Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

She keeps looking at me… I don’t know why she does that. It’s been 9 days? Maybe more since I left that hellish place, finally I got away from those monsters, well I wouldn’t call them monsters they were like me just a tad bit mind controled, but I at least don’t try to kill people… well I don’t think I’ve killed someone my memory is still not good, those nice ladies have tried to help tho I think their names were Callie and Marie? well they aren’t that important to me right now but they are really nice! they bring me juice boxes and soup once in a while, they are very busy, apparently they are celebrities or something…I heard that they made the melody so I trust them… for now. Honestly this place is not that bad like yeah maybe it could use a fresh coat of paint and maybe furniture that did not saw the great turf war but I can live here for a while at least that’s what cuttlefish told me…

wait I wasn’t talking about that I was talking about her I don’t know why or how but she honestly just gives me the creeps like she just stares at me from across the room, plus she looks a little funny with that bandage that wraps all of the left side of her head. and you know maybe I’m scared of her cause SHES A SUPER SQUID FOR SOME REASON THAT ALMOST KILLED ME. I really don’t want to see another splashdown for a very long time, so for the moment I’m going to try and keep some distance from her.

but still why does she look that deep into me? Does she know I know she stares at me? I just don’t get it maybe she feels regretful for trying to kill me TWICE, I don’t really know but I just don’t want to be in another life or death situation for the next 3 decades at least, I just want to rest my head and sleep a little…

-“HEY!! eight, eight are you there? YO EIGHT STOP DAYDREAMING RIGHT NOW!”- The pink inkling interrupted my VERY important thinking hour, this always happens. And I don’t really mind the name eight but I don’t know… like I feel like that isn’t a “real” name

“Uhh… what’s in with u?” My inking is still not perfect did you know that they have different ways to speak inkling per region!? I guess I can at least understand some of it.

-“Me and Marie are going to the plaza for some food later do you want something? Wait what do you want normally?- I thought she was Marie.

“Me not very hunger but I water need” I probably nailed that, probably

“Uhhh I did not catch any of that… at all so why don’t you come with us, it’ll be your first surface experience!”
WHAT I WAS NOT READY FOR THIS! DO THEY WANT ME TO GO LIKE OUTSIDE?!, OH GOD PLEASE HELP MY SOUL, I DONT WANT TO BE SPLATTED LIKE WHAT IF THEY ALL HATE ME WHAT IF THEY JUST THINK IM WEIRD.

-“I uhh I think that…”- before I could even finish my sentence in perfect inking by the way, she interrupted me

-“Callie did you go nuts or something? She hasn’t even fully recovered from all of that Kamabo stuff and you want her to face more of her fears? That’s just insane, what she needs is rest”-

-“Well I thought that maybe she will need to eventually see the surface you know the reason she escaped, so why not start with some grocery shopping, I mean it’s not like they strap you with bombs in the entrance of the market”-

-“And putting her in a crowd is a good idea? Especially one that has a general bad opinion on Octolings?”-

-“Oh my god three why are you making such a big deal out of this?! I think that surviving a zombie apocalypse is like more intense that going for cereal. Plus I invited her not you so what do you think eighty?”- Since when I’m eighty…

-“I just don’t think is o-“-

-“Is this test dangerous?”- I didn’t want to before but this new test sounds… intriguing to say the least

-“Oh Silly this is not a test this is just a common activity here in the surface it’s not dangerous at all”-

-“I’ll go”- just don’t let a cucumber or phone near me

-“I see…”- Sh- Three turned her back to us and went back to sitting in a chair doing nothing, a bit creepy but why did she care about me not being safe? This doesn't make sense none at all

Chapter Text

The Surface

After a long and dirty journey through the Inkadia sewer system that agent 1 and 2 insist that “it is vital” and that the reason we have to take this “shortcut” it’s to keep the base safe from any threat and honestly I started to doubt that was the reason after I saw them playing with the dirty water more than 3 times, but in the end we finally arrived at a place that looked like a completely different planet compared to the depths of Octo Canyon. The Inkopolis Square.

The amount of colour and light that was in here was astonishing and beautiful, its nothing like you could ever see in the depths! The screens in the multi colored buildings displayed different colorful products and celebrities and people it was like a buffet for the eyes! It looked like if I was living inside a cartoon! not like in my living square where every screen was filled with ads for the “new” DJ Octavio mixtape and just purple neon lights and fake suns and the darkness… no. I escaped that hell for a reason. It’s just that here it’s so colorful that I can’t imagine this is a real place.

And then the sun, this sun is just so bright I feel like I’m a moth and I just want to get closer to it, and warm it’s not hot it’s just warm it feels nice on my skin, this is nothing like the artificial suns we had in the canyon, like they did their job but I was never told how truly warm was the surface, but it burns my eyes a lot, it feels nice but maybe it’s too bright… I can barely see what’s in front of me.

-“It’s so AWSOME right?! Even tho I come here like 7 times a day I am always shocked with just how fresh this place is! I could spend a week here just looking at these screens!”- I do think it’s awesome but I think that Callie has the ability to make even the most boring things sound like the coolest thing in the world so I’m hoping that this place is not actually boring.

-“I don’t get a lot of the hype honestly like it’s cool but after a minute of being here the screens make my eyes bleed”- oh so its like that for everyone good to know im not the only one who feels this fuzzy feeling in my eyes

“Dear are you okay? You are doing something weird with your eyes“ Marie asked me with a really weird expression in her face

-“Yes you said its normal for eye to hurt when here”- That dictionary Cuttlefish bought me is really helpful

-“I was exaggerating like yes its very bright but not enough to make your eyes be that red. And oh dear we really need to get you into some sort of school that teaches inkling”- I have never felt so insulted in my life

-“Oh I see, should I go doctor?”- I really like my eyes...

-“I don't think its necessary she'll probably be fine”- Callie please my eye

-“CALLIE HAVE YOU SEEN HER EYES, I AM NO EXPERT IN OCTOLING BIOLOGY BUT I REALLY DONT THINK THATS NORMAL”-

-“Okay lets see Eight do you want to go to the doctor?”- I nodded

-“TOO BAD WE DONT HAVE THAT BUDGET, so instead we are going to the headgear shop I know the owner she'll probably can get us a deal in a new pair of sunglasses”-

Why is the sun so bright

We entered a shop called “headspace“ which is a weird name since all of the space in my head is occupied by my brain. (mental note: Do inklings have brains? Ask Marie later) As we entered the place I could almost feel my soul leaving my body not in a bad way but in a way I have not felt since I heard the inkantation for the first time it feels great you should try it. The walls and ceilings were filled with an INSANE amount of hats, googles, glasses even full battle helmets and from so many different brands, in Octo Valley we only had 2 types of clothes in the shops which were either armor and or DJ octavio merch and that reminds me did I brought with me to the surface my tour T-Shirt? I waited outside the store for a full day to get that it was even signed! The amount of stuff this place has is actually so amazing! Anyways I was totally not hiding behind Marie as we entered the shop like why should I ever do that hehe...

“HI FLOW HOW IS MY FAVORITE SEA SLUG!“ I really like Callie but I do think she could tone down the screaming a little (wishes she was as confident as her)

-“AHH! A ROBBER GO AWAY GO STEAL FROM JELFONZO!!!!HE HAS BETTER STUFF THAN HER!”- A shrimp SITTING in her shoulder started screaming the second Callie entered with her introduction and I have 2 things to say about this I would have reacted the same and what an odd piece of headgear.

-“Shh Craymond be quiet, not every loud person who enters is a robber okay? And why Jelfonzo? Bisk also has good stuff heh”- A calm lady that looked both young and old at the same time was sitting at the front desk so im guessing she is the manager, I presume this was the friend that Callie mentioned, she really gives Callie-friend vibes.

-“FLOW! So good to see you after like what 6 months?”-

-“Im also glad to see you again Callie, you don't visit the square a lot without getting squidnapped what brings you to the realm headspace today?”- I like her, she's weird.

-“It has only happened once... Im here cause my friend here who's totally a squid by the way needs some new shades since her last ones broke”- I am still mad at that sanitised octoling for breaking them they were so cool...

-“We’re you looking for any specific brand? I have a little collection of every major here we have Annaki, Enperry, Firefin, Krak-on, Squidforce oh and we just got a new re stock of some Toni Kensa if that's your stuff, lots of competitive kids like that one for some reason”- Those are some funny names for brands.

-“See anything you like? That reminds me I need a new dress, Callie used it to test her DIY detergent and it desintegrated”-

-“ITS NOT MY FAULT, THE TUTORIAL SAID THAT YOU NEEDED ORANGE JUICE-“-

-“I like they glasses, it look funny”- I dont like interrupting people but Marie keeps reminding Callie about it every chance she gets.

-“Oh these? Let me see the pr- OH MY COD 17000G?!! FOR SOME SHADES!? CALLIE TELL ME IM NOT HALLUCINATING”- Okay from that reaction im guessing that those glasses might be a little too expensive

-“It cannot be that ba- OH. Um Flow hey we've been friends for a very long time right, so you think you can get us like a small discount?“-

-“Hmm let me see in what gear, Oh I don't think that I can do that since these are the limited edition Toni Kensa X Chirpy Chirps collab glasses, hmm... maybe I can get you a deal for only 15000G for the glasses how does that sound?”-

-“Oh carp that's like almost the budget for a full show...“-

-“Oh that is okay I am tak-“-

-“NO WE ARE GETTING THIS GIRL THESE GLASSES!"- That's the first time I think i've heard Marie shout. Or speak one decibel higher for that matter.

"B-but"

-"Callie this will be the first ever piece of gear she likes since getting to the surface so we are getting her the shades!"- She said as she slammed a card that reminded me of the metro card into the desk.

-"Transaction complete! Thank you girls come back to headspace Later! Oh and Callie you still owe me the 5G from that bet."- I liked flow she is cool...

-“THAT WAS ONLY 2 YEARS AGO"- Callie and Flow keep arguing so me and Marie had to drag Callie out of the front door.

Uh Oh

-“Oh snap its getting late and we never went to Mako-Mart... We should get back before it gets too dark, I bet 3 wonders if we didn't get lost without her"-

-“Hey ummm Marie it was?”-

-“What’s up? Are the glasses wrong or something?”-

-“I um Thank you for buying them to me”-

-“Oh hey it’s not a problem you need fresh stuff to be part of the surface so take it as a welcome gift”- she gave me a very warm smile… I still don’t understand why she did that.

-“Thank you lot… let’s go back to camp”-

-“YEAH IM STARVING!”-

We waited until the plaza had less people to enter the squid-hole and travel back to our camp

We entered our base in the middle of an abandoned octarian outpost. The door was completely locked even though we all remember that we left it open. Marie used her spare keys even after unlocking it, there was some trash blocking the door from being opened. We went inside and we definitely saw more trash than there was in the morning. The walls were full of green handprints? And there was some blood mixed with goo on the ground. A lot of glass was on the floor wait… every single THING that can even make a reflection was smashed to pieces but why? Then there it was, the horrifying realization

-“M-Marie… Where even is three? She’s not in her bed and I think that definitely must be blood…”- I know she was trying not to freak out but her stuttering voice and her face was completely pale, she looked like a ghost.

-“Callie please tell me this is just another of your bad pranks…”- she ran quickly to Three’s bed and she just looked at it in shock and grabbed the splattershot that was laying down on the bed. -“was she attacked!? Did they find the base!?”-

-“But why did they only take her and not destroy the entire outpost? Hell why didn’t they wait to attack us?”-

I saw something odd in the room it looked like a trail of green goo leading to a door

“Floor dirty until that door…”

Callie ran incredibly fast to the door and kicked it open
-“THREE ARE YOU OKAY!!?”- Im scared did Tartar take her? Is he alive and trying to take me??

Marie ran after her and I will always remember the face she made when she saw the bathroom, I wanted to see if she was even still alive or if it was all my fault but…

The bathroom was full of more green things, it was completely dark the mirror was also destroyed it looked like someone spent an hour just breaking that single mirror by the amount of glass in the floor, bits and pieces of the bandage she had on her head were thrown around, and then then there was she, she has the shower curtain clumsily wrapped around her head covering all of the right side of her face. She then looked slowly towards our direction her face was just full of tears just devastated.

-“I-Im horrible… I LOOK LIKE A MONSTER THAT THING MADE ME A MONSTER!! DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA HOW THIS FEELS!? MY FACE IT BURNS! IM BLEEDING HOW MUCH MORE SHIT MUST HAPPEN TO ME BEFORE THE UNIVERSE IS DONE WITH ME!? HUH?! HOW MUCH MORE DO I HAVE TO ENDURE!!!??”-

Chapter 2 end

Chapter Text

Autor Note: There’s a bit too much blood on this chapter and some swearing if that disturbs you maybe just sit this one out

cup of morning coffee

I woke up at approximately 09:00 am on Monday. I see that they actually took Eight to the surface, such a great idea taking the new girl to the alien planet! I just hope that they don’t call me whenever things GO wrong, even if they call me I couldn’t even help due to this thing on my head

Im still getting used to having this thing on my head, I know it’s to help my face heal, to not get infected and for it not to scar but it feels itchy like really really itchy, and it limits my vision by about 40%.

I made myself a smoothie with some bananas I found near the microwave, why do we keep them there anyways? Oh right Marie and her unhealthy obsession to arrange EVERY ITEM IN THE BASE for it to look “aesthetically pleasing” im taking her S-phone away if she continues to do this kind of stuff, the other day on our house I found my NIGHTSTAND in the kitchen and what was her response?? “It just fitted better there” one day she’s going to put my bed in the bathroom and use that excuse. Sigh anyways the smoothie was fine it needed more sugar… we need more sugar and food in general. That last fried cheese looks so tempting but we have 4 people living here, I’ll save it for later.

I went to our improvised living room (we are still Missing a couch) to find a post-it on the tv that had glitter sharkpie writing.

“We are back by like 5:00 PM that’s 17:00 for you military time weirdo. Marina gave us a hand and helped fix the TV we found in that dumpster so try it when you can - luv Callie” there’s a small smiley face next to Callie’s name so I’m guessing that’s eight's signature (cute) eight is a nice girl a really nice one… I’m so sorry about what sanitized me did to her I hope I can fix what I did to her one day, I hope she’s doing fine in the square…

I sat on the half assed cleaned floor and I found out how to turn on an octarian TV after like I want to say less than 2 hours it has a lot of buttons and options, once I bullshited my way to understand octarian we were good to go! It was full of ad spaces for new DJ Octavio releases does this guy drop a single every day or? Octarian is kinda similar to inkling but it’s still hard to understand it some words are similar but most are just nonsense to me at least, Callie probably understands more seeing that she kinda was one for a while.

I tried to watch a drama cause even if it’s in another language you can kinda get a grasp of the general plot for example one episode I watched of i think it’s translation is “The good & and evil lady”? For what I understood, there was this lady that falls in love with some sort of prince from the desert but her family does not accept him so she has to choose between love and her family, I didn’t knew O-Dramas were this complicated… I wonder if eight watched this kind of stuff maybe I’ll ask her one day if she forgives me of course

It still itches, like if the opposite team in a comp match is full of dynamos and E-liters. I need to get this out my head but I really can’t it’s for my own good BUT COD I CANNOT STAND THIS ANY LONGER FUCK!

I ripped out the bandage covering the part of my face that Tartar used to sanitized me I HAD to rip it I couldn’t stand the itching more, but to my surprise the itching didn’t stop it continued, it continued while I felt something dripping out my face… was that blood? Was that blood mixed with sanitation?! I placed my hand on the contaminated part of my face, when I looked at it… it was covered with more green goo and drops of blood, covered… why were there still green things on my face? It’s been a WEEK WHY HASNT IT STOPPED!? I turned off the TV to look at my reflection, and that wasn’t me THERE WAS A MONSTER A HIDEOUS CREATURE INSTED OF MY FACE! I launched a punch to the tv breaking the screen in a thousand pieces, was i hallucinating? Was it all on my mind? I ran to the beds we had I knew I had a mirror in my bag I grabbed it and THE MONSTER WAS STILL THERE. I threw the mirror on the ground cutting myself a bit hell I threw the whole effin' bag across the room this couldn’t be happening THIS CANT BE HAPPENING WHY IS IT ON MY FACE WHY DO I LOOK LIKE THIS!?!!!! There is still hope maybe this is just another fucking prank Marie did yeah that’s it im going to go to the bathroom I need to Look at that mirror I need to put water on this paint yeah that’s it that’s IT RIGHT!? I ran there THERE WAS HOPE RIGHT THERE WAS! I ran I looked at it in the mirror but no Mather how much water I splashed on my face it wasn’t coming off IT WASNT COMING OFF HAHAHAHA!!!! WHY WHY CANT I BE EVER BE HAPPY WHY MUST THIS SHIT HAPPEN TO ME WHAT DID I EVER DO WRONG WHY AM I NOW A MONSTER!!!?? WHY ME!? I broke the mirror with all my strength there was now glasses on my fingers, Great. I tried to put the bandage back on but it was no use I destroyed it, like I do to everything, like I do to myself, I ripped the shower curtain off and I wrapped it around my face my disgusting face and I sat on the broken glass filled floor and I cried and I cried…

Chapter 3 End

Chapter Text

And they were hospital room - mates

She…I mean Three has not moved since we brought her in yesterday and I’ve been sitting here since yesterday right here in front of her bed, I don’t know why but I’m worried. There’s a mask on her face Marie told me it helps her breathe better, but she’s breathing slowly… they told me not to worry that she has gone trough worse but im still worried. Callie and Marie are sleeping on a couch that’s next to the door.

Apparently its not really hmmm what was the word that Callie said… legal? To be here at this hour of the day and that we should not make any sound at all. My phone is ringing…

“YO this is pearl! AKA Mc princess!! How is that super duper agent doin'? Me 'n Marina found out sooo is she alive?” I like pearl she is one of the girls that helped get out of Kamabo she’s so cool. I wish she and Marina would call more often.

“Pearl be silence, we are making legal'nt things”

“Ooooh I get it I get it I do some of those whenever Marina isn’t bossing me around”

“Thank you, and yes she’s still beeping so she’s alive”

“That’s a relief anyways dial you later im going 40 on an 15 and Marina says I gotta stay focused while driving bye!” She hanged up but I think I heard a siren in the background it’s probably nothing.

Sour Dreams

I am still sitting in front of her just looking at her, I couldn’t stop myself from looking at her face. Her face…after the doctors stopped the bleeding and the sanitation it left a lime green scar that went from her left eye to her left cheek they tried to let as little as possible on her but it was impossible to remove all of it, it’s a nice shade of green at least… she still looked good at least… what am i even thinking she could have killed herself… and it’s my fault she even has that scar I don’t deserve to be in a room I basically put her in!

I got up from my chair and as I tried to get out I felt like I didn’t deserve to even be in a room with her I felt terrible it’s all my fault I hate it, as I tried to leave the room but then I felt a shiver down my tentacles

“Eight…? Is that you? Where am I? Was it all a dream?”

She woke up. I almost screamed my lungs out but not a single sound made it out of my mouth

“Three, you were hurt so we gave you hotel”

“I think you mean hospital” she said to me in a confused expression

“YES that!”

“But why? I thought we were fine in our makeshift one in the base”

“There was lot of glass, A lot on you”

I couldn’t even look at her face I gave her that scar…

“Oh so that wasn’t a dream…” she touched the left side of her face slowly and touched the scar there was a mix of sadness and relief on her face

“Shit… we’ll at least it’s smaller I guess… how long have I been asleep?”

“24 hours ago we found you on bathroom, you were hurt very hurt, you passed out from pain, we took you in ho- ho HOSPITAL!”

“I see then…well thank you all I assume Callie and Marie are sleeping so I’ll thank them later… Cod everything hurts so goddam much” we were silent for 3 straight minutes after that. I sat down again and looked away from her again

“Hey… Eight im sorry”

im confused really confused why was she saying that?? was this a trick what was that? Im scared why is she even talking to me

“For what?”

“For what I did on Kamabo I tried to kill you, even before I was sanitized i was trying to kill you then after Tartar got me I- I was just another horrible thing and that thing tried to help destroy the world…”

“But you saved me, saved me and Craig, you broke phone! But If i was not there you wouldn’t have scar! You wouldn’t be in hospital, you wouldn’t have to risk your life! I did that to you!

“Hey you didn’t did anything to me it was that stupid phone all along, well you did splat me but that was more self defense since I tried to kill you!”

“B-But it’s all my fault you now hate how you look because you tried to-“

“Hey I went to that train on my own free will I saved you guys cause I wanted to save you and it was stupid of me to destroy that phone like I did”

“I-Im sorry I’m very sorry” I was maybe holding out 6 or 5 tears…

“It’s okay im sorry too I was stupid… but hey at least the scar looks sick dosent it?”

I let a little giggle out “it looks cool yeah…”

“… hey eight you didn’t finished shopping the other day right? I saw the Toni Kensa bag so I’m guessing you girls didn’t finish any item on the shopping list I gave you”

“Yeah we made distracted but why do you ask?”

“I know a little cafe in the square do you want to go after I get out of this bed?”

“Sure it sound fun!”

“Fresh”

Inside the mind of Three

holyshitholyshitholyshitholyshitholyshit SHE SAID YES! IS THIS A DATE!? DOES SHE KNOW THE CONCEPT OF ONE!? OH MY COD IM SO FUCKING STUPOD I HATE EVERYTHING WHYWHYWHY IS SHE SO PRETTY WHAT IS THIS EVEN APPROPRIATE!? AM I DOING IT CORRECTLY WHY ARE HER EYES SO SPARKLY I HATE THIS AUGHFDJJDDJADNJS AUGH!!!! WHEN AND WHERE ARE WE GOING I WAS LYING I DONT KNOW ANY CAFE SHIT STOP BEING SO PRETTY COD DAMMIT EIGHT

deep sea creature toughts

I wonder what a cafe is… im sleepy I think I want to sleep for a while

Four plus Three equals Eight (probably)

“OH SO SORRY IM IN A HURRY!” I said VERY calmly to the nurse I pushed out of the way while I was running, in my defense a hallway isn’t a place you should stop to read the horoscope like I think she should get fired for reading the horoscope in a hallway I don’t think your patient cares you are a “terminally cancer” smh. After finally reaching door number 24 (that was on a 7 floor for some reason) I kicked the door open in a hurry to see if besti was still alive

“KAO ARE YOU ALIVE IN ANY CAPACITY!?”

“Is that you Surume? What in the world are you doing here?”

“Oh nothing just checking if you were still you know breathing, but I see since you are playing with your game youth that you are in fact alive”

“How the fuck do you even got here visitor hours open in like 10 minutes”

“Oh that explains why security was like that”

“What do you even me-“

I sprinted under her hospital bed quickly before they could catch me, I could hear the voices coming from the door thankfully 3 said that she didn’t saw me yeez that could have ended terribly. I crawled out from under the bed

“So like why didn’t you told me that you were in a hospital and why did I have to find out due to a news story that the squid sisters and a random girl had to be scorted out of a hospital room at 5 am?”

“Cause I knew you would do something like breaking and entering into a hospital”

“Hey! Only cause I’m worried you would die or something also nice scar I thought it would be worse honestly”

“Four I HAVE been trough worse”

“Yeah yeah I know Kao and I told you that you can call me Surume when we are not saving the world, but a girl still worries you know?”

“Fine then just don’t make noise for 10 minutes and we’ll be okay”

“So are you going to tell me who the girl in your room was” when three blushes you know you are about to hear the most incoherent words coming out of her mouth

“S-She… Eig- She was onl… She had JUST SHUT UP SHE WAS NO ONE”

“That’s not a good way to talk about your secret girlfriend that you haven’t introduced me to”

“EIGHT IS NOT MY GIRLFRIEND WE ARE ONLY FRIENDS I THINK AND WE ARE NOT GOING ON A DATE BUT I DONT KNOW IF SHE KNOWS WHAT A DATE IS AND THEN-“ she continued rambling about how she does not like her and how she does not like how pretty she is and about that they are not girlfriends she said that a lot

“So when’s the date?” She pressed the security button and they kicked me out of the hospital, can you get banned from a hospital? I hope not I really hope not.

end of chapter 4

Chapter Text

Might as well

today marks the first full month of me living in the surface… and to think that only four weeks ago I was sleeping on a dirty and sticky subway seat and now I’m somehow sleeping in my own bed in my own room… well I think that this is actually the guests room, either way this bed is like 333x times comfier than the one I had in octo canyon. I wonder how are they doing down there now, I doubt that I’ll be welcomed there anymore now, so for now I’ll have to wish that my plushie collection is in good hands.

But the really great news is that according to Callie & Marie I am now fit to live by myself since all of my wounds healed. I wish I could say the same about three, Callie has been testing some DIY cream she created with orange juice (why does everything she makes HAS to use orange juice) on her face and to be honest I don’t know if I would call making a scar go from green to orange progress.

And guess who is letting me uhh was the word “crash” on their apartment for a while!? That’s right Marina and Pearl! They are letting me stay on their house for a while, it was mostly Marina's idea after I told her that my plan was to live on a cardboard box fortress in the middle of the square, She immediately grabbed my wrist (very hard by the way) took me into their apartment and told pearl to prepare the guest room, it was really nice of them to take me in for a while, I think they’re so cool. Marina helped me along with Pearl to escape the hell that was Kamabo and then to save the woooooorld! So it’s nice I can see them every day from now on.

“YO EIGHT!” I genuinely thought that Callie was as loud you could get. I am definitely not prepared for this “ARE YOU DRESSED!? CAN I COME IN?!! IF NOT THEN DRESS FAST IM COMING IN!”

She bursted the door open with a sick kick, I don’t know where she get this much energy when it’s literally like 7:00 AM. “Oh good you are dressed, so like me and Marina made you a breakfast to celebrate that you are now living with us!”

“Thanks Pearl I- uhh what word was it? I am very uhh happy for all you did to help me”

“Hey don’t sweat it we ARE besties after all, We quite literally saved the world together so we are very much happy to help you! But come fast cause I’m really hungry and I might eat your part”

She left the room smiling, she’s also really cool in my opinion. I got up from my bed I kinda tried to fix my tentacles and I changed into some clothes Marina handed me down. I opened the door and I smelled something so impossibly good that I thought I was hallucinating, I sat down on the table with Marina and Pearl already eating the beautiful dish they cooked.

“Hi Eight did you sleep well on your first night here?”Marina asked while shoving a pancake in her mouth

“Good Morning, I had a good bed yesterday night!” I started to eat the pancakes I really don’t know how to eat them so like I just grabbed one and I stuffed it in my mouth… by marina's and pearl's reaction in pure shock, I can tell that I did it wrong.

“Oh I’m glad you enjoyed your first night in here! Are the pancakes any good”

“MHMF T-THEF ARF DELIFCIUSM PERMFECTF” it’s difficult to speak with a pancake in your mouth and once again by seeing a thumbs up from Pearl I can tell that I did something wrong.

“I’m glad you liked my cooking not like other squids that can’t understand real cuisine!” She launched a deadly glare at pearl “Ejem, Any plans for today since you can now go explore the city on your own?”

“Three asked me if I wanted to go to this… fresh? Cafe in the square” I am now trying to use this… fork? To eat and cut the pancakes into little itty bitty pancakes, mhm definitely more easy to digest this way.

“Oh is Three that girl we saved along you?”

“yus”

“Oh… well I don’t see why you shouldn’t go with her…”
She took a large sip on her coffe, she looked like she was trying to think of a reason I shouldn’t go with her.

“She also told something uhh something called date?? but I don’t think that’s impo-“

Marina spitted all her coffe all over the table and some in Pearl
“A WHAT! PEARL ARE YOU HEARING THIS THE MURDER MIND CONTROLLED GIRL WANTS TO TAKE EIGHT TO A DATE ALONE!? IN THE SQUARE!? WHAT IF THIS IS ALL A PLOT TO MURDER HER!??! YES SHE WANTS TO MURDER HER THIS IS NOT OKAY PEARL WE NEED TO DO SOMETHING!!!”

“MARS! MY NEW SHOES! I’ll have to replace them… And I really don’t think it’s such a big deal like they lived together for a few weeks and she didn’t try to murder her and it’s probably just platonic. Damn this spot is not GOING AWAY UGH!”

“M-Maybe it’s just that… BUT WHAT-“

“Darling, no.”

“…okay fine but WE are dropping you off at the cafe…”

“what do you mean we?

“Pearl, no.”

“Why is this a big thing?” I mean like WHY was there such a mess going on due to me going out with Three, like I go out with Callie and Marie why was three different…

Squids can get Three heart attacks

“So you are into Octos now?”

“FOUR CAN YOU LIKE SHUT UP FOR A SINGLE SECOND, PLEASE!?” I knew it was a mistake to ask her out, I KNEW I KNEW I KNEW but my stupid heart forced me to ask her out aughhh, do I have any cute clean clothes?? I think I have gone through every single centimeter of my closet but nothing looks date worthy I HATE THIS SO MUCH

“Kao do you have literally anything clean in here? Wait how many times a week do you even leave your room?”

“SUE I SWEAR TO COD, JUST UGH TELL ME IF YOU SEE ANY OUTFIT THAT MIGHT LOOK GOOD ON ME, TONIGHT MUST BE PERFECT OKAY!!!?”

“Okay okay I get it Kao, but like where are you even taking her? You are searching clothes for like a reservation on manta Maria or something”

“… the crepe stand in the corner of the square”

“The one that sells “food” for like 70G?”

“Yes.”

“You know that’s the worst date plan ever right?”

“Yes.”

“And that you want to go to a trash food place in a gala dress?”

“Yes, I am aware of those facts”

“Sigh… look don’t ever say that I never do anything for you ever again, here take 1000G and take her to the tower”

“W-WHAT SURUME HAVE YOU GONE MAD OR SOMETHING I-I CANT TAKE THIS THATS A LOT OF MONEY, SHIT”

“Look you clearly are the definition of head over heals for her, you simply can’t just take the crush that I’ve seen you more crazy for and that’s saying something to a shitty stand that gave me a disease that was thought to be extinct once! You need to take her to a nice place so please take it and go with her!”

“I-I… thank you so much Sue you are the best friend I’ve ever had” I hugged her so tightly i think I might have broke her a bone. I reluctantly took the money she offered me,Took the less dirty dress I had (A long black dress with some pink spots with a ketchup stain from the time I wore it to go to mcsquidnals) my favorite pair of Kensa shoes, and finally I tried to apply some make up (it wasn’t the best but it kinda worked) and I left trusting that four won’t steal anything from my apartment (not like there’s something of value there)

What’s a doite?

As I was putting on some pretty clothes that Pearl said that would look very nice on me I was wondering why did Marina freak out so badly after I said the word “date” like is it a bad word on inkling language? Oh I hope it isn’t!! But since Three told me she wanted to go on one with me that means it’s an action so it’s probably not a bad word, BUT what if she was insulting or making fun of me!? ugh my head spins so much around that word… but I need to focus! this is my first time going to actually do some sightseeing in the square so I need to look my best so I don’t look bad! I don’t want Three to think that I’m not ready for inkling life! I will get an A+ on this “date” thing!! I AM DETERMINED TO!

“YO! Do you need help with the fit or you can do it yourself?”

“COD PEARL PLEASE KNOCK!!”

“OHOH splattershot sorry sorry are you dressed? can I come in?”

“YES BUT YOU SCARE ME!”

“Sorry sorry okay! But do you need help or something? Dates are a big deal you know?”

“Actually no I don’t know why this could be a big deal! What’s a date?” Pearl looked at me with complete disbelief in her eyes like she just heard the worst possible combination of letters come out of my mouth

“Y-Y-You don’t know… You don’t know what a date is…?”

“Should I?”

“YES YOU…! AUGH YOU DONT KNOW WHAT A DATE IS AND YOU ARE GOING TO ONE- H-HOW DOES THAT EVEN HAPPEN OR-“

“I DONT KNOW SHE SAID SOMETHING ABOUT SANDWICHES AND I LOVE THOSE!”

“IF SOMEONE IN A WHITE VAN TELLS YOU TO GET ON CAUSE THEY HAVE SANDWICHES DO YOU GET ON?!”

“YES?”

“…”

“…”

“Ugh… okay look eight, in short a date is when someone that likes you in a certain way want to give you a special night and time to just be with you for a few hours and to see if you feel the same way about them too”

“Soooo what you are saying is that Three thinks I’m likable!?”

“Uhhh yeah sure let’s go with that”

“[Yipie.mp3]”

“Okay so Three will probably use the best dress she has on you so you have to do the same, so I will now be your dressing assistant for date outfits!”

“Aww thank so much pearl…” So Three doesn’t hate me so that is so really great! I was so worried that she was forced to treat me right or something, but now that I fully know that she likes me im sure she will be a super great ~friend~

“Okay so this dress I gave to Mar will probably fit you right, or at least the store I bought said that it should fit octos and inklings the exact same”

After a full hour of Pearl induced madness she finally settled on an outfit, she choose a (for my taste short) red dress that had some type of chess checkered pattern, she also took like 25 minutes to make my tentacles look “like absolute perfection” she also threw some really weird white dust at my face that made my eyes and nose burn.

“Whew… OKAY SO NOW YOU ARE READY! And due to Marina’s orders I will have to drive you to the square to make sure you don’t die or something so I’ll see you outside in 5 mins!”

I feel really excited but really really nervous like insanely nervous but I think it’s probably nothing!

Chapter End :3

Chapter Text

Okay, Kaori just breathe a little, calm down, everything will be okay, it’s nothing, We can do this We will do this just breathe… huh? Did I got a new message? First in a month.

-Haii tree-

-Eight?-

-yeedd thid isss meer-
-this pgone id so fuin-

-Ah yes I forgot they gave you one-
-Are you near?-

-Yrs Marinna and PEsrl are dirivingm me thre-

-What.-

-yeds thy saoid its nfot ky safetry”

-Ooh okay okay no problem-
-:)-

THEY ARE COMING WITH HER!? OH SHIT FUCK I SHOULD HAVE KNOWN SOMETHING WOULD COME UP OH NONONO WELL MAYBE THEY ARE JUST UHHH PASSING BY I DONT KNOW DO THEY THINK IM DANGEROUS OH NONONO THIS IS TERRIBLE. NO THREE CALM DOWN TONIGHT MUST BE PERFECT NO ANXIETY ATTACKS FOR ME TONIGHT WE ARE SO SO DOING THIS

Okay, OKAY! that’s definitely their car okay okay just focus three it WILL be fine because everything will be fine remember Kaori everything will be totally fine.

Kaori & Eight

”Oh hey look there’s the girl park right there Mars”

“Okay, Eight do you remember what are you supposed to do if something goes wrong?”

“Sigh… yes, if three does something and she won’t by the way, I am supposed to call you guys because you will be near so you can come quickly and pick me up..”

“Good. Now go and have some fun I guess..”

“CRUSH IT EIGHT WOOOO”

“Thanks…?”

I opened the car door, my hand was shaking like it never has and never will, I slowly got out of the car and descended to the ground, as soon as the high heel touched the ground I suddenly felt like my heart was going to explode I felt it going faster than in the battle with Tartar it was like my heart was a bomb, I was almost hyperventilating, my mind had so so many thoughts about today “what if it goes wrong?” “What if she hates me?” One step at a time her face was more closer to mine, her perfume became more intense each single step I took, I felt like I was going to pass out the closer I was to her face, I really wanted to run but it was like my legs were decided on what we were going to do. I looked back one last time and Pearl gave me one last thumbs up before she and Marina took off, It was all now up to me.

“OH, umm Hi Eight…” She looked good today, her dress was really beautiful and so was she I guess… UGH EHAT AM I EVEN THINKING!? But yeah she looked nice in that dress… also her perfume reminded me of what rubber smells like, I like that smell

“Sooo what’s the cafe you talked about?” I still have absolutely no idea what the hell a cafe is.

“Oh yeah about that CHANGE OF PLANS HAHA” She’s red as ketchup. “We are going to have a PLATONIC evening at the tower! I know hehe it’s big but I heard they serve really good drinks there!”

“Oh! Well it looks good… are you sure about it? It looks like it’s kinda expens-“

“NONESENSE! I HAVE ENOUGH… for like 2 salads BUT IT ASSURE YOU IT IS GOING TO BE FINE!”

“If you say so Three…”

We entered a creepy elevator, three was smiling, she never smiles. The elevator was playing some classy music it all felt very fancy for just an elevator it even had a rug for some reason?

“So… uhm what do you think of inkopolis so far Eight?” She’s really bad at small talk

“Well I really like how colorful the whole country is! Back in octo canyon everything was dark and wet so this place is a really nice change of pace!”

“I’m glad you enjoy the place, it kinda hurts my eyes sometimes looking at all the screens but yeah the place is nice, tho I wish that the city could take down the screen In front of my window apartment”

“You don’t live with Callie and Marie?”

“OH GOD NO, I tried to do that for like a month and it was like hell, imagine being woken up because Callie can’t find the correct pink make up for the weather of the day”

“Oh wow, that sounds worse than sleeping on the train”

“It actually was believe it or not. So then I decided that I had enough so I saved some G to buy my own small apartment in town.”

“Oh so then you must come here often!”

“Hahaha… UH I mean yes I am practically running this place!”

“Oh what a relief I feel a little less nervous now knowing you know the place!”

“Hahah… yes…”

[This was the first time both of them even set a foot in an elevator]

“A regular”

The elevator stopped and when the doors opened I could not BELIEVE what I was witnessing the whole place was shiny, there was a full functioning FOUNTAIN in the Middle of the room this whole place looked like only the elite could afford it, but if three goes here regularly I think this might be the worst restaurant in the world! Imagine what the best one looks like!

“W-WOW!? THIS PLACE IS AMAZING THREE H-HOW LIKE”

“…shit… UHUH WELL YOU SEE THIS IS JUST ANOTHER TYPICAL RESTAURANT IN HERE HAHAhahaha”

“Good Evening ladies, do you wish to dine with us on this fine night?” A big crab with a silly suit approached us at the entrance, he looked really fine and had a name tag that read “Mr. Coco” he had such a nice voice I love this place!

“Uhh… yeah I called an hour ago do you have our reservation? It’s the table by the window…”

“Let me check here uhhh Miss Three? Is that correct?”

“Yes.”

“If you both could do me the favor of following me I will take you to your seat.”

We followed Mr. Coco to our table it was right next to the window as Three said. The view from here it’s just wow. Its just amazing I can see the whole city it’s just beautiful what was I doing in octo canyon all that time? This place is just absolutely precious I cannot begin to describe it, the lights the colors I think I see a turf war in the distance I kept just staring at the window and thinking “This is now my life… No more darkness no more hiding no more being just one octo…” I love this. My daydreaming was very rudely interrupted by Mr. Coco.

“Miss, would you like some pure underground water? It’s the best in 70 kilometers!”

“Uhm Sure! It sounds really tasty”

“Sure I’ll be right back, please take your time to choose what item from the menu you would like today.” He took a flower from his pocket and placed it in the center of the table and left.

“The view is beautiful three…”

“Yeah honestly the city is beautiful for as much as I hate it…”

“How can you hate this place! I wish I could wake up here every single day!” Three followed this saying something in between her head then she just made a no gesture with her head.

“Like it’s fine, definitely better than the splatlands but I wish I could I don’t know go just to a coral forest and just stay there, and have kids whisper than im a witch or whatever…” I chuckled a little at that remark three dressed as a witch it just sounded cute…

“That sound funny hehe… if you do that you should send me the adress so I can come visit the witch”

“I don’t know maybe I’ll curse you haha…” she’s funny I like that about her

“So what are you going to order? Can you recommend me something?

“Well uhhh the Sa- okay not that the cherry I- 500G!? Okay okay well what if we both just order a small order of what is this? You are 14 right Eight?”

“Yeah?”

“Okay so we can still order from the kid's menu, do you want curly fries?”

“Uhhh sure?” What the hell are curly fries

Mr. Coco came back with our water and it had bubbles! It tasted funny, the surface is so funny sometimes! When he took our order he looked at us weird and just said in a completely serious tone “The double happy face burger is only for those 15 and under.” I have honestly how can you say THAT with a straight face if it was me I would just die of laughter. Three just answered “She’s 14 so she wants to have 2” Coco just sighed took our menu’s
and left.

“Your outfit looks fresh by the way…”

“Oh thank you Marina lent me some clothes I liked!”

“Oooh I knew I seen that jacket somewhere. Oh and your inkling is getting really better!”

“Thank you I’ve been practicing a lot now! Its still kinda hard in some words, oh and you look cute in yours too!”

“C-CUT- AHEM! Excuse me for a second I need to go to the restroom” She stood up and just ran as fast as she could to a random door.

Three Wishes

I ran I just like couldn’t handle the anxiety it was horribly beautiful like AM I CUTE FOR HER!? LIKE NONONO NO WAY PLEASE TELL ME IM DREAMING SHE ACTUALLY THINKS IM CUTE!? Ugh nonono. I finally stumbled upon the women’s bathroom I just looked at myself in the mirror, I had- I had to calm down everything was too much I feel like my heart was about to explode I cannot Belive what was happening, I sprayed myself with some ink and left the bathroom and with my face still wet I took my seat.

“Why is your face…”

“Wet?”

“Yes?”

“Bathroom exploded.”

“Ew?”

“Yeah.”

I want to inkstrike myself.

“Any news on the food?”

“No but Mr. Coco came and asked if we even had money”

“And you told him?”

“The truth”

“Eight what did you told him”

“That you were going to pay for the two of us and that I only had 5 G”

“…Eight if in this kind of restaurants you say something like that you get your ass kicked.”

“Well I know how to fight”

“I mean banned from here.”

“OOOOOOOOOOOH”

“Shit.”

I saw a bunch of jellies in suits coming towards us and I knew we had to make a run for it if we even wanted to come close to the tower again.

“But you know these people can’t you like talk to them or something?!”

“I am friends with a uhh different department” CAN I BECOME EVEN MORE DUMB!?

“Eight just stand up and follow me…” I grabbed her by her wrist and we just ran as fast as our legs could, one of the jellies trhew a plate at me and it broke in my face so hiii new scar, I had to kick a jelly into the fountain and we somehow managed to get into the elevator and we just went all the way down no stops

“Fuck… I’m so so sorry Eight this was supposed to be such a perfect night but I always screw things up…”

“Hey it’s not your faults the jerks didn’t believed us”

“Well yeah but I dragged you into this mess and just sorry…”

“Hey it’s okay really don’t worry… but was that a cafe?”

“OH RIGHT my original plan heh…”

“Original plan?”

“Yeah I was going to take you to this small nice place I know but then a friend told be that it should be better if I take you to the tower and It’s just a lot okay?”

“Why don’t we go to the café im still hungry you know?”

“Yeah sure why not…”

I told her to grab me by the arm so we wouldn’t get lost… her hands are small and feel nice… we walked around two blocks until we got to the café I visit every time I get dumped, and a soon as we set one foot in the goddamn cafe, fucking Jill calls me out.

“Oww Little K got dumped again? Awww I’m so sorry do you want the usual frappe?”

“For your information I have a date ~even if I think she has no idea what a date is~ and yes the frappe will be nice”

“I want one of those!”

“And who is the pretty girl over there? Love the style with those tentacles girl”

“Her name is Eight and that’s my date…”

“Did Marie hired another actress”

“Can you do your fucking job and not mess with our personal life?”

“Jeez, just trying to lighten the gloomy mood you are always in, but okay two frappes coming up.”

I sat us down on the most clean table that this place has and that’s just cause no drunkie puked in it today.

“Ugh sorry about Jill shes a i guess a friend? She’s stupid like that sometimes…”

“She seems nice!”

“Yeah…”

“Anyways sorry about that whole thing im actually so so embarrassed”

“Hey don’t worry I think this cafe is actually way better than the restaurant!”

“Really…?”

“Yeah I love how cozy it is in here In so much peace kinda reminds me of a place back home”

“I’m glad you like it…”

Jill brought us our frappes after like 15 minutes and she drew a smiley face on Eight's cup she only puts slurs on mines… augh she is a bitch but she makes a wonderful cookie frappe. Me and Eight talked for a while in this whole on the street we shared some stories of how our work and life is I told her about my bowling skills and subsequently had to explain what bowling is. she told me about the life she had back in the canyon, can you believe the hell this poor girl has gone through? Im glad she’s safe now at least… she’s with me now after she followed me to a sketchy cafe in the middle of the street. This girl has zero survival instincts. it started raining so I had to lend her my coat… it’s a bit worn down and has a couple of holes in it but she looks good in oversized clothes heh… Marina and Pearl at last came for her and I just stood there in the rain for a while until I decided to go back home, I liked the date I hope she did too….

Extra

-How did it go? Is she still alive or is she in your basement? Or in your car’s trunk? Do I have to help you hide a body?! Oooh I’ve always wanted to do that!

-I’ve had… worse dates-

-you have dates?-

-hahaha.-

-I take that it went well! When are you guys going on a second one?-

-Oh I- just haven’t thought about that-

-well you should, and you owe me the G I gave you-

-We only used like 60G tops-

-HOW?!-

-long story.-

-tell me tomorrow anyways it’s late I should go to sleep and so should you, you look like a zombie with your 3 hours of sleep-

-sure, and ITS PROVEN THAT THREE HOURS IS MLRE THAN ENOUGH-

-don’t make me block you-

-k-

End of chapter 6

Chapter Text

Rush hour! [8]

Pearl has been talking non stop about this weird thing Inklings do every winter called a “Winterfust”? Apparently its a holiday inklings do every winter (duh) where the whole plaza gets decorated with lights and a lot of silly props are made! Oh and there’s this thing called snow that is really cold but apparently its really fun, falls from the sky! And you also have to give gifts to the people you like! It sounds really really fun to be honest, back in the valley all we did on winter was knitting sweaters on top of sweaters to survive the cold winters, we had a LOT of cases of octolings that didn’t make the winter, so it’s a nice change of pace that you don’t have to worry about if we are going to survive and instead worrying about getting gifts! Cause that’s what Pearl is doing right now, she is freaking out because “winterfast” is next week and she literally just remembered that she forgot to buy Marina a gift in advance so she has been searching for something Marina might like on spongezon like crazy for the last 3 hours. it’s actually really weird how important this day seems to be for Inklings

-“UUUUGH I HATE THIS! HOW HARD IS IT TO FIND WET FLOOR PLUSHIES!? THEY ARE ALL OUT OF STOCK!? WELL MAKE MORE STOCK YOU STUPID MACHINE IF YOU DONT GIVE ME WHAT I WANT I WILL SELL YOU BY PARTS!!!”-

-“Pearl I don’t think that the computer is the one that is malfunctioning here…”-

-“OF COURSE IT IS MARS TOLD ME THAT MACHINES RUN EVERYTHING NOW DAYS SO THAT MEANS THIS STUPID THING DOES NOT WANT TO GIVE ME THE PLUSHIES”- the doorbell rang just before I tried explaining to Pearl that computers in fact don’t control the stock of plushies. I went to see who it was since Pearl was busy having a screaming match with the poor computer, I don’t think that I’ve talked enough about the sheer massiveness of the penthouse, it’s like 7 marinas tall and there are so many rooms! There are floors in OUR FLOOR it’s weird to think that this is my home now I feel like it’s a full on mansion in here! Anyways I walked to the door to see who it was and surprise! Three and Four were there! I don’t really know Four a lot but from the two times I’ve talked to them they are fun to be around!

-“YO EIGHT HELLOOOO!”-

-“SUE! Not that loud there are people living in this building that aren’t used to your noise.”-

-“Hi guys! What are you two doing here?”-

-“Is everything okay in there? I think I am hearing a lot of screaming in there, is Pearl okay?”-

-“She’s… having some problems with the computer again but don’t worry she will figure it out.”-

-“Dude, she just threw the computer off the window are you sure she’s okay dokey?”-

-“yes. Anyways what bring you here?”

-“OH RIGHT, Four got us a reservation on this fancy vacation home and we thought why not, you know a reward for us saving the world like twice this year.”-

-“Oh that sounds really fun but to where?”-

“Oh its just a house in the jellyfish mountains that we are renting for the weekend, ya wanna come?”-

-“I would love to go, it sounds really fun this “bacatin” thing but I don’t know I would need to ask Marina and Pearl if I can go cause it does sound really fresh but remember that I am very new to inkling culture and plus it sounds kinda dangerous”-

-“Oh we already talked to Marina and she said that she allowed it!”-

-“Oh fr we di-“- Three punched Four in her shoulder

-“YES WE DID”-

-“Really!?” I WAS GOING TO DO NORMAL INKLING ACTIVITIES “UHM OKAY WHEN DO WE GO!?”-

-“Well we were thinking that if we want to go the whole weekend we might pack today and leave tomorrow!”-

-“Sweet I’ll go pack my stuff right now. THIS IS SO EXCITING WELL OKAY I HAVE TO GO HELP PEARL SO BYE”- I accidentally shut the door on their faces so I had go back, open the door again, apologize to them, close the door gently this time and now run to my room so I could get my stuff ready, this is the best day EVER

Snow Fall [3]

-“Hey, thanks for talking to your dad about lending us the cabin for a weekend”-

-“You still owe me the 300 bucks you promised to give me just so I could talk to him.”-

-“Yeah yeah… so what did you think about Eight? Do you think she likes me?”-

-“She seems like a fun girl to be around, the complete opposite of your energy” HEY! “but I don’t know honestly, I think she’s way to innocent to catch on whatever you call what your flirting is”-

-“HEY MY FLIRTING HAS WORKED WONDERS FOR YOUR INFORMATION!”-

-“Dating sims do not count Kao”-

-“You leave Daisy Princess Academy out of this Surume.”-

-“Okay okay, but I will tell you that if that’s the kind of girl you want you should be more direct with your approach.”-

-“I thought that it couldn’t get more obvious than planning a whole date on a fancy restaurant.”-

-“Did she catch what you were doing?”-

-“No…”-

-“Okay so we have about 24 hours to make this a winterfest she will never forget okay? Also it’s her first one so more reasons not to mess this up!”-

-“And how exactly do we plan to do a full thing in like 24 hours for a cabin that’s like 10 kilometers away?”-

-“Trust me, we did your birthday party in 12 hours with a budget of 200G”-

-“The one with the fireworks and a Diss-Pair concert in my moms backyard?”-

-“You have no idea how easy it is to make fireworks”-

I know Four has their best interests at heart but honestly I don’t think her normal flirting will work on octos the same way she can get any squid she wants, plus Eight is how do I even say it… she’s special she is not like any other girl I’ve ever known, i like her and a lot but I don’t think I can say that to her what if she says that she hates me or something… I just wish that this weekend is just what I need to finally tell her UGH I hate myself, how can I wipe out armies but I cannot confess my stupid feelings to her! If she could just take the hint that I like her as something more than a friend everything would be so much better honestly.

-“Well what’s your plan Four…”-

-“I THOUGHT YOU WOULD NEVER CONSIDER IT”-

-“Look I like this girl a lot okay? So if you try to do any funny thing, I’m putting you inside of ocatavio's snow globe in a heartbeat okay?”-

-“Ohoho we are going to have such a fun time! Let me call the house workers so that they can set everything up! THIS IS GONNA BE THE BEST WEEKEND EVER! Buuut before anything we need to do something about your outfits”-

-“Hoodies are perfect! They keep you warm and they look sick as hell”-

-“yeah they are cool but if you want to win her heart we need to find you better clothes!”-

-“Just nothing too weird or expensive”-

-“I’ll pay for it”-

-“Why don’t you use your rich superpower more often?”-

-“I hate my dad”-

-“Oh right I forgot sorry”-

Four grabbed my wrist and pushed me into a fancy car and when I mean a fancy car I MEAN IT WAS REALLY FANCY anyways Four just looked really nervous all the ride she was fidgeting a lot and whenever I looked at her she returned the look with a nervous smile, after a very awkward ride in what will probably be the last time I ride on a car that good we arrived into a expensive looking brand shop called man ò wardrobe or something like that apparently they are a splatlands based shop and they recently opened this location. Four made me try every single item in their winter collection every single thing looked either like it was too much or that it was a complete crime against fashion, do rich people actually enjoy getting dressed like this? Four turned out to be a complete fashion guru which is really weird considering that she dresses like she’s homeless every time of the year (she’s the worst public advertisement of thrift I can think of) she was basically playing dress up with me, I wanted to leave so bad but her smile was so big I couldn’t just leave my best friend like that. Also Four probably hates being in this kind of stores considering her fashion choice so her being here for me makes her the best friend in my small world. In the end we settled for a cute Orca type hoodie from Kensa some warm winter shorts and a small beanie Four looked satisfied and I was so relieved that this shopping hell was over.

Sue dropped me off at my apartment she was smiling but I knew she didn’t wanted me to leave her alone with her parents, I stepped off the car and in a second the car was gone with my best friend inside. I walked into the shitty building I called my home, it was an old building probably made a few years after the war ended, it’s made out of brick, you could see the small trace of paint that was once there, I opened the rusty gate and I walked into it, the elevator is out again when isn’t it out? Apparently never I have to walk to the 6th floor again I would absolutely despise this day if it wasn’t for the fact that Eight was coming with us. After the cardio exercise called reaching my room I entered with the 7th key I’ve had gotten after the rest fell into octo canyon. My apartment… has seen better days, I used to have a roommate but they disappeared one day, for some reason they keep paying rent so it helps a little, there are clothes all over the living room and there is 2 week old pizza on the kitchen counter, it’s not the best life but it’s mine so it is actually the best life you can actually get.

-( You Have 47 Messages And 25 Missed Calls From “Eight's Mom” )-

Oh shit.

7:34 PM
-THREE ANSWER ME RIGHT NOW-
-YOU ARE GONNA WISH YOU WERE DEAD-
-I AM A RENOWED MILITARY AGENT YOU WILL NOT ESCAPE-
-HOW COULD YOU-
-ANSWER ME!!!!!-

8:56
-Hi Marina-

-so I’m assuming you heard-

-You are so dead.-

-Hey, hey! Can you at least hear me out-

-5 mins.-

-OKAY OKAY before you kill me please consider this, this will be the first winter fest that Eight will have! Shouldn’t she spend it at a luxurious house with her friends?-
-And plus it’s really nice and has shit ton of security installed we will be more than safe in there!-
-And if something goes wrong I will admit to all responsibility-
-Marina? You there?-

9:01
-This is far from convincing me.-
-Try harder next time you plan to kidnap Eight.-

-Marinaaaaaa, pleaSEE Eight is such a wonderful girl and she deserves to have the best winter fest ever!!!! After all she did! She is so brave so cool please I really like her and it would be wonderful that she spends the fest with us!-

-YOU LIKE MY EIGHT!?-

OHFUCKOHFUCKOHFUCK

-AS FRIENDS!-

-IM NOT STUPID THREE-

-Okay maybe I do like her a tiny little bit-

-OH YEAH AND TAKING HER TO THE TOWER WAS A SMALL DETAIL-

-I’m humble like that-

-THREE!-

-Okay YES I like her and a lot. She saved me and is just VERY PRETTY OKAY!?-

-You remind me of when I met Pearl-

-We are not mushy mushy like you guys were-

-you will be.-
-Okay listen three this is the deal ok? You will take her to that “cabin” and take extremely good care of her, if I find a single scratch on her both of you are D E A D, this also applies if she comes back bored okay?-

-OK MISS-

-Okay now go to sleep, I’m assuming Surume is taking you guys there?-

-That’s correct!-

-Okay. Well good night Three I will talk to Eight about this.-
-Oh and NEVER speak for me again got it?-

-( “Eight's mom” is no longer online )-

That was scary. At least Eight now has official permission to come with us to the cabin, I am so excited for this! I just hope that Four doesn’t try to do any weird stuff for us, don’t get me wrong she’s great but sometimes she can be too intense when it comes to love.

Admire the architecture [8]

ITS MORNING I HAVE SLEPT ABOUT 2 HOURS I JUST COULDNT SLEEP AT ALL LAST NIGHT! Marina helped me pack some clothes and things last night, she gave me a speech about “if things go wrong” and blah blah blah I am just so excited like I AM GOING TO GO EXPLORE THE NATURE IN THE SURFACE, I wonder how nature is up here! Down there we just had weird mountains and fake trees so I’m really excited to see the real version of things that we were trying to replicate! That reminds me Marina made a big deal about weird weather and extremely cold temperatures so I’m gonna have to wear a big coat, hmm let’s see what clothes that Marina lended me could work… OH! Maybe this coat and then we pair that with that and AHA! I made an outfit out of a black shirt and a red coat with my usual black pants and some black shoes Pearl told me would kinda fit me. So after getting my stuff ready I checked my phone just to check how we were even gonna get there.

-( “Three •^•” )-

6:17 AM
-Hii three!-

-Oh hi Eight, what are you doing up so early?-

-I couldn’t sleep lol-

-Ooooh, been there.-
-Why text me though?-

-Oh I was just wondering how are we gonna get to the cabin-

-Sue is gonna take us there well not her but someone that works for her-

-Sue?-

-Ah sorry I forgot you don’t know her real name, Four's real name is Surume-

-Really?? Wow that’s such a pretty name!-
-What’s your real name if I can ask?-

-Oh haha, I don’t really like my real name so I don’t usually mention it.-

-It’s probably really pretty too!-

-You dont even know it?-

-But I know it’s pretty!-

(…)
-Can I ask you something Eight?-

-Sure! Anything!-

-Do you remember your name?-

Of course I do what kind of silly question is that… wait I can’t remember my name AT ALL why? Why can’t I remember anything? I remember my life in the valley but I can’t remember anything really personal? Did someone live with me? What’s my name? Who was I before I was Eight?

6:25 AM
-Are you still here eight?-

-Uh yes sorry just lost in thought-
-No I can’t remember anything-
-It’s really really weird-
-I know where I lived and parts of my culture but I can’t remember really much anything else, not even my name.-

-Probably has to do with Kamabo.-
-Well we will figure it out okay?-
-Im sure you were just as cool before you got named Eight!-

-Thank you Three :)-

-Well gotta go sorry still packing for today!-

-Oh and Sue will pick us up in your building!-

-Okoo, Bye Three I’ll see ya later!-

-Byeeeee-

-( “Three •^•” is no longer online )-

She’s cool… but who am I really? Was I always like this? The parts I remember from before my first battle with Three are basically all I remember and some parts of my town, did I have a family? What did I actually leave behind to be here? Do people miss me down there? I know I can’t go back down, I’ll probably be hunted down for sport by the Octarian army… Wait I know I worked for Octavio we all did but was I part of the army? This is all too much honestly… but I am now Eight… or am I? Stop it Eight today we are gonna have a good day and our stupid mind can’t stop that from happening! Today we have fun tomorrow we worry about ourselves!

I grabbed the bag with my stuff in it and I went outside, I made sure Pearl and Marina were still sleeping before I went out because I knew that if they saw that I was about to leave they would start their usual sermon about how to be careful and such and today I really don’t want to be late 2 hours! after I went outside I just sat in a bench waiting for Four or as I just learned Surume!

I waited for 15 minutes until I saw Three running towards the bus stop, she is… oh my cod i didn’t know that she could dress so pretty like wow… she had a cute sweater, cute hat and cute shoes she looked just wow, she had run all the way from her apartment to here on foot, that’s 5 km by the way, she was carrying a backpack that honestly looked really really heavy

-“Holy shit…” She tried to catch her breath and used her sleeve to swipe the sweet from her forehead “Hi Eight can I… sit next to you I’ve been running for like the whole town I don’t think I can honestly feel my legs…”-

-“Hi Three! Of course you can sit down, but why did you run all the way if the bus exists?”-

-“There was a crash, so the bus I have to take couldn’t pass.”-

-“Oooh well at least we are going to sit for a while until Four gets here”-

As soon as I said that a REALLY BIG BLACK CAR Parked in front of us the door opened slowly and inside was Four wearing her usual outfit that is just a yellow shirt, some dirty jeans and shoes that looked that went though a war. She signaled us to get in the fancy car and like HOW COULD ANYONE AFFORD THIS KIND OF CAR?! We got in the fancy car the seats felt just right and we all had space for all of us it was soooooo good. As soon as the door closed we were on our way

-“Heyooo guys! Welcome to the car my family uses for business but I got it for the weekend! The driver of the day is my good friend Jellfonce”-

-“HI JELLFONCE”-

-“hey Sue.”-

-“He does not talk much BUT he is a great driver we should get to the peaks in about 12 hours!”-

 OH OKAY IM SORRY THIS IS JUST SO EXCITING

-“This is her first time seeing nature let her be for a while”-

-“As long as I can get some sleep everything should be fine”-

-“ SO HOW IS THE CABIN?!”-

-“Eh kinda small to be honest I’ve been there every winter until I turned 13, I’ve seen everything you can see in it, but the scenery is amazing you will both love it there!”-

-“As long as there aren’t any bugs or people there…”-

-“Don’t worry about people the staff has already cleaned the whole cabin and they got an extra week of due to winter fest”-

-“So it’s just gonna be us agents alone the whole weekend!?”-

-“Yup just the Three of us in the cabin!”-

-“THIS JUST KEEPS GETTING BETTER AND BETTER”-

-“Hey save some energy for when we are actually there haha”-

-“oh sorry I’ll be quiet.”-

-“Nonono what I meant is that you don’t wanna be tired when we go there trust me”-

-“OH OKOKO”-

-“Three have you ever been to the cabin before?”-

-“No this is my first time coming here, Four always talks about this cabin so I figured it must be the best thing ever created”-

-“HEY! I don’t talk that much about this thing! Well maybe I do talk a bit about it but hey almost all of my good stories come from here”-

-“Like what”-

-“Eight you really shouldn’t open this can of worms”-

-“TOO LATE SHE ALREADY ASKED!”-

-“Oh for the love of cod”-

-“So, when I was-“-

Four spent about 2 hours detailing stories from their childhood and some silly adventures she had on the cabin when she was younger, I can’t imagine living like that for a whole month! Well maybe I do I just can’t remember anything, but I wish I payed more attention to her stories it sounded like she had so much fun but I was just way too distracted about how beautiful the scenery was it was just wow, I can’t remember anything to compare this too, I just saw REAL TREES REAL ONES NOT THE FAKE KIND THE DEPTHS HAS! They look so majestic like a gift from cod right in front of me! I just can’t believe they have this as just a normal occurrence it’s so weird to think about! Imagine growing up here, where the sun kisses your face and you don’t have to fight for scraps to survive. I wish I met you earlier Three… you make this whole experience better for me… thank you.

Chapter 7 end

Chapter Text

Ocho [8]

It was night. I looked out my window just to see the neon lights beaming right into my window, I had a hard day I just needed those small breezes of wind in my tentacles, they always made me feel better. I hear the sirens they mean that something horrible is happening… no. It means he is going to do something horrible. I close the window and the curtains, I shout to someone “THEY ARE HERE GO INTO YOUR ROOM NOW!” But I don’t think they can hear me with the noise, the screams and the way that sirens were starting to get louder and louder, wait are the sirens are getting closer? No it can’t be, nothing ever happens here! They must be on their way to the center… right? No they are definitely coming our way, it’s coming for us. I have to run to my room but I can’t my legs are completely stiff, I can’t move at all? Then the lights start flickering “RUN! COME ON GET OUT OF HERE! THE SHOW IS FAILING!” And then a voice, I know that voice it’s so familiar it feels like it has lived in my brain forever, it sounds like a little girl… it shouts back “COME WITH ME PLEASE!” it pleads. But I can’t go with her I need to do this. Then everything goes black. I’m in a void now, I try to look down at my hands but these aren’t my hands… am I me here? What happens is everyone okay are we still here? Or are we just floating until… “Hey! Eight are you there?” There’s a voice calling to me… I need to answer I’m sorry I promise I’ll come back for you but I need to open up my eyes now.

-“Dude did your girlfriend just died in the car?”-

-“She’s not dead she still has a pulse she’s just a heavy sleeper I guess?”-

-“So is she your girlfriend?”-

-“Sue the second I get you on international space you are done for”-

-“Can’t let a girl have fun can you?”-

I opened my eyes slowly… I accidentally fell asleep on the car, AUGH! I knew that waking up that early yesterday was a terrible idea! I missed all the cool scenery I wanted to look at… oh well I guess we are now closer to four's cabin…

-“Hi… how long was I sleep?”- I slowly composed myself from the weird sleeping position I was in, how was I even comfortable like that for 5 minutes? And why did no one tried to compose me?

-“About something like 11 hours or something… we are like right here, you can even see some of the far away peaks over there”-

-“Remind me why did your dad thought it would be a good idea to make a house so far away from any form of intelligent life?”-

-“He didn’t like the fireworks apparently, which is a shame CAUSE I BROUGHT SOME!”-

-“You WHAT!?”-

-“Is that a positive or a negative what”-

-“It’s that this is the equivalent of putting a puppy right in front of fire works”-

-“who’s the puppy in this allegory, are you scared of fireworks or something? Cause you can stay inside while me and Eight go outside.”-

-“NO! I AM NOT (that) SCARED ABOUT FIREWORKS! It’s just that I’m worried about how Eight might you know react to being shown fireworks”-

-“She has seen fire works right?”-

-“Why are we talking about setting a workplace on fire”-

-“OOOOOOH, SO SHE IS THE PUPPY!”-

-“I'm a what?”-

-“Nothing. But Sue is about to do something really stupid and we are not gonna let her.”-

-“Come onnn don’t be Three for this weekend!! Be Kao and let’s have a bit of fun okay? It’s not every day you get to sleep in a cabin owned by a millionaire!”-

-“I thought you hated him?”-

-“Oh yeah absolutely but his gold is still gold so-“-

-“but what about Eight, are you sure you aren’t gonna freak?”-

-“Why would I? I’ve seen the worst this world has to offer.”-

-“…”-

-“…”-

-“I was trying to be comedic.”-

-“I really need to teach you some jokes…”-

-“Please don’t… I will probably splat myself before I have to deal with someone with the same sense of humor as you”-

-“I thought you liked my jokes!”-

-“There’s a limit.”-

Four and Three kept fighting for a while, during that I just pushed myself towards the window to see the beautiful mountains that surrounded the city, honestly I don’t get why we didn’t settle here it feels so much prettier than anywhere else. Even tho these windows are closed I can feel the cold breeze of the mountains, the pines the snow it’s all in perfect harmony. How can you live so close to these perfect mutations of nature and just not come here and live here every time you want? I feel almost at home in here.

-“Hey Eight quit daydreaming! We are finally at our destination! The world renowned “Salmonel peak” a 20 room cabin in the middle of the Jellyfish peaks it’s designed to endure harsh conditions and to keep us warm at the lowest of temperatures! And it has been in my family for ONE generation!”-

The USV parked near the entrance. Right in front of my eyes there was something that I’ve never thought I was going to see, the house was MASSIVE like massive to a level I wouldn’t dream of seeing it was like more of a mansion than a cabin, it was completely made of wood three floors tall like 20 meters long and IT HAD A FOUNTAIN IN THE CENTER?! HOW RICH WAS THREE'S FRIEND. Every wood piece was carved and the front door had an arc. The driver instructed us to get off and helped us getting out bags inside. But I just had to stare at this massive construction that was just right in front of me. There is nothing I can even compare it to there is no building like this in any Octo city.

Cozy Chaos [3]

this… This building is just… I feel like as if I was inside a dream but no this house is real. FOUR of all people lived here for cod knows how long, I saw Eight stay behind my guess is that she wants to admire the architecture because wow… I see that every single wood piece has something carved on it so each wooden piece was HAND MADE. I think I’m going insane just by knowing this place exists at the same time as me. I followed Sue since she was walking with child-like wonder in her eyes, I guess this kind of place is nostalgic for her but for us is like a whole new world, at the entrance there are some inklings with wings at the door step weird in my opinion, the inside was making me more crazy than the outside.

Inside you are greeted by a massive living room, there are stairs at the back of the room, two hallways on each side, the ceiling is so high up it’s like 2 times me [Kaori is 1.73] in the center of the room there are 2 couches and 3 chairs they all look really really REALLY comfy, there is a fire with a TV right on top of it, that can’t be good for the TV can it? Well I can’t say I treat mine better.

-“SOOO WELCOMEEE HONOR GUESTS TO THE BEST WEEKEND YOU HAVE EVER AND WILL LIVE!!”-

-“Why are you screaming?”-

-“shut up. OKAY SO JELLFONCE HAS BEEN KIND ENOUGH TO PUT YOUR STUFF IN YOUR ASSIGNED ROOMS AND I WILL GIVE YOU THE KEYS IN A MOMENT BUT FIRST, any one wants to give an honest review? It’s the first time anyone that dosent owe my father any money comes here< .”-

-“Can I ask something”-

-“LADY WITH THE FUNNY HAIR SPEAK!”-

-“You said that the cabin was small but like this is wow.”-

-“Has anyone died in here?”-

-“I DIDNT GIVE YOU THE WORD BUT ILL ANSWER STILL. THIS CABIN IS SMALL! ITS THE SMALLEST IN OUR FAMILY THATS WHY IT WAS SO EASY TO CONVINCE MY DAD! AND why do you care.”-

-“I don’t know whether to be amazed or scared”-

-“THAT WASNT AN ANSWER FOUR”-

-“ANYWAYS HERE TAKE YOUR KEYS TO YOUR ROOM!”-

She handed us down a key each but for some reason mine had a second key attached I guess she knows I tend to loose my keys. I walked to the second floor, Eight didn’t come I figure she is about to explode with excitement… she’s cute, if I am impressed by this then her mind must be BLOWN. The floor to be as old as Sue isn’t creaky or rotten so this place must be incredibly well taken off, I walked to my room the knob didn’t want to turn so I had to ALMOST break it to get it, I guess they only care about appearances, my room was big it was kinda like a hotel room 1 queen size bed a bathroom big enough for my taste one desk where my bags rested 1 single wooden chair in the desk a lamp that was kinda dying the rug felt… nice and the AC wasn’t that loud it was a pretty darn good room overall.

I checked my clock AND WAS IT 10:38 ALREADY?! Shit this vacation was already ruining my sleep schedule. I set down my bags on the floor, just throwing around my clothes until I found my squid sisters themed PJs, is not like I asked for it but Callie and Marie “gift” me unsold merch.

I changed into my PJs got myself comfy into the bed and to my surprise it felt like really really nice! It’s definitely premium quality and WAY WAY better than mine it felt like an angel hugging me from Al sides, also the pillows were those hard pillows that accommodate to your head. It felt nice overall… I dimmed the light closed my eyes and went to my happy place… heh… she’s so pretty… come closer please… I need your warm… please?

Closer Closet [4]

The last light has turned off… good, I hope they enjoy their stay here… more than I did at least. I poured a bucket of snow into the fireplace in the cabin’s lower floor, the sudden breeze that this place gives when no heat is produced will never stop to creep me out. I checked every entrance was closed off to prevent anything from coming in, and to keep the cold outside of course, I can’t believe those two love sponges convinced me to talk to my dad again just to get this stupid cabin… I hope at least Kaori doesn’t pull a Kao and mess everything up like she has done 50 other times with her past crushes. I went up the stairs trying to Ignore all the eerie vibe that this place has just going to the last room in the hallway, a hallway full of doors that don’t work, double way mirrors art that was stolen of people that actually care about it and the worst part the last room in the hallway. With my shaky hand I placed a blue colored key in the knob and twisted it, I had to use some force to get it open. And there it was at last, a blue painted room full of posters of bands that haven’t been active in 10 years, superheroes that had their franchises remade like 5 times since the last time this door was opened, at the far end of it there was a black closet its wood visibly rotten. -“At least he hasn’t destroyed this one.”-

Chapter Text

Sweet dreams! [3]

It’s currently 2 in the morning, I tucked myself in at 10 PM, since then I’ve only slept a maximum of 10 minutes total. I don’t know if it’s the atmosphere of the whole cabin, maybe it could also be the sudden quiet from the chaos I’m accustomed to, but wondering about that is completely useless right now, it doesn’t matter why I can’t sleep it matters that I CANT. I’ve done every single trick in the book, counting salmons, going to my happy place (The old abandoned train yard behind Wahoo World), I even asked four to bring me a glass of warm milk, but there’s a 99 percent chance she drank it all and it’s currently asleep on the floor. So now I’m stuck in a weird gigantic bed with nothing but my thoughts. I honestly don’t remember the last time me and them got some time alone, 2 years ago maybe? I like to keep myself busy so I don’t have to talk to them. Well maybe listening to them might help me sleep, who knows?

…

…

This sucks. I think I don’t hear my thoughts often because I don’t have any, my brain might be genuinely empty. Who has time to think anyway!? It’s a complete waste of time that gives you absolutely nothing in return. UGH. I’m starting to feel things about myself. … you know what I need to go for a walk, I’ve never tried it, who knows by this point anything that helps me pass out will help me.

I threw the bedsheets to the side and I planted my feet on the ground! This is exciting! We are going on an adventure! Either this is gonna be exciting or boring enough that I pass out from the boredom. I put on some snow boots, paired with the thickest jacket I could find (all of these pieces of clothing were more “gifts” from Marie & Callie so basically hand me downs) I walked towards the window, threw the curtains aside and I see absolute and complete darkness. Thats when I remember a fun fact Four told me on the way over here.

“Oh yeah by the way the guy that helped me being birthed was a complete recluse so the cabin is the middle of who-the-funk-knows. The only possible fun we can have is inside the cabin, because the only other “fun” thing is a C-Eleven 10 kilometers away from it! So no wondering off! You might actually die!”

How the hell can that girl say stuff like that without realizing she sounds like a serial fishermanner. And I’m Agent 3 of the New Squidbreak Splatoon! I have deafeated evils like no others! I can do this easily!

Three meets the concept of absolute zero [3]

I “borrowed” a few things from the kitchen and stole a few wires and stuff so I wouldn’t die out there, when you are at war you learn to make a lot of stuff out of complete trash! I opened and closed the door as quietly as I could and I left on my silly own adventure! The second I felt the cold outside I wanted to splat myself right there. No matter I will continue, come on Three we can do this!~ …We? Am I referring to my conscious existence as a different being? Is the cold already freezing my brain so quickly? “Of course no silly!” My brain told me, “Don’t tell me you don’t remember me!” Is this what sleep depravation feels like? I doesn’t matter I already set (whatever is left of) my mind to do this!

todays snowfall wasn’t so bad, only a couple centimeters of snow, not few enough to make this just a walk but not enough to drown in them. Perfection we thought! We kept walking. The cold of the night was setting in more and more but soon enough the warm of sunlight might hit me. The noises my feet made crushing the snow below them was a little therapeutic, by this point the small path of light the moon had given me was decreasing the more I dwelled into the forest, I took a quick pause next to a tree so we could… so I could open our backpack and get out flashlight. Then out of the forest darkness I heard something moving. What the hell could be living out here. More what could be out here with this weather “other than you dummy!” …I’m ignoring that. Maybe I’m being followed. The creep sets in. Maybe someone followed the Van and was waiting for the perfect strike to vanquish us. I hid behind a tree, grabbed my N-Zap and waited until the creature made another sound. The bitter wind and sounds of nothingness breathed on my neck. My own mind and body were distracting me from a threat. Three what the fuck are you doing? Just shoot the damn thing! “You can’t” WHY NOT!? WHAT IS STOPPING ME!? “You are paralyzed again.” WHO ARE YOU?! YOU ARE NOT THE SAME FROM BEFORE. “You. Always have been, the you you hide Kaori. Remember when we had an actual name instead of a fucking number?” Three is my name. I’ve been thre- “Years. You’ve been Three for years but not your whole life. Did you bash your head against a blender and got amnesia? Oh wait you did! But you didn’t got amnesia. Did you not exist before you went into that sewer?” I- “Thats what I thought. Everything is the same with you isn’t it. Can’t you just BREATHE for once? You’ve become a junkie you’ve turned me into an adrenaline junkie ever since you decided that the life we had was worth throwing away for a fucking old man! Did you let me choose what I wanted!” Oooh because the life I had was so good that it’s worth going back to! Look where I am because I’m three! Do you think Kaori would be in a cabin hanging out with her best friends! No she would be rotting away in that dumpster! “But for her that would’ve been more than enough. Do you see yourself? You look like a rabid animal, malnourished, beaten, with a horrible scar, in the middle of the woods of who-the-funk-knows. Is that GOOD?” IM GOOD. IM DOING EVERYTHING IM SUPPOSED TO DO. I WANT TO BE HERE! “Do you think she’s gonna like you more if you pretend to be this tough girl?” How the fuck- “IM YOU IDIOT. IM WHAT YOU HIDE BEHIND THE RIGHTEOUS THREE.” Sh- She has nothing to do with- “What has she done to you? What miracle has she given to the world for YOU to do what you do for her. She gave you that scar” That was myself! “Keep telling yourself that. Maybe that’ll make it true! You let yourself get captured! Like now, when you doubt yourself you just paralyze like the idiot you are! Like really? The blender did enough damage for you to just lie down there!?” …stop “You lied there like a sick pet, waiting for someone to come help you, and now look at yourself in the mirror! A permanent Halloween mask! Try to cover it with your tentacles all you want, but we know everyone knows what’s behind them!” …why are you doing this? “Because you’ve made us look pathetic, we were respected we were FEARED. The Octolings had horror stories about us Kaori. The children had nightmares about us!” I’m not- “I WAS. I liked it. I felt important, it felt so good finally being respected! It was perfect. But then that octo” WHO THE FUCK IS TALKING “ARE YOU DENSE? And even then do you even like them or do you just feel guilty?” Shut up. “Are you planning to tell her? She did got amnesia but you didn’t. I know it.” Why are you torturing me? “Because you are paralyzed. Just like you were then JUST LIKE EACH TIME YOU WENT SOFT!” She’s different… “DIFFERENT HOW? Is there a meter of how cute should something be so we don’t kill it? Is that why you are having trouble shooting a simple Smallfry?”

My eyes adjusted to the light, the danger I thought I felt was nothing but a small lost salmon that was trying to fit a whole tree into its mouth. I wasn’t going to shoot it but my whole world felt like that one time I got a little too crazy with Flow at a festival. My lack of sleep was doing a number and it was doing really well with my brain not receiving enough oxygen. “Come on. Do it, no one will know ever. Release your true self. It’s an invasive species, this is good! And if you wanna play pretend to be a hero then be one right now! Did you know that lost salmons can eat anything? Including people? You wouldn’t want Eight to be hurt wouldn’t you?” GET OUT OF MY HEAD! I DONT WANT YOU! I HAVENT BEEN YOU FOR A LONG TIME JUST I-

SHUT UP! [8]

Eight woke up from a nightmare with a chill in her spine, she couldn’t even remember what her dream was about. All she knows and cares about is that she is now wide awake, she’s been having recurring nightmares, she somewhat remembers having similar dreams before but they all vanish as soon as the sun rises, but this time was different, she woke up at 4 AM. The complete emptiness of everything made her feel uneasy, maybe seeing her friends might calm her down a little, she knew that Three usually woke up at around these hours. She tried on the new slippers that Four gave her as a “courtesy”.

After getting out of her room, she noticed that something was off, no… a lot of things were off, Three left her door open. A shut in like her wouldn’t just leave her door open, she walked slowly into the room and it was empty! She started getting a weird sensation in her stomach.

She followed her gut and it let her down to the kitchen. The back of some of the shelf’s were empty with random items placed at the very front to hide this fact. Something was wrong, and as a deep chill crawled down her spine she noticed that the door was not fully closed, a small gap was letting the night freeze enter the cabin. Then a horrible thought came into her mind. “Someone took Three” she said in a state of terror. Who could have took her? What did they want? What are they gonna do to her? She without thinking twice ran out of the Mansion to find her, with nothing but her slippers and worn-down pajamas. It didn’t matter to her she just wanted to rescue her.

It took a few meters until she realized how cold her surroundings were. But she was already so far from the mansion that she couldn’t remember which way she came from. But the only thought in her mind was to save Three. How? You may ask, she didn’t know either, but something inside her told her that she needed to save her. So she walked more and more, her fingers were becoming difficult to move, her legs were shaking so violently that she was constantly tripping and falling into the snow. She wished she thought about this before, maybe she could walk another couple of meters until she completely passed out. “I can do this… even if I don’t- I’m not even going to think about that.” She thought to herself and continued…

Just about she lost all hope for three and herself she heard a resounding “SHUT UP PLEASE!” Out of the middle of the woods, it felt nearby. Eight composed herself and started running towards that voice, maybe it was just her brain dying but hope was hope. And there she was, with her legs buried in the snow and banging her head against a tree, Three was on the freezing floor crying talking to herself, she had gone mad. Or maybe it was the stress? All Eight cared about was that she was alive.

“Three! You are alive!” Eight said and with the little strength she still had, she ran towards her.

But Three looked at her like she was a demon, filled with rage she just shouted “LEAVE ME ALONE YOU MONSTER, GET AWAY FR-” she stopped in the middle of her sentence after realizing it was just Eight. She started crying without control just murmuring “I’m sorry”

Eight ran towards her, she fell down but she started hugging her leg tightly. Eight hugged her and also started crying, Eight completely discarded anything that came out of Three's mouth she didn’t even hear what she said to her, all she knew was that they were alive and that was enough.”

Three tried to compose herself for a bit, but she was still completely destroyed. The voice that was telling her horrendous things disappeared after Eight hugged her. She felt a lot of things mostly negative things but Eight was there, and everything was suddenly ok. “W-What are you doing here E-Eight?” Her voice was shaky, after the cold and what she had just gone through, it was a miracle she was saying coherent sentences.

Eight still hugging her as hard as she could between tears she just muttered “Looking for you obviously… I saw your room and the kitchen and the door and I just thought that- that… someone” she completely lost herself and began crying.

Three fell down to her knees and hugged her back, Eight began crying on her shoulder. She just said repeatedly “I’m okay, we’re okay” she was trying to comfort Eight but to also tell herself that the nightmare she just went through was over.

With Eight's face buried down Three's shoulder, Three could only hear a few of the things Eight was Saying, she could make out a “I had this really bad nightmare about-” “And then your room was clean but you never-” “And I just stupidly ran outside with only-” Thats when it finally hit Three. Eight was here. Eight walked down a blizzard, she wasn’t imagining things, Eight was here.

Three tried to calm herself down but her voice still sounded like she just spent 2 hours crying (which she did) “Eight… did you just ran all this way in just that?”

Eight removed her head from her shoulder and just said “Oh don’t worry I’m okay!” Eight was clearly freezing to death soon.

Three didn’t even say a word. She took her jacket off and gave it to her. “I’m wearing like 3 layers of clothes one won’t do a difference.”

Eight stared blankly at her “I can’t accept this, this is yours I-” Three stood up and put the jacket on her, Eight was too weak to fight back so she just accepted it. “Thank you… but seriously I’m ok!” In Eight's mind she said “I’m okay because I found you.” But her mouth always betrayed her.

Three sat down against a tree and invited Eight next to her, Eight curled up next to the tree and next to her, the jacket was a bit to big so she could fit her legs inside this way. -“I couldn’t sleep”- eight look at her with a confused expression in her face ~“I have no idea what that has to do with this” ~ -“Thats because you don’t let me finish!”- ~“Okay okay.”~ -“I couldn’t sleep, so I thought that maybe going for a walk could help me get tired, I got lost and I ended up here.”- ~“But you were talking with someone, who was it?”~ -“Thinking out loud helps me think”- ~“You yelling “shut up” helps you fall asleep?”~ -“You’ll get it when you’re older”- ~“We have the same age”~ -“Inklings maybe age faster?”- ~“So Gramps is actually 19 years old?”~ -“Maybe”- They both chuckled a bit. -“So, why are you here?”- ~“I told you, I was worried!”~ -“Why were you worried? I can handle myself!”- ~“Sureee”~ -“I’m not letting Four teach you anymore things she’s a bad influence on you. But no really, WHY were you worried?”- ~“I had a nightmare.”~ -“About what”-

“We were back in the metro. It was the same I swear I could feel the metal and everything. It felt like I was really there, I was relieving the elevator to the top, everything was exactly the same but when I got to when I battled you (-“Sorry bout that”- ~“let me finish! And you are forgiven”~ -“yei”-) before I could free you from the sanitizing… Tartar took you away, I failed to save you. Everything after that was normal but you just weren’t there, I felt something sick inside. Then when I woke up I tried to go see you but you weren’t there.”

Three had a tear fall down her face, she hugged Eight tightly and after saying the same shaky sentence in low volume she let out a “I’m sorry for worrying you. I’m okay now, I’m here.”

Eight returned the hug and rested her head against hers ~“We should get some rest while we can, I’m sure Four will eventually come looking for us!”~ -“If she wakes up before her usual schedule”- ~“when does she usually wake up?”~ -“Noon”- ~”Maybe then we can get our 9 hours of sleep!”~ Eight smiled a little and closed her eyes resting her head against the tree.

Three Looked for any piece of cloth in her backpack and placed it on top of her to make her a little more warm. She stood up to go found some branches to make a fire, you know so they don’t freeze to death, specially Eight after all the distance she traveled just to saved her. While looking she found the Small fry she had encountered earlier. She threw in its direction a small package of cookies she had and the Salmon devour it in 5 seconds, it didn’t even without taking the wrapping off. She collected the sticks she needed, used an emergency lighter she had in her backpack and now they had a fire, warm enough to keep them alive through the night. She sat down next to Eight. “She’s so pretty… even in the brink of death her eyes have that shine…” she thought to herself out loud. She felt Eights head in her shoulder, Eight was using Three as a pillow, they both felt nice. It was a nice night after all.

Chapter Text

WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU TWO!?- [4]

-Four said calmly. "I WAKE UP IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT BECAUSE ITS FREEZING AND I SEE BOTH OF YOUR DOORS UNLOCKED AND I THINK "Awww how cute they are probably talking in the kitchen or living room" LIKE NORMAL PEOPLE BUT NO YALL DECIDED TO GO INTO THE MIDDLE OF COD KNOWS WHERE-" "I'm sorry I just wanted to..." "THREE NOW IS REALLY NOT THE TIME FOR EXPOSITION. You guys could've died out there!" "We know, Four. We aren't brainless babies." "EXACTLY! A baby would probably think that it's too cold outside and stay *inside* BUT YOU GUYS HAD A DEATH WISH OR SOMETHING!" Three crossed her arms and scoffed but Eight had her head down, she didn't want anyone to see but I could tell she was crying. I really hate talking to them like this, but what if I hadn't realized they were gone, what if I had taken another second to think before calling people to go look for them, my friends would've died.

"Sigh... Look I don't want to sound like your mom but seriously that was INSANELY reckless... even I wouldn't even dare to do something like that... I just don't want to worry much about you guys okay? So can you guys promise that for AT LEAST while you are in my property can you not die? Legal fees are a mess." Three just looked at me with a blank stare "...We are tired, sorry to be a bother your majesty " Three grabbed Eight by the arm and dragged her upstairs. "Your majesty... She's not pulling her punches..." I stood up, walked up to a bunch of dusty boxes in the corner. They are full of pictures, lots of old pictures with my dad "we used to look so happy..." I was about to throw up so i put the pictures back where they belong. "I hope they calm down later... I hope they want to talk with me again."

What's down eventually has to come up [8]

Three had dragged me up to her room and closed the door, I can't help but feel like I should feel happier to be here, to be with HER... I don't feel anything. "Why can't she just treat us better than dumb kids! We have saved the world so many times! Right Eight?" Three was talking to me but I just heard noise, not like a passing conversation while you walk it was more like the feeling you have when you scratch glass. I feel bad. I want to go. Where is Marina? Pearl would know what to do.

I look at the window and the outside turns into nothing, the bed I was sitting in now was made out of hard, cold steel I could feel again the rumbling of train tracks in my feet, my back felt heavy... I looked at Three but she was different, the air was different my eyes were different the only thing that was everywhere was the cold biter wind that I could breathe until I couldn't breathe again. My lungs are full so why ever breathe again? I was standing on nothing again, the ground bellow me had been taken again so all I could do was fall and fall until nothing breaks my fall maybe if I break the noise will shut. I can feel my eyes closing and my body falling.

I opened my eyes. Three was there. "Hey Eight are you ok?" She kneeled down so she could see my face better "You are really really pale, do you feel dizzy?" "A little..." "I'll go get some juice for you, be righ-" "NO! I- I- I don't want to be alone..." I grabbed Three's hand to stop her, she just froze and sat down next to me "Eight... what's wrong? You never do that" I tried to let go off her hand but I just couldn't. "I'm scared..." "What? Scared of what exactly?" "W-What if you had died there?" "Didn't we already talked about this last night?" "I don't mean last night..." "Oh right... you mean this?" she pointed towards the green spot in her face "yeah..." "I mean I always knew you were gonna come to my rescue so I was never afraid really haha..." She is a terrible liar "I can't think of a world where you aren't my friend. I wonder what would I be doing if it wasn't for you... I don't know why but even though our weird history (I chuckled) I feel safe around you..." "I mean part of the job is keeping people safe so haha" She had the biggest smirk on her face.

"I wish we would've meet under different circumstances ..." "I do too Eight, I do too..." I gripped her hand a little harder. "Is everything okay?" "A little better yeah..." They sat in silence for a couple of minutes, Three started to hold Eight's hand too. Eight feels again, Eight feels happy.

"Three..." "Yeah?" "You are not going to leave are you?" "I have nothing to do there so no" "Please never leave... I like it when you are here..." I rested my head on Three's shoulder again, She felt warm, like a morning breakfast... "Are you okay Three? You are breathing very fast?" "Yeah... just the wind or something..." "Are you sure?" "Yeah I'm sure... I guess I also like it when we are... together or something" "I'm glad you feel the same Three" I smiled so hard that I felt my face contort in a way it's never done. "Maybe it's because I'm tired but I feel different... "In a good or bad way?" "different in different ways..." "Heh I get it, it's not normal but you will get used to it" My eyes started to shut and I collapsed into the bed, finally resting after all the chaos the night before brought.

I woke up a few hours later, Three had fallen asleep next to me I mean of course she would be way more tired than me, but just looking at her peacefully breathe brought me a sense of peace that I thought I had forgotten, I think she felt someone was staring at her because she too woke up.

"Ugh... Eight do you have the time? WAIT EIGHT?" "Oh sorry I must've fallen asleep here sorry! I'll leave!" Cod did I really say all that stuff to her before I passed out? WAIT DOES SHE EVEN "Thought you said that you didn't want me leave and now you are leaving?" SHE REMEMBERS. "You-" "Me?" "I- Just..." I looked down. We were still holding hands. "Three I'm about to do something really dumb and stupid so can you promise not to laugh????" "Uhh... sure?" "Three... I just... I really don't know how to say it but "IWOULDN'TREALLYHATEITIFWELIKEYOUKNOWWENEVERLEFTEACHOTHERSIDEORSOMETHINGBACKINOCTOVALLEYWEHADTHISTHINGCALLEDRELATIONSHIPSIDONTKNOWIFYOUGUYSHAVETHATHEREBUTLIKEIWOULDLIKETODOTHATWITHYOU" [Lesbian octo translation: I wouldn't really hate it if we like you know never left each other's side or something like that. Back in octo valley we had this thing called relationships I don't know if you guys have that here but I would like to do that with you]

Three stood up and just froze up like no movement at all. I RUINED IT OH NO NOW SHE HATES ME AND CODCODCDOCDOCDOCOD UGHHHGHHHGGGHHHHHHH. "You... You like me????? B-But why me? Didn't you just see last night that I'm insane and I run into the woods in the middle of the night?? I-" I stood up too "Because you are brave and dedicated and smart and cool and tough but also cute and you also smell really nice ("Wait you smelt me?" / "NOT IMPORTNAT!") and I don't know I just like you in general..." I saw a tear drop from Three's face "Are you okay!? If you don't want to we can pretend this was all a joke and-" "Eight have you ever been in a relationship?" "I mean no but the way I feel about-" "It's a lot of commitment and other stuff... are you sure you want this?" She pointed at herself "Of course Three! Ever since I saw you that day at the metro my mind has been full of thoughts about you! How cool you are! How-" Three lunged herself at me and hugged me "What am I about to tell you and give you permission is really special so you need to be sure that you actually WANT to see me everyday for... at least a while..." "I ran into the snow to "rescue" you, I'm sure..." "You can call me Kaori. My real name is Kaori." "Thank you Kaori..." I hugged her back. For a moment my mind went back to the day I woke up in a bed next to her, we were both damaged and at our lowest point, but we still saw each other.

END OF PART 1