to her, and her voice softened.

"Pearl. A lot of things happened over the last three years. We've talked a lot between us, and we all agreed that if we were to meet you again, we'd just talk about what happened."

"... Okay."

"We were really mad at you back when we forced you to leave. However, we came to understand that the situation you were in wasn't healthy for you. We don't regret kicking you out. Every single one of us needed this to end, including you. But we understand why you acted like this now."

"I guess ... I got too defensive when you started talking about my voice and mentioning my money. Stuff was good at first but when y'all learned I was THE Pearl Houzuki ... It just drove me insane. I just ... Wanted to keep hanging out with you guys like the stupid kids we were. I'm exhausted of everyone seeing me as a walking bank account or as monster because of my voice ... But that's no excuse for all of the stuff I told y'all. Like I said. I was the asshole here."

"Maybe. But at this point, we don't care. We're not asking you to go back to where we were. But ... Could you at least consider going back to not hating each other ?"

"But ... But I hurt you."

"Yes. But we were all young and lost. Especially you."

"No ... No, I HURT you. I remember very clearly seeing y'all cry often because of my stupid ass !! WHY DO YOU WANT TO FORGIVE ME ?! IT'S TOO EASY, YOU CAN'T JUST LET ME GET AWAY WITH THAT !! I-I ... I'm so fucking scared of you guys ... You're just the embodiment of everything I've ever done wrong."

Pearl began to shiver as she felt her old friend's arms wrap around her. Her body screamed that she wanted to run away. To flee, as far as she could. But the hug was genuine. And as terrified as Pearl was ... It was a warmth that she'd missed.

"You hurt me, yes. But in the end, I'm the one who can decide if I can forgive you or not. And I know the reason why Marina trusts you today is because you've changed. If you don't want to believe in yourself, let us believe in you."

The squid took a few deep breaths, and let a giant shiver run through her body. She shook her head, tried to breathe in and out again, and finally let her overflowing tears roll down her cheeks. She carefully leaned against her old friend's shoulder and let herself softly melts as the other two bandmates walked over to see her.

"Fuck ... I don't deserve you guys ..."

The hairtail rolled his eyes to the sky and smirked.

"You've grown soft over the years. The Pearl I knew would've told me to fuck off."

"Damn, is that what you want from me ? Fine. Shut the fuck up Taichi, and let me have my school bully redemption arc in peace."

The entire group went silent for a few seconds before everyone began to laugh together, and the Koi fish signed at Marina to come and join the group.

"I guess we made quite the first impression, huh ? Come here. I promise we don't bite. And if you're curious about what happened with your little friend here, let's say that not everyone's past is as clean as they'd like them to be. Pearl needs a little push forward to show her that she's going on the right direction. That's all."

The octoling nodded and looked down with a little smile.

"I get that a lot."

The rest of the group would most likely come soon. Thankfully, everything got solved before more people could join the room.

It was a little weird for Marina to imagine how different Pearl may have been in the past. But it was obvious that right now, all of this didn't matter anymore.

Pearl had changed, and so did she

Chapter Text

The day went even better than everything Marina had imagined, especially considering how it started.

Seeing two of her best friends again was wonderful. Both Paul and Warabi seemed to be doing fine and their respective bands obviously loved them. It was adorable to see how much SashiMori had basically decided to adopt Paul despite the fact that he was just as mature as everyone else in the room.

While Marina needed a few breaks over the day to allow herself to breathe (too many social interactions at once did make her pretty overwhelmed.), She did feel like this was a good experience. She'd never attended any kind of party where she wasn't the star of the show. Where all of the people involved were just friends. There wasn't anything quite like it in the octarian world and it did feel rather sweet. Marina didn't interact with others that much in the end, but she didn't need it. Just sitting around and listening to discussions was enough to make her feel included.

On the other hand, Pearl truly felt like she was meant to be here. That this party was made for her. Despite the years that she'd spent afraid to see her old band again, it has only taken her a few hours to go back to a pretty normal relationship with everyone. Everyone admitted their own faults. The group understood how much Pearl suffered with her voice, self esteem and self worth after what they'd said to her. As for the singer herself, she didn't need to self reflect on her actions. She'd already done so for a while. She just needed to let out what sounded like an almost perfect speech she'd been overthinking for many, many months. But outside of that ... Everything went smoothly. Everyone just talked and laughed for hours, eating snacks and watching stupid movies together ... It all felt almost a bit childish. Perhaps that was the best part of it.

Having to leave was a little difficult, but the idea of being able to do similar kind of days in the future was comforting enough for Marina to let go of everything fairly easily. Walking off to her car with Pearl, Marina could see the squid's grin slowly melt into a softer face with a sigh.

"Sorry about all of that, Reena."

"What are you talking about ? I did enjoy the party."

"I'm talking about what happened this morning with SashiMori and all ..."

"Oh. Well ... I guess that it was a bit surprising at first, but it got solved rather quickly, right ? Isn't that all that matters ?"

"I guess ... Just got a bit scared that you may think of me differently after that."

"... No. I don't think so. I don't see why I should really care about things you've done in your past either. I don't think it's really that important, now is it ?"

Pearl sighed and shook her head.

"You know ... One of the reasons I don't try to talk about what happened in your past is because ... I've done fucked up shit myself. And I'm still hiding things from you. Man. It hurts to say it. But the thing is, I know that this stuff forged me to be the person that i am today. I'll admit, I would've probably been an asshole to you if I hadn't learned how to behave thanks to SashiMori. It's painful to think about, but I'm glad I got my ass kicked. And I think it would be stupid to forgive myself if I don't apply the same treatment to others. So I'll say it. I don't care about what you may have been in your past. The Marina I know has never done anything wrong. And I know that you're a good person."

She doesn't mean it. She can't possibly mean it.

"... Thank you."

Pearl can't imagine what Marina has done in her past. For her, Marina is nothing more than a refugee from some weird cult that happened to escape to splatsville. In her vision, she was the one being mistreated. But Marina knew that she hurt others as well. She didn't know how many people had been killed by the flooders. But she knew that they worked as intended. And that even if she never saw them working, she had blood on her hands.

"You're welcome ! I mean... It's the bare minimum. You did so much for me ... I thought you were going to be atrociously mad at me after all of that."

Marina simply nodded, smiling to hide all of the pain in her chest. It hurt. It hurt so bad to know that Pearl and her would never be the same.

But all that she could do was keep going.

Chapter Text

Marina felt her heart skip a beat as she watched Marie waving at her from the bus she was about to jump out of. This felt like a dream. And yet ... Here she was. About to spend the spend the day with one of the people she admired the most in the entire world.

After their first meeting, the squid sisters and off the hook started to become pretty close friends. This friendship was a little special, just like any other relationship a star could form, but it definitely felt good. The two women resembled each other in many ways, and Marina was delighted to have a friend that was calm and composed like her. She deeply loved Pearl ... But sometimes, she did miss spending time with people that were a little more reserved. And today was the first time the two friends had decided to hang out as a duo. Marina still struggled to believe the fact that Marie wanted to spend time with her specifically but ... It did feel very validating

Marie was wearing a mask and a more casual outfit not to be recognized, and Marina had done the same. Even if mount Nantai was usually a quiet place, it was always better to be safe than sorry.

"Is there any path you'd like us to get on ? I don't hike pretty often, and you talk about Mount Nantai quite a lot, so I'm trusting you with the decisions."

"If you're beginner and not into sports, maybe we shouldn't start with the upper tracks. Maybe let's try something more cozy ? I'll be honest, I only know one path here, and it's more on the difficult side."

"Oh, I'm actually a better athlete than what I show on TV. People assume I use a charger in battle because I'm lazy. But it's just that I enjoy the feeling of control it gives me. Don't be scared of offering me a challenge."

"I see ... Well, let's try to do the coral path. It leads to a gorgeous view of the entire valley, and I remember seeing quite a lot of wild animals on the track. It's nice if you enjoy nature. However, if you can't make it to the top and I end up having to drag you down, you'll pay for dinner ~"

"A challenge, huh ? I like that. But if I get on top before you, you will pay for dinner and will admit your defeat in front of Callie AND Pearl."

"Bet !!"

... Marie wasn't joking when she said she was good at sports.

More than once, the inkling got slightly faster Marina, so often that the octoling ended up wondering if she'd have to take her wallet out to pay for the meal that night. And even if in the end they both walked at a similar pace, Marina was surprised to see that she could even compete with someone with a military training. The octoling was a bit rusty, yes ... But still, it was impressive.

After three hours of walking and talking, the duo finally arrived at the top of the path, a small forest glade that opened to reveal a beautiful sight of the surrounding area. They were both exhausted but ... Everything seemed to be worth it.

"You sure weren't joking when you said this place was gorgeous. Woaw. It's ... Been a while since I last got to see something so beautiful. Would you mind if we sat together for a bit ? I think I need to rest."

"Of course ! I won't lie, I'm a little tired as well. But you did great !"

Marina laid down against a rock, watching Marie as she took out a bottle of fruit juice from her bag and immediately took a few sips out of it. Despite the heavy breaths that she was taking, Marina couldn't help but relax and take a moment to appreciate the fresh air of the mountain. It had been a while since she last got here. About ... A year and a half. Right before Pearl got her to inkopolis. It was ... Really nostalgic.

"You look like you're thinking about something. Or someone. Care to share your thoughts ?"

"O-oh ! Well, this is the place where Pearl and I met. It's nice to remember all that we shared here."

"You like her a lot, huh ?"

"Pearl ?"

"Who else ?"

"I ... I suppose I do. She's my best friend after all !! She gave me basically everything ... I think she's the best thing that ever happened to me."

Marie smirked and rolled her eyes. Marina hadn't noticed that her cheeks had turned slightly green from a blush she couldn't hide. Perhaps she still needed time to realize how big of a crush she had on her partner. It was pretty obvious, but ... Letting her figure that on her own would probably be the best thing to do.

"You two really were made for each other. It's adorable. I think it's what struck me the most when I first started to listen to your songs. I guess you can say that I was hooked up ~"

"T-Thanks ... Ah ! Now that I think about it, I was always a little curious as to why you wanted to meet us in the first place. Not that I was against it or anything, I just ... I guess I didn't expect it."

"Whenever we need to take a breath of fresh air, Callie and I try to go out with people from the industry, and you two looked really nice and most importantly, you were humble. It's relieving not to have someone who hangs with you because you're THE Marie from the squid sisters. I can see that you look up to me, yes. But I truly admire you as well. You started up from scratch. I was lucky enough to have someone to hook me up with producers and to train me as a teen. But you did it all by yourself. You're the producer, the DJ, the singer, the songwriter, you play several instruments... It's incredible. I feel like ... That feeling kind of makes us equals, in a way. At least, that's what I wish we could be."

Marina took a deep breath and hugged her knees before looking at the forest she was surrounded by. All of this ... Felt it was meant to be. And that thought deeply, deeply comforting.

"Yeah. I guess we are equal."

Chapter Text

Callie sighed as she laid down against the nearest wall she could find. That was the third day in a row she'd been working without a single pause. She needed it. She DESPERATELY needed it. It wasn't that she didn't like acting ... But at this point, it was just becoming too much for her.

The woman nervously took her phone and looked at the numbers she could call.

Marie ? No. Not her. Definitely not her.

Gramps ? ... No. She wanted to rest. She knew he'd just send her off to octovalley.

Pearl ? Huh. Pearl. Now that was someone that may know where she could have some fun. Perhaps more than anyone else in this contact list. Without a single second of hesitation, Callie pressed the button, praying to get an answer. The wait didn't last very long.

"Yo ! Who's there ?"

"Hey, Pearl ? It's Callie. I'm really sorry that I'm calling you out or nowhere, buuut ... I really need your help."

"Yeah ! Wassup ?"

"I'm trying to find a place where I could hang out without people jumping on me like rabid shrimps. I've had an awful week and ... I just need a place to rest. And probably take a few shots, I'll be honest."

"Haha ! I getcha, don't worry ! I was literally just about to go to a place where I could meet some ... Old friends. It's an underground tavern where I used to crash all the time when I was still into metal. It's filled with indies and we all talk about the funny stuff that happens to us on the scene. They're not the biggest fans of pop stars, so I bet they won't even recognize you. I'm sure you'd like it here."

"GREAT. Please, tell me where can I find it."

"Inkopolis square, right next to Crusty Sean's van. There's a door with a dead clam spray painted on. Knock three times on it and someone will answer you. The password's fucking dudes be fucking sleeping."

"Thank you so much ..."

"No prob. See ya !"

It didn't take more than half an hour for Callie to get to the place. She DESPERATELY needed that break, and it did sound pretty nice based on what Pearl said. Callie nervously looked around, hoping that her sunglasses and casual outfit would help her look like any other teen in the plaza, and awkwardly got in the bar, trying not to stare at the MASSIVE coconut crab that opened the door up for her. The place was deep underground, even more than what the popstar had expected. The ambiance was pretty nice, not was she was expecting but definitely what she needed. She arrived at a place covered in woods and old barrels used for tables. The tavern smelled like a mix of a cave and a carpentry and she couldn't help but notice the cute little garden eel that worked as the bartender. Callie finally locked eyes with pearl and began to wave at her before her path got abruptly cut off by two people fighting and throwing each other over the tables.

"Tangle, if you keep staring at me like that I will tear you appart like a block of string cheese !!"

"What did I even do this time ?!"

"You know EXACTLY what you did, fucker !!"

Callie took a step back and chuckled before methodically going around the duo and joining Pearl who was sitting right next to the bartender, apparently waiting for one of his drinks.

"Hey Pearl ! Thanks for letting me in."

"No prob ! I'd say sorry about these two, but imma be honest ... It's always like that here."

"Oh, no problem. I like places were there's action. I used to hang out in this kind of bar when I was younger ... Couldn't exactly drink alcohol back then, but I guess the grape juice was alright. Oh, sir ! Can I get two shots of vodka and syrup ? Give me anything you have that has flavor."

The eel nodded and began to look for some bottles, leaving the two girls to talk alone.

"So ! Anything new about you, Callie ? I know that you've been busy lately, with both the news and the shows you're starring on."

"Oh, you have no idea ... I feel like I'm going through hell. I barely have any time with Marie outside of the news anymore. Before, we used to talk between the recordings, but now Marie has her radio show she's taking between the sessions. And since I can't just go and record movies in sessions of an hour and a half, I just have to wait for her for the rest of the day. Honestly, i can't wait for our contract to end. I miss spending time with her."

"Damn ... That sounds awful."

"I guess that's what we get for solo careers. Anyways, I think I need to clear up my mind. How have you been ? I know off the hook is doing really good at the moment."

"Hell yeah it is !! Oh, Rina has been spitting some massive bangers lately. Muck warfare ?! I'd kill to play a round of turf with it. I'm still negotiating with my fam to get it on the stages. But yeah. Marina has been working her ass off and it shows."

"You sure love her, huh."

"You BET !! Oh, she's the best person i've ever met. We have a special relationship, y'know ? It's something you only get once in a lifetime. Like you and Marie, or ... Uuuh ... Okay, I can't remember any other iconic duo right now. BUT YOU GET ME."

Callie smiled and tried to hide a hint of disappointment in herself. She loved Marina. That woman was adorable. But ... There was still this little bell ringing in her head telling her that this is an octarian and that she shouldn't be trusted. She WANTED to trust her. She wanted to get rid of that mentality. But the bell was still here. And it hurt. Callie mentally slapped her brain and tried to focus on something else. Something that would get a reaction out of the inkling. OOOH ... She definitely had something

"So, when do you plan on confessing to her ?"

Pearl turned bright red, and immediately started to awkwardly move her hands around to try and find an explanation.

"I MEAN- IT'S NOT- ... I'M NOT- ... Okay. Fuck. You got me."

"Knew it, haha ! Marie owes me twenty bucks. So ! You didn't answer my question."

"It's ... A little complex. I don't want to confess, not now."

"But I'm sure she loves you toooo !"

"It's not that. I ... Feel like for now, I'd rather have it as a friendship. I don't want to rush things out and make her scared. If it happens then ... I'll be happy. If it doesn't, I want to keep her safe. That's my priority."

Callie sighed with a smile. They were adorable. That was something she'd never be able to deny. Pearl's cheeks began to regain their normal color as she caught the drink the bartender had gave her and drank half of it in one go. Callie chuckled and sipped one if her shots, before a noise startled her. She turned around and watched a hairtail fish smile at Pearl and call for the singer

"Yo, Pearl ! I bet that you can't break a glass with just your voice."

The woman slammed her first against the bar and laughed.

"BET, TAICHI !! BE READY TO OWE ME MONEY, BITCH."

Callie watched the small woman run up to her friend with the biggest smile, as the bartender sighed and mumbled.

"Not again ..."

Callie chuckled before walking up to the group hyping the inkling up.

She definitely needed this.

Chapter Text

At this point, completely forgetting about the domes had been the easy path for Marina. It didn't always feel ethical. The octarians were still suffering after all. But despite the guilt, the nights she spent crying herself to sleep and the nightmares that broke her little by little, the woman remember that in the end, it wasn't her fault. She couldn't do anything about it, and she was NOT coming back there. It had been two years already. Two years that she spent with Pearl, the best thing that ever happened in her life. She didn't regret a thing.

Until it happened.

Marina was just munching on a croissant as she took sips of her morning hot chocolate, scrolling through social medias on her private accounts to see if anything new had happened. She didn't see anything notable, but did end up noticing a text sent from Warabi. The woman was always happy to see her old friend sending her pics of his stupid boyfriend, and happily checked her inbox.

What she saw wasn't a picture. It wasn't anything she could've expected.

"Hey Marina
I don't know how to tell you this but I just met another member of the wasabi supply unit during an autograph session.
She only escaped about a month ago and has been adjusting well, but she told me that there was an accident in the octo canyon recently.
Storm was injured. She didn't go in the details of the accident but apparently, it was pretty nasty.
There's never enough insulin left for her on the field and her injuries weren't healing well. She had to retire early and is now permanently stuck in Octavio's experimental research hospital. Apparently, she thinks you're dead and wishes you could've been by her side.
I know you liked her quite a lot so I felt like you deserved to know this.
If you feel the need to talk about it, I'm here."

The world felt like it didn't exist for a few seconds. Not that it froze or anything like that. But the second Marina read the last few words, it was like nothing around her mattered anymore. She was just so deeply lost in her thoughts that even her own body felt unreal. And when it all came back to reality, it hit her so hard that her legs gave up on her and she let herself fall on the ground. It was painful. But clearly not enough to snap her back to reality. Once on the ground, Marina simply kept holding her phone to her face and didn't even bother to get back on her feet.

After a bit, Pearl walked in the room and immediately ran to her best friend's side as she saw her laying down on the ground. She gently touched her shoulder and softly called her name, which finally brought Marina back into this world. The octoling felt every single feeling she was trying to understand at once, and it her like a truck. She began to cry all of the tears her body allowed to, trying to look back at her phone but barely being able to decipher anything on it as both her screen and her eyes were blurried by tears. Pearl, unsure of what to do, simply sat down by her partner's side and waited. It last a good minute before Marina could finally put her thoughts into words

"Pearl ... I think ... I may be a horrible person."

The inkling stared silently into Marina's eyes for a couple of seconds before understanding what had just been said. And then, she noticed the fact that she was holding her phone.

"Heyo what ?! Hold up. What makes you think that ?! Did someone say that to you ?! Just tell me who it is I'll fuck them up and-"

Pearl stopped herself when she watched Marina hug her knees and sob even harder. Her eyes softened, and the inkling leaned closer against her beloved friend, wrapped her arms around her body and landed her head against the woman's shoulder.

"Rina ... What's wrong ?"

"It's ... It's so weird to explain, I can't ... I just ... I abandoned them ..."

"Do you think you could explain that to me ? I'm sure you're not in the wrong. But I can only tell you why if I understand what happened."

...

"Okay."

Chapter Text

It took a bit for Marina to calm down. Several times in a row, she tried to open her mouth and tell her partner what happened, but the only thing that came out of it were sobs. But eventually, after a few tries, she finally succeeded.

"I guess ... It's a little weird to tell you that after so long. It's like you know me, but you don't really know me. I wish ... I could share more about my past with you. But just thinking about it makes me scared. Because I feel like ... I may not be loveable after people learn what I did."

"Marina. I don't know what you think you did before, but I doubt that it could ever be your fault. Everything you told me about your old place was fucked up. If you were raised to do bad things, you can't expect to just miraculously avoid doing them."

"No ... No, the bad part was my choice. And my choice entirely. I should've known better. Because even back there such actions were considered awful."

"..."

"I ... I had a life before you. I know it's weird said like that, my life didn't begin when we first met but ... It's something that I've been avoiding for a while. Warabi, Paul ... They managed to escape as well. But I left everyone else behind. I didn't given them a warning nor a goodbye. I just left. But these people were my friends ! People who cared about me !! And now they just ... Think I'm dead. It probably destroyed them. And ... I just learned that the one person that used to be my best friend may be on her death bed, thinking that I died in a place where my body couldn't be recovered when in fact I just ... Left. I'm fine, I'm living my best life, and she's back there praying over my death. And ... I can't even go back to her, even just to tell her that I'm fine !! I mean, I could. I know the way back. But I don't want to. I can't go back there, i just ... I can't face them all again !! I left them all behind because of my selfish desire to leave. And they're still suffering, by my fault."

"... Yo, ever heard of something called survivor's guilt ?"

"... What ?"

"Your friends. You left them behind because you were scared for your own safety, right ? Because your life back there wasn't good enough. But if you left with a warning, I doubt that people would've just let you be. They would've tried to convince you to stay. You had to hide, didn't you ? To leave."

"... Yes, but ..."

"Survivor's guilt is a feeling that you did something wrong by surviving a situation that others couldn't go through. It doesn't always have to be literal. Your friends ... They're still traped in that hellhole. But you're not. And the thing you don't understand is that saving yourself is not a bad thing. There's only two choice for you to take in that situation. You either save yourself and watch the other burn alive behind your back, or you stay in the burning house and die with everyone else. You chose to live. And if that makes you unlovable ... Then I guess that no one should ever be loved. Because no one deserves to keep burning alive."

"But I forgot about them !! I just ... Lived on and let them and I just ... I don't miss them that much anymore. BUT THEY DO !! THEY MISS ME, THEY THINK I'M DEAD AND I JUST ... I'M JUST LIVING A PERFECT HAPPY LIFE HERE !! HOW IS THAT RIGHT ?!"

"So you would rather none of you be happy ?"

"No- ... No that's not what I said-"

"Marina. I don't care why you think your past would make you unloveable. And I mean that in the most sincere way possible. You are a good person right now, and it's all that should matter. You should be happy."

"BUT THEY'RE NOT !!"

"AND WHAT CAN YOU DO ABOUT IT ?!"

Marina took a pause. Several times, she rose her finger or had a little neck tick, but immediately went back on her movement, realizing that she had nothing to say. After a good minute, she eventually gave up when tears were starting to come back.

"I ... I don't think I can help them. Not without loosing everything I made here."

"... Y'know, self sacrifice isn't as noble as people want to think it is. You're not a hero of a story. You're a person, someone who should be happy because that's the bare minimum. And if your friends really loved you ... They should understand that."

She had no counterargument. It hurt. It hurt so bad. But Pearl was right.

Softly, Marina allowed her body to rely a little more on her friend's and she began to rest her chest against her thighs as the tears slowly dripped down her face. The inkling didn't say a thing. She simply gently rubbed the woman's hair until she finally fell asleep against her.

Pearl was the best thing that had ever happened to Marina. And at this point ... It would be a lie to say that she didn't wish to spend the rest of her life by her side.

Chapter Text

Pearl scribbled down a few more words on her notepad with a smirk. She quickly read over her lyrics with a smirk and nodded to herself. Oh yeah, she was the best damn rapper in inkopolis. Everything about this slapped. The inkling stretched and did a few small jumps to try and get her excitement out before running out into Marina's studio. She dashed towards the woman's chair, hugged her from behind and let out a satisfied chuckle hearing her yelp in surprise.

"Reenaaaaa ... What you doing ?"

"I'm trying to add a little more piano in this piece to add up some final touches. It's almost done."

Marina looked up to her partner and noticed she was doing her puppy eyes.

"You. You have something in mind."

"I'm boooored ... I just finished my lyrics and I don't know what else I can do ... I'm starting to loose inspiration lately."

"Do you want to get out tonight ? Maybe we could try to get some takeout food and watch a bit of turf ?"

"..."

"Come on big baby, I'm trying to help you out here. I'm sure you'll like it too."

"Alright ... But you'll come with me, Right ? Right ?"

"Yes yes, of course. I just need to finish this first."

Pearl let out a childish whine, watching Marina roll her eyes and go back to her computer. They both knew they were going to have a fun night. Pearl just hated to wait.

But before the inkling could go out of her friend's room to let her finish her work, a buzz was heard from her pants. She quickly took her phone out and let out a gasp.

"Hey, that's Marie ! Weird, it's 5 PM, isn't she supposed to do the inkopolis live at this hour ?"

Marina shrugged and watched her partner answer the call.

"Hello Pearl !"

"Hi Marie ! Why the hell are you calling me at this hour, aren't you supposed to be on live ?"

"Oh, there's been a few problems about lives lately. You know, with our contracts ending in just a few weeks and all ... So we have a few hours off our schedule. We wanted to take the occasion to ask you and Marina to come to our apartment to talk about something we've had in mind for a while."

"What can possibly be so important that the squid sisters themselves would ask me to come to their place in the middle of a Tuesday afternoon instead of y'know, taking a break ?"

Pearl smiled, faintly hearing Callie giggling at the other side of the phone with Marie asking her to stay quiet.

"I don't think I can say it right away, but I know it'll catch your interest."

"So I'm supposed to move my ass all the way to your place to learn about a surprise that I'm not even sure will be worth it ?"

"Awh come on Pearl, you know you can trust us on surprises ?"

"Ya gotta learn to be more convincing, Marie."

"Mmmmmh ... We can order McDonalds and eat together while we play a video game or ... Something like that ?"

"... You son of a bitch, I'm in"

About two hours later, Marina and Pearl were standing outside of Marie's apartment with a bunch of fast food bags in hand and a huge smile on their faces. Pearl was happy she could do something nice with her night. Marina ? Marina was just happy to see the squid sisters. Every moment spent with them was a good moment. Callie opened the door for them and immediately dragged them both into her living room where Marie was lazily laying down on a couch. Off the Hook put everything they were holding down to say hi, and Pearl's eyes immediately met with the green squid's.

"So. The surprise."

"You're really not loosing focus, huh ?"

"Not when you say that there's something good on the line. So. Spill the beans or I'll steal your fries."

The squid sisters looked at each other and smiled before Marie inevitably shushed Callie's giggles and tried her best to look at little more serious.

"So ... Like I told you, our contracts with the inkopolis network are ending soon. We're both getting too busy to take care of the news, and our splatfests have ended. Not in the best way possible ... But they've ended. So everyone has been trying to find a replacement for us."

"Yeah. Callie vs Marie was a MESS. So bad that I didn't participate in it, I didn't want to be part of this shitshow. Can you get to the point ?"

"The point is right in front of you, Pearl."

"Huh ?"

Callie's laugh only grew further as she watched the girls look at each other in confusion. Marie sighed and smirked.

"I said, WE ARE LOOKING FOR A REPLACEMENT. And we also just happen to have brand new shiny contracts in our backpacks that we may or may not have reviewed ourself to make sure the future idols wouldn't be used by their producers like we were. So. DO YOU GET THE POINT ?"

They did. They did get the point.
And they didn't need to do anything but look at each other to understand that they both wanted it.

Chapter Text

Marina bit her thumb as she watched the jellyfishes around her rushing to put on the final touches of the splatfest announcement's decor. THEIR decor. Today was her first day as a host for Inkopolis news. She was excited, obvious. Nervous too. But the main thing was ... She struggled to believe that it was real.

She had Pearl by her side, holding her hand as the two of them waited for the live to begin. The squid seemed confident, at least a lot more than her. Marina hugged her knees and let a Shiver crawl down her spine before looking back at her friend.

"I can't believe it. I still cannot believe it."

"Marina, you better believe it, we're on live in two minutes."

"Pearl, this may be one of the most important moments of our lives, how can you be so calm ?!"

"Uuuuh ... I drank half a pot of salsa before coming in. The one from the buffet they organized for us. I just got impulsive and wanted to see how it tasted like. Now I'm too focused on if I will get caught or not for that to think about what's gonna happen next."

"You can't be serious ..."

"What, you want me to drink the nacho cheese too to prove you I'm not kidding ? I could do that."

"You know what ? No thanks. I believe you."

One of the directors clapped their hands and looked out at Pearl and Marina.

"You two, on your chairs ! We're on live in just a minute !!"

The inkfishes jumped on their respective chairs as Pearl quickly winked at Marina before laying down.

"Ya ready Reena ?"

"Absolutely not."

"Too bad ! We're on live in three, two, one ... Yo, whassup everyone ?! Surprised not to see the Squid Sisters on live for once ? Well get used to it !! I'm Pearl, she's Marina, and we're Off the Hook, Inkopolis's brand new idols !"

Marina wasn't sure what took over her at this instant. The cameras, the public watching her outside the studio, the artificial setting she was in and the importance of being an idol ... All vanished in a couple of seconds. She looked at Pearl, and just felt her body move around on its own.

"Enough of presentations, we're here today to announce you something that will get everyone's blood rushing through their veins ! You were waiting for it, Splatfest are making their great return !!"

And just like that, the screen behind the girls began to flash up to show their first clash of many ... Ice cream versus cake.

"Cake and ice cream, huh ... Sounds like a joke of a match ! Cake is OBVIOUSLY going to win. It's the one thing you get on special occasions ! Cake on your birthday, cake at your wedding cake at uuuuh ... Do you get a cake at your funeral ?"

"Don't be ridiculous Pearl ! Ice cream is the winner right here. Who wouldn't want a delicious frozen treat to cool yourself down this summer ? Ice cream can have so many flavors, and cake has what ... Chocolate ? Vanilla ? Come on. How boring."

The truth was, Marina loved ice cream because of the fact that it was a constant discovery for her. She ate cakes once in a while back in the domes. She enjoyed them, of course. But her discovery of ice cream was one of the things that reminded her that this world had so much to offer. There was always a new flavor to try, a new topping to add, a new combo she could imagine ... Once, Pearl even told her to dip her unsalted fries into her soft-serve. It sounded awful. It ended up amazing. All of it was just an accumulation of little memories that made her remember how much she loved this world. And because of that, she'd fight for ice cream until the end !!

"Psh, refreshing and for what ? Ice cream is barely even enjoyable outside of summer !! It's just glorified frozen milk."

"As if ! Making good ice cream is an art. Any clown can buy cake mix."

"Says the girl that just buys giant bucket of cookie dough ice cream at the supermarket."

"Pshhh ... You know what ? We'll see who's best on the battlefield ! Make your choice wisely kids, go vote and let's see who's the best !"

"Well said Reena ! Welp, that's all the time we got ! Good luck for the fest, and see y'all next time !"

The girls waved goodbye at the camera before falling back on their seats.

"So, you feeling better now, Marina ? You went wild on that live. You're a real natural !"

"You know what ? Yeah ... I think I'll be fine."

Chapter Text

Marina's tentacles twirled as she looked out to inkopolis square, watching her fans sitting around their studio to see the girls's reactions on live for the results of their first ever splatfest. Everyone was so excited, and all of these encouragements kind of made the new idol nervous. She knew that right now, there wasn't much to win or loose ... But still. All eyes were on her and despite not knowing what she could mess up on, Marina pressured herself to do everything right.

"Reena ... You look like you're sitting on a pile of broken glass. Calm doooown ..."

"Easy for you to say. I don't have your confidence. D-do you know if the results of the first splatfest can count for future events ?!"

"I mean. If I win, cake will be legally considered better than ice cream. That's all. I know you don't know everything about splatfest laws, but that's just it !"

"Are you sure ? Isn't this about popularity ? Didn't Callie and Marie's last fest have-"

"NOPE ! We're not mentioning that here. This is about cake and ice cream, not depression."

"Alright ..."

Marina nodded and waved at her fans from behind the window before getting just a bit lost in her thoughts. Splatfest laws were ... Weird. It was deeply strange that some of the big decisions made for inkopolis were entirely based on who would win a war between two groups of people. Sometimes, the laws based on the winner team didn't even make sense scientifically speaking. But inkling society couldn't be perfect, and Marina knew that splatfest existed to help contain Inkling's desires for competition and fights rather than let some subjects grow out of control and end up in wars. But still ... Very strange.

"Reena, we're about to go live !"

"Oh !! Yes yes, sorry !"

"Okay, three, two, one ... Wassup everyone !! It's off the hook, coming right at ya from inkopolis square !"

"You already know why we're doing this live today, the splatfest results are in !"

"Yeah !! Bet y'all can't wait to know that cakes are superior ! Get these results to show up here !!"

The two girls glanced at the screen to watch the votes to show up and Marina felt her hearts skip a beat as the results unveiled. 76% of people had voted for ice cream. That may have been the biggest score difference she'd ever seen in a splatfest !!

"HEYO WHAT ?! RIIIIGGED !!"

"What's wrong Pearlie ? Worried that you may loose ?"

"Nah !! Let's see the fights's results. I'm sure that our team kicked the hell out of your ass !! Looking at you, team cake fans around here. I know I've seen everyone in my team destroy the ice cream lovers out here."

Marina rolled her eyes as the rest of the results unveiled and ...

"I ... Win ? WE WON !! CONGRATULATIONS, TEAM ICE CREAM !! Looks like off the Hook's first ever splatfest had the good ending after all !"

"Booooring ... You're gonna make me believe ice cream is better than cake ?! Warm cake coming from the oven ? The thing you bake for yourself at three in the morning because you lost control of your life ?! The thing that is so special you get it for birthdays ?!"

"Sorry Pearlie, but by splatfest law, Ice cream is now legally better than your spongy little cake ~"

Pearl growled and rolled her eyes to the sky as Marina began to laugh and signaled to the cameraman to cut the video. The girls walked back to their backrooms, sat together and Marina chuckled again as her eyes met with Pearl's pouty face.

"Awh ... Did i make you mad, big baby ?"

Pearl sighed, smiled and looked back at Marina.

"I'm glad you won that first fest. You deserved it. Look at you ! You're already looking so much better than a few minutes ago."

"... I guess I am."

"Alright. I'm the looser here, you gotta get some sort of reward. Choose tonight's dinner. You can take whatever you want, I'll buy it for you."

"Pizza. With pineapple on it"

"AWH COME ON !!"

Chapter Text

"It's your fault. We're all dying down here, and it's your fault."

Marina looked around her. She was just surrounded by darkness, and nothing more. This wasn't a room. This wasn't outside either. This was just ... Nothingness. In front of her sat someone she knew too well. The friend she'd abandoned when she decided to come up to the surface. Storm.

Of course ... This was a nightmare. Marina sighed, hoping that maybe knowing what kind of situation she was in would help her with her fears.

"... That's not true and you know it. I saved myself instead of staying down to die in the domes with everyone else. It's not my fault if you're down here."

"You abandoned me. You left me to rot here. It's YOUR fault."

"You wouldn't have understood ... You didn't hear the squid's music. You couldn't understand ! If I told anyone about wanting to leave, they would've forced me to stay there ... I couldn't. I COULDN'T !! I had to live my own life, away from creating murder machines for the rest of my days. I had a right to be happy."

"So you replaced me."

"... What ?"

"You thought the best thing you could do was to leave. And the first thing you did when you came up there was to find another best friend to replace me by."

"You know that's not true ... That's not- ... The real Storm would never tell me that !!"

"Are you sure ? The real Storm doesn't hate you just because she thinks you're dead. She mourns you like the most precious thing in her life. And you barely think about her anymore. Do you truly believe she would still think so highly of you if she knew the truth ?"

"Stop it."

"One day I'll be nothing but a corpse. And all you'll be able to say is "I'm sorry". But that won't be enough to bring me back."

The woman that stood up in front of her slowly started to loose her skin, her flesh slowly revealed to the world. Her body started to decompose, and the last thing her half melted face did was smile at her.

Marina yelled at the top of her lungs, so hard that it actually jolted herself awake. She kept yelling for a while before taking the closest pillow and compressing it against her chest in an attempt to stop her breaths. Marina felt tears roll down her eyes as her nails dug into the pillow. She hated her nightmares. They were always horrifyingly graphic and difficult to endure. In the long run, she knew that she'd forget about them and move on. But the moment she'd wake up from them, Marina would always be absolutely terrified. Her body would simply and purely be out of her control.

After a bit, her room's door got bursted open, which only startled her even more. Pearl ran into her room, ready to fight.

"WHAT HAPPENED ?! ARE YOU HURT ?! DO I NEED TO KICK SOMEONE'S ASS ? DO- Oh. Reena ...? Nightmare, is it ..?"

Marina slowly breathed in and out before nodding. This wasn't the first time she'd woken up Pearl like that. She always felt awful when doing so. Pearl didn't deserve to be woken up because of some stupid nightmare. But ... The gentle words she brought her always made things better. It felt like some kind of guilty pleasure for the octoling. Calming herself down with affection was always much slower than getting hit, but it felt sweeter and more effective.

Pearl immediately settled down by her side, rubbed her cheek to get some tears off and smiled.

"Shhhh ... It's okay Reena ... I'm here, alright ? The nightmare's gone. You can relax. Yeah ... Like that. Can you hear me ? You're in our home. You're with me, and you're safe."

Slowly but surely, marina felt her body finally calm down and relax as Pearl's voice filled up her mind. The two of them stayed in each other's arms for a bit, until Marina finally started to feel better. Once she did, Pearl buried her head against her neck, waited for a bit and ... Blew a raspberry.

A very loud silence came after this seemingly random action. Marina slowly pushed Pearl away before blankly staring at her with large round eyes.

"... What was THAT for ?"

"To make you laugh. You can't be stressed when you're happy. Look ! It worked."

Marina took a second to realize that yes. She was happy. Her body was no longer shaking, not even a single bit. She breathed normally. She wasn't even crying anymore. In mere seconds, all of her anxiety had withered away.

"... It really did."

"Perfect !! Pearl the genius always has a perfect plan. Now, do you want me to stay with you for the night ? Like that, no more nightmares."

"Yes ... That would be very much appreciated."

Marina closed back her eyes as she felt the little body against her crawl down the sheets with a chuckle.

She'd never felt so welcomed in a home.

Chapter Text

Being an idol was EXHAUSTING.

That, in itself, wasn't much of a surprise. Marina and Pearl had been hearing horror stories from Callie and Marie ever since they started to talk. Many, MANY hours of work. The need to stay on a small studio observed by hundreds of teens for ten hour in a row at least three to four days a week. The pressure of being on live for all of this time. The need to be the physical representation of something as sacred as splatfests. Lately, Marina's health has been going down the drain. All of this would've been manageable if it wasn't for splatfests.

Oh yes ... Almost 48 hours of singing, dancing and jumping around a scene with little to no breaks may have been the most painful experience Marina had ever endured. And because she had to go back to work on the next day, the poor woman had little to no time to recover. Also, having to be quite literally against her best friend for all of this time was awfully stressful. Splatfest laws were clear. Idols were not meant to support each other in any way during the entirety of the event, as such thing could be viewed as influencing the public to join their side without arguments based on the actual theme. They had to FIGHT to win. And ... Even if Pearl seemed to enjoy the rivalry for this short moment, Marina couldn't help but miss her comfort for the event. Sometimes, no, often, she would've done anything to get a simple hug from her on stage to avoid breaking down. It hurt. It HURT.

But the fact was ... Marina wanted this. Somehow, she felt as if this was a role she'd wished to fulfill ever since she'd started off the hook. Inspiring others was important to her. This was one of the reasons why she loved talking to her fans so much without putting any pressure over them. They may have been talking to a celebrity, but Marina wished to make them feel like they were important too. But ... Catering to inklings was one thing. One thing that Marina enjoyed, obviously. But it didn't matter as much as the reason why she wanted to keep going.

Octolings.

Ever since she'd started hanging out in her studio to observe the inkopolis square, Marina had seen Octolings roaming around this city. They were rare, often wearing head gears and makeup to hide their obvious differences with inklings, but they existed. OCTOLINGS EXISTED, FREE AND ROAMING THE STREETS LIKE ANYONE ELSE.

It felt insane. Too good to be real. But they were here, rare survivors that had the luck of thinking about freedom and the same impulse to save their lives out of the misery that were the domes that trapped them. She didn't know their stories. She'd never gotten the occasion to talk with any of them. But the looks that they exchanged whenever they saw the idol through the glass of her studio ... Marina knew that she couldn't have been wrong to guess what they meant. Tears in their eyes, smiles larger than anything she could've ever seen, excited waves and little twitches of their tentacles ... Seeing Marina brought them a joy that could not have been replicated with the Squid sisters. Marina was one of them. She was known and adored by every single teen in this city, and her concerts brought everyone together no matter the species. But most importantly, she proudly displayed the fact that she was an octoling. Were the inklings aware of it ? Absolutely not. But her giant flowing tentacles twirling around in excitement in the news, her unique unlinked face mask and her split irises and her claw-like fingers, all displayed to the public without a hint of fear ... It was a hope these young Octolings desperately needed. The proof that they could live their lives proudly without the fear of being hated on simply for existing.

After just a few splatfests, Marina had learned to recognize faces. And on this day, she could proudly observe some of them walking around on the square without feeling the need to hide in shame.

Marina would not stop. She could not stop.
Not until every single one of these Octolings could feel safe in a new place they'd be able to call home.

Chapter Text

Pearl looked around her to see that the world was strangely dark. She couldn't recall how she got here, and couldn't think of any reason why she'd be outside at such a late hour. This place was deeply familiar ... Mount Nantai. She knew these trees so well ... She was close to Marina's secret hideout. The one where it all began. Maybe the two of them had decided to go back here for a moment together and Pearl had blacked out due to how late it was ? That didn't sound unreasonable.

Pearl began to walk around this path she knew so well, calling for her friend once in a while to see if she could get an answer. The stars were barely shining in the sky, and the moon was nowhere to be found. It made the forest look even darker, but Pearl liked that kind of ambiance. It felt ... Almost romantic, in a way. URGH. No. Pearl slapped herself mentally for thinking that. She loved her so much... But now was not the time to hope for a date.

Suddenly, a figure moved in between the trees, sat on a rock right before the entrance of the hideout. Pearl ran towards it and yelled.

"YO RINA !! You could've waited for me !!"

The voice that answered was not the one she'd expected.

"I waited for you, Pearl."

The figure finally got clear enough when Pearl heard that voice.

"Oh ... Oh, not you."

"Yes. Me."

Her mother. Of course. All of this didn't make sense for a reason.

"... You're the last person I'd want to see in a dream. Can't i get a moment for myself ?"

"It's been a while since we last talked. I thought you'd be ready to do that again."

"Yeah, and what do you want me to say ? I've got a job. I've got a best friend that slaps. I've got my own house. And I'm happy. But I know this wouldn't be enough for you."

"You're not working nearly hard enough. You act like any other squid would, but you're a Houzuki. We are hard workers, and you know it. You should've taken exemple on your father and help him with the company. You know how much he's struggling right now."

"Shut up. Shut UP. I'm not hearing that from you. I AM working my ass off, alright ?! That last splatfest lasted 48h !! I haven't slept a single minute during that whole thing. I sung for so long that my hand almost bled from holding the fucking mic. I had to get energy drinks all day to make sure I was awake and ready. WHAT ELSE WOULD YOU WANT FROM ME ?!"

"I want you to be an adult and to stop acting like a child. This is a game you're playing. This isn't work."

"I AM AN ADULT !! I FORGED THIS LIFE BY MYSELF !"

"You leeched from your father's money, and that little notoriety of yours is simply due to the Houzuki's name."

"SHUT UP !! YOU'RE NOT REAL !!"

Pearl could feel her throat burning, as if she was stopping herself from screaming in real life. This was a dream. It HAD to be a dream. And if she scream, she'd destroy things. Like always.

"Look at yourself, my poor little Pearl ... Despite all that you can say, you can't even control your voice. You're not mature. You've never been mature. You're still that little kid that blows up speakers for fun because she knows her parents will buy her more after that. But this isn't real life. I dedicated my entire life to make you a good heir. And I'm tired of seeing you fleeing your position."

"... I'm not your fucking puppet. I'm not your heir. I'm not your plaything. I'm proud of who I am right now."

"Are you, really ? Or are you trying to convince yourself of such thing because it's easier than having to face your responsibilities ?"

"Mom ..."

"This Marina has tainted you, Pearl. You'd be better off without her. One day, you'll outgrow her. And maybe then you'll understand what I meant. She's using you. For your money, for your fame, for your ability to hide her loneliness... That's what you are to her. A way to fill up the idea of a friend. But anyone else would've worked."

That ? That was too much. Pearl could feel her hands shaking in anger. This thing wasn't anything like her mother. She knew it a little too well. This was simply a physical manifestation of her intrusive thoughts. Every single nasty idea Pearl has tried her best to hide for the last year was coming back into her face. But ... The worse was that it came from her mother of all people. She could've had Marina in front of her, someone she could've denied these accusations from. Because she knows for sure that Marina loves her. But this ? This was a different problem.

"Hey... You weren't THAT bad when you were alive, right mom ? You weren't always nice but ... You'd never tell me these things, right ?"

"..."

"You hurt me ... But I love you ... And I just hope you loved me too ..."

"..."

"... Mom ?"

The woman didn't even answer. She closed her eyes, turned around and began to walk away in silence, disappearing into the darkness of the night that surrounded them.

"NO !! NO, DON'T YOU FUCKING DARE JUST GO AWAY !! NOT AFTER ALL THAT YOU TOLD ME !! I WANT YOUR ANSWER !!"

The woman kept moving. Pearl ran after her. It didn't change a thing.

"PLEASE !! I NEED TO KNOW !!"

The woman took one last step, glanced back at Pearl and smiled.

"STAY !!"

And the silhouette completely vanished.

Pearl froze for a few seconds, staring at the space where the figure of her mother still existed a couple of seconds ago. She clenched her head, swung it around to calm herself down, but it wasn't enough.

The inkling let out a scream, the harshest, most throat burning scream she could do. And before she knew it, that dream vanished with the sound of shattered glass.

Pearl had woken up to see a shattered window, her hands shaking, and Marina on the floor.

Chapter Text

Pearl panted as she watched the broken world she'd woken up to. This window ? She knew she was the one who broke it. She could still feel the impact of that wave making her body shake. She thought she had control, for fuck's sake ! And she lost it in a DREAM ?! WHAT WAS THAT ALL ABOUT ?!

But the window ? Oh, this was nothing compared to the other problem she was facing. One she couldn't repair with money. One that was alive, breathing, and who seemed to be completely lost.

Marina laid on the ground for a couple seconds, unmoving, still in shock of what happened. Her body didn't have enough time to process what just happened. Slowly but surely, the octoling began to noticed how much her ears were ringing, and felt a weird taste in her mouth. Instinctively, she swept a finger against her lips and discovered that a small amount of blood had tainted them red. She rubbed the red liquid between her fingers before her eyes met with Pearl's.

To say that the inkling looked terrified would've been an understatement. The inkling cramped up against the wall, staring at Marina like a wild animal about to be hit by a car. Every single one of the octoling's movements made her flinch. And when she finally got back on her knees, Pearl was in tears.

"Pearl ..."

"I'M SO S- ... FUCK ... I'M ... MARINA, I CAN'T ... WHAT THE FUCK ... I'M SO SORRY, I'M SO SOR- ... I-I ..."

"Pearlie, it's okay..."

"N-NO IT'S NOT !! YOU'RE BLEEDING !! YOU'RE HURT ! I DID THIS !! THIS IS MY FAULT, I ... I'M SUPPOSED TO BE THE ONE TO PROTECT YOU !! THIS IS MY FAULT, THIS IS ALL MY FAULT, I'M JUST MESSING UP AGAIN, I KNEW IT I FUCKING KNEW IT, I'M JUST ... I PROMISED YOU NO ONE WOULD EVER HURT YOU AGAIN AND I ..."

Marina shook her head and tried her best to go back on her knees. It hurt a little, but thankfully, she wasn't hit by any of the glass shards scattered around nor did she have any major injuries. Carefully, she began to wobble back to her partner, who began to panic even more.

"D-DON'T GET CLOSER !! I'LL HURT YOU AGAIN !! I CAN'T CONTROL MYSELF !! I'M JUST ... I'M A FUCKING IDIOT !!"

"Calm down Pearl, all of this was an accident !! I'm not even hurt, you haven't done anything wrong !"

"YES YOU ARE !! YOU'RE BLEEDING !! STOP IT MARINA, I'M THE WORST, I SHOULD BE THE ONE BLEEDING RIGHT NOW AND-"

with one swift movement, Marina caught both of Pearl's hands and pinned them down against her bed. She watched Pearl panting as she stared right into her eyes, letting the inkling slowly come back to her sense. After about a minute, she finally let go and laid down by the Inkling's side. Pearl was no longer shaking nor yelling, but she did feel a shiver crawl up her spine as she felt her skin touch the octoling's.

"... Sorry about that Pearl. I thought you were going to hurt yourself. And I'm not letting that happen."

Pearl didn't answer. She closed her eyes and slightly buried her head against her friend's shoulder. She began to take heavy breaths, and her tears only got stronger when the octoling's hand began to rub the back of her head.

"What the fuck did I do to deserve you ... I'm just a dumbass who happens to be rich, but you ..? You're the most perfect being I've ever seen ... I fuck up again and you're still here by my side, I don't get it ..."

"You were panicking, and I still don't think you're being rational. I'm not exactly sure of what happened, but ... You didn't mean it. It's okay. You're okay."

"... I still don't get why you're here right now ..."

"Pearl. You were the one that taught me that tears can be healed through patience, comfort and kindness. You've always been by my side, for the best and for the worst. So today, I'm just giving you that love back. I've barely ever seen you showing weakness. It was bound to happen someday. Now, it's my turn to take care of you."

"..."

"Go back to sleep, Pearl. We can talk about it tomorrow. Right now, you need to rest."

"... I'm sorry ..."

"It's okay."

"I'm really, really sorry Reena ..."

"Everything's good, Pearl."

The inkling sighed as she slowly felt herself loose the little bit of strength she had left as Marina kept petting her hair. This was too comforting. Too ... Familiar. Slowly, her brain decided to forget what was making her so scared in the first place. Right now, she was at home, with her beloved Marina by her side, and it was all that mattered. And when she finally felt her body letting her back into a dreamless sleep, she heard her best friend wishing her sweet dreams.

Chapter Text

That day, Pearl woke up with an immense feeling of emptiness. Much, MUCH worse than anything she's ever experienced. She stayed in her bed for half an hour, simply overthinking everything that happened the day prior. She didn't care about the shattered glass that was still spread around her room and thankfully didn't get outside thanks to the closed shutters of her windows. Cleaning it up would be just a little annoying at worst. No ... What she cared about was Marina. It was an accident, but she didn't care. She still hurt her. It was a minor injury, but she was still one the who did it, and it broke THE one promise she'd told Marina when she came here. That she'd never be hurt again. It made Pearl almost scared of herself, in a way she hadn't experienced in a long while.

A soft knock on the door, and Marina entered the room, walking up towards the bed in silence and laying down against Pearl. The inkling tried to look away, but the DJ gently rubbed her hand against her cheek and lifted up her face to have their eyes meet, a sign that she still very obviously wanted to keep a contact with Pearl.

"Are you feeling better ?"

Pearl answered with a whine, leaning her head deeper against the hand that brought her so much comfort. Fuck, despite it all, Marina always managed to make her feel so happy ...

"You had a nightmare and got scared. It's okay. I'll say that a hundred times if you need me to, but I'm not mad. My lip is already healing, I just accidentally bit it when I fell. It's kind of like biting your tongue, and I don't think that is traumatizing in any way, right ?"

"I ... Well ..."

Pearl sighed. She didn't have any words. She was just so scared for the one person she loved the most on this earth. FUCK ... Now was not the time to think about it romantically. She just ... Wanted her to be happy and safe, so, so bad ...

"I saw that you had a nightmare. I had one too, hence why I was awake and came in your room in the first place. And ... I think I know what's going on."

Marina took her hand off Pearl's cheek to reveal something the inkling hadn't noticed. She was shaking, really, REALLY bad.

"That last splatfest ... I don't think my body could handle it. It was the same for you as well, right ? We've been ... Pushing ourselves a lot."

"Fuck ... I didn't think about it that much, and I think you're right... But-"

"No buts. When we first started performing, you told me you'd change everything if it meant I wouldn't exhaust myself to a point of no return. Now, it's my turn to tell you that we need to stop. I haven't seen you talk about it. But I know that you hide your pain a little too well. So this ? This needs to stop."

"But ... The splatfests, we can't just not do them !! It's in our contracts, if we break them we loose everything !!"

"Unless it's for medical issues. And this ? This is a real issue. We don't need to put a stop to splatfests entirely. I want them to go from 48 hours to 24 hours, and for the team to gives us more time to recover. Okay ?"

"... Yeah ... Alright."

Pearl smirked and sighed before hugging Marina, burying her face against her neck. After a bit, she backed down and clenched her fist

"There's still umh ... Something i needed to mention. About yesterday."

"Yes ?"

"Well ... It's ... Umh ... My ..."

Pearl took a deep breath, stopped herself and looked away, visibly struggling to get any words out. It wasn't like she didn't want to, but rather that her body physically couldn't get her voice out as soon as she thought about ... It. She knew that this little part of herself held way too much power.

"... Fuck, I can't, I just-"

"It's okay. You can take your time. You don't even have to tell me anything at all, I don't need an explanation. I know it was all an accident, so please, stop acting like you're responsible for what happened. If anything, it just surprised me."

"It's not that I don't want to ... I promise !! It's just ... URGH. There's a part of myself that I never told you about. It's not that I'm trying to hide it, unlike what happened with Sashimori ... It's more that I genuinely want to forget about it. I don't want it to exist, and I thought I'd managed to burry it deep enough so that it wouldn't be a problem again. My voice."

"Pearlie ... I always knew that your voice was powerful. That's how I met you, remember ? I heard you and got curious. It's nothing. You can hide from me."

"No ... No, it's not ANYTHING like you've seen of it before. I can blow up speakers or shatter glass with it, yes. It seem like a bit more of a game for me lately. As I grow up, I get more used to it, and I can play around with it safely. But it doesn't stop here. If it did, I don't think I'd be really worried. But it goes deeper than that."

Pearl put her hand on her throat once more, breathing in and out very slowly as she tried to gather her thoughts up.

"I am a living, breathing mass destruction weapon."

Chapter Text

To say that Marina was lost would be an understatement. She didn't feel like she could understand what Pearl meant in any shape or form, but the inkling hadn't spoken a single more word in about a minute now, and Marina's poor brain was trying to fill in the gaps. Did Pearl mean it as if she was part robot perhaps ? Maybe her body was sort of a ticking bomb ? What was this voice even coming from, and how powerful could it get ?

The inkling slowly tried to recover her lack of breath as she looked back at Marina.

"I know what you're thinking. You're lost. But fuck it's ... Really hard to explain. Well, maybe not on a technical level. But the words lack whenever I speak about it. Maybe some context would help ... Do you know about the great turf war ?"

Marina felt a shiver crawl up her spine. Now this was the last thing she'd ever imagined to be brought up in this conversation, and it made things significantly worse. HOW could Pearl be connected to this war ?! There was NO WAY she could've been alive during these events. Did that mean she was against the octolings as well ? Was Octavio right, were the inklings still hostile towards them ?! But Pearl seemed to genuinely care about Marina ... Did she escape the army ? Just like her ?! Well ... In the end, perhaps it was better to simply lie about it.

"Well ... I know about it vaguely. I recall it being mentioned from time to time on TV and shows, but I don't know much about it outside of it being a war that happened about a hundred years ago. It wasn't taught where I grew up."

"I see ... Well, I'm not an expert on it, so I'll tell you the short, basic version. That'll make things easier. When the sea rose up, people started to fight over territory. Overall, there were two main species fighting against each other. Us, the inklings, and the opposite camp, the Octolings. Long story short, we started off by loosing. The Octolings were apparently very intelligent and had better strategies than us. But ... The government decided to take drastic mesures to ensure our victory. Officially, in school, it's taught that we won because we have more limbs. The truth is, our scientists created horrible mass murder weapons to destroy the enemy. They weren't like ... Machines or something. They were genetically modified squids that held out of the norm physical abilities, so incredibly powerful that most of them died before they reached the age of 25 because their bodies were mangled to a point of no return. And umh ... My great grandma was part of that. They changed her body so that her voice became as destructive as physically possible. It worked. She was a mass murderer, and one of the major reasons why we won. We thought that this power had died with her, but no. It somehow skipped two generations and landed on me. And the problem is, my body, unlike hers, isn't meant to control this kind of stuff. I won't die because was my body was born with the ability to handle this power, but it removed my ability to control it fully. But I may be actually able to kill people with it without me knowing about it. I don't think I've tried to unleash anything even close to its full power yet, and I'm too scared to try. It's terrifying."

Marin sighed and began to gently struck her friend's back.

"I'm ... Sorry. It sounds like a lot. I don't even know what to say ... It sounds like way too much for someone to handle. I always thought the reason you hated your voice was because it could be a bit destructive, but that was it."

"It is, for the most part. Like I said, I never actually did more harm than shattered glass and maybe breaking sound material on stage. So I just ... try to forget. But I had a bad dream tonight and it just reminded me that I can probably do more. And even if it could save the world ... I'm not even sure if I'll use it. When I saw you on the ground, I thought I may have accidentally unlocked the next level of power and killed you. My mom was super strict about my power after I accidentally misused it as a kid and the memory came back."

"You've been controlling it for all of your life, right ? I don't see why it would get out of your hands. It'll be fine."

"But what if I just get emotional and ... BOOM !! What if I get angry, want to hurt people and I do !! What if-"

"Then I'll be there. I promise. If you get angry, I'll calm you down. If you're sad, I'll help you feel better. That power of yours ... It won't hurt anyone anymore."

"... I wish it never hurt anyone, period."

Marina sighed and thought for a while.

Her ancestors probably wished the same.

Chapter Text

Pearl was stressed out. That was a fact. Despite how much her lovely, oh-so lovely Marina had been taking care of her for the last few days, she could feel that her body had accumulated too much to simply let it out in one go with a simple moment of rest. It had been three days ever since the nightmare accident and all that she'd been able to do was eat, sleep and cuddle with Marina. Which technically wasn't that bad of a life but ... She did feel like a big baby, especially considering that Marina had it just as bad as her. More than once she'd seen her poor partner fall on the ground because her legs were too weak to keep her standing. Poor Marina. Poor them. They knew that being an idol was awful, but at least Callie and Marie's splatfests only lasted 24 hours ... Not 48. Their producer had been really mad to hear that they couldn't keep up the pace. It took all of Pearl's strength not to tell him to go fuck himself. This was the exact reason why she wanted to stay independent. They'd signed this contract making sure that this label wouldn't get any rights to their music, wouldn't steal their image nor wouldn't just make them their money machines. Being an idol was THE guarantee of forever success in inkopolis after all. But turns out they'd still been fooled. At least, Pearl knew that after this job they wouldn't have to be under anyone's control ever again ... 6 months done, only 18 left. What a joke.

Laying down on Marina, Pearl was scrolling on social medias to look the latest post from Callie. She somehow looked even more exhausted than off the hook. She'd just finished a filming session of yet another series and was sending a message to her fans and Marie. Apparently, the cousins hadn't been able to see each other lately. Maybe that was why she looked so miserable.

"Pearl ? I think I heard the door ring. I'm sorry, I can't get out of bed ... Can you check it up for me ?"

"Huh ? Weird, I haven't ordered anything today. Mmmmh ... Sashimori is currently performing for charity, Diss pair is working on their new album and the squid sisters are insanely busy ... I can't see anyone who'd come here ..."

A masculine voice began to laugh from the hallway behind the door.

"Oh no, I don't see ANYONE that would come up to see their cousin."

Pearl immediately jumped off her bed, slammed the door open and gasped.

"EMPEROR !! I SWEAR TO FUCKIN COD HOW DO YOU KEEP GETTING IN MY HOUSE ?!"

"First of all, I've been ringing the bell for the last five minutes and you didn't answer. Second, you gave me a duplicate of the keys when we helped you moving out. Oh yeah. Prince is also here."

Pearl sighed with a smirk and immediately ran into her cousin's arms for a hug before looking behind him to see his little brother and give him a hug as well. The teen let out a chuckle and thanked Pearl.

"You know what ? I'm pretty happy to see you. Marina and I desperately needed to talk with other people."

"Perfect then ! Looks like I'm right on time, as always."

"This is NOT an invitation to start giving compliments to yourself, Emp."

The two squids chuckled and silently watched Prince run in Marina's room to talk to her. With time, the two of them had grown pretty fond of each other, and Marina could use a bit of time between nerds.

"Okay. Now that Prince is out ... I must say that there's a reason I came here."

"Oh. Oh ... Fuck, what happened ?"

"Relax ... I never said it was anything bad. I know you're tense already, so try to calm down before you give yourself an aneurysm."

"Every time I hear that something happened in my family, it's bad. Usually a death, a financial problem, a health problem or any combination of these three. So yeah. Also I will give myself an anyeuu- something if I want to."

"Well it's none of that. Promise. If anything, I think you're gonna like it."

"Hmmm ... Aight. Spill the beans. If imma get disappointed, I'd rather to have my hopes shattered fast."

"It's about your father."

Chapter Text

Pearl's eyes widened as she felt her heart drop.

Her ... Father. The news were about her father.

What could've happened to him ?! Was he sick ?! Was he dead ?! No ... No, this was supposed to be good news. Surely, Emperor knew how much she cared about her father. Breathe in ... Breathe out. She still wanted to hope for something good.

"Please, tell me everything and make it QUICK before I explode."

"Of course. So ... You know the fact that your father hasn't been crushed by an awful lot of work since the D-... Disappearance of your mother."

"Yeah no shit, he's been overworking himself so much I wouldn't be surprised if he ended up destroying his body because of it ..."

"Well, I've turned 19 a month ago, and I've been filling up a lot of paperwork since then. Remember that little contract we signed when we agreed to make Off the Hook an official turf war group ? Today marks my first day as a co-CEO of our company. And with my help, we've been able to spread out the work that had been accumulated on one person's shoulders more evenly on other trustworthy people hands. Which means, your father is now officially able to take his first day off since ... Who knows when ? I think you do. It's most likely a long time."

"... You've gotta be kidding me."

"THE Emperor does not make jokes. Not when it comes to business."

The pink squid opened her mouth to reply whatever could come to her mind, but only a little squeak came out.

"Awh Pearl, are you really going to cry ?"

"SHUT UP, I JUST ... AM I GOING TO SEE HIM ?! FOR REAL ?! HE'S NOT ... YOU'RE NOT JOKING ... PLEASE TELL ME YOU'RE NOT JOKING ..."

"I said- ... Alright. Come here."

Emperor let his cousin fall into his arms once more for a much, much tighter hug this time.

"Do you want to call him ? I think he's available right now. Maybe we can talk about it together."

"JUST GIVE ME YOUR FUCKING PHONE OR I'LL BITE YOU"

Marina squeaked happily when she saw Prince running into her room and jumping into her arms

"Marina !! It's so good to see you again !!"

"Prince ! I'm happy to see you as well ! How have you been ?"

"So, sooo good !! Emperor has decided to focus more on his regular job and guess what ?! He let me lead his team !! I'm the captain of team emperor now ! I'm ... A little stressed. But happy !"

"Awh, how nice ! I saw you on the last splatfest, but couldn't exactly get off stage to greet you ... How did it go, with your brand new team ?"

"Well actually umh ... I couldn't play this fest with my team. They were all on Pearl's side, but I wanted to be on your team so I decided to play with some other friends ! I got to play with Goggles again. He's soooo cool ... He was the first one to beat our team. And now he's trying to train to fight a rematch against the S4 !! Can you imagine ?! He won against all of them when he was just 14 !!"

"Yes, you told me about that before ! He does sound like quite the rival for you to have."

"Yeah he's a really cool rival ... But he's super nice !! Probably one of the nicest people I know. I wish I could spend more time with him ... DON'T TELL EMPEROR !! He's not really fond of him. He respects him as an opponent but he finds him too stupid and tells me someone of my rank should stay up with the S or S+ ..."

"I promise, I won't tell him about it. You do seem to care about Goggles a lot, I wouldn't want to break you two appart."

"Well ... Yeah I do care about him quite a lot. He's very sweet. But also super strong, even if he doesn't really know what he's doing half of the time. Emp's kinda right , he's a little stupid but ... He's also trying his best ? I ... I think I LIKE like him, y'know. AAAAH, I can't believe I said it out loud !!"

"I ... See. You love him ..."

Marina paused for a bit before a question popped into her mind. It was very simple in a sense, but she'd never really interacted with someone who was in love in real life. She'd binged watched romance series, devoured hundreds of overly romantic shojos but ... Never really heard how it actually felt outside of the overdramatic descriptions medias provided her with.

"So ... How does it feel ?"

"H-Huh ?"

"To be in love. I guess I never really thought about it much before. You can't blame me for being a little curious ~"

"Well ... I guess it feels nice ? It's more intense than a friendship. I'm scared of being rejected, of course, but I just want to be close to him all the time. It's hard to hang out with "mediocre" people when you're the leader of one of the most promising teams of all of inkopolis, but it's too hard not to think about him. It's not like I'd ALWAYS want to be with him. But ... It would be nice to see him every day."

"I see."

Marina paused once more and looked up at the ceiling. She guessed that maybe she'll never get to feel love. But she didn't care. Pearl was enough, she was her best friend !! As long as she was by her side, Marina knew she would be happy.

... Wait.

No. No that didn't sound right.

It all came suddenly, like a genuine slap to the face.

Pearl was everything she ever wanted in her life. She was sweet, gentle, caring, kind of stupid at times but definitely more intelligent than she let on, and the two of them took care of each other like no one else ever did. Marina never really felt like she missed Pearl, but then again ... Ever since the day she came into Inkopolis, they'd never been separated for more than a day. They did everything together. Marina never felt the need to look for romance other than in her books but ... That's because she already had that happiness. Sharing breakfast together. Sleeping in the same bed when one of the two had a nightmare. Cuddling whenever they felt down. Spending nights talking and watching stupid shows just for the sake of being together. She ... Was happy with Pearl.

The octoling took a second to imagine herself holding Pearl's hand. She did it every day. It felt normal. But something about her vision of this simple interaction began to change. She imagined her gently rubbing her face with her hand and catch Marina's lips with hers. She imagined her sleeping by her side once more. She imagined her telling Marina she loved her. And Tears began to form into the woman's eyes. They didn't fall, but she could feel the weight of reality slowly fall upon her shoulders.

She was in love with Pearl. And she had no idea of how to react to it.

"... Marina ?"

The octoling blinked and wordlessly opened her mouth before her room's door was bursted open.

"YO REENA !! MY DAD IS COMING TO SEE US NEXT WEEK- I CAN'T BELIEVE IT !! YOU HAVE TO MEET HIM OOOOOH I CAN'T WAIT TO SHOW HIM EVERYTHING WE'VE MADE TOGETHER!!"

Pearl immediately jumped into her friend's arms with a laugh and rubbed her head against her shoulders.

Marina clenched her arms around her and felt a little bit of blood rushing to her cheeks.

... Oh.

Chapter Text

Marina was with Pearl. Her best friend. The one person she'd seen every single day of her life for the past three years or so.

So why

Why was everything so difficult right now ?!

That day was the last day of the impromptu break the girls had decided to take to make sure to fully recover from their bad experience with the last splatfest they'd hosted. They'd both agreed to take this day to fully relax and no absolutely nothing productive, something they used to do fairly often in the past and that they deeply enjoyed. So here they were, laying down on Pearl's bed, watching a particularly stupid comedy movie, eating snacks and laughing as hard as they could. It was the kind of day Marina had dreamt of having once more for a while now.

But ... Focusing on the movie with Pearl so close to her was genuinely difficult.

Had Pearl always been this pretty ?! The octoling thought she was cool before, but this was a whole new level of coolness. Her presence had always been very powerful, enough to make all of Marina's worries disappear. But now, being so focused on her made the poor octoling feel like she was loosing her mind. Every time she'd comment on a detail of the movie, Marina couldn't help but notice how confident her voice sounded like or how much Pearl tried to focus on things she knew her partner would appreciate as well. Oh and her eyes too, were they always this shiny ? Her face ... Did it always look so kissable ? She was ... So perfect. It hurt.

Marina didn't know how to react to these new feelings at all. In the end, she almost felt like she was betraying Pearl's trust by looking at her like that. They were supposed to be friends !! Just friends !! Pearl shared herself in such a vulnerable manner because she probably trusted Marina so deeply. If she knew the octoling's feelings, would she ever feel like being like that ever again ?

"Yo Reena ? You okay ?"

The DJ flinched and glupped before shaking her head and slightly rubbing the back of her neck.

"Y-Yes ! Well ... I mean ..."

"Do you not like the movie anymore ? You looked like you were having more fun when it started."

"I guess I got umh ... Distracted. By my thoughts. Sorry."

Pearl sighed, turned the TV off and immediately hugged her partner.

"If you're thinking about tomorrow, we'll be fine. I promise. Now that you kicked our producer's ass, I'm sure things will get better !"

"Yeah ... You're probably right. Sorry, I guess a lot of things happened lately. It's hard not to think about it."

"If you need a distraction, I'LL GIVE YOU A DISTRACTION !! WANNA WATCH HOW MANY MARSHMALLOWS I CAN SHOVE IN MY MOUTH AT ONCE ?"

"PEARLIE !!"

"MY LAST RECORD WAS 20 !! I BET I CAN DO 21 THIS TIME !"

"PEARL NO !!"

"PEARL YES !!"

The two girls immediately started to wrestle on the bed, with Marina desperately pining her friend down as she stretched her arm as far as she could to try and grab the half-eaten pack marshmallows she left on the bed.

And in this position, body against body, laughing and struggling as the two girls began to playfight, Marina began to actually think.

Would Pearl still do this if she knew Marina loved her more than just a friend ?

She thought, deeper and deeper. She looked at Pearl, grinning as she playfully gnawed on her hand, and did everything in her power to think about her. What SHE would think. Not what Marina would imagine she'd say. Marina took the Inkling's small body against her own, hugged it as hard as she could and suplexed her until she was stuck on a cuddle against her belly. Pearl waved her arms to struggle out for a bit before eventually laying down with a sigh. Marina very carefully let the woman go, watching Pearl's every movement like a cat watches a bird about to fly. Pearl's muscles began to relax after a large stretch until she finally let out a sigh and headbumped marina in the shoulder.

"Fine. You win this time."

Marina felt her cheeks get a slight turquoise tint and clenched her fist.

She had the answer since the very beginning. Pearl's opinion of Marina wouldn't change even if she knew that love was involved. Because she wouldn't care. She'd still have Marina by her side and that's probably the only thing that would matter to her. And ... In the end, did Marina's thoughts about her even changed in the first place ?

She was in denial because it all felt so surreal. But in the end, she always thought of Pearl as someone pretty. As someone powerful. As someone special that should be loved. The only difference was now that she understood their true meaning, Marina felt like they were meant to be taboo. And the stress of hiding these feelings was simply making it even harder to ignore them.

Marina loved Pearl. And Pearl loved her in return, even if it wasn't the exact same kind of feeling. Thinking about it was ... Comforting. Maybe she wasn't ready to say it out loud yet. She needed more time to understand herself. But everything was okay. And right now, that's all she needed to know.

"You're smiling again."

Marina blinked and looked at the little inkling who seemed to very satisfied of herself.

"See, I told you you needed a distraction. Are you feeling better Reena ?"

"You know what ? Yeah ... I guess I am."

Chapter Text

Marina looked around her garden with a smile. Her garden. HER garden. If she told her younger self that not only she'd ever get to be on the surface, but she'd get to grow trees and plants of her own, she probably would've never believed it. And yet, here she was, happier than ever, walking around her orchard with a smile on her face. It was the middle of summer, and she could see that fruits were growing out fairly well. She could try to grab one and bite it for fun, but right now she was in the middle of the lemon trees and ... She wasn't the biggest fan of lemons. Perhaps waking a little further to check the oranges could be a good idea ? Even if she wasn't fan of the pulp, getting a fresh orange for juice didn't sound like a bad idea.

It had been a while since she last got to be in this place. Most of the time she had in her house over the past few months was used to recover from her hard work as an idol, so going out to roam around wasn't even a possibility in her mind. She truly hoped her future wouldn't be as busy as it was right now, so that she could at least enjoy her life with Pearl.

She'd still worked fairly hard this week, especially with the fact that the girls had to make up for their impromptu break and make it sound like they were preparing something extra special for their fans. They didn't, but Pearl had somehow managed to pull up some fun events to fill up the gaps between their lives. Some Off the Hook quizzes people could participate in and win a few gifts, a little sing along with the fans around the square, and even a QnA with some video calls. It was overall really fun, even if Marina completely froze up when someone asked if her and Pearl were a couple. Pearl seemed to be just as surprised and unsure of what to say, but she thankfully made it out with her legendary charisma

"If stuff like that were to happen, we'll either make an announcement, or it'll be personal business. Either way, nothing we'd say in a lil interview like this. Sorry kiddo !"

The way Pearl said it started up some noises around the crowd, which quickly got ran over when Pearl was asked to freestyle randomly and everyone went absolutely mad for it. The words Pearl used made it almost feel like it may happen one day ... And the thought made Marina's mind go absolutely wild. She reminded herself that she was most likely just being a little too hopeful for it, but still ... What a sweet thought it was.

Marina grabbed another orange and smiled. She had her hands absolutely filled with fruits now, she desperately wanted more, but there wasn't much she could do to add-on to the massive amount she was already holding. Marina chuckled to herself, grabbed her shirt with her teeth and added a couple of oranges in the little bit of space her bra had left. She grabbed two more of the fruits on a tree and began to waddle back to her house. As she struggled to open the door, she began to hear a laugh coming from behind her. She rolled her eyes and turned around to see Pearl absolutely loosing her mind.

"MAN, HOLD ON LEMME TAKE A PIC !! YOU'RE PERFECT LIKE THAT !"

"PEARLIE !! Can't you just help me open the door ?! I'm obviously struggling !!"

"Pic first. Door afterwards. I need to immortalize the orange boobs."

The inkling took out her phone and smirked as Marina rolled her eyes and smiled for the photo. After taking a few shots, Pearl ran towards her and opened her the door with a smile.

"Here ya go ma'am. Have fun with ... Whatever you're planning to do with all of that."

"I'm gonna make some orange juice. Do you want me to bring you a glass ?"

"... Mmmmh that sounds like a trap. You're gonna remove all of the pulp. To kill me. No thanks."

"If I were to kill you, I wouldn't do so with orange juice."

"That almost sounds like you're actually planning to kill me."

"Yes. But not with orange juice. With lemon juice instead."

"HA ! JOKES IN YOU, I LIKE THAT EVEN MORE !"

"THAT'S ONE MORE REASON TO TRY TO KILL YOU, YOU MONSTER !!"

The girls chuckled before parting ways, Pearl going back into the orchard and Marina walking in the kitchen, quickly peeling the oranges before throwing them into their fruit press. She got herself a large glass of fresh juice that she half glupped down before walking out of the house and sitting by the entrance. She stretched and closed her eyes before taking small sips of her beverage. She stopped to feel the wind against her skin. It felt liberating. So much that she forgot everything around her. Well, until a voice took her out of her reverie

"Pardon me ... Are you Marina Ida ?"

Chapter Text

Marina froze for a second. This man was right in front of her house. And he knew her name. Was she in danger ?! Was he one of these weird stalker fans so many stars talked about ?? She shivered, trying her best to hide her anxiety. But ... The more she looked at him, the more she recognized this face. A short squid, with pink hair, a very powerful smile and a large forehead ... She gasped.

"Y-Yes ! That's me ! I'm Marina Ida ! Are you ..?"

"I believe you guessed it already, haha ! I am Pearl's father. I promised her that I would come and see her this week, but I came earlier than expected because I really wanted to surprise her. Would you happen to know where she is right now ?"

"Well, I know she's in our garden, b-but it's quite large and it may be difficult to know where she is precisely. We may have to walk in loops for a bit before finding her."

"I see. Well, I'm guessing that maybe we could wait for her here. My legs are getting a little old and I'm not sure I'd be fit for walking around for long. Would you like if we sit inside ?"

"No, not at all ! Please, you'll always be welcome here."

Marina invited the man in, settling him on the nearest chair available and biting her lip. She had absolutely no idea of how to act, and it was starting to really, really make her worried. First of all, she'd never been great with conversations with strangers. It could be fine if they started off by talking about her when they were fans or interviewers, simply because this was a subject she actually knew about. But anything else made her stress out. Usually, she'd have Pearl with her, but ... She wasn't there right now. And that brought another problem

That was Pearl's father.

The person so rich that he hadn't seen his daughter in years. The person so important that he had the power to change literally anything in the turf war industry simply by asking for it. The one person that had changed her life by allowing her to stay by Pearl's side in his old house all of this time. And Marina was terrified by one thing. The possibility of disappointing him. Would he be able to separate her from Pearl if she wasn't good enough ? What if he started questioning her about what she could provide to the family ? What if he found out she was in love with her ? WHAT IF PEARL WAS ALREADY IN AN ARRANGED MARRIAGE ?!

After a bit, the man chuckled, obviously noticing Marina's nervousness as he watched his hair twirl around and her hands grasping her pants.

"Say, you look like you're quite worried about my presence here. But I'm just here to see my precious daughter and to meet the friend she seems to adore so much. That's all."

"I'm ... Sorry. I didn't mean to insult you this way."

"No, no. I understand. People often think I'm impressive, that I deserve to be treated like some sort of monarch just because I happen to be important. The truth is, I act this way around others because in the world of money, people won't hesitate to destroy you if they sense weakness. But to say the truth, It makes me feel quote isolated. So much that I haven't been able to see my dearest daughter in years ... So please. Don't act like I deserve any more respect than any other old man you'd find on the street."

"I see ... Well, even outside of money, you're still the father of someone I deeply appreciate. You're the reason why I have Pearl by my side so ... Even if I'll try my best to act like you're just any old man, it's a little difficult for me to ignore that fact."

The man smiled, looked down and sighed.

"I see. So that's how it is, huh."

His eyes slightly darkened as they met once more with Marina's.

"Say. Can you tell me why you like Pearl so much ?"

Chapter Text

The question was so sudden and felt so inherently dark that it made Marina shiver. She had no idea why this man had gotten so grim in a second. But it genuinely scared her.

"E-Excuse me ..?"

"Give me the reason why you're staying by Pearl's side. You're her best friend, right ? It should be easy enough."

Marina looked down at her hands and felt her mind slowly empty itself. She should be able to answer. Pearl was her everything. She loved her more than anything else. So why ... Why was this all so difficult suddenly ?!

"Well ...I'm staying by her side because I know she loves me for what I am, and I love her for who she is. It's ... Difficult to explain. Woaw. I'm sorry, I usually have many, many thoughts to share about her when I'm asked why I formed a duo with her. People even tend to tell me that I ramble. But I'm just ... At a loss for words right now. I love Pearl because ... Because she makes me happy. It's weird, huh ? Sometimes there's people that just make you happy because they exist by your side. She doesn't even have to do anything, she just ... We can spend the night together watching a movie without sharing a single word but I know it was better because she was here. Working in a room without her feels empty sometimes. We can be working on a new song together on our computers for hours without even looking at each other, but I know that eventually she'll turn around and show me a funny picture on her phone or she'll remind me to take a break because I'm overworking myself. She's the kind of person that could eat mayo on a toast like it was some kind of jam and despite my disgust, I'd still find it cute somehow. When I cry, sometimes she'll tell me kind words. But often, she'll just hold my hand and ... Be here for me. It's not the only reason why I love her, I know it. I've could've told you that she's gorgeous, that she has a wonderful personality, that she's nice and caring but even if it's all true that's things you could say about many, many people. It's too easy. It doesn't feel like saying it is enough. So i guess that the most important thing for me is that she exists. By my side. I don't think I can live without Pearl anymore."

Marina bit her lips and sighed. She'd just started crying. If she wanted to look genuine, maybe she'd overdone it. She tried her best to stop her tears but every time she managed to calm herself down, they would come back in full force. After a few minutes of trying to hide herself behind her hands, she finally managed to get her vision back and she carefully looked at the man that was still staring at her, only to notice that ... She wasn't the only one crying in this room. Her heavy sobs had hidden the man's soft breaths and little streams of water running down his face. But the fact was, he was smiling.

"You're the first person who gave me a reason. I asked this specific question to a lot of her older friends. I didn't meet them all because of my previous work situation. But I've met many in her youth. When I asked what they found nice about her, they all gave me the same basic answers. That she was their friend. That she was nice. That she had talent. But the second I tried to go further, they all fell flat. They had nothing more to say about someone who was supposed to be their friend. It hurt, and only made me feel like my poor kid was nothing more than a tool of some sorts. I trust you, Marina. I mean that with all of my heart. You're a kind soul, one that I know is nothing less than a blessing for someone as lost as Pearl. You know, she struggled to trust people when I last saw her. She got stepped on at every occasion people had. And when she told me she broke up with yet another group to form something new, I felt like her trust could never be gained again, unless someone either truly manipulative or truly good came by her side. Turns out you were the angel she so desperately needed. So thank you. You're part of our family, Marina. I hope you'll be able to understand how much it means one day."

The octoling let out another sob and nodded, opening her mouth to add something more but cut short by the sound of a door being slammed open.

"MARINAAAA oh my COD have you seen our cherry trees ?! They've grown so much, they're three feet tall now ! I'm so, so excited and- hold on. Are you crying ? Is everything okay Reena ?"

Before Marina could answer, the old man turned around and smiled.

"She's okay. We just had ... An eventful talk."

Pearl paused, took a step backwards and clenched her fist.

"... Dad ?"

"Hello Pearl. It's been a while."

The little squid looked at the ground, shook her head and immediately sprinted into her father's arms, clenching him as hard as she could. The man quietly laughed as he began to hear her mumbling all kinds of swears

"You look well. It seems like Marina took great care of you."

Pearl immediately felt her cheeks flush as she hid her face against his chest.

"Dad what the fuck did you two just talk about."

"Mmmmh. Sounds like my intuition was right about her then. We'll have a talk about that later."

"DAD !?"

Marina, only hearing half of the muffled conversation, simply smiled as she watched Pearl jump out of her fathers arms and playfully punched his shoulder.

"... I missed you, idiot."

"I missed you too, honey."

Chapter Text

"So about Marina..."

"Dad."

"She seems to care a lot about you. And according to everything we've talked about all together, she looks very intelligent, sweet and quite the person to be around."

"Dad, I swear to cod-"

"I'm just saying ... She would be a great fit for you."

"I KNOW, ALRIGHT ? I KNOW !! JUST ... I HAVEN'T ASKED HER OUT YET. I NEED MORE TIME."

Pearl sighed as she took another sip of her orange juice. Marina had invited her father to join them for the night to take some rest and talk all together. Pearl thought that he would try to confront her a lot more, just like he did with most of her friends, but the man was surprisingly sweet and got along with her quite well. After that, he'd stayed to sleep over in a guest room for the night, and woke up quite early to go back to his work, not without waking his daughter up for one last conversation together. Something he couldn't bring up in front of Marina : the fact that Pearl was very obviously in love with her.

"What do you need time for ? She looks at you like you're some kind of goddess. Now would be the perfect time to confess. You even have a house together, how close do you even need to be ?"

"It's just- fuck ... I'm not sure. I took care of her for so long. I don't want to overpower her. You literally just said it, she looks at me like I'm a goddess. Wouldn't it be a bad idea to ask her out like that ?! It kinda feels like she would be in my control or something ..."

"Hey, just because she adores you doesn't mean that she doesn't have a mind of her own. If anything, it looks like she's pretty vocal about what she doesn't like."

"... Maybe I'm just finding excuses. Yeah. I just don't know how to do it. There, I said it. I will ask her out, eventually ... But I think I need to figure how first. It's the first time I've liked someone so seriously. Before that it was just ... Making out with random girls after concerts and one-night stands with the most attractive ones. But Marina deserves better than that. And maybe I do too."

"It's rare for you to think so much about someone."

"Y-Yeah ... I guess. Usually I just fuck around and find out. But not this time. Not with her."

The man grinned and elbowed his kid.

"At least we won't have to go through an arranged marriage, mmmh ?"

"SHUT UP, SHUT UP !!"

"Awh, you know I'm joking. I'm a little old school, but not that kind of old school."

"I know ... Man, I could've got a lot worst of a family. We're a mess but fuck, I'm glad to have you."

"I'm glad to have you too, honey. I'm not perfect. But I want to try my best to make sure you remember how much you matter to me. You're not just a kid I made to marry off to a random girl and get some quick money for the company. I made you to be loved. Don't forget that."

"I won't. Promise."

Suddenly, a phone ringtone. Pearl felt her hands twitch as she watched her father's face slowly melt into sadness

"Pearl, I-"

"It's time for you to go. I get it. Thank you for coming here dad, it means the world to me."

The two of them shared one last hug before Pearl silently watched her father leave out the room, gone for who knows how long. She hoped that she could get to see him soon enough... But perhaps this was asking for too much.

After being left alone, Pearl was left in a state of limbo. Being all alone didn't fit her. There was nothing to do. Nothing to say. She wasn't used to waking up so early, and wasn't used to wait to see the sun rise. She took another sip of her orange juice and waited. She wasn't exactly sure how long she waited, half asleep on her seat and eyes staring into the void. But one thing was for sure, she stayed there long enough for Marina to find her.

"Hi Pearl ! What are you doing up so early ?"

"Hey ... My dad left. I just got up to talk to him one last time before he was gone."

"Awh ... I wish I could've said goodbye. He was really nice. What did you two talk about ?"

"... Nothing much. I guess just random father and daughter stuff. Maybe I'll tell you about it one day."

Chapter Text

Marina would've never imagined that being able to do more concerts could be such a blessing a few years ago. But now, it seemed that most of her live events were splatfests and ... She missed it. She missed actually appreciating singing in front of a crowd. She'd always like the first few hours of the fests, of course. But not a single sane person would be able to enjoy 48 hours of singing and dancing with little to no pauses. It simply wasn't physically nor mentally possible. But today, for one of their days off, Pearl had offered her the possibility of doing a small concert. It wasn't anything forced, just going back to their roots. The place where they'd sing would only have about a few hundred people in, which was kind of ridiculous compared to their usual crowds, but ... It would make things feel more real. Concerts are better when you can recognize faces in the crowd and interact with the public, after all.

It would only last an hour and a half, with an autograph session beforehand and a small private meeting session with a lucky winner selected randomly from the crowd. In a sense, it was more work. It could be strange to imagine that the girls would fight so hard to get some free time and then immediately go back to concerts. But the fact was, they could choose when and how it would happen. And that changed everything. They were artists for a reason after all. They wanted to share their love for music. They wanted to sing for people to feel alive. And that day, they be able to meet the people and hold their hand once more.

So far, the autograph session had been going well. Many, many times the girls had people tell them they changed people's lives and that they made everyone happy. They knew it, if course. But this was a different feeling than reading it for the hundredth time on a random social media post. They could see the joy and passion in people's eyes. Some that often saw them behind their studio on the square, but we're truly able to reach them out to do something as simple as say hello. Now, they were here, taking photos and smiling like they were always meant to meet. It was all deeply sweet.

Marina waved at the little girl she just hugged for a photo as the next person in line came up to her. I was an old inkling, who gave her a little card to sign on with a shaking hand. As she returned the piece of paper, Marina couldn't help but appreciate how different her fans were. People of all species, of all ages ... She remembered how overwhelming it was at first. She only knew Octolings and octarians in her childhood, perhaps the occasional salmonid that came up to trade, but that was all. But now she deeply loved that diversity. The octoling was about to ask if the old squid wanted anything else, but the man caught her off guard by handing her a little bag of seemingly homemade biscuits.

"Here, young lady. I feel like the youth barely even eats fresh things nowadays ... Everything comes premade from the supermarket ... I thought you should get a taste of something from a simpler time. Made this morning, it's an old family recipe"

Marina smiled, nodded and took the bag of biscuits before taking a little sniff at it. She felt her stomach growl as the smell of freshly baked dough and almond rose through the air.

"Thank you so much, they look absolutely delicious but sadly I can't eat almonds right now ... I'm slightly allergic to them, they make my throat a bit swollen and I can't risk that before the show."

"Oh, they weren't made with almonds at all ! They're simple butter biscuits. Back in my days, nuts were too expensive to use."

"Ah ... I could've swore they smelled like it. But thank you ! I'm always so happy to receive some handmade gifts !"

"No problem ! My pleasure. Now, thank you for your time, but my old legs won't keep me standing for long. Have a nice day, young lady."

"You too !"

The popstar waved goodbye before she looked at Pearl who quickly elbowed her after walking back from getting a photo with a visibly very excited urchin fangirl

"For someone with such a provocative outfit, you're popular with grandpas."

"I guess ... I'm glad we're getting more popular, but I missed handmade gifts lately. I may eat a few before the show."

"Can I try them out too ? They smell like almonds. You know I'm a sucker for these."

"Well, he said they weren't made with almonds ... Wait, you can smell it too ?!"

"Yeah. Maybe it doesn't have any almonds in it but something like a special aroma ?"

"..."

Marina took a second to analyze the biscuits a little closer. They didn't look like they contained any kind of nuts at all, and seemed kind of basic, just normal cookies with some sort of white powder sprinkled on top. There was no reason for it to smell like almonds, unless ...

"Pearl. We need to evacuate the room."

"H-Huh ?!"

"I'll call the police. Tell everyone on the queue that they will get something in compensation. This is an emergency."

"What the ... Okay. I trust you on that. But you're not joking around, right ?!"

"No. I'm serious. I have my reasons to think this old man just tried to poison us."

Pearl immediately walked up the security guards and asked them to find the old man before taking out her microphone and trying as calmly as she could to explain the situation. A few people seemed rightfully disappointed, but most seemed concerned and confused. On the other side of the room, Marina had put down the bag of biscuits and had begun to call the police.

"Y-Yes, hello ? Sorry for bothering you, it's just ... Yes, yes this is Marina from off the hook. Please, listen, I-I have suspicions that someone just tried to poison me. No, this is not a joke, please-"

Pearl walked towards her friend, snatched the telephone from her hands and began to yell.

"Listen to me fuckface, do your job and bring your ass here. Marina's not the type to be paranoid, so if she says we need help, it means SHOW ME YOU'RE NOT PAID TO EAT DONUTS AND SLEEP ALL DAY AND GET HERE. Yup. Thanks."

Marina bit her fingers as Pearl put her phone back down and sat by her side.

This was an nightmare. And she didn't know how to wake up.

Chapter Text

Things went really fast. The crowd began to move around as it was guided to the emergency exits of the room, obviously a bit upset but mostly confused as to why they had to go. The police came up and quickly found the old man before bringing him back to the duo to make sure it was the right person. As for the biscuits ... They'd tested positive for cyanide.

Marina expected a lot from this situation. Well ... mostly something you'd see out of a movie. She thought that the old man would scream that he's innocent, that he hadn't done anything wrong, that these people should let him go ... But no. He didn't do any of that. Instead he did so much worse. As he was presented to Marina, he glared at her with eyes that she would probably never forget. A look filled with the purest hatred she'd ever seen. And when she confirmed that it was the right person, he finally began to struggle.

"You're all blind !! She should be the one getting arrested, not me !!"

"Sir, if you don't remain calm, we are allowed to use violence against you."

"The new generations of inkopolis aren't taught anything nowadays !! Look at her, it's obvious that she's not normal ! Her tentacles, her split mask !! SHE'S THE ENEMY !!"

"You'll explain all of that to the judges, grandpa. Right now, all I know is that you just tried to murder someone."

"THEY'RE TRYING TO INVADE US AGAIN !! THE OCTARIANS ARE COMING, THEY'RE ACTING LIKE IDOLS TO INFILTRATE OUR LANDS BUT THEY'RE NOTHING BUT LIARS ! YOU'LL SEE IT ONCE THEY'LL TRY TO KILL US ALL AGAIN, YOU'LL UNDERSTAND THAT I'M RIGHT BUT IT WILL BE TOO LATE !!"

"That's enough. Ma'am, we're sorry that this had to happen. We will make sure that this individual will stay in a cell until their judgement. If you require any more assistance, will it be physical or emotional, we have some ambulances ready outside."

Marina didn't answer. She simply nodded, trying her best to act like the tears she was shedding simply came from the stress of almost being killed.

This was the worst, the actual worst. And ... It all happened in front of Pearl. The little inkling was holding her as tightly as she could, telling her that everything would be fine. But ... Would it truly be the case ?

Three sighed as they scrolled down on their phone, taking a quick glance at Marie from the corner of their eye. Just another afternoon spent doing nothing much except exist around the poor ex-idol to help her out through the day. She'd been struggling ever since Callie had started drifting away from her, and had practically begged for Three to stay by her side once in while. It quickly became a habit for them. She didn't need much interaction, just for someone she loved to be around her so that she could feel less alone. And well, outside of patrols in the Octo valley, Three didn't have much to do. So they figured they could help their friend out by staying as much time as they could with her.

The young inkling stretched, grabbing a handful of chips and shoving them into their mouth before laying back down on the couch with a satisfied smile. A free snack was always welcome, and the squid sisters always had stuff around. They kept scrolling on their phone, going through a multitude of random informations until something caught their eye. They clicked on the article's link and almost bit their tongue out of surprise.

"Hey Marie ? Did you see the news ?"

"About what ?"

"An old inkling just tried to murder Marina from Off the Hook. You know, the octoling ?"

"EXCUSE ME ?! WHO WOULD EVEN- Oh my god. Please. Don't tell me it's gramps."

"It's not, apparently. Just a crazy old man who also happened to fight octolings during the war and thought she was a danger to the world. You know, gramps can be pretty aggressive at times, but he's rarely one to initiate the fights, even less deaths. Plus, a murder ? In front of an entire crowd ? The New Squidbeak Splatoon is a bit more subtle than this I believe."

"True ... Pfiew. Poor Marina though... She's probably the sweetest person I've met. She doesn't deserve this."

"Even without knowing her, I know she doesn't deserve this. She's trying to escape her old soldier life and it comes right back to bite her in the face. What a nightmare."

Marie looked down at her phone, began to dial in Marina's number and right before she could click the call button, she froze.

... What was she even supposed to say right now ?

She knew why all of this happened. She knew how terrified Marina must've been when she has to face the hate of this crazy old man. But the problem was, she wasn't supposed to know. In everyone's eyes, this must've looked like a random insane old man trying to attack a popular singer because he felt like it, not a hate crime. What was she even supposed to say that would help ? "I'm sorry this happened ?" Of course she is "I hope you get better soon ?" OF COURSE SHE DOES.

She wanted to tell her her real thoughts so deeply. She wanted her to hear what she probably so desperately needed to hear, th se words were probably something no one would be able to tell her right now. That she was loved. That her species didn't mean anything. That she wasn't the enemy, this old man was wrong and full of a misguided rage and that ... That she deserved to be here, in inkopolis.

Marie felt another wave of sadness clench her heart. If Marina felt so sad ... It was her fault too. She fought octolings. She KILLED octolings. She was the one that repeatedly shoved them back in the underground, as if they belonged there. But she didn't have any other solution. If she hadn't done so, they would've attacked inkopolis. They wouldn't listen to any peaceful offer either. So what was she even supposed to do ?! Just keep these people feeling miserable and hated by all ? Or let them swarm this world with all of the rage they'd accumulated over the years, just praying that they wouldn't try to kill everyone ? It all felt so ... Blurry ... She knew that Three couldn't help her find an answer either. No one could. So she simply swallowed her tears and looked back at her phone. She hesitated for another second. But she pressed the call button.

She waited for a couple seconds, unsure if she really wanted someone to answer or not. But after a little bit of time, she finally came up. A small, distorted voice answered, seemingly trying to hide her pain the best she could.

"... Hello ?"

"Hey ... Marina ? If you need to talk, I'm here."

Chapter Text

The ride Marina took back home definitely didn't feel real. The octoling felt as if her soul wasn't exactly connected to her body anymore. This situation was just so shocking that something in her brain just refused to process it, because if it did, surely it would break her.

Pearl didn't take the old man seriously. No one did, actually. They all believed that he was nothing but clinically insane, and didn't even bother to take note of his accusations before throwing him in the back of the police car. She still had that his heinous eyes engraved in her brain, as if he was still watching her, and this may have been one of the rare things that kept her slightly in touch with reality. Pearl wasn't even by her side. She was still needed on the crime scene, and seeing how marina was acting, she simply asked her to go back home and called their personal driver back.

When she got out of the car, she barely thanked her driver and didn't even feel herself walking back to her room. It just happened. Suddenly, she was in her bed, understanding that she'd been staring at the ceiling for cod knows how long, and she heard her phone ring. She grabbed it, only half consciously, and answer with the best voice she could make. She didn't even know who was calling her.

"... Hello ?"

"Hey ... Marina ? If you need to talk, I'm here."

She recognized that voice before she could even understand what these words meant. And this was the thing that brought her back to reality. This was Marie. Marie had just called her, and her voice sounded so ... Soft. Sweet. Marie, the hero that got her out of the domes in the first place. Marie, this friend that she loved so much. Finally, her head finally accepted the situation she was in. It hurt, to accept that all of it was real. But she know that to be healed, she had to feel the pain first. She immediately bursted into tears, clinging her phone between her hands, and did her best to say something that could be understood despite her her mangled throat

"I'm so scared to die ... I don't want to die ..."

"Oh, Marina ... Everything's going to be okay, alright ? Where are you right now ? Do you need help ? I have someone right next to me that went through a military training. If you need to feel safe, I can come in just a few minutes."

"No, no ... I don't want- ... I ... I just don't want to think about him right now ... He looked at me, and I just ... I felt like I was going to die. I was going to DIE. Marie, I ... I don't want to ... I still want to be here. I want to spend more time with you and Callie and Pearl and ... And ..."

"We're here. I'm here with you, right now. I'm not going away, and neither are you. You're not dying, I promise. I don't know how much i can help, but ... I'm not leaving."

Marina stayed silent for a bit.

"... Can you just ... Stay with me for a bit ? I don't want to be alone."

"Of course."

The next two hours were spent in a really weird way. Marina felt like crying for the entirety of the conversation, but on the other hand, she didn't want to. Not because she didn't want to look weak. Not because she felt like she could be hurt if she did. But because everything about this conversation was centering around the fact that she desperately needed a DISTRACTION, and she tried her best to not mention what happened again. She didn't want to think about any of taht. But even after the call ended, Marina felt like this hadn't been enough. She was happy that Marie had helped her so much. But this pair of eye still felt like it was watching her from behind her back. She still felt tense, as if she could flinch at any noise. And she did, actually. When Pearl entered her room, Marina almost jumped off her bed and squeaked.

"Hey umh ... I'm here ..."

The octoling felt her breath getting heavier as she glanced at Pearl. She couldn't believe that she was scared by her own best friend. And yet ... Here she was. And Pearl could sense just how wrong everything was.

"Marina ... Everything's okay now, I just- ... Fuck ... I don't even know what to say, I'm so sorry ... It's all so ... Is there anything I can do to help ?"

Marina kept her silence for a bit, looking at Pearl with tearful yet hopeful eyes. She was visibly trying to find her words. She rose a hand up, but brought it back down and sighed.

"I need you to do something stupid right now."

"... What ?"

"Do something stupid. Please. I'm begging you. I don't want everything to be so serious right now. I've had enough serious for the day. I don't want to think about how I could've died. I don't want to hear insanely meaningful words that can change my view of this world. I WANTED TO HAVE FUN WITH MY BEST FRIEND TODAY !! I WANTED TO BE WITH YOU AND SEE YOU JUST BEING YOU AND I- ... I LOVE YOU BECAUSE I CAN NEVER PREDICT HOW YOU ACT. BECAUSE YOU'RE IMPULSIVE AND YOU SURPRISE ME. I DON'T WANT TO THINK RIGHT NOW. SO GIVE ME A REASON NOT TO THINK AND DO SOMETHING STUPID, BECAUSE I KNOW THAT'S HOW YOU SHOW HAPPINESS WITHOUT WORDS BEING NEEDED !!"

Pearl stood there for a couple of seconds, nodded, and ran away from her room, only to come back about a minute later with a carton of eggs under her shoulder. She stood in front of Marina, opened the carton, grabbed an egg and smashed it on her forehead. She didn't even move after that, just letting the yolk run all over her face with a blank stare before finally letting a few tears come out.

"I don't know if I did good. But if that helped, I can do the whole ass carton."

Pearl took a step forward, only to immediately loose her balance and immediately smacked herself against the floor. She'd just slipped through the egg yolk that had dripped down her face. Marina immediately gasped and ran to her side, helping her to get back on her feet.

"Pearl !! Is everything alright ?!"

As their eyes met once again, Marina noticed that the inkling was no longer just crying. She was laughing as well

"Welp, here we go ... You asked for something stupid, didn't you ? That didn't even hurt, I promise. Where are the other eggs- FUCK THEY BROKE. THEY'RE ALL SPILLED ON YOUR SHIRT !! I'M SO SORRY, I GOTTA FIX THAT UUUUH ... DO EGGS GO AWAY IN THE WASHING MACHINE ?! YOU'RE PROBABLY GOING TO NEED A BATH. WE BOTH NEED A BATH. OH NO, I MADE EVERYTHING SO MUCH WORSE."

Finally, between the words of panic from Pearl, Marina let out a large snort. The inkling blushed as she watched her friend's smile finally come back, suddenly being pulled into the taller woman's arms for a hug.

"Thank you. I knew it, you're all that I needed."

Pearl sighed as she clinged back to Marina's shoulders. Nothing felt so serious anymore. But ... Perhaps this was for the best.

Chapter Text

Marina smiled as she walked up to see a familiar face waving at her to lead her to the rest of the group she was supposed to meet. The little red kid ran up to her and hugged her knees before looking at her with two big googly eyes filled with love. She hadn't seen Paul in a while and even if this context wasn't the best ... Well, spending time with Sashimori was a much needed rest for her.

After the accident from the day before, Marina was still very much in shock. She still had one free day left to recover, but doing so by filling up complain papers and talking to police officers was definitely not the best idea. So instead, Pearl offered her to be the one to work on the legal matter, and instead to let her take a break with some friends. She did talk a lot with Marie on the night of the accident. It was deeply helpful. But she knew that the ex-idol was busy that day, and therefore decided to hang out with other people instead. And the first group that she remembered was Sashimori. The group was simply hanging out to try to think about some new possible songs on that day, so she took the opportunity to join them.

As she walked up in the ground hangar, they all welcomed her up with a warm hug and immediately began to show an obvious worry. Karla was the first to do so, sitting Marina down on the couch next to her to make sure that she could stay close.

"I'm glad you came here today, I hope we can help ... I still can't believe that happened !! I hope this old dried up squid jerky gets thrown in prison. How did you even know the biscuits were poisoned ?"

"Thanks ... Well umh ... It's a little complicated ..."

Paul jumped up on the couch next to Marina and waved his hands around.

"In chemistry class, we were taught that if we made something smelled like almonds but didn't have any in it, it was almost always cyanide and we needed to evacuate the room. It's really important for lab safety."

"Oh my, I knew you two were very intelligent, but I didn't expect you to work in labs."

"We didn't. It was just for school, because it's important to learn a bit of everything before we graduate in specific subjects."

"Still impressive. I don't think many of us would know about it, and we've all been to college here. You're lucky you caught that in time ... Why did he even try to kill you anyway ?! There wasn't anything about it on the news. They all just called him a senile old man."

Marina bit her lip and sighed.

"Well ... Umh ... I think that he didn't like how I looked. Something about being a bad influence to kids ..."

Taichi let out a grunt and rolled his eyes.

"Thank goodness that grandpa never went to a beach. If he saw a woman in bikini i think he would've exploded on the spot."

Marina let out a snort. That ... Wasn't exactly it. But if the group wanted to believe that this attack resulted from her outfit choices, perhaps that could work in her favor.

"Yes, I guess that wearing a short top would end up making some conservative people mad ... But no matter what ... I'm glad Pearl was here to help. I knew that I was in danger, but if she wasn't here to help i don't even know if I would've had the courage to insist that something was wrong. That man would've escaped from the crowd and would've kept hurting innocents"

Karla sighed and rubbed her friend's back.

"Well, if there's one positive thing I can say about Pearl, it's that when she cares, she cares a lot. Perhaps a little too much for her own well being. If she trusts you, she'll trust you to death."

"That's ... Very true. I mean, I'm a little worried at times that I may not be enough because she did so much for me, but in the end I always see that she just wants me to be happy. That's all."

"You worry too much. Unless you somehow make her think that you're only here for her money, which I highly doubt would happen at this point, she won't let you go. She's probably the best girlfriend you can hope for."

"She's WHAT ?!"

A little bit of a silence followed before Karla eventually doubled down on her words.

"So you don't have a crush on Pearl ?"

"Well umh ... That's ... I mean ... Yes. Yes I do... B-BUT WE'RE NOTHING OFFICIAL !! SHE DOESN'T KNOW ! I'M NOT EVEN SURE IF SHE LIKES ME BACK !"

In the corner of the room, Taichi looked at Ryu Chang and chuckled.

"You owe me twenty bucks dude."

Karla shushed the man up and looked back at Marina.

"I'm surprised you haven't confessed to her. I'm fairly sure she likes you back."

"... Well, we're really good friends but-"

"No. I mean that she probably LOVES you back. At this point, what's stopping you from asking her ?"

Marina hugged herself and shook her head.

"I don't think it's about her. It's more ... About me. I understood these feelings not so long ago. They're all so intense and difficult to handle ... I've always been fond of her presence, but never before have I thought so deeply about kissing someone in my entire life. I don't fully understand myself yet, so I don't expect her to understand me either. So for now, one thing at the time. It will be soon though !!
... Hopefully."

"Mmmmh, got it. I do want to say, Pearl is really good at kissing girls, but don't do it after she ate mayo. I speak from experience."

Marina immediately felt a teal blush run to her cheeks as she hid her face behind her arms.

This ... Was already making her feel better.
She was glad she came here.

Chapter Text

They did it. They did that damn concert.

Two weeks after the accident, Pearl and Marina eventually went back to the idea of doing the little concert they wanted to throw so bad. It took a lot of energy from them, a bit of their own pocket money, but they did it and it was GREAT. Bringing some random people from the crowd to sing and dance on the scene, interacting with everyone and see people's faces light up ... It almost brought them to tears. But the night wasn't over, far from it in fact. They still had an hour long meeting with a randomly selected fan planned up, and the girls were awfully excited about it. Well ... As much as they could be. As she reached backstage, Pearl immediately fell down to her knees and nervously chuckled.

"Yo Reena ... I think I'm about to pass the fuck out. Could you hold up the meeting for me for about thirty minutes so I could take a nap ?"

"Pearlie, please do !! I'll take care of everything, go lay down !!"

"Don't have to tell me twice, babygirl ..."

As she finished her sentence, the little squid fell down on her face and Marina let out a gasp and sighed. She could've seriously used that time to sit down ... The octoling sighed, clenched the small body against her chest and walked her up to the closest place she could rest. She'd take as much time as needed. Marina would spend hours alone with that guest if she had to, but Pearl would have to REST.

She walked up to room where the meeting was to happen, only to be stopped by one her bodyguards before she could reach the doorknob.

"Where's Pearl ?"

"Oh, she's resting. She needs a little nap. I'll handle it from now on, you can watch over her if you wish to."

"I will. As for the contest, it appears the winner is a child. They asked to bring their mother with them to feel more at ease. Would you allow them to do such thing ? If not, I'll escort her out of the room."

"Oh no no, it's all good !! I think that would make things easier for us."

"Understood. Have a nice night, sir. Thank you for your help."

The man nodded and walked off before Marina finally opened the door, walking in the room to find ...

Octolings.

A little blue haired boy with a Marina t-shirt gasped and pointed at her, holding his mother's arm in excitement as he waved his finger around.

"MOM, MOM !! IT'S MARINA !! THE REAL MARINA !!"

"Calm down Coral, it's not polite to point at someone. I know she's the real Marina. You won the ticket, remember ?"

"Yeah, but she's right here in front of us !! Can you believe it ?!"

"Yes, honey. You were very lucky, I'm proud of you. Miss Ida, thank you for having us here. It's an honor."

Marina felt a little teal blush come up her cheeks as she sat down in front of the duo.

"Oh, please ... You're embarrassing me. It's a pleasure to meet up with fans. I don't get to do it often anymore but ... It means a lot to me."

"Is Pearl absent at the moment ? I thought we were supposed to meet the both of you."

"She's actually resting. She's exhausted and couldn't keep going. But lucky for you, that means we'll stay longer together, and a good chunk of that time will be just all three of us ! What do you think, Coral ? Ain't that neat ?"

The kid giggled and waved his arms around, visibly unable to contain his excitement.

"Super neat !! It's great, because you're my favorite !"

"Awh ... I don't mind people having a favorite, but don't say that to Pearl. We're a duo, and it would hurt her if she learned that you loved me more, okay ?"

"Yes, yes of course ! I still like Pearl a lot too, but ... You're not the same. You're my hero."

The mother sighed and rubbed her child's back.

"Say, miss Ida, since Pearl isn't with us for the moment ... Would you mind for us to talk about a more ... Private part of our history ?"

The domes. She was talking about the domes. Marina clenched her fist and looked down.

... It hurt to remember this part of her story. But ... In the end, they understood it more than any inkling ever would. This was the first time in a while that she has the occasion to talk about it with someone.

"Of course."

Chapter Text

Marina smiled as she watched her two guests get visibly more comfortable as she agreed for them to mention their past. They were probably waiting for it. After all, this must've been why this kid liked Marina the most. She looked just like him and ... They shared this difficult past. The mother smiled as her kid hugged her waist to hide his excitement.

"I do want to start off things by saying ... Thank you. I don't know how many times you've heard it before, but you're a real light in the dark for us Octolings. Me and my son's beginnings in Inkopolis were ... Very rough, I'll admit. Trying to get used to all of these new rules without sticking out was really difficult. But then, we began to see you around ... Almost everywhere. You know, it's difficult to grow up in a place where none of the popular faces you see around look like you. Despite our pain and our desire to go back "home", we clinged on to your presence and ... In the end, everything turned out fine. We're happy here. My kid is making a lot of friends, I found myself a new partner and I'm so, SO much less exhausted with my days ... So thank you. For being here. Without you, I think we would've went back into the domes because feeling so alone and unseen may have been something to risk our lives over."

Marina felt herself being brought to tears. She did it. She kept holding on to stay an idol despite how difficult it was, and she finally had the confirmation that it worked. She made people feel seen. She'd noticed it in octoling's eyes and body languages before. But she'd never heard it directly from them. And that feeling was insanely more powerful.

"I ... I don't know what to say. This is all I ever wanted. You're the kind of people I wanted to see grow happy and ... You're here. I'm here for you. I'm here for all octolings that need me. And while I can't say it out loud, I'll keep fighting for us to exist in this world."

The little kid jumped around and flapped his hands around.

"SEE MOM, SEE ?! I TOLD YOU SHE'S A SUPERHERO !!"

Marina chuckled and hid a little bit of a blush.

"You know, I'm just like you. I'm good at singing and dancing, but we came from the same place and we walked the same paths. So if you think I'm a superhero, maybe you can be a superhero too."

The kid gasped and began to dance around.

"I'll be just like you when I grow up then !! And when we're all out of the domes, I'll make everyone happy by being on tv and all !!"

The two adults in the room chuckled with a smile. This kid was adorable. The old octoling soldier smiled and looked at the back door where Marina came from.

"Sooo ... I was a bit curious. Did you tell Pearl about your origins ? You two seem insanely close, enough for these things to happen."

Marina felt a wave of discomfort go through her body, yet she tried to ignore it and move on.

"No ... I haven't. I mean, there's quite a few things I'm still hiding from her, haha ! But yeah ... I think I'm a little scared because I genuinely have no idea of how she'd react. I've never heard about an octoling telling the truth to an inkling."

"I see. Well, I can definitely understand why is that. But if you need someone to testify how it may go ... I have an inkling lover. I'm currently raising my son with him and it was starting to be difficult to hide the truth from him, so I simply explained what happened. The floodgates were open and I'll admit, maybe I overshared when it comes to the more gruesome details of our story. But ... He didn't care. Yeah, I think that's the one thing with inklings. They don't care. Now, he was supportive and helped us overcome our pains. But he never treated us any different. And so far, all of the people that did the same thing had similar results. I can't force you to say it to Pearl. After all, I'm just a simple fan of your work hoping that I can help you out the same way you helped me all of this time. But I'm pretty sure that you're safe with her. She's not someone who hates the things she doesn't understand. Because if she was ... You two would've probably never become friends."

Any discomfort Marina may have felt disappeared in an instant. What this lady said was the truth. Something she had in her face since the very beginning. Pearl was someone full of love and curiosity. So far, Marina had only ever been focused on the fact that she'd done bad things. That she'd created weapons, that she was a soldier, that she was different ... But the question was, wouldn't Pearl try to understand ? Would she even be able to hate Marina without trying to put herself into her shoes ? She was still uncertain, of course. There was no guarantee that things would be fine if she did end up explaining what happened in her old life. But for the first time ever, Marina wondered if maybe, just maybe ... She could still be loved despite it all.

The next hour was spent with the three octolings talking about their every day life. Their beginings and mistakes in inkopolis, but also their successes and tricks on how to blend in more easily. It was genuinely fun, seeing old soldiers sharing their journeys around becoming civilians. All of it felt deeply lighthearted, and could've lasted for hours, if not for Pearl who blasted the door open in the middle of their conversation

"MARINA, WHY DIDN'T YOU WAKE ME UP ?! I'M SUPER-DUPER LATE !!"

Marina chuckled as she looked at the other two octolings, visibly excited to see the little inkling finally showing up.

"Oh, hi Pearl ! Don't worry I took care of everything while you were out."

"And I left you all alooooone ... Man I'm the WORST. Hello to you two. I'm gonna make it up for y'all and make this night the BEST NIGHT YOU'VE EVER HAD !!"

And she did. The little group spent the next two hours together, making the meeting last way long than expected. At the end of the night, these people were no longer simple strangers. They were friends. People that you want to meet again. People that you can't let go of. When they left, Marina made sure to get the woman's phone number and kept it preciously in her pocket, still having a warm feeling in her chest. Despite the guests's departure, Pearl and Marina still sat down in the room in silence, still in shock of how much they'd loved that day. It was as if they were waiting for something to happen.

And maybe it was the exhaustion. Maybe the fuzzy feeling these two people left her simply lasted for too long. But Marina felt like she could tell Pearl anything. And she did.

"Hey ... Pearl ?"

"Mmmmh ?"

"I think ... I love you."

There. She said it.

Chapter Text

She said it. She ACTUALLY said it. Pearl looked back at Marina with widened eyes that just screamed confusion. The stare they shared lasted for who knows how long, until Pearl finally broke the frozen time they'd shared by taking a step back. They knew. They both knew. There was no backing down now, but neither of them knew how to address it. Pearl opened her mouth and closed it several times, slightly raising her hand each time as she visibly tried to come up with any kind of coherent phrase. But after hesitating for so long, Pearl regained control of her body for a few seconds, and used this little moment of clarity to say the one thing she wanted to make very clear.

"I love you too."

Immediately after that, both girls slapped their hands on their mouths and backed down. Pearl began to shake her head and sighed.

"There's no fucking way I just said that ..."

Marina removed her hands from her face and began to shake them in the air in excitement.

"Say it !! Say it again Pearlie !!"

"I ... Love you ?"

Marina squealed and immediately ran towards Pearl to squeeze her into her arms, tears began to roll down her cheeks as she rubbed her head against her partner.

"I'M SO HAPPY RIGHT NOW, I DON'T HAVE THE WORDS, I ... PEARL, WE LOVE EACH OTHER !! CAN YOU BELIEVE THAT ?! IT'S NOT JUST ME WHO LOVES YOU ... I don't even know what to say ..."

"And here I always thought I'd be the one to confess ... Damn. GGs on being first, Reena."

After a while, the two girls broke the hug up, looked at each other with a smile and finally sat back down on their chairs before awkwardly looking at the floor. Their hearts were pounding in their chests, and there was just an brand new kind of tension that had started to sprout around the room. Marina sighed and began to softly chuckle.

"This is not how I expected things to go but ... Here we are, huh."

"What. Did you expect things to go like in your favorite yuri mangas ? Oooooh Marina, the love of my life, my everything, kiss me until we can't breathe-"

Pearl cartoonishly began to make big kiss sounds with her mouth as she approached Marina's face. The octopus tried her best to block out the kiss with her hands as both girls laughed and Pearl eventually went back to her seat.

"I mean ... I didn't expect for it to go quite like in movies or TV shows. I knew it wouldn't be perfect. But I kind of hoped that I could make a big confession for you, maybe write you a letter or cook you a nice dinner and finally reveal my feelings but ... Maybe I was a bit unrealistic on that part. With you being you, I would've never been able to predict how things would go."

"Yeah if you want to ask my hand in marriage don't hide the ring in my food because there's a high chance I'll eat everything before you get to speak. Just saying."

Marina chuckled at the joke, but also felt her heart flutter at the simple mention of a wedding. So ... Pearl was taking this seriously ? Or was this only meant to be a joke ? She just had to know.

"So, Pearl ... Does that mean we're ... A thing now ?"

Pearl nodded with a slight blush.

"Only if you want to."

"OF COURSE I want to, Pearlie !! I love you, I mean it !!"

"Well ... Same. Hey, I don't know how serious or cool what I'm about to say may sound, but y'know, I feel like I should say it at least once. Because you deserve to hear it. Marina, you're the most wonderful person I ever met. I don't think it's an exaggeration to say that if I'd never met you ... I would've never been happy. Not just because we became idols together. Not just because we created music together. But because ... Every single good thing that happened to me over the past few years was directly linked to you in a way or another. I don't know what I did to deserve you. But the universe sent me a blessing and y'know ... That blessing is the most gorgeous girl I could've ever dreamt of."

"..."

"Shit ... Was that too corny ? Man, I thought you'd like- hmph !!"

Pearl couldn't finish her sentence, as Marina's lips pressed against hers, soon to be pulled into an intense kiss, along with cuddled and a couple of happy noises. They were in love. And they both knew it. For once, Marina didn't even think about her past. About the implications of meeting Pearl. About the fears of possibly lying to her. These thoughts would come back, eventually. But right now they were gone, buried under an overwhelming amount of warmth and love. They were happy together. And this was bound to last.

Chapter Text

The last few days of their lives had been weird. Good, but weird.

Pearl and Marina were a couple now. It was more or less official, but they both knew that they were in love, and they both wanted to share that love. But trying to get used to the idea of finally being able to get wilder with affection after all of those years of pinning was definitely strange. They both visibly wanted it. They craved it. But most of the time, it was as if something blocked them. As if they were too scared to make things awkward or accidentally hurt their partner. But the thing was, they acted just like usual. The only difference so far was that they could throw a bit more hugs and some kisses into the equation. Man ... Things were getting weird for no good reason.

Laying down together in their bed, Pearl and Marina were scrolling down on social medias to relax, showing the posts they found funny or interesting to the other from time to time. It was something they did fairly often for years now, just a way to relax and spend more time together before going to bed. Every once in a while they'd see the other chuckle and show her phone to the other, hopefully earning a chuckle as well, and would go back to simply existing by each other's side. This time, they'd been silent for a little bit, until Pearl let out a huge snort and showed her phone to Marina.

"Yo Reena, look at that ! "Off the Hook fans are getting worried to see that Marina's tentacles never stops growing and wonder if she's trying to beat a record" ... I mean, they're kinda right haha !! I've never seen you cut these bad boys up ! Don't you ever want to go to the hairdresser ?"

Marina looked at her tentacles and immediately felt them twirling around in stress. She liked them long, yes. But this wasn't the only reason she'd never tried to cut them. Because these tentacles had a mind of their own, and if they were no longer linked to her body, would create a little sentient creature that she'd have to take care of. Marina didn't feel exactly ready for a relationship yet, so even less ready to be a mom. She tried her best to remain calm and simply let out an amused huff, while trying to tell a truth that was only slightly exaggerated.

"Well, it's not like i hate hairdressers, I was just never allowed to keep them long when I was younger. It feels ... A little magical to see them grow that much. I don't really want to cut them because of that. But I could end up actually breaking a record, I suppose."

"Awh ... Okay now I feel kinda bad for mocking you. That's a pretty cute story."

And with that, Pearl let out an exhausted yawn and stretched like a little cat.

"Welp, I think I'm getting tired ... Time for me to go back to my bed to go into a coma for half a day. Goodnight ~"

Marina was about to wave her goodbye, but suddenly realized that Pearl was struggling to move away from the bed.

Her tentacles. They'd moved on their own.

They were wrapped around Pearl's arm, trying to keep her in bed by her side. And they were NOT letting her go. Both girls were blushing insanely hard as Marina started to apologize.

"I'm so, so sorry, I know you need to sleep and all and I didn't meant to- I guess I just wanted you to stay and you know them, they always do whatever they want haha !! Hold on, let me get you off-"

"Hey Reena ... Do you just want me to sleep with you tonight ?"

Another awkward silence, and the blushing intensified. Pearl began to rub her neck nervously, avoiding Marina's eyes.

"I know we used to do sleepovers whenever you had nightmares and all and I mean ... They were kinda nice, right ? So now that we're a thing ... I just thought that we could do the same thing. Just you and me. In a bed. Fuck. Did I make that sound weird ? I think I did. Reena I'm so sorry-"

Before she could finish her sentence, Pearl was pulled against Marina, who let out a loud squeak of joy.

"YES !! YES, I'D LOVE TO SLEEP TOGETHER !! THAT WAY WE WON'T BE APART, EVEN AT NIGHT !! Oh, this is just ... Perfect ..."

"Welp, I guess I got my answer. Sleepover 2.0, girlfriend edition, here we go !!"

... They were still struggling.
But things were slowly moving on.

Chapter Text

Callie sighed as she looked down to Octo valley. As much as she loved coming here when she was younger, agent missions were slowly becoming a chore. She was starting to get a little more time for herself, and usually she would've loved just going out, just running around and smashing everything she sees with her roller. But lately, Callie had been thinking about the Squidbeak Splatoon a bit too much. And she was starting to feel deeply uncomfortable with everything that was going on around her work.

Inkopolis was slowly getting filled up with more and more Octolings lately. She'd seen it first hand, as they seemed to be just as interested by the music scene as inklings and she was often brought to collaborate with them during movies. Sashimori, Diss-Pair, Yoko and the Gold Bazookas ... Everywhere the ex idol looked, she could see Octolings. But this, in itself, wasn't a problem

The problem was that they were nice.

EVERY SINGLE OCTOLING SHE'D MET IN INKOPOLIS WAS NICE. It was starting to break her. She liked these people. She wanted these people to stay here, in inkopolis. Because in her eyes there was no argument left against the idea of letting them live their life on the surface. She knew it wasn't a forced politeness either. Warabi was someone inherently brutal with his opinions, sarcastic and who loved to playfight with everyone he met. She'd never seen him being a simple smiling man who tried his best to fit in. Nope ! He was chaos incarnate and definitely didn't want to change in any way.

It hurt her. Because now that she looked at all of those kettles she was about to patrol in, Callie could only see that the people she fought were like anyone else. And more than once, her confrontations with Octolings had ended in the death of her enemy due to the sheer violence of their battle. She wasn't sure how many times. Most likely two or three times, nothing more. But this was more than enough for her to feel like a monster. And right now, the reason why she feared the domes so much wasn't because she was scared for her own life. No. She was scared to cause any more harm.

Still, the government was very clear. They HAD to do this work. According to them, if the octolings sensed weakness, they would most likely attack to take inkopolis back. Which ... Made sense. A hundred years of pure hate would most likely result in an explosive amount of aggressivity. But ... Was it really worth it to add on to this hate ? In her vision, this could only result in the octolings slowly dying a cold and miserable death underground until their inevitable extinction, or would just end up causing a war...

Callie flinched as she felt her phone buzz in her pocket. She blinked a couple of times before grabbing it and quickly reading the message she just got sent. It seemed to be from Marina.

"Heeeeey Callie !!
The most AMAZING thing happened yesterday and I just gotta tell you ... Pearl and I, we're officially a thing now !! <3
I still can't believe it, I feel like I'm exploding ... But yeah, very happy and excited for it !!"

Callie felt her anxiety slightly dissipate. Marina was just ... Adorable. She knew that Pearl had been pinning for her for a while now, so she could only imagine the relief the poor squid was feeling right now. She just sent a bunch of hearts in return, adding a little "GG" to it, before closing her phone back, taking a deep breath, grabbing her roller and jumping in the nearest kettle she could find. She just wanted to get this over with. Two hours of patrol, and then she'd go straight back home to stuff herself with ice cream and cake.

Callie began to walk around these familiar grounds, roller in hand and special ready, just in case something goes wrong. But ... This place was unusually empty. This may have been the first time she'd seen a kettle without any enemy to fight. And after turning up around a corner, she understood why.

A trail of blood on the floor. Two Octolings on their knees and a third one, laying down on the floor, face covered in the same vivid scarlet liquid that was spread around the floor.

Someone was dying.

Chapter Text

Callie did her best to hide in a corner and observe the situation from afar. She had no idea of what to do at the moment, but with all of the blood around and the obvious distress of the two octolings holding their friend, she could only guess that it was severe. So she simply sat there and waited. One of the healthy soldiers began to look down at a strange watch she had on her wrist. She began angrily typing on it until she heard little beeps emerging from it. She sighed and closed her eyes, until a voice finally came up.

"Hello ? Who is this ?"

"Once again, this is captain Nacre. We've been requesting a rescue team for the last THIRTY MINUTES, and there's still NO SIGN of them showing up. WHAT ARE YOU GUYS WAITING FOR ?!"

"Ma'am, we demand that you stay calm. We are trying our best to solve the situation and help you."

"One of my soldiers is DOWN, lieutenant. She has a pierced lung and a ruptured ink sac. She's struggling to breathe, coughing up blood and due to her inability to regulate her ink, I'm pretty sure there's a fluid accumulation building up in her other lung. So what, are you looking for her to suffocate or perhaps you'd rather wait and see if a squid comes to take her down first ?!"

Callie bit her lip. A ruptured ink sac ... This was one of the worst injuries an inkfish could endure.

Inkfishes can usually survive most attacks thanks to their ability to control ink. Even when their body is damaged after being in contact with enemy ink, they can be reformed in a nearby spawn pad and act just as if nothing has happened. Sadly, this could only work thanks to their ability to control ink. If an inkfish's ink sac was every damaged, the liquid would simply get out of control in their body. Which in itself was dangerous, but also meant that they could no longer use any ability that required ink. They couldn't turn into an animal form, use weapons, hide in ink, change their colors ... But worst of all, they couldn't respawn.

"I understand the issue and I shall do as much as I can to help you. But please know that many of our troops are not available to be deployed right now. There was a rock slide in the 5th department and civilian lives are in danger."

"... Understood. We shall wait. Over."

The octoling immediately grabbed the nearest rock she could find and threw it as hard as she could in Callie's direction out of rage. Surprised, the squid squeaked and jumped out of the space she was hiding it. And before she knew it, she was standing up, weapon in hand, and the group of octoling was staring at her.

She didn't know how to act. Genuinely. It kind of felt like the situation was frozen in time, and only she could unlock it by saying or doing something. Should she run away ? Attack ?! She didn't know anything.

Well no, she knew one thing.

The fear in these strangers's eyes was intense. The two healthy soldiers had their hands on their weapons, but were visibly shaking. The one on the ground seemed be tearing up with her eyes closed, as if she'd already given up on life and didn't want to look at her fate directly. There was only one thing Callie had in mind in this instant. She was a monster. She was terrifying, and she was the threat out here. But she didn't have to be. She clenched her hands around her roller, took a step back, and stared right into the Captain's eyes.

"If you don't hurt me, I won't hurt you."

The world was still silent, outside of the heavy breaths from her enemies that resonated in a world that felt ... So empty. One of the octolings silently dropped her weapon. The captain kept hers, not breaking eye contact with her enemy for a single millisecond. So Callie kept on going.

"I am going to step back and leave. You will NOT follow me, and in return, we shall not come back in this area as long as your soldier hasn't received the help she needs. Understood ?"

The captain's hand clenched her hand around he weapon so bad that her entire arm started to shake. She felt a single tear fall down her eye, and silently nodded. Carefully, Callie took one step backwards. Then two. And soon enough, she found herself running back to the exit.

Callie arrived back at the tentakeel outpost in tears, gasping for air so deeply that she ended up falling down to her knees, unable to move any further. If she'd done anything else she may have killed someone. IF SHE'D ATTACKED BLINDLY AT ANY POINT, SHE WOULD'VE KILLED SOMEONE. AGAIN.

With her shaky hands, the inkling took her phone and immediately typed in Marie's number, not without any difficulties as the tears she kept on shedding blurred both her vision and her phone's screen. She waited for the beeps to pass until she finally heard that little "click" that signaled the call had started.

"M-MARIE, I NEED YOU RIGHT NOW, I ALMOST DID SOMETHING REALLY WRONG... THERE WAS AN O-OCTOLING, AND SHE WAS BLEEDING OUT AND-"

"Hey, this is Marie. I am currently unavailable for calls. Please, call me later~"

Callie closed her phone, roared and threw it as hard as she could against the floor

Alone.

She was so desperately alone.

Chapter Text

After a few days of being happily together, Marina thought that that was it. Pearl and her were a couple now, and everything would be even better from now on. It should've been ! Pearl and her were in love, they had even more opportunities to stay together now, they could be even more affectionate towards one another than before ... Everything sounded great.

Except it wasn't.

Marina wasn't sure of what happened in between them. For about a week, she'd spend the day with Pearl like usual, and in the time they had on their own, they'd try to relax together, cuddling while they played video games or watched a movie. But after that first week of happiness, the octoling noticed that things went downhill. Pearl slowly began to ask for more time to be on her own. She found excuses not to participate in any of the activities Marina offered her. And soon enough, outside of work, Pearl began to avoid Marina entirely.

It was pretty scary at first, simply because Marina felt like she'd done something wrong and couldn't find a single thing she could blame it on. She felt her fears slowly grow stronger and stronger, and it could've gone even worse if her dear friend Warabi hadn't slapped her in the face over a phone call.

"Have you talked to her ?"

"Yes- Well, no, but ..."

"Talk to her Marina."

"But she sounds so angry, I don't want to make things worse !!"

"TALK. TO. HER. If you just assume things and she's also assuming things, in a week of assuming that she's assuming that you're assuming, and the only thing you'll end up with is a panic attack. So talk it out. It'll be better for everyone."

So here she was. Pearl and her had just came back home after a long day of work, and the two of them were about to back to their room as usual. Marina just took her chance, got into Pearl's way to stop her, and immediately tried to start a conversation.

"Hey Pearlie, there's a new season of aggresluggo that came out today ! Do you want to watch it together ?"

"Ah- ... Well, I can't really do it today. I need to umh ... Talk to Emperor. He needs my help to work on how our future songs will be added to Splatfests. Y'know, schedule and all of that. Sorry."

Marina bit her lip and sighed. She knew that was a lie. Because she was the one that scheduled their last two songs with Emperor. She could see in her lover's eyes that she knew Marina didn't believe her at all, and the tension accumulated in the squid's muscles made her look like she was about to sprint out of Marina's reach as soon as she physically could. But the octopus wasn't having any of it. She knew this conversation had to be started somehow. And if Pearl didn't want to do it, she would.

"Pearl. We need to talk."

The squid immediately went white. Marina could literally see her skin slowly changing colors, as if she was trying to blend in her environment to hide. Pearl physically could not talk nor move. She looked at Marina with a neutral face yet eyes screaming fear. Seeing that, the octoling couldn't help but sigh and walked towards her girlfriend before getting on one knee to be at her size.

"Hey Pearlie, It's okay... Listen, I just want to make things clear between the two of us. You look like you don't really want to hang out with me anymore lately. I don't know why is that but ... I wish you could tell me about it. Did I do something wrong ? Is there something stressing you out ? Do you ... Regret becoming my girlfriend ?"

Marina could already feel her heart slowly breaking into pieces in her chest.
But she definitely wasn't ready for Pearl's answer

Chapter Text

It hurt to say. Genuinely. But sadly, this had to be asked. It all started after she confessed to Pearl, and there was a high chance that this could be the problem. But the thing was, the second Marina mentioned it, Pearl immediately regained control of not her voice and her body.

"NO !! NO, IT'S NOT THAT !!"

Pearl's face immediately for drowned behind tears. She sniffed loudly like a little kid, hiding her face behind her arms.

"I'M SORRY MARINA, IT'S JUST ... I'M STUPID AND I DIDN'T KNOW WHAT TO DO ... I'M NOT MAD AT YOU, I PROMISE ... I love you ..."

Marina sighed and got down to her knee, to get closer to her partner.

"Pearl ... I promise, this isn't me trying to make you feel bad. It's just ... I can see that something's wrong. And I need you to be honest with me, even if the truth may be difficult for me to hear."

Pearl took a deep breath between sobs and began to look at the floor and clench her fists. Slowly, her breaths became deeper and easier to regulate, to the point where she was able to calm down and speak a little better.

"I don't really know what's wrong. I really don't. I mean EVERYTHING I told you. But like ... There's something wrong with me. My body is getting fucked up every time you get close to me lately. It's like ... Shutting down for some reason."

"Oh ... Well I'm kind of the same, I guess. It's weird that we can get even closer than before, and my heart definitely goes wild when we touch."

"It's not that. It's fucking BAD. Like. If I touch you, I feel like I'm in danger. Like I need to run away and make sure you don't touch me again."

Marina tried to raise a hand in hopes of hugging Pearl to bring her comfort. It wasn't the brightest idea, but it was simply a reflex. That's what they always did whenever one of the two girls felt bad. But it was only when she saw Pearl flinch away from her that she understood the severety of the problem. The two girls stared at each other for a couple of seconds before Marina sighed and immediately hugged her shoulders out of guilt.

"I see ... I'm sorry ..."

"You couldn't have guessed it, so don't be. But y'know, it's fucking weird. I want to hug you. Like. Mentally, I know I usually love that. But the problem feels deeper than that."

Marina rubbed her chin and tried to think about any kind of solution she may bring.

"Maybe it's my fault ..."

"NO !! LIKE I SAID, IT'S ME WHO-"

"No no Pearl, I don't mean it as in I did something inherently bad. We changed the way we act together lately. And I've been touching you a lot more than before. Maybe you're having some sort of ... Overdose ? I think that you need a break from me. After all, we're always together. And going even further with it wasn't the best idea. I think we should try to take a day off each other."

As she finished her sentence, Marina noticed that her poor Partner was looking at her like a kicked puppy.

"Awh Pearl, I'm sorry ..."

"No, you're right I guess, I think we need to try that out ... But I really need a hug right now and I wish I could get it from the most beautiful girl in the world instead of freaking out every time she touches me"

"Pearlie ..."

"You know what ? I'm gonna try to find a solution. I'll think real hard about everything instead of just avoiding the problem. Maybe I should spend the day with someone I like too. Yeah. That'll help me clear up my mind."

"See ? We're already moving on !! I'm sure things will be better soon."

"What about you ? Is there anything you'd like to do ?"

"Mmmmh ... Well, it's been a while since I've been on mount nantai. Maybe I should go take a walk there."

"Gotcha. Things will get better soon ... Right ?"

"I'm sure they will"

Chapter Text

Today, Marina decided to go take a hike on mount Nantai. She knew that she needed to take a break away from Pearl to let her rest, and walking back to a place that she knew she loved sounded like a great idea to clean up her mind.

So far, everything was going pretty well. Marina simply took her favorite trail, one she'd gone through many times with both Pearl and Marie and never ceased to love. It was full of wildlife, and she even got to pick up a couple of flowers to make herself a little crown along the way up. This path was rarely ever used by hikers, which made it even better for Marina, as she didn't have to worry about meeting up with a rabid fan who'd chase her down the mountain begging her for an autograph. Or at least, so she thought. Because when she finally came up to the little forest glade she loved so much, she saw someone sitting down on its edge, watching the canyons down the mountain.

At first, Marina began to freak out. She really thought she could stay here all alone without anyone disrupting her peace, and now a stranger was just sitting down on her favorite spot ?! But the more she looked at it ... Marina began to realize that this was no stranger.

That was Callie.

She gasped and immediately began to ran towards her. Callie was there ?! She hadn't been able to join any of he friends today and now Callie was just showing up out of nowhere ?! This was too perfect !!

"Hey Callie !! It's so good to see you here !"

The idol didn't answer. She did flinch, though. She took a while to recompose herself, visibly in shock to hear Marina despite the octoling only being able to see her back. She walked up towards the inkling, and was met with teary eyes and a visibly destroyed look.

"OH !! I'm so sorry Callie, I must've caught you in a bad moment, oh my, is there anything I can do to help ? No ... Should I just leave ? I'm so sorry !!"

"It's okay ... I just ... Yeah, i guess you caught me in a bad moment. It happens. I've just been going through a lot lately... I'm not really doing great. Sorry you had to see me like that. I'll just go, I didn't mean to ruin the view..."

"Hey... Do you need to talk about it ? I'm right here if you need me."

"I don't know ... It's just a lot. I don't want to put all that weight on your shoulders. It's already difficult for me, so ..."

"I wouldn't have offered that if I couldn't handle it, Callie. Speak up if you feel the need for it."

The inkling let out a big sigh before looking back down with tearful eyes.

"It's ... About Marie. I-I'm not angry at her !! But ... I miss her. I feel way too lost without her. I'm starting to wonder if I can live when I'm no longer living by her side"

Callie clenched her teeth as she tried her best to stay composed.

"If I were to be honest with myself ... I'm not jealous of what Marie has. Yes, she looks happy the way she is. She's getting a lot of money, she's a celebrity, people love her and you know what ? She deserves it. I'm just ... Feeling terribly lonely. I don't talk to her anymore. I can't see her at all because she's been so busy. The rest of my family is back at calamari county and now I don't have anyone. I do make a lot of money but what's the point if I can't spend it with my best friend ?! I just feel like nothing matters anymore. I hate this damn splafest, and I would've hated it even if I won. Sometimes ... I wonder if Marie feels the same. Or maybe she's enjoying herself too much to actually miss me. That thought ... Hurts."

Marina obviously wanted to answer that yes, Marie must miss her quite a lot as well. But ... The fact was, she didn't know Marie enough to actually answer that confidently. She was friends with her, yes, but not exactly close enough to know something so personal. Who was she to pretend like she knew that woman better than her own family ? Plus, it was true that Marie had been rather hard to get in contact with over the last few months ...

"I've been thinking about leaving this place quite a lot lately. Just dropping everything off and running away. It's so tempting, I just ... I feel like I'm a burden for her. I don't want to put her down any longer. And I don't want to be here if it means I'll just be "Callie from the squid sisters" and she'll just be "Marie". She deserved to win that splatfest !! But ... It makes me sick that it ended up making me feel so alone. Every day I wake up and I see that things aren't getting better. It feels like they never will. Maybe ... Maybe I should give up."

Marina felt her body go stiff for a moment. Her muscles all tensed up, her jaw and fists clenched and her breath began to come by waves. She thought about it for a minute, holding Callie's body against hers. It felt weird. It felt so weird to say such thing. But it felt necessary.

"Callie. Forgive me for my bluntness. But I fear there's something you need to hear."

"Huh ..?"

"Don't kill yourself."

... Yup. She said it.

Chapter Text

"Don't kill yourself."

Callie's eyes widened and began to fill up with even more tears. Marina's heart got squeezed in her chest. She'd guessed correctly. The squid dug her nails into her own shoulders, trying her best to stop her body from shaking so much. It hurt. It HURT.

"... Would it really change anything if I disappeared ?"

"I could say that I'll miss you. That Pearl and your fans will miss you. But I'm not sure if it's what what you need to hear right now. In my old place, we all got told that we shouldn't kill ourselves because life would always get better. I think they actually meant it with all of their heart. But it's not always the truth. I don't know what your future will be if you live on, so I can't promise that everything will be alright. But what i know for sure is that if you die ... It won't get better. Ever."

Marina shook her head and tried her best to remain calm as she felt Callie squeezing her hand like her life depended on it.

"... I don't know how I can get better when I feel like I'm slowly becoming unimportant for the ones I love. I don't think I'm being selfish because I know that they have their own lives and I shouldn't be the center of their worlds ... But I still need them to survive. They just ... Don't need me. It hurts to think about."

"Maybe Marie doesn't look like she needs you right now, and that's why you don't want to stay here. Because you think that even if you were gone, this world wouldn't change. But can you imagine how she would feel if you were to disappear ? Forever and without a warning ? That pain you're feeling, she'll probably have to go through the same thing, with no hope of going back to save you. Marie loves you, I know that for a fact. Who knows ... Maybe she misses you just as much as you do. But she rarely ever talks about her emotions. So you two may just be suffering together on your own."

"I'm not sure how to change that, though ..."

"Talk to her. Have a real heart to heart, and tell her how you feel. I knew you two were struggling lately, but I could've never imagined it was that bad. But it's not too late to try to fix things up. I don't think I can force you to stay alive. But I'd feel guilty for the rest of my life if I didn't tell you to hold on, even for a bit."

Callie let out a huge sigh, and finally let go of Marina's hand before hugging her knees with a little smile.

"You know ... I don't think I wanted to straight up kill myself. I didn't want to do something as stupid as taking a rope and- yeah no, maybe I shouldn't describe that kind of stuff. But what I had in mind probably wasn't that much better. I wanted to try something stupid and I didn't care about the consequences. If it worked ... I think I could've made some people happier. If it didn't ... Well, I'm not sure of what would be left of me. But to be fair, I don't even know if I had a chance to succeed to begin with."

Marina sighed as she looked up at the sky

"You know ... I get that you probably wanted to help some people out. But one day, Pearl taught me that self sacrifice isn't as noble as people may think. Helping others to the cost of your own safety isn't a good idea. Isn't there any other way you could help them ?"

"... No. I don't think so."

"Then please ... Don't do it."

Called nodded, got back on her feet and stretched before grabbing a pebble and throwing it as hard as she could off the cliff the girls were standing over. She took a deep breath, walked a step forward, and let out the most powerful yell she could. It lasted for a while, and when the inkling was done, she was on the ground gasping for air between her tears. Marina walked closer to check up on her, and Callie began to laugh.

"Pearl told me she used to do that whenever she felt bad. So you know, I kinda wanted to try it out to see if it would work on me as well."

"... did it work ?"

"... Yeah. I think I feel better now."

Chapter Text

Pearl sighed as looked around her and felt her heart sink as the whiteness of these walls became slightly oppressive. This house ... It was awfully empty when Marina was away. She needed that time alone, and she knew it. But now that Marina had left her to go on Mount Nantai, she just felt severely understimulated. Walking around in circles, the little squid let out little peeps of rage before eventually falling down on her bed, grabbing a pillow and screaming her lungs off into it. She did her best not to let out her powers as she did so, and was kind of relieved to see that the windows around her hadn't exploded despite the decibels. After that, she simply threw the pillow away, grabbed her phone and looked through the contacts she call to talk to, because she DEFINITELY needed it.

The Sashimori gang ? No ... Ryu Chang was a little confused about romance, Taichi was DEFINITELY going to laugh in her face, and Karla ... Well, she didn't really see herself talk about her current love life with her ex. Warabi ? Nah. He was a cool dude, but she definitely didn't know him enough for that kind of stuff. Her dad ? Nope. There was NO WAY this workaholic man would ever pick up the phone in the middle of his day. And both Callie and Marie weren't any better ... Seriously, their schedules are going to kill them one day. This only left ... Her cousins. Pearl nervously looked at the two names on her phone and began to hesitate. Prince was a sweetheart, but he was definitely too young and inexperienced with this kind of stuff. On the other hand, Emperor could slightly mock her situation but ... Despite being pretentious, he was not an asshole. And his current relationship had lasted for a while. Welp ... Sounds like he was the best choice. She clicked the little icon next to his profile picture, waited for him to answer the phone and...

"Emperor Houzuki here, how may I help you ?"

"No need for your customer service voice man, it's just me ... Do you have time to talk for a bit ?"

"Oh, Pearl ! Always a pleasure to have you on the phone. I am available, I was simply waiting for N-Pacer to arrive at my house."

"Great ... Speaking of her, you two have been together for a while, correct ?"

"Indeed ! We spent the last three years together, and I'm hoping that it may last longer."

"Great ... I was hoping you could give me some relationship advice. Like. Seriously. Don't mock me because I'm not in the best place right now."

"Are you trying to ask Marina out ?"

"YES. I MEAN. NO. Technically we're already together. But I'M the problem. Like. She's SUPER cuddly. And my brain wants the cuddles, but my body tells me to run away the second she touched me. I'm starting to wonder ... Am I stupid ?!"

A small silence ensued, making Pearl feel a little more nervous as she bit her lip.

"... Okay Pearl, can you keep a secret ?"

"Dude, I shut my mouth for nearly ten years of development of the dualies as a weapon class and you know how excited I was about them. So yeah. I think I can."

"Good. I think I know what you're going through, because I went through the same thing before. And I'm not exactly proud of the time it took me to figure out what was wrong with me. It was ... Quite painful. But I know that you can get out of it too."

Pearl felt herself sighing as she took a more comfortable position in her bed. Maybe she could get a solution after all ...

Chapter Text

The silence between the two cousins after Emperor ended his sentence was getting heavy.

"Okayyyyy ... So what did you go through, Emp ?"

"...You've been sleeping around a lot, haven't you ?"

Pearl nearly threw her phone away hearing that. She let out an annoyed and flustered growl, ready to shut the phone down.

"GOODBYE, EMPEROR."

"Pearl, I swear to- I'M NOT MOCKING YOU, I'M LITERALLY TELLING YOU I WENT THROUGH THE SAME THING"

"DUDE YOU'RE TELLING ME YOU'VE BEEN SLEEPING AROUND ? LITTLE PERFECT EMPEROR DID THAT ?!"

"DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW MANY WOMEN MY PARENTS TRIED TO SHOVE ME WITH FOR AN ARRANGED MARRIAGE ?"

"OH- Oh shit dude I'm so sorry."

"Psh ... It's fine. I knew what was meant to happen to me anyway, and I handled it well for a while. But the truth is, it warped my ability to form meaningful relationship in the long run."

Pearl unconsciously nodded at that thought, feeling herself back to nervousness. She knew this was the truth for many of the rich kids she'd encountered. They think of a marriage as an alliance. Not as a romance.

"You see, most of the women I tried to have as partners I ended up having to reject because they were not a good fit for me. Not just as a partner but as someone I would have to live with as well. They often came from less wealthy families and saw me as an opportunity rather than a person. But they had no interest in being affectionate nor did they know who I was. The job I wished to have. My passions. My hobbies. But there was one exception to all of that. When they sensed that I wanted to leave them behind, they all started to love bomb me. They became cuddly. Sweeter. They gave me gifts upon gifts and none of them ever got my interest. And finally, they'd leave before I could break the relationship, because they wanted to feel like they were the ones in control."

Pearl looked down her phone as she felt her soul slowly leave her body. Yup. That was exactly it. Somehow, someone as wildly different as her cousin had managed to get an experience that hit so close to home.

"Pearl ? You haven't said a thing since I started."

"Yeah yeah, fuck ... You got me. Congrats. This shit happened every time I slept with a girl. Outch ... You were AWFULLY precise."

"I know. It's not exactly something that was pleasant to realize."

"No shit. Okay now that you slapped me in the face, I need to know how the hell do you make everything work."

"The idea itself is simple. Actually making it work isn't as easy."

"Spit it out"

"You need to convince yourself that Marina isn't leaving."

"I know she's not leaving, she's my partner and-"

"No no. You don't just say that. Marina's not leaving you, that's a fact. But you need to get rid of the "what ifs". I knew that N-Pacer wouldn't leave me even if I made a mistake. Even if we didn't always agree on everything. Even if we got into a wild argument. Marina is not just staying with you because you're perfect. Marina's staying with you because you're you."

"I mean ... I don't want to trap her with me. I do want to stay with her forever, but she's not my prisoner and-"

"That's a talk for another day. Maybe a far, far away future. Who knows, maybe N-Pacer and I won't last forever. But she'll be by my side tomorrow and the day after that. And I think that's all I was worried about."

"... Fuck, you know what ? You can be one hell of an arrogant bitch, but you sure have the best advice."

"And you're a noisy little squid who loves to break the rules but you're a good person at heart."

"Thanks for everything. Bye ~"

"Wait- can you not hang up yet ?"

"Yeah ? Wassup ?"

"... Do you have ANY good ideas for a valentine's day gift ? Because I'm kind of struggling."

"Damn you must suck as a boyfriend."

"Please just give me an answer Pearl."

... Later that day, and after a back and forth of the two cousins trying to give each other advice while trying not to mock the other's failures, Pearl found herself to be a lot more at ease. Marina was here to stay. They bought a house together. They built a life together. And all of that wasn't going anywhere. All of the affection she was receiving was genuine, and the hugs she was getting from Marina weren't the last she'd experience from her. She had to relax.

When Marina eventually came back home from Mount Nantai, she came right up to Pearl with a smile and waved.

"Hey Pearlie ! Sorry, I took longer than expected. I saw Callie during my hike. She had a bit of a problem and I thought if we took our time to talk it out."

Pearl took a deep breath and sprinted into Marina's arms. The octoling let out a little yelp as she caught her lover mid-air, blushing as she felt the inkling wrap her arms around her chest.

"...I missed you."

"Awh ... But I wasn't even gone for a day !"

"Doesn't matter. I missed you."

Chapter Text

Last night, Marie had received a message from Callie. Usually, it would've simply been her rambling about her latest movie she'd just finished acting in or a simple message of her reminding Marie that she loved her, despite all that was going on lately. But no. This time, Marie felt her heart skip a beat when her eyes landed on her phone.

"I need to talk to you. As soon as possible. It's urgent."

As much of a prankster Callie could be, Marie knew that she wouldn't joke about this kind of things. So she did everything she could to get a few hours free on the next day to meet up with her cousin. And here she was, opening her apartment's door, watching Callie slowly walking in without a word before quite literally a crashing down on the couch. Marie walked right next to her with a heavy heart, still confused as to why she was here but definitely attentive for what was about to be said.

"So ... What was that message about ?"

"..."

"Listen Callie. You're not serious very often, and I can see that something's wrong."

"..."

"Please, can you just ... Tell me what it is ? If I did something wrong, I'm sorry. But I'm genuinely confused as to why you're in such a bad state."

Callie clenched her fists and whimpered as she quickly grabbed her knees to hug them.

"I need to tell to you about something really important, but ... The words won't come. I'm so sorry. They're stuck. I can't say it."

"Callie ..."

The pink inkling began to feel her throat slowly close up and hid her mangled voice as much as she could. But it wasn't enough. It was obvious that she would cry soon.

"I'm the worst. I'm the one who asked you to come and yet I'm still too much of a coward to say it."

Marie slowly wrapped her hands around Callie's, closed her yes and gently leaned her head against her shoulder.

"I haven't been giving you enough time lately. So just today, you can take as long as you want to say it. I'll wait here."

Callie simply nodded, bit her lip and let a few tears fall as she leaned even deeper against Marie. It felt warm. She missed it.

"Yesterday ... I almost did the stupidest thing I ever imagined in my entire life. I'd like to say I was smart enough to be the one to stop myself from doing it. But no. Marina found me and talked me out of it."

"... What was it ?"

"I wanted to try and walk in the octarian lands without a weapon to see if I could talk to octoling soldiers peacefully."

With these words, Callie felt her cousin's body tense up in one go, and the hands she'd been gently holding for all of this time were suddenly crushed with a violent shiver.

"YOU DID WHAT ?!"

"... I think you heard me right the first time."

"But why ? WHY ?! You know EXACTLY that Octarians have been trained to think of us as targets for YEARS. WHAT WERE YOU THINKING ?!"

"I think ... I wanted to know if it was true. You know. The thought I had after we met Marina. That maybe most Octarians are just like her and maybe we could establish a peaceful contact. I told you. It was a stupid idea. But lately I've been feeling like ... I have nothing to loose. And I'd be lying if I said I didn't have a small hope to die as well."

"WHAT ?! YOU CAN'T JUST- ... CALLIE ?!"

"I'm sorry ..."

Marie flinched, backed down and cleared her throat, feeling tears slowly accumulating in her eyes.

"I don't get ... Do you ... I'm at a loss for words ... Why ..?"

"I haven't been really well lately. And I don't really know if things can get better. I'm lonely. I'm scared. I'm lost. And I miss you to a point where it's genuinely driving me insane."

"Callie ... Why didn't you just tell me ?! I'm asking you, genuinely. I-I'm your best friend, right ..? We still have each other's backs ... I'm not perfect, I know, but I swear I would've tried to do something ..."

"I didn't tell you about it because I didn't know how to do it without making you feel like you're the villain. Like it was YOUR fault. But none of it was ever your fault. It was ENTIRELY MINE !! Just because I need you to always be by my side shouldn't mean that you should force yourself to comply to all of my demands !! I don't know how to live without you. There. I said it. I've heard stories of twins that grow too close, so much that it gets unhealthy in their adulthood, so much that they bring their best friend down in their demise and I just ... Didn't want to be that stupid leech of a family that keeps you down because I never learned to exist on my own. I'm really happy for you, that you got your own radio show and that you're invited everywhere all the time. I'm not jealous either ... I mean, at this point, I don't care about winning more money, and I have more than enough fans to keep me happy. I didn't want to see you feel guilty about being happy. So i just ... Let it hurt."

Marie looked down, trying her best to wipe away her tears that were starting to seriously blur her vision. She clenched her fist so hard that her entire arm began to shake.

"I really, REALLY want to slap you right now."

"Then do it ... I'm pretty sure that I deserve it, at this point."

Marie glared at Callie. She raised her shaking fist in the air, breathing heavily as she froze in the middle of her movement, let out a deeply pained yell, and jumped into Callie's arms, crushing her against her own body so hard that it felt like the two would end up merging together.

"I'M NOT HURTING YOU AGAIN. THAT'S LITERALLY THE POINT, I- ... I MISSED YOU TOO, CALLIE. YOU HAVE NO IDEA HOW MUCH I MISSED YOU. BUT ... But you're outgoing... You were always the one to make friends wherever you went. You were always the one that took me to parties when we were younger because I never wanted to go out of the house. A-And you were the one who asked to become idols. Because you thought that it would help us get closer while getting more and more friends ... I thought you'd be fine. That I had to be the one to adapt to this new life and accept that you couldn't shape your life around me. Because I don't want you to be defined by me because I just happen to want to exist by your side."

"Marie ..."

"I'm so sorry ... I'm guilty for not asking. I don't want to punch you. I want to punch the one responsible for making you feel so miserable that you'd think ending your life would be the best solution. But there's no one to punch. There's no culprit. Maybe I'm just angry at myself. Who knows."

"... I'm sorry."

"Shut up. I'M sorry."

"I'M THE ONE WHO ALMOST KILLED HERSELF HERE !!"

"AND I'M THE ONE WHO DIDN'T SEE THE SIGNS, IDIOT !!"

"OH YEAH, I'M AN IDIOT ?! WELL YOU'RE A ... STUPID ... VERY MUCH ... Jackass ... Green ... Squid. Yeah."

The two girls looked at each other with tearful eyes, and suddenly bursted into laughter.

"Seriously ?! You couldn't come up with ANYTHING ELSE ?"

"SHUT UP SHUT UPPPP YOU KNOW I'VE NEVER BEEN GOOD WITH INSULTS !!"

"JUST TELL ME I'M AN IDIOT TOO ! THAT WORKS !!"

Slowly but surely, the cousins began to come back to their senses, their laughs transforming into slightly heavy breaths, which slowly disappeared to leave a strange deeply calm atmosphere in the room.

"... Callie, I'm not l letting you go ever again. I promise."

"... Me neither. We're together in this. I don't know what will happen next but ... I just hope that I'll be by your side._

"Of course you will be here. We'll rebuild our future together."

Chapter Text

Marina stared at Pearl with a huge smile, watching her ramble about the latest splatfest they were planning on live as she tried her best to keep up with the news. Her girlfriend ... That was her girlfriend. Man, she couldn't believe that she could say such thing without hesitation now. It still felt WEIRD. Pearl was just ... So perfect.

That gorgeous smile of hers, that handsome face along with an insane amount of confidence she held, her charisma, her sweetness ... It was all so much that Marina could barely handle it !! Ah, the things she'd do to spend the rest of her days with her ... Which should hopefully happen, right ?! Oh no, what if her father was against their union ? He knew her as a friend, but not as a lover !! What if he tried to marry her to someone else ?! What if this random newly wed person had to live with them ?! Ahhh ... She didn't know much about rich people's world ... Were this things even common ? Or were they just fairy tales used for stories of princesses sold to a far away kingdom so that a handsome prince could rescue them and have a happy ending ? She'd love to reduce Pearl like a charming prince. That would be cool. Well, to say the truth, Pearl was more of the charming prince out of the two. So a charming princess ? Maybe. That didn't sound too bad. Ah, so many thoughts for such a little squid ...

"So, what do you think, Marina ?"

"..."

"Reena ? Earth to the moon, what do you think about the new stage we'll get for our latest splatfest ?"

Oh !! Yeah !! She was on live !

"Sorry, I was just so excited about it, I got lost in my thoughts ! I'm sure you guys will LOVE it. The maze dasher is such a fun map ... Pearlie and I got to try it yesterday to make sure it was working well, and we had so much fun !"

"Yeaaaah ... Well YOU did. I almost flew off the stage because of the speed of these things."

"My poor little Pearlie ... That's what you get for being such a lightweight !"

"WHAT ?! HEY, HOW DARE YOU-"

"And that's all for today ! Good luck with picking your team up, everyone !"

"NO NO NO DON'T STOP, I'M NOT DONE WITH-"

Before Pearl could end her sentence, she watched the crew shut down the cameras and smile at her with an obvious amusement. The inkling playfully glared at Marina with a smirk in return, watching the octoling chuckle with a little blush.

"I'll get you for this ..."

"You will ? I'd love to see you try in front of all of these people ~"

"Oh you little- ... Tonight I'm gonna hug you so hard you won't be able to breathe."

"That sounds like a death threat."

"Yup. Exactly. I'm gonna choke you until you pass out. With my mouth. Against your mouth. Because I'm evil."

"Does my evil squid want to go get a snack for our pause or would you rather keep on rambling about how angry you are that I said that you're fun sized on live TV ?"

"MMMMMH ... I can do both."

Marina rolled her eyes as walked out of the studio to see if she could get something from Crusty Sean. She slammed a couple of tickets on his desk and watched the man quickly preparing the girl's food with his usual welcoming smile. This little food stand was just perfect for the girls who often didn't have time to eat much during the day. Was eating a single meal a day consisting of pure grease and sugar a great idea ? Probably not. But it was always better than not eating at all.

Soon enough, Pearl was seated and watched Marina come back with a huge burger and fries for the inkling, and a giant ice cream for herself.

"Just sugar ?! Damn girl, you sure about that ?"

"Well, we're going to work until pretty late today for the splatfest's preparation, so I need energy ! Plus, I can also take some of your fries ~"

She quickly snatched a couple of fries before dipping them into her ice cream and swallowing them.

"EWWWW ?! And you judge ME for liking Mayo ?!"

"Fries go very well with sugar. We often ate them with chocolate as a rare treat in my old place."

"Gross ... Only someone with an insane sugar tooth like you would do that."

Despite her disgust, Pearl was about to grab some fries and try it out, until she saw someone behind Marina eating on her own. This wasn't too usual on itself but that person seemed to be COVERED in bruises. And not the kind of bruises you'd get from a simple turf war. This was ... Strange. Plus, this beanie and sunglasses she knew she saw them somewhere before ... Wait !!

"HOLY SHIT, CALLIE ?!"

Chapter Text

Immediately, the squid turned around and shushed Pearl up before dragging her and Marina to her table, visibly a bit disturbed.

"Don't say that out loud Pearl, I'm trying to stay incognito !!"

"I mean- yeah but damn ... You look like you've been in a gang fight. What's with all of the bruises ?! What happened to you ?"

Callie took a long pose, visibly trying to gather her thoughts. And with the sunglasses covering her eyes, it was fairly difficult to guess what she could be thinking about.

"It's umh ... A long story. But if so I were to shorten it, I'd say I decided to drop out of showbusiness, and there were some consequences to it."

"The fuck ... Why did you even do that ?"

"I was in the middle of a burnout, I was alone and stressed, things were not getting better and I genuinely felt that ... Well, to put it lightly, either I had to put an end to my situation or I'd jump out the window."

"I knew you weren't exactly fine but woaw ... I'm so sorry I didn't catch that."

"It's okay. Actually, no one really did until it was almost too late. So umh ... The situation became an emergency for my mental health and I had to take drastic mesures."

"Like what ?"

"I've decided to break all of my contracts at once and settle down with a set amount of money I'd owe to every single company I was supposed to work with rather than going to court. Problem was ... Some of the businesses my manager made me work with were shadier than others."

"... And by that, you mean ..?"

"She may or may not signed me with Black Nacre Entertainment."

"BLACK NA- YO THAT'S THE FUCKING CLAM MAFIA !! WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED ?!"

Callie sighed and twitched nervously as she looked down to the ground.

"Let's say they tried to get rid of me as revenge. Thankfully I had umh ... A very good bodyguard that happened to know some stuff about the military. They hurt me pretty bad but I managed to get out of their claws, and I'm pretty sure they won't try to attack me back after this fight."

"That is fucking insane ... I can't believe I didn't hear about that on the news. HELL, WE MAKE THE NEWS !! How did we not know this ?!"

"Like I said ... I'm stopping everything. No shows, no movies, no series and for now ... No news. Don't talk about this to anyone. I need this break to focus on myself, and the paparazzi are already trying to track me down to have news about me dropping everything up. If they learn about the mafia, I'll never hear the end of it ..."

"No shit ... You have our word, we'll be silent. Still ... How are you going to manage all of this ? I know that you'll have to refund more than you were paid on the first place ... I'm sure you have money left from your time as an idol, but it's not unlimited"

"I know. We're still figuring it out. For now, Marie and I are developing a new radio show project so that we get more time to spend together. Marie dropped out a couple things, but since her jobs were mostly punctual, she didn't have to do that much, simply not sign any new contracts. But she kept her own radio show, for people to keep associating her with that sort of things and to give us a little bit of cash. In the end ... We kinda agree that we don't need anything too extravagant. We've been sharing our appartement together for years, we don't go on vacation much, we don't eat at five stars restaurants ... We're gonna live a simpler live for a while and maybe that'll be a bit better."

"Still though ... If you two need money, gimme a call. We ain't letting you two down."

With that, Pearl quickly checked her phone and gasped as she saw the time on it.

"OH SHIT, I forgot that we need to discuss our next adds with grizzco today !! We need to leave, NOW. Marina, eat your ice cream and run, GO GO GO !!"

Pearl shoved the remaining of her food in her mouth before sprinting back to her studio, leaving Marina who began to eat her ice cream a little quicker, crossing her fingers not to get an brain freeze. After a few more bites, she took a sip of water down, looked back at Callie, and watched the squid's face soften.

"Marina ? ... Thank you. For everything. I could've never done it without you."

The octoling took a little pause, clenched her fist, and felt her heart beat a little faster.

"You just needed a little push in the right direction. I'm glad I could help."

Chapter Text

Callie sighed as she silently watched her apartment's door, waiting for the inevitable tornado that was about to happen. She knew that this discussion would be unpleasant a best, and probably full of yelling at worse. But she had to go through it and she felt like she was as prepared as she could be.

After a few months of being on a particularly dangerous infiltration mission, Agent Three had finally returned to the NSS's base this morning and learned everything that happened while they were gone. And according to Marie, they did NOT take Callie's idea of befriending the enemy by making herself defenseless very kindly.

Every time she thought about it, Callie felt even more guilty. Three had been gone for months, leaving her alone because she trusted her to stay safe, risking their own life in hopes of protecting the ones they held close to their heart and ... They'd return to learn that these efforts were vain because the idol randomly decided that she didn't care about herself anymore. She just felt like the worst ...

Eventually, the door did open.

Everything just fell silent. Callie looked at Three with her usual smile to mask all of the pain and dead she held inside her. But Three didn't hide their emotions. Their eyes were deeply open, staring at the inkling unblinkingly until in a second, everything changed. They raised their fist, took a sprint towards the idol, and stopped themselves from hitting her just a couple inches away from her face. They were panting, visibly restraining themselves to get any more violent, and their shaking fist and teary eyes made it even more obvious that they were just as lost as Callie was.

"I DON'T FIGHT OCTARIANS ON THE DAILY JUST FOR YOU TO LET YOURSELF BE KILLED BY THE FIRST SOLDIER YOU CAN FIN, IDIOT !!"

"... I know."

"AH YEAH ?! THEN CAN YOU TELL ME WHY MARIE BROKE DOWN THE SECOND I MENTIONED HOW YOU WERE DOING ?! Did you really think I wouldn't feel a thing after learning that one of my best friends almost killed herself ?! For fuck's sake ..."

"I know ... I'm sorry ..."

As Callie's voice started to break down, Three's heavy panting and shaking body began to slowly get weaker and weaker. Any anger they had left seemed to slowly be transforming into fear and sadness.

"When Marie told me what happened, I just ... Felt like my world was broken. I knew you two weren't doing great. But you barely talked to me lately, always repeating that you were fine and just a bit busy !! Can you imagine how I felt ?! Not only did you two left me in the dark and made me feel useless as a friend who was meant to be here for you when you need it, but when I do get news it's to tell me I'm too late ?! That I was just THAT useless ?! ...That, and also the clam mafia. What the HELL happened with the clam mafia."

"I ... Broke a contract with them ..?"

"Yeah I know that. What I want to know is how the hell did you survive a fight against them ?!"

"Hey, I'm an agent too, remember ?! I told most of my friends that I had a good bodyguard to protect me, but I'm fully able to protect myself if I want to. Before you came, I was the one gramps chose to be co captain !!"

"Yeah, a co captain that tries to go into the enemy's base with no weapons and counting on them being cartoonishly nice to survive !!"

"I'm a good agent !! I was supposed to be the best of them !! HELL, I WAS THE BEST BEFORE I KNEW OCTOLINGS WERE JUST LIKE ME !!"

"WELL THE BEST AGENT FELL LOWER THAN I COULD'VE IMAGINED !!"

Callie looked down and sighed as her hands began to shake, visibly trying to avoid eye contact.

"So ... What about you ? Why did you come back so soon from your mission ?"

"Callie, stop trying to change the subject."

"... Three. I know this is important to you but I'm trying not to think about it too much. It's... painful, okay ?"

This was too much for the idol to handle. She gasped for air, struggled to breathe due to her mangled throat, and tears started to show up. Three immediately backed down, visibly confused and distressed at the view of their friend suddenly breaking out in tears like that. They stood still for a few seconds, completely unable to decide what were they supposed to do, before they awkwardly wrapped their arms around Callie, and began to feel tears falling from their own eyes.

"... I'm sorry. I was too harsh on you, wasn't I ... I just ... I mad, but I'm not MAD and I ... I don't really know how to react in this kind of situation... It's my fault."

"No Three, it's not ..."

"Yes it is. You just went through a lot and all I did was make it worse by yelling at you when all I should've done was to tell you that I'm just ... So happy you're alright..."

It lasted a bit more, just the two of them resting in each other's arms, with a couple of soft sobs every now and then to remind them that time hadn't stopped. After a bit, the hug finally broke up and Three looked down, wiping away the last few tears their eyes shed

"... I think we needed that."

"We sure did."

Callie smiled and grabbed a random pillow to hug before completely laying down on it and glancing back at Three.

"So ... You still haven't told me what happened on your super secret mission, and why did you come back in the first place. Did you find something interesting ?"

"Ah, yes ... Well, after spending so long try to force my way through the kettles of octo canyon, the way everything ended was a little ... Pathetic."

"Heh. Can't be worse than me. I promise I won't mock you."

"...I got into a fight with an octoling soldier to protect gramps. Apparently, she was Octavio's granddaughter and she was VERY mad about what I did to him. She umh ... She kicked my ass. She had the octoling equivalent of a squiffer, she was particularly good with her shots, and she wasn't scared of getting close to me in the slightest despite my weapon being better than hers. Thankfully she didn't try to kill me nor did she try to hurt me more, but she made sure I would leave this place for good... So I guess we're back to zero until we have a plan to fight her off. One thing is sure, I'm not going back there any time soon. I won't be able to win if I don't get better."

"Don't blame yourself ... She most likely got military training ever since she was able to walk. I'm sure you were great."

"Heh. Thanks Cal, I appreciate it. As for now ... I think I may just stay in inkopolis. My mission was a failure, I don't want to go back at it right away because I no longer see the purpose of it, and ... I don't want to leave you behind. Not again."

"Three ..."

"I'm sorry for leaving when you needed people by your side more than anything else. I didn't see it coming but now that I know how you felt, I want to make sure that you won't be alone again. You're umh ... You're really important to me."

"Hey, y'know ... Marie isn't the only person I wish was my sibling. I hope you know you matter to me too."

"... Promise me you won't die ?"

"Aight. But you'll have to promise me the same thing."

"Tch. Alright ... We'll keep moving on. Together."

Chapter Text

Marina could see that Pearl was getting more and more tense as their car got closer to its destination. It hurt to see her worry so bad but ... Pearl was the one who asked for it, after all.

"Pearlie ... Are you sure you don't want me to come with you ?"

"Nah nah. Honestly, you wouldn't be able to do much. Just go straight for the studio, I'll be there in about thirty minutes."

"Understood... Call me if you need me."

"Reena, I'm five minutes away from the square. If I need you, I can just run back into your arms for a hug and maybe cry a little bit."

"I thought you didn't want hugs from me anymore ? ~"

"I did NOT say that you meanie !! I'm better now ! And I want all of the hugs from my beautiful girlfriend !!"

Marina let out a giggle before softly kissing Pearl on the cheek. The squid grabbed the flowers she left at her feet, sighed and got out of the car, slowly walking into a place she hadn't stepped in for years. A graveyard

She walked mindlessly along these long alleys, somehow still able to know where she should be going. Turn left. Left again. Go straightforward. And ... Here it was.

A beautiful marbled tombstone, chiseled with a couple of different flower motifs and a name Pearl would never forget. Marahaki Houzuki. The little squid took a deep breath, slammed the flowers she brought on the grave, and immediately sat down in front of it with an awkward pout.

"Okayyyyy ... I don't know how to start this. You know I haven't really been in this graveyard since the day you've been put six feet underground. So uh. Yeah. Sorry about that. Not my thing you know ? I mean. I'm not really talking to you. It feels weird just to be alone in the middle of hundreds of rotting corpses and talk all alone like you're still alive and listening. Urgh ... Well... This is really awkward. Yup. Exactly what I expected. Fuck. Maybe I should've came with a premade script or something. I'm better at talking at thousands of people on TV than talking to my own mother."

Pearl moved around for a bit, looking left and right as she twirled her fingers around, perhaps looking for something else to happen. But she was in an empty graveyard after all, and the only thing she could see moving was a little lizard a couple of graves away who seemed to be sunbathing. The idol sighed and hugged her knees.

"You know ... It still doesn't hurt like I feel it should. People always describe death as this one super important thing that you should feel miserable over, but I'm not even sure if I cried once over your death. For a while, I thought that it was because I didn't care about you. But a lot of time has went on and I think ... I'm not missing you because I keep thinking you're going to come back eventually. With you running all around the globe like you had your pants on fire, I got used to not seeing your face for a while. So I think there's a part of me that still thinks "hey, mom's just gone for another stupid business trip ! But when she gets home she'll bring me one hell of a surprise !" Yeah ... I know it's stupid. I'm stupid."

Pearl rolled her eyes, looking at the sky in hopes of finding her words into the clouds.

"You always came back with the biggest gifts ever. They didn't always fill the emptiness of you being gone for so long. But you know ... I always saw that you were trying. I'm unsure if I can call you a good mom. I think kids should grow close to their parents, more like what dad and I had. You weren't there often enough. You didn't support me as much as I wish you did. But most of the memories I have of you ... They're not the worst. At least when you weren't scolding me for sneaking out of my economy lessons to go to band practice, hehe. But can you really blame me ? What kind of kid likes math better than singing their lungs out in a karaoke ?! Wait no. I take that back. Maybe you did. But that's WEIRD."

The squid caught herself chuckling before staring down.

"I had a dream about you a few months ago. You were hating on me for my career and it made me cry. A LOT. But ... After thinking about it, I don't think you'd say that. I think you were scared that being a singer would be nothing more than fun and games. But nope. It sucks. It's a job. No matter how much you like it, jobs are still labor. And no one dreams of labor. Singing is nice. Overworking myself entire days to correct little details on a three minutes song isn't. So yeah. Good news, I'm still suffering. So it counts as a job. I was right all along, and you can't even say a thing to prove me wrong. What a looser. But yeah ... I'd like to think that you'd be proud of me. Because I'm a responsible adult who found my own happiness."

Pearl got back up on her feet and stretched, looking one last time at the grave

"I don't want to forgive you for what you've done. You tried to erase the fact that I was a child so that I'd grow up faster. Too bad for ya, now that I'm on my own my brain decided that if I couldn't be a child when I was 12, I'd be a child as a 21 year old fucker. Yesterday I ate a full bucket of ice cream and I didn't even need to ask you for it. IN YOUR FACE. But umh ... That doesn't mean I don't love you. And I do mean it. Like ... Fuck, I can see that while you wanted to shape me to be perfect in your vision, you still loved me. You still bought me those stupid cheap shiny shoes because you know I liked them instead of a fancy suit that every other rich kid was wearing. You let me design camp triggerfish because you knew I always wanted to make my own place to turf. You wanted to love me like I am, and you didn't want to destroy my hobbies. You just wanted to make sure that they stayed hobbies and that I'd get a good carrier instead. Maybe I shouldn't be so nice. But I don't fucking care. Because I'm the one in charge here. So I make the decisions. And I love you. I think ... That's all I wanted to say today. I guess I'm done. I don't know how long it'll take me to come back here. Maybe I won't ever come back. But I felt like you needed to hear all of that. So .... Goodbye. Thanks for listening. Or not."

Pearl began to walk away from the tombstone before feeling something ... Different. She looked around her in confusion, until she saw what was wrong. The little pebbles on the ground were shaking.

This was an earthquake.

Pearl didn't know what to do as the ground began to shake more and more, falling on her butt as she tried to understand what was going on. After looking around her, Pearl figured out that there wasn't anything that could really fall on her nor hurt her in anyway, so she just stayed there, and not even a minute after, the earth went back to normal. The squid jumped back on her feet, looked back at her mother's grave and chuckled with a grin.

"Was that you ? Fuckin' rude."

Pearl went back to walking towards the graveyard's entrance, until she heard a little bit of a wet noise coming from a nearby grave. She raised an eyebrow as she began to look around for what could've caused the noise, until she peeked inside a little empty flower pot. It seemed to be filled with rainwater that had accumulated over the last few days, and beneath all of that water was a little lizard who'd visibly fell down during th earthquake, struggling to swim and keep its head out of the water. She immediately got her hand into the water to get the lizard out. The poor thing desperately clinged up to her as she raised it away from the water. She carefully placed her fingers against the nearest tombstone, and watched as the lizard looked stared at her for a few seconds, bobbed its head and ran away behind the tombstone.

"Take care, buddy. This place has enough corpses right now. No need to add on to it."

Chapter Text

Another day of work, another day spent talking with Pearl, and another day where Marina saw dozens upon dozens of octoling get a smile the second she waved at them. Being an idol was exhausting, it took her way too much time in her week and the paycheck wasn't even that crazy compared to other celebrity jobs. But it did have its golden moments and this was the on thing Marina was living for.

The octoling silently listened to Pearl rambling about how their cherry trees just had their first blossom, how pretty they were and how she wanted to bring a couple of branches inside the house to decorate. Talking about these trees slowly growing always made Marina's heart flutter. But now, thinking about these saplings also reminded her how much her relationship with Pearl had grown in just a few years. They had a physical proof of their desire to never leave each other blooming in their garden. She couldn't think of anything more ... Romantic. Woaw, thinking about that word made her feel all fuzzy again. While overly affectionate, Marina still has to get used to being in an actual relationship with the little squid.

"Where do you think we could put the flowers on ? On the kitchen table ? Maybe around the tv ? Oh, oh, in our studio ?!"

"Pearlie ... I don't know how to tell you that, but you can't just break branches on trees that are that small ! It could kill them ..."

"H-HUH ?! BUT ... But branches are like hair, right ..? They grow back ..?"

"Yes yes, but taking a 5 inch branch from a tree that's half a decade old is very different from one that's barely a few years old ! It's exhausting for them. Kind of like respawning. You wouldn't force a child to respawn in loop, right ?"

"No ... But man, that sucks !! I wanted to have our cute cherry trees everywhere in our house ... Not fair."

"I'm sure we can buy something similar in town. There's bound to be someone who'd happily sell us cherry blossom branches !"

"Yeah but it won't be from OUR trees ..."

Chuckling at her lover's playful pout, Marina quickly glanced outside the studio to check the people who were watching them talk. There seemed to be a little urchin and his mother, a young inkling woman in a lolita dress and a gang of teens talking together while waving at the idol. One of the faces seemed familiar ...

"Oh Pearl, look !! It's Prince !!"

"WHERE ?!"

The pygmy squid bolted off her chair and ran to smash her face against against the glass to watch the teens cheer up as she signed for them to come in.

"Yo, it's our pause, right ?! We gotta let em in !! I still never got the chance to meet his friends !"

Pearl quickly instructed a member of the security to escort the little group inside and in just about a minute, the inklings were all in the studio, with Prince immediately running into her cousin's arms for a hug.

"Yo Prince ! Wassup buddy, how're you doing ? Who're these guys you're hanging out with ?"

The teen took a few step back and nodded

"I'm doing fine, thanks for asking ! These are some of my S rank friends I told you about before. Here we have Rider, Skull and Army ! We were playing a bit of clam blitz to prepare for our next championships."

The little group immediately sat down in a circle around pearl to talk, as Marina tried her best to sit nearby and observe the scene. She loved interacting with people but truly, she still struggled to actually initiate the interactions. Unlike Pearl, who always seemed to be extroverted to the max and ready to start new conversations every five seconds. Glancing around the kids, Marina tried her best to analyze what they were wearing. Rider had a really cool leather jacket along with a huge golden dynamo he seemed to be very proud of. Skull, despite his name and his aggressive appearance with a skull mask covering his face, seemed to be very calm and attentive. Which would match the Eliter he held close against his chest. As for army, he seemed to have a style very close to the military, proudly a little nzap in his hand as he talked about how happy he was to find some people who knew what a good challenge could be. He seemed pretty normal at first glance, but something quickly caught Marina's attention ...

His inkling mask. It was drawn on his face with makeup. And that makeup had been smudged, somehow.

Marina felt herself panicking, knowing that if that kid hid the fact that he was an octoling, it was most likely because the idea of being seen as different was stressing him out. She lighting touched his shoulder and signed for him to get closer. Confused, the teen crawled up to her and looked at her with curiosity. She whispered and quickly pointed up towards her nose.

"Army, your makeup is wearing off !"

Immediately, she could feel the kid's distress as he hid his nose behind his hands. She smiled and handed him a black lipstick she snagged in the makeup material of the tv crew

"Go to the bathroom and redraw it quickly, I'll cover you up if needed !"

"T-Thank you ..."

The kid scrambled off to the restroom as Marina sighed with a little bit of worry and empathy. Poor kid. His friends would most likely still be the same if he happened to show his true face, but sometimes survival instinct just took over.

"Hey Reena ! You listening ? Prince has something to tell you !"

Marina quickly shook her head, watching the Houzuki kid look at her with shiny eyes

"Marina, do you want to participate in our family business trip ?"

Chapter Text

Marina blinked and slightly tilted her head. A family business trip ? She wondered what could he mean by that.

"I mean ... I don't really have a reason to tell you no, but could you elaborate on that ?"

"Sure ! So, you know that our family is the one behind the turf war industry, right ?"

"I do recall Pearl's father mentioning working in that field, yes."

"Well, we're also the ones who organize splatfests. And y'know, while your career as idols clearly isn't over yet, your final fest is approaching ! It's in about what ... Six months I believe ? So we only have half a year left to start preparing the event."

That was ... True. Huh. Marina was so focused on the fact that being an idol was deeply exhausting that she hadn't even seen how much time had passed. That was ... Insane. Six months left. And after that, their careers would be secured, and she and Pearl would be able to do whatever they want for the rest of their life. All that she could hope for was for it to be a success and a happy ending to their idol career, unlike what happened to Callie and Marie ...

"So you want to invite us to prepare the event ?"

"Yes ! We've contacted your current manager and he said he didn't like it, but emperor told him that he "does not give a damn if he likes it or not". So he ended up saying yes. You'd be coming with us for about a month to work with us on preparing the last fest ! We work at day, and spend the evenings together doing family stuff, like uuuh ... Roasting marshmallows or fishing in the sea ! Yeah, we'll be near the sea for it all."

"I-I mean ... I'm not really part of your family so maybe calling this family stuff may be a bit too much ..."

Pearl immediately let out the biggest scoff and stared at Marina.

"You're part of this family now, like it or not. You're stuck with me, and that means you're stuck with all the weirdos that come with me."

Marina let out a chuckle with a blush and nodded before looking back at Prince.

"Alright ... But what would I even do there ? Is it like ... Putting on some decorations on the stage ?"

"You think I'd just make you do that ?! Ha !! No, I've got something so much better planned ! You know how you've been designing all of the shifty stations so far ?"

"Yeah ... I mean, I do quick doodles of stage gimmick ideas and you build it for us. Nothing much."

"Well how about you made it YOURSELF ? You get to come on the building site and you design the stage however you want it with Pearl. Almost no limitations and unlimited budget."

It took Marina every little bit of control to not immediately begin to jump around and flap her hands. A building site ?! She'd get to design a stage of her own ? AND SHE'S GONNA WORK WITH HEAVY MACHINERIE ?! Oh, it's been so long since she last had the opportunity to do that ... She hadn't touched anything like it ever since she was a part of the Octobot king's maintenance crew !! She took a deep breath, squealed a little and tried her best to answer calmly.

"That would be great !! I-Is there any restrictions ?!"

"The only thing we want is a fun gimmick like always, and for the place to be pretty to look at. That's what the S ranked players I've talked with all landed on. Right guys ?"

Skull and Alola quickly nodded, with skull looking down with a slightly softened face.

"It would be nice to have some lights around the stage, I love how pretty things can get at night with them."

Marina nodded and watched Army quickly walking back into the room, caught by Alola who seemed to be confused as to why he was gone in the first place.

"Hey where were you just a minute ago ?"

"I squashed a mosquito trying to feed off my blood and I had to clean my hands."

"Ewwww ... Okay okay, fair."

Prince chuckled and looked back at Marina

"So ? What do you think ? Can we count on you two to come and make the stage ?"

"I'm in !! How about you Pearlie ?"

"This is an occasion to bully my uncles and aunts like I've never seen before. I'm gonna put hot sauce in their s'mores and watch them cry. OF COURSE I'M IN !!"

Well ... Things were getting a little interesting

Chapter Text

Stopping idol work for a couple of weeks was one thing. Finding someone to replace you was something else entirely. Yet surprisingly, Marina didn't take more than a few seconds to find a duo that would be perfect to replace her and Pearl while they were gone. A perfect occasion to give the spotlight to someone she cared about. She wanted to make sure Pearl would be alright with her choice, and her response was ...

"You like em ?"

"Yeah, of course !"

"Are they going to try and murder someone while we're away ?"

"N-NO ?!"

"Aight. I got nothing against it then. Have fun !"

So ... Green light it was. Perfect.

Marina didn't take more than a day to prepare it all, and quickly get to her friend's house during the weekend to talk about it a little further. She wanted to keep it a surprise of course, but this was about work and she made it very clear since the beginning. It would be weird to go to someone's house saying you've got a gift and then announcing that they now have to work 50 hours a week. Funny, but weird.

Right after she arrived, Marina quickly knocked on the door and was finally greeted by her friend Warabi, who seemed to be particularly happy to see her again.

"Marina !! Man, been waiting for you all day ! Come in, my place definitely isn't as fancy as yours but I'll try my best to make you feel at home."

"No worries ! I may be living in a giant house now, but I did spend most of my life in cramped, dark and moist spaces. So anything that isn't that feels like luxury now."

"Felt that. Man, seeing how you fast you got your diplomas, I thought Octavio would've given you a better bedroom or something !"

"I was supposed to live near his appartements, but the humidity broke down a couple walls of my room a few days before I could move in and I had to stay in my old space. He felt so bad about it that he ended up buying me a brand new computer and some turntables to make up for it."

"Pffff ... That old crumb may have be strict at times but he did have his golden moments. I'd almost miss him."

Marina nodded with a chuckle before taking out her backpack and slamming it on the floor.

"So, about the work I teased you about ~"

"Oh yeah !! Me and Ikkan were really curious about it. We've been doing singles and a couple of concerts lately, but we spend a good chunk of our time partying and being lazy in the house so I guess a bit of hard work can't hurt. Tell me all about it !"

"So, Pearl and I are going to take a small break to prepare for our final fest, and we'd be looking for a replacement for the time we'd be gone ... It would be an essay period and the duo replacing us could become the next idols if they want to ! I immediately thought about you ... I want to keep seeing Octoling idols on the stage to help our population feel more and more accepted here. Plus, you're an amazing DJ."

"That sounds dope... I'd love to try that ! HEY IKKAN !! D'YOU WANT TO BE AN IDOL FOR A COUPLE OF WEEKS ?"

On the other side of the room, a very tired inkling slowly raised his face up from against the couch he was laying on.

"... Wha ..?"

"I'm asking you if you want to be an idol. Marina is offering us a banger job opportunity here but I can't sign it if you're not up for it."

"Can we... Talk about it later ? Had a real challenge of a night.... Got into a fistfight with Beika. Also drank a lot. Too much. Urgh ..."

"...Okay want me to get you something to puke in ?"

"...Yes please."

Warabi rolled his eyes before throwing a random trashcan laying around towards his partner, before quickly grabbing Marina by the hand and dragging her towards his kitchen.

"If you're okay with everything, Marina and I will sign the contract somewhere else !"

Ikkan quickly gave his partner a thumbs up before throwing his face into the trashcan. Warabi slammed the kitchen's door behind him and sighed before looking back at Marina.

"... Somehow, that's a perfect timing. Because there's something I'd like to talk about with you for a bit. Something important."

Chapter Text

Marina couldn't help but immediately feel a little more nervous at the sight of Warabi tensing up like that.

"Something ... Important ?"

"Yeah- I mean ... Fuck. I'm really sorry about all that, because it seriously feels like every time we talk I'm the bearer of bad news. I wish we could hang out more without me necessarily saying something that may destroy your mood."

"I mean ... I can't completely deny it, but if it's about who we are ... There's no one else that can give me this kind of information, except maybe Paul ... But keeping him out of this would be for the best."

"Yeah, about that. Paul is the one that found most of these infos. Didn't even ask him for it, kid got curious and began to scramble around some secret government documents to find an answer."

"How did Paul even get access to this kind of thing ?!"

"... Hey, we're talking about Paul here. Let's be real, when you were this age you did the exact same kind of shit. Can you remember when you were twelve and you hacked the Octobot king out of curiosity ?"

"I-It was so that I could repair it better !!"

"Yeah yeah ... Of course. And then you made him dance the Macarena. I got it on video with Ahato and Storm absolutely wheezing in the background"

Marina rolled her eyes and smile, quickly thinking about these fond memories of hers. As scared as she was of returning to the domes, she couldn't deny that she had some happy moments there. It had been a while since she last thought about how much she missed them. And ... It had been even longer since she didn't think of them in a negative light with the stress of abandoning them. They were no longer in her life, and it was sad but ... That was it. She just missed them.

"... Okay, no comment on this one. You know that we were bored out of our minds and I mean- Octavio wouldn't have been mad if he found out. If anything, he would've wanted to see it. But seeing how you act, what you found must've been hidden for a reason. Still... What did Paul even see in those documents ?"

"At first, he just got curious to see if Octolings were ever mentioned in documents. Y'know ... Most people seem to believe that we're extinct. He started to dig around to see if he could find any informations on other survivors because it seems unlikely that EVERYONE died except us, right ?"

Warabi quickly grabbed his phone, went into his photo gallery, and showed a world map covered in little red crosses everywhere that had little numbers associated to them, and the next photo showed a book page where each number had notes associated to them. Marina quickly zoomed in on a cross that was near the splatlands to find the number 21, and quickly went back to the page to check its annotations

"21- Hohojiro clan
Characteristics : were trained to use tri-stringers at a young age. Population of blanket octopus
Official explanation given out to the local population : the octolings were said to have committed suicide after the dishonor of loosing the war. For more details, see addendum 986-1916
Date of termination : the last member still on the surface was confirmed to have been eliminated in 1916
Additional notes : while the surface population has been confirmed to be completely eradicated, some of the members of this clan managed to find their way into the domes. If a blue haired-octoling is seen on the battlefields, please assume that there's a high chance they are trained to attack with tri-stringers"

Marina felt herself getting more and more nauseous as she read the description. She quickly scrolled down to see the other numbers annotations, and every single one of them seemed to be the same.

These people didn't just win the war against Octolings.

They did everything in their power to eradicate them.

Chapter Text

Marina wasn't so sure of what to do with these informations. Inklings actively saught out the destruction of their species. This ... May have been her worst nightmare. Nervously, she sat down next her friend, began nibbling on her thumb to calm herself down and looked at the floor with tears in her eyes.

"Does this mean ... That the inkopolis government is actively hunting us ..?"

"That's what I thought for a while. All of this is accurate, and all of these communities disappeared on dates that correspond to what's written down here. However ... These documents are locked under a code that was only given out to people who participated in these events, which virtually locks out anyone that happened to reach adulthood after the great turf war. The current president, ministers and anyone else who does politics ... They have NO CLUE this has happened. To them, the octolings just all died during the great turf war and that's it. The people behind these assassinations are still active to this day as high rank members of the military, and while they don't do much themselves because they're stupidly old, they groomed a couple of inkling teenagers into soldiers to keep the octolings of the domes under control. The only reason that they don't do a massive attack on it is that this would've required more squids to learn about what happened, which means the word could've gone out and the consequences for these old bastards would've been desastrous. The only question I have left is ... Why did these old men didn't try to target us the second we showed up ?!"

Marina took a pause and looked down, biting on her thumb even further before her eyes widened.

"I was a public figure."

"Huh ?"

"Think about it. If they knew I existed from the start, they could've easily killed me using one of the inklings they trained against me. But they didn't know I was here until I made that big reveal with Pearl and Off the Hook went viral. So everyone learned about my face all at once, and therefore when they learned I was an octoling, it was already too late because I was already a celebrity and killing me would've started a huge investigation. And because they focused all their attention on me, they didn't see that many other Octolings were coming out of the domes. And when they did, once again, it was too late. Because these people now have a friends, lovers, they could even have children ... Killing them now would be way too difficult."

"Holy shit ... Yeah, that sounds about right. You probably were one of the first people to ever leave the domes, if not the first. So it also makes sense that you were the first one to show up in public. That is ... WOAW. There is a bunch of old crusty men that see us as living target practice, and we seemingly won against them just because you just sung like a goddess. That is ... Incredible. I don't even think the public will ever suspect a thing if the veterans don't act. They've always seen us as inklings !"

"That's right, but I'm not completely sure if I get it... How did they NOT notice that we were different ?! I mean. Pearlie always knew that I was different, and she never really hid it much. She pointed it out more than once and she never even questioned it ! She just thought of it as a genetic mutation or something similar !"

"Because they erased it all. History books, paintings, artefacts, they hid every piece of information the population could've accessed. History's written by the winners, and these people wanted to describe Octolings as particularly different from them for future generations to form a limited empathy towards the victims of the war."

"... I see ..."

"So umh ... Yeah. I guess that's all I had to say. I guess that for our situation, it's overall pretty positive to think that most inklings don't know who we are and don't seem to hold any grudges toward us. But don't trust the old ones. They could be plotting against you."

"Got it. I mean ... I kind of had my lesson with the one that tried to kill me."

"Holy shit I almost forgot about that- what even happened to him ??"

"Pearl took him to court without me in the room. She didn't want me to look at him again. They managed to get him 20 years in prison ... He's definitely going to die there."

"Good. One less problem in our world ... But who knows how many of these homicidal maniacs are left wandering around inkopolis ?"

"I don't really want to think about it. I think ... I'd rather focus on the good things that happened. We're happier than ever, our people are getting healthier both mentally and physically, and octoling are learning to just ... Have fun. I wish we could all come out outside and happily live together."

"Heh. Who knows. Maybe that'll happen one day."

"... Maybe."

Chapter Text

Marina Shivered as she watched inkopolis slowly disappear behind her as the car ride progressed, nervously catching Pearl's hand to get as much comfort as she could in this situation. Technically speaking, it wasn't as if she'd NEVER left inkopolis in her entire life. After all, she did grow up in the domes. But ... It had been years ever since she last went behind Mount Nantai. The idea of leaving everything she knew behind, even for a harmless trip ... It did bring out some nasty memories.

"You good Reena ?"

"Yeah ... I'm just nervous. B-But I can do it !!"

"I sure hope you can, girl ! My entire family is waiting for you. And it's a BIG family."

"How many siblings did your father have, again ..?"

"5 brothers and 3 sisters ! My great grandma was all like "since I'm gonna die young please keep out my legacy and give me many grandkids !" Or something... So my grandparents just went wild for the babies. That generation didn't get much parental love because there's now way someone can keep up with that many kids, but at least they had one hell of a siblinghood."

Siblinghood and family huh ... Marina never thought about it much. Her parents were nonexistent. Marina wasn't sure if they just never came back to see how she was doing after dropping her into her military school, or if they just died at some point and she was never notified of such thing. They didn't do much for her, and therefore she didn't feel the need to reach out for them in return. As for siblings, well ... She didn't have any that were actually blood related, to her knowledge. But the way she was raised deeply empathized on building up relationships with friends.

A soldier's life was often harsh and exhausting. But having friends to talk to and spend time with was vital. No one knows all of their own weaknesses. And if you do, there's a high chance that you may try to hide them, even to yourself. But a friend of yours may see them, and will be able to protect you from them. On the frontlines, feelings are often considered a burden. But empathy, this urge to protect the people you love, is vital. According to Octavio, the only reason why he was alive was because his best friend at the time saved him in his weakest moment, the day he was injured so badly he lost ability to switch out of his swim form. And that's why Marina never considered getting slapped in the face when she cried a bad thing. In retrospective, it was an awful, awful idea. But back then, helping a friend in a moment of weakness by snapping them back to reality sounded like a good thing to do ...

Urgh, no no no. No need to think about that. She was with her best friend, the love of her life, going to a beautiful place for vacation.

But before she could even finish to calm herself down, Marina felt her face being grabbed by her lover's hand and dragged against her lips for a soft and gentle kiss. Marina stayed voiceless for a bit as Pearl sighed.

"You were overthinking."

"Ah !! Well umh, yes ! I'm really excited to go out with you and ..."

"That's not what your face was saying. You looked like you were stressing yourself out."

Marina silently nodded and sighed. Pearl read in her eyes just like an open book. But it didn't last long. Soon enough, the little squid smirked and glanced at their driver.

"Dude, you better not tell that to paparazzis, huh ! We're not out yet."

"Ma'am, I'll be very honest with you, with the pay you're giving me and how polite you are compared to my other employers, you two could be making out on the backseats and I would not give a single care in the world."

"Awwwwh ... C'mon, the other people paying you can't be THAT bad."

"You say that because you didn't hear Squid Squad trying to murder each other during the last few months of their career. I seriously thought I'd have to clean up a dead body on arrival."

"Oof ... Yeah. Fair."

Marina chuckled and sighed before grabbing Pearl's hand once more.

Everything will be fine.

As long as she was with her, EVERYTHING. WILL. BE. FINE.

Chapter Text

"we're here."

Marina jumped out of the car and began to look around her, amazed by the sheer beauty of the ocean that surrounded this place. She'd seen the ocean before. During salmon run or from far, far away while she was hiking on mount Nantai. But she never really had a moment for her to just ... Enjoy her time there. She felt like a little kid. She completely forgot to thank her driver for the ride (which Pearl thankfully did for her) and simply ran right up to the sand until her feet were awfully close to the water. She looked down to see if she could find anything nice, and immediately let out a squeal as she picked up a cute little cowrie shell.

"PEARLIE !! Look what I found ! It's so cute a shiny, I love it !! No way, there's more ?! How many of these are there laying down here ?!"

Pearl chuckled as she ran down towards Marina.

"If you like these, you're gonna be fucking set for the entire vacation. This place is full of sea shells !! There's also sea stars, a bunch of fishes, sand dollars, urchins ..."

"I'm so excited to see all of these little critters !! Ah, to think we used to be that small just a few thousand years ago ..."

"Yeah, can you imagine if we were born back when squids didn't have legs ? We would've had to live in the middle of the sea, fighting for our food every day, and having to hide from predators ... Oh well no, I would protect you from them. Obviously."

"Mmmh ? And how would you fight a shark ?"

"Squirt ink in their face to blind them, and then chop their head off !! Easy !!"

Pearl's little smirk and pose to show her (nonexistent) muscles was just so adorable that Marina didn't have the heart to say anything else about it. She could've watched her for hours, if not for the random voice that suddenly interrupted the two of them.

"Pearl !! It's been so long ! How're you doing kiddo ?"

Pearl gasped as she turned around to see a woman in her 50s looking at her with a big smile. Pearl immediately gasped and ran into her arms with a laugh.

"AUNTIE CROWN !! Oh my cod, it's been so long yeah !! How're you been ? Heard that you moved out all the way across the world !"

"Indeed ! Decided to take a new opportunity to work in a beautiful island, and here I am, coming back just a couple of years later and learning that my little girl is now a singer that's shown in every magazine I can find ? Talk about a surprise !"

"Surprise ?! I told ya I would conquer the entire world with my voice one day, and I kept my promise !! But ... I didn't do it alone, though. Crown, meet my girlfriend, Marina."

Marina shyly waved her hand to say hi, and let out a Yelp of surprise as the aunt immediately grabbed her arm and pulled her into a huge hug with a laugh.

"AND WHAT A CUTIE SHE IS !! I'm so glad to meet you Marina ! Good smile, good face, even a fancy haircut ... My my, what a beautiful girl you found to be by your side ! Oh, I'm sure the rest of the family will LOVE to meet her. C'mon, let's get going ! Everyone's waiting for you !"

Before she could even say anything, Marina found herself to be practically dragged towards what seemed to be a vacation resort. She glanced at Pearl with eyes that screamed "WHAT DO I DO ?!", to which Pearl answered in a whisper

"Just go with it. There's no escaping it and I promise they won't eat you. Not right now, at least."

For the next hour and a half, Marina found herself to be dragged around the resort by Pearl's aunt, shown up to many MANY people that all looked important in their own way and who all seemed to be very happy to meet her. Seeing that Pearl recognize every single one of these individuals as family was genuinely disturbing to Marina. She understood the concept of family without too much difficulty. A father and a mother, grandparents if they're still alive, maybe an aunt or an uncle ... But that was it. But Pearl had dozens upon dozens of aunts, uncles, cousins, cousins's children's and many other words she didn't even understand and she seemed to remember them all PERFECTLY. It was insane. But seeing how everyone was acting, this kind of reunion seemed to be quite normal and particularly appreciate. In the end, she was liked by everyone, so she guessed that things should be good ...

She didn't exactly fit in yet. But she was loved by everyone and according to Pearl, she would learn to love everyone back. And honestly ? Even if it all looked exhausting, she was fairly excited for it.

Chapter Text

Pearl and Marina let out a simultaneous sigh as they slammed their hotel room's door open. Meeting up with ALL OF PEARL'S FAMILY was exhausting, even for the little squid herself. This day wasn't bad in any way, but the girls definitely craved some rest after running around all day.

Marina wobbled towards their bed before crashing down on the sheets with a whimper as Pearl watched her with a playful smile and began to quickly check what was in the room. The poor Octoling stayed down on the bed for a few minutes, letting out a whimper every once in a while before Pearl finally grabbed her by the thighs and dragged her under the sheets before kissing her on the cheek.

"C'mon Reena, don't die on me !!"

"I might ..."

"NOOOOOO... I SHALL GET MY REVENGE !!"

With that, Pearl jumped on her girlfriend to pin her down against the bed, covering her in kisses that tickled the poor octoling's face. She immediately tried to fight back and pin down the little squid, but somehow Pearl managed to completely block her attacks and maintained her down, teasing her as she struggled in hopes of kissing her back. After a while, she let herself down with a pout, leaving Pearl slightly confused... Which was her exact plan. The second she felt like the pigmy squid let her guard down, she grabbed her by the hips, shoved her on the side and let her body fall on the squid's, blocking her off with her sheer weight. They were both exhausted, and Pearl was definitely unable to defend herself from that. After a while, she sighed and rolled her eyes before rubbing her head against Marina's arms, a way for her to admit defeat. Satisfied, the octoling laid down besides her with a chuckle, that quickly turned into a laugh as the girl's eyes met. They both got under the sheets and began to look at the ceiling, appreciating the little bit of warmth that had started to accumulate in the bed sheets.

"Can you believe it Reena ? In just six months, we'll be completely free. We'll have our success guaranteed for life, and we'll be able to do whatever the fuck we want. We could be working in our studio in the morning and BAM, if you want, we can end the day on a romantic beach like this one, drinking out of coconuts and sleeping together in a comfy bed ... Doesn't that sound like a dream ?"

"We already sleep in the same bed at home."

"... Yeah. True."

"But it does sound like a dream. Just you and me, free to do whatever we want, always together ... I mean. Everything sounds like a dream when I'm with you. I still can't believe that ... That's it. We're a couple now. I'm not just fantasizing these moments of us cuddling together, we're really a thing and that's it. I don't need to overthink anything."

"Awh ... Did you really fantasize about me kissing you like that ?"

"... If I said yes, would you tease me about it ?"

"No ... Okay, maybe a little ~"

"Jerk ..."

"I'm only saying that because I've wanted that kind of stuff for MUCH LONGER than you did. Can you imagine, YEARS of pinning hard on your cute little face and not being able to say anything ?! It SUCKED man ... You only had to last for a couple of months."

"That doesn't mean I didn't have it rough !! Do you have any idea of how pretty you are, and how difficult it is to look at you and not melt on the spot when you're singing right besides me ?!"

"Shit ... You're awfully good at teasing me when you want to ... Didn't expect to hear that, makes me feel all weird"

"I'M NOT TEASING YOU I'M STATING THE TRUTH !!"

"WELL YOUR TRUTH SOUNDS A LOT LIKE PRAISE"

"BECAUSE IT IS PRAISE, AND IT CAME FROM THE HEART !!"

"FUCK YOU !! I LOVE YOU !!"

"I LOVE YOU TOO !!"

Once again, the girls just began to uncontrollably laugh. It lasted for a while, because every time they tried to stop themselves, they would take a look at their beloved and immediately start laughing once more. But laughing is exhausting. And the girls were struggling to stay awake. Eventually, Marina's laughs slowly died down as she laid against Pearl with a smile. And as she watched her lover slowly fall asleep, Pearl couldn't help but close her eyes and allow herself to do the same.

Side by side, hand in hand.

Chapter Text

Marina took a deep breath to avoid shaking in excitement. Every since she'd woke up this morning, her mind had been stuck on the fact that she was going to design an entire stage by herself. It had been almost four long years ever since she last got to work on machines, and she was determined to get her hands dirty again. Despite music being her main passion, Marina couldn't deny that she was gifted when it came to engineering. And the idea of going back to her old field on a context that was entirely safe for the fighters was quite charming.

As soon as she was given the plans for the map's location, Marina immediately had an idea for a fun and dynamic battle area.

Lots of paths going up and down, a way to access the upper borders of the map to either discreetly get into the enemy's spawn or to attack them from behind, a good amount of hiding spots and strategic places to use specials, and a minimalistic very rough decor with a lot of concrete and construction stripes added everywhere and just a couple of tags here and there. She wanted this place to feel unfinished. This Splatfests wasn't going to be the end of their career, merely their beginning. So she wanted to make their last stage with this idea in mind. Everyone seemed to agree that it would be a great idea, both because it looked like a fun place to play on, but also because the rough concrete and lack of insanely detailed decor was a great thing to make sure that everything would be done on time without overworking the crew. After all, the goal was for everything to be finished in a couple of weeks. But still, one last thing was missing ... The gimmick. Marina knew the space she imagined would make a great place to install a gimmick of her choice without worrying about a redesign, even at a later date. But now, she had to think about something ... And knowing herself and her stupid amount of perfectionism when it came to her weapons and special ideas, this was about to take much longer than imagining the rest of the stage.

"Hello there ! I'm going to assume that you're Marina Ida ?"

The Octoling shivered as she almost ripped her plans in half out of surprise as someone got her hand on her shoulder out of pretty much nowhere. Both girls backed down with a yelp and the inkling that surprised her immediately started to apologize.

"I'm truly sorry, I did not expect you to be this focused at such an hour ..."

Marina blinked in confusion before quickly glancing at the clock on the wall. 11PM ?! ALREADY ?! And to think that she promised to Pearl that she would be back at the hotel before dinner ... She truly was the worst.

"No no, it's okay ! My bad. M-May I ask who are you ?"

"I'm N-Pacer. We should be working together from tomorrow and on ! I just arrived at the vacation camp today, sorry for being late."

"Oh !! I do remember you, you're Emperor's partner ! You're quite a remarkable fighter, I've seen you on the battlefield a couple of times ... I presume that you will be helping me with details about the map design ?"

"A lot of people assumed that, but absolutely not ! I heard that you wanted the gimmick to be some kind of weapon mechanic, right ?"

"Indeed ! I'm always very excited when it comes to working on weapons ... It's a little guilty pleasure of mine."

"Perfect then ! It sounds like we're going to do great together then. I'm a trainee to be a future weapon designer for turf, with a specialisation in specials. To make it simple ... If it's big and impressive, I'm in."

"Oh my cod ... T-That's amazing !! Do you think you could help me make something up for the stage ??"

"Absolutely, that's why I'm here ! Emperor sent me because he wanted to help you get a little less tense ... Apparently, you haven't answered to Pearl's messages in the last few hours. It sounded like you were stressing over your work."

"Oh no ... I'm so sorry about that."

"It's not problem ! Like I said, we'll be working on it tomorrow. Take a break, you deserve it ! Overworking yourself will only lead to disasters. I'll take my leave now, hopefully you'll do the same too !"

Marina nodded, waved goodbye and sighed. Her old octarian habits of needed to get perfection for her weapons had surfaced once more ... She needed to think about something else, and quick. She grabbed her phone and immediately noticed a ton of messages and missed calls from Pearl. She immediately started to type to reply to her as she gathered her belongings.

"Pearl, I'm sorry for being so late, I didn't see your messages because I was so focused on my work :("

Pearl's answer was almost immediate.

"LMAO kinda guessed that.
It's okay but don't do it again tomorrow, huh ! >:P"

"I won't... Can you please order me something ? I'm starving."

"I ordered us both some burgers earlier today. They're cold now but hey we have a microwave for a reason."

"YOU'VE BEEN WAITING ALL THIS TIME ?! D: "

"Duh. Now move your pretty butt here, I'm hungry as fuck and I bet you are too."

Marina felt her stomach grumble and a slight minty blush appeared on her cheeks. She indeed was ... Pearl knew her too well.

"I'm coming. Wait for me <3"

Chapter Text

Building up the last shifty stations had been going even smoother than Marina had expected.

To say the truth, after that first day of struggles with the gimmick of the map, she felt like she may get stuck on some bad ideas and would just never find anything that would satisfy her. But with a little bit of time spent with N-Pacer and more regular working hours (forced by both Pearl and Pearl's family that were eager to invite her to any kind of dinner they could make), she ended up forming an idea that was both stupidly simple and absolutely genius : BOMBS. GIANT BOMBS.

Hyperbombs were meant to be a fun harmless gimmick everyone could use on the field, exploding in the ink color of whichever player popped them first. Every single corridor of the map had at least one of them, so that opponents meeting in more secluded areas would never be sure of how the encounter would end up. Would it be better to try to directly attack your enemy ? Or perhaps trying to pop the bomb first would be a more clever idea ? So much suspense. So much explosions. She LOVED IT.

And yet, despite her enthusiasm ... Marina couldn't help but feel like something was missing on this map. And despite how much she tried to think about what else she could add, she just couldn't find anything that she could change. Still, just in case, she kept the center of the arena free of any kind of bombs. Perhaps she could find an idea to add later on ...

But right now was not the time to think about work. No, it was time to enjoy the night and eat as much meat as she could !!

Tonight was barbecue beach night. According to Pearl, this meant grilling tons of meat, stuffing yourself with the greasiest things you could find, enjoying time with your family and roasting marshmallows on a fire. None of this sounded like a bad thing and so far, it was definitely fun !

While Pearl's GIGANTIC family was still a bit overwhelming for Marina, she finally started to recognize faces more and more and to learn who she wanted to spend more time with. Right now, she'd decided to give Pearl some time of her own. She'd spent the last few years spending every single one of her holidays all alone, and that poor squid definitely deserved to do whatever she wanted, even if it meant that Marina felt a little lonely. It was a bit overwhelming at times, but nothing forbid her from just taking a break, sitting down on the sand a couple of feet away from everyone and enjoy her food on her own. And that's exactly what she was doing right now.

Marina was devouring her tuna steak, watching her lover run around the beach as her uncle chased her with a fake splattershot. She seemed to have pulled a prank on him and looked very proud of herself. It was a bit amusing and she could've watched that in silence for hours if not for a man sitting down next to her and handing her a plate.

"I hope you're enjoying your time here ... I know that our meetings can get a bit noisy."

Pearl's father. That was PEARL'S FATHER. immediately, Marina tried to make herself look a little fancier, embarrassed by how much her hair was twirling in nervousness.

"H-HELLO !! YES. I AM ENJOYING MYSELF. VERY MUCH."

"That's great to hear ! I saw that you haven't tried our crabby cakes yet, thought that you'd enjoy them. My brother Tsar made them all himself ! He told us that he wouldn't cook much during his holidays, but I suppose that his chef habits are hard to get rid of."

Marina blinked before carefully picking up a single cake from the plate and chewing it slowly with a smile.

"... Pearl told you that I may want one, right ?"

"Haha ... What makes you think that ?"

"It's my favorite dish. It's one of the first few things we cooked together with Pearl when we first bought our house together. It was a bit of a mess and we almost burned ourselves countless times. But it was a nice experience and we got to eat something neat after that. It's ... A really good memory of mine."

"I see. You two really know each other that well, huh."

"Yes ... Well, I don't know her perfectly. She somehow always manages to surprise me and that's something I love about her. But she always tries her best to make me happy, even when it's not subtle. It's adorable."

The man chuckled before taking a bite of one of the cakes.

"You know, I really thought you two would take MUCH longer to get together and thought I'd have to watch you pinning for years. I'm glad I was wrong."

"Wha- YOU KNEW I HAD A CRUSH ON- ... Oh my cod ..."

"Haha, it was a bit obvious ! But I don't mean it in a bad way. You two are great for each other. But Pearl isn't good with her feelings and you ? You sounded like a very shy lady. Who knows how long your secret crushes could've lasted ?"

"I'd rather not think about it ... That's embarrassing."

Suddenly, a little yellow haired man ran up to Marina, jumping very excitedly with hands full of marshmallows packs.

"Marina, we're going to roast some candies on a fire with some of my cousins !! It's gonna be so good !! Also umh... They also said they were going to tell horror stories and I'd rather not be alone to hear them. Do you want to join us ..?"

"OH MY COD, I- ... Well ... I'd love to, but-"

Marina quickly glanced towards Pearl's father.

"Just go Marina. Your youth is today. Enjoy it while it lasts."

"Bold of you to assume I won't be eating roasted marshmallows when I'm 50."

"Ha ! Well I sure hope you will !"

Marina ran towards her friend, waving back at her father in law with a smile.

She forgot the crabby cakes but hey ... She knew this man would enjoy them just as much.

Chapter Text

Marina couldn't help but feel a little more at ease surrounded by teenagers than she was around full grown adults. The age range around the campfire seemed to be between 12 and 20, and was apparently just a space created for the younger members of the family that didn't fully fit with the adults, and the only reason why Pearl wasn't there was because she was too focused on talking with the uncles and aunts she'd deeply missed. She wasn't surprised to see Prince talking with his younger cousins. He was the one who brought her here, after all. However, she was a little more surprised to find Emperor, roasting marshmallows with a satisfied smirk. The man seemed a lot more grown up than everyone else, even Marina. But when questioned about it, he only had one thing to say.

"I don't want to give up being a child so soon. I already have too many responsibilities on my back, and I'm starting to forget what having a lot of free time feels like. I still want to feel like I can grow up."

"I see ... I guess I mostly came here for the marshmallows. I'm easily lured in with sweets."

"... I'd be lying if I said I didn't want marshmallows too. S'mores are too good to be ignored."

Marina chuckled, but quickly got her attention taken by a kid clapping his hands around the fire.

"Everyone !! Now that the sun has set, it's time for the true reason we reunited tonight ... Horror stories !! If you're too scared to stay, go back into your parent's arms and leave now ! We don't want the little babies to get nightmares !"

Every kid began to look around them and mumble things about not being scared and being ready to hear anything. Marina smiled and couldn't help but wonder if this type of scenery was something common in inkling culture. She remembered seeing similar stories in the tv shows she watched with Pearl.

"Alright ! Now that we know for sure that everyone here is big enough to be scared ... Let the stories begin !! The scariest storyteller will win an entire giant marshmallow pack all for themselves ! Mmmmh ... Prince !! You start !"

"I-I'm not sure if I'll have a good story to tell ..."

"Don't care ! Make something up, it's what the game is for ! Unless you're too SCARED to try ..."

"Hey !! Alright, alright, I'll find something ... But I hope you guys will be able to handle the story of the WEREWOLF VAMPIRE SQUID !!"

the entire crowd let out a cute little enthusiastic "ooooh" and let the story begin, curious as to where this could all be going.

For the next hour or so, Marina found herself to be fascinated by this little group of squids trying their best to retell stories that they heard in horror movies or urban legends, making use of the light of the fire to make themselves look scarier and hopefully impress their cousins. Overall, most stories were nothing out of the ordinary, with maybe a couple of them making Marina shiver and unconsciously make her tentacles wiggle out of fear. But hey ... Marina never pretended to be good at handling horror. If anything, she was easily startled, which often made Pearl laugh when she jumped into her arms during scary movie nights.

" "There's giant worms under my skin !!" The man kept repeating ... But no one believed him. So one day, he took the matter into his own hands. He grabbed his trusted butcher knife, looked at his arm, sliced it open, and ripped off two giant red worms absolutely covered in blood. He handed them to his husband and said "here ... I told you I wasn't insane ..." And passed out on the floor, exhausted from blood loss. His wife looked down at the two giant worms and immediately threw them on the floor, noticing what was wrong with them ... These weren't worms. They were veins."

Marina couldn't help but flinch at the story's climax, feeling her own arms cramping up at the idea of doing the same to her own body. The other kids seemed to have a similar reaction before applauding Emperor, who seemed to be very proud of his little story. He proudly nodded to accept the praise before glancing towards one of his cousins.

"It seems to be your turn for a story, Horus."

"Yup, and I'm sure it can beat yours and everyone else's !"

"That is quite a bold take to have ... I cannot wait to hear it."

The young inkling clapped his hands and got on his feet with a smirk before looking around him.

"The story that I'm about to tell you isn't one that was made up. It's one that truly happened to my ancestors during the great turf war. Behold ... Brace yourself for the story of THE UNDEAD OCTOLING !!"

Suddenly, the night began to feel a lot less fun.
And it was just the beginning

Chapter Text

Marina felt her stomach twist at the mention of her species. Undead octoling ... Was this just another fairy tale legend that people pretended was the truth ? An old family tale difformed over the years to make the main character sound more heroic ? Or was this meant to be a story that happened without a doubt, portraying an octoling that just happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time ? She was so focused on her own discomfort that she barely paid attention to the reactions of everyone else around the fire. But the child telling his story seemed to be pretty proud of himself, and therefore continued.

"It all happened back when my great grandfather took the lead of a well known splatoon, the swordfish sinkers. They were one of the most successful Splatoon the inkling side ever had. And that night, they were all sent alongslide the legendary Squidbeak Splatoon to ambush the biggest threat we ever had to face from the octoling side : their strategists. They were charged to eliminate the people planning the attacks in the middle of the night to completely erase their ability to plan ahead. It was a dangerous mission, suicidal almost ... But they knew that these people were too powerful to be left alive. And so, the battle of the sunken worlds began."

Marina felt her breaths get heavier. She knew about this tale. She was told about it as a child, back when she was trained to be a backline soldier. But so far, there was one major difference she noticed. Her people never talked about a battle. They always talked about a massacre. Almost none of the soldiers killed that night had any kind of actual training when it came to fights, many of them were fairly young and this was their first ever war. They wouldn't have been able to defend themselves properly no matter the circumstances they were put in.

There was only one known survivor of this battle. The octarian's current leaders, Octavio. He was permanently disabled during the battle, his nervous system being damaged to such extents that he lost his ability to change back into his bipedal form forever, forcing him to be stuck in his swim form for the rest of his life.

"The battle was tough, with many losses on both sides. The octolings were rabid. They used every single tactic they had to eliminate their opponents, even going so far as to use forbidden chemicals to eliminate the Splatoons, weapons so atrocious that they blinded some of the inklings for days."

This was the truth. During the battle, since the base had no weapons, the rare soldiers able to fight back had to resort to mixing bleach and vinegar and threw the resulting chemicals towards their opponents praying that it would be enough to flee. This was the only way they could've survived. And yet they still failed.

"Once the battle was over, the inkings stood up victorious against their opponents. They were surrounded by the corpses of their enemies, knowing that their sacrifices saved thousands and thousands of lives. But ... It wasn't over. Even after their very own deaths, the octolings refused to loose. And as they were about to leave, my gramps felt something weird clinging against his leg. And before he could understand what it was, he felt a streak of pain running through his entire body. He looked down on the ground and finally, he saw it. It was covered in blood, dragging itself across the ground with his tentacles ... THE SEVERED HEAD OF HIS ENEMY !!"

A row of gasps from the audience. Marina felt herself shaking. Out of fear ? Rage ? Sickness ? She didn't know. Perhaps she didn't want to know.

"The vile creature, despite being long dead, still had their tentacle's brains working ... And they were slowly gaining a new kind of consciousness. And this newly born demon only wanted one thing. DEATH. It craved the blood of its opponent. The venom it injected was nothing bit a production of pure hatred. And this vile creation could only be stopped in one way : gramps had to kill them a second time, or be killed himself !!"

Marina wanted to scream. She wanted to run away and hide. She wanted to yell. She wanted to bite. But someone in the audience stopped her before she could even start to move. Someone who, somehow, seemed even angrier than her.

"SHUT UP !!"

And Marina couldn't even guess what would happen after all of that.

Chapter Text

Marina looked around her, trying to find whoever could've put such a violent end to this story. And it didn't take long for her to notice that Prince was now standing up, glaring at his cousin with a kind of rage Marina had never seen coming from him. She had no idea what made him react in such a violent way, yet she couldn't help but appreciate his action. Having to handle just a couple more seconds of that story may have made her genuinely do something stupid. As the woman took deep breaths to try and calm herself down, she watched the teenager growl at his cousin.

"You better stop your story right now. Everything you said so far is horrific."

"What ? You scared, Prince ? I thought you could handle more than that."

"Your story isn't scary, Horus. It's disgusting. Everyone here talked about something that was fun because it was unrealistic. But you're just using the pain and death of a real living being to give us a cheap scare. It's incredibly disrespectful."

"Whaaaat, are you some kind of religious old woman who refuses to see blood in cartoons because it may scare the kids ?! It's an old story, it's over a hundred years old, who cares. Plus that octoling was our enemy. If they'd won this war they could've eradicated us all. These guys were so primitive that they preferred trading with salmonids than having to deal with other civilized species."

"How can you be so insensitive- we're talking about someone who died a horrible and painful death and the one thing you compare it to is cartoon violence ?! Don't you have any empathy ?!"

"Prince can you be serious for like, two seconds ? They were soldiers. Of course they'd die a horrible death. Who cares if we tell their story for a spooky night, they died a hundred years ago, and they would've wanted you dead anyway."

"You're just ... Horrible tonight. I don't have any words."

"Yeah, I'm sure you're saying that because my great grandfather was a hero that saved us all and yours cheated on his wife to sleep with an octoling and got executed for it."

"SHUT UP YOU LITTLE-"

Enraged, Prince jumped on his cousin and began to punch him, roaring as Horus started to attack back.

"DON'T TALK ABOUT GRAMPS AND HIS WIVES LIKE THAT AGAIN !!"

"OR WHAT ?! WHATCHA GONNA DO ? CRY !! THAT'S WHAT YOU ALWAYS DO WHEN YOU'RE UPSET, YOU'RE SUCH A BABY THAT YOUR BIG BROTHER HAD TO TOOK PITY ON YOU FOR YOU TO BE ACCEPTED INTO A RANKED TEAM !!"

Everyone backed down in confusion and horror, watching the two boys give each other the most violent punches they could handle before eventually, Emperor jumped in. He took Prince by the neck and ripped him off his cousin's body before throwing on the ground with a glare.

"WHAT ARE YOU TWO DOING ?! Horus. Prince is right. Your story is disrespectful in so many ways, and you should be ashamed of yourself for thinking that saying such things is fun in any way. But PRINCE. I thought you were better that this."

"He started it. He knew what he was doing !!"

"... Everyone, storytime is over. I'll take care of the fire. As for you two ... I better not catch you anywhere near each other tonight."

Everyone sighed but ultimately agreed to leave the place, leaving no one but Emperor and Marina in front of the fire. The inkling quickly grabbed a popcorn bucket that was laying nearby, filled it with sea water and threw the water on the fire before looking at the woman, whose tears had finally come out now that she was finally alone.

"Are you okay ?"

No. No she wasn't.

"... Yes."

What a bad liar she made.

Chapter Text

Marina began to wander around the crowd, desperate to find Pearl to make herself move on from the stress this awful story just gave her. She craved the comfort of a loved one, but going back to see Prince or Emperor in this instant just felt ... Wrong. They wouldn't understand her distress and if anything, they may find it suspicious for her to be affected so deeply by such story.

Finally, after five big minutes spent wandering aimlessly in hopes of finding a familiar face, she managed to find Pearl. The inkling was devouring some takoyakis while laughing with her aunts about the results of their last splafest. A bit shy and unsure of what to, but determined to be notice, Marina approached her and lightly touched her shoulder

"Hey, umh, Pearl ..? I'm not feeling very good right now ... Do you think umh ... Y'know ..."

"Oh, you want to go back to the hotel ? Sure, I don't want to trap ya here if you're getting tired. Here's the keys to our room. Rest well !"

Marina stayed voiceless as she watched Pearl hand her the keys and go back to her conversation. She ... She didn't want that. She needed a hug. She needed a kiss. But now, it felt like asking for such thing would make her just look annoying. She didn't know how to speak up with so many people she barely knew around. Eventually, Marina sighed and left the place, walking back to her hotel room in silence, keeping her tears away to avoid being seen looking so miserable.

As she slowly wandered the hotel's hallways, Marina kept repeating to herself that Pearl wasn't perfect. She couldn't have known how Marina was feeling nor what she needed at this moment. But that didn't mean it didn't hurt.

After going into the hotel room, marina slammed the door behind her, jumped on the bed and let her tears finally fall down. They weren't particularly awful. She wasn't gasping for air, crying her lungs out and clinging onto the sheets like a broken child like she usually did. But ... They were still tears. And it still hurt. She took a quick look at her phone and noticed that Warabi had posted on social medias just a couple minutes ago, arguing with a couple friends of his on which version of now or never was the best. She didn't really want to feel like any more of a burden right now but ... Calling him felt like the best thing to do. The man took the call almost instantly.

"Hey Marina ? What's up ?"

"Hey Warabi ... I know it's kind of late right now. I just ... Went through something a little rough. I was just wondering if we could talk about something else to clear up my mind."

"Oh shit, do you want to talk about what happened ?"

"Not really ... I think I just need to have a random conversation to think about something else."

"Got it. Well, I can't say that I'm against it. We just saw an old member of squid squad outside of the studio. Ikkan has been barking at them like a stray shark for the last 30 minutes and I need a BREAK."

And so, a break they took.

Honestly, this time, avoiding this subject instead of just blatantly talking about it seemed like the best option. Marina had no power over what happened. This story may had terrified her but nothing she could do could make a change to the situation. The best that she could do was try to forget about it all. The conversation mostly started around news of their partners. Apparently, Warabi and Ikkan really loved the idol life and had been doing great with it so far. As for Pearl, well, she was as happy as ever, surrounded by her family and people giving her so much attention that it could make her explode. Marina on the other hand, was particularly excited with the new map she'd built and couldn't wait til it would go public. Still, slowly but surely, the conversation drifted to their childhood. To the time that they spent together in the domes, the fragile yet so delightful life they built together ...

Nostalgia was a bitch sometimes. The domes were an awful place. Little to no electricity, constant rock slides and buildings falling apart, the whole idea of having to "stay strong and survive" being forced into your brain since early childhood ... But ... This place did hold some dear memories of theirs. Leaving behind a whole culture, one you knew you could never find again, was particularly difficult. They loved their traditional foods. They loved their old clothes. They loved the music instruments they used. And the idea of having every person you could meet treating you like a friend was comforting. They knew everyone was struggling in this place and that loving each other was the only way to still find happiness in this world.

"I can still remember the face Octavio made when Paul announced that he wanted to be a DJ ... He looked like a proud dad pinning his kid's drawing on the fridge !! I can't even imagine how he reacted when you told him the same thing."

"Actually, I never planned to be a DJ. It kind of just fell on me. One day he caught me playing with his turntables after being done performing maintenance on the octostomp. I was scared he'd get angry but he just laughed and asked me if I wanted to learn how to use them. And like always, the second "Marina the prodige" gets interested in something, she becomes instantly great at it."

"YOOOO ... No wonder the old man liked you so much. Honestly if you weren't so busy with machines I bet you could've been a full time member of turquoise October."

"That's true ... But I got assigned to maintenance on the Octobot king and we all know how that turned out. Something something squid sisters ..."

"Yeah, I still have to find an octoling that doesn't dig their stuff. It's almost supernatural, in a sense."

Suddenly, noises in the hallway. Marina froze and immediately started looking around before noticing that Pearl had sent her a text telling her she'd be back soon. She sighed, glanced back at her phone and smiled.

"Pearl's coming back. I think it's gonna be time for us to sleep. It was really nice talking to you though ... Thank you. For everything."

"No prob. Same here. Have a good night, hopefully tomorrow will be better for you."

A couple seconds after Marina hung up, Pearl bursted into the room and immediately ran into Marina's arms.

"MARINA I'M SORRY I DIDN'T MEAN TO I'M SORRY AAAAAH !!"

Confused the Octoling welcomed the hug but couldn't help but feel curious as to why Pearl would react this way.

"What are you even sorry for Pearlie ? You're not late for anything !"

"Emperor told me that you were feeling awful tonight and I just sent you back to the hotel without even checking up on you and I left you all alone and I'M SORRYYYY ... forgive me ..."

Marina sighed as she took the tearful little squid into her arms.

Pearl wasn't perfect but she sure as hell tried to be.

Chapter Text

Prince sighed as he hid in a little corner of the party. He didn't want to leave yet. Mainly for the food. But showing up after the disaster he just caused didn't seem like a good idea. So here he was, sitting down in his own little space, stuffing his face with all the sweets he could find in his way here and mindlessly looking at the sky.

"Hey Prince."

The kid flinched and glanced around him, only to find his brother walking up towards him with a smile.

"How did you find me ?"

"I assumed you'd try to isolate yourself after what happened. And here you are."

"... I don't really want to talk right now."

"I kind of guessed that. But still, what happened tonight wasn't anything like you. I've never seen you act like this before. Horus's still fairly young too, I never thought you would get so mad at him when he still has a lot to learn about empathy. He knows a lot about business and managing people but he still needs to understand that the world isn't his playground. So that leads me to believe that you're not doing good. And I want to know what's going on."

"Urgh ... Why are you always like this ?"

"I'm a king. And a king needs to take care of his subjects. But right now I'm taking care of my troubled little brother. So tell me what's wrong."

"You know what ? No. Not this time. You'll just mock me."

"And what makes you think that ?"

"I know you. I know myself. And I know that what I'm about to say will make you laugh and you won't take me seriously. Just thinking about it makes it worse"

"Tch ... Alright. If it's important to you, I'll listen. I won't mock you and I won't tell anyone. See ? Everything's fine."

"Promise ?"

"Come on Prince, I'm not 10 anymore."

"PROMISE ?"

the kid's eyes were burning with a flare Emperor rarely had the opportunity of seeing. The man sighed, sat down and nodded.

"I promise."

"... When Horus started talking about Octolings, I started to get nervous because I ... I'm pretty sure they're not extinct. I actually think they may even be hiding in our cities and are too scared to come out. Hearing such atrocities just makes me sad for them."

"..."

"SEE ?! SEE, YOU'RE LAUGHING !!"

"I'm not, but it is quite a bold statement you're saying here. I could say that you may be falling into conspiracy theories. But I'm willing to listen to your full story before telling you anything against what you have to say."

".... You know my friend army ? His eye mask ... I saw him taking it off before. It's actually makeup. He has a split mask, just like Marina. He was sooooo freaked out when I found out, he almost begged me on his knees not to tell anyone that he was an octoling. And you know how much pride he has... He said that he was putting the makeup on because he needed to hide his identity not to get caught by people that could try to kill him off, hence why he begged for me to keep it an absolute secret."

"I see. Are you sure he's not just shy about having a birth defect or a mutation and lied about it to try and deflect the subject ? I mean, the trumpet player from ink theory was very shy about her mutation for years because it made her look so different, I think Army could've been a similar case here. This may all be nothing but a story he created to make sure you don't tell anyone about his birth defects that makes him ashamed of himself. Who would even consider killing off a child just because he was of a different species ? Plus, if your theory that a split mask equals octoling, that would mean that Marina is an octoling as well."

"Yeah, and I mean ... Look at her. She's so different from us, and I don't even mean it in a bad way ! Her mask is split. Her fingers look like claws. I know you've never seen her ears before, but they're super round, nothing like ours. And her hair ... Not only she has suckers on the outside, but have you seen how it always moves around like it has a mind of its own ?! It's just like the textbooks say, octoling limbs have a small brain which can make them act up and if you cut it off, it makes a small intelligent creature."

"Mmmh ..."

"A-And even if you don't take all of that into account. Don't you think it's weird that these people kind of came up from nowhere ? Like. Before Marina, I've NEVER seen anyone with suckers on the outside, even in my trips around splatsville or calamari county. And suddenly, in just a few years, they're everywhere. You have to admit that it's strange !!"

"..."

"Emp ?"

"... It is strange indeed. But this gives even more questions than answers. The government made it very clear that octolings were completely extinct. Do we even know where Marina came from ?"

"No ... She never mentioned it. And Pearl told me that Marina didn't really want to talk about it either."

"Tch. This is getting worse and worse. Either way, the government is hiding things from us. And this can't be good."

"What should we do ?!"

"For now ? We keep all of this in mind and we try to see what we can find about this whole situation. Marina's a good person, there's no questioning it. And I'm pretty sure you could say the same about Army. Just because their species had a war against ours 100 years ago does not mean they're all bad people. It would be incredibly stupid of us to simply assume such thing. We need to dig further and find out what happened for some Octolings to survive and come back into our city. If they are indeed Octolings, of course."

"I just ... Woaw. I always thought that this must've been important but I could've never guessed it was THAT important ... I'm kind of lost right now. I'm just ... Scared for Marina. Can you imagine how she felt when she heard her story earlier ? I just felt like I had to stop Horus not only from telling such an awful story but also ... I didn't want Marina to hear something like that either."

"I don't think we can even imagine what's going with octolings right now. But ... I think that we can at least try to make them feel more at ease in this place. I think that I came here wanting to scold you a bit but make you feel better about yourself. In the end, I think I'm just proud of you."

"Do you think ... Marina will be alright ?"

"She will be. As long as Pearl is by her side."

Chapter Text

That morning had started pretty well. The final Splatfest stage was finally finished, with the last few remaining details surrounding it being nothing but a few painting details and a couple or stickers to be added on the walls. Marina couldn't have been happier with the results, and had managed to build of a nice friendship with the weapon engineer she'd been working with all along. The woman had playfully nicknamed the stage "Pearl would love this" as this was the one sentence Marina kept repeating everytime she had a new idea. The actual official name still had to be decided but ... To say the truth, Marina felt like she really wanted to include Pearl in it, to make up for the fact that she didn't get to say much about the stage's creation.

Still, to celebrate the occasion, the Houzuki family had invited everyone to take a little trip in the nearest mountain to have a break. Marina was delighted. Hiking always had a special place in her heart after all. This place was absolutely beautiful, and had a huge amount of wildlife that the octoling was eager to discover. However, the rest of the family was a little more focused on climbing as high as possible to get the best view. To make things easier, Marina decided to simply take a different route that went on the lower side of the mountain to go see some ponds that were known to hide some gorgeous salamanders before climbing back to the top after an hour or so and spend lunch with the group on the mountain's highest point to share what they'd seen so far.

It had been about an hour since Marina had started to explore the ponds by herself, and while she was a little sad not to have Pearl by her side, she couldn't help but get excited about all of the little critters she'd been able to find so far. Everything went as well as she'd planned, until the woman was surprised when she heard a very loud rumble coming from the side of the mountain. It was very confusing, as the sky was clear without a single cloud to make thunder, and no animal she knew of seemed to be able to produce such sound. She stopped and looked around her. The noise disappeared as fast as it came, only for it to come once more, even louder than before. Except this time, she saw it. The ground was shaking. This was an earthquake. Surprisingly, Marina had almost forgotten their existence. They were the deadliest occurence of the domes, known to destroy buildings and crush the octarians that were caught into the rock slides it could cause. Marina felt a shiver crawl down her spine. She knew she wasn't in any kind of danger. But Pearl could be.

Quickly, the DJ grabbed her phone and called her partner's number.

"... Yo !"

"Pearl, did you feel that earthquake !?"

"Oh, that ? Yeah. Prince absolutely freaked out. Told us that it could cause super big rock slides that could kill us all. I doubt it but we don't want to take any risks, so we decided to go back down the mountain. I was just about to message you about it."

"Thank goodness ... Don't do anything reckless, stay safe !!"

"You worry too muuuuch ... It's just the earth getting jiggly. Plus I told you, we're already coming down."

"... Alright. We'll see each other soon."

Marina sighed and decided to try to move around a little and actually go full back down the mountain to avoid any rock slides. With the amount of noise that she just heard, she was pretty sure that at least a couple rocks had gone down the mountain. Deep down in her heart, she knew that this probably nothing too dangerous and that she was simply overreacting. But even if she hid it well, Marina was just terrified of earthquakes. As she walked down the mountain, every single bit of noise made her flinch, as if she prepared herself to run and hide. After a while, it felt like it was all for nothing. But when she finally reached the point where the family parked the cars they rented for the day, the octoling couldn't help but notice the giant rock slide that had happened just a couple feet away from the vehicles. She took a few steps closer to it, trying to fight off her fear to try and remind herself that this was nothing but a natural phenomena that she could fight against now, but more importantly, that she was safe.

And there, she saw it.

The half crushed body of a young octoling soldier.

Chapter Text

A crushed body. Right in front of her.

If she had to be fair ... It wasn't as brutal as movies and military school portrayed it. There wasn't much blood. There weren't any organs visible. But ... The view wasn't any less shocking. The poor woman's legs and torso were completely mangled by all of the rocks over her. Her body was twitching at random intervals, and her eyes seemed to be lost in the color of the sky. She wasn't paying any kind of attention to the rest of her surroundings.

Marina immediately rushed to the woman's side and got on her knees, trying to check on her vitals. It was all in vain as long as she was alone. She knew it. She quickly sent a message to the inkopolis emergency number with her location and a quick description of the accident, knowing that there was no time to loose.

"Can you hear me ?! Hello ?!"

The octoling slowly blinked and her eyes shifted to Marina. They looked deeply ... Foggy.

"... can hear you."

"Thank goodness- what happened to you ?! Your uniform, it's a wasabi supply's junior... why are you on the surface ?!"

The strange octoling didn't answer. Her eyes began to slowly close before Marina shook her shoulders.

"D-DON'T FALL ASLEEP !! HELP IS ON THE WAY. Please, tell me what happened !!"

"... The underground. It's gone. Crumbling. Rocks. Into Rocks."

Her speech was confused. She was trying to form coherent thoughts, but was obviously struggling to do so. After a bit, she began to cry. It wasn't a sob, tears simply slid down her face as she began to look at the sky once more. Her head must've been hurt somehow.

"Gone ?! What do you mean gone ?! It can't be, no..."

"Tunnel. No more. Others fine. Last. Maybe. No ... Hurts."

"I know it hurts. Please, hold on. You're safe now. I just need you not to fall asleep. Please."

A tear dropped into the soldier's mouth, and the salty taste of it brought a sudden moment of lucidity. She was crying. And in her world, crying meant ...

"DON'T HIT !! DON'T HIT !!"

The poor victim because to frantically move her heads around to hide her face. Marina wrapped her arms around her waist until she finally calmed down. It must've been uncomfortable. And stressful. But moving was probably a bad idea. And she needed to stop it somehow. After a bit, the woman stopped struggling and just seemed to accept her fate. Marina sighed and stayed by her side.

"It's going to be fine. I promise. Help is on the way, okay ? They'll be here soon ... Hopefully ..."

The young octoling slowly clenched her fist as tears began to fall down her face once more.

"... They died."

Marina stayed voiceless for a second. This was definitely not something she could've said without meaning it, even with the obvious difficulties she had to stay conscious. This was a soldier. And soldiers never roam the underground alone. Which meant ... She must've witnessed her team's demise.

"Oh, I'm so, so sorry ..."

"I should've ... I could ... Rocks ... I should ..."

"I'm sure you did your best. Don't blame yourself."

Their eyes met and the Octoling bit her lips before carefully nodding.

"Rest. Can you do that ? I'll talk to you so you don't fall asleep."

"Not deserve ... Alive."

The octoling took a very long pose before pointing at themselves.

"...Me."

"I know your companions would beg to differ."

"... Maybe. Ok."

Suddenly, the sound of a motor began to be heard through a sky. And before she could even understand what was going on, an Helicopter landed just about a hundred feet away from the two octolings. A young anemone jumped off the cabin and rushed by the injured woman's side to check her vitals. Marina simply stepped back and let the doctor do his job. A couple of seconds later, a very bulky-looking scorpion fish came running with a large amount of body protections and began to move all of the rocks that crushed the poor soldier's body. In just about a minute of work, the woman was freed from her prison. The rest of her body was just as horrifying as Marina had imagined. Just a bloody mess that barely even looked alive anymore. The doctor sighed as the scorpion fish took her in his arms.

"There's nothing we can do for her here. We need to take her to the nearest hospital. We'll keep you updated on her situation via the number you've provided us with. Do you know anything that could help us identify her ? Name, city of residence, maybe even a wallet with some personal informations ?"

"Well ... No. I doubt that she has anything like that. If the lack of insurance is a problem, please send me the bills. I'm willing to pay it all."

"Very kind of you. Thank you, you may have saved this woman's life. GET THIS THING MOVING ! CALL THE URCHIN DISTRICT EMERGENCY ROOM, WE'LL NEED A BLOOD TRANSFER, AN ARTIFICIAL RESPIRATION SYSTEM AND A BRAIN MRI TO BE READY !! I'M PRETTY SURE SHE HAS SOME SEVERE CEREBRAL CONCUSSIONS !"

The doctor ran into the helicopter with his partner and the large machine immediately flew back into the sky.

But as her eyes began to drift away from the lost soldier, Marina noticed something. The young woman's eyes widened, and her mouth moved one last time to pronounce a name that would be lost in the noise of the helicopter's blades before she disappeared into the sky

"...Marina ?"

Chapter Text

Everything was a blur lately. Marina kind of knew what happened. She knew what caused all of this. She knew that time had passed. But truthfully, she was too out of it to truly understand what was going on.

Ever since she saw the helicopter flying off with the body of the mangled octoling soldier she found down the mountain, Marina just found herself to be on autopilot. Every once in a while she'd go back to reality and try to understand her surroundings, but would eventually fall back down into a transe, her body simply functioning because that's how she was shaped to be. She'd spent all her time in her hotel room, trying to work on new song ideas. She'd spend half a day making a demo, would go back to her senses, understand that she absolutely hated the results, throw it all away and start again, only pausing whenever Pearl came to her for a kiss. It had been the same for what ... 3 days ? Maybe 4 ? She had no idea.

Right now, it was night. She knew it because she heard Pearl come back into the room a couple minutes ago. Or was it hours ? Who cares. It wasn't exactly important. They needed a new song to come back to once the stage project would be finalized and the family meeting would end.

Suddenly, a light tap on her shoulder. Marina barely even looked behind her, simply removing her headphones.

"Rina. It's getting late."

"Just five more minutes. I need to finish the mixing on this little part and I'm done."

"Rina. It's nearly three in the morning."

"Please, i need to do this while I'm still in the mood. You know i work better when I do it my way."

"Marina."

The octoling turned around to face a surprisingly serious Pearl. It was always a little weird to see her usual trickster self shift into someone being so atrociously stoic. She was looking at her lover's hands. Marina shifted her eyes on them as well, out of curiosity. She was shaking. She hadn't even noticed it, but she could barely hold her own hands still.

"It's the third night in a row where you get less than four hours of sleep. You're barely able to sit, I'm not even sure if you can stand up. For the love of cod Marina ... Please. I can't watch you destroying yourself any further ... "

Marina began to feel guilt building up in her chest. Pearl didn't look angry. She looked scared. And it was her fault. She was the one making her feel like that.

"I know that you're stressing out for the person you tried to rescue but it's out of your control now. I've spent my entire day telling the whole family that you're alright but I just ... I'm lying !! I know I'm lying, and this isn't even the first time I've seen you like that during this trip !! If there's something wrong with you, tell me, please !! I know I can be a fucking idiot, and egoistic, and I'm not good at picking up on cues and I'm not nearly as great as you but PLEASE, I WANT TO HELP !!"

I'm an octoling.

That's the one thing Marina had in mind this whole time. This thought had been slowly destroying her mind, ripping her flesh off like a powerful acid that she had no way of escaping.

This soldier. She was the embodiment of her past self, but most importantly of everyone she left behind. The octolings that couldn't escape and that were still dying back to her home. Wait ... Home ..? Fuck, she wasn't even sure what that word even meant right now.

Self-sacrifice wasn't worth it. That's what Pearl always told her. But looking behind herself and seeing the actual corpses of the people that she was supposed to keep alive was terrifying. It's easy to forget about your guilt when you don't face the consequences of your survival.

She lied, she lied for so long and she felt like there was no way for her to ever escape this fake identity she created for herself. She looked at Pearl and just felt like their relationship had been built on nothing but her own stupidity, her inability to speak up and say what she truly was. Maybe if she'd told her earlier ... She wouldn't have to feel like her simple existence was a betrayal.

Pearl tried to slowly approach her hand to rub it against the octoling's cheek. But before she could reach it, Marina flinched away and rose her arms above her head to protect it. This vision was horrifying. Pearl took a step back, and immediately felt her throat mangle itself up.

"Are you ... Scared of me ?"

Her voice broke in the middle of the sentence, and tears began to fall down her cheeks. Marina slowly put her arms away, horrified to see her lover shaking as she looked at her own hands, horrified to see what such a simple movement could create.

"I just ... Wanted to help you ..."

This was the right time. She had to say it now, or she would have to seal her mouth forever and live with this feeling of betrayal for the rest of her life. Pearl could hate her. Pearl could HATE her. But right now ... Pearl hated herself. And this was an even scarier thought

"... There's something I need to tell you."

Chapter Text

Marina immediately regretted what she said, in a way that she never experienced before. Even saying that she loved Pearl felt so easy in comparison ... She had no clue of what could happen. But now she couldn't back down. All that she could do is try her best to get out of this state of limbo. She just had to say it and everything would be over, right ? Waiting any longer would just make it worse.

"Okay... I'm listening Marina. You can tell me anything."

Marina took a deep breath and opened her mouth. But no sound came out of it. She stared at the floor in confusion, emptying her lungs out in hopes of producing any kind of sound but ultimately doing nothing but a little huff. She closed her mouth, took another breath, opened her mouth again and ... nothing. She put her hands on her face and began to feel tears coming up in shame. Great. The ONLY TIME she had to tell Pearl about the truth, EVEN HER OWN BODY GAVE UP ON HER !! Pearl was looking at her in confusion. It was kind of obvious that she wanted to help, but has no idea of what to do. And after a bit, Marina got off her chair, slowly walked towards Pearl, sat down next to her and sighed.

"I want to say it. I promise it's not your fault. But I can't find the words, I ... I think I'm scared you could hate me."

"Marina, I would NEVER hate you."

"Listen. I-I know you say that, and you think you mean it. But I'm thinking about something that you may not even be able to imagine."

"Marina. You could tell me that you murdered someone and I would try to defend you."

The octoling let out a nervous snort and clenched her fist.

"Pearl, this is not the right time to be jok-"

"I'm not joking."

Pearl took a deep breath, trying her best to remain calm and composed.

"Listen Reena. I don't think you get how much I'm willing to sweep under the rug if it means you get to be safe in my arms. I always knew you were hiding something big. You don't just find homeless teenagers in the mountains who fled their home forever because their parents were a little mean and told them they aren't allowed to play video games for a week. And I thought that you would be okay with me never knowing what it was because I always tried my best to tell you that it doesn't fucking matter. You don't have to tell me EVERYTHING in your life if you're scared for fuck's sake !! I-I'm not a stalker !!"

Marina swallowed her saliva, feeling herself shaking even more. But this time, there was a difference. Pearl was shaking too.

"So go on. Tell me ANYTHING. Were you part of a violent gang that made you pick up weapons at a young age and you accidentally shot somebody ?! Were you a kid assassin that survived only because her hands were covered in blood ?! ARE YOU AN ALIEN FROM A FAR AWAY PLANET THAT CAME HERE DESTROY OUR SPECIES ?! A VAMPIRE THAT JUST WANTS TO DRINK MY BLOOD ?! I DON'T CARE, I DON'T CARE !! I JUST WANT TO LOVE YOU SO YOU BETTER FUCKING LOVE YOURSELF TOO !!"

Marina looked down with a slight blush and tears coming into her eyes.

"Now that you said all of that ... What I'm about to say feels stupidly simple. It's not nearly as bad as everything you just told me and yet ... Somehow I'm still scared. It's stupid, huh ? I think I just convinced myself that you'll eventually hate me for so many years that now, I can't accept any other reality."

"Yeah it's fucking STUPID. But I feel stupid too for letting you down. So we can be stupid together."

Silently, the two women's hands joined together, cleaning over each other with a warmth Marina had somehow forgotten in such a short time.

"... Can we go lay down on the bed together ?"

"Of course."

Slowly, the two lovers got up, walked towards their bed, and carefully laid down on it without every letting go of the other's hand. Marina closed her eyes and started to focus on everything around her. The bed sheets were soft and pillowy, probably the best thing her back had gotten over the last few days. But this softness was nothing compared to the warmth Pearl brought her. This little body against hers made her feel alive. Her smell, her smile, her voice, her presence ... They made her feel at peace.

She'd never been scared of Pearl. She was simply scared of herself.

"I'm an Octoling."

Chapter Text

Marina reopened her eyes to find Pearl staring at her. They looked at each other for a bit before realizing what she just said out loud. For a second, she feared that she may panic once again. But no. Pearl was touching her. She was looking at her, and absolutely nothing changed about her expression. She kind of imagined this to be a grandiose finale, with Pearl either hating her guts until the end of times or yelling til the top of her lungs. But right now, everything was silent.

"... I guess this is a little anticlimactic, huh ..."

"I think ... I'm not exactly sure how to react. That's a lot to take in at once. It's not that I'm angry or scared or whatever you could've expected me to be, I just ... Woaw. This answers quite a few questions. But raises many, MANY more."

"... Do you still love me ?"

"OF COURSE I FUCKING- I MADE YOU A WHOLE SPEECH ABOUT THAT TWO MINUTES AGO ?! ARE YOU ALREADY DOUBTING ME ?!"

"N-No ... I think I just needed to hear you say it again. After you heard the truth."

"Okay ... Okay yeah, that makes sense. Can I ... Ask you questions ? You know. About the whole thing. It's a little confusing I guess. Y-You don't have to answer them though !!"

"While we're at it ... I think it's better to just get to everything. Empty my mind and be done with it. You can ask me anything."

"Alright. So umh ... I kinda heard that octolings were supposed to be all dead. So how are you even here ? Fuck, I feel like I'm a creepy interviewer. I'm sorry about that."

"After the inklings won the war, their leader decided to lock the rest of the octoling population underground in the old human domes. That way, they wouldn't be considered a threat for their territory any longer, but also, their actions wouldn't make them directly responsible of a genocide and therefore wouldn't be held accountable for yet another war crime. As for the rest, well ... A friend of mine dug up some secret documents. Our population officially died due to a giant earthquake destroying the domes. This is half true, because earthquakes have indeed been the cause of many deaths over the last few years. And for the last few populations that still remained outside of the domes, they were either killed or deported into the domes."

"What the fuck ... What the FUCK ... So you lived UNDERGROUND ?! HOW DOES THAT EVEN- ... How do you get light ?! Food ?! Hell, how do you get ANYTHING ?!"

"We don't. We struggle for everything. The living conditions are so harsh that most children have to start training to be part of the military at a very young age, and prodiges like me have a tendency to work like any other adult as soon as we possibly can."

"... Does that mean you ..?"

"..."

"Marina. I know you mentioned having a job when you were young. Like. VERY young already. When the fuck did you start working."

"... I started military school at six, and part of my homework was to help the soldiers take care of their weapons."

Pearl looked down, trying to wipe off the tears rolling down her face.

"... I don't even know what to say, I- ... What the fuck ... So all the people that look like you we've seen lately. D-Did they all just ... Come from down here ?!! Did they go through the same thing as you ?! Hell, how the fuck did you manage to escape ?!"

"Not everyone had to start as young as me ... I was just too intelligent for my own good. Most of us escaped after hearing some songs from your civilization. They feel warm and inviting, and I guess that it helped us overcome our fears of coming out despite the obvious risk. So far, it seems to be working out for us. But according to some government files we found, there's a chance they could be hunting us down in the shadows. The people we know made it out safely already have new friends or possibly found families that would notice their disappearance. But ... The rest of them could be already gone. We can't know for sure."

Pearl emptied her lungs and began to grasp Marina's arm so tightly that it almost hurt.

"I love you. I love you. I fucking love you, okay ? I'm going to protect you. You're never gonna have to fear these assholes again. The bitches from the government won't ever lay a finger on you or I'll send my entire fucking family on their ass. And the people you left behind ? They don't deserve you. Fuck I-I don't know what else to say. I need you to be safe. That's my number one priority. Okay ?!"

"... Y-Yeah ..."

Safe.
Perhaps that was the word she wanted to hear them most right now.

Chapter Text

Marina woke up in Pearl's arms. That, in itself, wasn't too surprising. It was the perfect vision she was blessed to have every morning for the past few months. But today ... She was at peace. She looked at Pearl, felt her heart beating slightly faster, and for the first time in her life, she managed to tell herself that she was loved. Not partially. Not under any conditions. Not because of the fact that she had secrets left to hide. No. Marina was loved for who she was, and the fear of rejection that had plagued her for her entire life in inkopolis had become a warmth in her chest she didn't quite understand yet. She carefully brought her hand against Pearl's cheek, and softly began to rub it as tears began streaming down her face. Slowly but surely, Pearl began to wake up thanks to the gentle rubs her love gave her. The little inkling began to stretch her arms and legs before rubbing her face against Marina's arms and finally, opened her eyes to witness her girlfriend's tears. She opened her mouth for a second before closing it without saying a single word, obviously struggling to find something to cheer her up. Instead, she decided to go for a hug, throwing her head against her chest with a smile and keeping the hug as tight as possible until she eventually heard marina cough and chuckle

"Pearlie ... That's a little too tight."

"Mmmh don't care. I'm not letting you go."

"Pearl, I need to breathe-"

"And I need a hug."

Marina rolled her eyes and left a small kiss on her girlfriend's forehead, who reacted with an exaggerated loud gasp and a blush. She let go of Marina's chest, laid down by her side and began to stare at her with a large smile.

"Y-You're staring a lot ..."

"Well how could I not stare at this gorgeous girl right in front of me ? She looks like a queen ... the queen of octopussies. Oh fuck. Umh. Octopuses ? Octopuuuu ... so ?"

Marina chuckled, feeling a giant shiver through her entire body out of excitement.

"Octopi."

"Got it. The queen of octopi."

Marina closed her eyes and sighed, taking her pillow and hugging it like a plush to relax.

"Is everything good Reena ?"

"I feel ... way too many emotions. I guess it's good. I know that I'm happy with everything that just happened. I guess I'm just exhausted now. Years and years of accumulated stress coming out all once is pretty awful."

"I guess I can understand that ... Do you feel like you could still get out of bed and work today ? You look EXHAUSTED."

"..."

"C'mon, be honest."

"Could we take the day off together ..? I don't feel like I could do well ..."

"FUCK YEAH WE CAN. I'm calling the hotel staff. We're getting breakfast in bed, baby. What do you want for breakfast ? I bet you want waffles. Oooh yeah we're getting waffles. You can even add some ice cream to them if you want."

Before Pearl could even grab the phone, Marina wrapped her arms around Pearl and dragged back into the bed.

"Can we just ... lay here together for now ? I think I need to rest a bit more."

Pearl blinked in confusion a couple of times before sighing and laying down against her love once more.

"... You know I love you, right ?"

"I don't think I can ever forget that now."

"Good. Cuz I'll make sure you won't."

And before they knew it, the girls fell asleep once more.

Chapter Text

Today was the very last day the girls were going to spend in the hotel. The family meeting was over, and most of Pearl's cousins, aunts and uncles were already jumping into planes to go back all around the globe, probably leaving for another five years before Pearl could see them again. Tonight, the idols would jump back into a car that would drive them back into their cozy home, and they would resume their exhausting yet rewarding idol life. This well deserved rest was particularly appreciated, but ... the girls would be lying if they said they weren't excited about the idea of performing again.

"All of this was nice but I'll admit, I'm EXHAUSTED to see so many people I have to talk to EVERY DAY. I can't wait to go back to out perfect cozy home and boring every day splatcast life. Oh, do you think our cherry trees have grown a lot since we've been gone ?? I want to go back to our orchard so bad !!"

"Pearlie ... We've been only been gone for a little over a month. I doubt that they'd grow much during that time."

"Let me hoooope ... I want to get cherries soon !! You can't blame me !"

"Of course I don't blame you. You know, I'm excited to see them too. Summer is ending, which means our figs should be perfectly ripe right now ... We should definitely go check our orchard for that."

"FUCK YEAH !! GARDEN DATE WITH MY GIRL !!! WOOOOO what a week we're gonna have this time !!"

Marina nodded with a smile, glancing towards the window to look at the mountains that she would soon have to leave behind to go back to inkopolis. She really wanted to leave this place now. But ... there was one last thing that kept a part of her soul here. And she really wanted to get rid of it. For good.

"... Pearl ? Can I ask you something ?"

"Yeah sure ?"

"Do you think we have enough time to go rent a car and go back to the mountains ?"

"Well umh ... I mean, our drive will come around 10 PM and it's only 2 PM. So yeah we have the time for it. But are you SURE you want to do that ? Like. No offense, really. But you kinda sorta maybe saw someone almost DIE up there. Plus, they're still in a coma right now, so who knows if they'll even survive. I don't really want to get you back home feeling depressed again."

"I know, it's just ... I still feel like I've never had the opportunity to say goodbye to my people. Seeing that octoling soldier struggling to survive reminded me of myself and I just ... I feel like I need to go back and take a look at how far I've come. I need to be able to look at this place and remember why I left ... Please ? It's important to me."

"Urgh ... Alright. Anything for your pretty eyes. Promise you'll handle it tho ?"

"I promise. If anything, I think that it may be an experience that will relieve some of the stress I've been accumulating for so long. Plus, you'll be here for me if I end up crying, right ?"

"Aight... Anything to make my favorite girl happy."

In just about an hour, Pearl managed to finish up their suitcases, ordered up a car to rent, and now, the two lovers were driving in the middle of nowhere in the mountains. It was a weird feeling, to see these wild untamed spaces again, ones that Marina mainly remembered for the time she spent traveling through them to reach mount Nantai the first time she got out of the underground. She looked down these roads and with every little detail she noticed on the trails, she couldn't help but wonder how many Octolings took the same path as her. How many of them wondered if they were going to be safe outside, despite their desire to leave behind everything they ever knew. And in the world of inkopolis, she was the one to greet them all with the warmth of familiarity and a sense of belonging.

"Is there anywhere you'd like to go to Reena ?"

Ah. Right. A destination. The woman had kind of forgot about that concept. Looking around her, she tried her best to recognize the surrounding area and felt a strange mix of excitement and pain as her eyes laid upon a place she remembered a little too well.

"Here !! Stop here please."

Pearl stopped the car with a loud creak before Marina jumped out of it and ran towards what seemed to be a sort of old kettle behind a spike of rocks of the mountain side that seemed to be leading to some kind of sewers.

"Yo ... weird to see that in the middle of nowhere"

"That's the place I came out of."

And coming back to it was the biggest mistake she ever made.

Chapter Text

Marina took little steps towards the kettle, flinching away from it every now and then but being drawn back to it inexorably. She was terrified of the underground. She hated it. She'd escaped it for good and saving herself was the best thing she could've done. And yet ... She caught herself being simply hypnotized by this simple kettle. Eventually, she sat down a couple feet away from the hole, hugged her knees and sighed.

"Yo ... What do you mean you came from that ? What the hell is this ?"

"It's a kettle. It's our main system of travel and our only access to the outside world. Normally they're always blocked off by guards underground, but I was lucky to find this one left alone after a ... an accident."

"Why would you even come back here ?! Like. Shouldn't you hate this place ?!"

"I-I don't know. Maybe it's morbid curiosity ? I-Is that what morbid curiosity is meant to be ? Wishing to see things you know you shouldn't see ?"

No. It was something else. Marina knew it, but she couldn't explain what it was without feeling like she was going insane.

She could hear a cry from help around this place.

She wasn't sure how or why she could hear it. The only thing her ears could perceive was the soft sound of the wind in the middle of this desert. But it was so clear and distinct ... She knew she couldn't be wrong. Marina glared at the hole and tilted her head, taking a huge breath before closing her eyes. W-Wait. She felt it again. She felt it much, MUCH worse. Marina opened her eyes back up and began to to sniff around the air before her eyes widened.

She didn't hear those cries. She could SMELL them. She didn't even know it was possible, but the fear around her was so powerful that the people that felt it must've left some kind of pheromones to warn her. Marina Immediately got back on her feet, but was surprised to find Pearl suddenly get as tense as her.

"Pearlie ..?"

"Do you hear that buzzing sound ?"

Marina tried her best to listen to whatever sound Pearl was pointing out and... yeah she could hear something. It almost sounded like an old mixer. In the middle of the desert, that was ... quite strange. But not quite as strange as the way the ground started shaking.

Everyone got particularly violent in less time than it took for the girls to understand what was going on. In mere seconds, both of them were on the ground, trying their best to go back to their feet as Pearl froze, noticing something Marina couldn't see. The rocks of the mountain behind the Octoling had started to shatter and were starting to roll down the hill directly towards them.

She didn't have much time to think. They definitely couldn't reach the car, but sitting here and doing nothing would obviously lead to both of them getting crushed. There was only one option left ... The kettle. The inkling didn't need to think twice.

"MARINA !! TURN INTO YOUR SWIM FORM, NOW !!"

"Wha-"

"I SAID NOW !!"

Marina didn't think twice. She trusted Pearl with her life. And right now, she didn't have much of a choice. Pearl felt a rush of adrenaline as she jumped to catch Marina mid air, and sprinted towards the kettle. Inside the hole, they would be safe, right ? They wouldn't get crushed by all of these stones, r-right ?! They'd find a place to escape and hide and they'd come out to the surface in a few minutes with nothing more than a few scratches ...

That's what Pearl wished for as she jumped inside of the gaping hole, protecting Marina between her hearts in hopes of sparing her from the collision with the ground.

...

Eventually, the rocks stopped falling.

The last thing that could prove that the girls had ever taken a step in this place were Marina's broken headphones, laying pitifully on the ground.

Just like the distant rumble of the rocks that had now fallen, the girls were nothing left but an echo in the mountains.

Chapter Text

Walking through the long whiteish hallways of the hospital, Doctor Hohojiro Shiver sighed as she looked at all of the broken pieces of concrete on the floor. The Earthquake that happened a couple of hours ago had just broken so many things here, and of course there was no way they'd get all of this fixed before a while. The octarian health system was far from being the worst but the state of the buildings they were working in was definitely not encouraging in the slightest. Earthquakes had become fairly common lately. This was a bad sign. This building was built to be resist many things, but nothing in this world could resist earthquakes on such a regular basis. She sighed. Hopefully they wouldn't have to move out of here too quickly.

The octoling took a pen out of her white coat and began to gnaw on it. It wasn't very classy but hey, it helped with stress relief. She turned around to glance at the nurse following her and smiled.

"Storm, do you know where I'm supposed to be in the next few hours ?"

"For what I can tell, there's not much you can do."

"Are you sure ? No emergencies despite the earthquake ? That's new. I was so sure there would be at least some damages"

"I got a report from sector B25, apparently they were the most affected. There were a couple of minor injuries but nothing really worth coming here according to them. There's been rumors that the upper east mountain kettle has been broken, but there was no one on patrol at this hour so they should be good."

"Welp ... I guess we have some time for ourselves then ! Do you want to grab a weapon and do some training in the sports room ?"

"Sorry, I don't have much energy right now. I don't think I'll be able to do much. Still, I'll gladly watch you train."

With a nod, Shiver stretched and began to walk towards the sports room. Her fingers were twitching excitedly with the idea of being able to use her trusted tri-stringer again ...

"Do you think I should focus on quick target practice or maybe try to focus on precision ? ... Storm ?"

The doctor quickly turned around to find her nurse on the ground, visibly struggling to get back up on her feet. She rolled her eyes and smirked before grabbing her hand, dragging her against a wall and sitting down next to her.

"Do you want apple juice or fruit gummies ?"

"... the juice."

Shiver took out a small box of apple juice from one of her pockets, opened it and gave it to her nurse, who started eagerly gulping down the liquid.

"I knew you'd fall for me eventually, pretty girl ~"

"... fuck you."

"More seriously though, don't you want to go back to your bed ? Today's not a busy day, and you don't have to follow me everywhere if you're not feeling good. You don't HAVE to work, remember ? Volunteering is a good idea until you're the one that ends up needing help."

"I was just low on sugar, I should get better soon enough. Here, I think I can stand back already. See ? Maybe we can train together now."

"Alright, if you say so !"

Shiver chuckled before resuming her nibbles on her pen. Her teething was getting so hard that she could feel the plastic break under her beak ... maybe she'd have to replace that pen soon.

Everything seemed to be perfect, until a strident noise began to burst from her phone. She growled and shook her head before throwing her pen back in her coat and taking a U-Turn

"Shiv, where are we needed ?!"

"On the second floor !! Apparently, sector B25 wasn't as safe as they thought !!"

Running towards the nearest elevator they could find, the two girls hurried to their destination, only to find a few doctors standing around two stretchers. The Doctor ran up to her co-workers and looked down at the two bodies covered in white sheets.

"What happened here ?!"

"We're not sure. It seems that a couple civilians somehow ended up close to the kettle and got crushed by the rocks that now block the entrance. This one doesn't look too bad considering what happened. She has a couple of bruises and her left foot got slightly dislocated but it's not nearly as bad as the other. They have a large wound on their back that caused severe blood loss."

"Wha- WHY AREN'T THEY IN THE EMERGENCY ROOM ALREADY THEN ?! WE NEED TO GIVE THEM A BLOOD TRANSFUSION AS SOON AS POSSIBLE !!"

"We're ... Not sure if we're allowed to do that."

"How ?! Do they have a DNR ?!"

"... Just take a look at them."

Shiver growled before taking off the white sheet are revealing her patient's face.

A soft, cute face, complimented with a gorgeous white and pink hair, and a beautiful deep dark inkling mask.

Wait ... inkling ?

fuck.

Chapter Text

Shiver growled as she glared at the other doctors, who all seemed to be doing nothing but standing awkwardly around the unconscious bodies of their new patients.

"Do you see what the problem is now, Doctor Shiver ?"

The blue octoling clenched her fist, slammed it against the nearest wall, hid a whimper from the pain (why did she do that ...) and grabbed the Inkling's stretcher.

"We have an inkling on our hands. Good. Do you still plan to stand here and let her bleed out or perhaps you could have the decency of doing your job ?!"

"Shiver, I don't think you get it. We don't know if we're allowed to save her."

"What do you mean- HOW IS THAT EVEN A QUESTION ?!"

"There's no way an inkling could've ended up here without a reason. She's probably a spy like those agents the squids keep sending down here. If we keep her alive and she ends up messing with our plans, Octavio will be furious. Do you really want to take that risk ?!"

"You know what ? Yeah. I do. I'm a doctor. My role is to save lives, not to decide if people should survive or not because there's a possibility that she could be a "bad guy". I'll save that squid and after that we'll see what Octavio may do with her. If he wants to kill her, it will be a waste of my work but at least he would've had the choice. Now is anyone here going to actually help me to give her a blood transfusions or are you just going to stare at that dying squid like she's wearing clown makeup ?"

Two nurses stepped forward to stand by Shiver's side along with Storm, and the rest of the doctors backed down, visibly disturbed.

"Alright. Take care of the injured civilian then. Storm, go fetch me a couple of different blood pouches and a blood type test. You two, come and help me get the operation table ready."

Storm nodded, immediately running out to the blood stockage as Shiver began to put on a surgery mask and washed her hands. After laying the inkling down on the operation table, she grunted noticing just how bad the blood loss had been. Her clothes were completely stained in red, so much that it was obvious they would never be wearable again. Thankfully, the wound wasn't too deep. It was mostly surface scratching that ripped off a lot of skin. But the sheer size of the wound was the main problem. Shiver looked down at the massive amount of missing of skin and just found herself lost as to how she was meant to replace it. She looked at one of the nurses helping her with tools and sighed.

"Is there a way for us to find that much skin in such a short time for a transplant ?"

"I don't think so ... plus, I'm not sure that a transplant this big with octoling skin could work. If her body rejects it, she's basically doomed."

"That's right ... then there's only one solution left. Give me the scissors."

""W-What ?? Surely you don't mean ..."

"I said scissors."

About an hour later, Storm had finally finished the blood test needed for the transfusion and brought back as many pouches she could find to give to the squid. The operation was thankfully already over, with the inkling having been laid down on a nearby hospital room, cuffed up to her bed to avoid her escaping. Shiver watched her carefully insert the IV in the squid's arm before Storm looked at the prisoner's face and tilted her head in confusion.

"That sure is a weird haircut ... I could've swore she had more tentacles earlier."

Shiver pulled up her chirurgical scissors from her back, showed them to her associate and started laughing as Storm's face began to shift into disgust.

"YOU DID NOT."

"Look. She needed a skin transplant. I had to find the skin SOMEWHERE. Plus, I think she looks good with an undercut."

"That inkling is going to wake up with missing hair, missing clothes, and cuffed up against a hospital bed. She's going to kill you."

"I'd love to see her try ~ I'm the reason she hasn't been turned into fried calamari yet. I better not see her complain."

Suddenly, the room's door bursted open, revealing a nurse panting and sweating, visibly from running.

"STORM !! We need you in room 136, right now !!"

"What ? What happened ?!"

"The civilian we found with the squid ... it's Marina Ida."

Chapter Text

Marina woke up feeling like her body had been throw into the gears of an old machinerie. Every single part of her hurt in a different way. Somehow, every individual pain wasn't too bad on its own. But it was the association of everything added on top of each other that made it difficult to bear. She groaned and tried to shift around in her bed before very slowly opening her eyes. The bright light right on top of her along with white everywhere she looked at absolutely blinded her. She whimpered, trying to hid her face behind her hands, before she felt her wrist suddenly grabbed by someone. She immediately jolted up and looked around her before bringing her hands close to her chest not to be touched again. Her eyes met with a nurse's, who immediately tried her best to sound sweet and calm.

"Ma'am, do not worry, we're not here to hurt you. You've suffered a few minor injuries after a rock slide, and we're currently putting you through some light tests to insure that your health hasn't been affected. Would you be able to give me your wrist ? I need to check your blood pressure."

Marina began to erratically look at the walls and felt her breaths getting heavier and heavier by the second. This wasn't inkopolis's hospital. Inkling hospitals had perfectly clean walls and a few decorations. This was all white, except for a couple of cracks in the walls. And the nurse ... she was an Octoling. This couldn't be it, right ..? She couldn't be back HERE ..?

"Ma'am ? Is everything alright ?"

... the badge on that white coat. It was the symbol of the octarian medics. Marina jumped out of her bed, almost ripping off the bandages around her arms as they tangled with the bed's foundations.

"DON'T TOUCH ME !!"

There was a small silence, only broken off by Marina's heavy panting as she looked around her trying to find an escape. The nurse had backed off, visibly disturbed by the situation.

It came back in a flash. She wasn't exactly sure of how it happened, but she could see herself falling down one of the old octarian kettles, back into the underground. But she wasn't alone in that fall. And that's what worried her the most.

"WHERE'S PEA- .. THE INKLING !! WHAT DID YOU DO TO HER ?!"

"Please, I need you to calm down ! You're safe in this place, I can promise you that you are no longer endangered !"

"I DON'T CARE ABOUT MYSELF !! I NEED TO KNOW IF SHE'S ALRIGHT !! TELL ME WHAT YOU DID TO HER !!"

Suddenly, the room's door bursted open, and a yellow and pink haired octoling nurse ran towards Marina, immediately jumped into her arms and began to squeal of joy.

"MARINA !! Marina, you're safe ! I can't believe it ... it's been so long !! Everyone thought you were dead !! Oh I'm so, so happy that you're okay, I think I could just cry ..."

Marina knew exactly who this was. Someone she tried to forget for years. Someone she never, NEVER wanted to see again. Someone ... who used to be her best friend.

Marina couldn't control herself. She was so scared. Scared to go back to being trapped in this hellhole, scared for Pearl's safety and scared to see the people who she left behind without looking back. She could no longer control her body. The idol grabbed her old friend, and threw her across the room with the loudest hiss she could get out of her sore throat, tentacles perking up and twirling around as she tried her best to make herself look dangerous.

"Do NOT touch me."

Slowly, the two nurses backed away from the octoling, making their way out by the room's door before slamming it behind them and fully locking it. Storm got on her knees and immediately started to cry, confused as to what had just happened.

"Is that really your long lost friend ??"

"YES !! I know for a fact that it's her !! I don't get it ... What happened to her ?!"

"I'm not sure. She kept yelling, asking to know if the inkling that got injured was alright. I've NEVER seen anyone act like that, even after severe concussions ... Maybe the inklings got to her ? Do you think that they could've possibly brainwashed her ? Either way, for now I'm not letting her out of this room. She's obviously a danger for everyone here."

Storm growled and shook her fist.

"That damn inkling ... She and I are going to have a talk. And if she did ANYTHING to Marina, I'll make sure that she never sees the sunlight again."

Chapter Text

Pearl woke up feeling like her body wasn't as responsive as she wanted it to be. She could feel her arms and legs. But she couldn't FEEL them. And her thoughts, they barely felt half coherent ... What ... What the hell was going on ?

In an attempt to get up, she yanked her right arm up and found herself stuck, jerking up but completely unable to move it closer to her. It was as if she was locked against the wall. Pearl glanced at her wrist and sure enough ... it was locked with handcuffs. She grunted, immediately trying to shake herself off the chains but obviously failing to do so. After a couple of seconds, she found herself suddenly shoved against her bed and locked with some sort of belt around her belly. She looked up and saw a blue figure in a white coat looking at her with a visibly disturbed.

"Stay down, inkling. You just woke up from surgery, and if you move too much you will end up hurting yourself."

"The fuck ... Who're you ?"

"I'm the one who should be asking you that. But if you wish to know, I'm the doctor that made sure you didn't bleed out on the floor of this hospital. Now tell me, why are you here ? Are you a new agent of theirs ?! Did they try to send another spy ?!"

Pearl very slowly blinked, trying to understand why would someone at a hospital would ask her that. But after staring at the woman's hair for a bit too long, the inkling finally understood what was going on.

"Holy shit ... I'm in the underground with the octolings ..."

"Correct. So you do know about our history. I'm assuming that you're no simple civilian. Urgh ... that's not good for my case."

"Woaw Woaw slow the fuck down. First of all uuuuh ... I don't have my full head right now. Yeah. I'm sure you fucking drugged me."

"I administered you morphine or else you'd be crying on the floor right now. You just went under a rather heavy surgery earlier this afternoon.."

"Oh. Uuuuh ... cool. Thanks I guess ? BUT. Second point I have. I know all this because my girlfriend told me. She's just like you actually ! She's reaaaally cool. I love her. Wait where is she. Where is my girlfriend. MARINAAAA ?"

"Oh ... Maybe you're not a danger to us then. A friend of Marina Ida may be ... N-NO. I can't let the enemy manipulate me, I'm better than that ! Squid, you're under my control and from now on, your life will depend on if you obey me or not !!"

Pearl squinted, staring at Shiver for an uncomfortably long amount of time before smirking, jolting up and letting out a big hiss. Shiver immediately backed down, tripped on on her coat and fell face first on the floor, and stayed on it for a couple seconds before letting out a defeated sigh, rising back on her feet as Pearl began to laugh.

"You don't look quite as impressive as the super trained soldiers Marina described to me. Go girlfailure, give us nothing !"

"A-And you're quite daring to insult the woman that saved your life !"

"Look. I ain't taking shit from someone who got scared when a chained up 4'9ft tall inkling hissed at you like a shark pup."

Shiver took a long pause before sighing with a deep look of disappointment in her eyes.

"... Heh. Maybe you're right. I am a failure. I'm not the person I wanted to grow up to be. But here you are, stuck underground with all of us. I guess that makes us both failures, in a sense."

Pearl blinked a couple times and tilted her head.

"Now don't go depressive on me. You don't REALLY look like a failure and I'm not a good therapist. Well uuuuh no. Maybe I'm a good therapist but only for my wife. Ok maybe not wife yet but wife soon. Wait. You didn't answer me yet ! Where's marina ?! MARI-"

"She's fine. She's at the other side of the hospital, so she can't hear you. I can't exactly allow you to go see her right now."

Pearl's face immediately shifted to a cartoonish sadness, almost brought to tears

"... Why not ? I miss her..."

"... Listen ... that's just the rules down here. I can't promise that you'll be safe here. But I know for a fact that Marina will be."

Pearl's face slightly softened, yet still kept the disappointment of being alone

"Okay ... I'm just happy she's safe."

The inkling slowly closed her eyes back and let herself drift back to sleep, as shiver watched her with a sigh, leaving the hospital room after checking her vitals one last time.

This squid sounded a bit stupid but ... at least she didn't look evil.

Chapter Text

Marina sighed as she looked at all the doctors surrounding her, clipboard in hand and mumbling with each other as they wrote down anything they could about her. She felt like ... a test subject. A zoo animal. It was incredible to think that the one place she was supposed to feel safe in made her feel like she wasn't even a person anymore.

She tried her best to tell the doctors to leave her alone. To explain that she just wanted to be on her own and needed to come back out to the surface. But her case was just so out of the norm that instead of leaving her to calm down and at least take time to realize the situation she was in, the hospital decided to put as many doctors as they could to write down every bit of information they could get from her. The only reason why she wasn't physically restrained yet was that she was so paralyzed by fear she couldn't really hurt any of them.

"So, you say that you heard the Inkling's music and suddenly decided to go out of your comfort zone to seek the surface ?"

"..."

"Please, answer us Miss Ida."

"... Yes. The inklings sounded nice. Turns out they were nice too. I'm telling you, Pearl is the best thing that ever happened to me !! She's genuinely a great person !!"

"... Marina. We do not wish to dismiss your cognitive abilities, as we all know here that you were once considered one of the most talented engineers this nation ever had. Still I can't help but wonder, how can you tell me that these squids have noble intentions when they very obviously lured you out with a song that drastically changed your ability to think, and only after hearing this song you've started to develop immensely positive thoughts about inklings ?"

"Please, you have to listen to me ... They made me an idol. They loved my songs and never ceased to praise me. They loved me just like they would've loved any inkling, because they don't know that octolings look like this ! Everyone on the surface believes our species has been decimated years ago !"

The doctor sighed and simply scribbled down a couple lines that Marina could only imagine to be something along the lines of "delirious subject, proceed with caution". What a waste of time for everyone ... She knew they weren't going to let her out. But she refused categorically to work with them again. The simple idea of being stuck in a place so miserable was starting to make her shake again ...

"Hey, can I please get a pair of headphones ?"

"... pardon ?"

"Listen. I-I'm not feeling good. I need something to calm myself down, and I think I lost my favorite pair of headphones during my accident. Could you please give me something to replace them ?"

"Sorry Miss Ida, but we're all well aware of your ability to manipulate electronics here, and you're being irrational at the moment. I'm afraid giving you headphones may be too dangerous, both for yourself and for us."

"If electronics are the problem, c-can you just give me a plushie ? I need something to hug ..."

"... No. I'm afraid we need further testing before we give you anything new. But I can see that you need help to calm yourself down. Would you perhaps need me to-"

As she watched the man raise his hand to slap her, Marina let out a giant hiss and dug her claws so deep into her sheets that she actually ended up piercing them. The doctors all backed down in a wave as Marina's breath became heavier.

"DON'T TOUCH ME !! I DON'T WANT YOU TO HURT ME, I'M ASKING YOU FOR A PLUSH !! SOMETHING SOFT I CAN HOLD ON TO !! NOT SOMETHING VIOLENT !!"

"Ma'am, please calm down ! We're already trying to help you by understanding your case !! We certainly do not want to aggravate any symptoms the squid's intervention may have created, and we believe that you need to stay in a sterile environment before we try any treatments !"

Marina started to break down, destroying little by little the sheets that she was burying herself in to hide her tears.

"A PLUSHIE !! I JUST WANT A PLUSHIE !! WHY IS THAT SO DIFFICULT FOR YOU TO UNDERSTAND !! I WANT HELP !! I'M BEGGING YOU TO UNDERSTAND, I NEED HELP !! PLEASE, LET ME ... I just ... I want Pearl ..."

The doctors began to look at each other once more, confused and visibly saddened by the view of their comrade slowly destroying herself.

Storm removed her ear from against the door, clenching her fist as she began to walk towards Pearl's room. She heard enough to know what was going on. This damn inkling had turned her friend into a weakling. The years of manipulation Marina had endured because of her had turned her into someone who could only handle her stress like a crying child begging for a plush. She wanted to kill her. She wanted to kill her SO BAD. She hadn't just taken away the most important being in her life, she'd also managed to destroy her very own core.

This inkling will pay.

Chapter Text

It was already late at night, but she bursted the door open anyway. The inkling was asleep and jolted up as she heard the loud sound of the nurse jumping in her room, glaring at her as she walked towards her with a deep guttural growl.

"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO HER ?!"

"... The fuck ? Who're you ?"

The octoling growled and slapped Pearl's cheek, leaving the mark of her claws in a deep scarlet red. Pearl hissed back in return.

"WHAT THE FUCK ?!"

"YOU !! I KNOW YOU'RE RESPONSIBLE FOR ALL OF THIS !! WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO MARINA ?!"

"What ?! What d'ya mean, is she in danger ?!"

"Don't fuck with me. I swear to god, don't fuck with me. Ever since she came back here, Marina has been nothing but a shell of her former self. She's a crybaby, she keeps saying that she needs to come back to the surface and more than anything, she says she need you."

Pearl's breath immediately fastened as her muscles tensed up and she tried her best to slam her fist into the woman's belly, missing by a couple inches. Her vision was still fairly hazy due to the amount of morphine in her body, but her mind was perfectly clear. It was as if her brain had been cleared to focus on what was the most important thing for her. Not her own health, not the person in front of her, but Marina.

"I DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU DID, BUT YOU BETTER HAVE NOT ABUSED HER AGAIN, OR I SWEAR I WILL KILL YOU !! IT TOOK ME ALMOST YEARS TO GET HER NOT TO FLINCH WHEN I RAISE A HAND NEXT TO HER !!"

"What are you even saying ... You're the one that obviously hurt her !! She's acting like she doesn't know how to handle anything ever since she's been here ! This is her home and the doctors are trying to help her, she shouldn't be acting like we're putting her through torture !!"

"... What the hell ... Are you hurting her ?! "

"Ever since she came back, Marina has been acting irrational. She's crying non stop when there's obviously no one threatening her, she says in loop that she needs to see you and she keeps begging for a plushie like she's a child !! Marina's a grown adult now, SHE SHOULD NOT BE BEGGING FOR A TOY !!"

"WHY DON'T YOU GIVE HER THAT FUCKING PLUSHIE !?"

"BECAUSE SHE SHOULD BE BETTER THAN THIS !!"

"... So you're telling me that ever since she came back here, Marina has been terrified, she's been crying non stop and unable to calm down, she can tell you the exact thing she needs to feel better and YOU'RE PURPOSEFULLY WITHHOLDING IT FROM HER ?! WHAT ARE YOU, FUCKING STUPID ?! Who CARES if she sounds like a child, YOU HAVE SOMEONE FROM YOUR OWN SIDE BEGGING FOR HELP AND ALL YOU DO IS CRITICIZE HER !! No wonder she fled this place ... I don't care what you think you're doing. You're not helping her. You're making her feel miserable. If you loved her nearly as much as you pretend you do, you'd spend less time trying to hurt me and more time trying to help her."

"How dare you speak to me like that ?! Do you really think you're in a position of power here ?! I could kill you, right here and now. And trust me, no one in this hospital would ever care."

"Marina would. So go on. Hurt me. Hurt me, go face her again, and tell her what you did. I'm sure that the blood on your claws will be enough to convince yourself that you're the good guy here, it may even be enough for you to ignore how destroyed she'd be after learning what happened. I spent the last few years of my life trying everything I could to make her happy. And you could destroy ever single bit of this hard work in a few seconds if you wanted. So go on. Cut my throat. Break her even further."

Storm took a few steps back, feeling her hands shaking as she watched Pearl glare at her with the post powerful eyes the ex-soldier had ever seen. She tried to get closer to the bed once more, but a wave of nausea suddenly stabbed her body. If she did this, there was no coming back. Did she ... really need to- ..?

No. Her priority was Marina. It had always been Marina.

The octoling let out a grunt before running out of the door, slamming the door behind her and running up towards the pediatric section of the hospital. There, she grabbed the first plush she could find, a little white sea bunny, and immediately ran back up to Marina's room.

She very silently approached it and landed her ear against the door once more. The woman was obviously alone but ... she was still sobbing. Storm felt her heart squeeze in her chest. In a swift movement, she opened the door, threw the plushie onto the bed, and immediately slammed it back up. Marina let out an audible Yelp of surprise. Thankfully, she didn't have enough time to see who threw the plush in. But one thing was sure ... her voice immediately lightened up.

"What's that... A plush ? A SEA BUNNY plush ?! Umh ... I don't know who you are but ... thank you !! Thank you so much !! Oh, I love it already ... I'm gonna name you pumpkin ..."

Storm raised her fist to slam it against the wall, but ultimately decided to stop herself. She looked down and began to feel tears falling down her cheeks.

She'd never felt this lost in her entire life.

Chapter Text

"And that's all for today ! Thank you for listening to the "Calamari show" ! You'll be able to find Marie no less than 10 hours in "Marie after midnight", but that's it for me ~ See ya tomorrow !"

Callie removed her headphones with a sigh and a smirk and immediately jumped into her cousin's arms. Marie responded with a little satisfied huff, returning the hug.

"I can't believe I get to do stuff with you again ... I'm just SOOO happy !!"

"It's been two weeks since we started and yet you keep jumping into my arms after each episode. I think this is going to turn into a full on habit at this point."

"Can you BLAME me ?! I get to spend time with you again !! And the radio gives us so much more freedom than live TV ... Yeah I'm just ... Excited. Pfew !"

"I'm glad to hear that. It's been nice having you by my side as well. I missed being able to talk so freely to someone."

The girls sighed in unison before grabbing each other's hand and walking together towards their changing room. But the second they opened the door, they were surprised to find a friend of theirs waiting for them.

"Three ?! What are you doing here ?!"

"... Hey girls. I need to talk to you two, right now, and in private. Please ... Sit down somewhere."

The cousins looked at each other in confusion before taking a sit and glancing back at Three. Their friend looked ... Disturbed. And seeing how they usually brushed off problems with a smile, this was quite alarming.

"So ... What is it that you wanted to tell us ?"

"... Yesterday, I decided to try and infiltrate an octoling base for a small mission to check on any possible operations they may be working on. Everything was a little too quiet on their side. Turns out I was right. A bit less than a week ago, they sent some troops to try and steal the great zapfish again."

"That's ... Alarming indeed. But the zapfish is still here. He's the one directly powering this station. So clearly something didn't work, right ?"

"Yes. We all know that the region is prone to earthquakes and well ... It seems that their team was decimated in a landslide. No survivors for what I could hear. But this ... This isn't what I came to talk to you about."

"How can that NOT be the main subject here ?! We almost just went through another electricity crisis !!"

Silently, Three took a small piece of journal out of their pocket. On it could be seen a photo of of the hook and the title "INKOPOLIS'S IDOLS GONE MISSING ?!" In big black bold letters.

"... Pearl and Marina were on vacation near Octo valley. They were announced missing this morning. Apparently they just ... Disappeared out of nowhere yesterday."

Marie immediately got back on her feet and looked around her, unsure of what to do.

"Missing ?! What- How- ... What even happened to them ?!"

"No one knows. I didn't hear anything about them. But, if soldiers were to find both a squid and a traitor so close to their lands ... Well ..."

"S-Surely there's SOMETHING we can do ?!"

"Marie. I'm sorry, but I'm not sure if it's worth taking a risk to save them if they weren't miraculously killed on the spot. The octolings soldiers aren't evil, we all know that. But we heavily theorized that Marina was part of the higher ups when it comes to the military. And a traitor in the higher ups is never treated kindly."

"Fuck ... I can't believe this ... I feel so ... Useless. We almost just lost Callie and now we ... I ..."

"I know ... I really am sorry. I wish I knew earlier, perhaps I could've done something ..."

Suddenly, the sound of broken glass froze everyone. Three looked at Callie, and noticed that she just threw her brand new sunglasses on the ground and broke them with her foot.

"C-Callie ?"

"I'M GOING TO KILL OCTAVIO."

The pink inkling was growling, visibly shaking from anger.

"MARINA ESCAPED THIS HELL TO HAVE A PEACEFUL LIFE !! SHE DID EVERYTHING SHE COULD TO BE HAPPY !! AND YOU'RE TELLING ME THAT ... That ... That she couldn't even get that ..? She just made the mistake of getting close to octarians lands once and now she's just ... Gone. She's GONE. She didn't deserve that. Marina deserved the world. SHE DESERVED TO BE FREE !! AND SO DOES EVERY OCTOLING DOWN THERE !! AND I KNOW EXACTLY WHAT NEEDS TO BE DONE TO FREE THEM ONCE AND FOR ALL. I'M ALREADY A MONSTER. I'VE KILLED BEFORE AND NO AMOUNT OF GUILT WILL ERASE WHAT I DID. The octolings will never cease to look at me like I'm the devil himself. But if that's what it takes to free them from their reign of tyranny ... Then my decision is taken. I'm going to erase their leader from existence and take the blame to make sure they all find these peace they deserve."

Callie took one last petrifying stare at her best friends before slamming the door behind her.

And the silence that fell through after that was terrifying.

Chapter Text

Pearl woke up feeling like she'd been ran over by a truck. The painkillers were finally fully out of her system, and she could really feel just how much her body had suffered in the accident. The room she was in definitely didn't help to make her feel at ease either. Right now, everything was pitch black except for a very thin light coming from under her room's door. There were no windows for her to see something else but walls, which sucked but ... kind of made sense. She was in the underground. There probably wasn't much to see outside of this building.

She waited alone in her bed for a certain amount of time. She wasn't exactly sure how much, but it did feel like a long time. Probably at least an hour. That was until her door finally opened, and the neon light over her bed got lit up with a flash, making Pearl groan and hide her face against the pillow out of frustration of being blinded. She stayed there for a couple seconds before finally feeling a little better, eventually turning back around to face the blue haired octoling doctor that had helped her the previous day.

"Hello there, inkling. Did you have a good night of sleep ?"

Pearl blinked a couple times trying to remember what happened last night. Oh, nothing much ... someone just tried to LITERALLY KILL HER. But ... there wasn't much she could do, was it ? She wasn't in a place of power here. And if she had to be realistic, she probably had hundreds of people who wished her to be dead in this building. So ... better not act like a problem already and just swipe it under the rug. Plus, she wasn't sure how well she'd acted the previous night. The meds made her memories blurry, and they probably made her a little wilder than usual... All that's she could remember was the octoling suddenly leaving the room without a word.

"Oh ! Umh ... It was ... fine. Do you have any news for Marina ?"

"Right back to her, uh ... She was found with a plush in her bed this morning. No one really knows how it ended up here, but her mood seems stable now so the doctors are kind of leaving her alone for the time being."

"Thank God ... You better keep her safe, or else !!"

"Don't worry, we will. Now, let's talk about you. How do you feel right now ? I mean. Physically. For the emotional part I can only imagine that you're kind of a mess but I can't do much about that part."

"You could just let me go ??"

"Well tried, but no."

"Fuck. And here I thought you sounded cool and would give me back a bit of dignity."

"I am cool. I'm cooler than you could ever be. As for dignity, it is particularly important for me to consider you as a person who deserves to be respected and you have no reason to be worried about your dignity as long as you're under my care. Now please get butt naked and let me examine your body."

"Excuse me what."

Shiver grinned with a little bit of malice on her face.

"I did quite a large skin transplant on the entirety of your back yesterday and I need to see how it's healing. So please take off your clothes so I can make sure that you are healthy. You know. So you don't just randomly DIE. That would be inconvenient."

"... you're a bit sadistic at heart, aren't you ?"

"Me ? Psh ... what makes you think that ?"

Pearl rolled her eyes and chuckled, kind of amused by the situation. This doctor was kind of unusual, but she much preferred that to someone who may treat her robotically and therefore make her feel even more isolated. It took her a good minute to undress, hissing from time to time due to her lack of proper medication for her pain management.

"Do you wish for another dose of morphine, little squid ?"

"Oh PLEASE."

Pearl definitely felt herself getting slightly light-headed after receiving the medication. But it wasn't nearly as bad as before, and dear God was it worth it. Shiver momentarily removed her handcuffs to help her lay down against the bed, and began to look at Pearl's back.

Everything looks like It's healing well ... even better than I expected considering how much blood you lost yesterday. Still, it does look like the skin I used is keeping the appearance of your tentacles... you may even have some control over your chromatophores."

"Does that mean I get a cool ass scar that can change colors on my back ?!"

"Try it and we'll see !"

Pearl twisted her neck to try to see her back and began to shift her hair color to a bright green, and let out a gasp as she watched her back slowly change colors

"That is DOPE ... You're a genius, you know that ?"

"Well, I can't say I'm not proud of myself for using your tentacles as an emergency source of skin. It was unconventional but it work. But ... I'm glad it doesn't seem to disturb you much."

"Hey. A LOT of things here suck alright ? But if I can get a nice scar out of it all, I guess I can handle it."

Shiver chuckled as she gave Pearl her clothes back when suddenly, a knock on the door. The doctor immediately threw the bed's sheets over Pearl's body (which she was VERY thankful for) as a male doctor entered the room, sighed and began to stare at shiver.

"Doctor Hohojiro ?"

"That's me ~"

"Octavio heard the news about the inkling prisoner. He wants you in his office in an hour, and will have a meeting with the inkling right after that. Good luck with ... whatever mess you got yourself in."

Shiver took a step back, and began to smile again, this time with an obvious wave of anxiety squeezing her heart.

"... I'm in danger."

Chapter Text

Pearl looked at the doctor nodding, smiling and waving at her coworker before eventually closing the door, sitting down and punching the wall. She let out a little yelp of pain, obviously injuring herself in the process. The inkling swallowed her saliva before raising her voice that came up a lot shakier than she wanted.

"Are you ... going to be alright ? What's going on ?"

Shiver took a deep breath, nodded and once again, forced a smile on her face.

"I'll probably be fine. Maybe ? I have ... No clue. Let's say that the big boss wants to have a little chat with me. He's ... a pretty nice person, for what I've heard. Never met him myself. But I did let an enemy in our territory and healed them up so ... I think he could be mad."

"So it's my fault."

Pearl was clenching her sheets, feeling herself slowly dissociating through the numerous thoughts mangling her brain. She'd been nothing but a problem down here. Marina was suffering because of her. Random people she never knew were trying to kill her. And now, the one person that was still on her side could be in serious danger because of the fact that she was just ... alive.

"Hey. Stop overthinking it. You were completely knocked out when I first saw you. I made the choice to save you all alone, so don't feel like you're responsible in any way."

"Do you think ... You could get killed for it ?"

"... I don't know. I'm just a doctor, I never thought I'd have to go through all of that."

Shiver got up, stretched and grabbed her favorite pen out of her white coat.

"No matter what happens, know that you're not in the wrong. I am. I'm not sure what they'll do to you either. But if you gotta put the blame on someone, don't be afraid to point fingers. Towards me, I mean. Make my boring doctor life a little more interesting."

Pearl couldn't tell if shiver was sarcastic for that last part. But before she could even react, the doctor left the room, leaving her behind with nothing but her fears to overthink.

This place was just oppressive simply by the way it looked. It was both too perfect, white, sanitized and awfully lacking any kind of decorations, but also eerily deteriorated. Walls had cracks everywhere, the white paint was chipping away in multiple places, the white sheets she'd been laying in had little holes here and there ...

Abandoned. That's the word she was looking for. This place was abandoned. Being here felt like exploring a place that had been inhabited for a bit and left behind for time to rot everything away for a couple years. Except this place had people living in it. People who genuinely thought that living in this kind of environment was perfectly normal.

But in a sense, Pearl was still right. This place was abandoned. Left behind by the rest of the world, buried and forgotten to be a part of history everyone could simply overlook. The octarians, a power society that used to be flourishing alongside inklings, was reduced to a decaying underground world and just a couple of paragraphs in history books that were slowly getting censored by the government.

The light shut down momentarily. Pearl felt a shiver crawl up her spine but stayed silent. She recalled Marina mentioning that this place struggled with electricity. It would've been logical for personal use, but for a hospital ? That could get seriously dangerous ...

The light stayed out for a while, enough for Pearl to loose track of time. She ... wasn't fond of the dark. She could handle being out at night or being in a room with little to no light, but this was purely and simply a pitch black room. it made sense, with the lack of sunlight that this place could get ... but it was still terrifying nonetheless. ANYTHING could happen in the dark, and she wouldn't see it coming. So she just waited, waited even more in this place that she already found terrifying. Until finally, the lights went back up in her room, as her door was opened by someone who seemed to be a soldier.

"You. Octavio wishes to see you."

Chapter Text

As she slowly walked through the hospital with her hands locked with cuffs and two soldiers walking by her side, Pearl began to wonder if she would ever see Marina again. This ... may have not been the most appropriate thing to think about in this moment. She was about to meet "Octavio". The most powerful person in the octarian society. The source of all of Marina's misery. And ... perhaps the source of the inkling's doom. But in the end, Pearl could only think about her beloved girlfriend. How she must've felt right now. Somehow, Pearl's biggest regret was that she couldn't be by her side right now

Suddenly, one of the soldiers grabbed her by the wrist and stopped her in front of a door.

"This is where you'll be judged. Don't even try to escape or hurt our leader, or we will make you pay."

"Pay ? Pay with what ? I don't have my wallet here."

The soldier grunted as she watched Pearl blow a raspberry, opened the door and shoved her into the room. Pearl unceremoniously fell on the ground, struggled a little to get back on her feet due to her hands still being locked together, and suddenly found herself facing a giant octopus sitting in a wheelchair. It was both pretty impressive and ... kind of disappointing. The man was really big and did have a lot of charisma. But she'd expected a young man in their bipedal form, not an old man in his swim form.

"Hello there inkling."

"Hello there uuuuh ... octoling ?"

"Please, take a sit. I just want to have a little chat."

Pearl sat down on a nearby chair, sighed and began to look around the room.

"Okay so ... just to be clear. What d'ya mean "having a little chat" ? Because like ... It could mean a LOT of different things. No offense. Sir."

Pearl nervously swallowed her saliva, kind of expecting to be yelled at, but ultimately getting a chuckle out of the old man.

"I mean we're gonna have a talk about your situation here, kiddo. What's gonna happen to you. And to summarize it : you're not in danger, but we also can't release you back to the surface."

"Huh, What the fuck ?! Why ?! Hey, I haven't done anything wrong !! I mean. Thanks for not torturing me or whatever but ... We just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time ! I didn't especially want to jump into a hole, get my back ripped off, get handcuffed to a bed and then learn that my girlfriend was basically tortured psychologically by a bunch of "doctors" ! Listen, I don't know what the fuck other inklings did to you but i just want to go back to my home."

"Listen. I get it, it sucks. But people like you aren't supposed to know about this place. And if the word somehow got out, we'd be doomed. All you have to do is mention our existence a single time, even by accident, and you could destroy an entire civilization. You don't know just how horrifying some of your people can get."

"But I'd have no reason to tell anyone about this place if you release me !!"

"Maybe not. But anything can happen. Get drunk once and that info can slip out of you faster than you'd expect. I'm trying my best to take care of my people, and I want let a random squid ruin thousands of lives, got it ?"

"Ruin ? RUIN ?! DUDE, YOU RUINED THESE LIVES YOURSELF !!"

There was a small moment of silence, broken off by Pearl's panting as she watched the old man's expression slowly shift from neutral to genuinely angry. She probably shouldn't have started this. It was stupid. Oh so stupid. But this man ... he was the leader, right ? He was directly responsible for all of these people, RIGHT ?! HE WAS THE REASON WHY MARINA WAS HIT ALL THE TIME, RIGHT ?!

Oh Pearl had soooo many things to say to him.

"... Excuse me ?!"

"Yeah, you heard me right. Talk about protecting these people when they're obviously miserable. I know what you did to them. I've spent the last few years of my life fixing one of the people you've hurt to a point that seemed to have no return. She told me all about what it's like living down there. The highly militarized society you have. The children being forced to work. The physical abuse people have to handle the second they start to cry. Marina kept repeating me that she didn't want to go back here. That she was terrified of coming back. So what, you're gonna look at me and have the balls to tell me you did a good job at protecting them ?!"

"You. You take that back right now. You don't know what it's like to live down here. You think that you can just come down and be the one to decide if I've done a good job or not ? I'm doing my best with what I have. You spoiled brats of a squid will NEVER understand how it feels to survive in such place. I'm working day and night to make this place livable. You probably flip burgers for a living, get your weekends off to watch TV and go party until midnight when we can barely get access to electricity down here. So what you're gonna do is shut up and try to think about your privileges for two seconds and learn that our culture isn't the same as yours."

"CULTURE ?! This isn't CULTURE. FORCING CHILDREN TO WORK ISN'T CULTURE. HITTING PEOPLE ISN'T CULTURE."

"DON'T ACT AS IF WE HAD A CHOICE. WE'RE TAKING DECISIONS TO SURVIVE HERE. WHILE ALL YOU HAVE TO THINK ABOUT IS WHAT YOU'RE GONNA HAVE FOR DINNER, WE HAVE TO THINK ABOUT OUR NEXT STEP FOR SURVIVAL."

"Bullshit. Look at me and tell me that you have to act for survival the same way these people do."

Octavio took a long pause, visibly shaking from anger, and glared at Pearl.

"I have to act for survival when these domes are always crumbling, when the smallest earthquake can cause hundreds of deaths and this stupid continent has earthquakes weekly. I have to be the one to take the hard decision to train our children militarily because without that education they could die at any incident these crumbling structures may cause, and I have to make sure that they know how to defend themselves because if squids attack us and they can't handle a weapon, they're DEAD. And I have to be the one to keep making decisions when it feels like my own world is slowly destroyed. And when yet ANOTHER FUCKING EARTHQUAKE TAKES MY OWN GRANDDAUGHTERS'S LIVES, I DON'T HAVE THE TIME TO CRY. I HAVE TO BE THE ONE TO KEEP MAKING DECISIONS TO AVOID ANY FURTHER CASUALTIES, EVEN IF IT MEANS I HAVE TO SKIP THEIR FUNERALS. I'M THE ONE WHO GETS SLAPPED IN THE FACE TO KEEP MY HEAD OUT OF THE WATER THROUGH ALL OF THIS. SO TELL ME, SQUID. DO YOU THINK I RUINED LIVES. DO YOU THINK I'M FURTHER DESTROYING ANYONE BUT MYSELF HERE."

Pearl looked down and felt herself slowly turn white.

That ... was something she didn't know how to answer.

Chapter Text

Pearl looked at the octarian leader, completely shook by what she just heard. The man was just glaring at her, taking heavy breaths before his gaze slowly softened into a sadness and ... perhaps a bit of empathy. This man was showing weakness. To someone he didn't know, someone he didn't trust and someone he should've never appeared weak to. But ... here he was. After a long pose, he took a heavy sigh and clenched his tentacles

"Listen kiddo. I get it. You're not from here, and you don't understand how all of this works. But that doesn't mean you can just come up to my face and tell me that I'm the one hurting my people. I'm not going to kill you, I'm not going to hurt you, but I'm going to ask you some basic respect. Got it ?"

Pearl shook her head and bit her lip. Oh yeah ... she almost forgot that she wasn't in a place of power here. This man could've executed her right here and now if he wanted to. She did feel ...a little stupid.

"I know it's difficult for everyone to live in that place but ... Y'all are super wild with each other. Like, using physical violence for people who're just crying may be effective for a few seconds but it's AWFUL ... Do you have any idea how many years it took Marina to stop flinching whenever I approached her when she cried ?"

The old man sighed and crossed his tentacles.

"Yeah. Of course it's awful. I used to only do it on my own person in extreme situations, but here we are. It spread out. And you know what's worse ? It all started because I just said something stupid without thinking about possible long term consequences."

Pearl's eyebrows raised in curiousity as the man took a better position to start telling his story.

"Back when the war had just started, I had a lot of knowledge about how war works, but unlike most of my friends I'd never been on an actual battlefield. After about two months of battles, my sister and I were sent in a very difficult area in hopes of regaining a bit of territory. I was a strategist, not a fighter. But my sister was. One of the greatest soldiers back then, even. After a day or two of deliberations, our team decided to attack in a few different routes in hopes of surprising them and finding their weak spots. We knew they had weapons. Chargers, splattershots, all of that. We knew they had bombs too. But we didn't know about landmines yet. When me, my sister and four other soldiers took a path near a river, we thought we'd be safe. She was the one leading the path. Let me tell you, seeing a body ripped in half is something you don't forget. Even less when it's your sibling's. At that moment, we lost her and three other soldiers. And I was petrified. Could not move one bit. Problem was, the enemy heard the explosion, of course. And they were coming up to say hello. Didn't mean my body moved any more tho. I was crying, covered in blood that wasn't mine, completely paralyzed, and I could hear those damn inklings just running up to me, knowing that I'd probably end up like everyone else in a minute. But the other remaining soldier wasn't having any of it. He saw that I couldn't move. So he did the only thing that could bring me back to my senses. He slapped me in the face so hard that I immediately could move again, and we somehow managed to run back to our camp. It was probably one of the worst experiences of my entire life. But I ended up being alive."

Pearl could see that man's tentacles twitching every now and then, hiding an obvious stress and anger.

"I kept this story to myself for years because let's be honest ... It wasn't glorious. But a little less than twenty years ago, someone who wrote books about our history asked me how exactly my sister died. So i told him. And that was one hell of a stupid decision. Because people read the book. Obviously. They wanted to know more about our story. But all that people remembered was "if you slap someone in the face, they'll be back to work." And they started using it. At first ... It helped people. Like I said, there's way too many deadly accidents down here. And these few seconds of lucidity the pain provided probably saved many lives. Problem is ... People took it further. It worked, didn't it ? So you could use it in different situations. Sometimes, it was to avoid a bad injury. Sometimes, it was just to avoid minor incidents. And after a while ... It ended up turning into "if someone's crying, you need to slap them so that they can work again". And while I tried my best to have people to stop, I couldn't so much about it."

The man's tentacles finally slammed the floor as he let out a pure roar of annoyance.

"I was a DUMBASS, alright ?! I should've never mentioned that, but now everyone's hurting everyone feeling like they're some kind of savior to their friends and I can just watch and blame myself. I'm trying to be a good leader, because I'm the only survivor who took a leading role in the original war and I don't feel I can trust anyone else to take the lead because if I choose the wrong person, they're all going to suffer by my fault again. But it's TERRIFYING when all you've ever wanted to be was just a dumb kid like all your friends used to be !! And yet ... It's been 100 years and I still have to be perfect for cod knows how long. I want to be stupid, just for five minutes. I want to open a jar of mayo and eat it with a spoon. I want to get drunk until I pass out. I want to sing karaoke and scream out the lyrics even if I barely even know them. But when you have the lives of an entire species on your back you can't allow yourself to act like a teenager."

Pearl bit her lip and let out a little sigh.

"Holy shit I did NOT expect that. That's rough as fuck ... You sound exactly like me if I went through a hundred years of torture. Man. In your place I would've done so much stupid shit I don't think this species would've lasted a year"

"Y'know that's what I thought I'd do at first and we're still here somehow. We're broken but we're holding on. I just hope we'll get to rest one day. Not just me. Everyone. I want all of the kids that were born here to see the surface one day. And ... Maybe they could do some dumb shit too."

"But ... why can't you let them do that ? I mean. Genuinely. Marina's been on the surface with me and she was doing fine."

"Listen. I know some Octolings have reached the surface. I'm not stupid. But ... it's only a few. That's why they're accepted in society. Can you imagine if a wave of thousands of Octolings all reached the surface at the same time ? There's a high chance that it could be taken as a threat. And ... I don't want to take the risk of getting into another war."

That was ... An actual good argument. Pearl had nothing to say against it. The majority of the inkling population had little to no knowledge about Octolings and if the government were to convince them they were endangered because of them ... Propaganda could be really easily spread out.

"I ... See."

"Tch. Anyways, back to the main subject. The reason why I called you here."

Oh yeah. She almost forgot about that.

"I will be using the right term for it. You're our prisoner from now on because of the danger you may represent to my people if you were to come back on the surface. However, I want you to be equal to any of my citizens. I will free you of these handcuffs, and in return I want you to prove to me that you're trustworthy. I'm not asking you to kiss my tentacles and be a good little dog. What I want is for you to understand why we wish to be safe down here. Got it ?"

"So like. Am I genuinely free or am I "free" but locked up in this place ?"

"You're free but if your back is as destroyed as your doctor said, I'd advise you stay here for a little more time. It would be a shame for you to die of a random infection."

"... aight fair."

"That's it. You can go. Enjoy life as much as you can. I mean it."

Pearl nodded as she walked out of the room, and watched one of the soldiers grab her by the wrist and remove her handcuffs. She clenched her hands and shook her head.

She was fucked. But ... so was everyone down here, apparently.

Chapter Text

After leaving the room with Octavio, Pearl walked back to her room feeling completely lost. She was ... Free. At least she believed she was. There wasn't any soldier keeping her from escaping anymore, she'd just been thrown in the hospital to be on her own from now on. She probably would've been allowed to explore the place a little more, perhaps even find out if there were places she could go to to find entertainment, because her time there has been awfully boring. But Pearl couldn't help but feel the need to go back to go back to her room. This had been enough emotions for the day, and every time she saw an Octoling wandering the hallways she just felt the need to walk faster and avoid their eyes. Seeing how Shiver was the only doctor that wished to take care of her, it was quite obvious that she wasn't really welcome here.

She walked back to her bed, carefully laid down to avoid further back pain, and began to think. Think about herself, Marina, her family and everyone she loved. Were they ... Thinking about her right now ? Did they miss her ? Will they ever know what happened to her ? And Marina, was she even safe here ? Pearl sighed, feeling like everything she learned in the past couple of days made her look like a fool. Despite her money, power and celebrity, she was nothing but a small, small squid in a world so much bigger than she could even fathom.

Suddenly, a knock on her door. Pearl slightly flinched before asking whoever was knocking to come in. A nurse, face hidden by a clipboard, began to read a couple of lines as she scribbled down something down the pages.

"It seems like doctor Shiver forgot a part of your treatment earlier today. She is currently unable to provide it herself as she was encouraged to take a break after the stressful events she went through. I-I hope you can allow me to provide said care."

"Yeah sure why not ? Can't be against being healthy."

And that's when the nurse lowered down her clipboard, revealing the face she'd been hiding this whole time. And Pearl didn't need more than a second to recognize her.

This was the octoling that had threatened to kill her last night.

A particularly heavy silence followed this exchange. Pearl was staring at the nurse like her life depended on it. The nurse on the other hand, tried everything she could to avoid looking at the inkling. It lasted for a while, more than enough time for things to get awkward.

Pearl expected many things from this octoling. Anger. Aggression. Maybe just a snarky remark trying to brush off what happened no less than a couple nights ago. But no. The woman got on her knees, bowed to the inkling and clenched her fists.

"I would like to sincerely apologize for the behavior I displayed a few nights prior. I seem to have severely misjudged you and there's no justifications for what I did. However, I know that you are in need of a caregiver right now and I feel like it is my responsibility to take care of your health, both as a health professional apprentice and as someone who has hurt you. No other nurse is currently able to provide you the care you currently need. Please. Let me help you."

Pearl took a long pose. This person ... She just tried to kill her. Genuinely. If she hadn't yelled at her back that night, who knows what would've happened ? It was absolutely terrifying to think about, and definitely something Pearl shouldn't just brush over. But on the other hand, this anger seemed to be directed at her for a very specific reason. A reason that Pearl seemingly could relate to.

"... You're one of Marina's old friends, right ?"

It was kind of stupid. This was no justification. There's no justification for murder, or at least something that looks like it couldn't been murder. But thinking about it, this woman seemed to care quite a lot for Marina. And this was a feeling she could understand. And now, Pearl had to ask herself this question : if I saw someone who seemed to have harmed Marina to the point where she could no longer be what she used to be, would I be mad enough to threaten to kill this person ?

... she thought about Octavio for a couple seconds. About what she could've done to him if he wasn't as nice as he ended up being and most importantly, if he'd caused all this pain to Marina on purpose. And no matter how hard she tried to convince herself that she would've been the better person in this situation ... Every time, a part of her kept repeating "maybe I would've done it too."

"... Yes. I-I'm Marina's best friend."

Pearl looked down and felt herself slightly shivering. Her face slightly softened and she raised a hand towards the nurse.

"I guess it means we have one thing in common."

And the nurse gently took the inkling's hand into hers.

Chapter Text

After the whole tension slightly relieves, they was an awkward moment of uncertainty on both sides. Pearl looked at the nurse praying that she could start talking about ANYTHING, but the nurse just stared blankly at the inkling for a while before remembering that she was the one that started this whole conversation. She cleared her throat, sighed and looked back her clipboard before putting it down on the bed.

"... Doctor Shiver forgot to put you some anti scar cream on your back. It's particularly important to make sure your skin heals well and that it doesn't cause any of the tissues to break."

"Oh ! Alright. Sounds fairly easy."

"... But because you can't access your back, I'm gonna have to be the one to apply it. Please forgive me ... You'll need to take off your clothes."

Pearl sighed and rolled her eyes with a little smile. She could see how tense the octoling nurse was, and adding on to her stress wouldn't serve any purpose. She decided to take it lightheartedly and joke about it.

"Everyone wants to see me naked today, huh ? I guess I can't blame you for wanting to get a peek at this pretty girl. Hold on, lemme just-"

Pearl tried to take her shirt off with a swift movement but immediately felt like her skin was about to get ripped off her body. She let out a pained yelp and unceremoniously fell on the bed with a sigh. She didn't have to move her arms around too much when sitting down with Octavio or walking around the hospital so the pain was manageable ... But moving her arms so fast just brought all of the pain back at once

"... Do you want some morphine ?"

"I'm fucking begging you."

After a small injection, Pearl was finally able to remove her shirt and lay down on the bed. It felt a little bit too intimate for a first interaction. The feeling of the cream slowly rubbing against the inkling's damaged skin, the soft and gentle touch alongside a wet substance that made her skin a little too moist for comfort (she knew that her back would stick against her clothes for hours after that) ... But surprisingly, Pearl didn't feel much of it all. She wasn't relaxed nor tense, she wasn't scared nor comfort, she just let her mind wandering anywhere wondering what could come out of this. When all of the sudden, she finally remembered something quite important.

"Doctor Shiver ... Is she alright ? Haven't seen her since she met the old man."

"She's doing alright. Apparently, things went pretty well with Octavio, but she got so emotional after the meeting that she ended up fainting from the stress. He simply sent her back to her parent's home to rest and asked for her to take the rest of the day off."

"Thank goodness ... I don't know much about her but she sounds like a pretty nice person. It would kinda suck if she died just because I happened to y'know, exist."

"Shiver is ... A really nice person. She's a bit full of herself, awfully clumsy at times, definitely lacks the charisma she thinks she has and can be awfully addicted to spicy food at times. But she does have a heart of gold. She's the only reason I'm alive today."

"Oh damn- Didn't know you two were so close. Did she like- Perform some kind of life-saving surgery on you or is it more of an emotional thing ? Oh fuck. Sorry if I'm asking for too much."

Storm's face softened a little.

"I guess that if you're willing to share your naked body to someone you barely know, you should get to know me a bit as well. It's a little bit of both, surprisingly. I wasn't always a nurse here. I mean- I'm not even technically a nurse. I'm still considered a patient... Do you know what Diabetes is ?"

"Oh uh ... Vaguely. It has something to do with sugar, right ? Fuck ... I think it's all I know about it. Sorry."

"No, it's okay, I understand. I feel like most people vaguely heard about it but never really know what it is exactly. To make it simple, my body struggles to control the amount of sugar in my blood. It can randomly get way too high or way too low, and obviously it affects my health. There's a medication for it but it doesn't cure all of the problems. I used to be a soldier, I fought against the inklings that tried to enter the domes. My illness came out a bit later in my life and I thought I could just medicate it and everything would be fine. But since I was always moving around on the field, I often didn't have the opportunity to take my medication on a daily basis. I convinced myself that I would be fine and that it wouldn't do much ... Until one of my fingers turned black and had to be amputated."

The octoling pointed at her left hand with a sigh, wiggling around her four fingers to show the lack of a pinkie

"What the fuck ... So like ... It just turned black ?! Because you ate too much sugar ?! That's TERRIFYING."

"It was. It's not that disabling thankfully, but it terrified me. I had to become a permanent resident at this hospital to avoid any further damage. All of this happened just a couple months after Marina's "death", and let's say that it was a bit too much to handle at once. I often wondered if I wanted to live at that time, and that's when Shiver helped me get back on my feet. She took me under her wing, did everything she could to help me feel better and taught me how to be a proper nurse. It helped me find a new reason to live. It's not perfect, but I really enjoy the idea of taking care of others."

There was a long pose between the two girls, eventually ended by Storm getting her hands off Pearl's back and awkwardly chuckling.

"I guess I overshared, huh ?"

"No no, it's fine. Honestly, it sounds like you needed to get that out of your system. It's just ... Woaw. That sounds fucked up. I mean ... I guess I always knew that Marina leaving this place meant that she had to leave some of her closest friends behind her. But now I understand why she felt so awful leaving you all behind."

"So ... It's true then. She just left us because she could."

Pearl clenched her fist and shook her head.

"It's much more complex. She always told me that it was an impulsive behavior, that something made her believe she could be safe up here and once she understood that she couldn't come back, it was already too late."

"No ... No, she could've come back, we would've happily taken her back here !! WE ALL LOVED HER !!"

"Yeah. But she knew that if she came back she would never be able to escape again. And seeing how she's being treated today ... I think you all proved her that she was right."

Storm stayed silent for a while. Pearl could see that something in her had changed. She couldn't tell what exactly, but the room had just gotten a lot heavier.

"... I see."

The nurse sighed, walked away from the bed and quickly whipped off her hand on a tissue before opening the door to leave.

"I shall take my leave now. Other patients may need my services. I'm fairly sure we'll meet again soon. And while I'm not sure what the future may bring, I sincerely hope everything will be fine for you and Marina."

And with that, Storm slammed the door behind her and ran out to cry somewhere else.

Chapter Text

It was 3 AM, and Emperor was still scrolling down on his phone. This wasn't like him. Usually, he would've gone straight to sleep at 10 PM like he always does, and would've gone to his work fully rested and ready to have a great day. But tomorrow wouldn't be a great day. And the next day wouldn't be good either. And all that he could do to delay the inevitable was scroll down endlessly on social medias, hoping to get his brain so deteriorated that he wouldn't even remember why he was feeling so miserable in the first place.

It had been 3 days since Pearl and Marina had disappeared. No one had any kind of news about them so far, and despite the search team's best efforts, no one could find a single clue that could help understand what even happened to them. Was it an accident ? Were they kidnapped ? Perhaps even murdered ? All of these thoughts were slowly clawing at his brain and driving him insane.

He wasn't as close to Pearl as he wish he could've been. Still, they talked outside of their respective works every once in a while and whenever they did, it always felt right. Pearl was purely and simply a joy to be around. Someone with good advices and always trying to put on a smile on everyone's faces...

This was his first time ever feeling like he was loosing someone. So far, all of the deaths he had in his life didn't feel important. Some uncles and aunts he barely even talked to. Maybe a teacher or two. But never a friend. Someone that he didn't just respect, but loved. And the fact that no one even knew what could've happened to her ... It was awful. He couldn't even get the confirmation that he was dead. For all he knew, she could be injured in the middle of nowhere, begging for help that would never come.

Suddenly, a knock on his door. The sudden sound almost made him throw his phone across the room. Fuck ... Since when was he so jumpy ?! THE Emperor was a calm and composed leader, not a skittish animal ...

"Come in ?"

The door opened to reveal a white figure hiding beneath the shadows.

"H-Hey Emperor ... I'm sorry for waking you up in the middle of the night but I just ... I need your help right now ..."

Emperor's ear flicked as he heard his brother's voice. Prince rarely ever woke up in the middle of the night. This didn't sound good.

"What's wrong ?"

"I just ... I'm sorry, I didn't mean to wake you ... I need ... I ... I'm sorry ..."

"Stop apologizing. I'm not mad. See ? Come sit down on the bed."

The younger squid slowly walked up towards the bed and sat down before bursting into tears.

"I've been thinking about Marina and Pearl for the entire night ... Everything I do reminds me of them ... I don't want to be alone, I just can't sleep alone tonight ... I know I'm too big for that, and it's kind of stupid, but I ..."

"Do you want to stay in my room for the night ?"

The teen carefully nodded before leaning into a hug that Emperor quickly reciprocated.

"I feel like a little kid right now ..."

"... I won't judge you for it. I think I needed some company too."

The two brothers ended their hugs and laid down into the sheets, closing their eyes to finally get a little bit of rest. Everything felt so weird but ... at least, he knew he wasn't alone.

That morning, Emperor was woken up by a phone call. Luckily, his brother didn't hear the muffled sounds of his phone buzzing under his pillow. He growled internally as he checked the time on the screen, leaving the room to be able to answer. 5:30 AM ... He didn't even get to rest for three hours. What a joke. Still, the person calling him wouldn't usually do such thing so early in the morning. N-Pacer, while being a really good fighter and worker, had a tendency to wake up pretty late in the day. He answered the call with a sigh, feeling like no matter what he did, this would be a painful conversation.

"Hello ?"

"Hey Emperor. Sorry for waking you up so early, but this is important."

"I kind of guessed ... Are you done working on your prototype for the new trizooka you're working on ?"

"... It's about Pearl and Marina."

"..."

"I'm with the rescue team right now. I worked with them tonight as part of my work to test out the new flashlight outfit I'm making for grizzco."

"D-Did you find them ?!"

"... Not quite. I'm sorry Emperor. All that could be found was Marina's headphones and a puddle of dried blood next to a landslide. The bodies couldn't be recovered, it is believed that they were crushed under the sheer weight of the rocks found on the site. We're still going to investigate but ... It's best to assume that they're no longer with us."

...

Today was a bad day.
And so would be tomorrow.

Chapter Text

This morning, when Pearl woke up, she didn't feel bad. She didn't feel GREAT by any means but at least the world didn't look like it was against her anymore. That huge octopus leader told her she wasn't in any danger, right ? She was kind of kidnapped, of course. But right now she wasn't about to die and she was allowed to heal her back injuries, so she could at least be grateful for that. One thing at a time.

After getting out of bed and stretching, Pearl was surprised to see that she wasn't in that much pain anymore. It hadn't gone away completely, but it felt a lot more like something in the background rather than the awful strikes of pain she had to deal with the previous day. She thought about it for a couple seconds before her mind went back to the mysterious octoling that used to be Marina's friend. The cream she added was probably helping her cicatrisation. She silently thanked her before walking out of her room, slipping her head out in the hallway and began to silently walk through the building.

The place was ... Well, an hospital. Nothing incredible to witness, really. But it was always so much better than being stuck in her room forever, and she really needed to walk around to keep herself healthy. She went down floor by floor trying to see if she could find anything entertaining and after about 20 minutes of wandering in the most liminal space she could've ever imagined, she eventually found a place that looked like what she could only describe as a cafeteria. There were a bunch of tables spread around, a couple of octolings, both doctors and patients talking and laughing together, a small shelf seemingly filled with board games and a fridge stuffed with various drinks and snacks. Pearl very carefully walked in, trying her best not to gather too much attention, and began make her way towards the fridge. She quickly glanced inside to see a bunch of very cool looking sodas, chocolate bars, a large cake and a bunch of different plates with handmade biscuits and cookies. She gasped and pouted, hating the fact that she had no money in this world and mumbled a little

"Capitalism's only good when I get to spoil Marina ..."

Before noticing a little note on the fridge, saying "this is a communal fridge, feel free to add or take anything !"

"... Fuck yeah. Communism !"

Pearl quickly grabbed a can of cranberry juice and a cookie and sat down on a nearby table to enjoy her drink. She tried her best to make herself small not to be noticed by everyone is else but it was obvious that EVERYONE had their eyes on her. And it didn't take long for her to hear the whispered conversations about her.

"Is that the inkling ? She's so small compared to the other agents !"

"Honestly I find her kinda cute ..."

"Cute ? You mean gorgeous, right ?! Look at her ! The undercut, the hoodie, the crown and all ..."

Undercut ? What under- OOOOOOH right. The hair they had to cut off to make sure her back could heal. She hadn't really thought about it before but it adding on to her style was very much welcome. She grinned and glanced at the Octoling that had just complimented her before adding in a little wink.

"Well I'd say that I'm definitely not the most gorgeous girl in the room ... I have a whole group of even prettier ladies staring at me right now."

The entire group let out a gasp. Some playfully chuckled, others hid their faces behind their hand. The all got up and walked towards the inkling, sitting down at her table with a ready smile. Pearl had absolutely NO CLUE of what to do nor but she tried to convince herself that she could handle it.

"So tell me, why would a pretty little squid like you come down here in the domes ?"

"Are you trying to trick us perhaps ? We careful, us soldiers know how to take care of the enemy ~"

"Hey ! Octavio was very clear, this inkling is our guest. We should be as welcoming as we can ! Make her feel like she's at home."

Pearl could feel her face burning red as all of the octolings took turns winking at her and teasing her with gentle touches of her arms and face, until she finally cleared her throat and clenched her fist to try to get out of her transe.

"Girls, while you are all quite gorgeous and I really appreciate the compliments, I am already taken by another octoling. Her name's Marina, and I wouldn't leave her for the world. She's my little treasure and I'd rather jump into a shark's mouth than even think about kissing another woman."

The entire group of Octolings let out a little "oooooh" before looking at each other and chuckling.

"W-Wait ... Marina ... You mean you're with THE Marina Ida ?!"

"So the rumors were true ... That's insane ..."

"Who could've thought the best engineer of our nation would've come up to the surface and ended up with a squid ?! Well- ... Not that I blame her. I would've definitely done the same if all the inklings are as pretty as you."

Once again, Pearl cleared her throat and looked down with a little blush.

"Yeah it's ... A long story. But I love her. If the octolings of this place are anywhere close to her sweetness, you guys must be wonderful people."

The group let out a little "awwwwwh" before a single octoling stood up.

"Hey Murene, I completely forgot, weren't we supposed to bring some of the crepes we baked to Marina ?!"

"You're right ! Let me grab a plate, we should go see her together."

Pearl let out a little gasp

"W-Wait, could you say hi to her for me ?? I know she must feel alone right now, I don't want to leave her without any news."

"Got it ! We'll make sure to mention that."

The two Octolings walked out of the room with a plate of crepes and a little pot of jam, leaving Pearl behind with a couple more curious octopus walking up to her table to talk.

Pearl wasn't sure how good this place could be. But at the very least ... She knew that the people here weren't anywhere near as bad as she thought.

Chapter Text

Marina wasn't so sure how long she'd been underground, all alone in this room. That was a big problem with the domes. No proper ways to tell day and night apart. But overall... She'd say three days would be coherent.

The octoling hugged her companion plushie, the main source of comfort she'd had for the last few days. She liked to pretend that she was hugging Pearl instead. It helped with her loneliness and the stress of not knowing how she was doing. When suddenly, Marina heard a knock on the door. She had no idea of what it could've been, so she only weakly answered with a small "yes ?", hiding herself beneath her bed sheets.

The door opened to reveal the silhouette of two soldiers. Marina was about to let out a fearful Yelp, but she actually began to recognize the two figures. These two were part of her old friend group, Murene and Palm. They weren't as close as she was with Warabi or storm but ... They were still kind of neat people. And the idea of seeing them wasn't exactly unpleasant.

"Hey Marina ... We umh ... We learned that you ended up here and that you weren't feeling well. We know you probably don't want to talk about what happened but we just made some crepes to share with everyone and we wondered if you'd like to try one or two ..?"

Marina blinked a couple times, feeling all of the tension in her system suddenly leaving her to be replaced with a little dopamine rush at the mention of sugar.

"Alright ... You got me. I suppose I can't say no to crepes."

Marina immediately grabbed the jar of jam, slammed a bunch of it on a crêpe, folded it, and immediately devoured it. She DEFINITELY needed that... Especially after all of this stress. Her two old friends grabbed nearby chairs and sat down next to her with a smile. Marina finished munching on her second crepe, swallowed the rest and slightly hugged her plushie.

"Do you know if Pearl- I mean, the inkling, is doing well ? I'm kind of worried for her ..."

"Oh, apparently she's doing great ! Octavio officially granted her immunity down here. She's not allowed to go back on the surface but if anyone dares to hurt her, they'll definitely regret it. She got hurt pretty bad in her fall but she's in good hands. She does miss you quite a lot though, and she definitely seems to have you on her mind as well ! I saw her earlier while taking a drink and told her I found her cute, and she immediately replied that she enjoyed the compliment but that she was taken by her beloved Marina and that she wouldn't drop her for the world ... She also wanted us to tell you that she says hi and that she's okay. Now I feel kind of bad for the fact that we all assumed inklings are inherently bad people."

Marina felt her heart pounding in her chest, shaking as she hugged her plush against her heart. She DESPERATELY needed news of Pearl, and hearing her being so insistant about loving her little octoling even when she wasn't there ... It felt a bit special. She'd never doubted that Pearl loved her. But hearing it never ceased to make her feel blessed.

"Hey, YOU assumed inklings are bad people. I didn't. Agent 1 saved my life, and no matter how much I repeated that to everyone here, I still have yet to find someone who believed me."

"Because you were DYING and DELIRIOUS. Of course we wouldn't believe you. There's no way agent 1 of all people would spare you- I mean have you seen her in battle ?! That woman's dynamo lives in my nightmares."

Marina took a few seconds to realize what was going on. But when that thought actually reached her brain, she could genuinely feel her stomach drop to her knees. These two girls ... Were they talking about the agents doing something good ? Could it even be possible that they were influenced with the current events going on in inkopolis ? The agents getting in contact with octolings civilians and slowly being more empathetic towards them, was it even-

No. You know what ? That was possible. And Marina wanted to believe in it.

... Perhaps this world wasn't as rotten as she thought it was.

Chapter Text

Marina took a deep breath and tried to calm herself down. Inkling agents. The ones that single handedly stopped all of the octarian plans to steal zapfishes and repeatedly brought them back into the underground. They could be good. AND SHE NEEDED TO KNOW MORE ABOUT IT.

"Wait, I've actually never heard of that before ... What happened ?"

Murene rolled her eyes and sighed.

"A few months ago, Palm accidentally swallowed a fish bone that ended up piercing both her lung and her ink sac. She was on the field when it happened and she genuinely thought she was about to die. She started to get delirious when suddenly, Agent 1 appeared out of nowhere and spontaneously decided that she no longer wanted to attack the group she was targeting, so of course little miss almost dying took it as Agent 1 being nice to her."

"SHE DIDN'T ATTACK ME BECAUSE SHE SAW THAT I WAS HURT !! Trust me, I've NEVER seen that madman step back before. Yes, we outnumbered her but she could've easily wrecked us up all on her own. But no, she saw that attacking me would probably be fatal, told us she didn't want to fight and ran away. There's no explanation for this other than her being nice."

"Ooooor you're being delusional."

"I'M NOT !!"

"Pshhh ... Alright, alright. I think I'll leave you two to talk now. I have to get my antibiotics. Have fun with kissing inklings or ... Something."

"MURENE !?"

The elite chuckled as she rolled her eyes and walked out of the room, leaving behind her heavily blushing friend. Eventually, Palm sighed and looked back at Marina who was both playfully smiling at her and devouring yet another crepe.

"Well ... At least you look healthier than I expected, Marina. I'm just really glad to see you're okay. All of the doctors were just yelling around saying that the great Marina was just absolutely mentally destroyed and would never be the same again but ... It sounds like you just needed a plushie and an inkling. It's a bit unusual of a method to calm down, but it worked."

Marina squeezed her plush against her chest and sighed.

"I still need the inkling though."

"Pfff, true ... But I'm sure Octavio will allow you to see her soon."

"About that ! I was thinking, do you know if I could find a way to talk to Octavio ? I'm not really sure how to contact him right now, but I feel like we could talk a lot of things out if we met face to face."

"Oh ... Sadly, I don't think he's available right now. There was a massive earthquake a week ago that damaged a lot of our infrastructures, and he's been running all around the domes to fix things up. Today he's finally taking his first break, but I don't think it's a good time to contact him. He's grieving."

"Grieving ? W-Who died this time ?!"

"We sent a whole Splatoon to try to take back the great zapfish, but it got crushed in the accident. Quite a few well respected soldiers were lost but the worst of it all was that both of his grandaughters were part of the retrieval team."

"BOTH EIGHT AND SKIP ?! Oh no ... They were so young, I can't believe it ..."

"They weren't even adults yet, It was supposed to be their first big mission ... But yeah, pretty much everyone had the same reaction. They'll be missed but as always ... There's not much we could've done."

"I see ... I guess I'll leave him alone for a bit more then. He definitely deserves to take some time for himself. I don't think he'd be able to have such an important conversation with me if he's that stressed out."

Palm nodded and sighed, looking back at the plate of crepes and the pot of jam who'd been absolutely demolished, with nothing more than a couple crepes left and just enough jam to eat them all.

"You know what ? I think I'll just leave you with the rest of the crepes. Enjoy your meal ~"

Marina nodded and waved goodbye to her friend, already feeling much better than before. She didn't feel at home. She didn't feel safe.

... But thankfully, she didn't feel unsafe either.

Chapter Text

That morning, Pearl was woken up with the light in her room suddenly being lit up right into her face, and a large knock on the door. The poor squid let out a loud whimper before hiding her face under the sheets, until she ended up being gently pulled out by an octoling. The blurriness of her vision made her take a couple seconds to truly understand what was going on, but the second she saw the bright blue hair alongside a large white coat, Pearl immediately knew who had come to visit her.

"DOCTOR SHIVER !! Holy shit it's so good to see you again, you scared the hell out of me after leaving like that !"

"Hello there Pearl ! You already look a lot more energictic today. Is your back doing any better ?"

"Yeah !! A nurse came in to put some special cream on my back and it seems to be doing better now."

"That's good to hear ! I'll admit, I felt pretty bad knowing that I was about to add that cream and just- forgot about it. But that's why I'm here today ! You're in for round two. The more cream you get, the better you'll heal."

"Alright ! I guess it's me getting naked time ... Fuck is it weird that I'm getting used to undressing in front of strangers ?"

"Heh. I guess it makes it easier for the both of us."

Pearl snorted and took her shirt off before laying down on the bed and stretching a little. Shiver took up a little bottle of cream and spread it around Pearl's back, making her entire body tense up due to how cold the liquid was. But the woman's gentle massage slowly made her forget about it.

"For what I understood, you've already came out of your room and made friends with some of our other patients ! They all sound fairly fond of you. I hope you don't mind being viewed as a little bit of an attraction."

"Honestly ? Eeeeh ... I don't mind. I'm used to all eyes being on me, for tons of reason ! First of all, I'm a STAR. Super well known artist, I have tons of fangirls around the city begging for an autograph. But y'know... I also happen to be the daughter of a stupidly rich family, and even if people somehow didn't know any of that, they'd still stare because I'm a pigmy squid."

"Pigmy squid ... Oh, is that why you're so small ?! Oops. Forgive me. I'm unsure if this is something offensive or not."

"Honestly ? Not really. I get why people are curious about how different species work. I can also see that you're unlike any of the soldiers I've met so far ! Your hair is so flat and and somehow webbed ... I'm guessing you're not the same species as everyone else here !"

"Correct ! I'm actually a descendent from an ancient clan of blanket octopus. I'm ... Very proud of my heritage."

"Sounds like someone wants to talk about it~ go on. I'll listen, I have nothing else to do."

"W-Well, I wish I could tell you more than I have learned at the moment ... Our clan used to have twin clans of Vampire Squids and Manta rays, we were allies for thousands of years. But there's not much left of our culture now. We have some old legends we tell every now and then, our natural ability to use stringers and our close relationship with sharks. But that's all we could save. But I still believe that this bond we've created is still meant to thrive. That's why I saved you. Because I believe that all of my ancestors loved inklings, and that I should perpetuate this tradition of helping each other simply because we can."

"That's actually ... Kind of sweet. Do you know if the other clans still exist ?"

"I have no idea. They probably do, only ours was forced underground with the octoling's repression. If one day, somehow, things get better ... My biggest dream is to meet some of the other clan members and to build back what we've lost."

"That's a really sweet dream... I wonder how many Octolings would actually like to befriend inklings. I promise, we're not threatening in the slightest. We're so dumb I don't think anyone has noticed that you guys aren't the same species as us. We just want to play turf war and make friends."

"If all Inklings are like you, then I suppose that I was kind of right to dream about meeting some of you. You all sound genuinely sweet ! I can see why your girlfriend immediately became fond of you. Oh, speaking of her, I heard that she carries a little plushie everywhere she goes now ! It sounds adorable ... You should definitely check that out !!"

Pearl froze, very slowly turned her head towards her doctor and blinked.

"Wait ... WAIT I'M ALLOWED TO SEE MARINA ?!"

"... Of course ?? Didn't Octavio say that you were free to go wherever you wanted ?"

"YES BUT I UH... I ASSUMED IT DIDN'T INCLUDE MARINA ?!"

"If it's not forbidden, then it's authorized. That's pretty much how all laws work."

"Holy shit. C-Can I go see her right now ???"

"If you want to, I suppose !"

Pearl didn't even wait a single second, jumped out of her bed and bolted through the hallway, only to come back about a minute later, her face red from embarrassment.

"I uuuuh ... I actually don't know where her room is."

"And you're also half naked."

Pearl took yet another pause before biting her lip.

"... Oh yeah. That."

Shiver let out a little chuckle as she hid her face behind her sleeves and rolled her eyes.

"Get your shirt back on and I'll guide you to her room."

Chapter Text

Trying not to run around the hospital yelling Marina's name had been a real challenge for Pearl. She knew that she was getting closer to her with every step, but she still felt the need to call for her. To make sure she hadn't disappeared. That she was still there, soon to be within arm's reach.

"Here we are. This is Marina Ida's room. I'm leaving you here, there's a couple more patients I need to take care of. And ... I'm guessing you two deserve some time alone."

Pearl nodded, and silently watched Shiver walking away before disappearing behind a corner of a white-ish wall. The inkling looked up at the door, took a deep breath and prepared herself to open the door. She wanted to burst it open, to yell that she was back and to jump into Marina's arms. But right now ... She didn't have the energy for it. She stared blankly at her hand for a couple more seconds, wondering what was happening to her. Why was she hesitating so bad when this door was the last thing between her and the love of her life. She wanted to punch this door, to slam it against the wall, to destroy it if needed !!

But she couldn't.

All that she did was very carefully grasp the handle, making it loudly creak under her fingers. She very slowly walked into the room, her feet pitifully gliding against the cracked floor tiles and glanced at the hospital bed. Right there was Marina, just like expected. She seemed to be doodling on some already used pieces of paper.

The two women looked at each other silently, visibly waiting for the other to say something. And after a bit, Pearl finally got the courage to raise her voice. A very broken voice that came along many tears and soft gasps.

"I'm back."

Marina jumped out of her bed, tried her best to run but immediately fell on the floor. The way she fell most definitely hurt her knees in some way. But she didn't seem to care for a single second. She immediately went back on her feet and bolted towards Pearl before catching her into her arms and clenching her with all her might against her chest before walking back on the bed, still with Pearl's body cradled into her arms. The both sobbed together for a good minute like that. Not even looking at each other, eyes closed and face deep against the other's body, inhaling their scent to remember that the nightmare was over.

"Marina, I missed you so, so much ..."

"ME TOO PEARL, ME TOO ... I can't believe you're here ..."

"Are you safe ? Did they hurt you ? Is there anything I can do for you now ? Do I need to kick someone's ass ? I don't fucking care about the consequences I WILL kick someone's ass."

"Pearl ... It's okay ... The beginning was a little rough but in the end, they didn't mean to hurt me."

"So they hurt you. Oh my fucking god they hurt you. WHO DO I NEED TO HIT ?!"

"Pearl !! It's okay. If anything, I was the one worried about you !! I had no idea what happened to you, and you were in enemy territory and I just ... I thought they could've killed you ..."

Marina took a deep breath and let out a shaky sigh before wrapping her arms back around Pearl with a violent sob.

"I thought I may never see you again ..."

"... Me too"

Pearl gently cupped Marina's face between her hands, slightly pulled it down to her level and left the most gentle kiss she could do against her shaky lips.

"But we're back together now. Alright ? I'm not letting anything separate us again."

"... you can't say that. We can't be sure of ANYTHING here. What if you were hurt. What if yet another earthquake destroyed this place ? What if I loose you again ?!"

"... Then I'll find you back. I'll always do."

It was a promise they both knew Pearl couldn't be sure she would keep. But she knew damn well that she would always try her hardest to do so.

Chapter Text

That morning, Marina woke up in Pearl's arms. The woman was woken up by the cold air of the underground, trying her best to hide under her bet sheets to find a bit of warmth. When she struggled to find the right position, she clenched her arms on what she thought was her little plush, but turned out to be a squid. Pearl had let out a little surprised "eep !" Before walking up and staring at Marina. The two of them just looked at each other for a good minute, without a single word or movement. Who could've thought seeing someone you loved for so many years may somehow still feel so intensely comforting ?

After a bit, Pearl buried her head back against Marina's chest, trying to bring back the warm they were slowly loosing by being apart from each other. The gentle sound of her heartbeats quickly drove Pearl back to sleep, so fast that her body jolted her back awake. She blinked a couple times before grunting. She was wide awake now, all because her body decided that falling asleep against boobs so fast could be dangerous. Since when did her brain thought about her safety, huh ?!

Pearl began to stretch and yawn, wrapping her arms around Marina in hopes of helping her get out of her sleepy state. A bit of company couldn't hurt.

The two inkfish had spent the majority of the previous day cuddling and talking about how glad they were to be together again. But ... Nothing more. Even now, when she thought about it, Pearl wondered how did she last so long only repeating the same things again and again. She guessed that it had to be said. As a little reminder that they would do anything they could to stay together from now on.

With both Marina and Pearl now wide awake, staring at each other had become a little more ... Strange. The two lovers looked at each other, visibly waiting for their partner to start up a conversation, but also having no idea how to do such thing themselves. And after what felt like an eternity of waiting, Pearl finally tried to break the silence.

"So ... uuuuh. You're an octoling, huh. "

Marina blinked a couple times before bursting out laughing, which only lead Pearl to do the exact same thing. It was awkward, so awkward ... But hell, it felt good to see Pearl being herself for a bit. Slowly, Marina felt herself calming down through the laughs and she tried her best to go back to her senses.

"Yeah, I guess I am ... And I suppose we never really talked that much about it."

"I mean. I kinda wish we could've done so but we had just one big conversation about it and we immediately fell into a giant hole afterwards. That didn't help."

"I guess that I don't have that much to share about this place anymore then ... You've already seen what's going on here."

"I guess that I both understand this place more and now I have even more curiosity towards it. Like. If I'm trapped in this place for God knows how long, I better try to understand how it works. But ... I'm unsure of where to start. Like. For exemple, I was fairly sure that octolings would hate my guts seeing how inklings destroyed their lives. But everyone was surprisingly nice, or at least didn't seek too much trouble."

Well, except one person. But Pearl didn't really want to mention it, not right now.

"I guess the problem down here was never the people. I think you saw it for yourself. On the surface, all the octolings we met are genuinely nice. Warabi, Paul ... They were my friends down here and I tried my best to stay in contact once I found them back on the surface. And while some parts of our culture are questionable at best, like our overmilitarisation or our tendency to solve mental issues by just doing everything we can to ignore them ... The problem is our environment. This place is oppressive in every way possible. We all share our resources together and have little to no use for money, but that's because if a single person started hoarding ressources, we would all die of starvation. We're always stressed by the possibility of dying from an unexpected earthquake or a random piece of the domes breaking down. This place quite literally wants us dead. Everyone is stressing out everyone whenever there's a single problem because they're all in survival mode. I know for a fact that if we could all go on the surface, everyone could get healthier both mentally and physically ... But for now it's simply not possible."

"I guess you're right ... But fuck, of all places we really had to fall HERE. Talk about a vacation."

".... Actually, I think I was led here."

"What, you think it was all a trap ?!"

"No, no ... I highly doubt that it was. When I got closer to the kettle, I smelled something unusual. I guess the best way to describe it was a warning pheromone ? Either way, I could literally smell fear. It was highly disturbing. I'm starting to think that this wasn't a hallucination, that there really was a cause for this."

"Huh ... You think Octolings from the domes are calling for help ?"

"No. There's no smell quite like it here, and I've never smelled anything similar to it before. I'm starting to think that there was something else in this place, something important that we missed ... It could even be linked to the weird buzzing sound we heard right before the earthquake !!"

Pearl sighed and slammed her hand against Marina's shoulder.

"Hey. I get that you're stressed about all of that, and this was quite the event to go through. But for now, the priority is us. We need to survive and ... Find a way to leave. Maybe we'll be able to help all these people one day. But for now we gotta help ourselves. I don't want to see your pretty face lost in those nasty thoughts again, alright ?"

"Pfff ... Alright. I promise, we'll get out of here soon."

Chapter Text

At first, it seemed that the squid sisters had little to no way of planning their next attack in the octarian. Yes. Attack. This time, they made their decision to be the ones to start the offensive. After reporting Pearl and Marina presumable death to the highest parts of the government, the agents were warned that if octolings were slowly killing off everyone who got near the domes, it could be a very obvious sign that they will try to single out the agents and eliminate them rather than keep on the meaningless fights where the looser would simply have to retreat rather than die. As much as the entire Splatoon wanted to not believe in such thing ... they couldn't take any risks. But still, infiltrating the domes was a particularly difficult task, and even if there were more and more octarians rising up to the surface lately, little to none of them had extensive knowledge of how the troops were doing nowadays ... Or so they thought.

After doing a little bit of digging, the cousins ended up finding out about an accident that happened just a couple days before the idol's disappearance. Marina seemingly had found a soldier half crushed under a rock slide and decided to take her to the nearest hospital, covering all of the fees needed to give them a full recovery. And this description definitely fit the one of the team that disappeared during the next excursion to steal the great zapfish. And if this soldier was a higher up ... They needed to do an interrogation.

Standing at the hospital's main office, Callie took her best puppy eyes as she looked up at the nurse handling the visits of the room.

"I know that we're not part of the patient's family but ... Marina was the one who supervised their health after the accident. And because she's no longer here and we were just so close, we ... We'd really like to keep her last wish going and take some news ourselves."

"Oh you poor sweet thing ... Of course you can see her. What a wonderful friend you made."

Callie nodded, silently clenching her fist out of rage towards herself as she took Marie's hand and began to walk towards the soldier's hospital room. Her heart ached for Marina, and using her friendship this way definitely made her feel like the worst friend on earth. But ... she didn't have much of a choice. She NEEDED this.

Quickly, right before entering the room, the cousins switched outfits and put on their iconic agent sunglasses and mask. Being recognized here would be a really bad idea. They both took a big breath, joined hands, opened the door and slammed it behind their back before locking it. The octoling soldier, stillwater laying down in her bed, looked at them with obvious confusion and a bit of stress.

"Goddamn, agents ?! Already ?! And here I thought squids would at least have enough pride not to kill an enemy who's already unable to fight."

Callie growled before taking a step back. She didn't want to do this. She wasn't her enemy. She didn't want this octoling to be her enemy in any shape or form. S-She was doing all of this to help the soldiers !!

Eventually, Marie stepped in and sighed.

"Listen. We're not here to hurt you. We simply need your help."

"My HELP ?! HA ! Give me a SINGLE REASON why I'd help you. You squids have done nothing but ruin my life. You're the reason why I had to be thrown in this stupid mission to begin with. The one that almost cost me my life. THE ONE THAT KILLED MY OWN SISTER !! You two are destroying the last crumbs of our civilization. I despise you more than anything."

"I promise, we really are trying to help you this time. We want to work to release your civilization from the underground and give you a proper life on the surface. You can see it here, so far, everyone has done everything they could to nurse you back to health."

"Yeah, and ? I don't give a fuck. Oooooh nooooo you almost died while trying to get the electricity your civilization so desperately needs so we're gonna help you heal despite being the direct source of your misery !! Talk about a hero."

"I swear we- urgh ... we need more informations to help you now. If we managed to stop Octavio from launching any further attacks because if we do, our two civilizations may come to a truce ! We don't want to fight you, and you don't want to fight us either. So please."

"Mmmmh ... Nope ! In your dreams. I'm not betraying Octavio even if you beg for it."

"WHA- ... Can't you at least tell us ways we can contact other soldiers ?!"

"Absolutely not, dumbass. That would be too easy, wouldn't it ?"

"But-"

"I said no."

"If-"

"Nuh-huh."

"We-"

"Oh please, stop acting like a jester and just shut up."

Finally cutting the conversation short, Callie slammed her feet on the floor and looked at the injured soldier

"Your name. Can you at least tell us your name."

The octoling took a long pose before looking back at Callie with a deep, glacial stare.

"You may call me Four. Because I'm half of what's left of Eight. Now, GET OUT."

The two cousins glanced at each other, sighed and simply walked out the room. For now, as stupid as it sounded ... that was all they could do. They wouldn't torture this person. They wouldn't threaten her either. So ... all they could do was come back at a later time and pray for the best.

But the second they passed through the room's door, a strange hooded shadow grabbed both agents and slammed them against the floor before pointing an charger against Marie's head. Two other shadows were observing the scene from about ten feet away, now slowly walking towards the girls with a death glare.

"You two are going to tell us EVERYTHING you know about Octolings, RIGHT NOW."

Chapter Text

Callie was absolutely petrified. She had no clue of what to do. There was no way for her to escape without possibly harming Marie, no way to call for help without having to compromise her agent identity, and no way for her to defend herself without a weapon ... She was purely and simply doomed. She growled and looked at the floor, clenching her fist.

"We can't say anything about it. Not in the hallway of a public hospital."

"If that's the problem, we can go somewhere more private."

The hooded figure holding Marie grunted, grabbed the two women and dragged them back into the octoling's room. Their partners quickly entered the room as well and locked it from the inside before throwing the agents on the floor. The obviously very confused octoling simply stared at the scene in shock until one of the shadowy figures removed their hoodie only to reveal a teenager who smiled and waved at the octoling.

"Hi ! Sorry for disturbing you ! We uuuh ... We're on your side ! We just have to talk a little with these two. To understand what's going on."

Marie grunted as the other two figures removed their hoodies as well.

"Hey, I know you three ! You're part of the emperor team. Pearl's cousins and emperor's partner I recall ? What the hell are you doing here ?!"

Emperor glanced at N-Pacer who simply grunted as she pointed her charger towards the ex-idol.

"I could ask you the same question, squid sisters. We wanted to pay a visit to this Octoling to get clues as to what could've possibly happened to Pearl and Marina. And by some kind of miracle, we happened to hear the conversation between two "agents" and this octoling right when we were about to enter the room. It sounded like too good of an opportunity to ignore, right ?"

The octoling let out a gasp as her eyes widened.

"Marina ? Do you mean Marina Ida ? What happened to her ?!"

Prince sighed and sat down on the bed next to the octoling.

"She went missing a couple days ago and is nowhere to be found. We have no idea of what could've happened to her, but we believe it's linked to the fact that Marina's an octoling due to how mysterious the circumstances of her disappearance are."

Emperor walked up towards the squid sisters and glared at them.

"Tell us all you know about Octolings. Why is the government hiding their existence from us ? Who are you really, and what did you do to them ? And more importantly, WHERE ARE PEARL AND MARINA ?!"

Marie took a long pause, quickly glanced at her cousin and hit the floor with her fist.

"... Callie and I are part of a secret government-operated plan to keep the octoling civilization under control. There is about a dozen Splatoons working to make sure that we can stop the possible invasions of inkopolis from the octarian civilization. They currently live underground and have a tendency to go out of their territories to steal our supplies to work on future attacks, particularly zapfishes and metal parts to create weapons."

Immediately, Four scoffed and rolled her eyes.

"Oh yeah, DOZENS of Splatoons. Of course. You do know that you three idiots and your old man are the only people that keep bothering us on the daily, right ?"

"Just because the other teams aren't as active as us doesn't mean you get to deny their existences. We didn't even do much, the biggest mission we did was the retrieval of the great zapfish."

"Nah I don't think you get it. You're quite literally the only inklings that ever come up to fuck with us in the domes. We've never seen anyone else."

"M-Maybe you've personally never seen them but I get texts from them fairly often. They give us alerts about octarians attacks at least once a month."

"So you get messages and all but have you actually seen them before ? Sounds fishy to me. I mean, I don't have any reason to lie about it. It would make more sense to actually portray you as the bad guys saying that you have a huge army and all to oppress us but that's just a fact. Every Octarian down there knows that there's only four soldiers in your Splatoon. The happy pink one who will smash your head with a roller, the green one who's a master with chargers, the Yellow one who's just a plain MONSTER and the grandpa. That's it."

Marie took a long pose a looked down to the ground, visibly disturbed.

"I knew that we took the patrols more often than the others but there's no reason for you to have never seen them since they stopped you so often ..."

"Stopped us from what ?! Hey, we stole the great zapfish ONCE. In a hundred years. Okay, we stole a couple other little zapfishes before but it's not like you DESPERATELY need them and we may have tried to steal the giant a second time afterwards, but we failed, and we didn't even need your help for that."

Marie took a step back as she felt herself falling down. She glanced at Callie with horrified eyes and took a heavy breath before speaking.

"Callie ... Have you ever met the other teams ?"

"No. And if I'm being honest ... I don't think Three nor gramps has done so either."

"... Fuck."

Things seemed to only be getting worse by the minute.

Chapter Text

Emperor rolled his eyes and sighed, visibly annoyed and slightly disturbed by the whole situation.

"Great, so even the experts on the matter don't know what's going on. I'm assuming you're not the ones that kidnapped Marina then ?"

Callie roared, visibly stoping herself from jumping on the yellow inkling

"WHY THE HELL WOULD I DO THAT ?! MARINA IS MY FRIEND, AND WE'VE DONE EVERYTHING WE COULD TO HELP HER !! IF ANYTHING, OCTARIANS ARE THE ONES THAT KIDNAPPED HER !! And now she's ... Probably hurt or ... Worse ..."

The ex-idol gasped to take one more breath and hide a sob before covering her mouth with a hand and letting a fear massive tears drip down against it.

"I'm so scared to know what they did to her ..."

Four cleared her throat to get everyone's attention and sighed.

"Alright, you two are agents and I'm not trusting you any time soon. But it's getting obvious that your own government is hiding things from you, and that you're not the ones that kidnapped Marina. So maybe we're the ones that got her back. HOWEVER, I can confidently say that she won't be harmed. She's in good hands."

"How can you be so sure ?! Octavio must know that she fled the battlefield, she's a traitor !!"

"Maybe ... But I know for a fact that she was close to him. Marina never had much of a family and he took her under his wing during her training."

"It could be rumors. Obviously, he's going to make himself look good and act like he's taking care of a poor orphan girl or something."

"Nope. And I'm pretty sure I know more than you on the subject."

"And why's that ? Do you think that just because you're an octoling you know more about your leader than us ?!"

"I know this because I'm his grandaughter, because I saw him take care of Marina, and because I'm willing to bet that half of the informations you have about Octavio is your grandfather trashtalking him."

"Y-You're WHAT ?! WHY DIDN'T YOU SAY SO EARLIER ?!"

"WHY DID YOU THINK I WAS DEFENDING HIM THAT HARD ?! I swear to cod, inklings only have half a brain ..."

There was a small silence before the octoling growled.

"Listen. I don't know what happened, I don't know what you have in mind right now, I don't know what you want from Octavio or me, but I know for a fact that an attack on our people won't give you anything you want. You said that you were on my side, right ? That you wanted to help us get out of the underground ? If you do, you should talk to Octavio and see what can actually be done to help."

Marie rolled her eyes and sighed.

"As if something like that was simple. We've consistently been attacking Octolings for the past few years, they're not going to just let us meet Octavio because we asked nicely. That, and even if the guards somehow accepted, I doubt that Octavio would be happy to see us. That, and he has a tendency to kidnap our grandfather. I'm not letting gramps be tied up in ropes again."

"The guards may not trust you, but they trust me. If I'm the one telling them that we need to speak to Octavio, they'll listen."

"Oh, that would be so easy to do ! ... If you could even walk to octo canyon. Seriously, can you even stand up ?! Your body almost got crushed to death. You need to stay hospitalized."

The octoling's voice suddenly got a lot weaker and the young soldier was visibly shaken up.

"The doctors said I'm gonna get better soon. My ink sac got slightly damaged and one of my kidneys is no longer working, but I should be fine if I don't move in the next couple of days. The main problem is my limbs. The muscles got damaged by the rocks and they're just not as powerful as they used to be. I should be able to walk again soon. I just won't be able to run as fast or lift up heavy things. Apparently, I got really lucky ... Any species with bones or an exoskeleton would've died on impact because the bones would've pierced too many organs."

Callie walked up towards the octoling and very gently began to rub her shoulder.

"Take the time you need to heal. I mean it, when I say I'm not your enemy. I don't know what else you'd want to hear from us. I'm ... Usually not very good with this kind of big talk. Is there anything else we could do to help ?"

"... I'm very tired. Could you leave me alone for the rest of the day ?"

"Of course."

The entire group left the room in one go and began to look awkwardly at each other. N-Pacer cleared her throat and looked down.

"Well, that was intense and I definitely didn't catch everything that happened. I'm not sure if we could be considered allies or even acquaintances, especially considering how all of this started. But if your goal is ultimately to help the octoling population, would you consider the possibility of us becoming part of your group to provide you with some help ?"

Callie stretched her hand and rose it towards N-Pacer.

"I'm willing to take any kind of help if it means I could get a chance to bring Marina back to safety."

N-Pacer looked at Emperor and her brother who all nodded, and grabbed Callie's hand to shake it.

"Sounds like we have a deal."

Chapter Text

Little by little, Marina was getting used to living in the domes again. In a sense, it was both a good thing and absolutely terrifying.

She wasn't sure how long she would have to stay down here. She'd been fully unable to contact Octavio over the last few days, and while she saw that all of the people she knew were glad to have her back, she could feel a very specific kind of tension whenever she mentioned missing her new home. They wouldn't say out loud that they wanted to keep her down here. But they knew damn well what Marina was capable of, and if these people ever wanted weapons to fight back for their freedom ... They may see Marina's sanity as a necessary sacrifice. She was glad to not be as stressed as she was when she first came here, simply because she knew she wouldn't have been able to last forever in this state of being. But the idea of getting used to this fear and oppression again was just ... Horrible. Pearl wasn't used to the earthquake alerts as much. The floor breaking under your feet, the fear of this world slowly breaking down around you, the rush of injured civilians to the hospital ... But Marina didn't have that much of a reaction anymore. She was TERRIFIED of earthquakes. But every time a new one started, she would just sit down and hug Pearl or her little sea bunny plush, whichever was the closest to her, simply accepting her fate as a potential victim and waiting. Despite all the time she'd spent healing, she eventually came back to her learned helplessness. In a sense ... She hoped Pearl would forgive her for her weakness.

"Hey Marina ?"

It was the middle of the night. Marina wasn't so sure how late it was exactly. With no sunlight nor watches she could hold, time was difficult to track down here. But she did trust her body when it told her it was a time she should NOT have been awake. The octoling yawned, wrapped her arms around Pearl and dragged her into a hug before answering weakly.

"... Yes ?"

"Hey, I know this is pretty damn late but I needed to make sure no one would be listening. We need to talk, right now."

Marina rubbed her eyes and yawned before trying her best to focus on Pearl to avoid falling back into slumber.

"Talk ? Talk about what."

"How we're gonna escape from here."

That ? That was more than enough to fully wake Marina up in one go. She let out a small gasp before hiding under the bed sheets.

"W-What do you mean escape ?!"

"Listen. The people down here are super nice when they're not traumatizing each other by accident, and I no longer think I'm gonna get killed if I make even the smallest mistake. But we can't spend the rest of our lives here. We need to go back into inkopolis."

In a sense, Marina knew Pearl was right. They couldn't spend their entire life down here. But there was one major problem marina couldn't deny.

"Pearl. We can't do that."

"Why not ?! Marina, I'm not letting you rotting here any longer. You've gone ... Numb. I can't exactly explain it, but I can feel that you're not like yourself here. We need to go."

"You don't get it. If they see you betray them, they could KILL you."

"... What ? Hey, the soldiers are pretty cool, we talked quite a bit and-"

"And not every soldier knows you. Pearl, there's people guarding every single entrance of this place. They'll spare me if I try to escape, even if they will definitely do their best to stop me. But people down here don't trust inklings. You'd get shot a long time before understanding what's going on."

"So what ? Are we going to stay down here forever ?! Just like the rest of them ?!"

"No ... I have a plan. The soldiers may not help us, but I know someone who will."

"And who's that ?"

"Octavio."

"THAT OLD MAN ?! Fuck ... Marina, I do think he's pretty chill, but this man is the one that forced you to be a soldier. He's the one that forced you to make weapons as a child. Is he evil ? ....maybe not. But he just got his tentacles back on the most talented engineer he probably ever had, and I doubt that he'd let you go again just because you asked nicely. That, and we've been waiting for new from him for a WHILE now."

"Pearl ... You don't know him like I do. He's made bad decision. But he genuinely cared for me. He's probably the only stable elder figure I had in my life. If it wasn't for him, I would've never been able to pick music as a hobby. Hell ... I probably wouldn't even had hobbies. He wanted me to be happy. I'm not sure how far he'll be able to go to take care of me but if we have one chance to get out of here ... It's him. I just need to talk to him ... But he's been busy lately."

"..."

"Pearl, trust me. Please."

"... Alright. I trust you. You're lucky I love you, or else I would've already grabbed some dualies and would've ran out of this hospital with you on my back."

"As if you could transport me ! I'm so much heavier than you."

"Mmmmh is that a challenge ?"

"No Pearl this is not- UWA !!"

Pearl dived beneath the bed sheets and grabbed Marina's waist into a hug before slightly tugging her away from her pillow. Marina fought against it for a bit before eventually giving up, letting herself fully dive under the sheets to join Pearl into a hug.

Comfort. Perhaps that was the one thing that she had left from her life in inkopolis.

Chapter Text

This morning, Octavio woke up feeling like a mess. Just like the previous morning. And the one before that.

The giant octopus sighed as he stretched and did his best to crawl up on his wheelchair and get out of his room, immediately rolling downstairs to meet up with one of his advisers who'd been waiting for him with a clipboard on hand. The man barely got enough time to snatch a piece of bread to munch on as his breakfast that the woman started to make her report.

"I have today's news, sir. And they're ... Fairly mixed."

"Alright. Just say it all at once, the quicker the better. Let's just rip the band-aid off."

"Understood. Our doctors have found some more effective treatments to help recovery from loss of limbs, which has concluded to be effective thanks to a study that ended yesterday. On the other hand, one of our sectors got slightly flooded due to some problems with our water's transportation. There's also been a problem with the next shipment of weapons for our trades with salmonids."

"A problem ? What kind of problem ?"

"They were recently moved to the sector C06. The very one that got damaged by some water pipes breaking down. While the vast majority of them are fixable, some of the grillers they had ordered can no longer be used due to the significant amount of water that infiltrated the mechanisms."

"C06 ?! WHAT WERE THEY DOING IN C06, THEY WERE MEANT TO BE STORED IN B24 !"

"... Some of the elites that worked there thought that the B24 sector had been too damaged by a previous major earthquake and was no longer safe enough to he used for storage of weapons of such importance. They ultimately decided to move them to a sector they deemed safer for such storage."

"..."

"Sir ? What should we do ? Is there any mesures you'd like to take against the elites that decided to act without your consent ?"

"No ... No. Send someone to tell them that they will not be sanctioned for their actions, but they need to trust my better judgment on such things. They acted thinking they were doing something good. They just forgot the reason why I had them move these equipments in the first place. Urgh ... Now we need to find a new team for the reparations and to build a few more of these. Are they any wasabi supply unit engineers available right now ?"

"Most of them are already working on some fairly big projects. But Marina Ida's available at the moment. She's at the hospital but she hasn't suffered any physical injuries, she should be more than capable of working on this project."

"NO. No. Not her. Urgh ... Can you lend me my computer ? I'll try to contact a few teams to see if they have anyone available right now. If not, I'll try to send a translator to rework our contract with the salmonids."

Octavio sighed as he began to think about Marina. It had been years ever since he'd last saw this young passionate girl, which had now seemingly grown to be terrified of this place she used to call home. He saw her grow, from a young devoted child to a young talented woman he has great hopes for. He couldn't even describe the pain he felt when he first heard that she went AWOL. It was on the battlefield, not too long after the Octobot king battle started. She was part of the team that was supposed to help him control his robot during the battle, as she was one of the lead designers for the project. The idea of him putting her in danger and it ultimately resulting in her death was kind of terrifying. But now that he knew she'd been safe all along, and living a life even better than she had in the domes ... He was starting to feel a new kind of pain. He wanted her to be happy, and that was ever since he saw this little girl he tried his best to shelter from the horrors of this place. But after learning that she'd spent multiple years outside, not only showing herself to the public but being actively loved for being herself ... He couldn't help but wonder if he'd made a mistake. If keeping all of his kind underground was never a good idea to begin with, and if they could've all just come up to the surface without any danger for years now.

But then again ... Everything he did seemed to become a mistake one way or another nowadays.

The man felt his tentacles twisting up in anger as he thought about the accident. If only he had been intelligent enough to find a new source of electricity, he wouldn't have had to send his own grandaughters to steal the great zapfish and maybe ... Maybe they'd still be alive right now.

...

They didn't even have a proper grave. He didn't get a chance to see their bodies. Who knows how long did these poor souls took to suffocate beneath all of the rocks that had crushed their bodies beyond repair ? He missed them, he missed them so deeply. How was he even supposed to live knowing the he'd killed the two people that cared the most about him in this world ? How was he supposed to keep going without his two little girls greeting him every morning, the last piece of affection he'd allowed himself to receive ?

"... Sir ? Is everything alright ?"

"Wha- ... Yes yes, I'm fine. I guess I dozed off a little, I haven't slept much lately. Were you saying something ?"

"Yes, we actually need someone to help us with the creation of new octarians, but we haven't found many people willing to donate their hair lately. What should we do ? Do we need to add a mandatory hair donation, at least for the octolings participating in the military ?"

"Ah ... Well, I'd say that we should give positive benefits to the ones that do donate. Would you be able to give me suggestions for the rewards I'd be able to give that could help us even out the gain of getting now octarians ?"

"Yes of course ! I suggest that we ..."

Octavio sighed and shook his head, trying his best to get back on track. He didn't have time to be sentimental. He still needed to work. Work, work, ALWAYS work.

But ... He really needed to see Marina one of these days.

Chapter Text

It had been a few days since the squid sisters had their "special" hospital visit to the octoling Marina saved. Ever since then, they'd been kind of in a limbo. They had their little radio show every day and worked like they were supposed to, but there was a visible frustration throughout the room for the entire time. They had to WAIT. And it felt awful.

The girls ended up agreeing to wait for more information from emperor and his team to act accordingly and to get a backup in case things went wrong, and decided to house Four after they were out of the hospital, giving her a place to rest and recovery before going back into the domes.

Today, Four finally came into the squid sister's apartment. And unsurprisingly ... Things got even more awkward. Four was a little strange. They were very obviously a trained soldier, and had the mentality of someone who obviously still considered the squid sisters as their enemy. But still ... They also craved comfort. They were so deeply scared of this unfamiliar environment, of the heavy sunlight in their face, of the amount of strange items they didn't recognize in the girl's house, the noises of the city, the electricity being used everywhere ... They were completely lost. Problem was, they wanted to ask for reassurance but their instinct still yelled at them were a bad thing. So every move Callie made towards them had the poor soldier completely frozen.

After an entire day of the octopus looking around the house and staring at everything like any little trinket the girls owned could kill her, night finally came down and Four ended up laying down on the couch, covering herself with a small blanket and simply glaring at Callie whenever she offered her to go sleep in her bed. Marie didn't think much of it all, simply going to sleep and trying her best to act like everything was normal. She couldn't help but wonder if this octoling could still be a danger to them. If she could try to murder them in their sleep and be an overall danger to inkopolis. But in the end ... The inkling decided that she would much rather die trusting someone she believed needed help rather than potentially hurt someone who's already suffered enough in this life.

And she was kind of glad to see that she'd made the right call when she woke up in the middle of the night and realized she hadn't been stabbed to death. She sighed, stretched, and decided that a little glass of milk would probably be a nice little treat to have before going back to sleep. She walked herself out to the kitchen, opened the fridge, poured a small glass of almond milk, and quickly realized that the light of the fridge made two little eyes shine through the darkness. She let out a very quiet yelp, let the glass drop out of her hands, and thankfully caught it before it could hit the ground, but not before it got completely spilled on her pajamas. She mumbled a couple swears before taking a couple of tissues to dry herself off, still being watched by the octopus. She walked back to the fridge to get another glass of milk and glanced at the kid once more.

"Hey, you can close your eyes back. I'm not here to hurt you, I'm here to drink."

"Oh really ? I thought that you were taking a shower with your clothes on."

Marie rolled her eyes, grabbed her glass and walked up to the soldier

"Do you ever happen to be nice or is your entire personality based on being snarky ?"

"I could literally ask you the same thing, agent 2. I know what people say about you. The snarkiest remarks for the deadliest shots. Oh, and I also heard that you insulted your sister on live TV. The nurses talked about you a LOT."

"First of all, Callie's not my sister, she's my cousin. And second, I'm playing a character on my shows. It's called acting."

"Heh. You're not that nice in real life either."

Marie looked down at the floor and began to clench the glass she'd been holding.

"I'm trying to. But you're not making things easy. No matter what I do it seems that you'll always find something to slap me back with."

"Because it's always the truth. Look at me in the eyes and tell me you're innocent."

"I'm ... Not innocent. But I'm trying to be better. I'm not trying to pretend like I'm perfect, I'm trying to improve myself."

"Psh. Getting better doesn't mean being enough."

"I'm trying to be enough !! Hell, what else do you want from me and Callie ?! We're doing everything we can to avoid conflict, we're spending so much time and efforts into thinking of a plan to help out the octolings down in the domes, we're housing you and feeding you for free and we don't expect anything in return !! What else do I need to do to prove that I'm trying !?"

" If I were to be accused of being a monster, would you defend me, even if this entire world was against you ? Or would you let me die by the hands of old men who think I shouldn't even exist ?"

Chapter Text

" If I were to be accused of being a monster, would you defend me, even if this entire world was against you ? Or would you let me die by the hands of old men who think I shouldn't even exist ?"

Marie decided to look away, scratching her neck to try to think about this question. The answer was very obvious in her eyes. But ... It may not have been the same for the octoling. This person mostly didn't trust her to be an ally, to be someone who wouldn't just be friendly towards her, but would actively take her side if needed. After a bit, Marie ended up understanding that she didn't have any specific ideas as to how she should word her thoughts. So she decided to tell the truth, even if it felt a little too simple

"Of course I would defend you. I know you're innocent, and I'm not letting you down so easily."

"Then tell me. Why didn't you defend the others ? Weren't they innocent too ?"

Marie took a very long pause to think about what she could answer to that. She wanted to say that she tried. That she tried to believe all octarians could be good as soon as she met Marina. That she did everything she could to support octoling artists and tried her best to help them fit in society. But Four had never seen any of that. Four didn't know Marie Cuttlefish. She only knew agent 2. And Agent 2 killed people. It was an accident, every single time. But it happened and there was no erasing that behind a couple of sweet words

"... Because I didn't know just how close we could be until recently. I always assumed our species could never exist together without a conflict."

"Well that's stupid."

Marie took another pause and looked at Four before feeling a sickening sweetness from deep within her heart. This ... Was an answer only a kid could give. A kid that shouldn't be here. A kid she assumed was an adult.

"Hey ... Do you mind telling me your age ?"

"Why would you want to know that ?"

"I'm just curious. Don't feel pressured to answer."

"... I'm fourteen."

"You're young. Younger than I expected."

"What, you think I can't be a good soldier because I'm young ?! Well you're WRONG. If these rocks hadn't been there, I would've stolen the great zapfish and kicked your ass so hard you wouldn't be able to sit ever again !!!"

Here she was, being defensive. Again. That kid acted like every word Marie could let out was meant to be an attack.

"I never said that. Actually ... I was about your age when I started working as an agent. And so were my parents. And ... So was my grandfather. But if I'm being honest, I think just because we could do something doesn't mean that we should've. Don't you agree ?"

Four took a deep breath and looked down at the floor. A single tear dropped against the floor, shining behind the soft light of the moon.

"I just want to live a nice life with my grandpa."

Marie sighed and gently wrapped her arm around Four's shoulders. She expected a vivid rejection, but the kid immediately leaned against her and shoved her face against her collarbone.

"I miss him. I'm scared. The doctors told me that my limbs would probably never be as strong as before after being crushed so hard and I just ... FUCK !! I JUST WANTED TO GO BACK TO BEING USEFUL AGAIN !! I don't want to go back down there if I'm only a bystander, I want to help everyone survive too !!"

"Would Octavio stop loving you if you were no longer useful ?"

"... No. Of course not. But he's been in this mess all alone for so long, I can't just leave him by himself. I'm ... The only family he has left."

"Did his wife and children die too ? I'm ... Sorry for your loss."

"He never had anything like that. We're not even blood related, y'know ? He just adopted me and Eight because he happened to see our parents die when we were really young and knew we needed help. We- ... I call him grandpa because just 'pa felt weird for him. He was already old when he took us in."

"I see ... It does make sense I guess."

Marie sighed and very gently cupped the octoling's cheek and began to rub it. She didn't know if this was the right thing to do. She was never great with people younger than her, especially when said person learned to hate her for years. But ... She knew it worked to make Callie feel better whenever she was stressed. That was the best she could do right now.

"You know, I think you're pretty nice to talk to, but I also think you deserve a good night of sleep. Any good soldier knows that you can't do much if you don't rest properly. So how about you try to sleep a little and we keep this conversation going tomorrow morning, mhm ?"

To Marie's surprise, the teenager began to lean against her hand. She kept on rubbing her cheek until she felt something wet slowly dripping on her face. Tears.

"You know, I'm not staying awake to annoy you, I promise ... It's just ... My legs really hurt right now. I'm trying to fall asleep but I can't."

"Oh ... Oh, you should've said so earlier ! Well I can't imagine that staring at the ceiling all night would be very entertaining. Is there anything you'd like to do ?"

"Well ... I'm not sure what I could do ..."

"Pretty much anything, as long as we don't wake up Callie. I'm the grumpy one out of the duo but you do NOT want to wake her up at this hour. How about a book ? Is there anything you'd like to read about ?"

"... Do you have books on weapons ? I MEAN- I promise it's not to hurt you !! I just really, really like weapons. I'm studying to become an engineer to make my own custom sets."

"Mmmh ... Yeah I think I have that somewhere. Do you like chargers ? I tend to buy books around them whenever I want to try a new weapon."

"Yes yes, that would be awesome !!"

Marie smiled, went to grab a couple books from the nearest shelf and plugged in a small light for Four to be able to read properly.

"Here we go. I hope you can fall asleep eventually, but at least you won't be too bored staying all alone here. Still, I'm a bit tired, so I'll go back into my bed. Have a good night !"

"W-Wait !"

"... Yes ?"

"... I just wanted to say, sorry for being so mean to you before. I don't know what are you like exactly but ... So far, I think you're pretty cool."

"Thanks. You're not half bad either, kid."

Chapter Text

Pearl naked on her bed. Shiver taking a look at her back. Marina watching the whole scene slightly embarrassed. At this point, it had just become something everyone got used to. It didn't make it any less weird, but still.

"You look like you're healing surprisingly well ... Your back's skin is creating new cells to fuse with the one of your tentacle's. Right now, most of the tissues are very rough but they're doing their job at keeping you together, so well that you should be able to move around pretty freely."

"Neat ! I mean, I don't see why that wouldn't have worked. You're used to that sort of stuff and even worse, right ?"

"Well yes, but I never did anything quite like it on a squid ... I'll admit, I wasn't even sure if your body would accept the blood transfusion I gave you."

"Wait ... You mean you gave me octoling blood and you didn't even know if that would work ?!"

"It was either that or you dying. What's the worst that could've happened ? You dying even harder ?"

"Talk about a brave doctor wanting to save me... You just wanted me to be your guinea pig."

"H-Hey ! I'm an honorable doctor that took a decision for your safety !! Don't forget that I saved your life !!"

"I know, I know. I'm just teasing you."

Shiver huffed with a little blush as she hid her face behind her clipboard and threw the bed sheets over Pearl before sitting down and scribbling a couple of details. Marina slightly tilted her head as she watched Pearl putting her shirt back on.

"So ... No healing cream for today ?"

"Psh, I'm fine Marina ! I'm sure it's just that I'm fully healed up already."

"I doubt it ... They're probably struggling to get their next batch of supplies. I heard that some patients didn't get their medication today."

Shiver clicked her little needle-shaped pen and nodded.

"Your wife's right. We're missing out on supplies."

Marina's eyes widened and she clenched her fist to avoid letting out a small noise of excitement. Wife ... She called her Pearl's wife ...

"So like. People are straight up not getting treated anymore ? Ain't that, y'know ... A BIG problem ?"

"It's kind of the norm here, sadly. But thankfully, your loyal knight Shiver Hohojiro is here to save the day ! I asked my mother to bring one of my sharks here in an hour so that I can get a mount and fetch everything by myself. I definitely won't be able to carry out everything on my own but I'm sure I'll be able to find someone to help-"

"I can help !!"

Shiver stared at Pearl blankly for a bit before smiling in confusion.

"Are ... Are you sure ? You're a patient here, not a doctor. Your role is to rest and recover."

"Yeah, well I think I've rested enough lately. I mean ... I haven't done shit in this place, and so far you've done nothing but help me. So take it as a way to thank you specifically. Plus, y'know, I'm still a PRISONER. I don't think I'm supposed to be treated like a princess here."

"Actually, Octavio made it clear that while you were our prisoner, anyone hurting you would be sanctioned to a heavy sentence. However, going out for a bit probably won't be a bad thing for your health... Mmh. Alright. You may come as long as you follow my orders, little squid ! I shall be your superior from now on, and you shall obey everything I say !"

"Talk about an ego trip ... Hey Marina, would you be okay if I left you for a bit today ?"

Marina nodded, trying to hide her sadness.

"Yes, I can't see why I would be against it... But still, Doctor, I'm counting on you to make sure she'll be fine. Pearl has never navigated the underground before, and she doesn't know most security norms."

"I don't think it would be too difficult for her to get used to it. If you hear something falling down, you back off and don't say under the giant rocks that could crush your body. Easy."

"... I'm serious. Do NOT let her be hurt."

"O-Oh. Understood. Well ... Let's get going then ! The quicker we are, the faster you can be treated."

Marina sighed, crouched up to lean against pearl and gently kissed her cheek.

"Take care. I love you."

"Awh psh, don't act like I'm gonna be hurt ! Everything's gonna be fine."

"... Yeah of course. But I still love you."

Pearl took a short pause, nodded and sighed.

"I love you too."

Chapter Text

Marina sighed as she hugged her plushie a little harder, doodling Pearl all over a bunch of recycled papers she was gifted from the staff. She knew her lover probably wouldn't take too long to come back. But still, having to stay without her was BORING. Who was she if she couldn't hug her little squid whenever she wanted ?!

Everything seemed particularly calm when suddenly, someone knocked on the door.

"Your lunch is here."

A nurse quickly came in and put a lunch tray down on the floor, visibly avoiding eye contact with Marina. But Marina didn't need to see her eyes to recognize her childhood best friend.

"S-Storm ?!"

The woman glanced at Marina and immediately turned her back on her.

"Hey. Listen, I don't want to talk to you. Here's your meal. Goodbye."

"WAIT !! Wait, I'm sorry !! I didn't mean to- ... Last time we met, I pushed you by accident ! It was an accident, I swear !! I'm still-"

"Yeah yeah, I know it was an accident. I forgive you. I still don't want to talk to you. So please, just let me leave."

"What ... But why ?! Storm, I'm so sorry !! Is it something I said ? Is something I've done ? Is it because I get along with inklings now ? Please ... What did I do wrong ?"

Storm took a deep breath, looked down and visibly restrained herself to avoid yelling, before letting out a loud sigh.

"Listen Marina. I don't know how to say that politely, but you can't just go AWOL for nearly four years and come back expecting everyone to just not get a reaction and act like everything is normal. I know what you did. You left us all behind and created your own little perfect life on the surface with the inklings. And good for you ! But not good for me. You have NO CLUE what I've been through since you were gone. I thought you were DEAD. That you were brutally murdered by squids and that your body had been left to rot away somewhere amongst the mountains. I cried for you, day and night for God knows how long. I went on the little tombstone Octavio made for you, leaving flowers and lighting up candles every day. I saw my own body slowly betray me, decaying more and more every single day and every time I looked for comfort, I had no one to talk to. I even wondered if living without you would be worth it, and thinking of such thing when you have a weapon in hand is DANGEROUS. When I started to recover, I always had in mind that I did it for you. I was hoping that you were watching me from the sky like a guardian angel, knowing that I kept myself alive because I wanted you to be proud. But no. Turns out you were not only alive, but doing better than every single one of us FOR THE WHOLE FUCKING TIME !!"

Storm panted for a few seconds, staring at a visibly shocked Marina who couldn't get a word out of her mouth.

"You knew we were down there. You knew we were all suffering your loss. But no, apparently you found nothing better to do that to keep your own little life on the surface rather than just tell us that you weren't a corpse."

"You know full well that if I came back, I would've been forbidden to leave again. I don't know if Octavio would've allowed me to go. But any other superior I had would've never allowed me to come back to inkling civilization. Do you really think that I left my entire life out of happiness ?! That I never thought about you all up there, that I never had any regrets ?!"

"Apparently you didn't have enough to look behind your back !!"

"I DID !! I THOUGHT ABOUT YOU FOR YEARS !! I spent days and days torturing myself wondering if I was even worthy of love for all of the pain I caused to every single one of you !! But I couldn't go back, I just COULDN'T !! Why would I jump back into misery when all I had on the surface was happiness ?! I'm scared of being here, alright ?! I'm terrified of the domes and what they did to all of us. Do you know what the doctors did when they found me in pure shock after what happened ? They tried to HIT me."

"They tried to help you !!"

"NO. THEY TRIED TO HIT ME. IF YOU EVEN THINK FOR A SECOND, YOU SHOULD REALIZE THAT THESE TWO THINGS AREN'T SIMILAR IN THE SLIGHTEST !!"

"... So what ? You should leave everyone you ever loved behind if it means you get to be happy ?"

"You know what ? Yes. I shouldn't be suffering just because everyone else is. And every single octoling I've met on the surface agreed with me. Including Paul and Warabi."

"P-Paul and Warabi are alive ..?"

"... Yes. And they're the happiest I've ever seen them."

Storm began to shake violently gasping for air as she wrapped her arms around herself. Marina knew that position damn well. Storm always used it whenever she wanted a hug. It was completely unconscious of her, but Marina could only see that now. She wanted to hug her back. But she didn't know if this would help or make things worse.

"Everyone's just ... Leaving me behind. Like an old piece of trash. They're all going to leave to the surface and ... I'm going to die alone."

That was it. Marina didn't care anymore. She immediately got up and took Storm into her arms, hugging her as tightly as possible and the poor woman just bursted into tears. She clenched Marina as hard as she could, visibly loosing her balance. Marina gently helped her walk over to the bed, making sure she wouldn't fall against the ground.

"EVERYONE'S CHOOSING TO LEAVE !! B-BUT I DON'T HAVE A CHOICE ! I'M GONNA BE LEFT TO ROT DOWN HERE. I'LL DIE IF I EVER TRY TO ESCAPE. I'M NEVER GONNA SEE THE SUN. THAT'S ALWAYS HOW IT IS FOR DISABLED PEOPLE, RIGHT ?! IF THE BUILDING'S ON FIRE, EVERYONE GETS TO LEAVE EXCEPT US. WE'RE A NECESSARY SACRIFICE. Yeah ... Yeah that's it. I'm just a necessary sacrifice."

"Storm. You know that's not true. You're important, and many people love you. Have you even looked around the hospital ? Every time I asked where you were or how you were doing, everyone's face lit up and they always told me the sweetest things about you. I'm sorry I couldn't see you earlier. I wish I could've done better without compromising my own safety. I wish I didn't hurt you so bad. It's okay if you don't want to forgive me. But don't act like you're not worth anything."

"Marina, it's not that I don't want to forgive you ... I just. I don't know what to do !! I'm angry !! I'm stressed !! I'm scared !! But i don't know who to blame for it. Deep down, I know you're not the culprit behind my pains, it's just that despite everything ... That still hurts. Looking at you just reminds me of all the pain I've been through ... And most of it was for nothing."

"... I'm sorry."

"I ... Fuck. I guess I wanted to hear that, in a sense. But now I don't want you to say it. It's ... It's not your fault. I'm sorry ... I just got mad and words slipped out of my mouth ..."

Marina sighed as she gently rubbed her old friend's back.

"It's okay. I understand. It's not your fault."

"Thank you Marina ..."

The idol finally let go of her grip and sighed.

"... Hey, isn't this a better way to help with tears than hitting you ?"

"... You know what ? Yeah. It is."

Chapter Text

Pearl looked her backpack filled with medication and began to just feel ... Awful.

They did it. They went out to the station that crafted all kinds of different chemical substances, grabbed all of the medication they needed and left. It wasn't really complex, but Pearl saw just how tense Shiver was every time she heard a noise In the tunnels they went through. This place really seemed like it could crumble entirely in seconds, and it was terrifying. This shouldn't have been more than a simple walk outside, like fetching groceries. But the fact that this lab was located in a secluded area whose roads had been damaged recently made it dangerous to even move out to get medication that was most likely vital to a lot of people. It all made Pearl think about this whole situation. About Shiver. The doctor was giving her beloved sharks directions throughout the tunnels, visibly focused on her objective and weirdly fine to exist in a place so dangerous to her.

"Hey, doc ..."

"Mmmh ?"

"Have you ever thought about, y'know ... Leaving the underground ?"

There was long pose. Long enough to be awkward, but not quite long enough for Pearl to assume that Shiver hasn't heard her.

"I thought about it before. But I know I want to stay here."

"H-Huh ? Why ?! I mean, no offense, but this place is quite literally slowly breaking down ... If you stay here and keep going out like this, you could probably die."

"Woaw, did you see that all by yourself ? Well congratulations little squid, you've just observed something that has been taught to us every since we were born. This place wants our death. No surprises here."

"Then why don't you leave ?!"

"Because I'm not leaving if everyone else stays here... And I thought you knew that already, but if we all came up at once, your people will see it as an attack. And trust me, this species wouldn't survive another war. So for now, like it or not, we're down here."

"But ... Isn't this place going to fall down completely eventually ?"

"Then I guess we'll all die with it."

"That's so stupid- Shiver, you shouldn't force yourself to stay down here just because everyone else chooses to stay down here !! Why don't you try saving yourself ?!"

"Listen carefully, squid. I don't just stay here because of the potential guilt of letting hundreds of people die if I were to leave this place behind. Because yes, that's what would happen if a doctor like me were to leave. I stay here because I love Octolings. I love my people, I love our traditions, I love our art, I love our beliefs ... And I want all of it to keep living on. I want to live in a world where everything we've ever made we won't just disappear because we've been scattered around a world we barely know with little bits of knowledge about our past that will probably vanish in a generation or two. I've seen my culture DESTROYED because my family had the audacity to exist. I'm fairly sure that what I know about our clan's past is five, perhaps ten percent of what our heritage used to be. The idea of everything we've made for the past few thousands of years disappearing because we were exterminated or forever cut from our roots is terrifying to me, and the only way we can preserve everything we have left is to stick together. I've always wanted for things to get better, to go back on the surface and meet the other clans I've been desperate to see my entire life. But my priority is for my people to still be happy, and I want us to live on. I want to keep participating in the last civilization of my people and not die alone and forgotten by this species. And if it means forever living on in this dirthole, then so be it."

"C-Can you call this living ? For what I've learned ... It sounds a lot more like survival. Is it even worth it to keep going until you break yourselves so bad you can't even function properly ?"

"That's not something YOU get to decide."

Pearl felt her entire body shake as Shiver's face suddenly darkened. This was the first time the doctor felt truly unwelcoming. And ... She knew that this was her fault.

"I-I'm really sorry, I didn't mean to ..."

Shiver sighed and her eyes immediately softened. She sat down on Pearl's bed and began to to smile with a weirdly nostalgic look on her face.

"Back when I was 16, when I started to work on the medical field ... I met a boy named Hiro. Hiro was a a really sweet kid, very affectionate and particularly bright, but a kid I knew wouldn't make it. He came in this hospital because he was diagnosed with leukemia. It was on its final stage and couldn't be cured, only eased with a lot of medication. In the span of six months, I saw him transform from a lively kid who wanted to play with everyone he saw and ran around the hospital to a kid that could barely move his arms and legs. When his last week had arrived, his parents were begging us to just let him go. They kept repeating that he was suffering enough and that we should just end it right here and there. But Hiro didn't want his life to end so soon. He knew he wasn't going to make it, but he wanted to live for as long as he could. I got curious and asked him why. And his answer simply was "because if I live another day, I get to spend more time with little buddy". Little buddy was his favorite stuffed animal, an old small fry plush that was very worn out and obviously deeply loved. I heard him say that and ... I didn't question it. I let him live on the rest of his life and he died peacefully in his sleep while he hugged his little buddy. His parents weren't happy. But I knew he was. Because he got to choose what he wanted to do with his existence. And us octolings, we decided to live on despite the pain that we feel every day. Because we'd rather be lower than dirt than to force ourselves exist in the shadows of inklings to even think about finding a purpose in our lives. I think like we all understand that kid, somehow."

Pearl sighed and began to rub her eyes, feeling that they were slowly starting to get wet.

"... I hate that I understand it too."

She let out a sob and looked up at the ceiling of the tunnel they were going through. This place was obviously meant to be illuminated at some point, portraying vivid visuals of the outside with hundreds of screens mimicking the freedom the sunlight could bring. But none of the screens worked anymore. There were a couple of pixels here and there that still flashed up every once in a while. But nothing else worked, and this only made the feeling of oppression of this world even worse.

"I wanted to hate the way you live so, so bad. I saw just how bad Marina's life was when I met her. She flinched at everything. She feared my presence when I was trying to reassure her. She always felt the need to overwork herself to make sure she was useful and didn't know how to say no. And I thought "hey, the leaders of octolings must be assholes !! They're exploiting kids and traumatizing everyone here, I hate them !!" And like ... Yeah, I still think that child soldiers are horrible. But it's not that simple anymore. The one traumatizing your people isn't necessarily a person, it's just ... This place. I feel the need to hate on something but I don't know who should I blame. Octavio ? He looks like he's trying his fucking best but it's not enough. The soldiers training the kids ? They're just doing their jobs and helping kids survive. The old man was right, I don't think I could survive the emergency earthquakes or protect anyone here because I have no training for that. Should I blame the inklings ? Maybe ? I ... I don't know ..."

"I don't think you should blame yourself for crimes you haven't committed. Your race is the one that created these atrocities, yes. But the only ones responsible here are the old men that shoved us down this hellhole. It's obvious that you're a good person. And you're trying your best too."

Suddenly, the shark they were riding on made a violent stop, so violent that shiver was effectively ejected from his back, falling down a couple feet away from the animal.

"OUCH !! HEY MEGA, CAN PLEASE NOT DO THAT ?! WE WERE HAVING AN EMOTIONAL MOMENT HERE !!"

The animal sneezed and glared at her before sitting down, allowing her to climb back on him.

"Trying to make me think of something else, huh ? Psh ... I guess it worked. But next time, try something a bit less painful please."

The shark grunted, shook his head, and eventually ran back towards the hospital.

Chapter Text

After everything calmed down with Storm, Marina and her old friend just parted ways and they both just felt ... A bit empty. It wasn't a genuinely awful moment nor something worth crying over. But it was enough to be noticeable. Storm thanked Marina for her kindness and her help, politely bowed to her and took her leave to take care of her next patient, trying her best to act like nothing happened in the first place. Marina, well ... She waved her goodbye, ate her meal, and simply went back to hugging her plushie back while thinking about Pearl. Eventually, she decided that isolating herself could bring nothing good to her mental health. So she simply decided to walk down to the living room in hopes of finding some people to talk with. It was the first time she'd ever tried to do such thing ever since she came here. She'd seen other people before of course, but it was either Pearl who started the conversations first, or the octolings who'd come up to check on her. But this time, she was determined to see people she knew, and have a nice and simple conversation with them !! She could do it !!

And so, she did. It genuinely was that simple. After taking a few very nervous steps in the room, Marina found herself to be genuinely at ease and was welcomed with nothing but smiles and sweet greetings. The idol had spent so much time fearing this world that she'd forgotten just how nice its inhabitants could be. The reason why she felt guilty about leaving the underground in the first place. They deserves to be saved. They should've been as safe as she was. And the further she looked at all of these people, the more she saw that the vast majority weren't ill. They were injured. Broken legs, torn up limbs, lost eyes and all kinds of severe burns ... Everyone here got injured because they kept doing their work to keep this world going. Just like Shiver and Pearl were doing right now. Oh, she hoped they'll be fine ...

"GUESS WHO'S BACK WITH THE MEDICATION, FUCKERS ?!"

Marina flinched so hard she almost smashed the glass he was holding against the table. Pearl and Shiver had just entered the resting room with a huge smile, holding up their backpacks filled with all kinds of pills. A soldier slapped Shiver's back with a laugh before grabbing her bag to see what's inside. Shiver let out an ungraceful huff at the impact of the hand against her back, but tried her best to play it cool.

"Thank you for your help, doc ! Where would we be without your help ?"

"Oh, it was nothing ... Thank Pearl instead ! She was the one shaking in her boots for the entire ride."

Pearl rolled her eyes playfully

"Well it's not my fault if your ceiling looks like it's about to fall on my face."

"Blame the humans and their bad engineers I guess ! Unless you want to grab a hammer and try to build it back yourself ~"

"I'd rather get my arm eaten by your shark. I'd be more likely to survive."

"Actually, having an arm ripped off is usually deadlier than being crushed by falling rocks, as bleeding out from a severed brachial artery only takes a couple minutes."

"... You really are a fucking nerd."

"What was that ??"

"Nothing. YO MARINA HOW'RE YOU DOING MY SWEETHEART LOVE OF MY LIFE MY LITTLE RAY OF SUNSHINE !!"

Pearl took a bolt towards Marina and jumped into her arms with a chuckle before kissing her face a dozen times. Marina let out an excited giggle and kissed her back, trying her best to ignore all of the eyes staring at them. Surprisingly, everyone seemed to find the scene adorable ... Welp, that was always better than Pearl being hated.

"How did the mission go ?"

"A piece of cake ! But Shiver was right, you had to be healthy to handle the ride so I guess that no one else here could've done it."

"I'm so proud of you Pearlie, helping everyone even when you don't have to ~"

"You're so sweet ... I just want to- ... Alright you know what ? Maybe we can keep this going in our room. As many cuddles as you'd like ... Far away from everyone's stares."

"Oh ... Oh sure, of course ! Let's go back to our room."

Marina left one more kiss against Pearl's cheek before grabbing her hand and walking back to her room. No matter where she was, Pearl definitely was her little hero

Chapter Text

Shiver looked down at the floor as she began to strip down and fell face first against her bed before letting out a sigh. Today was a bit of an exhausting day but she really enjoyed it. The little inkling did bring up some fairly heavy topics but honestly, she probably was one of the most understanding people she'd met. Perhaps that her open mindedness was what lead her to get so close to Marina. Either way, conversations with her definitely were entertaining.

Before Shiver could even start putting on pajamas, she felt something heavy on her back and it out a pained yelp. Her shark companion had just decided to land on her after a poorly planned jump.

"MASTER MEGA !! HEY, NO ! DOWN. SIT. NO NO DON'T SIT ME !! Urgh ... You'd be so sweet if you just learned what personal space is."

Shiver tried her best to crawl off her shark's grasp as the creature began to lick her face, when the room's door opened and Storm walked in.

"Doctor ? ...May help you ?"

"Please just pretend you didn't see anything, that'll probably be the most helpful thing you can do right now."

Shiver finally crawled out of her pet's trap, grabbed his front fins and used all of her remaining forces to slam him out of the bed and scrub his head with a grin.

"HAHA ! Now go back in your own bed, big boy. I'll bring you back to mother's house tomorrow, and you'll get all of the treats you could ever want."

The shark sneezed and waddled back into its giant pet bed before shiver rolled her eyes and quickly jumped into her pajamas.

"How was your day Storm ? I heard that you did pretty great on your own. You took a bit of time when delivering Marina's meal but I guess that's what happens when you finally get your long awaited reunion !"

"... It didn't go well in the slightest. We had an argument."

"... Excuse me ?"

"You heard me right. Well, I guess that I had an argument with myself. I snapped at Marina and yelled at her, and all she did was sit down and listen to me. I'm just ... I'm still so mad at her !! Can you believe it ?! She's alive !! She's been fine for all of these years, came back with a SQUID and now that she's finally back home she just wants to leave again. And of COURSE she finds nothing better to say than "oh yeah, all the friends that you thought were dead are alive too and we're all doing so well in our little paradise on the surface !" FUCK. And the worst part ? She's just as sweet as I can remember. I want to forgive her !! But every time I think about her, I feel like I want to punch her."

"I guess I can see the problem ... Let's be honest here, the squid isn't really the problem. She's actually pretty nice ! Very confused about our situation down here but her heart is in the right place."

"Yeah I know damn well that she's nice. But the fact that we started our relationship with me almost stabbing her probably won't help me get closer to her."

There was a fairly big moment of silence before Shiver jumped off her bed.

"You did WHAT ?! STORM ?!"

"... I reacted impulsively. I know."

"I can't believe this ... I risked my life to try to save Pearl and you didn't find anything better to do than threaten her life ?! WHAT WERE YOU THINKING ?!"

"I don't know. I just ... I was so sure she hurt Marina !! I thought she was dangerous and that she ... Well-"

"Did you ? Or were you just jealous that she took Marina away from you ?!"

"SHIVER, I SWEAR I'M TELLING THE TRUTH !! Marina sounded so hurt when we came here, what was I supposed to think ?! That the fact that she was panicking when being treated by doctors genuinely concerned for her health wasn't linked with the fact that she got attached to an inkling ?!"

"Storm ... I don't even know what to say. I thought you were better than this."

Storm took a shaky breath and began to run away tears that were starting to drip down her face.

"I thought so too. I'm supposed to take care of people now, to make sure that they're healthy and ... And I can't find anything better to do than to hurt them ?! Thank God I didn't actually attack her. Thank God she found the words to convince me to back off. I just ... I feel like I've lost all that I've learned. Inklings being bad isn't the truth, I'm starting to break the hippocratic oath, Marina is alive and I somehow can't help myself but feel uncomfortable around her, HELL, WHY AM I EVEN CRYING ?! I'M BETTER THAN THIS !! I'VE LEARNED TO HANDLE MUCH WORSE STRESS IN MY LIFE, AND NOW I'M CRYING FOR THE MOST STUPID THINGS I CAN IMAGINE !!"

Shiver grabbed Storm's arm gently but firmly, and pulled it towards her. The sudden gesture made Storm flinch and broke her out of her breakdown for a few seconds. The doctor looked at the arm for a couple seconds and sighed.

"... You haven't been taking care of yourself lately, to an unhealthy level. You forgot your insulin today, didn't you ? There's no bandaid on your arm."

"Well ... I ... Yes. Yes I did. I'm sorry, after what happened with Marina I just didn't ... I couldn't ..."

"Stay still. I'll give you your shot."

Shiver walked off the bed, and grabbed a small pouch filled with various supplies. She took out a needle, a small ball of cotton, some alcohol and a small bottle of insulin. Storm closed her eyes as she felt the cotton swab against her skin and slightly clenched her teeth during the injection. Shiver quickly cleaned off the little drop of blood that had formed against the skin and added a bandaid on top of it all. She very carefully rubbed Storm's arm hand as the octoling began to shake once more.

"I'm sorry ..."

"Storm. I know you're not doing well lately. If you need a break, take one. Other nurses can handle your work if needed."

"But ... I want to help. If I hurt someone, I should heal more people in return."

"But you're telling me you acted out against Marina despite the fact that you don't hate her. Isn't that proof that you need to step away from all of this ? If you keep working, you will have to face them again. I think that you need to step back and think about why you're acting like this."

"... You're right. I'll try to take a break. At this point, I just ... I want Marina to go back to the surface and never see her again. Seeing each other down here is just painful, both for her and for me. She's just as sweet as I remember but I can't keep seeing her again."

"You're probably right."

Shiver stroke the woman's hand one last time before grabbing the needle and throwing it in the nearest trash bin. Storm trembled and bit her lip.

"Oh, the things I would do to never see a needle ever again ..."

"If you want to keep being in the medical field I doubt that you'll get to avoid them ~"

The ex soldier rolled her eyes and grunted.

"Oh Shiver, thank you for such kind words. What would I be without you."

"I don't know. But I don't think I want to know either. You're doing a lot better than before we met."

"... Yes. Thank you."

Storm tried to reach out to hold Shiver's hand but ultimately closed her fist, backed down and walked off to her own bed.

"Good night Shiver. Sweet dreams."

Chapter Text

Ever since that one night, Marie and Four had gotten pretty close. Honestly, it really helped everyone in this situation. Being able to properly communicate with Four was crucial to be able to properly plan what may happen next. And while the squid sisters were currently uncertain of how they would have to handle this situation, they got contacted back by someone they knew was willing to help. Emperor.

His message was a little cryptic, but seemed to be urgent.

"I may be getting informations directly from some of the NSS's higher ups today. I believe all members of your group should hear it. Meet me on Friday at the octo canyon cabin. I will come alone."

Now at first, Marie was genuinely uncomfortable with all of that. With Emperor being so serious about it all, she could only guess that this was a particularly important matter and may lead to yet another bad news she would have to handle. But on the other side ... It meant that things were moving, she wouldn't be eternally stuck with the same thoughts. She'd be getting more informations which could lead her to gain more ideas to act in the future. So today, Marie walked up to the cabin hoping for a brighter future.

Callie was jumping around trying to stretch and exercise a little while waiting for Emperor while Four and Marie were simply sitting down, sharing a turkey sandwich as the octoling looked around herself. She glanced at Three and Craig who seemed to be talking about weapons, stared at the cabin for a bit and ended up chuckling before rolling her eyes.

"You know, I always thought that your headquarters would be something a bit grandiose, like a science lab or some kind of assassin's lair ... This just look like an old hermit's place. Well I mean, I guess it's kind of fitting in a sense."

"Hey, be a little nicer. We're government funded, but that job doesn't necessarily pays well alright ? Plus, we still have to be incognito. A giant brand new building in the middle of nowhere would've been suspicious."

"Psh, don't take it so personally. I thought that you were better than what you actually are ! I'd take it as a compliment."

Marie sighed, slammed her hand against Four's head and began to ruffle her hair.

"You just love being right don't you ?"

"Yeaaaah ... It's nice seeing a squid just admit that they're WRONG ! Cry harder, our specie's the most intelligent out of all cephalopods ~"

Suddenly, Agent 3 grabbed their hero shot, took a battle position and stared at the other side of the canyon. After a bit, they growled and put it back down as a white figure began to walk in towards the camp. Emperor. The squid sighed as he walked up to the little group and sat down.

"That's quite the impolite way to treat someone who's so nicely bringing you informations for free."

Three looked down, slightly ashamed of themselves.

"Forgive me. I'm still used to having to deal with all sorts of enemies down here. It's rare to see allies."

"Well an ally I am, and I hope everyone here can consider me as such. I'm not sure how similar our goals may be, but at least they're on common grounds and can seemingly be achieved by working together."

Callie nodded and handed Emperor a bottle of fruit juice with a little smile. The man let out a pleased huff and immediately began to drink.

"So, what's the information you wanted to give us today ?"

"Well, before anything, I want to see if my sources are accurate. So I'm gonna need to check something. Hey old man !"

The captain of the NSS rose a concerned eyebrow before putting down his trusted bamboozler.

"Yes ?"

"I'll be very clear with you. Out of all the people here, you're the one I trust the least. But you're also the only one that can give me this information. Do you recognize the man in this picture ?"

Emperor handed him an old picture of what seemed to be an inkling colonel in costume.

"Ah, yes ! Colonel Shellmers. One of my most trusted superiors. He's one of the only people left to give us orders for how Splatoon should act."

Emperor mumbled a little swear before clenching his fist and hiding the photo in his outfit.

"Welp. I suppose you just met his grandson. Fuck ... Good news is, what I'm about to say is accurate. I guess that's the best I can give you. The bad news is ... He's planning for you four to commit mass murder."

Chapter Text

There was a small moment of nothingness that Emperor decided to break by clearing his throat, staring at the squid sisters

"Is that all the reaction I can get from you when announcing something of that importance ?"

Callie shook her head and looked down

"W-Well ... That's... Quite the information you're giving us. It's not that I don't believe you. At this point ... I think I may believe anything you can say. But this ? This is beyond anything we did so far. I mean, I recognize that we hurt Octolings and I'm willing to take my responsibility for it. But we were NEVER ordered to kill anyone. Let alone this entire civilization. If you don't mind, can you explain where did you get that from ?"

"I just mentioned that I'm his grandson. This is not just a rumour I heard that got mangled through time as it circulated around. They were his own words."

"Right. But surely this must've come from a big conversation, this doesn't sound like something he'd mention while buying you an ice cream."

Emperor nodded and began to run his chin.

"Indeed. You see, with the informations I've learned around Octolings lately, I've been curious about what kind of information the elderly may hold about them. So I was a bit direct and asked my grandfather if he knew anything about them and he began to act very proud about my curiosity and explained what he did in the war until he mentioned the NSS and their role nowadays, to "keep the octos at bay". He then proceeded to tell me that his ultimate goal was basically to trick one of you to take a mission bigger than what you can handle and to end it by saying that an innocent squid had been murdered by these "monsters" and would take it as an opportunity to get authorisations to bomb the area. It seems that this plan is a failure so far, but we all know that if you keep fighting dozens of people at once all alone, it can and will happen. He wants me to take the lead when he's gone, to be his successor in leading this battle for truth ... The possibility of me disagreeing with his actions didn't even cross his mind."

Craig began to look around him with confusion, trying to gather his thoughts.

"Young man, surely this is a misunderstanding ... I don't understand everything that is going on and Shellmers has overreacted, I'll admit. But I don't think he could've said any of these things without a reason. Perhaps he felt like one of the octarian's latest actions was too threatening and wanted us to take actions to defend ourselves ? These nasty octarians-"

Four threw what was left of her sandwich on the old man and let out a deep, guttural growl.

"THREATENING ?! OH YEAH, I GUESS WE'RE THREATENING. Ten thousand octarians against MILLIONS OF INKLING !! But obviously OUR SIDE is one that can obliterate the other, right ?! Not the one that wants to bomb us !"

"Calm down young woman, I obviously wasn't talking about you-"

"AND WHO'RE YOU TALKING ABOUT THEN, HUH ?! My sister, the one that died for NOTHING because we wanted a little more electricity ?! The soldiers that are doing everything they can to protect us ? Or perhaps you want to talk about Octavio, huh ?! C'mon, tell everyone what YOU did to him. We'll see who's a threat to who then."

Craig looked down as his hands began to shake.

"I didn't kill him like I was ordered to. That was the most I could do for him."

"The BEST ?! YOU DISABLED HIM FOR LIFE !! Gramps was right, you're not just a monster. You're an hypocrite that refuses to see just how much pain he's inflicted onto others. You're lucky Callie and Marie grew up to be people I respect. Because if it wasn't for them, I would've thrown you off this cliff."

Marie grabbed the young octoling and dragged her away from her grandfather, visibly shaking as the younger woman's gaze softened when their eyes met.

"FOUR !! I know that you're angry but this is not the right time to fight, Please !!"

Four huffed, looked down and shivered.

"... I'm gonna take a walk. I don't want to be here anymore."

And with that, the kid sobbed and began to run away from the scene. Craig looked back at everyone and shook his head as he clenched his bamboozler.

"She's not wrong. I've done some mistakes in my life, things I'm not proud of. But I know that this time I won't make the same mistake, even if it means that I could be considered a traitor. From today and now on, the New Squidbeak Splatoon shall ignore any orders that doesn't come directly from one of its members. Our goal is and has always been to protect our civilization, not to destroy other's, and it shall stay this way until the very end. Young man, I thank you for your help. But for now ... I think I may need some time alone. To think."

The old man slowly got back on his feet and started to walk away from the scene too, leaving everyone else to think about just how many people's fate were left in their hands.

Chapter Text

This morning, Pearl and Marina woke up hearing music. A LOT of music. Now, little musical moments to cheer up everyone here weren't too rare. They didn't last long, about an hour, and often used a specific octarian band called "turquoise October", which Marina used to be a part of. But no. This song sounded a lot ... Funkier ? Something you could genuinely party over. Pearl liked it. She felt a little grumpy to be woken up like that, but ultimately began to listen and enjoy the music. But Marina didn't react like that. She jumped out of the bed, tentacles rising up as she frantically looked around, trying to see where the sound was coming from.

"Yo Reena, you good ?"

"AHATO !! THAT'S AHATO'S STYLE OF MUSIC, I RECOGNIZE IT !! WHA ... WHERE IS SHE ?!"

The octoling bursted the door open and ran out of the room, quickly followed by a very confused Pearl. Marina frantically began to run around the hospital, desperate to find the music's origin. She ran into a couple of wall corners and almost tripped against a random towel left on the floor, but eventually, she found it. She slammed the room's door open, gasping for air as she looked inside. The room was covered in shark decorations, and a huge paper banner had the words "happy birthday Shiver !" Written on it. Marina stared blankly at the room, looking around to see all of the faces spread around, until she saw it. A CD player.

... Of course Dedf1sh wasn't here. Warabi told her that her illness had worsen years ago. Surely she would no longer be alive by now.

Marina sighed as Pearl pushed her into the room to get a look, unsure of what to do now. But before she could leave, Shiver walked up to the couple and came to shake their hands with a smile.

"I'm so happy you two came to the party ! I wasn't sure if Storm came to give you your invites like I told her to. She's been hiding around doing paperwork all day today ... But hey, you're here at least !"

Pearl and Marina looked at each other awkwardly with eyes screaming the same thing. No, Storm DEFINITELY hadn't come to give them their invites. Pearl rolled her eyes and shrugged before Marina's arms was grabbed and dragged by another party member, one of her old soldier friends, Palm.

"Marina, it's so good to see you here !! Oooooh I remember you liked karaoke when we were younger, I think it's time for you to try that again ! We don't party often in this place, but Shiver's turning 20 and we can't just slip past that !"

Palm dragged Marina into a corner of the room with a chuckle and began to whisper

"Marina, we need your help with this. We tried to find some gifts for the Doc but we couldn't find anything original ... Until we walked through the pediatric section of the hospital and we saw something that caught our eye !! So we need to know ... Do you think Shiver would like a Shark plush ??"

"H-Huh ?? I mean ... I don't know ? I'm not really too close to her. But I think Pearl is ! They talk a lot together. Why did you think about me for that ?"

"Because you're the one that brought the idea of plushies for adults down here !! I'll admit, I found it weird too at first. But one day I sneaked out to grab one for myself and it's sooooo nice ?! I get really bad stomach pains at night so I cuddled it to feel better and it worked !! I slept like a baby, can you believe it ?!"

"Oh, that's great ! I'm glad you found the help you needed ! Still, I can't be sure if shiver will enjoy the plush. I think she needs to try it first and then she'll see if she likes it. But if she doesn't, I guess it'll provide some decorations for her room ! I can see that she likes sharks."

"Marina you're a GENIUS ! Gah, I'm so happy to have you here with us ! Now that you're back, maybe you can give us some more of the inkling's secrets ? Like oooh, what's the little crown Pearl always has on her head ? Does it have a secret purpose ?? Oooooh I have so many questions ... But I guess you have all of the time in the world to answer them now, hihi !"

Marina took a step back, forcing her smile to stay on her face. "Now that you're back." It said everything

They all thought Marina was here to stay.

And ... How could they think anything else ? To them, this was still Marina's home. Sure, she must've been lost with her time on the surface but now that she can bring back some of the inkling's ideas, it should be fine, right ?

... But no. The problem wasn't as simple as that. Marina was happy that she brought something like comfort back into this place. She wanted everyone to feel a little happier and closer to their emotions. But this was only a surface level healing. The problem was at the core of this civilization, the place they lived in. They didn't understand it, because they'd been raised in an environment where constant danger is considered the norm. It's only when Marina was pulled out of it all that she truly understood just how bad things had gotten. But now that she'd seen what a normal healthy live felt like ... She just couldn't go back.

"You know what ? Maybe we should ask Pearl. She knows a lot more about clothes than me !"

"Awh yes ! Marina, you're the best, thank you for being here !!"

Marina nodded and smiled. She loved these people. She loved her species. She wanted them to thrive.

But she would NOT stay here.

Chapter Text

If Pearl had to be honest with herself ... She had no idea of what would happen next in her life.

... Well, she always had no idea of what may happen next in her life. That's how she always lived. Try something new, go with the flow and just ... See what happens. But it's the first time it actually made her feel lost and ... Kind of scared. Pearl used to enjoy not knowing what her future may like, because she knew this world was full of surprises. Every day she would try something new and be happy that she experienced a free life that could always manage to make her curious about the smallest things that existed. But now, in this place, she'd been stuck in a routine. Not even a comforting one. It just felt ... Robotic.

Wake up. Eat. Spend some time with Marina. Get her medication. Eat. Talk to a few people. Eat. Sleep.

Nothing about this was exciting in any way. The food wasn't especially good nor comforting unless someone took some of their precious time to bake something. The people were nice but the amount of conversations they had was genuinely limited. How are they doing today ? Well, most likely not good. But they will say they're doing great, because they don't know just how depressed they truly are. What did they do on that day ? Doctors helped patients. Patients did their best to survive. What's their favorite activity ? People here don't have many hobbies here outside of music, art and military training ... If you could call that a hobby. And yeah ... That was all Pearl could learn from them. They often asked what the outside world looked like. The first few times, pearl enjoyed describing how wonderful it was up here. But little by little, she began to see that their behind curiosity was hidden a gigantic amount of sadness. She could see it in their eyes. "This place sounds so nice. I wish I could experience it before I die. But that won't happen." It just made the inkling feel so guilty...

Pearl knew that she would be healed soon. But she didn't know what that meant. Would Marina and her have to serve Octavio from now on ? Or will they be free from work, but simply stuck in this underground forever to make sure they don't spread the word about its existence ? Will Octavio ever release them ? Hell, will Octavio ever fucking talk to Marina ?! They were supposed to do so ages ago !! This old man ... Pearl didn't hate him by any means. She really didn't. But she had no idea of how to feel about his behavior. He sounded just like her and acted like he tried really hard to make things better but in the end ... She still felt like her condition hasn't changed much. She was still stuck down here, with her entire family probably thinking she and Marina were dead at this point. Boy would it be a fuckfest if she ever came back home ...

... Heh. This life was a mess.

Well, at least, that morning, something new happened. Not something good. But something new. That's better than nothing. Doctor Shiver had announced to her that her treatment was close to completion and that she would have to be given a new kind of oral medication to help the development of her scar tissue instead of having to spend a long time rubbing cream on her back every day. Which, while not entirely unpleasant, was starting to make Marina a little jealous. So Pearl just took the pill, reassured Marina that hopefully she wouldn't have to show her naked body to doctors every day anymore, and moved on with her day.

The first hour was ... A bit strange. Pearl could feel that she was a little more wobbly than usual, and that she was struggling to coordinate her movements, but she just assumed that this was what the medication was supposed to make her feel like. It was kind of new and she had to get used to it, that's all !

Thitty minutes later, Pearl struggled to stand up. Marina ended up leading her to her room for her to rest and take a nap. The inkling didn't complain, being carried around by her big and strong girlfriend wasn't bad at all and sleeping more couldn't hurt.

... Another thirty minutes passed by, and this is when Pearl understood that something was WRONG. She could feel herself getting pale. Her hands were shaking, her breaths were getting heavy, and her vision was starting to get blurry.

And suddenly ... Everything turned black.

Chapter Text

Pearl remembered passing out. She remembered how everything turned black, how stupidly heavy her body felt, and how much she tried to fight the dizziness off only to fail miserably and giving up to the exhaustion. She did not, however, remember her body being this painful. Everything just felt so heavy, and there was just something weird about the way she breathed ... Almost like she had something stuck in her throat.

Wait. She did. Pearl weakly opened up her eyes, tried to clench her teeth, and just felt a huge plastic tube stuffed in her throat to help her breathe. All of this was so weird ... She was awake. And mostly conscious. But her body just REFUSED to move. It was as if the inkling was prisonnier of her own body.

Still, while unable to get up in any way, Pearl could vaguely recognize what was going on around her. A bunch of people wearing white coats and masks were walking around her talking about things she couldn't comprehend. She recognized shiver, who finally looked at her, saw that she was awake and finally decided to remove the breathing tube from her mouth. The feeling was ... Unpleasant, to say the least. She definitely didn't expect this thing to be shoved so far up her throat, and to feel just about every single part of it coming out. But having it taken off was a real relief. After that, all of the masked people seemed to come up together, talked a little, and finally almost all of them walked out of the room, leaving the little squid out to recover on her bed, still just as confused as to what could've possibly happened here but at least now being given the time to come back to her senses. She could slowly feel herself coming back to her senses until finally, she sat down on her bed and began to take a closer look at herself. She now had an IV drip attached to her hand and was wearing a strange outfit made of paper.

"What the hell happened ..."

"You almost died ! That's what happened."

Pearl flinched and looked around only to see that a nurse was sitting down in a corner of the room. This nurse being none other than Storm.

"What ... Did I get poisoned or something ?"

"Pretty much. Not on purpose though. We thought that you could handle the same medication as Octolings. Turns out you couldn't. Your body had a severely negative reaction to it and basically decided that dying sounded like a great idea. We had to empty your stomach and give you a bunch of different injections to stabilize your health."

"Oh shit ... Woaw I'm so sorry for that."

"Don't be, I'm sure that dying wasn't exactly your plan for today."

Storm walked up to Pearl, and quickly wrapped her sphygmomanometer around the inkling's arm to silently check her blood pression. She let out a satisfied hum and nodded.

"I need you to stay here for now. You seem pretty stable, but I want to keep an eye out on you just in case your body would might pass out again."

"O-Okay ... Can I see Marina at least ? I want to make sure she knows I'm okay"

"Marina's asleep. It's the middle of the night, and we knew that you'd most likely be fine, so we told her to take some rest. You'll see her soon when you'll meet her in bed."

"Oh ... Alright."

"Can I get one of your fingers ? We usually add a diabetes test on the routine checkup, just to be sure."

"Which finger ?"

"Any that you won't have to use anytime soon."

"Why is th- OUCH ?! HEY THAT HURT !"

"Yeah, needles do that."

Storm put up the little drop of blood she gathered from Pearl's finger on a small machine and let a little smile crawl up her face.

"Everything's good on that part. You can keep stuffing yourself with sweets all you want."

"Oh fuck yeah, wouldn't have it any other way."

Storm sighed as she sat down on Pearl's bed and glanced at the IV.

"You know, it's kind of sad to say but ... I think this accident may go in your favor."

"Huh ?? How come ?"

"See, Marina was really stressed about all that just happened. We told her you were out of danger quickly enough so that she didn't really spend too much time worrying, but it did make her write a letter to Octavio saying what happened was bad. And now, she can easily use your specie's possible incompatibility to some medication as an argument to get you out of here... Even if that doesn't make the experience any more pleasant."

"Woaw that's kind of genius ... You really think we could get out ?"

"I hope so, at least. The further away you two are from here, the better for me. Would make my every day life a little less stressful."

Pearl slowly clenched her hand and looked down.

"... Hey, I know we're not exactly friends but ... If we do get out of here, I hope everything will be fine for you. I think ... Yeah no, I'm sure you're a good person."

Storm looked down with a slight blush, shook her head and smiled.

"You know what ? Maybe I'll go wake Marina up so you two can spend some more time together until you're good to go. Does that sound good ?"

"Oh fuck yeah please !!!"

Storm nodded, stretched and waved goodbye as she walked out of the room to find Marina.

She wanted them to be gone but ... Maybe seeing them leaving will feel weird.

Chapter Text

Octavio looked down at the blueprints of yet another creation coming right from the wasabi supply unit. Another idea to make the Octobot king even stronger. A robot ... That he hadn't touched in years. The man had simply thanked his team and told them he'd think about a day to integrate all of it to the robot before eventually falling back on his wheelchair with a sigh

... The old man didn't want to think about anything lately.

War. Death. Every day struggles. Landslides. Pain. Everything surrounding his every day life was negative. Not too long ago, he could've just taken a break to take care of his family and think about why he wanted to keep going. But now, he didn't have anyone. And taking a break all by himself just made him overthink everything. It was over. He barely had anyone he loved left. Except Marina.

He'd been overthink about the poor woman for weeks now. He knew he'd have to face her eventually. He'd found every single excuse to avoid meeting her so far, simply because ... He knew seeing her would make him break. He wanted good things for her. But how could he pretend to be nice when all that he did is hurt her ? He wanted her to be safe by his side. But he knew that this place could never being her true safety. Keeping her here felt selfish, but letting her go also meant leaving behind the last person he ever considered part of his family.

... He really was an awful person, wasn't he ?

"Sir Octavio ? We have a letter for you. It seems to be urgent."

"I'm bus- ... Who is this from ?"

"Marina Ida. She seems to be requesting a meeting with you."

Octavio nodded, grabbed the letter and signed to his assistant to leave the room as he read it. His tentacles were twitching as he unfolded the paper, the old man barely able to contain his tension.

"Your highness
I have been putting off a meeting request so far as I know that you are currently grieving the loss of your granddaughters. But as time passes by, I no longer think it is possible for me to wait more to meet you in person.
Today, my lover, the inkling you currently are keeping prisoner in our lands, has fallen ill due to an extremely negative reaction to what was supposed to be a harmess treatment. It seems that inkling's bodies cannot always handle the same treatments as ours and I'm afraid that similar accidents may happen again in the future.

Pearl hasn't done anything to deserve this kind of treatment, and I'm fearful to see that she could fall victim to this place's horrors despite having done everything she could to fit in.
I am humbly requesting to see you in hopes that we could settle this down with words instead of seeing my beloved being any more hurt.

I know you, Octavio, or at least I've known you in the past. You were a kind, humble and genuinely understanding man. We haven't seen each other in years, but I hope that this is all still the case. If you accept for me to see you once more, I shall come back to the wasabi supply unit's workplace to have a proper meeting.

Thank you for reading this letter.
Signed Marina Ida"

... Like always, he'd done nothing but mistakes.

Of COURSE putting off the meeting with Marina would lead to accidents like this one. Of course an inkling's body could not handle everything the same way an octoling body's does, THEY'RE NOT THE SAME SPECIES ... He should've known that this would happen instead of just putting off this stupid meeting because of his own feelings. Sooner than later, an accident was bound to happen and Pearl's health was bound to be endangered by the lack of understanding octoling had of her body. And Marina, well ... All that she could do is watch.

Octavio didn't want to release these two due to the harm that they could cause, but now, all that he saw is that not only he didn't save his people by doing such thing but he simply further endangered some innocents.

...

Octavio sighed as he crumbed the letter and threw it away to the other side of the room.

Now was time to face the consequences of his actions.

Chapter Text

Hearing that the government wanted to eradicate octarians was one thing.

Actually proving it to be the truth was something else entirely.

Over the last few days, the NSS had been working tirelessly to try to gather informations on their higher ups and other operations that could've been done around Octolings ... But unsurprisingly, little to nothing could be found about them. But with time passing by, stress slowly getting bigger and a lack of information about a possible bombing making it quite dangerous for the group to just risk a random expedition, the captain himself decided to act.

He quickly gathered up the entire team, and offered to call his superior in front of them to see if he could gather some new informations, and if they girls could pick up details he may not notice. Surprisingly, the old man decided to invite Four to the meeting as well. She wasn't particularly happy about it, but ultimately decided that her knowledge would indeed be pretty important in this situation

So here they all were, staring at the old man in a corner of the room waiting for the phone to stop ringing.

"... Hello ? Cuttlefish, is that you ?"

"Yes, hello my good sir ! It has been quite a while since I last called you, and I figured that you may be interested to keep in touch with my team."

"Oh yes indeed ! I've yet to see your report on your last few missions ! Is everything alright ?"

"Actually ... The octarians have displayed no signs of aggressiveness lately, and we concluded that attacking them wouldn't serve any purpose."

"Mmmmh ... I see your reasoning but I also think that this isn't necessarily a good decision. The octarians are always quiet for a reason. They're most definitely planning a attack, a very big one."

"We know for a fact that they planned an attack about a month ago, but said attack ended up failing and it seems that they're struggling to get back on their feet."

"And where did you get this information from ?"

"Agent 3 managed to hear that information in a nearby camp. They're a master at infiltration"

"I see ... I don't mean to disappoint you, but I'm afraid that this could've been deliberate misinformation. The Pufferfish Patrol actually told me that Octavio and his most powerful soldiers is currently studying the behavioral patterns that splatfests are creating in inkfish, meaning that he's looking for moments of weakness and lack of attention the youth are getting whenever they are putting all of their energy towards these festivals. It seems to be an information not yet spread out to the lower ranked soldiers."

Craig rose an eyebrow and quickly glanced at Four, who seemed just as confused as everyone else. They looked at Marie and quickly whispered

"What the hell is a splatfest and why would it make you weak ?"

Craig sighed and shook his head.

"Sir, could it be possible to contact the Pufferfish Patrol by myself to further discuss this issue ? This does sound legitimately worrying and I don't want to take any risks of miscommunication between our two factions."

"Craig ... I understand your enthusiasm but my answer will be the same as the last hundred years. It's a definitive no. I told again and again that contacting each other your voices is not only a risk to be located by the enemy, but also, discovering each other's identity could be extremely dangerous. Can you imagine what would happen if someone ended up noticing that Agent 1 and 2's real identity ? It could be a DISASTER for inkopolis."

"... I see. I understand. Do you have any advice for what we should do in this situation, sir ?"

"I'm afraid that if informations about this plan are only known by people close to Octavio, the only solution we have to know more is to send someone down here. It is a difficult choice to make, so I won't force you to do such thing ... But I truly believe we need to act quickly. If he wants to take advantage of our splatfests, he could be attacking us sooner than we may expect."

"I see. The next splatfest will happen in just about a week if I'm not mistaken ... It is quite a short time for us to get prepared. I'm going to ask my granddaughters if they can leave their respective works to take care of this issue, I'm not taking any risks. Thank you for your trust, sir."

"And as always, I thank you for yours, Cuttlefish. You've always been one of my most loyal soldier, and I'm glad to see that despite all those years you're still holding on to that title. Take care. Over."

Craig nodded, turned off his phone and sighed.

This was a disaster.

Chapter Text

After a moment of silence, Callie clenched her fists and walked towards her grandfather.

"Thank goodness that worked ... I was so worried he'd guess what's going on !"

"... No. He saw that I had doubts. I'm pretty sure he doesn't trust my decisions anymore."

"HUH ?! B-But he looked so sure that you'd obey him ?!"

"Callie, Shellmers is intelligent, much more than I've ever been. This may be one of the first time I've shown doubts about his directives, and I'm pretty sure that he knows something's going on here. However ... I'm not letting those doubts spread. Callie, do you think you and Marie can take a break from your radio show for a bit ?"

"I mean ... It probably won't be great for our finances but this is much more important than money could ever be. So yeah, we totally could !!"

"Good. I want the entire Splatoon and the little octoling to all come down into the domes to start communication with Octavio before the situation worsens. The young man that we saw the other day was right. Shellmers wants you to go on a suicide mission to get a reason to bomb everyone down there if anything goes wrong. We're going to pretend to do exactly that while we try to establish a plan against this madness."

Four stretched and growled.

"And how do you plan to stop someone who has enough power to literally bomb us all ? I mean. He could pretend that you all died in this mission and bomb everything anyway."

"... I'm not sure. But I know for a fact that if we want to build up a plan, we're going to need Octavio's help. If we need a proof that everyone is still alive, I know that my little girls have very active social medias. While I'm not exactly sure how it works, I know that using them regularly can be used as proof that they are still doing well. And if we act like we're following Shellmers's orders, I doubt that he will betray us."

"You doubt, but I don't think you can be sure of it. If this man gets tired of you, you're going to to get bombed. And trust me, being crushed to death by rock is particularly unpleasant."

"... If my actions were wrong from the beginning, perhaps it's the fate I deserve after forcing so many of your kind in this miserable life. I feel like I don't know much of anything anymore. But if my granddaughters believe that my mistakes can be fixed, even a little bit, then I want to help them in making this world a better place."

"So what ? Do you just admit that you were wrong from the beginning ?! That you fucked up for a hundred years, made our lives a nightmare and you're just going to come back to beg Octavio for forgiveness ?!"

"... Kiddo, I'm not really sure what you want from me. I don't want your forgiveness nor anyone else's. I just want peace. Believe it or not, I've been fighting my entire life for peace. And with all of the pain I've inflicted onto others, it would be easy for me to think that I can never bring anything close to it back on this earth and that I should just accept that I was wrong. But I'm not dead quite yet. And if I still have enough time to change my mind and take the path of truth, I don't see a reason why I shouldn't try to make things better. If I'm an idiot for doing so, so be it. I'll be an idiot who chose to believe in an old friend one last time."

"... And you think Octavio won't take it as an occasion to just punch you in the face ?!"

"Like I said, if I was truly wrong all this time, I probably deserve it."

Four grunted, took a step back and eventually went to sit back down against Marie's shoulder. She sighed, wrapping her arms against the squid's and took one last glance towards the old man.

"I spent all my life wondering why gramps couldn't bring himself to hate you. I guess I get it now. I STILL DON'T LIKE YOU. But I get it."

"... Octavio doesn't hate me ?"

"SHUT UP SHUT UP I'LL KILL YOU YOU FUCKING SQUID !!"

"Ah, you two truly are family ... You act just like him when he was younger."

"GRRRRR !!"

Marie chucked before ruffling Four's hair.

"Instead of trying to fight each other, can we start planning our next mission ? The quicker we get underground, the sooner we can help."

"Indeed ... I believe that jumping into the domes as soon as tomorrow would be the best thing to do."

Four sighed and nodded before grabbing a piece of paper and scribbling down a plan of the domes to share with the group.

... This may be the most important thing all of them would ever get to do in their lifetime. They couldn't afford to mess up

Chapter Text

Marina stepped into a room filled with large amounts of giant metal scraps, a couple buckets of paint and slight smell of old electronics cleaner spray.

There she was. Finally coming up to meet with Octavio after all those years.

Thousands of little cogs and pieces of paint that had chipped off were covering the floor, and in the middle of it all was the Octobot king. A giant weapon that used to be the woman's biggest achievement was now looking ... Old. Many parts were broken and had signs of large impacts, the paint used to cover up all of her messes was now half erased, and a significant amount of dust covered the entire mech. Marina walked up to the machine and very carefully began to touch it with her hand, removing some of the dust off one of its fists to see herself in the metal's reflection. This ... This used to be the most important thing in her life. And somehow, she both felt deeply close to it and so ... Distant. Marina looked at herself in the reflection of against this metal and couldn't help but wonder ...

Am I the same person as I used to be ?

She could so clearly remember what "Marina Ida" was. A young prodigy, loved by all of her peers, always willing to help everyone around her, who spent her days and nights creating weapons and making blueprints for her next ideas, who didn't fear anything and would've sacrificed her life to save her people and destroy inklings ... Marina knew that she had been this person. Rationally speaking, she couldn't dissociate herself from memories that were so clearly hers. But when trying to think about this younger version of herself, Marina just felt a violent gag rip out her throat. Because she didn't recognize herself anymore. This kid wasn't her. She wasn't ANYTHING like her. The simple idea of being anything close to what she used to be made her severely ill. Should she even called Marina at this point ?! Was she even worthy of being seen as such by all the people she disappointed.

That thought grew louder and louder, making her feel even more ill by the second, until a red tentacle grabbed her hand. She flinched away and turned around to see a familiar face. And the second she recognized Octavio, she could no longer stop her tears.

"Marina ..?"

"I don't want to be here, I'm so lost, I'm so scared, why did I even come here ..."

The woman let herself fall into the tentacles of the old man as she sobbed. Unsure of what to do, Octavio simply stroke her back in silence for an entire minute before Marina finally took her breath back. She sat down on the floor, not even thinking about all of the stupid cogs hurting her skin.

"... I missed you. But I don't want to be here."

Octavio sighed and looked at the Octobot king. He was the one that trapped this poor girl back. He should've just let her go as soon as she ended up here. Why didn't he do so anyway ? Was it an egoistical thought of keeping the young woman by his side again, to remind himself of the happiness she brought him ? Or perhaps was he wishing that his old prodige could come back with some sort of help of any kind, thoughts from the outside he could've have come up on his own from the obscurity of this hole ? No matter. He'd made a stupid decision from the start. That's all that was important, the result, not the intention.

"I'm sorry for everything. You should've never came back here."

"I know. I thought ... No, I don't know what I thought. I felt like some people needed help down here. And I was right. But I can't bring any of the help you may be seeking. So I'm just ... Here. Back where it all started. It's pathetic, really."

"If this is pathetic, then everyone here is pathetic. And the most pathetic of all is me."

"... You know, I was kind of hoping we could have a sweet reunion here. I liked you. And ... You liked me. I think. But look at us. I'm tired. You're tired. I have so many things to say but ... I don't even know how I can say them without hurting you or everyone down here."

"... Do you regret leaving ?"

"... Octavio ..."

"Please. I just want to know."

"... No. No I don't. I've never lived a better life than on the surface, I've never been happier. This place is hell on earth."

The tears came back. Except Marina wasn't alone this time. Octavio didn't even remember the last time he allowed himself to cry. He didn't even do such thing at the death of his own family. But right now, he couldn't control himself. So ... That was it. He'd truly failed as a leader, as someone who did everything he could to help others. He'd sacrificed his entire life trying to make his people happy, and it was all for nothing.

"... Marina. Please, go back on the surface. I don't want to see you down here ever again"

Chapter Text

Marina looked at her leader, a man that she'd never seen more weak than in this instant. That ... Was it. She was free to go. And all she had to do is ask. It felt too easy. Genuinely. Someone in her wanted to fight for that right to leave but it seems like Octavio was willing to give her such thing from the start.

The woman got up, walked closer to Octavio and sat down by his side, gently holding his tentacle as she looked back at the Octobot king.

"... Pearl told me you didn't want us to go back."

"I don't even know what I want anymore. I thought that I was doing something right by keeping her down here. That I was protecting us all. But now that I take a step back, I see that I was most likely too cruel. You two didn't deserve to suffer just because we all do. I just ... I don't know what to do anymore. I tried everything to protect my people. Nothing seems to work. I think the least I can do right now is try to make sure the damage doesn't spread too much. And if you feel happier outside ... Hell I won't force you to stay here. I'm keeping everyone down here because I think it's the safest for them. But now ... I'm not so sure anymore. I heard that a couple of us are doing great on the surface, but I'm so scared to see how a mass migration could affect the inkling's vision of us..."

"... Do you want my views on the subject, as someone who actually experienced the outside world ?"

"I'll admit ... This is probably one of the rare things I haven't heard yet. I don't think I have much of a choice here. I NEED to hear it to get a well deserved slap in the face."

"I think ... Things are going great so far. You were right about some things. Inklings are kind of stupid at time. Most don't even see us as a separate species. But their hatred for us isn't innate. It's taught. There's only a few people left in this world that see us as active targets. And it's the ones that use the Squidbeak Splatoon as puppets. Everyone else ... They'd be more than happy to have us here."

"I see. But how can be sure that they won't attack us once our numbers start to raise ?"

"... I'll be honest. We can't be sure. The NSS is still out there and we still don't know how they'll behave in the future. But I've heard they've been more empathetic lately. A friend of mine told me she was spared by agent 1 when she noticed she was already injured. If we can't calm down the people whose hearts are tainted with hatred by a century of hate, perhaps us getting closer with the younger generation can be enough to help them be more empathetic about our cause. I'm willing to bet the reason why the NSS hasn't been nearly as aggressive as before lately is because they've seen more and more Octolings in a domestic context rather than always see them in a uniform and a weapon in hand."

Octavio sighed and looked up at the ceiling of the room, as a few years leaked down his eyes.

"... I'm fucking terrified. If I make the wrong decision right now, I'm done. I would've been the worst leader this species could've ever gotten. But ... I've seen you grow from a little puddle of ink to someone anyone could admire, Marina. You're someone I trust, not because you've been loyal but because you've always done what you felt was right. I think it's the most important quality someone can have. And I want to believe that I can trust you. I've made enough shitty decisions on my own. I think I need to rely on others a bit more."

"Sir- Octavio. Don't blame yourself. You've always done your best. We all know it."

"Well sometimes best isn't enough. Look at you today. That could've been avoided if I acted faster."

Marina looked at her hand, looked at Octavio's face, and gave him a gentle nudge

"The old man I knew had more pride than that. We're octolings. We don't give up so easily after a mistake, or else we would've gone extinct a while ago. I'm sure you're going to find something new to try sooner than you'd think."

"... Yeah. Yeah you're right. But for now, I'm gonna focus on making sure you get out of here sooner than later. I'm gonna make up a small group to lead you up to the surface tomorrow. That'll be one problem fixed, and hopefully none left for you."

"Thank you, Octavio."

"One last thing before you go. Can you bring Pearl here ? I'd like to have to have a little chat alone with her. It's important."

"Oh ! Uuuuh ... Alright ? I'll make sure to do that !"

"Thank you Marina. Please, take care."

One step in the right direction

Chapter Text

Pearl closed the door behind her and walked up to Octavio feeling like her entire body was about to either burst from pressure or straight up melt on the floor.

Octavio had called her. All alone. Just for them to have a "little talk". After months of leaving her to stay in this hospital he straight up wanted to talk to her RIGHT AFTER TALKING TO MARINA AND SAYING HE WANTED TO FREE HER. This was bad, right ?! Pearl had no clue of what this man could possibly want from her, and her mind was immediately going to the worst possible options

"Hello Pearl."

"Higoodmorninghowareyou."

The man rose an eyebrow as he glanced at the little squid in confusion.

"I remembered you being ... A little more cocky."

"... I mean umh ... Am I supposed to be cocky ?"

"Sigh ... This isn't good. Well, at least you don't look as depressed as Marina."

Pearl looked down and scratched her neck.

"She ... Told me you wanted to see me. Only me. I think I have my reasons to be stressed about it."

"Everything's fine kid. At least for you. I'm not not here to eat you, if I wanted you dead your head would've been popped off your shoulders months ago."

"... Alright. GOOD. Pfiew. You have NO IDEA how stressed I was about this shit. But uuuuh ... If this meeting isn't important, why did you want to see me alone so bad ?"

"It's still important. But you're not the one in a position of weakness here. I am."

The old man growled glancing left and right to calm himself down.

"Listen kid. I want to make it clear, you don't owe me anything. If anything, I owe you the time you lost spent in this underground. But ... Fuck, I can't believe I'm saying this to a squid. I need help."

The giant octopus's tentacles began to nervously twirl around as he looked up and crossed his arms.

"I don't think I can understand how bad this place is. I've been here the whole time, and I've slowly seen everything getting worse and worse. Y'know, if you throw a crab directly into boiling water, you'll see it dying in pure agony and pain . But if you put it in regular water and slowly rise up its temperature, it probably won't notice how bad things are until it's too late. I see it clearly now. There's no hope for surviving down here. Things are going to get worse and worse, until we reach a point where we won't be able to fix ourselves nor the place we live in. We're all going to die down here if I don't do something. For years upon years I believed that going outside was too dangerous to even try. And even now I'm scared that the fate of the octolings on the surface is already sealed. But I think they at least have a chance to thrive up there instead of knowing for a fact that they won't make it here. And in the end, Marina's happiness ended up making me think about this whole situation. I'd rather try to do something new than just accept our fates and slowly crumble to dust down here. I know a lot of octolings have already abandoned the idea of living in peace. But it's not too late."

Pearl took a deep breath and looked straight in the eyes of Octavio. The sudden eye contact was awkward. But it did show a genuine contact between the two.

"Damn ... I don't know what to say. I admire that you can admit that you need help. I mean. I guess that it's not THAT hard to admit that this place is difficult to live in. But you spent your entire life trying to make it work and seeing that you're a leader trying to be respected, showing your weakness like that is ... Pretty damn fucking impressive. But I have a problem. I'm not sure if I understand what you want from me. Like- ... Do you need me to bring food ? Maybe materials ??"

"No. We have enough food and no matter how much material we have here, there won't ever be enough to fix everything. No. I need you as a person. I want you to teach my people how to live outside so that I can slowly evacuate them to the surface. Help them learn about your traditions, the things you wear and y'know. Everything that could help them fit in. If thousands of people popped out of nowhere with no clue of how basic things worked, they would immediately be seen as something that people should focus on. But if they immediately know how to act, they get a chance to blend in. Plus, I've seen just how comfortable my people have been around you. They've never met any friendly inklings before and should've been weary around you, but there's something about your aura ... You make people feel at ease. I feel like people would be willing to listen to you if you told them they had a chance on the surface."

"Holy shit, that's not a bad idea at all ... I could like ... Teach them about turf war and stuff !"

"Turf ... War ?"

Pearl could immediately feel the switch of emotions in the giant octopus's eyes. She chuckled nervously and shook her head.

"Oh no, not like that ... It's the national sport up here. Like. The stuff kid play to have fun ! Completely harmless, to a point where people look at you weird if you tell them you've never tried it. I remember just how genuinely confused I was when I learned that Marina never even tried it. So yeah, helping them learn stuff like that could DEFINITELY be an improvement on how well they fit in !"

"I see ... So you're up for it ?"

"... Yeah. Yeah !! I've been fighting my entire life to make Marina happier, and seeing her slowly bloom into the person I love was worth it. I'm more than ready to do it all again. You've got a deal old man !! I'm your gal !"

"Thank you so, SO MUCH ... Urgh. My pride has been seriously damaged but at least I feel like I can try something new."

"Hey, don't say that. Asking for help isn't giving up. It's refusing to give up. I don't care what I've said about you before. You're a great king."

Octavio nodded and gave pearl a small phone.

"Here. To contact me in the future. It's a fairly rudimentary phone, but it works particularly well and I know for a fact that it's not breaking any time soon."

"That looks ANCIENT."

"Yup. It's human technology."

Pearl very carefully stared at the phone to try to decipher the ancient human runes on it. "Nokia 3310". How mysterious ...

"Oh, and don't speak to Marina about this."

"Huh ? Why not ?!"

"If she learned about this plan, she'd want to follow you back down here. And I don't want to see her taking a step in this place ever again. It's for her own good."

"... Understood. Thank you."

Chapter Text

Four huffed as she looked at Callie preparing her travel bag. In a few hours, she'd be back into the domes, bringing with her the terrible, awful, terrifying inkling agents that everyone hated so deeply. Despite everything that she'd learned, Four couldn't help but feel stressed about it all. What if she'd made a bad decision, either because these inklings would take it as an occasion to hurt others or because they may end up hurt themselves ? She could feel herself getting more and more tense as time passes by, and all she could do was wait and try her best not to go insane by overthinking.

Suddenly, a hand on her shoulder. The octoling jolt backs and lets out a hiss before realizing that the hand simply belonged to Marie, who seemingly wanted to calm her down. Four's ear drooped in shame and she looked down with a frown.

"... Sorry."

Marie sighed as she sat by her friend's side and shook her head. That kid ... Didn't know how to let their guard down. Genuinely. No matter the situation they were in, it was always like they expected SOMETHING to happen. They didn't know what nor why it would happen, but they felt like they needed to be ready for it. It was deeply heartbreaking to witness.

"Four, we'll bring you back to your home soon. I promise. No need to worry about everything like that."

"... Yeah I know. It's almost like this was our only subject of discussion since yesterday happened."

"I'm ... Sorry. Everything has been complicated lately. But hopefully it means things can get better ?"

"Nothing will ever be the same again, there's a genocidal maniac on the top of the inkling government that could bomb our face just because he thinks our existence is a threat, my body is broken forever and I have random muscle pains for no reason now, and I'll have to remember that even if I come back home, I'll never see my sister back because she was crushed under hundreds and hundreds of pounds of rock for even trying to access electricity. Things are getting soooo much better."

"Listen- I ... I don't know what else to say. I've never been good with small talk, especially in situations that are just this ... Intense. The best I could do when I learned someone dear to me almost killed herself was to yell at her as if it was her own fault. I'm sorry Four. I want to help you, but I don't know how."

"... It's Skip."

"Huh ?"

"My name. It's not Four, it's Skip. If we go in the underground, you're bound to hear it. There's no use in hiding it anymore."

Marie quickly glanced back at Skip, whose expression shifted into something a little less sad and a little more trusting. The squid shook her head and slightly leaned against the octopus.

"I hope you'll be able to feel at home again at least. I think the people that you left behind miss you. They'll be amazed to hear that you're alive."

"Yeah ... My old man's probably gonna cry. Octavio acts tough but he's a big softie. I'm ... Also gonna see Marina again. I mean, I did see her when she saved me. She didn't recognize me though. I ... Grew up really fast over the last over the last few years. I wonder how she grew too."

"... I hope I'll get to see her too. I want to be sure that she's safe. I refused to attend her "burial" a few weeks ago and ... I'm starting to feel guilty about it."

"What, ya feel like Marina could die so easily ? HA ! She survived four years with inklings, I think she'll do just fine back in the underground."

"Hey, what's that supposed to mean ?"

"I'll let you guess ~"

Marie rolled her eyes as she watched Skip's stressed out little smile grow out to become a giant grin. She smashed her hand against the teen's head and began to ruffle her tentacles with a huff, to which she responded by trying to playfully claw at her arm to get it away.

It only lasted thirty seconds. But at least, Four got her guard down for thirty seconds. It felt great

Chapter Text

Today was the day of their departure. The day they would finally go back to the surface, back to their old lives, back to ... Stability. Marina looked back at the hospital she hadn't left in god knows how long, and tried her best to erase the last few bits of guilt left in her chest. She has a right to be happy. She had a right to come here. Octavio never forbid anyone from leaving the domes. He just told people that doing so would most likely be extremely dangerous. But today, outside was much safer than this place.

She took a step towards the group of soldiers waiting for the duo. Pearl was a little bit hesitant about the idea of having soldiers on their ass for the entire trip, but Marina quickly reassured her by explaining that this was a fairly normal thing to do. Down here, soldiers was a rank in hierarchy and a way to show who was trained for combat more than an actual job. In the end, a lot of soldier's roles were similar to what the police, firefighters, bodyguards or even a rescue team could provide. These people were going to follow the duo to ensure they wouldn't accidentally get crushed by a rock slide after taking a wrong path.

Octavio was also here. Seemingly out of good faith. Marina seemed to be genuinely happy to have him here. She'd been talking to the old man for the last ten minutes, offering him a proper goodbye this time around instead of just leaving him behind without a word. Everything seemed to be normal until Pearl spotted two people running at full speed towards them. Marina pointed them out and Octavio rolled his eyes and simply chuckled.

"Some of the medical staff told me they wanted to say their goodbyes too. I can only suppose it's them."

In just a couple seconds, Marina recognized that the two women sprinting towards them were exactly who she expected ... Shiver and Storm. Shiver finally arrived completely out of breath but with a large smile, alongside a visibly less exhausted storm whose house expression seemed to be a little more ... Strange. Shiver let our a nervous chuckle before holding out her hand for Pearl to shake.

"You know, all things considered we haven't known each other for too long but ... I'll miss you. You're someone I really enjoyed talking to, and I hope your future will stay bright. Take care, Pearl. You too, Marina."

Pearl sighed, rolled her eyes and just pulled Shiver into a hug. The octopus let out a little surprised squeak but ultimately enjoyed the interaction. Marina smiled and looked back at Storm, who seemed a little avoidant.

"Did you come here to say something too, Storm ?"

"... I'm glad we saw each other again."

The ex-soldier let out a shaky breath before swallowing back her tears.

"Thanks Storm. I'll miss you too. I hope you can remember that."

Storm let out a whimper, clenched her fist until it began to shake and jumped into Marina's arms.

"YOU BETTER TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF ALRIGHT ?! I WANT YOU AND PEARL TO ENJOY YOUR LIFE AT THE FULLEST. GET OUT OF HERE AND ... AND BE HAPPY !!"

Marina stayed silent for a few seconds before gently rubbing her hand against Storm's back.

"We will be. And I hope you'll be happy too. I mean it, Storm."

Storm took yet another deep breath, stepped away from Marina with teary eyes and nodded.

"I didn't want things to be emotional but here I am again ..."

"It's okay ... I'm glad you're here, and I'll admit ... I may be close to crying too."

Octavio cleared his throat and looked back at the soldiers waiting behind him for the goodbyes to end

"I suppose this is it. Pearl, Marina, I am deeply sorry for everything that happened to you two. I don't think I can provide anything to make up for the time you have lost in this place. But I know that I can still make the right decision. My people will help you reach out to the surface and hopefully, you can return to the life you were always meant to have. May your journey be safe."

Marina nodded and looked down before turning her back to Octavio for what she assumed would be the last time.

Until a yell made everyone froze in place

"NOBODY MOVE !! WE'RE THE NEW SQUIDBEAK SPLATOON !!"

Chapter Text

Octavio felt a shiver crawl up his spine as he looked up at the location the yell came from. That was Agent 1's voice, he knew it too damn well, and her and her little group were walking towards his people. The man growled and clenched his tentacles, praying with all of his hearts that things would still go smoothly. Because him having an inkling prisoner was one thing. Agents actually seeing that he had a prisoner was something else entirely, and he knew that they could definitely use it against him to land an attack. He didn't know what to say in this instant. ANYTHING that may come out of his mouth could be held against him. So he simply stayed silent and stared. The voice kept on going.

"Now that we have your attention, I have an announcement to make. WE COME HERE IN PEACE. So LOWER YOUR WEAPONS. We don't have any. We just want to talk. It's an emergency."

... Octavio rolled his eyes and growled. Fuck it for the silence. At this point, this girl was taunting him.

"And can I know HOW THE HELL did you come in here if you don't have any weapons ?!"

Callie looked down and let a smaller silhouette of an octoling come closer to her

"I'm the one who let them in."

A deep wave of confusion began to rise through the air as Octavio just stared at the teenager in disbelief. His eyes widened, tentacles loosened and his breaths began to get quicker.

"... You're dead."

Skip smiled, tried to hide a small tear leaking against her cheek and let out a sob.

"I got better."

The teenager bursted into tears and immediately tried to run towards her grandpa, but tripped down on the floor with a grown. She'd forgotten how weak her legs had become lately. Callie smiled, grabbed the teen and shoved her on her back before running towards Octavio. Behind her, Marie, Three and Craig were simply walking with a smile, watching the miraculous scene unfold as Four jumped in her grandfather's arms and the two Octolings began to cry. Callie hid a heavy breath on her own as she watched the family finally reunited.

"YOU'RE HOME ... YOU'RE HERE, YOU'RE NOT UNDER- YOU'RE ... I THOUGHT I COULD NEVER SEE YOU AGAIN !! I THOUGHT I WOULDN'T EVEN GET TO SEE YOUR BODY !!"

"I know, I know ... I was really lucky."

Suddenly, a voice came from behind everyone. Marina's voice.

"... SKIP ?! You ... YOU WERE SKIP ALL ALONG ?"

"Yup. I guess I changed a lot lately. Also, hi Marina. Didn't see you there. I didn't get a chance to thank you for saving my life so ... I suppose I should do that too. Thank you."

And with these few words, Callie jolted backwards so fast that she almost felt like she could've broke her neck.

"MARINA ?! MARINA, YOU'RE HERE ?! YOU'RE ALIVE A-AND YOU'RE WELL AND ... OH MY GOD PEARL TOO. YOU TWO ARE ... Oh my god I need to sit down. What. WHAT ?!"

...

That was a little too many informations for the poor octoling to handle at once. Perhaps that was too many informations for ANYONE to handle in general.

First of all, the octoling she originally saved all those weeks ago was none other than her childhood friend, Octavio's granddaughter, Skip. And she didn't even recognize her. She heard her call her name right before the rescue helicopter left, but simply assumed that she was an old fan of hers ... NOT SOMEONE SHE LOVED SO DEARLY. Someone that thought Marina was dead. Someone ... Marina was so sure died too.

Second, the agents. The agents were calling for peace. They came in this place without weapons. They came bringing Skip back safe and sound. Things were moving, weren't they ?? This was one of the biggest improvements this civilization could have, right ?! Proper communication and empathy with the enemy made people understand each other. And people understanding each other rare ever wanted to fight. This could mean peace, ACTUAL peace.

But most shockingly... AGENT 1 WAS CALLIE.

CALLIE THE SQUID SISTER. CALLIE, HER VERY CLOSE FRIEND. CALLIE, THE PERSON THAT RELIED ON HER BECAUSE SHE FELT LIKE SHE COULD KILL HERSELF. CALLIE HER INSPIRATION FOR COMING OUT TO THE SURFACE, CALLIE, CALLIE, CALLIE !!!

Marina just ... Didn't have the brain to understand all of that at once. She tried to, of course. She didn't have much of a choice. But all that she ended up doing was state at the agent and let out a few words that came from her HEART.

"What the fuck"

Four rolled her eyes and huffed.

"Woaw look Callie, here she is, the master of machineries, completely fine and unharmed. Who could've guessed that ?"

Callie shook her head and jumped into Marina's arms, completely unable to control herself.

"YOU'RE SAFE, YOU'RE S- ... FUCK I CAN'T !! I'M SO HAPPY YOU HAVE NO IDEA ..."

Marina, in her confusion, simply wrapped her arms around the inkling and let her stay against her shoulder.

She didn't know much about agent 1. But she knew about Callie. And that Callie was being honest right now. That's all she needed to know. As she watched the rest of the New Squidbeak Splatoon walk by Octavio's side, Marina closed her eyes and let her entire body relax as she heard the sobs of relief spread through the room.

... Until she recognized a very specific noise echoing through the tunnel.

A noise she would never, EVER forget.

Chapter Text

The sound of a blender. The very sound that brought the lovers down here. It was oddly specific and by itself, didn't sound that threatening. But as soon as she heard it, Marina's body moved on its own. She jumped to shield Pearl, Callie and Storm's bodies with her own and just as expected, the world began to shake.

No one expected it. Not even Pearl. Everyone was too focused on the absurdity of this situation to even think about a random background machine noise as anything dangerous.

It all happened very quickly. A massive rock fell right between the four girls and everyone else, blocking the way for any possible escape in that direction. Soon enough, the rest of the walls began to collapse. Marina was terrified. Every time she took a step into a direction, she realized that moving was a bad idea and could result in her and her friends getting hurt. And before she could even take a decision, the ground fully shattered. The rocks under their feet weren't thick nor as strong as they'd expected. They were thin, brittle and most importantly ... They hid a giant gaping hole that they were now falling into.

...

To say that everyone was in shock was an understatement. The NSS, the soldiers, Octavio, Shiver ... Everyone was voiceless.

In their vision, these four women had just been crushed to death. Just like that, in a few seconds, their fate had been sealed and nothing that they could've done would've helped them. Pearl, Marina, Storm and Callie were dead.

Octavio couldn't stop staring at the rocks, tentacles clenched around his wheelchairs. Every breath he took was more difficult to handle than the last. Marina was dead. She was DEAD. In just a few minutes, the old man had seen one of his children rise from the dead only for another one to be taken away. And worst of all, he actually witnessed it and he did NOTHING to stop it. And even right now, all he could do was watch. Was that the only thing he'd ever been good at ? Watch ?! He was supposed to be a leader, to be powerful, to be someone that could help his people. Why was he so USELESS ?!

... The one thing that snapped him back to reality was a massive scream coming from behind him, and a shadow bolted towards the rock slide.

"CALLIE !!"

It was Marie.

She began to dig her hands through the rubble, moving massive stones one by one desperately yelling her cousin's name. It didn't take much time for her fingers to start bleeding, and finally two of the soldiers that stood behind Octavio ran towards the agent and immobilized her.

"STOP MOVING THE ROCKS, YOU'RE GONNA CAUSE ANOTHER LANDSLIDE !! DO YOU WANT TO DIE ?!"

"I DON'T CARE IF I DIE !! SHE'S UNDER THERE, SHE NEEDS MY HELP !! CALLIE, CALLIE CAN YOU HEAR ME ?! I'M COMING, I PROMISE !!"

"EVERYONE UNDER THERE IS ALREADY DEAD !! YOU WON'T HELP ANYONE BY DIGGING UP THEIR REMAINS !!"

"NO, SHE'S NOT DEAD !! I KNOW SHE CAN'T BE DEAD !! CALLIE-"

Suddenly, a voice rose up.

"MARIE. STOP."

The inkling finally stopped struggling and turned her head around to see Skip walking towards her, trying her best to stay on her feet despite the tears leaking down her face.

"She's already dead. Please. Don't let yourself die too."

Little by little, Marie stopped struggling against the soldiers. Until finally, she dropped to her knees and let herself cry all of the tears she could shed. Craig and Three began to walk towards her, sat by her side, and took the woman into their arms before slowly breaking down as well.

And once again, Octavio could only watch. These people had been his enemies for many, many years. But they came here in peace. They came to hopefully help others, but ended up loosing a piece of themselves in the process. The old man looked down and slowly found himself grieving for the agent as well.

... She was young, wasn't she ? She had her entire left to grow up and change. And it seemed like she'd already started doing so, too. She deserved better. Just like any of the thousands of soldiers whose lives had been lost deep beneath the stones of this crumbling prison. May her soul rest in peace, he prayed. May Marina take care of her in the afterlife.

Suddenly, a buzzing sound began to resonate through the tunnel. A phone. Octavio growled and looked at his belongings, realizing that said phone belonged to him. He sighed, tried his best to take a voice that hid his distress and answered the called.

"Hello, this is Octavio. There's been an deadly accident in the sector I'm currently in, please call again later-"

"UUUUH ... YO OCTAVIO, WE AIN'T FUCKING DEAD"

Chapter Text

To say that the mood shifted quickly would be an understatement. EVERYONE was just blankly staring at this phone, trying to understand what just happened. That was Pearl's voice. There was no doubt about it. After a bit, Octavio finally tried his best to come up with an answer

"Wha- ... How - ... Alright Octavio, you can do this."

The octopus took a deep breath and began to scream his lungs at the phone.

"WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU MEAN YOU'RE ALIVE ?! How did you even manage to move enough from under those rocks to get your phone ?!"

"Yeah see umh ... That's kind of the point. I'm not under those rocks. I mean, technically speaking, they are over my head, but the thing is we fell into a giant hole and they didn't fall on me. There was a cavity under the floor, and everything was hollow underneath. Most of the rocks got blocked off at some point, but everyone fell down and we ended up on the floor. I got separated from the rest of the group, we fell into different cavities, but I really don't see a reason why they wouldn't have survived. I'm ... Doing great. It's really strange, last time I fell from about 40 feet and I ended up with a shredded back, but right now I just fell for what felt to be entire minutes and I'm doing just fine. I think it has to do with this place. I just have a really weird feeling about it."

Octavio closed his eyes to try to think of what to do, until Marie crawled up to his side and began to whisper.

"Is that Pearl calling you ? How did she even do that ?!"

"By using her phone."

"And how did you get her number ?! Octavio ?!"

"None of your business, squiddo. Pearl, I'm going to be honest with you. I don't think we can rescue you right now. Trying to dig a hole or even just move the rocks may cause a massive landslide and destroy a significant portion of our lands, especially if like you said, there's yet another hollow place under our feet. However, I'm not just letting you die down here. If there's ANYTHING we can do for you, please ask us. Keep your phone down in the meantime and only call us if there's things we need to know. If you're all alone in a dark place, you're gonna need some battery for yourself."

"Actually ... There's lights here. I think this place has inhabitants. It's not very bright but I can see that the floor was build, it's not just dirt. And there's actual walls too. I'm not sure what's going on but I don't think I'll have to worry too much about being able to eat and drink. But ... Yeah, you're right. I probably need to keep my phone's battery. I'll call you back once I see what's going on a bit more."

And with that, Pearl hung up and the entire group let out a sigh of relief. Marie walked up to her grandfather and immediately sunk into his arms, bringing him into a deep hug that she obviously needed.

"I can't believe it ... Callie's fine, Callie's fine ... Oh my god ... Alright. I'm good. Everything's fine. We're gonna be fine."

Agent 3 looked back at the pile of rocks and crossed their arms before looking back at Octavio.

"So ... What now ?"

"Well, I thought the NSS came here to talk. Perhaps we should start by doing that ? I believe there's a lot to be said."

Craig sighed as he walked up to his old friend and rose up his hand to be shaken

"Indeed. I believe it's time for us to finally take a step forward."

Chapter Text

Pearl growled, walking further and further into this place, completely lost and unable to understand what kind of situation she was in. This place was lived in, it was kind of obvious. But ... She wasn't in the place that people actually lived in. If anything, it looked like a space where people stocked items. What kind of items ? Oh she had NO IDEA. Pearl kept finding giant tubes full of strange green liquids, medical materials, but also broken weapons, heavy machinerie, piles of fish eggs ... Damn if only Marina was by her side right now, she probably would've built her a giant explosive weapon and Pearl would've felt ten times more confident.

... She already missed Marina, huh.

Hopefully they wouldn't be separated for too long this time. Fate really seemed to be against them lately. And why was that, huh ?? Did the world decide that Pearl had something to prove to deserve her love ?! WELL FUCK IT SHE'LL BE AN EVEN GREATER GIRLFRIEND FROM NOW !! MARINA BETTER BE READY BECAUSE SHE'LL BE GETTING KISSES EVERY HOUR OF THE DAY.

The echo of her footsteps had been the only thing she heard for a while now. But Pearl didn't want to feel too creeped out by this situation. She needed to be brave and strong in case she needed to protect Marina !! Or in that case ... Protect herself. Yeah that could be nice too.

But the yelp she let out after hearing a sound resonating through those corridors was ANYTHING but brave. Because this wasn't just someone talking or even footsteps.

Oh no. This was someone crying.

Pearl was beyond creeped out. HELL NO. THAT WAS THE KIND OF SHIT YOU'D HEAR IN HORROR MOVIES BEFORE GETTING KILLED. NUH UH, NOT TODAY SATAN !!

... Wait. Or was it ?

This ... Was not a horror movie. This was real life. And in real life, people cried because they were hurt, either emotionally or physically. And it wouldn't be too unexpected for someone to be stressed in this environment, whatever it was meant to be. Pearl stood there for a bit, trying to think about her options. She could just leave and ignore the cries. Technically speaking, that wasn't her problem. But on the other hand ... She'd probably feel guilty about it for the rest of her life.

She sighed and began to run towards the cries. Fuck it. If anything went bad, she'd just run faster in the opposite direction.

She didn't take very long to find the origins of the cries, actually. This person barely seemed to be hiding, simply crying in the middle of some giant pieces of broken heavy machinery. It was an octoling. Pearl was struggling to guess her age, but she was most definitely not an adult. This poor kid was sobbing all of the tears in her body, taking heavy breaths and mumbling about something being "over".

The inkling tried approaching her as close as she could to observe the scene, up to a point where she actually stumbled upon a random piece of metal stuck in the ground. Pearl let out an annoyed growl, thankful that she didn't injure herself by falling, but ended up awfully close to the crying octoling. There was a small moment of emptiness between the two before Pearl finally tried to raise her voice.

"Hey, I saw y-"

she didn't even get enough time to finish her sentence that the octoling let out a giant hiss, began to make herself smaller and her heavy breaths became faster and faster. Pearl felt even worse now. She didn't know what to do. So she stepped back, dropped down to her knees and looked down.

"Listen, I ... Okay. I know, I don't look friendly to you. I know your kind doesn't like people like me. No, it's not about not liking ... You fear us. That's much worse. But I promise, I'm here to help you. You look like you're in pain, and ... No one wants to see someone go through that."

Pearl saw that the young octoling was staring at her, visibly shaking less but still very weary of her every movement. Until pearl realized something. She opened her arms, showing both of her open palms to the octoling, and lowered her head.

"I'm not going to hit you."

The octoling's face began to soften. Her body stopped to shake. She very carefully began to rise back on her feet and stared at Pearl

Only to jump into her arms and starting to cry even more.

Chapter Text

The octoling cried for a while. And Pearl just waited. There was not much she could do outside of that. After a bit, the teenager backed down, sat in front of Pearl, wiped away her last few tears and sighed.

"So ... Tell me what happened. Is there anything I can do to help ? I promise, I'm not your enemy."

"I'm ... Out of points. I got too far in a level and didn't want to give up on it but before I knew it, I just ... Lost all my points. I'm so, SO scared to take the last hope test ... I've never met anyone who survived it. But I'm so hungry right now, I don't know I can last putting it off ..."

"WOAW. WOW WOW WOW. LOTS OF INFORMATIONS RIGHT THERE. What are you talking about ?! Points ?! Tests ? SURVIVED ?! Is there someone trying to kill you ?"

"Oh ... You just fell down, didn't you ?"

"Y-Yeah. A few hours ago. Is this something... Normal down here ?"

"This is a research facility. Everyone here that wasn't born in the deep sea basically needs to become a test subject to survive down here. We're so wildly different from the deep sea inhabitants that it takes months to be able to even try to integrate their society, so we all have to become guinea pigs for Kamabo."

"That sounds ... Terrifying ?! What the fuck, why would you willingly become a test subject ?!"

"Because if we don't, we don't have any other ways to feed ourselves nor reach the surface. We can't get jobs to earn money, and Kamabo is hiding the only way up to the surface currently available. The rules for the tests are simple. When you register yourself as a test subject, you start off with 3000 points. To enter a test, you pay points. If we succeed, you gain points. If you don't, well ... You don't gain anything. You can also trade your points for food or other commodities so they're particularly important. The goal is to complete 50 tests out of the 80 available, and then Kamabo thinks you "deserve" to reach the surface."

"Wow ... That's terrifying. But ... What was about being out of points ? You said you probably wouldn't survive ..."

"... When you're out of points, you can take one last test called the last hope. If you succeed at it, you gain back 3000 points. But if you loose ... You get sanitized. They inject a toxin into your veins that turns you into a zombie that follows Kamabo's orders. I've been looking for someone to gift me a few points so that I can do easier levels in loop and regain more points to be safe, but no one has been willing to trust me so far. And ... I can't blame them. They're scared of sanitization too."

"Sooooo ... All you need is a few points, right ? And everyone gets 3000 at the start ?"

"Yes. That's it."

"Welp ! Sounds like I need to register myself as a test subject then. Time to gift you some points to get yourself back on your feet !"

"R-REALLY ?! I mean- ... We don't know each other. This is a really important decision you're making, and maybe you should-"

"Nah, I've made up my mind. Like it or not, I'm gonna help you."

The teenager stared at Pearl for a bit before a few years began to fall back on her face.

"You're so nice, I just ... I don't even know your name, I don't even know how to thank you !!"

"You can call me Pearl. But now, I'll need your name too ~"

"E-Eight ! Nice to meet you Pearl, thank you so, SO MUCH for your help ..."

"Hey, it's okay. We're gonna get out of here together. How long have you been here anyway ?"

"A little less than four months ..."

"DAMN. W-Welp ... Sounds like my family's gonna have to wait a little longer before seeing me again ..."

Chapter Text

"Marina ! Hey, Marina are you alright ?!"

Marina growled as she got off the floor, trying her best to understand what just happened. She rubbed her eyes, groaned and tried to sit down and look around.

Storm was by her side, visibly checking her body to see if she's been injured in some way. That free fall should've definitely hurt her a lot more than it did. But she wasn't about to complain about surviving two falls from high places in such a short time.

"I'm ... Alright ... WAIT !! Where are Peal and Callie ?! I saw them falling with us ?!"

"I'm afraid we got separated in the fall. But ... If we're fine, I don't see why they'd be any different. Thank goodness we're alright ... I can't believe we made it out alive. You were seriously out of it for the last ten minutes."

Marina looked around her and rubbed her neck, trying to see what was this place. It definitely didn't look anything like a natural tunnel. Lights, walls, a floor made out of cement ... This place most definitely had inhabitants

"Storm, What is this place ? Where are we ?"

"I have ... No clue. We're way too deep to be in a space created for the domes. But it does look inhabited. Outside of this room, I managed to find a strange space with large holes on the ground and wall with metal pipes running through the floor. I don't know what they're here for, but my best guess is that they're used for transportation in some way. I took my time to explore while you were knocked out."

"Let's see ..."

Marina walked up out of the room, looking around her expecting to find something mysterious and completely abnormal ... But in the end, seeing something so normal is actually what surprised her the most.

This was a metro station.

"Mmmmmh ... If this is what I think it is, all we need to do is sit and wait, and we may be able to find someone to talk to and understand what's going on here."

"Oh ... Alright."

The two girls awkwardly looked at each other, nodded, sat down on a nearby bench and sighed in unison.

"I don't know how I keep getting stuck in the most cartoonish situations ever. How does one fall underground after a rock slide twice in a year, one of these times being when I was ALREADY UNDERGROUND ?!"

"... What's cartoonish ?"

"Oh, right. You don't know about cartoons. Sorry, I think that's a bit too complex to explain. What I mean is, this is kind of absurd."

Another small silence. Storm grunted and hid her face between her hands before clenching her claws.

"Urghhh this is the worst ... Not only I'm stuck in an unknown place where I don't even know if I can survive, but it seriously feels like I'm gonna die of awkwardness before anything even remotely interesting happens."

"Awkwardness ? Awh come on Storm ... I know we've had some rough times not too long ago, but this is not too awkward ... Is it ?"

"For you, maybe not. For me, VERY MUCH SO. I was sad to let you go, of course, but at least I thought that we'd never have to talk again ! BECAUSE I KNEW THINGS WOULD GET AWKWARD."

"Why is that ? Are you still mad at me ? Storm, I said i'm-"

"Don't. Don't say that you're sorry. Urgh ... This is just- ... Y'know, i've had a LOT of feelings towards you Marina. A LOT. That have been resurfacing in the most extreme ways lately"

"Well, I guess that me being here can cause you some distress, anger and sadness ..."

"Nonono, you don't get it. You really don't get it. I had FEELINGS for you, Marina."

"Y-Yeah. I guess these feelings were a bit extreme, I can imagine it."

"Oh godamnit, MARINA I WAS IN LOVE WITH YOU FOR YEARS AND YOU BEING NICE TO ME RIGHT NOW DOESN'T HELP."

"... Oh."

"Yup. Made things even more awkward."

Storm grabbed her shirt's collar, threw it over her face and let out a muffled scream underneath before coming back out with a blush.

"I'm not gonna try to take you away from Pearl or do a giant love declaration because first of all, you two are made for each other and second, I don't think I have the same feelings for you anymore. At least not as intense. But you just being there and being so sweet, it just ... Reminds me of why I liked you. You made me feel safe. I think I have a tendency to fall for the people that make me feel safe, y'know ? Fuck, maybe I shouldn't mention my love life right after that."

"I guess the best thing I could do to help is help you move on and make you feel a little better about yourself. And you did just mention that you fell for people that make you safe ... That means there's more than me on the list ~"

"Psh- that's not ... Well ... It's just not happening."

"Why not ?"

"It's Shiver. There, I said it. But she's not interested in me. I love her, don't get me wrong. She's been my everything ever since you've been gone. But she sees me as a little sister, someone to protect and teach to. Not as a potential lover. And I respect that. Sometimes, things just don't work out the way we wish they could."

"Awh ... I guess that makes sense. But I hope that you can find someone soon."

"Thanks ... That means a lot."

Chapter Text

Callie sighed as she got back on her feet and began to look around her. She was dead, wasn't she ? There's no way she could've survived this fall. And the rocks ... They should've crushed her too. What was this place even meant to be ? Heaven ? Nope. There's no way she'd be there. Hell ? It didn't look anywhere close to what she imagined it to be. But ... It definitely wasn't a place she felt comfortable in. The small flickering blue lights on the ceiling, the seemingly endless dark tunnels surrounding her, the feeling of loneliness and fear of being stuck in an unfamiliar liminal environment ... The inkling felt a shiver crawl down her spine as she immediately began to walk as fast as she could to get away from this place. She didn't want to run. Running would be admitting that she was terrified of this place. But she still wanted to get out of here fairly quickly.

Everything seemed to be insanely redundant, door after door after door, all closed down and completely inaccessible. She tried everything to open them. Picking up the lock, trying to bend it in specific ways in case the humidity was the thing blocking them, running face first into them in hopes of breaking them down ... None of it worked. And she just ended up with a very painful elbow.

But she kept on going, for God knows how long. Her mind was full of thoughts. Thoughts that she wanted to forget as she knew they only made things worse, but the pure void she was currently walking in definitely didn't help.

Was this what death was meant to be ? Hell, or perhaps even a purgatory ? She'd only been here for what she could asshole was a couple hours at best and it was already starting to break her sanity a little. She missed her loved ones. She missed Marie. She missed Three, Pearl, Marina, Four, Gramps ... Oh, she wished she could've told them just how much they mattered to her before loosing them. Fuck. That's probably what everyone feels like after their death. What a terrible thought to have.

Callie had gotten use to the pure silence of these tunnels, only accompanied by her steps and the faint sound of her breath. until finally, something else happened. A scream. A VISCERAL scream, someone begging for help.

"LET ME GO !! PLEASE, I- I'M JUST LIKE YOU !! OW- ... WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS TO ME ?! HELP !! HELP !!"

She didn't even try to think about her own safety. Callie immediately bolted towards the sound of this voice, running through intersection after intersection, trying her best to locate it. Finally, she found an extremely large room with a couple of windows (... Windows ? In an underground ? That was so weird ...) That seemed to be full of lights. She carefully walked towards the room, trying her best to stay close to its walls before glancing at its insides.

The place was really, really strange, a sort of giant laboratory covered by giant test tubes filled with all sorts of greenish liquids, a massive amount of syringes scattered on a table, a bunch of weapons and armor pieces carefully piled up in a corner and a space that seemed to be an operation table. On said table was a young octoling, completely pinned down with straps and handcuffs. The little boy seemed to be struggling, staring at two people in white coats that Callie could only guess to be doctors. They looked like Octolings too, but something about them was strange ... Their faces were completely covered both by a surgical mask and some sort of electronic shades, but most importantly, their skins were a light shade of Green.

"PLEASE !! I'M JUST TRYING TO GO BACK HOME !! REMEMBER, HOME ?! I KNOW YOU STILL HAVE IT INSIDE OF YOU. YOU'RE NOT HEARTLESS BEINGS. PLEASE, LOOK AT ME, I'M JUST- URMPH !!"

One of the two doctors shut the boy's mouth closed with her hand, clenching it so hard that it visibly hurt. The other doctor grabbed a MASSIVE syringe filled with some of the green substance seen everywhere in the room.

"I need to act."

Callie tried to silence her thoughts the best she could. She didn't know anything about this place. Everything could be dangerous and she had no place to escape.

"I need to act."

Even if she saved this kid, she probably wouldn't be able to protect him. She would be endangering herself, and having a young person to take care of would be a huge handicap in such situation.

"I NEED TO ACT."

Fuck it. Fuck everything. Callie clenched her fist and ran into the room, using her body to slam one of the doctors against the wall. The second doctor didn't seem to care about her presence. She simply injected the entirety of the substance into the young boy's body, so fast that it actually bursted up his arm's veins. Callie tried her best to keep down the doctor she was fighting, as she watched the boy's skin rapidly turn the same shade of Green as the two doctors. His eyes took a deep shade of black, his hair turned entirely blue and his body stopped fighting. Suddenly, the doctor Callie was keeping down grabbed her leg and threw her on the ground, before pounding her with her knee as the second doctor began to remove the straps on the child's body. Finally, as Callie backed down, they all let out the same exact words at the same exact pace.

"Intruder detected. Destroy."

The inkling felt a rush of adrenaline in her body, stronger than anything else she ever experienced. She began to run, run, RUN, and she didn't know WHERE. Every corridor in this place looked the same. Every single one of these doors were fucking closed. She could feel that these creatures were slowly catching up on her, and that her stamina was running low. She ran, ran, and prayed for the universe to bless her with a place to hide. ANYTHING.

And suddenly, she noticed it. A door that was slightly open. She didn't even take a minute to think, ran towards the door, slammed it behind her and put her entire body's weight against it to keep it closed. She heard the three creatures run past it, definitely not noticing that Callie had found an opportunity to hide herself. Finally. Safety. The inkling looked down and let out a sigh, trying her best to calm herself down, before she noticed something in front of her.

Light. A computer

But most importantly

Someone was sitting in front of said computer.

Chapter Text

Callie did everything she could to avoid screaming, as she knew that it would most definitely catch the attention of whoever she was fleeing from. That person, sitting in front of a computer ... Had they really not seen her yet ? She literally slammed the door behind her and ran into this place like a swordfish on crack. She stared at them for a good minute, seeing very clearly that this person either really hadn't seen her, or simply didn't care about her presence.

This person's skin had the same green tint as the ones Callie had just escaped from, as well as a similar deep blue hair ... But with a notable difference : a small portion left of said hair had the same deep red color that most octoling soldiers chose to display. Sadly couldn't really see their eyes, as they were hidden by some very large red shades. And finally, one last detail struck Callie : this person's arm was tied to an IV drip filled with a very transparent looking greenish substance. Callie's best guess was that this was an extremely diluted version of the same substance she'd seen being injected a few minutes prior.

Callie finally got back up on her feet, and hesitated to just run out of the room for a second. But this person, YET AGAIN, still hadn't shown a single bit of a reaction. At this point, the agent was just too curious to let it go. She walked up right next to this mysterious person and took a look at their computer. It didn't take her much time to recognize what they were working on : this was a audio software with several instruments written down on every part of the audio track. They were making music !!

"Ooooh, are you mixing something ? Is that music ?"

Finally, this person reacted. They took off the headphones that had been covering their ears for all of this time, and glanced up at Callie with a notable lack of facial expressions.

"... Yes."

Callie felt her fingers twitching from nervousness, but knew that she didn't want to stop this conversation there. This person wasn't aggressive and it was the best thing she found so far in this place. Even if it took her to go through a very awkward small talk, SHE WOULD BEFRIEND THEM.

"I'm a music artist too ! Can I hear what you're making ?"

The octoling put their headphones in Callie's head and let her listen to the track. It was ... Very strange. Somehow, this music perfectly reflected the liminal feeling Callie had been experiencing so far in this place. It was a short piano sample looped with just the octave changing every once in a while with some ambiant sounds to make the result both relaxing and unnerving. She glanced back at the computer's file name to find the name of the track. "#12 Awake". Huh. What a strange name.

"This is very well written. I admire your talent."

"Understood."

Understood ? Now that was a strange way to answer that. Most people would've answered with a "thank you" or at least something similar. This person had such a robotic feeling to them ... And yet, this music just felt too emotional to come from someone soulless. Callie scratched her chin as she watched this person simply staring at her with not a single sign of a reaction. Finally, her eyes wandered back to the IV drip.

"Hey, why did you create this for ? Why are you here ?"

"I do not know."

"You ... You don't know ? You mean you wrote a numbered track and you don't know why ? Did you write it for yourself o-or maybe a commissioner ?"

"I was just asked to do it."

"... I see. What's your name ?"

"Dedf1sh."

"Alright. Dedf1sh, how about we left this place together ? You don't look so good."

Dedf1sh took a very long pause and finally answered.

"Why ?"

"B-Because uuuuh ... Why not ? Haha, c'mon sometimes you gotta get off your chair and enjoy life !"

"I was ordered to stay here and write music."

"By who ?"

"I don't know."

"I-If you don't know, why should this order matter !?"

"... I don't know."

Callie looked at the IV, grabbed it and ripped the bag off its holder before tearing the needle away from the octoling's flesh and applying pressure against the bandaid that used to cover it to avoid too much blood leaking out. To her surprise, only a small brownish gooey spurt managed to escape, but most importantly, Dedf1sh didn't even react. Callie sighed, shook her head and took the octoling's hand and their computer.

"We're getting out of here. Alright ? That's the new order you're getting."

"...Understood."

Callie may have ended up in hell, but she'd rather be even more dead than to leave behind another innocent soul.

Chapter Text

At this point, Callie had been walking up with her new octoling friend for a good thirty minutes, and things seemed to be going pretty well. They seemed ... Lost. Both willing to follow orders and not caring much about where Callie was leading them, but they also seemed just slightly out of it. As if they were trying to find themselves back behind a particularly foggy mind.

Everything seemed to be going fine until suddenly, Dedf1sh dropped to their knees an let out a giant gag before heavily panting and drooling on the floor. After another bigger and final gag, they spewed up a good amount of a deep green bile on the floor and shivered as they wiped up the remaining drool off their lips.

"Are you alright ?! That sounded nasty ..."

"Yeah, I think I'm alright ... Not sure what's wrong with me right now. I feel like my entire body is giving up on me."

Callie took a long pause and looked back at the woman with confusion. This ? This didn't sound ANYTHING like what they'd said so far. This was the first time dedf1sh had sounded like a person and not just like a robot. She couldn't help but wonder if their stomach trying to get out the fluids was related in any way.

"Do you need help getting back up ?"

"That would be appreciated, thanks ..."

Dedf1sh struggled a bit to get back on their feet and immediately began to walk by Callie's side once more, before freezing and glancing at the inkling.

"Ded ?"

"Someone's coming."

Callie's senses immediately went on high alert as she tensed up and began to look around and try to focus on what was going on. The octoling was right, she could hear footsteps. Escaping may prove useless, as running around would just be alerting the weird people she'd seen prior to this. Perhaps ... These people could still be normal ? Their footsteps sounded irregular, far from the robotic calculated movements she'd seen with the green Octolings. Callie tried to maintain her calm, both readying herself for a fight and a potential friendly interaction. But the second she saw the silhouette, she immediately felt a wave of joy beam through her chest.

"PEARL !!"

She immediately bolted towards the smaller inkling to pull her into a hug, which Pearl gladly answered by yelling her name back as she wrapped her arms around her friend's body.

"CALLIE !! OH MY GOD, YOU'RE ALRIGHT !! I've been looking for you everywhere !! Have you seen the others yet ?"

"No ... I got lost in a gigantic storage place and met some weirdly aggressive people which tried to kill me I think. But hey, Marina's strong and she was with a soldier so I'm pretty sure she'll be fine. We're bound to find her soon."

Suddenly, the two friends were stopped by a massive hiss from a red octoling that stepped between the two squids.

"BACK OFF, AGENT 1 !!"

Callie immediately stepped aside, her face frozen in a cartoonish surprised frown as Eight put herself between Pearl and her and began to growl.

"Listen closely agent 1, you may not know me but I know you, and I know agent 3 pretty well BECAUSE I KICKED THEIR ASS. And if you don't want to suffer the same fate I'm gonna ask you to BACK OFF and LEAVE MY FRIEND ALONE. DON'T YOU DARE HURT HER."

"WOAW HEY CALM DOWN I'M HERE AS A FRIEND PEARL'S MY FRIEND HEY HEY woaw holy shit your fangs are sharp and very much dripping with venom"

Pearl immediately grabbed Eight and dragged her away from the idol

"Calm down, we're good !! She's here to help. I think. Right ?? Callie you said to Octavio that you were here to make things right I think ?"

Eight's face immediately softened into confusion and guiltiness as she glanced back at Callie and her ears began to droop

"... R-Really ? You're here to help ?"

"I promise. I know, I did a lot of bad things as an agent ... I regret it all. I've seen my errors and so did the entire Squidbeak Splatoon. We're trying to make things right and work with Octavio to find a solution to bring peace ... I think."

"Okay ... If gramps believes you, I believe in you too. Sorry for the misunderstanding, please forgive me. I'm still getting used to not having to fight inklings. First Pearl and now you ... What's going on ... Either way I think we could- SANITIZED OCTOLING !!"

Eight pointed out to dedf1sh, who'd still been standing still a couple meters away from the little group, who simply waved back in return.

"Yo."

"We need to run !! They're gonna kill us, there's no respawn pads here !!"

"I'm literally not going to do that. If I wanted to I would've done so already. Plus, that inkling's been pretty nice so far, I kind of like her. I feel like it's better if she's alive."

"What do you mean like her ? Sanitized octoling are dead, they don't have feelings."

"I'm not dead thank you very much."

"Prove it."

"Come fuck around and find out, kid."

Callie immediately grabbed Dedf1sh's arm and gently tugged them away.

"I don't think your body can handle a fight right now, you can barely stand up."

"Aight, fair."

Once again, Eight backed down in confusion, sighed, sat down on the floor and crossed her arms. Pearl sat down by her side and gently rubbed her back.

"You good ?"

"Today has been exhausting, very scary and particularly counterintuitive. A nice inkling, a nice agent, a nice sanitized octoling ... That's a LOT to handle at once. And ... I think that having an empty belly doesn't help. I think it makes me very nervous and aggressive about everything. Sorry. I'm sorry."

"It's okay ... We're gonna get you food soon, alright ? You said the metro wasn't very far. I'm gonna sign in, get points and we're gonna have a nice meal together."

"You're so nice ... I don't even know how to thank you."

"Maybe don't try to bite my friend. Or my friend's friend. That'll be a good start."

Callie slightly tilted her head in curiosity.

"Metro ? What do you mean metro ?"

Pearl smiled gave Eight one last pat on the back.

"Apparently, it's a pretty complex and difficult task but there's a weird science lab thing that can ask us to become test subjects and in return if we succeed at them we'll be able to go back to the surface. And one of the rewards for being test subjects is also food aaaand I don't think we have much of a choice but to try that right now. Doesn't your friend know about all of this ?"

Dedf1sh shrugged

"Please do not think of me as knowledgeable about anything I've been locked up in a closet for the past few ... A while ago. I think it was years."

"Metaphorically or physically ?"

"Both. I know I'm a lesbian but I was quite literally locked up in a closet."

Immediately after that, Dedf1sh immediately fell back to their knees and began to gag once more, letting out another puddle of goo on the floor. Callie shivered and gently grabbed the octoling's hand with a hint of worry in her eyes.

"....you good ?"

"Physically ? No. Mentally ? ... Also no. Let's just ... Act like nothing happened."

Chapter Text

As the little group walked towards the metro, Eight began to hold Pearl's hand as she answered everyone's questions. It was obvious that this teen wasn't so used to talking to a lot of people anymore, but that she also craved reassurance in the form of physical affection. Pearl was a little surprised to how quickly Eight warmed up to her compared to how tense she still was around Callie and Dedf1sh. But she wasn't against it. If anything she saw this as something pretty positive. She wouldn't have to spend days upon days building trust with Eight, she just naturally came to her because she was in need of help. And Pearl, in return, saw someone struggling and felt the need to protect her.

"So you're saying you can't really participate in this weird deep sea society but you can take the metro ?"

"Indeed. I've tried to communicate with quite a few deep sea citizens but despite my best efforts, it seems that they always end up too confused or simply do not pay attention to me at all. The metro was built with inkfish in mind though, so it's much easier to navigate."

"Alright ... You did mention other test subjects tho ? Are we gonna meet them ?"

"Well ... I'm not sure. Right now I know there's two other Octolings trying to get through the tests. There used to be more but ... Most of them aren't there anymore."

Eight slightly clenched her fist and shook her head.

"There's a man named Copper that's been doing pretty well and I think is about to succeed the test. I don't really like him. He's been looking down on me from the start because he's older and more experimented than me with all sorts of weapons. The other octoling is about my age, his name is Hatchi. He was part of the expedition we had to steal the zapfish. We've been hanging around a bit but we're not really that close ... He spends all of his time in tests. I seriously think he's overworking himself. I hope he won't fail and get sanitized ..."

"I see ..."

Callie sighed, nervously biting her lip as she thought about what she saw earlier in the day. That young octoling being sanitized and begging for mercy ... Could it be that it was Eight's friend ? She felt a sharp pain in her chest as she remembered the vivid fear she felt back then. She missed one of her steps due to the distraction, but was swiftly caught by Dedf1sh before falling down to the ground. The weakened octoling's body barely had enough force to hold up, but they clinged on tightly to make sure she wouldn't fall down.

"Ah- Thank you..."

"All good. Is everything okay ? You have a strange look on your face."

"I'm fine ! I-I guess I'm just overthinking. Today's been ... Quite a day ! Haha ..."

"Mhm. I suppose that is understandable."

Eight gasped as she finally saw the metro's railways, tugging at Pearl's hand as she began to walk faster towards them as the metro arrived right on time.

"It's here !! The deepsea metro ! We should be able to get to Tartar in no time now. There's a vending machine that sells food and medication near his old phone, we should be able to eat there."

"Great !! Maybe we can ask them if they've seen Marina and Storm too. I bet that if this is the only way you can get food here they're bound to become test subjects too."

Pearl chuckled in excitement as she watched the doors of the metro open and reveal ... Marina and Storm. They were both standing there, staring outside, their eyes now widened in surprise as the two groups stared at each other in silence for a good minute. It could've probably lasted even longer if Dedf1sh didn't end up speaking up.

"Hey. The doors are about to close. You do realize that if you're just standing there the metro's gonna leave without us, right ?"

Everyone looked at each other and immediately hurried inside the wagon, awkwardly finding a place to sit right before the doors finally closed. Pearl finally let go of Eight's hand and jumped into Marina's arms, growling with a smirk as she hugged her as tight as possible.

"OH YOU ... Can you PLEASE stop falling from high places and mysteriously disappear after an earthquake ? It's gonna get very annoying very quickly !! DON'T MAKE IT A HABIT !!"

"I COULD SAY THE SAME ABOUT YOU !! Oh Pearl, I was so worried ... I'm so glad you're alright. Please don't leave me again ..."

"I wouldn't do that for the world..."

The inkling began to absolutely shower her lover in kisses, the two completely ignoring the rest of the world around them as they chuckled, blushed and cuddled up on the nearest seat they could find, until something finally broke them apart.

The little voice of the teen octoling that has been watching them all this time. Eight could barely open her mouth, letting just the whisper of a name out.

"... Marina ?"

Chapter Text

Marina turned around to face the teenager, and both Octolings were visibly trying to understand what was going on, to comprehend that the person in front of them was, in fact, alive. The two of them stared at each other in silence for a bit until Marina got on one knee and opened her arms with a smile. Eight silently walked towards her, very carefully wrapped her arms against the elder woman's body and let her head fall against her shoulder with a whimper, staying in this voiceless hug for a bit. Marina began to gently pet the teenager's back and took the sweetest voice she could have.

"I expected you to be a little louder for our reunion. You've changed, Eight."

"I've had quite a lot of intense moments today. But I think this is the point where I can't handle much more."

The younger octoling began to shed a few tears, wiping them against Marina's clothes with a sigh.

"Eight ..?"

"I missed you so, so much ... I can't believe you're alive ... It's been so long since we made your grave ..."

"I thought you were dead as well ... Octavio genuinely thought you and Skip didn't survive the earthquake... But turns out you're both fine. I can't believe this."

Suddenly, Pearl began to yell.

"WAIT HOLD THE FUCK UP YOU'RE THE OTHER GIRL OCTAVIO THOUGHT WAS DEAD ?! SORRY TO END YOUR SWEET REUNION GIRLS BUT I HAVE SOMEONE TO CALL AND EIGHT'S GONNA HAVE A LOT TO SAY TO HIM RIGHT NOW."

"... To who ?'

"YOUR GRANDPA, DUH ?! THAT OLD MAN IS PROBABLY STRESSED ENOUGH TODAY HE DEFINITELY NEEDS TO HEAR THAT YOU'RE NOT DEAD."

"You have a way to communicate with him ?! Octarian technology hasn't been powerful enough to reach out of the abyss. None of us have ever been able to contact our superiors."

"Maybe Octarian technology isn't powerful enough. BUT HUMAN TECHNOLOGY CAN DO IT !"

And with that, Pearl grabbed her old human phone, quickly typed in the numbers and handed it to Eight, who just stared at her, visibly uncomfortable and confused, waiting for Octavio to finally answer.

"Hey Pearl. Any news down there ? Did you find the others ?"

"... Hi gramps. I don't know about "the others" but ... Pearl found me."

"... Oh, you've got to be fucking kidding me ..."

Eight let out a playful chuckle before a sob unexpectedly escaped her mouth.

"It's good to hear you again too ... I missed your voice ..."

"This may be the best day of my life ... I can't have a break for shit but this is THE BEST DAY OF MY LIFE."

Pearl chuckled and sighed, ultimately deciding to leave Eight alone for her reunion with her grandfather. She yawned, stretched and finally decided to lay down against Marina's hips to take a very much well deserved nap. And as much as Marina wanted to talk with her for hours about everything that just happened ... She couldn't help but think that perhaps, relaxing a bit could be the best thing to do right now. She gave a little kiss against Pearl's neck and stretched, trying her best to enjoy her seat as Storm sat besides her.

"Sounds like things aren't as bad as they could've been, huh ..."

"I guess so. I have Pearl by my side, so I already feel safe. Plus, I have you, Eight, Callie and ... Who's that with her ?"

"Wait ... She does look a lot like that very ill DJ you used to hang out with. What was their name again ?"

"AHATO."

"Oh yeah. Them."

"NO NO NO YOU DON'T GET IT. THAT'S THEM. Oh my god. OH MY GOD. Ahato is ALIVE. And they're just right there, talking with Callie ?!"

"Oh ... Why don't you go see them then ?"

Marina whimpered before pointing out Pearl, who was already sound asleep on her lap.

"I can see the problem."

"I just- ... I'm not waking her up but that's HER. I'm going to cry. I already have tears in my eyes. Why- ... Why did today have to be so eventful. I can't process all of that. I can barely think about myself and I just ... Eight is alive, Skip is alive, Ahato is alive but they're green now ?? Agents are trying to be good people, Callie's an agent, we're trapped underneath the earth, I just heard Eight talk about becoming test subjects to save ourselves, I ... I need a break."

"Then take one. Pearl is already having a nap. Why don't you join her ?"

"Would it really be reasonable to take a break in this situation ? I mean, there's so much that needs to be thought about and be done ..."

"It sounds like we're gonna be stuck here for a while. An hour or two spent asleep won't change much I think. You're just going to spend time panicking. I've been doing that a lot lately ! Trust me, it's unpleasant and doesn't help."

"... I guess you're right. I'm gonna take a break with her. Thanks, Storm."

Marina closed her eyes, and tried her best to relax. She had too many thoughts to be calm. Too much stress to just go through it. But ... Pearl was right against her. She wouldn't leave. And so far, it's all she needed to survive.

So she let go and fell asleep.

Chapter Text

Pearl woke up, gently shaken by Marina's hand as she whispered sweet words in her ears.

"Honey ... We're here. You need to get up ~"

The inkling let out a loud yawn before rubbing her eyes and smacking her lips. Her mouth had a weird aftertaste of saliva, proof that she'd just went through a fairly pleasant nap. She wrapped her arms around marina as she got up and began to look around her in slight confusion

"... Why are we here for again ?"

"We're at the station where we can get registered as test subjects. See that telephone over there ? Eight told me he'd give us an identification number so that we can start winning points.

"Oh ... Yeah. That."

Pearl quickly waddled out of the metro, joining the rest of the gang that were waiting for her outside. Eight glanced at the little group with a hint of worry before clearing her throat and facing the telephone.

"Tartar ? I would like to register some new test subjects to participate in the Kamabo project."

Immediately, the phone started to vibrate and slightly move around in an uncanny manner.

"[ANALYSIS. FIVE UNIDENTIFIED ANTHROPOMORPHIC INDIVIDUALS DETECTED. SUBJECT NUMBER 10008 DETECTED. ACTIVATING INKFISH SLANG FOR FAMILIARITY WITH THE SUBJECT.] Hello there number 10008 ! Lookin' fresh today ! I understand your request. Please let the subjects come closer so a DNA sampling can be added to our database, yo !"

Slowly, the group walked closer to the phone and each got individually scanned and giving out their names before getting assigned a number.

"Number 10089. Name : Pearl Houzuki. Species : Northern Pygmy squid and colossal squid hybrid. Permission to be a test subject : granted.
Number 10090. Name : Marina Ida. Species : webfoot octopus. Permission to be a test subject : granted.
Number 10091. Name : Ahato Mizuta. Species : Mimic octopus. Permission to be a test subject : granted.
Number 10092. Name : Storm Knightwalker. Species : Coconut Octopus. Permission to be a test subject : granted.
Number 10093. Name : Callie Cuttlefish. Species : Firefly Squid and Giant Pacific Octopus hybrid. Permission to be a test subject : granted."

Callie immediately gasped and shook her head

"Excuse me, What do you mean by hybrid ?? Nuh uh, !! My family's made entirely out of firefly squids !!"

"Tests revealed that about 25% of your DNA is one of a Giant Pacific Octopus. These are very precise tests that are currently known to be 99.9% reliable."

Eight chuckled and smiled playfully.

"Hey Callie ... Did you know that Octavio is a Giant Pacific Octopus ? ~"

The inkling immediately looked down and took a step back before mumbling under her breath.

"Sounds like gramps and I are gonna need to have one hell of a talk once I come back ..."

Eight chuckled even more as she walked back towards the phone.

"Hey tartar, while we're at it, could you tell me where the subjects 10007 and 9802 are right now ? Have they taken any tests recently ? I haven't seen them in a while.

"The test subject number 9802 has successfully cleared the objective sent by Kamabo. The have decided to claim their prise and rise to the promised land. Very [ERROR, INKFISH SLANG NOT FOUND] of them ! The test subject number 10007 recently attempted the last hope test and failed to complete it. They have been sanitized as a result and their logs as a test subject have been terminated. Too bad !"

Eight's previously light and happy eyes suddenly darkened as the realization sunk in. She sighed, clenched her fist and walk up to Marina to grab her hand and hold it.

"So the reason why he didn't want to give me points wasn't because he didn't trust me ... It was because he didn't have any left for himself ... Oh Hatchi, I'm so, so sorry ... If only I had known ..."

Marina gently pulled her closer for a hug and began to stroke her back.

"Are you okay, Eight ..?

"... Yeah, I guess I am ... when you live down here you kinda get used to death."

Marina clenched her fist as she made the hug even tighter.

Hopefully ... Not their deaths too.

Chapter Text

After gathering up some food, the newly formed little group found themselves in a small isolated spot near one of the metro stations and sat down all together to eat. This place was humid and fairly cold compared to the inside of the metro, which seemed to be heated up for the comfort of the passengers. At first, everyone genuinely thought they would be eating there, but Eight ultimately convinced everyone to eat outside not to disturb the rest of the passengers with the smell fresh food would bring out.

For now, they'd all chosen to buy fairly simple meals, enough to last for this night and the next day's breakfast and lunch. In total, each portion costed roughly 100 points. Which meant that if they were only used for food, the points provided for a test subject would only be enough to last them a month. That was fairly low ... Especially considering that Eight had told the group how difficult some of the tests could be and how easy it was to loose points if you were not being careful. But right now, the group needed to think about something else. They were all eating together, surrounding a little portable stove warming up their food that Eight bought a few months prior and had hidden in this place. Eight was resting against Marina, her entire body laying down against the bigger woman. And as comfortable as this position was, it was kind of obvious she was doing it for affection. Pearl was also cuddling the other part of her body, in a much more direct way. Her arm was wrapped around Marina's to make sure their body were held together, her hand gently stroking the octoling's thigh and in top of all of that, Pearl felt the need to add on a little kiss against her lover's shoulder every once in a while. Callie was sitting down fairly close to Dedf1sh, talking to them and showing an obvious curiosity about their person as she tried to get them to eat (after being fed by IV for so long, the poor octoling was struggling to understand how important food was for their health)

So far, everything seemed to be going fairly well, as everyone shared little stories and told each other how happy they were to be reunited at last ... But Marina noticed something was wrong.

Storm was not only not talking, but not eating as well.

"Storm, are you not hungry ?"

"...I'm starving ... But I have to admit, I'm really scared of eating all of this since I don't know any of the ingredients. I don't have any medication and controlling my sugar intakes with it is already hard enough, so without it ... I'm stressing out just thinking about what may happen."

Pearl tilted her head in confusion, glancing at the woman with a smile.

"Avoid desserts and you should be good, right ?"

"I wish it was that simple ... Many foods contain hidden sugar, especially carbs like pasta. Basically, I need to be weary of everything. Loosing a finger was scary enough ..."

"WHAAAAT ?! Oh that SUCKS. I thought diabetes was eat-no-sugar disease. Not eat-nothing-and-die disease ?!"

Callie took a few more bites of her pasta before smiling and getting up.

"Actually, I saw that they had some free medication available near the food vending machine ! It's like a similar vending machine that you can only access by showing that you're a test subject. I was about to grab some for myself after we were done eating but if you need something to eat, I'll just go grab it now with yours. Two birds one stone ~"

"What, really ?! You would do that for me ?? Thank you so much ..."

"I'll even be able to give you your injection if you need me to ! Trained myself for it for a while now, hehe ~"

"I'm actually a nurse so being able to do injections is the bare minimum ... But I guess that having someone to help would be appreciated. Thank you. Deeply."

Pearl raised an eyebrow with a smirk.

"What kind of medication are you on anyway ?"

"The kind that is none of your business ~"

"Hey we're supposed to share secrets here ! We need to trust each other if we want to collaborate, miss "I'm actually a super trained soldier and I never told my closest friends""

"Nuh-uh ~ I'll let you guess what my medication's for, but I'm not telling you !"

Callie chuckled before whispering into Storm's ear.

"It's just estrogen. I just like to see her being so confused and curious."

"... Oh. Alright."

Callie blew a raspberry towards Pearl and began to walk away from the scene as Pearl jumped on Storm

"WHAT DID SHE SAY ?? TELL ME !! IS SHE ON ANTIDEPRESSANTS ?? XANAX ?? I NEED TO KNOW IF SHE'S OKAY."

Storm looked down for a few seconds, felt a slight blush run over her cheeks and chuckled.

"She said it's none of your business ~"

"AWH COME ON !!"

everyone began to laugh and finally, storm took a bite out of her meal. Everyone was feeling better now

Hopefully, this could last.

Chapter Text

Walking back to the metro was a bit of a strange experience. Everyone separated into multiple parts of the vehicle to try to spread out and not disturb any of the passengers, but also to be able to use the biggest seats available to sleep laying down instead of having to spend the night sitting down.

It was really uncomfortable still, especially for Pearl and Marina who wanted to sleep together to still feel close to each other after all of that happened. The fear of being separated yet again was very much present, and Pearl felt like sleeping by Marina's side was the best way she could protect her if anything happened.

The seats were not soft by any means, and were most definitely not meant to be laid down upon. If anything, they kind of hurt. But due to the deep see denizens's size, they were much bigger than regular metro seats and in the end ... it was worth it. After discussing with eight if sleeping outside may have been a better idea to keep their back into a better shape, they ended up getting a clear answer. No. It wasn't. Eight had tried to sleep outside for a few separate nights in the past, and every time she woke up in the middle of the night to run back into the metro, simple because the conditions outside were too rough to sleep in. Everything was cold, particularly damp, but most importantly, whenever she would wake up, she felt her throat being extremely painful, as if her body was being attacked by a bacteria and put her in so much pain to make sure she would wake up and rush back to safety. And even if it was a thing that may have only happened to eight ... The girls didn't want to test that out by themselves.

So here they were, cradled up together in each other's arms as they stared up at the ceiling, slowly being brought to sleep by the repetitive machinal sounds of the metro. They were both thinking. And they both knew they were thinking. But they were waiting for the other to break the silence. It took quite a bit of time, and Pearl almost ended up thinking that they would fall asleep before a single word was spoken. But finally, Marina opened her mouth.

"You know what ? This is the first time in my life I've actually missed the domes."

Pearl let out a snort and playfully punched her lover's arm.

"Don't say that !! Hey, I've been trying for months to get you out of there and you want to go back ?! Fuck no."

"Hey, did I say I want to go back ?? No ... I just ... I miss the hospital beds. That's all. They were comfy. I also left my little sea bunny plush there. I kind of miss it now."

"Well don't worry. We're gonna be great test subjects. We'll be back to our houses in no time, you'll see ! And if it's the bed you miss, not only you'll get your bed back, but I'll buy an even greater one if you want !!! The ones with a canopy where you can add some curtains and all ... Yeah I bet you'd love those. I'd buy you tons of plushies to go inside it. And even new pillows. Hell, Off the Hook can release a new goodies collection specifically so that you can print your dream plushies and pillows to add to your new bed. Doesn't that sound cool ?"

"Do you think ... People miss Off the Hook ?"

"Well, would you miss heaven if it was taken away from you ? Of course they miss us. They just don't know we can come back, which will make our return even greater. I bet we can release any kind of garbage after that and people would listening to it 24/7. But we won't release garbage. Cuz we're off the hook. So it'll be even greater."

"... You know what I want to do when we get back ?"

"No ? Please tell me. You know I'll buy the moon for you if you ask for it, right ? I'll get what you want no matter what !! Do you want a new house ? Do you want us to rebrand off the hook ? Ooooh ... Maybe you'd like to get a pet ?"

"... I'd really like it if we could plan another cherry tree together."

Marina sighed as she rubbed her eyes and yawned.

"When we'll come back home, our trees will have grown a lot. They're gonna be big trees from now on. I'm gonna miss watching them grow like before. So maybe we could add a new one ? That way we can get excited together again."

Pearl sighed and nodded.

"I'll get you a hundred new trees if you want."

"Just one will be enough. Or maybe two. One for you. And one for me."

"... Yeah you're right. That sounds wonderful. I can't wait for us to do it."

And with that, the girls closed their eyes and started to drift into slumber.

Chapter Text

Pearl looked around her and already knew she was lost. She didn't know how she got here. But she knew that she was lost. It was just something that her body was trying to stress out as she began to walk in a place she didn't recognize. In a sense ... She didn't even under what kind of space she was in. Just that she was able to walk forward to find a way out or ... Maybe a way in. That's when her hand hit a doorknob. Instinctively, she grabbed it to open the door, and found herself to be walking inside of a warm room. Not warm in an uncomfortable way ... Rather a comfort you'd find in a house during winter. She could smell a cup of hot cocoa left on a nearby table, which she grabbed and took a sip out of. It tasted like peppermint, a flavor she hated. But for some reason, she kept on drinking it. As if she needed the warmth. She walked up towards a nearby couch and sat down on it, only to finally notice that someone had been watching her in a chair right in front of said couch. Pearl felt a shiver crawl up her spine as she saw the face of this person. Or rather ... Lack thereof.

This was her mother. She knew it by instinct. But her face was awfully distorted. Her nose, eyes and mouth were all just slightly blended together, in a way that made them visible but not really able to be recognized. And she knew that this meant two things.

She was dreaming. Of fucking course she was dreaming. None of this made sense. But ...

It also meant that she was forgetting the face of her mother. And that hurt in a way she couldn't describe. She knew this was her mother because she was in a dream and in dreams, you get to suddenly know informations you're not really meant to know. But she didn't remember her mother's face. Nor her voice. Nor her smell. It felt weird. She didn't love her mother as much as she felt she should've. But ... She didn't want to forget her.

"Alright, here we go again for another nightmare where you're going to destroy me ... Listen I have enough problems already. The last thing I want is to wake up in tears. So be quick."

"I know you're in pain right now. And I wish I were able to comfort you."

"And why can't you do that, huh ?"

"Because I'm not real."

"... Well fuck, you didn't have to put it out like that. But ... Just because you're not real doesn't mean you can't be a good thing. C'mere, give me a hug."

Pearl walked up towards the woman, tried to wrap her arms around her silhouette, but ultimately fell on the floor after going both through her and her chair.

"Outch. That hurt, in quite a few ways."

"I'm sorry, Pearl ..."

The squid sighed before sitting down on the floor, hugging her knees as she glanced back at the woman.

"I hate dreams. They never make much sense, they're either stupidly nice or weirdly painful, and all I can do is sit there and watch. And lucid dreams are the worse because I KNOW this isn't real, I KNOW this is useless and I'm still gonna have a bad time. All I want is a hug to not feel like garbage and you can't even get me one."

"I can't. But she can."

Suddenly, Pearl felt a gentle touch against her belly and back. She looked behind her and found Marina hugging her from behind.

"Holy shit ... Reena ..."

"She's not real either. At least not this version of her. But it's the closest I could bring you."

Pearl sighed as she began to cuddle with Marina, desperate to get as much affection as she could.

"... This isn't working. Why the fuck isn't this working..."

"What do you mean sweetie ?"

"I'm hugging Marina. I'm with her, by her side. I should be feeling better, why am I not feeling better ?!"

"You know something's missing."

"No it's not ... Look at me !! I'm with my best friend ! I have food, I'm warm, I'm ... I ..."

"And where are you right now ?"

"I don't know ..."

"Where are you not ?"

"I don't know ?"

"Where do you think you are ?"

"I dont know ?!"

"And where do you want to be ?"

Pearl looked down and bit her lip.

"... Home."

"I think you have your answer to what's missing."

Pearl felt a single tear roll down her cheek as she sighed and crawled back on the couch.

"... I don't know how long it's been since I left home ... Will I even get to go back there one day ? What if I can never being marina home again ?"

"Don't ask yourself if. Tell yourself when."

"... I'll keep that in mind I guess. Tch. Of all people, why did you have to be the one to show up in my dreams ?"

"I'm the only dead person you know. It's easier to imagine that advice in dreams come from people that are dead to imagine that they are helping you from the afterlife."

"... So are you really my mother ?"

"No. Your mother is a corpse long rotten and forgotten underground. I'm not real."

"I see. Do you ... Still love me though ?"

Pearl woke up before she could hear the answer to that question.

She looked around her, and recognized the metro she'd been sleeping in for a couple hours. She stretched, and buried her head back against Marina's chest before drifting back to sleep, mumbling a couple of words as her mind began to drift away once more.

"I'll bring you back home. I promise you'll be safe."

Chapter Text

It was deep in the night. At this point, everyone was asleep, except a couple of guards walking around the building and two old men, still working around Octavio's workshop.

Marie and Skip had fallen asleep, cradled up in the young octoling's bed just a couple of rooms away. At first, Marie wanted to sleep in another room, just like agent 3. But the fear of being left behind all alone after almost loosing Callie a second time had left her so traumatized that she just needed the company, at least for that night. And Four, well ... She didn't want to say no to a little bit more affection after the mess that had been the last few weeks of her life.

As for Octavio and Craig, well ... Things were tense. VERY tense. So far, they'd only talked about their plans to protect the domes and how to evacuate everyone in case of an emergency. But they both knew that there was more to be said. Not about their families, not about their species, not about this war, but about THEM. One of them had to start it. One of them had to take a step forward and finally break the silence that had loomed over their beings for the past hundred years of their life. Every time they felt like they could start it, they would end up mentally backing down and going back to silence.

"I was thinking, perhaps we could try to spread out the population more. Maybe we're focusing a bit too much on inkopolis and we should switch to other parts of the world. If you're too fearful of inkopolis, perhaps you should try sending some octarians in Splatsville. I believe they do not hold much of a grudge against your species there "

"Doing such thing would mean inevitably splitting families and friendships apart. This may be a temporary solution, but in the long run this would create even more mental health problems for them. And they have enough problems on that side already."

"... Understood."

Octavio scribbled down a couple more words on his notes and sighed, turning back to Craig before rising an eyebrow.

"What, don't you have any more clever thoughts to share, Craig ?"

"... No, not really."

"Liar. I can see it on your face. There's something else you want to say. Spit it out, and let's get over with it. I need to get some sleep."

"I ... I'm sorry, Octavio."

The look of shame on that old man's face was undescribable. A mix of pain, regrets, fear and disappointment in one's self ... And yet Octavio did not react. At least, he tried his best not to.

"Sorry for what ?"

"Stop acting like an idiot, you know exactly for what ... For everything. For the pain that I've caused, both for you and for your people, for the stupid decisions I've made, for trusting the wrong people, for the actions and words I wish I could take back ... I'm sorry, Tavi. I really am."

"You're a hundred years late for that."

Cuttlefish let out a sigh and looked down.

"I know. I know just how stupid I've been now. It's just so strange to look back and see just how wrong I was. How much misery i've brought in this world, because I thought I was "doing the right thing". I trusted the ones that led me ever since I was a teenager because who else was I supposed to trust ? You ? Myself ? ... Well, yes, I suppose I should've done so. Everyone in my life repeatedly told me me that the ones on top of the hierarchy knew better and that all I should do is stay silent and listen. I was the worst idiot this world could've seen. If I had trusted you, even just a little more ... Perhaps this world wouldn't have ended up so broken ? Eh. I guess it's too late to think about that now. I'm sorry. Sadly, I think it's the best that I can say."

"And I don't forgive you."

"I know you don't, you shouldn't ... I've been in the wrong all along. You were right to think of me as despicable. But besides helping you and telling you that you were right, I don't think there's much I can do anymore. I just have to look back and think of all of the mistakes I've done in my life. I have blood on my hand, so much blood ... And I've dirtied our little girls hands as well. I think I'm okay with the idea of being an awful person. I made these decisions, my fate is deserved. But to think that I forced Callie and Marie into this as well, that I made them kill innocents and that they now have to live with it for the rest of their existence ? I don't even know what to think anymore ..."

Octavio clenched his tentacles and looked down before punching his desk, making the old squid flinch.

"FUCK."

The octopus growled as his tentacles twirled in rage, glaring at Cuttlefish with his bright green eyes until his gaze finally softened.

"I've been waiting for this MY ENTIRE LIFE. You don't know just how much I wanted to see you admit that you were wrong, that you've been a stupid selfish asshole for all those years, to see you begging for forgiveness, I WANTED TO SEE YOU ADMIT IT. Because who knows, maybe if you understood just how much of a dumbass you were, we could just talk it out, become friends again and probably get us all out of this shit ! But NO. Years went on, and you were too stuck up in your own mind to think that maybe, JUST MAYBE, your officers were genocidal maniacs and you were the WORST IDIOT ON EARTH TO BELIEVE THEM. And then my mind began to change. I thought that redemption was too good for you, and I began to dream of you begging for forgiveness and me getting the delight to deny such thing. To give you one final lesson before your death. That you fucked up SO BAD that a random change of heart at the end of your life wouldn't fix everything magically. Do you know just how badly I DREAMT this moment ?! For you to say that you're sorry and for me to get to opportunity to deny any kind of forgiveness, to say that I hated you, to get any form of revenge ?! It just happened, right now, not even a minute ago. And it just ... Fuck, it feels wrong !! Why. WHY ?! I just ... I don't want it to end. Not this way. I've missed you, Craig. I think it's the only thing I'm sure of right now."

Chapter Text

Craig sighed as he stared at his old fr-.... Enemy ? No ... Friend. That was the right term for it right now. They both knew that they wanted it. The old squid hesitated for a bit, wondering if he should make a move as the octopus began to cry. Perhaps try to say a few comforting words or say that he was sorry instead. But he didn't have the words. It felt like no matter what he would say, things would not get better. So he decided to act instead. He very slowly wrapped his arms around his friend's body and let himself shed a few tears with him.

"I wish we could go back when to things were more simple, Octavio."

Octavio sighed as he finally pulled off the hug and looked down.

"Can you imagine, what we could've been ? Together, we were some of the best captains this world ever held. What if I rose the kids with you ? What if I tried to stop my Splatoon from attacking your base on that fateful night ? What if I hadn't ... Broken your body ..."

"What ifs are unimportant now. Because we're none of that. I became the most important leader this species ever had, and you became my greatest enemy. You took our kids, and you raised them far from this nightmare, just like I asked you to. You let your team kill each and every one of us, and you spared me ... At the cost of my health."

"I swear, I tried to make it a fake blast. I thought you'd play along, that you'd play dead !!"

"... And I thought that you would never try to hurt me. And here we are."

"... So what now ?"

"Now ? We move our fucking asses and try to save my species."

"No. That I already knew. I was talking about us."

Octavio twitched and sighed before crossing his tentacles.

"It feels too fucking easy to just forgive you and go back to ... Normal ? Nah. Us being nasty to each other is the new normal. We haven't been close in a century."

"Understood. I guess that we're moving on then."

"I DIDN'T FUCKING SAY THAT. Listen."

Octavio toon a deep breath, twitched another time and very carefully wrapped his tentacle around his friend's hand.

"Right now, we're going to focus on making sure that you, me and everyone in this damn underground doesn't die, alright ? That's the priority. And you using the last few braincells available in that dried up head of yours to help us get out of here will be a step forward. And once we get out ? Fuck ... Well, we need to make sure we survive all of that first. But if we get out, we're gonna have to change. I'm not forgiving you, I'm not forgetting all that happened but ... It would be stupid for two old men to never find peace before death, wouldn't it ?"

"... I see. Yes, that does sound like a good idea."

Craig's face softened as he began to stare at Octavio's tentacles.

"I feel like we'll have a lot to talk about. Starting with the girls."

"The girls ?"

"Oh don't be an idiot Tavi. You know damn well who I'm talking about."

"Callie and Marie, huh ... Yeah, I guess that unpacking everything that happened will be quite difficult. But hey, they're bright kids. They'll figure it out."

"I still haven't told them that they have some of your blood too ..."

"We'll tell them that if- ... Fuck it, let's chuck a bit of hope that in that conversation. We'll tell them that WHEN we get back on the surface."

"A bit of hope wouldn't hurt indeed. I want to believe everything's going to be fine. I'm not giving up, so neither should you."

"EASY FOR YOU TO SAY WHEN YOU'RE THE ONE THAT STARTED SENDING KIDS TO BEAT MY ASS. DO YOU KNOW HOW MUCH MORE ENERGY A 14 YEAR OLD HAS ? I DO. MY KID'S 14. SHE'D BEAT MY ASS OF SHE WANTED TO."

Craig sighed and let out a small chuckle.

"I'm glad to have you back."

"... Yeah. Me too."

Chapter Text

When Marina first woke up in the arms of Pearl, she immediately closed her eyes back and tried her best to get back to sleep. Perhaps, if she could ignore it just a bit longer, this nightmare could be over. But the more she thought about falling asleep, the more awake she was getting. And soon enough, Marina knew she'd reached a point of no return. She finally stretched, yawned and opened her eyes to stare at Pearl with a soft smile. Pearl groaned as she slowly woke up, rubbing her eyes to get her sleepy tears off.

"Girls I see you're awake now. Stop being lazy and get up ! You've been in bed for more than enough time. Well ... If you could call that a bed."

That was Callie's voice, and it definitely fully woke the two girls up. Pearl glanced up to see that the woman was sitting down with Dedf1sh and Eight, who all seemed to be eating together.

"Fuck you mean lazy ... Girl yesterday I just escaped from an horrifying underground civilization that kept me prisoner from months and I barely had enough time to be happy about it because 30 seconds after that I was sent into a creepy underground facility filled with zombies to become a lab rat. SORRY if I need a break after this shit."

"Pfff ... Yeah I get that, but still. You've been sleeping all morning. It's quite literally noon. You need to eat too."

The two lovers looked at each other and rolled their eyes before stretching in unison and walking up towards the rest of the group, who immediately handed them a couple of tuna sandwiches. Marina awkwardly stared at the food as she was not very hungry yet, but Pearl completely DEVOURED hers in seconds.

"Sooo ... What's the plan today y'all ? Maybe you talked about the first test we need to take while me and Reena were out ?"

Callie chuckled and gently elbowed Dedf1sh.

"Oh, me and Ded already took it. And Storm's doing her test as we speak."

"YOU DIDN'T EVEN WAIT FOR US ?! DAMN ... Talk about a betrayal."

"Well, the test can only be taken in a duo or solo and there can't be two groups doing it at the same time, so we thought we should give it a shot while you two were resting. I thought I'd give Dedf1sh some help because they looked like they may not be fit for it physically wise but ... Ded, you really surprised me !! You're pretty damn impressive ! Not much muscles but with a blaster you've got quite the reflexes."

The sanitized octoling looked down and nodded. Pearl immediately rolled her eyes and smirked

"So what, couldn't you team up with Storm too ? Is she not worth the effort ?"

"HEY !! I DIDN'T SAY THAT !!"

Eight chuckled as she took another bite of her sandwich.

"Actually, the first test can only be taken once and she struggled quite a bit to choose who she should help. She thought Dedf1sh would be the most likely to struggle so she chose them."

Callie pouted with a slight blush as Eight began to smile once more when suddenly, the metro's doors opened up to reveal a visibly exhausted Storm who waddled up towards the nearest sit and let herself fall down on it. Callie glanced up to her and gasped.

"How did you do ? Is everything okay ??"

"My limbs are on FIRE ... If I knew I would have to do this kind of things again I wouldn't have skipped training with Shiver so often ... But outside of that, I did pretty good. I only got splatted twice, even if I took a lot of time to complete it."

Eight hummed happily as she walked up towards storm with another sandwich to gift her.

"It's always better to take your time than to loose points. Trust me. You did wonderful."

Marina finally eat a bit of her sandwich before looking back at Eight

"So ... Does that mean we should take the test now ?"

"Mmmh ... Well I'm not here to tell you what you should and shouldn't do. If you need some more time to wake up, you don't need to rush. But now that Storm finished, you can take it whenever you'd like."

"Alright ... Well I think we should take it now ! Me and Pearlie are wide awake and now, we even have our stomachs full. Do you think we should go one after the other, or ...?"

"For this first test, I'd actually recommend you to go together. It's a fairly easy test for what I can remember, but most importantly, it's a test whose main antagonistic force is the enemies. So being together against them would probably be a good thing, and you'd succeed the test faster if everything goes according to plan."

Marina nodded as she rubbed her chin.

"Is there anything else we should know before we start tests ? Any advice for us, Eight ?"

The younger octoling took a bit of time to think, visibly trying to form up an answer.

"... Overall, I'd say the goal is fairly simple to understand. You move forward. You splat the enemies. If there is a place where you can fall, focus on not doing that. And repeat. Other stations can have different goals but they're usually explained the second you get in so that when you don't get lost. But if I were to give a general piece of advice for all of the tests ... It's that you should always remember that what you're fighting against is a corpse, a robot, an empty husk, whatever you want to call it. But it's not a person. More than once I recognized the bodies of people I knew and tried desperately to call them in hopes that they may recognize me. And all that I got in return was pain, both mentally and physically. They never showed a single sign of emotional intelligence, and I doubt that they have any memories of their past life. If you're trapped, begging for mercy won't do anything for you. If you have time to beg, you have time to fight back. At least ... That's what I always tell myself now."

Marina glanced back at her partner, who had the same confident yet slightly darkened eyes as her.

"... Alright. Sounds like we're ready."

Chapter Text

As the duo began to enter the test room, Marina couldn't help but feel the need to grab Pearl's hand and hold it as tightly as possible.

"Reena, are you scared ?"

"... Kinda. So far, the things that Eight told us aren't exactly exciting. Dead people, difficult tests, and if we fail we may die ... What if I can't do it ? What if I end up becoming a dead weight for the team ?"

"SHUSH. Nonesense. First of all, you're a great fighter. Second, if you feel like you can't do it, I'll do it for you ! Eight said that only one of us needs to complete the challenge for it to count as two wins. So if you need it, step back, relax, and your princess in shining armor will take care of everything."

"Oh, Pearlie ..."

"C'mon, let's go. The quicker we're done, the quicker we can bully Callie and tell her we did better than she did."

The two inkfish nodded as they looked at each other before taking a step through the level's door and immediately being sent in the middle of it as they watched a light flash before their eyes showing three little octopi, symbolizing the amount of attempts they had left.

The couple started walking around wearily, Marina becoming even more tense as she stared at the trees surrounding them.

"Are there supposed to be trees so deep in the underground ? That shit looks tropical too ..."

"No, even in the domes where we had a good amount of light and we could often control the temperatures and humidity, growing trees was extremely difficult and we had to get most of our tree fruits from trades with salmonids. So this ... This is very strange."

"Mmmh ... Maybe this place has some super hyper intelligent people that know how to grow trees anywhere ? That or these trees are just very resistant."

"What's surprising is that it's not just one or two of them, it's quite literally hundreds of trees ... I wonder why they were planted here."

Suddenly, Pearl jumped on Marina and pushed her out of the way

"WATCH OUT !!"

A charger shot immediately hit the place where they were at not even a second before, and Marina growled as she glanced at a sanitized octoling that was staring at them from behind the trees.

"Nevermind ... I think I get why they did that."

Pearl grabbed her splattershot and ran towards them full speed to shoot at the charger. But they didn't even try to move. Instead, they meticulously charged a shot and fired directly into pearl's face, before being splatted not even a second later. Pearl fell to her knees with a grow as Marina gasped and ran by her side.

"Are you okay ?! That looked like it hurt ..."

"Sure did. Woaw ... I almost got splatted here."

"Why did you even do that ?!"

"Well, I've been playing turf ever since I was little and every time I try to attack a charger, they panic and try to flee before getting splatted. They don't even bother trying to charge up a shot. But that one ... It didn't even flinch. It saw that I was coming, and decided that the best thing to do was wait and shoot me up in the face. Technically speaking, they were right in doing so ... That was their only chance in splatting me. But still. That is IMPRESSIVE. Even professional turf players would've flinched at that attack."

"I guess they really are emotionless then ..."

"Yeah. Eight didn't lie to us. To be honest, she had no reason to do so. But ... That sucks."

"To think that there are probably some people I know forever stuck in this place ... PEARL BEHIND YOU !!"

Marina grabbed Pearl's hand and began to run around, dragging her between the trees as shots began to fall from the sky.

"What's going on ... WAIT THIS ONE HAS AN INKJET ?! HEY NOT FUCKING FAIR, WHY DOES SHE GET AN INKJET AND NOT US ?! OUTCH she got me fuck fuck fuck byeeeee !!!"

Marina sighed as the two of them finally hid under a nearby tree and began to rest a little bit.

This sounded like the beginning of quite the mess ... Kamabo sure was one hell of a place.

Chapter Text

It took two hours of running, screaming, inking and getting lost in the level for the couple to finally get to the end of it. It was a particularly exhausting challenge, but one they knew they'd have to get used to. As they walked towards the end of the level, Pearl looked at Marina with her hands shaking.

"Damn I hope not all levels are like that ... If they are, it's gonna take us YEARS to get out."

"Well, Eight did mention that some levels only take a few minutes to complete so I can assume they're not all like that ... But yes, this was quite the challenge. We probably had the worst time here."

"Hey what makes you think that ? We took a while but we were AWESOME. We didn't even get splatted once !!"

"Well yes, but everyone else is just way stronger than us. Eight is an Elite soldier, Storm was one of the best fighters in her category, Callie is a very well trained secret agent and Ahato ... Well, they're supposed to be very weak. But according to Callie they have an amazing aim now ... I'm guessing sanitization helps them get better focus and reflexes ?"

"Damn, they're supposed to be weak ? They do look a bit like a walking skeleton but I felt like they could easily beat someone with their sheer size."

"Yeaaaah ... No. Not only did they spend the last few years of their regular life laying down in an hospital bed, but they were also particularly bad at listening in class and were skipping most of their training sessions. I remember the first time they had to train to do weaponless combat ... They took one punch and were knocked out for the day."

"HAHAHA !! DAMN I GUESS I REALLY OVERESTIMATED THEM. If we were to get into a fight, I guess I'll go easy on them."

"Why would you want to fight them to begin with ..."

The two girls chuckled before finally putting their hand against a scanner at the end of the level, which quickly confirmed their identities and marked their first level as completed before giving them two strange little figurines. The couple stared at them on confusion for a bit before Marina gasped and showed her the little item.

"Wait, I got your crown ! And I think you have my headphones !! I wonder what that means ..."

"Huh. Weird. Welp, I guess we'll just keep them for now. I bet they're important in some way, Eight will probably tell us how soon."

"You're right. Plus, it's your crown ... I can't throw away something so cute that reminds me of you ~"

Pearl chuckled lightly before looking behind her and noticing something VERY strange. All of the octolings they'd thought during the test had assembled right next to the line that separated the end of the level and the test itself. Just a dozen mindless people standing there, blankly staring at the couple.

"Damn, that's so weird ... Why are they staring at us ?"

"I think that they're not allowed to attack us anymore, but that's all they seem to know how to do. So they're just waiting..."

The octoling began to stare at the lifeless corpses, her hand slightly shaking as she clenched it over the little figurine she just received.

"... Hey, Marina ?"

"..."

"Reena ?"

"H-Huh ? Yes ?"

"You're staring. Is something wrong ?"

"... That one woman in the corner. She used to be my instructor for my coding classes."

Pearl quickly glanced at the direction Marina pointed at, noticing an octoling with a black hair instead of the bright blue everyone else had.

"We all thought she died about seven years ago during a rock slide. We never found her body. Was she here the whole time ? She wasn't nice by any means but ... She didn't deserve this."

Marina sighed, crossing her arms on discomfort

"You did say death by earthquakes were a common accident in the domes ... And so far, all the sanitized people we've met have either been Octolings or the weird lil tentacles critters that were helping you out in the domes. Do you think ..?"

"Yeah. All of these people that disappeared ... They probably didn't die. They all ended up down here."

Marina growled and shook her head

"I guess this is not something we can afford to worry about right now. These people are dead, there's nothing we can do for them. And if someone else ends up falling down, at least we'll be able to help them. But one thing's for sure ... I don't trust Kamabo in the slightest."

"Yeah, I mean, I don't trust a company using people as lab rats who kills the ones that fail their tests either. But ... This is our only shot at going back to the surface. And right now, this is our priority."

Marina glanced at the little figure she was rewarded with and sighed.

"... Yeah. Even if I'm scared of everything in this place, I know I'll always be able to trust you at least."

"Yeah. Same."

Chapter Text

As Marina and Pearl walked back to the metro, they found themselves almost crawling on the ground to reach it up on time. They were EXHAUSTED. Marina hadn't done that much sport since she was out of military school, and while Pearl was used to dancing for hours during splatfests, she never has to use her brain at the same time as she did so. That was NOT cool.

The girls came in the metro panting and sweating, welcomed by a seemingly similarly exhausted Eight.

"How did it go ? Did you manage to complete some levels ?"

Pearl sighed and rolled her eyes.

"It went pretty well all things considered. We completed three levels ... BUT. If I see another eight ball I swear to god I'm gonna explode."

"Awh, Really ? Eight ball levels are so calm and soothing, they're my favorite !"

"CALM ?? THE BALL KEEPS FALLING OFF THE STAGE HOW CAN I BE CALM IF I DIE."

"Well, the balls don't fall off if you plan where they go next ! It's all about patience. You go ahead, splat the enemies, ink the path and the lead the ball."

"... Okay fair but do I look like someone with patience to you."

Eight took a second to actually understand what Pearl said before snorting and having a good laugh.

"Yeah, I suppose that checks out. Gramps did warn me that inklings were more impulsive and impatient than us."

"HEY, WE- ... Fuck actually I don't have any counterarguments for that. I guess it's just in our nature. But that doesn't make us bad guys !!

Eight chuckled and smiled.

"I don't think it does, really. Grandpa always found it kind of cute. He always said that while you jumped into the midst of battle really easily, your boldness and willingness to take risks often paid off."

"Mmmh ... I guess I'll take that as a compliment. I do like taking risks. If I never took risks, I wouldn't have met Marina and we would've never been able to become what we are today."

Pearl glanced at Marina, and smiled, which made the poor octoling gasp and let out a little embarrassed yelp.

"Pearlie ... You're so sweet and cool ... AAAAH, I can't ..."

Marina flapped her hands and took a deep breath trying to calm down, before suddenly gasping and reaching inside her pocket.

"Oh !! Eight, I almost forgot, do you know what these little figurines are ? Pearl and I were awarded one every time we completed a level."

"Oh, they're mem cakes ! They're basically a physical manifestation of your most important memories. They're not technically linked to your actual memories, so if you destroy or loose them you won't loose anything. But for what I learned, you can rewatch your memories in great details by using them. I personally didn't keep mine, there's a nice man that comes in this metro every now and then to trade items for them and I just gave him everything I had. It's been a bit since I last saw him, but I think he'll come back soon."

"Alright ... That's good to know !"

Marina shoved the little figurines back in her pocket before a massive shiver crawled down her spine. She began to sniff the air and whimpered in embarrassment.

"What's wrong Reena ?"

"... I stink. A lot."

"... Me too I'm not gonna lie."

Eight stretched and walked up to hug Marina.

"I guess we've all been working really hard today ... It makes sense that we all smell a little bad. Maybe we should reward ourselves with a warm shower ! It's been a long time since we last showered together. I missed it. What do you say Marina ?"

"Oh wait, there's showers down there ?"

"Yeah ! Are they're free too ! There's also laundry machines right next to them. Honestly, I don't know how else I would've been able to maintain a proper hygiene down there ... And taking care of your body is important to be able to have the best results possible in the tests."

"I see ... Well I can't say no to a bath with how much I ran around today."

"Alright ! Let me bring you to them. Oh, and Pearl should come too ! I don't want to leave her behind."

Pearl was a little surprised by the offer, but in the end, she didn't have anything against it. A warm shower and someone scrubbing your back sounded like heaven right now ...

"Well if you don't mind having an impulsive inkling walking in the shower with you, I'm in ~"

"... Just don't eat soap. I did it once. It didn't taste good."

"YOU WHAT ?! AND I'M THE IMPULSIVE ONE HERE ?! ... You sure it didn't taste good ? At least a little bit ?"

"MY SISTER CONVINCED ME IT WAS A KIND OF CREAM BACK THEN !! ... And no it didn't. Please don't try it."

Marina began to laugh as Eight grabbed her hand and began to pull her towards the next wagon of the metro.
This new life was chaotic, but she was glad to have eight back.

Chapter Text

Walking in a completely empty communal shower was a weird feeling. This place definitely felt like it was built to be used by at least a hundred people on a daily basis. It had dozens of shower heads along with a massive bathtub that seemed to always be filled with a steaming hot water, which filled the place with a very pleasant warmth.

It didn't take Eight more than a couple of seconds to undress before running under a shower with a satisfied hum. Pearl and Marina took their time to take their clothes off before putting them in a nearby washing machine and walking off to find a showerhead. Pearl couldn't help but feel particularly happy to see just how hot she could make the water here. The octarian domes weren't that bad when it came to hygiene, but their water was barely warm enough to be satisfying. Pearl loved her baths STEAMING HOT, borderline first-degree burns. The inkling began to scrub her hair, and Marina let out a gasp as she looked at her lover's back.

"Oh my god, I almost forgot... Your back ..."

"Oh... Oh yeah, me too ! Even tho I'm not taking treatments anymore, it's not painful at all. How does it look ? I can't really see it ?"

"Well ... It looks pretty well healed. The scar's a bit rough to look at but it looks like it will hold pretty well through time. Doctor Shiver may have a little bit of an ego but I must admit, she did a great job with you."

"Yeah, she did and I bet the scar looks DOPE. Plus, I'll admit, the whole undercut thing fit me pretty damn well. Maybe I should get it again when we get back on the surface."

"Pffff ... Pearlie ..."

The two women began to clean each other's back, talking about all that they'd went through on that day. Finally, Pearl decided to take a little dip in the bathtub (not too deep, as full submersion could be dangerous for inkfish) and Marina called Eight so that she could come over.

"Eight ! Come here so I can scrub your back !"

"Coming !!"

The younger octoling ran up to Marina to jump into her arms before sitting down and letting the older woman scrub her back as she hummed a little tune she'd learned in the military. "Onward", as they called it. It was originally meant to be nothing more than a small tune for soldiers to follow as they marched in unison. But in the end ... It was still fairly catchy.

"Aaaaah ... It feels so good to take a bath together again ... I missed it."

"Me too. You really grew up quite a lot since we last saw each other. You still hadn't fully mastered your bipedal form back then !"

"Yeah ... I remember being quite jealous of you. You mastered it when you were insanely young !"

"That's what everyone said about everything. You're so young for an engineer, you're so young for a DJ, you're so young for mastering your bipedal form... After a while, it felt like I was being praised for just existing."

"You were working all the time though. Even more than Skip, and god knows she was dedicated to being the best at everything."

"Well ... That's what happens when you're "born a genius". I wonder how differenty my life could've been if I'd been a normal kid..."

"I don't want to think about that. If you weren't born how you were, I wouldn't have had my favorite big sister."

The younger octoling turned around and wrapped her arms around Marina to pull her into a hug.

"Eight ..."

"I missed you. I missed having a big sister. I tried my best to be a model for skip and everything but ... It wasn't the same without you."

Marina felt a small urge to remind eight that they didn't share the same parents. But in the end ... She didn't have the heart to tell her that. She missed Eight, more than she could've ever imagined. In the end ... Perhaps it could've been better if they actually were siblings. A slight pain hit her chest as she remembered what Octavio told her. About the fact that he never wanted to see her again. For her own good. She knew this man hurt her. In quite a few different ways. But ... She loved him. He was quite literally the only consistent comforting adult figure in her life. And despite everything he did wrong ... He sure tried to fix his mistakes as much as he could.

"I missed you too, Eight."

"I can't wait for us to get out of here !! Maybe we can spend more time together after that ?"

Marina wasn't sure if Eight was talking about the domes or the outside world.

... But right now, she didn't want to know. She just wanted to hold on to that little glimpse of hope and comfort.

Chapter Text

After finishing their shower and talking for a while, The three girls decided to ultimately go back to the metro to meet up with everyone else, as they would've most likely came back from their tests now. On they way back there, the trio stopped at a nearby vending machine to grab themselves some food for the night. It wasn't much, just a loaf of white bread and a little bit of fish paste to spread on it, but it did make some fairly good sandwiches.

They arrived in the metro and immediately found Ahato and Callie, who already seemed to have food of their own. Ahato was barely nibbling on their piece of bread, but Callie seemed to be heavily encouraging them to eat more.

"Oh, hey everyone !! Where were you three ? I asked the conductor but he had no idea of where you were. I was sooo scared pearl and marina got lost."

Pearl rolled her eyes and snorted.

"I have a VERY GOOD sense of orientation, thank you very much. I used to hike on mountains all the time, it's like the first requirement. We were just taking a shower all together."

"Oh my god a SHOWER ?? We should totally get one too. What do you think, Ded ? You should totally get one too ! I can scrub your back if you want. I do it all the time with Marie."

The sanitized octoling took another bite of their food, chewed it for a uncomfortable amount of time, swallowed and slightly lifted up their head to look at Callie.

"If you think it's useful."

"What do you mean "if you think it's useful" ?? It's a SHOWER silly, of course it's useful. Wait ... WAIT HOW LONG HAS IT BEEN SINCE YOU LAST SHOWERED ?!"

"I don't know. Ever since I got here ? It was most likely years ago. But my sweat glands have stopped working ages ago and they're currently still unable to function. So I should be fine."

"WHAT ?! EWWWW, STINKY !!"

"I literally just said I have lost my ability to sweat years ago."

"I DON'T CARE !! YOU'RE COMING WITH ME TO GET A SHOWER AND YOU'RE GONNA LIKE IT !!"

"I may not possess the ability to appreciate warmth, so perhaps-"

"SHHHHH I SAID YOU'RE GONNA LIKE IT."

And with that, Callie began to drag her friend by the hand out of the metro as Eight began to uncontrollably giggle. Marina simply smiled and let out a big yawn before stretched and laying down on a nearby seat.

"I'm exhausted ... I think I'm going to get some sleep now."

"Got it Reena. Sleep well, I'll make sure you're safe while you sleep."

"Awh Pearlie ... That's so sweet, but I don't think that there's much to protect me from in this metro."

"You never know, there could be a metro monster that eats people. But I'll kick his ass before he could even wake you up !"

Marina softly smiled before closing her eyes and immediately drifting away to sleep. It seemed like a warm bath after running around all day was the last straw for Marina. Pearl silently go on one knee and gently kissed Marina's forehead before stretching and sitting down next to eight, who pat the seat next to her as an invitation. Pearl grabbed the little phone Octavio gave her, assuming that Eight would like to call him, but she instead slightly leaned against Pearl and smiled.

"... Thanks for taking such good care of Marina. "

Pearl silently put back the phone in her pocket, sighed and let out a little snort.

"Well, Marina's an adult, she took care of herself. I was just here to enjoy her presence."

"No, I'm serious. Marina ... She's always forced herself to do too much. I've see her overwork herself all the time, almost collapsing after getting no hours of sleep for days, and there little to no way for me to stop her. But this ... This is the first time I've seen Marina go to bed so easily. The Marina I knew would've probably been grumpy and would've forced herself to try to do at least one more level in loop even if she kept failing it because she was too exhausted to properly do it. You did something to her. I don't know what it was but ... I know it was good. So thank you."

The inkling looked back at Marina and thought about how she used to be. Despite everything she went through, her face was soft and her muscles relaxed. She may have joked about having nothing to be scared of while sleeping but ... Sleeping peacefully after so much stress was particularly difficult. Pearl sure as hell hadn't slept peacefully on the previous night. Pearl couldn't help but wonder if Marina often used to have nightmares after deserting her home. No matter what ... She silently thanked herself for being able to see her lover sleep so soundly.

Chapter Text

Marie sighed as she scribbled down a couple more notes on paper before laying down on her bed. Or at least ... The bed that was assigned to her. According to Skip, this used to be her sister's bed. Marie felt a little guilty to take it away from her at first, mostly because just like everyone else, she believed that Eight had died just a few months ago. But on the previous day, right before bedtime, Octavio got a phone call with her. It was particular emotional, and Marie would've never guessed that Octavio could cry that much in just a day. Skip talked a bit over the phone too, enough for them to feel a lot more relaxed than usual. In the end, Marie and Skip ended up talking a lot about their family before falling in each other's arms. They were so exhausted and in need of warmth that they completely. And so far ... It seemed like tonight was going to end up in the exact same way, at least until Marie's phone began to ring. With a lot of confusion, the inkling grabbed the phone and answered it, wondering who would call her at such hour.

"Hi ? Who's this ?"

"Hello. This is Emperor."

Marie immediately turned white as she clenched her phone. She'd COMPLETELY forgot about Emperor. It wasn't surprising seeing just how much she ended up dealing with in such a short time, but still ...

"So are you all actually alive or do I just have to guess what kind of problem did you get down there that would lead you to stop communications entirely ?"

"Sorry, we had a VERY eventful time down there, and I must admit you completely slipped out of my mind."

"Lovely ... Now that's one way to treat someone who offered you a valuable alliance."

"You came up to us with guns and forced us to speak. I wouldn't call that an alliance."

"Tch ... As if you would've spoken otherwise. Anyway, mind if you could quickly explain to me what kept you so busy ?"

"So ... Long story short, we got into the octoling's place, but there was a very large accident that almost killed Callie and apparently sent her, Pearl and Marina into the deepest parts of the earth. So after that-"

"PEARL AND MARINA ?! WHAT DO YOU MEAN PEARL AND MARINA ?!"

Marie stared at her phone for a bit, blinked a couple times and began to smile nervously.

"AH YEAH. SO. ABOUT THAT. THEY'RE ALIVE BUT WE SPENT LITERALLY LESS THAN A MINUTE WITH THEM AND THEY DISAPPEARED AGAIN. THEY'RE DOING GREAT WE'RE JUST IN KIND OF A MESS RIGHT NOW."

"COULDN'T YOU JUST START WITH THAT ??"

"SHUT UP YOU NASTY LITTLE DAUPHIN, LIKE I SAID THE LAST FEW DAYS WERE VERY EVENTFUL."

"... Pearl and Marina are alive ..."

"Yeah I know. It was a shock for me too."

"..."

"Wait, are you about to cry ?"

"... No. A king doesn't cry."

"Oh, shut up... It's just you, me and four here. You can cry if you want."

Emperor took a massive breath, followed by a large sigh and him rubbing his eyes to avoid his eyes getting too tearful.

"I may cry afterwards. This is such a relief ... To think that I was at their grave just a couple days ago ..."

"I can imagine that ... But yes, to make it simple : Pearl and Marina are alive and healthy and fairly safe for what we know, we've concluded an alliance with the octarians to try to help them and also, we learned that skip's sister isn't actually dead. So a lot of good things overall, but a very VERY stressful way to go through it. How about you, any news with Shellmers ?"

"Mmmh. I do have some news and ... I must admit, I'm kind of stressed about it. He's been bragging quite a lot about "taking down the enemy" and "raising me like the true ruler I'm meant to be" lately, but he only revealed his true plans to me a couple days ago. However, ever since that happened, he seemed to be even more invested in making me a part of his plan, and keeps going into more details as to what he wants to happen with the octolings. It's as if something clicked in his brain after the conversation you had with him. He went as far as to ask me to take a break from my CEO position to prepare to be the one leading the operations."

"Wait ... Wait, so does he want to attack RIGHT NOW ?!"

"No, not that I know of. For what I understand, he wants to take this as the opportunity to step down from his role and ask me to take the lead in his place. I don't know why he became so eager suddenly, but my best guess is that it's because one of the new idols that stepped in the place of Pearl and Marina is also an octoling. So while Marina may have seemed to be a temporary negative influence in his eyes, the threat of them being in positions of power more often makes him quite angry."

"So that's what pushed him into action ... So you would be the one orchestrating the attack ? Why ?"

"I can see two major reasons. One, this man is getting old. If his hate is just THAT powerful, he will need someone to perpetuate it. And two ... If he somehow fails, he can put all of the blame on me."

"Do you really think he would do that ?"

"I always found him weird. But y'know, I thought that grandfathers came from another time and all had their weird quirks. Problem is, to learn that he hid something so important from me for so long and now thinks that I'm ready to learn everything about it and take the lead of such an important operation so quickly ... It smells like a trap. I'm going to meet up with him for a large planning session in the next couple days for a more in-depth conversation about all of this. I'm hoping that I can find a way to learn more about everything, including the origin of his hate and the ways I could buy you all more time."

"I see ... Thank you so much. For everything. It may not seem that much, but you may be saving the lives of thousands upon thousands."

"I know. That's what rulers are meant to do. And that's what I'm praying I can achieve."

Chapter Text

While the previous day had been difficult for Pearl and Marina, it seemed like they were getting through the levels fairly easily. Things were advancing quickly, and the duo had great hopes for themselves. But now, the two girls had gotten smacked back to reality.

While every test subject was granted access to all the levels from the very beginning of the tests, some of said levels were clearly more difficult than others. And this day, Pearl decided to aim for one of the more difficult levels according to eight. Marina had a feeling in her guts, a little voice telling her that if a highly trained member of the octarian military struggled on a specific level, it must've meant that it wasn't just difficult, it was a challenge. But she allowed herself to trust her lover and ... Here they were. They'd spent their entire day so far on a single level, and while they were slowly making progress, said progress was fairly scarce.

Again and again, The duo found themselves completely swarmed by waves of enemies they just couldn't defend themselves against and kept loosing at points that ultimately felt so close yet so far from the end of the level.

As the girls got wiped out once more, Pearl sighed as she watched her CQ cumber screen ask her the same question as the last 10 times she'd tried this level : Would you like to pay to retry at your current checkpoint ?

"FUCK, we failed again ... But we were SO CLOSE this time !! Alright, one more round-"

But this time, Marina just wasn't having it.

"WAIT, NO PEARL !!"

"Huh ?"

Marina quickly glanced at her CQ cumber phone and growled, noticing that they both had about 1800 points left. While not dangerously low ... This meant that they'd lost about 2000 points each on this station alone.

"Listen. We've lost more than half of our points on this station. This is getting dangerous."

"I mean ... Yeah I get it, but we're almost there !! We just need to try a few more tries ..."

"Yes. But we don't know what "a few more " may mean. It could be 2, just like it could be 10 or even 20. This facility is seemingly trying to test our intelligence. And that can't just mean winning these tests and moving on, because a lot of them rely on strength rather than pure power. They're also testing us on our ability to know how to spend our points. We've come so far in this level, it means that we now know how it looks like and how to get through it. Instead of risking to loose all of our points, we should back down for now, try to go through some easier levels to get our points back, and come back once we'll have more resources."

Pearl began to rub her chin before nodding.

"Mmmh. I see what you mean. And even if I do think that we could easily finish this level, you're most definitely brighter than I am when it comes to this kind of situation. I may not know when to back down, but I know when to trust you."

"Awh ... Pearlie ..."

The girls both clicked on the "give up" option on their phones, and quickly got ejected out of the station, feeling both proud of their decision but also ... inevitably frustrated.

"I can't believe it ... We were so close !! URGH. Let's just move on. What time is it anyway ?"

"6 PM ... Oh my, I didn't even see time go by !!"

"Me neither. Welp, I guess my body felt it a little tho. My legs are on FIRE. Are we gonna have to do this every day ?! I bet we're gonna come out of here looking like bodybuilders. Maybe that could be nice. I could use a bit more muscles to protect you."

"As if your body wasn't already perfect !! My Pearlie is the best !!"

"Oh you ..."

Marina snickered as she walked away from the station.

Perhaps that coming back home would take more time than expected

Chapter Text

Callie was more than capable to go through the metro stations by herself. She was strong, she was experienced, she was trained specifically to be a fighter and to have the intelligence to navigate difficult situations in times of conflict. But the truth was, Callie didn't want to do them alone. Even if it put her at a disadvantage, the idea of finding herself all alone in such a stressful situation was making her highly stressed out. Because being all alone meant that she'd have all the time in the world to overthink everything that ever happened in her life and ... To make it simple, she felt completely miserable about it.

That's why she ended up pairing with Ahato. At first glance, Ahato didn't seem to care much. Callie kind of grabbed their arm and dragged them around like a ragdoll. But after asking how they were feeling, Callie was surprised to learn that they actually kind of appreciated that behavior.

"Huh, how come ? I mean, I won't go as far as to call myself bad company, but you don't seem to care much wether or not I'm here."

"You're helping me. Even if I lack quite a few emotions, I can make the link that you are doing this out of kindness and I believe that I am glad you are putting effort into forming a bond with me, despite the fact that I do not bring much to this relationship yet."

"Whaaaat ?? Don't say that ! You put up with the fact that I talk so much all the times, that's already amazing ! Not everyone can do that. When I was an actress, I heard people talking behind my back saying that I talk too much and get overwhelmingly affectionate way too easily. It hurt but ... I guess they were kind of right."

"Listening to you is actually quite pleasant, I believe. You are full of interesting knowledge that you are willing to share for free, and you take enjoyment simply by being listened to. I'm often on the quiet side, so I usually don't have much to bring to a conversation, which can bore some people out."

"Do you not enjoy talking ?"

"Mmmh ... I suppose it is more complex than that. Right now, it's difficult to find the defining traits between something pleasant and something I just feel the need to do. But when it came to my old self ... It was more because I felt like I had nothing interesting to say. So I kept quiet and listened."

"Awh ... Well I'm sure you have a lot of interesting things to say, people just didn't give you the opportunity to do so ! Maybe I should let you talk about yourself more. Mmmh ... How about your nickname ? How did you come up with it ?"

"... What about it ?"

"Uuuuh ... I mean, Dedf1sh is kind of a unique nickname. D-Don't get me wrong, I really like it ! But it's not exactly something I'd expect for someone to go by."

"I was already dying when I took that name. It felt like a nice way to reclaim my own pain."

Ahato took a long pose looking into the void before sitting down next to Callie.

"What do you mean by that ? Were you ill ?"

"... Yeah. It was cancer. I was diagnosed with it when I was fairly young. It was kind of a weird feeling, to grow up believing that I'd probably never reach adulthood. So I started joking around about it. Whenever I skipped classes, did something stupid with my friends or overall just behaved like what people considered to be a "bad kid", I'd always say something like "who cares what happens, I'm gonna die anyway." At first, the other kids didn't like it. But after joking about it so often, I think we all kind of forgot that it was actually going to happen. Come to think about it, it's a little weird to remember how lively I was back then, despite death lurking around the corner. Now, I know I shouldn't die anytime soon. But ... I'm struggling to feel the emotions that are meant to come with that thought. A bit of a mix between the thought of a child that stopped having hopes for herself a long time ago and a sanitized body that makes me so distant with my own bodily reactions. So ... Dedf1sh still feels really important as a name to me. Perhaps even more than Ahato."

"Ourgh... That is a super cool backstory to go with a super cool name. Honestly, you're right. I think it fits you. Mostly because I think it adds on to your style now. You kinda look like a zombie, and I mean that in the most positive way possible. Makes me think my own stage name is kinda lame now ..."

"And what's your stage name ?"

"Callie. Literally just my name. Fuck ... I mean, I'm bad at coming up with ideas for that sort of thing and I thought that not getting a stage name wouldn't be too big of a deal. But now I see that Pearl, Marina and everyone else has a cool nickname and I can't help but wonder if I should've dug a little further to find something cooler."

"I think Callie fits you. You don't need a nickname to make yourself sound "cool". You're more than enough by yourself."

Callie felt her heart skip a beat as she simply nodded and smiled.

... She was right. Dedf1sh did have some nice things to say when they allowed themselves to talk.

Chapter Text

It had been about six days ever since the group had fell down into the metro. And while some things were still difficult to handle mentally ... Everyone was slowly getting used to living in this place. Eight ended up being right. Grinding the same levels in loop was fairly easy once you knew it pretty well, but fairly boring too. And no matter how many points you ended up accumulating, there was always a chance for you to spend them all on a particularly difficult test without even noticing. So trying to finish levels ended up becoming a game of learning how to spend your points properly. And for Pearl, who was used to spending money without counting ... Well, it was kind of frustrating. She was used to working hard to earn money, so that wasn't the problem. Being an idol was far from easy either. But most importantly, it wasn't BORING. Doing the same levels in loop for safety made Pearl go slowly insane. Her and Marina had completed 3 levels on the second day they were in the underground. But it took them another four days to complete only two more. They had unlimited access to all of the levels they could try, but either they were picking out the wrong levels each time, or everything was STUPIDLY hard.

Right now, everyone was waiting for Storm and Eight to come back from Kamabo's vending machine with today's food. Pearl and Marina were sitting together, with Pearl talking about a new song idea she had about an octopus stuck in the deep ocean crawling to the surface to see the sun, and Callie was cleaning Ahato's glasses after noticing just how dirty they were, while the octoling watched her in confusion, wondering why she thought their glasses were so important. Finally, the two girls arrived with two bags of food smelling absolutely delicious, which made everyone gasp in unison. It smelled like PIZZA. Eight rushed towards Pearl and Marina before handing them the bag, and Storm did the same with her friends.

Pearl immediately dug her hands into the bag and let out a massive gasp as she found two boxes of pizza.

"NO WAYYYY !! PIZZA !!"

Eight chuckled and rubbed her head.

"Sadly, I believe that these were frozen pizza. So not exactly great quality but hey ... I can't spit on that"

"Listen eight I haven't had pizza in several months now, you could give me something that is two weeks old and I'd eat it off the floor at this point."

Marina rolled her eyes, opened one of the boxes and immediately grabbed one of the pre-cut slices. She carefully folded it in half before bringing it to pearl's face, who happily took a bite out of it before kissing her girlfriend's face, leaving a trail of sauce on her cheek.

"Pearlie ! Ew !! I was trying to be romantic !"

"Me too !! I gave you a kiss, nothing more romantic than that."

"You left my face covered in cheese and tomato, that's what you did."

"What, you want me to fix that ? C'mere, let me lick it off."

"WHA- PEARLIE NO !!"

Pearl jumped on her girlfriend and began to stick her tongue out to lick Marina's face while the octoling tried everything she could to keep her away, as Eight simple watched the scene eating her pizza.

At the other side of the wagon, Callie let out a snort and began to yell with her fist up in the air.

"GET HER PEARL !! LICK THAT FACE CLEAN !!"

She sat down, stretched and let out a satisfied chuckle before grabbing a slice of her pizza

"I'd much rather have a burger. Pizza are kind of Marie's thing but y'know ... I suppose shall suffice."

Storm rolled her eyes and smirked.

"You say that, but we used to find abandoned cartons of pizza all around the domes after your missions. At some point, we even got questioned by our superiors because they thought we were sneaking in pizzas during work. I bet agent 2 couldn't have eaten all of them alone."

Callie froze and stared blankly at her pizza before painfully swallowing what was left in her mouth. She slightly curled herself up before hugging her knees with one arm and nodding.

"Y-Yeah. I suppose I'm guilty of that. Sorry."

"Heh. Don't worry. It was kind of funny to have as an anecdote. Marina didn't even believe me when I first told her that. It was a little stupid to imagine that being one of your defining traits as an agent, but in the best way possible. You all seemed so mysterious and powerful ... And you liked pizza. Made you seem less like a legend and more like a funny cryptid."

Callie felt her heart squeeze in her chest as she began to clench her teeth to calm herself. Suddenly, Ahato grabbed her hand and began gently rubbed it.

"Are you not hungry Callie ?"

"I ... I may have overestimated my hunger. Maybe I should stop eating."

"You told me that it's important to eat, even when you don't want to. It would be a shame if you were to feel exhausted tomorrow simply because you didn't eat enough. Take care of yourself."

Callie felt a slight flush over her face and nodded before taking another bite of her pizza.

Ahato was right. Now was not the time to neglect her body. She'd take care of herself ... At least for the happiness of others.

Chapter Text

It had now been a full week since the little group had fallen down into the deep sea metro.

Today, Pearl and Marina hadn't anything special. They simply grinded points to use on levels over the next few days, which meant doing the same easy levels in loop. It was fairly boring, and very exhausting for what it was, but at least it gave time for Pearl and Marina to talk. Sometimes, they took little breaks and ended up doing a level with someone else, but they would always come back to each other because it just felt more natural. Doing the same repetitive tasks in loop meant that conversation subjects didn't exactly come up naturally, and spending time together could become awkwardly VERY quickly.

Right now, it was nearly time for the girls to sleep after a full day of hard work. They were alone in their wagon, kind of laying around together but not quite falling asleep yet. Pearl was playing with Marina's hair, squishing it with her hands and watching it twirl around to pull her into a cuddle. Marina couldn't help but find her fascination adorable. She could've probably kept this going for hours if they were stopped by Pearl's phone buzzing off.

Pearl quickly grabbed it, expecting a message from Octavio updating her on the situation in the domes. She'd done so a few times already and it was kind of nice to have at least one contact with the "outside" world. But this time, the message was bit different. It didn't seem to be from Octavio, at least not directly.

"Hey Pearl.
This is Emperor. I'm giving this message to Octavio so he can send it to you.
I've built an alliance with Marie and the octolings in the domes in hopes of building a better future for them. Problem is, my grandfather seems to have the same mind as he had in the war a hundred years ago and wants me to lead military operations against them.
I'm going to meet him tomorrow and pretend like I'm interested in following his ideas to sabotage his plans. It's not going to be easy but I won't be alone.
Everyone here misses you and Marina. I must admit, learning that you two were alive and seemingly doing well was quite the relief. Prince cried for hours after hearing out the news. I wish we could spread the word but it would completely blow our covers.
Please, try your best to stay alive. I promise we'll do the same out there."

The girls finished reading the message in unison and glanced at each other with a heavy heart.

"... I completely forgot that everyone we've ever known must think we're dead. That's ... So fucking weird. Can you imagine, Reena ? We must have graves and everything up there. I bet a couple people even made some homages to us."

"That's true ... Seeing Callie's reaction, it's hard to imagine anyone had any hopes for our survival. Everyone must think we're gone. I wonder if they even miss us anymore ... It's been months now."

"You kidding ?! Of COURSE they miss us. We're idols. We're the ones directing the splatfests, we're the ones who bring everyone together with our music and make the world feel united once a month !! Or at least ... We were. I wonder if they replaced us."

"They probably did. Inkopolis without idols would feel empty. I can't help but think about Warabi and Ikkan ... I left them saying that we'd be back in a couple of weeks, and now they're probably stuck as the new default idols for inkopolis AND Warabi is left without me to help him out."

"You say that as if it was a bad position to hold. Okay it is exhausting. But boohoo, poor them, they're gonna have so much money they won't even know what to do with it ! You literally threw these two into a giant pile of money and kissed them goodbye on the cheek before jumping into a hole to never be seen again. And then jumping into another bigger and deeper hole to be seen even less somehow."

"PEARLIE !!!"

"AM I WRONG THO ?!"

Marina snorted, rolled her eyes and used her hair to clench around Pearl's arm.

"... You know what ? I can't wait to come back to the surface and see how everyone will react to us being alive."

"... Me too"

Chapter Text

Today was the day Emperor would have to face his fate. After showing a fair amount of excitement towards the new project his grandfather had invited him to participate in, he'd finally been given enough time to meet him.

Emperor took a deep breath before walking in his grandfather's office. Despite how beautifully decorated this place was, it had always felt like awfully cold and unwelcoming space to be in. It had been decorated like one would imagine an immensely wealthy person would decorate their house. Hunting trophies. A massive red carpet and beautiful tapestry adorning the walls. A massive library covering the place with more ancient books than you could imagine, and a couple shelves showcasing beautiful bones of all kinds. Most people would be impressed at such vision, some people may even admire it. But the more you looked at it, the more eerie things would become.

Most, if not all of the taxidermied hunting trophies belonged to endangered species of animals known for their strength and rare appearances. All were killed safely from hundreds of feet away by a simple bullet shot into their skull. The tapestries adoring the walls were stolen years upon years ago during wars, pieces of art shred apart from their owners as the people who'd destroyed their homes thought that it was their due to steal whatever remained behind rubles that once used to be a house. The ancient books in this library all seemed ... Fake in some way. Emperor had read a couple of them during long family meetings where he was getting bored, and none of these books seemed to make any sense when held to the current standards of science, as if the experimentations described in them had been created specifically to make the reader feel more intelligent than they actually were. And finally, the bones ... Emperor was no biologist. He knew too well that the beaks on display didn't belong to any regular inkfish lacking sentience.

"Emperor, I'm glad to see that you were able to come. It seems that you are taking this project as seriously as I'd hoped for. You truly are the perfect heir for this family."

"With all due respect, I knew that this project was important the very minute you asked me to take part in it. I am very happy to be able to help you in such a difficult task."

"Ah yes, you are correct and I'm glad you're willing to admit it ... Having to handle an entire population is quite the difficult task. But no need to be humble. I know for a fact that you can handle this. It is in our blood to rule over creatures that need to be restrained in some way, and any good leader knows that getting rid of pests like Octolings is necessary to ensure the well being of the most important part of the population."

Now was the time to go for it. Ask a crucial question that had been lingering in his thoughts for quite a while now.

"Sir ... May I ask the precise reasoning behind our actions ? I am in no way denying your ability to make a trusted decision on this subject, as you do know a lot more about this species than I. I believe I am quite ignorant as to why you believe Octolings to be that detrimental to our well being, and I would rather know the full extent of this fights origins if I am to take the complete lead of these operations after your departure. As you may know, even if we do succeed in destroying the domes, there are quite a few Octolings that have managed to escape so far and ... If I must track them down to get rid of them, I'd rather know what kind of enemy I'm against."

"Mmmmmh ... That is a wise question to ask, young man. One that not many would've thought about. I really appreciate the dedication you've shown about this subject. And the truth is, the reason why Octolings need to disappear is because they are a direct competitor against our species in the current society we've built in Inkadia. They are just like us in many, many ways, and for just a short time, we even considered them to be just like us ... But deep down, their very nature makes them more bestial and aggressive than we could ever be. That's why they're so dangerous. "

The old man walked up to grab a book left on a nearby shelf, only to open it right in the middle to show an ancient depiction of an inkling and an octoling fighting in a rough version of what could be seen as a turf war.

"See, our two species have been enemies a long, long time before we started to come out the mother sea. We've always been parallels to each other. We produce ink. We have tentacles. We can switch forms. But the truth is, our species were never meant to be equal, at least not in their eyes."

The old man switched to the next page of the book, a page that showed a graphic depiction of an octopus devouring a squid.

"Octopi had evolved to be extremely powerful predators, creatures that sought to kill and devour anything that didn't look like them ... Or hell, even things that looked like them too. They were definitely known to practice cannibalism. These creatures developed particular powerful brains, tentacles that could still walk, think and destroy us even after being severed from their main body, they had venom, some being so destructive that a single milligram of said substance was enough to kill a person, letting it suffer for long agonizing minutes as antidotes could never be powerful enough to stop death from happening. Octopi know how powerful they are. And they're not scared to use they powers against us. And if they see themselves as the predator, I'm letting you guess who's meant to be their prey."

Chapter Text

Emperor shivered as he tried everything he could to avoid stepping away from the book. He knew that doing such thing would show weakness. And that was the last thing he should do right now. Predators ... His own grandfather wanted to kill Octolings because they were were originally eating squids. This didn't make sense. Octolings hadn't eaten anyone in THOUSANDS of years, ever since all of the marine species gained sentience and began forming bonds with each other. This wasn't a justification by any means, Octolings hadn't been any more of a danger than the manta rays, eels or even sharks living in inkopolis. Or perhaps ... Perhaps he felt the same way about them. Perhaps the only reason these species weren't extinct was because they didn't manage to get an excuse to kill them. That thought made the man shiver. His family, the person than shaped his mind and blood, was someone atrocious enough to believe that anything different from him should disappear, but the fact that he didn't just think such thing but actually DID IT ?! HE KILLED PEOPLE. THAT MAN HAD THE BLOOD OF THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE ON HIS HANDS. IF ANYTHING, HE WAS THE PREDATOR HERE

"See, my little emperor, the reason why we need to destroy Octolings isn't because a couple of them are bad people. If that was the case, the police would take care of the bad apples and the rest of them could happily live with the rest of us. But this predator instinct of theirs is engraved in their DNA. it's not a matter of if they will attack us, but rather a matter of when. I've seen them on the battlefield my dear, terrifying people I tell you. They devoured our corpses and played with the dying as if we were toys."

Emperor had to bite his lip to avoid screaming. Liar. This man was a liar. His grade was way too high for him to have ever stepped on a battlefield. He'd never seen any corpses, only sent people to their deaths in the comfort of his own little protected base. This bastard didn't even have the guts to tell the truth about it all to his own heir.

"Truly, I pity the soldiers that fell in love with these snake of a woman the opponents were. They knew how to flirt with our soldiers to bring them back to their base and do God knows what with their bodies. The only thing we knew was that you'd never see these soldiers again, and that the women always came back for more. I've heard Prince talk about your other side of the family before, how your great grandfather cheated on his wife to go with an Octoling and ended up being executed for it ... I can understand how he'd see it as a tragic tale. But deep down, I know that this was a necessary sacrifice. They warned him. They told him that he'd lead his Splatoon to their death if he kept talking with the devil. And he almost did ! So his superiors had to put an end to it, to protect everyone else."

... He'd never cheated on his wife. All three of these people were in a loving relationship together. Lies, lies and only lies from a monster who pretended to protect his own family. Pathetic.

"See, Emperor, I have great hopes for you. You, and only you can protect our species from these people. I trust you to make the right choice. You can be the greatest savior this species has ever dreamt of. Or ... You can end up like your great grandfather. And you may even suffer the same fate as him."

This time, Emperor couldn't control his body. He took a step back, and glanced back at the monster in front of him whose facial expression was completely indescribable

"... I won't disappoint you, sir. I'm no traitor, unlike this disappointment of a man that you call my great grandfather."

"That's good to hear. I'm proud to have you as my grandson."

Emperor bowed down to the man, and very slowly began to walk out of the room. As soon as he closed it, he closed his fist so hard that his entire arm began to shake. Deep breath after deep breath, he tried his best to calm himself down to look fairly normal to anyone that may see him in this place. But it wasn't working.

He wasn't a king.
He'd never been anything close to it. A king is respected. A king should be powerful, should rule with wisdom and most importantly ... Should care about his subjects. But he'd been nothing but a very carefully crafted puppet all of this time.

Emperor wasn't a king.
He was the jester.

Chapter Text

"... I'm bored."

Marina rolled her eyes and chuckled as she watched Pearl laying down on the metro floor, stretching herself like a caterpillar as she looked up at the metro's ceiling.

"Pearl, don't lay down there, it's dirty. You should get back on the seats."

"But the seats hurt my baaaaack ... And I want to try new things."

Marina rolled her eyes, got up and sat down next to Pearl to rub her hand on her face with a chuckle.

"We've been working pretty hard on tests today. But I'd be up to do a few more if you need to move around."

"I don't know ... I suppose that it's better than laying down here but ... Despite it being entertaining, it definitely feels like work. I want to play turf, to play ranked, to sing, to scream, to do just ... WHATEVER !! Something that has no other purpose than being fun !!"

"Well, eight told me there are a couple levels mimicking ranked-style games ? She even played tower control yesterday."

"Noooo ... Playing against sanitized Octolings feels weird. Ranked is fun because the other team is alive. They have their own strategies that you need to understand, they have their own little quirks and reactions during the match, you can even squidbag them to piss them off and make the match even more interesting !! Against them it would probably feel ... Empty. Like I'm fighting robots. Fuck ... Yeah I think that's the thing. I want to playfight with someone. I want to fight but also do it with a friend."

"W-We could playfight !"

"Marina. Sweetie. Don't lie to me, you can barely stand up. You're exhausted."

"Okay ..."

Suddenly, the rest of the group walked in the metro, all talking together as they seemingly met each other on their way there. Pearl immediately jolted herself off the ground and ran towards the group, trying to find a target for her potential fight. Eight would be too weak. Ahato looked they barely stood up on their own. Callie had surprisingly big muscles. But there was someone else she could potentially handle ...

"YOU. STORM. COME HERE, FIGHT ME !!"

"E-Excuse me ?"

Marina chuckled as she watched Pearl's eyebrows twitch in excitement.

"Pearl has been fairly bored today, and it seems like she really wants to fight with someone ... In a friendly way. You think you'd be up for the task if you're not too exhausted ?"

"Oh ! Well, I am highly against any fight that would involve weapons right now. I don't want to hurt anyone. But I suppose a good old arm wrestle would do the trick !"

Pearl let out a squeak of excitement before running to grab Storm's arm with a smirk.

"YEAH YEAH YEAH !! PLEASE !! LET'S DO THAT !"

"Hold on, we need a table ... We can sit in the next wagon, it has a table for passengers that want to eat."

Pearl immediately ran into the next wagon as Storm sighed and rolled her eyes with a small chuckle, followed by the rest of the group. Callie being the farthest away from the action, she immediately leaned towards Ahato to ask them about what happened

"What are these two up to ?"

"If I understood correctly, it seems like they are going to do some arm wrestling."

"OH !! DO YOU WANT TO GO WATCH THAT ?"

"... I don't know ? I'm unsure if I hold any feelings towards it."

"WELP YOU'RE COMING WITH ME !! GO STORM GOOOOO !!"

Everyone gathered around the table, looking at Pearl and Storm stretching before their fight.

"You're stretching a lot, Pearl ... Are you scared perhaps ?"

"HA ! As if ! I'm just making sure I'll go easy on you !"

"Sure ... Alright, bring it in !"

The two girls suddenly grabbed each other's hand and started to fight, their arms twitching and shaking with the sheer force of their power. Marina gasped, her eyes shining at the scene, screaming internally while Pearl glanced and winked at her.

"I'll admit ... You're not too bad for a little squid !"

"And you're not too bad for a nurse !"

"Ha ! I wasn't always a nurse. Did you forget I was a soldier already ? We used to do that EVERY DAY. Sometimes we even added broken glass on each side on the table to make it even more interesting. You can ask Marina."

"Oh. Uh. Woaw. D-Did marina ever do that ?"

"No. We take care of our mechanics like precious little princesses. Their hands are too important to be hurt."

"Damn right she's a precious little princess. Still, with glass on the table, I'm surprised you've only lost a single finger."

"Ha ! That's because I've always won !"

"Well NOT ANYMORE !!"

Putting all her might into a final slam, Pearl completely destroyed Storm's balance, slamming her arm against the table and letting out a screech of victory.

"HAHA !! WHO'S A LITTLE SQUID NOW !?"

"I lost ... I must admit, it's unexpected for me but not really surprising. I haven't been training a lot lately ... My hands are for taking care of people now. Not hurting them. I still have the reflexes to go through the Kamabo tests but outside of that, I suppose I'm okay with being weaker."

"Heh. You fought well, don't act like a kicked puppy."

With that, Storm backed down only to be welcomed by a warm hug and encouragements from Callie. Pearl expected for things to end there, as she was already satisfied with what she'd gotten. But a new unexpected opponent came up to her. Eight. She slammed her fist against the table and smiled innocently.

"Can I be next ?"

"Oh ?? Alright, I can try to be more gentle this time."

"No no. Give me your best."

"You'll regret it, but alright ! Bet !!"

The two girls grabbed each other arms, they both flexed in unison and before Pearl actually understood what was going on her, she felt her arm slammed so quickly against the table that it actually hurt. It took her a few seconds to stare at the table and realize she'd lost, which gave more than enough time for Marina to snort and Eight to burst out laughing.

"WHAT THE- ... HOW DID YOU DO THAT ?!"

"Pearl, I'm the leader of my Splatoon ! I'm a highly trained soldier, I was meant to fight every day !! You never stood a chance, I just wanted to see how far you'd go. You're still pretty rough, I've seen much worse, even in the military !"

"I WASN'T READY FOR THAT. LET'S TRY AGAIN !!"

"The same thing's gonna happen ~"

"NUH UH. GIMME YOUR ARM"

3, 2, 1, Pearl resisted only half a second before being slammed against the table once again, which made Marina completely loose it as Pearl began to blush a bright red.

"AGAIN !!"

Well ... It looked like they would be going at it for a while.

Chapter Text

It was already hard enough for emperor to face the mistakes of his own family. But the fact was ... Witnessing these horrors wasn't the end of it all. He now had to report everything he'd heard to Octavio through a phone call. Not only just understand that his bloodline was cursed, but also admit it in front of someone else.

"So. Tell me everything kiddo. What's that old man of yours planning to do ?"

"... I think you know pretty well what Shellmers has in mind."

"Yes. But I need to hear about it to actually find ways to go against it."

Emperor clenched his jaw as he tried his best to remain emotionless

"Excuse me, I just feel the need to ask one question before I can proceed."

"I'm open to answer to any of your concerns."

Emperor sighed and clenched his fist.

"I do want to start of by saying ... I don't agree with anything my grandfather has done. I think he's a monster for everything he'd done. But he did give me the "reason" why he hates your kind so much and I couldn't help but wonder if his fake concerns may have an actual impact on other people's opinions on your kind"

"And what were his concerns ?"

"That octolings are predators."

Octavio took a bit of time to gather up his thoughts before nodding and closing his eyes.

"I see. May I know why this concerned you ?"

"Well ... I'm mainly wondering if you had a good counterargument to the fact that octopus used to eat squids, a way to avoid a mass panic, just in case something went wrong and Propaganda began to surface once again. I know your people. I've had the luck of being close to both Marina and another ex-soldier of yours, and I can see that they're just like me. But I don't think every single inkling has had close enough of a relationship with the few Octolings that managed to get up to the surface to understand that fact. So imagine, if someone told you that octolings are problematic because they are predators. What would you answer ?"

Octavio mumbled something behind his tentacles and opened his eyes back up.

"The world of sea creatures has always been full of predators. A very large majority of sea species are omnivorous, and there are creatures that used to be far more dangerous than we were. Sharks, eels and manta rays are most well known to have been the squid's top predators for hundreds of thousands of years. Yet in my knowledge, these species do not suffer from any kind of judgment."

"Yes, but that's the thing. These species are distinct from ours. But inklings and Octolings are extremely closely related, and because of their similarities, some people may fear that octolings would try to overpower us in the very specific space we take."

"... Tell me kiddo, do you have a lover ?"

"Yes ?"

"Do you fear her ?"

"No, not really. I respect her strength but fear would be strange."

"And we do not fear our lovers either. And yet, they used to be our biggest predators."

"Excuse me ??"

"Octopus used to be cannibalistic. After mating, individuals who possessed the ability to get gravid would usually devour their mates to gain more strength to take care of their eggs. But nowadays, despite the power they used to hold over us, we adore our lovers and we would never even think about fearing them. And some squid species had even higher amounts of cannibalism than we ever did, even outside of mating. I understand the fear the inklings may feel over our presence if such lies are propagated. But if we started to fear other species, we'd have to start fearing ourselves too. Hatred of others will always end up creating self hatred. I know that more than anyone."

"Isn't that ... Too easy ? Do you really think people will believe you ?"

"I don't know. I said the truth. Some people will never believe the truth even if presented to them in its purest form simply because it does not fit their idea of reality. But in the end, that's the best I can give, or perhaps you would like me to fabricate another falsified history like your grandfather did ?"

"... I don't know. Maybe. Who cares if we tell lies, if the other side of the conflict uses them we might as well take the same weapons. I want to use any chance I get to save this population."

"Listen kiddo. Lies are the weapons of manipulative people. If you aim for propaganda, you're going to harm people one way or another. It may even be the very people you're trying to protect. Do we need to lie ? Of COURSE we need to lie. Or else this place would've already been destroyed many years ago. If you plan on founding a new civilization on a bunch of lies, a single crack in your rhetoric and everything will fall down because the inkling's trust will be broken."

"... I see."

"You sound stressed, kiddo."

"Of COURSE I'm stressed. I thought I was a leader ! Powerful, intelligent, strategic, I became CEO of my company, I worked all my life to rise to the top thinking I was good and now ... Now I have actual responsabilities, worse than anything I could've ever feared. This isn't about making sure our next shoe line sells well or building a stage that will make the people excited enough, I ... I have lives in my hand. How am I even supposed to deal with that ?! If I fail, you may die because of MY fault. That's TERRIFYING. I feel ... Powerless. This is the first time in my life I've actually doubted my ability to do anything meaningful."

"I've been through the same shit, kid. And the best thing you can do is accept that bad things happen."

"What do you MEAN by that ?! How can I just accept that people may die if I make a faux pas ?! I was raised SPECIFICALLY to rule over others, and yet, I just can't consider a life as a pawn."

"Great. Means you have empathy left, always a good thing. But listen to me. I've been through this before. And I want you to know that even if you fail, I don't want you to feel guilty."

"How can I NOT feel guilty ?! I'M SUPPOSED TO LEAD YOU ALL TO SAFETY. FAILING YOU ALL MEANS THAT I'M THE FAILURE."

"And that's where you're wrong. Take a seat and a deep breath. I know asking someone to relax sucks and rarely ever help, if anything it often makes things worse. But I want you to at least try to be quiet and listen for a minute or two. Because you've never had other people's lives in your hands. But I have. And trust me, when you fail and someone dies by your fault, there's two options. Either you blame yourself until you let yourself die, or you move on and fight like hell for the living."

Emperor clenched his fists and nodded, feeling his chest burning with a strange mix of fascination, sickness and fear.

"If Shellmers actually succeeds in eradicating the domes, I want you to understand that it's not your fault. And I fucking MEAN it. Look at you. You're making yourself sick for something that has yet to happen. You're stressing out over every single detail of this operation. You're desperate to make sure that everything will be fine. But it's not that simple. Your plans can be as perfect as possible, there's always a possibility of failure. You do everything you can for it not to happen of course, but there is no way on earth for you to imagine every single possibility of failure because they're INFINITE. But you know what ? Even if the domes collapse, you would've tried. You played your part in this plan and you better be fucking proud of it because no one else is helping like you are. It's painful, more difficult to handle than what anyone else may think. But If I die, I want you to keep fighting for my soldiers. If my soldiers die, I want you to keep thinking about the octolings in inkopolis, protect them because no one else fucking will. Because I want to believe that even if my corpse rots forgotten beneath the rubble, someone will remember that the ones that need help are the one that are still here to suffer. That's what true leaders are for."

"... For the first time in my life, I don't know for sure if I can succeed."

"... But ?"

"But as long as I think I can save someone ... It's going to be worth it."

"Perfect. Spoken like a king."

"No. Not yet. But spoken with hope."

Chapter Text

The metro stations were hard to handle. They were exhausting, stressful at times when it came to properly handling your points, disappointing, frustrating and just about anything but good for inkfish health. But THANK GOD, Kamabo provided their test subjects with a communal bath.

At first, there was a bit of rejection from some of the inkfish in the group that didn't especially wanted to share their bodies with everyone. But after time passed, things got slowly more and more relaxed and everyone felt like baths should be just another bonding moment between the six of them, especially considering that the steaming hot baths made a particularly relaxing environment for everyone to just ... Take a break. No need to think about their day of struggles and fear. They could all just finally just get so soft and comfy that they'd almost let themselves fall asleep in each other's arms and drown under the showers. Which thankfully, had not happened... Yet.

At that moment, Pearl and Eight were playing together with some water as Marina tried her best to focus on washing her hair and not get splashed every two seconds, and Callie was helping Ahato to wash themselves, close to Storm who was taking care of herself on her own. Ahato visibly struggled with motions they hadn't practiced in a bit, and bathing definitely didn't seem to be their forte. They'd just awkwardly take a massive amount of soap on their hand and pat their skin instead of rubbing it. It's not that they weren't trying. But Callie guessed that them originally having to go through cancer probably meant they hadn't been able to bath by themselves for quite a bit even before sanitization. So she just decided to help them, which made her VERY happy. But right now, she couldn't help but focus on Ahato's skin, mostly their scars. They only had a few of them but ... They were quite big. Callie was the complete opposite. Her skin was completely covered in scars that she usually hid with makeup, but most of them were just scratches that never healed properly.

"Oh WOAW, Ded, what happened with your arm ? That's a MASSIVE scar."

"Oh. Ran too fast once while trying to escape my school director. Fell on the floor. A very rocky floor. I recall wearing a bandage for a while."

Oh ... So that wasn't a battle scar. Callie was kind of surprised.

"And the one on your knee ?"

"I once dropped the charger I was meant to train with and it fired on my knee."

"H-how about that one ?"

"I sneezed too hard while waiting for my lunch one day and accidentally spilled my burning hot coffee on my leg"

"... Coffee ?? I thought you became sanitized before you were an adult ?"

"I said what I said. I drank up to four coffees a day before my diagnosis, it was the only way I found to focus."

"Damn ... Maybe drinking that many coffees is what ended up giving you cancer because that sounds INTENSE."

Storm chuckled, rolling her eyes before sitting down behind Callie and starting to scrub her back with soap.

"No Callie, drinking coffee doesn't give you cancer. At least not THAT fast. But it probably didn't make your symptoms any better, Ahato."

"Heh. I bet I wouldn't have seen the difference."

Callie sighed and giggled. Well, it looks like Ahato's childhood wasn't filled with violence at least. That's a good thing. Experiencing violence at a young age was not something she particularly enjoyed herself.

"Here you go !! You're all clean Ahato !"

"Thank you. I appreciate your willingness to help me to do such task. I believe I am currently lacking energy and therefore should take some rest. I'll go back in the metro to do so."

"Go snooze you dork !! I'll try to join you later if you want. But only if you want !"

"... I would appreciate it."

"Yay !! Okay now Storm, do you want me to help you too ? ~ I could scrub your back !"

"Thank you, but I already did that."

"WHAAAAT ? No way, no arms can reach back there."

"Actually, I don't need arms for it."

Storm pointed at her tentacles twirling around to rub her back.

"Awh, that's so cool ... I wish my tentacles could do that. They're pretty but they just flop around and don't do much. Oh, speaking of you ... Tonight, you and me, same time same place ?"

"Of course, silly. We've been doing that for a while now."

"YESSSS ... Seen you then !"

"You look way too excited for what's about to happen."

"Shush ! I get excited for what I want !"

Chapter Text

Callie smiled as she watched Storm take off her shirt, offering her arm as she clenched her fist. The inkling very gently brushed the woman's skin to help her slightly calm down before starting the injection. Storm barely even flinched as the needle entered her skin, simply sighing out of relief when Callie gave her a little bandaid on the small puncture.

"Here we go ... All done ~"

"Thank you Callie."

"No problem. I'm always happy to help ! Well ... Even if you don't technically need help for that stort of thing."

"I'd say injections are slightly more tolerable when someone else is doing them for me. I think having someone by my side helps me think about something else... Okay. Now, your turn."

Callie chuckled before removing her own shirt and handing her arm to Storm, which quickly gave her her estrogen injection.

"Alrighty, done ~"

"I'm still impressed that they managed to make a mix of testosterone blockers and estrogen ... Usually these things are separate."

"Whaaaat ? No no, this is just estrogen."

"HUH ?! WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY THAT ?! YOU HAVEN'T BEEN TAKING ANY KIND OF BLOCKERS ?!"

"Inklings are able to block off some of their hormones but not produce new ones. So I just need to take estrogen ~"

"SINCE YOU WERE ONLY TAKING ONE MEDICATION I THOUGHT THAT IT WAS A MIX ?! THAT MEANS I WAS OVERDOSING YOU THIS WHOLE TIME !!"

"Yay ! More woman juice for me !"

"CALLIE NO IT'S NOT A GOOD THING. URGH ...I'd say spit it back but I guess that's not how that works. We've only done a couple injections so it shouldn't be too bad, but still ... I'm worried about that kind of thing, y'know ? I'm supposed to keep you healthy, not to cause even more problems ..."

Callie began to laugh as she watched the poor octoling turn red out of embarrassment.

"I know it's weird but ... I kind of like this kind of thing we have going on. I poke you. You poke me. It gives us yet another thing to bond over ! It hurts for a small moment but it's a moment I get to spend with you, y'know ?"

Storm scratched her neck and closed her eyes before laying down on her metro seat.

"You know, I do understand where you're coming from. As a nurse, I often have to hurt or slightly scare my patients to make them feel better. But in the end, I know it's for the greater good and I try my best to make everyone feel a little more comfortable. It's sad to say but ... Not all doctors are nice. Their role is to help people, but a lot of them end up having ego trips because they think they're more intelligent than everyone and therefore the patients must be stupid compared to them. They undermine some very important problems and don't listen to people's discomfort because "they're just being dramatic". And I want to take pride in not just healing people, but also making them feel good. There's something rewarding about seeing someone like you who's excited to get her hormonal shot because you know it's going to be good for you rather than someone being stressed about it because all they can focus on is the fact that they're gonna be in pain."

"Mmmh. I know you said you were proud of being a powerful soldier. But to say the truth, I think you make an even better nurse. Every time we talk about our health you get all serious and concerned, even if you're not meant to be working right now."

"... I suppose you're right. I'll be honest, I don't know what you sound like as an idol but ... I bet you're happier as an idol than as an agent."

Callie's breaths became slightly heavier as she tried her best not to scratch off her brand new bandaid.

"I-I suppose you're right ..."

"I mean it. Don't get me wrong, I fought you many, many times and I admire your strength. But you have a beautiful voice. I'd love to hear you sing one day."

Callie nodded as her body became more and more wobbly and she carefully let herself get closer to Storm.

"Hey ... Would you mind if we stayed together until Ded comes back ? I ... Don't want to be alone right now."

"Of course. I would really appreciate that."

Chapter Text

When Marina woke up, everyone had already left the metro. Everyone except Pearl, of course. The little squid had been laying down against her chest for the entire night, and she was most definitely comfortable enough to not want to leave any time soon. If Marina listened to her heart, she would've left Pearl there for the entire day even if it meant that she wouldn't move. But she was better than that, and she knew that if she wanted to tonight, she'd have to earn it by going through stations. So she very gently wrapped her arms around her lover, lightly squeezed her to wake her up and landed a small kiss on her nose. Pearl answered by a yawn and a stretch before rubbing her face against Marina's.

"Hello there sleeping beauty. Did you have a good night ?~"

"Wonderful ... I had a dream that we were back on the surface and that our cherry trees had so many cherries that we had to get big firefighter trucks to get on top of the tree and pick them all and cook with them. We made giant batches of cherry pies and we ate them together for days."

"Awh ... Pearlie, what a cute dream ..."

"What about you ? How was your night ?"

"Ah ... Well ... A bit more chaotic."

"Mmmh ? Tell me all about it."

Marina sighed and scratched her neck.

"It was ... Kind of a strange dream. It's as if I was in a world where you didn't exist. I never left the underground, I was simply stuck there for the rest of my days to be an engineer and create weapons against inklings that were getting worse and worse through time. But I always felt like I was missing something, and I ended up breaking my own machines to stop hurting inklings even if I didn't know why I did it. It did make me a little emotional once I woke up. I'm fine now, but y'know ... Trying to imagine a world without you is just so strange now. I don't know what I would've been if you were just ... Not here."

"Heh. Y'know, same. I can't imagine a life without you now."

"No Pearl, you don't understand ... I love you, alright. But all I did was provide you my love and affection. You, on the other hand, have saved me. I would've probably never found happiness if I stayed in the domes. You gifted me with a life I could've never hoped for. I went from being abused for doing something as simple as tearing up to being brought into the arms of a goddess that blessed me with a affection, money, a house to live in, a career, friends, hell ... You even became the love of my life. You spoiled me Pearl. Anything I would mention you'd find and gift to me, just because you wanted to see me happy. And me ... I could just be happy."

"Mmmh. I think you're very wrong. Y'know, I hear you when you say that I had all the money in the world and I gifted you everything you wanted. But on my side, money means nothing. There was nothing in inkopolis I couldn't have bought and yet, I always felt empty. You came in and gave me the one thing I craved all my life, the ONE thing money couldn't get me. Unconditional love. You've never left my side. You trusted me for every single blind step I took and more than anything, you stayed by my side this whole time. Your presence, your smile, your words ... They made me feel like I was worth something. I, PEARL HOUZUKI, had importance outside of my power and money. And that was a blessing not a single soul in the world has provided me before or since, and I know that I will never find anyone like you ever again. The chance of meeting you was the best gift I had ever been given."

"Pearlie ..."

And here they went into another hug.

They would be a little late for their daily tasks but ... Perhaps it was worth it. She was worth it.

Chapter Text

Marina yawned as she walked to sit down in the comfiest metro seat she could find. She and Pearl had been grinding for points all day to secure some more backups for the group to fall upon in case something went wrong. Everyone had been taking turns to do such thing as part of their plan to keep each other safe. Marina began to rub her eyes as she stretched out on the seat to sleep, waiting for Pearl to join her, but was surprised to find the little squid using her CQ-80 to type in some coordinates.

"Pearl ... What are you doing ?"

"I'm gonna try to do level D08. I still have a bit of energy and I don't know ... I think I may be able to do it."

"D08 ... Isn't that Girl Power station ? I heard some nasty things about it from Eight. It's a pretty difficult level."

"Yeah well, I feel like I'll probably need to go through it at some point. Besides, we did grind a lot of points today. I'm not gonna use that many, I just want to see how hard that level is and maybe train a little."

"I see ..."

"Don't wait for me to sleep tho ! You look exhausted."

"But I do want to wait for you ... It's been harder to sleep alone ever since we got separated."

"Oh- fuck ... W-Well, should I stay then ?"

"You can go, but maybe try not to stay there more than an hour ?"

"Got it. See ya soon honey. Take care."

Marina nodded and waved goodbye as Pearl walked out to another part of the metro. She sighed, wondering what she could do in the meantime. Thankfully, that's the moment where another familiar face walked in. Dedf1sh.

The sanitized octoling walked up to Marina and sat by her side before awkwardly rising her hand up to salute her. The idol chuckled answered by the same hand movement.

"Hey Ded. Been a while since the last time we've been alone together, huh ..."

"Yup. I've been spending a lot of time with Callie lately. That didn't help."

"You two are spending a lot of time together indeed ! Is there any reason for that ? Perhaps a little crush ? ~"

Dedf1sh took a fairly long pause, longer than expected. She didn't move a single bit during that entire time, just staring into the void as her brain was visibly trying its best to think of an answer.

"... Maybe. I don't know."

"Ded ? Is everything okay ?"

"... Well, I don't know either. Why ?"

"Well, you took an awful long time to answer. It felt like you were overthinking something."

"I guess I kind of was. It's difficult to understand how my all of my feelings work when I haven't had any in such a long time and I'm struggling to form bodily reactions matching them. Let alone a crush. If you would've asked me years ago how does a crush feel I wouldn't have been able to answer you. So I'm letting you imagine how difficult it is today ..."

"I see. I guess sanitization really hurt you in many ways, huh ... I'm so sorry ..."

"For what ?"

"I mean ... if only I had the guts to stop them from testing this stupid sanitization treatment on you, maybe you wouldn't be suffering in such way ... Kamabo really tricked everyone by offering us a "miracle treatment" for all of the illnesses in the world. We should've known it was too good to be true. Ah yes, we offer you the magical potion that cures all your illnesses for free as long as we get test subjects ! ... We were all so stupid."

"... Marina, I don't think you get it. The treatment worked."

Marina glanced at Dedf1sh and felt a shiver crawl down her spine.

"... What do you mean it worked ?"

"Marina, look at me. I'm alive."

"Well yes, but-"

"You don't get it. The day we started my treatment, we did it out of desperation. The doctors told me that lasting just another year with a cancer that aggressive would be a miracle. That was around five years ago."

Ahato carefully touched the bandages on their arm, and removed their red shades to reveal their deep black sclera and growing blue eyes.

"Sanitization may have destroyed my body in ways that I'm unsure I'll ever be able to recover from. But it also destroyed my cancerous cells. I think it acted similarly to chemotherapy, where you need to destroy everything and risk your life to build back your health on a neutral ground. Either way ... I'm alive today. And I'm thankful for it, despite all the pain I've been through. So I regret nothing."

"I see. Well ... I'm glad you're alive too."

With that, a tiny smile made its way on the sanitized Octolings face. And Marina just knew that she'd cling on to that hope for her.

Chapter Text

"FUCK YEAH, ANOTHER LEVEL COMPLETED !! TAKE THAT, WE'RE THE BEST !!"

"You're the best Pearlie ! I knew we could do it !"

Pearl chuckled and jumped into Marina's arms before showering her with kisses.

"You're the one that got the genius idea that made us win. Using our bombs as a way to make us jump higher in the air and skip some difficult sections ?! How creative is that ?! That should've been something I would've came up with. It sounds so chaotic coming from you ~"

"Awh ... Well I'm trying my best to match your energy !"

Pearl hopped around excitedly before grabbing the two memcakes at the end of the level and catching Marina's hand.

"Alright, let's go back at the metro to tell that to everyone. We're almost halfway through the tests, can you believe it ?? 24 tests done !"

"I bet we'll be back home sooner than you'd expect ~"

"I just KNOW we're getting back home soon !! Watch me DESTROY the next station tomorrow !"

Pearl was about to look up what other station she could try next time, but instead, she felt her phone vibrating in her pocket. She quickly grabbed it to see what was going on, and was surprised to find a message from Marie

"Hey Pearl. It's Marie.
We're currently working hard with everyone else to help octarian's every day life, hence why we haven't talked to you much lately.
But since today is squidmas, I felt like you could use a reminder that we're not forgetting about you all down there. I think about you, Marina, Callie and everyone else every day, and even if I can't do much to help, I still wish for your safety.
I miss you all."

Pearl felt her heart slightly ache seeing this message, but something else caught her attention.

"SQUIDMAS ?!"

Marina, who hadn't seen the message, was completely caught off guard by Pearl's yelling.

"WHA- Huh ?! What's going on ?!"

"Marie just sent me a message telling me she misses us and all that BUT SHE ALSO TOLD ME TODAY'S SQUIDMAS ?! WHAT ?!"

"Squidmas ... Oh my god, that is insane ... We fell down in the octarians back at the end of July ..? I think ? Has it really been that long ?!"

"Yeah ... We're just a couple days away from new year. That is INSANE. Shows how much time has passed since we've been gone. Mmmh ... What should we do ? Do you think everyone would be up to celebrate ?"

"Well, We don't really have Squidmas in the domes. We celebrate Octivus. But Callie would probably be excited ! And in the end, I'm pretty sure everyone else would be happy to have an excuse to party. You know, times have been difficult and I think that we need an excuse to just ... Relax. We've been doing great so far. And I know Eight is almost done with tests, I believe she did around 47 or 48 ? She should definitely be rewarded as well."

"FUCK YEAH WE'RE THROWING A PARTY !! It's only 3 PM, so we have more than enough time to do so before the girls come back, right ?! What do we need then ? Gifts ? Maybe decorations ? OH ! FOOD !! WE NEED TO FEAST !!"

"I don't think we could find anything to make gifts down here... But I could do some decorations with the food's wrappers ! I've learned how to do lotus flowers and cranes in origami that we could put everywhere, and I can do things with cardboard dyed with ink !! Also, if we put a little bit of ink to dry on top of light bulbs, it can change the light's colors."

"You're a genius !! As for food, mmmh ... Well I'm not the best cook but all that's in the vending machine is usually premade. It would cost us a lot of points to get many kind of foods but you know what ? Fuck it. I think we need a break. Us being trapped down here doesn't mean we need to get all depressed. We're not just going to celebrate Squidmas. This is going to be the best Squidmas EVER !!"

"YES !!"

And so, the girls started off their little adventure. Hopefully, everyone else would be as excited as they were.

Chapter Text

As she left out a new station she and Dedf1sh had just completed, Callie laughed and moved her arms around to mimick the harsh battle she'd just gone through.

"We did so great together !! I would've NEVER guessed that this octoling would appear right behind me, it scared me so bad ... But you were like BAM !! You blew her off like it was nothing ! You're amazing Ahato !"

"Well, I believe I didn't do much. I'd say you did pretty much 90% of the splats we had during this trial and all the attempts we made previously for it. And that's just because I randomly had the reflex to use my blaster when I didn't forget I had it in the first place."

"Yeah, but I'm SOOOOO bad at looking out for danger popping out of nowhere ... Usually, I always have Marie behind my back to take care of it. I'm only good at hitting the people I can see and whose movements I can predict. If someone gets behind me, I'm basically splatted already."

Callie chuckled and as she waddled back to the metro.

"Either way, heck yeah, we're doing great !! 18 tests done ! I think we're doing great progress."

"I'd usually be stressed out due to how long we take to get through tests but ... In the end, I think we're not doing too bad. Plus, time isn't much of an issue here. I just hope I'm not too difficult to handle since I don't do much"

"Whaaaat ?? Nonsense. You're great company ! You're nice to talk to. Well, at least you're a great listener. Maybe I talk a little too much. But yeah ... It'd get lonely really quickly if i did them all without you by my side."

"Still, I get splatted fairly often ... Wait, why are the metro lights red inside that wagon ?"

"Now that you mention it, it is quite strange ... Let's check it out !"

The two inkfish walked in the metro, and we're met by a strange yet really comforting view. The place has been completely decorated by using all sorts of scraps and food wrappers that looked surprisingly good under the red lights. Said red lights had been created by taping the semi-transparent plastic wrappers of mini cheese wheels to the metro's lights. Tin foils from bag of chips had been reused to do some little shining origamis, little bits of cardboard had been shredded to create some confettis ... And in the middle of that was everyone, eating, singing and smiling. Eight was resting on Pearl's lap in her swim form while gnawing on a piece of salmon jerky while Storm and Marina had stolen Pearl's phone to blast off some low quality octarian music and sing together. On the table between them was a massive buffet made out of fish jerky, chips, a bottle of kid's soda, fish cakes and a couple of cookie boxes. Pearl smiled and waved at the duo before inviting them to sit down with everyone else.

"Hey you two ! C'mere, the party's just started !"

"This is insanely cool ... How did you do all of that ?! And most importantly, what's going on ??"

"Today's Squidmas ! I know Octolings usually don't celebrate it but hey, Storm and Eight look like they're having fun."

"It's ... Squidmas ?"

That kind of information definitely did something to Callie.

Never in her life had she spent a Squidmas away from her family. She always had her mother, her father, gramps, her aunt and uncle and most importantly ... Marie. She'd never spent any Squidmas away from her. Even in her darkest times when Marie was drifting away from her, she still came to spend that specific time of the year with her. But today ... She wasn't with any of these people. And yet, she didn't feel sad or abandoned.
Pearl was handing her all sorts of nice food that she was now stuffing herself with. Storm, Eight and Marina were all taking her into their group to song random pop songs together. And Ahato ... Ahato kept holding her hand.

It all felt strange and stressful, to be down here, far from her family, far from everything she'd known ... But she was enjoying this moment with the people she loved. So she took her worries, left them all behind and ... She allowed herself to be happy.

Because she knew all too well that next year, she'd definitely spend Squidmas with Marie again.

Chapter Text

Marie smiled as she looked at the little handmade bracelet Three has gifted her earlier that day. It wasn't particularly well made. A lot of the strings they'd used weren't very good quality and were already starting to tear out after a couple hours of wearing it. And even the motif had a couple errors on it. But she loved it. She loved it with her whole entire being and she knew she would wear it until it's completely broken. She could tell Three had worked pretty hard on this little bracelet and she just saw their love transpiring through this awkward little creation. They never really celebrated Squidmas before meeting with the squid sisters, and both giving and receiving gifts was brand new to them. Three had gotten back to the surface after spending a couple hours with Marie and Craig to eat and talk. She missed them already.

And now, Marie was back to talking with Skip all night. They'd gotten pretty close recently.

"So ... Squidmas is a day where you eat a lot and give each other gifts ? Just like that ?"

"It actually used to be religious. It's the celebration of frostyfest, the sacred splatfest of the winter solstice. Buuut ... You know inklings. We can't take anything seriously, even splatfests. What used to be a religious moment is now just another excuse to party."

"I see. Well, I suppose it's not too different from Octivus in that regard."

Marie sighed and nodded before going back to playing with her bracelet. It probably wouldn't help to make it last very long. But she just couldn't help but want to touch it.

"Hey Marie ... Is something wrong ? You seem nervous."

Marie sighed as she let go of her bracelet. She definitely was. She was just hoping Skip wouldn't notice it.

"I'm just feeling a little down. It's my first time not spending a Squidmas with Callie. I just miss her, that's all."

"I'm really sorry you can't spend Squidmas with Callie ... I know I'm your cousin too but it definitely doesn't hit the same."

Marie slightly flinched, a strange warmth and confusion blooming in her heart.

"C-Cousin ? I mean ... Woaw ... I suppose that we did get pretty close lately. If you want to call yourself that, I'm definitely not against it. Wouldn't be the first time we add someone to the family."

Skip's ears began to droop as they nervously rubbed their fingers together.

"Marie ... You do realize that we are part of the same family, right ?"

"I ... Suppose so ? Is that what you call people being close down here ?"

"... We're related, Marie."

"Wha- ... You have inkling blood ?! How do-"

"No no !! It's the opposite- ... URGH, GRAMPS TOLD ME HE WOULD TALK TO YOU ABOUT THAT WHEN HE TOLD ME ABOUT IT BUT APPARENTLY HE TOOK HIS SWEET TIME ..."

"I am so deeply confused, what does any of that mean ?!"

"Fucking hell how do I explain- ... OUR GRANDPAS HAD SEX, MARIE. HAVE YOU SERIOUSLY NEVER NOTICED HOW CRAIG NEVER GOT MARRIED ?! AND YET SOMEHOW HE GOT KIDS OF HIS OWN ?!"

"WHAT ?! NO, THAT CAN'T BE RIGHT- ... No. Wait that definitely makes sense. Oh no ..."

Marie slammed her hand on her forehead and began to chuckle

"Why does that make so much sense ... Oh my god ..."

"I'm sorry you had to learn it that way ..."

"Honestly, I can't even be mad. That's the funniest and most lighthearted way I could've learned about it. So ... I have octoling blood, huh. That's ... Quite something to learn."

"How do you feel about it ?"

"Neutral, I suppose. On one hand ... I think this makes me even more curious about octolings. Perhaps it could further my desire to learn about your culture and to help you all in the future. But ... It makes me even sadder that I hurt many of you in the past. I wonder if things would've been different if I knew. Probably..."

"... I'm sorry."

"I suppose that this is in the past. I've done everything I can to move on, and that's what I'm going to keep doing from now on, with yet another motivation. But ... I guess that also gives me a reason to like you even more. We're family ! That's quite something. I never thought the random bratty kid I found in that hospital bed would end up being linked to me in such way."

"I'm not-"

"Mmmh ?"

Skip sighed and wrapped her arms around Marie before gently letting her head rest on Marie's side.

"...okay. Maybe I am a kid."

Chapter Text

It was already fairly late at night when Pearl noticed that someone new entered the metro.

That, in itself, wasn't really surprising. The metro was often used by test subjects of Kamabo, but it was still used as a regular mean of transportation by most people in the deep sea. But the thing was ... Well first of all, this person was MASSIVE. A bit sort of isopod in a suit and a tie that looked particularly scary but that was also holding ... An octarian plush ? That was kind of strange, but also a bit amusing. Still, the strangest part of it all was that this man had stepped in directly in the back wagons of the metro.

Basically, the metro had a bit of an unspoken rule that eight had discovered over the months and that she immediately told everyone. The metro was quite big, and the deep sea passengers sat in all of the metro's wagons except the last two ones that they most often left alone unless there was no space in the rest of the metro. This space was left for all of kamabo's test subjects, therefore no one ever came here, and especially not at night like it was the case right now. So this man either didn't know where he was, which pearl actually highly doubted, or he was looking for something. And that immediately put her on her guard.

Marina glanced at the man before looking back at Pearl with a little bit of confusion, even further surprised when the isopod came up to her to ask her a question.

"Pardon me miss. Would you happen to have met a young lady named "Eight" here ?"

Ooooh she did NOT like his tone. An old man, looking for a young vulnerable girl that previously used to be all alone ? Nuh uh. She would NOT let that slide. Pearl bared her beak as much as she could and answered with a half growl.

"What do you want from her ?!"

"Oh- ... Well I'm simply looking for her to trade some of her possessions for some of mine. We've had a deal for a little while and I've been quite absent lately so I was hoping I could give her a sign that I came back."

Pearl glared at the man, unsure of what he meant by that, until Eight, who was asleep a couple seats away, finally woke up and ran up into the man's arms for a hug.

"PADRE !! YOU'RE BACK, OH, I MISSED YOU ... What happened to you ?!"

"I'm afraid I hurt myself after trying to do one of Kamabo's tests and was struggling to heal. I have new scars on my back, but as always, I covered them up with stickers."

That's when Pearl realized that this man's back was COMPLETELY covered in various kinds of colorful childish stickers.

"Whaaaat ?! You told me you wouldn't try these tests anymore !"

"Sorry. I just ... Wished to learn more about myself. It seems that I failed to do such thing. But in the end, I am back here to help you. And your friends as well, if they need it. After all, the least I can do to protect such young hopeful souls would be to provide them with a little bit of comfort while you work hard to reach the promised land."

Pearl felt a little ick in her heart. Fuck. She definitely got a little too aggressive with that guy, he did sound genuinely nice now that she heard him out a little more.

Marina let out a yawn and rubbed her eyes, trying her best to get out of her sleepiness to at least hold a proper conversation.

"You said you like to trade items with Eight, right ? We ... Don't own many things right now. What are you looking for exactly ?"

"Have you completed one or more tests from Kamabo ?"

"Yes, pearl and I are about halfway through the tests."

"Mmmh. I see. Did you keep the little figures they give you at the end of each test ?"

"Yes ! They're all in my pocket right now lately."

Marina let out her memcakes that slight shone under the metro's dim night lights.

"Mmmh... Yes, yes, that is perfect ... I am very interested in all of them. I'd love to trade for them."

"And what do you have to offer ?"

"Well ... Tell me all about what you'd be looking for."

Chapter Text

It didn't take long for Eight to go back to sleep after giving one last hug to Padre. Overall, she wasn't necessarily looking for him to trade. Mostly ... She missed him. It seems that she clung on to him as one of the rare people left to care about her in this world where all the deep sea creatures just ignore you and refuse to communicate with you in any kind of way.

Pearl and Marina immediately started discussing ideas of what they could get to trade with the man to make their life more comfortable in the metro. Padre seemed to be a simple salaryman with a small budget but a big heart. He tried his best to make every memcake traded away genuinely feel rewarding despite the little amount of money he had to offer to the girls. Since Marina was the most exhausted out of the two, they decided they'd be spending her cakes first. For 24 cakes, Marina had managed to get two pillows and a big blanket that the girls could use every night instead of breaking their necks against the hard metro seats and feeling cold due to the lack of items to keep their warmth during nighttime. The man promised he'd go out to buy them during the next day to make sure they wouldn't spend too much time without it. Marina even managed to snag off a little plushie with her last mem cake that she could cuddle with at night. The man had quite a few plushies in his suitcase, and seemed a little sad to let one of them go but Marina's smile visibly made it worth it in his eyes. It was a simple fluffy white ball of fur with two eyes embroidered on it but she obviously didn't care, simply looking for something soft she could hold against her. Now was Pearl's turn to spend her memcakes, as Marina had already fallen back asleep in her bed. And Pearl ... Well, she was hesitant.

"Do you umh ... Can you access technology ? Like can you buy complex things ?"

"I have a very limited budget but I could certainly try to do so. Still, I can't get anything too big"

"So computers are a big no no ?"

"I believe they are too expensive for me."

"Shoot ... Welp I'll need to think about something else."

Pearl glanced down at her memcake and began to rub her chin.

"Why do you like these so much anyway ? Do you just collect them like little figurines ?"

"Actually, these cakes hold a power much greater than what you could imagine. By just licking them, you can access one's strongest memory about an item or a person and live them once again as if you were this person."

"Woaw ... That sounds kinda intense. Still, I don't get why you'd want that. Do you just want to look into other people's lives ?"

Padre sighed and looked down at one of Marina's cakes.

"Years upon years ago, I was diagnosed with an illness called Alzheimer's. It gnawed at my brain, and little by little, it devoured all of my memories, to the point where I could no longer call myself ... "Myself". I had became an empty husk which only held glimpses of memories and nothing more. I don't know when or how, but I eventually ended up in the hands of Kamabo. They used a small amount of sanitization on me, which completely stopped my illness's progression, and even let me heal from some of the damages it caused. But my memories are gone. My brain forever erased them, and whoever I used to be, I no longer am. I tried to become a test subject for Kamabo in hopes of winning mem cakes and finding myself back through their memories. But I've never made it past the first test. So instead ... I've decided that if I held no memory that was truly mine, I'd take on others's. They can be intense. So powerful they'll make you sick. But often ... They're comforting. Because the feeling I get when I use them seems to remind me of what it means to be a person, whole with a story and cherished memories, even if they're not mine."

"... I see. Well, I hope you'll be able to enjoy my memories at least."

Pearl took a long pause and finally glanced at a little Octavio shaped cake she could see in Padre's suitcase. She hesitated for a bit, bit her lip and looked down.

"Hey ... Would you ... Let me try one of these cakes ?"

Chapter Text

"Is there any cake you'd like to try in particular ?"

"... I was thinking about this one. With the red octopus."

"Ah, yes ... It is quite the intense memory. Do you think you can handle a few tears ?"

Pearl stared at the cute little figure of Octavio and sighed. This was probably Eight's memory, right ? If she licked it ... She'd probably see how Octavio treated her. She didn't know why, but she had the curiosity of seeing this part of Octavio. And maybe ... Maybe she just wanted to feel something relating to one's family. Hell. Who was she trying to justify herself to ? This was simply morbid curiosity. She wanted to experience one of these memcakes herself and Octavio just happened to catch her attention.

"I think I can handle some harsh feelings right now. Bring it on."

"Understood. Simply let your tongue touch the cake. You'll see the memory soon enough after that."

Pearl rose and eyebrow and stuck her tongue out before sticking it against the cake. It took a little bit for the taste to reach Pearl's brain. It was particularly sour, but also slightly sweet. It kind of reminded her of a barely ripe raspberry. As soon as she registered what it tasted like, a vivid flash of light slapped her in the face, and she felt herself slowly loose control of her body, until it finally began feel like Pearl wasn't in her body anymore. Everything felt bigger. She felt smaller. And around her was a very unfamiliar place. Wait, no ... No this wasn't unfamiliar. She recognized it very well, it was the octarian hospital she was in just a couple months ago !! why did it feel so ... Distant ?

And that's when it hit her. A MASSIVE wave of fear and sadness. It felt real, gut wrenching, extremely powerful in a way that genuinely made her feel sick. Pearl could feel all of these things. But somehow, she knew all of this wasn't coming from her. It was someone else's memory.

A small child who was desperate to see their parent.

Pearl understood that feeling well. She missed her mother. She wished she could see her father more often. But she'd never felt anything this intense.

I WANT MAMA.

That was the thought that resonated in her head. She looked around the room, where a couple of doctors were writing notes on a clipboard, barely acknowledging the baby who was now crying their lungs out. But things took a different turn when a red shadow entered the room. It was barely visible for Pearl, but she could hear them. The fear wasn't gone. If anything, it had grown further. But she was silent.

"I'm here to take the report on the autopsy. Do you have any ideas of what may have caused her death ?"

"It seems that the patient had a major heart attack. No amount of CPR managed to bring them back. I know it's rare for patients of this age to die due to heart issues, but a high level of stress may be directly linked to-"

"... Yeah I know. The entire medical team did their best. Thank you for your service."

The end figure sighed before glancing at the child, which made them flinch. They began to approach them and stopped just a few inches away from their face.

WHO ARE YOU. YOU'RE NOT WHO I NEED

"I'm guessing you are the little ray of light they were always talking about, huh ... Hello there ..."

BACK OFF. WHERE'S MAMA. I WANT MAMA.

The child began to cry, and the red figure gently used his tentacles to bring them into a hug.

"I know, I know ... I'm sorry. This is all my fault. I should've asked them to take more rest. If only i'd been more strict, maybe they could still be here for you ..."

YOU'RE SCARY. PLEASE LEAVE.

"Doctor, do you know where this young girl will end up now that her parents are gone ?"

"I believe that our orphanage is currently full. Perhaps they have some direct family that could take care of them ?"

The child let out a hiss as they tried to get away from the tentacles

Leave ... Leave, I'm scared ...

"No. I'm afraid their only family was their wife. But she passed away a couple months ago."

"Ah. Well, I suppose that we can give this child food and shelter here. But for the rest, they'll probably have to learn how to handle it on their own."

... Why are you holding me like that ? Why does it feel nice ?

"That's just absurd ... Kids need affection. They can't just survive on food and sleep."

"I'm afraid that's the best we can do sir. We're a hospital team, not a orphanage."

...Are you nice ? I need help right now. I don't have my mama to protect me. Please protect me

"... Alright. I'm taking that kid with me then."

"Sir ?? What are you saying, this is absurd !! You can't just take a kid-"

"And you can't take care of her. Listen. I'm not letting this kid die of neglect. I'll make sure that she stays safe, even if I have to do it myself."

You're warm. I'm tired. I want to sleep. Please, can you be nice to me when I sleep ..?

The little kid closed her eyes and began to drift away into the darkness

"Sir, but you're always saying that you barely have time for yourself !! How are you-"

"Keep it down. She's falling asleep, and my decision is made."

The world suddenly turned black, and a vivid flash of light brought pearl back to reality, her eyes flooded with tears and her breaths fairly heavy.

"...So ? How was your first memcake experience ?"

"... Intense."

"That's what everyone always says."

Pearl sighed and wiped down her tears as she tried to stop her hands from shaking.

"... I think I found something I could trade my cakes for."

"Oh ?"

"Do you think all of my cakes could be enough to get Marina a new pair of headphones ? She's been missing hers for months now."

"I believe that could be done. I don't think it will be very high quality but there's some decent ones available for a reasonable price."

"I'll take that then."

"... Why the sudden change of heart ? Was it the memcake ?"

"I don't know. I just remembered how much I miss having someone taking care of me. So I'll keep taking care of her instead."

Chapter Text

"WHAT ?! YOU'RE CHEATING ON ME ?! AND YOU HAVE THE BALLS TO SAY THAT TO MY FACE"

"PEARLIE I NEVER SAID THAT. I SAID WANTED TO DO SOME STATIONS WITH CALLIE TODAY !!"

"DISHONOR ! BETRAYAL ! MY OWN WIFE NO LONGER WANTS TO BE WITH ME !!"

Callie snorted as she looked at Pearl which playfully tried to German suplex Marina and miserably failed as the woman took her into her arms and pulled her in for hugs and kisses instead.

"Pearl, I promise I'm not stealing Marina. I'd feel too bad breaking up such a cute pair ~"

"Ha !! Well I sure hope you do ! You know what ? I shall allow you to spend the day with Marina as proof of our friendship ... And because Marina's right she probably needs to hang out with people other than me. But you better take care of her, or else-"

"Or else what ? You're going to bite me with this little pigmy beak of yours ?~"

"Or else I'm locking you in the girl power station for a day. HA !"

"Jokes on you, I already completed that one."

"WHAT ?! How did you do that ?!"

"By flirting with all the soldiers there ~"

"Huh ?? I thought that they didn't have any emotions left."

"Homosexuality isn't an emotion."

"Ya it's a lifestyle and I'm nailing it. But that still doesn't answer my question : how the fuck did you do that"

"A lot of patience, a very good aim and most importantly, the bomb rush special. It actually heals the ball you're meant to protect just a little. You should definitely try it next time !"

"OOOH ... Well I found what I'd like to try today. Oh wait, no. I don't have a partner anymore. I'm never going to be able to do this alone."

Pearl left a fake glare at Marina which answered by rolling her eyes and chuckling. She then switched to Ahato which stared back at Pearl with their usual blank expression.

"Yo, you'd be up for the challenge, right ? Since you're all alone too."

"... No."

"Whaaat ?? Heyo, lame ! Don't you even want to try it ?!"

"I tried it before. Let's say there's a reason why Callie finished that level all alone while I was outside forcing myself to eat a can of spinach. It's because I got splatted so many times I actually started to become anemic."

"Aight I see ... Welp, yet another change of plans today."

Marina left one final kiss on Pearl's cheek before leaving out the metro with Callie, and ahato just randomly waddled out to a station knowing damn well they'd spend the day getting splatted.

"What else can I do ... Eight is already busy with her own difficult level ..."

Pearl felt a hand on her shoulder and looked up to see who had just touched her, only to find out that it was Storm.

"Did you seriously forget about me ~ ?"

"HOLY SHIT you scared me. And uuuuh ... No, not really ? I just thought you weren't really interested in spending that kind of time with me. Y'know, with how you wanted me and Marina to leave the underground to never see us again and how you tried to kill me and that was stupidly awkward ..."

"... I suppose we had a rough beginning. But I'll be honest, I've grown to like you a lot more than I could've ever imagined. Maybe we're not close or anything like that but I thought that, hey, maybe we could try spending the day together ! Who knows, it could be fun ? I ... Often spend my days in the stations alone. I'd say a little bit of companionship wouldn't hurt. I miss hanging out with people and being able to talk."

"Oh damn ... Well I can't say no to that. I'm not the kind of asshole that'll leave you all alone if you need company. Plus who knows, maybe we'll have some fun together ? You were Marina's best friend after all. You're someone with taste."

"You know what ? I don't think I have anything to say against that."

"PERFECT. Say, are you a good fighter ? I want to try girl power station but I don't know if I can do it all alone."

"... Pearl. I used to be a soldier."

"Ya and ? No offense but that doesn't mean you were a good one. Like my uncle tried a career as a CEO and just because he obtained that title doesn't mean he didn't almost crash his company."

"Do you want to see how good of a soldier I am on the battlefield ? I bet I can get twice the amount of splats that you do."

"HEYO BET !!"

Chapter Text

"PEARL !! SOUTH, BOMB RUSH !!"

"GOT IT !! TWO ELITES, TOP NORTH !"

"YUP !!"

Pearl panted as she threw yet another bomb on the orb that she was meant to protect. FUCK this level was difficult, girl power station sure as hell earned its reputation. But thankfully, Storm had been an insane help throughout all of their attempts at completing that station.

It was definitely the kind of level that had a MASSIVE advantage to be done in a duo. Some of Kamabo's trials were mostly based on moving from platform to platform, which was usually fairly difficult on its own. But the duo system that had been set up by the company made it so having one member of a team splatted meant that both people had to start over and loose points, which was a shame when it was so easy to slip up and fall to your death in some levels. However, for pure fighting levels like these, it brought an immense advantage. Sure, there were quite a few more enemies compared to a regular solo run. But having twice as many people to shoot them up was a complete advantage, as long as you were good at surviving. And this was a piece of cake for Pearl

The little inkling may have had a tendency to dodge roll into the abyss whenever she had to shoot up enemies on small platforms and did kind of struggle to make perfectly timed jump on tricky levels. But this ? This was a flat battlefield where she could shoot and dodge as much as she wanted, and dead god was she good at it. There was nothing she loved more than running around and be uncatchable. And Storm ... Well she was amazing.

So amazing, in fact, that they won. They'd FINALLY beat that damn level.

"Woaw ... Storm you were INCREDIBLE !! Seriously, I knew you were a good fighter but I never thought you were THAT good. Especially after loosing an arm wrestle to me that one time ... No wonder you've been doing fine even if you're mostly on your own !"

"Untrained muscles may fade away with time. But reflexes and knowledge stay, and that's the most important. Most inkfish battles don't necessarily need a lot of arm strength unless you use a very heavy weapon ... That's why I kind of stopped training them after a while, especially after becoming a full time nurse."

"Yeah, I guess that makes sense. It would be kinda funny for you to have a stupidly strong arm grip on your patients tho. Like Nuh uh, you're staying here and you're getting that blood taken like it or not !! Oh- ... Well since y'all are super into military stuff you'd probably have your patients match your strength. And you'd have to wrestle them into submission to draw their blood ! WATCHA !!"

Storm slightly snorted and smiled as she watched Pearl making massive movements with her arms to mimick a fight.

"... You know, the more I spend time with you, the more I see why Marina ended up liking you."

"Oh ? Why's that ?"

"You're ... Entertaining."

"HEY !! WHAT IS THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN ?! Wait. Is that a compliment ? Or an insult ? I legit can't tell."

"I'd say it's more of a fact. You're a bit unhinged in quite a few different ways. You're very blunt with your words, you move your body quite a lot and you are very impulsive compared to octolings, and even more compared to Callie which I already find a little unhinged. I don't know if I could handle spending all my time with you because if I am being extremely honest, I feel like seeing someone being like that all the time around me could get exhausting. But I find it very pleasing in moderation. However, I know that marina was always someone full of life that was always looking for mental stimulation, hence why she developed a love for heavy machinery and all the little details it entails. It makes sense why she'd enjoy someone so lively around her. You two make a great pair."

"Did you just describe me and marina like we're part of an animal documentary ?"

"AH- SORRY, I DIDN'T MEAN TO-"

Pearl snorted and rolled her eyes.

"Relaaaax ! You just said that Marina and I are made for each other right ? I'll definitely take it as a good thing."

"Yeah ... I suppose it is."

Chapter Text

Marina had expected Callie to be a good fighter in the levels. She'd fought against her in turf before and overall, she did look pretty muscular. But truth was ... She didn't expect her to be THAT powerful.

Callie was a literal truck. She loved heavy weapons that were slow and difficult to handle, and used them to perfection even if she did struggle quite a lot when it comes to small puzzles and enigmas. Truly ... Marina deeply admired her. The girls had finished a two levels together right before the end of the day when Marina had struggled to get through a single one over the last four days.

"Woaw ... Callie, that was IMPRESSIVE."

"Thank you so much !!

"Genuinely, I knew you were great with a roller but I never knew you were that powerful. How did you get so good ?"

"Oh ... It was the training required to be an agent."

There was a small moment of silence between the two women before Marina watched Callie's eyes widen, staring at her with an intensity the octoling had never felt before. So ... That was the moment where they would be talking about it huh. It took a while. To be fair, Marina was avoiding the subject too. But here they were ... More or less ready to talk about the obvious.

Callie was an agent.

"So ... That was right. You truly are agent 1, huh."

Callie silently nodded, looking away as she sat down on the floor. It may have been Marina's imagination, but it kind of looked like she was struggling to stand up now.

"That would explain why I heard your songs at the octobot king's battle. It's so strange, I've spent years wondering why of all artists, it was your song that was chosen to be played at this moment. I guess it makes a lot more sense now. It was you all along !"

"... Yeah. I'm sorry. About everything."

"Huh ? What are you saying ?? Honestly Callie, I'm thanking you for everything. If it wasn't for you, I wouldn't be as happy as I am today."

"... You shouldn't be thanking me."

"Stop that ... You saved my life. I'm serious, Callie. If I had never heard the inkantation, I would've never left the domes, and I would've never met Pearl. And ... Right now, she's my everything. I wouldn't be myself without her."

"No. I've done EVERYTHING wrong. LOOK AT ME MARINA. IT'S ME. NOT JUST CALLIE. I'M AGENT 1. LOOK AT ME. LOOK AT ME, THINK OF THAT NAME AND TELL ME THAT I'VE DONE SOMETHING GOOD."

"Callie ... -"

"It took me a while to accept it, to fully understand this situation. That agent 1, this terrible monster everyone fears in the underground is me. Because it makes me seriously feel like I'm the villain in this story. I'll tell you the truth. I didn't trust you when we first met. Marie did. You were nice, of course, and yet something in me didn't want to trust you. And the more I learned about you, the more guilty I felt. You're good. It's rare to see such a genuinely kind person. And the only reason I had not to trust you is that you were an octarian."

Callie let out a growl as she frustratedly scratched her forearms and stared at the floor, desperately trying to hold back tears.

"I hurt your kind. Often. I was sent on missions to protect our city, thinking that I was a hero. That i was doing the right thing. And I killed people. I KILLED THEM. It felt easy to just brush it off back then because I believed that we were too different to just... Try to solve this peacefully. But with time passing by, I'm just realizing that I'm nothing more than a monster. I don't care how much you've contributed to whatever plot Octavio had to steal the zapfish or hell, maybe even kill inklings. You were rightfully scared for your home. You barely have any space left to live in. But me ? I probably just took away lives of people who were fighting for their survival. I just jumped in a place thinking that the reason why you kept coming in was to plan an invasion when all that you were trying to do was protect your families and friends."

Callie bursted into tears as she smashed her fist against the floor and let out a Yelp of pain.

"It's so hard to accept. To think that I'm not a good person. I'm trying to be better, I really am !! But sometimes, I'm scared that it's performative. Like with Dedf1sh. I love them deeply, I want to spend all my time with them, I always want to help them and everything but ... What if it was all performative ? What if I was just doing this to convince myself that hey ! Look Callie, you're not racist ! You have one very good octoling friend ! Surely this is going to erase the fact that you may have killed someone who was just like them !"

The inkling's sobs worsened as she hugged her knees, scratching her legs so hard that her nails left massive red marks all over her skin.

"... Maybe you were wrong back on Mount Nantai. Maybe I shouldn't be alive."

Chapter Text

Marina blankly stared at Callie as the woman began to struggle to breathe. Her hands were shaking, faced deformed by a pain she was struggling to even understand. That inkling called herself a monster. She didn't feel like she could be any good anymore. But Marina certainly did not feel the same way. So far, Callie seemed to have been very happy in the underground. And it didn't seem like an act. This was clearly an abnormal state of mind for her, and it was obviously triggered by mentioning the idea of her being an agent. Did she fear Marina bringing that up all along ? Or did she manage to forget about it long enough for her to be mentally stable, and the simple mention of it was enough to break her so suddenly ? ... Either way, it didn't matter.

The octoling sat down by Callie's side, wrapped her into her arms and locked her into place to force herself to stop clawing at her legs. Callie's breaths began to worsen, but Marina began to repeat a few words in loop so that she could focus on that instead.

"Callie, you are safe. I am safe. Nothing bad is going to happen to you. You are very much loved and I'm not going to let you hurt yourself. Take deep breaths."

It took quite a bit for Callie to actually snap out of it. She was far from calm. But she was doing slightly better.

"Marina, I'm sorry, I'm such an idiot, I shouldn't have ... DAMNIT. Here I was saying that I was a bad friend and not even two seconds after that, I threaten you with killing myself ?! I'M THE WORST ... Why did I even do that ..."

"Callie. You're obviously out of control right now. This is not your fault."

"Yes it is !! I'm a bad person and a bad friend !! I can't just lash out onto you everytime I feel bad !! You haven't done anything wrong, and I-"

"And you're still fragile. Do you remember when you told me you were close to just letting yourself die ?! That wasn't even a year ago. There's no way for you to have actually recovered from that, especially if you keep feeling guilty about everything you've done. It's not your fault. I can see that you're in pain. Depression doesn't go away like that after saying that you want to get better. And neither does PTSD"

Callie rubbed her head against Marina's shoulder, letting a few tears fall out against her outfit. This time, they weren't tears of stress. Rather tears of exhaustion.

"I'm sorry Marina ... I'm sorry ... I didn't mean to ..."

"I know, I know ... It's okay. I promise. Everything's gonna be okay."

"I miss Marie ... Dedf1sh helps me a ton with my emotions but without Marie, I never feel complete ... There's so many things I need to talk about and I have no one to tell them to ... Her birthday was yesterday. Pearl's phone had no battery left so I couldn't even tell her that I love her."

... Birthday ?

Marina suddenly felt her heart spike up in her chest.

"...Wait. how old were you again during that concert ? The one with Octavio ?"

"About ... 17 ? I think ?"

"So you were an agent back then, right ?"

"... Yes."

"And how long had you been an agent for at that point ?"

"I'd say 3 years ... Cod, I've really been hurting people for a while ..."

"And you've been training beforehand, I suppose ?"

"... Yeah ... Since I was able to walk. Gramps loved to teach us how to fight. Everything else just came naturally. It's ... Hard to think about it. I've always been trained for that specific goal."

"Tell me, do you think that you should've known better back then ?"

"What ?"

"You said you were a child, even when you fought against Octavio. Do you think that little Callie should've guessed by herself that what she was doing was wrong ?"

"No. But I grew up. I should've understood."

"I never understood that inklings could be my friend by myself. It never occurred to me before I heard your voice. I could've spent my entire life thinking you were heartless monsters, and died as an elderly woman convinced that your kind should disappear. Sometimes, you can't go against something by yourself when it has been presented to you as the undeniable truth for your whole life. So tell me Callie. Did you ever have anyone give you proof that my kind was anything but a danger to your population ?"

"I ... No ..."

"Had you ever seen any octoling doing anything but attacking you before me ?"

"... No."

"Callie. Why do you think that you becoming an agent at 14 is any different than me getting in the military at 9 ?"

"... I don't ... Know ..."

Marina sighed and wiped off a tear rolling down her cheek.

"You're not alone. We're the same, Callie."

It's all she ever needed. To be understood.
Not by her kind. But by the people she thought could never share the same thoughts as her.

Chapter Text

Coming back to the metro was a bit of a mess. Marina could feel that Callie was feeling much better now, but the exhaustion from the tears and stress was genuinely starting to take over. She was struggling to walk, holding Marina's hand to keep dragging herself all the way up to the metro, rubbing her eyes and yawning every once in a while as she fought against herself to not lean a little too much against her friend's shoulder.

When the doors opened, Pearl and Storm were together, laughing and smiling as they did a little bit of arm wrestling. Pearl immediately noticed Callie and couldn't help but walk up to her with a playful smirk.

"Yo Callie, you look exhausted !! What happened ? Did Marina bully you a bit too hard ?"

Marina sighed and shook her head.

"Not now Pearl. Callie's not feeling well, I think she'll need some peace to recover."

"Oh- Alright."

Callie wobbled up towards Storm and let herself flop against her body with a sigh, her head landing against the octoling's neck. Storm simply stared at the agent with a hint of confusion and a slight but if blush on her face before she watched Callie wrap her arms around her waist.

"I uh ... Really don't want to be alone right now. Can we spend the night together ..?"

"S-Sure. Here, I'll bring you to your bed. Bye Pearl, bye Marina !!"

Storm grabbed Callie in her arms, slightly struggling to move her around but visibly quite happy to see the inkling melt into her arms.

Marina waved goodbye at the duo before sighing and sitting down next to Pearl.

"Did ya go through a rough day today ?"

"You could say that ..."

Marina nervously played with her fingers for a couple seconds, trying her best to find her words.

"Pearl ... Umh ... What if I told you I did war crimes ? How would you react ?"

"Well I'm sure you were very sexy while doing them. So I have no objection."

"PEARL."

"What."

"I'M TRYING TO HAVE A SERIOUS CONVERSATION HERE. I'M QUITE LITERALLY A WAR CRIMINAL."

"Mmmh ... And my response, as serious as it gets : I think that makes you even sexier."

"Pearlie, you're ... URGH ..."

"The fuck did you do to be a war criminal anyway ? I mean. You made war machines. I'll admit a lot of people would find that a wee bit disturbing coming from a DJ. But that's not enough to make you a criminal, right ?"

"Well ... Stealing the great zapfish is considered endangerment of civilian lives due to the lack of electricity you got after that. And I did participate quite a lot in that operation, so there's that. I also made participated in the creation of a few variations of toxic mist in collaboration with our labs. It falls under poisonous gaz attacks, which is a pretty severe war crime. We also often repeated that no quarter will be given for inklings that entered the domes... That, also, is a war crime."

"THAT'S IT ?? LAAAAME."

"PEARL."

"Seriously, when you told me you did war crimes I thought you did like. Some insane builds of a gigantic massive murder weapon that could kill thousands at once and all you did was say no quarters ? Hell, even my existence is a lot more dangerous than that and I don't get the war criminal title. Even if honestly, I wouldn't tell the government that I exist ... I kinda don't want to be dissected in a lab."

"Your existence ? Dangerous ? Pearlie, you're a fierce little dualies fighter but dangerous ? Really ?~"

"Did you forget that my voice made our windows explode without even trying to do so or-"

"Oh... Yes. I suppose I did."

"HA ! Look at us. Quite the power couple. You build weapons, I'M a weapon ... I guess we're kind of close in that regards."

"Well you didn't get much of a choice about your nature."

"Well you didn't either. I mean, I doubt that little baby genius Marina was allowed to do anything but build the machines she was so good at creating. If anything, I had more freedom. Look at me. My voice is dangerous and what kind of job did I choose ? I became a SINGER. The irony is massive."

"... So you're okay with everything I've done ?"

"I think we had this conversation before. I'm okay with you being an octoling. I'm okay with you being a soldier. I'm okay with you doing some freaky weapon experiments, you go girl, have some fun ! If anything I think you should keep building weapons if that makes you happy. I remember that you enjoyed building those hyperbombs for our last fest quite a lot."

"That is true ... But I think I enjoy singing with you even more. I found a passion that I can share with the person I love the most in the entire world ! It's more than I could ever hope for."

"Alright ... I guess that I can't complain about that."

Chapter Text

"While the octolings have three hearts similarly to us, their positions are fairly different. Our main heart is positioned on the left part of our chest, and our two smaller hearts are behind our stomach. An octoling's main heart is in the middle of their chest, and the other two are positioned a bit further into each side of their chests, right behind their lungs. This is why they don't wear armor around their belly. While there are vital organs there, they usually focus on hiding their hearts, which can help them survive a lot better if their stomach or intestines are pierced."

Emperor nodded as he wrote down a few notes based on his grandfather's speech. Another week, another murder lesson about octolings ...

"I see. So should I aim for there while in close combat ? What would be the most effective in this situation, a regular ink weapon or a knife ?"

"NO CLOSE COMBAT !! Do you perhaps have a death wish ?! How many times did I tell you ?! Octolings have heavily developed muscles directly linked to their habits of predation. They can and WILL overpower you by hand. No. The best methods is to use long ranged weapons. Ideal would be a charger. But shooters may be okay if they have a long range."

"What's the better option with chargers ? Splat charger ? E-liter ? Or perhaps a squiffer to be more aggressive while also putting some distance between me and the enemy ?"

"If you know how to aim perfectly, E-liter might be best. If you don't, I could perhaps have agent 2 teach you a thing or two about them. She is a bit stubborn and asked too many intrusive questions about Octolings for my taste but one thing's sure : she completely mastered the art of aiming. The further you are, the safer you are. I wouldn't want to loose my favorite grandson due to a nasty accident ..."

The old man slightly ruffled Emperor's hair with a smile the younger squid struggled to determine as genuine or not. Emperor wrote down these couple of lines in his notebook and slightly fidgeted with his pencil. He'd never noticed and strength difference between him and any octoling he had to face in the past. Army wasn't weak by any means too ... Hell, he chose this nickname specifically because he was part of the military. Was this something his grandfather genuinely believed ? Or was it yet another false bit of propaganda his rotting brain had created ? Maybe to make sure that no contact could be created with his opponent. Yeah it could make sense ... Being unable to get close to his enemy would mean that no peaceful dialogue could be started. Was he overthinking right now ? Maybe. Who knows.

Suddenly, a knock on the door. A slight ray of light illuminated emperor's face as the door began to open, revealing his very shy and nervous little brother. His grandfather growled and slammed his fist against his chair.

"PRINCE !! HOW MANY TIME DID I TELL YOU NOT TO COME WHEN EMPEROR AND I ARE DISCUSSING IMPORTANT MATTERS !!"

"S-Sorry sir ... It's just ... Emperor was supposed to come out at 5:30 to get to his next reunion on time and it's nearly 5:45 ... Some of his executives are getting impatient."

Emperor sighed and nodded

"I'm afraid he is correct, sir. Please forgive him for this disturbance. I must take my leave."

"Mmmh ... I'll allow it for this time. See you soon, child."

Emperor nodded before quickly walking out of the room and glancing at Prince before letting out a sigh of relief.

"Thank you for getting me out of there. He kept me for nearly an hour more than usual ... I was starting to loose my mind."

"N-No problem. I was getting worried. I know it is very important that you keep talking to him about the operations but I know you must've felt really bad ... So how is everything going lately ?"

"It's a bit difficult to say. But overall, I think I have some good news and bad news. And no matter what the outcome of all of this is ... I'm making progress."

Chapter Text

"How are you making progress ? What did you two even talk about this time ?"

"He's spilling out more and more secrets. He stressed me out with the NSS and started giving me tips on how to kill people. Delightful."

"HOW IS THAT DELIGHTFUL ?!"

"That was sarcasm Prince. Please calm down."

"O-Oh ... Okay. So what's the good news and what's the bad news ?"

"We talked about how long it would take for us to attack and how he's unsure if I really need training anymore as a leader, but I made a couple basic mistakes on today's lesson for him to have his doubts and keep training me. I don't know how much time I can keep saving. First, he always said "Oh look, the octolings are attacking the NSS ! they're dangerous, we need to kill them right now !!" But now that they've calmed down and don't attack as much, it's all "they're too quiet, they're planning something !!" He can't help but find something wrong in everything they ever do. So to make it simple, good news is, I've managed to buy us some more time and even if I can't exactly say how long, I know that it could potentially be a few more months. Bad news ? He could decide to stop my training ANY TIME now. And once I'm starting as a leader, I need to eliminate the menace, meaning him, as FAST as possible, or he'll immediately see that something's wrong and he'll try to strike me down. I basically have one chance to mess up with his plans. Nothing more, nothing less."

"I see ... Still we can communicate with the NSS to make sure they can evacuate in case of an extreme emergency. It's not perfect but it's good enough to save lots of people, right ?"

"Probably. But knowing his hate of octolings, I know that he won't stop targeting them just because they get outside of the domes."

"Do you think he has a reason to hate Octolings ? Like maybe someone he loved was killed by one ? That could explain why he's so mad ..."

"Prince. There is one thing you need to know about people that are full of hate like him. There is no justification for their hate. It doesn't matter if you dig for roots to find the origins of their hateful minds. They thrive on the idea that all of their problems can be blamed on a single population they can target and harass to no end. If it's not Octolings, it's gonna be sharks or urchins. If it's not about species, it's gonna be about disability. If it's not about physical appearance, it's gonna be sexuality. They don't care who it is, they just want a strawman to burn. This man doesn't like the fact that this world is changing and he wants someone to blame for it."

"But !! What if we made him change his mind !!"

"Prince ..."

"I know he's not a good person but I don't know ... Can't he be saved ? Can't he become better ?"

"... Listen. I know you mean well. Really. But it's not that grandpa can't be saved. It's that he doesn't want to be saved. He's very happy the way he is. He's enjoyed doing what he's done so far. And no matter the love you're gonna give him ... It will never be able to take away the joy and comfort he gets from hatred."

"..."

"You're too optimistic, Prince. But it's okay. You're young. You'll learn."

"I don't want to learn !! I want to be helpful NOW !! I just ... I don't get it !! Why would anyone ENJOY being hateful ?! He's not EVIL, is he ..?"

"... Well ..."

"No. Maybe don't answer to that."

"I wasn't going to say yes. I promise. But you believing that everyone on this earth automatically has a good heart is definitely dangerous. For every man you see saving baby sea bunnies that have been abandoned, there is a person that has to have abandoned them first. I'm not saying don't trust anyone. Just ..."

"Just what ? I can't even trust my own family !!"

"Well, do you trust me ?"

Prince let out a sigh and looked down.

"Okay. Maybe I can trust one person."

"How about our team ? Pearl and Marina ? Perhaps even your other friends ? If you hadn't trust Army, we wouldn't be here trying to save the world."

"ARGHHH WHY IS EVERYTHING SO COMPLICATED !? I HATE THIS SO MUCH ... NOTHING MAKES SENSE AND YET IT I CAN UNDERSTAND IT AND I ... I just want to go back to normal."

"Same here. I swear, I'd rather eat an entire bar of soap rather than to listen to another speech from grandpa. But hey. At least I guess we're not alone ?"

"... Yeah."

Chapter Text

After a long day of working their way through a level, Callie and Dedf1sh had finally finished their 30th challenge. Things had been pretty slow lately. Finding challenges they could succeed easily was getting more and more difficult, but thankfully, they were still progressing and they were nowhere close to giving up.

But while Dedf1sh wasn't usually someone that celebrated their victories much, this time, they were unusually silent. So much that it actually caught Callie's attention.

"... Ded ? What's wrong ? Thought you'd have at least something to say ? Like y'know, 30th victory !! Woohoo !!"

"Mhm ... Sorry. Don't worry, I am quite excited about it, I'll just struggling to show it. I'm just thinking about something else."

"D'ya anything on your mind ?"

"I suppose so. Would you mind talking about something important for a bit ?"

Callie gasped and nodded, immediately trying her best to look serious and and stand still unlike usual.

"Yeah !! Sure ! What do you need ?"

"... Sorry, I wasn't expecting to talk about it right now. I need to find my words for a bit."

"..."

"Callie you're staring a LOT right now."

"SORRYYYY ... I'm just curious !! You rarely ever talk much so if you talk I want to make sure I listen well !! What you say is important so I gotta focus SUPER hard."

"A-Alright. Here we go I guess ... Over the last few years, I haven't been able to feel much emotions, even if they slowly crawled back into my life lately. I tried my best to act like I held at least some emotions towards others when we first met and when I started to get sanitization fluids out of my body. But truth is, I felt a lot less than what I may have shown. You know... When someone said something that should be offensive, I acted like like I was offended. But the truth is, I didn't care. I just felt empty. But I remembered being someone with the ability to be offended. And I acted in a way I felt I would've had if I was offended, both in hopes that deep down I truly was offended, and to train to stop acting like a robot in hopes that my emotions do return. But with you ? It didn't feel the same. You made me feel things Callie, much more than anyone else has so far. It's not always good feelings, but it's feelings. I need to remember how to feel angry. To feel sad. To feel frustrated and to ramble about it. And your presence has somehow encouraged me to do all those things while also being quite comforting. You may be the most precious experience I've had in my entire life, Callie. For the first time in forever, I can look in the mirror and see myself as a living being. Please, teach me to be loved. I already know I'll love you back."

Callie stayed silent for a bit. She stared at her friend, unsure of what to say, obviously hesitant and scared yet so ... Interested.

"Ahato, I'm so flattered, really ... Woaw ... I don't know what to answer to that."

"... If you don't want this to happen, just say no."

"NO NO, IT'S NOT WHAT I MEANT !! I just- ... How do I explain this ... I don't think I'm worthy of such affection."

"Do you think I see you as a sort of princess ? I'm not loving you because you're worthy. I'm loving you because of facts, actual things you've made me feel. Not an deformed creation of your image that has been perfected by my mind. I love you because you're you Callie. I don't want to pressure you to become something you're not."

"B-BUT- That's the thing !! I'm not worthy because ... Because I've done things so atrocious that I'm not sure can be forgiven to a point where such a strong relationship can be created. As an agent, I've spent my entire life hurting Octolings. I don't think I deserve for one to love me like that."

"We both know that's wrong. You spent a few years of your childhood making a mistake, and you've spent your entire adulthood trying to fix it."

"I ..."

"There's only one person who can decide on how much impact an action has. And it's the victim. If you consider me a victim, I and only I have the power to decide if you're forgiven. And I not only forgive you, but I love you. I think it's time you allow yourself to receive that kind of affection."

Ahato let their head fall against Callie's shoulder as her eyes began to water.

"I'm sorry. I've been feeling awful lately. It's just so difficult for me, I just can't seem to catch a break, and even if I'm starting to feel better, my mind always wanders back to guilt and sadness. I don't want to spread that kind of mentality to everyone, I know they already have their own problems ..."

"Well i'd love to help you with those feelings."

"But you don't get it !! I don't want to use you !! I shouldn't spend my entire time venting on someone or just showing how stressed I am and-"

"Callie. I offered to be your partner because I want you. Every part of you. I'm okay with learning about parts of your being that you're struggling to share with others. You've helped me to remember happiness. The least I can do is listen to your sadness as well."

Callie began to close her eyes, her tears slowly becoming thinner as her lips landed against Ahato's. They shared a short kiss. Not a passionate one like you'd see in the movies. It barely lasted a second. But Callie could feel like her struggles were already beginning to ease up. She started rubbing her head against their neck, silently begging for affection. Dedf1sh felt unsure of what to do for a second, before trying to carefully rub her face with their hand. Callie let out a small purr and began to cry once more.

"Have I done something wrong ?"

"... No. I just feel so safe ..."

Callie opened her eyes back and left a small kiss against her Dedf1sh's hand.

"I think I've made my decision."

Chapter Text

After a long day of hard work to earn more points, almost everyone was resting in the metro while Pearl and Callie decided to go out and fetch some food for everyone at the vending machine.

The Kamabo vending machine was ... Really strange. The items sold in it were overall very random, even if not necessarily bad. A lot of the food were either veggies of all kinds like lettuce, mushrooms and tomato, or carbs like instant noodles, rice and gnocchis. There always was an option for a very greasy food though, like burgers or pizza, most likely because items that were high in calories were important with how much effort was put into going through the stations. But today, there was an unusual sight in the vending machine.

"Is that ..."

"Oh my god, Pearl !! There's two bags of candy !! It's been so long since I've seen any ... Kamabo just never seems to give us the opportunity to buy some."

Pearl nodded and rubbed her chin. Right now, candy wasn't something she was especially looking for. She'd been craving a lot of sugary things ever since she's been in the underground but thankfully, they popped up every now and then in the vending machine. Still ... She couldn't get past that opportunity. Not for her but for Marina. These bags of candy were expensive, just as pricey as an entire meal. But Marina often mentioned how much she missed candy, and pearl was determined to give her a treat. Marina deserved some nice things.

So the two squids made the decision to buy the bags of candies and to bring them back to their beloved octos, a massive smile on their face. While Pearl was simply walking through the metro's doors with her bag of candy in hand, Callie ran through the wagon and practically jumped on her friends.

"Storm ! Look look, I got some candies !! Do you want some ?"

"... Callie."

"Huh ?"

Storm smiled, rolled her eyes and pointed at the little bandaid on her skin Callie put her on after giving her an insulin shot on the previous night.

"Oh my COD I completely forgot about that ... I'm so sorry."

"It's okay, I appreciate the gesture, and it may be useful to keep them on hand when I get low blood sugar. Why don't you offer some to Ahato instead ?"

"GREAT IDEA !! Ahato !! Do you want some ?"

The octoling walked up towards Callie, grabbed the bag of candies and immediately gave it back to the inkling.

"I appreciate the gesture and I suppose that I would've usually enjoyed the idea of sugar, but sadly, sour candies are the bane of my existence. I'm really not interested in eating them again any time soon."

"Huh, really ?! You really look like someone who'd enjoy sour or spicy things."

"Spiciness makes me tear up, it's too painful. And I used to enjoy sour things, but I no longer do. Not after having to eat entire bags of them when I became radioactive."

"UMH EXCUSE ME WHEN YOU DID WHAT WHEN YOU BECAME WHAT ? I THINK WE HAVE A LOT TO UNPACK HERE."

Storm rolled her eyes and chuckled.

"They most likely ate radioactive pills for a cancer treatment. They can work pretty well but they're really strong and once you eat one of them, you have to get quarantined because you get radioactive enough that it can disturb other people's metabolism. It's often advised to eat a lot of sour candy after this kind of operation because they help keep your saliva glands healthy by making them work a lot and therefore removing the excess radiation stuck in them."

"... Thank god you were here because I would've NOT been able to explain all of that by myself. I had no idea why I was forcefed candy to begin with."

"Huh ?? But didn't you go through this treatment ? How can you not know what it was for ?!"

"Listen, just because I use a splattershot doesn't mean I know how it works. Also, I was kinda busy dying back then."

Callie shook her head and gasped before jumping into Ahato's arms.

"Wait, you dislike something !!! That's a good thing, isn't it ?!"

"... Is it ?"

"You said that due to sanitization you felt a disconnection to your own feelings. But here you have a feeling towards food, you dislike it, and you dislike it so much that you actually refuse to eat any more of it !! That's a good sign, it means you're getting better ! AAAAAH I'm so happy for you !"

Pearl rolled her eyes and chuckled before handing her own bag of candies to Marina with a proud smile.

"I thought about you when I saw them. You definitely deserve a treat !"

"Awh ... Thank you Pearlie but I don't like lemons, did you forget ?"

Pearl glanced back at the package and suddenly noticed the large "LEMON FLAVOR" printed on top of it. FUCK. She sighed and looked down pitifully.

"Is there any octo here that even likes sour candies ..."

"I do !"

Eight walked up to Pearl with shiny eyes, visiblh desperate to get to taste the candies.

"Alright ... I guess you can have the bag. You're lucky you're so cute."

"Thank you. But y'know, if I really wanted them I would've simply fought you for them."

"AH YEAH ? THINK YOU CAN BEAT ME ?"

"Do you want to be humiliated in front of everyone with an arm wrestle again or ...?"

"BET. BRING IT ON !!"

Yet another day, yet another fight. Oh well, at least nothing bad was happening.

Chapter Text

Pearl didn't expect much when coming back to the metro that day. Maybe eat together with her friends and cuddle with Marina a bit. That kind of was her new routine. But when she walked in and saw everyone surrounding Iso Padre with numerous gift boxes in hand, she just KNEW that something important had happened.

"HOLY SHIT !! PADRE ! DID YOU BRING BACK THE GOODS ?!"

"Hello Pearl ! Yes. I did my best to gather up the highest quality goods for you and your friends. Here, take a look !"

Marina immediately screamed as she saw pillows and blankets on the seats they usually slept on.

"I CAN'T BELIEVE IT !! FINALLY ... Comfort ... Oh Pearl, I don't want to move from here ever again, I want to sleep forever ..."

"Maybe we could sleep forever together ~ OOOOH that pillow is so comfy. Maybe it's because I've gotten used to shitty ass metro seats but my gooood ... This is what heaven feels like I'll never experience that kind of joy ever again."

The two inkfish buried themselves under a fort of blankets and pillows and barely had enough time to even enjoy their new comfiness that they were already dozing off. After a few minutes, Eight came back to poke the girls noses and with a smile.

"Hey, Marina ! Don't fall asleep !"

"Mmmh ... Sorry the kingdom of slumber calls me, I cannot resist its temptation ..."

"Iso Padre said he had another thing for you. Here's the box !"

Eight smiled and left the box next to Marina before walking away. Half asleep, Marina began to awkwardly move the box around to try to open it and dug her hand inside in hopes of grabbing whatever was inside before pulling out something with an arch shape. Something ... Eeriely familiar. And when she understood what it was, she immediately fully got back to consciousness

"HEADPHONES ?!"

Pearl, woken up by Marina's sudden yell, remembered that she was the one who asked for those and chuckled.

"Hope you like em ~ I know you missed your old ones."

"You're the one that got these !?"

"Yup !! Aren't they neat ?"

Pearl was expecting a happy response. But instead, she was surprised to find Marina staring her down with a rather serious expression.

"M-Marina, you good ?"

"How did you buy these ?"

"Used my mem cakes ! Y'know, I had tons of them and -"

"And headphones are expensive. I suppose you used all of your memcakes to buy it ?"

"Y-Yeah, kinda ..."

"Pearl ... I told you to get yourself something nice with those memcakes. Not to get ME something nice with it."

"Well, I kinda wanted to get to see you happy-"

"I'm serious."

"Well I'm serious too !! I thought you'd like them ! Did I do something wrong ..?"

"I do like them, it's just ... You've been seriously putting myself over your own being lately and it's making me feel awful. Yesterday, you bought me a huge dinner and refused to tell me how many points it cost you. And I saw you getting back up in the middle of the night to go through levels to regain said points back."

"Oops ... Thought you wouldn't catch me there. Sorry-"

"And then the day before that, when I asked you to get what you want for lunch and you bought us a bag of frozen waffles."

"B-But you like waffles !"

"Yes, but you don't. I know you, you'd much rather have pancakes, and Callie told me they had some in the vending machine too. And then again, before that you bought me candy because you thought it would make ME happy. And before that, apparently, when I asked you to buy yourself a treat with your points, you still spent them on me ?! Pearl ... I'm genuinely starting to feel like you're not taking care of yourself !!"

"I am !! I just like seeing you happy !!"

"And I thank you for that, but can't you try to get yourself something nice for once !! Your happiness shouldn't depend on mine !! You should've spent these memcakes on something you'd like."

"But I didn't want anything for myself back then !! I promise, I tried digging in my brain and I found NOTHING."

"Then you should've saved these cakes for another time !! I know you have tons of things you enjoy and yet I've barely seen you get anything for yourself lately !! Why do you keep doing that ?!"

"BECAUSE YOU'RE THE ONLY NICE THING I HAVE LEFT DOWN HERE, OKAY ?!"

The two lovers stared at each other in silence for a bit. Pearl ended up sighing before burying her face into a pillow.

"... Pearl ?"

"... I don't want physical items now. I mean ... I guess I could want food or little trinkets. But it all feels like it doesn't matter much down here. I can't get the foods I truly crave because they're the ones I genuinely can't access. Good luck finding a fucking fresh homemade ice cream or a nice romantic restaurant down here. And even if I got trinkets, what the hell am I supposed to do with them ? Stickers ? What would I stick them on ? Keychains ? I have no fucking keys !! Posters ? FOR WHICH WALLS ?! I just ... I haven't been craving anything down here. I just want to go back to normal. Plain simple and complete normal. Not get little bits of what normality is supposed to be like. I know it's probably because I've been spoiled all my life with money and access to everything I've ever wanted but ... Fuck, this place will never feel like a home. What I truly crave is our house. Our bed. Our cherry trees. Our inkopolis, our splatfests, our favorite shopping spots, our favorite ice cream truck ... I don't want shitty ass replicas of it down here. But there is one thing I have left that's the same. It's you. So maybe I could try to keep clinging onto it ? I'm sorry for making you feel bad. But I'm genuine when I say that seeing you happy is probably the best gift I can get for myself."

Marina sighed as she gently kissed Pearl's face and put on her headphones, watching the squid's tears slowly drip into the bed sheets.

"I'm sorry... I didn't mean to make you cry, I promise... I care so much about you, I just didn't want you to indirectly hurt yourself ..."

"It's okay. Shows me that you're still the greatest girl ever."

"I guess I can accept you being a little selfless while we're down here. But in return, you gotta promise me that I'll get to absolutely SPOIL you when we get back home. Alright ?"

"Ah, well-"

"PROMISE ?"

"... Alright. Promise."

Chapter Text

Today had been a rather packed day for Marie. She'd spent all of her time running around the domes trying to talk to multiple organizations of octolings, trying to explain to everyone how to plan a possible evacuation of the domes, and basically trying to spread out the word of what may be going on over the next few weeks without trying to cause a mass panic. Thankfully, all Octolings were trained to remain calm and think, even in situations of crisis. It was a really good thing to make this kind of operation possible, but still ... Seeing so many people stay emotionless when learning that they may get bomb was terrifying

Right now, Marie had just left her last meeting for the day. It was much smaller than everything else she'd done throughout the day, with her family, Octavio, Skip and a couple of high ranked octoling soldiers trying to think about a possible offensive in case a wave of soldiers attacked the domes, even going as far as to allow herself to be taken as hostage to make inkling troops back down if needed.

Marie was completely exhausted after discussing the most stressful things that could ever happen to her and wanted to run back to her bedroom and fall on her bed. But ... Someone seemed to have been following her. One of the elite octoling soldiers from the meeting was right behind her. A bit tired and now even more stressed, Marie turned around and tried her best to talk firmly yet non-aggressively.

"Back down."

The octoling kept on getting closer. Marie voice failed to convey the same powerful tone as it held before, now becoming slightly more desperate.

"Please, back down."

The soldier stopped, sighed and began to stare at the inkling.

"Calm down. I'm not looking for a fight."

"..."

"I'm serious. I'm not very good at hand-on-hand combat. My muscles were built on lifting heavy weights for significant amounts of time, not on fighting."

Marie felt her tension slowly drifting away as her muscles became more relaxed.

"Alright ... Then what are you here for ?"

"I'm here to ask a question."

"Mmmh. If you wanted to ask one, you could've done so during the meeting..."

"It's something more personal, I felt like asking that in front of a public would be uncomfortable for everyone involved."

"Alright ... Then ask it. I don't like when conversations go on for longer when they should when it comes to small talk. It makes me awfully stressed."

"Alright, I'll try to make it simple and concise ... Who are you and what did you do to agent 2 ?"

The question wasn't asked aggressively or anything like that. If anything, the octoling sounded like she was trying to be polite. Marie blinked a couple times, feeling her face redden in confusion and embarrassment

"... Excuse me ??"

"Listen, you say that you're agent 2. And appearancewise, I guess I could believe that. But you act nothing like her ! The agent 2 I fought was fierce, nothing could make her flinch. She had an eagle's eye, and she could dozens of people coming from all directions if she had a weapon fast enough to do so. She never talked, she was cold, and nothing you could do seemed to make her back down, even if she would NEVER allow you to get too close to her. But you're nothing like that. You're sweet, you talk surprisingly a LOT when you're with the people you love, you act like you care about octoling's safety and most importantly, you're leaving yourself vulnerable. A charger doesn't get too close to an enemy. They either back down, or get killed. So what brought you down here, right in the enemy's jaws ?"

"... Can I be honest with you ? Perhaps even a little blunt ?"

"I mean, as long as I get an explanation, I'm willing to hear anything. I'm not the only one down here who's confused about all of this. It's not that soldiers don't want to trust you, because all you've done so far was genuinely help us. We just don't get what gave you such a drastic change of heart ?"

Marie looked down, sat on a nearby rock and waited for the soldier to do the same. She stared at her in confusion for a bit, until marie glanced back and forth at her and another stone nearby, which finally made her sit down and get comfortable.

"You know ... In the end, I never thought Octolings were monsters. I just thought you were full of rage. An amount of rage that cannot be reasoned with. And when I'm saying that, I don't mean that I blamed you for it. It's more that I didn't even want to try to have a conversation with you because I felt like no matter what I did you'd never respond positively. You've been oppressed for years and years, forced to live in this miserable place and I thought that it was my duty to keep you there because if I didn't do that, if I allowed myself let you out, this rage that consumed you wouldn't leave and you'd simply try to kill us all in retaliation. It's like keeping an angry baby shark in a box. The more you leave it there, the more chances you get for it to violently bite you when it gets out. And like I said ... I wouldn't blame that behavior."

Marie's shifted into a soft smile.

"But I met someone. A beautiful octoling named Marina had reached the surface and it seemed like she wasn't trying to hurt anyone. Little paranoid me decided that I needed to check if she was a potential spy who infiltrated our society to better destroy it, so I befriended her thinking it would reveal her true nature ! ... But no. All I found was the softest, sweetest person I'd ever seen. And the most ironic part of it was that she was a huge fan of mine."

The octoling raised an eyebrow with a smirk.

"A ... Fan ? Of agent 2 ? Did she recognize you ?"

"Oh NO. Sorry, I should've clarified that. I'm a pop star on the surface."

"Oh. Well that makes a lot more sense. Still kind of funny to think about though."

"Haha, Yeah ... Still, after meeting her, I couldn't help but think "surely she's not an exception right ? People in the domes are probably just like her, not full of rage but rather just needing a place to feel at peace". And after that, I just stopped being able to keep going as an agent. For a couple of years, I just shooed octolings wearing military outfits away from our borders because the threat of genuine attacks wasn't out of the question but outside of that ... I just didn't want to hurt you anymore. It's as simple as that. The reason why I came is because I realized that communication is possible. And if it's possible, I will do ANYTHING to make it work. My desire has always been to protect others. And that includes you."

The soldier looked down and smiled.

"I see. Well, that's not as wild as I thought. But it's a satisfying answer. I trust you going forward."

The octoling got up and began to walk away, when Marie gasped and reached out for them.

"Wait, I remember !!"

The octoling turned around to face her and a small moment of silence ensued before Marie let out her signature smirk.

"Three years ago. We battled under the snow for four hours after I managed to shoot everyone else on your team. We missed every single one of our shots, and I ended up leaving because my hands were getting frozen and I couldn't hold my weapon anymore. I never learnt your name. But I did learn that you were an opponent worthy of respect."

The octoling began to laugh and nodded.

"I remembered that for years. But I thought this would've been just another battle for you. I can't believe you still had that on your mind. Welp, I guess it shows that you do care."

And with that, the woman left Marie behind.

Chapter Text

Callie held Dedf1sh's hand as the couple walked out of the station they'd spent the entire day in. They didn't manage to complete the test but ... That's okay. They both knew that they tried their best.

Little signs of affection like that had become a lot more common between the two of them lately. At least, when they were alone. It was becoming a little bit of a routine that made things a lot more comfortable for the two inkfish lately. Small words of encouragement, gentle actions to show affection, a couple of kisses and a warm embrace ... It made the both of them feel loved. In two very different ways.

Callie ... Well, Callie had begun to feel unlovable ever since she had started to overthink her past actions, and especially felt like her existence as an agent was a betrayal to any kind of love she was gifted from Octolings lately. Marina's sweetness and reassuring words, the long hours she'd spent with Storm taking care of each other's bodies ... She had starting to feel like everything had been a lie, a meticulous self gaslighting created by her own brain to convince herself that she was a good person. But Ahato had gone way past that. They listened to Callie's stories of pain and they didn't just accept her for who she was despite those flaws. They understood. Marina had opened the door for self love and acceptation of one's old mistakes. But Ahato had managed to make that idea and made sure that Callie didn't forget that she was loved because mistakes happen. What she did in the past was bad. There was no denying it. And many, many times, Callie still believed that she should've been a better person and should've understood just how wrong she was. But Ahato was the voice of reason. Someone listened to Callie's pains and reminded her that she wouldn't feel so destructively guilty if she wasn't a good person. And being able to hear that was genuinely healing.

On the other side ... Ahato got what they wanted too. They were loved, not for the person they seemed to be but for what they were. They had their own doubts about possibly being unable to be loved, thinking their behavior was too strange at times to truly portray what a person is meant to be. But Callie actually thought it made them more unique. While they were calm and often lacked facial expressions to make it look like they meant what they said, they still had feelings and it was very obvious. They had opinions, they had their own thoughts and needs, subtle yet adorable reactions from Callie's hints of affection that only she had noticed so far. But the more she pointed things out, the more it felt like they were alive. Their fingers slightly twitched in excitement whenever Callie asked them to hold hands. They had a tendency to lean in against Callie whenever she hugged them, often trying to get some scratches on their neck from the rubbing. Callie adored these things and never feared to point them out. And in the end ... That's probably the kind of love they were after. Someone caring so much that they notice little details of your every day life and begin to love you more than you love yourself.

It was an unconventional style of love. Or ... Maybe not. Each love is different, just like every person is different, and their ideas of what a relationship should be was too focused on what they'd seen in romance novels and tv shows where everything's either too perfect or way too complex for no reason. But either way, these two people that both felt like love was something that they didn't deserve ended up giving each other the confidence needed to feel less like a existence was a struggle and more like letting yourself focus on small happy details of every day life was enough to be worth living.

As they sat down into the metro, Callie looked left and right to check if no one was watching. After making sure that they were alone, she began to wrap her arms around her lover's back, giving them a small kiss on the nose before letting herself fall against their chest with a big satisfied sigh, letting her face get buried against their chest.

"Ah ... My new favorite way to end the day ..."

"Umh ... Callie ?"

"Yeah ?"

The octopus silently pointed behind Callie, making her turn around and finally notice that Pearl, Marina and Storm had all been staring this whole time.

... Whoops ?

Chapter Text

Everyone stood still for a couple seconds, too awkward to muster up a few words to unlock the situation, until Pearl eventually decided to let out a massive yell.

"OH MY GOD ARE YOU TWO A THING ?!"

"Y-Yeah ... I mean, I'm pretty sure you don't have any doubts about it after seeing what I did..."

Marina looked at Callie with a slight hint of worry.

"Was it supposed to be a secret ? Did you not want us to know ?"

"Not exactly ... It's more like I didn't know how to tell you guys about it. I've already been stressed enough lately and I didn't want to start overthinking about how I should tell you about this. That sudden reveal may have been a little bit overblown though. I was kind of hoping the reveal could be a lot calmer."

"If you don't want us to make it too big of a deal, we won't ! Right Storm ?"

The nurse let out a small confused gasp, visibly suddenly taking out of some deep thinking. She simply nodded and went back to her thoughts, visibly even more lost.

Pearl nodded and grabbed the two women's hands before dragging them into another wagon with a smirk

"Alright ladies, sounds like these two wanted some alone time to smooch so we'll leave them be. Imma go grab some snacks at the vending machine, so I'll leave Marina to ya Storm, ya better take care of her !"

Marina chuckled and waved goodbye at Pearl before walking in the next wagon and watching Storm sit down on a nearby seat.

"Pearl is so protective ... It's kind of funny to see her always say that she needs people around to take care of me when she knows that I'm the one that has a military education here."

"...Yeah. It's cute."

"Storm, is something wrong ?"

"No no, I'm fine."

"Hey... I know that's not the truth. It's kind of obvious that you're feeling bad. Maybe I should've been more direct with my question : do you want to talk about what's making you feel bad ?"

Storm sighed and stretched as she watched Marina sitting by her side.

"Alright. I guess that can't hurt. Maybe it'll make me feel better. Or maybe I'll overthink about it and I'll feel even worse... Why must everything feel so complicated ..."

"Is it about Callie and Ded ? It looked like you started feeling worse after seeing them together."

"... You remember that one time I told you that I fell in love easily with anyone that was even remotely nice to me ?"

"Yeah ?"

"Ever since I fell down here, Callie and I have gotten closer and closer. REALLY close. Close to a point where I felt like maybe I should confess to her before we get out of here, because ... Well, she's really important to me and I wanted her to know that."

"Oh. OH. Well, why can't you do that anymore ?"

"MARINA ... Obviously Callie and Dedf1sh haven't been together for very long, and they look pretty happy at that. What kind of asshole would I be if I were to just confess to Callie right after she found a perfect partner ? I'm trying my best not to become awfully jealous in that situation. I'm just ... Kind of sad I didn't muster up the courage to tell her how I truly feel before it would become too awkward. I guess I'm just really unlucky when it comes to romance, but I thought I would've gotten used to that by now."

"If it really feels that important to you to confess, why don't you try to do so anyway ? You obviously don't wish any harm to their relationship, and if it's really that important to you I think that being able to tell her that she matters to you would be freeing. Just be clear with your intentions !"

"I don't know ... It won't feel the same. That's for sure. And I don't want to create any discord in our group right now. I've never liked making a big fuss about my own feelings because creating unnecessary unresolved romantic tension in a group which is already fragile mentally does NOT sound like a good idea."

"I get what you're saying. But right now ... I'm thinking that if anything, this may bring even more peace to Callie's mind. I get it. It's scary and in the end, you still won't get what you wished for. But y'know ... Callie has been getting massive panic attacks lately, and for good reasons : she feels like she's hurt Octolings and she still struggles to understand that even as an adult, her decisions and her mistakes were influenced by the fact that she was raised in an environment that fundamentally mishaped her perception of reality. Learning that another octoling thinks of her so highly could be genuinely comforting for her."

"... You think so ?"

"I do. You don't have to do it if you're too stressed or uncomfortable. But ... If you love Callie, maybe you'd enjoy knowing that she would feel more comfortable with herself thanks to a few kind words. And let's be honest ... We know Dedf1sh. It's not like they're gonna get jealous."

"... Okay. I'll do it. I'm going to confess to Callie."

Chapter Text

Callie stretched as she slightly rubbed her arm after the injection she'd just received. Storm let out a small sigh with a smile as she took back the little bottle of estrogen into her pocket.

"You're so good at this Storm ... I didn't even feel a thing ! Plus, I didn't bleed a single drop of blood today !!"

"Ah yes, about that. I think it's just that your blood was thicker today."

"Oh... Okay ! Neat !"

"Which means you're probably dehydrated, silly. Here, drink a little. I bet you didn't do that all day."

"You are kind of right ... Heck, you're always so precise when it comes to my health !! It's like you know me so much, and I don't know you at all ... I wish I could just know stuff about you to take care of you too, but my love language is shoving food I love into people's faces in hopes that they love it too and 90% of it is sugar ..."

"Awh ... Well, I still think it's kind of sweet from you."

"BUT YOU KEEP SAYING YOU CAN'T HAVE SWEETS !! WHAT AN HORRIBLE PERSON I AM !!"

Storm rolled her eyes and slightly chuckled.

"You know, I don't spend time with you because you know me perfectly or because you have a diploma in a random kind of science ... I like you because you're you. You ... Are really important to me, in a way that ... Is kind of hard for me to express."

"Well, I bet you can find the words for it if you try ! You're sooo smart, surely you can at least give it a shot !"

Storm sighed and closed her eyes before clenching her hands together to stop herself from fidgeting too much.

"Alright, here we go ... Callie, I am in love with you. You are a wonderful person, and I think you deserve to know it because sometimes, your self doubts seem like they are slowly destroying you. BUT. This is by no means me asking you to change your relationship with Dedf1sh. You two are obviously very happy and made for each other and I wish you the best for your future together and I hope that this may bring some stability in your life. There. I said it. Woaw ... That was even more stressful than I thought."

"Or ... We could still become a thing ?"

"I-I ALREADY SAID THAT I DON'T WANT YOU TO BREAK UP WITH DED !! YOU TWO ARE OBVIOUSLY HAPPY AND I DON'T WANT YOU TO LOOSE THAT HAPPINESS"

"No no, not like that ! I mean, I can just ask Ded if I could get another girlfriend ! And if they're okay with it, y'know ... I have two hands ! It would be a shame not to use them both !"

"... What ?"

"Hold on, let me just ask them, that way we'll be in the clear."

Callie got up from her seat and quickly walked into the next metro wagon, leaving Storm completely in shock and confused. From where she was sitting, she could hear the entire conversation Callie had with her lover.

"Hey Ded ! Would you be okay if I had another girlfriend along with you ? I'm not dropping you even if you say no of course, I still love you."

"Would that mean that you'd love me less ?"

"Nope."

"Would you spend less time with me ?"

"Nuh uh !"

"Okay then, I don't see a reason why I should say no."

"YAY !! Oh thank you so much Ded !! Hear that Storm ? We can be girlfriends if you'd like !"

Storm took a small time to understand what just happened until she finally slammed her fist against the nearest seat and let out a growl of frustration

"THERE'S NO WAY IT WAS THAT EASY. ALL OF MY LIFE I THOUGHT THAT I WAS AWFULLY UNLUCKY WITH LOVE AND ALL I HAD TO DO WAS ASK NICELY ?!"

"Hehe ... Apparently ! So ! Do you want to kiss ? ~"

"H-Hold on, this is very fast for me ... I've never had anything quite like a romantic relationship. I don't even know if I'm ready."

"Did you not want this ?"

"NO NO !! I DO ! I just ... This is so much to handle right now ... Maybe we should start smaller ?"

Callie nodded and offered her hand to her new lover. Storm stared at it for a bit, until she finally grabbed it with hers and just... Kept it. Holding hands. It sounded so simple and yet it was strangely comforting. This woman, she would've probably tried to kill her a couple months ago. She would've never trusted her, let alone allow herself to love her. And yet ... Here she was. Holding hands with someone she knew she could allow herself to trust.

"So ... Is that slow enough for you ?"

"It's perfect."

Chapter Text

Right now, everyone in the metro was asleep. It was about 3 AM, and Pearl knew too well that there was no way for her to find anyone that would not only be able to talk to her, but would also enjoy doing such thing. But still ... She was wide awake and right now, and she knew she couldn't just wait for the day to start doing nothing for literal hours. What could she even do at this hour that wouldn't exhaust her too much ... Heh. Maybe she could take a small walk around the metro ? Surely that wouldn't hurt.

The squid slipped out of Marina's embrace, leaving a small kiss on her cheek as she made sure that her beloved partner held her plushie tightly between her arms instead of finding herself to be all alone. Pearl began to walk through the wagons, slightly glancing at her sleeping friends with a soft smile. Eight slept in a position that she could only describe as ... Military ? It looked too professional to be comfortable. But it sort of fit her. On the other hand, Dedf1sh was sleeping on top of the seat's backs, their arms dangling on each side and their head crammed between the seats. Honestly that did NOT look comfortable at all yet they seemed to be sleeping insanely peacefully. It kind of reminded Pearl of how she'd find Judd sleeping in the most random positions one could imagine. And finally, there were Storm and Callie cuddling together. Honestly ? They were a couple Pearl did NOT expect but hell, they were kind of cute. She would definitely be jealous of Callie having two cute girlfriends if she wasn't already dating the most perfect woman in the entire world.

Leaving the test subjects parts of the wagons, Pearl finally landed between all the deep sea metro denizens. They all looked ... Kind of odd ? But in a nice way. Pearl was fascinated by how similar yet different they looked compared to the fish on the surface. A cool ass jellyfish with 20 different heads, a gigantic buff sea angel, a duo of goblin sharks ... They were all unique in their own ways. Everything looked so strange to Pearl until finally, she noticed him.

"Heyo !! Iso padre, how's it going ? What are you doing here ?!"

"Hello Pearl. It is quite nice to see you again. I am taking the metro to go to work !"

"At 3 AM ?"

"I do not get to choose when my work starts sadly, and night shifts are usually paid slightly better."

"Well fuck, I hope you're doing alright then ! Get that cash I guess !"

"Thank you, I definitely will use this money to reward you and your friends for your mem cakes."

Pearl took a small pause before looking at the floor in confusion.

"Hey umh ... Do you have any goal other than that ? The mem cakes thing ?"

"Not really. I believe that gathering mem cakes is quite a nice way to enjoy my life, isn't it ? It's the best way for me to gather memories back, even if they're not mine."

"I mean, you're not THAT old ... You could still make your own memories by experiencing new stuff. You should come with us to the surface !! If I can take eight out of here, I'm sure that you can come. You don't have to stay stuck here ! We'll find a way to hide you ... Somewhere !!"

"I don't think I want to."

Pearl rose an eyebrow in silence

"Why wouldn't you want that ? This place ... I mean, no shades to you but it fucking sucks. There's only a metro and trials, and outside of that your every day life in the deep see sounds absolutely miserable. So you have to choose between discomfort and pain. Plus, didn't you mention being an old test subject who wanted to get their memories back ?"

"It is true. I know this place isn't exactly perfect. It's difficult to live in for many reasons. But ... It's all I've ever known. And I find it quite comforting because learning new things when all your memories are gone is quite terrifying. It's small, but I get to know everyone and everything about it. It's dark, but I enjoy dark places. For what I learned about it, the outside world seems gigantic and way too bright for what I'm used to. If I leave this place, I will never be able to come back to this metro nor the comfort that I grew accustomed to. Is it really worth leaving my entire world for a brand new one that I may not even enjoy ?"

Pearl tried to dig in her head to find any counterargument to that. But she couldn't really pinpoint a single thing. This place was awful, but only to her standards after all. And she was a kid raised in luxury and abundance. Who was she to judge him ?

"I guess ... That's fair."

"Young people will keep falling down here too. They need help from someone, someone I know they can trust. No matter how much I want to believe in people, I know some adults can and will abuse of these children's crave for validation and affection. I cannot give them a perfect life and I know it too well. But I want to try to give them some items of comfort down here. Pillows. Plushies. Bedsheets. Cooking utensils and headphones. As long as people will need my existence down here ... I think I'll feel the need to stay by their side."

"I guess I can't argue with that either. You're a great guy, Padre. But y'know ... If you ever change your mind, come say hi. I'd feel pretty bad if we just left you behind with no last chance"

"Thank you. I'll keep it in mind"

Chapter Text

This morning, Pearl had decided to go out with Callie. And Marina ? Marina wanted a BREAK. For once, she'd decided not to farm points on that day and instead, she grabbed a couple of old cardboard boxes from food and a pen and began to draw to ease up her mind. And surprisingly ... She wasn't the only one doing such thing. It seemed that Eight was also using her own little notebook and pen to make art of her own

Marina glanced over Eight's shoulder to see what she was writing in her little notebook. It was a simple short poem, decorated with a couple sketches of her sister.

"Though parted by the ocean deep
My oldest friend, we meet again.
I touch your face, your rouse from sleep"

She smiled as Eight glanced at her and closed the little notebook.

"No no, don't stop writing because of me ... That was absolutely beautiful."

"Thank you. But that's all I wanted to write today. I've earned a lot of mem cakes ever since I came down here and I just ... Took a habit of writing poems about them. I finally got one of Skip today. It made me really happy and I'm glad I was able to write about her. I can't wait to see her again ..."

"Is the notebook filled with all your other poems ?"

"Yes. The beginning is a lot of doodles and sketches because that's what I used it for before I fell down. Now, I don't have that many pages left. So I want to use it for something important."

"Can I read it ?"

Eight's eyes hesitated for a moment, fleeing from Marina's look with a hint of shame.

"You know I'm not going to mock you, right ? This'll stay our little secret. Just like when we were young."

Eight softly chuckled.

"You say that as if you stopped writing all of those fluffy romance stories. I bet you're still doing all of them ~"

"... Only difference now is that I draw Pearlie instead of a generic pretty girl ..."

"That sounds really cute. I hope you'll let me read that one day."

"Oh, I have BINDERS UPON BINDERS of potential love songs based in alternate universe versions of Pearlie and I. But now ... Let's see what you wrote."

Eight shyly gifted her notebook to Marina, who immediately began to go through the pages with a wide smile. Most of Eight's memories seemed to be based on Octolings and octarians, which wasn't surprising. But there were also a couple species of salmonids and a few inklings that seemingly came from an old magazine spread around the deep sea metro, Haikara Walker. It seemed to have been a whole bunch of the same book that had been thrown out, possibly an entire batch that had accidentally fell all the way in the underground. While Marina wasn't particularly interested in it, she guessed that being able to read and dream was probably really important for Eight after being stuck in such a bad place.

Everything seemed to revolve around Eight's life and yet ... Marina was still surprised to find a poem about her.

"Yesterday, I left a flower on your grave
Tomorrow, I will dream of you by my side.
Let me reach out for the sunlight as I hold your hand."

Eight chuckled nervously as she looked at Marina.

"This is slightly embarasing ..."

"Is it ? I find this beautiful. It means a lot to me. I'm just ... A little shook that you'd want to go outside to see the sunlight when you seem to crave going back to the domes so bad ..."

"Well, I don't think it's the domes I crave. Rather the desire to know that I'm safe and with the people I love. If gramps, you and Four can go out to the surface ... Why can't I do the same ? I feel like it would be better for all of us to go up and enjoy the sunlight."

"I see ... Well I'd love to be the one to show you the sun. You should the the sunrise up there ! It's nothing the dome's screens can ever reproduce. It's kind of magical."

"I can't wait to see it ~"