Chapter Text
“Yarrwhal?! Where are you?!”
Kayoss was running all over Splatsville looking for his friend. It was so strange, it’s like a couple of minutes ago, he and his friend group were just hanging out at Tako’s, excited for the upcoming Grand Festival, and then, next thing he knew, Yarrwhal had suddenly disappeared, running away to the chilly outside.
Fewer people were in the heart of the city at this hour. With the lobby currently closed due to the incoming bad weather, threatened by the gray clouds, there was barely anything interesting going on. Kayoss looked around, his worry growing by the minute. Face with no results in his efforts, he decided it was time to do the one thing he hated the most: Talking to strangers.
“Ah… Excuse me?” he approached the Recon Guide, who surprisingly was still there “Have you, perhaps, uh… seen my friend? An octoling with pompous hair and-”
“Oh, don’t worry, I know just who you mean! The boy was just here asking me for a recon pass.”
“Huh?!” Kayoss was relieved but now also confused, why would Yarrwhal want to go on recon now?
“Do you know if he’s okay?” he asked.
“Couldn’t quite tell, hard to see a face with those big tinted goggles.” she answered a bit in thought.
Kayoss swallowed hard “... Which map did he go to?”
“I can take you to him if that’s what you’re asking.” the guide looked at the distressed boy, his expression changing to one of gratitude.
—---
Bluefin Depot
A stage surrounded by water, the resemblance to a park always bringing the right vibe to either battle or to just chill with friends when it's sunny. But today was not a day like that. Not only was everything shaded in gray, it was foggy too.
Yarrwhal’s ears twitched when he heard the sound of a spawner from afar.
“Yarrwhal?! Yarrwhal are you here?!” Kayoss called from afar, his voice loud and clear. He jumped down to the center of the stage, but then he noticed a familiar octoling on the opposite base “Whally!”
The boy rushed to get on an elevating platform, using his roller to run faster (for some reason, it was mandatory to take your weapon to recon mode, the staff made sure to have Kayoss go back and forth to go get it from the lockers before he got in).
As soon as they were mere meters away, a moment of silence fell heavily on both. Kayoss could see Yarrwhal sat on one of the diagonal platforms from the base area.
“Whally… are you okay?” he took a step closer, sounding concerned for his friend.
Yarrwhal didn’t respond.
“... Did something happen during the hangout?... Please, talk to me!”
Unresponsive again. Kayoss walked a little closer, his ears picking up a whisper.
“.... go away…”
Kayoss stopped. He stood still, his words confused him.
“... What?”
Suddenly, Yarrwhal stood up. He stood and jumped off from the small platform he was on, now on the same level as Kayoss. His face was unreadable due to his tinted goggles, but one thing was sure: Yarrwhal was gripping his blaster tightly.
“I said-” he spoke before launching himself towards Kayoss “-GO AWAY!!!”
The sound of the blaster almost muffled Yarrwhal’s yell. The ink stinged on Kayoss’ skin as he got splatted, his heart pounding against his chest as he got shot back to base.
“What the hell was that?! Why did he…” he breathed heavily from the scare as he thought to himself. From afar, he could see Yarrwhal jumping down to reach center stage. Without a second thought, he rushed to get there too.
As he was almost reaching the middle ramp, Kayoss got jumped by Yarrwhal yet again, about to land another kill shot, but he dodged it just in time.
“Agh- why are you attacking me?!” he yelled, dodging another direct attack
But no matter how much he yelled, Yarrwhal kept attacking him nonstop. In that moment, Kayoss felt like nothing more than a target and he just wanted to know why.
The chase kept on going for a bit longer. Kayoss was starting to keep up with him, backing away from Yarrwhal and inking the ground for mobility, but the overwhelming attacks wouldn’t stop, and with every blast, Kayoss could feel Yarrwhal’s raw emotions overwhelm him too.
“Yarrwhal, stop it!” Kayoss jumped back, keeping a safe distance and tightening the grip on his dynamo “I don’t want to fight you!”
Yarrwhal clenched his teeth, launching himself at him again “I DON’T FUCKING CARE!!” and with a scream, he shot with his blaster all over Kayoss.
Without a moment’s hesitation, Kayoss super-jumped and landed on the same place, landing a surprise hit on Yarrwhal. The marigold octoling spawned back to his base and, in a heartbeat, he was running back to center stage.
The forced 1v1 kept on going, no matter how much Kayoss was against it, Yarrwhal just wouldn’t listen to him!
“I said I don't want to fight you!!”
“Why!? ‘Cus you know you’ll beat me?! Afraid to hurt me, huh!?” Yarrwhal’s tone was aggressive just like his attacks.
“W-what?! No! That’s-” Kayoss got interrupted by a suction bomb being launched beside him, which he was able to dodge in time “Where the hell did you get that idea?! Please, let me understand!”
“There’s nothing you could understand! Just leave. Me. Alone!!” his attacks still didn’t come to a stop, but blinded by rage, his defenses were flawed.
“I can’t understand you if you keep attacking me like that!!” Kayoss snapped at him and dealt a final swing at him, which splatted him and had him respawn back to base. But Kayoss wasn’t done. He chased after him.
Launched back to solid ground, Yarrwhal was greeted with another ink swing that forced him to dodge, making him trip to the side and lose hold of his weapons. He quickly crawled to go get it but-
“Don’t.” Kayoss’ sharp voice made him flinch, his hand only hovering the range blaster.
There was a moment of silence, the tension was evident and inevitable. Light raindrops began falling from the sky, which did not make this situation better, it was weakening for inkfish afterall. Kayoss had his dynamo pointed directly at Yarrwhal, backing him into a corner.
“... This is stupid.” he sighed, dropping his weapon “Yarrwhal, I-... I just came here to check up on you! You suddenly disappeared from the group, you seemed distressed about something. If there’s something troubling you, you can talk to us!” his voice was filled with worry, it echoed inside Yarrwhal’s head.
He was on his knees, refusing to look back at Kayoss, having his back facing him. It made both their hearts ache.
“... Was it something I said?” Kayoss’ voice shook as he took a step closer “Did I do something to make you mad at me?” it was marked with confusion and sadness.
His words were hurting him, filling him with guilt for acting like that. He hated it. He hated it!
“I’m sorry…!” his footsteps got closer to him “I’m sorry if I hurt you in some way… but I can’t understand what I did if you don’t tell me what’s wrong!”
Yarrwhal’s chest tightened even more. He didn’t do anything to him! This had nothing to do with him directly! This was his own problem! He was the problem!
His hand kept hovering the blaster.
“Yarrwhal please… just talk to me…” Kayoss got closer, close enough to reach out a hand to his shoulder, barely touching it.
Yarrwhal gripped his weapon.
“There’s nothing to TALK-!” he suddenly turned around, snapping at Kayoss and pointing his weapon at-
BAM!
“...”
… Sound of metal against Kayoss’ skull echoed inside Yarrwhal’s ears. His body hit the stage's now wet floor. He was too close…
“KAYOSS!!!” his voice cracked as he desperately reached him, he could see Kayoss struggling to keep his eyes open. His head was bleeding, rolling down his face and mixing its color with the ink sprayed on the floor.
“NO NO NO NO NO- KAYOSS I’M SORRY I DIDN’T MEAN TO- I-!” despite how loud and shaky Yarrwhal’s voice was, Kayoss could barely hear it, it sounded muffled and it was getting harder and harder to understand anything he was saying... His world was slowly fading to black as it held him up in his arms...
And the rain kept pouring.