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Enemy.
Blue is the enemy.
Enemies must be exterminated.
He can hear speech—people speaking to him, maybe—but it is too far away and muffled to matter.
All of these people are his enemies.
There is an Octoling and an Inkling in front of him.
A blue Inkling.
Blue is the enemy.
EXTERMINATE.
Violence rushes through his veins and through the pulsing mass on his head.
He does a Splashdown and approaches the blue enemy with his roller.
He hears the shooting of a Blaster. Maybe it's at him. It doesn't matter.
A roller slams down onto a blue body.
The blue enemy.
Cartilage cracks and blood splatters upon his face. Somebody is screaming. Maybe it's the blue enemy. Maybe it's him, he can't tell.
"RIDER!"
A name. That name sounds familiar. He can't place where he knows that name from. It doesn't matter.
Blue is dying on the ground. Life will leave this enemy on its own—there is no need for him to do anything more.
More shooting.
It's definitely at him—no, it's at the mass on his head.
The teal, pulsing mass burns. It burns so badly—he can't let it be removed.
It made him strong. It made him perfect.
He tries to slam his roller down on the second enemy. The Octoling.
WORTHLESS SCRAP OF SEAFOOD—
Something hits the mass on his head.
The parasite.
"RIDER, WAKE UP!"
The parasite on his head is melting.
IT BURNS IT BURNS IT BURNS IT BURNS IT BUR
"Rider…please…"
Rider…
That's his name, isn't it?
He brings his hand up to his face, trying to push the teal back onto his face.
The parasite is the only thing making him PERFECT—
"Rider—"
A hand pushes his own away from his face. Holding it down, holding him back from the perfect parasite.
"Rider, you have to remember."
His name is Rider.
Rider looks up.
The Octoling's eyes are beautiful. His hand is on Rider's face now—no longer holding him back. His touch is gentle.
Is he truly an enemy?
"Ene…enemy…?"
Rider's own voice. Raspy and quiet. Unfamiliar.
"No. We're not enemies, Rider…please wake up…"
There are tears in the beautiful Octoling's eyes.
He is no enemy.
"I…" Speaking is hard. "I don't want to…make you cry…"
"Do you remember, Rider?" There's hope in the Octoling's voice.
The Octoling's voice is beautiful.
The Octoling himself is beautiful. An angel sent down from the heavens—to save Rider.
"You…you're beautiful…"
A soft smile appears on the Octoling's face. "Please come back, Rider. You can do it."
"I…"
Tears are in Rider's own eyes now, mixing with the remnants of the parasite. He feels Hachi wipe them away.
"I love you…Hachi…"
And that's when Rider passed out.
—
Rider could hear beeping.
He opened his eyes—everything was too bright. It took him multiple attempts to get his eyes open all the way.
And when he succeeded, he realized he was in a hospital room. The beeping he heard was a heart monitor.
There was somebody standing next to his bed.
An angel.
"Hachi…?" Rider's voice was hoarse—it hurt to speak.
"Rider…!" Hachi's eyes lit up, a smile appearing on his face.
"What…what happened…?"
The smile slowly faded from Hachi's face. "Do you…not remember?"
Rider slowly sat up—every part of his body ached. "Not really…I remember…enemies…but then there was…an angel…?"
"An angel?" Hachi asked.
Rider turned towards Hachi.
"I think that was you."
Hachi's eyes widened. Was that a blush on his face?
Rider blinked as foggy memories slowly began to come back to him.
"Where…where's blue?"
Blue is the enemy.
Enemies must be exterminated.
A sad look comes across Hachi's face.
"Well…Goggles is here, in the hospital. Still alive…though the doctors suspect that won't last."
Rider's eyes widened, his breath quickening in panic.
"Which room?"
"Rider—"
"Which fucking room?!"
"Th-the one right next to yours. To the left."
Without another word, Rider ripped himself from the bed—from everything he was connected to—and rushed out of the room. He heard Hachi exclaim in surprise, but he didn't care.
He needed to see Goggles.
And soon enough, he stumbled into another hospital room, equally bright as his. There's a figure on the bed, connected to a beeping heart monitor.
A blue Inkling.
Goggles.
Rider walked up to the bed and sat down. To his surprise, blue eyes moved towards him.
"R-Rider?" a weak voice said. Goggles' voice.
"Goggles…you…I…" Tears formed in Rider's eyes as he remembered what he did—
"It wasn't you, Rider," Goggles said. "It was Tartar."
"Tartar…" Rider echoed.
The parasite.
The parasite that made him perfect.
"Goggles…I…" Rider took Goggles' hand softly, tears flowing down his face now. "I'm so sorry…"
"You don't have to be." A small smile appeared on Goggles' face. "I know you would never do that."
"Please…you don't have to forgive me." Rider's voice was choked with tears.
"But I do. Because it wasn't your fault."
"I…I let the parasite…"
"Tartar put it there, not you, silly." Goggles' hand gently rubbed Rider's.
Rider's soft crying turned into sobs—as the heart monitor slowed.
"Riri…" Goggles' voice was somehow weaker now. "I think…I think I have to leave."
"No. No no no no NO NO NO."
"I'm sorry…"
"You're not allowed to leave me! You're not allowed to die!"
"I have something to tell you, Riri…"
"Goggles!!"
"I love you."
Rider couldn't even speak.
He could only sob.
Because, with the life quickly fading from him, Rider realized something.
Goggles was beautiful.
Just as beautiful as the angel who saved him.
Rider mistook him as an enemy…but maybe Goggles was an angel as well.
"Gogs…please…!"
"Bye-bye, Rider…"
"I LOVE YOU TOO, IDIOT!"
Goggles' smile got wider, and his eyes slowly closed.
"Idiot…that's…that's me…"
Rider wasn't going to let him leave.
Not without doing the one thing he wanted to do all along.
Rider leaned forward and pressed a passionate kiss to Goggles' dying lips.
The steady beeping of the heart monitor stopped, replaced with a long, final one.
Rider pulled away. He felt like he was drowning in tears.
He couldn't take his eyes off of Goggles, even as the door opened and Hachi stepped in.
Goggles' face was still smiling.